The Anti Slavery Examiner, Part 2 of 4 by American Anti Slavery Society

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Invigorated by the mountain air, and animated by the novelty and
grandeur of the mountain scenery, through which we had passed, we
arrived at 'Grecian Regale' in season for an early West Indian
breakfast, (8 o'clock.) Mr. Bourne's district is entirely composed of
coffee plantations, and embraces three thousand apprentices. The people
on coffee plantations are not worked so hard as those employed on sugar
estates; but they are more liable to suffer from insufficient food
and clothing.

After breakfast we accompanied Mr. Bourne on a visit to the plantations,
but there were no complaints either from the master or apprentice,
except on one. Here Mr. B. was hailed by a hoary-headed man, sitting at
the side of his house. He said that he was lame and sick, and could not
work, and complained that his master did not give him any food. All he
had to eat was given him by a relative. As the master was not at home,
Mr. B. could not attend to the complaint at that time, but promised to
write the master about it in the course of the day. He informed us that
the aged and disabled were very much neglected under the apprenticeship.
When the working days are over, the profit days are over, and how few in
any country are willing to support an animal which is past labor? If
these complaints are numerous under the new system, when magistrates are
all abroad to remedy them, what must it have been during slavery, when
master and magistrate were the same!

On one of the plantations we called at the house of an emigrant, of
which some hundreds have been imported from different parts of Europe,
since emancipation. He had been in the island eighteen months, and was
much dissatisfied with his situation. The experiment of importing whites
to Jamaica as laborers, has proved disastrous--an unfortunate
speculation to all parties, and all parties wish them back again.

We had some conversation with several apprentices, who called on Mr.
Bourne for advice and aid. They all thought the apprenticeship very
hard, but still, on the whole, liked it better than slavery. They "were
killed too bad,"--that was their expression--during slavery--were worked
hard and terribly flogged. They were up ever so early and late--went out
in the mountains to work, when so cold busha would have to cover himself
up on the ground. Had little time to eat, or go to meeting. 'Twas all
slash, slash! Now they couldn't be flogged, unless the magistrate said
so. Still the busha was very hard to them, and many of the apprentices
run away to the woods, they are so badly used.

The next plantation which we visited was Dublin Castle. It lies in a
deep valley, quite enclosed by mountains. The present attorney has been
in the island nine years, and is attorney for several other properties.
In England he was a religious man, and intimately acquainted with the
eccentric Irving. For a while after he came out he preached to the
slaves, but having taken a black concubine, and treating those under his
charge oppressively, he soon obtained a bad character among the blacks,
and his meetings were deserted. He is now a most passionate and wicked
man, having cast off even the show of religion.

Mr. B. visited Dublin Castle a few weeks since, and spent two days in
hearing complaints brought against the manager and book-keeper by the
apprentices. He fined the manager, for different acts of oppression, one
hundred and eight dollars. The attorney was present during the whole
time. Near the close of the second day he requested permission to say a
few words, which was granted. He raised his hands and eyes in the most
agonized manner, as though passion was writhing within, and burst
forth--"O, my God! my God! has it indeed come to this! Am I to be
arraigned in this way? Is my conduct to be questioned by these people?
Is my authority to be destroyed by the interference of stranger? O, my
God!" And he fell back into the arms of his book-keeper, and was carried
out of the room in convulsions.

The next morning we started on another excursion, for the purpose of
attending the appraisement of an apprentice belonging to Silver Hill, a
plantation about ten miles distant from Grecian Regale. We rode but a
short distance in the town road, when we struck off into a narrow defile
by a mule-path, and pushed into the very heart of the mountains.

