The History of the Rise, Progress and Accomplishment of the Abolition - Thomas Clarkson
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That the slaves were exposed to great misery in the islands, was true as
well from inference as from facts: for what might not be expected from
the use of arbitrary power, where the three characters of party, judge,
and executioner were united! The slaves, too, were more capable on
account of their passions, than the beasts in the field, of exciting the
passions of their tyrants. To what a length the ill-treatment of them
might be carried, might be learnt from, the instance which General
Tottenham mentioned to have seen in the year 1780 in the streets of
Bridge Town, Barbados: "A youth about nineteen (to use his own words in
the evidence), entirely naked, with an iron collar about his neck,
having five long projecting spikes. His body both before and behind was
covered with wounds. His belly and thighs were almost cut to pieces,
with running ulcers all over them; and a finger might have been laid in
some of the weals. He could not sit down, because his hinder part was
mortified; and it was impossible for him to lie down, on account of the
prongs of his collar." He supplicated the General for relief. The latter
asked who had punished him so dreadfully? The youth answered, his master
had done it. And because he could not work, this same master, in the
same spirit of perversion, which extorts from Scripture a justification
of the Slave Trade, had fulfilled the apostolic maxim, that he should
have nothing to eat. The use he meant to make of this instance was to
show the unprotected state of the slaves. What must it be, where such an
instance could pass not only unpunished, but almost unregarded! If, in
the streets of London, but a dog were to be seen lacerated like this
miserable man, how would the cruelty of the wretch be execrated, who had
thus even abused a brute!
The judicial punishments also inflicted upon the Negro showed the low
estimation, in which, in consequence of the strength of old customs and
deep-rooted prejudices, they were held. Mr. Edwards, in his speech to
the Assembly at Jamaica, stated the following case, as one which had
happened in one of the rebellions there. Some slaves surrounded the
dwelling-house of their mistress. She was in bed with a lovely infant.
They deliberated upon the means of putting her to death in torment. But
in the end one of them reserved her for his mistress; and they killed
her infant with an axe before her face. "Now," says Mr. Edwards,
(addressing himself to his audience) "you will think that no torments
were too great for such horrible excesses. Nevertheless I am of a
different opinion. I think that death, unaccompanied with cruelty,
should be the utmost exertion of human authority over our unhappy
fellow-creatures." Torments, however, were always inflicted in these
cases. The punishment was gibbeting alive, and exposing the delinquents
to perish by the gradual effects of hunger, thirst, and parching sun; in
which situation they were known to suffer for nine days, with a
fortitude scarcely credible, never uttering a single groan. But horrible
as the excesses might have been, which occasioned these punishments, it
must be remembered, that they were committed by ignorant savages, who
had been dragged from all they held most dear; whose patience had been
exhausted by a cruel and loathsome confinement during their
transportation; and whose resentment had been wound up to the highest
pitch of fury by the lash of the driver.
But he would now mention another instance, by way of contrast, out of
the evidence. A child on board a slave-ship, of about ten months old,
took sulk and would not eat. The captain flogged it with a cat; swearing
that he would make it eat, or kill it. From this and other ill-treatment
the child's legs swelled. He then ordered some water to be made hot to
abate the swelling. But even his tender mercies were cruel; for the
cook, on putting his hand into the water, said it was too hot. Upon this
the captain swore at him, and ordered the feet to be put in. This was
done. The nails and skin came off. Oiled cloths were then put round
them. The child was at length tied to a heavy log. Two or three days
afterwards, the captain caught it up again; and repeated that he would
made it eat, or kill it. He immediately flogged it again, and in a
quarter of an hour it died. But, after the child was dead, whom should
the barbarian select to throw it overboard, but the wretched mother? In
vain she started from the office. He beat her, till he made her take up
the child and carry it to the side of the vessel. She then dropped it
into the sea, turning her head the other way that she might not see it.
