DUKE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 
 DURHAM, N. C. 
 
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THE WEST-INDIA LABOUR QUESTION; 
 
 %^ REPLIES TO 'INQUIRIES * 
 
 ^IXaTJ.TUTEI' BY 
 
 THE COMMITTEE OF THE 
 BRITISH AND FOREIGN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY, 
 
 EMBRACING 
 
 FACTS AND STATISTICS ON THE PRESENT CONDITION OF THE 
 EMANCIPATED CLASSES, AND ON THE ALLEGED WANT OF LABOUR 
 IN THE WEST-INDIA COLONIES ; BUT ESPECIALLY IN 
 JAMAICA. 
 
 ,T6N : 
 
 PUBLISHED AT TI. 'Jihl^ KJt' THE LRITJSH AND FOREIGN ANTI-SLAVERY 
 SOCIETY, 27 NEW BRGAD STREET, E. C. 
 
INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 The following" letters r are from the West- 
 India correspondents of the British and 
 Foreign Anti-Slavery Society. They are re- 
 plies to certain queries which were submitted 
 to various persons in our West-India colonies, 
 with a view to elicit information on the alleged 
 want of labour there, and the unwillingness 
 nf the peasantry to work for wages.{fThe 
 
 f / Committee trust that the circulation of the 
 // facts they have thus been enabled to collate, 
 
 " will tend to remove the erroneous impressions, 
 prevalent on this subject, which interested 
 parties in this country, aided by one of our 
 leading" journals, have sought to convey, and^ 
 to counteract the mischievous tendency 01 
 their calumnious statements. The Commit- 
 tee deem it advisable not to publish the 
 names of their correspondents ; but would 
 observe that their respectability and perfect 
 trust worthiness are beyond question. 
 
 Whilst the Committee consider that the 
 letters should be permitted to speak for them- 
 selves, it may be well to state the facts they 
 establish. 
 
 ] st. The alleged want of labour is a false 
 cry. To cultivate the whole area of land at 
 present lying waste in all the colonies 
 except Barbadoes — would, indeed, absorb any 
 number of labourers ; but the evidence is 
 overwhelming that no addition to their num- 
 ber is necessary to meet the demand for the 
 estates that are actually under cultivation. 
 2dly. Where labour is said to be deficient, 
 it can be traced to causes within the planters' 
 control to remove. Of these, insufficient 
 wages, unpunctual payment of the same, or 
 no payment at all, are stated to be the chief. 
 3dly. Immigration on the present system is 
 condemned as expensive and unsatisfactory, 
 injurious to the people who are introduced 
 and to the native colonial population. 
 
 The allegations of idleness and immorality, 
 which have been propagated by the Times 
 are indignantly repudiated as gross calum- 
 nies, and the writers are challenged to pro- 
 duce the proof of their reckless statements. 
 
 The Committee feel satisfied that all un- 
 biassed persons who read the annexed com- 
 munications, must come to the conclusion 
 that the negro population of the West-India 
 colonies have beerx shamefully maligned, 
 and that the deman< i for " immig-rant-la- 
 bour " proceeds from a desire to graft upon 
 free-labour a system of forced' service, which 
 is totally incompatible with the spirit of the 
 ct of Emfdicipation. *^k* 
 1*2? New Broad Street, E.C. 
 London, April 18*58. 
 f ^ 
 
 QUESTIONS TO WEST-INDIA CORRESPONDENTS. 
 
 1 . Is there any real want of labour in your ' 
 colony ; and if so, to what extent, and to 
 -what general causes is it to be ascribed ? 
 
 2. Are the native labourers fairly remu- 
 nerated for their labour on the estates, and 
 are their wages punctually and regularly 
 paid? 
 
 3 • What number of immigrants has been in- 
 troduced in your colony since Emancipation ; 
 and where did they come from principally? 
 
 4. What number has returned to India, 
 China, or Africa ? 
 
 5. What number is estimated to have died 
 in the colony, aud what number is estimated 
 to be now in it ? 
 
 6. W T hat wages have they been in the habit 
 of receiving ? 
 
 7. What is the average cost of an immi- 
 grant, inclusive of his passage to the colony 
 and back to his country ? 
 
 8. What proportion of the immigrants 
 have worked on the estates, and how have 
 the rest been employed ? 
 
 9. What effect has their introduction had 
 upon the labouring population of the colony ? 
 Has it re ^dthe rate of wages? Has it 
 suppla 1 1 "hour to any great extent? 
 Has i the m : ve labourers to seek 
 occupation on their own grounds, in the cul- 
 tivation of provisions for the increased popu- 
 lation' Ho ha> if irfected the morals of 
 
 l^he ^ 
 
E XTEACTS FBOM LETTERS FROM THE WEST INDIES. 
 
 JAMAICA. 
 
 This important island is placed first on the 
 list, because it is usually selected to illustrate 
 the alleged failure of emancipation, and its 
 population has been more especially the object 
 of the attacks of the Times, and of those who 
 advocate similar views. 
 
 " London, 14th January, 1858. 
 
 " It is my decided opinion that there is no real 
 want of labour in this colony, but that there is 
 more than sufficient to keep the properties now 
 existing in good cultivation. That a deficiency 
 of hands is experienced on estates in some loca- 
 lities must be acknowledged ; and although this 
 may be to some extent attributable to idleness on 
 the part of a portion of the people, yet, in most 
 cases, I believe it is to be accounted for on the 
 ground of insufficient remuneration to the la- 
 bourer, compared with what he can earn on his 
 own freehold or on hired lands — to ungenerous 
 and harsh treatment — to bad house accommoda- 
 tion, and to some other causes that may be 
 elicited by the questions which follow. Jamaica 
 would undoubtedly support a much larger popula- 
 tion than it at present contains, and from all I 
 know of the parties opposed to the system of im- 
 migration now existing here, none would have an 
 objection to a continued augmentation on terms 
 strictly equitable, and involving no possibility of 
 danger to the rights and liberties of the immigrant. 
 
 " My own conviction is, that one shilling per 
 diem for field labour — and which may be said, with 
 some exceptions, to be the general rate of wages a 
 day throughout the island — is not sufficient, with 
 the oppressive taxation to which he is subject, to 
 enable a man to support himself and family 
 adequately to their actual necessities ; while any 
 great improvement in the social condition of 
 families under such circumstances is entirely out 
 of the question. With such means it is next to 
 impossible for parents to send their children to 
 school, or parents, from the same cause, to avail 
 themselves of the advantages of the Christian 
 Sabbath, owing in part to their inability to 
 procure decent clothing. At the same time 
 I firmly believe that many of the labourers 
 justify the indolence with which they are 
 charged, and the deficient number of hours 
 they work, on the very ground of this in- 
 sufficient remuneration. Were wages fixed at 
 Is. 6c?. per diem for an able-bodied man for the 
 laborious occupation of cane-hole digging, and 
 Is. dd. for lighter field-work, I fully believe that 
 in most cases, the results would be as advan- 
 tageous to the employer as to the employed : the 
 
 employer of course requiring, on these terms (the 
 breakfast hour excepted) , steady consecutive labour 
 during the usual number of working hours. 
 
 " These observations, it will be perceived, refer 
 particularly to labour by the day. At task 
 work, an able-bodied man can earn 2s. and 
 upwards per day. Owing, however, to disagree- 
 ments that often arise as to the proper per- 
 formance of work thus by contract, to delays in 
 payment, or some other causes, my impression is 
 that the great majority of labourers prefer em- 
 ployment by the day. I qualify the expression 
 just employed as to the number who prefer em- 
 ployment by the day rather than by task, by 
 stating that this preference is not ordinarily 
 manifested where an employer has the reputation 
 of being ingenuous and just. 
 
 " With some exceptional cases, as a matter of 
 course, the complaints of labourers of irregular 
 payment of wages is heard in almost every 
 direction throughout the country. Many of these 
 complaints have been substantiated by facts, which 
 those acquainted with them have offered to prove. 
 It may be said, with little fear of contradiction, 
 that on comparatively few estates are wages paid 
 regularly and punctually; not so much, it is 
 believed, from want of will, or from caprice, as 
 from want of ability ; but, in either case, dis- 
 advantage is experienced by the labourer amount- 
 ing to a grievance, and disinclination to labour 
 under such circumstances is natural. Wherever 
 wages are duly and properly paid, and the la- 
 bourers at the same time kindly treated, I have 
 never known of any want of hands, especially in 
 districts which have been favoured with Chris- 
 tian instruction. And I feel persuaded that, with 
 fair treatment and increased pay, there would be 
 little complaint either as to deficiency of labourers 
 or of inadequacy of work performed in any part 
 of the island. 
 
 "Iam not aware that wages of the native 
 labourers have been reduced as a consequence of 
 the introduction of immigrants ; firstly, because 
 of the comparative smallness of the numbers that 
 have to the present time been located among the 
 native population ; and, secondly, because the ex- 
 penses in the support of Asiatics, and provision 
 for their accommodation as to houses and furniture, 
 together with other items, have been greater than 
 the annual amount paid to an equal number of 
 native labourers. For the same reasons, no very 
 great disadvantageous results have been expe- 
 rienced in other respects. 
 
 " That immigration,if carried on systematically, 
 and to a much greater extent than heretofore, but 
 especially if in accordance with the recently 
 
 9 501$ 
 
4 
 
 enacted law of this colony, will have the effect of 
 diminishing the amount of wages now given, and 
 of driving the native labourer to his own ground, 
 &c, there can be little doubt. In both these 
 cases disadvantage would result to the native 
 labourer, as in all likelihood the additional pro- 
 visions that an increased population would con- 
 sume would rather be raised by the emigrants 
 themselves (if Africans) in allotments of land al- 
 lowed them for the purpose, as formerly to slaves, 
 or, if Asiatics, by articles chiefly imported. 
 In districts where immigrants have resided in 
 any number, their influence on the morals of the 
 native population has been of a most pernicious 
 character, reviving the debasing superstions that 
 had become almost extinct, and greatly dimi- 
 nishing the restraints which religion and an im- 
 proved state of civilization had imposed upon 
 indecency, profligacy, and crime. And if these 
 have been the results of inconsiderable impor- 
 tations, irregular, and after long intervals of time, 
 it is easy to conceive of the greatly augmented 
 evils that would follow the operation of the 
 "Amended Immigration Act," that has been 
 lately passed by our Legislative Assembly. 
 
 "Kingston, Jamaica, 
 
 " 8th February, 1858. 
 
 " I hasten to reply to your favour of 14th ult. 
 
 &' I am decidedly against unlimited immigration 
 into this island, of hordes of barbarous people, to 
 supply the owners of sugar-plantations with 
 labour, at their rates of wages, and on their con- 
 ditions. A large sugar-plantation, which re- 
 quires 100 or 200 labourers to work it, ac- 
 cording to the old time style, is the creature of 
 Slavery, and, in my judgment, is not easily main- 
 tainable in an agricultural colony, (where land 
 is or ought to be cheap, and labour dear), unless 
 labourers under some kind of bondage are in- 
 troduced. What farmer in Canada or Australia 
 could expect to have a demand answered for 
 hundreds of labourers, to labour per hour ? He 
 is glad to get half a dozen, and these he cannot 
 retain, unless by good treatment and high 
 wages. This exemplifies the true relation of 
 labour and capital in an agricultural colony, 
 and of course, therefore, in this colony ; 
 and it is against this strong natural tendency of 
 our population that the West-India Body are now 
 contending in their efforts to introduce indentured 
 Africans, who shall be bound to serve ten years, 
 with their wives and children, if they have any, 
 and who shall be so fixed to the land, as to go 
 with it on alienation, by conveyance or devise. 
 (See the Immigration Act of this island of last 
 session, 21st Vic. cap. 5, sec. 26. Nor shall 
 they, by that Act, be allowed to go more than 6ve 
 miles from their plantations without a passport.)* 
 
 * This Act has been disallowed by the Home 
 Government. — Ed. 
 
 " When it is considered that almost the whole 
 coffee-plantations, and a large portion of the 
 sugar-estates have been abandoned, it is clear that 
 there is in the island abundance, numerically, of 
 the labouring classes ; but they will not give their 
 labour on, the terms offered by the sugar planters. 
 That is the true position of the case, and not 
 that the island is under-peopled. The truth is, 
 that it is to colonies being under-peopled, that the 
 superior wealth and comfort of their population 
 is in a good measure owing. Why, therefore, de- 
 prive our people of that advantage in the way 
 proposed? why undersell them, by introducing 
 barbarians, under ten years' indentures, at 10s. 
 per month, to compete with them in their own 
 labour market? The sugar-plantations now 
 working do not exceed in number three hundred, 
 and these it is probable are owned by less than 
 200 individuals, most of them resident in Eng- 
 land ; and they do not employ more than about 
 15,000 labourers, to make their 25,000 hogsheads 
 of sugar. Is that an interest to which the entire 
 ivell-being of the masses should be made sub- 
 servient? 
 
 "The expensive institutions of this island, 
 doubtless, need a large revenue, and there are 
 also heavy public debts ; and it is unlikely that 
 any system will find favour which is to weaken 
 the power of the plantations as they exist, in all 
 their peculiar economy. The absentee and re- 
 presentative system still prevails ; capital cannot 
 be had by the practical planters resident on the 
 island ; so that, instead of a strong body of local 
 planters on their own account, exercising all the 
 salutary, natural, healthy economy of farming, 
 which when well managed affords good wages to 
 the labourer, we have the old system of manage- 
 ment by deputies (attorneys, overseers, and 
 book-keepers), who have miserable pittances, 
 and no security for permanence and the establish- 
 ment of families. Demoralization, and social evils 
 of the greatest magnitude, are the consequences 
 of this perpetuation, by artificial means, of the 
 ' old plantation system,' which is wholly adverse 
 to the economy of free countries, and the curse 
 of the natural relations of society. 
 
 " In answer to your specific questions : — 
 " 1 and 2. The planters often find it difficult 
 to get labour on their terms, as already explained. 
 They often affirm, however, that a labourer may, 
 if he pleases, earn 3s. a day ; but this cannot be 
 a general case throughout the year — probably it 
 sometimes occurs in crop-time, at long spells of 
 eighteen hours in the twenty-four. The labourers 
 say they get for day-work only Is., sometimes 
 only 9d. To which the planters reply, that what 
 they call a. day's work is not half a real day's 
 work. And so it is that the question is, and 
 always must be, one of circumstantials, which 
 renders it difficult to get at the general truth of 
 the case. One thing is certain — that proper 
 family accommodation for the permanent settle- 
 
5 
 
 ment of labourers is often wanting. There ought 
 to be suitable houses for families, and provision 
 lands, and reasonable wages offered ; and that I 
 think, would obviate much of the difficulty com- 
 plained of, of getting permanent labourers. For 
 it is a fact, that there are planters who make no 
 complaints on the subject ; many others, com- 
 plainers, have not stated the whole truth — that 
 the irregularity and uncertainty of their pay- 
 ments, and the large proportion of the wages 
 exacted for rents, have been the chief causes of 
 the scarcity to them of labour. I have known 
 large sums to be due to labourers for weeks and 
 months, which they could not get paid, and yet 
 they worked on, which English labourers in the 
 like case would never do. 
 
 "3. I understand, from the published state- 
 ments, 17,000 immigrants have been introduced 
 into this island, mostly from Africa and the 
 East Indies. The European labourers placed on 
 estates, of course, died. They were fit only for 
 settlers in the mountains, where, if properly 
 cared for, they would have done well ; but they 
 were not properly cared for. 
 ■~ "4. I cannot tell what number has been re- 
 turned to India and China. 
 
 "5. I think I have heard that 13,000 had 
 died in the colony. The truth is, that the whole 
 number of labourers necessary to carry on the 
 present cultivation is only 15,000, or thereabouts. 
 But I do not profess to give correct information 
 on this point. 
 
 " 6. I have answered this above. 
 "7. I think 15Z. from India. 
 "8. I cannot say. But if only 15,000 are 
 required for all the sugar estates, that number 
 has already been introduced ! 
 
 "9. I have no doubt that their introduction 
 has to some extent kept down the rates of wages 
 that would otherwise have prevailed. But I 
 believe much might be done, to sustain a supply 
 of labour from the Creole population, which is 
 not done. The really intelligent and independent 
 labourer is often unwilliug to put up for himself 
 and family with plantation accommodation and 
 wages and treatment. As to the effect on morals 
 and religion, I know that the presence of the 
 Africans has been injurious, and so must have 
 been that of the Hindoos and Chinese. Which 
 of us would expose our children, or our women, 
 to the evil influence of such fellow-workmen ? 
 
 " In my judgment, the true care for the West 
 Indies is to secure for them the benefits which 
 other free colonies enjoy. Let the people be en- 
 couraged to become planters on their own ac- 
 count, and let the respectable resident white 
 planters, many of whom have brown families, be 
 encouraged to begin in a small way, and carry on 
 and establish themselves as settlers, as they do in 
 other countries, instead of, as now, being mere 
 ; miserable dependents on absentees for a precarious 
 living. The application judiciously of a little 
 ; capital to assist that class, on such securities as 
 
 they could offer, would do much to accomplish 
 these objects. But all capital, hitherto, has been 
 exclusively in the hands of the West-India Body 
 in En-land, who generally are adverse not only 
 to raising the black people to the rank and con- 
 dition of settlers, but to the existence of indepen- 
 dent agriculturists, working on a small scale. 
 
 " Colonization on Christian principles, of in- 
 dependent agricultural settlers, could accomplish 
 much. If it were possible to direct some English 
 enterprise for such an object, it xvoidd, in my judg- 
 ment, accomplish more for the island than any 
 other measure that could be devised. 
 
 "Why do not our planters seek for labourers 
 from the refugees in Canada ? Why prefer un- 
 tutored savages to these intelligent, enterprising 
 men, many of whom are suffering grievously in 
 that inhospitable climate, and would be bettered 
 by removal to this country ? 
 
 "Spanish Town, Jamaica, 
 "February 9, 1858. 
 " I forward to you copies of a series of letters, 
 from the Transactions of the Society of Arts, 
 and of some lectures that were delivered in Au- 
 gust last, on the 1 Industrial Status of the Colony, ' 
 in which you will see the immigration schemes of 
 the colony exposed as profitless experiments, and 
 the state of the labour market pointed out as 
 amounting to no more in wages than the interest 
 of the sum the proprietors received in compen- 
 sation for their prsedial and non-praedial la- 
 bourers. 
 
 "Taking the following calculation as a proper 
 estimate of the distribution for sugar culture, 
 you will see that we have an available population 
 quite as extensive for staple agriculture as the ca- 
 pability of the colony in means. The census of 
 1844 gave us the amount of all inhabitants, of 
 every age, grade, and condition, at 377,000. 
 Now, dividing these into fifths, to ascertain the 
 distribution of relative ages for work, we find 
 75,000 the calculation for a levy en masse, giving 
 the number of effective male labourers; 75,000 
 the number of effective female labourers ; 75,000 
 the non-effective and aged ; 75,000 the young of 
 both sexes under tutelage ; and 75,000 the very 
 young, or infants. Then, admitting that the 
 sugar exports for Jamaica are steadily 30,000 
 hogsheads per annum, which are usually esti- 
 mated as exhibiting 30,000 effective labourers 
 consecutively employed in field tillage, it absorbs, 
 you will perceive, scarce a fifth of the 150,000 
 male and female population effective for hus- 
 bandry. Now, making as liberal allowance as 
 you may please for handicraft labour, and for 
 commercial and other pursuits, out of this 
 150,000 effective male and female labourers, you 
 will find that the plantations have very many 
 more people ready to work for wages than they 
 can employ. 
 
 "The profitless character of the schemes of 
 immigration hitherto attempted may be esti- 
 
6 
 
 mated by referring to a speech delivered by one 
 of the official organs in the Session of the Legis- 
 lature just closed. He stated, that in the last 
 ten years, that is, up to December 1856, 276,000Z. 
 had been expended in the importation of immi- 
 grants. This was money realized by taxation. 
 With this sum, 7000 persons might be considered 
 as thrown into the colony, within the ten years, 
 over and above the ordinary and stationary num- 
 ber of inhabitants. This, at an allowance of 11. 
 per annum for consumption of taxable commo- 
 dities for each, had replaced in the Treasury in 
 ten years 70,000Z. Now, this was made use of 
 as an argument for further expenditure, seeing 
 that we had spent 270,000Z., and replaced 7O,O00Z. 
 in the public Treasury. 
 
 "The immigration the colony really wants is 
 a body of small farmers. It has capabilities for 
 a million of additional inhabitants ; and the man- 
 ner in which these would augment the productive 
 Aalue of Jamaica, is fully explained in the 
 lecture on the '•Industrial Status of the Co- 
 lony.' 
 
 " The transactions of the Society of Arts will 
 shew you what has been sought to be done for, 
 extending the industry of the unemployed people 
 into new channels. You will hardly believe that 
 the House of Assembly, in the last Session, on the 
 very ground that the Society of Arts encouraged 
 labour otherwise than exclusively on the plantations 
 — though the plantations have not capital to em- 
 ploy them — withheld the Government grant 
 which has been annually made to it hitherto. If 
 you will look at Sir Erskine Perry's statements 
 respecting Ceylon, as contrasted with India, 
 which you will find at page 60 of the Papers now 
 sent you, you will see the character of the contest 
 the planters would hold with the Society of Arts 
 respecting the increase of small settlements. 
 
 "The letters on cotton culture and immi- 
 gration, to which I refer you, with the lecture, 
 have given special offence to the planters, espe- 
 cially for the quotation from the Edinburgh Re- 
 view, respecting our analogy with Puerto Rico, 
 as depicted by Colonel Flinters. You will see 
 the passage in Letter III., at page 66. This will 
 shew you what sort of spirit prevails in the colony 
 with reference to plantation interests exclu- 
 sively." 
 
 " S. Ths. ye Vale, Jamaica. 
 
 "February 20, 1858. 
 " Your circular of the 14th ult., relative to the 
 labour question as it affects the colonies, and 
 appending a series of queries on the subject, 
 reached me only the day before yesterday; in 
 consequence of which I was prevented acknow- 
 ledging and replying to it by last packet. Nor 
 am I certain that I can be of much assistance, 
 Beeing that you, no doubt, require facts based on 
 personal knowledge, and I am located in a dis- 
 trict cultivated chiefly by the labouring classes, 
 
 where of course the question of deficiency of 
 labour is seldom mooted. Still, however, as I 
 am willing to contribute my quota of informa- 
 tion, such as it is, I take up your first question, 
 and reply to it as follows : 
 
 " There can be little doubt that a ' real want 
 of labour' is experienced in the colony by pro- 
 prietors of estates generally, although there may 
 be, and no doubt is, an exception to the rule in 
 certain districts. The extent must be gathered 
 from the number of properties that have gone 
 out of cultivation, and the hundreds of thousands 
 of acres lying untilled. But the ' general causes' 
 for this unhappy state of things are more va- 
 rious than many will openly admit, and not so 
 much to the disadvantage of the late slaves as 
 this party contend. Labour, from many causes, 
 is deficient, but idleness of the lately emanci- 
 pated is not to be numbered among them. 
 
 " The following particulars must be regarded 
 as deeply affecting the question : 
 
 " Forty thousand of the labourers are sup- 
 posed to have died off in consequence of cholera 
 and small-pox. 
 
 " From the facility of obtaining land, a spirit of 
 independence, leading to the desire to obtain ; and 
 from the habit originating in a period of Slavery, 
 of every family's cultivating grounds, the great 
 body of the people are settled on their own lands, 
 bought or hired, and therefore labour for estates 
 but as occasion requires. 
 
 "As in other countries, managers are not 
 always judicious, and hence are not liked, and 
 find difficulty in obtaining labour. 
 
 "The usual rate of wages, Is. per diem — I 
 have heard of 9d. — for able-bodied labourers, 
 affords little inducement to exertion among a 
 people whose wants are few, and those wants 
 easily supplied by labour on their own places. I 
 am disposed to think the charge true, that the 
 people do not labour for others « with all their 
 might ;' but, perhaps, were wages raised with the 
 price of produce, this cause of complaint would 
 be removed, for it is also true that they are fond 
 of money ; while it is certainly not just to them 
 that, with high prices, no increase takes place in 
 their pay. It may be replied, that there is no 
 decrease with the fall of rates ; but certainly Is. 
 should be the minimum. This rate could not 
 clothe and feed a labourer ; the deficiency (say 
 rather the greater part) is made up from the 
 proceeds of his field. He should, therefore, not 
 be required to take less than Is. 
 
 " As I have said, it is not true that the la- 
 bourers are, as a body, idle. Every public tho- 
 roughfare in the island proves this, for these are 
 periodically crowded with them and their stock ; 
 the export of coffee maintained, in a great mea- 
 sure, by their cultivation of this berry ; the com- 
 parative little necessity for their purchasing 
 sugar, in consequence of manufacturing the 
 article at home; the supply of * ground pro- 
 
7 
 
 visions,' kept up entirely by them, I believe, 
 through the island; their occupation in various 
 trades, — all prove it. Certainly, in a country 
 where labour is entirely maintained by the 
 lately emancipated and their descendants, it is 
 the greatest folly and absurdity to term them 
 idle, as a body. 
 
 " But can one thrive on idleness ? Yet, if any 
 class of persons in the island is thriving, it is 
 this. Hence the number of small settlements 
 throughout the country ; hence their rivalling 
 the European in dress ; hence the number of 
 horses, asses, and mules which they possess; 
 hence their liberality on public occasions of 
 charity ; hence their being able at times to lend 
 their late owners money. 
 
 "My district, other districts adjoining, is 
 chiefly peopled by the labouring classes; and 
 no one could ride through it and say that the 
 people's temporal affairs are not prosperous : 
 here a cane-field, there a coffee-piece ; here a 
 plantain-walk, there a lot of yam-hills. True, 
 with greater artificial wants, they would be less 
 * comfortably' placed, but we take them as they 
 are. 
 
 " One of my congregation, formerly a slave, 
 lately purchased a horse for 30Z. Another party, 
 who occasionally attends church, through the 
 interest of a proprietor, obtained a coffee-pro- 
 perty, on lease and sale, not long ago. I had 
 occasion, some short time back, to open a sub- 
 scription list ; two individuals paid 20s. each, 
 and several 8s. and under. The people are pro- 
 gressing in wealth and comfort, which could not 
 happen were they idle. They are not all they 
 should be ; — what body of persons are ? But this 
 is not now the question ; and if it were, we have 
 no right to deal with the exception as if it were 
 the rule. 
 
 " The letter of 4 Expertus' in the Times, and the 
 remarks of that paper, as published in the Anti- 
 Slavery Reporter of the 1st of January, go 
 forcibly to prove that intellect is not virtue. 
 
 " It were well that, instead of these uncharitable 
 bickerings and complaints, parties would turn to 
 the true causes of the ruin of the colonies — pride, 
 and the worship of mammon of those who have 
 been long dominant. The first checks the growth 
 of friendly feeling, inducing other evils ; and the 
 latter perpetuates the greatest injustice. Pride 
 continues to uphold the doctrine, long exploded, 
 as we thought, of their being any inherent differ- 
 ence in the constitution of men ; and love of 
 mammon induced the very evils sought to be laid 
 at the doors of the emancipated. The desire to 
 have cheap sugar at any cost, and thus lessen 
 the burden on the pockets of consumers, induced 
 the great agent of the evil, the Sugar- Duty Act 
 of 1846, and not the idleness of the negro. ' No 
 hurricane, in its terrible consequence,' remarks a 
 late writer, ' was ever so disastrous to the colony 
 
 as the Act of the British Legislature in 1846 : to 
 that Act alone we may trace the rapid downfall 
 of Jamaica.' . . . The fiscal regulations of Eng- 
 land, which imposed a duty on the market value 
 of our products of nearly 100 per cent., was bad 
 enough, but, in the words of the Commissioners 
 of Guiana, who were commissioned to inquire 
 into the condition and prospects of that colony, 
 ' The Sugar Act of 1846 at once prostrated the 
 whole landed interest of the country, and has been 
 already, in 1850, the total ruin of many an 
 opulent proprietor. Names, the highest and 
 most influential, have followed one another in 
 the Gazette with ominous rapidity, and the 
 estates of men, formerly holding the first position 
 in the colony, have been successfully brought to 
 the hammer, and their owners absolutely beg- 
 gared.' Immediately after the passing of that 
 Bill, sugar fell below 50 per cent., depression be- 
 came permanent, and, within three years, no less 
 than fifty-six sugar estates in Trinidad were 
 either wholly or in part abandoned. Lord Harris, 
 writing to the Home Government of the distress 
 of the planters in 1840, says, * Since the passing 
 of the Sugar Bill, equalizing the duties on free 
 and slave sugar, and admitting slave-grown 
 sugar, on equal terms with our sugar, into the 
 home-markets, nineteen planters have gone 
 through the Insolvent Court ; their liabilities 
 amount to 370,000Z. ; the average dividend paid 
 is three-pence three-farthings in the pound.' 
 May we ask, Was either ' Expertus' or the Times 
 in any way instrumental to the passing of the 
 Sugar-Duty Act of 1846 ?" 
 
 "May Hill, Jamaica. 
 " 20th February, 1857. 
 
 " The articles you refer to as having appeared 
 in the Times had not escaped my notice; I 
 read them with great indignation. So far as 
 they refer to the emancipated class in this is- 
 land generally, they contain gross falsehoods, 
 and the vilest slanders ; indeed, some of the 
 observations on the superiority of Asiatics to the 
 negro labourers, could not be read in this island 
 without provoking ridicule at the gross ignorance 
 of the malicious slanderer of a people who as yet 
 are, in general, so imperfectly educated as to be 
 unable to defend themselves with the pen. 
 
 "I have been thirteen years in Jamaica. 
 During the whole of that period I have resided 
 in the Manchester mountains, about sixty miles 
 from Kingston. This parish contains chiefly 
 coffee properties, pimento walks, and farms. 
 Sugar is cultivated to no extent in the parish. I 
 have laboured for these thirteen years almost 
 exclusively among the black and coloured people. 
 When I came to Manchester I found many 
 properties abandoned, and others in the course 
 of being abandoned ; but had Slavery continued, 
 
8 
 
 these estates would have shared the same fate. 
 Emancipation was not the cause of the aban- 
 donment. I found the rate of wages miserably- 
 small, and a combination existing among the 
 planters and employers to keep the wages at a 
 uniformly low rate. I found not sufficient de- 
 mand existing for available labour, and the 
 people accordingly were in the way of purchasing 
 and to cultivate on their own account. There 
 is now a very large number of independent 
 freeholders in Manchester. In the course of 
 these thirteen years there has been an obvious 
 improvement in the social, moral, and religious 
 condition of the people generally. Idlers we 
 have — unprincipled and bad people we have — 
 but they form a small minority of the popula- 
 tion. And I believe that as much coffee is sent 
 out of Manchester now, by these small freeholders, 
 as in the palmy days of Slavery used to be sent 
 from the large estates. 
 
 " Nothing has been done by our local govern- 
 ment for the elevation of the people. A con- 
 temptible driblet is voted for education, which 
 the Presbyterians scorn to accept. All that has 
 been done for the people has been chiefly 
 through the voluntary liberality of Missionary 
 societies and benevolent friends of freedom in 
 Britain. A few, a very few, ministers of the 
 Established Church deserve commendation for 
 their zeal. But while licences to keep grog-shops 
 are given out by all the vestries with shameful 
 indiscrimination — while horse-racing is patro- 
 nised — and nothing done to discountenance 
 dancing booths and night revelings, the influ- 
 ential residents in the island, who are always 
 the readiest to slander the negroes, are those 
 who do least for their physical and moral eleva- 
 tion. 
 
 " I am scarcely in a position to answer the 
 questions in your circular, but shall note a few 
 things down bearing on them though not directly 
 in reply to them : — 
 
 " 1st & 2d. There are great falsehoods pub- 
 lished about the decrease of our population. 
 There has been no census taken for more than fif- 
 teen years. I believe that since that time there 
 has been an increase of the population by one 
 half. I take Manchester as a sample of the 
 island — and beyond all question our population is 
 increasing rapidly. I have not the smallest doubt 
 that by 1868 there will be double the black peo- 
 ple in the island that there were on 1st August, 
 1838. A few cases of child-murder have been 
 suspectcd,xd,t\\QY than proved as existing in Kings- 
 ton ; and in their usual lying style the pro-Slavery 
 prints assert that infanticide prevails all over the 
 island — that there is a consequent fearful 
 decrease of population — and that this, along 
 with the want of sanitary measures and medical 
 attendance, is telling fearfully on our population. 
 All gross falsehoods — unscrupulous lies. 
 
 " No planter here in Manchester has the least 
 difficulty in getting his crop gathered in, and 
 some I know of have been obliged to refus 
 application for labour. When it is not crop- 
 time, 9'i. a day is the wage given ; and several 
 large proprietors now pay by the day, i. e. at 
 least eight hours' work ; nay, this very week I find 
 the wage reduced from 9d. to7gC?. per day on the 
 very property adjoining my residence. During 
 the picking of the coffee and pimento, it is pos- 
 sible for an expert picker to make Is. Gd. per day, 
 but with difficulty. For labour on the high roads 
 only Is. a day is paid; and it is scarcely possible 
 to make more than 9c?. a day for unskilled 
 labour in this parish all the year over. There 
 are quite enough of labourers here, to work at this 
 rate, or to work from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. for their 
 miserable two bitts !* Those employers who pay- 
 regularly, who speak kindly to the people, and 
 don't cheat them, have never cause to complain 
 of want of hands ; and, beyond a doubt, many of 
 them can carry on cultivation here, at a less 
 cost now than they could before emancipation. 
 
 " I know a large number of our small free- 
 holders who are ready to give regularly four days 
 a week to properties, if they got an adequate 
 wage fairly paid, and who, even as it is, submit 
 to the small wage doled out for their labour. 
 I know many labourers, who because the demand 
 for labour is so irregular, and because the 
 value of labour is so low, prefer renting land at 
 20s. per acre, and raising provisions for the 
 market, whose labour would be available were 
 there a steady demand and adequate reuumera- 
 tion for it. Why, much as our people dislike 
 the ocean, they went in scores from Jamaica to 
 the isthmus to labour on the railroad, when a 
 tempting wage was within their reach ! Since I 
 came to Manchester, too, many were wont to go 
 down from our mountains to Vere,to labour on the 
 sugar properties, when there was as much as 
 Is. 9d. or 2s. a day to be made. They went 
 down there though the accommodation at night 
 was such as might have suited cattle, but not 
 respectable people who had any sense of decency. 
 Truly it becomes these hirelings of the press, 
 whose employers treat the negroes like beasts, to 
 speak to them as if they icere beasts, and not as 
 capable of as high elevation, if not higher than 
 themselves. 
 
 3d to 9th. " I am not in circumstances to 
 answer these questions ; but I may add a few 
 words about the black people generally. 
 
 " The great majority of the people in Man- 
 chester are commendably industrious. They 
 are making evident progress in civilization. 
 Their houses are more comfortable, and, though 
 not all we could desire, better furnished than 
 formerly. They are a church-going people. I have 
 
 *, A bitt is equal to 4c/. sterling. — Ed. 
 
9 
 
 every Lord's-day a regular attendance of about 
 600 adults, and 200 children in the gallery of the 
 chapel. They come neatly and decently dressed ; 
 three out of the five adults can read their 
 Bible, and refer readily to the texts quoted. Al- 
 though I have only 250 members, they raise about 
 200/. yearly for the support and spread of the gos- 
 pel, and they employ one of our elders, once a slave, 
 a self-educated man, as a Bible-reader and Home 
 Missionary in the settlements around us. We 
 have above 350 old and young in our Sabbath- 
 school. In our Week-day-school 150 are in 
 daily attendance. Several of our people read 
 from the Church Library. I distribute 100 
 copies of the Child's Paper each month in the 
 congregation. I have a considerable number 
 who read the newspapers, and I cannot describe 
 the indignation they expressed on reading and 
 hearing of such articles in the Times> as you 
 refer to. 
 
 "Perhaps it might do good to mention one 
 or two instances of grateful and generous feeling 
 on the part of my people, which go a great way 
 to cover with shame their base and unprincipled 
 detractors : — 
 
 " About eight years ago the widowed daughter 
 of the admirable Missionary who preceded me at 
 X ew Broughton paid us a visit. Well, these much- 
 slandered black people spontaneously resolved to 
 make her a present ; and in testimony of their 
 love for her father's memory, and of gratitude 
 for her own labours among them during the 
 apprenticeship era, they raised and presented her 
 with the handsome sum of 252. All this in 
 addition to their own ordinary contributions. 
 
 He's a false-hearted knave— scarce worth his 
 food; 
 
 His master says, 1 He has no gratitude !' 
 
 "No: none for stripes and chains, I trow. But 
 I bear them record that more deep, tender, and 
 warm affection I never saw in a congregation of 
 whites. 
 
 " The same pagans and savages, at a cost of 
 20Z , erected a marble tablet to the memory of 
 their first minister. 
 
 " The same brutifled people, on the occasion 
 of the centenary of the Rev. Dr. Brown, of 
 Edinburgh, entirely unmoved by me. subscribed 
 10Z. to purchase a piece of plate in token of their 
 love and gratitude to the senior pastor of the 
 mother church. 
 
 " Ay, the same animals— so incapable of all 
 elevation — on the occasion of my little boy 
 leaving Jamaica for Scotland for his education, 
 met together, composed and presented to me 
 a most touching and sympathizing address, and 
 begged my acceptance of two doubloons as a 
 present for my son, who, being born, baptized, 
 and brought up among them, they claimed 
 as a brother. And observe that, on the very 
 w eek in which this was done, this same people 
 subscribed 15Z. to send along with a dear brother 
 
 of mine who, after labouring four years in Jamaica, 
 was on his way to labour in their fatherland at 
 Old Calabar : they wanted this 15/. to be applied 
 to the translating of God's blessed Word into the 
 language of the people there. Had these slan- 
 derers of this people been present when this 
 collection was made, and heard the addresses of 
 these black elders of mine, they might have 
 gnashed with their teeth, if they were not over- 
 whelmed with shame and confusion. 
 
 "Much remains to be done for our black 
 brethren. Blessed be God, much is doing 
 in Jamaica. I am alive to the importance of 
 this crisis. I never more felt the importance of 
 our work in Jamaica than after spending a 
 few months in the United States last year. 
 Verily, we and our people here are a spectacle to 
 the world, and to angels, and to men. Although 
 we make little stir, we are not the less earnestly 
 doing our best (by our efforts to elevate and 
 Christianize our people; to put to silence the 
 ignorance of foolish men. 
 
 "The Presbyterian body have upwards of 20 
 stations in the island; we have no pluralities — 
 one agent at each station. We have J 6 Euro- 
 pean agents, the most of them young men — ac- 
 complished, thoroughly educated men — men of 
 great talent and energy some of them, and whose 
 hearts are entirely in the cause of Anglo- Ethiopia 
 and Africa. We have one of the best academies 
 in the island, at which our promising boys re- 
 ceive a classical and mathematical education, 
 and we have black lads there that would make no 
 disreputable figure at Mill Hill or at Eton. We 
 have an accomplished theological tutor, who is 
 preparing for the holy ministry the lads that 
 have approved themselves at the academy, and 
 then as teachers at our school. I had the pleasure, 
 four weeks ago, of listening to one of these black 
 students from my own pulpit. He preached to a 
 very large congregation, in a way that gives much 
 promise of future usefulness ;— a lad who is now 
 teaching a school most creditably, whose father 
 and mother were both Africans, and who himself 
 was born a slave. We can ' thank God and take 
 courage.' " 
 
 Rio Bueno, Jamaica, 
 
 February 22, 1858. 
 " I. I cannot from personal knowledge speak 
 of the colony generally, but respecting the dis- 
 trict in which I reside I can answer unhesita- 
 tingly in the negative. This district comprises a 
 considerable number of large and flourishing 
 estates. My knowledge of it extends along the 
 sea-side from the Rio Bueno to within a short 
 distance of the Martha Bra— about fifteen miles* 
 Among the estates included, I may name the fol- 
 lowing : Bengal, Bryan Castle, Brampton Bryan, 
 Lisworney, Hopewell, Nightingale Grove, Ar- 
 cadia, Georgia, Friendship, Swaurick, Vale Royal, 
 Braco, Lancaster, Harmony Hall, and Spring. 
 
10 
 
 The largest proprietor and attorney connected 
 with these has more than once assured me that 
 he can get as much labour as he requires ; and, 
 even in the worst times, every one of his pro- 
 perties is known to have been remunerative ; 
 while, under his efficient management, estates 
 that had been a loss to their owners have yielded 
 a fair return. 
 
 " II. The wages of field labourers in this dis- 
 trict are from Is. to Is. 6d. per day ; but, in some 
 occupations, and at some seasons, I am informed 
 that a few men may earn even more. Mechanics 
 on estates earn 2s. ; old people and children from 
 6d. to 9c?. I believe the -wages are generally paid 
 with regularity. It has been stated to me, on 
 good authority, that the before-named gentleman 
 makes it a rule instantly to discharge any over- 
 seer who neglects to pay the labourers every 
 Friday evening. 
 
 " Questions III to VII unable to answer, 
 
 " VIII. I do not know ; but I have travelled over 
 a large portion of the island, and on very few 
 estates have observed either Coolies or Chinese, 
 and these have borne a very small proportion to 
 the number of native labourers. It appears to 
 me that the Coolies mostly leave estate labour to 
 become pedlars, while a large number of the 
 Chinese become vagrants. 
 
 "IX. I have met with some instances in which 
 the effect, both of Coolie and African immigrants, 
 has been most injurious to the morals of the 
 community ; and have had reason to think that 
 these instances are illustrative of general facts. 
 In the investigation of a quarrel between several 
 young girls upon a neighbouring property, it 
 came out that Coolie pedlars were in the habit of 
 offering articles of female dress as bribes to prosti- 
 tution. And there can be no doubt that Africans 
 have wrought a fearful amount of mischief, by 
 the introduction of Obeah superstition. 
 
 "On the whole, I may state my conviction 
 that, while free immigration, accompanied by ca- 
 pital and enterprise with which to bring under 
 cultivation immense tracts of the richest land 
 now lying waste, would be a great blessing to the 
 Country, our present population is fully equal to 
 the amount of capital and enterprise at present 
 to be found in the colony ; and that the only effect 
 of any immigration scheme will be, if successful, 
 to reduce the wages of native labourers, while it 
 taxes them for the expenses it will incur. 
 
 "Brown's Town, Jamaica, Feb. 22, 1858. 
 " I have made extensive inquiries of trust- 
 worthy persons, residing in nearly all parts of 
 the island, but cannot ascertain that there is 
 anywhere a deficiency of labour ; in fact, in most 
 places, there seems to be a superabundant supply, 
 so that if immigrants come they will necessarily 
 displace the native labourer ; while, to my cer- 
 tain knowledge, there are large numbers of people 
 who would gladly work on the estates if their 
 
 services were required, and they were paid re- 
 munerating wages. 
 
 " Until two days ago I could not get a sight 
 of the Immigration Bill passed by our House of 
 Assembly in the last Session, and then only as a 
 loan, but I shall write to a friend in town and 
 beg him to get a copy, at any trouble or expense, 
 to send you by packet ; and when you see it, you 
 will be convinced that the manner in which 
 it has been smuggled through the House of As- 
 sembly, without a debate (at least none were re- 
 ported in the papers) , and without ai'ording the 
 public the least opportunity of obtaining a know- 
 ledge of its contents, was a part of the secret 
 system of the West-India body, referred to by 
 you, to re-establish the Slave-trade and Slavery, 
 under the name of free immigration. You, and 
 the Anti-Slavery Society, will, I know, do all 
 that can be done to prevent it receiving the Royal 
 Assent."* 
 
 " Mandeville P. 0. Jamaica, 
 
 "February 23, 1858. 
 Every scheme of immigration, as far as I 
 have been able to judge, has been useless to the 
 planter, and an unmitigated evil both to the im- 
 migrants themselves, and to the agricultural 
 labourers of this country. 
 
 " The Jamaica Immigration Bill of last session 
 seems to have passed unobserved by the friends 
 of freedom here. They are now, however, on the 
 alert, and preparing for united action on the 
 subject." 
 
 " Stewart Town, February 23, 1858. 
 " You wish to know if I have seen the article 
 put forth in the Times respecting the negroes in 
 Jamaica. I have not seen the article, but I have 
 seen this sentence quoted from it in some of the 
 island papers, namely, 'That the negroes are 
 lazy, grovelling, sensual, degraded wretches.' 
 That there are many, very many persons in this 
 country that will answer to the above description 
 is too painfully true; but that the terms em- 
 ployed are peculiarly applicable to the black men 
 in Jamaica I deny. The Colonial Standard, the 
 leading journal of the planters, says, 'The terms 
 are much too strong.' And I will, for your in- 
 formation, copy one or two sentences from an ar- 
 ticle in that paper on the letter above referred 
 to. ' We doubt,' says the editor, ' whether any 
 number of farm labourers taken from Devon, 
 Wilts, Dorset, Somersetshire, or Gloucestershire, 
 hard as they labour there, at wages smaller than 
 any really industrious negro may earn in this 
 country, would do more work, had they the same 
 impunity from labour.' I have no doubt there 
 may be some localities in which there may be a 
 
 * We are happy to announce, that since the 
 above was in type the Bill has been disallowed. 
 —Ed. 
 
11 
 
 want of agricultural labourers, but T cannot tell 
 where they are, certainly not in St. Ann's, Tre- 
 lawney, or St. James*. I am acquainted with 
 six or seven proprietors and attorneys, who repre- 
 sent more than twenty of the largest sugar estates 
 on the north side of the island, and they say they 
 have no difficulty in commanding labour; and 
 the reason is, the people are regularly paid. The 
 only sugar estates in the vicinity of Stewart 
 Town pay the people very irregularly, and the 
 planter is constantly disputing with the people, 
 and their wages kept back for three and four 
 weeks together. I believe, in nine cases out 
 of ten, where there is a complaint against the 
 people that they will not work, it arises from this 
 cause. 
 
 " That there are many lazy black men in Ja- 
 maica is quite true, and there ' are many lazy 
 white men here too. "We have some industrious 
 black men also. I will give you one or two in- 
 stances, from my own congregation. H. W. 
 is a black man who purchased his own freedom, 
 and after that he bought the freedom of his wife. 
 He now possesses a property consisting of 150 
 acres of land, 100 acres of which he has pur- 
 chased within the last two years, and is now pay- 
 ing for it from the produce of this same land, 
 which he cultivates. He has also from ten to 
 twenty head of cattle, and makes two or three 
 tierces of coffee every year. E. S. is a black 
 man, who possesses a coffee and pimento pro- 
 perty, and five or six cottages, besides a large 
 store or shop, all the result of his own industry. 
 And hundreds of facts similar to these might be 
 given to shew that the negroes, as a class, are 
 | not lazy. 
 
 " I only wish I could speak as favourably of 
 them in other respects. My experience of the 
 last three years has brought me to the painful 
 conclusion that large numbers, that once bid fair 
 for the kingdom of heaven, have gone back to 
 the world; and many of the children of these 
 professing Christians are becoming a moral pest 
 to the community. 
 
 " But one can hardly wonder at it, when they 
 had such evil examples set them by their su- 
 periors ; the wonder is that they are not worse. 
 Our magistrates, legislators, merchants, and 
 planters are the abettors of uncleanness and dis- 
 honesty, with very few honourable exceptions. 
 They do nothing, as a class, for the moral, social, 
 and religious improvement of the black people: 
 all they seem to care for is, the building up of 
 their fortunes in the shortest possible time, 
 without any regard to the principle of equity, and 
 then to retire and enjoy them. Under such un- 
 favourable circumstances the wonder is that any 
 have improved, and not that they have not im- 
 proved more." 
 
 " Brown's Town, Jamaica, 
 
 " February 25, 1857. 
 " You have heard, I trust, before this reaches 
 
 you, respecting the Immigration Bill which was 
 framed by the legislature during its last session. 
 I cannot procure a copy of it, either for 
 myself, or to send you, but hope Mr. — has 
 obtained one, or has given you an abstract 
 of it. It would re-establish Slavery in our midst, 
 under a new name, and seems, both in its 
 character and in the manner in which it was 
 smuggled through the Assembly and Council, 
 to be part and parcel of the scheme which 
 you say the West-India body have been work- 
 ing secretly and with all their might. 
 
 " The proprietors of estates number less than 
 200, and many of these are opposed to immigra- 
 tion. Is it right to sacrifice the interests of a 
 whole people, and inflict fearful injuries on others, 
 to enrich them ? Could nothing be done to in- 
 duce the Government to issue a Commission, to 
 inquire into the Labour Question, and the 
 results of emancipation ? I should have no fear 
 of the result. It would be proved to demonstra- 
 tion that there is at the present time a super- 
 abundance of labour in the island, for the estates 
 that are at work ; and that, so far from the ne- 
 groes being sunk into barbarism, they have, as a 
 people, made wonderful progress since emanci- 
 pation. 
 
 REPLY TO QUERIES. 
 
 " 1. I have made diligent inquiries, personally 
 and by correspondence, of gentlemen of character 
 and influence residing in various parts of the 
 island, but cannot learn that there is anywhere a 
 paucity of labour. 
 
 " There may be a few estates, inadequately 
 supplied ; but if inquiries were instituted, it would, 
 I think, invariably be found that the deficiency 
 arises from other causes than the want of labour. 
 In some places I understand wages are irregularly 
 paid ; in others the labourers complain, whether 
 justly or not I cannot tell, of being cheated ; in 
 others they are not treated with common decency : 
 men and women, boys and girls, coming from a 
 distance to work, having no accommodation pro- 
 vided for them, are compelled to herd together in 
 any empty building on the estates, insomuch that 
 decent people will not go themselves, and are 
 afraid to allow their children to go to work at a 
 distance from home, because of the degrading and 
 corrupting influences to which they will be ex- 
 posed. 
 
 " As regards this neighbourhood, I can speak 
 from personal knowledge. So far from there 
 being any want of labour, the supply exceeds the 
 demand. Even during the last pimento -crop, 
 the largest ever known, there was an abundance 
 of labour. During its brief continuance good 
 wages were paid, and the people poured down 
 from the mountains to the lowlands in multitudes 
 to get employment. They worked early and late : 
 they sacrificed ease, comfort, health, and in 
 several cases life itself, to make money. Indi- 
 viduals earned 3s. and 4s., and some it is said 5s. 
 
12 
 
 or 6s. a day, doing two days' work in one. Now, 
 I know that these high wages cannot be paid at 
 all times, or for all kinds of labour ; that the pi- 
 mento-crop must be quickly gathered in, or it is 
 lost, and as it (before the late depression in the 
 market) fetches a good price, good wages could 
 be well afforded; but this fact is proved — that 
 the people will not only work, but work with 
 energy, rapidity, and for prolonged hours, when 
 well remunerated. 
 
 " Frequently I hear of labourers going to the 
 estates to seek for work at Is. and Is. 3d. per day, 
 and are unable to obtain it. Consequently they are 
 compelled to work their own grounds, if they 
 have any — if not, to be idle. 
 
 "2. Within the last eight or nine months 
 better wages have been paid on the estates. Most 
 of the work is done by job, and industrious per- 
 sons earn Is. 3d. and Is: 6d., and in the boiling- 
 houses, where they have to work until a late 
 hour at night, 2s. per day ; but of course the 
 number of persons earning the latter sum is very 
 small. For cane-cleansing, however, only Is. is 
 paid to able hands, and 6c?. and 9d. to children 
 and young people — a very inadequate remunera- 
 tion.* 
 
 " The improvement in wages has, however, 
 been accompanied by a rise in the price of all the 
 necessaries of life ; so that the people complain of 
 the difficulty of living, almost as much as when 
 they could not get more than Is. a day. If, how- 
 ever, provisions and clothing fall to their ordinary 
 price, and they can earn Is. 6c/. a day, they will 
 be better off than for several years past. 
 
 "No fact can, I am persuaded, be better esta- 
 blished than this— that when the people are 
 kindly treated, and fairly paid, the planters can 
 get all the labour they require. If, therefore, 
 more immigrants arc introduced, the native 
 labourers will be supplanted, unless cultivation 
 be greatly extended. 
 
 " 3 to 7- I regret to say that I have not suc- 
 ceeded in obtaining replies to these questions. 
 
 " 8. Very few immigrants have been brought 
 into this neighbourhood except Europeans, some 
 seventeen or eighteen years ago, nearly all of 
 whom died soon after they landed. 
 
 " Nearly all the surviving Coolies, I understand, 
 have abandoned the estates, and have either re- 
 turned to India, or are employed as pedlers. Ex- 
 cept on a very few estates, I cannot hear that 
 the Chinese are anywhere employed — many of 
 them have become vagrants and thieves. Native 
 labourers are everywhere preferred. There is, I 
 believe, no difference of opinion in this island as 
 to the fact that European, Chinese, and Coolie 
 immigrations have been failures. The mortality 
 
 * Keeping down wages, for any kind of 
 labour, to 9c?. and Is. a day is injurious to 
 all parties. The people think they are under- 
 paid, and many of them, instead of being stimu- 
 lated to industry, do as little work as possible. 
 
 amongst the immigrants has been fearful ; 
 vagrancy and immorality have been increased; 
 scarcely any additional labour has been obtained, 
 while the island has been almost ruined by debt 
 and increased taxation, literally to take the 
 bread out of the mouths of the emancipated 
 peasantry. 
 
 " The great cry is for African immigration ; 
 and if Africans could be honestly obtained, they 
 would, no doubt, make as good labourers, but cer- 
 tainly not better, than our native peasantry. 
 Yet the introduction of the few who have been 
 brought' has not been without a serious draw- 
 back — the revival of Obeahism, which has spread 
 throughout the island. 
 
 "The only. place from whence negro labour 
 can be obtained is Bermuda. But our planters 
 have no wish to avail themselves of the market 
 open to them there. The reason is obvious : it 
 may be found in the Immigration Act." 
 
 " St. Ann's Bay, Jamaica. 
 
 " February 25, 1858. 
 " By the last mail I duly received your letter 
 of January 14, on "The Labour Question," and 
 am not surprised to learn that the West-India 
 Body is anxious to introduce labourers into these 
 colonies en masse. A variety of concurrent cir- 
 cumstances have shewn that we ought not to be 
 unprepared for this move. To suppose, however, 
 that labour, and labour alone, is all that is needed 
 to remove" ' all local and other evils,' is sheer 
 folly, and, if tried, will result in disappointment 
 and loss. A sufficient supply of good labour is, 
 of course, absolutely necessary to carry on culti- 
 vation ; but that being obtained, there are many 
 other things needed as equally essential to suc- 
 cessful and remunerative cultivation. 
 
 " The question, ' Is there sufficient available 
 labour in Jamaica to carry on cultivation?' is 
 one on which I fear you will'find great diversity 
 of opinion ; some parties contending strongly that 
 there is no lack of labour, and others that there 
 is a great lack. But 1 had better, perhaps, take 
 your queries seriatim. 
 
 "1. 'Is there any want of labour in your co- 
 lony, and, if so, to what extent, and to what 
 general causes is it to be ascribed?' In reply, 
 I may say that I do not feel myself in a position 
 to speak on this subject with reference to the 
 whole island. In some localities I believe labour 
 is more abundant than in others. In my own 
 district, extending from Landovery in St. Ann's, 
 to, say, White River (the line of St. Mary's), 
 embracing about thirteen miles in length, the 
 labour supply is, I believe, at times precarious. 
 Sometimes hands to get work will be early at the 
 estate to be the first, and to secure work ; and 
 both last and this year I have known times when 
 labourers have been turned away from estates 
 because there was no work, or too many hands 
 to do the work. At other seasons, again, planters 
 
13 
 
 have a difficulty to get hands enough, and would 
 be thankful for more. The seasons which favour 
 the planter, and make him anxious to get hands 
 at a push, are equally favourable to the peasant, 
 ■who is equally anxious to attend to his grounds, 
 on the proper and extensive cultivation of which 
 very much depends the supply of our breadkind 
 (equal to your potatoes) . Another season when 
 planters in this district feel the want of labour is 
 the pimento season, when the people generally 
 attend to the picking of the allspice, by which 
 they can earn better wages with less labour and 
 trouble. When the pimento crop is very abundant, 
 then the labour supply is no doubt inadequate. 
 Last year we had on the lowlands an unusually 
 large crop. Hundreds of mountain people came 
 down to help pick, and yet hundreds of 
 barrels of pimento were lost for want of hands 
 to pick it in time ; for, if not taken in within 
 a certain time, the berry spoils, and is useless. 
 These two causes, I believe, are the chief here 
 which affect the labour market. If proper pro- 
 vision were made on estates to receive people 
 from the mountains, and sufficient inducements 
 held out to them, I believe a large number would 
 come down to labour ; but even then the two causes 
 I have referred to would still influence the market. 
 
 "2. 'Are the native labourers fairly remune- 
 rated for their labour on the estates, aud are 
 their wages regularly and punctually paid V Ge- 
 nerally speaking, I believe the labourers are 
 fairly remunerated, and their wages are regu- 
 Return of Coolie Labour, and 
 
 larly paid on estates every Friday evening, on 
 pens, when job-work is properly finished. 
 
 "3. 'What number of immigrants has been 
 introduced in your colony since emancipation, 
 and where did they come from principally?' 
 From 1834 to 1843 there were introduced 2685 
 immigrants from Great Britain, and 1038 from 
 Germany ; in all, 3723. Since then few Euro- 
 peans or white Americans have been imported. 
 The total number of immigrants from Africa, 
 from 1834 to 1846, was 2784. I have not at 
 present any documents to ascertain correctly 
 the number since 1846 imported from Africa, 
 but I believe it is very small. The number of 
 Coolies I cannot now give. No doubt others will 
 supply this information. If by next packet I can 
 obtain particulars, I will send them. 
 
 "4. 'What number of immigrants have re- 
 turned V Cannot state number exactly. Most 
 of the Europeans died not long after they arrived. 
 Some of the Coolies returned to India, but 
 I think very few. As a general reply to this 
 question, I should say not many have returned. 
 
 " 5. ' What number have died in the colony, &c.?' 
 Cannot tell. Most of the Europeans, but I have 
 not heard of any particular number of deaths 
 among the Coolies or the Africans. 
 
 "6. ' What wages have they been in the habit 
 receiving?' I think, the usual wages. But the 
 following return, so far as Coolie labour goes, will 
 shew its cost. 
 
 Expenditure connected therewith* 
 
 
 
 
 No. 
 
 above 
 
 days, 
 week 
 i. 
 
 u 
 
 OA 
 
 >> to 
 
 t by 
 lies. 
 
 o 
 
 +r a 
 
 Total Expendi- 
 ture incurred on 
 
 
 
 
 o years. 
 
 
 
 28 
 
 o § 
 
 o M 
 
 account of Coo- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 S ■« ^ 
 
 
 K <4-l 
 
 -2 
 
 « "35 
 
 lies, including 
 wages,alIowance, 
 
 No. 
 
 Place. 
 
 
 
 
 
 £° 
 
 
 OJ o « 
 
 
 
 
 Female 
 
 Male. 
 
 No. of w. 
 at 0 day: 
 from 
 
 o. of d 
 actual 
 
 o. of d; 
 ckness 
 
 o a 
 ll 
 
 o - « 
 • 60 
 
 SS § 
 
 tax, medical at- 
 tendance.but ex- 
 cluding expense 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 of erecting house. 
 
 
 New Paradise . . > 
 
 
 34 
 
 4 
 
 6675 
 
 2924 
 
 2832 
 
 295 
 
 624 
 
 333 18 4 
 
 
 Alexandria . . . 
 
 
 35 
 
 4 
 
 6084 
 
 35034 
 
 22844 
 
 140 
 
 156 
 
 280 0 6 
 
 
 Argyle .... 
 
 o 
 
 38 
 
 8 
 
 5858 
 
 3345 
 
 1131 
 
 78 
 
 1296 
 
 2s2 15 9 
 
 
 Pell River . . . 
 
 
 23 
 
 6 
 
 5070 
 
 2262 
 
 2798 
 
 10 
 
 
 278 14 8 
 
 
 Georgia .... 
 
 • 2 
 
 25 
 
 8 
 
 5667 
 
 20334 
 
 2050 
 
 679 
 
 9044 
 
 231 5 11 
 
 
 Saxham .... 
 
 O 
 
 12 
 
 9 
 
 3664 
 
 29494 
 
 339 
 
 217 
 
 1584 
 
 184 15 7 
 
 
 
 'arisl 
 
 18 
 
 3 
 
 3815 
 
 1476 
 
 1362 
 
 550 
 
 427 
 
 188 7 84 
 
 
 Content .... 
 
 25 
 
 2 
 
 4731 
 
 3804 
 
 578 
 
 22 
 
 327 
 
 252 12 54 
 
 
 Chester Castle . . - 
 
 
 35 
 
 2 
 
 6176 
 
 4301 
 
 808 
 
 653 
 
 414 
 
 403 13 6 
 
 
 
 
 25 
 
 2 
 
 4731 
 
 3804 
 
 578 
 
 22 
 
 327 
 
 252 12 54 
 
 
 Friendship and Greenwich 
 
 35 
 
 3 
 
 6196 
 
 2800 
 
 821 
 
 2400 
 
 169 
 
 392 10 94 
 
 
 Meyersfield . . 0 
 
 
 37 
 
 3 
 
 6924 
 
 4981 
 
 1629 
 
 120 
 
 194 
 
 382 10 6 
 
 
 New Hope . . . 
 
 
 21 
 
 3 
 
 3319 
 
 19734 
 
 10414 
 
 30 
 
 2754 
 
 161 17 7 
 
 
 
 
 25 
 
 3 
 
 4667 
 
 2386 
 
 1338 
 
 641 
 
 302 
 
 2!8 19 9 
 
 
 
 
 28 
 
 10 
 
 
 2078' 
 
 
 3106 
 
 .. 
 
 185 0 0 
 
 
 Mesopotamia . . 
 
 
 36 
 
 3 
 
 5616 
 
 3973 
 
 1411 
 
 175 
 
 57 
 
 310 3 8 
 
 
 
 
 19 
 
 1 
 
 1720 
 
 1279 
 
 426 
 
 
 
 115 14 4 
 
 | Whitehall . . . 
 
 
 24 
 
 4 
 
 90 
 
 57 
 
 33 
 
 
 i : 5 
 
 138 14 5 
 
 * A calculation, based on this return, shews that immigrant labour costs a fraction above Is. \0d. 
 a-day, exclusive of lodging. Setting the latter at the rate of only 2d. a-day, we may fairly estimate 
 that the planter pays 2s. a-day for Coolie labour. — Ed. 
 
14 
 
 " I could go on quoting other returns, but the 
 above will shew how matters stand as to the pro- 
 portion of the sexes, the proportion of days given 
 in lost, and lost by sickness or absence, and the 
 wages, or cost of maintenance. 
 
 " 7. ' Average cost of an immigrant, inclusive 
 of his passage to the colony and back?' Am not 
 aware. 
 
 "8. 'What proportion of immigrants have 
 worked on the estates V Do not know ; but 
 many of the Coolies have become pedlars, and 
 have supplanted the Creole pedlars. They are 
 good hands in buying and selling. 
 
 " 9. ' "What effect has their introduction had on 
 the labouring population ?' 
 
 " 1. ' Has it reduced the rate of wages ?' Not 
 in this district. 
 
 "2. 'Has it forced the native labourers to 
 seek occupation on their own grounds V No. 
 Indeed the number of immigrants imported has 
 not been sufficient for this. If immigrants came 
 en masse, the effect no doubt' would be to do axe ay 
 with Creole labour, which would then be either 
 lost to the community, or spent on the provision 
 ground. 
 
 " 3. * Has it affected the morals of the people ?' 
 I have heard that in some places it has, but the 
 number of immigrants in this neighbourhood is 
 so small as not to exert any serious and evil 
 influence. 
 
 " Whatever might be my views as to the ne- 
 cessity or otherwise of immigration, the Act 
 21 Vict. c. 5. contains several clauses which are 
 very objectionable.* The immigrant is not at 
 liberty to choose his master : the Immigration 
 Agent-General has the apportioning of them. 
 The indenture is to last five years, unless special 
 contract for three years was agreed upon be- 
 fore embarkation. On sale or transfer of pro- 
 perty to another owner, the immigrants to be 
 transferred to new owner, unless the original 
 contractor remove them to other properties be- 
 longing to him. No immigrant may leave estate 
 during working hours without written permission, 
 and may be apprehended without warrant ; and 
 at no time, except Sundays and holidays may he 
 go beyond five miles from estate without ticket 
 of leave: when so found, may be apprehended 
 without warrant, and committed to prison. The 
 Governor may fix on any place from which im- 
 migration may be carried on. This scheme may 
 be worked so as to produce a state of Russian 
 serfdom ; and if Africans are brought from a 
 slave country, we shall have a sort of semi- 
 slavery. 
 
 " Some of the clauses which appear to bear 
 hard on the indentured African no doubt arise 
 from the fact that the contractor is to pay for his 
 hands. He must meet the expense of bringing 
 them, and, if so, he has a right to be protected in 
 
 * The Act which has been disallowed.— En. 
 
 the advantage and benefit of their labour— a 
 claim which appears only fair and just. 
 
 " But, dear Sir, there is one question which 
 forces itself on my mind, and which is continually 
 presented by the advocates of immigration. Why 
 admit slave-grown produce into your market, 
 when you are trying to put down Slavery, and 
 prevent the slave-trade being encouraged by im- 
 migration schemes ? It does seem to me passing 
 strange and inconsistent for the British nation 
 to attempt the overthrow of the slave-trade, and 
 yet to encourage Slavery in all its horrors by 
 taking slave -grown sugar. For one, I shall be 
 glad to see the day when slave produce, and 
 slave-grown sugar among the rest, shall be shut 
 out of the British market altogether, and free- 
 labour produce only welcomed. When we are 
 thus consistent, then we shall be more successful 
 in our efforts to put down the slave-trade, under 
 whatever pretext carried on. You will, no doubt, 
 hear more about this new Immigration Act. 
 From what I see, many begin to feel very much 
 opposed to it. 
 
 " Waldensia, Falmouth, 
 
 " P. 0., March 4, 1858. 
 
 1st and 2d. ' ; I do not think there is any want, 
 but if there is, an advance of 20 per cent, on any 
 kind of labour would induce the people to leave 
 their own work, and labour on the estates. At 
 the August and Christmas holidays the people, 
 after a week spent in visiting, feasting, &c, 
 often take two or three weeks to their provision 
 grounds. Should they leave work after they have 
 commenced they are liable to be prosecuted for 
 breach of contract. And as the estates' work 
 cannot always be depended on, they are com- 
 pelled to have their own provisions to fall back 
 upon at such times : and sometimes, after 
 drought, and the rains set in, they leave the 
 cane clearing for their own lands ; but I do not 
 think the crops are ever hindered from being ga- 
 thered in on this account. Just now it is dry 
 weather, and in the middle of crop, and on three 
 estates out of four, labourers are turned away 
 every week. If labour is deficient, there is gene- 
 rally some special reason for it : less wages than 
 on neighbouring estates ; unkind treatment and 
 coarse language, either from managers or head- 
 men : detaining wages, altogether or for a tune, 
 for trifling offences; payment too late on Satxir- 
 day to enable them to attend market to buy their 
 week's provisions ; want of water to turn the 
 wheel, or inferior canes yielding very little for the 
 task, frequently being obliged to work twenty- 
 four hours successively for what they should earn 
 in ten or twelve. I believe for the most part the 
 money to pay for labour is generally provided 
 regularly, but often delayed in payment as a sum- 
 mary punishment. 
 
 " As to fair xcages I cannot tell what to say. 
 
15 
 
 Gangs of strong adults of men and women are paid 
 Is. per day, labouring from half-past six a.m. to 
 four p.m., with one hour's rest. Any special 
 job Is. 3d. 2d gangs, 9d. per diem ; 3d gangs, 
 from ihd. to 7hd. : some, I have heard, 3d. per 
 day. Headmen about Is. 6d. ; mechanics 1 s. 6d. 
 to 25. (rarely the last). Cane holes in fallow, 
 without any preparation, 4 feet square, 2s. per 
 100 ; clearing canes from 3s. to 6s. per acre ; clear- 
 ing pasture, Is. to 4s. ; planting cane, 6d. per 100 
 holes, or 10s. per acre ; sugar-making, all about 
 the mill and boiling-house, 3d. per syphon. A sy- 
 phon may be made from two and a -half to three 
 hours in good mills and favourable circumstances, 
 but sometimes takes four, and even six hours, 
 when water is low or canes inferior. This is the 
 cause of much complaint, and people will flock to 
 good mills and good canes, and earn more wages. 
 It is usual, where the mills grind slowly, to work 
 day and night, from which arises many evils and 
 much immorality. Some job-work sometimes yields 
 2s. or 2s. 6d. per day. 
 
 3d and 4th. " See Blue -Book returns. Mostly 
 Indian coolies ; some from China and Africa. A 
 few shiploads sent back to India, but nowhere 
 else. 
 
 5th. " I cannot tell. I believe not 50 percent, 
 have ever been able to till the soil. I should 
 think 30 or 40 per cent, a low computation for 
 deaths, and of those that are left I know not six 
 estates in the whole island where they now re- 
 gularly labour. The Africans have three separate 
 colonies, or rented land, near my residence, where 
 they live in concubinage, and practise all their 
 African superstitions. 
 
 " The few Chinese that live are mostly mendi- 
 cants. The Coolies from India, pedlars, and shop- 
 keepers. Also the Portuguese are shopkeepers. 
 
 6th. " Don't know, but often complaints are 
 made by them, mostly arising from stoppage of 
 wages, I imagine either for indolence or sickness. 
 
 ** A Chinese interpreter told me they were dis- 
 appointed because they purchase less here for 1 s. 
 than they could in China or India for 2d. or 3d. 
 
 7th. "I believe about 15 1, per head, not in- 
 cluding return passage. 
 
 8th. " Answered above. All were placed on 
 estates, but most of them soon left, and wandered 
 about most pitiable spectacles. 
 
 " A great deal of ill feeling was incurred at first, 
 and many of the best labourers left the estates, 
 and have formed their own settlements, buying 
 from a quarter of an acre to ten or twenty acres 
 of land each, first at a high price, now from 40s. 
 to 51. an acre. These form the most moral and 
 thriving part of our population, and will not re- 
 turn to the estates to labour. If emigrants once 
 more displace the labourers now on the estates, 
 such will no doubt be the case again, and the 
 planters will eventually suffer the most. A con- 
 siderable portion of those who labour on estates 
 also rent from one to two acres of land, where 
 
 they grow provisions. Rent paid, from 18s. to 
 40s. per acre per annum. The emigrants have 
 done all that idolaters and pagans can do to 
 lower the morals of the people. 
 
 " Rarely have either Indians, Chinese, or 
 Africans ever regarded the Sabbath or the house 
 of God. The swinging festivals of the Coolies 
 were common while a sufficient number of them 
 were together to practise them ; and the Africans 
 take the lead in the revival of the horrid Obeah 
 practices of Slavery. One African lies in jail for 
 murder in the adjoining parish at the present 
 time. 
 
 " P.S. On my way down to post this letter I 
 saw large gangs at work at cane-clearing at a 
 quarter before four o'clock, and I have seen them 
 after that time. This is usual, though tasks may 
 be concluded earlier." 
 
 " Montego Bay, Jamaica, 
 
 " March 5th., 1858. 
 
 "1. I do not believe that there is any real 
 want of labour in this colony : on the north side 
 of the island, where are to be found the principle 
 sugar properties, I am sure there is not. During 
 the last twelve months, I have made extensive 
 inquiries on the subject from labourers, mer- 
 chants, and planters, and have been invariably 
 told that labour is abundant. It consists, with 
 my knowledge, that numbers who apply for 
 labour are constantly sent away from the estates, 
 with the assurance that they are not wanted. 
 
 " 2. The labourers are not fairly remunerated 
 for their labour, in very many cases. Their 
 wages are not regularly and punctually paid : 
 many estates only pay once in two or three weeks, 
 and then only a portion of what is due. This 
 brings about many disputes, and drives the best 
 people from the properties. I believe the people, 
 from not being able to keep accounts, often 
 think they are cheated when they are not ; and I 
 am afraid that not unfrequently a portion of 
 what is due to them is unjustly withheld. It 
 would be a good thing for all parties if payment 
 could be made in full once a week. I saw a 
 letter in a paper, a few weeks ago, complaining 
 that though it was the end of January the people 
 had not turned out to work on the property since 
 the Christmas holidays. This was true ; but it 
 was also true that no wages had been paid them 
 for seven weeks before Christmas, and the people 
 had therefore determined not to work on that 
 property again till arrears were paid up. It 
 being crop-time, the loss to the proprietor must 
 have been very great. It is on such occasions 
 that the cry for immigrants is raised. 
 
 " 3. I cannot tell how many immigrants have 
 been brought to this colony since freedom : I 
 suppose a record has been kept, but I have no 
 means of seeing it. They have been brought from 
 Ireland, Madeira, China, and India : a few only 
 have been brought from England. 
 
16 
 
 " 4. I cannot tell. 
 
 "5. We have no registry in this island either 
 of births or deaths, so that it cannot be known 
 how many have died. It is, however, my own 
 conviction, from inquiries I have made, and from 
 what has come under my own personal knowledge, 
 that at least thirty per cent, have died within 
 two years after their arrival, whilst very few of 
 the children born have lived. The Irish nearly 
 all died. The Portuguese, from Madeira, perished 
 very rapidly. On two properties, where a number 
 were located, all, with two or three exceptions, 
 died in a few months. The Chinese I have seen 
 were wretched objects, begging about our streets. 
 Large numbers of Coolies were at one time in 
 the hospitals, many of whom died. A goodly 
 number have been sent to the Penitentiary, for 
 theft and other offences. Some of the Coolie 
 women have become mistresses, or concubines, to 
 the overseers. 
 
 " 6. They were paid, when working on the 
 estates, from 9d. to Is. per day. In some 
 cases the employer fed them ; but this lasted 
 only for a short time. 
 
 "7. I cannot tell. 
 
 "8. Most worked on estates when they first 
 came, but afterwards many of them became hig- 
 glers and shopkeepers ; and a few of such, I 
 should think, did very well. This was not, how- 
 ever, what the planters wanted. 
 
 " 9. I do not think that the wages of the peo- 
 ple, except perhaps in a few instances, have been 
 reduced by the introduction of immigrants. I 
 believe, however, that man) of the best labourers 
 have left the estates, rather than work with the 
 immigrants, whom they looked upon as persons 
 brought to the country to supplant them in the 
 labour-market. They have often been taunted 
 by their employers, who have used words like the 
 following : ' Oh ! when we get all the immigrants 
 we want, we will do without you.' Nothing has 
 brought about so much bad feeling between 
 labourer and master as the introduction of im- 
 migrants. The effect on the morals of the people 
 has, I fear, been bad in the extreme. I attribute 
 the late increase in the practice of Obeahism 
 entirely to the introduction of African immi- 
 grants and African soldiers. The Coolies keep 
 away from all places of worship : they practise 
 their idolatrous rites. Some time ago, hook- 
 swinging was practised by them, for several days, 
 on the south side of the island, in the presence of 
 an immense multitude of the natives of the 
 country and many white people. The Chinese 
 have committed many robberies— some of an ex- 
 tensive character." 
 
 " Mount Carey, Montego Bay, 
 
 "March 6th," 1858. 
 " Mr. has forwarded to me certain ques- 
 tions on the subject of immigration to this colony, 
 of Africans, Asiatics, &c, for agricultural pur- 
 
 poses, but I am sorry to say I have mislaid 
 the questions, and therefore cannot refer to 
 them in the order in which they stand on your 
 paper, though I may to the general subject. 
 
 " The question of labour and its supply in 
 this country has been a vexed question from 
 1838 to the present period, and is but little un- 
 derstood by friends in the mother country. 
 
 "Immediately after 1838, the people, in con- 
 sequence of the double rent system, and other 
 acts of tyranny and injustice, left the estates on 
 which they had lived and worked as slaves, and 
 now, to the extent of at least 100,000 acres, have 
 purchased for themselves land, on which they 
 have erected dwelling-houses, and where they 
 grow also an abundance of ground provisions, not 
 only to serve their own consumption, but also to 
 meet the requirements of the population gene- 
 rally. They have thus made themselves in some 
 measure independent of other sources from which 
 the necessaries of life might be obtained ; and so 
 valuable and necessary are the provision-grounds 
 of the negro to him that no wages which might 
 now be offered to him would induce the aban- 
 donment of their cultivation. Yet it is quite 
 true that the peasantry generally have no means 
 of obtaining money to any great extent, except- 
 ing as the result of labour on sugar properties, 
 breeding pens, coffee properties, &c. It will 
 therefore at once be seen that there is an oppo- 
 sition of claims and interests, the peasant regard- 
 ing (and rightly so) his grounds as having the 
 first claim, and the planter looking at sugar cul- 
 tivation as the most important : this difficulty is 
 felt at certain seasons of the year — that is, the 
 season for planting provisions— and at such times 
 there is no doubt a paucity of labour in some 
 localities. 
 