We felt somewhat timid at the commencement of our excursion among these
minor Andes, but we gained confidence as we proceeded, and finding our
horse sure-footed and quite familiar with mountain paths, we soon
learned to gallop, without fear, along the highest cliffs, and through
the most dangerous passes. We were once put in some jeopardy by a drove
of mules, laden with coffee. We fortunately saw them, as they came round
the point of a hill, at some distance, in season to secure ourselves in
a little recess where the path widened. On they came, cheered by the
loud cries of their drivers, and passed rapidly forward, one after
another, with the headlong stupidity which animals, claiming more wisdom
than quadrupeds, not unfrequently manifest. When they came up to us,
however, they showed that they were not unaccustomed to such encounters,
and, although the space between us and the brow of the precipice, was
not three feet wide, they all contrived to sway their bodies and heavy
sacks in such a manner as to pass us safely, except one. He, more stupid
or more unlucky than the rest, struck us a full broad-side as he went by
jolting us hard against the hill, and well-nigh jolting himself down the
craggy descent into the abyss below. One leg hung a moment over the
precipice, but the poor beast suddenly threw his whole weight forward,
and by a desperate leap, obtained sure foothold in the path, and again
trudged along with his coffee-bags.

On our way we called at two plantations, but found no complaints. At one
of them we had some conversation with the overseer. He has on it one
hundred and thirty apprentices, and produces annually thirty thousand
pounds of coffee. He informed us that he was getting along well. His
people are industrious and obedient, as much so, to say the least, as
under the old system. The crop this year is not so great as usual, on
account of the severe drought. His plantation was never better
cultivated. Besides the one hundred and thirty apprentices, there are
forty free children, who are supported by their parents. None of them
will work for hire, or in any way put themselves under his control, as
the parents fear there is some plot laid for making them apprentices,
and through that process reducing them to slavery. He thinks this
feeling will continue till the apprenticeship is entirely broken up, and
the people begin to feel assured of complete freedom, when it will
disappear.

We reached Silver Hill about noon. This plantation contains one hundred
and ten apprentices, and is under the management of a colored man, who
has had charge of it seven years. He informed us that it was under as
good cultivation now as it was before emancipation. His people are
easily controlled. Very much depends on the conduct of the overseer. If
he is disposed to be just and kind, the apprentices are sure to behave
well; if he is harsh and severe, and attempts to _drive_ them, they will
take no pains to please him, but on the contrary, will be sulky and
obstinate.

There were three overseers from other estates present. One of them had
been an overseer for forty years, and he possessed the looks and
feelings which we suppose a man who has been thus long in a school of
despotism, must possess. He had a giant form, which seemed to be
breaking down with luxury and sensualism. His ordinary voice was hoarse
and gusty, and his smile diabolical. Emancipation had swept away his
power while it left the love of it ravaging his heart. He could not
speak of the new system with composure. His contempt and hatred of the
negro was unadulterated. He spoke of the apprentices with great
bitterness. They were excessively lazy and impudent, and were becoming
more and more so every day. They did not do half the work now that they
did before emancipation. It was the character of the negro never to work
unless compelled. His people would not labor for him an hour in their
own time, although he had offered to pay them for it. They have not the
least gratitude. They will leave him in the midst of his crop, and help
others, because they can get a little more. They spend all their half
Fridays and their Saturdays on other plantations where they receive
forty cents a day. Twenty-five cents is enough for them, and is as much
as he will give.

Mr. B. requested the overseer to bring forward his complaints. He had
only two. One was against a boy of ten for stealing a gill of goat's
milk. The charge was disproved. The other was against a boy of twelve
for neglecting the cattle, and permitting them to trespass on the lands
of a neighbor. He was sentenced to receive a good switching--that is, to
be beaten with a small stick by the constable of the plantation.

Several apprentices then appeared and made a few trivial complaints
against 'busha.' They were quickly adjusted. These were all the
complaints that had accumulated in five weeks.

The principal business which called Mr. Bourne to the plantation, as we
have already remarked, was the appraisement of an apprentice. The
appraisers were himself and a local magistrate. The apprentice was a
native born African, and was stolen from his country when a boy. He had
always resided on this plantation, and had always been a faithful
laborer. He was now the constable, or driver, as the office was called
in slavery times, of the second gang. The overseer testified to his
honesty and industry, and said he regretted much to have him leave. He
was, as appeared by the plantation books, fifty-four years old, but was
evidently above sixty. After examining several witnesses as to the old
man's ability and general health, and making calculations by the rule of
three, with the cold accuracy of a yankee horse-bargain, it was decided
that his services were worth to the plantation forty-eight dollars a
years, and for the remaining time of the apprenticeship, consequently,
at that rate, one hundred and fifty-six dollars. One third of this was
deducted as an allowance for the probabilities of death, and sickness,
leaving one hundred and four dollars as the price of his redemption. The
old man objected strongly and earnestly to the price; he said, it was
too much; he had not money enough to pay it; and begged them, with tears
in his eyes, not to make him pay so much "for his old bones;" but they
would not remit a cent. They could not. They were the stern ministers of
the British emancipation law, the praises of which have been shouted
through the earth!

