mm i ti ill fjj ii it %a3AJNnmv mil •UBRARYa ^^o-invi mV^ unnitted. But are the actions of our enemies just, now, us? ■^^^lerefore, then, if they are not, should we rely uii their justice for the future, or expect them to permit Government to protect us in the markets ? Wellingham contends that the good sense of our comi- try, if the question is ever brought before it, will Imow how to decide between free immigration into om* Colonies and low-priced produce, and the latter, with a re\-ival of the foreiirn sLaAC trade mider all its horrors; for that is really the proper way to put the case. Yv^e could supply the market with the article at a moderate rate, if we had unhmited access to labour; unless we get this, the slave- dealer must provide England with sugar. The state of our Colony at this moment, must strike any reflecting mind with dismay. The planters, disposed to put faith in the parent-country, and perhaps, by the influence of climate to be sanguine, are rejoicing at the pros- pect just opened to them, of prices Avhich will, in spite of the enonnous cost of cultivation, afford a good re- venue from their estates, as if this good fortune was to have no end; and in consequence, the value of planta- tions has risen at least thirty per cent, since the first of July. The great mercantile houses in Britain liave caught the excitement, and are encom-aging speculation, some of them lending money on mortgage, as in the olden time, and others bu.}dng plantations for them- selves; and, as a necessary consequence, all the old pro- prietors, having abmidance of waste land on their estates, are straining every nerve to extend their cane cultivation ; but as tills cannot be done without additional hands, an eager competition is the consequence, and also a rise in the pre^dously unreasonable rate of wages. I have had difficulty in keeping my good INIr. BroA^m in check, though on the spot; and he grumbhngly tells me, that 60 our working list is getting smaller every day — a certain, sign that my neighbours are giving more than he does, I feel the difficulty of choosing a decided Hne of conduci in a case like this, for I see plainly the present state of affairs cannot continue; hut, on the other hand, if I ad- here to former rates and tasks, my estate must suffer severely, even in its now diminished fields — for it was found necessary about the middle of tliis year, to abandon several of the most distant. I beheve I shall have to give in to the prevaihng system, with my eyes open to the evils of it. On a sugar estate witliin the tropics, a few months of neglect ^^dll destroy every variety of cultivation, fi'om the extremely rapid growth of noxious weeds. It would risk not only the whole crop to continue "?\dth half the present number of people, but the ratoonmg afterwards, and consequently the very existence of my cul- tivation. Still, it is a ten'ible thing to plunge into an increase of the present ruinous contingent expenses of a projserty, vnih. one's eyes fully open to its evils. The crop, in so far as it has been reaped, promises no increase on that of 1839; but the price is nearly double, so, in place of a loss, I am siu'e of some profit this year. • A new propensity of the Negroes begins to be strongly developed; they are making pui'chases of land to a con- siderable extent throughout the pro\^nce. The pohcy of selling it to them, is called in question, but it is absurd to suppose that it can be prevented. Will a man who is in distress wait to ascertain whether it is for the interest of the Colony, before he parts with his waste land? And any new local regulation prohibiting him, would be no less impolitic than tp-annical. The greatest efforts have been making, since the year 1833, to find substitutes for manual labour. The plough, above all other means, has been tried most perseveringly, I may say on nearly every plantation; but in no one instance has it been found to suit so well as to supersede the shovel and hoe. Our soil (being a stiff clay) causes the operation to be J 1 61 exceedingly severe on cattle ; and the small drains, which are at a distance of only thirty-seven feet from each other, and two feet deep by two wide, impede the proceedings very materially. It is surprising how many horses, mules, and oxen have been sacrificed in the endeavom' to establish this mode of tillage permanently. One of my neighbours lost sixteen oxen in ploughing about twenty acres, and after all, some hands were obliged to go over it ^^^tll the shovel. In order to get through their work, those who used the plough were under the necessity of gi^'ing the cattle enormous quantities of oats, in itself an extremely expensive contingent, and to spell (or reheve) them in the middle of the day; so that one set, vaiying fi^om three to six, was employed no more than four hom*s at a time. This, rendering so many in- dispensable, made the general expense as high as that of manual labour, taking the mortahty into consideration, and it was not nearly so effectual. In fact, cane culture is more like garden cultivation than any other. The drills or cane holes run across the beds or space between every two drains. They are from two to two-and-a-half feet mde, and from one to two feet deep, according to the soil. The earth taken out of them by the shovel, is deposited on a bank of the same width as the hole (the space between every two holes bemg so called), and is used, in weeding, to earth up the young plants after the weeds are removed, the bank on one side being taken for that purpose, and on the other as a place on which to deposit the weeds. In these holes the cane tops are planted either in a double or single row, very mvich in the same way as potatoes are planted in England, and in about a fortnight the sprouts appear. In six weeks, they reqmre a first weeding and earthing or moulding, and in general they need one more moidding and weeding, and two weedings without the moulding, before they are considered to be beyond the planter's care. In the last weeding, the process of stripping 02 or trashing is gone through, which consists in detaching the dead leaves from the canes, to allow a fi'ee circulation j of air. From tliis brief sketch, it is e^adent that the greatest care is necessary in perfonning exery operation connected vnth. the cultm'e of tliis plant. If the di-ams j are obstructed in any way, or if they are not cleaned or dug out regularly, the canes will not grow. If the latter are not properly planted, and if the weeding and mould- j ing be not carefully performed, the crop will be veryj indifferent. Again, if the stripping be done by reckless persons, they will break do^Aai canes, and be as destructive! as so many cows timied into the field. Indeed, one has only to comprehend the nature of the work that is essential to the proper growth of the cane, to understandi how much the planters suffer by the existing disorganiza-j tion of their labouring population. My manager, wlio enters most zealously mto every- thing, is fretting at the state of affahs, and looldng tliin.j George, having now charge of the books, is less in the' field, but I am every day there, and we have a very effec- tive staff, consisting of two other overseers besides George, and a Yorkshu'e engineer, or rather blacksmith, for that was the original vocation in which he was engaged by the manager, but having a turn for the other de- partment, which is akin to his own, he was soon able to take charge of the steam engine for crushing canes, wliich has been for many years an appendage of every sugar estate in this pro\dnce. I have here set down the routine of a field dming the first year, or rather the first crop. The canes, at twelve or sixteen months old, accorchng to locality and seasons, are cut and gTound off by the engine and mill. Then the field being cleared of every obstruction to the sprouting of the cane stumps, by remo%dng leaves and grass left upon them, and depositing the latter on a bank, where they are soon converted, by decomposition, into manure, it mil be found, at the end of six weeks, that supplies are 63 icquired from stumps being dead, as tliey will be occasion- ally, and cane tops are inserted in such blank spaces as are then discovered; after which, the routine is exactly tlie same as in the first crop, and it will be similar in (.■Acry succeeding one, until it is deemed proper to re-hole tlie land, that is, to dig fresh cane holes. They are ijenerally renewed when the bank has become level with the hole. But cm' great anxiety for diminishing the requisite labom", has latterly brought into practice a system of shovel plougliing the cane rows or holes, so as to loosen and tmii up the earth for the more fi'ee admission of air and water; and from what I can gather concerning it, the opinion gains ground that it will ultimately super- sede holing entirely, especially in our river districts, where the soil is not so deep as on the coast, and where, consequently, they cannot get a virgin soil by going deeper, fit for the support of vegetation; the subsoil, generally, being a hard clay called mora, on which notliing thrives but the stately tree bearing that name. Tliis shovel ploughing is generally practised on estates in those districts, and the time for doing it is when supplymg is required, although some planters believe it to be more advantageous when the canes are about three months old, and others beo-in with it as soon as the field is relieved. WTiile upon the subject of land, I may here record my conviction that the scheme which has been lately much discussed, of setthng a Colony in the inteiior, would not succeed, because of the very inferior quality of om' soil beyond the bounds of the alluvial deposit, which does not extend farther than a few miles from the sea. This may be readily imagined, as the land could only be overflowed for a limited distance either by it or the different rivers; hence we find that estates, almost from their first settlement, have been confined to their immediate neighbourhood. It is true tliatj at an early period of colonization^ 64 the Dutch began high up the rivers, but they speedily came nearer to tlie sea, and within range of the tides, which they secui'ed themselves fi'om by the dams I have already mentioned. The depth of this deposit is very- great near the sea, as the colonists have lately ascertained in boring for artesian wells; it is supposed to vary from seventy to two hundred feet or more. High up the rivers, according to the report of wood-cutters and postholders, the land is of very inferior quality. Under such a disad- vantage, and wdth a locality so near the equinoctian hne as the 7th degree of latitude, who would think of coming here, when the immense unpeopled wilds of New Zealand and Australia, with a fine chmate, are open to him, to say nothing of Canada and the United States, with their kindred population? I have now another sovu'ce of anxiety besides the general one, my daughter Grace manifesting a decided partiality for the company of Charles Welhngham. In fact, from the naturally innocent fi"ankness of her dispo- sition, she has made no attempt to conceal it. A few days after the gaudeamus party, as I may call it, Charles met me on the road, and in some little confusion explained the cause of his emotion on that day when we con- gratulated each other in presence of ISIr. Ridley, and he had been so strangely affected. I feared he was about to enter on another subject, and put on a veiy grave look; but, with that fi'ankness pecuhar to him, and which makes him so engaging, he told me that his father had been threat- ened by the merchant who holds a mortgage on his estate, with foreclosure, and this sudden rise in the price of pro- duce had induced him to suspend proceedings — the same mail bringing both pieces of news. I was struck at once by his honest candovir, for he was perfectly aware that I perceived the mutual attachment between him and Grace, and he knew also, fi'om my reputation for prudence, that the state of his father's affairs would be considered a for- 65 iiidable obstacle, seeing that he was dependent on hun. Partly ti'om pleased surprise, and partly fi'om a feeling )f relief in finding that he did not enter on the dreaded oj)ic, I shook him warmly by the hand, and expressed a lope that something would occiu* to enable my worthy iiend, his father, to get the mortgagee pacified. "Xo- hing but pa^nnent of the money can do that," said he \ith a gentle sigh: "but I am sanguine now we shall ■ucceed ; we have a larger gang, and this year we shall ertainly make a third more than last crop, which, with he great prices of the day, vdW enable him to pay con- iiderably." "I sincerely hope it may be so, my dear ?]iarles, both for your sake and his." "You are very vind, !Mi-. Premium; I must not think of myself at all intil he is easy, so your wishes, having reference to him done, will be everything to me. I am a thoughtless fel- ow — such is my character, and I am conscious that I u ave earned it — but no man has better intentions, Mr. Premium; of that you may rest assured." "And I am ture of it, my boy; so let us have no more of this very Trave conversation so unlike you, and, I may say, me too." ^ly vnfe and I begin to talk rather fi-equently on this Subject, for she has adopted the belief that her daughter is more fond of retiring into corners, and of being even y\nthout her livelv sister's societv, than she had ever been Defore, and slie even blames herself for encoui'aomo; Pharles' attentions at first. But still the match-makino- fnother peeps out. She was inquiring just this day what bould be the amount of Charles' salary as manager for his 'ather? "Poh!" said I, pettishly, "what has that to do •vith it? You do not imagine that fi'om two hundred to lu'ee hundred a-year would suit your daughter for an 11 come." "Certainly not, my dear; but then really -jne hardly knows what to do or say." "Just keep quiet, xnd let matters take their course. Grace knows my sen- :inients, and she has sense enough to act for herself; I 66 matters are not so far advanced yet. But of this I wish I every person among us to be aware, it is the defect in ' Charles' character, his want of steadiness, and his im^ petuous temper, that I object to, rather than his want of fortune, although I do not see how we could get over t circumstance either." ^Trs. Premium sighed deeply, and shook her head; "Grace," said she at length, very sorrowfully, "has keenl and deep-seated feelings, and a mind also that is able tol control them, but I can perceive that her person sufferi in the struggle — she does not look so well as she did si months ago." We have had many such conferences j and, being generally correct in my prophetic appre- hensions, I begin to perceive that, although they sa; "forewarned is forearmed," I am very likely to be draw into an approval of this match. I make light of the affj with my wife, but it gives me very great uneasiness, think there is a natural reluctance in every father, wh feels as he should do, to part with his child, even when he convinced that she is likely to be happier away from him. It is a different feeling altogether from that which prevai when a son embarks on the sea of hfe; he is fit to fight his own battles ; but a girl is entirely at the mercy of her husband in everything that relates to the enjoyment of life in connection with the visible world. A few days ago, my foreman, David, who is a very sensible negTO, but like all of human kind, attached to the interests of "his order," came to me to "hab (as he said) a leetle conversation." It is Avonderful how fond they have become already of speaking like the buckras, and how sharp they are in picking up phrases, although they do mispronounce the words very "ingeniously." "Well, David, I am glad to see you; it is long since you called to inquire for the family. Sit do^vn and take a glass of sangaree." I was then in a little office I had established for myself in a corner of the gallery, for purposes like the 67 present. David was willing enough to do so, Ins tailings having a "lean" that way, so the liquor was ordered. "And how are you getting on to-day; a good field list?" "No, massa, beny bad; da he (for that reason) I come speak to you. Dem all say the plantations round about give more wage, and dey can't stand it no longer, dat is the trvit; I sorry, but can't help." "And what do you advise, then, my good friend?" "!Massa must give five bit for the task, like other ghentlemen. No so; them sha' go away. I try best keep dem, but what use? Money every ting. Sweet word won't buy pork or gi'og." "So, then, you think I must raise the wages one-foui'th on account of the rise in the price oi sugar. Am I to understand that they will consent to work for the old rate if suo-ar comes down to what it was last year, which, by-the-by, is a great deal more than any of us can afford." "Can't say dat; Negro no hab sense like buckra to onertand ting, but dem say governor tink the price too small — tink so last year too." "Did he say so to any one?" "Yes; his butler tell the people dem, he eerie gubna say so at his dinner-table." "So, 'wliisper it not, lest the birds of the air do carry it,' here," thought I, "is an instance of the mischief done by want of com- mon prudence in a ruler; it shows also how the Negroes are alive to every tiling affecting them. And are you sm'e that our neighboiu'S have all given in to this increase of wages?" "Everyone. Massa Charles (Wellingham) de very first." "Ha! indeed; that agTees with what he said the other day in speaking of his working gang, and very hke Charles, too." "Clebba ghentleman, ^lass Charle," continued David, "he know nigga fashion; make plenty sugar dis time." "And pays them well, doubtless," said I. "Yes, sir; give five bit and plenty rum too, and leetle bit plantain sometimes." "And has he many more hands?" "Double t^vice, massa," quoth David, earnestly; "dat is the way for do. Massa, let me do so, I sha' soon 68 bring plenty shovel men ; if massa no do um, other people take all the hands — story done (all is over)," with a signifi- cant gesture, indicating a complete vacuum . " And so, you are of opinion that the people who have lived on the estate so long, most of them all their days in fact, will re- moA'e because they can get, for a month or two, higher wages in other places." "Every one of them, massa, ceptin myself; me sha' li^e and die here, me born here, fadder born here, whafor me sha' go away? — neber!" "Why, David, you are fully as well off as you would be anywhere else; you have a capital house, with three goodi rooms, besides kitchen, offices, and garden, and eighteen' dollars a month of salary." "D at true; but Tompy hab twenty though, and better house too." "And who, pray,! is Tompy?" "The foreman at IsLr. Wellingham's." "What! Charles again I I do fear me this sanguine nature of his is pushing matters too far," said I to myself. "Are you acquainted with Mr. Ridley's people at the Blount, David?" "O yes, bery well." And here hej made that expressive sound Avith his breath, which it is] impossible to commit to MTiting, like heh! heh! pro-j nounced very short, and which implies sm'prise and dis- pleasure united. "Tlia buckra! heh! heh I" "Ay I how] does he get on with his people." "Can't say, massa; himj fashion differ fi'om ebery one." "Has he raised his] wages." "Yes, he raise um," replied my foreman, with) a broad grin, "but he raise de work too. O tha buckra!] matty no dey! the people dem call he de debble Scotch-] man." "Why?" "Because he work so strong; he sel Stan' whole day in the field, never left um, and no trust no one, obsha nor foreman; then whole gang go up say,' must get more price. He say, "bery well, certain; but 'pose you get more price, you no see, me must get more Avork; that stand in reason." "And are they working on these new conditions." "Dem still Avork so, but they M'ill go aAvay. Dis time the people can't be made fool ; 69 dem get savee too much." "David, you are a sensible fellow, now; and can think a little, what do you believe the present state of things will end in? You must not mind what the governor says, or any of those gentlemen who belong to him; they Uve in to^^^l, and do not understand anytliing about plantations." Da-sdd looked at first very- wise, as if in reply to the compliment, and then puzzled; at last he uttered this oracular response: — "K the price um pa}^ for making sugar more an de price um sell for, de proprietor dem muss top Avork." "Quite clear, David; but the wao-es cause the cost to be so high of making the article. Do you think the people, by-and-by, when sugar falls in the market, will Avork for smaller AA^ages?" David shook his head, "Not so long dey can get ground to work for demselves. Massa, look here ; nigger no hke work, it is not his fashion: gib plenty money, he do um; gib httle bit, he rather work his own land." "But supposing he has no land of his oaati." "Massa know better; he see bery well too much in a country all round about, and plenty plantation massa Avant to sell mn now; the nigger buy plenty aready." "Do you tliink they have much money among them?" "Some hab deal; by-and- by, massa Avill see many nigger buy gi'omid. Massa have too much Avaste land at the north side Hne, better make money; sell him, so get hands to settle there work on plantation." "Not a bad idea, David, and I haA^e already thought of it; but we must consider it longer before I agree to it." " Strangers Avant me to ask massa if he go sell um." "Well, you may say that I shall do so by- and-by, if I get a very good price, and if they agree to work on the estate at the current rate of Avages." " O }es, dem shall all do that at first ; better no bind dem, dough, only make trouble." I had discovered previously, that to get at David's real sentiments, it was necessary to flatter him a little, which, elevating him in his OAA'n opinion, put him in the position of a confidential friend; 70 and as he was really a sensible man, thoroughly ac- quainted with the habit of thought and the customs of his countrymen, I found my interest in aniving at his secret opinions. This last remark coincided perfectly \\dth what was passing in my mind. In coming to the determina- tion to part with this piece of land in lots to the labom*ers, I at fii'st intended to bind them to work \nth me; but, reflecting on the disposition Negroes have to regard every obligation in the hght of a bui'den to be thrown off, I began to imagine that the very tie itself might be the cause of their going to other estates for work, while, if they Avere left unfettered, they would naturally, it being nearest to them, give it the preference. As for enforcing any such agreement, it would be impracticable en- tirely, AAathout a cost of time and trouble in fi^equent- ing courts, which would be far more than commensui'ate with the advantages arising from it. I got a vast deal of information from Da%id about this time, regarding the fever of excitement that prevailed; but, in order to do justice to my brother planters, it is necessary to explain, that the greater number only aimed at retrieving their lost ground, by bringing again into cultivation those fields which the hiadequate return yearly had forced them to abandon, because they had not wherewithal to pay labourers sufficient to keep them up; all of course owing to the generally diminished amount of labo\u', and con- sequently enhanced value of it. After a few more con- ferences with David, and the proposing purchasers of land, and finding that the reluctance which was felt by our proprietaiy body to the measure, as tending to en- courage a sort of disconnection from the estates, of the labouring class, was fast vanishing before the urgent demands for money, and confined now to those (a very- small minority) who had no spare land, I proceeded im- mediately to have it surveyed. It extended to one hundred acres, and being divided 71 into lots of one acre, of half an acre, and a quarter of an acre, I calculated that, in eighteen months, the whole would be sold, such being then the rage among the Negroes for acquiring an independent propei'ty, on which each might sit down under his own fig tree (literally almost), for I observed that the first thing done on the lot by the purchaser, is the planting of a few fruit trees, the cocoa nut being generally preferred. The drains are then dug, and plantains and ground provisions planted while the cottage is in coui'se of erection. They generally pay only about a half of the purchase money on getting pos- session, and in a year the balance should be forthcoming; but there are some who cannot come to a final settle- ment within the year. The price is two hundred dol- lars per acre, or at that rate. They do not get a title, or transport as it is called, until everything is paid; so the proprietor incurs little risk in giving indulgence, although he must lose interest, that being a con- comitant in money transactions, neither understood nor recognised by Blackie. The simplicity in the legal process here of giving an absolute title to real property, has often struck me as admirable, when contrasted with the complicated and expensive measures necessary to that purpose in the mother country. The transport (or transfer) is ad^^ertised thrice (three weeks) in the Ga- zette, with the names of the parties who give away and who receive the property. Any creditor of the former may stop proceedings by giving notice, in the form required by law, at the Registrar's Office, and the matter comes before the Court of Justice at its first sitting, where it is decided whether the objection is valid or otherwise. If no objection stands on the books of the Registrar after a third advertisement, the transport is passed by a judge, who scans it carefully to see that the deed is per- fect in regard to legal fonn, as well as substantially correct. The name of the new pi'oprietor is then recorded 72 in connection Avith his acquisition. The same fonn is observed in regard to mortgages. In either case, the expense amounts to only a few pounds for the lai'gest estate in the Colony, or the heaviest mortgage. ISIr. Brown came to me the day after the conversation I held with Da^id, which lias been related, and, with a face " wan with care," tried once more to impress on me the propriety of keeping up in the race of competition with our neighboui's. "If we do not," said he, "we must abandon more cultivation." "Well, ^Ir. BroAMi," cried I, for the twentieth time, "can you give me any better assurance than when we last talked on this subject, that the rise in wages which you recommend so earnestly, will be the last." "I cannot, sir, nor can any man; but the question is now simply, whether it is best, when prices are unprecedentedly good, to allow the estate to fall so far back as to threaten next year's crop with almost cer- tain destruction, rather than raise wages to the rate now cun-ent throughout the Colony." "Wliich amounts merely to this, Mv. Brown, stated even in the strong manner you have just done, that, because other planters are carried away by then- sanguine disposition, I must be so also; it appears to me a most injudicious step on their part, and I am veiy reluctant, very loth to give in to it, indeed." "You are unquestionably better able to judge than I am, sir, of the chance we have of long enjo^Tiig the present prices; but you are aware that opinions are divided, even among those who are best able to mider- stand the question." "I see your inference, ISIi". BroAAii; but the strongest argument you can m'ge is undoubtedly the folly of our neighbours, and the consequent risk, from their absti'action of our people, that we lose a crop I shall decide soon; in the meantime, I have not made up my mind." Even if he is a man of comprehensive understanding, the manager of an estate is still subject to 73 those influences which affect mankind in general, and the most prominent among these is self-interest. There is much zeal for the proprietors among managers; and the reason is to be fomid in the fact that, by acting on it, they are enhancing their o'vsti reputation; but the mana- ger's character is to be raised by increasing the crops, without reference either to prices or contingent expenses, for no one inquires whether an estate is managed econo- mically or othen\T[se — the actions of the planter are measured by the size of his crops and the condition of his fields. We cannot wonder then that they should be more particular in regard to Avhat, in eveiy sense, espe- cially concerns themselves, and that they should always incline to pay such wages as would give them an advan- tage, even over their neighbours, in regard to labourers. We cannot expect them to identify themselves with the proprietors, and sink their own interest entirely in that of their employers. It is not in human natm-e, for their character is at stake. One featm'e in the new state of existence is beginning to give us great annoyance here. Scarcely a night passes without some boisterous quarrel, which disturbs the whole plantation, and rouses us fi'om sleep, the man- sion-house being only about a couple of hundred yards fi'om the Negro village. There is seldom any mischief done, for the heroes haA-e all the scolding propensities which we observe in those of the Iliad, before engaging in battle; but the parallel holds good no farther, inasmuch as Homer's men proceeded to work in earnest, while ours' content themselves with the war of tongues throughout. It would be a very amusing sight, no doubt, for one whose fortiuie did not depend on the people, to watch closely their demeanoui* on such occasions. They are exceed- ingly sensitive in regard to themselves, but they cannot feel so acutely for their neighbours. It is not to be looked for. The ladies, in general, are the fire-brands among K 74 them; ex uno disce omnes. One day I was standing on the path leading from our village to the field, where they were going to work, when a man came along limping as if his foot had picked up some thorn or similar annoyance. A woman whom he passed, tickled by his micouth gesture, cried out, "Hey! Quaco, you da go dance in a field, da new catreel disha, eh?" Quaco laughed with the laugher, and passed on; but there was one behind who could not brook this insult on her husband's dignity. She came straight up to the other lady, calmly deposited the basket which held wdiatever articles she took to the cane field with her, and then her hoe, on the ground, and forthwith opened fire, setting her arms a-kimbo, with — "You laugh my man, eh — you laugh my man, eh, mamma — eh, mamma?" "Kay, sissie, me no laugh bad — da good laugh me laugh" (meaning that she was joking). "You is a vile nigga mamma, no bit of lady bout you ; dat is what you is." The other had hitherto been cool, but she now sprang to her feet, and assumed the same belligerent attitude as her opponent. "You say me no lady, you saucy, good-for-notting Congo dat you is." "Me Congo!" exclaimed the first then, in a very sluill tone, as if this had been the climax of imjDudence; "me Congo! da Hard you is. You know bery well me dooble Creole; yovi is Ebbo, dough! nasty Ebbo, wha savee, eat dem mattie." Their voices rose to a crying pitch, as one pungent recriminating remark followed another, till the quarrel ripened, and they formed a nucleus for their friends and relatives as they passed to work, who, instead of keeping aloof as sensible persons would on similar occasions, all took part in the strife of scolding, and it j was an hour aftenvards when the mass of them appeared j in the field, while the principals did not come at all. Thus it is; a silly, childish dispute is every day involving perhaps a hundred people in a wordy squabble that annoys us for two or three days. 75 Proprietors and managers, to say nothing of overseers and foremen, have long left off interfering in them, find- ing that their influence was as nothing to the inflamed passions of a rude people. If they actually proceed to blows, which happens sometimes when they are drunk, then the stricken party next day sets out to collect evi- dence, and to calculate the value of his assault, in the way of damages. Several have been to me after such an affair, to tell particulars and inqmre how much I thought the beating they had got "was wort" (worth); and, generally, unless there was something bad in the case, I appraised the property at a low figiu'e, to discourage this absurd sort of speculation. It grieves me to say, that I am now persuaded there is also a change for the worse in their morals, in the face of our immense church establish- ment, and the schools which are so liberally scattered over the province. The orgies which they hold at night, and which the high wages they receive enable them to keep up m a manner suitable to the inchnations of a semi- civilized population, are both fi.*equent and licentious in the extreme. I have had ocular proof of what I now record; for, resolving to try every means to put down such meetings as JVir. Brown represented them to be, and which his authority had been altogether unable to sup- press, I marched deliberately into one of them to ascertain whether mine would be more effectual. They had been dancing for nearly the whole night, and it was about three in the morning when I surprised them, in a large building, consisting of three cottages thrown into one by removing the partitions, a hberty they had taken without leave some time before, and which we found it convenient to wink at from fear of disgusting them with the place; there they were, overcome by spirits and fatigue, lying along the floor indiscriminately, men and women. I tried to rouse them; but if I succeeded, the pai-ty turned sullenly from me, and instantly relapsed into his lethargic 76 state of repose. The women, perhaps ashamed of their condition, could not be prevailed on, by any means, to lift then- faces from the floor. As I gazed on tliis dis- gusting scene, which was illuminated by an expiring lamp, 1 began to be aware, from certain unmistakeable sounds, that my presence had caused as much anger as sm-prise. At last, a tall fellow whom I did not know, and who was evidently from another plantation, started up with — "Chal massa nigga! buclo-a here! whausefor he here, eh!" looking impudently in my face; at the same moment, a voice whispered behind me — "Massa better go." I took the hint immediately, recollecting some tales of irreverent, not to sav danoerous, treatment wliich proprietors had met v;\\h. when they intruded on similar meetings, and ^^ith the same laudable intentions. Januaey, 1841. We have now been more than a year in tliis, to most of us, new comitry, and have become colonized; all of us having had what is called the seasonmg fever, which in our cases was mild, being rather of the mtermittent than the remittent form, as the doctor said. My wife has been for some months very earnest with me regai'ding our eldest daughter, whose health, she insists, is suffering from anxiety and uncertainty. She is indeed paler, but so is her sister; all European women become so in warm climates. It is not difhcult to see that Charles has, with- out absolutely declaiing himself, let them all understand the state of his affections, and my poor wife's bram has been in a state of excitement smce she perceived that her daughter was inclined to reciprocate, if she got a little encouragement. With some, marriage is a singular triumph for mother as well as daughter. My wife is a mother of that description ; but I knew my girl would many no one, except the object of her affections, even to ensure her mother's triumph. Pondering on the matter I 77 long and anxiously, I at last came to the resolution of opening my mind fully to Charles Avhen he made his proposals, wliich nothing but suspicion of me and my strict principles, kept him from making some time ago. His father never threw out a hint regarding it, of com'se, although his son's attentions were the subject of conversar tion tlu'oughout the Colony. As George kept his books Avith great exactness, he is able to tell me (A^dthin a trifle) the result of last year's proceedmgs. The crop was 210 hds. of sugar and 18,000 gallons of strong rum, including the molasses, which had all been distilled; nearly three-fourths of it were made since the prices rose so considerably, and consequently the gross revenue was A'erv' high in proportion to the quantity of produce. It amomited to within a little of £10,000. The labour account came to 12,500 dollars, or about £2,700. The other cm-rent expenses, such as coal, casks, &c., wear and tear of buildings, -with salaries to the Whites, amomited to fully 8,000 dollars more — the total was nearly 21,000. Altogether the expenditm-e in raising that crop reached to £4,500. The nett income of my estate then, for 1840, was frilly £5,500. A better retm'u than I got for many years previously, from 500 hds. and rum in proportion, notwithstanding the vast increase in the expense of producing. No man can be surprised if the planters in general, who, for the last two years, have been sinking money, should be exceedingly elevated on finding that a balance of nearly the same amomit which had been pre\-iously on the wrong, was now on the right side of the account. Those who had looked forward in despair of improAdng their affafrs without the help of the imperial government, begin now to pray inwardly that the latter wall let them alone, for they know by experience that it is more hkely to give in to clamour against them, than petitions in their favom*. 78 It cannot be denied, that for those who have faith in the justice of the mother country, the prospect is now very inviting, and that the general opinion inchnes to this behef, the continued demand for, and rise in the value of estates, sufficiently indicate. I am one of those who felt uneasy from the very commencement of this altogether novel (at least of late years) state of the mar- ket; and I am not sorry now that there are some appear- ances of a decline, not likely to be considerable, but sufficient to operate as a damper on the speculative excitement wliich prevails. There is probably another reason why the crop of last year has turned out so well. I was formerly in the practice of shipping all the sugar to my respectable friends in London, Omnium, Dibs, and Rhino, but having been advised to try the George- town market, I did so, and finding it decidedly better than any in Great Britain, I continued to sell the produce there, from Jmie 1840. By domg this, the planter has the advantage of obtainino; the liighest rate which mer- chants will give in order to get their vessels loaded, and generally there are some who, from want of interest to obtain freight, are fain to speculate in produce; in fact, there are respectable fmns who do it regularly. The loss by leakage on the voyage is also saved; and, in short, the gross benefit is estimated at fi*om thirty to fifty shillings per cask. By far the majority of planters are unable to avail themselves of the local market, they being bound, by mortgage, to consign their produce to British houses, and in their ships. A sort of delusion prevails in the mother comitry re- garding those debts of the planters. The idea of impro- vidence and extravagance being generally associated with that of a West Indian, debt is invariably regarded, among those who are unacquainted with the colonies, as the results of those failings in him. Now, there are ex- travagant persons in the West Indies, who get into diffi- 79 culties from their own folly; Ijut in far the greater number of cases, the debt is contracted when the estate is bought, which is always done here in the way of speciila- tion, not of investment, as in England. A man has £5,000, and he wishes to buy a property worth £20,000 perhaps. He applies to a mercantile house, and obtains a loan equal to the sum he possesses. He has thus on hand £10,000, and it is paid to the seller of the estate. For the remaining £10,000, he gives a first mortgage to the same party, and comes under contract to pay it by instalments; and to the merchants, he grants a second mortgage for their £5,000 on the same estate, and becomes bound to pay them off in a space of time calculated to commence in its instalments when the seller is paid off; and he is held bound by the same contract, to ship all his sugar in their ships, and to consign it to their house in Great Britain. I should say that this mode of pm'chasing plantations ob- tained till within the last few years, when the system of cash transactions, made necessary' by the impaired credit, under existing circumstances, of every colonist, was introduced. According to the old custom, it was calculated that a purchase thus made, should clear itself in from seven to ten years; and in many instances not more than a fomlh of the price was paid down, so well Avas it miderstood that the estate should pay the instal- ments by its crops, as they became due. All those who had bought property about the time when the slaves were emancipated, are thus, at the present moment, with unliquidated instalments, var} ing in number and amount AA^ith the terms of the arrangement under which they are due. My finend WeUingham is oppressed by a mort- gage left on his property by an uncle who bequeathed it to him, and also by several annuities to more distant relatives, so that he has found great difficulty, up to last year, in paj-ing the interest of the former, and the full 80 amount of the latter; while the mortgagee for nine years, contented with interest alone, had threatened in June last to foreclose on an over-due instalment. To him, there- fore, and many more, this sudden rise in the market has been the means of averting positive ruin in the meantime. As to public matters, the greatest excitement has pre- vailed, and the governor of Trinidad, Sir Henry JSIacleod, is here at present to allay the femient, and reconcile the differences between the Executive and the Colony in its representatives. The former refused an immigration ordinance ; and the latter, impelled by absolute necessity, avowed that mthout more labourers they could not ven- ttire to levy such an amount of taxes as was required for the purposes of the government, because they could not see that the inhabitants were able to pay them, and they refused to furnish the supplies under the circumstances. The Colonial ^iinister, fincUng himself in a dilemma, got out of it by sending Sir Henry as governor pro teynpore et re nata, to make an arrangement with the Colonial Representatives, which was effected in a. few days, one party granting a civil list alid the necessary funds, the other guaranteeing an immigration ordinance, with pro- visions, though not satisfactory to the planters, yet such as they saw they could only obtain at that time. It was amusing to observe the demeanour of our ruler in abey- ance in the meantime. He was literally like a bear sucking his paws; and I am siu'e would have been highly pleased if Mr. Briar and his brethren had gone off in a hurricane to the antipodes. It is scarcely possible for the governor of a Colony, under the Wliigs, to be popular: however keenly he may feel for the suffering people, he must conform, in practice, to the rules laid down by liis master; if he remonstrates, then the latter will say, "This fellow has been bitten by the rattlesnake, we must look for another." By this phrase, it seems the Whigs mean that he has acquired a knowledge of the time 81 interests of tlic Colony, Avhicli, requiring a different line of policy, is not the sort of information they wish to have, and therefore they insinuate that he has become too in- timate with the planters, and is adopting their prejudices. The family of the present governor, although he is not liked, are justly appreciated throughout the settlement, and most deserv^edly, for the ladies are not only very agreeable in then' manners, but highly accomplished, and in every way fitted to adorn their position in the province. The governor, personally, would be more popular, did he not consider political opposition as du-ected towards himself, rather than his office. A man who can- not draw a well-defined line of distinction between the two, must always be thinking himself ill-used, when the offending person has not perhaps even thought of him as connected with the question in dispute. Our worthy representative of the Colonial Minister (to call him the King's is rather hyperljolical), cannot conceal the dislike he entertains for the colonial members of our Combined Assembly in general, which he signifies by a peculiar and expressive grmit, when then* names are mentioned in his presence. This has its disadvantages; for instead of being surromided at his table by the aristocracy, such as it is, of the Colony, he has none there save the gentlemen who hold subordinate offices under him, with occasionally a professional man, and the officers of the gamson, who are not the people in whose conversation anything is to occur likely to tlirow light on the condition of the settle- ment, either by anecdote or matter-of-fact contained in the news of the day. Most of those who are familiar with the inmates of government-house, in fact, knowing the bias of the executive, adapt their discourse to the taste and feelings of its head, as polite people generally do. Thus, all information to be gleaned casually and without premeditation, of those who are best able to give it, and which is the most effectual in convincing, is shut L 82 out from him. Remonstrances and petitions are received, under existing circumstances, as attempts of one class to obtain unjust and rnifair advantages over another; and the idea of protecting the Negroes, who are really the masters on plantations, absurd as it is, still prevails with our official men, so as to be paramoimt over every other consideration. There is, in short, a wide space between the latter and the planters, and in this slough, as it may be called, of distrust and disbelief, e\erj statement of facts is doomed to be lost. July, 1841. The change in the aspect of the market already noticed, has turned out more serious in its extent and probable permanence, than was then anticipated; and the alarming nature of the late debate in parliament, has produced a sudden reaction on the unfortunate planters, who are all beginning now to perceive that they are in the position of the frogs in the fable, and that their destruction, if not sport to the people of England, is considered a matter of very tri^aal consequence in the mother comltr}^ In this melancholy triumph of my anticipations over those of my neighbours, I can perceive that the forebodings which led me, a man of fortune almost independent of the colonies, to exile myself, vn\l be ultimately realized; and yet, although I have that impression on my mind, I can- not bring myself to sell the estate and return to England. In fact, the time has gone over for that, because, although an estate was sold at a high figure in May, I doubt if a good price could now, after the lapse of only two months, be obtained for any plantation. Such is the absolute change that has at once occm-red in the opinions of all men here, only eleven or twelve months after their hopes had been elevated in the same proportion, but on very different grounds. I 83 The lattor position was like a castle in the air, as it really wr . • '■" • on the extraordinaiy excitement consequent on T^-'tion finom despair to hope. The fijrmer is . . _:. which, in whateTer way the planter ms, till -..:-'-is to swallow him u^ . The debate reveals e state of feeling that preTails among the popular re- ; ntatires, who must be understood as ^ving utterance to the sentiments of their constituents, and they are unequivocally in fiivour of the admission of slave-grown Thanks to Sir Eobeit and the Conservative party, we aiv safe in the meantime: but what security have we for ■lie future? Our countiTmen collectively, with a great ..eal of talk regarding justice and generoaty, seldom Olustrate their claims to those qualities by any striking instance of eithei*. T. o compensation, so called, given to the planters, they glory in representing as an act of gen@r- itj; wlule, in point of &ct, it was a selfish spoliation of e particular class, to raise the reputation of the country r philanthropy. Little calculation is necessary to . rove that. In terms of the Emancipation Act, appraisers were appointed by government to adjust the apportion- ment of die £20,000,000 : and diey were expressly directed by the act to take the average rates at which sales had been efiected in the colonies during eight preceding years, fi*om books in which such sales were recorded. This being done by them, it was found that the slave- holders got, in their respective shares of the compensation fond, just eight shillings and fonrpence sterling in the pound of the real market value of their property, so fiurly ascertained : and, notwithstanding their strong remon- strances, they could not make ministers nor parliament, to say nothing of the people, understand that property of a much higher value than that of the slaves who culti- vated it, was to be endangered by the act. And does not the proof of what I have said regiu-ding the British I 84 nation laying claim to a character which really does not belong to it, find confinnation doubly strong in the fact, that after -vA-resting from us tlu'ee-fifths of one species of property, and in all probability rendering all other pro- perty m the AVest Indies Avorthless by the same deed, it is now apparently resolved that measures shall be adopted which will consmnmate and ensure the ruin of the planters, because by them sugar may be obtamed a very trifle cheaper ! Is there philanthropy or justice in this manner of proceeding? I say it is now resolved, because the character of the debate is in itself a demonstration that a great change has taken place in pubUc opinion in regard to om* question, and that of slavery. John Bull has got rid of the stigma by sacrificing us, and as, in his short- sightedness, he cannot see that he will be blamed for self- ishness and inconsistency, he chuckles at the idea of get- ting the article as cheap as his neighbour, while he can hold up his head and say — "Thanks to the munificence of Great Britain, there is not a slave in her dominions." It is to be hoped that some time must elapse, breatliing tune for the miserable colonists, before this act of national tergiversation can be canied into effect; and, in the mean- time, that we may be enabled to get labour imported suf- ficient to supply the loss of it, which has been caused by emancipation; as an earnest of this, we are ah'eady reaping the fimit of our new ordinance, in large arrivals of Portuguese from Madeu'a, the Colony paying the cost of then" conveyance. They are chiefly located on the coast, until it is ascertamed that they are fitted to stand the climate, the fact being doubtfrd still, fi'om the differ- ent results, as detailed by those who had them on theii' estates, when only a few had been imported. The price of sugar in the colonial market of George- town is nearl)- at the cmTent rate of the first half of 1840, from the unexj)ectedly large quantities that have come in fi'om the East Indies. Yet it was to be anticipated that a 85 stimulus would be given there to the manufacture of sugar by British machinery, on the equalization of the duties, and the general expectation among those who were acquainted -SAdth the subject, of greatly deficient crops in the West Indies. Foreign colonies are also extend- Incr their cultivation of the article, in the belief that Britain must be reduced to the necessity of being supphed by them. My two neighbom's are quite chop-fallen. Ridley has been ill from extreme depression caused by the news; while Wellingham has the most despondmg, cheerless look that can be well imagined. In the month of March, his son, encouraged by the aspect of the times, made proposals in form for my daughter; and I, in conformity wdth the plan I had long before resolved to adopt on this occasion, frankly, and mthout reser\^e, told him the state of my mind regarding him. He received it with perfect good temper, and the most engaging submission, declaring that he was well awai'e of those infirmities in his nature, but as his dis- positions were good, he hoped to correct them in time. He then told me that he acted with the full sanction of his father, who proposed that they should hve together as heretofore; and, "in order to make me perfectly indepen- dent, he would raise my salary as manager to two thousand dollars, which, he thought, with other consider- tions, might do well enough." "Well, Charles," said I, "as I have been candid with you on one side of the ques- tion, it is right I should be so also on the other; I have stated the principal objections; I lilce you and your father, and if you promise to keep yourself under com- mand, and do nothing of consequence Avithout the advice of yom' seniors, I shall not oppose yom' views — your success of course must depend altogether on Grace." Plis eye brightened at this, and I could perceive he was sm'e of his object. From that day, my poor Avife, who has, it may be whispered, less mind than either of her daughters, 86 was in a flutter of excitement, which, to keep the house quiet, I was obhged to allay, by getting the affair arranged as speedily as was consistent with propriety. They were married early in April, and they seem now to be as happy as people so situated generally are. But now, when the prospects of the planters have been blasted as suddenly as they were excited, I begin to repent me of the facihty with which I gave in to my wife's remonstrances — the Welhnghams' sohcitations — and, not the least, poor Grace's looks ; but, after all, it may only end in want of fortmie. He is young, strong, and possessed of talents which, if properly apphed, will always enable him to sup- port a small establishment like his present one. I have given her, dming my hfe, an annuity, which, joined to Charles's salary, makes them comfortable. Old Wellingham is one of those characters who are lively in company from making an exertion to be so, but who generally shun gay society. My family often express a msli to see more of a man who is so agreeable; but I know he is frequently days and weeks when his words are few, and his eye averted from the world. Ridley is very different. I cannot say of him that he takes " Fortune's buffets and her smiles alike ;" but he enjoys the latter to the full ex- tent, and he meets the former with a stern composure, like that of a brave man in presence of an enemy whom he has to encomiter. Such is he now. I met him two days ago, and he came up with a sad smile. "Well, neighbour, I do fear — in fact, I always felt, as it were, that you woidd be partly right in regard to prices, the rise being so sudden ; but who would think that the ques- tion of introducing the sugar produced by slave labom' mto the British market would be entertained by even a minority in a British parhament." "My friend," said I, "self- interest being the governing motive in the actions of all men, you should have dipped deeper into human nature before you made up your mind to rely so much on justice 87 predominating over it." "But," said he impatiently, " tlic nation, if it sanctions at any future time svich a fla- o;rant crime, deserves to be accounted infamous tlirouo;liout all countries in the civilized world." " Well," answered I, " what of that ? Will the manufactm'ers of England hug themselves less eagerly on canying theii* measures, because the character of the nation may suffer ? Bodies of men, Ridley, will do things that individuals would shrink from vnth. loathing and abhorence. There is, perhaps, not one of these Manchester men — not even Bright him- self, or Cobden — who would singly reduce to misery and starvation his next door neighbour, to promote his o'WTi views ; but, collectively, you see they do not hesitate to immolate a large body of their countrymen." " And that," said Ridley, "just amomits to this, that they can halloo each other on to any mischief which they, indi- vidually, would not dare to think of. Very like the dif- ference between the man who will not venture to destroy another when he is alone, but, aided by two or three more lilce himself, will attack and overpower him anyAvhere : just different shades of guilt." " We are becoming too severe," said I ; " but, to retiu'n to my original position, the Avorkings of self-interest in a party so strong as the manufactm'ing is in England, must ultimately prove dan- gerous to the state : it is an imjyeriiim in inijyerio — a ypower capable of ruhng the rulers of the land." " Aye," replied my friend bitterly ; " John Bull will find in time that this cuckoo will prove too large for his nest." "They have long desired to open the ports of the world to their goods, at any injury they may inflict on what may be called the bulwarks of our constitution ; and now, drunk with prosperity, they aim at rivalling in rank and power, as well as wealth, the hereditaiy legislators of the land ; but, finding that public opinion is too firmly esta- blished in favour of the latter, then- next object will be to pull them down to the level of themsehes." 