Part 61 (1/2)
Total 131,257 831,105 162,733 1,125,095
[Footnote A: These islands adopted immediate emanc.i.p.ation, Aug 1, 1834.]
[Footnote B: These are crown colonies, and have no local legislature.]
ANTIGUA.
CHAPTER I.
Antigua is about eighteen miles long and fifteen broad; the interior is low and undulating, the coast mountainous. From the heights on the coast the whole island may be taken in at one view, and in a clear day the ocean can be seen entirely around the land, with the exception of a few miles of cliff in one quarter. The population of Antigua is about 37,000, of whom 30,000 are negroes--lately slaves--4500 are free people of color, and 2500 are whites.
The cultivation of the island is princ.i.p.ally in sugar, of which the average annual crop is 15,000 hogsheads. Antigua is one of the oldest of the British West India colonies, and ranks high in importance and influence. Owing to the proportion of proprietors resident in the Island, there is an acc.u.mulation of talent, intelligence and refinement, greater, perhaps, than in any English colony, excepting Jamaica.
Our solicitude on entering the Island of Antigua was intense. Charged with a mission so nearly concerning the political and domestic inst.i.tutions of the colony, we might well be doubtful as to the manner of our reception. We knew indeed that slavery was abolished, that Antigua had rejected the apprentices.h.i.+p, and adopted entire emanc.i.p.ation. We knew also, that the free system had surpa.s.sed the hopes of its advocates. But we were in the midst of those whose habits and sentiments had been formed under the influences of slavery, whose prejudices still clinging to it might lead them to regard our visit with indifference at least, if not with jealousy. We dared not hope for aid from men who, not three years before, were slaveholders, and who, as a body, strenuously resisted the abolition measure, finally yielding to it only because they found resistance vain.
Mingled with the depressing anxieties already referred to, were emotions of pleasure and exultation, when we stepped upon the sh.o.r.es of an unfettered isle. We trod a soil from which the last vestige of slavery had been swept away! To us, accustomed as we were to infer the existence of slavery from the presence of a particular hue, the numbers of negroes pa.s.sing to and fro, engaged in their several employments, denoted a land of oppression; but the erect forms, the active movements, and the sprightly countenances, bespoke that spirit of disinthrallment which had gone abroad through Antigua.
On the day of our arrival we had an interview with the Rev. James c.o.x, the superintendent of the Wesleyan mission in the island. He a.s.sured us that we need apprehend no difficulty in procuring information, adding, ”We are all free here now; every man can speak his sentiments unawed. We have nothing to conceal in our present system; had you come here as the _advocates of slavery_ you might have met with a very different reception.”
At the same time we met the Rev. N. Gilbert, a clergyman of the English Church, and proprietor of an estate. Mr. G. expressed the hope that we might gather such facts during our stay in the island, as would tend effectually to remove the curse of slavery from the United States. He said that the failure of the crops, from the extraordinary drought which was still prevailing, would, he feared, be charged by persons abroad to the new system. ”The enemies of freedom,” said he, ”will not ascribe the failure to the proper cause. It will be in vain that we solemnly declare, that for more than thirty years the island has not experienced such a drought. Our enemies will persist in laying all to the charge of our free system; men will look only at the amount of sugar exported, which will be less than half the average. They will run away with this fact, and triumph over it as the disastrous consequence of abolition.”
On the same day we were introduced to the Rev. Bennet Harvey, the princ.i.p.al of the Moravian mission, to a merchant, an agent for several estates, and to an intelligent manager. Each of these gentlemen gave us the most cordial welcome, and expressed a warm sympathy in the objects of our visit. On the following day we dined, by invitation, with the superintendent of the Wesleyan mission, in company with several missionaries. _Freedom in Antigua_ was the engrossing and delightful topic. They rejoiced in the change, not merely from sympathy with the disinthralled negroes, but because it had emanc.i.p.ated them from a disheartening surveillance, and opened new fields of usefulness. They hailed the star of freedom ”with exceeding great joy,” because it heralded the speedy dawning of the Sun of Righteousness.
We took an early opportunity to call on the Governor, whom we found affable and courteous. On learning that we were from the United States, he remarked, that he entertained a high respect for our country, but its slavery was a stain upon the whole nation. He expressed his conviction that the instigators of northern mobs must be implicated in some way, pecuniary or otherwise, with slavery. The Governor stated various particulars in which Antigua had been greatly improved by the abolition of slavery. He said, the planters all conceded that emanc.i.p.ation had been a great blessing to the island, and he did not know of a single individual who wished to return to the old system.
His excellency proffered us every a.s.sistance in his power, and requested his secretary--_a colored gentleman_--to furnish us with certain doc.u.ments which he thought would be of service to us. When we rose to leave, the Governor followed us to the door, repeating the advice that we should ”see with our own eyes, and hear with our own ears.” The interest which his Excellency manifested in our enterprise, satisfied us that the prevalent feeling in the island was opposed to slavery, since it was a matter well understood that the Governor's partialities, if he had any, were on the side of the planters rather than the people.
On the same day we were introduced to a barrister, a member of the a.s.sembly and proprietor of an estate. He was in the a.s.sembly at the time the abolition act was under discussion. He said that it was violently opposed, until it was seen to be inevitable. Many were the predictions made respecting the ruin which would be brought upon the colony; but these predictions had failed, and abolition was now regarded as the salvation of the island.
