REV. HENRY BLEBY,
MISSIONARY FROM BARBADOES,
"RESULTS OF EMANCIPATION
IN THE
BRITISH W. I. COLONIES,
Delivered at the Celebration of the Massachu.
setts Anti-Slavery Society, held at Island
Grove, Abington, July 31st, 1858.
PIHONOGRAPnIC REPORT BY J. M. W. YERRINTON.
BOSTON:
*R. F. WALLOUT, 21 CORNHILL.
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SPEEC H.
I am happy, Mr. President, that you have placed
me before this assembly, not as one from whom a
speech may be expected, but in the capacity of a wit     ness; and therefore I can tell a plain, straight-for     ward tale, without being at all cast down by the con     sciousness that I cannot make any pretension to those
gifts of oratory, which I have observed our friends
have been accustomed to meet with in connection with
those who have taken a leading part on such occasions
as this.
I am, perhaps, Mr. Chairman, the only person pres     ent who was an eye-witness of that event which you
~    have met together this day to celebrate.  You will see
that I am not a very old man, sir; the snows of age
have not entirely covered my head; but I am old
:    enough to have been present during that insurrection
:4  to which you have referred, and which was one of the
principal events which hastened on the crisis of the
movement for West India Emancipation, and con    strained the British government to' let the oppressed
go free.' It had been customary with the pro-slavery
press of Great Britain,-and a very large portion of
that press was, up to a late hour, under the influence
of the West India body, and of those interested in
3 
4
the maintenance of slavery,-it had been customary
for that press, as it is now of the pro-slavery press of
this country, to endeavor to mislead the masses by
asserting that the slaves were better off than they
would be in freedom, that they were perfectly content with their lot, that they hugged their chains, and
that it was, in brief, a condition very little short of
the happiness of Paradise. You may imagine, then,
what sort of feeling would be excited in Great Britain, among its churches and the people generally,
when the startling intelligence reached them, ill the
beginning of 1832, that fifty thousand slaves in the
island of Jamaica had made an effort for liberty, had
resolved to strike a blow for freedom, and had stood
up in opposition to their masters, and to the law which
held them in bondage, and claimed their freedom.
Sir, the illusion was at once dispelled, and it was seen
and felt, throughout the length and breadth of Great
Britain, that the public mind had been imposed upon,
and that there existed in the West Indies, amongst
the slaves, an intense desire, nay, more than that, a
determination to be free. Sir, I happened to be stationed in the island of Jamaica, and in that part of it
which was the scene of this insurrection.  I knew the
person with whom the insurrection originated very
well; I marked its progress; I was an eye-witness to
the cruelties and slaughter by which it was suppressed; and I saw it brought to a termination. The
man with whom the insurrection originated,-Samu el Sharp,-was a slave, and a member of the Baptist
church in Montego Bay. Although it may seem
strange to many, Sam Sharp was a very handsome
negro, a perfect model man; and, more than that, he
i
I 
5
had learned to read. He was born in slavery, but he
had never felt any thing of the bitterness of slavery.
He was born in a family that treated him indulgently; he was a pet, and was brought up as the playmate of the juvenile members of the family, and had
opportunities of learning to read and for mental cultivation, to which very few of his fellow-slaves had
access; and Sharp, above all this, was possessed of
a mind worthy of any man, and of oratorical powers
of no common order. I have been astonished, when
I have heard that man address a large assembly, as I
did several times while he was in jail, to see the power with which he swayed-the feelings, the hearts, and
the minds of his auditory. He was a man of no
common stamp, though a black man, and born in slavery.
Well, sir, Sharp determined to free himself and
his fellow-slaves. I do not know whether he was
himself deceived, or whether he knowingly deceived
his fellow-conspirators, but he persuaded a large
number of them to believe that the British government had made them free, and that their owners
were keeping them in slavery in opposition to the
wishe s of the authorities in England.  It so happen
ed, sir, that, just at that time, the planters themselves
were pursuing a course which favored Sharp's proceedings directly. They were holding meetings
through the length and breadth of the island, protesting against the interference of the home government with their property, passing very inflammatory
resolutions, and threatening that they would transfer
their allegiance to the United States, in order that
they might perpetuate their interest in their slaves. 
6
Sharp dexterously took advantage of these meetings,
and pointed out to the slaves, that if it were not true
that the British government were willing to make
them free, there would be no necessity for such meetings and such publications as these. The consequence
was, that about fifty thousand of these people, at the
Christmas holidays, were in insurrection, and claimed
their rights as British subjects, and as free men, refusing to go to work on any terms, except on the payment of their proper wages as free workmen. The
insurrection was soon put down, as you may imagine.  Sharp really believed that the British soldiers
would not act in opposition to the slaves, in claiming
their freedom; he soon found his mistake, however.
A large body of military was ordered to that part of
the island. The commander-in-chief was a man who
felt as a man ought to feel under such circumstances,
and sought to do every thing he could to put an end
to the insurrection by lenient measures, and issued a
proclamation, promising that all who would return to
their duty within a limited period should be pardon.
ed,-that no notice should be taken of what they had
done, unless they had been guilty of incendiarism,
or had committed personal violence upon the opposite party.  Parties were sent out with the procltLmation, and many of the slaves, finding that their at.