88 We had many sucli conversations. Wellinoham, since the bad accounts arrived, has rather kept out of my way, but he pretends, akhough it is with a sunken eye and desponchng visage, that things are not yet so desperate — that West Indians are always in the clouds or in the mud, never preserving a hajDpy equilibrium, and that the majority in our favom' is still overwhelming in parliament. His son, sanguine ever, redoubles his assiduity and atten- tion. Ridley says, except himself, he does not know a manager who works so hard; indeed, his wife complains that he over-fatigues himself in the field. The impres- sion which has been made on the pubhc mind, may be explained by what I have described as existing in my own immediate circle. Merchants, who are like the mimosffi, extremely sensible of the slightest touch (from adverse times), begin to shake their heads and look ominous to those who are either their debtors ah'eady or wish to become such. One thing is universally talked of, a reduction of wages to a suitable rate. The planters, paralyzed by this suddenly re-opened prospect of a gulpli likely to devour them, loudly exclaim that they cannot now afford even the rates fixed by the tariff of 1838, to say nothing of the rise which the high prices of last year enabled them to give; and the Negroes, on the other hand, not being able to imderstand how wages should depend on the price of sugar, but fancying that the buckra country is full of money, are, with the suspicion that naturally belongs to their class, inclined to believe that the Wliites wish to take advantage of them. Unhap- pily, the head of om' executive, who ought to set them right in that respect, is too much disposed, whether fi'om ignorance or necessity is of no consequence, to take the same view of such questions. ^Ir. Brown, not having been able to keep pace \A'itli his more ardent neighbours, on account of the restraint im- posed on him by me, complains that the crop has suffered 89 much from want of labourers, to which I reply philoso- phically, that I can better afford to have a bad year than most of my neighbours, and as some must suffer loss, seeing that there is not a sufficient number of labourers for the Avhole, it is better it should fall on me; to this he only answers by a singular stare, as if to ascertain whether I could be in earnest. Although many left him for higher wages, they have since manifested an inclination to return, if he would meet them half-way, by giving half the amount of the rise in addition to the old rate ; but he has remained firm, in order, if it be possible, to keep them to habits of a more settled natm-e. Negroes are like chikken, as I have often said, in their fickleness, and, in fact, generally; but in one thing they show a sort of cat-hke steadfastness. I mean in attachment to what has been long their home. There can be no doubt, how- ever, that the propensity they now mdulge in to a great extent, of roving from place to place, and remaining but a short time in one, will ultimately eradicate the feehng of partiality for their original locality; and this propensity, being a sort of restlessness consequent on, and arismg out of their altered condition, is too strong to be checked by any other consideration whatever. It is really an aston- isliing sight for one jvist from Europe, to witness the cool indifference with which a request is received regarding the performance of any particular sort of work. The greatest aversion is also shown by the people here to do anything alone, so that on all occasions it is necessaiy to send two for any job, even if it cannot occupy more than a few minutes. They are always ready, too, with an excuse for it. The best way to illustrate anything is to state a fact in point. The following occurred to myself. An old carpenter Avas desired by me to take a hammer and a couple of nails, and fasten a board that had got loose on the railing of a bridge. "Massa tell mangea (manager) ?" M 90 "No, it is not necessary for such a trifle; go directly." "Who me sha' take, sa?" "Why, what do you mean? you can't want anybody to help you to drive a nail?" The old man, after staring a httle, came close up to me, and inserting the pomt of a fore-finger among the wool of his head, in order to give force to the illustration, "Massa savee catch 1 — se with one finger?" inquired he. But as I said already, a man who has been accustomed to see the poorer class begging for work as a favour, is here amazed by the unnatural necessity that exists for actually begging people to work for wages far above the value of their labour. What can such a state of afiau's end in, but ruin to all depending on these labourers? Unless, indeed, the subject of immigration is taken up by govern- ment, as a question in wliich the nation is interested. It is true, we have gained something by the ordinance; but we would have both Asia and Africa opened to us, as well as the islands in the Atlantic and the countries of Em'ope. From the experience we have hitherto had, I fear the worst fi-om the powei'fal confederacy agamst us. The Aborigines Protection Society has now taken on itself the care of all people on the face of the earth, I suppose, imder this very comprehensive designation; and a strange thing it is, that a number of gentlemen, most of them seldom out of London, should be seized -with, the in- clination to rule mankind in this manner, especially that portion of it which knows just as little about the patronising society, as the latter knows of them. It is an easy tiling for those men, over their wine, to sit in judgment on their fel- lowmen — to damn the West India planter — save the New Zealand cannibal — and hug themselves in the belief that they are acquirmg reputation for themselves by such omnipotent deeds. But while the world laughs at them, there is still an exceptional portion of the political popula- tion, who find their account in leaguing \rith, and cajoling those their simpler bretlii'en; and they are our 91 deadly foes, the anti-colonial faction of Britain, powei'ful already, and yearly adding to their dangerous influence. The Negroes, now in a position to exact their own terms fi'om the unhappy proprietors, are fully aware of the advantages they possess. This they show in their contemptuous treatment of the Madeira people who come here. A few of my folks had gone to a part of the coast where some of these yellow buckras are located, and had fallen in with them at work in the fields. "Well, Trim," asked I of one on his return, "you saw the Portuguese ; what do you think of them? can they work well?" "Yes me see dem; massa, for true dem bucki'a?" "Cer- tainly they are buckras; wliy do you ask?" "Case, me tink say, dem bucks (Indians) ; such nasty, good-for- notting buckra, me neber see; sailor self ghentlemen ober dem; dem must be de bucks of the White contree." "Ah! Trim, you don't like them; you think they will bring doAAai wages, eh?" "Dem shan't," replied Trim, with energy; "before dem sha' bodder we, we sha' fight them, so send um back, good-for-notting bucki'a trow- away (castaway buckras) ; dem begga, too, Negro gie um bittal (victuals)." This last vituperation alluded to a singular featm'e in the character of the Portuguese, who are not only exceedingly industrious, but so fond of money that they are unwilling to spend any portion of their wages, and actually beg so long as they can obtain something by it. It is evident that they excite the jealousy of their black compatriots; and this may be by their diligence, for it is said that they are so anxious to acquire riches, that they work too zealously under the burning sun, which they ought to avoid, selectmg the mornings and afternoons for their tasks, as they have been earnestly advised to do. But I only speak of them ft'om hearsay: if they can stand the chmate, they will prove a blessing to us. I have heard of some cases of mahgnant fever among them, and it is said the medical men apprehend 92 agi*eat deal of sickness from their habits, which are fihhy in the extreme, and the hard work, which they vail not be dissuaded from. We have obtained, besides those inhabitants of Madeira, a host of people fi^om the West India Islands, tempted by the wages and the free passage in conjmiction. A large proportion of those are but indifferent subjects, who perhaps avail themselves of the terms to get a ramble in the land of mud, as our Colony is denominated by the islanders. They are chiefly Barbadians, and some are said to be good men, while others are the very refuse of that place. We have an agent there, and in other places where there is a likelihood of obtaining people ; and it is suspected that those officers are not so particular as they should be in their selection. But, in truth, they have a difficult part to play, and a battle to fight with almost every man of any note in the places where they are re- cruiting. Labour is scarce m every part of the British West Indies, even Barbadoes, where the population is extremely dense, and the wages not one-thfrd of ours. Still, sugar requiring many hands, and only a certain pro- portion, as with us, being constantly at work, the planters and others in want of sen' ants, look with bitter jealousy on their abduction by our agent. In the meantime, while measures are anxiously pressed forward by the planters to increase the supply of manual labour, no means are spared to diminish the necessity for it by mechanical improvement. Perhaps the most successftd of the hundreds which have been suggested, are those which convey the canes fi'om the punt to the mill — cane carriers, each a chain of paddles fastened together by links and rods, revolving round a wheel at one end, and a drum at the other, and resting on a strong wooden frame. It is worked by the steam-engine. The canes, being thrown on it from the pmit, are drawn up by its revolution to the mill, in such manner that they fall in exactly 93 between the crushing rollers. It saves the labour of several persons, the canes having been previously carried on the peoples' heads to the mill. After they are crushed, another improvement, equally valuable, comes into play for the removal of the megass or crushed canes, consisting of a truck railway, with a gradual ascent, till it reaches midway between the eve and the top of the loge or bam, where the megass is deposited. On this frame, trucks loaded with the latter (into which it drops from the mill), are pulled up by means of a strong rope through a pulley between two posts at the upper extremity of the railway, where is a platform to receive the truck on attaining its proper elevation; and from this platform, a horizontal railway goes the whole length of the loge, along which the truck is pushed by two men, until it reaches the spot where it is to be emptied, which is done by opening its sides (they being on hinges for the pui'- pose), and allo-wing the megass to fall down. It is also wrought by the engine. Various schemes have been tried to lighten the labour" of caiTying the dried megass or ftiel to the fires under the sugar boilers or coppers as they are called, but they have invariably been defeated by the obstinate adherence of the Negroes to old practices, there being no possibihty of doing tliis by the ordinary steam-engine of an estate. Tram-railways were made, and trucks placed on them; but the Negroes preferred the original mode of carrying it on their heads in enormous bundles, although they could convey twice as much in the other way in a given time. It was long ere they could be prevailed on to use wheel-baiTOws for any purpose, such being the inveterate force of habit, and eveiything with them going, by a sort of impulsive instinct, above their heads. It is said that a proprietor imported a dozen wheel-barrows some years ago, and selecting a few of the most intelligent of his people, showed them how they were to be used. After 94 a great many "cha! cha's!" and "heli! lieh's!" they began to trundle them as if actually in fear; but massa had no sooner turned his back, than they all stood still, and one fellow fairly lifted the barrow on to his head, exclaiming loudly upon massa for bringing that "new something to bodder a' we." Wheel-baiTows are now in general use, however, and the desii-e of being like the Whites is gradu- ally overcoming prejudices in general. Some verj^ strong and pernicious feelings of this sort still linger among them ; and of these, perhaps the most absurd and dangerous is their belief in the superstition of Obi. The influence of opinion — that which they observe to obtain among the Wliites — has certainly had some effect in diminishing their faith in the power of those who practice it; but, if it has done this, it has also taken away part of the fear with which they regard such characters. This is observed to be the case among the Creoles, who are disposed to be- lieve that every Afiican is an Obi man, especially if he is very old and very ugly, and they do not sciniple, on the sHghtest occasion, to beat him unmercifully, if they think it can be done with impunity. I have an African of this description, and already he has been twice beaten in that manner, although I could not perceive that he had done anything to offend the young scoundrels who attacked him. The first, I took to task for the offence, and de- manded why he had dared to maltreat a man old enough to be his grandfather. He shook his head, "Da man no good." "Why is he not good?" "He savee kill people." "Did he wish to kill youV "Massa, tha' 'tory no good for talk; da man no ha' God, he ha' debbil." "And do you think he has power to raise the devil on you?" "Heh! no good for talk." "K you thought he had that power, you would not dare to strike him; you do it because you wish to show your matties you are not afraid of Obi; now you shall pay Goliah four dollars for that beating, or go before the magistrate." He paid 95 the money. The next, I sent to the stipendiary, and he Avas fined in six dollars. They have a sort of ill-defined idea, that the Obi man has power by his art, to destroy some persons who are not Christians; and they think it very grand to beat him, as it shows they are like buclvras, and not afraid of liim. But no Negro, whether Creole or African, likes to speak on the subject of Obi. There is a latent fear of some- thing lingering in their minds in connection with that villainous, and, at one period, cruel superstition, which shows that the light of civilization is yet contending with aborigmal and cimmerian darkness in their minds. I say this of the Creoles. The Afi'icans still beheve in Obi with pristine faith, although some of them have an idea that the Christian religion, mider certain circumstances, will prove too strong for it. January, 1842. -^HE downward tendency in prices, was arrested about the middle of the bygone year, when they were still a shade higher than in 1839. The feeling of distrust and despondency, which was great in proportion to the mag- nitude of the evil, and the sudden manner of its approach, has been partly removed by the usual effect of time. But there is a prevailing sense of the impossibility of doing anything under existing prices of labour; and the pro- prietary body, imanimous on this point, agreed to have a general meeting in Georgetown, to fix a new tariff, with a code of regulations suitable to the exigencies of the case. This meeting has just taken place, and the par- ticulars having been arranged, it was settled that district meetings should also be held; which, adoptmg the rates of wages and the regulations agreed on, should alter them to suit any peculiarities that might exist in each locality, it being impossible that they could apply in the same manner to all places. 96 Whilst this is going on, the Blackies preserve an ominous silence, and David tells me they will not give in to the regulations; and, strange to say, although he is a sensible man, I cannot make him understand the urgency of the necessity for a measure of this sort. "You see, David, if the sugar I make sells for no more than twenty thou- sand dollars, and if I pay more than that in expenses, I won't continue to make it." "Certain." "Well, sugar will not rise — the price is higher now than it was before the great first of August, so we must not look to that, then the only thing left us is to reduce expenses." "Certain; but wages no all." "The other expenses of an estate are all as much reduced as possible, (even the salaries of the Whites,) many of them depend on the cost of articles in Europe, such as coals and staves." "All true, massa." " Then you see that we cannot help this reduction — it is forced on us by absolute necessity." "Massa remember I told him before time, if White people don't gib good money, Negro won't work?" "I remember it quite well." "Da so he stand (so it is), Nigga," said he, energetically, "will not work in dis here country for leetle money; I don't care who know it, me say so." I knew he was per- fectly in earnest by his aspect. "Then, David, you must allow, nevertheless, that Ave are obliged to do it, you see that." "No, Massa, me don't see dat; me tell you true. The king or queen, wha they call um ? before he make new law for Nigga, must know bery well he can't work vdthout good money ; if sugar no bring good price, let the queen give the plantation massa dem money to pay the people; da he do mu, da he take um from plantation make he free." I thought for a minute on this strange proposal. "And do the Negroes really talk in that way, David?" "Every one talk so: they no have story wid sugar; if de queen liab power take away slaves, queen have power to pay a' we proper." Here, thought I, may rulers learn a lesson in practical wisdom, fi'om "babes and sucklings" in intellect. 97 The plain meaning and tendency of David's reasoning, whicli lie gives as that of his countrymen generally, is this, that a government, before it midertakes a great measure, affecting the interests of so many people as the Emancipa- tion Act does, must surely have calculated the cost of its operation in every way, and resolved that this shall he paid by the countiy generally, without allowing the un- fortunates who are operated on, to bear the whole expense. It is an excellent commentary, considering the quarter it comes from, on the measures of government for the last eight or ten years. It may perhaps remind the reader of the Sien'a Leone anecdote regarding a poor boy whose leg a charitable surgeon took off for nothing, to save the individual's life, and whose mother brought him, as soon as the stump was well, and laid him down at the surgeon's door, saying — "After massa cut off poor boy foot, me come see what massa give for support him." But David's remark goes farther than that. He has faith in the wisdom of the king (this word comprehends ministers, parliament, and every ruling power), and he thniks he is prepared with money to cany out honestly, and without loss to anybody here, the purposes of the Act. The Negroes invariably look on the White peoj^le col- lectively, as having only one interest; hence their coolness towards Scoble and others who manifested what they con- sider a very suspicious leaning towards them, when they should naturally be all for those of their own colour. They also are of one mind as to the lawfulness of slavery; and they would consider the taking away of slaves from a man, exactly in the same light as forcibly depri\'ing him of his estate in land, unless the most ample compensation should be made. They are accordingly mystified entirely as to the proceedings of the imperial government; for the intelligent of them know perfectly well that the proprie- tors only got about two-fifths of the value of their bond- N 98 men. Slavery being the lot of the many in Africa, they are disposed, Ijy tradition or experience, to regard it as the natural state of society, and the proper position of the laboiu'er, exactly for the same reason that the English- man looks on freedom as his birth-right, because it was the inheritance of his fathers. I have never heard a Negro say that it was othenvise than unjust to emancipate them Avithout paying their price ; but some, having been imbued with the Radical doctrine, insist that we were paid enough for property that was unproductive. David, however, is not one of those. He knows what the article would have fetched in the market, and no sophistry can persuade him that it was not worth the market price. He himself, as he proudly told me, was appraized in 1832 at 4,500 guilders of our currency, or about £360 sterhng. He was knoA\ni to be a good man and a good driver. But to resume the conversation — "You think, then, David, that the Icing (queen you mean — it is a lady) must have infonned herself on every point connected with this question, and that she will not let the work stop without giving what money is required to pay what you call pro- per wages." "Yes, massa, de queen and her council hab too much wisdom to do big thing like that in such loose fashion, dat would be worse than Congo Nigger." "Then you think that all this fright among the proprietors, and their meetings, are just for nothing — no good reason?" "Yes, da so dem say, dem say bucki'a want to fool them — put plenty money in dem pocket." "Now, David, you can't believe that; do you not think it possible that the planters are not supported by the queen as they ex- pected?" "Perhaps (doubtingly) may be so, massa." I knew perfectly, by the tone in which he spoke, that he did not agree with me. I was aware also that reasoning with him was entirely out of the question, until something should occur to stagger him in what is at present a point that he pins his faitli to. After a short pause, he went 99 on — ''Dem say governor no 'gree with the plantation massa; he no think wage too much." "Ay! do the Negroes fancy that to be the case." "Massa no hear some go to his office? dem say, so he tell them." "I can't beheve that, David; he could not do anything so far Avrong, and so contrary to facts." "So dem say; me no know." And thus our conversation terminated. I was really alarmed by the last piece of news, having generally found my foreman correct as to what was re- ported. .^^^ 1st February, 1842. The greatest consternation now prevails over the Colony, in consequence of the cessation from labour which has occurred on the universal adoption of the rate of wages, with the rules and regulations, by the proprietary body. It has been produced, as much by the very singular conduct of the executive, as by those measm*es which were forced on the luckless planters by grievous necessity. The Negi'oes flocked to the government office, w^here they were talked to, either by the governor or one of his chief officers, in that sort of undecided manner, which, with a rude people natm'ally suspicious, is almost sm^e to mis- lead. Instead of being told plainly, that the planters had each a right to fi'ame what regulations and rate of wages he thought proper for his estate, and to consult with his fellows as to what was most proper, which is all we did — the Negroes were informed that the mat- ter would be considered, and so forth. We soon learned that it had been considered in a manner we little ex- pected — that a copy of what we had agreed upon as our new code of plantation wages and regulations, had been formally submitted to H. M. Attorney-General, to ascertain whether the document was not illegal ; in other words, whether means could not be found to force us to 100 abandon those changes we deemed essential to our pre- servation fi'om ruin. It is proper to say, that the governor objected to the rules, not to the alteration in the wages. It would be thought a most tyrannical thing in England, if the lord-heutenant of a comity would inter- pose his authority between a master-manufacturer and his workmen, in regard to the estabhshment of regular hours for labour, so as to have all hands employed at once — the occupation of cottages belonging to the former, or anything, in fact, which was purely matter of bargain be- tween the two parties. We have been accustomed to arbitrary measm^es from our governors, and this did not startle us so much in itself, as being an indication of the gubernatorial feeling, but as a sort of corollary to all the proceedings of the executive hitherto, and an explanation of them. It looked, in fact, when taken in connection with the apathy of the government in regard to immigra- tion, as an evidence that ministers desired to keep up the high rate of wages for the benefit of their protegees, the Negroes. It is not smi^rising that the planters should entertain such opinions, knowing that the opposition of the guardian Anti-slavery Society to immigration into the sugar colonies, is ostensibly based on the belief that a re- duction of wages will ensue upon it ; and being aware also of the immense power which this body, in connection with the cotton aristocracy, now has in the councils of the nation. The thinking portion of them feel that they are mider the feet of this powerful confederacy, and that every danger is to be apprehended from the grasping, one-sided, self-aggrandizing ideas which have got absolute possession of its members. A strike was to be feared, and it was fully anticipated by the proprietors ; but one so fostered and encouraged, cannot fail to affect them deeply, when they take into consideration its probable conse- quences, and its duration under such circmnstances ; for how can they calculate on the resumption of laboiu" at the 101 necessary reduction, if the people believe the governor, and consequently that omnipotent power, according to their belief, the queen, to be against any alteration that would reduce wages. I have heard the governor and his satellites argue, in a conversational way, that the Negroes required very high wages, and, in fact, could not exist without them, owing to the high price of food. He judged of the latter by his own experience, and by the same very singular mode of analogy adduced b}^ the anti-slavery folks when they speak of the hardships of the Negi'o's case. It is not long since one of them, in telling a sad tale of a free Afi'ican who had been entrapped by a villainous ship captain into slavery in the West Indies, asked triumphantly at the close of his story — "How would an EngHsh gentleman like to be seized on his own estate, amidst all his enjoy- ments, and flung, mangled and fettered, into the hold of a ship, and forced to toil all his days in a foreign land." The tale was bad enough, without the absurd attempt at comparison where none covdd be. No beings can be more unlike than the wild, naked savage, following the impulse of his passions, and scarcely endowed with reason, and the highly-refined and intellectual gentleman; but one requires to see both in thefr proper state. The strange fashion adopted by travellers, of giving high- sounding titles to the headmen of savage tribes, misleads the people of England. Judging from what they see and hear of kings and princes nearer home, they can- not imagine any who bear those attributes to be so widely different from them ; consequently, any dark-com- plexioned man brought from Asia, Africa, or America, is an object of veneration with them, if he has one of those gi'and designations, although he can scarcely bear the clothes rendered indispensable by the climate, and re- gards with a keen, hungiy look, the childi'en he passes on the streets. 102 But this does not concern our governor. The articles his butler buys in the market, cost him considerably more than they would in London; but no labom'er is expected to live like a gentleman. Indeed, the state of society here is now such as to produce that extraordinary condi- tion of the lower classes, and it is just what we suffer from; but the inference from the governor's observation is, that he cannot get food at a lower rate. Let us see how the case stands. The food which the Negro enjoys more than any other in his natural state, is the fruit of the musa or plantain tree, with some seasonmg, such as salt fish or pork, with pepper, &c. The allowance fixed under the sanction of the protector of slaves in former times, and confirmed by the privy council, was, per week, three poimds of salt fish (cod), or fom' pounds of herrings or mackerel, and two bunches of plantains, weighing, at least, tliirty-five pounds each, for full-grown people, or rather for all who were above twelve years old; and half those quantities for children imder that age. Now, take the case of a man with a wife and three children. He will require for them ten and a-half pounds of salt fish, and seven and a-half bunches of plantains. The price of fish is at this moment at about twopence per pound, and that of plantains at one shilling and sixpence per bunch; the aggregate cost of a week's food will therefore be thirteen shillings. The wages of the two, for only twelve tasks a-week, will amomit, at one shilling and eightpence each, to twenty shilhngs. But this cannot be accounted more than half of the benefit the labourer derives from his connection with the proprietor. He has a cottage worth four dollars, or sixteen shillings, a-month (four shil- lings a-week), and as much garden ground as he chooses. The latter advantage, in fact, renders the expense of plan- tains mmecessary, for he can raise either them, or ground provisions, perfectly sufficient for his family, by a few minutes' work on each day. It is quite true that if the 103 Negi'o must drink Madeira and cliampaign, and eat of the most delicate viands, tliis pay will not suffice; but any one may see, by the above calculation, that he can aiFord a great many things which the poor, shivering, hard- worked peasant of Europe knows only by name. Yet the w^orst of this supei-fluity is the effect it has on the morals of the people. Those who, in accordance with what I have just said, are disposed to judge the Africans by a European stand- ard, would do well, in thinking on their present state, to fancy the case of so many school-boys, with more pocket- money than they can dispose of without injvuy to them- selves. This is an evil that all parents and guardians are anxious to avoid, by limiting the amount to the lowest sum compatible with the due supply of those articles Avliich are necessary to the healthy, moral, and physical enjoyment of the youths. But he has still other advantages. On many estates, the same privileges are continued which the slaves enjoyed; a medical man being provided for them, and nm'ses in sick- ness ; a certain allowance of rum had been daily given to each, until the legislature veiy properly put an end to it lately, by imposing a tax on the consumption of the article within the Colony, and limiting the sale to houses Hcensed for the purpose; a salutary measm*e, as a check on drunkenness, and a principal source of revenue, legiti- mately derived, to the Colony. It has been alleged that the taxes press severely on the labouring population ; but, I presume, no person who is unprejudiced, will say that two shillings per gallon on rum is a high impost, especially when the object of its imposition is the benefit of the Negroes themselves. They still get the liquor at a rate too low to prevent them from drinking more than is good for them. It has been called by some of the offi- cial people, the poor man's beer of this province, and they urged that as an objection to the tax, but the effect of the 104 two on mankind is ver}^ different. It is a strange argu- ment to bring forward, as it suggests immediately the burthens upon what is bona fide the poor man's beer in England, and who has nothing to spare from his wages wherewith to pay for it. The price at the licensed liquor store is only one shilhng per bottle, duty included, of proof spirit. Allowing grog to be one of their necessaries, there is just another upon which a tax is paid, which is salt fish, and it amounts to about one farthmg per pound, being comprehended in the twopence mentioned as the price of it. A man thus pays on fish three shilHngs and threepence per annum more than he would if it was untaxed. There is also a slight duty on the requisite articles of clothing, (two and a-half per cent., ad valorem,) which, in our climate, are few for laboui'ing people. On gay and fine garments, it is just, if they can buy them, that they should pay a coiTesponding rate. In short, ^^^th the advantage of better wages for fom' hom's' work than Enghshmen get for twelve, they have their food at a cheaper rate, and pay no taxes except what we have speci- fied on necessaries, while the Englishman pays duty on his malt, sugar, tea, coffee, chocolate — the two first, and one of the three last of which are considered by him as indispensa- ble, and wliich, excepting malt (or rum), the Negro gets fi'ee of any biulhen whatever. They are too lightly taxed, when we consider that the public expenditure has been so enormously increased by the operation of the Emancipation Act in their favour, for hospitals, po- lice, jails, and penal settlements, together with teachers, clergymen, paid magistrates, and a host of other of- ficers, who were all either created expressly for their behoof, or rendered essential by the measures adopted for their benefit; and when reference is made to the value of labour, as contrasted with the cost of the articles required by the labourers. But the unhappy planters do not wish to curtail their enjopnents, if the mother country shall continue to think them innocent; they only wish to have 105 such prices for their produce, as will enable them to sup- port the expense of cultivation, and give them where- withal to pro^^de food and clothing for theu" own families. The crop of last year has, in accordance Avith Mr. Brown's predictions, Mien considerably behind that of 1840, having been only 155 hds., with 13,000 gallons of rum, and the expenses being increased, the loss on the year has been about £1,500. Some of my neighbom*s have been more unfortunate, the largest amomit sunk in the district, in one estate, being £5,000 ; an enor- mous sum, and a loss truly startling, when we consider that it may be of fi'equent occurrence, so long as the culti- vation is kept up. Wellingham has had a better return, which, with the profits of 1840, has put his mortgagee into good humour, and the whole family, including the yomig wife, seem to be in excellent spu'its. Ridley, however, has fallen back a little, though not to the same extent as I have suffered. He literally puts his shoulder to the wheel; and now that I know him better, I can perceive that he is labour- ing under great anxiety, which he masks under a hearty, bluff manner. He is one of those who direct their atten- tion chiefly to the quality of the work performed, and to the enforcement of the strictest economy in the routine of the estate; and he finds it necessary, in order to satisfy himself that his views are properly carried out, to be in the field while the gangs are there, because he has found that the overseers are useless in keeping the labourers to the honest and faitliful discharge of then' duty, their authority, commands, and remonstrances being alike dis- regarded. As manager of his own property, he finds that he has infinitely more weight with the people than another person would have who was not at the same time proprietor. Negi'oes have a sort of hereditaiy respect for the lords of the soil; and, while they would openly deride an over- o 106 seer, and quietly offer a passive resistance to tlie directions of a manager who did not suit their tastes, they would yield obedience readily, so far as they will do so now, to the dictates of the plantation massa. But while they act thus, they are by no means insensible to the absurdity of any solecism in plantership, which an inexperienced proprietor would be guilty of; and it is a singular fact that, although they will ruin an estate by the careless performance of their tasks from day to day, they do not like to work under an unskilful planter. On an estate near this is a yomig manager, preferred to the charge on account of his relationship to the proprietor, whose actions have lately been severely criticised by his neigh- bours. About a fortnight ago, some twenty or twenty-five men, with their shovels on shoulder, came to me, in absence of Mr. Brown, to offer themselves for hire. I en- tered into conversation with them in the usual way, asked their terms, and so forth, and, finally, whence they came. I learned that they were from the plantation I have just alluded to, and I then said that although Avill- ing to take all the good hands who offered themselves, I did not like to deprive a near neighbour of his ablest shovelmen. "Why do you leave him?" There was a dead silence for half a minute; and, no older man inchn- ing to speak, a little bustling youngster of about twenty came forward — "Massa," said he, "no use for tell lie, tha' nyung (young) mangea no ha' sense, he da play h — 1 yander." Then they all opened like a pack of hounds. "He mad." "He let in salt water for kill cane." "He boil sugar berrout (without) lime," were the phrases, among twenty others, most distinctly heard. "But," said I, "if you do the work well in the field, what is it to you if he spoils the cultivation ? you have nothing to do with that." "Massa," said the same youth, "we no want estate to hab cracterV "Indeed," was my reply; "I should think it is what you care very little about; it is 107 notorious that all of you now do the plantation work very badly; if you wish your own to have a good character, why don't you do it as well as in the old time?" "O dat is oder ting." "Why?" He would not answer, but I could do it for him. Individually, they like to indulge their indolence by doing their tasks in the easiest, and, consequently, the worst manner; but they are all proud, and each would Hke to see his comrade doing the work properly, although he wull not, because he washes, in speaking to a friend on a neighbom'ing estate, to be able to crow over him, and to tell that his cidtivation looks better, and liis crops are larger than those of his neigh- bour. It has often struck me that the Negro is the proudest of mankind, and the most sensitive in regard to aggi'ession on his self-esteem. It may be imagined that this feeling might be tm-ned to good account, by proper management on the part of the resident proprietors. It has been foimd, however, by Ridley, and I suppose all the rest who are in immediate charge of their own estates, that they can only control the disposition, so as to make it advantageous, when they are in the field and literally standing over the laboui'ers, which is absolutely impossible at all times, because there are always two gangs on every plantation, and frequently three or four; but if there was no more than one, an in- dividual woidd find it almost impracticable to watch every turn of the hoe or shovel made by thirty or forty people at a time. The overseers on those estates where they are least attended to by the Negroes, can do no more than make a memorandum in the morning of the position oc- cupied in the field by each person, and, in the afternoon, he is enabled by it to take down the manner in which the labour of each has been performed, and the amomit of it. If the manager believes, fi'om what he knows of his people, that the bad work may be made better, he directs those who are reported as malperformers, to go over it again 108 next day, otherwise wages will be stopped. From wliat has already been said, it will be understood that the fre- quent repetition of tliis order will go far to depopulate an estate. It is true, that if the planters could be unanimous, and if they all possessed the requisite firmness to hold out sufficiently long, this evil might be amended; but when one considers the state of trembling anxiety in wdiich men are whose means of existence are at stake, and also, the effect which a single person of weaker nerves than the rest would produce among people so constituted, by departing from the hue which they had all agreed to fol- low, one Mill not be surprised that the planters cannot maintain a disciphne of the natm'e required. I fear, in the present attempt to lower wages, we shall experience the impossibility of adhering to our own rules; it is already whispered that some planters, alarmed by the governor's proceedings, have postponed the introduction of the reduced rate on their estates. I am interiTipted by my friend Welhngham. He tells me that last mail brought him a letter from the house which holds his mortgage, couched in the most friendly terms, and intimating that so long as his crops continue to be as good as the last, they will be as indulgent as they possibly can; and "Charles," continued he, "is quite sanguine as to our futm*e returns." "I do not doubt it," repHed I; "Charles is generally so. But pray, what do your merchants say to the expenses of last year?" "Why," said he, with a sigh, "they do say that they were veiy great; but they have hopes of, in fact, they inculcate forcibly, the necessity for retrenchment." "Of course; but can they tell you how it is to be done? any abatement hinted at in fi-eights and commissions?" "Nay; that we can hardly expect during such times; besides, it would only be a drop out of the bucket." "But by those drops the bucket is filled." "Unless we can reduce 109 wases, all other reductions wall not avail us." "True; but if the merchants do not relax a little in their demands, how can we expect the labom-ers to give in to our schemes; if mortgagees claim their bond, without re- ference to the difficulties of mortgagers, it is with a bad grace that those same persons, as planters, insist on a reduction of wages." "I beheve people generally think that it is in vain to continue the gi'owth and manufacture of sugar in the present state of the labour market, even if all other expenses were brought down to one half of their cvuTent amomit." "Indeed, it is doubtftil if that would tmii the balance in their favour; still, on principle, everything that lessens cost must be tried. There is much privation endm'ed by many proprietors in order to carry out their plans of economy. I heard yesterday of one who had been accustomed to keep a carriage and pair, and who sold them lately, and has nothing but an im- proved sort of canoe to travel in now, while his wife must stay at home, or go to town, or anywhere else she may wish to go to, in the schooner of the estate." "I pray God," said WeUingham, mournfully, "that the mere loss of comforts may be all that the bulk of our body may have to endm*e; but if we are not borne out in oiu* hopes of better times, those hopes that we must entertain, or embrace destitution at once, 'what is to become of us aU?" "You are aware," said I, "that I have had this ever present to mind since the year 1838; and I am now so sensible of the danger we are in, that I have resolved while I can yet do so with honom', to settle the few thou- sand pounds that remain in my banker's hands on my wife and children, leaving still a considerable sum with my merchants to give the estate a fair chance of better times, by carrying it out, if we are doomed to get out of our present precarious position." "Ah! Premium," replied my friend, with a look of deep despondency, 110 "when one in my situation beholds one in your's, and one who, besides, is both pinident and energetic, thus seeing nothing but disaster in prospect, what may I not expect?" "Forgive me, WelHngham," said I, "we are brothers, and hke brothers we should speak openly to each other; yet pardon me if I speak plainly to you. I fear that Charles is, even now, indulging in his naturally sanguine and hoj)efal disposition, to an extent far beyond what present appearances w^an'ant; and although I say it not, I may beheve that this state of feehng will affect his mode of management. In short, Wellingham, I fear Charles may imagine that in raising large crops, he is doing eveiything, so long as the mortgagee is satisfied." "But, my dear fi'iend," was his answer, "is not that a great deal ? The planters, as a body, are straining every nerve to keep up then- estates, even at a great loss, until the coming of a brighter day; the mortgagee is a sort of embodiment of the existmg evils, for they bring him pro- minently forward, who, but for them, w^ould be in the background." "What you say is perfectly correct; at the same time, you must allow^ that the mortgagee will consider it to be unbusinesslike to continue this state of affairs long, and you know he is a planter as well as yourself, and will readily perceive at what cost you are consigning so much sugar to his friends in England." He was deeply distressed. "My dear Premium, what shall I say? God knows all this and more has occun-ed to me often." "I know it; I know you to be thoughtful and considerative, but I perceive also, that you are driven by despair to drown reflection, and to put off the evil day by any means in yom' power. This is the first time I have spoken to you in such a manner; take it as a proof of my esteem, and believe me when I say, that I would not have done it had I not been sui-e that you would de- rive benefit from it." " But how, my fiiend ?" cried he wildly; "I think, as God shall judge me, that I shall have Ill no time from my merchants if the crops fall off." *'Do you think, if a certain portion of the mortgage was paid, that the holders of it would give you any considerable time?" "I know they would; for twelve thousand dollars they would not ask me a question about it for two years — these were their OMai words." "Then I shall give it to you," said I quietly. Poor Wellingham stared at me as if he did not understand what I said, while his face became pale, and his Avhole fi'ame was shaken by a \isible tremor. ""VMiat did you say, Premium?" "I said, my dear Wellingham, that I would stretch out a hand to assist in dragging you out of the mire," replied I, with a smile, "on condition that your manager shall not practise any expensive means to force large crops hereafter." He grasped my hand, shook it warmly, then turned round and left me abruptly. "Strange," thought I, "that a man of such well-knowTi benevolence should be siu'prised by a good action from another." But WelKngham speedily returned, and in the warmth of his gratitude, poured out his whole soul to me. It was a painful pictiu'e he placed before my eyes by his vivid representations of the hoiTors (arising fi-om importunate creditors, and want of money for any purpose) constantly present to him, and operating on a disposition remarkably sensitive and deeply thoughtftil. He went away an altered man, and left me musing on the many hundred scenes of misery and woe, such as he had described, then occuning in the British Colonies. "Alas I" thought I, "what have the great ones of the earth to answer for! and what an inconsistent thing is the wisdom of man ! one day, enacting a law to make the steahng of a hand- kerchief punishable by death; another day, consigning thousands to want, to starv^ation, by depriving them of then- property, also by act of pai-hament !" I had soon to hold a very confidential conversation with the son, as well as the father, who, hmried on bv 112 his impetuous disposition, arrived in about an hour, ac- companied by his Avife. The latter, after Charles had expressed, with his usual warmth, all he felt and all he hoped from my friendly efforts in then' favour, began to speak in a manner which surjirised me. She had always been disposed to look beyond the surface of things more than women usually do; and I perceived now that since she had linked her fate with that of a deeply-involved planter, she had devoted herself to the study of the planter's business, and of what is called the West Indian question generally, with the view of guiding and assisting her husband in his arduous j)ursuits, rightly judging that the influence she possessed over him, might be exerted to keep in check that impatience and thoughtlessness which formed the only blemish on his otherwise excellent character. "My dear father," said she, after Charles had opened his mind fudly and fi'ankly, and with tears in her eyes, "you are always thinking more of others than yourself; and I know it was the apprehended diminution of my mother's enjoyments which brought you out here; but I wish to point out to you that you may carry your anxiety on that head too far, which you will unquestionably do, if you incm* the risk of losing health, as well as property, in the severe struggle we are all engaged in." "I have judged dehberately," rephed I; "but I am aware the world will say exactly what you hint at, and probably ascribe to me, besides, the wealcness of avarice or ambi- tion." "Then could you not go with mamma and Jane, settle yoiu'selves in our dear old home, and leave George to represent you here?" "And do you, my gu'l, desire this?" "God knows it would cost me many a severe pang; but when I reflect on the advantages you would all derive from it, I am not so selfish as to desire to keep you here." "You have thought over our case, and you believe I can do no good by remaining." "Like all 113 otlicrs witli whom. I have conversed, excepting the over- sanguine (glancing at her husband), I do not abandon hope; yet I have httle confidence in the justice of the mother country, which alone can save us." " You have nearly expressed my feelings and opinions. I con- tinue to hope, almost against my deliberate judgment ; if the calamity implied by the total relinquishment of hope was less dreadful, I imagine we would not cling to it so pertinaciously; but we are now like men on a wreck — to give up all, even tlie most remote expectation of being saved, is to let go oiu' hold and embrace destruction ; therefore we grasp it to the last. It is true that by re- tiring now^, I might live in England, but not in our former abode, my love ; that Ave must give up all right to soon, and it woiild be in a very humble manner, compara- tively, that we could now reside there. In short, the change woxild be so gi'eat, and would so affect your mother, that, actuated also by the same feehngs as my unfortunate fellow-sufferers, I dare not attempt it. They have more comforts in the meantime, and let the worst come that we apprehend, they shall not be in want." "But, my dear sir," said Charles, "you might sell the Fortune, and realize something considerable in addition to your funds in England." "Well, Charles, you have stated another difficulty which I find it extremely hard to overcome. This estate was valued in 1832, by sworn appraisers, at £105,000. I got £25,000 of compensation ; how much of the balance could I obtain by a sale?" "^Tiy, perhaps £20,000." "Perhaps £20,000! more likely £10,000, instead of £80,000. Here again the faint hope that remains occm's to me, and Avhispers — 'Don't be so foohsh as make the sacrifice, it would be monstrous;' and really, as I said before, although calm reflection points it out to me as the safest course, I cannot bring myself to adopt it." But if the family be ruined," said Grace, "and — " p 114 "That cannot l^e, dear, for I am going to adopt measures immediately to secure my family in something — ^" " But, dearest father," said she earnestly, "recollect that it would not save you from the operation of the law if you were ruined." "Nay, my girl, let it take its course; I am no Imnkrupt now, but a rich man, therefore any measures I take to secure my family against the schemes of a reckless government, are not only justifiable, but perfectly honourable." "But," faltered she, "a jail!" "The bankrupt laws Avill save me from that. Now, my children, you are thinking more of me than yourselves." "And so we ought," cried Charles, warmly. "Well, well," cried I, cheerfully, "I hope, as I said, I still hope for better times; so do not let us make ourselves wretched while there is yet no cause." 1. si July, 1842. The strike among the labourers continued till the end of ^larch, when, dispirited and worn out by the opposition they met with fi'om their people, countenanced, if not wilfully, at least effectually, by the executive, the planters £»;a"\'e ^\z^^\ and one after another resumed tlieii' labourers at the old rate of wages. When one remembers the destructive effect of time on tropical cultivation un tended by the hand of man, the ch'eadful anxiety with which a planter beholds his cane fields, week after week, assuming more and more the appearance of so many patches of ground in a state of nature, will be at once understood. If the weeds get fairly above the canes and destroy them, which they must do if the latter are unweeded for some months, the loss of one crop at least will ensue, and, at the same time, the planter must be subjected to a great outlay m replanting the several fields; and how, in such times, could the impoverished sufferers accomplish this, most of them with capital and credit already exhausted? 115 I liave never in England seen so much energy dis- played in bearing up against severe distress, or sucli indefatigable ingenuity and industry in meeting difficid- ties as they occm". It is wonderful how they do not sink under their intolerable burthens; but faith, and hope based on it, keep them up. Their foith (I speak of the mass of proprietors here and in the mother country), is yet unshaken, and they expect g(X)d out of the evidence given before the Distress Committee of the House of Com- mons, although they perceive that the anti-colonial faction are openly deriding it, and declaring it to be monstrously over-charged. And such is the prevailing ignorance in England of what is going on in the colonies, that they will succeed in nuUifying all that has been said. In this province there are two hmidred and twenty sugar estates; of these, it is not expected that more than twenty vnil this year make any clear revenue. They are, in point of soil, supeiior to the rest. In fact, for the same ex- pense of labour, they wdll give t^^dce as much sugar as many of the remaining two hundred, and a considerably larger proportion than all of them. Those fertile plan- tations, also, are generally the largest, which naturally arises out of the good quality of the soil, that having been the inducement to proprietors to pm'chase more slaves and extend cultivation. The expenses are always compara- tively less on large than small estates, for obvious reasons. The wear and tear of buildings are less in proportion than on smaller properties ; so are the salaries to Whites, also, and several other items of expenditure. The large plantations on the coast, therefore, with their rich land, are those wliich are successful in the struggle with adverse times. The governor was openly charged in court, by !Mr. Briar, with thwarting the constitutional endeavoiu's of the planters to save themselves from ruin; and his excellency, getting angiy, said to his clever government secretary, 116 that the Honble. member was personal ; but the other very sagely shook his head, thereby recommending quiet- ness. There is not a planter in the Colony who would refuse to back Mr. Briar in his assertion, in so far, at least, as information obtained from the people interested would warrant them in doing so, for the Negroes did not hesitate to say that the governor supported them in re- sisting the measures of the proprietors. The mortality having been very great during the last twelve months among the Portuguese, the Court of Policy has, with as much wisdom as humanity, stopped the bounty on the importation of people fi'om Madeira. This, of course, puts an end to the hopes of the planters, at present, from that quarter. Indeed, many have arrived at the conclusion, which, in fact, forced itself on them, that those people are luisuited to the labours of the field, both from constitution and habit. But some other comitry must be found where the sugar-growers can look for laboru'ers to suppl}^ the existing deficiency. Their enemies have succeeded in closing almost every place against them. The conduct of the anti-colonial confed- eracy in regard to immigTation, throws the most violent proceeding of any other party into the shade. It avows, as strongly as the plainest lang-uage can do, that they are actuated by hostility to the planters, not by any interest they feel in the Negroes of the West Indies. If the lat- ter was their motive, would they favour, as it is known they do, the Liverpool people in their efibrts to introduce slave-grown sugar? And again, if they keep out immi- grants from our colonies, do they not indirectly injure the Negroes they pretend to protect, by bringing on a state of affairs Avhich will render the introduction of sugar from Cuba and Brazil indispensable. In short, everything shows that the destruction of our colonies is the object at which they aim, because, this being effected, they imagine they will have unrestricted 117 intercourse with foreign countries, and an immensely in- creased demand for manufactured goods. Policy, short- sighted as "wicked! It is grasping the shadow, and dropping the substance. By the time the colonies are ruined, the manufacturers of foreign nations will stand prominently forward in competition with those of Britain; they Avill diive them out of the continental markets by the advantage they derive from cheaper labom*, and the men of Manchester will then find that, in destroying us, they have lopped off a limb fi'om their own body. Shut out by other nations, the colonial market lost, and the demand at home gi-eatly diminished by the effect of their suicidal policy, they will begin to feel the evils they have brought on others. An incident occurred a few days ago, that gave us all some amusement. We were just sitting down to break- fast with a preacher of the Missionary Society, who had stepped in after visiting some of my peoj)le, when George, ai'riving as usual, from the field, informed us, with a grave, anxious face, that "Toby was in a trench, and had been there all night." "Dear me," cried my wife; "poor thing; I am so sorry!" "Poor, poor, Toby!" said Jane. "Have they taken him out?" I enquired. "They are about it now. He is very much exhausted, and 1 think must die. They are trying to get some warm por- ter down his throat." After a few more observations of a similar sort, Toby was forgotten ; and, in due time, the minister departed. I shall relate, just as it occurred, a conversation which I had two days after, with the stipen- diary magistrate of the district. "Pray," asked he, "did ail accident occur at Fortune the other day?" "No ; not at Fortune." "I was told a man had been drowned in a trench." "No such thing happened there, I assure you." He looked much surprised, and proceeded to tell me that the missionary in question had informed him, saying at the same time, that as the family seemed to 118 treat the matter with great indifference, it was probable they would not think it necessary to hold an inquest. The truth flashed on me at once. "Inquest!" cried I, "inquest on an ox! But, my dear sir, Toby is not dead; this worthy, humane preacher was no sooner gone, than the whole family were round the patient, and they suc- ceeded in restoring him." I laughed heartily; but the magistrate shook his head. I knew^ what he meant to signify by the motion ; but being determined to incur the censure of no man A\illingly, and to walk the path of life without jostling any one, even a political teacher of the \Yord, I would not speak any longer on the subject. This Toby is an old ox, nearly blind, that has been on the estate for twenty years, and is an object of care and attention with us all. He comes every day to the kitchen door for an allowance of plantains, and while there, is caressed by all w^ho see him, even the Negroes. He is the only animal I ever saw them fond of, excepting their dogs, and they have a high opinion of his sagacity, which they declare by sa^dng, "Toby no stan' like cow, Toby people." By which they mean, that he is more hke a man than a cow. We had last week a marooning party into the bush be- hind my cane-fields, consisting of the Wellinghams and Ridleys, with two other famihes, besides ourselves. It w'as to be a hunting pai'ty, the ladies merely being on the ground, and under shade, to A^dtness what part of the sport chance might throw in the way, and to assist at the luncheon afterwards. They had been provided with rods, however, and a couple of boys to bait their hooks, if they should choose the amusement of angling, the trenches being all full of fish. Indeed, the country is remarkably prolific in that article, for if a pond be dug anj'Avhere, and filled by water from the clouds, it ^\i\\, ere many weeks pass, be ahve with fish. Mustering immediately after coffee, we reached our destination in carriages, the roads 119 and bridges freely admitting that accommodation, about 7 o'clock A.M. ; and the ladies being lodged under the umbrageous foliage of a large tree, near a canal, the ground around which had been previously cleared of all rubl)is]i and long grass, and furnished with tables, chairs, and everything that could be required, we set about the business of the day. On such occasions, dogs of all sorts, from the fox-hound and harrier to the small Indian cur- like animal, which generally, maugre its appearance, has a good nose, are brought into use. It will be u.nderstood that although the word hunting is used generally to de- scribe the sport as practised here, it is more properly shooting. Yagers go with the dogs into the places that are to be searched for game (abandoned fields, which had been once in cultivation, are usually selected), Avhile the sportsmen, with their guns, are stationed at the different "coigns of vantage'' on the outside; and when a dog gives tongue, being on the alert, they follow in the direc- tion of the sound, the beast, whatever it may be, always going straight away from the pursuers, and it often hap- pens that it comes within shot of two or more of the party, who have approached the place which the baying of the dogs indicate as that most likely to be chosen by the animal to issue li'om. Many minutes had not elapsed, after the dogs were laid on, when the deep-toned voice of an English foxhound reminded me of scenes in another land; but presently, a noise arose that would have horrified the anticpie lovers of the chase, being a compound of the most -sdllanous sounds that ever offended ear; the baying of a noble homid, blending vdth the yelp of terriers, the sort of half- howl half-bark of the Indian doo-s, and a refjular bow-wow from various cm's of low degree. The clamoiu' approached my quarter, and Ridley, who was nearest, moAing rapidly towards me, seemed to believe that the game, whatever it was (for there is no possibility of seeing it until it reaches 120 the cleared fn'ound, the shrubs and hicjh grass being so dense), would break covert near me. I stood still with my piece cocked, until a gallant red deer bounded on to the dam, and without pausing a moment, sprang across it. He was no sooner out of the line of liidley and my- self, for he was between us, than we both fired; and, springing first into the air, the animal fell down dead. A shout of triumph announced otu' success. In the course of a few hours, we had four acouries (they look like a cross between the hare and rabbit), two labbas, and the deer. There was another deer put up, which Chai'les and George followed in the dh'ection of the river, after having fired at it, for this animal always takes to water when it is hard pressed. The yomig men, fol- lowing close on the dogs, came to the water edge just in time to see it nearly half across; nevertheless, ha^'ing some hands with them as eager as themselves, they jumped into a batteau they found not far off, and continued the chase. There is miich excitement, and some little danger, in a water-hmit after deer. The creatui'e swims rapidly, and turns sharply round to evade its pursuers, throwing them out fi'equently to a great distance. Negroes gene- rally have spears, made of bayonets or cutlasses, fastened to the ends of long poles, on those excui'sions, which, when the animal takes the water, are very useful, for they launch them with great effect, although, in the excitement of the moment, the thrower is very apt to capsize the luistable, keel-less batteau — an occurrence by no means uncom- mon. They do not lil^e to take guns in such a chase, probably being afi'aid that accidents may arise from the huriy and eagerness of the party. The sportsmen, m this instance, were doomed to be disappointed; for the deer, being a powerful and a wily one, turned immediately on seeing the pursuers, and made for the land, M'hich, after two or three dodges, he succeeded in reaching; and where, after deliberately shaking himself, and giving his 121 head a toss, he cantered ofF leisurely as one who knew his position. The dogs folIoAved on the scent, but he escaped them. We were merry that day under the greenwood tree. The cares of the world were for a Avhile forgotten, the words "sugar" and "labour" being as strictly prohibited as if a tlu'ee-guinea duty had been imposed on them. The young men pelted each other with oranges, until they began to feel they were rather too hard; and the old ones, meantime, stuck fast to the well-cooled ISIadeira, my wife and the other dames looking on, and joining in the joke and laugh with the rest, until Ridley, who is a powerful whistler, struck up a sort of imitation qviadrille, that set the young ones to dancing. Such pic-nics are highly rehshed here. The extraordinaiy influence of a bright sky, contrasted with the deep green of the tree leaves, and reflected from beautiful flowers, which hang in gigantic festoons from parasites on the loftiest branches, together ^Anth the splendid plmnage of the buxls, twitter- ing gaily from spray to spray, tending to heighten the enjoyment of every one. My friend Ridley, being an excellent marooner, promoted the mirth of the party in a thousand ways, and always when the hilarity began to flag, started something new. ObserA-ing that George was less vivacious than the rest, he slapped him on the shoulder, and uplifting his voice, burst into song. We had a hearty laugh at his extemporaneous produc- tions, and I remarked to Mrs. Ridley that her husband was coming out in a new character, that of song-maker. "There am't nothing," said that lady, "that he ain't up to, if you only try him. Wiy, the other day he played on the banjar like any African Negro; and when he was some years yomiger, before the bad times, he could dance all their dances." "Oh! for shame, my dear! don't ex- pose your husband." "Ain't it true?" enquired she, ■vN-ith great grai-ity, for that good person never laughs, and 122 seldom smiles, not because she is sad or morose, but simply because she enjoys anything \^dthout thinking it either necessary or proper to make the fact visible. I should have mentioned before that, besides our neighbours, we had Mr. Bro^^Ti the manager at this party; and the fore- man, being a gi*eat hunter, was also permitted to find a substitute for the day, and to assist in the sport. He and the rest of the sable sportsmen were regaling themselves a little apart from the bucki'as, and I could perceive they were much amused by ]\Ii\ Ridle}^s remarks, especially when the banjar came to be spoken about, and his general prowess as a mimic of the Negroes. There was a sort of whispering among them, and then David rose and came forward, laughing heartily, with a banjar in his hand, which he presented, ^^dthout saymg a word, to the "Mount massa." We all saw that his skill on that instrument — not quite so well knowai to ears pohte, as the fiddle of Paganini — was fiilly appreciated among those who loved it best; and no ^Vliite person can enjoy a burlesque or caricature of the Blacks ^vith more zest than the latter themselves, if it is a Wliite who is the perfonner. He acquitted himself on this occasion so much to the dehght of the Negroes, that they actually rolled on the gi'omid in the ecstacy of their laughter. His production was a sort of song, quite in their style, detailing the adventui'es and mishaps of two lovers who were both "fooled" by a coquettish damsel, the whole being nan*ated in their dialect. 