The History of the Rise, Progress and Accomplishment of the Abolition - Thomas Clarkson
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Having advanced thus far in his investigation, he felt, he said, the
wickedness of the Slave Trade to be so enormous, so dreadful, and
irremediable, that he could stop at no alternative short of its
abolition, A trade founded on iniquity, and carried on with such
circumstances of horror, must be abolished, let the policy of it be what
it might; and he had from this time determined, whatever were the
consequences, that he would never rest till he had effected that
abolition. His mind had, indeed, been harassed by the objections of the
West India planters, who had asserted, that the ruin of their property
must be the consequence of such a measure. He could not help, however,
distrusting their arguments. He could not believe that the Almighty
Being, who had forbidden the practice of rapine and bloodshed, had made
rapine and bloodshed necessary to any part of his universe. He felt a
confidence in this persuasion, and took the resolution to act upon it.
Light, indeed, soon broke in upon him. The suspicion of his mind was
every day confirmed by increasing information, and the evidence he had
now to offer upon this point was decisive and complete. The principle
upon which he founded the necessity of the abolition was not policy, but
justice: but though justice were the principle of the measure, yet he
trusted he should distinctly prove it to be reconcilable with our truest
political interest.
In the first place, he asserted that the number of the slaves in our
West India islands might be kept up without the introduction of recruits
from Africa; and to prove this, he would enumerate the different sources
of their mortality. The first was the disproportion of the sexes, there
being, upon an average, about five males imported to three females: but
this evil, when the Slave Trade was abolished, would cure itself. The
second consisted in the bad condition in which they were brought to the
islands, and the methods of preparing them for sale. They arrived
frequently in a sickly and disordered state, and then they were made up
for the market by the application of astringents, washes, mercurial
ointments, and repelling drugs, so that their wounds and diseases might
be hid. These artifices were not only fraudulent but fatal; but these,
it was obvious, would of themselves fall with the trade. A third was,
excessive labour joined with improper food; and a fourth was, the
extreme dissoluteness of their manners. These, also, would both of them
be counteracted by the impossibility of getting further supplies: for
owners, now unable to replace those slaves whom they might lose, by
speedy purchases in the markets, would be more careful how they treated
them in future, and a better treatment would be productive of better
morals. And here he would just advert to an argument used against those
who complained of cruelty in our islands, which was, that it was the
interest of masters to treat their slaves with humanity: but surely it
was immediate and present, not future and distant interest, which was
the great spring of action in the affairs of mankind. Why did we make
laws to punish men? It was their interest to be upright and virtuous:
but there was a present impulse continually breaking in upon their
better judgment, and an impulse, which was known to be contrary to their
permanent advantage. It was ridiculous to say that men would be bound by
their interest, when gain or ardent passion urged them. It might as well
be asserted, that a stone could not be thrown into the air, or a body
move from place to place, because the principle of gravitation bound
them to the surface of the earth. If a planter in the West Indies found
himself reduced in his profits, he did not usually dispose of any part
of his slaves; and his own gratifications were never given up, so long
as there was a possibility of making any retrenchment in the allowance
of his slaves.--But to return to the subject which he had left: he was
happy to state, that as all the causes of the decrease which he had
stated might be remedied, so, by the progress of light and reformation,
these remedies had been gradually coming into practice; and that, as
these had increased, the decrease of slaves had in an equal proportion
been lessened. By the gradual adoption of these remedies, he could prove
from the report on the table, that the decrease of slaves in Jamaica had
lessened to such a degree, that from the year 1774 to the present it was
not quite one in a hundred, and that, in fact, they were at present in a
state of increase; for that the births in that island, at this moment,
exceeded the deaths by one thousand or eleven hundred per annum.
