The History of the Rise, Progress and Accomplishment of the Abolition - Thomas Clarkson
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He would now go to another ship. That, in which Mr. Claxton sailed as a
surgeon, afforded a repetition of all the horrid circumstances which had
been described. Suicide was attempted, and effected; and the same
barbarous expedients were adopted to compel the slaves to continue an
existence, which they considered as too painful to be endured. The
mortality, also, was as great. And yet here, again, the captain was in
no wise to blame. But this vessel had sailed since the regulating act.
Nay, even in the last year, the deaths on shipboard would be found to
have been between ten and eleven per cent, on the whole number exported.
In truth, the House could not reach the cause of this mortality by all
their regulations. Until they could cure a broken heart--until they
could legislate for the affections, and bind by their statutes the
passions and feelings of the mind, their labour would be in vain.
Such were the evils of the Passage. But evils were conspicuous
everywhere in this trade. Never was there, indeed, a system so replete
with wickedness and cruelty. To whatever part of it we turned our eyes,
whether to Africa, the Middle Passage, or the West Indies, we could find
no comfort, no satisfaction, no relief. It was the gracious ordinance of
Providence, both in the natural and moral world, that good should often
arise out of evil. Hurricanes cleared the air; and the propagation of
truth was promoted by persecution, Pride, vanity, and profusion
contributed often; in their remoter consequences, to the happiness of
mankind. In common, what was in itself evil and vicious, was permitted
to carry along with it some circumstances of palliation. The Arab was
hospitable; the robber brave. We did not necessarily find cruelty
associated with fraud, or meanness with injustice. But here the case was
far otherwise. It was the prerogative of this detested traffic to
separate from evil its concomitant good, and to reconcile discordant
mischiefs. It robbed war of its generosity; it deprived peace of its
security: we saw in it the vices of polished society, without its
knowledge or its comforts; and the evils of barbarism without its
simplicity. No age, no sex, no rank, no condition, was exempt from the
fatal influence of this wide-wasting calamity. Thus it attained to the
fullest measure of pure, unmixed, unsophisticated wickedness; and,
scorning all competition and comparison, it stood without a rival in the
secure, undisputed, possession of its detestable preeminence.
But, after all this, wonderful to relate, this execrable traffic had
been defended on the ground of benevolence! It had been said, that the
slaves were captives and convicts, who, if we were not to carry them
away, would be sacrificed, and many of them at the funerals of people of
rank, according to the savage custom of Africa. He had shown, however,
that our supplies of slaves were obtained from other quarters than
these. But he would wave this consideration for the present. Had it not
been acknowledged by his opponents that the custom of ransoming slaves
prevailed in Africa? With respect to human sacrifices, he did not deny
that there might have been some instances of these; but they had not
been proved to be more frequent than amongst other barbarous nations;
and, where they existed, being acts of religion, they would not be
dispensed with for the sake of commercial gain. In fact, they had
nothing to do with the Slave Trade; only perhaps, if it were abolished,
they might, by means of the civilization which would follow, be done
away.
But, exclusively of these sacrifices, it had been asserted, that it was
kindness to the inhabitants to take them away from their own country.
But what said the historians of Africa, long before the question of the
abolition was started? "Axim," says Bosman, "is cultivated, and abounds
with numerous large and beautiful villages: its inhabitants are
industriously employed in trade, fishing, or agriculture."--"The
inhabitants of Adom always expose large quantities of corn to sale,
besides what they want for their own use."--"The people of Acron husband
their grounds and time so well, that every year produces a plentiful
harvest." Speaking of the Fetu country, he says,--"Frequently, when
walking through it, I have seen it abound with fine well-built and
populous towns, agreeably enriched with vast quantities of corn and
cattle, palm-wine, and oil. The inhabitants all apply themselves,
without distinction, to agriculture; some sow corn; others press oil,
and draw wine from the palm-trees."
Smith, who was sent out by the royal African company in 1726, assures
us, "that the discerning natives account it their greatest unhappiness,
that they were ever visited by the Europeans. They say that we
Christians introduced the traffic of slaves; and that before our coming
they lived in peace. But, say they, it is observable, wherever
Christianity comes, there come swords and guns, and powder and ball,
with it."