1st October, 1842. Events are progressing in regular succession since the turn of last year. Property is evidently feehng the change in public opinion, if we may judge fi'om the sales; iDut certainly it is not yet very decided. It is a blessing which I think the climate confers on the inhabitants of 123 the tropics, that hope is ever entertained by them even under the most grievous misfortune. But for it, men could not exist under the accumulated evils that are heaped on them in the colonies; where, over and above the ills that flesh is heir to in all parts of the world, they have to endure a torture similar to that suffered by the mouse in the paAvs of the cat, the object of both powers apparently being to try how much the victim can bear before it sinks. The simile cannot be carried out, indeed, because we are not yet destroyed, as the mouse generally is, by a coup de grace. But the sad fact is present to the mind of every colonist, that his adopted country is only considered by the dominant party of the state, in the hght of a something to be used in promoting the interests of the mother country, when that is possible. And when the unhappy Colony humbly represents how the parent can assist the child, and begs that it may be done, its ap- phcation is regarded as a saucy piece of impudence, and the reply is — "It will be mjurious to the interests of Eng- land." The Colony rejoins — "But it will save us from ruin;" and the answer agam is, probably — "It will raise the price of one commodity half a-farthing per pound," accompanied by a stare at our presmnption, as much as to say — "What is your ruin to us? are we, each of us, to pay sixpence a year to save you from it? Wliat though we settled you under those privileges and immunities? Pshaw ! we know better now ; we repudiate them." When the Yankies raise their tarijBP against the men of Manchester, the cry is still — "Cut them off from the West India trade, and that will bring them to their senses." The question is not deemed worthy of consider- ation, whether the inhabitants of the West Indies would not be ruined by such measui'es, although that, in all probability, would ensue. In fact, neither the people of Britain generally, nor their representatives in parliament particularly, can under- 124 stand the sufferings of colonists, because they are not brought before them by a force Avhich must make an impression. The vis a tergo is the rule of action, not the necessity of a case; and so long as this continues to be, justice will quail before self-interest, as she does now. It is the general opinion, that the Negroes are gradually becoming more insolent as they feel their importance. It is the usual way in which human natiu*e manifests itself mider such circumstances ; and it would be strange in- deed if they did not become sensible of their consequence, cajoled and flattered as they are, in order to get the paltiy modicum of labom* which they yr\)l condescend to bestow. But an instance of pride and insolence which occun'ed lately, will better illustrate the style of their be- haviour. One day, the old man who, though innocent, had been twice beaten as an Obi man since my retm'n, came with another, and a tliird complaint, of a similar attack; but this time, the aggressor was a stranger who had only been a few days on the estate. I had him brought before me, and proceeded to question him in the usual manner. As the dialogue is extraordinary, I shaU record it verba- tim. "Did you strike this old man ?" "I did." "And why?" "It was my pleasure." "Then, sir, for that brutal act, it is my pleasure that you leave this estate immediately; and you may depend on it, you shall hear from the magistrate wherever you go." "My goodness! is this the way to speak to a gentleman. By Gad ! you're a fine fellow truly!" "I thought you were a labom'er, not a gentleman," said I, taking off my hat, and bowing to the dignitary; "but since you are such, take yourself off at once, here is no place for you." "Well! damme, this impudence beats cock-fighting. I is a gentleman as good as you, dough you have a dirty plantation. I shan't go." He was a Barbadian, and spoke tolerable English. I found that the fellow understood the law better than I, when he positively refused to quit the place. The case 125 was represented to the magistrate, and his assault and determination to stay where lie was, both tried at once. He was fined for the first, but the worthy magistrate found he could not be turned oft^ as he was the guest of a woman who had a house on the estate; and thus was I forced to keep a rascal who annoys the whole population, his woman excepted, because the law, in its zeal for the black people, did not provide for any contingency whose remedy would infringe on their right to have the entu'e and fi*ee use of their houses. In Britain, tenants of houses are not allowed to receive and to harbour bad subjects. The magistrate said it was a hard case, but until some months elapsed he could not interfere. We shall get rid of him in tlu-ee or four, I should think; within that time he may be as insolent as he pleases. Nothing, after all, is to come of the Eeport of our Distress Committee. Why do ministers grant those com- mittees, and put the country to a great expense, if the evidence taken by them is to be disregarded? The exist- ence of distress, unprecedentedly severe, has been proved completely and clearly; yet we are to have no measure of relief, not even a relaxation in the immigTation prohi- bition. It is true, the Exeter Hall Association have put fonvard their opinion, that the assertions of honom*able and upright gentlemen, of high standing m the com- munity, are to be disregarded, because theu" representation of om- case is "too high-coloured;" that is to say, it does not accord with the declaration of John Scoble, and it does not suit the views of the party to admit its truthful- ness. It has ever thus been with the mihappy planters. When a rich man is seen to roll past in his ch(iriot, who has an estate among us, oui' considerate comitiymen say to each other, "Talk of West India distress, indeed! look at that!" as if they had not, in their own countr}-, for one man with a carriage, a hundred in a state of semi-starva- tion; as if one case was a type of the whole, when, ill 126 fact, the individual is most likely a man to whom the plantation is a mere bagatelle m compai'ison with liis landed wealth in England. We have always been judged by the exceptional case. How would John Bull look if we expressed our behef that he and all his family were mmxlerers to a man, because every newspaper has an account of a mm'der in it ? Yet this would only be fair retahation. A great number of Portuguese had been imported last year, but, in consequence of their habits, serious sickness broke out among them, which, it is said, the medical men of the districts where they were located all predicted. Instead of applymg the necessary amount of their wages to the purchase of wholesome provisions, they picked up food where it could be found; and, in many cases, the principal article of diet was the wild Tanya root, an i edible remarkable for its pernicious effects on the bowels. A great many contracted dysenteric affections from its use, and died in consequence. But the want of proper nourishment, in conjunction with the hard work which high wages excited them to, induced a bloodless state of the system, revealed by pale lips and wan complexions, which predisposed to a low neiTous fever, resembling typhus, that carried off more of them than all other dis- eases put together. Robertson tells me it was necessary to treat it differently from any other form of fever known ' | in the colony, wine and stimulants being frequently re- quired almost from the beginning. Although they are now pretty diffusely scattered over the province, I have not had any of them, being desirous of avoiding the painful and onerous charge of superintend- ing the acclimatation of such people. It is said they are enraged in Madeira at oui* legislature for withdra^^'ing the bounty, they having no dread of the climate, and be- ing too poor to pay for their passage. The same di'eadful difficulty, of course, still continues in providing, on each 127 morning, for tlie necessary work of the day. In fact, it is evidently on the increase, a state of affairs which is the necessary result of circumstances. While there is scarcely any addition to the population, there are several fresh causes in operation to keep the labourers from the field; the principal of these being the purchase of land by a very considerable portion of them, who, in their new posi- tion, will not work even so continuously as they have hitherto done since 1838. Several families from the Fortune are now located on lands bought from me. The whole hundred acres have been disposed of, cliiefly to people fi'om the coast districts, but they are not yet fairly settled, and, consequently, are occupied with their houses and grounds. We have not fomid many of them, up to tliis time, on om* field list. The Portuguese begin to discover that they are better ' adapted to other occupations than those of husbandry. They are gradually settling into the town, in the several capacities of huckster, carter, and porter ; a few are seen perambulating the rural districts as pedlars. Being all rigid Catholics, they are interfered with in their zealous exertions to acquire riches, by the number of Saints' Days, which are strictly observed by them. I meet them on the road occasionally, and, if the weather is fine, fre- quently with guitars in their hands, which they touch as they move along. In passing their little shops in town, one is very often assailed by the sound of this instrument, accompanied by the voice of the performer, wliich to my ears is far from being pleasant. They sing with a sort of whine, resemblmg the howl of a dog between anger and sm'prise. In speaking, the same peculiarity adheres to their voices, and the NegToes are perfect in their mimicry of it. I frequently overhear a conversation car- ried on between two of the latter in a most extraordinary- dialect of the Portuguese, wherein the whine is brought very prominently and successfully out. 128 1st January, 1843. The same disheartening state of affairs, generaUy, and an increasing downward tendency in my own case. George, poor fellow ! this morning presented his annual report on the year's accounts, with an anxious, doT^^l- cast look, as if doubting its effect upon me. The crop shows no improvement on that of the preceding year, and the prices having been considerably lower, a larger defi- ciency is the result. Crop — 152 hds. of sugar, and 12,000 gallons of rum. Loss on it, £1935. "Well, my boy," said I, not without a deep sigh, " I was partly pre- pared for this ; the reality, nevertheless, is fi'ightful. I need not attempt to say othenvise." " I have seen," said George, " within the last fortnight, the proprietors or re- presentatives of the eight nearest plantations, and there is not one of them who will have a clear revenue fi'om crop 1842 ; at the same time some have lost less than we have." He named all the parties specified by him. The highest figure in this black list of loss was £3000, the lowest about £250, the latter being that of Ridley. He is known throughout the district to be exceedingly parti- crdar regarding all outlay, but my neighbours tell me that Bro-\\ai has the same character, and this entu'ely ac- cords with my own opinion of the way in which the estate is conducted ; but it is again alleged that I give more allowances and indulgences to the gang than other pro- prietors ; yet, when I sum up those, they amount to a mere trifle. In ruminating on this subject, we are in- variably thrown back on the glaring fact, that three-fifths of the direct outlay is paid in labourers' wages, besides the expense we are put to for houses to lodge them, doctors, (I continue the medical man,) and little things without number, which are not at all mider our control in the present state of the laboiu* market. Taking this appalling fact into consideration, and sup- 129 posing the estate to be properly managed, the next thing that stands forward most prominently in reckoning up the circumstances for or against the proprietor, is the soil ; if it is poor, it requires twice as much working, and will yield, after all, less than rich land. Here is a dreadful drawback in these times, which is akeady operating bane- fuUy, because the loss on such soils, the expenses being infinitely larger than the value of the crop, causes the rapid abandonment of field after field, until but a small proportion of the original cultivation remains. There is a considerable extent of inferior land in the Fortmie, among the abandoned fields; but those which are kept up are in general productive. "And Avhat says Charles?" inquired I of George. "He is hopeful that, as his loss is not very great, only £500, his mortgagee mil not grumble, especially as every thing looks well on the estate." "Yes, he is always hopeful; and, after all, it is well for him, since it does not lead to acts of folly, either on his part or his father's. Many a poor soul, George, is utterly overwhelmed from wanting that holder-up of the -wretched." "And dying," said he, "if tales be true. There is poor old Blank, a few years ago worth hundreds of thousands, creeping about Kke the shadow of his former self; and I could name more." ^'And so could I; but why should we dwell on them? pass a few years, my boy, and the instances of men who have anything will, I fear, be those which are quoted. It is a comfort to have you to talk to, and I can speak to you now as freely as if you were of my own age." "I am indeed glad, fiither," replied he, with a more cheer- ful look, " to see that you preseiwe your equanimity throughout. After all, we are well off, so have a better chance to keep oru' ground till the good times arrive." It is still thus AA'ith him. He never doubts that the times will mend ; he is only afraid the change may be distant. " Well ! well ! be of good heart. I hope you R 130 observe my caution, and take care llo^^' you let your mother know any particulars." "You may be quite easy on that head, for she does not inquire into any thing ; but Jane, I fear, has some apprehensions, although she is too discreet to ask questions. I am not siu'e that Grace does not let her into her secrets." " And if she does ; it is a proof that she may be in possession of them with safety. Grace has, indeed, risen in my esteem since her marriage ; she is a noble woman, George," said I, en- thusiastically. "The devotion with which she, a girl accustomed to look on the amusements as the occupations of life, has made herself fully acquainted with her hus- band's affairs, and counsels, assists, and comforts him, laboriously undertaking all parts of his duty which it is possible for her to discharge, altogether declare her to be an extraordinary character." "Charles, I fancy, begins to be less sanguine as to their ultimate escape fi'om diffi- culties, for he had yesterday a long conversation with young Benston regarding Australia, and, being present, I thought he listened with more earnestness than usual to his details." " Benston has some brothers there, has he not?" "Three; and, until lately, they all did well; but the accumulation of capital, he says, in the shape of stock, has affected theu* markets so much, that they have been doing nothing for the last two years. Many of our overseers are already turning their eyes to Canada or the United States; and I am sure in a short time Ave shall suffer from another evil — the want of white siiperintendents for the estates." " That is another necessary and inevitable consequence of our condition ; for no young men will now come here, and, in the course of nature, many of those employed will be taken off, so that, even Avithout emigra- tion to other places, our present number of white agricul- turists will be diminished from year to year." Here Mr. Brown came in with his customary aa^sIics and salutations on the amval of a neAv A^ear; and I could 131 })erceive that his eye quailed and his countenance fell, as the former hghted on the paper in my hand. " Many thanks to you, Mr. Brown," said I, "for yom* ^ood wishes, which I am quite sure are perfectly sincere. I am sure, also, that the state of affairs exhibited in tliis black scroll is in no degi'ee owing to want of care, sldll, or attention, on yom* part." At these words the good felloAv's visage lightened up, and he began eagerly to give his exjilanation. " You will perceive. Sir, that the bad work done in the early part of 1841, after the routine of plantation work was resumed by the people, has affected those fields con- siderably which were first cut, the return from them being much below that of the rest for the year; and the yielding throughout is worse in 1842 than in any one year since I came to the estate." "Which, I fear, LIi*. Brown, pro- ceeds from the work being more mefficiently done." " I cannot say that there is any improvement, indeed, in their way of doing the tasks, although I did, as you know, at- tempt by vigorous measures to force them to do justice to the fields; every task not properly finished, I did not pay for during one whole month, and at the end of that month (October) two-thu'ds of my gang went away. Absolute necessity forced me to relax in tliis rigid exaction of honest performance, and they all returned." "The loss on tliis crop is more here than elsewhere; can you account for that?" He paused for a moment, as if about, unwillingly, to communicate an unwelcome piece of information, but at last he said, "I do begin to fear that the lands of Fortmie are now approaching that state which will render them more unsuitable for cultivation vmder the present state of labour." "Do you think that they are exliausted?" "They are now in that condition which, were labour' abun- dant, would show no sign of being worn out, but, under our system of bad Avork, and little of it, I am afraid the relative retmii will be smaller." "How much has it been 132 last year?" "Here is an account of the yielding of the different fields, for the last 15 years, extracted from our journal, and compared by myself. The average, previously to 1838, was 1^ hds. per acre; from '38 to '40, 1;^; and from '40 to '42, inclusive, barely 1 hd. The last yeai-'s yielding, by itself, does not give more than three quarters ofalid." "That is a very serious affair," said I; "yet, after all, it is nothing but what any one may see at once to be a necessary result ; — were we in Barbadoes, now, manuring would be a sufficient remedy for this evil. — Wliat do you think of it, Mr. Brown?" He shook his head. "According to eveiy calculation I have made, and the practical knowledge derived from experience by our neighbours, the cost of collecting and preparing manure, and of lapng it in the ground, would exceed the profit to be derived from it. Had we labour at the Barbadoes rate, it would be downright stupidity and folly to neglect it." "And we have no new soil now impoldered upon which to fall back. The expense of a polder would be greater, probably, than maniuring for a year or two." "If you will allow me, Sir," said Mr. Brown, "I shall try what we can do with one small field. We have a quan- tity of cane ashes on hand, and there is always a lot of dung from the cattle. We shall manage four or five acres without much expense." "By all means," said I, "try it; try eveiything that can increase our chance of getting over this fearful crisis without absolute ruin; it is our duty." "Exactly my opinion, Sir," said Mr. BrowTi ; "and it seems to be the general one; for the shifts and schemes are innumerable and endless which one sees among the estates to keep up cultivation, and to work the ground better." Dviring the "good times," as they are now called, maniu'ing the land here was never practised, because, when fields showed signs of exhaustion, they were thrown out of cultivation, and their places supphed by ground taken in from the virgin soil of the estate; and 133 this is still done where there is spare land impoldered, (or dammed and inclosed,) and requiring only to be cleared, turned up, and planted. But I sold all my land that was in that state to the Negroes, believing that I had more than I could find hands to cultivate. I do not repent of having done so, for, according to our prospects and expectations, I have got a great deal more by selling, than I can ever obtain by cultivatmg it. It is a singular fact, and at first view appears unaccountable, that the Barbadoes planters, %\itli a soil so much worn out that it requires to be re- newed ahnost eveiy year, keep their ground better than we do, with land that needs no manuring to yield good crops. It is the low rate of wages which enables them to hold out so well, coupled with the high comparative prices which their sugar commands in the market, the latter ad- vantage being invariably the concomitant of a poor and lonw cultivated soil. How their wages are but one-third of om's is not so easily explained. It can only be owing (for no other satisfactory cause has been assigned) to the extremely dense population of the Island; yet, it is very surprising that the amor patrice should be so strong among the Barbadian Negroes, as to keep them at home on six- pence a-day, when, by saihng 500 miles, they could get twent}q)ence, and all the advantages, besides, enjoyed by the labom'ers here. Nevertheless, such seems to be the case, for very few of them have settled pennanently here since the year 1838, though many have come. They have, in this cheap labom", an immense advantage, which enables them to make the most of their sterile soil. In regard to manuiing, as it is a practice which has long obtained in the Islands, they have not to begin, as we have, in this dreadful transition state, and to drill the people to it un- der adverse cu'cmnstances. The Barbadian planters pro- cure manure fi.'om England, in addition to what they col- lect on the estates in a thousand ways. Here, intelU- 134 gent men have assured me, that between the real cost of the labom-, and the difficulty in getting the people to lay the manm-e properly on the ground, if it increased the re- turn 30 per cent., and they obtained the whole in the megass yard, Avithout being at any expense in collecting or buying it, the process would not pay; and there are many who have tried it on a small scale, certainly, but mth a result sufficient to satisfy them. This is one of the branches of agricultm-e which the wiseacres of England condemn us for neglecting, judging, as the rule is in that country, of everything by the practice there, without ad- mitting local or pecuhar circumstances to have any effect. David assm-es me that we shall have more labourers next year, in consequence of the landliolders having got up their cottages, and having finished the plantmg of their gromids; but, he says, I must pay a bit, or 4d., in addition to the common rate for the task, because these people have no houses from me. It appears to be a prac- tice lately introduced, and forced on us by the scarcity of labom-, like other exactions; yet it has the appearance, rather than the reality, of justice; for we have no shadow of control over those settlers; and their labour is less valu- able from the uncertainty we are in regarding its continu- ance when we have it, or when it will be at our disposal when we have it not. While they are domiciled on a plantation they have generally some provisions in their grounds, which they do not hke to leave abruptly, when they are not ready for raising. We have thus a slender hold, which assists a little in keeping them to their work, and, probably, wanting it, matters might become worse. The village, as it really is, which has been thus erected by a body of freeholders, if I may so call those who have no tenm'e at all, is well enough, if the cottages are taken separately; but they afford, on the aggregate, a good illus- tration of the Negro character. Every one wishes to be considered as the planner and builder of his own edifice. 135 and to be not at all indebted to his neighbour, either for suggestion or design. They have a sort of jealousy in all such matters that often goes a ludicrous length. The villages built by themselves are invariably, in consequence of this feeling, without any imiformity, and scarcely in lines so as to constitute streets, one being ten feet in front of the hue, another twenty behind; again, one will be of two storeys; those on each side of it only one; while the exterior is of eveiy shape and fonn which the ingenuity of man can devise so as to be habitable. But con- siderable care is generally evinced to have the little plot of ground ui front neat and clean, with a fiaiit tree here and there within its area, and a footpath in the centre leading to the public road. I strove hard to keep them right in the formation of the town on this property, and my suggestions and remonstrances were endm'ed at first quietly, but afterwards, they generally asked, like a cer- tain worthy Duke, if they could not do what they liked with their own, and in a very sulky, chssatisfied way. In my opinion there is as large a proportion of self-conceit ^ in the "mental development" of the Negro, as in that of the most decided coxcomb of Bond Street; their constant jars and squabbles almost always arising out of offended vanity. I am constrained to record here again my con\action that these people have not been improved in morals either by the zealous efforts of a very effective body of clergy- men which we have planted among them, or by the efforts of local teachers — schoolmasters and missionaries — whoare numerous in every district. It has been customary for the organs of the anti-colonial party in England to brand the more enlightened colonists "v^dth the epithets, "de- bauched," and "connipters" of their dependents; those persons always assuming that the more removed from civilization mankind is, the purer it will be. This is one of the theories of the day, just as plausible, and in eveiy 136 respect as hollow and foundationless, as others, which being acted uj)on, hiu'ry the empire on to its downfal. Would it not be well for these uniform defamers of the White inhabitants of the West Indies to consider what the habits of the masses were before those who are thus un- sparingly abused for corrupting them came among them at all? They cannot be ignorant of the fact, that the natives of Africa, Avithout exception, impose no restraint on the intercourse of sexes, and the number of concubines kept by individuals is to the extent of the means possessed by them. That they have brought this custom with them to the West Indies, and that the young white men from Europe have too frequently adoj^ted it, I should think cannot be disputed. But those mifi^endly observers throw the blame entirely on the latter, and choose to overlook the fact that they are the corrupted, not the corrupters. I am very much inclined to the belief that men are pure in their lives in proportion to the stage of civilization in which they are to be fomid, at least up to a certain point. Vices are to be detected, among the semi-savage, at which the enlightened man will shud- der, and which the theorists of Exeter Hall would not believe, even if they saw. Since the days of Prince Lee Boo, people who look into books for knowledge of human nature, form their ideas of rude nations from that ex- traordinary character, and readily adopt the belief that the innocence and purity of primeval times are to be found in every place where the inhabitants go naked, and do in almost all respects nearly as the inferior animals do, when running wild, and without the pale of civilization. In many instances, such as that of the native Austrahans, they have certainly the same unconsciousness of doing wrong, when committing what we consider an atrocity, which wild crcatm'es have on a similar occasion. This may be innocence and pm'ity; if it be, the tiger possesses store of those qualities. 137 But I am often led away from the point. I Avish to state here why I think the people are more wicked than they were ten years ago, notwithstanding the pains taken to improve them, and owing to the great command which they have of money. More than twenty years ago, the evangehcal party in England, scandalized beyond measure at the state of concubinage which prevailed among our black population, inculcated in every way the necessity for marrying them without delay, and the dif- ferent clergymen were spurred on to bring about this desu-able event as often and as speedily as possible. These W'Orthy men, finding that they might subject themselves to the charge of remissness in the discharge of their duties, and some of them, actuated, it may be, by the same ideas in regard to the moral elfect of matrimony, proceeded to exhort their flocks to enter into the state, both privately and from the pulpit ; and the Negroes observing that they were likely to be looked on more favom*ably by their pastors, and that the ceremony was sufiiciently short and easily gone through, were soon induced to be married in considerable numbers. It is said that several applications were made to clergymen to undo the knot, soon after it was tied, and that the parties, finding this to be impracti- cable, speedily disseminated the extraordinary information among the rest, which led to some falhng off in the monthly lists of marriages. Many of them declared at this period that "Many no for Nigga 't all, da buckra fashion ;" and seemed to have a rooted aversion to it. The cvistom of the Whites, how- ever, and the example which their increasing self-esteem, since the era of emancipation, has led them to adopt, have gradually established marriage on the same footing as among ourselves — an institution which all think they should experience once in then' lives. They go through the ceremony, but, I grieve to say, that in too many cases it is an idle form, in every sense of the word. They have s 138 generally been on the most intimate footing before — per- haps living together — and it happens too often that they disagree, and, without requiring the sanction of the law, separate, and take new mates, according to the old Afri- can habit. My wife has just been shocked by such a case in our own household. The housemaid and butler, both young, were married eighteen months ago; we gave them a mamage dinner, and some presents. They continued in our service, occupying rooms in the offices which were built for oiu' servants, but, in the course of six months, they began to fight, and the noise and tumult in their quarter became so frequent that, after repeated admonitions, I warned them off, and, finally, they went away — he, to town, to live with another wo- man; and she, to reside with a settler in the new village here. Unhappily, this is not the only instance that has oc- curred among our domestics within the short space of four years. Om* cook, a woman of about forty, six months ago, without any violent quarrel, deserted her husband, a man with only one leg, and went to live with the engineer of the estate — the black one, I mean, a youth of twenty; while his lawful wife, a girl of his ovn\ age, by whom he had two children, went to a neighbouring estate to reside with a mere lad of about sixteen, who had been working a short time here. The cook and her helpmate had been joined together for at least a dozen years. From these occur- rences in the limited sphere of my establishment, an idea may be formed of the extent to which such enormities prevail over the province. There is little doubt that when the tie becomes in the slightest degi'ee irksome, no sense of impropriety, or feeling of religious awe, for the commands of the Most High, will prevent them from separating. In many cases I have heard of, the separation has been made with cordial good humour on both sides. In general, the children, if there are any, 139 go with the mother; in fact, she usually bears the chief burthen of their maintenance when the pair live together; and I am of opinion that the wife is the more meritorious of the two, in nine cases out of ten; the husband being commonly a tyrant, and forcing the w^ife, more majorum, to be liis slave in the house. He contributes just what he chooses to the fmids required for supporting his family, while she must supply whatever is deficient, or brave his wi'ath, which is vented usually in blows; and he squan- ders his gains among companions, or other women, in drmking and debauchery. As I am on the moral character of those people, I may as well record another trait wliich has lately been brought out. On many estates the planters have discontinued the practice of paying the doctor to attend their labour- ers, and the latter, instead of making arrangements mth the medical man to secure his attendance, with that re- liance on the Wliites which has liitherto been part of their nature, for habit is hardly a strong enough word to express some of their peculiarities, throw the blame on their masters, when a coroner's inquest finds that the person has died without medical attendance — an old law wisely and humanely requiring that an inquest (or simi- lar investigation) shall be lield on every one who dies without being seen while ill by a practitioner. And such is theii* indifference to the fate of each other, that too many have seen their nearest relatives expire, without being at the expense of paying for a single visit to them^ They will call in a practitioner for themselves, when alarmed, but for those depending on them — their aged and infirm relatives — they wiU not be at the expense, although death must inevitably ensue. Even with their children's lives they dally in the same inhuman man- ner, so that it is not going too far when I say many are annually lost in consequence of this apathy, in con- junction with disinclination to part with money for a 140 purpose that does not promote their pleasures or their views in any manner. The medical men try to induce them to enter into agreements with them, at the usual rate of one guilder each (or Is. 4d.) per mensem for adults, and half for children, for medicine and attendance; hut if they succeed in getting the aiTangement eiFected, it sel- dom lasts more than six months, the Negroes generally failing to pay the stipulated sum after the first quarter. So much accustomed have they heen to look to the "V^Tiites for everything in sickness, that they thought the refusal to pay the doctor a great hardship, and, in some instances, complaints were lodged with the magistrates against their employers. They still get wine and articles of nourishment gratis from the great house (or mansion- house), where is a resident proprietor, which is not at all a politic custom. They have abundance of funds, and to spare; it is time, therefore, they should acquire habits of self-dependence. Some medical practitioners in the neighboui'hood of the larger villages which have lately sprung up from the sale of land, have represented strongly to the governor the mortahty which has occm'red from want of attendance, during the prevalence of epidemic diseases. I heard of one villao-e which had lost eighteen childi'en from hooping-cough, not one of whom was visited by a doctor. Those gentlemen urged on his excellency the necessity for some sanitary enactment, to make it im- perative on people to employ the usual means for the preservation of life; and quoted instances to show that the governments of all nations recognised the necessity for arbitrary laws when pubhc health was endangered, be- lieving that in such cases people could not be safely left to themselves. Our own quarantine laws and local regu- lations during the existence of cholera will occm' to any one as parallel mstances. But his excellency, according to established usage, could not perceive how the legisla- tive or the executive could, in the existing state of affairs, 141 so far interfere with the Hberty of the subject, as to med- dle -with his domestic aiTangements, and recommended what he had been especially, and in strong language, told had failed — remonstrances and recommendations. Doubt- less he thinks and beheves that the planters and doctors have never taken any trouble in the matter. The jealousy which the executive manifests on all oc- casions concerning transactions between White and Black, shows the feehng still cherished by the party in power on both sides of the Atlantic. After the cAddence which has been laid before the country, clearly demonstrating that the latter are the dominant class ^vithin the colony, one would imagme that old stories of planter oppression and cruelty would no longer be credited. Still, however, it is the poKcy of our anti-colonial faction to sow the seed of distrust between the government and the planters, by keepmg up this delusion ; and, knowing that in all local arrangements regarding labour, the fact is too notorious, that the Negro has it his own way, they seize on any new orduifdice that apphes more immediately to the Black population, and denounce it as tyrannical and tmjust. Thus, government, by deferring to this party, is shackled , in its power to do good, even to those persons whom the faction pretend to take especially under their protection. Such has been the case with our vagrant laws, and every regulation devised for the purpose of restricting labourers in their propensity to wander about the province, and trespass wherever they have a mind so to do. The planters, of course, desired, by keeping them more at home, to eifect a wholesome improvement in their idle habits, and gradually induce m them sometlung like a disposition to continuous labour. Such attempts have been either thwarted entnely, or frustrated, by the man- ner in which the measm-es recommended have been frit- tered down and hmited. Yet the government seem anxious to have some scheme submitted to them which 142 would assist in inducing regular habits of industry, although they will not permit of such stringent mea- sures as are in force in the mother country, in regard to vagrants. Various plans have been spoken of, such as a tax on idleness, or a fine on those who do not work a cer- tain nmuber of days in each week; which would either be evaded by doing the required labour nominally, not really, or enforced at the cost of much trouble and extra expense on the estates. But this would be more arbitrary than any hitherto proposed, and would have httle chance to find favour Avith our friends behind the curtain. In short, to any reflecting mind, the impossibihty of obtain- ing continuous labom*, where the demand so far exceeds the supply, must instantly present itsel£ Nothing but a species of coercion, either based on competition, or a position in the eye of the law which enables the planter to exact it, can ensure for the latter the attainment of this object, which is essential to his prosperity. No one in any country works for hire willingly. The disinclination to bodily exertion is still gi'eater in tropical than in tem- perate regions. When a man, tlierefore, can earn in a couple of days the necessary funds for a week, what in- ducement has he, except the indulgence of his hcentious passions, to toil for the remaining four days. We find that some, who are hoarding up money for a particular purpose, will contmue their labour fi'om week to week, until they have amassed the required sum. We find others, who are young men, engaged in the pursuit of pleasure, to whom money is necessary, and who spend it as fast as they get it ; that is to say, if they appear indus- trious for one week, they are occupied throughout the next in getting rid of their earnings. It is thus that no- thing can be thought of (except positive coercion) in the absence of that competition which alone, by its healthy operation, can so adapt the supply to the demand, as to impose on the labourer the necessity for habitual and 143 regular industry, that he may supply his legitimate wants. In this alone, also, will be found the remedy for the increas- ing licentiousness of om* labouring population. What, I would ask any one, could be expected of a people for whom others thought and acted previously, when suddenly, and without preparation, set fi'ee from the wholesome restraint which had hitherto been imposed on them by the plantation regulations, and who had never done anything without the guidance and coimsel of their masters — and especially when, in addition to the removal of restraint, they found themselves possessed of funds wliich they never dreamed of having the disposal of? The very natural effect of this rapid transition was to unsettle their minds, and derange the fixed habits they formerly enjoyed; and, of course, mider the circumstances (having it in their power, by keeping up the price of labour, to perpetuate this state of aifairs), what was at first a temporary excitement, has now become their settled course of life. I almost tremble when I ^mte it, but this being partly a record of thoughts as well as actions, it must go down. It seems to me extremely doubtful if the present population of this splendid province, as it has been called, can ever recover from the state of disorganization into which it has been thrown by the measures of government. I fear that to re-estabhsh a prosperous state of oiu' agriculture, it will be necessaiy to import a new population, adequate to our wants, and sufficient to cultivate the land at a rate of wages which the proprietors can afford to pay. Doubt- less this would operate beneficially, in a moral sense, on the present inhabitants, by rendering the acquisition of the means for debauchery more difficult. But I doubt if they will ever be brought to work hereafter for wages that shall enable the proprietors to keep up their cultivation without an accession equal to themselves. Wlien I say this, I may avow at the same time, that since I left England my opinions have undergone Kttle change; but matters are certainly fully worse than I expected. My hopes were 144 then slender of a successful issue; and altlioush I am borne along by the tide of hope which keeps up my brethren, when I am among them, I never sit down to write in this Journal without feeling in fall force the gloomy nature of my forebodings. I wonder if any of my friends have the same feehngs of faith and hope in the mother country during the day, and of distrust and fear when alone and in the watches of the night. I think , it must be so, for among us there is a necessity to appear confident, in order to prevent creditors from becoming alarmed; thus an artificial state of feehng is produced. That there is immense suffermg from deprivation among the mass of planters is easily observed; but the question is, whether this is felt to be permanent or temporary. The truth may he between, or rather hope is entertained by one class, but with the other moiety (and the more thinking), I imagine doubt and despair predominate. I may mention a remark, made not long ago by an old ship captam who has traded for many years to the Colony. "Well, Captain Fallin," inquired a friend, "what do you think of us now? do you perceive any change?" "Change! by the L — d,'" cried the jolly sailor; "ay! I feel it. Why, few planters buy anything at all from me now." *'Yes! yes! but I mean in appearance." "I tell you what it is," replied the Captain, his ruddy, bronzed visage distended by a grin, "there is now a marked difference between two classes in the Colony. Blest if I can't tell a man who is on the civil list, when I meet him on the street, tho' I never saw him before ! There are now those who have something, and those who have nothing, with a vengeance ! " It is probable that the worthy mariner saw more in the mdividual aspects of the commimity, than one who is constantly in it is able to discover; and cer- tainly the gentlemen whose pensions are seciu'ed by the civil list orduiance, have a cause for appearing with pleasant and cheerful countenances, which few not so favoured have. 145 It is surprising, also, how little those persons who do not feel the pressure of the times understand of that which is going on among those who do. Many of them enter so tri-saally into what they have no direct interest in, that they hear of distress with the most perfect indifference, behev-ing it to be nothing but a temporary embarrassment, such as we feel periodically from low prices. Hence the surprise, and even ridicule, which a plain and forcible statement of facts meets with too often from the official section of the legislature. The state of the press is another misfortune. The un- principled editor, who conducted the newspaper I afready alluded to, with almost unexampled effrontery, went over to the official party, after he had bespattered them as much as he could, if, indeed, the abuse of such a person be not, in one sense, praise ; and probably the indi\T.dual felt that gentlemen would be of this opmion when he so boldly ventured to laud the acts of government be- yond all reasonable bounds, after he had gone so far on the other side. The non-official section came in of course then for his unfounded and vulgar denunciations. No person, on either side, ever thought that it was ne- cessary to reply to him. Most probably, all felt that, by doing so, they would place themselves on the same footing. It may be asked how a newspaper, which is avowedly inimical to that interest (the agricultural) on the prosperity of which all others depend, can find nu- merous supporters in the Colony. The fact may be strange, but it is nevertheless a fact, and a baneful one, because these newspapers are received in England as the organs of pubhc opinion here. Thus men, not well versed (and who is at home?) in colonial affairs, taking their ideas from what they read as having come directly fi'om the Colony, have the worst opinion of the planters as a body of agriculturists. That those newspapers are the organs of a party, wliich T 146 may be in connection witii the powerful faction that is our destiny, and that their supporters are the Kadicals of the settlement, who wish to pull dovai what they call the Planters' Legislature, is generally known, and the question naturally occurs to any man of ordinaiy mind, in what class can so manv men blind to theii' own in- terests be found? The answer is, chiefly among those who have no connexion ^-ith estates, and who are dis- senters from the two established chui'ches of Great Bri- tain, and volmitaries. They, unhappily, are too often opposed to lawful rule and right supremacy, and they are headed by tlieir clergymen on all occasions. I be- lieve the Wesleyan Methodists and the Plymouth Brethren have always eschewed pohtics, and conducted themselves so as to command the respect of the community. They are the only exceptions I am aware of. AVe have seen frequentlj'-, also, that the jealousy of retail mercantile men, who are not either ^proprietors or mortgagees, has been excited by the radical press against the planters generally. Now, it is really wonderftd that so many shrewd persons suffer themselves to be led away, either by these newspaper mis-statements, or their own political notions. Surely no sophistry can induce them to believe that their very commercial existence does not depend on the preservation of the estates. All the money which flows to them arises from the proprietors. AU the goods which are bought in theii' stores are pur- chased by the planters or their dependents ; the latter being a numerous body. AMiat Avould be the conse- quence (if the plantations were abandoned) to those mer- chants ? They would lose at once the great body of labourers as customers — the planters themselves — the tradesmen and professional men employed by them. And who woidd remain? Why, the gentlemen on the civil list, including some of the clergy. And where woidd the taxes come from to support this 147 list? When the planters are ruined the Colony is anni- hilated. Li fact, they are the Colony, and all other classes are accessories, because they owe their origin and their existence to the settlement of the planters. It is easy to trace the career of a place like this. A few enterprising Dutchmen, after exploring the coast and the rivers, ef- fected a settlement. They dammed and planted their little territory, which extended as they grew in numbers, -and then they threw off their primitive simplicity. Every man, at first, w^as his own tailor, shoemaker, carpenter, cooper, &c., besides his own merchant. But with in- crease of planters, came all those classes and de- nominations of men which the division of labour had created in Em-ope; and, in the progi'ess of years, confining themselves to their onii department, the pro- prietors of the soil gave employment to the many peo- ple who flocked to the settlement for exercise of their trades and callings, vmtil the latter rose into such con- sequence that they overshadowed their original creators, and now they are disposed to look do\vn upon, and to kick away the ladder by which they mounted to their present height. K they succeed, they will be in the posi- tion of the Irislunan who placed himself astride on the bough of a tree, with liis face to the trmik, to sever the former with a saw, and, of com*se, came to the gromid by his success. It is difficult to comprehend how so many men, who are highly intelhgent, should be so far misled by pernicious party doctrines and dogmata. But a stranger here who devotQS himself to the study of our internal economy, must be astounded by the mis- taken views of some, and the singiilar ignorance of others, concerning what is coming daily within theu* observation. No cit, in the pristine days of London, could be more innocent of knowledge, regarding the rural districts of England, than the Georgeto^ra Cockney concerning what is passing in the plantations of the Colony, vmless, 148 as I said before, he is connected with an estate. This will account for the strann;e extracts from letters which appear occasionally in the EngHsh newspapers, and also for a great deal of singular matter fi-om the local press, the best conducted of which have no means of testing the accuracy of the statements which they receive fi'om correspondents. And so long as the people of Great Britain are disposed to look on communications coming directly fi'om the spot, in this manner, as more accurate and authentic than those which are made to the Par- liament, or Government, by the planters, or their repre- sentatives, such erroneous accounts, whether they ema- nate from party spirit, or are the effusions of men ig- norant of then' subject, and boldly advancing assertions at variance with truth, will be highly injurious. The statements which are advanced in Parliament, and the articles m British periodicals, which evince so much la- mentable ig-norance of our true condition, may be traced to the sources just mentioned. Of all people, we should be unanimous in putting fonvard just and faithful pic- tures of the state we are in, because, unfortunately, we have more enemies than friends in England, and, conse- quently, the averments against us obtain a wider circu- lation, and are more generally beheved than statements in our favour. So long as party spirit pen-erts the mind and misleads us, so long as agents of om* implacable op- ponents are fostered among us, and so long as men who know nothing wiR write letters to be inserted in the jour- nals of the mother comitry, we cannot hope that the in- habitants of the latter vaU arrive at a just conclusion regarding us. A ParKamentaiy blue book, containing evidence of om- wretched state, has, in its very aspect, sometliing so forbidchng, that no man who is not under the necessity, will devote himself to the reading of it, unless, indeed, he is one of us. While it is so cHfficult to vindicate om-selves fr'om the aspersions of those who 149 aim at our destiniction, it is surely our duty to guard against pennittiug slanderous assertions, whether emanat- ing from thoughtless ignorance, party spirit, or mahgnity, to go abroad, as from the colonists themselves. If we look back into the proceedings of former times, we shall find that we have been often accused on grounds furnished by ourselves, in the manner I have just men- tioned; and there is too much reason to beheve that such communications have in a great measure tended to induce that indifference to our welfare, and that apathy in regard to our appeals to the Queen or the Parliament, which we have had to struggle against for many years. The miKmited Hcence of the press (valuable as it may be in other places) operates perniciously here, both pubhcly and privately. A defamed indi\ddual can only obtain re- dress in the comts of law, in an action for damages against men who cannot even call the types their own with which they disseminate thefr mischievous calumnies. I say mis- chievous, only inasmuch as they operate at home in the way I have stated; but here, the editors of such jomiials be- ing known, are perfectly innocuous. So httle are their lu- cubrations attended to, that I have seen a member of the court enter a room where a number of gentlemen were seated, and draw a copy of The Guiana Times fi'om his pocket, out of wliicli he read, amidst the most noisy mirth, a slanderous article on himself, in which he was branded ^\-ith epithets that would cause the nymphs of Bilhngsgate to hide then* diminished heads. No person in the Colony has any other notion regarding those colonial followers of the metropolitan Smiday press, than " that thefr tongue is no scandal ;" and if they did as Httle harm in England, I should not have recorded here my sense of then* peculiar style of animadversion. The Royal Gazette is the only newspaper which has been imiformly conducted with strict attention to deconmi, and a careful avoidance of personaHties. As for the gentle- 150 men who, in their epistohiiy correspondence, heedlessly, and with singular want of forethought, put into the hands of their enemies the stick which is to break their own heads, they must be allowed also to take their course. There are no means of staying them. July, 1843. The Colony seems to be now sunk in an apathetic state, probably resulting from the sad experience it has had of the utter hopelessness of all attemjDts to improve its con- chtion. Men become habituated to hardship, as they do to everything else ; indeed, it is not wonderful if all co- lonists should believe with Shylock, that "suffering is the badge of their tribe." Certain it is, that the feverish anxiety which, for years after 1838, prevailed about the time when the packet was