tempt to recover their freedom in this way would be
vain, came in, and resumed their labors upon the estates. The insurrection would soon have been put
down, and very little loss of life would have ensued,
had not the militia of the island, consisting of the
planters, who had manifested the greatest cowardice when the insurrection broke out, now recov 
7
ered their bravery, and subjected those who had
taken part in it to every indignity and outrage. I
have seen men and women who came in under the
proclamation, and the promise it contained from the
commander-in-chief, taken out of the field, with their
hoes in their hands, tied, and shot dead. I used
to see the gallows filled with insurgents from
morning to night. I remember, on one occasion, my
attention was directed to an execution which was
about to take place-that of one of the principal
leaders in the insurrection. A court-martial was
sitting in Montego Bay, and about twenty or thirty yards off, a gallows had been erected, on which five
or six persons could be executed at once. Five men
were hanging on it, and five more were beneath it,
and it was rumored that Capt. Dehany, a man who
had taken a leading part in the insurrection, was to
be executed in the next lot. The executioner, who
was a brutal black man, and one who had escaped the
gallows on condition that he should perform these horrible duties, was leaning against one of the posts of
the gallows, eating his breakfast,-a piece of salt fish
in one hand, and a piece of plantain in the other.
le was told his victims were ready. (They only allowed the doomed ones half an hour after their conviction to prepare for death.) Bacchus,-that was the
name of the executioner,-put down his food upon a
projection of the gallows, walked up the ladder, and
with the knife with which he had been eating his
breakfast, severed the cords on which the victims on
the gallows were hanging, and down they fell, one after
another, upon the heap of dead below. Then he brought
out Dehany and his fellows. I knew him at once, 
8
though I had never seen him before, by the demeanor
of the man,-a fine, broad-chested, model man,-a
yellow-skinned negro, as  they called him  there;
but there rested upon his countenance an angry
frown. The man walked out to meet his doom as if
he were walking at the head of a triumphal procession. A gentleman stepped up to him and said,' Dehany, what is troubling you at a time  like this?'
Mr. Manderson,' said he,'they want me to go before God with a lie in my mouth. They want me to
say that the missionaries put us up to it. They know
it is a lie.'' Well, never mind,' said the gentleman;
' don't let that trouble you now.' The frown soon
passed off his face, and they were marched up the
platform and tied up; signal was given, and the
rope was cut. I looked, and only four of them hung
upon the gallows, and Dehany was not among them.
The rope had broken, and he had fallen to the ground.
They picked him up, half-strangled, and in a state of
unconsciousness for a moment or two. I went up, in
the midst of the crowd, to witness his demeanor.
Still, sir, with all these horrors about him, the man
was undaunted. I could hear the whisper of prayer
upon his lips; there was nothing about him of bravado, but every thing that indicated the manly courage of one who is conscious he is dying in an h6norable cause. (Applause.)
So it was with Samuel Sharp. After the insurrection was put down, Sharp was taken, and he was the
last man put to death in consequence of that insurrection. About two thousand were slain; many of
them, of course, in encounters with the military, but
most of them were either shot or hanged in cold blood. 
9
I have myself seen not less than nineteen of these
poor creatures led out in one batch, to be hanged up
like dogs. I have known sixty to be led out from the
same jail, in the course of three days, and put to death.
On one occasion, I saw a poor fellow brought into
town, his hands tied behind him; a court martial was
immediately summoned, and with scarcely a show of
evidence that the man had done any thing in connection with the insurrection,-iindeed, there was nothing
found, except that he was in the midst of a crowd
looking on whilst a building was burning which had
been set on fire by the insurrectionists,-he was convicted, and led out to be shot. They were in such a
hurry, that they did not even take the trouble to pass
sentence upon him; and when within an hour and a
half from the time he was brought into the town, he
stood under the gallows, I heard him inquire,' What
are you going to do with me?'  They had not even
had the humanity to tell him he was going to die.
The officer stepped up to him, took up his jacket,
which had been torn off when he was brought to the
spot, threw it over his face, and said,' You will
find out in a moment.'  He stepped back, the word
was given, and the man lay there, a bullet through
his brain, and another through his heart. I heard
one man say to the crowd of slaves standing round,pointing to the hole in the slave's head,-' You want
your freedom, do you? Put your finger there! That
is the kind of freedom we will give you, you black
devils!' This I heard with my owil ears.
I saw hundreds thus slaughtered in cold blood.
Sharp was the last brought out to be put to
death; and his end was worthy of his character 
10
I had frequent opportunities to converse with him
while he was in jail. When I saw so many put to
death, I wrote a communication for one of the island
newspapers, with the intention of directing the Governor's attention to the wholesale slaughter that was
going on. It had the effect I intended. The Governor read it, and the next post brought down an order
to the authorities, civil and military, that no further executions should take place for crimes committed during the insurrection, without his own
warrant.  Thus it happened that Samuel Sharp was
detained in prison several weeks after he had been
tried, and sentence of death pronounced upon him,
and I had frequent opportunities of conversing with
him. He was a man who had read the New Testament, and read the newspapers, and was in all respects a superior man. I asked him what it was that
induced him to take part in this movement, since he
had never suffered, as many had, under the lash.
'Sir,' said he,'in reading my  Bible, I found the
white man had no more right to make a slave of me
than I had to make a slave of the white man-(applause); and I would rather go out, and die on that
gallows, than live a slave.' (Loud applause.) The
young ladies of the family to which he belonged
made him a very handsome suit of white clothes,
and I saw him march to his death. I heard the
remarks which he made when he stood on the
platform under the gallows; and, sir, I could not but
drop a tear to see a man like that put to death, whose
only crime was, that he made an effort to recover that
liberty which is the right of every human being, and
of which he, in common with his brethren, had been
wr.ongfully and wickedly deprived. 
11
The insurrection was put down, and the intention which Sharp entertained in connection with
it was frustrated. His design was not to do violence
to any person or property, but simply to act upon
the principle of passive resistance. He argued in this
way:-' They will put to death some of us, if we
sit down and refuse to work after Christmas, and
we must be content to die for the benefit of the rest.