"The Europeans," says Bruce, "are far from desiring to act as
peace-makers among them. It would be too contrary to their interests;
for the only object of their wars is to carry off slaves; and, as these
form the principal part of their traffic, they would be apprehensive of
drying up the source of it, were they to encourage the people to live
well together."
"The neighbourhood of the Damel and Tin keep them perpetually at war,
the benefit of which accrues to the Company, who buy all the prisoners
made on either side; and the more there are to sell, the greater is
their profit; for the only end of their armaments is to make captives,
to sell them to the white traders."
Artus, of Dantzic, says, that in his time "those liable to pay fines
were banished till the fine was paid; when they returned to their houses
and possessions."
Bosman affirms, "that formerly all crimes in Africa were compensated by
fine or restitution, and, where restitution was impracticable, by
corporal punishment."
Moore says, "Since this trade has been used, all punishments have been
changed into slavery. There being an advantage in such condemnation,
they strain the crimes very hard, in order to get the benefit of selling
the criminal. Not only murder, theft, and adultery, are punished by
selling the criminal for a slave, but every trifling crime is punished
in the same manner."
Loyer affirms that "the King of Sain, on the least pretence, sells his
subjects for European goods. He is so tyrannically severe, that he makes
a whole village responsible for the fault of one inhabitant; and on the
least offence sells them all for slaves."
Such, he said, were the testimonies, not of persons whom he had
summoned; not of friends of the abolition; but of men who were
themselves, many of them, engaged in the Slave Trade. Other testimonies
might be added; but these were sufficient to refute the assertions of
his opponents, and to show the kind services we had done to Africa by
the introduction of this trade.
He would just touch upon the argument, so often repeated, that other
nations would carry on the Slave Trade, if we abandoned it. But how did
we know this? Had not Denmark given a noble example to the contrary? She
had consented to abolish the trade in ten years; and had she not done
this, even though we, after an investigation for nearly five years, had
ourselves hung back? But what might not be expected, if we were to take
up the cause in earnest; if we were to proclaim to all nations the
injustice of the trade, and to solicit their concurrence in the
abolition of it! He hoped the representatives of the nation would not be
less just than the people. The latter had stepped forward, and expressed
their sense more generally by petitions, than in any instance in which
they had ever before interfered. To see this great cause thus triumphing
over distinctions and prejudices was a noble spectacle. Whatever might
be said of our political divisions, such a sight had taught us that
there were subjects still beyond the reach of party; that there was a
point of elevation, where we ascended above the jarring of the
discordant elements, which ruffled and agitated the vale below. In our
ordinary atmosphere clouds and vapours obscured the air, and we were the
sport of a thousand conflicting winds and adverse currents; but here we
moved in a higher region, where all was pure and clear, and free from
perturbation and discomposure:
As some tall cliff, that lifts its awful form,
Swells from the vale, and midway leaves the storm;
Though round its breast the rolling clouds are spread,
Eternal sunshine settles on its head.
Here then, on this august eminence, he hoped we should build the Temple
of Benevolence; that we should lay its foundation deep in Truth and
Justice; and that we should inscribe upon its gates, "Peace and Good
Will to Men." Here we should offer the first-fruits of our benevolence,
and endeavour to compensate, if possible, for the injuries we had
brought upon our fellow-men.
He would only now observe, that his conviction of the indispensable
necessity of immediately abolishing this trade remained as strong as
ever. Let those who talked of allowing three or four years to the
continuance of it, reflect on the disgraceful scenes which had passed
last year. As for himself, he would wash his hands of the blood which
would be spilled in this horrid interval. He could not, however, but
believe, that the hour was come, when we should put a final period to
the existence of this cruel traffic. Should he unhappily be mistaken, he
would never desert the cause; but to the last moment of his life he
would exert his utmost powers in its support. He would now move, "That
it is the opinion of this committee, that the trade carried on by
British subjects for the purpose of obtaining slaves on the coast of
Africa, ought to be abolished."
Mr. Baillie was in hopes that the friends of the abolition would have
been contented with the innocent blood which had been already shed. The
great island of St. Domingo had been torn to pieces by insurrections.
