226 



the one cause or the other : but, however, he was 

 condemned in both. Certainly the poor French- 

 man had no luck in matters of justice. 



To make the matter better, in the present in- 

 stance, the man was a clergyman; and his cause of 

 quarrel against the officer was the latter' s refusal 

 to give him a puncheon of rum to christen all his 

 negroes in a lump. 



March 22. 



Mr. Plummer came over from St. James's to-day, 

 and told me, that the "insidious practices and dan- 

 gerous doctrines" in Mr. Stewart's speech were 

 intended for the Methodists, and that only the 

 charge to the grand jury respecting " additional 

 vigilance" was in allusion to myself ; but he added 

 that it was the report at Montego Bay, that, in con- 

 sequence of my over-indulgence to my negroes, 

 a song had been made at Cornwall, declaring that 

 I was come over to set them all free, and that this 

 was now circulating through the neighbouring 

 parishes. If there be any such song (which I do 

 not believe), I certainly never heard it. However, 

 my agent here says, that he has reason to believe 

 that my negroes really have spread the report that 

 I intend to set them free in a few years ; and this 

 merely out of vanity, in order to give themselves 

 and their master the greater credit upon other 

 estates. As to the truth of an assertion, that is a 

 point which never enters into negro consideration. 



