An Essay on the Slavery and Commerce of the Human Species, Particularly the African - Thomas Clarkson
As we have now shewn it to be highly probable, from the facts which have
been advanced, that climate is the cause of the difference of colour
which prevails in the different inhabitants of the globe, we shall now
shew its probability from so similar an effect produced on the _mucous
substance_ before-mentioned by so similar a cause, that though the
fact does not absolutely prove our conjecture to be right, yet it will
give us a very lively conception of the manner, in which the phaenomenon
may be caused.
This probability may be shewn in the case of _freckles_, which are
to be seen in the face of children, but of such only, as have the
thinnest and most transparent skins, and are occasioned by the rays of
the sun, striking forcibly on the _mucous substance_ of the face,
and drying the accumulating fluid. This accumulating fluid, or
perspirable matter, is at first colourless; but being exposed to violent
heat, or dried, becomes brown. Hence, the _mucosum corpus_ being
tinged in various parts by this brown coagulated fluid, and the parts so
tinged appearing through the _cuticle_, or upper surface of the
skin, arises that spotted appearance, observable in the case recited.
Now, if we were to conceive a black skin to be an _universal
freckle_, or the rays of the sun to act so universally on the
_mucous substance_ of a person's face, as to produce these spots so
contiguous to each other that they should unite, we should then see, in
imagination, a face similar to those, which are daily to be seen among
black people: and if we were to conceive his body to be exposed or acted
upon in the same manner, we should then see his body assuming a similar
appearance; and thus we should see the whole man of a perfect black, or
resembling one of the naked inhabitants of the torrid zone. Now as the
feat of freckles and of blackness is the same; as their appearance is
similar; and as the cause of the first is the ardour of the sun, it is
therefore probable that the cause of the second is the same: hence, if
we substitute for the word "_sun_," what is analogous to it, the
word _climate_, the same effect may be supposed to be produced, and
the conjecture to receive a sanction.
Nor is it unlikely that the hypothesis, which considers the cause of
freckles and of blackness as the same, may be right. For if blackness is
occasioned by the rays of the sun striking forcibly and universally on
the _mucous substance_ of the body, and drying the accumulating
fluid, we can account for the different degrees of it to be found in the
different inhabitants of the globe. For as the quantity of perspirable
fluid, and the force of the solar rays is successively increased, as
the climates are successively warmer, from any given parallel to the
line, it follows that the fluid, with which the _mucous substance_
will be stained, will be successively thicker and deeper coloured; and
hence, as it appears through the cuticle, the complexion successively
darker; or, what amounts to the same thing, there will be a difference
of colour in the inhabitants of every successive parallel.
From these, and the whole of the preceding observations on the subject,
we may conclude, that as all the inhabitants of the earth cannot be
otherwise than the children of the same parents, and as the difference
of their appearance must have of course proceeded from incidental
causes, these causes are a combination of those qualities, which we call
_climate_; that the blackness of the _Africans_ is so far
ingrafted in their constitution, in a course of many generations, that
their children wholly inherit it, if brought up in the same spot, but
that it is not so absolutely interwoven in their nature, that it cannot
be removed, if they are born and settled in another; that _Noah_
and his sons were probably of an _olive_ complexion; that those of
their descendants, who went farther to the south, became of a deeper
olive or _copper_; while those, who went still farther, became of a
deeper copper or _black_; that those, on the other hand, who
travelled farther to the north, became less olive or _brown_, while
those who went still farther than the former, became less brown or
_white_; and that if any man were to point out any one of the
colours which prevails in the human complexion, as likely to furnish an
argument, that the people of such a complexion were of a different
species from the rest, it is probable that his own descendants, if
removed to the climate to which this complexion is peculiar, would, in
the course of a few generations, degenerate into the same colour.
Having now replied to the argument, "that the Africans are an inferiour
link of the chain of nature," as far as it depended on their
_capacity_ and _colour_, we shall now only take notice of an
expression, which the _receivers_ before-mentioned are pleased to
make use of, "that they are made for slavery."
