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Beverley
En sort beredienzana
THE EVIDENCE
OF THE
REAL MERITS
HT .
1098
B59
OF THE
NEGRO APPRENTICESHIP
IN THE
BRITISH COLONIES,
Here
Eramined,
BY JUSTUS.
AUTHOR OF
THE WRONGS OF THE CAFFRE NATION.”
LONDON:
PRINTED BY W. TYLER, BOLT COURT, FLEET STREET.
1838.
EVIDENCE,
&c. &c.
::
The question between the friends of the Negro and the Government
is certainly one of facts. It is not the attack and defence of a theory,
nor a controversy concerning a principle. We, the Abolitionists, preter-
mit the abstract merits of the case, which, we feel convinced, are all on
our side, and assert that we can, by irrefragable evidence, prove the Negro
Apprenticeship to be a cruel form of Slavery. If we succeed here, if we
make good our case, we claim in common justice the immediate Abolition
of the Apprenticeship ; because it is notorious, and the Act of Abolition
proves it, that the Apprenticeship of the Negroes was covenanted to be
something that Slavery is not. The Act of Abolition did not merely
change a phrase, and substitute the word “ Apprenticeship" for the word
“Slavery' -we did not merely purchase a new word for £20,000,000
this would not be pretended even by the Ministers; the Negro Appren-
ticeship was to be really and substantially something different from
Slavery: the Apprentices were to be free men, in a state of pupilage,
educating for the full rights and privileges of perfect citizens, and pre-
paring by moral and social culture for that station in society which it
was presumed they were not competent to enjoy without such a prepara-
tion. We will not here stop to examine this theory, which is funda-
mentally vicious, and argues a profound ignorance of human nature. But
this was and is the theory; Ministers have constantly made use of it,
and do still frequently recur to it--"the great experiment" is a sort of
official formulary offered to represent the Apprenticeship. Ministers have
put their ingredients into the alembic, and are waiting for some new
virtue to come forth; it is now our business to examine this their famous
elixir vitæ, and to present the world with a full and fair analysis.
In the debate which took place in the House of Commons on Sir
George Strickland's motion for the Abolition of the Apprenticeship, Sir
George Grey, the Under Colonial Secretary, trusting to the ignorance
of those whom he was addressing, ventured to appeal to facts to support
the Government view of the question. Only yesterday,” said he, “a
memorial was presented to the Government by a large body of delegates,
representing the wishes and feelings of the inhabitants of various parts
of the country, and speaking with the authority which undoubtedly
attaches to their number and their character. What are the terms in
which the memorial speaks of the present condition of the Apprentices
Negroes? The parties from whom it emanates state, that they have
learnt, with feelings of disappointment and disgust, that, with but few
and slight exceptions, the purposes of the Abolition Act have been
defeated ; and that a people, already crushed by tyranny and oppression,
have had their miseries aggravated, and in a variety of ways have been
spoiled and harassed beyond all they had to endure under Slavery itself.
But is this statement of the Delegates borne out by the evidence? I
have no doubt that those from whom this memorial emanates, were
firmly convinced of the truth and accuracy of their statements; but this
is only a proof that the most incorrect information has been circulated
on the subject. I believe the information which has been so circulated,
and on which resolutions have been passed, and petitions framed, has
Latin-amer tut.
Phillips
702029
3
20159
originated with some few persons, who, with-good intentions it may be,
but with excited and mistaken feelings, desire to prevent the peaceful
termination of the Apprenticeship at the expiration of its legal term.”
The ministers, therefore, wish this controversy to be decided by an
appeal to facts; and Mr. Gladstone, in his published speech on the
motion of Sir George Strickland, complains also that the Abolitionists
have exaggerated their case, have made “partial extracts," and have
suppressed facts against them; this, therefore, is the position of the
argument which we desire ---the case has been brought to an issue that
we quite agree to---and now to facts we will appeal.
The first strong position of Mr. Gladstone, is a dispatch of Sir Lionel
Smith, from Jamaica, dated Sep. 8, 1837, conveying fifty-six enclosures,
which are the last quarterly returns from fifty-five Special Magistrates.
Of these reports of the Special Magistrates, Mr. Gladstone asserted,
with surprising assurance, that nine only reported unfavourably of the
Apprenticeship, and that forty-six were against the Abolitionists.*
Let
us now examine the reports, and let them speak for themselves.
And as it is a question of facts between us and Mr. Gladstone, we
must be very particular, both in our numeration and our references, for
it will soon become obvious, that we have an opponent to deal with,
who considers the perversion of truth perfectly justifiable in the way of
an argument. The first report we fix on as unfavourable, is from Mr.
Cooper, Special Magistrate, dated July, 1837; and in his report are
· the following admissions, after having first reported well of the conduct
of the Apprentices :-“Would to God I could add, that corresponding
improvement was perceptible in the conduct of their managers, or that
the Apprentices were more cheerful, more happy, or better treated.
The Apprentices are now rapidly advancing in civilisation and intel-
ligence; they now begin to look beyond the present. Hope, a new found
acquaintance, teaches them to look towards the future, and their lan-
guage and conduct alike evince the eager longing with which they do look
forward to the termination of the Apprenticeship. To say they are con-
tent would be absurd, equally untrue would it be to say, that any thing
like good feelings are entertained by them generally towards their
masters; the real plain truth is, they have no confidence in these masters,
least of all in their immediate managers, whose conduct, I am sorry to
say, justifies the distrust of the Apprentices. The improvement before
described, and which is attributable solely to the pleasing anticipation of
approaching freedom, which, in some degree, reconciles him to the
endurance of his present altered, but unameliorated condition, has not
procured for the Apprentice the smallest additional indulgence; on the
contrary, the desire of their managers to make the most of them,
acquires strength in proportion to the abridgment of the term in which
the desideratum must be attained ; and this feeling, acting upon minds
soured by the prospect of early loss of their remaining power, places
the characters of a majority of those gentlemen in a point of view
which shows strikingly and lamentably their moral inferiority to many,
very many, of those under their iron government.”+
It would be in vain to endeavour to add to the force of this testimony
by any comment or explanation; and though the rest of Mr. Cooper's
report explains at length the grievances of the Apprentices, yet we
must here pass on to other evidence.
