Mary Prince - The History of Mary Prince

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My first evidence is Mr. Joseph Phillips, of Antigua. Having submitted to
his inspection Mr. Wood's letter and Mary Prince's narrative, and
requested his candid and deliberate sentiments in regard to the actual
facts of the case, I have been favoured with the following letter from him
on the subject:--

"London, January 18, 1831.

"Dear Sir,

"In giving you my opinion of Mary Prince's narrative, and of
Mr. Wood's letter respecting her, addressed to Mr. Taylor, I
shall first mention my opportunities of forming a proper
estimate of the conduct and character of both
parties.

"I have known Mr. Wood since his first arrival in Antigua in
1803. He was then a poor young man, who had been brought up
as a ship carpenter in Bermuda. He was afterwards raised to
be a clerk in the Commissariat department, and realised
sufficient capital to commence business as a merchant. This
last profession he has followed successfully for a good many
years, and is understood to have accumulated very
considerable wealth. After he entered into trade, I had
constant intercourse with him in the way of business; and in
1824 and 1825, I was regularly employed on his premises as
his clerk; consequently, I had opportunities of seeing a
good deal of his character both as a merchant, and as a
master of slaves. The former topic I pass over as irrelevant
to the present subject: in reference to the latter, I shall
merely observe that he was not, in regard to ordinary
matters, more severe than the ordinary run of slave owners;
but, if seriously offended, he was not of a disposition to
be easily appeased, and would spare no cost or sacrifice to
gratify his vindictive feelings. As regards the exaction of
work from domestic slaves, his wife was probably more severe
than himself--it was almost impossible for the slaves ever
to give her entire satisfaction.

"Of their slave Molly (or Mary) I know less than of Mr. and
Mrs. Wood; but I saw and heard enough of her, both while I
was constantly employed on Mr. Wood's premises, and while I
was there occasionally on business, to be quite certain that
she was viewed by her owners as their most respectable and
trustworthy female slave. It is within my personal knowledge
that she had usually the charge of the house in their
absence, was entrusted with the keys, &c.; and was always
considered by the neighbours and visitors as their
confidential household servant, and as a person in whose
integrity they placed unlimited confidence,--although when
Mrs. Wood was at home, she was no doubt kept pretty closely
at washing and other hard work. A decided proof of the
estimation in which she was held by her owners exists in the
fact that Mr. Wood uniformly refused to part with her,
whereas he sold five other slaves while she was with them.
Indeed, she always appeared to me to be a slave of superior
intelligence and respectability; and I always understood
such to be her general character in the place.

"As to what Mr. Wood alleges about her being frequently
before the police, &c. I can only say I never heard of the
circumstance before; and as I lived for twenty years in the
same small town, and in the vicinity of their residence, I
think I could scarcely have failed to become acquainted with
it, had such been the fact. She might, however, have been
occasionally before the magistrate in consequence of little
disputes among the slaves, without any serious imputation on
her general respectability. She says she was twice summoned
to appear as a witness on such occasions; and that she was
once sent by her mistress to be confined in the Cage, and
was afterwards flogged by her desire. This cruel practice is
very common in Antigua; and, in my opinion, is but little
creditable to the slave owners and magistrates by whom such
arbitrary punishments are inflicted, frequently for very
trifling faults. Mr. James Scotland is the only magistrate
in the colony who invariably refuses to sanction this
reprehensible practice.

"Of the immoral conduct ascribed to Molly by Mr. Wood, I can
say nothing further than this--that I have heard she had at
a former period (previous to her marriage) a connexion with
a white person, a Capt. ----, which I have no doubt was
broken off when she became seriously impressed with
religion. But, at any rate, such connexions are so common, I
might almost say universal, in our slave colonies, that
except by the missionaries and a few serious persons, they
are considered, if faults at all, so very venial as scarcely
to deserve the name of immorality. Mr. Wood knows this
colonial estimate of such connexions as well as I do; and,
however false such an estimate must be allowed to be,
especially When applied to their own conduct by persons of
education, pretending to adhere to the pure Christian rule
of morals,--yet when he ascribes to a negro slave, to whom
legal marriage was denied, such great criminality for laxity
of this sort, and professes to be so exceedingly shocked and
amazed at the tale he himself relates, he must, I am
confident, have had a farther object in view than the
information of Mr. Taylor or Sir Patrick Ross. He must, it
is evident, have been aware that his letter would be sent to
Mr. Allen, and accordingly adapted it, as more important
documents from the colonies are often adapted, _for effect
in England_. The tale of the slave Molly's immoralities, be
assured, was not intended for Antigua so much as for Stoke
Newington, and Peckham, and Aldermanbury.

