THE LIBRARY
OF THE

SWERS
OMNIBUS, ARTIBUS
CLASS
326.4
P19
BOOK
***** fra lima





,


Pamphleto ou Aarey
Contents g the light Plume.
Letters on the mccemiti ga perompo Ixlinotin
bdminl Manu; bith ihnytte m.competition p219
Renters for Dubstituting laut hestia for
10
e hedia lugar - 1826
kypeetina i puém q Animeu Panja
ae, inne apically ti fumue to the East
belia traile, by ko: Prinsep. 1823
12 Apredly ind Warty, hy dife, effectant
quitallo aneand, my 2 linu 1875
-72
1244.








THOU
OLDB


Letters
ON THE
NECESSITY OF A PROMPT EXTINCTION
OP
BRITISH COLONIAL SLAVERY;
CHIEFLY ADDRESSED
TO THE MORE INFLUENTIAL CLASSÉS.
“WHATSOEVER THY HAND FINDETH TO HO, DO IT WITH
ALL THY MIGHT.“
TO WHICH ARE ADDED,
THOUGHTS ON COMPENSATION.
LONDON:
SOLD BY HATCHARD AND SON, PICCADILLY,
AND BY
T. COMBE AND SON, LEICESTER.
MDCCCXXVI.


Tak
ADVERTISEMENT.
SINCE the prospectus of the following: Woški vaš issued, its
title and contents: hăvě :undergone considerable alter-
ation, consequent upon :the: ehange produced in some
of the writer's views of the subject, by' a correspondence
with one of the most able and devoted leaders of the
Anti-slavery Society. From this privilege however, it
is feared that the following pages will evince that the
writer has profited but very partially.
Laura
z lego glasi
on ebon GA L
Printed by Combe and Son, Leicester.
, 114..


TABLE OF CONTENTS.
LETTER I.
To the Great Leaders of the Anti-Slavery Society.
West Indian slavery essentially the same at the present
moment as before the issue of the Orders in Council, &c.
p. 2... Inadequacy of the remedy proposed by gradual eman-
cipation. 6... Fundamental principle lost in the proposition of
gradual emancipation. 14... Injurious effects of delay. 20...
Wretched consequences of the admission of just principles
without a prompt conformity to their requisitions illustrated in
the conduct of France respecting the slave-trade. 21.. Investi-
gation of the conduct of emancipated slavęs.in America, &c. 26.
In St. Domingo. 32... Safety, and: expediency of immediate
emancipation the inevitable result of this investigation. 42..
Preparatory schcol of discipline unnecessary.ard impracti-
cable. 44.
LETTER II:
To those who are tired of the subject of West Indian
Slavery. -P.:55:
Declension of Anti-slavery zeal where least to be expected.
55... Necessity of pressing this “trite and backened subject”
still more closely on the public attention. 61... Awful respon-
sibility incurred by acquaintance with its nature and conse-
quences. 62... Danger of trifling with known duty. 63...
Dives and Lazarus. 70.
LETTER III.
To the more Influential Classes of the Christian Public... p. 79.
Necessity of bringing christian sympathy and principle into
more vigourous operation 80... Reproachful disproportion
between the evil of slavery and the efforts hitherto made for
its destruction. 82...Folly of expecting its destruction with-
out the strenuous exertion of rational means. 86.. . Tropical
Free Labour Company. 88. .Immediate emancipation required
on the ground of Divine command. 90..As explicit in the case
of the Negro slave as in that of the Israelites under Egyptian
bondage. 93... Inconsistency and hypocrisy of reprobating the
slave trade whilst we uphold slavery. 96..Objections to the
substitution of East for West Indian sugar. 106..Process of
West Indian sugar cultivation. 107.. Its destructive con-
sequences. 114..Criminality of West India sugar consump-
tion. 116.
77ANTU
COM


CONTENTS.
p. 117.
EA
LETTER IV.
On the most efficient meuns of deepening and extending
the public interest in the speedy extinction of West
Indian Slavery.
Strict propriety and great importance of employing the
christian pulpit in the anti-slavery cause. 117.. Peter the
Hermit. 123. . Picture of West Indian slavery drawn by the
Colonists themselves. 125.. The malignant hostility of slavery
to christianity. 135. Influence of slavery upon Missionaries.
138..Moravians. 141.. Duty of denouncing from the chris-
tian pulpit this anti-christian tyranny. 146.
LETTER V.
On the importance of Associations for the purpose of obtaining
the cooperation of the humbler classes. p. 149.
Successful result of personal visits for the purpose of dif-
fusing wider information on the nature of slavery. 149.. Ad-
vantage of this general extension.--Their probable influence
on the next General Electior. -263, Resolations of the Calne
Meeting. 162.
LETTER VI
To the Finsts. of. Immediate Emancipation. p. 165.
Incitements to zeal and equrage. 165.. Cautions against spu-
rious candour. 166.. Necessity of more numerous and urgent
petitions to Parliament. 170..Caution against the imposition
of slave-cultivated sugar for the produce of free labour.-
Strongly marked discouragement of the sale of West India
sugar recommended. 171.. Encouragement to perseverance
in the work of emancipation from the certain evidence of its
accordance with the Divine Will. 174... Miraculous inter-
vention not to be expected. 175. Emancipation not to be
suspended on the successful issue of commercial speculations,
it may be effected by a speedier process. 179. .Force of public
opinion.
THOUGHTS ON COMPENSATION, p. 183.
Misapplication of public sympathy. 188. . Its Injurious
effects. 190.. Claims of the slave - holders to compen-
sation groundless and audacious. 194.. On civil and poli-
tical as well as moral principles. 197..Passions of the Colo-
nists exasperated by all attempts at conciliation and conces-
sion. 198..Origin of West Indian slavery. 207.. Original
grants and permissions founded in fraud and falsehood. 208..
Charters all forfeited. 209.. Ultimate advantage resulting to
the Planter from emancipation. 216.. Superior profitableness
of free to slave labour. 216.. Compensation justly due to the
Slave not to the slave-holder, 219.
nard
Vine wat
Rexert
ace
92 0 SOC


LETTER I.
AN
EARNEST APPEAL
TO THB
Great Leaders of the Anti-Slavery Society:
In appealing to the great leaders of the Anti-
Slavery Society, we appeal to the concentrated
wisdom and virtue of the nation
consequently
the language of great deference and respect is
justly due.
None can appreciate more justly than we do,
the talents and virtues of those whom we thus
presume to address; their disinterested, perse-
vering exertions, in the great cause of humanity
and justice are beyond all praise; but no emi-
nence in virtue or talent exclude a liability to
error; imperfection is inseparable from humanity :
-the ablest, the wisest, the best men, who in
different ages have been an ornament and a bles-
sing to society, have been partially wise, imper-
fectly good; on some important point of opinion
1
B


2
many
or practice, the most enlightened have been in the
dark; the most acute and discerning, deceived ;
the most sincere and upright, opposed to the truth.
In the great conflict of right against might,
you have borne the heat and burden of the day ;
you have stemmed the strong torrent of West-
Indian interest and prejudice; you have rowed
hard against wind and tide, “ toiled all the night
and (have, as yet) taken nothing.” Ask your-
selves why the persevering exertion of so much
zeal, of so much talent, in a cause so just and so
righteous, should have been so little availing.
The appalling “view of Negro slavery exist-
ing in the British Colonies,” drawn up and cir-
culated by your Committee, in April, 1823, is
circulated again in 1825! Had any important
change, any change worth noticing taken place in
the system.--it would, of course, as a matter of
justice, have been recorded. But notwithstanding
the petitions to parliament, for its mitigation and
gradual abolition; notwithstanding the Orders in
Council, and meliorating measures, recommended
two years ago, to the colonial legislators; still, the
6 view of Negro slavery," as it exists in 1825, is
precisely the same as it existed in 1823 -- and
such, without miraculous invention, will it, in all
human probability, remain to the end of the cen-
tury- unless some important change be effected
in the sentiments and measures of the abolition-
ists ;
-unless there be a greater agreement between
* si
hanc
bane, of the
2, E, Mrse
eversing
resent of
pod redress


3
the evil they have exposed, and the remedy they
propose for it.
The evil they have exposed is of the most
enormous and flagitious nature; it involves, ac-
cording to their own statement, the worst crimes
which can disgrace, and the severest sufferings
which can afflict our fellow-Creatures ;-—" It out-
rages every feeling of humanity, every recognised
principle both of the British Constitution and of the
Christian religion.” The Abolitionists have in-
formed us that the objects of their sympathy, have,
" themselves or their parents, been the victims of
the Slave-trade. They were obtained by no LAW-
FUL MEANS, but by the most undisguised rapinë,
the most atrocious fraud. Torn from their homes,
from every dear relation in life, barbarously mana-
cled, or driven like' herds of cattle to the sea-shore,
crowded into the pestilential holds of slave-ships,
transported to our colonies, where they are branded
like cattle with hot irons ;—separated and sold with-
out regard to family ties, to the highest bidder ;-
compelled to labour, night as well as the day, for
the sole benefit of their owners, from whom they re-
ceive no wages ; — subjected, for any, or for no
offence, at the caprice of their master or his dele-
gate, to have their persons shamefully exposed and
barbarously tortured, with the Cart Whip, an in-
strumeut of dreadful severity, which cruelly lace-
rates the flesh of the sufferer ;-denied the means of
legal redress, even in cases of the most atrocious


4
.
T:
barbarity, by the rejection of their evidence in the
Colonial Courts,” &c. &c. —Therefore, this sys-
tem of barefaced injustice and merciless oppres-
sion, is only to be mitigated and gradually abo-
lished!! - What agreement we ask, is there
between such promises and such conclusions ?
An impenetrable veil of mystery and delusion
seems to envelope and screen this enormity from
merited and prompt destruction. The wisest and
the best seem to be withheld from applying to it,
not their own superior wisdom and exalted prin-
ciples merely, but that common sense and common
justice which govern common mortals in their
ordinary transactions. On the subject of West-
Indian slavery, a theme in the abstract, so inex-
haustibly fruitful of eloquent declamation and
powerful argument, the wisest and the best, when
they come to the practical application of their
own cogent reasonings, seem to reverse their
ordinary every day conclusions.
“ No effectual
steps (the Abolitionists inform us) have
taken, since the extinction of the slave trade
(eighteen years ago) either by this country or the
colonists for softening the rigour of Negro bondage”
or for putting an end to “ a condition of society,
which outrages every feeling of humanity, every re-
cognized principle both of the British constitution
and the christian religion.”—And therefore they
yet been
.. See a
Brief view of the nature and effects of Negro
slavery," published by the Anti-Slaiery Society.


5
still propose only to mitigate and gradually to
abolish it!!
Suffer, we entreat you, the word of serious
and earnest remonstrance. Compel yourselves
to examine afresh, the ground you have taken
as Gradual Abolitionists,—and see whether it be
such as affords any rational hope of success ;-see
whether it be not hollow and treacherous ground,
which it is high time to abandon. Hollow and
treacherous we are confident that it is—and dan-
gerous also,--dangerous to your own principles,
as well as treacherous to the cause you have em-
braced. The proposition for Gradual emancipa-
tion is, we are confident, secretly sapping the
foundation of public virtue, paralizing its resolu-
tion, familiarizing and reconciling us to crime;
rendering us a Nation of hypocrites,--empty
preluders to humanity and justice, who expose
and reprobate crime, not to extirpate but to
tolerate and foster it ;—who plead, for the op-
pressed and miserable, not to rescue, but to
abandon them. This pusillanimous proposition
is operating like a powerful opiate on our feel-
ings and principles ;—it is neutralizing our sym-
pathy, palsying our exertion, and benumbing our
charity in behalf of the poor Negro like the touch
of the torpedo.
Without the spirit of prophecy
we confidently predict that the mitigation and
gradual abolition of West-India slavery will,
humanly speaking, never be obtained ; and


6
tir
moreover, that if the great leaders of the Anti-
slavery Society, remain satisfied with no higher
aim, they themselves, the most enlightened and
humane, will find their feelings and their prin-
ciples gradually, imperceptibly accommodated,
like those of the Planters, to the existing state
of things ;-the wisest and the best, on this trite
and hackneyed subject, will come to have “ eyes
that see not-ears that hear not-hearts that un-
derstand not.” Such is the inevitable conse-
quence of tampering with conviction ; of familiar
knowledge of abuses, long acquaintance with
oppression and cruelty which are only partially
and feebly resisted.
If West-Indią slavery be the monstrous in-
justice and atrocity which you have represented
it, with what consistency can the friends of
humanity and justice tolerate and tamper with it?
We wish to be temperate,—to reason rather
than declaim on a business so momentous,-but
the mysterious incongruity in the language and
conduct of the Gradual Abolitionists, seems to
justify some warmth of remonstrance. Their
language has been in the highest degree, calculated
to rouse, and stimulate, general indignation against
slavery. They have represented it as involving
crimes of the deepest die, as a concentration,-
the very focal point of all crimes. Consistency
requires that the disclosure of its enormity should
be followed up, by determined and unremitting
IEI
ibe w
E
NATION-
i deomed


7
1
exertions for its speedy and utter extinction.--It
had been better never to have known the horrors
of the system, than having known, to tolerate
and cherish it. The exposure of its iniquity, so
long as it is suffered to exist, only occasions an
increase of crime and suffering ;-an increase of
crime in those, who .passively sanction, as well
as those who actively support it, in as much as
sins against light and knowledge are greater than
those of ignorance:--the sufferings of the slaves
will be aggravated by the bitter disappointment of
those hopes of redress which the public ex position
of their wrongs excited, and the rigours of their
bondage will be increased, so long as Gradual
emancipation, is hanging, in terrorem, over the
heads of the planters, who, exasperated by
British interference and fearing more decided
hostility, will determine to make the most of their
slave property whilst they have it in possession,
by extracting all the advantage they possibly can
out of it.
The work of emancipation, if it be not
vigourously pursued, had better never have been
meddled with. Insurrections have increased in
consequence of the knowledge obtained by the
slaves of the public sympathy and of the inter-
position of the British Government in their
favour ;--they claimed the benefit of that inter-
position-and have been massacred or executed,
or doomed to endure the protracted torture of a
.
1


8
by all
thousand lashes--and to labour in chains during
the residue of their lives, for their audacity.!!!
After all that has been said and written about
the shameful degradation, the enormous wrongs
of the poor Negro, what has he gained
our declamation against the atrocious injustice
and cruelty of which he is the victim? Worse
than nothing. His Tyrants have only strength-
ened their fortifications and entrenched themselves
deeper against future attacks, by organizing a
powerful body of supporters in this country,
backed with a capital of two millions, whereby
the ramifications of the slave-holding interest are
greatly extended and the chains of the slave more
strongly rivetted.
“ But there must be time allowed for the seed
sown in the cause of emancipation to take root."
Yes, but it has had time to take root-and to
bring forth abundantly,-- and its produce has
been suffered unprofitably to perish. By the
information which has been so copiously diffused
on the nature and effects of West Indian slavery,
the public sympathy and indignation have been
powerfully awakened—to no purpose~no right
direction has been given to them and they are
rapidly subsiding into the most torpid insen-
sibility.
“But great moral revolutions must be effected
Bider
mied Copt
el posare
onlined
. The
to remune
ped and
See the sentences passed on the insurgents at Demerara.
www
A


9
To keep up
by slow degree.” Why must they? There is a
warmth of feeling and an energy of principle
awakened by the first powerful conviction of the
duty and necessity of such revolutions which
would facilitate and expedite their accomplish-
ment. But this warmth of feeling and energy of
principle will gradually subside if not kept alive
by those vigourous exertions to which they in-
stinctively prompt; and when they have sub-
sided, the work of reformation will indeed be
effected by slow degrees. Reason, humanity,
justice, religion in such a case as this, all unite
in calling for dispatch, not delay.
the spirit of an enterprise it must advance,--if it
be a just and righteous one, the more rapidly,
the better.
“ But deeply rooted prejudices are not hastily
eradicated ;-long established interests, however
unjust in their origin, are not violently to be de-
stroyed.” Why are they not? Deeply rooted
prejudices, the longer they are suffered to grow,
will strike their roots the deeper; and long es-
tablished corrupt interests, ill-gotten, or ill-re-
tained possessions, are never voluntarily relin-
quished. The futile and audacious claims of the
slave-holders to the detention of their captives,
or to remuneration for their loss, have been often
exposed and indignantly repelled. It has been
proved that the labour of the slave, on the lowest
calculation of its value, replaces his cost, sup-


10
6
2
8.
a
J; Xe
posing it to have been so high as £140, in seven
years.
This consideration however, let it ever
be remembered, has no bearing whatever on the
justice of the question. The slave did not sell
himself,~consequently his purchaser has no right
to an equivalent out of his labour.
66 But the Planter will be ruined by the im-
mediate liberation of his slaves.” If, by the ruin
of the Planter, is meant only his temporary em-
barrassment and humiliation ;---We candidly say
"'tis a consumation devoutly to be wished.”—
'tis the natural, the necessary means of his cor-
rection, and improvement,--the only cure for his
pride and his insolence, his sordid selfishness and
hardheartness. - When were long established
habits of robbery, oppression and cruelty aban-
doned without humiliation and suffering ?-when
was vice cured without punishment ?-On the
petty robber it falls with unsparing hand. Is
theft criminal only in the poor? Is the crime
cancelled when committed by the rich on the
persons of the poor? Shall the poor man, who
steals a sheep, forfeit his life for it? And shall
the rich man who steals his Brother, or (which
is the same thing) detains him in unjust and
cruel bondage (being stolen) shall he be held
guiltless ? Shall he be required to make no
restitution till restitution be attended with no loss
TILRI
RAST W
ABIT
FUSCE
THER AS
< See “The West-Indies as they are," by the Rev. R.
Bickell, p. 245.
LATE
ABLATT


11
or inconvenience ? Shall “ the stolen captive”
never be reclaimed,—the helpless prey never
taken out of the hands of the robber,-till an
equivalent be provided, till no loss accompany
the restitution ?
“ But the Planters purchased their slaves, or
they obtained them by inheritance, and therefore
consider them as their rightful property.” AND
CAN THE PAYMENT OF ANY SUM, FOR AN
ARTICLE OVER WHICH THE SELLER HAD NO
RIGHT, IMPART ANY RIGHT TO THE PUR-
CHASER ? IMPOSSIBLE ! IF JUSTICE BE ANY
THING MORE THAN AN EMPTY NAME, -A
MERE NOSE OF WAX, WHICH MAY BE MOULD-
ED AND FITTED TO ANY FACE, THE HOLDER
OF THE SLAVE, WHETHER HE OBTAINED HIM
BY PURCHASE, OR BY INHERITANCE, IS AS
GUILTY AS THE ORIGINAL THIEF.
THE
RIGHT OF THE SLAVE TO HIS OWN FREEDOM
IS INHERENT IN HIMSELF ;HE DOES NOT
LOSE HIS RIGHT BECAUSE A ROBBER AND A
TYRANT WREST IT FROM HIM.
GOD MADE
HIM FREE- AND APPOINTED THE BOUNDS OF
HIS HABITATION IN THE WILD REGIONS OF
AFRICA, THE WRETCH WHO STOLE HIM
THENCE, COULD, BY NO POSSIBLE MEANS,
EITHER ACQUIRE, OR TRANSMIT, THE RIGHT
TO MAKE A SLAVE OF HIM, OR TO KEEP HIM
IN SLAVERY. HE HAS A RIGHT to HIS
LIBERTY; THROUGH WHATEVER NUMBER OF


12
-
TRANSFERS THE
USURPATION OF IT MAY
HAVE PASSED HIS RIGHT IS UNDIMINSHED
—AND SO IS THE CRIME OF WITHOLDING IT.
“ But of what advantage is it to contend for
his right, if he cannot obtain it? His possessor
will not voluntarily restore it;— the law will not
compel him,—and the slave himself has no power
of reclaiming it.” But though his possessor re-
fuses voluntarily to liberate him ;- though he be
unable to assert his own liberty; though British
law has hitherto declined to award it because it
has never yet been demanded; - it may yet be
had for asking. It could not be withheld by the
British Government from the united claims of
humanity, justice and religion, if boldly and per-
severingly urged. The Abolitionists have hi-
therto gained nothing for their poor clients, be-
cause they have asked too little.
“ But immediate emancipation is regarded by
the sober and dispassionate, as a wild and imprac-
ticable theory, scarcely entitled to a serious
thought.” — Wild and extravagant as it may ap-
pear in some quarters, in others, it is rapidly
gaining ground--and we trust the time is not far
distant when this startling proposition will cease
to alarm the most sober and dispassionate, and be
unanimously adopted by every friend of justice
and humanity.
Negro slavery, being, (according to the declared
convictions of the gradual abolitionists) “ an oul-
Pages )
Hoe vera


13
rage of every feeling of humanity, every recog-
nized principle both of the British Constitution and
of the Christian Religion”-its existence on Bri-
tish ground, must be regarded by them as an
open mockery of her laws, - an impious defiance
of her religion ;-they must see it pointing with
the finger of scorn and derision to her pretended
equal administration of justice, -- her high chris-
tian profession;- writing on her criminal courts
· Tyranny,”- on her christian temples “ Hypo-
crisy ;” — displaying with insulting triumph, its
broad license to commit injustice, robbery and
sacrilege, in comparison of which the crimes
which crowd our prisons and furnish the execu-
tioner with ceaseless occupation are slight and
venia). For a long season the public were unac-
quainted with the real nature of this abomination;
- it is an infernal birth, which has for ages,
thriven in darkness ;—at length it has been dragged
to light;- rather, it has with blind and frantic
infatuation, obtruded and forced itself into light.
The frightful monster, with hideous hissings, has
darted into public view, unfolded its enormous
coils, stretched the full length of its horrid de-
formity in broad day-light. It has reared its
brazen front, displayed its poisoned fangs — and
has menaced and defied both earth and heaven.
d Witness, the late transactions in Barbadoes and Demerara :
Trial of the Missionary Smith ; Language of the Colonists
on the receipt of the Orders in Counsel, &c. &c.


14
-
3
And shall we suffer it to live to continue its ra.
vages, - to taint the moral atmosphere around it
with poisonous infection, - to blast with pesti-
ferous breath every principle of justice, humanitý
and religion within its reach? Or shall we with
cruel and imbecile lenity, instead of crushing it at
once, condemn it to die by inches, doom it to
gradual destruction, - to lingering torments ?
You admit that it is worthy of death, — that its
protracted existence is protracted crime and mi-
sery, disgrace and infamy. And can crime and
misery be too soon arrested ? can disgrace and
infamy be too soon obliterated ? Slavery is the
one grand impediment to the moral renovation
both of the Negro and his master. If the slaves
are kept in bondage for another generation, they
will not be at all better prepared for freedom
than they now are,-
are, - nor will their tyrants
be at all more willing to relinquish their pre-
tended right to them. No good reason can be
given for suffering slavery in the British colonies
to exist for another year which cannot be given
for its existence for interminable ages.
In the proposition for Gradual emancipation
there is a manifest dereliction of the fundamental
principle on which emancipation is grounded, à
tacit denial of that unqualified right of the slave
to freedom on which rests all the justice of his
enfranchisement, By acceding to his remaining
in slavery until he shall be better qualified for


15
freedom, or until, by a stipulated quantity of
labour he shall, in a course of years, have worked
out or purchased his own freedom,—the right of
his possessor is recognised to hold him in bondage ;
and the same sort of reasoning which can justify
the withstanding his liberty for a year or a day,
will justify the witholding it for ever.
“But Gradual emancipation, is defended on the
ground of expediency rather than that of strict
justice.” But by quitting the high ground of
justice, for that of expediency, the impregnable
bulwarks of the cause are surrounded, and its
advocates, instead of struggling for eternal prin-
ciples of right,-contend for a delusive phantom,
-an ignis-fatuus which will perpetually elude
For Gradual emancipation, what-
ever may be said of its expediency, will be
found utterly unattainable. The proposition has
done nothing, and will do nothing but deceive
and betray ;-deceive its individual advocates
with vain imaginations of the utility of their la-
bours--and betray the cause of emancipation into
the hands of its enemies. An emancipation so
gradual as would have been attained by a law se-
curing the freedom of all Negro children born
after a specific time has been solicited in vain.
We are bold enough to predict that the solici,
tation of a law for the prompt and complete ex-
tinction of slavery would meet a more successful
issue. By the last discussion of the question in
their grasp


16
EP
Parliament, the Planters are said to have gained a
complete triumph. With insolent audacity they
resist the authority of the British Legislature, and
set at nought both its recommendations, and its
laws. They assume the control of absolute mo-
narchs, lawless tyrants,—they hold no party with
justice,-make no concession to humanity. They
have the power and are determined to surrender
no modicum of it to treaty or remonstrance.
Had the best concerted measures for the mi-
tigation and gradual abolition of colonial slavery
been fully acceded to by the British Government,
--and the Colonists, instead of openly resisting,
had, from motives of policy, appeared to acquiesce;
-still they would have contrived to evade their
operation. No plans of melioration or gradual
emancipation have any chance of taking effect in
such a soil. What says the report of Mr. Cooper
after a residence of three years on the estate of a
Planter who invested him with full authority to
improve the condition of his slaves ? « HE COULD
DO NOTHING.–The habits and prejudices of
the Colonists, independently of their laws, ren-
dered IMPROVEMENT IMPRACTICABLE.” What
says the journal of the martyred missionary
Smith ? “ THE (slave) SYSTEM IS INCAPABLE
OF IMPROVEMENT,_IT MUST BE A BOLISHED
ALTOGETHER.'
The proposition of gradual instead of imme-
diate emancipation has utterly failed as far as
t were ale
bezberdhed
styperces


17
1
1
4
1
rgards the conciliation of the Planters, they hav-
ing as vehemently protested against the one as
the other. The exercise of unlimited power
having so completely blinded their understand-
ings, hardened their hearts and subjected them to
the tyranny of their own lawless passions, that it
will be found far more difficult to subject them,
than their slaves, to the restraints of reason and
justice. If conduct is ever to be regarded as the
surest test of principle, how high, in the scale of
morals does the poor Negro mount above his
master! Patience, fortitude, magnanimity, bound-
less gratitude to his benefactor, - forgiveness of
injuries ;-are his ordinary characteristics :'-and
1
• The following anecdote is selected, from many others
of a similar character, from the “ West Indies as they are.”
“In the city of Kingston, where there are eight or ten
thousand slaves, and a greater number of free Blacks and
free people of colour, there was a strong guard kept all the
holidays, and fearful rumours were afloat, of the horrid and
diabolical intentions of the slaves. It was said that they
were all to rise on a certain night, to set fire to the city in
ten places, and murder all the white people as they should
come out of their dwellings. The free blacks and people of
colour were also suspected of being inclined to join them.
But an incident happened, just before the commencement of
the holidays, which completely satisfied my mind that all
those fears were idle dreams. A fire occurred within fifty
yards of my own residence; it broke out about ten o'clock
at night, and as I was retiring to my bed-chamber, I heard
the exclamations of the mistress of the house, crying Fire! Fire!
Soon after the drums beat, and the church bell struckout, giving
the alarm. I ran up stairs, and from a back gallery could
clearly perceive the fire, which was very alarming. Though
с


18
if in spite of the brutal ignorance, the heathen
darkness in which his task-master would bind
him, - he should happily hear and embrace the
glad tidings of the Gospel—then might the high-
est professor of religion look to the slave for prac-
tical illustrations of its transforming efficacy.
What though, whilst forcibly withheld, (as the far
life by
I never gave
full credit to the rumours of the horrid inten-
tions of the Negroes, yet I was somewhat staggered, and
hardly knew what to do, being the only white person in the
house. I considered, however, that if the fire was not got
under in half an hour, it would reach us, and we should be
burnt out or perish in the flames; so that if a conspiracy
were taking place I might as well be murdered as burnt;
and that moreover, I should have some chance of
my
fighting for it; so I resolved to go out and do my best.
Calling therefore my own black servant, and arming myself,
I proceeded to the conflagration, and found very few whites
indeed, but many people of colour and blacks, free persons
as well as slaves, who were all busily employed in carrying
water, and otherwise assisting to extinguish the burning
mass. I remained there till the fire was got under, and I
never saw people behave better than the free people of colour
and the slaves did. It may be truly said, that they saved the
city from much damage, for it was in great danger. They
prevented the flames spreading before the firemen or soldiers
arrived at the spot; for as to the few whites who were there,
they did little or nothing. Had the slaves and people of
colour then been inclined to mischief, they had an excellent
opportunity, for there were no armed men to prevent their
extending the fire. On the contrary, however, they and they
only, put a stop to it, and by so doing, completely shewed
that they were not deserving of the infamous insinuations
spread abroad to the injury of their character."
The following anecdote was inserted in a respectable pro-
vincial paper, published a few weeks since. - When the late,
Te minds


19
A THEFT UPON
greater proportion of them are) from all know-
ledge of the true religion, he be justly charged
with propensities to theft and idleness,—how can
such propensities, in his circumstances, be re-
garded as crime?
THE MASTER COMMITS
THE PERSON OF THE SLAVE, IN HOLDING
HIM IN UNJUST AND CRUEL BONDAGE, COM-
PARED TO THE ENORMITY OF WHICH, ALL
OTHÉR THEFTS ARE SLIGHT AND VENIAL;-
and it is preposterous to accuse a human being of
idleness, from whom every stimulant to labour is
withheld, but that of the cart-whip! It is the
slave-owners (generally speaking) far more than
the slaves, who have proved themselves unqua-
lified for liberty who stand most in need of coer-
cion — who are most deficient in religion and
morals. The great majority not only reject reli-
gion themselves, but, like the dog in the manger,
exclude their poor captives from all participation
in its blessing. With a few honourable excep-
Edward Rushton, of Liverpool, early in life, was engaged in
the sea service, he was one day detached with a boat's crew,
of which Quimina, a negro, for whom he had contracted a
friendship, and whom he had taught to read, was one. The
boat upset, and Rushton attempted to reach a small water
cask, a point of safety which Quimina had already attained.
The poor African, with a warmth of generosity to which tu-
tored minds would probably have been strangers, seeing that
his benefactor was too much exhausted to reach the cask,
pushed it from himself towards him, bade him "Good bye,'
and sunk to rise no more."
C2


20
tions, the evidences are so palpable of the pro-
fligacy and impiety of slave-holders ;- in Barba-
does and Demerara these evidences have recently
been so infamously marked, in their outrage of all
law and justice,—their malignant hostility to reli-
gion,—their bitter persecution of its ministers,
their savage and relentless barbarity towards the
wretched victims of their lawless power, when
feebly struggling, not for the recovery of their
rightful possession, but merely for that little dole
of charity, that modicum of mercy, which the
British Government had dealt out to them,-
that there can be no question, in the estimation
of impartial justice, which of the two parties, the
slave or his master, may be most safely entrusted
with liberty.
We may as well close our ears and our hearts
for ever to the deep groans of these 800,000 of
our oppressed and abused fellow-creatures, as
persist in pleading for their gradual emancipation.
FROM THE FIRST MOMENT WHEN THE JUS-
TICE OF THEIR EMANCIPATION
WAS
AD-
MITTED, EVERY DAY'S DELA Y IS DEDUCTING
SOMETHING FROM THE CONVICTION OF ITS
ADDING
SOMETHING
TO THE
DUTY, AND
DIFFICULTY OF ITS ACCOMPLISHMENT. Had
the Colonists acceded to the meliorating measures
recommended by the British Government, eman-
cipation (humanly speaking) might for ever have
been despaired of. For what is the present grand


21
opposing plea of the West Indians and their nu-
merous partizans ? That their slaves are more
contented and happy than the British peasantry;
—that emancipation would be cruelty instead of
kindness! - How then would they exclaim
against the aggravated barbarity of emancipation
had the condition of slavery, by the adoption of
the proposed improvements, been rendered still
more felicitous ? The true Friends of emancipa-
tion may congratulate themselves that the
Colonists have resisted and scouted these same
meliorating propositions, since their adoption
would, in all human probability, have been fatal
to their object.—At all events, they would greatly
have retarded it by rendering the duty less
obviously urgent.
We have seen in the conduct of France, what
has been the result of the proposition of gradual
abolition, as applied to the slave trade ;-what
consequences have followed a full recognition of
the principles of justice without their immediate
adoption,-a distinct avowal of guilt without its
instant abandonment. The late King of France,
in the definitive treaty of peace signed in 1814,
(after the first fall of Bonaparte) admitted that the
slave trade was “repugnant to the principles of
natural justice”—and agreed to relinquish it in
five years from the date of this admission!! The
five
years
demanded by France, and granted by
the British Ambassador to continue (or rather to


22
create a new slave trade; for France had not, at
that time, a foot of ground on the habitable globe
to be cultivated by the toil and blood of a single
Negro:-she had no property embarked in that
commerce of human misery; all her colonies had
been conquered; and in them all, the slave trade
had been abolished by the irreversible decree of
Great Britain, the absolute possessor of them):
the five years granted to France to pursue this
new created traffic in the bones and muscles of
living men, has long since expired, yet it is still
pursued in full vigour. The fiend-like cruelty,
with which it is carried on by that country is lit-
tle known and less regarded by our own. Look
at the 15th and 18th Reports of the African Insti-
tution, to see in what manner his most Christian
Majesty carries on this merchandize in • slaves
and souls of men'-years after their sovereign
had stipulated to abandon it!'
Does the example of France in illustration
of the principle of gradual abolition, as applied
to the slave trade, afford no warning to us against
its application to slavery? His late - Most
Christian Majesty,” in 1814, admitted the slave
trade to be “repugnant to the principles of natural
justice," and agreed to relinquish it in five years :
---yet still it is carried on by France, with in-
creased avidity and aggravated cruelty. Mr.
1979
C
P
het en to
2. than
sice by
pened at
"See Montgomery's “ Voyage of the Blind."


23
1
Canning, in 1823, admitted, “ That it is expedient
to adopt effectual and decisive measures, for melio-
rating the condition of the slave population in His
Majesty's Colonies, and preparing them for a par-
ticipation in those civil rights and privileges, which
are enjoyed by other classes of His Majesty's sub-
jects.”—Yet slavery, in unmitigated rigour still
exists in the British Colonies. The Abolitionists
are said to have gained something, by these con-
cessions of France and of the British Minister.
What have they gained—but the conviction that
all their labours to disclose the enormities both
of the slave trade and of slavery, have been utterly
fruitless-worse than lost labour? The trade has
been carried on with keener avidity, with more
relentless barbarity since the concession of France
than before. And may not similar results be
anticipated from all the labours of the Anti-slavery
Society, to disclose the enormities of slavery in
the British Colonies, so long as they aim only at
its gradual abolition? An action had better never
have been proved and admitted to be criminal, if
after having been so proved and admitted it is
still to be publicly sanctioned and legalized. It
is better to sin in ignorance, or by secret conni-
vance, than to sin against conviction by public
licence-better for the criminal-better for society
-since by the latter course, the culprit is em-
boldened and rendered irreclaimable, and crime


24
instead of being winked at, is publicly authorized
as crime.
Are we not fully warranted in the conclusion
that gradual emancipation has no ground either
of justice or expediency, to stand upon ? May
we not reasonably call for its abandonment on
this ground, if on no other, (viz.) that it is making
no progress, that it is literally standing still, that
its supporters however earnest, however indefati-
gable, are labouring in vain,-spending precious
time and precious talents to no purpose. From
this delusion,—this " baseless fabric of a vision,”
it is devoutly to be hoped they will speedily
awake.
The restoration of the poor Negroes' liberty
must be the beginning of our colonial reform, the
first act of justice, the pledge of our sincerity. It
is the only solid foundation, on which the refor-
mation of the slave, and the still more needful
reformation of his usurping owner, can be built.
Recent transactions prove incontestibly, that
slavery has a far more malignant influence upon
the latter,-in as much as moral degradation is
worse than physical. The perversion of mind,
hardness of heart, and moral depravity consequent
on slave-holding ;-its shocking effects on the
higher and cultivated classes ;-" on men of edu-
cation and liberal attainments”;-and even upon
the softer sex, in obliterating their natural tender-
22
2:32
e at
un
carpa
hoch.
hoe The


25.
E
ness, and substituting in its place a disgusting
and ferocious cruelty ;-is delineated with tempe-
rate, yet dreadful accuracy, by the very intelligent
and benevolent Adam Hodgson in his “ Letters
from North America. 5
But the grand objection to immediate eman-
cipation, that, which with the great leaders of the
Anti-slavery society is said to outweigh all the
rest, is the interest of the slave himself. Were he
in a fit state to be intrusted with the full posses-
sion of his liberty, it is freely admitted that we
have no right to withhold it a day-no, “not a
single hour, on account of any intermediate ad-
vantage to be derived from his labour.” That
he is in a fit state to be intrusted with the full
possession of his liberty has been abundantly pro-
ved by the laborious investigations of one of the
most cautious and dispassionate of your own body.'
It is true indeed, that the avowed object of his
indefatigable labours is to recommend gradual
emancipation, but the facts which he has brought
forward and the powerful reasoning which he has
built upon them, fully establish the conviction
that all apprehensions of danger from immediate
& See Letter 11th, pages 189 and 191.
h Such at least, is the declared conviction of the Member for
Norwich.
See “ Thoughts on the necessity of improving the con-
dition of the slave in the British Colonies, with a view to their
ultimate emancipation," by T. Clarkson, Esq.,


26
weit
మద, at
The serc
emancipation are groundless and futile. Familiar
as his important " Thoughts” upon the subject
must be to every well informed Abolitionist,
some passages present such irrefragable proof of
the safety with which the slave may be entrusted
with liberty, both as it regards himself and his
master, that we cannot withhold their insertion.
“ In examining a period comprehending the
last forty years, I find no less than six or seven in-
stances of the emancipation of African slaves in
bodies. The first occurred at the close of the
first American war. A number of slaves had
run away from their North American masters and
joined the British army. When peace arrived,
their services were no longer wanted. To leave
them behind to fall again into the hands of their
former masters would have been great cruelty as
well as injustice. It was therefore determined to
give them their liberty, to disband them in Nova
Scotia, and to settle them there upon grants of
land as British subjects and as free men.
The
Nova Scotians on learning their destination were
alarmed. They could not bear the thought of
having such a number of free blacks among them,
particularly as they understood the use of arms.
Government however, persevering in its intention,
distributed them into the country, to the amount
of two thousand and upwards. To gain their
livelihood, some worked upon little portions of
land of their own ; others worked as carpenters;
wers. Bu
Patri of
question Wor
Supi
Rodiord. I


27
others became fishermen. In process of time they
raised places of worship of their own, and had
ministers of their own from their own body,
They lead a harmless life, and gained the charac-
ter of an industrious and honest people, from their
white neighbours, A few years afterwards the
climate being found too cold for their consti-
tutions, a number of them, to the amount of
between thirteen and fourteen hundred, volun-
teered to form a new colony, which was then first
thought of, at Sierra Leone. And they are to be
found there, they or their descendants, most of
them in independent, and some in affluent cir-
cumstances, at the present day.'
“ The second case may be taken from what
occurred at the close of the second, or last Ame-
rican war. Some hundreds of slaves joined the
British standard, by invitation, in the southern
states of America.
When the campaign was
over, the same difficulty occurred about disposing
of these as in the former case. It was determined
at length to ship them to Trinidad as free la-
bourers. But here, an objection was started against
receiving them, on a different ground from that
which had been started in Nova Scotia. The
Planters of Trinidad were sure that no free Negroes
would ever work, and therefore that the slaves in
question would, if made free and settled among
them, support themselves by plunder. Sir Ralph
Woodford, however, the Governor of the island,


28
resisted the outcry of these prejudices. He re-
ceived them into the island and settled them
where he supposed the experiment would be most
safely made. The result has shewn his discern-
ment. These very men, formerly slaves in the
Southern States of America and afterwards
emancipated in a body at Trinidad, are now earn-
ing their own livelihood, and with so much
industry and good conduct, that the calumnies
originally spread against them have entirely died
away.”
“ A third case comprehends those Negroes
which composed our West-Indian black regiments.
Certain of these regiments were tran-ported to
Sierra Leone and disbanded there, and the indivi-
duals composing them received their discharge as
free men. This happened in the spring of 1819.
Many hundreds of them were set at liberty at once
upon this occasion. Some of these were after-
wards marched into the interior, where they
founded Waterloo, Hastings, and other villages.
They were all settled by grants given them by
Government. It appears from accounts received
from Sir Charles M.Carthy, the Governor of
Sierra Leone, that they have conducted themselves
to his satisfaction, and that they will prove a
valuable addition to that colony."
“ A fourth case may comprehend what we
call the captured Negroes in the colony last men-
tioned. These are totally distinct from those
ISH
» Here
Twaida
SEX
alcom
* not


29
either in the first or last cases which have been
mentioned. These were taken out of slave ships
captured at different times from the commence-
ment of the abolition of the slave trade to the
present moment, and on being landed they were
made free. After having been recruited in their
health they were marched in bodies into the in-
terior, where they were taught to form villages
and to cultivate land for themselves. They were
made free as they were landed from the vessels, from
fifty to two or three hundred at a time. They oc-
cupy at present twelve towns, in which they have
both their churches and their schools. Regent's
Town having been one of the first established,
has become a pattern for industry and good exam-
ple. The people there have now fallen entirely
into the habits of English society. They are de-
cently and respectably dressed. They attend
divine worship regularly. They exhibit an orderly
and moral conduct. Many of them after having
supplied their own wants for the year, have a
surplus produce in hand for the purchase of com-
forts or superfluities.”
“ Here then are four cases of slaves, either
Africans or descendants of Africans, emancipated
in considerable bodies at a time. I have kept them
by themselves, because they are of a different
complexion from those which I intend should
follow. It will be said that the three first cases
are not strictly analogous to that of our West


80
Indian slaves, whose emancipation we are seeking.
It will be contended that the slaves in our West
Indian colonies have been constantly in an abject
and degraded state. Their faculties are benumbed.
They have contracted all the vices of slavery.
They are become habitually thieves and liars.
Their bosoms burn with revenge against the
Whites. How then can persons in such a state
be fit to receive their freedom? The slaves,
comprehended in the three cases above mentioned,
found in the British army a school which fitted
them by degrees for making a good use of their
liberty. While there, they were never out of the
reach of discipline, and yet were daily left to act
as free men. They obtained also in this prepara-
tory school some knowledge of the customs of
eivilized life. Hence it will be said, they were
in a state much more favourable for undergoing
a change in their condition than the West Indian
slaves. I admit the difference between the two
situations. But as' a comparison has been insti-
tuted it must not be forgotten, that if there was
less danger in emancipating the other slaves,
because they had received something like a pre-
paratory education for the change, there was far
more in another point of view, because they were
all acquainted with the use of arms. This is a con-
sideration of great importance.
Would our
West Indian Planters be as much at their ease as
they now are, if their slaves had acquired a know-
2
213
histle
ander the


31
1
1
1
ledge of the use of arms ? Would they think
them on this account more or less fit for eman-
cipation?”
“ It will be said again, that the fourth case,
consisting of the Sierra Leone captured negroes,
is not strictly analogous to the one in point.
These had probably been slaves but a short time,
when they were returned to the rank of free men.
Little or no change therefore could have been
effected in their disposition and character; and as
they were never carried to the West Indies, they
never contracted the bad habits, or degrading vices
of slavery there. It will therefore be contended,
that they were better, or less hazardous subjects
for emancipation, than the slaves in our colonies.
I admit this objection, I give it its full weight.
I admit it to be less hazardous to emancipate a
new than an old slave. Yet the case of the Sierra
Leone captured negroes is a very strong one.
They were all Africans. They were all slaves.
They must have contracted as mortal a hatred of
the Whites from their sufferings on board ship,
by fetters, whips, and suffocation in the hold, as
the West Indian slaves from those severities which
are attached to their bondage upon shore. Under
these circumstamces then we find them made
free;
;- not after any preparatory disicipline, but
almost suddenly, — not singly, but in bodies at a
time. We find them also settled or made to live
under the unnatural government of the whites;


32
-
and what is moreextraordinary, we find their present
number as compared with that of the whites in
the same colony, nearly as one hundred and fifty
to one."
.
*
OF THIS.
意
​“ It will be said, lastly, that all the four cases
put together prove nothing. They give us
nothing like a positive assurance, that the negro
slaves in our colonies would pass through the
ordeal of emancipation without danger to their
masters or the community at large, Certainly
not. Nor if these instances had been far more
numerous than they are, could they, in this world
of accidents, have given us a MORAL CERTAINTY
They afford however a hope, that
emancipation is practicable without danger. They
afford ground for believing, that there is a pecu-
liar softness, plasticity, and pliability in the
African character.”
“ The fifth case may comprehend the slaves
of St. Domingo, as they were made free at differ-
ent intervals in the course of the French revolu-
tion. To do justice to this case I must give a
brief history of the circumstances connected with
it. When the French Revolution which decreed
equality of rights to all citizens, had taken place,
the free people of colour in St. Domingo, many
of whom were persons of large property and
liberal education, petitioned the national as-
sembly, that they might enjoy the same privileges
as the whites there. At length their petition was
2 irte
NEWS
red as a
2. ast
to the
FEED the
te koop
mably kne
ad. 'ustic
Tesc
"), whi


39
granted, but in terms so ambiguous as to occasion
disturbances and bloodshed between the whites
and people of colour. In 1791, the people of
colour petitioned the assembly again, the result
of which was a more explicit decree, determining
that the people of colour in all the French Islands
were entitled to all the rights of citizenship, pro-
vided they were born of free parents. The news
of this decree had no sooner arrived at the Cape,
than it produced an indignation almost amounting
to phrenzy among the whites. They trampled
under foot the national cockade, and with difficulty
were prevented from seizing all the French mer-
chant-ships in the roads. The two parties armed
against each other. Horrible massacres and con-
flagrations followed, the reports of which, when
brought to the mother country, were so terrible,
that the Assembly abolished the decree in favour
of the free people of colour in the sme year.
The news of the rescinding of this decree pro-
duced as much irritation among the people of
colour, as the news of the passing of it had done
among the whites, and hostilities were renewed
between them. New battles, massacres, and
burnings, took place. When these events be-
came known in France, the Conventional As-
sembly knew not what other course to take than
to do justice, whatever might be the consequences.
They resolved accordingly that the decree of
1791, which had been both made and reversed
D


34
by the preceding Assembly in the same year,
should stand good, and appointed Santhonax and
Polverel to repair in person to St. Domingo, to
act as commissioners, to enforce the decree, and
to keep the peace. In 1793, the same divisions
and bad blood continuing, the commissioners,
who had little more power than the authority
which their commission gave them, resolved to
call in the Negro slaves in the neighbourhood to
their assistance, and issued a proclamation, pro-
mising freedom to all the blacks who were willing
to range themselves under the banners of the Re-
public. The result was, that a considerable num-
ber of slaves came in and were enfranchised.
Soon after this transaction Polverel left his col-
league at the Cape, and visited the capital of the
South, where, finding the minds of the slaves to
be in an unsettled state, in consequence of their
having become acquainted with the riots at the
Cape, and the proclamation of Santhonax, and
being convinced that emancipation could neither
be stopped nor retarded, and that it was absolutely
necessary for the personal safety of the white
Planters, that it should be extended to the whole
island, drew up a proclamation to that effect, and
exhorted the planters to patronize it, they having
become pretty generally convinced by this time
that their own personal safety was concerned in
the measure.
In 1794, the Conventional As-
sembly of France passed a decree for the abolition
ww
Veu
demany
carose


35
of slavery throughout the whole of the French
Colonies.”
“ I shall now inquire how those who were li-
berated on these several occasions conducted
themselves after this change in their situation,
whether they used their freedom properly, or
whether they abused it. With respect to those
emancipated in the North, we have nothing to
communicate. They were made free for military
purposes only; and we have no clue whereby to
find what became of them afterwards. Respecting
those emancipated in the South, and those di-
rectly afterwards in the West, by the proclamation
of Polverel, we are able to give a very pleasing
account. Fortunately for our views, Colonel
Malenfant, who was resident in the island at the
time, has made us acquainted with their general
conduct and character. His account, though
short, is quite sufficient for our purpose.
. After
this public act of emancipation (says he) by Pol-
verel, the Negroes remained quiet both in the
South and the West, and they continued to work
upon all the plantations. There were estates,
indeed, which had neither owners nor managers
residing upon them, for some had been put in
prison, and others, fearing the same fate, had fled.
Yet upon these estates, though abandoned, the
Negroes continued their labours, where there
were any inferior agents to guide them; and on
those estates where no white men were left to
D2


96
11-
2 AT
direct them they planted provisions; but upon
all the plantations where the whites resided, the
blacks continued to labour as quietly as before.'
Ridiculing the notion entertained in France, that
the Negroes would not work without compulsion,
he alludes to others who had been liberated by
the same proclamation, more immediately under
his own cognizance. “If (says he) you will take
care not to speak to them of their return to sla-
very, but talk to them about their liberty, you
may with this little word chain them down to
their labour. How did Toussaint succeed?
How did I succeed before his time in the plain of
the Cul de Saç, and on the plantation Gourand,
more than eight months after liberty had been
granted by Polverel to the slaves ? Let those
who knew me at that time be asked. They will
all reply, that not a single Negro upon that plan-
tation, consisting of more than four hundred and
fifty labourers, refused to work; and yet this
plantation was thought to be under the worst dis-
cipline, and the slaves the most idle of any in the
plain. I, myself, inspired the same activity into
three other plantations, of which I had the ma-
nagement.' Such was the conduct of the Negroes
for the first nine months after their liberation, or
up
to the middle of 1794. Let us pursue the
subject, and see how they conducted themselves
after this period.”
yang
Tite
ne
bat both
ated NC
elres
, de
xhelore
1996; 1
I have


37
During the year 1795 and part of 1796, I
learn nothing about them, good, bad, or indif-
ferent, though I have ransacked the French his-
torians for this purpose. Had there, however,
been any thing in the way of outrage, I should
have heard of it: and let me take this opportunity
of setting my readers right, if, for want of knowing
the dates of occurrences, they should have con-
nected certain outrages, which assuredly took
place in St. Domingo, with the emancipation of the
slaves. The great massacres and conflagrations,
which have made so frightful a picture in the his-
tory or this unhappy island, had been all effected
before the proclamations of Santhonax and Pol-
verel. They had all taken place in the days of
slavery. They had been occasioned, too, not
originally by the slaves, but by quarrels between
the white and coloured planters, and between the
royalist and the revolutionists, who, for the pur-
pose of reeking their vengeance upon each other,
called in the aid of their respective slaves. I re-
peat, then, that during the years 1795 and 1796, I
find nothing wherewith to reproach the emanci-
pated Negroes in the way of outrage. There is
every reason to believe, that they conducted them-
selves, during this period, in as orderly a manner
as before."
“I come now to the latter part of the year
1796; here, happily, a clue is furnished, by which
I have an opportunity of pursuing my inquiry


38
Leader
with pleasure. We shall find, that from this time
there was no want of industry in those who had
been emancipated, no want of obedience in them
as hired servants: they maintained a respectable
character. Let us first appeal to Malenfant.
· The colony (says he) was flourishing under
Toussaint. The whites lived happily and in peace
on their estates, and the Negroes continued to
work for them. Now, Toussaint became General-
in-Chief of the armies of St. Domingo, a little
before the end of 1796, and remained in power
till 1802, or till the invasion of the island by the
French expedition of Buonaparte, under Le Clerc..
Malenfant means therefore to state, that from the
latter end of 1796 to 1802, a period of six years,
the planters kept possession of their estates ; that
they lived upon them peaceably; and finally,
that the Negroes, though they had been all set
free, continued to be their labourers. Can there
be
any
account more favourable to our views than
this, after so sudden an emancipation ?”
“ I appeal next to General Lacroix, who pub-
lished his · Memoirs for a History of St. Do-
mingo,' at Paris, in 1819. He informs us, that
when Santhonax, who had been recalled to France,
returned to the colony in 1796, he was as-
tonished at the state in which he found it on his
return. The same author tells us, that in the
next year (1797) the most wonderful progress
had been made in agriculture. • The colony
UA
has bee
dhe ved
ZDA


39
1
1
(says he) marched, as by enchantment, towards
its ancient splendour; cultivation prospered ;
every day produced perceptible proofs of its pro-
gress. The city of the Cape, and the plantations
of the North, rose up again visibly to the eye!'
Now I am far from wishing to attribute all this
wonderful improvement to the mere act of the
emancipation of the slaves. But I must be al-
lowed to maintain, that unless the Negroes, who
were made free, had done their part as labourers,
both by working regularly and industriously, and
by obeying the directions of their superintendants,
the colony could never have gone on, as relates
to cultivation, with the rapidity described.”
“ The next witness to whom I shall appeal, is
the estimable General Vincent, who lives now at
Paris, though at an advanced age. He was sta-
tioned in St. Domingo during the time both of
Santhonax and Toussaint. He was also a pro-
prietor of estates in the island. He was the man
who planned the renovation of its agriculture after
the abolition of slavery, and one of the great in-
struments in bringing it to the perfection men-
tioned by Lacroix. In the year 1801, he was
called upon by Toussaint to repair to Paris, to lay
before the Directory the new constitution, which
had been agreed upon in St. Domingo. He
obeyed the summons. He arrived in France just
at the moment of the peace of Amiens, and found,
to his inexpressible surprise and grief, that Buo-
1
1


40
naparte was preparing an immense armament, to
be commanded by Le Clerc, for the purpose of
restoring slavery in St. Domingo. He lost no
time in seeing the First Consul, and he had the
courage to say at this interview, what, perhaps
no other man in France would have dared to say
at this particular moment.
He remonstrated
against the expedition ;-he told him to his face,
that though the army destined for this purpose
was composed of the brilliant conquerors of
Europe, it could do nothing in the Antilles. He
stated that the expedition was totally unnecessary,
and therefore criminal; for every thing was going
on well in St. Domingo. The proprietors were
in peaceable possession of their estates; cultivation
was making rapid progress; the blacks were indus-
trious, and beyond example happy. He conjured
him therefore in the name of humanity, not to
reverse this beautiful state of shings. But, alas!
his efforts were ineffectual. The die had been
cast: and the only reward which he received from
Buonaparte for his manly and faithful represen-
tations, was banishment to the Isle of Elba.”
“ Having carried my examination into the
conduct of the Negroes after their liberation to
1802, or to the invasion of the island by Le Clerc,
I must leave a blank of nearly two years. It
cannot be expected during a war, in which every
man was called to arms to defend his own per-
sonal liberty, and that of every individual of his
ܕ
e ciel
LIECT
here the
Legane
this


41
H
1
family, that he should see plantations cultivated
as quietly as before, or even cultivated at all.
But this was not the fault of the emancipated
Negroes, but of THEIR FORMER MASTERS.
It was owing to the prejudices of the latter, that
this frightful invasion took place ; — prejudices,
indeed, COMMON TO ALL PLANTERS WHERE
SLAVERY OBTAINS. Accustomed to the use of
arbitrary power, they could no longer brook the
loss of their whips. Accustomed to look down
upon the Negroes as an inferior race of beings, or
as the reptiles of the earth, they could not bear,
peaceably as these had conducted themselves, to
come into that familiar contact with them, as
free labourers, which the change of their situation
required. They considered them, too, as pro-
perty lost, but which was to be recovered. In an
evil hour, they prevailed upon Buonaparte, by
false representations and promises of pecuniary
support, to restore things to their former state.
The hellish expedition at length arrived upon
the shores of St. Domingo: a scene of blood
and torture followed, such as history had never
before disclosed ; THOUGH "PLANNED
EXECUTED BY THE WHITES.
But the French
were not the authors of tearing to pieces the
Negroes alive by bloodhounds-or of suffocating
them by hundreds at a time in the holds of
ships,-or of drowning them, whole cargoes, by
scuttling and sinking the vessels ;- but the
.
1
AND


42
Planters. TILL THAT TIME THE PLANTERS
IVE
THEIR ALL.
Whic
RETAINED THEIR PROPERTY, AND THEN IT
WAS,—BUT NOT TILL THEN, THAT THEY LOST
In fine, the French were driven
from the island, and in 1804, Dessalines was
proclaimed emperor of this fine territory. In
process of time; the Negro troops were disbanded
except such as were retained for the peace-estab-
lishment of the army. They who were disbanded,
returned to cultivation. As they were free when
they became soldiers, so they continued to be free
when they became labourers again. From that
time to this, there has been no want of subordi-
nation or industry among them. They or their
descendants are still the persons, by whom the
plains and valleys of St. Domingo are still culti-
vated, and they are reported to follow their occupa-
tions still, and with as fair a character as other
free labourers in any other quarter of the globe.
We have now seen, that the emancipated Negroes
never abused their liberty, from the year 1793,
(the era of their general emancipation) to the pre-
sent day,-a period of THIRTY YEARS.”
Let the conviction which this brief narrative
must force upon every unprejudiced reader be
carefully cherished, -let it be honestly and boldly
avowed. Let every tongue give expression to
the judgment of his understanding and the feel-
ings of his heart, and declare that the oppressed
and calumniated Negroes in our own colonies,
mont bu
sited the
TUCE
t subst
activo
મ beraged
et the


43
1
are not only entitled to present liberty ;-may
not only be safely entrusted with ;- but that it is in-
justice and cruelty (not prudence and humanity)
to withhold it for a day, or, (to use the ex-
pression of the worthy member for Norwich),
for “a single hour.”
We do not follow our author in the statement
of his two succeeding cases because they do not
directly bear upon the subject in question—that
of complete emancipation. We make no apo-
logy for these long, though somewhat abreviated
quotations from these important “ Thoughts."
Much as they have been read and applauded for
the strong sense, powerful argument and striking
facts which they exhibit, it is evident they have
been read and applauded too superficially. We
cannot but believe that their benevolent author
intended them to produce convictions in the minds
of his readers far beyond those which he pro-
fesses to establish. When they were first pub-
lished the public mind would have revolted at
the avowed project of immediate emancipation;
but subsequent events have been preparing the
way for its reception-have been forcing the
conviction of its expediency and necessity. The
writer of the work from which we have made
these large extracts, must, we doubt not, have
designed to bring the public indirectly and un-
suspectingly to this conviction. He must have
cast these lucubrations like “bread upon the
!