The second unfavourable report is from Mr. Grant, dated 12th July,
* Mr. Gladstone's Speech, p. 27.
of Parliamentary Papers, Abolition of Slavery, Part IV. p. 282.
A 2
4
*
i
1837. • The behaviour of the Apprentices," says that gentleman,
has been such as almost entirely to put it out of the power of their
masters to find fault. Although the conduct of the Apprentices has
thus been every thing that their best friends could desire, of the good
feeling existing between them and their employers, I regret to say,
I
cannot report so favourably as heretofore. This want of good feeling,
in existence at the present moment, I have no hesitation in attributing
to a desire on the part of the employer, and a desire which I observe to
increase daily, to make the Apprentices do more than can, with any
reason, be required of them, notwithstanding they perform their work
willingly and well; and the best proof I can give of the truth of this
important assertion will be, in stating, that during the period to which
this report referred, there has only been in this extensive and valuable
district one complaint for deficiency of labour.” This gentleman then
enters into details explaining the tyranny and oppression of the masters
and managers of estates. *
The third unfavourable report is from Mr. Gurley, July, 1837 : he
says, “I do not think there is that good feeling between the Appren-
tices and the managers, except in a very few instances, that I could wish,
and which would tend to the interest of both; this is to be attributed to
the unyielding conduct of the latter, who, I am confident, are only re-
strained from lapsing into the former system by the strong arm of the
law; as it is, every opposition is thrown in the way of the Special
Magistrate, and his interference is looked upon with suspicion, and at-
tended with abuse and insult. I have addressed his Excellency once
on the subject, and I am about to do so again, for it will be impossible
to perform the duties of my office unless some protection is afforded.t
The fourth unfavourable report is from Mr. Woolfrye, July, 1837.
“ The nine hour system of labour is continued in my district, but I am
sorry to observe, that amongst those who have attempted to evade or
defeat the requirements of the law, and the instructions of his Excel-
lency, are to be found some gentlemen in the Commission of the Peace
as Magistrates.
In cases of valuation, I have been actually
surprised and ashamed to see owners offering to swear, in order to
convert a non-prædial into a prædial, or to the valuable services of an
Apprentice, for the purpose of enhancing the valuation, who, a short
time previous, in case of a complaint against the same individual, in
order to procure conviction, would on oath denounce the delinquent as
the very worst character on the estate. Hitherto, in compassion for
the infirmity of human nature, and in the hope and expectation that
as the Apprenticeship diminishes, these gentlemen would reflect and
pursue a more laudable system of management, which would tend to
the interest and ultimate benefit of both parties, I have abstained from
animadverting upon such conduct ; but now I find that all advice or
admonition is lost upon people who appear determined to throw every
obstacle in the way of the well-working of the Apprenticesbip." I
The fifth unfavourable report is from Mr. Reynolds : he says very
little, but that little is very significant :-“The Apprentices appear in-
clined to conduct themselves well,
the jobbing gangs of my
district appear to suffer a good deal, for, in general, the eight-hour
system has been adopted by the proprietors. On some estates the people
are not supplied as they had been during slavery.''S
The sixth report is from Mr. Walsh, July, 1837. “ The Apprentices
* Ib. p. 286.
of Ib. p. 278.
Ib. p. 289.
§ Ib.
P.
290.
5
to
- Three
are going on soberly, diligently, and faithfully; no doubt remains of
their making loyal subjects. They have decidedly surpassed their
masters in the advance to Christian knowledge, the foundation of all
blessings. The masters would get a great deal more work from them
were they to forget former power, and to talk to them, and to point out
rationally any little fault, instead of threatening to coerce them before
the Special Magistrate. Allowances must be made for the masters; they
are smarting under the loss of power : however, many of them seem to
think they can do any thing with impunity, and they have nothing to do
but to get up a memorial to have the Special Magistrate dismissed, if
he does not go hand in hand with them; and they impress this on the
labourers, by threats of reporting the Special. I regret to say, that the
Negroes, in consequence, think that the Magistrates are afraid of their
masters. I speak of my own district, and, I may add, of others. I am
not afraid of doing justice whilst my King and his people are determined
uphold it.
Conciliation has completely failed, and, in many cases, it is
only by firmness I can get the people their rights. I mention this much
as a proof that, if the Special Magistrates are not upheld by the British
Crown in the upright and due discharge of their duty, Slavery will be
infinitely preferable to the present system for the Apprentice.
long years of apprenticeship yet unexpired !!! I am of opinion we have
not advanced this year in any thing; and I can see that slavish fear is
fast returning into the hearts of the Apprentices."*
The seventh unfavourable report is from Mr. Ramsay, July, 1837.
“Since my last report of the general state of my district, very little
alteration has taken place. The Apprentices are under circumstances
of extreme difficulty, occasioned by the scarcity of provisions from long
drought; conducting themselves well, and with astonishing patience,
considering that their masters do not, even at this peculiarly distressing
period, allow them any assistance. . . . . In many cases, I find that the
Apprentices who were not employed in agriculture, or the manufacture
of colonial produce, at the period required by the law to render them
prædials, have been classed as such and sent into the fields, so late as
August, 1834, that they might serve for the long term of Apprentice-
ship. Aggravated assaults still continue to be committed on the male
and female Apprentices, and I have considered it necessary to bind the
parties to prosecute, and to send the cases to the Attorney General.”+
The eighth unfavourable report is from Mr. Odell, July, 1837.
