6. The adults were at first located in the pine forests, and employed in felling and hewing BRITISH GUIANA. timber, burning lime, erecting habitations and in opening and making roads. The overseers working with them, they learned to work by imitation, and after gaining some knowledge of language they entered into engagements for themselves; they were familiar with the use of money, and several joined the friendly societies under the advice of the clergy and the magistrates. 7. By the regulations adopted in the Windward Islands of St. Lucia, St. Vincent and Grenada in 1849, the liberated Africans from Sierra Leone and St. Helena were placed on their arrival under contracts for one year, their family ties were respected, and even their wishes consulted when any expressed a desire to settle together. This attention to their feelings had the effect of gaining their confidence, and when I visited their localities they appeared cheerful and contented, and the planters equally satisfied with their industry and good conduct. 8. The reports of the magistrates have confirmed these anticipations, and the example of their industry has operated favourably on the other labourers, who, regarding them as free competitors, have applied with greater steadiness to their work; indeed, to avoid their jealousy, some planters have abstained from employing the Africans, whose services would otherwise have been acceptable to them. 9. The engagement for a year is well understood to be intended for their protection till they can acquire some knowledge of the country and language, but if any further restriction had been imposed on the Africans, they would have been regarded as an inferior class, condemned to plantation work, which the Creoles would have despised. The Africans being upon an equality with them as labourers respect themselves. 10. In Grenada and other islands, where facilities exist for the occupation of waste lands, the disposition of the labouring classes to obtain from them an independent subsistence, and to abandon the plantations, has more or less prevailed. It has been successfully counteracted through the influence judiciously exercised by some resident proprietors, who have taken pains to strengthen their local attachments; and to whatever extent unsettled habits may have prevailed, they may be referred to some original neglect on the part of proprietors or their representatives. There will always be some active and intelligent labourers who have accumulated the means of purchasing or hiring land, and cultivating it for themselves, and these are clearly to be distinguished from those who have betaken themselves to an unsettled and vagrant life: the first are likely to become a useful class of the community, and in time the nucleus of a middle or farming class; the others require to be restrained by the laws. 11. Both classes are to be found in the several Windward Islands. In Barbados, where the lands are completely occupied, the industrious are eager to purchase and hire allotments at high rates, while the idle resort to the towns, and often lead dissolute lives, and their reputed wives are deterred from marrying them, from the disposition of the men to depend on the industry of their families for their own support, and to appropriate the fruits of their labour to the neglect of their children. The majority are, however, better disposed, and the Africans have shown no disposition to vagrancy in any of these islands. 12. Mr. Gilbert, in allusion to the failure of the planters to interest themselves in the improvement of the Africans, appears to think, if they were placed under indentures for two years, a change in this respect would be effected. It will be seen that my experience has not led me to this conclusion, but rather to rely on the facility with which the Africans may be attached to his first location by those ties, which, when once formed, will prevail over any inducements to a wandering life. They have been found, after the expiration of the first year, fully to appreciate the advantages of a settled abode, and the free occupation of allotments of land with a regular and profitable employment. 13. The formation of independent villages of labourers, of which there are so many examples in Antigua, is characteristic of a more advanced stage; the salutary effects of education, and the provisions made for the spiritual care of the people, were experienced in that island in 1834, when slavery was abolished. Such villages were commonly formed, with the assistance of proprietors, by the most enterprising and industrious of the labourers. 14. In the case of plantation settlers, a check has been given to precipitate removals by the laws requiring a notice on either part before dissolving a contract for labour. 15. Viewing the condition of the liberated Africans, who have been recently settled in these colonies, and contrasting their industry, intelligence and good conduct with the degradation of those who were formerly apprenticed in the colonies, I should deprecate a recurrence to that system. 