Volume II Part 53 (1/2)
Mr. Frater said, among other things, ”He knew that it might be said the bill (Lord Glenelg's) did not go to the extent of freeing the negroes--_that we are about to do ourselves_, but he would ask whether we were not _driven into the difficulty_ by which we are now surrounded!
Had we not been brought into this _alarming position_, into this _exigency_, by the conduct of the British Government. _Why do we not tell the English nation frankly and candidly, that they agreed to give the planter six years' services of their apprentices, as a part of the compensation, and if they desired to do away with it, that we must be paid for it_, otherwise we will NOT ANSWER FOR ANY CHANGE, FOR ANY EVILS WHICH ARE LIKELY TO ENSUE. Why did the government force such an obnoxious bill upon us? They had in substance done this, they refused to annul the apprentices.h.i.+p themselves, it is true, but said, we will place them in a situation that will compel them to do it themselves. He must say that the Government had acted _cowardly and unjustly_, they had in substance deprived them of the further two years' services of their apprentices, agreeably to the compact entered into, upon a pretext that we had not kept faith with them, and now tell us they will give us no compensation. He hoped the allusion to it in the address would be retained.”
We beg the patient attention of the reader to still more of these extracts. The present state of things in Jamaica renders them very important. It is indispensable to a correct judgment of the results of the experiment to understand in what temper it was entered upon by the parties. Nothing can show this more clearly or authoritatively than the quotations we are making. We find another little torrent of eloquence from the same Mr. Hamilton Brown above quoted. He and several other gentlemen rose to reply to the statements of Richard Hill, a friend of freedom, and Secretary of the Special Magistracy.
Mr. Brown--”Mr. Chairman, I am on my legs, Sir. I say that we have to thank the Special Justices, and the _private instructions_ which they have acted upon, _for all the evils that have occurred in the country_.
Had they taken _the law_ for their guide, had they acted upon that, Sir, and not upon their private instructions, _every thing would have gone on splendidly_, and we should have done well. But they had _destroyed the negroes with their instructions_, they had _given them bad advice_, and _encouraged them in disobedience to their masters_. I say it, Sir, in the face of this committee--I would say it on my death-bed tomorrow, that if the Stipendiary Magistrates had _done their duty_ all would have gone on well, _and I told his Excellency that he might then have slept on a bed of roses_.”
Here was one of the abolishers of the apprentices.h.i.+p who held that more flogging would have made it work more ”splendidly.” Mr. Hugh Fraser Leslie, who the February before had, in his place in the a.s.sembly, denominated the anti-slavery delegates a.s.sembled in London, as ”a set of crawling wretches;” ”the sc.u.m and refuse of society.” ”The was.h.i.+ngs and sc.r.a.pings of the manufacturing districts,” &c. &c. now delivered himself of the following:--
”_He would ask any man in the house, nay, in the country, whether the house had any discretion left to them in the steps they were about to take_? Could it be denied, that they were driven to the present alternative? Could they any longer say they were an independent legislature? It would be preposterous--absolutely absurd to entertain any such idea. The apprentices.h.i.+p had been _forced upon the country_ as a part and parcel of the planters' compensation--it had been working well, and would insensibly _have slided into a state of absolute freedom, had the masters been left alone to themselves. It is now utterly impracticable to continue it_. A most obnoxious measure had been pa.s.sed by the British parliament, and sent out to this country to be promulgated by the Governor as the law of the land. The functions of the legislature were put in abeyance, and a British act _crammed down their throats_. It could not be denied that they were now under a military Government. _He was only sorry that the thing had not been more honestly done_; in his opinion, it would have been better for all cla.s.ses, for then the government would have taken all the responsibilities which might attend the sudden change they had driven the house to make, and find the means of conducting the affairs of the country into a peaceable and successful state. _Let any person look to the excitement which at present prevailed throughout the country, couple that with the speech which had been delivered by the Governor, and say if it was any longer practicable to carry one the system of apprentices.h.i.+p_. With respect to the doctrine which had been broached, that the apprentices.h.i.+p was not a part and parcel of the compact between the government and the planters; that they (the planters) did not possess an absolute but an incidental right to the services of their apprentices, _he confessed he was at a loss to understand it_, he was incapable of drawing so nice a distinction. He repeated, the government and nation had made the apprentices.h.i.+p a part of the consideration of the abolition of slavery, and having placed us in a situation to render its continuance impracticable they were bound in honor and common honesty _to compensate us_ for the two years.”
Once more, and we have done. Mr. Berry said,
”He did not think that because the Governor said they were not ent.i.tled to compensation, that therefore they should give up the claim which they unquestionably had upon the British nation for further compensation. He would contend also, that the apprentices.h.i.+p was one part of the consideration for the abolition of slavery. He had heard it remarked that the apprentices.h.i.+p must cease, but it ought to be added that they were compelled--they were driven to put an end to it by the Government, though they were convinced that neither party was at this moment prepared for immediate abandonment. The Governor, in his opening speech, had told the house that from the agitation at home, and the corresponding agitation which at the present moment prevailed here, it was physically impossible to carry one the apprentices.h.i.+p with advantage to masters and labourers. He would take leave to remark, that the apprentices.h.i.+p _was working very well_--in some of the parishes had worked extremely well. Where this was not the case, it was attributable _to the improper conduct of the Special Justices_. He did not mean to reflect upon them all; there were some honorable exceptions, but he would say that a great deal of the ill-feeling which had arisen in the country between the masters and their apprentices, was to be traced to the _injudicious advice_ and conduct of the special Justices.”
