The West Indian Controver...
The Times, 1824-01-12T00:00:00

TO THE EDITOR OF'TUJ~XMVft S7.- Sir,~The lattet bf:06iernor Beintlhck --pitlfh.jTh ocue mylast, Was followed -wiji varioius eYxMisjti6on iand reports, prov. ing that the mernoranatmiprransmstiteil to,t ~d.thurst was framed from infornsatib., tiarnished by the Rev, Ji lWra,`a Mlethodistmnis- sioflar,y at Berblce,'to Mri. Macauday an ?I'alker. In a con- versatiton with Governor* Blentiacek, Xtfr Win sit:. Isn h author as far as; relistes to these intoiatloh and addretsed by-rne to Mlr. Waler, A r.-Mllacautlay, or both;-, anid-I thlink it necestsary so say, that I believe there is other inifornatiio besides maie."-Page When subsequently czaUla'upon .to Sgtate the niature! of the inlbr- mnation whisih came fromu others, and whetber hae could point out the author, he appears to take the-wbole upon- hiimself; for his answer runs thus: 'Oji readiug over the' ltter a second timne1 it struck mne tlhatthe formedr part obiii ntn ahug; bt at the same time it may lhave been frmdfo ~ nomto.As for any other person or aithor, Ihenoin sy"Pg 290. In a suabsequient convraio ihGoenrBetakon the sub. ject of this memnorandlum,teRv r i bein se w3 are the instances of neltofteGse,dpvtyndwcdns to induce your generlcopanagitth woeclny?a- swers as follow:_ "lDisubne fpbi osi nteeeig by thumping of stick ntepak,bekn fwnos n have complained too.he ie oM.Bnet n net r Scott, as Fiscels;utteoeneesaddtcio. This assertron occasioned a refrece to th Fistal, whose letter to the GGvernor is subjofiLid - " The undersigned begs leave to observe, that during the periodI that he was filling the situation' of Acting Fiscal,'AMr. Wray did once make an officiia application'to bhri~t,nd that on the suibject of the interruption he experienced in the performance! of divine worship, aind on that occasion the o:fflnder did not escape detection. MVr. Wray pointed-out the individual, but at -the sam-e time'requested that it might not be made matter of. public.imvestiglstion, but the party be admonished not to repeait thi-ofrernce. "1In consequence of which, the undersigned, in his official capa- city. summoned the person beforebhim, andon hliexpressing contri- tionforthepast an a romie o nb stai being guilty of uch a brech f oodorer,~h wa rprianed anadismissed. Trutin tht te bov wil fllyreove the impression which Mr.Win's ssetio (o th of~ndr bingallwedto escape with- outdetctin) as ikey t prduc, " reain&c. (Siged) J. D WNER lat actng Fsca"--(Page 29.5.) After Lord Bathiurst had received Governor Bantinchc's report, lie expressed his opinion upon the whole caea in the following terms:- I4 have read with great attentioi, tb6~ examninations which have taken pIacc, in consequence of the memorandum which I transmitted you in my despatch, iNo.- of the l1th oif January last; and it has given me great satisfactio'noto fndg thlat the representations which were contained in that memhoraipdum Are, generall speaking either disproved orshown to be exageratedi, svr are capable'of explnation. "You were no otherwise-irrplicatetVin-the allegations oftat me- morandumn, than by being exposed to an imnputation of inattention in not interfering with you authority, had the instances of misconduct anid oppresion been ax flagrant as they had been represented. Against the Fiscal and his deputy, the char-ges of neglect of duty are much more dtirect; and it is but doing thera justien to say. that the result oftlie examination is a satisfactory vindication ofthleir conduct. " From the time that the estates were Oiven up to the Company, Mlr. W-Iray appears to hiave shown a decided hostility to its esat- blishment-..to have given a ready attention to every comiplaint ad- vanced against thte mianagers; and instead of adopting measures to procure redress, or awertain the truth of -the allegations, to have transmitted home very exaggerate statemints, under the hope of occasioning here so unfavourablo an impression of the Oompany's conduct, as to lead to a restoration of the eatates to the commnissioners of the Crown. " He seems to have considered the endiso desirable, that he dlid not think it necessary to be very scrupulous, as to the means of so.