4.4
5
waters,” trusting that it would be “found after
many days;" trusting that his occult meaning
would, in time, be developed ;--that the evi-
dence of his facts and the force of his reasoning
would, at length, be fully admitted, and that
IMMEDIATE EMANCIPATION would, be seen
to be both SAFE AND EXPEDIENT AND NECES-
SARY.
Let such as still contend for a preparatory
school of moral discipline, enquire who are to be
its superintendents ;-where is to be found the
requisite authority for carrying its provisions into
execution ? The persons to whose absolute con-
troul the pupils must be intrusted, during the in-
terval of their probation, have proved themselves
NOT TRUST-WORTHY. Judging from experience,
we may, without breach of charity, expect as a
matter of course, that the slave masters would do
their utmost to defeat the object of this prepara-
tory discipline, and to render it abortive. They
have, it is now apparent, THEMSELVES DEVISED
PLOTS AND INSTIGATED INSURRECTIONS FOR
THE PURPOSE OF EVADING THE ORDERS IN
13000
k
COUNCIL AND MELIORATING MEASURES RE-
COMMENDED BY THE BRITISH GOVERN-
MENT. And may they not reasonably be ex-
pected to devise fresh plots, to instigate fresh in-
surrections for the purpose of defeating a measure
k See the article Jamaica, in the pamphlet entitled “ The
Slave Colonies of Great Britain."


45
1
1
2
still more abhorrent to their prejudices and sup-
posed interests—that of forthwith preparing their
captives for liberty? Are men who can perse-
cute to the death the disinterested and devoted
ministers of religion ;-who can, in open day,
pull down places of worship ;-who TRAMPLE
BIBLES UNDER FOOT;' who defy and menace
all authority ; -- who triumph and exult, like
maniacs, in their devastations and outrages;
who punish in their slaves, the most exalted vir-
tues, as the most atrocious crimes; who immure
in dungeons the noble minded Negroes, who, in
despite both of bribes and threatnings, firmly re-
fuse to bear false witness—to criminate the guilt-
less ;” are such men proper superintendants of a
system of moral and religious education designed
to prepare their slaves for freedom? We need
not enumerate all the frightful items in the long
catalogue of crimes with which the slave-masters
stand accused and convicted. We only protest
against the farther delegation of absolute power
to hands which have so tremendously abused it.
But were it otherwise. Did slave-holding pro-
duce fruits of a less malignant, less virulently
poisonous quality ;-- did it present no decided
hostility to this preparatory school for slave eman-
1
See an authentic report of the Debate on Mr. Buxton's
motion relative to the demolition of the Methodist Chapel."
page 25.
See the “ Anti-Slavery Reporter." No, 4. page 31.
!


46
cipation ; did it even accede to, and shew a dis-
position to favour the design-still, must we pro-
test against it, as a farther violation of the rights
of justice ;--as a farther protraction of our cruel
aggressions ; - as an arbitrary assumption, or
rather retention of power, which we have no right
to exercise.
“ But, if we have reason to believe that the
liberated slave would abuse the sudden restoration
of his liberty, it would surely be right and just
and humane not to restore it to him suddenly.”
No, we cannot accede to the justice even of this
assumption. It leads to the invasion of a pro-
vince which does not belong to us,—that of futu-
rity. Prescience is no human attribute. Man is
a very limited, short-sighted creature, and it is well
both for individuals and for society, that very
precise and explicit laws have been promulgated
for the regulation of his conduct;— that the lan-
guage of the Decalogue is express and imperative,
and that the christian exposition of it is express
and imperative also. 66 Thou shalt not steal,"
includes a prohibition of all kinds and degrees of
injustice, however modified, by whatever pretexts
recommended. It does not admit the suspension
of a clearly defined obligation, until we can ascer-
tain what will be its precise consequences ;-it
does not admit of our withholding from a fellow-
creature his just right, until we can positively
assure ourselves what use he will make of it;it
De I
hash
ROWCE
tours
bar and
rainoi t
and refu


47
does not admit of our detaining a fellow-creature
in slavery who has once had the calamity to be
unjustly deprived of his liberty, until we are sure
that he will not abuse its restoration. It requires
us to do our own duty and to leave the conse-
quences, -guarding of course, as carefully as we
can, against anticipated evil, -but not suspending
the discharge of our own obligation on any un-
certain contingencies involved in its performance.
The indefatigable Philanthropist from whose
Thoughts” we have made such copious extracts,
has (happily for our views) so arranged his own
powerful arguments as to make them prove (as we
have already observed) much more than he pro-
fesses to establish. He has proved, as far as
reasoning from facts and experience can prove,
that the injured creatures whose cause he so ably
advocates, may not only be safely intrusted with
liberty after passing through a preparatory school
of discipline, but that they may be safely intrusted
with it before.
In short, he has proved too much for gradual
Abolitionists he has proved that the slaves in
our own colonies may now safely be intrusted with
liberty,--consequently that they ought now to
be intrusted with it,—and that every additional
day and hour that it is withheld, aggravates the
guilt of those who have the power to restore it,
and refuse its exertion. Nevertheless, had all
these very important and satisfactory proofs been


48
Forum
withheld of the safety with which immediate
emancipation may be effected; still we should
have contended with equal confidence for the jus-
tice and urgent necessity of the measure. The
power we possess to hold them in slavery having
been unjustly acquired, must of necessity be
unjustly retained
The public understanding has been sufficiently
enlightened to see the impolicy of slavery ; -- the
public feeling has been sufficiently awakened to
revolt at its barbarity; public virtue has admitted
that it stands impiously opposed to the laws of
God-insolently defying the laws of the land :-
it has been arraigned and condemned at the bar of
justice and policy, of humanity and religion.
What is it then which upholds and cherishes the
pest? It is gradual abolition. But for this pro-
position, sentence of death would, long since, have
been executed. Neither the Government nor the
people of England could have endured its exist-
ence, after having been so tried and so convicted,
had not HUMANITY TO THE SLAVE,—HIS PRE-
SENT SUPPOSED INCAPACITY FOR FREEDOM,
been admitted in bar of speedy-instant exe-
cution.
We never for a moment suspected the sin-
cerity with which the Abolitionists have advanced
this plea ;-we believe them to be most sincere,
but on this one point, most mistaken. We be-
lieve them to be most upright and earnest in the
baie
a.
The
suere is
me 11
H bytt
by


49
5
cause they have so disinterestedly and nobly es-
poused, — but most deluded as to the means of
obtaining a successful issue.
We do not forget who they are to whom we
have the temerity to apply this language; - that
they are, many of them, persons of exalted rank,
preeminent talent, distinguished virtue ; – that
they are the wise and the good ; - the wisest and
the best :- and we are aware that by applying
such language to such characters we must incur
the charge of extreme ignorance and extreme ar-
rogance ;- nevertheless, we dare not withhold it.
Happily for the world, the laws of humanity
and justice are clearly defined; the requisitions
of religion and conscience are intelligible to the
simplest understanding. “ The way-faring man
though a fool” need not "err therein.” Such,
may be less liable to err on the subject in ques-
tion, than those who are accustomed to deep
reasoning and subtile argumentation, to look at all
the bearings aud connexions of a simple propo-
sition, till the plainest truths become invovled in
intricate mazes of uncertainty, and the most ob-
vious duties suspended or evaded by doubtful
casuistry.
The Gradual Abolitionists, though perfectly
sincere in the belief that our West Indian slaves
are not in a fit state for immediate emancipation,
may, nevertheless, have been unconsciously mis-
led by the prejudices, the misrepresentations, the
E


30
artful glosses, the palpable falshoods of the West
Indian party. Our readers, we trust, will not
forget, in the short sketch with which we have
presented them of the invasion, by Leclerc, of
St. Domingo, to what tremendous mistakes and
destructive consequences the prejudices of slave-
holders may lead. Many of the leading Abo-
litionists are personally acquainted with West-
Indian proprietors who are “men of education
and liberal attainments" -- of humanity-and re-
ligion; by which means their judgments are in-
sensibly biassed. These accomplished, humane,
and pious slave-holders assert that their slaves are
incapable of making a right use of their freedom;
- that immediate emancipation would be de-
structive of their own happiness, as well as the
property and lives of their masters ;-and men of
such high character must be believed ;-those who
are in habits of intimacy with them cannot with-
hold their assent:- but we can—and we do,
withhold qurs.
We would neither assert nor insinuate that
these gentlemen are aware of the falsehood of
their own representations. Many of them, we:
have no doubt, are themselves deceived ; --- they
believe the lie which they so industriously propa-
gate. Prejudice and interest have so blinded
their understandings and perverted their judg-
ment as to render their minds, on this subject,
inaccessible to truth. They are not impartial
>


31
witnesses,-consequently their evidence is not to
be relied upon ;—the evidence we have quoted
above, PROVES THAT IT IS NOT.
“ We owe these poor victims of our rapacious
avarice and cruel injustice a debt,” - truly, the
debt is an appalling one ;-and every year, every
month, every day, that we delay to do our utmost
to discharge this debt, we are adding largely to
its extent.
The righteous law of our Creator has not been
impressed on our hearts ;—promulgated in thun-
der and flame from Mount Sinai;-illustrated and
enforced by the express word, the solemn injunc-
tions of the Son of God himself, - to be cast be-
hind the back, or trifled with, with impunity.
We may neglect the warnings, forget the denun-
ciations of Divine justice ;-—we may lull our con-.
sciences asleep, and say in our infidel hearts, be-
cause judgment is not speedily executed upon the
oppressor, “God doth not regard.” But the
decree has passed the lip of Truth-“WITH
WHAT MEASURE
METE IT SHALL BE
MEASURED TO YOU AGAIN.” And He hath
solemnly pronounced—“ Heaven and earth shall
pass away, but my words shall not pass away.”
Though we forget or neglect the warning, its exe-
cution will not be thereby rendered the less
certain.
Who then, who believes in Divine Revelation,
-who that is convinced that the globe we inhabit
YE


52
- any
is constantly subject to Omniscient inspection;
that all the varied actors in its busy fluctuating
scenes, will individually appear at the tribunal of
Divine justice, there to “ give account of their
stewardship;”- to receive everlastingly “ accord-
ing to the deeds done in the body;"—to await the
fulfilment of the unchangeable decree, above cited;,
who, that really believes these solemn truths, but,
must tremble at the dreadful individual responsi-
bility, which every one of us is incurring by with-
holding our utmost exertions for the immediate
emancipation of our West Indian slaves ?
* What, (says, the objector) would you let
them loose upon their masters ?-turn them adrift ,
upon society without resources, - without
means of support but depredation and plunder?”
No, certainly. The measure we so earnestly
urge would most effectually obviate a catastrophe
so dreadful — the near approach of which, from a
general insurrection of the slaves, should they
much longer be suffered to remain such, cannot
but be anticipated. It is not a violent but a legal
emancipation, for which we contend ; accompa-.
nied as it would be, by wise and effectual pro-
visional restraints and regulations. The requi-
sitions of justice on behalf of our West-Indian
Negroes would not be satisfied by the simple act
of immediate emancipation. We owe them a
deep debt, for having so long withheld from them
their just rights, for subjecting them to so long a
T
UITI
10
SOLD
COM


53
course of shameful degradation and bitter suffer-
ing. We owe them GUARDIANHIP, PROTEC-
TION, AND PROVISION, (where necessary) as
well as LIBERTY. “ As some compensation for
injuries committed, we owe them the attempt to
confer upon them every benefit in our power.
We owe them especially, instruction in the doc-
trines and morals of christianity. But still,
should we fail to bring one single slave to the pro-
fession of the truths of christianity, or to the en-
joyment of its blessings--not one iota the less do
we owe freedom to every slave we possess. His
right to himself does not depend on his con-
version ; nor although he should continue a Hea-
then to the day of his death, would the injustice
of our detaining him in slavery be at all dimi-
nished.'
The liberty of the slave being his UNQUA-
LIFIED RIGHT,--it must, of necessity, be an
UNQUALIFIED WRONG to withold it. Let this
simple obvious inference of common sense and
common justice unite all the friends of humanity
in one common object—that of a SPEEDY and
COMPLETE EMANCIPATION,
On
* See the Speech of W. Smith, Esq. at the General Meet-
ing of the Anti-Slavery Society, June, 25, 1824.


出
​以
​是​,


LETTER II.
To those who are tired of the subject of West-
Indian Slavery.
Those, to whom the following appeal is particu-
larly directed, are not, we lament to say, exclu-
sively confined to the selfish unfeeling multitude,
nor to the heterogeneous mass of mere nominal
christians. Many who stand high in general
estimation for benevolence and piety ;-many
who have joined the Anti-slavery standard; who
have pleaded with such forcible eloquence the
cause of the oppressed Negro as to have blown
the slumbering embers of pity, in other bosoms,
into a fervid glow,-have suffered them to be
extinguished in their own.
Many who have been awakened to the enor-
mous guilt of human slavery,—who have been
roused into a just sense of the disgraceful hypo-
crisy of suffering it to exist in a christian country,
-who have been alarmed by fearful anticipations
of the retributive justice, the righteous vengeance
impending over a nation whose practice, in this
respect, so impiously opposes and mocks its pro-


56
fession,--appear to have sunk into a deep slum-
ber of selfish insensibility, of cruel apathy to
crimes and sufferings in which they imagine they
have no immediate share. From this slumber so
reproachful to their hearts, their understandings
and their principles, we must endeavour to rouse
them.
You are tired of the subject of West Indian-
slavery ; ---- you are wearied and disgusted with
reiterated details of atrocities and miseries which
you imagine you have no power to redress ; un-
expected difficulties and delays have arisen in the
way ofemancipation--and its attainment appears so
remote and uncertain that you abandon it in de-
spair ;-it ceases to interest-and is at length
become an object of disgust.
West Indian slavery, is, it is true, a trite and
hackneyed subject, but it must become more trite
and hackneyed before it can be suffered to rest.
After all the disclosures of the enormity of the
system, of its wretched impolicy as well as wick-
edness—the crime and disgrace of suffering it to
continue are inexpressibly aggravated. The know-
ledge obtained of this execrable tyranny, would,
one should have imagined, in a civilized and
christian country, have been followed up by
earnest enquiries after the most certain means of
putting a speedy end to it. If one expedient
failed, another, we might confidently have expect-
ed, would have been promptly resorted to;-


57
acquiescence or indifference under such an ac-
cumulation of guilty responsibility-one would
have imagined impossible ;--but that we should
not only continue passively to acquiesce in this
atrocious system- but actively to support it at
an enormous expense out of our own pockets of
upwards 2,000,000, annually,!! is an unsolvable
paradox.
What a humiliating picture of apathy and
imbecility, of inconsistency and hypocrisy does
such conduct exhibit! We have exhausted ail
the powers of language in expressions of abhor-
rence of slavery-we petition Parliament for its
abolition-whilst we are actively as well as pas-
sively supporting it at the expense of our money,
our character and our principles. We pretend to
commisserate the wretched condition of the en-
slaved Negro, whilst by our daily habits we are
riveting his chains ;-gratifying our appetite with
the very luxury, the cultivation of which constitu-
tes the most barbarous severity of his oppression.
After all that has been said and written upon
this inhuman business, it is evident that the
public mind has never yet been properly impress-
ed with it. Our understandings have been
informed and our feelings excited-but the crime
of making or of holding slaves in an enlightened,
a free and a christian country has never yet been
properly felt—has never yet sufficiently penetrated
our hearts or taken hold of our consciences. We


58
acknowledge it to be a national crime, but have
not felt it to be an individual crime ;--though its
shame and its guilt rest with all who suffer them-
selves to be indifferent or supine;with all who
employ not their best exertions to put a speedy
end to it. We execrate the injustice and cruelty
of West Indian slave-holders, but perceive not
that we are in fact more guilty than they-be-
cause, with less temptation, with less excuse,
we are confederates in the crime. The West
Indians have large property embarked in slavery,
--they imagine that its destruction would involve
them in ruin ;-but we, who consume its produce,
are its chief abettors and supporters.
We must remind you who are tired of the sub-
ject of West Indian slavery, that the emancipation
of its wretched victims is not a matter of option in
which a christian may engage or decline, and be
equally innocent. By withdrawing his interest
from this arduous work, he betrays a solemn trust,
disgraces his christian principles, and deserts a
cause peculiarly his own.
"THE LORD EXECUTETH RIGHTEOUS-
NESS AND JUDGMENT FOR ALL THAT ARE
OPPRESSED”. He invited you to become some
of the honoured instruments of executing His
righteousness and judgment for the most oppress-
ed of His creatures. He caused you to become
acquainted with their oppression, their hard and
cruel bondage. He touched your hearts with


59
sympathy for their bitter sufferings. He gave
you zeal and ability to plead their cause,-to stir
up the hearts of the people, to excite a general
insurrection of feeling and principle in their be-
half,—which, had it been kept alive, must shortly
have insured their deliverance. But you have
suffered the very considerations which should
have braced your resolution and stimulated
your
exertion to relax and infeeble them. You have
allowed your familiarity with West Indian enor-
mities to end in indifference; your confirmed
knowledge of the most barbarous oppression, to
extinguish your sympathy for its helpless victims.
No longer urged on by impetuous feeling, by the
ardour of a new enterprize, you have grown
languid and weary. You have been so effeminately
delicate, so fastidiously selfish, as to shut your
ears to the enormous wrongs and sufferings of
800,000, of your fellow creatures, because there
is no novelty in the relation, because the sound
has become monotonous. But we must, in spite
of
your
weariness and disgust, do our utmost to
force back your attention and to fix it upon
the crimes and miseries of slavery, until the means
are not only discovered, but vigourously applied,
for putting an end to them. We must, to the ut-
most of our power, ring changes upon this subject
of weariness and disgust, until the sound and the
sense shall have reached every ear andevery under-
standing—penetrated all hearts, made of “penetra-


60
ble stuff,”-all consciences, but such as are "seared,
as with a hot iron;"—till the duty of immediate
emancipation, is not only admitted in general
terms, but its promotion, by every means in our
power, is felt, individually, to be of imperative and
urgent obligation ;-in short, until all who have
any pretensions to religion and humanity are ac-
tually engaged in it, with all their heart and with
all their soul. By so doing, we are confident we
shall render essential service to our country ;-We
shall give practical efficacy to its best principles,
exalt its moral character and thereby enlarge and
secure its prosperity and happiness.
By fixing general and individual attention
upon this great and righteous work, until it be
finally accomplished, we are persuaded that we
shall be doing more for the cause of morality and
religion, more for the best interests of society,
than was ever effected by the most impressive dis-
sertations on abstract principles of virtue. One
instance of practical righteousness outweighs all
the mere speculative knowledge in the world.
It is better to do one good action, than merely to
admit the propriety of a thousand. It is better
thoroughly to discharge one paramount obligation
of christian charity, than to be superficially occu-
pied with the whole range.
• Whatsoever thy
hand findeth to do, do it with all thy might.
Thus the way of duty will be cleared, the path
farther opened, -- increased light will shine upon


61
it--greater strength and alacrity will be found in
pursuing it.
For want of such a method, many “ disquiet
themselves in vain,”—“toil all the night (and
day also) and take nothing;” — build upon their
high christian profession “hay and stubble”-
abortive schemes, unsubstantial purposes of good,
instead of those solid works of righteousness, of
justice and mercy, which would follow them to
that tribunal where they will be “judged ac-
cording to their works."
And therefore, on this trite and hackneyed
subject of slavery, though we want no more
knowledge, - we want a great deal more convic-
tion, to prevent our being the worse for our know-
ledge. We are the worse for our knowledge, so
long as it urges us to condemn this inhuman
system in words only, and leaves us at liberty
practically to encourage it. All our fine reason-
ing and pathetic declamation against slavery in .
the abstract, whilst we decline to put forth a finger
to liberate the slave,-only prove us to be eloquent
hypocrites. With christians, whose hearts are
true to their principles, their acquaintance with
the nature of West-Indian slavery would have
· been immediately succeeded by earnest inquiries
for the most speedy and effectual means of its
extinction ;-the discovery of those means would
have been instantly followed up by their vigorous


62
1
1
application :- this would be the natural - the
necessary consequence.
There is a lesson of deep and solemn import
in that emphatic injunction, “ Take heed how ye
hear; for unto him that hath shall be given, but,
from him that hath not, shall be taken away that
which he hath.” This admonitory warning ap-
plies to every perception of truth, every convic-
tion of duty, every glow of benevolence, every
pleading of compassion. These are not imparted
as graceful embellishments of our nature, to kindle
self-complacent satisfaction, but to stimulate to
useful and beneficent exertion, — to render us
willing agents of the Divine purposes,—“ fellow
workers with God.” They are implanted for use,
not for ornament;- if their purpose be not an-
swered they will be withdrawn :- the mind once
divinely illuminated will become darkened, — the
heart once divinely tendered, will become insen-
sibly obdurated ;--from those who trifle with con-
victions of duty, who suffer their compassion
for sufferings which they have the power to
redress, to evaporate in useless declamation;
who, when empowered to arrest the arm of injus-
ticè, to rescue the victims of oppression, decline
to interpose; - from these, on whom the evi-
dences of truth, the convictions of duty, the re-
quisitions of justice and the pleadings of humanity
have operated in vain ; - from these will be
“ taken away that which they have.”


63
There are times and seasons in the moral as
well as natural world of which it is our wisdom
and our interest to take advantage, -- which it is
dangerous—often fatal to neglect. As surely as
suffering the appointed season for ploughing and
sowing to pass idly over, will be followed by
famine, so surely will the neglect of the appointed
season and prescribed means of moral renovation
be followed by corresponding consequences. “To
him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to
him it is sin,”-sin, for which he must suffer the
just punishment, - punishment proportioned to
the magnitude of the evil which his cruel indif-
ference or procrastination is the means of per-
petuating.
For all the information which has been so
widely diffused on the subject of colonial slavery;
—for all the sympathy which its wretched vic-
tims have excited --we are accountable. It is at
our own peril that we trifle with our knowledge
and convictions respecting it.
For sins of ignorance there is mercy; -- for
patient suffering there is rich recompense. A glo-
rious redemption in eternity, if not in time, may
await the meek and unresisting victims of oppres-
sion. But upon sins against light and knowledge
punishment will fall in heavy inflictions.
who knew his Lord's will and did it not, will be
beaten with many stripes.” That it is the
Divine WILL that this abomination should be
66 He


64
7
swept away, that the time is fully come for its
utter extirpation, may be clearly ascertained by
the full blaze of truth which has been made to
shine upon it;- by the strong evidence which
has been forced upon the public mind of its mise-
rable impolicy and wasteful prodigality, as well as
horrid injustice. It was not without design that
so many great and good men have been called to
devote their time and talents to the detection and
exposure of that “refuge of lies'( behind which
it has endeavoured to screen itself from public in-
dignation ;) — to drag it forth from all its dark
hiding places of fraud and artifice, to strip it of
every disguise, and to expose every feature of its
horrid deformity to the broad day-light of truth;-
it was not merely to gratify curiosity, to fill the
imagination with horrid images, to appal and over-
whelm every feeling mind with unavailing grief
and shame and indignation, that the real nature
of West-Indian slavery has been so clearly ex-
posed.--No,-it was to excite our abhorrence for
the purpose of rousing and stimulating our best
exertions for its speedy and utter extinction.
But though our eyes have been wide opened
to this enormity ;-—though we have revolted with
horror at the frightful mass of crime and misery
which it has presented ;-though we have shud-
dered at the dreadful extremes of depravity at
which human nature has arrived under its malign
influence;--though we have admitted that it is as
0


65
-
impolitic as wicked-as repugnant to every maxim
of enlightened interest as to every feeling of
compassion, every principle of religion and justice;
—though we have the means put into our own
hands of expelling from our country this scourge
of humanity, of obliterating this foul blot, this
brand of infamy from our national character,
-there it still remains, deepened and aggravated
a hundred-fold by our empty professions of guilt,
our fruitless professions of repentance. On this
appalling subject, the convictions of judgment,
the compunctions of conscience, the tender feel-
ings of pity, the stern requisitions of justice, the
solemn obligations of religion-have hitherto been
admitted in vain. Surely, no force of language
can justly portray the odious combination of vices,
the imbecility, cruelty and hypocricy which must
stamp our character, if we continue supinely
to suffer the 800,000, victims of West Indian
injustice, to remain in slavery in aggravated
slavery-tantalized with hope, which is to be
extinguished in despair.
“ There is a time (a right time) for every thing
under the sun.” We believe that the right time
is fully come for the extinction of British slavery.
We believe, moreover, that the present moments
are critical,--that the right time being come for the
execution of this righteous work-it is dangerous
to trifle with it. We believe it must be now, on
never, as far as our agency is concerned. The
F


66
work lies straight before us, we are invited, but
not compelled to it. The purposes of Divine
mercy towards the despised outcasts of the great
family will not be frustrated, but other means may
be employed in their accomplishment, and we
may be left to abide the fate of unprofitable, dis-
obedient servants. We are invited by every ar-
gument which can convince, every motive which
can persuade, every consideration which can sti-
mulate the exertion of moral agents, accountable
creatures Christians, most especially, — but we
are not forced upon the work. We
We may know
our obligations, and feel their weight-yet refuse
to discharge them,--but it is at our peril that we
do so.
That an institution so repugnant to every prin-
ciple of humanity and justice, --so impiously op-
posed both to natural and revealed religion, should
have been suffered to exist for so many ages,
unknown or disregarded by the christian world,
is an inscrutable mystery ;- but the long-con-
tinued existence of every other moral and physical
evil is an inscrutable mystery also. Infinite
power, wisdom and goodness, could, doubtless,
by the simple volition of His will, expel from the
universe, evil, of every description—and this we
are assured will be the final issue of His dispen-
sations. In the mean time, the permi ssion of
evil is essentially connected with our present
probationary state — and instead of inquiring


67
why Almighty power and goodness are not mira-
culously exerted in extirpating slavery and every
other species of oppression and suffering from the
face of the earth, let us rather inquire into our
own duties, and learn how we ourselves are re-
quired to act in relation to that mighty mass of
moral and physical evil with which we are sur-
rounded ;-especially towards that which is con-
centrated with such dreadful force in the British
West Indies. “Woe unto the world because of
offences; for offences must come; but woe unto
them by whom they come”-and by whom they
ore perpetuated.
Some well-meaning persons have not scrupled
to declare, that the evil in question, is too gigantic
for human encounter,--that it can be vanquished
by no power but that of Omnipotence;- the
hitherto unsuccessful issue of the Anti-slavery
exertions has been presumptuously referred to the
Divine will ;- the time for accomplishing their
object, it has been said, has not yet arrived -- and
instead of ascribing their failure to a deficiency of
general interest and co-operation, impiously call
in question the Divine goodness and expect the
intervention of miracles to supply the place of the
right exertion of the various talents and capacities
with which we have been entrusted. What great
reformations were ever effected without the stren-
uous exertion of human means? Though it be
true, that “the good that is done in the earth,


68
“the Lord docth it," —He doeth it nevertheless,
through human instrumentality,--by enlightening
the understanding and influencing the will of His
intelligent creatures. To supply the millions of
the human race with food produced from the
ground on which we tread, is, we are sure, the
work of Omnipotence; but we do not therefore
conclude that the puny labours of man, the ope-
rations of ploughing and sowing, may therefore
be dispensed with. Rich harvests in the moral
as in the natural world, are the result of diligent,
well-directed, persevering exertion, though it be
God alone, in both, who “ giveth the increase.”
The difficulties which obstruct the work of
emancipation furnish no just cause of discourage-
ment; they ought rather to be considered as tests
of sincerity. Abhorrence of slavery. is an involun-
tary consequence of its exposure; but its ex-
tinction must be a work of labour and difficulty
proportioned to its strength and deeply-rooted te-
nacity. Shall we therefore abandon it, because it
is connected with no present interest of our own?
--because there is nothing to bind us to it but the
generous sympathies of nature, the tender plead-
ings of pity, the strong ties of christian obligation?
Why the Divine image, in these oppressed
Africans, has been so long suffered to be trodden
under foot,---why their sufferings have been hi-
therto so little known and so little regarded—is no
concern of ours. The veil of ignorance being
1
1
4


'69
now withdrawn-the horrid "secrets of their prison
house” being now disclosed - it is at our peril
that we make light of them. The arm that go-
verns the universe, let us remember, is an Al-
mighty arm; - it lifteth up and casteth down
nations as well as individuals. The Father of all
the families of the earth “ will do right”—He is
a God of justice and judgment as well as mercy:
All the powers of nature are His obedient mi
nisters. — “ He speaketh, and it is done; He
commandeth and it standeth fast.”. How soon
may our vaunted pre-eminence among the nations
be lost. How soon may we exchange the proud
station of command for that of subserviency,—the
character of masters for that of slaves. From a
quarter the most unexpected-at a moment the
least thought of, the instruments of our humilia-
tion and punishment may arrive. To dispel our
infatuated dreams of endless prosperity and secu-
rity, Divine judgments may be commissioned to
break in upon us, (as formerly upon the secure
and voluptuous Chaldeans) in a moment, without
warning ;--- or they may proceed by silent, un-
perceived, yet unerring progress towards the cer-
tain accomplishment of their unsuspected purpose.
But though national judgments may be long
suspended or averted, not an individual can
escape the visitations of retributive justice in that
eternal world to which we are hastening. There,
•“ Judgment will be laid to the line, and justice to
the plummet;"_there, if not here--we must ex-


70
perience the strict fulfilment of the Divine warn-
ing—“With what measure ye mete, it shall be
measured to you again." And from the awful
parable of Dives and Lazarus, we may derivep ro-
fitable notice of the kind and degree of punish-
ment which will hereafter fall, not on the tyrant
and the oppressor alone, but on such as have
been regardless or negligent of the sufferings of
the afflicted and destitute. This parable may have
a much wider application than we are generally
aware. It may unfold the future destiny not
only of the slave and the slave-holder, - but its
design may not be at all distorted by supposing;
it
may also indicate the separate abodes of the
cultivator and the careless unfeeling consumer of
West-Indian produce. The first idea may be
offensive and revolting, but a little reflection will
prove that there is nothing fanatical or extravagant
in the supposition. For what were the different
characteristics of Dives and Lazarus, which placed
such an impassable gulph between them? No
greater crime, no more palpable offence is charged
or insinuated against the former, but those of
selfish indulgence, thoughtless insensibility, or
unfeeling neglect of a fellow creature's priva-
tions and sufferings; nor is any virtue exhibited
in the latter, but that of patient endurance of
those privations and sufferings :-yet is Divine
Justice represented as placing these two charac-
ters, in the next life, at an infinite distance from
each other,--the one in torments--the other, in


71
blessedness. The Omniscient Arbiter, judgeth
not as man judgeth. - Man looketh on the
outward appearance, but the Lord looketh at the
heart.” -- That which is highly esteemed among
men, is abomination in the sight of God." He
acquits where man condemns---He condemns
where man acquits. A poor outcast from soci-
ety,-a loathsome beggar,-(whom modern re-
finement regards as a public nuisance,—whom
modern justice suffers not to beg at the rich
man's gate, for the crumbs which fall from his
table, but sentences to prison as a criminal)-is
carried by angels into Abraham's bosom ;--the
rich man, on the contrary,-respected, applauded,
probably, by his contemporaries for his hospi-
tality, his generosity,-his splendid and costly
entertainment of his rich friends and neigh-
bours ;—who had a conscience, it might be too
scrupulously tender to encourage beggars --who
was too observant of his social duties to suffer even
the crumbs which fell from his table to be given a
poor Lazarus—he lifts up his eyes in torments !
That Omniscient eye, which, with ineffable
tenderness, and compassion, wept over Jerusalem,
foreseeing the awful impending consequence of
her obdurate impenitence,-taking into account
the eternal duration of human existence, the
transitory nature of time, the comparatively short
duration of the most protracted corporeal suffer-
ings,--the strict responsibility of man for every
talent entrusted to him ;—for light and knowledge,


72
for mental, moral, and christian cultivation ;--for
all the discoveries of duty, all the capacities and
means of doing good ;-ordaining that to whom
much is given, of him will much be required :-
that Omniscient eye, may discern in the free-born,
illuminated, highly favoured sons of Britain, more
than in the enslaved, benighted, afflicted children
of Africa, to call for compassion, for mourning
and lamentation.
Possibly, those to whom this appeal is parti-
cularly directed may regard it in no other light
than that of a declamatory invective, uncalled for
and unmerited by the parties addressed, who,
having expressed their abhorrence of slavery, and
petitioned Parliament for its mitigation and gra-
dual abolition, imagine that they have fully dis-
charged their consciences and done all respecting
it which duty requires of them.
But the slavery against which they have
petitioned still exists in unmitigated rigour. The
voice of the people has, as yet been very partially
and feebly exerted against this enormity ;-s0
partially and so feebly, that its supporters have
argued from thence, that the sense of the country
is with, and not against them.
“But the people (it may be said) the great
mass of society, admitting they have the power,
by the reiterated and more unanimous expression
of their abhorrence of slavery, to put an end to it,
have not the principle to exert that power ;-they
are not to be wrought upon by abstract con-


73
siderations of humanity and justice ;- they are
governed by custom and interest.” The great
mass of society inherit the same intelligent nature,
the same capacities and feelings with the more en-
lightened and conscientious—and may be wrought
upon by the same motives and principles of action.
The people, the great mass of society, who appear
so inert, so little accessible to any appeals but
those of passion or interest, are nevertheless ca-
pable of a much higher and better influence.
They may be moved, powerfully moved, by a
sense of justice, by feelings of compassion, by
motives of moral and religious obligation,-were
proper means employed to bring these feelings
and motives into exercise. Were persons of
ability and influence,-such as we are now ad-
dressing,—who have been qualified to labour in
the great vineyard,—to enlighten the ignorant, to
teach the thoughtless to reflect ;-were such as
these faithfully occupying the five and ten talents
with which they have been entrusted, such a
general and deep abhorrence of this baneful insti-
tution might soon be excited and expressed, as
could not fail to be decisive with the British
Legislature. Such is the preponderating weight
of West Indian influence, that without such a
strong expression of public feeling and public
principle, no radical change of Colonial policy
is to be expected. But besides the incitement
of more general and earnest petitions and re-
monstrances to Parliament against slavery, there


74
DE
GE
is one simple and obvious means of discounte-
nancing it which lies within the reach of every
individual,--which every individual of common
humanity is bound to adopt and to urge upon
all within the reach of his influence, (viz) the sub-
stitution of the produce of free for that of slave
labour. But whilst this simple and obvious
means of undermining and extirpating slavery is
so generally neglected by the more influential
class, and so little exertion is made, even by such
as adopt it themselves, to bring it into general
operation - we believe they are incurring a heavy
weight of guilty responsibility.
How much of the bitter sufferings of their
enslaved fellow creatures, they will have to
answer for, who have the power thus to excite
and to keep alive the public feeling in their behalf
and neglect to exert it, is not for us to ascertain;
but we are forewarned that we are in the strict-
est sense responsible for neglected as well as abused
talents,-for the good which we have ability to
do, and leave undone, as well as for the positive
evil which we do.
Sloth and infidelity often assume the guise of
humility. “How little (they exclaim) can human
effort accomplish with regard to the wide extent
and appalling magnitude of crime and misery
which have from age to age deformed and afflicted
the world! How perplexing is the attempt to
reconcile the present state of things with the Di-
vine attributes --- with the infinite goodness and
be ca
infier
hion
lof st
C


75
1
love, as well as wisdom and power of the great
Governor of the universe! He hath all
power
in
Heaven and in earth. He doeth his own plea-
sure-none can resist His will: “ He turneth
the hearts of the people like rivers of water.
But what can the puny efforts of man effect with
regard to that mighty mass of sin and suffering
which seems to cover the earth as the waters
cover the sea ? To the few whose hearts have
been in some degree softened by the tendering
influences of religion, that sin and that suffering
are the occasion of mourning and painful sym-
pathy : they are anxiously solicitous to restrain
the one and to heal the other. A love of recti-
tude, the awakened sensibilities of humanity, as
well as a sense of duty, stimulate their exertions;
-but alas ! what do they atchieve? Here and
there, they do a little — a very little; the refor-
mation theyeffect, the relief they administer, is but
deducting, drops as it were, from the overwhelming
flood of moral and physical evil:—and yet, a single
effort of the Divine will—a word, from the mouth
of him, who “speaks and it is done,” would re-
store virtue and happiness through all the bounds
of the creation! Westand appalled at the fright-
ful accumulation of crime on the one hand, we
weep over the heart-rending extent and variety
of suffering on the other, yet it is little, almost no-
thing which human effort can do towards the dimi-
nution of either! In reference to this terrible
evil of slavery, the most prolific source of crime


76
and misery —
;- what has been accomplished by
years of persevering unremitted labour? Our
compassion for the wretched slave can bear no
proportion to that of his Heavenly Father, -his
Divine Redeemer ;-yet still he is suffered to re-
main in hopeless bondage still he is suffered to
be disinherited of his birthright, and degraded
below the level of the brute !"
Probably there are few minds, accustomed to
reflection, in which thoughts like these do not occa-
sionally pass—and what is their practical tendency?
A folding of the hands in slothful apathy, or in
hopeless despair. But what will the humble-
minded believing Christian say to such reason-
ings? He will say, “ Get thee behind me Satan,”
She will resist them. He sees that their ten-
dency is to negligence, to unbelief, to atheism.
He knows that “here we see through a glass
darkly”—that the dispensations of Providence are
to us, in our present state, veiled in clouds and
darkness, --nevertheless, he has the fullest assu-
rance that “the Judge of all the earth will do
right,” — and a ray of Heavenly light clearly
points out his own path of duty. The course he
is to follow has been illuminated by the footsteps
of his Lord and Master ;- pursuing that radiant
track, he is certain to join the triumphs of his
glorious Leader, who, though invisible, is “ "going
on conquering and to conquer ;”—who “reigns
King of Kings and Lord of Lords,”—who “must
reign, until all things are subdued under Him,”-


77
until “ all things that offend” are gathered out of
his kingdom ;-till sin is vanquished, and “ death
swallowed up of life.” In the mean time, for
purposes inscrutable to finite comprehension, the
tares are suffered to grow with the wheat, sin
and suffering are both permitted ;-- and the busi-
ness of His humble followers is, to “ eschew evil
and to do good;" — their duty and high privilege
is to become " co-workers with God.” To in-
struct the ignorant—to reform the vicious—to feed
the hungry- to clothe the naked — to relieve the
stranger—to visit the prisoner-and to redeem the
captive, are, according to their ability, their chosen
and happiest employments. They will not: with-
hold their hand because they can do so little, but
will faithfully employ their one, or their ten talents
in promoting the cause of righteousness, upon
earth ;—and however slow its apparent progress-
whatever powers of earth or hell. may resist it-
they will go right onward in the path of duty,
well knowing, that whilst they are so engaged-
stronger is He that is for them than all which can
combine against them.
Those whom we are now especially addressing,
may still object to the particular exertions which
we so earnestly recommend, that they are confi-
dently persuaded their great object will never be
by such means accomplished. Certainly it will
not;— if those means are not brought into ope-
ration ;-if the exertion of them continues to be
generally discouraged. But we rejoice in the


78
conviction that this will not be the case, for should
the more influential classes remain inert or opposed
to the measures in question; others, we doubt not,
will be raised up to supply their “ lack of ser-
vice;”—“ if they hold their peace,
the
very stones
will cry out:”-humbler, but more devoted and
labc rious agents will take the places which they
ought to occupy.
Uncertainty, must, of necessity, ever attach to
human efforts;-nevertheless, in the great work
of emancipation we are bound to exert them to
the uttermost, in dependence on that power which
alone can render them successful. To use the
fervid language of one of the most able and de-
voted Leaders in this righteous cause ;-" EVERY
HEART AND HAND AND TONGUE AND PEN
SHOULD UNITE IN PROMOTING PUBLIC MEET-
INGS;-IN EXHIBITING BEFORE THEM SLA-
VERY IN ITS TRUE AND HORRIFIC COLOURS;
- AND IN MULTIPLYING PETITIONS TO BOTH
HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT, UNTIL PARLIA-
MENT AND GOVERNMENT ARE CONVINCED,
WHICH THEY ARE NOT AT PRESENT, THAT
THE PUBLIC VOICE IS DECIDEDLY IN FAVOR
OF EXTINGUISHING SLAVERY:"we must
add-of extinguishing it PROMPTLY.


