The Anti-Slavery Examiner Volume II Part 25

It will be remembered that Mr. H. is a man of thorough and long experience in the condition of the island, having lived in it since the year 1800, and being most of that time engaged directly is the management of estates.

"Aggression on private property, such as breaking into houses, cutting canes, &c., are decidedly fewer than formerly. It is true that crime is made more _public_ now, than during slavery, when the master was his own magistrate."--_Dr. Daniell_.

"I am of the opinion that crime in the island has diminished rather than increased since the abolition of slavery. There is an _apparent_ increase of crime, because every misdemeanor, however petty, floats to the surface."--_Hon. N. Nugent_.

We might multiply testimony on this point; but suffice it to say that with very few exceptions, the planters, many of whom are also civil magistrates, concur in these two statements; that the amount of crime is actually less than it was during slavery; and that it _appears_ to _be greater_ because of the publicity which is necessarily given by legal processes to offences which were formerly punished and forgotten on the spot where they occurred.

Some of the prominent points established by the foregoing evidence are,

1st. That most of the crimes committed are petty misdemeanors such as turning out to work late in the morning, cutting canes to eat, &c. _High penal offences_ are exceedingly rare.

2d. That where offences of a serious nature do occur, or any open insubordination takes place, they are founded in ignorance or misapprehension of the law, and are seldom repeated a second time, if the law be properly explained and fully understood.

3d. That the above statements apply to no particular part of the island, where the negroes are peculiarly favored with intelligence and religion, but are made with reference to tire island generally. Now it happens that in one quarter of the island the negro population are remarkably ignorant and degraded. We were credibly informed by various missionaries, who had labored in Antigua and in a number of the other English islands, that they had not found in any colony so much debas.e.m.e.nt among the people, as prevailed in the part of Antigua just alluded to. Yet they testified that the negroes in that quarter were as peaceable, orderly, and obedient to law, as in any other part of the colony. We make this statement here particularly for the purpose of remarking that in the testimony of the planters, and in the police reports; there is not a single allusion to this portion of the island as forming an exception to the prevailing state of order and subordination.

After the foregoing facts and evidences, we ask, what becomes of the dogma, that slaves cannot be immediately placed under the government of _equitable laws_ with safety to themselves and the community?

Twelfth proposition.--The emanc.i.p.ated negroes have shown _no disposition to roam from place to place._ A tendency to rove about, is thought by many to be a characteristic of the negro; he is not allowed even an ordinary share of local attachment, but must leave the chain and staple of slavery to hold him amidst the graves of his fathers and the society of his children. The experiment in Antigua shows that such sentiments are groundless prejudices. There a large body of slaves were "_turned loose_;" they had full liberty to leave their old homes and settle on other properties--or if they preferred a continuous course of roving, they might change employers every six weeks, and pa.s.s from one estate to another until they had accomplished the circuit of the island. But, what are the facts? "The negroes are not disposed to leave the estates on which they have formerly lived, unless they are forced away by bad treatment. I have witnessed many facts which ill.u.s.trate this remark. Not unfrequently one of the laborers will get dissatisfied about something, and in the excitement of the moment will notify me that he intends to leave my employ at the end of a month. But in nine cases out of ten such persons, before the month has expired, beg to be allowed to remain on the estate. The strength of their _local attachment_ soon overcomes their resentment and even drives them to make the most humiliating confessions in order to be restored to the favor of their employer, and thus be permitted to remain in their old homes."--_H. Armstrong, Esq._

"Nothing but bad treatment on the part of the planters has ever caused the negroes to leave the estates on which they were accustomed to live, and in such cases a _change of management_ has almost uniformly been sufficient to induce them to return. We have known several instances of this kind."--_S. Bourne, Esq., of Millar's, and Mr. Watkins, of Donavan's_.

"The negroes are remarkably attached to their homes. In the year 1828, forty-three slaves were sold from the estate under my management, and removed to another estate ten miles distant. After emanc.i.p.ation, the whole of these came back, and plead with me to employ them, that they might live in their former houses."--_James Howell, Esq._

"Very few of my people have left me. The negroes are peculiar for their attachment to their homes."--_Samuel Barnard, Esq., of Green Castle_.

"Love of home is very remarkable in the negroes. It is a pa.s.sion with them. On one of the estates of which I am attorney, a part of the laborers were hired from other proprietors. They had been for a great many years living on the estate, and they became so strongly attached to it, that they all continued to work on it after emanc.i.p.ation, and they still remain on the same property. The negroes are loth to leave their homes, and they very seldom do so unless forced away by ill treatment."--_Dr. Daniell_.