 " There is another fact that must be taken into 
 consideration, and that lies at the very foundation 
 of all harmonious working between the employer 
 and the employed— there is no mutual confidence 
 and sympathy. The people believe the planters, 
 as a body, to be selfish, grasping, dishonest, and 
 still desirous of coercing labour ; and, with ho- 
 nourable exceptions, it is so. On the other hand, 
 the planters believe the peasantry are an inferior 
 order of beings, constitutionally lazy, and almost 
 universally dishonest ; and there are, no doubt, 
 instances of laziness and dishonesty, and I do not 
 scruple to tell them so. So it is there is almost 
 universal distrust. These feelings need not, 
 would not, l ave existed, had a different course 
 been pursued in connexion with the new state of 
 things that commenced in 1838 ; but the planters 
 have°tried to graft on the new state of things the 
 old habits and customs of Slavery. This has 
 been very properly resented ; and now, except in 
 certain cases, there exists discord and ill-will in- 
 stead of union and co-operation. 
 
 " Another fact that will account for some of 
 the difficulties that have occurred in sugar culti- 
 
17 
 
 ration is, that some planters are trying to cultivate 
 without capital : they fail in their object, and, of 
 course, the reason assigned is, the people will not 
 work. Another difficulty that is one of the most 
 serious in its effects, is the unpunctuality and 
 irregularity with which wages are paid when 
 due ; two, four, six, and sometimes eight weeks 
 are allowed to elapse whilst the hire of the la- 
 bourer is kept back ; and then, when the wages 
 are paid, mistakes and mischief occur, and mu- 
 tual recrimination takes place. Where the above- 
 mentioned causes are uot in operation, I give it 
 as my decided conviction that there is no want of 
 labour, and that sugar cultivation is progressing, 
 and profitable to all parties. I will only add one 
 or two illustrations of what I have stated. The 
 people on an adjoining estate were not paid for 
 seven weeks before Christmas, and, as a natural 
 consequence, they would not turn out after Christ- 
 mas until their wages were paid ; and who can 
 blame them ? Again, a man engaged to work at 
 25. per day, as wheelwright: the work took 
 four days ; it was performed ; the money was 
 applied for ; and then the applicant was told that 
 he would only get Is. 6d. per day instead of 2s. : 
 that, however, was not paid at tbe time, and the 
 poor man was under the necessity of walking or 
 riding seventy miles, and had to wait six months 
 before he obtained the six shillings instead of 
 eight. 
 
 "I know persons who travel thirty miles to 
 work on a certain estate in the parish of 'West- 
 moreland, because they are allowed to work for 
 as much as they please, and are sure of getting 
 the amount they earn, though there are estates 
 very near to them, where they could get work, 
 but where they could not earn much, and would 
 have to wait long before they obtained the little 
 that was due to them. These facts are only men- 
 tioned as a sample of that which is of frequent 
 occurrence ; and my decided conviction is, that no 
 labouring people in the world would be more 
 quiet and forbearing than are the labourers in 
 this country, under the petty annoyances and 
 dishonesty to which they are subject. 
 
 " Let these things be removed, and I am cer- 
 tain there will be no want of labour in any part 
 of this island. I am somewhat acquainted with 
 twelve sugar estates in this neighbourhood, 
 on which members of my congregation are labour- 
 ing, and, excepting at the planting season, there 
 is more labour at command than the planters 
 can employ. There i^ no want of immigrants 
 here. There are a few in the neighbourhood, poor 
 diseased miserable creatures, but the planters 
 themselves being judges, they are unfit for general 
 estates work. 
 
 " What we want, more than any thing else, is 
 capital — a resident proprietary body. Kindly and 
 faithful treatment to the labourer, and the sugar 
 crops might be increased to an indefinite extent. 
 There is no doubt, that during the last and pre- 
 
 sent year, our planters have done well : some have 
 amassed as much as 20,000Z. in a short period. 
 Their appetites have been whetted, and now they 
 are thirsting for greater gain, by introduction of 
 labour that they may be able to coerce. I have 
 no hesitation in saying, that not an overseer, or 
 book-keeper, or labourer, has been one shilling 
 the better for the better price in sugar : all the 
 gains have gone into the pocket of the attorneys 
 and proprietors in this country or in England. 
 I enclose three resolutions that were passed at 
 a public meeting held at Mount Carey on the 3d 
 of March. The object is to rebut the vile 
 slanders heaped upon the emancipated peasantry 
 of this country in the London Times and some 
 of our colonial newspapers, and also to express 
 our opinions respecting the new Immigration 
 Bill. I also enclose a Memorial that has to be 
 forwarded to the home Government by the 
 present packet, asking its disallowance, though I 
 very much fear we may not succeed. I venture 
 to predict that the scheme, like all others, will 
 result in the death and destruction of the poor 
 creatures that are brought in under it, and that 
 not a thousand hogsheads of sugar will be added 
 to our production, while the end will be bitter 
 disappointment to all parties. 
 
 " I should like to have said something on the 
 results of freedom to the inhabitants of this colony. 
 The idea of its being a failure is simply ridicu- 
 lous ; it is a triumph, a noble triumph, our 
 enemies being judges ; and though every hogs- 
 head of sugar, and every sugar estate, had been 
 valueless, still I should have said it is not the 
 fault of freedom to the people, but that it arose 
 from other causes. A conference of ministers of 
 the gospel is to be held at Falmouth on the 3d 
 of March, to take up the question just referred 
 to, and doubtless you will hear further on the 
 subject. 
 
 " Some persons in this country are just enter- 
 ing upon a crusade against the new Slave Bill, 
 which can never work any thing but mischief to 
 this country, however it may do for Trinidad, 
 and Demerara. You are at liberty to use the 
 enclosed, if they will serve the cause we have 
 mutally at heart. 
 
 "Lucea, Jamaica, March 8th, 1858. 
 
 "Sir, 
 
 " 1 have received, through my friend Mr. 
 
 , a copy of a series of questions put forth 
 
 by the Committee of the Anti-Slavery Society^ 
 with a request that I will send answers to them. 
 
 " Some of the questions require an amount of 
 statistical information which I do not possess, 
 and which is not accessible to persons residing at 
 a distance from the seat of Government ; but 
 doubtless you will have answers from persons 
 who will be able to give exact information, and 
 I shall content myself with answering the ques- 
 tions in a general way . 
 
18 
 
 1. " The alleged want of labour does not exist 
 in the parish of Hanover. I arn firmly per- 
 suaded that labour is sufficiently abundant ; and 
 although I have heard over and over again the 
 general cry, Labour is needed, I have failed to find 
 the man that needs it. Every one says, ' It is not 
 I that need it : I have as much labour as I re- 
 quire.' It is not to be denied that there exists 
 amongst planters very generally a strong dislike 
 to free labour, and that in consequence a large 
 amount of labour has been driven off the estates ; 
 but still there is more labour available than 
 planters can afford to pay for. 
 
 " It is not labour, but SLAVE-labour, that is 
 wanted. The planters do not know how to use 
 free men, and the people are becoming too intelli- 
 gent to submit to be treated as slaves, and there 
 is a strong wish to drive them off the properties, 
 and to supply their place with forced labour. 
 This is the whole secret of the matter. Let 
 planters have capital to pay the people regularly, 
 and learn to treat free men as sucn, and they will 
 not have to complain of want of labour. 
 
 2. " Immigration has not increased the amount 
 of available labour, and will not increase it : nor 
 do the planters intend it to do so : they want to 
 be independent of native labour. 
 
 " Immigration has been a great curse, both to 
 the immigrants themselves and to our people, 
 and it has been carried on at great expense. 
 
 " Let the Government issue a commission of 
 inquiry, and it will be found, that although an 
 increase to the free population of the island is 
 very desirable, the cry for labour is a false cry, 
 and the wicked slanders of the Times and other 
 papers will be fully exposed. 
 
 " The Immigration Bill of last session is very 
 nearly a Slave Bill. It may be productive of 
 great mischief, but let none imagine that such a 
 measure can be carried into effect in Jamaica. 
 Slaves cannot be kept in the midst of our free 
 people. It is the duty of all lovers of freedom, 
 both in England and in Jamaica, to seek to pre- 
 vent the said Bill from passing into law, or, if 
 it pass, to oppose it by all lawful and peaceable 
 means. 
 
 BARBADOES. 
 
 '•Barbadoes, February 23, 1858. 
 " The unprincipled efforts of the West-India 
 party, with a portion of the English press in its 
 interest, to resuscitate, in a new form, the old 
 system of Slavery in these colonies, are more 
 matter of regret than surprise to those who know 
 them. Their natural cupidity, and deeply- 
 rooted prejudice with regard to the negro, have 
 all along led them to look with disfavour at 
 emancipation, and to misrepresent its results, in 
 the hope of enlisting the sympathy and support 
 of Government for their schemes. Generally 
 
 speaking, these colonies, morally, socially, and 
 even economically, were never in better plight 
 than at present; and where the labourers are 
 treated with but common honesty, there is 
 nothing which any sensible man could find to re- 
 gret in the change from slave to free labour 
 Less produce is raised in most of them for ex- 
 portation ; but even that, as far as it may be con- 
 sidered in itself an objection, is the result not so 
 much of emancipation itself, as of causes that 
 had been operating for years previously to its 
 advent ; and in some measure, no doubt, to the 
 reckless misconduct of the planters in dealing 
 with it. If you look to the evidence accumulated 
 by Parliamentary Committees for some years 
 previously to the abolition of Slavery, you will 
 find that almost all the colonies were in a rapid 
 state of decay — the estates deeply mortgaged, in 
 daily course of changing hands, and, in numerous 
 instances, only cultivated from the necessity that 
 existed in the state of Slavery of feeding the 
 slaves. In respect of these, emancipation only 
 facilitated the process of abandonment, by re- 
 lieving the planter of the crushing necessity of 
 providing for the labourers now free. The mort- 
 gagee pocketed the compensation for the slaves, 
 and left the estate and its nominal proprietor 
 to the fate which had been impending for years. 
 A better spirit, an honester course of proceeding 
 towards the free labourers than the planters 
 thought proper to adopt, might even then have 
 stayed the ruin with respect to some of them ; 
 but how they acted at that crisis let the annals 
 of the apprenticeship, and the first couple of 
 years of absolute freedom tell. The free labourers 
 were actually driven from the estates, by reckless 
 oppression, to occupy and cultivate land for 
 themselves, wherever it could be obtained, on 
 rent or purchase ; and the gross misrepre- 
 sentations and slanders that have to this day 
 been poured upon them, in no light measure, 
 afford satisfactory evidence that the old spirit is 
 still actuating their oppressors, and would shew 
 itself now, as then, in acts, if it dared. No 
 longer possessing the power to bite, it yet growls 
 and barks, to shew the will at least to do so. 
 
 " I need scarcely tell you that the indomitable 
 laziness of the free negroes, their insolent bear- 
 ing, and rapid relapse into the savage state, &c, 
 of which so much is said, mean simply, in plain 
 English, that they will only work upon the 
 estates where they are honestly paid — will not 
 quietly submit to be treated like dogs, and prefer, 
 when they can, to cultivate for themselves rather 
 than for others. There are, of course, some 
 worthless exceptions among them,as amongst other 
 classes of men the world over ; but I mean to say 
 that, as a whole, they are as industrious, as thrifty, 
 and anxious to improve their condition as any 
 other class I have ever known ; and a proof of 
 this is furnished in the very fact of their neglect- 
 ing plantation work to the extent that they do. 
 
19 
 
 In most of these colonies that description of work 
 is at the lowest point of remuneration ; whilst, in 
 all of them, the revenue for the public service is 
 mainly drawn from customs and excise dues on 
 the necessaries and comforts of life, which are 
 enormously enhanced in some of them by this 
 taxation. The labourer finds it more to his ad- 
 vantage to rent, or, where he can, purchase land, 
 and make a living by cultivating that ; working 
 only at spare times on plantations for hire. This 
 is particularly the case in those colonies where 
 population is sparse, and land abundant, and 
 easily obtainable at a moderate charge ; and, in 
 most of these, the number of small landholders 
 of this class, already large, is every day in- 
 creasing. They buy waste land, clear it, build 
 a cottage, and, on reliable testimony, are the 
 most industrious, orderly, and morally and so- 
 cially improving class in the community. Their 
 only crime is that they don't work regularly, if 
 at all, on the plantations, and expect, when they 
 do, to be treated fairly, as men; and that, in the 
 opinion of some planter folks (I am happy to be 
 able to attest, not all), is a very serious crime 
 indeed. 
 
 " I regret exceedingly that I cannot furnish 
 the information you require with regard to the 
 comparative working of free and slave labour. I 
 have no doubt myself, that estates in this island 
 are more profitably cultivated now than during 
 Slavery ; or, I should rather say, that the pro- 
 ducts are raised at less cost ; and the fact that 
 land generally fetches a higher price, as well as 
 'estates,' might be adduced in confirmation. 
 But the data to prove this are in the hands of 
 those who would scarcely think it their interest 
 to establish the point. We have not yet quite 
 relinquished all hope of protection from Govern- 
 ment — something in the way of compensation for 
 the losses we unavoidably sustain from emanci- 
 pation, &c— although we are not amongst the 
 clamorous for that particular mode of exhibiting 
 it which the Times and its correspondents are 
 urging so very earnestly. To furnish reliable 
 information of the kind you desire, it would be 
 necessary to inspect estates' books for the two 
 periods, and make some nice calculations, com- 
 paring one with the other : and I have no means 
 of doing this. 
 
 " As regards the current rate of wages, the 
 general conduct of the labourers, &c, I cannot 
 do better than refer you to files of the Liberal, 
 since April 11, last year, embracing an agri- 
 cultural report for the several parishes dis- 
 tinctively, during the previous fortnight (be- 
 tween mails) ; and this report, as interesting to 
 readers here, is copied in the ordinary issue, next 
 in course, of the Liberal. The correspondents 
 are among the most respectable planters of the 
 island. The rates of wages during the period 
 have been 10c?. to Is. per day, the former pre- 
 dominating ; but the labourer, by task- work, 
 
 sometimes earns a little more. In the crop, 
 where paid by task — which is very commonly 
 done— the earnings in a day may be Is. 3c?., 
 Is. 6c?, and in some instances even Is. 8c?., 
 whilst at other times it may be as low as 2d. or 
 3c?. The rule is to give so much for every hogshead 
 of sugar made, the sum shared being generally 
 about 4i dols. to 5 dols. per hogshead. If it is 
 ' a fine working day' at the mill — that is, with a 
 good wind— the labourer may earn Is. 6d. to 
 Is. 8c?., as I have said; but if the wind slacken, 
 or fall calm — as it does sometimes for days — 
 or there be heavy rain to interfere with the out- 
 door work of cutting canes, loading, &c, he may 
 come off with 2d , or even nothing at all. I do 
 not like the arrangement myself, it has too much 
 the character of a lottery to please me ; but the 
 labourers are said to be satisfied with it, and 
 even to prefer it, in some instances, to the pay- 
 ment of a regular rate ; and where they are not, as 
 located labourers on the estates, restricted to 
 ' Hobson's choice' in the matter, we have scarcely 
 a right to find fault. I should not adopt it 
 myself, if I had an estate in charge. But there 
 are many other things that I should equally 
 reject, in the present system of management, 
 which are considered even more indispensable, 
 and, as some planter friends assure me, ' make 
 quite a mess of it/ It may be so. 
 
 " You may probably find, in the reports of our 
 Governors, in the papers laid before Parliament, 
 for the last ten or twelve years, useful informa- 
 tion on some of the points you wish to elucidate ; 
 and, as coming from them, even general im- 
 pressions will carry some weight, considering 
 the classes with whom they mostly have inter- 
 course. I have no access to these papers here." 
 
 The following 1 is from a gentleman recently 
 returned from an extended tour through the 
 West Indies : 
 
 "Brighton, March 19th, 1858. 
 
 "The prosperous and densely populated island 
 of Barbadoes, where we passed a month, is 
 greatly benefited by its emancipation from Slavery, 
 both morally and commercially. The planters find 
 free labour much cheaper than slave labour. Go- 
 vernor Hinks, of Barbadoes, related the following 
 fact to a highly respectable American gentlemen, 
 from whom I received the account : — ' An estate 
 in Barbadoes, called Hayne's Estate, was during 
 the time of Slavery worked by 230 slaves, and 
 having occasion to be sold, it fetched 15,000?. 
 Since emancipation, this estate has been worked 
 by 60 free labourers and 30 children, and has 
 produced three times the quantity of sugar that it 
 did under Slavery ; and having again to change 
 hands, it has been sold for 30,000?.' 
 
 "As an evidence of the loyalty, quiet beha- 
 viour, and contentment of the coloured labouring 
 people, I may inform thee that there is not a 
 
20 
 
 single soldier in either of the islands of Antigua, 
 Montserrat, Nevis, St. Kitt's, and Grenada. Good 
 order is preserved by a few police. 
 
 ; : ANTIGUA. 
 
 "Antigua, February 12th, 1858. 
 
 " Tour favour of the 14th ult. is to hand, and 
 as the subject to which it refers demands imme- 
 diate attention, I proceed to reply to your ques- 
 tions without further preface. 
 
 " 1st. Labour is wanted. The general causes 
 may be, that our population has not increased ; 
 and, with the exception of about 2000 Portu- 
 guese from Madeira and the Cape de Verdes, we 
 have no immigrants since emancipation. 
 
 "2d. Such as work steadily are fairly remu- 
 nerated, and their wages are punctually and re- 
 gularly paid weekly. 
 
 " 3d. About 2000 Portuguese from Madeira, 
 and some few, not long since, from Cape de 
 Verdes. Further particulars will be forwarded 
 next mail. 
 
 " 4th. Antigua has never had immigrants 
 from India, China, or Africa. 
 
 " 5th. Particulars next mail. 
 
 " 6th. The Portuguese receive, at present, 
 men 8d. and women Gd. per day, as contract la- 
 bourers, with house and plot of ground ; but ge- 
 nerally, as the native labourers, they prefer the 
 job system, earning in crop-time Is. to Is. 6d. 
 per day. 
 
 " 7th. The colouy paid for the immigrants, 
 men 31. and women 21. each, on their introduction. 
 Many have returned, at their own cost."*** 
 
 " 8th. Many leave the plantations on the ex- 
 piration of their term of service (two or three 
 years), and engage in traffic. The large majo- 
 rity remain as agricultural labourers. 
 
 "9th. The Portuguese being intelligent, their 
 introduction has had a beneficial effect on some 
 of the native labourers. They are more indus- 
 trious, and generally afford continuous labour. 
 The rate of wages has not been reduced. It has 
 not supplanted native labour, nor has it forced 
 native labourers to seek occupation on their own 
 grounds, in the cultivation of provisions. Many 
 of the native labourers cultivate the cane, on their 
 own or on joint account, to a moderately large ex- 
 tent, and last year gave them handsome returns. 
 The introduction of the Portuguese has operated 
 beneficially on the morals of the native popula- 
 tion : they are industrious and saving : many 
 of them are now shopkeepers in the city and in 
 almost every part of the island, to the injury of 
 the native small dealer. The supply of labour is 
 not equal to the demand, and this may be ac- 
 counted for from the fact that many find it more 
 advantageous to withdraw from continuous plan- 
 tation labour to cultivate their own lands, &c. 
 There is a want of confidence between the ma- | 
 
 nagers and labourers, the one believing the other 
 anxious to overreach. This leads to much mis- 
 chief, and tends to enhance the complaint of 
 non-continuous labour. 
 
 "I inclose a memorandum of produce made 
 and disposed of five years previous to eman- 
 cipation and since, from which you will discover 
 that production has not been diminished, and 
 that, notwithstanding the want of labour, culti- 
 vation continues. This is, I should say, rather 
 in favour of the labourers, who continue to take 
 oft 1 the crops, notwithstanding many have with- 
 drawn from continuous field labour. I have 
 thrown these lines hastily together, hoping by 
 the next mail to send you further information. 
 
 CROPS. Puns. 
 Hhds. Sugar. Puns. Rum. Molasses. 
 
 1829 to 1833 . . 64,277 . . 13,695 . . 37,656 
 
 * 1834 . . 20,921 . . 2,330 . . 13,788 
 
 1835 to 1839 . . 76,447 . . 5,532 , . 50,260 
 
 1840 to 1844 . . 69,809 . . 2,681 . . 44,329 
 
 1845 to 1849 . . 60,169 . . 1,078 . . 36,454 
 
 1850 to 1854 . . 64,447 . . 3,237 . . 37,284 
 
 1855 to 1856 . . 30,771 . . 3,922 . . 13,040 
 
 The following' are copies of replies to 
 queries by an American traveller, who is 
 still prosecuting' a journey through the West- 
 Indian Islands. 
 
 "Antigua, February 27, 1858.. 
 
 "1. There is a decided improvement in the 
 religious condition of all classes, and of the eman- 
 cipated in particular. Emancipation has con- 
 tributed in various ways. The masters' feelings 
 have become more softened, not having the power 
 to use the whip, &c, and the emancipated having 
 more time and opportunity to attend to the re- 
 ligious instructions readily afforded by the minis- 
 ters of the gospel; their children also are now 
 trained and instructed, &c. 
 
 " 2. Education has considerably improved ; 
 at present there are forty schools throughout 
 the island ; and so important is education con- 
 sidered, that the Legislature has set apart 1000/. 
 per annum for its encouragement. 
 
 " 3. The statistics would shew an increase of 
 crime ; for cases which used formerly to be dis- 
 posed of by the master are now brought before 
 the magistrate ; besides, numerous Acts for the 
 suppression of offences have passed the Legis- 
 lature which were not in operation during the 
 period of Slavery. 
 
 " 4. From the depreciated value of the pro- 
 
 * " 1834 being the year of emancipation it is 
 excluded from the return, as the crop was taken 
 off partly by slaves and partly by free labour. 
 
 " 1837 was a bad year; only 5434 hogsheads 
 were made. 
 
 " 1846 was a similar year ; 7051 hogsheads 
 were made." 
 
21 
 
 ducts of the island in the home market, the 
 value of lands has decreased in proportion ; but 
 shortly after emancipation, some planters sold a 
 number of allotments, of thirty feet square, to 
 the labourers, at the rate of 61. per lot. 
 
 " 5. There is greater security of person and 
 property now than there was in the state of 
 Slavery. And, in support of this opinion, the 
 militia force was disbanded and totally abolished 
 a very short time after emancipation. 
 
 " 6. Generally speaking, at present, the day's 
 work of the free labourer, for wages, is less than 
 was that of the slave, i. e. the actual time em- 
 ployed ; but as much or more work may be per- 
 formed, for there has been no reduction of culti- 
 vation nor diminution of the crops. 
 
 " 7. I am not prepared to answer fully what 
 is the relative cost of free and slave labour, but 
 no planter would return to the slave system 
 if offered to him ; the daily cost of labour is 6c?. 
 and 8c?. per day; the present is generally con- 
 sidered the most economical andagreeable system. 
 
 "8. The labourers work by the day, or job, 
 or both, as may be agreed on ; contract labourers 
 are considered to work eight hours; jobbers, 
 longer or shorter, as it suits their convenience. 
 
 " 9. Cultivation may not be considered so 
 good in appearance, but, as before stated, there 
 has been no diminution in the crops ; on the con- 
 trary, there has been an increase. 
 
 " 10. The cost of production has not been 
 increased — I should rather say diminished — under 
 the free system. One cause may be ascribed to 
 the fact, that the planter pays for only the actual 
 labourers, and not for children, &c. 
 
 "11. Emancipation is generally acknow- 
 ledged to be a blessing. There may be some few 
 planters who occasionally refer to the old system, 
 but no one would openly advocate a return to 
 Slavery. 
 
 " 12. There never has been, at any time, any 
 manifestation of vengeful feelings on the part of 
 the emancipated for the things endured in 
 Slavery ; on the contrary, the feeling manifested 
 is that of gratitude to 4 King William, the Par- 
 liament, the people in England, and all good 
 men, under God, who helped to make them 
 free.' 
 
 "13. The labourers always take a great in- 
 terest in the estates whereon they are treated 
 kindly by the manager, especially those on which 
 they were born, and particularly so if the estate 
 is conducted by their old masters, or by their 
 children. 
 
 " 14. The understood time of daily labour is 
 eight hours, but generally less is given to planta- 
 tion work ; the other portion of the day is appro- 
 priated by the labourers to their own purposes. In 
 the southern, or mountainous part of the island, 
 where land is abundant, they seldom work for 
 the estates more than five days in the week, and 
 frequently four only. 
 
 " 15. All contract labourers are entitled to a 
 house rent free : the usual rent paid for a small 
 house in the villages is Is. and Is. 6d. per 
 week. 
 
 " 16. There is no tax peculiarly affecting the 
 condition and circumstances of the labourers ; 
 the only tax which affects them is the tariff on 
 articles imported, which reaches all classes in- 
 discriminately. 
 
 " 17- All persons having a particular pro- 
 perty-qualification have the right of voting, 
 without reference to colour or condition. 
 
 " 18. They have been decidedly benefited by 
 emancipation, in every respect, having all the 
 privileges of men, with equal laws. 
 
 "19. A short period after emancipation the 
 condition of some of the poor whites was rather 
 difficult ; unaccustomed to labour, they soon 
 spent what they had received for their former 
 slaves. The parishes came to their aid, by grant- 
 ing, in common with the poor of the island, a 
 weekly allowance. Most of these, however, have 
 passed from time to eternity. The poor of all 
 classes are still provided for at, or through, the 
 general poorhouse. 
 
 " The published official returns of sugar made 
 during eighteen years is as follows : these eighteen 
 years embrace the last six years of Slavery, the 
 first six after emancipation, and the last six 
 years to 31st December, 1857, viz.: 
 
 Under Slavery, that is to say, from Hhds. 
 Jan. 1828 to Dec. 1833, inclusive, 79,253 
 
 After Emancipation, that is to say, 
 from Jan. 1835 to Dec. 1840, 
 inclusive 82,455 
 
 Last^six years, that is to say, from 
 
 Jan. 1852toDec. 1857, inclusive, 85,050 
 
 " By the census taken November 17, 1856, 
 the agricultural labourers were, of all ages, 
 14,997 ; the entire population 35,408, including 
 847 from Madeira, and 183 from the Cape de 
 Verde Isles. There are at present eighty-three 
 villages." 
 
 The Antigua Observer of the 4th of March, 
 commenting on the official returns of the 
 exports of the island, remarks : 
 
 " Thus not only do the years of freedom shew | 
 an increase in the amount of our exports, but 
 this increase has been steadily obtained even 
 under a diminished rate of wages, which took 
 place after the admission of slave-made sugars 
 on equal terms into the British market. Our 
 opinion is, that had that measure of imperial 
 policy preceded by a dozen years or so the act of 
 emancipation, the British colonies could never 
 have withstood the shock, seeing that, with all 
 the advantages of protection under the slave- 
 system, the day that enfranchised the negro 
 disclosed almost generally a condition of insol- 
 vency among the proprietary body which had 
 
22 
 
 existed even in the * palmy ' days now by the 
 enemies of freedom adverted to." 
 
 The Editor comments thus upon the arti- 
 cles in the Times, and plainly — at least to 
 our mind — points out the difference that ex- 
 ists between a necessity for immigrant la- 
 bour as a means of developing the latent 
 resources of the island, and the demand 
 made for it to work the estates already under 
 cultivation. Whilst for the former purpose 
 it would be desirable, for the latter it is said 
 to be unnecessary. Let the article speak for 
 itself : 
 
 " Had the Times, and the advocates of emi- 
 gration generally, based their arguments upon 
 the fact alone that additional agricultural labour 
 is wanting in these colonies to develope our re- 
 sources, that, numerically, the labouring popu- 
 lation are inadequate to the cultivation of the 
 soil to such extent as to paralyze the production 
 of sugar by means of slave-labour, and urged 
 upon Government and capitalists some feasible 
 scheme for a supply, by clearly legitimate means, 
 of the great desideratum, such a course would 
 have been hailed by every man amongst us with 
 heartfelt satisfaction. But, pointing to the de- 
 preciation of West-India property within the last 
 twenty years, to the alleged impracticable cha- 
 racter of the labouring classes mainly, are the 
 reverses which have taken place most unfairly 
 ascribed, instead of, more truthfully, to that act 
 of imperial legislation, adverse to the once fos- 
 tered West-India interest, which took place 
 while yet the emancipation peeans were being 
 sung even by that class who most dreaded the 
 termination of Slavery. Against such a conclu- 
 sion, so unjust in its] application, and so false 
 in its inferences, every unprejudiced man who 
 has taken the trouble to investigate the matter 
 must enter an indignant protest. Facts, op- 
 posed to mere vilification, must always triumph, 
 and, with facts to support us, we have no hesi- 
 tation in asserting confidently, so far as the cir- 
 cumstances of our own island are concerned, 
 that, putting out of view, of course, the blow 
 which the knocking from under our feet of the 
 props of protection, and consequent monopoly 
 in the home markets inflicted— almost every in- 
 terest has decidedly improved since emanci- 
 pation ; that estates perfectly unencumbered and 
 properly conducted are affording more or less of 
 remuneration to their owners ; that our peasantry 
 are an orderly, sober, and — though not in the 
 European estimate of the term, where clime and 
 superabundant population stimulate to exertion 
 — generally industrious ; and that our exports of 
 island products, and our trade generally, have 
 kept pace with, and even exceeded considerably 
 the later years of Slavery. Our religious sta- 
 tistics, too, exhibit considerable improvement 
 over the days of Slavery, while there cannot be a 
 
 doubt that knowledge of a useful kind, although 
 of spontaneous acquirement, without, till the 
 last few months, any help from the State, has 
 made progressive strides. Labour and its value, 
 like every other commodity, experience the fluc- 
 tuations of demand, and as the supply proves in 
 bountiful seasons inadequate, then, and only 
 then, do we hear of the rising demands of the la- 
 bourer for increased wages, and the consequent 
 dissatisfaction of the planter. The contest in 
 this case, very naturally, results in favour of the 
 labourer, the rapidity of tropical vegetation under 
 such circumstances rendering concession on the 
 part of his emplayer imperative. But we never 
 hear of those organized ' strikes ' so common in 
 England and elsewhere ; and in fact, while in one 
 district, and even on an adjoining plantation, 
 labourer and employer may be found at issue, in 
 the other and neighbouring estates both parties 
 will be ' taking it easy,' and the work going on 
 under, perhaps, a compromise with which both 
 sides are perfectly satisfied. It is simply un- 
 true to say, that such a state of things as we 
 have truthfully described arises from any pecu- 
 liar aversion of the rural population to labour. 
 We do not find that, practically, labour has ever 
 yet been recognised as a positive good by any con- 
 dition of society, but rather as an unpleasant 
 necessity entailed by circumstances which we 
 would all otherwise dispose of if we could; and 
 men, generally, are seldom stimulated to extra 
 exertion but by the presence of actual wants, or 
 by that yearning after artificial requirements and 
 independence, which a high degree of civilization, 
 such as we have no idea of claiming for our la- 
 bouring population, suggests. In the case of our 
 peasantry, there are proprietors and conductors 
 of estates in the island who do not utter the least 
 complaint with respect to labour facilities. They 
 plant, and reap, and ship, year after year, as 
 many, and more hogsheads of sugar than they 
 ever did, the cost of doing which being absolutely 
 dependent on the season, any extra luxuriance 
 of which is made available at once by the estate 
 labourer to obtain increased wages — the reverse, 
 of course, in unfavourable seasons. But that 
 production, the result of free labour, lags, in con- 
 sequence of freedom, is untrue; while that it has 
 been steadily progressing, the comparative tables, 
 taken from the last six years of Slavery, the first 
 six of emancipation, and the very last six years, 
 down to the 31st December 1857, incontestably 
 prove." 
 
 And thus speaks the same journal on the 
 subject of immigration : 
 
 " There can be no doubt that the introduction 
 of, perhaps, 5000 able-bodied labourers would be 
 of essential service in further developing our ca- 
 pabilities as a colony ; and as competition is the 
 parent of enterprise and industry, it might follow 
 that the foreign would act beneficially as a 
 
23 
 
 healthful stimulant on the native labourer, and 
 create in him an independent energy of character, 
 which he, having for some time an undisputed 
 monopoly of a material so much in request, at 
 present wants. As colonists, and as philanthro- 
 pists too, we would at once give in our adhesion 
 to any plan which would induce perfectly free 
 immigrants, by their own volition, and at the 
 instigation of their own notions of self-interest, to 
 come to our shores, where employment might be 
 found, and, with steadiness, competency might 
 eventually await them ; but defend us, say we, 
 from any science which, like that adopted by our 
 French neighbours, shall people our land with 
 men and women purchased from the hands of the 
 man slayer and man stealer. Whatever our ne- 
 cessities may be, the idea of renewing the inter- 
 nal slave-trade of Africa, by means of the Bri- 
 tish West Indies, will, we fervently hope, be re- 
 jected, even if presented, as it now is, to the 
 world under the most specious disguise. We 
 shall return probably to this interest subject." 
 
 MONTSERRAT. 
 
 "Woodlands, Montserrat, Feb. 19, 1858. 
 " I have thought it best to devote a separate 
 letter, to reply to your inquiries relative to the 
 condition and conduct of our working-classes, &c. 
 
 " ' 1. Any information as to the relative cost 
 of estates under Slavery and free labour in Mont- 
 serrat or Antigua.' 
 
 " It is very difficult to get at the expenses 
 under the old regime. As yet, I have not found 
 any accounts on which I can depend. I have 
 heard many gentlemen connected with estates 
 say, at different times, that free. labour was 
 cheapest ; and in this island the owners of task- 
 gangs, or bodies of slaves hired by the owners 
 to work on sugar estates, charged fully double 
 what free labourers will now stoke-hole and crop- 
 hole cane land for. 
 
 " ' 2. The average price of labour for the last 
 two or three years.' 
 
 " In this island, for many years, and until the 
 late rise in the price of sugar, it has been about 6d. 
 per day, latterly about 9d., for able labourers. 
 In Antigua it used to be about 8d., now Is. per 
 day. In both islands much of the work is done 
 by task; e. g. about 60 to 70 feet square of land, 
 3600 to 4900 square feet, is stoked, i. e. the sod 
 &c. ploughed up by hoe, for 8d.-, the next operation 
 is to bole, i. e. to hoe-plough the land into banks 
 and furrows, for Is. to Is. id.; to weed young 
 canes by hoe and hand, 6d. to 9c?. These prices 
 apply to this island ; in some cases, latterly, higher 
 prices are given. A task will be finished in six to 
 nine hours; very few take a second task, but 
 many occupy the rest of the day in their gardens, 
 or looking after their stock, as most have a cow 
 
 and goats tied out to feed. It is not found, in 
 general, that more work is done in a week by 
 enlarging the task and price. 
 
 " ' 3. The disposition to work where regularly 
 paid and fairly treated.' 
 
 " The disposition to work, where regularly 
 paid, on sugar estates, is much affected by local 
 circumstances. The south side of Antigua and 
 Montserrat generally is mountainous, with much 
 land on the estates (which are generally large as 
 to extent,) not available for cane, but excellent 
 for provisions, and with many stock or other 
 properties where sugar-cane is not cultivated. 
 Under these circumstances land is easily ob- 
 tained on rent, or by purchase ; and this applies 
 to all our West-India colonies, except Barbados 
 and some districts of particular islands. In all 
 such situations, in Slavery, the people were per- 
 mitted to cultivate provisions, and, in many 
 cases, entirely, or nearly, supported themselves 
 by the labour of occasional Saturdays and Sun- 
 days. In this island, very generally, no regular 
 allowance was given — never of meal or dry food — 
 except only a little salt fish. Undoubtedly the 
 labourers live better now than in Slavery, eat 
 more and better food ; and in those districts, food, 
 as yams, eddoes, taniers, bananas, plantains, &c. 
 are largely cultivated ; so that the town markets 
 are well supplied, and, in some cases, provisions 
 are exported. Latterly, many of the people plant 
 canes, in small patches of one quarter to three or 
 four acres, and get them ground and made into 
 sugar on the nearest estates : thus partly occu- 
 pied, they also work on sugar estates for hire, 
 for from one-half to two-thirds of their time in 
 this island. Of Antigua I cannot write with 
 any certainty as to the proportion of labour in 
 the mountainous, or south side ; in the other 
 parts of Antigua the land is generally fit for 
 cane, and the estates are smaller, though with 
 as much or more cane cultivation. Land is ge- 
 nerally much higher priced, and only to be ob- 
 tained in a few places ; so the people, having 
 little land of their own, or on rent, work more 
 regularly on the estates for hire. Such is the 
 love of place and family connexions that few 
 move to distant parts of the same island, 
 although land there could be easily obtained. 
 The negro works less vigorously or continuously 
 than an English labourer at home ; the climate 
 is such as to lead all who dwell here to desire 
 little exertion — all are less energetic, but the 
 negro is the best labourer we have ; assuredly 
 he does more in a day than a Portuguese or 
 Coolie. If they had more wants, I believe they 
 would be much more industrious ; as it is, very 
 generally all their wants are fully supplied* they 
 are content with very little. Doubtless there 
 are many exceptions — negroes who really have 
 many comforts around them, the fruit of their 
 industry. It also must be remembered 'that a 
 
24 
 
 very large portion of their employers have only 
 received them as machines, or animals, and have 
 rather thought ignorance "best for them ; as it is, 
 it will take time to create a desire for a higher 
 state, for better houses, furniture, &c. To 
 possess land is a ruling passion ; multitudes in 
 all the colonies have attained their wish. This 
 to you would indicate a higher state than really 
 exists as the rule. Probably this desire to get 
 land — natural to all men — has been stimulated in 
 the free negro by the attempts on all sides to 
 coerce him while on another's land. Some years 
 back, and during all the apprenticeship, this was 
 the general rule of practice on estates. As to 
 the effect of fair treatment and regular payment, 
 I believe, in Antigua, the latter is the universal 
 rule ; here still, in some cases, not, and decidedly 
 to the injury of the employers' interests. While 
 I write, I hear a considerable number of labourers 
 have struck work, wages not being paid for two 
 and three months. Very much depends on the 
 temper and fair dealing of the employer ; a bad- 
 tempered man will always want labour. 
 
 " * 4. Their moral and religious state as com- 
 pared with Slavery, ^c.' 
 
 " I have been in the "West Indies nearly forty 
 years, and have, I think, been somewhat ob- 
 servant of the condition of the people. I am 
 sure that Slavery was as great a curse to the 
 white as to the black ; indeed, in one view, a 
 greater — the negro, under Slavery, still pro- 
 gressed. Compare the Creole slave with the 
 newly-imported African. He (the Creole) was 
 more civilized, raised in the scale of humanity. 
 This rule applied to all our slaves in some degree, 
 and especially in the latter years of Slavery : so, 
 in spite of Slavery, he did improve, though 
 slowly. Not so with his taskmaster. All my ob- 
 servation (and I saw Slavery in many of our 
 colonies, and also in some of the French and 
 Spanish), tended to prove that the white 
 man did not progress, did not stand still, but 
 was continually becoming more and more 
 demoralized and debased in mind and body. 
 Contact with Slavery more or less contaminated 
 and lowered the white man in the scale of hu- 
 manity. Now, if these views are correct, it is 
 evident that the free man must have progressed, 
 and # so he has ; not as much as some expected, 
 but perhaps as much as, under a calm survey of 
 all the circumstances of bis case, could well be 
 expected. At any rate, the outward signs of mo- 
 rality and religion in these islands will compare 
 well with those of England. I am persuaded 
 that a stranger, having an opportunity of seeing 
 a Sabbath-day in Antigua or Montserrat, and in 
 any town or village selected in England, would 
 hardly decide against us. Still I would by no 
 means clesire you to think that the standard of mo- 
 rality oi religion is really high ; and certainly the 
 intellect is but little cultivated. Much of the im- 
 
 morality is clearly to be traced to the influence of 
 Slavery. As to order and obedience to law, in 
 Slavery we were not safe with a large body of re- 
 gular troops and militia in every colony ; now, in 
 many — as Antigua, St. Kitt's, and here— we have 
 neither, and do not want them. In these islands 
 the peasantry have generally all their wants sup- 
 plied, and are a well-behaved and orderly people, 
 although I am of opinion that, very generally 
 their employers have been influenced toward, 
 them by very selfish and erroneous views, which 
 have hindered progress, and consequently lessened 
 the amount of labour, for with more light and 
 knowledge would come wants which could only 
 be supplied by industry. 
 
 " One thing is beyond all possibility of doubt 
 — the sum total of human enjoyment and happi- 
 ness has increased in these colonies since the 
 abolition of Slavery beyond all calculation. 
 
 " The letters which appeared in the Times, and 
 which I see in the Anti- Slavery Reporter, have 
 really astonished me, that of ' Expertus ' especially. 
 Is it possible that such statements will gain cre- 
 dence in England? If so, I hope many will an- 
 swer his calumnies and mis-statements. At the 
 risk of trespassing too much on your time and 
 patience, I cannot resist the inclination to make 
 some comments on a few passages. He says : 
 " Look to our West-India islands, to Jamaica, to 
 Trinidad, to St. Kitt's, to Dominica, to St. Lucia 
 (and, in another place), to Antigua. Does the 
 earth own possessions fairer to view, and more 
 grateful to the labour of man ? Yet what are 
 they now? — wrecks, ruins, deserts, with the faint 
 impression of former wealth and a fading civi- 
 lization, which becomes fainter and fainter every 
 year ; with towns at once filthy, noisome, and 
 I>athlcss ; with mansions once grand and stately, 
 now tottering to decay,' &c. 
 
 " In one thing I agree with ' Expertus.' I wish 
 'that some just-minded, honest-hearted, clear- 
 sighted men would come ' to Antigua or St. Kitt's, 
 ' not for a month, but for a year, to watch the 
 precious protege of English philanthropists,' and 
 honestly to report the result ' of their observations 
 and inquiries.' I have known St. Kitt's and An- 
 tigua nearly forty years, the latter I have visited 
 more than once yearly during that period. 1 Ex- 
 pertus ' never saw them, or surely he would not 
 write of ' grand and stately mansions,' of ' Jew 
 tradesmen,' of ' pathless towns,' and of ' negro 
 squatters parading their insolent idleness on 
 lands which they have occupied without pur- 
 chase, and exhausted without cultivation.' ' Else- 
 where,' he writes, * he will cultivate lands which 
 he has not bought for his own yams, mangoes, 
 and potatoes.' I will not stop to inquire by what 
 process (unknown to enlightened Europe) Quashie 
 has succeeded in ' exhausting lands without cul- 
 tivation,' but assert that the man who classes 
 ' nmngoes,' the fruit of a large standard tree equal 
 
25 
 
 to the horse-chestnut of England in size, and 
 which requires no cultivation, with yams and 
 potatoes, tubers of the earth, writes of what lie 
 has not seen. As to wrecks, ruins, and pathless 
 towns, the fact is, that the city of St. John's, in 
 Antigua, or the town of Basseterre, St. Kitt's, 
 were never in such good order, repair, and clean- 
 liness, as at present. It was only the other day 
 that a beautiful stream of water was brought 
 from the mountains into Basseterre ; and a very 
 handsome fountain imported from England, now 
 sends forth its bubbling water in the centre of the 
 principal square in that town. It is but a few 
 years ago that Antigua expended upwards of 
 2O,0O0Z. sterling in the erection of a cathedral. 
 All her churches and chapels (and they stud the 
 island) are in good order. During the past year 
 its handsome court-house has been repaired and 
 improved, at an outlay of 3000Z. The large 
 building in which is the public library and trea- 
 sury has had 20C0Z. expended on it, while several 
 thousand pounds have been spent on the Govern- 
 ment-house. These things are not the results of 
 a year's high price of sugar ; on the contrary, I 
 can testify that whenever I visited Antigua, dur- 
 ing the periods of greatest West-Indian depres- 
 sion, I always observed signs of life, and often of 
 progress, in St. John's. All its public institu- 
 tions are in a creditable state; the jail, poor- 
 house, and Holberton Hospital, are in good order : 
 the latter is conducted in a way most creditable 
 to all concerned. Then there are the various 
 stations with fire-engines, and an organized fire- 
 brigade, all of recent date. ' Pathless towns,' 
 says Expertus. Why there is no city in Europe 
 where the streets are kept cleaner or in better 
 order. As to 'wreck and ruin,' Expertus cannot 
 shew it there. True, the great earthquake of 
 1343 did prostrate most of the mills and estates, 
 sugar works, and many fine houses in the town ; 
 then there was wreck and ruin, but not the work 
 of the poor negro ; nor did it last. I suppose 
 greater energy, by all classes, could hardly be 
 shewn in any country than was manifested there ; 
 and by aid of a loan from Her Majesty's Govern- 
 ment, all was soon restored. Yes, and the loan 
 has been regularly repaid to this day, while 
 loans in Slavery times are, many, still unpaid. 
 What does ' Expertus ' mean.by ' a peaceful pros- 
 perity wantonly flung away ?' The imports of 
 St. Kitt's and Antigua have increased. At this 
 time compare them with those of the palmy days 
 of Slavery of which ' Expertus/ speaks ; or even the 
 exports of sugar — they now equal former years. 
 Look at the towns : no signs of want or decay, 
 all the chief business streets full of stores, and 
 shops full of goods ; rents high and rising, and 
 houses very difficult to be obtained. These are 
 stubborn facts. ' But,' says Expertus, ' it must be 
 spoken out loudly, energetically, despite the wild 
 mocking of howling cant. The freed West-India 
 
 negro will not till the soil for wages. The freed 
 son of the ex-slave is as obstinate as his sire.' I 
 would also loudly and energetically ask ' Expertus ' 
 to tell us who does cultivate the sugar estates in 
 St. Kitt's and Antigua. No coolies, no Chinese, 
 no Africans, only a few Portuguese have been 
 imported, and yet about as much sugar, &c. 
 is now exported as used to be in Slavery. Who 
 makes it, if the freed negro does not ? 
 
 " All ' Expertus ' writes about squatting in these 
 older colonies, or even in Guiana, is bosh. There 
 are no squatters, i. e. men who set down on Go- 
 vernment or waste lands, and cultivate them 
 without permission, in St. Kitt's or Antigua, and 
 very few anywhere in the British West Indies. 
 The negro either lives on a sugar or other estate, 
 where he pays rent — or if not, it is because the 
 owner thinks it to his interest to give him the use 
 and occupation of a cottage and plot of land, to se- 
 cure his labour ; or he rents one or more acres of 
 land, as many do ; or he buys land in fee simple : 
 witness the numerous villages and wide acres of 
 land bought and paid for by the freed negro. Now, 
 will 4 Expertus ' tell us how Quashie gets posses- 
 sion of, perhaps, an acre or more of land, a cottage, 
 a cow, a pig or two, several goats, fowls, &c, and 
 often a horse and cart (which is always in requi- 
 sition for hire on the estates), and for all of which 
 he contributes his quota of taxes ? We, who live 
 among these freed negroes, are simple enough to 
 believe that he has worked, and by the sweat of 
 his brow has obtained and saved the money to 
 purchase his property. It is notorious that every 
 year adds to the number of the small landowners ; 
 while the character of the imports, compared with 
 those of Slavery, shew, beyond all question, that 
 better food, and more and better clothing, far 
 more, is now used or consumed. I think if 
 ' Expertus ' would visit Antigua or St. Kitt's, and 
 drive round any of the districts over the roads 
 kept in such excellent order, and see the carts 
 and horses of these freed negroes returning from 
 or going to the towns with provisions, &c, or 
 working on the estates, and look at the cultiva- 
 tion of the cane, and, if he ever saw it in Slavery, 
 tell us how it compares, and then view the freed 
 people's provision fields, clean and well-cultivated, 
 that he would be obliged to confess that there was 
 some mistake, and that his friends of the West- 
 India body had only told him one side of the 
 question. 
 
 " My time will only permit one more notice of 
 this remarkable correspondent of the Times. For 
 all he says of a ' moral blight brooding over 
 islands which, in other hands than ours, and 
 under other counsels than ours, might have been 
 the suns and centres of a wide-spread happiness 
 and civilization,' is, so far as it relates to the 
 moral condition of the people, replied to in my 
 answer to your queries ; and if we are to judge 
 of what might have been by what exists in other 
 
23 
 
 foreign colonies, where Slavery, undisguised or 
 in a modified form, exists, we lose nothing by the 
 comparison. And it is worthy of remark, that 
 where immigration has been most extensive, as in 
 British Guiaua and Trinidad, there more is to be 
 seen of the moral blight, and other evils, of which 
 ' Expertus ' writes, than in those colonies where 
 the emancipated blacks alone have been depended 
 upon. ' Fortunately for the Barbadian planter, 
 his little island is as full of inhabitants as a 
 queen-ant is of eggs. There the labourers have 
 been looking for masters, not the masters for 
 men.' ' Had the same thing been true of other 
 islands, they would probably have realized the 
 same good fortune.' Here is the essence of the 
 case. But does '.Expertus ' think any plan short of 
 Slavery can supply the labour he desires in our 
 larger colonies, where land is so abundant and so 
 fertile, where twenty or forty years' cultivation 
 still leaves it rich in all its fertile constituents ? 
 Will not the thousands do as the thousands have 
 done— better themselves as soon as they are free ? 
 And is it not much praise to the people and the 
 planters in the old islands, where the population 
 is so small compared with the acreage, that still they 
 go on, and have succeeded in bringing up their 
 cane-cultivation, with so much less manual la- 
 bour, to equal the production under Slavery, and 
 at less cost? for although I cannot with certainty 
 say the cost of making sugar under the old sys- 
 tem, yet I am fully persuaded, if all the charges 
 are fully gone into, that the average in those 
 days was over 81. to 107. per hogshead : for which 
 it is now made. 
 
 " I hear that opinions are divided in Antigua 
 as to asking for Sepoys from Her Majesty's Go- 
 vernment. I fear, however, that most, if not all, 
 the colonies will seek to get them, as they will 
 hope not only to have them more firmly bound, 
 and for a longer period, than other immigrants 
 are by law allowed to be, but also to get them 
 landed free of cost. I do not desire to see them, 
 but if they come with a fair proportion of the 
 sexes there will, I think, be little danger to the 
 morals of the communities. 
 
 GRENADA. 
 
 "Grenada, February 25, 1858. 
 " The subject of the present want of labour in 
 this colony, and the policy of emancipation, 
 ought, I think, to be discussed independently of 
 each other, or, I should say, on distinct grounds. 
 That emancipation has been a successful line of 
 policy, there can be no doubt ; but it must also 
 be admitted that it was the primary cause of 
 the reduction in the number of labourers on 
 sugar estates. I would ask, whether emancipa- 
 tion was not intended not only to raise the slave 
 from bondage to freedom, but, being free, to ad- 
 
 vance his social condition. That social condition 
 being improved, it was only natural that the 
 ireed man should, as soon as it was in his power, 
 withdraw himself from a species of labour by 
 which he had felt himself degraded, and which 
 every pains had been taken, in this colony and 
 elsewhere, to lower in his estimation. Had 
 emancipation produced any other effect, it would 
 not have answered its purpose, it would not have 
 fulfilled its mission. Emancipation, to have been 
 successful, must have raised the freed man in 
 every respect far above his former condition ; and 
 as that condition is gradually improved, so will 
 labour on estates gradually decrease. The want 
 of labour at this time is, in my opinion, the best 
 proof that emancipation is silently, gradually, 
 and steadily fulfilling its mission. 
 
 " I as firmly believe that emancipation could 
 have had no other result, if the friends of eman- 
 cipation were sincere in their professions ; as I 
 know their exists at present a real and great want 
 of labour in this colony, and that such want is 
 the natural result of emancipation. 
 
 " A higher rate of wages, if the produce grown 
 and manufactured could have borne the addi- 
 tional burden, might have delayed the abstraction 
 of labour ; but the result, sooner or later, must 
 have been the same. 
 
 " Barbadoes is generally advanced, as an ex- 
 ample of a result quite the reverse; but the 
 slightest knowledge of the difference in the two 
 islands would affurd a sufricfent answer. If 
 Barbadoes had waste lands in proportion to its 
 superabundant population, I question whether 
 its prosperity, depending as it does on its supply 
 of labouring hands, would be equal to what it is. 
 I firmly believe the result would have been the 
 same as in this colony. No man will work on a 
 >ugar plantation, or elsewhere, for even fair 
 wages, or for the mere pleasure of doing so, no 
 more than a day labourer will continue as such 
 in England or any other country, if he can better 
 his condition by becoming a settler, either in his 
 own country or abroad. 
 
 " The deficiency of labour can only be supplied 
 by immigration. Unlimited or unrestricted im- 
 migration would not only be impolitic, but in- 
 jurious to the best interests of humanity, to the 
 immigrants themselves, and to the colony to 
 which they were sent : in the last case an absence 
 of all immigration would be almost preferable. 
 
 " Immigration must be gradual, and under the 
 most stringent regulations ; from the moment of 
 leaving his own country, until he reaches his 
 new abode, the guardianship and future welfare 
 of the emigrant should be provided for, and fair 
 wages secured to him by the strictest legal enact- 
 ments. 1500 to 2000 immigrants anuually, for 
 the next four years, could be safely introduced 
 into this colony, without affecting the interest of 
 the present labouring population, either as re- 
 
spects wages, or, by supplanting, drive them to 
 seek other occupations. On the contrary, it 
 ■would give a stimulus to the increased cultivation 
 of provisions, by those already settled on lands of 
 their own, and would make much land (now 
 almost valueless for want of labour) valuable to 
 its owner, and productive to a labourer. With 
 reference to this colony, it must be always borne in 
 mind the immense extent of valuable and fertile 
 lands laying waste for want of labour to culti- 
 vate, and this quite independent of lands available 
 for sugar cultivation. With increased available 
 labour, the cultivation of cocoa, nutmegs, and 
 other valuable articles of commerce, would be 
 carried to an immense extent. 
 
 "To assert that emancipation and the want of 
 labour have been solely the cause of ruin to West- 
 Indian properties, and the abandonment of culti- 
 vation, is an assertion not founded on fact ; but 
 it may safely be asserted that the natural result 
 of emancipation has been an abstraction or 
 withdrawal of labour from the cultivation of 
 sugar plantations, consequent on the improved 
 social position of the labourer ; and that although 
 such withdrawal has been injurious to the owners 
 of plantations, still a different line of conduct on 
 the part of owners and their representatives in 
 „ this colony, at the announcement of the state of 
 freedom, would have averted much of the distress 
 and ruin which followed. The want of steady, 
 certain, continuous labour, must be admitted as a 
 fact ; and immigration appears to be the only 
 remedy ; but God forbid that in providing that 
 remedy there should be the slightest approach to 
 Slavery, or a renewal of the slave trade in any 
 shape. But I think the colonists are entitled to 
 sympathy, and every aid should be afforded them 
 in procuring labour, by every fair and lawful 
 means, from those sources from which the best 
 descriptions of labour can be obtained." 
 
 "Grenada, February 25, 1858. 
 
 •< My Dear Sir, 
 
 " I hasten to acknowledge the receipt of your 
 letter of the 14th ult., and to express my regret 
 that a journal, conducted with so much talent, 
 possessing so much influence, and so widely cir- 
 culated as is the Times newspaper, should have 
 been seduced to publish and to endorse the inter- 
 ested and foul aspersions which have obviously 
 been penned by some energetic, industrious* and 
 labour -loving West-Indian of the hitherto domi- 
 nant class. 
 
 " The writer 1 Expertus ' is constrained to 
 admit that ' Slavery is an evil thing ; is accom- 
 panied, in its origin, with horrors ; and is, as an 
 institution, maintained too often with a degree 
 of harshness which revolts us ;' and yet he un- 
 blushingly designates the philanthropic and hea- 
 ven-approving labours of the British Anti- 
 Slaverists as ' humanitarian Quixotism.' The 
 
 African chiefs and princes he unscrupulously in- 
 vests with the right of seUing their 4 own kindred,' 
 whom he designates their 'own people,' to the 
 best bidder who anchors on their coasts. 
 
 " I certainly had hoped that sentiments so 
 unworthy of the present age could not have ob- 
 tained insertion in the London Times; but the 
 ' mammon of unrighteousness ' is powerful and 
 superinducing, whilst ' Quashie and his tribe are 
 impotent and uncivilized, and only to be regarded 
 as thews, sinews, nerves, and brains,' and all, 
 not as men, but as marketable cattle. 
 
 " In denouncing the African policy of the 
 Exeter-Hall philanthropists, ' Expertus ' invites 
 the people of England to ' look to our West-India 
 Islands — to Jamaica, to Trinidad, to St. Kitt's, 
 to Dominica, and to St. Lucia, for lessons of 
 warning, discouragement, and dissuasion.' He 
 pronounces them 'wrecks, ruins, deserts;' with 
 a large catalogue of disastrous changes, and by 
 which he furnishes incontrovertible proofs of his 
 own obliviousness, or, what is more, his preme- 
 ditated falsehoods. He painfully laments the 
 ' moral blight which broods over possessions so 
 fair to the view, and so grateful for the labour of 
 man ;' and ejaculates the wish to Heaven that 
 some people in England—' neither Government 
 people, nor parsons, nor dissenters, but some 
 I just-minded, honest-hearted, and clear-sighted 
 men — would go to some of the islands, say Jamaica, 
 Dominica, or Antigua, not for a month, or three 
 months, but for a year — not to toil in these fair 
 possessions, so grateful for the labour of man, 
 but to watch that precious protege of English 
 philanthropy, the freed negro in his daily habits, 
 &c.' It is greatly to be feared, Sir, that if his 
 deputation b3 large, and composed of the class of 
 men for which he stipulates, a year's residence 
 would have the effect of not only falsifying 
 his representations, but afford additional proof of 
 the ' moral influence and moral support afforded 
 by the white man,' by inducing those alliances 
 with Creole negresses, which tend to augment 
 that 'community of aspiring Mulattoes," the sons 
 of Britons, who are every day affording unmis- 
 takable evidence of their moral and intellectual 
 fitness for all the offices and duties of religious, 
 political, and civilized life. Much less than a 
 year's residence in either of the islands named, 
 or in any of the West-India islands where the 
 blessing of emancipation has been vouchsafed, 
 would furnish to any number of just-minded, 
 honest-hearted, and clear-sighted men, pleasing 
 and unequivocal assurances of the entire success 
 of the Abolitionists, in the cheerful happiness and 
 prosperity of the emancipated classes. 
 
 " The crime of ' the freed West-Indian negro 
 slave,' as alleged by ' Expertus,' is, that he will 
 not work for wages — that he eats his yams and 
 sniggers at Buckra ' — ; that he will sing hymns 
 and quote texts ; but honest, steady industry he 
 not only detests, but despises.' This is a gross 
 
28 
 
 libel. The emancipated negroes of these islands 
 are quite as honest and industrious as the la- 
 bourers of England. It is true that they detest 
 working in gangs on sugar-plantations, because 
 of its similitude to their employment in the days 
 of Slavery, and of their utter detestation of that 
 system. Their abhorrence of Slavery was exem- 
 plified by the large sums they cheerfully paid 
 during the time of apprenticeship for their im- 
 mediate emancipation. They have availed them- 
 selves of the opportunities afforded them to become 
 settlers, as owners and renters of lands, of sugar- 
 plantations abandoned after emancipation, owing 
 to the unwillingness of British merchants to con- 
 tinue advances to nominal proprietors of estates 
 whose insolvency had been notorious for years 
 previous to emancipation. They are proud of 
 their freedom, and not unnaturally regard their 
 continued residence upon estates, and their de- 
 pendence upon the proprietors for their houses, 
 &c, as a relict of Slavery. This feeling, and its 
 consequences, have caused, not idleness, and 
 ingratitude, and contemptuous sneering at the 
 industry of that race which made him free,' as 
 alleged by ' Expertus,' but a large abstraction 
 from sugar estates of labour which has been in- 
 dustriously bestowed upon the clearing of house 
 spots, the building of cottages, (each labourer 
 being generally his own carpenter,) and the cul- 
 tivation of those provisions which now abound in 
 their houses and in our markets, as well as cocoa 
 and sugar, which are every day increasing in cul- 
 tivation on their hired or purchased possessions. 
 No honest -hearted Englishman who witnesses the 
 manner in which our labourers cultivate their 
 own grounds and cane-fields, would pronounce 
 him lazy or idle ; and the West-India planter is 
 every day heard to exclaim, ' If they would 
 labour thus for us, we would be glad to double 
 their wages.' 
 
 " In reply to your queries, I beg to state, in 
 respect to the first : 
 
 "1. There can be but one opinion as to the 
 real want of labour in this colony, widened by the 
 abandonment of several valuable estates, and the 
 but partial cultivation of most of those that are 
 still in operation. 
 
 "2. By the fact of there being extensive 
 forests of excellent timber wholly unavailable at 
 present, but which, with the aid of labour, and 
 saw-mills, &c, might be used for building and 
 other purposes, to the exclusion of the pitch-pine, 
 the staves, and other lumber, largely imported 
 from the United States and British America. 
 
 " 3. By the circumstance of a large portion 
 of the peasantry being now located on their own or 
 on hired lands, where they cultivate cocoa, canes, 
 and provisions ; and by the independence which 
 naturally results from their position, such occu- 
 pation being more lucrative and more congenial 
 to their feelings. 
 " 4. Some of the plantations are without resident 
 
 labourers, and are entirely dependent upon the 
 labour of settlers within from, perhaps, one to 
 three miles around or distant. This necessitates 
 the loss of time occupied in a long walk to and 
 from the estate, the labourer not arriving fre- 
 quently before half-past seven to eight o'clock in 
 the morning (instead of six o'clock) ; and should 
 exception be taken to this, he not unfrequently 
 replies, ' I come soon enough : if you do not wish 
 me I can return.' 
 
 " 5. The labour formerly had from married 
 women, or women with families, is now very 
 much diminished by the fact of their non-resi- 
 dence on the plantations : much of the time of 
 those who consent to labour on estates is taken 
 up by the care of their children, and the carriage 
 of the breakfast of their husbands or * keepers ' 
 to the plantations where they work. Under the 
 former system, the labourers being resident, the 
 infants were collected and placed under the care 
 of a nurse, whilst the mothers laboured in the 
 fields, but which is not now practicable to any 
 extent, owing to their non-residence ; and, in 
 many instances, the mothers do not work on the 
 estates for several months after the birth of their 
 children. 
 
 "6. The cholera in 1851 sadly ravaged our 
 labouring population : the deaths were estimated 
 at 4000 out of a population, in 1853, of 34,077. 
 
 " 7. A considerable number, who were for- 
 merly slaves, have become freeholders and inde- 
 pendent settlers, and will not work for wages. 
 They grow canes, cocoa, and provisions, and 
 manufacture their canes into sugar, in some in- 
 stances on their own properties, but generally on 
 some neighbouring plantation. 
 
 " 8. From 5000 to 6000 immigrants, to be 
 imported over a spread of five years, could be ad- 
 vantageously employed, without detriment to our 
 present labouring population, and with manifest 
 benefit to themselves and to all classes of this 
 community.' 
 
 " Secondly : 
 
 " Were the labourers more generally resident 
 on plantations, and their labour in consequence 
 made available for nine hours in the day, their 
 present wages would be inadequate, and might 
 be increased without injury to the estate. They 
 seldom perform more than one task (when they 
 consent to be tasked) , because of their desire to re- 
 turn to their grounds, or to the cultivation of their 
 own canes, &c. An active labourer will perform 
 his or her task in about five hours, for which from 
 tenpence to one shilling is paid. Their wages 
 are generally punctually and regularly paid. 
 
 " 3, 4, and 5. The number of immigrants in- 
 troduced into this colony since emancipation is as 
 follows : 
 
 "lls'l Africans captured by H. M. Ship 
 Vestal in 1836 and 1837. 
 
 " 1043 Liberated Africans from Sierra Leone 
 in 1850. 
 
29 
 
 "164 Maltese imported, in 1839, by Messrs. 
 Hankeys and Sharpe. 
 
 "431 Portuguese from Madeira in 1846 and 
 1347. 
 
 " 283 Coolies in 18 )7. 
 
 "None of the Africans have returned to 
 Africa, nor the coolies to India. Of the 431 Por- 
 tuguese, 400 were in the colony in 18/: 1, since 
 which time several have left the colony for Tri- 
 nidad and elsewhere, and the remainder are prin- 
 cipally travelling hucksters and shopkeepers, very 
 few being now located on plantations. 
 
 " Of the 1 64 Maltese, only 26 remained in 1 85 1 : 
 many of the others, after having amassed a consi- 
 derable amount of money, chartered a vessel about 
 the year 1843, and left this for the United States. 
 One of them is now an extensive and wealthy re- 
 tail shopkeeper ; and another, from Demerara, is 
 the proprietor of a valuable sugar plantation, and 
 of extensive premises in the capital town. 
 
 " The Africans were generally indented to pro- 
 prietors of sugar plantations : the majority con- 
 tinue as labourers on the plantations, and many 
 are freeholders and renters of small lots of land. 
 Of those (principally females) indented to parties 
 resident in the towns, the majority are now in- 
 dustriously employed as hucksters, and, from 
 their honesty and correct dealing, enjoy the un- 
 limited confidence of the merchants generally. 
 
 " The absence of any registration of deaths 
 prevents an accurate account being given of the 
 mortality among the immigrants : in respect to 
 the Africans, with the exception of the deaths by 
 cholera, the mortality has not been greater than 
 among the Creoles. 
 
 " 6. The wages of the native adults are — 
 
 " The residents four shillings per week of five 
 days, with house and as much land for garden as 
 they can cultivate in their own time. Medical at- 
 tendance is pretty generally allowed where practi- 
 cable ; but for some time past there has been a 
 great paucity of medical men in the island. A 
 Bill has lately passed the Legislature, making pe- 
 cuniary provision for affording medical aid to in- 
 digent persons and lying-in women, which it is 
 hoped will increase the number of medical men. 
 For youths from nine to fourteen years from two 
 shillings to three shillings per week of five days. 
 For Coolies tenpence per day is given, with house 
 and medical attendance : land may also be had 
 by them free, for the cultivation of provisions ; but 
 as yet, I believe, they labour generally for the six 
 days, and live on purchased rice, codfish, &c, 
 Natives and Coolies are paid for extra labour. 
 
 " 7. The average cost of immigrants, inclusive 
 of passage money to this colony, has been for 
 *' Portuguese, £5 . 10s. each. 
 " Coolies . . 12 . 0s. „ 
 
 "8. The immigrants have been almost inva- 
 riably indented to sugar plantations. 
 
 " 9. The number of Coolies yet introduced has 
 
 been so few as not to affect the labouring popu- 
 lation of the colony. The Africans introduced 
 since emancipation are so amalgamated with the 
 natives, and so enlightened, as not to be dis- 
 tinguished in general from them, save by those 
 marks on their faces so common to their race. 
 
 " They are remarkable for their hardihood, 
 industry, and desire to possess property. They 
 are fond of independence ; and, because of this 
 fact, do not remain located on estates longer than 
 they can procure a suitable spot of land for rent 
 or purchase. The Coolies, although not generally 
 equal in power to the African, would neverthe- 
 less be preferred at this time by some planters, 
 because of their love of money, and of their re- 
 sidence and continuous labour on the estates. 
 
 " The natives, or Africans, resort to the til- 
 lage of their grounds from choice, and not neces- 
 sity ; and were the population only reasonably 
 increased, the sale of provisions, &c, from the 
 fertility of our mountain lands, would afford 
 ample remuneration. 
 
 " As already stated, the number of Coolies yet 
 introduced has been inconsiderable : their small 
 number and present dependency render them in- 
 nocuous, but this, I fear, would not be the case 
 if their number were greatly increased. The 
 African, could he be honestly and legitimately 
 obtained, would, in every respect, be the best im- 
 migrant to this colony ; he at once fraternizes with, 
 adopts the religion and practices of the natives, 
 and proves, in many instances, exemplary, rather 
 than detrimental to the morals of the native popu- 
 lation. 
 
 " I regret to state, that the lack of restraint, 
 and the boasted independence of the youth of our 
 black population, are likely to prove destructive 
 to their morals, anl injurious to their every in- 
 terest. 
 
 " The system of labouring at a distance from, 
 and not under the supervision of, their parents 
 is very unfortunate, and corruptive of their mo- 
 rals. They are not likely, in future, to labour 
 for themselves, or for the estates, in any profit- 
 able degree, unless constrained so to do by force 
 of circumstances. The lads are roving, pert, and 
 less industrious than their parents. Much care 
 is indeed required for the control and future 
 benefit of our youthful population. 
 
 " The subject of immigration has received the 
 careful attention of our liberal and truly worthy 
 Governor-in-Chief, Mr. Hincks, who is zealously 
 regardful of the claims of our native population ; 
 and should immigration to any extent be deter- 
 mined upon in behalf of these islands, the immi- 
 grants awarded to those under his government 
 will have due protection. I would, however, 
 suggest that the British Government, or the 
 colonies, be required to provide for the payment 
 of a suitable number of magistrates for deter- 
 mining all cases between master and servant : 
 
30 
 
 this would be satisfactory, and would induce con- 
 fidence in their decisions. 
 
 TOBAGO. 
 
 The following observations are from a gen- 
 tleman, who is a native West Indian, and 
 has a thorough knowledge of the subject 
 on which he addresses us. The replies to 
 queries are from another hand, but came in 
 his reply. 
 
 ♦'Tobago, 20th March, 1858. 
 " The population of this island is now about 
 15,000; and although its staple production (sugar) 
 is considerably less than it was previous to the 
 emancipation of the slaves, yet it cannot but be 
 gratifying to the friends of the negro race to 
 know that a large proportion of the sugar crop is 
 now grown by persons who had been slaves, on 
 their own account, either as renters or owners of 
 estates, patches of land, or under the Metairie 
 system. 
 
 "Tobago exported, in 1828, 8858 hhds. of 
 sugar and 5474 puncheons of rum : at that time 
 the slaves were unquestionably overworked, and 
 the population continued to diminish. From 
 that year the exports gradually fell off, until they 
 came down, in 1851, to 2544 hhds of sugar and 
 1389 puncheons of rum. Since 1841 there has 
 been a steady increase, until last year (1857), 
 when a severe drought caused an exception. 
 
 " In 1856 the crop was larger than any other 
 produced since 1840, having reached nearly 5000 
 hhds. exported; and this year it is expected that 
 it will be about the same. 
 
 " With the present limited population it is not 
 probable that the cultivation will be much ex- 
 tended ; but considering that the population has 
 been increased by only 300 immigrants, I am of 
 opinion that it speaks favourably for the labourers 
 generally that the crop is now nearly double 
 what it was sixteen years ago. 
 
 " None but tradesmen get more than 8c?. per 
 day. 
 
 " About one-sixth of the whole crop is pro- 
 duced under the Metairie system, and it is not to 
 be wondered at that the labourers prefer working 
 on their own account, that is to say, for a share 
 in the production of their labour, rather than for 
 wages of 8d. per day." 
 
 REPLIES TO QUERIES. 
 
 1 . " This question requires three distinct an- 
 swers : 
 
 ( I .) " Want of labour. 
 
 " There is a great want of labour in this co- 
 lony. Some sugar estates, favourably situated, 
 i. e. having the command of all the labour in their 
 immediate vicinity, complain of this less than 
 others. 
 
 " (2.) Extent. 
 
 "The want of labour manifests itself every- 
 where in this colony by the absence of any thing 
 like competition for employment and progress in 
 the arts of civilization. The state of our public 
 roads, the general want of comfort in and about 
 our dwellings, the rude cultivation upon estates, 
 the difficulty of obtaining servants of any kind, 
 and of making any public or private or estates' 
 improvements, are all evidences of the extent to 
 which labour is required. Many new branches 
 of industry suggest themselves for the develop- 
 ment of the many natural resources of this 
 island, but the impossibility of obtaining labour 
 would be an insuperable obstacle to the most 
 energetic capitalist. 
 
 " (3.) General cause. 
 
 " Paucity of population. Disproportion be- 
 tween quantity of land and number of labourers 
 for hire. Facilities for cultivating provision 
 grounds; facilities for squatting; facilities for 
 renting and purchasing land. Diversion of the 
 negro labourers from regular estates' labour by 
 the facilities open to them as above, and under 
 the Metairie or half-and-half system, by employ- 
 ing their labour for their own benefit. In this 
 manner many labourers have become employers 
 of labour. Wants of the negro few, and easily 
 satisfied; and they can be satisfied without la- 
 bouring/or hire, which produces a general disin- 
 clination to labour for hire. 
 
 " 2. Yes. For the day's work that can be 
 got out of them for hire they receive a fair re- 
 muneration. If employed in task-work, they 
 will often finish their work before two o'clock in 
 the day ; but if otherwise, the same quantity of 
 work, or less, would occupy the whole day. 
 
 " Wages punctually and regularly paid. 
 
 " 3. Only about 300 liberated Africans intro- 
 duced per ship ' Clarendon ' in 1851. 
 
 " 4. None. 
 
 " 5. At a rough guess, perhaps thirty or forty. 
 The rest are here. 
 
 " 6. The same as the native population, Sd. to 
 \0d. per day for an able-bodied labourer, and 
 sometimes Is-, per day. 
 
 " 7- Cannot say, not having any data. 
 
 " 8. Two-thirds of the immigrants are supposed 
 to be still working on estates ; the others are 
 squatting, or rent land for provision -grounds, 
 and support themselves without continued labour 
 for hire. 
 
 " 9. The number of immigrants has been too 
 small to be appreciable (only about 300). 
 
 " The introduction of savage Africans has na- 
 turally a prejudicial effect upon the native popu- 
 lation. They bring with them their jumbu 
 dances, Obeah, and other superstitions ; the pftect 
 of which it must take many years to eradicate." 
 
31 
 
 BRITISH GUIANA. 
 " Demerara, 24tli February, 185S. 
 
 "The people connected with the stations under 
 my charge are not to any great extent employed 
 on sugar estates, being for the most part farmers, 
 cultivating provisions and coffee on lands which 
 they have leased. Some of them occasionally go 
 to work for a few weeks on the plantations in 
 the neighbourhood, or on the west coast ; but 
 little can be learned from them on the Labour 
 Question. In fact, when one has no opportunities 
 of becoming personally acquainted with the work 
 done, and to be done, as well as with wages paid 
 on estates, it is very difficult to obtain any in- 
 formation to be confidently relied upon. The 
 manager and the labourer look at the matter 
 from different points of view, and the information 
 received from the one will probably appear very 
 different from that received from the other. Yet 
 both may speak the truth, though not the whole 
 truth, on the subject to which they relate. 
 
 '« I think any one, free from personal bias to 
 this or that view of the labour question, looking 
 on the greatly extended cultivation, compared 
 with what it was a few years ago, must conclude 
 that labour is procurable in the colony ; and, on 
 the other hand, the appearance of the labouring 
 people, Creoles and others, and the money which 
 they are known to expend in different ways, can- 
 not but lead one to believe that they do work, 
 and receive wages. So far as this colony is con- 
 cerned, there is no sign of ruin at the present 
 time. Every one knows that the crop of 1857 
 is the largest ever made in the colony. But 
 while there is so much room to extend the culti- 
 vation, there will still be a demand for more 
 labourers. I need not, however, speculate on the 
 subject ; I will now look at your questions, though 
 I am sure I have but few, if any, facts to supply 
 you with. 
 
 " 1. 'Is there any real want of labour in your 
 colony ? and if so, to what extent, and to what 
 general causes is it to be ascribed ?' — I now see 
 large tracts of land under sugar cultivation, 
 which were formerly uncultivated ; and I have 
 heard planters say that the estates under their 
 charge never had so much land under cultivation 
 in the time of Slavery as they have at the 
 present time. But, then, they say the present 
 extent of cultivation cannot be maintained with- 
 out more labour. « We want,' they add, ' a con- 
 tinuous stream of immigration, in order to keep 
 plantations in their present state of cultivation.' 
 One tells you he cannot get labour ; another, that 
 he has no difficulty in procuring all he wants. 
 The labourer can purchase a lot of land on which 
 to establish a home for his family ; and then, 
 though not entirely withdrawn from estates' 
 work, he will perhaps be less regular than he 
 used to be, unless he happen to hold some re- 
 sponsible position, as foreman, &c, on the estate. 
 Hence I apprehend there will be no limit to the 
 
 alleged want of labour, while so much land re- 
 mains to be possessed. 
 
