The History of the Rise, Progress and Accomplishment of the Abolition - Thomas Clarkson
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Mr. Fox at length rose. He observed that some expressions which he had
used on the preceding day, had been complained of as too harsh and
severe. He had since considered them, but he could not prevail upon
himself to retract them; because, if any gentleman, after reading the
evidence on the table, and attending to the debate, could avow himself
an abettor of this shameful traffic in human flesh, it could only be
either from some hardness of heart, or some difficulty of understanding,
which he really knew not how to account for.
Some had considered this question as a question of political, whereas,
it was a question of personal, freedom. Political freedom was
undoubtedly a great blessing; but when it came to be compared with
personal, it sunk to nothing. To confound the two, served, therefore, to
render all arguments on either perplexing and unintelligible. Personal
freedom was the first right of every human being. It was a right, of
which he who deprived a fellow-creature was absolutely criminal in so
depriving him, and which he who withheld was no less criminal in
withholding. He could not, therefore, retract his words with respect to
any, who (whatever respect he might otherwise have for them) should, by
their vote of that night, deprive their fellow-creatures of so great a
blessing. Nay, he would go further. He would say, that if the House,
knowing what the trade was by the evidence, did not, by their vote, mark
to all mankind their abhorrence of a practice so savage, so enormous, so
repugnant to all laws human and divine, they would consign their
character to eternal infamy.
That the pretence of danger to our West Indian islands from the
abolition of the Slave Trade was totally unfounded, Mr. Wilberforce had
abundantly proved; but if there were they who had not been satisfied
with that proof, was it possible to resist the arguments of Mr. Pitt on
the same subject? It had been shown, on a comparison of the births and
deaths in Jamaica, that there was not now any decrease of the slaves.
But if there had been, it would have made no difference to him in his
vote; for, had the mortality been ever so great there, he should have
ascribed it to the system of importing Negroes, instead of that of
encouraging their natural increase. Was it not evident that the planters
thought it more convenient to buy them fit for work, than to breed them?
Why, then, was this horrid trade to be kept up?--To give the planters
truly the liberty of misusing their slaves, so as to check population:
for it was from ill-usage only that, in a climate so natural to them,
their numbers could diminish. The very ground, therefore, on which the
planters rested the necessity of fresh importations, namely, the
destruction of lives in the West Indies, was itself the strongest
argument that could be given, and furnished the most imperious call upon
parliament for the abolition of the trade.
Against this trade innumerable were the charges. An honourable member,
Mr. Smith, had done well to introduce those tragical stories which had
made such an impression upon the House. No one of these had been yet
controverted. It had, indeed, been said; that the cruelty of the African
captain to the child was too bad to be true; and we had been desired to
look at the cross-examination of the witness, as if we should find
traces of the falsehood in his testimony there. But his
cross-examination was peculiarly honourable to his character; for, after
he had been pressed in the closest manner by some able members of the
House, the only inconsistency they could fix upon him was, whether the
fact had happened on the same day of the same month of the year 1764 or
the year 1765.
But it was idle to talk of the incredibility of such instances. It was
not denied that absolute power was exercised by the slave-captains; and
if this was granted, all the cruelties charged upon them would naturally
follow. Never did he hear of charges so black and horrible as those
contained in the evidence on the table. They unfolded such a scene of
cruelty, that if the House, with all their present knowledge of the
circumstances, should dare to vote for its continuance, they must have
nerves of which he had no conception. We might find instances, indeed,
in history, of men violating the feelings of nature on extraordinary
occasions. Fathers had sacrificed their sons and daughters, and husbands
their wives; but to imitate their characters, we ought to have not only
nerves as strong as the two Brutuses, but to take care that we had a
cause as good; or that we had motives for such a dereliction of our
feelings as patriotic as those which historians had annexed to these
when they handed them to the notice of the world.
But what was our motive in the case before us?--to continue a trade
which was a wholesale sacrifice of a whole order and race of our
fellow-creatures, which carried them away by force from their native
country, in order to subject them to the mere will and caprice, the
tyranny and oppression of other human beings, for their whole natural
lives, them and their posterity for ever!! O most monstrous wickedness!
