156 



out his quarter on the estate, and then receive a 

 double salary on going away, which will free him 

 from any charge of having been dismissed disgrace- 

 fully. 



January 31. 

 I went to enquire after my petitioners Juliet and 

 Delia, and had the satisfaction to find that the trus- 

 tee had enquired into their complaint ; and, as it ap- 

 peared not to be entirely unfounded, he had done 

 every thing that was right and necessary. Aberdeen, 

 too, the runaway cooper, who had applied to me to 

 obtain his pardon, had been suffered to return to his 

 work unpunished; and as it had been found that 

 his flight had in a great measure been occasioned by 

 his being in a bad state of health, which rendered 

 him apprehensive of being put to labour beyond 

 his strength, he had been permitted to select his 

 own occupation, which, of course, was the easiest 

 one in his trade. But I found it a more difficult 

 matter to ascertain the truth or falsehood of the 

 charges brought to me on Sunday last : the books 

 positively contradicted them, but the register 

 might have been falsely kept ; and as the negroes 

 persisted most positively in their complaint against 

 the overseer (particularly as to his having curtailed 

 them of the legal allowance of time for their 

 meals, and the cultivation of their own grounds) 

 with the concurrence of the trustee, I wrote to 

 the magistrates of the county, desiring that they 

 would summon the negroes in question before a 