I, for one, am ready to die, in order that the rest may
be free. (Applause.) They may put some of us
to death, but they cannot hang and shoot us all,
and if we are faithful one to another, we must obtain
our freedom.' (Renewed applause.)
Samuel Sharp's plan was defeated, in this way:He had not calculated sufficiently upon the impulsive
character of the men he undertook to lead in this
movement,-upon their not being accustomed to exercise self-restraint; consequently, when some of
them broke into the store-houses of the estates, and
became intoxicated, and then set fire to the buildings,
that was regarded as a signal all over the country, and the works and mills were destroyed on two
hundred or three hundred estates. Sharp said,'When
his occurred, I saw the scheme was defeated. I
:new that the whites would slaughter us without
ercy, and our freedom be a long while put off.'
But, sir, although the immediate design of Sharp
lwas not accomplished, yet it was ultimately. This
tvery insurrection was one of the events which hast,ened the abolition of slavery in the West Indies. I
dare say my friend Mr. Garrison is sufficiently acquainted with the history of those times to remember
that in the Committee appointed by the House of 
12
Lords to investigate the whole question of slavery,
and also that in the Committee appointed by the
House of Commons, the decision on the question of
the immediate abolition of slavery turned upon this
point,-, Will it be safe to the planters that sla   very be continued?' Two of my brother missiona   ries, who went home for the express purpose of ap   pearing before these Committees, gave it as their
opinion that it would not be safe; that these insur   rectionaiy attempts would be repeated, and that the
probability was, that if the British government did
not bring slavery in the colonies to a peaceful terminal
tion, it would soon be quenched in blood, and the
slaves would emancipate themselves. That convic   tion was forced upon the Committees of both Houses
of Parliament; they reported accordingly, and the
doom of slavery was sealed.
Sir, it was my privilege to be in Jamaica when
slavery came to an end, and I rejoiced the more
to be a witness of its extinction, because I had.
suffered in common with my brethren, in connection
with it. \Ve were sent out as the instructors of the
slaves and free colored people. WVe built churches/
assisted by the liberality of the British people, all over
the island, wherever we could, and we were sustained
by funds contributed by British benevolence, as in.
structors of the negroes. Well, sir, we were denounc   ed by the planters, from the beginning of our efforts;
as spies of the Anti-Slavery Society.  They had saga   city enough to discover, at a very early period of our
labors, that slavery and Christianity could not long
co-exist; that they were essentially antagonistic, and,
that the one must ultimately destroy the other, De..
~ ~  
13
termined to peirpetuate slavery, they resolved to do all
they could to'get rid of Christianity, and keep their
people in heathen darkness; and, consequently,
throughout our history we were subjected to the most
bitter persecution; and, sir, just after the insurrection
to which I have referred, the whole white people of
the island of Jamaica banded themselves together in
an association which they called'The Colonial
Union,' the avowed object of which was to drive every
instructor of the negroes from the island. Eighteen
of our churches were levelled with the ground. They
dragged the missionaries to prison, got false witnesses
to swear against them, treated them with brutal violence, and did every thing they could to put an end
to our labors. But, as they were determined to drive
us away, we were determined to remain, and remain
we did. (Loud applause.) Though our churches lay
in ruins, and we could not gather a congregation,
though our societies were scattered, and we were exposed to all the indignities which the anti-slavery
advocates have to suffer now in the South, we stood
our ground, and by and by we saw the result of all
these things.   We were much  discouraged when
these events took place. When we saw these violent
men rampant and triumphant, when we saw our
churches in ruins, and our congregations scattered
hither and thither, and our mouths closed for nearly
two years together, we were greatly discouraged, and
le wondered what Divine Providence was working
~ut through' all these things. By and by we began
to see what it was. By these means it was that that
storm of indignation was raised among the British
people, that led to the abolition of slavery. They saw 
14
there was no chance even of evangelizing the negroes
while slavery existed, and they rose in their might,
and the British Government was obliged to yield;
and slavery, with all its abominations, its chains and
whips, its tortures and dungeons, was swept away, to
be known no more in those colonies for ever. (Applause.)
Sir, I was there when slavery was abolished. I
saw the monster die. This day, twenty-four years
ago, I stood up late at night, in one of the churches
under my charge,-a very large church,-and the
aisles were crowded, and the gallery stairs, and the
communion place, and the pulpit stairs, were all
crowded, and there were thousands of people round
the building, at every open door and window, looking
in.  This was at ten o'clock at night, on the 31st of
July.  We thought that it was right and proper that
our Christian people should receive their fireedom as
a boon from God, and in the house of prayer, and
we gathered them together in the church for a
midnight service. It was my privilege to stand
up in that congregation, and'proclaim liberty to
the captive, and the opening of the prison doors
to them that were bound.' (Applause.) Sir, our
mouths had been closed about slavery up to that
time. We could not quote, without endangering our
lives, a passage that had reference even to spiritual
emancipation. These planters found treason in the
Bible and sedition in the spiritual hymns of Watts
and Wesley, and we were obliged to be careful hot
we used them, and in what connection we used the
word liberty; because they had a law,- the law of
' constructive treason,' it was called,-that doomed any 
15
man to death who made use of language tending to
excite a desire for liberty among the slaves. You may
imagine, then, with what feelings I saw myself emancipated from this thraldom, and free to proclaim liberty to the captive, and the opening of prison-doors
to them that were bound.' (Applause.) I took for
my  text that night  Leviticus  25:10.   By  and
by, the midnight hour approached. When it was
within two or three minutes of the first of August,the day appointed for the liberation of the slaves,-I
requested all the people to kneel down, as befitting the
solemnity of the hour, and engage in silent prayer to
God. They did so; and, sir, I looked down upon
them-the silence only broken by the sobs of emotion
which it was impossible to repress. By and by the
clock began to strike;-it was the knell of Slavery
It was the stroke which proclaimed liberty to eight
hundred thousand human beings! And, sir, what a
burst of joy rolled over that mass of people when the
clock struck, and they felt they were slaves no longer!