“ It is to be regretted that on some estates there is an absence of
kindly feelings between manager and apprentice. This I conceive to
be, in a great measure, attributable to the conduct of the former, who,
upon frivolous occasions, withhold the salt fish allowed by the proprie-
tors, and in other ways demean themselves in an arbitrary manner to-
wards the people, without at the same time infringing on the letter of
the law. I regret to add, that I have experienced, for some months, a
disposition, on the part of certain managers in this district, to insult,
harass, and misrepresent me, when engaged in the discharge of my
duties as a Special Magistrate, and that I have been unwillingly obliged,
in many instances, to require the attendance of police in order to insure
that decorum which elsewhere characterises a Court of justice.”I
The ninth unfavourable report is from Mr. Finlayson, July, 1837.
“ Some estates withhold the former supplies of salt-fish to the Appren-
tices, and others have altogether withdrawn or limited the number of
* Ib.p. 290
* Ib. p. 298.
# Ib. p. 298.
6
+
cooks, nurses, and watchmen to provision-grounds. The condition of
the free children is in general bad, as they are burdens almost entirely
upon their mothers, receiving no support from the estates, and only get-
ting medical care in a few instances, unless when paid for.”*
The tenth unfavourable report is from Mr. Lyon, dated, July, 1837.
" On my first visit to the properties, without an exception, I heard from
the overseers most flattering statements of the general good conduct,
industry, and contentedness of the Apprentices. ... ... The experience
I had had in another parish, and the observations I had painfully made,
during a period of three years of anxious watchfulness, of the degrading
influence of Slavery upon all classes, made me receive these florid accounts
of a peasantry labouring without remuneration with much caution and
suspicion, though I need not say how much I should have been de-
lighted could I have believed and found them true. · A very short time
would have sufficed—had I been sanguine enough to have indulged in
the belief of the comparatively happy and judiciously-amalgamated state
of society, which only time, aided by the equal administration of bene-
ficial laws, and the spread of religion and morality, can induce——to have
dispelled the illusion. I learned full soon the reason why the Special
Magistrate's interposition was so little needed by the managers, and
why his aid was so rarely invoked by the Apprentices. The estate cells
were the universal panacea for the adults, and pomegranate switches for
the juveniles, an unlimited appliance of which had produced that sullen quie-
tude which had been so vauntingly described to me as the tranquil
cheerfulness of contented labour. The unlimited exercise of this tre-
mendous power, (confinement in the estate dungeons for twenty-four
hours,) for any offence, or alleged offence, had rendered frequent ap-
peals on the part of the managers to the Special Justice unnecessary;
and as the people were aware this injustice was perpetrated unprohibited
by the Special Magistrates, they were not so insane as to make fruitless
complaints to them.'
Mr. Lyon then complains of “the general fraud practised on the
people, in the regulation of the hours of labour ;” the painful details of
which he explains at length, and points out the “extreme watchfulness”
it will require “ to repress an evil of such a magnitude.' Another
source of grievous oppression,” he adds, “ several instances of which
have been brought to my notice by complaint, is that of non-prædial
Apprentices, who, being in domestic employment during Slavery, have
been within the last two or three years constrained to perform the more
profitable labour of the field: so that, short as my residence has been in
Trelawney, I have seen more, within the time, of gross and serious
infractions of the ameliorative provisions of the Abolition Act, than
usually occurred in the space of twelve months in the district from which
I have been lately removed.” 't
This being Mr. Gladstone's “ninth” report, and, according to him, the
last that we can quote unfavourable to the Apprenticeship, it may be
requisite here to pause a moment, to reflect on the immense extent of
tyranny and oppression which we have already contemplated, so far as
we have gone; and neither is an incidental remark of these Special Ma-
gistrates to be passed over as trivial, that the Apprentices, understanding
that the Special Magistrates either could not or would not protect them,
had ceased to make any further complaints, or, as Mr. Lyon forcibly
expresses it were not so insane as to make fruitless complaints to
* Ib. p. 299,
of
Ib. p. 300.
T
here
them.” This admission, which is made by several of the Magistrates,
will abundantly account for the "florid descriptions" of happiness and
tranquillity inserted in the returns of some other Special Magistrates ;
and that, too, without having recourse to suspicions of a guilty partici-
pation in tyranny, in order to explain their romantic assurances of a
peaceful beatitude: for where no complaints were made, a Special
Magistrate need not make any, he need only report what he hears, to
make out a case quite satisfactory to such a mind as Mr. Gladstone's ;
and, in fact, all the favourable reports are thus to be interpreted—they
are negative reports; the gentlemen who composed them had not cared,
or had avoided to make inquiries of the parties from whom complaints
were likely to arise, and had inserted only the happy satisfaction of the
slave-drivers, who had succeeded, by immuring in dungeons, whipping,
starving, and torturing, to reduce the Apprentices to the gloomy silence
of sullen despair.
Mr. Lyon notices the excess of oppression in Trelawney, so late'as
July, 1837, and complains that he had seen more of gross and serious
infractions of the law in three months in that his new district, than he
had witnessed in twelve maths in his former location. This naturally
makes one anxious to ascertain what the Special Magistrates, his pre-
decessors, had reported of the Apprenticeship before his arrival at the
Trelawney district; and by reference to the Parliamentary Papers, we
find that Mr. Pryce, in June, 1836, had, from the same location, sent in
his report thus: “Continued and uninterrupted tranquillity pervades
the whole of this populous and extensive beat, so far as the Apprentices
are concerned, and I have reason to have every faith in a continuance
of so valuable a state of society."* Perhaps Mr. Pryce believed what
he then stated; but by collating these two evidences, it will be easy to
explain the phenomenon of “uninterrupted tranquillity," described by
some of the Magistrates as existing in circumstances where, to a moral
certainty, nothing like tranquillity could be discovered, unless, indeed,
tranquillity” be interpreted to mean the bitter silence of hopeless
Slavery--making no complaint, because complaint was known to be
useless.