O unparalleled barbarity! And, what was more aggravating, this most
complicated scene of robbery and murder which mankind had ever
witnessed, had been honoured by the name of trade.
That a number of human beings should be at all times ready to be
furnished as fair articles of commerce, just as our occasions might
require, was absurd. The argument of Mr. Pitt on this head was
unanswerable. Our demand was fluctuating: it entirely ceased at some
times: at others it was great and pressing. How was it possible, on
every sudden call, to furnish a sufficient return in slaves, without
resorting to those execrable means of obtaining them, which were stated
in the evidence? These were of three sorts, and he would now examine
them.
Captives in war, it was urged, were consigned either to death or
slavery. This, however, he believed to be false in point of fact. But
suppose it were true; did it not become us, with whom it was a custom,
founded in the wisest policy, to pay the captives a peculiar respect and
civility, to inculcate the same principles in Africa? But we were so far
from doing this, that we encouraged wars for the sake of taking, not
men's goods and possessions, but men themselves; and it was not the war
which was the cause of the Slave Trade, but the Slave Trade which was
the cause of the war. It was the practice of the slave-merchants to try
to intoxicate the African kings in order to turn them to their purpose.
A particular instance occurred in the evidence of a prince, who, when
sober, resisted their wishes; but in the moment of inebriety he gave the
word for war, attacked the next village, and sold the inhabitants to the
merchants.
The second mode was kidnapping. He referred the House to various
instances of this in the evidence: but there was one in particular, from
which we might immediately infer the frequency of the practice. A black
trader had kidnapped a girl and sold her; but he was presently
afterwards kidnapped and sold himself; and, when he asked the captain
who bought him, "What! do you buy me, who am a great trader?" the only
answer was, "Yes, I will buy you, or her, or anybody else, provided any
one will sell you;" and accordingly both the trader and the girl were
carried to the West Indies, and sold for slaves.
The third mode of obtaining slaves was by crimes committed or imputed.
One of these was adultery. But was Africa the place, where Englishmen,
above all others, were to go to find out and punish adultery? Did it
become us to cast the first stone? It was a most extraordinary
pilgrimage for a most extraordinary purpose! And yet upon this plea we
justified our right of carrying off its inhabitants. The offence alleged
next was witchcraft. What a reproach it was to lend ourselves to this
superstition!--Yes: we stood by; we heard the trial; we knew the crime
to be impossible; and that the accused must be innocent: but we waited
in patient silence for his condemnation; and then we lent our friendly
aid to the police of the country, by buying the wretched convict, with
all his family; whom, for the benefit of Africa, we carried away also
into perpetual slavery.
With respect to the situation of the slaves in their transportation, he
knew not how to give the House a more correct idea of the horrors of it,
than by referring them to the printed section of the slave-ship; where
the eye might see what the tongue must fall short in describing. On this
dismal part of the subject he would not dwell. He would only observe,
that the acts of barbarity, related of the slave-captains in these
voyages, were so extravagant, that they had been attributed in some
instances to insanity. But was not this the insanity of arbitrary power?
Who ever read the facts recorded of Nero without suspecting he was mad?
Who would not be apt to impute insanity to Caligula--or Domitian--or
Caracalla--or Commodus--or Heliogabalus? Here were six Roman emperors,
not connected in blood, nor by descent, who, each of them, possessing
arbitrary power, had been so distinguished for cruelty, that nothing
short of insanity could be imputed to them. Was not the insanity of the
masters of slave-ships to be accounted for on the same principles?
Of the slaves in the West Indies it had been said, that they were taken
from a worse state to a better. An honourable member, Mr. W. Smith, had
quoted some instances out of the evidence to the contrary. He also would
quote one or two others. A slave under hard usage had run away. To
prevent a repetition of the offence his owner sent for his surgeon, and
desired him to cut off the man's leg. The surgeon refused. The owner, to
render it a matter of duty in the surgeon, broke it. "Now," says he,
"you must cut it off; or the man will die." We might console ourselves,
perhaps, that this happened in a French island; but he would select
another instance, which had happened in one of our own. Mr. Ross heard
the shrieks of a female issuing from an out-house; and so piercing, that
he determined to me what was going on. On looking in he perceived a
young female tied up to a beam by her wrists, entirely naked, and in the
act of involuntary writhing and swinging; while the author of her
torture was standing below her with a lighted torch in his hand, which
he applied to all the parts of her body as it approached him. What crime
this miserable woman had perpetrated he knew not; but the human mind
could not conceive a crime warranting such a punishment.
