Chapter II: Tour to the Country (3)

13. The apprentices on many plantations have been deprived of several privileges which they enjoyed under the old system. Nurseries have been abolished, water-carriers have been taken away, keeping stock is restricted, if not entirely forbidden, watchmen are no longer provided to guard the negro grounds, &c.--petty aggressions in our eyes, perhaps, but severe to them. Another instance is still more hard. By the custom of slavery, women who had reared up seven children were permitted to "sit down," as it was termed; that is, were not obliged to go into the field to work. Now no such distinction is made, but all are driven into the field.

14. One reason why the crops were smaller in 1835 and 1836 than in former years, was, that the planters in the preceding seasons, either fearful that the negroes would not take off the crops after emancipation, and acting on their baseless predictions instead of facts, or determined to make the results of emancipation appear as disastrous as possible, neglected to put in the usual amount of cane, and to clean the coffee fields. As they refused to sow, of course they could not reap.

15. The complaints against the apprentices generally are becoming fewer every week, but the complaints against the masters are increasing both in number and severity. One reason of this is, that the apprentices, on the one hand, are becoming better acquainted with the new system, and therefore better able to avoid a violation of its provisions, and are also learning that they cannot violate these provisions with impunity; and, on the other hand, they are gaining courage to complain against their masters, to whom they have hitherto been subjected by a fear created by the whips and dungeons, and nameless tortures of slavery. Another reason is, that the masters, as the term of the apprenticeship shortens, and the end of their authority approaches nearer, are pressing their poor victims harder and harder, determined to extort from them all they can, before complete emancipation rescues them for ever from their grasp.

While we were in conversation with Mr. Hill, Mr. Ramsay, one of the special magistrates for this parish, called in. He is a native of Jamaica, and has been educated under all the influences of West India society, but has held fast his integrity, and is considered the firm friend of the apprentices. He confirmed every fact and opinion which Mr. Hill had given. He was even stronger than Mr. H. in his expressions of disapprobation of the apprenticeship.

The day which we spent with Mr. Hill was one of those on which he holds a special justice's court. There were only three cases of complaint brought before him.

The first was brought by a woman, attended by her husband, against her servant girl, for "impertinence and insubordination." She took the oath and commenced her testimony with an abundance of vague charges. "She is the most insolent girl I ever saw. She'll do nothing that she is told to do--she never thinks of minding what is said to her--she is sulky and saucy," etc. Mr. H. told her she must be specific--he could not convict the girl on such general charges--some particular acts must be proved.

She became specific. Her charges were as follows:

1. On the previous Thursday the defendant was plaiting a shirt. The complainant went up to her and asked her why she did not plait it as she ought, and not hold it in her hand as she did. Defendant replied, that it was easier, and she preferred that way to the other. The complainant remonstrated, but, despite all she could say, the obstinate girl persisted, and did it as she chose. The complainant granted that the work was done well, only it was not done in the way she desired.

2. The same day she ordered the defendant to wipe up some tracks in the hall. She did so. While she was doing it, the mistress told her the room was very dusty, and reproved her for it. The girl replied, "Is it morning?" (It is customary to clean the rooms early in the morning, and the girl made this reply late in the afternoon, when sufficient time had elapsed for the room to become dusty again.)

3. The girl did not wash a cloth clean which the complainant gave her, and the complainant was obliged to wash it herself.

4. Several times when the complainant and her daughter have been conversing together, this girl had burst into laughter--whether at them or their conversation, complainant did not know.

5. When the complainant has reproved the defendant for not doing her work well, she has replied, "Can't you let me alone to my work, and not worry my life out."

A black man, a constable on the same property, was brought up to confirm the charges. He knew nothing about the case, only that he often heard the parties quarrelling, and sometimes had told the girl not to say any thing, as she knew what her mistress was.

It appeared in the course of the evidence, that the complainant and her husband had both been in the habit of speaking disrespectfully of the special magistrate, stationed in their district, and that many of the contentions arose out of that, as the girl sometimes defended him.

While the accused was making her defence, which she did in a modest way, her mistress was highly enraged, and interrupted her several times, by calling her a liar and a jade. The magistrate was two or three times obliged to reprove her, and command her to be silent, and, so passionate did she become, that her husband, ashamed of her, put his hand on her shoulder, and entreated her to be calm.

Mr. Hill dismissed the complaint by giving some good advice to both parties, much to the annoyance of the mistress.

The second complaint was brought by a man against a servant girl, for disobedience of orders, and insolence. It appears that she was ordered, at ten o'clock at night, to do some work. She was just leaving the house to call on some friends, as she said, and refused. On being told by her mistress that she only wanted to go out for bad purposes, she replied, that "It was no matter--the allowance they gave her was not sufficient to support her, and if they would not give her more, she must get a living any way she could, so she did not steal." She was sentenced to the house of correction for one week.

The third case was a complaint against a boy for taking every alternate Friday and Saturday, instead of every Saturday, for allowance. He was ordered to take every Saturday, or to receive in lieu of it half a dollar.

Mr. Hill said these were a fair specimen of the character of the complaints that came before him. We were much pleased with the manner in which he presided in his court, the ease, dignity, and impartiality which he exhibited, and the respect which was shown him by all parties.

In company with Mr. Hill, we called on Rev. Mr. Phillips, the Baptist missionary, stationed at Spanishtown. Mr. P. has been in the island thirteen years. He regards the apprenticeship as a great amelioration of the old system of slavery, but as coming far short of the full privileges and rights of freedom, and of what it was expected to be. It is beneficial to the missionaries, as it gives them access to the plantations, while before, in many instances, they were entirely excluded from them, and in all cases were much shackled in their operations.

Mr. P. has enlarged his chapel within the last fifteen months, so that it admits several hundreds more than formerly. But it is now too small. The apprentices are much more anxious to receive religious instruction, and much more open to conviction, than when slaves. He finds a great difference now on different plantations. Where severity is used, as it still is on many estates, and the new system is moulded as nearly as possible on the old, the minds of the apprentices are apparently closed against all impressions,--but where they are treated with kindness, they are warm in their affections, and solicitous to be taught.

In connection with his church, Mr. P. has charge of a large school. The number present, when we visited it, was about two hundred. There was, to say the least, as much manifestation of intellect and sprightliness as we ever saw in white pupils of the same age. Most of the children were slaves previous to 1834, and their parents are still apprentices. Several were pointed out to us who were not yet free, and attend only by permission, sometimes purchased, of their master. The greater part live from three to five miles distant. Mr. P. says he finds no lack of interest among the apprentices about education. He can find scholars for as many schools as he can establish, if he keeps himself unconnected with the planters. The apprentices are opposed to all schools established by, or in any way allied to, their masters.

Mr. P. says the planters are doing nothing to prepare the apprentices for freedom in 1840. They do not regard the apprenticeship as intermediate time for preparation, but as part of the _compensation_. Every day is counted, not as worth so much for education and moral instruction, but as worth so much for digging cane-holes, and clearing coffee fields.

Mr. P.'s church escaped destruction during the persecution of the Baptists. The wives and connections of many of the colored soldiers had taken refuge in it, and had given out word that they would defend it even against their own husbands and brothers, who in turn informed their officers that if ordered to destroy it, they should refuse at all peril.