In the rein of Charles II., Antigua was conquered by the French, and the inhabitants were forced to swear allegiance to the French government. In a very short time the French were driven off the island and the English again took possession of it. It was then declared, by order of the king, that as the people had, by swearing allegiance to another government, forfeited the protection of the British government, and all t.i.tle to their lands, they should not again receive either, except on condition of paying to the king a duty of four and a half per cent on every article exported from the island--and that they were to do in _perpetuity_. To this hard condition they were obliged to submit, and they have groaned under the onerous duty ever since. On every occasion, which offered any hope, they have sought the repeal of the tax, but have uniformly been defeated. When they saw that the abolition question was coming to a crisis, they resolved to make a last effort for the repeal of the four and a half percent duty. They therefore adopted immediate emanc.i.p.ation, and then, covered as they were, with the laurels of so magnanimous an act, they presented to parliament their cherished object.
The defeat was a humiliating one, and it produced such a reaction in the island, as well nigh led to the rescinding of the abolition bill.]
The verbal and written statements of numerous planters also confirm the declaration that emanc.i.p.ation was a measure solely of selfish policy.
Said Mr. Bernard, of Green Castle estate "Emanc.i.p.ation was preferred to apprenticeship, because it was attended with less trouble, and left the planters independent, instead of being saddled with a legion of stipendiary magistrates."
Said Dr. Daniell, member of the council, and proprietor--"The apprenticeship was rejected by us solely from motives of policy. We did not wish to be annoyed with stipendiary magistrates."
Said Hon. N. Nugent--"We wished to let ourselves down in the easiest manner possible; _therefore_ we chose immediate freedom in preference to the apprenticeship."
"Emanc.i.p.ation was preferred to apprenticeship, because of the inevitable and endless perplexities connected with the latter system."--_David Cranstoun, Esq., colonial magistrate and planter_.
"It is not pretended that emanc.i.p.ation was produced by the influence of religious considerations. It was a measure of mere convenience and interest."--_A Moravian Missionary_.
The following testimony is extracted from a letter addressed to us by a highly respectable merchant of St. John"s--a gentleman of long experience on the island, and now agent for several estates.
"Emanc.i.p.ation was an act of mere policy, adopted as _the safest and most economic_ measure."
Our last item of testimony under this head is from a written statement by the Hon. N. Nugent, speaker of the a.s.sembly, at the time of emanc.i.p.ation. His remarks on this subject, although long, we are sure will be read with interest. Alluding to the adoption of immediate emanc.i.p.ation in preference to the apprenticeship, he observes:--
"The reasons and considerations which led to this step were various, of course impressing the minds of different individuals in different degrees. As slave emanc.i.p.ation could not be averted, and must inevitably take place very shortly, it was better to meet the crisis at once, than to have it hanging over our heads for six years, with all its hara.s.sing doubts and anxieties; better to give an air of grace to that which would be ultimately unavoidable; the slaves should rather have a motive of grat.i.tude and kind reciprocation, than to feel, on being declared free, that their emanc.i.p.ation could neither be withheld nor r.e.t.a.r.ded by their owners. The projected apprenticeship, while it destroyed the means of an instant coercion in a state of involuntary labor, equally withdrew or neutralized all those urgent motives which constrain to industrious exertion in the case of freemen. It abstracted from the master, in a state of things then barely remunerative, one fourth of the time and labor required in cultivation, and gave it to the servant, while it compelled the master to supply the same allowances as before. With many irksome restraints, conditions, and responsibilities imposed on the master, it had no equivalent advantages. There appeared no reason, in short, why general emanc.i.p.ation would not do as well in 1834 as in 1840.
Finally, a strong conviction existed that from peculiarity of climate and soil, the physical wants and necessities of the peasantry would compel them to labor for their subsistence, to seek employment and wages from the proprietors of the soil; and if the _transformation_ could be safely and quietly brought about, that the _free_ system might be cheaper and more profitable than the other."
The general testimony of planters, missionaries, clergymen, merchants, and others, was in confirmation of the same truth.
There is little reason to believe that the views of the colonists on this subject have subsequently undergone much change. We did not hear, excepting occasionally among the missionaries and clergy, the slightest insinuation thrown out that _slavery was sinful_; that the slaves had a right to freedom, or that it would have been wrong to have continued them in bondage. The _politics_ of anti-slavery the Antiguans are exceedingly well versed in, but of its _religion_, they seem to feel but little. They seem never to have examined slavery in its moral relations; never to have perceived its monstrous violations of right and its impious tramplings upon G.o.d and man. The Antigua planters, it would appear, have _yet_ to repent of the sin of slaveholding.
If the results of an emanc.i.p.ation so dest.i.tute of _principle_, so purely selfish, could produce such general satisfaction, and be followed by such happy results, it warrants us in antic.i.p.ating still more decided and unmingled blessings in the train of a voluntary, conscientious, and religious abolition.
