ear
1823, not long after the establishment of the Wesleyan church in the
island, the chapel in Bridgetown was destroyed by a mob. Not one stone
was left upon another. They carried the fragments for miles away from
the site, and scattered them about in every direction, so that the
chapel might never be rebuilt. Some of the instigators and chief actors
in this outrage, were "gentlemen of property and standing," residents of
Bridgetown. The first morning after the outrage began, the mob sought
for the Rev. Mr. Shrewsbury, the missionary, threatening his life, and
he was obliged to flee precipitately from the island, with his wife. He
was hunted like a wild beast, and it is thought that he would have been
torn in pieces if he had been found. Not an effort or a movement was
made to quell the mob, during their assault upon the chapel. The first
men of the island connived at the violence--secretly rejoicing in what
they supposed would be the extermination of Methodism from the country.
The governor, Sir Henry Ward, utterly refused to interfere, and would
not suffer the militia to repair to the spot, though a mere handful of
soldiers could have instantaneously routed the whole assemblage.

The occasion of this riot was partly the efforts made by the Wesleyans
to instruct the negroes, and still more the circumstance of a letter
being written by Mr. Shrewsbury, and published in an English paper,
which contained some severe strictures on the morals of the Barbadians.
A planter informed us that the riot grew out of a suspicion that Mr. S.
was "leagued with the Wilberforce party in England."

Since the re-establishment of Wesleyanism in this island, it has
continued to struggle against the opposition of the Bishop, and most of
the clergy, and against the inveterate prejudices of nearly the whole of
the white community. The missionaries have been discouraged, and in many
instances absolutely prohibited from preaching on the estates. These
circumstances have greatly retarded the progress of religious
instruction through their means. But this state of things had been very
much altered since the abolition of slavery. There are several estates
now open to the missionaries. Mr. F. mentioned several places in the
country, where he was then purchasing land, and erecting chapels. He
also stated, that one man, who aided in pulling down the chapel in 1823,
had offered ground for a new chapel, and proffered the free use of a
building near by,