16. One of the practices of the slave traders has been to direct their barbarous warfare against the most peaceable and improved of the African tribes, being less perilous to themselves, and their victims being more marketable. To this cause may be ascribed, that the captured Africans are so generally found to be docile and industrious, when their confidence and attachment have been gained. They have, in reality, but little to unlearn, and, under judicious treatment, may readily be trained to improved habits. Although the Creoles are kind to them, they generally prefer to associate with each other or with native Africans, who had formerly been settled in the colonies, and they have manifested a desire to become Christians, thereby avoiding the reproach of heathenism, which the Creoles sometimes apply to them. 17. Mr. Gilbert justly observes, that it is the first duty of a Christian community to provide for their spiritual welfare, and for the due instruction of their children in the schools established, and the planters, for their own interest as well as from higher motives, should co-operate with the Government and the clergy for the attainment of these objects, considering BRITISH GUIANA, how much there is to be done in all the colonies, and how defective are the means at our disposal. 18. As I am well aware how deeply your Lordship is impressed with the importance of these topics, I will not add to the length of my remarks by enlarging on the subject which has been so ably treated by Mr. Gilbert. I would refer you, however, to the volume of Blue Book Reports for 1848, just published, for some valuable suggestions by the Rev. Mr. Rawle, the principal of Codrington College; they will be found appended to my Report, at pages 166 and 175, and I would especially invite attention to his remarks at pages 170-1, on the necessity of infant and female schools. 19. Although many of the Africans have been baptized, the clergy have often objected to the practice until they can be properly instructed, leaving them subject to the reproach to which, as I have stated, they are sometimes exposed from those who, having been baptized in infancy, have not always grown up in such strict observance of their Christian obligations as entitle them to reflect upon the ignorance of others. 20. It has been suggested that their employers or some members of their families might become sponsors of the Africans, a spiritual relation which, when comprehended by them, would become a bond of respect and attachment, and which might be extended to their children. 21. Applications for further supplies of African labourers have been urgently addressed to me from all the islands in which the regulations framed on the Order in Council of 1838, to which I have alluded, are in force, indicating the confidence of the planters in their efficacy, and a sense of the value of such additions to the labouring population. His Excellency Lord Harris, I have, &c. (signed) W. M. G. Colebrooke. -No. 37. No. 37. Earl Grey to 7 October 1850. * Page 152. COPY of a DESPATCH from Earl Grey to Governor Barkly. (No. 252.) Sir, Downing-street, 7 October 1850. I HAVE to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch of the 15th August last, No. 121,* containing your observations on the suggestions which from time to time I had made for the improvement of the condition and the promotion of the industry of the labouring classes in British Guiana. I am not surprised to find that you anticipate great difficulty in the practical application of the policy which I have recommended in the present state of the colony. I fully expected that there would be many difficulties to be encountered, of which the precise nature could not be foreseen at this distance; and having now sufficiently explained my views with regard to the principles which ought to guide attempts by legislation to improve the condition of Guiana, it remains for yourself and the Court of Policy and Combined Court to determine in what manner and to what extent it would be safe and advantageous to act upon these principles, in the soundness of which I am happy to find that you so far concur. I will only add, with regard to the employment of Indians in the police, that I should only anticipate advantage from it if they were made to act under the immediate direction of Europeans; so employed the natives of Australia have been found very useful, and I doubt whether they stand higher in the scale of intelligence than the Indians of South America. No. 38. Earl Grey to Governor Barkly. 16 October 1850. 13 Sept. 1850. (No. 255.) Sir, - No. 38. COPY of a DESPATCH from Earl Grey to Governor Barkly. Downing-street, 16 October 1850. I TRANSMIT to you for your information the copy of a letter received from the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, complaining of the severity of the British Guiana license laws. Although I have not thought it necessary to enter into any discussion with the Society on this subject, I nevertheless wish to call your attention to section 26 of Ordinance No. 16 of 1850, by which persons omitting to pay penalties for I think it highly inexpedient that no distinction should be drawn between the punishment inflicted on those who are unable to pay fines for the contravention of fiscal laws and on those who have been guilty of offences implying moral delinquency. I am persuaded that