"In regard to Mary's narrative generally, although I cannot
speak to the accuracy of the details, except in a few recent
particulars, I can with safety declare that I see no reason
to question the truth of a single fact stated by her, or
even to suspect her in any instance of intentional
exaggeration. It bears in my judgment the genuine stamp of
truth and nature. Such is my unhesitating opinion, after a
residence of twenty-seven years in the West Indies.

"I remain, &c.
"JOSEPH PHILLIPS."

_To T. Pringle, Esq._

"P.S. As Mr. Wood refers to the evidence of Dr. T. Coull in
opposition to Mary's assertions, it may be proper to enable
you justly to estimate the worth of that person's evidence
in cases connected with the condition and treatment of
slaves. You are aware that in 1829, Mr. M'Queen of Glasgow,
in noticing a Report of the "Ladies' Society of Birmingham
for the relief of British Negro Slaves," asserted with his
characteristic audacity, that the statement which it
contained respecting distressed and deserted slaves in
Antigua was "an abominable falsehood." Not contented with
this, and with insinuating that I, as agent of the society
in the distribution of their charity in Antigua, had
fraudulently duped them out of their money by a fabricated
tale of distress, Mr. M'Queen proceeded to libel me in the
most opprobrious terms, as "a man of the most worthless and
abandoned character."[20] Now I know from good authority that
it was _upon Dr. Coull's information_ that Mr. M'Queen
founded this impudent contradiction of notorious facts, and
this audacious libel of my personal character. From this
single circumstance you may judge of the value of his
evidence in the case of Mary Prince. I can furnish further
information respecting Dr. Coull's colonial proceedings,
both private and judicial, should circumstances require it."
"J. P."

[Footnote 20: In elucidation of the circumstances above
referred to, I subjoin the following extracts from the Report
of the Birmingham Ladies' Society for 1830:--

"As a portion of the funds of this association has been
appropriated to assist the benevolent efforts of a society
which has for fifteen years afforded relief to distressed
and deserted slaves in Antigua, it may not be uninteresting
to our friends to learn the manner in which the agent of
this society has been treated for simply obeying the command
of our Saviour, by ministering, like the good Samaritan, to
the distresses of the helpless and the desolate. The
society's proceedings being adverted to by a friend of
Africa, at one of the public meetings held in this country,
a West Indian planter, who was present, wrote over to his
friends in Antigua, and represented the conduct of the
distributors of this charity in such a light, that it was
deemed worthy of the cognizance of the House of Assembly.
Mr. Joseph Phillips, a resident of the island, who had most
kindly and disinterestedly exerted himself in the
distribution of the money from England among the poor
deserted slaves, was brought before the Assembly, and most
severely interrogated: on his refusing to deliver up his
private correspondence with his friends in England, he was
thrown into a loathsome jail, where he was kept for nearly
five months; while his loss of business, and the oppressive
proceedings instituted against him, were involving him in
poverty and ruin. On his discharge by the House of Assembly,
he was seized in their lobby for debt, and again
imprisoned."

"In our report for the year 1826, we quoted a passage from
the 13th Report of the Society for the relief of deserted
Slaves in the island of Antigua, in reference to a case of
great distress. This statement fell into the hands of Mr.
M'Queen, the Editor of the Glasgow Courier. Of the
consequences resulting from this circumstance we only gained
information through the Leicester Chronicle, which had
copied an article from the Weekly Register of Antigua, dated
St. John's, September 22, 1829. We find from this that Mr.
M'Queen affirms, that 'with the exception of the fact that
the society is, as it deserves to be, duped out of its
money, the whole tale' (of the distress above referred to)
'is an abominable falsehood.' This statement, which we are
informed has appeared in many of the public papers, is
COMPLETELY REFUTED in our Appendix, No. 4, to which
we refer our readers. Mr. M'Queen's statements, we regret to
say, would lead many to believe that there are no deserted
Negroes to assist; and that the case mentioned was a perfect
fabrication. He also distinctly avers, that the
disinterested and humane agent of the society, Mr. Joseph
Phillips, is 'a man of the most worthless and abandoned
character.' In opposition to this statement, we learn the
good character of Mr. Phillips from those who have long been
acquainted with his laudable exertions in the cause of
humanity, and from the Editor of the Weekly Register of
Antigua, who speaks, on his own knowledge, of more than
twenty years back; confidently appealing at the same time to
the inhabitants of the colony in which he resides for the
truth of his averments, and producing a testimonial to Mr.
Phillips's good character signed by two members of the
Antigua House of Assembly, and by Mr. Wyke, the collector of
his Majesty's customs, and by Antigua merchants, as
follows--'that they have been acquainted with him the last
four years and upwards, and he has always conducted himself
in an upright becoming manner--his character we know to be
unimpeached, and his morals unexceptionable.'