SABBATH.
The morning of our first Sabbath in Antigua came with that hushed stillness which marks the Sabbath dawn in the retired villages of New England. The arrangements of the family were conducted with a studied silence that indicated habitual respect for the Lord's day. At 10 o'clock the streets were filled with the church-going throng. The rich rolled along in their splendid vehicles with liveried outriders and postillions. The poor moved in lowlier procession, yet in neat attire, and with the serious air of Christian wors.h.i.+ppers. We attended the Moravian service. In going to the chapel, which is situated on the border of the town, we pa.s.sed through and across the most frequented streets. No persons were to be seen, excepting those whose course was toward some place of wors.h.i.+p. The shops were all shut, and the voices of business and amus.e.m.e.nt were hushed. The market place, which yesterday was full of swarming life, and sent forth a confused uproar, was deserted and dumb--not a straggler was to be seen of all the mult.i.tude.
On approaching the Moravian chapel we observed the negroes, wending their way churchward, from the surrounding estates, along the roads leading into town.
When we entered the chapel the service had begun, and the people were standing, and repeating their liturgy. The house, which was capable of holding about a thousand persons, was filled. The audience were all black and colored, mostly of the deepest Ethiopian hue, and had come up thither from the estates, where once they toiled as slaves, but now as freemen, to present their thank-offerings unto Him whose truth and Spirit had made them free. In the simplicity and tidiness of their attire, in its uniformity and freedom from ornament, it resembled the dress of the Friends. The females were clad in plain white gowns, with neat turbans of cambric or muslin on their heads. The males were dressed in spencers, vests, and pantaloons, all of white. All were serious in their demeanor, and although the services continued more than two hours, they gave a wakeful attention to the end. Their responses in the litany were solemn and regular.
Great respect was paid to the aged and infirm. A poor blind man came groping his way, and was kindly conducted to a seat in an airy place. A lame man came wearily up to the door, when one within the house rose and led him to the seat he himself had just occupied. As we sat facing the congregation, we looked around upon the mult.i.tude to find the marks of those demoniac pa.s.sions which are to strew carnage through our own country when its bondmen shall be made free. The countenances gathered there, bore the traces of benevolence, of humility, of meekness, of docility, and reverence; and we felt, while looking on them, that the doers of justice to a wronged people ”shall surely dwell in safety and be quiet from fear of evil.”
After the service, we visited the Sabbath school. The superintendent was an interesting young colored man. We attended the recitation of a Testament cla.s.s of children of both s.e.xes from eight to twelve. They read, and answered numerous questions with great sprightliness.
In the afternoon we attended the Episcopal church, of which the Rev.
Robert Holberton is rector. We here saw a specimen of the aristocracy of the island. A considerable number present were whites,--rich proprietors with their families, managers of estates, officers of government, and merchants. The greater proportion of the auditory, however, were colored people and blacks. It might be expected that distinctions of color would be found here, if any where;--however, the actual distinction, even in this the most fas.h.i.+onable church in Antigua, amounted only to this, that the body pews on each side of the broad aisle were occupied by the whites, the side pews by the colored people, and the broad aisle in the middle by the negroes. The gallery, on one side, was also appropriated to the colored people, and on the other to the blacks. The finery of the negroes was in sad contrast with the simplicity we had just seen at the Moravian chapel. Their dresses were of every color and style; their hats were of all shapes and sizes, and fillagreed with the most tawdry superfluity of ribbons. Beneath these gaudy bonnets were glossy ringlets, false and real, cl.u.s.tering in tropical luxuriance. This fantastic display was evidently a rude attempt to follow the example set them by the white aristocracy.
The choir was composed chiefly of colored boys, who were placed on the right side of the organ, and about an equal number of colored girls on the left. In front of the organ were eight or ten white children. The music of this colored, or rather ”amalgamated” choir, directed by a colored chorister, and accompanied by a colored organist, was in good taste.
In the evening, we accompanied a friend to the Wesleyan chapel, of which the Rev. James c.o.x is pastor. The minister invited us to a seat within the altar, where we could have a full view of the congregation. The chapel was crowded. Nearly twelve hundred persons were present. All sat promiscuously in respect of color. In one pew was a family of whites, next a family of colored persons, and behind that perhaps might be seen, side by side, the ebon hue of the negro, the mixed tint of the mulatto, and the unblended whiteness of the European. Thus they sat in crowded contact, seemingly unconscious that they were outraging good taste, violating natural laws, and ”confounding distinctions of divine appointment!” In whatever direction we turned, there was the same commixture of colors. What to one of our own countrymen whose contempt for the oppressed has defended itself with the plea of _prejudice against color_, would have been a combination absolutely shocking, was to us a scene as gratifying as it was new.
On both sides, the gallery presented the same unconscious blending of colors. The choir was composed of a large number, mostly colored, of all ages. The front seats were filled by children of various ages--the rear, of adults, rising above these tiny choristers, and softening the shrillness of their notes by the deeper tones of mature age.
The style of the preaching which we heard on the different occasions above described, so far as it is any index to the intelligence of the several congregations, is certainly a high commendation. The language used, would not offend the taste of any congregation, however refined.