He was glad to see that these tales affected the House. Would they then
sanction enormities, the bare recital of which made them shudder? Let
them remember that humanity did not consist in a squeamish ear. It did
not consist in shrinking and starting at such tales as these; but in a
disposition of the heart to remedy the evils they unfolded. Humanity
belonged rather to the mind than to the nerves. But, if so, it should
prompt men to charitable exertion. Such exertion was necessary in the
present case. It was necessary for the credit of our jurisprudence at
home, and our character abroad. For what would any man think of our
justice, who should see another hanged for a crime, which would be
innocence itself, if compared with those enormities, which were allowed
in Africa and the West Indies under the sanction of the British
parliament?
It had been said, however, in justification of the trade, that the
Africans were less happy at home than in the Islands. But what right had
we to be judges of their condition? They would tell us a very different
tale, if they were asked. But it was ridiculous to say, that we bettered
their condition, when we dragged them from everything dear in life to
the most abject state of slavery.
One argument had been used, which for a subject so grave was the most
ridiculous he had ever heard. Mr. Alderman Watson had declared the Slave
Trade to be necessary on account of its connexion with our fisheries.
But what was this but an acknowledgment of the manner, in which these
miserable beings, were treated? The trade was to be kept up, with all
its enormities, in order that there might be persons to consume the
refuse fish from Newfoundland, which was too bad for anybody else to
eat.
It had been said that England ought not to abolish the Slave Trade,
unless other nations would also give it up. But what kind of morality
was this? The Trade was defensible upon no other principle than that of
a highwayman. Great Britain could not keep it upon these terms. Mere
gain was not a motive for a great country to rest on, as a justification
of any measure. Honour was its superior; and justice was superior to
honour.
With regard to the emancipation of those in slavery, he coincided with
Mr. Wilberforce and Mr. Pitt; and upon this principle, that it might be
as dangerous to give freedom at once to a man used to slavery, as, in
the case of a man who had never seen day-light, to expose him all at
once to the full glare of a meridian sun.
With respect to the intellect and sensibility of the Africans, it was
pride only, which suggested a difference between them and ourselves.
There was a remarkable instance to the point in the evidence, and which
he would quote. In one of the slave-ships was a person of consequence; a
man, once high in a military station, and with a mind not insensible to
the eminence of his rank. He had been taken captive and sold; and was
then in the hold, confined promiscuously with the rest. Happening in the
night to fall asleep, he dreamed that he was in his own country; high in
honour and command; caressed by his family and friends; waited on by his
domestics; and surrounded with all his former comforts in life. But
awaking suddenly, and finding where he was, he was heard to burst into
the loudest groans and lamentations on the miserable contrast of his
present state; mixed with the meanest of his subjects; and subjected to
the insolence of wretches a thousand times lower than himself in every
kind of endowment. He appealed to the House, whether this was not as
moving a picture of the miserable effects of the Slave Trade, as could
be well imagined. There was one way, by which they might judge of it.
Let them make the case their own. This was the Christian rule of
judging; and, having mentioned Christianity, he was sorry to find that
any should suppose, that it had given countenance to such a system of
oppression. So far was this from being the case, that he thought it one
of the most splendid triumphs of this religion, that it had caused
slavery to be so generally abolished on its appearance in the world. It
had done this by teaching us, among other beautiful precepts, that, in
the sight of their Maker, all mankind were equal. Its influence appeared
to have been more powerful in this respect than that of all the ancient
systems of philosophy; though even in these, in point of theory, we
might trace great liberality and consideration for human rights. Where
could be found finer sentiments of liberty than in Demosthenes and
Cicero? Where bolder assertions of the rights of mankind, than in
Tacitus and Thucydides? But, alas! these were the holders of slaves: It
was not so with those who had been converted to Christianity. He knew,
however, that what he had been ascribing to Christianity had been
imputed by others to the advances which philosophy had made. Each of the
two parties took the merit to itself. The philosopher gave it to
philosophy, and the divine to religion. He should not, then, dispute
with either of them; but, as both coveted the praise, why should they
not emulate each other by promoting this improvement in the condition of
the human race?