Now it would naturally be asked, was not this captain also gibbeted
alive? Alas! although the execrable barbarity of the European exceeded
that of the Africans before mentioned, almost as much as his
opportunities of instruction has been greater than theirs, no notice
whatsoever was taken of this horrible action; and a thousand similar
cruelties had been committed in this abominable trade with equal
impunity: but he would say no more. He would vote for the abolition, not
only as it would do away all the evils complained of in Africa and the
Middle Passage; but as it would be the most effectual means of
ameliorating the condition of those unhappy persons, who were still to
continue slaves in the British colonies.
Mr. Courtenay rose. He said, he could not but consider the assertion of
Sir William Yonge as a mistake, that the Slave Trade, if abandoned by
us, would fall into the hands of France. It ought to be recollected,
with what approbation the motion for abolishing it, made by the late
Mirabeau, had been received; although the situation of the French
colonies might then have presented obstacles to carrying the measure
into immediate execution. He had no doubt, if parliament were to begin,
so wise and enlightened a body as the National Assembly would follow the
example. But even if France were not to relinquish the trade, how could
we, if justice required its abolition, hesitate as to our part of it?
The trade, it had been said, was conducted upon the principles of
humanity. Yes: we rescued the Africans from what we were pleased to call
their wretched situation in their own; country, and then we took credit
for our humanity; because, after having killed one half of them in the
seasoning, we substituted what we were again pleased to call a better
treatment than that which they would have experienced at home.
It had been stated that the principle of war among savages was a general
massacre. This was not true. They frequently adopted the captives into
their own families; and, so far from massacring the women and children,
they often gave them the protection which the weakness of their age and
sex demanded.
There could be no doubt, that the practice of kidnapping; prevailed in
Africa. As to witchcraft, it had been made a crime in the reign of James
the First in this country, for the purpose of informations; and how much
more likely were informations to take place in Africa, under the
encouragement afforded by the Slave Trade! This trade, it had been said,
was sanctioned by twenty-six acts of parliament. He did not doubt but
fifty-six might be found, by which parliament had sanctioned witchcraft
of the existence of which we had now no belief whatever....
It had been said by Mr. Stanley that the pulpit had been used as an
instrument of attack on the Slave Trade. He was happy to learn it had
been so well employed; and he hoped the Bishops would rise up in the
House of Lords, with the virtuous indignation which became them, to
abolish a traffic so contrary to humanity, justice, and religion.
He entreated every member to recollect, that on his vote that night
depended the happiness of millions; and that it was then in his power to
promote a measure, of which the benefits would be felt over one whole
quarter of the globe; that the seeds of civilization might, by the
present bill, be sown all over Africa: and the first principles of
humanity be established in regions where they had hitherto been excluded
by the existence of this execrable trade.
Lord Carysfort rose, and said, that the great cause of the abolition had
flourished by the manner in which it had been opposed. No one argument
of solid weight had been adduced against it. It had been shown, but
never disproved, that the colonial laws were inadequate to the
protection of the slaves; that the punishments of the latter were most
unmerciful; that they were deprived of the right of self-defence against
any White man; and, in short, that the system was totally repugnant to
the principles of the British constitution.
Colonel Phipps followed Lord Carysfort. He denied that this was a
question in which the rights of humanity and the laws of nature were
concerned. The Africans became slaves in consequence of the constitution
of their own governments. These were founded in absolute despotism.
Every subject was an actual slave. The inhabitants were slaves to the
great men, and the great men were slaves to the prince. Prisoners of
war, too, were by law subject to slavery. Such being the case, he saw no
more cruelty in disposing of them to our merchants, than to those of any
other nation. Criminals, also, in cases of adultery and witchcraft,
became slaves by the same laws.
It had been said, that there were no regulations in the West Indies for
the protection of slaves. There were several; though he was ready to
admit that more were necessary; and he would go in this respect as far
as humanity might require. He had passed ten months in Jamaica, where he
had never seen any such acts of cruelty as had been talked of. Those
which he had seen were not exercised by the Whites, but by the Blacks.
The dreadful stories which had been told, ought no more to fix a general
stigma upon the planters, than the story of Mrs. Brownrigg to stamp this
polished metropolis with the general brand of murder. There was once a
haberdasher's wife (Mrs. Nairne) who locked up her apprentice girl, and
starved her to death; but did ever any body think of abolishing
haberdashery on this account? He was persuaded the Negroes in the West
Indies were cheerful and happy. They were fond of ornaments; but it was
not the characteristic of miserable persons to show a taste for finery.