But we shall now proceed with extracts from other reports, to explain
the real state of the Apprenticeship.
The tenth unfavourable report is from Mr. Baynes, July, 1837.
“ The three first years—the moiety of the Apprenticeship most available
for the purposes of conciliation and persuasion, and for gaining the good-
will of the Negro--of all ends, the most essential alike to the interest of
the proprietary and the future condition of the labouring population, to
the prosperity of the Colony, and to the mode of its relations hereafter
to the mother country, have passed over in this Colony in bickering,
recrimination, and animosity, which there is too just reason for appre-
hending that the remaining half of the term will prove too short to remedy
or counteract. J regret to hear observed, that the indefensible and
unseemly practice of chaining females by the neck, when in the infirma-
ries of the houses of correction, still exists, notwithstanding the severe
reprehension with which it was visited in the parish of St. John. Mr.
Special Justice Ramsay, Dr. Tabois, and myself, on a casual visit some
weeks since to the house of correction in this town, found three females
thus chained in the hospital of that institution,” &c.t
The eleventh report, from which we make extracts, is well worth notice,
:
* Part IV. i. p. 82.
+ Ib. n. 303.
8
« With res
because it recommends the immediate Abolition of the Apprenticeship!
The author is Mr. Hall Pringle; his report (of the same date as all the
others) says.-"I hope it may not be considered impertinent in this
report to hazard the opinion, that the Apprenticeship of the adult popu-
lation might safely be dispensed with immediately."* This sentence is
more eloquent against Mr. Gladstone and Sir George Grey, and all the
amateurs of Slavery, than the complaints of all the other Magistrates
already recorded; and when we take into the account that the gentle-
man who thus recommends the immediate Abolition of the Apprentice-
ship, had in the previous portions of his report given “a florid descrip-
tion” of the peace and tranquillity of “ten thousand Apprentices under
his jurisdiction," it is a proof that secret convictions had been working
in his mind, too powerful to be repressed, compelling him in this over-
whelming sentence to sum up and decide against his own evidence; and
in one fell swoop to recommend the total and immediate Abolition of
the remaining term of the Negro Apprenticeship.
The twelfth unfavourable report is from Mr. Bell. In my present
quarterly report I must remark, that, during the first two months of
this quarter, the general conduct of the Apprentices was not good;
there appeared a kind of doggedness; the last month, however, has been
an improving one. The feeling between the Apprentices and their em-
ployers remains as usual ; the former never do any thing gratuitously.
I have still complaints that sufficient work is not done, sometimes to the
extent of half what it should be," &c.t
The thirteenth unfavourable report is from Mr. Bourne.
gard to the conduct of the overseers, I think it is improving; but
some of them seem very hard to learn that the altered condition
and prospects of the Apprentices require a kind, considerate,
humane conduct on their part, if they would keep labourers on the pro- ;
perties they manage. I think I have less reason, however, to complain
on this score than many of my brother Magistrates. Two or three in-
considerate and troublesome overseers have been dismissed, and heavy
fines imposed on some others in the preceding quarter, which have pro-
duced a good effect. I do not think the Apprentices generally work
their ground so well, or to so great an extent as they did.” Then
follow some details of the distrust manifested by the Apprentices, owing
to the unkind treatment of their employers ; after which Mr. Bourne
şums up thus:-"I cannot say that the good feeling between the master
and Apprentice seems to be on the increase; neither do I think that any
adequate preparation has yet been made for 1838 and 1840, when, if
measures to prevent it are not speedily taken, many estates must be
abandoned, owing entirely, as I conceive, to the folly of the owners in
not selecting proper overseers, and especially in not encouraging
married persons in that capacity, and making such arrangements as
would give these overseers a permanent interest in the prosperity and
comfort of the people.”I
There is much in this testimony worthy our serious consideration.
The fourteenth unfavourable report is from Mr. Kent. " There is a
great deal of pilfering by the worst-disposed of the Apprentices, which
discourages the others from working their grounds. I do not think
they work with any spirit ; they are naturally prone to idleness, and
seek every opportunity to skulk from work. Fish and salt are withheld,
allowances to the lying-in women are also withheld, nor is the surgeon
* Ib. p. 308.
+ Ib. p.
p. 310,
Ib. p. 313.
9
:
paid for attending the free children. Few Apprentices apply to purchase.
their discharge, as they see the utter impracticability of procuring their
discharge at a fair and reasonable rate. On one estate I shall be
under the necessity of ordering the police to protect me from the
insulting conduct and language of the overseer.'*
The fifteenth unfavourable report is from Mr. Chamberlaine. The
violent conduct and improper examples of gentlemen of influence, un-
fortunately too successfully imitated by their subordinate agents, the
overseers and book-keepers, prevent me from reporting any favourable
change in the mode of management pursued by the Planters of my
district. The Planters of this district were formerly too often, and
criminally, permitted to infringe the laws, and invade the privileges of
the Apprentices with impunity; the surrender of their power to ty-
rannise, which has become inevitable under a proper administration of
the Abolition Act, is attended by a resistance to the authority of the
Magistrates, frequently approaching to personal violence.”+
Mr. Chamberlaine then describes the brutal and outrageous conduct
of the Planters, in their endeavours to obstruct the course of justice :
but the details are too long to be given in this part of our inquiry.
