The Anti-Slavery Examiner, Omnibus
Chapter 84 : 14. Are the apprentices disposed to purchase their freedom? How have those conducted th

14. Are the apprentices disposed to purchase their freedom? How have those conducted themselves who have purchased it?

The apprentices are inclined to purchase their discharge, particularly when misunderstandings occur with their masters. When they obtain their discharge they generally labor in the trades and occupations they were previously accustomed to, and conduct themselves well. The discharged apprentices seldom take to drinking. Indeed the negro and colored population are the most temperate persons I ever knew of their cla.s.s.

The experience of nearly forty years in various public situations, confirms me in this very important fact.

The answers I have had the honor to give to the questions submitted to me, have been given most conscientiously, and to the best of my judgment are a faithful picture of the working of the apprentices.h.i.+p in this island, as far as relates to the inquiries made.--_John B. Colthurst, Special Justice of the Peace, District A. Rural Division_.

COMMUNICATION FROM CAPT. HAMILTON.

Barbadoes, April 4th, 1837.

Gentlemen,

Presuming that you have kept a copy of the questions[A] you sent me, I shall therefore only send the answers.

[Footnote A: The same interrogatories were propounded to Capt. Hamilton which have been already inserted in Major Colthurst's communication.]

1. There are at present five thousand nine hundred and thirty male, and six thousand six hundred and eighty-nine female apprentices in my district, (B,) which comprises a part of the parishes of Christ Church and St. George. Their conduct, compared with the neighboring districts, is good.

2. The state of agriculture is very flouris.h.i.+ng. Experienced planters acknowledge that it is generally far superior to what it was during slavery.

3. Where the managers are kind and temperate, they have not any trouble with the laborers.

4. The apprentices are generally willing to work for wages in their own time.

5. The average number of complaints tried by me, last year, ending December, was one thousand nine hundred and thirty-two. The average number of apprentices in the district during that time was twelve thousand seven hundred. Offences, generally speaking, are not of any magnitude. They do not increase, but fluctuate according to the season of the year.

6. The state of crime is not so bad by any means as we might have expected among the negroes--just released from such a degrading bondage.

Considering the state of ignorance in which they have been kept, and the immoral examples set them by the lower cla.s.s of whites, it is matter of astonishment that they should behave so well.

7. The apprentices would have a great respect for law, were it not for the erroneous proceedings of the managers, overseers, &c., in taking them before the magistrates for every petty offence, and often abusing the magistrate in the presence of the apprentices, when his decision does not please them. The consequence is, that the apprentices too often get indifferent to law, and have been known to say that they cared not about going to prison, and that they would do just as they did before as soon as they were released.

8. The apprentices in this colony are generally considered a peaceable race. All acts of revenge committed by them originate in jealousy, as, for instance, between husband and wife.

9. Not the slightest sense of insecurity. As a proof of this, property has, since the commencement of the apprentices.h.i.+p, increased in value considerably--at least one third.

10. The change which will take place in 1838, in my opinion, will occasion a great deal of discontent among those called praedials--which will not subside for some months. They ought to have been all emanc.i.p.ated at the same period. I cannot foresee any bad effects that will ensue from the change in 1840, except those mentioned hereafter.

11. The most prejudiced planters would not return to the old system if they possibly could. They admit that they get more work from the laborers than they formerly did, and they are relieved from a great responsibility.

12. It is my opinion that if entire emanc.i.p.ation had taken place in 1834, no more difficulty would have followed beyond what we may naturally expect in 1810. It will then take two or three months before the emanc.i.p.ated people finally settle themselves. I do not consider the apprentice more fit or better prepared for entire freedom now than he was in 1834.

13. I consider, most undoubtedly, that emanc.i.p.ation has been a decided blessing to the colony.

14. They are much disposed to purchase the remainder of the apprentices.h.i.+p term. Their conduct after they become free is good.

I hope the foregoing answers and information may be of service to you in your laudable pursuits, for which I wish you every success.

I am, gentlemen, your ob't serv't,

_Jos. Hamilton, Special Justice_.

TESTIMONY OF CLERGYMEN AND MISSIONARIES.

There are three religious denominations at the present time in Barbadoes--Episcopalians, Wesleyans, and Moravians. The former have about twenty clergymen, including the bishop and archdeacon. The bishop was absent during our visit, and we did not see him; but as far as we could learn, while in some of his political measures, as a member of the council, he has benefited the colored population, his general influence has been unfavorable to their moral and spiritual welfare. He has discountenanced and defeated several attempts made by his rectors and curates to abolish the odious distinctions of color in their churches.

