The History of the Rise, Progress and Accomplishment of the Abolition - Thomas Clarkson
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The committee, during these sittings, kept up a correspondence with
those gentlemen who were mentioned in the last chapter to have addressed
them. But, besides these, they found other voluntary correspondents in
the following persons, Capell Lofft, Esq., of Troston, and the Reverend
B. Brome, of Ipswich, both in the county of Suffolk. These made an
earnest tender of their services for those parts of the county in which
they resided. Similar offers were made by Mr. Hammond, of Stanton, near
St. Ives, in the county of Huntingdon, by Thomas Parker, Esq., of
Beverly, and by William Grove, Esq., of Litchfield, for their respective
towns and neighbourhoods.
A letter was received also within this period from the society
established at Philadelphia, accompanied with documents in proof of the
good effects of the manumission of slaves, and with specimens of writing
and drawing by the same. In this letter the society congratulated the
committee in London on its formation, and professed its readiness to
co-operate in any way in which it could me made useful.
During these sittings, a letter was also read from Dr. Bathurst,
afterwards bishop of Norwich, dated Oxford, December 17th, in which he
offered his services in the promotion of the cause.
Another was read, which stated that Dr. Home, president of Magdalen
College in the same university, and afterwards bishop of the same see as
the former, highly favoured it.
Another was read from Mr. Lambert, fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge,
in which he signified to the committee the great desire he had to
promote the object of their institution. He had drawn up a number of
queries relative to the state of the unhappy slaves in the islands,
which he had transmitted to a friend, who had resided in them, to
answer. These answers he purposed to forward to the committee on their
arrival.
Another was read from Dr. Hinchliffe, bishop of Peterborough, in which
he testified his hearty approbation of the institution, and of the
design of it, and his determination to support the object of it in
parliament. He gave in at the same time a plan, which he called
_Thoughts on the Means of Abolishing the Slave Trade in Great Britain
and in our West Indian Islands_, for the consideration of the committee.
At the last of these sittings, the committee thought it right to make a
report to the public relative to the state and progress of their cause;
but as this was composed from materials which the reader has now in his
possession, it may not be necessary to produce it.
On the 22nd and 29th of January, and on the 5th and 12th of February,
1788, sittings were also held. During these, the business still
increasing, John Maitland, Esq., was elected a member of the committee.
As the correspondents of the committee were now numerous, and as these
solicited publications for the use of those who applied to them, as well
as of those to whom they wished to give a knowledge of the subject, the
press was kept in constant employ during this period also. Five thousand
two hundred and fifty additional _Reports_ were ordered to be printed,
and also three thousand of FALCONBRIDGE'S _Account of the Slave Trade_,
the manuscript of which was now finished. At this time, Mr. Newton,
rector of St. Mary Woolnoth in London, who had been in his youth to the
coast of Africa, but who had now become a serious and useful divine,
felt it his duty to write his _Thoughts on the African Slave Trade_. The
committee, having obtained permission, printed three thousand copies of
these also.
During these sittings, the chairman was requested to have frequent
communication with Dr. Porteus, bishop of London, as he had expressed
his desire of becoming useful to the institution.
A circular letter also, with the report before mentioned, was ordered to
be sent to the majors of several corporate towns.
A case also occurred, which it may not be improper to notice. The
treasurer reported that he had been informed by the chairman, that the
captain of the Albion, merchant ship, trading to the Bay of Honduras,
had picked up at sea, from a Spanish ship, which had been wrecked, two
black men, one named Henry Martin Burrowes, a free native of Antigua,
who had served in the royal navy, and the other named Antonio Berrat, a
Spanish negro; that the said captain detained these men on board his
ship, then lying in the river Thames, against their will; and that, he
would not give them up. Upon this report, it was resolved that the cause
of these unfortunate captives should be espoused by the committee. Mr.
Sharp accordingly caused a writ of habeas-corpus to be served upon them;
soon after which he had the satisfaction of reporting, that they had
been delivered from the place of their confinement.
During these sittings the following letters were read also:
One from Richard How, of Apsley, offering his services to the committee.
Another from the Reverend Christopher Wyvill, of Burton Hall, in
Yorkshire, to the same effect.