 " ' 2. Are the native labourers fairly re- 
 munerated for their labour on the estates, and are 
 their wages punctually and regularly paid?' — I 
 have every reason to believe that on the estates 
 good wages are earned. If inquiry be made of 
 either manager or labourer on this point, and 
 he knows such inquiry is made with a view to the 
 Labour Question, the information received will 
 be altogether one-sided. But there can be no 
 question, I think, that the native labourer gets a 
 fair day's wages for a fair day's work. I hear 
 the planters speaking of the labourers being able 
 to earn four or five guilders, or two dollars a day 
 (a guilder is Is. 4d.), as easily as possible. It is 
 possible that occasionally, at some kinds of work, 
 such very high wages may be earned. One in- 
 telligent man told me, a few days ago, that he, 
 being a good shovel-man, left his trade (a car- 
 penter) some years since, for field work ; and that 
 on one occasion he earned eleven guilders in a 
 day and a half : five dollars a week he commonly 
 earned. ' But not noio,' he said : ' I find my two 
 guilders a day, as carpenter, better than field 
 work ; and it is not so hard.' Another man, a 
 member of our church, tells me that he and his 
 fellow-labourers earn seven and a half bitts each 
 a day, i. e., 2s. 6d. Females, whom I have con- 
 versed with on the same subject, say that for a 
 certain task they get three and a half and four 
 bitts (a bitt is 4d.), and they can finish by 
 about noon when they begin by 7 30 a.m. If 
 the work be good, they say they can finish two 
 tasks. 1 have conversed with several, male and 
 female, and, from what they say as to their pre- 
 sent remuneration, I believe there is no cause for 
 complaint in regard to the rate of wages, or the 
 payment of them. 
 
 " ' 3. What number of immigrants has been 
 introduced since emancipation, and where did 
 they come from principally ?' — In the beginning 
 of this month, an official statement, published in 
 the Gazette, gave the following account of im- 
 migrants introduced to the colony from 1335 to 
 1857 inclusive : 
 
 " From West-India Islands . . . 12,928 
 
 „ Madeira 24,457 
 
 „ East Indies 25,348 
 
 ,, Azores 164 
 
 „ Africa 11,046 
 
 „ England 21 
 
 „ China 647 
 
 „ Cape de Yerdes 766 
 
 „ Malta 208 
 
 „ United States 70 
 
 7.Q.655 
 
 " I cannot supply answers to questions 4th, 
 5th, 6th, and 7th. In regard to the 8th, viz. 4 What 
 proportion of the immigrants have worked on the 
 estates, and how have the rest been employed? 
 
32 
 
 I can give no certain information. The most of 
 the Coolies have, I believe, continued to work on 
 estates. Some have betaken themselves to hux- 
 tering and shopkeeping, but not many. The 
 Ram Hal, I see, from the public papers, has just 
 'committed an act of insolvency,' and has of 
 course attained to the honour of being a bankrupt. 
 Of Portuguese, I believe not nearly one half of 
 those now in the colony work on estates. They 
 are to be met with throughout the whole colony, 
 engaged in all sorts of employments, but chiefly 
 as dealers in the provision, dry goods, and spirit 
 trade. Up our rivers, too, they are extensively 
 engaged in wood-cutting. It is astonishing to 
 see how some of these people have pushed on, per- 
 severed, and succeeded. 
 
 " Chinese are all, I believe, working on estates. 
 They seem to be earning plenty of money too, 
 and taking the use of it. I have frequently seen 
 them going to town, very well dressed; and re- 
 cently,sincethe term for which they were originally 
 bound expired, I see they are in the habit of hiring 
 carriages, to drive home from the city. No 
 unusual thing to meet four Chinamen, with their 
 purchases, driving, or rather being driven, down 
 the west coast from town, in a carriage for which 
 they have had to pay five dollars. 
 
 " Coolies continue to dress after their own 
 fashion, and, I suppose, save their money, for lots 
 of them are to be seen about the Savings' Bank 
 on the days it is open for business. 
 
 "Africans labour on estates till they acquire 
 as much as will purchase a piece of land ; and 
 then they generally become, in relation to the 
 estates, the same as the Creole population. In fact, 
 the African noiv appears to have a similar desire 
 for a piece of land, and a house of his own, to 
 that which the Creole labourers manifested some 
 sixteen or eighteen years ago. 
 
 " 9. ' Has the introduction of immigrants 
 reduced the rates of wages, &c. ? ' (to the 
 Creole labourer.)— This 9th question would re- 
 quire more time than I can at present afford to 
 answer fully. I would not take upon me to 
 say how the introduction of immigrants may 
 have affected the rate of wages; but, on the whole, 
 I do not think the material interests of the Creole 
 labourer, have been injuriously affected thereby. 
 I believe there is still some work on estates, such 
 as heavy shovel work, entirely done by Creoles ; 
 and for that, of course, they are well remunerated. 
 Few Creoles now reside upon estates : they all, 
 or nearly all, reside in villages and settlements, 
 where they have houses of their own ; and they 
 generally seem to prefer working on farms, 
 (leased lands), and in other employments, to 
 which they can go and come when they like, to 
 labouring on estates, where they must work every 
 day, or else perhaps lose their wages for the week 
 or the month. But it is to be regretted that, in 
 too many cases, their own lands are by no means 
 cultivated as they ought to be. They know 
 
 nothing of manuring here, and when the plantain 
 gives out and fails the land is abandoned. In 
 fact, some strangely go to hire farms themselves, 
 while their own land is rented to Africans, or 
 else lying waste, and overgrown with weeds and 
 wild bush. 
 
 "I am fully persuaded that the morals of the 
 Creole population have been seriously injured by 
 contact with immigrants, and by their vile cus- 
 toms and vicious habits. Why, so degraded have 
 some of the Creole young men shewn themselves 
 to be, that for hire they become the bearers of 
 the coolies' portable pagodas, on some of their 
 high days, when they perambulate the highways 
 in tumultous procession. 
 
 Georgetown, Demerara, February 27, 1838 . 
 
 " But leaving these, I will endeavour to address 
 myself to your queries: 
 
 "1. 'Is there any real want of labour in 
 your colony; and if so, to what extent, and 
 to what general causes is it to be ascribed? ' — 
 In a province like this, with hundreds of miles 
 and millions of acres scarcely traversed except by 
 the wild Indians of our interior, almost a terra 
 incognita, and wholly so except a few who have, 
 as travellers, penetrated beyond the cultivated 
 borders of this vast country and continent, a 
 simple ' yes ' or ' no ' would be no definite answer 
 to this query. If you restrict the inquiry to 
 the portion of the country already under culti- 
 vation, as requiring additional labour to keep 
 it up, or even in some degree to extend it, my 
 own positive conviction would answer ' No.' 
 If the inquiry relates to the capability of 
 the province, and what would be the case 
 with any considerable supply of labour beyond 
 that already at command, even though that 
 supply were doubled, tripled, or quadrupled, 
 to almost any extent, the answer would still be 
 like the horseleach's cry of ' Give, give,' 'Yes, 
 yes.' But your inquiry, I presume, restricts 
 itself to the former; only in a limited degree to 
 the latter. In the former view, I answer ' No.' 
 And if you ask my reasons, they are these. 
 Excepting at certain seasons of the year, I 
 am assured that it not unfrequently occurs 
 that the labourers who are located in vil- 
 lages, after travelling many miles in search of 
 employment, are unsuccessful, and have to return 
 to their localities with nothing to do ; until they 
 sally forth again, and that during the dry season. 
 This is the case to a fearful extent, insomuch 
 that weeks will sometimes transpire with scarcely 
 any employment to a considerable portion of the 
 native Creole population. And two reasons — nay, 
 three— are especially assigned for this state of 
 things : the first, that as immigrant labour is 
 extensively employed, the immigrants, being 
 under indenture to the estates, must be provided 
 
33 
 
 for, and taken care of, at any rate. Secondly, 
 the managers being restricted to a certain weekly 
 or monthly outlay, beyond which he cannot go, 
 he has no money to pay the Creole labourers, 
 until the next income, whatever be the capacity 
 or want of the estate. This of course will apply 
 only where means are limited, either by want of 
 capital, or for prudential considerations of outlay. 
 And, thirdly, during the dry season, rarely can the 
 estates do more than find employment for immi- 
 grant labour, nor that if the season be pro- 
 longed, as is not unfrequently the case. Now, I 
 have the authority of Mr. Van der Gon Netscher, 
 in the Court of Policy, or Combined Court, for 
 saying that, 'A strong Creole will do as much 
 work in one day as a coolie could do in two, 
 three, or six.' Though this statement par- 
 takes of exaggeration, it is sufficient to shew 
 you the justice of my next remark, as affecting 
 the supply of labour — that it is only when the 
 estates cannot do without the labour of the native 
 Creole that they employ it, namely, in hard la- 
 borious work, such as shovel-ploughing and 
 heavy shovel work, for which the slender make 
 of the Coolie immigrant renders him unfit or- 
 dinarily. Coolie immigrants, ordinarily, and 
 Creole women are at about a par for value 
 and strength to labour. Coolie women are 
 not numerous. For present cultivation, there- 
 fore, and, to a limited degree, its extension, real 
 want of labour cannot, I think, be justly given 
 as a reason for depopulating a continent to get 
 it. It requires well to husband what we have. 
 Yet it cannot be denied — we have abundant 
 room for immigration and immigrants ; but not, 
 of course, after the ruinous fashion on which it 
 has hitherto been conducted. The single fact, 
 that we have an area of seventy thousand square 
 miles in this province, much of which is rich in 
 mineral wealth, in gold, in silver, in platinum, 
 in iron, in precious stones, and perhaps nearly 
 every mineral product of the earth; that, with 
 60,000 acres of land in actual cultivation, there is 
 but one hundredth part of available land occupied ; 
 that our alluvial soils extend inland to a distance 
 of thirty miles from the sea-coast ; that the sea- 
 coast, thus rich in soil, extends to a sea facade of 
 250 mile in extent ; and that in these lands some 
 60,000,000 acres might be brought into cultiva- 
 tion ; — ages must elapse ere it could be said, 
 without some to assert the contrary, that there 
 is no want, if by that be meant no room for 
 labour. 
 
 " 2. ' Are the native labourers fairly remu- 
 nerated for their labour on the estates ; and are 
 their wages punctually and regularly paid?' — 
 This question, confined to natives, can be 
 answered — excepting in comparatively rare in- 
 stances— affirmatively, in as far as my informa- 
 tion extends to punctuality in payment. I do not 
 think the free negro would return to any estate 
 where he was not paid But as relates to a fair 
 
 remuneration for each kind of estates' labour, / 
 am perplexed in my inquiries ! It is in every 
 aspect a vexed question, and every research renders 
 it more and more unsatisfactory to my mind. One 
 will affirm that a labourer can earn a dollar a 
 day with all ease ; another will roundly assert 
 double that sum; another, with a nearer approach 
 to accuracy, will maintain six bitts, four bitts, 
 three bitts, and, in some cases of difficult weed- 
 ing, two bitts (a bitt is 4c?. value). With such a 
 wide margin, it is next to impossible to arrive at 
 the exact truth, or even to determine a fair 
 average. When, however, circumstances, mode 
 of operation, and kinds of labour are considered, 
 it is possible, to a considerable extent, to solve 
 some of the difficulties affecting the question, 
 although it is by no means easy, if indeed 
 practicable, to render the question clear to 
 any unacquainted with localities, distances, and 
 the peculiarities of tropical labour in sugar 
 plantations. I will, however, state one or two 
 facts, to enable you to judge for yourself. In 
 cases of a dollar, and, as sometimes asserted, two 
 dollars (rare enough) in a day, it can only occur 
 in an occasional sense, that is, in shovel-plough- 
 ing, or French work, in the companies of strolling 
 labourers that go by the name of task-gangs. 
 These always consist of able-bodied, muscular 
 negroes, who go to a plantation and take a job 
 at such an estimated price ; and often they can 
 determine their own prices, when the planter 
 has no labourers on the estate of sufficient 
 strength in numbers. These will work, say three 
 days in the week, like horses under excitement, 
 except that it is wages instead of the lash; and 
 they will expend strength and labour beyond the 
 possibility of continuous daily endurance. The 
 other three days, or two days, as the case may 
 be, is taken up in travel, or is required for rest. 
 But I do not believe it is possible for the physical 
 powers of even a negro to go beyond such an 
 amount of physical effort without shortening life, 
 or enfeebling it. The ordinary field work is more 
 within the bounds of inquiry ; though even this 
 is perplexing. An industrial day's work in the 
 field is ordinarily set down at one guilder, that is, 
 four bitts, each of 4c?. value. A woman's task is, 
 I believe, usually at three bitts per diem. 
 
 " But what is a day's work ? In a discussion 
 on this question in the Combined Court, in 1856, 
 the Hon. Mr. Netscher, a planter, observed, ' To 
 put down a certain amount of work per man, 
 and say to him, That work must be done in a 
 day, would be impossible. They did not know 
 at the end of the day what any one man had 
 done ; but they knew at the end of the week.'* 
 This brings to my mind an answer a labourer 
 gave me, on my inquiring how it came to pass 
 that the people did not work, or worked so few 
 tasks a week, and lost so much time that they 
 
 * See Royal Gazette, Sept. 2, 1856. 
 
34 
 
 were charged with being idle. ' Massa,' was the 
 reply, 'no so ; me task too much, he sometimes 
 so too heavy ; me no able to do more, Massa ; so 
 me finish um at end of the week.' — ' How is 
 that ?' « Massa, me too tire to work Monday, and 
 so me do little job for meself ; Tuesday me take 
 task, too much, so me do as much as me able, 
 and leave the rest ; Wednesday me take task 
 again, and do the same ; Thursday me do the 
 same ; so me make three tasks ; so sometimes me 
 get four tasks,and work all Saturday to finish um.' 
 — ' But is it always so ?' ' No, Massa ; sometimes 
 the ground so heavy, and the grass heavy, some- 
 times not so heavy ; if too heavy, only get through 
 three task.' — ' But do you never get through 
 two tasks in one day ?' ' 'Spose, Massa, the work 
 no so heavy, no so heavy grass, no so heavy 
 ground, me try, begin soon, try hard, and do 
 um ; but then, Massa, me get too-oo tired, and 
 'bliged to rest longer time, Massa. Massa, me 
 no lazy.' This story is more instructive, to 
 my mind, on the probable average of the wages, 
 question, than the assertions of many ; and il- 
 lustrates how it is that not till the end of the 
 week can an industrial day's work, as it is 
 called, be estimated. But what is measured 
 out as a day's work is very differently told. 
 And here, again, a new and deeply perplexing 
 question arises, I have not sufficient data to 
 solve. From the discussion in the Legislative 
 Court above referred to, it was stated that ' Five 
 days' industrial tasks are required of every immi- 
 grant;' which, if enforced, will cut off many lives, 
 as indeed may well be conceived, if we may judge 
 from the Hon Mr. Porter's incidental observa- 
 tion at that Court.* He said, ' Everybody 
 wauted the immigrants to labour every day; 
 hut they, being weakly people, did not like to work 
 
 every day for a guilder ; but they would rather 
 work to the value of one bitt (4c?), or two bitts 
 (8c?.).' Attorney - General : 'Then the Honour- 
 able Member wished to exact from them more 
 work in the day than their strength would admit 
 of.' Mr. Porter: 'He did not wish to exact 
 that.' Thus, then, we learn that one guilder (four 
 bitts of 4c?. each), is the recognised value of 
 one day's work of industrial labour ; that immi- 
 grant labourers find it too much for their 
 strength ; that they rather work to their strength, 
 by taking even two bitts (8c?.), or even one bitt 
 (4c?.), on account of their incapacity to exceed that 
 without detriment to health or comfort, and thus 
 risk the prolongation of their term of service ; at 
 least, which is the same, they risk being refused a 
 ticket to authorise their claim to the promised 
 back passage. The witness is the planter's own, 
 told in courtly conversation. 
 
 " Now, Sir, on the labour question, I think the 
 above will enable you to form some idea about 
 ' fair remuneration ' on the one hand, and on 
 the other help you to a key by which to interpret 
 the terms — tropical terms — of idleness, squatting, 
 indolence, and cognate words to these, when applied 
 to the negro*s asserted lazy unwillingness to 
 labour. 
 
 "3. 'What number of immigrants has been 
 introduced in your colony since emancipation ? 
 and where did they come from principally?' — ■ 
 Some time in the last month there appeared in 
 the Royal Gazette a tabular statement, signed 
 by the Acting Immigration Agent-General, shew- 
 ing the gross numbers who have arrived in the 
 colony for the twenty-two years from the first 
 January 1835 to 31 Dec. 1857. I append a copy 
 of it. 
 
 From Immigration Table, 1st January 1835 to 31st December 1857. 
 {From the Royal Gazette, 4th January 1858.) 
 
 From W. India Islands, 1835, 157. 
 
 1840, 2900. 
 1845, 722. 
 
 Madeira 1835, 429. 
 
 1845, 668. 
 1850, 1040. 
 
 1855, 1055, 
 338, 406. 
 1851,517- 
 
 1856, 1258. 
 
 East Indies 1 
 
 1836,1427- 1837,2150. 1838,1266. 1839,192. 
 1841, 27-15. 1842, 206. 1843,108. 1841, 255. 
 
 1846, 428 12,928 
 
 1841, 4279. 1842, 423. 1843, 45. 1S44, 140. 
 1846, 5975. 1847, 3761. 1848, 300. 1849, 86. 
 1851, 1109. 1852, 1009. 1853, 2539. 1854, 1658. 
 
 . 1856, 180. 1857, 342 24,457 
 
 1845, 816. 1846, 4019. 1847, 3461. 1848, 3545. 
 1852,2805. 1853, 2021. 1854,1562. 1855, 2342. 
 
 1857, 2596 25,388 
 
 Azores, in 1851 164 
 
 Africa 1838, 21. 1841, 1120. 1842, 1829. 1843, 325. 1844, 523. 
 
 1845, 1425. 1846, 1097. 1817, 565. 1848,1697- 1849,111. 
 1850,1210. 1851,453. 1852, 268. 1853,279. 1856, 65.... 11,046 
 
 England, in 1851 21 
 
 China, in 1853 6^7 
 
 Cape de Verde, 1856 766 
 
 Malta, in 1839 208 
 
 United States, in 1840 ........ 70 
 
 Grand Total, 1835 to 1847 
 
 '5,655 
 
 * See Report in Royal Gazette, September 2, 1856. 
 
35 
 
 44 From this statement it appears that the 
 total number of immigrants of all classes who have 
 been introduced during the period mentioned is 
 75,655. We are not told how many of these 
 immigrants are at the present day available 
 for agricultural purposes in the colony ; al- 
 though doubtless the means of affording that 
 information must have been at hand, and it 
 was necessary, if the return was intended for 
 any useful purpose, that it should have been 
 made truthfully complete. In the absence of 
 such information, the return, if not wholly 
 valueless, is certainly very deceptive. A large 
 deduction must be made for the total number of 
 Coolies returned to their own country. Many 
 of the West-India islanders also (Barbadeians 
 principally) have likewise done the same ; 
 but we admit that it is not easy to estimate the 
 number, as the Immigration Agent-General does 
 not, at the present day, keep a record relating to 
 such immigrants, and moreover the constant 
 irregular arrivals may be taken as a balance to 
 the departures. But not so in regard to the 
 Coolies. The number of those remaining can be 
 told almost to a man, supposing the records of 
 the Estates Hospital to have been properly kept. 
 We will not venture to say how many of them 
 have died here ; but those who remember the 
 stand which Government was obliged to make in 
 1848 and 1849 for the establishment of proper 
 Estates Hospitals will agree with us that the 
 deaths must have been very considerable. The 
 numbers who have left can be told at a moment 
 by the same officer who sent out the imperfect 
 return. We should say at least 10,000 must be 
 deducted for those who have died and those who 
 have returned to India, leaving about 15,000 
 Coolies in the colony. With regard to the Por- 
 tuguese, deducting at a very moderate calcula- 
 tion one-tenth of the entire number for the fear- 
 ful mortality that prevailed among them in the 
 years from 1835 to 1849, and for subsequent 
 deaths, we may estimate the number now in the 
 country at about 20,000. But how many of these 
 are engaged in agricultural work ? Not half of 
 them. Every street in town is studded with 
 their shops ; every village has five or six ; there 
 is hardly an estate in the colony which has 
 not one or more on its front lands, and almost 
 every shop has its staff of at least two servants. 
 Then others have taken to the bush, like the 
 Coolies and Africans, and cut wood, burn char- 
 coal, and rear provisions. Taking, however, the 
 statement of the Immigration Agent-General for 
 what it is worth, 75,000 immigrants would give 
 250 hands for each estate, a very strong gang 
 for the majority of estates. But there really are 
 not so many estates now in cultivation : we have 
 heard it stated there are only 160 sugar estates 
 in sugar cultivation Say there are 200 : there 
 will be an average of 370 immigrants for each 
 
 sugar plantation, besides a large proportion of 
 Creole peasantry, who, even the bitterest of their 
 abusers admit, can be got sometimes to work on 
 the sugar plantations. We know that gangs of 
 Creole labourers may commonly be seen walking 
 from estate to estate in search of work, which 
 cannot be got, owing to the necessity of keeping 
 immigrant labourers employed, and the want of 
 means of employing others. It is not labour that 
 is so much wanted in the colony, as capital to pay 
 for that labour. Those proprietors who have 
 capital at command contrive to make large crops, 
 and to acquire fortunes in spite of the complaints 
 that are made regarding scarcity of labour. 
 They are every day taking in waste lands and 
 cultivating them at profit, while their poorer 
 neighbours abandon their fields, and attribute 
 the necessity to want of labourers. There are 
 many of these latter who would be just as badly 
 off if they had double the number of labourers at 
 command. They have not the means of paying 
 the wages of those they have. It is not very long 
 since the holders of two or three extensive pro- 
 perties failed, and nearly ruined an industrious 
 trader, by whom they had been supplied weekly 
 with large sums of money to pay their labourers' 
 wages. These people had gangs of immigrants 
 indentured to their estates ; and they had to 
 borrow the money to pay the people's wages. 
 Yet their voices might have been heard amongst 
 the loudest crying out for more labour' 
 
 44 The above is very important and valuable, 
 as testimony that cannot be controverted, nor 
 truthfully denied. 
 
 44 4. 4 What number has returned to China, 
 India, and Africa?' 
 
 <4 No returns have as yet appeared, nor have I 
 the means of ascertaining; but i" suppose the 
 Blue Books would tell. To China I do not re- 
 member to have heard that any have returned ; 
 of the other two— India and Africa — I can say 
 nothing. 
 
 44 5. 4 What number is estimated to have died ? 
 
 4 ' Deaths have been kept a profound secret for 
 a long period ; at least I have no recollection of 
 any having been published for many years past. 
 We used formerly to have periodical returns 
 of the numbers who died in the hospitals ; but I 
 suppose the observations and inquiries elicited 
 thereby have rendered it more convenient to 
 withhold them of late years. If I may form 
 my estimate from the numbers who died in 
 former years, it is to be feared that a very con- 
 siderable proportion are cut off by death. Many 
 die on their passage from India, many die in our 
 hospitals, some, if not many, during the penalties 
 they undergo for deficient labour. 
 
 44 The number of deaths, as reported on those 
 who actually reached Guiana in 1857, averaged 
 about 5 per cent, in the year ; that is, there ac- 
 tually reached Guiana, in 18 57, fiom 
 
36 
 
 Calcutta 361, by the Wellesley. 
 
 „ 335, by the Bucephalus. 
 
 „ 230, by the Sir Robert Sepping. 
 
 „ 226, by the Royal Emperor. 
 
 „ 265, by the Merchantman. 
 
 „ 277, by the Birmah. 
 Madras 522, by the Blue Jacket. 
 
 „ 380, by the Samboul. 
 
 Total, 2596 arrivals. 
 Of whom 135 died in the hospital within the 
 same period, and 4 in the river (t. e. before land- 
 ing), leaving 2457 coolie immigrants alive ; but 
 the return says nothing of those who died on 
 their passage out, which were considerable, and 
 should be asked for, or searched for. 
 
 " 6. ' What wages have they been in the habit 
 of receiving?' 
 
 " Our unacquaintedness with their language 
 limits the possibility of ascertaining from the im- 
 migrants themselves. We are therefore depen- 
 dent mostly on the occasional conversations of the 
 planter-legislators. The Honourable Mr. Porter, 
 in his place in the Court of Policy, stated, « A 
 great mauy of the women, and more of the 
 men, only earned 3 bitts {i.e. Is.) a day, 
 but they worked every day in the year.' He 
 also stated that, on industrial days, labour 
 was a one-guilder task (4 bitts, each 4c?.) ; 
 whilst, for want of strength equal to it, some 
 preferred one bitt's worth, or one-fourth of the 
 task. Now, the Ordinance No. 7, 1854, re- 
 quires the same to be performed five days every 
 week (as an industrial service) that would be as- 
 signed to a Creole labourer's daily task : and if, 
 under conviction before a magistrate, five such 
 days' industrious service be not actually per- 
 formed, the deficiency authorises the refusal of a 
 ticket, and right of back-passage, until such ser- 
 vice is fully accomplished. It strikes me, there- 
 fore, in the absence of positive returns, the above 
 may afford sufficient data by which to judge of 
 this wages question, in as far as relates to the 
 immigrants. 
 
 " 6. ' What is the average cost of an immi- 
 grant, inclusive of his passage to the colony, and 
 back to his country ?' 
 
 " To determine this question, very much sta- 
 tistical information would be requisite, since, in 
 addition to the cost per head for bringing them, 
 and the cost for those who do actually return, 
 and the 50 doll, bounty to those who renew their 
 indenture, all of which can be accurately given 
 from the Blue Books, or the Colonial Returns, 
 must be added the tremendous outlay for agen- 
 cies, hospitals, and incidentals, which would again 
 demand rather extensive statistics of another 
 class. 
 
 " The best statement which I can furnish, is 
 that presented at the Finance Meeting of the 
 Combined Court, as given in the Royal Gazette 
 of last year. 
 
 " Dr. Immigration Fund Account. 
 
 DA. Cents. 
 
 Received, during the year, from ap- 
 plicants upon their entering into 
 contracts with immigrants, and in 
 part of the duty payable upon con- 
 tracts entered into previously . . 12,588 10 
 
 Received as part of the planters' share 
 
 of bounty for immigrants . . . 31,927 64 
 
 Received from coolies for unexpired 
 term of their industrial residence 
 (less the sum returned to coolies, 
 96, taken in error) 2118 00 
 
 Received other enumerated sums . 85 32 
 
 Received for provision for back-pass- 
 age of African emigrants, falling 
 due 1856 1092 00 
 
 Received sum drawn on Laud and 
 Emigration Commissioners in Lon- 
 don . . " 7755 96 
 
 Received for sum from funds in hand 
 
 of Commissioners 136 08 
 
 Total . . . . 55,703 10 
 
 " Cr. Immigration. 
 
 For difference of passage-money of 
 immigrants from India this year, 
 being in excess of the amount for 
 which the employers to whom they 
 were allotted are liable, per Can- 
 ning, Empress Eugene, Thames, 
 
 Hamlin, and Devonshire : the 
 amount paid out being .... 75,896 05 
 And the amount payable by em- 
 ployers 60,350 00 
 
 Difference paid by the colony being, 15,546 05 
 
 For passage-money for Portuguese, 21,315 00 
 Gratuities to surgeons and officers 
 
 (coolie transports) 3757 58 
 
 Expenses of superintendence . . . 10,651 0 
 
 Expenditure in India, &c. . . . 7563 5 
 Remitted Lords of Treasury (coolie 
 
 immigration) 10,001 62 
 
 Back-passage paid to certain Kroo- 
 men, in consideration of relinquish- 
 ing their claims 2086 86 
 
 70,921 59 
 
 Interest. 
 
 Amount remitted to Commissioners, 
 to pay twelve months' interest on 
 
 70,000Z. bonds 13,440 00 
 
 Idem twelve months' interest on 
 
 31,500?. at 5 per cent 7560 00 
 
 Remitted to Commissioners, to pay 
 
 Bank of England, at 4 per cent, on 
 
 250,000^. bonds 48,000 00 
 
 Bank commission for paying the same, 240 00 
 
 140,161 59 
 
 Deduct the Dr , as above .... 55,703 10 
 Leaves a nett balance paid out of the 
 
 taxation of the colony .... 84,458 49 
 
:37 
 
 " Of course this supposes the ' employers' will 
 pay the sura of 60,350 dollars above deducted, 
 which, uutil so paid, would give a grand total of 
 144,808 dollars 49 cents, irrespective of Justices, 
 jails, hospitals, and all the other et ceteras." 
 
 Pretty well, this, for one year ; but how to 
 reckon up the cost of years I neither have the 
 returns, nor the means to ascertain. 
 
 "8. 'What proportion of the immigrants 
 have worked on the estates ; and how have the 
 rest been employed ?' 
 
 " Of the 25,000 Madeiran and Portuguese 
 immigrants, very few continue on the estates. 
 Such as have not died, or returned to Madeira, 
 are chiefly employed as shopkeepers and htftksters 
 through the province ; and some of them have 
 acquired considerable property in trade, and 
 have become merchants. But statistical returns 
 alone would furnish the exact numbers. 
 
 "Of the 12,928 from the islands it would be 
 more difficult to give figures of proportions, as 
 they are negroes chiefly, and may be supposed 
 to be generally occupied on the estates, such of 
 them as have not died, or left the colony. 
 
 "Of the 11,046 from Africa, the same remarks 
 may be made — being all negroes. But the African 
 is much lauded for his docility and industry, 
 occasionally in our colonial press, and at other 
 times otherwise, as the whim takes. 
 
 " Of the 25,348 coolie immigrants, very few 
 are seen anywhere else than on the estates, i. e. 
 who have not died off, or returned to India. 
 Returns ought to shew these. 
 
 " Of the 647 Chinese, all living, I presume, 
 are on the estates. But since the whole number 
 from the West Indies range between 1835 and 
 1857, the Madeirans between 1841 and 1857, 
 the East Indians (with the exception of 406 in 
 1838) between 1845 and 1857, both inclusive, 
 it is not to be supposed that a very considerable 
 number of theioholewillbe found living, or in the 
 province. 
 
 " 9. ' What effect has their introduction had 
 upon the labouring population of the colony? Has 
 it reduced the rate of wages ? Has it supplanted 
 native labour to any great extent? Has it 
 forced the labourers to seek occupation on their 
 own grounds, in the cultivation of provisions for 
 increased population ? How has it affected the 
 morals of the native population ?' 
 
 " Here are five particular questions of the 
 general question, regarding the effect of immi- 
 gration on the labouring population of the 
 colony. These will require separate replies : 
 
 (1) As to the general question : It is not to 
 be disputed that the religious element which was 
 diffused ere the immigration scheme came into 
 operation has been the great conservative of our 
 native population. 
 
 " Nor can it be disputed, I think, that a much 
 lower tone of religious feeling and sentiment is 
 observant through the masses than prevailed 
 
 prior to the period of emancipation. The 
 reasons for this are, in some respects, obvious 
 to myself, as having already advanced in the 
 thirtieth year of my residence here — obvious, I 
 mean, irrespective of the introduction of the 
 heathenism of India and the new importations 
 of African superstition. But it is impossible 
 to mingle with associations of evil, and wholly 
 escape. These observations, however, apply 
 mostly to Africa and the islands; from the 
 former we have fresh importations of the heathen- 
 ish superstitions of Africa, especially Obeahism ; 
 from the latter, the greater body who emigrate 
 are usually of the lowest grades — the refuse of the 
 islands. But we have also some valuable members 
 of society as well — persons of intelligence. 
 
 (2) Has it reduced their wages? 
 
 " The planters, at the commencement of the 
 immigration movement, were at no pains to con- 
 ceal that this was a prime object. That they 
 have succeeded to a considerable extent, and that 
 but for immigrant labour, wages would be con- 
 siderably higher than they are, there can be no 
 reasonable doubt. It is also undeniable that the 
 negro possesses as much of human nature, and 
 is quite as disposed to exact what he can, as his 
 European master. One of the sore causes of 
 discontent in times past was just this wages ques- 
 tion as connected with immigration — the wages 
 of the people reduced by immigrant labour, in- 
 troduced at the labourers' expense. The principle, 
 however, that those who are benefited by their 
 introduction ought to pay for them has been 
 advocated, and to some extent acted on, under 
 Mr. Wodehouse's Governorship. 
 
 (3) Has it supplanted native labour ? 
 
 " Very considerably, no doubt of it. I re- 
 member well when native labourers were turned 
 off estates en masse, to make room for immi- 
 grants. Employers made no secret of their 
 desire and determination to obtain immigrant 
 labour, if possible, to do without the native 
 altogether. Their success has not been complete, 
 and, if I may form my judgment from occasional 
 conversations with some in the planting interest, 
 never will be: not so much from want of will, 
 as from the acknowledged value of native la- 
 bour. For notwithstanding the outcry against 
 the natives, it is felt and confessed, though re- 
 luctantly, that for the heavier parts of planta- 
 tion labour, requiring muscular strength, the 
 native is indispensable, right few of the immi-. 
 grants being equal to it. I have sometimes 
 heard this contested by two parties of opposite 
 views in the planting interest ; but it has re- 
 quired no deep powers of penetration to determine 
 on which side the truth lay. 
 
 "My reply to Query 1, may enable you to 
 judge of this further. 
 
 (4) Has it forced the native labourers to seek 
 occupation on their own grounds, in the culti- 
 vation of provisions for increased population ? 
 
38 
 
 " It has very extensively. Bodies of native 
 labourers were thus, at first, compelled to leave 
 the plantations, and seek elsewhere for means 
 of subsistence and of sustenance. It led, more 
 than any thing else, the people to seek after, and 
 settle upon, their own freeholds, and, whenever 
 practicable, to labour apart from the estates ; as 
 also to live in cottages and in communities, inde- 
 pendent of estate caprice, where it was still 
 necessary to seek for labour upon them. Planter 
 folly, in connexion with the introduction of the 
 immigration scheme, contributed very largely to 
 the results that followed. 
 
 " Villages and settlements have thus sprung 
 up, inconvenient alike to the labourers and the 
 estates, inasmuch as the labourer has often to 
 travel many miles for employment — often in dis- 
 appointment ; and when successful, it is at a 
 great expenditure of time and energy, especially in 
 such a sultry climate as this, where there are no 
 winters to brace the nerves, no frosts to invigorate 
 the frame. So that, in a majority of cases, it 
 ought not to excite wonder that the native does not 
 work to produce a five days' task, but that he is 
 able to labour in tropical fields, under a tropical 
 sun, to the extent he does. I wish no severer 
 punishment for the wholesale traducer of the 
 negro labourer, than to be compelled, for only 
 one short month, to undergo the same ordeal. 
 Whilst, amongst negroes, as amongst others in 
 every land, there are exceptionable characters ai.d 
 exceptionable conduct, I am confident, when I 
 say that the wholesale charges against them that 
 have found their way into newspapers are gross, 
 very gross exaggerations, shamefully slanderous, 
 and disgracefully untrue. Were not the people, 
 as a wlioie, as quiet and docile and enduring as 
 sometimes their very traducers acknowledge 
 them to be, they would ere this have been 
 alienated more extensively than they are, alike 
 from employers and their estates, in the face of 
 measures ill calculated to win them over. Some 
 of those who were formerly slaves not only have 
 proved their persevering industry by becoming 
 possessed of estates, but raise to some extent the 
 staple products of the colony. I am not aware 
 that they are exporters of produce, but I believe 
 some of them would soon become so under guid- 
 ance and counsel ; but they are very extensive 
 producers of staple consumed in this province. 
 My sugar — and our family consumption requires 
 a barrel at a time — is supplied from the estate of 
 a negro, whose very industry and method have 
 been the sport of a newspaper editor here — I need 
 hardly say with falsehood, for its base ; but enough 
 to shew with what feelings of envy, if not of hate, 
 a negro's success is viewed by some of the su- 
 perior race. I have now before me, as I write, 
 a beautiful sample of arrow-root (6 lbs., in a 
 tin), which another negro has sent me to send to 
 England, if possible, to get export custom, as he 
 is able to grow it to any extent. And I have 
 
 been frequently applied to by them to ask if T 
 could get them coffee and other products sold 
 across the water : but it would re juire capital, 
 of which I cannot boast ; and time and attention, 
 which I cannot give. 
 
 " The cultivation of provisions may be said to 
 be almost, if not altogether, in the hand of the 
 native Creole. Plantains and edibles, which were 
 formerly supplied by the masters of estates, now 
 are produced by them ; and all farming opera- 
 tions have fallen into their hands. The entire 
 community, not excepting those who traduce 
 the people, are very largely indebted to these, who 
 were once slaves. At one time, I knew many 
 native labourers who would hasten to complete 
 their tasks in the field on the estate, on purpose 
 to be able to cultivate their own grounds simul- 
 taneously ; and hope of reward inspired their 
 energies, but they were discouraged by the course 
 adopted towards them, and gave up. 
 5. « How has it affected the morals of the native 
 population ?' 
 
 " Some of my former replies have anticipated 
 this query. Difference of language and of coun- 
 try, as between the negro, the Coolie, and the 
 Chinese, necessarily forms a barrier to that inti- 
 macy that would assuredly woik evil in propor- 
 tion to their proximity. The idolatrous proces- 
 sions, and their attendant revelries, attract 
 many, but I have no certain means of judging 
 to what extent the negroes' mind may have been 
 affected by these. Of one thing they may be 
 certain, that the naturally susperstitious mind 
 and habits of the negroes, with the new impor- 
 tations which fresh supplies from the African 
 tribe always bring, will not be likely to become 
 less so by witnessing their orgies. But it is 
 to be apprehended that the most fearful source 
 of immorality will be found in the awful increase 
 of rumshops which have marked the immigration 
 era of Portuguese. These pests are found at 
 every town and every corner, in every country- 
 place where the remotest idea of custom presents. 
 And the fearfulness of these influences may be 
 supposed, when we consider that the retail spirit 
 licences in the city of Georgetown and town 
 of New Amsterdam alone gave to the re- 
 venue last year forty-three thousand three 
 hundred and 40 dollars ; and the retail spirit 
 licences for the rural districts during the same 
 period give a return of sixty-four thousand 
 eight hundred and ninety-five dollars and a 
 half ; or, together, the retail spirit licences 
 alone, not the spirits, but the licence to sell them, 
 gave to the revenue in the last annual estimate, 
 the alarming sum of one hundred and eight 
 thousand two hundred and thirty-four dollars and 
 50 cents. Whilst the rum duties on the rum sold 
 for consumption, between January 1 and Dec. 
 21, 1856, were on 185,665 galls., from Demerara 
 and Europe ; 40,502 galls, from Berbice ; total, 
 226,167 galls, rum, at 90 cents., 203,550. dolls. 
 
39 
 
 30 cents, i.e. two hundred and three thousand, five 
 hundred and fifty dolls., or, together, a revenue of 
 
 31 1,784 dolls, and 80 cents, as an encouragement 
 to vice and crime, to be dated from the encourage- 
 ment given by our courts to Portuguese immi- 
 grants thus to set themselves up. And this 
 irrespective of upwards of ninety thousand 
 dollars duty on wiue and other spirits. I believe 
 truly, that were it not for the salutary influence 
 of the gospel of Christ, the only really counteract 
 ing power against the phalanx of encouragement 
 to crime, the whole country would soon become 
 a scene of anarchy and of ill. 
 
 M I will close this communication with a few 
 remarks on the Cotton question. 
 
 " Much has been written and spoken concern- 
 ing the capacity of British Guiana for cotton 
 cultivation. It was once a staple production 
 of the country, that, and coffee, with some sugar 
 estates. The cessation of that cultivation, the 
 adversaries of the negroes and of liberty would 
 have us believe,is attributable to emancipation and 
 the want of labour. No impression could be more 
 false ; no representations, if made, more untrue, 
 for it was during the time of slavery, when the 
 planting interest had it all their own way — 
 when importations into the colony after the 
 abolition of the slave-trade had ceased in 1807 
 to 1823, during which period importations from 
 other colonies were considerable — that cotton 
 cultivation began rapidly to decline, and, long 
 before the abolition of slavery, wholly ceased. 
 
 " The people therefore are altogether innocent of 
 this imputation, be it expressed, implied, or 
 understood. 
 
 " Wherefore, then, was the cultivation of the 
 cotton-plant discontinued, insomuch that from 
 twenty-one estates wholly given to that cultiva- 
 tion in 1 823, not one now continues in operation ? 
 An historical sketch, now before me, written 
 sixteen years ago, thus records the reason. 
 '•The slaves, notwithstanding considerable annual 
 importations down even to the year 1323, con- 
 tinued to decrease. About this period the cotton 
 cultivation began rapidly to decline. The Ber- 
 bice and Demerara cotton planters were not able 
 to compete with the cotton planters of the United 
 States, who greatly undersold them. Some of 
 the cotton properties were converted into sugar 
 estates, very heavy investments by English houses 
 being made for that purpose : others were con- 
 verted into cattle farms."* Thus, then, in the 
 time of Slavery itself, it was that the cotton 
 estates were thrown out of cultivation, simply 
 from incapacity to carry them on, by reason of being 
 undersold, and by reason of the more profita' le 
 returns of sugar cultivation ; that, too, when the 
 slave was at the mercy of the master, when 
 masters could express labour to the utmost limit of 
 bone and muscle endurance, and none dared resist 
 
 
 * " Local Guide," 1843. 
 
 Coffee cultivation, also, of which I do not 
 know that a single estate is now cared for, if it 
 exists, was far more extensively carried on than 
 even cotton. In 1823 not fewer than seventy- 
 eight coffee estates were under cultivation. These 
 gradually diminished — not for want of labour- 
 not through emancipation — not from the indolence 
 of the people, for they had the stimulus of the 
 slave-driver's lash— not from the squatting pro- 
 pensities so liberally attributed to all who happen 
 not to be on the sugar estates ; from neither, nor 
 all of these causes, but purely through the greater 
 prospective wealth of changing the coffee planta- 
 tion for the sugar estate : this too, and mark it, 
 notwithstanding that it was well known that in 
 Slavery the average tenure of slave life was 
 alarmingly in disfavour of the sugar over that 
 of the coffee cultivation. 
 
 I well remember that time, when the value 
 of a slave was calculated by the difference of 
 profit according to his forced labour, the value of 
 sugar being far more compensative for the loss 
 of slave life by the drudge of sugar cultivation, 
 than would be the cultivation of coffee and cotton, 
 with its proportional prolongation, the culti- 
 vation of them being proverbially lighter than 
 almost any other. I have, moreover, a distinct 
 recollection of the period when the superior value 
 of sugar was given as the reason for uprooting 
 coffee trees in Berbice, and planting sugar-canes 
 instead. Not farther back than 1832 nearly 
 six millions and a half pounds of coffee were 
 reported as raised, which fell to four millions and 
 a half in 1833, fluctuating till 1841, when the 
 produce sunk to one and a quarter million ; since 
 which, as an article of export, it has become ex- 
 tinct, although much is still raised by the people 
 for private consumption. Had labour, therefore, 
 been ever so abundant, the same or similar 
 results would have been inevitable, so long as 
 sugar was regarded as being more remunerative. 
 But the change was accompanied with serious 
 considerations in the event of a tide turning in 
 favour of coffee over sugar; for, irrespective of 
 the next to ruinous outlay for sugar plantation 
 buildings, which would be useless in coffee or 
 cotton cultivation, the coffee plant requires three 
 to five year's growth ere it becomes productive ; 
 rather long to wait, especially as the changes in 
 commerce might again, within that period, render 
 nugatory, or worse, all this outlay and patience. 
 And it is observable that the decrease of cultiva- 
 tion throughout the British "West Indies, includ- 
 ing British Guiana, was. to the 5th of January. 
 1852, one hundred and twenty thousand pounds 
 less than one million! 
 
 To put down, therefore, the cessation of either 
 cotton or coffee as an article of export to the 
 abolition of Slavery, the indolence of the people, or 
 the squatting propensities of the villagers, if not 
 a wilful untruth, is at least a shameful mis- 
 take. 
 
40 
 
 "Georgetown, Demerara, April 9, 1858. 
 
 " I beg simply to furnish you with the follow- 
 ing answers, which will be found seriatim, as 
 replies to your various questions, according to 
 their numbers : 
 
 " I. There is no real want of labour in the co- 
 lony, as to this part of it ; and this remark, I 
 think, may be justly applied to the other parts. 
 There is a sufficiency of native labour on the land 
 to be obtained if it was fully paid for. 
 
 " 2. The native labourers are not fully remu- 
 nerated for their labour. I have been creditably 
 informed, if they were, there would be no occasion 
 to import foreign labourers. The plan adopted 
 by proprietors in general, and their agents, is to 
 compel the native labourer to work for the 
 smallest amount of wages ; and hence the desire 
 to swamp the colony with labourers from foreign 
 countries. The wages which labourers agree to j 
 work for are paid regularly every week, when 
 there are no bickerings between them and their 
 employers ; but, alas ! this is very often the 
 case. 
 
 "3. The number of immigrants supposed to 
 have been introduced into this colony, from 1835 
 down to the end of last year, is about 76,000. The 
 immigrants which have been brought here are 
 principally from Madeira and the East Indies. 
 
 "4. With regard to this answer, I am not 
 in a position to say what number of immigrants 
 has returned to India, China, or Africa. 
 
 " 5. I cannot obtain the necessary information 
 which is needed to form this answer. 
 
 " 6. The average amount of wages which the 
 immigrants receive for labour is 16 cents per day, 
 or 3c?. sterling. 
 
 " 7 and 8. I find it a difficult matter to obtain 
 answers to the questions of these numbers, unless 
 one could get access to the Registrar-General's 
 Office, and this is not an easy thing. Inquiry 
 to this effect, made at said office, would create 
 immediate suspicion. 
 
 "9. The introduction of foreign labourers here 
 has had the effect of reducing the rate of wages 
 to some degree, inasmuch as the Coolies are 
 brought down to a very low rate of remuneration, 
 and the planters strive to induce the native la- 
 bourers to work for the same, which they will not 
 do. Often a body of labourers will apply to the j 
 manager of a property for work, and although j 
 there is much work to be done on said property, ! 
 
 the answer which the applicants receive will be, 
 that there is no work ; because they will not sub- 
 mit to receive for a day's work what a Coolie will 
 labour for ; and frequently the business of an 
 estate is retarded, and the property suffers, and 
 the cry is raised among certain persons, to answer 
 a purpose, namely, the colony is going to ruin, 
 for the people will not work. JSative labour has 
 therefore been supplanted in some measure. 
 When the native labourer cannot obtain work he 
 is compelled to resort to his own grounds, or 
 farm, on which he cultivates provisions, and these 
 supply our markets in town continuously. The 
 average rate of an effective labourer's wages per 
 day is 48 cents, or 6 bitts, Demerara money, which 
 amount of labour very, very few Coolies could 
 perform in the same time. Trench -work, or 
 performing task-work, a strong-bodied native 
 man might work for six shillings a-day when 
 called to it, but this is not often during the year, 
 and trench-work especially is considered exceed- 
 ingly laborious. 1 have every reason to believe 
 that the morals of the native labourers have been 
 affected by the introduction of foreign labourers, 
 both Portuguese and Coolies, with respect to the 
 profanation of the Sabbath, the practice of re- 
 sorting to the liquor-shops on God's holy day, 
 about which, I may venture to say, that no pro- 
 prietor or magistrate seems to feel any concern ; 
 and sometimes one hears the sound of the idola- 
 trous Coolie's drum on this sacred day. The 
 Portuguese labourer is very lax with regard to 
 his observance of the Sabbath. 
 
 ^ft s$s 
 
 " In conclusion, I would just observe that a very 
 common practice here with planters is, that when 
 a body of labourers (native), have performed a 
 whole week's work, on the day of payment fault 
 will be found of the work which they have 
 done, and they are told that they must either go 
 over the work, and better what they have done, 
 or else no money will be paid them. Very often 
 this occasions business for the magistrate, which 
 ends unfavourably to the labourers; and some- 
 times, after being tantalized by the manager for 
 a week or ten days, they abandon the case alto- 
 gether, and give up to the manager the whole of 
 the week's work as lost , By these means great 
 heart-burnings and dissatisfaction are pro- 
 moted." 
 
 ft 
 
 < 
 
 W. M. Watts, Crown Court, Temple Bar. 
 
4 23 U , 
 
 ADDRESS 
 
 ANNUAL MEETING 
 
 PENNSYLVANIA COLONIZATION SOCIETY, 
 
 NOVEMBER 11, 1839. 
 
 BY R. R. GURLEY. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY REQUEST OF THE SOCIETY. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: 
 PUBLISHED BY HERMAN HOOKER. 
 
 PRINTED BY C. SHERMAN & Co. 
 
 1839. 
 
TO THE 
 
 PRESIDENT AND MANAGERS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 PENNSYLVANIA COLONIZATION SOCIETY, 
 
 AND TO 
 
 THE FRIENDS OF AFRICAN COLONIZATION THROUGHOUT 
 THE UNITED STATES, 
 
 X Bespectfullg BeTifcate tin's Sfttrress, 
 
 IN THE HOTE THAT THE CAUSE IN WHICH THEY ARE ENGAGED, WILL 
 SOON, AS OF HIGHEST INTEREST TO TWO RACES OF MEN AND 
 TWO CONTINENTS, BE SUSTAINED BY ALL THE 
 GOVERNMENTS OF THE UNION. 
 
 R. R. GURLEY. 
 
ADDRESS. 
 
 Though deeply sensible of the honour conferred on me, 
 by your invitation to occupy, for a brief time, this place 
 on this occasion, I must be permitted to express regret 
 at my inability to fulfil expectations which may reason- 
 ably have been cherished in view of the annual assem- 
 blage of the members and friends of this association; 
 and, especially, that the gentleman* to whom this invita- 
 tion was first extended, so esteemed for his virtues, and 
 admired for his eloquence, found it necessary to decline 
 the duty, which the speaker, relying upon your gene- 
 rous indulgence, will attempt, however inadequately, to 
 perform. 
 
 But if the remark be just, that " in all exertions of 
 duty something must be hazarded ;" that, on occasions 
 and questions involving great public interests and com- 
 mon dangers, the purity of the motive is held to atone 
 for the indiscretion of the deed, and the weakest hand 
 
 * Rev. Dr. Bethune. 
 
6 
 
 ADDRESS BEFORE THE 
 
 may well be stretched out to defend or sustain truth 
 and right, apologies are unnecessary, perhaps imperti- 
 nent, in presence of a subject which appals by its 
 magnitude, and demands by its importance, the com- 
 bined reason and benevolence of the Christian world. 
 
 No scheme of selfishness, of ordinary charity, of mere 
 patriotism are we convened to promote. Your hearts 
 respond to the appeals; daily almost are your hands 
 extended for the relief of the suffering. The noblest 
 ornaments of this city are her institutions and asylums, 
 thrown wide open to the varied forms of human dis- 
 tress ; in which want finds provision, infirmity support, 
 sickness medicine and aid, the widow a home, the 
 destitute aged repose and consolation, and the orphan, 
 a shelter ; in which those shut up from communion with 
 nature by one of the senses, are taught to converse 
 with her through another, and the intellect shattered 
 by misfortune, or deranged mysteriously by His hand 
 who formed it, is guarded from the rude irritations of 
 the world, and gently soothed by the ministrations and 
 smiles of Christian love. 
 
 Greater far than any, than all these, is our object, 
 encompassing within the wide range of its promised 
 beneficence, the character and destinies of two races of 
 men, and two quarters of the globe. 
 
 Nor here, can I hesitate, to congratulate the friends 
 of African colonization in this city and throughout the 
 country, on the occurrence of recent events and of recent 
 
PENNSYLVANIA COLONIZATION SOCIETY. 
 
 7 
 
 changes of opinion, in both America and England, fa- 
 vourable to the progress of their enterprise, and its final 
 consummation, on a scale commensurate with the ex- 
 tent and inveteracy of the evils it was designed to 
 remedy, and the vastness of good it was intended and 
 expected to confer upon this nation and the African race. 
 
 The manifest impotency of direct and fierce at- 
 tacks by societies exclusively northern in their origin 
 and action, to produce the immediate, unconditional, 
 and voluntary emancipation of slaves on the soil of the 
 south ; the confirmed faith of the humane and religious 
 of that portion of the union in the patriotism, practica- 
 bleness, and philanthropy of the scheme of this society ; 
 the rapidly rising prosperity and influence of the com- 
 munities of Liberia; the application of steam to ship 
 navigation, soon to unite in commercial relations and 
 frequent intercourse, the civilized with remote and bar- 
 barous nations ; the act of West Indian emancipation ; 
 and, above all, the increase, since that act, of the African 
 slave trade, working conviction in the minds of the great 
 leaders of that measure in England, that this traffic can 
 be suppressed only by introducing into Africa herself 
 civilization and Christianity, encouraging her industry, 
 developing her exhaustless resources, and gathering, by 
 humane arts, and new incentives to exertion, the rich 
 and varied productions of her mines, her forests, and 
 her fields, into the channels of legitimate commerce: 
 all these must be regarded as elements about to meet 
 
8 
 
 ADDRESS BEFORE THE 
 
 and coalesce in a mighty movement, under the all-di- 
 recting Hand for the advancement of our cause, and the 
 redemption of Africa. 
 
 It is a fact worthy of record, and one of pregnant im- 
 port to those who discern only cruel injustice in the 
 principles and policy of the American Colonization So- 
 ciety, that long before its origin these principles and 
 policy were adopted and made practical by distinguished 
 friends of immediate emancipation both in Old England 
 and New. If the opponents of this society claim Dr. 
 Fothergill, Granville Sharp, Dr. Hopkins, and Paul 
 CufTee as advocates of their doctrine, we point to the 
 example of these individuals in defence of our practice ; 
 and especially to this example do we refer in evidence 
 that there exist to the judgment of wise and good men 
 valid reasons for the scheme of African colonization 
 independent of any or all opinions on the subject of 
 slavery. The illustrious names of Dr. Fothergill and 
 Granville Sharp are recorded among the chief founders 
 of the colony of Sierra Leone ; while to their enterprise 
 the venerable Dr, Hopkins and Captain Paul CufTee (one 
 of the most sensible, philanthropic, and best educated 
 coloured men ever born in New England) gave both 
 their sanction and their aid. These early and true- 
 hearted friends of the coloured race never deemed the 
 spirit of colonization unworthy to dwell in their hearts 
 in communion with the spirit of universal liberty — 
 never dreamt that benevolence towards Africa should be 
 
PENNSYLVANIA COLONIZATION SOCIETY. 
 
 limited in its efforts to the partial elevation of her exiled 
 children in disregard of the millions of her home popula- 
 tion sunk in more deep dishonour, and more hopeless ruin. 
 They forgot not the many in their concern for the few. 
 
 Were the Genius of Great Britain now to stand be- 
 fore us and survey that empire upon which the sun is 
 said never to set, to what region would he more exult- 
 ingly point — to what spot look with an eye more brightly 
 kindling with delight than to this reproached colony of 
 Sierra Leone ? A territory, reclaimed from the waste 
 of barbarism and the horrors of the slave trade, brought 
 under the shield of civilized power and the divine light 
 of Christianity to be an asylum for Africans unloosed 
 from intolerable chains, and led forth to liberty from the 
 despairful dungeons of the slave ship. The smiles, the 
 songs, the gratefully uplifted hands of from twenty to 
 thirty thousand victims of this atrocity fed, clothed, in- 
 structed, tamed from the fierceness of a savage nature, 
 and, casting aside the badges of superstition and shame, 
 testify to the philanthropy which founded, and, with in- 
 vincible resolution and at great expense, has sustained 
 the colony of Sierra Leone. 
 
 A more enviable renown England never won — no, not 
 when from the reluctant hand o£ the throne she wrung 
 the charter of her liberties — not when beneath the rag- 
 ing waves she sunk the Spanish Armada — not even 
 when her power struck down Napoleon — than when the 
 perishing African cried to her and she listened and saved. 
 
 The American Colonization Society rests upon en- 
 larged benevolence towards the whole coloured race. 
 
 2 
 
10 
 
 ADDRESS BEFORE THE 
 
 What were the facts evident to the founders of this 
 society, convened to devise some practicable scheme of 
 good for this unfortunate people ? 
 
 They saw two millions or more of the coloured popu- 
 lation of this country in slavery, and that the system, in 
 regard to its continuance or abolition, was left by the 
 Federal constitution under the exclusive control of the 
 States in which it exists : 
 
 That the free people of colour, (then in number 
 250,000, now much more,) dispersed abroad in all the 
 States, were denied every where, by law, custom, cir- 
 cumstances, or all combined, many of the richest bless- 
 ings of freedom : 
 
 That, in the undivided judgment of the south and the 
 general mind of the north, the elevation of this race on 
 this soil to social and political equality with the whites 
 was impracticable from the nature of the case itself, 
 from the force and fixedness of opinion against it (dic- 
 tated, in the view of those who hold it, as well by benev- 
 olence as political necessity), and that no plan, based on 
 this idea, could unite in its execution the hearts and 
 means of our citizens in all sections of the union. 
 Whether the causes referred to render such elevation 
 absolutely impossible in all future contingencies, is, in 
 regard to immediate duty, plain. They are of sufficient 
 magnitude and power to control the present policy of 
 benevolence and wisdom : 
 
 That any great plan of good to this race must depend 
 mainly for success upon such union : 
 
 And finally, that there was an unsurpassed moral fit- 
 ness and grandeur in the colonization in Africa, by our 
 
PENNSYLVANIA COLONIZATION SOCIETY. 
 
 11 
 
 free people of colour, with their own consent, inas- 
 much as, while securing to them an unembarrassed 
 position and a national character, all means and mo- 
 tives for self-culture and self-exaltation, it afforded 
 opportunity and inducement for the highest beneficence 
 in unbarring the iron gates of Africa, and connecting 
 their own moral, intellectual, and social improvement 
 with the gift of law, letters, art, liberty, and Christianity 
 to the untutored and uncounted tribes of their ancient 
 mother country. 
 
 The organization of the American Colonization So- 
 ciety, avowing in its constitution that "The object to 
 which its attention is to be exclusively directed, is to 
 promote and execute a plan of colonizing, with their 
 own consent, the free people of colour residing in our 
 country, in Africa, or such other place as Congress shall 
 deem expedient ; and that the Society shall act to effect 
 this object in co-operation with the general government, 
 and such of the States as may adopt regulations on 
 the subject," was, in view of these facts, the result 
 of the united wisdom and counsels, of distinguished 
 patriots and Christians, assembled in convention from 
 widely separated and most differing portions of the 
 union. 
 
 It is asserted by the enemies of this Society, that in its 
 constitution there is not a clear developement of moral 
 principles, and, consequently, that the scheme proposed 
 has no moral sanction. 
 
 And where in the constitutions of your humane and 
 Christian associations, too numerous to mention, for 
 the instruction of the dumb and the blind, the protec- 
 
12 
 
 ADDRESS BEFORE THE 
 
 tion of orphans, the relief of the destitute and the sick, 
 is a developement of moral principles, or the emblazon- 
 ing forth of a moral sanction ? They need no signals of 
 character. Their objects indicate their principles— the 
 action shows the motive. 
 
 And does any reflecting person doubt that the exist- 
 ence of the Colonization Society for the object it avows, 
 implies a conviction in the minds of its founders and 
 friends, that our free people of colour are unfortunate 
 and depressed and should be assisted to rise, that it is a 
 duty (should they concur in the plan) to aid their esta- 
 blishment in a position where they will enjoy not partial 
 liberty but its full power, and rear for themselves, and 
 transmit to their descendants, institutions social, political, 
 and religious, equal to any yet known in human society? 
 
 Is it to be imagined that those, who would, by the 
 only means which they believe effectual for the end, 
 confer upon these people these richest blessings, w r ould 
 deny to them any inferior good, diminish their present 
 advantages, or retard under any circumstances their 
 improvement ? 
 
 And who can fail to infer, that if duty (or benevo- 
 lence, another name for the same thing) demands our 
 efforts to raise men, who have gained something, per- 
 haps, by liberty, to a condition in which they may 
 possess more, it equally demands of those who have the 
 right and power to prepare men, not free, for freedom, 
 and then, if practicable, so to bestow this freedom upon 
 them, that all its appropriate and choicest blessings may 
 be theirs 1 
 
 And is it not clear to demonstration, from the nature 
 
PENNSYLVANIA COLONIZATION SOCIETY. 
 
 13 
 
 of our moral sentiments, that those who aim to elevate 
 the free people of colour to the loftiest privileges of 
 humanity and open a way to these privileges, with the 
 consent of the master, to the slave, must embrace Africa 
 and her unnumbered barbarians, indeed, the whole 
 coloured race within the circuit, and, as they may, 
 within the active influences of their beneficence. True 
 regard to one human being can never be divorced from 
 good-will to the many. True benevolence to the indi- 
 vidual must always be identified with benevolence to 
 the race. 
 
 But men may err, you say, in their judgments touching 
 their own interests ; and may not the wise and the good 
 err in their plans and endeavours to promote the interests 
 of others ? We admit your society's motives to be 
 pure, but we deny its practical philanthropy. 
 
 Hence arises a question of the enlarged practical 
 beneficence of the policy and proceedings of the Ameri- 
 can Colonization Society. We maintain that in reason, 
 so far as the aid of this Society is accepted, they 
 confer inestimable and enduring good upon our free peo- 
 ple of colour — add strength and security to our national 
 union — work extensively and powerfully in favour of the 
 voluntary emancipation of slaves, and bestow the best bless- 
 ings Heaven permits man to enjoy upon Africa. 
 
 The comparison, by one of our ablest divines, of the 
 condition of the free people of colour in the United 
 States to that of the germ springing from the acorn at 
 the foot of the parent tree, was true as fact and of 
 more force than argument. You may say it is of the 
 same nature with the old oak and has as good a right 
 
14 
 
 ADDRESS BEFORE THE 
 
 to be there, yet it must wither unless you take it from 
 the shade. This people are in the shade of our towering 
 and overspreading greatness, and to improve their 
 condition and exalt their character effectually, you 
 must change their circumstances and their place. The 
 wealth, honours, and government of the country are in 
 other hands than theirs. Many of them, doubtless, are 
 respectable for intelligence and moral worth, and their 
 merit is the greater in proportion to the temptations 
 resisted, and the obstacles overcome. Their condition 
 is much the same in all the states, and too generally 
 they may be said to feel the evils of servitude without 
 its alleviations, to be free without the dignity or in- 
 spiration of freedom. Posts of distinction, offices of 
 trust, the higher pursuits and rewards of enterprise, art, 
 and genius, they despair to obtain, and therefore do not 
 seek. With heavy incumbrances to keep them down, 
 they want many of the means and motives to rise. 
 
 Of different descent from the whites, distinct from 
 them in complexion, history, habits, and employments, 
 they suffer neglect as aliens in the land of their birth ; 
 mental bondage in the atmosphere and beneath the ex- 
 panded wings of liberty. I speak not to disparage, to 
 discourage them, but rather to direct their eyes to that 
 orient star already standing over the spot of their na- 
 tional redemption and coming renown. To what are 
 they invited by this society ? To what summoned in the 
 Providence of Almighty God? To tread, in rightful 
 possession, the w T ide, magnificent, but depopulated ter- 
 ritory of their mother country, awe-struck by no superior 
 power, subdued by no mighty competition, restrained 
 
PENNSYLVANIA COLONIZATION SOCIETY. 
 
 15 
 
 by no force of prejudice, custom, or law, depressed by no 
 sense of weakness or of wrong, and in the consciousness 
 of freedom of all human power, to build up among bar- 
 barians the Church of God and a republican empire. 
 Escaped from the despotism of the mind, they feel that 
 liberty of soul, which is the parent of greatness, which 
 turns adverse events, the rigour of discipline, and the 
 shocks of calamity, to the account of wisdom, and makes 
 nature in all her forms tributary to its power ; that men- 
 tal liberty which admits in all their force the influence of 
 all the motives which strengthen and ennoble our immor- 
 tal faculties, give clearness and comprehensiveness to 
 reason, vigour to imagination, and invincible energy to 
 the will — which arm fortitude, elevate hope, make 
 courage resistless, and, guarding and cherishing the do- 
 mestic and social affections as the seeds of public virtue, 
 by ties of patriotism, indissoluble because sacred, bind 
 man to his country, and by the golden chain of an all- 
 circumscribing philanthropy, link him for ever to the 
 destinies of mankind. Is it no good we confer, when 
 assisting them to make Liberia to their country what 
 Plymouth and Jamestown have been to this? to do for 
 themselves what all the world can never do for them ? 
 to do for their race what can only be expected from 
 their prayers and their labours? They go to Africa 
 for great purposes — to build up their own fortunes, re- 
 deem the character of their people, and thus command 
 the respect of the world : to establish upon her shore 
 civilization and free government ; to lift the covering of 
 night from her face, and call forth her ignorant, savage, 
 
16 
 
 ADDRESS BEFORE THE 
 
 enslaved children from the desert where the lion roars, 
 or the wilderness where he slumbers, from clay-built 
 huts, from dens and mountain caves, to a purer, nobler 
 life; to rekindle the gone out glories; to rear anew the 
 prostrate, decayed, but giant monuments ; to wave the 
 torch of wisdom in the face of superstition and amid the 
 haunts of the ruin of her ancient might ; to carve their 
 names as benefactors in her eternal rocks, and bring 
 back that quarter of the earth, long lost to science, liberty, 
 humanity, and religion, to the empire of reason and God. 
 What heart can be weak, what hand want strength in 
 so divine a work ? To attempt, and fail in so many great 
 aims must be great, to succeed in all, glorious. It is in the 
 very nature of the enterprise of African colonization that 
 we discern the elements of life and power to our free co- 
 loured population — that which must rouse, dignify, exalt 
 them. No man, no people were ever made great by 
 others. It has been by circumstances acting on them- 
 selves, by themselves acting with in-bred energy on cir- 
 cumstances, that they have commanded distinction and 
 everlasting fame. By toilsome effort only do the bold 
 and daring gain the Alpine heights, and the eye that 
 thence sees the sun hidden to all eyes below, beams bright 
 with health as honour. On this subject our own national 
 history is full of meaning and instruction. It was 
 because the wintry wind howled around the dwellings of 
 our fathers, and necessity trained them in her school of 
 trial, and their early pathway was rugged and thorny 
 through the wilderness, and tracked by their blood, that 
 they became what they were — unequalled for activity, 
 
PENNSYLVANIA COLONIZATION SOCIETY. 17 
 
 sagacity, and enterprise, and capable of binding, we 
 had almost said, capricious fortune and nature, opposed 
 to their designs, in subserviency to their will. Mr. Burke, 
 long before the revolution, saw the effect of trial and 
 circumstances upon their character, and in the British 
 Parliament exclaimed with admiration, " and pray, sir, 
 what in the world is equal to it 1 Pass by the other 
 parts and look at the manner in which the people of 
 New England have of late carried on the whale fishery. 
 Whilst we follow them among the tumbling mountains of 
 ice, and behold them penetrating into the deepest frozen 
 recesses of Hudson's Bay and Davis's Straits ; whilst 
 we are looking for them beneath the Arctic circle, we 
 hear that they have pierced into the opposite region of 
 polar cold, that they are at the antipodes, and engaged 
 under the frozen serpent of the south. Falkland Island, 
 which seemed too remote and romantic an object for 
 the grasp of national ambition, is but a stage and a 
 resting-place in the progress of their victorious industry. 
 No sea but what is vexed by their fisheries ; no cli- 
 mate that is not witness to their toils. Neither the 
 perseverance of Holland, nor the activity of France, 
 nor the dexterous and firm sagacity of English enter- 
 prise, ever carried this most perilous mode of hardy 
 industry to the extent to which it has been pushed by 
 this recent people — a people yet, as it were, in the 
 gristle, and not yet hardened into the bone of manhood." 
 Can. we point our free people of colour to an example 
 more instructive than that of our fathers? Can they 
 seek a good or glory greater than theirs ? 
 
 3 
 
18 
 
 ADDRESS BEFORE THE 
 
 We have said the operations of this society add 
 strength and security to our national union. Strong and 
 secure as we trust this union is, the discussions, during 
 the last six years, on the subject of slavery, have been 
 such as to alienate, in no small degree, the affections of 
 one half the country from the other, and excite, in the 
 minds of sober patriots and able statesmen, a sense and 
 apprehension of danger. If the bond of the federal 
 union is to be sundered, few doubt that differences con- 
 cerning our coloured population will be the cause. On 
 this subject a fierce conflict of opinion may foretoken, 
 and be hardly less terrible than the shock of arms. 
 Since the union involves interests greater than those of 
 any one people, it should be guarded as we guard our 
 firesides, or the temples and altars of our faith. The 
 hopes of the slave, as well as of his master, depend 
 upon its existence. By common consent the agitations 
 threatening it should be allayed, the spirit of internal 
 discord banished for ever. The citizens of this union 
 are trustees of Truth and Libert}', not only for them- 
 selves and their posterity, but for the world. On a sub- 
 ject the greatest, most difficult, most dangerous, that 
 can ever occupy the mind of the country, this society 
 furnishes a bond of union between the south and the 
 north ; a channel in which their mutual sympathies, 
 opinions, and charities may commingle ; a broad and 
 lofty ground on which the citizens of both may co- 
 operate in good faith to each other and the constitu- 
 tion, for the benefit of the coloured race. Who can 
 well estimate its effect already to repress the vast over- 
 
PENNSYLVANIA COLONIZATION SOCIETY. 
 
 19 
 
 action of the north, and arouse the too lethargic spirit 
 of the south ? to prevent the general adoption of one 
 false opinion on this side of the Potomac, and of one 
 equally false but directly opposite on the other ? to save 
 the north from a direct and relentless war upon slavery, 
 and the south from defending it as of divine right and 
 perpetual obligation? Who can tell how much the 
 public tranquillity is owing to the existence and move- 
 ments of this society, or the evils that might arise should 
 its influence cease to be felt? The thoughts, the senti- 
 ments, the government of the union are favourable to 
 universal freedom, and no power or agency is to be 
 lightly regarded, which tends to reconcile all particular 
 interests, and individual and state rights, with the natu- 
 ral influences of our institutions, the spirit of the age, 
 and the progress of liberty. Nature, in her great and 
 benign changes, shows in gentleness and silence the 
 signs of power. The fury of the tempest, the concus- 
 sions of the earthquake but desolate, rend, and destroy. 
 If our federal constitution must perish by a suicidal 
 spirit, by fraternal hands, which have been pledged 
 mutually for its support, the whole earth will feel the 
 cruel wrong, and human hope, we might almost say, 
 struck down like an eagle soaring " in his pride of place," 
 must expire upon the ruins of the republic. All nations 
 will gather in grief around the agonies of our dissolu- 
 tion, as old Ocean and his daughters gathered w T ith 
 sympathising hearts around the tortured Prometheus, 
 chain-bound inexorably by Force and Fate to the Cau- 
 casian rock. At the horrors of the scene they might 
 
20 
 
 ADDRESS BEFORE THE 
 
 be tempted to cry out, with upbraidings of destiny, in 
 the words of the ancient tragic chorus : — 
 
 " I see, I see — and o'er my eyes, 
 
 Surcharged with sorrow's tearful rain, 
 
 Parkly the misty clouds arise— 
 I see thine adamantine chain : 
 
 In its strong grasp thy limbs confined, 
 
 And withering in the parching wind, 
 
 " Is there a god whose sullen soul 
 Feels a stern joy in thy despair 1 
 Owns he not pity's soft control, 
 And drops with sympathy the tear ?"* 
 
 Oh! in case of so dreadful a catastrophe, where will 
 be found a heaven-born Prometheus, to reanimate, with 
 a divine spark, the lifeless form of liberty ? 
 
 Time will hardly allow me even a brief expression on 
 this occasion, of the thoughts which have occurred to 
 me on the subject of slavery in the United States, nor 
 would they be very relevant perhaps to my main pur- 
 pose here, that of showing the influence of the American 
 Colonization Society to promote voluntary emancipa- 
 tion. Permit me, however, on this great subject to ask 
 a moment's indulgence. 
 
 Human rights are founded upon the moral law or 
 obligation of reciprocal benevolence, ordained by rea- 
 son and God, to exist between man and man in all cir- 
 cumstances, places, and times. This law exists inde- 
 pendently of the will of man and pre-supposes human 
 society. Hence no reasoning is of force, concerning the 
 rights of man, that is founded merely upon his nature, 
 
 * ^Eschylus. 
 
PENNSYLVANIA COLONIZATION SOCIETY. 21 
 
 or upon any original compact between him and others, 
 because certain relations of men universally to each 
 other are implied in the very terms of the law, and 
 whether they approve it or not, they are equally bound 
 to obedience. Were there but one man in the world, it 
 is clear he could be the subject of no law which, in the 
 duty it enjoined, took for granted the existence of other 
 men. The golden precept of the Saviour of the world, 
 " thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself," so justly 
 termed by Lord Bacon " the perfection of the law of 
 nature and nations," specifies the universal and unalter- 
 able principle of duty men owe to each other, and the 
 method by which they should decide the varying and 
 innumerable cases to which it must be applied. In each 
 and all these cases we are to try our benevolence by 
 our self-regard — to imagine our neighbour (and su:h is 
 every man) in our circumstances, and we in his ; and in 
 that view, and in view also of the relations of each of 
 us to others, to do for him as our moral judgment tells 
 us, we might reasonably expect him to do for us. 
 Not that we are to treat all men alike, or deem their 
 desires or judgment our rule of duty, or the interests 
 of the individual of equal importance with the public 
 good. The law binds every man to be the friend of 
 every other man, and every other man to be the friend 
 of him ; but in each and all cases, in which the principle 
 is to be made practical, the mode and true manner, 
 (those only excepted where these are f.xed by its Au- 
 thor,) are left to the reason of the individual under re- 
 sponsibilities to his conscience and God. 
 
22 
 
 ADDRESS BEFORE THE 
 
 In applying this divine law to the question of Ameri- 
 can Slavery, while we believe that it should be enthroned 
 supreme in the hearts of states as in that of individuals, 
 and with Dr. Channing " that statesmen work in the 
 dark until the idea of right towers above expediency 
 and wealth," we also believe that society may be so 
 deranged and disordered by the errors, crimes, and 
 misfortunes of a former age, that no human power can 
 instantly correct the evil, and that neither individuals 
 nor society are bound to do impossibilities. Great 
 moral evils may justifiably be tolerated by the state for 
 a time, when acts to prevent them will clearly produce 
 moral evils more terrible and extensive. Such tolera- 
 tion, however, can never rightly be plead in justification 
 of individual crime, nor is it true that such evils can 
 rightly be tolerated for ever. State necessity can never 
 be rightly urged in justification of any policy which 
 tends to limit for ever the influences of the word of God. 
 Providence and revelation are allies, and the order of 
 the one can never contravene the declarations of the 
 other. Dr. Channing has well said : " Slavery in the 
 age of the apostles had so penetrated society, was so in- 
 timately interwoven with it, and the materials of servile 
 war were so abundant, that a religion preaching free- 
 dom to its victims would have shaken the social fabric 
 to its foundation, and would have armed against itself 
 all the power of the state. Of consequence, Paul did 
 not assail it. He satisfied himself with spreading prin- 
 ciples which, however slowly, could not but work its 
 destruction." If there be reason in these sentences and 
 
PENNSYLVANIA COLONIZATION SOCIETY. 
 
 23 
 
 if the observation of South be just — and in the govern- 
 ment of the visible world the supreme wisdom duly sub- 
 mits to be the author of the better, not the best, but of 
 the best possible, in the existing relations, much more 
 must human legislators give way to many evils, rather 
 than encourage the discontent that would lead to worse 
 remedies. If Coleridge says truly that " an evil which 
 has come in gradually, and in the growth of which all 
 men have more or less conspired, cannot be removed 
 otherwise than gradually and by the joint efforts of all ;" 
 and Burke, that to remedy evils in the state, " a perma- 
 nent body, made up of transitory parts, it is good to fol- 
 low the method of nature," and be in what we improve 
 never wholly new, and in what we retain never wholly 
 obsolete, then must we be permitted to think that the 
 state, in which slavery was deep-seated, interwoven 
 with all the habits and rooted in the very constitution of 
 society long before the existence of the present deposi- 
 taries of the political power, is bound to act on the same 
 principle of benevolence, prescribed, it is true, to indi- 
 vidual man, but with a broad and full view of the ele- 
 ments and relations involved in an extended moral 
 state of society, and taking things as they are, by the 
 light of its reason and the best wisdom of experience, 
 make them as they should be in the time and manner 
 deemed best conducive to the interests of all concerned. 
 Two causes only should in our judgment retard eman- 
 cipation for a moment — the incapacity of the slave for 
 self-government, and the danger of collision between 
 the coloured and white races were both free on the soil 
 
24 
 
 ADDRESS BEFORE THE 
 
 of the south. By suitable instruction the first may be 
 removed, and colonization for the second affords an ad- 
 equate remedy. With the consent of the south, most 
 justly, in our opinion, might the national resources be 
 applied to aid the work.* By abstaining from measures 
 
 * My view of the system of slavery, as it exists among us, is 
 briefly this : — Individual masters are morally bound to treat their 
 slaves as their consciences, honestly consulted, decide that they 
 themselves would reasonably or rightfully expect to be treated in 
 the same condition and circumstances. And this perfect law of 
 Christianity, should govern political bodies, no less than individuals. 
 Adopting this, the royal law of Christ, as a universal, perfect rule 
 of duty between man and man, in all conditions, circumstances and 
 times, it follows, therefrom: 
 
 1st. That any doctrine or practice which would justify or main- 
 tain slavery as a perpetual system, is abominable ; because reason 
 and conscience in the breast of every man, assert his natural capa- 
 bility for freedom, and of course, that this capability belongs to 
 other men. And as his judgment must decide that it could never 
 be right for others to consign him and his posterity to perpetual 
 and involuntary servitude, so does it equally, that he can never 
 justly contribute to perpetuate a system which consigns others to 
 that condition. 
 
