The History of the Rise, Progress and Accomplishment of the Abolition - Thomas Clarkson
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Mr. Burgess complimented the worthy baronet on the honour he had done
himself on this occasion, and congratulated the house on the good, which
they were likely to do by acceding, as he was sure they would, to his
proposition.
Mr. Joliffe rose, and said that the motion in question should have his
strenuous support.
Mr. Gascoyne stated, that having understood from the honourable baronet
that he meant only to remedy the evils, which were stated to exist in
transporting the inhabitants of Africa to the West Indies, he had told
them that he would not object to the introduction of such a bill. Should
it however interfere with the general question, the discussion of which
had been prohibited, he would then oppose it. He must also reserve
another case for his opposition; and this would be, if the evils of
which it took cognizance should appear not to have been well founded. He
had written to his constituents to be made acquainted with this
circumstance, and he must be guided by them on the subject.
Mr. Martin was surprised how any person could give an opposition to such
a bill. Whatever were the merits of the great question, all would allow,
that if human beings were to be transported across the ocean, they
should be carried over with as little suffering as possible to
themselves.
Mr. Hamilton deprecated the subdivision of this great and important
question, which the house had reserved for another session. Every
endeavour to meddle with one part of it, before the whole of it could be
taken into consideration, looked rather as if it came from an enemy than
from a friend. He was fearful that such a bill as this would sanction a
traffic, which should never be viewed but in a hostile light, or as
repugnant to the feelings of our nature, and to the voice of our
religion.
Lord Frederic Campbell was convinced that the postponing of all
consideration of the subject till the next session was a wise measure.
He was sure that neither the house nor the public were in a temper
sufficiently cool to discuss it properly. There was a general warmth of
feeling, or an enthusiasm about it, which ran away with the
understandings of men, and disqualified them from judging soberly
concerning it. He wished, therefore, that the present motion might be
deferred.
Mr. William Smith said, that if the motion of the honourable Baronet had
trespassed upon the great question reserved for consideration, he would
have opposed it himself; but he conceived the subject which it
comprehended might with propriety be separately considered; and if it
were likely that a hundred, but much more a thousand, lives would be
saved by this bill, it was the duty of that house to adopt it without
delay.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer, though he meant still to conceal his
opinion as to the general merits of the question, could not be silent,
here. He was of opinion that he could very consistently give this motion
his support. There was a possibility (and a bare possibility was a
sufficient ground with him) that in consequence of the resolution lately
come to by the house, and the temper then manifested in it, those
persons who were concerned in the Slave Trade might put the natives of
Africa in a worse situation, during their transportation to the
colonies, even than they were in before, by cramming additional numbers
on board their vessels, in order to convey as many as possible to the
West Indies before parliament ultimately decided on the subject. The
possibility, therefore, that such a consequence might grow out of their
late resolution during the intervening months between the end of the
present and the commencement of the next session, was a good and
sufficient parliamentary ground for them to provide immediate means to
prevent the existence of such an evil. He considered this as an act of
indispensable duty, and on that ground the bill should have his support.
Soon after this the question was put, and leave was given for the
introduction of the bill.
An account of these proceedings of the house having been sent to the
merchants of Liverpool, they held a meeting, and came to resolutions on
the subject. They determined to oppose the bill in every stage in which
it should be brought forward, and, what was extraordinary, even the
principle of it. Accordingly, between the 21st of May and the 2nd of
June, on which latter day the bill having been previously read a second
time was to be committed, petitions from interested persons had been
brought against it, and consent had been obtained, that both council and
evidence should be heard.
The order of the day having been read on the 2nd of June for the house
to resolve itself into a committee of the whole house, a discussion took
place relative to the manner in which the business was to be conducted.
This being over, the counsel began their observations; and, as soon as
they had finished, evidence was called to the bar in behalf of the
petitions which had been delivered.
From the 2nd of June to the 17th the house continued to hear the
evidence at intervals, but the members for Liverpool took every
opportunity of occasioning delay. They had recourse twice to counting
out the house; and at another time, though complaint had been made of
their attempts to procrastinate, they opposed the resuming of their own
evidence with the same view; and this merely for the frivolous reason,
that, though there was then a suitable opportunity, notice had not been
previously given. But in this proceeding, other members feeling
indignant at their conduct, they were overruled.
