Crime is also said to have decreased—that is, in offences of the higher character. We seldom or ever hear of a murder, or arson; but petty faults, such as small thefts, breaking canes, breaches of contract, and insolence to their employers, swell at times into a large amount. Still it must be remembered, such is not a proof that misdemeanours are more frequent in freedom than they used to be during slavery. The reason that these minor violations of the law appear to have increased is, that under the present system all defaulters are brought before a magistrate, and their offences thus published in the eyes of the world; whereas, in days of slavery, their owner was their judge and corrector, the whip their punishment, and they received their corporeal chastisement without any notice of the event reaching the ears of any stranger.
It is true, as I have already remarked more than once, the negroes are a class of individuals very difficult and tiresome to deal with; the greatest patience is requisite in order to bear with their strange and harassing dispositions. It is now ten years since I first came among them; and although great part of that time has been spent in England, I have lived long enough in Antigua to know what negroes are. I have studied their characters in every point, and well as I would wish to speak of them, truth obliges me to confess I have found them to be very far from perfect. Still I glory in emancipation, for I looked upon slavery as a foul and hideous monster, which ought to be exterminated from every corner of the world; and consequently, I would not have the bright star of liberty robbed of one of its rays by any remarks of mine. I yet hope to see the negroes improved in their mental, as they already are in their temporal affairs. I trust that, as years roll round, their ill qualities will be ameliorated, and their virtues increased; that they, as well as their employers, may learn and practise that golden maxim, “Bear and forbear;” and that eventually the Antiguan peasantry may be held up to the other colonies as bright examples of humble worth, adorning the sphere of life in which they move.
It is my fervent wish that the negroes may learn properly to estimate their state as a free people, and instead of using their liberty as a cloak for insolence and impertinence, they may fulfil the several duties which are required of them with becoming diligence, and finally meet their reward.
In summing up this chapter upon free labour, it may be deemed necessary for me to mention some few particulars of the 1st of August, 1834, that eventful day, when about thirty thousand human beings were released from the trammels of slavery, and entered upon a new state of existence as free men!
Before the abolition of slavery, it had been supposed by many of the inhabitants of Antigua, that the negroes, at such an important era of their lives—the transition from slavery to freedom, would be led into great and serious excesses, or, at least, that they would pass the first days of freedom in dance and song, in riotous feastings and drunken carousals. But when the time arrived, far different was the result. Instead of that day being the scene of wild revelry and disorderly jollity, the negroes passed it as a “Sabbath of Sabbaths,” a solemn feast,
“One bright day of gladness and of rest.”
The churches and chapels throughout the island were thronged to overflowing; and those persons who were unable to procure seats within the sacred walls, crowded around the open doors and windows with eager looks of joy. All the shops and stores in the island were closed—
“The roar of trade had ceased, and on the air
Came holy songs, and solemn sounds of prayer.”
From every valley and dingle and from every height came trooping joyous groups. Old men and women, whose woolly locks were silvered by the hand of time—young men and maidens—the robust and the weak—the parent and the child—all rejoicing that the day had at length come when the iron yoke of slavery was removed from their shoulders, and they, like their masters, could boast that they were free!
The 1st of August fell upon a Friday, and after enjoying themselves upon the following day with their friends, and joining in the ordinances of God upon the Sabbath, the greater part of the negroes returned to their agricultural and other employments on the Monday morning with the utmost decorum and good temper. Defective as the negro character may be, their behaviour at that eventful period of their lives must elicit praise from the lips of all, and prove a lasting theme of gratification to the friends of liberty.