New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1860-05-26

muated properly, anu ioso W ,,at;ons was |
As the produce of most oil 'ne P'"' -.asaoa in
shipped directly To the owners "a NV. .ont
Fnoland. whence also plantation supP'''
ont the mercantile business was n'"'eu " 10"
sto,,s .rd warehouses at Georgetown and New
,.aa.o,d,,n Here also might be four,d few white
mechanics u,asons, carpenters, clacksmiths, &c,
bpt generally they had slaves to whom they had
taught their trades and whose labor they contented
Themselves with directing. There were also other
persons who owned what were called task
nngs," slaves skillful in digging trenches and
other plantation work, for which they were let out
by tie Job to such as needed their services. Add
u few lawyers and doctors, and the sum OF the
white population viii be made up.
The free colored snd free black population, com
posed mostly of tia, mixed race, TO whom the term
cOloced was exclusively applied, were nsarly twice
ms numerous as the whites. The females formed a
ayge majority. IL had been from early time The Gus
BON of the pasters TO select concabinc from among
che female slaves. The children born of these con-
nections wors often manumitted, and frequently
the woman herself had her freedom given to her OK
| purchased for her. The boys were generally
|
was the ambition of the girls TO fill the same po-
sition which their mothers had occupied, ard to
| act as "houscSeeper " for some white man. Such
a connection gave them position among their
own class far above that TO be derived from mar
rage with man of their own color. The cOlored
men we're obliged in consequence to seek their
female companions among women darker than
ID md lacEr
ton were, like the whites, mostly collected in
Georgetown and New-Amsterdam. Many of them
possessed property; but they were jealousy ex-
cluded from any approach to political or social
equality with the whites
Whatever may have been the civilIzing operation
of the slayeholdng system elsewhere, such results
were hardly to be looked for in the colonies of
Guiana The slaves were only thought of in their
character of working animals, and not at all as
men capable of moral and intellectual cultivation.
The example act them by their white superiors
was not one from which they were likely to derive
much benefit. As to religious instruction, it was
ha dly to be expected that those who regarded it
so little in their own case, should take any trouble
TO bestOw it on their slaves. In the Dutch times
two churches had been built, one at Fort Island
in EssequibO-but Fort Island was row deserted
and another in Berbice. For long time the
English had contented themselves with the reading
of the church service on Sundays by the chaplain
of the garrison. 1t was not till 1910 that they
built, at Georgetown, little church of their own
an example initiated nine years after by the erec-
ton of Presbyterian Church, many Of the
planters being Scotch by birth and Presbyterans
by education. The first attempt to give any
ligiOus instruction to the slaves was made by two
or three missionaries sent out by the London
Missionary Society These missionaries were
garded by the great body of the planters with very
i'll feeling and much suspicion as having come
to spy out the nakeduess of the land; and indeed,
the accounts they felt themselves obliged to give of
the moral and religious condition of the country
were not very favorable. Several planters, how
ever, were found who allowed them to preach on
| Sundays on their estates-the recognition of Sun
| day as holiday being about the only boon which
the slaves had yet derived from tho Christianity
| of their masters.
Tie extremely savage punishments in use among
the Dutch Planters especially in the of runa-
ways, had for the most part beer dsused since the
English occupations; but it may be doubtedwheh
on the whole the slaves had yet gained anything
| by the change The attorneys and managers in
| charge of the estates Of non-residents looking
more to the crop of the year than to Interior CON
sequences, were ready to press the slaves to the
utmost, and embarrassed resident prOprietOrs con-
scious Of the precarious title by which they held
their estates, and anxious to get all that was posi-
bic out OF them, were strongly tempted to do the
same thing. it was not alone the hours of day
light TO which the labor of the slaves was confined
| On the cotton plantations then were obliged to
wolk at night in the ginning of cotton-a slow
process as it was performed entirely by wooden
rollers propelled by the foot. On the sugar estates
the processes of the sugar-house were kept up by
night well as by day, and on many of the larger
estates the sugar-hOuses were kept in operation
during a large part Of the year.
The slaves received weekly allowance of plant |
aims and salt fish, though the salt fish allowance
was sometimes curtailed and sometimes altogether
fresh fish out of the trenches Even the plantain |
allowance was not always sure. On many estates
the plaDtain could not be successfully cultivated.
In certain districts it liable to a disease which
caused the pantains to turn black just az they
were reaching maturity. When the supplies we're
bought, the slaves apt TO be stinted and
when the crop fell short, short allowance was the
consequence. As to clothing any supplies of that
sort bestowed by the masters were very triling
The men ordinarily went naked, except a narrow
cloth about the lOng while the dress of the female