On a certain occasion we were in the company of four planters, and among other topics this subject was much spoken of. They all accorded perfectly in the sentiment that the negroes were peculiarly sensible to the influence of local attachments. One of the gentlemen observed that it was a very common saying with them--"_Me nebber leave my bornin'

ground_,"--i.e., birth-place.

An aged gentleman in St. John's, who was formerly a planter, remarked, "The negroes have very strong local attachments. They love their little hut, where the calabash tree, planted at the birth of a son, waves over the bones of their parents. They will endure almost any hards.h.i.+p and suffer repeated wrongs before they will desert that spot."

Such are the sentiments of West India planters; expressed, in the majority of cases, spontaneously, and mostly in ill.u.s.tration of other statements. We did not hear a word that implied an opposite sentiment.

It is true, much was said about the emigration to Demerara, but the facts in this case only serve to confirm the testimony already quoted.

In the first place, nothing but the inducement of very high wages[A]

could influence any to go, and in the next place, after they got there they sighed to return, (but were not permitted,) and sent back word to their relatives and friends not to leave Antigua.

[Footnote A: From fifty cents to a dollar per day.]

Facts clearly prove, that the negroes, instead of being indifferent to local attachments, are peculiarly alive to them. That nothing short of cruelty can drive them from their homes--that they will endure even that, as long as it can be borne, rather than leave; and that as soon as the instrument of cruelty is removed, they will hasten back to their "_bornin' ground._"

THIRTEENTH PROPOSITION.--"The gift of unrestricted freedom, though so suddenly bestowed, has not made the negroes more insolent than they were while slaves, but has rendered them _less so_."--_Dr. Daniell_.

Said James Howell, Esq.--"A short time after emanc.i.p.ation, the negroes showed some disposition to a.s.sume airs and affect a degree of independence; but this soon disappeared, and they are now respectful and civil. There has been a mutual improvement in this particular. The planters treat the laborers more like fellow men, and this leads the latter to be respectful in their turn."

R.B. Eldridge, Esq., asked us if we had not observed the civility of the lower cla.s.ses as we pa.s.sed them on the streets, both in town and in the country. He said it was their uniform custom to bow or touch their hat when they pa.s.sed a white person. They did so during slavery, and he had not discovered any change in this respect since emanc.i.p.ation.

Said Mr. Bourne--"The negroes are decidedly less insolent now than they were during slavery."

Said Mr. Watkins, of Donovan's--"The negroes are now all _cap in hand_; as they know that it is for their interest to be respectful to their employers."

Said Dr. Nugent--"Emanc.i.p.ation has not produced insolence among the negroes."

During our stay in Antigua, we saw no indications whatsoever of insolence. We spoke in a former part of this work of the uncommon civility manifested in a variety of ways on the road-sides.

A trifling incident occurred one day in St. John's, which at first seemed to be no small rudeness. As one of us was standing in the verandah of our lodging house, in the dusk of the evening, a brawny negro man who was walking down the middle of the street, stopped opposite us, and squaring himself, called out. "Heigh! What for you stand dare wid your arms so?" placing his arms akimbo, in imitation of ours. Seeing we made no answer, he repeated the question, still standing in the same posture. We took no notice of him, seeing that his supposed insolence was at most good-humored and innocent. Our hostess, a colored lady, happened to step out at the moment, and told us that the man had mistaken us for her son, with whom he was well acquainted, at the same time calling to the man, and telling him of his mistake. The negro instantly dropped his arms, took off his hat, begged pardon, and walked away apparently quite ashamed.

FOURTEENTH PROPOSITION.--Emanc.i.p.ation in Antigua has demonstrated that GRAt.i.tUDE _is a prominent trait of the negro character_. The conduct of the negroes on the first of August, 1834, is ample proof of this; and their uniform conduct since that event manifests an _habitual_ feeling of grat.i.tude. Said one, "The liberty we received from the king, we can never sufficiently thank G.o.d for; whenever we think of it, our hearts go out in grat.i.tude to G.o.d." Similar expressions we heard repeatedly from the negroes.--We observed that the slightest allusion to the first of August in a company of freed persons, would awaken powerful emotions, accompanied with exclamations of "tank de good Lord," "bless de Savior,"

"praise de blessed Savior," and such like.

It was the remark of Mr. James Howell, manager of Thibou Jarvis's--"That the negroes evinced very little grat.i.tude to their _masters_ for freedom. Their grat.i.tude all flowed toward G.o.d and the king, whom they regarded as the sole authors of their liberty."

Mr. Watkins observed that "the negroes' motto was G.o.d and the king. This feeling existed particularly at the time of emanc.i.p.ation, and shortly after it. They have since become more attached to their former masters."

It is by no means strange that the negroes should feel little grat.i.tude toward their late masters, since they knew their opposition to the benevolent intentions of the English government. We were informed by Dr.