 2d. That human liberty should never be weighed in the balances 
 with money, or estimated by dollars and cents. There is no man 
 who does not regard his own liberty as more precious than pro- 
 perty, and in the same light, is he to regard the liberty of others. 
 
 3d. All rigorous laws imposed on those subjected to this system 
 (not necessary for the good of the enslaved, or indispensable to the 
 preservation of the public peace and safety) cannot too soon be 
 abolished. Such, I believe there are; and every humane and 
 Christian man should exert his influence to have them erased from 
 the State codes. 
 
 4th. Where the system exists, those who have the political 
 power, are as much bound to proceed benevolently in their mea- 
 sures to remedy and remove it, as they are to proceed at all. They 
 must not forget that "civil society is an institution of beneficence; 
 and law itself is (or should be) beneficence, acting by rule." Nor 
 that ,! restraints on men, as well as their liberties, are to be reck- 
 
PENNSYLVANIA COLONIZATION SOCIETY. 
 
 25 
 
 unconstitutional and dangerous in the judgment of the 
 south to urge onward abolition ;* by acknowledging 
 that this can only be effected with their free will and 
 consent, by co-operating with them in a plan which, 
 as benevolent to the whole coloured population has re- 
 ceived their sanction, and exhibiting an asylum to which 
 the liberated can be sent without injury to the state and 
 infinite advantage to themselves, and which in the rising 
 
 oned (in a sense) among- their rights." They ought not to attempt 
 to do that suddenly and by a blow, which they know may be done 
 more safely and beneficially with caution and preparation. 
 
 5th. It may be the duty of individual masters to liberate their 
 slaves, before the State is morally bound to enact laws for the en- 
 lire and universal abolition of slavery. For particular slaves may 
 be qualified for freedom, and their masters may have ability to 
 place them where such freedom would be to them a benefit, while 
 the great mass of the slave population are unqualified for perfect 
 freedom, and the State feels prohibited by motives of enlarged be- 
 nevolence, from conferring it, instantly, upon them. There is no 
 danger that either States or individuals at the South, will act too 
 soon or too earnestly on the subject. The great object should be, 
 I humbly conceive, to awaken in all minds a sense of justice and 
 benevolence towards our whole coloured population. All should 
 immediately and earnestly unite in preparing them for freedom. 
 When qualified therefor, there should be no hesitation in conferring 
 it upon them. " It is advanced in the eternal constitution of things, 
 that men of intemperate minds, cannot be free. Their passions 
 forge their fetters." — Life of Ashmun. 
 
 * My impression is, that, with the consent of the south, the 
 whole system of slavery might with safety be immediately so mo- 
 dified, as to place the slave population in a situation to enjoy all 
 the privileges in which men so rude and degraded could find advan- 
 tage; and, in connexion with the policy of colonization, to prepare 
 them, at no remote period, for entire freedom. Peculiar legislative 
 enactments might, for a season, be indispensable, and of the nature 
 and extent of these, benevolent and enlightened citizens in the 
 south can best judge. 
 
 4 
 
26 
 
 ADDRESS BEFORE THE 
 
 character and hopes of the free who occupy it appeals 
 to their deepest sympathies and most generous senti- 
 ments in behalf of the slave ; by interchanging the sober 
 opinions of the north, in regard to our coloured popula- 
 tion, with the philanthropic sentiments of the south, this 
 society effectually promotes the cause of freedom, and 
 presents motives of persuasiveness and power in favour 
 of emancipation. The demonstration in Liberia of the 
 capabilities of the coloured race for self-government, 
 every despatch from that colony, every ship that sails 
 thither, every example of emancipation, that those 
 covered with the dust and dishonours of servitude may 
 share the dignity and hopes of its citizens, plead elo- 
 quently the cause of human freedom. Fifteen hundred 
 slaves, standing as freemen at the will of their masters, 
 on that shore, and property, including the value of those 
 liberated, exceeding probably 82,600,000, given as a 
 free-will offering to the cause of this society, sustain the 
 truth of our position. This society comes forward to 
 bestow the best blessings Heaven permits men to enjoy, 
 upon Africa. 
 
 This intelligent audience know what Africa was and 
 what she is — her former glory, her present shame. 
 Alas, it is for none of us to know or imagine the extent 
 of her miseries, the depth of her degradation. Anciently 
 the seat of art, genius, empire; the land of Thebes, 
 Egypt, Carthage, and even now bearing marks of gran- 
 deur amid the fragments of her ruins. Some faint glory 
 lingers around her time-worn but undecayed monuments, 
 temples, and pyramids — a light dimly burning upon the 
 sepulchre, a smile to make us sad upon the countenance 
 
PENNSYLVANIA COLONIZATION SOCIETY. 
 
 27 
 
 of death. With an immense and fertile territory spread 
 out beneath a climate adapted to mature the richest pro- 
 ducts of the earth— a population of at least 60,000,000, 
 fine navigable rivers, and every advantage for a wide, 
 profitable commerce — for centuries has she been left a 
 prey to ignorance, imposture, superstition, barbarism, 
 and the slave trade, that giant sin and outrage of the 
 civilized world, showing sights of horror at which the 
 rocks might weep and the fierce and savage winds, un- 
 used to pity, speak out in tones indignant and appalling, 
 to startle the faithless conscience of the nations. But 
 even inanimate nature would, we fear, utter her terrify- 
 ing rebukes in vain. If the writings and labours of 
 Clarkson, the eloquence of Pitt, Fox, and Wilberforce, 
 if no sense of justice, no compunctions of conscience, 
 no sentiments of compassion, no divine precepts of 
 Christianity — if neither courts of mixed commission, nor 
 West Indian emancipation, nor the condemning opinion 
 and law of all the powers of Christendom have even 
 diminished this cruel commerce, what, without a change 
 of policy is to be expected, is to be done ? It is a fact of 
 deepest interest that Thomas Fowell Buxton, member 
 of the British Parliament, upon whom rests the mantle 
 of Wilberforce, who stands first and foremost among 
 living statesmen in endeavours to suppress the slave 
 trade and civilize Africa, has, in a work just published, 
 developed facts and principles, and expressed opinions 
 going to sustain the views and policy of the Colonization 
 Society, as those, by which alone the great and benevo- 
 lent objects of the friends of Africa can be fully attained. 
 Mr. Buxton has shown from a deep and thorough exr 
 
28 
 
 ADDRESS BEFORE THE 
 
 amination into all the sources of evidence in the case, 
 that the slave trade has increased both in the number of 
 its victims and the horrors of their sufferings in defiance 
 of all efforts for its extinction; that "twice as many 
 human beings are now its victims as when Wilberforce 
 and Clark son entered upon their noble task;" that the 
 number annually lost to Africa, either perishing in 
 seizure, on the ocean, or consigned to inexorable bond- 
 age by the Christian or Mahomedan slave trades, is 
 475,000; " that every day which we live in security and 
 peace at home, witnesses many a herd of wretches toil- 
 ing over the wastes of Africa to slavery or death ; every 
 night villages are roused from their sleep to the alterna- 
 tive of the sword, or the flames, or the manacle ;" that 
 at this very moment " there are at least twenty thou- 
 sand human beings on the Atlantic, exposed to every 
 variety of wretchedness which belongs to the middle 
 passage ;" that the Christian powers are generally un- 
 faithful in the execution of their own enactments for the 
 overthrow of this traffic ; that little ground exists for 
 hope that it will be made piracy by the law of nations ; 
 that if it were, the extraordinary profit, the enormous 
 gains of the slave trade would defeat all laws and move- 
 ments against it, and finally avows his conviction that 
 the slave trade will never be suppressed by the system 
 hitherto pursued. 
 
 Turning from this system in despair, he boldly 
 declares: "A legitimate commerce with Africa would 
 put down the slave trade, by demonstrating the superior 
 value of man as a labourer on the soil, to man as an 
 object of merchandise, and if conducted on wise and 
 
PENNSYLVANIA COLONIZATION SOCIETY. 
 
 29 
 
 equitable principles might be the precursor, or rather the 
 attendant, of civilization, peace, and Christianity to the 
 unenlightened, warlike, and heathen tribes who now so 
 fearfully prey on each other to supply the markets of 
 the new world." " I firmly believe," he says, " that 
 Africa has within herself the means and the endow- 
 ments which might enable her to shake off, and to 
 emerge from her load of misery, to the benefit of the 
 whole civilized world, and to the unspeakable improve- 
 ment of her own now barbarous population." He urges 
 all Christian nations to unite in one great confederacy 
 "for the purpose of calling into action the dormant 
 energies of Africa," and, avowing the opinion that, the 
 slave trade once suppressed, she would present " the 
 finest field for Christian Missionaries which the world 
 has seen opened to them," regards as a circumstance 
 unique in the case of her population, " that a race of 
 teachers of their own blood is already in a course of 
 rapid preparation for them ; that the providence of God 
 has overruled even slavery and the slave trade for this 
 end ; and that from among the settlers of Sierra Leone, 
 the peasantry of the West Indies, and the thousands of 
 their children now receiving Christian education, may 
 be expected to arise a body of men who will return to 
 the land of their fathers, carrying divine truth and all its 
 concomitant blessings into the heart of Africa." 
 
 We almost forget for a moment these shocking state- 
 ments touching the slave trade, in delightful astonish- 
 ment at the views, convictions, and hopes of Mr. 
 Buxton, representative, we doubt not, of those of the 
 wisest and best philanthropists of England, blazing 
 
30 
 
 ADDRESS BEFORE THE 
 
 suddenly out from thick mists of doubt and error, 
 like a new constellation in the heavens, to cheer our 
 heart, give new courage to humanity, and shed sweet 
 influences upon the land of slaves. The world is com- 
 ing forward to sustain our enterprise. Mr. Buxton has 
 only adopted the original principles and policy of the 
 American Colonization Society; his plans are but a 
 republication of theirs. Liberia w T as planted, has been 
 sustained to be a civilized state, a Christian common- 
 wealth of free coloured men on the shore of Africa, to 
 suppress the slave trade, to impart instruction in letters, 
 the useful arts, in agriculture, law, and religion, to her 
 barbarous tribes, to guard their rights, encourage their 
 industry, reform their manners, rouse their enterprise, 
 and exhibiting before their eyes, and offering in their 
 markets the articles of our skill tempting to their wants 
 or their fancy, to turn them from a detestable to a law- 
 ful commerce ; and finally, by developing her resources, 
 and stimulating the energies, slumbering, but not extinct, 
 in her bosom, to bring her up from the shadows of the 
 wilderness and the eclipse of ages, to stand with devo- 
 tion in her heart, power in her aspect, and honour on 
 her brow before the world. What blessings richer 
 can be conferred on her ? What greater can she enjoy ? 
 
 Such is our theory ; you must look across the ocean 
 for the exemplification of its truth. Cast your eye then 
 upon Liberia. See what has been effected by this 
 society. What well-built town stands on that bold 
 height, recently trod by the slave trader, now bearing 
 the flag of freedom, reflecting the light of civilization 
 on the waves, and pointing its church spires, em- 
 
PENNSYLVANIA COLONIZATION SOCIETY. 
 
 31 
 
 blematic of human hope, towards the throne of the 
 Almighty, with schools, courts of justice, and a pe- 
 riodical press ; the seat of order, industry, and law ; 
 accumulating property, opening new resources of en- 
 terprise, and extending its commerce and its influence ? 
 It is Monrovia ; beautifully looking out upon the rough 
 mariner, like the eye of mercy from beneath the shaggy 
 brow of despair. And that sweet village near by 1 It 
 is New Georgia, the home of some four hundred re- 
 captured Africans, rescued from slavery, and by the 
 humanity of our government restored to their country. 
 Order, comfort, neatness mark their dwellings; their 
 streets planted with shady trees ; their well-cultivated 
 fields and gardens; their children thronging to the 
 school, and the churches in which they worship the 
 common Father of us all, show that they have thrown 
 off the customs of savage nature, and clothed them- 
 selves in the beautiful garments of Christian life. Ask 
 them what this society has done, and let the nearly two 
 hundred of them who have been baptized in the name 
 of Christ make reply. And here a few miles distant 
 look down upon the agricultural settlement of Caldwell, 
 the residence of emigrants, who are converting the wil- 
 derness into a fruitful field, and demonstrating how the 
 soil of Africa will reward the hand of labour, and her 
 children, once trained to its cultivation, its rich and 
 varied products, its cofTee, cotton, rice, indigo, and 
 sugar, supply themselves with whatever necessity can 
 demand or luxury desire. Higher up, on the margin of 
 the river St. Paul's, observe the village of Millsburg, its 
 white houses adorning the hill side, and smiling through 
 
32 
 
 ADDRESS BEFORE THE 
 
 the trees. More retired than the others from the visits 
 of strangers, and more eligible, perhaps, both for health 
 and agriculture, it has been selected by our Methodist 
 brethren for the seat of an institution in which native 
 Africans may be educated to become teachers and 
 guides to the interior tribes. 
 
 Return, if you please, to the sea-coast, and thirty 
 miles below Monrovia pause a moment at the settle- 
 ment of Marshall. Pause, at least, in honour of that 
 name, engraven on the hearts of Africa and America ; 
 a name of power to plead this cause, while the admira- 
 tion of virtue or of liberty inhabits human hearts. 
 
 Five thousand coloured emigrants from the United 
 States, extending their laws over an extent of coast 
 for three hundred miles, with eighteen churches, the 
 means of education, sharing in all the blessings and re- 
 sponsibilities of free government, embodying eight hun- 
 dred members of the Christian church, are there stirred 
 with the sublime enthusiasm of liberty to expel from 
 Africa the invaders of her rights, and the murderers of 
 her children, and carry the triumphs of Christianity to 
 her central mountains, and the waves of the Niger. Is 
 this nothing to be accomplished by a benevolent society 
 in less than twenty years, and at an expense of a little 
 more than half a million of dollars ? 
 
 And farther down, at the mouth of the river St. Johns, 
 rest and contemplate that little sisterhood of towns 
 planted by the zeal, cherished by the affections of your 
 society. The fountain in the desert, the flowers that 
 bloom by its side are not more charming. See in these 
 prosperous and rising settlements, that owe their exist- 
 
PENNSYLVANIA COLONIZATION SOCIETY. 
 
 33 
 
 ence to your benevolence, the seeds of life, the buddings 
 forth of virtue and immortal hope to perishing Africa.* 
 
 Nor let us fail to examine the settlement of Green- 
 ville, at the mouth of Sinoo river, testifying the interest 
 of our far-distant but most generous friends in Missis- 
 sippi and Louisiana in this cause ; destined to stand a 
 noble and enduring monument to their praise. 
 
 And the colony of Cape Palmas, founded by Mary- 
 land, and guarded and sustained by her government, 
 with its well-disciplined population, great commercial 
 advantages, and ample means of social advancement, 
 proclaims what a single state can, and what the United 
 States might and should do for this cause. 
 
 The Christian missionaries, some thirty in number, 
 representing not less than four religious denominations 
 in our country, have, through the influence of these set- 
 tlements, found admission to the heathen in their vici- 
 nity, and under their protecting wings, are successfully 
 engaged in their divine work. Nor will minds capable 
 of deep reflection, (even should opinion, from some 
 sources entitled to respect, be expressed to the con- 
 trary,) doubt the soundness of the judgment of Dr. Philip, 
 the learned and eloquent superintendant of the London 
 society's missions in South Africa, when he says : — 
 
 " Half a dozen such colonies, conducted on Christian 
 
 * The pure spirit of that meek female Friend, Mrs. Beulah San- 
 som, who awoke so many minds in this city to a holy enthusiasm of 
 benevolence towards Africa, must look from her eternal house upon 
 the schools planted through her efforts in these villages with de- 
 light, and gratefully bless Him whom she worships, for permission 
 to thus open the path of wisdom to the simple, and of salvation to 
 the lost. 
 
 5 
 
34 
 
 ADDRESS BEFORE THE 
 
 principles, might be the means, under the divine bless- 
 ing, of regenerating this degraded quarter of the globe. 
 Every prospective measure for the improvement of 
 Africa must have in it the seminal principles of good 
 government ; and no better plan can be devised for lay- 
 ing the foundations of Christian government, than that 
 which this new settlement (Liberia) presents. Properly 
 conducted your new colony may become an extensive 
 empire, which may be the means of shedding the bless- 
 ings of civilization and peace over a vast portion of this 
 divided and distracted continent." 
 
 To what does duty now urge the friends of this 
 society? That almost solitary white man, who, in the 
 spirit and power of Ashmun, is heading the forces of 
 these infant colonies, and nobly adventuring his life in 
 conflict with the slave trade ; who weeps over the dis- 
 honoured flag of his country, and bleeding and outraged 
 Africa, and appeals to America and the world to sus- 
 tain freedom and Christianity in their struggle against 
 the powers of darkness. He appeals to you. Would 
 that his fine manly form were in the midst of us ; that 
 in this hall we could look upon his countenance, and 
 hear his voice. He speaks to you from the scene of 
 his trials. He entreats aid. Your generous hearts will 
 respond to his appeal. 
 
 Let us act with entire confidence in the practicable- 
 ness, to the utmost extent of the scheme of colonization. 
 No power can restrain its complete execution, on the 
 largest scale desired, when its beneficence, in all its 
 aspects and influences, is demonstrated to the universal 
 reason of men. The only imaginable obstacles to its en- 
 
PENNSYLVANIA COLONIZATION SOCIETY. 35 
 
 tire practicability — the opposition of the free people of 
 colour ; a deficiency in means to aid them, and indis- 
 position to emancipate slaves — must vanish when all 
 are compelled to acknowledge its philanthropy. The 
 sense of interest and of duty will co-operate for its suc- 
 cess. Africa herself will offer resistless attractions to 
 her long-lost children, and bring forth her treasures to 
 hasten their return. 
 
 And shall we not, by an organization the most effi- 
 cient, by our zeal and activity, by the invincible energy 
 of our purpose, and all the power of the press, make 
 prevalent our opinions in the mind of the country. Let 
 us submit our plan to the national congress, assured that 
 discussion on its merits there will prove of infinite ad- 
 vantage; never despairing of aid from the power and 
 treasure of the Union. 
 
 Let the grandeur of the enterprise impress our hearts. 
 Great are our allies, Truth, Time, and all-conquering 
 Providence. Our work is for a nation and an age ; its 
 results will be felt by nations in two hemispheres for 
 ever. The wisdom of antiquity was wont to decree the 
 highest honours to the founders of states ; and when, 
 through the energy of our free coloured population, and 
 the agency of this society, a constellation of Christian 
 states shall adorn the whole extended coast of Africa, 
 the historian will recur to the evidence of a prophetic 
 sagacity in the lofty sentiments expressed by the late 
 General Harper at the very dawn of this enterprise : — 
 " How vast and sublime a career does this undertaking 
 open to a generous ambition, aspiring to deathless fame 
 by great and useful actions ! Who can count the mil- 
 
36 
 
 ADDRESS BEFORE THE 
 
 lions that, in future times, shall bless the names of those 
 by whom this magnificent scheme of beneficence and 
 philanthropy has been conceived, and shall be carried 
 into execution '( Throughout the widely extended re- 
 gions of middle and southern Africa, then filled with 
 populous and polished nations, their memories shall be 
 cherished, and their praises sung. When other states, 
 and even the flourishing and vigorous nation to which 
 they belong, now, in its flower of youth, shall have run 
 their round of rise, grandeur, and decay, and like the 
 founders of Palmyra, Tyre, Babylon, Memphis, and 
 Thebes, shall no longer be known, except by vague 
 reports of their former greatness, or by some fragments 
 of their works of art, the monuments of their taste, their 
 power, or their pride, which they may have left behind." 
 
 Then will be discerned the propriety, the inimitable 
 beauty with which that greatest man of all men, (Lord 
 Bacon,) he whose spirit still rules in the kingdom of 
 philosophy, recommends to the English monarch the 
 colonization of Ireland. Of several considerations, he 
 says : " The first of the four is honour, whereof I have 
 spoken enough already, were it not that the harp of 
 Ireland puts me in mind of that glorious emblem or 
 allegory, wherein the wisdom of antiquity did figure 
 and shadow out works of this nature. For the poets 
 feigned that Orpheus, by the virtue and sweetness of 
 his harp, did call and assemble the beasts and birds, of 
 their nature wild and savage, to stand around him, as 
 in a theatre ; forgetting their affections of fierceness, of 
 lust, and of prey, and listening to the tunes and harmo- 
 nies of the harp, and soon after called likewise the 
 
PENNSYLVANIA COLONIZATION SOCIETY. 37 
 
 stones and woods to remove and stand in order about 
 him : which fable was anciently interpreted of the re- 
 ducing and plantation of kingdoms ; when people of 
 barbarous manners are brought to give over and dis- 
 continue their customs of revenge, and blood, and of 
 dissolute life, and of theft and rapine, and to give ear 
 to the wisdom of laws and governments ; whereupon 
 immediately followeth the calling of stones for building 
 and habitation; and of trees for the seats of houses, 
 orchards and enclosures, and the like. This work, 
 therefore, of all other most memorable and honourable, 
 your majesty hath now in hand ; especially if your ma- 
 jesty join the harp of David, in casting out the evil 
 spirit of superstition, with the harp of Orpheus, in cast- 
 ing out desolation and barbarism." 
 
 Gentlemen of the Pennsylvania Colonization Society : 
 
 Very imperfectly, I am sensible, have I performed the 
 task assigned me. For a patient kindness of attention 
 you and this audience have my heartfelt thanks. 
 
 I have sought to show that the American Coloniza- 
 tion Society arose from the united wisdom and benevo- 
 lence of the country, and that it rests on enlarged 
 humanity to the coloured race. Slavery is left by the 
 federal constitution under the exclusive control of the 
 states in which it exists. The citizens of these states 
 will unite with those of the north in a plan of good for 
 this race, limited in its direct action, by the terms of its 
 constitution, to the free ; and in thus uniting, they do it 
 from avowed benevolence to the free people of colour, 
 to the slaves, and to the millions of Africa cast down 
 
38 
 
 ADDRESS BEFORE THE 
 
 in shame and darkness, vice and ruin, far worse than 
 they. They deem that duty, solemn as the fate of two 
 nations, and two continents, for all coming time, urges 
 the execution of a plan which will place our free 
 coloured people, with their own consent, where they 
 may not only bear the name, but feel the power of free- 
 dom, and national and independent, command respect, 
 and redeem their race. With their aid and blessing a 
 few magnanimous and heroic spirits of this oppressed and 
 dishonoured people have gone back from exile, and by 
 the might of His outstretched arm, who demolishes or 
 builds up empires, founded the free Christian common- 
 wealth of Liberia. Higher motives, a kindling spirit 
 and the sense of grandeur, have made them men. They 
 are struck down by no superior power. Not that celes- 
 tial fire in which the goddess mother of Achilles bathed 
 her son to render him immortal, has touched their souls, 
 but that diviner flame, shed upon the first Christian 
 church, enduing it with the richest gifts, and consecrating 
 it to the noblest service of humanity. It is a truth 
 for history. Those who directed its first movements, 
 most of its guides and governors have been men of God. 
 Scarce more signally was the great Jewish lawgiver 
 chosen to found that commonwealth, in which shone the 
 visible glory of the Most High, than was Ashmun to 
 guide this colony in its first hours of peril, and stamp it 
 with honour. Beneath that soil, in hope of resurrection 
 to a nobler life, sleep the precious remains of Bacon, 
 Andrews, Carey, Cox, and others, who, in their sublime 
 endeavours to save souls, lived but to see the day dawn- 
 ing on Africa, and the day-star rising in her heart. 
 
PENNSYLVANIA COLONIZATION SOCIETY. 39 
 
 Twelve hundred slaves, or more, casting away their 
 chains at the bidding of their masters, stand there erect, 
 to share, in equal measure with the freest, all that gives 
 worth to society, or value and dignity to life. Towns, 
 villages, school-houses, churches, for three hundred 
 miles, throw a smile of beauty on the barbarous fea- 
 tures of that continent. Broken open are the huge 
 doors of that vast prison-house — one quarter of the 
 world — where iron-hearted despotism and the accursed 
 slave trade have poured trembling into millions of 
 hearts, shorn humanity of all its honours, " stirred the 
 worst passions of the human soul, darkening the spirit 
 of revenge, sharpening the greediness of avarice, bru- 
 talizing the selfish, envenoming the cruel, famishing the 
 weak, and crushing to death the broken-hearted."* And 
 must all our pity fall upon two millions of slaves in 
 a humane and Christian country ? Have we not a 
 drop to spare for their more numerous, more afflicted 
 brethren in their mother land ; a country struggling, 
 like the fabled giants, beneath mountains of calamity, 
 and consumed by volcanic fires. I am silent. I see on 
 that distant shore an august form ; his step is stately ; 
 his eye flashes indignation ; strength is in his arm ; 
 power on his brow. His shadow once made Burns 
 exclaim : — 
 
 " Had I a statue been of stane, his darin' look had daunted me, 
 And on his bonnet graved was plain, the sacred posy Liberty, 
 And from his harp sic strains did flow, 
 Might rouse the slumbering dead to hear." 
 
 His harp is thrown aside for the trumpet ; its tones 
 
 * Judge Story. 
 
40 
 
 ADDRESS, ETC. 
 
 ring out over land and sea ; he has struck the Devourer 
 of millions ; shall he not give the death-blow to the 
 monster, that his dragon wing of darkness may droop 
 in death for ever ? And by his side is sweet Pity, beau- 
 tiful as an angel, her eye glowing even through tears 
 with a divine compassion, and in tones more touching 
 than those of the modest charming bird who greets 
 with hymn enchanting the evening star, she speaks to 
 those who best represent her in this audience. 
 
 " The quality of mercy is not strain'd, 
 It droppeth like the gentle rain from heaven 
 Upon the place beneath : It is twice blessed ; 
 It blesseth him that gives, and him who takes." 
 
 And awful Justice is there, frowning upon our apathy, 
 and pointing to the omnipotent and unerring tribunal 
 before which we must all shortly stand ; and Religion ! 
 meekness and majesty in his countenance, stretching 
 out his hand, with the bread of life and the cup of sal- 
 vation, to that scarred, wo-clad, chain-bound, heart- 
 stricken mother of enslaved millions. Speak to us, 
 thou most wretched ! She is dumb with agony. Not 
 like Rachel or Niobe, 
 
 " Childless, but crownless in her voiceless wo ;" 
 
 Her tears fall more for the living than the dead. See 
 through her tattered garment her fresh bleeding stripes. 
 The iron enters her soul. Can you look upon her and 
 not weep. Oh Africa! if I forget thee, (here, in the 
 presence of Almighty God, will not each of you unite 
 with me in saying,) oh Africa, "if I forget thee, let this 
 right hand forget her cunning ; if I do not remember 
 thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth." 
 
THE NEGRO 
 
 AND 
 
 JAMAICA. 
 
THE NEGRO 
 
 AND 
 
 JAMAICA. 
 
 COMMANDER BEDFORD PIM, 
 
 ROYAL NAVY. 
 
 READ BEFORE 
 
 THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON, 
 FEBRUARY 1, 1866, 
 
 AT 
 
 ST. JAMES'S HALL, LONDON. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 TRUBNER AND CO., 60, PATERNOSTER ROW. 
 
 1866. 
 
peinted by 
 taylor akd co., little queen street, 
 Lincoln's inn fields. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 When the news of the Jamaica rebellion arrived in this country 
 I felt that at last my countrymen, whether they liked it or not, 
 were brought face to face with the negro, and that a clear 
 view of his peculiarities should be laid before them, so as to 
 assist in properly handling this most important subject, whether 
 politically or religiously, in such a manner as to aid in settling 
 the question. 
 
 The only scientific tribunal before which this could be done 
 with effect was that vigorous and fearless body, the Anthropo- 
 logical Society of London, whose labours will be better appre- 
 ciated when it is understood that the numerous races composing 
 our vast empire can only be governed properly by studying their 
 anthropological characteristics. This Society has already done 
 good service in bringing forward the facts of " the black ques- 
 tion," by the publication of several excellent memoirs, amongst 
 which that of its President, Dr. James Hunt, on ' The Negro's 
 Place in Nature,' has acquired a well-merited popularity. 
 
 My paper on ' The Negro at Home and Abroad ' having been 
 accepted by the Anthropological Society, the demand for tickets 
 of admission was so great that it was found necessary to secure 
 St. James's Hall, the rooms of the Society in St. Martin's Place 
 being too small. 
 
VI 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 On the 1st of February the spacious hall was crowded with 
 persons eager to obtain that information so studiously withheld, 
 or so wilfully perverted by those who have hitherto attempted to 
 lead public opinion. 
 
 The unanimous demonstration of a crowded and highly respect- 
 able audience in favour of the arguments used in my Paper, based 
 as they were known to be on long practical experience of the 
 Negro character, leads me to hope that I have brought forward 
 my facts opportunely, and that the shallowness and impiety of 
 those who have dared to compare the wretched Gordon with 
 St. Stephen, nay even with our Saviour himself, will be, in the 
 future, thoroughly understood. 
 
 Does England owe one particle of her proud position to the 
 patriotism, the self-denial, or the statesmanlike teachings of the 
 professional philanthropists of Exeter Hall ? Fearless of contra- 
 diction, I reply that the very reverse is the case. 
 
 Jealous of the honour and dignity of my country, I have felt 
 keenly the course taken by our Government in Jamaican affairs. 
 Whether or not they have been urged thereto by rowdy deputa- 
 tions, based on " eight miles of dead bodies," and other equally 
 clever fabrications, one thing is certain, that a public servant 
 of whom any country might be proud — " one of the very finest 
 types of English manhood " — has been deposed and degraded for 
 making the safety of his trust the supreme'law. 
 
 Why was not the example of Governor Eyre, in his generous 
 readiness to accept responsibilities scarcely belonging to him, 
 and his manly determination to support his subordinates at all 
 hazards, followed by his superiors at home, — at least until proof 
 had been obtained, that the malignant assertions of his enemies 
 had some foundation in fact ? 
 
 The weakness and short-sightedness of our present policy 
 with regard to Jamaica, can only lead to one result, viz. that of 
 making it impossible for the whites to live in the island with any 
 degree of security ; a regular exodus of all the white settlers will 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 Vll 
 
 soon become inevitable ; and I do not see how to prevent the 
 contagion from spreading all over the West Indies. Such an 
 emigration would be to me personally most valuable, possessing 
 as I do the control of a million and a half of acres of land in 
 Central America, where such a body of acclimatized and enter- 
 prising people would be received with open arms, and soon prove 
 extremely valuable in swelling its resources. But the plain duty 
 which every Englishman owes to the land of his birth made 
 me put aside these and similar considerations, and compelled 
 me to point out the danger of adhering to a policy which must 
 crush out all zeal and decision in our public servants, and which 
 is pregnant with evil to the progress of our colonial empire all 
 over the world. 
 
 Bedford Pim. 
 
 Belsize Square, Hampstead, 
 February, 1866. 
 
THE NEGRO 
 
 PART I. 
 
 IN THE OLD WORLD. 
 
 I do not propose this evening to enter into a merely technical 
 dissertation on the subject which has been announced to you. 
 I wish rather to show the negro's place in history, in other 
 words, his ancient and modern condition. First, in his own 
 country and, secondly, abroad. 
 
 Undoubtedly, at this moment the chief interest of our 
 subject lies in recent events and the lessons which the merest 
 review of the past and present condition of any large portion of 
 the human race must necessarily suggest. 
 
 And here I would say at the outset, that I do not believe in 
 the morality of palliating murder and rebellion, whether com- 
 mitted by a black or a white ; nor do I deem it right to stand 
 forth as the champion of the theoretical grievances of every low- 
 caste and depraved population of our empire. 
 
 I shall therefore speak of the negro as I find him in history 
 and in life, though in so doing I may be compelled to present 
 him in language somewhat different from the maudlin eulogiums 
 bestowed upon him of late by the enthusiastic negrophilists of 
 Exeter Hall. Up to the present time it must be admitted that 
 the origin of the negro is most obscure; whatever service, there- 
 fore, science may yet render in clearing up this obscurity, one 
 thing is certain, that even yet there is little but conjecture to 
 guide us. 
 
 B 
 
2 
 
 Anthropologists, — although still far from having completed even 
 a rudimentary study of that part of the human race of which 
 the black man is the type, — have nevertheless succeeded in eli- 
 minating from a confused mass of opinion certain facts which 
 may ultimately set at rest the vexed question of the equality of 
 two great divisions of the human family. 
 
 Theories of origin are not wanting : one points to Cain, as 
 the wicked progenitor of the race : another, with equal confi- 
 dence, fixes upon Canaan, the son of Ham, who, the Bible tells 
 us, went out into the world under a curse. 
 
 But with regard to such theories, it is not a little curious, as 
 showing the inconsistencies of our professional philanthropists, 
 that whilst they invariably and with great Scriptural unction 
 adopt one or the other of these views, they at the same time 
 insist on the absolute equality between a race, to which they 
 delight to point as labouring under a curse for thousands of 
 years, and a people which has advanced in comparatively modern 
 times to the highest degree of civilization. 
 
 There is still another theory to which I must allude, viz. that 
 Adam and Eve were black ; — that civilization in the course of 
 ages whitened the skin; — and that only the refuse of society 
 continues of the primitive colour. 
 
 These, however, can only be called guesses as to the origin of 
 the negro, and, in a scientific point of view, they are absolutely 
 valueless. 
 
 But let us leave the regions of doubt, and see what kind of in- 
 formation can be gleaned from the light of history. Here the 
 mind naturally reverts to those imperishable monuments, so pro- 
 fusely scattered over the land of Egypt, and which have proved 
 such unerring pilots to discovery. The sculptures carry us 
 back thousands of years before the Christian era, — thousands of 
 years before the people of this country were even known as the 
 rudest of savages, — and on them we find the well-known features 
 of the negro, portrayed with a fidelity and truth, which leave 
 not a doubt of his identity, — as being, in fact, the counterpart 
 of the African of the present day. 
 
 Nilotic antiquities, however, are not the only guides to a com- 
 parison between the negro of that early period and our own. 
 The hieroglyphics are doubtless most valuable, as giving an idea 
 of the manners and customs of the Egyptians, and especially as 
 showing the position held by the negro amongst an early civi- 
 
3 
 
 lized race; but in addition, we are in possession of the actual 
 bodies of those who thought, moved, and worked on the earth at 
 that distant time. 
 
 Thanks to the art of embalming, we possess the mummy-head 
 of a negress, showing the lineaments so perfectly, that if the 
 individual had been an old acquaintance we should at once 
 recognize her. Here we have the facial angle of 70o, the low, 
 compressed forehead, the flattened nose and face, — in short, all 
 those characteristics with which we are so familiar at the present 
 clay. This mute testimony is the strongest confirmation of the 
 sculptured records, and is also proof positive that the negro of 
 that period was in immediate contact with a high state of civili- 
 zation. 
 
 Other mummies, excavated at the same time and country, 
 are of a higher type; for, notwithstanding the bitumen which 
 has blackened the skin, the facial angle, elevation of forehead, 
 aristocratic nose, hair still soft and silky, prove this, and leave 
 no room for cavil or doubt. 
 
 We may thus, without fear of contradiction, fix the position of 
 the negro at the earliest period recorded in the world's history. 
 He was then a menial, — in other words, a slave ; nay more, the 
 lowest type of man known to the civilization of that day. 
 
 Century after century rolls away ; page after page of the hiero- 
 glyphics is unfolded ; but not the smallest change is discoverable 
 in the condition of the negro. On the banks of the Nile, I 
 have myself carefully examined some of the earliest hierogly- 
 phics in which the negro is depicted, and also some of a thousand 
 years later ; but it would have taken the eye of a microscopist 
 to detect the slightest difference in any of the characteristics 
 of the race, although so wide an interval of time had elapsed, and 
 so close a connection with a higher civilization existed. 
 
 I have thus endeavoured to point out the actual status of the 
 negro at the period of his first appearance in history five thou- 
 sand years ago, and to show that a long connection with civi- 
 lization had in no way modified either his form or nature ; but to 
 those of my countrymen who have not travelled in Egypt, and 
 yet desire to inform themselves more fully on this peculiar sub- 
 ject, I would commend the papyrus rolls at the British Museum ; 
 as teaching somewhat more of the individual than can be gained 
 from the descriptions given in Exeter Hall. 
 
 I will now take another downward step on the ladder of time, 
 
 b 2 
 
4 
 
 and show what our more immediate predecessors in civilization, 
 the Greeks and Romans, thought of the negro ; and although 
 it would be easy to multiply the proof that the civilization 
 of these had no more effect on the negro than that of the 
 Egyptian, yet I do not propose to take up your time with a 
 disquisition on this part of my subject. In the days of iEschylus, 
 and even 500 years before his time, — the days of Homer, — 
 the negro was as well known as he is now, and, as regards his 
 social place among races, perfectly denned. Virgil,* writing on 
 this subject, brings us up to about 2000 years of our own times. 
 He says — 
 
 " From Afric she, the swain's sole serving-maid, 
 Whose face and form alike her birth betrayed, 
 With woolly locks, lips tumid, sable skin ; 
 Wide bosom, udders flaccid, belly thin, 
 Legs slender ; broad and most misshapen feet, 
 Chapped into chinks, and parched with solar heat." 
 
 Virgil, in point of fact, photographs the negro of the present 
 day through the cumulus of 2000 years; and his testimony 
 alone would be sufficient to prove that as the race was then, so it 
 is now. In short, after centuries of contact with the Egyptians, 
 the Persians, the Greeks, the Carthaginians, the Romans, and 
 the Arabians, the original characteristics stick to the negro ; he 
 has gained no permanent good; and I commend this fact to the 
 negrophilists. 
 
 But our own history may now be appealed to, in further proof 
 that the negro does not advance in the social scale. Caesar tells 
 us that the ancient Britons, 1900 years ago, were so savage that 
 they were not even fit for slaves. This opinion is pregnant with 
 instruction, especially in an anthropological point of view, as 
 showing the great gulf between the European and Nigritian races. 
 Like the Red Indian of the American continent, the ancient 
 Britons could not exist under the restriction of their freedom ; 
 they were so savage, in other words so uncontrollable, that they 
 could not be made to bow the neck to their conquerors. 
 
 Let me ask you for one moment to picture to yourselves 
 the stately form of Caractacus in the streets of Rome, and his 
 brother- slave, the negro, a prince of Ashantee we will suppose, 
 in chains beside him, both savage, both untutored ; but, in other 
 respects, how widely different ! Can any man in his senses call 
 
 * Virgil in Moretum. 
 
5 
 
 them equals, except in affliction ? Can any sane man reflect 
 upon the nobleness of the one and the abject nature of the other, 
 and accept the theory of equality ? And if this holds good in the 
 primitive state of the Briton, what must the intelligence of the 
 nineteenth century think of such a comparison now? — The 
 highest order of intellect the world has yet seen, on a level with 
 one of the lowest ! It were well to consign such a paradox to the 
 limbo of other Utopian ideas with the least possible delay. 
 
 Let us now examine the state of civilization which exists in 
 the interior of Africa, where at all events the native is more or 
 less free from those external influences which, as our negrophilists 
 insist, only tend to injure his morals ; and then let us see what 
 contact with the civilization of modern Europe has done for the 
 transplanted negro since Las Casas conceived the benevolent 
 idea of substituting him for the rapidly disappearing aborigines 
 of America. 
 
 With regard to the state and condition of the people of the 
 interior of Africa, we have the most abundant testimony from all 
 sorts of eye-witnesses. Numbers of educated men have devoted 
 their lives to explore and describe the people and country, and 
 from the time of Vasco da Gama to our own, modern civiliza- 
 tion has been as much in contact with Africa as the ancient. 
 
 Travellers have explored the interior, sailors the coast-line, 
 men of business have had practical dealings with the natives, but 
 there is only one opinion as to the innate cruelty of the negro, 
 his sensuality, his brutality under the influence of superstition 
 or when excited or misled, his inbred sloth, — in short, the almost 
 total absence of those attributes which enable other races of man- 
 kind to advance in civilization. 
 
 In 1795-6 we have Park's travels; and the experience of the 
 eighteenth century is thus cleverly epitomized in the following 
 extract : — (e Vices the most notorious seem to be the portion of 
 this unhappy race, — idleness, treachery, revenge, cruelty, impu- 
 dence, stealing, lying, profanity, debauchery, and intemperance, 
 are said to have extinguished the principles of natural law, and 
 to have silenced the reproofs of conscience. They are strangers 
 to every sentiment of compassion, and are an awful example of 
 the corruption of man when left to himself." ( ( Encyclopaedia 
 Britannica/ art. Negro, 1797.) 
 
 Again, we have in 1816, the settlement at the mouth of the 
 Gambia; in 1822, Denham and Clapperton; in 1826, Major 
 
6 
 
 Laing - in 1831, the Landers; in 1841, a naval expedition of 
 three steamers ; and within the last few years the experience of 
 Burton, Baker, Speke and Grant, Livingstone, — in short, a mass 
 of material upon which to form a correct opinion. 
 
 To quote from all these will be unnecessary. I prefer to 
 come to a period within the recollection of the youngest among 
 us, in order to show that the negro of the present day is essen- 
 tially the negro of the past. What does Speke say ? — " Lazi- 
 ness is inherent in the negroes ; they will not work unless com- 
 pelled to do so. Having no God, in the Christian sense of the 
 term, to fear or worship, they have no love for truth, honour, or 
 honesty. Controlled by no government, nor yet by home ties, 
 they have no reason to think of, or look to, the future." And 
 he adds, after speaking of the negro tasting the sweets of liberty 
 on board ship as a sailor, that, " If chance bring him back again 
 to Zanzibar, he calls his old Arab master his father, and goes 
 into slavery with as much zest as ever." 
 
 Baker, recently returned from the sources of the Nile, fully 
 endorses Speke' s opinion, and Burton, without doubt the most 
 accomplished traveller of this century, in his ( Mission to the 
 King of Dahome/ vol. ii. chap, xix., gives his valuable experience 
 in the most unqualified terms : — 
 
 " My opinions have been formed mostly by comparing, after 
 ten years of travel, ' on and off/ the Africans with the Western 
 Asiatics, amongst whom I have lived eight years, for the most 
 part like one of themselves. 
 
 " Touching the African, it may be observed that there are in 
 England at least two distinct creeds: — 1. That of those who 
 know him. 2. That of those who do not. This may be predi- 
 cated of most other moot-points in the negro's case ; however, 
 the singularity is, that ignorance, not knowledge, — sentimentality, 
 not sense, — sway the practical public mind. 
 
 " One of the principal negro- characteristics is his truly savage 
 want of veneration for God or man ; hence the expressions which 
 we should deem blasphemous in his wild state, and the peculiar 
 tone of his prayer, commanding rather than supplicating, which 
 distinguish him in his semi-civilization. 
 
 " He has never grasped the ideas of a personal Deity, a duty in 
 life, a moral code, or a shame of lying. 
 
 " The negro will obey a white man more readily than a mulatto, 
 and a mulatto rather than one of his own colour. He never 
 
7 
 
 thinks of claiming equality with the Aryan race, except when 
 taught. At Whydah the French missionaries remark that their 
 scholars always translate ' white ' and ' black ' by f master 3 and 
 c slave/ 
 
 " The negro, as a rule, despises agriculture, so highly venerated 
 by the Asiatics, Chaldseans, Chinese, Israelites, and Persians, 
 and recognized since the days of Aristotle as the most important 
 of all sciences. 
 
 et His highest ambition is to be a petty trader, whilst his thick 
 skull, broad bones, and cold porous leathery skin, point him out 
 as a born ' hewer of wood and drawer of water/ 
 
 " The cruelty of the negro is like that of a schoolboy, the blind 
 impulse of rage, combined with w r ant of sympathy. Thus he 
 thoughtlessly tortures and slays his prisoners, as the youth of 
 England torment and kill cats. He fails in the domestication 
 of the lower animals, because he is deficient in forbearance 
 with them. 
 
 " The negro has never invented an alphabet, a musical scale, or 
 any other element of knowledge. Music and dancing, his pas- 
 sions, are, as arts, still in embryo. In the mass he will not im- 
 prove beyond a certain point, and that not respectable : he men- 
 tally remains a child, and is never capable of a generalization. 
 
 " The negro is nowhere worse than at home, where he is a curious 
 mixture of cowardice and ferocity. With the barbarous dread and 
 horror of death, he delights in the torments and the destruction 
 of others, and, with more than the usual savage timidity, his 
 highest boast is that of heroism. He is nought but self ; he lacks 
 even the rude virtue of hospitality, and ever, as Commander 
 Forbes has it, he f baits with a sprat to catch a mackerel/ 
 
 u The negro, in his wild state, makes his wives work ; he will 
 not, or rather he cannot labour, except by individual compulsion, 
 as in the Confederate States, or bv necessity, as in Barbadoes. 
 When so compelled, he labours w r ell, and he becomes civilized and 
 humanized to the extent of his small powers. When not com- 
 pelled, as Sierra Leone and Jamaica prove, he becomes degraded, 
 debauched, and depraved. 
 
 " I conclude therefore, with Franklin, the philosopher, that the 
 negro is still as he has been for the last 4000 years, best when 
 f held to labour ' by better and wiser men than himself. 
 
 " The removal of the negro from xAirica is like sending a boy 
 to school, — it is his only chance of improvement, of learning 
 
8 
 
 that there is something more in life than drumming and dancing, 
 talking and singing, drinking and killing. After a time, colonists, 
 returned to Africa, may exert upon the continent an effect for 
 which we have as yet vainly looked.''' 
 
 Another eye-witness, Captain Canot, in a work not much 
 known in this country, and published by Appleton and Co., of 
 New York, in 1854, says : — " During my first visit to Digby, I 
 promised my trading friends that I would either return to their 
 settlement, or at least send merchandise and a clerk to esta- 
 blish a factory."" 
 
 There were two towns at Digby governed by cousins, and this 
 mercantile venture gave rise to a feud between them which ended 
 in a war, in which Captain Canot himself, though not siding 
 with either party, was taken prisoner. After describing the 
 battle, he says : — iC A palaver-house immediately in front of my 
 quarters was the general rendezvous, and scarcely a bushman 
 appeared without the body of some maimed and bleeding victim. 
 The mangled but living captives were tumbled on a heap in the 
 centre, and soon every avenue to the square was crowded with 
 exulting savages. Rum was brought forth in abundance for the 
 chiefs. Presently, slowly approaching from a distance, I heard 
 the drums, horns, and war-bells, and in less than fifteen minutes, 
 a procession of women, whose naked limbs were smeared with 
 chalk and ochre, poured into the palaver-house to join the beastly 
 rites. Each of these devils was armed with a knife, and bore in 
 her hand some cannibal trophy. The wife of Jen-Ken (the 
 leader of one party), a corpulent wretch of forty-five, dragged 
 along the ground, by a single limb, the slimy corpse of an infant 
 ripped alive from its mother's womb. As her eyes met those of 
 her husband, the two fiends yelled forth a shout of mutual joy, 
 while the lifeless babe was tossed in the air, and caught, as it 
 descended, upon the point of a spear. Then came the refresh- 
 ment, in the shape of rum, powder, and blood, which was quaffed 
 by the brutes till they reeled off, with linked hands, in a wild 
 dance around the pile of victims. As the women leaped and 
 sang, the men applauded and encouraged. Soon the ring was 
 broken, and with a yell each female leaped on the body of a 
 wounded prisoner, and commenced the final sacrifice with the 
 mockery of lascivious embraces. 
 
 " In my wanderings in African forests, I have often seen the 
 tiger pounce upon its prey, and, with instinctive thirst, satiate its 
 
9 
 
 appetite for blood, and abandon the drained corpse ; but these 
 African negresses were neither as decent nor as merciful as the 
 beast of the wilderness. Their malignant pleasure seemed to 
 consist in the invention of tortures that would agonize but not 
 slay. There was a devilish spell in the tragic scene that fasci- 
 nated my eyes to the spot. A slow, lingering, tormenting muti- 
 lation was practised on the living as well as on the dead, and in 
 every instance the brutality of the women exceeded that of the 
 men. I cannot picture the hellish joy with which they passed 
 from body to body, digging out eyes, wrenching off lips, tearing 
 the ears, and slicing the flesh from the quivering bones ; while 
 the queen of the harpies crept amid the butchery, gathering the 
 brains from each skull as a bonne bouche for the approaching 
 feast." (Ch. bri. p. 382-6.) 
 
 And lastly, I will give the opinion of an anti-slavery man, who 
 has served many years on the Coast of Africa : — " The African 
 has never reached, in fact, until the settlement of Liberia, a 
 higher rank than a king of Dahomey, or the inventor of the last 
 fashionable grisgris to prevent the devil from stealing sugar- 
 plums. No philosopher among them has caught sight of the 
 mysteries of nature ; no poet has illustrated heaven, or earth, or 
 the life of man; no statesman has done anything to enlighten or 
 brighten the links of human policy. In fact, if all that negroes 
 of all generations have ever done were to be obliterated from re- 
 collection for ever, the world would lose no great truth, no pro- 
 fitable art, no exemplary form of life. The loss of all that is African 
 would offer no memorable deduction from anything but the 
 earth's black catalogue of crimes. Africa is guilty of the slavery 
 nnder which she suffered ; for her people made it, as well as suf- 
 fered it." (''Africa, and the American Flag;' by Commander A. 
 H. Foote, U. S. Navy, 1854, p. 207.) 
 
 Having thus given the experience of eye-witnesses on the 
 barbarism of the negro, let us now see what some of the 
 deepest thinkers and most profound writers have to say. An 
 observation of Gibbon appears decisive on the subject : — " The 
 inaction of the negroes does not seem to be the effect either 
 of their virtue or of their pusillanimity. They indulge, like 
 the rest of mankind, their passions and appetites, and the ad- 
 jacent tribes are engaged in frequent acts of hostility. But. 
 their rude ignorance has never invented any effectual weapons ; 
 they appear incapable of forming any extensive plan of govern- 
 
10 
 
 ment or conquest, and the obvious inferiority of their mental 
 faculties has been discovered and abused by the nations of the 
 temperate zone." 
 
 The historian Alison says : — " It is impossible to arrive at 
 any other conclusion but that, in the qualities requisite to create 
 and perpetuate civilization, the African is decidedly inferior to 
 the European race ; and if any doubt could exist on this subject, 
 it would be removed by the subsequent history and present state 
 of the Haytian Republic." (Vol. ii. p. 251.) 
 
 Another writer, Professor Bledsoe, a distinguished American 
 philosopher, speaking of the present state of the African, says : — 
 " The native African could not be degraded. Of the 50,000,000 
 of inhabitants of the continent of Africa, it is estimated that 
 40,000,000 are slaves. The master has the power of life and 
 death ; and, in fact, his slaves are often fed, and killed, and 
 eaten, just as we do with oxen and sheep in this country. Nay, 
 the hind and fore quarters of men, women, and children, might 
 there be seen hung on the shambles, and exposed for sale ! 
 Their women are beasts of burden ; and when young, they are 
 regarded as a delicacy by the palate of their pampered masters. 
 A warrior will sometimes take a score of young females along 
 with him, in order to enrich his feasts, and regale his appetite. 
 As to his religion, it is even worse than his morals ; or rather, 
 his religion is a mass of disgusting immoralities. His notion of 
 a God, and the obscene acts by which that notion is worshipped, 
 are too shocking to be mentioned." (' Liberty and Slavery/ 
 p. 293.) 
 
 This survey of the manners and customs of the natives of 
 Africa would not be complete without allusion to the labours 
 of Livingstone, who has added so largely to our knowledge of 
 the interior of Africa; but his sentiments are undoubtedly 
 traceable to the peculiarity of his early training as a mis- 
 sionary ; and the influence of those amiable but one-sided men, 
 to whom he had to look for support, has warped his better 
 judgment. The following extract, however, from a review of 
 Livingstone's Recent Expedition, in the c Times ' of the 12th Ja- 
 nuary of this year, deals with the question in the proper spirit. 
 
 " This volume contains a minute estimate of the characteristics 
 of these different people, and of their capacity for improvement, 
 which, as might have been expected from the authors, is, in our 
 judgment,, somewhat too favourable. It may well be that a 
 
11 
 
 philanthropic observer has been able to find in these races ex- 
 pressions of thought, and even customs which, favourably inter- 
 preted, have something in common with a pure faith and a true 
 morality ; and we may believe that the savage virtues, implicit 
 obedience to a chief, a kind of simple devotion in conduct, a 
 tendency to respect superiors, generosity, and enduring patience, 
 appear among the natives of these countries. But, hitherto, 
 experience has shown how little fitted the Africans are to rise in 
 the scale of humanity, and this volume does not belie the con- 
 clusion. The tribes around the Zambesi and the Shire, whatever 
 fond enthusiasm may infer, are obviously in a state of barbarism, 
 and show hardly a sign of emerging from it. They roam over 
 one of the gardens of the earth, having never brought it to the 
 uses of man, or even made permanent settlements in it. They 
 are not nations in any sense, with orders, institutions, and go- 
 vernment, but mere flocks of aggregated families, under the 
 absolute sway of despotic chieftains. Hardly a trace of any of 
 the arts of life is to be seen in the rude and mean hamlets which 
 form their transitory habitations, and their arms, their dress, 
 and their implements of husbandry, are those of a low class of 
 savage. Their language, with some touches of fancy, is the rude 
 tongue of unreasoning sense ; and their religion, with some pos- 
 sible vestiges of traditions of an ennobling kind, is a mass of 
 strange and ignorant superstitions. Though not idolater, as it 
 would appear, their conception of a Supreme Being is essentially 
 that of all barbarians, an omnipotent and vindictive power, and 
 their dull credulity never seems to wander in thought to an 
 invisible world/ 5 
 
 The following remarks from Mr. M. Forster, many years an 
 M.P., are full of interest, as the practical experience of fifty 
 years. Mr. Forster informs me that all his efforts to introduce a 
 taste for agricultural industry have signally failed, " from the 
 want of labour and industry in a country where men are super- 
 abundant." He also says, " I have had a great many of the na- 
 tive children under my care in England for their education. 
 They learn to read and write, and acquire the other rudiments 
 of education with great quickness and facility, and have consi- 
 derable receptive, but no creative powers. It is not till they 
 grow up that you discover their natural deficiencies. 
 
 " They are capable of attachment, and make excellent servants 
 under strict discipline, but, left to themselves, they are heedless, 
 
12 
 
 yield easily to temptation, and are regardless of future conse- 
 quences ; their thoughts scarcely range beyond the present hour ; 
 at least, these are my impressions, after fifty years' experience 
 and observation of them. I long indulged sanguine hopes of 
 native agricultural industry, but time and experience have well- 
 nigh extinguished them. 
 
 " With respect to the religious conversion of the natives, I re- 
 gret to say that little real progress has been made, notwithstand- 
 ing the zealous and devoted labours of the missionaries. Within 
 the limits of the settlements the missionaries have little difficulty 
 in collecting nominal converts and followers, but the impression 
 is superficial, and they fail to make their way into the country. 
 The Christian religion, particularly in its sober Protestant form, 
 has little to excite the imagination and feelings of a barbarous 
 people, who fail to appreciate its sublime, religious, and moral 
 doctrines. 
 
 " I may add that I was in Parliament, and a Member of the 
 Committee that sat on this subject in 1842, and I have seen 
 little reason to change the opinions I then entertained, except 
 that my hope in the progress of native industry has since, I am 
 sorry to say, been rather impaired than strengthened by further 
 experience and the lapse of time. 
 
 " Speaking from my experience, I would say that they are the 
 worst enemies of the negroes who would give them liberty with- 
 out being prepared for it. The result of their sudden emancipa- 
 tion in the Southern States will be the extinction of the black 
 race there, at no distant period. 
 
 " Their extinction and sufferings have already begun, and will 
 proceed at an accelerated pace. The anti-slavery agitators will 
 soon discover their mistake. Even in the interest of the negro, 
 they have made a fatal blunder." (January, 1866.) 
 
 I will here introduce a few remarks on the republic of Liberia, 
 a colony, formed on the coast of Africa for liberated slaves, with 
 the twofold object of modifying the barbarism of the negro abo- 
 rigines, and giving the freed slave an opportunity of turning his 
 newly acquired liberty to practical account. 
 
 It is a most noteworthy fact that the idea of a colony having 
 such objects originated with the slaveholders of the United 
 States, and is a practical reproof to our various religious sects, 
 which loudly proclaim the doctrine that the virtue, morality, 
 and benevolence of all the world are centred in themselves. 
 
13 
 
 In 1816 the American Colonization Society was founded. It 
 was of Virginian birth, and was never, therefore, looked upon 
 with favour by the Abolitionists. 
 
 The first attempt to colonize was a failure, but in 1822 
 formal possession was taken of a tract of land thirty-six miles 
 long, by about two miles broad, off Cape Mesurado. 
 
 For some years the colony steadily increased, under the in- 
 fluence of practical philanthropy, and by the aid of missionaries 
 and schools. 
 
 In 1837 there were no less than four societies in America 
 alone, working out the problem of founding a home for liberated 
 slaves and free negroes on the coast of Africa, viz. : — 
 
 The American Colonization Society. 
 
 The New York Colonization Society. 
 
 The Pennsylvania Colonization Society. 
 
 The Maryland Colonization Society. 
 
 In 1839 the various settlements were consolidated under a 
 new constitution, one part of which was, " that no white man 
 should become a landholder in Liberia," and that " full rights of 
 citizenship should be enjoyed by coloured men alone." This 
 injudicious and narrow-minded step has proved a most serious 
 blow to the prosperity of the settlement. 
 
 In 1842, Roberts, an octoroon, was elected governor of the 
 commonwealth of Liberia. In 1847 a declaration of indepen- 
 dence was drawn up and proclaimed ; and on the 24th August, 
 1847, the flag of the Republic of Liberia was displayed. 
 
 England, France, Prussia, Belgium, and Brazils have acknow- 
 ledged the independence of this Republic. England presented 
 it with a man-of-war schooner, with armament and stores com- 
 plete, and English philanthropists vied with Americans in aiding 
 the infant nation, and, among other acts, added to it by purchase 
 the Gallinas territory. 
 
 By this acquisition, and that of the Cassa territory in May 1852, 
 Liberia practically extended its dominions from Cape Lahou, 
 eastward of Cape Palmas, to Sierra Leone, about 600 miles. 
 
 As regards the full usefulness which might have been expected 
 from the colonization of a portion of Africa by a higher type of 
 the same race, great disappointment has resulted, traceable, for 
 the most part, to the restrictions imposed by the colonists so 
 soon as they were allowed to declare themselves an independent 
 republic ; and in a less degree to the inherent repugnance of the 
 
14 
 
 negro to till the ground. At this moment, after forty-five years' 
 occupation, the account of land under cultivation is not worth 
 
 mentioning. 
 
 President Roberts was most energetic in rooting out the white 
 element. Thus Liberia cut the ground from under her feet, and I 
 regret to say the prosperity of the Republic has declined from the 
 moment of passing such unwise laws. This is only another proof 
 of the incapability of the negro to run alone, and nothing but the 
 presence of the mixed breeds prevents Liberia from degenerating 
 more rapidly than it does. 
 
 The plan of colonizing a part of the coast of Africa by im- 
 proved negroes is the only solution of the problem — how to 
 utilize the Africans ; and if the United States had retained 
 Liberia as a colony, administered by a vigorous white govern- 
 ment, it would have proved an untold benefit to the negro race, 
 and most profitable to the United States itself. 
 
 Slavery, with the cordial consent of North and South, might 
 have been allowed to die out, while an abundant supply of negro 
 apprentices, under wise and just laws, might have been supplied 
 through Liberian ports ; who, after giving, at fair wages, all the 
 aid possible, in a material shape, towards developing their masters' 
 property, and thus, of course, increasing the prosperity of the 
 nation, should, with all the education they were capable of grasp- 
 ing, and, with the fruits of their labour, have been sent back to 
 their native land, to set an example of something better than 
 practising fetish worship, grisgris, murder, rapine, and cannibal- 
 ism, now flourishing there in the rankest luxuriance. 
 
 Perhaps the most startling commentary on this part of my 
 subject, viz. the consideration of the negro on his own soil, will 
 be the news brought by the Royal Mail Steamer ' Athenian,' 
 on the 9th of January from the West Coast of Africa. 
 
 " Brass and New Calabar, Nov. 19, 1865. 
 " Natives of New Calabar made a raid on the Brass men, and 
 returned on the 23rd November with 37 prisoners. On the 24th 
 a great play was held in Calabar Town, and all the prisoners 
 were killed and eaten. The bodies were cut up, and divided 
 among the chiefs according to the numbers taken by each war- 
 canoe." 
 
 " Sierra Leone, Dec. 20- 
 " The native wars in the neighbourhood still continue. At 
 Mellicourie the two great native chiefs Malaghed Bailey and 
 
15 
 
 Bacarry are still fighting with varied success ; they have plun- 
 dered and burnt many factories, the property of British subjects. 
 Atrocities have been committed, vying with those which have 
 recently occurred at Jamaica. All persons captured" are at once 
 sold into slavery. No business was done at Sierra Leone." 
 
 "At Bathurst a war had broken out at Badahoo, and the 
 natives had threatened the lives of the white population at 
 Bathurst. Messages have been sent from some of the chiefs to 
 the effect that the town would be taken on the 25th December. 
 His Excellency, the Governor, and the merchants, had prepared 
 against any attempt that may be made. Business was at a' 
 standstill/'' 
 
 Here then we have the negro in his true colours, committing a 
 series of atrocities, and not, be it remembered, at a small isolated 
 spot on the great African continent, but at various places, 
 extending over 1800 miles. On the 24th November last, we 
 find him murdering his prisoners and devouring their dead 
 bodies at Calabar. 
 
 At the same time our pet colony, Sierra Leone, - * was wit- 
 nessing atrocities similar to those perpetrated at Jamaica, while 
 the factories of the English merchants were being burnt and 
 plundered. 
 
 Still further north, at Bathurst, the white population were 
 threatened with destruction on the 25th December. A most 
 curious coincidence, to say the least of it, and traceable probably 
 to Jamaica, when the interchange of black troops and frequent 
 communication are taken into account. 
 
 I think I have now said sufficient to show that the negro in 
 his own land, and under his own institutions, is little better than 
 a brute, — in mental power a child, in ferocity a tiger, in moral 
 degradation sunk to the lowest depths. 
 
 The kings or chiefs, invested with unbounded power, are only 
 exaggerated types of their subjects, and therefore it is fair to 
 infer that social slavery is the effect, not the cause, of this 
 degraded condition. 
 
 * Settled in 1787 ; its chief object the suppression of the slave-trade, 
 religious conversion, and civilization of the natives. 
 
16 
 
 PAET II. 
 IN THE NEW WORLD. 
 
 And thus having shown the condition of the negro in the land 
 of his birth, let us now review his status in those parts to which 
 he has been transplanted. In order to this I am here necessarily 
 obliged to touch upon the question of slavery. Slavery, in some 
 form or other,dates from the remotest antiquity; it flourished alike 
 under Pagans, J ews, and Christians. It was an institution under 
 the Egyptians, and was especially recognized by the Mosaic law, 
 while, at the beginning of the Christian era, in the city of Rome 
 as many as sixty thousand slaves were living. The serfdom of 
 Russia is a familiar instance in our day. 
 
 The ancient custom amongst civilized people of enslaving 
 each other must not be confounded with negro slavery; the 
 " institutions " are widely different. In the one case, men of 
 iron will and determination subjugated their less daring fellow- 
 countrymen, and by their aid made great strides in the civiliza- 
 tion of the world, when otherwise progress would have been at a 
 comparative standstill. In the other, a decidedly inferior race 
 was rescued from a state of barbarism scarcely human, and 
 compelled to take a useful position ; their right to continue idle 
 spectators of the toil of their fellow-creatures being contrary alike 
 to the laws of God and man. 
 
 Certain writers delight to attribute this subjugation to the in- 
 dulgence of rapacity and force. I differ from this assumption, 
 and take leave to express my belief, that it was rather the result 
 of a rude instinct, well adapted to the conditions of the society 
 in which the institutions respectively flourished. 
 
 The most casual observer will not fail to notice, that as edu- 
 
17 
 
 cation gained ground in any community, so men's minds be- 
 came enlarged, and they soon found out a means of progression 
 other than enslaving their equals in race. The custom there- 
 fore fell into desuetude, until at last it collapsed in the recent 
 abolition of serfdom in Russia, which, looking to the state of 
 advancement in that country compared with the rest of Europe, 
 is as striking an instance of the truth of my remarks as any I 
 could advance. 
 
 But, surely, no one can doubt that the institution of slavery 
 has played a very important part in the world's history, or that it 
 has materially aided the progress and advancement of mankind ; 
 it is simply falsifying all experience to stigmatize the institution 
 as an unmixed and monstrous evil. 
 
 When promiscuous slavery fell into disuse, negro slavery, 
 with which we have now to deal, came into operation. To my 
 mind, this marked a most important epoch in the history of the 
 human race. The practice of making slaves of the negroes arose, 
 doubtless, from two causes ; the first being the fact of its pre- 
 valence among themselves from time immemorial; the second, 
 that attention was most forcibly drawn to the aptitude of the 
 negro for slavery by the Spanish Wilberforce of three hundred 
 and sixty years ago : I mean, Las Casas. 
 
 The Portuguese first procured negroes chiefly from the Guinea 
 coast. As early as 1434 young negroes had been brought to 
 the south of Spain, and sold by one Antonio Gonzales; and thus 
 commenced a traffic, destined in its results to advance civiliza- 
 tion at a rate never previously anticipated, and to subdue the 
 American continent in one-tenth the time required by Europe 
 emerge from barbarism. 
 
 The importance of this trade being once recognized, the 
 Spaniards eagerly joined in the traffic. They were in fact the prime 
 movers in it. 
 
 In 1493 the New World was discovered ; and as early as the 
 beginning of the sixteenth century, the destruction of the abori- 
 ginal race, wherever the Spaniard planted his foot, began; the 
 disappearance of the races was so rapid, that Las Casas, taking 
 the kindliest interest in the Indian slaves, suggested the employ- 
 ment of negroes in their place. A piece of such singular incon- 
 sistency in a philanthropist could hardly be conceived, were not 
 the same peculiarities observable in the imitators of Las Casas 
 at the present day. 
 
 c 
 
18 
 
 To give some idea of the rapidity with which the Aborigines 
 disappeared, I may mention, for the benefit of anthropologists, 
 that at the commencement of the sixteenth century, in Hayti 
 alone, the deaths were at the rate of six thousand a year amongst 
 the Indian slaves. 
 
 It may be interesting to state that a remarkable decrease of 
 the Aborigines was going on when I was at the Sandwich Islands 
 in 1850, in spite of the number of missionaries established there ; 
 and I cannot refrain from recording my experience, in connec- 
 tion with the disappearing of one race before another, that it is 
 not entirely due to the vices of the stronger. A pretty long ac- 
 quaintance with various savage tribes has convinced me, that 
 though it is quite true that all men are erring, yet, in most 
 cases, it would be difficult to import more vice than is to be found 
 indigenous to the soil. 
 
 In ] 503 the first negroes crossed the Atlantic ; but Herrera, 
 the historian, tells us, that the traffic regularly began in 1510, 
 by order of the King of Spain. It soon became so general that 
 every Spaniard had his negro, who proved of the greatest assis- 
 tance in consolidating his master's career of conquest. 
 
 In 1530 the first insurrection of the blacks occurred in Vene- 
 zuela, and Herrera says their intention was to murder every 
 white man, While the women were to be apportioned to the 
 rebels. A certain Captain Santiago de Lassada, however, was 
 equal to the emergency, and, with a vigour similar to that of 
 Governor Eyre, stamped out the revolt. 
 
 In 1562, the English Government recognized the slave-trade, 
 when the invaluable qualities of the African, in developing new 
 colonies, became apparent; but it was not till 1616 that negroes 
 were imported into Virginia,, From that time the traffic became 
 general, and as regards its influence on the future destinies of 
 nations, perhaps, the most important ever undertaken. 
 
 About the middle of the eighteenth century, the slave-trade 
 had assumed gigantic proportions. It has been calculated that 
 up to the time of its abolition about twenty millions of negroes 
 had been deported from the African to the American continent, — 
 with how startling a result must be apparent to every thinking 
 mind. 
 
 It is impossible to resist the conclusion, which experience and 
 history tend to prove, that, the continuous movement of such 
 a vast body of mankind has been influenced by natural laws, 
 
19 
 
 that, the negro has filled the position for which he is fitted by- 
 nature, and, that, his services were brought into use when the 
 emergency arose necessitating his employment. 
 
 There is something grand, put it as you will, in thus con- 
 verting the most barbarous and useless population on the earth's 
 surface into active agents for good ; the refuse people of the old 
 world aiding in the subjugation of the new, — and all this in less 
 than three hundred years. 
 
 At present every habitable part of the New World is divided 
 amongst recognized owners ; there is therefore no opening for 
 any enterprising emigrants to snatch from nature large tracts of 
 land; consequently the necessity of perpetuating slavery as con- 
 stituted at present no longer exists, otherwise the eloquence of 
 any number of negrophilists would have been powerless to de- 
 stroy the institution. 
 
 The Bill introduced into our Parliament for the total abolition 
 of the slave-trade, on and after the 1st January, 1808, received 
 the royal assent on the 25th March, 1807, twenty years after 
 "VYilberforce first drew attention to the miseries endured by the 
 negroes on shipboard. But as a still further proof how gradu- 
 ally these movements come about, and that they are rather the 
 effect of natural laws than the result of any particular genius or 
 philanthropy in man, I may mention that the negrophilists of that 
 day do not seem to have considered it a duty to put an end to 
 slavery itself, which, according to common sense, would have been 
 the best process of destroying what they are now pleased to call 
 such a monstrous, unchristian, vile, and indelible stain. 
 
 So gradual was the development of feeling on this subject, 
 that the trade was not declared felony until 1811 ; nor piracy, 
 punishable by death, until 1824 ; moreover, it is notorious that 
 although the slave-trade even now can hardly be said to have 
 ceased, yet there is on record only a single instance of capital 
 punishment having been inflicted. This proves that the subject 
 was not one of general interest to the public ; in fact it has only 
 been kept alive by a certain set of agitators, for the sake of po- 
 litical capital ; and very cheaply have they obtained their noto- 
 riety, for I know of none of the acknowledged heads of the party 
 who have made themselves practically acquainted with the sub- 
 ject, either on the coast of Africa or the Vv'est Indies. If any of 
 them had, like Howard, gone through danger and hardship in the 
 cause, their opinions would have been entitled to respect ; but 
 
 c 2 
 
20 
 
 as such is not the case, it is to be hoped that the day is approach- 
 ing when the shallowness of such popularity-mongers will be 
 thoroughly appreciated by the rest of their countrymen. 
 
 In 1833 Lord Stanley, then Colonial Secretary, carried a Bill 
 to abolish slavery throughout the British possessions, and there- 
 upon slavery ceased to exist. 
 
 Other nations followed our example in putting an end to 
 the slave-trade ; but we cannot lay claim to originality in the 
 matter. Ten years before our Bill was passed, when the Spanish- 
 American colonies declared their independence, slavery was abo- 
 lished, and, in the case of Chili and Peru in particular, in a 
 manner we should have done well to imitate. 
 
 At the present moment, Negro slavery is confined to the 
 Spanish and Brazilian possessions. As regards the former, it 
 is announced that the liberation of the slaves will soon take 
 place. It appears that the first tears have been shed in Spain 
 for the negro; while Brazil will doubtless follow the example, 
 although, of all countries, she can least afford to be sentimental, 
 and I do not hesitate to say that the abolition of slavery amongst 
 the present generation of blacks would be full of danger to that 
 empire. 
 
 Having thus sketched the course of slavery down to our 
 own time, let us look at the present condition of those who 
 lived under this peculiar institution, after being for nearly 
 a generation in a state of absolute freedom. Although the 
 geographical range of negro slavery has been considerable, I 
 shall show that the negro has not changed his characteristics, 
 whether located under the cold of a northern climate, or the 
 heat of the tropics ; and, moreover, that while in slavery he was 
 incomparably better off' than he is as a freed man. 
 
 Slavery has flourished in Spanish America, the United States, 
 and the West Indies ; but of all countries, England has derived 
 the most benefit from it. The slave-trade may emphatically be 
 said to have laid the foundation of our commercial greatness ; 
 our cotton aristocracies have been raised upon it; while to it 
 Liverpool and Manchester mainly owe their prosperity. 
 
 Never has it fallen to the lot of any savages to enjoy so many 
 opportunities of elevating and improving themselves as the negro. 
 I shall not refer for proof of this to his long connection with 
 ancient civilization, but establish the fact by strictly modern in- 
 stances. 
 
21 
 
 Firstly y we have the case of the free blacks, in the Northern 
 States of America. There they have been settled many years 
 amongst a superior race, greatly exceeding them in numbers, 
 with no other check on their freedom than a feeling that they 
 are in a minority ; they are surrounded by educated and indus- 
 trious people, and have every encouragement to perseverance, 
 both by precept and example. 
 
 Secondly, we have before us a case of another nature in Hayti. 
 Here the black man, left to his own devices, is absolute as on 
 African soil, without the slightest foreign influence to affect him 
 in any way. Indeed, a white face is as rarely seen in Hayti as a 
 black in London, for the law denying citizenship on any terms 
 to the white man is strictly enforced. In short, the negro does 
 just as he likes, subject to no external control, good or bad. 
 
 Thirdly, we have to consider his position in the Spanish- 
 American Republics, and in our own possessions in the West 
 Indies, especially in the island of Jamaica. Here in particular 
 his freedom has been secured quite as much as in Hayti; not 
 only that, but he has been incorporated in the body politic on 
 terms of equality with the white man, and as the preponderance 
 of race is in the ratio of nearly forty to one in his favour, no 
 stretch of the imagination can suppose him overshadowed or held 
 in check. In short, the British negro is a citizen in every sense 
 of the word, — on terms of the most perfect equality with the 
 white race, enjoying every privilege which falls to the lot of any 
 other British subject. 
 
 In the three cases referred to above, I think we have examples 
 of every phase in which the negro could be placed, so as to test 
 conclusively his power of profiting by the lessons of civilization. 
 But I shall show that he has not been able to engraft himself on 
 a superior civilization, as in the United States ; that he lias not 
 been able to perpetuate the civilization left to him unconditionally, 
 as at Hayti • and, that he has not been able to acquire a civiliza- 
 tion, in spite of the preponderating numbers of his race and a 
 variety of favourable circumstances, as at Jamaica. 
 
 Let us first look at some facts in relation to the effect of 
 freedom on the negro. Official returns of the census in the 
 United States are especially valuable in this respect, as showing, 
 from experience, what may be expected in the future, with re- 
 gard to the millions of slaves lately emancipated; for no one 
 will deny that the negroes freed before the war have had a better 
 
22 
 
 chance of engrafting upon themselves some portion of the civili- 
 zation around them, than their brethren will have, who are just 
 now so suddenly set free. 
 
 The census of the United States for 1840, tells us — 
 1st. That the number of deaf and dumb, blind, idiots, and in- 
 sane, of the negroes, in the non-slaveholdmg States, is 1 out of 
 every 96; in the slaveholding States, it is 1 oat of every 672; 
 or 7 to 1 in favour of the slaves in this respect, as compared with 
 the free blacks. 
 
 2nd. That the number of whites, deaf and dumb, blind, idiots, 
 and insane, in the non-slaveholding States, is 1 in every 561 ; 
 being nearty 6 to 1 against the free blacks, in the same States. 
 
 3rd. That the number of negroes, who are deaf and dumb, 
 blind, idiots, and insane, paupers, and in prison, in the non-slave- 
 holding States, is 1 out of every 6 ; and in the slaveholding States, 
 1 out of every 154; or 22 to 1 against the free blacks, as com- 
 pared with the slaves. 
 
 4th. That taking the two extremes of north and south : — in 
 Maine, the number of negroes returned as deaf and dumb, blind, 
 insane, and idiots, by the census of 1840, is 1 out of every 12; 
 and in slaveholding Florida, by the same returns, is 1 of every 
 1105 ; or 92 to 1 in favour of the slaves of Florida, as compared 
 with the free blacks of Maine. 
 
 This evidence shows the inferiority of the negro, when re- 
 moved from control, not only to the white man, but even to his 
 fellows in slavery, and should convince negrophilists that their 
 efforts to elevate the negro will ever fail so long as they act upon 
 the unsound theory of equality of races. 
 