They remained on their knees a moment, and then I
told them to rise. They did so; and, sir, it was really
affecting to see, in one corner, a mother, with her little one, whom she had brought with her, because
there was no one at home to take care of it, clasp her
baby to her bosom; and there was an old white headed man, embracing a daughter; and here, again,
would be a husband congratulating his wife in a similar way; and something like confusion was apparent
all over the building. However, we made allowance
for these seeming improprieties, because of the occasion, and by and by all was still again, and then, sir,
I gave out a hymn. I am glad to say I have it here. 
16
I cannot tell you, so well as you may imagine, the
feelings with which these people, just emerging into
freedom, shouted,-for they literally shouted,-the
hymn which I now read to you:
' Send the glad tidings o'er the sea, His chains are broke, the slave is free;
Britannia's justice, wealth, and might
Have gained the negro's long-lost right!
His chains are broke, the slave is free, This is the Negro's jubilee!
'Hail! blessed and auspicious dav!
Dear is thy first bright dawning ray,
Which comes, an angel firom above,
Herald of freedom, joy and love:
Thy breezes whisper,, Slave, be free!' Now is the Negro's jubilee!
'O Thou, whose favor long was sought,
What full deliverance hast thou wrought!
The captive's groan has pierced thine ear,
And thou hast wiped the falling tear.
The curse is past, the slave is free!
This is the Negro's jubilee!
' Our prayers shall now with praise combine,
For freedom poured on every clime;
For holy freedom, gracious Lord,
To join a world in sweet accord:
Then, freed from sin, from error free,
We'11 keep a brighter jubilee!'
I hope the time will soon come, Mr. Chairman,
when thousands of Christian ministers, with their
congregations, throughout the length and breadth of
the United States, will be able to sing that Jubilee
Hymn! (Loud applause.)
But, sir, I find that I am trespassing upon the time
and patience of the audience, [Cries of' No, no,' and 
17
'Go on,'] and therefore I will hasten to another subject, which I have found, since I have been in New
England, is regarded by many persons as of great importance, namely, The Working of Emancipation in
the British Colonies.
Sir, I have been told, since I have been here, that
emancipation, it is understood, has been a failure.
I am prepared to give this statement an unqualified
contradiction. There is no sense whatever in which
the emancipation of the slaves of the British colonies
has proved a failure. Sir, emancipation has not
proved a failure in this sense,-the people are all
free. It has not failed to break their chains and set
them free.  In that it is no failure, but a blessed
reality. Then, sir, I am told that the people are worse
off in freedom than they were in slavery, and in that
sense emancipation has proved a failure. But, sir, it
is not true; and I wonder, I have often wondered,
how any man with common sense could for a moment
entertain such an opinion. Sir, the people now,
throughout the British colonies, have their own time
at their disposal-their whole time. This was not
the case in the days of slavery. The only time they
had at their disposal then was one day in two weeks,
to cultivate their provision grounds and procure the
necessaries of life, and the Sabbath to go to market,
and for religious worship, if they chose. That was all
the time the people in Jamaica had at their own disposal under slavery. Their masters did not give them
food or wages, but they gave them a piece of land,it might be two or three acres, if they could cultivate
them,-sometimes four or five, even ten or fifteen
miles away from the estate on which they resided; 
18
and they gave them one day in two weeks to raise
provisions upon this piece of land,-and that was all,
except a little salt fish now and then, with which to
season their provisions. Now, sir, the people have
all their time; they can spend it to the best advantage, according to their own judgment, and according
to their views of their own interest. Then, sir, the
people now have the Sabbath. Formerly, it was impossible for them to keep holy the Sabbath day;
they had to go to market on that day; and when
their market was over, they would bring their baskets and trays to the place of worship, and deposit
them there, - having taken some opportunity to
change their apparel,-while they went into the sanctuary to worship God. That was all the Sabbath the
negro had. The Sabbath market prevailed over the
whole of the West Indies, and there was more business done onr. that day than on all the other days of the
week. All this was brought to an end by emancipation. The negro can now spend the whole day with
his family in the house of prayer and in the worship
of God, according to the dictates of his conscience.
Then, sir, the negro is free from the liability to the
lash. It is true, that for some years before emancipation, the law limited the master's power of punishment
to the infliction of thirty-nine lashes at one time; but
the master had only to take care that none but slaves
were witnesses, and he might inflict three hundred
and ninety lashes instead of thirty-nine, without the
slightest apprehension of punishment, because the testimony of a slave could not be received against his
master, whatever he might do.  Now, sir, the power
of punishment was taken from the hands of the mas 
19
ter, at the time of emancipation, and placed in the
hands of the magistrate, responsible to the public and
to the government for the manner in which he uses
his authority.
Then, sir, families are no longer liable to be scattered; the child cannot be sold away from the parent,
nor the wife from the husband, as used to be the case
in the days of slavery. Although, for some years,
this was prevented by the ameliorating measures introduced by the British government, before emancipation, yet in the times of ancient slavery, the wife
and child were sold and separated from each other,
and from the husband and father, without the slightest
feeling or compunction, just as now in the Southern
States of this Union. All this has passed away.
Then, sir, the negroes have their own houses.
Nearly all the black people in Jamaica are freeholders. They have their own pieces of land, and their
own cottages erected upon the land, and there they
dwell, under their own vine and fig tree, no man daring to molest or make them afraid.