The most dreadful barbarities had been perpetrated there. In the year
1789, the imports into it exceeded five millions sterling. The exports
from it in the same year amounted to six millions; and the trade
employed three hundred thousand tons of shipping, and thirty thousand
seamen. This fine island, thus advantageously situated, had been lost in
consequence of the agitation of the question of the Slave Trade. Surely
so much mischief ought to have satisfied those who supported it; but
they required the total destruction of all the West Indian colonies,
belonging to Great Britain, to complete the ruin.
The honourable gentleman, who had just spoken, had dwelt upon the
enormities of the Slave Trade. He was far from denying that many acts of
inhumanity might accompany it; but as human nature was much the same
everywhere, it would be unreasonable to expect among African traders, or
the inhabitants of our islands, a degree of perfection in morals, which
was not to be found in Great Britain itself. Would any man estimate the
character of the English nation by what was to be read in the records of
the Old Bailey? He himself, however, had lived sixteen years in the West
Indies, and he could bear testimony to the general good usage of the
slaves.
Before the agitation of this impolitic question the slaves were
contented with their situation. There was a mutual confidence between
them and their masters: and this continued to be the case till the new
doctrines were broached. But now depots of arms were necessary on every
estate; and the scene was totally reversed. Nor was their religious then
inferior to their civil state. When the English took possession of
Grenada, where his property lay, they found them baptized and instructed
in the principles of the Roman Catholic faith. The priests of that
persuasion had indeed been indefatigable in their vocation; so that
imported Africans generally obtained within twelve months a tolerable
idea of their religious duties. He had seen the slaves there go through
the public mass in a manner, and with a fervency, which would have done
credit to more civilized societies. But the case was now altered; for,
except where the Moravians had been, there was no trace in our islands
of an attention to their religious interests.
It had been said that their punishments were severe. There might be
instances of cruelty; but these were not general. Many of them were
undoubtedly ill disposed; though not more, according to their number, on
a plantation, than in a regiment, or in a ship's crew. Had we never
heard of seamen being flogged from ship to ship, or of soldiers dying in
the very act of punishment? Had we not also heard, even in this country
of boasted liberty, of seamen being seized, and carried away, when
returning from distant voyages, after an absence of many years; and this
without even being allowed to see their wives and families? As to
distressed objects, he maintained, that there was more wretchedness and
poverty in St. Giles's, than in all the West Indian islands belonging to
Great Britain.
He would now speak of the African and West Indian trades. The imports
and exports of these amounted to upwards of ten millions annually; and
they gave employment to three hundred thousand tons of shipping, and to
about twenty-five thousand seamen. These trades had been sanctioned by
our ancestors in parliament. The acts for this purpose might be classed
under three heads. First, they were such as declared the colonies, and
the trade thereof, advantageous to Great Britain, and therefore entitled
to her protection. Secondly, such as authorized, protected, and
encouraged the trade to Africa, as advantageous in itself, and necessary
to the welfare and existence of the sugar colonies: and, Thirdly, such
as promoted and secured loans of money to the proprietors of the said
colonies, either from British subjects, or from foreigners. These
acts[A], he apprehended, ought to satisfy every person of the legality
and usefulness of these trades. They were enacted in reigns
distinguished for the production of great and enlightened characters. We
heard then of no wild and destructive doctrines like the present. These
were reserved for this age of novelty and innovation. But he must remind
the House, that the inhabitants of our islands had as good a right to
the protection of their property, as the inhabitants of Great Britain.
Nor could it be diminished in any shape without full compensation. The
proprietors of lands in the ceded islands, which were purchased of
government under specific conditions of settlement, ought to be
indemnified. They also (of whom he was one), who had purchased the
territory granted by the crown to General Monkton, in the island, of St.
Vincent, ought to be indemnified also. The sale of this had gone on
briskly, till it was known that a plan was in agitation for the
abolition of the Slave Trade. Since that period, the original purchasers
had done little or nothing, and they had many hundred acres on hand,
which would be of no value, if the present question was carried. In
fact, they had a right to compensation. The planters generally spent
their estates in this country. They generally educated their children in
it. They had never been found seditious, or rebellious; and they
demanded of the Parliament of Great Britain that protection, which, upon
the principles of good faith, it was in duty bound to afford them in
common with the rest of his majesty's loyal subjects.