the revenue would in fact be better collected if the penalties for default were much milder; and I shall be happy to find that you are able to carry out the views which you expressed in your despatch No. 121, of the 15th August last, respecting the repeal of these taxes, or some of them. In the mean time, I shall wish to be furnished with a return of the sentences and punishments for offences against the Ordinances for which No. 16 has been substituted, for the last twelve months for which they were in force, and also a quarterly return of sentences and punishments under No. 16, so long as it shall continue in force. BRITISH GUIANA. Enclosure in No. 38. To the Right honourable Earl Grey, Her Majesty's Secretary of State for the Colonies, My Lord, &c. &c. FOR a considerable time past the Committee of the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Encl. in No. 38. Society have had their attention directed to the oppressive character of the license law of British Guiana, and to the necessity of its being so amended as to meet the claims of justice and humanity. Those who suffer most from its operation are those less able, from their position, to appeal effectually against it, or to prevent the perpetuation of the evils of which they complain, but which, nevertheless, they are compelled to endure; they, therefore, naturally look to their friends in Great Britain to bring their case before the Home Government, and to the Government to redress their grievances. On general principles the whole scheme of licensing is open to serious objections; and, in its most restricted application, can only be justified in so far as the public health and welfare may seem to require it; but when it manifestly interferes with the rights of labour and the privilege of locomotion, the public interest and the general convenience, it assumes the form of a public nuisance which ought to be speedily and effectually abated. If the object of the license law were merely to raise a revenue for legitimate purposes, it is quite clear that a less exceptionable mode of obtaining it might have readily been found; but it is evident to the Committee, that its principal aim is to curtail the rights and privileges of the emancipated classes, to check their industry, to diminish their means of subsistence and improvement, and practically to reduce them to the condition of serfs on the plantations, or to drive them backwards into a state of barbarism. The committee beg to call your Lordship's serious attention to the general character of the law, and to its oppressive and injurious bearing on the labouring population of Guiana. With respect to the first point, the committee find-(1.) " That every person employing himself in huckstering in the streets of the city of Georgetown, or of the town of New Amsterdam," any "goods, wares, merchandize, charcoal, provisions or refreshments," shall take out a license for the same, for which he must pay the sum of 10 dollars. Such license, however, shall not authorize the holder thereof to huckster beyond the boundaries of the said city or town, both of which are of limited extent, and, therefore, the huckster must take out another license to sell the articles already specified, in the "rural districts," at an additional cost of 10 dollars. The only things for the sale of which a license is unnecessary, are "fruit, plantains, bananas or other vegetables," when vended by the grower thereof, BRITISH GUIANA. otherwise a license must be procured, and "fresh fish." (2.) The occupier of any " store, shop or room, in which there shall be exposed for sale any goods, wares, merchandize, drugs, provisions or refreshments," must take out a license for sale of the same, at the cost of 20 dollars, provided the income tax to be paid by such party shall not exceed 20 dollars, in which case the amount paid shall be deducted from the income-tax by the Receivergeneral. (3.) The owner of any "colony schooner, sloop, vessel, boat, batteau, corial or craft," must take out a license for the same, at the following rates; viz., when under 20 feet long, 2 dollars; from 20 and under 30 feet, 4 dollars; and above 30 feet, 6 dollars each. (4.) The owner of "a cart, with or without springs, to ply for hire," must take out a license for the same, if used in the city of Georgetown and the town of Amsterdam, at a cost of 50 dollars; and if employed in the "rural districts," at an additional cost of 12 dollars. (5.) "Every person acting as a porter, either in the city of Georgetown or in the town of New Amsterdam, or on board of any ship or vessel, either in the River Demerara or the River Berbice," must take out a license at a cost of 6 dollars. These several licenses are to be held for a period of one year. For non-compliance with: or evasion of the provisions of this law, forfeitures to double the amount of the cost of the several licenses may be exacted for each offence. The penalties which may be inflicted under this law will be found in the following clause of the Ordinance :-"And be it enacted, that if any person convicted of any offence against the provisions of this Ordinance, and adjudged to pay any penalty, shall refuse or omit to pay such penalty, such person shall be