8 
DOTTINGS ON THE EO AD SIDE. [Chap. I.—B. S. 
and respectful to the whites as could be wished; but 
no sooner did they hear of the stir made by their 
friends in England, and the pressure they had brought 
to bear upon Government, than they resumed their 
wonted insolence. “Who is at present Governor of 
St. Thomas ?” I asked the boatman who put me on 
shore at that island, innocently expecting to hear his 
name. “He is a white man now , but he may soon be a 
black ;” was the significant reply. “ There yon see,” 
said a military officer who was in the same boat with 
me, and had been in the West Indies before; “ there 
yon have the effect of your leading articles, and your 
negrophilist meetings. If you stop long enough, you 
will have much to reflect upon, and be able to collect 
such answers as these by the hundred.” 
“As I was riding out one afternoon,” he continued, 
warming on the subject, “I found the road blocked 
up by negroes, and called out to them to make room 
for me to pass. One of them turned sharply round, 
and indignantly demanded ‘ who de debil I was ?’ 
It -was the Queen’s highway, and they had as much 
right to loiter as I had to ride upon it. I was not a 
whit better than a black man, and they would not stir 
an inch. I gave the fellow fair warning that unless 
he stood aside I would ride over him ; and as he took 
no notice of what I said, I had no option but to carry 
my threat into execution; but, knowing that I should 
be fined <£5 for the assault, I took a mean advantage 
of the opportunity by administering to the saucy fellow 
a fair castigation with a rhinoceros whip brought from 
the Cape of Good Hope.” 
