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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10386 ***
+
+THOUGHTS ON THE NECESSITY OF IMPROVING THE CONDITION OF THE SLAVES IN
+THE BRITISH COLONIES, WITH A VIEW TO THEIR ULTIMATE EMANCIPATION; AND ON
+THE PRACTICABILITY, THE SAFETY, AND THE ADVANTAGES OF THE LATTER
+MEASURE.
+
+
+BY T. CLARKSON, ESQ.
+
+
+1823.
+
+
+
+PREFACE.
+
+
+The following sheets first appeared in a periodical work called The
+Inquirer. They are now republished without undergoing any substantial
+alteration. The author however thinks it due to himself to state, that
+_he would have materially qualified those parts of his essay which speak
+of the improved Condition of the Slaves in the West Indies since the
+abolition_, had he then been acquainted with the recent evidence
+obtained upon that subject. His present conviction certainly is, that he
+has overrated that improvement, and that in point of fact Negro Slavery
+is, in its main and leading feature, the same system which it was when
+the Abolition controversy first commenced.
+
+It is possible there may be some, who, having glanced over the Title
+Page of this little work, may be startled at the word _Emancipation_. I
+wish to inform such, that Mr. Dundas, afterwards Lord Melville, an acute
+Man, and a Friend to the Planters, _proposed this very measure to
+Parliament_ in the year 1792. We see, then, that the word Emancipation
+cannot be charged with _Novelty_. It contains now _no new ideas_. It
+contains now nothing but what has been _thought practicable_, and _even
+desirable to be accomplished_. The Emancipation which I desire is such
+an Emancipation only, as I firmly believe to be compatible not only with
+the due subordination and happiness of the labourer, but with the
+permanent interests of his employer.
+
+I wish also to say, in case any thing like an undue warmth of feeling on
+my part should be discovered in the course of the work, that I had no
+intention of being warm against the West Indians as a body. I know that
+there are many estimable men among them living in England, who deserve
+every desirable praise for having sent over instructions to their Agents
+in the West Indies from time to time in behalf of their wretched Slaves.
+And yet, alas! even these, _the Masters themselves, have not had
+influence enough to secure the fulfilment of their own instructions upon
+their own estates_; nor will they, _so long as the present system
+continues_. They will never be able to carry their meritorious designs
+into effect against _Prejudice, Law, and Custom_. If this be not so, how
+happens it that you cannot see the Slaves, belonging to such estimable
+men, _without marks of the whip upon their backs_? The truth is, that
+_so long as overseers, drivers, and others, are entrusted with the use
+of arbitrary power_, and _so long as Negro-evidence is invalid against
+the white oppressor_, and _so long as human nature continues to be what
+it is_, _no order_ from the Master for the better personal treatment of
+the Slave _will or can be obeyed_. It is against the _system_ then, and
+not against the West Indians as a body, that I am warm, should I be
+found so unintentionally, in the present work.
+
+One word or two now on another part of the subject. A great noise will
+be made, no doubt, when the question of Emancipation comes to be
+agitated, about _the immense property at stake_, I mean the property of
+the Planters;--and others connected with them. This is all well. Their
+interests ought undoubtedly to be attended to. But I hope and trust,
+that, if property is to be attended to _on one side_ of the question, it
+will be equally attended to _on the other_. This is but common justice.
+If you put into one scale _the gold_ and _jewels_ of the Planters, you
+are bound to put into the other _the liberty_ of 800,000 of the African
+race; for every man's liberty is _his own property_ by the laws of
+_Nature_, _Reason_, _Justice_, and _Religion_? and, if it be not so with
+our West Indian Slaves, it _is only because_ they have been, and
+continue to be, _deprived_ of it _by force_. And here let us consider
+for a moment which of these two different sorts of property is of the
+greatest value. Let us suppose an English gentleman to be seized by
+ruffians on the banks of the Thames (and why not a _gentleman_ when
+African _princes_ have been so served?) and hurried away to a land (and
+Algiers is such a land, for instance), where white persons are held as
+Slaves. Now this gentleman has not been used to severe labour (neither
+has the African in his own country); and being therefore unable, though
+he does his best, to please his master, he is roused to further exertion
+_by the whip_. Perhaps he takes this treatment indignantly. This only
+secures him _a severer punishment_. I say nothing of his being badly
+fed, or lodged, or clothed. If he should have a wife and daughters with
+him, how much more cruel would be his fate! to see the tender skins of
+these lacerated by the whip! to see them torn from him, with a
+knowledge, that they are going to be compelled to submit to the lust of
+an overseer! _and no redress_. "How long," says he, "is this frightful
+system, which tears my body in pieces and excruciates my soul, which
+kills me by inches, and which involves my family in unspeakable misery
+and unmerited disgrace, to continue?"--"For _ever_," replies a voice
+Suddenly: "_for ever_, as relates to your _own_ life, and the life _of
+your wife and daughters_, and that of _all their posterity_," Now would
+not this gentleman give _all that he had left behind him_ in England,
+and _all that he had in the world besides_, and _all that he had in
+prospect and expectancy_, to get out of this wretched state, though he
+foresaw that on his return to his own country he would be obliged to beg
+his bread for the remainder of his life? I am sure he would. I am sure
+he would _instantly_ prefer his _liberty to his gold_. There would not
+be _the hesitation of a moment_ as to the choice he would make. I hope,
+then, that if _the argument of property_ should he urged on _one side_
+of the question, the _argument of property (liberty) will not be
+overlooked on the other_, but that they will be fairly weighed, the one
+against the other, and that an allowance will be made as the scale shall
+preponderate on either side.
+
+
+
+
+THOUGHTS, &c.
+
+
+I know of no subject, where humanity and justice, as well as public and
+private interest, would be more intimately united than in that, which
+should recommend a mitigation of the slavery, with a view afterwards to
+the emancipation of the Negroes, wherever such may be held in bondage.
+This subject was taken up for consideration, so early as when the
+Abolition of the slave trade was first practically thought of, and by
+the very persons who first publicly embarked in that cause in England;
+but it was at length abandoned by them, not on the ground _that Slavery
+was less cruel, or wicked, or impolitic, than the slave trade_, but for
+other reasons. In the first place there were not at that time so many
+obstacles in the way of the Abolition, as of the Emancipation of the
+Negroes. In the second place Abolition could be effected immediately,
+and with but comparatively little loss, and no danger. Emancipation, on
+the other hand, appeared to be rather a work of time. It was beset too
+with many difficulties, which required deep consideration, and which, if
+not treated with great caution and prudence, threatened the most
+alarming results. In the third place, it was supposed, that, by
+effecting the abolition of the slave trade, the axe would be laid to the
+root of the whole evil; so that by cutting off the more vital part of
+it, the other would gradually die away:--for what was more reasonable
+than to suppose, that, when masters could no longer obtain Slaves from
+Africa or elsewhere, they would be compelled individually, by a sort of
+inevitable necessity, or a fear of consequences, or by a sense of their
+own interest, _to take better care of those whom they might then have in
+their possession_? What was more reasonable to suppose, than that the
+different legislatures themselves, moved also by the same necessity,
+_would immediately interfere_, without even the loss of a day, _and so
+alter and amend the laws_ relative to the treatment of Slaves, as to
+enforce that as a public duty, which it would be thus the private
+interest of individuals to perform? Was it not also reasonable to
+suppose that a system of better treatment, thus begun by individuals,
+and enforced directly afterwards by law, would produce more willing as
+well as more able and valuable labourers than before; and that this
+effect, when once visible, would again lead both masters and legislators
+on the score of interest to treat their slaves still more like men; nay,
+at length to give them even privileges; and thus to elevate their
+condition by degrees, till at length it would be no difficult task, and
+no mighty transition, _to pass them_ to that most advantageous situation
+to both parties, _the rank of Free Men?_
+
+These were the three effects, which the simple measure of the abolition
+of the slave trade was expected to produce by those, who first espoused
+it, by Mr. Granville Sharp, and those who formed the London committee;
+and by Mr. Pitt, Mr. Fox, Mr. Burke, Mr. Wilberforce, and others of
+illustrious name, who brought the subject before Parliament. The
+question then is, how have these fond expectations been realized? or how
+many and which of these desirable effects have been produced? I may
+answer perhaps with truth, that in our own Islands, where the law of the
+abolition is not so easily evaded, or where there is less chance of
+obtaining new slaves, than in some other parts, there has been already,
+that is, since the abolition of the slave trade, a somewhat _better
+individual_ treatment of the slaves than before. A certain care has been
+taken of them. The plough has been introduced to ease their labour.
+Indulgences have been given to pregnant women both before and after
+their delivery; premiums have been offered for the rearing of infants to
+a certain age; religious instruction has been allowed to many. But when
+I mention these instances of improvement, I must be careful to
+distinguish what I mean;--I do not intend to say, that there were no
+instances of humane treatment of the slaves before the abolition of the
+slave trade. I know, on the other hand, that there were; I know that
+there were planters, who introduced the plough upon their estates, and
+who much to their Honour granted similar indulgences, premiums, and
+permissions to those now mentioned, previously to this great event. All
+then that I mean to say is this, that, independently of the common
+progress of humanity and liberal opinion, the circumstance of not being
+able to get new slaves as formerly, has had its influence upon some of
+our planters; that it has made some of them think more; that it has put
+some of them more upon their guard; and that there are therefore upon
+the whole, more instances of good treatment of slaves by individuals in
+our Islands (though far from being as numerous as they ought to be) than
+at any former period.
+
+But, alas! though the abolition of the slave trade may have produced a
+somewhat better individual treatment of the slaves, and this also to a
+somewhat greater extent than formerly, _not one of the other effects_,
+so anxiously looked for, has been realized. The condition of the slaves
+has not yet been improved by _law_. It is a remarkable, and indeed
+almost an incredible fact, _that no one effort has been made_ by the
+legislative bodies in our Islands with _the real_ intention of meeting
+the new, the great, and the extraordinary event of the abolition of the
+slave trade. While indeed this measure was under discussion by the
+British Parliament, an attempt was made in several of our Islands to
+alter the old laws with a view, as it was then pretended, of providing
+better for the wants and personal protection of the slaves; but it was
+afterwards discovered, that the promoters of this alteration never meant
+to carry it into effect. It was intended, by making a show of these
+laws, _to deceive the people of England_, and _thus to prevent them from
+following up the great question of the abolition_. Mr. Clappeson, one of
+the evidences examined by the House of Commons, was in Jamaica, when the
+Assembly passed their famous consolidated laws, and he told the House,
+that "he had often heard from people there, that it was passed because
+of the stir in England about the slave trade;" and he added, "that
+slaves continued to be as ill treated there _since the passing of that
+act as before_." Mr. Cook, another of the evidences examined, was long
+resident in the same island, and, "though he lived there also _since the
+passing of the_ act, _he knew of no legal protection_, which slaves had
+against injuries from their masters." Mr. Dalrymple was examined to the
+same point for Grenada. He was there in 1788, when the Act for that
+island was passed also, called "An Act for the better Protection and
+promoting the Increase and Population of Slaves." He told the House,
+that, "while he resided there, the proposal in the British Parliament
+for the abolition of the slave trade was a matter of general discussion,
+and that he believed, that this was a principal reason for passing it.
+He was of opinion, however, that this Act would prove ineffectual,
+because, as Negro evidence was not to be admitted, those, who chose to
+abuse their slaves, might still do it with impunity; and people, who
+lived on terms of intimacy, would dislike the idea of becoming spies and
+informers against each other." We have the same account of the
+ameliorating Act of Dominica. "This Act," says Governor Prevost,
+"appears to have been considered from the day it was passed until this
+hour as _a political measure to avert the interference of the mother
+country in the management of the slaves_." We, are informed also on the
+same authority, that the clauses of this Act, which had given a promise
+of better days, "_had been wholly neglected_." In short, the Acts passed
+in our different Islands for the pretended purpose of bettering the
+condition of the slaves have been all of them most shamefully
+neglected; and they remain only a dead letter; or they are as much a
+nullity, as if they had never existed, at the present day.
+
+And as our planters have done nothing yet effectively by _law_ for
+ameliorating the condition of their slaves, so they have done nothing or
+worse than nothing in the case of their _emancipation_. In the year 1815
+Mr. Wilberforce gave notice in the House of Commons of his intention to
+introduce there a bill for the registration of slaves in the British
+colonies. In the following year an insurrection broke out among some
+slaves in Barbadoes. Now, though this insurrection originated, as there
+was then reason to believe, in local or peculiar circumstances, or in
+circumstances which had often produced insurrections before, the
+planters chose to attribute it to the Registry Bill now mentioned. They
+gave out also, that the slaves in Jamaica and in the other islands had
+imbibed a notion, that this Bill was to lead to _their emancipation_;
+that, while this notion existed, their minds would be in an unsettled
+state; and therefore that it was necessary that _it should be done
+away_. Accordingly on the 19th day of June 1816, they moved and procured
+an address from the Commons to the Prince Regent, the substance of which
+was (as relates to this particular) that "His Royal Highness would be
+pleased to order all the governors of the West India islands to
+proclaim, in the most public manner, His Royal Highness's concern and
+surprise at the false and mischievous opinion, which appeared to have
+prevailed in some of the British colonies,--that either His Royal
+Highness or the British Parliament had sent out orders for _the
+emancipation_ of the Negroes; and to direct the most effectual methods
+to be adopted for discountenancing _these unfounded and dangerous
+impressions_." Here then we have a proof "that in the month of June 1816
+the planters _had no notion of altering the condition of their
+Negroes_." It is also evident, that they have entertained _no such
+notion since_; for emancipation implies a _preparation_ of the persons
+who are to be the subjects of so great a change. It implies a previous
+alteration of treatment for the better, and a previous alteration of
+customs and even of circumstances, no one of which can however be really
+and truly effected without _a previous change of the laws_. In fact, a
+progressively better treatment _by law_ must have been settled as a
+preparatory and absolutely necessary work, had _emancipation been
+intended_. But as we have never heard of the introduction of any new
+laws to this effect, or with a view of producing this effect, in any of
+our colonies, we have an evidence, almost as clear as the sun at
+noonday, that our planters have no notion of altering the condition of
+their Negroes, though fifteen years have elapsed since the abolition of
+the slave trade.  But if it be true that the abolition of the slave
+trade has not produced all the effects, which the abolitionists
+anticipated or intended, it would appear to be their duty, unless
+insurmountable obstacles present themselves, _to resume their labours:_
+for though there may be upon the whole, as I have admitted, a somewhat
+better _individual_ treatment of the slaves by their masters, arising
+out of an increased prudence in same, which has been occasioned by
+stopping the importations, yet it is true, that not only many of the
+former continue to be ill-treated by the latter, but that _all may be so
+ill-treated_, if the _latter be so disposed_. They may be ill-fed,
+hard-worked, ill-used, and wantonly and barbarously punished. They may
+be tortured, nay even deliberately and intentionally killed without the
+means of redress, or the punishment of the aggressor, so long as the
+evidence of a Negro is not valid against a white man. If a white master
+only take care, that no other white man sees him commit an atrocity of
+the kind mentioned, he is safe from the cognizance of the law. He may
+commit such atrocity in the sight of a thousand black spectators, and no
+harm will happen to him from it. In fact, the slaves in our Islands have
+_no more real protection or redress from law_, than when _the
+Abolitionists first took up the question of the slave trade_. It is
+evident therefore, that the latter have still one-half of their work to
+perform, and that it is their duty to perform it. If they were ever
+influenced by any good motives, whether of humanity, justice, or
+religion, to undertake the cause of the Negroes, they must even now be
+influenced by the same motives to continue it. If any of those disorders
+still exist, which it was their intention to cure, they cannot (if these
+are curable) retire from the course and say--there is now no further
+need of our interference.
+
+The first step then to be taken by the Abolitionists is to attempt to
+introduce an _entire new code of laws_ into our colonies. The treatment
+of the Negroes there must no longer be made to depend upon _the presumed
+effects_ of the abolition of the slave trade. Indeed there were persons
+well acquainted with Colonial concerns, who called the abolition _but a
+half measure_ at the time when it was first publicly talked of. They
+were sure, that it would never _of itself_ answer the end proposed. Mr.
+Steele also confessed in his letter to Dr. Dickson[1] (of both of whom
+more by and by), that "the abolition of the stave trade would _be
+useless_, unless at the same time the infamous laws, which he had
+pointed out, _were repealed_." Neither must the treatment of the Negroes
+be made to depend upon what may be called _contingent humanity_. We now
+leave in this country neither the horse, nor the ass, nor oxen, nor
+sheep, to the contingent humanity even of _British bosoms_;--and shall
+we leave those, whom we have proved to be _men_, to the contingent
+humanity of a _slave colony_, where the eye is familiarized with cruel
+sights, and where we have seen a constant exposure to oppression without
+the possibility of redress? No. The treatment of the Negroes must be
+made to depend _upon law_; and unless this be done, we shall look in
+vain for any real amelioration of their condition. In the first place,
+all those old laws, which are repugnant to humanity and justice, must be
+done away. There must also be new laws, positive, certain, easy of
+execution, binding upon all, by means of which the Negroes in our
+islands shall have speedy and substantial redress in real cases of
+ill-usage, whether by starvation, over-work, or acts of personal
+violence, or otherwise. There must be new laws again more akin to the
+principle of _reward_ than of _punishment_, of _privilege_ than of
+_privation_, and which shall, have a tendency to raise or elevate their
+condition, so as to fit them by degrees to sustain the rank of free men.
+
+But if a new Code of Laws be indispensably necessary in our colonies in
+order to secure a better treatment to the slaves, to whom must we look
+for it? I answer, that we must not look for it to the West Indian
+Legislatures. For, in the first place, judging of what they are likely
+to do from what they have already done, or rather from what they have
+_not_ done, we can have no reasonable expectation from that quarter. One
+hundred and fifty years have passed, during which long interval their
+laws have been nearly stationary, or without any material improvement.