expected, has now much sub- sided. She is not likely to bring good news, and she can scarcely bring any intelligence that will add to the dis- tress that exists among the planters. Wages, from causes which are but too obvious, show a decided tendency to rise in the meantime. Notwithstanchng the arrival of a few stray people occasionally from the West India Islands, the labour of the Colony is diminishing, fr'om natural causes, and the annual withtfrawal of many people fi'om field work. The deaths are not balanced by the number of youths and maidens who step into the places of men and women so removed, nor do the importations supply the deficiency. This is felt, rather than observed, on the estates, in the increasing difficulty the managers meet with m keeping up their gangs. It is astonishing how many strong people of the labour- ing classes are idle, and how they pass their time. Some of them find their enjoyment in "sitting down," as they call it, which means sleeping on benches' in fi-ont of their 151 cottages, or lying along and chatting for hours together. Women are fond of amusing each other by telhng stories, which resemble our nursery tales in their simphcity. They call them " Nancy 'tories," but why, does not seem to be easily understood. They generally relate to some very trifling affair. A considerable number of the men are constantly engaged in fishing and shooting, by which they make a livelihood. The rivers abound with fish, which, when caught, are speedily disposed of to the people on estates at good prices. Shooting or hunt- ing (for they are synonymous here) occupies many idle, dissipated, Negroes, who wander through the cultivated fields, each with three or foxu* dogs at liis heels, and, as may be readily understood, do much injury, in following their game through the crops. Some resident proprietors keep a huntsman each, for the supply of their houses, and from the abundance every- where of deer, labbas, and acouries, the man generally contrives to provide enough for liis master and himself; for it seems to be a rule as well understood as the vulgar one, according to which the cook helps himself, that the huntsman shall sell for his own benefit a portion of the spoil, although he is paid the salary of a domestic. I tried this method of procuring food, but my sportsman, on the third day, having brought me a remarkably fine pair of wild ducks, and having been rewarded by an extra glass of brandy, had scarcely departed, when an old watch- man appeared with a complaint against the yackman (a corruption of the Dutch word, I believe) . " And what has he done. Captain?" "Massa, tha' man no good — he dam' rascal, for true," said Captain, wrathfully . " Well, but what has he done ?" A Negro has ahvay s a wonderfully circuitous way of tellhig a tale. "Massa, he no tief my plantain," (he was watchman at the remains of the plantain walk) — "me can't tell lie — he no tief my fowl — he no lick me — me can't tell he."' « WeU, but what did he do ? " " Tha' 152 man go all about want make massa fool, make he tink he get plenty ^^-ild meat, but he too lazy for search lun, so he soot (shoot) my duck, and take him home in a massa." "Oho! and where chd he find them?" "In a trench; me in a plan' walk, he no see me, me see he bery well." The culprit was tried, condemned on the clearest evidence, and discharged. I ncA-er kept a yackman again. There was, not long ago, considerable alarm excited in this quarter by the unusually great nmnber of tigers which had been seen, or had manifested then* dangerous pro- pinquity, by carrying off many pigs, and killing a coav. Those jaguars, or tigers as they are called here, are in reality leopards, being spotted, not striped; but they are, nevertheless, fi'equently of very formidable size ; and we had the good fortune to catch one of that description, in a pit dug for the jDurpose, deep and narrow enough to prevent the animal from jumping out after he had got in, with a Kve pig at the bottom to entice him to take the downward leap. He was found in the morning, safely lodged, and with the pig half devoui'ed beside him. The upward, sulky, glare of his dull, deadly, looking eye, as he beheld his captors, affected the latter with anything but a pleasant feeling. A large strong cage was quickly prepared, so strengthened by innumerable bars and cross pieces as to resist his attempts on it, and into this he was forced after the hole on one side had been gradually sloped by digging, to admit of his ascent into the opening of the cage, so placed as to cover the mouth of the hole. Two steady, trusty, persons stood ready with loaded muskets, in case he should, by any accident, escape, and get among the crowd, which was very considerable. After a little he scrambled u^^ into his den, growling deeply, and be- traj^ng no sign of fear, but something like a desire to be in the middle of the black mob, that beheld him with no silent manifestation of triumph. So soon as the Negroes were assiu'ed that he was well 153 secured, and could not possibly get out, they drew near, and almost all of them addi*essed liim separately, in a short, pithy speech, expressive of their belief that his plmidering days were over, and their pigs safe from him, at any rate. They then raised him up, and placed him in his domicile on a cart, in which he was conveyed to a shed near my house, the whole cavalcade following in the train of the spohator, and exulting over him. The beast became e\'idently excited at last, from the restless manner in wliich he moved about his den and regarded the crowd, utteiing a low, startHng growl occasionally. The next day he took his food well enough, but did not seem to become more reconciled to liis change of living. In a few days he appeared unwell, and one morning was found stretched out quite dead in his cage. I was not very sorry for the loss, for I fomid that he was an expensive pet, from the quantity of fi'esh meat he required every day. It was my intention, had he got through the transition state safely, to give him to a friend in Georgetown, who could have abundance of garbage fi-om the slaughterhouse on which to feed liim; as it was, we flayed him, stuffed his skin, and placed it in my entrance-hall. When measured, he was found to be nearly eight feet long, fi'om point of nose to tip of tail — I tliink he only wanted an inch ; and lie was very strongly made. Indeed, the strength of their forelegs is astonislung. On a neighboming estate, lately, a tiger made an attempt on a pig pen, placed withm the square of the Negro vil- lage (contrary to all rule, and the anxious wish of the proprietor, but an evil he was obHged to put up with), and so strongly stockaded that he could not accomplish an entrance, although he paced deliberately round, look- ing for a proper place. The night was not so far advanced but some of the people were still mo^dng about, and the prowler was observed. The hubbub which ensued both irritated and alarmed the brute, and, finding he could not u 154 gain his object, he struck one of his paws through an opening in the palisades, hitting a large boar on the fore- head so forcibly that the part was literally battered in, and scampered off. They are frequently shot at night, but very seldom in the day, being then hidden in the interior, among the primeval woods or distant savannahs. I remember an incident which occurred on one of my former visits to the Colony, and Avhich I may set down here also. It was reported to one of my neighbours that a tiger had killed a cow and her calf behind his estate, and that the animal had been seen retiring into a little detached patch of bush at daybreak. That gentleman convened a few friends, who were sportsmen, to search this spot, and mitil they all arrived, a watch was set on the place to see whether he re- mained; so that when we entered the Httle piece of bush, we were sure of finding him ; but, after a tedious and anxious search, we failed to unharbour the game. We had given up all hopes of seeing him, and begun to shoot parrots and bush fowls, when, suddenly, one of the party started out from beneath a tree, with a strange mixture of fear and surprise on his countenance; and, following the du-ec- tion of his eyes with our own, we saw the tiger lying along a bough, within six or eight feet of the ground, and watching us, in that sort of crouching, eager man- ner which the cat exliibits mider similar circumstances, his tail wagging all the time, and creating a rustling among the leaves, which first arrested our companion's attention. Drawing back, until we all came from the different stations near to this spot, we proceeded to put each a couple of pistol bullets above the small shot with which oiu* pieces were loaded, and then, cautiously ap- proaching until within fifteen or twenty paces, we fired at once upon the brute, and brought him to the gromid, after which he was soon despatched. He was only about six feet and a half long. 155 Although they do not seem to fear the face of man, I have not heard of a well-authenticated instance of attack made by one on an individual. There are stories current of people killed by them, and the Negroes have all that fear of ^Higa" which it is said the Hindoos have of the royal beast of Bengal. But I believe they will not ven- ture on a man unless severely pressed by hunger, or ren- dered desperate by position. The Blacks say they will not touch the Bucks or Indians, because they are neither men nor brutes. Doubtless this proceeds from the sov- |^ ereign contempt which the former entertain for those abo- rigines, and which they have taken every opportunity of showing. It was a common saying of the Negroes, during slaveiy, when the question of emancipation was continu- ally agitating the Colony, "that Buckra free, good; but Buck free, wha' da! cha! better be plantation slave, forty times ! " In fact, they do not comprehend how the Indians can be styled "free people," because their ideas of freedom have been taken fi'om the appearance of those whom they have seen in that condition, and who, generally speaking, belong to the better classes of Whites. Naked Bucks, they consider inferior to themselves, and even a shade lower in status than they were as slaves, because of their physical debility, and unfitness to endure fatigue. There are in- stances, however, where they have amalgamated and in- termarried (so to speak) with each other. These have occm'red, chiefly, in the neighboiu:hood of Posts on the rivers, the holders of which are stationed there to keep up our friendly communications with the natives, and, consequently, often have many settled aromid them. The gangs of woodcutters, too, are forced by thefr situa- tion into continual juxta-position with them. 156 1st January, 1844. Another year has passed, and brought "no healing on its wing." The crop of the Fortune seems to be nearly stationary in its annual amount, wathout any considerable rise or fall, and the prices of tropical produce have not undergone any very perceptible alteration. George has again brought up his balance-sheet, and the loss on the year is £1540. At this period, which, over the Christian world in general, is one of festivity and enjoyment, I am doomed to feel all the horrors of my situation ; for, although I may know from the books pre^^ously, how the balance is to stand at this time, I cannot muster resolution to look fre- quently at them, so as to understand what the exact sum of my misfortune is likely to be, until this month comes, and along with it the necessity for knowing the worst. "On the whole," said George, "we are all in this quarter nearly as we were last year, in regard to losses; there is not one who has a net revenue." "There is more misery than we can perceive," said I. "The stern necessity for preserv- V ing whatever remains of credit, prevents many a poor, broken-hearted man fi'om unburthenina; his mind to a friend, as in fonner times, when oui* Colony M^as remark- able' for the frank, easy manner in which planters spoke of their affairs, debts included." "I have heard many," replied he, "make the same obsen^ation; no one speaks now^ as before (my infonnation is obtained under a solenm obligation to secrecy, in regard to all but you), and even the most common operation of the field is now concealed." "You say Welhngham is pretty nearly as in 1843?" "His crop was frilly better, but the loss nearly the same." "They seem to keep up their spirits; yet Grace, I think, often looks sadly on her little boy; she is inclined, na- turally, to be thoiightfrd, and, of course, tlie state of af- fairs, which should cause -any one to think, has a more visible operation on her." "But Charles, I am sure, 157 answers your expectation, or, rather, has sliown to you that your fears of him were groundless." "Yes, indeed, lie has. ^Marriage has improved him much. I do not know a more steady, industrious person. A good-hearted man, George, who is thoughtless and impetuous, will be generally improved by a sensible vrife, whom he loves. It is the selfish, improvident man, who is also heartless, upon whom the helpmate has no hold ; he believes every one who gainsays him to be his enemy, and, like a spoiled child, insists on doing what he has a mind to, without regard to consequences, and their effect on others. But we have yet to see how Charles will brook the loss of his estate, provided the times do not improve, and the mort- gagee insists on foreclosing. "I fear the result of such proceeding on the father more than on the son." "And so would most people; but these occurrences are common now, and use, perhaps, will lessen the effect." "He is a singular man, the elder Wellingham." "He is, George; an imaginative person, with deep feelings, such, they say, poets are — although, I should think, he has none of the fire, and less of the in-itabihty which are characteristics also of genius." "I doubt that," said George; "my 02:)inion is that om' greatest poets had neither the strange sort of fire which consumes the possessor, nor the eccen- tricities which are so remarkable in second-rate versifiers; look at Scott, Milton, Shakspere." "Well! well! we are not going to discuss the merits of the British poets. The fact is indubitable, that Mr. Wellingham takes fan- cifid views of occuiTences, and gives to facts a coloiuing which can only emanate fi'om an exuberant imagination; he scarcely ever sees things as other people do, and I am in doubt whether he does not adapt his conversation to suit my ideas of the present state of the Colony, rather from good nature and deference to me, than a settled conviction in accordance with my opinions." "He cer- tainly seldom thinks with other people, but in this in- 158 stance, for that very reason, he is more Hkely to chinie m with you, for you are aware that your notions on colo- nial affairs are thought to be extreme, and your gloomi- ness greater than there is wan'andice for." " So I am given to understand; they style me the male Cassandra of our Troy." " Yes, and you would have been nominated long ago to the Court of Policy, if the Kiezers did not beheve that your despairing speeches and observations would have an injurious tendency." "All! you did not tell me that before. Then my doctrines have done me good service, for, trust me, to sit in that Court and com- bat incessantly the decrees of fate, in the shape of Do\\ti- ing Street despatches, must be pretty much like the horrible and ineffectual struggle which a certain aged Countess (innocent, yet condemned by the foulest tyrant that ever disgraced a throne — our Harry VIII.) made, hopelessly, to the last agamst her legal murderer — the public executioner." "Do you call the Colonial ^Minister these fine names?" inquired George, with a smile. "Figuratively, and afar off", as you see. There are poH- tical murderers as weU as physical destroyers; it may be a question which of the two offend most seriously agamst the eternal and immutable dogmata of justice; the mahce prepense may exist \\dth the foimer as weU as the latter; and, certainly, when men in power suffer those who are under their charge to be destroyed by measvires emanating from them, after proof has been adduced that this must inevitably happen, what can any one say but that they are actuated by foregone conclusions, which involve the probabihty of that contingency ? And does not the whole of the e\ddence given before the late Committee of the House of Commons, tend to show, clearly and forcibly, that, vnih- out a large accession of suitable labourers to the existing po- pulation, the cultivation of exportable produce must be aban- doned, and oiu* Colony destroyed ? " " They will never agree to consider a colony as an integral part of the empire, and in 159 that consists the whole evil; we are worse off than if we were a Aveak foreign nation ; because the necessity for preserv- ing the balance of power would compel our potent neigh- boui's to interfere in om* favour; as it is, we are considered by the latter to be a fragment of Great Britain, and, as such, not to be meddled with more than Yorkshire or Scotland. We have thus all the disadvantages of a colo- nial dependency, without the benefits that should accom- pany them." "Saving only one — the command of the British market, A\4thout wliich we could not exist at the present moment." "That is rendered, indeed, essential to oiu* existence; but by whom? The very people who prove such harsh protectors, in general; they forced a system on us which we foretold would be ruinous, and raise the price of sugar to them considerably." "And a large, and still increasing party are now ciying out about the difference between sugar in England and on the Con- tinent. At a meeting near Liverpool, lately, a farmer inveighed against the iniquity of prohibitmg foreign sugar, and told the meeting that, but for the duty on it, he would manm'e his land with the article. Doubtless, he had been told by some of our fi-iends of the relative prices in Cuba and in Jamaica, and, relying on having it at ten pounds a ton, he fomid it would be as cheap as guano." "Have you looked over the hsts of the estate that I gave you?" "I have; and I find that there has been, indeed, a greater number than on any preceduig year since my return; but the aggregate of labour obtained is not increased, according to this other docmnent, and, of course, the presumption is, from the longer hst of names \vithout a corresponding addition to the work done in the fields, that the people have been more unsettled, and run- nmg, even more than formerly, fi'om one place to another; the Barbadians did not remain long." " No ; BroA\ai found that they were doing their tasks infamously, much worse even than our own gang, and allowed them to go away." 160 "Wellingham had about forty excellent people from that island; they differ very much it would appear." "I heard of a proprietor to leeward, who imported upwards of a hundred, at a great expense, and, in consequence of the want of a contract, they set off to another planter, and engaged themselves to him immediately." "Well! our rulers will say it is not their fault; the man knew that contracts entered into out of the Colony were not vahd, and he should not have incurred the risk." "Pretty much like telling a man who narrowly escapes drowning, and catches a severe cold by the ducking, that if he had drowned quietly, he would have escaped the other. Men who are di'iven to despair must brave risks and .incur danger, to avoid the certain destruction that awaits them; it is too much for the Colonial Minister to expect that we are to succumb to his extinguishing measures, without an effort to save ourselves." "It is difficult to tell what they expect; one would imagine, sometimes, that they regard us as the ancient Spaniards did the American aborigines — as an inferior race of men, who have not only no right to the privileges and immunities which are enjoyed by our countrymen of Europe, but are in- capable of feeling the injuries inflicted on us." "Poor Brown seems to have lost heart altogether. He speaks frequently now of Austraha; and he told me the other day, that if he would make up his mind to abandon tliis sinking ship, and begin the world in another hemisphere, there are a half dozen more of the best managers among us ready to go with him. Brown is looked up to by his class, and they have confidence in his knowledge of the world." "I cannot be so absm'd as to blame him; every man must do the best he can for himself; but I should feel his loss to be a seriou^s additional evil to us." " He cannot bring his mind to it. There is something so ex- traordinary in our position, so uncommon in the circum- stances of a whole community going headlong to ruin, 161 that one always inclines to believe it cannot last, and that the consummation, after all, will not take place." "Brown has a little money; advise him to have it safely lodged in England, George ; he speaks more unreservedly to you, but you may say I recommend the funds to him, as the safest investment — unless it be a mortgage on land — which would give him little interest." "He has shares in tlie local bank; they are at a discount, and thus he is already in for a considerable loss, but the sooner he sells out, be- fore tliey fall lower, the better." "Decidedly; who knows how soon a mob-driven government may devise another scheme, in favom* of Manchester, at our expense? We are by no means certain that the present evils, in- tolerable as they are, may be the last that our rulers are to infhct on us." " I shall tell him what you say, and I have no doubt that he will act on yom* suggestions; your opinions go far in this quarter." "Aye! aye! George, I am the richest of our unhappy order in this small district, and money always gives weight to the opinions of its possessor, wondei-fuUy enhancing the value of them. Pass a few years, and they will 'sometimes think,' as Sir Andrew Aguecheek did of himself, that 'I possess no more wit than other men.' " An ugly accident happened in the field two days ago. A man was bitten by a snake of the labari kind, while crossing an abandoned patch near to that in which the gang was at work. The poor fellow saw the reptile, and was immediately aware that he had been wounded. At first, the pain was trifling, and he walked easily through a trench, into the cane field, among the people, to whom he told his mishap. They have all a wholesome dread of snakes, and a man was instantly despatched for the doc- tor, who, by good luck, having been on the next estate, was here very soon. I went with him to see the pa- tient, and I shall not soon forget the appearance of the poor man. The limb was much swollen, fi'om the foot X 162 upwards; two sliglit marks, like scratches, being visible above the ancle. His eyes were suffused; and there was evidently a great determination, as it is called, to the head, for, while we were there, his nose began to bleed. He complained much of the pain along the leg and thigh. Dr. Robertson proceeded instantly to excise the parts immediately adjoining the wounds, with the marked por- tion itself; after which he prescribed fi'equent doses of hartshorn, in water. He then walked into my house, there to remain till the crisis was over, visiting the man every fifteen or twenty minutes. Nothing can exceed the attention of medical men, generally, in this Colony; but, I gi'ieve to say, they are very badly supported by the black nurses, who usually show much indifference regard- ing those under their care. The doctor had great appre- hensions in this case. The labari is one of our worst snakes, scarcely second to the rattlesnake or bushmaster, both of which are as venomous as any that are known. This is now the third day since the accident oc- ciu'red, and the swelling, which yesterday was really frightful to behold, has evidently decreased a little. He has no bleeding at the nose now, but his eyes have still that reddish tinge, and his features seem to be partially swelled. I think there is a slio-ht wanderino;? too, in his answers to questions, probably the effect of fever, which has been severe. The wound looks well, the doctor says, but he is afi'aid of mortification, now that danger of im- mediate death is over. The snakes of the Colony are of many varieties, and, fortunately, by far the greater num- ber are harmless, especially those which are frequently seen near houses. The labari, it is true, is sometimes found in megass loges, and even in outhouses, but not often; while the rattlesnake always shuns the haunts of man. Some time ago, a large one was taken out of a trench, behind this estate, dead, and brought home by the watchman as a curiosity, from its size; it was the 163 largest I ever saw, being about six feet long, and of en- ormous thiclmess. The head of this reptile is especially ugly, being large and flat, and protruding over the eyes. The Negroes believe that it can bite with its tail, or shak shak, as they call the rattle, which is just a prolongation of the vertebrae of the back, with very little cartilage, loose and dry, so that when agitated by the motion of the tail it produces a sound very like (like, and yet so dif- ferent!) the song of the gi'asshopper, so much sung and admired by the ancient classic poets. The individual reptile in question, when thrown out from the batteau in which Captain brought it, was soon sm'rounded by a group, and they all avoided the tail. When I saw this, I told one of them to cut off and give the appendage to me. A sort of shudder ran through them, and, to complete their wonder and fear, I coolly took out my knife, and stooped to cut off the rattle. "Massa! you known tha' snake? da shak shak snake ; he can sham dead, heli ! heh ! Massa Nigga!" were the expressions I heard around me as I de- tached the "alarum," for such it is; the animal shaking its tail, when agitated, by a sort of instinct, probably de- signed by nature for the protection of the unwary intru- der on the dangerous creatm-e. The Negroes all exclaimed against my rashness, for they had an impression among them that it was not dead, only "maldng believe." From the circumstance of those fell monsters keeping generally afar from man, accidents of the sort I have jvist mentioned are of rare occurrence. In fact, I do not at this moment recollect of another as having happened in this district. Depredations are frequently committed among the ducks of the estates, by a variety of the boa, peculiar to this part of America, called the camoeny, a snake that takes his prey, generally, in the water, mider which he lurks, with his head up, so as to observe without bemg observed; and when any aquatic fowl is discovered. 164 lie steals upon and seizes it. They are of immense size, it is said, in some localities. The largest I have seen was twenty feet long. It had just swallowed a mus- covy duck, which it seized in the middle of a numer- ous flock, raising such a noise as brought one to the spot, who saw the snake, and gave the alarm. He was shot by repeated fusillades, but not before he had gotten the duck into his gtdlet. The Negroes are not afraid of them, and they eat them with great gusto. This one was no sooner floating on the water, without much motion, than the man who owned the prey jumped in and attacked him with a knife, ripping up his throat and stomach, where he found his j)roperty, only half way down, and whence he speedily extracted it. In fact, the protuberance caused by the bii'd was visible from the bank of the trench. Notmthstanding its great length, this reptile was not thicker than a stout man's leg at the calf. They are darker than the boas of the East, but beauti- fully marked, also, with a variety of colours; black, white, and brown predominating. Indeed, I would say, from what I have seen, that the venomous snakes are the most revolting in appearance. The blood snake is understood to be of this description, and it resembles, strongly, an enormous earth-worm, being just of that colom', and usually from foxu' to six feet long. There is another sort, of a deep grass gTeen hue, and of similar length; while the coral snake, fr'om eighteen inches to three feet, glides along among the flowers and shrubs, near a house, in the gay colours of scarlet, black, and white, which characterise the substance from which it takes its name. The whip snake is the most famihar with man, being generally found near houses. It is so named, fi-om the resemblance it bears to the thong of a whip, and is perfectly innocuous. Some years ago, when in the Colony, and visiting a bachelor friend, Avho lived in a retired situation, I was one day recHning on a sofa, and reading, the house being perfectly still, and no person nearer than the kitchen, 165 when a snake of this variety moved so silently into the room, that he was in the middle of it before I was aware of his presence. He seemed to look for some thmgs, as if he knew they should be there, insects probably, for I observed him to pick up a spider. At last he espied me, and, raising liis head, in an mstant was coiled up, in- stmctively, for defence, but immediately afterwards, when I got on my feet, he retreated with gi'eat expedition below the sideboard, and contrived to ensconce himself so be- tween it and the wall, that it was only after detaching it the serv'ants were able to dislodge him. I would not permit them to kill him, and they were both sulky and sm'jirised, when he ghded rapidly do\\Ti the outer steps, and on to the la^vn, without being assailed by every sort of offensive weapon that might come to hand. Tliis one was about five feet long. Lizards abound about dweUings of all sorts in the Colony, and move along, frequently, with great confidence in presence of the inmates. In fact, but for the number of reptiles of various sorts, the insect tribes of tropical regions would soon be- come too numerous to be compatible with the contempo- raneous existence of man; but, mifortunately, we do not appreciate, as we ought, the Arise distribution which an all-knoAving and all-seeing Providence has made, of dif- ferent creatures to preserve the balance of life, in its many varieties. There is nothmg more wisely ordered in the world than the manner in which it is arranged that Hfe shall prey upon life, and one class of animals depend on another, inferior in strength, for the means of sup- porting existence. A species of small ant, which hterally covers the ground, may be called the tiny scavenger of this coimtry, as they pick up everytliing fi:om the earth's surface, of animal substance, which the collective strength of then* myriads can carry off. They are devom*ed by a larger variety of their own species, besides other insects and small birds; and the larger ants themselves constitute a considerable portion of the food of all sorts of fowls and 166 reptiles. I have said animal substances, but, in fact, no- thing can lie on any j)art of a surface, that enters into the composition of the numerous articles which contribute to the support of our frame, if the small red ants are able to remove it, either wholly or by piecemeal; and as these little creatures are not allowed to lie on the earth, but must lay doAvn their lives to preserve in existence others which are a degree above them in the scale of creation, it follows, that a great deal of matter, which would be noxious to life, as productive of disease, is thus prevented from rotting on the ground. We see the same rule ob- served in insects and reptiles of a larger size, each variety preying on that which is below it in the scale; and, as- cending higher in the gradation of the annual kingdom, we have beasts and birds of prey to prevent the inordi- nate increase of living creatures ; while vultm'es and ravens are provided to take oflP those from polluting tlie air which have been doomed to a natural death ; and thus is the balance insured. The manner in which the carrion crow winds his game, throws completely into shade the powers of the dog. He may be seen afar off, a veiy speck, seemingly on the edge of a cloud, but bearing steadily on against the wind; gradually he follows up the scent, until he finds himself in the neighbom'hood of the object; then, commencing a series of gyrations, wliich bring him nearer and nearer to the gromid, he at last sweeps along over the trees, wheel- ing in graceful circles near the spot, until he perceives the dead animal. In the course of an hour, scores will be congregated round the place, all drawn to it in the same manner. Our laws protect those birds, and most properly, by imposing severe penalties on the destroyers of them ; hence their fearless manner in the presence of those who intrude on them, when they scarcely give themselves the trouble to go out of the way. It is the only variety of the vulture, in so far as I have heard, that 1G7 is ever seen within the cultivated parts of the settlement ; in the bush, are those of the tribe which are to be found in other parts of this continent, among the rest, one that is called "King of the Vultures." July, 1844. RuiviOURS are afloat among our friends in England, that government have in contemplation a scheme of immi- gration from those places where laboiu'ers can be obtained, into the West Indies, not limited, as at present, to par- ticidar localities, the people of which are found to be useless here. The force of circumstances should have brought this about long ago, had there not been a power behind the scenes strong enough to balance the claims of reason and of justice. Probably tlie cotton lords will begin to apprehend that the state of the sugar colonies, rendered unmistakable by the crops now steadily remain- ing at about half of those obtained in better times, must tell vdtimatel}^ on the demand for their goods. That they should have such fears is very probable, they being so remarkably shrewd, and tenderly alive to their own in- terests. It is unpossible almost that such men can fail to per- ceive that the planters, in the aggregate, are now sup- porting their estates by the capital possessed by them independently of their West Indian propeities, or by the little credit they enjoy. With half crops, and double expenditure in producmg them, it cannot be otherwise ; and it is just probable that our opponents begin to per- ceive that their policy is reacting on themselves, for all the outlay on estates eventually goes into the pockets of tradesmen and manufacturers in England, excepting only the value of some articles of provision and timber from America. The clothing of the population, salt meat, butter, &c., and almost every item consumed as imported food (excepting salt fish), besides iron and copper in 168 every form used by the plantations in machinery and its wear and tear, boiling-coppers, stills, &c. — all those come from the mother country. If the supplies are chiefly from our own country, it follows that as the work prospers which gives rise to the demand, so must the latter in- crease, and vice versa. I have shown that if the estates cease to work, the cur- rent which fm'nished the requisite supply of money, is cut oif at the fountain, and there will soon thereafter be no per- son to buy a single article produced by the men of Man- chester and Birmingham, because there can be no export trade, and those pohtical economists will admit that, Avith- out it, there can be no importation of goods. Probably they begin to find that in sacrificing us to Brazil, they but part with the substance while grasping the shadow. But this matter-of-fact way of reasoning is almost too much to expect from them. Although they be plodding men of bvisiness, they seem to be as wild on this subject as the ardent and imaginative George Canning, when he waved his hand in the House, and proclaimed that he had "called a new world into existence," in allusion to the treaties he had made^^^th the thinly-peopled, and distracted Republics of South America, which might be called a world, with reference to their population, on the same principle that an inlet may be called a sea. This newly- discovered field for mercantile operations, led to results which showed that the statesman and the manufacturer were alike imiorant of the wants and resources of the few thousand people, so pompously designated by the for- mer, and should serve as a beacon to prevent the latter from again deluging places with their productions, where they cannot possibly be consumed. The Liverpool merchants traduig to Brazil, if they succeed in getting the reciprocity treaty between that empire and Great Britain, Avhich they have exerted them- selves to procm'e, will most likely fall into that error 109 along with their neighbours. If the day should arrive (but Heaven avert it) when slave-grown sugar is admit- ted on equal tenns with our own, and the manufactures of England are received into BrazU on conditions equally- favourable, we must imagine that the quantity of goods sent to that comitry would be, in accordance with the statements put forth by the free-traders, enonnous. Notwithstanding the fact, which a reference to our ex- port tables at the custom-house should convince them of, they persist in believing that this trade, even now, is more valuable than the West India, and nothing prevents it from reaching a ver}^ extraordinary height, but the exclu- sion of the produce of Brazil. They would still have to compete with the cheaper labour of the continent of Em-ope, and the lower freight (rather important items in the expense of manufactming goods, and the cost of trans- porting them to the market), even if they were admitted into Brazilian ports on the terms of the most favoured nation. There seems to be something like infatuation in those men who desire to see then' comitrv forego all the advantages she possesses over every other nation in her colonies, which constitute an almost ample field in them- selves for the legitimate operations of commerce, and wliich they would part -s^-itli for the uncertain chance of more ex- tended transactions with peoples wth whom the common incidents of hfe may set us at variance; and, in event of a general war, our country, so essentially manufactui'ing and commercial, must be financially nuned, wanting her colonies. Whereas, did she foster the latter, and keep within bovuids the inordinate ambition of IManchester, by refraining from injiuing other interests to promote those of that town, trade and manufactures would be kept permanently in a healthy and prosperous state. Verily, if at this time Great Britain destroys her colonial empire for the benefit of the manufactm'er and the foreigner, she will reahze the fable of the dog and shadow, and she will cut Y 170 off her limbs, and leave the helpless trunk to struggle in competition with those who are strengthened by her maiming, and who will not abate one jot of their own pecuHar advantages, out of love, gratitude, or compassion to her. Still the colonial routine goes on ; men, apparently wearied of appealing to the justice of our imperial govern- ment, quietly await the accomplishment of their destiny without clamouring for relief. Nevertheless, the indi- vidual energy of the planters is as active as ever, few months passing without some new invention to diminish the necessity for manual labom*; which, alas! tm*ns out as fallacious as its hundred predecessors. I fear it will be found impracticable to work the land here otherwise than by the hand, miless some new mode of culture, com- prehending a different method of planting the cane, should be introduced, and all attempts to do so havmg hitherto failed, the case seems hopeless. Thorough draining, according to the method in use at home, has been spoken of; but who can afford twenty pounds an acre for that purpose, which would be the ex- pense, according to the lowest calculation? And, after all, it is doubtful if the water would penetrate with suffi- cient celerity through our stiff soils, baked as they are in the sun. Doubtless, if once established, the advantage would be immense, both from its direct operation on the soil, and its facihtating the use of the plough, by doing away with open drains. The difficulty would be in brealdng and pulverising the ground sufficiently at first, to open up a passage for water to the bottom of the drain; but if this was once effected, the earth would most likely re- main in an open state, permitting freely the passage of air and water, with a wide spreading of roots. There are some, however, who think that the power of the sun is so great on the stiff clay soils here, that very frequent turning up would be required to keej) them permeable to 171 fluids; and, as the canes take at least twelve months to attain to maturity, long before they reached that stage, they would suffer from rain lodging on the sm'face of the ground. Non nostrum tantas componere lites. It is not likely to be tried. The day is gone past for expensive experiments. There is an existing sample of the extent to which the Colony did go in that way some years ago, in the canal excavator, a machine for digging and clean- ing trenches, which, had it succeeded, would have been an immense acquisition; but as it is (a failure), it has cost the Colony £7,000 at different times, and engaged the attention of the best engineers, without the shghtest pros- pect now of success. I have mentioned that my friend Wellingham arranged with his mortgagee, and obtained a letter guaranteeing him fi'om being molested for two years. The time has expired, and it is not difficult to observe that, notvdth- standing all their efforts they cannot keep up their spirits. Charles has been, according to the uniform account of his wife, constantly in the field, to secm'e as much as he could a proper discharge of duty to the proprietor from his overpaid labourers. His father, always a shy, retiring, character, has become more so than ever, and, Grace tells me, shuns the society even of his best fi'iends. "Is there any thing in particular that distresses him — any importunity from his creditors?" I inquired of her. "No, I am sure there is not," replied she, "but the lapse of two years without any amendment in our position, and, consequently, the more hopeless nature of our prospects, affect him deeply." "Are you sure that he has had na communication on the subject of his mortgage lately?" " Quite sm'e ; but he has little confidence in the continu- ance of this unmolested condition." "I fear he is rio-ht, my girl. These are not times for creditors to be merci- ful," said I, sorrowfully, "but you are prepared for the worst. There is nothing that can come unexpectedly to 172 you." "It is true, my father," said she cahnly, "Charles and I could manage, I beheve, anywhere,- but, I confess, when I think of others, I am sometimes overcome." At that instant her eldest boy entered, uttering a joyful cry on seeing grandpapa, and running straight up to us. She seized him, and sobbed convulsively as she held him to her breast. I turned aside, under a bitter emotion that was new to me, for this was the first time that she had been overpowered so suddenly and completely in my presence. "Oh!" cried she, "but for these little ones (she has two now) and their grandfather, how well could we bear up against the calamities of the times, and even the parting with you and the rest." "Calm yom'self, my child," taking her hand and trying, rather awkwardly, I fear, to appear cheerfal, "there is stiU hope." "Say not so, my dearest father, you do not feel that there is, and trust me, even you have not thought more deeply on this subject than I have. There can be no hope for mifortu- nates in debt, under such awfal circumstances." She said this with composure, and with the an* of one perfectly assured of the uncontrovertible nature of the fact she had stated. "My dear," continued I, "whilst I have anything, you cannot imagine you shall be destitute." "Say not that either, my father," replied she gravely; "you have duties to others besides me, and neither Charles nor I will suffer you to sacrifice more on our ac- count in this hopeless struggle." "But let us not antici- pate matters; sufiicient for the day, you know," said I, feeling that I could not stand this scene much longer, and getting on my feet. "Wliere is papa, Johnnie?" said I to the child, by way of introducing something else. He replied that papa was still in the field, and would not be home for one good hour. He is just beginning to speak intelligibly. "Tell him when he comes in that he must not stand so much in the sun. Will you?" "Any one will tell him that in vain, as you know already. I see 173 liOAV it is with you, but believe mc, it is not thus I am often ; we arc stout-heai-ted, and not disposed to succumb under the evils of an adverse world, believe me, my father," said she, with a smile. "Keep yourselves so, my dai-ling, and it will be worth to you untold riches; how many, in this vale of tears, are lost from want of equa- nimity, and from drawing, at the outset of life, a too flattering picture of then- futm'e career! Those sanguine dispositions suffer most severely by disappointment." "And you fear Charles rather than me. You see how well I know you, and can interpret yom' thoughts. But his feel- lings and liis ideas are so good, and his judgment so sound that — " "If he only gives the latter fair-play," int erupted I playfully, to assist in getting her out of her present mood, "he has a chance of doing some good." "Espe- cially when he has a ready counsellor in me," responded she, with rather a sad smile, and added more gravely — "It is indeed so. Charles is naturally impetuous m all his actions; but so long as he holds me in the same esti- mation as at present, and submits to my remonstrances, his ardent disposition is in his favour." On my way home I reflected on what had passed, and felt convinced that she was right in all she said, and especially in the last observation. They have resolved on going to Australia when the anticipated catastrophe occurs; but they scarcely venture to speak on the subject mth Mr. Wellingham, although it is understood that he shall accompany them. A strangely constituted thing is woman ! tender, weak, easily agitated in aflFairs of trivial import, but when the welfare and happiness of those she loves are at stake, what, to her's, is the boasted fortitude of man! and here is a striking illustration of the fact. Welhngham has been struggling for years with impending misfortune, and in- stead of soaring above when it approaches the acme, 174 he seems to be sinking under it; wliile his daughter-in- law, a young woman reared in the lap of luxury, with every wish gratified and every whim indulged, until after she has hnked her fate with that of the man to whom she had given her affections, she finds that she must inevitably be overtaken by calamity; then from the hidden stores of her mind are drawn forth those singular qualities which otherwise might have lain for ever donnant, and she stands forw^ard the prop and support of the family in whose fortunes she has involved her own, cheering her husband and his father in their heartless, because hope- less, occupation — voluntarily depriving herself of every superfluous article that her sister, even yet, considers ab- solutely necessary, and devoting herself to diminish ex- penditure in each department of the household. It is even said, but she conceals it, that she makes dresses for the gay labourers of the estate, at the ordinaiy price, and with the proceeds contrives to clothe herself and her chil- dren. Let any lady who is accustomed to have a carriage and servants at command, with that indescribable appendage, half sen^ant, half confidant, a lady's maid, imagine such a change, and she wiU shudder at it; yet jiut her to the proof, in nine cases out of ten, if she deserves the name of woman, she will endeavour to act as my daughter does. Success yviU. not always foUow the effbrt, for such strength of mmd is not common to either sex, althoufrh in mv opinion that, as well as good intention, is much more general among womanldnd than the world believes. I am proud of my child, but her case often overwhelms me with affliction, which I am obliged to conceal from my poor wife, whose mind is of a very different order fi'om her daughter's; and I fancy my youngest loiows that I do not wish to discuss the state of affahs, either here or at Wellingham's. She is a hvely, hght-hearted creatm'e, and I dare say the futm'e does not give her much uneasi- 175 ness. It was only the other day that my wife began to think "Grace was becoming too domesticated; we must try to prevent her from shutting herself up with her chil- dren like an ordinaiy dowdy wife; she is really above that sort of thing, and should not give way to it." I see less now of ^Ir. Kidley. Whether he feels the iron hand of adversity to be more hea\y than heretofore, I know not; but he seldom comes to the Fortune, and my visits to the Momit are rare, because he is not often to be found Avithin the house. When I saw him last he was in his usual spirits, and manifesting that peculiar caustic disposition towards the powers that be, which he delights in." "Well, neighbour, Scott speaks of a son of " utter darkness ; " I presume our ruler, how- ever opposite it may be to his general cognomen, shoidd be dignified with that appellation, for he seems as much m the dark as ever regarcUng the unhappy sub- jects of his absolute rule." "Anything new lately to provoke yom* ire against him?" "Nothing in particular, except his uniform opposition to every thing that is likely to benefit the planter; the immigration loan, for instance." "He objects to that as mifair, because the import duties being the most productive of our sources of revenue, and the mass of the population om' chief consumers, the ex- pense of bringing people to compete with themselves vdU. fall on the labourers. This seems to be the ^dew which the Colonial Minister takes of it." "Doubtless; 'hke master like man,'" said Ridley. "The idea is still uppermost that we are oppressing those people, by whom we are, in reahty, grievously oppressed. Can there be a more striking illustration of the manner in which our remonstrances — our evidence before Parha- mentar}^ Committees — the faUing off in oiu' crops — and the iiniversally known fact that we are progressing rapidly in the career of ruin — are received, when they du-ectly contradict the assertions of our enemies. The anti-colo- 176 nial party object to immigration, because it would injure the present population; the evangelical section declaring that a flood of barbarism so imported would throw back the people into their former condition of savages; and the rest roundly asserting that it would reduce the rate of wages, thus avowing their feeling of unquenchable hosti- lity to the hapless planters, who, they know, cannot main- tain themselves if condemned permanently to the present monstrous expenditure." "Not only do they so think and act, I verily believe, in perfect consciousness of the calamitous effects of their policy on the Whites of the colonies, but in utter ignorance of the banefdl evils resulting fi.*om it now to the happiness of those whom they profess to support and protect. I do not think they are aware of the moral disorganization which has prevailed within the last few years among the West India Ne- groes, because I have not seen it stated either in Parlia- ment or elsewhere — yet the fact is undeniable." "It may not be worse, for ought I know, than the profligacy that exists in the cities of England, which is extensive enough ; but yet many of the good old ladies, who think they are upholding a well-behaved and moral population, would be considerably shocked by some disclosures I could make to them." "Nay, Ridley, you are slandering our country. Un- kind, oppressive, she may be, but she is still our countiy, and, to do her justice, she has none, saving among her most abandoned, so lost to propriety as om' demorahzed people generally." " And what is it owing to, but the want of pro- per restraint ?" "Undoubtedly; the want of restraint on grown up children, and the means we contribute, in high wages easily earned, to the fostering of their vicious j)as- sions and propensities by their gratification. I have not learned that this fact is known in England; but it should be sent abroad universally, that one of tlie chief evils of the present destructive system is its effect on the customs and 177 habits of the laboui'ing classes. A few years ago the conduct of these people was much more correct than at present, I would say up to the year 1838, because they were under some salutary control; now, they care not for the laws of God, nor those of man, in the intercourse of the sexes. And crime is becoming, every year, more prevalent. Murder, which was fonnerly of rare occur- rence, is now committed fi^equently, and, in nine cases out often, in consequence of quarrels concerning women." " A very shocking one happened lately, when a wife con- spired A\ath two gallants to destroy her husband; still, that is a crime by no means uncommon in England." "Nevertheless, what I said is incontrovertible. Until witliui a recent period, there was not a trial for mm'der in our pro\ance above once, perhaps, in ten years; now, I am sure, we have one every year, and other atrocious offences against the laws, especially outrages on defence- less females, and female children, are alarmingly frequent. It is no palliation to say there are persons as bad in Great Britain, when the question is, whether the people we speak of have not been brought to their present condition by the amehoratmg measm'es of the imperial government, whose intention certainly it was not to reduce them to the state of the vilest in the mother comitry?" "They are no worse than when they came here, they, or their parents." "Worse! my friend! that is not the question; we condemned the clergy, twenty years ago, for joining men and women together in matrimony, who understood nothing regarding it, except that it was the buckra fashion according to which a man took a wife, with a little more cere- mony than themselves, but nothing else, for they could not be made to understand the solemn and inchssoluble nature of the tie. There were some with intelho-ence sufficient to comprehend the natm-e of its obhgations, but a small min- ority. The representations of the planters were exclaimed against as intolerable tyi'anny,and the good people at home, z ^k^^ 178 judging, as they always do, by Avliat they see aroimd them- selves, decided that marriage would improve the Negroes, as it did the young men of their acquaintance, and the clergymen were stimulated to marry them all as fast as they possibly could. Well might they ask, at sight of the candidates for admission into the holy state, with the melancholy Jacques, 'is there another flood toward that so many strange couples move hither ! ' Few of them were bound long ere the cord was dreadfully stretched, if not virtually broken ; but, after all, they had got over the worst stage in their transition to good behaviour, and the marriages solemnized during the apprenticesliip were much more generally productive of union and concord between the parties than those Avhich were entered into ten or twelve years previously; in fact, until they had money for all purposes, without reason to manage it properly, and time enough besides for any amusement, this improve- ment continued ; noAv, as you say, they are fast approach- ing to the pristine custom of their African -sAilds." "I beheve," rephed Mr. Ridley, "that their propen- sities are yet those of a semi-ciA-ilized people; it is an old saying that we should not expect to find an old head on young shoulders." "True! but that is exactly what has been assumed in legislating for our population; laws and institutions adapted to an advanced stage of civiliza- tion, are those which have been prematurely imposed on it. In point of fact, the children of England are just as able to understand and keep our laws." "I must say the clergy of all sorts are zealous and active; no blame can be attached to them." "Certainly not; but when they see 'the silken path of dalliance' open to them on one hand, and the rough and thorny one of uprightness on the other, is it to be wondered at if such people prefer the former, there being no compelling power strong enough to keep them on the latter, and the selection being with them." "It is of a piece with the rest. Everything con- 179 nected with us seems now to suffer under the extraordi- nary pohcy the government have adopted toAvards the colonies, wliich is to raise up one class at the expense of another." "And without being sufficiently acquainted with that which they want to favom\ Now, Ridley, you have lived from boyhood here, and no man know^s the people better, — tell me fi'ankly — we are alone — have you any hopes of the futm'e?" He stared for a moment, like one wdio had suddenly presented to him a frightful figau-e, which he feared to look on, yet was obHged to contem- plate. "My dear friend," said he at last, with a sigh, "I am afr'aid to answer yom' question, it is one that I tremble to answer, even to myself, yet it will force itself on us all, and I doubt if nine-tenths of the planters are not precisely thinking with us at this moment, though not aloud, as we are. I have no hope for the fritm'e, ISIr. Premium!" said he, with a solemnity wliich was striking in one of his generally cheerfal humoiu'; "have you any hopes of re- turning prosperity?" "Scarcely now," was my reply; "I beheve it is still within the power of legislation to save us, but it must be by almost colonising the province. The present body of labourers have been allowed their own way too long to constitute hereafter a regularly industrious people. But wdll any attempt be made? it is therein lurks the eyH. I despair of the disposition to legislate effectually, fully as much as in the effect of any measiu'e likely to be brought forward, judging fi'om what we have experienced." "It is a sad world," said Ridley, with a manner entirely changed, and in a sunk voice. "I may bless God now that I have no children, how often have I regretted it before! but, at my age, to begui the world anew, is in- deed a hardship which, until within the last twelve months, I did not believe should ever fall to my lot. There are only too many of us, however, and when a misfortune is general, individuals, they say, feel it less. I never lost heart till a few months ago, and really thought that your 180 forebodings were constitutional, and there are still many sanguine persons who talk of former bad times being fol- lowed by good ones, and such common-place methods of consolation as are peculiar to those who cannot think." "Not that alone, my friend, but, believe me, many a clever man among us practises a sort of self-deception, being afraid to look steadily at the prospect his own ruminations would present to him. And when such a man meets with another of similar opinions, they talk each other into bet- ter spirits, and their wishes are fathers to many a strange thought." "It is too true; my o\Aai circle of acquamtances can furnish examples of such character. Even the majority of planters are still eagerly grasping at each new inven- tion, although experience might have lessened then' faith in all such; the rooms of the Agiicultural Society are filled with plans and models." "Yes, many greedy pro- jectors have preyed on us in our distress; the most absurd schemes have been grasped at, as drowning people catch at straws; yet our enemies coolly assert that we are averse to improvement!" "Let them inquu'e mto the number tried within the last ten years; it has been the custom to calumniate the planter in every way, and, among other assertions advanced, to insist that the mode of culture and manufactui'e were so rude as to disgTace civihzed people. Kthey saw our cane-fields, they might be satisfied; with regard to the manufactui'e of sugar, it is very singular that, although scores of new methods have been tried, at enormous expense, there is yet little comparative improve- ment. I beheve the soil has more to do mth the quahty of sugar than is generally admitted, and that a process like refining is required to do away with the pecuharity. But there cannot be a more beautiful spechnen of skilful cultivation than a cane-field here, when the work has been properly performed, at the right time — as they were seen, in fact, in former times. I cannot perceive how they are to alter the mode without the plough, and, I fear, it will 181 never do here." "I cannot see how it would work where so many open drains are indispensable." "And, under draining being out of the question every way." "I have not inquired for some time whether your gang has improved in any measure; in fact, the question is idle." "It is indeed. I have been constantly A\ath them, as you know; but what is to be expected from the most attentive and dihgent manager, with all the overseers he can afford to keep, when every two labom-ers require a superintendent to themselves; they are altogether incor-^ rigible, and I find that standing over them, except while it lasts (and, as I said, we can't have a man for each), does no good whatever, for the moment after you have left one to go to another, the former resumes his old com'se with increased zest; it is an evil that nothmg but compe- tition can remove." "I hear exactly the same account from all quarters. Wliat a blessing now is a soil of the first quahty! On the Com-abana coast the large estates are stiU making a tolerable return, though not much more than a tithe of their former incomes; land that will give two hhds. per acre, under the present tillage, must be the richest, almost, in the world, yet, it is said, there is such." "I met the proprietor of one of those estates when I was last in town, and he assured me that he had liis rum clear, the crop of sugar, nearly 700 hds., paying the whole ex- penditure — a veiy handsome revenue!" "Assm'edly it is, and I suppose there may be nearly a score of such plan- tations in om- province out of the 200 that we possess." " About that number. I do not beheve there is a small estate now with a net revenue; I mean by 'small,' under 200 hhds." "It is barely possible." From that day, my fr-iend Ridley had to me an altered appearance, but he did not shun confidential conversation as before, excepting, nevertheless, concerning liis own af- fairs. It is whispered in Georgetown that he has already been forced to apply to the banks. He was always a 182 man high in character, both as a planter and an incHvi- dual, but it was understood that his estate constituted his sole fortune, excepting, perhaps, a small sum deposited somewhere, which, it is evident, is now exhausted. George tells me that the Neo-roes observed for some time that he was altered, — not so brisk in the field, and quieter every way; but, added George, "they will say the same of every proprietor now, for they are all under the same baneful influence, \vith few exceptions." It is quite clear that, however well every man wishes to keep up appearances, the state of affairs produces its never-faiHng effect of de- preciating property — estates which have been sold during the current year having fetched prices fully 50 per cent, below those of 1840. One estate which was sold m 1839 (the Thomas) for £20,000, has been again sold tliis year for £8000. All the sales, in fact, and there are several, manifest nearly the same falling off" in value, thus silently declaring the operation of our new system to be surely and progressively destructive of property. Individual planters, to preserve their credit, the only means left to them of maintaining estates, are obhged to be silent and reserved, but each man feels his position the more acutely; and those who are creditors, not ha\dng the same reason to be extremely discreet, let hints drop occasionally which give our small community to understand how quietly and insensibly the wealth of the Colony is dwindling away. I speak here, of course, of those who constitute the com- munity of GeorgetoAvn, for, in the rural district, among the suflPerers themselves, every man has his "silent sor- row," and, by means of it, he guesses at the concHtion of his neighbours. There can be no sign more miequivocal than the result of public sales as to the opinion prevaihng among the monied men, who arc cliiefly merchants; nevertheless, the strange ignorance, which I have ah'eady mentioned as existing among certain descriptions of people, does some- 183 times, though rarely, manifest itself in the purchase of a plantation, -vvliich is thought a vast acquisition, for the first month or so, until the luckless purchaser discovers that it would be dear as a present, supposing he was bound to keep it up. Some rash speculators of this sort have suffered rapidly and severely, even to ruin, already, tempted by the apparently low prices of plantations. They cannot understand, it would seem, that an estate now requires a considerable floating capital to work it, by paying wages, and other current expenses. The merchants, whose accounts were formerly settled once a year, have been compelled to shorten credits, and present them every three months. Thus, unless a man has the command of money, he cannot get on smoothly, for on no estate are the canes ready for cutting in such regular succession, as to keep the proprietor in cash, even supposing the value of the crop to be equal in amount to the expenses. A man may thus say now, with great propriety, that he would not accept of many estates as gifts, on condition that they should be cultivated under any circmnstances. Such a condition of plantations, each worth, in former times, half a plumb, it is not easy to comprehend, without a Httle practical demonstration ; and several have paid dearly for the experience. One man bought an estate for £5000, formerly valued at £30,000 — thought he had a wonderful baigain — and in two years was brought to a suspension of payments. 