[6] Old Mascall’s information may be doubted by some, but it certainly agrees with the authenticated cruelties which were practised in former years, the details of which have been omitted from want of space. CHAPTER XXXI. Negroes: Palliations, _but not excuses_, for former cruelties—A harsh planter—Crimes of slaves—The little negroes’ dinner-hour— A character—Negroes’ want of thought—Bartering their weekly provisions—Pilfering—The Rock Dungeon—A Tortolian slave-master— The murdered slave—Branding—Slave cargo—Remarks upon slavery—A good slave-master—A kind attorney—Negro gratitude. When I undertook this work, I laid down for myself one uniform rule, the propriety of which my readers must admit, which was, to adhere strictly to facts without fear or favour. I mourn to think that any one, much more a Briton, should have practised those cruel deeds which were perpetrated even in this island, in former days. I am well aware how much patience it requires to deal with negroes, and also how strong the force of example is. We all of us are liable to err; those passions which it has pleased the Giver of all to ingraft in our bosoms, although not to be extirpated, as the disciples of Zeno would have us believe, require to be kept under strict restraint, or else how soon we may be led to commit acts we ourselves would be the first to condemn. Self-control is no easy matter; the wise man says—“He who ruleth his own spirit is greater than he who taketh a city.” Nothing will enable us to overcome ourselves but a deep feeling of religion. In those early times of slavery there was no settled place of worship—no sound of the “church-going” bell in Antigua; and men who might have left England with the best of feelings, from living in this manner, and having to deal with stubborn and aggravating characters, in time grew callous. The flowers which deck this beautiful world require the suns and dews of heaven to support their fragile forms; the birds which charm us with their melody look up to their Maker’s hand for their daily food; can it be supposed, then, that man, a weak and sinful creature, can walk uprightly without a daily intercourse with his God? No; let philosophers boast as they will, man’s greatest strength is in his weakness; and it is from the spread of Christianity in these parts, and Christian pastors taking the place of those “blind leaders of the blind,” who, in former days, presumed to preach the gospel here, that people are enabled to bear with the negroes, and not give way to such violent acts of resentment again them. As I remarked in the conclusion of the former chapter, I cannot, _dare not_ offer these remarks as an excuse for cruelty; but while I reprobate such conduct as I have been describing, I cannot help thinking how different the time was then to what it is now—how the bright day-spring has chased away the clouds of night.