The witnesses brought by the Liverpool merchants against this humane
bill were the same as they had before sent for examination to the privy
council, namely, Mr. Norris, Lieutenant Matthews, and others. On the
other side of the question it was not deemed expedient to bring any. It
was soon perceived that it would be possible to refute the former out of
their own mouths, and to do this seemed more eligible than to proceed in
the other way. Mr. Pitt, however, took care to send Captain Parrey, of
the Royal Navy, to Liverpool, that he might take the tonnage and
internal dimensions of several slave-vessels, which were then there,
supposing that these, when known, would enable the house to detect any
misrepresentations, which the delegates from that town might be disposed
to make upon this subject.
It was the object of the witnesses, when examined, to prove two things:
first, that regulations were unnecessary, because the present mode of
the transportation was sufficiently convenient for the objects of it,
and was well adapted to preserve their comfort and their health. They
had sufficient room, sufficient air, and sufficient provisions. When
upon deck, they made merry and amused themselves with dancing. As to the
mortality, or the loss of them by death in the course of their passage,
it was trifling. In short, the voyage from Africa to the West Indies
"was one of the happiest periods of a Negro's life."
Secondly, that if the merchants were hindered from taking less that two
full sized, or three smaller Africans, to a ton, then the restrictions
would operate not as the regulation, but as the utter ruin of the trade.
Hence the present bill, under the specious mask of a temporary
interference, sought nothing less than its abolition.
These assertions having been severally made, by the former of which it
was insinuated that the African, unhappy in his own country, found in
the middle passage, under the care of the merchants, little less than an
Elysian retreat, it was now proper to institute a severe inquiry into
the truth of them. Mr. Pitt, Sir Charles Middleton, Mr. William Smith,
and Mr. Beaufoy, took a conspicuous part on this occasion, but
particularly the two latter, to whom much praise was due for the
constant attention they bestowed upon this subject. Question after
question was put by these to the witnesses; and from their own mouths
they dragged out, by means of a cross-examination as severe as could be
well instituted, the following melancholy account:--
Every slave, whatever his size might be, was found to have only five
feet and six inches in length, and sixteen inches in breadth, to lie in.
The floor was covered with bodies stowed or packed according to this
allowance: but between the floor and the deck or ceiling were often
platforms or broad shelves in the mid-way, which were covered with
bodies also. The height from the floor to the ceiling, within which
space the bodies on the floor and those on the platforms lay, seldom
exceeded five feet eight inches, and in some cases it did not exceed
four feet.
The men were chained two and two together by their hands and feet, and
were chained also by means of ring-bolts, which were fastened to the
deck. They were confined in this manner at least all the time they
remained upon the coast, which was from six weeks to six months as it
might happen.
Their allowance consisted of one pint of water a day to each person, and
they were fed twice a day with yams and horsebeans.
After meals they jumped up in their irons for exercise. This was so
necessary for their health, that they were whipped if they refused to do
it; and this jumping had been termed dancing.
They were usually fifteen and sixteen hours below deck out of the
twenty-four. In rainy weather they could not be brought up for two or
three days together. If the ship was full, their situation was then
distressing. They sometimes drew their breath with anxious and laborious
efforts, and some died of suffocation.
With respect to their health in these voyages, the mortality, where the
African constitution was the strongest, or on the windward coast, was
only about five in a hundred. In thirty-five voyages, an account of
which was produced, about six in a hundred was the average number lost.
But this loss was still greater at Calabar and Bonny, which were the
greatest markets for slaves. This loss, too, did not include those who
died, either while the vessels were lying upon the Coast, or after their
arrival in the West Indies, of the disorders which they had contracted
upon the voyage. Three and four in a hundred had been known to die in
this latter case.
But besides these facts, which were forced out of the witnesses by means
of the cross-examination which took place, they were detected in various
falsehoods.
