An Essay on the Slavery and Commerce of the Human Species, Particularly the African - Thomas Clarkson
But if _passion_ may be supposed to be generally more than a
ballance for _interest_, how must the scale be turned in favour of
the melancholy picture exhibited, when we reflect that
_self-preservation_ additionally steps in, and demands the most
_rigorous severity_. For when we consider that where there is
_one_ master, there are _fifty_ slaves; that the latter have
been all forcibly torn from their country, and are retained in their
present situation by violence; that they are perpetually at war in their
hearts with their oppressors, and are continually cherishing the seeds
of revenge; it is evident that even _avarice_ herself, however cool
and deliberate, however free from passion and caprice, must sacrifice
her own sordid feelings, and adopt a system of tyranny and oppression,
which it must be ruinous to pursue.
Thus then, if no picture had been drawn of the situation of slaves, and
it had been left solely to every man's sober judgment to determine, what
it might probably be, he would conclude, that if the situation were
justly described, the page must be frequently stained with acts of
uncommon cruelty.
It remains only to make a reply to an objection, that is usually
advanced against particular instances of cruelty to slaves, as recorded
by various writers. It is said that "some of these are so inconceivably,
and beyond all example inhuman, that their very excess above the common
measure of cruelty shews them at once exaggerated and incredible." But
their credibility shall be estimated by a supposition. Let us suppose
that the following instance had been recorded by a writer of the highest
reputation, "that the master of a ship, bound to the western colonies
with slaves, on a presumption that many of them would die, selected an
_hundred and thirty two_ of the most sickly, and ordered them to be
thrown into the sea, to recover their value from the insurers, and,
above all, that the fatal order was put into execution." What would the
reader have thought on the occasion? Would he have believed the fact? It
would have surely staggered his faith; because he could never have heard
that any _one_ man ever was, and could never have supposed that any
_one_ man ever could be, guilty of the murder of _such a
number_ of his fellow creatures. But when he is informed that such a
fact as this came before a court[068] of justice in this very country;
that it happened within the last five years; that hundreds can come
forwards and say, that they heard the melancholy evidence with tears;
what bounds is he to place to his belief? The great God, who looks down
upon all his creatures with the same impartial eye, seems to have
infatuated the parties concerned, that they might bring the horrid
circumstance to light, that it might be recorded in the annals of a
publick court, as an authentick specimen of the treatment which the
unfortunate Africans undergo, and at the same time, as an argument to
shew, that there is no species of cruelty, that is recorded to have been
exercised upon these wretched people, so enormous that it may not
_readily be believed_.
* * * * *
FOOTNOTES
[Footnote 068: The action was brought by the owners against the
underwriters, to recover the value of the _murdered_ slaves. It was
tried at Guildhall.]
* * * * *
CHAP. VI.
If the treatment then, as before described, is confirmed by reason, and
the great credit that is due to disinterested writers on the subject; if
the unfortunate Africans are used, as if their flesh were stone, and
their vitals brass; by what arguments do you _receivers_ defend
your conduct?
You say that a great part of your savage treatment consists in
punishment for real offences, and frequently for such offences, as all
civilized nations have concurred in punishing. The first charge that you
exhibit against them is specifick, it is that of _theft_. But how
much rather ought you _receivers_ to blush, who reduce them to such
a situation! who reduce them to the dreadful alternative, that they must
either _steal_ or _perish_! How much rather ought you _receivers_
to be considered as _robbers_ yourselves, who cause these
unfortunate people to be _stolen_! And how much greater is
your crime, who are _robbers of human liberty_!
The next charge which you exhibit against them, is general, it is that
of _rebellion_; a crime of such a latitude, that you can impose it
upon almost every action, and of such a nature, that you always annex to
it the most excruciating pain. But what a contradiction is this to
common sense! Have the wretched Africans formally resigned their
freedom? Have you any other claim upon their obedience, than that of
force? If then they are your subjects, you violate the laws of
government, by making them unhappy. But if they are not your subjects,
then, even though they should resist your proceedings, they are not
_rebellious_.
But what do you say to that long catalogue of offences, which you
punish, and of which no people but yourselves take cognizance at all?
