The History of the Rise, Progress and Accomplishment of the Abolition - Thomas Clarkson
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These resolutions were published, and they were followed by a suitable
report.
The committee, in order to strengthen themselves for the prosecution of
their great work, elected Sir William Dolben, Bart., Henry Thornton,
Lewis Alexander Grant, and Matthew Montagu, Esqrs., who were members of
parliament, and Truman Harford, Josiah Wedgewood, jun., Esq., and John
Clarkson, Esq., of the royal navy, as members of their own body; and
they elected the Rev. Archdeacon Plymley (afterwards Corbett) an
honorary and corresponding member, in consequence of the great services
which he had rendered their cause in the shires of Hereford and Salop,
and the adjacent counties of Wales.
The several committees, established in the country, on receiving the
resolutions and report as before mentioned, testified their sympathy in
letters of condolence to that of London on the late melancholy occasion;
and expressed their determination to support it as long as any vestiges
of this barbarous traffic should remain.
At length the session ended; and though, in the course of it, the
afflicting loss of the general question had occurred, there was yet an
attempt made by the abolitionists in parliament, which met with a better
fate. The Sierra Leone Company received the sanction of the Legislature.
The object of this institution was to colonize a small portion of the
coast of Africa. They, who were to settle there, were to have no concern
in the Slave Trade, but to discourage it as much as possible. They were
to endeavour to establish a new species of commerce, and to promote
cultivation in its neighborhood by free labour. The persons more
generally fixed upon for colonists, were such Negroes, with their wives
and families, as chose to abandon their habitations in Nova Scotia.
These had followed the British arms in America; and had been settled
there, as a reward for their services, by the British government. My
brother, just mentioned to have been chosen a member of the committee,
and who had essentially served the great cause of the abolition on many
occasions, undertook a visit to Nova Scotia, to see if those in question
were willing to undergo the change; and in that case to provide
transports, and conduct them to Sierra Leone. This object he
accomplished. He embarked more than eleven hundred persons in fifteen
vessels, of all which he took the command. On landing them he became the
first Governor of the new colony. Having laid the foundation of it, he
returned to England; when a successor was appointed. From that time many
unexpected circumstances, but particularly devastations by the French in
the beginning of the war, took place, which contributed to ruin the
trading company which was attached to it. It is pleasing, however, to
reflect, that though the object of the institution, as far as mercantile
profit was concerned, thus failed, the other objects belonging to it
were promoted. Schools, places of worship, agriculture, and the habits
of civilized life were established. Sierra Leone, therefore, now
presents itself as the medium of civilization for Africa. And, in this
latter point of view, it is worth all the treasure which has been lost
in supporting it; for the Slave Trade, which was the great obstacle to
this civilization, being now happily abolished, there is a metropolis,
consisting of some hundreds of persons, from which may issue the seeds
of reformation to this injured continent; and which, when sown, may be
expected to grow into fruit without interruption. New schools may be
transplanted from thence into the interior. Teachers, and travellers on
discovery, may be sent from thence in various directions, who may return
to it occasionally as to their homes. The natives, too, able now to
travel in safety, may resort to it from various parts. They may see the
improvements which are going on from time to time. They may send their
children to it for education; and thus it may become the medium[A] of a
great intercourse between England and Africa, to the benefit of each
other.
[Footnote A: To promote this desirable end an association took place
last year, called The African Institution, under the patronage of the
Duke of Gloucester, as president, and of the Mends to the African cause,
particularly of such as were in parliament, and as belonged to the
committee for the abolition of the Slave Trade.]
CHAPTER XXVII.
[Sidenote:--Continuation from July 1791 to July 1792.--Author travels
round the kingdom again; object of his journey.--People begin to leave
off the use of sugar; to form committees; and to send petitions to
Parliament.--Motion made in the House of Commons for the immediate
abolition of the trade; Debates upon it; Abolition resolved upon, but
not to commence till 1796.--Resolution taken to the Lords; latter
determine upon hearing evidence; Evidence at length introduced; further
hearing of it postponed to the next session.]
