Antigua and the Antiguans Volume II Part 10

"young," it is "noung."

They are particularly polite whenever they meet, addressing each other as "Sir," and "Ma'am." Many a dialogue have I heard pa.s.s between the gossips on their way from the Moravian Chapel, sufficient to excite the risible faculties of a stoic. "How d'ye, ma'am?" said a dirty-looking man just now, to a woman of a similar grade; "how you do?-I'se hope you well to-day." "Well, I tankee, sir-how you do?" "Oh, so so, ma'am, it one long time since me see you; war you no come up our side?" "Oh, my dear sir, me no forget you togedder, but me pic'nee been quite sick."[37]

"Me sorry to hear dat, but me hopes he soon get well; me just been to see de new gubbernor land." "Yes, me here he c.u.m, but me not able to go; war kind of a gentleman is he?" "Oh, one n.o.ble-looking buckra, an he lady on gran lady; it do you heart good to see he; me dont tink we eber hab gubbenor like he afore."

"War he named?" "Gubbernor Sir Charles _Gustus Fitzoy_." "Eh, eh, one big name true." "Well, good morning, sir." "Good morning, ma'am," and so they separated.

To a stranger, the negro tongue is as difficult to _write_ as it is to _speak_. In the different conversations given in that dialect, indulgence must be craved from my kind readers, both English and Creole, if they are not correctly written, observing at the same time that I write them as it seems proper to me, and in such a manner as they may be understood by those who read, not always the case when garnished by so many accentual marks.

Perhaps sufficient examples of their mode of talking has been given, and that by adding more, the reader may be tired, and myself involved in a maze; I will therefore conclude this subject by remarking, that it requires more than a moderate stock of patience to deal with them, for they talk so long, so loud, and so fast, that if not blest with that virtue to an eminent degree, you will be sure to lose your temper without avail.

In my lengthened descriptions of the negro tribe, among the darker shades of their character inebriation has not been mentioned, as it is not a general vice among them. Still it cannot be altogether pa.s.sed over, for alas! too many have to deplore the consequences of excessive drinking. In a country where his actual wants are sooner supplied than in a colder clime, the labourer has a larger portion to spend upon that deleterious poison, _new rum_. A few sticks, collected by himself or his wife, serves to cook his daily meal, a mat forms his couch, while a coa.r.s.e garment of cloth is the dress of his children, and their little feet seldom know the confinement of a shoe. Their smart dresses (if they have any) are reserved for a Sunday, or any particular occasion; but the generality of negroes who are addicted to the vice of drunkenness, seldom pay any regard to their personal appearance.

Their excuse for indulging in this habit of drinking is, that after working all day they require something to strengthen them and allay their thirst. But the question is, will ardent spirits do this? or will they not rather, from their heating qualities, augment the craving? Now, most negroes have a sweet tooth, and a beverage composed of sugar and water would tend to alleviate their thirst, and at the same time nourish and enrich their blood.

It is very much to be wished that managers and owners of estates would try and enforce on the minds of their labourers the pernicious effects of dram-drinking; for a steady, well-ordered peasantry is a blessing to a country. True it is, the negroes have a stubborn temper; and yet there are very many to be found among them who seem willing to follow good advice; in that case, the "rum-shops" might be forsaken in time, and their frequenters become, instead of the refuse, the ornament of the cla.s.s to which they belong. The time has at length arrived when this despised and benighted race are treated as rational creatures; when-

"Spite of the shade, at length confess'd a man; Nor longer whipp'd, because he is not white."

If a society was formed in Antigua, similar to the "horticultural," or agricultural societies in England, only extending it to articles of manufacture, it would be the means, perhaps, of exciting in the minds of the lower cla.s.ses a worthy spirit of emulation, and by employing them during their leisure hours, draw them from their bad a.s.sociates, and conduct them, by gentle and persuasive measures, into the paths of virtue.

