The streets of Bay town are uncommonly broad and straight, and in places two carriages might comfortably pass without danger to either. On the subject of horse and carriage, Mr Brown was eager for me to observe the lamentable equipage which in these parts is allowed to enter the ranks of the socially acceptable. Two sorry horses, one perhaps of fourteen hands and white in colour, the other a rough brown beast resembling a Shetland pony, are often to be observed shackled incongruously together, sometimes as different in temperament as they are in appearance. I was witness to a debate about the virtues of travelling to the east or to the west conducted by two such jades whose mouths were evidently the most obdurate that had ever tugged against bit and bridle. Their violent contention marooned their hapless driver squarely in the street, he being unable to entreat either beast to give way to the other. Some half-hour elapsed before the traffic was once more able to flow.
A sight to which I found it difficult to reconcile myself was the number of apparently free blacks wandering the streets, shoes on their feet, their unstockinged legs shining like twin columns of jet. It seems that some of these blacks are indeed free, having earned their manumission by their master's generosity, by some good deed, or by thrift and self-purchase, but the majority of these African brethren remain slaves to townsmen, and are employed as servants, porters, and artisans. Black carpenters, coopers, blacksmiths and masons abound, and they are hired out by their owners to assist the other townsmen in their labours. Some are allowed freely to seek labour, but bound to pay their masters a specified sum per day or per week, depending upon the individual arrangement, but the dress, manner and gait of these relatively civilized town slaves marks them off as a wholly different breed from their brutish country cousins.
Owing to a slight misfortune to the heel of my right shoe, Mr Brown and I had reason briefly to present ourselves at the hovel of one of these free negro dandies, having learned that these days no white cobbler was keeping shop-hours in the capital. This black, himself unshod, was busily employed in fashioning, from the most unfragrant materials, a pair of high boots, no doubt destined for the legs of some black exquisite. As he did so he sang a tune in a minor key which Mr Brown identified as negro music, but which to my ear seemed a corrupt version of an old Welsh air, the name of which I could not recollect. On observing us the black rolled up his eyes until only the whites were visible, and then, holding his little flannel cap in one hand, he prostrated himself before us in a gesture of base supplication. Upon this performance I beat a hasty retreat, determined if need be to hobble all day. Most of the sooty tribe have embraced dully a belief in their own degradation and inferiority, and clearly this is the greatest impediment to their making progress, for self-love can never be as towering a sin as wilful self-neglect. This desperate tendency to despise their own race and colour is one of the ugliest consequences of their miserable condition. However, truly I was unsure, in the case of this sambo, whether or not he was making sport of us, for I detected about his free person touches of wit which he appeared to be only partly concealing, but to what purpose I could not fathom. Mr Brown declined to comment.
While the ever-present question of negro civility was pressing upon my mind, Arnold suggested that I might wish to witness the proceedings of a slave-court that was currently in session. As I entered, the delightful cool air of the Court-House struck me sweetly about the brow and banished the heat-induced throbbing which was beginning to assault my person. The interior of this Court-House was fitted up in an elaborate style, and boasted a display of blue paint, intended, one presumes, to give it a commanding yet informal appearance, especially in the warm light of day. To mine own eyes the decor merely conveyed a lamentably shoddy impression more reminiscent of gaudy public Reading-Rooms, or the imagined labyrinths of a Gentleman's place of entertainment. The atmosphere of sobriety that one might properly associate with a place of legal judgement appeared to have played no part in the design of this creole palace.
The case before us involved a seventeen-year-old girl, of most disgustingly dirty appearance, originating from the plantation below our own. Her name was Punch, a peculiar appellation which I assumed to be a fond name. Arnold seemed to have some understanding of the details of her case. It appears that she attempted to infuse some corrosive sublimate into the sangaree of her master, with the intention of dispatching him to another world. The master, having received warning that such treachery might be abroad, pretended to drink the lethal potion and men observed her reaction by the minute as he went unscathed about his daily duties. Eventually Punch broke down screaming, sure that either a miracle had taken place or her master had by stealth become jumby. The trial appeared to be conducted with reasonable propriety and justice. The jury consisted of three respectable local citizens, the bench of a magistrate presided over by a senior member, who appeared a most pompous coxcomb, no doubt standing mighty high in his own estimation.
In this case of Punch the poisoner there was no legal representation on either side, which circumvented the often laborious and time-wasting process of quiz and counter-quiz, and artful cross-examination punctuated by theatrical appeals to the passions. It is to be greatly lamented that the dangerous practice of perjury is commonplace among negroes. Arnold informed me that some have argued that the condition of ignorance to which the negro is deliberately reduced necessarily renders him unable fully to comprehend the serious obligations of an oath, but history apparently proves this claim false. The negro, whether house-slave or field, bond or free, is likely to fabricate a tale wherein every second sentence will contradict what has gone before. This accumulation of falsehoods is always compounded by his declaring a passionate desire to 'kiss the book', and reinforced with wild assertions of the purest innocence. Mercifully, this Punch appeared to have no defence and was summarily condemned to the, in two days time, by hanging. There was no appeal, and sentence was passed without the least emotion on the part of the magistrates, although tears of pity were apparent enough upon the countenances of the sombre mass of black life that filled the public gallery, plainly aggrieved that the word of the worst scoundrel, were he the possessor of a white skin, would be given preference to their own testament. I asked Arnold whether any white person had been condemned to the for a crime such as killing a slave, but he made reply that were a black to be killed by a cruelly disposed master, in law such cases are considered trifles, for there is usually no reason for a man to deplete his stock without good and just cause. I did not think this is a shining example of rational argument to submit to those in whom one is trying to instill the rudiments of our morality, although Mr Rogers would no doubt vigorously contest the wisdom of making any effort to lead our black brethren and sisters out of their moral darkness. A formal system of law whereby any offender, irrespective of colour or quality, is meted out just punishment, seems not to have taken hold on this island.