Such a taste, on the contrary, implied a cheerful and contented mind. He
was sorry to differ from his friend Mr. Wilberforce, but he must oppose
his motion.
Mr. Pitt rose, and said, that from the first hour of his having had the
honour to sit in parliament down to the present, among all the
questions, whether political or personal, in which it had been his
fortune to take a share, there had never been one in which his heart was
so deeply interested as in the present; both, on account of the serious
principles it involved, and the consequences connected with it.
The present was not a mere question of feeling. The argument, which
ought, in his opinion, to determine the committee, was, that the Slave
Trade was unjust. It was, therefore, such a trade as it was impossible
for him to support, unless it could be first proved to him, that there
were no laws of morality binding upon nations; and that it was not the
duty of a legislature to restrain its subjects, from invading the
happiness of other countries, and from violating; the fundamental
principles of justice.
Several had stated the impracticability of the measure before them. They
wished to see the trade abolished; but there was some necessity for
continuing it, which they conceived to exist. Nay, almost every, one, he
believed, appeared to wish that the further importation of slaves might
cease, provided, it could be made out that, the population of the West
Indies could be maintained without it. He proposed, therefore, to
consider the latter point; for, as the impracticability of keeping up
the population there appeared to operate as the chief objection, he
trusted that, by showing it to be ill founded, he should clear away all
other obstacles whatever; so that, having no ground either of justice or
necessity to stand upon, there could be no excuse left to the committee
for resisting the present motion.
He might reasonably, however, hope that they would not reckon any small
or temporary disadvantage, which might arise from the abolition, to be a
sufficient reason against it. It was surely not any slight degree of
expediency, nor any small balance of profit, nor any light shades of
probability on the one side, rather than on the other, which would
determine them on this question. He asked pardon even for the
supposition. The Slave Trade was an evil of such magnitude, that there
must be a common wish in the committee at once to put an end to it, if
there were no great and serious obstacles. It was a trade, by which
multitudes of unoffending nations were deprived of the blessings of
civilization, and had their peace and happiness invaded. It ought,
therefore, to be no common expediency, it ought to be nothing less than
the utter ruin of our islands, which it became those to plead, who took
upon them to defend the continuance of it.
He could not help thinking that the West India gentlemen had manifested
an over great degree of sensibility as to the point in question; and
that their alarms had been unreasonably excited upon it. He had examined
the subject carefully for himself: and he would now detail those
reasons, which had induced him firmly to believe, not only that no
permanent mischief would follow from the abolition, but not even any
such temporary inconvenience as could be stated to be a reason for
preventing the House from agreeing to the motion before them; on the
contrary, that the abolition itself would lay the foundation for the
more solid improvement of all the various interests of those colonies.
In doing this he should apply his observations chiefly to Jamaica, which
contained more than half the slaves in the British West Indies; and if
he should succeed in proving that no material detriment could arise to
the population there, this would afford so strong a presumption with
respect to the other islands, that the House could no longer hesitate
whether they should, or should not, put a stop to this most horrid
trade.
In the twenty years ending in 1788, the annual loss of slaves in Jamaica
(that is, the excess of deaths above the births,) appeared to be one in
the hundred. In a preceding period the loss was greater; and, in a
period before that greater still; there having been a continual
gradation in the decrease through the whole time. It might fairly be
concluded, therefore, that (the average logs of the last period being
one per cent.) the loss in the former part of it would be somewhat more,
and in the latter part somewhat less, than one per cent; insomuch that
it might be fairly questioned, whether, by this time, the births and
deaths in Jamaica might not be stated as nearly equal. It was to be
added, that a peculiar calamity, which swept away fifteen thousand
slaves, had occasioned a part of the mortality in the last-mentioned
period. The probable loss, therefore, now to be expected, was very
inconsiderable indeed.