The humanity and generosity of the Antiguans is proved by many charitable inst.i.tutions; perhaps, then, this remark may be deemed an imposition upon their goodness; but such is not the case; this society might be established at very small expense. Twice in the year, the negroes might be encouraged to bring their little productions to an appointed place; and the best made, or best cultivated articles, obtain a prize. The prizes, of course, would be but small, but surely there are some among this large body of persons who would esteem them, not for their value, but for the honour it conferred upon them. It would be well if some of the philanthropists of the present day would take it into consideration whether such a society would be advisable or not.

If even but a few individuals were converted from idleness to industrious habits, the purpose of the inst.i.tution would be in a great measure answered, the country benefited, and, in course of time, others might be led to follow their example.

Ambition is a principle inherent in man; in all ages, in all cla.s.ses, in all shades, it more or less abounds, and when tempered with reason, becomes, perhaps, more of a virtue than a vice. While the negro was used as a beast of burden, a creature without feeling or soul, his mind became degraded, and he could not exercise his natural powers. But now he is become free, bear with his ignorance for awhile, and endeavour by every means to enlighten it. Treat him as a being endowed with the same capabilities as ourselves; lay before him a just view of life; point out to his notice the difference between a man under the control of reason and one who follows the dictates of his own impetuous will; shew him what industry and perseverance will accomplish, and, in all probability, there will be some who will lean to the side of virtue, and feel ambitious to become good citizens, and worthy members of society. Nor would this be all the good effected; being virtuous themselves, they would of course desire their children to be so; and consequently, try all possible means to procure them good instruction, and endeavour to bring them up in the paths of rect.i.tude. This is the only way to banish the taint of slavery from the land, and exempt the rising generation from those vices which have for so many years been prevalent, and caused the man of sensibility to blush for his country.

[36] Wager, in his "Account of the Isthmus of Darien," published 1699, when speaking of these Albinos, says,-"They are not a distinct race by themselves; but now and then one is born of a copper-coloured father and mother." In the night they skip about "like wild bucks, and run as fast by moonlight, even in the gloom and shade of the woods, as other Indians do by day; being as nimble as they, though not so strong."

[37] In creole language, the term "sick" is applied to all ailments.

CHAPTER XLIV.

Remarks upon free system-State of affairs before emanc.i.p.ation- Trials and casualties-Improved price of land-Sugar estate during slavery-Benefits of emanc.i.p.ation in the moral state of the colony-Benefits arising to the planter-Pretended illness among the negroes-Propositions in their favour-Decrease of crime-Hopes indulged-"The first of August."

After dwelling so long upon the gloomy subject of slavery, it is pleasing to turn to the more cheering prospects of the country under a system of perfect freedom.

It must be allowed that, for a few years previous to emanc.i.p.ation, the Antiguan planters were in a state of great perturbation. They plainly perceived, from the state of affairs, that the thraldom of slavery must be broken-that Britain would no longer allow her children to traffic openly in flesh and blood; and, finally, that they must, whether with a good grace or sullen deportment, give up their right to slaves. Still the change from slavery to freedom was a great revolution, a mighty crisis; and urgent and inevitable as it was, who could tell what would be its results. From this cause, property in Antigua diminished, for some few years, greatly in value; and many estates might have been then purchased for a comparative trifle.

But this depression did not continue long, for no sooner was the deed done, and the chain which bound the negro to his fellow-man irrecoverably snapped asunder, than it was found, even by the most sceptical, that free-labour was decidedly more advantageous to the planter than the old system of slavery. That, in fact, an estate could be worked for less by free labour than it could when so many slaves-including old and young, weak and strong-were obliged to be maintained by the proprietors. Indeed, the truth of this a.s.sertion was discovered even before the negroes were free; for no sooner did the planters feel that no effort of theirs could prevent emanc.i.p.ation from taking place, than they commenced to calculate seriously the probable result of the change, and, to their surprise, found, upon mature deliberation, that their expenses would be diminished, and their comforts increased, by the abolition of slavery.[38]

The lapse of eight years has proved this to be true; and there is now scarcely one person, if any, in the island of Antigua, who would wish to become again a slaveholder.