Barbados, Nevis, Antigua, and the Bermudas, were, like Jamaica,
lessening their decrease, and holding forth an evident and reasonable
expectation of a speedy state of increase by natural population. But
allowing the number of Negroes even to decrease for a time, there were
methods which would insure the welfare of the West India islands. The
lands there might be cultivated by fewer hands, and this to greater
advantage to the proprietors and to this country, by the produce of
cinnamon, coffee, and cotton, than by that of sugar. The produce of the
plantations might also be considerably increased, even in the case of
sugar, with less hands than were at present employed, if the owners of
them would but introduce machines of husbandry. Mr. Long himself, long
resident as a planter, had proved, upon his own estate, that the plough,
though so little used in the West Indies, did the service of a hundred
slaves, and caused the same ground to produce three hogsheads of sugar,
which, when cultivated by slaves, would only produce two. The division
of work, which, in free and civilized countries, was the grand source of
wealth, and the reduction of the number of domestic servants, of whom
not less than from twenty to forty were kept in ordinary families,
afforded other resources for this purpose. But, granting that all these
suppositions should be unfounded, and that everyone of these substitutes
should fail for a time, the planters would be indemnified, as is the
case in all transactions of commerce, by the increased price of their
produce in the British market. Thus, by contending against the
abolition, they were defeated in every part of the argument. But he
would never give up the point, that the number of the slaves could be
kept up, by natural population, and without any dependence whatever on
the Slave Trade. He therefore called upon the house again to abolish it
as a criminal waste of life--it was utterly unnecessary--he had proved
it so by documents contained in the report. The merchants of Liverpool,
indeed, had thought otherwise, but he should be cautious how he assented
to their opinions. They declared last year that it was a losing trade at
two slaves to a ton, and yet they pursued it when restricted to five
slaves to three tons. He believed, however, that it was upon the whole a
losing concern; in the same manner as the lottery would be a losing
adventure to any company who should buy all the tickets. Here and there
an individual gained a large prize, but the majority of adventurers
gained nothing. The same merchants, too, had asserted, that the town of
Liverpool would be mined by the abolition. But Liverpool did not depend
for its consequence upon the Slave Trade. The whole export-tonnage from
that place amounted to no less than 170,000 tons; whereas the export
part of it to Africa amounted only to 13,000. Liverpool, he was sure,
owed its greatness to other and very different causes; the Slave Trade
bearing but a small proportion to its other trade.
Having gone through that part of the subject which related to the
slaves, he would now answer two objections which he had frequently heard
stated. The first of these was, that the abolition of the Slave Trade
would operate to the total ruin of our navy, and to the increase of that
of our rivals. For an answer to these assertions, he referred to what he
considered to be the most valuable part of the report, and for which the
House and the country were indebted to the indefatigable exertions of
Mr. Clarkson. By the report it appeared, that, instead of the Slave
Trade being a nursery for British seamen, it was their grave. It
appeared that more seamen died in that trade in one year than in the
whole remaining trade of the country in two. Out of 910 sailors in it,
216 died in the year, while upon a fair average of the same number of
men employed in the trades to the East and West Indies, Petersburgh,
Newfoundland, and Greenland, no more than eighty-seven died. It appeared
also, that out of 3170, who had left Liverpool in the slave-ships in the
year 1787, only 1428 had returned. And here, while he lamented the loss
which the country thus annually sustained in her seamen, he had
additionally to lament the barbarous usage which they experienced, and
which this trade, by its natural tendency to harden the heart,
exclusively produced. He would just read an extract of a letter from
Governor Parrey, of Barbados, to Lord Sydney, one of the secretaries of
state. The Governor declared he could no longer contain himself on
account of the ill treatment, which the British sailors endured at the
hands of their savage captains. These were obliged to have their vessels
strongly manned, not only on account of the unhealthiness of the climate
of Africa, but of the necessity of guarding the slaves, and preventing
and suppressing insurrections; and when they arrived in the West Indies,
and were out of all danger from the latter, they quarrelled with their
men on the most frivolous pretences, on purpose to discharge them, and
thus save the payment of supernumerary wages home. Thus many were left
in a diseased and deplorable state; either to perish by sickness, or to
enter into foreign service; great numbers of whom were for ever lost to
their country. The Governor concluded by declaring, that the enormities
attendant on this trade were so great, as to demand the immediate
interference of the legislature.