Here, then, are fifteen Special Magistrates, bearing testimony against
the Apprenticeship last July, and, by different views of the subject,
uniting to draw a picture of oppression such as could nowhere else be
found but in a country where Slavery prevailed ; and what, after evidence
like this, does it avail to urge the favourable reports of the other
Magistrates, who in short sentences assure us of the happiness and tran-
quillity of their districts? We have seen what the system is, by the tes-
timony of those who have taken the trouble to inquire a little deeper than
the surface; and the only impression that can be left on our minds, after
considering the full import of the unfavourable reports is, that if, after
such evidence, others assure us all is going on satisfactorily, they either
do not choose to come into collision with the Planters, or have preju-
dices in favour of oppression, or have been obstructed in their inquiries,
or have been satisfied with inquiring of the masters only, or have
thought it their duty to turn their attention to the mere amount of
labour of the Apprentices and produce of the estates. For instance,
who would attach any value to the following report of Mr. Willis,
which in the fewest words possible gets rid of the subject, thus :-" The
Apprentices continue to conduct themselves in the same good order as
when I last reported. The feeling between master and Apprentice
good. They are performing labour, with few exceptions, willingly.
Working hours as formerly. Task work a little on the increase, not
at all general; the Apprentice the party objecting. Indulgences; not
aware of any being withheld. The condition of the free children not
good. The desire to purchase their discharge not general.” It is
very easy in a billet-doux of this sort to pass over matter of the deepest
interest, and perhaps it is as well. that such Magistrates should trouble
us as little as possible with their sentiments ; but it would be idle to
refer to such documents as evidence, and nothing but the desperate
condition of a bad cause would have induced Mr. Gladstone and Sir
George Grey to have referred to these favourable " reports” as proofs of
their positions.
The.case, however, is still stronger on our side, and though the pro-
cess of examination may be tedious, it is requisite to pursue our in-
quiries still farther in this quarter. We have seen that there are fifteen
$
* Ib. p. 316.
† lb.
· p. 317.
10
1
"'*
unfavourable reports ; it now remains to consider a little the evidence of
some of those other documents, which, though commencing with a
flourish in favour of the Apprenticeship, make such admissions as invali-
date the previous eulogies of the system, and corroborate the statements
of those Special Magistrates who have taken a different view of the
subject.
Mr. Moresby, Special Magistrate, in his report says-" There appears
no unusual bad feeling at the present moment; yet much reciprocal
kindness can scarcely be imagined to exist between parties whose in-
terests are so directly opposed, where one endeavours to exact as much
exertion as possible, and the other exercises every ingenuity to escape
from a task for which he obtains not the slightest remuneration.
The Apprentice of the present day has but one-third the quantity of
food allowed him which was afforded to Slaves confined as prisoners,
from the year 1831 to August 1834. The fact is, provisions are full
two-thirds higher priced at this present moment than in 1816....
Every facility is now offered for the education and religious instruction
of the lower orders in Kingston; but the Apprentice is still too much
confined by the duties required by his owner, to avail himself of the
means thus offered.'
Mr. Waddington says—" There certainly is no want of good feeling
between the employers and the Apprentices; but, during the month of
May, I was compelled to punish many whole gangs, and make unpleasant
examples mothers of young children neglect their work, under
pretence of attending to their children!"
These admissions are sufficiently intelligible.
Mr. Thomas says~" I am not aware that any indulgences are with-
held.”+ This negative information is quite the fashion amongst Mr.
Gladstone's witnesses; “not to be aware of this important fact argues
that the functionary had either purposely avoided making his inquiries
in the proper quarter, or had thought the disallowance of indulgences to
the Apprentices a matter beneath his notice.
Mr. Fishbourne's report is very favourable, but then he adds this
sentence; "on the subject of withholding indulgences, with which the
people were accustomed to be supplied whilst they were Slaves, I beg to
refer to my report of 31st Dec. 1836.” To that report we refer, there-
fore, and there find it recorded, some of the indulgences are withheld
on some estates, such as herrings, allowances to child-mothers, and
young children.” I Here is a whole nest of grievances, the existence of
which turns all descriptions of the peace and happiness of the Appren- '
tices into sheer romance.
Mr. Dawson, one of Mr. Gladstone's witnesses, deals in negations. “I
do not perceive much want of good feeling between the Apprentices and
their masters. I have not heard of any of the usual indulgences being
withheld from the Apprentices !" In other words, this able functionary
did not inquire, and therefore, of course, was not in a condition to make
any report.
Mr. Allay's testimony may be taken as a sort of type of the eulogistic
documents. “I observe with great satisfaction a mutual feeling of good-
will increasing between master and man, to which too much importance
cannot be attached. The Apprentices have not expressed any wish to
change from the eight-hour system on which they are worked in this
district.'
* Ib. p. 280.
of Ib. 382.
* IV. p. 206.
11
Now the eight-hour system is notoriously one of the means of oppres-
sion resorted to by the masters in the indulgence of their malignant
hatred of the victims of their cruelty; it has formed a continual ground of
complaint in all sorts of dispatches in the Parliamentary Papers ; it has
been an endless source of vexation to the poor Apprentices, and even
Mr. Gladstone acknowledges it “as a great cause of bickering; '* but
here a Magistrate, one of Mr. Gladstone's favourable witnesses, tells us
that it prevails in his district, but yet in the same breath assures
" that there is an increasing good feeling between master and
We need not comment on evidence like this.
Mr. Marlton is very florid in his descriptions of “happiness, good-
will,”' &c., but destroys the force of all his assertions by the following
words : “I can only repeat what I have so often said in my re-
ports, that I GET ALL I CAN for the Apprentices in the way of allow-
us,
man!"
ances."