Since the period of emanc.i.p.ation, (1834,) Antigua has suffered from many casualties. There were the severe hurricane, and the long and hara.s.sing droughts of 1835. In 1836, and part of the following year, the drought returned with increased severity, and blasted, in great measure, the crops. In 1840, the planters had again to contend with a season of dry weather, and yet, under all these disastrous circ.u.mstances, the free system has gloriously worked its way; and by producing larger average crops, (as well as other advantages, both as regards exports and imports,) has claimed from all a tribute of praise.

Although there are some few persons who deny that free labour is less expensive than slavery, yet the general voice p.r.o.nounces it to be a system beneficial to the country. It has been proved to demonstration that estates which, under the old system, were clogged with debts they never could have paid off, have, since emanc.i.p.ation, not only cleared themselves, but put a handsome income into the pockets of the proprietors. Land has also increased greatly in value. Sugar plantations that would scarcely find a purchaser before emanc.i.p.ation, will now command from 10,000l. sterling, while many estates that were abandoned in days of slavery; are now once more in a state of cultivation; and the sugar-cane flourishes in verdant beauty, where for so many years nothing was to be seen but rank and tangled weeds, or scanty herbage.

In days of slavery it required an immense capital to establish a sugar plantation, as well as a large annual expenditure to carry on the affairs of the estate when established. Perhaps a sugar estate had a gang of two hundred slaves upon it, yet out of this large number possibly there might not be more than sixty or seventy efficient negroes, the surplus being composed of helpless old men and women, children and infants, and emaciated and cureless invalids. Still the law obliged the owner to feed, clothe, house, and procure medical attendance for the entire number; and little as their allowance was, yet, in dry seasons in particular, when the crops of yams and other island provisions failed, the maintenance of so many persons was attended with great expense, while at the same time, perhaps, not more than one-third the number were of any use in agricultural employments.

Under the free system, this tie upon the planter is entirely annulled; for he now employs but a sufficient number of labourers to carry on the estate-work, and the negroes support themselves, as well as their old people and children, out of their weekly earnings and the privileges which they still enjoy upon the properties where they are domiciled.

But this diminishment of expense in the cultivation of the sugar-cane is not the only benefit which emanc.i.p.ation has brought to the colony. Setting aside religious principles-which evidently point out the _sinfulness_ of slavery, as it is known among modern nations-there were many, very many circ.u.mstances, which tended to render the system obnoxious in the highest degree.

I have already spoken of the immorality practised in the West Indies. It is a topic most harrowing to the feelings, and one that a sensitive mind cannot descant upon. What was the origin of that awful state of society? _Slavery!_ Illicit love was not only countenanced, but actually encouraged upon estates between the white masters and their black slaves, in order that the gang of slaves might be enlarged by such unholy means! In these brighter days of freedom there is, at least, not this inducement to licentiousness in its most hideous form, and consequently, that degraded state of morals which marked the annals of former years, has, in great measure, disappeared.

Again, slavery occasioned the _planter_ immense trouble and perplexities in managing his slaves; it engendered continual heart-burnings and jealousies; it soured his temper, rendered him callous, deadened those feelings of humanity which the Spirit of Love has implanted in our b.r.e.a.s.t.s, and, however kind and benevolent he might be in his domestic circle, a few months spent in managing slaves, and he forgot to exercise his self-control, and gave way to bursts of pa.s.sions which, in his calmer moments, he perhaps bitterly repented of.

Nor was this all: slavery engendered suspicion. There was not a single slave-holder or slave-manager who, one time or the other, was not made the prey to apprehensions, and had his brain filled with thoughts of rebellions and insurrections. Emanc.i.p.ation has entirely banished this hydra-like train of evils, and paved the way for more enlightened and happier times. It has also put an end, in great measure, to pretended illness among the negroes.

