Part 65 (1/2)
We called at the estate of Mr. J. Scotland, Jr., barrister, and member of the a.s.sembly. We expected to meet with the proprietor, but the manager informed us that pressing business at court had called him to St. John's on the preceding day. The testimony of the manager concerning the dry weather, the consequent failure in the crop, the industry of the laborers, and so forth, was similar to that which we had heard before.
He remarked that he had not been able to introduce job-work among his people. It was a new thing with them, and they did not understand it. He had lately made a proposal to give the gang four dollars per acre for holding a certain field. They asked a little time to consider upon so novel a proposition. He gave them half a day, and at the end of that time asked them what their conclusion was. One, acting as spokesman for the rest, said, ”We rada hab de s.h.i.+lling wages.” That was _certain_; the job might yield them more, and it might fall short--quite a common sense transaction!
At the pressing request of Mr. Armstrong we spent a day with him at Fitch's Creek. Mr. A. received us with the most cordial hospitality, remarking that he was glad to have another opportunity to state some things which he regarded as obstacles to the complete success of the experiment in Antigua. One was the entire want of concert among the planters. There was no disposition to meet and compare views respecting different modes of agriculture, treatment of laborers, and employment of machinery. Another evil was, allowing people to live on the estates who took no part in the regular labor of cultivation. Some planters had adapted the foolish policy of encouraging such persons to remain on the estates, in order that they might have help at hand in cases of emergency. Mr. A. strongly condemned this policy. It withheld laborers from the estates which needed them; it was calculated to make the regular field hands discontented, and it offered a direct encouragement to the negroes to follow irregular modes of living. A third obstacle to the successful operation of free labor, was the absence of the most influential proprietors. The consequences of absenteeism were very serious. The proprietors were of all men the most deeply interested in the soil; and no attorneys, agents, or managers, whom they could employ, would feel an equal interest in it, nor make the same efforts to secure the prosperous workings of the new system.
In the year 1833, when the abolition excitement was at its height in England, and the people were thundering at the doors of parliament for emanc.i.p.ation, Mr. A. visited that country for his health. To use his own expressive words, he ”got a terrible sc.r.a.ping wherever he went.” He said he could not travel in a stage-coach, or go into a party, or attend a religious meeting, without being attacked. No one the most remotely connected with the system could have peace there. He said it was astonis.h.i.+ng to see what a feeling was abroad, how mightily the mind of the whole country, peer and priest and peasant, was wrought up. The national heart seemed on fire.
Mr. A. said, he became a religious man whilst the manager of a slave estate, and when he became a Christian, he became an abolitionist. Yet this man, while his conscience was accusing him--while he was longing and praying for abolition--did not dare open his mouth in public to urge it on! How many such men are there in our southern states--men who are inwardly cheering on the abolitionist in his devoted work, and yet send up no voice to encourage him, but perhaps are traducing and denouncing him!
We received a call at our lodgings in St. John's from the Archdeacon. He made interesting statements respecting the improvement of the negroes in dress, morals, education and religion, since emanc.i.p.ation. He had resided in the island some years previous to the abolition of slavery, and spoke from personal observation.
Among many other gentlemen who honored us with a call about the same time, was the Rev. Edward Fraser, Wesleyan missionary, and a colored gentleman. He is a native of Bermuda, and ten years ago was a _slave_.
He received a mercantile education, and was for several years the confidential clerk of his master. He was treated with much regard and general kindness. He said he was another Joseph--every thing which his master had was in his hands. The account books and money were all committed to him. He had servants under him, and did almost as he pleased--except becoming free. Yet he must say, as respected himself, kindly as he was treated, that slavery was a _grievous wrong, most unjust and sinful_. The very thought--and it often came over him--that he was a slave, brought with it a terrible sense of degradation. It came over the soul like a frost. His sense of degradation grew more intense in proportion as his mind became more cultivated. He said, _education was a disagreeable companion for a slave_. But while he said this, Mr.
F. spoke very respectfully and tenderly of his master. He would not willingly utter a word which would savor of unkindness towards him. Such was the spirit of one whose best days had been spent under the exactions of slavery. He was a local preacher in the Wesleyan connection while he was a slave, and was liberated by his master, without remuneration, at the request of the British Conference, who wished to employ him as an itinerant. He is highly esteemed both for his natural talents and general literary acquisitions and moral worth. The Conference have recently called him to England to act as an agent in that country, to procure funds for educational and religious purposes in these islands.