+In the second place, the individuals composing these Legislatures,
+having been used to the exercise of unlimited power, would be unwilling
+to part with that portion of it, which would be necessary to secure the
+object in view. In the third place, their prejudices against their
+slaves are too great to allow them to become either impartial or willing
+actors in the case. The term _slave_ being synonymous according to their
+estimation and usage with the term _brute_, they have fixed a stigma
+upon their Negroes, such as we, who live in Europe, could not have
+conceived, unless we had had irrefragable evidence upon the point. What
+evils has not this cruel association of terms produced? The West Indian
+master looks down upon his slave with disdain. He has besides a certain
+antipathy against him. He hates the sight of his features, and of his
+colour; nay, he marks with distinctive opprobrium the very blood in his
+veins, attaching different names and more or less infamy to those who
+have it in them, according to the quantity which they have of it in
+consequence of their pedigree, or of their greater or less degree of
+consanguinity with the whites. Hence the West Indian feels an
+unwillingness to elevate the condition of the Negro, or to do any thing
+for him as a human being. I have no doubt, that this prejudice has been
+one of the great causes why the improvement of our slave population _by
+law_ has been so long retarded, and that the same prejudice will
+continue to have a similar operation, so long as it shall continue to
+exist. Not that there are wanting men of humanity among our West Indian
+legislators. Their humanity is discernible enough when it is to be
+applied to the _whites_; but such is the system of slavery, and the
+degradation attached to this system, that their humanity seems to be
+lost or gone, when it is to be applied to the _blacks_. Not again that
+there are wanting men of sense among the same body. They are shrewd and
+clever enough in the affairs of life, where they maintain an intercourse
+with the _whites_; but in their intercourse with the _blacks_ their
+sense appears to be shrivelled and not of its ordinary size. Look at the
+laws of their own making, as far as the Negroes are concerned, and they
+are a collection of any thing but--wisdom.
+
+It appears then, that if a new code of laws is indispensably necessary
+in our Colonies in order to secure a better treatment of the slaves
+there, we are not to look to the West Indian Legislatures for it. To
+whom then are we to turn our eyes for help on this occasion? We answer,
+To the British Parliament, the source of all legitimate power; to that
+Parliament, _which has already heard and redressed in part the wrongs of
+Africa_. The West Indian Legislatures must be called upon to send their
+respective codes to this Parliament for revision. Here they will be well
+and impartially examined; some of the laws will be struck out, others
+amended, and others added; and at length they will be returned to the
+Colonies, means having been previously devised for their execution
+there.
+
+But here no doubt a considerable opposition would arise on the part of
+the West India planters. These would consider any such interference by
+the British Parliament as an invasion of their rights, and they would
+cry out accordingly. We remember that they set up a clamour when the
+abolition of the slave trade was first proposed. But what did Mr. Pitt
+say to them in the House of Commons? "I will now," said he, "consider
+the proposition, that on account of some patrimonial rights of the West
+Indians, the prohibition of the slave trade would be an invasion of
+their legal inheritance. This proposition implied, that Parliament had
+no right to stop the importations: but had this detestable traffic
+received such a sanction, as placed it more out of the jurisdiction of
+the Legislature for ever after, than any other branch of our trade? But
+if the laws respecting the slave trade implied a contract for its
+perpetual continuance, the House could never regulate any other of the
+branches of our national commerce. But _any contract_ for the promotion
+of this trade must, in his opinion, _have been void from the
+beginning_; for if it was _an outrage upon justice_, and only another
+name for _fraud, robbery, and murder_, what _pledge_ could devolve upon
+the Legislature to incur the obligation of becoming principals in the
+commission of such enormities by sanctioning their continuance?"
+
+They set up again a similar clamour, when the Registry Bill before
+mentioned was discussed in Parliament, contending that the introduction
+of it there was an interference with their rights also: but we must not
+forget the reply which Mr. Canning made to them on that occasion. "He
+had known, (he said,) and there might again occur, instances of
+obstinacy in the colonial assemblies, which left the British Parliament
+no choice but direct interference. Such conduct might now call for such
+an exertion on the part of Parliament; but all that he pleaded for was,
+that time should be granted, that it might be known if the colonial
+assemblies would take upon them to do what that House was pleased to
+declare should be done. The present address could not be misunderstood.
+It told the colonial assemblies, You are safe for the present from the
+interference of the British Parliament, on the belief, and on the
+promise made for you, that left to yourselves you will do what is
+required of you. To hold this language was sufficient. The Assemblies
+might be left to infer the consequences of a refusal, and Parliament
+might rest satisfied with the consciousness, that they held in their
+hands the means of accomplishing that which they had proposed." In a
+subsequent discussion of the subject in the House of Lords, Lord Holland
+remarked, that "in his opinion there had been more prejudice against
+this Bill than the nature of the thing justified; but, whatever might be
+the objection felt against it in the Colonies, it might be well for them
+to consider, that it would be _impossible for them to resist_, and that,
+if the thing was not done by them, _it would be done for them_." But on
+this subject, that is, on the subject of colonial rights, I shall say
+more in another place. It will be proper, however, to repeat here, and
+to insist upon it too, that there is no _effectual way_ of remedying the
+evil complained of, but by subjecting the colonial laws to the _revision
+of the Legislature of the mother country_; and perhaps I shall disarm
+some of the opponents to this measure, and at any rate free myself from
+the charge of a novel and wild proposition, when I inform them that Mr.
+Long, the celebrated historian and planter of Jamaica, and to whose
+authority all West Indians look up, adopted the same idea. Writing on
+the affairs of Jamaica, he says: "The system[2] of Colonial government,
+and the imperfection of their several laws, are subjects, which never
+were, but _which ought to be_, strictly canvassed, examined, and amended
+by the British Parliament."
+
+The second and last step to be taken by the Abolitionists should be, to
+collect all possible light on the subject of _emancipation_ with a view
+of carrying that measure into effect in its due time. They ought never
+to forget, that _emancipation_ was included in _their original idea of
+the abolition of the slave trade_. Slavery was then as much an evil in
+their eyes as the trade itself; and so long as the former continues in
+its present state, the extinction of it ought to be equally an object of
+their care. All the slaves in our colonies, whether men, women, or
+children, whether _Africans or Creoles_, have been unjustly deprived of
+their rights. There is not a master, who has the least claim to their
+services in point of equity. There is, therefore, a great debt due to
+them, and for this no payment, no amends, no equivalent can be found,
+but a _restoration to their liberty_.
+
+That all have been unjustly deprived of their rights, may be easily
+shown by examining the different grounds on which they are alleged to be
+held in bondage. With respect to those in our colonies, who are
+_Africans_, I never heard of any title to them but by the _right of
+purchase_. But it will be asked, where did the purchasers get them? It
+will be answered, that they got them from the sellers; and where did the
+sellers, that is, the original sellers, get them? They got them by
+_fraud or violence_. So says the evidence before the House of Commons;
+and so, in fact, said both Houses of Parliament, when they abolished the
+trade: and this is the plea set up for retaining them in a cruel
+bondage!!!
+
+With respect to the rest of the slaves, that is, the _Creoles_, or those
+born in the colonies, the services, the perpetual services, of these are
+claimed on the plea of the _law of birth_. They were born slaves, and
+this circumstance is said to give to their masters a sufficient right to
+their persons. But this doctrine sprung from the old Roman law, which
+taught that all slaves were to be considered as _cattle_. "Partus
+sequitur ventrem," says this law, or the "condition or lot of the mother
+determines the condition or lot of the offspring." It is the same law,
+which we ourselves now apply to cattle while they are in our possession.
+Thus the calf belongs to the man who owns the cow, and the foal to the
+man who owns the mare, and not to the owner of the bull or horse, which
+were the male parents of each. It is then upon this, the old Roman law,
+and not upon any English law, that the planters found their right to the
+services of such as are born in slavery. In conformity with this law
+they denied, for one hundred and fifty years, both the moral and
+intellectual nature of their slaves. They considered them themselves,
+and they wished them to be considered by others, in these respects, as
+upon a level only _with the beasts of the field_. Happily, however,
+their efforts have been in vain. The evidence examined before the House
+of Commons in the years 1789, 1790, and 1791, has confirmed the
+falsehood of their doctrines. It has proved that the social affections
+and the intellectual powers both of Africans and Creoles are the same as
+those of other human beings. What then becomes of the Roman law? For as
+it takes no other view of slaves than as _cattle_, how is it applicable
+to those, whom we have so abundantly proved _to be men_?
+
+This is the grand plea, upon which our West Indian planters have founded
+their right to the perpetual services of their _Creole_ slaves. They
+consider them as the young or offspring of cattle. But as the slaves in
+question have been proved, and are now acknowledged, to be the offspring
+of men and women, of social, intellectual, and accountable beings, their
+right must fall to the ground. Nor do I know upon what other principle
+or right they can support it. They can have surely no _natural right_ to
+the infant, who is born of a woman slave. If there be any right to it by
+_nature_, such right must belong, not to the master of the mother, but
+to the mother herself. They can have no right to it again, either on the
+score of _reason_ or of _justice_. Debt and crime have been generally
+admitted to be two fair grounds, on which men may be justly deprived of
+their liberty for a time, and even made to labour, inasmuch as they
+include _reparation of injury_, and the duty of the magistrate to _make
+examples_, in order that he may not bear the sword in vain. But what
+injury had the infant done, when it came into the world, to the master
+of its mother, that reparation should be sought for, or punishment
+inflicted for example, and that this reparation and this punishment
+should be made to consist of a course of action and suffering, against
+which, more than against any other, human nature would revolt? Is it
+reasonable, is it just, that a poor infant who has done no injury to any
+one, should be subjected, _he and his posterity for ever_, to _the
+arbitrary will and tyranny of another_, and moreover to _the condition
+of a brute_, because by _mere accident_, and by _no fault_ or _will of
+his own_, he was born of a person, who had been previously in the
+condition of a slave?
+
+And as the right to slaves, because they were born slaves, cannot be
+defended either upon the principles of reason or of justice, so this
+right absolutely falls to pieces, when we come to try it by the
+touchstone _of the Christian religion_. Every man who is born into the
+world, whether he be white or whether he be black, is born, according to
+Christian notions, a _free agent_ and _an accountable creature_. This is
+the Scriptural law of his nature as a human bring. He is born under this
+law, and he continues under it during his life. Now the West Indian
+slavery is of such an arbitrary nature, that it may be termed _proper_
+or _absolute_. The dominion attached to it is a despotism without
+control; a despotism, which keeps up its authority by terror only. The
+subjects of it _must do_, and this _instantaneously_, whatever their
+master _orders them to do_, whether it _be right or wrong_. His will,
+and his will alone, is their law. If the wife of a slave were ordered by
+a master to submit herself to his lusts, and therefore to commit
+adultery, or if her husband were ordered to steal any thing for him, and
+therefore to commit theft, I have no conception that either the one or
+the other would _dare_ to disobey his commands. "The whip, the shackles,
+the dungeon," says Mr. Steele before mentioned, "are at all times in his
+power, whether it be to gratify his _lust_, or display his
+authority[3]." Now if the master has the power, _a just, and moral
+power_, to make his slaves do what he orders them to do, even if it be
+wrong, then I must contend that the Scriptures, whose authority we
+venerate, are false. I must contend that his slaves never could have
+been born free agents and accountable creatures; or that, as soon as
+they became slaves, they were absolved from the condition of free-agency
+and that they lost their responsibility as men. But if, on the other
+hand, it be the revealed will of God, that all men, without exception,
+must be left free to act, but accountable to God for their actions;--I
+contend that no man can be born, nay, further, that no man can be made,
+held, or possessed, as a proper slave. I contend that there can be,
+according to the Gospel-dispensation, _no such state as West Indian
+slavery_. But let us now suppose for a moment, that there might be found
+an instance or two of slaves enlightened by some pious Missionary, who
+would refuse to execute their master's orders on the principle that they
+were wrong; even this would not alter our views of the case. For would
+not this refusal be so unexampled, so unlooked-for, so immediately
+destructive to all authority and discipline, and so provocative of
+anger, that it would be followed by _immediate and signal punishment_?
+Here then we should have a West Indian master reversing all the laws and
+rules of civilized nations, and turning upside down all the morality of
+the Gospel by the novel practice of _punishing men for their virtues_.
+This new case affords another argument, why a man cannot be born a
+proper slave. In fact, the whole system of our planters appears to me to
+be so directly in opposition to the whole system of our religion, that I
+have no conception, how a man can have been born a slave, such as the
+West Indian is; nor indeed have I any conception, how he can be,
+rightly, or justly, or properly, a West Indian slave at all. There
+appears to me something even impious in the thought; and I am convinced,
+that many years will not pass, before the West Indian slavery will
+fall, and that future ages will contemplate with astonishment how the
+preceding could have tolerated it.
+
+It has now appeared, if I have reasoned conclusively, that the West
+Indians have no title to their slaves on the ground of purchase, nor on
+the plea of the law of birth, nor on that of any natural right, nor on
+that of reason or justice, and that Christianity absolutely annihilates
+it. It remains only to show, that they have no title to them on the
+ground of _original grants or permissions of Governments_, or of _Acts
+of Parliament_, or of _Charters_, or of _English law_.
+
+With respect to original grants or permissions of Governments, the case
+is very clear. History informs us, that neither the African slave trade
+nor the West Indian slavery would have been allowed, had it not been for
+the _misrepresentations_ and _falsehoods_ of those, _who were first
+concerned in them_. The Governments of those times were made to believe,
+first, that the poor Africans embarked _voluntarily_ on board the ships
+which took them from their native land; and secondly, that they were
+conveyed to the Colonies principally for _their own benefit_, or out of
+_Christian feeling for them_, that they might afterwards _be converted
+to Christianity_. Take as an instance of the first assertion, the way in
+which Queen Elizabeth was deceived, in whose reign the execrable slave
+trade began in England. This great princess seems on the very
+commencement of the trade to have questioned its lawfulness. She seems
+to have entertained a religious scruple concerning it, and indeed, to
+have revolted at the very thoughts of it. She seems to have been aware
+of the evils to which its continuance might lead, or that, if it were
+sanctioned, the most unjustifiable means might be made use of to procure
+the persons of the natives of Africa. And in what light she would have
+viewed any acts of this kind, had they taken place to her knowledge, we
+may conjecture from this fact--that when Captain (afterwards Sir John)
+Hawkins returned from his first voyage to Africa and Hispaniola, whither
+he had carried slaves, she sent for him, and, as we learn from Hill's
+Naval History, expressed her concern lest any of the Africans should be
+carried off _without their free consent_, declaring, "that it would be
+detestable and call down the vengeance of Heaven upon the undertakers."
+Capt. Hawkins promised to comply with the injunctions of Elizabeth in
+this respect. But he did not keep his word; for when he went to Africa
+again, _he seized_ many of the inhabitants _and carried them off_ as
+slaves, "Here (says Hill) began the horrid practice of forcing the
+Africans into slavery, an injustice and barbarity, which, so sure as
+there is vengeance in Heaven for the worst of crimes, will sometime be
+the destruction of all who encourage it." Take as an instance of the
+second what Labat, a Roman missionary, records in his account of the
+Isles of America. He says, that Louis the Thirteenth was very uneasy,
+when he was about to issue the edict, by which all Africans coming into
+his colonies were to be made slaves; and that this uneasiness continued,
+till he was assured that the introduction of them in this capacity into
+his foreign dominions was the readiest way of _converting them_ to the
+principles _of the Christian religion_. It was upon these ideas then,
+namely, that the Africans left their own country voluntarily, and that
+they were to receive the blessings of Christianity, and upon these
+alone, that the first transportations were allowed, and that the first
+_English_ grants and Acts of Parliament, and that the first _foreign_
+edicts, sanctioned them. We have therefore the fact well authenticated,
+as it relates _to original Government grants and permissions_, that the
+owners of many of the Creole slaves in our colonies have no better title
+to them as property, than as being the descendants of persons forced
+away from their country and brought thither by a traffic, which had its
+allowed origin in _fraud and falsehood_.
+
+Neither have the masters of slaves in our colonies any title to their
+slaves on account of any _charters_, which they may be able to produce,
+though their charters are the only source of their power. It is through
+these that they have hitherto legislated, and that they continue to
+legislate. Take away their charters, and they would have no right or
+power to legislate at all. And yet, though they have their charters, and
+though the slavery, which now exists, has been formed and kept together
+entirely by the laws, which such charters have given them the power to
+make, this very slavery _is illegal_. There is not an individual, who
+holds any of the slaves by a _legal_ title: for it is expressed in all
+these charters, whether in those given to William Penn and others for
+the continent of North America, or in those given for the islands now
+under our consideration, that "the laws and statutes, to be made there,
+are _not to be repugnant_, but, as near as may be, _agreeable, to the
+laws_ and statutes of this our _kingdom of Great Britain_." But is it
+consistent with the laws of England, that any one man should have the
+power of forcing another to work for him without wages? Is it consistent
+with the laws of England, that any one man should have the power of
+flogging, beating, bruising, or wounding another at his discretion? Is
+it consistent with the laws of England, that a man should be judged by
+any but his peers? Is it consistent with the same laws, that a man
+should be deprived of the power of giving evidence against the man who
+has injured him? or that there should be a privileged class, against
+whom no testimony can be admitted on certain occasions, though the
+perpetrators of the most horrid crimes? But when we talk of consistency
+on this occasion, let us not forget that old law of Barbadoes,  made
+while the charter of that island was fresh in every body's memory, and
+therefore in the very teeth of the charter itself, which runs thus: "If
+any slave, under punishment by his master or by his order, shall suffer
+in life or member, no person shall be liable to any fine for the same:
+but if any person shall _wantonly_ or _cruelly_ kill his own slave, he
+shall pay the treasury 15 l." And here let us remark, that, when Lord
+Seaforth, governor of Barbadoes, proposed, so lately as in 1802, the
+repeal of this bloody law, the Legislature of that island rejected the
+proposition with indignation. Nay, the very proposal to repeal it so
+stirred up at the time the bad passions of many, that several brutal
+murders of slaves were committed in consequence; and it was not till two
+or three years afterwards that the governor had influence enough to get
+the law repealed. Let the West Indians then talk no more of their
+_charters_; for in consequence of having legislated upon principles,
+which are at variance with those upon which the laws of England are
+founded, they have _forfeited them all_. The mother country has
+therefore a right to withdraw these charters whenever she pleases, and
+to substitute such others as she may think proper. And here let it be
+observed also, that the right of the West Indians to make any laws at
+all for their own islands being founded upon their charters, and upon
+these alone, and the laws relating to the slaves being contrary to what
+such charters prescribe, the _slavery itself_, that is, the daily living
+practice with respect to slaves under such laws, _is illegal_ and _may
+be done away_. But if so, all our West Indian slaves are, without
+exception, unlawfully held in bondage. There is no master, who has a
+legal title to any of them. This assertion may appear strange and
+extravagant to many; but it does not follow on that account that it is
+the less true. It is an assertion, which has been made by a West Indian
+proprietor himself. Mr. Steele[4], before quoted, furnishes us with what
+passed at the meeting of the Society of Arts in Barbadoes at their
+committee-room in August 1785, when the following question was in the
+order of the day: "Is there any law written, or printed, by which a
+proprietor can prove his title to his slave under or conformable to the
+laws of England?" And "Why, (immediately said one of the members,) why
+conformable to the laws of England? Will not the courts in England admit
+such proof as is authorized by _our slave laws_?"--"I apprehend not,
+(answered a second,) unless we can show that _our slave laws_ (according
+to the limitations of the charter) are _not_ repugnant to the laws of
+England."--The same gentleman resumed: "Does the original purchaser of
+an African slave in this island obtain any legal title from the merchant
+or importer of slaves--and of what nature? Does it set forth any title
+of propriety, agreeable to the laws of England (or even to the laws of
+nations) to be in the importer more than what depends upon his simple
+averment? And have not free Negroes been at sundry times trepanned by
+such dealers, and been brought contrary to the laws of nations, and sold
+here as slaves?"--"There is no doubt, (observed a third,) but such
+villainous actions have been done by worthless people: however, though
+an honest and unsuspicious man may be deceived in buying a stolen horse,
+it does not follow that he may not have a fair and just title to a horse
+or any thing else bought in an open and legal market; but according to
+the obligation _of being not repugnant to the laws of England_, I do not
+see how _we can have any title to our slaves_ likely to be supported by
+the laws of England." In fact, the Colonial system is an excrescence
+upon the English Constitution, and is constantly at variance with it.