These words imply a hard struggle for the claims of justice, and those
claims but imperfectly granted. It is, in fact, a rent in the painted veil
with which this Special Justice had endeavoured to conceal the deform-
ities of the Apprenticeship.
Mr. Kennet Dawson says—" There are only two circumstances which
require notice. First, the great increase of thefts of a more daring
description, viz., the stealing of sheep, and the breaking open of private
stores. This
may, in part, be attributed to the scarcity of all kinds of
provisions, occasioned partly by the Apprentices having neglected the
cultivation of their grounds, and by the long continuance of dry
weather; the Negroes are almost in a starving condition, and feed chiefly
on mangoes.
This is a horrible account: it shows that these poor creatures are not
fed or cared for by their masters, who extort forty-five hours' labour
from them in the week without remuneration, and then leave them to
die of famine. Mr. Dawson's second complaint is, the excessive value
set on the remaining term of the Apprenticeship, which renders it
impossible that the Apprentices in his district should purchase their
freedom.
Mr. Hawkins informs us, that indulgences, which were given
during the Slave Law, are withheld on some estates;” and yet he assures
us, that the “Apprentices work willingly and cheerfully;" an assertion
which no one would believe, that had not an interest in accepting greedily
any report which might help to display the Apprenticeship in favourable
colours.
Mr. Daly says-“ Most of the indulgences allowed in Slavery are
withheld; and, in some instances, where they are continued, the Ap-
prentices are required to give up part of their own time in return to the
property; for instance, where the field-cooks are allowed, water-carriers,
and they pay time.”
Mr. Willis informs us, “ he is not aware of any indulgences being
withheld.”
Mr. Macleod reports, “ that the same allowances, generally speaking, ,
are given as formerly, but on condition of a certain quantity of extra
labour.'
It is easy to interpret this recondite way of stating a plain fact, which
should be read thus-"Generally speaking, but not universally, the old
* Speech, page 27.
.
:
12
+
allowances are given, but then the Apprentices are made to pay for the
gift."
This same gentleman recommends the immediate "abolition of Negro
flogging."
Here, then, probably, we have superabundant evidence to make a cor-
rect estimate of the Apprenticeship; and this evidence, it should be
remembered, is derived from those very sources to which Sir George
Grey, Mr. Gladstone, and the other advocates of Slavery, have referred
as furnishing proofs in favour of the Apprenticeship. These gentlemen
have charged us with circulating the most incorrect information, and
with suppressing testimony that bore against us, and which would have
proved the existence of a very different state of things if we had acted
fairly, and had not wilfully deceived the public. The public, therefore,
are now in possession of the documents by which Mr. Gladstone and
Sir G. Grey would establish their case, and by these documents it will
not be difficult to arrive at the truth.
It would not, however, be doing justice to the Special Magistrates to
omit the testimony of one of these functionaries, which is favourable in
the highest degree to the Apprenticeship. Thus does Mr. Dillon,
July, 1837, give his flourishing description of the Elysium in which he
presided. “I have the honour to state, that the last quarter has not
been less remarkable for peaceful, obedient, and industrious conduct,
than the preceding one.
The Abolition Law, which recognises crimes,
omissions, and offences, not to be found in any other code, and which
dictates commensurate punishment, has, in a population exceeding 5000
labourers, been but little infringed on. The prospects of the Planter
have never been better. Cruelty is known as connected with the memory
of by-gone days only. The captious or hypochondriac, can withhold
salt-fish, deprive them individually, but not collectively, of the profits
of keeping spell-change the nine-hour to the eight-hour system, and
render the hot-house more a prison than an asylum: but, to the honour
of my district, there are but few that would tolerate, much less descend
to such paltry oppressions, whilst the exceptions are strictly reduced to
these subterfuges and annoyances.”
What could Mr. Gladstone desire more than this report? What a
splendid idea does it give us of the high-mindedness and nobility of
soul of the Jamaica Slave-masters, who, it would seem, are too exalted
in virtue to descend to oppression, or, who, if ever they do come down
to so paltry an amusement, resort to it only in an attack of bile, or
when they are troubled with the vapours, or are labouring under hypo-
chondriacal affections! Pity it is, however, that this same Mr. Dillon,
who has thus painted the Apprenticeship in colours of rose, should have
himself been dismissed for cruelty to the Apprentices! We may, by
this fact, be better able to understand some other kindred descriptions
of the “good-feeling" between master and Apprentice.
It will be sufficiently obvious, by what has gone before, that the
execution of justice must be most difficult task in Jamaica ;
indeed, some of the Special Magistrates tell us as much, and declare,
as we have already seen, that they cannot protect the Apprentice
unless they are upheld with a high hand by the Executive. The
Parliamentary Papers confirm this view of the case by various docu-
ments, but one most to the point will be a dispatch of Sir Lionel Smith
to Lord Glenelg, dated November, 1837. “ Changes of Magistrates,
which I lately arranged, where I liad the least suspicion of the mal-
administration of the Abolition Law, the spread of information, and
a
13
consequent comparison of treatment by the Apprentices themselves,
brought to light more extensive evils of the eight-hours' system. Cruel
in its operation, the labourer has nothing to satisfy him that he is not
imposed upon in his time, for he has nothing to mark it: whereas the
nine-hours' system, prescribed from sunrise to sunset, would, through
most seasons of the year, exclude imposition. It also gives half Friday,*
or every alternáte whole Friday, for cultivating their grounds ; but the
eight-hours' system gives but one hour a day. Thus, after a man has
devoted all his strength in labour for his master, he goes exhausted in
frame and spirits to his own work, and very often at such a distance,
that night closes on him before he can commence it. In one instance,
a whole gang, complaining of being overworked under the eight-hours'
system, was directed to prove it, and the answer was, they were kept
out till 66
they counted the stars.” Your Lordship will therefore not
be surprised at the earnestness with which I am endeavouring to extin-
guish this unjust system. In its consequences, the evil spread into the
Manchioneal district, where the opposition to my endeavours to put it down
had been violently and rudely opposed by Mr. Panton, Her Majesty's
Advocate-General, who has instituted a prosecution against Mr. Special
Justice Chamberlaine, and who, in the House of Assembly, has endeavoured
to get up a party against my government, but hitherto without success.t"
Sir Lionel Smith, the Governor of Jamaica, here confirms the testi-
mony of all those unfavourable reports which have already been given :
he explains the grievances (though only a very small part) under which
the Apprentices are suffering; and he shows, moreover, that a Special
Justice, who does his duty, is attacked by the Planters, and treated as
an enemy; and that even the Crown officers, in this deplorable Colony,I
oppose the Government, prosecute the Special Magistrates, and “get
up a party against the Governor." How can justice, then, exist in a
society like this? How can any rational person expect any thing but
tyranny, after evidence of this state of things in Jamaica ? And who
could believe, that in that island the Apprentices are not under the
yoke of a most cruel tyranny ?