THIRD PROPOSITION.--The _event_ of emanc.i.p.ation pa.s.sed PEACEFULLY. The first of August, 1834, is universally regarded in Antigua, as having presented a most imposing and sublime moral spectacle. It is almost impossible to be in the company of a missionary, a planter, or an emanc.i.p.ated negro, for ten minutes, without hearing some allusion to that occasion. Even at the time of our visit to Antigua, after the lapse of nearly three years, they spoke of the event with an admiration apparently unabated.
For some time previous to the first of August, forebodings of disaster lowered over the island. The day was fixed! Thirty thousand degraded human beings were to be brought forth from the dungeon of slavery and "turned loose on the community!" and this was to be done "in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye."
Gloomy apprehensions were entertained by many of the planters. Some timorous families did not go to bed on the night of the 31st of July; fear drove sleep from their eyes, and they awaited with fluttering pulse the hour of midnight, fearing lest the same bell which sounded the jubilee of the slaves might toll the death knell of the masters.[A]
[Footnote A: We were informed by a merchant of St. John"s, that several American vessels which had lain for weeks in the harbor, weighed anchor on the 31st of July, and made their escape, through actual fear, that the island would be destroyed on the following day. Ere they set sail they earnestly besought our informant to escape from the island, as he valued his life.]
The more intelligent, who understood the disposition of the negroes, and contemplated the natural tendencies of emanc.i.p.ation, through philosophical principles, and to the light of human nature and history, were free from alarm.
To convey to the reader some idea of the manner in which the great crisis pa.s.sed, we give the substance of several accounts which were related to us in different parts of the island, by those who witnessed them.
The Wesleyans kept "watch-night" in all their chapels on the night of the 31st July. One of the Wesleyan missionaries gave us an account of the watch meeting at the chapel in St. John"s. The s.p.a.cious house was filled with the candidates for liberty. All was animation and eagerness.
A mighty chorus of voices swelled the song of expectation and joy, and as they united in prayer, the voice of the leader was drowned in the universal acclamations of thanksgiving and praise, and blessing, and honor, and glory, to G.o.d, who had come down for their deliverance. In such exercises the evening was spent until the hour of twelve approached. The missionary then proposed that when the clock on the cathedral should begin to strike, the whole congregation should fall upon their knees and receive the boon of freedom in silence.
Accordingly, as the loud bell tolled its first note, the immense a.s.sembly fell prostrate on their knees. All was silence, save the quivering half-stifled breath of the struggling spirit. The slow notes of the clock fell upon the mult.i.tude; peal on peal, peal on peal, rolled over the prostrate throng, in tones of angels" voices, thrilling among the desolate chords and weary heart strings. Scarce had the clock sounded its last note, when the lightning flashed vividly around, and a loud peal of thunder roared along the sky--G.o.d"s pillar of fire, and trump of jubilee! A moment of profoundest silence pa.s.sed--then came the _burst_--they broke forth in prayer; they shouted, they sung, "Glory,"
"alleluia;" they clapped their hands, leaped up, fell down, clasped each other in their free arms, cried, laughed, and went to and fro, tossing upward their unfettered hands; but high above the whole there was a mighty sound which ever and anon swelled up; it was the utterings in broken negro dialect of grat.i.tude to G.o.d.
After this gush of excitement had spent itself; and the congregation became calm, the religious exercises were resumed, and the remainder of the night was occupied in singing and prayer, in reading the Bible, and in addresses from the missionaries explaining the nature of the freedom just received, and exhorting the freed people to be industrious, steady, obedient to the laws, and to show themselves in all things worthy of the high boon which G.o.d had conferred upon them.
The first of August came on Friday, and a release was proclaimed from all work until the next Monday. The day was chiefly spent by the great ma.s.s of the negroes in the churches and chapels. Thither they flocked "as clouds, and as doves to their windows." The clergy and missionaries throughout the island were actively engaged, seizing the opportunity in order to enlighten the people on all the duties and responsibilities of their new relation, and above all, urging them to the attainment of that higher liberty with which Christ maketh his children free. In every quarter we were a.s.sured that the day was like a Sabbath. Work had ceased; the hum of business was still, and noise and tumult were unheard on the streets. Tranquillity pervaded the towns and country. A Sabbath indeed! when the wicked ceased from troubling, and the weary were at rest, and the slave was free from his master! The planters informed us that they went to the chapels where their own people were a.s.sembled, greeted them, shook hands with them, and exchanged the most hearty good wishes.
The churches and chapels were thronged all over the island. At Cedar Hall, a Moravian station, the crowd was so great that the minister was obliged to remove the meeting from the chapel to a neighboring grove.
At Grace Hill, another Moravian station, the negroes went to the Missionary on the day before the first of August, and begged that they might be allowed to have a meeting in the chapel at sunrise. It is the usual practice among the Moravians to hold but one sunrise meeting during the year, and that is on the morning of Easter: but as the people besought very earnestly for this special favor on the Easter morning of their freedom, it was granted to them.