Had the Africans been _made for slavery_, or to become the property
of any society of men, it is clear, from the observations that have been
made in the second part of this Essay, that they must have been created
_devoid of reason_: but this is contrary to fact. It is clear
also, that there must have been, many and evident signs of the
_inferiority of their nature_, and that this society of men must
have had a _natural right_ to their dominion: but this is equally
false. No such signs of _inferiority_ are to be found in the one,
and the right to dominion in the other is _incidental_: for in what
volume of nature or religion is it written, that one society of men
should _breed slaves_ for the benefit, of another? Nor is it less
evident that they would have wanted many of those qualities which they
have, and which brutes have not: they would have wanted that _spirit
of liberty_, that _sense of ignominy and shame_[096], which so
frequently drives them to the horrid extremity of finishing their own
existence. Nor would they have been endowed with a _contemplative
power_; for such a power would have been unnecessary to people in
such a situation; or rather, its only use could have been to increase
their pain. We cannot suppose therefore that God has made an order of
beings, with such mental qualities and powers, for the sole purpose of
being used as _beasts_, or _instruments_ of labour. And here,
what a dreadful argument presents itself against you _receivers_?
For if they have no understandings as you confess, then is your conduct
impious, because, as they cannot perceive the intention of your
punishment, your severities cannot make them better. But if, on the
other hand, they have had understandings, (which has evidently appeared)
then is your conduct equally impious, who, by destroying their faculties
by the severity of your discipline, have reduced men; who had once the
power of reason, to an equality with the brute creation.
* * * * *
FOOTNOTES
[Footnote 073: Genesis, ch. iv. 15.]
[Footnote 074: Genesis, ch. ix. 25, 26, 27.]
[Footnote 075: Jeremiah says, ch. xiii. 23, "Can the AEthiopian change
his colour, or the leopard his spots?" Now the word, which is here
translated _AEthiopian_, is in the original Hebrew "_the descendant of
Cush_," which shews that this colour was not confined to the descendants
of _Canaan_, as the advocates for slavery assert.]
[Footnote 076: It is very extraordinary that the advocates for slavery
should consider those Africans, whom they call negroes, as the
descendants of _Canaan_, when few historical facts can be so well
ascertained, as that out of the descendants of the four sons of Ham, the
descendants of Canaan were the only people, (if we except the
Carthaginians, who were a colony of Canaan, and were afterwards ruined)
who did not settle in that quarter of the globe. Africa was
incontrovertibly peopled by the posterity of the three other sons. We
cannot shew this in a clearer manner, than in the words of the learned
Mr. Bryant, in his letter to Mr. Granville Sharp on this subject.
"We learn from scripture, that Ham had four sons, _Chus, Mizraim, Phut_,
and _Canaan_, Gen. x. 5, 6. _Canaan_ occupied _Palestine_, and the
country called by his name: _Mizraim, Egypt_: but _Phut_ passed deep
into _Africa_, and, I believe, most of the nations in that part of the
world are descended from him; at least more than from any other person."
_Josephus_ says, "_that Phut was the founder of the nations in Libya,
and the people were from him called (phoutoi) Phuti_." Antiq. L. 1. c.
7. "By _Lybia_ he understands, as the _Greeks_ did, _Africa_ in general:
for the particular country called _Lybia Proper_, was peopled by the
_Lubim_, or _Lehabim_, one of the branches from _Mizraim_, (Labieim ex ou
Libnes) Chron. Paschale, p. 29.
"The sons of _Phut_ settled in _Mauritania_, where was a country called
_Phutia_, and a river of the like denomination. Mauritaniae Fluvius usque
ad praesens Tempus _Phut_ dicitur, omnisq; circa eum Regio _Phutensis_.
Hieron. Tradit. Hebroeae.--Amnem, quem vocant _Fut_." Pliny, L. 5. c. 1.
Some of this family settled above AEgypt, near AEthiopia, and were styled
Troglodytae. (phoud ex ou troglodotai). Syncellus, p. 47. Many of them
passed inland, and peopled the Mediterranean country."
"In process of time the sons of _Chus_ also, (after their expulsion from
Egypt) made settlements upon the sea coast of _Africa_, and came into
_Mauritania_. Hence we find traces of them also in the names of places,
such as _Churis, Chusares_, upon the coast: and a river _Chusa_, and a
city _Cotta_, together with a promontory, _Cotis_, in _Mauritania_, all
denominated from _Chus_; who at different times, and by different
people, was called _Chus, Cuth, Cosh_, and _Cotis_. The river _Cusa_ is
mentioned by _Pliny_, Lib. 5. c. 1. and by _Ptolomy_."