The next objection to the abolition was, that if we were to relinquish
the Slave Trade, our rivals, the French, would take it up; so that,
while we should suffer by the measure, the evil would still go on, and
this even to its former extent. This was, indeed, a very weak argument;
and, if it would defend the continuance of the Slave Trade, might
equally be urged in favour of robbery, murder, and every species of
wickedness, which, if we did not practise, others would commit. But
suppose, for the sake of argument, that they were to take it up, what
good would it do them? What advantages, for instance, would they derive
from this pestilential commerce to their marine? Should not we, on the
other hand, be benefited by this change? Would they not be obliged to
come to us, in consequence of the cheapness of our manufactures, for
what they wanted for the African market? But he would not calumniate the
French nation so much as to suppose that they would carry on the trade,
if we were to relinquish it. He believed, on the other hand, that they
would abolish it also. Mr. Necker, the minister of France, was a man of
religious principle; and, in his work upon the administration of the
finances, had recorded his abhorrence of this trade. He was happy also
to relate an anecdote of the king of France, which proved that he was a
friend to the abolition; for, being petitioned to dissolve a society,
formed at Paris, for the annihilation of the Slave Trade, his majesty
answered, that he would not, and was happy to hear that so humane an
association was formed in his dominions. And here, having mentioned the
society in Paris, he could not help paying a due compliment to that
established in London for the same purpose, which had laboured with the
greatest assiduity to make this important subject understood, and which
had conducted itself with so much judgment and moderation as to have
interested men of all religions, and to have united them in their cause.
There was another topic which he would submit to the notice of the
House, before he concluded. They were perhaps not aware that a fair and
honourable trade might be substituted in the natural productions of
Africa, so that our connexion with that continent in the way of
commercial advantage need not be lost. The natives had already made some
advances in it; and if they had not appeared so forward in raising and
collecting their own produce for sale as in some other countries, it was
to be imputed to the Slave Trade: but remove the cause, and Africa would
soon emerge from her present ignorant and indolent state. Civilization
would go on with her as well as with other nations. Europe, three or
four centuries ago, was in many parts as barbarous as Africa at present,
and chargeable with as bad practices. For what would be said, if, so
late as the middle of the thirteenth century, he could find a parallel
there for the Slave Trade?--Yes. This parallel was to be found even in
England. The people of Bristol, in the reign of Henry the Seventh, had a
regular market for children, which were bought by the Irish: but the
latter having experienced a general calamity, which they imputed as a
judgment from Heaven on account of this wicked traffic, abolished it.
The only thing, therefore, which he had to solicit of the House, was to
show that they were now as enlightened as the Irish were four centuries
back, by refusing to buy the children of other nations. He hoped they
would do it. He hoped, too, they would do it in an unqualified manner.
Nothing less than a total abolition of the trade would do away the evils
complained of. The legislature of Jamaica, indeed, had thought that
regulations might answer the purpose. Their report had recommended, that
no person should be kidnapped, or permitted to be made a slave, contrary
to the customs of Africa. But might he not be reduced to this state very
unjustly, and yet by no means contrary to the African laws? Besides, how
could we distinguish between those who were justly or unjustly reduced
to it? Could we discover them by their physiognomy?--But if we could,
who would believe that the British captains would be influenced by any
regulations; made in this country, to refuse to purchase those who had
not been fairly, honestly? and uprightly enslaved? They who were offered
to us for sale, were brought, some of them, three or four thousand
miles, and exchanged like cattle from one hand to another, till they
reached the coast. But who could return these to their homes, or make
them compensation for their sufferings during their long journeyings? He
would now conclude by begging pardon of the House for having detained
them so long. He could indeed have expressed his own conviction in fewer
words. He needed only to have made one or two short statements, and to
have quoted the commandment, "Thou shalt do no murder." But he thought
it his duty to lay the whole of the case, and the whole of its guilt,
before them. They would see now that no mitigations, no palliatives,
would either be efficient or admissible. Nothing short of an absolute
abolition could be adopted. This they owed to Africa: they owed it, too,
to their own moral characters. And he hoped they would follow up the
principle of one of the repentant African captains, who had gone before
the committee of privy council as a voluntary witness, and that they
would make Africa all the atonement in their power for the multifarious
injuries she had received at the hands of British subjects. With respect
to these injuries, their enormity and extent, it might be alleged in
their excuse, that they were not fully acquainted with them till that
moment, and therefore not answerable for their former existence: but now
they could no longer plead ignorance concerning them. They had seen them
brought directly before their eyes, and they must decide for themselves,
and must justify to the world and their own consciences the facts and
principles upon which their decision was formed.
