cept by the
conduct of the slaves, who, though still more wronged, were, if
possible, still more patient.

We regret to add, that until lately, the colored people of Barbadoes
hate been far in the background in the cause of abolition, and even now,
the majority of them are either indifferent, or actually hostile to
emancipation. They have no fellow feeling with the slave. In fact; they
have had prejudices against the negroes no less bitter than those which
the whites have exercised toward them. There are many honorable
exceptions to this, as has already been shown; but such, we are assured,
is the general fact.[A]

[Footnote A: We are here reminded, by the force of contrast, of the
noble spirit manifested by the free colored people of our own country.
As early as 1817, a numerous body of them in Philadelphia, with the
venerable James Forten at their head, pledged themselves to the cause of
the slave in the following sublime sentiment, which deserves to be
engraver to their glory on the granite of our "everlasting
hills"--"Resolved, That we never will separate ourselves voluntarily
from the slave population in this country; they are our brethren by the
ties of consanguinity, of suffering, and of wrong; and we feel that
there is more virtue in suffering privations with them, than enjoying
_fancied_ advantages for a season."

We believe that this resolution embodies the feelings and determinations
of the free colored people generally in the free states.]

CHAPTER IV.

BARBADOES AS IT WAS, AND IS.

According to the declaration of one of the special magistrates,
"Barbadoes has long been distinguished for its devotion to slavery."
There is probably no portion of the globe where slave-holding, slave
driving, and slave labor, have been reduced to a more perfect system.

The records of slavery in Barbadoes are stained with bloody atrocities.
The planters uniformly spoke of slavery as a system of cruelties; but
they expressed themselves in general terms. From colored gentlemen we
learned some particulars, a few of which we give. To most of the
following facts the narrators were themselves eye witnesses, and all of
them happened in their day and were fresh in their memories.

The slaves were not unfrequently worked in the streets of Bridgetown
with chains on their wrists and ankles. Flogging on the estates and in
the town, were no less public than frequent, and there was an utter
shamelessness often in the manner of