1. That the emanc.i.p.ation of the slaves of the West Indies, while it was an act of undoubted justice to that oppressed people, has operated most favorably in furthering the triumphs of the gospel, by removing one prolific source of unmerited suspicion of religious teachers, and thus opening a door to their more extensive labors and usefulness--by furnishing a greater portion of time for the service of the negro, and thus preventing the continuance of unavoidable Sabbath desecrations, in labor and neglect of the means of grace--and in its operation as a stimulus to proprietors and other influential gentlemen, to encourage religious education, and the wide dissemination of the Scriptures, as an incentive to industry and good order.
2. That while the above statements are true with reference to all the islands, even where the system of apprenticeship prevails, they are especially applicable to Antigua, where the results of the great measure, of entire freedom, so humanely and judiciously granted by the legislature, cannot be contemplated without the most devout thanks givings to Almighty G.o.d.
3. That we regard with much gratification, the great diminution among all cla.s.ses in these islands, of the most unchristian prejudice of color the total absence of it in the government and ordinances of the churches of G.o.d, with which we are connected, and the prospect of its complete removal, by the abolition of slavery, by the increased diffusion of general knowledge, and of that religion which teaches to "honor _all_ men," and to love our neighbor as ourselves.
4. That we cannot but contemplate with much humiliation and distress, the existence, among professing Christians in America, of this partial, unseemly, and unchristian system of _caste_, so distinctly prohibited in the word of G.o.d, and so utterly irreconcileable with Christian charity.
5. That regarding slavery as a most unjustifiable infringement of the rational and inalienable rights of men, and in its moral consequences, (from our own personal observation as well as other sources,) as one of the greatest curses with which the great Governor of the nations ever suffered this world to be blighted: we cannot but deeply regret the connection which so intimately exists between the various churches of Christ in the United States of America, and this unchristian system. With much sorrow do we learn that the _principle_ of the lawfulness of slavery has been defended by some who are ministers of Christ, that so large a proportion of that body in America, are exerting their influence in favor of the continuance of so indefensible and monstrous a system--and that these emotions of sorrow are especially occasioned with reference to our own denomination.
6. That while we should deprecate and condemn any recourse on the part of the slaves, to measures of rebellion, as an unjustifiable mode of obtaining their freedom, we would most solemnly, and affectionately, and imploringly, adjure our respected fathers and brethren in America, to endeavor, in every legitimate way, to wipe away this reproach from their body, and thus act in perfect accordance with the deliberate and recorded sentiments of our venerated founder on this subject, and in harmony with the feelings and proceedings of their brethren in the United Kingdom, who have had the honor to take a distinguished part in awakening such a determined and resistless public feeling in that country, as issued in the abolition of slavery among 800,000 of our fellow subjects.
7. That we hail with the most lively satisfaction the progress in America of anti-slavery principles, the multiplication of anti-slavery societies, and the diffusion of correct views on this subject. We offer to the n.o.ble band of truly patriotic, and enlightened, and philanthropic men, who are combating in that country with such a fearful evil, the a.s.surance of our most cordial and fraternal sympathy, and our earnest prayers for their complete success. We view with pity and sorrow the vile calumnies with which they have been a.s.sailed. We welcome with Christian joyfulness, in the success which has already attended their efforts, the dawn of a cloudless day of light and glory, which shall presently shine upon that vast continent, when the song of universal freedom shall sound in its length and breadth.
8. That these sentiments have been increased and confirmed by the intercourse, which some of our body Have enjoyed with our beloved brethren, the Rev. James A. Thome, and Joseph Horace Kimball, Esq., the deputation to these islands, front the Anti-Slavery Society in America. We regard this appointment, and the nomination of such men to fulfil it, as most judicious. We trust we can appreciate the spirit of entire devotedness to this cause, which animates our respected brethren, and breathes throughout their whole deportment, and rejoice in such a manifestation of the fruits of that divine charity, which flow from the constraining love of Christ, and which many waters cannot quench.
9. That the a.s.surance of the affectionate sympathy of the twenty-five brethren who compose this district meeting, and our devout wishes for their success in the objects of their mission, are hereby presented, in our collective and individual capacity, to our endeared and Christian friends from America.
(Signed) JAMES c.o.x, chairman of the district, and resident in Antigua.
Jonathan Cadman, St. Martin"s. James Horne, St. Kitts. Matthew Banks, St. Bartholomew"s. E. Frazer, Antigua. Charles Bates, do.
John Keightley, do. Jesse Pilcher, do. Benjamin Tregaskiss, do.