+There is not one English law, which gives a man a right to the liberty
+of any of his fellow creatures. Of course there cannot be, according to
+charters, any Colonial law to this effect. If there be, it is _null and
+void_. Nay, the very man, who is held in bondage by the Colonial law,
+becomes free by English law the moment he reaches the English shore. But
+we have said enough for our present purpose. We have shown that the
+slaves in our Colonies, whether they be Africans, or whether they be
+Creoles, _have been unjustly deprived of their rights_. There is of
+course a great debt due to them. They have a claim to a restoration to
+liberty; and as this restoration was included by the Abolitionists in
+their original idea of the abolition of the slavetrade, so it is their
+duty to endeavour to obtain it _the first moment it is practicable_. I
+shall conclude my observations on this part of the subject, in the words
+of that old champion of African liberty, Mr. W. Smith, the present
+Member for Norwich, when addressing the House of Commons in the last
+session of parliament on a particular occasion. He admitted, alluding to
+the slaves in our colonies, that "immediate emancipation might be an
+injury, and not a blessing to the slaves themselves. A period of
+_preparation_, which unhappily included delay, seemed to be necessary.
+The ground of this delay, however, was not the intermediate advantage to
+be derived from their labour, but a conviction of its expediency as it
+related to themselves. We had to _compensate_ to these wretched beings
+_for ages of injustice_. We were bound by the strongest obligations _to
+train up_ these subjects of our past injustice and tyranny _for an equal
+participation with ourselves in the blessings of liberty and the
+protection of the law_; and by these considerations ought our measures
+to be strictly and conscientiously regulated. It was only in consequence
+of the necessity of time to be consumed in such a preparation, that we
+could be justified in the retention of the Negroes in slavery _for a
+single hour_; and he trusted that the eyes of all men, both here and in
+the colonies, would be open to this view of the subject as their clear
+and indispensable duty."
+
+Having led the reader to the first necessary step to be taken in favour
+of our slaves in the British Colonies,--namely, the procuring for them a
+new and better code of laws; and having since led him to the last or
+final one,--namely, the procuring for them the rights of which they have
+been unjustly deprived: I shall now confine myself entirely to this
+latter branch of the subject, being assured, that it has a claim to all
+the attention that can be bestowed upon it; and I trust that I shall be
+able to show, by appealing to historical facts, that however awful and
+tremendous the work of _emancipation_ may seem, it is yet _practicable_;
+that it is practicable also _without danger_; and moreover, that it is
+practicable with the probability of _advantage_ to all the parties
+concerned.
+
+In appealing however to facts for this purpose, we must expect no light
+from antiquity to guide us on our way; for history gives us no account
+of persons in those times similarly situated with the slaves in the
+British colonies at the present day. There were no particular nations in
+those times, like the Africans, expressly set apart for slavery by the
+rest of the world, so as to have a stigma put upon them on that account,
+nor did a difference of the colour of the skin constitute always, as it
+now does, a most marked distinction between the master and the slave, so
+as to increase this stigma and to perpetuate antipathies between them.
+Nor did the slaves of antiquity, except perhaps once in Sparta, form the
+whole labouring population of the land; nor did they work incessantly,
+like the Africans, under the whip; nor were they generally so behind
+their masters in cultivated intellect. Neither does ancient history give
+us in the cases of manumission, which it records, any parallel, from
+which we might argue in the case before us. The ancient manumissions
+were those of individuals only, generally of but one at a time, and only
+now and then; whereas the emancipation, which we contemplate in the
+colonies, will comprehend _whole bodies of men_, nay, _whole
+populations_, at a given time. We must go therefore in quest of examples
+to modern times, or rather to the history of the colonial slavery
+itself; and if we should find any there, which appear to bear at all
+upon the case in question, we must be thankful for them, and, though
+they should not be entirely to our mind, we must not turn them away, but
+keep them, and reason from them as far as their analogies will warrant.
+
+In examining a period comprehending the last forty years, I find no less
+than six or seven instances of the emancipation of African slaves _in
+bodies_. The first of these cases occurred at the close of the first
+American war. A number of slaves had run away from their North American
+masters and joined the British army. When peace came, the British
+Government did not know what to do with them. Their services were no
+longer wanted. To leave them behind to fall again into the power of
+their masters would have been great cruelty as well as injustice; and as
+to taking them to England, what could have been done with them there? It
+was at length determined to give _them their liberty_, and to disband
+them in Nova Scotia, and to settle them there upon grants of land as
+_British subjects_ and as _free men_. The Nova Scotians on learning
+their destination were alarmed. They could not bear the thought of
+having such a number of black persons among them, and particularly as
+these understood the use of arms. The Government, however, persevering
+in its original intention, they were conveyed to Halifax, and
+distributed from thence into the country. Their number, comprehending
+men, women, and children, were two thousand and upwards. To gain their
+livelihood, some of them worked upon little portions of land of their
+own; others worked as carpenters; others became fishermen; and others
+worked for hire in other ways. In process of time they raised places of
+worship of their own, and had ministers of their own from their own
+body. They led a harmless life, and gained the character of an
+industrious and honest people from their white neighbours. A few years
+afterwards the land in Nova Scotia being found too poor to answer, and
+the climate too cold for their constitutions, a number of them, to the
+amount of between thirteen and fourteen hundred, volunteered to form a
+new colony, which was then first thought of, at Sierra Leone.
+Accordingly, having been conveyed there, they realized the object in
+view; and they are to be found there, they or their descendants, most of
+them in independent and some of them in affluent circumstances, at the
+present day.
+
+A second case may be taken from what occurred at the close of the
+second, or last American war. It may be remembered that a large British
+naval force, having on board a powerful land force, sailed in the year
+1814, to make a descent on the coast of the southern States of America.
+The British army, when landed, marched to Washington, and burnt most of
+its public buildings. It was engaged also at different times with the
+American army in the field. During these expeditions, some hundreds of
+slaves in these parts joined the British standard by invitation. When
+the campaign was over, the same difficulty occurred about disposing of
+these as in the former case. It was determined at length to ship them to
+Trinidad _as free labourers_. But here, that is, at Trinidad, an
+objection was started against receiving them, but on a different ground
+from that which had been started in the similar case in Nova Scotia. The
+planters of Trinidad were sure that no free Negroes would ever work,
+and therefore that the slaves in question would, if made free and
+settled among them, support themselves _by plunder_. Sir Ralph Woodford,
+however, the governor of the island, resisted the outcry of these
+prejudices. He received them into the island, and settled them where he
+supposed the experiment would be most safely made. The result has shown
+his discernment. These very men, formerly slaves in the Southern States
+of America and afterwards emancipated in a body at Trinidad, are now
+earning their own livelihood, and with so much industry and good conduct
+that the calumnies originally spread against them have entirely died
+away.
+
+A third case may comprehend those Negroes, who lately formed what we
+call our West Indian black regiments. Some of these had been originally
+purchased in Africa, not as slaves but recruits, and others in Jamaica
+and elsewhere. They had all served as soldiers in the West Indies. At
+length certain of these regiments were transported to Sierra Leone and
+disbanded there, and the individuals composing them received their
+discharge _as free men_. This happened in the spring of 1819. _Many
+hundreds_ of them were _set at liberty at once_ upon this occasion. Some
+of these were afterwards marched into the interior, where they founded
+Waterloo, Hastings, and other villages. Others were shipped to the Isles
+de Loss, where they made settlements in like manner. Many, in both
+cases, took with them their wives, which they had brought from the West
+Indies, and others selected wives from the natives on the spot. They
+were all settled upon grants given them by the Government. It appears
+from accounts received from Sir Charles M'Carthy, the governor of Sierra
+Leone, that they have conducted themselves to his satisfaction, and that
+they will prove a valuable addition to that colony.
+
+A fourth case may comprehend what we call _the captured Negroes_ in the
+colony now mentioned. These are totally distinct from those either in
+the first or in the last of the cases which have been mentioned. It is
+well known that these were taken out of slave-ships captured at
+different times from the commencement of the abolition of the slave
+trade to the present moment, and that on being landed _they were made
+free_. After having been recruited in their health they were marched in
+bodies into the interior, where they were taught to form villages and to
+cultivate land for themselves. They were _made free_ as they were landed
+from the vessels, _from fifty to two or three hundred at a time_. They
+occupy at present twelve towns, in which they have both their churches
+and their schools. Regents Town having been one of the first
+established, containing about thirteen hundred souls, stands foremost in
+improvement, and has become a pattern for industry and good example.
+The people there have now fallen entirely into the habits of English
+society. They are decently and respectably dressed. They attend divine
+worship regularly. They exhibit an orderly and moral conduct. In their
+town little shops are now beginning to make their appearance; and their
+lands show the marks of extraordinary cultivation. Many of them, after
+having supplied their own wants for the year, have a surplus produce in
+hand for the purchase of superfluities or comforts.
+
+Here then are four cases of slaves, either Africans or descendants of
+Africans, _emancipated_ in _considerable bodies_ at a time. I have kept
+them by themselves, became they are of a different complexion from
+those, which I intend should follow. I shall now reason upon them. Let
+me premise, however, that I shall consider the three first of the cases
+as one, so that the same reasoning will do for all. They are alike
+indeed in their _main_ features; and we must consider this as
+sufficient; for to attend minutely to every shade of difference[5],
+which may occur in every case, would be to bewilder the reader, and to
+swell the size of my work unnecessarily, or without conferring an
+adequate benefit to the controversy on either side.
+
+It will be said then (for my reasoning will consist principally in
+answering objections on the present occasion) that the three first cases
+_are not strictly analogous_ to that of our West Indian slaves, whose
+emancipation we are seeking. It will be contended, that the slaves in
+our West Indian colonies have been constantly in an abject and degraded
+state. Their faculties are benumbed. They have contracted all the vices
+of slavery. They are become habitually thieves and liars. Their bosoms
+burn with revenge against the whites. How then can persons in such a
+state be fit to receive their freedom? The slaves, on the other hand,
+who are comprehended in the three cases above mentioned, found in the
+British army a school as it were, _which fitted them by degrees for
+making a good use of their liberty_. While they were there, they were
+never out of the reach of discipline, and yet were daily left to
+themselves to act as free men. They obtained also in this _preparatory
+school_ some knowledge of the customs of civilized life. They were in
+the habit also of mixing familiarly with the white soldiers. Hence, it
+will be said, they were in a state much _more favourable for undergoing
+a change in their condition_ than the West Indian slaves before
+mentioned. I admit all this. I admit the difference between the two
+situations, and also the preference which I myself should give to the
+one above the other on account of its desirable tendencies. But I never
+stated, that our West Indian slaves were to be emancipated _suddenly_,
+but _by degrees_. I always, on the other hand, took it for granted, that
+they were to have _their preparatory school_ also. Nor must it be
+forgotten, as a comparison has been instituted, that if there was _less
+danger_ in emancipating the other slaves, _because they had received
+something like a preparatory education_ for the change, there was _far
+more_ in another point of view, because _they were all acquainted with
+the use of arms_. This is a consideration of great importance; but
+particularly when we consider _the prejudices of the blacks against the
+whites_; for would our West Indian planters be as much at their ease, as
+they now are, if their slaves had acquired _a knowledge of the use of
+arms_, or would they think them on this account more or less fit for
+emancipation?
+
+It will be said again, that the fourth case, consisting of the Sierra
+Leone captured Negroes, _is not strictly analogous_ to the one in point.
+These had probably been slaves but _for a short time_,--say a few
+months, including the time which elapsed between their reduction to
+slavery and their embarkation from Africa, and between this their
+embarkation and their capture upon the ocean. They had scarcely been
+slaves when they were returned to the rank of free men. Little or no
+change therefore could have been effected in so short an interim in
+their disposition and their character; and, as they were never carried
+to the West Indies, so they never could have contracted the bad habits,
+or the degradation or vices, of the slavery there. It will be contended
+therefore, that they were _better_, _or less hazardous_, subjects for
+_emancipation_, than the slaves in our colonies. I admit this objection,
+and I give it its full weight. I admit it to be _less hazardous_ to
+emancipate a _new_ than an _old_ slave. And yet the case of the Sierra
+Leone captured Negroes is a very strong one. They were all _Africans_.
+They were all _slaves_. They must have contracted _as mortal a hatred of
+the whites_ from their sufferings on board ship by fetters, whips, and
+suffocation in the hold, as the West Indian from those severities which
+are attached to their bondage upon shore. Under these circumstances then
+we find them _made free_; but observe, not after any _preparatory_
+discipline, but almost _suddenly_, and _not singly_, but _in bodies_ at
+a time. We find them also settled or made to live under the _unnatural_
+government of the _whites_; and, what is more extraordinary, we find
+their present number, as compared with that of the whites in the same
+colony, nearly as _one hundred and fifty to one_; notwithstanding which
+superiority fresh emancipations are constantly taking place, as fresh
+cargoes of the captured arrive in port.
+
+It will be said, lastly, that all the four cases put together prove
+nothing. They can give us nothing like _a positive assurance_, that the
+Negro slaves in our colonies would pass through the ordeal of
+emancipation without danger to their masters or the community at large.
+Certainly not. Nor if these instances had been far more numerous than
+they are, could they, in this world of accidents, have given us _a moral
+certainty of this_. They afford us however _a hope_, that emancipation
+is practicable without danger: for will any one pretend to say, that we
+should have had as much reason for entertaining such a hope, _if no such
+instances had occurred_; or that we should not have had reason to
+despair, _if four such experiments had been made, and if they had all
+failed_? They afford us again ground for believing, that there is a
+peculiar softness, and plasticity, and pliability in the African
+character. This softness may be collected almost every where from the
+Travels of Mr. Mungo Park, and has been noticed by other writers, who
+have contrasted it with the unbending ferocity of the North American
+Indians and other tribes. But if this be a feature in the African
+character, we may account for the uniformity of the conduct of those
+Africans, who were liberated on the several occasions above mentioned,
+or for their yielding so uniformly to the impressions, which had been
+given them by their superiors, after they had been made free; and, if
+this be so, why should not our colonial slaves, if emancipated, conduct
+themselves in the same manner? Besides, I am not sure whether the good
+conduct of the liberated in these cases was not to be attributed in part
+to a sense of interest, when they came to know, that their condition
+_was to be improved_. Self-interest is a leading principle with all who
+are born into the world; and why is the Negro slave in our colonies to
+be shut out from this common feeling of our nature?--why is he to rise
+against his master, when he is informed that his condition is to be
+bettered? Did not the planters, as I have before related, declare in the
+House of Commons in the year 1816, that their Negroes had then imbibed
+the idea that they were to be made free, and that they were _extremely
+restless on that account_? But what was the cause of all this
+restlessness? Why, undoubtedly the thought of their emancipation was so
+interesting, or rather a matter of such exceedingly great joy to them,
+that _they could not help thinking and talking of it_. And would not
+this be the case with our Negroes at this moment, if such a prospect
+were to be set before them? But if they would be overjoyed at this
+prospect, is it likely they would cut the throats of those, who should
+attempt to realize it? would they not, on the other hand, be disposed to
+conduct themselves equally well as the other African slaves before
+mentioned, when they came to know, that they were immediately to be
+prepared for the reception of this great blessing, the _first
+guarantee_ of which would be an _immediate_ and _living experience_ of
+better laws and better treatment?
+
+The fifth case may comprehend the slaves of St. Domingo as they were
+made free at different intervals in the course of the French Revolution.
+
+To do justice to this case, I must give a history of the different
+circumstances connected with it. It may be remembered, then, that when
+the French Revolution, which decreed equality of rights to all citizens,
+had taken place, the _free People of Colour_ of St. Domingo, many of
+whom were persons of large property and liberal education, petitioned
+the National Assembly, that they might enjoy the same political
+privileges as the _Whites_ there. At length the subject of the petition
+was discussed, but not till the 8th of March 1790, when the Assembly
+agreed upon a decree concerning it. The decree, however, was worded so
+ambiguously, that the two parties in St. Domingo, the _Whites_ and the
+_People of Colour_, interpreted it each of them in its own favour. This
+difference of interpretation gave rise to animosities between them, and
+these animosities were augmented by political party-spirit, according as
+they were royalists or partizans of the French Revolution, so that
+disturbances took place and blood was shed.
