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its negroes to-morrow, what would such a proceeding effect, but the scattering the flock which is guided under truly Christian shepherds; what would it be but to expose the slave to all the temptations to apostacy from the faith, which bad examples would suggest; to deprive him of the means of grace, which, through the care of the Society, he now enjoys; to eject him, like the prodigal son, from his home, and to compel him to feed on husks, instead of having his soul nourished by the bread of life. The writer calls these slaves the Society's bondsmen, and the term is used in a Jacobin and not in a Christian sense. How different is the tendency of his writing, supposing it repeated to the slaves, from that consolation which the apostle Paul, (1 Cor. vii. 21.) and after his example every Christian, would afford to the slaves of such a Christian family, as that which is formed by the slaves of the Society's estate. "Let every man abide in his calling wherein he is called. Art thou called, being a servant, (dovλos,) care not for it; but if thou mayest be free, use it rather, for he that is called in the Lord, being a slave, (douλog,) is the Lord's freeman; likewise also he that is called, being free, is Christ's servant, or slave.*

My animadversions have hitherto been confined solely to the remarks of the Christian Observer in May 1827. I proceed now to examine the particulars of an attack upon the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel of a more serious nature, which apparently proceeded from the same pen, and is contained in a Review of a work, which appeared in the July number of that Journal. The first charge against the Society is nothing more than a repetition of the insinuation, that the conductors of the Society observe " a reserve in reference to the slaves on their plantations." "We are glad to find," says the Reviewer, "that this subject also has arrested the attention of Mr. Riland, and we trust that the friends of the Society will be induced to institute a full inquiry into it." That this subject has arrested the attention of Mr. Riland and his Reviewer, I am more sincerely and heartily glad than I suspect either Mr. R. or his Reviewer will be, when I shall convict them both, if not of gross calumny, at least the most unpardonable ignorance of the proceedings of that Society, which they have ventured to censure. The object both of Mr. Riland and his Reviewer is, first to charge the Society with the crime of being owners of slaves; secondly, with indifference to the condition of those slaves; and, thirdly, to insinuate that the Society is so ashamed of its conduct as to practise concealment. Now, Sir, upon the first charge, I have yet to learn that slavery is a condition forbidden by Christianity. I find many passages in the Scriptures relating

The apostle proceeds,-" Ye are bought with a price, be ye not the servants of men." Some difference of opinion exists among the commentators upon the meaning of this passage. It is perfectly in accordance with the style of the apostle's writing, and with his phraseology, if we interpret these words, as forbidding the converts to become the slaves of men, i. e. of those Jewish teachers, who, forgetting the release from the Mosaic observances, purchased for his people by Christ, still would put the disciple under the bondage of the law, and compel them to be circumcised. But I should be very willing, for the sake of argument against a mere abolitionist, to accept the literal interpretation, as directing the converts not to sell themselves into slavery; for surely that cannot be so horrible a state of existence into which it needed the apostle's advice to persuade men not to place themselves.

to the duties of slaves, but I find not any intimation that the master is bound to release his slaves from their duty, or that the institution was permitted only to the hardness of men's hearts, like some one or more customs of the Mosaic law. But whatever guilt the Society may, in the opinion of some persons, incur, for being the possessors of an estate in the West Indies cultivated by slaves, the Reports of the Society for five years successively, from 1822 to 1826, give the most convincing proof that the Society is not guilty of the second charge of indifference to the welfare of the slaves; and that the third charge of reserve and concealment is so unfounded, that Mr. Riland and his Reviewer must shelter themselves under the excuse of total ignorance of the Society's proceedings, if they will avoid the charge of calumny.

I shall examine presently Mr. Riland's attack upon the Society; but I shall best prepare the minds of my readers for the exposure of Mr. Riland's uncharitableness and ignorance, if I give an account of what has actually appeared in the Society's Reports, for the last five years, respecting the condition of their slaves. In 1822, I find the Society reporting, the having had many difficulties to encounter in lawsuits respecting the Codrington estate, in the erection of buildings, in losses from hurricanes,-that a minister has been provided for the negroes, whose whole attention is directed to their improvement in moral and religious knowledge,-that schools upon the National System have been formed, and regulations made to allow the negroes time during the week for the cultivation of their own provision grounds, so as to enable them to attend to the religious observance of the Sabbath without interruption. Report 1822, p. 50.

In 1823, the Society occupied seven pages of its Report with a statement of the plan observed in the treatment of the slaves on the Society's estates. So little appearance is there on the part of the Society of any reserve, that I must confess I was a little surprised at the unguarded manner in which the statement was made, that until the year 1818, no regular system of religious teaching was established, but that the young were under governesses, and the minister, who had the care of the scholars of the college, occasionally instructed the slaves. The Report is drawn up under distinct heads, and details the method pursued in the religious instruction of the negroes in the education of the children. It also contains many interesting particulars relating to the habits of the slaves in the observance of marriage, the pastoral care shewn them by their minister, and their general treatment; the latter head is so interesting, and so triumphantly refutes every insinuation made against the Society, that I cannot forbear to give it at length.

