SD1451. George Goodin Barrett (1792-1854) to Edward Moulton-Barrett (father)
Published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 16, 303 (in part).
The Ramble. Moneague–
9th September 1850
My dear Edward
I dont know how I can sufficiently thank you for your great and ready kindness in having so well arranged about Lizzy’s removal, and for your acceptance of my other commission. Nothing can possibly be more satisfactory to me than the selection you have made, and I trust that the trouble and anxiety you have had will not be lost upon her, whom they were designed to benefit. My mind is quite at ease upon this point, and to you my dear Edward, I am more than obliged for all that you have done; and to Arabel I beg you will give many thanks from me. I do not think Italian necessary, as I believe Lizzy is no vocalist, but I should wish her to continue her drawing, as in my opinion, no acquirement is so valuable, offering as it does, so many and such ready resources for amusement. It can be pursued at all times and under all circumstances. A pencil and a piece of paper are all the materials required– Should the price of planters’ cattle rise, she shall obtain a smattering of La Lingua Toscana, which is about as much as ninety nine young ladies out of a hundred ever obtain in England. I have had a letter from Mr |Teedher|, wherein he says that his sister’s health is so bad, that his brother, under whose charge she now is, and who is a medical man, thinks the voyage would be fatal to her. I do not put great faith in this, as her income must be of considerable importance to a practitioner, who is not, I imagine, over-burthened with Californian dust, but I do put faith in what you have said of her condition, and I will adopt your advice, and allow the matter to stand over fully sensible to your kind offer of future service.
“And cotton is the cry
A light oer every visage spreads
And fires each desperate eye”
Jamaica has been, and perhaps is still cotton mad. From a state of desperate depression, many have perched themselves upon the pinnacle of hope, only, in my opinion, to be hurled back into the pit, from whence they dream that they have escaped– Should the “present” government continue doggedly determined upon our ruin by refusing to add largely to our labouring population, I do not understand how the cultivation of cotton can be rendered more remunerative than that of sugar. The absence of continuous and cheap labor to oppose the cheap and continuous labor of other countries, has made sugar here a too costly production; and must make also cotton here. Cotton, from all I hear, requires at two of its stages, more attention than sugar. In the first stage, the plant is liable to be attacked by the fly or caterpillar, and if a strong body of laborers be not immediately thrown into the field, every sign of vegetation upon the shrub is in a few hours destroyed. In the second if the crop be not gathered in immediately upon its becoming ripe, the cotton turns yellow in the pod, and brings an inferior price when taken to market. In these two stages, not only is a sufficiency of hands required, but such a command of the labor market is necessary to the growers as would at once defeat any combination to raise the price of wages. In the cultivation of the canes and the manufacture of sugar, a postponement of work for a few days, is generally of small importance, but in the other case the delay of even a few hours would be fatal.
It has been known for three centuries that cotton would thrive here, but the question now to be solved is, can it be grown to a profit without a large influx of labor, for that the “present” government seems to have determined we shall not have: and upon a scale to make it a matter of importance; and something beyond a toy– When I see a couple of hundred acres under one management, I shall begin to look upon the concern as one of real consequence, but I can never regard the raising upon, and taking off a crop from 10 or 20 acres as anything beyond an amusement. It certainly will afford no solution of the problem.
A company is about being formed to try the thing upon 100 acres, with a capital of £1000—my wishes go with them, and also my fears– Give us labor and we can grow sugar to a profit, deny it to us, and cotton will be a failure– I see that that most pernicious society, the antislavery, is again at work against us, and as usual I suppose our interests will be sacrificed to their humbug, and the parliamentary support they may be able to give the government. What on earth, beyond the grossest ignorance, can make the people of England believe that the condition of the African is not, in every sense, moral and physical, materially improved by coming to this island?
I do not know if any of that large run of land, which belongs to you in the neighbourhood of Falmouth is fitted for this new cultivation; but it is said that the plant thrives best near the sea. You had better make enquiries– Storm, I hear, is trying his fortune upon 10 acres at The Retreat– We are busy at Charlton Kings with our pimento crop, or rather Edward is– In most parts of the island the crop has been a failure, but we have been fortunate upon the above property, and shall pick more than a fair crop—which however will not be large, about 80 bags. The seasons here are so capricious, that although Dixon joins Charlton Kings on one side, and Albion upon the other, and The Ramble is in the front, yet upon neither of these three properties, is there any thing worth crying about. The usual crop of the island is about 60,000 bags, but this year the quantity will scarcely reach 20,000, consequently pimento will “rule high.”