Then they have the disposal of their children.
They can send them to school, or take them to work
in the field, at their pleasure.
All these beneficial changes have been wrought by
emancipation; and yet we are told that emancipation
has failed to improve the condition of the colored
race. Sir, it is one of the many falsehoods got up by
the pro-slavery party to blind the eyes of the friends
of humanity in this country, and promote the interests of slavery. It is a falsehood, and I denounce it as
such. Throughout the British West Indies, in every
island, the condition of the people is incomparably
superior, in all respects, to what it was in slavery. 
20
Thern, I am told, if it has not ruined the laborer, it
has ruined the planter. Sir, I deny that as plainly as
I deny the other.  I might maintain, with great propriety, that if many West India proprietors were ruined by emancipation, they only got what they deserved. (Laughter.) I do not, however, take that position, but I say this: that it was not emancipation,
but slavery, that ruined those who were ruined.
They were ruined long before emancipation took
place. I would recommend our friends who can do
so to read Montgomery Martin's History of the British Colonies, published in 1851,-a new edition of a
former work. There it is shown, to a demonstration,
that long before Buxton and Wilberforce lifted their
voices in the British Senate to advocate the emancipation of the negroes, the colonists throughout the
WVest Indies continually complained that they were
ruined.   And  no wonder that they were ruined.
There was a condition of things existing under slavery, that must inevitably ruin any landholder under
the sun. Just look, sir, at the condition of a West
India estate under slavery. There were four or five
hundred slaves. It is true, the master did not go to
much expense in providing them with luxuries, or
even with food, but he had to bestow upon them so
many yards of cloth a year, and several other small
articles: that was one item of expense. Then, to superintend the labor of these slaves, there must be four
book-keepers, as they were called, one to superintend
the still, another the boiling-house, another took care
of the cattle on the estate, and another, if not two or
three, superintended the people in the field. All
these had to be fed and salaried. Then there was 
21
the overseer of the estate, with his harem, and he,
too, living at considerable expense out of the estate,
and at a high salary. Then, over all was the attorney, in the absence of the proprietor, who managed
the affairs of the estate, disposed of the produce, and
provided the cattle and other materials for working
the estate.  Well, he took his commission out of every thing the estate produced, and occupied, at his pleasure, what was called' the great house,' and having
his harem there. Then, sir, there was the proprietor,
with his family, living in France or England, in
princely style,-and all this to be drawn out of the
produce of one estate. I should like to know whether there is an estate throughout the length and breadth
of this country, that could sustain such a drain as
this,-whether there is any property that would not
be brought to ruin, with so many living upon it and
out of it.
It was that process that brought ruin upon many of
the West India proprietors. And, sir, emancipation
proved a boon to them. The compensation money
enabled thcm to lessen the mortgages on their estates.
By this expensive method of working the estates,
and this expensive style of living, the merchants, who
had also their commissions to take out of the estates,
became mortgagees, by making large advances on the
property; so that, when emancipation came, there
was not one estate in fifty that was not mortgaged to
the full extent of its value.  Emancipation came, and
instead of being a curse, it proved a blessing to the
proprietors.  Suppose.they had four hundred slaves;
they would receive, on the average, not less than
twenty pounds for each,-about ~8000, or $40,000 for 
22
the whole. It is true, the mortgagee took this compensation money; but then, the estate was relieved to
that extent, and many of the proprietors were going
on with a fair prospect of working themselves clear of
their difficulties. Then came another sweeping change.
You remember the free trade policy adopted by the
British government during the ministry of Sir Robert
Peel. Among those measures was one equalizing the
sugar duty, and throwing the freed colonies of Britain into an unequal competition, or a competition for
which they were not prepared, with Cuba and Brazil,
where the produce was raised by slave labor.  I do not
find fault with that free trade policy; indeed, I do not
express any opinion upon it at all, for I am not much
of a politician; but this change came upon the colonies
prematurely, before they were prepared for it, and the
consequent reduction of the price of sugar to an extent which rendered it unremunerative, forced some of
the planters to an abandonment of their estates, which
passed into the hands of the merchants. In Antigua,
some of the best estates on the island are held by the
merchants, who obtained them in that way. The
English house of Shand have several, which came
into their hands by the foreclosing of mortgages. It
was in this way, not by etnancipation, but by slavery
and its concomitants, that the planters were ruined.
Now look at the West Indies as they are. In the
island of Jamaica, we are told, there is a satisfactory
state of things.  I cannot speak of that island from
personal knowledge, because I have not been there
within the last ten years. But I can say, that before
I left, no less than fifty thousand colored people had
become freeholders, as the fruit of their own industry. 
23
Yet we are told these people will not work. How did
they obtain these freeholds, then? Some of their
houses are richly furnished, with mahogany bedsteads
and sideboards. How did they get these, expect as
the result of their own toil?
I was in Jamaica when the railroad was built,
extending some fourteen or fifteen miles from the
city of Kingston.  I was acquainted with the manager of the works. There were considerable engineering difficulties to be overcome. The road was
built entirely by colored people, and the manager of
the works told me that he could not desire people to
work better than they did; that he could obtain
workmen to any extent, and why? Because, he says,
on Saturday evening, when they have finished their
work for the week, they have their wages. It was
not so upon the estates, sir; and that is the reason
why hundreds and thousands of the colored people of
Jamaica have retired from work on the sugar plantations. I know that many hundreds of them were defrauded of their wages. One of those great planting
attorneys, who had some fifty or sixty large estates
under his care, made it his boast, in the presence of a
friend of mine, after the act of emancipation came
into force, that he made those estates pay well, because
he cheated the people out of half their wages, by one
method or another. That was the difficulty. After
the people were emancipated, before they obtained
land and houses of their own, they occupied the land
and houses owned by the proprietors, which they had
occupied when they were slaves, and the overseers
made them pay their rent three or four times over.
You must pay, they would say, so much in labor for 
24
the rent of your house; then the wife was required
to pay an equal amount, and if there were two or
three adult members of the family, each one was required to pay the rent of the cottage in labor; and
thus they managed to get out of the people rent four
times over in many cases, and in numberless instances,
three times and twice. I happened to occupy a position which brought me much into contact with the
laborers, and therefore I knew of the operation of this
evil. The colored members of our churches contributed towards the maintenance of the churches, and
towards the maintenance of the ministers; and very
frequently the missionaries were told, when they
could not give their usual contributions, that they
could not obtain their wages; and upon one occasion,
a poor man, whom I knew well, whom I had taught to
read and write, who had promised five dollars for the
erection of a school-house and church in the neighborhood in which he lived, came to me and told me
he was very sorry he could not pay the money,
because his employer had wronged him out of all he
had earned for several months,-and that employer
was a man who had a salary of one thousand pounds
in connection with an office which he held under government. The poor man had labored until his wages
amounted to sixteen doubloons-over two hundred
and fifty dollars, and then his employer took the benefit of the Insolvent Debtors' Act, and never paid him
or his fellow-laborers-there were two or three hundred of them-one cent of what they had earned by
the labor of several months! Is it surprising, then,
that the colored people should choose to cultivate their
own two, three or five acres of land, and get what they 
25
could off that, and refuse to go to work upon a plantation when they were expected to do the work of freemen on the terms of slavery?
These, sir, are the evils which have wrought out
those results which have seemed, for a time, to justify
the statement, that the people would not work in
Jamaica. They are passing away. A recent number
of the Anti-Slavery Standard, published at New York,
which was put into my hands a day or two ago, contains a long report from one of the leading anti-slavery men in this country,-Mr. Charles Tappan,-of a
visit which he has been making to the West Indies
Colonies within the last few months; and he says, in
reference to Jamaica:
' The alleged want of labor is a false cry. To cultivate the whole area of land at present lying waste in
all the colonies-except Barbadoes-would, indeed,
absorb any number of laborers; but the evidence is
overwhelming that no addition to their number is
necessary to meet the demand for the estates that are
actually under cultivation. Where labor is said to be
deficient, it can be traced to causes within the planters'
control to remove. Of these, insufficient wages, unpunctual payment of the same, or no payment at all,
are stated to be the chief. Immigration on the present system is condemned as expensive and unsatisfactory, injurious to the people who are introduced, and
to the native colonial population.
The allegations of idleness and immorality, which
have been propagated by The Times, are indignantly
repudiated as gross calumnies, and the writers are
challenged to produce the proof of their reckless statements.  The Committee feel satisfied that all unbiased
persons who read the annexed communications must
come to the conclusion that the negro population of
the West India colonies have been shamefully malign ed, and that the demand for " immigrant labor" pro 
26
ceeds from a desire to graft upon. free-labor a system
of forced service, which is totally incompatible with
the spirit of the Act of Emancipation.'
So much for Jamaica. I cannot say much about its
present condition; for I have not been there for ten
years. But, sir, I have been in Barbadoes, and there
I am laboring at present, as a minister amongst the
colored churches, and I can tell you the state of that
island. Sir, that island even in the most palmy days
of slavery, was never in such a state of prosperity as
it is now. This very year, although it has been an
unfavorable year, the long drought lessening the crop
of sugar, yet they have raised, with no greater amount
of labor than in the time of slavery, more than double
the amount of produce they ever raised under slavery.
That is the result of this year's labor.
Now, let us look at the value of property in that
island.  If emancipation has ruined the  proprietors or the work-people, if emancipation has proved a
failure, how is it, sir, that on the island of Barbadoes,
you cannot get an acre of land for less than four or
five hundred dollars in any part of the island? That
is the truth, sir. I knew of an estate in my own
neighborhood, of not more than two or three hundred acres, which was transferred to other hands for
~18,000-equal to nearly $90,000 of your moneyand that paid in cash. Where is there a farm of the
same extent in the United States, that will bring a
price equal to that? I wanted to buy a piece of
land, within the last twelve months, to'build a schoolhouse upon. It was nine or ten miles away from the
town, and consequently not a building lot, and there
was no circumstance associated with it to render it of 
27
extraordinary value.   I was offered a piece,-the
eighth of an acre,-for how much, do you think?
Four hundred dollars! That was at the rate of $3,200
per acre for land in the country.
I occupy a mission station about nine miles out of
Bridgeton. I have tmo acres of land, upon which
stand the place of worship, the school-house, my
place of residence, and the teachers' residence. I
wanted to enlarge our boundaries, and there were
two acres of land, belonging to a small estate in the
neighborhood, and separated from it by a road passing through. It joins my residence, and would be
very convenient in all respects, except that half of it
is very rocky; but the owner would not let me have
it for less than one thousand dollars, and I could not
make the purchase, because the price was so high. I
have known an estate of three e    ur hundred acres
sold, within the last eight months, for ~40,000. It is
situated very near the city, and that is the reason
why the price was so much higher than the other
one to which I have referred. These facts speak
volumes in regard to the' ruin' of the British planters
by emancipation. (Applause.)
I will tell you what sort of' ruin' has been brought
upon those islands. You will please to understand
that I did not furnish myself with facts before I came
away; they come to me incidentally. I had no idea
that I should have a word to say upon the antislavery question, or I would have come better prepared with statistics. I am building some schools for
the children of our colored congregations; and I have
been round begging money of the proprietors. Among
the rest, I waited upon a Mr. Carrington, who owns 
28
two estates within sight of my sitting-room, and
he gave me forty dollars towards my object; and
while there, I learned these facts: that last year, he
made on the two estates together, comprising between
six and seven hundred acres, three hundred and
three hogsheads of sugar. This year, he resolved to
make an effort to extend his cultivation, and enlarge
the produce. He did so. He employed laborers to
cover all the rocks with soil, digging mu-ad out of the
ditches and out of the pond, and covering up every
yard of naked rock, and planting canes upon it. He
built, instead of the old wind mills, which had been in
use from time immemorial, two steam engines, and put
up on one estate a double row of coppers for the manufacture of the sugar.  What is the result?  He has
raised seven hundred and fifty hogsheads from those
two estates. Now, apart from the capital he expended in improvements, and in building, the molasses, the draining from the sugar, would go a long
way towards paying the working expenses of these
estates; and he would carry into the English market
seven hundred and fifty hogsheads of sugar, and
would sell them, I dare say, at not less than twenty
pounds per hogshead, and would thus realize, from
those two estates, more than sixty thousand dollars
for the present year. That, sir, is the kind of ruin
that emancipation has brought upon the West India
islands.
So in Antigua. I lived three years in Antigua, before I went to Barbadoes, and a friend of mine there,
a member of my own church, bought an estate, that
was sold under a decree of Chancery, for ~5000.
He has taken off three valuable crops, which have 
29
more than repaid the original purchase money; and
he has been offered ~10,000 for the property, and refused it. That is the kind of' ruin' that has come
upon the West India islands because of emancipation!
Then, sir, look at the moral condition of these islands. The moral condition of Barbadoes will compare favorably with that of any other civilized country. I believe the criminal statistics of Barbadoes,
for the last five or six years, would compare with any
country under heaven, without disadvantage. We
seldom hear of any thing like serious crimes. Then,
sir, the vice of intemperance is not prevalent among
the people. I have a membership of seventeen hundred colored persons, and during the last two years I
have been there, I have not had one single case of
intemperance reported to me, in connection with our
disciplinary proceedings.
Then look at our churches.  Every Sabbath, they
are inconveniently crowded by people anxious to receive instruction. I know of no people in the world
who will make snch efforts and exercise such self-denial to obtain education for their children as the people in Barbadoes.  I will mention one little incident
that occurred only a day or two before I left to come
to this country. One of my own church members, a
colored man, had just finished manufacturing his little portion of sugar, grown on a part of the half acre
of land on which stood his house, and on which he
raised the provisions for his family, and he brought
me six dollars, and requested that I would receive the
money in advance as school fees for his four children
for the next twelve months. That, sir, is the only 
30
instance I ever heard of in my life of a man, in his
condition, prepaying the education of his children for
twelve months. He was resolved, whatever else suf       fered, his children should not suffer the loss of edu       cation; he has secured it for them for the next twelve
months.
The people are willing to do all they can to raise
themselves, and they do raise themselves. I have
heard since I have been here, that colored people in
this country do not make efforts to raise themselves
out of their degraded position.  [A voice-' That is
not true.'] If it be true, I do not wonder at it. I
do not see how any people can lift themselves up
against the weight of prejudice and discouragement
that seems to be cast upon them in this country.
When I came into Boston, two or three weeks ago, I
went into a hotel, and the very first thing that arrested
my attention was this: A play-bill hung in the office
of the hotel, on which I read-' Colored people admit       ted only to the gallery.' That alone was sufficient to
satisfy me that they are latboring under discourage       ments, difficulties and prejudices which must exercise
a blighting influence upon them, and must neces       sarily keep them down. The colored people of the
British colonies have outlived all this, to a great ex       tent. Lord Mulgrave, when he came out as Gover       nor, in 1832, took noble ground in this respect. The
law which had placed the colored people of the col       ony on an equality with the whites had just come
into operation. Formerly, in all those islands, as
now in the South, a colored man could not sit in the
jury box, —[A voice-' He cannot in the Northern
:  States']-nor on a coroner's jury; he was not allow*, ~f 
31
ed to exercise the elective franchise; he could not
hold any office under government, either civil or military, and up to within a short time, he could not inherit property, except within a very limited amount.
Well, sir, a law was passed, and went into force,
which did away with all their legal disabilities; still,
they were subject to the same discouraging prejudices that I find existing here, to a great extent. A
white man would have felt himself degraded by sitting down to table with a colored man.  Lord Mulgrave determined to put his foot upon this evil, and
he invited some of the most intelligent and respectable colored ladies and gentlemen,-those whose
wealth, intelligence and position in society entitled
them to such a mark of distinction,-to his parties.
(Applause.) He made it a point to dance with colored ladies himnself, and he introduced colored gentlemen to Lady Mulgrave as partners, with whom she
danced; and when some of the gentry gave the cold
shoulder to these colored guests, he caused it to be
intimated to them, that if they expected invitations
to the Government House, his guests must be treated
by them with the same respect and courtesy he manifested towards them himself. (Loud cheers.) That,
sir, did more than any thing else I know of to put an
end to the reign of prejudice upon that island. Very
soon, the colored people began to mingle upon equal
terms with the whites; they met together in private
parties; and soon the colored people, by the exercise
of the elective franchise, acquired a considerable degree of political power; and now it would be the ruin
of any public man in Jamaica to have it known or
suspected that he cherishes any prejudice whatsoever
against his fellow-men on account of color. 
32
Sir, the colored people, removed from under the
discouraging influences to which I have referred, show
themselves able to cope with the white man under any
circumstances. Take, for instance, the present head
of the Jamaica government-Edward Jordan, a col ored man; his dark skin and his firizzly hair show
him to be nearly allied to the African race on one side,
as he is to the white race on the other. I remember
the time when Edward Jordan,-who had acquired
all the learning he had from our mission schools,stood within the shadow of the gallows, and had a
very narrow escape for his life,-and for what?  It
was in the days of slavery, and he was a leader in
the anti-slavery party. He had taken an active part
in the agitation which ended in the removal of the
legal disabilities of the free colored people, and then he
stood up to agitate for the abolition of slavery, having
started a semi-weekly newspaper called the Jamaica
Watchman; and in the beginning of 1832, there was
a pro-slavery man, who had been a leader in that party, who suddenly came over to the anti-slavery party,
and took active measures to ameliorate the condition
of the colored people, and prepare the way for the
abolition of slavery. Well, sir, in the newspaper controversy to which this gave rise, Mr. Jordan wrote the
following sentence:-' We are glad to see Mr. Beaumont coming over to the right side, and we shall be
glad with him and all the friends of humanity, to
give a long pull, a strong pull, and a pull all together,
and bring down the system by the run, knock off the
fetters, and let the oppressed go free.' That was the
sentence. The following week, as he sat ill the Supreme Court, reporting for his paper, to his utter as 
33
tonishment, he heard his own name proclaimed by
the clerk, under indictment for a capital felony-' constructive treason.'  Hle bhad never heard a whisper of
it before, but he was taken from his seat, placed in the
felon's dock, and arraigned upon that capital charge;
and it was with the utmost difficulty that his counsel,
Mr. Watkis, also a colored man, succeeded in getting his trial postponed for two days, to prepare his
defence. The prosecution failed, because they could
not prove the publication of the paper; but there
was a regular plot against the life of Mr. Jordan, to
which the Governor, Lord Belmore, (to his shame be
it said,) was a party, he having agreed, if Mr. Jordan
was convicted, to sign the warrant for his execution.
He was removed shortly after for incompetency, and
then came in the noble Lord Mulgrave, now Marquis
of Normandy, to whom I have referred.
But this effort to destroy Mr. Jordan only placed
him upon an eminence. The colored people rallied
around him. They had the control of the elections in
Kingston; and at the next ballot, they elected him as
the representative of the commercial capital of Jamaica, which position he occupied for twenty years.
About the time I left the West Indies, he was called
into the upper branch of the legislature, the Council,
and now Mr. Jordan is Prime Minister of Jamaica,
the head of the Cabinet. He occupies the same position in Jamaica, as the Earl of Derby in England,
and is a man who commands the respect of all parties
and all colors in the community.
Then, sir, there is Mr. Richard Hill. He has been
for twenty years the head of the stipendiary magistrates' department in that island, and a man of well 
34
known ability and information; indeed, he is looked
up to by all parties on the island as authority in all
matters of natural science.  Mr. Hill is also colored,
only one remove from a black man; that is, he is the
child of a black mother, having a colored father.
Mr. Hill is a man whom any one might be proud to
call his friend; a man of masterly intellect, a perfect
gentleman. and every thing that a man ought to be,
and I may add, he is a Christian man.
Then there is upon the judicial bench of Jamaica
Mr. Montcrief,-also only one remove from a black
man. His father, who was a man of some wealth,
sent him to England, and gave him a liberal education;
he was admitted to practice in one of the Inns of
Court, made his way to the Jamaica bar, and then
to the bench, and is now the second amongst the
judges of the colony.
Sir, place the colored man along side, on equal
terms, and he will compete with the white. How has
Mr. Jordan forced his way? Not by favor, sir, but
by talent, and the exercise of that talent.  How have
Mr. Hill and Mr. Montcrief won the positions they
now fill? Not by favor, sir, but by competing with
the white man, with all the advantages of education
and wealth and interest in his favor. Sir, my observation goes to showthis: that they make good mechanics, very good magistrates, (for more than half the
magistrates in the island of Jamaica are colored men,)
efficient legislators, (I suppose not less than a dozen
in the Legislature of Jamaica are men of African descent,-two of them'perfect Africans,' to use an expression common here; one of them has occupied the 
35
position he fills twelve or fourteen years, the other,
ten years,-and occupied them respectably and efficiently.) They make, also, good medical practitioners. One of the cleverest men I knew in the island of
Jamaica, and a man who stood first in one branch of
practice, was a colored man. They make very excellent schoolmasters.  All my teachers are colored men,
and I would not exchange them for white men. If I
had the choice of a white or colored man as a teacher
in the West Indies, I should decidedly give the preference to the colored man, on this account: he can
better accommodate himself to his position. In nearly
all cases where men come out from Europe to take the
position of schoolmasters, they turn out to be failures.
We can only conduct our schools efficiently by having and training colored teachers; and we do that,
and we find the colored man, in every walk of life,
able to compete, and that successfully, with men of
fairer skin.
Tken what about the ladies? I can say a good
word for them. They make capable housekeepers,
devoted, faithful wives, tender andjudicious mothers.
Sir, it is not an uncommon thing for white men to
marry colored ladies. I have known numerous instances of this kind, and I have seenr these colored ladies presiding at the table of their husbands with as
much grace and dignity as any white lady could display in that position. Sir, give them the opportunity,
and they will show themselves to advantage, whether
male or female. (Applause.)
I do not know, sir, that I should feel justified in
dwelling any longer upon this theme; I fear I have 
36
wearied this audience. However, you asked me to
enter, in detail, upon this question of the failure of
emancipation; and I think, although I'ave done it
very lamely, I have stated facts which go to piove
beyond dispute, that emancipation in the British colonies is no failure. (Applause.)
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