Early in the morning they a.s.sembled at the chapel. For some time they sat in perfect silence. The missionary then proposed that they should kneel down and sing. The whole audience fell upon their knees, and sung a hymn commencing with the following verse:
"Now let us praise the Lord, With body, soul and spirit, Who doth such wondrous things, Beyond our sense and merit."
The singing was frequently interrupted with the tears and sobbings of the melted people, until finally it was wholly arrested, and a tumult of emotion overwhelmed the congregation.
During the day, repeated meetings were held. At eleven o"clock, the people a.s.sembled in vast numbers. There were at least a _thousand_ persons around the chapel, who could not get in. For once the house of G.o.d suffered violence, and the violent took it by force. After all the services of the day, the people went again to the missionaries in a body, and pet.i.tioned to have a meeting in the evening.
At Grace Bay, the people, all dressed in white, a.s.sembled in a s.p.a.cious court in front of the Moravian chapel. They formed a procession and walked arm in arm into the chapel. Similar scenes occurred at all the chapels and at the churches also. We were told by the missionaries that the dress of the negroes on that occasion was uncommonly simple and modest. There was not the least disposition of gaiety.
We were also informed by planters and missionaries in every part of the island, that there was not a single dance known of, either day or night, nor so much as a fiddle played. There were no riotous a.s.semblies, no drunken carousals. It was not in such channels that the excitement of the emanc.i.p.ated flowed. They were as far from dissipation and debauchery, as they were from violence and carnage. GRAt.i.tUDE was the absorbing emotion. From the hill-tops, and the valleys, the cry of a disenthralled people went upward like the sound of many waters, "Glory to G.o.d, glory to G.o.d."
The testimony of the planters corresponds fully with that of the missionaries.
Said R.B. Eldridge, Esq., after speaking of the number emanc.i.p.ated, "Yet this vast body, (30,000,) _glided_ out of slavery into freedom with the utmost tranquillity."
Dr. Daniell observed, that after so prodigious a revolution in the condition of the negroes, he expected that some irregularities would ensue; but he had been entirely disappointed. He also said that he antic.i.p.ated some relaxation from labour during the week following emanc.i.p.ation. But he found his hands in the field early on Monday morning, and not one missing. The same day he received word from another estate, of which he was proprietor,[A] that the negroes had to a man refused to go to the field. He immediately rode to the estate and found the people standing with their hoes in their hands doing nothing. He accosted them in a friendly manner: "What does this mean, my fellows, that you are not at work this morning?" They immediately replied, "It"s not because we don"t want to work, ma.s.sa, but we wanted to see you first and foremost to _know what the bargain would be_." As soon as that matter was settled, the whole body of negroes turned out cheerfully, without a moment"s cavil.
[Footnote A: It is not unusual in the West Indies for proprietors to commit their own estates into the hands of managers; and be themselves, the managers of other men"s estates.]
Mr. Bourne, of Millar"s, informed us that the largest gang he had ever seen in the field on his property, turned out the _week after emanc.i.p.ation_.
Said Hon. N. Nugent, "Nothing could surpa.s.s the universal propriety of the negroes" conduct on the first of August, 1834! Never was there a more beautiful and interesting spectacle exhibited, than on that occasion."
FOURTH PROPOSITION.--There has been _since_ emanc.i.p.ation, not only _no rebellion in fact_, but NO FEAR OF IT in Antigua.
Proof 1st. The militia were not called out during Christmas holidays.
_Before_ emanc.i.p.ation, martial law invariably prevailed on the holidays, but the very first Christmas after emanc.i.p.ation, the Governor made a proclamation stating that _in consequence of the abolition of slavery_ it was no longer necessary to resort to such a precaution. There has not been a parade of soldiery on any subsequent Christmas.[B]
[Footnote B: This has been followed by a measure on the part of the Legislature, which is further proof of the same thing. It is "an Act for amending and further continuing the several Acts at present in force for better organizing and ordering the militia."
The preamble reads thus:
"WHEREAS the abolition of slavery in this island renders it expedient to provide against an unnecessary augmentation of the militia, and the existing laws for better organizing and ordering that local force require amendment."
The following military advertis.e.m.e.nt also shows the increasing confidence which is felt in the freed men:
"RECRUITS WANTED.--The free men of Antigua are now called on to show their grat.i.tude and loyalty to King WILLIAM, for the benefits he has conferred on them and their families, by volunteering their services as soldiers in his First West India Regiment; in doing which they will acquire a still higher rank in society, by being placed on a footing of perfect equality with the other troops in his Majesty"s service, and receive the same bounty, pay, clothing, rations and allowances.
None but young men of good character can be received, and all such will meet with every encouragement by applying at St. John"s Barracks, to
H. DOWNIE, _Capt. 1st W.I. Regt_. _September 15th_, 1836."
2d. The uniform declaration of planters and others: