were common, notwithstanding that the case only came to their notice
through the trial and punishment of the offender. The fact was the
planter could not afford to ill-treat his slave--no other animal of his
live stock was of so much value. If a valuable horse were killed
another could be obtained to replace him, but this was almost impossible
in the case of the negro. Formerly, when he cost about L20, it might
have paid to work him to death; now that his price was five or six times
as much, self-interest alone prevented ill-treatment. There was a strong
public opinion in every colony which prevented cruelty, and there were
societies in some which gave prizes to those in charge of estates who
raised the greatest number of children in proportion to their negroes.
This breeding of negroes was necessarily very slow work, and did little
to make up for the stoppage of importation. It followed, therefore, that
every year the amount of available labour became less.

In 1815 the anti-slavery party commenced a further agitation in favour
of the negro, with the result that a Registrar of slaves was appointed
for each colony, and ultimately a Protector. By obtaining an annual
census they hoped to have some check on the decrease, and at the same
time see if any Africans were surreptitiously imported. In some places
there was already a slave registration for the purpose of adjusting the
head-tax; here the planters did not oppose the measure, although they
resented interference. Others, like Barbados, protested against the
innovation as something quite unnecessary, or even if desirable, not to
be imposed upon them from outside. This led to a great deal of
discussion at the planters' tables, where the slave waiters listened to
what was said, and from thence carried garbled reports to the others.

In every colony were numbers of free negroes and coloured people, some
of whom were loafers and spongers on the slaves, while others went about
the country peddling. Having nothing to do, they became the
news-carriers and circulators of garbled reports. In 1815 there lived in
Barbados a free coloured man named Washington Franklin, who, like many
negroes, was possessed of a good memory and a great power of
declamation. Getting hold of the English and colonial newspapers, he
would read the speeches of Wilberforce and others, and after putting his
own construction on them, retail them in language tending to rouse the
slaves. To him was due an i