He would now conclude by declaring, that the whole country, indeed the
whole civilized world, must rejoice that such a bill as the present had
been moved for, not merely as a matter of humanity, but as an act of
justice; for he would put humanity out of the case. Could it be called
humanity to forbear committing murder? Exactly upon this ground did the
motion stand; being strictly a question of national justice. He thanked
Mr. Wilberforce for having pledged himself so strongly to pursue his
object till it was accomplished; and, as for himself, he declared, that,
in whatever situation he might ever be, he would use his warmest efforts
for the promotion of this righteous cause.
Mr. Stanley (the member for Lancashire) rose, and declared that, when he
came into the house, he intended to vote against the abolition; but that
the impression made both on his feelings and on his understanding was
such, that he could not persist in his resolution. He was now convinced
that the entire abolition of the Slave Trade was called for equally by
sound policy and justice. He thought it right and fair to avow manfully
this change in his opinion. The abolition, ho was sure, could not long
fail of being carried. The arguments for it were irresistible.
The Honourable Mr. Ryder said that he came to the house not exactly in
the same circumstances as Mr. Stanley, but very undecided on the
subject. He was, however, so strongly convinced by the arguments he had
heard, that he was become equally earnest for the abolition.
Mr. Smith (member for Pontefract) said, that he should not trouble the
House, at so late an hour, further than to enter his protest, in the
most solemn manner, against this trade, which he considered as most
disgraceful to the country, and contrary to all the principles of
justice and religion.
Mr. Sumner declared himself against the total, immediate, and
unqualified abolition, which he thought would wound at least the
prejudices of the West Indians, and might do mischief; but a gradual
abolition should have his hearty support.
Major Scott declared there was no member in the house, who would give a
more independent vote upon this question than himself. He had no concern
either in the African or West Indian trades; but in the present state of
the finances of the country, he thought it would be a dangerous
experiment to risk any one branch of our foreign commerce. As far as
regulation would go, he would join in the measure.
Mr. Burke said he would use but few words. He declared that he had for a
long time had his mind drawn towards this great subject. He had even
prepared a bill for the regulation of the trade, conceiving at that time
that the immediate abolition of it was a thing hardly to be hoped for;
but when he found that Mr. Wilberforce had seriously undertaken the
work, and that his motion was for the abolition, which he approved much
more than his own, he had burnt his papers; and made an offering of them
in honour of this nobler proposition, much in the same manner as we
read, that the curious books were offered up and burnt at the approach
of the Gospel. He highly applauded the confessions of Mr. Stanley and
Mr. Ryder. It would be a glorious tale for them to tell their
constituents, that it was impossible for them, however prejudiced, if
sent to hear, discussion in that House, to avoid surrendering up their
hearts and judgments at the shrine of reason.
Mr. Drake said, that he would oppose the abolition to the utmost. We
had, by a want of prudent conduct, lost America. The House should be
aware of being carried away by the meteors with which they had been
dazzled. The leaders, it was true, were for the abolition; but the minor
orators, the dwarfs, the pigmies, he trusted, would that night carry the
question against them. The property of the West Indians was at stake;
and, though men might be generous with their own property, they should
not be so with the property of others.
Lord Sheffield reprobated the overbearing language which had been used
by some gentlemen towards others, who differed in opinion from them on a
subject of so much difficulty as the present. He protested against a
debate, in which he could trace nothing like reason; but, on the
contrary, downright phrensy, raised perhaps by the most extraordinary
eloquence. The abolition, as proposed, was impracticable. He denied the
right of the legislature to pass a law for it. He warned the Chancellor
of the Exchequer to beware of the day, on which the bill should pass, as
the worst he had ever seen.
Mr. Milnes declared, that he adopted all those expressions against the
Slave Trade, which had been thought so harsh; and that the opinion of
the noble lord had been turned in consequence of having become one of
the members for Bristol. He quoted a passage from Lord Sheffield's
pamphlet; and insisted that the separation of families in the West
Indies, there complained of by himself, ought to have compelled him to
take the contrary side of the question.