(Signed) "Thomas Saunderson John D. Taylor
John A. Wood George Wyke
Samuel L. Darrel Giles S. Musson
Robert Grant."

"St. John's, Antigua, June 28, 1825."

In addition to the above testimonies, Mr. Phillips has brought over to
England with him others of a more recent date, from some of the most
respectable persons in Antigua--sufficient to cover with confusion all his
unprincipled calumniators. See also his account of his own case in the
Anti-Slavery Reporter, No. 74, p. 69.]

I leave the preceding letter to be candidly weighed by the reader in
opposition to the inculpatory allegations of Mr. Wood--merely remarking
that Mr. Wood will find it somewhat difficult to impugn the evidence of
Mr. Phillips, whose "upright," "unimpeached," and "unexceptionable"
character, he has himself vouched for in unqualified terms, by affixing
his signature to the testimonial published in the Weekly Register of
Antigua in 1825. (See Note below.)

The next testimony in Mary's behalf is that of Mrs. Forsyth, a lady in
whose service she spent the summer of 1829.--(See page 21.) This lady, on
leaving London to join her husband, voluntarily presented Mary with a
certificate, which, though it relates only to a recent and short period of
her history, is a strong corroboration of the habitual respectability of
her character. It is in the following terms:--

"Mrs. Forsyth states, that the bearer of this paper (Mary
James,) has been with her for the last six months; that she
has found her an excellent character, being honest,
industrious, and sober; and that she parts with her on no
other account than this--that being obliged to travel with
her husband, who has lately come from abroad in bad health,
she has no farther need of a servant. Any person Wishing to
engage her, can have her character in full from Miss Robson,
4, Keppel Street, Russel Square, whom Mrs. Forsyth has
requested to furnish particulars to any one desiring them.

"4, Keppel Street, 28th Sept. 1829."

In the last place, I add my own testimony in behalf of this negro woman.
Independently of the scrutiny, which, as Secretary of the Anti-Slavery
Society, I made into her case when she first applied for assistance, at
18, Aldermanbury, and the watchful eye I kept upon her conduct for the
ensuing twelvemonths, while she was the occasional pensioner of the
Society, I have now had the opportunity of closely observing her conduct
for fourteen months, in the situation of a domestic servant in my own
family; and the following is the deliberate opinion of Mary's character,
formed not only by myself, but also by my wife and sister-in-law, after
this ample period of observation. We have found her perfectly honest and
trustworthy in all respects; so that we have no hesitation in leaving
every thing in the house at her disposal. She had the entire charge of the
house during our absence in Scotland for three months last autumn, and
conducted herself in that charge with the utmost discretion and fidelity.
She is not, it is true, a very expert housemaid, nor capable of much hard
work, (for her constitution appears to be a good deal broken,) but she is
careful, industrious, and anxious to do her duty and to give satisfaction.
She is capable of strong attachments, and feels deep, though unobtrusive,
gratitude for real kindness shown her. She possesses considerable natural
sense, and has much quickness of observation and discrimination of
character. She is remarkable for _decency_ and _propriety_ of conduct--and
her _delicacy_, even in trifling minutiae, has been a trait of special
remark by the females of my family. This trait, which is obviously quite
unaffected, would be a most inexplicable anomaly, if her former habits had
been so indecent and depraved as Mr. Wood alleges. Her chief faults, so
far as we have discovered them, are, a somewhat violent and hasty temper,
and a considerable share of natural pride and self-importance; but these
defects have been but rarely and transiently manifested, and have scarcely
occasioned an hour's uneasiness at any time in our household. Her
religious knowledge, notwithstanding the pious care of her Moravian
instructors in Antigua, is still but very limited, and her views of
christianity indistinct; but her profession, whatever it may have of
imperfection, I am convinced, has nothing of insincerity. In short, we
consider her on the whole as respectable and well-behaved a person in her
station, as any domestic, white or black, (and we have had ample
experience of both colours,) that we have ever had in our service.