- compli3hing it.".-(Page 281.) The author of a late satirical publication gives an accou'nt of an lris', paron, WVho stuffed a figure of hiinself, (Delicious thought !) and had it shot at, To bring some Papists to the shbelf, That could'nt otherwise he got at. So this 'MelTiodist parsiin appeame to have set himself up as an ob- j1ect of persecutioni, in the hope of brngng ontevneneo Government upon the unbelieving inhabitants of Berbice, wvho de- clined to see with bis niew light, and to puttheir spiritual concerns under his guidance. Perliapa his zeal- for the propagation of what lie conceives to be the true faith, was heightenedl by die expectation alluded to in the letter of the agents for the Berbice asisociation, " that hkis accusations would be credited withotitineestigation, and, lie the means of bringing tie present agncy into discredit, of paving the way for the remnoval of the agents oftdie societv, and the re-es.. tablishmuezt of the former commisson, under which at least his- temporal mneans flourished."-(Page 30J0.) Mlr. Wray very modestly accounts to Governor Bentiack for his submissive silence under such outrages and breacbes of the peace, as he states to have been committed both upon himself and his con- greaton, by saving, - rdid not conceive I hadl any right to inter- fee with respect to disturbing public worship, both hiere and in De- merara" lfbe conaceived he had no right to complan to the Go- vernor, what right could he conceive be haa to send his complaints9 to Mr. Mlacaulay, to be laid before his AMajesty's Ministers ? The real distinction seems to be, that the forsuer, beinGg on the spot, could inilnhediately have investigated the truthi of hiR statements ; but that the latter, being at a distance, could not; and might per- haps attach so much credit to the representations Of die Directors of the African Institution, by whom they were transmitted, as to think further inquiry unnecessarv, and therefore this pious Mi- nister of the Gospel of Faith clandestinely sends home a string of falsehoois, wrhich are refuted ou the clearest testimony the moment the are uinvestigate. Tlo have represented any improper conduct oni the part of indivi- duals, to those who hiad bo'th the will sadl the owerjo punishilt at -once. T&lltv rht~Ylj uuDr ry o he would ther, have an pretence for layig hisxcomplaints before his Mlajesty'st Ministers. As Governor Benltinck says, "1 Had I been duluy m- fored f ay ireglartie, Isholdhave exerted my powver to prevnt hei recrrece;but f Dr. raywill confide all thpe:a to own kow ldge nd vet hi impnation secretly to Mtessrs. t1 aauly ad Wl]{e, o, a itwod appear, give iniperfect ac- couns t th Fical,wit eanes reuest to indulge the offenders, WVhat follows in the Governor's litter is not printed ; but it may fairly be presumped, b the context, to be something not very. com- plimentary to DIr. Wvray, whose ussdler.handl conduct had evidently excited the indignation of the Govirnot~; and whose object appears to have been, not to prevent, but to connive at abuses, in order to make the conatinuance of them subservienitto the interested views of himself and his confidential correspondents in England, A specimfen of the chuech discipline this gentleman la.boured to introduce among his disciples, may be found in his answer to Go- vernor Bentinck's question, "Are you averse to the Negroes danc- ing, is it inconsistent with your notoios of religious duty ?" "1I cannot lookc on !any Negro dancing (I mean riotously) as a membier of my cliurch."...Page 28.5.) This declaration is thus confirmned and amplified, in the additions he afterwards made to his answers.- " Numbers of Christians disprove of all dancing, and I believe it is genaerally disproved of by the Miorvians, methodists, and oither lis-sionaries-and Alinisters;, and r cannot admit a person ta baptism, or as a candidate for baptism, or the Lord's supper, till he can renounce the poinps and vanities of this world, which he pro- fesses to do in baptisrns."