6.4. Slave master between slave rebellions: H.H. Post and the mission in Guyana
In Chapter Four I describe the colonial life of H.H. Post in Guyana. It will become apparent that a ‘decent planter's policy’ in this West Indian colony was not an easy matter. Because the history of this former colony is rather unknown, I first provide a short historical survey of the territories Berbice, Essequibo and Demerara (which later were to form Guyana). I emphasize the role played by slave rebellions in colonial thoughts and actions by giving some attention to the rebellion of Berbice (1763), of Santo Domingo (1790, 1791) and of Demerara (1823). I explore the role of the mission, especially how and why it evoked resistance.
Hermanus Hillebertus Post was born in Utrecht in 1753. When his parental family suffered a serious financial and social setback, he and his brother Gerrit made an attempt to re-establish the prestige of the family. Gerrit died on his way to the East Indies; Hermanus decided to go to the West Indies. He wanted to buy a plantation with the capital of a member of the family and of his siblings. Having worked for a while as an employee in Demerara, he acquired a plantation on the East Coast which he named: ‘Le Resouvenir’. His enterprising spirit soon yielded results: after a few years he was the owner and co-owner of several plantations. The number of slaves which he owned increased steadily. In 1781 he married Adriana de Witt of plantation ‘De Wittenburg’.
In 1783, after the English and French occupation of the colony, they travelled to the Republic for a family visit and to settle some financial matters. Little is in fact known about the remaining years up to the publication of Reinhart. He owes his reputaion to activities undertaken at the beginning of the 19th century. In those years Post exerted himself by coming to the aid of his neighbours whenever they needed help and was therefore honoured with the epithet: ‘God of Courabana’.
Since he was intensely committed to the fate of the slave population, he wanted to contribute to their spiritual welfare as well as to their material well-being. For some time he had ordered a black schoolmaster to teach reading and religion on the plantation, but he wanted to convert them and to encourage literacy among them on a larger scale. It turned out to be a plan that was difficult to realize, but in the end the London Missionary Society (founded in 1796) had the courage to undertake this enterprise. In 1807 John Wray arrived in Stabroek, soon followed by John Davies. Wray was assigned the plantation and surroundings, Davies the city Stabroek. This initiative evoked a strong and lasting resistance: Post was called a dangerous revolutionary who wanted to turn the colony into a second Berbice or Santo Domingo. In spite of these persistent counterattacks and attemps at intimidation, a parish was founded and a church was built on the plantation named ‘Bethel Chapel’. Soon the first baptismal and confessional services took place. Wray's wife came over to assist her husband and to work as a midwife.
In the meantime Post's health deteriorated and after a long illness he died in 1809, mourned by many slaves of his own plantation and by those from other places on the East Coast.
John Wray wrote a ‘Memoir’ for The Evangelical Magazine of 1811 in which many character traits and biographical details of H.H. Post can be found. After Post's death treatment of the slaves on ‘Le Resouvenir’ soon worsened and Wray had to resume the struggle for a more humane policy of the overseers and managers. Thanks to a bequest of H.H. Post the mission was able to continue to exist and to operate from Bethel Chapel.
After an interruption of several years John Smith arrived at the colony (which in the meantime had become British territory) as a missionary. During his presence at ‘Le Resouvenir’ a slave rebellion erupted in 1823 led by the members of Bethel Chapel. The immediate cause of the
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