Several parties here, who are more piously inclined than their neighbours, and see an interposition of Providence, where others only behold the operation of natural causes, are canvassing the cholera, which is said to be raging furiously in Cuba and Brazil, and sweeping away from many estates almost the entire working population. They say that it has been sent to counteract the backsliding of England in regard to the slave trade, to punish the Brazilians and Cubans for carrying it on, and, by raising the price of sugar, to atone to the free labor colonies for the unholy injustices of the British government towards them. The idea appears to me odd, and may be original– However, from the condition in which the slaves are generally kept in Cuba, and the absence of sufficient and skilful medical attendance upon the properties, there can be no doubt but that the Scourge, if it be really in, will have the game all its own way, and a long innings.
There cannot be better friends than Sir Charles and I– He knows that my opinions have been honestly taken up, and have nothing either factious or bullying in them, and that I have more than once refused every “honor” which it is in the power of a Governor to bestow. We associate like private individuals & discuss each others opinions freely when alone, and with all the confidence which one gentleman feels in another. Of course there are many things which he keeps from me, and some which I am equally chary of. I have a sincere respect and esteem for him, not felt by all, because that which is known to me, is not known to them, and he receives from them credit for acts and opinions, which are not his, but belong to the colonial office, or its unscrupulous crammers. Were he left to himself, his popularity would be but little, if any, inferior to that of Sir Charles Metcalffe, and the island in a very different position, so far as party feeling goes, from what it unhappily is– That the policy he is forced to pursue is wrong, no man I am sure feels more than he does, or laments it more, but his circumstances and large family, by making place a necessity, have taken from him that independence, which the very different circumstances, and no family of the other Sir Charles secured to him, and he is compelled to submit, though at times with a very bad grace, to the mischievous influence, which Sir Joshua Rowe is allowed to exercise over his friend, the soup boiler, who rules the colonial department. I cannot say as much for Sir Joshua; he is false, and designedly so, and I cannot tolerate a man, who even to sustain his salary can descend to the dirtiest untruths—chance may have made him a “gent,” but he is not one of nature’s gentlemen.
We are now complaining of too much wet. Every day it rains more or less, and it is only by the utmost attention that we can house our pimento crop in at all a dry state. I understand however that the season has latterly been all that could be desired upon the sugar properties, and that the hearts of the agriculturists are getting once more into their proper place– Sugar is also selling better here.
I believe you are right in regard to Storm’s pond, and that up to this time it has been rather a failure. I have long ago left off my dainties—they were too good to last, and Lord Grey will not, as you apprehended, have any cause for quoting me as an example of the luxurious living, and prosperous condition of the proprietors– I could not long go on with gooseberries, and cherries and plums, and raspberries & currants, and all those nice fruits, which it makes one sad to comtemplate in imagination only, and which were given for tarts and puddings, at 2/ a bottle of something larger than a pint; and so I have “ex necessitate rei” fallen back upon nothing– To be sure I used to put a bridle upon my affection for pastry, and make a pudding last a couple of days– I do not at all get on well in the eating line– I abominate all the vegetables of this island, such as cocas, yams, cho chos, plantains, &c., excepting pears, which are only in season for a month or two, and although I can get beef, and kill my own sheep, still, I seldom eat anything with my meat, but dry biscuit– Wine I never see, and spirits I could not descend to, even did I not dislike even the smell of them. I have never tasted rum since I have been here. Blagrove offered to send me 5 gallons of his best “Orange Valley” a short time ago, which I declined– However I have since told him that I will accept his present, as none of my visitors are equally shy of the rum bottle, and always take from it to “improve the water”–
I could not do here as you recommend in regard to my new guinea grass, which is really beautiful, inasmuch as the land is so hilly, and there being no roads into the grass pieces, we could not work a cart, and to carry it on mules or on the head, the usual way for the negroes to carry anything, from a bucket of water to a cake of soap, would not pay at all. I must wait for two or 3 years, when I think that I may attempt some more ponds—the grass will not be injured by the delay if cleared once a year, which I shall still be able to do. Had it been possible to have had my invalid out, I might have done all.