You say that the wisdom of legislation has inserted it in the colonial
laws, and that you punish by authority. But do you allude to that
execrable code, that _authorises murder_? that tempts an unoffended
person to kill the slave, that abhors and flies your service? that
delegates a power, which no host of men, which not all the world, can
possess?--
Or,--What do you say to that daily unmerited severity, which you
consider only as common discipline? Here you say that the Africans are
vicious, that they are all of them ill-disposed, that you must of
necessity be severe. But can they be well-disposed to their oppressors?
In their own country they were just, generous, hospitable: qualities,
which all the African historians allow them eminently to possess. If
then they are vicious, they must have contracted many of their vices
from yourselves; and as to their own native vices, if any have been
imported with them, are they not amiable, when compared with yours?
Thus then do the excuses, which have been hitherto made by the
_receivers_, force a relation of such circumstances, as makes their
conduct totally inexcusable, and, instead of diminishing at all, highly
aggravates their guilt.
* * * * *
CHAP. VII.
We come now to that other system of reasoning, which is always applied,
when the former is confuted; "that the Africans are an inferiour link of
the chain of nature, and are made for slavery."
This assertion is proved by two arguments; the first of which was
advanced also by the ancients, and is drawn from the _inferiority of
their capacities_.
Let us allow then for a moment, that they appear to have no parts, that
they appear to be void of understanding. And is this wonderful, when,
you _receivers_ depress their senses by hunger? Is this wonderful,
when by incessant labour, the continual application of the lash, and the
most inhuman treatment that imagination can devise, you overwhelm their
genius, and hinder it from breaking forth?--No,--You confound their
abilities by the severity of their servitude: for as a spark of fire, if
crushed by too great a weight of incumbent fuel, cannot be blown into a
flame, but suddenly expires, so the human mind, if depressed by rigorous
servitude, cannot be excited to a display of those faculties, which
might otherwise have shone with the brightest lustre.
Neither is it wonderful in another point of view. For what is it that
awakens the abilities of men, and distinguishes them from the common
herd? Is it not often the amiable hope of becoming serviceable to
individuals, or the state? Is it not often the hope of riches, or of
power? Is it not frequently the hope of temporary honours, or a lasting
fame? These principles have all a wonderful effect upon the mind. They
call upon it to exert its faculties, and bring those talents to the
publick view, which had otherwise been concealed. But the unfortunate
Africans have no such incitements as these, that they should shew their
genius. They have no hope of riches, power, honours, fame. They have no
hope but this, that their miseries will be soon terminated by death.
And here we cannot but censure and expose the murmurings of the
unthinking and the gay; who, going on in a continual round of pleasure
and prosperity, repine at the will of Providence, as exhibited in the
shortness of human duration. But let a weak and infirm old age overtake
them: let them experience calamities: let them feel but half the
miseries which the wretched Africans undergo, and they will praise the
goodness of Providence, who hath made them mortal; who hath prescribed
certain ordinary bounds to the life of man; and who, by such a
limitation, hath given all men this comfortable hope, that however
persecuted in life, a time will come, in the common course of nature,
when their sufferings will have an end.
Such then is the nature of this servitude, that we can hardly expect to
find in those, who undergo it, even the glimpse of genius. For if their
minds are in a continual state of depression, and if they have no
expectations in life to awaken their abilities, and make them eminent,
we cannot be surprized if a sullen gloomy stupidity should be the
leading mark in their character; or if they should appear inferiour to
those, who do not only enjoy the invaluable blessings of freedom, but
have every prospect before their eyes, that can allure them to exert
their faculties. Now, if to these considerations we add, that the
wretched Africans are torn from their country in a state of nature, and
that in general, as long as their slavery continues, every obstacle is
placed in the way of their improvement, we shall have a sufficient
answer to any argument that may be drawn from the inferiority of their
capacities.
It appears then, from the circumstances that have been mentioned, that
to form a true judgment of the abilities of these unfortunate people, we
must either take a general view of them before their slavery commences,
or confine our attention to such, as, after it has commenced, have had
any opportunity given them of shewing their genius either in arts or
letters. If, upon such a fair and impartial view, there should be any
reason to suppose, that they are at all inferiour to others in the same
situation, the argument will then gain some of that weight and
importance, which it wants at present.