committed to the common gaol, with or without hard labour, for any period not less than six days and not exceeding one month, if such conviction shall have been by one justice; for any period not exceeding two mon hs, if such conviction shall have been by two or more justices; for any period not exceeding six months, if such conviction shall have been before an inferior court of criminal justice; and for any period not exceeding one year, if judgment or sentence shall have been given against any such person by a supreme court of justice, civil or criminal, unless any such penalty shall be sooner paid." And further, to prevent the infringement of the law, all informers are entitled to receive "one-fourth part of the fines, penalties and forfeitures" incurred by its infraction; and to stimulate the exertions of the police, one-half of the net proceeds of all fines, penalties and forfeitures, after paying any informer, and all costs, charges and expenses, shall belong and be paid to the officer or person who shall detain, seize and sue the same. "The informer or the officer, notwithstanding his interest in the fines, penalties and forfeitures" to be inflicted, shall be taken and deemed a competent witness. It is also enacted, that any commissary of taxation, member of the police force or constable," shall have power "to detain any person who shall refuse or neglect to produce a license," together "with all goods, wares and merchandize found upon such person or under his care or control," and to take such a person before a justice of the peace, whether local or stipendiary, with a view to his conviction. From this brief summary it results that " every baker, butcher, tailor, shoemaker, tinman, &c., who occupies a store, shop or room," and exposes in either of them "any goods, wares, merchandize, charcoal, provisions or refreshments," must take out a license, the cost of which will be 20 dollars; that if he huckster any of these articles in city or town, whether it be a loaf of bread, a piece of beef or a pound of salt fish, a pair of shoes or an article of clothing, a tin kettle or a piece of earthenware, or whatever else may be useful and necessary, he must take out an additional license, the cost of which will be 10 dollars; and if he extends his sale beyond the very limited precincts of the city or town specified, into the rural districts, he must take out another license at an additional cost of 10 dollars; and further, in no case is he allowed to employ more than "one servant" under his license, to vend his goods, whose name must be indorsed thereon. But further, if he cross a river or creek in his corial or boat, in the pursuit of his business, he must take out a license varying in amount from two to six dollars for such craft. It also appears, that if the delivery of his goods require the aid of a porter, he must either license his own servants or employ those who are licensed, to do this necessary work, if he reside in city or town; the cost of a porter's license being six dollars. These unjust, expensive and vexatious trammels on the freedom of trade and the rights of locomotion, can have ultimately but one effect, viz., that of giving a monopoly of business to the larger merchants, storekeepers and capitalists, and, consequently, to prevent the more humble classes from entering into competition with them, and of gradually forming a business which shall prove equally beneficial to themselves and to their customers. To show the palpable unfairness of the licensing system in Guiana, the committee call your Lordship's attention to the fact, that in the case of those storekeepers who pay an incometax equal to or above the value of the store license, say 20 dollars, the value of such license is to be deducted from the income-tax, and consequently, they obtain their licenses for nothing, whilst the petty tradesman is subjected to the full weight of this heavy impost. And your Lordship will also perceive, that whilst the batteau or corial of the labourer is taxed and subjected to a variety of vexatious regulations, the horses, chaises and carriages. of the dominant party are relieved altogether from taxation. Such partiality in the application of a fiscal law must necessarily create disgust if it do not engender a worse feeling in the minds of the people. The committee cannot believe that your Lordship will continue BRITISH GUIANA. to sanction such proceedings as these. From the foregoing summary it also results that the humbler classes cannot engage in a variety of useful, necessary and honourable employments, without previously arming themselves with licenses; that they cannot, for instance, make a batch of bread for the common advantage, and sell a portion of it to their neighbours, without a license; that they cannot dispose of the surplus of a pig or a goat which they may kill, or any poultry they may have reared without a license; in fact, they can sell nothing, either in town or country, whether it results from their skill or their industry, except "fruit, plantains, bananas and fresh fish," without a license; and this exemption they are permitted to enjoy with the large plantain-growers, because the operation of the late license law, in this