MEETING OF WESLEYAN MISSIONARIES.
As we were present at the annual meeting of the Wesleyan missionaries for this district, we gained much information concerning the object of our mission, as there were about twenty missionaries, mostly from Dominica, Montserrat, Nevis, St. Christophers, Anguilla, and Tortola.
Not a few of them were men of superior acquirements, who had sacrificed ease and popular applause at home, to minister to the outcast and oppressed. They are the devoted friends of the black man. It was soul-cheering to hear them rejoice over the abolition of slavery. It was as though their own limbs had been of a sudden unshackled, and a high wall had fallen from around them. Liberty had broken upon them like the bursting forth of the sun to the watchman on his midnight tower.
During the session, the mission-house was thrown open to us, and we frequently dined with the numerous company of missionaries, who there ate at a common table. Mrs. F., wife of the colored clergyman mentioned above, presided at the social board. The missionaries and their wives a.s.sociated with Mr. and Mrs. F. as unreservedly as though they wore the most delicate European tint. The first time we took supper with them, at one side of a large table, around which were about twenty missionaries with their wives, sat Mrs. F., with the furniture of a tea table before her. On the other side, with the coffee urn and its accompaniments, sat the wife of a missionary, with a skin as lily-hued as the fairest Caucasian. Nearly opposite to her, between two white preachers, sat a colored missionary. Farther down, with the chairman of the district on his right, sat another colored gentleman, a merchant and local preacher in Antigua. Such was the uniform appearance of the table, excepting that the numbers were occasionally swelled by the addition of several other colored gentlemen and ladies. On another occasion, at dinner, we had an interesting conversation, in which the whole company of missionaries partic.i.p.ated. The Rev. M. Banks, of St. Bartholomews, remarked, that one of the grossest of all absurdities was that of _preparing men for freedom_. Some, said he, pretend that immediate emanc.i.p.ation is unsafe, but it was evident to him that if men _are peaceable while they are slaves_, they might be trusted in any other condition, for they could not possibly be placed in one more aggravating. If _slavery_ is a safe system, _freedom_ surely will be. There can be no better evidence that a people are prepared for liberty, _than their patient endurance of slavery_. He expressed the greatest regret at the conduct of the American churches, particularly that of the Methodist church. ”Tell them,” said he, ”on your return, that the missionaries in these islands are cast down and grieved when they think of their brethren in America.
We feel persuaded that they are holding back the car of freedom; they are holding up the gospel.” Rev. Mr. Cheesbrough, of St. Christopher's, said, ”Tell them that much as we desire to visit the United States, we cannot go so long as we are prohibited from speaking against slavery, or while that _abominable prejudice_ is encouraged in the churches. _We could not administer the sacrament to a church in which the distinction of colors was maintained._” ”Tell our brethren of the Wesleyan connection,” said Mr. B. again, ”that slavery must be abolished by _Christians_, and the church ought to take her stand at once against it.” We told him that a large number of Methodists and other Christians had engaged already in the work, and that the number was daily increasing. ”That's right,” he exclaimed, ”agitate, _agitate_, AGITATE!
_You must succeed_: the Lord is with you.” He dwelt particularly on the obligations resting upon Christians in the free states. He said, ”Men must be at a distance from slavery to judge of its real character.
Persons living in the midst of it, gradually become familiarized with its horrors and woes, so that they can view calmly, exhibitions from which they would once have shrunk in dismay.”
We had some conversation with Rev. Mr. Walton, of Montserrat. After making a number of statements in reference to the apprentices.h.i.+p there, Mr. W. stated that there had been repeated instances of planters _emanc.i.p.ating all their apprentices_. He thought there had been a case of this kind every month for a year past. The planters were becoming tired of the apprentices.h.i.+p, and from mere considerations of interest and comfort, were adopting free labor.
A new impulse had been given to education in Montserrat, and schools were springing up in all parts of the island. Mr. W. thought there was no island in which education was so extensive. Religious influences were spreading among the people of all cla.s.ses. Marriages were occurring every week.
We had an interview with the Rev. Mr. H., an aged colored minister. He has a high standing among his brethren, for talents, piety, and usefulness. There are few ministers in the West Indies who have accomplished more _for the cause of Christ_ than has Mr. H.[A]
[Footnote A: It is a fact well known in Antigua and Barbadoes, that this colored missionary has been instrumental in the conversion of several clergymen of the Episcopal Church in those islands, who are now currently devoted men.]
