The Anti-Slavery Examiner, Omnibus

by American Anti-Slavery Society

"The Governor's speech contained nothing more than what every Gentlemen expected, and what every Gentlemen, he believed, was prepared to do. In short he would state that a bill had already been prepared by him, which he intended to introduce tomorrow, for the abolition of the apprenticeship on the 1st of August next."

Both these gentlemen are well known by the readers of Jamaica papers as obstinate defenders slavery. The latter was so passionately devoted to the abuses of the apprenticeship that Lord Sligo was obliged to dismiss him from the post of Adjutant General of militia. In the ardor of his attachment to the "peculiar institution" of getting work without pay, he is reported to have declared on a public occasion, that the British ministry were a "parcel of reptiles" and that the "English nation was fast going to the dogs." In another part of the debate:--

"Mr. Guy hoped the house would not go into a discussion of the nature of the apprenticeship, or the terms upon which it was forced us by the government. All that he knew about the matter was, that it was a part and parcel of the compensation. Government had so declared it. In short it was made law. He could not help believing that the Hon. member for Trelawny, was arguing against the dictates of his own honest heart--that he came there cut and dry with a speech prepared to defend the government."

Mr. Barclay, to whom, some years ago, the planters gave a splendid service of plate for his ingenious defence of slavery against the terrible pen of JAMES STEPHEN, said "it appeared to be the general feeling of the house that the apprenticeship should be done away with. Be that as it may, he was free to say that in that part of the island he was from, and certainly it was a large and wealthy district, the apprenticeship system had worked well, and all parties appeared satisfied with it. He denied that there existed any necessity to disturb the working of the system, it would have gradually slided into absolute freedom if they were permitted to regulate their own affairs, but the government, or rather, the people of England, had forced on the predicament in which they were placed. The ministry could not help themselves--They were driven to violate the national compact, not in express words, it is true, but in fact. It was, however, the force of public opinion that operated in producing the change. They were placed in a situation from which they could hardly extricate themselves.-- They had no alternative, he was afraid, but to go along with the stream."

Mr. Hamilton Brown, who at the commencement of the apprenticeship came into a Special Magistrate's court and publicly told him that unless he and his colleagues "did their duty by having recourse to a frequent and vigorous application of the lash, there would he rebellion in the Parish (of St. Ann's!) in less than a month, and all the responsibility of such a calamity would rest on their shoulders"! discoursed in the following manner. "It was always understood, for the apprenticeship had become marketable. Properties had been bought and sold with them, their time had been bought by others, and by themselves."

"He had no hesitation in saying, that the statements which had been made in England against the planters were as false as hell--they had been concocted here, and sent home by a parcel of spies in the island. They were represented as a cruel set of men, as having outraged the feelings of humanity towards the negroes, or in matters in which they were concerned. This was false. He did not mean to deny that there were a few instances of cruelty to the apprentices, but then those were isolated cases, and was it not hard that a hue and cry should be raised against the whole body of planters, and all made to suffer on account of those few. He would say that there was a greater disposition to be cruel to the negroes evinced by young men arriving in this island from England, than by the planters. There was, indeed, a great deal of difficulty in restraining them from doing so, but the longer they lived in the country, the more kind and humane they became. The negroes were better off here than many of the people of Great Britain, and they would have been contented, had it not been for the injudicious interference of some of the Special Justices. Who had ever heard of negroes being starved to death? Had they not read accounts in the English papers of men destroying their wives, their children, and afterwards themselves, because they could not obtain food. They had been grossly defrauded of their property; and after doing that, it was now sought to destroy their constitutional rights. He would repeat, they had been grossly defrauded of their property." [Here is the true slaveholder, logic, chivalry and all.]

Mr. Frater said, among other things, "He knew that it might be said the bill (Lord Glenelg's) did not go to the extent of freeing the negroes--that we are about to do ourselves, but he would ask whether we were not driven into the difficulty by which we are now surrounded! Had we not been brought into this alarming position, into this exigency, by the conduct of the British Government. Why do we not tell the English nation frankly and candidly, that they agreed to give the planter six years' services of their apprentices, as a part of the compensation, and if they desired to do away with it, that we must be paid for it, otherwise we will NOT ANSWER FOR ANY CHANGE, FOR ANY EVILS WHICH ARE LIKELY TO ENSUE. Why did the government force such an obnoxious bill upon us? They had in substance done this, they refused to annul the apprenticeship themselves, it is true, but said, we will place them in a situation that will compel them to do it themselves. He must say that the Government had acted cowardly and unjustly, they had in substance deprived them of the further two years' services of their apprentices, agreeably to the compact entered into, upon a pretext that we had not kept faith with them, and now tell us they will give us no compensation. He hoped the allusion to it in the address would be retained."

We beg the patient attention of the reader to still more of these extracts. The present state of things in Jamaica renders them very important. It is indispensable to a correct judgment of the results of the experiment to understand in what temper it was entered upon by the parties. Nothing can show this more clearly or authoritatively than the quotations we are making. We find another little torrent of eloquence from the same Mr. Hamilton Brown above quoted. He and several other gentlemen rose to reply to the statements of Richard Hill, a friend of freedom, and Secretary of the Special Magistracy.

Mr. Brown--"Mr. Chairman, I am on my legs, Sir. I say that we have to thank the Special Justices, and the private instructions which they have acted upon, for all the evils that have occurred in the country. Had they taken the law for their guide, had they acted upon that, Sir, and not upon their private instructions, every thing would have gone on splendidly, and we should have done well. But they had destroyed the negroes with their instructions, they had given them bad advice, and encouraged them in disobedience to their masters. I say it, Sir, in the face of this committee--I would say it on my death-bed tomorrow, that if the Stipendiary Magistrates had done their duty all would have gone on well, and I told his Excellency that he might then have slept on a bed of roses."

Here was one of the abolishers of the apprenticeship who held that more flogging would have made it work more "splendidly." Mr. Hugh Fraser Leslie, who the February before had, in his place in the Assembly, denominated the anti-slavery delegates assembled in London, as "a set of crawling wretches;" "the scum and refuse of society." "The washings and scrapings of the manufacturing districts," &c. &c. now delivered himself of the following:--