During slavery, this was a practice universal. No sooner did Monday morning arrive than the manager's door was thronged with self-elected invalids, and more diseases were then complained of than even Dr. Buchan would have us believe "flesh and blood are heir to." Some made their appearance with their heads tied up in a bundle of banana-leaves-a negro prognosticator of a severe head-ache; others were suffering from pains in the knees and ankles, and consequently, such parts of their frame were duly enveloped in sundry particles of old cloth or dried snake-skins; while some, again, with woe-begone countenances, expressed "dat dey felt bad all ober dem." In vain the poor manager protested their pulse was good, the tongues in a healthy state-the negroes only groaned the more, gave a longer detail of their aches and pains, or else, in a very doleful voice, exclaimed-"Ma.s.sa no b'leive he, (pointing to their tongues and wrists,) he no worth b'leiving, for he no 'peak true!" and so the end of the confab was, that the slaves in question were put upon the sick-list.

But now the case is generally different. The negroes work for _money_; they know if they feign illness for a week, they will be the losers at the end of the month; and as they are very quick in discovering where their own interest lies, they stick to the hoe for the sake of the dollars.

Still, however, pretended illness is not entirely extinct,-there are some of the labourers who practise it in these days of freedom, as of erst they did in slavery. In ill.u.s.tration of this remark, it is a customary plan upon sugar plantations, that if any of the people quit their work for a certain period, they, after that time, are required to pay rent for the cottages, with which, as stationary labourers, they are provided. This is done in order to ensure their labour, and prevent them from working upon other estates, where they may receive higher wages as strangers.[39]

In order, then, to gain this increase of wages, without having to pay rent for his house, the negro calls up some pseudo complaint, and very early in the morning, presents himself before the manager, with the usual bandages, and the notification that he is "quite sick." The manager feels grieved at this intelligence, for he had contemplated doing a particular quant.i.ty of work that week, and required all the labourers he could procure; but as the negro represents himself so very ill, and he cannot deny the statement, he is obliged to remain content. No sooner, however, has the indisposed negro gained his hut, than he throws off all symptoms of illness, and choosing his best hoe, he secretly starts away to some other estate, where he is sure to obtain the additional wages; while his proper master supposes he is reclining upon his bed, a prey to ill-health.

It must be remarked, that although the free labourer acts at times in this disingenuous manner, it is a general opinion that they work better, and in a more cheerful manner than they did in days of slavery, when a driver stood over them with his long and heavy whip, to chastise their least cessation from labour. It cannot be supposed that I am perfectly cognizant of the real truth of this statement. I must, therefore, along with my own observations, take the opinions and arguments of planters, and other persons connected with agricultural employments, as the basis of my remarks.

The facts brought forward in support of this affirmation are these:-That upon some estates the extent of acres in a state of cultivation is greater than before the abolition of slavery,- other properties make a larger annual crop with one-third the number of labourers,-and that although many efficient negroes have emigrated to other islands, estates that were dismantled have been re-cultivated. In _job-work_, as it is termed, the negroes accomplish twice as much work as when employed by the day; the simple reason of which is, that they gain a larger sum of money by such arrangements. It is a fact that has fallen under my own observation, that when a piece of land is holed[41] by _task-work_, the negroes will rise by one or two o'clock during moonlight, go to the field, and accomplish the usual day's work (300 cane-holes) by five or six in the morning; and after resting for a short time, are prepared to take another task, which they also complete, and have some hours left, in which to till their own little spot of provision-ground. When the excessive heat of the climate is taken into consideration, as well as the labour it requires to dig one _cane-hole_, the work of a negro who can open _six hundred_ in one day, can be better estimated by those who are more acquainted with such matters than myself.

Another proposition in favour of the free system is said to be the greater docility of the negroes now they are emanc.i.p.ated. Of this circ.u.mstance I am not able to give _personal_ information.

To me they appear as aggravating as ever: equally suspicious, quarrelsome, and uncivil. Still there are many and great excuses to be made for them, when we consider how short has been their life of freedom!-how untutored their minds are!-how debased has been their state!-the very beast that eats the gra.s.s of the field has, in times past, been equally esteemed with the negro!

