Waterton and his Demerara Friend. 33 



the Court of Policy, he spoke very stronpjly of his 

 promises to the Indians, and declared that he would see 

 them paid if he had to do it from his own pocket. The 

 Court thought this needlessly strong language, and 

 granted the amount required without further trouble, at 

 the same time thanking him for his services. 



Lord Bathurst in writing to Governor MURRAY in 

 1815 thus expressed his opinion on the bush expedi- 

 tions : — 



" I entirely approve of your measures for finding out 

 if there are any settlements of bush negroes in the 

 interior likely to be dangerous, and learnt with 

 great pleasure that their number was not such as to 

 excite alarm, and that they submitted with a slight show 

 of resistance. Your humanity in extending the reward 

 for unmaimed prisoners and withdrawing the encourage- 

 ment, which, to the disgrace of the colony, it had been 

 usual to give to a6ts of wanton cruelty, is approved. 

 Considering your opinion that these unfortunate persons 

 had been driven by the cruel treatment of their masters 

 to take refuge in the woods, and that they had committed 

 no crime except desertion, and that they surrendered 

 without a6lual resistance, they might have been merely 

 restored to the estates and not made to work in chains." 



From the concluding sentences of the above it appears 

 that the Colonial Secretary, like so many other English- 

 men at that time, knew nothing of the real state of 

 affairs. Very little can be said on the slavery question 

 in the present article, but the matter of desertion may 

 be aptly compared with what we know of school-boys 

 and apprentices, who often rnn away on the slightest 

 pretexts. 



B 



