Conditions Under Indian Indenture
A report of the treatment of Indian indentured laborers in modern Guyana, on the estate of John Gladstone.
Note: This article has been excerpted from a larger work in the public domain and shared here due to its historical value. It may contain outdated ideas and language that do not reflect TOTA’s opinions and beliefs.
From Hill Coolies: A Brief Exposure of the Deplorable Condition of the Hill Coolies in British Guiana and Mauritius, and of the Nefarious Means by Which They were Induced to Resort to These Colonies, by John Scoble, 1840.
Let us now take a glance at Vreed-en-Hoop, the property of Mr. Gladstone. We find that in consequence of a communication made to the Governor that the Coolies on that estate were ill-treated, an inquiry was ordered into the circumstances. The result of the first inquiry is summed up by Mr. Young, the Government Secretary, in a letter, addressed, by order of his Excellency, to James Stuart, Esq., the attorney to the property; and is as follows:—
Government Secretary’s Office, 2nd May, 1839.
A report having reached the Governor that the Coolies of Vreed-en-Hoop had been flogged, and that two of them, in consequence of ill-treatment, had fled from the estate, and had since perished in the neighbourhood of Mahaica, his Excellency directed a court of inquiry, consisting of three stipendiary magistrates, to be assembled for the purpose of ascertaining the truth of the report. I am now directed to recapitulate to you the facts elicited by the investigation; to inform you of the ultimate measures which have been determined on; and to suggest to you such a course of proceeding, on your part, towards the individuals whose conduct is implicated in these transactions, as, in his Excellency’s opinion, humanity towards the Coolies, and a due regard of the reputation of the colony at large, render just and necessary.
As you were yourself present at the court of inquiry, it is not, perhaps, necessary to set forth in detail the whole of the evidence, (of which, however, you may obtain a perusal at this office, should you desire it); in the margin will be found the names of the witnesses who speak to the facts which I am now to recapitulate.
“The Coolies were locked up in the sick-house; saw them the day after they were flogged; their backs were swollen; they were in the sick-house for two days after the flogging.”—Will. Clay.
“When they run away and are stubborn, they get two or three lickings; they are flogged with a cat-o’-nine-tails; they were tied with a rope round the post, and were licked on the bare back.”—Alexander.
“They appeared to me as severely punished as my matties were, during the apprenticeship; when flogged, they were flogged with a cat, the same as was formerly in use; they brought all from the sick-house together, and took them to the negro-yard to be flogged; they were tied to a post.”—Rose.
“The Coolies were locked up in the sick-house, and next morning they were flogged with a cat-o’-nine-tails; the manager was in the house, and they flogged the people under his house ; they were tied to the post of the gallery of the manager’s house; I cannot tell how many licks; he gave them enough. I saw blood. When they were flogged at manager’s house, they rubbed salt pickle on their backs.”—Elizabeth Caesar.
“I think two of the Coolies were brought into the hospital to have their backs dressed; I rubbed them with camphor and high wines; the backs were bruised. The first time seven Coolies were locked up; the second, six Coolies.”—Betsey Ann, Sick Nurse.
“Their hands were tied behind their backs; they were beaten with a rope; ten times they lick them; heard them complain to manager; Mr. Jacobs lick Modun every day. When licked, they put the breast to the post with hands stretched out; some tie the hands before, some behind. Coolies run away because they are licked.”—Narrain.
His Excellency desires me to observe, that although some of the other witnesses, as well as those whose names are mentioned in the margin, in other parts of their evidence, give a description, perhaps, somewhat less revolting than that contained in the foregoing extracts, yet the fact of flogging and confinement having been inflicted is proved beyond all dispute.
The minutes of the court have been referred to Stipendiary Justice Coleman (who was not on the commission of inquiry) in a letter, of which I annex a copy, and you will perceive that he has been instructed to adjudicate upon the cases, or to refer them, for trial, before the Supreme Court of Criminal Justice, as may be most consistent with his own judgment, and the laws in force.