"Many ages after these settlements, there was another eruption of the
_Cushites_ into these parts, under the name of _Saracens_ and _Moors_,
who over-ran _Africa_, to the very extremity of Mount Atlas. They passed
over and conquered _Spain_ to the north, and they extended themselves
southward, as I said in my treatise, to the rivers _Senegal_ and
_Gambia_, and as low as the _Gold Coast_. I mentioned this, because I do
not think that they proceeded much farther: most of the nations to the
_south_ being, as I imagine, of the race of _Phut_. The very country
upon the river _Gambia_ on one side, is at this day called _Phuta_, of
which _Bluet_, in his history of _Juba Ben Solomon_, gives an account."]
[Footnote 077: When America was first discovered, it was thought by
some, that the scripture account of the creation was false, and that
there were different species of men, because they could never suppose
that people, in so rude a state as the Americans, could have transported
themselves to that continent from any parts of the known world. This
opinion however was refuted by the celebrated Captain Cooke, who shewed
that the traject between the continents of Asia and America, was as
short as some, which people in as rude a state have been actually known
to pass. This affords an excellent caution against an ill-judged and
hasty censure of the divine writings, because every difficulty which may
be started, cannot be instantly cleared up.]
[Footnote 078: The divine writings, which assert that all men were
derived from the _same stock_, shew also, in the same instance of
_Cush_, (Footnote 075), that some of them had changed their original
complexion.]
[Footnote 079: The following are the grand colours discernible in
mankind, between which there are many shades;
White } { Copper
}--Olive--{
Brown } { Black
]
[Footnote 080: See note, (Footnote 075). To this we may add, that the
rest of the descendants of _Ham_, as far as they can be traced, are now
also black, at well as many of the descendants of _Shem_.]
[Footnote 081: Diseases have a great effect upon the _mucosum corpus_,
but particularly the jaundice, which turns it yellow. Hence, being
transmitted through the cuticle, the yellow appearance of the whole
body. But this, even as a matter of ocular demonstration, is not
confined solely to white people; negroes themselves, while affected with
these or other disorders, changing their black colour for that which the
disease has conveyed to the _mucous_ substance.]
[Footnote 082: The cutaneous pores are so excessively small, that one
grain of sand, (according to Dr. Lewenhoeck's calculations) would cover
many hundreds of them.]
[Footnote 083: We do not mean to insinuate that the same people have
their _corpus mucosum_ sensibly vary, as often as they go into another
latitude, but that the fact is true only of different people, who have
been long established in different latitudes.]
[Footnote 084: We beg leave to return our thanks here to a gentleman,
eminent in the medical line, who furnished us with the above-mentioned
facts.]
[Footnote 085: Suppose we were to see two nations, contiguous to each
other, of black and white inhabitants in the same parallel, even this
would be no objection, for many circumstances are to be considered. A
black people may have wandered into a white, and a white people into a
black latitude, and they may not have been settled there a sufficient
length of time for such a change to have been accomplished in their
complexion, as that they should be like the old established inhabitants
of the parallel, into which they have lately come.]
[Footnote 086: Justamond's Abbe Raynal, v. 5. p. 193.]
[Footnote 087: The author of this Essay made it his business to inquire
of the most intelligent of those, whom he could meet with in London, as
to the authenticity of the fact. All those from _America_ assured him
that it was strictly true; those from the West-Indies, that they had
never observed it there; but that they had found a sensible difference
in themselves since they came to England.]
[Footnote 088: This circumstance, which always happens, shews that they
are descended from the same parents as ourselves; for had they been a
distinct species of men, and the blackness entirely ingrafted in their
constitution and frame, there is great reason to presume, that their
children would have been born _black_.]
[Footnote 089: This observation was communicated to us by the gentleman
in the medical line, to whom we returned our thanks for certain
anatomical facts.]
[Footnote 090: Philos. Trans. No. 476. sect. 4.]
[Footnote 091: Treatise upon the Trade from Great Britain to Africa, by
an African merchant.]
[Footnote 092: We mean such only as are _natives_ of the countries which
we mention, and whose ancestors have been settled there for a certain
period of time.]
[Footnote 093: Herodotus. Euterpe. p. 80. Editio Stephani, printed
1570.]
[Footnote 094: This circumstance confirms what we said in a former note,
(Footnote 085), that even if two nations were to be found in the same
parallel, one of whom was black, and the other white, it would form no
objection against the hypothesis of climate, as one of them might have
been new settlers from a distant country.]
[Footnote 095: Suppose, without the knowledge of any historian, they had
made such considerable conquests, as to have settled themselves at the
distance of 1000 miles in any one direction from _Colchis_, still they
must have changed their colour. For had they gone in an Eastern or
Western direction, they must have been of the same colour as the
_Circassians_; if to the north, whiter; if to the south, of a copper.
