The Anti-Slavery Examiner Volume II Part 52

"We seriously call upon our representatives to consider well all the bearings of the question, and if they cannot resist effectually these encroachments of the Imperial Government, adopt the remaining alternative of saving themselves from an infliction, by giving up at once and entirely, the bone of contention between us. Thus only shall we disarm, if anything in reason or in nature can, our enemies of their slanderous weapons of offence, and secure in as far as possible, a speedy and safe return of peace and prosperity to the "distracted"

colony.--Without this sacrifice on our parts, we see no shelter from our sufferings--no amelioration of present wrongs--no hope for the future; but on the contrary, a systematic and remorseless train laid for the ultimate ruin of every proprietor in the country. With this sacrifice which can only be to any extent to a few and which the wisdom of our legislature may possibly find out some means or other of compensation, we have the hope that the sunshine of Jamaica's prosperity shall not receive any farther diminution; but shall rather dawn again with renewed vigor; when all shall be alike free under the protection of the same law, and the same law-givers; and all shall be alike amenable to the powers that punish without favor and without affection."--_Jamaica Standard_.

"There is great reason to expect that many Jamaica proprietors will antic.i.p.ate the period established by the Slavery Abolition Act for the termination of the apprenticeship. They will, as an act of grace, and with a view to their future arrangements with their negroes, terminate the apprenticeship either of all at once, or by giving immediate freedom to the most deserving; try the effect of this gift, and of the example afforded to the apprentices when they see those who have been discharged from the apprenticeship working on the estates for wages. If such a course is adopted, it will afford an additional motive for inducing the Legislature to consider whether the good feeling of the laboring population, and their future connection with their former employers, may not be promoted by permitting them to owe to the grace of their own Legislature the termination of the apprenticeship as soon as the requisite legislation for the new state of things has been adopted."--_Jamaica Despatch_.

Of such sort as this is the testimony from all the Colonies, most abundantly published in the Emanc.i.p.ator and other abolition papers, to the point of the _safety_ of entire Emanc.i.p.ation. At the time when the step was taken, it was universally concluded that so far from being dangerous it promised the greatest safety. It would not only put an end to the danger apprehended from the foreign interference of the abolitionists, but it would _conciliate the negroes_! And we are not able to find any one who professes to be disappointed with the result thus far. The only evil now complained of, is the new freemen do not in some instances choose _to work_ on the _terms_ offered by the planters.

They have shed no man's blood. They have committed no depredation. They peaceably obey the laws. All this, up to the latest date, is universally admitted. Neither does any one _now_ presume to prophesy anything different for the future.

INDUSTRY.

On the one topic of the industry of the Emanc.i.p.ated people, the West Indian papers give the most conflicting accounts. Some represent them as laboring with alacrity, diligence and effect wherever anything like an adequate compensation is offered. It is a.s.serted by some, and not denied by any authorities that we have seen, that the emanc.i.p.ated are industriously at work on those estates where the masters voluntarily relinquished the apprenticeship before the first of August and met their freed people in good faith. But most of the papers, especially in Jamaica, complain grievously that the freed people will work on no reasonable terms. We give a fair specimen from one of the Jamaica papers, on which our political editors choose most to rely for their information:--

"In referring to the state of the country this week, we have still the same tale to tell of little work, and that little indifferently done, but exorbitantly charged for; and wherever resisted, a general "strike"

is the consequence. Now this, whatever more favourable complexion the interested and sinister motives of others may attempt to throw around it, is the real state of matters upon nine-tenths of the properties situated in St. James's, Westmoreland, and Hanover. In Trelawny they _appear_ to be doing a little better; but that only arises, we are confident from the longer purses, and patience of endurance under exorbitant wages, exhibited by the generality of the managers of that parish. Let them wait till they find they can no longer continue making sugar at its present expensive rate, and they will then find whether Trelawny is substantially in a better condition than either of the other parties."--_Standard, quoted in the Morning Journal of Nov. 2_.

This is the "tale" indeed, of a great part of the West India papers, sung to the same hum drum tune ever since the first of August; and so faithfully echoed by our own pro slavery press that many of our estimable fellow citizens have given it up that the great "experiment"

has turned out unfavorably, and that the colored population of the West Indies are rapidly _sinking_ from the condition of _slaves_ to that of idle freemen. Were we all in a position perfectly disinterested and above the peculiar influence of slavery, we might perhaps consider these complaints as asking for, rather than against, the character of the Emanc.i.p.ated and the cause of freedom, inasmuch as they prove the former slaves to have both the discretion and the spirit which should characterise freemen. But to the peculiar optics which abound in these United States it may be necessary to show the entire picture.

To prove in the first place the general falsehood of the complaints themselves it is only necessary to advert to recent official doc.u.ments.