There was, however, one circumstance to be added, which the West India
gentlemen, in stating this matter, had entirely overlooked; and which
was so material, as clearly to reduce the probable diminution in the
population of Jamaica down to nothing. In all the calculations he had
referred to of the comparative number of births and deaths, all the
Negroes in the island were included. The newly imported, who died in the
seasoning, made apart; but these swelled, most materially, the number of
the deaths. Now, as these extraordinary deaths would cease, as soon as
the importation ceased, a deduction of them ought to be made from his
present calculation.
But the number of those, who thus died in the seasoning, would make up
of itself nearly the whole of that one per cent. which had been stated.
He particularly pressed an attention to this circumstance; for the
complaint of being likely to want hands in Jamaica, arose from the
mistake of including the present unnatural deaths, caused by the
seasoning, among the natural and perpetual muses of mortality. These
deaths, being erroneously taken into the calculations, gave the planters
an idea that the numbers could not be kept up. These deaths, which were
caused merely by the Slave Trade, furnished the very ground, therefore,
on which the continuance of that trade had been thought necessary.
The evidence as to this point was clear; for it would be found in that
dreadful catalogue of deaths, arising from the seasoning and the
passage, which the House had been condemned to look into, that one half
died. An annual mortality of two thousand slaves in Jamaica might be
therefore charged to the importation; which, compared with the whole
number on the island, hardly fell short of the whole one per cent.
decrease.
Joining this with all the other considerations, he would then ask, could
the decrease of the slaves in Jamaica be such--could the colonies be so
destitute of means--could the planters, when by their own accounts they
were establishing daily new regulations for the benefit of the
slaves--could they, under all these circumstances, be permitted to plead
that total impossibility of keeping up their number, which they had
rested on, as being indeed the only possible pretext for allowing fresh
importations from Africa? He appealed, therefore, to the sober judgment
of all, whether the situation of Jamaica was such, as to justify a
hesitation in agreeing to the present motion.
It might be observed, also, that, when the importations should stop,
that disproportion between the sexes, which was one of the obstacles to
population, would gradually diminish; and a natural order of things be
established. Through the want of this natural order, a thousand
grievances were created, which it was impossible to define; and which it
was in vain to think that, under such circumstances, we could cure. But
the abolition, of itself, would work this desirable effect. The West
Indians would then feel a near and urgent interest to enter into a
thousand little details, which it was impossible for him to describe,
but which would have the greatest influence on population. A foundation
would thus be laid for the general welfare of the islands; a new system
would rise up, the reverse of the old; and eventually both their general
wealth and happiness would increase.
He had now proved far more than he was bound to do; for, if he could
only show that the abolition would not be ruinous, it would be enough.
He could give up, therefore, three arguments out of four, through the
whole of what he had said, and yet have enough left for his position. As
to the Creoles, they would undoubtedly increase. They differed in this
entirely from the imported slaves, who were both a burthen and a curse
to themselves and others. The measure now proposed would operate like a
charm; and, besides stopping all the miseries in Africa and the passage,
would produce even more benefit in the West Indies than legal
regulations could effect.
He would now just touch upon the question of emancipation. A rash
emancipation of the slaves would be mischievous. In that unhappy
situation, to which our baneful conduct had brought ourselves and them,
it would be no justice on either side to give them liberty. They were as
yet incapable of it; but their situation might be gradually amended.
They might be relieved from everything harsh and severe; raised from
their present degraded state; and put under the protection of the law.
Till then, to talk of emancipation was insanity. But it was the system
of fresh importations, which interfered with these principles of
improvement; and it was only the abolition which could establish them.
This suggestion had its foundation in human nature. Wherever the
incentive of honour, credit, and fair profit appeared, energy would
spring up; and when these labourers should have the natural springs of
human action afforded them, they would then rise to the natural level of
human industry.
From Jamaica he would now go to the other islands. In Barbadoes the
slaves had rather increased. In St. Kitts the decrease for fourteen
years had been but three-fourths per cent.; but here many of the
observations would apply, which he had used in the case of Jamaica. In
Antigua many had died by a particular calamity. But for this, the
decrease would have been trifling. In Nevis and Montserrat there was
little or no disproportion of the sexes; so that it might well be hoped,
that the numbers would be kept up in these islands. In Dominica some
controversy had arisen about the calculation; but Governor Orde had
stated an increase of births above the deaths. From Grenada and St.