In their own country, where we are to see them first, we must expect
that the prospect will be unfavourable. They are mostly in a savage
state. Their powers of mind are limited to few objects. Their ideas are
consequently few. It appears, however, that they follow the same mode of
life, and exercise the same arts, as the ancestors of those very
Europeans, who boast of their great superiority, are described to have
done in the same uncultivated state. This appears from the Nubian's
Geography, the writings of Leo, the Moor, and all the subsequent
histories, which those, who have visited the African continent, have
written from their own inspection. Hence three conclusions; that their
abilities are sufficient for their situation;--that they are as great,
as those of other people have been, in the same stage of society;--and
that they are as great as those of any civilized people whatever, when
the degree of the barbarism of the one is drawn into a comparison with
that of the civilization of the other.
Let us now follow them to the colonies. They are carried over in the
unfavourable situation described. It is observed here, that though their
abilities cannot be estimated high from a want of cultivation, they are
yet various, and that they vary in proportion as the nation, from which
they have been brought, has advanced more or less in the scale of social
life. This observation, which is so frequently made, is of great
importance: for if their abilities expand in proportion to the
improvement of their state, it is a clear indication, that if they were
equally improved, they would be equally ingenious.
But here, before we consider any opportunities that may be afforded
them, let it be remembered that even their most polished situation may
be called barbarous, and that this circumstance, should they appear less
docile than others, may be considered as a sufficient answer to any
objection that may be made to their capacities. Notwithstanding this,
when they are put to the mechanical arts, they do not discover a want of
ingenuity. They attain them in as short a time as the Europeans, and
arrive at a degree of excellence equal to that of their teachers. This
is a fact, almost universally known, and affords us this proof, that
having learned with facility such of the mechanical arts, as they have
been taught, they are capable of attaining any other, at least, of the
same class, if they should receive but the same instruction.
With respect to the liberal arts, their proficiency is certainly less;
but not less in proportion to their time and opportunity of study; not
less, because they are less capable of attaining them, but because they
have seldom or ever an opportunity of learning them at all. It is yet
extraordinary that their talents appear, even in some of these sciences,
in which they are totally uninstructed. Their abilities in musick are
such, as to have been generally noticed. They play frequently upon a
variety of instruments, without any other assistance than their own
ingenuity. They have also tunes of their own composition. Some of these
have been imported among us; are now in use; and are admired for their
sprightliness and ease, though the ungenerous and prejudiced importer
has concealed their original.
Neither are their talents in poetry less conspicuous. Every occurrence,
if their spirits are not too greatly depressed, is turned into a song.
These songs are said to be incoherent and nonsensical. But this proceeds
principally from two causes, an improper conjunction of words, arising
from an ignorance of the language in which they compose; and a wildness
of thought, arising from the different manner, in which the organs of
rude and civilized people will be struck by the same object. And as to
their want of harmony and rhyme, which is the last objection, the
difference of pronunciation is the cause. Upon the whole, as they are
perfectly consistent with their own ideas, and are strictly musical as
pronounced by themselves, they afford us as high a proof of their
poetical powers, as the works of the most acknowledged poets.
But where these impediments have been removed, where they have received
an education, and have known and pronounced the language with propriety,
these defects have vanished, and their productions have been less
objectionable. For a proof of this, we appeal to the writings of an
African girl[069], who made no contemptible appearance in this species
of composition. She was kidnapped when only eight years old, and, in the
year 1761, was transported to America, where she was sold with other
slaves. She had no school education there, but receiving some little
instruction from the family, with whom she was so fortunate as to live,
she obtained such a knowledge of the English language within sixteen
months from the time of her arrival, as to be able to speak it and read
it to the astonishment of those who heard her. She soon afterwards
learned to write, and, having a great inclination to learn the Latin
tongue, she was indulged by her master, and made a progress. Her
Poetical works were published with his permission, in the year 1773.