 The author of ' The Cotton Trade/ Mr. George McHenry, 
 page 258, says : — 
 
 " The writer of these pages was born, and has resided nearly 
 all his life, in Pennsylvania, where exists the largest community 
 of free negroes in the world, and he can testify to the gradual 
 decay in their health and morals, as slavery disappeared from the 
 neighbourhood. Neither the laws of the land, nor public socie- 
 ties for his benefit, prevent the African from degenerating. 
 
 " Nothing but the controlling influence of a master will keep 
 him from sinking to that barbarous condition which is his natural 
 state. Notwithstanding the attentions and care bestowed upon 
 them by the Quakers, the negroes congregate in certain districts of 
 Philadelphia, live in hovels, and behave in the most disreputable 
 manner." 
 
23 
 
 I must now say a few words with regard to Hayti, where the 
 negro has long enjoyed his freedom. Hayti, or " the land of 
 mountains/' was discovered by Columbus in 1492. The island 
 is 390 miles long, by about 100 broad, and contains about nine- 
 teen millions of acres, being nearly as large as Ireland. The first 
 European settlement in the New World was commenced on its 
 shores (at Cape Francis) on Christmas Day, 1492. 
 
 From an estimated population of one million at that time, the 
 Aborigines were reduced to 60,000 in 1507. In 1508 the first 
 impulse to agriculture was given by the introduction of the 
 sugar-cane by Pedro d'Atcnza. In 1511 only 14,000 Indians 
 survived. In 1660 the French obtained a footing on the island, 
 and for thirty years had great difficulty to maintain themselves 
 against the Spaniards, but at the peace of Hyswik Spain ceded 
 the western half to France. 
 
 For the next hundred years the French possessions pros- 
 pered wonderfully, and in 1790 the population amounted to 
 27,717 whites, 21,800 free men of colour, and 495,528 slaves; 
 total, 555,825 inhabitants under the French flag. On the Spanish 
 side matters had not progressed so favourably, and the popula- 
 tion never attained to one-half that of the French. 
 
 From the receipt of the news of the French Revolution this 
 prosperity began to decline. A scene of anarchy ensued, such as the 
 world had not seen before. The white republicans of France 
 fought against the white colonists, the black man against his 
 brother, and the mulatto against both. 
 
 No wonder that the 50,000 white and coloured men, fighting 
 frantically among themselves, fell an easy prey to the 500,000 
 slaves. The very vis inertics of the negroes was sufficient to secure 
 this end, and it is the greatest mistake to attribute their success 
 to heroism, ability, or even soldierly qualities. The fact is, that 
 rapine and murder were the order of the day, just as it is now on 
 the coast of Africa ; and by mere force of numbers, the blacks 
 exterminated the whites, so soon as the latter began to quarrel 
 amongst themselves. I will pass over the atrocities of St. Do- 
 mingo in 1791, with the remark of the historian Alison, that 
 " the cruelties exercised there exceed anything recorded in his- 
 tory. The negroes marched with spiked infants on their spears 
 instead of colours. They sawed asunder their male prisoners, 
 and violated the females on the dead bodies of their husbands." 
 (Vol. ii. p. 240.) 
 
24 
 
 From the time (November, 1803) the whites were driven into 
 the sea the island has been the prey to the most frightful 
 anarchy and confusion, folly and brutality, only paralleled, in 
 fact, by its own antecedents, and in the perpetration of which 
 both French and Spanish negroes, on their respective sides of 
 the island, vied with each other in performing such " fantastic 
 tricks" 
 
 " Before high heaven, as make the angelaweep." 
 On the eastern or Spanish side trade and commerce have long 
 ceased to exist ; and the ennobling attributes which characterize 
 the negro after sixty years of freedom, has just been exemplified 
 by the sale of his country to the Spanish government, and the 
 revolution which soon after drove the so-called invaders from 
 the country. 
 
 With regard to the French negroes, they have tried their hand 
 at Kings, Emperors, and Presidents, — again an Emperor and now 
 another President, — while at one time the French half itself was 
 divided, one section being a kingdom, the other a republic. 
 Revolution has followed revolution in rapid succession. But to 
 bring home to the mind the rapid decadence of the island under 
 the black regime, I may instance the state of property in the 
 island under the whites, and its present condition. 
 
 In 1789, the French portion of the island contained 793 sugar 
 plantations, 3117 coffee plantations, 789 cotton plantations, and 
 182 establishments for making rum, besides other minor fac- 
 tories and workshops. At the present time not a tenth part re- 
 mains, and such cultivation as there is hardly deserves the name ; 
 coffee, which requires little or no labour in cultivating, is now 
 almost the sole article of export. 
 
 In 1790 the exports were 151,481 tons of produce. 
 
 In 1820, the exports had fallen to 16,365 tons ! 
 
 In short, if it were not for the mulattoes still on the island, all 
 commerce would have long since ceased, and the few remaining 
 plots of reclaimed land become a forest once more. The ruin 
 of Hayti is simply a question of time, as the strict enforcement 
 of the law which declares, " no white man, whatever be his na- 
 tionality, shall be permitted to land on the Haytian territory 
 with the title of master or proprietor, nor shall he be able in 
 future to acquire there either real estate or the rights of a Hai- 
 tian," must sooner or later remove every trace of the only ele- 
 ment which now keeps its population a degree removed from 
 barbarism. 
 
25 
 
 Even between 1860 and 1865 I have noticed the rapid de- 
 generacy ; and as soon as the influence of the present civilization 
 expires, so soon will beautiful and fertile Hayti become of no 
 more use to the world than it was before its discovery by 
 Columbus. The aspect of civilization as it now exists there is 
 so ludicrous, that I should often have laughed outright at the 
 antics of the natives, had not the graver feeling of sorrow at 
 seeing such valuable resources so completely thrown away, checked 
 all thoughts of mirth. 
 
 To give some idea of the soldiers, I commend to your notice 
 the sketch which I sent from Jacmel last January ; it appeared 
 in the e Illustrated London News/ March 11, 1865. 
 
 It will be unnecessary to accumulate proofs of the degradation 
 of the Haytian ; late events in connection with the loss of H.M.S. 
 ( Bulldog/ in October last, at Cape Haytien, prove what a 
 pandemonium exists on the island. I shall therefore only quote 
 from a couple of eye-witnesses, — the most impartial, I believe, 
 whom I could select out of numerous authorities, viz. Mr. Walsh, 
 and Lord Eustace Cecil. 
 
 Robert M. Walsh, Esq., of Pennsylvania, a commissioner from 
 the United States to Hayti, wrote as follows to Mr. Webster, 
 while Secretary of State : — 
 
 " I trust you will pardon me, if I sometimes wander from the 
 serious tone appropriate to a despatch ; but it is difficult to pre- 
 serve one's gravity with so absurd a caricature of civilization 
 before one's eyes, as is here exhibited in every shape. 
 
 " Nothing saves these people from being infinitely ridiculous^ 
 but the circumstance of their being often supremely disgusting, 
 by their fearful atrocities. The change from a ludicrous farce 
 to a bloody tragedy, is here as frequent as it is terrible ; and the 
 smiles which the former irresistibly provoke, can only be re- 
 pressed by the sickening sensations occasioned by the latter. 
 
 " It is a conviction which has been forced upon me by what 
 I have learned here, that negroes only cease to be children when 
 they degenerate into savages. As long as they happen to be in 
 a genial mood, it is the rattle and the straw by which they are 
 tickled and pleased ; and when their passions are once aroused, 
 the most potent weapons of subjugation can alone prevent the 
 most horrible evils. 
 
 " A residence here, however brief, must cause the most de- 
 termined philanthropist to entertain serious doubts of the 
 
26 
 
 possibility of their ever attaining the full stature of intellectual 
 and civilized manhood, unless some miraculous interposition is 
 vouchsafed in their behalf. 
 
 " In proportion as the recollections and traditions of the old 
 colonial civilizations are fading away, and the imitative propen- 
 sity, which is so strong a characteristic of the African, is losing 
 its opportunities of exercise, the black inhabitants of Hayti are 
 reverting to the primitive state from which they were elevated 
 by contact with the whites, — a race whose innate superiority 
 would seem to be abundantly proved, by the mere fact, that it 
 is approaching the goal of mental progress, while the other has 
 scarcely made a step in advance of the position in which it was 
 originally placed. 
 
 " It is among the mulattoes alone, as a general rule, that in- 
 telligence and education are to be found ; but they are neither 
 sufficiently numerous, nor virtuous, nor enlightened, to do more 
 than diminish the rapidity of the nation's descent, and every day 
 accelerates the inevitable consequence, by lessening their in- 
 fluence and strength. 
 
 " In short, the combination of evil and destructive elements 
 is such, that the ultimate regeneration of the Haytians seems 
 to me to be the wildest of Utopian dreams. Dismal as this pic- 
 ture may appear, its colouring is not exaggerated. It is as faith- 
 ful a representation as I can sketch of the general aspect of this 
 miserable country, — a country where God has done everything to 
 make his creature happy, and where the creature is doing every- 
 thing to mar the work of God." 
 
 Lord Eustace Cecil, in his article on Hayti, tells us that " the 
 history of few countries presents such an interminable series of 
 revolutions, usurpations, and anarchy, as that of Hayti, in the 
 short period that it has existed as an independent nation." 
 
 Speaking of the negroes, he adds : — 
 
 "Providence has indeed tempered the wind to the shorn lamb 
 by giving them few wants, fruitful soil, and a government which 
 allows those not drawn by the conscription, unrestricted permis- 
 sion c to do nothing/ What more could even a discontented 
 negro wish for ? So long as he can lie quictty in the sun, side by 
 side with his pig on a dungheap, his earthly paradise is attained. 
 
 " Take off the general's cocked-hat and epaulets, give him a 
 hoe, and set him to work in a plantation, and the Maroon negro is 
 perceptible at once. Tear away the lace and gilding, and you 
 
27 
 
 have the grinning savage. Whet his appetite with a little blood, 
 and Haytian history tells us that he will kill, mutilate, and tor- 
 ture in a fashion that would be worthy of his African ancestors. 
 Dessalines and Christophe excelled even Nero and Domitian in 
 wholesale cruelty/' 
 
 According to Lord Eustace, the state of finance is verging on 
 bankruptcy. The Haytian greenback, once worth 4s. 2d., being 
 now worth only 2%d., thanks to the black party, headed by the 
 " Emperor Soulouque," " Dukes of Marmalade," and (< Counts 
 of Petits Pois." 
 
 Lord Eustace concludes his article in the following terms : — 
 "What more favourable circumstances could the abolitionist 
 wish for to prove his theory of the black man's capacity for self- 
 government ? And what as yet has been the result of the ex- 
 periment ? Put political considerations entirely aside, and let 
 us merely consider whether the material interests or individual 
 self-improvement of the nation at large, have in the slightest 
 degree progressed. A moment's reflection will convince us to 
 the contrary." 
 
 " Slowly and surely will the conviction gain ground, the truth 
 of which has more than once forced itself on men's minds, that 
 moderate subordination to the white man is essential to the 
 happiness of the negro, if he is to become a useful and indus- 
 trious member of the society in which he lives." (' Impressions 
 of Life at Home and Abroad/ pp. 19 to 75, 1864.) 
 
 With regard to the negro population of the Spanish American 
 republics, I am able to speak from a lengthened experience, having 
 spent many years in those countries, in close contact with the 
 people, on the coast as a naval officer, and in the interior as a 
 traveller ; and perhaps I shall startle ethnologists when I assert 
 that no true Creole negro any longer exists between Cape Horn 
 and the Mexican empire, although his vices are fully represented 
 by his mixed descendants. 
 
 The outward parent characteristics have been more or less ob- 
 literated by admixture with the Latin and other races living in 
 those parts of the great American continent at the time freedom 
 was conferred upon the slaves. 
 
 In South America, — Chili and Buenos Ayres, for example, — a 
 native negro is unknown. In Bolivia, Peru, and Ecuador the 
 race is largely intermixed with Indian blood (although still bear- 
 ing the strongly-marked features of the negro), and enjoying an 
 unenviable notoriety as robbers and murderers. 
 
28 
 
 At Lima, Captain Lambert, R.N., was robbed and murdered 
 by these people; Mr. Sulivan, our minister, lost his life; and the 
 late Admiral Sir Henry Bruce, when Commander-in-chief in the 
 Pacific, was stopped in uniform, close to the city, and robbed by 
 a gigantic black native. He was accompanied by his daughter 
 and flag-lieutenant ; unfortunately, both himself and the latter 
 were unarmed. However, it may as well be mentioned that their 
 assailant did not long enjoy the impunity offered to crime by the 
 Government of his country, for, making a similar attempt soon 
 after, he was killed on the spot by his intended victim, an Irish- 
 man, who happened to have an axe in his hand, unseen by the 
 ruffian. 
 
 I mention these incidents, out of numberless cases, to show the 
 reckless depravity which the present race have inherited with 
 their blood, and which is in such marked contrast to the peace- 
 able and orderly conduct of the Indian population surrounding 
 them. 
 
 In Central America, at New Granada, the Mosquito coast, and 
 British Honduras, the negroes approach much nearer to the pure 
 type than can be found in South America, as their numbers 
 are being constantly recruited from the West Indian Islands, 
 either for mahogany-cutting or transit purposes. With regard 
 to the negro of Panama, I can only say that a more turbulent, 
 vicious, insolent, and lazy miscreant does not exist on the face 
 of the earth. 
 
 In Costa Rica and Nicaragua I have seen but one native 
 negro, and only a few instances of people with perceptible 
 African blood in their veins. The same is the case in San Sal- 
 vador, Guatemala, and Honduras, except on the Atlantic coast 
 of the two latter Republics, where, owing to the migrations from 
 the West India islands, alluded to before, the stock has been 
 more or less preserved. 
 
 The Spanish- American colonists have held the negro in slavery 
 from the time of Columbus to within the last forty years, and 
 therefore a lengthened experience of his character will not be 
 denied to them. Their feeling on this matter will be best un- 
 derstood by the facts of their unanimous rejection of the late 
 President Lincoln's attempt to introduce freed negroes as set- 
 tlers on their territory ; and subsequently (and I mention this 
 to show how deliberate and confirmed is the feeling) by the 
 attempt to insert in a concession for a transit across Central 
 
29 
 
 America, between the Atlantic and Pacific, which I have just ob- 
 tained from Congress, a clause to the following effect, viz. that 
 no negro could become a citizen of the Republic, nor hold 
 real estate on any pretence whatever. Such a clause, however 
 sensible in some respects, would have had an injurious effect 
 upon my enterprise in more ways than one, and therefore, after 
 considerable discussion, it was erased ; but the incident serves to 
 show the sentiments of a republican Congress, with regard to 
 the worth of the negro as a citizen, and is valuable as proving 
 the unanimity of practical men, of whatever nationality, on this 
 subject. 
 
 We have now to consider the condition of the negro in the 
 West Indies. These islands offer a wide range for comparison, 
 and ample means for proving that the negro, in his small way, is 
 more civilized, and altogether better, where a controlling influence 
 is exercised — at Barbadoes for example ; yet I shall take it for 
 granted that this is well understood by all who do not wilfully 
 shut their eyes to the truth. 
 
 It will be sufficient therefore, for my present purpose, to de- 
 scribe that negro elysium, the island of Jamaica, in order to 
 show that the negro is a negro still, theories to the contrary 
 notwithstanding. 
 
 Jamaica, or the "Land of Streams," is nearly 150 miles in 
 length, by an average of 40 in breadth, and contains 2,750,000 
 acres of land. The country is beautifully picturesque, and the 
 view from some of the hills compares favourably, in my opinion, 
 with the lovely Vega of Granada, as seen from the Alhambra. 
 The eastern end of the island is mountainous, and in many places 
 thickly covered with forest. The western is more level, and 
 here the only railroad has-been built (1845), — the Kingston and 
 Spanish Town. 
 
 Jamaica was settled by the Spaniards in 1510, and remained 
 in their possession about one hundred and fifty years. On its 
 capture, 3rd May, 1655, by Admiral Penn and General Venables, 
 there were only 1500 Spaniards and Portuguese and the same 
 number of negroes and mulattoes on the island ; not a trace of 
 the Aborigines could be found. I commend this fact to the ne- 
 grophilists, who declaim about the atrocities of the "Aboriginal 
 Maroons" little thinking that they are talking of a race identical 
 with that which they have petted into insurrection. 
 
 The Maroons, whose name is a corruption of the Spanish 
 
30 
 
 Cimarones — wild men ; are simply runaway slaves from Cuba and 
 Jamaica itself : negroes, in point of fact, neither more nor less ; 
 settled on land assigned to them in 1738. 
 
 The case of these Maroons is another instance of how little the 
 possession of mere freedom can affect the civilization of a savage 
 people. They have been free since the English took possession 
 of the island, and what is now their condition ? Have they in 
 any one sense become useful members of the community ? Every 
 one knows they have not. They roam, half naked, in the woods, 
 and make their women do every sort of drudgery. 
 
 The Constitution of Jamaica is modelled upon that of the 
 mother-country. The Queen is represented by the Governor ; 
 the House of Lords, by a Council of Twelve appointed by the 
 Sovereign ; the House of Commons, by an Assembly, consisting 
 of forty-five members — two for each of the twenty-one parishes, 
 and one for each of the three towns, Spanish Town, Kingston, and 
 Port Royal. 
 
 The franchise is based on a £6 freehold, and is therefore open 
 to every one. All appointments are made without reference to 
 colour. The whites and blacks are governed by the same laws. 
 
 So much has been written about the Jamaica negro, both for 
 and against him, up to the period of emancipation in 1833, and 
 the sudden termination of the apprenticeship system in 1838, 
 that it will be needless to give any detailed description prior to 
 that period. 
 
 I will merely remark, that in early days the prosperity of 
 Jamaica, in a purely commercial sense, was considerable; and 
 to give an idea of the capacity of the island for agriculture alone, 
 I may mention that, besides a large annual amount of other 
 produce, in 1797, 7,869,1381bs. of ginger was exported; in 1805, 
 150,352 hogsheads of sugar; in 1814, 34,045,585 lbs. of coffee; 
 in 1832, 19,815,010 lbs. pimento. 
 
 At the present time sugar has fallen off to 30,000 hogsheads ; 
 coffee, to 8,000,000 lbs. ; pimento the same ; while of ginger only 
 650,000 lbs. have been raised. 
 
 For the last thirty years the attention cf the general public 
 has been but little attracted to Jamaica affairs ; the insurrection 
 in 1832 brought the island into as much notice at that time, as 
 the present one has now; but during the intervening thirty- 
 four years the negrophilists have had it all to themselves, and 
 every opportunity has been afforded them of proving practically 
 
31 
 
 the soundness or otherwise of the views, they have so loudly 
 proclaimed, viz. that the absolute liberty, and the eirjoymcnt of all 
 the rights and privileges of British subjects, by the negro, would 
 prove his equality with the white man, beyond question or cavil. 
 
 Nowhere could a better field have offered itself to try the 
 experiment, than in Jamaica, the most important possession of 
 the British Crown in the West Indies, with ample territory, a 
 fertile soil, and a large population. Let us examine the result. 
 
 And first I would say a few words in reference to my personal 
 experience at Jamaica. 
 
 The most striking peculiarity is the abandoned profligacy of 
 the coloured races. Port Royal and Kingston, in this respect, 
 are sinks of iniquity. Religion struck me as being at a very 
 low ebb everywhere. I remember in 18G0 that the bishop was 
 compelled to reject the entire class assembled for confirmation at 
 Manchioneal. The native Baptist revivals and prayer-meetings, 
 if they had not excited in me a feeling of deep sorrow at the de- 
 pravity and hypocrisy which marked the proceedings, would have 
 been simply ludicrous, the screaming and chattering being more 
 characteristic of a meeting of monkeys than like an assemblage 
 of men and women, and 1 am not surprised at the evident 
 anxiety of the leading Baptists in this country to disclaim any 
 spiritual connection with their black pupils in Jamaica. In 
 short, the unchecked depravity of the negro crops out on every 
 side, details of which would be quite unfit for publication, and 
 which must be seen to be believed. 
 
 Of the sloth of the negro there is unfortunately but too abun- 
 dant evidence, in the desolation of whole districts containing the 
 richest lands, and in abandoned estates with their costly works 
 in ruins, and not a sign of human industry as far as the eye can 
 reach ; but if that is not considered proof sufficient, the condi- 
 tion of the poor women will illustrate better than anything else 
 the injurious effect of unlimited freedom on men utterly unfit 
 to appreciate its value. All the hard labour in the fields falls 
 upon the women, and a sketch sent by me to the e Illustrated 
 London News/ November 25, 1865, page 512, ' Coaling a Royal 
 Mail Steam Packet at Kingston, Jamaica/ will show that the 
 custom is not confined to the plantations, but extends to the 
 hardest kind of labour in the towns, and points out more clearly 
 than any words of mine the degraded position of the negress 
 and the disgraceful sloth of her lord and master. I commend 
 
32 
 
 this sketch to the notice of the would-be friends of the "black 
 race at Jamaica. 
 
 Dr. Underhill has put himself forward as an authority on this 
 subject, and has thought proper to suggest what ought to be done, 
 it will therefore be the best plan to examine how far his opinions 
 are correct. 
 
 In 1859-60, Dr. Underhill and the Rev. Mr. Brown visited 
 Jamaica as a deputation from the Baptist Missionary Society. 
 Their tour was a wonderful instance of Anglo-Saxon energy and 
 perseverance, taking the heat of the climate into consideration. 
 During four months they travelled all over the island, holding 
 about eighty meetings. 
 
 Now as the negroes were fully informed of Dr. Underbill's 
 expected appearance, they attended each meeting in great num- 
 bers, dressed in their best, and many of the men well-mounted. 
 Those who arranged this programme could as safely count upon 
 a great concourse of excitable negroes, who would naturally flock 
 to see the Baptist minister from England, as their brethren in 
 England could count upon filling Exeter Hall by the sensational 
 placard announcing eight miles of dead bodies in Jamaica. In 
 fact, during Dr. Underbill's stay, it was quite a series of sight- 
 seeing for the negroes ; and that all things appeared couleur de 
 7'ose to him, is proved by the following estimate of their wealth 
 in his ' West Indies/ p. 421 : — 
 
 £. s. d. 
 
 65,000 houses of furniture at £16 . . 1,040,000 0 0 
 
 354,575 acres of land at 30s 531,862 10 0 
 
 Clothes for 65,000 families at £4 each . 260,000 0 0 
 Stock on freeholds at £3 each family . 195,000 0 0 
 5000 sugar-mills at £10 each .... 50,000 0 0 
 Funds in savings-banks 49,399 0 0 
 
 Grand total . £2,126,261 10 0 
 
 Such an estimate could no doubt be made by the most con- 
 scientious man, after seeing crowds of well-mounted negroes 
 and well-dressed negresses, collected every day to hear and see 
 him, and boasting, as is their wont, of the amount each one pos- 
 sessed in lands and money ; but the estimate is as deceptive as 
 the appearances upon which it is based. 
 
 I have never seen a negro hut worth £16, in any part of the 
 island. Generally it is of the very rudest description. Again, 
 
33 
 
 land at 30s. per acre ! why, half that amount would be considered 
 by many a proprietor a perfect godsend for the purchase of his 
 estate.* 
 
 The clothes, no doubt, average £4< per family ; for finery in dress 
 is a passion with the negro, and both men and women make it 
 their first consideration to appear on high-days and holidays in 
 gorgeous apparel. 
 
 Stock I should divide by half, and then it would be above the 
 average. As to the sugar-mills, they are of the rudest descrip- 
 tion, mere presses, and would not yield an average of £2> each. 
 
 The amount in the savings-banks, I doubt; for negroes, as 
 a rule, do not adopt the system; but supposing Dr. UnderhilFs 
 estimate to be correct, how can the theory of the late deep dis- 
 tress and crime arising from poverty, with such a large fund to 
 draw upon, be sustained ? The truth is, that such amounts as 
 were deposited increased rather than diminished, during the 
 drought. How then can he say, " All accounts, both public and 
 private, concur in affirming the alarming increase of crime, 
 chiefly of larceny and petty theft. This arises from the extreme 
 poverty of the people " ? 
 
 Besides, it must be remembered, that while Dr. Underhill 
 met with nothing but flattery from the negroes, and while the 
 
 * " 5, Lime Street Square, London, LJ.C, Dec. 26th t 1865. 
 
 " Sir, — It has occurred to me that as none of the wealthy members of the 
 Anti- Slavery Society (Mr. Alexander, Mr. Buxton, Mr. Gurney, and 
 others) own an acre of land in Jamaica, or have one shilling depending on 
 the prosperity of the island, they might like to take a more practical in- 
 terest in its welfare, and make an investment in the soil by purchasing 
 the estate of which I send you a plan. It consists, you will observe, of 
 more than 1000 acres of land, which are situated close to the sea ; it is 
 well watered, has sugar-works, and a very fair house on it. For this pro- 
 perty, together with nearly 100 head of stock on it, I am willing to take 
 £2500. There are a great many small negro freeholders residing in the 
 immediate neighbourhood, and altogether I should think it would be an 
 admirable locality for the practical development of the Anti- Slavery So- 
 ciety's philanthropic views. I may add that the title I can give is unex- 
 ceptionable, it having been bought some time ago under the provisions of 
 the Encumbered Estates Act. May I ask you to return me the plan 
 should none of the gentlemen connected with the Society be inclined to 
 entertain my proposition ? "I am, etc., 
 
 " (Signed) W. B. Watson. 
 
 " L. A. Chamerovzow, Esq." 
 
 i) 
 
34 
 
 dark side of their character was carefully kept from view, he pro- 
 bably had no opportunity of hearing the other side of the ques- 
 tion, by mixing with the higher classes. It so happens, that 
 I was at Jamaica while Dr. Underhill was there, and I am 
 sorry to say that many excellent friends of mine, most liberal- 
 minded men in other respects, were prejudiced enough to inform 
 me, that they cordially agreed with Mr. Anthony Trollope in 
 " hating Baptists like poison," and would as soon think of ad- 
 mitting them to social intercourse as of allowing their black 
 servants to sit at table with them ; because they constantly opened 
 the old sore, and revived the antagonism of the races on every 
 occasion. The opinion has been expressed to me a hundred 
 times, that, what with the Assembly and the Baptists,* the 
 island was doomed. 
 
 The deduction I draw from what has now been said is, that 
 the negro in a state of freedom continues powerless to advance 
 himself in civilization, and that he is most improvable when 
 under moderate control. It is no longer expedient to make a 
 slave of him ; he has performed his part in the world's history 
 in that capacity ; and even as he superseded a weaker system of 
 labour, the slavery of the ancients, so Watt and Stephenson 
 have surely and for ever emancipated him by the introduction 
 of an agency more powerful still. 
 
 He has no right, however, and civilized man has no right to 
 allow him, to pass his existence without in any way contributing 
 to the advancement of mankind. 
 
 I believe that a sy stem of hiring labour for five years from 
 the coast of Africa, would not only be advantageous to the em- 
 ployers, but would be a boon to the labourer himself, and would, 
 in due course, humanize his fellow r - countrymen at home; it 
 
 * This dislike and distrust of the Baptists is not sectarian, because 
 other religious sects are loved and admired by the whites. " The Mo- 
 ravians sent out a mission to the West Indies in 1732, and in 1787 they 
 had ministers in Antigua, St. Kitts, Barbadoes, and Jamaica, as well as in 
 Surinam and the Danish Islands. These humble and zealous men, with 
 the very limited means at their command, have been deservedly suc- 
 cessful ; the simplicity of their manners, and the equal simplicity of the 
 tenets they inculcated, being eminently fitted to impress the hearts of an 
 uncivilized people with feelings of kindness and brotherly love, without 
 exciting those frightful horrors, the primary object of their Baptist suc- 
 cessors, and which, grafted on African superstition, cannot fail, sooner or 
 later, to produce lamentable results." (' Slavery in the West Indies.') 
 
35 
 
 should be made compulsory, perhaps, at the expiration of the term, 
 to return the negro to the place he had left. In every other re- 
 spect the business should be conducted on the broadest principles 
 of free-trade. This plan is nothing new ; it answers well with 
 the Krumen on the coast, and the Seedeys of India ; indeed, 
 at present, the available supply exceeds the demand. 
 
 I make bold to say that 50,000,000 of blacks have not been 
 placed on this magnificent globe of ours for no purpose ; it is 
 therefore our duty, by wise legislation, to utilize this large mass 
 of human beings. They must be dealt with from no sentimental 
 standpoint, but from a knowledge of their nature and character- 
 istics, discarding at once the theory of equality. We do not admit 
 equality even amongst our own race, as is proved by the state of 
 the franchise at this hour in England ! and to suppose that 
 two alien races can compose a political unity is simply ridicu- 
 lous. One section must govern the other. 
 
 I cannot see any hardship to the negro in deferring the claims 
 of the negrophilists for equality on the part of their idol, until 
 he has done what every man amongst us is obliged to do, viz. 
 prove his title before he is admitted into fellowship. 
 
 In concluding, I would remark, that what I have said on this 
 vexed question is the practical conviction of twenty-five years' 
 experience of the negro in all parts of the world. I have com- 
 manded negroes in Her Majesty's Service. I have had negroes 
 in my private employment, in a country where I had but to lift 
 my finger to have them punished as I liked; and I have controlled 
 them where the law was in their own hands. From negroes I 
 have exacted hard labour, such as would be thought considerable 
 anywhere ; but not at the expense of affecting equality with them. 
 It has been entirely by an opposite course that I have succeeded 
 in making eminently useful and warmly attached to me, many 
 individuals of a race which, I believe, by a like course, and it 
 only, can be trained to obedience and industry, and thus become 
 useful members of society. 
 
 At this point Captain Pirn paused, and observed that the re- 
 maining portion of his paper referred exclusively to the recent 
 insurrection of negroes in Jamaica, and he asked the President 
 
 d 2 
 
36 
 
 to take the sense of the meeting whether he should proceed with 
 it or not. 
 
 The President observed that the paper had been referred — as 
 was customary with papers read before their Society — to referees, 
 to determine whether it was suitable to be read, and they had 
 reported that portions of it were not strictly anthropological. 
 The Council had carefully considered the subject, but were 
 divided in opinion, and under those circumstances it had been 
 decided to leave it to the meeting to determine whether they 
 wished to hear the remarks of Captain Pim on the subject of the 
 insurrection in Jamaica. He would therefore take a show of 
 hands on the question. (On a show of hands, it was found that, 
 with the exception of one person, the meeting was unanimous 
 that the rest of the paper should be read.) 
 
37 
 
 PAET III. 
 JAMAICA. 
 
 I now come to the consideration of some of the facts in con- 
 nection with the late insurrection at Jamaica. The story is so 
 familiar that it is not necessary to go much into details. I 
 shall merely, therefore, touch upon those points which seem to 
 me to require some explanation, and which have been so much 
 misunderstood by those who, when urging upon the Government 
 the suspension of Governor Eyre, added their pious hope that it 
 would be " by the neck." 
 
 And first, with respect to Governor Eyre's despatch; for 
 that document contains the clue to all the subsequent outcry. 
 His Excellency does not hesitate to attribute the blame to Dr. 
 Underhill and the Baptists. Whether he is right or not, one 
 thing is certain, that this charge has caused the present excite- 
 ment on the subject; for it is clear that the colonists themselves, 
 who ought to be the best judges, admire the energy and vigour 
 with which Governor Eyre acted, and approve the measures he 
 took, as the following recent testimony from Jamaica will 
 show : — 
 
 The ' Colonial Standard ' says : — <c The intelligence by this 
 mail is well calculated to excite the surprise and sorrow, and to 
 arouse the deepest apprehensions of the colonists. Yielding to 
 the ferocious clamours of the anti-slavery party in England, her 
 Majesty's ministers have thought fit to supersede Mr. Eyre, and 
 to place him before the Jamaica rebels in the humiliating posi- 
 tion of a suspected criminal awaiting trial. It is useless to dis- 
 guise the fact, that this proceeding will have a very dangerous 
 effect on the minds of the disaffected people of this island. Al- 
 ready the people have imbibed the notion that the Governor is to 
 be tried and hanged for murder, especially the murder of George 
 
38 
 
 William Gordon; and those who know the negro character will 
 understand that it will be impossible hereafter to make them be- 
 lieve the contrary. Mr. Eyre is virtually in disgrace by the very 
 nature of the position in which he is placed, and so far, at all 
 events, he is punished already through a prejudgment of his case 
 by parties who start off, in their demands for justice against him, 
 by asserting that he punished the rebels without a fair trial. 
 
 " Every one knows that we have been determined opponents 
 of Mr. Eyre's, administration, and that we have over and over 
 urged his recall on the British Government. We opposed him, 
 however, on correct principles. He did not, in our opinion, by 
 his acts exhibit the peculiar qualities necessary in the ruler of a 
 free country. Under any other circumstances we could rejoice 
 at his removal, as a triumph to the opinions we have always 
 conscientiously advocated ; but common gratitude for the sincere 
 and efficient manner in which he put down the rebellion, and 
 sympathy against the injustice which is done to him in return, 
 no less than a deep apprehension of the probable effect of the 
 proceeding on the minds of beings, so well known to us as the 
 negroes, force us to denounce the treatment he has received as 
 unwarranted by justice or prudence. 
 
 " The appointment of Sir Henry, as it will be seen, virtually 
 supersedes our present highly popular and beloved commander of 
 the forces, Major-General O'Connor, C.B., ad interim it may be; 
 but such a circumstance will, we are certain, find no favour in 
 the country among any class of persons. It is felt by all that 
 Maj or- General O'Connor, instead of the slight which he experi- 
 ences from her Majesty's Government in deference to the ene- 
 mies of this island, ought to have, on the contrary, received the 
 highest approbation of the sovereign, to which his late services 
 in this island have pre-eminently entitled him. 
 
 " Exeter Hall having carried the day, it is hardly of any use 
 to Avaste words in disputing against the vile calumnies which the 
 votaries of the faith preached there have heaped upon the upper 
 classes and the authorities of this country. Every man of judg- 
 ment will take assertions coming from such a quarter for what 
 they are worth. We must make allowance for human infirmi- 
 ties, and we cannot expect that whilst even sincere philanthro- 
 pists are never able to see more than one side of any subject, the 
 negro-maniacs of Exeter Hall would be free from the same fault. 
 Muller found people to doubt his guilt;, and no commission, 
 
39 
 
 no proof, will ever convince the maniacs in question that the 
 negro can be wrong, or the white man right. But the British 
 people are about to be brought face to face with the negro through 
 the investigations about to take place, and a spirit of inquiry has 
 been aroused in England and elsewhere, which will surely lead 
 to such knowledge as will enable a true estimate of the negro 
 character to be formed. Both the planter and the negro may 
 then hope for justice from a better-informed public opinion in 
 reference to them than previously existed. We shall simply 
 confine ourselves to noticing certain matters that have come out 
 since the sailing of the last packet." 
 
 I have now to make a few remarks on Dr. UnderhuTs notori- 
 ous letter. But I shall only refer to the part where these words 
 occur : " I shall say nothing of the course taken by the Jamaica 
 Legislature," (and then consistently enough) " of their abortive 
 immigration bills, of their unjust taxation of the coloured popula- 
 tion, of their refusal of just tribunals, of their denial of political 
 rights to the emancipated negroes." 
 
 Such words are harmless enough when uttered in this country ; 
 but their effect is very different upon excitable negroes, strong in 
 a preponderance of forty to one over the whites. 
 
 It has been said, why publish such a firebrand ? This question 
 is easily answered. It was the safest course, taking measures 
 at the same time for the public safety. Had no notice been 
 taken of the letter, the Baptist missionaries would doubtless 
 have published it themselves, and possibly in an aggravated 
 form. We have a case in point in the manifesto sent to the 
 Maories the other clay by the " Aborigines Protection Society," 
 which New Zealand colonists, who certainly ought to under- 
 stand the natives, declare has been the means of prolonging the 
 war, with a cost of many valuable lives to both sides. 
 
 The next point to which I would draw attention is the fact 
 that the insurrection which took place at Morant Bay, on the 
 11th, had been brewing in that vicinity since the 7th, and was 
 not therefore the outburst of a sudden indignant appeal for jus- 
 tice. The proofs are abundant ; and when to this is added, as 
 the Governor tells us, that he had been compelled some months 
 prior to the outbreak to send vessels of war to various parts of 
 the islaDcl to overawe disaffection, it is quite clear that the 
 occurrences we so much deplore at Morant Bay can be designated 
 by no other name than rebellion. Nobody on the island 
 
40 
 
 doubted, and no one at home on calm reflection can doubt, that 
 the Governor had to deal with a rebellion as serious as its three 
 predecessors, and not a mere riot. Paul Bogle regularly mar- 
 shalled his forces, administering a fearful oath to his followers 
 and to the police, sent to make certain arrests, but whom he 
 made prisoners as early as the 9th October. On the 11th, before 
 proceeding to the Court House, the police station was sacked, 
 and the arms secured ; and finally, the rebels commenced the 
 attack themselves, the volunteers with wonderful forbearance 
 desisting from firing until it became a question of life and death. 
 There can, therefore, be no doubt that the outbreak was the 
 premature commencement of a rebellion, and that the slightest 
 hesitation on the part of the Governor would have been a fatal 
 mistake. 
 
 The proclamation of martial law became an absolute necessity : 
 no sane man would have dreamt of hesitating : and it was not 
 proclaimed a minute too soon. The clamour, therefore, which 
 has arisen can only result from ignorance of martial law and the 
 inevitable results, viz. the horrors of war intensified by civil com- 
 motion, which the insurgents clearly brought on themselves ; I 
 have had some little experience in these matters, and I will en- 
 deavour to explain in what manner martial law and courts martial 
 are understood by naval and military men. 
 
 I observe that my countrymen generally confound martial law 
 with courts martial; but there cannot be a greater mistake. 
 The latter is the law applied to the trial of naval and military 
 men who voluntarily make themselves amenable to it, by the 
 act of joining the respective services. It is written law based on 
 the Articles of War and the Mutiny Acts, and also on " the cus- 
 tom of the service," to use the technical term. 
 
 Martial law, on the contrary, is, in fact, the absence of law. 
 The Duke of Wellington's definition is clear, and like everything 
 that has emanated from that great man, to the purpose. 
 
 "Martial law," he says, "is neither more nor less than the 
 will of the general who commands the army : in fact, martial 
 law means no law at all; therefore the general who declares 
 martial law, and commands that it should be carried into execu- 
 tion, is bound to lay down the rules, regulations, and limits, 
 according to which his will is to be carried out." 
 
 There is no doubt that Government has the power of proclaim- 
 ing martial law, to meet an attack against law and order. 
 
41 
 
 Much stress has been laid on the lengthened continuance of 
 martial law at Jamaica, but it must be borne in mind that the 
 whites were out-numbered forty to one, and that a long time was 
 required to ensure the safety of the country, because the moun- 
 tains, forests, and impassable rivers afforded shelter to the rebels, 
 who could, while the slightest organization remained, at any time 
 renew their attempt at rebellion, as in 1760. 
 
 As a case in point, and one which has been strangely overlooked, 
 the following proclamation of Paul Bogle's was found, dated the 
 day after the Governor considered the insurrection at an end. 
 For that is the interpretation put upon his despatch ; but His 
 Excellency evidently meant, crushed out in the districts under 
 his eye; and he no doubt felt the keenest anxiety to prevent its 
 making head in the woods by the severe and necessary measures 
 he adopted. 
 
 Subjoined is a copy of the document found by Lieut. Oxley : — 
 
 "Morant Bay, Oct. 17. 
 
 " Mr. Graham and other Gentlemen, — It is time for us to help 
 ourselves skin for skin. The iron bar is now broken in this 
 parish. The white people send a proclamation to the Governor 
 to make war against us, which we all must put our shoulder to 
 the wheels and pull together. The Maroons sent the proclama- 
 tion to meet them at Hayfield at once without delay — that they 
 will put us in the way how to act. Every one of you must leave 
 your house — take your guns; who don't have guns, take cut- 
 lasses. Down at once ! Come over to Stony Gut, that we 
 might march over to meet the Maroons at once without delay. 
 Blow your shells ! roule your drums ! house to house ; take out 
 every man ; march them down to Stony Gut ; any that you find, 
 take them in the way ; take them down with their arms ; war is 
 at my black skin ; war is at hand from to-day till to-morrow. 
 Every black man must turn out at once, for the oppression is too 
 great. The white people are now cleaning up their guns for us, 
 which we must prepare to meet them too. Cheer, men ! Cheer 
 in heart ; we looking for you a part of the night or before day- 
 break. — We are, yours truly, 
 
 " (Signed) Paul Bogle, J. G. M'Laren, 
 B. Clarke, P. Cameron. 
 
 " Get a bearer to send us an answer to this, for they determine 
 
42 
 
 to make us slaves again. When you do come to Stony Gut or 
 Hay field, blow your shells, and tell what place you in from before 
 entered. "E. K. Bailey." 
 
 I may mention another fact not generally known, that a few 
 hours' delay in appealing to the Maroons, and inducing them to 
 join the white men, would have resulted in their going over in 
 a body to the rebels, who were only too anxious to obtain their 
 co-operation, as this proclamation shows. Moreover, to show 
 how insecure was the peace of the island when the Governor 
 wrote his despatch, and, therefore, how necessary it was to con- 
 tinue martial law, a plot was discovered on the 17th, to seize 
 the town (Morant). The instigator, E. K. Bailey, a black man, 
 one of Her Majesty's volunteers, a sergeant of St. Thomas's-in- 
 the-East Company, wrote to Paul Bogle on the 17th, telling him 
 that only a few blue-jackets were left, and that it could be easily 
 taken. 
 
 A strong force started for Morant Bay on the 18th, at two a.m., 
 for Stony Gut, to attack the place ; but Bogle and his men had 
 left, and the place was entirely abandoned. Bogle's proclamation, 
 however, was found, dated the day before (17th) by Lieut. C. L. 
 Oxley, H.M.S. Wolverine. 
 
 Another point on which I shall no doubt be expected to say 
 a few words, is the trial and execution of G. W. Gordon. 
 
 Governor Eyre was compelled to arrest this man, not merely 
 from the conviction forced on his own mind that he was deeply 
 implicated as the prime mover of the revolt, but from the unani- 
 mous opinion of his guilt ; and when his Excellency returned to 
 Kingston from Morant Bay, his surprise was great that G. W. 
 Gordon had not already been arrested ; but as soon as he saw, 
 by the admission of those around him, General O'Connor, Dr. 
 Bowerbank, and others, that it had been put off from fear of an 
 outbreak at Kingston, the Governor gave another proof of his 
 courage and determination, by ordering the arrest to be made at 
 once. 
 
 That the Kingston authorities had good ground for their appre- 
 hensions, is proved by the fact that the troopers had to draw 
 pistols while surrounding the carriage containing the prisoner, 
 driven as fast as possible, so as not to allow a population — 
 insolent and lawless as any in the world — time to organize a 
 rescue. 
 
43 
 
 The removal of Mr. Gordon from Kingston to St. ThomasV 
 in-the-East, was in strict accordance with the laws of the land ; 
 and, moreover, General O'Connor expressly says that he had not 
 a soldier to preserve the peace, and which could not have been 
 maintained had the trial taken place at Kingston; and it is hard 
 to see what other step the Governor could have taken under 
 the circumstance. The unanimity of all classes, black and 
 white, in pointing to Mr. Gordon as the real instigator of the 
 rebellion, is, to say the least of it, most telling against him. 
 
 And now with respect to the court-martial by which he was 
 tried. I may mention that of the two courts sitting for the 
 trial of prisoners, one composed of three militia officers, the 
 other of two naval officers and an ensign in the army, the latter 
 was selected ; first, because it Avas composed of officers of higher 
 rank ; and secondly, because the impartiality of its members 
 could be relied on ; officers of the island militia, of course know- 
 ing Mr. Gordon well, and holding strong opinions against him. 
 
 Various remarks have been made about midshipmen and boys 
 trying prisoners. I will just remark, en passant, that a commander 
 in the navy ranks with a lieutenant-colonel in the army ; a lieu- 
 tenant, eight years, with a major j a junior lieutenant, with a 
 captain in the army; so that the trial took place before officers 
 of sufficiently high rank ; and as regards their youth, I may 
 state that the average age was twenty- eight. 
 
 I am sure that the officers of the court were most solemnly 
 impressed with their responsibility ; and that had there been a 
 shadow of a doubt as to his guilt, Gordon would not have been 
 executed ; he was listened to patiently in defence for two hours, 
 and courts martial, as I can personally testify, are not usually 
 famous for spinning out trials. 
 
 In respect to Mr. Gordon himself, I will say very few words. 
 There is, of course, a strong and proper feeling amongst gentle- 
 men against unveiling the errors and delinquencies ©f a man who 
 has gone to account before another Tribunal, but I may remark 
 that the letter of Mr. Gordon to Mr. Chanierovzow, which that 
 gentleman read at Exeter Hall, roundly abusing Mr. Eyre in 
 sufficiently coarse terms, and asserting that he obtained a piano 
 with his ill-gotten wealth, and the following extracts from his 
 speeches in the Assembly, will give some idea of the lengths to 
 which this Baptist demagogue could go in exciting his ignorant 
 hearers, and the falsehoods he was capable of uttering. 
 
44 
 
 A few passages will suffice. " Per se" as the lion, member 
 for St. Catherine said, "the people would be quite right to 
 break out into open rebellion. If an illegality is permitted in 
 the Governor, an illegality may be permitted on the part of the 
 people. ... I have never seen an animal more voracious for 
 cruelty and power than the present Governor of Jamaica. . . . 
 If we are to be governed by such a Governor much longer, the 
 people will have to fly to arms and become self-governing." 
 
 At the trial, Mr. Gordon, in cross-questioning a witness, 
 uses these words, " Are you aware that I have been correspond- 
 ing with Paul Bogle for years ? " and again, in his defence, dis- 
 tinctly states, that " Paul Bogle is certainly my political friend." 
 Yet in his letter to his wife, written, it is said, one hour before 
 his execution, he distinctly asserts, " I knew nothing of the man 
 Bogle." There are only two ways of accounting for this incon- 
 sistency : either a pious fraud has been perpetrated in the pub- 
 lication of that letter, or instead of being a type of the martyr 
 St. Stephen, Mr. Gordon ought, perhaps, to be classed with men 
 like Miiller. There are, however, instances in history where 
 letters of a similar character have been written just before execu- 
 tion. He had thirty-six hours at least for preparation, and was 
 not therefore hurried to execution, as will be seen by reference 
 to the date of sentence, delivered in the presence of the prisoner, 
 on Saturday, October 21, the evening of the day of trial : — 
 
 "The Court, having heard the prisoner's defence, also the 
 witness he called in his defence, consider the charges proved 
 most fully, and do therefore adjudge the prisoner, George 
 William Gordon, to be hung by the neck until he be dead, at 
 what time and place the Brigadier-General may direct. 
 
 " H. Brand, President, Lieutenant, Boyal Navy. 
 
 "Morant Bay, Oct. 21, 1865." 
 
 "Approved and confirmed. 
 
 " Moreover, I fully concur in the sentence awarded, such being 
 fully borne out by the evidence. 
 
 " The prisoner to be hung on Monday next, the 23rd of October, 
 1865 ; to-morrow, the 22nd, being Sunday, and the state of this 
 part of the country not rendering it necessary to inflict the 
 punishment on the Sabbath-day. 
 
 " A. A. Nelson, Brigadier-General, 
 
 " Commanding Field Forces. 
 
 "Morant Bay, Oct. 21, 1865, 8 p.m." 
 
45 
 
 Great stress has been laid on the conduct of the officers en- 
 gaged in quelling the rebellion : this arises from the inability of 
 people at home to understand the excitement of men engaged in 
 peculiarly hazardous and trying service. Groping about the bush 
 after armed rebels, requires more nerve than to go through a 
 pitched battle ; but people at home cannot realize this, and be- 
 cause no lives were lost, think the service child's play. A mere 
 handful of whites amongst thousands of disaffected blacks, is not 
 child's play. 
 
 I will take the case of Colonel Hobbs, for example. 
 
 Colonel Hobbs, of the 6th Royals, an enthusiastic soldier, and 
 a man of sterling piety, a living example of an officer and a 
 Christian, has been pronounced " a ruffian;" the privates of his 
 regiment, and the experience of his officers, alike testify that he 
 is incapable of an unkind or hasty word, or ungenerous action ; 
 and that such summary justice as he inflicted, resulted from the 
 desperate nature of the situation. The case of " Paul Bogle's 
 valet" has been extensively used against this much-maligned 
 officer, under the impression that the valet was a mere lad of 
 tender age, who denounced everybody, in mortal terror of his own 
 life : the truth is, he was a married man with two children. 
 The term ' boy ' is a common expression in the West Indies for 
 even old men. 
 
 So far from carrying out his duty in a bloodthirsty spirit, 
 Colonel Hobbs actually prayed with the culprits himself when 
 the services of a minister of religion could not be procured. 
 
 I have now only to say a few words in relation to the part the 
 Government at home has taken in this matter. 
 
 Governor Eyre will be the greatest sufferer ; on his devoted 
 head will descend all the wrath of Exeter Hall and its followers ; 
 and although he will doubtless come out of the furnace un- 
 scathed in reputation, yet the anxiety and trouble he is now en- 
 during must make him an old man before his time. Little did 
 he think, when the news of Lord Palmerston's death reached 
 Jamaica, that he, of all men, would soon have bitter cause to 
 regret the loss of a statesman who never turned his back on a 
 loyal and dutiful public servant. 
 
 To the thinking Englishman and true lover of his country, a 
 lesson has been taught of no small import, — by a withdrawal of 
 the curtain which usually shuts out from public view the weak- 
 nesses, follies, and vacillations of official routine. 
 
46 
 
 In the conduct of Jamaica affairs we have laid ourselves 
 open to the sneers of both Europeans and Americans, and no one 
 can foresee what mischief may accrue to us from the exhibition 
 lately witnessed in high quarters. 
 
 In reply to Governor Eyre's report, a despatch is sent approv- 
 ing his conduct, but before that approval reaches its destination, 
 orders are forwarded to suspend him. Deputations wait on 
 Ministers, and scenes of " rowdyism," to say the least of it, are 
 permitted, such as would not be tolerated in the weakest re- 
 public. 
 
 If walls have ears, how they must have tingled at the brow- 
 beating and coarse wit inflicted on a Cabinet Minister, especially 
 if the said walls could remember the scene in the same place, so 
 graphically described in the f Moruing Star 3 in the following 
 words : — " In the early part of 1830, as we have heard the story, 
 a deputation of Reformers waited upon the Duke of Wellington. 
 They came to represent to him the imperative necessity of some 
 move on the part of the Ministry to satisfy the public demand. 
 Unless this be done, e we cannot/ said the spokesman, c answer 
 for the preservation of peace.' f And pray, Sir/ said the grim 
 old soldier, c who asked you to answer for it ? We/ he added, 
 with a grimly significant smile, ( can answer for it ourselves.' 
 The astonished deputation were for abandoning the conference 
 thus sharply interrupted. As they were moving to the door, 
 silent and angered, the Duke recalled them. ( Gentlemen/ he 
 said — and perhaps they expected some conciliatory observation — 
 c you have your heads on your shoulders now — have the wisdom 
 to keep them there/ " 
 
 The day is, perhaps, gone by for a similar display of vigour 
 on the part of Ministers ; but surely the people of this mighty 
 nation, foremost in the world, have a right to expect dignity 
 and self-respect in their chiefs, and consistency in their Govern- 
 ment, even if that Government has not the ability to understand 
 how hazardous it is to vacillate with savages, and what a death- 
 blow it is to that confidence in Governmental support which 
 should animate naval, military, and civil chiefs, serving their 
 country in responsible positions abroad. 
 
 There have been no less than four serious and ten minor in- 
 surrections in Jamaica in about a hundred years; one in 1760, 
 another in 1795, the third in 1832, and the most memorable 
 in October last. To show that they all have a similar com- 
 
47 
 
 plexion, I subjoin the following account of a negro rising in 
 Jamaica 105 years ago, and which will he read with interest at 
 the present juncture. It is extracted from Smollett's history : — 
 "While the British commanders exerted themselves by sea 
 and land with the most laudable spirit of vigilance and courage 
 against the foreign adversaries of their country, the colonists of 
 Jamaica ran the most imminent hazard of being extirpated by a 
 domestic enemy. The negro slaves of that island, grown inso- 
 lent in the contemplation of their own formidable numbers, or 
 by observing the supine indolence of their masters, or stimulated 
 by that appetite for liberty so natural to the mind of man, began, 
 in the course of the year, to entertain thoughts of shaking off 
 the yoke by means of a general insurrection. Assemblies were 
 held, and plans resolved for this purpose. At length they con- 
 certed a scheme for rising in arms all at once in different parts 
 of the island, in order to massacre all the white men, and take 
 possession of the Government. They agreed that this design 
 should be put into execution immediately after the departure of 
 the fleet for Europe, but their plan was defeated by their igno- 
 rance and impatience. Those of the conspirators that belonged 
 to Captain Forest's estate, being impelled by the fumes of in- 
 toxication, fell suddenly upon the overseer while he sat at supper 
 with some friends, and butchered the whole company. Being 
 immediately joined by some of their confederates, they attacked 
 the neighbouring plantations, where they repeated the same bar- 
 barities, and seizing all the arms and ammunition that fell in 
 their way, began to grow formidable to the colony. The Governor 
 no sooner received intimation of this disturbance, than he, by 
 proclamation, subjected the colonists to martial law. All other 
 business was interrupted, and every man took to his arms. 
 The regular troops, joined by the troop of Militia, and a con- 
 siderable number of volunteers, marched from Spanish Town 
 to St. Mary's, where the insurrection began, and skirmished 
 with the insurgents ; but, as they declined standing any regular 
 engagement, and trusted chiefly to bush fighting, the Governor 
 employed against them the free blacks, commonly known by the 
 name of the wild negroes, now peaceably settled under the pro- 
 tection of the Government. These auxiliaries, in consideration 
 of a price set upon the heads of the rebels, attacked them in 
 their own way, slew them by surprise until their strength was 
 broken, and numbers made away with themselves in despair,, so 
 
48 
 
 that the insurrection was supposed to be quelled about the be- 
 ginning of May, but in June it broke out again with redoubled 
 fury, and the rebels were reinforced to a very considerable number. 
 The regular troops and the Militia formed a camp, under the 
 command of Colonel Spragge, who sent out detachments against 
 the negroes, a great number of whom were killed and some 
 taken, but the rest, instead of submitting, took shelter in the 
 woods and mountains. The prisoners, being tried and found 
 guilty of rebellion, were put to death by a variety of tortures. 
 Some were hanged, some beheaded, some burned, and some fixed 
 alive upon gibbets. 
 
 " The expense of putting down this rebellion was £100,000. 
 
 "The revolt of the Maroons in 1795 was not finally extin- 
 guished until 1796. 
 
 "That of 1832 (exclusive of the value of property destroyed, 
 viz. £1,154,583) cost £161,596, and Parliament was compelled 
 to grant a loan of £500,000 to assist the almost ruined planters. 
 About two hundred were killed in the field, and about five hun- 
 dred executed."* 
 
 At present, £25,000 will cover the outlay of Governor Eyre ; 
 but it will be hard to count the cost in blood and treasure, if 
 his Excellency's suspension gives the rebels heart of grace to 
 break out again as they did in 1760. 
 
 When we reflect that Jamaica, with a fine climate and a soil 
 sufficiently rich, and fertile to sustain with ease three millions 
 of inhabitants, is yet dependent upon imports of provisions for 
 the support of its population, scarcely numbering half a million, 
 the slightest reflection will convince the most confirmed negro- 
 philist, that the day has arrived when legislation, with regard 
 to the labouring population, can be no longer delayed. The 
 negro must be made to work ; he has been, I am sorry to say, 
 encouraged to look upon liberty as licence, and thirty years of 
 such teaching has vastly prejudiced his advance in civilization, 
 and at the same time ruined his country. 
 
 It is my deliberate opinion, 1st, that the widespread discontent 
 amongst the negroes had its birth in the granting unlimited free- 
 dom and equality to them before they were taught to understand 
 the responsibilities attached to such privileges. 
 
 2nd, that the imagination of the negroes has been inflamed by 
 
 * Martin's ' Statistics of the British Colonies.' 
 
49 
 
 the sojourn amongst them of the Haytian* refugees — a black em- 
 peror, dukes, counts, generals, and colonels, who kept up quite 
 an excitement by the expenditure of their ill-gotten wealth, — 
 naturally making each negro aspire to similar honours. 
 
 And, lastly, that this feeling was, however unwittingly, fo- 
 mented and increased by those persons who, instead of teaching 
 peace and goodwill towards men ; encouraging industry ; and 
 inculcating obedience to law and morality, excited by inflamma- 
 tory harangues this most excitable people. 
 
 The crisis that has arisen, will, it is to be hoped, induce us to 
 go to the very bottom of this black question, and institute a 
 careful scrutiny into the merits of the case. 
 
 All practical men are united in the belief that the first step 
 to remedy those evils under which Jamaica groans, is the aboli- 
 tion of the Assembly and constituting the island a Crown Colony. 
 After this primary step, I would suggest that certain laws should 
 be enacted, with special reference to the blacks, — a Vagrant Act, 
 for example, — the sole punishment, banishment. 
 
 If the negro is idle and debauched, he should be sent out of 
 the country ; those who are disposed to work should be hired by 
 contract, for a given term ; breach of contract on either side 
 severely punishable ; no penitentiary or prisons as a premium to 
 negro sloth, but the one punishment — banishment. 
 
 I may be asked, how about the cost ? I reply, it would be con- 
 siderably under the present expense of supporting vice in prison. 
 Hayti, which is within sight of J amaica, should be selected as 
 the locality for the future residence of those negroes to whom 
 the new regulations in Jamaica might prove distasteful. 
 
 * The people of Jamaica have a dreadful warning before them in the 
 fate of Hayti. Compare the proceedings of les Amis des Noirs, " the 
 friends of the blacks " of 1788, with those of the professional philanthropists 
 of the present day, and say in what they differ. Is the danger of pro- 
 pagating theories of liberty and equality, less because it is done under the 
 cloak of religion? I will not enter on a recital of the horrid massacres to 
 which the mania of the pretended philanthropists of that age gave birth, 
 and which were only such as may with certainty be expected when igno- 
 rant savages are instigated to insurrection, and are able to overwhelm 
 those in authority over them. But the very sight of that fine island in 
 its present state, is sufficient to overpower the mind with the most melan- 
 choly reflections. And to think that by the interference of persons who 
 have never seen Jamaica, and have no knowledge of the sum of human 
 happiness they are endangering, it may soon become as desolate as Hayti, 
 is most painful to contemplate. 
 
 E 
 
50 
 
 The laws of Hayti exclude the whites from any rights what- 
 ever, but the country is open to a black man ; who becomes a 
 citizen at once ; and I have no doubt that the Jamaica blacks 
 leaving their country for their country's good; at a cost of os. per 
 head, would be received with open arms by their Haytian brethren. 
 At all events, it is not too much to exact this small return from 
 Hayti. Some well-considered plan of firmly governing the blacks 
 must be at once adopted, or the whites will shortly, in self-pre- 
 servation, be compelled to abandon Jamaica. 
 
 I expect the latter alternative, because the principles on which 
 alien and dissimilar races ought to be governed, is not yet under- 
 stood by our rulers. 
 
 J amaica is not the only proof of this : the state of St. Vincent, 
 Antigua, New Zealand, the Cape of Good Hope, to say nothing 
 of India, attests that "how to govern alien races" has yet to be 
 learnt. 
 
 Let us take the negro as we find him, as God designed him, 
 not a white man, nor the equal of a white man. u That he can 
 exist in a community of Anglo-Saxons on terms of political and 
 social equality, is both physically and morally impossible."* 
 
 It is astounding to hear those who have never been out of their 
 own country, vehemently laying down the law, in opposition to 
 men who have spent great part of their time in obtaining know- 
 ledge and experience in official, professional, or commercial life 
 in the colonies. 
 
 That popular periodical, ' Fun/ has lately given an analysis of 
 those gentlemen who have undertaken to legislate for Jamaica, — 
 a China merchant, a dissenting minister, a blind man, a street 
 preacher, and an amiable brew r er, — but even such a combination 
 as this will fail. 
 
 Who, then, will discover the true art of governing alien races ? 
 I answer, the statesman, who makes anthropological science his 
 study, and the basis of his efforts for improving the condition of 
 mankind. 
 
 * " The White Republican " of ' Eraser's Magazine,' [the editor of the 
 ' Cosmopolitan.'] 
 
51 
 
 The President then proposed that the thanks of the meeting 
 be given to Captain Pirn for his paper, which proposition was 
 carried unanimously, and with loud cheers. He said it had been 
 left to him, as President of the Society, to decide whether the 
 latter part of the paper should be read, and he thought it best 
 to submit the question to the meeting. They had decided that 
 it should be, and had expressed their satisfaction with the paper 
 altogether. Every one must now be anxious for a full and fair 
 discussion; but he desired to remind those who intended to 
 speak, that it should be done with temper and fairness, and that 
 the Society were only anxious to arrive at the truth. He begged 
 to introduce a gentleman who had resided in Jamaica for the 
 last thirty years, and he called on him to address the meeting in 
 the first instance. 
 
 Mr. Aria rose and said : — I appear before you, Mr. Chairman 
 and Gentlemen, with great diffidence,, being a perfect stranger, 
 but feel somewhat reassured in speaking on Jamaica matters, 
 from my long residence there, and intimate acquaintance with 
 most of the victims of the Morant Bay massacre, as well as 
 from experience of the affairs of the colony, gained during my 
 residence there of thirty years. You will permit me to preface 
 my remarks by observing, that during that long period I never 
 mixed in the local politics of the place, and hence claim to be 
 an impartial witness of their effect on the people at large. At 
 the meetings organized in Kingston, respecting the slave-trade 
 off the coast of Cuba, I took part in the proceedings, and in 
 1864 I was the bearer of a memorial, signed for the meeting by 
 his Lordship the Bishop of Kingston, to the Parliament, and 
 that memorial was presented to the House of Lords by the 
 venerable Lord Brougham. I preface my remarks with this 
 statement, to show that I have endeavoured, with others, to 
 promote measures tending to benefit the blacks, and I claim to 
 stand before you to speak of them without the slightest preju- 
 dice of colour. 
 
 The island of Jamaica is about 160 miles long, by 40 to 50 
 miles broad, and is divided into three counties, subdivided into 
 parishes, each presided over by a Gustos Rotulorum — an officer 
 somewhat similar in position to the lords-lieutenant of English 
 counties. When Dr. UnderhnTs letter was sent to Governor 
 Eyre, he naturally referred it to the custodes and magistrates of 
 the several districts, and reported to the Colonial Office the 
 result of their information. In a similar way, during the pas 
 year, the Governor obtained advices that there was great disaf- 
 
52 
 
 fection amongst the negroes. In the month of August, at the 
 requisition of Mr. Custos Salmon, two gunboats were sent to 
 Montego Bay to keep the ill-disposed in check. All this was 
 duly reported to the Colonial Office. Let us now see what the 
 Ministry here did in consequence. Why, they took no notice 
 whatever of the Governor's reports ; and although fully aware 
 of the dangerous position of the handful of whites in the colony, 
 nothing was done to strengthen the garrison ; on the contrary, 
 the white troops were gradually withdrawn, and the occasional 
 visit of a gunboat was the only naval force under orders of the 
 Commodore at Port Royal. 
 
 Now you have heard every person connected with Jamaica 
 complain bitterly of the House of Assembly, and of its influence 
 for evil amongst the negroes. One of the chief causes may be 
 cited in the character of its debates, and the incendiary language 
 indulged in by men like Gordon. You will find in the ' Times ' 
 of to-day, several extracts from a letter of the Rev. J. RadclifFe 
 (the highly respected and accomplished Presbyterian minister of 
 Kingston) in proof of this ; the style of alluding to the relative 
 relation of the 360,000 blacks, 00,000 coloured, and 12,000 
 whites, and the threats of rebellion, and of driving the latter into 
 the sea, were indulged in, in presence of a mob of negroes — spec- 
 tators at the bar of the House. In Jamaica, the public have free 
 admission to these debates, and I remember being present when 
 one of these inflammatory speeches was loudly cheered by the 
 mob, to whom, in fact, it was addressed. Harangues of this kind 
 to Fenians or Chartists, or if adopted here by your Brights, 
 Underbills, Chamerovzows, etc., fall harmless in the face of the 
 majesty of the law and the force of public opinion ; the Execu- 
 tive has ever at command the means of crushing any emeute. 
 But, my friends, consider the difference in Jamaica : the Govern- 
 ment there had not a half-regiment of regular troops, nor a 
 single ship of war, to use at the emergency ; hence, you may 
 judge of the need for the greatest promptitude and energy, to 
 quell the revolt and to prevent it spreading in the other parishes ; 
 hence the necessity for martial law, and the strongest measures 
 of repression. 
 
 People in Jamaica, assuredly the best judges of the gravity of 
 the situation, cannot comprehend why the great English people 
 allow themselves to be led by a small section, hailing from Exeter 
 Hall, who, for party purposes, have published garbled statements, 
 and have attacked the Governor and authorities in the foulest 
 language. Is this the fair play to be expected of Englishmen ? 
 Doubtless the opinions expressed by Messrs. Buxton, Potter, 
 Bright, Underhill, and others, are entitled to consideration ; are 
 we not to expect the like of the statements and opinions of the men 
 on the spot, — x\dmiral Hope, Sir Leopold M'Clintock, Colonel 
 
53 
 
 Whitfield, and many other distinguished men ? Mr. Buxton, in 
 a letter to the ' Standard/ on the 27th ult., says : — " No doubt 
 Governor Eyre deserves credit for the promptitude with which 
 he suppressed the insurrection ; in such an ' emergency ' people 
 sitting at case at home must not criticize matters too closely," 
 etc. 
 
 Now, I complain that Mr. Buxton will not act in the spirit of 
 this paragraph, and maintain a reticent course pending the re- 
 port of the Commission; but, on the contrary, endeavours to 
 mislead the public with misstatements, and condemns the mili- 
 tary authorities, of whose proceedings he is by no means a com- 
 petent judge. Mr. Buxton disclaims all connection with the 
 violent anti-slavery negrophilists ; but he does more mischief in 
 asserting '"'the Governor had two regiments of regular troops, 
 the Buff's from Barbadoes, and a battalion of black troops came 
 from Nassau." He knew quite well these were sent for after the 
 outbreak, and that none arrived in Jamaica until it was quelled. 
 He also speaks of the insurrection being confined to a single 
 spot, at the east end of the island ; full well knowing that the re- 
 volt spread immediately from Morant Bay, on the east, to An- 
 notto Bay, on the north, a circumference of over forty miles. 
 
 With relation to G. W. Gordon, it appears to be the feeling 
 of every person of respectability and position in the island, that 
 his speeches and proclamations were the prime cause of the fear- 
 ful events we have to deplore. What right had he to tell the 
 negroes the Governor was a bad man, the magistrates unjust 
 and tyrannical ; that the planters employed Coolies to their pre- 
 judice, and paid them double wages, whilst they — the negroes — 
 starved; that they ought to have £12 each given to them, and 
 that they should do as in Hayti (where the blacks and coloured 
 united to destroy the whites, and ultimately the coloured met 
 the same fate) ? Such harangues as this, to thousands and thou- 
 sands of half-civilized, idle negroes, was laying the train which a 
 spark would ignite ; do you wonder, then, the blacks, confident in 
 their numbers, took the law in their hands, burnt the Court of 
 Justice, and murdered the magistrates ? and do you wonder that 
 the people of Jamaica point out Gordon as the arch- agitator, the 
 cause of all this frightful mischief? 
 
 Much has been said in some of the public press about Gordon 
 being a man of large property, and an inference drawn that he 
 could have no motive to agitate against the upper classes in the 
 colony. Now, the fact is, although Gordon had much land, it 
 was never paid for : large judgments are recorded against him, 
 and in November his property was levied on, to satisfy claims 
 of English creditors. He was in the habit of drawing cheques 
 on the Jamaica Bank without having funds there. I have 
 had these dishonoured drafts, and had to instruct clients not 
 
54 
 
 to take them. I believe, at the Manchester meeting, one 
 enthusiastic gentleman claimed Gordon (who never was ab- 
 sent from Jamaica) as a protege, educated there. I wonder, if 
 so, whether he learned this sort of mercantile morality in the 
 Manchester school. Gordon was always considered a trouble- 
 some man by his own class. In the House of Assembly a law 
 was passed, limiting the right of each member to speak to twenty 
 minutes, for the purpose of checking his incessant speeches ; in 
 1863, he took a leading part in the so-called religious revivals, 
 and, having quitted the Church of England, opened a Baptist 
 tabernacle on his own account, and under his own regulations. 
 At this period he closed his place of business in Kingston for 
 three days, and posted outside a placard : — " I, G. W. Gordon, 
 in the name of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, intend 
 fasting for the sins of the land for three days." People thought 
 he was crazy ; the poor negroes became wild with religious frenzy ; 
 Ministers of the Established Church, Presbyterians, Moravians, 
 Wesleyans, and others, in vain endeavoured to guide or check 
 these excesses. The orgies and blasphemy at most of these 
 chapel-meetings, like that at Paul Bogle's place after the massa- 
 cre at Morant Bay, were frightful in the extreme. The negroes 
 kept holiday from six to eight weeks at Christmas, neglecting 
 even their provision grounds ; and when the severe drought set 
 in afterwards, numbers of them suffered severely. You can 
 imagine, from all this, the character of Gordon's influence over 
 the people, and the great dread of its ultimate power for evil, 
 felt by all classes of the whites and coloured people. 
 
 I have received many letters from various parts of the island, 
 all expressing the greatest indignation at the treatment Governor 
 Eyre has received at the hands of the Ministry here. All per- 
 sons of respectable position and property concur in expressing 
 the deepest gratitude to Mr. Eyre and the authorities for the 
 able and decided measures they adopted ; there is not a shadow 
 of doubt, that if the Governor had hesitated to do his duty for 
 forty- eight hours, the whole island would have been in insurrec- 
 tion; admitting, for argument's sake, there was no organized 
 plan for the revolt, its effect amongst the 360,000 negroes, if 
 successful at Morant Bay, would have been to combine them all 
 to " drive the whites into the sea/' as threatened in the House 
 of Assembly. The Governor, in conformity with the whole 
 tenor of his history and antecedents, nobly, ably, and zealously 
 crushed the rebellion ; and all who, like myself, have relatives 
 and property in the island, feel that we are indebted to him, 
 under God's providence, for the preservation of both. We think 
 the action of Earl Russell, in degrading Governor Eyre for his 
 noble conduct in the execution of his duty, will leave an eternal 
 stain on the fair fame of that nobleman. 
 
55 
 
 We expect the people of England will nevertheless render jus- 
 tice, imperatively demanded in this matter, and, in Mr. Charles 
 Buxton's words, criticize calmly the proceedings of the colonial 
 authorities at an emergency like this, which no man can appre- 
 ciate or realize fully, unless present at the time. We think, if 
 there is to be sympathy for Gordon and for a mob of negroes, 
 banded together to murder and pillage, still more is to be ex- 
 tended to the families of the victims of this tragedy. My 
 Jamaica friends say, at your meetings and in the newspapers 
 before- named, we find much said on behalf of Gordon, but not / 
 one word about his victims, — the Baron Kettelholdt, Hire, Price, 
 Hitchings, Cooke, Alberga, and others. They can scarcely be- 
 lieve that any portion of the public press of England to be so 
 influenced by the ranting orators of Exeter Hall. It is just the 
 feeling, Mr. Chairman, that causes us to be so unpopular with 
 the great body of the American people. The constant inter- 
 ference in the institutions of other nations, which this party pur- 
 sues, gains us an evil report amongst them. 
 
 I have heard many Americans attribute the late war, and 
 much of their troubles, to the agitation originating here, — whether 
 rightly or not, I am not prepared to say ; but I record what I 
 have frequently heard : " Why don't your anti-slavery people 
 look after your white slaves at home?" say the Americans. "Why 
 not educate your ignorant masses, and alleviate the frightful 
 amount of misery and distress to be seen daily in London, in- 
 stead of directing their energies in interfering with us and others, 
 thousands of miles from the shores of England ? ;J 
 
 In like manner have the people in Jamaica to complain of the 
 course pursued there by the anti-slavery people. The history of 
 the blacks in Hayti shows they are incapable of self-government, 
 and the necessity that exists for their being under the guidance 
 of a strong executive. I believe, as a Crown colony, with a firm 
 administration, the blacks in Jamaica may yet be materially 
 advanced in the scale of civilization : they are a race easily led 
 for good or for evil. Remove the pernicious influences which 
 have caused the latter, and a better state of things will soon be 
 apparent. If the 10,000 whites are to remain in the colony, 
 surrounded by 360,000 blacks, the former must be placed in 
 a position of security, by a strong Government, and by the 
 proper application of the laws of industry and labour, which 
 naturally regulate all well-managed communities. 
 
 I fear, Mr. Chairman, I have trespassed too long on your time, 
 and I will now conclude my remarks, thanking you and the 
 meeting for the honour awarded me in permitting me to address 
 my countrymen on this occasion. 
 
56 
 
 Mr. Hugh R. Semper said : — Sir, feeling the deepest interest 
 in the question under discussion this evening, in consequence 
 of possessing an intimate acquaintance with most of the West 
 Indian Colonies, having for years taken part in the legislation of 
 more than one island, and having discharged the duties of a 
 magistrate, and still having the honour to hold the Commission 
 of the Peace, I trust I may be pardoned for venturing to address 
 so large and distinguished an audience on a subject that so 
 vitally concerns the West Indies. 
 
 In doing this, I feel that my first duty is to thank Captain 
 Pirn for the able, comprehensive, and truly eloquent lecture, 
 which he has addressed to us this evening. It evidences not 
 only great research, acute powers of observation, and marked 
 ability ; but also proves that its author is possessed of that moral 
 vigour, that chivalrous spirit and fearless determination which 
 counts no odds when defending the cause of truth and justice, and 
 Avhich Englishmen, above all things, so much admire, and so 
 thoroughly appreciate. 
 
 In touching upon that part of the question which relates to 
 the character of the negro, I have only to add that, though utterly 
 unfitted for self-government, or, as a class, for possessing ex- 
 tensive electoral privileges, my experience, gathered in various 
 capacities, as a proprietor, as a magistrate, and as an officer 
 of the Colonial Protective Force, compels me to say that 
 they often display many good and excellent qualities. They 
 are capable of strong and earnest attachment to their supe- 
 riors, and I honestly believe that if it were not for the per- 
 nicious influence so fatally exercised upon them by unscru- 
 pulous demagogues, by well-intentioned, but rash and enthu- 
 siastic philanthropists, but, above all, by those who, with 
 diabolical hypocrisy, use religion as a cloak to carry out their 
 levelling principles — to sow those seeds of hatred and disunion 
 which produce bitter fruit, and so often lead to those terrible 
 colonial tragedies, such as that recently enacted at Morant Bay, — 
 I say, Sir, that I honestly believe that if it were not for all 
 this and that if the negro were not encouraged in vice, indolence, 
 and outrage, peace, order, and harmony would prevail ; and the 
 black man, as he exists in the West Indies, would develop into 
 a good, and even an industrious citizen, capable of attaining com- 
 fort and happiness for himself, and contributing largely to the 
 prosperity of the land, in which he enjoys a thousand blessings, 
 and far greater political freedom and higher privileges than are 
 enjoyed by any labouring class in Europe. 
 
 Despite the assertions that are made by men more ready 
 to traduce than to substantiate their charges, I can fearlessly 
 challenge them to produce a single statute that gives evidence of 
 one-sided or clas« Wislation. I can fearlessly challenge them to 
 
57 
 
 prove either that the blacks are oppressed, and the courts of jus- 
 tice closed against them, or that the minds of the judges are 
 warped by improper class prejudices. In addition to the public 
 hospitals, lunatic asylums, the poor-rates, the public schools, which 
 each colony possesses, many of them have a staff of district me- 
 dical officers, whose duty is to supply, gratuitously, medicine and 
 medical attendance to the labouring population. Large grants 
 are also constantly being made to enable the health officers to im- 
 prove the sanitary condition of the negro villages in the different 
 colonies. To do all these things, which are for the exclusive 
 benefits of the " oppressed blacks," the white men, — who, it is 
 said, are the legislators, — voluntarily impose heavy taxes upon 
 their landed property, and upon the exported product of that 
 property. 
 
 Not many years ago, the island of St. Kitt's was afflicted with 
 that terrible scourge, cholera, which swept off a fourth of the 
 black population. The disease was almost entirely confined to 
 the blacks, and yet the local government did not for a moment 
 hesitate as to the course it should adopt. Numerous hospitals 
 were established, every medical man was employed, a large staff 
 of house-to-house visitors were retained, and relief in every 
 shape was extended to the unfortunate sufferers. The result was, 
 that the island had to expend the large sum of fifty thousand 
 dollars ; and as its ordinary resources became exhausted, a special 
 tax had to be levied to meet the deficiency. This tax, I need 
 hardly add, for the most part fell upon the properties of those 
 whose kindness and humanity were not restrained because 
 negroes were its recipients. 
 