+
+In the year 1791, the People of Colour petitioned the Assembly again,
+but principally for an explanation of the decree in question. On the
+15th of May, the subject was taken into consideration, and the result
+was another decree in explicit terms, which determined, that the _People
+of Colour_ in all the French islands were entitled to all the rights of
+citizenship, provided _they were born of free parents on both sides_.
+The news of this decree had no sooner arrived at the Cape, than it
+produced an indignation almost amounting to phrensy among the _Whites_.
+They directly trampled under foot the national cockade, and with
+difficulty were prevented from seizing all the French merchant ships in
+the roads. After this the two parties armed against each other. Even
+camps began to be formed. Horrible massacres and conflagrations
+followed, the reports of which, when brought to the mother-country, were
+so terrible, that the Assembly abolished the decree in favour of _the
+Free People of Colour_ in the same year.
+
+In the year 1792, the news of the rescinding of the decree as now
+stated, produced, when it reached St. Domingo, as much irritation among
+the People of Colour, as the news of the passing of it had done among
+the Whites, and hostilities were renewed between them, so that new
+battles, massacres, and burnings, took place. Suffice it to say, that as
+soon as these events became known in France, the Conventional Assembly,
+which had then succeeded the Legislative, took them into consideration.
+Seeing, however, nothing but difficulties and no hope of reconciliation
+on either side, they knew not what other course to take than to do
+justice, whatever the consequences might be. They resolved, accordingly,
+in the month of April, that the decree of 1791, which had been both made
+and reversed by the preceding Assembly in the same year, should stand
+good. They restored therefore the People of Colour to the privileges
+which had been before voted to them, and appointed Santhonax, Polverel,
+and another, to repair in person to St. Domingo, with a large body of
+troops, and to act there as commissioners, and, among other things, to
+enforce the decree and to keep the peace.
+
+In the year 1793, the same divisions and the same bad blood continuing,
+notwithstanding the arrival of the commissioners, a very trivial matter,
+viz. a quarrel between a _Mulatto_ and a _White man_ (an officer in the
+French marine), gave rise to new disasters. This quarrel took place on
+the 20th of June. On the same day the seamen left their ships in the
+roads, and came on shore, and made common cause of the affair with the
+white inhabitants of the town. On the other side were opposed the
+Mulattos and other People of Colour, and these were afterwards joined by
+some insurgent Blacks. The battle lasted nearly two days. During this
+time the arsenal was taken and plundered, and some thousands were killed
+in the streets, and more than half the town was burnt. The
+commissioners, who were spectators of this horrible scene, and who had
+done all they could to restore peace, escaped unhurt, but they were left
+upon a heap of ruins, and with but little more power than the authority
+which their commission gave them. They had only about a thousand troops
+left in the place. They determined, therefore, under these
+circumstances, to call in the Negro Slaves in the neighbourhood to their
+assistance. They issued a proclamation in consequence, by which _they
+promised to give freedom to all the Blacks who were willing to range
+themselves under the banners of the Republic_. This was the first
+proclamation made by public authority for emancipating slaves in St.
+Domingo. It is usually called the Proclamation of Santhonax, though both
+commissioners had a hand in it; and sometimes, in allusion to the place
+where it was issued (the Cape), the Proclamation of the North. The
+result of it was, that a considerable number of slaves came in and were
+enfranchised.
+
+Soon after this transaction Polverel left his colleague Santhonax at the
+Cape, and went in his capacity of commissioner to Port au Prince, the
+capital of the West. Here he found every thing quiet, and cultivation in
+a flourishing state. From Port au Prince he visited Les Cayes, the
+capital of the South. He had not, however, been long there, before he
+found that the minds of the slaves began to be in an unsettled state.
+They had become acquainted with what had taken place in the north, not
+only with the riots at the Cape, but the proclamation of Santhonax. Now
+this proclamation, though it sanctioned freedom only for a particular or
+temporary purpose, did not exclude it from any particular quarter. The
+terms therefore appeared to be open to all who would accept them.
+Polverel therefore, seeing the impression which it had begun to make
+upon the minds of the slaves in these parts, was convinced that
+emancipation could be neither stopped nor retarded, and that it was
+absolutely necessary for _the personal safety of the white planters_,
+that it should be extended _to the whole island_. He was so convinced of
+the necessity of this, _that he drew up a proclamation_ without further
+delay _to that effect_, and _put it into circulation_. He dated it from
+Les Cayes. He exhorted the planters to patronize it. He advised them, if
+they wished to avoid the most serious calamities, to concur themselves
+in the proposition of giving freedom to their slaves. He then caused a
+register to be opened at the Government house to receive the signatures
+of all those who should approve of his advice. It was remarkable that
+all the proprietors in these parts inscribed their names in the book. He
+then caused a similar register to be opened at Port au Prince for the
+West. Here the same disposition was found to prevail. All the planters,
+except one, gave in their signatures. They had become pretty generally
+convinced by this time, that their own personal safety was connected
+with the measure. It may be proper to observe here, that the
+proclamation last mentioned, which preceded these registries, though it
+was the act of Polverel alone, was sanctioned afterwards by Santhonax.
+It is, however, usually called the Proclamation of Polverel or of Les
+Cayes. It came out in September 1793. We may now add, that in the month
+of February 1794, the Conventional Assembly of France, though probably
+ignorant of what the commissioners had now done, passed a decree for the
+abolition of slavery throughout _the whole of the French colonies_. Thus
+the Government of the mother-country, without knowing it, confirmed
+freedom to those upon whom it had been bestowed by the commissioners.
+This decree put therefore _the finishing stroke to the whole_. It
+completed the emancipation of the _whole slave population of St.
+Domingo_.
+
+Having now given a concise history of the abolition of slavery in St.
+Domingo, I shall inquire how those who were liberated on these several
+occasions conducted themselves after this change in their situation. It
+is of great importance to us to know, whether they used their freedom
+properly, or whether they abused it.
+
+With respect to those emancipated by Santhonax in the North, we have
+nothing to communicate. They were made free for military purposes only;
+and we have no clue whereby we can find out what became of them
+afterwards.
+
+With respect to those who were emancipated next in the South, and those
+directly afterwards in the West, by the proclamation of Polverel, we are
+enabled to give a very pleasing account. Fortunately for our views,
+Colonel Malenfant, who was resident in the island at the time, has made
+us acquainted with their general conduct and character. His account,
+though short, is quite sufficient for our purpose. Indeed it is highly
+satisfactory[6]. "After this public act of emancipation," says he, (by
+Polverel,) "the Negroes _remained quiet_ both _in the South and in the
+West_, and they _continued to work upon all the plantations_. There were
+estates, indeed, which had neither owners nor managers resident upon
+them, for some of these had been put into prison by Montbrun; and
+others, fearing the same fate, had fled to the quarter which had just
+been given up to the English. Yet upon these estates, though abandoned,
+the Negroes _continued their labours_, where there were any, even
+inferior, agents to guide them; and on those estates, where no white men
+were left to direct them, they betook themselves to the planting of
+provisions; but upon _all the plantations_ where the Whites resided, the
+Blacks _continued to labour as quietly as before_." A little further on
+in the work, ridiculing the notion entertained in France, that the
+Negroes would not work without compulsion, he takes occasion to allude
+to other Negroes, who had been liberated by the same proclamation, but
+who were more immediately under his own eye and cognizance[7]. "If,"
+says he, "you will take care not to speak to them of their return to
+slavery, but talk to them about their liberty, you may with this latter
+word chain them down to their labour. How did Toussaint succeed? How did
+I succeed also before his time in the plain of the Cul de Sac, and on
+the Plantation Gouraud, more than eight months after liberty had been
+granted (by Polverel) to the slaves? Let those who knew me at that time,
+and even the Blacks themselves, be asked. They will all reply, that _not
+a single Negro_ upon that plantation, consisting of more than four
+hundred and fifty labourers, _refused to work_; and yet this plantation
+was thought to be under the worst discipline, and the slaves the most
+idle, of any in the plain. I, myself, inspired the same activity into
+three other plantations, of which I had the management."
+
+The above account is far beyond any thing that could have been
+expected. Indeed, it is most gratifying. We find that the liberated
+Negroes, _both in the South and the West_, continued to work upon their
+_old plantations_, and for their _old masters_; that there was also _a
+spirit of industry_ among them, and that they gave no uneasiness to
+their employers; for they are described as continuing to work _as
+quietly as before_. Such was the conduct of the Negroes for the first
+nine months after their liberation, or up to the middle of 1794. Let us
+pursue the subject, and see how they conducted themselves after this
+period.
+
+During the year 1795 and part of 1796 I learn nothing about them,
+neither good, nor bad, nor indifferent, though I have ransacked the
+French historians for this purpose. Had there, however, been any thing
+in the way of _outrage_, I should have heard of it; and let me take this
+opportunity of setting my readers right, if, for want of knowing the
+dates of occurrences, they should have connected _certain outrages_,
+which assuredly took place in St. Domingo, _with the emancipation of the
+slaves_. The great massacres and conflagrations, which have made so
+frightful a picture in the history of this unhappy island, had been all
+effected _before the proclamations_ of Santhonax and Polverel. They had
+all taken place _in the days of slavery_, or before the year 1794, that
+is, before the great conventional decree of the mother country was
+known. They had been occasioned, too, _not originally by the slaves
+themselves_, but by quarrels between _the white and coloured planters_,
+and between the _royalists_ and the _revolutionists_, who, for the
+purpose of reeking their vengeance upon each other, called in the aid of
+their respective slaves; and as to the insurgent Negroes of the North,
+who filled that part of the colony so often with terror and dismay, they
+were originally put in motion, according to Malenfant, under _the
+auspices of the royalists_ themselves, to strengthen their own cause,
+and _to put down the partizans of the French revolution_. When Jean
+François and Biassou commenced the insurrection, there were many _white
+royalists_ with them, and the Negroes were made to wear the _white
+cockade_. I repeat, then, that during the years 1795 and 1796, I can
+find nothing in the History of St. Domingo, wherewith to reproach the
+emancipated Negroes in the way of outrage[8]. There is every reason, on
+the other hand, to believe, that they conducted themselves, during this
+period, in as orderly a manner as before.
+
+I come now to the latter part of the year 1796; and here happily a clue
+is furnished me, by which I have an opportunity of pursuing my inquiry
+with pleasure. We shall find, that from this time there was no want of
+industry in those who had been emancipated, nor want of obedience in
+them as hired servants: they maintained, on the other hand, a
+respectable character. Let us appeal first to Malenfant. "The colony,"
+says he[9], "was _flourishing under Toussaint. The Whites lived happily
+and in peace upon their estates, and the Negroes continued to work for
+them_." Now Toussaint came into power, being general-in-chief of the
+armies of St. Domingo, a little before the end of the year 1796, and
+remained in power till the year 1802, or till the invasion of the island
+by the French expedition of Buonaparte under Leclerc. Malenfant means
+therefore to state, that from the latter end of 1796 to 1802, a period
+of six years, the planters or farmers kept possession of their estates;
+that they lived upon them, and that they lived upon them peaceably, that
+is, without interruption or disturbance from any one; and, finally, that
+the Negroes, though they had been all set free, continued to be their
+labourers. Can there be any account more favourable to our views than
+this, after so sudden an emancipation.
+
+I may appeal next to General Lacroix, who published his "Memoirs for a
+History of St. Domingo," at Paris, in 1819. He informs us, that when
+Santhonax, who had been recalled to France by the Government there,
+returned to the colony in 1796, "_he was astonished at the state in
+which he found it on his return_." This, says Lacroix[10], "was owing to
+Toussaint, who, while he had succeeded in establishing perfect order and
+discipline among the black troops, had succeeded also in making the
+black labourers return to the plantations, there to resume the drudgery
+of cultivation."
+
+But the same author tells us, that in the next year (1797) the most
+wonderful progress had been made in agriculture. He uses these
+remarkable words: "_The colony_," says he[11], "_marched, as by
+enchantment, towards its ancient splendour; cultivation prospered; every
+day produced perceptible proofs of its progress. The city of the Cape
+and the plantations of the North rose up again visibly to the eye_." Now
+I am far from wishing to attribute all this wonderful improvement, this
+daily visible progress in agriculture, to the mere act of the
+emancipation of the slaves in St. Domingo. I know that many other
+circumstances which I could specify, if I had room, contributed towards
+its growth; but I must be allowed to maintain, that unless the Negroes,
+who were then free, _had done their part as labourers_, both by working
+regularly and industriously, and by obeying the directions of their
+superintendants or masters, the colony could never have gone on, as
+relates to cultivation, with the rapidity described.
+
+The next witness to whom I shall appeal, is the estimable General
+Vincent, who lives now at Paris, though at an advanced age. Vincent was
+a colonel, and afterwards a general of brigade of artillery in St.
+Domingo. He was stationed there during the time both of Santhonax and
+Toussaint. He was also a proprietor of estates in the island. He was the
+man who planned the renovation of its agriculture after the abolition of
+slavery, and one of the great instruments in bringing it to the
+perfection mentioned by Lacroix. In the year 1801, he was called upon by
+Toussaint to repair to Paris, to lay before the Directory the new
+constitution, which had been agreed upon in St. Domingo. He obeyed the
+summons. It happened, that he arrived in France just at the moment of
+the peace of Amiens; here he found, to his inexpressible surprise and
+grief, that Buonaparte was preparing an immense armament, to be
+commanded by Leclerc, for the purpose of _restoring slavery in St.
+Domingo_. He lost no time in seeing the First Consul, and he had the
+courage to say at this interview what, perhaps, no other man in France
+would have dared to say at this particular moment. He remonstrated
+against the expedition; he told him to his face, that though the army
+destined for this purpose was composed of the brilliant conquerors of
+Europe, it could do nothing in the Antilles. It would most assuredly be
+destroyed by the climate of St. Domingo, even though it should be
+doubtful, whether it would not be destroyed by the Blacks. He stated, as
+another argument against the expedition, that it was totally
+unnecessary, and therefore criminal; for that every thing _was going on
+well_ in St. Domingo. _The proprietors were in peaceable possession of
+their estates; cultivation was making a rapid progress; the Blacks were
+industrious, and beyond example happy_. He conjured him, therefore, in
+the name of humanity, not to reverse this beautiful state of things. But
+alas! his efforts were ineffectual. The die had been cast: and the only
+reward, which he received from Buonaparte for his manly and faithful
+representations, was banishment to the Isle of Elba.
+
+Having carried my examination into the conduct of the Negroes after
+their liberation to 1802, or to the invasion of the island by Leclerc, I
+must now leave a blank for nearly two years, or till the year 1804. It
+cannot be expected during a war, in which every man was called to arms
+to defend his own personal liberty, and that of every individual of his
+family, that we should see plantations cultivated as quietly as before,
+or even cultivated at all. But this was not the fault of _the
+emancipated Negroes_, but of _their former masters_. It was owing to the
+prejudices of the latter, that this frightful invasion took place;
+prejudices, indeed, common to all planters, where slavery obtains,
+from the very nature of their situation, and upon which I have made my
+observations in a former place. Accustomed to the use of arbitrary
+power, they could no longer brook the loss of their whips. Accustomed
+again to look down upon the Negroes as an inferior race of beings, or as
+the reptiles of the earth, they could not bear, peaceably as these had
+conducted themselves, to come into that familiar contact with them, as
+_free labourers_, which the change of their situation required. They
+considered them, too, as property lost, but which was to be recovered.
+In an evil hour, they prevailed upon Buonaparte, by false
+representations and _promises of pecuniary support_, to restore things
+to their former state. The hellish expedition at length arrived upon the
+shores of St. Domingo:--a scene of blood and torture followed, _such as
+history had never before disclosed_, and compared with which, _though
+planned and executed by Whites[12]_, all the barbarities said to have
+been perpetrated by the _insurgent Blacks_ of the North, _amount
+comparatively to nothing_. In fine, the French were driven from the
+island. Till that time, the planters retained their property, and then
+it was, but not till then, that they lost their all; it cannot,
+therefore, be expected, as I have said before, that I should have any
+thing to say in favour of the industry or good order of the emancipated
+Negroes, _during such a convulsive period_.
+
+In the year 1804, Dessalines was proclaimed emperor of this fine
+territory. Here I resume the thread of my history, (though it will be
+but for a moment,) in order that I may follow it to its end. In process
+of time, the black troops, containing the Negroes in question, were
+disbanded, except such as were retained for the peace-establishment of
+the army. They, who were disbanded, returned to cultivation. As they
+were free when they became soldiers, so they continued to be free when
+they became labourers again. From that time to this, there has been no
+want of subordination or industry among them. They or their descendants
+are the persons, by whom the plains and valleys of St. Domingo _are
+still cultivated_, and they are reported to follow their occupations
+still, and with _as fair a character_ as other free labourers in any
+other quarter of the globe.
+
+We have now seen, that the emancipated Negroes never abused their
+liberty, from the year 1793 (the era of their general emancipation) to
+the present day, a period of _thirty_ years. An important question then
+seems to force itself upon us, "What were the measures taken after so
+frightful an event, as that of emancipation, to secure the tranquillity
+and order which has been described, or to rescue the planters and the
+colony from ruin?" I am bound to answer this, if I can, were it only to
+gratify the curiosity of my readers; but more particularly when I
+consider, that if emancipation should ever be in contemplation in our
+own colonies, it will be desirable to have all the light possible upon
+that subject, and particularly of precedent or example. It appears then,
+that the two commissioners, Santhonax and Polverel, aware of the
+mischief which might attend their decrees, were obliged to take the best
+measures they could devise to prevent it. One of their first steps was
+to draw up a short code of rules to be observed upon the plantations.
+These rules were printed and made public. They were also ordered to be
+read aloud to all the Negroes upon every estate, for which purpose the
+latter were to be assembled at a particular hour once a week. The
+preamble to these regulations insisted upon _the necessity of working,
+without which everything would go to ruin_. Among the articles, the two
+the most worthy of our notice were, that the labourers were to be
+obliged to hire themselves to their masters for _not less than a year_,
+at the end of which (September), but not before, they might quit their
+service, and engage with others; and that they were to receive _a third
+part_ of the produce of the estate, as a recompense for their labour.