But it is not only by the Advocate-General of Jamaica that the free
course of justice is obstructed, the Grand Juries of that unhappy island
lend themselves to the consolidation of tyranny, by all the means that
the law will allow, and many more that the law does not recognise.
* Mr. Gladstone, in answering Mr. Pease, said, “ The honourable gentleman
also complained that the forty-five hours of labour, exigible by law from the Ap-
prentice, were so distributed through the week as to render valueless the remainder
of his time. Certainly, the method by which this end could be obtained, must be
curious, and I should be glad to have the receipt."-Speech, p. 41.
In this style Mr. Gladstone treats all the points of complaint: trusting to the en-
tire ignorance of those whom he was addressing, he ventures on any perversion of
the truth, either by direct assertion or sarcastic denial. Let him, however, take his
answer on this point from Sir Lionel Smith. The gang of Slaves were asked by
some such person as Mr. William Ewart Gladstone, to “prove it ;' they proved it
by saying, they were kept at work till they could count the stars.
+ Part V. i., p. 83.
Lord Glenelg directed Sir Lionel Smith to dismiss Mr. Panton from his office
of Advocate-General. Mr. Chamberlaine, who has thus set himself up as a mark
for the malignant hatred of the Planters, has given his evidence against the Ap-
prenticeship, and part of his evidence has already been seen. There is, however,
another report of his, dated Sept., 1836, (P. iv., p. 212,) which, at considerable
length, enters into the enormities of the system : it is far too long to be inserted
here, the reader must therefore be content with his admirable definition of the
Negro Apprenticeship, which appears incidentally in that report :-"A system
professing freedom, but which has many of the odious features of Slavery."
t
.
i
14
1
In October, 1837, the Grand Jury of Middlesex, in Jamaica, presented
some of the Special Magistrates as common nuisances, and in the fol-
lowing memorable words:
:-“While we willingly admit that there are
many honourable exceptions, we cannot avoid attributing considerable
blame to some of the Stipendiary Magistrates, for the mal-administra-
tion of the law, thereby unhinging the minds of our peasantry, and
indirectly encouraging crime. To such conduct do we ascribe the acts
of insubordination that have been committed in some parts of the island,
more especially in St. Thomas-in-the-Vale. We cannot better sub-
stantiate this, than by contrasting it with those quiet districts where the
Special Magistrates have not, by obtruding their injudicious opinions,
stirred up strife, and raised animosities between the Apprentices and
their managers; where they have dealt out even-handed law to all, by
making the law their guide ; and when they have perceived any ebullition
of feeling evincing itself, they have resorted to conciliatory measures, the
latter, admitted by us all, to be the best calculated to secure a good
understanding, and the most likely to preserve the peace and harmony
of the country, by the means most congenial to our feelings.”
This amusing paragraph is an excellent commentary on the reports
of those Magistrates which Sir George Grey and Mr. Gladstone have
referred to for proofs in favour of the Apprenticeship. The authors of
the favourable reports would by the Grand Jury be classified under " the
many honourable exceptions ;" whilst Magistrates, such as Mr. Baynes,
Mr. Chamberlaine, Mr. Lyon, and others, “ unhinge the minds of the
peasantry,” and instead of "resorting to conciliatory measures," in
cases of oppression, which the Grand Jury gravely informs us would be
“ best calculated to secure a good understanding;” and instead of wink-
ing at matters which “would be most congenial to the feelings of the
Planters," they levy the fines which the law allows or enjoins, and, in
short, dare to protect the Apprentice.
The Grand Jury proceed—“We had resolved to limit our presentment
to the foregoing remarks, but circumstances have since come to our
knowledge which we cannot reconcile to our consciences to pass over.
have ascertained from evidence which has been brought before us, that
Mr. Special Justice Baynes, of St. John's, has instigated Negroes to
complain of the quantity of food allowed them in St. John's workhouse,
which those Negroes have since avowed themselves in our presence to
have been previously perfectly satisfied with. We are of opinion, that
the Magistracy of St. John's have been, in this instance, unjustly slan-
dered—that the said Special Magistrate has been using the cloak of his
authority to avenge his private grievances; and we present such conduct
as a general nuisance."*
Any thing more foolish, illegal, and indecent than this, can scarcely
be imagined : in England it can be contemplated only with laughter and
contempt, but in Jamaica it is a part of that tragedy which is daily
drawing tears from the eyes of myriads who have no protectors, and who
look in vain to this country for release from their cruel and unmerited
wrongs.