LETTER III.
To the more influential Classes of the
Christian Public.
In appealing to the christian public on the
subject of West Indian slavery, we have no
adequate medium through which to convey our
convictions of its urgent claims to a deeper atten-
tion in this quarter than has hitherto been bestow-
ed upon it. “ Argument and eloquence have
been employed to exhaustion” in the exposure
of its impolicy and wickedness,mits hostility to
every recognised principle of the British Consti-
tution, - its impious violation of the laws of
nature and of God. Yet the crime and disgrace
so broadly exposed, so eloquently deplored, so
generally execrated ; - against which we have
protested and petitioned-still exists. And we
believe it will continue to exist until christian
feeling is more deeply interested, until christian
principle is more earnestly exerted for its extinc-


80
tion. If slavery in the British colonies be ever
eradicated without violence and blood-shed, it
must be through the awakened energy, the con-
straining force of christian obligation; through
the authority of Laws which have been long since
promulgated;—which are as old as the world ;-
which were impressed upon the very frame and
constitution of man, written on “fleshly tables of
the heart” by thc Supreme Lawgiver, before they
were written on tables of stone. In the christian
code, their obligations are extended and enforced
by considerations the most persuasive and solemn
by which the human mind can be affected.
These laws are uncompromising and peremptory.
This is their explicit imperative language-
6THOU SHALT NOT KILL.,
»-"THOU SHALT
NOT STEAL.”—And how are these prohibitions
interpreted to the christian?
66 THOU SHALT
THYSELF.
“BY THIS SHALL ALL MEN KNOW THAT YE
ARE MY DISCIPLES. IF YE LOVE ONE ANO-
THER. Of what kind and of what degree is
the love which constitutes this infallible criterion ?
It is no other in kind, -no other in degree, than
that which thou bearest thyself. “ALL THINGS
WHATSOEVER YE WOULD THAT MEN SHOULD
DO UNTO YOU, DO YE, EVEN SO UNTO THEM,?
Must it not follow then, of necessity, that the
Christian,-he to whom the name truly belongs,
- he who would be acknowledged as such on the
LOVE THY
NEIGHBOUR
AS


81
great day of distinction, of final separation be-
tween the sheep and the goats, must take a
deeper interest than he has hitherto done, in the
cause of the enslaved African ?- must, in short,
make it is own? --keep alive his compassionate
sympathy,-exert himself in his behalf, with such
zeal and perseverance as he would implore for
himself were he to exchange places with the slave?
With the nature of his slavery we are but too
familiarly acquainted. We have heard of his
cruel wrongs and bitter sufferings till we cease to
be affected by them. The numberless well au-
thenticated details of West Indian barbarity may
produce upon their hearers similar results to those
which a long residence in the country almost
invariably effects,-a lowering of the standard
both of feeling and of principle,--a searing of the
conscience and a hardening of the heart. But
no such consequence would ensue were the
knowledge of these enormities followed up by
determined and persevering exertions to destroy
their prolific root. Our interest in the arduous
work would deepen in proportion to the earnest-
ness of our labours. We are become so cold and
heartless in the cause of emancipation because
we are so idle. Having once been awakened to
a just sense of the enormity of the individual as
well as national crime of slavery ;-having seen
the complicated injury, the dreadful extent of
suffering which it entails on one party, the appal-
G


82
ling depth of guilt into which it plunges the
other ;-—that it degrades the image of God on one
hand into a brute animal-transforms it on the
other, into a fiend ;-that it obliterates in the more
immediate agents of this infernal system, every
vestige of humanity, extirpates every feeling of
compassion,-converts the “milk of human kind-
ness” into gall and wormwood-into corrosive
and deadly moral poison-and renders man to his
fellow man à monster of cruelty more fell and
remorseless than the tiger or hyena:---having
seen that it dooms hundreds of thousands to hope-
less misery in the present life ;-that it plunges
countless multitudes into final perdition :-it might
have been expected as a matter of course-of ne-
cessity, that every christian would combine his
best exertions to put the speediest termination to
a system so terribly destructive of human virtue
and happiness. But hitherto they seem only to
have contemplated the evil as a frightful phantas-
magoria, a scenic representation of horrors exhibi-
ted for stage effect,- for the mere purpose of
strong and transient excitement. At most, they
seem to have consideration the pictures presented
by it of human degradation, crime and misery, as
a history of past enormities, of scarcely credible
brutalities which marked the long gone by ages
of ignorance and barbarism. They never yet
seem to have beheld them as faithful representa
tions of the present actually existing state of


83
things in the British Empire, in the very
heart
of Christendom ;-much less, do they seem ever
to have suspected that they are all individually
implicated in their wilful encouragement and
support ;-otherwise, how could so profound an
apathy have prevaded the more conscientious por-
tion of the community on a subject so calculated
to rouse and to keep alive its intense interest ?
Where their own interest is at stake, they can
reason wisely, act consistently, vigourously, per-
severingly, -consequently, with the reasonable
prospect of a successful issue. But, where the
interest temporal and eternal, of 800,000 of their
enslaved fellow creatures, whom they are bound
by their christian profession to love as themselves,
is at issue-then, though they have most elo-
quently pleaded their cause in public meetings,
described them as degraded below the brutes,-
subjected to a tyranny so severe, to outrages so
barbarous, that every feeling of humanity has re-
coiled at the relation,—the heart has sickened at
the horrid catalogue “of ills which man inflicts
upon his fellow man”-and the listener has blush-
ed and hung his head, to think himself a man.”
Yet, when from declamation, they come to ac-
tion, -- when from appaling descriptions of op-
pression and cruelty-duty calls to administer
relief-then, what a reproachful contrast do their
reasonings and actions present to those of which
self-interest is the object. Instead of pursuing
G2


84
the natural, obvious, and certain method of de-
stroying this inhuman tyranny, by ceasing to en-
courage it themselves, and by using their best
exertions to engage all within the reach of their
influence in the same resolution of withdrawing
its support by refusing its produce; - instead of
striving by every possible means to keep alive and
to increase the public interest in the cause of
emancipation, by inciting the people to renewed
and more earnest petitions to Parliament, for jus-
tice, strict, impartial justice, to all the subjects of
British Government, without distinction of co-
lour ;—to rescue, as it becomes a christian Le
gislature, the weak and helpless from the
grasp
of
oppression ;-instead of this, too many, even of
the high professing christian world, seem to have
closed their eyes, and gone to sleep over the dread-
ful history of West-Indian barbarity, and left its
wretched victims carelessly to their fate. Alas !
how grossly may we flatter ourselves with the
imaginary possession of virtues to which we have
no real pretension, by mistaking feeling for prin-
ciple— transient impulses of humanity for the
virtue of charity
We know that human nature is versatile,
selfish, indolent;- that however eagerly it may
start in the cause of suffering humanity, when
spurred on by indignant abhorrence of oppression
and involuntary sympathy with the oppressed,
that it will soon relax when those impulses are


85
withdrawn. We know how powerfully it is
wrought upon by novelty, and how difficult it is
to prevent familiarity with crime and suffering
from begetting indifference: and we also know
that no important good can be secured without
thwarting and overcoming this natural instability.
We know that all the great momentous objects of
our regard - death, judgment, eternity, are fami-
liar themes, and that neither our own true in-
terest nor that of our fellow-creatures, can be pro-
moted, unless principle be made to supply the
transient ebullitions of passion and feeling. And
we know that the poor Negro, after all the elo-
quent commiseration which his enormous wrongs
have called forth, -will, notwithstanding, be left,
from generation to generation, in the grasp of his
ruthless oppressor, unless violence be done to this
selfish supineness ;- unless christian principle re-
kindle our zeal in his cause, and quicken our
tardy humanity.
The enfranchisement of eight hundred thou-
sand of our fellow-creatures from the galling yoke
of West-Indian bondage will be found no easy
atchievement. All who are really in earnest in
the cause of these defenceless outcasts, will prove
it by their conduct as well as their language. We
have no rational ground to expect that their de..
liverance will ever be accomplished, without la-
borious persevering effort. The double chair
which binds them in moral and corporeal slavery,


86
will not fall off of itself--its strong rivets will not
be loosened by declamatory invectives. The great
and difficult work of emancipation must be ef-
fected, like all other great and difficult works, by
the diligent application of rational and appropriate
means.
By the conduct and language of some pro-
fessed enemies of slavery, one would imagine they
expected this mighty revolution would be effected
without effort,-by magic, - by some self-moving
mysterious process in direct contradiction to the
established order of things.
“ The work (they
tell us) is in progress, and will be accomplished
by the gradual advance of knowledge and moral
improvement.” Though they take no active in-
terest in it themselves, but, on the contrary, do
their utmost to retard it, by continuing to con-
sume the productions of slavery, and to discourage
those who are using their utmost exertions to pre-
vent that consumption, The same mode of rea-
soning and acting applied to the common business
of life, would lead the farmer to sit still in the
confident expectation of a plentiful harvest, though
he neither ploughed his fields, nor sowed them
with grain ;-
they would lead the sick man to
presume on the recovery of his health by per-
sisting in those very courses which had engen-
dered his disease ;— they would lead the man
whose house was on fire to expect the confla-
gration would be stopped by fanning, instead of


87
throwing water on the flame. It is vain to urge
in their excuse that they are not convinced that
abstinence from the productions of slavery will
ever effect its destruction. It is one important
means which it is the duty of every man of com-
mon humanity to exert to the uttermost as a tes-
timony of his own abhorrence of the system, and
his determination to do all in his own power to
destroy it. And though the operation of this
single means, however generally exerted, might
fail in itself, to effect its speedy and complete de-
struction, yet, in conjunction with stronger remon-
strances, more earnest petitions to the Legislature,
we may reasonably hope that another session of
Parliament would not be suffered to pass without
its accomplishment.
We have heard the insolent contempt with
which the orders in council, the recommendations
and the commands of Government, have been re-
ceived by the colonists ;-and we have seen that
their language of insult and threatened rebellion,
instead of meeting with its deserved chastisement,
has, on the contrary, been succeeded by additional
concessions in their favour, and by a reduction of
the duties on West Indian produce !!!
By what other means then, but the rejection
of that produce, and by earnest appeal to Par-
liament for the assertion of its own dignity ; for
the establishment of national honour and security,
by the administration of equal law and equal jus-


88
tice through all the bounds of the British Empire,
-can we expect that West Indian slavery will
ever be extinguished ? Is it by commercial spe-
culations ? ---By more, enlightened and accurate
calculations of interest?- By the establishment
of a “Tropical free labour company”?~Are we
to leave 800,000, of our fellow creatures in the
hands of their merciless task-masters, until their
liberation becomes the inevitable result of mercan-
tile competition ?-Would this be to do justice
and to love mercy, on christian principles ?-Spe-
culations on the comparative profitableness of free
and slave labour, may ultimately effect the de-
struction of slavery,--but christian charity will
not wait the tardy uncertain result ;-she will
employ the best means in her power for its spee-
diest destruction, and as abstinence from slave
produce is the only means over which the people
have absolute control, this, she will use her utmost
exertions to bring into prompt and vigorous ope-
ration. The formation of a Society which in-
lists the all controling principle of interest on
the side of humanity, shews something, it is true,
of “the wisdom of the serpent,”-but true chris-
tian charity will far outstrip even the rapid motion
of self-interest, and secure its object by a more
direct course. She will hail such establishments as
that of the “Tropical free labour company” as
auxiliaries and secondaries, but will not suffer
them to usurp the place, or supersede the exer-


89
tion of moral and religious principle. The laws
which guide her operations are quick and spon-
taneous, and prompt to the same exertions for the
relief of others sufferings as for her own. She
regards the dreadful disclosures of the real nature
of colonial bondage as affording a test, a certain
test of the sincerity or spuriousness of christian
profession. “If a man love me (said our Lord)
he will keep my commandments.” What com-
mandments? How readest thou? What was the
reply to the enquiry~" which is the first and great
commandment”?—"Thou shalt love the Lord thy
God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and
with all thy mind. This is the first and great
commandment. (But mark the sequel.) The
second is like unto it. Thou shalt love thy
neighbour as thyself. On these two command-
ments hang all the Law and Prophets.”
“If we love not our Brother whom we have
seen, how can we love God whom we have not
If we so love not our degraded and
oppressed fellow creatures, of whose nature we
so intimately partake, and with whom the
spon-
taneous sympathies of humanity compel us to feel;
Lif we so love them not as to exert every means
in our power of rescuing them, from the merciless
thieves among whom they are fallen ;-how can
we love God,—their Father as well as ours ? By
the fruit alone is the nature of the tree ascertained.
By “works of mercy and labours of love” are
seen? »


90
genuine christians to be distinguished from the
promiscuous throng of empty professors. “ Here-
in, is my Father glorified that ye bear much fruit”.
-Do we ask, what fruit? Let us turn to the di-
yine sermon on the mount,-to the awful disclo-
sures of the day of Judgment, and see, what are
the fruits,--the different course of life, which
mark the difference between the ransomed and
the reprobate.
Can it possibly be imagined after the affecting
enumeration of acts of kindness and mercy re-
corded in the close of the 25th chapter of St.
Matthew, which our Lord represents himself as
accepting and rewarding as done unto Himself,
because done unto one of the least of his family;
-can we possibly imagine that acts of justice and
mercy to those wretched captives who stand so
much in need of our sympathy and assistance,
will not be equally accepted?
Let such as have not yet ascertained the pre-
cise line of duty between the two propositions of
immediate and gradual emancipation, refer their
doubts to the divine records for solution. "ALL
THINGS, whatsoever ye would that men should
do unto you, do Even so unto them”. Mark
the precision, the commanding force of the lan-
g uag. Here is no room for evasions or excep-
tions;- no admission for cold procrastinating
delays. The rule is short, intelligible and decisive
-and requires us to pursue that precise line of


91
conduct towards all men, which we ourselves
would reasonably desire were we in their circum-
stances. The enquiry therefore, what line of
conduct a christian should pursue respecting the
subject in question, resolves itself into a very
small compass. He must put himself in the
place of the slave-think of the torture of his gal-
ling chains, his ulcerated wounds ;-the premature
exhaustion of his powers, from over-strained ex-
ertions, under the most barbarous coercion ;-the
painful consumption of his life in hopeless des-
pair. He must remember, that the poor Negro, has
no one in the land of his oppression, to plead his
cause or to avenge his wrongs ;-he must re-
member the strong arm of power with which every
feeble struggle for his own relief is borne down;
the inhuman chastisement with which his una-
vailing complaints are silenced ;-then, let him
ask his own heart if he would not, above all earthly
blessings, above life itself, desire, groan, for imme-
diate liberation from the horrors of such a bon-
dagem
We have then the express authority of a
DIVINE COMMAND, to stimulate and combine all
our exertions for his prompt emancipation. Then,
let all who humbly hope for Divine approval, en-
m Let it ever be remembered that emancipation from
slavery is not emancipation from law,-does not preclude such
wise provisional regulations and restraints as so sudden a
change of condition might render expedient.


92
gage without delay, and with all their hearts, in
the arduous work. Let them no longer deal
treacherously with their own principles, and keep
back any of the price which they demand. Let
those who have leisure and influence make it
their business to diffuse more general information
of the horrors of West Indian slavery; to incite
a deeper and more general sympathy for its
wretched victims, and (as the British legislature
can alone effect their speedy and complete eman-
cipation) to incite throughout the nation the
most earnest and pressing appeals to Parliament
no longer to withhold from these despised out-
casts their FULL RIGHTS, because they are them-
selves too feeble to demand them, because they
are so crushed by oppression that they dare not
even beg for them ;- no longer to listen to the
cruel suggestions, which procrastinating, selfish-
ness is ever insinuating, —that because they have
been so long the victims of lawless power, ---be-
cause their necks have so long been accustomed
to the yoke, - because they have never partici-
pated in the rights of humanity and justice,-be-
cause the image of their Creator has, in these His
abused creatures, been so long trampled under-
foot,- that therefore there need be no haste to
rescue their bodies from lacerating whips and
galling chains—and their minds from brutish ig-
norance and Pagan darkness. And let none of us
any longer mock the sacred name of truth by


93
calling those slow reluctant feeble concessions,
implied in the principle of gradual emancipation,
just, reasonable, merciful, — when, in fact, they
are only new modifications, more disguised and
subtile modes of oppression. ,
“ LET MY PEOPLE GO,”-is the authoritative
language of the great Parent of the Universe, to
all who have ears to hear the voice of reason, of
conscience, of revelation ;-to all who keep aloof
from the confused Babel of sordid interest and
political expediency ;—who turn a deaf ear to
those artful glosses, those selfish evasions, those
“ vain traditions,” whereby the Divine command
is rendered - of none effect.” 66 LET MY PEO-
PLE GO,”-is as clearly the Divine command
respecting these poor despised outcasts, as it was
respecting the oppressed Israelites. In their
case, it is true, the command was express and
audible,-enforced by great signs and wonders-
and its resistance attended by immediate and
supernatural punishments. But in the case of
the poor Negro, the command is not less intel-
ligible, in a Christian's ear, because conveyed by
the spirit, instead of the letter, of the Divine in-
junction—and the punishment of disobedience,
though it do not immediately follow, will, he is
sufficiently warned, fall in heavier inflictions upon
Christian, than upon Egyptian slave-holders.
And who are so emphatically slave-holders as the
consumers of slave produce? Is not he who


94
bribes another to commit a robbery or a murder,
the greater criminal of the two, though he shed
no blood and commit no violence ?
He who kidnaps and forces away the defence-
less Negro from his friends and country, and puts
him in irons on board a slave-ship ;-he who buys
him of the slave merchant, who stamps brand
marks into his flesh with hot irons ;-who com-
pels him to labour all the days of his wretched
existence, without wages, under the lash of the
cart-whip ;-who, if he attempt to escape, or make
any resistance, hunts him down like a beast of
prey, - chains and flogs him without mercy,
shoots and gibbets him at his pleasure ;-who
seizes upon his children also, from generation to
generation, as his lawful prey ;-all these,-he
who steals and makes merchandize of his fellow
man ;-he who buys the stolen merchandize,--
and he, who inheriting such ill-gotten property,
lays impious claim to it as a rightful possession ;-
all these, guilty as they are, are not the most
guilty parties in these transactions of iniquity;
--they have employers, who make it worth
their while, who bribe them to commit these
atrocities.
It is a true adage.--"if there were no receivers
of stolen goods, there would be no thieves."
For what are those poor Negroes stolen away
from their native country? For what are they
bought and sold like cattle? For what are they


95
chained and branded and forced to labour, night
as well as day under the most brutal coercion?
BECAUSE THE
PRODUCE OF ALL THIS OP-
PRESSION AND CRUELTY-FINDS WITH EN-
LIGHTENED
A
PROFITABLE
CHRISTIANS,
MARKET!!
Heretofore, we sinned in thoughtless igno-
rance ;-we knew little of the dreadful price at
which our West Indian luxuries were procured ;
-now, the veil of ignorance is removed. The
enormous crimes and sufferings inseparable from
the system of slave cultivation, have at length,
been fully exposed ;-- henceforth the guilty re-
sponsibility of slave holding rests with the consu-
mers of slave produce. Let conscience therefore
do her office and fix the conviction of blood-guilti-
ness in our own bosoms. Let us seek no inge-
nious palliations or self justifying evasions, but
confess that “we are verely guilty concerning our
(captive) Brother,”-and determine to make all
possible atonement for past criminal carelessness
of his wrongs, not only by conscientiously
abstaining from all farther consumption of the
produce of his inhuman oppression, but by deter-
mining, henceforward, to make his cause our own,
and resolving never to desert it until the rights of
humanity are restored to him,-till he is raised
from the condition of a brute to that of a man
and a Christian.
Henceforward, let us " remember those that


96
are in bonds, as bound with them.” Let the
speedy redemption of the captive Negro be the
object of our fervent prayers, of our earnest per-
severing labours,--of prayers so fervent, of labours
so earnest and persevering as may bear some
resemblance to those which we ourselves should
desire, were our own enfranchisement suspended
on their issue. Our prayers will then be heard;
-the Divine blessing will crown our exertions-
and British slavery will be annihilated. And
though our power to liberate the captive sons of
Africa, be restrained within the bounds of our
own territory-our example, when it becomes
CONSISTENT, will not be so limited. It is con-
SISTENCY alone which gives force either to indi-
vidual or national example. Why has no greater
efficacy hitherto attended our tardy example in
the relinquishment of the African slave trade-
Because it has wanted this essential virtue;-
because when we relinquished the traffic, we re-
tained its guilty perquisites;- because we nut
only detained the living victims of the slave trade
in cruel bondage, but doomed their children also,
and their children's children to the same dreadful
inheritance; because, whilst we persist in so
doing, we appear to surrounding nations, with
polluted hands, and a Janus face, consequently
disqualified for successful pleaders against a
system of iniquity which we have so reluctantly
and partially renounced.


97
Had christians continued to adorn the doc-
trine they profess with those living fruits, those
works of mercy and labours of love with which
it was at first ornamented ;-had the extended
knowledge and profession of the Gospel been
accompanied by a practical conformity to its
righteous precepts,—slavery, with all its attendant
crimes and miseries, must long since have been
abolished throughout the world. But the separa-
ting the profession of christianity from its righteous
and beneficent practice, has rendered it, compa-
ratively, of none effect; — has occasioned its
glorious light to be “hid under a bushel,”-the
“salt,” given to counteract moral corruption, to
“lose its savour,”—to be, in great measure, “trod-
den under foot,”-calumniated and despised, as
a thing of little worth.
Yet this Gospel, whose lustre has been so
tarnished by modern professors, is the only means
appointed for salvation, to the ends of the earth.
No new revelation is to be expected;—by no other
power will that grand prophetic renovation be
accomplished which shall “fill the earth with the
knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the
sea.” The stone, “cut without hands,
the vision of Daniel, which “brake in pieces the
iron, the clay, the silver and the gold;"-which
subdued every opposing power and “became a
great Mountain which filled the whole earth,”-
seen in
H


98
is no other than that Gospel which, with us is
held in such unprofitableness and unrighteousness.
The world around us does not retain its pre-
sent disordered miserable condition for want of
light and information,-for want of the means of
its restoration to order and happiness. No, am-
ple provision has been made for recovering the
lost harmony of this discordant world. It would
not remain as it is, waste and deserted of good,
fruitful and rank in evil, were those who have
been called to work in this great vineyard, dili-
gently labouring in their respective allotments;
~~were “the children of light as wise (and as ac-
tive) in their generation as the children of this
world.”
We can imagine nothing better calculated to
rouse their slumbering zeal, to give new life and
vigour to their torpid principles, than the conside-
ration of the dreadful state of moral and physical
wretchedness in which 800,000, immortal beings
are held on British ground, chiefly by the thought-
less consumption of the produce of their slavery
by professing christians ; who, from the time when
the real condition of slavery was first made known,
must be accountable for every day's unnecessary
prolongation of so inhuman an institution and
for all the crimes and miseries from which it is
inseparable, whilst they neglect the use of any
means in their power for its speedy and complete
destruction.


99
Time flies swiftly--so does conviction of duty,
-so does the inclination and the power to obey
it, from those who trifle or procrastinate. Neg-
lected capacities and opportunities of doing good,
are not only withdrawn, but avenged, by leaving
in their place the curse of increased insensibility,
and those who have been most abhorrent of
slavery, may, by remaining quiescent, impercep-
tibly become as reckless of its sufferings as the
West Indians themselves.
Then let us “ work whilst it is yet day”-
remembering that it is a short one,-that, with
many of us, “it is far spent;"--and therefore
“whatsoever our hand findeth to do (whereby the
double bonds of these our oppressed and benight-
ed fellow creatures may be broken) let us do it
with all our might.”- Let our zeal and diligence
bear some proportion to the magnitude of the
work and the strength and resolution of its oppo-
sers. The interests of slavery have hitherto stood
firm, have, thus far, resisted and defied all attack,
because they have been supported with pertina-
cious and determined courage and when the in-
terests of humanity and justice are supported with
equal zeal and resolution, they will not only prevail,
but triumph gloriously. There is in their nature a
spirit of ascendency and dominion. Oppression
would tremble and fall prostrate before them,
were their professed friends and supporters but
half as zealous and persevereing as their enemies.
We may appear to have laid a very undue


100
+
stress upon the single duty of emancipation,
since it regards only the temporal condition of
the slaves. We have been thus earnest in pres-
sing this duty because we consider it as a neces-
sary preparation for one of still greater obligation.
We may not violate the established order. We must
first “Do JUSTICE (then) love mercy”,- We
must do justice before we obtain a capacity to love
mercy. To plead for the instruction of the poor
Negro and to oppose his emancipation ;-to keep
his budy in slavery that we may deliver his mind
from bondage, is to “do evil that good may come;"
-to lay the foundation of charity in oppression.
We have been thus earnest in pressing the duty
of emancipation, because we consider it as having
an important bearing on the whole of our christian
conduct and character. The various exertions
which a hearty engagement in this cause would
call forth, would lead to the detection and coun-
teraction of that inherent selfishness which is
the origin and support of slavery, the spirit of
which manifests itself in our own country-in our
hearts in various other forms of injustice, oppres-
sion and cruelty, which are of the same nature if
not of the same extent. An earnest engagement
in this cause, would not, as some imagine,
withdraw our attention from objects of nearer in-
terest ;-it would, on the contrary, open our eyes
to see, and expand our hearts to undertake various
other works of justice and mercy which are at
present overlooked. Christian charity is an in-


101
exhaustible mine, whose treasures accumulate in
proportion as they are drawn forth. It is not like
gold, of which, if we are lavish in one quarter, we
must be proportionably parsimonious in another.
This wealth, on the contrary, the more it is used,
the more it increases.
But we have said enough, it may be, much
more than enough, to prove, that it is an impera-
tive christian duty to employ, to the uttermost,
every means in our power for the speedy and
complete extinction of West Indian slavery. To
the most efficacious of those means we have al-
ready adverted. In themselves, they are simple
and obvious, but to bring them into effective ope-
ration, is acknowledged to be a work of labour
and difficulty.
These pages will probably fall into the hands
of some who have already renounced the use of
West Indian produce, for the sake of christian
consistency,—to preserve a conscience void of
offence,-an exemption from all participation or
encouragement of crime; though they have no
hope that their example will in the slightest de-
gree, weaken the interests of slavery, which, they
are well aware, are too firmly rooted to be shaken
by a few such scattered instances of conscientious-
ness. But, being morally certain, that the whole
system, root and branch, must of necessity be
destroyed by the general extension of such an ex-
ample, they feel impelled to do their part. But


102
what is that part ? Surely it is the christian's part,
his privilege, as well as duty, to do all, in such a
cause, which he has the power to do. Let him
reflect--that he is at present literally doing nothing
to lighten the burdens of slavery ;-that his own
example, and that of his conscientious coadjutors,
will produce no sensible effect on the condition
of a single slave will be utterly useless-a mere
waste of principle as far as he is the object. To
effect any important charge in his condition ;-to
prove that slavery is abhorrent to the Nation ;
to give weight and efficacy to our petitions against
it, the example must, become general-
mand how
can it become general without exertion and la-
bour?-and from what quarter is the requisite
exertion and labour to be expected -- but from
real christians ?from such as have time and ta-
lents to devote to the cause?
The consideration of the utter helplessness of
these objects of our sympathy,--that they cannot
plead for themselves,--that they have none in the
land of their captivity to plead for them,—that
their tears are unobserved that their sighs and
groans reach us by no 'audible sounds,--that their
lacerated, disfigured and mutilated bodies are unex-
posed to our view,--that they stretch out to us no
imploring hands-utter no piercing cries for deli-
verance,—that all is silent, enduring, uncomplaining
sufferings should, on feeling, generous minds,
operate as the most eloquent and urgent of all


103
claims to sympathy and assistance. To whom
must we look for availing help, --for the substan-
tial compassion of the good Samaritan? From
whence can it be most reasonably expected, but
from real christians of the more influential classes,
whose elevated station gives them a persuasive
influence over the sentiments and practice of those
around them? From whence can it be most
reasonably expected, but from those to whom it
is given richly to enjoy the life that now is, as
well as the glorious hope of that which is to come;
-- from those, to whom much has been given,
and of whom much will be therefore required ?
From whom, but from those who must be often
inquiring, what they are rendering to the Lord for
all His goodness? How they are occupying the
talents with which He has entrusted them?
What account they will have to render of their
Stewardship? We want words to express our
own conviction of the extent and importanceof
the benefits which you have the ability to confer
upon the most oppressed and abused of the hu-
man family. You admit that abstinence from
West Indian produce must become general in
order to accomplish its object-And to You we
must look to make it general-to bring it into
fashion. Who else, but those who have time and
talents at their own disposal, rather, at the dis-
posal of the great Giver, can be expected to de
vote them to a cause to which there is no attraction


104
of ambition or interest, and for the most la-
borious and successful exertions in which, no
reward is to be hoped for, but from Him who
seeth in secret?
To be exempt from the crime of encouraging
and perpetuating slavery, and to make atonement
for past negligence, we must not only abstain
ourselves from all farther consumption of its pro-
duce, but determine, to the utmost of our power,
to engage others in a similar resolution. We
must make it a business, by every means of argu-
ment and persuasion, to engage the cooperation
of all around us, high and low, rich and poor,---
not regarding opposition and ridicule, but making
the best of our talents and influence, whatever
they be, to extend the resolution far and wide,
until it pervades the whole kingdom,-until the
use of slave produce shall become a mark of re-
proach, and those who have not renounced it
upon principle, shall be constrained to do it for
their credit's sake. A resolution and zeal short
of this, will effect nothing; we shall only trifle
with the subject,-trifle with our christian obliga-
tions, and do nothing effectual towards discharg-
ing the heavy debt we owe to our enslaved brother.
Christian charity, implies in its very nature,
the spirit of sacrifice and self-denial. What costs
us little, is, in general, of little worth. But what
sacrifice (it may be asked) or self-denial, deserving
the name, is implied in the rejection of slave pro-


105
duce where the same articles may be obtained by
free labour? Certainly there is no sacrifice in
the individual substitution, but such a substitution
can never be expected to become general without
exertions which involve considerable sacrifices.
West Indian slavery has been so often discussed,
has become so trite and hackneyed a subject that
it seems by tacit agreement to be excluded from
common conversation, and it requires no little
courage to encounter the evident coldness or dis-
gúst with which it is generally received. There
is a great deal of prejudice and hostility among a
large proportion of the higher and middle ranks,
against the measure in question, occasioned by
the extensive ramifications of West Indian influ-
ence, and a prevailing notion, among such as
pride themselves on their loyalty, that it is
an officious interference with the business of
Government.
It is highly desirable that the friends of eman-
cipation, should, as much as possible, for the sake
of consistency, abstain from the consumption of
all slave cultivated produce. But as the cultivation
of sugar is the most lucrative, and by far the most
oppressive of West Indian slave labours ;-as the
Planter derives his chief emolument from the sale
of this article, and his monopoly of the British
market ;-it is against this article especially, that
we must endeavour to close that market. But be-
fore entering upon the consideration of the best


106
means of securing that object, we will briefly
advert to the objections most frequently urged
against it.
The zealous advocates for the substitution of
East for West Indian sugar, are on all sides ad-
monished, that their attempts to dissuade the
British public from the consumption of the latter
until the former becomes the preferable article,
are altogether Utopian and visionary.
They are also assured, that were the British
Public to adopt such a resolution it would be
utterly futile as it regards its object; since the
sugar rejected by us would be exported to the
continent.
It is also confidently asserted, that a general
disuse of West Indian sugar would be alike in-
jurious to the slave and his master, inasmuch
as it would occasion a fall of price, which by
impoverishing the latter would oblige him to
diminish the support and comforts of the former;
and also, that it would be highly injurious to the
commercial interests of this country.
In reply to the first objection, we beg to pro-
pose the following questions :
Have the British public any just pretensions
to the character of humanity and benevolence?
Have they any true sense of moral justice? Does
any thing but the empty name belong to the great
bulk of christian professors ? Do any higher
principles than that of the most sordid selfish-


107
1
ness and cruel indifference to other's sufferings
influence their actions ? If these questions can
be answered affirmatively, then, certainly, after
an acqua intance with the shocking process of
West India sugar cultivation, there is nothing
Utopian orvisionary in expecting that every indi--
vidual possessed of common humanity, to say
nothing of religion, should abstain from its con-
sumption, were East India double the price, or
even if there were no other sugar to be substi-
tuted." The attention of those who are not
thoroughly acquainted with that process, is par-
ticularly requested to the following compressed
description of " the driving system,” which, in the
West Indies, is chiefly confined to sugar cultiva-
tion.
“ In holeing a cane-piece, or turning up the
ground into parallel trenches, for the reception of
the cane-plants, the slaves of both sexes, are
n
Some persons object to the substitution of East for West
Indian
sugar,
nnder the notion that the former is dearer than
the latter. The objection, though a very sordid one, ought
to be noticed. A correspondent, well acquainted with the
fact, says-"There is, in London, no difference whatever in
the price of East and West India raw sugar, consequently,
there ought to be none in the Country. The East India re-
fined sugar was considerably dearer, when first offered to the
public, on account of the difficulty and expense attending the
commencement of the refining process; but now, the diffe-
rence of price between East and West India lump sugar is
not more than one penny or three-half-pence per pound."


108
drawn out in a line, like troops on a parade, each
with a hoe in the hand; and close, in the rear, are
stationed the drivers, in numberduly proportioned
to that of the gang. Each of these drivers, has a
long, thick, and strongly plaited whip, the report
of which is as loud, and the lash as severe as those
of the whips in common use with our waggoners,
and which he has authority to apply the instant,
he perceives occasion, without previous warning.
Thus disposed, their work begins, and continues
without interruption for a certain number of hours,
during which, at the peril of the driver, an ad-
equate portion of the land must be holed. As the
trenches are generally rectilinear, and the whole
line of holers advance together, it is necessary that
every section of the trench should be finished in
equal time with the rest; if any were allowed to
throw in the hoe with less rapidity or energy than
their companions, the trench would be imperfectly
formed; it is therefore the business of the drivers
not only to urge forward the whole gang with
sufficient speed, but to watch that all in the line,
whether male or female, old or young, strong or
feeble, work, as nearly as possible, in equal time
and with equal effect; the tardy stroke must be
quickened, and the languid invigorated'; and the
whole line made to dress, in the military phrase,
as it advances; no breathing time, no resting on
the hoe, no pause of langour to be repaid by
brisker action, can be allowed to individuals


109
gether.”
(however exhausted): all must work or repose to-
The labourers, having no motive for
exertion but the fear of punishment, are impelled
10 their daily task in the cultivation of the sugar-
cane, on a burning glebe, beneath a vertical sun,
by the stimulant of the whip, which Dr. Collins,
an experienced planter, and able apologist for
slavery, admits, “is usually left to the discretion
of the driver, and is of course administered neither
with impartiality or judgment; but is generally
bestowed with rigour on the weakest of the gang,
and those who are so unfortunate as not to be in
favour with the subdespot, on any part of the
naked body or head, by which means the weaker
Negroes are over-wrought and compelled to resort
to the sick-house”p Let it be remembered also, that
in addition to this severe and exhausting day-pro-
cess, in the cultivation of the sugar cane, there is
the aggravated oppression of alternate night labour,
during nearly half the year in grinding at the
sugar-mills, &c.
Surely there is nothing Utopian or visionary
in expecting that every person of common hu-
manity, not immediately interested in the support
of slavery, will desist from the consumption of
• See “Slavery of the West Indies delineated " by James
Stephen, Esq. vol. 1. p. 46. .
P See “ Practical rules, &c. for the treatment of slaves in
the
sugar
colonies. p. 201, 201. 267.


110
a luxury cultivated under such a system as this:---
a system so exhausting and destructive of human
life in those Islands where it is most cultivated,
as would, were the same mortality generally to
prevail, -"unpeople the earth in half a cen-
tury”!!! Surely there is nothing Utopian or vi-
sionary in expecting that all who retain any sense
of moral justice, will renounce the consumption
of sugar thus cultivated, were there no other sub-
stitute to be obtained for it; more especially
when acquainted with the fact (which all may be
by referring to the last-mentioned Anti-slavery
Report) that this horrid system will be mitigated
or aggravated in exact proportion as the demand
for this luxury increases or diminishes,
To the second objection, that the substitution
of East, for West India sugar would be utterly
futile as it regards the destruction of West Indian
slavery; since the sugar rejected by us would be
exported to the continent; we imagine the West
Indians themselves have furnished a complete
confutation. For to what do their violent pro-
testations against the equalization of the duties on
East and West Indian sugar,--their virulent in-
vectives against those who attempt to promote
the substitution of the former for the latter,
amount ?--but to so many proofs that they regard
9 See the “second report of the committee of the Anti-
Slavery society."


111
these measures as attacks upon the very vitals of
their system. One of their ablest champions,
having asserted in so many words, that—"the
continent can be, and is supplied with sugar at a
cheaper rate than it can be grown by the British
Planter.” —And in a small tract recently issued
by the West Indian party, addressed “ to the con-
sumers of sugar,” the public are admonished not
to be the “dupes of the humbug of interested
people, who would persuade them to substitute
East for West India sugar, and by that means
involve the colonies in utter ruin.” They are
warned against the “selfish designs of interested
cunning persons, who, regardless of the sacred
obligations of truth, would, if they could, sacrifice
the West Indian colonies to their own narrow
interests, which, whilst they assume the gloss of
humanity to the negroes, would disable their
masters from feeding, clothing, protecting, and
imparting religious instruction to them; and condemn
to ruin an integral part of the British empire.”
It is evident that the measure in question is
regarded by the colonists with the utmost alarm
See a masterly pamphlet entitled “East and West
Indian sugar, or a refutation of the claims of the West
Indian colonists to a protecting duty &c.” (page 3) to which
also we refer our readers for a complete exposure of the
fallacy of the objection that the commercial interests of the
country would be injured by the substitution of East for
West India sugar.


112
and dismay, consequently, it cannot be of that
nugatory, insignificant nature which the objector
would represent. But the production adverted to,
insignificant and contemptible as it may appear,
must not pass without farther comment. It is,
an important document, full of “ pith and argu-
ment,”—exhibiting, in 'narrow compass, the
wretched shifts and miserable extremities to which
the upholders of slavery are driven. It revives
and puts into popular, wholesale circulation the
often confuted falshood of the assertion that
East India sugar is not the production of free la-
bour, but of a system of slavery more severe than
that of the West Indies--many respectable au-
thorities being brought forward to prove that
such slavery exists in the Lower Carnatic. The
author of this precious document miscalculated
in supposing that it would meet the eye of none
but casual unreflecting readers, who were too
ignorant or too thoughtless to consider that the
Lower Carnatic is a thousand miles distant from
the Province of Bengal, where the sugar brought
from the East Indies into this country is cultiva-
ted. We refer the reader to a very sensible reply
to the insinuation that East India sugar is not the
production of free labour, in a small tract, bearing
the same title,~“To the consumers of sugar,” by
the eloquent author of “the Rights of man in the
West Indies ”-But as this writer has entirely
passed over the objections of the West Iudian


113
declaimer against the substitution of East for West
Indian sugar, on account of the cruel effect it
would have upon the slave, as well as his Master,
(thinking it, no doubt, 100 contemptible to de-
serve a reply, its fallacy having been so often
exposed)— yet, being aware that many are still
under this delusion, we quote the following brief
passages from the “second report of the commit-
tee of the Anti-slavery society,” as a complete
answer to the last mentioned objection.
“The West Indians assert that if prices (of
sugar) should fall, the slaves must starve; but in
what way are low prices to produce this effect?
The food of the field slaves in Jamaica is raised
entirely by their own hands, on the portion of
ground allotted to them for that purpose, and
cultivated during that fragment of their time spe-
cifically assigned them by law. Is it then by de-
priving the slaves of the land which has been set
apart for their subsistence, and which the owner
himself has now less temptation than ever to oc-
cupy, that starvation is to ensue? Or is it by
depriving them, without any assignable object for
so doing, of the scanty portion of time which the
law allows them for cultivating their allotments ?
If not, how is it possible for them to starve”?
“The tendency of a low price of sugar is obvi-
ously to direct a larger share both of land and la-
bour to the growth of provisions, or of some other
article of exportable produce than sugar ;-and,
I


114
THE DECREASE
whatever article may be substituted for it, the
change must operate as a relief to the slaves; the
culture of sugar being by far the most oppressive
branch of colonial husbandry.” "The Baha-
mas grow no sugar. There, the increase of the
population is very
very considerably greater than in any
other colony. The only other colony of Great
Britain, in which there is any increase of the slaves,
is Barbadoes; and that is the colony (with one
exception), which makes the smallest quantity of
sugar in proportion to its numbers.” "IN ST.
VINCENT, GRENADA, TOBAGO, AND DEME-
RARA, WHERE THE PROPORTION OF SUGAR
IS THE LARGEST,--THERE
PROCEEDS AT A RAPID RATE; AT A RATE,
SOME OF THEM,
PEOPLE THE EARTH IN HALF A CENTURY"!!!
These, let it be remembered, are not vague
unsupported assertions ;-they are grounded on
authentic documents, on accurate calculation, on
notorious facts, which no ingenuity can evade or
confute. From these documents are we not fully
warranted in urging all who have heads to think
and hearts to feel, to the conscious rejection of
West India sugar and rum?-For should such a
resolution fail to become sufficiently general to
accomplish its ultimate object, yet, it is evident
that it would essentially mitigate the sufferings of
the slave, sugar cultivation being the most dread-
fully oppressive and destructive of all his labours.
IN
WHICH
WOULD
UN-


113
ous.
But we have not quite done with this West
India sugar tract.
tract. If the British public substitute
East for West India sugar—then,“ their masters
(we are told) will be disabled from imparting religi-
ous instruction to their Negroes.” Here is a “hum-
bug,” to which there is surely no parallel! In
this wretched effort of imposture, we know not
whether audacity or imbecility are most conspicu-
Can the writer possibly imagine after the
notorious opposition made by the great body of
Planters to the religious instruction of the Ne-
groes ;--after the dreadful tragedies so recently
acted in Barbadoes and Demerara, that the people
of England can be deluded by such miserable cant
as this?
It were endless to enumerate all the objections
which may be urged against the measure in ques-
tion. We trust enough has been said to prove
that it is neither a Utopian, a useless, or pernici-
ous project to endeavour to dissuade the British
Public (all, at least, who have any real sense of
religion, of hnmanity, or moral justice) from the
consumption of slave cultivated sugar, when once
acquainted with the object and tendency of its
rejection. We should shudder at the idea of being
ourselves the immediate agents of the horrid sys-
tem of oppression above described,but volunta-
rily to sanction and encourage that oppression in
others, is, in effect, equally criminal.
This remark will be said to imply a sweeping


116
condemnation of all who entertain different opini-
ons from those here expressed of the measure in
question, and who are consequently not disposed
to adopt it. We certainly do consider the con-
sumption of West India sugar, under the present
system of cultivation, as absolutely interdicted
by the laws of religion, humanity and justice.
That
many highly respectable, humane, and
truly religious persons persist in the use of it,
we are quite aware; but that circumstance does
not in the least alter the moral character of the
practice. They who do persist in it after being
acquainted with its tendency, do so at the ex-
pense of their principles. That the practice is
attended with no feeling of compunction, is no
proof of its innocence. It is possible, let us ne.
ver forget, for the very worst crimes to be perpe-
trated without any consciousness of their guilt.
It is well, disposed as we all are to self compla-
cent indulgence in any habit 10 which prejudice
custom, or interest incite us, that we are not left
to the uncertain, capricious guidance of individual
opinion, but that we have an explicit, intelligible,
immutable rule, A DIVINE COMMAND, applica-
ble to every variety of circumstance and character,
to restrain and direct our conduct, (viz)—To do
UNTO ALL MEN, WHATSOEVER WE
WOULD
THAT THEY SHOULD DO UNTO US.


+
LETTER IV.
On the most efficient means of deepening and extend-
ing the public interest in the speedy extinction
of West Indian Slavery.
In enumerating the various means by which
an increased interest in the speedy extinction of
West Indian slavery can be most speedily and
widely extended, is it possible to overlook the
christian Pulpit? To Whom but the professed
Ambassadors of Him who came to undo the
heavy burdens—to bind up the broken hearted
to preach deliverance to the captives”—to break
every yoke but that of his own mild and benign-
ant sway ;-to whom but to those who are regard-
ed as the delegated shepherds of the flock, who
profess to watch for souls as they that must give
an account"; to whom but to conscientious
christian Ministers, of all denominations, can we
so reasonably look for deepening and widening the
public interest in the speedy extinction of this
Anti-christian institution ?-by making it a sub-
ject of pulpit admonition.
Should any object, that it would be a lowering


118
of the dignity, a desecration of the sacredness of
the christian pulpit to employ it in the discussion
of secular or political questions ;-we would ask,
whether the present wretchedly degraded and op-
pressed condition of 800,000 immortal beings,-
the brutish ignorance and heathen darkness con-
sequent upon and necessarily connected with their
cruel bondage ;---whether an enquiry into the best
means whereby the restoration of those natural
rights which they have never forfeited, and the
enjoyment of those civil and religious privileges to
which they have an equal claim with ourselves,
may be best secured to them,-can be regarded
as mere secular or political considerations ? If they
can, then are a large portion of the instructions
of our Great Lord and Master of the same secular
and political character. For on what themes did
he chiefly discourse with the Scribes and Pharisees
and with his own disciples, in his divine sermon
on the Mount, but on those of justice and
-of compassion and kindness ?-and what were
the objects of his severest maledictions but injus-
tice, oppression and cruelty-above all, hypocrisy
-the combination of high religious profession
with the violation of its righteous precepts ;---long
prayers and sanctimonious observances with the
“devouring of widows houses”-extortion and
oppression? What was the chief aim of his in-
structive parables, of Dives and Lazarus, -of
the good Samaritan,--of the relentless fellow ser-
mercy


119
vant,--and of his awful illustrations of the day of
Judgment, but to inculcate lessons of compassion
and sympathy—to incite to works of justice and
mercy ?
But we need not labour to obviate objections
which have no real existence. The Pulpit is
every where employed in pressing themes of an
exactly similar nature, though of less urgent ne-
cessity than that in question ;-in recommending
the establishment and support of infirmaries and
hospitals for the relief of temporal want and the
mitigation of bodily suffering.
We would not merely contend that the
best ways and means of abolishing slavery may
with the strictest propriety and accordance with
established precedent be pointed out and recom-
mended from the Pulpit; but that such an em-
ployment of it would be peculiarly appropriate.
If righteousness, justice and mercy be essential
parts of the christian character;—if “ all the law
and the prophets be comprehended in the two
commandments of loving God with all the heart
soul and strength, and our Neighbour as our-
selves;--if Christ himself hath said, that this
second is like unto the first and great command-
ment”-in its comprehensive nature and exten-
sive requirements ;—then, it is both expedient
and necessary to dilate and expatiate upon this
also ;-to extend and apply it to existing circum-
stances ;-to bring the habits and conduct of


120
professors to this unvarying standard and touch-
stone of christian rectitude.
"
say unto you, for every idle word that
men shall speak they shall give account thereof
in the day of Judgment,”-is one of those deeply
signifieant and comprehensive sentences in which
is revealed the awful nature and extent of our
accountability. In this concise declaration is
condensed, information of immense importance,
connected with consequences the most momen-
tous. Every word in this emphatic sentence has
a deep and weighty signification. “I say unto
you, ”-What simple majesty, what solemn im-
port in the introduction! The Saviour and final
Judge of the world is the speaker,--he who is
himself THE TRUTH,-- who hath said“ Heaven
and earth shall pass away, but my words shall
not pass away”—the Son of God makes the awful
declaration, that “for every idle word men shall
give account in the day of judgment.” The all-
pervading presence of the invisible Judge — the
all-controling nature of his religion — the im-
perishable book of remembrance preserved by
him of the whole tenor, the minutiæ, of the con-
duct of his intelligent creatures - and their cer-
tain and strict accountability to him, are all di-
rectly implied in this concise communication.
If then, for every idle (thoughtless) word we shall
give an account in the day of judgment, is it not
a necessary inference that for every injurious action


121
,
we shall be equally accountable? What infa-
tuated self-deceivers we are! With what foolish,
mad presumption we say to our souls, “ Peace,
when there is no peace!” We lose the recol-
lection of the daily tenor of our own thoughts,
words and actions, - even of the most guilty we
retain but vague and transient remembrance ;-
we soon forgive and forget our own transgressions
-and presumptuously and impiously imagine,
even respecting those which are unrepented of
unannealed, that they are also forgiven and for-
gotten by our Omniscient Judge; - though he
hath with solemn emphasis declared that " for
every idle word that men shall speak, they shall
give account thereof in the day of judgment."
How much more of their deliberate actions !
These, will not only be remembered, but a far
different estimate to our own, will be made of
them. In assigning their respective places in the
book of Divine remembrance, “righteousness will
be laid to the line and judgment to the plum-
met,” actions, many of which we regard as
indifferent or innocent, will be ranged in the
column of crimes, when their motives and conse-
quences are taken into account. And will the
encouragement given to human slavery (that most
frightful complication of crime and misery) be
overlooked? Will the part we have taken re-
specting the poor Negro be left out of the esti-
mate? Will those be held guiltless who from


122
thoughtlessness or carelessness, continue to con-
sume the produce of his slavery with their eyes
wide open to the nature of that slavery which such
consumption tends to perpetuate? Can any thing
be more in character with a christian Minister
than to warn his hearers against such a delusion?
-more especially, because the practice is so gene-
ral and is therefore regarded as innocent. Chris-
tians are enjoined to be "holy and harmless
separate from sinners ;”-to “keep themselves
pure; ”-to “have no fellowship with works of
darkness ;”-not to be “partakers of other men's
sins.” But by the consumption of slave produce
all these injunctions are violated.
“ Ye are the salt of the earth;"_“Ye are the
light of the world,” said our Lord to the first
preachers of the Gospel. “Ye are the salt of the
earth ;” - to keep it from corruption, from be-
coming a mass of moral putrefaction ;--- to pre-
serve the purity of christian doctrine, the righ-
teousness of christian practice. 66 Ye are the
light of the world,” - to illuminate its dark cor-
ners ---- to detect and reprove all unrighteousness.
Had such continued to be the character of
preachers of the Gospel, could human slavery,
that horrid compound of all injustice, cruelty,
and impiety, still support and exalt itself in this
land of high christian profession, this age of pre-
eminent benevolence and refinement ? Could it
be possible, that a system comprising every cala-


199
mity and outrage which man has power to inflict
upon his fellow man, should exist in a country
where Christianity is not only tolerated, but es-
tablished; where temples for christian worship
are profusely scattered over the empire;—whereits
ministers have free access to all ranks of the
community ;-—where religion “ lifts her mitred
head in Courts and Parliaments;" is suffered
to raise her voice in the Palace as well as the
Church ;-to admonish the Legislature and the
Monarch as well as the People?
Why the deepest crime and foulest national
disgrace should, with a few noble exceptions,
have hitherto escaped the reprobation, and been
imagined to lie out of the sphere of the christian
pulpit-it were useless to inquire. We rejoice
in the hope that the illusion is rapidly dissipating,
and that the time is at hand when the righteous
cause of Negro emancipation will be advocated in
the right place, -- with the boldness and fidelity
becoming christian ministers. We remember
that a wild fanatic, Peter the Hermit, by his
single preaching, lighted up the flames of war all
over Europe, and we doubt not that equal fervency
and extent of zeal may be kindled by conscien-
tious ministers of the true religion, in a war
against oppression and impiety which have no
parallel in the civilized world ;-in a war rightly
denominated a holy one, in which every indivi-


124
not
dual, possessing any just pretensions to the chris-
tian name, ought to engage with all his might.
Some of the most distinguished dissenting
ministers have already set the example, and we
are anxiously desiring that those of the establish-
ment may follow the noble precedent;
merely by giving their respective hearers a single
sermon on the subject of slavery and then dis-
missing it;-not merely by describing the horrors
of the system and exciting the sympathy of their
hearers for its unhappy victims; but by pointing
out and pressing the adoption of the most effectual
means of putting a speedy end to it;-by shewing
that every individual, however obscure his station,
or humble his talents, may render important assis-
tance, may do much by his own example and in-
fluence towards its final destruction.
We entreat all who are conscious of being but
partially informed of the present character of West
Indian Slavery, and are consequently deficient in
arguments and facts wherewith to repel the artful
misrepresentations and gross falsehoods by which
it is attempted, but too successfully, to delude
the British public into a persuasion that the pre-
sent actual condition of colonial bondage is not
only as little oppressive, but is, in fact, more com-
fortable than that of the Irish, or even British
peasantry ;-we entreat all such to acquaint them-
selves without delay, with one of the most im-


125
portant documents (just published) which has
yet appeared upon the subject, viz. the abridged
substance of some highly interesting papers re-
cently laid before Parliament, entitled “ The slave
colonies of Great Britain; or a picture of Negro
slavery drawn by the Colonists themselves;"
with the very appropriate motto, “ out of thine
own mouth will I judge thee.”
“ The picture which it exhibits of slavery is
so fearful and revolting, that we might hesitate to
credit the existence of the reality, were it not that
the statements are official, and emanate from the
colonial authorities themselves. This is not a
narrative of past and long forgotten atrocities, fur-
bished up anew to excite the feelings of the
British public, but a delineation of the actual state
of our own slave colonies, at the present moment ;
a narrative which tells us of stripes yet unhealed;
of groans which still echo around our plantations ;
of tyranny to this moment unchecked in its deeds of
cruelty and crime; of injustice, oppression and
inhumanity both private and legislative, bearing
date not in dark ages or Pagan lands, but in
British colonies, and with the ink scarcely dry
upon the record. The first impression which its
perusal is calculated to produce, is a feeling of
surprise and horror at the extraordinary state of
society which it developes. In this analysis, the
colonists are made to describe their own system;
the proofs of its iniquity being drawn from the


196
1
colonial laws, from other colonial records of un-
questionable authority, or from the evidence of
colonial proprietors. In the ameliorated slave-
codes here brought before them, the public will
find the proof, the irrefragable proof, of the de-
termined pertinacity with which the colonists
still cleave to the worst, the most revolting defor-
mities of their system; and the utter worthless-
ness of all the pretended improvements adopted
by the colonial assemblies.”
In the postscript to these official documents,
an analysis is given of the report of the constitu-
ted guardians and protectors of the slaves, by
which we are admitted into the interior, the very pe-
netralia of the slave system,” from whence, among
other horrific disclosures, it will be seen what are its
brutalizing effects on the female charactér-what
refined barbarities it can train and habituate “ La-
dies" to exercise upon their slaves.
In these documents the public will see that
“ demoralizing and murderous system” accurately
portrayed for the maintenance of which they are
burdened with imposts to the amount of annnal
millions; for the maintenance of which the lives
of two thousand British soldiers are annually sa-
crificed ;--for the maintenance of which British
commerce is fettered by impolitic and injurious
restrictions ;--the population of Ireland kept in
•See “ the Christian Observer, Oct. 1825"-pages 655-
657.


127
idleness and beggary ;-the interests of one hun-
dred million of British subjects in India surren-
dered to those of about two thousand West ludian
Planters and Merchants!!!!
But to return to the christian pulpit. The
preacher, having once thoroughly acquainted him-
self with the subject of West Indian slavery,
having convinced himself of the unexceptionable
nature and authority of the evidence on which
the horrid enormities of the system are asserted,
will find it no theme of barren speculation or
casual invective, but one of deep and wide
interest, fruitful of instruction and bearing with
important weight on the grand fundamental truths
and essential duties of christianity. He will
per-
ceive, in the modern history of slavery, in the
British dominions,—in its effects especially upon
the white colonists the free-born sons and
daughters also, of British christendom, the most
appalling illustrations of human depravity ;-he
will perceive the hardened callosity to which the
human heart may arrive under the petrifying
influence of unrestrained avarice;-the profound
depths of wickedness into which man may plunge
when invested with unlimited power ;-the tremen-
dous extent of suffering which he has the will to
See the luminous expositions of the impolitic and bane-
ful effects of slavery, in the public speeches of the enlight-
ened and philanthropic James Cropper, of Liverpool, as
reported in various provincial papers.