Vincent's no accurate accounts had been delivered in answer to the
queries sent them; but they were probably not in circumstances less
favourable than in the other islands.
On a full review, then, of the state of the Negro population in the West
Indies, was there any serious ground of alarm from the abolition of the
Slave Trade? Where was the impracticability, on which alone so many had
rested their objections? Must we not blush at pretending, that it would
distress our consciences to accede to this measure, as far as the
question of the Negro population was concerned?
Intolerable were the mischiefs of this trade, both in its origin, and
through every stage of its progress. To say that slaves could be
furnished us by fair and commercial means was ridiculous. The trade
sometimes ceased, as during the late war. The demand was more or less
according to circumstances. But how was it possible, that to a demand so
exceedingly fluctuating the supply should always exactly accommodate
itself? Alas! We made human beings the subject of commerce; we talked of
them as such; and yet we would not allow them the common principle of
commerce, that the supply must accommodate itself to the consumption. It
was not from wars, then, that the slaves were chiefly procured. They
were obtained in proportion as they were wanted. If a demand for slaves
arose, a supply was forced in one way or other; and it was in vain,
overpowered as we then were with positive evidence, as well as the
reasonableness of the supposition, to deny that by the Slave Trade we
occasioned all the enormities which had been alleged against it.
Sir William Yonge had said, that if we were not to take the Africans
from their country, they would be destroyed. But he had not yet read
that all uncivilized nations destroyed their captives. We assumed,
therefore, what was false. The very selling of them implied this; for,
if they would sell their captives for profit, why should they not employ
them so as to receive a profit also? Nay, many of them, while there was
no demand from the slave merchants, were often actually so employed. The
trade, too, had been suspended during the war; and it was never said, or
thought, that any such consequence had then followed.
The honourable baronet had also said, to justification of the Slave
Trade, that witchcraft commonly implied poison, and was therefore a
punishable crime; but did he recollect that not only the individual
accused, but that his whole family, were sold as slaves? The truth was,
we stopped the natural progress of civilization in Africa. We cut her
off from the opportunity of improvement. We kept her down in a state of
darkness, bondage, ignorance, and bloodshed. Was not this an awful
consideration for this country? Look at the map of Africa, and see how
little useful intercourse had been established on that vast continent!
While other countries were assisting and enlightening each other, Africa
alone had none of these benefits. We had obtained as yet only so much
knowledge of her productions, as to show that there was a capacity for
trade, which we checked. Indeed, if the mischiefs there were out of the
question, the circumstance of the Middle Passage alone would, in his
mind, be reason enough for the abolition. Such a scene as that of the
slave-ships passing over with their wretched cargoes to the West Indies,
if it could be spread before the eyes of the House, would be sufficient
of itself to make them vote in favour of it; but when it could be added,
that the interest even of the West Indies themselves rested on the
accomplishment of this great event, he could not conceive an act of more
imperious duty, than that which was imposed upon the House, of agreeing
to the present motion.
Sir Archibald Edmonstone rose, and asked whether the present motion went
so far as to pledge those who voted for it to a total and immediate
abolition.
Mr. Alderman Watson rose next. He defended the Slave Trade as highly
beneficial to the country, being one material branch of its commerce.
But he could not think of the African trade without connecting it with
the West Indian. The one hung upon the other. A third important branch
also depended upon it, which was the Newfoundland fishery; the latter
could not go on, if it were not for the vast quantity of inferior fish
bought up for the Negroes in the West Indies, and which quite unfit for
any other market. If, therefore, we destroyed the African, we destroyed
the other trades. Mr. Turgot, he said, had recommended in the National
Assembly of France the gradual abolition of the Slave Trade. He would,
therefore, recommend it to the House to adopt the same measure, and to
soften the rigours of slavery by wholesome regulations; but an immediate
abolition he could not countenance.