But after all, Mary's character, important though its exculpation be to
her, is not really the point of chief practical interest in this case.
Suppose all Mr. Wood's defamatory allegations to be true--suppose him to
be able to rake up against her out of the records of the Antigua police,
or from the veracious testimony of his brother colonists, twenty stories
as bad or worse than what he insinuates--suppose the whole of her own
statement to be false, and even the whole of her conduct since she came
under our observation here to be a tissue of hypocrisy;--suppose all
this--and leave the negro woman as black in character as in
complexion,[21]--yet it would affect not the main facts--which are
these.--1. Mr. Wood, not daring in England to punish this woman
arbitrarily, as he would have done in the West Indies, drove her out of
his house, or left her, at least, only the alternative of returning
instantly to Antigua, with the certainty of severe treatment there, or
submitting in silence to what she considered intolerable usage in his
household. 2. He has since obstinately persisted in refusing her
manumission, to enable her to return home in security, though repeatedly
offered more than ample compensation for her value as a slave; and this on
various frivolous pretexts, but really, and indeed not unavowedly, in
order to _punish_ her for leaving his service in England, though he
himself had professed to give her that option. These unquestionable facts
speak volumes.[22]

[Footnote 21: If it even were so, how strong a plea of palliation might not
the poor negro bring, by adducing the neglect of her various owners to
afford religious instruction or moral discipline, and the habitual
influence of their evil _example_ (to say the very least,) before her
eyes? What moral good could she possibly learn--what moral evil could she
easily escape, while under the uncontrolled power of such masters as she
describes Captain I---- and Mr. D---- of Turk's Island? All things
considered, it is indeed wonderful to find her such as she now is. But as
she has herself piously expressed it, "that God whom then she knew not
mercifully preserved her for better things."]

[Footnote 22: Since the preceding pages were printed off, I have been
favoured with a communication from the Rev. J. Curtin, to whom among other
acquaintances of Mr. Wood's in this country, the entire proof sheets of
this pamphlet had been sent for inspection. Mr. Curtin corrects some
omissions and inaccuracies in Mary Prince's narrative (see page 17,) by
stating, 1. That she was baptized, not in August, but on the 6th of April,
1817; 2. That sometime before her baptism, on her being admitted a
catechumen, preparatory to that holy ordinance, she brought a note from
her owner, Mr. Wood, recommending her for religious instruction, &c.; 3.
That it was his usual practice, when any adult slaves came on _week days_
to school, to require their owners' permission for their attendance; but
that on _Sundays_ the chapel was open indiscriminately to all.--Mary,
after a personal interview with Mr. Curtin, and after hearing his letter
read by me, still maintains that Mr. Wood's note recommended her for
baptism merely, and that she never received any religious instruction
whatever from Mr. and Mrs. Wood, or from any one else at that period
beyond what she has stated in her narrative. In regard to her
non-admission to the Sunday school without permission from her owners, she
admits that she may possibly have mistaken the clergyman's meaning on that
point, but says that such was certainly her impression at the time, and
the actual cause of her non-attendance.

Mr. Curtin finds in his books some reference to Mary's connection with a
Captain ----, (the individual, I believe, alluded to by Mr. Phillips at
page 32); but he states that when she attended his chapel she was always
decently and becomingly dressed, and appeared to him to be in a situation
of trust in her mistress's family.

Mr. Curtin offers no comment on any other part of Mary's statement; but he
speaks in very favourable, though general terms of the respectability of
Mr. Wood, whom he had known for many years in Antigua; and of Mrs. Wood,
though she was not personally known to him, he says, that he had "heard
her spoken of by those of her acquaintance, as a lady of very mild and
amiable manners."

Another friend of Mr. and Mrs. Wood, a lady who had been their guest both
in Antigua and England, alleges that Mary has grossly misrepresented them
in her narrative; and says that she "can vouch for their being the most
benevolent, kind-hearted people that can possibly live." She has declined,
however, to furnish me with any written correction of the
misrepresentations she complains of, although I offered to insert her
testimony in behalf of her friends, if sent to me in time. And having
already kept back the publication a fortnight waiting for communications
of this sort, I will not delay it longer. Those who have withheld their
strictures have only themselves to blame.

Of the general character of Mr. and Mrs. Wood, I would not designedly give
any _unfair_ impression. Without implicitly adopting either the _ex parte_
view of Mary Prince, or the unmeasured encomiums of their friends, I am
willing to believe them to be, on the whole, fair, perhaps favourable,
specimens of colonial character. Let them even be rated, if you will, in
the very highest and most benevolent class of slave-holders; and, laying
everything else entirely out of view, let Mr. Wood's conduct in this
affair be tried exclusively by the facts established beyond dispute, and
by his own statement of the case in his letter to Mr. Taylor. But then, I
ask, if the very _best_ and _mildest_ of your slave-owners can act as Mr.
Wood is proved to have acted, what is to be expected of persons whose
mildness, or equity, or common humanity no one will dare to vouch for? If
such things are done in the green tree, what will be done in the dry?--And
what else then can Colonial Slavery possibly be, even in its best estate,
but a system incurably evil and iniquitous?--I require no other data--I
need add no further comment.]