128
inflict on his fellow man ;--the extremes of corpo-
real and mental anguish to which he can remorse-
lessly consign his Brother ;-the monster of cruelty
and oppression, the abhorred instrument of pure
mischief which he may become, when abandoned
to himself-emancipated from the restraints of
religion,--unawed by fear, unsoftened by love of
the righteous Governor of the universe. In the
conduct of these White tyrants, he will see terrific
illustration of the natural tendency of human in-
terests and human passions ;-he will see awful
demonstration that man, in his natural state, is
indeed “a child of wrath”-a fit object of the
vengeance of a holy God-even, of a God of love
-and will consequently obtain clearer perceptions
of the necessity and infinite value of a Redeemer
and a Saviour ;--of a new birth and complete
renovation of nature. He will see that “every
good and perfect gift cometh from above;"—that
all the virtues and all the graces which have ever
adorned and beautified the human character, are
implanted by the Divine spirit alone ;-that every
fruit of righteousness which has ever appeared in
this degenerate soil; from its earliest blossom to
maturity, has been the production alone of the
Sun of Righteousness.
We earnestly hope that conscientious Minis-
ters of the Gospel, of every denomination, will no
longer withhold their earnest attention from this
momentous subject, from an apprehension that it


129
lies beyond the sphere of their influence. We
are fully persuaded that they may, in a very short
space of time, become the honoured instruments
of ridding their country of its foulest abomination,
by instigating the people of all ranks, through the
most quiet and unexceptionable means, to throw
down the altars of the bloody Moloc of slavery,
to expel from British ground every vestige of its
impious worship. We cannot, therefore, but earn-
estly hope they will lose no more time in exerting
the great influence they possess over the people;
—that they will suspend, for a season, their ac-
customed course of instruction ;--deviate a little
from the beaten track,-call the attention of their
hearers for a time, from the principles, the ground-
work of religion, to the contemplation of its beau-
tiful superstructure, that just, and righteous and
benificent practice to which those principles incite.
Let them remind their hearers that He whom
they preach, "gave himself for them that he might
purify to himself a peculiar people zealous of good
works ;”—that christians are commanded not to
"touch the unclean thing;”—and that if Gentile con-
verts were expressly enjoined by Apostolic autho-
rity, under divine direction, to “abstain from
meats offered to idols, and from blood,” it can be
no strained unnatural inference to conclude that
the spirit of this prohibition must necessarily ex-
tend to an absolute interdiction of the voluntary
consumption of the produce of slavery. When
K


180
christian Ministers have once entered on the sub-
ject, they will find it no barren and circumscribed
theme;- it will afford ample illustration of chris-
tian duty, strong and varied appeals to the hearts
and consciences of their hearers, especially to those
of the higher and more influential classes, to whom
a wide field of interesting labour may be present-
ed, in endeavouring to spread and to keep alive
a general interest and sympathy, for the most
deeply injured of the human race, among their
friends and neighbours,--and in shewing by what
means, relief may be most effectually admi-
nistered. Thus would a fresh and powerful im-
pulse be imparted to benevolence and the warm
glow of christian charity circulated from bosom
to bosom. Thus would the rich, according to
apostolic injunction, be admonished to “ do good,
to be 'rich in good works ;”-new sources of
pure satisfaction would be opened to them, in
exciting fellow feeling and brotherly kindness in
all around them, in tasting the luxury of benefi-
cence in proving that the pleasures of sympathy
far surpass those of selfish enjoyment;--that their
own happiness is augmented in proportion as they
are earnestly engaged in promoting the welfare of
others; not that of their own neighbourhood and
country alone, but that of the stranger, the poor
captive in a distant land, of him who seems to
have no human helper-and thus, inheriting "the
blessing of those who are ready to perish”-and


131
the richer blessing of Him who hath declared that
a cup of cold water alone, imparted in christian
charity, shall not lose its reward.
The preacher, by directing the moral percep-
tions and religious principles of his hearers to the
subject of West Indian slavery, will shew them a
great work of righteousness, of justice and mercy
in which all may engage, from the highest to the
lowest and thereby afford substantial proof that
there is life and power in the religion they profess;
that it is an active vigorous principle, a faith that
works by love, which may be mighty, even in
feeble hands, to the pulling down this strong hold
of Satan, and setting at liberty eight hundred thou-
sand immortal beings, the wretched victims of a
two-fold bondage, bondage of soul as well as body,
withheld alike (as by far the greater proportion of
them are) from moral and spiritual as well as cor-
poreal freedom; kept back from the sound of the
liberty of the Gospel, lest they should become
more deeply sensible of their cruel wrongs, lest
the iron yoke of oppression, the chains of igno-
rance and mental darkness, should become still
more intolerable.
We are aware that great offence may be taken
at such an employment of the christian pulpit; at
such an exposure, in such a place, of a system in
which many persons of the first consequence and
allowed respectability, “men of education and
K 2


132
liberal attainments,” are concerned. But that
can be no solid ground of objection to those who
consider the great offence excited by the preaching
of their Lord and Master on a similar occasion ;
in detecting, exposing and reprobating “ wicked-
ness in high places,”-the injustice, extortion and
cruelty of scribes and pharisees, persons, in their
day of great eminence and distinction. It will be
no solid ground of objection to those who remem-
ber that the disciples were forewarned that the
servant' was not greater than his Lord, that those
who had persecuted him would persecute them
also; that if they were of the world, the world
would love its own, but because they were not of
the world, therefore the world would hate them.
The offence therefore which may be taken by
men of the world against such a proceeding, is
rather a confirmation of its consistency and pro-
priety.
Under existing circumstances, we can imagine
no subject which can more worthily engage
the
constituted guardians of the public virtue, its mo-
rals and religion, than the denouncing of that
anti-christian, execrable tyranny, which obliterates
all sense of natural justice, every feeling of huma-
nity, every principle of religion ; which hardens
the hearts and sears the consciences of its active
agents and abettors, and subjects them to a more
dreadful and hopeless bondage than that of its


133
poor victims, in as much as there is reason to
dread its extension beyond the period of their
present existence.
We can imagine nothing more truly in charac-
ter with ministers of that religion which lays the
axe to the root of every corrupt tree, than to pro-
test, to make open war against, and to resist with
all their might, this bold and malignant “enemy
of all righteousness;” since it is apparent that the
Gospel can have no “free course, can be glori-
fied by none of those “mighty works,”—those
great extensive moral transformations which it is
destined to accomplish, in any nation where this
Anti-christ is suffered to reign.
What says the very temperate and candid
Author of “ Negro Slavery,” in his fairest exam-
ple of West Indian society (that of Jamiaca)?
“No virtuous man ought to trust his own charac-
ter, or that of his children, to the demoralizing
effects produced by slave keeping. The state of
morals and religion, is as bad as can be imagined.
It is well known that the morals of nineteen out
of twenty white men are ruined before they have
been a month on the Island, and every idea of
religion vanishes. "u
And what says a respec-
table Clergyman, nearly five years resident on the
same Island? “I shall never forget the horror
and disgust which I felt on going on shore, for
the first time, in Kingston, Angust, 1819: it
"See “ Negro Slavery," p. 27.


134
was on a Sunday and I had to pass the Negro
Market, where several thousands of human beings,
of various nations and colours, chiefly Negroes,
instead of worshiping their Maker on his holy
day, were busily employed in all kinds of traffic
in the open streets. The different noises and bar-
barous tongues recalled the confusion of Babel,
but the drunkenness of some, with the impreca-
tions and licentiousness of others, put me in mind
rather of a pandemonium, or residence of devils.
I have resided nearly five years in Jamaica, and
have preached two or three sermons almost every
Sunday; many other clergymen have also exerted
themselves, but to very little purpose, as these
horrid legalized scenes are just the same, and most
of the churches in the Island are nearly empty.
I am aware there is a law in the Island, imposing
a fine on proprietors or overseers, for compelling
the Negroes to do certain kinds of labour on the
Sabbath ; but it is notorious that this law is alto-
gether a dead letter, and in Jamaica, the largest
West Indian colony of highly favoured Christian
Britain, the Sabbath is worse kept than by Turks
themselves. It is not enough that the poor Ne-
groes are compelled, on that day, to cultivate
their own provision grounds to preserve life, (not
having sufficient time otherwise allowed them)
but to add to the abomination, a Sunday market
must also be kept, which is the only market they
have, to which they trudge, like mules, with


195
heavy loads, five, ten, or even twenty miles. In
other colonies, where the abundant fatness of the
soil has augmented the cupidity of the planters,
the hardships of the poor Negroes are even greater
than in Jamaica, they are very much overworked;
especially the jobbing gangs (out of whose labour
fortunes have been made in a short time.) These
gangs have been compared, very aptly, to aver
driven horses : the poor slaves composing them,
may certainly, without exaggeration, be compared
to the London hacks. A double price is paid for
them, and they are worked so very much, that
they do not last long. It is gold versus life.”
“Were the colonists inclined to make any
material beneficial changes in the slave code, nei-
ther the British Government nor British people
would think of interfering ; but experience teaches
that their professions with respect to their slaves,
are unmeaning and empty, and that even the few
concessions that have been wrung from them are
not bona fide fulfilled. Witness their not allowing
them time to attend places of worship on Sundays.
Witness the non-redress of their just complaints,
for severity and cruelty of punishment. Witness
the preventing those of the curates who wished to
attend on some of the estates, to preach and to cate-
chise, from doing so, and thereby shutting the door
of instruction on the poor slaves altogether.”
“ It must indeed be plain to every impartial
person, that the colonists do not intend to lighten


136
the hardships of their slaves. Their principal ob-
ject is to keep them in total ignorance, and to compel
them to raise the greatest possible quantity of pro-
duce; for they calculate thus-if we do away
with the Sunday market, there must be more time
given to the slaves, and our own crops will fall short;
if we allow them to be instructed, it will take a little
more time, and the Negroes will also know too much
to be content! They therefore do, and will, oppose
all interference by the British Parliament because
they wish, and intend, at all hazards, to keep the
slaves and their descendants in perpetual bondage.”
This writer farther observes, that “many colo-
nial clergymen are anxious to advance the know-
ledge of religion, but are prevented through the
general profanation of the Sabbath, and the labour-
ing and marketing of the Negroes on that day.
Some who have attempted to introduce reforms
have been stigmatised as Methodists; and it is
scarcely safe for them to venture to preach against
gross immorality, Sabbath breaking,” &c.
Let it be remembered that this is the report of
an impartial resident eye witness of the existing
state of things in the Island of Jamaica. The
striking illustrations given by this conscious writer
(in addition to the ferocious transactions at Bar-
badoes and Demerara) of the determined and
malignant hostility which the slave system bears
*See The West Indies as they are." by the Rev. R. Bickell.
pages 64, 67, 68, 71, 137, 138.


137
to religion, is a loud call upon its conscientious
ministers to interpose their influence, to use their
utmost exertions to purify the British atmosphere
from this moral pestilence, which sheds a blight
and a mildew upon every opening blossom of vir-
tue, and forces into rapid and monstrous growth
every poisonous shoot of vice. So active and in-
sinuating is the demoralizing contagion engendered
by slavery, that it seems to operate by a kind of
magic;-virtue becomes vice;-even piety her-
self becomes impious on breathing the tainted
atmosphere ; or, if she be firm and hardy enough
to resist the malignant contagion, she then be-
comes the object of persecution unto death. How
has the Christian standard been lowered and de-
graded which has from time to time been raised
in the land of slavery !
How have evil commu-
nications corrupted good manners in certain Me-
thodist missionaries, who, through the tamperings
of interest or the blandishments of flattery, have
been disinherited of their reason, shorn of their
strength,—have suffered their shield, the awful
egis of christian truth, to be basely cast away, and
instead of denouncing woes against the worship-
pers, instead of “ crying out against the altars"
of this most impious of all the idol gods of sa-
tanic devotion, have dared to arraign and condemn
the veteran band of abolitionists, have traduced
and blasphemed the sacred cause they engaged to
advocate, by asserting that christianity has no


138
hostility to slavery; have themselves, joined the
Priests of this Baal,--have become the apologists
and defenders of the execrable system of West
Indian tyranny,--and have impiously dared to
assert its compatibility with the divine will. How
deep then, must be the poison of that moral in-
fection which can transform christian missionaries
into priests of Baal ?---the " salt of the earth”,
into the means of its corruption ? For the honour of
the Methodist body, it is to be hoped that these
accommodating, time serving missionaries have
been expelled from its membership. But we cannot
withhold from our readers the following short ex-
tract from a sermon recently addressed by a Mis-
sionary (said to be in that connexion) to a slave
audience, in presence, no doubt, of their taskmasters,
with which the advocates of West Indian slavery
have presented the public, illustrative of the bles-
sings of slavery.
“ It ought to be remembered that the situation
of life in which Providence has placed you, is not
without its comforts; for when you have per-
formed your appointed work, you are happily
delivered from all anxiety and tormenting care,
and can return to your humble cabins with con-
fidence, being assured that no creditor will be
there claiming the little property you possess ;-
no sick wife or child will be there, without the aid
See the small tract before adverted to, addressed “ To
the Consumers of sugar."


139
of medicine, and if required, of a nurse ;-neither
will your children meet you at your doors with
looks expressive of starvation, and pierce your
hearts with cries of hunger. No, such scenes of
misery are not to be found in your dwellings, “ for
your bread is given you, and your water is sure."
Was there ever a more shocking profanation
of the sacred text, than thus to employ it in con-
firmation of a lie? For can there be a lie more
palpable than the inference which is made to
follow this exordium, that the comforts and bles-
sings of slavery are greater than those of the free-
born British peasantry? Of what kind is the
bread that is given, and the waters that are sure,
to the West Indian slave? Is it not bread of af-
fliction and water of affliction? Are not their
lives embittered with hard bondage ? Are not
their bodies lacerated with whips and galling
chains ? disfigured with brand-marks ? Are they
not bought and sold like cattle? Are they not
considered and treated in all respects like beasts
of burden? And what are the comforts of their
« humble cabins"? What is the care they expe-
rience in sickness ? What food is provided them
in health? The Author of " The West Indies
as they are,” has informed us, “ of the great care
taken of the slaves in sickness, and of the boasted
frequent attendance of medical men on the dif-
ferent properties. I have (says he) never seen
2 Isaiah xxxiii. 16.


140
any very flattering specimens, though I have been
on a great many plantations, and have seen plenty
of doctors. Their hospitals, or hot-houses (as they
are very aptly styled) are, generally speaking,
filthy receptacles. On most estates the hospital
consists of a confined room with an earthen floor;
on which is a platform of boards, upon which the
sick lie down in their clothes. The hot-house is
often the place where the Negroes are also con-
fined in the stocks; so that it is both hospital and
gaol. They have not the comfortable cottage of
the English peasant, which no one dares to enter
without permission. No, in his mud built hut,
without a window or a chimney, on two or three
boards, or on the floor itself, the Negro slave lies
down on his mat, very often uncovered ; and if he
wants a little fire, as in the mountains he some-
times will, he must light his few sticks in the open
air, and sit upon his heels shivering by them.
As to food, the quantity in most cases is suffici-
ent, (were it otherwise, they would be unable to
perform the labour required of them) but in the
quality, none but a bigotted low minded planter,
or some interested professional resident, would
compare the coarse yams and cocoas, and stringy
indigestible plantains, with a few bad or rotten
herrings, to the wholesome bread, potatoes, and
other fine vegetables which the English cottager
enjoys. I have seen a good deal of the English poor
and can conscientiously say, that I never saw any
1


141
one even a pauper, who lived in the mean hoggish
way that the slaves in the West Indies do; and
moreover, that if such course food as the negroes
generally eat, were offered them, they would reject
it as unfit for human beings ; English stomachs
could not well digest it.”
Such are the bodily “ comforts” of slavery;
what are its spiritual blessings we have before en-
quired. But we return to the peculiar hostility
which the system bears to christianity. We are
told, that in spite of all the great obstacles with
which it is surrounded in the West Indies, it is
now making rapid progress, and English liberality
is appealed to, in various directions, to enable the
Moravians to extend their settlements on several
estates to which the proprietors have invited them.
It is a matter of heart-felt rejoicing that the
preaching of the Gospel in the land where “Satan's
sect (preeminently) is,” should not be unac-
companied with its renovating power. — We
have listened with delight to the unvarnished
histories of its transforming efficacy upon the
hearts and lives of the despised Negro, but we
consider such particular instances of its success as
no argument against the general hostility which
the system of slavery bears to christianity.
Even the Moravians, who stand so deservedly
high in the devoted bands of christian Missiona-
ries, whose patient, judicious, self-denying labours
are more tolerated, more encouraged by the Plan-


142
ters, than those of any other persuasion ---"because
of advantage,”-because of the evidenţ benefit
which the slave owner thereby derives in the in-
creased value of his slave property ; because his
vassals thereby become more profitable, more
patient of toil, more trust worthy ;-because they
have thereby learnt the divine art of returning
good for evil ;--even these devoted messengers
of the Gospel escape not unhurt by the infectious
atmotphere of slavery. They imagine themselves
under the sad necessity of exhibiting the glorious
luminary of the Gospel, as - the sun, shorn of
his beams,--seen through a horizontal gloomy
mist;”--they imagine themselves under the sad
necessity-though not of “handling the word of
life deceitfully”-yet of administering it partially;
inculcating upon the oppressed slave, its gentleness,
meekness and long-suffering, but witholding from
his oppressor the terrible woes which it denounces
against injustice and oppression.
The first messengers of the Gospel who bore its
glad tidings to a benighted enslaved world, were
forewarned that they should be brought before
rulers. Their commission was to preach repen-
tance to all ;-to declare the whole counsel of God;
to lay the axe to the root of every corrupt tree;
to “pull down wickedness in high (as well as
low) places.” The incestuous Herod was boldly
reproved by the Baptist ;-Peter and John, when
forbidden by the Jewish priests and rulers to


143
preach the new doctrine, replied with holy mag-
nanimity~"whether it be right in the sight of God
to hearken unto you more than unto God judge
ye;” and they waxed bolder and bolder from the
opposition they encountered. But though the same
courage and zeal have directed many devoted Mis-
sionaries to our West Indian shores, the air is so
tainted, so heavily surcharged with moral poison,
that the nerves even of christian courage relax;-
the truth, instead of being preached to all, without
respect of persons, must, in this land of civilized
barbarians, (more fiercely hostile to christianity
than Pagan savages)—be preached to the poor
Negro alone, and that by stealth, or connivance.
To preach the pure doctrines of the Gospel to
slave-holders-to speak to them even of the rights
of common justice and humanity, would seem to
be rushing into the very jaws of destruction. Yet,
had these Missionaries relied less on human pru-
dence and more upon “ the God of Daniel," who
shut the lion's mouths ;-who, in former ages (and
His
power is ever the same) caused his devoted
servants, 5 out of weakness to be made strong,
to “ wax valiant in fight”-and, though few in
number “to turn to flight the armies of the aliens ;"!
--who disarmed the flames of their power to
burn ;-who caused His servants to walk unhurt
in the midst of the burning fiery furnace, “ heated
seven times hotter than it was wont to be heated":
--peradventure, the horrid Moloc of slavery had


144
Our mo-
long since been abandoned—its bloody altars
thrown down-and a decree, passed under the
force of irresistible conviction, had gone forth from
the colonial legislators themselves, announcing
the year of jubilee,--proclaiming christian, instead
of martial law,—the reign of justice, of righteous-
ness and peace. But “the fear of man bringeth
a snare"--a dangerous, a fatal snare.
dern Missionaries, with the timidity as well as
harmlessness of the dove ;-restrict themselves by
certain laws and prudential resolutions, not to be
found in the scriptural directory, not to meddle
with the established order of things ;-not at all
to interfere between the master and the slave;-
to confine themselves wholly to the spiritual con-
cerns of the latter:-never attempting to arrest
the arm of lawless power, or to restrain its merci-
less inflictions ;-to say to the cruel tyrant—"it
is not lawful for thee” thus to degrade, to oppress,
to torture thy fellow creature, — thy brother:-
never reminding the lordly usurper that it is not
lawful for him to make merchandize of human
beings,-to treat immortal intelligences as brute
animals ;-never warning him that it is at his own
peril that he scourges and chains his over laboured
defenceless victims ;-that he is thereby “heap-
ing to himself wrath against the day of wrath ;”
--that " he shall have judgment without mercy
who hath shewn no mercy;"-that “the same
measure” which he is now meting to the slave,


145
will certainly be " meted to him again.” No, the
Missionary says nothing of all this to the slave-
holder. “No, it would be imprudent, it would
be madness to do so ;-it would utterly defeat
the object of his mission and involve himself in
certain ruin. But is not this “reasoning with
flesh and blood”? Is not this “the fear of man
(which) bringeth a snare”? A snare indeed it hath
brought;--- “ Israel flees before his enemies ;”-
“the ark is taken;"_"the Philistines triumph.”
In one British colony, a christian temple is rased
to the ground—its Minister made to fly for his
life and proclamation issued to forbid his return
on pain of instant destruction ;-in another, an
exemplary Missionary is arraigned for treason,
tried by court Martial, condemned—and left to
perish in prison !! -Persecution more fierce or
cruel than this, could hardly have been anticipated
had the Gospel been preached to the slave-holder,
as well as the slave.
What an imperfect mutilated picture of chris-
tianity is exhibited, when its obligations are infor-
ced
upon
the
poor
slave alone! The commission
of its Divine author was, to “preach the Gospel
to every creature.”—That Gospel preaches to the
afflicted and the oppressed, patience and submis-
sion ;-it imparts blessings to the poor, the meek
and the persecuted ;-but its preaching is also “ to
humble the pride, to abase the haughtiness of
man”;--to disarm the tyrant of his power;-to
L


146
break the rod of oppression ;="to bring down
the mountains and to exalt the vallies;”-to es-
tablish justice, righteousness and mercy in the
earth.
But the unmutilated Gospel, in this highly
privileged portion of the British dominions may
still be preached without hazard to the highest as
well as lowest of the community, none daring to
make the boldest asserters of its uncompromising
requirements afraid. Here slavery, the most
daring and impious of all contemnors of the laws
both of God and man, may be safely attacked
from the christian pulpit—from thence also it may
be successfully attacked and have its death blow
speedily administered.
“Thirty-six years have elasped since the rights
of the slave have occupied the anxious attention
of the people of England ;-twenty years since the
British Legislature distinctly warned the slave
owners that it was resolved to better their con-
dition;-'seventeen years since the Law lifted up
its voice to command that right and justice be
done them.”
“NOT ONE STEP, however, has yet been made
towards a compliance with these warnings, or an
obedience to this command. How much longer
then are we to wait in the expectation of these
infatuated men listening to us, and rousing them-
selves from that implicit reliance upon our care-
lessness, or timidity, or INSINCERITY, which it


147
must be owned our conduct has been too well
calculated to engender ?” a
Is it not high time to resort to other more
decisive and effective measures ? Is it not
high time that christians, (those to whom the
name truly belongs) should combine all their
efforts-should concentrate all the force of their
moral and christian principles in the strenuous
use of every means whereby themselves and their
country may be soonest purged of this deep pol-
lution? Is it not, most especially high time for
“the Priests, the Ministers of the Lord,” to inter-
pose, that this moral plague, may be stayed, before
this highly favoured land be smitten with a curse,
with a worse than Egyptian blindness and obdu-
racy? of which indeed there are already alarming
symptoms.
Let the worshippers of Mammon, propose a
league with this “enemy of all righteousness”-try
to modify and restrain and accommodate its ope-
rations to political interests and state expediency,
-but let christian Ministers give it no quarter,
but like Samuel, of old, hew this impious Agag
in pieces, which, exults as he did, in the confi-
dence that “ the bitterness of death is over."
• See the Edinburgh Review, for March 1825, p. 214.


है


LETTER V.
On the importance of Associations for the purpose
of obtaining the cooperation of the
humbler classes.
We proceed to the recommendation of an
expedient for exciting a deeper and more general
interest in the extinction of slavery, which is of
no doubtful or mere imaginary utility. We have
positive proof that it is no romantic fruitless at-
tempt to persuade people to substitute East for
West India sugar before the equalization of the
duties upon both articles shall have rendered the
former the cheaper of the two.
It must be distinctly stated, that the experi-
ment has been already made, to a sufficient extent
to justify, and as far as it has been tried, to exceed
the expectations of its most sanguine advocates.
In one large manufacturing town, å very few
individuals, in the course of a few weeks, by the
employment of only a few hours in the day in
personal visits among their neighbours, obtained
the willing promises of about two thousand famí.
lies entirely to abstain, from that time forward,


150
from all farther consumption of West Indian
sugar so long as West Indian slavery continued
to exist. Similar visits have been made with
similar success in other towns and villages, but
the zeal of the visitors has been not a little damp-
ed by the consideration, that unless such a plan
of operation becomes general,--they may devote
every hour of every day of their lives to this occu-
pation, and yet, the labour, with regard to its
ultimate object, prove altogether vain ; since the
subtraction of a few thousands from fourteen
million consumers of British plantation sugar in
the united Kingdom, would produce no percep-
tible change in the condition of its wretched culti-
vators. It seems however sufficiently evident,
from the above experiment, that the extension of
these personal visits, especially among the hum-
bler classes, for the purpose of conveying infor-
mation on the subject of West Indian slavery
and on the support it derives from our consump-
tion of its produce, would effect an important
change in the condition of the cultigators--and
prove also, that there is yet among us a large
portion of moral principle, right feeling, and chris-
tian charity. But, for the prompt exercise of that
moral principle, right feeling, and christian cha-
rity, with regard to the great object in question,
truth obliges 'us' to confess that they will be
sought for most successfully among the poor and
labouring classes. Their superiors in station and


151
intelligence should blush to lear, that whilst they
themselves are unfeelingly or thoughtlessly grati-
fying their appetite with slave produce,-object-
ing, as many of the more opulent do, to the
substitution of East for West India
sugar,
because
they consider it a little more expensive,--that not
one in ten of their poor neighbours, who has
been informed upon the subject, hesitates to de-
clare the resolution to take no more slave cultiva-
ted sugar, though the sacrifice of a
penny
is much
more to them than that of a pound to the rich
economist ;-to hear moreover that many of them
express an entire willingness to abstain from sugar
altogether, should the supply of East India 'ever
fall short of the demand, rather than contribute in
ever so small a degree to the encouragement of
slavery. To this class of consumers, whose bill
of fare is so scanty, it should be remembered that
the relinquishment of sugar would be no inconsi-
derable privation, and the paying only a penny per
pound more for East India, than they have been
accustomed to pay for West India sugar (though
of an inferior quality) is no contemptible sacrifice
to principle on their part. : Of the value of a penny
to thousands and tens of thousands, in this land
of opulence, many of the higher and middle ranks
have little idea. It may appear both cruel and
absurd to engage the poor in this confederacy
against West India sugar, especially as their indi-
vidual consumption is comparatively so trifling ;


152
but the apathy which so generally prevails among
the higher and middle ranks has forced the deter-
mined advocates for a speedy extinction of slavery
upon this expedient, quite satisfied that there is
nothing in it either cruel or absurd, since it is to
them perfectly clear, from the common principles
of justice, that we have none of us any right to
retain our gratifications, our comforts, or even our
health, at the expense of the comfort, the health,
the liberty and the lives of our unoffending
fellow-creatures.
Nothing but personal observation can fully
demonstrate the efficacy of these personal appeals
to the humanity of the humbler classes in the
cause of Negro emancipation. It would be too
much implicitly to rely on all the engagements
made in this quarter, for ever to renounce the use
of slave-cultivated sugar, though they were per-
fectly voluntary; but on the greater proportion,
the visitors cannot hesitate to depend, they were
made with such evident sincerity and earnestness.
Those who have heartily engaged in this work,
find no draw-back from the great satisfaction with
which it is attended, but that arising from the
want of general cooperation, and the coldness
and opposition they have to encounter where en-
couragement and support might most reasonably
have been expected. But coldness and oppo-
sition in one quarter, should incite to greater zeal
and perseverance in another.
1


153
!
It seems evident to demonstration, to those who
have made this experiment, that a general exten-
sion of these simple missionary labours among the
humbler classes, would do much to expedite the
great work of emancipation. By this means, the
consumption of slave-cultivated sugar '
might be
greatly diminished, and the resistance of self-
interest to the extinction of slavery would neces-
sarily diminish in exact proportion to the dimi-
nution of its profits ;-by this means the people
might be more generally incited to more earnest
petitions for a speedy emancipation ; and should
the present Parliament fail to accomplish the
work, the exertions in question would do much
to prepare the way, at the next general Elec-
tion, for the choice of a Parliament more una.
nimous and devoted to the cause ;--they would
do much towards deciding the great body of
electors to withhold their suffrages from every
candidate who refused to pledge himself to vote
for a prompt and complete extinction of British
colonial slavery. How then can those who
attach such important consequences to the ex-
tension of these simple exertions, refrain from
inviting those who are themselves surrounded
with all the bounties of a kind Providence -
blessed with hearts to sympathize with the op-
pressed and miserable,--with leisure and ability
to plead their cause ;-how can they refrain from
soliciting such, earnestly to engage in this pro-


154
fitable and delightful employment ? - profitable
and delightful they will certainly find it. Those
who enter heartily into it, will find it attended by
an abundant reward, will feel the force of that
divine benediction—" Blessed are the merciful,
for they shall obtain mercy.”
To a few individuals, the labour of visiting
every family in a large town, for the purpose of
communicating information on the subject of sla-
very, (whether by the dissemination of tracts or
by verbal intelligence), may appear insurmount-
able; but the most difficult work is rendered easy
by methodical arrangement, and a proper division
of labour. Were large towns divided into dis-
tricts, on the plan of the Auxiliary Bible Societies,
the field for individual exertion might be circum-
scribed within easy limits, and were proper means
employed by such as are most interested in the
cause in their own respective neighbourhoods, a
sufficient number of willing agents would doubt-
less present themselves. There is no novelty to
object to in this mode of proceeding. When
people are in earnest—when the business is ur-
gent, canvassing is commonly resorted to. And
what business, to a christian philanthropist, can
be imagined more urgent than that of putting a
speedy end to the crimes and miseries of West-
Indian slavery-of rescuing eight hundred thou-
sand fellow-creatures and fellow-subjects from the
lowest abyss of moral and physical degradation


155
and wretchedness? This great deliverance, it is
evident, may be accelerated by simple means,
were they brought into general operation. It
does not appear to be the Divine will that this
work should be accomplished without human
agency. Human agency strenuously resists this
righteous undertaking, and human agency must
strenuously counteract that resistance. Instead,
therefore, of entering into nice calculations to
ascertain what exact proportion of diminished
consumption of West India sugar, would effect
its object, let us rather strive to secure such a
general rejection of it, as shall at once carry full
conviction to the slave-holder, that there is no
longer a market, on British ground, for that
luxury, the consumption of which constitutes the
main
prop
of his execrable tyranny, against which,
British feeling and British virtue are at length up
in arms, determined to give it no quarter.
Information to the humbler classes, on the
subject in question, is not lost labour, like too
much of that bestowed on their superiors in know-
ledge and station. They do not admit the strong
claims of justice, the clear rights of humanity,
without making any rational exertions to enforce
them ;--they do not listen to powerful arguments,
eloquent appeals in behalf of the poor Negro,
without putting forth a finger to lighten his heavy
burdens. No, the simple story of his aggravated
wrongs is sufficient to excite their sympathy,


156
the simple information of the means whereby
those wrongs may be redressed, is sufficient, with
them, to determine their prompt and earnest
adoption.
On this rough but impressible ground, every
touch of the moral artist will tell ;-a very few
skilful strokes will produce an effect more striking
and durable than those which with greater labour
and ingenuity are impressed upon a smoother and
more polished surface.
Besides the evident tendency of the work we
so earnestly recommend, to promote its immediate
object, it is profitable on other accounts. It dis-
pels misapprehension and prejudice from the minds
of the visitors, opens them to conviction, reveals
the true character of the humbler ranks of the
community, of which só unworthy and false an
estimate is often drawn by those who keep aloof
from their habitations, and too often condemn a
whole class for the misconduct of a few indivi-
duals. It enables the visitors to estimate more
justly their own characters to weigh their own
great advantages against the great disadvantages
of their poor neighbours and to blush at the
comparison, when they see, as they often will,
that the one talent entrusted to the poor, is often
turned to better account than the five or the ten
committed to their superiors in station and edu-
cation. These visits are, of course, sometimes
painfully as well as pleasurably interesting. The


157
varied pictures they present of humble life have
their dark as well as light shades. They reveal
scenes of privation and suffering little suspected
by the prosperous to exist in this favoured
country; sometimes, doubtless, the consequence
of vice, or improvidenceoften, of inevitable mis-
fortune, borne with edifying patience and resig-
nation. These visits, have also this great recom-
mendation, that they excite a kindly feeling of
sympathy and mutual good-will, which ought to
subsist between all the gradations of a christian
community from the highest to the lowest. They
improve the moral perceptions, enlarge the field
of christian benevolence, expand the breast of
christian charity, open fresh channels of useful-
ness, and shew how much more may be done in
this portion of the vineyard than many imagine.
They tend moreover to abate that pride and self-
complacency so common and so natural to those
who are raised ever so little above the common
level. They are a practical conformity to the
apostolic injunction, not to mind high things, but
to condescend to men of low estate. Those who
are incredulous respecting the efficacy of these
visits, have only to make the experiment them-
selves, in order to be convinced that this is no
exaggerated statement of their utility.
Let those among the higher and middle ranks
who persist in the use of West India sugar, reflect
for a moment, how much their resistance obstructs


158
the motion of that simple yet powerful machinery
which humanity has constructed for accelerating
her great object.' Those wheels which seem
to drag and move so heavily, would run with
easy and rapid motion towards the accomplish-
ment of their design, were this clog of opposition
withdrawn. Until it is withdrawn, the machinery
will have to encounter much wear and tear, and
a double portion of energy will be requisite in its
main-springs and chief movers; in order to coun-
teract this resistance.
The arduous, though interesting and profitable
employment of canvassing, on this important bu-
siness, from house to house, which it is to be
hoped will soon become general throughout the
kingdom, - may be encountered with many a
sneer of contempt or ridicule by such as can be
patient, laborious and persevering in nothing but
their own interest or pleasure ;—but the true
Christian, though he may not himself have time,
or opportunity to join this little band of humble
pedestrians, will be careful to throw no discourage-
ment in their way. He will remember how
many great effects have resulted from apparently
slight causes. He will remember that it is not
by might or by power” but often by very hum-
ble instruments, that the great work of righteous-
ness is promoted. He knows that the “still
small voice” of compassion and fellow feeling
which is scarcely audible to the 'ambitious and


159
the mercenary, is distinctly heard by many who
are of little account either in their own or in others
estimation. He knows that “foolish things,-
things that are not, ---- are (sometimes) chosen
to confound the wise, and to bring to nought
things that are."
The cause of emancipation, has been pleaded in
the Senate by the wise, the eloquent, the noble.
Now, it is. pleaded in the workshop and the
cottage, by women and children. And if it
please the Great Controller of all things,—who
accomplishes His purposes“ by many or by fow,"
-- by weak as well as by mighty instruments ;-
if it please Him to accompany these feeble ef-
forts, these apparently inadequate and trifling exer-
tions with His blessing, — doubtless, they will
prosper.
Here is a frightful monster, of enormous mag-
nitude and strength to be destroyed, which has
for ages desolated some of the fairest portions of
the earth ; blasted with malignant breath the vir-
tue and the happiness of millions of human beings:
In the course of these missionary visits, children have
been observed to pay particular attention to the unvarnished
story of West Indian oppression, and in some instances, to
encourage their parents not to use the produce of that op-
pression. A correspondent says, “The little son of a Clergy-
man (warmly interested in the cause,) collected subscriptions
for the “Female Negro Society; his sister, only seven
years of age, would go, if permitted by her Parents, to every
Cottage in the neighbourhood to persuade the people to leave
b
-
off slave sugar."


160
-hitherto, like the great Leviathan, it has scorned
and derided all the attacks of its adversaries.
• Its heart is hard as the nether mill-stone;"-
darts are counted as stubble; it laugheth at the
shaking of a spear;”-it marketh derision of the
strong shafts of truth, the arrows of conscience.
“ It esteemeth iron as straw, and brass as rotten
wood ;”--the force of reason, the claims of justice,
the authority of revelation, it setteth utterly at
naught. But the monster does not live upon air;
though he keeps in his strong holds, he cannot
subsist without nourishment, and of that the
weakest of his adversaries may help to deprive
him. Though he is invulnerable to direct attack,
scorns alike the declamation of the orator, the
argument of the moralist, and the authority of
religion,-he may yet be subdued and vanquished
by fasting; by this means the most savage and
destructive monsters have been rendered tame
and innoxious ;--and thus, the most savage and
destructive of all monsters, brute or human, if van-
quished by no other means, may be starved to
death.
The People have combined to nourish and to
pamper this pest of civilized society; this impious
contemnor of the laws both of God and man;
and the People must combine in its destruction.
Hitherto, it has subsisted upon the unremu-
nerated toil, the tears, the groans, and the blood of
millions of human beings. The chief production


161
and support of all that oppression and suffering
(the sweet juice of the sugar cane) has hitherto
been thoughtlessly consumed by a People calling
themselves christians,-boasting of their refine-
ment, their humanity,--proud of their own liberty.
But they can thoughtlessly consume it no longer;
the faithful delineation of the horrid system of
slave cultivation precludes for ever the thoughtless
consumption of its produce ;-and those who per-
sist in its consumption prove their pretensions to
superior refinement and humanity, to be vain boast-
ing,-their vaunted love of freedom, to be mere
selfish exultation in the possession of their own
rights, and cruel indifference to the rights of others.
But though the majority of the higher and
middle ranks of society should continue to dis-
courage the exertions which it is the object of
these pages to recommend ;-it is evident, from
the experiment adverted to, that there is a wide
field in which they may nevertheless be suc-
cessfully made.
The result of personal visits, among the poor
and labouring classes especially, has been, that
more than nine out of ten families have cheerfully
adopted the resolution, entirely to abstain from
the consumption of West India sugar.
We rejoice in the intelligence that associations
for carrying this object into more extensive exe-
cution are rapidly spreading in various parts of
the Kingdom. In Birmingham and its neigh-
M


162
bourhood, in Worcester, in Sheffield, in Col-
chester, Wednesbury, Calne, &c. and we cannot
more effectually promote their extension than by
presenting the public with the following copy
of the resolutions passed at the last mentioned
Town, originating with the wife of a highly
respectable Clergyman, which express a tender-
ness of feeling, fervour of zeal and enlightened
philanthropy, which should, in such a cause,
animate every christian bosom.
« At a Meeting of Ladies, held in Calne, the
11th of August, 1825, the following rem
solutions were proposed and approved.
1st.-That we form ourselves into a society for aiding
the cause of Negro emancipation, and for procuring the pro-
tection of the British law for all of the African race who are
living under the British dominion, and who in 1825 are per-
mitted, by ENLIGHTENED CHRISTIAN BRITAIN to taste of
whatever is most painful and dishonouring in the bitterness
of slavery.
2nd.--That all persons subscribing from 5s. to 12s. and
upwards yearly, or two guineas at one time, be members of
this association, and be entitled to receive ane copy of the
Anti-slavery Reporter.
3rd.—That the business of this society be conducted by
a Treasurer, two Secretaries and a Committee of eight district
collectors, who shall have power to add to their number ;
and three of whom shall be competent to act : and that the
Treasurer and Secretaries be members of the Committee in
virtue of their office,


163
4th-That the Committee shall meet once a quarter on
a day to be fixed by themselves ; and that there be an annual
meeting of this society, when the accounts shall be presented,
the proceedings of the last year reported, and the Treasurer,
Secretaries, Committee and assistant Visitors be chosen for
the ensuing year.
5th.-That the Members of this society will encourage
by their example, as well as by their influence, the use of the
produce of free labour in preference to that of slave labour;
and that the collectors, and visitors, be requested to recom-
mend to the inhabitants of the several districts into which
this Town and Neighbourhood shall be divided, to adopt the
same measure.
6th.—That it be the special business of the Committee
to disseminate throughout this place and neighbourhood, and
wherever their influence shall extend, authentic information
respecting the nature and baneful effects of the present system
of slavery, particularly in our own West India Colonies; and
that they are authorized (subject to the approval of a general
meeting) to adopt such farther measures as shall appear to
them to be calculated to forward the objects of this society.
7th.-That every Member of this society be furnished
with the Supplement and Postscript to the Royal Jamaica
Gazette of the 21st of June, 1823, and with Mr. Clarkson's
Arguments founded on the same, and from time to time with
such other documents as may serve to shew the evils of
slavery, and the guilt of England in continuing a system, the
parent of so many crimes.
8th.-That deeply impressed with the extremity of
wretchedness endured by the deserted Negro Slaves who
are worn out with labour or incurable disease, this associa-
tion will apply some portion of its funds to the alleviation of


164
their distress through the medium, in the first instance of the
association for the relief of distressed Negroes in Antigua.
9th.-That this society will continue its exertions in aid
of the cause of Negro Emancipation, till the time
may come
when the unhappy children of Africa, shall no longer be
treated as beasts, no longer be bought and sold and branded
like cattle; and when the torturing and degrading cart whip
shall no longer fall on the persons of helpless Negro Slaves :
and when the Negro Mother, living under British Govern-
ment, shall press a free born infant in her arms."
Lest the zealous originator of these admirable
resolutions should be mistaken for an advocate of
gradual emancipation, we will venture to quote
her own words on the subject, in a letter to a
Friend. “Men may propose only gradually to
abolish the worst of crimes, and only mitigate the
most cruel bondage, but why should we counte-
nance such enormities by speaking of them in such
5 acquiescing, unscriptural, heartless terms ? --- If
we hope for the blessing of God on our under-
taking, we must not talk of gradually abolishing
murder, licentiousness, cruelty, tyranny, keeping
stolen men, parting husbands and wives, &c, &c.
I trust no Ladies' association will ever be found
with such words attached to it.”


LETTER VI.
To the Friends of Immediate Emancipation.
Finally, we call upon all whose judgments are
convinced, whose heads and hearts approve the
proposition of immediate emancipation, to be
bold in advocating it;—to beware of that spurious
candour, that pusillanimous courtesy which com-
promises principle, and betrays weakness or in-
sincerity. A cause so righteous and so urgent
should be supported with dignity and firmness, as
well as zeal. If the
If the encouragement of slavery
by the voluntary consumption of its produce be
criminal in you, it is also criminal in others : if
they are unconscious of its guilt, it is your duty
by every means in your power to awaken the
conviction.
When the consequences of this practice are
taken into the account, we can imagine few more
directly opposed to the sacred rule of doing to
others as we would they should do unto us, con-
sequently, few more criminal. Those who con-
tend for its innocence, after being acquainted with
the real nature of that iniquitous system which
it tends directly to encourage and perpetuate, must


166
substitute vain imaginations in the place of re-
alities;- must behold the awful characters of
Justice and Righteousness in masquerade, their in-
flexible aspect and unbending attitude exchanged
for indiscriminating smiles and unbounded ac-
commodation.
After the broad exposure of the complicated
wickedness of slavery, we cannot but regard the
consumption of its produce as a wilful aiding and
abetting of that complicated wickedness; we can-
not but regard the exhibition of that produce for
şale, in this enlightened and christian country
as a mark of barbarism, a reproach and stigma
upon the national character. We have no moral
right to the productions of slavery ; they are, in
the very worst sense, stolen goods, and the receiver
or purchaser, knowing them to be stolen, is as
guilty as the thief.
This language may be considered as intem-
perate and offensive, but truth requires it. By a
misplaced liberality, an unwillingness to sit in
judgment upon others, with regard to the practice
in question, the requisitions of humanity and jus-
tice are compromised to politeness, to the arbi,
trary claims of what is falsely called good manners.
The best manners taught in the christian school,
are those which on a subject so important, teach
every man to “speak the truth to his neighbour.” It
is cowardice and treachery, in such a cause, to with-
hold it. It is better to offend than to flatter where


167
there is no alternative. Those who have seen the
consumption of slave produce to be criminal, are
bound, by consistency, to protest against it, as
such, by every method of temperate reasoning and
gentle remonstránce which is best calculated to
convince.
The consistent friends of immecliate emanci-
pation will not pusillánimously yield to the pre-
vailing disposition to keep the subject in the back
ground, but will watch for opportunities of intro-
ducing it, “In season, out of season.” Those
who are sincere in this righteous cause will be
earnest ;-their earnestness is the only test of
their sincerity. To say to the destitute, “ Be ye
warmed and be ye clothed,” without affording
the means of relief, is the language of cant and
hypocrisy-and to be professed advocates for im
mediate emancipation, without making the neces-
sary exertions for its accomplishment, is equally
canting and hypocritical.
We have endeavoured to shew that the final
extinction of British colonial siavery may be
greatly accelerated by very simple means, but to
bring those simple means into effectual operation
will be an arduous task. The comparative small-
ness of the numbers at present engaged in it must
be supplied by individual energy and determined
perseverance.
In one decisive, consistent, immediate abolition-


-168
ist there may be the concentrated force of thou-
sands of timid, passive, gradual abolitionists. In
the evident right, the manifest justice of imme-
diate emancipation, there is every thing to inspire
hope and confidence, to give heart and soul to the
enterprise. The day, we trust, is not far distant
when the great leaders of the anti-slavery society
will transfer all the weight of their talents and
influence from the weak and hopeless cause of
gradual to that of immediate emancipation. In
the mean time, let its present advocates put forth
all their strength, make the best of their resources
and take every rational means of augmenting
their numbers. Above all, let them constantly
recur to those divine principles, those solemn
christian obligations which can alone sustain
those disinterested, energetic and persevering ex-
ertions which the cause so urgently demands.
Let it never be forgotten, that the crimes
and miseries inseparable from slavery are in no
degree diminished because they cease to excite
the shuddering horror produced by their first
recital. In the cause of the poor Negro, feeling
may fluctuate, natural sympathy may decline,
but exertion need not; that may be uniformly
sustained by the unvarying principle of christian
duty. The Friends of immediate emancipation,
know and are sure that the object for which they
contend is a righteous one, they may therefore
1


169
contend for it confidently. They have an invi-
sible but unerring leader, whose word of com-
mánd,“ Whatsoever ye would that men should
do unto you, do ye even so unto them,” is their
sufficient warrant, and they fear no consequences;
- they have no painful drawbacks to anticipate
from the triumphs of victory;—for theirs, will
not only be a bloodless triumph, but will ulti-
mately entail blessings upon the vanquished as
well as the victors.
The profession of christianity, having, for a
long course of years, been made at a cheap rate,
without
any of those heroic and painful sacrifices
by which in former ages it was inevitably
attended, its professors have multiplied till chris-
tianity seems to be the broad instead of the nar-
row way; but the arduous work now in hand,
will divide this promiscuous crowd, and separate
the dooers from the mere hearers of the word.
We trust that the former will prove that there is
still nerve and sinew enough in christian arms
to pull down the strong holds of slavery,—to
shake the pillars of this Dagon-temple--and to
raze it to its foundation.
But it should ever be remembered that as this
is a contest of right against might of humanity
and justice against sordid interest and lawless
power ;-as it is a christian not a political struggle
-it must therefore be maintained by christian
exertions ;-that as the crime of slavery owes its


170
origin and support to unrestrained selfishness
(the most relentless and cruel of all human pro-
pensities) it can only be expelled by the opposite
virtue of disinterested christian charity.
It has subsisted hitherto upon the connivance
and support of the British public-and will
(humanly speaking) continue to subsist until
that connivance and support are withdrawn-and
no longer. No bounties, or protecting duties, or
military force can uphold this execrable tyranny
when the people refuse its produce. And though
its immediate extinction can alone be effected by
an act of the Legislature, such an Act could not
be withheld were the people loud and unanimous
in calling for it. Hitherto, there has been no
such call ;- even for its gradual extinction, the
voice of the people has hitherto been very parti-
ally and feebly raised. It is a remarkable and
reproachful fact, that the ample disclosures of the
horrid nature of West Indian slavery, have not,
hitherto, produced one third of the number of
petitions against it which appeared against Lord
Sidmouth's bill for fettering the Dissenters.
This disgraceful apathy, the immediate abolitionists
must labour to dispel ;--they must strive to arouse
and to keep alive the public interest in the speedy
extinction of slavery ;-to incite without delay,
such general, reiterated and strong petitions upon
the subject to both Houses of Parliament as shall
convince Government that the petitioners are in


171
good earnest ;--they must employ every means
in their power to discourage the consumption of
slave produce, sugar, more especially ;--- they
must caution the public against the various at-
tempts to practice upon their credulity by the
imposition of sugar, cultivated under the worst
system of slavery, for that of free labour.
A very able and indefatigable advocate for the
extinction of slavery, in a printed Address to the
Society of Friends, (alluding to the important
benefits which the Anti-slavery cause would
derive from the abolition of the restrictive duties
on the productions of free labour) says, “ An
entire abstinence from the use of slave-grown
produce would be equally, or even more effectual.”
If so great be the importance of such abstinence,
it is surely an urgent duty earnestly to recom-
mend and promote it. And in order effectually
to guard against imposition and to prove that the
Abolitionists are at length in good earnest-
strongly principled against all lukewarm, pusil-
lanimous, half measures; we would suggest the
expediency of endeavouring, without delay, to
prevail on the Grocers in their respective neigh-
bourhoods, to pledge themselves to abandon the
sale of slave-cultivated sugar (such pledge, if
general, would involve no pecuniary sacrifice)
• That of the MAURITIUS is of this description, and is very
generally imposed upon the unwary public as free grown
East-India sugar.


172
and in every town where no such pledge could
be obtained of them, to secure, as speedily as
possible, some other agent who shall engage to
supply the public with no sugar but what is the
genuine produce of free labour.
The zealous consistent advocates of a speedy
emancipation will adopt every rational expedient
for accelerating its accomplishment. Their abhor-
rence of slavery will be strongly marked. They
will especially discourage, by every means in their
power, the consumption of that luxury by which
the inhuman system is mainly upheld. They
will endeavour to fix a stigma upon its merchan-
dize ;-to withdraw, as much as possible, the
public countenance and support from those shops
where it is exhibited for sale and give every
encouragement to those from which it is consci-
entiously excluded.
Measures so decisive, would probably draw
upon their supporters no stinted share of censure
and opposition, which, in such a cause, will be
cheerfully encountered. Charity, true christian
charity, is not a mere passive sentiment of kind-
ness and general good-will ;- it is an active, cou-
rageous,' self-denying principle, and its exertions
will be proportioned to the importance and ur-
gency of the claims which are made upon it. It will
be difficultto sustain that steady and earnestinterest
required for the support of these various continued


173
exertions, in a cause where no personal interest
is at stake. It will be difficult, we admit, but
not impossible. It will require effort, strenuous
effort, to make christian principle supply the
place of self-interest and evanescent feeling. But
in the consideration of our strict responsibility,-
in the spirit-stirring motives of the Gospel,-in
the recollection that we are
compassed about
with a great cloud of witnesses,”-that the eyes
of Angels, and of God Himself, are upon us,-
there is enough to stimulate our languishing zeal,
to incite us to do violence to that natural indo-
lence and selfishness, without which it is utterly
impossible to be his disciples who requires his
followers to take their daily cross. And let it ever
be remembered, that the most arduous toils of
christian duty are not unattended, even in the
actual performance, with a sweet recompense of
reward. The faithful labourer in his Lord's vine-
yard, receives “ a hundred fold, now, in the present
time.” In the hardest conflicts in a righteous
cause, there is more satisfaction than in inglorious
rest, And it is animating to think that the
success of the great contest between the sup-
porters and opposers of slavery, depends not on
the physical or political strength of the combatants,
but that its decision rests with the “God of
battle,”-who enables one, in a righteous cause,
"to chase a thousand.”
Had it been the Divine will, (as some who


174
bear the name of christian ministers have im-
piously asserted) that the slavery of the unhappy
African race should be perpetuated, would such
a general sympathy have been awakenied for their
sufferings ?-would such an ardent zeal have been
kindled for their emancipation ? - Would the
wisest and best men in the nation have been con-
strained to devote themselves, as they have done,
to the Anti-slavery cause ? —No, certainly. The
great Lord of the household does not call his
servants to work, and direct their operations,
where their labour shall prove fruitless. If it be
not crowned with immediate success, it is to exer-
cise their patience, to stimulate, not to relax their
exertions-assured, as they ought to be, that
their labours shall not, ultimately, be in vain.
Why was the command to love one another, so
often reiterated by Christ to his Disciples ? Not
that the principle should lie dormant and inactive,
that it should exist only as a sentiment or a feel-
ing --but to urge them to labour, arduous perse-
vering labour for each other's welfare.
The speedy liberation of eight hundred thou.
sand captives from the strong grasp of West
Indian slavery, is a different but not impracticable
work; the resistance though great is not insur-
mountable ;- it may be permitted to try the sin-
cerity, zeal and constancy of the abolitionists. In
+ See « The House of Bondage," by B. Baily, A. M.