Thomas Edwards, St. Kitts. Robert Hawkins, Tortola. Thomas Pearson, Nevis. George Craft, do. W.S. Wamouth, St. Kitts. John Hodge, Tortola. William Satchel, Dominica. John Cullingford, Dominica. J.
Cameron, Nevis. B. Gartside, St. Kitts. John Parker, do. Hilton Cheeseborough, do. Thomas Jeffery, do. William Rigglesworth, Tortola. Daniel Stepney, Nevis. James Walton, Montserrat."
CHAPTER II.
GENERAL RESULTS.
Having given a general outline of our sojourn in Antigua, we proceed to a mere minute account of the results of our investigations. We arrange the testimony in two general divisions, placing that which relates to the past and present condition of the colony in one, and that which bears directly upon the question of slavery in America in another.
RELIGION.
There are three denominations of Christians in Antigua: the Established Church; the Moravians, and Wesleyans. The Moravians number fifteen thousand--almost exclusively negroes. The Wesleyans embrace three thousand members, and about as many more attendants. Of the three thousand members, says a Wesleyan missionary, "not fifty are whites--a larger number are colored; but the greater part black." "The attendance of the negro population at the churches and chapels," (of the established order,) says the Rector of St. John"s, "amounts to four thousand six hundred and thirty-six." The whole number of blacks receiving religious instruction from these Christian bodies, making allowance for the proportion of white and colored included in the three thousand Wesleyans, is about twenty-two thousand--leaving a population of eight thousand negroes in Antigua who are unsupplied with religious instruction.
The Established Church has six parish churches, as many "chapels of ease," and nine clergymen. The Moravians have five settlements and thirteen missionaries. The Wesleyans have seven chapels, with as many more small preaching places on estates, and twelve ministers; half of whom are itinerant missionaries, and the other half, local preachers, employed as planters, or in mercantile, and other pursuits, and preaching only occasionally. From the limited number of chapels and missionaries, it may be inferred that only a portion of the twenty-two thousand can enjoy stated weekly instruction. The superintendent of the Moravian mission stated that their chapels could not accommodate more than _one third_ of their members.
Each of the denominations complains of the lack of men and houses. The Wesleyans are now building a large chapel in St. John"s. It will accommodate two thousand persons. "Besides free sittings, there will be nearly two hundred pews, every one of which is now in demand."
However much disposed the churches of different denominations might have been during slavery to maintain a strict discipline, they found it exceedingly difficult to do so. It seems impossible to elevate a body of slaves, _remaining such,_ to honesty and purity. The reekings of slavery will almost inevitably taint the inst.i.tutions of religion, and degrade the standard of piety. Accordingly the ministers of every denomination in Antigua, feel that in the abolition of slavery their greatest enemy has been vanquished, and they now evince a determination to a.s.sume higher ground than they ever aspired to during the reign of slavery. The motto of all creeds is, "_We expect great things of freemen_." A report which we obtained from the Wesleyan brethren, states, "Our own brethren preach almost daily." "We think the negroes are uncommonly punctual and regular in their attendance upon divine worship, particularly on the Sabbath." "They always show a readiness to contribute to the support of the gospel. With the present low wages, and the entire charge of self-maintenance, they have little to spare." Parham and Sion Hill (taken as specimens) have societies almost entirely composed of rural blacks--about thirteen hundred and fifty in number. These have contributed this year above 330 sterling, or sixteen hundred and fifty dollars, in little weekly subscriptions; besides giving to special objects occasionally, and contributing for the support of schools.[A]
[Footnote A: The superintendent of the Wesleyan mission informed us that the collection in the several Wesleyan chapels last year, independent of occasional contributions to Sunday schools, Missionary objects, &c., amounted to 850 sterling, or more than $4000!]
In a letter dated December 2d, 1834, but four months after emanc.i.p.ation, and addressed to the missionary board in England, the Rev. B. Harvey thus speaks of the Moravian missions: "With respect to our people, I believe; I may say that in all our places here, they attend the meetings of the church more numerously than ever, and that many are now in frequent attendance who _could very seldom appear amongst us during slavery_." The same statements substantially were made to us by Mr. H., showing that instead of any falling off the attendance was still on the increase.
In a statement drawn up at our request by the Rector of St. John"s, is the following: "Cases of discipline are more frequent than is usual in English congregations, but at the same time it should be observed, that a _closer oversight_ is maintained by the ministers, and a _greater readiness to submit themselves_ (to discipline) is manifested by the late slaves here than by those who have always been a free people." "I am able to speak very favorably of the attendance at church--it is regular and crowded." "The negroes on some estates have been known to contribute willingly to the Bible Society, since 1832. They are now beginning to pay a penny and a half currency per week for their children"s instruction."
