"In this remote, and hoarse resounding place,
Which billows clash, and craggy cliffs embrace,
These babbling springs amid such horrors rise,
But armed with virtue, horrors we despise.
Bathe undismayed, nor dread the impending rock,
'Tis virtue shields us from each adverse shock.
GENIO LOCI SACRUM POSUIT J.R. MARTIS MENSE 1769"
From the "Crane," which is the name given to that section of the country in which the "Horse" is situated, we bent our way in a southerly direction to the Ridge estate, which was about eight miles distant, where we had engaged to dine. On the way we passed an estate which had just been on fire. The apprentices, fearing lest their houses should be burnt, had carried away all the moveables from them, and deposited them in separate heaps, on a newly ploughed field. The very doors and window shutters had been torn off and carried into the field, several acres of which were strewed over with piles of such furniture. Mr. C. was scarcely less struck with this scene than we were, and he assured us that he had never known such providence manifested on a similar occasion during slavery.
At the Ridge estate we met Mr. Clarke, manager at Staple Grove estate, Mr. Applewhitte of Carton, and a brother of Mr. C. The manager, Mr. Cecil, received us with the customary cordiality.
Mr. Clarke is the manager of an estate on which there are two hundred apprentices. His testimony was, that the estate was better cultivated since abolition than before, and that it is far easier to control the laborers, and secure uniformity of labor under the present system. He qualified this remark, by saying, that if harsh or violent measures were used, there would be more difficulty now than during slavery; but kind treatment and a conciliatory spirit never failed to secure peace and industry. At the time of abolition, Mr. C. owned ten slaves, whom he entirely emancipated. Some of these still remain with him as domestics; others are hired on an adjoining estate. One of those who left him to work on another estate, said to him, "Massa, whenever you want anybody to help you, send to me, and I'll come. It makes no odds when it is--I'll be ready at any time--day or night." Mr. C. declared himself thoroughly convinced of the propriety of immediate emancipation; though he was once a violent opposer of abolition. He said, that if he had the power, be would emancipate every apprentice on his estate to-morrow. As we were in the sugar-house examining the quality of the sugar, Mr. C. turned to one of us, and putting his hand on a hogshead, said, "You do not raise this article in your state, (Kentucky,) I believe." On being answered in the negative, he continued, "Well, we will excuse you, then, somewhat in your state--you can't treat your slaves so cruelly there. This, this is the dreadful thing! Wherever sugar is cultivated by slaves, there is extreme suffering."
Mr. Applewhitte said emphatically, that there was no danger in entire emancipation. He was the proprietor of more than a hundred apprentices and he would like to see them all free at once.
During a long sitting at the dinner table, emancipation was the topic, and we were gratified with the perfect unanimity of sentiment among these planters. After the cloth was removed, and we were about leaving the table, Mr. Clarke begged leave to propose a toast. Accordingly, the glasses of the planters were once more filled, and Mr. C., bowing to us, gave our health, and "success to our laudable undertaking,"--"most laudable undertaking," added Mr. Applewhitte, and the glasses were emptied. Had the glasses contained water instead of wine, our gratification would have been complete. It was a thing altogether beyond our most sanguine expectations, that a company of planters, all of whom were but three years previous the actual oppressors of the slave, should be found wishing success to the cause of emancipation.
At half past eight o'clock, we resumed our seats in Mr. C.'s phaeton, and by the nearest route across the country, returned to Lear's. Mr. C. entertained us by the way with eulogies upon the industry and faithfulness of his apprentices. It was, he said, one of the greatest pleasures he experienced, to visit the different estates under his charge, and witness the respect and affection which the apprentices entertained towards him. Their joyful welcome, their kind attentions during his stay with them, and their hearty 'good-bye, massa,' when he left, delighted him.
We were kindly invited to spend a day at the mansion of Colonel Ashby, an aged and experienced planter, who is the proprietor of the estate on which he resides. Colonel A.'s estate is situated in the parish of Christ Church, and is almost on the extreme point of a promontory, which forms the southernmost part of the island. An early and pleasant drive of nine miles from Bridgetown, along the southeastern coast of the island, brought us to his residence. Colonel A. is a native of Barbadoes, has been a practical planter since 1795, and for a long time a colonial magistrate, and commander of the parish troops. His present estate contains three hundred and fifty acres, and has upon it two hundred and thirty apprentices, with a large number of free children. His average crop is eighty large hogsheads. Colonel A. remarked to us, that he had witnessed many cruelties and enormities under "the reign of terror." He said, that the abolition of slavery had been an incalculable blessing, but added, that he had not always entertained the same views respecting emancipation. Before it took place, he was a violent opposer of any measure tending to abolition. He regarded the English abolitionists, and the anti-slavery members in parliament, with unmingled hatred. He had often cursed Wilberforce most bitterly, and thought that no doom either in this life, or in the life to come, was too bad for him. "But," he exclaimed, "how mistaken I was about that man--I am convinced of it now--O he was a good man--a noble philanthropist!--if there is a chair in heaven, Wilberforce is in it!" Colonel A. is somewhat sceptical, which will account for his hypothetical manner of speaking about heaven.