The case affords a most instructive illustration of the true spirit of the
slave system, and of the pretensions of the slave-holders to assert, not
merely their claims to a "vested right" in the _labour_ of their bondmen,
but to an indefeasible property in them as their "absolute chattels." It
furnishes a striking practical comment on the assertions of the West
Indians that self-interest is a sufficient check to the indulgence of
vindictive feelings in the master; for here is a case where a man (a
_respectable_ and _benevolent_ man as his friends aver,) prefers losing
entirely the full price of the slave, for the mere satisfaction of
preventing a poor black woman from returning home to her husband! If the
pleasure of thwarting the benevolent wishes of the Anti-Slavery Society in
behalf of the deserted negro, be an additional motive with Mr. Wood, it
will not much mend his wretched plea.

* * * * *

I may here add a few words respecting the earlier portion of Mary Prince's
narrative. The facts there stated must necessarily rest entirely,--since
we have no collateral evidence,--upon their intrinsic claims to
probability, and upon the reliance the reader may feel disposed, after
perusing the foregoing pages, to place on her veracity. To my judgment,
the internal evidence of the truth of her narrative appears remarkably
strong. The circumstances are related in a tone of natural sincerity, and
are accompanied in almost every case with characteristic and minute
details, which must, I conceive, carry with them full conviction to every
candid mind that this negro woman has actually seen, felt, and suffered
all that she so impressively describes; and that the picture she has given
of West Indian slavery is not less true than it is revolting.

But there may be some persons into whose hands this tract may fall, so
imperfectly acquainted with the real character of Negro Slavery, as to be
shocked into partial, if not absolute incredulity, by the acts of inhuman
oppression and brutality related of Capt. I---- and his wife, and of Mr.
D----, the salt manufacturer of Turk's Island. Here, at least, such
persons may be disposed to think, there surely must be _some_
exaggeration; the facts are too shocking to be credible. The facts are
indeed shocking, but unhappily not the less credible on that account.
Slavery is a curse to the oppressor scarcely less than to the oppressed:
its natural tendency is to brutalize both. After a residence myself of six
years in a slave colony, I am inclined to doubt whether, as regards its
_demoralizing_ influence, the master is not even a greater object of
compassion than his bondman. Let those who are disposed to doubt the
atrocities related in this narrative, on the testimony of a sufferer,
examine the details of many cases of similar barbarity that have lately
come before the public, on unquestionable evidence. Passing over the
reports of the Fiscal of Berbice,[23] and the Mauritius horrors recently
unveiled,[24] let them consider the case of Mr. and Mrs. Moss, of the
Bahamas, and their slave Kate, so justly denounced by the Secretary for
the Colonies;[25]--the cases of Eleanor Mead,[26]--of Henry
Williams,[27]--and of the Rev. Mr. Bridges and Kitty Hylton,[28] in
Jamaica. These cases alone might suffice to demonstrate the inevitable
tendency of slavery as it exists in our colonies, to brutalize the master
to a truly frightful degree--a degree which would often cast into the
shade even the atrocities related in the narrative of Mary Prince; and
which are sufficient to prove, independently of all other evidence, that
there is nothing in the revolting character of the facts to affect their
credibility; but that on the contrary, similar deeds are at this very time
of frequent occurrence in almost every one of our slave colonies. The
system of coercive labour may vary in different places; it may be more
destructive to human life in the cane culture of Mauritius and Jamaica,
than in the predial and domestic bondage of Bermuda or the Bahamas,--but
the spirit and character of slavery are every where the same, and cannot
fail to produce similar effects. Wherever slavery prevails, there will
inevitably be found cruelty and oppression. Individuals who have preserved
humane, and amiable, and tolerant dispositions towards their black
dependents, may doubtless be found among slave-holders; but even where a
happy instance of this sort occurs, such as Mary's first mistress, the
kind-hearted Mrs. Williams, the favoured condition of the slave is still
as precarious as it is rare: it is every moment at the mercy of events;
and must always be held by a tenure so proverbially uncertain as that of
human prosperity, or human life. Such examples, like a feeble and
flickering streak of light in a gloomy picture, only serve by contrast to
exhibit the depth of the prevailing shades. Like other exceptions, they
only prove the general rule: the unquestionable tendency of the system is
to vitiate the best tempers, and to harden the most feeling hearts. "Never
be kind, nor speak kindly to a slave," said an accomplished English lady
in South Africa to my wife: "I have now," she added, "been for some time a
slave-owner, and have found, from vexatious experience in my own
household, that nothing but harshness and hauteur will do with slaves."

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