+These two were _fundamental_ articles. As to the minor, they were not
+alike upon every estate. This code of the commissioners subsisted for
+about three years.
+
+Toussaint, when he came into power, reconsidered this subject, and
+adopted a code of rules of his own. His first object was to prevent
+oppression on the part of the master or employer, and yet to secure
+obedience on the part of the labourer. Conceiving that there could be no
+liberty where any one man had the power of punishing another at his
+discretion, he took away from every master the use of the whip, and of
+the chain, and of every other instrument of correction, either by
+himself or his own order: he took away, in fact, _all power of arbitrary
+punishment_. Every master offending against this regulation was to be
+summoned, on complaint by the labourer, before a magistrate or intendant
+of police, who was to examine into the case, and to act accordingly.
+Conceiving, on the other hand, that a just subordination ought to be
+kept up, and that, wherever delinquency occurred, punishment ought to
+follow, he ordained, that all labourers offending against the plantation
+laws, or not performing their contracts, should be brought before the
+same magistrate or intendant of police, who should examine them touching
+such delinquency, and decide as in the former case: thus he administered
+justice without respect of persons. It must be noticed, that all
+punishments were to be executed by a civil officer, a sort of public
+executioner, that they might be considered as punishments _by the
+state_. Thus he _kept up discipline_ on the plantations, _without
+lessening authority_ on the one hand, and _without invading the liberty
+of individuals_ on the other.
+
+Among his plantation offences was idleness on the part of the labourer.
+A man was not to receive wages from his master, and to do nothing. He
+was obliged to perform a reasonable quantity of work, or be punished.
+Another offence was absence without leave, which was considered as
+desertion.
+
+Toussaint differed from the commissioners, as to the length of time for
+which labourers should engage themselves to masters. He thought it
+unwise to allow the former, in the infancy of their liberty, to get
+notions of change and rambling at the end of every year. He ordained,
+therefore, that they should be attached to the plantations, and made,
+though free labourers, a sort of _adscripti glebae_ for five years.
+
+He differed again from the commissioners, as to the quantum of
+compensation for their labour. He thought one-third of the produce too
+much, seeing that the planter had another third to pay to the
+Government. He ordered, therefore, one-fourth to the labourer, but this
+was in the case only, where the labourer clothed and maintained himself:
+where he did not do this, he was entitled to a fourth only nominally,
+for out of this his master was to make a deduction for board and
+clothing.
+
+The above is all I have been able to collect of the code of Toussaint,
+which, under his auspices, had the surprising effect of preserving
+tranquillity and order, and of keeping up a spirit of industry on the
+plantations of St. Domingo, at a time when only idleness and anarchy
+were to have been expected. It was in force when Leclerc arrived with
+his invading army, and it continued in force when the French army were
+beaten and Negro-liberty confirmed. From Toussaint it passed to
+Dessalines, and from Dessalines to Christophe and Petion, and from the
+two latter to Boyer; and it is the code therefore which regulates, and I
+believe with but very little variation, the relative situation of master
+and servant in husbandry at this present hour.
+
+But it is time that I should now wind up the case before us. And, first,
+will any one say that this case is not analogous to that which we have
+in contemplation? Let us remember that the number of slaves liberated by
+the French decrees in St. Domingo was very little short of 500,000
+persons, and that this was nearly equal to the number _of all the
+slaves_ then in the British West Indian Islands when put together. But
+if there be a want of analogy, the difference lies on my side of the
+question. I maintain, that emancipation in _St. Domingo_ was attended
+with _far more hazard_ to persons and property, and with _far greater
+difficulties_, than it could possibly be, if attempted _in our own
+islands_. Can we forget that by the decree of Polverel, sanctioned
+afterwards by the Convention, all the slaves _were made free at once_,
+or _in a single day_? No notice was given of the event, and of course
+_no preparation_ could be made for it. They were released _suddenly_
+from _all their former obligations and restraints_. They were let loose
+upon the Whites, their masters, with _all the vices of slavery_ upon
+them. What was to have been expected but the dissolution of all
+civilized society, with the reign of barbarism and terror? Now all I ask
+for with respect to the slaves in our own islands is, that they should
+be emancipated _by degrees_, or that they should be made to pass through
+a certain course of discipline, _as through a preparatory school_, to
+fit them for the right use of their freedom. Again, can we forget the
+unfavourable circumstances, in which the slaves of St. Domingo were
+placed, for a year or two before their liberation, in another point of
+view? The island at this juncture was a prey to _political discord,
+civil war_, and _foreign invasion_, at the same time. Their masters were
+politically at variance with each other, as they were white or coloured
+persons, or republicans or royalists. They were quarrelling and fighting
+with each other, and shedding each other's blood. The English, who were
+in possession of the strong maritime posts, were alarming the country by
+their incursions: they, the slaves, had been trained up to the same
+political animosities. They had been made to take the side of their
+respective masters, and to pass through scenes of violence and
+bloodshed. Now, whenever emancipation is to be proposed in our own
+colonies, I anticipate neither _political parties_, nor _civil wars_,
+nor _foreign invasion_, but a time of _tranquillity and peace_. Who then
+will be bold enough to say, after these remarks, that there could be any
+thing like the danger and difficulties in emancipating the slaves there,
+which existed when the slaves of St. Domingo were made free? But some
+objector may say, after all, "There is one point in which your analogy
+is deficient. While Toussaint was in power, the Government of St.
+Domingo was a _black_ one, and the Blacks would be more willing to
+submit to the authority of a _black_ (their own) Government, than of a
+_white one_. Hence there Were less disorders after emancipation in St.
+Domingo, than would have probably occurred, had it been tried in our own
+islands." But to such an objector I should reply, that he knows nothing
+of the history of St. Domingo. The Government of that island was French,
+or _white_, from the very infancy of emancipation to the arrival of the
+expedition of Leclerc. The slaves were made free under the government
+of Santhonax and Polverel. When these retired, other _white_
+commissioners succeeded them. When Toussaint came into power, he was not
+supreme; Generals Hedouille, Vincent, and others, had a share in the
+government. Toussaint himself _received his commission from the French
+Directory_, and acted under it. He caused it every where to be made
+known, but particularly among his officers and troops, that he retained
+the island for the _French Government_, and that _France_ was the
+_mother-country_.
+
+A sixth class of slaves emancipated in bodies may comprehend those, who
+began to be liberated about eighteen months ago in the newly-erected
+State of Columbia. General Bolivar began the great work himself by
+enfranchising his own slaves, to the number of between seven and eight
+hundred. But he was not satisfied with this; for believing, as he did,
+that to hold persons in slavery at all, was not only morally wrong, but
+utterly inconsistent with the character of men fighting for their own
+liberty, he brought the subject before the Congress of Venezuela. The
+Congress there, after having duly considered it, drew up resolutions
+accordingly, which it recommended to the first general Congress of
+Columbia, when it should be assembled. This last congress, which met at
+the time expected, passed a decree for emancipation on the 19th of July
+1821. All slaves, who had assisted, in a military capacity, in achieving
+the independence of the republic, were at once declared free. All the
+children of slaves, born after the said 19th of July, were to be free in
+succession as they attained the eighteenth year of their age. A fund was
+established at the same time by a general tax upon property, to pay the
+owners of such young slaves the expense of bringing them up to their
+eighteenth year, and for putting them afterwards to trades and useful
+professions; and the same fund was made applicable to the purchase of
+the freedom of adults in each district every year, during the three
+national festivals in December, as far as the district-funds would
+permit. Care, however, was to be taken to select those of the best
+character. It may be proper to observe, that emancipation, as above
+explained, has been proceeding regularly, from the 19th of July 1821,
+according to the terms of the decree, and also according to the ancient
+Spanish code, which still exists, and which is made to go hand in hand
+with it. They who attain their eighteenth year are not allowed to go at
+large after their liberation, but are put under the charge of special
+juntas for a useful education. The adults may have land, if they desire
+it, or they may go where they please. The State has lately purchased
+freedom for many of the latter, who had a liking to the army. Their
+freedom is secured to them whether they remain soldiers or are
+discharged. It is particularly agreeable to me to be able to say that
+all, who have been hitherto emancipated, have conducted themselves
+since that time with propriety. It appears by a letter from Columbia,
+dated 17th February 1822, about seven months after emancipation had
+commenced, addressed to James Stephen, Esq. of London, and since made
+public, "that the slaves were all then _peaceably at work_ throughout
+the republic, as well as _the newly enfranchised_ and those originally
+free." And it appears from the account of a gentleman of high
+consideration just arrived from Columbia, in London, that up to the time
+of his departure, they who had been emancipated "were _steady_ and
+_industrious_, and that they _had conducted themselves well without a
+single exception_." But as this is an experiment which it will yet take
+sixteen years to complete, it can only be called to our aid, as far as
+the result of it is known. It is, however, an experiment to which, as
+far as it has been made, we may appeal with satisfaction: for when we
+consider that _eighteen_ months have elapsed, and that _many[13]
+thousands_ have been freed since the passing of the decree and the date
+of the last accounts from Columbia, the decree cannot but be considered
+to have had a sufficient trial.
+
+The seventh class may comprehend the slaves of the Honourable Joshua
+Steele, whose emancipation was attempted in Barbadoes between the years
+1783 and 1790.
+
+It appears that Mr. Steele lived several years in London. He was
+Vice-president of the London Society of Arts, Manufactures, and
+Commerce, and a person of talent and erudition. He was the proprietor of
+three estates in Barbadoes. His agent there used to send him accounts
+annually of his concerns; but these were latterly so ruinous, not only
+in a pecuniary point of view, but as they related to what Mr. Steele
+called the _destruction_ of his Negroes, that he resolved, though then
+at the advanced age of eighty, to go there, and to look into his affairs
+himself. Accordingly he embarked, and arrived there early in the year
+1780.
+
+Mr. Steele had not been long in Barbadoes, before he saw enough to
+convince him that there was something radically wrong in the management
+of the slaves there, and he was anxious to try, as well for the sake of
+humanity as of his own interest, to effect a change in it. But how was
+he to accomplish this[14]? "He considered within himself how difficult
+it would be, nay, impossible, for a single proprietor to attempt so
+great a novelty as to bring about an alteration of manners and customs
+protected by iniquitous laws, and to which the gentlemen of the country
+were reconciled as to the best possible for amending the indocile and
+intractable ignorance of Negro slaves." It struck him however, among the
+expedients which occurred, that he might be able to form a Society,
+similar to the one in London, for the purpose of improving the arts,
+manufactures, and commerce of Barbadoes; and if so, he "indulged a hope
+that by means of it conferences might be introduced on patriotic
+subjects, in the course of which new ideas and new opinions might soften
+the national bigotry, so far as to admit some discourses on the
+possibility of amendment in the mode of governing slaves." Following up
+this idea, he brought it at length to bear. A Society was formed, in
+consequence, of gentlemen of the island in 1781. The subjects under its
+discussion became popular. It printed its first minutes in 1782, which
+were very favourably received, and it seemed to bid fair after this to
+answer the benevolent views of its founder.
+
+During this time, a space of two years, Mr. Steele had been gaining a
+practical knowledge of the West Indian husbandry, and also a practical
+knowledge of the temper, disposition, habits, and customs of the slaves.
+He had also read much and thought much. It may be inferred from his
+writings, that three questions especially had employed his mind.
+1. Whether he could not do away all arbitrary punishments and yet keep
+up discipline among the slaves? 2. Whether he could not carry on the
+plantation-work through the stimulus of reward? 3. Whether he could not
+change slavery into a condition of a milder name and character, so that
+the slaves should be led by degrees to the threshold of liberty, from
+whence they might step next, without hazard, into the rank of free men,
+if circumstances should permit and encourage such a procedure. Mr.
+Steele thought, after mature consideration, that he could accomplish all
+these objects, and he resolved to make the experiments gradually upon
+his own estates.
+
+At the end of the year 1783 he put the first of these questions to
+trial. "I took," says he, "the whips and all power of arbitrary
+punishment from all the overseers and their white servants, which
+occasioned _my chief overseer to resign_, and I soon dismissed all his
+deputies, who _could not bear the loss of their whips_; but at the same
+time, that a proper subordination and obedience to lawful orders and
+duty should be preserved, I created a _magistracy out of the Negroes_
+themselves, and appointed a court or jury of the elder Negroes or
+head-men for trial and punishment of all casual offences, (and these
+courts were always to be held in my presence, or in that of my new
+superintendant,) which court _very soon grew respectable_. Seven of
+these men being of the rank of drivers in their different departments,
+were also constituted _rulers_, as magistrates over all the gang, and
+were charged to see at all times that nothing should go wrong in the
+plantations; but that on all necessary occasions they should assemble
+and consult together how any such wrong should be immediately rectified;
+and I made it known to all the gangs, that the authority of these rulers
+should supply the absence or vacancy of an overseer in all cases; they
+making daily or occasional reports of all occurrences to the proprietor
+or his delegate for his approbation or his orders."
+
+It appears that Mr. Steele was satisfied with this his first step, and
+he took no other for some time. At length, in about another year, he
+ventured upon the second. He "tried whether he could not obtain the
+labour of his Negroes by _voluntary_ means instead of the old method by
+violence." On a certain day he offered a pecuniary reward for holing
+canes, which is the most laborious operation in West Indian husbandry.
+"He offered two-pence half-penny (currency), or about three-halfpence
+(sterling), per day, with the usual allowance to holers of a dram with
+molasses, to any twenty-five of his Negroes, both men and women, who
+would undertake to hole for canes an acre per day, at about 96-1/2 holes
+for each Negro to the acre. The whole gang were ready to undertake it;
+but only fifty of the volunteers were accepted, and many among them were
+those who _on much lighter occasions_ had usually pleaded _infirmity and
+inability_: but the ground having been moist, they holed twelve acres
+within six days with great ease, having had _an hour_, more or less,
+_every evening to spare_, and the like experiment was repeated with the
+like success. More experiments with such premiums on weeding and deep
+hoeing were made by task-work per acre, and all succeeded in like
+manner, their premiums being all punctually paid them in proportion to
+their performance. But afterwards some of the same people being put
+_without premium_ to weed on a loose cultivated soil in the common
+manner, _eighteen_ Negroes did not do as much in a given time as _six_
+had performed of the like sort of work a few days before with the
+premium of two-pence half-penny." The next year Mr. Steele made similar
+experiments. Success attended him again; and from this time task-work,
+or the _voluntary_ system, became the general practice of the estate.
+Mr. Steele did not proceed to put the third question to trial till the
+year 1789. The Society of Arts, which he had instituted in 1781, had
+greatly disappointed him. Some of the members, looking back to the
+discussions which had taken place on the subject of Slavery, began to
+think that they had gone too far as slaveholders in their admissions.
+They began to insinuate, "that they had been taken in, under the
+specious appearance of promoting the arts, manufactures, and commerce of
+Barbadoes, _to promote dangerous designs against its established laws
+and customs_." Discussions therefore of this sort became too unpopular
+to be continued. It was therefore not till Mr. Steele found, that he had
+no hope of assistance from this Society, and that he was obliged to
+depend solely upon himself, that he put in force the remainder of his
+general plan. He had already (in 1783), as we stated some time ago,
+abolished arbitrary punishment and instituted a Negro-magistracy; and
+since that time (in 1785) he had adopted the system of _working by the
+piece_. But the remaining part of his plan went the length of _altering
+the condition_ of the slaves themselves; and it is of this alteration, a
+most important one (in 1789), that I am now to speak.
+
+Mr. Steele took the hint for the particular mode of improving the
+condition of his slaves, which I am going to describe, from the practice
+of our Anglo-Saxon ancestors in the days of Villainage, which, he says,
+was "the most wise and excellent mode of civilizing savage slaves."
+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. These
+tenements consisted of half an acre of plantable and productive land to
+each adult, a quantity supposed to be sufficient with industry to
+furnish him and his family with provision and clothing. The tenements
+were made descendible to the heirs of the occupiers or copyholders, that
+is, to their children _on the plantations_; for no part of the
+succession was to go out of the plantations to the issue of any foreign
+wife, and, in case of no such heir, they were to fall in to the lord to
+be re-granted according to his discretion. It was also inscribed that
+any one of the copyholders, who would not perform his services to the
+manor (the refractory and others), was to forfeit his tenement and his
+privileged rank, and to go back to villain in gross and to be subject to
+corporal punishment as before. "Thus," says Mr. Steele, "we run no risk
+whatever in making the experiment by giving such copyhold-tenements to
+all our well-deserving Negroes, and to all in general, when they appear
+to be worthy of that favour."
+
+Matters having been adjusted so far, Mr. Steele introduced the practice
+of _rent_ and _wages_. He put an annual rent upon each tenement, which
+he valued at so many days' labour. He set a rent also upon personal
+service, as due by the copyholder to his master in his former quality of
+slave, seeing that his master or predecessor had purchased a property in
+him, and this be valued in the same manner. He then added the two rents
+together, making so many days' work altogether, and estimated them in
+the current money of the time. Having done this, he fixed a daily wages
+or pay to be received by the copyholders for the work which they were to
+do. They were to work 260 days in the year for him, and to have 48
+besides Sundays for themselves. He reduced these days' work also to
+current money. These wages he fixed at such a rate, that "they should be
+more than equivalent to the rent of their copyholds and the rent of
+their personal services when put together, in order to hold out to them
+an evident and profitable incentive to their industry." It appears that
+the rent of the tenement, half an acre, was fixed at the rate of 9 l.
+currency, or between forty and fifty shillings sterling per acre, and
+the wages for a man belonging to the first gang at 7-1/2d. currency
+or 6d. sterling per day. As to the rent for the personal services, it
+is not mentioned.
+
+With respect to labour and things connected with it, Mr. Steele entered
+the following among the local laws in the _court-roll_ of the tenants
+and tenements. The copyholders were not to work for other masters
+without the leave of the lord. They were to work ten hours per day. If
+they worked over and above that time, they were to be paid for every
+hour a tenth part of their daily wages, and they were also to forfeit a
+tenth for every hour they were absent or deficient in the work of the
+day. All sorts of work, however, were to be reduced, as far as it could
+be done by observation and estimation, to equitable task-work. Hoes were
+to be furnished to the copyholders in the first instance; but they were
+to renew them, when worn out, at their own expense. The other tools were
+to be lent them, but to be returned to the storekeeper at night, or to
+be paid for in default of so doing. Mr. Steele was to continue the
+hospital and medical attendance at his own expense as before.