Such were the sentiments of by far the majority of those who spoke in the a.s.sembly. Such, doubtless, were the sentiments of more than nine-tenths of the persons invested with the management of estates in Jamaica. What, then if we had heard that nine-tenths of the emanc.i.p.ated had refused to be employed? Could that have been counted a failure of the experiment? Was there any reason to believe that the planters would not resort to every species of oppression compatible with a system of wages?
Before proceeding to the question of wages, however, we invite the reader to scan the temper and disposition of the parties of the other part, viz., the laboring population. Let us observe more carefully how _they_ behaved at the important period of
TRANSITION
Two of the st.u.r.diest advocates of slavery, the _Jamaica Standard_ and the _Cornwall Courier_, speak as follows:--
The _Standard_ says--”On Tuesday evening, (July 31), the Wesleyan, and we believe, Baptist Chapels, (St. James') were opened for service--the former being tastefully decorated with branches of the palm, sage, and other trees, with a variety of appropriate devices, having a portrait of her Majesty in the center, and a crown above. When we visited the Chapel, about 10 o'clock, it was completely full, but not crowded, the generality of the audience well dressed; and all evidently of the better cla.s.s of the colored and negro population. Shortly after, we understand, a very excellent and modern sermon, in all political points, was delivered by the Rev. Mr. Kerr, the highly respected pastor. The congregation was dismissed shortly after 12 o'clock; at which hour the church bell commenced its solemn peal, and a few noisy spirits welcomed in the morning of Freedom with loud cheers, and planted a huge branch, which they termed the ”Tree of Liberty,” in the center of the two roads crossing the market square.”
Again the _Standard_ observes, ”The long, and somewhat anxiously expected jubilee of Emanc.i.p.ation has arrived, and now nearly pa.s.sed over, with a remarkable degree of quiet and circ.u.mspection. Of St.
James's of course, we speak more particularly,--St. James's, hitherto the most reviled, and most unwarrantably calumniated parish, of all the parishes in this unfortunate and distracted colony!”
The _Cornwall Courier_ says, ”The first of August, the most important day ever witnessed in Jamaica, has pa.s.sed quietly as far as actual disturbance is concerned.”
The _Jamaica Morning Journal_, of whose recent course the planters should be the last to complain, gives more particular information of the transition in all parts of the island. We give copious extracts, for to dwell upon such a scene must soften the heart. It is good sometimes to behold the joy of mere brute freedom--the boundings of the n.o.ble horse freed from his stable and his halter--the glad homeward flight of the bird from its cage--but here was besides the rational joy of a heaven-born nature. Here were 300,000 souls set free; and on wings of grat.i.tude flying upwards to the throne of G.o.d. There were the gatherings in the public squares, there were the fireworks, the transparencies, the trees of liberty and the shouts of the jubilee, but the churches and the schools were the chief scenes, and hymns and prayer the chief language of this great ovation. There was no giving up to drunken revelry, but a solemn recognition of G.o.d, even by those who had not been wont to wors.h.i.+p him. His temples were never so crowded. His ministers never so much honored. We give the picture in all its parts, faithfully, and as completely as our information will enable us to do.
August 2.
”In this city, the day has pa.s.sed off in the way in which such a day ought to pa.s.s off. With glad hearts and joyful lips, the people have crowded the temples of the living G.o.d, and poured out their praises and thanksgivings for the great benefits they had received at the hands of a beneficent Providence. That they will continue to deport themselves as dutiful subjects, and good men and women, we have no doubt. From the country we wait with anxious hopes to hear that everything has gone off with the same peace, and quiet, and order, and regularity which have prevailed here, and especially that the people have returned to their labor, and are giving general satisfaction.”
From the same.
Among the various ways of interesting the minds of our newly enfranchised peasantry on the 1st of August, was that of planting a Palm tree emblematical of liberty, and commemorative of its commencement in this island. Both in Kingston and in Liguanca, we understand, this ceremony was performed by the schools and congregations of the ”London Missionary Society.” The following hymn, composed by Mr. Wooldridge, for the purpose, and committed to memory by many of the children, who were treated with cakes and lemonade.
Appropriate sermons were preached, both morning and evening, by the Rev.
Messrs. Woodbridge and Ingraham, and in the evening a Temperance Society was formed for the district of Liguanca, when several signed the pledge.
The th.o.r.n.y bush we'll clear away The emblem of old slavery-- Let every fibre of it die, And all its vices cease to be.
Let indolence, deceit, and theft, Be of their nourishment bereft, Let cruel wrong now disappear, And decent order crown each year.
PROCEEDINGS AT TRELAWNEY.--A correspondent in Trelawney writes. The first of August was observed by the people so decently and devoutly, and with such manifestations of subdued, yet grateful feeling, that they appeared more like a select cla.s.s of Christians celebrating some holy day of their church, than a race but recently converted from idolatry, and who were just emerging from the pollutions and degradation of slavery.
TREAT TO THE CHILDREN.--The most interesting and truly exciting scene of all in Trelawny, was the spectacle of some hundreds of happy children dining. This feast for them, and for all who had hearts that could sympathise with the happiness of others, was provided by the Rev. Mr.
Knibb. Similar scenes were enacted in the rural districts. The Rev. Mr.