._(Page 28&3) MIr. WVray mighit have re- collected various passaes of Scripture, in which dancing is men- tioned as an unprohiibited amusement, as wtll as a religious exer- cise. In some of these inistances it is recordedl, that the parties danced "1withi all their might," and " withl oy"-words which appear to be som-ewhat synonvmous wish Mlr. WVray's"1 riotously;" and yet this reverendL genitlemlan, witlhout any authority from SeritD- tore but from his belief of the sentimuents of the 3ioravians g,id Metbiodists, and other Mlissionaries and Ministers, 'prohibits the Negroes of his congregation from indulogigin an innocent andl cheer- ful recreation after thieir labours, on pain of excommunication. The tonduct of the reverend gentleman in these transactions bears some resemblance f'o that of the -Puritans in the days of Cromwell, who glossed over the inward love of worldly *iealtli and -power, with the exterior varnish otreligious sanctity :Lnd huimility-wvho united the most profound dissimulation, with an arnieorance of the greatesRt simplicity'; and who considered the essence of religion to consist in a glomyauserit ofmaners,andtheabsoluite renunciation of all worlly leasresand njoment. ie,-evdrtheless, is one of the Missonaies who th AficanInsituiondescribe as"I harmless, Some ofopir newspapers lsibve lately given an account of the de- titruction of Mlr. NV'rays'srhapel at Berbice~, by fire andarepresent,it as the-work of a mob. Suchi an outr-age. wouldb& exceedingly un- justifiable, and greatlv to be deploried: hut' although from thie pree ceding narrative it mnay be inferred, that-past recollections, as well as present circumstances, mazy contribute.:to reiider Mlr. Wray an unpopular chara.cter at Berbice, the ativices $ioth from that colony and emerary state the burning of-hls cliaipel to hiave been entirely the effect of accidenit and trot of design.- - The lists of chuirches and elergymgn in -the old British West India colonies, as ireturned by the V(iovrora? wvill amply tedeem the character of the inhabitants fioat the charge of incli tbrernce to ic-6i ions instruction, The Governors, tooi, 4e.a full testimony to thte. laudable mannter in which the clergymesi exiert themselves in their pious labours ; and to -the accc6mtodiitisi - provided for dhe free people of colou4 andIslaves who chooseto atte,nd divine w6rship. In the ceded and con' eed colonies, tbeslaves-and free colouredl peo- ple are principaU1 tuqollcs and tleierfprethc sarue nutnbsr of JPro-' testant churches is niot neces ; togn~c- te lte- clp ergymen of the church of England, noee the et lotit"' Misoaiiwith all their zeal, h,ave- succeeded in, main coniverts fromi tat faith. But comparing the number of churche's in - the old British WVest Thiaa cototiies; With the, amoitnt dl -The Protestant population, it willapper tht thaccomr-odation' -prOided- for'- eligious 'nstrue-. tio thre,it reaer haneve inlbs walthy metropolis of the ~riishensire -wer al th chrchs adc chapels are capable of continig btlirlbnioerhn oe tpthpart,of the numbier cif the h'ne reDroaches thrown upon the West India Plantets by- the -African fnstitutiop, of `bei.g aderseor indiffierent ,tb the cause of Christianity, Pdofopposing-positive&proliibitions to theonly at- -ainable mieans i7f religioas instraction," in- whatever way thesc equiocal words are meant to behnieiatood, are wholly unwarrant- able. Iflevelled attheir-parsinid66ii'fprovidg the means of re- ligiousntructiqn, sinenumer, fw6o .rthe ehurches and clergymen in the diferentisLlaids, the former,: -f-which, have been built and the latter provided fo, at their eifjeWnse, is a sufficient ans*er.' If intended as s re4ection upon-the isDhinemiess and inactivity of the clergy of the eatablish:churi t'the diecArgeoF thelt- duties, the aspersion is refuted by.t4e tetyinony of thbe difrewt 'Qoverors to theirziel ana phity, -If xmantatofinsinuate that slaves are ex- eluded fxAm epp rtnutti4ss of-te'ligpous isrusction and- worshis4 the repos fraomt, hdift tdlergvnuell provethat thechur&csa.i.op4n to persos.of all UhisN wit.otie4tsiicson asidthatampleaccommoda_ tion is provided for free ?luri deople And slaves. The redl groind cf cotppiont-aiuistthe~pTante- (sufficientay implied, though ,not Methoditatd i bar-.thy are not dasposed-eitlber to rcrn lIetho rseW Hi-atronize ;uch preaclers ass-the Rtv. John WTJ.ra' . f so, eiodi tal-jiuptification for them will be found,- -in iho dav,el tbhent?oIsle'h -eClsrcsr and coiidtc,t as given in the re- p,ort-of Govcernor Bentindel .