The defeat which we had just sustained, was a matter of great triumph to
our opponents. When they considered the majority in the House of Commons
in their favour, they viewed the resolutions of the committee, which
have been detailed, as the last spiteful effort of a vanquished and
dying animal, and they supposed that they had consigned the question to
eternal sleep. The committee, however, were too deeply attached to the
cause, vanquished as they were, to desert it; and they knew, also, too
well the barometer of public feeling, and the occasion of its
fluctuations, to despair. In the year 1787, the members of the House of
Commons, as well as the people, were enthusiastic in behalf of the
abolition of the trade. In the year 1788, the fair enthusiasm of the
former began to fade. In 1789, it died. In 1790, prejudice started up as
a noxious weed in its place. In 1791, this prejudice arrived at its
growth. But to what were these changes owing? To delay; during which the
mind, having been gradually led to the question as a commercial, had
been gradually taken from it as a moral object. But it was possible to
restore the mind to its proper place. Add to which, that the nation had
never deserted the cause during this whole period.
It is much to the honour of the English people, that they should have
continued to feel for the existence of an evil which was so far removed
from their sight. But at this moment their feelings began to be
insupportable. Many of them resolved, as soon as parliament had rejected
the bill, to abstain from the use of West Indian produce. In this state
of things, a pamphlet, written by William Bell Crafton, of Tewksbury,
and called _A Sketch of the Evidence, with a Recommendation on the
Subject to the serious Attention of People in general_, made its
appearance; and another followed it, written by William Fox, of London,
_On the Propriety of abstaining from West India Sugar and Rum_. These
pamphlets took the same ground. They inculcated abstinence from these
articles as a moral duty; they inculcated it as a peaceable and
constitutional measure; and they laid before the reader a truth which
was sufficiently obvious, that, if each would abstain, the people would
have a complete remedy for this enormous evil in their own power.
While these things were going on, it devolved upon me to arrange all the
evidence on the part of the abolition under proper heads, and to abridge
it into one volume. It was intended that a copy of this should be sent
into different towns of the kingdom, that all might know, if possible,
the horrors (as far as the evidence contained them) of this execrable
trade; and as it was possible that these copies might lie in the places
where they were sent, without a due attention to their contents, I
resolved, with the approbation of the committee, to take a journey, and
for no other purpose than personally to recommend that they might be
read.
The books, having been printed, were despatched before me. Of this tour
I shall give the reader no other account than that of the progress of
the remedy, which the people were then taking into their own hands. And
first I may observe, that there was no town, through which I passed, in
which there was not some one individual who had left off the use of
sugar. In the smaller towns there were from ten to fifty by estimation,
and in the larger from two to five hundred, who made this sacrifice to
virtue. These were of all ranks and parties. Rich and poor, churchmen
and dissenters, had adopted the measure. Even grocers had left off
trading in the article, in some places. In gentlemen's families, where
the master had set the example, the servants had often voluntarily
followed it; and even children, who were capable of understanding the
history of the sufferings of the Africans, excluded, with the most
virtuous resolution, the sweets, to which they had been accustomed, from
their lips. By the best computation I was able to make from notes taken
down in my journey, no fewer than three hundred thousand persons had
abandoned the use of sugar.
Having travelled over Wales, and two-thirds of England, I found it would
be impossible to visit Scotland on the same errand. I had already, by
moving upwards and downwards in parallel lines, and by intersecting
these in the same manner, passed over six thousand miles. By the best
calculation I could make, I had yet two thousand to perform. By means of
almost incessant journeyings night and day, I had suffered much in my
health. My strength was failing daily. I wrote, therefore, to the
committee on this subject; and they communicated immediately with Dr.
Dickson, who, on being applied to, visited Scotland in my stead. He
consulted first with the committee at Edinburgh relative to the
circulation of the Abridgment of the Evidence. He then pursued his
journey, and, in conjunction with the unwearied efforts of Mr. Campbel
Haliburton, rendered essential service to the cause for this part of the
kingdom.