1st January, 1845. There is so little of novelty, and so much of sameness in the circumstances of the Colony and of myself, that the task of recording them becomes necessarily irksome, espe- cially when there is nothing in the prospect particularly iuA-iting, save the probability of immigration from IncUa. Doubtless, were we assured that this would take place, 184 our spirits would be raised; but while only reports are circulated by newspapers, we have nothing to rely on but the fact of our loan being allowed, which certainly imphes an intention on the part of our colonial government to grant a gracious permission for its expenditure. Mean- time, the routine of plantation duty goes on m the same hopeless, profitless manner. Tliis month, the year's loss is ascertained to be nearly that of 1843. I do not learn that there is any considerable difference in the crops of my neighbours. Things move on in the same steady doAvnward course. In order to avoid reiteration of par- ticular losses, and cases of special distress, I shall set down an incident, illustrating the habits of our Aborigines, which occurred lately, but which we only heard of to-day. I find that this discussive sort of writing, when I sit down to my Journal oppressed with care, has the effect of re- lieving me. Some famihes of Indians, forming a small tribe, at no great distance from us, have been in the practice of call- ing here on then- periodical visits to Georgetown, with pan^ots, hammocks, and toys of various sorts which they take to market, and which, as being of their manufacture, meet with a ready sale. One of those famihes consisted of a man, his wife, and two children, and one of the latter was a remarkably fine boy of seven or eight years old, with more of fire and intelligence in his countenance than belongs generally to the Indians of this continent. He thus be- came a favourite with us all, and the party never took leave without some substantial gifts, in which WiUie, as we had christened him, shared beyond his legitimate claims. After a longer absence than usual, the tribe called one day, and this interesting child was immediately missed from the group. The father, on being questioned regarding him, merely shook his head, while the mother tm-ned away, and also remained silent. We were stiTick with concern, for we ncrceived that the boy had ched in 185 some sudden and unexpected manner. No inquiries, however, could elicit further information; and it was only this morning, after a lapse of some weeks, that we learned the fate of the poor boy from the postholder whose resi- dence is in their neighhom'hood. The story he told, and which he said he had learned from other Indians of the chstrict, was this. An uncle of the child had quan-elled with a man belonging to a separate tribe of the same great clan; and, in pursuance of the cowardly custom prevalent among them, shot him ft'om behind a tree, wdth an arrow dipped in woorali poison. His death, of coui'se, was instantaneous; and the murderer fled. The eldest son of the sufferer looked round for a victim, and in doing so, had proper regard to his o\Yn immediate safety, fight- ing bemg their abhorrence in general; and his eye one evening fell on this boy, the nephew of him who had killed his father, standing with his Kttle sister on the river bank. He struck him to the ground with a blow of his club, and then threw him into the stream, from whence he never came back. The other httle one would have shared the same fate, had a noise behind not startled the man, who fled from the spot forthwith. They must have blood for blood — "death for a deadly deed." In this respect, they are hke the nations of Europe in their inider state, our Saxon ancestors among the rest; but the feud is managed differently, for the latter went openly to battle to vindicate then* injiu'ies and avenge immolated relatives; while the former, equally impressed with the absolute necessity of having a victim sacrificed, never think of another method than private assassination. July, 1845. Looking back mto this Jom'nal, I find I have, unac- countably, taken no notice of Peel's scheme of sugar duties, and the admission of foreign free-labom' produce at re- 2 a 186 duced rates into Britain. The fact is, tliis measure pro- duced no great impression on the planters; for if they were to be benefited by a reduction of imports and increased consumption, tliis was to be balanced by im- portations from Java and other places to supply the increased demand. No \dsible elFect has yet been per- ceived from the operation of this act, and it has been little regarded. Men gi'oaning beneath the weight of many stones, do not feel the addition of a few pounds. Evils, which would have been felt formerly as severe, are now, under the predominance of a single crushing one, passed by unheeded. The inunours regarding immigra- tion from India, are now more and more feasible, so that they are generally beheved, and men are speculating variously, according to temperament, experience, and the information they possess, on the fitness of the Coolies for the operations of oiu' plantations. Tiu'n out as they may, they afford a chance of increasuig the supply of labom*, and therefore come within the range of those legitimate expedients, few as they are, which the instinct of self-pre- servation prompts us to try. J^VIS^UARY, 1846. George has presented his annual abstract of accounts, and there are still the same fearful figures staring con- spicuously agamst me. There is some singularity in the little variety that exists in the yearly drain on my capital, as it varies only a few hundi'ed pomids, never exceeding £2000, or going below £1500. It is evident that the field operations, and the weather, as weU as prices, con- tinue without considerable alteration. I have not benefited much by the \dllage of small proprietors on my estate; the veiy idea, probably, of its being expected that they would prefer this place, as nearest, causes them to go farther. Still, there are some who work regularly. It 187 is to be remarked that those who have bought land were previously among the most industrious, but, it may be, because they had that object in view. Some of them continue to be so, others work by starts, like the bulk of om' labourers. Those who are to be depended on as tolerably steady (but a small proportion, it must be allowed), have usually something in \-iew, for which money is necessar}^, beyond the mere demands caused by dissipated habits, and when they have acquired this, the natui'al disposition too fi'e- quently manifests itself. There are very few who work industriously for several yeai's — who have, in fact, been continuously and regidarly at work smce 1838. Any addition my field hst has received from the village, has been balanced by those who have left the estate, many of my cottages being empty. David says they have removed to go nearer Georgetown. Things move on in their downward progress. Nothing thrives but the Negro population, and they will ultimately, I think, be "lords of all." The landed property abeady acquired by them is considerable, although they have not got so far as to purchase entu'e plantations, except to be divided into lots among themselves, yet they have begun to rent estates or fields. They have not succeeded, hitherto, in these undertakings, although they have met with every encom'agement from the proprietors, who would be rejoiced to discover that their energies could be called forth in this manner. The same besetting evils adhere to them — ^want of forethought and steadiness, and the inchnation to pro^^de only for the passing day. Thus, they cannot look forward to the lapse of a whole year, before they can reap the fi'uits of their labom* in the sugar crop. They say they will die before the time arrives, and so work for nothing. They have no consideration for heirs and successors. There is Httle doubt now that the imperial government 188 have become alarmed by oui' condition, and that extensive operations, in immigration fi'om India, will take place next year, under their auspices. Opinions are still divided regarding the Coolies, but, if they do not cost too much in bringing, they must be an acquisition ; everything will hinge on the expense of passage, in relation to their phy- sical power. The immigration loan of £500,000, secured on the colonial revenues, having been pennitted by go- vernment, the ordinance has been passed by our Court of PoHcy. Ships have been taken up in England for Calcutta, and in March we may expect the first batch of these new people. Another method is to be adopted also with the natives of Madeira, which has been suggested by the urgent demand for labourers; with this, however, the authorities have nothing to do. The planters, rendered desperate, resolved to try them again, and have imported them at their own expense, or are about to do so, on the imderstanding that they shall enter into contracts when they reach the Colony. In tliis manner they hope to evade the law of contract, though at considerable risk; but those who have arrived (who are not many) have readily entered into wTitten agreements, not only to re- main for a certain fixed period, but until they have paid the money advanced for their passage. A great many are expected on those conditions during the current year, and hopes are entertained that in tliis second trial they will agree better with the climate. WelHngham is still going on, his mortgagee keeping off, it is behoved, like all the rest, on account of the low price of landed property. July, 1846. The tide of immigration has now set in. God prosper it! for it is om' only remaining chance, of wdiich eveiy one is aware, and the Governor is harassed by importu- nate demands for Coolies. Determined to leave no stone 189 unturned, I have embarked deeply in this species of spe- culation. Besides one hundred Indians, who are now- located on the Fortune, I expect fifty Portuguese from Madeu'a in a month. To accommodate these strangers, I have been under the necessity of building a new range of cottages, of suitable dimensions, and the cost has dipped deep into my remaining funds. The law, very properly, r requires that those dwellings shall be inspected by the 1 stipendiary magistrate, before the people enter them, and that a certificate of their ample accommodation, and also of the proper drainage, and other local cu'cumstances, implying a salubrious locality, shall be granted by that fmictionary before the Governor awards the immigrants to the estate. And no planter can obtain them unless he ' employs regularly a medical attendant, properly qualified, by diploma, and there is an hospital, with the proper nm'ses and attendants kept up for them. I was fortmiate in getting mine, scarcely any of my neighbours having yet been so lucky. Mr. Brown has been brisker since, but he is sadly busied by the Coolies. They have all sirdars, who are generally interpreters. One of om' sirdars seems to be a man of some education ; he woites well, and speaks several Oriental languages, and also English. He was (he says) a sort of teacher at Cal- cutta. Brown suspects him to be a great rogue, why, does not appear. It is evident that he has great influence with them all. They have only been here a few weeks, and have scarcely settled to their work. Indeed, they seem too fond of parading about in their long, flowing, white or party-coloui*ed garments. In their general appearance, they offer a contrast to the Negroes, the latter being stoutly fonued, while they are rather slender, and evidently inferior in muscular strength. They are very polite in their manners, the salaam with the hand to the head, in oriental fashion. 190 being always ready. In a few months, we shall be able to speak of their qualities as laboiu'ers. The Colony is now on the qui vive. The planters breathe more fi'eely; and hope, for years a stranger among us, is again illuminating the bronzed faces of our broken-hearted agriculturists. Truly, the effect is some- what ludicrous, for every one is anxious to beheve that our prospects are improving, while, at the same time, ex- jDerience tells all, that they are to have no faith in aught which comes from the colonial office. " Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes" quotes a tliinking and cautious man. "Oh!" cries another, "this is what we have always wanted — copious immigration." "Ay!" says a third, "but it is rather too far to the east; comit the cost ere you begin to 'fleer and rub the elbow.'" It ends generally, how- ever, in the way that may be expected when self-mterest is at stake, with an elevation of spirits, in consequence of expressions arising out of the wish that it may be so. It is Avondei'ful how easily most men are gulled by them- selves. The fact is notorious, that if a man tells a fabulous tale, three or four times, he inclines to believe it, although he was the fabricator, simply because he has been induc- ed, in order to give it more interest, to represent it as true. How much more easy is it, then, for those who are hurrying on to ruin, to teach themselves that any new measm^e is to save them, although their calm judgment j'epudiates the behef. ]SIr. Brown is one of those who have the most extraor- dinary expectations from our fresh importations, and he spares no labour or expense to make them comfortable in their new country. In this he is cheeifally backed by me, and also in a frequent inspection of their houses and in providing articles essential to thefr comfort, the cost of which is great, and will never be repaid, except in the general effect on the Colony. Brown had tried every feasible improvement, both in culture and manufacture. 191 without effect, the qiiahty of tlie sugar being hke the quantity, very httle improved by them. In the last ex- periment of manuring, he had been so far fortmiate as to obtain an addition to the crop, which, after paying the expense of carrying the article out, and scattering it on the field, gave an increased return of about six dollars per acre (25s.), which decided him on using all the dmig and ashes, together with rotten megass, which could be ob- tained by simply lifting them from where they lay, and depositing them on the cane roots. The small return will show that the additional crop would not pay for making composts, or buying manure. ISIr. Ridley has contrived to get credit for twenty or thu'ty Portuguese, who are to be brought to him by the same ship that brings mine. It is, m fact, a mercantile speculation. The merchant makes arrangements with planters, before he despatches his vessel to Madeira, so that when the latter arrives here, her passengers are taken off immediately, and indentured to their respective estates, the merchant being reimbursed the whole expenses by the proprietor who gets the people. Septembek, 1846. We have now, indeed, received the coup de grace. The sugar-duty bill of July last will remain on the pages of British history as a blot indelibly stamped, which the brightest deeds of former and of after times may gild, but never efface. Posterity will read of the zeal with wliich a whole nation, actuated by the noblest and most philan- thropic motives, prosecuted the emancipation of our slaves, even at the risk of injuring, to a ruinous extent, the un- fortunate holders of such property, bought under the national guarantee; eveiy consideration seeming to be overlooked, in the two years preceding 1833, but the attainment of that great object ; clergymen preaching 192 from the pulpit with eyes sAyimming in tears — field preachers ranting in by-ways, until then' excited imagin- ations revelled in scenes of cruelty and bloodshed, the description of which canied their audiences beyond the bounds of reason ; in short, since the days of Peter the Hermit, and the crusades against heathenism, never was such enthusiasm displayed in any cause. Posterity, perusing all this in the enduring volume of the histoiian, will turn over a very few leaves, and while yet glowing with the noble and patriotic ardour which a perusal of the glorious example set by om' countr}^ to the world has excited, shall read, that Great Britain resolved to en- courage slavery, and the Afi'ican slave-trade, because by so doing she will get sugar cheaper by three-farthings per pound! for that is the amount, according to the most accurate calculation, which will be saved by the consimier after the article has passed through the hands of broker, Avholesale gi'ocer, and retail grocer, who must all have their profits, and with whom the lion's share of the advan- tage will remain — and so reading, a blush, the burning blush of shame, shall supplant the glow of patriotism on the cheeks of our children's children. What is to be done now? The fiightfiil anticipation is reahzed. Our enemies have done their worst — why, what can we do? "They have tied us to the stake;" and, "bear-like, we must fight it out" or perish. The question is still the same — shall we yet bear up against this mountainous bmthen, so atro- ciously heaped on to destroy us ? or shall we, indeed, end our career of hopeless exertion, by withdrawing from the w^asted, destruction-doomed fields of oiu' inheritance? Alas! the fact seems glaring — the tnith clear as the smi at noon; but who, among our hundreds, can so wind up resolution as to leave those possessions, in better times the source of wealth and of happiness, while aught is left, and fling, as it were, all that remains to him of worldly goods, to the demons of our wilderness, the jaguar and the ser- 193 pent for a habitation? not one! The struggle vnU be continued till, one by one, our destiny be accomplished, and the creditor, himself perhaps to nm the same course, has seized on the last farthing. It is said that the worm will tm-n when trodden on. Let not nations wonder at rebellion, when the most patient drudges of humanity, worn out by long suffering, and goaded to madness by wanton cruelty, rush to arms. I never felt before so moved by indignation — never be- fore believed that a great empire, calling itself the cham- pion and supporter of freedom and of the weak, coidd thus trample mider foot the rights of both, adding, at the same time, to those monstrous injiuies, a scornftil disre- gard of the feelings, as well as the almost suppliant-like remonstrances of the colonists. I defy the most laborious and indefatigable searcher for precedents, to find, in the history of the world, a case of more cruel oppression, or any rebellion which was based on better grounds. Wliat was the taxation of America to this? the seizure of a fraction of property, in comparison with the confiscation of the whole! But I am not trying to stir any one to mutiny. Om* bitter and powei'fril enemies know as well as we do, that such would indeed be absurd; and the ministers who carry their tyi'annical and devastating policy into effect, are also ftdly aware of our utter help- lessness; were it otherwise, om' treatment would be far different. Men may learn from our fate, what the weak have to expect under the prevalence of the democratic principle, and the administration of a mob-ruled govern- ment. My fellow-sufferers are so elated by the prospect of getting labom', that they seem to overlook this new cala- mity. This is natural. For many years, the want of it has been before their eyes as their greatest evil, and the chance of its being removed, obscures or throws into the shade a misfortune of eqvial magnitude. 2b 194 "My choler being overblown," like the good Duke Humphrey's, by a "walk round the quadrangle," I am en- abled to resume my pen for the piu^iose of committing to paper my opinions on the position in wliich the sugar colonies are placed by this new act of aggression, I trust dispassionately, but it is almost impossible to think deeply under such cii'cumstances, mthout becoming much ex- cited. To expect coolness from a planter in our sad situation, is like looking for smiles and a cheerful aspect in one at whose head the pistol of the robber is held, while his pockets are imdergoing the process of evacua- tion. The first feehng by which we are actuated, after the stunning eflPect of such intelhgence has subsided, is that of surprise. We cannot imagine upon what grounds the wisdom of parliament has dehberately adopted a course which must destroy the colonies. We lose sight for the moment, and in presence of the fearful reahty, of those apprehensions we entertained previously, and which arose out of the dangerously increasing power of our enemies. We had contemplated the movements of the party with dread, but it was a terror akin to that which men have of death, and we flattered om'selves that the time was yet distant when we should be forced to succumb to their power. I speak now of those who, Hke myself, see the measure in its progressive consequences. There are many among us so imthinking and so in'ational, as to believe, notwith- standing all experience, that -with copious immigration, such as we have, we may do anythuig. Thus forced to ponder over the subject, we are led to inquire whether any- tliing but the pressin'e from ^^ntliout could exist to induce ministers to propose, and parliament to enact a law, which, in the present condition of settlements strugghng with e\als originating in the recent manumission of their slaves, so great as to threaten utter annihilation, must 195 necessarily consummate what the great energy of the colonists alone had hitherto prevented. One of two positions must be assigned to the parliament and the government: 1st, They are forced to it by the irresistible influence of the Anti-colonial or Free-trade party, and they beheve in the wisdom of indiscriminately applying the doctrines of this faction to every part of the empire, without regard to peculiar circumstances; or, 2nd, They beheve the sugar settlements to be in a state of unprece- dented prosperity, and able to do what they could not when in possession of their slaves, from everything being cheaper to the foreigner — compete with the latter in the market of Britain. Although the world will beheve that the power of our opponents, irrespective of aught else, has been suffi- cient to carry out their purposes, I am of opinion that many in the legislatm'e were predisposed to tliink our situation improved by the Emancipation Act; and that, m reahty, with free labourers, we are better able to cope with the Cuba planter than we were before. Any man, who like me heard Mr. Buxton, in 1833, reply to Mr. Godson, when the latter proposed to keep out slave pro- duce from the British markets, must think in the same way. Mr. Buxton said that he would oppose the motion which was brought forward, on the ground (he supposed) that the British grower of such produce (cotton, for in- stance) as entered into competition with the foreign article in England, would be placed in a disadvantageous posi- tion. But he thought othen\'ise — he beheved that the British planter was now, when his slaves were to be free, much better able to compete with every rival in the markets of the world. The cheers from all parts of the house, as this declaration was made, somided in the ears of many thuiking West Indians as ominous; but in the pressing existence of real evils, we lose sight sometimes of those which are only in the distance, and merely appre- hended. 196 It is true that tliirteen years have passed over our heads «ince that period, and that experience, in the meantime, should have opened the eyes of many, especially those who were engaged in legislating for the colonies. The facts disclosed by the evidence taken before the Distress Committee of the House of Commons, and the despatches of governors, if laid before them, fui'nished proofs as strong as the most sceptical could require. But who, unless compelled by some powerful motive, Avill study attentively the dull and dry details of a blue book? and how are we to know that those despatches which contam a true state- ment of the internal affau's of each Colony, are carefully and faithfully laid before parliament? Since the era of the Reform Bill, which virtually shut the House of Com- mons against our colonial proprietors, we are almost totally unrepresented in it. We have, indeed, a very few men who exert themselves there, but several of them are, like other West Indians in these times, hampered by the state of their private affairs, and obliged to cast a sheep's eye to the loaves and fishes which are at the disposal of go- vernment. Men so placed are not hkely to stand boldly up and demand that certain documents shall be laid on the table I of the House. The Reform Bill, by throwing over our boroughs to the popular party, has closed the only avenue by which the voice of our colonies can reach the ears of the people's representatives, and, as a natm'al consequence, the feehng of indifference to colonial interests is becoming more and more manifest every succeeding year among Members of Parliament. In the absence of all incHnation to sift the arguments on both sides of the question, the abstract theory that a slave cannot compete in any way ^vith a free man, so capti- vating in itself to the Englishman, remains uncontro verted. The minds of our countrymen dwell "with exulting com- placency on the elevating power of that condition which 197 it is tlicir gloiy to believe they enjoy beyond all other nations, and they point to it as the means of raismg their country to its high pitch of renown. Slavery being the" opposite state of society, they regard as invariably pro- ducing a corresponding effect in lowering the energy, both moral and physical, and in destroying the capabili- ties, generally, of our race, m-espective of every contin- gent circmnstance. The ennobhng quahty of the one is represented by Nelson sweeping the seas of our enemies; the debasing nature of the other, by men in chains, tor- tured and bleeding, to glut the avarice of their cruel masters. That this disposition, so to view the question, has been artfully taken advantage of by our pohtical antagonists, cannot be denied. Hence the miserable objects exhibited on pictures on the streets, imploring the pity of their fel- low-men, and exclaiming, "Am I not a man and a brother!" with hundreds of others, aU directed towards the attainment of the same object. Om* countrymen believe that slaves become virtually and bona fide the property of their pm'chasers, and that they may be dis- posed of in any manner, which does not destroy life, to the advantage of their masters. Thus, oiu' opponents brought prominently forward the vested right of the owTier in the blood, bones, and sinews of their imhappy slaves, leading the more ignorant to be- heve that the planters could cut and carve on them as they pleased, so that they stopped short of murder. The fact was carefully concealed that for many years previous to the Act of Emancipation, the extent of punishment to which the master could go was limited to that which is permitted by the Levitical law — ^forty stripes, lacking one. Beyond that they could not go, Nrithout incmTing a veiy heavy penalty. Criminals, by sentence of coiuts of law, and magistrates, were, of com*se, often much more severely scourged. It has also been the practice to confomid the 198 condition of slavery in the abstract with that of those people who, in the present day, are slaves, and to ascribe to their position those moral evils which belong to the countries from whence they w^ere dra-vvn, and where they prevail alike among bond and free. They are the evils, in fact, of savage life, and are weeds which nothing but the hand of ci\dlization can eradicate. Man, in the wilds of Africa, is fomid in a condition resembhng that of the inferior animals, which intercourse with Europeans, in- stead of aggravating, improves. The same may be said of his physical wants and requirements, w^hich any reflect- ing person will observe must be better attended to by a thinking taskmaster, for his own sake, than by a mindless barbarian who acts only on the impulse of the moment. I should have prefaced the last remark by observing that the fact is careftdly kept back from our comitryonen that the bulk of the African population is in a state of slavery, and that those who are brought to the West Indies, are not stolen, but bought. In some cases they are prisoners taken in war, and of those, perhaps one in twenty may be fi'ee men, if any but the chiefs can really be styled so, in that benighted land. It is certain that our agents on that coast cannot obtain labourers from even the Kroemen, who are supposed to be among the few free people to be fomid there, without a dash, or pre- sent, to the head man, which can be regarded as nothmg else than compensation for loss. Thus, ignorant of the real condition of the Negroes m their own country, and skilfidly managed by our enemies, the ideas of om' comitrymen regarding slavery, as it ex- isted in the British West Indies, became abstract notions of a social state which never had existence there. Chival- rous and sentimental "Oroonokos," heroic and "quivered chiefs of Congo!" dragged from their peaceful and simply beautiful and elegant homes, by some brutal dealer, and kept to hai'd labour by the lash of remorseless tyrants, 199 were the subjects on which their imagination dwelt, and the real nature of the change undergone by the objects of their anxious consideration was never truly presented to them in its proper colours, until their ideas had been so deeply rooted, that matter of fact statements made to undeceive them were looked upon as mere ex parte de- clarations of the interested planters. Indeed, it became much easier for the anti-slavery party to keep up the de- lusion, than for the wretched colonists to impress on the public mind a correct representation of the Negro's real condition, from the time he left liis own savage land, until that when the question of his emancipation came to be so earnestly agitated. The anti-slavery agitators rung the changes with great success, on innocent and helpless creatm'es, lining in af- fluence, or even in princely splendom', seized by slave- hunters, and carried off to the West Indies. The general opinion became firmly estabhshed that the labouring po- pulation of our sugar colonies were all peoj^le who had been reduced to slavery by the planters and their acces- sories — the slave-dealers. Our coimtrymen, still referring to and relying on, the statements of our opponents, were convinced that the circmnstances under Mdiich the Negroes were obtained being such as to crush them altogether, physically and morally, then' spirit was broken, and their bodily strength impau*ed in a corresponding degree. From tliis to the next stage in this train of reasonmg, was but a step. It was soon believed, that by setting the slaves firee, there would be a sudden reaction, Uke that which takes place when a dog is roused from his kennel, unchained, and led forth to enjoy the fi'eedom of his limbs — the Negroes would be restored to their pristine strength and spirits, and the labour they would then perform would at least double that wliich they were fit for, as miserable, broken-hearted slaves. That this opinion did, and does prevail in the mother country, is proved by the debate in 200 parliament to which I have just alluded — by the deri- sion with which the representatives of West Indians were met in 1833, when they urged then- claims to compensa- tion for landed property, which the emancipation of the slaves would depreciate fearfully, or render altogether use- less. And I think the readiness mtli which the dogmata of free-trade, notwithstanding the opinion of its own apostle, ]\ir. Deacon Hume, have been apphed to the planters, must be ascribed partly to the prevalence of this belief, though mainly to the indomitable power, now be- come paramount, of the anti-colonial faction. But if the cotmtry, and its representatives in parhament who were not connected with the ministry, remained in this state of ignorance and apathy while the destructive operation of the Emancipation Act was going on before their eyes, it is not possible that ministers themselves could be afflicted with the same mental darkness ; if they even disregarded the report of the Distress Committee, and if the governors failed to impress on their minds the real condition of the colonies, there were documents con- taming statistics which could not fail to reveal the true state of affairs. Such are the reports which those officers are obhged to give in annually, and in -s^'hich the affairs of each Colony must necessarily be detailed. There are besides, the ordinances or enactments of oui* local legisla- tures, which must all be laid before the Queen in Council for approval, and in those relating to taxation, the expen- diture of each Colony, and the crops, together with other items on which taxes are imposed, must of necessity be brought under obsen-ation. One home's perusal of such papers would give an insight into the condition of tliis settlement which would deter men who were not acting on a foregone conclusion, or di'iven to a certain hne of pohey by the madness of party, from prosecutmg then' desolating career. A veiy few words are necessary to explain what I mean by this broad assertion. \ 201 While the crops have diminished to one-half of their former annual amomit, since the era of freedom (1838,) the expenses of the Colony, since the passing of the Act, have been increased five-fold. The means of supporting expenditure having been removed to the extent of 50 per cent., this expenditm-e has, nevertheless, contmued to in- crease gradually on the unhappy colonists, and altogether from the operation of the Emancipation Act. The Custom-house returns will show that I am cor- rect in regard to the quantities of produce made since 1838, and before that period. The Tax Ordinances of the Combined Assembly, and the blue books containing the Governors' reports vnW testify to my correctness, when I say that the cm-rent expenses of this province have risen, since 1831, from £40,000, to fully £200,000, per annum. In looking over those documents, the reader -will find ample proof that the increase has arisen out of the Act of Emancipation. The principal heads under wliich it occm*s are — immi- gration, with its concomitants of extensive hospitals for the reception of those strangers, which are kept up at an enormous annual cost — teachers and catechists for their benefit, and that of the emancipated classes, there bemg more than sixty clergjanen, and a host of schoolmasters, for a population of 120,000 — a civil Hst, amountmg to a great deal more than that of former years — last of all, a numerous, well-discipUned, and highly paid police force, together with new jails and penal settlements, rendered indispensable by the disorganized state of society, and the rapid mcrease of crime. Lord Stanley, when Colonial ^Cnister, with that candom- which belongs to his charac- ter, administered a salutary rebuke to om' local ruler, when he ventured to speak of the prosperity of the Colony. "It may be true," said his Lordship, "that the labouring classes are in a prosperous state, but it is e\^dent from the great reduction in the quantity of produce exported, that 2 c 202 the Colony generally is not enjoying prosperity." I do not pretend to recollect the exact words, but that is the substance of Lord Stanley's remark on the subject. It had been then, and is still, the practice of official men, whether principals in Downing Street, or underlings in the colonies, to represent the success of the Emancipa- tion Act as complete, and, doubtless, the Governor of Demerara was sui'prised to find that his Chief was dis- gusted vdih, and repudiated the meanness and chicanery of the rule which he found estabhshed on taking charge of the colonies. Since Lord Stanley's time, up to the latest period, it will be fomid that misrepresentation of our condition, to the parhament and the country, has been systematically observed. This implies either total ignorance of facts, or a desire to conceal them. We have shown it to be almost impossible that the former could exist. But mystification is doubtless necessary when men are determined to cany through ruinous measures, and to make blind the world as to their effect. The anti-colonial and free-trade parties are now identical, and to the great power of the two con- joined may be ascribed the rapid progress of these doc- trines; but when Sir Robert Peel became a convert to them, thoughtfiil people saw at once that they had ob- tained mastery over the public mind. The straw does not more sm'ely indicate the wind's course than the con- duct of that sagacious statesman the strength of popular opinion on any great question. Resolved to be earned along with it, he has, on all occasions, trimmed his sail to the breeze of popularity, and either wavered, as it was undecided, or wheeled fairly round, when it was unequi- vocally against him. The Roman thumb turned down did not more surely proclaim to the prostrate combatants of the arena the death that was decreed them, than did Peel's averted face, in July last, annomice their certain downfal to the hapless colonists; and not so much fi'om 203 the influence of the man, great though it be, as the proof it furnished of the extent to which the minds of our coun- trymen were tainted by free-trade notions, and their ac- companiments, the doctrines of the anti-colonists, which were prevalent before the economists became so success- fiil in disseminating their poison. In 1844, Avhen he brought forward his free sugar scheme, he declared that the British planter "could bear a little more competition;" these are his own words, with the evidence of the Distress Committee before him, and a knowledge of our case, generally allowed to be greater than that possessed by other statesmen of the day. They should have been as the writing on the wall to us; but, in the simpHcity of om' hearts, we could not imagine such base and heartless tergiversation to be possible, for he had only a short time before tiu'ned out the Wliigs on the very question which he now warmly compliments the same party on bringing forward, and which he supports with all his weight, and all his eloquence. How is it possible that the colonies, too feeble before to contend with the faction of then* enemies, can now make head against them, thus "forced by those who should be ours," and the leader of the band of apostates among the most talented men of his time! It has been a task like the punishment of Sisyjjhus to carry on the cultivation of oui* colonies for the last eight years. It has not only been labour in vain, because of measures finally accomplished and carried into effect, but because of the de- termination to lend us no assistance in any way, either in labour fr'om proper quarters, or by other means. We have been lil<.e men bound hand and foot and thrown into a stream, while our comitrymen stand quietly on the bank and allow us to sink. But now, not contented with setting us adrift in that helpless condition, they come to the re- solution of throwing a weight on us, to ensui*e our going to the bottom — the very men to whom we turned our 204 imploring and confiding eyes assisting to impose the load that is to destroy us. I commenced -svith the intention of trying to discover the motives by which the nation and the government were actuated in bringing forward tliis measure, which fills om" cup of bitterness to the brim, and I have no doubt that the two to wliich I have aUuded, are jointly those that have produced the calamitous result. The power of that faction wliich has persecuted us through a series of years, and which has so wrought upon the sensi- bihties of our comitrymen as to induce a behef that we are entitled to no commiseration, even if we were m a state of distress ; but as it is, with wretched bemgs enfeebled by slavery converted into fi'ee men, and full of that energy which freedom bestows, we are fit to meet the world in competition, although, as heretofore, we are so bluid to our o-s^ti interest as not to perceive it. And ministers having, like most of their party, adopted the free-trade policy, take advantage of those feehngs and opinions to cany into practice then' new and destructive doctrmes, without regard to consequences, deliberately sacrificing the fonner slave colonies on the altar of this idol for the sake of consistency, and of showuig that no- thing shall be an obstacle or obstruction to the general application of their system to every interest throughout the empke. The country being thus impressed vdih false ideas re- garding us, and the party in power adopting the doctrines of free-trade, the leaders of that party (the muiistry, to vdt) were forced also either to administer the government in consonance with them, or to resign then* places. They would not permit the interests of the colonists to stand between them and power; and, whatever then- sentiments might be in private, they resolved to take advantage of the national ignorance and apathy, and sweep from their path at once, this, the only stmnblingblock in the way of 205 their new political creed. K ministers are cruel in adopting this policy, the empu*e at large is not less so in permitting it. In fact, the latter is almost exclu- sively culpable; for if the people had only shown that they desired the colonies to have justice, neither Whigs nor Peehtes would have ventured to abandon them. There needs no inqmry into the probable consequence of this final measure. The "delenda est Carthago^' of the stem old stoic, spoke not more forcibly the opinions of the man, than does the very natm:e of tliis act point out the sure and unavoidable effect of it. Men strugghng to keep then' places on the edge of a precipice, requh'e but a shght push to tlu'ow them over. They have here one sufficient to precipitate them into the gulf of rum, were they safely removed, and far apart fi'om it. Had they even their fiill supply of labour, as in former times of slavery, they could scarcely compete with men who buy their labom'ers fresh fi'om the coast of Africa, and at a price which hardly amounts to one year's lure of a man in this province. Those slaves are treated in Cuba, in some respects, rather in accordance Adth the treatment they have been accustomed to, than the practice of Europeans generally towards their bondsmen, but there is more of systematic arrangement m order to procm'e fr'om them the utmost amount of work which their physical powers ai'e capable of rendering. There is no regard to comfort, for they have no houses they can call thefr own, the whole popula- tion being driven into a baracoon at night, like cattle into their pen, and taken out again in the mornmg to work. But in one important item, they find it their in- terest to be lavish; that is, in the supply of food, which, bemg equal to the appetite of the slaves, enables the latter to perform a task lengthened out considerably beyond what their strength would othenvise be equal to. They are usually from sixteen to eighteen hours at work in re- 206 tm*n for this ample nourishment, while ours are only four hours engaged for a hire, two months of which are equal to the Avhole annual cost of a Cuban slave. The planters of that island have thus four times the work for a sixth of the cost. This is the advantage possessed by them over us, excluding the interest on the slave's price, which, the latter being so low, does not amount to much, and is far more than balanced by the power which the Cuban possesses over his labom'er, which enables him to apply his labour when and where it is most reqmred; whereas, we are glad to get it at all, and in any way, even so as to please the labourer himself. The planter of Cuba, and (more especially) of Brazil, can rely also on having as many slaves as he may require. Much has been said about the manner in which they are obtained on the Afiican coast; but the fact seems to be simply, that the bulk of the population there being slaves, the native dealer, very frequently a chief or ruler, buys them from all quarters to supply the Em'opean trader; and certain it is, that when he has a niimber collected, if he is disappointed in finding a vessel when he takes them to the coast, he kills them to save the expense of their main- tenance until the arrival, w^hich may be precarious, of a ship. We may understand from this fact, of how httle value human life and slave property are in those barba- rous regions. Some assert that parents who are fi*ee, sell their children into slavery when in want of money. It has been broadly declared by the Anti-slavery Society, that barbarian immigrants are fit for nothing but to corrupt the present virtuous population. I imagine this will be a difficult task. And as to the capabilities of those rude people, we have learned fi'om the best of all teachers, experience, that they are infinitely more steady and regular in their habits than thefr more enhghtened kindred. The sums amassed by those who liave already returned to their own country, after being only a very 207 short space here, attest the truth of what I \ia\e said. It may be, that the high rate of wages induces them to labour so assiduously. Our rivals in Cuba and Brazil will bring it out, knowing that it is in them, at little cost and to om' confusion. However that may be, I fear it will be fomid that our only chance of preservation rests on them. The expense of bringing people from India, and retm*ning them, will amount to the price of a second-rate slave in Cuba or Brazil, and be in itself a sufficient bar to suc- cessful competition, by their means, with the slave-owner, even if they should prove equally effective as labourers; a question which is, to say the least, doubtftil, but, in the opinion of our planters generally, the powers of the Bozal Negro are far superior to those of the Hindu. Indeed, a glance at their physical conformation when in juxtaposi- tion, shows how strikingly natm'e has made the one superior to the other in animal power. The difference in the development of their intellectual faculties may be in favour of the Indian, in so far as mere quickness of appre- hension and general intelhgence go, but in their reason- ing faculties and habits of thinking, they are nearly on a par. Competition is out of the question between British planters A\ith Hindus at the present cost of importation and deportation, and current rate of wages, and the Cuban or Brazilian with African slaves, bought at four hundred dollars each for first-rate ones, and maintained at twenty- five dollars a year. The very idea is absurd; and it be- comes more so when we set seriously about refuting the Exeter Hall arguments based on the debihtating mfluence of slavery. In doing this, it is only necessary to state that the Negi'oes, instead of being fi'ee people, in the full enjoy- ment of all those blessings which civilization bestows, are not only slaves in then* own country, but slaves to savages not a whit superior to themselves in their moral natm'e, 208 who have absokite power over them in Hfe and Hnib — bones and sinews — (in the language of the anti-slavery party) to use them up in the way most suitable to their brutal tastes, and their ferocious passions. Those slaves have at least a better chance of being regarded as human beings after being transferred to Europeans, although they be Brazilian or Cuban planters, and who know that in- jury to them, in their physical parts, is a corresponding loss to themselves. But the slaves thus brought to Cuba, instead of being those thinking, sensitive persons the people of England believe them to be, are, in reality, not far removed from the brute creation, and so far from be- ing crushed and prostrated by the change in their posi- tion, are truly improved in everything wliich their exclu- sively animal natm'e holds essential to the enjoyment of life. They have more food, some attention paid to their health, and the assurance that then' lives will rmi their natm'al course. With the most complete control over the actions of men in this condition, secui'ed to them by law, the Brazi- lian and Cuban sugar-growers can laugh at the feeble and desj)airing attempts of the British planter to compete %vith liim in the market of the world, by the help of people from India, who are at liberty to work as they choose, and for whose services, during five years, a bonus, in the shape of free passage-money, is paid, equal in amount to the price of a slave, and who are to have, besides, wages at an exorbitant rate, and all those expensive com- forts, in houses and land, enjoyed by the present popu- lation of this province. It is on this that the question of competition, between Brazil and Cuba, and the British West Indies, rests, and until it can be proved that the latter enjoys advantages of another sort than laboiu', of which the others are not possessed, it must appear to the unprejudiced observer a case of competition between men who do their work by means of unpaid labom-ers, and 209 men who do theirs by means of people who are paid far more than the value of their work. Much has been said of our fertile soil, as giving us an advantage over om* rivals; but this is altogether founded in error; the soil of Cuba is equal to that of Guiana. The principal means, it would appear, however, on which the ministiy rely to balance the advantages possessed by the slave-holder, are improvement in cultivation and manufacture. Neither Sir Robert Peel nor Lord Grey can perceive or admit that the utmost exertions have been made, since the year 1833, in all the colonies, to improve every de- partment of plantership, \\dth success occasionally, but gene- rally with disappointment, arising out of the extraordinaiy effort necessary to a beneficial result. The most signally successfal schemes only can avail them in their distressed condition, wherein they have to contend with such formi- dable difficulties; and the expense of conducting experi- ments has been latterly too much for men who require all their funds to keep their plantations in cultivation. Indeed, om' colonists have only been too easily induced to try improvements before they were properly tested, in their anxiety, like drowning men, to gi'asp at straws. But what an idle and silly thing it is to offer improve- ments to one competitor, as so many advantages over another! Surely the members of our cabinet cannot be ignorant that any improvement introduced into a British settlement would find its way in a couple of months to Cuba and Brazil; and that the former, mider the stimulus of American capital and American entei-prise, is more eager in the search after, and more able to adopt any new^ plan that has a likelihood of proving beneficial, than almost any country in the tropics. Li this very particu- lar, recommended so forcibly by Peel, our rivals have a decided advantage over us. It would be better for us, if, henceforth, no improvements could be made, because we have neither ftmds nor credit to undertake them, while 2d 210 the planters of Cuba and Brazil, in the height of their good fortune, and possessing the confidence of the monied interest, can not only carry them into effect, but push them to any length which affords the slightest chance of increasing their crops or improving their produce. The only hope that remains to the British colonists seems to rest on an importation of suitable labourers to such an extent as will create healthy competition among themselves, and reduce wages to that daily allowance which is sufficient for a comfortable subsistence, but in- adequate to the present inordinate demand for the means of sujiporting a vicious and licentious career. The mora- list may say that it is wicked to bring a rude and ignorant people among such a demorahzed population as I have represented om's to be. But they would prove of mutual benefit to each other. The new labourers, by their com- petition, would cut off from the present race that super- fluous supply of cash which is now their bane. And the latter, with their habits of semi-cirilization, would operate beneficially in humanizmg the wilder Africans (supposing they are to come here). For it would be idle to build a hj-pothesis on our pre- sent position supported by Coolies alone. The Hindus would require to surpass, as much as they are suspected to fall short of the Negro, ere we coidd compete with the slave-holder under the vast expenditure requisite to obtain them. The plan of keeping up om' estates by their means, ^vith prices guaranteed above a certain rate by the monopoly of the British market, becomes quite a different affah' when we are exposed to competition under such overwhelming cu'cunistances as I have detailed. Coohes might have enabled us to supply the home con- sumption, and ^^'ith advantage to om'selves; but it is impossible that with them we can make sugar and sell it at as low a rate as the produce of Cuba will be made and sold in England. It is doubtful if the Indian maker of 211 sugar oil the European system, will be able to keep his gi'ound against the slave cultivator. In fact, we may say experience is against the probability, for if he could, the sugar of India would long ago have been more abundant in the markets of the continent, which were open to it as well as that of any other country; and if that be the case, if it turns out that the East India planter, with labourers at twopence per day, cannot support the competition, how are we to keep it up at twenty-pence to the same people, and thirty guineas of passage-money for five years' ser- vice, or six pounds a year in addition to the wages? We are thus diiven to the conclusion that the importa- tion we were so anxious to establish, which government granted apparently with reluctance, and for which a loan was raised on the guarantee of the colonial revenue, wdU be rendered utterly abortive, and the £500,000, if so ex- pended, just so much money tlu'own away, by the Sugar Duty Act of Jvdy last. By it we are thrown back to the position we have occupied since 1838, in regard to labour, while we are plunged into despair by being deprived of our market; and it must be apparent to eveiy one, that Africa is the only part of the world wliich