Before the agitation of this impolitic question the slaves were contented
with their situation. There was a mutual confidence between them and their
masters: and this continued to be the case till the new doctrines were
broached. But now depots of arms were necessary on every estate; and the
scene was totally reversed. Nor was their religious then inferior to their
civil state. When the English took possession of Grenada, where his
property lay, they found them baptized and instructed in the principles of
the Roman Catholic faith. The priests of that persuasion had indeed been
indefatigable in their vocation; so that imported Africans generally
obtained within twelve months a tolerable idea of their religious duties.
He had seen the slaves there go through the public mass in a manner, and
with a fervency, which would have done credit to more civilized societies.
But the case was now altered; for, except where the Moravians had been,
there was no trace in our islands of an attention to their religious
interests.
It had been said, that their punishments were severe. There might be
instances of cruelty; but these were not general. Many of them were
undoubtedly ill disposed; though not more, according to their number, on a
plantation, than in a regiment, or in a ship's crew.
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