They had asserted that the ships in this trade were peculiarly
constructed, or differently from others, in order that they might carry
a great number of persons with convenience; whereas Captain Parrey
asserted, that out of the twenty-six, which he had seen, ten only had
been built expressly for this employ.
They had stated the average height between decks at about five feet and
four inches. But Captain Parrey showed, that out of the nine he
measured, the height in four of the smallest was only four feet eight
inches, and the average height in all of them was but five feet two.
They had asserted that vessels under two hundred tons had no platforms.
But by his account the four just mentioned were of this tonnage, and yet
all of them had platforms either wholly or in part.
On other points they were found both to contradict themselves and one
another. They had asserted, as before mentioned, that if they were
restricted to less than two full-grown slaves to a ton, the trade would
be ruined. But in examining into the particulars of nineteen vessels,
which they produced themselves, five of them only had cargoes equal to
the proportion which they stated to be necessary to the existence of the
trade. The other fourteen carried a less number of slaves (and they
might have taken more on board if they had pleased); so that the average
number in the nineteen was but one man and four-fifths to a ton, or ten
in a hundred below their lowest standard[A]. One again said, that no
inconvenience arose in consequence of the narrow space allowed to each
individual in these voyages. Another said, that smaller vessels were
more healthy than larger, because, among other reasons, they had a less
proportion of slaves as to number on board.
[Footnote A: The falsehood of their statements in this respect was
proved again afterwards by facts. For, after the regulation had taken
place, they lost fewer slaves and made greater profits.]
They were found also guilty of a wilful concealment of such facts, as
they knew, if communicated, would have invalidated their own testimony.
I was instrumental in detecting them on one of these occasions myself.
When Mr. Dalzell was examined, he was not wholly unknown to me; my
Liverpool muster-rolls told me that he had lost fifteen seamen out of
forty in his last voyage. This was a sufficient ground to go upon; for
generally, where the mortality of the seamen has been great, it may be
laid down that the mortality of the slaves has been considerable also. I
waited patiently till his evidence was nearly closed, but he had then
made no unfavourable statements to the house. I desired, therefore, that
a question might be put to him, and in such a manner, that he might know
that they, who put it, had got a clue to his secrets. He became
immediately embarrassed; his voice faltered; he confessed with trembling
that he had lost a third of his sailors in his last voyage. Pressed hard
immediately by other questions, he then acknowledged that he had lost
one hundred and twenty, or a third of his slaves, also. But would he say
that these were all he had lost in that voyage? No; twelve others had
perished by an accident, for they were drowned. But were no others lost
beside the one hundred and twenty and the twelve? None, he said, upon
the voyage, but between twenty and thirty before he left the Coast. Thus
this champion of the merchants, this advocate for the health and
happiness of slaves in the middle passage, lost nearly a hundred and
sixty of the unhappy persons committed to his superior care, in a single
voyage!
The evidence, on which I have now commented, having been delivered, the
counsel summed up on the 17th of June, when the committee proceeded to
fill up the blanks in the bill. Mr. Pitt moved that the operation of it
be retrospective, and that it commence from the 10th instant. This was
violently opposed by Lord Penrhyn, Mr. Gascoyne, and Mr. Brickdale, but
was at length acceded to.
Sir William Dolben then proposed to apportion five men to every three
tons in every ship under one hundred and fifty tons burden, which had
the space of five feet between the decks, and three men to two tons in
every vessel beyond one hundred and fifty tons burden, which had equal
accommodation in point of height between the decks. This occasioned a
very warm dispute, which was not settled for some time, and which gave
rise to some beautiful and interesting speeches on the subject.
Mr. William Smith pointed out in the clearest manner many of the
contradictions, which I have just stated in commenting upon the
evidence; indeed he had been a principal means of detecting them. He
proved how little worthy of belief the witnesses had shown themselves,
and how necessary they had made the present bill by their own
confession. The worthy baronet, indeed, had been too indulgent to the
merchants, in the proportion he had fixed of the number of persons to be
carried to the tonnage of their vessels. He then took a feeling view of
what would be the wretched state of the poor Africans on board, even if
the bill passed as it now stood; and conjured the house, if they would
not allow them more room, at least not to infringe upon that which had
been proposed.