Another from Archdeacon Plymley, (afterwards Corbett,) in which he
expressed the deep interest he took in this cause of humanity and
freedom, and the desire he had of making himself useful as far as he
could towards the support of it; and he wished to know, as the Clergy of
the diocese of Lichfield and Coventry were anxious to espouse it also,
whether a petition to parliament from them, as a part of the Established
Church, would not be desirable at the present season.
Another from Archdeacon Paley, containing his sentiments on a plan for
the abolition of the Slave Trade, and the manumission of slaves in our
islands, and offering his future services, and wishing success to the
undertaking.
Another from Dr. Sharp, prebendary of Durham, inquiring into the
probable amount of the subscriptions which might be wanted, and for what
purposes, with a view of serving the cause.
Another from Dr. Woodward, bishop of Cloyne, in which he approved of the
institution of the committee. He conceived the Slave Trade to be no less
disgraceful to the legislature and injurious to the true commercial
interests of the country, than it was productive of unmerited misery to
the unhappy objects of it, and repugnant both to the principles and the
spirit of the Christian religion. He wished to be placed among the
assertors of the liberty of his fellow-creatures, and he was therefore
desirous of subscribing largely, as well as of doing all he could, both
in England and Ireland, for the promotion of such a charitable work.
A communication was made, soon after the reading of the last letter,
through the medium of the Chevalier de Ternant, from the celebrated
Marquis de la Fayette of France. The Marquis signified the singular
pleasure he had received on hearing of the formation of a committee in
England for the abolition of the Slave Trade, and the earnest desire he
had to promote the object of it. With this view, he informed the
committee that he should attempt the formation of a similar society in
France. This he conceived to be one of the most effectual measures he
could devise for securing the object in question; for he was of opinion,
that if the two great nations of France and England were to unite in
this humane and Christian work, the other European nations might be
induced to follow the example.
The committee, on receiving the two latter communications, resolved,
that the chairman should return their thanks to the Bishop of Cloyne,
and the Marquis de la Fayette, and the Chevalier de Ternant, and that he
should inform them, that they were enrolled among the honorary and
corresponding members of the society.
The other letters read during these sittings were to convey information
to the committee, that people in various parts of the kingdom had then
felt themselves so deeply interested in behalf of the injured Africans,
that they had determined either on public meetings, or had come to
resolutions, or had it in contemplation to petition parliament, for the
abolition of the Slave Trade. Information was signified to this effect
by Thomas Walker, Esquire, for Manchester; by John Hoyland, William
Hoyles, Esquire, and the Reverend James Wilkinson, for Sheffield; by
William Tuke, and William Burgh, Esquire, for York; by the Reverend Mr.
Foster, for Colchester; by Joseph Harford and Edmund Griffith, Esquires,
for Bristol; by William Bishop, Esquire, the mayor, for Maidstone; by
the Reverend R. Brome and the Reverend J. Wright, for Ipswich; by James
Clarke, Esquire, the mayor, for Coventry; by Mr. Jones, of Trinity
College, for the University of Cambridge; by Dr. Schomberg, of Magdalen
College, for the University of Oxford; by Henry Bullen, Esquire, for
Bury St. Edmunds; by Archdeacon Travis, for Chester; by Mr. Hammond, for
the county of Huntingdon; by John Flint, Esquire, (afterwards Corbett,)
for the town of Shrewsbury and county of Salop; by the Reverend Robert
Lucas, for the town and also for the county of Northampton; by Mr.
Winchester, for the county of Stafford; by the Reverend William Leigh,
for the county of Norfolk; by David Barclay, for the county of Hertford;
and by Thomas Babington, Esquire, for the county of Leicester.
CHAPTER XXII.
[Sidenote: Further progress to the middle of May.--Petitions begin to be
sent to parliament.--The king orders the privy council to inquire into
the Slave Trade.--Author called up to town; his interviews with Mr.
Pitt, and with Mr.(afterwards Lord) Grenville.--Liverpool delegates
examined first; these prejudice the council; this prejudice at length
counteracted.--Labours of the committee in the interim.--Public anxious
for the introduction of the question into parliament.--Message of Mr.