particular, was found to curtail the supply of the necessaries of life to such an extent, as to render them extravagantly dear to all classes of the community. Almost the only occupations for which licenses do not appear to be required under the present law, are those of agricultural labourers and menial servants. Any one aspiring to an employment above these, even to be a common porter in city or town, must pay for it; but, in addition to the cost of the licenses required, the people are constantly liable to the vexatious, and sometimes malicious interference of informers, not always the most scrupulous members of society, and to the constant and sometimes insolent surveillance of the police force, whose interest it is made to watch the people, in the hope of obtaining rewards in the shape of "fines, penalties and forfeitures," and who are protected from all consequences to themselves, under the convenient plea of what is termed "the discharge of their duty." From this summary it further results, that the right of locomotion to the labouring population is greatly abridged and curtailed. Every boat, batteau, corial or craft, no matter how employed, whether for hire or otherwise, must be licensed, the payment for which varies, according to their size, from two to six dollars. Now, the rivers and creeks of Guiana are its great highways, and the boat or corial is as necessary to its people as are their legs, indeed they not unfrequently are so designated in the colony. Now to require a license for such craft, appears to the committee to be both shameful and cruel, and displays an animus of the worst kind. The intention of this Act is evidently to confine the people, as much as possible, within certain limited districts; and should they go beyond them, to make them pay for the privilege. One of the effects of this law is to deny, in many, if not in most instances, to the residents on the west banks of the Demerara and Berbice. Rivers, all access to the markets at Georgetown and New Amsterdam, besides in a thousand other ways to interfere with their convenience and comfort. It impedes, moreover, the free circulation of labour, for the peasant on one side of a river or creek cannot go to the other to seek for better wages or a more suitable employer without paying for it. Nothing can justify this; but the committee further observe, that the restrictions which this law imposes on the rights of locomotion and labour are aggravated by the mode in which the law can be enforced; the labourer may have his boat or corial seized, when the license is either lost, or from some accident or other not immediately forthcoming, and then he must suffer the loss of time consequent upon detention, the expense connected with witnesses, &c., &c., and thus he is perpetually liable to be impeded in the pursuits of industry or recreation, and to be subjected to an irritation of mind which greatly indisposes him towards the masters as a class. To remove this and other just causes of complaint is, in the judgment of the committee, an urgent and necessary duty. Lastly, from this summary results the painful fact, that non-compliance with a fiscal regulation, partial and oppressive in its character, is confounded, in the nature of the punishments which it entails, with criminal offences, and thus the great moral distinctions between right and wrong are broken down. Your Lordship will perceive that punishments ranging from six days to one year of imprisonment in gaol, with or without hard labour, may be inflicted on offenders under the license law, and, as a consequence, there may be constantly seen at work in the same penal gang, clothed in the gaol dress, those who are convicted of an infraction of the license law, and are unable, either in whole or in part, to pay the fines inflicted, with thieves and other misdemeanants sentenced to penal labour. It is in vain, my Lord, to talk of elevating any people under such circumstances, with such sights before them as these. To place in the same penal gang the man who has used his corial without a license, who has sold a loaf of bread, a piece of fresh meat or a pair of shoes, or any other useful article without a license, with the hardened offender, whose crimes deserve a severe punishment, is the right way to destroy all self-respect in the one, and to lead the other to believe himself less guilty than the law has pronounced him to be. Looking at the partial and oppressive operation of many laws now in force in Guiana, at the nature of the penalties inflicted for opposite classes of offences, confounding as they do the distinctions of right and wrong, the committee, whilst they deeply regret, are not surprised to find that Governor Barkly complains that many prisoners in the gaol seem to have lost all sense of the degradation which their punishment involves, and that he recommends recourse to the whip to awaken their dormant sensibilities. The committee have no faith in the virtues of the whip when so applied, but they have great faith in laws founded in equity and justice, which teach the great distinctions between what is morally right and what is morally wrong, and which make a difference in the punishments which they inflict on the |