During slavery, it took six men to tend the coppers in boiling sugar, and it was thought that fewer could not possibly do the work; but now, since the boilers are paid for their extra time, the work is monopolized by _three_ men. They _would not have any help_; they did all the work "_dat dey might get all de pay_."
We sounded them thoroughly on their views of law and freedom. We inquired whether they expected to be allowed to do as they pleased when they were free. On this subject they spoke very rationally. Said one, "We could never live widout de law; (we use, his very expressions) we must have some law when we free. In other countries, where dey are free, _don"t_ dey have law? Wouldn"t dey shoot one another if they did not have law?" Thus they reasoned about freedom. Their chief complaint against the apprenticeship was, that it did not allow them _justice_.
"_There was no law now_." They had been told by the governor, that there was the same law for all the island; but they knew better, for there was more justice done them in some districts than in others.
Some of their expressions indicated very strongly the characteristic kindness of the negro. They would say, we work now as well as we can _for the sake of peace; any thing for peace_. Don"t want to be complained of to the magistrate; don"t like to be called hard names--do any thing to keep peace. Such expressions were repeatedly made. We asked them what they thought of the domestics being emanc.i.p.ated in 1838, while they had to remain apprentices two years longer? They said, "it bad enough--but we know de law make it so, and _for peace sake_, we will be satisfy. _But we murmur in we minds_."
We asked what they expected to do with the old and infirm, after freedom? They said, "we will support dem--as how dey brought us up when we was pickaninny, and now we come trong, must care for dem." In such a spirit did these apprentices discourse for two hours. They won greatly upon our sympathy and respect. The touching story of their wrongs, the artless unbosoming of their hopes, their forgiving spirit toward their masters, their distinct views of their own rights, their amiable bearing under provocation, their just notions of law, and of a state of freedom--these things were well calculated to excite our admiration for them, and their companions in suffering. Having prayed with the company, and commended them to the grace of G.o.d, and the salvation of Jesus Christ, we shook hands with them individually, and separated from them, never more to see them, until we meet at the bar of G.o.d.
While one of us was prosecuting the foregoing inquiries in St. Thomas in the East, the other was performing a horse-back tour among the mountains of St. Andrews and Port Royal. We had been invited by Stephen Bourne, Esq., special magistrate for one of the rural districts in those parishes, to spend a week in his family, and accompany him in his official visits to the plantations embraced in his commission--an invitation we were very glad to accept, as it laid open to us at the same time three important sources of information,--the magistrate, the planter, and the apprentice.
The sun was just rising as we left Kingston, and entered the high road.
The air, which the day before had been painfully hot and stived, was cool and fresh, and from flowers and spice-trees, on which the dew still lay, went forth a thousand fragrant exhalations. Our course for about six miles, lay over the broad, low plain, which spreads around Kingston, westward to the highlands of St. Andrews, and southward beyond Spanishtown. All along the road, and in various directions in the distance, were seen the residences--uncouthly termed "pens"--of merchants and gentlemen of wealth, whose business frequently calls them to town. Unlike Barbadoes, the fields here were protected by walls and hedges, with broad gateways and avenues leading to the house. We soon began to meet here and there, at intervals, person going to the market with fruits and provisions. The number continually increased, and at the end of an hour, they could be seen trudging over the fields, and along the by-paths and roads, on every hand. Some had a couple of stunted donkeys yoked to a ricketty cart,--others had mules with pack-saddles--but the many loaded their own heads, instead of the donkeys and mules. Most of them were well dressed, and all civil and respectful in their conduct.
Invigorated by the mountain air, and animated by the novelty and grandeur of the mountain scenery, through which we had pa.s.sed, 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 h.o.a.ry-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 emanc.i.p.ation. 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 pa.s.sionate 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 pa.s.sion was writhing within, and burst forth--"O, my G.o.d! my G.o.d! 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 G.o.d!" 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 apprais.e.m.e.nt 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 pa.s.ses. 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 pa.s.sed 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 s.p.a.ce 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 pa.s.s 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 a.s.sured 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 emanc.i.p.ation. 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 hoa.r.s.e and gusty, and his smile diabolical. Emanc.i.p.ation 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 emanc.i.p.ation. 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 grat.i.tude. 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 Sat.u.r.days 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 trespa.s.s 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 acc.u.mulated in five weeks.
The princ.i.p.al business which called Mr. Bourne to the plantation, as we have already remarked, was the apprais.e.m.e.nt 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 emanc.i.p.ation 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 l.u.s.tful and desperate pa.s.sions. 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 a.s.sented 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 a.s.s 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 pa.s.sed, 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 emanc.i.p.ation. 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 emanc.i.p.ation 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 ma.s.sa"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 pa.s.sions, 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, pa.s.sionate, 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 l.u.s.t. 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 emanc.i.p.ation have been bad. The blacks cultivate their own grounds on their half Fridays and Sat.u.r.days, 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 quant.i.ty 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.