GENERAL TREATMENT of the NEGROES.-Previously to the commencement of their daily work, warm tea is handed round to every individual. Their scene of labour, from sun-rise to sun-set, is alleviated by two regular suspensions, of half an hour for their breakfast, and an hour and a half for their dinner. This latter meal is dressed for them against their return at noon; so that the interval is passed in refreshment, without care or fatigue. While occupied in the field, draughts of water are constantly supplied, by a person appointed for that purpose; and in more wearisome work, a refreshing beverage of punch is very frequently mixed, and sent out to them.

Their labour has been much lightened, by the introduction of the plough; and it has been, for years, the object of the Agricultural Society, to devise and encourage measures for diminishing manual toil.

Punishments of a severe nature are very rarely inflicted; and the general substitution of confinement for corporal chastisement, has been found to answer all the ends of correction.

Every mother having eight children alive, has the undisputed enjoyment of the whole of Thursday: and the Saturday afternoon, throughout the year, "is allotted to those who have three living. The alternate Saturday afternoon only, is granted to the other labourers, during the crop.

The Hospital is a new and very commodious building. There are five apartments, so constructed as to admit safe ventilation, opening into a gallery for the use of convalescents. There is another division-a lying-in room; but it is entirely at the option of the mother to occupy this or her own house, during the month. The visits of the Apothecary are daily, and a nurse attends constantly on the sick. In cases of dangerous illness, the very best medical or surgical aid is called in, without hesitation, and without regard to expense.

Very little labour is exacted from pregnant females; and great consideration shown them while nursing their children. Each child receives a supply of baby-linen, and when a month old, is presented with a dollar.

There is a neat nursery, with a superintendant, in which the young children are kept, while their mothers are engaged at their work. Here they remain during the day, accessible to their parents, till of an age fit to be employed in picking grass, sweeping the door, &c.

The portion of food allotted them, besides the meal daily cooked for them, is so abundant, that they are enabled, by the superfluity, to pay for making their clothes, to raise stock, and to sell a part at the town-market.

Their houses are generally of stone, with a thatched roof. Around them is a patch of land, under neat cultivation; and this little property they have permission to leave, at their decease, to any relative or friend, being a slave on the estate.

At the end of the crop, a day is given up entirely to rejoicing. They have a dance in the yard, which the Attorney, Chaplain, and others are invited to witness; and a comfortable dinner is provided for them on the occasion. On the death of any one, the near relatives have the intermediate time between the decease and the interment; and all on the estate leave their work one hour earlier, to attend the funeral.

These regulations being pursued, under the humane direction of Forster Clarke, Esq. Attorney, and Mr. Samuel Hinkson, Manager, there are now fiftythree more slaves on the estate than there were in the year 1815, though three Mulattoes have purchased their liberty, and no purchases been made.

A disposition on the side of the Proprietor to impart, and of the Slave to receive, religious instruction, is evident; nor can there be a doubt, but that an efficient system of religious tuition, interwoven with some judicious immunities, under the guidance of clergymen of the Established Church, through the subordinate agency of Catechists, will be readily embraced by most Proprietors, and will promote the gradual civilization and eternal good of the Slaves themselves. -Report, 1823. JOHN H. PINDER, Chaplain.

There are several points established in this extract, attested by the signature of the chaplain of the slaves, which I cannot but briefly notice as tending to convince persons, that whatever the slaves on other estates may be, the Society's slaves cannot be an unhappy people. 1. There is no corporal punishment allowed on the estate-ergo, the whip is abolished. 2. The quantity of food allowed so much exceeds what is consumed by the slave, that the savings from it is a source of the slave providing himself with many comforts. 3. The slave may bequeath his little plot of land, at his decease, to any relative or friend upon the estate who is a slave. 4. Three slaves had purchased their liberty.

In the Report of 1824, twelve pages are occupied in extracts of

correspondence, relative to the religious condition of the slaves-which, to use the words of Mr. Pinder, the chaplain, p. 195, "afford satisfactory evidence of numerous and attentive assemblies on the sabbath, of full and regular attendance on the day and Sunday school, as well as of increasing communicants. These are proofs of the means of grace being duly reverenced, and they prepare us for expecting the consequent influence on the lives of the recipients, manifesting itself in honesty, truth, quietness and exemplary conduct."

In 1825, some very interesting particulars were communicated by Mr. Pinder, which tended to throw much light upon the moral and domestic habits of the slaves: and I should hope, that the handsome testimony given by the Governor of Barbados, and by the local governors of the Codrington College, to the services of Mr. Forster Clarke, the attorney of the estate, to his ability and integrity, will sufficiently justify the Society in having testified their gratitude to him for his care of the religious as well as temporal interests of their people, by voting a piece of plate to him of one hundred pounds value.