And now what more shall we add to this evidence? If it should be
thought incomplete, let the reader turn to Lord Sligo's pamphlet, which
details the crying abuses in the law Courts, prisons, hospitals, and
workhouses of Jamaica, and which proves that the Judges misinterpret
the law against the Negroes, and that from the highest to the lowest
there is a systematic conspiracy to oppress the coloured race, which the
* IV. i. p. 36.
We
15
Governors and the Colonial Office united, have hitherto been unable or
unwilling to counteract.
It did not, indeed, suit either Mr. Gladstone or Sir George Grey to
refer to Lord Sligo's pamphlet, or to any of the immense mass of evi-
dence collected against them in the Parliamentary Papers. They con-
tended, that we had maliciously culled out a few weeds, and had
overlooked the vast and smiling harvest, in which the weeds were
in the proportion only of one to a thousand. These are the very
words of Sir George Grey—“I protest against one case being selected
from a thousand, while the remaining nine hundred and ninety-nine,
of a totally different character, are carefully withheld or overlooked :
and it is this mode of defence, adopted by both the honourable gen-
tlemen, which has compelled us thus minutely to examine the sources
of their evidence; leaving out of the calculation the portentous records
of cruelty and outrage which have been elicited by the Commission
appointed to examine into the narrative of James Williams, and
indeed all the other numerous and various records against the Appren-
ticeship, scattered up and down the Parliamentary Papers.
Our object in this examination of the case has been, to ascertain
whether Mr. Gladstone and his coadjutor have perverted the truth,
whether they have garbled the evidence, or whether it be true that we
Abolitionists have suppressed facts and misstated the case. The
speeches of Mr. Gladstone and Sir George Grey have been largely
distributed, and are referred to triumphantly as conclusive by the
Planters; it has been necessary therefore to meet these two great advo-
cates of Slavery in the field of their own choice, though we declare
that in any other field we could prove the case ten times worse. This
is but the prelude, as it were, to the controversy,
—a controversy which
we hope to make complete in a second part, and by evidence of another
nature.
In the meantime, let us make a concluding remark on Mr. Glad-
stone's speech.
The lucid arrangement and clear language of that oration are much
to be admired, but they can only be admired as vehicles of mischief, as
instruments of propagating deliberate error, and studied deception; for
not only have we, as we conceive, made it manifest that Mr.
Gladstone has concealed the truth, but he has laid down such axioms
for reasoning, as must, if allowed, render it hopeless to ascertain those
facts which can only be elicited by severe and jealous scrutiny. "I
take it for granted,” says this gentleman, “when the Special Magis-
trates only deal in general terms, that they have no specific grievance
to mention.” This Mr. Gladstone has printed, and it passes, we pre-
sume, with his party as a correct canon of criticism.
But what may not be proved by such a rule as this, in cases of
alleged wrong, and that, too, under circumstances so peculiar as allow
the Magistrates to be sole witnesses for or against the rights of the
Negroes? Some of these negative statements we have already noticed.
' I do not perceive much want of good feeling between master and
man'_“I am not aware". "I have not heard “the Apprentices
have not expressed their sentiments,” &c., &c., &c.; and all this Mr.
Gladstone coolly sets down as evidence directly in favour of his views !
and this is admired as a conclusive and irrefragable answer to the
Abolitionists !
In a similar spirit of subtlety does Mr. Gladstone handle the Compen-
* Sir G. Grey's Speech, p. 35.
9

time ,
16
sation money, the manumissions of the Apprentices, the present state
the apprenticed population in British Guiana, and every other to
adverted to in his published speech, though it would require the lin
of a large volume to meet him minutely in his statements, and
analyse the mancuvres of his dexterous oratory.
It is in perfect keeping with such a speech, that even the numbers
the division in the House of Commons on Sir George Stricklan
motion should be falsified, for thus has Mr. Gladstone printed
numbers-
Against the Motion
269
For it
205
Majority
64
Whereas the real numbers on the division were-
Against Sir G. Strickland's motion, 269
For it
215
Majority
54
If Mr. Gladstone would require a proof of the real numbers on the
division, he must refer to the Parliamentary published list, which oug
to be his authority on a case of so much importance.
We conceive, however, that we have, independent of all oth
evidence, a conclusive answer to the Government and the Planters
Lord Glenelg's Slavery Abolition Amendment Act, for that Act
either a production of the most arbitrary and tyrannical legislation,
has been imperatively called for by a system of tyranny which it w
requisite to beat down by superior tyranny. Every word of that A
is an insult to the Planters, and it would be impossible to justify any
its clauses, without the most pregnant proofs of wrong and violence
the part of the West Indian Planters. Those proofs the Governme
have been long in possession of, and those proofs have been render
lately so irksome by the intolerable pressure of the Abolitionists, that the
could no longer avoid bestirring themselves to make some show
justice on behalf of the Negro. But, indeed, considering that Minister
have been thus goaded into bringing such a bill into Parliament, it
amazing that Sir George Grey should have dared to utter a sentence lik
this in the debate : “ There has been a far more rapid improvement in th
nature of the relations between master and Apprentice than could hav
been anticipated by the most sanguine adyocates of the new system,
What! did the sanguine advocates C
this system anticipate that at the end of four years they should ever se
such a bill as Lord Glenelg's brought into Parliament-a bill which i
so notoriously despotic and stringent, that it is doubted even b
Government whether the Colonies will submit to it?
But enough has been said on this painful subject, which we will, fo
the present, conclude in the words of Sir Lionel Smith, the Governor o
Jamaica, in a dispatch, dated 17th January, 1838—“OUR ABOLITION LAW
PRESENTS CONSTANT IMPEDIMENTS TO UNIVERSAL AMELIORATION.”
W. Tyler, Printer, Bolt-court, Fleet-street.
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
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Makers
Syracuse, N. Y.
PAT. JAN 21, 1808
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