Mr. Wilberforce having concluded his speech, which lasted three hours
and a half, read, and laid on the table of the House, as subjects for
their future discussion, twelve propositions which he had deduced from
the evidence contained in the privy council report, and of which the
following is the abridged substance:--
1. That the number of slaves annually carried from the coast of Africa,
in British vessels, was about 38,000, of which, on an average, 22,500
were carried to the British islands, and that of the latter only 17,500
were retained there.
2. That these slaves, according to the evidence on the table, consisted,
first, of prisoners of war; secondly, of free persons sold for debt, or
on account of real or imputed crimes, particularly adultery and
witchcraft; in which cases they were frequently sold with their whole
families, and sometimes for the profit of those by whom they were
condemned; thirdly, of domestic slaves sold for the profit of their
masters, in some places at the will of the masters, and in others, on
being condemned by them for real or imputed crimes; fourthly, of persons
made slaves by various acts of oppression, violence, or fraud, committed
either by the princes and chiefs of those countries on their subjects,
or by private individuals on each other; or, lastly, by Europeans
engaged in this traffic.
3. That the trade so carried on, had necessarily a tendency to occasion
frequent and cruel wars among the natives; to produce unjust convictions
and punishments for pretended or aggravated crimes; to encourage acts of
oppression, violence, and fraud, and to obstruct the natural course of
civilization and improvement in those countries!
4. That Africa in its present state furnished several valuable articles
of commerce, which were partly peculiar to itself, but that it was
adapted to the production of others, with which we were now either
wholly or in great part supplied by foreign nations. That an extensive
commerce with Africa might be substituted in these commodities, so as to
afford a return for as many articles as had annually been carried
thither in British vessels: and, lastly, that such a commerce might
reasonably be expected to increase, by the progress of civilization
there.
5. That the Slave Trade was peculiarly destructive to the seamen
employed in it; and that the mortality there had been much greater than
in any British vessels employed upon the same coast in any other service
or trade.
6. That the mode of transporting the slaves from Africa to the West
Indies necessarily exposed them to many and grievous sufferings, for
which no regulations could provide an adequate remedy; and that in
consequence thereof a large proportion had annually perished during the
voyage.
7. That a large proportion had also perished in the harbours in the West
Indies, from the diseases contracted in the voyage, and the treatment of
the same, previously to their being sold; and that this loss amounted to
four and a half percent of the imported slaves.
8. That the loss of the newly-imported slaves, within the three first
years after their importation, bore a large proportion to the whole
number imported.
9. That the natural increase of population among the slaves in the
islands appeared to have been impeded principally by the following
causes:--First, by the inequality of the sexes in the importations from
Africa. Secondly, by the general dissoluteness of manners among the
slaves, and the want of proper regulations for the encouragement of
marriages, and of rearing children among them. Thirdly, by the
particular diseases which were prevalent among them, and which were, in
some instances, to be attributed to too severe labour, or rigorous
treatment; and in others to insufficient or improper food. Fourthly, by
those diseases, which affected a large proportion of negro-children in
their infancy, and by those to which the negroes, newly imported from
Africa, had been found to be particularly liable.
10. That the whole number of the slaves in the island of Jamaica, in
1768, was about 167,000, in 1774, about 193,000, and in 1787, about
256,000: that by comparing these numbers with the numbers imported and
retained in the said island during all these years, and making proper
allowances, the annual excess of deaths above births was in the
proportion of about seven-eighths per cent.; that in the first six years
of this period it was in the proportion of rather more than one on every
hundred; that in the last thirteen years of the same it was in the
proportion of about three-fifths on every hundred; and that a number of
slaves, amounting to fifteen thousand, perished during the latter
period, in consequence of repeated hurricanes, and of the want of
foreign supplies of provisions.
11. That the whole number of slaves in the island of Barbados was, in
the year, 1764, about 70,706; in 1774, about 74,874; in 1780, about
68,270; in 1781, after the hurricane, about 63,248, and in 1786, about
62,115; that, by comparing these numbers with the number imported into
this island, (not allowing for any re-exportation,) the annual excess of
deaths above births in the ten years, from 1764 to 1774, was in, the
proportion of about five on every hundred; that in the seven years, from
1774 to 1780, it was in the proportion of about one and one-third on
every hundred; that between the years 1780 and 1781 there had been a
decrease in the number of slaves, of about 5000; that in the six years,
from 1781 to 1786, the excess of deaths was in the proportion of rather
less than seven-eighths on every hundred; that in the four years, from,
1783 to 1786, it was in the proportion of rather less than one-third on
every hundred; and that during the whole period, there was no doubt that
some had been exported from the island, but considerably more in the
first part of this period than in the last.