Mr. Wilberforce made a short reply to some arguments in the course of
the debate; after which, at half-past three in the morning, the House
divided. There appeared for Mr. Wilberforce's motion eighty-eight, and
against it one hundred and sixty-three; so that it was lost by a
majority of seventy-five votes.
By this unfavourable division the great contest, in which we had been so
long engaged, was decided. We were obliged to give way to superior
numbers. Our fall, however, grievous as it was, was rendered more
tolerable by the circumstance of having been prepared to expect it. It
was rendered more tolerable, also, by other considerations; for we had
the pleasure of knowing, that we had several of the most distinguished
characters in the kingdom, and almost all the splendid talents of the
House of Commons[A], in our favour. We knew, too, that the question had
not been carried against us either by evidence or by argument; but that
we were the victims of the accidents and circumstances of the times. And
as these considerations comforted us, when we looked forward to future
operations on this great question, so we found great consolation as to
the past, in believing, that, unless human constitutions were stronger
than they really were, we could not have done more than we had done
towards the furtherance of the cause.
[Footnote A: It is a pity that no perfect list was ever made of this or
of any other division in the House of Commons on this subject. I can
give, however, the names of the following, members, as having voted for
Mr. Wilberforce's motion at this time.
Mr. Pitt, Lord Bayham, Mr. Duncombe,
Mr. Fox, Lord Arden, Mr. Martin,
Mr. Burke, Lord Carysfort, Mr. Milnes,
Mr. Grey, Lord Muncaster, Mr. Steele,
Mr. Windham, Lord Barnard, Mr. Coke,
Mr. Sheridan, Lord North, Mr. Eliott,
Mr. Whitbread, Lord Euston, Mr. Montagu,
Mr. Courtenay, General Burgoyne, Mr. Bastard,
Mr. Francis, Hon. R. Fitzpatrick, Mr. Stanley,
Mr. Wilberforce, Sir William Dolben, Mr. Plumer,
Mr. Ryder, Sir Henry Houghton, Mr. Beaufoy,
Mr. William Smith, Sir Edward Lyttleton, Mr. I.H. Browne,
Mr. John Smyth, Sir William Scott, Mr. G.N. Edwards,
Mr. Robert Smith, Mr. Samuel Thornton, Mr. W.M. Pitt,
Mr. Powys, Mr. Henry Thornton, Mr. Bankes,
Lord Apsley, Mr. Robert Thornton,
]
The committee for the abolition held a meeting soon after this our
defeat. It was the most impressive I ever attended. The looks of all
bespoke the feelings of their hearts. Little was said previously to the
opening of the business; and, after it was opened, it was conducted with
a kind of solemn dignity, which became the occasion. The committee, in
the course of its deliberations, came to the following resolutions:--
That the thanks of this committee be respectfully given to the
illustrious minority of the House of Commons, who lately stood forth the
assertors of British justice and humanity, and the enemies of a traffic
in the blood of man.
That our acknowledgments are particularly due to William Wilberforce,
Esq., for his unwearied exertions to remove this opprobrium of our
national character; and to the right honourable William Pitt, and the
right honourable Charles James Fox, for their virtuous and dignified
co-operation in the same cause.
That the solemn declarations of these gentlemen, and of Matthew Montagu
and William Smith, Esqrs., that they will not relinquish, but with life,
their struggle for the abolition of the Slave Trade, are not only highly
honourable to themselves as Britons, as statesmen, and as Christians,
but must eventually, as the light of evidence shall be more and more
diffused, be seconded by the good wishes of every man not immediately
interested in the continuance of that detestable commerce.
And lastly, that anticipating the opposition they should have to sustain
from persons trained to a familiarity with the rapine and desolation
necessarily attendant on the Slave Trade, and sensible, also, of the
prejudices which implicitly arise from long-established usages, this
committee consider the late decision in the House of Commons as a delay,
rather than a defeat. In addressing a free and enlightened nation on a
subject, in which its justice, its humanity, and its wisdom are
involved, they cannot despair of final success; and they do hereby,
under an increasing conviction of the excellence of their cause, and in
conformity to the distinguished examples before them, renew their firm
protestation, that they will never desist from appealing to their
countrymen, till the commercial intercourse with Africa shall cease to
be polluted with the blood of its inhabitants.