175
the mean time, whilst earnestly endeavouring to
do their own part, they may cheerfully commit
these unresisting victims of the most inhuman
oppression to the parental care of Him whose
“tender mercies are over all his works ;'-who
“heareth the sighing of the prisoner;"'-- who
“feedeth the young ravens that cry unto him;"
and without whom, “not a sparrow falleth to the
ground:"-who can, and doubtless does afford,
by means not subject to human inspection or
comprehension, mitigation and support under
oppresion and suffering, when all human re-
sources fail.
This great deliverance could, we know, be
wrought in a moment, by a single volition of the
Sovereign will :--but that Sovereign will has or-
dained that the great purposes of his moral Go-
vernment shall be accomplished by moral agents.
In the moral as in the natural world, a regular suc-
cession of cause and effect are established. For
the manifestation of Divine omnipotence, to prove
that nothing can resist. His will, He sometimes
breaks that connexion,-interrupts the general
order of His providence, works alone,-accom-
plishes his designs, by miraculous intervention.
But these are rare deviations from the established
course of things are not to be expected-do
not, in the least, exonerate us from labour,
from
the diligent use of the appointed means ;--though


176
it be God alone that giveth increase,--yet Paul
must plant and Apollos water.
The friends, even of gradual emancipation, are
accused of intemperate zeal, of precipitant haste ;
but the most zealous and urgent may, with more
justice, upon christian principles, be accused of
langour and tardiness. A variety of worldly
maxims and arbitrary assumptions are suffered to
pass current even with them, which chill the warm
glow of christian benevolence, and enfeeble its ex-
ertions. “Long established abuses do not admit
of sudden remedies;" " Great reformations must
be accomplished by slow degrees;" _“ Time
must be allowed for the change of public opi-
nion;" &c. &c. These maxims are allowed to
have a prospective as well as retrospective ap-
plication:- thus, time and opportunity imper-
ceptibly steal
away,
and—“ All purpose, is poor
dilatory man.”
The maxims of the Gospel breathe a different
language. “Work whilst it is day, for the night
cometh in which no man can work."-" What-
soever thy hand findeth to do, do it with all thy
might.” So far from being justly charged with
intemperate zeal and precipitant haste, the con-
duct of many professed friends of Negro eman-
cipation, more resembles that of persons who
have been dreaming of such a state of existence
as that of West Indian slavery ;-who shuddered


177
with horror at the frightful: representation, but
they awoke, “ and behold it was a dream.”
Really to believe and to know, that our fellow-
creatures are actually suffering under the iron
yoke of so inhuman a bondage-and to rest satis-
fied with cold prudential plans for the mitigation
of their sufferings,- for their gradual emanci-
pation ;-calculating that their enfranchisement
will ultimately be wrought out by the slow ope-
ration of natural causes, -by the more enlight-
ened speculations of the self-same principle of
selfish, sordid interest, which first tore them from
their home and country, and has, ever since, held
them in bondage !-exclaiming, that it is prema-
ture to call upon their neighbours to refuse the
luxury produced by the over-strained sinews, the
groans and the blood of the poor Negro, until
they can obtain an adequate supply of the same
luxury on cheaper terms by free labour !-is not
to act the christian's part ;-is not to obey the
injunctions of their Divine Lawgiver. No it is
to trifle with the sublime precepts of his religion,
-as well as with the wretched objects of their
pretended commiseration.
We cannot but regard with great jealousy and
distrust all expedients for the extinction of slavery,
which are suffered, in any degree, to supersede the
prompt exertions of christian duty ;-to direct the
public attention to remote causes for the accom-
plishment of a change which ought immediately
N


178
to be effected. We must solemnly protest against
all unnecessary delay ;-against all farther pro-
crastinating propositions which would defer a
present duty to a future opportunity ;- which
would overlook the obvious and certain means of
its accomplishment, in quest of remote and uncer-
tain ones.
The deep crime and broad stigma of
BRITISH SLAVERY, (humanly speaking) might
long since have been eradicated but for this plead-
ing for time,-for prudence and caution ; --this
deprecation of precipitancy ;--the exclusion of
passion and feeling from the anti-slavery councils
and the admission of cold calculating policy in
their stead. On the atrocious injustice and
cruelty of slavery, passion and feeling have a right
to be heard; on such a business, they properly
belong to the executive department, and are essen-
tially necessary to carry the requisitions of hu-
manity, religion and justice into prompt execution.
On such a subject, a christian, how meekly soever
duty requires him to bear his own personal in-
juries, may justify the utmost fervour of zeal; he
may “ do well to be angry”-that the natural,
civil, and religious rights of the poor Negro are
so long, so cruelly, so reproachfully withheld from
him, after having been so fully recognized.
We would in no degree discourage such es-
tablishments as that of the “ Tropical free labour
company,”-far otherwise ;--they seem admirably
adapted, (in subserviency to the operation of


179
higher principles) to promote the grand design of
their enlightened and philanthropic projectors,
that of the extinction of slavery throughout the
world. We are only anxious that the friends of
Negro emancipation should not build too confi-
dently on their result;—that the sanguine expec-
tation of their final success, should induce no
relaxation in the exertion of other means more di-
rectly appropriate and of quicker operation. We
can discern no shadow of reason why the emanci-
pation of our own slaves should be suffered to
hang at all in suspense on the success of any such
experiments. On the principles of eternal justice,
they have a PRESENT RIGHT to emancipation ;-
by the express commands of our Supreme Law-
giver we are bound to impart it. With that right,
and those commands, we have trifled too long ;-
emancipation has already been too long withheld;
by every principle of religion, humanity and
justice, we are bound to withhold it no longer ;
we are bound to enforce it by the prompt and
earnest exertions of christian charity, without
waiting till it is wrought out in the common
course of events by the gradual operation of
natural causes or commercial speculations.
In the course of an animated speech delivered
by Lord Calthorpe, at the last Anniversary Meet-
ing of the Anti-slavery Society, he observed, that,
“ Whoever reflected for a moment upon the vast
results which public opinion can produce, could


180
AN END TO SLAVERY.
not doubt that if the People of England did but
will it to be so, slavery would cease. Whoever
reflected upon the vast influence which the middle
classes can exercise in this country, could not
hesitate in believing that if they were once to say
-- THIS MUST NOT BE,' there would, at once, be
For, supported as the
principle of emancipation is, in and out of Par-
liament, SLAVERY COULD NOT LAST A YEAR
IF THE MIDDLE CLASSES ONCE EXPRESSED A
DECIDED OPINION AGAINST IT."
This DECIDED OPINION, by a general rejec-
tion of the productions of slavery, would be ex-
pressed in a DECIDED MANNER; in a manner so
decided, that were it simultaneously as well as
generally expressed, in conjunctions with petitions
and strong remonstrances to the Legislature, there
would be an end at once to British slavery.
Its complete extinction, through these simple
means, embraces so many and great advantages,
obviates so many and insuperable difficulties
which obstruct the design of gradual emancipa-
tion, that the mind is overwhelmed by the amazing
disparity between the insignificance of the means
and the vast importance of the various benefits
combined in the end. In the first place, it will
be a bloodless triumph over the most barbarous
and sanguinary of all despotisms. It will expel
the deepest national crime and disgrace, exalt the
national honour and glory without any sacrifice


181
of life or treasure. It will prove that no force can
resist the force of public principle when vigorously
exerted ;---that neither fleets nor armies, nor pro-
tecting duties, can uphold oppression, when the
PEOPLE have virtue enough to resist it. It will
expose the weakness as well as wickedness of
cruelty, and prove that humanity and justice are
stronger safeguards than arbitrary and licentious
power.
It will administer to the slave-holders,
not retributive but corrective justice, and compel
them to reform themselves.


1


THOUGHTS
ON COMPENSATION.
There is among the higher and middle ranks of
society so prevailing a disposition to admit the
justice of the claims of the Planters to compen-
sation, in the event of the emancipation of their
slaves—and principles of so much importance are
involved in the admission, that the subject seems
entitled to distinct consideration.
Nothing ever exhibited more conspicuously
the force of prejudice and custom,—the power of
wealth and station to blind the understanding and
pervert the judgment, than the general admission
of these claims among those who have no interest
whatever in the question; among the enlightened,
the disinterested, the conscientious portion of the
community.
“Not that the Planters should be required to
manumit their slaves, especially on a sudden,
without componsution. It would be robbery, under


184
the garb of mercy, to compel one class of indivi-
duals to atone for the injustice of a nation,”-says
the very liberal and intelligent Adam Hodgson,
after describing the horrid injustice and cruelty of
slavery in the darkest colours ! !5
Many of the Planters, we are told, are “ men
of education and liberal attainments”-of huma-
nity," anxious as the Abolitionists themselves,
for the religious instruction of their slaves.”
What then ? Are the moral qualities of actions
changed by the circumstances or acquirements,
or even by the virtues of the actors? Do injus-
tice and cruelty lose their turpitude when prac-
ticed or sanctioned by men of “education and
liberal attainments ?” Is robbery a punishable,
a capital crime in the poor uneducated vulgar,
and is its guilt cancelled when perpetrated by
gentlemen ? Shall we admit the propriety,
the necessity, of guarding our money and house-
hold gouds from depredation by the severest
penalties - by imprisonments, transportations
and sanguinary executions, -and shall MEN
STEALERS, PURCHASERS, or KEEPERS OF STO-
LEN MEN-ROBBERS, OR WITHHOLDERS OF
THEIR FELLOW-CREATURES' LIBERTY (the
dearest treasure they possess)—be not only
exempt from punishment, but entitled to com-
PENSATION for the relinquishment of their
human prey ?
& See Letters from North America, page 200.


185
When will British justice become in award
and execution what she is in representation, -
hood-winked, even-handed, impartial justice ?
When will the enlightened, the benevolent, the
christian world, judge and speak and act, with-
out “respect of persons?” When will punish-
ment be equitably proportioned to crime? When
will the advantages of rank, fortune and education
be regarded as they ought to be) aggravations,
instead of extenuations of rapacity and injustice ?
When will poverty, ignorance and necessity be
admitted to plead in mitigation, rather than aggra-
vation of punishment ?
By emancipation without compensation, one
party will be benefited at the expense of the
other.”. Certainly it will, (temporarily at least).
And how are the violated rights of justice, in any
case, to be restored? How are usurpation and
robbery to be effectually restrained but by the
suffering of the offending party? Where the
parties at issue are the robbed and the robber,
how can justice be done to either, without taking
from the one and restoring to the other? By
emancipation we shall benefit the slave at the ex-
pense of the slave-holder,--the injured, at the
expense of the injurer. Can the designs either
of justice or of mercy be otherwise accom-
plished ? Sin, must be corrected by suffering.
The offender becomes penitent by feeling the con-
sequence, the just reward of his offence. The


186
slave-holder will neither be softened nor reformed
whilst he retains his uprighteous possessions.
“ Can one be pardoned yet retain the offence”?
But compensation for the relinquishment of the
most criminal and injurious of all usurpations is
a virtual cancelment of its guilt--a full admission
of the right of the usurper.
The Divine Law, required that restitution
should be made by the robber fourfold ;-he was
not merely obliged to resign his theft, but made
to smart for it in a way best adapted to restrain
and to cure his rapacity.' Human wisdom will
never find a better means of curing every species
of injustice and oppression. But emancipation
falls most indulgently short of this wholesome
rigour ;-it does not amount even to simple resti-
tution ;--(alas ! that would require a price which
the riches of all the planters would be insufficient
to repay: not the wealth of the Indies would
suffice to make simple restitution for all the de-
gradation, suffering and anguish involved in
slavery)- but emancipation leaves the usurper in
undisturbed possession of the unrighteous gain
he has hitherto acquired, and only interposes a
check to farther acquisitions.
Did the planters' illgotten, illretained pro-
perty consist of inert matter,--of bags of stolen
gold-of land or houses--of whole cities or pro-
vinces fraudulently obtained ;-or did it consist
of mere animal live stock, of eight hundred thou-


187
OF
I MMORTAL
sand head of cattle, obtained in the first instance
by marauding violence:--these gentlemen having
gotten possession, by inheritance, or otherwise,
should keep it, for us, in undisturbed repose ;-
we would not, in such matters, presume to be
judges or dividers between them and the rightful
claimants. But when, instead of inert matter, or
mere animal live stock, the fraudulent possession
consists of HUMAN BEINGS,_OF BROTHERS,-
RATIONAL, INTELLIGENT,
CREATURES, PROBATIONERS FOR ETERNITY;
--when the possession, the detention of this pro-
perty involves every thing that can most degrade,
imbitter and afflict one party ;-every thing that
can most harden and corrupt the other ;-when
this fraudulent or unjust withholding of a fellow
creatures liberty involves in it not the privation
merely of all the comforts and blessings of his
mortal existence, but also of that moral and reli-
gious culture requisite for his eternal well being ;-
against such robbery and usurpation it is the duty
of
every christian to protest, and to use his utmost
exertions most speedily and effectually to arrest.
To the vast disparity between this species of
usurpation and that which merely withholds from
another his rightful possessions in money, lands,
houses, &c. no force of language can give ade-
quate expression. All other injuries are slight
and venial compared with that of making or of
keeping a fellow creature, a slave. Why then is


188
it to be called “ robbery under the garb of mercy”
to compel the slave-holder without compensation to
relinquish his slave?
This sensitive fellow-feeling with slave-holders
of “education and liberal attainments ;" this
admission of the right of property vested in human
beings, fellow-creatures, as justly entitled to free-
dom as any of their lordly possessors ; is no off-
spring of christian charity; — she, extends her
sympathy where it is most needed ;-to the in-
jured, rather than the injurer,—the oppressed,
rather than the oppressor ;--but this misdirected
liberality, this partial indulgence to wealth and
station, tears the bandage from the eyes of human
justice; wrests from her hands the impartial sword
and equal balance, and makes her a “respecter
of persons."
Education, and liberal attainments, instead of
being the guarantee of benevolence, disinterest-
edness and generosity, -
--are allowed, in these
gentlemen, not only to supply the place of these
virtues, but to excuse and varnish over the oppo-
site vices of sordid selfishness and cruel oppres-
sion. Education and liberal attainments are
suffered, in them, not only to exempt their pos-
sessors” from punishment, who withhold from
their fellow man his birthright,—“ make his life
bitter with hard bondage,” —convert him into a
beast of burden-a mere tool or implement of
labour, which has no value in the owners' esti-


189
mation but for the money it will bring ;-educa-
tion and liberal attainments, not only exempt
their possessors from punishment who thus deal
with their fellow-man, because they have the power
thus to deal with him, because their human
victim is too weak and helpless to resist ;-but
are also allowed to confer a right to compensation
for the relinquishment of those forced unremu-
nerated labours to which the claimants were
never, for a moment, justly entitled ;-for the re-
storation of that liberty which they never for a
moment had a right to withhold !!
But, “it would be robbery under the garb of
mercy to compel one class of individuals to atone
for the injustice of a nation." That slave-holding
is a national as well as individual crime, we fully
admit; inasmuch as the nation has suffered, con-
nived at, and encouraged it;—but the individual
crime is neither cancelled nor diminished by
national sufferance, connivance and encourage-
ment. Those who entertain a contrary opinion
are not aware of the dangerous, the impious con-
sequences involved in it. It renders right and
wrong, virtue and vice, dependent, not on any
inherent principles of moral rectitude, but on the
arbitrary, capricious standard of human allowance
and opinion. It intimates that actions are inno-
cent or guilty, good or evil, not as they are con-
formable or opposed to the laws of immutable
righteousness, but as they are conformable or op-


190
posed to the ever-varying laws of human policy ;-
in short, it virtually goes the length of excluding
the Great Creator from the legislation of His in-
telligent creatures; - implies that they are ame-
nable at the bar of human judgment alone, and
leads directly to practical Atheism. It goes to
establish the conclusion that all practices are al-
lowable and right, which are suffered to pass un-
punished by human law, uncensured by public
opinion.
The disinterested, benevolent and conscien-
tious portion of the community, by advocating
the claims of the Planters to compensation, are
acting (unconsciouslyindeed, but most effectually)
the part of the grand deceiver and betrayer of
mankind;-standing between the criminal and the
convictions of his own conscience, which the ex-
pected arrest of his headlong course of ruthless
oppression would tend to awaken, and saying to
the alarmed and self convicted criminal, just
aroused to the sense of the accumulated suffering
from the frightful mass of moral and physical
wretchedness which his cruel selfishness and
sordid avarice have inflicted on his unoffending
helpless brother ;--stung, it may be to the soul,
with remorse and contrition ;-terrified with the
sight of the flaming sword of Divine Justice,
which the spiritual blindness induced by prospe-
rity and impunity, till now prevented his behold-
ing ; with the hand writing also of heaven ap-


191
pearing against him in characters more appalling
than those which blanched the cheek of the vo-
luptuous Belshazzar, and caused his knees to
“ smite one against the other;” - proclaiming
retributive justice, in full measure ;-recompense,
to the eternal world, now opening to his view ;-
“justice to the oppressed--and judgment to the
oppressor.
.”
To hold out COMPENSATION for arresting the
gains of the most inhuman tyranny, the most
barbarous oppression ever exercised in any age or
nation,-is to say, in effect, to the slave-holder,
as the grand deceiver said to our first progenitor,
“ Thou shalt not surely die,”-in other words,-
Thou hast committed no crime in exercising thy
power to oppress and afflict instead of protecting
thy weak and unoffending brother ;--thou hast
committed no crime—and shalt not only incur no
punishment; but shalt receive COMPENSATION for
any loss thou mayest sustain" from the restoration
of thy wretched captives to that liberty and those
just rights, which, though withheld by no law of
equity but by that power alone :-yet, thy coun-
try, having suffered thee hitherto to abuse that
power, HERs is the guilt, AND SHE SHALL PAY
THE PENALTY!!
We assert, therefore in spite of all “ the smooth
emolients which downy doctors,” wise politicians,
eloquent orators, and sympathising friends may
administer, to allay the pains of conviction and


192
remorse in the consciences of slave-holders; that
to admit their right to COMPENSATION, is, to them,
the greatest cruelty, instead of kindness; it is to
lay a flattering unction on their souls,”-to
delude them with fallacious ideas of their own in-
nocence; to tempt them to postpone the hour of
conviction till repentance may come too late ;-
till “ Truth shall burst in thunder and in flame,”
and “ her keen vibrations” only precede the dark-
ness of despair.
We therefore, entreat the disinterested, the
benevolent, the conscientious, to give a wiser and
more comprehensive scope to their sympathy with
West Indian Planters and slave-holders. Their
truest friends will rather promote than repel that
salutary humiliation which is the forerunner of re-
pentance; that compunction which may happily
incite to acts of penitence, to earnest desires to
make all possible atonement for a life of injustice
and oppression. They will rather assist con-
science, in these infatuated men, to do her office,
to become a faithful witness between themselves
and their slaves-whose testimony may prove in-
deed that compensation, LARGE COMPENSATION,
larger far than the wealth of both Indies is suf-
ficient to supply—is justly due, but that it belongs
not to themselves, but to their oppressed, their
deeply, irreparably injured SLAVES. All the com-
pensation however, which they have the
make, their best friends will encourage them to
power to


193
11
without delay, to such as are still within reach
of human compensation, -- who have not yet
“shaken off this mortal coil”—and passed into
that state " where the wicked cease from troub-
ling, and the weary are at rest.”
Though “ambition mock”-and “grandeur
scorn with disdainful smile”-the privileges and
enjoyments of which slavery has deprived the poor
Negro; yet let it be remembered that He who
“ appoints the bounds of our habitation,” has or-
dained that “man shall not live by bread alone;">
--that his true enjoyment shall not depend on the
possession of rank or fortune ;-on the adven-
titious refinements of artificial society ;-but, on
conformity to the laws of his Creator written on
his heart, which produce in the wild Indian and
untutored savage, whilst undebauched by the
treacherous corrupting acts of European refine-
ment, fruits of disinterested kindness, generosity
and magnanimity, which might shame the pro-
fessors of a purer faith. ' Liberty and independence,
therefore, may be as dear—as productive of real
enjoyment to the poor Negro, as to his lordly
master ;-and the crime of withholding them
from the one, is as great as that of withholding
them from the other. Let not the latter, there-
fore, by a misdirected sympathy and perverted
liberality, be tempted to delude himself with the
false imagination, the preposterous conceit, that
he is “more sinned against than sinning;"
0


194
that because, through the extreme partiality of
human law, he escapes human punishment, that
therefore he may hold himself guiltless ;- for
whether he stole, or purchased, or inherited the
property vested in human beings ;-it always was,
and always will be a CRIMINAL possession, be-
cause held in violation of the immutable laws of
humanity and justice,-in defiance of the express
prohibition of the Supreme Legislator ;--and the
crime of holding it, if not heartily repented of and
sincerely aloned by all possible compensation to
the injured party-must, if there be a righteous
Governor of the Universe, meet a "just recom-
pense of reward,” in a future, if not in the
present world.
The claims of the Planter to compensation,
have been justly denominated audacious claims,
because they rest on no ground of right or reason,
of justice or common sense ;--because they rest
on no ground but that of bold assumptiom. The
admission of these claims by the disinterested, the
benevolent and conscientious, is a remarkable
proof how far the baneful influence of slavery has
extended beyond the slave and his master. It
has blinded the understanding, and perverted the
judgment of the most enlightened portion of the
community; otherwise, whilst retributive justice
is administered with so unsparing a hand to com-
paratively petty offenders, who commit depreda-
tions on the mere appendages and appurtenances


195
of the man, to the amount of a few shillings;
the stealer of the MAN HIMSELF, or the HOLDER
of him whEN STOLEN, in cruel and ignominious
bondage, could not be held guiltless ;-could
not, before required to relinquish a species of
robbery in comparison of the turpitude of which
all other robberies are innocent, be suffered to
claim COMPENSATION ;-the people of England,
the enlightened, philanthropic, christian people of
England, the professed advocates of the poor
Negro, could not listen to a claim so audacious ;-
could not admit it,-—incorporate it into their
petitions for emancipation, and by so doing,
virtually admit the justice of man stealing, or of
withholding from him his best earthly possession,
and subjecting him to the utmost extreme of
degradation and wretchedness.
Admit the justice of compensation in this
quarter, and you dash to the ground, and trample
underfoot those sacred principles of eternal jus-
tice for which the abolitionists have been hitherto
contending. Admit the slave-holders claims to com-
pensation, and you admit the justice of slavery ; ---
you not only compromise, but sacrifice the great
fundamental laws of righteousness; you surrender
right and reason to bold and insolent pretension,
We have been informed that the petitions preparing in
Birmingham and other places, for the approaching Session of
Parliament, admit the Planters' claims to compensation.


196
and open a wide door to all sorts of weak conces-
sions and criminal compliances.
Common robbers and highwaymen, every
description of public depredators, may with equal
reason and justice claim and receive compensation
before they renounce their respective professions
—with more reason and justice; - since poverty
and want may have plunged them into crime, and
without it they may be utterly destitute of
the means of subsistence. They, like the slave-
holder, have, many of them, been initiated by
education and circumstances into habits of think-
ing and acting incompatibly (but not so incom-
patibly as he has) with the principles of moral recti-
tude-their property also (such as it is) has,
like his, been embarked in nefarious speculations,
on the stability and success of which their subsis-
tence may wholly depend. But are these consi-
derations for a moment admitted as excuses,
pleas in bar of judgment, in arrest of punishment,
when the peculators are detected ? — Are they
allowed to entitle the delinquents to compensation
before they shall be required to abandon their
career of depredation? “But the occupation of
this class of offenders has been interdicted and
proscribed by the laws of the land, and the em-
barkation of capital in slavery has never been so
interdicted or proscribed.” True, it has not.
The laws of the land have sanctioned and encou-
saged it, consequently they cannot, and they ought
as


197
not to punish it. But the speculation is not, on
that account, at all the less criminal in a' moral
point of view ;-it is not,' on that account, at all
less opposed to the laws of religion, of humanity,
of justice. It is for the paramount obligation of
these laws,--the immutable laws of our Creator
and Divine Legislator, that we are contending:
Against any admissions or concessions which
tend to weaken or supersede their authority, and
to give to human legislation the precedency in the
public estimation the strongest protest ought to
be entered.
But we protest against compensation to the
slave-holder on civil and political, as well as moral
and religious grounds, for it has been proved to
demonstration that ultimately he need be no loser,
but, on the contrary, a great gainer, by cultivating
his grounds with freemen instead of slaves, and
stimulating their labour by the just recompense
of wages, instead of the impulse of the cart-whip.
The emancipation of his slaves will in no other
way ruin the planter than as he obstinately rushes
upon his own ruin, by madly refusing to conform
to a more wise and humane policy.
These free observations are dictated by no hos-
tile feeling towards the slave-holder or his apolo-
gists ; but there are occasions which require that
plain truth should be uttered in plain and in strong
language and this is one. The softening, quali-
fying language of conciliation and concession has


198
ance,
been tried long enough-a great deal too long.
How has it operated ? How is it still operating
on the parties concerned ? It has neither softened
nor conciliated, on the contrary, it has irritated
and provoked scorn, contempt, insult and defi-
The violent prejudices and ferocious pas-
sions which the language of conciliation and con-
cession was intended to subdue, have, by that
means been confirmed and exasperated; prejudice
has become more malignant-passion more fu-
rious; like flames which blaze out higher and
hotter on which oil is thrown instead of water.
See how the slave-holding spirit was affected
on the receipt of the very conciliatory and conced-
ing recommendations and orders in council trans-
mitted to the colonists by Earl Bathurst. See
how it exhibited itself in Jamaica, in Demerara,
in Barbadoes. In the first, how it bearded, set
at nought, and put to defiance, not the Govern-
ment of England and the King's Ministers alone,
but the Monarch himself.' In Demerara, see in
what torrents of Negro blood it wreaked its das-
tardly vengeance ;-how it glutted itself with
massacres, executions and fiend-like lacerations,
at the bare idea of which humanity sickens. With
what malignant, relentless hate it persecuted unto
death the mild minister of the religion of peace
and love. In Barbadoes, see how its fury was
sublimated to madness,“ breathing out threat-
See the Royal Jamaica Gazette, Nov. 1-8, 1823.


199
ning and slaughter,”-trampling on all authority,
human and divine-boasting, exulting in havoc
and destruction ;-blaspheming the sacred name,
by appealing for Divine confirmation of their
hellish resolution to expel christianity, by hunting
down its faithful Ministers like beasts of prey :-
to persecute, “ to exterminate by fire and sword
Methodism and all Methodists." See, the use
which has been made throughout the British slave-
colonies, of these very conciliatory and conceding
recommendations and orders in council, by the
newly enacted Draconian slave - codes, (as in
utter contempt and bold defiance of British autho-
rity) which exhibit “ such perversions of the forms
of law to purposes of cruelty and oppression, as
can only find their parallel in the execrated pro-
ceedings of Judge Jefferies, or in the practical
jurisprudence of Constantinople, Morocco, or
Algiers."
The conduct of the colonists since the receipt
of the meliorating recommendations and orders in
council, is a fine comment on the wisdom of tem-
porizing, half measures--of advising hardened
* See “ An Authentic Report of the Debate on Mr. Buxton's
Motion relative to the destruction of the Methodist Chapel
in Barbadoes.”
See “ The Slave Colonies of Great Britain, or a picture
of Negro slavery, drawn by the Colonists themselves,” con-
taiping most important documents, recently transmitted from
the West Indies.


200
criminals to reform themselves. The ungovern-
able and ferocious passions excited by their odious
vocation of slave-holding, are only exasperated by
gentle advice and mild remonstrance; they can
be restrained and subdued by the strong arm of
law alone-and in their case it would be the great-
est kindness to exert it. Unbridled power has in-
toxicated, driven them to madness. They are
maniacs of the most dangerous and desperate
description. Their own interest, their own safety,
requires that their phrenzy should be restrained,
should be subdued by a lowering discipline which
nothing but the general rejection of their mer-
chandize or the force of law can administer.
The language and conduct of these colonial
bravos have dispelled the delusion long and dearly
cherished by certain speculative philanthropists,
that crimes of every descriptions are best corrected
by gentle means ;—the crimes produced by slave
holding, are at all events proved to be exceptions.
These crimes have, it is abundantly evident, been
dreadfully aggravated and multiplied, by gentle
conciliatory attempts at correction ;-RESTRAINT
AND COERCION ARE NOW IMPERIOUSLY CAL-
The slave-holding spirit is not to be
softened or moderated by parly and remonstrance ;
it will not be reasoned into humanity and gentle-
ness; it will not be persuaded to enact laws to
curb its own fury, or if it be, it is only for the
purposes of deception and imposture, to avert the
LED FOR.


201
interposition of the British Parliament...“ Trust
not (said the Right Honourable Secretary, twenty
six years ago) the masters of slaves in what concerns
legislation for slavery. However specious their
laws may appear, depend upon it they must be in-
effectual in their operation. It is in the nature of
things that they should be so. Let then the British
House of Commons do their part THEMSELVES.
Let them not delegate the trust of doing it to those
who CANNOT execute it fairly. Let the cvil be
remedied by an assembly of FREE MEN,--by the
GOVERNMENT OF A FREE PEOPLE, and not by
the masters of slaves. There is something in the
nature of absolute authority, in the relation between
master and slave, which makes despotism in ALL
cases, and, under All circumstances, an incompetent
and unsure executor even of its own provisions in
favour of the objects of its power.” m
Has the recent history of colonial slavery de-
ducted ought from the soundness and force of
these maxims, that the same enlightened states-
man who uttered them, now issues recommendations
to the colonial legislatures to reform their own
system? “ If, (says the very powerful refuter of
West Indian pretensions ") it is fit that. West
Indian slavery sbould remain unmitigated, let the
hapless subjects of it perish in their chains, let the
m See “ The Slave Colonies," &c. p 130, 131.
n James Stephen, Esq.


902
House of Commons at once rescind its resolu-
tions, and leave the poor victims to their fate.
But if any thing, however small, is to be done for
their relief, I trust that Parliament will cease IM-
POTENTLY and MISCHIEVOUSLY to RECOM-
MEND, and begin at length to ORDAIN.”
We must go one step beyond this enlightened
and decisive philanthropist, and say, Let the
words MELIORATION, GRADUAL EMANCIPA-
Tion, and comPENSATION be henceforth blotted
out of the anti-slavery vocabulary; let the friends
of Negro emancipation take advantage of the te-
nacious, unyielding spirit; the bold attitude of
menace and defiance displayed by the colonists
-and seeing that concession is useless,--that
conciliation is hopeless, let them make a virtue
of necessity, discard all idea of compromise
think no more of temporizing, but collecting all
their might; standing in the firm attitude of
hoodwinked, impartial, even-handed justice, hold
the balance steadily poised in which the rights of
the slave and those of his master are suspended.
Hitherto, they have gained nothing for their poor
clients, because they have asked too little, The
slave-holder saw the weakness, may we without
offence say, the pusillanimity, the half-faced cha-
racter of gradual emancipation--and he naturally
suspected there was not much sincerity or earnest-
ness in the requisition ; he therefore determined
not only to resist it-but to traduce, vilify and in-


208
sult its supporters ; describing them as “ interested
and designing hypocrites;" a vindictive crew ;-in-
dulging the abominable desire to cast headlong into
the gulph of destruction, or endless misery, all the
white inhabitants of the West Indies.”
Let the friends of the poor Negro see that
nothing henceforth be rescinded from his just
claims ;-that no concessions be made, from this
time forward, to sordid interest ;-none to artful
policy-none to the crafty pretensions or auda-
cious demands of their oppressors. Let them be
satisfied with nothing short of his comPLETE
EMANCIPATION. Had the vengeance of the
slave-holder fallen in more stinted measure upon
the slave, he might still have been left to the pro-
tection of his tender mercies. Had the slave-
holder manifested any disposition to soften the
yoke, or to lighten the heavy burdens of slavery :-
to dispense with its galling chains and ignomi-
nious scourge ;-had he been disposed to regard
and to treat his unhappy captives as human
beings instead of brute animals ;--there had then
been some sort of excuse for leaving them in his
power. But since he imperiously declines to
concede to them any of the rights of humanity;
since he refuses to recognize any marriage tie
between them, but such as finds its only pa-
rallel among the beasts of the field;"---since he
• See “ The Second Report of the Anti-slavery Society."


204
still boldly avows that “ slaves are chattels as much
as any other moveable property, --over whom
the master has the entire control;" --since he
still contends for “the principle in all its naked
wickedness, by which he holds in fee simple ab-
solute, the bodies and souls of his fellow-crea-
tures :"-since, in Trinidad, he still insultingly
avows-" We did, and do declare, the WHIP to be
ESSENTIAL to West Indian discipline;"maye, as
essential, my Lord Calthorpe, as the freedom of the
press, and the trial by jury, to the liberty of the
subject, in England, and to be justified on equally
legitimate grounds. The comfort, welfare, and
happiness of our labouring classes cannot subsist
without it. The fact may have been denied by
others, but never by us. We have never conde
scended to equivocate or disguise in this Colony.
be denied by the West Indian Committee, but
it has never been denied by us.”-Since the Re-
gistry-laws in the Mauritius are “a perfect nul-
lity,” and the slave trade may there be still
carried on.“ without limit or control :"Psince
the slave-holder exhibits such a determined cha-
racter of resistance to British humanity, and defi-
ance of British authority ;-it is time for that
humanity and that authority to take high and
commanding ground, and since the proud citadel
of slavery refuses to capitulate, it is fit and right
1
It may
P See “ The Anti-Slavery Monthly Reporter," No. 3.


205
the insulted character and law of Britain re-
quire, that it should be taken by storm-and
RAZED TO ITS FOUNDATIONS. It is time to
cut short the hopeless task of legislating in the
different colonies, so as to accommodate the re-
quisitions of humanity and justice to the various
tastes of slave-holders : it is time that British law
and British justice should extend with impartial
sway through all the bounds of the British empire.
Seeing the Great Creator “ hath made of ONE
BLOOD all nations to dwell on the face of the
earth,” and hath Himself promulgated ONE LAW
for men of all complexions; it is time that we,
who profess to be guided by that law, should no
longer presume to make a difference. The dif-
ference we have presumed to make, or to tolerate,
in the British colonies, has proved an inex-
haustible source of crime and misery; it has har-
dened and corrupted the white population, as
much as it has degraded and oppressed the black ;
it has raised the one as much above the just
standard, as it has depressed the other below it;
-it has inflated the slave-owner with insufferable
pride and arrogance, as much as it has sunk the
slave into grovelling and abject subjection ; it has
incited dark suspicion and coward vengeance in
the oppressor, crouching fear and rankling hate in
the oppressed, which will never be extinguished,
will burst out in successire insurrections and


206
massacres, until both parties are subject to the
control of ONE AUTHORITATIVE IMPARTIAL
LAW.
The Colonists spurn at melioration and gradual
emancipation. Slavery is a desperate diseasema
swollen and mortified limb, no emollient appli-
cations can stop the rapid progress of the gan-
grene,--the health and safety of the body politic
require its SPEEDY AMPUTATION.
+
Here we had intended to close our animadver-
sions on COMPENSATION, but finding we have
not yet done justice to our own views of the sub-
ject, we venture to add a few concluding obser-
vations.
« Government," it is said, “ would be guilty
of great injustice, after having not only permitted
and sanctioned but bribed the Planters by pro-
tecting duties, grants and charters to embark their
capital in colonial speculations; were they at
once to abolish slavery without compensation to
the slave-holder, who, but for such permission,
sanction and bribes, would have directed his capital
into other channels.”
There is, it must be admitted, some plausi-


907
bility and apparent force in this reasoning -
but before we suffer ourselves to be carried away
with it, let us examine and analize it. We must
again refer our readers to the work from which in
a preceding letter, we have made such large
extracts' for incontrovertible arguments proving
- that the West Indians have no title to their
slaves on the ground of purchase, nor on the plea
of the law of birth, nor on that of any natural
right, nor on that of reason or justice.”
“ It remains only to shew, that they have no
title to them on the ground of ORIGINAL GRANTS
or PERMISSIONS of GOVERNNENT, or of ACTS
of PARLIAMENT or of CHARTERS, or of EN-
GLISH LAW. History informs us, that neither
the African slave-trade nor West Indian slavery
would have been allowed, had it not been for the
misrepresentations and falsehoods of those who
were first concerned in them. The Governments
of those times were made to believe, first, that the
poor Africans embarked voluntarily on board the
ships which took them from their native land;
and secondly, that they were conveyed to the
colonies principally for their own benefit, or out of
christian feeling for them, that they might be con-
verted to christianity. It was in the reign of
Elizabeth that the execrable slave-trade first began
4 “Thoughts on the necessity of improving the condi-
tion of the slaves" &c. pages 12. 13. 14.


208
in England. This great princess, on its very com-
mencement, seems to have questioned its law-
fulness-to have entertained a religious scruple
concerning it, and to have revolted at the very
thought of it. She seems to have been aware of
the evils to which it might lead, and when Cap-
tain Hawkins returned from his first voyage to
Africa and Hispaniola, whither he had carried
slaves, she sent for him, and expressed her con-
cern lest any of the Africans should be carried off
without their free consent, declaring that it would
be detestable and call down the vengeance of
Heaven upon the undertakers'!
the undertakers'!. Captain Haw-
kins promised to comply with the injunctions of
Elizabeth, but did not keep his word; for when
he again went to Africa he seized and carried off
many of the inhabitants as slaves. · Here (says
Hill, the historian) began the horrid practice of
forcing the African into slavery, an injustice and
barbarity, which, so sure as there is vengeance in
Heaven for the worst of crimes, WILL, SOME-
TIME BE THÉ DESTRUCTION OF ALL WHO
ENCOURAGE IT.'
“We have therefore the fact well authenticated,
as it relates to original Grants and permissions,
that they originated IN FRAUD AND FALSH00D.
Neither have the masters of slaves in our own
colonies, any title to their slaves on account of
any charters which they are able to produce,
though their charters are the only source of their


217
now are by two-thirds, or indeed one half of the
present force. Let it be considered how much
labour is lost by overseeing the forced labourer
which is saved when he works for his own profit.
I have stated with the strictest veracity, the plain
matter of fact, that sugar-estates can be worke
cheaper by free persons than slaves.":
But the evidence drawn from these experi-
ments and observations, is controverted and
denied by the West Indians and their abettors.
And what evidence is not controverted and de-
nied by them which tends, in any degree, to the
detection and exposure of the impolicy and wick-
edness of tneir present execrable system ? In
opposition to all the facts and reasonings brought
by their opponents in proof of the superior profi-
tableness of free above compulsory labour, they
assert that they ought to be allowed to be the
best judges of their own interests ;-that were the
broad fact such as the abolitionists have stated,
the Planters must be idiots or madmen not to act
accordingly. But we ask, in the language of the
intelligent author above quoted, “Does man
always act with an enlightened view to self
interest? Is he uniformly vigilant to observe, and
* See“ A Letter to M. Jean-Baptist Say, on the compara-
tive expense of free and slave labour," By Adam Hodgson,
p. 10–12. 31. and Appendix, p. 7.8.
• See “ Review of the Quarterly Review." p. 49-53.
Q


218
1
1
prompt to pursue his real good ? Does prejudice
or passion never blind or mislead him? Nor habit
render him slow to follow the dictates of his
better judgment?”
We have alluded to the superior profitableness
of free, above slave labour, not in confirmation of
the justice, the expediency and necessity of im-
mediate emancipation, (which would be equally
just, expedient and necessary were the result of
these experiments and observations the very reverse
of what has been stated) we allude to the fact for
the sole purpose of proving that all claims to com-
pensation are groundless and futile on the plea of
injury which the Planter would sustain from the
manumission of his slaves. He will, of course,
thereby lose the power of obtaining the market
price in ready money, for his human commodity,
and may consequently experience a temporary in-
convenience; but it will be the fault of his own
mismanagement, if he be not ULTIMATELY a
gainer by the conversion of his slaves into free
labourers. But admitting, for the sake of argu-
ment, that he would ULTIMATELY LOSE by the
transition; is it reasonable or just that the most
guilty party in this criminal transaction should be
remunerated at the expense of the less guilty ?-
the inconsiderate, and for the most part, uncon-
scious public, which has for generations been
pouring annual millions into the Planter's pocket ?
We are disposed to resist these claims from no


219
uncharitable or vindictive feeling towards the
slave-holders ;-- from no anxiety to save the public
purse, but from a conviction of the very in-
jurious precedent which their concession would
establish; and that the work of emancipation
would be thereby defaced and tarnished which
otherwise would be one of the most brilliant acts
of national justice which the Legislature could
perform. We would resist all pretensions to com-
pensation in this quarter, from a conviction that
every jota which is conceded to the loud and im-
portunate demands of the slave-holder, is de-
ducted from the silent, yet powerful claims of the
slave. Which, however freely admitted in theory,
will be practically withheld in exact proportion.
as those of the former are allowed. To the
slave-holder, NOTHING is due ;-to the SLAVE,
EVERY THING, which the wisdom of the nation
can devise and the wealth of the nation can execute
for the instruction, the reformation, the protection,
the comfort of these patient victims of national as
well as individual injustice and rapacity.
FINIS.
Thomas Combe and Son, Printers, Leicester.


“。


209
power. There is not an individual who holds
any of his slaves by a legal title ; for it is ex-
pressed in all these charters, whether in those
given to William Penn and others, for the conti-
nent of North America, or in those given for the
colonies now under consideration, that the laws
and statutes, to be made there, are not to be repug-
nant, but, as near as may be, agreeable, to the laws
and statutes of this our kingdom of Great Britain.'
But is it consistent with the laws of England,
that one man should have the power of forcing
another to work for him without wages ? Is it
consistent with the laws of England, that one man
should have the power of flogging, chaining, tor-
turing another at his discretion?”
" Let the West Indians then talk no more of
their charters; for in consequence of having le-
gislated upon principles, which are at variance
with those upon which the laws of England are
founded, they have FORFEITED THEM
The mother country has therefore a right to with-
draw those charters whenever she pleases, and to
substitute such others as she may think proper.
The right of the West Indians to make any
laws
at all for their own Islands being founded upon
their charters alone, and the laws respecting the
slaves being contrary to what those charters pre-
scribe, the SLAVERY ITSELF IS ILLEGAL, and
If so, ALL OUR WEST
NDIAN SLAVES ARE, WITHOUT EXCEPTION,
ALL.
MAY BE DONE AWAY.
р


210
UNLAWFULLY HELD IN BONDAGE.
THERE
can,
IS NO MASTER, WHO HAS ANY LEGAL TITLE
TO ANY ONE OF THEM.'
How then could it be “ robbery under the
garb of mercy,” to deprive the Planters at once,
and without compensation, of property to which
they have no legal title? But no licence, no en-
couragement, no rewards which ever have, or ever
can be held out either by individuals or govern-
ments for the commission of injustice or cruelty,
in any degree, absolve the perpetrators from
the guilt attached to injustice and cruelty. By
as the law written on the heart”—by the voice of
conscience-by the express word of the Sovereign
of the Universe they are forbidden. No violations
of duty,--no crimes, great or small, are ever com-
mitted without a tempter, an instigator,--without
bribes and proffered rewards ;--and virtue con-
sists in nothing else but their rejection. " How
shall I do this great wickedness, and sin against
God is the uniform voice of conscience, more
or less audible in every moral agent, under the
light of Divine Revelation, whenever tempted to
sin by promised impunity, or instigated by prof-
fered reward ; if that "still small voice” be
disregarded, and the sin committed, true re-
pentance, or adequate punishment, must inevi-
tably follow :-consequently, whatever intervenes
to ward off that humiliation, compunction, and
remorse, which would lead to repentance, is doing


211
the greatest injury, instead of benefit, to the of-
fender; since it is an irreversible decree that
every offence shall receive a just recompense of
reward :"-if it be not truly repented of in time,
it will be punished in eternity.
These, it may be said, are general observations,
which do not directly bear on the very complex
subject in question. We believe, on the contrary,
that they bear directly on all subjects, however
complex, in which moral principle is involved ;-
but we hope to prove there is, in fact, no com-
plexity in that before us. Government has sanc-
tioned and instigated the Planters, by bounties,
protecting duties, &c. to embark their capital in
slave speculations. They have so embarked it-
and they have had their reward;—they have pro-
fited by these speculations. Government may,
therefore, with the strictest justice and propriety,
say to the speculators, “ Hitherto, we have in-
considerately not only connived at, but, at an
enormous national expense, supported and en-
couraged your inhuman speculations. Our eyes
are now opened to its atrocity. We will neither
encourage nor connive at it any longer. You
YOURSELVES HAVE OPENED OUR EYES. Your
own language and conduct,—the fruit which your-
selves have exhibited of slave speculations, abun-
dantly convince us, had we no other evidence, of
the necessity of putting an IMMEDIATE STOP
TO THEM. Regard for our own character, for


212
the national honour, for your interest, were hu-
manity and justice to your victims to be wholly
disregarded, imperiously require us to put an
immediate stop to your infatuated, blind and in-
furiated career.
You demand COMPENSATION.
For what? We purpose to despoil you of none
of your illgotten possessions. You purchased or
you inherited your slaves ;- you have, to the
present moment, enjoyed the full benefit of their
uncompensated labours, their nightly as well as
daily'toil under the lacerating scourge. But to
these slaves, we now clearly perceive you have no
legal claim. By the laws of God, by the laws
of the British constitution, we can neither impart,
nor continue, nor allow your right to hold them
in bondage. Seeing,—and at length admitting,
this self evident truth, we are compelled to act
accordingly. Our own honour and credit, - the
imperious requisitions of humanity, justice and
religion, the importunate demands of the peo-
ple,--all unite in requiring us to pronounce their
IMMEDIATE emancipation. Were we to with-
hold this decision, we might rightly be charged
with the grossest injustice. But for the emanci-
pation of your slaves, you demand of us com-
PENSATION - compensation to the amount of
SIXTY-FOUR MILLIONS!!! From whence is
this compensation to be drawn, but from the
People? The People, out of whose pockets, in
bounties, and protecting duties, and military esta-


213
blishments to support your execrable tyranny,
we have already drawn annual millions to put
into yours. Would that be doing justice? Would
the people tamely submit to such an impost; to
remunerate you for the loss of a property to
which you never had any just title, either legal or
moral, now that their eyes are wide open to the
shameful abuse you have made of it? Would it
be prudent? Would it be safe to hazard the ex-
periment of such an impost? We believe it
would not. And therefore, Gentlemen Planters,
we think it would be prudent and wise in you to
forbear to press any such groundless and prepos-
terous claims. We say prudent and wise, if you
have any regard to your own credit or interest.
Depend upon it, the best resolution you can adopt
on this dangerous subject, is to be silent,-to
hush
up
this business of compensation as quickly
as possible ; for the eyes of the people, and our
own eyes, being completely opened to this com-
pact of injustice, it is utterly vain for you to at-
tempt to close them again. A flood of light has
fallen, by Heavenly direction, upon the whole
system of slavery,—its horrid wickedness and
miserable impolicy have been fully developed and
can never again be hidden. With the mere names
and empty profession of humanity, justice, and
religion, neither the Government nor the people
of this great nation will any longer be satisfied-
they will have the substantial realities. And


214
therefore, Gentlemen slave-holders, we are se-
riously persuaded that if, under these circumstan-
ces, you persist in urging your illjudged and most
illfounded claims, you will certainly make bad
worse ;--you will not only lose your labour, but
provoke the public indignation to that degree,
that if they cannot compel you to make restitution
of the criminal gains of oppression and cruelty;
they will make those gains a curse to you by
attaching to them universal odium and reproach.”
But our apologist contends that “ all holders
of slave property are not wilfully, consequently,
not guiltily such. There are many who have never
seen the estates from which they derive their emo-
luments, or the slaves by whom they are cultivated.
There are many widows and orphans who are the
unconscious stipendiaries of this wicked system,
and are entirely dependant on the income they
derive from it. Are these to be cast provisionless
and pennyless on the wide world?" No, certainly.
We demand justice for the slave at the expense of
no injustice in any other quarter. Only prove.
that the parties in question will become provision-
less and pennyless by slave emancipation, and the
public, as well as the Government will be cheer-
fully disposed to render them ample compensation.
But the supposed consequence is an improbable
and impossible one; we have not only the most
irrefragable arguments, but the evidence of expe-
riment and fact to prove that with judicious


215
management no ultimate loss, but on the contrary,
an ultimate gain will be the consequence of the
conversion of slaves into free labourers. Emanci-
pation, does not involve the confiscation of the
estates from which these widows and orphans de
rive their subsistence. Emancipation, will not
doom those estates to perpetual sterility, --will
interpose no insuperable obstacle to their profit-
able cultivation.
That free labour is on the long run more
advantageous to the employer than slave labour,
is now so generally admitted by intelligent and
unprejudiced persons, as no longer to require
reproof. “Mr. Ramsay, who had twenty years
experience in the West Indies, observes, “I am
firmly of opinion that a sugar plantation might
be cultivated to more advantage, and at much
less expense, by labourers who are free men, than
by slaves. Dr. Dickson, who résided in Bar-
badoes, as Secretary to the late Hon. Edward
Hay, Governor of that Island, observes in his
work on the Mitigation of Slavery, · You need
not be informed, that it has been known for
many ages by men of reflection, that the labour
of slaves, though apparently cheaper, is far dearer
in general than that of free men. Speaking of
Mr. Steel's experiment, he remarks, 'He has as-
certained as a fact, what was before known to the
learned as a theory, and to practical men as a
paradox, that the paying of Negroes for their


216
labour does actually produce a very great profit
to the Planters. He saw that the Negroes,
like all other human beings, were to be stimulated
to permanent exertion only by a sense of their
own interests, in providing for their own wants
and those of their offspring. He therefore tried
rewards, instead of punishments, which imme-
diately roused the most indolent to exertion.
His experiments ended in regular wages, which
the industry he had excited, enabled him to pay.
Here was a natural efficient, and profitable reci-
procity of interests. His people became con-
tented; his mind freed from that perpetual
vexation, and that load of anxiety, which are
inseparable from the vulgar system, and in little
better than four years, the annual nett clearance
of his property was more than tripled. The
same writer remarks, 'I must refer to an excellent
pamphlet, entitled Observations on Slavery (pub-
lished in 1788, by Dr. James Anderson) which
shews that the labour of a West Indian slave
costs about thrice as much as it would cost if
executed by free men.' Mr. Botham, (the con-
ductor of sugar-works at Bencoolen) says, “After
spending two years in the West Indies, I returned
to the East in 1776. Having experienced the
difference of labourers for profit, and labourers
from force, I can assert that the savings by the
former are very considerable. I do suppose our
sugar Islands might be better worked than they


REASONS
FOR
SUBSTITUTING EAST INDIA,
FOR
WEST INDIA SUGAR.
00000-
IT is now seventeen years since the Slave Trade
was abolished by the government of this Country; but
Slavery is still perpetuated in our West India colonies,
and the horrors of the Slave Trade are aggravated rather
than mitigated.* By making it felony for British sub-
jects to be concerned in that inhuman traffic, England
has only transferred her share of it to other countries.
She has, indeed, by negotiation and remonstrance, en-
deavoured to persuade them to follow her example; but
has she succeeded ? How should she, whilst there is
so little consistency in her conduct? Who will listen
to her pathetic declamations on the injustice and cruel-
ty of the Slave Trade, whilst she rivets the chains on her
own Slaves, and subjects them to all the injustice and
cruelty which she so eloquently deplores when her own
*For abundant proof of the present continuance of the Slave Trade
by the Continental Powers, to an equal extent and with greater atrocity
than ever, in spite of all the efforts of the British Government to prevent
“ Parliamentary Papers, relative to the Slave Trade, and Re-
ports of the African Institution; or in a more abridged form, in a pam-
phlet entitled, Statements Illustrative of the Nature of thc Slave Trade;
it, see,


4
interest is no longer at stake? Before we can have any
rational hope of prevailing on our guilty neighbours to
abandon this atrocious commerce, to relinquish the
gain of oppression, the wealth obtained by rapine and
violence, by the deep groans, the bitter anguish of our
unoffending fellow creatures; we must purge ourselves
from these pollutions, we must break the iron yoke from
off the neck of our own Slaves, and let the wretched
captives in our own islands go free. Then, and not till
then, we shall speak to the surrounding nations with the
all commanding eloquence of sincerity and truth, and
our persuasions will be backed by the irresistible
argu-
ment of consistent example. But to invite others to be
just and merciful whilst we grasp in our own hands the
rod of oppression, what is it but cant and hypocrisy ?
Do such preachers of justice and mercy ever make con-
verts ? On the contrary, do they not render themselves
ridiculous and contemptible?
But let us individually, bring this great question
closely home to our own bosoms. We that hear, and
read, and approve, and applaud the powerful appeals,
the irrefragable arguments against the Slave Trade, and
against Slavery, are we ourselves sincere or hypocri-
and another entitled, “ Cries of Africa, to the inhabitants of Europe,” by
Thomas Clarkson, both published by Harvey, Darton, and Co. London.
For evidence of the injustice and oppression to which the Slaves of our
West Indian Colonies and America are still subjected, see, Stephen's
West Indies, Bickell's “ West Indies as they are ;" Hall's and Fearon's
Travels in America, and the numerous pamphlets circulated by the Anti-
slavery Society.


5
tical? Are we the true friends of justice, or do we only
inake a profession of it? To which party do we really
belong? To the friends of emancipation, or of perpe-
tual Slavery ? Every individual belongs to one party
or the other, not speculatively, or professionally merely,
but practically. The perpetuation of Slavery in our
West India colonies, is a question in which we are all
implicated; we are all guilty (with shame and com-
punction let us admit the opprobrious truth) of support-
ing and perpetuating Slavery. The planter refuses to
set his wretched captive at liberty, treats him as a beast
of burden, compels his reluctant, unremunerated labourer
under the lash of the cart whip: Why? Because we fur-
nish the stimulant to all this injustice, rapacity, and cru-
elty, by purchasing its produce! Heretofore, it may
have been thoughtlessly and unconsciously, but now
this palliative is removed ;-the veil of ignorance is rent
aside ;-the whole nation must now divide itself into
the active supporters, and the active opposers of Slave-
ry, there is no longer any ground for a neutral party to
stand upon.
Our knowledge on this subject must not end in excla-
mations, in petitions and remonstrances. There is
something to be done as well as to be said ;-there are
tests to prove our sincerity, sacrifices to be offered in
confirmation of our zeal. One in particular, (but it is
in itself so small and insignificant that it seems almost
like burlesque to dignify it with the name of sacrifice,)
it is, abstinence from the use of West Indian Produc-
tions; Sugar, especially, in the cultivation of which,
Slave labour is chiefly occupied. Small however, and


6
insignificant as the sacrifice may appear, it would at
once give the death blow to West Indian Slavery.
When there is no longer a profitable market for the pro-
ductions of Slave labour, then, and we fear not till
then, will the Slaves be emancipated.+
Reason and eloquence, persuasion and argument
have been powerfully exerted, experiments have been
fairly made, facts broadly stated in proof of the impolicy
as well as iniquity of Slavery, to little purpose; even
the hope of its extinction, with the concurrence of the
planter, or by any enactment of the Colonial, or British
legislature, is still seen in very remote perspective;
so remote, that the heart sickens at the cheerless pros-
pect. All the answers have now come in from the dif-
ferent West India Legislatures to the humane propositions
of his Majesty's ministers, by which it appears, that the
former will do nothing effectual ; that there is a deter-
mination to evade or resist all amelioration, and much
more every step that has emancipation for its avowed
object. There seems to be no hope for humanity, but in
the use of force by Government (which would not be
desirable), or in the virtue of the English people; which
would shew their abhorrence of the Planters' system by
leaving off the use of their produce.*
of See second report of the Anti-slavery Society, and Cropper's Relief
of West Indian Distress, in which the beneficial effects of a fall in the
price of Slave Grown Produce, (arising from a diminished consumption)
upon the condition of the Slaves, and its immediate influence in promo-
ting their gradual emancipation, are clearly proved and admirably illus-
trated.
*Clarkson.