12. That the accounts from the Leeward Islands, and from Dominica,
Grenada, and St. Vincent's, did not furnish sufficient grounds for
comparing the state of population in the said islands, at different
periods, with the number of slaves, which had been from time to time
imported there, and exported therefrom; but that from the evidence which
had been received, respecting the present state of these islands, as
well as that of Jamaica and Barbados, and from a consideration of the
means of obviating the causes, which had hitherto operated to impede the
natural increase of the slaves, and of lessening the demand for manual
labour, without diminishing the profit of the planters, no considerable
or permanent inconvenience would result from discontinuing the further
importation of African slaves.
These propositions having been laid upon the table of the House, Lord
Penrhyn rose in behalf of the planters; and next, after him, Mr.
Gascoyne, (both members for Liverpool,) in behalf of the merchants
concerned in the latter place. They both predicted the ruin and misery
which would inevitably follow the abolition of the trade. The former
said, that no less than seventy millions were mortgaged upon lands in
the West Indies, all of which would be lost. Mr. Wilberforce, therefore,
should have made a motion to pledge the House to the repayment of this
sum, before he had brought forward his propositions. Compensation ought
to have been agreed upon as a previous necessary measure. The latter
said, that in consequence of the bill of last year, many ships were laid
up, and many seamen out of employ. His constituents had large capitals
engaged in the trade, and, if it were to be wholly done away, they would
suffer from not knowing where to employ them: they both joined in
asserting, that Mr. Wilberforce had made so many misrepresentations in
all the branches of this subject, that no reliance whatever was to be
placed on the picture, which he had chosen to exhibit. They should
speak, however, more fully to this point when the propositions were
discussed.
The latter declaration called up Mr. Wilberforce again, who observed
that he had no intention of misrepresenting any fact: he did not know
that he had done it in any one instance; but, if he had, it would be
easy to convict him out of the report upon the table.
Mr. Burke then rose. He would not, he said, detain the committee long:
indeed, he was not able, weary and indisposed as he then felt himself,
even if he had an inclination to do it; but as on account of his other
parliamentary duty, he might not have it in his power to attend the
business now before them in its course, he would take that opportunity
of stating his opinion upon it.
And, first, the House, the nation, and all Europe were under great
obligations to Mr. Wilberforce for having brought this important subject
forward. He had done it in a manner the most masterly, impressive, and
eloquent. He had laid down his principles so admirably, and with so much
order and force, that his speech had equalled anything he had ever heard
in modern oratory, and perhaps it had not been excelled by anything to
be found in ancient times. As to the Slave Trade itself, there could not
be two opinions about it, where men were not interested. A trade begun
in savage war, prosecuted with unheard-of barbarity, continued during
the transportation with the most loathsome imprisonment, and ending in
perpetual exile and slavery, was a trade so horrid in all in
circumstances, that it; was impossible to produce a single argument in
its favour. On the ground of prudence, nothing could be said in defence
of it, nor could it be justified by necessity. It was necessity alone
that could be brought to justify inhumanity; but no case of necessity
could be made out strong enough to justify this monstrous traffic. It
was therefore the duty of the House to put an end to it, and this
without further delay. This conviction, that it became them to do it
immediately, made him regret (and it was the only thing he regretted in
the admirable speech he had heard) that his honourable friend should
have introduced propositions on this subject. He could have wished that
the business had been brought to a conclusion at once, without voting
the propositions which had been read to them. He was not over fond of
abstract propositions; they were seldom necessary, and often occasioned
great difficulty, embarrassment, and delay. There was, besides, no
occasion whatever to assign detailed reasons for a vote, which nature
herself dictated, and which religion enforced. If it should happen that
the propositions were not carried in that House or the other, such a
complication of mischiefs might follow, as might occasion them heartily
to lament that they were ever introduced. If the ultimate resolution
should happen to be lost, he was afraid the propositions would pass as
waste paper, if not be injurious to the cause at a future time.