Part 106 (1/2)
Savannah-la-Mar, Sept. 8, 1838.
MY DEAR SIR,--You are probably aware that the following question has been submitted by the Governor to the Attorney-General for his opinion:
(copy.)
(No. 844.) King' House, Aug. 27, 1838.
SIR,--I am desired by the Governor to request you will give your opinion for general publication. 1st. Whether in instances of notices to quit their houses and grounds, having been served upon the late apprentices, they are liable to be made to pay rent for the occupation of such house, during the three months allowed by law?
(OPINION.)
They are.
(Signed,)
D O'REILL.
We shall soon see the evil effects of this opinion, it being generally previously understood that the late apprenticed population would not be liable for rent until the three months had expired, after receiving notice to quit.
As a specimen of this being made an instrument of great oppression in the hands of managers of estates, I would state that two notices were yesterday brought to brother Hutchins for his inspection; one was served upon David Clarke, a labourer, on King's Valley estate, in this parish.
On the back of the notice to quit was written as under;--
”The rent of your house and grounds is twenty-one pounds six s.h.i.+llings and eight pence, per annum, commencing 1st of August, 1838, if legal.”
(Signed) J. H. JONES.
Mr. Sturge appends the following West India accounts, which be says are in his possession by which it is evident that the planters are bringing their laborers in debt to them, by a spirit of shameless extortion.
Charles Duncan to John Dixon, Dr.
1838. Sept. 15. To rent of house and ground, from 1st of August to date, 6s. 8d. per week. 2 3 9-1/2 Cr. By balance, five days, 1s.8d. per day 0 8 4 ------------- 1 15 5-1/2 Charles Brown, to John Dixon, Dr.
1838. Sept. 13. To rent of house and ground, 6s. 8d. per week, from 1st Aug, to date. 2 1 10 Charge for running a sow and pigs, from 1st Aug. to date, 2s. 6d. per week 0 15 8-1/2 ------------- 2 17 6-1/2
John Alfred Bullock to John Dixon, Dr.
1838. Sept. 15. To rent of house and garden, from 1st of Aug.
to date, 6s. 8d. per week, 2 3 9-1/2 Rent of provision ground, 5s. per week, 1 12 6 Pasturage, two weeks, for an a.s.s, 6s. 3d, per month, 0 3 4 Two hogs, 1s. 8d. per week, 1 1 10-3/4 ------------- 5 1 6-1/4 Cr. By two days' labour, 1s.
8d. per day 0 3 4 ------------- 4 18 2-1/3
LETTER TO MR. STURGE, FROM A SPECIAL JUSTICE.
_Jamaica, Oct. 12th, 1838._
Freedom has brought with it the blessings we antic.i.p.ated; and as we progress in civilization we shall all be happier. I have ever been sanguine as to its beneficial results, and I am not in the least disappointed. I cannot find language sufficiently strong to express the commendation due to the negroes for their steady and good conduct since the 1st of August. Amidst the most trying circ.u.mstance, they have exhibited the greatest forbearance, and placed their whole reliance on the laws for protection. I am satisfied that no other nation of free men could conduct themselves so temperately and well, under similar circ.u.mstances; and in my opinion, they have proved themselves infinitely superior to many of those who so lately exercised almost unlimited control over them. I declare to you, to see such a ma.s.s of persons, whose morals have been little regarded by those who held them in slavery, and without education, rise all at once, and express and conduct themselves so admirably, is wonderful. When seeking redress before the magistrates for wrongs committed by there former owners they have maintained more coolness and temper than their more fortunate brethren, when maters are decided against them. There is a hard struggle on the part of the pro-slavery faction to compel the negro to work for little or nothing, in order that the attorneys and overseers may keep their places as before; and I am informed, by a gentleman whose veracity is not to be doubted, and who is himself an attorney, that he can still keep his overseer and merchant as in former days, draw his own commissions, and send home to his employer a very handsome surplus.
Under such circ.u.mstances, well may the friends of freedom cry shame at the opposition which has for so long a time been thrown in the way of liberty, by these West Indians of practical knowledge. The facts are, that the absent proprietors have been led by the advice they have received from their attorneys; and these have had so many ways of making more than an honest commission, and have so speedily made their fortunes, that as long as they could continue slavery, they have exerted every influence. The overseer was paid, housed, fed, and waited upon, all at the expense of master and slave, beside; keeping a fine stud of horses, and as many brood mares at pasture on the property as would enable him to dispose of seven or eight prime mules annually; and so long as he drove and tormented the poor negro, and made good crops for the attorney's commissions, and supplied his horses with corn, these _little perquisites_ were never discovered. Now the proprietor will hardly pay for more labor than is absolutely necessary to grow and manufacture the produce of his estate; and these gentlemen must henceforth look to their own resources, for the payment of servants to attend and take care of their own interests and comforts. An overseer's situation on an estate making 300 hogsheads, was calculated in slavery to be equal to 2000l. a year. Indeed no man in any town could have lived in such luxury for that sum. If the proprietor would only come out, and live prudently, he would save all this by residing on his property, which he could easily manage by employing, for extra wages, his former steady head people. _They_, from long residence, know the best manner of working the land; and, as to the manufacture of sugar, they are the persons who have _all their lives_ been working at it. The most important part of an overseer and book-keeper's business was to make use of their _eyes_. The negro had to make use of his legs, arms and strength; and, in nine cases out of ten, his brains kept the white people in their situations, by preventing matters from going wrong.
I perfectly coincide with you, as to the propriety of the negro speedily becoming possessed of the elective franchise. In Antigua there is very little more land than is in cultivation for the estates, but here it is widely different; and they are beginning to settle themselves by purchasing small lots very fast. At Sligoville there are nearly fifty new freeholders. The negroes are taught to do this by the perpetual worry of their employers, threatening to oust them on every trifling occasion, and withholding part of their wages on the plea of non-performance of work.--The root of all evil is the a.s.sembly and the Juries. Nothing requires greater alteration; and I shall never rest, until I see the black man stand the same chance at the bar of his country as the white man.--The negroes will not work under their former hard task-masters. They determinedly resist all solicitations to labor with those who treated them ill. They say that the pain is gone, but the mark remains, and I respect them for this proud feeling.
I have come under his displeasure for taking the opinion of Middleton and McDougal, as to the legality of charging the negro hire for his house and grounds, for the three months during which the notices to quit are running.--Had we not taken these opinions, what a fearful state things might we have been brought to in this country! I am quite satisfied that no rent could be recovered until the expiration of the three months, from which time it would commence to run, and the plaintiff would in law be considered in possession of his lands again, which, in slavery, he was compelled to give to his slave for his support and maintenance. He must re-enter before he could demand rent, for it is impossible for him to prove a contract, or imply one. The negro did not willingly come from Africa, and occupy his land; he was torn from his native land, and compelled by his owner, under laws that took his life, not to quit the land; how therefore can he be considered to have made a contract, or consented to one?
FROM THE REV. J. KINGDON