-. - .- FroTw the suatter in whic.h the attentflo of the Governmors -of the different Wcst liid,ig 6Olboenies- directed to tthe comfort aiid hani. p,l,uess of-the N'?groes., byehQ 3addresaes of boths houses of' Palii.- ineut.; she Princ IrCe4.ir arid.tha instructions of his:Royal Highi- ness conveyedt through-X,~o,'r-trstkirt they..erew naturally led 'to. aliXe-rcvcg4tasisns $-t-g d cbn-be UWaC4with ceueletyir seterlty. 'Xhese fisrrn a distinct las in tne Itnted prs, ttndePa the beads of" Treatment ofa femadeSlavle and3fal- treatment af Ncgrol The esseentitled "Treatmert of afemnae Slave," relatestoasevere and brutal panishment inflicted upon a woman belonging to Sand- voord 'tate, in the colonv of Berbice, by the Mlanager. Mtr. Jaco- bus Overeem, for alleged insolerice to his wife. T'his casc, like the memorandum respecting the state of religion- in Berbice, was sent to England by the Rev. Jolh Wray. and bv his friends to Lord Bathurst, who transmitted it to Governor ilentinck for investiga- tion. The Fiscal of the colony, when referred to, writes thus :_ "I can onlv rtgret that Mir. WVray should have carried a complaint of severity by any inbabitant of this colony before his Majesty's Atinisters, without previous application to me in behalf of the object for redress, which my duty and my inclination would, at a meoment's notice, have indured me so readily to afthrd." IMr. Wray's written evidence states "' that he mentioned to Alr. Downer (then acting Fiscal of the colony), that he had understoos Negroes belonging to Pl.ntationSandwoird had been severely flogged by Ir. Overeemn; but to the hest of his recollection he had not seen the woman at that time. He rievertheless mentioned to Alr. Downer, that he did not lay this complaint officiallv, and (as far as his memory now serves) stated, that as the Fiscal ias daily espect. cd, and that in all,probabitity the arrival of the packet wvould bring some certair, ness as to the state of the Crown properties, he (3Ir. Wray) did not wvislh any interference of the Fiscal on this represen- tation. MIr. Wrav farther declares that he never made anv comn- plaint or representation to the Fiscal of the colony, after bis return from the islands, resnecting the punishment inflicied en the woman America"`(Page 231.) Whrien, however, this transaction came before the Fiscal, in conse- quence of the statement made by Lord Bathtlrst to Governor Ben- tnck, the manager Overeem was prosecuted for this outrage, andl sentenced by the Court to be imprisoned in the common jail for the .cpace of three months, to par a fine of 300 guilders, together with tne Cstst and expenses of tbe investigation, prosecution, and trial, and to remain in confinement till the same were paid.. Jacobus Go- vemeur, a white man, acting as overseer under Overeem, having been gulty of gross prevarication in his evidence on the trial, vas also co3nmitted for contempt of Court, and the Fiscal ordered to pro- secute him for perjury at the ensuing session.-a(Pge 241.) Thenextcsaseistheallegedcemelty of a Mr. Cooper towards his slave. On this occasion Mr.Wray did inform the Fiscal by letter, that "he thought a Dtr. Cooper,his neighbour, was murderinga poor negro woman, and that he could hear the blows in his house; and that Mr Lindner, on whose lot Ceoper lives, went to thehouse to see what was the matter; from the dreadful scrcams of the w-man, she thought somebody was dying." The Fiscal states in his report-" I ex- amined te negro woman's back, whereon she stated to have received the punishment, and I positively state, that no marks were visible, although not an hour had el3pied from the time the complaint was made to me till investigated. I enclose a certificate from Mrs. Lindner, who appears to have been a witness to the flogging. It will notseem necessary for me to of'er a single conmment on this tmnsaction."