Lord Belgrave (afterwards Grosvenor) animadverted with great ability
upon the cruelties of the trade, which he said had been fully proved at
the bar. He took notice of the extraordinary opposition which had been
made to the bill then before them, and which he believed every
gentleman, who had a proper feeling of humanity, would condemn. If the
present mode of carrying on the trade received the countenance of that
house, the poor unfortunate African would have occasion doubly to curse
his fate. He would not only curse the womb that brought him forth, but
the British nation also, whose diabolical avarice had made his cup of
misery still more bitter. He hoped that the members for Liverpool would
urge no further opposition to the bill, but that they would join with
the house in an effort to enlarge the empire of humanity; and that,
while they were stretching out the strong arm of justice to punish the
degraders of British honour and humanity in the East, they would with
equal spirit exert their powers to dispense the blessings of their
protection to those unhappy Africans, who were to serve them in the
West.
Mr. Beaufoy entered minutely into an examination of the information,
which had been given by the witnesses, and which afforded unanswerable
arguments for the passing of the bill. He showed the narrow space which
they themselves had been made to allow for the package of a human body,
and the ingenious measures they were obliged to resort to for stowing
this living cargo within the limits of the ship. He adverted next to the
case of Mr. Dalzell, and showed how one dismal fact after another, each
making against their own testimony, was extorted from him. He then went
to the trifling mortality said to be experienced in these voyages, upon
which subject he spoke in the following words: "Though the witnesses are
some of them interested in the trade, and all of them parties against
the bill, their confession is, that of the negroes of the windward
coast, who are men of the strongest constitution which Africa affords,
no less on an average than five in each hundred perish in the voyage,--a
voyage, it must be remembered but of six weeks. In a twelvemonth, then,
what must be the proportion of the dead? No less than forty-three in a
hundred, which is seventeen times the usual rate of mortality; for all
the estimates of life suppose no more than a fortieth of the people, or
two and a half in the hundred, to die within the space of a year. Such
then is the comparison. In the ordinary course of nature the number of
persons, (including those in age and infancy, the weakest periods of
existence,) who perish in the space of a twelvemonth, is at the rate of
but two and a half in a hundred; but in an African voyage,
notwithstanding the old are excluded and few infants admitted, so that
those who are shipped are in the firmest period of life, the list of
deaths, presents an annual mortality of forty-three in a hundred. It
presents this mortality even in vessels from the windward coast of
Africa; but in those which sail to Bonny, Benin, and the Calabars, from
whence the greatest proportion of the slaves are brought, this mortality
is increased by a variety of causes, (of which the greater length of the
voyage is one,) and is said to be twice as large which supposes that in
every hundred the deaths annually amount to no less than eighty-six. Yet
even the former comparatively low mortality; of which the counsel speaks
with so much satisfaction, as a proof of the kind and compassionate
treatment of the slaves, even this indolent and lethargic destruction
gives to the march of death seventeen times its usual speed. It is a
destruction, which, if general but for ten years, would depopulate the
world, blast the purposes of its creation, and extinguish the human
race."
After having gone with great ability through the other branches of the
subject, he concluded in the following manner:--"Thus I have considered
the various objections which have been stated to the bill, and am
ashamed to reflect that it could be necessary to speak so long in
defence of such a cause; for what, after all, is asked by the proposed
regulations? On the part of the Africans, the whole of their purport is,
that they whom you allow to be robbed of all things but life, may not
unnecessarily and wantonly be deprived of life also. To the honour; to
the wisdom, to the feelings of the house, I now make my appeal,
perfectly confident that you will not tolerate, as senators, a traffic
which, as men, you shudder to contemplate, and that you will not take
upon yourselves the responsibility of this waste of existence. To the
memory of former parliaments the horrors of this traffic will be an
eternal reproach; yet former parliaments have not known, as you on the
clearest evidence now know, the dreadful nature of this trade. Should
you reject this bill, no exertions of yours to rescue from oppression
the suffering inhabitants of your eastern empire; no records of the
prosperous state to which, after a long and unsuccessful war, you have
restored your native land; no proofs; however splendid, that under your
guidance Great Britain has recovered her rank, and is again the
arbitress of nations, will save your names from the stigma of
everlasting dishonour. The broad mantle of this one infamy will cover
with substantial blackness the radiance of your glory, and change to
feelings of abhorrence the present admiration of the world. But pardon
the supposition of so impossible an event. I believe that justice and
mercy may be considered as the attributes of your character, and that
you will not tarnish their lustre on this occasion."