Daniell and many others, that for several months before emanc.i.p.ation took place, the negroes had an idea that the king had sent them 'their free papers,' and that _their masters were keeping them back._ Besides, it was but two years before that period, that they had come into fierce and open hostility with the planters for abolis.h.i.+ng the Sunday market, and giving them no market-day instead thereof. In this thing their masters had shown themselves to be their enemies.

That any good thing could come from such persons the slaves were doubtless slow to believe. However, it is an undeniable fact, that since emanc.i.p.ation, kind treatment on the part of the masters, has never failed to excite grat.i.tude in the negroes. The planters understand fully how they may secure the attachment and confidence of their people. A _grateful_ and _contented_ spirit certainly characterizes the negroes of Antigua. They do not lightly esteem what they have got, and murmur because they have no more. They do not complain of small wages, and strike for higher. They do not grumble about their simple food and their coa.r.s.e clothes, and flaunt about, saying '_freemen ought to live better_.' They do not become dissatisfied with their lowly, cane-thatched huts, and say we ought to have as good houses as ma.s.sa.

They do not look with an evil eye upon the political privileges of the whites, and say we have the majority, and we'll rule. It is the common saying with them, when speaking of the inconveniences which they sometimes suffer, "Well, we must be satify and conten."

FIFTEENTH PROPOSITION.--The freed negroes of Antigua have proved that _they are able to take care of themselves_. It is affirmed by the opponents of emanc.i.p.ation in the United States, that if the slaves were liberated, they could not take care of themselves. Some of the reasons a.s.signed for entertaining this view are--1st, "The negro is naturally improvident." 2d, "He is const.i.tutionally indolent." 3d, "Being of an inferior race, he is deficient in that shrewdness and management necessary to prevent his being imposed upon, and which are indispensable to enable him to conduct any business with success." 4th, "All these natural defects have been aggravated by slavery. The slave never provides for himself, but looks to his master for everything he needs.

So likewise he becomes increasingly averse to labor, by being driven to it daily, and flogged for neglecting it. Furthermore, whatever of mind he had originally has been extinguished by slavery." Thus by nature and by habit the negro is utterly unqualified to take care of himself. So much for theory; now for testimony. First, what is the evidence with regard to the _improvidence_ of the negroes?

"During slavery, the negroes squandered every cent of money they got, because they were sure of food and clothing. Since their freedom, they have begun to cultivate habits of carefulness and economy".--_Mr.

James Howell_.

Facts--1st. The low wages of the laborers is proof of their providence.

Did they not observe the strictest economy, they could not live on fifty cents per week.

2d. That they buy small parcels of land to cultivate, is proof of economy and foresight. The planters have to resort to every means in their power to induce their laborers not to purchase land.

3d. The Friendly Societies are an evidence of the same thing. How can we account for the number of these societies, and for the large sums of money annually contributed in them? And how is it that these societies have trebled, both in members and means since emanc.i.p.ation, if it be true that the negroes are thus improvident, and that freedom brings starvation?

4th. The weekly and monthly contributions to the churches, to benevolent societies, and to the schools, demonstrate the economy of the negroes; and the _great increase_ of these contributions since August, 1834, proves that emanc.i.p.ation has not made them less economical.

5th. The increasing attention paid to the cultivation of their private provision grounds is further proof of their foresight. For some time subsequent to emanc.i.p.ation, as long as the people were in an unsettled state, they partially neglected their grounds. The reason was, they did not know whether they should remain on the same estate long enough to reap their provisions, should they plant any. This state of uncertainty very naturally paralyzed all industry and enterprise; and their neglecting the cultivation of their provision grounds, _under such circ.u.mstances_, evinced foresight rather than improvidence. Since they have become more permanently established on the estates, they are resuming the cultivation of their grounds with renewed vigor.

Said Dr. Daniell--"There is an increasing attention paid by the negroes to cultivating their private lands, since they have become more permanently settled."

6th. The fact that the parents take care of the wages which their children earn, shows their provident disposition. We were informed that the mothers usually take charge of the money paid to their children, especially their daughters, and this, in order to teach them proper subordination, and to provide against casualties, sickness, and the infirmities of age.

7th. The fact that the negroes are able to support their aged parents, is further proof.

As it regards the second specification, viz., _const.i.tutional indolence_, we may refer generally to the evidence on this subject under a former proposition. We will merely state here two facts.

1st. Although the negroes are not obliged to work on Sat.u.r.day, yet they are in the habit of going to estates that are weak-handed, and hiring themselves out on that day.

2d. It is customary throughout the island to give two hours (from 12 to 2) recess from labor. We were told that in many cases this time is spent in working on their private provision grounds, or in some active employment by which a pittance may be added to their scanty earnings.