+
+Mr. Steele, having now rent to receive and wages to pay, was obliged to
+settle a new mode of accounting between the plantation and the
+labourers. "He brought, therefore, all the minor crops of the
+plantation, such as corn, grain of all sorts, yams, eddoes, besides rum
+and molasses, into a regular cash account by weight and measure, which
+he charged to the copyhold-storekeeper at market prices of the current
+time, and the storekeeper paid them at the same prices to such of the
+copyholders as called for them in part of wages, in whose option it was
+to take either cash or goods, according to their earnings, to answer all
+their wants. Rice, salt, salt fish, barrelled pork, Cork butter, flour,
+bread, biscuit, candles, tobacco and pipes, and all species of clothing,
+were provided and furnished from the store at the lowest market prices.
+An account of what was paid for daily subsistence, and of what stood in
+their arrears to answer the rents of their lands, the fines and
+forfeitures for delinquencies, their head-levy and all other casual
+demands, was accurately kept in columns with great simplicity, and in
+books, which checked each other."
+
+Such was the plan of Mr. Steele, and I have the pleasure of being able
+to announce, that the result of it was _highly satisfactory to himself_.
+In the year 1788, when only the first and second part of it had been
+reduced to practice, he spoke of it thus:--"A plantation," says he, "of
+between seven and eight hundred acres has been governed by fixed laws
+and a Negro-court _for about five years with great success_. In this
+plantation no overseer or white servant is allowed to lift his hand
+against a Negro, nor can he arbitrarily order a punishment. Fixed laws
+and a court or jury of their peers _keep all in order_ without the ill
+effect of sudden and intemperate passions." And in the year 1790, about
+a year after the last part of his plan had been put to trial, he says in
+a letter to Dr. Dickson,  "My copyholders have succeeded beyond my
+expectation." This was his last letter to that gentleman, for he died in
+the beginning of the next year. Mr. Steele went over to Barbadoes, as I
+have said before, in the year 1780, and he was then in the eightieth
+year of his age. He began his humane and glorious work in 1783, and he
+finished it in 1789. It took him, therefore, six years to bring his
+Negroes to the state of vassalage described, or to that state from
+whence he was sure that they might be transferred without danger in no
+distant time, to the rank of freemen, if it should be thought desirable.
+He lived one year afterwards to witness the success of his labours. He
+had accomplished, therefore, all he wished, and he died in the year
+1791, in the ninety-first year of his age.
+
+It may be proper now, and indeed useful to the cause which I advocate,
+to stop for a moment, just to observe the similarity of sentiment of two
+great men, quite unknown to each other; one of whom (Mr. Steele) was
+concerned in preparing Negro-slaves for freedom, and the other
+(Toussaint) in devising the best mode of managing them after they had
+been suddenly made free.
+
+It appears, first, that they were both agreed in this point, viz. that
+the _first step_ to be taken in either case, was _the total abolition of
+arbitrary punishment_.
+
+It appears, secondly, that they were nevertheless both agreed again as
+to the necessity of punishing delinquents, but that they adopted
+different ways of bringing them to justice. Toussaint referred them to
+_magistrates_, but Mr. Steele _to a Negro-court_. I should prefer the
+latter expedient; first, because a Negro-court may be always at hand,
+whereas magistrates may live at a distance from the plantations, and not
+be always at home. Secondly, because the holding of a Negro-court would
+give consequence to those Negroes who should compose it, not only in
+their own eyes but in the eyes of others; and every thing, that might
+elevate the Black character, would be useful to those who were _on the
+road to emancipation_; and, lastly, because there must be some thing
+satisfactory and consoling to the accused to be tried by their peers.
+
+It appears, thirdly, that both of them were agreed again in the
+principle of making the Negroes, in either case, _adscripti glebae_; or
+attached to the soil, though they might differ as to the length of time
+of such ascription.
+
+And it appears, lastly, that they were agreed in another, and this the
+only remaining point, viz. on the necessity of holding out a stimulus to
+either, so as to excite in them a very superior spirit of industry to
+any they had known before. They resorted, however to different means to
+effect this. Toussaint gave the labourers one _fourth_ of the produce
+of the land; deducting board and clothing. Mr. Steele, on the other
+hand, gave them _daily wages_. I do not know which to prefer; but the
+plan of Mr. Steele is most consonant to the English practice.
+
+But to return. It is possible that some objector may rise up here as
+before, and say that even the case, which I have now detailed, is not,
+strictly speaking, analogous to that which we have in contemplation, and
+may argue thus:--"The case of Mr. Steele is not a complete precedent,
+because his slaves were never _fully_ emancipated. He had brought them
+only to _the threshold_ of liberty, but no further. They were only
+_copyholders_, but _not free men_." To this I reply, first, That Mr.
+Steele _accomplished all that he ever aimed at_. I have his own words
+for saying, that so long as the present iniquitous slave-laws, and the
+distinction of colour, should exist, it would be imprudent to go
+further. I reply again, That the partisans of emancipation would be
+happy indeed, if they could see the day when our West Indian slaves
+should arrive at the rank and condition of the copyholders of Mr.
+Steele. They wish for no other freedom than that which is _compatible
+with the joint interest of the master and the slave_. At the same time
+they must maintain, that the copyholders of Mr. Steele had been brought
+so near to the condition of free men, that a removal from one into the
+other, after a certain time, seemed more like a thing of course than a
+matter to be attended either with difficulty or danger: for
+unquestionably their moral character must have been improved. If they
+had ceased for seven years to feel themselves degraded by arbitrary
+punishment, they must have acquired some little independence of mind. If
+they had been paid for their labour, they must have acquired something
+like a spirit of industry. If they had been made to pay rent for their
+cottage and land, and to maintain themselves, they must have been made
+to _look beforehand_, to _think for themselves and families from day to
+day_, and to _provide against the future_, all which operations of the
+mind are the characteristics only of free men. The case, therefore, of
+Mr. Steele is most important and precious: for it shows us, first, that
+the emancipation, which we seek, is a thing which _may be effected_. The
+plan of Mr. Steele was put in force in _a British_ Island, and that,
+which was done in one British Island, may under similar circumstances
+_be done again in the same, as well as in another_. It shows us, again,
+_how_ this emancipation may be brought about. The process is so clearly
+detailed, that any one may follow it. It is also a case for
+encouragement, inasmuch as it was attended with success.
+
+I have now considered no less than six cases of slaves emancipated in
+bodies, and a seventh of slaves, who were led up to the very threshold
+of freedom, comprehending altogether not less than between five and six
+hundred thousand persons; and I have considered also all the objections
+that could be reasonably advanced against them. The result is a belief
+on my part, that emancipation is not only _practicable_, but that it is
+_practicable without danger_. The slaves, whose cases I have been
+considering, were resident in different parts of the world. There must
+have been, amongst such a vast number, persons of _all characters_. Some
+were liberated, who had been _accustomed to the use of arms_. Others at
+a time when the land in which they sojourned was afflicted _with civil
+and foreign wars_; others again _suddenly_, and with _all the vicious
+habits of slavery upon them_. And yet, under all these disadvantageous
+circumstances, I find them all, without exception, _yielding themselves
+to the will of their superiors_, so as to be brought by them _with as
+much ease and certainty into the form intended for them_, as clay in the
+hands of the potter is fashioned to his own model. But, if this be so, I
+think I should be chargeable with a want of common sense, were I _to
+doubt for a moment_, that emancipation _was not practicable_; and I am
+not sure that I should not be exposed to the same charge, were I to
+doubt, that emancipation _was practicable without danger_. For I have
+not been able to discover (and it is most remarkable) _a single failure_
+in any of the cases which have been produced. I have not been able to
+discover throughout this vast mass of emancipated persons _a single
+instance of bad behaviour_ on their parts, not even of a refusal to
+work, or of disobedience to orders. Much less have I seen frightful
+commotions, or massacres, or a return of evil for evil, or revenge for
+past injuries, even when they had it amply in their power. In fact, the
+Negro character is malleable at the European will. There is, as I have
+observed before, a singular pliability in the constitutional temper of
+the Negroes, and they have besides a quick sense of their own interest,
+which influences their conduct. I am convinced, that West India masters
+can do what they will with their slaves; and that they may lead them
+through any changes they please, and with perfect safety to themselves,
+if they will only make them (the slaves) understand that they are to be
+benefited thereby.
+
+Having now established, I hope, two of my points, first, that
+emancipation is _practicable_, and, secondly, that it is _practicable
+without danger_, I proceed to show the probability that _it would be
+attended with profit_ to those planters who should be permitted to adopt
+it. I return, therefore, to the case of Mr. Steele. I give him the prior
+hearing on this new occasion, because I am sure that my readers will be
+anxious to learn something more about him; or to know what became of his
+plans, or how far such humane endeavours were attended with success.  I
+shall begin by quoting the following expressions of Mr. Steele. "I have
+employed and amused myself," says he, "by introducing _an entire new
+mode_ of governing my own slaves, for their happiness, and also _for my
+own profit_." It appears, then, that Mr. Steele's new method of
+management was _profitable_. Let us now try to make out from his own
+account, of what these profits consisted.
+
+Mr. Steele informs us, that his superintendant had obliged him to hire
+all his holing at 3 l. currency, or 2 l. 2s. 10d. sterling per
+acre. He was very much displeased at these repeated charges; and then it
+was, that he put his second question to trial, as I have before related,
+viz. whether he could not obtain the labour of his Negroes by voluntary
+means, instead of by the old method by violence. He made, therefore, an
+attempt to introduce task-work, or labour with an expected premium for
+extraordinary efforts, upon his estates. He gave his Negroes therefore a
+small pecuniary reward over and above the usual allowances, and the
+consequence was, as he himself says, that "the _poorest, feeblest_, and
+by character _the most indolent_ Negroes of the whole gang, cheerfully
+performed the holing of his land, generally said to be the most
+laborious work, for _less than a fourth part_ of the stated price paid
+to the undertakers for holing." This experiment I have detailed in
+another place. After this he continued the practice of task-work or
+premium. He describes the operation of such a system upon the minds of
+his Negroes in the following words: "According to the vulgar mode of
+governing Negro-slaves, they feel only the desponding fear of punishment
+for doing less than they ought, without being sensible that the settled
+allowance of food and clothing is given, and should be accepted, as a
+reward for doing well, while in task-work the expectation of winning the
+reward, and the fear of losing it, have a double operation to exert
+their endeavours." Mr. Steele was also benefited again in another point
+of view by the new practice which he had introduced. "He was clearly
+convinced, that saving time, by doing in one day as much as would
+otherwise require three days, was _worth more than double the premium_,
+the _timely effects_ on vegetation _being critical_." He found also to
+his satisfaction, that "during all the operations under the premium
+there were _no disorders, no crowding to the sick-house_, as before."
+
+I have now to make my remarks upon this account. It shows us clearly how
+Mr. Steele made a part of his profits. These profits consisted first of
+a _saving of expense_ in his husbandry, which saving _was not made by
+others_. He had his land holed _at one-fourth_ of the usual rate. Let us
+apply this to all the other operations of husbandry, such as weeding,
+deep hoeing, &c. in a large farm of nearly eight hundred acres, like
+his, and we shall see how considerable the savings would be in one
+year. His Negroes again did not counterfeit sickness as before, in order
+to be excused from labour, but rather wished to labour in order to
+obtain the reward. There was therefore no crowding to the hospitals.
+This constituted a _second source of saving_; for they who were in the
+hospitals were maintained by Mr. Steele without earning any thing, while
+they who were working in the field left to their master in their work,
+when they went home at night, a value equal at least to that which they
+had received from him for their day's labour. But there was another
+saving of equal importance, which Mr. Steele calls a saving of _time_,
+but which he might with more propriety have called a saving of _season_.
+This saving of season, he says, was worth _more than double the
+premium_; and so it might easily have been. There are soils, every
+farmer knows, which are so constituted, that if you miss your day, you
+miss your season; and, if you miss your season, you lose probably half
+your crop. The saving, therefore, of the season, by having a whole crop
+instead of half an one, was _a third source of saving of money_. Now let
+us put all these savings together, and they will constitute a great
+saving or profit; for as these savings were made by Mr. Steele in
+consequence of _his new plan_, and _were therefore not made by others_,
+they constituted an _extraordinary_ profit to him; or they added to the
+profit, whatever it might have been, which he used to receive from the
+estate before his new plan was put in execution.
+
+But I discover other ways in which Mr. Steele was benefited, as I
+advance in the perusal of his writings. It was impossible to overlook
+the following passage: "Now," says he (alluding to his new system),
+"every species of provisions raised on the plantations, or bought from
+the merchants, is charged at the market-price to the copyhold-store, and
+discharged by what has been paid on the several accounts of every
+individual bond-slave; whereas for all those species heretofore, I never
+saw in any plantation-book of my estates any account of what became of
+them, or how they were disposed of, nor of their value, other than in
+these concise words, _they were given in allowance to the Negroes and
+stock_. Every year, for six years past, this great plantation has
+bought several hundred bushels of corn, and was scanty in all
+ground-provisions, our produce always falling short. This year, 1790,
+_since the establishment of copyholders, though several less acres were
+planted_ last year in Guinea corn than usual, yet we have been able to
+sell _several hundred bushels_ at a high price, and _we have still a
+great stock in hand_. I can place this saving to no other account, than
+that there is now an exact account kept by all produce being paid as
+cash to the bond-slaves; and also as all our watchmen are obliged to pay
+for all losses that happen on their watch, they have found it their
+interest to look well to their charge; and consequently that we have
+had much less stolen from us than before this new government took
+place."
+
+Here then we have seen _another considerable source of saving_ to Mr.
+Steele, viz. that _he was not obliged to purchase any corn for his
+slaves as formerly_. My readers will be able to judge better of this
+saving, when I inform them of what has been the wretched policy of many
+of our planters in this department of their concerns. Look over their
+farming memoranda, and you will see _sugar, sugar, sugar_, in every
+page; but you may turn over leaf after leaf, before you will find the
+words _provision ground_ for their slaves. By means of this wretched
+policy, slaves have often suffered most grievously. Some of them have
+been half-starved. Starvation, too, has brought on disorders which have
+ultimately terminated in their death. Hence their masters have suffered
+losses, besides the expense incurred in buying what they ought to have
+raised upon their own estates, and this perhaps at a dear market: and in
+this wretched predicament Mr. Steele appears to have been himself when
+he first went to the estate. His slaves, he tells us, had been reduced
+in number by bad management. Even for six years afterwards he had been
+obliged to buy several hundred bushels of corn; but in the year 1790 he
+had sold several hundred bushels at a high price, and had still a great
+stock on hand. And to what was all this owing? Not to an exact account
+kept at the store (for some may have so misunderstood Mr. Steele); for
+how could an exact account kept there, have occasioned an increase in
+the produce of the earth? but, as Mr. Steele himself says, _to the
+establishment of his copyholders_, or to the _alteration of the
+condition_ of his slaves. His slaves did not only three times more work
+than before, in consequence of the superior industry he had excited
+among them, but, by so doing, they were enabled to put the corn into the
+earth three times more quickly than before, or they were so much
+forwarder in their other work, that they were enabled to sow it at the
+critical moment, or so as _to save the season_, and thus secure a full
+crop, or a larger crop on a less number of acres, than was before raised
+upon a greater. The copyholders, therefore, were the persons who
+increased the produce of the earth; but the exact account kept at the
+store prevented the produce from being misapplied as formerly. It could
+no longer be put down in the general expression of "given in allowances
+to the Negroes and the stock;" but it was put down to the copyholder,
+and to him only, who received it. Thus Mr. Steele saved the purchase of
+a great part of the provisions for his slaves. He had formerly a great
+deal to buy for them, but now nothing. On the other hand, he had to
+sell; but, as his slaves were made, according to the new system, to
+_maintain themselves_, he had now _the whole produce of his estate to_
+_dispose of_. The circumstance therefore of having nothing to buy, but
+every thing to sell, constituted another source of his profits.
+
+What the other particular profits of Mr. Steele were I can no where
+find, neither can I find what were his particular expenses; so as to be
+enabled to strike the balance in his favour. Happily, however, Mr.
+Steele has done this for us himself, though he has not furnished us with
+the items on either side.--He says that "from the year 1773 to 1779 (he
+arrived in Barbadoes in 1780), his stock had been so much reduced by ill
+management and wasteful economy, that the annual average neat clearance
+was little more than _one and a quarter_ per cent. on the purchase. In a
+second period of four years, in consequence of the exertion of an honest
+and able manager, (though with a further reduction of the stock, and
+including the loss from the great hurricane,) the annual average income
+was brought to clear _a little above two_ per cent.; but in a third
+period of three years from 1784 to 1786 inclusive, _since the new mode
+of governing the Negroes_, (besides increasing the stock, and laying out
+large sums annually in adding necessary works, and in repairs of the
+damages by the great hurricane,) the estate has cleared very nearly
+_four and a quarter_ per cent.; that is, its annual average clearance in
+each of these three periods, was in this proportion; for every 100 l.
+annually cleared in the first period the annual average clearance in the
+second period was 158 l. 10s., and in the third period was 345 l.