Pitt to the committee concerning it.--Day fixed for the
motion.--Substance of the debate which followed.--Discussion of the
general question deferred till the next sessions.]
By this time the nature of the Slave Trade had, in consequence of the
labours of the committee and of their several correspondents, become
generally known throughout the kingdom. It had excited a general
attention, and there was among the people a general feeling in behalf of
the wrongs of Africa. This feeling had also, as may be collected from
what has been already mentioned, broken out into language: for not only
had the traffic become the general subject of conversation, but public
meetings had taken place, in which it had been discussed, and of which
the result was, that an application to parliament had been resolved upon
in many places concerning it. By the middle of February not fewer than
thirty-five petitions had been delivered to the Commons, and it was
known that others were on their way to the same house.
This ferment in the public mind, which had shown itself in the public
prints even before the petitions had been resolved upon, had excited the
attention of government. To coincide with the wishes of the people on
this subject, appeared to those in authority to be a desirable thing. To
abolish the trade, replete as it was with misery, was desirable also;
but it was so connected with the interest of individuals, and so
interwoven with the commerce and revenue of the country, that a hasty
abolition of it without a previous inquiry appeared to them to be likely
to be productive of as much misery as good. The king, therefore, by an
order of council dated February the eleventh, 1788, directed that a
committee of Privy Council should sit as a board of trade, "to take into
their consideration the present state of the African Trade, particularly
as far as related to the practice and manner of purchasing or obtaining
slaves on the coast of Africa, and the importation and sale thereof,
either in the British colonies and settlements, or in the foreign
colonies and settlements in America or the West-Indies; and also as far
as related to the effects and consequences of the trade both in Africa
and in the said colonies and settlements, and to the general commerce of
this kingdom; and that they should report to him in council the result
of their inquiries, with such observations as they might have to offer
thereupon."
Of this order of council Mr. Wilberforce, who had attended to this great
subject, as far as his health would permit, since I left him, had
received notice; but he was then too ill himself to take any measures
concerning it. He therefore wrote to me, and begged of me to repair to
London immediately, in order to get such evidence ready as we might
think it eligible to introduce when the council sat. At that time, as
appears from the former chapter, I had finished the additions to my
_Essay on the Slavery and Commerce of the Human Species_, and I had now
proceeded about half way in that of the Impolicy of it. This summons,
however, I obeyed, and returned to town on the fourteenth of February,
from which day to the twenty-fourth of May I shall now give the history
of our proceedings.
My first business in London was to hold a conversation with Mr. Pitt
previously to the meeting of the council, and to try to interest him, as
the first minister of state, in our favour. For this purpose Mr.
Wilberforce had opened the way for me, and an interview took place. We
were in free conversation together for a considerable time, during which
we went through most of the branches of the subject. Mr. Pitt appeared
to me to have but little knowledge of it. He had also his doubts, which
he expressed openly, on many points. He was at a loss to conceive how
private interest should not always restrain the master of the slave from
abusing him. This matter I explained to him as well as I could; and if
he was not entirely satisfied with my interpretation of it, he was at
least induced to believe that cruel practices were more probable than he
had imagined. A second circumstance, of the truth of which he doubted,
was the mortality and usage of seamen in this trade; and a third was the
statement by which so much had been made of the riches of Africa, and of
the genius and abilities of her people; for he seemed at a loss to
comprehend, if these things were so, how it happened that they should
not have been more generally noticed before. I promised to satisfy him
upon these points, and an interview was fixed for this purpose the next
day.
At the time appointed, I went with my books, papers, and African
productions. Mr. Pitt examined the former himself. He turned over leaf
after leaf, in which the copies of the muster-rolls were contained, with
great patience; and when he had looked over above a hundred pages
accurately, and found the name of every seaman inserted, his former
abode or service, the time of his entry, and what had become of him,
either by death, discharge, or desertion, he expressed his surprise at
the great pains which had been taken in this branch of the inquiry; and
confessed, with some emotion, that his doubts were wholly removed with
respect to the destructive nature of this employ; and he said, moreover,
that the facts contained in these documents, if they had been but fairly
copied, could never be disproved. He was equally astonished at the
various woods and other productions of Africa, but most of all at the
manufactures of the natives in cotton, leather, gold, and iron, which
were laid before him. These he handled and examined over and over again.
