In one of the
islands, where provision-ground did not answer one year in three, the
allowance to a working Negro was but from five to nine pints of grain per
week: in Dominica, where it never failed, from six to seven quarts: in
Nevis and St. Christophers, where there was no provision-ground, it was but
eleven pints. Add to this, that it might be still less, as the
circumstances of their masters might become embarrassed; and in this case
both an abridgment of their food, and an increase of their labour, would
follow.
But the great cause of the decrease of the slaves was in the non-residence
of the planters. Sir George Yonge, and many others, had said, they had seen
the slaves treated in a manner, which their owners would have resented, if
they had known it. Mr. Orde spoke in the strongest terms of the misconduct
of managers. The fact was, that these in general sought to establish their
characters by producing large crops at a small immediate expense; too
little considering how far the slaves might suffer from ill-treatment and
excessive labour. The pursuit of such a system was a criterion for judging
of their characters, as both Mr. Long and Mr.
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