For our present purpose it will be sufficient to refer to Jamaica. The legislature was convened on the 30th of October and addressed by the Governor Sir Lionel Smith in a speech of which the following extract pertains to our subject:--

_"Gentlemen of the Council, Mr. Speaker, and Gentlemen of the House of a.s.sembly,_

The most important event in the annals of colonial history has taken place since last I had the pleasure of meeting the legislature of this Island; and I am happy in being able to declare that the conduct of the laboring population, who were then the objects of your liberal and enlightened policy, _ent.i.tles them to the highest praise, and amply proves how_ WELL THEY HAVE DESERVED _the boon of freedom._

It was not to be expected that the total extinction of the apprenticeship law would be followed by an instantaneous return to active labor, but feeling as I do the deepest interest in the successful result of the great measurement now in progress, I sincerely congratulate you and the country at large, on the improvement which is daily taking place on the resumption of industrious habits, and I TRUST THERE IS EVERY PROSPECT OF AGRICULTURAL PROSPERITY."

Such is the testimony of a Governor who is no stranger in the West Indies and who was put in the place of Lord Sligo as more acceptable to the planters. But what said the House of a.s.sembly in reply?--a House made up chiefly of attornies who had more interest than any other men in the continuance of the old system and who, as will presently be shown, were not unwilling to have the "experiment" fail? They speak as follows:--

_"May it Please your Excellency,_

We, her Majesty's dutiful and loyal subjects, the a.s.sembly of Jamaica, thank your Excellency for your speech at the opening of the session.

The House join your Excellency in bearing testimony TO THE PEACEABLE MANNER in which the laboring population have conducted themselves in a state of FREEDOM.

It certainly was not to be expected that so great a change in the condition of the people would be followed by an immediate return to active labor. The House, however, are willing to believe that some degree of improvement is taking place, and they sincerely join in the HOPE expressed by your Excellency, that the agricultural interests of the Island may ultimately prosper, by a resumption of industrious habits on the part of the peasantry in their new condition."

This settles the question. Those who will not be convinced by such doc.u.ments as these that the ma.s.s of the Emanc.i.p.ated in Jamaica are ready _to do their part_ in the system of free labor, would not be convinced if one rose from the deed to prove it.

We are now prepared to investigate the causes of the complaints, and inquire why in numerous cases the negros have refused to work. Let us first go back to the debates Jamaica Legislature on the pa.s.sage of the Emanc.i.p.ation bill in June, and see whether we can discover the _temper_ in which it was pa.s.sed, and the prospect of good faith in its execution.

We can hardly doubt that some members, and some especially from whose speeches on that occasion we have already quoted, designed really to confer the "boon of freedom." But others spoke very differently. To understand their language we must commence with the Governor's speech at the opening of the session:--

_"Gentlemen of the Council,

Mr. Speaker, and Gentlemen of the a.s.sembly,_

I have called you together, at an unusual season, to take it to your consideration the state of the Island under the Laws of Apprenticeship, for the labouring population.

I need not refer you to the agitation on this subject throughout the British Empire, or to the discussions upon it in Parliament, _where the honourable efforts of the ministry_ were barely found sufficient to preserve the original duration of the Laws, as an obligation of the National faith.

I shall lay before you some despatches on this subject."

_"Gentlemen,_

_General agitation and Parliamentary interference have not, I am afraid, yet terminated._

_A corresponding excitement has been long going on among the apprentices themselves,_ but still they have rested in sober and quiet hopes, relying on your generosity, that you will extend to them that boon which has been granted to their cla.s.s in other Colonies."

_"Gentlemen of the Council,

Mr. Speaker and Gentlemen of the a.s.sembly,_

In this posture of affairs, it is my duty to declare my sentiments, and distinctly to _recommend to you the early and equal abolition of the apprenticeship for all cla.s.ses._ I do so in confidence that the apprentices will be found worthy of freedom, and that it will operate as a double blessing, by securing also the future interests of the planters.

I am commanded, however, to inform you that her Majesty's ministers will not entertain any question of further compensation. But should your views be opposed to the policy I recommend, I would entreat you to consider well _how impracticable it will become to carry on coercive labor_--always difficult, it would in future be in peril of constant comparisons with other colonies made free, and with those estates in this island made free by individual proprietors.

As Governor, under these circ.u.mstances, and I never shrink from any of my responsibilities, _I p.r.o.nounce it physically impossible to maintain the apprenticeship with any hope of successful agriculture._

"_Gentlemen of the Council,

Mr. Speaker, and gentlemen of the a.s.sembly._

Jamaica, is in your hands--she requires repose, by the removal of a law which has _equally tormented the laborer, and disappointed the planter_--a law by which man still constrains man in unnatural servitude. This is her first exigency. For her future welfare she appeals to your wisdom to legislate in the spirit of the times, with liberality and benevolence towards all cla.s.ses."