Many planters, as well as other intelligent individuals, have affirmed to the truth of the statement, "that negroes are more easily managed as free men, than they were as slaves;" and certainly such persons ought to be better judges than myself, whose intercourse with the negro population is, of course, more restricted.

Crime is also said to have decreased-that is, in offences of the higher character. We seldom or ever hear of a murder, or arson; but petty faults, such as small thefts, breaking canes, breaches of contract, and insolence to their employers, swell at times into a large amount. Still it must be remembered, such is not a proof that misdemeanours are more frequent in freedom than they used to be during slavery. The reason that these minor violations of the law appear to have increased is, that under the present system all defaulters are brought before a magistrate, and their offences thus published in the eyes of the world; whereas, in days of slavery, their owner was their judge and corrector, the whip their punishment, and they received their corporeal chastis.e.m.e.nt without any notice of the event reaching the ears of any stranger.

It is true, as I have already remarked more than once, the negroes are a cla.s.s of individuals very difficult and tiresome to deal with; the greatest patience is requisite in order to bear with their strange and hara.s.sing dispositions. It is now ten years since I first came among them; and although great part of that time has been spent in England, I have lived long enough in Antigua to know what negroes are. I have studied their characters in every point, and well as I would wish to speak of them, truth obliges me to confess I have found them to be very far from perfect. Still I glory in emanc.i.p.ation, for I looked upon slavery as a foul and hideous monster, which ought to be exterminated from every corner of the world; and consequently, I would not have the bright star of liberty robbed of one of its rays by any remarks of mine. I yet hope to see the negroes improved in their mental, as they already are in their temporal affairs. I trust that, as years roll round, their ill qualities will be ameliorated, and their virtues increased; that they, as well as their employers, may learn and practise that golden maxim, "Bear and forbear;" and that eventually the Antiguan peasantry may be held up to the other colonies as bright examples of humble worth, adorning the sphere of life in which they move.

It is my fervent wish that the negroes may learn properly to estimate their state as a _free people_, and instead of using their liberty as a cloak for insolence and impertinence, they may fulfil the several duties which are required of them with becoming diligence, and finally meet their reward.

In summing up this chapter upon free labour, it may be deemed necessary for me to mention some few particulars of the 1st of August, 1834, that eventful day, when about thirty thousand human beings were released from the trammels of slavery, and entered upon a new state of existence as free men!

Before the abolition of slavery, it had been supposed by many of the inhabitants of Antigua, that the negroes, at such an important era of their lives-the transition from slavery to freedom, would be led into great and serious excesses, or, at least, that they would pa.s.s the first days of freedom in dance and song, in riotous feastings and drunken carousals. But when the time arrived, far different was the result. Instead of that day being the scene of wild revelry and disorderly jollity, the negroes pa.s.sed it as a "Sabbath of Sabbaths," a solemn feast,

"One bright day of gladness and of rest."

The churches and chapels throughout the island were thronged to overflowing; and those persons who were unable to procure seats within the sacred walls, crowded around the open doors and windows with eager looks of joy. All the shops and stores in the island were closed-

"The roar of trade had ceased, and on the air Came holy songs, and solemn sounds of prayer."

From every valley and dingle and from every height came trooping joyous groups. Old men and women, whose woolly locks were silvered by the hand of time-young men and maidens-the robust and the weak-the parent and the child-all rejoicing that the day had at length come when the iron yoke of slavery was removed from their shoulders, and they, like their masters, could boast that they were free!

The 1st of August fell upon a Friday, and after enjoying themselves upon the following day with their friends, and joining in the ordinances of G.o.d upon the Sabbath, the greater part of the negroes returned to their agricultural and other employments on the Monday morning with the utmost decorum and good temper.

Defective as the negro character may be, their behaviour at that eventful period of their lives must elicit praise from the lips of all, and prove a lasting theme of gratification to the friends of liberty.