by its position — so near to the West Indies, and its people so well adapted to our wants — affords a reasonable chance of carr_)dng us through in this arduous struggle. How the many thousands which are reqmi'ed can be obtained there, is a question which it is difficult to answer; for, according to the best information, we must rely on the efforts of our cruisers as heretofore to supply us, the number of those who have the power of removing being comparatively small. It is true that the increase of the iUicit slave-trade Avill in itself multiply in its own ratio the number of captured slaves. And to what a humiliat- ing condition are our gi'eat nation and its colonies reduced, when they are brought to the necessity of trusting to this detestable traffic, to suppress which the national honour 212 is pledged, for tlie means of keeping our sugar plantations in existence! We give a spur to it sufficient almost to create such an enormity by act of parliament, and we send a fleet to seize the ships engaged in it, ^^nth. the in- tention of bringmg to our colonies the cargoes found on board of them. And miless we can discover more free people in the Negro countries, the fact is mideniable, that the people thus rescued from the slavers are those on whom we must place our cliief dependence in om' com- petition Avith the owners of the mifortunates who do not fall into the hands of our men of war. I have been accustomed to look on Hume's plan of buying the slaves of Africa for the pm'pose of freeing and bringing them to our colonies, as imwarrantable, on ac- count of its being a sort of departm'e fi'om our policy in regard to the slave-trade. But it is evident that we are now in a strangely anomalous position m relation to it, and it appears doubtful whether it would not be better, both morally and pohtically, to pm'chase the people from those who would otherwise sell them to the ilhcit traders, than to allow the latter to get possession of them. But before I record my opinions on this very important sub- ject, I must give it more consideration, and shall therefore postpone my observations to a futm'e period. I have already repeatedly remarked that the singular policy adopted towards us will have an operation varied in the rapichty of its development, according to the cir- cumstances of individual estates. The quahty of the soil is the principal among these, and after it vnW rank the pm'se of the proprietor. It is not difficult to understand why the man who has money -wdthin his reach has advan- tages over liim who has none; and if one plantation can make 300 hhds. of sugar from an annual outlay in labour of 12,000 dollars, while another a\t11 only have a crop of 150 hhds. from the same aggregate amount of wages, we can easily perceive that the struggle to keep themselves 213 up \vill be more successful with the former than the lat- ter. Thus, the process of destruction throughout the Colony will be gradual, as it has hitherto been, but it will advance more rapidly now, with two agents instead of one to accelerate its progress; and it is probable that, in two or three years, few estates will be in existence save those wliicli can produce crops at the smallest compara- tive expense. It has been sui'mised that if only the best plantations were cultivated by the same population, the return would be better. There is one consideration which would operate powerfully against that result. The working people of the province are now becoming rapidly tied, as it were, to particular locahties, either by the purchase of land for themselves, or for their near relatives, the latter binding them as closely, almost, as if they were themselves free- holders; and these small properties being scattered over the mdth and breadth of the land, it would be impossible to get their owners and their famiHes moved about to suit the labom' required on the few rich estates kept m culti- vation. This of itself is almost a sufficient damper to the hopes of the larger proprietors, based on the ruin of their less favoured fellow planters, and, in connection with other circumstances, 's^ill be fomid to be altogether destructive of them. Many have been abandoned since 1838, yet we find that the demand for labour is on the increase. Various causes are continually withdrawing people from agricultural work, and the fact seems to be estabhshed, that nothing, saving a well sustained stream of good un- migrants of the right sort, can maintain any but a trifling extent of cultivation tlu'oughout the Colony. The distress so prevalent among this class of proprie- tors, must now, of necessity, extend by degrees to all classes of the community, but, more especially, the con- siderable body of poor colom-ed people who depend on them; and the question wiU soon arise, and stand forward 214 for discussion, of how the enonnous colonial expenditure is to be supported. The government party reluctantly agreed to import duties, having regard to the interests of their protegees, the agricultural labourers, and especially to the appUcation of funds so raised to immigration pur- poses. But no tax could be fairer than one which falls upon all alike. It was objected to on the ground that the Negroes, as poor people, should be exempted from imposts of every description, and it was contended that the biulhens imposed for, or arising out of colonial im- provements, were legitimately laid on landed property. This singular doctrine, which was grounded on estab- Hshed practice, having for its basis the long recognised principle that the planter is always the projoer object of taxation, would not suffice in these times. Men who are ruined to advance the interests of the labourers, cannot perceive why the latter are to bear no part in the cost of their own advancement, and to assist in paying for a pohce to protect them (from themselves), for poors' -houses and stipendiary magistrates, who are, in some sort, their pro- tectors, and various other expensive establishments for their benefit. Yet, if they were unable to afford this trifle of 2^ per cent., ad valorem, on articles imported for their use, the colonists would not think of laying it on them in common mth themselves; but the fact being notorious that they are better off m their position than the other classes, there was no reason for exempting them. The time is hkely soon to arrive, however, which will bring this matter before the official section of the Com- bined Assembly, and it will be seen whether they will agree to forego a considerable portion of their salaries, as fixed by the civil list ordinance, in order that the im^^ort duties may be remitted, as pressing too heavily on the impoverished inhabitants of all descriptions. Let us hope that when this trying houi' arrives, as come it must, Mr. Briar and his friends shall have no occasion to apply the 215 " Tu Quoque'' to his political opponents, and to tell them that they, who were so anxious some years ago to make food and clothing cheap to the labourers, when they ex- pected to get the means of doing so from the planters, cannot now object to measures having the effect of re- ducing partially their o\a\ allowance^, when du-ected towards the attainment of the same gTeat object — the cheapening of necessaries to the poor — at a time, too, when almost all the inhabitants but themselves came under that denomination. And the colonial minister cannot surely insist on the adherence of the Colony to a civil list ordinance, granted when the legislature fully believed and trusted in the faith of the mother countiy, to preserve for the planters that advantage in the British market, upon the consider- ation of which alone such a civil list could be granted or continued. The Act of July last is an infringement of the understanding that existed between the local legislature and the imperial government, when a civil list was con- ceded by one and immigration by the other. There was no stipulation, indeed; but the very natm'e of such an arrangement impKes that there should be no alteration of the circumstances, caused by one or other of the parties, which could impair* the power of either party to keep faith with the other. If a man is bound to render a certain amount of labour to another, and that other forcibly and arbitrarily, by his superior strength, ties up the hands of the first, he (the first) cannot be held liable to perform the work agreed on, either in law or justice. If he had been shackled by a third party, the case would be different. The silent and imperceptible manner in which depre- ciation creeps over the property of the Colony, is not the least startlmg among the many strange characteristics of the period. ]\Ien jog on, directmg their energies so as to combat the evils that are daily before their eyes, without adverting to collateral circumstances, until they are sud- 216 denly and disagreeably reminded of certain liabilities, whicli, had their estates retui'ned their value, would not have been thought of. The crecUtor, however, belongs to a class who watch the state of the plantation market, and he is fully aware that a debt of £3,000, which would be quite secure as against a property worth £20,000, is by no means in the same position when the property has fallen to £4,000, with the prospect of coming still lower, and becomes anxious to realize. In colonies, it is necessary for men to assist each other in the way of cautionry, and many securities, who thought their liabilities such as would never affect them, are hastily and legally called on to pay their fiiend's debt. Many will not believe in the change of value wliich property has undergone, until it is brought home to them in one or other of those ways, and they are, as it were, at once aroused to a sense of their true position, and painfully convinced that instead of be- ing rich, they are become poor men. It would seem that although they all calculated on losses arismg out of the evils we suffer under, they do not look forward to depre- ciation as the natural consequence of such a state of affairs, and are sm'prised to find that their wealth has crumbled away fi'om them, and literally d■\^dndled to no- thing in their grasp. We must now look forward to a rapid extension of the sight which meets our eyes everywhere — fields fonnerly beautiful in the deep gi'een luxuriance of the cane, covered with sour grass, and buildings moiddering in decay, the greenness of the cane piece being transplanted to them, which previously sent forth volumes of smoke, betokening the continued manufacture of sugar, and where now "the desert serpent dwells alone." The most angry disputes occm' every pay-day, which, from being montlily, have gradually increased in fre- quency, until at length they have become weekly. The 217 work done on each day being carefully measured and ex- amined by both foreman and overseer before it is entered in the labour-book, it very rarely occurs that an eiTor is discovered in the entry; but the labourer, from keeping no "^"ritten account of his tasks, is too often led astray by the treachery of his memory, and he has neither fear nor delicacy to prevent him from taxing the Whites of the estate with cheating or robbing him ; and in consequence, the paying of them is sometimes a scene of violent abuse on one part, and patient endm-ance on the other, while the magistrate is ultimately, in too many instances, called in to settle the disao-reement. I have been struck \^qth the wondeiful tenacity and clearness of Da\^d's memory on such occasions, for he will go over the week's tasks of almost every labourer if it is necessaiy, teUing not only what sort of vrork he was en- gaged in, but the value of it according to the tariff, before the book is appealed to, and I have never seen that he was wrong. He does not scruple to tell those greedy and clamorous claimants that they are the robbers; and truly, judging from analogy, and ascribing to the mass of them the same advantages of memor}^, one is tempted to conclude that their claims are made in a perfect conscious- ness of then' being wrong, especially when they are always on the right side for themselves. It must be allowed, however, that the majority are both obtuse and confused in intellect, and are far from possessing heads like Daidd's; and in their desire to make the amount as large as possible, they contrive to jumble the work so in their non-logical minds, that a satisfactory conclusion is arrived at, and a larger figure impressed on their senso- rium than they are entitled to. They submit to the severe reprimands, couched in the most emphatic lan- guage of the Negi'o vocabulary, which the foreman poui's out with vast volubility on those occasions, with a degi-ee of patience that contrasts strangely with the 2 E 218 fierce defiance, both of speech and look, which a liasty word from an overseer is sure to call forth. They both fear and respect David, while they glory in being insolent to the Wliite man, probably because they think it grand, and it pleases their vanity to act thus; but, at the same time, they are aware that an overseer would lose his place, and be amenable to the law besides, if he raised a hand to them ; whereas, the foreman, being one of themselves, can keep up his authority, and repress insolence without fear of consequences. They know that he has much in his power, and they are aware that, being a strong man, he can apply the argumentum ad hominem in a very summary and foi'cible manner, while a blow from him is quite a different thing in the eye of the magistrate fi'om one inflicted by an overseer. Nothing can be more strildng than their bearing towards these two parties. As the views of the latter are generally the same, the foreman sometimes fancies that abuse levelled at the overseer is meant for him, and proceeds to retort on the quarrelsome subject; when the latter, the instant he perceives the mistake, will assure him with the greatest coolness that what he said was applied to the "obisha — heh! Buddy (brother) how you can tink me sha' talk so to you?" By the way, the Negroes are much more polite to each other than the labouring classes of England. They always style one another "brother or sister," "uncle or auntie," and sometimes " tatta" (daddy), according to age. This must have arisen out of their extreme sen- sibility and wondei'ful quickness in maldng a quaiTel out of any disrespectful word spoken to them. The following sketch of last Saturday's scene, may serve as a tolerable sample of a pay-day, though rather more noisy than usual. The manager sits dow n at a table with the field overseer and his labour-book on one side, and the principal foreman on the other. The labour-book is so ruled that there is a small compartment under each 219 clay of tlic week for each labourer, in which the work done is inserted, and the names are set down, so that every- one lias his portion of those compartments on one line, distinctly annexed to him. The overseer calls each name, and the aggregate weekly amount, and the manager, with a bag of dollars before him, proceeds to count out the sum. The first dozen take their money quietly. Then it comes to Dick Andrews' turn, whose name is called in connection with "two dollars," but he will not take the coin. " Obusha, how you make um no more two dollars,, eh?" The overseer reads the entries of each day. He is absent one day, and he did not finish his task on another. "Massa Nigga! me no de a field Torsday. Buddy," applying to some one near, "you no see me?" but meeting with no response, and getting angry, he ad- dresses himself to the foreman, although with marked hesitation. "Da me you speak? da me you ax?" inquires David, sharply, "da me for watch you?" "Buddy, wha' me sha' do? Buckra go sheat poor fellow, and no one for help me; do, buddy." "You want me tell you where you dey, Thm-sday? You tief fowl (steal fowl) on Wel- lingham (Wellingham's estate) tha' Thursday work da'," cries David, looldng fiercely at the other. A general titter testifies to the correctness of the statement, and the abashed claimant, who doubtless thought his doings un- known, shnks away. He had actually been caught in the fact, as it turned out afterwards. The business goes on smoothly again, till "John Thomson, one dollar," is called out. "Wha' you say, Obusha, one doUa' for sicli man like me ? Mangea, da so you go let white man cheat a' we ? Massa Negga ! — sich rabbery me nebba see!" The book is read to him, without carrying conviction to his mind, — the money is tendered and refused — and although he has been little more than two days at work, he insists that he was pre- 220 sent throughout the week. David tells him distinctly all he did, but in vain, and while the dispute is still going on, a woman steps in, desiring the manager to stop John's wages, because "he owes her, and wont pay." The manager, on such occasions, attempts generally to effect an amicable adjustment of the "difficulty," but it often happens that the creditor "repudiates" the debt entu'ely. It is so with John Thomson, and the quarrel rises to such a pitch that both are ordered out of the house, and David says, "no use fight any more with that man, he too bad; every Saturday he make 'ruction." "I think so too, we must give him warning," responds the manager. The pair return, under pretence of having settled their dif- ference, but they are no sooner before the manager again than a violent outbreak occurs, and the foreman takes the man by the shoulder, and ejects him. "Stop, Mam- ma," (the accent is always on the first syllable when this word is apphed to a Negro woman) and David brings forward two men who prove the debt, and the dollar is handed to her. John Thomson is called in, and told that he is to re- main no lonfijer than the end of the month. This is of course received with perfect indifference. It is necessary to select theworst and most useless subjects for such examples. Good ones must be tolerated — ^men who work tolerably well, though they are insolent; but this fellow was not in the field more than two days a week, on an average. About a dozen altercations, such as I have described, oc- curred on Saturday, and as many, more or less violent, may be calculated on almost every pay-day. It is but fair to say that the better portion of the people, and they constitute the majority, conduct themselves with propriety and decorum; but even the best of them, on occasions, incline to find fault with the sum due to them, although they will not be outrageous. It is the custom to select the foremen of estates, who 221 are of good charcacter, to act as vestry-men, and the ap- pointment lias an excellent effect, for it stimulates them to hold themselves up as patterns to those who are under them. They are all proud of being thought pious, but, unhappily, rehgion with them is one thing, and morahty another. The Nem-oes remind me sometimes of the ItaHan brigands, who invoke their saints to assist them in committing a miu*der, (although they do not carry the blasphemous and monstrous doctrine so far,) for they have the same mdistinct idea that it is only necessary to bend before the heavenly powers, in adoration, to accompHsh their salvation, and that good deeds are not essential to the attainment of that great object. They are all anxious to learn to read and write also, and the progress which the children make is quite rapid enough to confute the American notion that they are an mferior race. Wliat I say, however, relates only to quickness of understanding, and the power of memory. The fact remains to be proved whether they, in their present condition, or rather in their existing stage of civilization, can have the reasoning faculties so developed by education as to make them appear equal to Wliite men, who receive that advantage. I doubt it; and I fear that some generations must yet pass ere the original dark- ness clears away entirely from their minds. As it is now ■with us, the young Negroes are soon able to read "indif- ferently well," but I am not aware that they get beyond that. I fear they have barely justice done them, however, for then' parents frequently take them away from school in order that they may work, and that they (the parents) may di'aw their wages — much of the light work on estates being done by boys and girls, from ten to fifteen years old. 222 January, 1847. The balance against the estate is larger even than usual this year, which might have been expected from the great outlay on Coolies and Portuguese. I fear tliis grand experiment of Hindu immigration would not succeed, even if the sugar duty was unaltered. Brown, who has devoted himself to these people in every way, begins to tliink that they will cost much more than they are worth. He already declares that, according to a calculation he has made, the difference between the labour obtained from a Negro, even in his disorganized state, is as tlu'ee to one, compared with that of a Coolie. If tliree Coolies then are required to do the work of one Negro, and if they cost each seventy-five dollars to import, and the same to return them to India, it is impossible that tliefr importa- tion can benefit the Colony. The Portuguese were doing fully as well as we expected, until sickness began to ap- pear among them, and it is astonishing how rapidly and how baneftilly they were prostrated. The disease is al- most invariably a peculiar modification of what the doctors call the idiopathic fever of the country, assuming a form peculiar to the Portuguese from their habits of body and their manner of living. It is necessary to give them large quantities of wine and nomishing food after the first or second day, for there is a tendency to sink immediately, and they need constant and unremitting attention, which, to enforce, I requested Brown to appoint an overseer, when the malady was most prevalent, to attend to the hospital exclusively, and the doctor was there every day. This continued three months, and, in fact, is only becom- ing uimecessary now. Throughout that time, out of fifty-two we had never fewer than twenty ill, and six died. I believe the sickness has been more severe here than with Ridley, from what cause it is difficult to ex- plain, the localities being both considered salubrious. 223 We were indefatigable in superintending the preparation of food for them, and, indeed, an extra cook was intro- duced into our kitchen, besides those who were in the hospital, to prepare articles for the sick; and I myself was twice every day there to see if the overseer was doing his duty. George frequently acted as hospital superinten- dent, and I am sure was as attentive and sympathising as any man could be. Indeed, but for the great attention that was paid to them, I think one half would have died. I have been painfully convinced of theu^ penurious dis« position by several occurrences. It is quite evident that they come here to make money, and it is with reluctance they encounter anything that, even for the most necessary purpose, interferes with their long-cherished expectations. Throughout the province, hope revived is rousing to extraordinary exertion, nothing being heard of but people going to this estate, and others to that in great numbers, as landed from the East India ships, or brought by our own traders from Madeira, to be exchanged for a return cai'go of sugar. There is only the uncertainty that hangs over them in regard to their qualifications as field la- boiu'ers; and, as usual, in such cases, there is a wide difference of opinion among planters, some insisting that they work as well as the Negroes, but the majority de- claring that the labour obtained fi'om them is much less than that which is got from the former. The Coolies not only do less while they are in the field, but they are even more irregular than the others in their attendance there. Sheer love of ease, and frivoHty of disposition, seem to be at the bottom of this; for, in so far as I have seen, they are by no means so much given to the use of ardent spirits as the Negroes, and their passions altogether are less violent, and more under control. Yet some of them are as debauched as any class of people; generally, how- ever, they are temperate. The Negroes are not so in anything that is comprehended in eating and drinking. 224 The quantity they devour occasionally of their favourite foo foo, or salt fish and plantains, brayed in a mortar into a solid mass, is truly enormous, and siu'passes the belief of the uninitiated. The Hindu, on the contrary, -with his rice and fresh peppers, is contented, although the portion be moderate. Probably this chfference, acting on their physical conformation, may account for the variation in the degree of energy with which they respectively seek to attain their objects. Wellingham has begun to creep more out of his shell, doubtless expecting that he will swim with the flood that is to carry us all into the ocean of prosperity. He called here yesterday, and, vnth a timid sort of doubtful an', as if afraid yet anxious to hear my opinion on what was going on, began to speak of the immigrants. I told him that Brown's ardour was considerably cooled, and his hopes by no means so sanguine as they were six months ago; and I could perceive that his countenance fell, while he observed with a deep sigh, "it is what others have told me also, and what some of the oldest planters predicted. Africa, after all, will be our only refuge." "And that wide field, the wisdom of om- government has shut against us for the very reason that Mr. Plume would open it — the heathen barbarity of its people, and their condition of slavery; the former, the faction of our enemies exclaim against as likely to be too powei'ful for the improved manners of our present population, and the rest of the Whigs say it would tend to promote the African slave- trade." "So they say; yet how they induce themselves to beheve these absurdities, is wonderful, if true. It is almost impossible that we should ever get so many as to out-number the population of the West Indies, and unless that took place, it is equally imjiossible that they would pull down the latter to their own level; as for slavery, why, a slave cannot exist here ! he is free the instant he touches the soil; Avitness all those who have fled fi'om 225 Surinam to Berblce, and from the French to oiu' islands, where their former masters ceased to have property in, and tried in vain to recover them." "All true; our colonics are now like the British islands in that respect, and on the same footing; but they say it will encourage the slave-trade. Hume's plan is to buy slaves in Africa and manumit them, then to bind them as apprentices for five years in the West Indies, after which they are to return to their own country. And, say they, the native chiefs will make war on each other to obtain slaves for us." "Wliy, what do they now if they would do so then? is it not notorious that the trade is still carried on, and, instead of being brought from slavery to freedom, the unfortunates are doomed to midergo a cfreadfrd voy- age, and after all, to endure, if they survive, a condition scarcely better than that which was their lot in their own country." "Very true, indeed — there is no doubt also that since the year 1838, the foreign slave-trade has in- creased, and as the Spaniards and Brazilians, who watch us narrowly, perceive that we are not getting over the Emancipation Act, they will engage more deeply in the odious traffic." " Still, wherever we turn ourselves, how- ever we exert ourselves, we are kept steadily in a sinking state by our enemies in England." "They will agree to such immigration as this, after long importunity; and, without doubt, the government have faith in the Coolies, they expect they shall benefit us, and are glad that the faction have graciously permitted them to sanction their deportation." "Well ! the question will come to be, whether they are to permit the slaves of Africa to be fi'eed, or suffer them to contmue slaves in christian lands, after risking then* lives in crossing the sea." "That seems at present to be the prospect; but we must still exert our- selves to make the most of our Coolies and Portuguese; it may be we are premature in our conclusions." " Would to God it may be so; but it seems to me that the fabled 2f 226 tortures of Tantalus were notliing to those we are doomed to, for our hopes are not only raised to be dashed in a few months again, but we endure that continual gnawdng of moral misery, to which bodily suffering is almost plea- sure." I could not fail to observe that Mr. Wellingham, dur- ing this conversation, avoided altogether the question of competition inflicted on us by the bill of July last. In fact he, like others, considers that everything hangs on the success of our new immigration scheme, and if it suc- ceeds we shall be able to compete with the whole world. I doubt very much if, under the most favourable cu'cum- stances, free-labour can compete with slave-labour. But, after the first impression died away, tliis most extra- ordinary measm*e of government has not produced the effect on me which a full consciousness of its destructive tendency might on others, because I was becoming more and more fixedly of opinion, that the British West India planters would be ruined as a body, by the effect of the Emancipation Act, unconnected as it was with any effi- cient provisions for the supply of that labour wliich it ■withdrew. Such being the case, our ruin was a question of time, unless government saved us by a proper supply of labour. This new infliction expedites the progress of our downward career, and neutralizes the measure of immigration we had, Avith great exertions, obtained. It is certain that we have among ourselves some free- traders belonging to the mercantile classes. Indeed, I doubt if there are many men of those classes who are not dazzled by the specious promises of this beautiful theory, which would free them from the trammels of custom- houses, and permit their ships to traverse from place to place with as little interruption from human institutions as that "chartered hbertine," the wind. I can easily fancy that men whose business is com- merce, and who have no other powerful and counteracting 227 motive, should indulge in golden visions, arising out of tliis unrestricted intercourse of manldnd. When the imagination is excited, men do not pause to consider whether this state of affairs is practicable; but surely re- flection would convince them that free-trade, literally and honaf.de, is not in the nature of things, and that, to bring it about, not only the political and financial condition of all nations must be assimilated, but the ideas and mode of thinking among men must also be nearly the same — a state of society which has never existed since the creation. The du'ect effect of it must be, if it really can be carried on, as om' political economists insist, without reciprocity, to reduce all nations to the same level. Great Britain, being the highest in the scale of commercial nations, has little to gain by this leveUing doctrine; on the contrary, she has everything to lose. Her artisans and labourers, of all sorts, forming the basis upon which the prosperity of a country invariably rests, must of necessity be brought into direct competition with the labourers and artizans of other nations, in all of whom the rate of wages and the price of food are fifty per cent, lower. Now, with our national debt, it is certain that the price of most articles consumed by the people of England cannot be much re- duced, while it is equally clear, that the rate of wages must be brought to a level with the average on the Conti- nent. On tliis fact rest the whole of the e\dls that must spring from the measures of 1844 and 1846. Trades- men must be ruined by competition generally, as the un- fortmiate silk weavers, particularly, and some other branches, have been already. The operatives of Lancashire, and the peasantry of the richest counties of Britam, being reduced to the con- dition of the serfs on the Continent, in regard to wages, will not be able to purchase the means of supportuig na^ ture. What comes next? — ^we must ask Messrs. Brieht and Cobden, the apostles of li'ee-trade and low wages, for 228 whose benefit, and those whose interests are linked with theu's, snch measures have been thrust upon the good sense of the nation. Mr. Bright is a man iper se, a quaker, and a pugnacious one, according to !Mr. Berkeley. There are few men who would so unblushingly stand forward on every public opportimity to advocate doctiines w^hich are specially calculated to advance his own interests. He wants low wages — he will obtain his object. The next thing is to keep the rate so permanently in order that the millowners may be able to bear down the continental manufacturers, and annihilate them, thus gaining the command of the European markets; and to do this, the labourers of England must be kept at starvation pomt, therefore, immigration would stand in his way; and, lo! Mr. Bright opposes stoutly immigration schemes, to save the miserable people from then- wretched state. It is imjDossible that the country can submit for any length of time to the intolerable tyranny which the selfish policy of this party would impose on it. But the view is as narrow as it is selfish, which the political economists take of the effects of free-trade, even on themselves. If they cannot realize their ambitious dreams wdthout thus affecting the condition of their ojDcratives, is it at all probable that the latter wall remain contented, in the position they assign to them? Unquestionably they "svill not, so long as they have the power of remonstrating; and, failing that, of resorting to the ultima ratio, or seek- ing in thousands the wilds of Australia or North America, The whole aim and object of free-trade is to induce a state of affau's to avert this, and to suit the men of Man- chester and the holders of stock or shares. Cheapness is the cry, to enable the poor w^orking spinner to live on the pittance of wages competition will allow, and to en- hance the fortunes of the millo"\yners, who are neither connected with the landed aristocracy of Britain or the colonies. The latter are necessarily doomed, irrespective 229 of national credit or national honour, because they can- not raise sugar so cheaply as the slave-holders of Brazil; who, besides, will take much more cloth and iron, now that we admit then' produce; and, here again, their short- sightedness comes in their way, for they cannot see that Brazil and Cuba can only be advanced on the ruins of our own sugar settlements, and they will lose more than they gain. It is wonderful how that same "tickhng com- modity," that self-worshipping and self-aggrandizing prin- ciple, bhnds us to the evils of our own endeavom's to ad- vance om'selves. But the liabilities of our country stand sadly in then* way — taxes must be imposed to meet the interest of the debt. It is singular that they bring forward no scheme re- garduig it. Could they but shift the burden on the land, in the shape of a land-tax, what would not be gained to the party? And to this matters must come, if their views are carried out, unless the already-sacrificed landholders can get it modified into a thirty per cent, income-tax, on the same prmciple as existing now. But this will never suit the middle classes, and all their policy will fall to the ground, imless they can saddle some particular class with the interest of the national debt, and reduce the pubhc expenditm'e to the same comparative amoimt as that of other countries — thus removing the necessity for duties on unports. The people cannot see these schemes, which are framed to benefit one class exclusively, and remain always bhnd to the tendency of them to destroy the sub- stance of the rest. As my friend Wellingham said once, when we were discussing this subject, "I fear the nation will only be roused to oppose the economists when a gi'eat many interests have been ruined, and it is clearly per- ceived that they must all go in detail." Even the merchants, who think themselves secure in the mimingled advantages that will accme to them from free-trade, on account of the impregnabihty of the uavi- 230 gation laws, had better not be too confident. They are the most prominent promoters of the new-fangled doc- trines after the manufacturers; we shall see if they remain true to their principles, when the sacrificed colonies de- mand, as assuredly they will, the abrogation of these laws, which have hitherto been regarded as the foundation of Great Britain's maritime supremacy. They cannot, sm'ely, in so far imitate the Bright and Cobden party, as to advocate those principles only which have a direct operation in enhancing the value of their property; and they surely will not repudiate them when it is found that they shall have the same effect on that of others, when appHed to them. We shall see when the time comes. Meanwliile, the colonies are too much occupied vnih the visionary advantages of immigration, to attend to the fearful calamity that has just been decreed them. The experience of the planters has hitherto declared unequi- vocally in favour of African labourers — the few that our cruisers have rescued from the felon gripe of the slaver, and brought to our shores, having sui*j)assed not only all other varieties of imported field-people, but the native inhabitants of then" 0"\yn blood themselves, in regular and continuous industry, although they still fall shoii; of the enduring, toil-defying power of the Em'opean working- man in his own country. The number of people whom we have drawn here since the year 1835 is enough to stagger our faith in indiscri- minate importation. More than forty thousand have been added since that period to our population, and the crops are still fifty per cent, less than they were previously to the passmg of the Emancipation Act; yet wages evince a decided tendency to rise — signs that too truly indicate the inadequacy of om* additional workmen. Still, the Coohes had only been tried on a small scale, and on a few estates, when the clamour was raised against the Glad- stone slave-trade, as the faction too successfully styled the 231 emigration from India, and it was stopped, until lately revived again under the care of the imperial government. Thus, still, like drowning men catching at straws, we jump eagerly to seize the proffered advantage, and I, with all my forebodings, and little hope of anything, am carried along by the side of popular feehng — I should say, was so carried, for I confess I am astonished at the indifference which every^vhere prevails regarding this fatal Sugar Duty Act. I have conversed Avith many of our leading men, and members of the legislatm'e, on the subject, and they agree with me, that if government does not save us by immi- gration, we are certainly doomed; and some even fancy that in the veiy "nettle" of this danger they perceive the flower "safety." Notwithstanding the experience they have had of imperial legislation, they say ministers would not counsel such an insane act, if they had not some measure in store for us, perhaps unhmited Afi-ican immi- gration, which wiU enable us to support the competition; others, deeply inoculated -SAath free-trade principles, are sure we shall not suffer so much as I imagme, and a few maintain, boldly and ignorantly, that we possess advan- tages in our rich soil to counterbalance a host of evils. Such are the opinions of various parties in our Uttle state — the last two being those of the non-agriculturists and Uberal gentry of Georgetown. There are two or three, whom I could name, who see the measure in its proper hght, and say nothing about it, because, what would it avail them? They have no opportunity of remonstrating, and nothing will be attended to now until the effect of the Act appears, in the fall of prices ; and even then can we expect to get om* feeble wail listened to, amidst the tumultuous roar of Cobden's successful followers? As well might we expect the flood to hear the last ciy of the wretch whom it devours. Alas! wliile waiting in my lonely room, and committing to this silent depository my 232 thoughts and feeHngs, the latter will get the mastery, and I must give vent to them in strong and impassioned lan- guage. It is at such times that a man, full of his sub- ject, and having every concomitant ch'cumstance standing forth in bold relief in his excited imagination, is apt to curse — cm'se bitterly — the authors of his misery, and to fling from him, in M^rath, the record of his woes and of his country's cruelty. Let any man, gifted with ordinary powers of fancy, suppose himself for a few minutes to be in the position of the sugar planters ; let him think on the series of perse- cutions they have suffered, from the year 1823, the era of Canning's resolutions, to 1833, when the Emancipa- tion Act was forced on them, contrary to their most earnest remonstrances and their most impressive warn- ings. The struggle they have since maintained to keep up their estates, under the hope that their enemies in England would relent, and permit them to get proper labourers in the room of those who were abstracted from them, and only to find out at last that, instead of having their miseries properly considered, and the energy appre- ciated with which they have borne up against almost in- tolerable oppression, they were abused by the Wliig press as mdolent, and bigotted to old forms of agriculture; and Whig ministers, acting in conformity, have exposed them, by an act of parhament hastily passed, to certain ruin. The whole seems as if the anti-colonial faction, dis- pleased by the slow and gradual progi'ess of decay under the Emancipation Act, had resolved on another that would be more speedy in its operation. We look in vain throughout the period I have specified for a single mea- sure, devised by government, for our relief; on the con- trary, minor ones against us, such as the abohtion of con- tracts between master and labourer, were imposed; and, previously to the year 1845, the planters, in the teeth of 233 grievous impediments, were obliged to import, at their own expense, and at the risk of losing their money from want of written agreements, more than half of the people I have mentioned, from such places as the government would permit them to be brought. Since that year, cer- tainly, there is some appearance of a desire to promote immigration, very probably in the extravagant expecta- tion that it will enable us to support competition with slave-holding and slave-importing planters, which they purposed even then to expose us to. And who, I ask, could think and write coolly under such circumstances ? It is not in our nature. If the man be even placed in our position by the force of imagination only, he will re- coil with mingled feelings of fear and anger from the picture presented to him. Rebellion in all agas would have been the result of such insufferable wrongs, if there was the shghtest prospect of throwing off the yoke; but the powers that be rely no less on the weakness, than the known loyalty of the West Indians. If the latter had been wilHng and able to alarm the government by an affair such as the Canadian one even, ministers would not have dared to trample on and destroy them. But this vein must not be indulged in ; I must pause till " the heat be passed;" and, luckily, I hear my friend Ridley's voice in the gallery. I resume my pen to record our conversation. It seemed that he came expressly to find some relief in talk- ing, although with one who, in his opinion, sees things in the worst light; but since that day when he so frankly declared his o'i\ai sentiments, he does not shrink from mine as he did. Nevertheless, people desire to be com- forted or cheered, although by words that are but wind, and thus few like to converse freely with me, who have no reserve on the subject of om* condition. "Fine weather," said he ; " those showers will tell on the young canes; singular, that though cursed by man, we are 2o 234 supremely blessed by Providence; the oldest inhabitants say that they do not recollect such a series of good years in regard to weather during their lives, as that which has followed the year 1838." " It is remarkable. I think we have only had one rather severe diy season in all that time — truly, my friend, a watchful Providence is required when man is so reckless. Well, what do you hear now?" " The opinion gains ground that we shall have African immigration to any extent, subject to some limitations as to localities." "Ay; those limitations are just the point on which the whole must hinge. We have been allowed to do things before under limitations; but can you trace the report to any authority?" " No, none whatever ex- cept the conjectures of some recently arrived passengers." " I am glad of it, for the people here should not assist in deluding themselves — it is enough that others practise de- lusions on them — they cannot obtain so many people as they either expect or desire from Africa without buying them. Look at the report of our own agent at Sierra Leone — a clever, intelligent fellow, who devoted himself to the business for which he was sent, and who is now here. We cannot get free people, in a countiy where the bulk of the population are slaves, either readily or abundantly. The Kroo coast seems to be the only lo- cality which affords a reasonable prospect of them, and the whole of its inhabitants would not redeem the West Lidies, if transplanted there." " There are free people in Africa, it seems, but so scattered, that it is extremely difficult and expensive to collect them, i "How do your Indians get on?" "Why, just as be- fore. Brown is kept in hot Avater by their childish fri- vohty, and the little work they do in the fields, after he has succeeded in enticing them to it — the fact is, they get as much by one day's work as will purchase rice and pepper for a week, and why should they work?" "They have rollicking fellows at Success, who drink and cany on 235 / / as well as the Negroes, and pretty much like them." " And how do they get on ?" " They probably do more than yours. The calculation there is, that one Negro does as much as three — here Brown says one African does as much as fom* Coolies." " So he has said lat- terly ; in fact, our Hindus don't improve." " My Portuguese," said he, " are useless as field people, two-thirds of them being now in the hospital — they can- not stand the field work." " I begin to be assured of that also; for, even here, the fondness of money is becoming insufficient to keep them at it. They are availing them- selves of every saint's day that turns up, to be idle." "A rascally set they are! We cannot get them to attend to their sick relatives, and, if they die, they are left by them to be buried, as strangers may think proper; but a thing occurred the other day which I would scarcely have be- Ueved if any person had told me. " A woman had a child very ill with a dropsical affec- tion, that the doctor could not reduce except by tapping, which was done; but the disease retmiied, as it generally does; and when the woman observed it, she remarked that the boy was going to die, and very coolly took him out, laid him on the road, and deserted him. The black sick nurse found the poor thing lying there, and took it to the mmatural mother, but she ordered her ofij and the nurse brought it forthwith to me. From what I knew of them, I feared that the mother would destroy it, and di- rected the nm^se to keep it at her own house carefally out of her reach. It was a boy of about four years old, and in a couple of weeks he was better (apparently because he was away from his parent), and going about the door, where the jade espied him, and, seeing that he was nearly recovered, did not hesitate to demand him with the coolest efii'ontery. But I cannot allow of his restoration until we see farther." " They have little natural affec- tion. I have heard of worse instances than this of \ 236 youi's; nevertheless, they are an acquisition in their way 5 they force some Negroes to the fields, avIio would other- wise be porters, carters, and jobbers of all sorts, about town ; and they will do well enough at the buildings of our estates." " They make capital sugar boilers ; I have two in my copper wall, who are the best on the estate. But we can get plenty for in-door labom* — even Germans will do for that." " Ay ! it is the blazing smi that makes the difficulty, and there is no one but he who seems to have been designed by natm'e for the tropical agi'icultui'ist — the Aii'ican Negro that will cultivate our fields properly." " But what security have we that they would not follow the same course as oiu" present ineffi- cient NegToes, if they were here for any length of time?" "We have no way of avoiding that, except bringing them in such numbers as will keep wages at a rate suffi- cient for a comfortable subsistence, but not for the pm- poses of indolence and debauchery." " Well, well ! it is not difficult to foresee the tennination of it all. I think I am steeled to stand the worst. How are the Welling- hams ?" " Why, as usual, they do not seem much more than generally anxious. " " You have not heard the report, then!" "What is it, in God's name?" "Nay, nothing specially relating to them. It is said, in fact, that the house he is mortgaged to, along -wdth other planters, has sent instructions to their arrent here to foreclose all who owe more than one instalment." " My friend," said I, after a pause, during which I felt a choking sensation in my throat, " it is what we have looked for. Mortgagees must act as men usually do in their position. I wonder they ha^-e kept off so long." " And what -s^-ill they gain now?" "Why, the estates of their debtors, and, along with them, the chance that remains, if there is any, of retm'ning prosperity and former prices of plantations. In fiict, they keep up the latter now; and it is no more than fair that they should have the chance, such as it is, of benefiting by better times." " Is nothing due to the 237 people who have struggled so long and anxiously to pre- serve them?" " A large sum, the value of the property, minus the compensation money, is due to Wellingham by the British government; but, assuredly, the mortgagees are not bound to have any consideration for him. Yet, they have been considerate, and even Kberal." " Few men can reason so coolly, luider the circumstances, JVIr. Premium; but it must be allowed that you are right." " It is too frequently the case that creditors are estimated by their conduct, without any reference to circmnstances — why, they must act in this manner unless the debtor's interests are to be prefeiTcd to theu' own; and if you look at the value of property now, as compared mth what it was when these mortgages were passed, you will find that the holders of them must lose immensely, even by obtaining the estates." " There is no doubt that our property has been taken from us in an insensible, imper- ceptible manner, by the gradual depreciation which has crept on us; and a most singular state of affairs it is that makes a man who yet has no debt, and seven years ago was worth £40,000, to be considered worth no more than a few thousand dollars now." " Yet such is the case." " I see you are going — I shall go with you as far as Wellingham's. I found the family, for the first time during many months, in the forenoon, all at home. They looked gi'ave, and it was e\'ident had been discussing some very interest- ing question. I was not kept in suspense; for my daughter whispered, while she took my hand, "We have just heard the report; we ai*e quite resigned." She looked very pale, but quite calm. Charles had that sort of ap- pearance which a man has under an mfliction which he wishes the world to beheve he despises, wliile, at the same time, he feels it bitterly, and his father was M'o-begone and wretched in his aspect. "Well," said the latter, "you come to tell us the news, I suppose; our destiny is 238 soon to be accomplished. Jolmson has just infonned us, on the best authority — that of our mortgagee's agent — God's will be done!" "Really, after all, my friends," said I, as firmly as I could, "this is no great misfortune, if you consider the matter properly. The Scotch have a proverb which declares that it is better to have a cala- mity reahzed than always impending over us — "Better a finger ofi" than aye wagging," is the original. And it was never better applied than in this case. You cannot suf- fer more than you have endured for the last three years." "Quite true," cried Charles, ahnost sternly, "that is ex- actly what I am always sa^dng." " Come, then, the worst of it is parting with near and dear relatives — an mipleasant cu'cumstance, certamly, but wliicli yomig people, especially in this age of transmigTation, are almost universally doomed to." "Yes, indeed," said Grace, cheerily, "and this family is not parted, it is only I who shall be separ- ated from my family — a change that by marriage I was doomed to undergo already." Her voice faltered a httle, and that alone betrayed to others the uiward emotion that was gnawing at her heart, and, as I could perceive, strug- gling with her natm-al strength of mmd. "Ah!" said WeUingham, quite overcome, "this spot has witnessed the happiest days of my life; and here my angel vrife left me for a better world; here, too, my only child first saw the light; and thus to leave it, an outcast and a beggar!" "My dear Welhngham, this is not like yom' usual philo- sophical manner of receiving the buffets of a rascally world; look round you, and see how many men, as high in position, and as happy in eveiy relation of life, are now, or will be soon, exactly as you are. It is consoling to know that yom' misfortimes are not of yom* OAvn creat- ing. I, who am following in your footsteps, who cannot be more than a year or two behind you, feel that comfort from this circumstance wliich a vh'tuous and upright man ought to derive from a clear conscience under the 239 severest calamity. You shall be with your son, that is yoiu' principal consolation, and you have the means of establishing yom-selves in another and more fortunate land." "Thanks to you for that, my dearest father," said Grace, now also weepmg; "I am sure you have much dimmished your now scanty store for this pm-pose." "And what if I have; are you not one of us? are we not, Wellingham, one family? Wliat would you think of settling wnth my wife, whose health, as you know, is not so good now, in some sweet, retired cottage in Old Eng- land — Charles might take a farm." "No! by Heaven!" burst in the latter, wath a savage and fierce ejaculation, "I sit not do^vn a denizen of that country which has re- duced us all to starvation." "Charles, dear Charles," whispered his wife soothingly; and in a moment his better natm-e got the mastery. "Forgive me, fathers, for truly I know not what I do." Thus saying, he abruptly left the room. "Poor fellow," said Wellingham, "he has been blaming himself incessantly \Nathin the last twelve months, since our fate became certain, for linking one he holds dearer than himself wath his wretched fortunes, and to-day, I think, he is nearly distracted." "He does me wrong in that," replied my daughter, "for I entered on the duties of a wife, as my father knows, with a full knowledge of the evils we were likely to encounter, and a determina- tion to assist in combating them; but it is in vain to sug- gest those things to him now." "And you have been to him and me, my child, the solace and comfort of our lives; as God shall judge me. Premium," cried he ener- getically, "I do not believe I should have been here now, had we wanted yom- ministering angel of a daugh- ter." "Then," said I, with tears, for the first time during the painful interview, in my eyes, "then has she fulfilled her liigh mission, and I glory in my child; it is the dark hour of suffering, not the bright sunshine day of prosperi- 240 ty, that proves what we are. But Avhy should Charles be so sensitive? he was, like every man in the Colony, at the time of his marriage, sanguine in regard to the future; he did not anticipate times like these, and it is little else than folly, or morbid sensibilitVj thus to allow the faults of the imperial government to rest on his head, as acts of his own. I feared the temper and rather volatile nature of your son, when the marriage took place; he has fully, by his subsequent conduct, removed those fears, and esta- bhshed himself in my confidence and good opinion, and surely he is aware that it is so." "I know not," replied his wife, "but he is one of those who seek for applause within themselves entirely. Not that he docs not highly appreciate the good opinion of you both ; but still his mind is so constituted that he is unhappy unless he can try his conduct by it, and acquit himself." "Therein doth he not defer, as he ought, to the experience of others. Come, Charles!" continued I, as he returned, apparently com- posed, "sit down and let us discuss, quietly and temper- ately, the subject of the day." "I beg your pardon, all of you; but at times, I confess, I find it difficult to comj)ort myself with unvar^ang and miruffled composure; now I can do it, however, and pennit me to say, ISIr. Premium, that I feel a great reluctance to settling in England. I am a Creole, as you know; this is my native country, and if my Grace and I find that it is no longer a place for us, I would implore her to let our future tent be pitched in a foreign land." "And that land is Australia — so it was formerly arranged. This proposal of mine is made because of Mrs. Premium's state of health, which has only lately become indifferent." He did not speak, and I could perceive that his wife's eyes were suffused with tears. It was not difficult to guess at what was passing in her mind. "Charles has lately," said Wellingham, "taken a dislike to all countries under the swav of our British Ministers, and his ideas regarding Australia have 241 undergone an entire change." "Indeed! He has not stated that to me; and I was reffardino; Austraha as the last resource." "But, Charles, this is but an unmanly, not to say childish feelmg, wliich must soon go off." He shook his head. "Rely not on that, Sir; victims of op- pression, with passions like mine, are not soon reconciled to the destroyer." "Why, this is the language of insane rebelhon," said Wellingham; "for God's sake, Charles, keep yom'self under control, and teach yourself to speak and act with moderation." "I am cahn, you see, and dis- posed to speak quietly; still, it is my wish to give free utterance to my sentiments, where I may with prudence, and, in so doing, perhaps find relief from the pent-up fire that almost consumes me." Observing that his eye flashed and his nostril dilated, as he spoke, I was in doubt whether he could stand the ordeal that he wished to sub- ject himself to, but I felt, after all, it was better the work- ino;s of his mmd should have free vent, and advised him to conceal nothing that he either felt or desired. "I have only to say that my father misunderstands me alto- gether, if he thinks such absurdity as resistance to the power that overwhelms us ever entered into my calcula- tions. I merely meant to avow that my dislike to Eng- land, as a residence, has taken deep root within the last year, and, if forced to five there, I beheve I should deem every man I met a foe." "I really did not think as I spoke, Charles. I wished to see you command yourself, and converse Hke a reasonable person. Rebellion ! Alas ! it would indeed be a tempest in a teapot ! even if every colony, from Canada to Guiana inclusive, engaged in it." ^'Never for a moment, I am sure, has the thought of it been entertained through the wide spread settlements — yet much has been said, in language more ^-iolent than you ever heard me use, against those who have reduced us to beggary." "If such are your feehngs towards all places above which the British flag waves, whore would 2 II 242 you choose a residence?" inquired I. "Therein I am wilHng, and