When such a man as Sir Lionel Smith p.r.o.nounced it no longer practicable to carry on coercive labor, he must have been a bold as well as a rash planter who would venture to hold on to the old system under Lord Glenelg's improvement Act. Accordingly we find some of the staunchest advocates of slavery, men who had been fattening on the oppression of the apprentices up to that moment the first, and the most precipitate, is their proposals of abolition. Mr. Hyslop, Mr. Gay and others were for acting at once on the Governor's speech without referring it to a committee. The former said: "He believed that a proposition would be made to abandon the apprenticeship from the 1st of August, _but he would say let it be abandoned from Sunday next_. He would therefore move that the speech be made the order of the day for tomorrow."

Mr. Guy said:--

"The Governor's speech contained nothing more than what every Gentlemen expected, _and what every Gentlemen, he believed, was prepared to do. In short he_ would state that _a bill had already been prepared by him, which he intended to introduce tomorrow, for the abolition of the apprenticeship on the 1st of August next_."

Both these gentlemen are well known by the readers of Jamaica papers as obstinate defenders slavery. The latter was so pa.s.sionately devoted to the abuses of the apprenticeship that Lord Sligo was obliged to dismiss him from the post of Adjutant General of militia. In the ardor of his attachment to the "peculiar inst.i.tution" of getting work without pay, he is reported to have declared on a public occasion, that the British ministry were a "parcel of reptiles" and that the "English nation was fast going to the dogs." In another part of the debate:--

"Mr. Guy hoped the house would not _go into a discussion of the nature of the apprenticeship_, or the terms upon which it was forced us by the government. All that he knew about the matter was, that it was a part and parcel of the compensation. Government had so declared it. In short it was made law. He could not help believing that the Hon. member for Trelawny, was arguing against the dictates of his own honest heart--that he came there cut and dry with a speech prepared to _defend the government_."

Mr. Barclay, to whom, some years ago, the planters gave a _splendid service of plate_ for his ingenious defence of slavery against the terrible pen of JAMES STEPHEN, said "it appeared to be the general feeling of the house that the apprenticeship should be done away with.

Be that as it may, he was free to say that in that part of the island he was from, and certainly it was a large and wealthy district, the apprenticeship system _had worked well_, and all parties _appeared_ satisfied with it. He denied that there existed any necessity to disturb the working of the system, it would have _gradually_ slided into _absolute freedom if they were permitted to regulate their own affairs_, but the government, or rather, _the people of England, had forced on the predicament in which they were placed_. The ministry could not help themselves--They were driven to violate the national compact, not in express words, it is true, but in fact. It was, however, the _force of public opinion that operated_ in producing the change. They were placed in a situation from which they could hardly extricate themselves.-- _They had no alternative, he was afraid, but to go along with the stream_."

Mr. Hamilton Brown, who at the commencement of the apprenticeship came into a Special Magistrate's court and publicly told him that unless he and his colleagues "_did their duty by having recourse to a frequent and vigorous application of the lash, there would he rebellion in the Parish (of St. Ann's!) in less than a month, and all the responsibility of such a calamity would rest on their shoulders_"! discoursed in the following manner. "It was always understood, for the apprenticeship _had become marketable_. Properties had been bought and sold with them, their time had been bought by others, and by themselves."

"He had no hesitation in saying, that the statements which had been made in England against the planters _were as false as h.e.l.l_--they had been concocted here, and sent home by a parcel of spies in the island. They were represented as a cruel set of men, as having outraged the feelings of humanity towards the negroes, or in matters in which they were concerned. This was false. He did not mean to deny that there were a _few instances_ of cruelty to the apprentices, but then those were _isolated cases_, and was it not hard that a hue and cry should be raised against the whole body of planters, and all made to suffer on account of those _few_. He would say that there was a greater disposition to be cruel to the negroes evinced _by young men arriving in this island from England, than by the planters. There was, indeed, a great deal of difficulty in restraining them from doing so, but the longer they lived in the country, the more kind and humane they became_.

The negroes _were better off here than many of the people of Great Britain_, and they would have been contented, had it not been for the injudicious _interference of some of the Special Justices_. Who had ever heard of negroes being starved to death? Had they not read accounts in the English papers of men destroying their wives, their children, _and afterwards themselves_, because they could not obtain food. They had been grossly defrauded of their property; and after doing that, it was now sought to destroy their const.i.tutional rights. He would repeat, they had been grossly defrauded of their property." [Here is the true slaveholder, logic, chivalry and all.]