[Footnote A: Here he quoted them specifically.]
Mr. Vaughan stated that, being a West Indian by birth, and connected
with the islands, he could speak from his own knowledge. In the early
part of his life he was strongly in favour of the abolition of the Slave
Trade. He had been educated by Dr. Priestley, and the father of Mrs.
Barbauld; who were both of them friends to that question. Their
sentiments he had imbibed; but, although bred at the feet of Gamaliel,
he resolved to judge for himself, and he left England for Jamaica.
He found the situation of the slaves much better than he had imagined.
Setting aside liberty, they were as well off as the poor in Europe. They
had little want of clothes or fuel; they had a house and garden found
them, were never imprisoned for debts, nor deterred from marrying
through fear of being unable to support a family; their orphans and
widows were taken care of, as they themselves were when old and
disabled; they had medical attendance without expense; they had private
property, which no master ever took from them; and they were resigned to
their situation, and looked for nothing beyond it. Perhaps persons might
have been prejudiced by living in the towns, to which slaves were often
sent for punishment; and where there were many small proprietors; or by
seeing no negro otherwise than as belonging to the labouring poor; but
they appeared to him to want nothing but liberty; and it was only
occasionally that they were abused.
There were two prejudices with respect to the colonies, which he would
notice. The first was, that cruel usage occasioned the inequality of
births and deaths among the slaves. But did cruelty cause the excess of
deaths above births in the city of London? No--this excess had other
causes. So it had among the slaves. Of these more males were imported
than females: they were dissolute too in their morals; they had also
diseases peculiar to themselves. But in those islands where they nearly
kept up their numbers, there was this difficulty, that the equality was
preserved by the increase on one estate compensating for the decrease on
another. These estates, however, would not interchange their numbers;
whereas, where freedom prevailed, the free labourers circulated from one
employer to another, and appeared wherever they were wanted.
The second was, that all chastisement of the slaves was cruelty. But
this was not true. Their owners generally withdrew them from public
justice; so that they, who would have been publicly executed elsewhere,
were often kept alive by their masters, and were found punished again
and again for repeating their faults. Distributive justice occasioned
many punishments; as one slave was to be protected against every other
slave: and, when one pilfered from another, then the master interfered.
These punishments were to be distinguished from such as arose from
enforcing labour, or from the cruelty of their owners. Indeed he had
gone over the islands, and he had seen but little ill usage. He had seen
none on the estate where he resided. The whip, the stocks, and
confinement, were all the modes of punishment he had observed in other
places. Some slaves belonging to his father were peculiarly well off.
They saved money, and spent it in their own way.
But notwithstanding all he had said, he allowed that there was room for
improvement; and particularly for instilling into the slaves the
principles of religion. Where this should be realized, there would be
less punishment, more work, more marriages, more issue, and more
attachment to masters. Other improvements would be the establishment of
medical societies; the introduction of task-work; and grants of premiums
and honorary distinctions both to fathers and mothers, according to the
number of children which they should rear. Besides this, Negro evidence
should be allowed in the courts of law, it being left to the discretion
of the court or jury to take or reject it, according to the nature of
the case. Cruel masters also should be kept in order in various ways.
They should he liable to have their slaves taken from them, and put in
trust. Every instrument of punishment should be banished, except the
whip. The number of lashes should be limited; and the punishment should
not be repeated till after intervals. These and other improvements
should be immediately adopted by the planters. The character of the
exemplary among them was hurt by being confounded with that of lower and
baser men. He concluded by stating, that the owners of slaves were
entitled to compensation, if, by means of the abolition, they should not
be able to find labourers for the cultivation of their lands[A].
[Footnote A: Mr. Vaughan declared in a future stage of the debate, that
he wished to see a prudent termination both of the Slave Trade and of
slavery; and that, though he was the eldest son of his father, he never
would, on any consideration, become the owner of a slave.]
