WHITE SLAVES IN THE PLANTATIONS. 617 



slavery, and the reception met with by those who went to inter- 

 view the Governor will give us some idea of the manner in which 

 exiles were usually treated. In most cases, in the West Indies, 

 they were herded with the negro slaves, insufficiently fed, ill-clad, 

 compelled to sleep without beds on the earthen floors of the hovels 

 that were provided for them, driven out to work daily under a 

 tropical sun, and flogged for the most trivial offenses. Scores of 

 them succumbed to this treatment, and it must be remembered 

 that these men were not malefactors, nor indeed criminal at all, 

 except in a political sense. Most of them were men of blameless 

 lives, and, as says Macaulay, they were regarded by themselves, 

 and by a large proportion of the people of England, not as wrong- 

 doers, but as martyrs who sealed with their blood the truth of the 

 Protestant religion. 



So much for the white slaves ; we now turn to the bond-serv- 

 ants — that is, persons who engaged themselves as servants in the 

 colonies for a certain number of years, and whose condition was 

 little better than that of the convict-slaves. It is true that the 

 bond-servant came to the colonies voluntarily, in theory at least, 

 for in fact he was often a poor wretch who had been kidnapped in 

 some English seaport and hurried on board a vessel, while the 

 convict was banished ; but, once in the colonies, there was little dis- 

 tinction made between them. Indeed, their position in most of the 

 colonies was such that it is incredible that any persons should 

 knowingly have engaged themselves ; and we are forced to con- 

 clude that they were not informed of the conditions of their servi- 

 tude, and were misled by false representations made by the agents 

 of the colonists in England. 



Each colony appears to have had its own law on the subject of 

 bond-servants. That of Jamaica provided that bond-servants 

 might be of either sex, and those who had not entered into con- 

 tracts or agreements in England were compelled, after arriving in 

 the island, to serve seven years if they were under eighteen years 

 of age, and four years if they were above that age. The clause of 

 the act ran thus : " All servants shall have according to their con- 

 tract and indenture ; and where there is no contract and indenture 

 servants under eighteen years of age, at their arrival in this island 

 shall serve seven years, and above eighteen years, shall serve four 

 years, and all convicted felons, for the time of their banishment ; 

 and at the expiration of the terms aforesaid, shall receive from 

 their last master, mistress, or employer, forty shillings, and a cer- 

 tificate of freedom on demand ; and whosoever shall refuse, with- 

 out just cause, to give such certificate to servant, certifier, or 

 labourer, whose time is expired, shall forfeit forty shillings for 

 every such refusal." The words " certificate of freedom " smack 

 rather of slavery, and the bracketing together of convicted felons 



VOL. XLII. 41 