There are no people within that distance of _Colchis_, who are black.]
[Footnote 096: There are a particular people among those transported
from Africa to the colonies, who immediately on receiving punishment,
destroy themselves. This is a fact which the _receivers_ are unable to
contradict.]
* * * * *
CHAP. IX.
The reader may perhaps think, that the _receivers_ have by this
time expended all their arguments, but their store is not so easily
exhausted. They are well aware that justice, nature, and religion, will
continue, as they have ever uniformly done, to oppose their conduct.
This has driven them to exert their ingenuity, and has occasioned that
multiplicity of arguments to be found in the present question.
These arguments are of a different complexion from the former. They
consist in comparing the state of _slaves_ with that of some of the
classes of _free_ men, and in certain scenes of felicity, which the
former are said to enjoy.
It is affirmed that the punishments which the Africans undergo, are less
severe than the military; that their life is happier than that of the
English peasant; that they have the advantages of manumission; that they
have their little spots of ground, their holy-days, their dances; in
short, that their life is a scene of festivity and mirth, and that they
are much happier in the colonies than in their own country.
These representations, which have been made out with much ingenuity and
art, may have had their weight with the unwary; but they will never pass
with men of consideration and sense, who are accustomed to estimate the
probability of things, before they admit them to be true. Indeed the
bare assertion, that their situation is even comfortable, contains its
own refutation, or at least leads us to suspect that the person, who
asserted it, has omitted some important considerations in the account.
Such we shall shew to have been actually the case, and that the
representations of the _receivers_, when stripped of their glossy
ornaments, are but empty declamation.
It is said, first, of _military punishments_, that they are more
severe than those which the _Africans_ undergo. But this is a bare
assertion without a proof. It is not shewn even by those, who assert it,
how the fact can be made out. We are left therefore to draw the
comparison ourselves, and to fill up those important considerations,
which we have just said that the _receivers_ had omitted.
That military punishments are severe we confess, but we deny that they
are severer than those with which they are compared. Where is the
military man, whose ears have been slit, whose limbs have been
mutilated, or whose eyes have been beaten out? But let us even allow,
that their punishments are equal in the degree of their severity: still
they must lose by comparison. The soldier is never punished but after a
fair and equitable trial, and the decision of a military court; the
unhappy African, at the discretion of his Lord. The one knows what
particular conduct will constitute an offence[097]; the other has no
such information, as he is wholly at the disposal of passion and
caprice, which may impose upon any action, however laudable, the
appellation of a crime. The former has it of course in his power to
avoid a punishment; the latter is never safe. The former is punished for
a real, the latter, often, for an imaginary fault.
Now will any person assert, on comparing the whole of those
circumstances together, which relate to their respective punishments,
that there can be any doubt, which of the two are in the worst
situation, as to their penal systems?
With respect to the declaration, that the life of an _African_ in
the colonies is happier than that of an _English_ peasant, it is
equally false. Indeed we can scarcely withhold our indignation, when we
consider, how shamefully the situation of this latter class of men has
been misrepresented, to elevate the former to a state of fictitious
happiness. If the representations of the _receivers_ be true, it
is evident that those of the most approved writers, who have placed a
considerable share of happiness in the _cottage_, have been
mistaken in their opinion; and that those of the rich, who have been
heard to sigh, and envy the felicity of the _peasant_, have been
treacherous to their own sensations.
But which are we to believe on the occasion? Those, who endeavour to
dress _vice_ in the habit of _virtue_, or those, who derive
their opinion from their own feelings? The latter are surely to be
believed; and we may conclude therefore, that the horrid picture which
is given of the life of the _peasant_, has not so just a foundation
as the _receivers_ would, lead us to suppose. For has he no
pleasure in the thought, that he lives in his _own country_, and
among his relations and friends? That he is actually _free_, and
that his children will be the same? That he can never be _sold_ as
a beast? That he can speak his mind _without the fear of the lash_?
That he cannot even be struck _with impunity_? And that he
partakes, equally with his superiours, of the _protection of the
law_?--Now, there is no one of these advantages which the
_African_ possesses, and no one, which the defenders of slavery
take into their account.
Of the other comparisons that are usually made, we may observe in
general, that, as they consist in comparing the iniquitous practice of
slavery with other iniquitous practices in force among other nations,
they can neither raise it to the appearance of virtue, nor extenuate its
guilt. The things compared are in these instances both of them evils
alike. They call equally for redress[098], and are equally disgraceful
to the governments which suffer them, if not encourage them, to exist.