His Honour the Sheriff of Berbice, who is acquainted with the Hindostanee language, has been summoned from Berbice, in order to assist in interpreting the complaints of the Coolies, and for the purpose of conveying to them an explanation of the punishment which Captain Coleman is enabled, by law, to award against any one who shall, in future, at any time, commit similar outrages on their persons. His Excellency confidently expects your entire concurrence in the above measures, for the punishment of the wrongs these strangers have hitherto sustained; and, under this expectation, I am to suggest to you, that, although a legal tribunal can visit Mr. Sanderson and Mr. Jacobs (either or both, as the evidence may appear to the court to justify such a sentence) with punishment for what the Coolies of Vreed-en-Hoop have, hitherto, wrongly suffered, yet, that the most efficient protection, for the future, can best be afforded, by your dismissal of Messrs. Sanderson and Jacobs.
Mr. Sanderson, as the resident manager, either did know, or ought to have known of these transactions ; under the most charitable supposition, his ignorance must be esteemed highly culpable.
Of Mr. Jacobs’ unfitness to retain any authority over the Coolies of Vreed-en-Hoop, there cannot be a doubt; and it is reported that, pending the investigation, he brutally assaulted one of them, and that he is, at this moment, on his trial, before Stipendiary Magistrate Mure, for the offence. It has also been reported to the Governor, that the wages due to the Coolies, are paid to the interpreter Jacobs, on their behalf, a practice which his Excellency considers may have been a source of discontent. I have, &c.,
(Signed) H. E. F. Young,
James Stuart, Esq., Government Secretary.
Attorney of Plantation Vreed-en-Hoop.
To this communication, the attorney sent a scornful reply, and refused to accede to his Excellency’s request. The investigation, however, led to the trial and conviction of Jacobs for assault on the persons of five Coolies, and the sentence of the court, was a fine of £20 sterling, and one month’s imprisonment in George-town Jail. Subsequently to this, Jacobs was again tried for another assault on a Coolie, and fined 30 shillings by the Court. A third assault was proved against him, and a fine of forty shillings inflicted.
These convictions were deemed sufficient by those who originated the proceedings, to convince the offenders of their illegal proceedings, and to establish the fact, that as part of the regular discipline of the estate, the wretched Coolies were most cruelly whipped and injured. But this was only part of the system: Jacobs was also proved to have muleted the Coolies of their money, which the wretched creatures paid to him instead of a threatened beating. A list of thirty-one cases is given in the report of the Commissioners, who were thus robbed of their hard earned money to the extent of 28 dollars at various times.
The amount of punishment inflicted on the Coolies first and last, must have been enormous, and yet because there was no legal evidence to prove that Sanderson, the general manager of the estate, had personally directed the flogging, either in the house or in the field, he was retained in his situation. To suppose that for twelve-months, these things could have occurred under his own eye, and he not know it, must be to disqualify him for the situation he holds, and ought of itself to have been a sufficient reason for his immediate dismissal from office. But he is too good a manager, in the colonial sense of the term, to be lost, so he still represents his wealthy master on plantation Vreed-en-Hoop.
And now what does Mr. Gladstone do, when put in possession of the documents, forwarded to him by the government, containing the melancholy details referred to? Why, like Mr. Colville, he has not one word of commisseration to expend on the Coolies; but a great deal of indignation against Messrs. Scoble and Anstie, to whom reference no doubt is made, in the following passage:—”The people continued cheerful and contented; but evil disposed persons have recently gone among them, and have endeavoured to create a bad and dissatisfied feeling, in which they have partially succeeded, as it is at present too generally the case in England, where similar effects are produced by the Chartists and others, among the lower classes” — (Vide letter dated 3rd August, 1839.)
Perhaps, as the letter which contains this paragraph, was addressed to the Marquess of Normandy, the “others” may refer to that noble lord himself, and to his noble colleague in office, Lord John Russell; so that Mr. Scoble, and his friend, Mr. Anstie, find themselves in grand company indeed, and, of course, will thank Mr. Gladstone for the honour done them!
Scoble, John. Hill Coolies: A Brief Exposure of the Deplorable Condition of the Hill Coolies in British Guiana and Mauritius, and of the Nefarious Means by Which They were Induced to Resort to These Colonies. Harvey and Darton. 1840.
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