"
There were in those days three classes of villains. The first or lowest
consisted of villains in gross, who were alienable at pleasure. The
second of villains regardent, who were _adscripti glebae_, or attached
as freehold property to the soil. And the third or last of copyhold
bondmen, who had tenements of land, for which they were bound to pay in
services. The villains first mentioned, or those of the lowest class,
had all these gradations to pass through, from the first into the
second, and from the second into the third, before they could become
free men. This was the model, from which Mr. Steele resolved to borrow,
when he formed his plan for changing the condition of his slaves. Me did
not, however, adopt it throughout, but he chose out of it what he
thought would be most suitable to his purpose, and left the rest. We may
now see what the plan was, when put together, from the following
account.
In the year 1789 he erected his plantations into _manors_. It appears
that the Governor of Barbadoes had the power by charter, with the
consent of the majority of the council, of dividing the island into
manors, lordships, and precincts, and of making freeholders; and though
this had not yet been done, Mr. Steele hoped, as a member of council, to
have influence sufficient to get his own practice legalized in time.
Presuming upon this, he registered in the _manor_-book all his adult
male slaves as _copyholders_. He then gave to these separate tenements
of lands, which they were to occupy, and upon which they were to raise
whatever they might think most advantageous to their support.
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