SD2822. Edward George Barrett to Alfred Moulton-Barrett
Listed in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 32, 346.
Claremont P.O.
April 22 1866
My dear Alfred
Your letter dated Jan: 25 reached me on the 17 April!– I waited until Feb: 20; when, not having had your reply, I wrote to Sept: detailing the step I had taken in applying to Storm through you, & its apparent failure; &, again requesting the necessary figures might be furnished me; I warned him that their further denial would oblige me to place the matter in legal hands– This letter obtained no notice, whereupon I instructed a lawyer to communicate with Sept: his letter drew an immediate answer & all the requisite accounts– The balance in my favour by Sept’s figures, (which I accept as correct) is £65 odd—at his request I have drawn upon him for this sum at 90 days—so the matter may be considered as settled, though indeed he has omitted as yet to return me with his signature a needful receipt– He sent me the acceptance to my draft in a letter dated April 19– I make no comment upon the way in which he has acted in this affair–
That Storm should not understand this piece of business is to be lamented—inasmuch as it is a proof of how little he looks after his own matters– I will endeavour to give an explanation both short & intelligible. I leased Storm’s estates in Aug: 60—gave them up in Sept: 1861– The A/cs connected with this affair, such as valuations, compensations, &c: &c:, were very long & complicated, & I never could get them adjusted until my solicitor’s late letter drew from Sept: an acknowledgment of the correctness of my figures– On this A/c I owed Storm a balance of £25 odd; & it is the receipt for this which Sept: has not yet sent–
After my surrender of the lease I again became Storm’s Atty:, & acted as such, conjointly with Sept:, from Sept: 1. 1861 to Dec: 31. 1862. I was of course entitled to 3 per Ct commission, on the value of produce made for Storm during this period. When Storm withdrew from me the attorneyship, I offered him the alternative of waiting until he had received A/c sales of the produce on which my commission was to be calculated, or of immediately estimating the amount by valuing the produce still unsold at the same rate as that portion of the same crop already disposed of– He preferred the former alternative, which was also the legal mode of procedure– This A/c, the quantity of produce made & its price, I never was able to procure until a week or two since– Storm before his departure from Jamaica had made me a payment of £100 & of £16 odd, on account; deducting this, & also the lesseeship balance of £25 odd, the result is obtained which I have mentioned above—£65 odd due to me. These are the matters it has taken nearly four years to settle—& this not through any peculiar difficulty in the matter itself, but through sheer laziness & negligence– “Woe to the kingdom whose ruler is a child”– The £943, paid in those bills which were almost protested, was due to me on my Attorneyship A/cs previous to the leasing of the estates–
I am very sorry indeed to hear of the scarlet fever in your house– I trust that long before you will receive this letter it may be extinguished, & without ill result– It is a deadly sickness in this country, & is dangerous in England– I hope too that after your unlucky wine company has bottled off, you may find a more substantial engagement– Really it seems as if not only Jamaica, but Jamaicans also, were under an evil star—it can’t be a planet, or it would leave us in due course—it must be a fixed star of the first magnitude–
Believe me that as regards Storm I have no angry feeling left but upon one subject—the matrimonial– Our other squabbles, all arising from his infernal habit of dawdling in business, I never much heeded– They would have passed away with the occasions which called them up, & we should have been nearly as good friends as ever– I say “nearly” because squabbles between friends always leave wounds which never quite heal– But that marriage I can never get over; & I feel concerning it now just as scornful & bitter as I did on first learning of it. I do full justice to Storm’s many admirable qualities; to his frankness & fearlessness; his perfect truthfulness; his perfect integrity– I had, & still have, a very great respect for his judgment in all other matters than his own– I always recurred to him for advice in a difficulty; & I often took it too—which is a good deal more to say– But in his own affairs he is nought– Many people never say foolish things & never do wise ones; & experience has taught me always to mistrust my own impulses in my own affairs—but I never saw any one of Storm’s real abilities so unfit to guide himself— When his feelings are once interested, his reason goes to the deuce–
You will say “Why then not try to make friends with him again?”—to which very rational question I have but one answer to make—“I can’t– To forgive such a thing as that beastly marriage is not in my nature– I am in a rage whenever I think of it. That Storm is so excellent makes the abomination only the more abominable— You will laugh at me & declare me ridiculous; but you don’t know coloured ladies as I do– In my younger days I devoted a good deal of time to the study, & the result is that I think them very good in the proper place, but that place is not marriage—they are utterly despicable as wives–
I must say that as to Gordon’s execution I have seen no evidence sufficient to justify it legally– If however he were the ardent patriot he professed to be, he ought to have swung contentedly, seeing that his suspension did such very great good– This one execution killed the rebellion– It was quite surprising what an effect it had upon our blacks—it utterly cowed & broke their spirit, & took every bit of bumptiousness & fight out of them– It was I think necessary to prolong the duration of Martial Law after the immediate rising was subdued– Just think of the situation—there were about 400 troops; a very large portion of whom were gravely suspected of disaffection, to keep down a populace of 450,000, every man of whom or nearly so, would have risen in insurrection had there been a spark of encouragement. Not a soul, who knows the negro doubts this. Had an armed band of 50 men escaped from St Thomas [illegible word] East, the island would have been in a blaze wherever they turned their steps—& there was no power on earth to hinder them going where they would, if once they passed the thin line of troops– The severities exercised in St Thomas’ were known all over the Island, & kept others from rising when no direct force existed to restrain—to Governor Eyre, his energy & promptitude, we owe life & property– Our opinion is that the saving our throats from |Quaslice| was the main point; & we consider that the doing of this with the smallest possible means is a merit sufficient to cover many sins– Too much severity is bad: but what would have been too little?– Suppose severity enough had not been used—too little severity, & what would have become of the 13500 whites, unarmed, unorganized, scattered one by one over 4,000,000 of acres—a country as large as Yorkshire?– The plain truth is, we were in most imminent peril: & none were more frightened, none showed their fright more plainly, than those, Baptist parsons & other of that leaven, who now, in obedience to Exeter Hall, deny the danger, proclaim their entire confidence in the “poor Negro,” & do their best to embitter still further the feud between poverty & property, between black & white– My own belief, (I held it before the row, & I hold it now) is that Government are most absurdly foolish in trusting to black troops– Those used to be recruited from Africa—they had then little sympathy with our creole populace, & could be relied on to act against them– Of late years however the recruits have been drawn from our own people; they are imbued with all their feelings, & all their sympathies are with them– If called on to act against them, it is more matter of accident whether they will or will not—& if they joined the rebels, there would be a pretty mess– Their officers are foolishly confident in the fidelity of their men, just as the Indian officers were with the Sepoys—& with just as little reason—they know in fact nothing of those they command, after the manner of British officers in general; & some day I dare say we shall have to pay the piper– Best love to Elizth—she owes me two letters by the bye—& to the young ones happiness & health–
Yrs affecty
E G Barrett
Docket: 1866 / Edward G. Barrett / recd 14 May ansd 31 May. / named possiblity of my being / partner in a good house.
Publication: None traced.
Manuscript: Eton College Library.
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