The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1897-07-23

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If have appeared to err in this par
ticular, | assure them that | do not
feel what | may have unwarily written
am not going to enter into any
discussion Of the Slave Question; Meth
er shall | waste my readers time by
laying before him minute description
Of Kingston, or the country round it.
On the subject of slavery, it will be
sufficient to observe, that | landed as
strongly imbued with prejudice as most
men, and that little close inspection
of the behavior of both whites and
blacks, served to convince me, that the
first were not the masters which they
were frequently represented to be, nor
the last the objects of that mawkish
compassion which it is the pleasure of
a certain class of worthless to stir up in
their favor. The domestic slave in
Jamaica, is, generally speaking, as
we'll treated, and in every respect as
happily situated, rs domestic servant
in England; and, from what l saw of
the tasks imposed upon the field-ne-
groes, | should certainly not say, that
the slave in the sugar or coffee planta-
tions, is much more heavily oppressed
with toll, than the English ditcher or
reaper. No doubt there are many re-
spects in which the slave stands upon
less enviable ground than the Euro
pcan laborer, though ! cannot rank
among them the mere fact of his being
a bondsman; because to people so little
advanced in the scale of civilization,
there is really no pain in degrade
ton, which, after all, is but ideal. But
l do consider their liability TO be sepa-
rated at the will of their owner, from
their nearest relatives, as very griev-
Gus hardship. 1t is sad sight, too,
to behold both men and women walk
ed backwards and forwards, rs in this
country we walk horse through a
cattle market; yet the individuals
themselves seem not to regard the
thing all probability they do not
feel it. OF the wanton crueltics so
much talked of here, my own observa-
tion brought not before me so much as
a solitary example. They may some
times occur; wherever multitude of
persons possess absolute power, some
will always abuse it; bat it is mere
folly to speak of drivers and overscers
as men who deli ght in the sound of the
whip, and in the agonies of their fel-
low-creatures. There is yet another
class of slaves, ON whose condition a
word or two may be hazarded. Many
owners teach their negroes trades, and
these negroes afterwards labor, not for
the exclusive benefit of their owners,
but for their own. Men even hire
themselves to their masters; that IS,
undertake to pay the masters so much
per week, on condition that they shall
be allowed to apply their earnings to
their own uses; and the balance, as
often as it proves to be against the
master, is punctually made good. All
these facts l deem it proper to state.
not in the spirit of one who wishes to
involve himself in the controversy
which has so long ragged between the
planters and abolutionists, but rs the
results of a pretty accurate investiga-
tion, set on foot with no design what
ever to discover excellencies in sys-
TEN which all Englishmen must con-
stltutionally abhor.
With respect to the general appear
ance of the island, again, saw too lit
tie of it to authorize my entering upon
minute details. Stoney Hill Barracks
at the foot of the mountain, OH the one
hand, and Spanish-town, with the Gov
ernor's residence, on the other, bounded
my tour to this quarter; and even
when the ships proceed to the place of
assembly at Nigril Bay, never VEN
tured ten miles from the beach, because
our stay was expected to be at most a
brief one; the exact moment of it's ter
mination no one could TELL it would
have been as rash as impolitic, under
such circumstances, to wander very
far away from the shipping. Yet
saw enough, both in the bold outline
of its mountainous coasts, and in the
fertility and richness of it's midland
plains, to satisfy me, that few places
more deserve the notice of a traveller.
whose search is after natural beauty
alone.
1t was on the 18th of November, just
as day began to break, that the little
squadron of vessels which had rendez-
voused at Port Royal, weighed anchor.
The rest of the fleet having steered di-
rect for Negril Bay, and it being un-
derstood that large reinforcement
had been ordered to join the expedition
in that roadstead, it was necessary for
us also to direct our course thither, as
soon as our stores of water and pro- !
visions should be complete. All things
were in readiness for the move on the |
evening of the 10th, and on the follow
ing morning we put to sea.
Our short voyage, for it was accom-
plished in less than 4S hours, proved
an exceedingly agreeable one. Keep
ing constantly in sight of land, we slid