Antigua and the Antiguans. Volume 2

Page 99

DOMESTIC SERVANTS.

77

dreadful acts of cruelty which I have recorded used to he practised, religion was held in very slight regard. That the negroes are a very provoking race all must allow who have any dealings with them ; and men with strong passions, uninfluenced by Christian feelings, possessed of wealth, and having their slaves entirely under their control, were apt to give way to resentment against them when in error, and (commit those deeds at which their descendants blush. But now the case is very different; the negro has been freed, and his rights as a man acknowledged. Still his interests are so inseparably connected with those of his em^ ployers, that the subversion of the one must end in the ruin of the other. What would any one think, who has the interest of these important colonies at heart, of the introduction of slave-made sugar into England at any rate of duty, and leaving the West Indian planter (after having cheerfully acquiesced in emancipation) to bear the burden'of this High rate of wages Although no one can deny that most of the Antiguan planters have benefited by emancipation, in the way of cultivating their estates, yet free labour, generally speaking, and from what has fallen beneath my own observation, cannot cope with slavery. No! it is the whip, and the whip alone, which can give to England the cheap sugar she is promised. Who, then, would not rather give.apenny a pound more for their sugar, than, after having freed the British negro, eat that which is seasoned with the tears and groans of foreign slaves. It is among the domestic servants that negro idleness is most severely felt, for there are ways of making the others work, although the whip is banished, by checking their pay. In the case of our house-servants, however, it is not so easy ; they seem to have no wish to please their employers. If left to themselves, they care not how the day passes, so long as they get through it ; one English servant will do twice the work two Creoles will. Probably this arises in great measure from the practice of having so many


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