so is ray wife, to be guided by your wisdom and experience," looking at his father and me; "but the kindred states of America seem to offer the most pleasant, as well as the most profitable prospects, for one who, like me, is young, strong, and not unwilling to exert himself." "Their manners and customs, Charles," said his father, "are not those we have been accustomed to, and I scarcely think we would find the people so agreeable as you ima- gine." "But, Charles," said I, "it strikes me that your conduct now is at variance with your general behaviour. You are the least of a selfish person it has been my lot to meet with; would you desire to drag your father, and perhaps your wife, to a country they would not prefer?" I saw Grace watch him, in great anxiety. It was evident that she would select her native land, if the choice was with her. "I am sm'e my father has no partiality for the old country; but, I confess, I have felt many a pang, from reflecting that poor Grace might do violence to her feel- ings, in order to indulge me. Yet what can I do, Mr. Premium? I distrust myself. I feel that I Avould be always embroiled with the hard-hearted inhabitants, who would regard the feelings of a ruined planter as little as his fortune which they destroyed." "You must learn, my son, to do like others who live in the world. No man meets no one in life, except those he likes." "True; but few men cither can submit to be first knocked down, as we have been, and then abused, as we are likely to be." "Keep aloof from such wretches; they are not fit for society; only. control yom'self for the moment that chance throws you together, and avoid them like pesti- lence afterwards." He shook his head. "It is easy for you to talk, and it would be easy for me, also, to appear convinced by your arguments, but I have that within me which is incompatible with a residence in England — I 243 feel it." "But you can get the better of it. We shall say no more at present; you have yet many months to think of departure, even if you are sequestrated to-morrow; perhaps something will be struck out, meanwhile. But come all over to the Fortune and spend the day there; everything must be known now, and I trust to see you cheerful yet, even in the midst of all our dismal pros- pects." I had been preparing my wife, for months, to hear un- favom'able accounts from England. In fact, it was not difficult; for although I had used every precaution to keep unpleasant information from her, regarding the planters in general, and ourselves in particular, in a place where the very atmosphere seems to be impregnated with tidings of calamity, all my endeavoiu's, excepting in so far as the Fortune was concerned, proved unavailing. Althouo-h a woman who meddled with no business be- yond her own sphere, she was yet acutely sensible of any thing affecting the interests of her family; and suncby casual remarks about the WelKnghams, dropped from visitors in speaking of the planters in our district, first aroused her attention, and on talking anxiously with Jane, the latter, by degrees, let her know all that she had learned; so, without vexing me, they spoke to each other on the subject, and thus became gradually prepared for the worst that could happen — and the first portion of which I had now to announce. Sitting down with my wife, in her own room, I began to remind her of former private conversations aboiit bad news, which we might expect from home, and she, who was intently regarding me, heaving a deep sigh, exclaimed, "It is come now then. Jane saw it in your faces the moment the carriage drove up. God's will be done! and let us be thankful that we are all spared in everything but this world's goods." "I am rejoiced, bej^ond measm'e, my dear, to see you receive the intelligence so composedly — if, indeed, 244 you know what it is." "Perfectly. You have not been able to blind us as your good nature prompted. Welling- ham's estate is to go under execution." "Even so," said Ij much surprised, and no less pleased. "Since you be- have with so much fortitude and resignation, half of my uneasiness about it is gone. Wealth is not happiness. I feel for old WelHngham, rather than the young ones. Charles can earn a livelihood, and his wife can suit her- self to any state of society." " Oh ! Barton, do you remember how proud I was in England of that girl's superior appearance; beautiftJ in person, and elegant in manners, how few were her equals ! Now, she is thrown from the sphere she was born to adorn, and destined to be one of the drudges of creation ; it is yet hard to bear." "It is so, my love; but persons Avhose opinions are worth regarding, will think more highly of om' girl now, than when smTounded by admirers in a crowded drawing- room. I do; and I can safely declare, that I have had more gratification in beholding her amidst domestic dis- tress — I mean as a woman, apart from her own suffer- ings — than at any time in our gayest days. She is the model of a good wife; and if you only heard how Wel- lingham speaks of her!" "Thank God, Jane has declined all proposals in this vmhappy land; she is yet left to me." There was no contending against this display of disappointed female pride. Glad was I to allow her to run on in her o^vn strain, until she had exhausted her bitterness and vain repinings. At last I told her that I saw no prospect of any proprietor in the Colony getting out of the dreadful state we were all in, except by total ruin, unless, indeed, they have funds independent of their estates, and they have resolution to stop short in laying out, to uphold the latter, and e'en let them go. " You see, my dear, the advantage of a little caution. That £5000 I settled on you, and which is now safe in England, will, come what 245 may, keep you from want." I said this to make sure that, she had tlie prospect fully before her of our futm'e des- tiny." "I care not for myself, Barton; God knows, I can live on little, if I am put to it (she had never tried yet, good woman) ; it is for the girls I feel." And in this she was, doubtless, perfectly sincere. " But, oh ! how thankful we should be that our lives are spared, in a cli- mate where death is so common. Look at the case of those miserable Hutchesons, ruined also, and two-thirds of the family carried off about the very time their estate was sold by execution." "We are, indeed, blest, in com- parison with them, and many others. How many fami- hes, formerly rich, are on this day without a home! But now, my dear, go down and speak mth Grace; she went with Jane into her room ; and speak fi-eely whatever you think; have no reservation or concealment — only do not hint at her unfortunate marriage, it might have hap- pened had she been united to any one. Of this you may be sure, she has a good husband, and by no means repents of her choice, even under present afflictions." "I shall be severely tried, but you may trust me in regard to re- proaching her; how could you imagine" — "Nay, nay, don't misunderstand me; how can you imagine I could mean such a thing? You reproach yourself incessantly about her marriage, and I feared you might do so now; pray, avoid it, for she is even proud of Charles, and, after all, barring his strange temper, he is a fine, talented fel- low." "Well, now that I understand you, I shall set about this painful interview with great circumspection — painful it must be, for she has always concealed from me eveiything which I heard even from strangers, doubtless fi'om the kindest motives." "Oh! doubtless." We were that day a sorrowful, yet united family; but the gi'avest of the party were, unquestionably, Welling- ham and Mrs. Premium. The former seemed to be un- able to withdraw his mind from the contemplation of his 246 misfortunes, and the latter yearned to weep alone with her dauohter. I fear there had been more of this on their first meeting than I expected, for Jane told me that Grace had great difficulty, after repeated bursts of sorrow, in bringing her mother to a state of composm'e. She had forgotten altogether my cautions, and loudly blamed her- self for destroying her daughter's prospects in life, until the latter, stung by her remarks, firmly and emphatically told her that she did not repent, for a moment, of what she had done, and were it to do agam, she would marry Charles. Indeed, she said it had all been predicted, every thing that is to happen, by her father, as of probable oc- currence, and she, being guided by her affections instead of ambition, did not hesitate as to her choice. This had the effect, and the good lady, beginnmg to recover from the grief which the first sight of her child occasioned, recollected the purport of our conversation, and matters went on better. Jane told me that Grace, on tliis occa- sion, she was sure, cared for nothing but Charles. She was anxious about him, for his manner was disturbed, and his whole demeanour altered; he looked, in fact, like one at war with mankuid. K he recovered his usual state of muid, she would tliink what is to happen — nothing; in- deed, it is only what they all expected, and wherefore be overcome by it? In the evening, forming a family cu'cle A^'ithout a single person with whom it was necessary to be guarded, the conversation became soon interesting; for every one's mind being occupied in the same manner, we desired to find relief in talldng over the engrossing topic. "And now, Charles," said I, " you have had time to reflect on all that was said this forenoon. What do you say to try- ing England? I say trying; yom' father agrees to it, and your wife desnes it. Speak not, Grace; you did not tell me so, nevertheless I know it." " And so do I," replied Charles ; " and I have suspected it shice 1 first began to 247 feel as I do now." '' If T have ever led you to believe that I had another wish than yours in this matter, it has been iniwillingly," said Grace, very gravely ; " but since it has been observed that I would prefer England to America, it does not in the least alter what has been my intention — to do exactly that which will tend to promote your happiness, without regard to my feelings." " My dear Grace," said Charles, "can you imagine me so selfish as to permit such a course? I must say again, it is be- cause I have not faith in myself that I wish to avoid col- lisions with those who have wrought om* ruin. I am quite aware that what I say may appear silly, and very like boyish impatience; and if, after fully disclosing my feelings and sentiments as I have now done, it is thought advisable, and most lilvcly to promote the general happi- ness of the family, I am willing to do whatever you choose." "I expected this," was my answer. "I knew you would see the folly of repudiating yotu: country; for, after all, she is your comitry, and contams millions who sympa- thise with, and would save the unhappy planters. Think of that. They are not all of the Manchester school. And if you meet wth one of the latter description, surely, unless he is rude to you, you can restrain your dislike of him, and behave like a gentleman." " Really Charles," said Grace, wth a smile, "you are lilie a quarrelsome schoolboy in this matter; but now that you have put yourself into the hands of our seniors, all will go right. I confess I am happy now." Charles came round to her — " And is it possible that your happiness was in- volved in this question, and yet you would sacrifice it to humour my caprice, if it is such? Oh! how silly you have often made me feel ! how miserably below her who is my guide! and never more so than in this instance." So saying, he Idssed her hand affectionately, and yet re- spectfiilly, at which we all smiled for the first time that 248 day with anything Hke glee; and old Welhngham re- garded them both mth a beaming look of warm ap- proval. " Charles," said he, faintly smiling, " tell us frankly what has given rise to tliis suddenly increased hatred of England." " Sm'ely," rephed Charles, quickly, " it is not necessary to ask that. All feel as I do, but few so intensely — so engrossingly; and on that, I believe, lies the whole diiference. But I mil relate to you an anec- dote, which, perhaps — I vfWi not say positively— first in- duced me to think that the atmosphere of Britain, though cold enough, in all conscience, might be too hot for me. l^Hiile there, I was either at school or college, and I left it very yomig — as ignorant, in fact, of men and manners as a youth could be. So I cannot speak of the people fi'om experience. But, a few" months ago, I met Donald Campbell at a dinner party in town — ^you know he only retm'ued about that time, after an absence of a year — and he was relating, as all our visitors of Europe do, the singular things he had met with. Among other stories, he had one of an incident at an ordinary^, or table dlioie^ ill Liverpool, at which all were very agreeable, until, in the coiu'se of conversation, it came out that Campbell was a West India planter, when a surly man, who had scarcely spoken before, said abruptly, 'Planter, eh! hope you treat the blacks better — can you make them slaves yet? — flog them well, eh?' Campbell, you are aware, is very good-natured; so he laughed at this as a capital joke, and told him the flogging was all over — ' Worse luck ours.' 'Worse luck yours! eh? By G — d! if you had your deserts, you would all be flogged to death. Pay twenty millions, eh! and you are ruined! Sarve you right.' And he struck liis fist on the table, looking round for the approbation of the company. ' Surely, sir, you are joking,' said Campbell, veiy quietly. 'No, sir, I never joke. My opinion is that eveiy planter must be a 249 rascal — take it as yoii like.' ^ Shame! shame!' cried one or two, while Campbell rose coolly enough, and struck the brute to the floor. ' Gentlemen,' said he, then, to the rest — ' a few years ago, I was a man of good fortune — I am now on the brink of ruin, by the agitation of such men as that,' casting a look of scorn on the humbled anti-colonist — 'that is my apology for this rude be- haviom\' They were candid enough to say he was right, and his opponent got a hint to move ofP, not without a card from Campbell, however, but nothing more came of it. Now, such a thing as that would, I fear, bring me into a scrape that would make you all wretched." " But, don't you see the feehng was against that bnital fellow?" said Wellingham. "Well, well, I am schooled good manners be my speed." We were all much better now, and even rather cheerful. " You should kiss your wife's hand agam, Charhe," said Ge^jrge — " 'the rod,' you know." " 'They prate of scars who never felt a wound,' — ^but this is no time for jesting, George," said Charles, more gravely; "we must settle our future proceedings even now. Do you not think so, father?" "The sooner the ^better; for we do not know how soon the provost- marshal— that gentleman, who has had the misfortune to become grey, and be obliged to use spectacles at sixty, which is beheved to be his time of life, may be among us with his myrmidons. You are aware that he has op- posed the projected reform in his office, on the plea that it would very unjustly diminish his emoluments, after he had been made prematm'ely old, at the above age, by om- chmate. Thus the underhngs of government still seek to batten in om- impoverished Colony!" "I heard of the absurdity," said I; "it is of a piece with the rest. This man, a subaltern officer in the army, has enjoyed a place worth £2,000 per annum for a length of time, and when it is found the business of the office can be done at an iramenselv inferior cost, he coolly objects his own 2 I 250 paltry interest to the necessary improvement." " Well," said Grace, " but I think we must let him alone lest it be said we are rancorous from our present position ; ' the man must do his miserable duty,' as yovir favourite hath it, papa." " It is even so, child," replied I. " But with regard to your proposition, Charles, I think we would be prema- ture till you ascertain when the mortgagee means to pro- ceed. The season for going to Europe is still tlu'ee months off. If he puts you under sequestration sooner, why, you can all come here — there is room enough." " Wliat you say is perfectly just," said Wellingham, though it did not strike me at first. I fear I am like Charles — a little impatient under the circumstances." " Barton, Barton," said my poor wife, who had kept wondei'fully silent, " are you going to send me off in this manner, without even consulting me ?" " My dear," said I, "the doctor told you a trip to a cold climate will soon be essential to you, and I thought we had discussed the matter then." " True enough, but you always in- sinuated that you were to go also; and I shall not go without you — that's flat." "We shall see, three or four months after this; there is really no necessity for making hasty arrangements." We then entered into a rather lengthy discussion on the state of the Colony generally, and that especially of om' own acquaintances and neigh- bom's, each communicating what particulars he had learned at different times since the fatal news arrived of the new Sugar Duty Act; and nothing can be more de- plorable than the aspect of affairs; at the same time, it is quite evident that the great body of the planters remain steadfast in their behef in the powers of indiscriminate immigration, from those unsuitable sources permitted by the imperial government. Tlu'oughout the afternoon, however, the behaviour of the elder Wellingham was con- strained, and far fi'om being easy. It was not difficult to 251 perceive that he had received a blow too severe tor his sensitive nature, and efforts were required to induce his friends to believe that he had got over the worst. Charles still preserved, though somewhat modified, the dogged, sullen look which he had the whole day; while his wife, with an even flow of checrfid conversation, or of consecutive observation rather, which Avas wonderfid, strove to 4nake us all as comfortable as possible; and she did succeed partially with all, though her mother could scarcely do anything but watch her, with a teaiiul eye, all the time they were with us. Jane, however, ably seconded her sister; and they gTadually led us all out of this miserable country to the merry days of childhood in their fatherland; and after talking over old stories for a little — "And why not revive those days? We are poor, but we shall be happy, happy as the rustic people aromid us," cried Jane; "we ought to rejoice that we shall be so much better off than many of our wretched acquaintances; it is a sin to repine — is it not, papa?" " It is, my dear. Under our circmnstances, you are right to be as cheerful as you can — or under any circumstances; for it is not only against the Divine com- mand to give way to despair, but it betrays a weakness in our nature, based on a selfish principle — for there are few so stricken by misfortune as not to be less severely hit than others." " All tilings should be judged by com- parison, suffering like the rest; and ours is nothing to that of twenty I could name in a breath," said Grace. " Oh ! my dear child," cried her mother, "how can you?" " Dear mamma, just Usten, while I show you how happy we are to be: — We shall have a nice farm, with a j^retty cottage and a large oak tree, near a brook, exactly like that we had in other days; and the children shall play under the tree, as we did m days of yore; and you shall behold them as you did us; and you will be so happy." Mamma smiled through her tears at this. " And Jane 252 shall sing that song which papa wrote when he came here, about the two countries and then' inhabitants." " I shall sing it now," cried Jane, getting up, excited by her sister's enthusiasm, and looking at me for approval. " Truly, my dear," said I, " I think the music may do good," glancmg at Wellingham, who seemed at times quite abstracted. Jane ran to the piano, and, speedily arrano-ino; her music, sano; one of those effusions — half comic, half serious — that I wT^-ote in better days for their amusement, and meant to warn them against the gay life which they had been told the West Indians gene- rally led. March, 1847. A PAJMPHLET has just appeared, written by "a planter," which has caused a great sensation throughout the pro- vince. In it the writer points out the effects of the Emancipation Act on the crops of this Colony, which have been diminished by one half; and, as the conse- qvience of such a falling off, a fearful depreciation of pro- perty, which he clearly proves by quoting the sales of the same estates, at different periods, dming slavery and freedom; winding up the whole by stating all the sales which have occmTed since the year 1838; from which it appears, that up to 1 840-1, the prices continued to be good; but, after that year of high-priced sugar, there was a gradual decline in the value of estates, until, in 1846, they were reduced to one-fifth of the prices obtained in 1840. He then shows the utter im- possibility of competition with Cuba and Brazil, to which we are exposed, imder such adverse cu'cumstances; ex- posed, in fact, at a time when nothing but a remedial measure, in the shape of additional labom*, could save us from ruin, even under the protection we enjoyed, as the consequence of emancipation. The mad policy of our 253 government cannot fail to strike every one, on peiiising this unpretending paniplilet. It is diflficult to account for the excitement it has caused here, for the truths stated are exactly those wliich came under the observa- tion of eveiy man ; perhaps with many it merely gave utterance to their own hidden and secret thoughts; while, with others, not given to thinking, it placed their case so stronoiv before them as to arouse attention and create alarm. The anti-colonial gentry among us are fiuious at the author, a very qmet, unassuming character, who keeps aloof as much as he can from pubhc affairs, and denomice his production as tending to cause unne- cessary alarm. One Radical paper declares it to be downuight non- sense, for the Colony is just on the " turn," and com- mencing a career of unprecedented prosperity, under the auspices of free-trade. Really, the madness of party is the most singular of all varieties of the disorder. One could scarcely fancy that it would go so far, m the teeth of facts staring every one in the face. But while the ma- jority of the colonists unite in praising this production, they seem to overlook the object of the author, which, as he explains in his preface, is to draw attention to what he considers the only means by which the Colony can be saved from complete ruin; and these are, the removal of all restrictions in bringing people from Africa, and per- mitting British subjects to purchase slaves there, for the purpose of emancipating and bringing them to the West Indies. He proposes, in fact, the adoption of a plan similar to that recommended by ISIi'. Hume, by which the West Indies may be preserved, and the cause of humanity and of civilization signally advanced. He also declares, un- equivocally, that without this measm'e it will be impos- sible, m his opinion, to continue the cultivation of sugar in the British settlements. 254 I have already said that I hesitated as to the propriety of adopting a scheme hke IMi-. Hume's, on account of its bemg a departm'e from the hne of poHcy and the position we had taken up in regard to the slave-trade, and might give foreign nations reason to say that we were evading our treaties, and acting -with insincerity towards them. The beneficial effect of it on the Negroes I never doubted, though that is exactly what is called in question by the anti-colonists. There can be no doubt either that the iniui of the sugar colonies can be prevented only by such a measm'e. It may be doubtful if even it shall succeed. The fact is, that if it shall not, nothing else can. In order to give a clear and distinct record in these pages of my ideas on this important topic, it is necessary to take a view of the present state of the African popu- lation, in regard to the slave-trade. The newspapers are already teemmg with accounts of the impetus given to it by the Sugar Duty Act of last year, and preparations are making by parties interested in Cuba and Brazil, for cai'rying it on with a vigour commensm'ate with the grand object to be attained — of doubhng their crops, under the enhanced prices of produce, and thus quadi'upling the revenues of their estates. It is impossible to doubt that these statements are correct; for, if the planters and merchants of those countries found it to be of so much advantage to them, when sugar was at a low price, how great must be their inducement now, when the British government has actually placed riches within their reach. It cannot be doubted that the coast of Africa will swarm with slavers, and that the slave-buying in the in- terior will be increased m the same proportion. I do not doubt also that we shall have the men of Manchester exclaiming against the blockade, as being of no use, be- cause the trade is evidently increasing under it. This is in their usual style of sophistry. The efficacy of the blockade must be judged by the 255 number of captures, and not by the number wlio escape ; for the increase in the latter is to be ascribed entirely to our famous Act of 1846; — where there are ten vessels for one Avhich existed before, those which get clear off with their cargoes must increase in the same ratio; and, pro- vided the stimulus continues to exist, it will be found absolutely impossible to put down the traffic, when we consider the extent of coast, and the relative position of it and Brazil, between which the distance is so short, and, in both cases, the length to be blockaded some thousands of miles. The absolute suppression of the trade by ships of war, between Africa and Brazil, will at once appear to any person, on observing these particulars, impracticable. But no rational man will imply, from that unfortunate circumstance, that the doctrines of free-trade should be applied to this abomination, and the fleets ■s^'ithdra■s^^l. We might as well say to a surgeon, that, if he cannot cure his patient radically, he should allow the disease to destroy hun at once; or to a felon, that, because we can- not put an end to the commission of the crime for which he is con\dcted, we resolve to let him go unpunished. But what care the cotton lords of Manchester? doubtless those mischievous men-of-war interfere with the sale of broad cloth and trumpery, which are usually exchanged for slaves, and thus their operations are thwarted. I firmly beHeve that we shall have them, hereafter, endea- vouring not only to remove the blockade, but the treaties imder which it exists. Such persons, wath Cobden and Bright at their head abroad, and IMilner Gibson as their representative in the cabinet, mil raise the cry of hu- manity to cloak their proceedings, while their actions clearly show that no class of men can be more resolved to advance their own interests, hrespective of every other consideration. If it is allowed, as I think it must be, that hoAvever 256 much the traffic may be crippled and impeded by tlic activity of cruisers on the coast of Africa, it must, as a necessary consequence of access being permitted to the EngHsh sugar market, continue to such extent as to take off many thousands annually to Cuba and Brazil, but especially to the latter country, unless means are devised to strike at the root of the evil in its very stronghold. And it does appear to me, that a measure such as that recommended by Mr. Hume, carried on mider the super- intendence of the governments of France and Great Britain, would be most Hkely to effect that purpose. France, in consequence of what is now going on -udthin herself among the fi-iends of emancipation, \^ill soon be in the same position as our owm countiy in regard to her colonies, for the latter will be forced to emancipate their slaves, and, consequently, the same deficiency in the ac- customed labom", will impose on her the necessity for ef- fectual measures to supply what it wanted. The two nations must either adopt some scheme to give the plan- ters hands to cultivate their estates, or come to the reso- lution of allowing their sugar establishments to perish. And whether we regard this plan as one calculated to benefit the West Lidies, or to promote the cause of hu- manity and the ci^^lization of mankind, it will be deserv- ing; of attention. In considering it, "\A-ith reference to the latter, we must never lose sight of the fact that the purchase of the Afii- can slaves by the persons whom the two governments appoint for that purpose, would be followed by their manumission on the spot; and that those men, thus re- deemed fi.-om slavery for ever, would inevitably fall into the hands of the illicit slave-dealer, and be dragged, at the hazard of theu' lives, and through shocking hardsliips, to unmitigated bondage, or be butchered on the coast, miless they were thus to fall under the merciful protection of lawfid authority. The opponents of the scheme dwell 257 with a sort of hoiTor on it, because it is actually renewing the slave-trade, and purchasing human blood, bones, and sinews. In all ages, the act of setting a captive free has been accounted holy; and breaking asunder the chains of the slave has been esteemed a deed of singular beneficence and magnanimity, when accomplished, as it would be in this case, at the cost of individuals. In the chivalrous times of Eiu'ope, men devoted themselves to the redemp- tion of their countrymen, enslaved by the heathen, as an atonement for crimes. It is natural for us to revolt, at first, from the purchase; but let any man put it to him- self, whether, if he had a brother who was a slave, he would not consider it a good deed to pay down his price, and knock off liis fetters. Would any man pause at the threshold of the captive's dungeon, the two being so connected, to inquire whether he was not about to infi-inge on a grand principle, by buying a man? It is ahnost absurd to suppose that any such person exists among those who are worthy of being called men. On the contrary, the -svretch who would hesitate for a moment, under such ckcumstances, would be regarded as an outcast from society — and most de- servedly. If the principle is morally and rehgiously right, it applies equally, and with as much force, to the case of the poor, friendless Negro, as that of him who is brother to the noblest minister in our cabinet. The slavery they endui'e in Africa is of the most cruel and degi'ading de- scription — then' Hves being at the disposal of their lords, themselves savages, and accustomed, both by habit and disposition, to look on their slaves in the Kght of cattle, and, as unworthy of feehng or commiseration, to be slaugh- tered with as httle remorse. That this is matter of fact can be ascertained by reference to any traveller who has visited the head-men (kings, forsooth!) of any of their tribes. Let us place in juxtaposition the condition of a Negro, 2 K 258 after he has been sold to one of those iUicit dealers, and that of another who has been taken up by our govern- ment, and redeemed to be manumitted. The wretched slave, being transferred to the vessel, is forced to squeeze himself into a space wliich his body occupies enth'ely, and in which he lies exactly like a herring in a barrel, with the thermometer at blood heat, and the atmosphere im- pregnated, to a pestilential degree, with exhalations from hmidreds of bodies so packed. The constant and exces- sive persph'ation creates an immoderate thirst, which all the water the ship is able to carry can only irritate, not allay — and this of itself is a species of torture almost in- tolerable. Throughout the Aoyage, even if it is favom- able, no alle\iation can take place in his distressing situa- tion. The poor wretch may die in his place, and he days before his body is removed. I beHeve this occurs on almost ever)^ passage. But, if the weather is boister- ous, the incessant jostling, caused by the rolling and pitching of the vessel, aggravates, to a state of perfect agony, the miseries of his former condition. Many of them die under the consequences of a gale of wind. If he is attacked by sickness, he has scarcely a chance of recovery, as one may imagine, mider the cu'cumstances, and dysentery is a prevaiHng disease among them, o^^ang to the bad quality of the food (generally a mess of inferior rice, perhaps half boiled) with wdiicli it is customary to supply them. In short, it is computed that a tliird or fom'th of their numbers at embarkation, will be lost on the voyage, in ordmary cases; and the fact is too well ascertained, that the ruffians in charge of them have, on sundry occasions, thrown them overboard when the ship was chased by our cruisers. Let us next behold him with his fellows, meagre, sicldy looking, and dejected, in the baracoons, at Brazil or Cuba, Avaiting for purchasers. He is handled like a cow in the same position, and at length is taken off by a 259 planter to his estate, where, we have it from undoubted evidence, he is forced to work sixteen out of every twenty- four hours, and, in place of a comfortable cottage in which to repose for the few miserable hom's he is allowed to sleep, he is driven with the rest into a sort of stockyard, vdth an open shed, where, like any other cattle, they are locked up for the time of rest permitted to them — no se- parate houses being granted to particular families. This promiscuous huddlmg together of them, like inferior ani- mals, is miiversally practised — in Cuba, at least. The poor creature has no hope of alleviation — no relief to look forward to — except in death. Now, let us see the other pictm*e. — There is a man, manacled and tied to his comrade, with a dogged, sullen look, as if expecting, yet not caring for some dreadfiil doom. He is handed over to the white man, who tells him he is free as the wind of heaven, but, as the price of his freedom, he must work for fiA^e years in the West Indies, during which he ^vill be paid for liis labour at a rate much higher than he could form any idea of; that he should be allowed to choose his master at the end of every month, if he desired it ; and the law would protect him in every right and privilege which all men enjoy there; then, at the end of the five years, he might retmni to his own comitr}^, rich in money, but richer still in the civilization he has acquired, and in being admitted a member of the Church of Christ. He falls prostrate, overcome by his good fortune, and, on rising, his aspect has undergone a wonderful transmutation — hope is there now, and the joy of unexpected happiness. He is taken to a vessel fitted up "s^^th the most scrupulous attention to the comfort and the health of its inmates, and bomid by the Passengers' Act to carry no more passengers than three for every five tons of her burthen. There is a medical man, vnth. a suitable nmnber of nurses, to attend him in illness. His food is carefully proA'ided; and to 260 the cooking and distribution the utmost attention is paid by the officers of the ship. The Negro feels at once that he has entered on a new state of existence, compared with which his Hfe in the African wilderness was as darkness to light. This continues with him. On landing, he is hired by a planter, who places him in a substantial cottage, with as much garden ground as he chooses — furnishes him witli what articles he reqiures on the instant, besides his working implements, and tells him that he shall be suppHed regularly with provisions, until he has learned the manner ui which his comitrymen buy their own food; and, finally, that he shall be paid as his comrades are paid, at the rate of twenty-pence for a task easily done in fom' hours. Behold him on the after- noon of his first working day. He is sitting at the cot- tage door — his work being over— and he is tuning his banjar with an expression of inward satisfaction and con- tentment which the sun of Africa never beheld on the visage of a slave. In a desert lone, mischance had rooted him ; Transplanted now to this soft vale, Like the green thorn of May his fortune flowers ! To be the property of any man is the hardest lot as- signed by Providence to a human being. But to belong to a savage, in a comitry where neither law nor justice is permitted to interfere between the two, is to be con- signed, by cruel destiny, to the very acme of earthly miseiy. We find, accordingly, that the degraded crea- tures, when first brought into communication with Em'o- peans, are exactly such as a long, hereditary coui'se of suf- fering and subjection would make them. Scarcely re- sembhng, either physically or morally, the enlightened inhabitants of a civilized country, they strike the latter with astonishment. And it is a fact well kno^vn in the 261 West Indies, that the poor wretches, on coming to the colonies in former times, rejoiced exceedingly on finding that, when they committed a transgression which re- quired correction, they were flogged, and not beheaded. I have often been told by Afincans — " Buckra country good — no cut head — floggee no more;" which phrases express exactly the same sentiment. It is from this condition, then, that it is proposed to rescue them; and the proposal is regarded with horror by the Manchester school, whose goods now form the medium of exchano;e between the Brazilian dealer and the native slave-owner. They are shocked, in the first place, at the idea of simply purchasing men and women, whatever may be the motive; and, in the next place, because the African chiefs will have, from the opening of this new market for their slaves, an additional inducement to en- gage in wars for the purpose of acquiring them. But, does it not appear, on the first view of the case, that if a powerful king should drive the whole of a neighbouring tribe before him to the coast — a tribe who were the slaves of a rival chief — to be there sold to the Europeans, and emancipated instantly afterwards, the tribe in question par- ticularly, and the cause of humanity generally, would gain immeasurable advantages ? But they say again, battles must be fought, and many people slain, before one nation could obtain possession of the slaves of another. It is doubtful if such wars are undertaken ; but they are not likely to be bloody when the object is to take captives; and we have the authority of travellers for the fact, that the slaughter occurs when the captors have been disap- pointed of a market on reaching the coast, where it is the custom to put their prisoners to death, to save the cost of maintaining them until a slaver arrives, that being gene- rally higher in amount, even for a few Aveeks' mainten- ance, than the few yards of paltiy Manchester cloth, or the Birmingham musket given as the price, would suffice 262 to repay. But tlie melancholy fact is too well known, that the inducement already exists which an extended market affords. And the question really to decide upon is, whether it is better to allow the captives taken in those wars (if such there be) to be carried as slaves to Brazil and Cuba, or brought, as free people, to the colonies of France and Great Britain? For, if we consider the ad- vantages which the commissioners of those two countries would possess over the illicit trader, there can be no doubt that, in a short time, they would obtain possession of the market, and drive the latter altogether out of it. Instead of bringing their slaves for sale by stealth to the coast, and concealing them there, the chiefs would fetch them openly, receive their price, and see them manu- mitted immediately. Treaties might be entered into Avith them, by which they would be boimd to produce their slaves at periods specified, when vessels would be prepared to receive them, and the certainty of getting them disposed of, mth- out the delay now attending then" transfer, and the con- sequent expense, would be sufficient to secm'e to the emancipators a monopoly of the trade, and, together vnth the operations of the fleet, which can by no means be dispensed with for a time, in a short space to put doyni altogether the present barbarous and destnictive system. The number taken off from the coast of Africa, as free labom'ers, would certainly not exceed that which must be can'ied away by the slavers under the stimulus of the new Sugar Duty Act, which, it is computed, ^rill average from 60,000 to 100,000 a-year. It may be doubted, in- deed, if the agents of lawftd authority would take so many as those of the brutal traders; nevertheless, it is unquestionably in their power to get whatever propor- tion may be judged proper, by the means which I have just mentioned, and by giving a price as high as that which is customary with the latter. Now, if this be the 263 case, as it seems indubitably to be, what becomes of the argument that we would create wars by the new demand for slaves? I cannot perceive that any measure, except the restoration of his former protection to the British sugar cultivator, would be so successftil in uprooting the dreadful enormity which stands forward at this moment — the foulest blot, mider all the circumstances, on the honour of Great Britain. We have entered into solemn treaties with foreign states for the suppression of it, and, like the thief who hoodwinks his victim by a fair show of honesty and candour, while he is meditating how to rob him, we offer a premium to the brutal smugglers engaged in the hor- rible traffic, in order that sugar may be three farthings per pound cheaper to the English consumer, and we sieze as many as we can of those who are bought by the ilhcit dealers, and do with them precisely what we might do without subjecting them to the risk of a mm'derous voy- age, and a perpetuation of their enslaved condition. I am interrupted by the rapid galloping of a horse into the court, and by exclamations of grief and sm-prise. — I sit down, after an interval of two days, to record the dreadful incident which has overwhelmed us all. The horseman proved to be a messenger jfrom my eldest daughter, who despatched him, scarcely knowing what she did, to summon me in haste to her house. The man told, in the same breath, that his old master was no more — ^he having been found dead m his bed-room, a few minutes before he came away. It is impossible to describe the effect this shocking intelHgence had on my family. It was some time ere I could bring them sufficiently near a state of composm'e to permit of my leaving them for a still more painful scene. I found Grace in a fi'ame of muid that did surprise me, although I knew the power she possessed over herself on such emergencies. She re- quu'ed it all, for her husband was frantic. He had thrown 264 himself on his father's body, and, but for her, on the first impulse of his excited feehngs, it is hard to tell what might have happened. I fomid Robertson with her, and speak- ing in a soothing strain, wliile Charles lay on the floor, his body occasionally agitated, as if by some convulsive movement — but he spoke not a word. I tried to rouse him to self-command, but he merely raised his head, and cast on me a scowl, in which grief, despau', and even anger were strangely blended. "Oh! Charles! my hus- band!" cried his wife, "wiU you not speak to me — me?" and she, as if giving way also to the emotion with which she had hitherto struggled so successfully, lay down be- side him. Suddenly, the victim of woe, putting his arm round her, burst into a passion of tears, and the doctor whispering that he would be better now, we withdrew together. Robertson then, in answer to my anxious inquiries, told me that ^ir. Welhngham had never consulted him about any illness, and he had learned from Mrs. Charles and the servants that he ajDpeared, particularly witliin the last ten days, in very low spirits, but there was notliing else about him to indicate siclaiess. I could not fail to per- ceive that there was unusual embarrassment about the doctor, as he talked in this manner. "In God's name, then," said I, "what is it?" "This; which I found in the room," replied Robertson, after surveying me keenly to see, I suppose, whether I was composed enough, and he drew from liis pocket a vial, labelled, "Prussic Acid — Poison." I felt a faintness upon me, lUve a bhght, at tliis unexpected intelligence, and sank into a chah"; a draught of cold water, promptly administered, revived me in- stantly. "Do they know it?" asked I, eagerly. "No." "Thank God for that." "Just my opinion," said the doctor; "in fact, I would have kept it fi'om you, for no other person has seen this fatal proof of the mihappy deed; your daughter was too much occupied mth her husband. 265 and none of tlie servants can read. But there is another evidence, and only one. I found this on the table." So saying, he handed to me a note, sealed, and addi'essed to me. Instantly opening it, I read the few following words: — "My Dear Premium, — I am one of many \ic- tims to the times. I cannot bear up against my evil for- tune. You or Robertson will be first here, and no one before you come will be in a fit state to examine into this room. I rely on your discretion. Farewell, my dear old fi'iend; may God bless and preserve my children, forgive me, and permit us all to meet in a better world. C W." Tears fell fast fi'om my eyes as they dwelt on this fatal scroll. "Alas! poor Wellingham! yoru' sensitive nature was all too frail for the mighty bmrthen fate had imposed on you; and your son, stronger, yet so much the creature of impulse, what is to become of him, for he regarded his father as part of his own being! " "Time," said Robert- son, who entered into my feelings, and sympathized ^vith them; "it will be dreadful at first, but we have notliing to fear; his mind is strong, and the firm beliaviour of his wife will gradually bring him round." It appeared that the court had, two days previously, issued its ^'Fiat Executio" against him, and the mp'mi- dons of the law must, of necessity, be within a day or two in possession of his estate. No one had told me of it, for, in fact, it was a matter of com-se, and just as certain of occm'rence as any other event. I thought WeUingham resigned, and perfectly prepared. But his old servant told me he spent many a solitary hour at his wife's gi'ave, and his opinion is, that parting with that spot troubled him more than anything else. We agreed that the cause of death should be concealed, and that the secret, known only to us two, should be inviolably kept. I had no doubt of Robertson's discretion; and it was a relief to me to think that I had it in my power to save those who were dear to me the miseiy of knowing it. While we were 2l 266 still speaking together, a servant mentioned that Mr. Ridley was in the drawing-room. We went down and found him, with mingled concern and consternation on his honest countenance. He had galloped over on the impulse of the moment, to learn the truth. "It is, in- deed, a sad and sorrowful event," said I; "but God's will be done!" "So sudden; Avhat has it been — a fit?" "Just so," said the doctor, readily; "sometliing of that sort." After making many kind inquiries for the family, and offering to look after the estate in the meantime, the warm-hearted fellow left us. For some days I made that house my principal place of residence, and had the satisfaction of seeing Charles gradually regain his self-possession, under the skilful and assiduous guidance of my daughter. The estate was put mider sequestration two days after the funeral, and Rid- ley relieved from the charge of the cultivation, wliich he had entered on with zeal and alacrity, although he had much to do at home. My own affairs demand my most anxious attention. The crop of tliis year promises indif- ferently, and the sugar market already evinces a tendency downwards. It is evident that I shall soon be among the majority of planters, and burthened with a plantation which cannot pay its expenses; while the funds I possessed elsewhere are exhausted. I may be thankful that my mind is of a different stamp fi:-om poor Wellingham's; but I cannot help feehng as if I were an altered man, and, truly, the change fi^om wealth to poverty must pro- duce a revolution in a man's moral condition. It is scarcely possible that one can possess the same ideas, the same feel- ings, or the same habits, when circumstances operate so powei-fullyon his external and physical relations. Whatever it may be — whether my health is beginning to fail under the load of anxiety with which it has long been oppressed, or a gloom is settling on me from contemplating the past and the future in conjunction, and producing that change 267 on the man which I liave just been speaking of, I know not, but things are appearing to me under a new aspect. My family must go to England, for my wife is far from being well, and it is desirable that she and the Welling- hanis should be removed, in a month or two — but I really cannot move — it is just the crisis. One year will decide whether it is possible to do anything in tliis unhappy place, and it is right that I should make the trial, although I am satisfied ah^eady that, mider the immediate influence of fi'ee-trade and of Manchester, little short of a miracle will prove adequate to the vast change that must occur — first in the minds, and afterwai'ds in the measures of those on whose fiat rests the destiny of om* colonies. Three weeks have now elapsed since Welhngham's unhappy death, and liis son is again fit for the active duties of life, although shockingly altered in appearance, and grave and moody in manner. I am almost daily tlurowing out hints and insinuations to lead them all gi'a- dually into the behef that I must remain another year in the Colony, in order that justice may be done to my af- fairs, and every remaining chance allowed them. Ridley has just been with me. He has been fortunate enough to meet with a man who has faith in the mother country, and in our powers of competition, and who has actually offered him fom* thousand pounds for his estate. "It was sold for £50,000, twenty years ago," said he, "the land and buildings being valued at half of that sum. I am, therefore, offered less than a sixth of their cost before the passmg of the Emancipation Act; and for the other half (the value of the slaves) about £10,000 were paid; so that, if I accept this sum, the loss on the property, inflicted by the British government, will be £36,000." "Be wise in time, my fiiend," said I; "would I had taken what I could get some years ago ! You are losing yearly; put a stop to such losses, and keep what you have." "It is my own opinion," replied Ridley, \vith tears in his eyes; 268 "but, ;Mr. Premium, the hardship is great, after so much exertion, and so much dreadful anxiety, to begin the Avorld again!" "It is too true, my dear Ridley, and I can only say that we are aU alike; the demon of destruction seems to have taken possession of om* rulers." " Rather," said he, with ghstening eyes, "the fanaticism of theory, and the spirit of party. I was lately reading 'Hmnphrey Clin- ker,' and there I met with the description of a prime minister's levee, wliich struck me forcibly. I mean the scene where Mr. Bramble, while waiting iu the ante-room, perceives the Turkish ambassador enter with his drago- man, whose anival being annomiced, the minister, then in the hands of his barber, rushes, with the cloth mider his chin and liis face covered with soap suds, to embrace the amazed Turk, and then returns to finish his toilet. The ambassador, wiping off the soap, addresses a few words to the dragoman, turning up his eyes at the same time, and JVIr. Bramble, being curious to know what he said, makes inquiry, and learns that he had exclaimed piously, 'Holy Mahomet! no wonder this nation prospers, when it is governed by a council of idiots!' The only difference between that comicil and the present seems to be, that their measures are not alike successful." "Yes; truly our present cabinet should stand high in the estima- tion of a true Mussulman — who believes that fatuous persons act under the inspiration of Heaven." "I can- not tliink, after all," rephed my fiiend, "that ministers really believe in those monstrous theories which are pro- pounded to them by the anti-colonial faction, and imposed by that power, which in all ages has overcome right." "You mean, of course, the power ft'om behind, which, unseen, pushes them and the nation to destruction." "I mean the strongest party, which gives law to government, for, latterly, this has been invariably the case in every great question." "Ever since the passing of the Reform 269 Bill, which estabhshed the predominance of the democra- tic piinciple, and, consequently, of the manufacturing in- terest, in the decisions of pai'Kament. In former times, we had members of parliament; we have now delegates sent there, not to express their ow^n opinions, deliberately and maturely considered before being adopted, which, as educated men, they are able to do, but to state the sen- timents on the government of nations taken up by igno- rant men, m ho are neither able nor willing to weigh deh- berately the arguments for and against a measure, and who bawl for what they ai'e told, by demagogues more knowing than themselves, is for their o^vn advantage." We had a long conversation, which ended as all con- ferences here do now — -vN-ith a feelhig of animosity against her Majesty's advisers; which, though certainly finding vent in such observations as I have just recorded, is, by the reciprocation of opinion, more excited m the main. Surely no one can wonder at such a state of feehng among men who see theu' fortunes, in most instances created by themselves, swept away by no act of their own, but by the deeds of others, from their grasp. Poor Ridley seems dreadfully crest-fallen. I imagine his des- tination ^A-ill be Cuba, from some incidental remarks that dropt fi:om him. I beheve he will take the paltry sum offered for liis once fine estate, and withdraw for ever fi'om British rule. 1st July, 1847. The clouds are lowering more and more gloomily on our political atmosphere. Prices of produce show akeady decidedly the influence of Cuba on our market. A feel- ing of despondency has taken possession of the most san- guine, and those who laughed at the fears of others are now really alarmed. Although few in nmnber, they are, among the planters, those proprietors whose estates, fi-om 270 the advantages of singularly rich soil and other local causes, have, even up to this time, given a clear revenue to them; and among other classes, those who can see that then' prosperity depends on that of the agricultural interest. My family, with great reluctance, have agreed to pro- ceed to England without me, and they are to sail about the middle of this month. Charles is again liimself, but I rely chiefly on his wife to keep him in a state of equa- nimity under the distressing circumstances. I have not disguised from them my anticipations of complete ruin in this Colony; and they will go with an understanding that the small sum I have set apart will constitute their wiiole fortune. Whether the southern parts of Europe may not better suit both it and my wife's constitution, may be a question for consideration ; but they will be some time at home after their anival, unless the doctors order it otherwise. George remains Avith me, and I suspect he will have to take immediate charge of the plantation, for Brown, like a good soldier in action, who sees his comrades deserting their posts, and is yet reluctant to join them, has begun to look fixedly to other lands; but still a hn- gering desire to continue the hopeless struggle is at issue with his cooler judgment. I shall have soon to part with my old friend Ridley, also, who has sold his estate, and witli the full consent of his wife, who would not leave the tropics for the world, is going to tiy liis fortune once more as a planter among the Spaniards of Cuba, driven, as he says, by the British people, to be again a slave- holder. I shall feel his loss at the time acutely. But, when misfortune overtakes one, the deprivation of wonted associates ranks among the petty evils of life — the great and absorbing one of losing fortune and station throwing all such into the shade. I have had a number of Portuguese as well as Indian 271 Coolies for months on the estate, and my experience tends to confirm all that I learned from others, and have set down regarding both classes of people. As men to compete Avith the robust natives of Africa in tropical la- bom', they stand nearly in the same position, with regard to their competitors, as boys of twelve years to men in the agricultural operations of Em-ope. Their physical infe- riority is evident to the Negroes themselves. If the Hin- du is better able to stand the rays of the sun, he is not stronger (if so strong) as the man of Madeira. Our urgent necessity has taught us fearfully to be cautious in bringing all sorts of people, or rather any sort, save Afiicans, to our shores. We have, after great labour, and overcoming much opposition, been permitted by go- vernment to raise a loan to the extent of £500,000, for the purpose of importing Coolies from India, and return- ing them, after five years' service, at the current rate of wages in the Colony. The expense of bringing them is seventy-five dollars, and of retm'ning them, the same; in all 150 dollars, or £16 each passage; altogether, £32 for one Hindu, It is computed by those who have had most experience of them here, that, taking into account their fi'equent absence from the field, and the work they do while they are there, three of them mil be required to perform, in one year, the tasks which one Negro, even in his present disorganized state, does on the average. We are thus paying, in as far as regards the cost of import- ing and exporting those people, as much as should bring us three effective men, while, in reality, we have only one; and we are under the necessity of finding houses for ninety when accommodation for thirty should be siif- ficient, with eveiy thing in the same proportion. And these are the laboiu'ers with whom we propose to compete with native Africans, bought at four hundred dollars a-head, and kept at the rate of twenty-five dol- lars (the cost of maintaining them) per annum, while 272 they are wrought sixteen hours a-day. We will give the anti-colonial party the full benefit of the interest on slave property, on which they dwell so much, and still the cost of the slave will not reach 50 dollars per annum; whereas our Coolies cost us fully more in the expense of bringing and sending them away (which, spread over five years, amounts to 30 dollars per annum, without interest on the money advanced), and, in house rent, at the low rate of two dollars a-month — the twenty-pence for every day he works being the additional cost of the Coolie over that of the Negro. But when we consider that one slave, well fed, will, in sixteen hours, do as much as the Hindu in six days of continuous labour, we can discern the hope- less natirre of the j^resent struggle at once. What an idle thing it is to exclaim against the immorality of the Spaniards, and their cruelty, when our oAvn country is the sole cause at present of their overworldng and killing then' slaves. If they do so, is it not to the people and parliament of Great Britain that this great fact is owing? Is it not to them the planter of that island is indebted for the high price he now gets for his sugar, as compared with what he received formerly, and which makes it pro- fitable for him to use up and expend Negroes bought — thanks to the increased slave-trade! — at three or four hundred dollars a-head? The term "fi'ee-trade" was never so much misappHed as to this shameful encoiiragement of the slave-trade. It is like settlino; a fioht between an armed and an unarmed man, and giving it the name of a free, just, and equitable settlement. The Cuban or Brazilian planter is triply armed — the British sugar- grower naked and defenceless. A Spaniard cased in mail, and trampling on a miserable American, would be a fit emblem of their relative position. The men of Cuba, among whom are mingled a great many shrewd, calculating Yankees, have been trying every method for years back to make the business of 273 sugar-making pay, with even no better market than those of the European continent; and, in their eager search after new plans of economising labour, they have dis- covered that it is cheaper to buy slaves, with the coast of Africa open to them, than to be at the expense of rearing children. Hence the small proportion of women in their gangs. Another fact, established by their experience, is one which it will be difficult to make our matter-of-fact countrymen, who judge of all things by what they see around them, comprehend. They have found out that a man, whose mental faculties are obscm'ed or mideveloped, is in the position of an inferior animal in regard to his physical powers. It is a well known fact that a horse, to a certain extent, will give increased labom* for increased food. The planter of Cuba obtains the same result from feeding largely the Bozal Negro. The latter is incapable of looking forward into futurity ; the present is all that his limited faculties permit him to contemplate. If he has the prospect of getting an enormous dinner or sup- per — eating being almost his principal enjoyment — he is morally supported throughovit his arduous task as well as better fitted, by ample nourishment for it, physically. He has none of that Avear and tear of mind which preys on the body, and which, in civilized man, arises from deep thought and the exercise of reasoning powers, not pos- sessed by the other, to say nothing of those sensibihtles, arising out of an artificial state of society, that are totally unknown to denizens of the wilderness. One of the most popular theories in Britain is, that a slave can never compete with a fr'ee man, and it has its origin in that disposition of Englishmen which I have just mentioned. They imagine either tliat fr'ee Negroes work like Whites in Europe, or they take the case of a man, such as they see in their own country, employed in agriculture, forced off by people of a different race, and compelled to labour, fettered, and in constant terror of 2 M 274 the whip, and of death itself — the case of one reduced from compensated to uncompensated labour — from a home of happiness and comfort to a place of filth, misery, and human degradation, the very aspect of which is enough to break the spirit and paralyze the strength of the un- happy indi^ddual. It is always assumed that the slave- holder reduced them to the condition of slaves, and upon this the theory rests. The spirit of the man being crushed and broken, by the change in his condition, his physical powers are diminished accordingly, and it imphes that the person pre\dously occupied another and a better posi- tion, before he came into the possession of White men. Now, when the fact is knoA^^l that the condition of the slave in Cuba is better than that of the same person in Africa, we might fancy that the theory, like other dog- mata founded on imagination, would topple down fi'om its baseless elevation. But this, it seems to be impossible for our countiymen to understand. An idea once implanted in then' sensorium is difficult of removal. John Bull asks himself, "Could I work as hard if I were a slave?" and, with a shake of his head, gravely answers "No." If it is told him, "That is an unfair way of putting the case — you are a man well off, and happy in every relation of hfe, and a rational person apt to ponder over yom' situation, and to sink under misfortune, fi'om dwelHng on it, if it should overtake you. But in this case there is no misfor- tune — at least the position of the party is not made worse — and he cannot, hke you, afflict himself by comparing his present >vith his past situation. Feed him well, and you get plenty of work from liim. The case of a horse taken fi'om a ^^Tetclled carter, who starved him, to a far- mer's stable, Avliere he is better fed, is more in point. The one thinks just about as much as the other." "What!'' John Bull will exclaim in wrath, "speak of a man as if he was a horse ; it may easily be seen what you are," and a^ain shakino; his head, he will stride oft' as if the matter had been settled in the most satisfactory manner. 