 That there has been suffering among the labouring classes in 
 Jamaica, is unquestionable; but to whom, or to what, I ask, is 
 this suffering attributable? Certainly not to the planter. It 
 is in the first place the result of two severe seasons of drought, 
 and of the low price of sugar. The negroes having refused 
 (notwithstanding the heavy premiums that were offered) to enter 
 into a contract of service with the planters, the latter have in 
 many instances been driven to introduce foreign labour at a 
 heavy cost to themselves. These contract labourers the planters 
 are compelled to keep in employment during the severest sea- 
 sons, as long as the contract exists ; the negroes would have en- 
 joyed a similar protection if they had chosen to enter into an 
 agreement, neither more nor less stringent in its terms than 
 those that are so constantly made in the agricultural districts in 
 this country. Surely there exists no moral or legal reason why 
 the planter should be called upon to incur considerable loss 
 by giving employment to labourers whom he does not require, 
 simply because distress prevails. 
 
 Let me ask, did Mr. Bright and other mill-owners continue 
 
58 
 
 to employ their operatives when the high price of cotton rendered 
 the continued employment of such operatives unprofitable ? 
 
 It was well said, Sir, of Robespierre, by a celebrated French 
 author, that he certainly appeared to love liberty, for he not only 
 took care to enjoy his own, but he sought to possess that of others 
 also. In the present case, the reckless accusers of the colonists, 
 not only demand a full share of freedom for the blacks, but seek 
 "per fas et nefas " to deprive the whites of every vestige of it. 
 
 I am aware that amongst the persons who have raised their 
 voice against Governor Eyre, and those who acted under his 
 minority, there are many men whose generosity of purpose and 
 obleness of character we all admire ; and I can only therefore 
 eplore that under false impressions, created by grossly exagge- 
 ited accounts of the extent of retributive punishment, they 
 lould have fallen into fellowship with a party who seek to 
 • '■ slead the public mind of this country by such infamous 
 statements as " eight miles of dead," " thousands killed/' and 
 other utterly false accounts regarding Gordon's trial, put forward 
 by renegade reporters and such-like. 
 
 Before taking my seat, I must earnestly crave your indulgence 
 and the indulgence of my audience for a few moments longer, 
 while I say a few words on Gordon's trial. It would be impossible, 
 Sir, on an occasion like this, to notice the many theories that 
 have been started, or the many terrible threats that have been so 
 menacingly uttered. I will therefore only allude to the opinion 
 recently given to the Jamaica committee by two eminent lawyers, 
 Mr. Fitzjames Stephen and Mr. James, the Attorney- general of 
 the Duchy of Lancaster. These gentlemen tell us that the Go- 
 vernor of J amaica had only the common law right, which the Crown 
 possesses in this country, to repel force by force, even to the de- 
 struction of life and property ; but deny his right to appoint 
 courts-martial to sit in judgment, except while there was active 
 resistance to the law. In this country, the Crown, as late as 
 the time of Charles I., exercised the prerogative of creating 
 courts, under what was termed the ' ' law martial." This exer- 
 cise of the prerogative has been finally destroyed in England by 
 the Bill of Bights ; and before martial law could, in consequence 
 of internal disturbance, be proclaimed here, both Houses must 
 join in suspending the operation of the Habeas Corpus Act. The 
 96th sect. 9th Vict. c. 30, expressly authorizes, by the " opinion 
 and advice of a council of war, the proclamation of martial law, 
 limiting, however, the period of its existence to thirty days, 
 unless expressly continued by the advice of a council of war as 
 aforesaid." The succeeding declaration also authorizes the 
 Governor, with such advice as aforesaid, to limit the operation 
 of martial law to particular districts. 
 
 I contend that this special prerogative of proclaiming martial 
 
59 
 
 law and of constituting courts-martial in times of disturbance, 
 still exists in Jamaica, apart from any preceding legislative 
 action. "It is absurd," says Lord Mansfield, in the celebrated 
 case of Campbell v. Hall, " to suppose that in the colonies they 
 should carry all the laws of England with them ; they carry only 
 such as are applicable to their situation. I remember it has 
 been determined in the Council ; there was a question whether 
 the Statute of Charitable Uses operated on the island of Nevis ; 
 it was determined it did not ; and no laws, except such as were 
 applicable to their condition, unless expressly enacted.'''' It is 
 clear that this peculiar privilege of personal liberty was not con- 
 sidered applicable to the condition of a young colony, or a ne- 
 cessary incident of colonization ; for I find in Second ' Chalmers' 
 Opinions/ p. 69, an eminent lawyer, the Solicitor-General of 
 George II., thus advising the Crown respecting an Act passed 
 by one of the Colonial Legislatures : — C( This law likewise enacts 
 that all laws in force in England relating to personal liberty 
 and to property, shall be in force in those islands, which I conceive 
 to be very improper." Acting on this opinion, the Crown dis- 
 allowed the Bill. I have searched in vain, Sir, through the 
 statute book of Jamaica for any evidence to show that legislation 
 has deprived the Crown of this special prerogative ; while, on the 
 other hand, I have further found, in First ' Chalmers' Opinions/ 
 p. 233, these forcible words: — "The prerogative, unless w r here 
 it is abridged by grants, etc., made to the respective provinces, 
 is that power over the subjects which, by the common law of 
 the land, abstracted from all Acts of Parliament, and grants 
 and liberties, the King could rightfully exercise in England." The 
 Crown, in Jamaica, I submit, then, clearly possesses the prero- 
 gatives which it from time to time exercised in this country up 
 to the time of the passing of the Bill of Bights. If these views 
 are correct, it then follows that in Jamaica the Executive not 
 only possesses the common law right to repel force by force, but 
 that the Governor, as the representative of the Sovereign, was 
 warranted in proclaiming martial law without any legislative 
 action, and that courts-martial can sit as legally constituted 
 courts in a disturbed district. I fully admit that the case of 
 Fabrigas v. Mostyn, quoted by the learned counsel, conclusively 
 establishes the principle that a Governor can be rendered liable 
 in this country for an illegal act committed abroad. In this 
 case Governor Mostyn had heavy damages given against him, 
 because he acted in diametrical opposition to all laws ; but the 
 learned counsel had not the candour to mention at the same 
 time, to those who sought their opinion, that the case of Button 
 v. Howell, mentioned in Fabrigas v. Mostyn, also established 
 another principle, namely, that a Governor could plead as a bar 
 to any action or indictment, the laws of the colony under which 
 
60 
 
 he acted ; or, to give the following words of Lord Mansfield, 
 used when giving final judgment against Governor Mostyn : — 
 Justice Powell says, in the case of Way v. Yally, that an action 
 " of false imprisonment had been brought here against the Go- 
 vernor of J amaica for the imprisonment there, and the laws of 
 the courts were given in evidence;" and, adds Lord Mansfield, 
 " he showed, I suppose, by the laws of the country, an Act which 
 justified that imprisonment, and the court received it, to be sure, 
 as they ought to do. Whatever is a justification in the place 
 where the thing is done, ought to be a justification in the place 
 where the thing is tried." Governor Mostyn was punished 
 because he could neither plead that he had properly exercised the 
 prerogative of the Crown, or was protected by any local law, or 
 by any ex post facto legislation. Governor Eyre, on the contrary, 
 can claim all three. There is nothing illegal in proclaiming 
 martial law : the constitution of this country allows it, but only 
 requires preceding legislation ; the constitution of Jamaica 
 enables the executive to dispense with such legislation. In any 
 case, it cannot, with a shadow of reason, be denied that the law 
 of Jamaica authorized a warrant being issued against Gordon, 
 and that, whether or not the Governor had the right to proclaim 
 martial law and to create courts-martial, he stands by the sub- 
 sequent act of the island — the Bill of Indemnity — in precisely 
 the same position as if he had. 
 
 The argument used, that as Governor Eyre's consent was re- 
 quired to the Act, he could not pardon himself, shows that the 
 learned gentlemen are really driven to their wits' end to find the 
 slightest shadow of reason to support the earnest desire of a party 
 to prosecute Governor Eyre in this country. An assent has been 
 given to the Bill of Indemnity, not by Edward Eyre, but by 
 the representative of the Sovereign ; and if the private individual, 
 Edward Eyre, be subsequently dealt with, he can surely, in all 
 reason and justice, be protected by what is an ample protection 
 for every other British citizen in Jamaica. Eor instance, is it 
 because a Governor assents to a Bill granting him a salary, as 
 many Governors were formerly in the habit of doing, that 
 therefore he cannot use such salary so granted ? 
 
 If the learned Counsel's argument on this point be admitted, 
 see what it inevitably leads to. Every felon in Jamaica, every 
 person who has ever been punished in that island, by the autho- 
 rity of the Executive carrying out any law, to which, as Governor, 
 Mr. Eyre had given his consent, could prosecute him in this 
 country, and he would be estopped from pleading that he acted 
 according to the law, because, in his official capacity, he had 
 given the assent of the Crown to that law. The proposition is 
 as monstrous as it is untenable. 
 
 Another argument put forward with great speciousness is 
 
61 
 
 this : That Governor Eyre, if he has committed any crime at all, 
 has committed a crime against the law of this country, and that 
 the Legislature of Jamaica have no authority to pass a Bill of 
 Indemnity, virtually pardoning an offence against the laws of 
 England. It is very true that no colony has a right, in its legis- 
 lative capacity, to control an Act of the Imperial Parliament ; but 
 though the 9th sect. 24&25 Vict. c. 100, and the earlier statutes 
 mentioned by the learned counsel, authorize the courts of law 
 in this country to deal with crimes committed by British subjects, 
 either in foreign lands or in any part of Her Majesty's domi- 
 nions, yet not one of the statutes attempt to give an exclusive 
 jurisdiction to the English courts. They only possess a concur- 
 rent jurisdiction with the colonial courts, as the following words 
 of the 9th section of the statute above quoted satisfactorily 
 prove : — 
 
 " Provided that nothing herein contained shall prevent any 
 person from being tried in any place out of England or Ireland, 
 for any murder or manslaughter committed out of England or 
 Ireland, in which such death, stroke, poisoning, or hurt shall 
 happen in the same manner as such person might have been tried 
 before the passing of this Act." 
 
 It is evident that the statutes which apply to this question 
 have not established, and that it was not the intention of the 
 English legislature to establish, anything that could in the 
 slightest degree interfere with that principle so clearly laid down 
 by Lord Mansfield, that a Governor, though tried in an English 
 court, and for an alleged breach of English law, can always plead 
 as a bar to any action or indictment, the law of the land under 
 which he acted, and in which the offence charged was committed. 
 
 With reference, Sir, to the treatment that Governor Eyre has 
 lately received at the hands of Her Majesty's Government, I 
 hardly dare trust myself to speak on the subject, lest I be tempted 
 to exceed the bounds of temperate discussion. I dread to think 
 what may be the probable consequences of this unjust and impolitic 
 action of the Government. Even if it does not cause all order 
 and authority to be trampled upon in the W est Indies, — even if 
 devastation, carnage, and worse than death be not carried into 
 the homestead of every white family, it cannot fail to paralyse the 
 energies of every public servant entrusted with the maintenance 
 of British rule in various quarters of the globe. In saying this, 
 let it not be understood that the friends of the colonies, — that 
 the friends of Governor Eyre, — that the friends of the hapless 
 beings who were so cruelly and treacherously murdered at Morant 
 Bay, shrink from inquiry. They simply demand justice, and 
 that there should be a proper vindication of outraged laws ; and 
 I venture to ask this audience, to ask the people of England, not 
 to form, upon grossly exaggerated or wilfully false statements, 
 hasty conclusions. 
 
62 
 
 We are expressly warned by the ' Jamaica Standard' not to 
 place reliance on the notes of Gordon's trial that were stolen 
 from its office ; bat even on that evidence, imperfect as it doubt- 
 less is, there can be no moral doubt of Gordon's guilt. Read his 
 speeches, read his addresses, read his letters, hear what he is 
 proved to have said in Bogle's chapel, and then, I ask, where is 
 there room for doubt ? I admit that it might not have been 
 sufficient to legally prove him guilty in a court of law, with 
 numerous legal technicalities governing the reception of evidence ; 
 but a court-martial is bound by no such technicalities, and its 
 members, as men of honour and integrity, are simply bound, 
 when sitting, as the court sat at Morant Bay, to declare whe- 
 ther, upon the evidence that has been brought before them (be 
 that evidence what it may), they believe the accused guilty or 
 not guilty. 
 
 In dealing equal-handed justice, the Imperial Government 
 should have taken care that no outside pressure induced them to 
 cast censure directly or indirectly upon a man who, they have 
 already testified, in a position of great difficulty and danger, nobly 
 performed his duty, and, at all hazards to himself and to his 
 future career, upheld the menaced authority of his Sovereign. 
 
 Judge Hibbert (of the United States) considered the negro 
 to be naturally capable of civilization, and that under favourable 
 influences the people of Africa might, after a few centuries, be 
 found as civilized as the white races. The condition of a slave 
 was peculiarly unfavourable to moral improvement, for slaves 
 had nothing to care for ; but if they gave the negro education, 
 and the same kind of encouragement that was given to the 
 children of white men, they would be equal to them. The 
 negroes were generally admitted to be very " smart " in making 
 a bargain, and he did not think they were in other respects in- 
 tellectually inferior. Civilization, he said, was quite distinct 
 from religion ; for if religion were considered to be an indication 
 of civilization, the African negroes were the highest type of civi- 
 lization, for they believed more than any other people on the 
 face of the earth — they believed much more than Christians. 
 Civilization, he (Judge Hibbert) contended, consisted in the 
 knowledge men had of their own rights, and a respect for the 
 rights of others ; and until we civilized ourselves, we could not 
 expect to do much towards civilizing Africa. America had given 
 the franchise to the negro, and would give them an equal posi- 
 tion to the white man. In some of the American states, where 
 the negroes had been free for many years, they had turned out 
 the finest black babies in the world. One thing the negro had 
 to contend against, was the prejudice of the white race, who 
 had a great contempt for them. He never, in his life, saw a 
 
63 
 
 white man take off his hat to a negro. Unless they got rid of 
 their prejudices against the blacks, education alone would be of 
 little use : for as long as the negroes had no incitement to im- 
 prove themselves, they would not be civilized. He believed that 
 the negro is as capable of attaining the highest degree of civi- 
 lization as the white man ; and it should be borne in mind that 
 not many years ago the people of this country were barbarous 
 savages. 
 
 Mr. Winwood Reade said, that he had had more experience 
 of the savage than of the semi-civilized or missionarized negro. 
 He would, however, make a remark on native wars, which might, 
 to some extent, bear upon the subject of the discussion. He 
 had gone up the Gambia with a diplomatic expedition, and had 
 observed that the English had no influence in that river, and 
 were despised by the natives. In the Senegal, which he after- 
 wards ascended, he had found that the French were feared and 
 respected. The reason of this was, that in the late Badaboo war 
 the English had shown great indulgence to their enemies, while 
 the French had always acted upon the contrary principle. Now 
 savages never believe in the existence of those virtues which they 
 do not themselves possess. We spared them from benevolence ; 
 they supposed that it was from fear. What he had always said 
 about native wars was this — Avoid them as long as you can ; but 
 if you must fight with natives, kill them down. Kill them down 
 not only for self-protection, but from a philanthropic principle. 
 It seems paradoxical to say so, but there may be mercy in a 
 massacre. If the natives had been more sternly dealt with, we 
 should not now have them fixing the precise date when they 
 would take Bathurst, and about to drag us into a war which will 
 probably involve a serious loss of life ; he might add, that had 
 not Governor Eyre shown such prompt severity, we should now 
 be sending out troops to save white men's lives, instead of a 
 Commission to sit upon black men's carcases. 
 
 Mr. Harris said : — With reference to the remarks we have 
 been favoured with by Captain Pirn, on the condition of the 
 natives in the interior of Africa, there can be no doubt that, 
 as the traveller recedes from the coast, the more intelligent the 
 inhabitants are, that he meets with. 
 
 The pure negro is amalgamated with the more enlightened 
 people of the interior, until they are nearly lost in the great 
 tribe of Foulahs or Foutahs, who, with their numerous and 
 powerful offshoots of Manding, Boondu, Suleimah, Bambarrahs, 
 Serawoolys, and Segos are always to be met within two hundred 
 miles of the coast. 
 
64 
 
 These people possess the leading political and religious power 
 wherever met, are keen traders, and acquire most of the material 
 wealth of the district ; they are strict Moslems, and teach the 
 negroes they settle amongst sufficient of their faith to make 
 them feared and respected. They have a literature of their own, 
 and. are looked up to by the negro as "bookmen/' or superiors. 
 They are easily distinguished from the negro by their regular 
 and prominent features, resembling in their physique the Arab 
 and Moor, to whom they bear a strong affinity. 
 
 From personal observation amongst the different negro tribes 
 I have been amongst, with regard to the ideas they have of 
 worshipping a deity, it is not to pray for benefits here or here- 
 after, but always to be protected from present injury and bodily 
 suffering, the superior object of their worship being the incarna- 
 tion and ruling power of all evil, nothing of good. 
 
 As far as agriculture is concerned, the negro is a tiller of the 
 soil from necessity, but never attempts any improvements, 
 changes, or extensions upon the system handed down to him by 
 his forefathers ; and from his natural indolence, all efforts made 
 by philanthropists to induce them to use our common imple- 
 ments of husbandry, or to alter their mode of planting, have been 
 useless. 
 
 The negro limits his husbandry to the satisfaction of his 
 daily wants, to procure the support of which, in the tropics, and 
 with a virgin soil, requires but little effort or exertion on their 
 part. 
 
 I can support Captain Pirn's statement, that the Maroons are 
 pure negroes, from personal observations made amongst the 
 Maroons of Sierra Leone. They were originally freed slaves of 
 Cuba and Jamaica, and were numerous between 1735 and 1745, 
 at which latter date, having attracted the attention of the 
 Jamaica Government by their increasing numbers, they were 
 located in the Blue Mountain Ridges. 
 
 The appellation " Maroon " was given to them by the white 
 men, as indicating the freed blacks. In 1784, they numbered 
 1400 fighting men, and revolted against the British Government 
 in June, 1785, — keeping up for many years a sort of guerilla 
 warfare, and not being finally subdued until March, 1796, and 
 then principally by the use of Cuban bloodhounds. Until this 
 day it is a common term of reproach against the descendants at 
 Sierra Leone, that they were subdued by dogs. The Maroons 
 are principally descendants of the Gold Coast tribes, and still 
 retain amongst them the same religious superstitions, customs, 
 and common names, as, for instance, the naming of their children 
 after the days of the week upon which they are born, such as 
 Quamin (Monday), the son of Quacco (Thursday), each day 
 being denoted by the masculine and feminine gender. They 
 
boast of being directly descended, or having been concerned in 
 the Jamaica rebellion at the end of the eighteenth century, as 
 partisans of King Cudjoe, their leader, 
 
 Notwithstanding the length of time that has elapsed since the 
 deportation of a portion of these people to Sierra Leone, where 
 they have been absolutely free and unfettered, they look back 
 with pride to the time when they were able to contend with the 
 white man, showing, in my opinion, another instance of their 
 antagonistic feeling to their best benefactors. 
 
 Whether the recent outbreak in Jamaica can, in any degree, 
 be traced to these antagonistics of race is worthy our most care- 
 ful consideration, more particularly with regard to the future 
 government of the negro. 
 
 Mr. Henry Liggins said : — When a few hours ago I heard 
 that Captain Bedford Pim, R.N., was to read a paper this evening 
 to the members and friends of this Society, I felt that the subject 
 of the negro would be dealt with in a manner intelligent, plain, 
 and practical, just and truthful, and with that simple telling elo- 
 quence, for which the published writings of this highly gifted 
 naval officer have made him conspicuous. I felt it right to come 
 here to confirm the statements I expected him to make ; and I 
 venture to think that I understand the subject, having visited 
 the United States of America, and paid many visits to the West 
 Indies during the last thirty years, and have had opportunities 
 of observing the negro character in sixteen of the islands, British 
 and foreign. During this long period I have had many proofs 
 of devotion, affection, and kindness from the blacks ; as a large 
 employer of labour in the cultivation of sugar estates, I have 
 done my best to improve them in their social condition • my in- 
 clination as well as my worldly interest has always been in their 
 favour, and I could wish that it were not in my power to confirm 
 the accuracy of the views expressed at such length in the able 
 paper that we have all listened to with so much edification ; but 
 I confess that I am bitterly disappointed in all the efforts I have 
 seen made to improve their condition. This is not caused from 
 any lack of schooling given them in their youth, nor from any 
 visible want of mental capacity, for they are ready enough at 
 learning, and have at their fingers' ends the height of the Hi- 
 malaya mountains, the distance of the earth from the moon, and 
 all such matters as are unsuited to the hands that toil, while 
 they seem to be too proud to learn anything that would be prac- 
 tically useful in everyday life. There is a great inconsistency in 
 their character : they are endowed with capacity to learn anything 
 they please, but I never knew a case where the energy and deter- 
 mination came forth to induce them to apply their knowledge 
 for their own gain in life or for the benefit of their employer 
 
 F 
 
66 
 
 From the grandiloquent phraseology of the words they use, you 
 would be inclined to give them credit for a desire to rise to the 
 higher ranks of civilized life j but I have no recollection of ever 
 observing an individual endeavour to advance his position above 
 that station in which it has pleased God to call him. Who ever 
 knew of a black man rising to the position of a gentleman? 
 Now such instances are common enough among the whites all 
 over the world ; and the charity schools of this very parish can 
 testify to the fact that many of their humble scholars, who cer- 
 tainly do not receive as advanced an education as the majority of 
 negroes in the West India islands, rising to wealth, honour, and 
 elevated position, the fruit of a well-directed mind and perse- 
 vering industry. 
 
 We observe among the Chinese and the Coolies from India, as 
 well as among the Portuguese from Madeira and the Cape de 
 Yerde Islands, who emigrate to the West Indies, a strong desire 
 to work hard, save money, and with their savings become shop- 
 keepers, in which many of them amass considerable fortunes, 
 and ultimately become merchants and the owners of vessels. 
 Several cases of such success have come under my own notice, 
 while the indolent negro looks on in wonder at the rapid strides 
 and comforts of life enjoyed by strangers who have been only a 
 few years among them. 
 
 Idleness is the curse of the negro. The men, as a rule, never 
 work if necessity does not compel them to do so ; and the women 
 and children do all the drudgery, while the upright, nobly-formed 
 figure of the black man prefers to lie and smoke all day under 
 the shade of a tree, and returning to his hut with savage cruelty 
 and harsh severity towards those whom he ought to love. The 
 horrid cruelty of the blacks, and their neglect of their children, 
 is truly painful to behold, and I think, coupled with their ap- 
 parently unalterable licentiousness, prove them to be incapable 
 of becoming, under any known conditions, good citizens ; and I 
 much fear that we must form the conclusion that the negro is 
 destined to become extinct, if at any time he should lose the 
 protecting care of the white man. 
 
 At this late hour I can only occupy the time of this large 
 meeting with a few words on the recent events that have occurred 
 in Jamaica. Nothing has astonished me more than to find that 
 any section of my countrymen should venture to express so 
 strong an opinion as they have done upon a subject about which 
 they must be very imperfectly informed j and I think, as it is 
 impossible that they can enter into the feelings, dreads, and 
 anxieties of the whites of Jamaica, 5000 miles distance, who 
 number only one-fortieth in number with the blacks, that they 
 should rather place themselves in the same dangerous position, 
 and ask themselves if they think they would have acted differ- 
 
67 
 
 ently, when they found the upper classes, their daily associates, 
 their neighbours and friends, being brutally murdered around 
 them, their houses sacked and burned, and their plantations laid 
 waste, with their cattle turned loose in the woods ; and all this 
 horrid devilry occurring, not because the blacks had any real 
 grievance, for their friends have not pointed out any justly 
 existing cause for dissatisfaction, but because they were known 
 to have been set on by political demagogues, whose treason was 
 well known to all classes in that magnificent colony. 
 
 When the intelligence of this rebellion reached this country, 
 all classes were alarmed at the events that had taken place ; and 
 it may be assumed that Her Majesty's Government were better 
 informed than individuals. What did they do ? Why, the Prime 
 Minister of England and his associates, through the Secretary 
 of State for the Colonies, sent a despatch to Governor Eyre, 
 thanking him and the civil authorities, and the naval and mili- 
 tary forces, for the promptitude, energy, and skill displayed by 
 them, in timely crushing out a formidable rebellion, and thus 
 stopping the further sacrifice of property and innocent lives : 
 thereby retaining, I trust, for future usefulness, this bright gem 
 of the British Crown. 
 
 Can anything be more depressing to all right-minded men ? 
 Can anything be more humiliating to us, from the ridicule with 
 which we shall be assailed by all foreign countries, when it is 
 discovered that our Prime Minister has yielded to the unscru- 
 pulous clamour of a section of the lowest class of Baptist minis- 
 ters, advanced radicals, and political reformers, backed by the 
 worn-out remnant of the Anti- Slavery Society, aided by the 
 ' Star ? newspaper, which is so ably conducted, as a rule, that it 
 merits the most severe censure for taking a part so thoroughly 
 un-English as to condemn untried men, the representatives of 
 the Sovereign, whose conduct under most trying circumstances 
 has been approved by all the legal functionaries, the great body 
 of the magistracy, the clergy of all denominations who hold any 
 position for good among the educated classes, and every section 
 of politicians, the merchants, and the whole body of the whites 
 in Jamaica, and last, though not of less importance, by all the 
 proprietors resident in this country who have property in the 
 island, the great mass of the educated people in this country, 
 and Her Majesty's Government? 
 
 Governor Eyre has been harshly treated by those who should 
 have upheld him ; but I have no doubt that his honest, upright 
 conduct through life, his great ability and aptitude for the duties 
 of his high position, will enable him to pass through the present 
 trial with honour, and I hope that he may be spared to receive 
 the reward that his noble conduct deserves. 
 
 I hold in my hand a letter I received the day before yesterday, 
 
68 
 
 by the last West Indian mail, written in another island, dated 
 12th January. The writer, a gentleman of high position, who has 
 himself received special marks of favour from our beloved Queen, 
 writes : — 
 
 " In respect to Gordon's execution, what will be said when his 
 father's letter is quoted, stating that he deserved his fate ? And 
 this judgment is said to have been given by a man seventy-five 
 years of age. 
 
 " Again, there is a lady here who asked, ' How could Gordon 
 say that he did not know Paul Bogle ? when I can state that 
 he was his body-servant for years/ 
 
 " If Earl Russell sacrifices a Governor to appease popular 
 clamour, then who will be found to put down rebellion in Her 
 Majesty's colonies without fearing he goes to duty with a rope 
 round his neck ?" 
 
 Does that active-minded Secretary of the Anti-Slavery Society 
 really believe that " his dear friend Gordon " was penning the 
 truth when he 1 wrote that Governor Eyre purloined public money, 
 and with it bought a pianoforte for his own family, and smuggled 
 it through the custom-house ? 
 
 It is well understood that it is the custom for Governors to be 
 allowed their personal effects to pass through the customs with- 
 out the payment of duties ; and Gordon knew this as well as any 
 one in Jamaica, and must be branded for writing a deliberate lie 
 with a view to deceive the people of England. 
 
 It is quite the fashion among some classes of religious fanatics 
 in this country to approve of everything done by the negro ; to 
 make a pet of him, and at the same time to censure the deeds of 
 the whites, whether right or wrong • and I regret to notice that 
 in the last two numbers of the ' Cotton Supply Association Re- 
 porter,' of Manchester, there are articles censuring an Act re- 
 cently passed in Antigua, and approved by the Colonial Office, to 
 punish offenders for stealing cotton, which Act was found neces- 
 sary to protect the fields of the whites from being robbed. 
 
 From the means I have had of observation, I am satisfied that 
 the greatest misfortune of the negro is the interference of the 
 Anti-Slavery Society and the teaching of Baptist and other 
 religious sects, whose whole aim is directed to unsettle his mind, 
 make him dissatisfied with his lot, and urge him to extort from 
 his master washes that his profits do not enable him to give. This 
 is well known to be the cause of the present ruin, that, like a 
 dark cloud, hangs over Jamaica. 
 
 Indolence is the cause of all the vice of the negro ; and if his 
 real friends would take my advice, and urge him to habits of 
 steady continuous work for six days a week, for the fair wages 
 which the planter would then be able to afford, they would make 
 him a useful being, and our West Indian Coldnies would again 
 
69 
 
 add largely to the wealth of the mother-country ; and his soul 
 would be spared from the desire for treason and murder, and we 
 should not again hear of impious oaths and glorious congratula- 
 tions over foul murders and horrible mutilations, and drunken 
 orgies in Baptist meeting-houses. 
 
 Gentlemen, I think our sympathy should be with the murdered 
 whites and their disconsolate families and desolate homes, and 
 not, as the Anti-Slavery Society would desire, with the murderous 
 blacks, who met summary vengeance from the soldiers of their 
 own colour. 
 
 I think we ought to thank our stars that we have a Governor, 
 and officers of the navy and army, who so fearlessly upheld the 
 honour and dignity of our country ; and I think we ought to 
 unite in thanking God that those efforts were crowned with suc- 
 cess, and, under Providence, the murder of all the whites was pre- 
 vented, and the colony of Jamaica, second to no place in the 
 world for beauty and fertility, is still preserved to the British 
 Crown. 
 
 (The speaker was frequently interrupted with applause, and re- 
 sumed his seat amid loud cheers.) 
 
 Dr. Seemann, V.P., said : — When, twenty years ago, I left 
 Europe I held very much the same opinions about the negro as 
 most of those do who know him from second-hand sources only. 
 I thought him deserving of pity, and requiring only to be put to 
 school, and in the full possession of freedom, to become equal, if 
 not superior, to the white man. I would scarcely believe myself 
 that I once held these absurd opinions, if I did not find them 
 recorded in my own handwriting. I had not been long in the 
 West Indies before facts proved stronger than my theory. I 
 saw the negro in the full enjoyment of all the privileges of a 
 British subject, with plenty of profitable labour before him, and 
 yet not availing himself of these chances, and ruining some of 
 the finest colonies in the world by his indolence. Afterwards 
 I had still better opportunities of studying him in the Spanish 
 American Republics ; and when, after a voyage round the world 
 of seven years' duration, I returned once more to England, I had 
 entirely abandoned the ideas with which I set out. All my sub- 
 sequent experience, in every part of the world, confirmed my con- 
 viction that the equality of the negro and the white man, and 
 the possibility of elevating the negro to the standard of the white 
 by education, are mere delusions of the half-informed. 
 
 I am far from underrating the power of those who advocate 
 the equality of the negro with ourselves. Late events have 
 proved it. Everybody w T ho has travelled in the United States 
 must have observed the ill-disguised contempt with which the 
 majority of Northerners regard the negro. Yet so perfect was 
 
70 
 
 the organization of the abolitionists, and so clever were their 
 tactics, that the North conld be made to fight the South and 
 make the rights of the negroes one of their battle-cries ! Too 
 late the Americans discovered by whom they were led by the 
 nose, and that the anthropological theory, for the vindication of 
 which some of their best blood was spilt, was rotten at the core. 
 
 It is singular that the advocates of negro equality and fra- 
 ternity do not make a practical application of their theory to 
 themselves. Why don't they persuade their sons and daughters 
 to intermarry with negroes ? I am sure they would not maintain 
 that doctrine for a moment, if called upon thus to prove the sin- 
 cerity of their convictions. A refined white man cannot be in 
 the company of negroes without feeling disgusted by the abomi- 
 nable smell emanating from them. By special pleading you may 
 get over many of the objections preferred against the negro. 
 You may argue away his ugliness, by declaring that, as there is 
 no accounting for taste, you see nothing but lines of beauty 
 in him ; you may excuse his indolence by pointing to heaps of 
 idlers amongst ourselves ; his cruelty, by quoting the history of 
 Nero and other monsters ; his ignorance, by the thousands of 
 dupes and fools in the very centres of civilization ; but how will 
 you get over the repulsive odour peculiar to the black skin, and 
 particularly nauseous on a hot tropical day ? With this obstacle 
 in the way, can there be any real intimacy between the negro and 
 the white ? Or where there is, can it be called any other name 
 but degradation on the part of the Europeans ? 
 
 Anthropologists have still so many grave questions to solve, 
 that they might be fairly excused for postponing the discussion 
 on the negro's equality with, or inferiority to, the white man. 
 But it is their duty to speak out when the advocates of equality 
 act in a way which must lead to the total extinction of the white 
 race in tropical America. In the tropics the white man labours 
 under so many disadvantages from the climate, that he can only 
 exist there in the position of master. Even then he must re- 
 cruit his family by constant infusion of fresh blood from home, 
 or else doom it to extinction. The negro, on the contrary, 
 suffers from no climatic disadvantages : he can perform field and 
 other heavy work without suffering in health, and he does not 
 require an infusion of fresh blood to make him thrive and mul- 
 tiply. The two races are thus placed in a position which gives 
 a preponderating advantage to the negro. There is only one 
 thing in the white man's favour — his intellect ; and this sole ad- 
 vantage is neutralized by those who insist on the negro's intellect 
 being of equal calibre. In the British West Indies the negroes have 
 not been able to carry out this theory of equality to its legiti- 
 mate results. But in Hayti and several of the Spanish American 
 Republics they have already done so. There have been in those 
 
71 
 
 countries innumerable insurrections, of which the late Jamaica 
 one is but a faint copy ; and in every instance they have been 
 directed against the whites. Every fresh rising brings the black 
 element more to the surface. In some places a white face is 
 now as rarely seen as a black in London. Anarchy, such as the 
 world has seldom beheld, is the normal state of things. Bolivar, 
 the liberator of Columbia, foresaw all this. Every word of the 
 remarkable speech he made a few days before his death, has 
 come true. He took so desponding a view of the future of those 
 countries, that he advised all sensible men to emigrate. " If it 
 were possible/' he concludes, " that a part of the world could 
 relapse into chaos, it would be Spanish America." 
 
 The President then called on Commander Bedford Pirn to 
 reply to the remarks of the various speakers. He said that the 
 Society was much indebted to Commander Pirn for coming boldly 
 forward to read a paper on this most important subject, and he 
 was proud to find the gallant officer's lengthened experience had 
 led him to entertain similar views to those expressed at the 
 Anthropological Society three years ago. 
 
 Commander Bedford Pim begged to return his sincere thanks 
 for the manner in which his paper had been listened to ; he had 
 felt a glow of delight at the enthusiastic reception accorded by a 
 crowded and highly respectable audience, to the common-sense 
 view of the black question, which he had had the honour to lay 
 before them ; and he had been especially delighted at the strong 
 feeling, so warmly evinced, in condemning the conduct of the 
 Government in this matter ; for whether Governor Eyre was 
 right or wrong, it was quite clear that a rowdy invasion of 
 Downing Street ought not to have been tolerated for one mo- 
 ment by ministers having the slightest regard, not for their own, 
 but the nation's dignity. 
 
 Besides, the Government of this great country ought to have 
 been sufficiently self-reliant to have taken the case into their 
 own hands, and at least to have given Governor Eyre the oppor^ 
 tunity of vindicating his conduct before superseding him. 
 
 Practical men were united in their condemnation of the " de- 
 position and degradation " of Governor Eyre, not only from a feel- 
 ing of contempt at witnessing the abandonment of a tried and 
 faithful public servant, but because a more ill-judged and ha- 
 zardous measure could hardly have been adopted in the face of 
 recent events, — such a measure as neither Wellington nor Pal- 
 merston would ever have assented to. 
 
 He trusted that any incompleteness in his paper would be 
 forgiven, as other avocations of an engrossing nature had occu- 
 pied him during its preparation ; but he felt so keenly on the 
 subject, that he had waived all personal considerations, in the 
 
72 
 
 strong sense of duty which impelled him to bring the matter 
 forward. 
 
 In conclusion, he earnestly hoped that if ever he should find 
 himself in a similar position to that of Governor Eyre, he might 
 have the courage, determination, and self-reliance to act precisely 
 as his Excellency had done. 
 
 As soon as the President left the chair, three cheers for Go- 
 vernor Eyre were loudly called for, and responded to most enthu- 
 siastically, after which the meeting separated at a late hour. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 J. E. TAYLOR AND CO., PRINTERS, 
 LITTLE QUEEN STREET, LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS. 
 
LIS PWIPIS Dfi REVOLUTIONS 
 
 I 
 
IIS PRINCIPBS DE REVOLUTIONS 
 EN HAITI. 
 
 En lisant tous les actes des derniers eVenements d'Haiti qua- 
 lifies de revolution, 1'on voit tant d'anornalies avec la saine raison 
 politique, les theories sont en si flagrantes contradictions avec les 
 pratiques, que Ton remarque sans un profond examen, I'insufrisan- 
 ce politique des homines qui se qualifient "d'ecl aire's" et se croient 
 seuls en droit de diriger 1' avenir de cette Republique. Nouveaux 
 Syllas aux petits moyens,i!s veulent le triomphe de la rninorite con- 
 tre la major tie ; ils ensanglantent leur pays, sans avoir les moyens- 
 d'etablir un nouvel ordre de choses qui puisse sauvegarder sa na- 
 tionality,- et pour la vaine preponderance d'un parti use et inca- 
 pable. Ce pays qui n'a pas cesse d'etre bouleversd depuis 27 ans, 
 par l'ambition de quelques desoeuvr^s, qui ont toujours vu un mo- 
 yen de faire fortune ou de reparer leurs banqueroutes dans les chan- 
 gements des chefs du Gouvernement a besoin d'uue reforme mo- 
 rale et politique. 
 
 La Constitution d'Haiti est essentiellement libe>ale et malgr£ 
 cela le gouvernement s'exerce toujours despotiquement, arbitraire- 
 ment et tyranniquement; aucun pays n'a pas de meilleurs Lois, mais 
 dans aucune contree du monde, les gouvernements ne se moquent 
 pas autant de leur execution, de la, les elements de bouleversements 
 infinis.- II n'y a jamais eu de revolution proprement dite, ce sont 
 toujours des substitutions d'individus qui succombent sous l'intri- 
 gue des speculateurs politiques,- qui trouvent plus faciles,- a faire 
 ce qu'ils condamnaient au nom des institutions libeVales et de la 
 liberte,- qu'ils violent sans vergogne le jour de leur triomphe. 
 C'est le droit du vainqueur. 
 
 En 1843, Boyer fut renverse du pouvoir par une coterie politi- 
 que, qui 1'accusait d'etre rcste stationnaire 'pendant 25 annees; de if 
 avoir pas donne V education au peuple, d* avoir maintenu le systeme mi' 
 litaire qui retardait la civilisation et Vaidait d violer les Lois. 
 
 Les jeunes regenerateurs s'etaient poses en curateurs de la na- 
 tion, ils publierent un programme dans lequel e*tait expose" les plus 
 nobles et les plus grands principes liberaux; ils se crurent les seuls 
 capables de mettre en pratique leurs theories; ils e'carterent la ma- 
 jority du peuple et l'expe>ience des anciens. Cette majorite* il est 
 vrai,- n' £tait pas l'intelligeflce, mais elle £tait la force; elle avait 
 
— 2— 
 
 la conscience de ses besoins,- la grande voix de Dieu dont celle des 
 peuplcs est 1'echo, raisonnait en elle. Ce peuple si bon, si doux si 
 obeissant avait entendu la revolution, on lui repetait qu'elle avait 
 ete faite pour lui et il voyait que c'elait une ceuvre de privileges, 
 dans laquelle le m^rite et ia bonne foi avaient fait place aux favo- 
 ris et aux adulateurs. Les revolutionuaires avaient a peine pris 
 les renes de 1'Etat qu'ils se jeterent dant tons les exces et livre- 
 rent leur patrie dans l'anarchie la plus complete. 
 
 Un soldat iguorant, (Riviere Herard), sans conception politique, 
 saus consequence morale, dont la basse ambition, la soifde vengean- 
 ce et l'orgueild'un sot prejuge" etait le chef de cette revolution qui 
 avait tant de retentissement'et qui, devait etre si fatale a l'avenir 
 d'Ha'iti,-amener tant de malheurs, soulever tant de passions par les 
 mauvais procedes des homines qui, en renversant le chef d'un mau- 
 vais gouvernement selon eux, avaient decide de ne rien changer a 
 son 3 systeme. Que fail e de la Repubiique?.... "Un gateau aparlager." 
 
 Tous ces hommes dont les discours respiraient le devouement a 
 la patrie et Vorgucil de leur race, £taient instruits; quelques uns 
 avaient. ete eleves en Europe, mais la plupart (c'etaient les plus 
 bruyants et les plus audacieux), etaient ruines par suite des debau- 
 ches; il s voulaient refaire leur fortune et brilier avec la vanite ha'i- 
 tienne au premier rang. Cette revolution si grandiose, si necesai- 
 re, si pleine d'avenir, s'affaissa sous les exces de ses promoteurs 
 qui avaient menti a leur pays et a l'humanite.- Le peuple s'en 
 vengea, et dans un jour de grande indignation, furieux comme 
 l'ouragan qui deracine tous les vieux arbres, qui renverse tout ce 
 qui se croit assez fort pour lui resistor, il culbuta dans sa colere 
 hommes et choses et rautonomie de la patrie s'en resentit:- elle 
 se disloqua. 
 
 Le pays se debattit dans les plus grandes transes politiques 
 pendant plusieurs annees; la lecon avait C'te forte; mais malheurou- 
 sement toujours apres ces grandes crises, les passions soulevees 
 laissent apres elles I'immoralite et la corruption qui viennent avec 
 leurs adulateurs justifier les maux accomplis. Les gouvernements 
 individuels ou de parti se succederent plus ou moins recomman- 
 dables les uns que les autres selon le caractere modere ou absolu 
 des chefs dont les volontes sont toujours souveraines dans cette 
 oligarchic aux belles phrases. 
 
 Jamais la nation a eu part dans les elections de leur premier ma- 
 gistral un individu audacieux ou un parti disposant de la force ar- 
 m6e par la ruse, impose son candidat que la majoritd timide accep- 
 te sans murmurer, attendant qu'un autre plus heureux le renverse. 
 
 Les Lois n'ont jamais ete observers, leur violation en Haiti 
 sont des choses naturelles; les chefs n'en demandant leur execution 
 que pour faciliter leurs interets personnels ou ceux de leurs favoris: 
 le devoument a la patrie n'est pas compte en Haiti, c'est le de- 
 vouement a I'individu qui est un acte de vertu. Le crime n'est pas 
 
puni, mais l'opinion contraire a celle du chef amene la moil uu 
 i'exil. C'est pourtant la democratic. 
 
 Soulouque general d'armee, illettre, sans aucune connaissaii- 
 ce politique, fut le seul appele au pouvoir sans l'avoir brigue, par 
 une coterie incorrigible qui avait en vue de !e dominer et de diriger 
 l'Etai; plusieurs citoyens respectables donl I'amour de la patrie est 
 incontestable, furent elonnes de ce procede deloyal envers le pays, 
 d'abord its resterent indiflerents a eette nomination, decides a ser- 
 vir leur patrie avec abnegation sous quelque gouvernement que ce 
 puisse etre et avec la loyaute de bons citoyens. Cas memes hommes 
 qui avaient appele Soulouque, cbtistaterent qu'il avait aussi des 
 idees a lui, une volonte a lui et une conception administrative qui 
 ne les lais^eraient pas all premier rang; i Is conspirerent centre leur 
 pronre oeuvre. Une partie terrible et sanglante fut jouee, le Presi- 
 dent Soulouque triompha , et l'Empire fut cre^; alors tous ceux 
 qui n'avaient point pris part a 1'elevation du Chef, se grouperent 
 a ses c6te_>; car il avait le drapeau de I'ordre et il cre*a un gouver- 
 nement fort et respecic. 
 
 Douze armies d'un regne absolu, pesa sur les haitiens.- Les 
 speculateurs politiques qui malheureusement vivent a cote de tous 
 les gouvernements, rampants nujourd'hui, hautains demain, avaient 
 provoquo ceite chute de nos institutions. Soulouque quoique sans 
 instruction fut sincere et de bonne fo\; il avait dit " l'Etat c'est 
 moi, laLoi c' est ma volonte'';-le pays allait de son train, le peuple 
 n' etait pas heureux mais il joiiissait; il avait uu maitre qui Tern- 
 pechair de conspirer- et dela, le faisait aimer, et en riant il disait: 
 fiereS; "Rejouissons, nous attendons 1'avenir," que de fois plus tard, 
 cepeuple aura-t-il a se dire, quel beau temps! quelle belle epoque 
 que le regne de Soulouque!!' 
 
 Juste au moment du la nation se livrait a tous ses reves 
 d'avenir, 6u et le s'arrangeait pour jouir de la paix et de I'ordre qui 
 regnaient; un cri sodrd puis terrible et orageux se fit entendre, le 
 general GeffVard, un membre des debris de IS 13, qui avoit trahi son 
 parti dans deux occasions; acca'ole de dettes, pour se soustraire a 
 la misere qui le devore, (occasibiinee par le jeu et le Vibertiiuige)^ a 
 leve I'etendard de la revolte aux Gona'ives. A la tete de quelques 
 banqueroutieft, compagnons de ses debauches, il a attaque" I'auto- 
 rite du Gouvernement, -il a trouble I'ordre public. L'Empire etait 
 use, Geffrard avait mis !e noin d'un citoyen respectable en avant, 
 il avait dit aux populations troublees et etonnees, que le peuple de 
 L' Ouest et du Sud avait proclame le general Paul, dont il n'etait 
 que le representaut. Le nom de cet honnete citoyen, de cet homme 
 sans reproche qui avait I'amour de tous ses concitoyens, electrisat 
 tous les coeurs etchacun accourut bffrir sa vie pour le deTendre; 
 mais helas! le peuple avait c;-u a un escroc, a un faussaire, a un 
 ingrat que PEmpereur avait comble de bienfaits ; qu'il aimait, 
 qu'il avait sauve la vie, a qui il donnait de l'argent toujours pour 
 
— 4— 
 
 satisfaire ses gouts desordonnes du jeu- et il frappa la main gene- 
 reuse de Soulouque. 
 
 Geffrard se pr^senta au peuple de l'Artibonite et du Nord, 
 sous le masque de la democratic, il promit monts et merveilles et 
 tout ce que donnent de bonheur les institutions liberates dont il se 
 declare le premier champion; a peine avait-il r£uni une force suffi- 
 sante, qu'il usurpa le titre de President de la Republique. L'Em- 
 pire tomba, parceque cette institution n'etait pas comprise ou ne 
 convenait pas au peuple haitien.- L'ignorance de la masse avait 
 aide aux agitateurs et parcequ'aussi le chef etait vieux; mais la 
 nation ne pardonna jamais a Geffrard son usurpation; il fut hue" et 
 m£prise plus qu'aucun chef ne l'avait ete.- Les vols , les dilapi- 
 dations, l'injustice et la violation des Lois exiterent le peuple a 
 recourir aux armes chaque ann^e pour terrasser le vice de cet 
 homme et de ses sicaires; jamais un chef de gouvernement ne s' 
 etait plus souille* de crimes et avait montre" plus de basses et sales 
 cupiditds. 
 
 Arrive au pouvoir, Geffrard s'est demasque. Faisons vitement 
 le portrait moral de Fabre Nicolas Geffrard, pour que l'on puisse 
 juger cet homme dont Tame pervertie et l'Hypocrisie a pu 
 echapper au jugement de ceux qui ne Font vu qu'en passant ou de 
 ceux qui n'ont entendu parler de luique parses complices. Geffrard 
 porte une figure qui vue sans examen, inspire au premier abord si ce 
 n'est de la sympathie, dumoins la pitie; elle vous rappele quelque 
 fois les traits de "Jesus Souffrant" peiuts dans les reproductions en 
 platre que dibitent les Italiens ambulants dans nos villes d'Haiti, 
 vous croyez entendre dans son silence : Aimez — vous les uns les 
 autres; mais en le considerant attentivement, vous reconnaissez le 
 singe et la Hyene dans cet homme a double face. II est un discoureur 
 infini , mais sa logique est celle des disciples de "Loyola", il aime 
 les phrases a effet; plngiaire sans parcil, pretentieux degoutant, il 
 se croit musicien, poete, mathematisien,orateur et homme d'Etat. II 
 a cru qu'il lui etait aussi possible d'usurper les connaissances scien- 
 tifiques que Ton ne peut acquerir que par Tetude, qu'il lui a ete 
 facile d' escroquer le pouvoir. Partout il veut briller, mais c'est le 
 ver a la place du diamant- il laisse quelques eclats. Causant une 
 fois d'&stronomie daus le cercle de ses inlimes, il s'e^t eerie: "Jai 
 trouve le secret du mouvement perpetuel." Causeur de progres qu'il 
 ne comprenoj pas, aypeleur de parasites sur le pays afin de faire 
 croire aux etrangers qu'il veut )e bien etre de la nation; yarleur 
 de patriotisme d'un pays qu'il a saigne de tous les membres; en 
 grand disciple de Marchiavel, qui est son auteur favori mais sans etu- 
 de, il n'a pu en comprendre que ce qui favorisait ses mauvais ins- 
 tines;- superficiel en toutes choses excepte dans sa manvaise foi et 
 faisant des dupes de tous, il repetait souvent, je me sers des hommes 
 comma du citron j'en prendslejus et je jete la peau." Corrupteur 
 sans exemple; il a eu des Ministres de la Justice et de PInstruction 
 
— 5— 
 
 pubik]ue,-ies uns avaient 6t6 poursuivis pour crime de Viol d'au- 
 tres, pour ciime de peculat, tous ont 6t6 ses pourvoyeurs de va- 
 ginites, prises dans les dcoles de Jeunes filles, dirigeVs parses an- 
 ciennes main-esses, dout la plupart vivaieut en flagrant delit- 
 d'adultere, 
 
 Tout le moncke en Haiti salt que Geffrard recompeusait ses mai- 
 tresses, d'une Com mission de Directrice d'une dcole de Demoise- 
 lles- telle que Madame Pelletier, la femme d'un pirate negrier 
 p ris dans nos mers, volant de Jeunes negres dans les canots de pr- 
 obes pour elre vendus a Cuba, le queT futjuge et condamnd a mort, 
 mais la prostitution de la femme facilita I'evasion du mari et lui me- 
 i ita une Commission de Directrice d'un etablissement d'enseigne- 
 ment moral, religieux et inlellectuel des jeunes haitiennc s. 
 
 Geffrard a menti a Son pays, il a viole impundment les Lois, 
 il a enleve les fori unes de Soulouque et de sa famille, qu'il s'est 
 approprie, lui etsesfavoris, il a illegalment affectC les deniers de 
 i'&tat a son profit, il a seme la division entre les enfants de la me- 
 mo race; veritable harpie de la Fable il gatait et salissait toutes 
 les reputations ; il soldait la delation et l'espionnage pour 
 n'tjpagner aucune respectability, il s'attachait avec la persistance de 
 Satan a perseeuter les homines les plus respectables, les plus ins- 
 tr uits et les [dus honneies, qui out (loune louies les preuves de leur 
 amour a la patrie dont ils out le plus grand intCret de con&erver; 
 ct ux qui ue tomberent pas sous sa haehe furent represented comme 
 de miseVables agitateurs et prescripts ignominieusement de la patrie; 
 il n'epargaa pas memo les femmes iimocentes. Apres avoir tendu 
 ties pieges et fail assnssiner soit par le fer, par le poison ou le du- 
 gout ceux qui Pavaient Fait monter au pouvoir, il a lachement fuit 
 en emportaut a I'etranger la fortune publique, pour s'en servir h 
 bouleverser un pouvoir qu'ii regre'tte et qui he lui a aide* qu'a com- 
 promettre 1'avenir de ses coueitoyens et a les avilir. 
 
 Que de veuves, que d'orphehns eel homme fatal h*a pas faits 
 durant sont administration} pour so maintenir au pouvoiiV que de 
 haines n' a-i-il p>is entrctenues en jetaut le brandon de la discor- 
 de dans la famille \vuiu tine? quelle corruption n'a-t-il pas em- 
 ployee pour se ernmponoei- a ce podvotr qn'il n'a pas su defendre 
 ioyalemeni? Son esprit etait si pen'erti, qu'ii s'est lachement servi 
 des effets de la nature qui sembient i'avoir expressement prepare* 
 pour le role in lame qu'il a juie. Fils de noir et' de jaune il s'est 
 servi tan tot du privilege de la couteur de son pere pour se faire 
 passer pour noir pres des hommes de cette nuance, tantot du privi- 
 vilege de la couleur de sa mere dont il portait les cheveux, il se 
 faisait passer pour mulatre pies des hommes de cette couleur et 
 aux uns et autres il disait tout douccment qu'il £tait leur protecteur 
 pourempecher un confiit qu'il preparait yourtant lejour de sa chu- 
 te qu' il prevoyait iufaillible. Le Gouvemement de 1' Empereur 
 Soulouque avait fait oublier aux noirs et aux jaunes qu'ils e'taient 
 
— 6— 
 
 de nuances differentes, lui le general Geffrard le leur a fait souve- 
 nir en |eur disant defiez-vous les uns les autres! 
 
 0! manes de Salomon aine et de ses seize compagnons, de Du- 
 cas Hippolite et de ses Seize compagnons; d'Aime Legros de ses 
 huit compagnons, de Mongommery et de ses trois compagnons, 
 d'Oge Longuefosse et de ses trois compagnons, de Paul Isidor et de 
 ses huit compagnons, 6 ! manes des innombrabies victimes tombees 
 sous le fer, ie poison et le degout dont vous avez ete* abreuve* par ce 
 re"ne"gat, soulevez-vous dans vos tombeaux de martyrs pour crier: 
 malediction et maudire sa memoire. 
 
 Salnave succede a Geffrard sous de mauvais auspices; comme 
 Geffrard, il s'^tait fait chef de parti, comme lui il avait une fortu- 
 ne a refaire et comme lui il se joua des institutions; comme lui, mais 
 avec plus de forme, plus de legalite il s'etait impose non pas a la 
 masse qui etait fascinCe, qui dans la fren£sie de ses passions s' 
 enthousiasma pour le premier audacieux qui se presente, pour le 
 premier soldat de fortune qui se montreavec le plus simple acte de 
 courage, sans examiner le role que le hasard a joue dans leur des- 
 tined, sans juger leur passe* et leur present et l'esperance qu'il 
 donne pour l'avenir; car les peuples aiment tout ce qui est nou- 
 veau, dussent- ils briser le lendemain cette idole qu'il a elevee hier: 
 comme I'enfant brise ie plus charmant joujou qu'il pleurait pour 
 avoir. 
 
 „Le peuple frangais enle"va un jour de ces caveaux antiques 
 les cendres de soixante Rois pour les jeter aux vents et y deposer 
 les restes de Mirabeau et de Marrat et a un autre jour il traina dans 
 les egoftts leurs cadavres qu'il avait eleve* au pantheon." 
 
 Salnave soutenu de la masse et de l'armee s'impose aux re- 
 prCsentants de la nation; et il fut proclame" President de la Repu- 
 blique, mais moins rus6, moins adroit, n'ayant aucum tact politi- 
 que, il heurta k chaque pas les embuches qui lui sonttendus par les 
 favoris de son pr6d£eesseur. Une minorite aristocratique s'agite et 
 intrigue contre ce nouveau chef et finit par susciter un fatal con- 
 flit que le bon sens du peuple avait su dviter a d' autres epoques- 
 (en comprimant l'ambition des partis qui le provoquait), et, de ce 
 conflit la guerre civile sanglante et hideuse avec toutes ses hor- 
 reurs se fit voir sur toute la surface du pays; et dans ces moments 
 de luttes fratricides, nul jugement ne put distinguer au milieu des 
 exc^s, ou etaient les defeuseurs de lapatrie, dont touss' evertuaient 
 k d&mirer le sein. 
 
 Le sang coula a flots et les fortunes furent ane*anties. 
 
 Dans les deux rangs 1'on rdpondit du c6t£ du Gouvernement 
 a i'incendie par 1' incendie, au pillage par le pillage et a l'assas- 
 sinat par l'assassinat; mais rien n'egal&t les atrocitCs des r£volu- 
 tionnaires; nulle scene de carnage plus terrible et plus barbare ne 
 s'est jamais fait entendre nulle part. Enfin Salnave succomba 
 sous la force de l'incurie et de la mauvaise foi des hommes qu'il 
 
avait appele*3 a 1'aider, en qui il avait place* une aveugle et fatale 
 confiance; mais il aimait son pays, et s'il a accepte la lutte, c'est 
 parce qu'ii se voyait le chef d'une nouvelle idee dont l'avenir 
 6*tait rayonnant et progressif; malheureusement il avait mal choisi 
 ses hommes; s'il avait etd compris, s'il avait l'aptitude necessaire 
 pour tout dinger lui-meme, il serait le Marius de sa patrie, corame 
 le vainqueur des Cimbres abattant l'aristocratie dans Rome," il 
 aurait dcrase les pretentions de suprematie qui dounine un parti en 
 Haiti. Mais laissons a l'avenir 1'heure du nivellement, car toutes 
 les saintes iddes doivent avoir son triomphe; alors les martyrs se 
 leveront avec leur aureole de gloire. 
 
 Nous examinerons a l'ceuvre les rdvolutionnaires de 1868 qui 
 ont donne uu programme de principes moraux et de civilisation, 
 nous verrons si leurs act^s Merits repondent a leurs actions, satisfont 
 4 la morale publique et peuvent consolider le progr&s dont ils se 
 fonts les Champions. La prise d'armes contre Salnave a eu pour 
 griefs, la violation de la Constitution, le desordre dans les finances &f>8f* 
 Les promoteurs de cetce revolution, en appelant le peuple aux 
 armes avaient jure de retablir la Constitution de 1867 et de deposer 
 apres leur triomphe les pouvoirs extraordinaircs qu'ils setaient donnh 
 en retablissant Vassemblee nationalc 9 seul pouvoir souverain habile d 
 nommer le chef de T Etat et d modifier sHl est necessaire la Constitution. 
 
 Qu'avions- nous vu & la place de ce programme menteur. 
 D'abord la revolution se couvrit de crimes, aux Cayes, a Jer£mie, a 
 Miragoane. au Petit-Goave, au Grand-Goave, a Leogane, a Jacmel, 
 a Aquin et dans toutes les local ite^s du Sad par ou elle a passee; 
 par l'assassinat de centaines d'individus ; femmes , vieillards et 
 enfants livr£s a la ferocite des Trois-Boutons, des Malfinis, des Bio~ 
 leau-Laforest- dignes compagnons des Brice, des Domingue, des 
 Rebecca Hector et des Potion Faubertqui se disputerent la priority 
 des tortures a faire supporter aux innocentes victimes, qui n' avai- 
 ent fait que rester neutres dans le bouleversement opeVds par ces 
 energumeues. Brice ain£, jeune homme de 28 ans a peine, assassine 
 de sa propre main, le general Marcelin Jean Baptiste du parti du 
 Gouvernement; il fit couper le poignet droit a tous ceux qu'il ren- 
 contra sur sa route de Leogane a Miragoane apres sa fuite devant le 
 Port-au-Prince; il ordonna a son collegue Trois-Boutons de tuer a 
 coup de sabre tous ceux qu'il prenait et en sa presence il fit tomber 
 les uns apres les autres les membres de ses victimes, jusqu'& ce que 
 mort s'en suive.-Domingue fit mitrailler dans les prisons des Cayes 
 les femmes, les enfants et les vieillards; il fit bayonnetter a Aquin et 
 fcCavaillon tous ceux qui lul dtaient suspects; aux Cayes, il fit mi- 
 trailler Borgella et Mentor apres un jugement d'acquittement: — 
 un pere defamiUe, citoyen inoffensif qui ne s'etait jamais occupy 
 de la politique fut arrete* et jete dans les prisons des Cayes; soil fils 
 age" de 15 ans, se presente pour le voir, juste dans le meme md- 
 irient 1 ; on venait prendre le pere pour le conduire £ la mort; le fils 
 
— 8— 
 
 I'accompagne au lieu du suppliee et pendant qu'd l'embrassait 
 il tomba mort avec son pere sous le feu des soldatsj-tfae dame, me K 
 re defamille respectable qui avait comble Domingue et ses neveux les 
 Rameaux,de bienfaits, fut arreted a cause de son fils qui avail aban- 
 donne" la revolution et est fusil lee saiis aeune forme de proces. — 
 Rebecca plus humain pour ne pas rester eu arriere de ces satur- 
 nales ne fit fusilier a" Jacmel que vivgt deux ciloyens sans jugements. 
 Petion Faubert, a Pelionville fit violer les femmcs et les filles et assas- 
 smer les maris et les f re res, et dans la joie de ea feroce nature il 
 s'ecrie ,,il faut les depatter." 
 
 Brice et ses amis ontenleve" a leur profit plus de 6. 000. 000 de 
 gourdes en raonnaie nationale a bard du navire ,,22 Decembre" au 
 Petit- Goave; ils ont partage outre eux environ 100.000 piatres et 
 des bijoux en quantite qui y avaient ete deposes par des families- 
 Brice et'Duponci Dupoot jeune, (mt pille tons les magasins d'Aquit;, 
 iis ont proscrit les proprielaires on les ont fait blanehir: C'etait leur 
 nouveau vocabulaire qui signifiait hacher. Voila la moralite et 1' ex- 
 cellence des prineipes de ces soi-disant patriotcs. 
 
 Les revolutionnaires viojerent sans vergogne tou(es ies Lois 
 du pays, il n'y a plus dedoute, que dans le delire de leur ambition 
 ils voulurent iaire le partage de la Republique en plusieurs gouver- 
 nements independants; afin que chacun des chefs eut uu lambeau 
 pour commander en maltre, demandant kVunissonlc proteclorat ame- 
 ricain; tous les actes de Domingue dans lesud, dans son gouverne- 
 nient meridional l'attestent : voir les journaux des Cayes et de Jac- 
 mel de l'epoque. Les principes de la Constitution furenl fouled aux 
 pieds- et les revolutionnaires firent la guerre en veritable Cariouche, 
 ausi-le pillage a-t'il ete grand ! Ils one accuse' Salnave d'avoir emis 
 des billets de caisse sans autorisation pour faire la guerre, et ils en 
 ont fait en masse appanvrisant de plus en plus le pays, qui suc- 
 combe avec de faux papiers; ils ont accuse Salnave de laisser pil- 
 ler l'Etat par les fournisseurs; eux, les chefs revolutionnaires ont 
 pille ouvertement, il n'y a rien qu'iis ont accuse dout ils n'ont pas 
 mille fois depasse\ Le pays entier est irnbu des manoeuvres des ces. 
 infames pi i lards qui ont voulu rerivniyer la responsabiiite de leur 
 vandalisme au parti du Gouvernemonf; mais quelqu'd en a 6t6, 
 les represailles n'ont jamais £gal&s les actes qui les out provoqu^s. 
 
 Brice euleve de Sifrat, lieutenant de Salnave qu'il traite d'as- 
 sasin et de pillard, 12.000 piastres et 300 sacs de cafe \\ les garde 
 sans en rendre compte a qui que ce soit. 
 
 Domingue et ses neveux les Rameaux s'^taient faits les mat- 
 feres absolus du tresor public aux Cayes; ils ont fabrique" a leur pro- 
 tit des millions de gourdes en papiers monnaie qu'iis ont impose" 
 aux populations ecras£es et ruin^es, et plusieurs mois apres le 
 triomphe de la revolution, la presse fbnetionait aux Cayes au profit 
 de Domingue et consorts. — Ils ont accuse Salnave d'avoir sou- 
 leve' les Piquets pour piller, assassiner incendier; ils ee sont 
 
—9— 
 
 servis eux des Cacos, les rebuts cle la societe pour tout oser. Tous 
 les chefs de la revolution et ceux qui y ont pris une part directe, 
 e'taient des hommes accables de dettes ou de misdrables de*so3uvre*s; 
 ils poss£dent tous en ce moment des fortunes inmenses. Quel est 
 le travail qu'ils ont fait pour etre riches en si peu de temps tan- 
 disque toutes les families qui etaient dans 1'aisance sont aujour 
 d'hui ruinees et ont vendu leurs derniers bijoux a Kingston et a St. 
 Thomas, jusqu'a leurs meubles et leurs matelas pourvivre dans 
 ces moments de desastres civils! Evidemment ces fortunes ne sont 
 que les produits des pillages et des assassinats, car & Jacmel, les 
 membres du Comite de cette ville, n'ont pas recule devant le crime 
 de^demolir les maisons, d'enlever les marbres et les pierres, qu'ils 
 ont envoye's vendre a Kingston a leur profit. Ils ont donn6 des 
 permis aux citoyens pour l'etranger pour avoir de l'argent, et aussi 
 tot leur depart ils ont fait saisir et vendre leurs propriete's,- qu'ils 
 se sont adjuges. Un jour quand le pays sera libre pour juger les 
 actes des deux partis, Ton verra de quel cote' a et6 l'infamie. 
 
 Ces reformateurs de l'avenir du pays, ces hommes de grands 
 principes moraux, ces politiques ingenieux ne s'arretent pas dans leurs 
 moyens de civilisation- ils arrivent dans la capitale du pays,- ils ont 
 triomphe, par la trahison et Salnave et son parti sont abattus. Mais 
 pour etre consequents avec leurs pr6c£dents, il faut qu'ils laisseut 
 partout les traces de leur destruction. 
 
 La Ville et les postes e'taient en leur pouvoir. Salnave 6tait au 
 palais national avec quelques uns de ses amis presque dans l'im- 
 possibilite de se detendre; dans quelques heures il allait envoyer son 
 abdication, mais l'infame Brice est pressd d'en finir.- Que lui im- 
 porte le passe' et l'avenir d'un peuple? Ses ancetres n'ont point 
 vecu dans ce passe', il lui faillait tout detruire tout an^antir pour 
 etre quelque chose dans cet avenir.-Helas! bien sombre aujourd'hui. 
 Brice est presse' disons- nous, il a encore peur d'un retour de fortune 
 pour Salnave, il accourt chez Mr. Saint-John, Consul Anglais qui 
 met & sa disposition des artilleurs Anglais d'un navire de guerre 
 dans ce moment en rade, il fait embosser le batiment de guerre 
 ha'iiien "La Terreur" contre le palais national, le seul edifice dans 
 lequel la g6ne>ation presente allait contempler les traits sublimes 
 des he'ros de notre Inde'pendance. 
 
 Ce palais fut impitoyablement bombards et incendie', par or- 
 dre de Brice-ainC*, digne imitateur de Geffrard, dirigeant les yoin- 
 teurs anglais - celui-ci, sur la ville du Cap celui-lasur le Port-au- 
 Prince. 
 
 Pourquoi cette destruction inutile? Pourquoi tous ces actes 
 de brutale sauvagerie? Cependant la dans ce palais e'taient insta- 
 lled majestueusement dans le Salon de Mars; les portraits de Des- 
 salines, de Pe'tion, et de cinquante autres generaux de notre liber- 
 tC; ceux de Gregoire, de Wilberforce, de Brissot et d'autres amis 
 des noirs. Tous ces souvenirs que Ton a pu receuillir apres un grandj 
 
— 10— 
 
 travail et qui ont coute des valeurs euormes, qui representaient 
 tout mi passe et dounaient toute l'esperauce de i'avenir; toute 
 cette histo.ire a disparu sous la passion sanguinaire et desordonnee 
 d'un mauvais haitien. O digues et inimitables heros de notre iti- 
 dependance, vos traits ne seront pas conn us de nos enfants! 
 
 Le feu du palais et d'autres edifices environants fat communi- 
 que a la ville, plus du tiers en tut detruit et des milliers de fami- 
 lies heureuses n'aguere furent reiuitesa, demander leur paiu et un 
 abri. Vous vous etes eleve, messieurs, sur ces debris; le sang inno- 
 cent, la rnisere des veuves et des orphelins s.ont aujourd'hui les can- 
 delabres de votre grandeur,- mais craiguez que les cris de vos vio- 
 times ne font changer en Cypres l'or qui vous decore. 
 
 N'est-ce pas ridicule; n'est-ce pas etre ignoble, apies avoir com- 
 mis des actes de ce genre, apres avoir pi lie tous les cafes du mono- 
 pole qui etaient dans la douane, apres se les avoir appropries, — 
 apres avoir refuse de payer aux individus qui etaient porteurs des 
 bons du* tresor pour ces memes cafes qu'ils aviient tivres quelques 
 jours auparavant en vertu de la Loi; apres vous s'etre enrichis des 
 depouilles de vos victimes, faire mettre hors la Loi des citoyens 
 plus interesses que vous Mrs. Brice et Dupont Jeuue au bonheur 
 de la patrie? de cette patrie qui est la leur dans le passe" le pre- 
 sent et I'avenir, ordonner de tuer des hommes pour la¥er des cri- 
 mes que vous seuls aviez com mis. Oh! revolutionaires de 1S68, vous 
 avez proscrit et assassine de bons citoyens au lieu de les faire ju- 
 ger; vous aviez eu peur de I'impartalite d'un jugemeut; car d'accu- 
 sateurs vous seriez accuses; vous, vous trouveriez sur la seilette, et 
 une bonne justice ferait du bourreau le condamne. Les revolution- 
 naires se declarent pouvoir souverain, — ils livreut Salnave a sea en- 
 nemis personnels et il est lachement assassine par ses bourreaux; 
 ils etablissent des tribunaax exceptionnels pour assassiner et 
 continuer plus promptcment, — et pour mieux renssir d'attirer leurs 
 victimes, ils font des actes (Vamnulie qui ne sunt que des piuges 
 pour prendre des ciioyens d^signes a leur vengeance. 
 
 Mr. Brice doune ordre a sou ami Boileau Laforet depwer de 
 puis Leogane jusqu'a Aquin, de tous ceux qai I'avaient combattu, 
 Boileau commence son ceavre & Le )gane il y fait arreter plusieurs 
 citoyens incfFensifs et il continue avec ses citoyens 6. la tete d'un 
 detachemeut pour Grand--Goave; en chemin il ordonne a ses sol- 
 dats, de faire tomber le chupeau do chaque individti partiel.'ement 
 et a chaque fois qu'un se baisse pour le ramasser sa tete est abattue 
 d'un coup de sabre. Ce genre de tuerie continue jusqu'a St Michel, 
 deja le nombre des victimes, avait atteint 49 lors qu'un cri d'indig- 
 naiion fut pousse par quelques ames charitables, alors seulement 
 Nissage envoya chercher en toute hate Boileau, qui fut mis en pri- 
 son et remis en liberte le lendemain apres l'exhibition de l'ordre de 
 Brice. Cependant les victimes avaient ete pilles et leurs depouilles 
 restent acquises a leurs bourreaux et ses complices. 
 
—11— 
 
 Nissage le chef de la revolution, dont la prudence avait retarde de 
 se faire connaitre dans le crime, Nissage qui dans le doute du triom- 
 phe s'e*tait reserve les circonstances attenuantes, est appele au Port- 
 au-Prince par Brice, il y arrive, il n'a plus rien a craiodre, il faut 
 qu'il se manifeste dans la Capitale du pays par un acte de grande so- 
 lidarite avec ses, energiques complicess, pour que sa nomination 
 a la presidence fut assuree. II signe san discussion un decret de 
 mis hors la hi contre 30 offieiers superieurs qu'il suppose etre avec 
 Salnave. Plusieurs de ces offieiers etaient en ville vaquant a* leurs 
 affaires ordinaires, Ja plupart munis de sauf-conduits des chefs re- 
 volutionnaires. lis demandent desjuges, on les repond par la crea- 
 tion d'un Tribunal revolutionnaire, preside par un Lorquet, dont la 
 gloire et le bonheur sont de marcher dans le sang. 
 
 Le Tribunal revolutionnaire ordonne froidement l'assassinat 
 de Salnave apres une comedie de jugement qui eut ' lieu dans 
 i'espace de deux heures du le patient eut a* supporter les plus 
 ameres vexations , notamment du nomme Theomar Boisrond 
 Canal. II est vrai que cette mort avait ete d£ja resolue dans 
 le Gouvernement qui avait passe* toute une journee et une 
 nuit en deliberation pour savoir comment l'appliquer, si e'est la 
 pendaison, le feu ou l'eau. Quelques jours apres le meme tribunal se 
 reunit pour juger 70 personnes y compris plusieurs femmes; il con- 
 damne plusieurs a la peine de mort, Nissage fait executer ceux 
 qu'il veut et il commue la peine de plusieurs gene>aux en tra- 
 vaux forces aperp^tuite. Vous n'aviez pas eu peur General Nissage, 
 de commueren deshonneur, en infamie en travaux forces a perpe- 
 tuite la peine inflige"e sans droit ni quality par votre tribunal re- 
 volutionnaire, preside par le trop cdlebre Lorquet, aux gen^raiix de 
 Varmee Haitienne, d'apr^s une accusation, denuee de tout sens 
 calomnia trice ec diffamante; que la petitesse de votre imagination 
 etla mauvaise foi de vos adherents ont invente et qu'ils n'ont pas 
 cru eux-memes. L'on peut mouiir innocent sous une peine afflictive 
 et infamante, mais Ton ne peut pas vivre innocent avec le mepris- 
 de miserables criminels triomphantf! En agissant ainsi, vous n'avez 
 pas eu craint de Pavenir? En efFet, votre esprit est trop etroit pour 
 le juger et cependant, il se dresse deja devaLt vous. Vous etes vieux, 
 que vous importe demain. ? vous n'avez pas d'enfants votre esprit est 
 
 en desarroi, mais vos complices ils devraient reflechir avant 
 
 de vous eonseiller de tels enormitres. 
 
 La Constitution devient une lettre morte; les revolutionnaires 
 se sont empares du pouvoir ils ne desirent plus s'en dessaisir, le 
 sang qu'ils ont fait couler et qu'ils font couler encore les aveugle,- 
 ils y sont embourbes, il faut qu'ils continuent jusqu'a ce qu'ils 
 soient etouffe's par l'odeur fetide que cette mare infecte doit faire 
 rejaillir sur eux. La purete' de Tinnocent s ? ouvrira sur eux en- 
 Cypres. 
 
 Revolutionnaires de 1S6S, vous avez viole* plus impitoyable 
 
—12— 
 
 ment que vos pred^cesseurs la Loi fondarnentale de votre pays; 
 comme vos predecesseurs vous avez manque de courage, commeeux 
 vous avez tremble" devant uu ignorant ambitieux qui vous a impost 
 sa candidature, comme eux vous avez laisse" troner sur le pays un 
 etre incapable, qui une fois s'etait couvert du manteau du ddsinte- 
 ressement par la peur qu'il avait de Sainave en refusant la presi- 
 dence qu'une coterie de mauvaise foi voulait lui donner; vous avez 
 de nouveau livre la destinee de votre pays entre les mains de Vigno- 
 ranee, de la folic, de la bigottrie et de la faibUsse; et quand l'avenir 
 sombre et d£sastreu.r s'offrira a vous ne vous en plaignez pas. — 
 Vous avez assassine sans crainte de l'avenir- vous avez manque de 
 courage morale dans le maniement des finances — Vous avez com- 
 promis la nationatilite" ha'itienne par cette conduite desordonnee. — 
 Vous avez fait du mal a votre race dans tout le Globe. "Nissage, 
 President d'Haiti, e'est la revolution sur la selette; assez de' chefs 
 igorants et incapables au gouvernement!" 
 
 Re*volutionnaires vous avez meconnu la gloire qui vous etait 
 reserved, vous avez d£daigne le jugement de la poste>ite\ vos senti- 
 rnerits n'ont pas ete* & la hauteur de la dignite d'hornmes, vous 
 avez ete aveugles par vos passions, vos haines et vos vengeances — 
 et les petites ambitions des ames sans elevation qui meconnaissent 
 les principes sacres de verite" et d'humanite*. "II n'y a rien de plus 
 sacre* qu'un principe; le bien hors les principes, e'est le mal. 4 ' 
 
 Pour vous autres rdvolutionnaires haitieus, les principes mo- 
 raux et politique?, sunt mensonges, haines et vengeances ; aucune 
 verite*, aucun sentiment d'amour de la patrie ne vous animent pas; 
 arretez-vous dans cette voie funeste, substituez a la place du vice, 
 de l'arbitraire, du despotisme de l'ignorance et du mensonge , les 
 principes de droit, de justice, de verite, et de liberie" qui sout im- 
 muables; refl£chissez que depuis notre independance tons ces bou- 
 leversements, tous ces changements de gouvernements ne vous ont 
 produit que miseres et mepris; tous les peuples ont fait des revo- 
 lutions pour edifier, mais vous les taites pour defcruire; d'autres 
 peuples plus jeunes que vous, se sont formes a l'ombre de la pais, 
 ils grandissent et font des progr^s dans le siecle, tandis que vous 
 restez encore dans les langes de l'enfance et du crime; les grands 
 peuples du Globe, posent la question a savoir, si vous ne devez 
 pas etre remis en tutelle ou etre absorbs. 
 