Of the three overseers who were present, not one could be called a
respectable man. Their countenances were the mirrors of all lustful and
desperate passions. They were continually drinking rum and water, and
one of them was half drunk.

Our next visit was to an elevated plantation called Peter's Rock. The
path to it was, in one place, so steep, that we had to dismount and
permit our horses to work their way up as they could, while we followed
on foot. We then wound along among provision grounds and coffee fields,
through forests where hardly a track was to be seen, and over hedges,
which the horses were obliged to leap, till we issued on the great path
which leads from the plantation to Kingston.

Peter's Rock has one hundred apprentices, and is under the management,
as Mr. Bourne informed us, of a very humane man. During the two years
and a half of the apprenticeship, there had been _only six complaints_.
As we approached the plantation we saw the apprentices at the side of
the road, eating their breakfast. They had been at work some distance
from their houses, and could not spend time to go home. They saluted us
with great civility, most of them rising and uncovering their heads. In
answer to our questions, they said they were getting along very well.
They said their master was kind to them, and they appeared in
fine spirits.

The overseer met us as we rode up to the door, and received us very
courteously. He had no complaints. He informed us that the plantation
was as well cultivated as it had been for many years, and the people
were perfectly obedient and industrious.

From Peter's Rock we rode to "Hall's Prospect," a plantation on which
there are sixty apprentices under the charge of a black overseer, who,
two years ago, was a slave. It was five weeks since Mr. B. had been
there, and yet he had only one complaint, and that against a woman for
being late at work on Monday morning. The reason she gave for this was,
that she went to an estate some miles distant to spend the Sabbath with
her husband.

Mr. Bourne, by the aid of funds left in his hands by Mr. Sturge, is
about to establish a school on this plantation. Mr. B., at a previous
visit, had informed the people of what he intended to do, and asked
their co-operation. As soon as they saw him to-day, several of them
immediately inquired about the school, when it would begin, &c. They
showed the greatest eagerness and thankfulness. Mr. B. told them he
should send a teacher as soon as a house was prepared. He had been
talking with their master (the attorney of the plantation) about fixing
one, who had offered them the old "lock-up house," if they would put it
in order. There was a murmur among them at this annunciation. At length
one of the men said, they did not want the school to be held in the
"lock-up house." It was not a good place for their "pickaninnies" to go
to. They had much rather have some other building, and would be glad to
have it close to their houses. Mr. B. told them if they would put up a
small house near their own, he would furnish it with desks and benches.
To this they all assented with great joy.

On our way home we saw, as we did on various other occasions, many of
the apprentices with hoes, baskets, &c., going to their provision
grounds. We had some conversation with them as we rode along. They said
they had been in the fields picking coffee since half past five o'clock.
They were now going, as they always did after "horn-blow" in the
afternoon, (four o'clock,) to their grounds, where they should stay till
dark. Some of their grounds were four, others six miles from home. They
all liked the apprenticeship better than slavery. They were not flogged
so much now, and had more time to themselves. But they should like
freedom much better, and should be glad when it came.

We met a brown young woman driving an ass laden with a great variety of
articles. She said she had been to Kingston (fifteen miles off) with a
load of provisions, and had purchased some things to sell to the
apprentices. We asked her what she did with her money. "Give it to my
husband," said she. "Do you keep none for yourself?" She smiled and
replied: "What for him for me."

After we had passed, Mr. B. informed us that she had been an apprentice,
but purchased her freedom a few months previous, and was now engaged as
a kind of country merchant. She purchases provisions of the negroes, and
carries them to Kingston, where she exchanges them for pins, needles,
thread, dry goods, and such articles as the apprentices need, which she
again exchanges for provisions and money.

