towards
manumission was even more marked and extensive, for there the white
fathers often not only bestowed freedom on their offspring but
bequeathed to them comfortable, if not ample, means. Our immediate
interest is, however, to be found among the blacks, for it is among
them that we see a face and figure that holds our attention.

Among the earliest Negroes in Jamaica freed because of services
rendered to the state was one John Williams. Under date of 1708, a law
stands on record, the first of its kind, forbidding slave testimony
being received in evidence against two Negroes, to wit, Manuel
Bartholomew and John Williams. This was bestowing on them one of the
vital privileges as a rule confined to whites. Eight years later there
was passed another act extending the privilege to Dorothy Williams,
wife of John, and also to the sons of these two, namely, John, Thomas,
and Francis. Exactly what led to such marked discrimination in favor
of Williams and his family the records have not so far revealed, but
the mere continuation of the concession and its extension suggest that
there was something special about the character and worth of John
Williams, Senior, as viewed by the ruling authorities. Another fact
emphasizes this. John Williams, between 1708 and 1716, had to endure
the rather dangerous hostility of a member of the legislature. This
legislator applied to Williams the term "a black Negro," as one of
contempt. Williams replied with the term, self-contradictory no doubt
but effective enough to rile a Jamaican legislator in the early part
of the eighteenth century. He styled his would-be traducer a "white
Negro." As a result he ran the risk of seeing his valued privileges
withdrawn once and for all. Supported by a few of his friends, the
irate legislator brought the matter before the House of Assembly, and
it was actually proposed that the Act of 1708, the Magna Charta so to
speak of the Williams family, should be revoked. The effort, however,
failed, and it seems reasonable to view that fact as a testimony to
something of worth in John Williams, especially when we find that soon
after his privileges were extended to his wife and his three
sons.[217]

Francis Williams now replaces John, his father, and Dorothy, his
mother, against the background of the past. The Duke of Montague
wished to put to the test some of his opinions about the capabilities
of the Negro. He desired to see whether a black boy taken and traine