+6s. 8d." This is the statement given by Mr. Steele, and a most
+important one it is; for if we compare what the estate had cleared in
+the first, with what it had cleared in the last of these periods, and
+have recourse to figures, we shall find that Mr. Steele had _more than
+tripled_ the income of it, in consequence of _his new management_,
+during his residence in Barbadoes. And this is in fact what he says
+himself in words at full length, in his answer to the 17th question
+proposed to him by the committee of the Privy-council on the affairs of
+the slave trade. "In a plantation," says he, "of 200 slaves in June
+1780, consisting of 90 men, 82 women, 56 boys, and 60 girls, though
+under the exertions of an able and honest manager, there were only 15
+births, and no less than 57 deaths, in three years and three months. An
+alteration was made in the mode of governing the slaves. The whips were
+taken from all the white servants. All arbitrary punishments were
+abolished, and all offences were tried and sentence passed by a Negro
+court. In four years and three months after this change of government,
+there were 44 births, and only 41 deaths, of which ten deaths were of
+superannuated men and women, some above 80 years old. But in the same
+interval the annual neat clearance of the estate was _above three times
+more than it had been for ten years before!!!_"
+
+Dr. Dickson, the editor of Mr. Steele, mentions these profits also, and
+in the same terms, and connects them with an eulogium on Mr. Steele,
+which is worthy of our attention. "Mr. Steele," says he, "saw that the
+Negroes, like all other human beings, were to be stimulated to permanent
+exertion only by a sense of their own interests in providing for their
+own wants and those of their offspring. He therefore tried _rewards_,
+which immediately roused the most indolent to exertion. His experiments
+ended in _regular wages_, which the industry he had excited among his
+whole gang enabled him to pay. Here was a natural, efficient, and
+profitable reciprocity of interests. His people became contented; his
+mind was freed from that perpetual vexation and that load of anxiety,
+which are inseparable from the vulgar system, and in little more than
+four years the annual neat clearance of his property _was more than
+tripled_." Again, in another part of the work, "Mr. Steele's plan may no
+doubt receive some improvements, which his great age obliged him to
+decline"--"but it is perfect, as far as it goes. _To advance above 300
+field-negroes, who had never before moved without the whip, to a state
+nearly resembling that of contented, honest and industrious servants,
+and, after paying for their labour, to triple in a few years the annual
+neat clearance of the estate_,--these, I say, were great achievements
+for an aged man in an untried field of improvement, pre-occupied by
+inveterate vulgar prejudice. He has indeed accomplished all that was
+really doubtful or difficult in the undertaking, and perhaps all that is
+at present desirable either for owner or slave; for he has ascertained
+as a fact, what was before only known to the learned as a theory, and to
+practical men as a paradox, that _the paying of slaves for their labour
+does actually produce a very great profit to their owners_."
+
+I have now proved (_as far as the plan[15] of Mr. Steele is concerned_)
+my third proposition, or _the probability that emancipation would
+promote the interests of those who should adopt it_; but as I know of no
+other estate similarly circumstanced with that of Mr. Steele, that is,
+where emancipation has been tried, and where a detailed result of it has
+been made known, I cannot confirm it by other similar examples. I must
+have recourse therefore to some new species of proof. Now it is an old
+maxim, as old as the days of Pliny and Columella, and confirmed by Dr.
+Adam Smith, and all the modern writers on political economy, that _the
+labour of free men is cheaper than the labour of slaves_. If therefore I
+should be able to show that this maxim would be true, if applied to all
+the operations and demands of West Indian agriculture, I should be able
+to establish my proposition on a new ground: for it requires no great
+acuteness to infer, that, if it be cheaper to employ free men than
+slaves in the cultivation of our islands, emancipation would be a
+profitable undertaking there.
+
+I shall show, then, that the old maxim just mentioned is true, when
+applied to the case in our own islands, first, by establishing the fact,
+that _free men_, people of colour, in the East Indies, are employed in
+_precisely the same concerns_ (the cultivation of the cane and the
+making of sugar) as the slaves in the West, and that they are employed
+_at a cheaper rate_. The testimony of Henry Botham, Esq. will be quite
+sufficient for this point. That gentleman resided for some time in the
+East Indies, where he became acquainted with the business of a sugar
+estate. In the year 1770 he quitted the East for the West. His object
+was to settle in the latter part of the world, if it should be found
+desirable so to do. For this purpose he visited all the West Indian
+islands, both English and French, in about two years. He became during
+this time a planter, though he did not continue long in this situation;
+and he superintended also Messrs. Bosanquets' and J. Fatio's
+sugar-plantation in their partners' absence. Finding at length the
+unprofitable way in which the West Indian planters conducted their
+concerns, he returned to the East Indies in 1776, and established
+sugar-works at Bencoolen on his own account. Being in London in the year
+1789, when a committee of privy council was sitting to examine into the
+question of the slave trade, he delivered a paper to the board on the
+mode of cultivating a sugar plantation in the East Indies; and this
+paper being thought of great importance, he was summoned afterwards in
+1791 by a committee of the House of Commons to be examined personally
+upon it.
+
+It is very remarkable that the very first sentence in this paper
+announced the fact at once, that "sugar, better and _cheaper_ than that
+in the West Indian islands, was produced _by free men_."
+
+Mr. Botham then explained the simple process of making sugar in the
+East. "A proprietor, generally a Dutchman, used to let his estate, say
+300 acres or more, with proper buildings upon it, to a Chinese, who
+lived upon it and superintended it, and who re-let it to free men in
+parcels of 50 or 60 acres on condition that they should plant it in
+canes for so much for every pecul, 133 lbs., of sugar produced. This
+superintendant hired people from the adjacent villages to take off his
+crop. One lot of task-men with their carts and buffaloes cut the canes,
+carried them to the mill, and ground them. A second set boiled them, and
+a third clayed and basketed them for market at so much per pecul. Thus
+the renter knew with certainty what every pecul would cost him, and he
+incurred no unnecessary expense; for, when the crop was over, the
+task-men returned home. By dividing the labour in this manner, it was
+better and cheaper done."
+
+Mr. Botham detailed next the improved method of making sugar in Batavia,
+which we have not room to insert here. We may just state, however, that
+the persons concerned in it never made spirits on the sugar estates. The
+molasses and skimmings were sent for, sale to Batavia, where one
+distillery might buy the produce of a hundred estates. Here, again, was
+a vast saving, says Mr. Botham, "there was not, as in the West Indies, a
+_distillery_ for _each estate_."
+
+He then proceeded to make a comparison between the agricultural system
+of the two countries. "The cane was cultivated _to the utmost
+perfection_ in Batavia, whereas the culture of it in the West Indies was
+but _in its infancy. The hoe was scarcely used_ in the East, whereas it
+was almost _the sole implement_ in the West. The _plough was used
+instead of it in the East_, as far as it could be done. Young canes
+there were kept also often ploughed as a weeding, and the hoe was kept
+to weed round the plant when very young; but of this there was little
+need, if the land had been sufficiently ploughed. When the cane was
+ready to be earthed up, it was done by a _sort of shovel_ made for the
+purpose. _Two persons_ with this instrument would earth up more canes in
+a day than _ten Negroes_ with hoes. The cane-roots were also _ploughed
+up_ in the East, whereas they were _dug up with the severest exertion_
+in the West. Many alterations," says Mr. Botham, "are to be made, and
+expenses and human labour lessened in the West. _Having experienced the
+difference of labourers for profit and labourers from force_, I can
+assert, that _the savings by the former are very considerable_."
+
+He then pointed out other defects in the West Indian management, and
+their remedies. "I am of opinion," says he, "that the West Indian
+planter should for his own interest give more labour to beast and less
+to man. A larger portion of his estate ought to be in pasture. When
+practicable, canes should be carried to the mill, and cane tops and
+grass to the stock, in waggons. The custom of making a hard-worked Negro
+get a bundle of grass twice a day should be abolished, and in short a
+_total change take place in the miserable management in our West Indian
+Islands_. By these means following as near as possible the East Indian
+mode, and consolidating the distilleries, I do suppose our sugar-islands
+might be better worked than they now are by _two-thirds_ or indeed
+_one-half_ of the present force. Let it be considered how much labour is
+lost by the persons _overseeing the forced labourer_, which is saved
+when he works _for his own profit_. I have stated with the strictest
+veracity a plain matter of fact, that sugar estates can _be worked
+cheaper by free men than by slaves_[16]."
+
+I shall now show, that the old maxim, which has been mentioned, is true,
+when applied to the case of our West Indian islands, by establishing a
+fact of a very different kind, viz. that the slaves in the West Indies
+do much more work in a given time when _they work for themselves_, than
+when _they work for their masters_. But how, it will be said, do you
+prove, by establishing this fact, that it would be cheaper for our
+planters to employ free men than slaves? I answer thus: I maintain that,
+_while the slaves are working for themselves_, they are to be
+considered, indeed that they are, _bonâ fide, free labourers_. In the
+first place, they never have a driver with them on any of these
+occasions; and, in the second place, _having all their earnings to
+themselves_, they have that stimulus within them to excite industry,
+which is only known _to free men_. What is it, I ask, which gives birth
+to industry in any part of the world, seeing that labour is not
+agreeable to man, but the stimulus arising from the hope of gain? What
+makes an English labourer do more work in the day than a slave, but the
+stimulus arising from the knowledge, that what he earns is _for himself
+and not for another_? What, again, makes an English labourer do much
+more work _by the piece_ than by _the day_, but the stimulus arising
+from the knowledge that he may gain more by the former than by the
+latter mode of work? Just so is the West Indian slave situated, when _he
+is working for himself_, that is, when he knows _that what he earns is
+for his own use_. He has then all the stimulus of a free man, and he is,
+therefore, _during such work_ (though unhappily no longer) really, and
+in effect, and to all intents and purposes, as much _a free labourer_ as
+any person in any part of the globe. But if he be a free man, while he
+is working for himself, and if in that capacity he does twice or thrice
+more work than when he works for his master, it follows, that it would
+be cheaper for his master to employ him as a free labourer, or that the
+labour of free men in the West Indies would be cheaper than the labour
+of slaves.
+
+That West Indian slaves, when they work for themselves, do much more in
+a given time than when they work for their masters, is a fact so
+notorious in the West Indies, that no one who has been there would deny
+it. Look at Long's History of Jamaica, The Privy Council Report,
+Gaisford's Essay on the good Effects of the Abolition of the Slave
+Trade, and other books. Let us hear also what Dr. Dickson, the editor
+of Mr. Steele, and who resided so many years in Barbadoes, says on this
+subject, for what he says is so admirably expressed that I cannot help
+quoting it. "The planters," says he, "do not take the right way to make
+human beings put forth their strength. They apply main force where they
+should apply moral motives, and punishments alone where rewards should
+be judiciously intermixed. They first beslave their poor people with
+their cursed whip, and then stand and wonder at the tremour of their
+nerves, and the laxity of their muscles. And yet, strange to tell,
+_those very men affirm, and affirm truly_, that a slave will do more
+work for himself _in an afternoon_ than he can be made to do for his
+owner _in a whole day or more_!" And did not the whole Assembly of
+Grenada, as we collect from the famous speech of Mr. Pitt on the Slave
+Trade in 1791, affirm the same thing? "He (Mr. Pitt) would show," he
+said, "the futility of the argument of his honourable friend. He (his
+honourable friend) had himself admitted, that it was in the power of the
+colonies to correct the various abuses by which the Negro population was
+restrained. But they could not do this without _improving the condition
+of their slaves_, without making them _approximate towards the rank of
+citizens_, without giving them _some little interest in their labour_,
+which would occasion them to work _with the energy of men_. But now the
+Assembly of Grenada had themselves stated, that, _though_ the _Negroes
+were allowed the afternoon of only one day in every week, they would do
+as much work in that afternoon when employed for their own benefit, as
+in the whole day when employed in their masters' service_. Now after
+this confession the House might burn all his calculations relative to
+the Negro population; for if this population had not quite reached the
+desirable state which he had pointed out, this confession had proved
+that further supplies were not wanted. A Negro, _if he worked for
+himself, could do double work_. By an improvement then in the mode of
+labour, the work in the islands could be doubled. But if so, what would
+become of the argument of his honourable friend? for then only half the
+number of the present labourers were necessary."
+
+But the fact, that the slaves in the West Indies do much more work for
+themselves in a given time than when they work for their masters, may be
+established almost arithmetically, if we will take the trouble of
+calculating from authentic documents which present themselves on the
+subject. It is surprising, when we look into the evidence examined by
+the House of Commons on the subject of the Slave Trade, to find how
+little a West Indian slave really does, when he works for his master;
+and this is confessed equally by the witnesses on both sides of the
+question. One of them (Mr. Francklyn) says, that a labouring man could
+not get his bread in Europe if he worked no harder than a Negro.
+Another (Mr. Tobin), that no Negro works like a day-labourer in
+England. Another (Sir John Dalling), that the general work of Negroes is
+not to be called labour. A fourth (Dr. Jackson), that an English
+labourer does three times as much work as a Negro in the West Indies.
+Now how are these expressions to be reconciled with the common notions
+in England of Negro labour? for "to work like a Negro" is a common
+phrase, which is understood to convey the meaning, that the labour of
+the Negroes is the most severe and intolerable that is known. One of the
+witnesses, however, just mentioned explains the matter. "The hardship,"
+says he, "of Negro field-labour is more in the _mode_ than in the
+_quantity_ done. The slave, seeing no end of his labour, stands over the
+work, and only throws the hoe to avoid the lash. He appears to work
+without actually working." The truth is, that a Negro, having no
+interest in his work while working for his master, will work only while
+the whip is upon him. I can no where make out the clear net annual
+earnings of a field Negro on a sugar plantation to come up to 8 l.
+sterling. Now what does he earn in the course of a year when he is
+working for himself? I dare not repeat what some of the witnesses for
+the planters stated to the House of Commons, when representing the
+enviable condition of the slaves in the West Indies; for this would be
+to make him earn more for himself _in one day_ than for his master _in a
+week_. Let us take then the lowest sum mentioned in the Book of
+Evidence. This is stated to be 14d. sterling per week; and 14d.
+sterling per week would make 3 l. sterling per year. But how many days
+in the week does he work when he makes such annual earnings? The most
+time, which any of the witnesses gives to a field slave for his own
+private concerns, is every Sunday, and also every Saturday afternoon in
+the week, besides three holidays in the year. But this is far from being
+the general account. Many of them say that he has only Sunday to
+himself; and others, that even Sunday is occasionally trespassed upon by
+his master. It appears, also, that even where the afternoon is given
+him, it is only out of crop-time. Now let us take into the account the
+time lost by slaves in going backwards and forwards to their
+provision-grounds; for though some of these are described as being only
+a stone's throw from their huts, others are described as being one,
+and two, and three, and even four miles off; and let us take into the
+account also, that Sunday is, by the confession of all, the Negro market
+day, on which alone they can dispose of their own produce, and that the
+market itself may be from one to ten or fifteen miles from their homes,
+and that they who go there cannot be working in their gardens at the
+same time, and we shall find that there cannot be on an average more
+than a clear three quarters of a day in the week, which they can call
+their own, and in which they can work for themselves. But call it a
+whole day, if you please, and you will find that the slave does for
+himself in this one day more than a third of what he does for his master
+in six, or that he works _more than three times harder_ when _he works
+for himself_ than when _he works for his master_.
+
+I have now shown, first by the evidence of Mr. Botham, and secondly by
+the fact of Negroes earning more in a given time when they work in their
+own gardens, than when they work in their master's service, that the old
+maxim "of _its being cheaper to employ free men than slaves_," is true,
+when applied to the _operations and demands of West Indian agriculture_.
+But if it be cheaper to employ free men than slaves in the West Indies,
+then they, who should emancipate their Negroes there, would _promote
+their interest by so doing_. "But hold!" says an objector, "we allow
+that their successors would be benefited, but not the _emancipators
+themselves_. These would have a great sacrifice to make. Their slaves
+are worth so much money at this moment; but they would lose all this
+value, if they were to set them free." I reply, and indeed I have all
+along affirmed, that it is not proposed to emancipate the slaves _at
+once_, but to prepare them for emancipation _in a course of years_. Mr.
+Steele did not make his slaves _entirely free_. They were _copyhold-bond
+slaves_. They were still _his freehold property_: and they would, if he
+had lived, have continued so for many years. They therefore, who should
+emancipate, would lose nothing of the value of their slaves, so long as
+they brought them only to the door of liberty, but did not allow them to
+pass through it. But suppose they were to allow them to pass through it
+and thus admit them to freedom, they would lose nothing by so doing; for
+they would not admit them to freedom till _after a certain period of
+years, during which_ I contend that the _value of every individual
+slave_ would have been _reimbursed_ to them from _the increased income
+of their estates_. Mr. Steele, as we have seen, _more than tripled_ the
+value of his income during his experiment: I believe that he more than
+quadrupled it; for he says, that he more than tripled it _besides
+increasing his stock_, and _laying out large sums annually in adding
+necessary works_, and _in repairs of the damage by the great hurricane_.
+Suppose then a West India estate to yield at this moment a nett income
+of 500 l. per annum, this income would be increased, according to Mr.
+Steele's experience, to somewhere about 1700 l. per annum. Would not,
+then, the surplus beyond the original 500 l., viz. 1200 l. per annum,
+be sufficient to reimburse the proprietor in a few years for the value
+of every slave which he had when he began his plan of emancipation? But
+he would be reimbursed again, that is, (twice over on the whole for
+every individual slave,) from a new source, viz. _the improved value of
+his land_. It is a fact well known in the United States, that a certain
+quantity of land, or farm, in full cultivation by free men, will fetch
+twice more money than the same quantity of land, similarly
+circumstanced, in full cultivation by slaves. Let us suppose now that
+the slaves at present on any West Indian plantation are worth about as
+much as the land with the buildings upon it, to which they are attached,
+and that the land with the buildings upon it would rise to double its
+former value when cultivated by free men, it follows that the land and
+buildings alone would be worth as much then, that is, when worked by
+free labourers, as the land, buildings, and slaves together are worth at
+the present time.
+
+I have now, I think, pretty well canvassed the subject, and I shall
+therefore hasten to a conclusion. And first, I ask the West Indians,
+whether they think that they will be allowed to carry on their present
+cruel system, the arbitrary use of the whip and the chain, and the
+brutal debasement of their fellow-creatures, _for ever_. I say, No; I
+entertain better hopes of the humanity and justice of the British
+people. I am sure that they will interfere, and that when they _once
+take up the cause_, they _will never abandon it till they have obtained
+their object_. And what is it, after all, that I have been proposing in
+the course of the preceding pages? two things only, viz. that the laws
+relating to the slaves may be revised by the British parliament, so that
+they, may be made (as it was always intended) _to accord with, and not
+to be repugnant to_, the principles of the British constitution, and
+that, when such a revision shall have taken place, the slaves may be put
+into _a state of preparation for emancipation_; and for such an
+emancipation only as may be compatible with the joint interests of the
+master and the slave. Is there any thing unreasonable in this
+proposition? Is it unreasonable to desire that those laws should be
+repealed, which are contrary to the laws of God, or that the Africans
+and their descendants, who have the shape, image, intellect, feelings,
+and affections of men, should be treated as human beings?