He said he had at different periods been stationed in Antigua, Anguilla, Tortola, and some other islands. He said that the negroes in the other islands in which he had preached, were as intelligent as those in Antigua, and in every respect as well prepared for freedom. He was in Anguilla when emanc.i.p.ation took place. The negroes there were kept at work on the very _day that freedom came!_ They worked as orderly as on any other day. The Sabbath following, he preached to them on their new state, explaining the apprentices.h.i.+p to them. He said the whole congregation were in a state of high excitement, weeping and shouting.
One man sprang to his feet, and exclaimed, 'Me never forget G.o.d and King William.' This same man was so full that he went out of the chapel, and burst into loud weeping.
The preaching of the missionaries, during their stay in Antigua, was full of allusions to the abolition of slavery in the West Indies, and especially to the entire emanc.i.p.ation in Antigua. Indeed, we rarely attended a meeting in Antigua, of any kind, in which the late emanc.i.p.ation was not in some way alluded to with feelings of grat.i.tude and exultation. In the ordinary services of the Sabbath, this subject was almost uniformly introduced, either in the prayer or sermon.
Whenever thanksgiving was rendered to G.o.d for favors, _freedom_ was among the number.
The meeting of the district afforded an opportunity for holding a number of anniversary meetings. We notice them here, believing that they will present the most accurate view that can be given of the religious and moral condition of Antigua.
On the evening of the 1st of February, the first anniversary of the Antigua Temperance Society was held in the Wesleyan chapel. We had been invited to attend and take a part in the exercises. The chapel was crowded with a congregation of all grades and complexions. Colored and white gentlemen appeared together on the platform. We intimated to a member of the committee, that we could not conscientiously speak without advocating _total abstinence_, which doctrine, we concluded from the nature of the pledge, (which only included ardent spirits,) would not be well received. We were a.s.sured that we might use the most perfect freedom in avowing our sentiments.
The speakers on this occasion were two planters, a Wesleyan missionary, and ourselves. All advocated the doctrine of total abstinence. The first speaker, a planter, concluded by saying, that it was commonly believed that wine and malt were rendered absolutely indispensable in the West Indies, by the exhausting nature of the climate. But facts disprove the truth of this notion. ”I am happy to say that I can now present this large a.s.sembly with ocular demonstration of the fallacy of the popular opinion. I need only point you to the worthy occupants of this platform.
Who are the healthiest among them? _The cold water drinkers--the teetotallers_! We can a.s.sure you that we have not lost a pound of flesh, by abandoning our cups. We have tried the cold water experiment faithfully, and we can testify that since we became cold water men, _we work better, we eat better, we sleep better, and we do every thing better than before_.” The next speaker, a planter also, dwelt on the inconsistency of using wine and malt, and at the same time calling upon the poor to give up ardent spirits. He said this inconsistency had been cast in his teeth by his negroes. He never could prevail upon them to stop drinking rum, until he threw away his wine and porter. Now he and all his people were teetotallists. There were two other planters who had taken the same course. He stated, as the result of a careful calculation which he had made, that he and the two planters referred to, had been in the habit of giving to their people not less than _one thousand gallons of rum annually_. The whole of this was now withheld, and mola.s.ses and sugar were given instead. The missionary who followed them was not a whit behind in boldness and zeal, and between them, they left us little to say in our turn on the subject of total abstinence.
On the following evening the anniversary of the Bible Society was held in the Moravian school-room. During the day we received a note from the Secretary of the Society, politely requesting us to be present. The s.p.a.cious school-room was filled, and the broad platform crowded with church clergymen, Moravian ministers, and Wesleyan missionaries, colored and white. The Secretary, a Moravian minister, read the twenty-first annual report. It spoke emphatically of 'the joyful event of emanc.i.p.ation', and in allusion to an individual in England, of whom it spoke in terms of high commendation, it designated him, as one ”who was distinguished for his efforts in the abolition of slavery.” The adoption of the report was moved by one of the Wesleyan missionaries, who spoke at some length. He commenced by speaking of ”the peculiar emotions with which he always arose to address an a.s.sembly of the free people of Antigua.” It had been his lot for a year past to labor in a colony[A]