We were grieved to find that most of the teachers employed in the instruction of the children, were exceedingly unfit for the work.  They are very ignorant themselves, and have but little skill in the management of children.  This however is a necessary evil.  The emancipated negroes feel a great anxiety for the education of their children.  They encourage them to go to school, and they labor to support them, while they have strong temptation to detain them at home to work.  They also pay a small sum every week for the maintenance of the schools.

In conclusion, we would observe, that one of the prominent features of regenerated Antigua, is its education.  An intelligent religion, and a religious education, are the twin glories of this emancipated colony.  It is comment enough upon the difference between slavery and freedom, that the same agents which are deprecated as the destroyers of the one, are cherished as the defenders of the other.

Before entering upon a detail of the testimony which bears more directly upon slavery in America, we deem it proper to consider the inquiry.

“What is the amount of freedom in Antigua, as regulated by law?”

1st.  The people are entirely free from the whip, and from all compulsory control of the master.

2d.  They can change employers whenever they become dissatisfied with their situation, by previously giving a month’s notice.

3d.  They have the right of trial by jury in all cases of a serious nature, while for small offences, the magistrate’s court is open.  They may have legal redress for any wrong or violence inflicted by their employers.

4th.  Parents have the entire control of their children.  The planter cannot in any way interfere with them.  The parents have the whole charge of their support.

5th.  By an express provision of the legislature, it was made obligatory upon every planter to support all the superannuated, infirm, or diseased on the estate, who were such at this time of emancipation.  Those who have become so since 1834, fall upon the hands of their relatives for maintenance.

6th.  The amount of wages is not determined by law.  By a general understanding among the planters, the rate is at present fixed at a shilling per day, or a little more than fifty cents per week, counting five working days.  This matter is wisely left to be regulated by the character of the seasons, and the mutual agreement of the parties concerned.  As the island is suffering rather from a paucity of laborers, than otherwise, labor must in good seasons command good wages.  The present rate of wages is extremely low, though it is made barely tolerable by the additional perquisites which the people enjoy.  They have them houses rent free, and in connection with them small premises forty feet square, suitable for gardens, and for raising poultry, and pigs, &c.; for which they always find a ready market.  Moreover, they are burthened with no taxes whatever; and added to this, they are supplied with medical attendance at the expense of the estates.