7
“Yes, (it may be said) if all would unite in such a
resolution ;- but what can the abstinence of a few indivi-
duals, or a few families do, towards the accomplishment
of so vast an object?” It can do wonders. Great ends
often result from small beginnings.
Your resolution
will influence that of your friends and neighbours ;
each of them will in like manner influence their friends
and neighbours, the example will spread from house to
house, from city to city; till, among those who have any
claim to humanity, there will be but one heart and one
mind, one resolution, one uniform practice.
Thus, by
means the most simple and easy, would West Indian
Slavery be the most safely and speedily abolished.
Should any still be discouraged with the idea that
little good can reasonably be expected to result from in-
dividual abstinence from West Indian produce, let them
reflect, that the most astonishing effects of human power
have been accomplished by combined exertions; which,
when individually and separately considered, appear
feeble and insignificant. Let them reflect, that the
grandest objects of human observation, consist of small
agglomerated particles; that the globe itself is compo-
sed of atoms too minute for discernment; that extended
ages consist of accumulated moments. Let them reflect,
that greater victories have been achieved by the com-
bined expression of individual opinion, than by fleets and
armies; that greater moral revolutions have been ac-
complished by the combined exertion of individual re-
solution, than were ever effected by acts of Parliament.
The hydra-leaded monster of Slavery will never be


8
destroyed by other means than the united expression of
individual opinion and the united exertion of individual
resolution. Let no man restrain the expression of the
one, or the exertion of the other, from the apprehen-
sion that his single effort will be of no avail. The
greatest and the best work must have a beginning ;
often it is a very small and obscure one.
And though
the example in question should not become universal,
we may surely hope that it will become general.
1
1
It is too much to expect that the matter will be ta-
ken up (otherwise than to make a jest of it) by the
thoughtless and the selfish: what proportion these
bear to the considerate and compassionate, remains to
be ascertained. By these we may reasonably expect
that it will be taken up with resolution and consistency.
By christian societies of every denomination, who are
sincere in their profession of the one religion of univer-
sal compassion, which requires us, “ to love our neigh-
bour as ourselves,” this testimony against Slavery may
be expected to be borne with scrupulous and conscien-
tious fidelity.
Note.-We are now paying in bounty to keep up the prices of Sugar,
and in establishments and armies, to keep the slaves in subjection, about
three millions annually! And all this we are distinctly told by the
planters is not sufficient. Three inillions more according to their esti-
mates must be given them to afford even a moderate remuneration ;
which altogether would make an expense to the country of eight pounds
on every slaye held in bondage. See, Second Report of the Anti-slavery
Society.
The protecting bounties and prohibitions, apply to various articles, but


9
That abstinence from West India Sugar alone would
sign the death warrant of West Indian Slavery, is
morally certain. The gratuity of from one to two mil-
lions, annually paid by the people of this country in
bounties on West Indian Sugar, is acknowledged by
the Planters to be insufficient to bolster up their totter-
ing system; and they scruple not to declare to Parlia-
ment, that they may be ruined, if the protecting duty
against East India competition be not augmented.
One concluding word, to such as may be convinced
of the duty, but may still be incredulous as to the effi-
cacy of this species of abstinence, from the apprehen-
sion that it will never become sufficiently general to
accomplish its purpose. Should your example not be
followed; should it be utterly unavailing towards the
attainment of its object; still, it will have its own abun-
dant reward; still it will be attended with the con-
sciousness of sincerity and consistency;“ of possessing
clean hands," of having “no fellowship with the wor-
kers of iniquity;" still it will be attended with the ap-
probation of conscience, and doubtless with that of the
chiefly to Sugar; which is the great Production of our West India Colo-
nies ; they are :
I. A bounty which is paid on the exportation of Refined Sugar, and
which raises the price of all sugar in the home market, about 68. per
cwt. above its natural price, making an annual sum of £1,200,000.
II. A high duty of 10s. per cwt. above what is paid from the West
Indies, imposed on Sugar, the produce of the British dominions in India.


10
Great Searcher of hearts, who regarded with a favour-
able eye, the mite cast by the poor widow into the
treasury; and declared, that a cup of cold water only,
administered in Christian charity, “shall in no wise
lose its reward."
III. Prohibitory duties on Sugar grown in all other parts of the world.
These bounties have enabled the British Planters to be absent from,
and to neglect their own concerns and to delegate to others, the tremen-
dous responsibility of their situation. This characteristic of the Britisis
system is the fruitful source from which many of its peculiar cvils arise.
The colonies of Spain and Portugal have been compelled to support them-
selves ; they have neither had bounties on their produce, nor the expen-
ses of a standing army paid by the mother country. Their system of treat-
ment is more mild, they encourage emancipation, and have vast numbers
of free labourers ; and these are the countries which are underselling the
British Sugar planters in all the markets of Europe. See a paper, “ On
the Impolicy of Slavery.”


SUGGESTIONS
ON
FREEDOM OF COMMERCE AND NAVIGATION,
MORE
ESPECIALLY IN REFERENCE TO
THE
EAST-INDIA TRADE.
BY
JOHN PRINSEP.
LONDON:
PRINTED FOR JAMES RIDGWAY, PICCADILLY.
1823.





1
>
SUGGESTIONS,
&c. &c.
THERE can be no stronger indication of
the progress and diffusion of correct no-
tions
upon the subject of commerce in this
country, than the necessity, which all wri-
ters upon its details appear to feel, of pre-
facing their remarks by some reference to
those general and universal principles, the
truth of which is daily more and more con-
firmed by the experience of individuals
and of nations. That commerce thrives
only in the genial atmosphere of freedom
that it languishes under the interference
of authority, even when most sincerely ex-
erted for its good—that it requires no other
bounty or stimulus than the prospect of in-
B


2
dividual gain—these are maxims, that will
soon obtain the common assent of man-
kind. In Britain, they have already be-
come quite familiar and household doc-
trines, which to enlarge upon or to dispute
would equally provoke derision. Indeed,
it was but natural to expect, that the peo-
ple, which in practice was, of all others,
most deeply engaged, should, in theory
also, prove the best proficient in matters
of commercial policy.
It must be confessed, however, that we
have purchased this superiority by no
means at à cheap rate. The best school
is said to be the school of adversity; and
so it has proved in this, as in most other
branches of knowledge. A series of po-
litical vicissitudes without any former ex-
ample, either in frequency or in violencet
diversions of the current of trade, which
no exertion of foresight could have antici-
pated vibrations of credit and of rela-
tive value, pregnant with private ruin and
public danger--these, and a variety of
concurring circumstances, have, for some
years past, kept up a continual and fever,
ish agitation in the mercantile part of the


3
And so
community, that has tended very much to
promote the spirit of inquiry, and to sharp-
en the speculative genius of the trading
classes. The press has teemed with the
results of their personal experience or sa-
gacity; the materials of right reasoning
have been multiplied exceedingly; and
those materials have been successfully em-
ployed in leading the public mind to a just
sense of the national interest.
strong has been the conviction, and so de-
cided the expression, of public opinion
upon many important questions of domes-
tic polity, as at length to have enforced the
tardy attention and acquiescence of the
public authorities, and to have overcome
their characteristic aversion to every thing
like innovation.
-For it were vain to deny, that this pro-
gressive improvement, in theory and in
practice too, is wholly referable to the sa-
gacity and perseverance of individuals,
and owes nothing to the exertions of men
in office. The depositaries and agents of
power have never shown much solicitude
for the advancement of knowledge, in this
or any other department.
Had they par-
B 2


4
taken of that impulse, which has been act-
ing so strongly upon their inferiors, there
have not been wanting in our times abund-
ant opportunities for its display, far more
inviting than any presented in former
ages.
In those periodical conferences, which
the crowned heads of Europe are now in the
habit of holding for the discussion of their
common views and interests, it were surely
not too much to have expected, that the
concerns of commerce at large should have
occupied some portion of their delibera-
tions ; for it was a matter wherein the sub-
jects of all had the most evident, as well as
the most intense interest. What more fa-
vorable moment for the adoption and pro-
mulgation of the grand maxim of recipro-
city and freedom of intercourse among na-
tions ; for the explosion of the capital er-
ror of jealous exclusion of foreign pro-
ducts, by prohibitory laws or prohibitory
taxation? . What better opportunity for
the common adjustment of some of those
details, most important for facilitating the
interchange of products between one na-
tion and another; the establishment, for
instance, of an uniformity of weights and


5
measures,
and of a common standard of
metallic money; or the assimilation of the
laws affecting trade and traders, and com-
mercial instruments? These, and such as
these, were matters of common import to
all, worthy of the grave attention of so
august a conclave. Their settlement would
have done more to promote the peace and
welfare of mankind at large, and to ensure
the grateful recollection of posterity, than
any thing that has occupied the joint deli-
berations of princes since the era of the
Reformation. And these were topics which
the diplomatists of Britain, in her hour of
triumph, might have pressed upon her al-
lies, without exciting their suspicion or
jealousy ; whilst her enormous sacrifices in
the common cause were yet fresh in their
memory, and ere yet the prizes of her
energy and the price of their acquiescence
had been yielded up with heedless liberal-
ity. Nay, these were topics, the very
ad-
vancement of which, on her part, must
have given to other nations a pledge of her
sincerity and liberal views, and spared her
the ungrateful suggestion, so frequent in
the mouths of foreigners, that, as all her


6
burthers had been incurred, and all her
energies put forth on the narrow principle
of trading speculation, they entitled her to
no indemnity, and justified those they had
finally rescued from thraldom in the adop-
tion of an exclusive system, modelled on
the plan of her own, and levelled expressly
at her humiliation.
But the moment has unhappily passed
unheeded, when the negociators of Britain
could have urged these points with almost
irresistible force: and ages may roll on be-
fore a similar opportunity may present
itself to the hopes of mankind. The mor-
row of victory has been consumed in a
sordid scramble for its spoils, with a total
disregard to the wishes, the habits, and the
interests of the millions transferred from
hand to hand in this unhallowed traffic of
domination. As might have been foreseen,
the burst of exultation, which the change
had at first excited, has long since sub-
sided : it has given way to general and deep
discontent, the expression or suspicion of
which has become so alarming to the whole-
sale dealers and brokers in sovereignty, as
to have left them little inclination to study


7
any thing beyond the bare conservation of
their ill-gotten power, and the permanence
of the monarchical system. Instead i
making the extension of inter-national com-
merce the object of their debates, they
seem to be laboring to confine it within
yet more narrow limits... Liberal maxims
of trade have become suspected, as akin
to liberal maxims of government. To
check their diffusion, to prevent their ex-
pression, to counteract their effect, every
device is put into practice. The operations
of the press are systematically obstructed,
unless where it acts as the ally of authority.
The activity of inter-national intercourse,
the free agency of individuals, are repress-
ed and violated. Prejudices are industri-
ously revived; and calumny is let loose in
all its virulence, to scatter the seeds of
mistrust and discord. No means are neg-
lected to weaken and distract, mislead and
falsify public opinion, which they are un-
willing to conciliate, and afraid to encoun-
ter, because they are conscious of deserv-
ing its hostility.
It is not difficult to foresee the result of
these mischievous and ill-timed measures,


8
or to anticipate, at no very distant day
perhaps, the violent reaction of an elastic
principle, too powerful to be contained by
such means, and the probable destruction
of those who have ventured
upon
their
ap-
plication. For the present, however, they
seem to have obtained an ephemeral suc-
cess. At all events, they have the practical
effect of prolonging, while they last, the in-
sulation, in matters of commerce, of those
nations that come within their operation ;
and of protracting the ruinous duration of
a system, founded upon jealousy, exclusion,
and monopoly; a system of retaliation, at
the expense of self-denial, which aims at a
state of independence, as unnatural to na-
tions collectively as it is to man in every
condition of his being; and perpetuates,
if it does not engender, misery and priva-
tion
To such insulation most of the continen-
tal nations seem unhappily doomed for
some time longer. Prejudice, and the ig-
norance of their true interest may, possi-
bly, reconcile them to its continuance; and
it is most certain, that, while one nation
shall persist in upholding it, another will


9
as it
find, or fancy, a necessity for doing the
like; for each will stand to its neighbour,
were, in the relation of a commercial
antagonist. Fortunately for this country,
even supposing the exclusive system to be
in full vigor throughout the rest of Europe,
or of the world, and that she were thereby
compelled to the most selfish regard of her
own particular interests, she is nevertheless
invited by the strongest motives, even of
mere self-aggrandizement, to the immediate
adoption of the opposite policy. If it be
true, that her rank amongst nations de-
pends upon her maritime superiority, a po-
sition which her friends and her enemies
seem perfectly agreed upon; it is no less
true, that maritime commerce is the basis
of that superiority. To animate that com-
merce, therefore; to multiply the objects of
traffic, and the occasions of transport; to
invite its extension by every possible faci-
lity ; to excite new wants on either side,
and to anticipate their gratification; to
give to the commercial navigation of Bri-
tain such advantages of freedom as shall
secure to it the preference in the carrying
trade, are measures of the most obvious


10
benefit, whether other nations shall act upon
the exclusive system or not. To her, in
deed, the most desirable thing in the world
must be, that freedom of commercial inter-
course should be universal. For she,
being possessed of the largest share of ca-
pital, industry, and knowledge, would na
turally, in such a state of affairs, engross
the largest share of the general commerce,
of the supply of the market with manu
factured products, and of the business of
inter-national transport and navigation.
This is at the same time her true interest,
and the true interest of all other nations.
But, if the ignorance or jealousy of others
prevents her enjoying this to the full ex-
tent, what is there to preclude her from the
benefit of such an approximation at least
to this point of desire, as it rests with her-
self to attain? The removal of internal
impediments to commerce; the entire and
reciprocal freedom of navigation through-
dut all the parts of her own extended em-
pire, spread out as it is into every quarter
of the globe ; the free mutual interchange
of their respective products; and the most
liberal admission of the products of foreign


11
nations to her home and colonial consump-
tion, are all within her reach; she may at any
time make them her own by her own will
and act. Perhaps those foreign states, that
have adopted exclusion from her example,
may learn to amend their institutions by
her example also ; and it is to be hoped,
for her sake and theirs, that they may. At
any rate, until they do, there is no reason
why Britain should refuse to her own com-
merce so vast an advantage, as such a
change in her commercial policy would
give it, over her less liberal and less wise
competitors.
The necessity and expedience of such a
change, indeed, are now pretty well under-
stood; and the errors and prejudices of
ages are fast yielding to the momentum of
enlightened public opinion. The long pro-
mised equality and freedom of trade be-
tween Ireland and the rest of the United
Kingdom is at length about to be realized.
The rigor of the navigation act, that stalk-
ing-horse of the commercial system, that
imaginary bulwark of our naval power, has
been relaxed in many particulars ; nay, the
soundness of its principle has been called


12
into question, and almost abandoned in ar-
gument. The direct communication of the
British colonies in America and the West
Indies with foreign markets and with one
another, has been legalized*. The trade
from port to port within the limits of the
East-India Company's charter, and that
between those ports and the foreign mar-
kets of Europe and America, have been
thrown open to British vesselst. The pri-
vileges of the South Sea Company have
sunk into total oblivion. The East-India
monopoly has been in a great measure
broken down ; and that of the China trade,
though left for the present in the hands
of a chartered company, seems tottering
under the well-directed attacks of its ad-
versaries, and will hardly endure for the
full period of the legitimate existence as-
signed to it. All these are victories gained
by the persevering efforts of reason, and
afford the strongest evidence of a gradual
approach to that sound and wholesome po-
licy, which admits of no restriction upon
production or consumption that can by any
* 3 Geò. IV, C, 44.
t 1 & 2 Geo. IV, c. 65.


13
means be dispensed with, and leaves the
wants of mankind to seek their own sup-
ply at the smallest expense of difficulty,
and their industry to the operation of the
best and only natural stimulus—the desire
of gratification.
Of all these acquisitions, beyond ques-
tion the most important, whether we esti-
mate by the effect already produced, or
by the expectation of future results, is the
destruction of the East-India monopoly,
and the opening of the markets of the im-
mense area lately comprised within its li-
mits to the competition of British capital
and commercial enterprise. Yet none was
more strenuously resisted both by argu-
ment and by influence. It was confidently
predicted by the advocates of exclusion*,
• that the projected change, while it en-
dangered the permanence of British do."
minion in the East, would be productive
of little or no national benefit; that our
manufactures would find no vent amongst
* Vide “ Minutes of the Court of Directors of the 4th of
February, 1801, containing the resolutions of the Special Com-
mittee adopted by the Court." Published in 8vo., together
with several other documents illustrative of the controversy
of that day, by Black and Co., 1809. Resol. 14, P.
84


14
a population of manufacturers, whose very
limited wants were amply supplied from
their domestic resources; that the exces-
sive eagerness of speculation would tend
to nothing but the ruin of individuals and
the impoverishment of the nation; that a
great capital would be allured into a dis-
tant and hopeless adventure, disastrous to
the traders, and injurious to the state.
But there were others of more enlarged
and liberal views, even amongst the mer-
cantile classes, who treated these alarming
denunciations as groundless and delusive,
and avowed their expectation of a far dif-
ferent result. « The wants of the natives
of Hindustan, it is said, are but few; and
that, beyond the attainment of mere sub-
sistence, which in this plentiful and genial
climate is easily acquired, the mass of in-
habitants will never labor for the posses-
sion of the luxuries, or even of what we
deem the conveniencies of life." T'he ex-
perience of past ages contradicts this asser-
tion; for the wants of all men increase with
their means; and every new enjoyment is
the parent of a new desire. Ensure, then,
to the Hindu the product of his labour


15
and ingenuity ; teach him to exchange the
surplusfor his own benefit in multiplying
his enjoyments; and I hazard little in
assuming, that his propensities will be
found similar to those of mankind in ge-
neral, notwithstanding the influence of an
enervating climate and tyrannical religion.
What a prospect does this open to the in-
dustry of Great Britain, proyided its pro-,
ducts can be introduced at a reasonable
rate, and paid fon with the productions of
Bengal !” Such were the words of a free
merchant of Calcutta *, thirty years ago,
and the experience of a very few years
has more than verified his expectations ;
proving by the testimony of facts, that the
natives have begun to feel the advantages
of the security afforded by good govern-
ment, and that their means have increased
and engendered new wants,
.. Por, what is the picture presented to us,
by contrasting the commercial position of
Great Britain, in reference to Eastern
Asia, in 1822, with that in 1813. ?: Her ex-
ports to thạt quarter have progressively
* The late Mr. Anthony Lambert, a man of equal merit
and modesty.


16
advanced from less than one to more than
four millions *; and the returns, direct and
indirect, must necessarily have been in-
creased at least in a like ratio. The in-
crease of tonnage employed to effect the
transport must also have been propor-
tionate. This is an increase beyond the
most sanguine calculation. But our sur-
prise and satisfaction will be still greater,
on examining the items that form this
aggregate. For, although some part of
this vast amount is undoubtedly referable
to the enlarged consumption of European
products by European residents in Asia,
which their increasing numbers and the
decreasing invoice prices and rates of
freight and insurance will naturally account
for, the far greater part will be found to
consist of the staple products and manu-
factures of Great Britain, of its metals
woollens, hardware, pottery, glass, &c.,
destined to the consumption of the native
population. These are both more import-
ant and more permanent objects of traffic,
than the supply of a migratory population
1
* Vide Return of Exports for 1822, about to be laid
before Parliament.


17
of Europeans with the precarious articles
of luxury or vanity.
: But the most extraordinary item of all
is the article of manufactured cottons,
which alone has progressively advanced,
between 5th January, 1815, and 5th Ja-
nuary, 1822, in declared value, from
109,000l. to 1,120,000l. ; and, in quantity,
from 818,000 to 19,919,000 yards : that is
to say, more than tenfold in value, and
more than twenty-thrée fold in quantity, in a
period of eight years !!!*
When it is con-
sidered, that, long before and since the
first establishment of the Company upon
its shores, cottons had been the staple ma-
nufacture of India, and the grand item of
its export to the markets of Europe also“;
that the muslins and calicoes of India had,
for centuries, been the principal articles
of commerce with the East, and the ordi-
nary homeward investment of all the Euro-
pean Companies trading thither; and
when, in addition to this, the difference in
the price of labor in Europe and India
respectively, and the distance of transport
* Vide Return to the House of Commons, Appendix A.
C


18
to and fro, are taken into the account,
it is scarcely credible, that, in so short a
period, there should have been effected a
revolution of commerce so important in
its nature and consequences, as, that the
cotton-wool, grown in the East by a frugal,
industrious, and dense population, should
be made to bear the cost and risk of trans-
port from India to Europe ; and, after
undergoing the process of manufacture
there by a population infinitely less frugal,
with every disadvantage of high wages,
high taxation, &c. &c., to bear the cost
and risk of a second transport back again
to India in a wrought state, there to under-
sell the native manufactures, and rapidly
to extinguish them by the competition.
Surely this is the very consummation of
the triumph of machinery. Forty years
ago the expectation of such a revolution
would have been deemed purely idle.
And, even since the commencement of the
present century, when it began to be
openly entertained by the manufacturers,
it was looked upon by the rest of the
world as a wild speculation. Yet eight
years of free trade have realized this asto-
1


19
sure,
nishing change, and opened a field of
pro-
mise, which it would be difficult to mea-
For the present vent for this most
important article, great as it is, sinks to
nothing in the contemplation of the still
further extension, not only possible, but
almost inevitable. As yet, the consump-
tion of British cotton goods in the East
has scarcely exceeded the precincts of
Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay, and the
immediate vicinity of the European esta-
blishments. But the gradual abandonment
of the manufacture by the natives, which
is already in rapid progress, will leave the
one hundred millions of population, spread
over the peninsula of India, almost de-
pendent upon this country for the supply
of this, to them, indispensable article ; and
not the population of India only, but that
of the numberless continental and insular
nations, who were wont to supply them.
selves from India: to say nothing of the
yet unexplored market of China, which is
still within the pale of the Company's
monopoly.
Here, then, has been opened a field of
C 2


20
power of
adventure for the manufactured products
of Britain, ample in possession, and bound-
less in prospect. And, as if more conclu-
sively to establish the triumph of liberal
maxims, it has been won without incurring
any of those dangers to the permanence
of our Indian empire, so confidently pre-
dicted by the advocates of the old system
of exclusion. The territorial
Britain in Asia, instead of being put in
peril by “ widening the channel of inter-
course between her and India,” has only
been further extended and confirmed. The
“ ascendancy of European talent," instead
of being reduced by the larger influx of
Europeans, has been raised to the highest
pitch of elevation ; insomuch, that even
the bugbear of colonization, wherewith the
Company were wont to excite the alarms of
the public, has lost its terrors: nay, so en-
tirely has opinion changed on these matters,
that, instead of being regarded as pregnant
with danger, it is recommended, by many
of the highest authorities, both in England
and in India, as the best and safest policy
for the preservation of our Asiatic domi-


21
nion*. The dependence of India, it is now
admitted, must rest on other and better
foundations, than the exclusion of British
talent and the perpetuation of native de-
gradation. It must be secured by the sense
of personal advantage, inspired by that
protection of life, liberty, and property,
which good government affords ; by the vi-
gilant superintendance of the conduct of
the inferior, and the judicious selection of
the superior, functionaries, to whom the ad-
ministration of so vast and distant a terri-
tory, and of so various a population shall
be confided; by the liberal and careful use
of that enormous patronage, which is to
supply the public service of India in every
department; in fine, by the just and en-
lightened exercise of that power, which,
however acquired, it is now a duty the
conquerors owe alike to themselves and to
the vanquished, to preserve by firmness,
equity, and moderation.
But, to return to our immediate object
of attention, the infinite importance of the
* Colebrooke's opinion is decidedly in favour of coloniza-
tion; and the present Chairman of the Board of Control makes
no scruple to declare himself an advocate for it.


22
commercial intercourse with the East,
which the recent destruction of the old mo-,
nopoly has given us but a taste of as yet,
it behoves both thinking and practical
men, by the utmost vigilance, to prevent
ny check to its growing magnitude, which
ignorance or self-interestedness may at-
tempt to throw in its way. It will there-
fore excite no surprise, that one, who has
devoted a large portion of an active life to
the enforcement of the benefits of a free
trade to the East, and to the advancement
of the just claims of the free merchant and
ship-builder of British India, should ex-
pend some of the small remaining energy
of it, in fixing the attention of Parliament
and the country to some attempts, which
have been lately made or renewed, and to
some remaining obstacles, which threaten
to deprive the nation of great part of the
fruits of a victory fairly achieved and vi.
gorously contested. Although some of
them have already been made familiar to
the public by the late discussions in the
India-House and in Parliament, they are of
sufficient consequence to find a place in
the recapitulation of those difficulties,


28
which the commerce of the East has yet
to contend against.
The first and most obvious is, the suc-
cessful attempt to exclude East-India su-
gar from the home market of Britain, by
the imposition of a higher scale of duty*,
for the avowed purpose of giving a pro-
portionate bounty and preference to that
of West-India growth. This partial mo-
nopoly has been granted for a season, it is
true; but, as its continuance will be con-
tended for on the same principles that have
prevailed to obtain it, now, on the eve of
its expiration, is the time
to expose
their fallacy; and the question is one, not
only of great moment in itself, but of more
danger on account of the precedent it will
establish. If the West-Indian planter can
fairly claim a partial monopoly of the sup-
ply of this one commodity to the con-
sumption of Great Britain, why not that
of coffee, cotton-wool,
cotton-wool, indigo, or any
other equinoctial product? The same ar-
proper to
* By 1 & 2 Geo. IV, c. 106: this part of its provisions will
expire, as to Great Britain, on the 25th March instant; and
as to Ireland, on the 1st of July 1824 : but doubtless a great ef-
fort will be made for the extension of the term.


24
ĝument, employed in resisting the revival
of the principle of monopoly in the in-
stance of sugar, and in proving its inex-
pedience in every point of view, will equally
apply to its extension to any other object
of colonial production, which the embarrass-
ments of the transatlantic colonies may
lead them to press for. Let us take a view
of the bearings of the question in refer-
ence to Britain, to India, and to the West
Indies, respectively.
That the wonderful increase of the ex-
ports to India, and the still further increase
of which they are susceptible, must be
paid for with the productions of India of
some kind or other, or must be altogether
abandoned, is too plain to require expla-
nation. Sugar, silk, cotton-wool, indigo,
are the principal objects which the East can
now offer for returns. The cotton fabrics,
that, until the late revolution of manufac-
ture in that commodity, constituted no less
than two-thirds in value of the return car-
goes to Europe, have been wholly sup-
planted in Europe and in Asia too, by
those of Great Britain. India must hence-
forth look - for its export to the raw pro-


25
ducts of its agriculture, of which sugar is
not only one of the most valuable and
abundant, but is almost the only one of
dead weight that will bear the charges of
transport. Abridge the homeward com-
merce of this most important item, and
the outward will of necessity suffer an
equal diminution, for want of any thing
to be given in return. The present state
of the exchange with India, and the uni-
form complaints of the exporters as to the
difficulty and loss in procuring remittances,
after the sale of their adventures in India,
show the necessity of opening our home
consumption to all the raw products of the
East:-cotton-wool and silk for light stow-
age ;-sugar and saltpetre for dead weight.
The whole of them, when remitted in the
greatest abundance that Britain can di-
rectly or indirectly consume, will fall short
of the value of the great and growing sup-
ply of British commodities, which the
wants of the East are willing to receive
from this country. Virtually to exclude
the article of sugar from the home con-
sumption of Britain, will be tantamount to
the extinction of so much of the export


26
thence to India, as a sugar return could be
made to pay for. This would be a double
sacrifice.
The benefit of procuring the satisfaction
of our wants at the cheapest possible rate
is so obvious, indeed, that, as far as the
British consumer is concerned, it has not
been attempted to point out any ground of
expedience, whereon to justify the compul-
sory purchase of sugar of a dearer, in pre-
ference to that of a cheaper, growth. The
West-Indian party has therefore been
constrained to admit the protecting duty
they have implored and obtained, to be a
downright breach of national economy, and
a violation of the rights and interests of the
British nation at large, and to rest their case
upon the consideration due to their present
calamitous position, and upon the justice
and policy of preserving to the colonists
and the empire, a capital, embarked in the
channel of West Indian cultivation, in the
expectation of retaining the virtual mono-
poly of supply of the home market with
equinoctial products. Let us examine this
position step by step.
In the first place, whatever may be the


27
effect of the protecting duty on the private
interests of the individuals concerned in
West-Indian cultivation, how can it be the
means of saving to the nation, in its col-
lective capacity, the capital unhappily so
embarked ? There can be no saving of
capital, where the loss incurred in the at-
tempt to save exceeds the value of the thing
to be saved. : The whole value of the West
Indies to Great Britian consists in the mar-
ket they offer to her products : and if Bri-
tain abandons an ampler market in the
East, to preserye a smaller one in the West,
does she not thereby sacrifice a greater
value for a less? In the calculations of an
individual, such conduct would be set down
as an imprudent waste, instead of a saving,
of capital.
Inthe next place, what was the monopoly,
upon the expectation of which the capital
embarked in the British West Indies was
induced to take that direction? Assuredly
not the exclusion of East-India sugar by a
protecting duty: such a measure was never
suggested until very lately. During the
late war, and for many previous years, the
West-Indian growers of sugar enjoyed a


28
natural monopoly, in the shorter distance
and less hazardous navigation, in the great-
er cheapness of freight and insurance, and
in the certainty of quicker returns. This
is the actual monopoly, in the confidence of
which his cultivation was undertaken; and
this he enjoys at present, as much as when
he first commenced his operations. It is
secured to him by nature. It was not until
the return of peace, seconded by the im-
provement of nautical science, had reduced
the rate of insurance comparatively to a
mere trifle,—and the sudden discharge into
the channel of commerce of the immense
quantity of tonnage occupied in the busi-
ness of war, had brought freights down to
a rate altogether ruinous to the ship-owner,
whereby the natural monopoly was for a
season rendered in a great measure nuga-
tory,—that a protecting duty was ever claim-
ed or obtained. But these were casual and
transient circumstances, that could never
justify an innovation, contrary to the inte-
rests of all the rest of the community. At
all events, when their operation ceases, as
it must do at no distant period in the ordi-
nary course of events, the natural monopoly


29
will be restored to the full extent; and it is
upon that, and
ироп
that alone, that the calcu-
lations of the West Indian were built, and
ought in reason and justice for ever to have
rested.
But, further, can the capital thus em-
barked be eventually saved, even to the in-
dividuals concerned, by the protecting duty
thus improvidently granted, supposing it to
prove effectual in excluding the East-Indian
product from the home market ?
The French and Spanish islands, Suri-
nam, Brazil, and the newly emancipated
states upon the northern and southern con-
tinents of America, can produce cheaper
than our own islands, and must all come
directly or indirectly into competition with
them. Are all these likewise to remain for
ever excluded from the supply of the home
market, as well as the product of Eastern
Asia ? Are the demands of all these regions
for British products to be cramped, con-
fined, or possibly extinguished, for the pro-
tection of a sinking concern, which probably,
after all, may only be preserved, ere long to
be swallowed up by the animosity of its own
negro population, led on by another Tous-


30
.
saint, and stirred up by the marked dis-
tinction of color, and the never-failing in-
stinct of resistance to oppression? This is
indeed a fearful anticipation, even to those
altogether unconnected with West-Indian
affairs, but it is one that forces itself
upon
the attention of every political reasoner of
ordinary foresight, and should never be
lost sight of in estimating the value of its
West-Indian connections to the British
nation,
Hitherto the question of the protecting
duty has been considered only in reference,
either to the British consumer or to the
West-Indian colonist; but there is a third
party, that is quite as deserving of attention ;
and that is, the native population of India.
By the prodigious revolution of the cotton
manufacture above noticed, that popula-
tion has been deprived of one great source
of occupation and prosperity. The millions
of hands lately engaged, during a large por-
tion of the year, in the simple cotton looms
of the native weavers of India, are thrown
out of employment by the competition of
British industry aided by machinery. In
what way can they henceforth gain a sub-


31
sistence, or bestow their labor, but in the
enlarged production of cotton-wool, silk,
sugar, and other raw commodities? Sugar
is for many reasons one of the most impor-
tant. Are they not only to be shut out of
their ancient channel of manufacture, in
favor of the manufactures of Great Britain,
but at the same time to be deprived of a
market for one of the most valuable objects
of their agriculture, in favor of rival grow-
ers in the West, who must always enjoy the
natural advantages of lower freight and in-
surance, and speedier returns ? Is nothing
due to the Indian vassals of the empire for
the loss of their own great staple of export
and home consumption ? nothing to the
Company for the probable defalcation of
its land revenue, which this extraordinary
change will occasion ? The parental care
of the central administration is equally due
to every portion of its subjects : tenderness
must not be shewn to one at the
expense
of
cruelty to another.
Moreover, it has been attempted to enlist
the national prejudices on the side of the
West-Indian connection, by extolling it as
the best nursery for seamen, and the readi-


32
est resource for the manning of our navy in
case of emergency. This is a ground yet
less tenable than the positions already ex-
amined. Any external commerce,employing
the same quantity of British tonnage, and
the same number of hands in its navigation,
will afford an equal nursery for seamen, and
an equal resource in the hour of peril.
Were the whole of the
sugar
and other colo-
nial produce now imported into Great Bri-
tain derived from the East instead of the
West, the least reflection must convince
any man of common understanding, that,
inasmuch as the voyage
in the former traf,
fic is twice as distant, twice as difficult, and
twice as hazardous as in the latter, superior
seamanship and double the amount of ton-
nage must be employed to effect the same
aggregate import, and the export it would
imply. Wherefore, in regard to the great
national object of encouraging the maritime
pursuits of our population, the intercourse
with the East must be of double the value
of that with the West. Nor is it any objec-
tion, that in the former the crews may con-
sist partly of Lascars; for this will be obvi-
ated by the superiority of Europeans in


33
long and hazardous voyages. Besides, it is
just as easy to exclude the employment of
Indian as of Negro or foreign sailors by a
legislative enactment*: and this is one of
the provisions of the Bill brought forward,
but not pursued, in the course of the last
session of parliament.
Enough has been said to expose the in-
justice and inexpedience of the protecting
duty on sugar, extorted by the representa-
tions of the West Indians in a moment of
extraordinary depression. But it would be
wrong to dismiss the subject, without a word
or two of good-will addressed to the West
Indians themselves. That they are now
laboring under a calamitous pressure,
which must sink them irrecoverably if it
continue much longer, is most certain.
Equally certain is it, that their hour of ca-
lamity has not commenced with the rival-
ry of East-Indian products. That rivalry,
it is true, has been assisted by the concur-
ring depression of the shipping interest, and
* This has already been provided for by the expression
in the registry acts," and navigated according to law;" i.e. by
seven British sailors to every hundred tons, and a British
commander, with a dispensation, however, in respect to the
first requisite when British seamen are not to be had.
D


34
by the ruinous cheapness of freight and in-
surance, which, as above remarked, have
weakened for the time the natural mono-
poly, which the difference of distance must
always give. But this is a temporary cir-
cumstance, equally affecting all the other
dependencies of Britain. The continued
suffering and depression of the planters will
be found to spring from very different causes,
---partly from their own imprudence and
miscalculation, and from the extravagant
charges of colonial government - partly
from the protracted existence of a mono-
poly of their import and export, in favor of
the mother country, even now but partially
abandoned, though inconsistent with reason
and justice ; and to the yet more absurd
monopoly of sugar-refining, for the ad-
vantage of some score or two of Ger-
mans domiciled amongst us--but, above
all, to the exorbitant taxation of their
products when destined to home con-
sumption, to which they have been virtual-
ly.confined: a taxation which no skill, eco-
nomy, or diligence of the growers can long
bear up against. This last is the real bane
of our external commerce, foreign and co-


95
lonial. This it is that limits our home con-
sumption, cramps the activity of an indus-
trious population in every department of
manufacture, and silently and indirectly
promotes the relative advancement of our
competitors.
If the West Indian would ever rise from
his present depression, let him stir himself
without loss of time to get rid of these bur-
thens and impediments : let him reform
the abuses of colonial administration : let
him assert his right to supply himself at the
cheapest hands with every object of his
wants, and to sell in return his own pro-
ducts to the best bidder, wherever he is
to be found; for neither has yet been fully
conceded : let him demand the liberty of
etporting his product in whatever state of
preparation he
may find most advantageous;
and call upon the parent state to reduce
the exorbitant ratio of her taxation upon
her home consumption of his products.
In all these demands he will be cordially
supported by the rival growers of the East,
as well as by the wishes and the interests
of the British consumer, for all are alike
concerned in enforcing them. But let
D 2


36
him not be guilty of the gross inconsist-
ency of exclaiming against a monopoly
that presses hardly upon himself, while he
is at the same moment soliciting in his own
favor another monopoly, equally oppres-
sive to his rivals, as well as destructive of
the benefit of the whole community. At
present, he appears in the odious light of
seeking to impose restrictions upon the
commercial intercourse of a rival, at the
very instant of the relaxation * of those
which had obstructed his own.
So much for the attempt of the West-
Indian party to exclude one of the staple
products of the East from rivalry, by
means of a protecting duty on its introduc-
tion into the home market. The other ob-
struction to the enlargement of our com-
mercial relations with the markets of the
East, which has attracted the attention of
the mercantile classes, is the difficulty op-
posed to the freedom of navigation. This,
though not of equal importance with the
sugar question, is yet well worthy of con-
sideration; not only on account of the
* By Stat. 3 Geo. IV, c. 44, 45.


37
actual injury sustained, but also, inasmuch
as it exhibits another instance of illiberality
and inconsistency, similar to that we have
been just commenting upon. Let us see
how the matter stands, in respect to the
navigation between India and Britain.
This navigation, as the law now stands,
is confined to vessels of not less than 350
tons burthen*, navigated according to law;
i. e. with the requisites prescribed by the
Act of Navigationt, and subsequent sta-
tutes on that head. And these vessels are
obliged to provide themselves with licenses,
specifying the ports and places in the East,
whereat alone they are authorized to
touch, and take in or discharge cargo.
Thus, it is subjected to a twofold restric-
tion: first, in respect to the size and ton-
nage of the vessels ; secondly, in respect
to the range from port to port within the
limits of the Company's charter.
Against this double restriction, the trad-
ing and shipping interests of Great Britain
very justly remonstrate. The former has
been admitted to be 'utterly useless for
* 53 Geo. Ill, c. 155, § 13.
** 12 Car. II, c. 18.


38
any good purpose*, and directly inju-
rious to the owners and builders of all ves-
sels of an inferior class. Both equally sub-
ject the British trader to a limitation, from
which the foreign merchant is exempt.
And the latter disables him from entering
at all into. that circuitous traffic in the
Eastern seas, which may be necessary or
beneficial for the obtaining a full return
cargo for the European market; and al-
together excludes British shipping from
enjoying what is denominated, the coun-
try
trade. These inconveniencies have be-
come so manifest, that the Government
and the Company itself seem, in the course
of the last Session of Parliament, to
have agreed on the propriety of their re-
movalt. And, if an obstacle has occurred
Vide, Correspondence between the Board of Control and
the Court of Directors, laid before Parliament 5th July, 1822
-Parliamentary Papers of 1822, No. 530.
+ Debate on the Navigation Bill, House of Commons,
21 May, 1822. “ Mr. Wallace; ! Our system, an artificial
one, narrowed, and ought to be extended to the utmost verge.
The benefits of unfettered trade ought to be extended to
whatever soil, climate, or quarter of the globe the trader's
destiny attaches him. The object of this Bill to avow
this end, or at all events to mark the disposition of Great
Britain to effect it.'” – Vide, the Act 3 Geo. IV, cap. 43.


39
to retard this desirable measure, it has
been interposed, partly by the refusal to
abandon the protecting duty on East-India
sugar, and partly by the blind selfishness
of the shipping interest of Great Britain.
Will it be believed, that, at the same time
that the ship-owners and builders of Great
Britain were pressing upon the Ministry
and the Legislature a measure, designed
to give themselves the free range of the
Indian seas, and the free participation in
the carrying, or country, trade of those
seas, with the ship-owners of British India,
they were actually laboring to perpetuate
the total exclusion of these latter from the
navigation with the rest of the globe, and
to withhold from them the advantages of
British registry, common to all other co-
lonies and dependencies of the empire,
and expressly secured to them by the
terms of the Navigation Act ? Nay, such
a pretension is boldly avowed: it has been
sanctioned by an Act of the legislature
passed in 1814*, confining the privileges
of registry to a certain class of India-built
* 55 Geo. III, c. 116, $ 4.


40
ships therein specified, and excluding in-
discriminately all those of after-construc-
tion : and ministers are pledged to sup-
port it*.
The right of India-built shipping to Bri-
tish registry is not a new question : it was
fully discussed as long ago as 1785, when
the late Lord Melville, then Mr. Dundas,
took a prominent part in the affairs of
India. It was then established by lawt,
and admitted as coming within the express
terms of the celebrated Navigation Act I.
On the faith of this decision, British sub-
jects settled at Calcutta, Bombay, and
elsewhere, have since expended large ca-
pitals in the construction of docks and
building of vessels there, for the purposes
of trade between India and Europe. The
vessels built there, which had presented
themselves for registry before the general
* Vide, Correspondence referred to supra, p. 38 in not.
+ 26 Geo. III, c. 60.
| 12 Car. II, c. 18, § 7, clearly defines what is to be un-
derstood by English shipping, i.e. “ built in England, Ireland,
Wales, Guernsey or Jersey, Berwick-upon-Tweed, or any
of the lands, islands, dominions, or territories of his majesty,
in Africa, Asia, or America, belonging to or in his posses-
sion.”


41
opening of the trade in 1813, had met with
no serious opposition ; and those still in
existence are now actually navigating with
British registers *. Others would no doubt
have presented themselves, but for the
provision of the act of 1814t, which re-
stricted the granting of registry for trade
westward of the Cape of Good Hope to
those already built, and the navigation
westward of the Cape of Good Hope to
such of these latter as were of the burthen
of three hundred and fifty tons and up-
wards.
It is worthy of remark, that this is not
an old monopoly which it is attempted to
continue and uphold, but a modern inno-
vation. The attempt to introduce it at
the former period, when it was so warmly
contested, failed of success; but now,
that
most of its old opponents have quitted the
field, and their arguments are almost for-
gotten, it has been covertly renewed, with,
it is to be hoped, a merely temporary suc-
It may be well to examine briefly
for whose benefit it is intended, and upon
cess.
* Vide a return of their names and tonnage, Appendix B.
† 55 Geo. III, c. 116, $ 4, referred to supra.


what grounds it is, at this time of day, en-
deavoured to be justified.
& The object of the exclusion is openly
avowed, not only by those most active in
soliciting it, but by the Board of Control
in its recent correspondence laid before
parliament*. It is, to give a monopoly of
ship-building for the East-India trade to
the shipwrights of Great Britain ; and of
the navigation to the owner of British
built vessels.
In respect to the grounds of its justifi-
cation, it may be useful to revert to the ar-
gumėnts employed in 1795, and industri-
ously revived in 1814, for the purpose of
reconciling the public to the Bill then
brought forward. It was urged, on the
score of policy, that it was most dangerous
to permit the growth of a rivalry in British
India to interfere with the prosperity of the
ship-builders of Great Britain, on whom
alone, she can safely rely for the mainte-
nance of her marine. Is it not somewhat
singular, that this objection should not
have occurred to the framers or admirers
* Referred to supra, p. 38 in not.


4S
of the Navigation Act, or have been raised
against the ship-building of the other co-
lonies or dependencies of the empire, es-
pecially those of North America, now in=
corporated into the United States, and
those still remaining to us in that quarter
of the globe ? What complaints have
ever been made against the registry, the
employment, or even the sale to foreigners,
of vessels built at Bermuda, at Halifax, oi
in the river St. Lawrence? What national
danger was ever apprehended from the
construction of ships at New York, or any
other of the ports of our North American
colonies now separated from the mother
country ? On the contrary, it was wisely
declared, that the diffusion of skill and ca-
pital in this important branch of mecha-
nism over every part of the empire, contri-
buted to the security of its maritime Pow-
er; that the resources of one part might
supply the casual deficiencies of the rest.
Besides, the mere fabric is, after all, but a
secondary consideration. It is in the stout
hearts and skilful hands of a seafaring po-
pulation that maritime strength consists ;
and not in the ability of the national ship-
wrights, or excellence of the materials they


44
have to work upon; although these are
certainly most important objects. Where
those hearts and hands exist, it is the inte
rest of the nation, fortunate enough to pos.
sess them, to obtain the materiel of its
navy at the cheapest possible rate for which
it can be had from any part of its own do-
minions, or even perhaps from foreigners.
And this point of view is most important
to the question. For experience has un-
happily shown, that the ships and sailors of
North America may be formidable foes as
well as able auxiliaries. But from British
India no such reverse can be apprehended.
Even supposing that India too should
throw off the yoke of centuries, and re-
tain the art of ship-building after her de-
fection, to work up the excellent timber
she possesses for the construction of a ma-
rine ; is there any one so wild as to antici-
pate danger to our naval supremacy, from
the enfeebled native sailors of our Eastern
territories, who are most reluctantly entrust-
ed with the management of vessels of traffic?
It would be the extreme of ignorance to
imagine, that the admission of India-built
shipping to participate on equal terms with
that of British construction in the general


45
commerce of the world, could ever deprive
the shipwrights of Great Britain of em-
ployment. It is well known, to all who
have ever inquired into the subject, that
the expenses of building in the dock-yards
of India are so high, that, notwithstanding
the durability of teak as a material, it was
with the greatest difficulty they could
maintain any thing like a competition,
even in time of war, when the rates of
building in Great Britain were swelled to
the highest pitch, by the enormous demands
of the war in the naval branch of expen-
diture. How, then, can such a competi-
tion be dreaded, with peace prices both of
labor and of materials in Europe, when
those of India have suffered no corre-
sponding diminution?
The ship-builders seem aware of the
weakness of their pretensions, by the anxi-
ety with which they have exerted them-
selves to enlist on their side the prejudices
and self-interest of the landholders, and to
hold out to them the hollow bait of a
monopoly of the growth of timber for the
purposes of naval architecture. But, in
the first place, the landholders may be


46
quite at their ease on this head, as far as
India is concerned. Oak timber, under
any circumstances, will, for many years to
come, be preferred to teak as a cheaper
material for the coasting and European
trade, for the commerce of America, and
for the navigation of the Eastern seas by
Europeans. And, if they had not this as-
surance, still it requires little experience
in matters of domestic policy to perceive,
that the landholder of Great Britain is far
more deeply interested in the general in-
erease and prosperity of the national com-
merce with her own colonies and dependen-
cies, and with other nations, than in the
inconsiderable advance in the price of his
oak timber, which the total exclusion of
teak, whether wrought or unwrought, might
possibly occasion. The nation, which can
navigate cheaper than others, will be sure
to engross the carrying trade, and with it
the commerce it circulates; and it will be
strange if maritime power does not follow
in their train.
These arguments are, however, so flimsy,
that it is scarcely necessary to dwell upon
them longer. Indeed, so little weight do


they seem to have carried with the public
authorities, that the Board of Control, in its
late correspondence* with the Court of
Directors, in which it arows the intention
of ministers to continue the exclusion of
India-built shipping in despite of the strong
remonstrance of the Company, has not
deigned to notice any one of them.; but
has placed its defence on the single and
intelligible ground of the “ state of dea
pression under which the ship-owners
now labor.” This is at the least candid
and manly. Let us look a little into the
validity of this solitary plea.
· The ship-owners are in a state of de:
pression. True: of most ruinous des
pression. How came they so ? Was it
by the influx of the score or two of In-
dia-built vessels † that had found their
way to European ports, and been admit-
ted to registry previously to 1814, when
their future admission was interdicted ?
Assuredly not. Their depression was à
natural consequence of the transition
from war to peace; of the cessation of
* Referred to supra, passint.
+ For a list of their names and tonnage, vide Appendix B,
infra.


48
the demand for the transport service; of
the immense amount of tonnage suddenly
released from that service, and returned
into the general fund of tonnage appli-
cable to the purposes of commerce. And
if the ship-owner suffered, the ship-
builder could not do otherwise than
suffer. His business will be at a stand,
until the glut of tonnage shall have gra-
dually found a vent in the enlarged opera-
tions of commerce, or have been consumed
by the ordinary course of wear and tear.
Till that vent be found, vessels of large
burthen will be hardly worth repair. But
it cannot now be far off; the elements are
fast executing their work : and, whether it
be near or distant, the temporary depres-
sion can afford no reasonable pretext for
an act of barefaced injustice to another
class of ship-owners, at least as much de-
pressed as themselves.
The ship-owners
and ship-builders of British India, all of
them subjects, most of them natives of
Britain,--are not they also depressed by
the operation of the same causes ? Their
ships had most of them been built during
the continuance of the Company's mono-


49
poly, when the Eastern seas were shut
against the British ship-owner, except
through the medium of the Company's ser-
vice. The country trade was then their mo-
nopoly. That monopoly disappeared with
the qualified renewal of the Company's
charter in 1813, which let in the compe-
tition of British-built tonnage on a much
more liberal footing than before. Peace
crowded their harbours too with a great sur-
plus of tonnage, seeking in vain for employ-
ment; they too were depressed, ruinously
depressed. Where is the justice or policy
of relieving one class of sufferers by in-
creasing the pressure on the other ? What
would the ship-owners of Britain say to a
demand by those of India for relief, by
reviving the old exclusion of British ves-
sels from the navigation of the Eastern
seas, except in the employ of the Com-
pany?
The attempt, in favor of the British
ship-owner and ship-builder, to exclude the
teak timber and teak ships of India from
a free participation with those of
every
other external possession of the British
E


50
crown, is but a part of the same narrow
system, which suggested the exclusion of
its sugar by a protecting duty in favor of
the West-Indian sugar planter. Both are
urged in the same spirit ; both are in-
stances of the pertinacity, with which the
several classes of active life pursue each
its partial and immediate benefit, to the
prejudice of all the rest of the community.
And mark the object and result of these
and similar measures, India is to be the
vent for the home manufactures of Bri-
tain; to take off her woollens, her hard-
ware,
her pottery, her glass, the innumer-
able products raised by her skill and in-
dustry to meet or excite wants of every
kind. Even her cottons are to supplant
the labors of Indian looms, and to extin-
guish the occupation, that furnished with
subsistence millions of the natives of our
Asiatic provinces. Yet the products of
India are to be excluded with the most in-
vidious jealousy from the home market of
Britain; her sugars by iniquitous protects
ing duties from British consumption ; her
timber from British dock-yards ; her ships
(and ships too are products) from British


51
registry and rights of navigation. At this
rate, how is the intercourse to continue ?
Where the returns for an increasing ex-
port? What is to become of the industry
of British India ? And how is that general
contentment of its population to be secured,
on which depends the constancy of its al-
legiance?
It is time that Great Britain should be.
gin to act systematically upon a maxim
now admitted by all parties; viz. that
there neither is nor can be any consider-
able external vent for the products of na-
tional industry, without the acceptance of
external products in exchange; in other
words, without the home consumption of
foreign commodities : and that their exclu-
sion, whether openly attempted by down-
right prohibition, or covertly effected
by the pressure of taxation, tends but
to the destitution of that very industry
it professes to protect and promote.
Perseverance in her present commercial
policy must impair the prosperity, at
once of the mother country and of its co-
lonies and dependencies : yet the latter
will not all suffer in equal degree. To her


52
transatlantic possessions it threatens total
destruction : loss of income to the pro-
prietor, of principal and interest to the
mortgagee; bankruptcy to the trader and
consignee ; and the extinction of an exten-
sive branch of commerce and source of
revenue to the nation at large. The con-
tinent of India, though it has the most to
complain of, has the least to apprehend:
its injuries cannot extend beyond the pri-
vation of a lucrative intercourse, it has
only now begun to enjoy or appreciate.
Her population will only be thrown back
upon its own resources,-compelled still to
vegetate in ignorance upon the bare neces-
saries of life, to which it has been hereto-
fore confined. A check will be given to
all further growth of new desires, the gra-
tification of which could not have been
effected without infinite mutual advantage.
Yet what is there to prevent the gradual,
but early, adoption of a more liberal and
enlightened policy, for the common good
alike of the colonies and of the parent state?
Ignorance and prejudice no longer afford
a pretext for the obstinate adherence to a
system, which all exclaim against, and all


53
feel to be ruinous. The British consumer
has a right to some relief from a scale of
duties upon import*, which directly
abridges his enjoyments, and indirectly
paralyzes the national industry, without
an equivalent increase of the national re-
venue. He claims, that the barriers of ex-
clusion and exclusive taxation shall be le-
velled, or at least expanded. The West-
Indians claim, and have already in part
obtained t, a direct intercourse with the
markets of other nations, which, if earlier
admitted, might have alleviated some of
their present difficulties, but which now
can scarcely do more than enable them
to supply the wants of their cultiva-
tion at a somewhat cheaper rate. The
East Indians assert the right to the admis-
sion of their products in the markets of the
* Muscovado sugar, by the last printed average for Oc-
tober 1822, appears to have been sold per cwt. as follows :-
East India.
West India.
In bond............ £.1 8 0
£ 1 11 01
Duty
1 17 0
| 7 0
Price to the whole-
sale buyer ....... 3 5 0
2 18 02
On clayed, of either growth, an additional duty of 53. is
charged.
† By stat. 3 Geo. IV, c. 44, 45, referred to supra, p. 36, 38.