They contain thirty-eight pieces on different subjects. We shall beg
leave to make a short extract from two or three of them, for the
observation of the reader.
_From an Hymn to the Evening_[070].
"Fill'd with the praise of him who gives the light,
And draws the sable curtains of the night,
Let placid slumbers sooth each weary mind,
At morn to wake more heav'nly and refin'd;
So shall the labours of the day begin,
More pure and guarded from the snares of sin.
----&c. &c."
* * * * *
_From an Hymn to the Morning_.
"Aurora hail! and all the thousand dies,
That deck thy progress through the vaulted skies!
The morn awakes, and wide extends her rays,
On ev'ry leaf the gentle zephyr plays.
Harmonious lays the feather'd race resume,
Dart the bright eye, and shake the painted plume.
----&c. &c."
* * * * *
_From Thoughts on Imagination_.
"Now here, now there, the roving _fancy_ flies,
Till some lov'd object strikes her wand'ring eyes,
Whose silken fetters all the senses bind,
And soft captivity involves the mind.
"_Imagination!_ who can sing thy force,
Or who describe the swiftness of thy course?
Soaring through air to find the bright abode,
Th' empyreal palace of the thund'ring God,
We on thy pinions can surpass the wind,
And leave the rolling universe behind:
From star to star the mental opticks rove,
Measure the skies, and range the realms above.
There in one view we grasp the mighty whole,
Or with new worlds amaze th' unbounded soul.
----&c. &c."
* * * * *
Such is the poetry which we produce as a proof of our assertions. How
far it has succeeded, the reader may by this time have determined in his
own mind. We shall therefore only beg leave to accompany it with this
observation, that if the authoress _was designed for slavery_, (as
the argument must confess) the greater part of the inhabitants of
Britain must lose their claim to freedom.
To this poetry we shall only add, as a farther proof of their abilities,
the Prose compositions of Ignatius Sancho, who received some little
education. His letters are too well known, to make any extract, or
indeed any farther mention of him, necessary. If other examples of
African genius should be required, suffice it to say, that they can be
produced in abundance; and that if we were allowed to enumerate
instances of African gratitude, patience, fidelity, honour, as so many
instances of good sense, and a sound understanding, we fear that
thousands of the enlightened Europeans would have occasion to blush.
But an objection will be made here, that the two persons whom we have
particularized by name, are prodigies, and that if we were to live for
many years, we should scarcely meet with two other Africans of the same
description. But we reply, that considering their situation as before
described, two persons, above mediocrity in the literary way, are as
many as can be expected within a certain period of years; and farther,
that if these are prodigies, they are only such prodigies as every day
would produce, if they had the same opportunities of acquiring knowledge
as other people, and the same expectations in life to excite their
genius. This has been constantly and solemnly asserted by the pious
Benezet[071], whom we have mentioned before, as having devoted a
considerable part of his time to their instruction. This great man, for
we cannot but mention him with veneration, had a better opportunity of
knowing them than any person whatever, and he always uniformly declared,
that he could never find a difference between their capacities and those
of other people; that they were as capable of reasoning as any
individual Europeans; that they were as capable of the highest
intellectual attainments; in short, that their abilities were equal, and
that they only wanted to be equally cultivated, to afford specimens of
as fine productions.
Thus then does it appear from the testimony of this venerable man,
whose authority is sufficient of itself to silence all objections
against African capacity, and from the instances that have been
produced, and the observations that have been made on the occasion, that
if the minds of the Africans were unbroken by slavery; if they had the
same expectations in life as other people, and the same opportunities of
improvement, they would be equal; in all the various branches of
science, to the Europeans, and that the argument that states them "to be
an inferiour link of the chain of nature, and designed for servitude,"
as far as it depends on the _inferiority of their capacities_, is
wholly malevolent and false[072].
* * * * *
FOOTNOTES
[Footnote 069: Phillis Wheatley, negro slave to Mr. John Wheatley, of
Boston, in New-England.]
[Footnote 070:
Lest it should be doubted whether these Poems are genuine, we shall
transcribe the names of those, who signed a certificate of their
authenticity.
His Excellency Thomas Hutchinson, Governor.