 Oh! honte, pour vous; roalheur et malediction, si vous ne faites 
 pas des efforts pour sauvegarder votre nationality que tous les hom- 
 mes noirs et jaunes ont droit de vous en demander compte. 
 
 Repoussez de la candidature a votre Gonvernement les igno- 
 rants et soyez forts pour combattre la mauvaise foi et I'ambition 
 individuelle: e'est le moyen de conjurer 1'orage qui vous menace et 
 de marcher vers un avenir meilleur. 
 
A TREATISE 
 
 ON THE 
 
 INTELLECTUAL CHARACTER, 
 
 AND 
 
 CIVIL AND POLITICAL CONDITION 
 OF THE 
 
 COLORED PEOPLE OF THE U. STATES 
 
 AND THE 
 
 PREJUDICE EXERCISED TOWARDS THEM; 
 WITH A SERMON 
 ON THE 
 
 DUTY OF THE CHURCH TO THEM. 
 
 BY REV. H. EASTON, 
 A COLORED MAN. 
 
 BOSTON: 
 
 PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY ISAAC KNAPP. 
 
 1837. 
 
COPY RIGHT SECURED ACCORDING TO LAW. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 It is with diffidence that I offer this treatise to the public ; 
 but an earnest desire to contribute my mite, for the benefit of 
 my afflicted brethren, is my only apology. The subject is one 
 of peculiar difficulty ; especially as it is one in which I am 
 deeply interested. 
 
 To speak or write on a subject relating to one's self, is pe- 
 culiarly embarrassing ; and especially so, under a deep sense 
 of injury. 
 
 As an apology for the frequent errors that may occur in the 
 following pages, I would remark : It cannot be reasonably ex- 
 pected, that a literary display could adorn the production of one 
 from whom popular sentiment has withheld almost every advan- 
 tage, even of a common education. 
 
 If this work should chance to fall into the^hands of any 
 whose minds are so sordid, and whose hearts are so inflexible, 
 as to load it, with its author, with censure on that account 
 merely, I would only say to them, that I shall not be disposed 
 to envy them in the enjoyment of their sentiments, while I en- 
 deavor to content myself in the enjoyment of a consciousness 
 of having done what I could to effect the establishment of 
 righteousness and peace in the earth. 
 
 Hartford, Ct. } March, 1S37. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 I conclude that, by this time, one great truth is acknowledged 
 by all Christendom, viz. — God hath made of one blood all na- 
 tions of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth. Or, in 
 other words, I conclude it is a settled point with the wisest of 
 the age, that no constitutional difference exists in the children 
 of men, which can be said to be established by hereditary laws. 
 If the proposition be granted, it will follow, that whatever dif- 
 ferences exist, are casual or accidental. The variety of color, 
 in the humun species, is the result of the same laws which va- 
 riegate the whole creation. The same species of flowers is 
 variegated with innumerable colors ; and yet the species is the 
 same, possessing the same general qualities, undergoing no in- 
 trinsic change, from these accidental causes. So it is with the 
 human species. These varieties are indispensable, for the dis- 
 tinction of different objects, throughout the whole range of 
 creation. 
 
 The hair is subject to the same laws of variety with the skin, 
 though it may be considered in a somewhat different light. Were 
 I asked why my hair is curled, my answer would be, because 
 God gave nature the gift of producing variety, and that gift, 
 like uncontrolled power every where, was desirous to act like 
 itself; and thus being influenced by some cause unknown to 
 man, she turned out her work in the form of my hair ; and on 
 being influenced by some other cause, she turned out hair of 
 different texture, and gave it to another man. This would be 
 the best answer I could give ; for it is impossible for man to 
 comprehend nature or her works. She has been supplied with 
 
an ability by her author to do wonders, insomuch that some 
 have been foolish enough to think her to be God. All must 
 confess she possesses a mysterious power to produce variety. 
 We need only visit the potato and corn patch, (not a costly 
 school,) and we shall be perfectly satisfied ; for there, in the 
 same hill, on one stalk, sprung from one potato, you may find 
 several of different colors ; and upon the same corn-stalk you 
 may find two ears, one white or yellow, and the other deep red ; 
 and sometimes you may find an astonishing variety of colors 
 displayed on one ear among the kernels ; and what makes the 
 observation more delightful, they are never found quarrelling 
 about their color, though some have shades of extreme beauty. 
 If you go to the field of grass, you will find that all grass is 
 the same grass in variety ; go to the herds and flocks, and among 
 the feathered tribe, or view nature where you will, she tells us 
 all that we can know, why it is that one man's head bears woolly, 
 and another flaxen hair. 
 
 But when we come to talk about intellectual differences, we 
 are brought into a new field of investigation. I call it a new or 
 another field, because I cannot believe that nature has any thing 
 to do in variegating intellect, any more than it has power over 
 the soul. Mind can act on matter, but matter cannot act upon 
 mind ; hence it fills an entirely different sphere ; therefore, we 
 must look for a cause of difference of intellect elsewhere, for it 
 cannot be found in nature. In looking for a cause, we have no 
 right to go above nor below the sphere which the mind occupies ; 
 we cannot rationally conceive the cause to originate with God, 
 nor in matter. Nature never goes out of her own limits to pro- 
 duce her works ; all of which are perfect so far as she is con- 
 cerned, and most assuredly God's works are perfect ; hence, 
 whatever imperfections there are in the mind, must have origi- 
 nated. within its own sphere. But the question is, what is the 
 cause and the manner it affects ? Originally there was no dif- 
 ference of intellect, either constitutional or casual. Man was 
 perfect, and therefore to him there was no exception. After he 
 fell, we immediately find a difference of mind. In Abel we 
 find characteristics of a noble soul, a prolific mind ; his under- 
 
 o 
 
7 
 
 standing appears to have been but very little, if any, impaired 
 by the fall. But in Cain we find quite the reverse. His mind 
 appears to have been narrow — his understanding dark — having 
 wrapped himself up in a covetous mantle as contemptible as 
 his conduct was wicked. 
 
 Now I see no reason why the causes of difference do not 
 exist in the fall — in the act of transgression ; for certain it is that 
 the mind has since been subject to the influence cf every species 
 of evil, which must be a secondary cause to the existing effect. 
 Or the subject may be viewed in the following light, viz. : evil 
 and good exist in the world, and as the mind is influenced by 
 the one or the other, so is the different effect produced thereby. 
 
 There is no truth more palpable than this, that the mind is ca- 
 pable of high cultivation ; and that the degree of culture de- 
 pends entirely on the means or agents employed to that end. 
 In a country, therefore, where public sentiment is formed in 
 favor of improving the mind, whatever the object may be, 
 whether to promote good or evil, the mind is influenced thereby. 
 The practical exercise of the mind is essential also to improve- 
 ment and growth, and is directed likewise by public sentiment. 
 
 Public sentiment is founded on the real or imaginary interests 
 of parties, whose individual interests are identified one with 
 another. Public sentiment itself is directed in the exercise of 
 its influence, by incidental circumstances, either local or foreign. 
 In this current the mind is borne along, and at the instance of 
 every change of event, is called to a new exercise of thought, 
 conclusions, purposes, &c. ; whereas, had it not been for the 
 change, there would have been no action produced in the mind : 
 for it is manifest, that the sphere which mankind are destined to 
 fill, is surrounded with a great variety of acting laws, which, 
 were it not for such causes, would make their minds entirely pas- 
 sive ; but, under the influence of those causes, they are made 
 to act not from constraint, but in accordance with an innate de- 
 sire to avail themselves of collateral aid to their operations. It 
 is manifest, therefore, that the more varying or complex the 
 state of a people is incidentally rendered, the more power there 
 is extant to call up renewed energies of the mind, the direct 
 
8 
 
 tendency of which is to confirm and strengthen it. Hence I 
 deem it a fair conclusion, that whatever differences there are in 
 the power of the intellect of nations, they are owing to the 
 difference existing in the casual laws by which they are influenc- 
 ed. By consulting the history of nations, it may be seen that 
 their genius perfectly accords with their habits of life, and the 
 general maxims of their country; and that these habits and 
 maxims possess a sameness of character with the incidental cir- 
 cumstances in which they originated. 
 
 As the intellect of a particular class will be in part the sub- 
 ject of this treatise, I wish in this place to follow the investiga- 
 tion of national difference of intellect, with its cause, by com- 
 paring the history of Europe and Africa. 
 
 Ham was the son of Noah, and founder of the African race, 
 and progenitor to Assur, who probably founded the first govern- 
 ment after the flood. It is evident from the best authority ex- 
 tant, that the arts and sciences flourished among this branch of 
 the great family of man, long before its benefits w r ere known to 
 any other. History is explicit with regard to their hospitality 
 also. At an early period of the existence of the government of 
 Egypt; and while Chederlaomer, king of the Elamites, had already 
 commenced the practice of robbery and bloodshed, Abraham 
 was obliged by a famine to leave Canaan, where God had com- 
 manded him to settle, and to go into Egypt. ' This journey,' 
 says a historian, £ gives occasion for Moses to mention some par- 
 ticulars with regard to the Egyptians ; and every stroke discov- 
 ers the character of an improved and powerful nation. The 
 Egyptian monarch, and the grandeur of his court, are described 
 in the most glowing colors ; — and Ham, who led the colony into 
 Egypt, has become the founder of a mighty empire. We are 
 not, however, to imagine, that all the laws which took place in 
 Egypt, and w T hich have been so justly admired for their wisdom, 
 were the work of this early age. Diodorus Siculus, a Greek 
 writer, mentions many successive princes, who labored for their 
 establishment and perfection. But in the time of Jacob, first 
 principles of civil government seem to have been tolerably un- 
 derstood among the Egyptians. The country was divided into 
 
9 
 
 several districts or separate departments ; councils, composed of 
 experienced and select persons, were established for the man- 
 agement of public affairs ; granaries for preserving corn were 
 erected; and, in fine, the Egyptians in this age enjoyed a com- 
 merce far from inconsiderable. These facts, though of an an- 
 cient date, deserve our particular attention. It is from the 
 Egyptians, that many of the arts, both of elegance and ability, 
 have been handed down in an uninterrupted chain, to modern 
 nations of Europe. The Egyptians communicated their arts to 
 the Greeks ; the Greeks taught the Romans many improve- 
 ments, both in the arts of peace and war ; and to the Romans, 
 the present inhabitants of Europe are indebted for their civility 
 and refinement.' 
 
 This noble people were not content with the enjoyment of 
 luxury and ease, to the exclusion of their neighbors. At an 
 early period they are found carrying the blessings of civilization 
 into Greece; and, although repulsed in their first attempt by the 
 rude barbarity of the Greeks, yet their philanthropy soon inspir- 
 ed them to resume the enterprise, which resulted in the settle- 
 ment of two colonies, one in Argos, and the other in Attica. 
 The founders of these colonies succeeded in their endeavors to 
 unite the wandering Greeks, which laid a foundation for the in- 
 structions they afterwards gave them. Sesostris, a prince of 
 wonderful ability, is supposed to mount the throne of Egypt 
 about 2341 years before Christ. Egypt in his time, it is said, 
 was in all probability the most powerful kingdom upon earth, 
 and according to the best calculation, is supposed to contain 
 twenty-seven millions of inhabitants. From the reign of Se- 
 jostris to that of Boccharis, a term of near 600 years, but little 
 is known of the princes who reigned, but it is believed from 
 collateral evidence, that the country in that time continued in a 
 very flourishing condition, and for aught that is known, enjoyed 
 uninterrupted peace. Wars and commotions, (says an eminent 
 w T riter,) are the greatest themes of the historian, while the gen- 
 tle and happy reign of a wise prince passes unobserved and 
 unrecorded. During this period of quietude at home, Egypt 
 continued to pour forth her colonies into distant nations. Ath- 
 2 
 
10 
 
 ens, that seat of learning and politeness, that school for all who 
 aspired after wisdom, owes its foundation to Cecrops, who land- 
 ed in Greece, with an Egyptian colony, before Christ 1585. 
 The institutions which he established among the Athenians gave 
 rise to the spread of the morals, arts and sciences in Greece, 
 which have since shed their lustre upon Rome, Europe, and 
 America. 
 
 From the reign of Boccharis to the dissolution of their gov- 
 ernment, the Egyptians are celebrated for the wisdom of their 
 laws and political institutions, which were dictated by the true 
 spirit of civil wisdom. It appears that this race of people, 
 during their greatest prosperity, made but very little proficiency 
 in the art of war. We hear of but little of their conquests of 
 armies, which is an evidence of their being an unwarlike people. 
 
 On taking a slight view of the history of Europe, we find a 
 striking contrast. Javan, the third from Noah, and son of Ja- 
 phet, is the stock from whom all the people known by the name 
 of Greeks are descended. Javan established himself in the 
 islands on the Western coast of Asia Minor. Tt is supposed, 
 and it may not be impossible, that a few wanderers would escape 
 over into Europe. Who would believe, says a writer, that the 
 Greeks, who in latter ages became the patterns of politeness 
 and every elegant art, were descended from a savage race of 
 men, traversing the woods and wilds, inhabiting the rocks and 
 caverns, a wretched prey to wild beasts and to one another. 
 I would here remark that it is a little singular that modern philoso- 
 phers, the descendants of this race of savages, should claim for 
 their race a superiority of intellect over those who, at that very 
 time, were enjoying all the real benefits of civilized life. 
 
 The remnant of this race which found their way to Europe 
 from Asia Minor, are brought into notice but very little until 
 after Rome had conquered the world. On the decline of that 
 empire, from the death of Theodosius the great, A. D. 395 to 
 A. D. 571, all Europe exhibited a picture of most melancholy 
 Gothic barbarity. Literature, science, taste, were words scarce 
 in use from this period to the sixteenth century. Persons of 
 the highest rank could not read or write. Many of the clergy 
 
11 
 
 did not understand the learning which they were obliged daily 
 to write ; some of them could scarce read it. 
 
 The Goths and Vandals, and other fierce tribes, who were 
 scattered over the vast countries of the North of Europe and 
 Northwest of Asia, were drawn from their homes by a thirst for 
 blood and plunder. Great bodies of armed men, with their 
 wives and children, issued forth like regular colonies in 
 quest of new settlements. New adventurers followed them. 
 The lands which they deserted were occupied by more remote 
 tribes of barbarians. These in their turn, pushed into more 
 fertile countries, and like a torrent continually increasing, rolled 
 on, and swept every thing before them. 
 
 Wherever the barbarians marched, their route was marked 
 with blood. They ravaged or destroyed all around them. 
 They made no distinction between what was sacred and what was 
 profane. They respected no age, or sex, or rank. If man was 
 called upon, (says an eminent historian,) to fix upon the period 
 in the history of the world, during which the condition of the 
 human race was most calamitious and afflicted, he would, with- 
 out hesitation, name that which elapsed from A. D. 395 to 511. 
 Cotemporary authors, who beheld that scene of destruction, 
 labor and are at a loss for expressions to describe the horror of 
 it. The scourge of God, the destroyer of nations, are the dread- 
 ful epithets by which they distinguish the most noted of the 
 barbarous leaders. 
 
 Towards the close of the sixth century, the Saxons or Ger- 
 mans were masters of the Southern and more fertile provin- 
 ces of Britain : the Franks, another tribe of Germans ; the 
 Goths of Spain ; the Goths and Lombards of Italy, and the ad- 
 jacent provinces. 
 
 During the period above mentioned, European slavery was 
 introduced. Having, as yet, the art of navigation but very im- 
 perfectly, it seemed to be the whole bent of their mind to en- 
 slave each other. 
 
 A form of government, distinguished by the name of the 
 Feudal system, was one under which the leaders of these barba- 
 rians became intolerable. They reduced the great body of 
 
12 
 
 them to actual servitude. They were slaves fixed to the soil, 
 and with it transferred from one proprietor to another, by sale, 
 or by conveyance. The kindred and dependants of an aggres- 
 sor, as well as of a defender, were involved in a quarrel, with- 
 out even the liberty of remaining neuter, whenever their supe- 
 riors saw fit. 
 
 The king or general to whom they belonged, would lead 
 them on to conquest, parcel out the land of the vanquished 
 among his chief officers, binding those on whom they were be- 
 stowed, to follow his standard with a number of men, and to 
 bear arms in his defence. The chief officers imitated the ex- 
 ample of their sovereign, and in distributing portions of their 
 lands among their dependents, annexed the same conditions to 
 the grant. 
 
 For the smallest pretext they would make war with one 
 another, and lead their slaves on to conquest; and take the land 
 and goods of their foes as the reward of their enterprise. This 
 system existed in the highlands in Scotland, as late as the year 
 1156. 
 
 It is not a little remarkable, that in the nineteenth century a 
 remnant of this same barbarous people should boast of their 
 national superiority of intellect, and of wisdom and religion ; who, 
 in the seventeenth century, crossed the Atlantic and practised 
 the same crime their barbarous ancestry had done in the fourth, 
 fifth and sixth centuries : bringing with them the same boasted 
 spirit of enterprise ; and not unlike their fathers, staining their 
 route with blood, as they have rolled along, as a cloud of locusts, 
 towards the West. The late unholy war with the Indians, and 
 the wicked crusade against the peace of Mexico, are striking 
 illustrations of the nobleness of this race ot people, and the 
 powers of their mind. I will here take a brief review of the 
 events following each race from their beginning. 
 
 Before Christ 2188, Misraim, the son of Ham, founded the 
 kingdom of Egypt, which lasted 1633 years. 
 
 2059, Ninus, the son of Belus, another branch of Ham's 
 family, founds the kingdom of Assyria, which lasted 1000 years, 
 and out of its ruins Babylon, Ninevah, and the kingdom of the 
 Medes. 
 
13 
 
 1822, Memnon, the Egyptian, invents the letters. 
 
 1571, Moses born in Egypt, and adopted by Pharaoh's 
 daughter, who educated him in all the learning of the Egpytians. 
 
 1556, Cecrops brings a colony from Egypt into Attica, and 
 begins the kingdom of Athens, in Greece. 
 
 J 485, The first ship that appeared in Greece was brought 
 from Egypt by Danaus, who arrived at Rhodes, and brought 
 with him his fifty daughters. 
 
 869, The city of Carthage, in Africa, founded by queen 
 Dido. 
 
 604, By order of Necho, king of Egypt, some Phenicians, 
 sailed from the Red Sea round Africa, and returned by the 
 Mediterranean. 
 
 600, Thales, of Miletus, travels to Egypt, to acquire the 
 knowledge of geometry, astronomy, and philosophy ; returns 
 to Greece and calculates eclipses, gives general notions of the 
 universe, &c. 
 
 285, Dionysius, of Alexandria, began his astronomical era, 
 on Monday, June 26, being the first who found the exact solar 
 year to consist of 365 days, 5 hours, and 49 minutes. 
 
 284, Ptolemy Philadelphus, king of Egypt, employs seventy- 
 two interpreters to translate the Old Testament into the Greek 
 language, which was called the Septuagint. 
 
 237, Hamilcar, the Carthagenian, causes his son Hannibal, at 
 nine years of age, to swear eternal enmity to the Romans. 
 
 218, Hannibal passes the Alps, at the age of 28 years, and 
 defeats the Romans in several battles. 
 
 47, The Alexandrian library, consisting of 400,000 valuable 
 books burned by accident. 
 
 30, Alexandria is taken by Octavius, upon which Mark An- 
 tony and Cleopatra, put themselves to death, and Egypt is 
 reduced to a Roman province. 
 
 640, A. .D, Alexandria is taken by the Saracens, or follow- 
 ers of Mahomet, and the grand library burned by order of Omar, 
 their caliph or prince. 
 
 991, The figures in arithmetic are brought into Europe by the 
 Saracens from Arabia. [Poor negroes, I wonder where they 
 
14 
 
 got learning. These are the race of people who are charged 
 with an inferiority of intellect.] 
 
 Africa could once boast of several states of eminence, amon°* 
 which are Egypt, Ethiopia, and Carthage ; the latter supported 
 an extensive commerce, which was extended to every part of 
 the then known world. Her fleets even visited the British 
 shores, and was every where prosperous, until she was visited 
 with the scourge of war, which opened the way for those nations 
 whose life depended on plunder. The Romans have the honor, 
 by the assistance of the Mauritonians, of subduing Carthage ; 
 after which the North of Africa was overrun by the Vandals, 
 who, in their march destroyed all arts and sciences ; and, to add 
 to the calamity of this quarter of the world, the Saracens made 
 a sudden conquest of all the coasts of Egypt and Barbary, in the 
 seventh century. And these were succeeded by the Turks, 
 both being of the Mahomedan religion, whose professors carried 
 desolation wherever they went ; and thus the ruin of that once 
 flourishing part of the world was completed. Since that period, 
 Africa has been robbed of her riches and honor, and sons and 
 daughters, to glut the rapacity of the great minds of European 
 bigots. 
 
 The following is a short chronological view of the events 
 following the rise of the Europeans. 
 
 A. D. 49, London is founded by the Romans. 
 
 51, Caractacus, the British king is carried in chains to Rome. 
 
 59, Nero persecutes the Druids in Britain. 
 
 61, The British queen defeats the Romans, but is conquered 
 soon after by Suetonius, governor of Britain. 
 
 63, Christianity introduced into Britain. 
 
 85, Julius Agricola, governor of South Britain, to protect the 
 civilized Britons from the incursions of the Caledonians, builds 
 a line of forts between the rivers Forth and Clyde ; defeats the 
 Caledonians ; and first sails round Britain, which he discovers 
 to be an island. 
 
 222, About this time the barbarians begin their eruptions and 
 the Goths have annual tribute not to molest the Roman gov- 
 ernment. 
 
15 
 
 274, The art of manufacturing silk first introduced into Bri- 
 tain from India; the manufacturing of it introduced into Europe 
 by some monks, 551. 
 
 404, The kingdom of Caledonia, or Scotland, revives under 
 Fergus. 
 
 406, The Vandals, Alans, and Suevi spread in France and 
 Spain, by a concession of Honorius, ejnperorof the West. 
 
 410, Rome taken and plundered by Alaric, king of visi-Goths. 
 
 412, The Vandals begin their kingdom in Spain. 
 
 446, The Romans having left the Britons to themselves, are 
 greatly harassed by the Scots and Picts, they make their com- 
 plaints to Rome again, which they entitle, the groans of the 
 Britons. 
 
 449, The Saxons join the Britons against the Scots and Picts. 
 
 455, Saxons having repulsed the Scots and Picts begin to 
 establish themselves in Kent under Hengist. 
 
 476, Several new states arise in Italy and other parts, con- 
 sisting of Goths, Vandals, Huns, and other barbarians, under 
 whom literature is extinguished, and the works of the learned 
 are destroyed. 
 
 496, Clovis, king of France, baptized, and Christianity begins 
 in that kingdom. 
 
 508, Prince Arthur begins his reign over the Britons. 
 
 609, Here begins the power of the Pope by the concession 
 of Phocas, emperor of the east. 
 
 685, The Britons, after a struggle of near 150 years, are 
 totally expelled by the Saxons, and drove into Wales and 
 Cornwall. 
 
 712, The Saracens conquer Spain. 
 
 726, The controversy about images occasions many insurrec- 
 tions. 
 
 800, Charlemagne, king of France, begins the empire of Ger- 
 many, and endeavors to restore learning. 
 
 838, The Scots and Picts have a hard fight. The former 
 prevail. 
 
 867, The Danes begin their ravages in England. 
 
 896, Alfred the Great fought 56 battles with the invading 
 
16 
 
 Danes, after which he divides his kingdom into counties, hun- 
 dreds, tythings ; erects courts: and founds the University of 
 Oxford. 
 
 936, The Saracen empire is divided into seven kingdoms, by 
 usurpation. 
 
 1015, Children forbidden by law lo be sold by their parents, 
 in England. ^ 
 
 1017, Canute, king of Denmark, gets possession of England. 
 
 1040, The Danes after much hard fighting are driven out of 
 Scotland. 
 
 1041, The Saxon line restored under Edward. 
 
 1043, The Turks who had hitherto fought for other nations, 
 have become formidable, and take possession of Persia. 
 
 1059, Malcolm III. king of Scotland, kills Macbeth, and mar- 
 ries the princess Margaret. 
 
 1065, The Turks take Jerusalem. 
 
 1066, The conquest of England by William; who 
 1070, introduced the feudal law. 
 
 1075, Henry IV, emperor of Germany, and the Pope, have 
 a quarrel. Henry, in penance walks barefoot in January. 
 
 1096, The first crusade to the Holy Land is begun, under 
 several Christian princes, to drive the infidels from Jerusalem. 
 
 1118, The order of knight templras instituted. 
 
 1172, Henry II, king of England, takes possession of Ireland. 
 
 1 182, Pope Alexander III, compels the kings of France and 
 England, to hold the stirrups of his saddle when he mounted 
 his horse. 
 
 1192, Richard, king of England, defeats Saladin's army, con- 
 sisting of 300,000 combatants. 
 
 1200, Chimnies not known in England. 
 
 1227, The Tartars emerge from the Northern part of Asia, 
 and in imitation of former conquerers, carry death and desolation 
 wherever they march. They overrun all the Saracen empire. 
 
 1233, Theinquisition began ; 1204, is now in the hands of 
 the Dominicans. 
 
 1258, The Tartars take Bagdad, which finishes the empire 
 of the Saracens. 
 
17 
 
 1263, Acho, king of Norway, invades Scotland with 160 sail, 
 and lands 20,000 men at the mouth of the Clyde, who were 
 cut to pieces by Alexander III. 
 
 1273, The empire of the present Austrian family begins in 
 Germany. 
 
 1282, Lewellyn, prince of Wales, defeated and killed by Ed- 
 ward I., who unites that principality to England. 
 
 1314, Battle between Edward IJ, and Robert Bruce, which 
 establishes the latter on the throne of Scotland. 
 
 1340, Gunpowder and guns first invented by Swartz. 1346. 
 Bombs and four pieces of cannon were made, by which Edward 
 III. gained the battle of Cressy. 
 
 1346, The battle of Durham, in which David, king of Scots, 
 is taken prisoner. 
 
 1356, The battle of Poictiers, in which king John of France 
 and his son are taken prisoners by Edward, the black prince. 
 
 1362, John Wickliffe calls in question the doctrines of the 
 church of Rome, whose followers are called Lollards. 
 
 1388, The battle of Otterburn between Hotspur and the 
 Earl of Douglas. 
 
 1415, Battle gained over the French by Henry V. of England. 
 
 1428, The siege of Orleans. 
 
 1453, Constantinople taken by the Turks. 
 
 1483, Civil war ended between the house of York and Lan- 
 caster, after a siege of 30 years, and the loss of 100,000 men. 
 
 1489, Maps and sea charts first brought to England. 
 
 1492, America first discovered by Columbus. 
 
 1494, Algebra first known in Europe. 
 
 1497, South America first discovered. 
 
 1499, North America by Cabot. 
 
 1517, Martin Luther begins the reformation. 
 
 1616, The first permanent settlement in Virginia. 
 
 1621, New England planted by the Puritans. 
 
 1635, Province of Maryland planted by Lord Baltimore. 
 
 1640, The massacre in Ireland, when 40,000 English protest- 
 ants are killed. 
 
 1649, Charles L beheaded. 
 3 
 
18 
 
 1664, The New Netherlands in North America, taken from 
 the Swedes and Dutch by the English. 
 
 1667, The peace of Breda, which confirms to the English 
 the New Netherlands, now known by names of Pennsylvania, 
 New York, and New Jersey. 
 
 The object I have in introducing this account of events, at- 
 tendant on the rise and progress of the African and European 
 nations, is, that the traits of their national character may at a 
 glance be discovered ; by which the reader may the better judge 
 of the superiority of the descendants of Japhet over those of 
 Ham. In the first place, the European branch of Japhet's family 
 have but very little claims to the rank of civilized nations. 
 From the fourth up to the sixteenth century, they were in the 
 deepest state of heathenish barbarity. A continual scene of 
 bloodshed and robbery was attendant on the increase of their 
 numbers. Their spread over different countries caused almost 
 an entire extinction of all civil and religious governments, and 
 of the liberal arts and sciences. And even since that period, 
 all Europe and America have been little else than one great 
 universal battle field. 
 
 It is true, there is a great advance in the arts and sciences 
 from where they once were ; but whether they are any where 
 near its standard, as they once existed in Africa, is a matter of 
 strong doubt. We should without doubt, had not the Euro- 
 peans destroyed every vestige of history, which fell in their 
 barbarous march, been favored with an extensive and minute 
 history of the now unknown parts of Africa. Certain it is, 
 however, that whatever they may have contributed of knowl- 
 edge to the world, it is owing to these casual circumstances we 
 have mentioned, rather than any thing peculiar to them as a 
 people. 
 
 Any one who has the least conception of true greatness, on 
 comparing the two races by means of what history we have, 
 must decide in favor of the descendants of Ham. The Egyp- 
 tians alone have done more to cultivate such improvements as 
 comports to the happiness of mankind, than all the descendants 
 of Japhet put together. Their enterprise in establishing colo- 
 
19 
 
 nies and governments among their barbarous neighbors, and 
 supplying their wants from their granaries, instead of taking the 
 advantage of their ignorance, and robbing them of what little 
 they had, does not look much like an inferiority of intellect, 
 nor a want of disposition to make a proper use of it. They, at 
 no age, cultivated the art of war to any great extent. Neither 
 are they found making an aggressive war with any nation. But, 
 while other nations were continually robbing and destroying 
 each other, they were cultivating internal improvement ; and 
 virtually became a storehouse of every thing conducive to the 
 happiness of mankind, with which she supplied their wants. 
 Even as late as Carthage was in her glory, that race of people 
 exhibited their original character. For that famed city never ac- 
 quired its greatness, but by the cultivation of commerce. And 
 though she obtained command of both sides of the Mediterranean, 
 became mistress of the sea, made the islands of Corsica and 
 Sardinia tributary to her, yet it is evident she acquired this ad- 
 vantage by her wealth, rather than by her arms. 
 
 Europe and America presents quite a different spectacle. 
 There is not a foot of God's earth which is now occupied by 
 them, but has been obtained, in effect, by the dint of war, and 
 the destruction of the vanquished, since the founding of London, 
 A. D. 49. Their whole career presents a motley mixture ol 
 barbarism and civilization, of fraud and philanthropy, of patriot- 
 ism and avarice, of religion and bloodshed. And notwithstand- 
 ing many great and good men have lived and died bright lumina- 
 ries of the world — and notwithstanding there are many now 
 living who are the seed of the church, yet it must be admitted 
 that almost every nation in Europe, and especially Americans, 
 retain, in principle, if not in manners, all the characteristics of 
 their barbarous and avaricious ancestors. And instead of their 
 advanced state in science being attributable to a superior devel- 
 opement of intellectual faculties, there is nothing more capable 
 of proof, than that it is solely owing to the nature of the circum- 
 stances into which they were drawn by their innate thirst for 
 blood and plunder. 
 
 Had the inhabitants of Egypt, Ethiopia, Carthage, and other 
 
20 
 
 kingdoms in Africa, been possessed with the same disposition, 
 the probability is, that the world now would be in a heathenish 
 darkness, for the want of that information which their better 
 disposition has been capable of producing. And had they had the 
 means at that early age of understanding human nature, as they 
 now would have, were their kingdoms in their glory, they would 
 probably not have suffered their liberality to be taken advantage of 
 by a barbarous crew around them. It is not for the want of mind, 
 therefore, that Africa is in her present state ; for were the disposi- 
 tions of her different nations like the ancient barbarians of Europe, 
 they would soon make a plenty of business for Europeans, with 
 all their advantages, to defend themselves against their depre- 
 dations. But it is not the genius of the race. Nothing but 
 liberal, generous principles, can call the energies of an African 
 mind into action. And when these principles are overruled by 
 a foreign cause, they are left without any thing to inspire them 
 to action, other than the cravings of their animal wants. 
 
 Africa never will raise herself, neither will she be raised by 
 others, by warlike implements, or ardent spirits ; nor yet by a 
 hypocritical religious crusade, saying one thing and meaning 
 another. But when she rises, other nations will have learned 
 to deal justly with her from principle. When that time shall 
 arrive, the lapse of a few generations'will show the world that 
 her sons will again take the lead in the field of virtuous enter- 
 prise, filling the front ranks of the church, when she marches 
 into the millennial era. 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 ON THE INTELLECTUAL CHARACTER OF THE COLORED PEOPLE 
 OF THESE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 
 
 In this country we behold the remnant of a once noble, but 
 now heathenish people. In calling the attention of my readers 
 to the subject which I here present them, I would have them 
 lose sight of the African character, about which I have made 
 some remarks in my introduction. For at this time, circumstan- 
 ces have established as much difference between them and their 
 ancestry, as exists between them and any other race or nation. 
 In the first place the colored people who are born in this coun- 
 try, are Americans in every sense of the word. Americans by 
 birth, genius, habits, language, &c. It is supposed, and I think 
 not without foundation, that the slave population labor under 
 an intellectual and physical disability or inferiority. The 
 justness of these conclusions, however, will apply only to such 
 as have bee-n subject to slavery some considerable length of 
 time. « 
 
 I have already made some remarks with regard to the cause 
 of apparent differences between nations. I shall have cause to 
 remark again, that as the intellectual as well as the physical 
 properties of mankind, are subject to cultivation, I have ob- 
 served that the growth or culture depends materially on the 
 means employed to that end. In those countries in which the 
 maxims and laws are such as are calculated to employ the phy- 
 sical properties mostly, such as racing, hunting, &c, there is 
 uniformly a full development of physical properties. We will 
 take the American Indian for example. A habit of indolence 
 produces a contrary effect. History, as well as experience, will 
 justify me in saying that a proper degree of exercise is essen- 
 tial to the growth of the corporeal system ; and that the form 
 and size depends on the extent and amount of exercise. On 
 
22 
 
 comparing one who is brought up from his youth a trades- 
 man, with one who is brought up a farmer, the difference is 
 manifestly apparent according to the difference of their exercise. 
 Change of public sentiment indirectly affects the form and size of 
 whole nations, inasmuch as public sentiment dictates the mode 
 and kind of exercise. The muscular yeomanry who once formed 
 a majority of our country's population, are now but seldom 
 found ; those who fill their places in society, in no way com- 
 pare with them in that respect. Compare our farmer's daugh- 
 ters, who have been brought up under the influence of country 
 habits, with those brought up under city habits, and a difference 
 is most manifest. 
 
 But there is another consideration worthy of notice. Edu- 
 cation, says D. D. Hunter,* on the part of the mother, com- 
 mences from the moment she has the prospect of being a mother. 
 And her own health thenceforth is the first duty she owes to 
 her child. The instructions given to the wife of Manoah, and 
 mother of Sampson, the Nazarite, (Jud. 1 3, 4 :) ' Now, therefore, 
 beware, I pray thee, drink not wine nor strong drink, and eat 
 not any unclean thing,' are not merely arbitrarily adapted only 
 to a particular branch of political economy, and intended to 
 serve local and temporary purposes ; no, the constitutions of 
 nature, reason, and experience, which unite in recommending 
 to those who have the prospect of being mothers, a strict atten- 
 tion to diet, to exercise, to temper, to every thing, which affecting 
 the frame of their own body or mind, may communicate an im- 
 portant, a lasting, perhaps indelible impression, to the mind or 
 body of their offspring. A proper regimen for themselves, is 
 therefore the first stage of education for their children. The 
 neglect of it is frequently found productive of effects which no 
 future culture is able to alter or rectify. 
 
 These most just remarks confirm me in the opinion, that the 
 laws of nature may be crossed by the misconduct or misfortune 
 of her who has the prospect of being a mother. Apply these 
 remarks to the condition of slave mothers, as such, and what are 
 the plain and natural inferences to be drawn. Certainly, if they 
 are entitled to any weight at all, the intellectual and physical 
 inferiority of the slave population can be accounted for without 
 imputing it to an original hereditary cause. Contemplate the 
 exposed condition of slave mothers — their continual subjection 
 to despotism and barbarity ; their minds proscribed to the nar- 
 row bounds of servile obedience, subject to irritation from every 
 
 * Hunter's Sacred Biography, vol. 7. page 10. 
 
23 
 
 quarter ; great disappointment, and physical suffering themselves, 
 and continual eye-witnesses to maiming and flagellation ; shrieks 
 of wo borne to their ears on every wind. Indeed, language is 
 lame in the attempt to describe the condition of those poor 
 daughters of affliction. Indeed, 1 have no disposition to dwell 
 on the subject ; to be obliged to think of it at all, is sufficiently 
 harrowing to my feelings. But J would inquire how it can be 
 possible for nature, under such circumstances, to act up to her 
 perfect laws ? 
 
 The approbrious terms used in common by most all classes, 
 to describe the deformities of the offspring of these parents, is 
 true in part, though employed with rather bad grace by those 
 in whom the cause of their deformity originates. I will intro- 
 duce those terms, not for the sake of embellishing my treatise 
 with their modest style, but to show the lineal effects of slavery 
 on its victims. Contracted and sloped foreheads ; prominent 
 eye-balls ; projecting under-jaw ; certain distended muscles 
 about the mouth, or lower parts of the face; thick lips and flat 
 nose ; hips and rump projecting; crooked shins; flat feet, with 
 large projecting heels. This, in part, is the language used by 
 moderns to philosophize, upon the negro character. With re- 
 gard to their mind, it is said that their intellectual brain is not 
 fully developed ; malicious disposition ; no taste for high and 
 honorable attainments ; implacable enemies one to another ; and 
 that they sustain the same relation to the ourang outang, that the 
 whites do to them. 
 
 Now, as it respects myself, I am perfectly willing to admit 
 the truth of these remarks, as they apply to the character of a 
 slave population ; for I am aware that no language capable of 
 being employed by mortal tongue, is sufficiently descriptive to 
 set forth in its true character the effect of that cursed thing, 
 slavery. I shall here be under the necessity of calling up those 
 considerations connected with the subject, which I but a little 
 time since entertained a hope that I should be able to pass by 
 unnoticed ; I have reference to a mother who is a slave, bring- 
 ing into the world beings whose limbs and minds were lineally 
 fashioned for the yoke and fetter, long before her own immortal 
 mind was clothed in materiality. 
 
 I would ask my readers to think of woman as the greatest 
 natural gift to man — think of her in delicate health, when the 
 poor delicate fabric is taxed to the utmost to answer the demands 
 of nature's laws — when friends and sympathies, nutricious ali- 
 ments, and every other collateral aid is needed. O think of 
 poor woman, a prospective mother ; and when you think, feel 
 
24 
 
 as a heart of flesh can feel ; see her weeping eyes fixed alter- 
 nately upon the object of her affections and him who accounts 
 her a brute — think how she feels on beholding the gore stream- 
 ing from the back, the naked back, of the former, while the 
 latter wields the accursed lash, until the back of a husband, 
 indeed the whole frame, has become like a loathsome heap of 
 mangled flesh. How often has she witnessed the wielding club 
 lay him prostrate, while the purple current followed the damn- 
 ing blow. How the rattling of the chain, the lock of which 
 has worn his ancles and his wrists to the bone, falls upon her ear. 
 O, has man fallen so far below the dignity of his original charac- 
 ter, as not to be susceptible of feeling. But does the story stop 
 here. 1 would that it were even so. But alas! this, the orna- 
 mental production of nature's God, is not exempt, even in this 
 state, from the task of a slave. And, as though cursed by all the 
 gods, her own delicate frame is destined to feel the cruel scourge. 
 When faint and weary she lags her step, the overseer, as though 
 decreed to be a tormenting devil, throws the coiling lash upon her 
 naked back ; and in turn, the master makes it his pleasure to 
 despoil the works of God, by subjecting her to the rank of goods 
 and chattels, to be sold in the shambles. Woman, you who 
 possess a woman's nature, can feel for her who was destined by 
 the Creator of you both, to fill the same sphere with yourself. 
 You know by experience the claims of nature's laws — you 
 know too well the irritability of your natures when taxed to the 
 utmost to fulfil the decree of nature's God. 
 
 I have in part given a description of a mother that is a slave. 
 And can it be believed to be possible for such a one to bring 
 perfect children into the world. If we are permitted to decide 
 that natural causes produce natural effects, then it must be 
 equally true that unnatural causes produce unnatural effects. 
 The slave system is an unnatural cause, and has produced its 
 unnatural effects, as displayed in the deformity of two and a 
 half millions of beings, who have been under its soul-and-body- 
 destroying influence, lineally, for near three hundred years; 
 together with all those who have died their progenitors since 
 that period. 
 
 But again, I believe it to be an axiom generally admitted, 
 that mind acts on matter, then again, that mind acts on mind ; 
 this being the case, is it a matter of surprise that those mothers 
 who are slaves, should, on witnessing the distended muscles on 
 the face^of whipped slaves, produce the same or similar disten- 
 sions on the face of her offspring, by her own mind being affect- 
 ed by the sight ; and so with all other deformities. Like 
 
causes produce like effects. If by Jacob's placing ring-streaked 
 elder in the trough where Laban's flocks drank, caused their 
 young to be ring-streaked and speckled, why should not t he 
 offspring of slave mothers, who are continually witnessing excit- 
 ing objects, be affected by the same law ; and why should they 
 not be more affected, as the mother is capable of being more 
 excited. 
 
 From the foregoing I draw the following conclusions, with 
 regard to the different degrees of effect produced by slavery. 
 Compare slaves that are African born, with those who are born 
 in slavery, and the latter will in no wise compare with the for- 
 mer in point of form of person or strength of mind. The first 
 and second generation born in this country are generally far 
 before the fourth and fifth, in this respect. Compare such as 
 have been house servants, as they are called, for several gener- 
 ations with such as have been confined to plantations the same 
 term of time, and there will be a manifest inferiority in the 
 latter. Observe among the nominally free, their form of person, 
 features, strength of mind, and bent of genius, fidelity, &c, and 
 it will evidently appear that they who sustain a relation of no 
 further than the third generation from African birth, are in gen- 
 eral far before those who sustain a more distant relation. The 
 former generally acquire small possessions, and conform their 
 habits of life and modes of operation with those common where 
 they live, while those who have been enslaved for several gen- 
 erations, or whose progenitors in direct line were thus enslaved, 
 cannot be induced to conform to any regular rule of life or oper- 
 ation. I intend this last statement as general fact, of which, 
 however, there are exceptions ; where there is a mixture of 
 bloody as it is sometimes called, perhaps these remarks may not 
 apply. I suppose, however, that in case of a union between a 
 degraded American slave of the last order spoken of, and a 
 highly intelligent free American, whether white or colored, that 
 the offspring of such parents are as likely to partake of the in- 
 fluence of slavery through the lineal medium of the slave parent, 
 as to receive natural intelligence through the medium of ihe 
 other. 
 
 So far as I understand, nature's law seems not to be scrupulously 
 rigid in this particular: there appears to be no rule, therefore, by 
 which to determine the effect or lineal influence of slavery on a 
 mixed race. I am satisfied with regard to one fact, however, that 
 caste has no influence whatever: for a union between a highly 
 cultivated black and a degraded one, produces an exact similar 
 effect. Whatever complexion or nation parents thus connected 
 4 
 
26 
 
 may be of, the effect produced would be the same, but it would 
 not be certain that their children would occupy a midway re- 
 gion between the intelligent and degraded parent, as in other 
 cases part of a family may be below mediocrity, and part above, 
 in point of form and intellect. One thing is certain, which may 
 have some bearing in the case ; that when nature has been robbed, 
 give her a fair chance and she will repair her loss by her own 
 operations, one of which is to produce variety. But to proceed 
 further with any remarks on this point, I feel myself not at 
 liberty. In view of what I have said on this subject, I am 
 aware of having fallen short of giving a full description of the 
 lineal influence and effects slavery has upon the colored popu- 
 lation of ibis country. Such is the nature of the subject, that 
 it is almost impossible to arrange our thoughts so as to follow 
 it by any correct rule of investigation. 
 
 Slavery, in its effects, is like that of a complicated disease, 
 typifying evil in all its variety — in its operations, omnipotent to 
 destroy — in effect, fatal as death and hell. Language is lame 
 in its most successful attempt, to describe its enormity ; and with 
 all the excitement which this country has undergone, in conse- 
 quence of the discussion of the subject, yet the story is not half 
 told, neither can it be. We, who are subject to its fatal effects, 
 cannot fully realize the disease under which we labor. Think 
 of a colored community, whose genius and temperament of 
 minds all differ in proportion as they are lineally or personally 
 made to feel the damning influence of slavery, and, as though 
 it had the gift of creating tormenting pangs at pleasure, it comes 
 up, in the character of an accuser, and charges our half destroy- 
 ed, discordant minds, with hatred one towards the other, as 
 though a body composed of parts, and systematized by the laws 
 of nature, were capable of continuing its regular configurative 
 movements after it has been decomposed. 
 
 When I think of nature's laws, that with scrupulous exact- 
 ness they are to be obeyed by all things over which they are 
 intended to bear rule, in order that she may be able to declare, 
 in all her variety, that the hand that made her is divine, and 
 when, in this case, I see and feel how she has been robbed of 
 her means to perform her delightful task — her laws trampled 
 under feet with all their divine authority, despoiling her works 
 even in her most sacred temples — I wonder that I am a man ; 
 for though of the third generation from slave parents, yet in 
 body and mind nature has never been permitted to half finish 
 her work. Let all judge who is in the fault, God, or slavery, 
 or its sustainers ? 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 ON THE POLITICAL CONDITION AND CHARACTER OF THE 
 COLORED PEOPLE. 
 
 A government like this is at any time liable to be revolution- 
 ized by the people, at any and every time there is a change of 
 public sentiment. This, perhaps, is as it should be. But when 
 the subjects of a republican government become morally and 
 politically corrupt, there is but little chance remaining for repub- 
 licanism. A correct standard may be set up, under which par- 
 ties may pretend to aim at a defence of the original principles 
 upon which the government was based ; but if the whole coun- 
 try has become corrupt, what executive power is there remain- 
 ing to call those parties in question, and to decide wheth- 
 er their pretensions and acts correspond with the standard under 
 which they profess to act. Suppose the Constitution and arti- 
 cles of confederation, be the admitted correct standard by all 
 parties, still the case is no better, when there is not honesty 
 enough in either, to admit a fair construction of their letter and 
 spirit. Good laws, and a good form of government, are of but 
 very little use to a wicked people, further than they are able to 
 restrain them from wickedness. 
 
 Were a fallen angel permitted to live under the government 
 of heaven, his disposition would first incline him to explain 
 away the nature of its laws ; this done, their spirit becomes 
 perverted, which places him back in hell from whence he 
 came ; for, though he could not alter the laws of heaven, yet 
 he could pervert their use, in himself, and act them out 
 in this perverted state, which would make him act just like a 
 devil. The perversion of infinite good, is infinite evil — and if 
 the spiritual use of the laws of an infinitely perfect government 
 is productive of a perfect heaven, in like manner their spiritual 
 perversion is productive of perfect or infinite hell. Hence it is 
 
28 
 
 said to be a bottomless pit — ay, deep as the principle is high, 
 from which the distortion is made. 
 
 I have taken this course to illustrate the state of a people 
 with a good government and laws, and with a disposition to 
 explain away all their meaning. My conclusions are, that such 
 republicans are capable, like the angel about which I have spo- 
 ken, to carry out their republicanism into the most, fatal des- 
 potism. A republican form of government, therefore, can be a 
 blessing to no people, further than they make honest virtue the 
 rule of life. Indeed, honesty is essential to the existence of a 
 republican form of government, for it originates in a contract or 
 agreement of its subjects, relative to the disposal of their mu- 
 tual interests. If conspiracy is got up by any of the contracters, 
 against the fundamental principles of the honest contract, (which, 
 if republican, embraced those interests which are unalienable, 
 and no more,) and if, by an influence gained by them, so as to 
 make its intent null and void, the foundation of the government 
 is thereby destroyed ; leaving its whole fabric a mere wreck, in- 
 efficient in all its executive power. Or if the contract had the 
 form of honesty only, when there was a secret design of fraud 
 in the minds of the parties contracting, then of course, it is a 
 body without a soul — a fabric without a foundation ; and, like a 
 dead carcass entombed, will tumble to pieces as soon as brought 
 to the light of truth, and into the pure air of honesty. 
 
 With regard to the claims of the colored subjects of this gov- 
 ernment to equal political rights, I maintain that their claims are 
 founded in an original agreement of the contracting parties, and 
 that there is nothing to show that color was a consideration in 
 the agreement. It is well known that when the country belong- 
 ed to Great Britain, the colored people were slaves. But when 
 America revolted from Britain, they were held no longer by any 
 legal power. There was no efficient law in the land except 
 marshal law, and that regarded no one as a slave. The inhabi- 
 tants were governed by no other law, except by resolutions 
 adopted from time to time by meetings convoked in the differ- 
 ent colonies. Upon the face of the warrants by which these 
 district and town meetings were called, there is not a word said 
 about the color of the attendants. In convoking the continental 
 Congress of the 4th of September, 1776, there was not a word 
 said about color. In November of the same year, Congress 
 met again, to get in readiness twelve thousand men to act in any 
 emergency ; at the same time, a request was forwarded to Con- 
 necticut, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island, to increase this 
 army to twenty thousand men. Now it is well known thathun- 
 
29 
 
 dreds of the men of which this army was composed, were color- 
 ed men, and recognized by Congress as Americans. 
 
 An extract from the speech of Richard Henry Lee, delivered 
 in Congress, assembled June 8, 1776, in support of a motion, 
 which he offered, to declare America free and independent, will 
 give some view of the nature of the agreement upon which this 
 government is based. ' The eyes of all Europe are fixed upon 
 us ; she demands of us a living example of freedom, that may 
 contrast, by the felicity of her citizens, (I suppose black as 
 well as white,) with the ever increasing tyranny which desolates 
 her polluted shores. She invites us to prepare an asylum where 
 the unhappy may find solace, and the persecuted, repose. She 
 entreats us to cultivate a propitious soil, where that generous 
 plant which first sprang up and grew in England, but is now 
 withered by the poisonous blasts of Scottish tyranny, may revive 
 and flourish, sheltering under its salubrious and interminable 
 shade all the unfortunate of the human race.' 
 
 The principles which this speech contains, are manifestly 
 those which were then acted upon. To remove all doubt 
 on this point, I will make a short extract from the Dec- 
 laration of Independence, in Congress assembled, fourth of 
 July, 1776. ( We, the representatives of these United States 
 of America, in general Congress assembled, appealing to 
 the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our 
 intentions, and by the authority of the good people of these 
 Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, that these united colo- 
 nies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States. 
 (And now for the pledge.) We mutually pledge to each other 
 our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.' The representa- 
 tives who composed that Congress were fifty-five in number, and 
 all signed the declaration and pledge in behalf of the good peo- 
 ple of the thirteen States. 
 
 Now I would ask, can it be said, from any fair construction of 
 the foregoing extracts, that the colored people are not recogniz- 
 ed as citizens. Congress drew up articles of confederation also, 
 among which are found the following reserved state privileges. 
 ' Each state has the exclusive right of regulating its internal 
 government, and of framing its own laws, in all matters not in- 
 cluded in the articles of confederation, and which are not repug- 
 nant to it.' Another article reads as follows : ' There shall be 
 a public treasury for the service of the confederation, to be re- 
 plenished by the particular contributions of each state, the same 
 to be proportioned according to the number of inhabitants of 
 every age, sex, or condition, with the exception of Indians.' 
 
30 
 
 These extracts are sufficient to show the civil and political 
 recognition of the colored people. In addition to which, how- 
 ever, we have an official acknowledgment of their equal/civil, and 
 political relation to the government, in the following proclama- 
 tion of Major General Andrew Jackson, to the colored people of 
 Louisiana, Sept. 21, 1814 ; also of Thomas Butler, Aid de 
 Camp : 
 
 ' Head Quarters, Seventh Military District, Mobile, Sep- 
 tember 21, 1814. To the Free Colored Inhabitants of Lou- 
 isiana. 
 
 1 Through a mistaken policy you have heretofore been de- 
 prived of a participation in the glorious struggle for national 
 rights, in which our country is engaged. This no longer shall 
 exist. 
 
 ' As sons of Freedom, you are now called upon to defend our 
 most inestimable blessing. As Americans, your country looks 
 with confidence to her adopted children, for a valorous support, 
 as a faithful return for the advantages enjoyed under her mild 
 and equitable government. As fathers, husbands, and brothers, 
 you are summoned to rally round the standard of the Eagle, to 
 defend all which is dear in existence. 
 
 ' Your country, although calling for your exertions, does not 
 wish you to engage in her cause, without remunerating you for 
 the services rendered. Your intelligent n>inds are not to be led 
 away by false representations — your love of honor would cause 
 you to despise the man who should attempt to deceive you. In 
 the sincerity of a soldier, and the language of truth, 1 address 
 you. 
 
 c To every noble hearted free man of color, volunteering to 
 serve during the present contest with Great Britain and no 
 longer, there will be paid the same bounty in money and lands, 
 now received by the white soldiers of the United States, viz., 
 one hundred and twenty-four dollars in money, and one hundred 
 and sixty acres of land. The non-commissioned officers and 
 privates will also be entitled to the same monthly pay and daily 
 rations and clothes, furnished to any American soldier. 
 
 c On enrolling; yourselves in companies, the Major General 
 commanding, will select officers for your government, from your 
 white fellow citizens. Your non-commissioned officers will be 
 appointed from among yourselves. 
 
 1 Due regard will be paid to the feelings of freemen and sol- 
 diers. You will not, by being associated with white men in the 
 same corps, be exposed to improper comparisons or unjust sar- 
 
31 
 
 casm. As a distinct, independent battalion or regiment, pursu- 
 ing the path of glory, you will, undivided, receive the applause 
 and gratitude of your countrymen. 
 
 ' To assure you of the sincerity of my intentions, and my 
 anxiety to engage your invaluable services to our country, I 
 have communicated my wishes to the Governor of Louisiana, 
 who is fully informed as to the manner of enrolments, and will 
 give you every necessary information on the subject of this 
 address. 
 
 ' ANDREW JACKSON, Major General Commmanding: 
 ' Proclamation to the Free People of Color. 
 
 1 Soldiers ! — When on the banks of the Moble, 1 called you 
 to take arms, inviting you to partake the perils and glory of 
 your white fellow citizens, I expected much from you ; fori 
 was not ignorant that you possessed qualities most formidable 
 to an invading enemy. 1 knew with what fortitude you could 
 endure hunger and thirst, and all the fatigues of a campaign. 
 I knew well how you loved your native country, and that you 
 had, as well as ourselves, to defend what man holds most dear — 
 his parents, relations, wife, children and property: You have 
 done more than I expected. In addition to the previous quali- 
 ties I before knew you to possess, I found moreover, among 
 you, a noble enthusiasm which leads to the performance of 
 great things. 
 
 c Soldiers ! — The President of the United States shall hear how 
 praiseworthy was your conduct in the hour of danger, and the 
 representatives of the American people will, I doubt not, give 
 you the praise your exploits entitle you to. Your General an- 
 ticipates them in applauding your noble ardor. 
 
 ' The enemy approaches, his vessels cover our lakes ; our 
 brave citizens are united, and all contention has ceased among 
 them. Their only dispute is, who shall win the prize of valor, 
 or who the most glory, its noblest reward. 
 
 ' By Order, THOMAS BUTLER, Aid de Camp.' 
 
 All the civil and political disabilities of the colored people, 
 are the effect of usurpation. It is true, slavery is recognized 
 by the articles of confederation ; but there is not a public docu- 
 ment of the government, which recognizes a colored man as a 
 slave, not even in the provision for Southern representation. 
 
 When fugitive slaves are demanded by Southern slaveholders, 
 they are recovered by virtue of a provision made to recover 
 prisoners held to labor, in the state from whence they have ab- 
 sconded ; but how that provision can be construed in such a 
 
32 
 
 manner, as to give them that advantage, I cannot conceive. I 
 am satisfied, that it only serves as a pretext to justify a base 
 perversion of the law, for the sake of pleasing evil doers. In 
 the first, place, a slave is not held to labor legally in slave states, 
 because, according to the extract I have made, viz., that each 
 state has aright to frame laws which are not prejudicial to the 
 articles of confederation ; there is a limitation to which every 
 other article of the document is subject. Now, what says an- 
 other article of confederation ? Why, that a person held to 
 labor, shall be recovered. But in what way held ? Upon this 
 the articles of confederation, are silent ; in fact, they may as 
 well be silent ; for had they pointed out the manner of persons 
 being held to labor, they would have assumed the province of 
 common law ; this, the framers of the constitution and docu- 
 ments of confederation, knew full well ; and the administrators 
 of justice now know, that no person under heaven can be held 
 to labor, other than by virtue of a contract, recognizable by 
 common law. Neither do the administrators of justice, found 
 their decisions on any thing found in the articles of confedera- 
 tion ; for a proof of which, 1 will call the attention of my read- 
 ers to the following considerations. 
 
 If a white person is arraigned before a justice, as a fugitive 
 slave, it would not be all the evidence that could be collected 
 to prove him a slave, however true, that would induce a justice 
 at the North to give him up, if he were able to prove that he 
 was of white parentage. It would be the same, in case that an 
 Indian was arrraigned. There have been such claims made, I 
 believe, and the defendants acquitted, even where there was 
 proof positive, on the part of the claimant. This is proof posi- 
 tive, that decisions in such cases are not founded on a sentence 
 contained in the articles of confederation, for there is nothing 
 said, in that instrument, about nation or complexion ; but per- 
 sons held to labor. Now, if it is by virtue of that instrument, 
 that the black man is held to labor, why not hold the white per- 
 son, and the Indian, by the same power? And if they cannot 
 be held by that instrument, how can any person be held, when 
 no particular person is described ? It is evident that decisions 
 in favor of claimants are founded in the fact of the defendants 
 being a black person, or descendants of blacks or Africans. 
 Now, for all this mode of administering justice, there cannot be 
 found a single sentence of justification, in any public document 
 in the country, except such as have been framed by individual 
 states ; and these are prejudicial to the articles of confederation. 
 If there is any thing in the articles of confederation, which jus- 
 
33 
 
 tifies such a course of procedure, I have never found it. Only 
 think, if one is claimed who is black, or who is a descendant of 
 a black, (though he be whiter than a white man.) he must be 
 given up to hopeless bondage, by virtue of the articles of con- 
 federation, when there is not a word about black contained in 
 the instrument ; whereas, if a white person be claimed, if he 
 is half negro, if he can prove himself legally white, or of white 
 parentage, he is acquitted. This course of conduct would be 
 scouted by heathens, as a gross libel upon humanity and justice. 
 It is so ; and a violation of the Constitution, and of the Bill of 
 Rights — the rights of the people ; and every State which con- 
 nives at such robbing in high places, clothed with a legal form, 
 without a vestige of legal authority ; and that too, after having 
 taken the tremendous oath, as recorded in the Declaration of 
 Independence, ought to have perjury written upon their statute 
 books, and upon the ceiling of their legislative halls, in letters 
 as large as their crime, and as black as the complexion of the 
 injured. 
 
 Excuses have been employed in vain to cover up the hypo- 
 crisy of this nation. The most corrupt policy which ever dis- 
 graced its barbarous ancestry, has been adopted by both church 
 and state, for the avowed purpose of withholding the inaliena- 
 ble rights of one part of the subjects of the government. Pre- 
 texts of the lowest order, which are neither witty or decent, and 
 which rank among that order of subterfuges, under which the 
 lowest of ruffians attempt to hide, when exposed to detection, 
 are made available. Indeed, I may say in candor, that a high- 
 wayman or assassin acts upon principles far superior, in some 
 respects, in comparison with those under which the administra- 
 tors of the laws of church and state act, especially in their at- 
 tempts to hide themselves and their designs from the just cen- 
 sure of the world, and from the burning rays of truth. I have 
 no language to express what I see, and hear, and feel, on this 
 subject. Were I capable of dipping my pen in the deepest dye 
 of crime, and of understanding the science of the bottomless pit, 
 I should then fail in presenting to the intelligence of mortals on 
 earth, the true nature of American deception. There can be 
 no appeals made in the name of the laws of the country, of 
 philanthropy, or humanity, or religion, that is capable of draw- 
 ing forth any thing but the retort, — you are a negro ! If we 
 call to our aid the thunder tones of the cannon and the argu- 
 ments of fire arms, (vigorously managed by black and white 
 men, side by side,) as displayed upon Dorchester Heights, and 
 at Lexington, and at White Plains, and at Kingston, and at 
 5 
 
34 
 
 Long Island, and elsewhere, the retort is, you are a negro 
 — if we present to the nation a Bunker's Hill, our nation's 
 altar, (upon which she offered her choicest sacrifice,) with 
 our fathers, and brothers, and sons, prostrate thereon, wrapped 
 in fire and smoke — the incense of blood borne upward upon 
 the wings of sulphurous vapor, to the throne of national 
 honor, with a halo of national glory echoing back, and spread- 
 ing and astonishing the civilized world ; — and if we present 
 the thousands of widows and orphans, whose only earthly 
 protectors were thus sacrificed, weeping over the fate of the 
 departed; and anon, tears of blood are extorted, on learning 
 that the government for which their lovers and sires had died, 
 refuses to be their protector ; — if we tell that angels weep in 
 pity, and that God, the eternal Judge, c will hear the desire of 
 the humble, judge the fatherless and the oppressed, that the 
 man of the earth may no more oppress,' — the retort is, you 
 are a negro ! If there is a spark of honesty, patriotism, or 
 religion, in the heart or the source from whence such refuting 
 arguments emanate, the devil incarnate is the brightest seraph 
 in paradise. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 ON THE NATURE OF THE PREJUDICE OF THE WHITE POPULA- 
 TION OF THE UNITED STATES, IN ITS MALIGNANT EXERCISE 
 TOWARDS THE COLORED PEOPLE. 
 
 Malignant prejudice is a principle which calls into action the 
 worst passions of the human heart. There are cases, however, 
 in which the exercise of prejudice is perfectly harmless. A 
 person may prepossess favorable opinions of another, and such 
 opinions may be just and right. Unfavorable opinions may be 
 formed, also, of persons whose conduct is censurable ; and a 
 just prejudice may be exercised towards them, as they stand 
 related to their own bad conduct, without a display of any 
 malignity. 
 
 Again, prejudicial feelings may be exercised towards another, 
 through an error of judgment, for the want of means of know- 
 ing the true character of those against whom a prejudice is in- 
 dulged ; in which case, it possesses nothing malignant, because 
 its possessor entertains no purpose of injury. Great caution 
 should be exercised, however, in judging the motives and con- 
 duct of another, especially when such conduct relates some- 
 what to ourselves — because it is very natural for us to be gov- 
 erned by our interest, or imaginary interest, which is liable to 
 lead us into errors of the worst kind. It is also natural, on 
 being convicted of wrong, to plead ignorance. But such a 
 plea will not always excuse the pleader in strict justice. For 
 if the prejudiced person has the means of knowing, or if he has 
 any doubt with regard to the justness of his opinions of his 
 neighbors, and still neglects to use the means of informing him- 
 self, and to solve his doubts on the subject, but persists in the 
 exercise of his prejudice, he is equally guilty of all the mischief 
 produced thereby, as lie would be if he knew ever so well, and 
 persisted in his wrong course in the light of that knowledge. 
 
36 
 
 Prejudice seems to possess a nature peculiar to itself It 
 never possesses any vitiating qualities, except when it is exer- 
 cised by one who has done, or intends to do, another an injury. 
 And its malignity is heightened in proportion as its victim in 
 any way recovers, or has a manifest prospect of recovering the 
 injury ; or if there is apparently a door open by which a su- 
 perior power to that which he possesses, may bring him to an 
 account for the wrong done to his neighbor, all have a direct 
 tendency to heighten the malignity of prejudice in the heart of 
 its possessor. 
 
 The colored population are the injured party. And the pre- 
 judice of the whites against them is in exact proportion to the 
 injury the colored people have sustained. There is a prejudice 
 in this country against the Irish, who are flocking here by thou- 
 sands. Still there is nothing malignant in the nature and exer- 
 cise of that prejudice, either national or personal. It grows 
 out of the mere circumstance of their different manners and 
 religion. The moment an Irishman adopts the maxims and 
 prevailing religion of the country, he is no longer regarded an 
 Irishman, other than by birth. It is to be remembered, also, 
 that the Irish are not an injured, but a benefited party ; there- 
 fore, it is not possible that the bestower of benefits could be at 
 the same time malignantly exercising prejudice towards those 
 he is benefiting. 
 
 There exists, therefore, no injurious prejudice against the 
 Irish. There exists a prejudice against the Indians, but it is 
 almost entirely national, and for the very reason that the injury 
 they have sustained is essentially national. The jealous eye of 
 this nation is fixed upon them as a nation, and has ever exer- 
 cised the rigor of its prejudice towards them, in proportion as 
 they attempted to recover their rightful possessions; or, in other 
 words, just in proportion as the physical powers of the Indians, 
 have dwindled to inefficiency, prejudice against them has be- 
 come lax and passive. It revives only as they show signs ot 
 national life. 
 
 The injury sustained by the colored people, is both national 
 and personal ; indeed, it is national in a twofold sense. In the 
 first place, they are lineally stolen from their native country, 
 and detained for centuries, in a strange land, as hewers of wood 
 and drawers of water. In this situation, their blood, habits, 
 minds, and bodies, have undergone such a change, as to cause 
 them to lose all legal or natural relations to their mother coun- 
 try. They are no longer her children ; therefore, they sustain 
 the great injury of losing their country, their birthright, and are 
 
37 
 
 made aliens and illegitimates. Again, they sustain a national 
 injury by being adopted subjects and citizens, and then be de- 
 nied their citizenship, and the benefits derivable therefrom 
 — accounted as aliens and outcasts, hence, are identified as be- 
 longing to no country — denied birthright in one, and had it sto- 
 len from them in another — and, I had like to have said, they 
 had lost title to both worlds; for certainly they are denied all 
 title in this, and almost all advantages to prepare for the next. 
 In this light of the subject, they belong to no people, race, or 
 nation ; subjects of no government — citizens of no country — 
 scattered surplus remnants of two races, and of different na- 
 tions — severed into individuality — rendered a mass of broken 
 fragments, thrown to and fro, by the boisterous passions of this 
 and other ungodly nations. Such, in part, are the national in- 
 juries sustained by this miserable people. 
 
 I am aware that most people suppose the existence of color 
 to be the cause of malignant prejudice. Upon this supposition 
 an argument is founded, that color is an insurmountable barrier, 
 over which there can be no social or political relation formed 
 between white and colored Americans. To show the folly of 
 which, I shall lay down and sustain the following principles. 
 
 First. Effects, according to their numerous laws, partake of 
 their parent cause in nature and quantity ; i. e. the amount of 
 effect produced, will exactly agree with the amount of efficiency 
 the cause contains which produced it ; and their legitimacy 
 claims for them, the nature of their parent. Apply this rule to 
 the subject under consideration, and it will be seen, that, if color 
 were the cause of prejudice, it follows, that just according to the 
 variegation of the cause, (color; so would the effect variegate — 
 i. e. the clear blooded black would be subject to a greater de- 
 gree of prejudice, in proportion as he was black — and those of 
 lighter caste subject to a less degree of prejudice, as they were 
 light. Now it is well known that the exercise of prejudice, is 
 as intense towards those who are in fact whiter than a clear blood- 
 ed American, as it is against one who is as black as jet, if they 
 are identified as belonging to that race of people who are the 
 injured party. 
 
 Again. That which cannot be contemplated as a principle, 
 abstractly, cannot be an efficient cause of any thing. A princi- 
 ple which is not subject to dissection, having body and parts — a 
 principle of configuration is not capable of being an active cause ; 
 therefore, it only exists as a passive principle, depending entire- 
 ly on an active principle for its existence. Now, if animal color 
 can be contemplated as a cause, it must possess configurative 
 
38 
 
 properties ; and if it possess these properties, then it is an in- 
 dependent principle, capable of living and acting after the man 
 is dead, or decomposed. If it is argued that each component part 
 ot the man becomes independent when decomposed, and that an- 
 imal color is one of the component parts, then I would ask, why 
 we cannot comprehend its existence, the same as other matter 
 of which the body was made ? If this cannot be done, then it 
 cannot be regarded other than a passive principle in which there 
 is no power of action. Color, therefore, cannot be an efficient 
 cause of the malignant prejudice of the whites against the 
 blacks ; it is only an imaginary cause at the most. It serves 
 only as a trait by which a principle is identified. 
 
 The true cause of this prejudice is slavery. Slavery partakes 
 of the nature and efficiency of all, and every thing, that is bad 
 on earth and in hell. Its effect in the character of prejudice, 
 as displayed towards the colored people, fully sustains my posi- 
 tion — that effects partake of their parent cause, both in nature 
 and quantity ; for certainly, nothing short of every thing evil 
 on earth and in hell, in the form and character of slavery could 
 be capable of producing such prejudicial injuries, as those under 
 which the colored people are doomed to suffer. It must be 
 admitted, that slavery assumes a most vicious character in its 
 exercise towards them. Never could a people exist under 
 greater injuries, than those under which this people have exist- 
 ed in this country ; slavery, in its worst iorm, is the cause of all 
 injury sustained by them. The system of slavery in its effects, 
 is imposed on the injured party in two forms, or by two meth- 
 ods. The first method is, by a code of laws, originating in pub- 
 lic sentiment, as in slave states. The other is, prejudice origi- 
 nating in the same, as it exists in free states. The first method 
 is prejudicial, and partakes of the corruptions of public senti- 
 ment, which is corrupted by prejudice ; but prejudice, in that 
 case, assumes the form of law, and, therefore, is not capable of 
 inflicting such deep injuries, as when it exists without law. Be- 
 cause to all law there is a limitation, whether good or bad ; 
 hence, so far as the laws of slave states are concerned, a limita- 
 tion of suffering may be contemplated, even under their direct 
 influence. However severe slave laws may be, and however 
 faithfully executed according to their letter and spirit — though 
 by them the cup of injury be lavished out in full measure upon 
 the objects of its abuse to the extent of its power, still, the in- 
 nate principles of the human mind, will cause it to transcend 
 such legal abuse, where a limitation can be comprehended. 
 
39 
 
 Legal codes, however oppressive, have never as yetheen able 
 to crush the aspiring principles of human nature. The real 
 monster slavery, cannot long exist, where it is sustained by legal 
 codes only ; it is forced to stand off, and is capable of imposing 
 its shadow only, in comparison to what it is capable of doing by 
 collateral aid. When public sentiment, therefore, has become 
 so morally, civilly, and politically corrupted by the principles of 
 slavery, as to be determined in crushing the objects of its ma- 
 lignity, it is under the necessity of calling prejudice to its aid, 
 as an auxiliary to its adopted formal code of wickedness, clothed 
 like a semi-devil, with all the innate principles of the old dragon 
 himself. This auxiliary, is all powerfully capable of accommo- 
 dating itself to local circumstances and conditions, and appear- 
 ing with all the nature of the old beast, slavery ; it is always 
 ready to destroy every aspiration to civil, political and moral 
 elevation, which arises in the breast of the oppressed. There 
 is no pretext too absurd, by which to justify the expenditures of 
 its soul-and-body-destroying energies. The complexion, fea- 
 tures, pedigree, customs, and even the attributes and purposes 
 of God, are made available to its justification. 
 
 By this monster, the withering influence of slavery is directed 
 to the very vitals of the colored people — withering every incen- 
 tive to improvement — rendering passive all the faculties of the 
 intellect — subjecting the soul to a morbid state of insensibility 
 — destroying the body — making one universal wreck of the best 
 work of nature's God. 
 
 Such is its effect at the south, and scarcely less destructive at 
 the north. The only difference is this : at the north, there is 
 not so formal a code of laws by which to direct the energies of 
 prejudice as at the south ; still the doctrine of expediency full 
 well makes up the deficiency of cruel laws, giving prejudice as 
 full toleration to exercise itself, and in lavishing out its withering 
 influence, as law at the south. 
 
 It is a remarkable fact that the moment the colored people 
 show signs of life — any indication of being possessed with re- 
 deeming principles, that moment an unrelenting hatred arises in 
 the mind which is inhabited by that foul fiend, prejudice ; and 
 the possessor of it will never be satisfied, until those indications 
 are destroyed ; space, time, nor circumstance, is no barrier to 
 its exercise. Transplant the object of its malignity to Africa, or 
 Canada, or elsewhere, and its poison is immediately transferred 
 from local into national policy, and will exert all possible means 
 it possesses, to accomplish its fell design. It always aims its 
 deadly fangs at the noble and active principles of the immortal 
 
40 
 
 mind, which alone enables man to stand forth pre-eminent in all 
 the works of God.* 
 
 Let the oppressed assume the character of capable men in 
 buisness, either mercantile, mechanical, or agricultural, — let 
 them assume the right of exercising themselves in the use of 
 the common privileges of the country — let them claim the right 
 of enjoying liberty, in the general acceptation of the term — 
 let them exercise the right of speech and of thought — let them 
 presume to enjoy the privileges of the sanctuary and the Bible 
 let their souls be filled with glory and of God, and wish to bow 
 the knee at the sacred altar, and commemorate the dying love 
 of Christ the Lord — let them seek a decent burial for their 
 departed friend in the church yard — and they are immediately 
 made to feel that they are as a carcass destined to be preyed 
 upon by the eagles of persecution. Thus they are followed from 
 life's dawn to death's-doom. 
 
 I have no language wherewith to give slavery, and its auxil- 
 iaries, an adequate description, as an efficient cause of the mis- 
 eries it is capable of producing. It seems to possess a kind of 
 omnipresence. It follows its victims in every avenue of life. 
 
 The principle assumes still another feature equally destruc- 
 tive. It makes the colored people subserve almost every foul 
 purpose imaginable. Negro or nigger, is an approbrious term, 
 employed to impose contempt upon them as an inferior race, 
 and also to express their deformity of person. Nigger lips, 
 nigger shins, and nigger heels, are phrases universally common 
 among the juvenile class of society, and full well understood by 
 them ; they are early learned to think of these expressions, as 
 they are intended to apply to colored people, and as being ex- 
 pressive or descriptive of the odious qualities of their mind and 
 body. These impressions received by the young, grow with 
 their growth, and strengthen with their strength. The term in 
 itself, would be perfectly harmless, were it used only to distin- 
 guish one class of society from another ; but it is not used with 
 that intent ; the practical definition is quite different in England 
 to what it is here, for here, it flows from the fountain of purpose 
 to injure. It is this baneful seed which is sown in the tender 
 soil of youthful minds, and there cultivated by the hand of a 
 corrupt immoral policy. 
 
 The universality of this kind of education is well known to 
 the observing. Children in infancy receive oral instruction from 
 the nurse. The first lessons given are, Johnny, Billy, Mary, 
 
 * Take Hay.ti for an example. 
 
41 
 
 Sally, (or whatever the name may be,) go to sleep, if you 
 don't the old nigger will care you off ; don't you cry — Hark ; 
 the old niggers' coming — how ugly you are, you are worse 
 than a little nigger. This is a specimen of the first lessons 
 given. 
 
 The second is generally given in the domestic circle ; in 
 some families it is almost the only method of correcting their 
 children. To inspire their half grown misses and masters to 
 improvement, they are told that if they do this or that, or if 
 they do thus and so, they will be poor or ignorant as a nigger ; 
 or that they will be black as a nigger ; or have no more credit 
 than a nigger ; that they will have hair, lips, feet, or some- 
 thing of the kind, like a nigger. If doubt is entertained by 
 any, as to the truth of what 1 write, let them travel twenty 
 miles in any direction in this country, especially in the free 
 States, and his own sense of hearing will convince him of its 
 reality. 
 
 See nigger's thick lips — see his flat nose — nigger eye shine 
 — that slick looking nigger — nigger, where you get so much 
 coat?— that's a nigger priest — are sounds emanating from little 
 urchins of Christain villagers, which continually infest the 
 feelings of colored travellers, like the pestiferous breath of 
 young devils ; and full grown persons, and sometimes profes- 
 sors of religion, are not unfrequently heard to join in the 
 concert. 
 
 A third mode of this kind of instruction is not altogether 
 oral. Higher classes are frequently instructed in school rooms 
 by refering them to the nigger-seat, and are sometimes threat- 
 ened with being made to sit with the niggers, if they do not 
 behave. 
 