Many sublime thoughts seemed to rush in upon him at once at the sight of
these, some of which he expressed with observations becoming a great and
a dignified mind. He thanked me for the light I had given him on many of
the branches of this great question. And I went away under a certain
conviction that I had left him much impressed in our favour.
My next visit was to Mr. (afterwards Lord) Grenville. I called upon him
at the request of Mr. Wilberforce, who had previously written to him
from Bath, as he had promised to attend the meetings of the privy
council during the examinations which were to take place. I found, in
the course of our conversation, that Mr. Grenville had not then more
knowledge of the subject than Mr. Pitt; but I found him differently
circumstanced in other respects, for I perceived in him a warm feeling
in behalf of the injured Africans, and that he had no doubt of the
possibility of all the barbarities which had been alleged against this
traffic. I showed him all my papers and some of my natural productions,
which he examined. I was with him the next day, and once again
afterwards, so that the subject was considered in all its parts. The
effect of this interview with him was of course different from that upon
the minister. In the former case I had removed doubts, and given birth
to an interest in favour of our cause. But I had here only increased an
interest, which had already been excited, I had only enlarged the mass
of feeling, or added zeal to zeal, or confirmed resolutions and
reasonings. Disposed in this manner originally himself, and strengthened
by the documents with which I had furnished him, Mr. Grenville
contracted an enmity to the Slave Trade, which was never afterwards
diminished[A].
[Footnote A: I have not mentioned the difference between these two
eminent persons, with a view of drawing any invidious comparisons, but
because, as these statements are true, such persons as have a high
opinion of the late Mr. Pitt's judgment, may see that this great man did
not espouse the cause hastily, or merely as a matter of feeling, but
upon the conviction of his own mind.]
A report having gone abroad that the committee of privy council would
only examine those who were interested in the continuance of the trade,
I found it necessary to call upon Mr. Pitt again, and to inform him of
it, when I received an assurance that every person whom I chose to send
to the council in behalf of the committee should be heard. This gave
rise to a conversation relative to those witnesses whom we had to
produce on the side of the abolition. And here I was obliged to disclose
our weakness in this respect. I owned with sorrow that, though I had
obtained specimens and official documents in abundance to prove many
important points, yet I had found it difficult to prevail upon persons
to be publicly examined on this subject. The only persons we could then
count upon, were Mr. Ramsay, Mr. H. Gandy, Mr. Falconbridge, Mr. Newton,
and the Dean of Middleham. There was one, however, who would be a host
of himself, if we could but gain him. I then mentioned Mr. Norris. I
told Mr. Pitt the nature[A] and value of the testimony which he had
given me at Liverpool, and the great zeal he had discovered to serve the
cause. I doubted, however, if he would come to London for this purpose,
even if I wrote to him; for he was intimate with almost all the owners
of slave-vessels in Liverpool, and, living among these, he would not
like to incur their resentment by taking a prominent part against them.
I therefore entreated Mr. Pitt to send him a summons of council to
attend, hoping that Mr. Norris would then be pleased to come up, as he
would be enabled to reply to his friends that his appearance had not
been voluntary. Mr. Pitt, however, informed me, that a summons from a
committee of privy council, sitting as a board, was not binding upon the
subject; and therefore that I had no other means left, but of writing to
him, and he desired me to do this by the first post.
[Footnote A: See his evidence, Chap. XVII.]
This letter I accordingly wrote, and sent it to my friend William
Rathbone, who was to deliver it in person, and to use his own influence
at the same time; but I received for answer, that Mr. Norris was then in
London. Upon this I tried to find him out, to entreat him to consent to
an examination before the council. At length I found his address; but
before I could see him, I was told by the Bishop of London that he had
come up as a Liverpool delegate in support of the Slave Trade.
