On this page
-
Text (1)
-
Untitled Article
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
As our sabbaths , as we sometimes termed them , came round , they were informed by the overseer that they were at liberty to spend the afternoon with me in the boiling-house , if they felt disposed to do so ; but , if
otherwise , they must return to the field and work their usual hours . Immediately , therefore , on seeing * what the nature of our plan was , they agreed to throw down their hoes and prepare for me . Not , I believe , that they felt any particular anxiety respecting * matters of religion ; but because they knew , full
well , that in paying a little attention to these things , they should be exposed to far less bodily labour than would fall to their share , were they to remain in the field under the scorching rays of a tropical sun . In this manner my sable audience was collected ; and , I doubt ziot , that it might have been
kept up , on similar principles , for any length of time , had such a measure been deemed desirable . It is true , that on most , if not on every occasion , a few individuals were found guilty of absenting themselves , who ought to
have attended . Yet this evil never existed to any very great extent ; and , most probably , it would never have been heard of at all , had we adhered with perfect strictness to the plan on which we professed to act ; but we were
fearful of pressing the matter too far , and particularly anxious to leave as much to the will of the Negroes as the nature of the case could be imagined to admit of . Yet I now acknowledge , on looking hack upon the business , that 1 think we should have done better
had we liwn more particular in putting the laws in force against those individuals by whom they were too frequently violated . At the same time , I must distinctly maintain , that our experience abundantly proved the possibility of raising and keeping up a congregation amongst the slaves without the sj irl of the lash . And this we
always regarded as a point of some importance , because it seems clearl y to remove a common and a very plausible objection to the moral reformamation of these degraded , unhappy people ; viz . that nothing short of means which nil object to , would ever be found suHiriently efficacious to induce them to attend , with proper punctuality , the lectures of a religious instructor . The experiment , it was
Untitled Article
affirmed , had been tried on the south side of the island by a clergyman of the Church of England , but without producing the desired effect ; the Negroes withdrawing their attendance after the first few meetings , although the hours of instruction
were taken from those of labour . But it does not appear that any efficient measures were employed to secure their attendance on the gratuitous labours of this benevolent individual , and ,
therefore , their conduct towards him wao fore , their conduct towards him was nothing more than might have been expected . I believe the Georgia Negroes would never have attended me in the manner they did , had it not been for the alternative which was
placed before them . They are all excessively fond of novelty , but totally destitute of perseverance where they are not urged on by "fear and force /' and consequently nothing regular can be expected from them , for any length
of time , when compliance depends entirely on their own will . The fact is , they are mere babes in understanding , quite ignorant of the importance of knowledge to a rational being , and seem , without any exception , to take it for certain , that the whole of
Christianity is comprised in the ceremony of baptism . After this it will , perhaps , be asked , what good could a mere preacher expect to result from his exertions amongst such a people as the
negroeslaves ? To which I reply , not so much as he would naturally wish , and most probably promise himself ; yet , under proper patronage , he vvould be able to accomplish something . But as things now are , nothing is achieved *
? I allude to the condition of the slaves on sugar -estates in general . On the properties of several gentlemen , endeavours have long been , and are still , making for the religious improvement of the slaves , but , I am fearful , with but trilling success . The Moravian brethren , whom scarcely any difficulties can disin
courage , still continue to sow the seed hope , on the sterile soil of Jamaica . And I was informed by one of their missionaries , who has spent many years in the West Indies , that one of their settlements in this island is now in a flourishing condition . The brethren have long l > ecm tried in Jamaica , and they seem to have gained the respect of all parties .
Untitled Article
298 Mr . Cooper on the Disposition of Negroes to embrace Christianity
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1822, page 298, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2512/page/42/
-