We were led to form an unfavorable opinion of the Bishop's course, from observing among the intelligent and well-disposed cla.s.ses of colored people, the current use of the phrase, "bishop's man," and "no bishop's man," applied to different rectors and curates. Those that they were averse to, either as pro-slavery or pro-prejudice characters, they usually branded as "bishop's men," while those whom they esteemed their friends, they designated as "no bishop's men."

The archdeacon has already been introduced to the reader. We enjoyed several interviews with him, and were constrained to admire him for his integrity, independence and piety. He spoke in terms of strong condemnation of slavery, and of the apprentices.h.i.+p system. He was a determined advocate of entire and immediate emanc.i.p.ation, both from principle and policy. He also discountenanced prejudice, both in the church and in the social circle. The first time we had the pleasure of meeting him was at the house of a colored gentleman in Bridgetown where we were breakfasting. He called in incidentally, while we were sitting at table, and exhibited all the familiarity of a frequent visitant.

One of the most worthy and devoted men whom we met in Barbadoes was the Rev. Mr. c.u.mmins, curate of St. Paul's church, in Bridgetown. The first Sabbath after our arrival at the island we attended his church. It is emphatically a free church. Distinctions of color are nowhere recognized. There is the most complete intermingling of colors throughout the house. In one pew were seen a family of whites, in the next a family of colored people, and in the next perhaps a family of blacks. In the same pews white and colored persons sat side by side. The floor and gallery presented the same promiscuous blending of hues and shades. We sat in a pew with white and colored people. In the pew before and in that behind us the sitting was equally indiscriminate. The audience was kneeling in their morning devotions when we entered, and we were struck with the different colors bowing side by side as we pa.s.sed down the aisles. There is probably no clergyman in the island who has secured so perfectly the affections of his people as Mr. C. He is of course "no bishop's man." He is constantly employed in promoting the spiritual and moral good of his people, of whatever complexion. The annual examination of the Sabbath school connected with St. Paul's occurred while we were in the island, and we were favored with the privilege of attending it. There were about three hundred pupils present, of all ages, from fifty down to three years. There were all colors--white, tawny, and ebon black. The white children were cla.s.sed with the colored and black, in utter violation of those principles of cla.s.sification in vogue throughout the Sabbath schools of our own country. The examination was chiefly conducted by Mr. c.u.mmins. At the close of the examination about fifty of the girls, and among them the daughter of Mr. c.u.mmins, were arranged in front of the altar, with the female teachers in the rear of them, and all united in singing a hymn written for the occasion. Part of the teachers were colored and part white, as were also the scholars, and they stood side by side, mingled promiscuously together. This is altogether the best Sabbath school in the island.

After the exercises were closed, we were introduced, by a colored gentleman who accompanied us to the examination, to Mr. c.u.mmins, the Rev. Mr. Packer, and the Rev. Mr. Rowe, master of the public school in Bridgetown. By request of Mr. C., we accompanied him to his house, where we enjoyed an interview with him and the other gentlemen, just mentioned. Mr. C. informed us that his Sabbath school was commenced in 1833; but was quite small and inefficient until after 1834. It now numbers more than four hundred scholars. Mr. C. spoke of prejudice. It had wonderfully decreased within the last three years. He said he could scarcely credit the testimony of his own senses, when he looked around on the change which had taken place. Many now a.s.sociate with colored persons, and sit with them in the church, who once would have scorned to be found near them. Mr. C. and the other clergymen stated, that there had been an increase of places of wors.h.i.+p and of clergymen since abolition. All the churches are now crowded, and there is a growing demand for more. The negroes manifest an increasing desire for religious instruction. In respect to morals, they represent the people as being greatly improved. They spoke of the general respect which was now paid to the inst.i.tution of marriage among the negroes, Mr. C. said, he was convinced that the blacks had as much natural talent and capacity for learning as the whites. He does not know any difference. Mr. Pocker, who was formerly rector of St. Thomas' parish, and has been a public teacher of children of all colors, expressed the same opinion. Mr. Rowe said, that before he took charge of the white school, he was the teacher of one of the free schools for blacks, and he testified that the latter has just as much capacity for acquiring any kind of knowledge, as much inquisitiveness, and ingenuity, as the former.

Accompanied by an intelligent gentleman of Bridgetown, we visited two flouris.h.i.+ng schools for colored children, connected with the Episcopal church, and under the care of the Bishop. In the male school, there were one hundred and ninety-five scholars, under the superintendence of one master, who is himself a black man, and was educated and trained up in the same school. He is a.s.sisted by several of his scholars, as monitors and teachers. It was, altogether, the best specimen of a well-regulated school which we saw in the West Indies.