MORALITY.
The condition of Antigua, but a very few years previous to emanc.i.p.ation, is represented to have been truly revolting. It has already been stated that the Sabbath was the market day up to 1832, and this is evidence enough that the Lord"s day was utterly desecrated by the ma.s.s of the population. Now there are few parts of our own country, equal in population, which can vie with Antigua in the solemn and respectful observance of the Sabbath. Christians in St. John"s spoke with joy and grat.i.tude of the tranquillity of the Sabbath. They had long been shocked with its open and abounding profanation--until they had well-nigh forgot the aspect of a Christian Sabbath. At length the full-orbed blessing beamed upon them, and they rejoiced in its brightness, and thanked G.o.d for its holy repose.
All persons of all professions testify to the fact that _marriages_ are rapidly increasing. In truth, there was scarcely such a thing as marriage before the abolition of slavery. Promiscuous intercourse of the s.e.xes was almost universal. In a report of the Antigua Branch a.s.sociation of the Society for advancing the Christian Faith in the British West Indies, (for 1836,) the following statements are made:
"The number of marriages in the six parishes of the island, in the year 1835, the first entire year of freedom, was 476; all of which, excepting about 50, were between persons formerly slaves. The total number of marriages between slaves solemnized in the Church during the nine years ending December 31, 1832, was 157; in 1833, the last entire year of slavery, it was 61."
Thus it appears that the whole number of marriages during _ten years_ previous to emanc.i.p.ation (by far the most favorable ten years that could have been selected) was but _half_ as great as the number for a single year following emanc.i.p.ation!
The Governor, in one of our earliest interviews with him, said, "the great crime of this island, as indeed of all the West India Colonies, has been licentiousness, but we are certainly fast improving in this particular." An aged Christian, who has spent many years in the island, and is now actively engaged in superintending several day schools for the negro children, informed us that there was not _one third_ as much concubinage as formerly. This he said was owing mainly to the greater frequency of marriages, and the cessation of late night work on the estates, and in the boiling houses, by which the females were constantly exposed during slavery. Now they may all be in their houses by dark.
Formerly the mothers were the betrayers of their daughters, encouraging them to form unhallowed connections, and even _selling_ them to licentious white and colored men, for their own gain. Now they were using great strictness to preserve the chast.i.ty of their daughters.
A worthy planter, who has been in the island since 1800, stated, that it used to be a common practice for mothers to _sell their daughters_ to the highest bidder!--generally a manager or overseer. "But now;" said he, "the mothers _hold their daughters up for marriage_, and take pains to let every body know that their virtue is not to be bought and sold any longer." He also stated that those who live unmarried now are uniformly neglected and suffer great deprivations. Faithfulness after marriage, exists also to a greater extent than could have been expected from the utter looseness to which they had been previously accustomed, and with their ignorance of the nature and obligations of the marriage relation.
We were informed both by the missionaries and the planters, that every year and month they are becoming more constant, as husband and wife, more faithful as parents, and more dutiful as children. One planter said that out of a number who left his employ after 1834, nearly all had companions on other estates, and left for the purpose of being with them. He was also of the opinion that the greater proportion of changes of residence among the emanc.i.p.ated which took place at that time, were owing to the same cause.[A] In an address before the Friendly Society in St. John"s, the Archdeacon stated that during the previous year (1835) several individuals had been expelled from that society for domestic unfaithfulness; but he was happy to say that he had not heard of a single instance of expulsion for this cause during the year then ended.
Much inconvenience is felt on account of the Moravian and Wesleyan missionaries being prohibited from performing the marriage service, even for their own people. Efforts are now making to obtain the repeal of the law which makes marriages performed by sectarians (as all save the established church are called) void.
[Footnote A: What a resurrection to domestic life was that, when long severed families flocked from the four corners of the island to meet their kindred members! And what a glorious resurrection will that be in our own country, when the millions of emanc.i.p.ated beings scattered over the west and south, shall seek the embraces of parental and fraternal and conjugal love.]
That form of licentiousness which appears among the higher cla.s.ses in every slaveholding country, abounded in Antigua during the reign of slavery. It has yielded its redundant fruits in a population of four thousand colored people; double the number of whites. The planters, with but few exceptions, were unmarried and licentious. Nor was this vice confined to the unmarried. Men with large families, kept one or more mistresses without any effort at concealment. We were told of an "Honorable" gentleman, who had his English wife and two concubines, a colored and a black one. The governor himself stated as an apology for the prevalence of licentiousness among the slaves, that the example was set them constantly by their masters, and it was not to be wondered at if they copied after their superiors. But it is now plain that concubinage among the whites is nearly at an end. An unguarded statement of a public man revealed the conviction which exists among his cla.s.s that concubinage must soon cease. He said that the present race of colored people could not be received into the society of the whites, _because of illegitimacy_; but the next generation would be fit a.s.sociates for the whites, _because they would be chiefly born in wedlock_.