275 The people of England at tliis moment, and in the teeth of the most deplorable facts to the contrary, cling to this idle and pernicious theory, and if it was not so firmly rooted in the minds of all classes, the destructive doctrines of Cobden, Bright, & Co., in regard to the sugar colonies, would not have come into practical operation. In fact, it is a state of slavery (which those theorists beheve to have such debilitating influence on the human frame), that renders the struggle so unequal at present between the British and foreign planter, even independently of the African trade. I have recorded here the difficulties we encounter in obtaining four or five hours' labour per diem at high wages. The planter of Cuba can at all times command it on the lowest terms. While the cane- fields here are destroyed by the rank weeds of the tropics, those of that island are kept beautifully clean; while our canes often spoil at the mill from want of hands to grind them off and conduct the manufacture of sugar, the pro- cess there is gone through with miiformity and undeviat- ing propriety. The absolute control which the slave- holder possesses over the actions of liis labom'ers, gives him an advantage over the cultivator by free labour, which, in fact, renders it doubtful if, even under the most abundant supply of the latter sort, the competition could be successfully carried on in our colonies. It is an ad- vantage so great, as to take precedence of all others enjoyed by the Cuban or Brazihan, even the cheapness of labour itself; and it is just the want of it which, in fi-ee countries, is found to be the greatest di'awback. In the densely-populated plains of Hindostan this is the case. Nevertheless, in order to give the two systems a fair trial, as against each other, the importations of labourers should be freed from all restrictions, and those imported who are most likely to maintain the struggle against theii" kindred in slavery; and this brings me back to the subject of African emigration to the West Indies. 276 From the observations I have ah'eacly made on this topic, it will be seen that I believe the cause of philan- thropy would gain more even than the British sugar planters, by the adoption of a scheme like that of Mr. Hume's. The effect would be to bring those poor, de- graded outcasts of creation from the brutal darkness in which they are plunged, into the light of Christianity, and within the pale of law and civilization — to throw the strong shield of British protection around those who, in then' own fell land, are at the mercy of ruthless and easily- infuriated savages, and without an earthly power to save them. If this fact is doubted, let the writings of all the tra- vellers wlio have visited those benighted regions be con- sulted — from Mmigo Park down to M'Leod, Kankine, and the latest writers on the subject in general. The customs of the chiefs seem to resemble, in some respects, the funeral games of the ancients, inasmuch as they con- sist of ceremonies in honour of deceased relatives, at which men are sacrificed to the manes of the departed, so that they may serve them in the other world. On these occasions they have dances, during which, if an individual makes a false step, so that he loses liis footing and falls to the ground, he is instantly wdthdi'awn from the circle and beheaded, the accident being considered an evil omen. It would appear that a certain number, in proportion to the rank of the chief, must be immolated immediately after the death of a near connection, and to them it is customary to give messages to the dead before they are despatched. One of those authors relates the story of a king, whose mother had died, and who had sacrificed a respectable number of victims, each having a special message to the deceased; but, after sending off the last, he suddenly recollected some words that he should have given him to convey to her, and, calling an attendant, he delivered the postscript to him. The poor 277 fellow, not being prepared for the honour, was seized with fear, and declared " that he did not know the way." " I %\ill show you the way," cried tlie dignitary, furious at anything like opposition, and, so saying, he unsheathed his sabre and struck off the victim's head at a blow. Is it to be considered a crime, even in Manchester, to rescue people from being, in life and limb, at the mercy of men like this brutal savage? Is the mere fact of pay- ing a sum of money to deliver the wretches from such cruel bondage a crime of so deep a dye ? We have seen the mist of fanaticism bewilder many good men; and we can understand how an excited and disordered imagina- tion may mingle fiction with truth, in such a way that, by their obscured faculties, the one is not easily separated from the other. But here is nothing to mystify the plainest and most matter-of-fact understanding ; — the question simply is — whether it is meritorious, or the contrary, to withdraw the most wretched people on earth form the cruel oppres- sion they endure, and to place them among the happiest peasantry of the known world? I am much better satis- fied as to the good effect which this scheme would have on the tribes of Africa, than the planters of the West Indies, unless the operation of the plan be accompanied by some measure of protection, for a time, to the latter against the slave-dealing foreigners. La fact, there is reason to aj)prehend that, before the good effects can have time to manifest themselves the cultivation of the West Indies ^vill disappear altogether, if the unequal competi- tion is forced on thenl still. At this moment, estates are chiefly kept up by creditors, who know that a retm*n to prosperity is the only manner in which their outlay can be recovered. Therefore, they risk more, in hopes that the good sense of the nation will again vindicate itself, and cast off the pernicious, new-fangled doctrines of the day. But when they give up hopes of this blessed con- I 278 summation, then must the estates be abandoned, from want of funds to carry them on. Let us see what would be the probable and progressive effect of an importation so extensive. The first step would be to enter into treaties with the cliiefs who at present supply the Cuban and Brazilian slavers with cargoes, on such a basis as would render it advantageous for them to adhere to them. This, and the establishment of agents in suitable locaHties, would en- sure a constant supply ; wliile an emigration scheme, to suit the cu'cum stances, and under the superintendence of the governments of France and England, woidd have to be constructed immediately, in accordance with wliich the Africans would be removed in comfort to the Colony, whether French or Enghsh, for which they are designed. Contracts with such rude people are out of the question, at least, until they have been for some time in the West Indies. They will understand that they are to remain where they are placed, for a certain term of years. The particulars of an agreement they cannot comprehend; but it certainly would be desirable, and of great import- ance to the planters, if they were bomid to remam at least one year on an estate, after they have acquired in- telhgence enough to understand the natiu^e and obliga- tions of the arrangement. It would tend to confirm them in settled habits; and the nature of our cultivation is such that we should be assured of the number of workmen we are to have for a year, in order to know what extent of cultivation we should keep up for that length of time. But, supposing all those preHminaries to be arranged to the satisfaction of the authorities appointed by the im- perial government to supermtend the allocation of the im- migrants, we shall follow them to the plantations, where they are to mingle with the settled inhabitants. It must be expected that the people imported under this system would be different from the captured Negi'oes 279 whom we get occasionally now. The latter, from having been detained at Sierra Leone, or some other port, for adjudication, perhaps a length of time, have, from mix- ing with Europeans, got rid of much characteristic mld- ness and ferocity of appearance, which, if they were brought directly and without impediment, they would possess, and which in fact distinguished them in a marked manner from the Creoles in former times. If they come in a few weeks from Africa, they will not only have the mdigenous aspect of the rude natives there, but be unable to speak any christian language; and, as the number of Africans in the West Indies is now very H- mited, it may happen that considerable batches may be located on estates, where none but themselves can con- verse in their native tongue. The Creoles would disdain, if they could, to " talk country" to them, as they style the different Guinea dialects. This, by limiting their in- tercourse, would be a favour of the planter, whose object would be to keep them from acquiring the idle, spend- thrift habits of the old inhabitants ; and, for this reason, the more rapidly they are imported, and the more they are kept apart from the latter, the better would it be, lui- til their numbers and their more industrious habits should preponderate over their more civihzed compatriots, with their idle and reckless propensities. It is evident, if they arrive in small parties, as they have hitherto, that they "svill be absorbed into the mass of idleness and profli- gacy which now exists in the colonies. To preserve to them that disposition to labour in- dustriously for money, wliich the native African, in so far as we have proved him, possesses, they should come in such numbers as to admit of their being settled on estates in considerable detachments, so as to form a small community among themselves, accessible to the Whites through an interpreter; and, among the latter, the clergyman will be our best and most effectual agent in 280 humanizing and keeping tliem right. As they acquire the EngHsh language, they will mix with other descrip- tions of labom'ers ; but still, if they are in sufficient num- bers, they will prefer the society of those who are bona fide countrymen to that of Creoles. The difficulty will be, probably, in gradually reducing theu' wages to the sum which will enable the planter to compete with his slave-holding rival. It will be impossible to begin with that amount; and they cannot be made to understand the effect of competition in reducing allowances. In fact, the same difficulty would be experienced in setthng wages by fixed rule, that we encountered in 1842; and labour must j ust, like other marketable commodities, con- form itself in value to demand and supply. Thus, some time must elapse ere the latter is sufficient to satisfy the former, so as to reduce the rate of wages to something like the amomit which might afford a chance of competition with slave-growing countries. During that time, and until it is ascertained that labour sufficient to bring wages to the rates cmTent in Barbadoes, of 6d. to 9d.per diem, is imported, it is to be feared the chance, which might otherwise be given to the colonies by the measure, would be lost, unless some protection should be allowed them. Every year this is becoming more necessaiy, and it is probable that the first of free importation would be the most trying in the feai-fiil crisis. What number of steady labom^ers might be necessary to keep up the crops of British Guiana at then* former amount, may be pretty nearl}' guessed at by referring to the population lists of 1830, and preceding years. The number of the work- ing classes of all ages then, including cliildren and inva- lids, may be stated, in round numbers, at 100,000, of whom 25,000 might be able-bodied labourers. This is not one year's anticipated importation into Brazil of smuggled slaves, who are all strong persons. But say that the importation in families, which is the method that 281 we would adopt, would require the same gross number of 100,000 (setting aside altogether the labour to be procvu'ed from om* present workmen; and, supposing that the latter would not work for the low wages implied by this scheme), there can be no doubt that, if other circumstances suited, they might be obtained in no extended space of time. The importation, in point of fact, should be so large as to prove sufficient for the land which is impoldered or dammed and enclosed against the rivers and the sea. Much has been said about the impracticability of adapt- ing oiu' population to the land, the latter being in such abundance; but this important fact is overlooked, that the ex]3ense of impoldering is so great as to limit the extent of available surface to what is already impoldered. No estate, even in times when labour was at command, could be settled, that is, impoldered — trenches of every description dug, fields cleared and planted,and buildings ^^ith machinery erected, under a cost varying from £15,000 to £30,000 or £40,000, or even more. And a mighty change in- deed must come over the state of West India affairs ere any one would think of incurring this large expenditure for the purpose of creating property, now subjected to such sudden and ruinous depreciation. The limits of cultivation are, therefore, confined — first, by the number of estates; and, secondly, by the extent of impoldered land belonging to them. It is true, in existing plantations, the virgin soil within the dams is not exhausted. There is yet a considerable breadth on many of them; but the most fertile may be said to be now in cultivation. On the coast, some, by the terms of their original grant from the Crown, have right to what is called " a double" or even " triple depth" — that is, they can have, by applying for them, crown lands behind theii* estates and in bush, to the ox- tent of 750 or even 1,500 roods in length, by the breadth of the plantation itself; or, in other words, a 2 N 282 continuation of the latter to those extents. And the only expense (which is still very great) required in taking in ground according to this right, is that of impoldering, trenching, clearing, and planting. But most of the coast plantations are ah'eady on their second depth, and the distance from the buildings is fomid to be inconveniently great; so that, without erecting new works, there is httle chance of considerable addition to the cultivation in that way. We can thus with us make an approach to ascertaui- ing what number of effective labourers will be requned to accomplish that which has so long been a desideratum in the West Indies — the adaptation of supply to demand in the labour market. If we take into consideration the number of cotton and coffee estates, now irretrievably abandoned, which employed a considerable proportion of our slave population, and make allowance for improve- ment in the industrial habits of our present workuig classes, we shall find the requisite acquisition not so very formidable as might, at the first glance, be imagined. It would be absurd to set do%^Ti any precise figm'es to decide the number, for the most minute calculation on the best data must still be contingent on chcumstances which we can neither control nor foresee. But the fact is indis- putable, that the vast tracts of fertile ground so much talked of by the anti-colonial party as available, are literally closed to the planters, no less from lack of capital than the impossibihty of gaining, by bringing them into cultivation, as much as if they belonged to the empire of BrazU; and thus a working population, equal in collec- tive strength to the former slave one, is all that is re- quired. The system recommended, which implies a residence of no more than five years of the immigrants m the Colony, may be in favour of the planters, inasmuch as the place of those who had become indifferent to labour, from .* 283 having amassed what to them would be wealth, must be occupied by fresh hands, eager to follow in the same track. It is to be remembered, that the w^ages of the la- bourer, if he is industrious, form a very inconsiderable item in the hst of advantages. He has many ways of acquiring money, such as cultivating what extent of ground he chooses during three-fifths of the day; rais- ing stock, of all descriptions, on the fifuits of labour so bestowed, namely, pigs, poultr}', and, in some locaKties, cattle; and when they have a little capital, there is a sa%angs-bank to receive it on good interest. The XegTO, after five }'ears of industry under those cu'cumstances, would be in a condition to return to his native countrj^ in every respect a new being, and, in the eyes of his savage kindred, a man to hold high place among the loftiest of the tribe. But, in order that they may retain the habits and ideas of civilized life, in so far as they have acquired the latter, it is obvious that they should settle together in nimibers sufficient to keep up those habits, and to spread among their comiti-ymen the knowledge and the civilization they have acquired. For this purpose, it might be necessary to estabhsh, in those countries whence the slaves are chiefly obtained, forts with small garrisons, aromid which the retm'ned emi- grants might settle, and from which, as from a centre, the hght of religion and of European manners might spread among the rude sons of the wilderness. By training them to arms, they would become able to defend themselves against the attacks of neighboiu'ing chiefs, over whom their superior intelligence w^ould give them decided advantages. It must be borne in mind that, in all barbarous countries (look back six hundred years to our own), warfare is the usual state of society — strangers and enemies are synonymous terms. It is only, after the dif- fusion of knowledge and the dawn of civilization, that hospitality begins to be thought a virtue. Distrust is the 284 instinct of wild people, to preserve them from those who, like themselves, are occupied entirely by strife and blood- shed, and who have no sense of honour, and no feelings of compunction or pity. The system thus established would promote trade and commerce no less than the cause of humanity. The towns which might arise round those forts would become marts for the exchange of European for African commodities, and the advantages arising from it to all parties would be the best guarantee of its endurance and ultimate success, either as regard- ing the extinction of the illicit slave-trade, or the civili- zation of the African tribes. The planters, willing to make any sacrifice to save the small remnant of their property, would readily take on themselves so much of the expense as should justly be charged to them ; but it is probable that the government would have to advance the whole of it in the meantime, both cash and credit having departed from our unfortunate class. It is well known that the price (or ransom rather) is a mere bagatelle. The passage would be the most expensive part of the whole business, and its cost can be easily and readily ascertained. I am at this moment decidedly of opinion that no mea- siu'e less comprehensive than that which I have just sketched can save the British sugar colonies from ruin; and that even the restoration of our former protective duties, unaccompanied by some such scheme, would prove inadequate. Such being my sentiments, it is diffi- cult to tell why I linger here. Those more deeply versed in the workings of the human mind must explain the mystery. Certain it is, I cannot bring myself to give up everything, and it may be that, unconsciously, hope ex- ists within me, in spite of absolute conviction, the result of long and anxious consideration. My family have gone from me, and I am left, almost alone, to struggle with the calamities of the day, and the 285 sad imaginings connected with them. Ridley, too, has gone to Barbadoes, whence he will proceed to St. Thomas'^ and thence to Cuba. I am depressed and dispirited, but George is full of energy, and, apparently, at least, san- guine as to the future. Bro^vn is still wavering, but it is not difficult to perceive that he will speedily withckaw from the losing business he is now engaged in, and begin a fresh career in a more favoured land; but whether one of the Austrahan colonies. New Zealand, or Ceylon, is yet to be considered and decided on. On looking over what I have written in this Diary on the subject of African immigration, I perceive that I have not dwelt long on the advantages which the scheme pos- sesses as the most powerftJ means of suppressing the African slave-trade. In fact, it appears to me to be the only method by wliich it can be stopped; and I do not know" that more may be said, because the difficulty of suppressing it entfrely by armed vessels has been almost miiversally recognised; indeed, it is generally beheved to be impracticable. The question then will simply be, whether it is better to ransom those unfortunates, or allow them to five and die in a state of slavery, as I have said already. The men of peace, who rely on the influence of opinion, will think that slavery must soon cease all over the Avorld. This is the way in wliich Englishmen reason, and have reasoned since the slave-trade became illegal. But the miraculous establishment of this new state of society throughout the known world, is not a whit more likely to occur because they think it shall or should do so ; and the advocates of war in other cases, are not likely to recommend hostilities, by way of enforcing treaties in this instance, in punishing the guilty depredators as pirates. Without some strong measm'e, therefore, the trade must continue, and go on increasing until the planters of Cuba and Brazil have a monopoly of sugar-growing. For what 286 countiy can stand against them under such advantageous circiunstances ? The behef that any one can, as I have already said, is based on one of the wildest hallucinations that ever possessed the mind of man, and is disproved by the very facts of the ruin of our colonies, and the con- tinuance of the African slave-trade — 1 mean, the fancied superiority of free over slave-labour. I have derived no comfort fi'om my immigrants. Nearly all the Portuguese have left me — in fact, only a few sugar- boilers remain ; and the Coolies are also much diminished in number. They are a quiet, frivolous race, like harm- less children. They had httle, with two exceptions, of the devotion to caste which characterizes the natives of the East; mdeod, they were most hkely people of no cast originally, and the gi'eater number were Christians. The sudar, whom I mentioned as a superior character, occasionally preached to them in one of their own tongues, as a Christian teacher. It was whispered that this man had been of high caste, but, for some reason that remained midivulged, he had lost it. He certainly had great sway over his countrjanen, and they looked up to him with reverence. His wife, also, had an appearance much above that of her compatriots, from whom she se- cluded herself generally. I often noticed the taste with which this couple had adorned their cottage and garden with all the flowers they could procui^e and transplant, and the singular degree of harmony and retu'ement that reigned around, which was caused by their living apart from almost every one. I am particular in my remarks about them, for the poor fellow was taken suddenly ill and died, and his wife, after attempting to destroy herself, fell gradually into a state of mind bordering on fatuity, and was thus frequently seen wandering about the fields ac- companied by a pet deer, either singing or speaking to her departed husband. After the lapse of a few weeks, she was missed one morning, and, in a short time, found 287 lying under a palm in a small grove, which had been a favourite resort of both in leisure hours. The circimi- stances by which her death was attended, and the fate generally of those hapless strangers, in my present me- lancholy mood made a deep impression on me, and ex- cited feehngs which found vent in some hues, descriptive of her condition and her end. "0 Sadi! my lost one! I still see you here, Each flower that I gaze on *s the face of my dear; Each tree that we loved, has thy form in its shade; On paths where we roved, thy foot-print has staid. "All things that we cherished are still to be seen; Alone you have perished, and gone from the scene. The humming-bird comes to our rose-bower still. And mournfully roams, while he sings through his bill! "The fawn you did rear, now has lost all his pride, And droops his fine ear as he walks by my side; Then stamps he and snorts, as he still did of yore, When, to join in his sports, you were wiled to the door. "0 Sadi! your loue one is weak, weak and low, My head is so strange grown — ^I cannot tell how ! The man who is skilful, talks wisely in vain. He tells them I'm wilful, that grief turns my brain. "The soft wind blowing, wafts a note from the dove Where palm-trees are growing — the call of my love ! — To rest then I yield me, still dreaming of you. The palmetto will shield me from fast-falling dew." The mourner was found, at the da^vn of next day ; But her rest was too sound, and cold where she lay! The deer thought she slept, and, his chin on her knee, True watch there he kept, 'neath the shady palm-tree. 288 She had passed to the land where Sadi was gone, For her heart might not stand in this world alone; And Peris of lud, at the place of their sleep, Are heard in the Avind, oft to wail near and weep. January, 1848. My wife and family have removed on account of her health to Italy, the climate of England having been found too severe for her weakened fi-ame. Charles and liis wife are likely to remain in that delightful country, for one of my old friends has offered to establish him there as partner in a branch of his house, for which he considers Charles's talent for business generally will soon qualify him; and, in the meantime, another of the house will be joined with him. I am most grateful for this attention, which is the dismterested act of an old familiar friend. There is no change in the condition of the Colony. Lord George Bentinck, having given notice of a motion for a Committee of Inquiry into the state of the Sugar Colo- nies, has again revived the drooping spirits of the planters, and evidence is to be collected, and persons appointed to go home to lay it before the Committee, which it is not doubted will be appointed. In all other respects, we are the same — gradually losing more and more of our pro- perty; for me, the past year has been the worst I have yet encountered, and doubtless it must be the same with others, when prices have been, for six months at least, nearly on a level with those of foreign comitries— the ex- pected and inevitable result of free-trade. My crop has been about the same as that of the six preceding years, or rather about the average of them, and the loss is ftiUy £3,000 upon it. 289 31st ^Iarch, 1848. It is represented by those connected with our Colony, who are watching the proceedings of Lord George Bentinck's committee, that a remarkably strong case has been made out in only one month's sitting. The wit- nesses from all our possessions tell the same tale of deep distress. Surely we are justified in entertaining some degree of hope under such circumstances. But, God help us! our struggle wdth the faction is like that we are engaged in with the slave-owner — altogether unequal and unfair. It is the combat of giant and dwarf, in both cases. I am now worn out by care and sickness. Anxiety is a powerful assistant to climate in bringing on and keep- ing up disease. Intermittent fever has laid its grasp on me, and obstinately retains its hold. I must leave tliis scene of want and woe. I have not spirit to enter more of my now utterly hopeless observations in this sad re- pository of my thoughts and deeds. In a few months I hope to be on the pleasant shores of the Mediterranean sea; and, in three weeks, I shall bid a sorrowful adieu to the magnificent Province of Guiana. End of the Journal. 2o CONCLUDING REMARKS, BY THE EDITOR. And with a sad heart does your friend say farewell to you, old Barton Premium! May the fair scenes and soft breezes of Italy be as balm to your womided spu'it and your shattered frame, for a better man never withered under the bhght of colonial misrule. It is smgular how accurately his forebodings in the jom"nal have been fulfilled, although some of them were evidently throAAai off in the bitterness of a heart fretted to a degree of morbid sensibility by harsh usage. The re- port of Lord George Bentinck's committee, with all the evidence taken by it, and constituting, perhaps, the strongest case ever laid before parliament, has been almost utterly disregarded by the ministry, who, indeed, were candid enough, when the appointment of the committee took place, to declare, in the person of Lord John Russell, that the Hne of pohcy to be followed by them being already marked out, they would not depart from it. We have also heard the colonial minister declare in his place, that the measures adopted by government, m regard to the colonies, have liitherto been wise and bene- ficial, notwithstanduig the mianimous testimony of scores of witnesses, given before two committees of the House of 292 Commons, at different times — a space of many years in- tervening between the periods of their sittings — during which the distress continued steadfastly to increase, and also, notwithstanding the respectful and forcible repre- sentations of the planters themselves. We have heard Mr. IMilner Gibson, the member for Manchester, propose to cancel the treaty with Brazil for suppressing the slave-trade — a fact which, I am sure, IVlr. Premium never really anticipated, although, in a moment of bitter excitement, he has said that such would happen. And, to crown the whole, even now, wliile these sheets, bearing testimony to the ruinous effect of slave competition, are passing through the press, the newspapers are teeming with rumours regarding the fu- ture proceechngs of government, founded on the report of the slave-trade committee, which, if correct, clearly show that the sugar colonies are finally and in'etrievably consigned, whatever the consequences may be, to the in- fhction of free-trade practice, in every department where- in they are assailable, even to the extent of free-trade in men. Let no one say that such rumours are wild and im- probable. Nothing could appear to be more so at that time than the admission of slave sugar to the mar- kets of Britain ; yet it was carried triumphantly by the same party. The removal of restrictions on the cultiva- tion of that article, which they were determined to have in large quantities. Was a natural consequence, and one to be looked for when the relative position of the two parties, the injm*er and the injured, continued to be the same, only changed by the increased strength of the for- mer and the more marked weakness of the latter. We might have anticipated that the men who, in 1846, laughed at consistency and former professions of philanthropy as obstacles to the prosecution of their de- signs, would be ready in 1848 to persevere in the new 293 line of policy, opposed as it is to all tlieir former words and actions, and to go even a step farther in assisting these new customers with the means of brinmnc; more produce to market to exchange for their manufactured goods. Their first measure was only an indirect (though de- cided) encouragement to the slave-trade; their next, it seems, is to be as direct and straightforward as possible, and, in fact, nothing less, if rumour speaks truth, than the removal of the fleets stationed there to suppress it. The monstrous doctrine, whatever may be the inten- tions of government, is fi'eely advocated by the free-trade press and the adherents of government generally; and it would seem that this great step in the advance of Man- chester doctrines is to follow next after the abrogation of the Navigation Laws, so that we may soon see commer- cial and manufacturing Quakers aiding and abetting the ruffians of all nations in canying on free-trade in slaves. It is almost absurd to combat the arguments of those who support this most extraordinary proposition. Great Britain assumed to herself a sort of authority in the matter of the African slave-trade, which, although emanating from excessive zeal in the cause, disgusted foreimi nations with her. She insisted on scarchino; all vessels on the African coast, and prosecuted her plans with so much zeal as to excite the national jealousy of more than one country, which, in fact, led to the adop- tion of the present system at a recent period. What will ministers say to the French RepubUc when the question of withdrawing the two squadrons comes to be arranged? Will they frankly say that the same party, which has for fifty years pretended to advocate the rights of the Negro, from philanthropic motives alone, has now taken a different view of the question, and is determined to class the slave-trade amono- those ffreat items in the category of the political economists, which are to be 294 fi'eed from all restriction whatever? What else can be said? If the fleets cannot suppress the trade, no man can deny that they obstruct it. Their presence is a restric- tion at least as great as those protecting duties against which the party wage incessant and um'elenting war, and, doubtless, appears to them exactly in the same light. Their manifesto appears in the shape of a " Report" from the Anti-Slavery Society, in which the withdrawal is earnestly recommended, amidst the usual quantity of verbiage and sophistry with which all their opinions are promulgated. Foreign nations cannot fail to perceive at once the strildng inconsistency and the vast power of the anti- colonists. They cannot fail to observe that the same men who formerly plagued the world with theii* ranting and outrageous philanthropy, are now to trouble our na- tion with principles opposite to those which they formerly professed, and which their immensely increased strength enables them to avow, not only with unblushing ef- frontery, but with the most absolute confidence in the success of their endeavours to caiTy them into practice. Foreigners must perceive that pure motives of philan- thropy have never prompted the actions of those men; and that, from the first, their proceedings have been stucUed and arranged, solely with a view to their own in- terests; and that our great empire has been ch'awn in, by enlisting the best feelings of our nature in their cause, to carry out the measures of this party in the first place; and now, when it has waxed so strong, we should not wonder if the mask is more loosely worn, and power re- Hed on to bear it through in the second, and scarcely disguised attempt to destroy our colonies. It should not be said, perhaps, that the anti-colonists desire the ruin of our sugar settlements, and perhaps such is not their wish or anticipation. They may think that it is possible for them to keep their position, while 295 their grand object, the advancement of foreign colonies, is also attained. But men who must have acquired some knowledge of the relative condition of the two, can scarcely believe such a state of affau's to be possible. What puzzles reflecting people, who are altogether free from prejudice, is the undeviating hostility they have shown to the miserable planters, even when they were prostrated by their power, and at their mercy. The best of them, the Buxtons, Lushiiigtons, &c., stopped when emancipation was effected, and, like rational men and true pliilanthropists, supported the planters, as well as the former slaves, in all attempts to procure ameHorating measm'es. But they were soon obhged to leave their former fi'iends in disgust, and to withdraw fi'om the asso- ciation. It is well known that the latter passed a resolu- tion binding itself to support, by every means, the admis- sion of slave-grown sugar into Britain. A deputation, consisting of Mr. Scoble and two others, had been pre- viously sent to Lord Brougham to procm'e liis co-opera- tion in this most extraordinaiy movement, but that sharp peer received them with indignation and surprise, and in the correspondence which followed, he told them he did not believe before that "three sane men could be found in the society, to brmg foi-ward such a proposition." This was the first glaring departure fi'om their former policy, in so far as regards the welfare of the Negroes. But since the passing of the Emancipation Act, scarcely a measiu'e has been proposed for the planters' benefit, which they have not opposed with all their power. Free immi- gration — ordinances framed to ensm'e social order, and to promote habits of industry — and, in short, everything that could be beneficial to the agricultural interest, met with then- fierce and unqualified hostihty. The argu- ments adduced by them in support of this last great attack on both planters and Africans, are, as miglit be expected, singular. It is said that the fleet has forced the 296 slave-traders to enter into more extensive combinations. Why, if this is an objection to it, it is one that applies to its efficacy, and proves it. One might as well say that a police force is injurious, because it causes thieves to be more cautious and cmming. But although it be true that the trade has been shockingly increased since the squadrons of France and England were joined to sup- press it, no unprejudiced person will say that it arises from the mere existence of this fact. Is it in human natm'e that a direct obstacle would induce men who for- merly kept aloof, to engage in the business? — that be- cause a formidable fleet scoured the African seas, hmidreds should risk their fortunes, merely to have the pleasure of cheating and evading those ships of war? We are called on to believe this by the free-traders, who keep back, while on the topic, although it is brought forward after- wards, the real cause of those combinations of men, and which every one foresaw would have the effect — the Sugar Duty Act of 1846 (and anticipated rise in the price of sugar by Brazilians and Cubans), wliich, instead of loss and mishap, the prospect offered to them by the ships of France and England, holds out the most tempt- ing promises of prospective wealth. The immediate effect of this act is well described by Dr. Cliff in his evidence before the Sugar and Coffee Committee. The price of slaves rose at once (he says) in Brazil, and a great impetus was given to the slave-trade. In one year after it was passed, seventy thousand slaves were imported from Africa into the Brazilian empire, whereas only a very few thousands had been imported in any one 3''ear previously. This gentleman was a planter of that country, and one who had formerly been engaged in the slave-trade, and was thus well quahfied to speak on the subject. The free-traders and their witnesses bring for- ward tables to show that the number of people illicitly carried off from AfHca, has been regulated invariably by 297 the price of sugar — a fact which we have always asserted — and yet, in the face of it, they open our markets to the sugar of the slave-owners. It is wonderfld that in making this acknowledgment, they do not perceive how awkwardly they are situated. It is exactly what the colonists have always declared to be the case; and on this fact rests the chai'ge of inconsistency and want of philanthropic feeling against the Anti-Slavery Society in particular, and political economists in general. It was the higher price obtained in England than on the Conti- nent which gave the spur, as we foretold it would, to the slavers, and has covered the seas with their vessels. It is to be doubted whether the efficacy rather than the inefficiency of the fleet is not the cause of hostihty to it. We must judge of this by the number of captures, not by the number of those who escape; for if we estimate the extent of the trade by the latter, we must believe that it is increasing rapidly, and that the ships are not doing their duty, if we at the same time are led to believe that no more are taken than before 1846. We must, as in former times, be guided in our judgment, by the propor- tion which the captures bear to the number of vessels engaged in the trade. Admiral Hotham, the witness whom they especially delight to quote, estimates the ships in the slave-trade taken by om- cruisers at tlmly per cent, of the entire number engaged in it. We must give all the weight in this instance to the evidence of the admiral which has been attached to it in general, and we think it will be held to be conclusive; no man will beheve that a heavy blow, and a gi'eat discouragement is not given to any trade, when a third of the capital employed in it is lost every year. The other naval officer whose testimony is brought prominently forward is Captain Watson, who confirms the admh'al in regard to the proportion of cap- tures, by tables, but who unhesitatingly declares against the removal of the fleet. This officer inveighs with great 2 P 298 earnestness against the description of vessels sent to the African coast, which he describes as the worst fitted up in the British navy. He speaks from expei'ience, and so many strange things have come to hght, that it would scarcely excite surprise if this fact should be traced also to Manchester influence. It is too probable, judging from antecedents, that the nation will submit, in this instance also, to the domina- tion of the fi'ee-traders and anti-colonists. It is to be feared that the same indifference which prevailed when it was observed that the hostility of the paily to the West Indies did not cease with slavery there, and that the object aimed at was to raise up foreign colonies and countries into great consumers of om' manufactures, even if our own colonies should be annihilated in these efforts to obtain their ends — that this indifference will be mani- fested now, is to be feared, especially when the question of economy is so forcibly dwelt on, the sum of £600,000 bemg annually spent in keeping up our share of the fleet. It is but lately that a question of economy would be tolerated, when brought forward m opposition to the rights of humanity. It affords another instance of the glaring inconsistency of anti-colonial animosity. The sum of one hundred and fifty millions has been destroyed (I tliink we may now say, utterly) in the West Indies to promote the cause of humanity; and this comparatively in- significant amount of six hundred thousand is, I may venture to say, scarcely more than is annually lost now and expended by the luckless capitalists connected with the West Indies, in the vain hope that the estates with which they are connected may yet be preserved as profit- able investments. Can a country, can a party, then, say conscientiously that economy renders free-trade in men necessary, forcing us to disregard both the rights of hu- manity and of our deeply-injured colonies? Taken in connection with Mr. Milner Gibson's motion for repeal- 299 iiig the treaty with Brazil for suppressing the slave-trade, and with the steady and never-foiling opposition of the party to our colonies, the proposal to withdraw the blockading fleet must be regarded as having no founda- tion in the inefficacy of the latter, or in the cost of sup- porting it. We cannot imagine that a party professing such prin- ciples as are necessarily opposed to the interests of the West Indies, will sanction any plan, such as that which is advocated by my truly benevolent fi-iend in his journal. An attempt is made to delude the West Lidians into the belief that emigration fi*om Africa will be promoted by withdi-awing the fleet. But there can be no doubt tha; the latter does not, in the slightest degree, impede the deportation of free people. The flict is admitted by one of themselves, the late Secretary at Sierra Leone, who says that the emigTation of free people from that coast cannot take place to any considerable extent, because those who are fi^ee are averse to it. We have it from other competent authorities, that those who are not slaves in Africa do not belong to the classes (with some exceptions) who labour in the fields — they are cliiefs, in fact. The withdi'awal of the fleet, therefore, must be re- garded in eveiy way as a measure calculated to destroy the last glimmer of hope which still remains to the planters. It may be a question, whether it will not be beneficial as putting an end to the present ineffectual struggle, which this hope prompts them to maintain, and its profitless expenditure of money. While those proceedings are going on, so strongly in- dicative of colonial destruction, we have proof from other quarters that foreign slave-owners are bearing doAvn all attempts at competition with them. The East Indian papers are all declaring that the firm of Arbuthnot & Co., the most energetic and zealous cultivators of sugar in 300 India, on the "West India plan, and by means of Hindu labom-ers, are about to desist from their hopeless exer- tions, in utter despair of supplying the article at so cheap a rate as the men of Cuba and Brazil, and after giving it a fan- trial of three years' duration. From the same quarter, we find that the attempt to raise cotton there, in opposition to the sla^-e-holders of North America, is an- nounced to be a failm-e. All things conspire to show that the struggle between fi-ee and slave labour terminates generally in favour of the latter, even imder the most fa- vourable circumstances to the former. In order more ftJly to show liis unrelenting spirit, the colonial minister is actually doing what is merely glanced at in the journal — not predicted — in regard to maintain- ing the present enormous expenditure of British Guiana. Finding that the colonists were enabled to make a stand against him behind the rampart of their constitution, he has instructed the governor to have a bill prepared which -C virtually breaks down tliis obstacle to his views, by ad- mitting to the franchise a large body of voters, who, it is understood, vdW support the views of the imperial go- vernment as opposed to those of the planters. This is of a piece with the rest. Earl Grey takes on himself to assume that the enor- mous annual outlay entailed on the Colony by the mea- sures of government, are a proof of prosperity; that the yearly increase of expenditure forced on the hapless colonists, and drawn from their constantly diminishing resources, arises from increase of means and substance, while, in too many instances, it comes from the capital of those who are scarcely able to procm-e the necessaries of life. What can be expected from a minister who has de- clared the policy of government for the last ten years, in regard to the colonies, to he " wise and beneficial?" Thus, the loyalty and ready obedience of the colonists to the mother country are tm-ned against them, and used 301 by their political opponents as an instrument in oppress- ing them. They should have protested against the many schemes for the benefit of the labouring classes, ■which have raised this expenditure to £220,000 per annum, when they were brought forward, without a guarantee that the property of the colonists should not be impaired and rendered unproductive. They are now at the mercy of those who seem to have assumed for their motto the famous saying mentioned in the journal {inutato nomine). "Delenda est Carthago," seems to be ever present to their minds, and always the rule which prompts their actions. There are too many cases among the wretched colonists which are the counter-parts of my friend's; and he has expressed himself to me in the strongest terms, since his return to Europe, against the strange hallucmation which prevails among the planters, and the influence of wliich he succumbed to while among them — I mean that of en- tertaining a hope that they will yet be able to compete with their rivals of Brazil and Cuba, either through the agency of African labourers, or some other which the wisdom of pai'liament, or the justice of the great body of their countrymen, will concede to them at the eleventh hoiu*. The delusion is perfectly natural, because a case like theirs is not to be met with in the annals of Great Britain, unless it be that of the Darien expedition. But they are not exactly parallel either. There is no national jealousy aroused by the West Indians, nor is there any cause of hostility to them; but they are merely over- whelmed by an opposing interest, which, although falsely, thinks it is to gain by then' loss, and which has proved immeasurably stronger than they throughout the arduous struggle. Mr. Premium was a man who, as he himself declares, possessed an ample fortune, independently of liis West 302 India estate, and if he had been able to combat the delu- sion, and dispose of it immediately after the full emanci- pation of his slaves, at any price, he would have been still a rich man. But, although a person of sound judg- ment, he was carried on, from year to year, to lay out money, under a hope, of whose existence he did not seem to be aware — for he always professed to have the gloomiest anticipations — until everythmg went from him, and he left the unhappy Colony to his still ardent and energetic son, who is bearing up against insurmountable hardships and debts, which are increasmg yearly, and now he can- not get rid of his estate. It has been computed that the annual amoimt drawn from men situated like Premium on his arrival in the Colony in 1840, and from mortgagees vmder this delu- sive hope, continues to be still nearly half a million ster- ling for the whole of the sugar settlements. It is wonderful, indeed, that faith in the future should remain so firm and immutable after the sad experience of so many years. There is doubtless much of that sort of calculation on which Sir Eobert Peel relied, when he told them that the slaves of the West Lidies would soon assert theii' fr'eedom, and then the British planter would be restored to liis former position of equahty in circum- stances with his neighbour. "Mercy on us," says the old baronet in the play, "a happy man when his brother's throat is cut!" But the moralist need not stai't at this doctrine; it is neither new nor based on probabihty. We have had the same prediction any time since the aboli- tion (by law) of the African slave-trade, when it suited a man to make it. A Negro insm-rection has never succeeded, except in St. Domingo, and there success was owino- to the war of colom's that prevailed in the island. The Blacks are not able to an-ange a systematic rising, and to mature it so as to ensm'e a successful result. They have neither discretion to keep the secret, nor mental 303 powers to contrive and combine a plot wliich would com- prehend the majority of their numbers, and enable them to rise as one body and to overpower the Whites. It is a pity Sir Robert, in his benovelent desire to com- fort the colonists on his desertion of them, could not hit on something more satisfactory, and it is a proof that he felt there was notliing else to be said. Indeed, they were probably fully aware of the fact when he left them. Colonists have not to learn that rats, whether creeping things or talking statesmen, are apt to leave a sinking ship, and they are deeply sensible of his instinctive faculty in foreseeino; danger. It is difficult to refrain from expressing an opinion on what Mr. Premium has emphatically termed the only means of saving the planters, although these remarks have extended too far akeady. It is certain that many West Indians slu'unk from recoimnending this measure to Lord George Bentinck's Committee on account of the odium in which it was held among the people of this comitry, and even some of their own body. But he has put it in the proper hght. As it is indis- putable that the mass of the people in Africa are in a state of dark and hopeless slavery, the term Ransom is better appHed to the transaction which removes them as free men to a fi'ee country, than that of Pm'chase. At the time ^Ir. Premium made the entry in his journal which contains his opinions on tliis subject, the proceed- ings of the two committees wliich have since sat, or were then sitting, were of com*se unknown to him. Much has come to light since he settled in Italy, and it is known to his Editor that he is more and more confirmed in his views since the evidence taken by the Slave Commit- tee has been fr'om time to time pubhshed. If it is admitted that slavery exists in Africa to such an extent as to extend to nineteen-twentieths of the popu- lation, as is confidently asserted, sm'ely the difference of 304 opinion which has existed should not continue. Any man can picture to himself what the misery and sufferings of a human being must be when bona fide a chattel in possession of a savage, Avhom the merest accident may rouse to a pitch of fliry — whom inebriety may tempt to torture for amusement — and who can, without check or control, so deal with his abject property as any prompt- ing emanating from those moods may suggest. But the strongest reason is unquestionably that stated in the journal, although what has now been said seems quite enough to excite the sympatliies of all humane peo- ple. Yet when, along with it, we become aware that a great trade is now carried on in the interior of Africa to provide a sufficient number to supply the demand on the coast, created by the sliips of Cuba and Brazil, we are natm'ally led to believe that a measure which would meet the poor wretches there, and convert their prospect of a dreadful voyage and a perpetuity of slavery, into one of fi-eedom and happiness, would be more agreeable to our feelings than anything else. That they would derive incalculable benefit, whether bought on his own land from then' barbarous masters, or on the sea coast, cannot be doubted. That a system of redemption from slaveiy would have any other effect than taking off the gangs of those who now regularly supply the slavers, there is not the slightest reason to beheve. It is a cliimera with Avhicli the imagination of our countrymen is affrighted by designing men, and which a little inquiry would soon dispel. This being the case, the question is, simply as Mr. Premium says — whether it is for the advantage of the African to allow him to go as a slave to Cuba or Brazil, supposyig he has escaped death by massacre to save expenses, or to take him, as a free man, to the West India colonies, there to remain no more than five years, unless he chooses to fix his resi- dence for a longer period among the well-paid people of 305 those settlements? There can be Kttle doubt on which side the advantages preponderate. It is as clear also that it would prove the most eiFectual means of entirely suppressing the cruel and detestable traffic in slaves. It would be completely in the power of the two great nations, who are now engaged in keeping it in check, to control and command the cargoes sent for sale to the coast. There would be no concealment nor diffi- culty of any sort in making the necessary arrangements with the dealers, and the facilities afforded in consequence, together with the risk incurred from the hostile fleets con- tinually watching them, would soon drive the smugglers from the coast of Africa. Unfortunately, this is a ques- tion which is more likely to be settled in accordance with feelings biassed by wrong information, than a cool and dis- passionate judgment, based on true knowledge of circum- stances. THE END. JOHN NBILSON, PRINTKR. .Jl UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY Los Angeles This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. •^ AUG 1 pi !^ m ^ WSCKARGE-Wl MAY 1 8 m Form L9-Series 444 ^^smmw-^. —<^ ANGEU: Ul.lX^' \ e.^*^ imrm yn \\r\ fti '"'"'*"' ■ '"•"'"'■- LidUBJXI*