Astonished at this information, I made the bishop acquainted with the
case, and asked him how it became me to act; for I was fearful lest, by
exposing Mr. Norris, I should violate the rights of hospitality on the
one hand, and by not exposing him that I should not do my duty to the
cause I had undertaken on the other. His advice was, that I should see
him, and ask him to explain the reasons of his conduct. I called upon
him for this purpose, but he was out. He sent me, however, a letter soon
afterwards, which was full of flattery; and in which, after having paid
high compliments to the general force of my arguments, and the general
justice and humanity of my sentiments on this great question, which had
made a deep impression upon his mind, he had found occasion to differ
from me, since we had last parted, on particular points, and that he had
therefore less reluctantly yielded to the call of becoming a
delegate,--though notwithstanding he would gladly have declined the
office if he could have done it with propriety.
At length the council began their examinations. Mr. Norris, Lieutenant
Matthews, of the navy, who had just left a slave employ in Africa, and
Mr. James Penny, formerly a slave captain, and then interested as a
merchant in the trade, (which three were the delegates from Liverpool,)
took possession of the ground first. Mr. Miles, Mr. Weuves, and others,
followed them on the same side. The evidence which they gave, as
previously concerted between themselves, may be shortly represented
thus:--They denied that kidnapping either did or could take place in
Africa, or that wars were made there for the purpose of procuring
slaves. Having done away these wicked practices from their system, they
maintained positions which were less exceptionable, as that the natives
of Africa generally became slaves in consequence of having been made
prisoners in just wars, or in consequence of their various crimes. They
then gave a melancholy picture of the despotism and barbarity of some of
the African princes, among whom the custom of sacrificing their own
subjects prevailed. But, of all others, that which was afforded by Mr.
Norris on this ground was the most frightful. The King of Dahomey, he
said, sported with the lives of his people in the most wanton manner. He
had seen at the gates of his palace two piles of heads, like those of
shot in an arsenal. Within the palace, the heads of persons, newly put
to death, were strewed at the distance of a few yards in the passage,
which led to his apartment. This custom of human sacrifice by the King
of Dahomey was not on one occasion only, but on many; such as on the
reception of messengers from neighbouring states, or of white merchants,
or on days of ceremonial. But the great carnage was once a year, when
the poll-tax was paid by his subjects. A thousand persons, at least,
were sacrificed annually on these different occasions. The great men,
too, of the country, cut off a few heads on festival-days. From all
these particulars the humanity of the Slave Trade was inferred, because
it took away the inhabitants of Africa into lands where no such
barbarities were known. But the humanity of it was insisted upon by
positive circumstances also; namely, that a great number of the slaves
were prisoners of war, and that in former times all such were put to
death, whereas now they were saved: so that there was a great accession
of happiness to Africa since the introduction of the trade.
These statements, and those of others on the same side of the question,
had a great effect, as may easily be conceived, upon the feelings of
those of the council who were present. Some of them began immediately to
be prejudiced against us. There were others who even thought that it was
almost unnecessary to proceed in the inquiry, for that the trade was
actually a blessing. They had little doubt that all our assertions
concerning it would be found false. The Bishop of London himself was so
impressed by these unexpected accounts, that he asked me if
Falconbridge, whose pamphlet had been previously sent by the committee
to every member of the council, was worthy of belief, and if he would
substantiate publicly what he had thus written: but these impressions
unfortunately were not confined to those who had been present at the
examinations. These could not help communicating them to others. Hence,
in all the higher circles (some of which I sometimes used to frequent) I
had the mortification to hear of nothing but the Liverpool evidence, and
of our own credulity, and of the impositions which had been practised
upon us: of these reports the planters and merchants did not fail to
avail themselves. They boasted that they would soon do away all the idle
tales which had been invented against them. They desired the public only
to suspend their judgment till the privy council report should be out,
when they would see the folly and wickedness of all our allegations. A
little more evidence, and all would be over. On the 22nd of March,
though the committee council had not then held its sittings more than a
month, and these only twice or thrice a week, the following paragraph
was seen in a morning paper:--"The report of the committee of privy
council will be ready in a few days. After due examination it appears
that the major part of the complaints against this trade are
ill-founded. Some regulations, however, are expected to take place,
which may serve in a certain degree to appease the cause of humanity."