The uniform testimony respecting _intemperance_ was, that it _never had been one of the vices of the negroes_. Several planters declared that they had rarely seen a black person intoxicated. The report of the Wesleyan missionaries already referred to, says, "Intemperance is most uncommon among the rural negroes. Many have joined the Temperance Society, and many act on tee-total principles." The only _colored_ person (either black or brown) whom we saw drunk during a residence of nine weeks in Antigua, was a carpenter in St. John"s, who as he reeled by, stared in our faces and mumbled out his sentence of condemnation against wine bibbers, "--Gemmen--you sees I"se a little bit drunk, but "pon honor I only took th--th-ree bottles of wine--that"s all." It was "Christmas times," and doubtless the poor man thought he would venture for once in the year to copy the example of the whites.
In conclusion, on the subject of morals in Antigua, we are warranted in stating, 1st., That during the continuance of slavery, immoralities were rife.
2d. That the repeated efforts of the home Government and the local Legislature, for several successive years previous to 1834, to _ameliorate_ the system of slavery, seconded by the labors of clergymen and missionaries, teachers and catechists, to improve the character of the slaves, failed to arrest the current of vice and profligacy. What few reformations were effected were very partial, leaving the more enormous immoralities as shameless and defiant as ever, up to the very day of abolition; demonstrating the utter impotence of all attempts to purify the _streams_ while the _fountain_ is poison.
3d. That the abolition of slavery gave the death blow to open vice, overgrown and emboldened as it had become. Immediate emanc.i.p.ation, instead of lifting the flood-gates, was the only power strong enough to shut them down! It restored the proper restraints upon vice, and supplied the incentives to virtue. Those great controllers of moral action, _self-respect, attachment to law, and veneration for G.o.d_, which slavery annihilated, _freedom has resuscitated_, and now they stand round about the emanc.i.p.ated with flaming swords deterring from evil, and with cheering voices exhorting to good. It is explicitly affirmed that the grosser forms of immorality, which in every country attend upon slavery, have in Antigua either shrunk into concealment or become extinct.
BENEVOLENT INSt.i.tUTIONS.
We insert here a brief account of the benevolent inst.i.tutions of Antigua. Our design in giving it, is to show the effect of freedom in bringing into play those charities of social life, which slavery uniformly stifles. Antigua abounds in benevolent societies, all of which have been _materially revived_ since emanc.i.p.ation, and some of them have been formed since that event.
THE BIBLE SOCIETY.
This is the oldest society in the island. It was organized in 1815. All denominations in the island cordially unite in this cause. The princ.i.p.al design of this society is to promote the Circulation of the Scriptures among the laboring population of the island. To secure this object numerous branch a.s.sociations--amounting to nearly fifty--have been organized throughout the island _among the negroes themselves._ The society has been enabled not only to circulate the Scriptures among the people of Antigua, but to send them extensively to the neighboring islands.
The following table, drawn up at our request by the Secretary of the Society, will show the extent of foreign operations:
Years. Colonies Supplied. Bibles. Test"s.
1822 Anguilla 94 156 23 Demerara 18 18 24 Dominica 89 204 25 Montserrat 57 149 27 Nevis 79 117 32 Saba 6 12 33 St. Bart"s 111 65 34 St. Eustatius 97 148 35 St. Kitts 227 487 St. Martins 48 37 36 Tortola 69 136 To 1837 Trinidad 25 67 ____ ____ Total 920 1596
From the last annual report we quote the following cheering account, touching the events of 1834:
"The next event of importance in or annals is the magnificent grant of the parent society, on occasion of the emanc.i.p.ation of the slaves, and the perpetual banishment of slavery from the sh.o.r.es of Antigua, on the first of August, 1834; by which a choice portion of the Holy Scriptures was gratuitously circulated to about one third of the inhabitants of this colony. Nine thousand seven hundred copies of the New Testament, bound together with the book of Psalms, were thus placed at the disposal of your committee."
* * * "Following hard upon this joyful event another gratifying circ.u.mstance occurred among us. The attention of the people was roused, and their grat.i.tude excited towards the Bible Society, and they who had freely received, now freely gave, and thus a considerable sum of money was presented to the parent society in acknowledgment of its beneficent grant."
We here add an extract from the annual report for 1826. Its sentiments contrast strongly with the congratulations of the last report upon "the joyful event" of emanc.i.p.ation.