54
mother-country, upon equal terms with
other colonial growers, and of their ships
to all the advantages of British registry.
All these claims are equally founded in jus-
tice and expedience, though, in point of
extent and importance, some are more
entitled to consideration than others. For,
what advantage can the insular possessions
of Britain in the West, with their limited ter-
ritory and population, present to British en-
terprise and capital, at all equivalent to the
direct supply of the growing wants of the
hundred millions on the continent of India,
already within the sphere of British domi-
nion, and the indirect supply of perhaps
as many more, spread far and wide from
the shores of the Red Sea to the extremes
of the Eastern Archipelago, and of the re-
dundant population of the Celestial Empire ?
Here is, indeed, a market for British ma-
nufactures, a vent for its surplus product,
in comparison with which the expected
demands of emancipated Spanish America,
even if realized to the full extent, and su-
peradded to West-Indian consumption,
must, for ages to come, shrink into insig-
nificance.


55
But, let it not be forgotten, that com-
mercial intercourse can only be maintained
upon the principle of reciprocity, even be-
tween a parent state and its own external
dependencies. Receive the products of
India in return, else she cannot pay for
your manufacturés : admit her teak timber
into your dock-yards, like the fir timber
of Canada, her ships to registry and free
navigation, and her sugar, cotton, and
coffee on equal terms with those of your
West-Indian Islands, and the demand of
Asia for your products will increase beyond
your most sanguine hopes. Close your
ports against her shipping, your arsenals
against her timber, your markets against
the products of her agriculture ; and you
compel the millions of your Eastern sub-
jects to forego the satisfaction of their
rising desires, by stifling the ability to gra-
tify them.
These truths need only to be re-stated
and kept continually alive in the attention
of the public, to frustrate the exertions of
those amongst us, who have a personal in-
terest in the continuance of monopoly and
exclusion. The ship-builders of the


56
causes.
Thames have no stronger claim to com-
miseration than those of the Hooghly; the
sugar-planters of Jamaica, than the cotton-
weavers of Bengal or the Carnatic. The
change of system, like the change of
fashion, cannot be effected without indi-
vidual loss : but those, who speculate upon
the permanence of error and injustice,
build upon a foundation of sand, and
ought not to be amazed, if the fabric of
their folly gives way, sooner or later, to
the steady operation of truth and natural
Transition from a complex, uu-
just, and artificial state, to one more simple,
just, and natural, will, doubtless, involve
the ruin of whole classes of respectable
individuals. But such is the inevitable
result of the stern march of public events ;
of the general improvement, which the
last century has produced in civilization,
art, and science, and, we must hope too,
in true religion and morality. The consi-
deration of private loss, even if it were not
absorbed in the certainty of public gain,
would yield to the conviction, that error,
when discerned, can never be a permanent
guide of human conduct, and that loss, at


57
one time or other, must be inevitable,
though it may perhaps be deferred for
a season.
These impediments to the extension of
intercourse between India and Britain, are
equally important in practice and in princi-
ple. That they are so is pretty evident, from
the anxiety evinced, on the one hand, by the
trading and manufacturing classes to rid
themselves of them, and, on the other, by
those who derive a personal advantage from
them, to secure their continuance. The
stand made by the Court of Directors in
the first instance, and the Court of Proprie-
tors in their support, to resist any extension
of the freedom of navigation and commerce
within the limits of the Company's charter,
although such extension is admitted on all
hands to be most desirable, unless on the
condition of the removal of these impedi-
ments, however paradoxical it may be in
principle, will yet be entitled to praise, if
it should have the effect of extorting the
concessions demanded. Retaliation, indeed,
has no other legitimate object than this, of
compelling a wrong-headed antagonist to
liberal conduct, and enforcing reciprocity


58
by the sense of mutual privation. This
was the avowed object of the United States
of America, in their recent measures of
retaliation towards the trade of France
and England; and with both it has been
successfully pursued*. It is to be hoped,
that, in a matter of domestic policy, Eng-
land will not disdain to learn experience
from a kindred, though now a rival nation:
and that the enlightened president of the
Board of Control, instead of yielding to the
resistance of the Company, for the sake of
preserving an undue advantage to the West-
India planter, and to the British ship-owner
and builder, at the expense of the nation
at large, will see the wisdom and justice of
acceding the only points in difference,
and thus render his proposed Bill more
complete and effectual.
There is yet another topic, which cannot
be left altogether unnoticed, while the sub-
sisting difficulties in the way of a more en-
* Vide, Convention of Commerce, ratified 3d July, 1815,
between England and the United States of America, granting
“ free liberty to the subjects to come with their ships and car-
goes to all places to which other foreigners are permitted to
come, to hire and occupy houses and warehouses, and reside
in any parts of the said territories respectively.”


59
larged traffic with the untried markets of
the East are under review. It is one of
sufficient consequence to have attracted a
great deal more of the public attention
than seems to have been given to it. Yet
it cannot be approached without consider-
able diffidence: and that is, the continuance
of the trade carried on by the Company.
To those at all acquainted with the details
of commerce it will be evident, that nothing
can be more injurious to the private trader,
who hazards his own talent, capital, and
credit upon the fair calculation of the de-
mand abroad and at home for the objects
of his traffic, than to have to sustain a com-
petition, not with individual talent, capital,
and credit, animated by the same motives,
and acting upon the same principles as him-
self; but with a great corporate body, pos-
sessing unlimited command of capital and
credit, sure of the preference of the market,
and able at any time, by its own operations,
to vary the ratio of supply and demand
without control, to render nugatory the
calculations of individuals, and to make
the expectation of profit or loss a mere
gambling adventure. This must in all cases


60
prove a very serious impediment to private
commerce; and it is a mischief insepar-
able from the existence of great trading
corporations in a commercial nation. The
mischief is felt most severely, when great
abundance of capital and activity of trade
have reduced profits to the lowesť rate;
which is precisely the case in Great Britain
at the present period.
But the case in question presents this
mischief in the form the most monstrous,
that it could by possibility assume.
For
here the private trader has to compete, not
with a corporate body, like the Philippine
company of Spain, operating upon a large
joint-stock capital, yet confined to the pur-
poses of commerce, and obliged to look to
commerce (monopoly commerce it is true)
for the replenishment and maintenance of
that capital, and for the dividends it shall
make to the shareholders ; but with a body,
possessed of the sovereignty and public re-
venue of an area larger than most kingdoms
of Europe, and covered with a population
of fifty millions; which can supply the
capital of its commerce from the receipts
of a national exchequer, and indemnify it-


61
self for the losses of its own corporate trade,
by the duties on trade carried on by its
private competitors* In the one instance,
there is some little chance of prudence and
foresight in the commercial transactions of
the company. However cumbrous its ope-
rations and profuse its system of manage-
ment; however liable to be cheated by its
agents, and every way inferior in frugality,
energy, and sagacity to the individual
trader, still the end and object it has in
view must be the same, though the means
* The power of the Company to impose new or additional
duties in India, upon import and export, is qualified by the
last Act for renewal of its charter (53 Geo. III, c. 155, s. 25);
and, it is but justice to admit, that it has always been very
sparingly exercised. Goods of British manufacture are sub-
jected to a duty of 24 per cent. only; and woollens, metals,
canvas, and marine stores are admitted duty free. Foreign
products pay 5, and wines and spirits 10 per cent., if im-
ported in British, and double duty if imported in foreign
bottoms. But, however moderate the exercise of this power,
the objection on principle is equally strong. The import
effected by the sovereign pays the duty to the sovereign : in
other words, pays no duty at all. Supposing the gross price
to the Indian consumer, inclusive of duty, to reimburse to
the private importer the prime cost and charges only, without
any profit to himself, he can have no inducement to continue
his investments, But the import of the sovereign company
will still have a motive; inasmuch as, although it can make
no profit as merchant, it will gain the whole amount of the
duty as sovereign. Herein is the inequality.


62
of arriving at it be ever so ill chosen or ill
employed. In the other, even this inad-
equate security for good management va-
nishes : improvidence carries with it no self-
punishment, no self-adjusting check, no
germ of repentance. The trade is prose-
cuted as an engine of patronage, not as a
means of profit; and its operations pervert-
ed, ignorantly perhaps, or it may be in-
tentionally, to injure and counteract those
of the private trader, and to deter him from
so unequal a competition. Thus, individuals
are ruined or driven out of the field, and
the company, as merchants, are not benefit-
ed: while the interests of the subjects of their
sovereignty are wantonly sacrificed. The
commerce of the trading sovereign is an
item of annual expenditure, and not of
income, like the national manufacturing
establishments of tapestry and porcelain
maintained by France; and a part of that
revenue, which is never justly levied but
for the purposes of good government, is
perverted to the manifest injury and loss of
the subject community.
That this is no fanciful picture, must be
well known to every merchant, who has


63
meddled with the East-India trade since it
was thrown open to individuals. Did one
house of business make a handsome profit
upon a home-ward adventure of silk ? In
steps the Company, greedy to share the
advantage; forestalls all the silk in the
market; raises its price, and is probably
a loser by the concern. Has another been
fortunate in an out-ward investment of iron?
The Company forthwith gluts the market
with iron, to its own loss, and to the ruin
of the private exporter, if he have been so
unlucky as to repeat his dealing. Mean-
while, the speculator lies by with his capital
in hand, and possibly in the end picks up
a profit out of the folly of the one side
and the unmerited misfortune of the other.
Thus, it is the obvious tendency of the
system to give to this third party, who is
the least deserving, the whole of what poor
private advantage can be saved out of the
wreck of the general interests, that such a
course of policy presents in the result.
It is time that this matter should be fully
and rigorously inquired into; that the
Company should be called upon by Parli-
ament for a complele statement of the


64
profit and loss account of their trade since
1813, exclusive of the China concern.
Should it appear, that even a considerable
profit has accrued to the Company, it will
infallibly be far too little to weigh in the
balance against the manifold evils it must
have occasioned to the private trade. But
it will, doubtless, turn out just the reverse ;
a loss and not a profit will be shown: for
it would be quite out of all reason to sup-
pose the concerns of a great corporate
company, with all its inherent disadvan-
tages, can have been better planned or
better conducted than those of individuals;
and they have confessedly made a loss.
How, then, will it be possible, on any ra-
tional ground, to resist the demand, that
the anomaly of a trade carried on by cor-
porate sovereigns should be abandoned
altogether — when, besides its injury to
private trade, it shall stand forth displayed
to all the world as a losing concern, even
to the conductors themselves?
But it is to be hoped, that the exposure,
and the decision it must necessarily pro-
voke, will be rendered needless by the
Company's voluntary abandonment of


65
what must be found utterly indefensible.
The great plea for the continuance of their
trade has now become obsolete. The dif-
ficulty of making remittances for the sup-
port of the Company's establishment, and
the payment of the interest of its debt in
Europe, was always more imaginary than
real. The increased and increasing amount
of the private trade has removed it al-
together ; and the arrangements of the
Indian governments for the future pay-
ment, in India, of the interest upon their
debts, will dissipate even the shadow of
such a pretext.
If, notwithstanding, the
Company should persist in a traffic, alike
ruinous to themselves, and destructive of
the common benefit of Britain and of In-
dia, their only ostensible motive will be,
the desire to retain the paltry patronage
derived from its prosecution. Is this a
motive they will venture to avow, or to act
upon in the face of the country? Is it
one, that ought for a moment to arrest the
solicitude of the Legislature for the relief
of the distress and stagnation of the na-
tional commerce ?
But the Company has too large interests


66
at stake, to hesitate about so poor a trifle.
With a direct dominion over fifty millions,
and an indirect one over as many more, it
has enough to occupy its attention in the
vigilant control, enough to satisfy its cu-
pidity in the civil, military, and miscella-
neous patronage, which the mere adminis-
tration of such an empire involves. Con-
stitutional jealousy has placed and pre-
served this enormous influence in their
hands ; in them constitutional jealousy will
continue to leave it, so long as the confi-
dence of the nation shall be justified, by
the use that shall be made of this prodi-
gious trust.
Is it for the fiduciary posses-
sors of so prolific and splendid a tutelage
to oppose themselves to the desires, and
to counteract the designs, of those, upon
whose indulgence alone depends the per-
manence of their power and patronage ?
Such a machinery of gover ment stands
in need of more popularity, than even the
most judicious distribution of its envied
patronage can acquire : it can exist only
by retaining the favor of public opinion ;
for it has no parallel in ancient or modern
times, and has been adopted in this in-


67
stance with extreme jealousy, distrust, and
apprehension.
When the family of Medici mounted
from the counter to the throne, it had the
wisdom to sink the qualities of the mer-
chant in the nobler attributes of the prince.
The Company too commenced as a trader,
and has grown into a sovereign: can it not
learn to follow such an example? Or, if
it needs must retain the stamp of its ori-
ginal destiny, can it not be content with
the China monopoly, while that abuse
(for abuse it is beyond all question) shall
be suffered to endure? Though trading
sovereigns have been long since exploded,
sovereign monopolists may obstruct the
general good for a few years yet to come.
But the Company must prepare itself ere
long, to relinquish this last hold of its pri-
mitive institution, and, with the functions
of sovereignty, to assume its virtues and
its dignity.
But these, perhaps, are suggestions, be-
yond the immediate scope and object of
these pages. It is sufficient for our pre-
sent purpose to point out a mischief, which
is every day growing more serious, and to


68
denounce to those, who look to the East
for the amplest extension of British com-
merce, this other great obstacle to its pro-
gress.
Whatever be the course adopted
by the Company, it is fit the public should
know its own interest, and be apprized, if
it be not so already, that, besides the vir-
tual exclusion of the sugars, and the re-
fusal of registry to the shipping, of India,
this additional impediment stands in the
way of the full perception of those bene-
fits, which the markets of the East offer in
unlimited profusion to British industry and
British enterprize.
THE END,


1
APPENDI X.


APPENDIX A.
COTTON GOODS.-RETURN to an Order of the Honourable House of Commons, dated 10th June, 1822;-for
AN ACCOUNT OF MANUFACTURED COTTON GOODS, PRINTED AND PLAIN,
Which have been exported from Great Britain to Ports and Places to the Eastward of the Cape of Good Hope, from
1st January, 1813, to 1st January, 1822 ; signifying the Number of Pieces and Yards, and the Value thereof, and
distinguishing the Quantity and Value of each Year's Export.
$.
S.
d.
S.
le
TOTAL
Cotton Manu- Declared Value of
PRINTED COTTONS.
PLAIN COTTONS.
factures of all Cotton Goods
other sorts.
Exported
to Ports Eastward of
the Cape of Good
Quantity Declared Value. Quantity
Declared Value. Declared Value. Hope.
YEAR ending
YARDS.
£.
d. Yards £. d. £.
£.
d.
5th January, 1814... Records destroyed by Fire at the Custom House.
1815... 604,800 60,100 9 4 213,408 30,817 17 6 18,561 16 6 109,480 3 4
1816... 866,077 72,960 3 10 489,399 57,966 19 5 11,484 2 4 142,411 5 7
1817.. 991,147 72,386 8 9 714,611 70,827 11 3 17,320 3 10 160,534 3 10
1818... 2,848,705 198,330 2 7 2,468,024 195,170 00 29,313 12 9 422,813 15 4
1819... 4,227,665 292,282 1 4 4,614,381 373,633 1 5 34,977 11 6 700,892 14 3
1820... 3,713,601 233,618 12 2 3,414,060 219,399 6 1 8,248 13 3 461,266 11 6
1821... 7,602,245 474,004 7 3 6,724,031 343,124 18 11 33,752 0 6 850,881 6 8
1822... 9,979,866 587,523 11 0 | 9,940,736 508,805 18 9 123,995 15 1 1,120,325 4 10
Inspector General's Office, Custom House,
WILLIAM IRVING,
London, 15th June 1822.
Inspector General of the Imports and Exports of Great Britain.


APPENDIX B.
Medway
Cartier ......
677
An Account of the Number of Ships built in the East Indies,
with their Tonnage, for which Certificates of Registry
have been granted since January, 1795, in the Port of
London, and in the Outports.
Ships' Names.
Tonnage. Ships' Names.
Tonnage.
Sparrow
147
192
Britannia
520 Althea
810
Charlotte
269
Wellesley ...
825
Anna
684 Bellona......
577
Nonsuch
483 Seringapatam
357
Harriett
373
391
Abercromby........ 615 Duke of Bronti......... 170
Warren Hastings ...... 450 Admiral Rainier
886
Royal Charlotte
Porcher
772
Anna
899 Sarah
935
Berwick
426 Juliana
502
Eliza Ann........... 492 Aurora ......
568
Surat Castle............ 1139 Lucy and Maria 753
Carron
1072 Marian ...
350
Lady Shore
482 Hope
562
Cecilia ....
478 Union
748
Bangalore
291 Countess of Sutherland 1509
Gabriel
867 Arran
344
Varuna..
548 Clyde
600
Caledonia ........... 848 Ruby
271
Cornwallis
716 Mangles
574
Minerva
564 Sir William Pulteney 609
Exeter
503 Star
119
Highland Chief
462 Matilda
762
Calcutta
768 Hope
301
Shaw Ardasher
868 Margaret
275
Scaleby Castle ......... 1237 Fortitude
477
Armenia
518
56 Ships, and 33,570 Tons.
935
Cuvera ......
Vide Reports and Papers on India Shipping & Trade. (Black. 1809.)


.
LONDON:
PRINTED BY CHARLES WOOD,
Poppin's Court, Fleet Street.


A
SPEEDY END TO SLAVERY
IN OUR
WEST INDIA COLONIES,
BY
Safe, Effectual, and Equitable Means,
FOR THE
BENEFIT OF ALL PARTIES CONCERNED.
“ Fiat Justitia."
By T. S. WINN,
Formerly Resident in the West Indies :
Author of “ EMANCIPATION ; or, PRACTICAL ADVICE TO BRITISH SLAVE-
HOLDERS ; with Suggestions for the General Improvement of West
India Affairs," to be had at the same Publishers.
LONDON :
Sold by W. PHILLIPS, George Yard, Lombard Street; J. & A.
ARCH, Cornbill; and J. HATCHARD & Son, Piccadilly.
1825.


Printed by J. COWELL, 22, Terrace,
Pimlico.


PREFACE.
In a Pamphlet published in February last
year, entitled “ Emancipation, or Practical Ad-
vice to British Slave-holders ; with Suggestions
for the General Improvement of West India
Affairs,” I chiefly pointed out the necessity and
advantages of an Abolition of Slavery in our
West India Colonies.—The principal object of
the ensuing pages, is to propose a specific plan
for that purpose; and to shew that, under certain
Regulations, it may be effected at once and for
ever, with safety, justice, and benefit to all par-
ties concerned.--And if not done at once, it is
not likely to be done at all, or not until the lapse
of ages.--If so, then ought Slavery to longer
exist in the British dominions ?
1st June, 1825.
N. B.—The former Pamphlet was intended as, and will be found
a necessary introduction and accompaniment to the present Work.


)


A Speedy End to Slavery.
that «
IN a late pamphlet entitled " Emancipation, or Prac-
tical Advice to British Slave-holders," I have stated
Slavery in our West Indies might safely and
beneficially be Abolished at once and for ever, at least
in name and odium, with many of its greatest evils, and
ought to be done.”-I there suggested measures in part
of a plan for that purpose, and undertook to enter more
fully on the subject in a supplementary work.--I here
endeavor to fulfil that engagement.
It is now generally admitted by disinterested persons,
that Slavery in any mode or degree ought not to be toler-
ated within the British dominions longer than it can well
be got rid of—and that such is the nature of the system,
as not to admit of any modification, so as to render it
just or tolerable for permanent continuance, but only
as a preparation for its total Abolition.-It follows, that
the sooner and nearer we can safely bring slaves to the
condition of freemen, and put an end to Slavery
altogether, by the most eligible means for all parties
concerned, this is the great desideratum-with such
view let us consider
First,- What is best to be done respecting the pre-
sent existing race of slaves.
Secondly,-As to their descendants henceforth born,
or now under a certain age.
Thirdly,-Indemnification to Slave-owners.
A


2
|
The Abolitionists, I believe almost universally, have
given up in hopeless despair the present existing race of
slaves, as unfit subjects for general emancipation; and
only aim at ameliorating their condition as slaves.--"Tis
true they wish to allow them to purchase their freedom
in whole or in part, whenever they can obtain enough by
their earnings or otherwise, and chuse so to appropriate
it-but this, though a favorite plan, and not without its
advantages where it can be well effected, yet is it unjust
in principle, and moreover, I believe, will be found
nugatory in general practice.
». That it is unjust in principle will appear, because the
slave (and fairly) denies the right of his task-master to
enslave him at all, and is entitled to his freedom without
fee or reward; having been no party to the bargain of his
Own enslavement, effected against his will and deserts
by force or fraud. Moreover, to compensation for the
time he may have been unjustly deprived of this hiş
natural right, bestowed on him by his Creator, and may
claim the same indemnity for his wife and children.
The Slave-holder may well compound for henceforth
ceasing from such injustice, if the injured party will
allow
w him to escape for the past with impunity. Is it
just, is it a boon, to allow a slave his freedom, which is
his right, on the sole condition that he pay his unjust
detainer the price he values him at as his slave, so as to
render it immaterial to the Slave-holder whether he retain
the man or the money–why he would so dispose of the
slave to any dealer in the market! is the injured party
to have no other redress or advantage ! And even were
the slave to pay for his redemption at an under valuation,
however low, it would in principle be equally admitting
the right of his oppressor to hold him in slavery. As well
might the holder of stolen goods refuse to make restitu,
tion to the rightful owner 'till indemnified by him in full


3
or in part for their worth.-No, no, West India proprie-
tors have no claim, in any mode or degree, on their
slaves for their supposed value as such, whatever they
may have on the Government that has tolerated, and
even encouraged, if not guarranteed their nefarious
system-let them look to that quarter, if they must be
paid for ceasing from oppression! and not meanly as
unjustly further seek to work such compensation out of
the bones and sinews of their poor slaves, whom they
have already so long and deeply injured...Thus is the
scheme unjust in principle.
That it would prove nugatory in general practice
I believe, because comparatively few slaves would be
able, even if disposed, thus to purchase or work out their
freedom--their time and strength being usually so
much employed in their owner's service even if slaves
should be allowed the talked of extra half day, besides
Sundays, for their own use, and are otherwise so limited
in their resources, that in most cases, even if industrious
and prudent, they could not earn more on their own
account than sufficient to provide necessaries for them-
selves and families not furnished by their owners, and
keep their affairs in order, which at present they have
not time or means to do—and female slaves generally
would be still less able to work out or purchase their
freedom-so that husbands thus effecting their own
emancipation would also have to redeem their wives, or
leave them in slavery-even supposing their children
should be rendered free by other means.
Most slaves work for their owner six entire days of
the week, exclusive of Sundays, for the nights of their
labour during the crop season are at least equal to the
Saturday afternoons, or 26 days in the year allowed by
law to the slave for his own use, even if bona fide he
gets them, which is not always the case. And even on
A 2


4
Sundays he works at least indirectly for his task-master
by cultivating his own provision ground to obtain food
indispensably necessary for his subsistence as a slave,
and for his family, not otherwise furnished by his obdu-
rate owner; and is often set to do odd jobs about the
estate on Sundays for the proprietor. Besides all this,
is it expected he should work himself free by extra
labour ?-in most cases it would be found as impossible,
even if allowed the talked of extra half day, as in all
unjust and cruel.
N.B.-Planters in the old colonies say, "they cannot
allow their slaves more leisure than at present, because
of the general exhausted state of their soil."-So then,
they first wear out their land by incessant crops of sugar,
and other improvident management; and then make it
an excuse for further exhaustion of their slaves !-Oh
the mean and merciless rapacity of Slave-holders!
Alas, the poor slave must pay for all deficiences of
his unsparing oppressor!
As for the fine told stories of slaves being able to
amass and actually possessing hundreds of pounds in-
dividually, if any such instances can be produced, they
must be extremely rare, and under very uncommon cir-
cumstances, though perhaps just enough to swear by,
and answer the purpose of the advocates of Slavery,
with their usual sophistry to argue from solitary excep-
tions, instead of general results.--At best most slaves,
if favorably circumstanced, such as living and having
their provision grounds near a market town, or being
mechanics, &c. may be able to acquire small gains,
which if carefully saved and accumulated beyond their
current wants, could seldom amount to more than a few
dollars and many, certainly by far the greater part of
the slave population, have not the means to this extent
in their power.-As for a few head drivers, or other


5
peculiarly favoured slaves, they are merely exceptions
to the general case.
· In the Spanish and Portuguese colonies, instances of
slaves purchasing their own freedom are not uncommon,
but there slaves are allowed much more leisure for
themselves, are worked less, and otherwise better treat-
ed and provided for by their owners than, to our national
disgrace, is the case in the British West Indies-where
slaves generally would not be able to effect it, or not
'till an advanced age, after much overstrained toil and
privation, when their proprietor would probably be glad
to emancipate them gratuitously, in order to get rid of
his own worn out slaves, and then what is to become of
them ?—but whether in early life or late, could slaves
far more generally and easily, than probably would
prove the case, be able to buy off their slavery, ought
the savings of their care and industry at their little
leisure thus to be wrung from them to satisfy the un-
just demand, the mcan and pitiless rapacity of their en-
slaver—and will they not want it themselves, especially
to begin the world with, or provide for old age or infir-
mity—to say nothing of help for their families.
But Slave-holders, crafty, and rapacious to the last,
would fain wind up as they have gone on, and when no
longer allowed to continue their nefarious system, then
as a finishing squeeze to their poor victims, would make
them purchase their own personal carcasses, which they
can no longer enslave, or elsewhere find a market to
dispose of them; besides which, they pretty well know
that few slaves comparatively would be able to buy off
their thraldom, and thus the system in the main would
be prolonged at least during the existing generation
and those few who could redeem themselves, must do it
by giving them an equivalent, that too generally after
the task-master has had the best of their days, then


6
1
would expect tribute from the children, retaining them
'till paid, so perhaps by their descendants and the
Abolitionists are in danger of being duped by such
jockeying mancuvres-plausible as they may appear to
persons without practical knowledge of the matter,
But, say the advocates for this plan, “consider the
habits of order, industry, economy, &c. it would pre-
viously produce in slaves thus buying, or working
out their freedom,"-All this may be accomplished in at
least an equal degree, with many more advantages, on
a much juster principle, and greater certainty of effect,
by other means which in due course I shall here pre-
pose, after the most mature deliberation, and clear con-
viction of their practicability, necessity, and advantage,
beyond any plan that I know of, as far as existing
circumstances will admit, for all necessary purposes.
First,--Let us consider the soundness of the supposed
axiom--that the present race of slaves cannot be
speedily and generally emancipated with safety and
advantage to themselves and the white colonists.
Why were all slaves declared free at once and for
ever? this could not add to their physical power---they
would neither be more strong or more numerous than
before.---Nor could it alter their mental or moral
qualities, except for the better, improving their minds
and manners, which under good government and treat-
ment would render them orderly, useful, and content,
and furnish them with motives for being so.
The samo
power which now keeps them in subjection as an
oppressed and consequently dissatisfied body of slaves,
must surely prove sufficient (and much more likely with
less occasions for its exertion) to render them at least as
orderly and useful as freedmen under the government
and protection of the Laws, their masters also endowed
with all due power for every good and necessary pur-


7
pose, though not for evil, backed by the constituted
authorities, to enforce justice between the parties.- If
emancipated slaves, or others, break any Law, or
authorized Regulation, they must abide the penalty and
punishment provided, besides having other motivés for
good conduct and character. This is found sufficient for
government of the people, whether enlightened or not,
in all well regulated communities. -Our Rulers do not
trust to the wisdom or virtue of those under their sub-
jection for keeping them in order, but to the laws, and
power of enforcing obedience.
Nor need slaves declared free by a general Act be let
loose on the community, but remain attached to the
estate or establishment to which they belong at the time
of their emancipation, at least for a certain period, and
bound to serve their late owners as indentured servants
for fair remuneration. This has been the actual state
of society in Hayti, not only during the last twenty
years since its independence under a black government,
but also for several years before in that Island, then St.
Domingo, and the other slave settlements during the
sovereignty of France, and possession of the white
colonists.----And certainly our slaves of the present day,
are far more enlightened and civilized than those, then
mostly Africans, of the French colonies more than thirty
years ago, on the declaration of their general freedom by
the national government, which in 1792 was admitted and
put into practice by the French West India proprietors.
These slaves in the French colonies were at once
emancipated, without education or other preparation,
and remained free for several successive years, obedient
to the laws, attached to the estates, and working for the
masters they formerly belonged to as slaves, and were
as orderly, and useful, as during their previous state of
Slavery.-More especially consider the state of Hayti


to be better instructed and as before observed, the
slaves of the present day are far more knowing than
those of former times—and let it never be lost sight of
that the degree of knowledge and improved intellect our
slaves have already attained, which must continue to
increase, in spite of their masters, renders the attempt
proportionately more dangerous for a few emaciated
Whites to keep near a million of human beings in slavery
and oppression, in such a country and climate as the
West Indies. Let Slave-holders seriously reflect on
the peril to themselves.
The slaves have already attained a degree of know-
ledge and civilization more than compatible with their
condition as slaves, or for the safety of those who keep
them in bondage; this must continue to go on-and re-
quires and will admit of a different plan, especially of
quicker operation, for general Emancipation, &c. than
might have been practicable and necessary for past gene-
rations less enlightened,and chiefly imported from Africa.
Slave-holders have dexterously objected to the plan
of rendering free all children henceforth born of slave
parents “ because,
because," say they, “.
say they, “the parents would be
dissatisfied at not being rendered free as well as their
children," which proprietors will not allow.- This we ad-
mit would probably be the case, and that so far the argu-
ment stands good—but not to the farther extent Slave-
holders artfully mean to use it, namely, as a sufficient
excuse for not liberating either parents or children,
which if once admitted might be always urged, and prove
an effectual bar to general emancipation, until children
can be born without parents—but it does prove more
than intended (often the case with sophistical argument)
namely, the necessity of liberating both parents and
children.
Certainly to tell near a million of existing slaves, “ye


10
are born too soon ever to be free--slaves must ye live,
slaves must ye die”-many of them in early life to look
forward for many years of hopeless Slavery, to end only
in the grave, is indeed enough, especially with their in-
creased knowledge and civilization, to goad them to
desperation.- 'Tis in vain to tell them, “your children
henceforth born may be free”—’tis an aggravation of
their own hard fate to make use of a homely saying,
near is my shirt, but nearer is my skin"-this senti-
ment particularly prevails with uneducated people
and 'tis among the evils of Slavery, to weaken even the
strongest tie in nature, that of parental affection !--Tis
in vain to offer them freedom on the unjust and difficult,
if not impossible terms of buying themselves -- those
comparatively few who might be able; may not chuse so
to appropriate the fruit of their toil-at any rate, it
ought not to be required of them. Then too, are not
the existing race of slaves as much entitled in justice
and humanity to freedom as their unborn children ? nay
even more so, by the unjust sufferings they have already
sustained let this consideration weigh with the Govern-
ment and Nation, whatever effect it may have with
Slave-holders generally.-To liberate all slave children
henceforth born, is certainly a good and equitable plan
as far as it goes—but why not also render full justice to
their more injured parents, as far as possibly compati-
ble with the welfare of the latter, and the public good.
I shall further endeavor to shew that the Right may be
accorded with as much safety and good policy, as jus-
tice and mercy.
. I submit the following propositions as chiefly appli-
cable to the present race of slaves above the age of say
seven years at the time of their general adoption in
practice--a different modification of the plan, which I
shall also point out, will be necessary for their descen-


11
dants afterwards born, or at the time under the afore-
mentioned age.
I.
Let all slaves be declared free and placed under the
government and protection of just and necessary Laws
framed in the first instance by joint commissioners ap-
pointed by the national and colonial governments, and
finally ratified, with power to abrogate, alter or enąct,
retained by the King in counoil or parliament.
II.
Let resident commissioners be appointed, paid, and
removable at pleasure, by the supreme government, as
guardians to maintain the Rights of the negroes and
people of colour in the colonies--such commissioners
not to hold any other office, or engage in any pecuniary
pursuit within the colony.
III.
Let all persons be endowed with sufficient power to
enforce due order and obedience from their servants,
backed by the constituted authorities, to which appeal
may be made by either party.
IV.
Let all slaves of the present race above 7 years of
age when freed by the Act, remain attached for life,
if necessary, to the estate or establishment to which
they belong at the time of their general emancipation,
except in cases hereafter mentioned.
V.
Let all slaves aforesaid freed under the age of 34,
continue to serve their late owner 'till they arrive at
that period, receiving food, cloathing, and other neces-
saries prescribed by Law, without pecuniary wages.
VI.
Let all slaves aforementioned, above the age of 34,
whether freed before or afterwards by passing the Act,


12
continue to serve their late owner, receiving necessary
food, besides provision grounds, cloathing, and, if able
bodied, wages in money.
VII.
All persons to take sufficient care of their sick and
disabled servants, but to be released from paying them
pecuniary wages during their disability-which may be
stopped in certain cases proved of wilful idleness, re-
fractoriness, or other misconduct, by award of the pro-
per authorities.
VIII.
No persons to let out their servants for the use of
others, without consent of their guardians, and certain
other regulations.
IX.
Transfers of servants between a certain age may be
allowed at the option of the master, provided the ser-
vant consents, and his constituted guardians approve,
but not otherwise-of course, members of families must
never be separated against their will, or any transfered
beyond the colony.
X.
Servants above the age of 34 may be allowed, at cer-
tain periods, or notice, to transfer themselves to other
eligible masters willing to receive them, with the con-
sent of their then retaining principal, or approval of
their guardians, and other proper authorities appointed
to arbitrate between master and servant.
XI.
Servants above the age of 34, with good character
and conduot, on satisfactorily shewing to the proper
authorities that they can probably maintain themselves
by their funds or resources, may at certain periods, be
released from their servitude.--If such persons should
afterwards be found in a state of destitution, if able


13
bodied, the constituted authorities may be empowered
to provide and enforce employment on them—if disabled
by age or infirmity, then to be maintained by the parish
or district.
XII.
The constituted authorities may transfer servants,
with assent of their guardians, to other masters, when-
ever their retaining employer cannot properly provide
for them, or for other sufficient causes
and in cases of
wilfulmal-treatment, neglect, or certain other misconduct
by the master, or his agent, may inflict a fine or other
punishment on the principal or offender.
Now let us consider, article by article, the nature
and effects of the foregoing propositions.
I. “Let all slaves be declared free, and placed under
the government and protection of just and necessary
Laws, framed in the first instance by joint commissioners
appointed by the national and colonial governments,
and finally ratified, with power to abrogate, alter or
enact, retained by the King in council or parliament.
That all slaves may be declared at once and for ever
free, with safety and advantage to all parties concerned;
that good policy as well as justice renders the measure
imperiously necessary, I have already endeavored to
shew-and that placing them under the government and
protection of the Law, the constituted authorities, and
fair controul, instead of arbitrary will, of their masters,
must prove sufficient for every just and necessary
purpose--the government of the Law to restrain them
from doing evil, and its protection to shield them from
sustaining injury without redress.- Let a code of laws,
with other regulations, institutions, and provisions, be
formed for the government, protection, instruction,
encouragement, &c. of the black and coloured people of
all classes, suited to existing circumstances. -Respect-


14
ing the present race of Slaves aforesaid, though they
may safely and advantageously be declared at once
and for ever free, it is not expedient or prudent to admit
them at once to all the full rights and privileges of men
and citizens.-Let all necessary restraints be imposed,
which may be relaxed hereafter as they or their
descendants increase in knowledge, property, and civili-
zation.-Let all the restrains even of the slave system be
retained as far as necessary, but no farther, and the
whole sanctioned and administered by fair and legal
authorities.
Thus may the Slave system be at once abolished in
name, odium, and greatest evils, yet all its power, with
other aid, be still retained and exercised on juster
principles, for every good and necessary purpose, though
not for evil. This in practical reality, is not a sudden
or entire but only gradual Reformation, best suited to
existing circumstances--much hereafter will remain to
be done at proper times-though it is at once bringing
our slaves as near to the condition of free subjects, as
may be done with safety and advantage to themselves
and others concerned---and founding the plan on a
proper basis.
But it is most essential that the necessary measures,
both in formation and practice, should not be left to
the will and discretion of the white colonists, at least
in their present state of prejudice and long continued
habits acquired during the existence of Slavery-or this
fatal error alone will render abortive all hopes of ma-
terial Reform--though they ought to have a voice at
least in proposing measures, and their experience,
judgment, and fair interests duly attended to--but as a
salutary balancing power let independent, impartial,
and otherwise competent commissioners be appointed
by the Crown to act for the benefit of all parties con-


15
cerned; and the supreme government exercise its right
and power over its colonies to order and enforce whats
ever may be for the general good, and maintenance of
equal justice among all its subjects without distinction
of colour or condition :-who can doubt this Right, or
shew 'tis infringing on the fair and admitted privileges
of the colonies, for the Mother government to prevent
one class from injuring others of the community, whether
in England or any part of its domonions, equally under
its controul
Our West India Slave-holders have the assurance to
clamour about their sacred rights and liberties, as En-
glishmen and British colonists--and pray what becomes
of the sacred rights and liberties of their slaves, as Men
and British subjects ?“And will the English Govern-
ment continue to allow one part to enslave another of
its own people, and within its own territory? Monstrous!
-and this our Colonists call their sacred rights and
liberties, namely, to enslave their fellow creatures, and
fellow subjects--matchless effrontery! to urge their
own sacred rights and liberties, as the best plea for
violating those of others.
II.“ Let resident commissioners be appointed, paid,
and removable at pleasure, by the supreme government,
as guardians to maintain the rights of the negroes and
people of colour in the colonies such commissioners
not to hold any other office, or engage in any pecuniary
pursuit within the colony."
· The Spanisb and Portuguese national governments,
whatever may be their defects in other respects, have
wisely and mercifully made and enforce many salutary
regulations for the protection and benefit of the black
and coloured people enslaved or free in their colonies,
and also appointed guardians to maintain their rights.
---the practical consequence is, that these classes are


16
far more liberally treated, and Slavery itself rendered
much less grievous, and emancipation much more easily
obtained, than in the British settlements, with all our
boasted justice and humanity-we have left the black
and coloured people entirely to the uncontrouled will
and power of the white colonists—by which the free are
nearly as much oppressed, though differently, as are the
slaves. Such are the general and long continued pre-
judices, assumed superiority, and domineering habits,
and too often otherwise the want of principle and feel-
ing of the white colonists towards the negroes, and
even lighter shades free or enslaved-that it will be as
much necessary to guard the black and coloured people
from oppression even under a system of general eman-
cipation, at least in its early stages, as during the
existence of slavery.
Let all laws, or other regulations and institutions
for their government, protection, and benefit, originate
with, or be sanctioned by the supreme government at
home-but if it stop here, why even the most salutary
ordinations may become mere nullities in practice, if
their execution be left to the uncontroled will and dis-
cretion of the colonial governments and people. It
is this which renders them so tenacious of their arro-
gated right, privilege, or prescription, to legislate, regu-
late, and administer as to all internal affairs of their
colony, at any rate, that they are the best qualified
and most proper parties for the purpose-but if the
Mother government concede these points either as of
right, or by courtesy, or supposed expediency, or be
content with a mere veto to any of their proposed mea-
sures, or retaining and exercising the right in full to legis-,
late or ordain for its colonies, yet leave the execution
of its decrees to the colonial constituted authorities,
without sufficient controul, then will the colonists be


17
leſt to do as they please-and, among other conse-
quences, never will the black and coloured people be
effectually protected from injustice — and if general
emancipation ever take place, which is not likely,
under such a system, it will be merely nominal freedom,
but real slavery and oppression.--The supreme govern-
ment must not only ordain or approve of all measures
affecting the negroes and people of colour, but also,
watch over and controul their current execution by its
own power and agents.
Look at the Colonial Black Codes as they now stand,
and passing by their many cruel and unjust, to a few
more equitable and lenient enactments, passed of late
years by the local legislatures, in consequence of the
outery at home against the enormities of their slave
system—these read very plausibly on paper, but mostly
were never intended, nor are they adopted or enforced
in general practice.
Let independent competent persons be appointed by
the Crown to reside in the colonies, and their duties
clearly defined, as guardians to maintain the rights,
and promote the welfare of the black and coloured
people--and that equal law and justice may be adminis-
tered to all parties without distinction of colour--let
also commissioners be so appointed to judge and decide
in cases between white, black, and coloured subjects—
and in due time, hereafter, Courts may be established for
this purpose, and juries admitted consisting of an equal
number of persons of the same colour and station as the
contending parties—and in all requisite cases, an Appeal
may be made by either party to the King's government,
or legal functionaries on the spot, or to the King in
Council, or to Parliament.
III, “Let all persons be endowed with sufficient
power to enforce due order and obedience from their
B


18
servants, backed by the constituted authorities, to which
appeal may be made by either party.”
Having already sufficiently expatiated on the points
contained in this proposition, I shall not here enlarge
on the subject-but only ask whether the provisions of
this 3rd article are not enough for every good and
necessary purpose ?—though not for evil, hence the
objections of Slave-holders.-And are not the working
classes governed on the same principles in all well
regulated communities !-Nor are the Negroes of the
present day in the West Indies more ignorant or vicious
than the lower orders in Europe for centuries—nor more
numerous and physically powerful than the Whites, and
their natural allies, under good treatment, the people of
colour in our West India colonies, than are the lower,
compared with the higher classes in most countries.-
Nor are Negroes more than other people likely to rebel,
except goaded to it by oppression. However, take
more nearly analogous cases --look at Seirra Leone, the
Island of Hayti, and our territory in the East Indies.-
And are not the Whites in our West Indies, in full pos-
session of the government, local influence, and power,
with nearly all the property real and personal, in the
colonies, with superior knowledge, for knowledge is
power;—and under the protection of the fleets, armies,
and other resources of a mighty empire, the Mother
country ;-which might justly be employed in the support
of order and good government for the public welfare-
not as at present, enforcing an infamous system of
Slavery.—Yet let it be remembered, that the white
colonists in St. Domingo, with full similar advantages,
could no longer keep up their reign of oppression, or
escape with impunity, when their slaves had resolved to
be free, and avenge themselves on their tyrants.-Nor
has all the power of France been able to recover the
Colony.


19
IV. “Let all slaves of the present race above 7 years
of age when freed by the Act, remain attached for life,
if necessary, to the estate or establishment to which
they belong at the time of their emancipation, except in
cases hereafter mentioned.”
The justice and necessity of this Regulation, with the
exceptions that may be fairly admitted, I shall further in
due course point out.
V. “Let all slaves aforesaid freed under the age of
say thirty-four, continue to serve their late owner 'till
they arrive at that period, receiving food, cloathing, and
other necessaries prescribed by Law, without pecuniary
wages."
'Tis true, that requiring slaves to work for their owner
gratuitously up to the age of 34, or for any period, is
thus far in fact admitting the principle of slaves working
out their freedom by their services—but mark, not by
extra labour wrung from scanty intervals of leisure after
almost incessant toil for their task-master.-No, but only
during the usual hours of labour allowed to their owner.
This constitutes a vast difference.--And although in
strict justice, the slave is not bound even thus far to
pay for his freedom, yet existing circumstances render
it expedient for all parties concerned--so it may be con-
ceeded.
I propose that such emancipated slaves of the present
race, should, until the age of 34, continue to serve their
former owner on the same terms as during their Slavery,
because it will afford about 20 years services in the
prime of their life to remunerate their late owner for
their supposed value as slaves—and it has been a usual
calculation among Slave-holders, that with good times
and management able bodied slaves will, in about seven
years, have repaid by their services their owner's capital
invested in them, principal and interest-but as this cal-
B 2


21
age of 34, having been slaves, receive pecuniary wages
for their services—this is not only strictly just, but must
also prove reciprocally beneficial both for masters and
servants, and will alone go far in doing away with the
evil relicks of the slave system.--Servants will be con-
tent with being remunerated in the specific shape of
wages at their own optional disposal, far more than even
a much larger amount expended on them in any other
mode.-Tis a practical proof best suited to their capa-
city and feelings that they are thus far free agents justly
dealt with, and left to do as they like with their earnings,
and will best stimulate their exertions in their master's
service, and to promote their own welfare.
The rate of wages in money, for slaves of the present
race on attaining the age of 34, freed by the Act, and
still attached to estates or other establishments (except-
ing those under 7 years of age at the time of general
emancipation, on arriving at a certain maturity) may be
very low-say for instance, clear of all deduction, 12
dollars a year to each able bodied man, and 8 to a wo-
man—which might vary according to circumstances,
but ought never to be below that clear amount.-Of
course, it will also be requisite that masters should con-
tinue to furnish such freed servants of the present race
of slaves attached to them, with besides provision
grounds, certain indispensable articles of food, cloathing,
&c. which they might not be sufficiently provident, or
conveniently able to provide for themselves, even if
they had the pecuniary means, and certainly the very
low rate of wages here proposed would be quite inade-
quate to-or a higher amount of pecuniary wages might
be given, and the fair value of necessaries furnished be
deducted at stated times of settlement but then such
wages must be in proportion, so as to leave a sufficient
surplus, and establish the principle of peculium at their


22
own disposal--or in other words, a part in nécessaries,
and a part in money as wages.
Freed servants of the above description belonging to
cultivating land proprietors, ought to be allowed provi-
sion grounds attached to, or within a certain distance
from their homesteads, and sufficient time for their culti-
vation.-Those belonging to persons not land proprietors,
such as live in towns, mechanics, &c. or house servants
of planters or other agriculturalists, must of course be
furnished with sufficient food, or an equivalent, by their
principal; and besides ordinary wages, a pecuniary
allowance ought to be paid in lieu of provision grounds,
which latter would not only furnish them with food for
themselves and families, but also a surplus for market,
Mr. Bickell in his Work recently published, “The
West Indies as they are,” states that the present rate
of hire for each ordinary able bodied slave labourer in
Jamaica, is £20. currency, i. e. £14. 5s. 8 d. sterling per
annum, clear of all expense to the owner-and as a cri-
terion that this is not an over estimation, persons hiring
such slaves usually pay those terms for the use of them,
and find them in all necessaries during the time of hire ;
those with handicraft trades, &c. are more valuable-
but put it at only £15. currency, i. e. £10. 14s. 3 d.
sterling.--The rate of wages here proposed, 12 dollars a
year to each able bodied man, and 8 to a woman, taking
the women with the men, will average 10 dollars each
--and reckoning the dollar at 4s. 6d. amounts to £2.5s.
leaving a clear profit to the master of £8. 9s. 31d. or
taking Mr. Bickell's 'statement, £12. Os. 8fd. sterling
per annum on each such slave or servant.
Yet probably they will not willingly consent to this
trifling deduction of gain wrung from the sweat and toil
of their unrequited slaves, although it might be expected
that employers would be more than compensated by the


23
encreased zeal and exertions on their account of free,
willing, and satisfied servants receiving wages for their
labours-yet will planters and others pay £10. 14s. 31d.
or according to Mr. Bickell £14. 55. 8fd. sterling a year
to the owner for hire of such slave, and provide all
necessaries, but would grudge paying £2.5s. per annum
in wages to the slave himself as a freed subject for the
same services !-So much for West India policy and
economy.
The low rate of pecuniary wages here proposed, is
more with a view to establish the principle of remune-
rating in money such freed slaves aforementioned, than
as a full equivalent for their services. This will fal]
lightly on masters during the existence of most of the
present race of slaves, and may prove sufficient for the
latter, as their masters will still be bound to furnish
them with necessaries as at present, and such servants
may be able to acquire something extra for themselves
by their own exertions, if allowed sufficient leisure and
opportunity.-However, if the rate of wages here pro-
posed be considered too low, even for those aforemen-
tioned of the present race of slaves, then a higher amount
may be fixed upon.-The rising generation of the present
race of slaves, under 7 years of age at the time of gene-
ral emancipation, so freed, and all afterwards born, may,
on arriving at a certain age, be left more to engage and
provide for themselves; and will require and be entitled
to higher wages in money, adequate to their services,
and sufficient for their support.—All free black and
coloured people now, or hereafter, at large in the com-
munity, not attached to any estate or master, or bound
by any engagement, will of course, as at present, be
left to make terms, and do the best they can for
themselves.
N. B.-The aformentioned low rate of wages, is


24
chiefly in reference to Agricultural Labourers still to
be attached to estates, for life if necessary, comprehend-
ing by far the greater part of the present slave popula-
tion.-Mechanics, &c. of the same description, especially
if people of colour, or belonging to persons not cul-
tivating land proprietors, might be paid a higher
amount, in proportion to their services, or allowed other
advantages, according to circumstances.-Still might
their pecuniary wages be very low, if such servants
liable to be attached 'for life, be otherwise properly
provided for by their masters.
If West India proprietors say " that such is the
general distressed and deteriorated state of their affairs,
as not to admit of paying any pecuniary wages or
remuneration to servants, or otherwise adopting the
regulations here proposed"-we reply, that besides the
justice and good policy of fairly remunerating servants,
the advantages West India proprietors would derive
by paying them pecuniary wages, from willing and in-
creased exertions in their service the low rate that
would be required, part of which might be de-
ducted for necessaries now furnished to them gra-
tutiously as slaves—and after all, proprietors must
come to payment of wages (and the sooner the better)
if Slavery is ever to be abolished, for they cannot
expect that freed servants will be satisfied to work
without wages, or some pecuniary remuneration. They
would also get rid of the odium of making them toil
without such fair and necessary reward. We also
believe, and have well weighed the matter, that there is
still sufficient capability about West India affairs, under
good management, to provide for all necessary out-
goings, and leave a fair profit to proprietors—but not
under a system of Slavery, absenteeship, extravagant
style of living, improvident mode of cultivation, ex-


25
haustion of stock and soil, debts often amounting to a
-state of bankruptcy, thraldom to creditors, general nega
lect of their affairs, or rapacity for inordinate gains.
But if we admit their excuse-then does it not prove,
that they ought to abandon a losing concern, which
notwithstanding all the artificial aid of bounties, pro-
tecting duties, &c. will not allow. proprietors to be just
to others, and profit themselves or ought the nation to
be longer burdened, our East Indian subjects especially
injured, our general trade and commerce impeded, and
human creatures to drudge in slavery, or without fair
remuneration, in order to prop up such an unnatural,
unjust, desperate, and altogether objectionable system.
N.B.Under existing circumstances in our West
Indies, I propose the plan of specific wages, in prefer-
ence to the practice in Hayti of paying, at least Agri-
cultural servants, by allotting them a part (one-fifth) of
the proceeds of the estate. I here give the result of my
thorough consideration of the subject, without detail-
ing the particular reasons for coming to this conclusion.
-However proprietors, at least land cultivators, might
take their choice of mode hereafter, commencing with
the rising generation-but fair remuneration to servants
is indispensable—and that, at least a part, in money, or
or what will produce it at the option of the receiver.
VII. “ All persons to take sufficient care of their
sick or disabled servants, but to be released from pay-
ing them pecuniary wages during their disability-
which may also be stopped in certain cases proved of
wilful idleness, refractoriness, or other misconduct, by
award of the proper authorities."
That all persons should continue to take proper care
of their sick or disabled servants of the present gene-
ration, whilst attached to them, having been slaves, is
just and necessary, and only what they are now obliged


26
to do under the present system--such freed servants
will neither be more burdensome, or less useful to their
principal, than if they had remained slaves.—But their
descendants benceforth freeborn, or freed under 7 years
of age by the Act, falling into a state of infirmity, desti-
tution, &c to be provided for by the parish or district-
except during the term of their indentured service, as
I shall presently more particularly discuss.
VIII. “ No persons to let out their servants for the
use of others, without consent of their guardians, and
certain other regulations."
Jobbers, who let out their slaves for the use of others
- this is under the present system the most deplorable
species, and if continued after the declaration of general
emancipation, will be the worst relick of Slavery. It
ought never to have been suffered, and the sooner it is
abolished the better.—With this view, Jobbers might be
allowed, or compelled at once to transfer their slaves or
freed servants to land proprietors only, to be. attached
to their estate for life if necessary.
Planters and other Agriculturalists not sufficiently
stocked with hands, and the buying and selling of slaves
put an end to, would probably be glad thus to supply
themselves, and pay a price or premium to the Jobber
transferring, equal in value to the subject transfered
of course, those of the present generation disabled by
age or infirmity belonging to Jobbers, and cannot be
transfered, must continue to be supported by their
master, who in most cases will have had the best of their
days as his slaves.-Or as slaves belonging to Jobbers
bear but a sniall proportion to the general slave popu-
lation, Government, at no very great expense, or loss to
the nation, (which it is to be hoped would not grudge it
for so humane an object) might purchase them at once
from their owners, for the purpose of transfering them


27
to landed proprietors, and probably receive a premium
in proportion to their value, and for indemnification of
the nation-or might employ them in the public service,
or on establishments formed for that purpose.
However, if the practice of Jobbing must continue
for a time it ought to be put under the best possible
regulations.-Jobbers should not be allowed to let out
their servants without approval of their constituted
guardians, who should secure their good treatment-nor
should they ever be let out beyond a certain distance,
say not exceeding a mile or two from their homestead,
to which they might return at the close of each day's
labourmand every other necessary regulation adopted.
N. B.-Jobbing out slaves is a striking instance of
the selfishness and cruelty of man if left to himself, and
among the many abominations of our slave system,
which West Indians defend or excuse to the utmost, and
refuse to reform.
IX. “ Transfers of servants, between a certain age,
may be allowed at the option of the master provided
the servant consents, and the constituted guardians
approve-but not otherwise-of course, members of
families must never be separated against their will--nor
any transfered beyond the colony."
Though it ought to be rigidly adhered to as a general
rule that freed servants of the present race of slaves
aforesaid should remain attached for life, if necessary,
to the estate or establishment to which they belong at
the time of their general emancipation-yet particular
circumstances may require and admit of exchange of
masters-in such cases transfers of servants may be
allowed--but never without their own consent, and that
of their constituted guardians, who should ascertain
sufficient cause for the transfer, and take care they do
not change for the worse—the succeeding, to be liable to
all the obligations of the previous master.