Mr. Henry Thornton conceived, that the two last speakers had not spoken
to the point. The first had described the happy state of the slaves in
the West Indies. The latter had made similar representations; but yet
had allowed, that much improvement might be made in their condition. But
this had nothing to do with the question then before them. The manner of
procuring slaves in Africa was the great evil to be remedied. Africa was
to be stripped of its inhabitants to supply a population for the West
Indies. There was a Dutch proverb, which said, "My son; get money,
honestly if you can--but get money:" or, in other words, "Get slaves,
honestly if you can--but get slaves." This was the real grievance; and
the two honourable gentlemen, by confining their observations to the
West Indies, had entirely overlooked it.
Though this evil had been fully proved, he could not avoid stating to
the House some new facts, which had come to his knowledge as a director
of the Sierra Leone Company, and which would still further establish it.
The consideration, that they had taken place since the discussion of the
last year on this subject, obliged him to relate them.
Mr. Falconbridge, agent to the Company, sitting one evening in Sierra
Leone, heard a shout, and immediately afterwards the report of a gun.
Fearing an attack, he armed forty of the settlers, and rushed with them
to the place from whence the noise came. He found a poor wretch, who had
been crossing from a neighbouring village, in the possession of a party
of kidnappers, who were tying his hands. Mr. Falconbridge, however,
dared not rescue him, lest, in the defenceless state of his own town,
retaliation might be made upon him.
At another time a young woman, living half a mile off, was sold, without
any criminal charge, to one of the slave-ships. She was well acquainted
with the agent's wife, and had been with her only the day before. Her
cries were heard; but it was impossible to relieve her.
At another time a young lad, one of the free settlers who went from
England, was caught by a neighbouring chief, as he was straggling alone
from home, and sold for a slave. The pretext was, that some one in the
town of Sierra Leone had committed an offence. Hence the first person
belonging to it, who could be seized, was to be punished. Happily the
free settlers saw him in his chains; and they recovered him, before he
was conveyed to the ship.
To mark still more forcibly the scenes of misery, to which the Slave
Trade gave birth, he would mention a case stated to him in a letter by
King Naimbanna. It had happened to respectable person, in no less than
three instances, to have some branches of his family kidnapped, and
carried off to the West Indies. At one time three young men, Corpro,
Banna, and Marbrour, were decoyed on board a Danish slave-ship, under
pretence of buying something, and were taken away. At another time
another relation piloted a vessel down the river. He begged to be put on
shore, when he came opposite to his own town; but he was pressed to
pilot her to the river's mouth. The captain then pleaded the
impracticability of putting him on shore; carried him to Jamaica; and
sold him for a slave. Fortunately, however, by means of a letter, which
was conveyed there, the man, by the assistance of the governor, was sent
back to Sierra Leone. At another time another relation was also
kidnapped. But he had not the good fortune, like the former, to return.
He would mention one other instance. A son had sold his own father, for
whom he obtained a considerable price: for, as the father was rich in
domestic slaves, it was not doubted that he would offer largely for his
ransom. The old man accordingly gave twenty-two of these in exchange for
himself. The rest, however, being from that time filled with
apprehensions of being on some ground or other sold to the slave-ships,
fled to the mountains of Sierra Leone, where they now dragged on a
miserable existence. The son himself was sold, in his turn, soon after.
In short, the whole of that unhappy peninsula, as he learnt from
eye-witnesses, had been desolated by the trade in slaves. Towns were
seen standing without inhabitants all over the coast; in several of
which the agent of the Company had been. There was nothing but distrust
among the inhabitants. Every one, if he stirred from home, felt himself
obliged to be armed.
Such was the nature of the Slave Trade. It had unfortunately obtained
the name of a trade; and many had been deceived by the appellation; but
it was war, and not trade. It was a mass of crimes, and not commerce. It
was that which prevented the introduction of a trade in Africa; for it
was only by clearing and cultivating the lands, that the climate could
be made healthy for settlements; but this wicked traffic, by dispersing
the inhabitants, and causing the lands to remain uncultivated, made the
coast unhealthy to Europeans. He had found, in attempting to establish a
colony there, that it was an obstacle which opposed itself to him in
innumerable ways; it created more embarrassments than all the natural
impediments of the country; and it was more hard to contend with than
any difficulties of climate, soil, or natural disposition of the people.