The Honourable Andrew Oliver, Lieutenant Governor.
The Hon. Thomas Hubbard
The Hon. John Erving
The Hon. James Pitts
The Hon. Harrison Gray
The Hon. James Bowdoin
John Hancock, Esq.
Joseph Green, Esq.
Richard Carey, Esq.
The Rev. Cha. Chauncy, D.D.
The Rev. Mather Byles, D.D.
The Rev. Ed. Pemberton, D.D.
The Rev. Andrew Elliot, D.D.
The Rev. Sam. Cooper, D.D.
The Rev. Samuel Mather
The Rev. John Moorhead
Mr. John Wheatley, her Master.
]
[Footnote 071: In the Preface.]
[Footnote 072: As to Mr. Hume's assertions with respect to African
capacity, we have passed them over in silence, as they have been so
admirably refuted by the learned Dr. Beattie, in his Essay on Truth, to
which we refer the reader. The whole of this admirable refutation
extends from p. 458. to 464.]
* * * * *
CHAP. VIII.
The second argument, by which it is attempted to be proved, "that the
Africans are an inferiour link of the chain of nature, and are designed
for slavery," is drawn from _colour_, and from those other marks,
which distinguish them from the inhabitants of Europe.
To prove this with the greater facility, the _receivers_ divide in
opinion. Some of them contend that the Africans, from these
circumstances, are the descendants of Cain[073]: others, that they are
the posterity of Ham; and that as it was declared by divine inspiration,
that these should be servants to the rest of the world, so they are
designed for slavery; and that the reducing of them to such a situation
is only the accomplishment of the will of heaven: while the rest,
considering them from the same circumstances as a totally distinct
species of men, conclude them to be an inferiour link of the chain of
nature, and deduce the inference described.
To answer these arguments in the clearest and fullest manner, we are
under the necessity of making two suppositions, first, that the
scriptures are true; secondly, that they are false.
If then the scriptures are true, it is evident that the posterity of
Cain were extinguished in the flood. Thus one of the arguments is no
more.
With respect to the curse of Ham, it appears also that it was limited;
that it did not extend to the posterity of all his sons, but only to the
descendants of him who was called Canaan[074]: by which it was foretold
that the Canaanites, a part of the posterity of Ham, should serve the
posterity of Shem and Japhet. Now how does it appear that these wretched
Africans are the descendants of Canaan?--By those marks, it will be
said, which distinguish them from the rest of the world.--But where are
these marks to be found in the divine writings? In what page is it said,
that the Canaanites were to be known by their _colour_, their
_features_, their _form_, or the very _hair of their heads_,
which is brought into the account?--But alas! so far are the
divine writings from giving any such account, that they shew the
assertion to be false. They shew that the descendants of Cush[075] were
of the colour, to which the advocates for slavery allude; and of course,
that there was no such limitation of colour to the posterity of Canaan,
or the inheritors of the curse.
Suppose we should now shew, upon the most undeniable evidence[076], that
those of the wretched Africans, who are singled out as inheriting the
curse, are the descendants of Cush or Phut; and that we should shew
farther, that but a single remnant of Canaan, which was afterwards
ruined, was ever in Africa at all.--Here all is consternation.--
But unfortunately again for the argument, though wonderfully for the
confirmation that the scriptures are of divine original, the whole
prophecy has been completed. A part of the descendants of Canaan were
hewers of wood and drawers of water, and became tributary and subject to
the Israelites, or the descendants of Shem. The Greeks afterwards, as
well as the Romans, who were both the descendants of Japhet, not only
subdued those who were settled in Syria and Palestine, but pursued and
conquered all such as were then remaining. These were the Tyrians and
Carthaginians: the former of whom were ruined by Alexander and the
Greeks, the latter by Scipio and the Romans.
It appears then that the second argument is wholly inapplicable and
false: that it is false in its _application_, because those, who
were the objects of the curse, were a totally distinct people: that it
is false in its _proof_, because no such distinguishing marks, as
have been specified, are to be found in the divine writings: and that,
if the proof could be made out, it would be now _inapplicable_, as
the curse has been long completed.