To attempt therefore to justify one species of iniquity by comparing it
with another, is no justification at all; and is so far from answering
the purpose, for which the comparison is intended, as to give us reason
to suspect, that the _comparer_ has but little notion either of
equity or honour.
We come now to those scenes of felicity, which slaves are said to enjoy.
The first advantage which they are said to experience, is that of
_manumission_. But here the advocates for slavery conceal an
important circumstance. They expatiate indeed on the charms of freedom,
and contend that it must be a blessing in the eyes of those, upon whom
it is conferred. We perfectly agree with them in this particular. But
they do not tell us that these advantages are _confined_; that they
are confined to some _favourite domestick_; that not _one in an
hundred_ enjoy them; and that they are _never_ extended to
those, who are employed in the _cultivation of the field_, as long
as they can work. These are they, who are most to be pitied, who are
destined to _perpetual_ drudgery; and of whom _no one whatever_
has a chance of being freed from his situation, till death
either releases him at once, or age renders him incapable of continuing
his former labour. And here let it be remarked, _to the disgrace of
the receivers_, that he is then made free, not--_as a reward for
his past services_, but, as his labour is then of little or no
value,--_to save the tax_[099].
With the same artifice is mention also made of the little spots, or
_gardens_, as they are called, which slaves are said to possess
from the _liberality_ of _the receivers_. But people must not
be led away by agreeable and pleasant sounds. They must not suppose that
these gardens are made for _flowers_; or that they are places of
_amusement_, in which they can spend their time in botanical
researches and delights. Alas, they do not furnish them with a theme for
such pleasing pursuits and speculations! They must be cultivated in
those hours, which ought to be appropriated to rest[100]; and they must
be cultivated, not for an amusement, but to make up, _if it be
possible_, the great deficiency in their weekly allowance of
provisions. Hence it appears, that the _receivers_ have no merit
whatever in such an appropriation of land to their unfortunate slaves:
for they are either under the necessity of doing this, or of
_losing_ them by the jaws of famine. And it is a notorious fact,
that, with their weekly allowance, and the produce of their spots
together, it is often with the greatest difficulty that they preserve a
wretched existence.
The third advantage which they are said to experience, is that of
_holy-days_, or days of respite from their usual discipline and
fatigue. This is certainly a great indulgence, and ought to be recorded
to the immortal honour of the _receivers_. We wish we could express
their liberality in those handsome terms, in which it deserves to be
represented, or applaud them sufficiently for deviating for once from
the rigours of servile discipline. But we confess, that we are unequal
to the task, and must therefore content ourselves with observing, that
while the horse has _one_ day in _seven_ to refresh his limbs,
the happy _African_[101] has but _one_ in _fifty-two_, as
a relaxation from his labours.
With respect to their _dances_, on which such a particular stress
has been generally laid, we fear that people may have been as shamefully
deceived, as in the former instances. For from the manner in which these
are generally mentioned, we should almost be led to imagine, that they
had certain hours allowed them for the purpose of joining in the dance,
and that they had every comfort and convenience, that people are
generally supposed to enjoy on such convivial occasions. But this is far
from the case. Reason informs us, that it can never be. If they wish for
such innocent recreations, they must enjoy them in the time that is
allotted them for sleep; and so far are these dances from proceeding
from any uncommon degree of happiness, which excites them to convivial
society, that they proceed rather from an uncommon depression of
spirits, which makes them even sacrifice their rest[102], for the sake
of experiencing for a moment a more joyful oblivion of their cares. For
suppose any one of the _receivers_, in the middle of a dance, were
to address his slaves in the following manner: "_Africans!_ I begin
at last to feel for your situation; and my conscience is severely hurt,
whenever I reflect that I have been reducing those to a state of misery
and pain, who have never given me offence. You seem to be fond of these
exercises, but yet you are obliged to take them at such unseasonable
hours, that they impair your health, which is sufficiently broken by the
intolerable share of labour which I have hitherto imposed upon you. I
will therefore make you a proposal. Will you be content to live in the
colonies, and you shall have the half of every week entirely to
yourselves? or will you choose to return to your miserable, wretched
country?"--But what is that which strikes their ears? Which makes them
motionless in an instant? Which interrupts the festive scene?--their
country?--transporting sound!--Behold! they are now flying from the
dance: you may see them running to the shore, and, frantick as it were
with joy, demanding with open arms an instantaneous passage to their
beloved native plains.