Mr. Bourne informed us that real estate is much higher than before
emancipation. He mentioned one "pen" which was purchased for eighteen
hundred dollars a few years since. The owner had received nine hundred
dollars as 'compensation' for freedom. It has lately been leased for
seven years by the owner, for nine hundred dollars per year.

A gentleman who owns a plantation in Mr. B.'s district, sold parcels of
land to the negroes before emancipation at five shillings per acre. He
now obtains twenty-seven shillings per acre.

The house in which Mr. B. resides was rented in 1833 for one hundred and
fifty dollars. Mr. B. engaged it on his arrival for three years, at two
hundred and forty dollars per year. His landlord informed him a few days
since, that on the expiration of his present lease, he should raise the
rent to three hundred and thirty dollars.

Mr. B. is acquainted with a gentleman of wealth, who has been
endeavoring for the last twelve months to purchase an estate in this
island. He has offered high prices, but has as yet been unable to obtain
one. Landholders have so much confidence in the value and security of
real estate, that they do not wish to part with it.

After our visit to Silver Hill, our attention was particularly turned to
the condition of the negro grounds. Most of them were very clean and
flourishing. Large plats of the onion, of cocoa, plantain, banana, yam,
potatoe, and other tropic vegetables, were scattered all around within
five or six miles of a plantation. We were much pleased with the
appearance of them during a ride on a Friday. In the forenoon, they had
all been vacant; not a person was to be seen in them; but after one
o'clock, they began gradually to be occupied, till, at the end of an
hour, where-ever we went, we saw men, women, and children laboring
industriously in their little gardens. In some places, the hills to
their very summits were spotted with cultivation. Till Monday morning
the apprentices were free, and they certainly manifested a strong
disposition to spend that time in taking care of themselves. The
testimony of the numerous apprentices with whom we conversed, was to the
same effect as our observation. They all testified that they were paying
as much attention to their grounds as they ever did, but that their
provisions had been cut short by the drought. They had their land all
prepared for a new crop, and were only waiting for rain to put in the
seed. Mr. Bourne corroborated their statement, and remarked, that he
never found the least difficulty in procuring laborers. Could he have
the possession of the largest plantation in the island to-day, he had no
doubt that, within a week, he could procure free laborers enough to
cultivate every acre.

On one occasion, while among the mountains, we were impressed on a jury
to sit in inquest on the body of a negro woman found dead on the high
road. She was, as appeared in evidence, on her return from the house of
correction, at Half-Way-Tree, where she had been sentenced for fourteen
days, and been put on the treadmill. She had complained to some of her
acquaintances of harsh treatment there, and said they had killed her,
and that if she ever lived to reach home, she should tell all her
massa's negroes never to cross the threshold of Half-Way-Tree, as it
would kill them. The evidence, however, was not clear that she died in
consequence of such treatment, and the jury, accordingly, decided that
she came to her death by some cause unknown to them.

Nine of the jury were overseers, and if they, collected together
indiscriminately on this occasion, were a specimen of those who have
charge of the apprentices in this island, they must be most degraded and
brutal men. They appeared more under the influence of low passions, more
degraded by sensuality, and but little more intelligent, than the
negroes themselves. Instead of possessing irresponsible power over their
fellows, they ought themselves to be under the power of the most strict
and energetic laws. Our visits to the plantations, and inquiries on this
point, confirmed this opinion. They are the 'feculum' of European
society--ignorant, passionate, licentious. We do them no injustice when
we say this, nor when we further add, that the apprentices suffer in a
hundred ways which the law cannot reach, gross insults and oppression
from their excessive rapaciousness and lust. What must it have been
during slavery?

We had some conversation with Cheny Hamilton, Esq., one of the special
magistrates for Port Royal. He is a colored man, and has held his office
about eighteen months. There are three thousand apprentices in his
district, which embraces sugar and coffee estates. The complaints are
few and of a very trivial nature. They mostly originate with the
planters. Most of the cases brought before him are for petty theft and
absence from work.

In his district, cultivation was never better. The negroes are willing
to work during their own time. His father-in-law is clearing up some
mountain land for a coffee plantation, by the labor of apprentices from
neighboring estates. The seasons since emancipation have been bad. The
blacks cultivate their own grounds on their half Fridays and Saturdays,
unless they can obtain employment from others.

