I have seen a dungeon, but its only occupants were rats; I have met with stocks and shackles, but they were thrown about as useless lumber. Still, I have no doubt there have been cruelties perpetrated here since my residence; but, thank God, I never witnessed them. I have often heard the voice of childhood supplicating mercy; it has been in the town, among the lower classes, who have been chastising their little servant. I have felt for the little creatures, as they begged for pardon; but pity was all I could give them. But now, the case is altered: slavery is no more—the whip is banished; and even the little children will scarcely take a blow. I was amused the other day, with a scene which took place before our dwelling: the actors, a mother and her child. The mother had a small cane in her hand, as if about to chastise her daughter, a child of about six years old, who begged very hard for forgiveness. “Do, mammy, don’t lick me; me beg your pardon, ma’am. Oh! don’t lick me, mammy; me no do so no more.” The mother relented, and let go the child’s hands, who, turning round immediately the fear of coercion was removed, stamped her little foot upon the ground, and, raising her tiny fist, exclaimed—“War you lick me for? Me free—me no b’longs to you!” I visited some few estates in this island during the latter years of slavery, and I was happy to find that they were conducted under a mild system, and the slaves appeared happy and contented. At one of these, the proprietor seemed to be very much beloved by his people; but he had an ear always open to their complaint; a hand ever ready to minister to their wants; and under the free system, his kindness as a slave-owner is not forgotten. This gentleman is a magistrate; and at the time I am speaking of, he had frequent complaints brought before him from the negroes of the adjoining estates, for all negroes are very litigious. I am sure he deserved credit for the patience with which he heard their tiresome stories; and so the negroes appeared to think too, for I have often heard them say to one another, when departing from the house, “Wen me free, me come lib with dis massa; for if eber dere one good massa in Antigua, he one.” An instance deserves to be recorded of another planter, with whom I have the honour to be acquainted; which proves there were slave-masters whose hearts were not of adamant; who could be kind to the poor creatures so entirely under their control; and that some marks of gratitude and affection could be shewn by a _slave_. In 1831, the island was in a very unsettled state, from abolishing the Sunday markets, and not appointing another day for the negroes to bring their provisions into town to sell. Constant fires occurred on different estates; no sooner was one extinguished, than another was discovered. The militia was on duty night and day; and serious alarm was abroad for the safety of the island.