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their wre £ ck « kt Kves . . Jtis notorious that blm&yds most unfriendly $ cfe the praducti « a of ijiftfoiaadtaltei thM in several ways it ^ itead * - * firee ^ y jto ritB destruction * r- > *> \ - - »¦ The . few sehalars we had # made , on the whole * a satisfactory progress .
Before they left us ^ : eight . of > tbemr * iv--cluding two brown girls * could read the Scriptures with considerable ease .: they went through three of ( the Gospels , besides reading various extracts from the Old Testament ^ nd the Acts
of die Apostles . But it is unnecessary that I should dwell . * m this point , it being so well known a » d generally acknowledged , that the Negroes are capable of ; learning to read with as much facility as any other people . I must not , ^ however , omit to explain a
circumstance of some importance , as connected with their instruction in this art , upon which , I flatter myself , considerable light was thrown by our experience . The loss of time which it might be supposed would be occasioned to the master , if the slaves
were allowed an opportunity of learn * - ing to read , has been regarded as constituting a / most powerful objection to the measure ; but the children under our tuition made the progress described above , by the time it is usual to send them into the field to work
and , consequently , an important object was accomplished without putting the estate to any inconvenience whatever . Now there certainly is no reason why the children of other estates might not be brought to make , a similar improvement with as little loss or inconvenience to their owners . But
it will , perhaps , be said , that by the time they became of age to learn their letters , they might be formed into a gang , and seat out to gather green herbs for the pigs , under the superintendence of an aged woman , and on some estates this is done ; not ,
however , so much ia consequence of the value of what is brought in , as the importance of keeping the little creatures out of idleness , and getting them to iorm habits of industry in early life . But surely the school-master or mistress would be able to secure the
former as effectually as the driver , if not the latter alsoy and at the same time , make sure of laying a good foundation Jor their future advancement in knowledge and- virtgie . Thus it appears ,
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4 & $ t * arrangements might bfe * madf with the greatest ease , sufficient to secure to / the slaves the means of a common education ; : but the policy b £ the measure is , no doubt , another jquestion . -What I now chiefly con * . 4 end for is , that the childceiL might
be brought to a valuable degree of forwardness by the time the planters would thiak of employing them in the cane-field ; and till they are employed there , any thing , they may do in the shape of work , can be o £ but trifling importance to the estate . For ibv * t * - ~ - - m t
own par , I have no hesitation in-confessing , what I have indeed * in effect , stated before , viz ., that I quite believe education would bring on a revolt amongst the slaves ; for I cannot be brought to believe , that an enlightened people would ever submit , with the least degree of patience , to the
indignities , privations and hardships , which naturally result from slavery , as it now exists in Jamaica . Any people may be held down for a time , by dint of mere force , but as long as they retain the feelings , faculties and virtues of men , they will be sure to watch for
and embrace the first opportunity of escaping . As long , therefore , as the Negroes are to remain the victims of a disgusting tyranny , it seems to be nothing more than a piece of necessary policy to keep them from every spe ~ cies of intellectual improvement ; and , what is worse , even to instil into their
minds a number of false maxims and erroneous doctrines . It is consistent , if not humane , in those masters who will not admit of the idea of ultimate emancipation , to keep their slaves not only fruin reading and writing , but from every thing that may be regarded as at all above the wants of animals
doomed from their birth to hard labour . Where is the kindness or wisdom of pointing out to a fellow-crea ^ ture the miseries of his situation , vvhea it is decreed that the cause of them shall not be touched till he goes to
the place appointed for all living ? I am disposed to believe , that the planters in general would rejoice to see the Negroes become an informed and happy peasantry , provided such an amelioration in their condition could
be brought about without endangering their fidelity , but that they are not prepared to risk ; and hence they seem to bc x quite opposed to eveiry
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Mr . Uaoper wrt ^ sDifigmUten' * f- * ke Negr&e&to Am bracts ChrUtianhk . < 4 SS
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1822, page 493, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2515/page/37/
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