The Chancellor of the Exchequer rose next; and after having made some
important observations on the evidence (which took up much time), he
declared himself most unequivocally in favour of the motion made by the
honourable baronet. He was convinced that the regulation proposed would
not tend to the abolition of the trade; but if it even went so far, he
had no hesitation openly and boldly to declare, that if it could not be
carried on in a manner different from that stated by the members for
Liverpool, he would retract what he had said on a former day against
going into the general question; and, waving every other discussion than
what had that day taken place, he would give his vote for the utter
annihilation of it at once. It was a trade, which it was shocking to
humanity to hear detailed. If it were to be carried, on as proposed by
the petitioners, it would, besides its own intrinsic baseness, be
contrary to every humane and Christian principle, and to every sentiment
that ought to inspire the breast of man; and would reflect the greatest
dishonour on the British senate and the British nation. He, therefore,
hoped that the house, being now in possession of such information as
never hitherto had been brought before them, would in some measure
endeavour to extricate themselves from that guilt, and from that
remorse, which every one of them ought to feel for having suffered such
monstrous cruelties to be practised upon an helpless and unoffending
part of the human race.
Mr. Martin complimented Mr. Pitt in terms of the warmest panegyric on
his noble sentiments, declaring that they reflected the greatest honour
upon him both as an Englishman and as a man.
Soon after this the house divided upon the motion of Sir William Dolben.
Fifty-six appeared to be in favour of it, and only five against it. The
latter consisted of the two members for Liverpool and three other
interested persons. This was the first division which ever took place on
this important subject. The other blanks were then filled up, and the
bill was passed without further delay.
The next day, or on the 18th of June, it was carried up to the House of
Lords. The slave-merchants of London, Liverpool, and Bristol,
immediately presented petitions against it, as they had done in the
lower house. They prayed that counsel might open their case; and though
they had been driven from the Commons on account of their evidence, with
disgrace, they had the effrontery to ask that they might call witnesses
here also.
Counsel and evidence having been respectively heard, the bill was
ordered to be committed the next day. The Lords attended according to
summons. But on a motion by Dr. Warren, the Bishop of Bangor, who stated
that the Lord Chancellor Thurlow was much indisposed, and that he wished
to be present when the question was discussed, the committee was
postponed.
It was generally thought that the reason for this postponement, and
particularly as it was recommended by a prelate, was that the Chancellor
might have an opportunity of forwarding this humane bill. But it was
found to be quite otherwise. It appeared that the motive was, that he
might give to it, by his official appearance as the chief servant of the
crown in that house, all the opposition in his power. For when the day
arrived which had been appointed for the discussion, and when the Lords
Bathurst and Hawkesbury (afterwards Liverpool) had expressed their
opinions, which were different, relative to the time when the bill
should take place, he rose up and pronounced a bitter and vehement
oration against it. He said, among other things, that it was full of
inconsistency and nonsense from the beginning to the end. The French had
lately offered large premiums for the encouragement of this trade. They
were a politic people, and the presumption was, that we were doing
politically wrong by abandoning it. The bill ought not to have been
brought forward in this session. The introduction of it was a direct
violation of the faith of the other house. It was unjust, when an
assurance had been given that the question should not be agitated till
next year, that this sudden fit of philanthropy, which was but a few
days old, should be allowed to disturb the public mind, and to become
the occasion of bringing men to the metropolis with tears in their eyes
and horror in their countenances, to deprecate the ruin of their
property, which they had embarked on the faith of parliament.