Nothing is doing by the planters for the education of the apprentices.
Their only object is to get as much work out of them as possible.

The blacks, so far as he has had opportunity to observe, are in every
respect as quiet and industrious as they were before freedom. He said if
we would compare the character of the complaints brought by the
overseers and apprentices against each other, we should see for
ourselves which party was the most peaceable and law-abiding.

To these views we may here add those of another gentleman, with whom we
had considerable conversation about the same time. He is a proprietor
and local magistrate, and was represented to us as a kind and humane
man. Mr. Bourne stated to us that he had not had six cases of complaint
on his plantation for the last twelve months. We give his most important
statements in the following brief items:

1. He has had charge of estates in Jamaica since 1804. At one time he
had twelve hundred negroes under his control. He now owns a coffee
plantation, on which there are one hundred and ten apprentices, and is
also attorney for several others, the owners of which reside out of
the island.

2. His plantation is well cultivated and clean, and his people are as
industrious and civil as they ever were. He employs them during their
own time, and always finds them willing to work for him, unless their
own grounds require their attendance. Cultivation generally, through the
island, is as good as it ever was. Many of the planters, at the
commencement of the apprenticeship, reduced the quantity of land
cultivated; he did not do so, but on the contrary is extending his
plantation.

3. The crops this year are not so good as usual. This is no fault of the
apprentices, but is owing to the bad season.

4. The conduct of the apprentices depends very much on the conduct of
those who have charge of them. If you find a plantation on which the
overseer is kind, and does common justice to the laborer, you will find
things going on well--if otherwise, the reverse. Those estates and
plantations on which the proprietor himself resides, are most peaceable
and prosperous.

5. Real estate is more valuable than before emancipation. Property is
more secure, and capitalists are more ready to invest their funds.

6. The result of 1840 is as yet doubtful. For his part, he has no fears.
He doubts not he can cultivate his plantation as easily after that
period as before. He is confident he can do it cheaper. He thinks it not
only likely, but certain, that many of the plantations on which the
people have been ill used, while slaves and apprentices, will be
abandoned by the present laborers, and that they will never be worked
until overseers are put over them who, instead of doing all they can to
harass them, will soothe and conciliate them. The apprenticeship has
done much harm instead of good in the way of preparing the blacks to
work after 1840.

A few days after our return from the mountains, we rode to Spanishtown,
which is about twelve miles west of Kingston. Spanishtown is the seat of
government, containing the various buildings for the residence of the
governor, the meeting of the legislature, the session of the courts, and
rooms for the several officers of the crown. They are all strong and
massive structures, but display little architectural magnificence
or beauty.

We spent nearly a day with Richard Hill, Esq., the secretary of the
special magistrates' department, of whom we have already spoken. He is a
colored gentleman, and in every respect the noblest man, white or black,
whom we met in the West Indies. He is highly intelligent, and of fine
moral feelings. His manners are free and unassuming, and his language in
conversation fluent and well chosen. He is intimately acquainted with
English and French authors, and has studied thoroughly the history and
character of the people with whom the tie of color has connected him. He
travelled two years in Hayti, and his letters, written in a flowing and
luxuriant style, as a son of the tropics should write, giving an account
of his observations and inquiries in that interesting island, were
published extensively in England; and have been copied into the
anti-slavery journals in this country. His journal will be given to the
public as soon as his official duties will permit him to prepare it. He
is at the head of the special magistrates, (of which there are sixty in
the island,) and all the correspondence between them and the governor is
carried on through him. The station he holds is a very important one,
and the business connected with it is of a character and an extent that,
were he not a man of superior abilities, he could not sustain. He is
highly respected by the government in the island, and at home, and
possesses the esteem of his fellow-citizens of all colors. He associates
with persons of the highest rank, dining and attending parties at the
government-house with all the aristocracy of Jamaica. We had the
pleasure of spending an evening with him at the solicitor-general's.
Though an African sun has burnt a deep tinge on him, he is truly one of
nature's noblemen. His demeanor is such, so dignified, yet bland and
amiable, that no one can help respecting him.