On my return to London, I found that the committee had taken into their
own body T.F. Forster, B.M. Forster, and James West, Esqrs., as members;
and that they had elected Hercules Boss, Esq., an honorary and
corresponding member, in consequence of the handsome manner in which he
had come forward as an evidence, and of the peculiar benefit which had
resulted from his testimony to the cause.
The effects of the two journeys by Dr. Dickson and myself were soon
visible. The people could not bear the facts, which had been disclosed
to them by the Abridgment of the Evidence. They were not satisfied, many
of them, with the mere abstinence from sugar; but began to form
committees to correspond with that of London. The first of these
appeared at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, so early as the month of October. It
consisted of the Rev. William Turner, as chairman, and of Robert
Ormston, William Batson, Henry, Taylor, Ralph Bambridge, George Brown,
Hadwen Bragg, David Sutton, Anthony Clapham, George Richardson, and
Edward Prowit. It received a valuable addition afterwards by the
admission of many others. The second was established at Nottingham. The
Rev. Jeremiah Bigsby became the president, and the Revs. G. Walker and
J. Smith, and Messrs. Dennison, Evans, Watson, Hart, Storer, Bott,
Hawkesley, Pennington, Wright, Frith, Hall, and Wakefield, the
committee. The third was formed at Glasgow, under the patronage of David
Dale, Scott Montcrieff, Robert Graham, Professor Millar, and others.
Other committees started up in their turn. At length public meetings
began to take place, and after this petitions to be sent to parliament;
and these so generally, that there was not a day for three months,
Sundays excepted, in which five or six were not resolved upon in some
places or other in the kingdom.
Of the enthusiasm of the nation at this time none can form an opinion
but they who witnessed it. There never was perhaps a season when so much
virtuous feeling pervaded all ranks. Great pains were taken by
interested persons in many places to prevent public meetings. But no
efforts could avail. The current ran with such strength and rapidity,
that it was impossible to stem it. In the city of London a remarkable
instance occurred. The livery had been long waiting for the common
council to begin a petition; but the lord mayor and several of the
aldermen stifled it. The former, indignant at this conduct, insisted
upon a common hall. A day was appointed; and, though the notice given of
it was short, the assemblage was greater than had ever been remembered
on any former occasion. Scarcely a liveryman was absent, unless sick, or
previously engaged. The petition, when introduced, was opposed by those
who had prevented it in the common council. But their voices were
drowned amidst groans and hissings. It was shortly after carried; and it
had not been signed more than half an hour, before it was within the
walls of the House of Commons. The reason of this extraordinary despatch
was, that it had been kept back by intrigue so late, that the very hour
in which it was delivered to the House, was that in which Mr.
Wilberforce was to make his new motion.
And as no petitions were ever more respectable than those presented on
this occasion, as far as they breathed the voice of the people, and as
far as they were founded on a knowledge of the object which they
solicited, so none were ever more numerous, as far as we have any record
of such transactions. Not fewer than three hundred and ten were
presented from England; one hundred and eighty-seven from Scotland; and
twenty from Wales. Two other petitions also for the abolition came from
England, but they were too late for delivery. On the other side of the
question, one was presented from the town of Reading for regulation, in
opposition to that for abolition from the same place. There were also
four against abolition. The first of these was from certain persons at
Derby, in opposition to the other from that town. The second was from
Stephen Fuller, Esq., as agent for Jamaica. The third from J. Dawson,
Esq., a slave-merchant at Liverpool. And the fourth from the merchants,
planters, mortgagees, annuitants, and others concerned in the West
Indian colonies. Taking in all these statements, the account stood
thus:--for regulation there was one; against all abolition there were
four; and for the total abolition of the trade five hundred and
nineteen.
On the 2nd of April Mr. Wilberforce moved the order of the day; which
having been agreed to, Sir William Dolben was put into the chair.
He then began by soliciting the candid attention of the West Indians to
what he was going to deliver to the House. However others might have
censured them indiscriminately, he had always himself made a distinction
between them and their system. It was the latter only which he
reprobated. If aristocracy had been thought a worse form of government
than monarchy, because the people had many tyrants instead of one, how
objectionable must be that form of it, which existed in our colonies!
Arbitrary power could be bought there by any one, who could buy a slave.
