"Government House, St. John's, Dec. 18th, 1836." ]
The conversation on the subject of emancipation served to show that the prevailing sentiment was decidedly favorable to the free system. Col. Jarvis, who is the proprietor of three estates, said that he was in England at the time the bill for immediate emancipation passed the legislature. Had he been in the island he should have opposed it; but now he was glad it had prevailed. The evil consequences which he apprehended had not been realized, and he was now confident that they never would be.
As to prejudice against the black and colored people, all thought it was rapidly decreasing--indeed, they could scarcely say there was now any such thing. To be sure, there was an aversion among the higher classes of the whites, and especially among females, to associating in parties with colored people; but it was not on account of their color, but chiefly because of their illegitimacy. This was to us a new source of prejudice: but subsequent information fully explained its bearings. The whites of the West Indies are themselves the authors of that illegitimacy, out of which their aversion springs. It is not to be wondered at that they should be unwilling to invite the colored people to their social parties, seeing they might not unfrequently be subjected to the embarrassment of introducing to their white wives a colored mistress or an illegitimate daughter. This also explains the special prejudice which the ladies of the higher classes feel toward those among whom are their guilty rivals in a husband's affections, and those whose every feature tells the story of a husband's unfaithfulness!
A few days after our dinner with the governor and his friends, we took breakfast, by invitation, with Mr. Watkins, the colored planter whom we had the pleasure of meeting at Millar's, on a previous occasion. Mr. W. politely sent in his chaise for us, a distance of five miles, At an early hour we reached Donovan's, the estate of which he is manager. We found the sugar works in active operation: the broad wings of the windmill were wheeling their stately revolutions, and the smoke was issuing in dense volumes from the chimney of the boiling house. Some of the negroes were employed in carrying cane to the mill, others in carrying away the trash or megass, as the cane is called after the juice is expressed from it. Others, chiefly the old men and women, were tearing the megass apart, and strewing it on the ground to dry. It is the only fuel used for boiling the sugar.
On entering the house we found three planters whom Mr. W. had invited to breakfast with us. The meeting of a number of intelligent practical planters afforded a good opportunity for comparing their views. On all the main points, touching the working of freedom, there was a strong coincidence.
When breakfast was ready, Mrs. W. entered the room, and after our introduction to her, took her place at the head of the table. Her conversation was intelligent, her manners highly polished, and she presided at the table with admirable grace and dignity.
On the following day, Dr. Ferguson, of St. John's, called on us. Dr. Ferguson is a member of the assembly, and one of the first physicians in the island. The Doctor said that freedom had wrought like a magician, and had it not been for the unprecedented drought, the island would now be in a state of prosperity unequalled in any period of its history. Dr. F. remarked that a general spirit of improvement was pervading the island. The moral condition of the whites was rapidly brightening; formerly concubinage was respectable; it had been customary for married men--those of the highest standing--to keep one or two colored mistresses. This practice was now becoming disreputable. There had been a great alteration as to the observance of the Sabbath; formerly more business was done in St. John's on Sunday, by the merchants, than on all the other days of the week together. The mercantile business of the town had increased astonishingly; he thought that the stores and shops had multiplied in a ratio of ten to one. Mechanical pursuits were likewise in a flourishing condition. Dr. F. said that a greater number of buildings had been erected since emancipation, than had been put up for twenty years before. Great improvements had also been made in the streets and roads in town and country.
SATURDAY.--This is the regular market-day here. The negroes come from all parts of the island; walking sometimes ten or fifteen miles to attend the St. John's market. We pressed our way through the dense mass of all hues, which crowded the market. The ground was covered with wooden trays filled with all kinds of fruits, grain, vegetables, fowls, fish, and flesh. Each one, as we passed, called attention to his or her little stock. We passed up to the head of the avenue, where men and women were employed in cutting up the light fire-wood which they had brought from the country on their heads, and in binding it into small bundles for sale. Here we paused a moment and looked down upon the busy multitude below. The whole street was a moving mass. There were broad Panama hats, and gaudy turbans, and uncovered heads, and heads laden with water pots, and boxes, and baskets, and trays--all moving and mingling in seemingly inextricable confusion. There could not have been less than fifteen hundred people congregated in that street--all, or nearly all, emancipated slaves. Yet, amidst all the excitements and competitions of trade, their conduct toward each other was polite and kind. Not a word, or look, or gesture of insolence or indecency did we observe. Smiling countenances and friendly voices greeted us on every side, and we felt no fears either of having our pockets picked or our throats cut!
At the other end of the market-place stood the Lock-up House, the Cage, and the Whipping Post, with stocks for feet and wrists. These are almost the sole relics of slavery which still linger in the town. The Lock-up House is a sort of jail, built of stone--about fifteen feet square, and originally designed as a place of confinement for slaves taken up by the patrol. The Cage is a smaller building, adjoining the former, the sides of which are composed of strong iron bars--fitly called a cage! The prisoner was exposed to the gaze and insult of every passer by, without the possibility of concealment. The Whipping Post is hard by, but its occupation is gone. Indeed, all these appendages of slavery have gone into entire disuse, and Time is doing his work of dilapidation upon them. We fancied we could see in the marketers, as they walked in and out at the doorless entrance of the Lock-up House, or leaned against the Whipping Post, in careless chat, that harmless defiance which would prompt one to beard the dead lion.