Part 75 (2/2)

”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.”

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