-(Page 253.) Governor Bentiuick then reports the sentence of the Court on Joannes Vandabrock, convicted of oppression and cruelty towards his slave Quashy, by working him w ith a heavy chain round his neck, for having complained that he had obliged him to work on a holyday. The Drosecution in this case, was conducted by the Fiscal- anu thejudgment was, that the slave should be sold out of the power ofbis master, who was condemned in the cests. A horrid case is next reported of the cruel treatment of a female slave, by a wretch named Ilichael Carty, an inhabitant of Hondu- ras, described by Colonel Arthur, (wlho states that instances of this nature are very rare in that settlement,) as i' one of tlhe very dregs of the communitv." The charge was fully proved; and the jxry fined him only 501., Jamaica currency, equal to about 351. sterlinim. At the request of Colonel Arthur, however, the Magistrates de- prived him of his licence to ikeep a grDg shop ; and entered the cause of his beingr so disqualified on the public records of the settle- ment.-(Page 253.) The next and last case is that of a murder committed on a Negro slave, named Cuffee, bv a ilr. Thomas Ludford, a planter of the island Pf Jamaica. This Negro had broke open his master's store. and stolen rum and other provisions, for which le had been put into confinietnent for some months, and flogged at intervals. .4 t length, Mr. Ludford ordered him to be brought out, and again asked him to confess who were his accomplices in this theft, Cuffee named none. Mr. Ludford, who had his gun in his hand, then desired him to turn his back, look to the bread fruit-tree, and lift up his 'rock. As soon as Cuffee was in this position, he fired at him. Cuf- fee immediately fell, and died soon afterwards. No coroner's in- quest was hbld on the body, although it is stated in the Duke of Alanchester's letter to Lord Bathurst, that the fact was made known to the Coroner by arother slave belonging to Mr. Lud- ford. This murder appears to have been committed in the end of Apri, or the beginning of May. Examinations respecting it were taken before Dr. Fearon, a magistrate, in Clarendon, the parish where the crime had been committed, on the 13th of June; but by whose orders, or in consequence of what information, dora not ap- pear. M11r. Fearon, instead of immediately appreheniding Mlr. Lud- ford on a charge of murder, returned the examinations to the Crown-Office for the opinion of the Attornev-General, who imme- diately directed a warrant against him to be issued; but in the mean time Mfr. Ludford had absconded, and got oftF the island. The Duke of Manchester removed MIr. Fearsn from his office of magis- trate, justly observing, " that whether his conduct proceeded from ignorance or negligence, he was unfit to hold so respofisible a si- tuation." His Grace also directed a prosecution against the Coroner for not taking an inquest upon the body; and against a merchant of the name of Sanderson, for having assisted Mr. Ludford in his es- cape fromn the island.-(Pages 267 and 269.) These are the cases of maltreatment of Negroes which have been detailed in the Reports of the different Governors of ou.r Wiest India colonies; and the proceedings show, that though there,. as here, men may escape justice by flight, crimes of this description cannot be committed with impunity; but, on the contrarv, (to use the, emphatic words of Governor Brentiack,1 " manifest to-our coun- trymen, that although like them the planters have evil doers among them, yet like them they punish." f nr, Rir vn,.r rncnt nhnliPnt epvnne,t - A WxS!T.INDLAN -PIU0PRIE TU)L - HE WBS tt-V OOV14ZOPBASY.- L-7777 . . . I