 The same or similar use is made of nigger pews or seats in 
 meeting-houses. Professing Christians, where these seats exist, 
 make them a test by which to ascertain the amount of their 
 humility. This I infer from their own language ; for, say they, 
 of the colored people, if we are only humble enough, we 
 should be willing to sit any where to hear the word. If our 
 hearts were right we should not care w 7 here we sit — I had as 
 lief sit there (meaning the nigger pew,) as any where in the 
 world. This, I admit, is all very good, but comes w 7 ith rather 
 bad grace. But, as I above observed, this kind of education is 
 not altogether oral. Cuts and placards descriptive of the ne- 
 groe's deformity, are every where displayed to the observation 
 of the young, with corresponding broken lingo, the very char- 
 acter of which is marked with design. 
 6 
 
42 
 
 Many of the popular book stores, in commercial towns and 
 cities, have their show-windows lined with them. The bar- 
 rooms of the most popular public houses in the country, some- 
 times have their ceiling literally covered with them. This 
 display of American civility is under the daily observation of 
 every class of society, even in New England. But this kind 
 of education is not only systematized, but legalized. At the 
 south, public newspapers are teeming through the country, 
 bearing negro cuts, with remarks corresponding to the object 
 for which they are inserted. 
 
 But this system is not carried on without deep design. It has 
 hitherto been a settled opinion of philosophers that a black man 
 could endure the heat better than a white man. Traders in 
 human flesh have ever taken the advantage of that opinion, by 
 urging it as a plea of justification of their obtaining Africans, as 
 laborers in warm climates ; hence, we may naturally expect, 
 that in a slave country like this, it would be a universally ad- 
 mitted axiom ; and the more readily admitted, as it is easily 
 construed into a plea to justify their wicked purposes. If the 
 black can endure the heat, and the white cannot, say they, it 
 must be that God made him on purpose for that ; hence, it is 
 no harm for us to act in accordance with the purposes of God, 
 and make him work. These are the simple inferences drawn 
 from the philosophical premises, the justness of which I shall 
 hereafter examine. 
 
 The arguments founded on these premises, are many. Cot- 
 ton, rice, indigo, tobacco, and sugar, are great blessings to the 
 world, say they, and they may as well be made to make them 
 as not ; for they are a lazy crew at the best, and if they are 
 not made to work for us, they will not work at all, &c. But 
 to come at the truth, the whole system is founded in avarice. 
 I believe the premises to be the production of modern philoso- 
 phy, bearing date with European slavery ; and it has been the 
 almost sole cause of the present prevailing public sentiment in 
 regard to the colored population. It has given rise to the uni- 
 versal habit of thinking that they were made for the sole end of 
 being slaves and underlings. There could be nothing more 
 natural, than for a slaveholding nation to indulge in a train of 
 thoughts and conclusions that favored their idol, slavery. It 
 becomes the interest of all parties, not excepting the clergy, to 
 sanction the premises, and draw the conclusions, and hence, to 
 teach the rising generation. What could accord better with 
 the objects of this nation in reference to blacks, than to teach 
 their little ones that a negro is part monkey I 
 
43 
 
 ' The love of money is the root of all evil ; ' it will induce 
 its votaries to teach lessons to their little babes, which only fits 
 them for the destroyers of their species in this world, and for 
 the torments of hell in the world to come. When clergymen, 
 even, are so blinded by the god of this world, as to witness the 
 practice of the most heinous blasphemy in the house, said to 
 be dedicated to God, for centuries, without raising their warn- 
 ing voice to the wicked, it would not be at all surprising if they 
 were to teach their children a few lessons in the science of 
 anatomy, for the object of making them understand that a negro 
 is not like a white man, instead of teaching them his catechism. 
 
 The effect of this instruction is most disastrous upon the 
 mind of the community ; having been instructed from youth 
 to look upon a black man in no other light than a slave, and 
 having associated with that idea the low calling of a slave, they 
 cannot look upon him in any other light. If he should chance 
 to be found in any other sphere of action than that of a slave, 
 he magnifies to a monster of wonderful dimensions, so large 
 that they cannot be made to believe that he is a man and a 
 brother. Neither can they be made to believe it would be 
 safe to admit him into stages, steam-boat cabins, and tavern 
 dining-rooms ; and not even into meeting-houses, unless he 
 have a place prepared on purpose. Mechanical shops, stores, 
 and school rooms, are all too small for his entrance as a man ; 
 if he be a slave, his corporeality becomes so diminished as to 
 admit him into ladies' parlors, and into small private carria- 
 ges, and elsewhere, without being disgustful on account of his 
 deformity, or without producing any other discomfiture. Thus 
 prejudice seems to possess a magical power, by which it makes 
 a being appear most odious one moment, and the next, beauti- 
 ful — at one moment too large to be on board a steam-boat, the 
 next, so small as to be convenient almost any where. 
 
 But prejudice is destructive to life. The public have been 
 frequently told the operation of the slave system is destructive 
 to the life of its victim ; this statement is intended generally to 
 be confined to those parts where slavery is legalized ; and what 
 has been said relative to the subject is but a beginning of the 
 story. Indeed, I may say the publishers of the horrible effects 
 of slavery in this country, have not generally had the means of 
 knowing one half of its enormity. The extent of it will prob- 
 ably remain a secret until the great day of eternity. Many of 
 us who are conversant with fugitive slaves, on their arrival to 
 the free states, have an opportunity of hearing a tale of wo, 
 which for the want of adequate language, we are not able to 
 
44 
 
 describe. These stories are told with so much native simplic- 
 ity as to defy the most stubborn incredulity of the incredulous. 
 But, though slavery in this way is carrying its thousands into 
 eternity, in the southern states, yet it is doing hardly less so in 
 the free states, as it displays itself in the character and form 
 of prejudice. 
 
 Mind acts on matter. Contemplate the numerous free peo- 
 ple of color under the despotic reign of prejudice — contemplate 
 a young man in the ardor of youth, blessed with a mind as 
 prolific as the air, aspiring to eminence and worth — contem- 
 plate his first early hopes blasted by the frost of prejudice — 
 witness the ardor of youth inspiring him to a second and third 
 trial, and as often repelled by this monster foe — hear him ap- 
 pealing to the laws of the land of his birth for protection — 
 the haughty executives of the law spurning him from the 
 halls of justice. He betakes to the temple of God — the last 
 alternative around which his fading, dying hopes are hovering 
 — but here, also, he receives a death thrust, and that by the 
 hand of the priest of the altar of God. Yes — hear ye priests 
 of the altar — it is the death thrust of slavery carried to the 
 hearts of its victims by you. Yes — let it be known to the 
 world, that the colored people who have been stolen, and have 
 lost all allegiance to Africa, are sold in the shambles, and scout- 
 ed from every privilege that makes life desirable. Under these 
 discouragements they betake themselves to those who are called 
 to preach good tidings to the meek, to bind up the broken-heart- 
 ed, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the 
 prison doors to them that are bound, and they are set at nought 
 by them also. The effect of these discouragements are every 
 where manifest among the colored people. 
 
 I will venture to say, from my own experience and observa- 
 tion, that hundreds of them come to an untimely grave, by no 
 other disease than that occasioned by oppression. And why 
 should it be otherwise ? They are virtually denied all posses- 
 sions on earth, and how can they stay without a place whereon 
 to rest. 
 
 I, as an individual, have had a sufficient opportunity to 
 know something about prejudice, and its destructive effects. 
 At an early period of my life, I was extensively engaged in 
 mechanism, associated with a number of other colored men of 
 master spirits and great minds. The enterprise was followed 
 for about twenty years, perseveringly, in direct opposition to 
 public sentiment, and the tide of popular prejudice. So intent 
 were the parties in carrying out the principles of intelligent, 
 
45 
 
 active free men, that they sacrificed every thing of comfort and 
 ease to the object. The most rigid economy was adhered to 
 at home and abroad. A regular school was established for the 
 instruction of the youth connected with the factory, and the 
 strictest rules of morality were supported with surprising assi- 
 duity; and ardent spirits found no place in the establishment. 
 After the expenditure of this vast labor and time, together 
 with many thousand dollars, the enterprise ended in a total 
 failure. By reason of the repeated surges of the tide of preju- 
 dice, the establishment, like a ship in a boisterous hurricane at 
 sea, went beneath its waves, richly laden, well manned, and 
 well managed, and all sunk to rise no more. Such was the 
 interest felt by the parties concerned, and such was their 
 sense of the need of such an establishment for the benefit of 
 colored youth, that they might acquire trades and a corres- 
 ponding education, that they exerted every nerve to call it into 
 the notice of the public, that the professed friends of the col- 
 ored people might have an opportunity to save it from becom- 
 ing a wreck; but all in vain; prejudice had decreed its fate. 
 It fell, and with it fell the hearts of several of its undertakers 
 in despair, and their bodies into their graves. 
 
 With the above, I could record the names of scores whose 
 dissolution can be traced to a cloud of obstructions thrown in 
 their way to prevent enterprise. 
 
 I should proceed no farther with this tale of wo, were I 
 satisfied I had done my duty in the case. But the condition of 
 the colored people is such, even in the free states, that every 
 effort, however feeble, should he made to redeem them from 
 the influence of that dreadful monster — prejudice. I have 
 recently travelled among them as a missionary, and their con- 
 dition is truly lamentable. Their immortal interests, as well as 
 their temporal, are in many places almost entirely disregarded; 
 and in others, their warmest friends seem not to comprehend 
 their true condition. I found several hundreds in some places, 
 who, though the bowl of knowledge was overflowing around 
 them, were not permitted to partake, without they receive it 
 from the cup of contempt, the thought of which, to sensitive 
 minds, is like a draught of wormwood and gall. 
 
 Slavery, in the form and character of prejudice, is as fatal, 
 yea, more fatal than the pestilence. It possesses imperial do- 
 minion over its votaries and victims. It demands and receives 
 homage from priests and people. It drinks up the spirit of the 
 church, and gathers blackness, and darkness, and death, around 
 her brow. Its poison chills the life blood of her heart. Its 
 
4G 
 
 gigantic tread on the Sabbath day, pollutes the altars of the 
 sanctuary of the Most High. It withholds the word of life 
 from thousands of perishing immortals, and shuts the gate of 
 heaven alike upon those whose hearts it possesses, and those 
 marked out for its victims. It opens wide the way to hell; 
 and as though posessed with more than magic power, coerces 
 its millions down to the pit of wo in defiance of the benevo- 
 lence of a God, and the dying groans of a Saviour. O Prej- 
 udice, thou art slavery in disguise ! and couldst thou ascend 
 to heaven, thy pestiferous breath would darken and poison that 
 now healthful and happy clime ; and thou wouldst make its 
 inhabitants feel the pains of the lowest hell. If there are de- 
 grees of intensity to the misery of the damned, that being must 
 feel it in eternity, in whose heart prejudice reigned in this 
 world. 0 Prejudice, I cannot let thee pass without telling 
 thee and thy possessors, that thou art a compound of all evil — 
 of all the corrupt passions of the heart. Yea, thou art a par- 
 ticipant in all the purposes of the wicked one — thou art the 
 very essence of hell. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 ON THE CLAIMS OF THE COLORED PEOPLE TO ALL THE CIVIL, 
 RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL PRIVILEGES OF THIS COUNTRY. 
 
 This proposition is in part embraced within the province of 
 those of a preceding chapter. In following it, therefore, I shall 
 be able to fulfil a promise therein contained. 
 
 The claims set up are founded in the fact that they are Amer- 
 icans by birth and blood. Complexion has never been made 
 the legal test of citizenship in any age of the world. It has 
 been established generally by birth and blood, and by purchase, 
 or by the ceding of a province or territory from one nation to 
 another. But as they are denied those privileges principally 
 on the ground of their complexion and blood, it shall be my 
 business in this concluding chapter to show — that though their 
 complexion is as truly American as the complexion of the 
 whites, yet it has nothing to do in settling the question. If 
 blood has any thing to do with it, then we are able to prove 
 that there is not a drop of African blood, according to the gen- 
 eral acceptation of the term, flowing in the veins of an Ameri- 
 can born child, though black as jet. Children of African pa- 
 rents, recently arrived in this country, who have not under- 
 gone what is called seasoning, may partake of the charac- 
 teristics of its African parents; such as the hair, complex- 
 ion, and such like appendages, but. the child's blood has noth- 
 ing African about it, and for the following reasons. The 
 blood of the parents in seasoning to this climate becomes 
 changed — also, the food of the mother being the production 
 of this country, and congenial to the climate — the atmosphere 
 she breathes — the surrounding objects which strike her senses — 
 all are principles which establish and give character to the 
 
48 
 
 constitutional principles of the child, among which the blood 
 is an essential constituent ; hence every child born in America, 
 even if it be as black as jet, is American by birth and blood. 
 The kind of root called Irish potatoes, is in truth American, if 
 the potatoes are the production of American soil; and thus re- 
 main American potatoes, though they be red or deep scarlet. 
 Some eagle-eyed philosophers, who possess great acuteness 
 of smelling powers, think there is a difference of smell between 
 the Africans and Europeans. Suppose that idea to be cor- 
 rect — would it prove any difference of smell between Ameri- 
 cans who are constitutionally alike, and whose corporeals are 
 sustained by the same aliment ? In philosophically contem- 
 plating those constitutional properties, the color of the skin can 
 no more be included than that of the eyes or the length of the 
 nose. 
 
 It is the settled opinion of most people in this country, as I 
 mentioned in a former chapter, that black Americans can en- 
 dure the heat better than white Americans This opinion is 
 founded in the fact that black will retain heat while white emits 
 it. 1 admit the proposition, but I doubt the correctness of the 
 conclusions with respect to the color of animals. 
 
 Some minerals and dye-stuffs, and other black substances, will 
 retain heat, which is owing to their not possessing any reflecting 
 ingredient or property, by which the light or heat is thrown 
 back. Heated iron will retain heat longer than heated brass, 
 for the same reason — i. e. iron is not possessed of as much re- 
 flection as brass — or in other words, it has not the properties 
 of reflection. I believe these are the considerations, and these 
 only, that are capable of sustaining the proposition. 
 
 But these considerations do not and cannot embrace those 
 connected with animal color, for that has neither the power of 
 retaining nor emiting heat — and for the very good reason it 
 possesses no properties ; hence no efficient cause in itself to 
 produce any effect whatever. The principle as it exists in 
 relation to minerals and other substances, depends entirely upon 
 the nature of the properties of which these several bodies are 
 composed ; but can the principle be made to apply to animal 
 color ? 
 
 Analyze black iron, and black properties are found in the 
 iron. Analyze black dye-stuff, and black properties are lound 
 in the stuff. Analyze light brass, and light reflecting proper- 
 ties are found in the brass. 
 
 Analyze a black man, or anatomize him, and the result of 
 research is the same as analyzing or anatomizing a white man. 
 
49 
 
 Before the dissecting knife passes half through the outer layer 
 of the skin, it meets with the same solids and fluids, and from 
 thence all the way through the body. Now I should like to 
 have some modern philosophers, who have got more sense than 
 common school-boys, to tell the world how it is that two bodies 
 of matter, the one exactly similar to the other, in every minute 
 principle of their composition, should produce different effect 
 by the one emiiing heat, and the other retaining it. 
 
 If it is contended that those properties exist in the animal 
 color itself, then, if they will be good enough to analyze it and 
 give us a knowledge of its parts — i. e. if they think a black 
 head can receive and understand it — they will do the world a 
 great favor, as well as ourselves. 
 
 If the foregoing considerations are reconcilable, then it may 
 be taken for granted that a black man can work better in the 
 hot sun than a white man — but if they are not reconcilable, 
 then the whole theory is only calculated to dupe the black 
 people, and make knaves of the white people. 
 
 But to return. The colored people being constitutionally 
 Americans, they are depending on American climate, American 
 aliment, American government, and American manners, to sus- 
 tain their American bodies and minds ; a withholding of the 
 enjoyment of any American principle from an American man, 
 either governmental, ecclesiastical, civil, social or alimental, 
 is in effect taking away his means of subsistence ; and conse- 
 quently, taking away his life. Every ecclesiastical body which 
 denies an American the privilege of participating in its benefits, 
 becomes his murderer. Every state which denies an Ameri- 
 can a citizenship with all its benefits, denies him his life. Ev- 
 ery community which denies an American the privilege of 
 public conveyances, in common with all others, murders him 
 by piece-meal. Every community which withholds social 
 intercourse with an American, by which he may enjoy cur- 
 rent information, becomes his murderer of the worst kind. 
 The claims the colored people set up, therefore, are the claims 
 of an American. 
 
 They ask priests and people to withhold no longer their 
 inalienable rights to seek happiness in the sanctuary of God, 
 at the same time and place that other Americans seek happi- 
 ness. They ask statesmen to open the way whereby they, in 
 common with other Americans, may aspire to honor and worth 
 as statesmen — to place their names with other Americans — sub- 
 ject to a draft as jurymen and other functionary appointments, 
 according to their ability. They ask their white American 
 brethren to think of them and treat them as American citizens, 
 7 
 
50 
 
 and neighbors, and as members of the same American family. 
 They urge their claims in full assurance of their being founded 
 in immutable justice. They urge them from a sense of patriot- 
 ism, from an interest they feel in the well being of their com- 
 mon country. And lastly, they urge them from the convic- 
 tion that God, the judge of all men, will avenge them of their 
 wrongs j unless their claims are speedily granted. 
 
 There are some objections urged against these claims. One 
 is, that the greater part of the colored people are held as prop- 
 erty, and if these claims are granted, their owners would be sub- 
 ject to great loss. In answer to this objection, I would remark, 
 that were 1 to accede to the right of the master to his property 
 in man, still I should conceive the objection groundless, for it 
 is a well known fact that a far greater portion of the colored 
 people who are free, purchased their freedom, and the free- 
 dom of their families. Many of them have purchased them- 
 selves several times over. Thousands of dollars have been 
 paid over to masters annually, which was the proceeds of 
 extra labor, in consideration of their expected freedom. My 
 colored acquaintances are numerous who have thus done, some 
 of whom were under the necessity of running away to obtain 
 their freedom after all. 
 
 1 am sufficiently acquainted with the sentiments and views of 
 the slave population of every slave state in the union, to war- 
 rant me in the conclusion, that if the despotic power of the 
 master was wrested from him, and the slaves placed under a 
 law of ever so rigid a nature, with the privilege of paying for 
 themselves by their extra labor, there would be comparatively 
 few slaves in the country in less than seven years. The most 
 of them would pay the round price of their bodies, and come 
 out freemen. 
 
 Another objection is, that the slaves, if freed at once, would 
 not be capable of enjoying suffrages. 
 
 This objection has less foundation than the former, for the 
 several state legislatures of the slave states are continually as- 
 sisting the masters to keep them in ignorance, and why not 
 legislate in favor of their being informed ? 
 
 Some contend that they are not now fit for freedom, but 
 ought to be prepared and then freed. 
 
 Such a calculation is preposterous. We might as well talk 
 about educating a water machine to run against its propelling 
 power, as to talk about educating a slave for a free man. When 
 travelling through the state of New York, recently, I made 
 some inquiries with respect to the colored people, who in some 
 
51 
 
 places are very numerous. J was there informed, by gentle- 
 men whose veracity 1 cannot doubt, that they are generally in- 
 dolent and dissipated, far worse than they were when they were 
 slaves. I was told also, that many of them had enjoyed ex- 
 cellent opportunities to become wealthy and respectable. That 
 before the Emancipation Bill was passed in that state, they 
 were mostly slaves, but had an opportunity of obtaining an ex- 
 cellent education, and the art of farming, equal, and in many 
 instances, superior to most white men. When they became 
 free, many of their masters, as a reward of former faithfulness, 
 furnished them with means to operate for themselves on a small 
 scale. My informants expressed much astonishment at the 
 fact that most of those who had the best opportunity to do well, 
 had become dissipated, and much worse in character and con- 
 duct than when they were slaves. 
 
 I have introduced this narrative for the purpose of showing 
 that slaves cannot be educated for free men. A slave is meta- 
 morphosed into a machine, adapted to a specific operation, and 
 propelled by the despotic power of the slave system, without any 
 motive to attract. The influence of this power acts upon a 
 slave the same as upon any other biased agent. By the abro- 
 gation of the propelling cause of all the acts of the machine, it 
 ceases to move. The slave is now left, without either motive 
 to attract, or power to coerce. A slave, as such, in undergo- 
 ing the change from a moral, intelligent being, to a mere ma- 
 chine, lost all the innate principles of a freeman. Hence, when 
 the principles of slavery ceases to act upon him, to the end for 
 which he is a slave, he is left a mere out-of-use wreck of ma- 
 chinery ; under nothing but the withering influence of the pelt- 
 ing rain of wickedness. 
 
 It is true, many of the slaves of New York had some educa- 
 tion, but that education was acquired when a slave. Hence, it 
 was only a collateral means by which he was rendered a more 
 efficient machine. His education was the education of a slave, 
 and not a freeman. 
 
 These conclusions may be thought by some to go against the 
 doctrine of immediate abolition — not so. The doctrine of im- 
 mediate abolition embraces the idea of an entire reversal of 
 the system of slavery. The work of emancipation is not com- 
 plete when it only cuts off some of the most prominent limbs of 
 slavery, such as destroying the despotic power of the master, 
 and the laying by of the cow-hide. The man who fell among 
 thieves was emancipated in that way. His cruel captivators, 
 I suppose, thought they had done a great act of philanthropy 
 
52 
 
 when they left off beating him. But their sort of emancipa- 
 tion left the poor man half dead — precisely in the same way 
 New York emancipated her slaves, after beating them several 
 hundred years, left them, half dead, without proscribing any 
 healing remedy for the bruises and wounds received by their 
 maltreatment. But the good Samaritan had quite a different 
 view of the subject. It is remembered, undoubtedly, that be- 
 fore he acted, there were several who passed by that way, saw 
 the man, but passed by on the other side. Whether they 
 were Unionists, Colonizationists, or Abolitionists, every one must 
 judge for themselves. But when the good man came along, he 
 carried out the principles of immediate abolitionism. If New 
 York had imitated him, there would have been no complaint 
 about her emancipated negroes (as they are called,) being 
 worse than when they were slaves. 
 
 I repeat, that emancipation embraces the idea that the eman- 
 cipated must be placed back where slavery found them, and 
 restore to them all that slavery has taken away from them. 
 Merely to cease beating the colored people, and leave them 
 in their gore, and call it emancipation, is nonsense. Nothing 
 short of an entire reversal of the slave system in theory and 
 practice — in general and in particular — will ever accomplish the 
 work of redeeming the colored people of this country from 
 their present condition. 
 
 Let the country, then, no longer act the part of the thief. 
 Let the free states no longer act the part of them who passed 
 by on the other side, and leaving the colored people half dead, 
 especially when they were beaten by their own hands, and so 
 call it emancipation — raising a wonderment why the half dead 
 people do not heal themselves. Let them rather act the part 
 of the good Samaritan. That only will open an effectual door 
 through which sympathies can flow, and by which a reciprocity 
 of sentiment and interest can take place — a proper knowl- 
 edge acquired by the benefactor relative to his duty, and re- 
 ciprocated on the part of the benefited. 
 
 This state of things would possess redeeming power. Every 
 collateral means would be marshaled under the heaven-born 
 principle, that requires all men to do unto others as they would 
 that others should do unto them. It would kindle anew the 
 innate principles of moral, civil and social manhood, in the down- 
 trodden colored Americans ; bidding them arise as from the 
 dead, and speed their way back to the height from whence 
 they have fallen. Nor would the call be in vain. A corres- 
 ponding action on their part would respond to the cheering 
 
53 
 
 voice. The countenance which has been cast down, hitherto, 
 would brighten up with joy. Their narrow foreheads, which 
 have hitherto been contracted for the want of mental exercise, 
 would begin to broaden. Their eye balls, hitherto strained out 
 to prominence by a frenzy excited by the flourish of the whip, 
 would fall back under a thick foliage of curly eyebrows, indica- 
 tive of deep penetraling thought. Those muscles, which have 
 hitherto been distended by grief and weeping, would become 
 contracted to an acuteness, corresponding to that aculeness of 
 perception with which business men are blessed. That interior 
 region, the dwelling place of the soul, would be lighted up 
 with the fires of love and gratitude to their benefactors on 
 earth, and to their great Benefactor above, driving back those 
 clouds of slavery and of prejudice which have hitherto dark- 
 ened and destroyed its vision. And thus their whole man 
 would be redeemed, rendering them fit for the associates of 
 their fellow men in this life, and for the associates of angels in 
 the world to come. 
 
 Sons of Columbia, up get ye ; 
 Purge you from slavery's guilty stain, 
 Defend the honest poor, the truth maintain. 
 
 Sons of pilgrim sires, up get ye; 
 
 Purge you from slavery's guilty stain, 
 
 Your country's stained with blood all o'er the main. 
 
 Priests of the altar, up get ye ; 
 Purge you from slavery's guilty stain, 
 Cease to be slavery's vassals — dupes to gain. 
 
 Priests of the altar up get ye ; 
 Purge you from slavery's guilty stain, 
 No more the holy name of God profane. 
 
 Priests of the altar, up get ye; 
 
 Purge you from slavery's guilty stain, 
 
 Come ye from under slavery's prejudicial reign. 
 
 Priests of the altar, up get ye; 
 
 Purge you from slavery's guilty stain, 
 
 The trump of God has sounded — Hark — it sounds again. 
 
 Daughters of freedom, up get ye; 
 Purge you from slavery's guilty stain, 
 Shall violated chastity call for help in vain 1 
 
54 
 
 Daughters of freedom, up get ye; 
 
 Purge you from slavery's guilty stain, 
 
 Ere thy sisters' grief 'gainst thee in heaven complain. 
 
 Statesmen of Columbia, up get ye ; 
 
 Hark! Jefferson presuag'd from first, 
 
 Trembling for his country — proclaimed — God is just! 
 
 Priests and people, all, up get ye; 
 
 Hark! hear the prophets tell, 
 
 How nations forgetting God are sent to hell. 
 
 Priests and people, all, up get ye; 
 Purge you from that dreadful sin, 
 Prejudice — of dev'lish extract — hellish fiend. 
 
 Priests and people, all, up get ye; 
 Repent ye while you may, 
 
 An awful judgment is at hand — God's vengeful day. 
 
ICpThe sermon, as proposed in our title page, is omitted 
 on the account that it would swell the work for beyond our 
 calculation. It will accompany a work entitled Easton's Lec- 
 tures on Civil, Social, and Moral Economy, which will be pre- 
 sented to the public in a few weeks. The surplus proceeds of 
 that work, as well as of this, after their expenses are paid, will 
 be given to a colored society in Hartford, Con., who have lost 
 their meeting-house by fire. 
 
 An extensive supply of this work may be had by forwarding 
 an order to Isaac Knapp's Book Store and Liberator Office, 
 No. 25 Cornhill, at the rate of $18 per 100— $2.50 per doz. 
 25 cents single copy. Subscribers for the other work solicited 
 on the same conditions — directed to the same office before the 
 first of April. 
 
 Wherein the works are deficient in their claims to patron- 
 age, it is hoped will be made up by the claims of the suffering 
 society, for whom the proceeds are intended. 
 
ERRATA. 
 
 6th page, 6th line from the top, instead of ' sprung ' read ' springing' 
 — and for 1 you may find ' read ' are found.' 
 
 10th page, 2d paragraph, 6th line, instead of 'conquest of armies ' read 
 'conquest in arms' — also, 3d paragraph, 6th line, instead of 'impossible ' 
 read ' improbable.' 
 
 11th page, 1st line, instead of ' learning ' read 'litany.' 
 
 12th page, 3d line, instead of ' by conveyance ' read ' by other convey- 
 ance,' — also, instead of ' kindred and ' &c. read ' subjects or ' &c. — and 
 for 'defender' read 'defendants.' 
 
 14th page, last paragraph, 2d line, instead of 'have annual,' &c. read 
 ' receive annual,' $'C. 
 
 18th page, 3d paragraph, 5th line, instead of 'the superiority' read 
 ' the pretended superiority.' 
 
 19th page, 9th line from the top, read after 'and,' ' their country'' vir- 
 tually, &c. 
 
 24th page, 2d paragraph, two last lines, instead of 'their progenitors 
 since that period,' read 'since the commencement of that period.' 
 
 26th page, 2d paragraph, 12th line, instead of pangs ' read ' fangs.' 
 
 28th page, 3d, 4th, 5th and 6th lines from the bottom, read thus : 'In 
 convoking the Continental Congress of the 4th of September, 1774, there 
 was not a word said about color. At a subsequent period, Congress met 
 again, and agreed to get in readiness 12,000 men, to act in any emer- 
 gency ; also, a request was ' &c. 
 
 31st page, 4th paragraph, 1st line, instead of ' Moble ' read ' Mobile.' 
 
 34th page, 7th line from the top, for 'halo' read 'halloo.' 
 
 45th page, 5th line from the top, instead of ' surprising ' read 'unsur- 
 passing.' 
 
EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS 
 
 OF 
 
 TEACHERS AND SUPERINTENDENTS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 f-^nglanb dEtocafari ^ommissifm 
 
 FOR 
 
 FREED ME 
 
 FOURTH SERIES. 
 
 January 1, 1864. 
 
 BOSTON : 
 
 DAVID CLAPP, PRINTER 334 WASHINGTON STREET. 
 
 1864. 
 
OFFICERS 
 
 OF THE NEW-ENGLAND EDUCATIONAL COMMISSION FOR FREEDMEN. 
 
 President, His Excellency, John A. Andrew. 
 
 Vice Presidents. 
 
 Rev. Jacob M. Manning. 
 Rev. Edward E. Hale. 
 Rev. J. W. Parker/ D. D. 
 Rev. James Freeman Clarke. 
 Hon. Jacob Sleeper. 
 Dr. Robert W. Hooper. 
 
 Prof. William B. Rogers. 
 Rev. William Hague, D. D. 
 Rev. Edward N. Kirk, 1). D, 
 Rev. Andrew L. Stone. 
 Edward L. Pierce, Esq. 
 
 Treasurer, Mr. William Endicott, Jr. 
 Recording Secretary, Mr. Edward Atkinson. 
 Corresponding Secretary, Mr. John Albee. 
 
 Committee on Teachers. 
 
 Dr. LeBaron Russell. 
 Loring Lothrop. 
 George B. Emerson. 
 Rev. Charles F. Barnard. 
 
 Miss. Hannah E. Stevenson. 
 Mrs. Ednah D. Cheny. 
 Rev. R. C. Waterston. 
 
 Committee on Clothing. 
 
 Mrs. Samuel Cabot, Jr. 
 Mrs. William B. Rogers. 
 Mrs. J. A. Lane. 
 
 George Atkinson. 
 George S. Winslow. 
 
 Committee on Correspondence. 
 
 Dr. Henry I. Bowditch. 
 Prof. F. J. Child. 
 Dr. Samuel Cabot, Jr. 
 
 Miss Ellen Jackson. 
 Mrs. Otto Dresel. 
 Mr. F. H. Underwood. 
 
 Committee on Finance. 
 
 Edward Atkinson. 
 Martin Brimmer. 
 William Endicott, 
 James T. Fisher. 
 
 Jr. 
 
 William I. Bowditch. 
 James M. Barnard. 
 Charles R. Codman. 
 Mrs. George R. Russell. 
 
 Clothing and Supplies received at Wellington, Br*os. & Co.'s, 
 No. 103 Devonshire Street. 
 
 Office, No 8 Studio Building, 
 
 Tremont Street, Boston. 
 
NEW-ENGLAND EDUCATIONAL COMMISSION 
 
 FOR FEEEDMEN. 
 
 Since the publication of the Annual "Report, the Commission has 
 been actively engaged in sending out Teachers, Superintendents, and 
 material aid to the Freedmen of the South and West. In South 
 Carolina the schools have now been in operation more than a year 
 and a half, and the progress made by the colored pupils is considered 
 by the teachers as at least equal to that of pupils in Northern schools. 
 The success of the industrial movement among the Freedmen of 
 Port Royal is equally marked with that of the schools. They 
 have shown a capacity for intelligent and continued labor which 
 would do credit to any community. The most industrious among 
 them have not only supported their own families, but have accumulat- 
 ed no inconsiderable amount of money. Some of them have pur- 
 chased lands, which they cultivate with energy and profit. In Vir- 
 ginia and North Carolina the success of the schools has been as 
 great, in proportion to the time during which they have been in ope- 
 ration, as in South Carolina. The Freedmen in those States have 
 also shown the same readiness to labor that has - characterized them 
 at Port Royal. Encouraging progress has been made in the re- 
 organization of labor among the Freedmen of the Southwestern 
 States, and in many localities valuable crops have been raised by 
 £hem during the past season. 
 
 The Freedmen within our lines in South Carolina are now self- 
 supporting, and need no further contributions of material aid. Those 
 in Virginia and North Carolina are fast becoming so, while the great 
 destitution of many families among those at the West, it is hoped and 
 believed, will cease as soon as the plans now in progress for employ- 
 ing them upon the land early in the coming spring are perfected and 
 put in operation. This Commission has already distributed a large 
 amount of clothing and supplies, and will continue to aid those 
 
4 
 
 actually in want, to the extent of its ability. But it is particularly 
 desirous to discourage among them the idea that such aid is to be 
 permanent. This kind of assistance is regarded only as temporary, 
 to be discontinued as soon as the immediate necessity has passed 
 away. 
 
 The chief objects of this Commission have been the education and 
 elevation of the Freedmen by means not only of schools and teach- 
 ers, but of all influences that shall encourage industry, self-reliance 
 and self-respect. For these purposes, as well as for the supply of 
 immediate relief to those in need, it still asks for further contri- 
 butions to its funds. The field of its labor is constantly enlarg- 
 ing, and new efforts are demanded to meet the increasing wants. 
 It has hitherto confined its action chiefly to the Atlantic States, 
 but it has now an agent in New Orleans, with a view of extend- 
 ing its influence to those of the South West. The amount of 
 good already accomplished by this Association, with so small an 
 amount of funds, is believed to be almost without parallel among 
 enterprises of this character. It has demonstrated, by actual 
 experiment, the capacity of the Freedmen for self-support, and 
 shown that the transition from slavery to freedom is neither diffi- 
 cult nor dangerous if made under friendly and judicious guidance. 
 
 To enable the Commission to continue and extend its operations, 
 to send out more teachers and establish new schools, which are ur- 
 gently called for, it is necessary that additional subscriptions of money 
 should be obtained. For this object the formation of Auxiliary As- 
 sociations in the cities and towns of New England is earnestly re- 
 commended. Such Associations can render most efficient aid by for- 
 warding funds for the support of Teachers to the Treasurer of this 
 Commission. They will be invited to select Teachers from among 
 those in the service of the Commission, whose salaries they will be 
 responsible for, with whom they may correspond, and to whose care 
 they may send clothing and supplies for the Freedmen. 
 
 Auxiliary Associations, which have been already formed in seve- 
 ral towns, are now in successful operation. This Commission will 
 act as the central agent for all New-England Associations. 
 
 Boston, January 1st, 1864. 
 
EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS 
 
 OP 
 
 TEACHERS AND SUPERINTENDENTS. 
 
 LETTERS FROM SOUTH CAROLINA. 
 
 St. Helena Island, July 9th, 18G3. 
 
 My dear Sir, — I send you a letter from the School Committee. I give it icord for 
 word, as it fell from the lips of Robert, leaving out a few remarks about myself. They 
 have been very faithful, and will be found a great help to future teachers. 
 
 Yours most sincerely, A. D. Milne. 
 
 Dear Sir, — The Committee of the Adams School, on this Island, would say, that 
 in regard to our ignorance, we were all ignorant and blind, and have been kept back 
 in darkness by our former masters, who used to hold us under bondage and hide the 
 light from us. But thank God that through the prayers of good people, the good 
 friends of the North, through the assistance of God, are helping us to drop the scales 
 from our eyes. We have think within ourself, while we were under slavery bondage, 
 that we could never seen this sight, that we have, and all our friends and parents, who 
 have children, think that they cannot pray and thank God enough, and the good 
 friends of the North, who are striving to let us see this light. Even I myself, Robert 
 L. Chaplin, myself 73 years old, had feel within myself that it was impossible that 
 the slavery bound could ever again see light in this world, until the good friends send 
 us a good friend, that teach us that all things are possible with God, and that old and 
 young can see light in their old age. The children and people all, now, desire to learn to 
 read, and we hope you will be pleased not to let us suffer for a teacher, for the children of 
 this district was very much neglect, above any other part of the Island, until our pre- 
 sent teacher came, and now his health is gone and he is not able to hold out through 
 the season, and we feel very much distressed in our mind for want of his teaching. 
 All the good we can do for ourself, is but little, we were kept down so, by our secesh 
 masters, but we will do what we can and return our thanks by our prayers to the 
 friends that help us. 
 
 We were so delight to see the children improve, that our teacher voted to have a 
 committee of four and myself makes five, to visit the school and see that everything go 
 on regular among all the children, and we stand the assistance of the teacher as far as 
 p we are able and our understanding goes. 
 
 All the books and property that belong to the School, is in our charge, and if a 
 teacher is sent we shall be sponsible for the same. We will write to you again and 
 let you know how we get along. Our district will need a man teacher, a good strong 
 man, because there is deal of work in a large school. We generally have lecture every 
 Sunday evening, from three to four o'clock among the children and people, and we 
 I have seen that it makes the children and people improve more greatly. 
 
 If we should have another teacher, we feel that we shall continue on in every way 
 to receive knowledge. Through the assistance of the Lord we pray that as we im- 
 prove in one thing we may improve in everything, more and more every year. — We 
 give great thanks to the Lord for the good things he has sent already. 
 
6 
 
 This letter is signed by all the five committee men, who are all present, and very 
 thankfully agree to what is said, and we shall all be pleased to receive any message 
 from you. Robert L. Chaplin, a Chairman. 
 
 John Edward, his x mark. 
 "William Jefferson, his h mark. 
 Daniel Bolles, his y, mark. 
 William Scott, his h mark. 
 July 8th, 1863, Adams School, Morville District, ~) 
 St. Helena Island, S. C. $ 
 
 Ashdale, near Beaufort, S. C, August 8th, 1883. 
 
 The colored people are doing well generally. They are quite industrious, and 
 well informed in all that appertains to raising the cotton and all the other produc- 
 tions of the soil. They are very much interested in all those products that form the 
 means of their subsistence. They are laboring assiduously to procure in the coming 
 harvest sufficient to supply all the wants of the body, with some amount to sell. 
 The Governor of this department in the spring cut off the clothes and rations from 
 all the people that were able to labor in the fields, and it has proved one of the 
 most efficient means of promoting industrious habits among them. So long as they 
 saw before them a source from which they could draw food and clothes, they were 
 contented, and these contributions had a deleterious effect upon them. Now they are 
 aware that if they do not produce sufficient to support themselves, and purchase their 
 clothes, they must suffer, and they are quite ambitious to get as much as possible. It is 
 quite surprising to see the ingenuity and tact which many of them exhibit to accom- 
 plish that end. They certainly have imbibed largely the spirit of trade and commerce, 
 by which they increase their revenue. Their little fields are guarded with the strictest 
 care, and the growth of all the products watched with much eagerness, and the profits 
 calculated by them, as much as the cargo and the profits to accrue therefrom are, by 
 the great shippers of our commercial marts. They are fast learning the value of 
 money, and are acquiring an idea of property, whether it be in a horse or land. There 
 is a growing desire among them to become owners of land. Hundreds of them are 
 guarding their little stores with jealous care, and adding to their stock all they can, 
 in order to have sufficient to make purchases at the next sales of land. To be able to 
 receive all the proceeds of their labors, is one of the heights of their ambition. The 
 adjoining plantation to the one where I live, was purchased last year by the negroes. 
 They have worked it themselves without any direction from Avhite people. They have 
 exhibited all the skill, thus far, of those that have been worked by the Government. 
 They have a large field of cotton, and a larger one of corn. I see them frequently, and 
 converse with them about it. They are as proud of their labors as are any of the 
 farmers of the North when success follows a period of industry. They have planted 
 and brought to good growth by the necessary working three acres of cotton, each of which 
 is, I am told, the maximum of one person's allotment, when other crops are worked 
 by the same hand to the maximum. This condition of that plantation excites the 
 emulation of all the surrounding people, and they frequently say that if they could 
 work this land in the same way we could see some great crops. 1 have no doubt that 
 if the negroes, owned the land and could work it with the expectation of receiving all 
 the proceeds, the cotton crop would have been increased one-third, if not one-half. 
 
 So far as the question of subsistence is involved with these people, there is not the 
 least doubt about it. They are abundantly competent, and able and willing, to support 
 themselves, and in a short time many of them will acquire a competence that will 
 enable them to demand and supply themselves with many of the comforts of civilized 
 life. A. B. Plimpton. 
 
 Hilton Head, S. C, September 13th, 1863. 
 The people are raising a plenteous crop for their subsistence, with the exception of a 
 few aged and otherwise helpless individuals. There is much matured corn, an abun- 
 dance of sweet potatoes, considerable rice, and a general supply of various kinds of 
 vegetables all over the islands. There is also a quite extensive crop of cotton, the first 
 picking of which is now taking place. The peach, fig and other fruit harvests have gone 
 by, but there is a profusion of oranges everywhere, some of them beginning to turn 
 yellow. The supply seems to be unlimited. I have been surprised at the amount of 
 
7 
 
 subsistence raised upon the islands ; and yet, with more diligence and increased hus- 
 bandry, the amount may be vastly increased. I see no reason why the natural resour- 
 ces of the islands may not be made to support entirely, at least twice, aud perhaps 
 three times their present population. This, of course, would require a more thorough 
 and general superintendence, than has yet been rendered. The people need to be in- 
 structed, encouraged, and in many cases compelled to labor. 
 
 The agent who comes here for pastime or the mere novelty of change, had better stay 
 at home. The direction of labor is vastly important, but scarcely less so is the develop- 
 ment of the social, mental and moral faculties of this long oppressed and neglected 
 race. It seems to me there is at present a great lack of teachers, not merely of the 
 alphabet, and more advanced education, but also of social and domestic duties. 
 
 G. Pilsbury. 
 
 Beaufort, S. C, November 11th, 18G3. 
 The cotton crop has done very fairly this year. The entire crop, from the private as 
 well as Government plantations, will be about double that of last year, or even more than 
 double. The Government will have this year about one hundred thousaiad pounds of 
 ginned cotton. The first frost came last night, and that will cut off a good deal of cotton 
 that would have ripened in the next fortnight if there had been no frost. The money 
 paid out to the people for their labor on this cotton is very considerable, and makes the 
 industrious ones very well to do. E. W. Hooper. 
 
 LETTERS FROM NEWBERN, N. C. 
 
 FROM REV. HORACE JAMES, SUPERINTENDENT OF BLACKS AT NEWBERN. 
 
 Office of Superintendent of Blacks, 7 
 Newbern, N. C, June 6th, 18G3. ) 
 Respecting Teachers, I am ready to assure you, from General Foster himself, that 
 he will afford them military protection, government rations, and as good a dwelling 
 place as the circumstances will allow. "We have but one Newbern in the department. 
 Here they will have a good house to live in. At Beaufort it would be much the same. 
 But on Roanoke Island, and perhaps at Plymouth and "Washington, certainly at 
 Hatteras, we could not supply them so comfortably. I am confident there will be no 
 trouble on this point. Still 1 wish that those who are sent may share largely in a 
 missionary spirit, and come out here expecting to teach and to live in a log shanty, or 
 even in a tent, if we can do no better for them. Let them aspire to emulate their 
 brothers in self-denial, who have preceded them here in the regiments, and with the 
 sword have cut a passage for the army of Educators to follow on. 
 
 Horace James. 
 
 Newbern, N. C, July 27th, 1863. 
 It is not yet a week since Mr. Doolittle opened the school of which Miss Ropes and 
 myself have charge, and to-day we had 258 pupils in attendance, and managed to give to 
 each a morsel of the food for which they are so hungry. The avidity with which they 
 grasp at the least shadow of knowledge is intensely interesting. Once supplied with 
 a book, and the work of school government is at an end. One of my " 1st class," aged 
 25, can read with a good deal of readiness, and the only book he had ever seen until 
 yesterday, is a fragment of an old dictionary ; and when I put into his hands a " Third 
 Reader" (Wilson's Series) the strong man wept for joy. In our school the ages range 
 from 5 to 45, and as far as I can judge at present, they will soon leave white pupils 
 far behind. 
 
 Every hour spent with them is a fresh surprise, and a new cause for gratitude that 
 I am here. I suffer no inconvenience from the climate, and have but one regret in con- 
 nection with being here, and that is that I have not a whole fresh life to give to this 
 noble work. b. l. c. 
 
8 
 
 October 2d, 1863. — Owing to a variety of circumstances, contingent upon the com- 
 mencement of a new work, it has been almost impossible to keep a record from which 
 any accurate report of my school could be drawn. 
 
 Early in September I so far succeeded in systematizing my portion of the field, as to 
 be able to make some approach to such a record. From it I gather the following items : 
 Names registered for September, . , . . 200 
 
 Left to attend other schools, 23 
 
 Left to find employment, 17 
 
 Belonging to the school September 30th, . . . 160 
 Average attendance for the month, .... 128 
 Number between the ages of 6 and 12, . . . 50 
 " " « 12 « 45, 95 
 " " " " " 45 " 60, . . * 15 
 
 The difficulty I have found in learning the names as well as the ages of these people 
 would have been a source of amusement, but for the memory of the great wrong that 
 has caused it. The name "Bill" or "Tom," has sometimes stood for several days 
 upon my list, waiting for the owner thereof to learn the proper patronymic to attach 
 to it. I insist on their possessing, as one of the attributes of freedmen, at least two 
 names ; but having borne the surname of their " owner" when in slavery, and left it 
 with their chains, they do not readily understand why they need be troubled with a 
 second name, now that they " call no man master." 
 
 I see no abatement of their interest in the school. For regularity and punctuality 
 of attendance, they will compare very favorably, I think, with our Boston schools. 
 
 On reaching my school-room door this morning, fifteen minutes before the hour ap- 
 pointed for opening the school, I found 110 waiting admission ; and it is not an unu- 
 sual thing for a large number of them to gather around the door of the Teacher's Home, 
 to escort their respective teachers to their schools. 
 
 Their reverence for and child-like trust in the teachings of the Bible is very beauti- 
 ful. The older ones tell me they always knew they should be free, because they knew 
 " 'twas told so in the blessed Bible." And they have secretly taught their children to 
 live in hope, to watch and wait, for the day of their redemption. I never before had 
 charge of a school where the morning scripture reading produced so visibly a good 
 effect as in this school ; there is so much that they seem to feel was written expressly 
 for them. 
 
 The most advanced class, numbering 24, can read readily and quite correctly from 
 the " Second Reader " of the National Series, spelling without hesitation any word in 
 the lesson, as well as the names of the various objects in the room, and such as they 
 meet with in the street and elsewhere. Spelling seems to be a favorite pastime in the 
 street and about their homes, and the fortunate boy who can hold the book and pro- 
 nounce the words for them is " the officer of the day," and respected and obeyed ac- 
 cordingly. I gave them practical questions in very simple arithmetic, but have been 
 able to give but very little time to it. They are getting some idea of geography ; but 
 when I took them to Newbern, and led them out of Craven County and even beyond 
 North Carolina, they seemed quite lost in astonishment, and came to the conclusion 
 that 'twas " a big world." A few of my pupils are making fair progress in writing, on 
 slates, of which useful article we have now a good supply. 
 
 Lest I weary you, I will say in conclusion, that we are all doing much more and 
 better than we have any right to expect. I sometimes ask them if they don't wish 
 themselves back in slavery, where they might at least have more comfortable clothing 
 and better food ; but the invariable answer is in the negative : " Dis bad enough, but 
 right smart sight better'n dat ar." b. l. c. 
 
 November 14th, 1863. — In addition to my morning session for both sexes, I have a 
 sewing-school for such girls and women belonging to the school as are entirely igno- 
 rant of plain sewing. The sessions of this school are held on the afternoons of Mon- 
 day, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday — Wednesday being reserved to allow time for 
 preparing the work. The pupils are making in this, as in all they attempt to learn, a 
 good degree of progress. 
 
 To cultivate patriotism in those who have never before had a country to love, is a 
 pleasant and exceedingly interesting part of the teacher's duty here. We are doing it 
 in the Hancock Street Sewing- School, by teaching the little fingers that have picked 
 cotton, to sew together the little bright pieces that they so love to handle, into a bed- 
 quilt or " comforter " for the poor soldiers. It would rejoice the hearts of their friends, 
 to see how delighted they are to know they can do something for others. They are 
 
9 
 
 employed, too, in making garments for the destitute among their own poor, at the 
 camps. To help them help themselves, we only need materials upon which to keep 
 them at work. They can be very easily taught to use them. 
 
 My first impressions of the capacity of the blacks to receive and profit by instruction, 
 remain unchanged. In every quality that goes to make the intelligent and teachable, 
 as well as the " docile and affectionate" pupil, these children equal any white children 
 it has ever been my privilege to teach. B. L. Canedy. 
 
 Newbern, N. C, October 22d, 1863. 
 
 I want to tell you the great need of books in our Sabbath Schools ; we have ex- ^ 
 hausted our supply, and in the name of fourteen hundred Sabbath School Scholars, I 
 pray you send us a quantity. I have four Sabbath Schools under my charge, and as 
 soon as I receive the books necessary to do so, I shall establish two or three more. At 
 one of the Sabbath Schools there is an average attendance of over six hundred scholars ; 
 at each of the others, two hundred. We need tracts, primers, testaments, singing books, 
 and papers, and need them immediately. The Sabbath Schools are co-agents with 
 the day schools, and it is very desirable to keep alive the deep interest felt in them. 
 
 There are now five day schools in full tide of operation here, and the scholars are 
 making wonderful progress in their studies. If the predictions of many prove true, it 
 will not be necessary to send North for teachers bye and bye. At the evening school 
 which is under my direction, there is an average attendance of over three hundred 
 scholars. It is a highly interesting and popular school. I have the aid of thirty offi- / 
 cers and privates (belonging to regiments in this vicinity) in this school. 
 
 O. E. D. 
 
 November 4th, 1863. — I have established a morning school in a Contraband camp 
 south of the Trent River ; there is an average attendance of one hundred and twenty- 
 five pupils, and we now see a very studious band striving to learn with all their 
 powers. 
 
 There are about one thousand freedmen in this camp, and many of them who have 
 heretofore depended upon the labors of sons and daughters for their " daily bread," 
 are now seeking other means of supply, that their children may attend school. It is 
 often said to me by these poor people, "lam willing to make any sacrifice that my 
 little ones may be educated," and this remark is made by those who have not a crust 
 of bread for the morrow. There are fifty males and seventy- five females in this school ; 
 their ages are as follows : 
 
 75 are under 12 years of age. 
 20 " " 18 " " " 
 30 " " 25 " « " 
 
 My evening school for adults is full of interest ; there is an average attendance of 
 three hundred pupils. Over one hundred have learnt to read since they began to 
 attend, and almost two hundred pupils will soon need a more advanced book than the 
 one they are now using. Writing has been introduced into this school. It is my 
 intention that only those who can read well, shall be allowed to have lessons given them 
 in this accomplishment. I am obliged to make this condition for them to learn writing, 
 as there is not space in the building to have many departments of learning. As soon 
 as practicable, I intend to- introduce arithmetic into this school. 
 
 I have four Sabbath Schools under my care ; two of these I established. At one of 
 these schools there are over six hundred pupils, and at each of the others two hun- 
 dred. As soon as I receive a supply of books and papers, I hope to establish other 
 schools. O. E. Doolittle. 
 
 Newbern, November 23d, 1863. 
 Mr. James gave me a School which Miss Canedy was teaching, consisting of 
 adults and a few children who could not attend her large school. It is one of intense 
 interest. The scholars manifest the most enthusiastic desire to learn. The great point 
 with all seems to be to read the Testament. Some learn very rapidly and quite well, 
 but when they attempt to spell, have no idea whatever of the sound of letters, nor 
 can you give them any if they are old ; with the younger ones I am trying to overcome 
 this,, and by perseverance shall, I hope, succeed. With those who have grown old, it 
 
10 
 
 seems only to be necessary to teach them to read, and the quickest method (however 
 irregular) is the most desirable. 
 
 I found everything in Newbern so much more comfortable than I expected, that I 
 have not for one moment felt as though I was enduring any privations. Our ungrati- 
 lied wants have only been a source of amusement, and our many comforts a c jntinual 
 cause for congratulation. 
 
 I cannot feel that I am engaged in teaching, in an ordinary way, reading, writing, and 
 spelling ; but, that each one to whom we impart any instruction, any spark of know- 
 ledge, is so much pressure bearing on a lever, that is slowly, but inevitably, elevating a 
 nation. 
 
 When I witness their delighted earnest effort to improve, my own heart catches the 
 spirit and echoes the fervent, " bress de Lord," that involuntarily escapes so many 
 lips when they find they can spell out a passage in the Testament or Psalms. 
 
 I cannot close without giving you a few incidents connected with my School, and 
 those with whom I come in daily contact. One of my pupils, thirteen years of age, 
 could, six months ago, read only very small words, and that by spelling them out ; 
 now she reads better than the average of white children of the North of the same 
 age. She spells difficult words with ease. She is very black — intensely African. 
 She has been at school only part of the six months. Another case is a woman of 
 about sixty-five. She reads well in the Testament or in any book at sight, but cannot 
 spell the simplest words. She has learned almost entirely since the Federal forces 
 took Newbern. 
 
 We have a boy employed in the house, who has all the proverbial characteristics of 
 the negro, and is in all above mediocrity. He keeps his book constantly with him, not 
 only studying when an opportunity is given him, but stealing time from his work for 
 that purpose. Often when I know he should be at work, I have listened in vain for 
 the sound of his axe, and going quietly out to the wood yard, have seen him hide his 
 Reader under a large stick of wood, and with a sheepish look and a real negro laugh, 
 resume his work ; but unless watched the axe will soon be dropped for the book. We 
 have also a girl in the house, who has never had any advantages. She does not know 
 all her letters, but is very observing. This morning she said to me, in as good English 
 as I could use, " Miss Carrie, James did not cut one particle of wood last night." I 
 looked at her astonished, for three weeks ago she could not have put together a correct 
 sentence. She also said to the boy (when he tried to excuse himself for neglecting the 
 wood), " If I could read as well as you can, I would not say gwine for going, specially 
 when the white folks take so much pains with you." Thus daily are brought before us 
 such demonstrations of the high ability of the negro as must convince those who have 
 hitherto denied that his elevation was possible. C. E. Ckoome. 
 
 Newberx, N. C, Dec. 22d, 1863. 
 
 On the morning of Nov. 23d, I was duly installed as Teacher in a log school-house, 
 in Camp Kimball, just across the Trent River, about one mile from the city. I will 
 suppose you have some knowledge of this school, as Mr. Doolittle was its first Teacher. 
 There were present this morning eighty-eight pupils. Mr. James gave me full power 
 to make any changes I might think best, which privilege I have availed myself of. I 
 found all the little ones on the back seats and completely hid by the larger ones. I 
 commenced the next morning by taking the names and ages of all present, the result 
 being 106. There has been a steady increase of numbers each day, until I now have 
 212 names registered, of all ages from five years to sixty-one. I have fathers and mo- 
 thers with their children. Women leave their work until the latter part of the day, 
 and boys refuse to accept situations, that they may avail themselves of these privileges. 
 I would that every child in the North, could* look on, and see the eagerness manifested 
 by these poor colored children in their books. It would give them some idea of their 
 own privileges, and perhaps stimulate them to renewed diligence. 
 
 I had the benches in front made lower, and placed the smaller children on them, 
 thereby enabling them to touch their feet to the floor. This done, I could command 
 every eye in the room. To arrange them in classes was a work of time. I found a 
 great variety of books, and but three of the National series. They have a great desire 
 to read from a large book, supposing they are learning faster. I found they knew by 
 heart the lessons in the " Picture Primer " which they had, and could tell mfc how 
 much of the book they knew, while in fact they could not read one word. Another 
 difficulty has been to keep them in a class. After arranging them, I have had to watch 
 very sharp, and tell them time and again, until now they do very well. I have intro- 
 duced six dozen National Primers, having two classes— one just commencing to read 
 
11 
 
 words of two letters, the other a class of thirty-five, reading words of four and five 
 letters. I have a letter class, numbering sixty and upwards ; this comprises scholars 
 of all ages. These I teach in concert from the various cards which I have introduced, 
 giving them oral instruction of various kinds, afterwards hearing each one read from 
 the Picture Primer which I found in school. This exercise seems to interest the older 
 ones, as much as the class itself. I have a class of ten in the National First Header, a 
 small class in the Second Reader, also several who require attention separately. They 
 are anxious to know how to write and cipher. I give some exercises on the black- 
 board, besides copies on their slates, and never before have I felt so much the need of 
 two pairs of hands as now. I was without an assistant until last week, and now have 
 one who has been teaching in Newborn since July, and is only with me for a short 
 time. I have formed a class in Davis's Primary Arithmetic, numbering ten. These 
 I intend to hear recite after the others are dismissed, but they are mostly disposed to 
 sta) r and listen. 
 
 I have been obliged to dismiss the younger children at the close of their exercises, 
 in order to make room for the rest. This difficulty will be obviated by enlarging the 
 building, which has already commenced, when I shall hope to labor to better advan- 
 tage. I wish I could introduce you to this school as it appears in the morning, and 
 let them sing to you one of their own native songs ; afterw ards one which they have 
 just learned — " Kally round the Flag." They are delighted with our songs, and catch 
 them very readily. You may imagine how they look, but to know fully, you should 
 see for yourself. All the books I ever read, gave me but a faint idea of their real ap- 
 pearance. I cannot call all their names, but can tell them wherever we meet, by the 
 flash of their eyes. I find them strong in their attachment to us, while their thoughts 
 are oftentimes expressed in the most touching language. I wish I could give you an 
 exact report of one of their public speeches, as well as some of their prayers. They 
 call down all manner of blessings on us Teachers, as well as all the people of the 
 North, not excepting "Mr. Linkum" and his Cabinet. My own language is meagre 
 compared with theirs. They speak but the utterances of a full heart, overflowing with 
 gratitude and exceeding great joy, that after so many years of oppression and wrong, 
 they are now Freedmen. Who can wonder ? One expression which I heard in a 
 prayer, I must repeat : — " Grant, O Lord, that not a feather be lacking in the wing of 
 the North." " Indulgent Father, we thank thee thou didst ever make a Linkum. O 
 spare his life, and bless our Union Army ; may one man put a thousand to flight, and 
 ten chase ten thousand." 
 
 The sick in camp send for the " School Misses." Some of their leading men have 
 been to the school-house, and expressed their gratitude for my service in a very ac- 
 ceptable manner. I also visit them in their homes, and as far as possible relieve their 
 wants by distributing clothing, but my pen fails to tell you of the destitution, rags, 
 patches, and half nakedness. I would that I were able to arouse the people of the 
 North more thoroughly to a sense of the needs of this suffering people ; another winter 
 may not find them so unprepared for the cold. 
 
 I think I have introduced you sufficiently for the first time to my school, which I 
 have named for Dr. Russell, and it will hereafter be known as the Russell School. 
 I hope to be able to give you favorable reports from time to time. There is a great 
 work to be done, and no person who has a love for this field of labor, need stand with 
 folded hands. S. M. Pearson. 
 
 LETTERS FROM VIRGINIA. 
 
 Portsmouth, Va., May 11th, 1863. 
 For a week we heard, without anxiety, the booming of the guns at Suffolk, and 
 we begged to be allowed to remain on the Island (Craney Island), but the Doctor was 
 decided, and General Viele and other officers urged the necessity of his sending us 
 North. To that we demurred ; but in spite of our unwillingness, we were kept for 
 a week in durance vile at the Hygeia Hotel. We then returned to our work, though the 
 authorities considered it unsafe so to do ; and knowing we should soon be taken from 
 the Island, we worked, for a week, ten or twelve hours a day ; our pupils striving 
 cheerfully all the while to keep pace with us. In that week, many to whom on 
 Monday we gave their first writing lessons, learned to write me letters. Writing from 
 
12 
 
 memory, excited them amazingly, and writing " Newport News," " Hampton," and 
 their other homes of refuge, was a delight to them. I don't tell you about my sister, 
 but her work tells here all the while. We want primers — one thousand of them. Out 
 of date books can be spared, I doubt not, from many Northern bookstores. You de- 
 sire us to make our wants known to you. Can you help us in this instance, and that 
 speedily ? 
 
 Dr. Brown has six hundred and forty-five negroes upon the farms which he directly 
 superintends — from one to five hundred upon each farm. He still has forty farms. 
 Of fourteen a third of the produce is confiscated, and of those he has no oversight. 
 He himself is cultivating two thousand four hundred acres, with grain, vegetables, 
 cotton and tobacco. i" c - 
 
 Whitehead Farm, June 20th, 1863. 
 I asked, and it was given unto me. The books and slates came and were welcomed, 
 and many of them are already worn in the service. Your help was so ready and effi- 
 cient, in my hour of need, I incline to drive to your door again. The refugees, with 
 their rags and vermin, are crowding into Norfolk. One hundred and twenty (or 
 more), very destitute, have just gone to Craney Island from Suffolk, and we have 
 nothing to spare from the farms wherewith to clothe them. It is almost certain that 
 the number will steadily increase. How shall we clothe them ? They cannot be ex- 
 pected to pay for their clothing. We have at no time been able to meet a present 
 need ; and the prospect before us looks very naked. I am dropping my books and 
 slates about upon the farms, but I cannot get a horse to keep constantly upon the road 
 as I expected to do. However, we have work at home ; but when I do get to the 
 farms, old men and children flock to my side, and their interest and attention show that 
 in one half hour they get a mighty impulse. L « c « 
 
 Norfolk, Va., Nov. 11th, 1863. 
 Four hundred refugees, released by colored soldiers, have just come, empty-handed, 
 into our lines. In the jail-yard, where they once found chains and a lash, all the 
 refugees now find a temporary home. The men and large boys go at once to the 
 Government farms to build huts, and in due season to take their families to the house- 
 warming. Twenty-five refugees came ten days ago ; and more will come, from time 
 to time, all winter long. They must be clothed ; so, of Northern charity let there be 
 no end. 
 
 Many of the negroes upon the Government farms will this month receive wages, 
 and should have the privilege of paying something for their clothing. The number 
 of needy will, necessarily, continue to be large, and it seems necessary to continue the 
 practice of gratuitous distribution; but Dr. Brown unites with me in thinking it very 
 desirable that a store should be opened here for all who hold a purse. He says if you 
 will send a store-keeper, he will furnish him with facilities ; and he can furnish you 
 with free transportation from New York. 
 
 I have not told you that we present all the refugees with A B C 's, and they snatch 
 them greedily, astonishing my sister and myself, long- experienced though we are, with 
 their amazing progress. L « c « 
 
 Norfolk, Va., Dec. 24th, 1863. 
 We shall continue our school through the holidays. A prospect of rest and vacation 
 wearies us. 
 
 My sister went to Newbern for a day or two, a week or so ago. She had, for a few 
 weeks, had the entire superintendence of a school of four hundred children. Small 
 children, too, and raw. It was the reception school of the city. Thirty or forty new 
 scholars came every day. A school that only one with a gift could control, and only 
 one with a body could bear upon her shoulders. It was the school in which we had 
 taught through the summer, giving our extra time to the refugees and the farms. 
 
 Difficulties and delays have blocked the path- way to our own special family school- 
 house ; but now we have one, the doors are open ; and by New dear's, we shall have 
 a school-house of our own. At present, we are teaching in a church. 
 
 Three hundred more refugees came in on Tuesday ; seventy wagon " loads " on Sat- 
 urday; and one hundred and twenty "loads" a day or two ago. The Doctor drops 
 them upon his farms now, that the city may no longer be over burdened. 
 
 Lucy Chase. 
 
13 
 
 REPORT OF REV. CHARLES LOWE TO THE COMMITTEE ON 
 
 TEACHERS. 
 
 Somerville, Dec. 7th, 1863. 
 
 My dear Sir, — It gives me great pleasure to present, at your request, a statement 
 of the impression made upon my mind by a visit to the field of operations of the Edu- 
 cational Commission for Freedmen, in the department of South Carolina. I had an 
 opportunity to visit many of the schools and plantations on Port lloyal, St. Helena 
 and Ladies Islands, and to converse with many who were familiar with the condition 
 of the freed population, and will state as briefly as I can the result of my observation. 
 
 First, As to the Schools. 
 
 In the immediate vicinity of Beaufort the teachers labor at great disadvantage. The 
 town is an aggregate of Government offices, hospitals and camps. An excessive popu- 
 lation of freed people has congregated there, and they are exposed to all the bad influ- 
 ences of such a community. The effect is seen in the Schools, in a want of punctuality 
 and in a restless spirit on the part of the children. Yet even in these Schools the 
 success of the attempt was very gratifying. The children seemed bright and eager to 
 learn, and showed remarkable proficiency. Here, as indeed in all the schools I visited, I 
 was greatly struck by the excellence of the teachers employed. In one of the Schools 
 in Beaufort, there was acting as an assistant, a young colored man — formerly a member 
 of the 54th Massachusetts Kegiment, and disabled at Wagner. He was teaching some 
 of the classes, and as I watched him I thought he was teaching very successfully. Cer- 
 tainly he had the perfect respect and attention of the pupils, and it seemed to me that 
 such men might be thus employed to advantage, more frequently than they are. 
 
 As you go away from Beaufort, the bad influences of that place gradually lessen, till, 
 on the plantations ten miles distant, the people are quite out of their reach, and the 
 consequences are very apparent. Here, with no better teachers (for where all are so 
 good I could not recognize any difference), the discipline of the Schools was greatly 
 superior, and their whole character compared favorably with that of any of our North- 
 ern Schools of the same grade. 
 
 Second, As regards the ability of the freed people to support and govern themselves, 
 my impressions are equally favorable. 
 
 Here again, Beaufort and its immediate vicinity afford a most unfavorable condi- 
 tion for the experiment. And many visitors, judging from what they see there, may 
 give unfair statements in regard to its success. The place, as I have already said, has 
 just the effect, on the people gathered there, that a prolonged muster-field would have 
 on a great mass of people who might crowd about it. Considering this, it was a mat- 
 ter of surprise to me that things are no worse. There is no disorder, and a Quarter- 
 Master, who has occasion to employ a very large number of the men, told me that he 
 never had so little difficulty with laborers. On Thanksgiving day they were all dis- 
 charged for a holiday, and he said to me that, whereas, with white men, he should be 
 dreading trouble from their absence or disorderly conduct the next morning after the 
 day's carousing, he was sure that these men would all be promptly at their work. 
 
 On the plantations removed from the camps the condition of things is most gratify- 
 ing. The people labor well, and are easily managed, and the superintendents say are 
 always ready to do anything that you can persuade them is for their advantage. 
 
 I will not anticipate the statements which are being prepared by one gentleman there 
 (Mr. E. S. Philbrick), in which he will show conclusively the satisfactoriness of their 
 voluntary paid labor so far as the employers are concerned. My only purpose is to 
 testify, as a casual observer, to the good order, the respectful demeanor and thrifty ap- 
 pearance of the colored population, and the general evidence which such a visit could 
 give of a good state of things. 
 
 One thing particularly impressed me. I saw the people everywhere, in their homes 
 and in the fields. 1 have seen the working classes in many countries of the world, and 
 I never saw a peasantry so cleanly dressed, so respectable in their outward appearance 
 or apparently so happy. This is certain in regard to these people — that they are abun- 
 dantly able to support themselves. If your organization has made any mistake, it has 
 been that you felt at first too little confident of that, and assumed that they must be 
 helped by donations in charity. Undoubtedly there was, for a while, much destitution, 
 and your relief was most timely; but the generosity of the supply encouraged a feeling 
 that they could live without labor, which has been one of the great difficulties to over- 
 come. They certainly need help no longer. I saw them at the stores kept on the 
 Islands, buying, with plenty of money, every variety of articles, and heard of no want. 
 
14 
 
 A paymaster told me that, tinder the order of General Saxton, permitting them to 
 apply for lands hereafter to be sold, the sum of $4,C00 has already been deposited by 
 freedmen. One man is now owner of the plantation of his former master, 'which he 
 purchased with money loaned him, and which he has now paid for by the earnings of 
 this year's crop. 
 
 What interested me most in what I saw, was the conviction, that here is being 
 worked out the problem of whether the black race is fitted for freedom. In many 
 respects the circumstances in this locality are such as to make the experiment peculiar- 
 ly satisfactory. 1st, The colored people on these Islands are admitted to be inferior 
 to those in most portions of the South, partly because kept more degraded, and partly 
 because close intermarrying has caused them to deteriorate. 2dly, After being left 
 by their masters, they lived for a time under no kind of restraint. And 3dly, By a 
 well meant generosity, when first visited by our sympathy they were encouraged to 
 believe that they could live under freedom without the necessity of labor. 
 
 Yet, under all these disadvantages, the experiment has been a triumphant success — 
 apparent, beyond question, to any one who can observe. 
 
 To be sure, it can probably never happen that on any general scale, those who shall 
 give to the newly freed people their first instructions in freedom, shall be men and 
 women of such high character and ability as those who have undertaken it here. I 
 was amazed when I saw among the teachers and superintendents so many persons of 
 the very highest culture, and fitted for the very highest positions. I confess I felt 
 sometimes as though it was lavishing too much upon this work ; but then 1 considered 
 (what is now the great feeling with which I regard the whole thing) that this is a grand 
 experiment which is settling for the whole nation this great problem. And when I 
 saw how completely it has settled it, I felt that it was worthy of all that had been 
 given. I believe that the importance of the movement is yet to be realized when the 
 operations on this field shall become the great example for every part of the land. 
 
 I am, with great respect, very truly yours, 
 
 Charles Lowe. 
 
 Dr. LcBaron Russell, Boston. 
 
 The following letter to the Treasurer of the Committee for Aid to the Freedmen of 
 the West, is from Mr. Edward S. Philbrick, one of the first company sent to Port 
 Royal by the Commission, in March, 18(32. After a term of active and most efficient 
 service as Superintendent of Plantations under Gen. Saxton, Mr. Philbrick became 
 the purchaser, at the Government sale for taxes, of thirteen plantations, which he has 
 since conducted, with the result given below. Mr. Philbrick has treated the blacks 
 with great humanity, giving them liberal wages, and paying for the support of teachers 
 out of his own funds. 
 
 Beaufort, S. C, Dec. 28, 1863.* 
 
 Alpheus H.vrdy, Treasurer : 
 
 Dear Sir,— Enclosed please find my draft for one hundred dollars, for the re- 
 lief of the families of Freedmen, in response to your circular. Please state to your 
 committee and to any other gentlemen interested in the question of free labor, that I 
 have disbursed the sum of $20,000 during the past nine months among the freedmen 
 here, in the shape of w T ages, well earned, besides which they have now on hand ample 
 provision to feed their families for twelve months to come, the fruit of their own toil. 
 
 I employ about 500 laborers — women and children, mostly, having a population of 
 920 on my lands. They have raised for me 73,000 pounds of clean Sea Island cotton 
 this year, worth oOd. sterling in Liverpool, besides their own provision crops, above 
 referred to. This has been done in hearing of Gen. Gilmore's big guns on Morris 
 Island, surrounded by camps, with no civil law, and without the help of the able-bodied 
 men, who were all pressed into the military service, leaving the plantations with none 
 but old men, women and children. I have no paupers, all the old and infirm being- 
 fed and clothed by their friends and children. 
 
 I mention these things to show how easy it is to render the negroes a self-supporting 
 and wealth-producing class with proper management; and I, at the same time, fully 
 appreciate the duty imposed upon us as a nation, to extend the area of charity where 
 the unsettled state of the country renders industry impossible until time is given to 
 re-organize and force to pi'otect it. We are more fortunately situated than the people 
 of the Mississippi valley, and have got the start of them. 
 
 Respectfully yours, E. S. Philbrick. 
 
The Commission was organized in Boston, February 7tli, 1862. Since that date it has 
 sent 114 Teachers and Superintendents to the South. Their names are printed below. Of 
 these 97 went to Port Royal, 11 to Newborn, N. C, 3 to Craney Island and Norfolk, Va., 
 and one each to Washington, Georgetown and Alexandria, D. C. Of the whole, 7:> still re- 
 main, employed chiefly as Superintendents of Plantations or as Teachers. Their names are 
 printed in Italics. The names of those who have died are marked with an asterisk. 
 
 To Port Royal. — Edward W. Hooper, Boston ; Edward S. Philbrick, Brooklinc ; Wm. 
 C. Gannett, Boston ; Geo. H. Blake, Bangor ; J. C. Zachos, Ohio; Dr. A. J. Wakefield, 
 J. F. Sisson, I. W. Cole, Boston; J. W. R. Hill; Jas. H. Palmer. Deerfield: D. F. 
 Thorpe, Providence ; David Mack, Cambridge ; T. Edwin Ruggles, Milton ; J. M. F. 
 Howard, Boston ; F. E. Barnard,* Dorchester ; Dr. James Waldock, Roxbury ; Richard 
 Soulejr., Brooklinc ; Leonard Wesson, Brookline ; Wm. Ed. Park, Andover ; J. E. Taylor, 
 Andover ; Dr. Charles II. Browne, Boston ; F. A. Eustis, Milton ; Sam'l D. Phillips,* Bos- 
 ton ; Rev. Daniel Bowe * Andover ; Wm. S. Clark,* Boston; Mrs. E. B. Hale, Miss M. Hale, 
 Boston ; Miss M. A. Waldock, Roxbury ; Miss Ellen H. Winsor, Boston ; Jules S. DeLa- 
 croix, Ncwburyport ; Geo. M. Welles, Providence ; Rev. Thos. D. Howard, Springfield ; 
 Rev. Chas. E. Rich, Geo. H. Boynton, Boston; Rev. S. Peck, Roxbury; Dr. F. W. 
 Lawrence, Boston ; Dr. F. E. Bundy, Boston; Moses Wright ; Rev. John Orrcll, Sandwich ; 
 Arthur Sumner, Cambridge ; Richard S. Edes, Providence; O. E. Bryant, Bridgewater; 
 Geo. H. Hull, Chelsea; D. B. Nichols; Geo. H. Duran; Geo. Daniels; E. Horn; Mrs. H. W. 
 Philbrick, Brookline ; Miss H. II. Ware, Milton; Rev. J. Horton; J. S. Severance, Concord; 
 R. W. Allen, Hartford; John G. Xichols, Kingston; Chas. P. Ware, Milton; Chas. 
 Follen, Boston ; F. J. Williams, Brooklinc ; Chas. C. Soule, Brookline ; Charles 
 Follen Folsom, Jamaica Plain; H. L. Breed; /. R. Dennett, Reading; W. X. Murdoch, Bos- 
 ton; E. P. Dyer, Hingham; Miss Eliza Ruggles* Milton; Rev. A. D. Milne, Tiverton, 
 R. I.; Chs. P. Kemp, Boston ; Mrs. E. Clark, Boston; Rev. W. W. Hall, Providence ; E, 
 G. Dudley, Boston ; A. B. Brown, Boston ; W. T. G. Pierce* Melrose ; John H. Goodhue ; * 
 Jas. G. Cole ; A. B. Plimpton, Melrose ; J. N. Trash, Cambridge ; N. C. Dennett, Worces- 
 ter ; Bcnj. A. Lincoln,* Boston; Miss Rice, Cambridge; Mrs. II. Bartlett; 3Iiss H. Carter, 
 Cambridge ; Miss S. E. Richardson, Providence ; Edward G. Stetson, Lexington ; Gilbert 
 Pillsbury, Ludlow; John H. Pillsbury, Boston; Theodore E. Davis, Fitch burg; /. G. 
 Dodge, Winchester ; Wm. II. Aldett, Hartford ; C. C. Waters, Salem ; Geo. S. Morison, 
 Milton; Chs. C. Drew, Boston; Mrs. C. H. Browne, Boston; C. Edward Dyer, Dorchester ; 
 Wm. G. S. Keene, Lynn; Mrs. C. M. Severance; Miss Ellen M. Lee, Templeton ; Miss Helen 
 M. Ireson, Lynn ; Mrs. A. F. Pillsbury ; Mrs. J. G. Dodge. 
 
 To Craney Island and Norfolk. — Miss Lucy Chase, Miss Sarah E. Chase, Wor- 
 cester ; Miss Martha II. Chace, Providence. 
 
 To Newbern, N. C— Mr. O. E. Doolittle, Boston ; MissB.L. Canedy, Fall River ; Miss 
 Alice S. Ropes, Boston; Miss Teresa O. James, Roxbury; Miss S. M. Pearson; Mrs. C. E. 
 Croome ; Miss Esther Warren, Exeter, N. H.; Mr. Wm. V. West, Nantucket; Miss Anna 
 C. Canedy, Fall River ; Miss Anna P. Merriam, Worcester ; Miss L. N. Tattle. 
 
 To Washington, D. C. — Miss C. A. Andrews, Ncwburyport. 
 
 To Georgetown, D. C. — Miss Frances W. Perkins. 
 
 To Alexandria, D. C. — Miss Virginia A. Lawton. 
 
 Rev. Thomas D. Howard, having returned from Port Royal, has been sent as agent of 
 the Commission to examine and report upon the condition and wants of the Freedmen at 
 New Orleans and the vicinity. 
 
CALL NUMBER 
 
 Vol. 
 
 Date (for periodical) 
 
 Copy No. 
 
 326 pi86 
 
 95045