The fierceness of it was doubtless restrained by an elevation of mind in
many, as arising from a consciousness of superior rank and consequence:
but, alas! it was too often exercised there by the base and vulgar. The
more liberal, too, of the planters were not resident upon their estates.
Hence a promiscuous censure of them would be unjust, though their system
would undoubtedly be odious.
As for the cure of this monstrous evil, he had shown, last year, that
internal regulations would not produce it. These could have no effect,
while the evidence of slaves was inadmissible. What would be the
situation of the bulk of the people of this country, if only gentlemen
of five hundred a-year were admitted as evidences in our courts of law?
Neither was the cure of it in the emancipation of the slaves. He did not
deny that he wished them this latter blessing. But, alas, in their
present degraded state, they were unfit for it! Liberty was the child of
reason and order. It was, indeed, a plant of celestial growth, but the
soil must be prepared for its reception. He, who would see it flourish
and bring forth its proper fruit, must not think it sufficient to let it
shoot in unrestrained licentiousness. But if this inestimable blessing
was ever to be imparted to them, the cause must be removed, which
obstructed its introduction. In short, no effectual remedy could be
found but in the abolition of the Slave Trade.
He then took a copious view of the advantages, which would arise both to
the master and to the slave, if this traffic were done away; and having
recapitulated and answered the different objections to such a measure,
he went to that part of the subject, in which he described himself to be
most interested.
He had shown, he said, last year, that Africa was exposed to all the
horrors of war; and that most of these wars had their origin in the
Slave Trade. It was then said, in reply, that the natural barbarity of
the natives was alone sufficient to render their country a scene of
carnage. This was triumphantly instanced in the King of Dahomey. But his
honourable friend Lord Muncaster, then in the House, had proved in his
interesting publication, which had appeared since, called _Historical
Sketches of the Slave Trade, and of its Effects in Africa_, addressed to
the people of Great Britain, that the very cruelties of this king, on
which so much stress had been laid, were committed by him in a war,
which had been undertaken expressly to punish an adjacent people for
having stolen some of his subjects and sold them for slaves.
He had shown, also, last year, that kings were induced to seize and sell
their subjects, and individuals each other, in consequence of the
existence of the Slave Trade.
He had shown, also, that the administration of justice was perverted, so
as to become a fertile source of supply to this inhuman traffic; that
every crime was punished by slavery; that false accusations were made to
procure convicts; and that even the judges had a profit on the
convictions.
He had shown again, that many acts of violence were perpetrated by the
Europeans themselves. But he would now relate others which had happened
since. The captain of an English vessel, lying in the river Cameroons,
sent his boat with three sailors and a slave to get water. A Black
trader seized the latter, and took him away. He alleged in his defence,
that the captain owed him goods to a greater amount than the value of
the slave; and that he would not pay him. This being told on board, the
captain, and a part of his crew, who were compelled to blacken their
naked bodies that they might appear like the natives, went on shore at
midnight, armed with muskets and cutlasses. They fired on the trader's
dwelling, and killed three of his children on the spot. The trader,
being badly wounded, died while they were dragging him to the boat; and
his wife, being wounded also, died in half an hour after she was on
board the ship. Resistance having been made to these violent
proceedings, some of the sailors were wounded, and one was killed.
Some weeks after this affray, a chieftain of the name of Quarmo went on
board the same vessel to borrow some cutlasses and muskets. He was
going, he said, into the country to make war; and the captain should
have half of his booty. So well understood were the practices of the
trade, that his request was granted. Quarmo, however, and his
associates, finding things favourable to their design, suddenly seized
the captain, threw him overboard, hauled him into their canoe, and
dragged him to the shore; where another party of the natives, lying in
ambush, seized such of the crew as were absent from the ship. But how
did these savages behave, when they had these different persons in their
power? Did they not instantly retaliate by murdering them all? No--they
only obliged the captain to give an order on the vessel to pay his
debts. This fact came out only two: months ago in a trial in the Court
of Common Pleas--not in trial for piracy and murder, but in the trial of
a civil suit, instituted by some of the poor sailors, to whom the owners
refused their wages, because the natives, on account of the villainous
conduct of their captain, had kept them from their vessel by detaining
them as prisoners on shore. This instance, he said, proved the dreadful
nature of the Slave Trade, its cruelty, its perfidy, and its effect on
the Africans as well as on the Europeans, who carried it on. The cool
manner in which the transaction was conducted on both sides, showed that
these practices were not novel. It showed also the manner of doing
business in the trade. It must be remembered, too, that these
transactions were carrying on at the very time when the inquiry
concerning this trade was going forward in Parliament, and whilst the
witnesses of his opponents were strenuously denying not only the actual,
but the possible, existence of any such depredations.
