SD787. Edward Moulton-Barrett (father) to Samuel Moulton-Barrett (uncle)
Published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 3, 329 (in part).
Sidmouth,
Jany 1. 1835–
My dear Sam
Through the mercy of God I have been brought out of my severe illness & am now, barring a little sluggishness in the action in the Lungs & a somewhat too high pulsation, comparatively well; but I have been indeed very ill, far too much so to enable me to write to you, about which I was very anxious, for independent of the effects of the disease, water in the Lungs & the Pericordium or cup of the heart, on my body & mind, the medicines I was constrained to take were of the most violent character, of which Digitalis formed a large portion & which destroyed for the time all the energy of body & mind & left me sometimes without the power of thought—I know not whence it came, but I suppose from cold– When Selby left, he will have told you, how ill I was, but it was nothing to what I had afterwards to undergo & my letter to Bro, altho written nearly at the commencement of my illness cost me three days & much suffering– I trust however it is now all over & that with care I shall be spared a relapse– I have now been down here one week, yet have not been out of doors, we have had foggy windy weather, both of which I must exclude myself from, but to-day which is fine I intend going out in the garden for a short time– My dear Sam, if all this is tedious to you, you must excuse me & transfer it to Bro, to whom I cannot write this packet, as this letter will take to-morrow to finish it, from the pain I have between my shoulders when I stoop a short time.
I received yesterday your letter Novr 3. & was happy to read your sanguine view of our case, indeed may I not call it my case, for should Judgement go against us, the demand upon you will be small, whereas it makes me a beggar for life, as from the value of West India Produce, I cannot anticipate living to see the rental according to their computation paid off, even, with the interest added to it, of the compensation fund, for the principal they cannot touch, that being subject to the limitations of the Estate, with the exception of the rent for the Negroes from the death of G. G. Barrett to that of my Grandfather, I believe a space of one year or thereabouts. I suppose from your letter that before this reaches you the important question will have been decided, & I desire that until I know the result, my mind may be kept in an equal, quiet & resigned state not raised too much even by your exciting opinion or cast down even by the consideration that opinions equally favorable were given us in all former stages of this lamentable suit. You say that the Judgement will be given now without reference to Politics; It must then be speedily decided without further postponement, or from the extraordinary change in the Government, we hear Ld Sligo is recalled & if unwillingly, of course another will be appointed every way opposite to him in politics & of course adverse to you & friendly to Richard–
Of course I shall not send any more Herrings now, but for the receipt of your letter the remainder would have gone by Sughone, as I certainly could not understand from the passage quoted from your letter of the 23 August that you meant it as a counter order, for you go on to say, after stating we were not compelled by law to provide the Negroes with fish, & from the circumstance of their living principally on a vegetable diet, fish was essential to them, that it would be a great means in your power to obtain labor. I hence understood it would be in the place of money. But I will send no more, indeed those Blls that Selby took were on board his Vessel before the receipt of your letter, therefore if I had put a proper construction on your observation, it would then have been too late– I am happy to find that you do not intend to abridge the Negroes too closely. Some time must elapse before they can shake off the ill-effects & consequences of a life of slavery, they are still children, but concepted ones from the nature of their former education– You have been too sanguine of which I endeavoured to guard you or rather Bro, for I was sure how it would be, that some disappointment would be the result, I would now guard you against being too much cast down, for I am persuaded that it will work well yet– There have been 103 Men Women & Children, consigned from this Country to R Barrett– I am told by some that they are for the Duke of Buckingham’s Property– Is this true– You ordered in the List of Supplies a Roller of a certain dimension for a Vertical Mill for C. E. I sent it as ordered—but how comes there a want of a Vertical Roller when some years ago, I sent out for that very Estate an Horizontal Mill which cost me about £1000? You say that you must have some vessel, I forget at this moment what it is, but it is something connected with the distillation of Rum, as the bottom had worn out, yet receiving no dimensions I could not send it– You complain of the Herrings of last year, I cannot account for it for they were bought of a most respectable Man, Mr Arquont. I suspect they must have been left sometime on the Wharf or somewhere when they were exposed to the Sun & thus the Liquor got dried up– They should be put under cover as soon as possible & when the Herrings are removed from a Bll or two, the Pickle should be taken & poured into the other Blls—so as to keep them full– I have spoken to the Messr s Gordons upon the subject of the badness of their Iron Goods of last year & I trust that you will have no occasion to find fault this year– You ordered all long Ash Hoops, now as they the Coopers, must cut the long Hoops for the position near the heads of the Casks & thus making a waste, & that the long Hoops are a great price in proportion to the smaller, I have ordered one third of them small, which will answer every purpose. The Coopers in this Country for Hhds carrying the heaviest goods only put in 120 nails, your Coopers put in about 300, here is a great waste & what is worse an unnecessary time given to the Cask for which we have no compensation. Cannot it be rectified– Pray desire the Overseers not to regard the number of Hhds but the weight, for I do not, & thus I reckon from the lightness of the Casks of 1834 that my Crop was not above 300– They should be well drained of their molasses & always repacked at the Wharf. I think I wrote to you that the Hhds were very light & the Sugars badly cured.
I sent you by Selby some pear trees & grapes. I think they will do very well at St Anne’s Penn. By the bye speaking of Selby pray manage that my Sugars & your own too, get an upper berth in his ship or woe betide them below as my eyes witnessed last year–
God bless you My dear Sam and keep you in health & strength prays
Yrs most affectionately
E M Barrett
What think you of Scarlett Lord Abinger? Wonders are great & are |pressingly| so– I have crossed my letter rather than send a double letter which would cost you 9/s—to me it is 6/s—being spared the Island postage– Love to my dear Boy– Has he been to Spanish Town?– I hope so–
Address, on integral page: S. M. Barrett Esqre / Cinnamon Hill / Little River, / St James’s / Jamaica– / Pr Packet.
Publication: None traced.
Manuscript: Wellesley College.
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