+
+The measure then, which I have been proposing, is _not unreasonable_. I
+trust it _would not be injurious_ to the interests of the West Indians
+themselves. These are at present, it is said, in great distress; and so
+they have been for years; and so they will still be (and moreover they
+will be getting worse and worse) _so long as they continue slavery_. How
+can such a wicked, such an ill-framed system succeed? Has not the
+Almighty in his moral government of the world stamped a character upon
+human actions, and given such a turn to their operations, that the
+balance should be ultimately in favour of virtue? Has he not taken from
+those, who act wickedly, the power of discerning the right path? or has
+he not so confounded their faculties, that they are for ever frustrating
+their own schemes? It is only to know the practice of our planters to be
+assured, that it will bring on difficulty after difficulty, and loss
+after loss, till it will end in ruin. If a man were to sit down and to
+try to invent a ruinous system of agriculture, could he devise one more
+to his mind than that which they have been in the habit of using? Let us
+look at some of the more striking parts of this system. The first that
+stares us in the face, is the unnatural and destructive practice of
+_forced labour_. Here we see men working without any rational stimulus
+to elicit their exertions, and therefore they must be followed by
+drivers with whips in their hands. Well might it be said by Mr. Botham
+to the Committees of Privy-council and House of Commons, "Let it be
+considered, how much labour is lost by the persons overseeing the forced
+labourer, which is saved when he works for his own profit;" and,
+notwithstanding all the vigilance and whipping of these drivers, I have
+proved that the slaves do more for themselves in an afternoon, than in a
+whole day when they work for their masters. It was doubtless the
+conviction that _forced labour was unprofitable_, as well as that there
+would be less of human suffering, which made Mr. Steele take away the
+whips from his drivers, as _the very first step necessary_ in his
+improved system, or as the _sine quâ non_ without which such a system
+could not properly be begun; and did not this very measure _alter the
+face of his affairs in point of profit in three years after it had been
+put into operation_? And here it must be observed, that, if ever
+emancipation should be begun by our planters, this must be (however they
+may dislike to part with arbitrary power) as much a first step with them
+as it was with Mr. Steele. _Forced labour_ stands at the head of the
+catalogue of those nuisances belonging to slavery, which oppose the
+planter's gain. It must be removed before any thing else can be done.
+See what mischiefs it leads to, independently of its want of profit. It
+is impossible that forced labour can be kept up from day to day without
+injury to the constitution of the slaves; and if their health is
+injured, the property of their masters must be injured also. Forced
+labour, again, sends many of them to the sick-houses. Here is, at any
+rate, a loss of their working time. But it drives them also occasionally
+to run away, and sometimes to destroy themselves. Here again is a loss
+of their working time and of property into the bargain. _Forced labour_,
+then, is one of those striking parts in the West Indian husbandry, in
+which we see a _constant source of loss_ to those who adopt it; and may
+we not speak, and yet with truth, as unfavourably of some of the other
+striking parts in the same system? What shall we say, first, to that
+injurious disproportion of the articles of croppage with the wants of
+the estates, which makes little or no provision of food for the
+labourers (_the very first to be cared for_), but leaves these to be fed
+by articles to be bought three thousand miles off in another country,
+let the markets there be ever so high, or the prices ever so
+unfavourable, at the time? What shall we say, again, to that obstinate
+and ruinous attachment to old customs, in consequence of which even
+acknowledged improvements are almost forbidden to be received? How
+generally has the introduction of the plough been opposed in the West
+Indies, though both the historians of Jamaica have recommended the use
+of it, and though it has been proved that _one plough_ with _two sets of
+horses_ to relieve each other, would turn up as much land _in a day, as
+one hundred Negroes_ could with their hoes! Is not the hoe also
+continued in earthing up the canes there, when Mr. Botham proved, more
+than thirty years ago, that _two_ men would do more with the East Indian
+shovel at that sort of work in a day, than _ten_ Negroes with the former
+instrument? So much for _unprofitable instruments_ of husbandry; a few
+words now on _unprofitable modes of employment_. It seems, first, little
+less than infatuation, to make Negroes carry baskets of dung upon their
+heads, basket after basket, to the field. I do not mention this so much
+as an intolerable hardship upon those who have to perform it, as an
+improvident waste of strength and time. Why are not horses, or mules, or
+oxen, and carts or other vehicles of convenience, used oftener on such
+occasions? I may notice also that cruel and most disadvantageous mode of
+employment of making Negroes collect grass for the cattle, by picking it
+by the hand blade by blade. Are no artificial grasses to be found in our
+islands, and is the existence of the scythe unknown there? But it is of
+no use to dwell longer upon this subject. The whole system is a ruinous
+one from the beginning to the end. And from whence does such a system
+arise? It has its origin in _slavery_ alone. It is practised no where
+but in the land of ignorance and slavery. Slavery indeed, or rather the
+despotism which supports slavery, has no compassion, and it is one of
+its characteristics _never to think of sparing the sinews of the
+wretched creature called a slave_. Hence it is slow to adopt helps, with
+which a beneficent Providence has furnished us, by giving to man an
+inventive faculty for easing his burthens, or by submitting the beasts
+of the field to his dominion and his use, and it flies to expedients
+which are contrary to nature and reason. How then can such a system ever
+answer? Were an English farmer to have recourse to such a system, he
+would not be able to pay his rent for a single year. If the planters
+then are in distress, it is their own fault. They may, however, thank
+the abolitionists that they are not worse off than they are at present.
+The abolition of the slave trade, by cutting off the purchase of new
+slaves, has cut off one cause of their ruin[17]; and it is only the
+abolition _of slavery which can yet save them_. Had the planters, when
+the slave trade was abolished, taken immediate measures to meet the
+change; had they then revised their laws and substituted better; had
+they then put their slaves into a state of preparation for emancipation,
+in what a different, that is, desirable situation would they have been
+at this moment! In fact, _nothing can save them, but the abolition of
+slavery on a wise and prudent plan_. They can no more expect, without
+it, to meet the present low prices of colonial produce, than the British
+farmer can meet the present low prices of grain, unless he can have an
+abatement of rent, tithe, and taxation, and unless his present poor
+rates can be diminished also. Take away, however, from the planters the
+use and practice of slavery, and the hour of _their regeneration_ would
+be begun. Can we doubt, that Providence would then bless their
+endeavours, and that _salvation_ from their difficulties would be their
+portion in the end?
+
+It has appeared, I hope, by this time, that what I have been proposing
+is not unreasonable, and that, so far from being injurious to the
+interests of the planters, it would be highly advantageous to them. I
+shall now show, that I do not ask for the introduction of a more humane
+system into our Colonies _at a time when it would be improper to grant
+it_; or that no fair objection can be raised against the _present
+moment_, as _the fit era_ from whence the measures in contemplation
+should commence. There was, indeed, a time when the planters might have
+offered something like an excuse for the severity of their conduct
+towards their slaves, on the plea that the greater part of them then in
+the colonies were _African-born_ or _strangers_, and that cargoes were
+constantly pouring in, one after the other, consisting of the same sort
+of beings; or of _stubborn ferocious people, never accustomed to work,
+whose spirits it was necessary to break_, and _whose necks to force down
+to the yoke_; and that this could only be effected by the whip, the
+chain, the iron collar, and other instruments of the kind. But _now_ no
+such plea can be offered. It is now sixteen years since the slave trade
+was abolished by England, and it is therefore to be presumed, that no
+new slaves have been imported into the British colonies within that
+period. The slaves, therefore, who are there at this day, must consist
+either of Africans, whose spirits must have been long ago broken, or of
+Creoles born in the cradle and brought up in the trammels of slavery.
+What argument then can be produced for the continuation of a barbarous
+discipline there? And we are very glad to find that two gentlemen, both
+of whom we have had occasion to quote before, bear us out in this
+remark. Mr. Steele, speaking of some of the old cruel laws of Barbadoes,
+applies them to the case before us in these words:--"As, according to
+Ligon's account, there were not above two-thirds of the island in
+plantations in the year 1650, we must suppose that in the year 1688 the
+great number of _African-born_ slaves brought into the plantations in
+chains, and compelled to labour by the terrors of corporal punishment,
+might have made it appear necessary to enact a temporary law so harsh as
+the statute No. 82; but when the _great majority_ of the Negroes were
+become _vernacular, born in the island, naturalized by language_, and
+_familiarised by custom_, did not _policy_ as well as humanity require:
+them _to be put under milder conditions_, such as were granted to the
+slaves of our Saxon ancestors?" Colonel Malenfant speaks the same
+sentiments. In defending his plan, which he offered to the French
+Government for St. Domingo in 1814, against the vulgar prejudice, that
+"where you employ Negroes you must of necessity use slavery," he
+delivers himself thus:--"[18]If all the Negroes on a plantation had not
+been more than six months out of Africa, or if they had the same ideas
+concerning an independent manner of life as the Indians or the savages
+of Guiana, I should consider my plan to be impracticable. I should then
+say that coercion would be necessary: but ninety-nine out of every
+hundred Negroes in St. Domingo are aware that they cannot obtain
+necessaries without work. They know that it is their duty to work, and
+they are even desirous of working; but the remembrance of their cruel
+sufferings in the time of slavery renders them suspicious." We may
+conclude, then, that if a cruel discipline was _not necessary_ in the
+years 1790 and 1794, to which these gentlemen allude, when there must
+have been _some thousands of newly imported Africans_ both in St.
+Domingo and in the English colonies, it cannot be necessary _now_, when
+there have been no importations into the latter for _fifteen years_.
+There can be no excuse, then, for the English planters for not altering
+their system, and this _immediately_. It is, on the other hand, a great
+reproach to them, considering the quality and character of their slaves,
+_that they should not of themselves have come forward on the subject
+before this time_.
+
+Seeing then that nothing has been done where it ought, it is the duty of
+the abolitionists to _resume their labours_. If through the medium of
+the abolition of the slave trade they have not accomplished, as they
+expected, the whole of their object, they have no alternative but to
+resort to _other measures_, or to attempt by constitutional means, under
+that Legislature which has already sanctioned their efforts, the
+mitigation of the cruel treatment of the Negroes, with the ultimate view
+of extinguishing, in due time and in a suitable manner, the slavery
+itself. Nor ought any time to be lost in making such an attempt; for it
+is a melancholy fact, that there is scarcely any increase of the slave
+population in our islands at the present moment. What other proof need
+we require _of the severity of the slavery there, and of the necessity
+of its mitigation?_ Severe punishments, want of sufficient food, labour
+extracted by the whip, and a system of prostitution, conspire, _almost
+as much as ever_, to make inroads upon the constitutions of the slaves,
+and to prevent their increase. And let it be remembered here, that any
+former defect of this kind was supplied by importations; but that
+importations are _now unlawful_. Unless, therefore, the abolitionists
+interfere, and that soon, our West Indian planters may come to
+Parliament and say, "We have now tried your experiment. It has not
+answered. You must therefore give us leave to go again to the coast of
+Africa for slaves." There is also another consideration worthy of the
+attention of the abolitionists, viz. that _a public attempt_ made in
+England to procure the abolition of _slavery_ would very much promote
+their original object, the cause of the abolition of the slave trade;
+for foreign courts have greatly doubted our sincerity as to the latter
+measure, and have therefore been very backward in giving us their
+assistance in it. If England, say they, abolished the slave trade _from
+moral motives_, how happens it _that she continues slavery_? But if this
+_public attempt_ were to succeed, then the abolitionists would see their
+wishes in a direct train for completion: for if slavery were to fall in
+the British islands, this event would occasion death in a given time,
+and without striking any further blow, to the execrable trade in every
+part of the world; because those foreigners, who should continue
+slavery, no longer able to compete in the markets with those who should
+employ free men, must abandon the slave trade altogether.
+
+But here perhaps the planters will say, "What right have the people of
+England to interfere with our property, which would be the case if they
+were to attempt to abolish slavery?" The people of England might reply,
+that they have as good a right as you, the planters, have to interfere
+with that most precious of all property, _the liberty of your slaves_,
+seeing that _you hold them by no right that is not opposed to nature,
+reason, justice, and religion_. The people of England have no desire to
+interfere with your _property_, but with your _oppression_. It is
+probable that your property would be improved by the change. But, to
+examine this right more minutely, I contend, first, that they have
+always a right to interfere in behalf of humanity and justice wherever
+their appeals can be heard. I contend, secondly, that they have a more
+immediate right to interfere in the present case, because the oppressed
+persons in question, living in the British dominions and under the
+British Government, are _their fellow subjects_. I contend again, that
+they have this right upon the ground that they are giving you, the West
+Indians, _a monopoly_ for their sugar, by buying it from you exclusively
+_at a much dearer rate_ than _they can get it from other quarters_.
+Surely they have a right to say to you, as customers for your produce,
+Change your system and we will continue to deal with you; but if you
+will not change it, we will buy our sugar elsewhere, or we will not buy
+sugar at all. The East Indian market is open to us, and we prefer sugar
+that is not stained with blood. Nay, we will petition Parliament to take
+off the surplus duty with which East Indian sugar is loaded on your
+account. What superior claims have you either upon Parliament or upon
+us, that you should have the preference? As to the East Indians, they
+are as much the subjects of the British empire as yourselves. As to the
+East India Company, they support all their establishments, both civil
+and military, at their own expense. They come to our Treasury for
+nothing; while you, with naval stations, and an extraordinary military
+force kept up for no other purpose than to keep in awe an injured
+population, and with heavy bounties on the exportation of your sugar,
+put us to such an expense as makes us doubt whether your trade is worth
+having on its present terms. They, the East India Company, again, have
+been a blessing to the Natives with whom they have been concerned. They
+distribute an equal system of law and justice to all without respect of
+persons. They dispell the clouds of ignorance, superstition, and
+idolatry, and carry with them civilization and liberty wherever they go.
+You, on the other hand, have no code of justice but for yourselves. You
+_deny it_ to those who _cannot help themselves_. You _hinder liberty_ by
+your cruel restrictions on manumission; and dreading the inlet of light,
+_you study to perpetuate ignorance and barbarism_. Which then of the two
+competitors has the claim to preference by an English Parliament and an
+English people? It may probably soon become a question with the latter,
+whether they will consent to pay a million annually more for West India
+sugar than for other of like quality, or, which is the same thing,
+whether they will allow themselves to be _taxed annually to the amount
+of a million sterling to support West Indian slavery_.
+
+I shall now conclude by saying, that I leave it; and that I recommend
+it, to others to add to the light which I have endeavoured to furnish on
+this subject, by collecting new facts relative to Emancipation and the
+result of it in other parts of the world, as well as relative to the
+superiority of free over servile labour, in order that the West Indians
+may be convinced, if possible, that they would be benefited by the
+change of system which I propose. They must already know, both by past
+and present experience, that the ways of unrighteousness are not
+profitable. Let them not doubt, when the Almighty has decreed the
+balance in favour of virtuous actions, that their efforts under the new
+system will work together for their good, so that their temporal
+redemption may be at hand.
+
+
+THE END.
+
+
+Printed by Richard Taylor, Shoe-Lane, London.
+
+
+
+
+
+Footnotes:
+
+[1] See Dickson's Mitigation of Slavery, p. 18.
+
+[2] See Dickson's Mitigation of Slavery, p. 339.
+
+[3] Mitigation of Slavery, p. 50.
+
+[4] See Dickson's Mitigation of Slavery, p. 102.
+
+[5] A part of the black regiments were bought in Africa as recruits, and
+were not transported in slave-ships, and, never under West India
+masters: but it was only a small part compared with the whole number in
+the three cases.
+
+[6] Mémoire historique et politique des Colonies, et particulièrement de
+celle de St. Domingue, &c. Paris, August 1814. 8vo. p. 58.
+
+[7] Pp. 125, 126.
+
+[8] There were occasionally marauding parties from the mountains, who
+pillaged in the plains; but these were the old insurgent, and not the
+emancipated Negroes.
+
+[9] P. 78.
+
+[10] Mémoires, p. 311.
+
+[11] Ibid. p. 324.
+
+[12] The French were not the authors of tearing to pieces the Negroes
+alive by bloodhounds, or of suffocating them by hundreds at a time in
+the holds of ships, or of drowning them (whole cargoes) by scuttling and
+sinking the vessels;--but the _planters_.
+
+[13] All the slave-population was to be emancipated in 18 years; and
+this consisted at the time of passing the decree of from 250,000 to
+300,000 souls.
+
+[14] See Dr. Dickson's Mitigation of Slavery, London 1814, from whence
+every thing relating to this subject is taken. Dr. Dickson had been for
+many years secretary to Governor Hay, in Barbadoes, where he had an
+opportunity of studying the Slave agriculture as a system. Being in
+London afterwards when the Slave Trade controversy was going on in
+Parliament, he distinguished himself by silencing the different writers
+who defended the West Indian slavery. There it was that Mr. Steele
+addressed himself to him by letter, and sent him those invaluable
+papers, which the Doctor afterwards published under the modest title of
+"Mitigation of Slavery by Steele and Dickson." No one was better
+qualified than Dr. Dickson to become the Editor of Mr. Steele.
+
+[15] It is much to be feared that this beautiful order of things was
+broken up after Mr. Steele's death by his successors, either through
+their own prejudices, or their unwillingness or inability to stand
+against the scoffs and prejudices of others. It may be happy, however,
+for thousands now in slavery, that Mr. Steele lived to accomplish his
+plan. The constituent parts and result of it being known, a fine example
+is shown to those who may be desirous of trying emancipation.
+
+[16] Mr. Botham's account is confirmed incontrovertibly by the fact,
+that sugar made in the East Indies can be brought to England (though it
+has three times the distance to come, and of course three times the
+freight to pay), and yet be afforded to the consumer at as cheap a rate
+as any that can be brought thither from the West.
+
+[17] Dickson's Mitigation of Slavery, p. 213, where it is proved that
+bought slaves never refund their purchase-money to their owners.
+
+[18] P. 125.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Thoughts On The Necessity Of Improving
+The Condition Of The Slaves In The British Colonies, by Thomas Clarkson
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10386 ***