I have no doubt but that the river, to which you have alluded may run under The Retreat, but to attempt successfully to hit it by boring upon a property of upwards of 2000 acres, would take more money than a dozen ponds would cost. In fact nothing but a miracle could lead the bories to the right place—besides, according to my observation, the river rises some hundred feet below any part of The Retreat, and such boring would have to penetrate through layers of lime stone rock, as hard as any marble, to nearly that depth—and then if you hit the stream, you would be no better off, certainly not much, as very expensive machinery would be required to bring the water to the surface, and it could only be of use to two or 3 pastures which might be near– I shall not be able to visit Storm before Xmas, when I hope the Session will be over, but when I do I shall not fail to discuss with him the question of pond making, and to give him every information in respect to my plan of making them, which is comparatively cheap, and must be successful, if carefully attended to.
We are all shocked at the death of that great man, Peel—certainly the greatest statesman of the day in the world, and one of the best men– A fatalist would say, that Providence had denied him the ability of riding, in order that he might meet his death by a fall from his horse. I recollect a year or two ago seeing an engraving of a review at which the Emperor of Russia [illegible initials] and Sir Robert Peel “assisted,” and I could not then avoid remarking, what a peculiarly bad seat on horseback he appeared to have, and how very foolish it was for him to trust himself at such horse-exciting displays, on anything but an old charger, or a hackney coach animal. I think that his death will eventually break up the present administration, as during his lifetime, neither he nor the section he led could join with the protectionists, but he being gone compromises between the two parties may again bring them together, when they would once more be more than a match for the feeble Whigs– But to us a change of government can do but little good, for we shall be, as we have always been, and as every colony of England will ever be, sacrificed to the political interests of parties in the H of Commons, whether they be free traders, profess antislavery opinions, or be advocates for a revival of the slave trade– In fact we are the little slices of meat which the butcher throws into his scale to make up the proper weight.
I have often boasted of our climate– Three weeks ago I was coming up from St Ann’s Bay—the distance is 13 miles; before I had gone a mile and a half a deluge came down, I had no umbrella. I stood under a tree for a quarter of an hour until I was thoroughly soaked—it was of no use to wait longer, for it was getting dark, so I started again, the road being bad, at a walk. The rain continued without intermission for an hour & a half, and having only a white jacket on, I was soon completely chilled. In about an hour after the rain ceased, I arrived at home, shivering “like a dog in a wet sack.[”] I changed my clothes immediately, and, as I expected, never felt the slightest bad effect from my drenching– Could this have happened in England, without entailing a dozen ailments? Depend upon it there is no climate better, with common prudence, than ours, which has been so mercilessly abused. People kill themselves with rum, when they come out from Europe, and their friends abuse the island for it–
Edward desires me to remember him most kindly to you and Wimpole Street; the same from me.
I am sorry to hear you complaining of your eyes—you talk of specks dancing before them. I have within a year or two mounted spectacles at night, and find that I read much better by their help.
Ever my dear Edward,
Most affectionately yours.
G. Goodin Barrett
I find that my letter is overweight, so there can be no harm in sending you a postscript about my steers– Since Mr Roberts was hear, [sic] which I think was in January last, I have only sold 8 head of those which were shown to him, and which he then found were a little too young– Consequently I have got very nearly the same gang left, and they are now a very fine lot of about 30 all 4 years old, and fit for estate’s work. Pray send him to buy them, for they will do you justice– I understand that he talks of going into Manchester– It is true that he may possibly there procure steers at 20/ cheaper than those of St Mary, but they will belong to the small setlers there, who are obliged to sell when the taxes pinch, they will be as wild as hares, and under sized, being bad in any fashion, and quite incapable of doing the work of the St Ann’s cattles.– In truth they always prove dear at any difference in price, for they are an inferior class of animal, and are generally purchased by those who have the management of properties to show a saving, rather than to effect one, and no man in this country, who manages his own property ever thinks of having recourse to such penny wise and pound foolish œconomy. The saving is, as Paddy would say, a loss– This is the truth and no humbug–
Docket: Captn Barrett / Sepr 9. 1850. / Recd Octr 5th / Ansd Novr 1. / Jamaica.
Publication: None traced.
Manuscript: Eton College Library.
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