In 1826, the Report contains only one short letter from Mr. Pinder; but even this short letter, when united to all the information contained in the preceding reports, will be deemed by a candid reader as not uninteresting, from the incidental proofs which it contains of the continued exertions of Mr. Pinder. And again does the Society acknowledge its obligations to Mr. Clarke, for the continued improvement, not only of the resources of the trust, but of the condition and increase of the negro population. What then, I indignantly ask, becomes of all the insinuations of concealment of facts relative to the condition of the Society's slaves? Had Mr. Riland, or his Reviewer, read the Society's reports, they would never have dared to say one-twentieth part of what they have jointly uttered. A little more of Christian charity, and a little less of party zeal, would have made them pause awhile before they vented charges which, if true, affect the whole hierarchy of our Established Church, and no inconsiderable number of clergy and laity, as exemplary in their piety, as they are eminent in talent and in station.

I shall now proceed to Mr. Riland's charges against the Society, which have all the mischievous tendency commonly attendant upon statements containing only half the truth. He first states, that Mr. Coleridge found, in 1825, a driver upon the Society's estate, and not having troubled himself at all to inquire what the Society had done upon the estate, or what was the driver's business to do, he jumps at once to the conclusion, that the slaves on the estate are urged to labour by the cart-whip, and accordingly casts a slur upon the Society, calling it "a Christian corporation which retains an estate worked under the whip." Had Mr. Riland read the Society's reports, or asked information of the friends of the Society, he might have learned, from Mr. Pinder's evidence, that corporal punishment is not, nor has been for some years, practised upon the estate; and a little further inquiry into the state of West India slavery, might perhaps inform him, that the whip is gradually falling into disuse, and that in most well-ordered estates, it is only used as a punishment for theft and other crimes. But with the cessation of the use of the whip in the hand of the person who

acts as foreman of the slaves in their work, the name of driver has not as yet expired; and even in estates where the driver is not allowed so much as to carry a stick, the name is still retained,—a monument indeed of the barbarism of former times, yet a clear testimony of the degree of improvement, which within so few years has been effected. The whipping-post and the stocks remain in many country parishes :—what should we think of a foreigner who should report, that the common people in England are redeemed from vagrancy by the use of the whip, and that drunkenness is punished by the stocks? Names and things often remain long after the use of them is exploded. Be it then that Mr. Coleridge found a driver-did he drive, I ask? Mr. Coleridge says no such thing-and I do not for my own part believe, that except to drive the cattle, a whip is ever employed upon the estate either as excitement or punishment, for it is, as above shewn, expressly contrary to the rules laid down to employ any corporal punishment. Mr. Riland was sharp-sighted enough, in page 132, of "Six Months in the West Indies," second edition, to detect the existence of a person called a driver on the estate; this is one of many instances which might be adduced, of persons reading and quoting only as much of a book as suits their purpose. Why, if in detriment to the Society, he quoted one passage from the work just mentioned, did not Mr. R. give the Society the advantage of the testimony, which the author of Six Months in the West Indies-he that found the driver-so willingly affords in favour of the Society's conduct towards our negro brethren;—a testimony the more valuable on this very account, that while Mr. Riland unjustly reproaches the Society with having done nothing for the benefit of the negroes, since Bishop Porteus made proposals to that effect fifty years ago, Mr. Coleridge rather finds fault with the Society for appropriating so much of its revenues to the benefit of the blacks, in hindrance of the designs of the founder, who contemplated chiefly the advantage of the whites.

"The trustees of Codrington College comprise (says Mr. Coleridge) a large portion of the learning and virtue of England-their disinterestedness is perfect, their intentions excellent, their care commendable. Their disposable funds are ample, and the trust estates remarkably flourishing. They deserve their prosperity; their zeal for the welfare of their slaves is most exemplary, and they have gone to the utmost bounds of prudence in advancing the condition of those negroes whose happiness and salvation have been committed to them. A chapel and a school have been erected almost exclusively for their use, and a clergyman fixed among them, whose talents, kindness, and simplicity of manners are not more remarkable than his judgment and his piety. The attorney and manager are both of established character; the buildings, especially the hospital, in good order, and the negro huts comfortable. Under these circumstances, and with these means in their possession, the trustees incur a heavy responsibility. They have indeed a perfect right to assume the power of providing in a Christian manner for slaves in a Christian land, and they should treat all malignant insinuations of breach of trust with a righteous scorn; but they must at the same time remember, that the object of the charity is to educate the whites, and let not them or the public think this object exclusive of the other; so far from it, I am convinced that one of the most effectual measures for bettering the slaves, would be a thorough and humanizing education of the masters themselves."—Page 56.

But one of the most serious charges brought by Mr. Riland, and fostered by his Reviewer in the Christian Observer, is founded upon

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