The present instructor has had charge of the school two years. It has increased considerably since abolition. Before the first of August, 1834, the whole number of names on the catalogue was a little above one hundred, and the average attendance was seventy-five. The number immediately increased, and new the average attendance is above two hundred. Of this number at least sixty are the children of apprentices.

We visited also the infant school, established but two weeks previous.

Mr. S. the teacher, who has been for many years an instructor, says he finds them as apt to learn as any children he ever taught. He said he was surprised to see how soon the instructions of the school-room were carried to the homes of the children, and caught up by their parents.

The very first night after the school closed, in pa.s.sing through the streets, he heard the children repeating what they had been taught, and the parents learning the songs from their children's lips Mr. S. has a hundred children already in his school, and additions were making daily.

He found among the negro parents much interest in the school.

WESLEYAN MISSIONARIES.

We called on the Rev. Mr. Fidler, the superintendent of the Wesleyan missions in Barbadoes. Mr. F. resides in Bridgetown, and preaches mostly in the chapel in town. He has been in the West Indies twelve years, and in Barbadoes about two years. Mr. F. informed us that there were three Wesleyan missionaries in the island, besides four or five local preachers, one of whom is a black man. There are about one thousand members belonging to their body, the greater part of whom live in town.

Two hundred and thirty-five were added during the year 1836, being by far the largest number added in any one year since they began their operations in the island.

A brief review of the history of the Wesleyan Methodists in Barbadoes, will serve to show the great change which has been taking place in public sentiment respecting the labors of missionaries. In the year 1823, not long after the establishment of the Wesleyan church in the island, the chapel in Bridgetown was destroyed by a mob. Not one stone was left upon another. They carried the fragments for miles away from the site, and scattered them about in every direction, so that the chapel might never be rebuilt. Some of the instigators and chief actors in this outrage, were "gentlemen of property and standing," residents of Bridgetown. The first morning after the outrage began, the mob sought for the Rev. Mr. Shrewsbury, the missionary, threatening his life, and he was obliged to flee precipitately from the island, with his wife. He was hunted like a wild beast, and it is thought that he would have been torn in pieces if he had been found. Not an effort or a movement was made to quell the mob, during their a.s.sault upon the chapel. The first men of the island connived at the violence--secretly rejoicing in what they supposed would be the extermination of Methodism from the country.

The governor, Sir Henry Ward, utterly refused to interfere, and would not suffer the militia to repair to the spot, though a mere handful of soldiers could have instantaneously routed the whole a.s.semblage.

The occasion of this riot was partly the efforts made by the Wesleyans to instruct the negroes, and still more the circ.u.mstance of a letter being written by Mr. Shrewsbury, and published in an English paper, which contained some severe strictures on the morals of the Barbadians.

A planter informed us that the riot grew out of a suspicion that Mr. S.

was "leagued with the Wilberforce party in England."

Since the re-establishment of Wesleyanism in this island, it has continued to struggle against the opposition of the Bishop, and most of the clergy, and against the inveterate prejudices of nearly the whole of the white community. The missionaries have been discouraged, and in many instances absolutely prohibited from preaching on the estates. These circ.u.mstances have greatly r.e.t.a.r.ded the progress of religious instruction through their means. But this state of things had been very much altered since the abolition of slavery. There are several estates now open to the missionaries. Mr. F. mentioned several places in the country, where he was then purchasing land, and erecting chapels. He also stated, that one man, who aided in pulling down the chapel in 1823, had offered ground for a new chapel, and proffered the free use of a building near by, for religious meetings and a school, till it could be erected.

The Wesleyan chapel in Bridgetown is a s.p.a.cious building, well filled with wors.h.i.+ppers every Sabbath. We attended service there frequently, and observed the same indiscriminate sitting of the various colors, which is described in the account of St. Paul's church.

The Wesleyan missionaries have stimulated the clergy to greater diligence and faithfulness, and have especially induced them to turn their attention to the negro population more than they did formerly.

There are several local preachers connected with the Wesleyan mission in Barbadoes, who have been actively laboring to promote religion among the apprentices. Two of these are converted soldiers in his Majesty's service--acting sergeants of the troops stationed in the island. While we were in Barbadoes, these pious men applied for a discharge from the army, intending to devote themselves exclusively to the work of teaching and preaching. Another of the local preachers is a negro man, of considerable talent and exalted piety, highly esteemed among his missionary brethren for his labors of love.

THE MORAVIAN MISSION.

Of the Moravians, we learned but little. Circ.u.mstances unavoidably prevented us from visiting any of the stations, and also from calling on any of the missionaries. We were informed that there were three stations in the island, one in Bridgetown, and two in the country, and we learned in general terms, that the few missionaries there were laboring with their characteristic devotedness, a.s.siduity, and self-denial, for the spiritual welfare of the negro population.