But another instance happened only in August last. Six British ships,
the Thomas, Captain Philips; the Wasp, Captain Hutchinson; the Recovery,
Captain Kimber, of Bristol; the Martha, Captain Houston; the Betsey,
Captain Doyle; and the Amachree, (he believed,) Captain Lee, of
Liverpool; were anchored off the town of Calabar. This place was the
scene of a dreadful massacre about twenty years before. The captains of
these vessels, thinking that the natives asked too much for their
slaves, held a consultation, how they should proceed; and agreed to fire
upon the town unless their own terms were complied with. On a certain
evening they notified their determination to the traders; and told them,
that, if they continued obstinate, they would put it into execution the
next morning. In this they kept their word. They brought sixty-six guns
to bear upon the town; and fired on it for three hours. Not a shot was
returned. A canoe then went to offer terms of accommodation. The parties
however not agreeing, the firing recommenced; more damage was done; and
the natives were forced into submission. There were no certain accounts
of their loss. Report said that fifty were killed; but some were seen
lying badly wounded, and others in the agonies of death by those who
went afterwards on shore.
He would now say a few words relative to the Middle Passage, principally
to show, that regulation could not effect a cure of the evil there. Mr.
Isaac Wilson had stated in his evidence, that the ship, in which he
sailed, only three years ago, was of three hundred and seventy tons; and
that she carried six hundred and two slaves. Of these she lost one
hundred and fifty-five. There were three or four other vessels in
company with her, and which belonged to the same owners. One of these
carried four hundred and fifty, and buried two hundred; another carried
four hundred and sixty-six, and buried seventy-three; another five
hundred and forty-six, and burled one hundred and fifty-eight; and from
the four together, after the landing of their cargoes, two hundred and
twenty died. He fell in with another vessel, which had lost three
hundred and sixty-two; but the number, which had been bought, was not
specified. Now if to these actual deaths, during and immediately after
the voyage, we were to add the subsequent loss in the seasoning, and to
consider that this would be greater than ordinary in cargoes which were
landed in such a sickly state, we should find a mortality, which, if it
were only general for a few months, would entirely depopulate the globe.
But he would advert to what Mr. Wilson said, when examined, as a
surgeon, as to the causes of these losses, and particularly on board his
own ship, where he had the means of ascertaining them. The substance of
his reply was this--That most of the slaves laboured under a fixed
melancholy, which now and then broke out into lamentations and plaintive
songs, expressive of the loss of their relations, friends, and country.
So powerfully did this sorrow operate, that many of them attempted in
various ways to destroy themselves, and three actually effected it.
Others obstinately refused to take sustenance; and when the whip and
other violent means were used to compel them to eat, they looked up in
the face of the officer, who unwillingly executed this painful task, and
said, with a smile, in their own language, "Presently we shall be no
more." This, their unhappy state of mind, produced a general languor and
debility, which were increased in many instances by an unconquerable
aversion to food, arising partly from sickness, and partly, to use the
language of the slave-captains, from sulkiness. These causes naturally
produced the flux. The contagion spread; several were carried off daily;
and the disorder, aided by so many powerful auxiliaries, resisted the
power of medicine. And it is worth while to remark, that these grievous
sufferings were not owing either to want of care on the part of the
owners, or to any negligence or harshness of the captain; for Mr. Wilson
declared, that his ship was as well fitted out, and the crew and slaves
as well treated, as anybody could reasonably expect.