28
Such transfers of freed servants will prove a sub-
stitute for the buying and selling of slaves when put an
end to, and may be necessary in the early stage of
general emancipation, perhaps during the existence of
the present race of slaves--and as great an indulgence
to masters as existing circumstances will allow. Thus
cultivating land proprietors and others may get rid of
their superfluous hands, or supply their deficiency,
whether of labourers, domestic servants, mechanics, &c.
they may also hire free people at large not under any
engagement—which renders the whole plan here pro-
posed, equally applicable to all Slave-holders of every
description.
Perhaps a greater facility of transfer may be allowed
to persons not cultivating land proprietors, as more
necessary for such masters, and less inconvenient for
their servants.
The descendants of the present race of slaves afore-
said may be placed on a different footing, as I shall
presently shew, and masters left more free to retain or
dismiss their servants.
In transfers at the wish of the master, Premiums
may be paid or received, as agreed on, by the contract-
ing masters, as in cases of transfered Apprentices in
England.—This would be an accommodation to masters,
establish a fair scale of valuation for the indemnity of
the party entitled to a bonus, and, as before observed,
prove a substitute for the buying and selling of slaves,
during the existence of the present race, and early stages
of general emancipation--and could no ways injuriously
affect such servants, or induce unnecessary or otherwise
improper transfers, as none could take place without
approval of their constituted guardians.
X. “Servants above the age of 34 may be allowed,
at certain periods, or notice to transfer themselves to
other eligible masters willing to receive them, with the


29
consent of their then retaining principal, or approval of
their guardians, and other proper authorities appointed
to arbitrate between master and servant."
In the Spanish settlements slaves are allowed to
chuse and transfer themselves to other masters willing
to receive them, and their owner bound to comply on
receiving an equivalent for the fair value of such slave
from the new master-but in our colonies no such
privilege is allowed to a slave, by which he might better
his condition, nor can he even purchase his own freedom,
or that of his wife or children, however able and willing,
if their owner refuse to comply-thus the more useful
and valuable a slave, the more likely his owner will re-
fuse to part with him, or only at an extravagant price -
poor encouragement for good conduct!
In the preceding article IX. it is proposed to allow
masters at their option, on shewing sufficient cause, to
transfer their freed servants of the present race of slaves
aforesaid-and 'tis fair and necessary that the same
right should be equally accorded to servants-by which
reciprocity masters, as before observed, might supply a
deficiency, or get rid of a superfluity of hands-and
servants might better their condition-but in no case
ought either party to be allowed the exercise of this
privilege without shewing good and sufficient cause, to
be judged of and decided on by the proper authorities.--
Nor ought any freed servants of the present race of
slaves aforesaid, to be entitled to this right, unless with
the consent of their master, until they have attained the
age of 34, and thus far indemnified their former owner
by their services--and attained a mature age to judge
what is best for themselves.
In transfers at the wish of the servant, the then re-
taining principal to be at no involuntary expense, but
entitled to receive a bonus from the succeeding master,


30
if awarded by proper arbitrators-or, of course, if
agreed on between the transfering and receiving party,
without any other intervention.
XI. “ Servants above the age of thirty-four, with
good character and conduct, on satisfactorily shewing to
the proper authorities that they can probably maintain
themselves by their funds or resources, may at certain
periods, or notice, be released from their servitude.- If
such persons should afterwards be found in a state of
destitution, if able bodied, the constituted authorities
may be empowered to provide and enforce employment
on them-if disabled by age or infirmity, then to be
maintained by the parish or district.”
Though it may be generally necessary that slaves of
the present race above 7 years of age when declared
free by the proposed act of general emancipation,
should be kept attached to the estate or establishment
to which they belong at the time, or may be transfered
to, until sufficient knowledge, civilization, and voluntary
habits of order and industry be generally established
among them; and the white colonists more accustomed,
necessitated, and disposed to the employment of free
agents.—Yet in cases of such freed servants, above the
age of 34, with good character and conduct, who can
satisfactorily shew they can probably maintain them-
selves by their own resources, and require to be released
from their attached servitude, and left to do the best
they can for themselves—this in justice and good policy
may and ought to be admitted, they will still be under
the controul of the law, and constituted authorities.
Having served their former owner or master gratuitously
up to the age of 34, and such masters entitled to further
compensation as hereafter provided, though not from
their servants; and released from all future charge or
responsibily on account of such discharged servants, can


31
have no just claim to longer detain them, nor to any
pecuniary consideration from them for releasing them
from their services.
Thus, in the early stage of general emancipation, will
freed slaves of the present race, still attached to estates,
&c. only of the best character and acquirements, be en-
titled to such an extension of privilege to be at large as
free agents in society, amenable only to the laws and
their own voluntary engagements; and the community
supplied with such useful auxiliaries, not too suddenly
or numerously for the wants and advantage of all parties
concerned-and their number will gradually increase in
proportion to the improvement of the emancipated
classes, and greater necessity, consequently demand,
for the employment of free agents—and will prove a
prudent prelude to the more extended privileges of the
ensuing generation.—In the interim, slaves of the pre-
sent race aforementioned, who wish to become entirely
free agents, and released from their attached servitude,
will thus be induced to acquire the necessary qualifica-
tions.-All may hope and try, and even those who may
not eventually succeed, will benefit themselves and
others by their exertions—until all classes of the black
and coloured population shall be duly prepared for the
enjoyment (as far as just and expedient) of the full
rights of men and citizens.
XII. “The constituted authorities may transfer ser-
vants, with assent of their guardians, to other masters,
whenever their retaining employer cannot properly pro-
vide for them, or for other sufficient causes--and in cases
of wilful mal-treatment, neglect, or certain other miscon-
duct, by the master or his agent, may inflict a fine or
other punishment on the principal or offender.
Though masters generally should be compelled to
take care, for life if necessary, of their freed servants of


32
the present race of slaves aforesaid, whether they have
been their slaves, or transfered to them, as servants freed
by the act of general emancipation -- yet cases may
occur in which it may be most expedient to take the
servant from the master-but this ought never to be done
except in cases of great necessity. These are less,
if ever, likely to happen among cultivating land propri-
etors, as such servants may remain attached to and be
maintained by the estate, however often it may change
proprietors or condition.—But other cases may require a
relaxation of the general principle-in which the consti-
tuted guardians, and other proper authorities, may be
empowered to act for the best, according to particular cir-
cumstances.--And in instances of wilful mal-treatment,
neglect, or certain other misconduct by the master or his
agent, a fine, or other punishment, may be inflicted on the
offending party—those must pay in person who cannot
pay in purse-such fine may be appropriated, in whole
or in part, for benefit of the individual servant aggrieved';
or for the purposes of general emancipation,
The foregoing propositions are submitted as the basis
of a plan for the emancipation, government, protection,
and improvement of the present race of slaves aforesaid.
A different modification of parts will be necessary
for their descendants afterwards born, or under seven
years of age at the time of general emancipation-chiefly
as follows
All slaves of the present race being declared free,
and Slavery for ever abolished by an act of general
emancipation, their children afterwards born will of
course be free from their birth, and born of free parents.
--Let such children, and those under 7 years of age at
the time of general emancipation, remain with their
mother on her master's estate or establishment, and at
the age of seven be placed at school on the estate,


33
or within the district at convenient distance, for useful
instruction until the age of 12 or 14.- Let the children
on each property be divided into two classes, each to
attend their school on alternate days, so that a moiety
of the whole may always remain at home, to be employ-
ed in the service of their mother's master, to indemnify
him for any expense (which cannot be much) in having
reared them under the mother's care on his property.
Children, whose mother's are slaves, at the time of
general emancipation, to persons notcultivating land pro-
prietors, the latter must also have such children properly
reared under care of the mother on their own establish-
ment, or provide other sufficient means for the purpose.
-Black, or coloured children, whose parents have been
rendered free by other means than the act of general
emancipation, and having no claim on any master or
others, should be under the superintendence, and if
necessary controul, of the district authorities, who shall
see them properly reared and provided for at expense of
the parents if able, if not, then at the public cost.-Let
all children aforementioned, at the age of 12 or 14, unless
they can be otherwise eligibly provided for, be placed
out as Apprentices to serve gratuitously until the age
of 24 for their master's remuneration and profit—and
having been reared on the estate or establishment of
their mother's master, or otherwise by him, then He to
have the preference of such indentured services—or rather
it ought and must be made obligatory on him, not left to
his option-unless sufficient cause exist to renderit inex-
pedient, when other suitable masters may be provided..
A sufficient number of black and coloured children ought
to be trained to handicraft trades, and other useful
callings, in proportion to the general want and demand
of the community.-Transfers of Apprentices may be
allowed, with consent of their guardians.
C


34
Masters to be bound (at least during the early stages
of general emancipation) to retain in their employ their
Apprentices, if able bodied and otherwise suitable, for a
certain time, say one year, after the expiration of their
indentures, at wages and allowances usually given to
operators of such description.—This will prevent them
from being thrown suddenly, inexperienced, and in too
great numbers on the world for the wants of the com-
munity, and consequently their chance of obtaining
employment; or the exercise of orderly prudent habits,
with free agency, until they attain more age and expe-
rience; and the system of hiring free labour is generally
adopted.
Planters, and other cultivating land proprietors, will
probably find it most advantageous to hire the bulk of
their servants, after the present race of adult slaves, for
a certain number of years at a time, rather than for
shorter periods; which will also prove advantageous
for such servants, and necessary in the peculiar state of
West India society. This is the general practice in Hayti,
with planters and other large cultivating proprietors; and
even in England farmers often hire their servants by the
year.Thus may such West India Agriculturalists
secure a sufficient number of tried hands used to them,
their mode of business, and localities of the estate; and
such servants be certain of constant employ and a fixed
home for long periods together, which will induce com-
fort and steady habits; and establish mutual attachment
and reciprocity of interests between master and servant
-and in the latter even attachment to the soil.
Servants thus hired should have a cottage and provi-
sion ground allotted to each on, or conveniently con-
tiguous to, the estate, in proportion to their families, for
which they may pay a moderate rent to the proprietor
their principal may also furnish them with certain


35
necessary articles of food and cloathing, or not, as agreed
on between the parties, and the amount of pecuniary
wages to be more or less in proportion-or if the full
amount of wages be allowed, then the value of such
articles furnished to be deducted at the time of settle-
ment.-The descendants of the present race of adult
slaves will probably, from their increase in knowledge,
civilization, and habits of free agency, be more com-
petent and disposed to provide necessaries, according to
their wants and means, for themselves.
As Agriculture must ever be of the chief consequence
in our West India colonies, and will require the greatest
number of labouring hands-so in my late pamphlet
“Emancipation, or Practical Advice to British Slave-
holders," I have pointed out the means to always en-
sure to cultivating proprietors a sufficient supply of free
labourers, as in Hayti.- I refer the reader to that work,
without here quoting the passages so essentially con-
nected with this important part of the subject.
Persons not cultivating land proprietors, may, on ex-
piration of the prescribed term of hire on wages of their
Apprentices, retain them or not in their employ, or hire
others, for long or short periods as they please—and
besides wages, furnish them with certain necessary arti-
cles, or not, as agreed on between the parties.
The district authorities to be empowered to provide
suitable masters, situations, and employment, for all
able bodied negroes and people of colour, who cannot
or will not support themselves, which may be enforced
on them.-Many hands will be required for the public
service by the national and local governments, the parish
and district authorities, &c. within the colonies; which
will furnish employ for any redundancy of population
beyond the demand of private individuals.-Small por-
tions of land may be allotted to some, and other means
c 2


36
devised for general support and employment.--The deg:
titute sick or infirm to be supported by the parish or dis-
trict, except the present race of slaves belonging to
masters bound to provide for them, or those engaged by
masters for certain periods, who must take proper care
of them for the time--but may be released from paying
them pecuniary wages during their disability.
All children of the present race of slaves, under the
age of seven years at the time of general emancipation,
are as susceptible of the same training and good effects,
and therefore ought to be admitted to all the same pri-
vileges as those afterwards born. Thus may an extent
of benefits be safely accorded to this portion éven of
the present race of slaves-on what principle of justice,
humanity, or good policy can it be refused ?
- Scholastic Education. Let schools be established at
the public expense in each district for the education of
black and coloured children. Let the pupils be in-
structed in reading, writing, and simple arithmetic—this
is far from giving them a learned education as some
sneerers inimical to human improvement, at least of the
lower orders, may imply, but will qualify them for
different useful stations in life of every day demand
among the rest, some may be trained as assistant
school-masters, though a well qualified white person
ought to be at the head of each scholastic establish-
ment.
Let the fundamental principles of religious, moral,
and social duty, be also taught in the schools, by plain
and simple catechisms, expositions, and other tracts
prepared for the purpose, which may be committed to
memory by the pupils, and further explained and incul.
cated by their tutors, and examinations on these im-
portant points take place at stated times which after
all, is the best and most essential part of education,


37
especially for the humbler classes, too much neglected
or distorted, even in most civilized countries. Thus
may the youthful mind receive useful first impressions,
which may practically regulate their conduct through
life, in every station, however unfavorably they may
be placed for further improvement-yet teach them not
artificial for real duties.
I may here just observe, that much of the instruction
which children of the present race of slaves may receive
at their schools, will, from their intimate connection and
intercourse for years to come (especially by their know-
ledge of reading, possession of simple useful tracts, and
comprehension of their spirit and meaning) be commu-
nicated to their parents, &c. --Thus may the latter,
though too old for scholastic education, be benefited by
these attainments of their descendants.
* N. B.-A portion of negroe and coloured children,
indicating good capacity, might be selected for educar
tion and other useful training in England, and returned
as adults to the colonies, qualified to act as School-
masters, and for other purposes requiring a certain
degree of intelligence, &c. above the more ignorant.
---This would tend to develope the faculties, raise the
character, and improve the minds, manners, and pur-
suits of the black and coloured population; when fewer
Whites need be employed in the colonies for the purpose,
and those be thus assisted in their labour. It would
also furnish the Whites generally with a superior order
of intelligent black and coloured agents for various
requisite purposes-and establish a desirable class
between the White, and most unenlightened of the negroe
and coloured population.
Religious Instruction --Let churches or chapels be
established, and ministers of religion appointed in each
district of town and country; a simple form of prayer


38
1
and worship drawn up, and uniformly used; with plain
discourses from the pulpit suited in matter and style to
the general condition and comprehension of the black
and coloured population, enjoined to attend. In ad-
dition to those taught in the schools for youth, let
catechisms, and other useful tracts be given to the
adults, who can read, and stated times appointed for
individual examination, instruction, and admonition,
for both those who can or cannot read, which after all,
will probably be found the most efficacious mode of in-
structing such a people.-Distract them not by every
wind of doctrine-preach not, teach not mysteries, dis-
putable dogma, or artificial divinity of the schools (the
bane even of more civilized communities, enlightened
enough in other matters) but the plain incontrovertible
axioms of religion, morality, and usefulness-above all,
exalt not faith over good works, nor creeds, rites, or
ceremonies, in preference to, or substitute for, the prac-
tice of virtue.--Teach them that as probationary res-
ponsible creatures, they will surely receive just Retribu-
tion from their Maker according to their Works, be they
good or evil, in proportion as they fulfil their well
known duties here within their power, which God hath
endowed them with, or violate them--that their duty to
God chiefly consists in the performance of their duty to
themselves and fellow creatures--that they should do
funto others as they would be done unto-and not abuse
their own powers and means--and that their duty is
their interest and welfare here and hereafter. Teach
them the necessity and advantage of Justice, Benevo-
lence, Temperance, Industry, and all which constitutes
unsophisticated duty, their own individual welfare,
and for the general good. This is chiefly needful,
rationally right, and practically useful, for them and
all mankind-which if generally taught and followed,


39
unalloyed by unnatural, fallacious, and pernicious doc-
trine, would establish a simple uniform Religion through-
out the earth, founded on infallible, immutable, self-
evident principles, of universal application, and general
usefulness.--A Religion worthy. the Creator, and most
beneficent for Man-instead of the mole-eyed views,
discordant opinions, artificial creeds and practice, of
differing sects and religionists, equally against right,
reason, and utility,
The Negroes generally in our West Indies are yet
comparatively uninstructed, and susceptible of any im-
pressions-here is a rare opportunity for setting out
well.-May the blind not be led by the blind; or neg-
lected by careless indolent guides--and still less may
they be misled by wilful deceivers.
; I shall close this subject by adverting to an excellent
custom, said to be in general practice throughout the
Roman Catholic slave colonies, more especially those
belonging to Spain.
Besides places for public worship, and ministers of
religion, being provided for each district, according to
the number and density of its population-the slaves on
each plantation are assembled in the open air every
morning at sunrise, their names called over by roll, and
before they go to work, are formed into a hollow circle ;
in the centre stands a negroe, or man of colour, com-
petent for the purpose, and such is never wanting, who
audibly pronounces an address drawn up and uniformly
used, which by frequent repetition becomes firmly fixed
in the memory, and is usually given by rote, consisting
of adoration, thanksgiving, and prayer to the Creator,
and imploring his guidance, protection, and blessing
through the day-this is succeeded by a short exhortation
to performance of duty, then follows a hymn, in which
all present join, and the service concludes with a bene-


40
diction, when the slavęs go to their labour.
In the evening
at sunset, and close of their work for the day, the slaves
are again assembled in like manner, an evening service
gone through, somewhat varied in matter and terms
from that used in the morning-and the slaves are dis-
missed to their homes-each religious performance does
not occupy more than about ten minutes night and
morning, and produces a very imposing salutary effect..
--This admirable custom is well worthy adoption in
the British West Indies--and to our disgrace that this,
and other essential matters, most humane and bene-
ficial, still remain to be done.
A simple form of family worship might also be pro-
vided and used on plantations for Sundays, when any
servants of the establishment, from sickness, distance,
or other causes, cannot attend a Church-a short and
plain sermon might also be read to them, and a sufficient
number of a proper nature for such occasions, drawn up
and furnished gratuitously to the plantations, &c.--And
proper persons, negroes or others, might be appointed
to hear, at least the children, say their catechisms, ex-
positions, &0.--and otherwise teach those debarred from
better means of instruction..
: A fixed and written form of religious worship and ina
struction, will be far preferable for such a people as our
West India Negroes, than trusting to the extemporane-
ous effusions of persons not always of sufficient know.
ledge or discretion--and uniformity of Religion a great
desideratum. *
* West India Church Establishment.—The forms and doctrine of
the Church of England being chiefly calculated for refined and en-
lightened people, so its clergy have frankly declared that on this
account, as well as from the nature of their education, personal
habits, mode of instructing, inaptitude at proselytism, and other
causes, they arc not so well adapted for converting the Negroes,


A due proportion of each Sunday to be appropriated
to the religious devotion and instruction of the black
and coloured people throughout the colonies.-The rest
of the day to be spent as they please, consistent with
order and decorum--they will generally need and ought
to be allowed some relaxation from the toil and cares of
the week.
Black and coloured servants, at least those having
provision grounds, to be allowed a certain number of
days in the year, besides Sundays, for their own use.
N. B.-The sooner the barbaric custom of employing
females in the excessive drudgery of the field is dis-
continued, the better.--This, among other good effects,
will be naturally produced by the change from slave to
as the more plain and zealous sectarian Missionaries.
So as the
least of religious evils, and to pacify the people of England, the
Colonies have agreed to the appointment of two Bishops with
their Clergy for instruction of their slaves-pretty well knowing,
as in the case of their Curate's Bill, that the slaves are not likely
to be much enlightened by such an establishment; and that its
members will probably not prove more active in their exertions
in that sultry, than in the more temperate climate of England
our Church and Government can have no objection to the scheme,
it wiḥl increase their patronage. However, I hope and think some
good may be done by these means, if not best calculated for
Negroe instruction, or whatever may be the views and expecta-
tions of Slave-holders.—The Church acting as it does in its offices
on fixed and prescribed forms and tenets, is so far more favorable
for the purpose, than the varying modes and doctrine of differing
sectaries, and the extemporaneous. effusiops of Missionaries, often
uneducated or injudicious men—if the Church will only render its
forms and doctrine simple, rational, and useful; and employ plain
and zealous teacbers, who can and will descend to the humble
capacities of their illiterate flock. After all, perhaps, more may
be done in the Schools than in the Churches, for the moral and
religious, as well as other, instruction of the Negroes, if pro-
perly planned and conducted.


42
free labour, an improved mode of cultivation, and
general good management especially growing other
crops than the exhausting and over production of Sugar,
at least on the poorer soils, the introduction of the
plough for the hoe, horses for hụman labour; besides the
increased zeal and exertion of free and willing workmen
instead of slaves-fewer labourers will then be required,
Agriculturalists will naturally prefer able bodied men,
and may always secure enough for their purpose, with-
out being burdened as at present under the slave system
with a superfluity of hands all the year round, many of
them inefficient, at least in any profitable degree, or
else suffering from a deficiency when more help is re-
quired. Thus, the females will be left at their homes
to manage their family affairs, or otherwise employed
suitably to their sex, and ability-which will go far in
producing comfort and civilization amongst the eman-
cipated classes.—Among other good effects, will prove
the best means for the promotion of Matrimony, and
fulfilment of its duties; for which every encouragement
and facility ought to be afforded.
Thus by the plan here proposed, may all slaves of
the present race be at once safely and advantageously
rendered free, under salutary regulations—and their
children, not exceeding say seven years of age at the
time, and those afterwards born, be prepared for, and
admitted to, a greater extent of privileges.
N. B.--Free negroes and people of colour, especially
the latter, now at large in the colonial community, and
born of free parents, ought to be admitted as soon as
possible to the full rights of men and citizens as far as
expedient, and their children properly educated and
trained to useful callings. These are fit subjects for
such an extension of privileges, and most immediately
require it-which will conciliate and give them a com-


43
mon interest in the preservation of good order, and obe-
dience to the laws; and prove a tower of strength to
the white colonists, and for the general public good.
- Several minor points, not here detailed, or different
modifications, may in course be required, which will
suggest themselves.- I have chiefly aimed at drawing
out the main parts, as a basis of the plan in outline-
and I trust enough to shew that it can be effected, bene-
ficially for all parties concerned-if so, then ougbt it
not to be done, and at once set about in good earnest?'
Another point remains here for consideration, which
at least West India proprietors will probably deem by
far of the greatest consequence, namely, Indemnification
for any loss they may sustain by general emancipation
of their slaves--they expect to be paid, and well paid,
for merely doing an Act of Justice imperiously neces-
sary, and most incumbent on them, that of ceasing from
the oppression of enslaving their fellow creatures and
fellow subjects, men, women, and children, from gene-
ration to generation for ever!—They have long been
a begging, craving, rapacious race, and still continue so.
--Not content with protecting duties, excluding cheaper
productions from the home market, inflicting high prices
on the Nation, shackling our commerce, and more espe-
cially unjust and injurious to our East India subjects;
with bounties to induce or enable them to sell as cheaply
as others abroad; besides large allowances for the de-
fence and government of our West more than East India
possessions; former restraints removed from their com-
merce, as colonies, so that now they may carry and dis-
pose of their produce as they please, wherever they can
find a market.*--They still cry out for more, and Slavery to
• Our West India colonists long complained of the hardship of
being compelled to bring their Sugars, in the first instance, to
England only.---Now since they are allowed to carry their produce


boot, or a high price for their reluctant submission, not
willing consent, to its Abolition !--no less than the full
value, at their own calculation, not only of their slaves,
but also of their estates !! and even then would consi-
der the prohibition of Slavery as an act of injustice done
to proprietors-and put on all the airs of injured
innocence!!!
Slave-holders assume a high tone, and dare to cry out
for justice, even strict justice, on themselves !--Let us
examine a little the nature of their pretensions to pro-
perty in their slaves.
Certainly, they can have no claim on the slaves them-
selves, who are entitled to their natural right of freedom
without fee or reward--and moreover, as already ob-
served, to recompense for the time past they have been
unjustly deprived of this their natural right, derived from
their Creator.--Nor can Slave-holders have any claim
in Natural Justice, which cannot recognize deeds in
themselves unjust-'tis á solicism in term and in fact.
1
direct wherever they please, or otherwise dispose of it, they do
not seem over elated with the boon, nor much to avail themselves
of it--their organ, Mr. Ellis, declared on Tuesday last in the House
of Commons, that “not a single cargo had thus been shipped to
foreign ports”-nor will foreigners come to deal with them for
Sugar in the dear market of our Colonies-John Bull must take it
off their hands at an extravagant price, and even pay a bounty on
what (refined) they export abroad. The fact is, such is the extra-
vagance of their system, that they can hardly compete with others
in the Foreign Market.--But whilst the colonial Restriction last-
ed, of exporting to England, it served them to complain of as a
grievance, and a pretext for Protecting Duties, &c. exclusively in
their favor.Now the aforementioned Restriction on their trade
is taken off, and other advantages about being granted to them-
what plea can they have for the continuance of protecting duties
against their fellow subjects in our East Indian territory? and oner-
ous to the Nation-inflicting on our own people what we cannot
impose on foreigners, and cramping our Trade at home and abroad.


45
Nor by the general Laws or Equity of our country
which ordain that no man shall benefit by his own wrong,
and that Restitution shall be made to the rightful owner
of property and arrears, unjustly acquired or detained,
either originally or in progression-no man can have a
better title to his estate or effects, than to his own per-
sonal carcass.-Are Receivers of stolen goods, although
purchasers, allowed to retain them with impunity, or
entitled to an equivalent on giving them up ?-yet such
is the plea of Slave-holders !--they cannot come into
court with clean hands, their claim is vitiated through-
out, in origin and all its stages.
The Laws of England ordain that every subject shall
be free, and entitled to all the rights of men and citi-
zens--nor has it passed or sanctioned any positive law
for the maintenance of Slavery in its colonies, integral
parts of the empire.-Nay, no such law has ever been
enacted even by the Colonial Legislatures, 'tis at most
by crafty implication only--and after all, no human
laws can supercede the claims of Natural Right.-Nor
can West India proprietors plead long usage and pre-
scription to their property in slaves-for besides the
long existence of a wrong being 10 justification of its
past or further continuance, the act of Injustice has
been renewed in the person of every slave, from genera-
tion to generation; and so far as it concerns each indi-
vidual slave, cannot have existed longer than during his
or her time even supposing that Slave-holders had any
right to the parents, they could not thus be entitled to
their children.*„Man has no right to enslave Man,
*
By the bye, I should like to have the case tried and decided
in a Court of Judicature in England, namely, whether all children
born within the British dominions, whether of slave parents or
not, are not free by their birth.—By what Law can any man claim
them as his slaves, and let him produce it. If he cannot well


46
even with, much less without bis consent-nor can he
obtain it by purchase, or otherwise, from another.-Still
more monstrous is the pretence of right to entail Slavery
on the innocent, unconscious, irresponsible child froiū
the womb to the grave, as the hopeless bitter portion
of its life. — Neither parents nor children have ever
entered into any such compact, or forfeited their free-
dom-nor can any claim it from them.
Slave-holders have no right to complain if their claim
be altogether rejected, and their system of injustice put
an end to-but may deem themselves well off, if they
are not obliged to refund, instead of having to receive-
past injuries to the slaves might be reckoned at least as
a set off for the present claims of their oppressors—but
in strict justice would leave a heavy balance due from
them to the party they have so long, so basely, and so
deeply injured.--The slaves are the aggrieved party, and
Slave-holders the aggressors-are the Aggressors to be
bought off from their mal-practices, and the Aggrieved,
who suffer by them, to receive no recompense at their
hands for past injuries sustained ? ---Slave-holders
expect us to be tremblingly alive to their interest even
in doing wrong, but entirely to pass by the just claims
of their slaves to redress and atonement from them their
oppressors.
The only shadow of plea which Slave-holders can
urge with any effect in their favor is, that the National
Government has connived at, and at least indirectly
encouraged the current, though it has never guarranteed
establish such claim, what a sweeping retrospection would it bring
over Slave-holders, who have so long held in captivity free born
children of the present and past generations-nay, horrible to say,
even their own offspring.–At least they may be glad to compound
for past delinquency, by henceforth giving up such monstrous
pretensions.


47
the perpetual existence of Slavery in our colonies.-
This is to the disgrace of both parties—to the govern-
ment in allowing its subjects to commit wrong with im-
punity--and to the latter in taking advantage of such
unwarrantable permission to do evil.What must we
think of the Honor and Conscience of those pseudo
Gentlemen the haughty Planters, &c. who will per-
petrate such enormities, if only allowed to do so with-
out legal pains and penalties ?
But at length the Government grown more wise and
virtuous seeks, it professes, to put an end to the atroci-
ous system-as base and infamous in itself; unjust and
cruel to its enslaved subjects; impolitic and injurious to
the nation; and not so beneficial as the Reform proposed
even to Slave-holders themselves. These considera-
tions might well induce and justify the Government to
coerce the Colonists, and leave them, as on the prohibi-
tion of their slave trade with Africa, to find a Recom-
pense solely in the advantages they would derive from
such reformation and improvement of their system.
The better mode of cultivation and general manage-
ment it would be sure to induce; the increased labour
and produce by fewer hands, and those free, willing,
and satisfied agents; the greater security of person and
property to the white colonists; the redemption of their
character from the guilt and odium of holding their
fellow creatures in slavery; with other consequent
advantages; would prove a sufficient recompense to
proprietors for even the gratuitous emancipation of their
slaves, without any other remuneration.
However, as the Government has hitherto by its guilty
connivance and encouragement induced West India
proprietors, though against the plainest dictates of
justice and humanity, to invest capital in slaves, which
are henceforth to cease being marketable commodities-


48
so it may be necessary to compensate proprietors for
such loss of interest in their slaves of the existing race,
beyond which, they can have no claims--and throwing
into the bargain any advantages they may hereafter
derive from such change to a better system, as a bonus
for their future encouragement.
Thus then, let Slave-holders lower their tone and their
terms their claim is not very tenable in itself, or
creditable to themselves--and if admitted at all, it will
be more as a boon in expediency, than as their right in
strict justice. They have long chosen to incur the
odium of enslaving their fellow creatures for sake of the
supposed profits, and in leaving off with a doceur, let
them with their usual philosophy-pocket the Affront
with the Money.
By the plan here proposed, it is provided that all
slaves of the existing ráce, freed by the Act, above 7
years of age at the time of general emancipation, should
continue to serve their former owners gratuitously as
freed servants, until they arrive at the age of 34.- This,
according to the usual calculation of proprietors, is even
more than sufficient, under good management, to repay
their capital, principal and interest, invested in ordi-
nary able bodied slaves-and therefore would alone be
more than enough for their sheer indemnification; and
thus will slaves have over worked out their freedom.-
However this may be, proprietors must admit that they
have thus the full use and benefit of such freed servants
until the age of thirty-four as much to all intents and
purposes, as though they remained their slaves, having
only to provide them such necessaries, and otherwise
well treat them, as Slave-holders declare is already
enjoined by Law, and further done by voluntary practice,
at least it ought to be so- they must likewise retain and
take care of their inefficient hands under the present


49
system.-And although in strict justice, no man is
bound to serve another against his will, or on terms he
does not agree to--yet such for a time will be the
wretched relicks of the slave system, even after abol-
ished, that the welfare of the existing race of slaves,
requires this concession on their part, and also the in-
terest of their owners renders necessary such an arrange-
ment, to well escape the entanglements left by the pre-
vious long existing state of things.
Let each slave of the present race, on attaining the age
of thirty-four, freed by the Act, and all those who may
be above that age, but excepting those under seven
years, at the time of general emancipation; be ap-
praised according to their individual worth, on a fair
scale of valuation, and the Amount sunk into an
Annuity on the life of each, to be paid by the Nation
half-yearly, or at other fixed periods, to the former
owner, or his representative, of such emancipated slave.
--Thus would proprietors receive the fair value of their
slaves at the time as a marketable commodity.
Without entering here into a rigid enquiry how far
in strict justice the Nation is bound to grant such indem-
nity to Slave-holders-at any rate, let it generously
accede to the necessity and expediency of the case-it
will be well rewarded by the happy results--among the
rest, Slave-holders will be left without excuse for longer
seeking to persevere in their abominable system--and in
the long run, it will produce a saving to the nation, by
admitting a fair competition, at least of East and West
Indian subjects, into the market in due time after the
Abolition of Slavery. The Nation has long submitted
to pay immense sums in bounties, protecting duties,
maintenance of troops, &c. for the support of slavery,
and improvident management-and now may well not
grudge a less annount in aggregate and duration, for the
D


50
establishment of a better system.--Nay, even were it to
require a larger and longer contribution, it would be far
better applied than, as hitherto, in upholding an infa-
mous system of Slavery; and a course of extravagance,
absenteeship, or general neglect or mismanagement of
their affairs, or rapacity for inordinate gains, by West
India proprietors.—And although it may seem hard that
the Nation should be bound by the unjust acts of its
Government-yet let it be noted, that every man,
woman, and child, in Great Britain, have for centuries
been, and still actually are, abettors of, and participa-
tors in the iniquitous system, by being purchasers and
daily consumers of the guilty produce of Slavery-that
too when they may gratify themselves with the same
luxuries, the production of freemen, their fellow subjects
in our Eastern possessions.-Whilst this is the case-
are we not voluntary supporters of Slavery, and sub-
stantial participators in the flagitious system, which
could not exist without us as purchasers and consumers
-how much longer shall we continue to be so?
Nor will this proposed Indemnity to Slave-holders
fall heavily, or all at once on the Nation.-Slaves of the
existing race under 7 years of age at the time of general
emancipation, are not thus to be paid for--and only a
certain proportion of their seniors will have attained the
age of 34 at that period, those who have not, will only
be to be gradually purchased as they do-several will
never reach it at all; and those who may, will be much
depreciated in value at that advanced stage of life.-
Females generally will be less valuable than the men
and many of both sexes, from age, infirmity, and
other causes, will be of little or no value at all as a
marketable commodity.-All to be purchased are to be
paid for by Annuity, and not advance of principal, which
will prove the best inducement for masters to cherish


51
the lives of those on whom they have annuities ; be drawn
gradually from the nation; and lives will continually
drop off, reducing the amount, 'till the whole is extin-
guished.
The following is a sketch of expense for Redemption
of all slaves on the data proposed in the foregoing plan.
The total number of slaves in our West India colo-
nies has been variously stated from 7 to 800,000-let
us take the medium, id est, 750,000—of these say one-
fifth-that is 150,000 are under 7 years of age, and not
to be paid for, except by their services up to the age of
24.–This leaves 600,000 to be purchased at their stand-
ing worth on attaining the age of 34.
The average worth of slaves each, taking one with
another, good, bad, and indifferent, the females with the
males, the old with the young, the profitable with the
less efficient, or totally useless, may I think be fairly
rated at say £60. sterling per head.--And reckoning
the prime of their life to be from 20 to 45 years of age,
and their powers of service preceding the age of 20, as
about equivalent to the same after having attained the
age of 45—then at the age of 34, three-fifths of their
prime or worth may be reckoned as past and gone-the
remaining two-fifths constituting their value at that
period of life, or £24.per head-this on 600,000, amounts
to £14,400,000-principal worth, to be paid for by An-
nuity, which in no case ought to exceed say 12 per cent.
on any life, averaging on the whole at say 71 per cent.
id est, £1,080,000 per annum during their lives--more
will be under than at or over the age of 34 at the time
of general emancipation-but afterwards for some years
to come, the lives to be paid for will increase, during
which period, say two-thirds of the amount of annuities
for the whole 600,000 lives to be thus purchased may
be taken as a fair estimate of the annual expense to the
D 2


52
Nation, i. e. £720,000 a year, until lives drop off faster
than they accrue, and the whole is extinguished.
750,000 total number of slaves.
150,000 under 7 years of age, not to be bought.
600,000 { to ling a head.
to be purchased at average rate of £24. ster-
24
£14,400,000 total principal worth at 34 years of age.
S total amount of annuities at average of 7) per
1,080,000
cent.
720,000
average yearly amount of annuities at two-thirds
of the whole for some years to come, till they
decrease by dropping of lives, and the whole
is extinguished.
Thus far the annual sum of £720,000 for only a few
years to come, may all slaves be redeemed, and their
owners amply indemnified.—A tax of only one half-
penny per pound on West India sugar imported for
home consumption, would produce sufficient for the pur-
pose;--the bounties and protecting duties of much
greater amount, now granted for the support of Slavery,
might be withdrawn; and the Abolition of Slavery ac-
complished with less expense whilst it lasts, and would
soon entirely cease to the Nation.
By the plan proposed, the claims and wants of pro-
prietors are provided for as far as expedient--four-fifths
of the present race of slaves, freed by the Act, are to work
for their former owner gratuitously up to the age of 34,
(more than their general value at the usual rate of slave
labour) and then to be purchased at their standing
worth by the Nation-likewise their services for life,
if necessary, secured to him at trifling wages, to be paid
only whilst they are sufficiently able-bodied and efficient.
-The other one-fifth, id est, slaves under 7 years of age


53
at the time, and freed by the act of general emancipation,
are to give their gratuitous services up to the age of 24-
and afterwards to provide for themselves, also sufficient
for their master's indemnification, convenience, and
profit—he will also be further entitled to the same ad-
vantage from all children, if reared by him, henceforth
born of the present race of his slaves above 7 years of
age when freed by the Act.-Masters will be endowed
with all due power for every good and necessary pur-
pose—and no retrospection of past delinquences will
be brought against Slave-holders.
These are the sacrifices made by the Slaves and by
the Nation-what sacrifice make Slave-holders ?-if
any, comparatively trifling.---which ought they to grudge
in furtherance of so good a cause; and as some atone-
ment for their past injustice.-The terms here proposed
are as much in their favour, if not more so, as the gene-
ral expediency of the case, and necessary concessions
of all parties concerned will allow.-Are Slave-holders,
though the most guilty, to be the only party exempt
from sacrifice ?-if they object, ought they not to be
compelled?
Certainly the National Government might take a
shorter cheaper course, and yet provide for the indemnity
of proprietors, at least for their able-bodied slaves, by
simply allowing them the gratuitous service of such
slaves, until they had thus worked out their freedom
at a fair valuation-for instance, take Mr. Bickell's
statement of the present terms of slave hire for labour-
ers in Jamaica at £20. currency each per annum, clear
of all expense to the owner.—This in 7 years would
produce £140. exactly £100. sterling, which is much
above the average worth per head of able-bodied slaves
as labourers.-But allowing the owner their gratuitous
services úp to the age of 34, as here aforementioned,


and reckoning only the commencement of their prime
from the age of 18 or even 20—this would give 14 years
of their full vigor for indemnity of their owner, besides
whatever profit he may previously derive from their
services up to the age of 20-which certainly altogether
might be considered as more than a receipt in full for
the discharge of every such slave, and leave a surplus
bonus to the owner, which might serve as a set off for
any deficiency of profit from his less efficient slaves.
Thus taking one with another, the whole of the present
race aforesaid, by serving gratuitously up to the age of
34, might be reckoned to have more than worked out
their freedom, and indemnified their proprietor by the
worth of their labour, leaving a balance in favour of
slaves less profitable to their owner, who after all must
take the bad with the good, under the present system-
or even rate the price of slave labour as low as £15.
currency £10. 14s. 3}d. sterling a year for each, clear of
all expense, this would be amply sufficient for the pur-
pose. Let it also be remarked, that many slaves will
be above the age of 34 at the time of general emancipa-
tion, whenever it may take place, and such greater
length of their gratuitous service, which cannot be re-
called, nor well accounted for, must of course be pro-
portionally more in favor of the owner.---Or Government
might only allow annuities on disabled slaves for their
support by their master-but this would beget intricacy,
indefinite expense, and most likely imposition.
We recommend in preference, as most expedient, the
plan afore suggested, of allowing owners the gratuitous
service up to the age of 34 of all their slaves, the profit-
able with the less efficient, of the present race above
7 years of age at the time, and freed by the Act of
general emancipation, and then purchasing them by
annuity at their individual worth, having attained that
3


55
age, chiefly because not only ought we not to be too
niggardly with West India proprietors in putting an
end to their slave system, we have hitherto granted im-
mense sums for its support, and ought not to be too
parsimonious in the more laudable scheme of getting
rid of it—they are also generally embarrassed men, we
are likewise acting against their prejudices and notions
of interest, and liberality on this occasion may be
deemed necessary for them, and the most likely means
to induce their consent and co-operation.-We also
contemplate the withdrawal hereafter of the unjust and
impolitic bounties and protecting duties on their
produce.-But more especially because by the present
system proprietors are allowed the gratuitous services
of their slaves of all sorts, not only for their sheer in-
demnification, but also any extra profit slaves may
yield during the whole of their lives. By the plan heré
proposed for general emancipation, we also still saddle
the master with attachment and maintenance of all
slaves aforementioned of the present race, for life if
necessary, many of them disabled or otherwise unprofit-
able subjects, though this is no more than at present
enjoined by the slave system, yet it leaves him the good
with the bad. We also compel him to payment of
wages to able-bodied servants of the present race of
slaves on attaining a certain age, which is not enjoined
by the slave system--and though it may be expected he
would be sufficiently compensated for such allowance
of wages, by the increased exertions of such servants
on his account, yet to entitle us to impose such new
terms on the master, we ought first to purchase the
slave at a fair valuation, according to the present usage,
before we thus re-let him as a freed servant, if we act
on the principle of Indemnification. This, under ex-
isting circumstances, can be best done by allowing such


56
slave in the first instance to work gratuitously for his
owner, up to a certain age, as at present, and then pay-
ing in money his remaining worth at that period. There
are also Mortgages, Annuities, and other claims on
slaves, which will require, and can thus be made good,
as under the present system.*
I come now to speak more particularly of compen-
sation to proprietors for slave children under 7 years
of age at the time of general emancipation.
A slave at its birth, is usually estimated to be worth
£5.--and at the age of 7 years as worth £15.-But if
the owner then sell such slave, he must of course give
up all its future services to the purchaser.—Now. by the
plan proposed, instead of buying, we allow the slave to
work for his owner gratuitously up to the age of 24-
and afterwards to provide for himself.-Proprietors
usually calculate that, under good management, slave
* Those having Mortgages, Annuities, or any other claims on
slaves, may have them as fully made good by the plan here pro-
posed, as under a system of Slavery.—Proprietors will be allowed
the gratuitous services of all their slaves of the present race, above
7 years old when freed by the Act, until they attain the age of
34, the same as though they remained their slaves--and besides
having their services afterwards secured to them for life, if ne-
.cessary, at trifling wages, will then (at the age of 34) receive their
fair value in way of Annuity, which will answer all demands
upon them to the amount of their worth.--And in many cases of
infirmity, &c. the annuities will last longer than the services of
those on whom they are granted, who otherwise as slaves must
bave been supported by their owner without any provision for his
indemnification.-Or the security on slaves may be transfered to
the soil, and thus rendered more valuable.-Proprietors will also
be allowed the gratuitous services up to the age of 24 of all slave
children under 7 years of age when freed by the Act; and of all
children, if reared by them, born free of parents their former slaves
above 7 years old when freed by the Act of general emancipation
quite enough for indemnification and profit.


57
children at the age of 7 years begin to repay by their
services the trifling expense of having reared them; and
it
may
be reckoned that by the end of the next 7 years,
they have at least indemnified their owner for all such
expense on their account up to the age of fourteen. The
succeeding ten years is thus left for his further indemni-
fication and profit; comprehending in that climate of
precosity about 7 years (say from 17 to 24) of the prime
of life, which according to the present value of slave
labour afore stated, without reckoning the preceeding
years up to 17, is at least fully sufficient to purchase
the fee simple of any ordinary able-bodied slave, so of
çourse to answer any claims to the amount of his or her
worth—and at such youthful period of life (up to the
age of 24) they are likely to prove efficient and profit-
able servants.-Moreover, proprietors will also have
been paid, in service and money, the full value of all
parents of such children, except in a few cases of the
demise of such parents during the short interval between
the birth of the child and time of general emancipation-
and even in such cases, they will have had the services
of the parents as slaves during the whole of their lives,
and must take the chance of the death of their slaves
whether in early life or late.-Thus far in fact, will they
have been fully paid the worth of two generations-id
est, parents and children.—And after all, 'tis very ques-
tionable, whether proprietors have ever had any legal
right to the children even of their unredeemed slaves.-
At any rate, we must stop somewhere, and why not at
the children of those whose emancipation has been fully
bought and paid for in service and money--and such
children being bound to serve their mother's former
owner gratuitously up to the age of 24-in itself suffi-
cient for his remuneration on their account.--Or we
may also pay proprietors of such children a pecuniary


59
the rate of say £10. each, taking one with another.
--This on 150,000, the number afore estimated, will
add one million and a half principal money to the
amount of expense for general, emancipation, calcu.
lated at page 52.
But this demand ought to be resisted by Government,
as unjust in itself, onerous to the Nation, and most exor-
bitant on the part of Slave-holders, who, without this
exaction, ought to be content and thankful for the liberal
terms otherwise accorded them--especially as after all,
in strict justice, they are not entitled to any compensa-
tion for ceasing from holding their fellow creatures and
fellow subjects in Slavery-that too within the British
dominions !
There is another class in Slavery, namely, people of
colour, their case is even more deplorable than that of
the negroe slaves.-For though a negroe has as much
right in strict justice to be free as the lighter shades,
even including the White--yet the people of colour
generally, enslaved or free, being more enlightened and
civilized than the negroes at present, feel more sensibly
the degradation of their condition as slaves-and
approaching more nearly the White in colour, intelli-
gence, and refinement, excite in a greater degree our
commisseration.-These too, down to the Mulattoe in-
clusive, horrible to say, are all white men's children
held or abandoned by their fathers in Slavery.-And
those fathers Englishmen!
The slaves of colour may be generally considered at
least a generation before the negroe slaves in knowledge
and civilization; and if freed and under good treatment,
are the natural allies of the Whites from consanguinity,
mutual interest, and safety, among a proponderating
negroe population; and may with safety and advantage
be at once admitted to an extension of privilege.


61
of general emancipation, must remain attached to the
estate or establishment to which they belong, be taken
care of, and their master indemnified on the same
terms as paid by the Nation for other slaves freed by
the Act.
I shall not here enter into the argument with pro-
prietors, whether they are thus as fully indemnified for
their slaves of colour, as for their negroc slaves—but
cut the matter short, by insisting on the necessity of the
case-and on this the National Government ought to be
peremptory.—Abominable! that Englishmen should
sordidly estimate every thing, even human rights and
liberty unjustly withheld, at their supposed worth in
pounds, shillings, and pence--and expect to be so paid
to the last fraction, before they restore them!*
* The following is a goodly example for the imitation of Slave-
holders.--Colonel K a white inhabitant of the parish of Hano-
ver in Jamaica, wished to purchase the freedom of a Mulattoe
female slave and his five children by her, also slaves by their birth,
belonging to Welcome estate in the same parish.—The proprietor,
John Vincent, Purrier, now of St. Helen's Place, London, gene-
rously allowed him to fix his own price, which he did at £300. cur-
rency for the whole lot.- For this Mr. P. liberated the Mother and
her five children—these six slaves all together, were reckoned
fairly worth £800. currency, as marketable commodities.





PART
II.
bolster up
LET West India proprietors also remember that they
have long, and still continue to receive immense sums
from the Nation in bounties, protecting duties, &c. to
their extravagant and losing system-which
would already go far to purchase the fee simple of all
their slaves.
It is not probable that this onerous, unjust, and im-
politic lavishment will be much longer borne by the
Nation--and West India proprietors had better be pre-
pared for its cessation.-However, give them a fair start
on better plans and management, with all necessary
assistance and encouragement; when, if they cannot
go alone, and compete with others (at least their fellow
subjects) in the market—then leave them to themselves,
and West India affairs to find their proper level.
If under good management estates will not yield a
fair profit to their owners, with justice to others, 'tis high
time to abandon the naturally and incorrigible losing
concern.–At any rate, if we must continue for ever to
bolster up West India Interest, though against that of
the Nation—at least, let it not be in support of an infa-
mous system of Slavery, nor as a substitute for fair
dealing, reasonable expectations, and good management.
-If they expect the Nation to help them, let them also,
as far as they can, help themselves, and make the most
of their own fair and natural resources, really within


64
their power.-At least far more than at present, and I
verily believe all that is needful for their due prosperity
(such is the capability of West India affairs under
proper management) may be effected by their own exer-
tions alone, if fairly clear of the slave system, and past
imprudent embarrassment*-but this they avade, and
will never thoroughly set about until compelled-and
then are likely to do well enough-or should they require
aid, will at least better deserve it.
Instead of aiming at fair and reasonable profits,
arising from natural means and good management, im-
plying care and moderation, they prefer an artificial
system of forced and unrequited (so mistakenly sup-
posed the least expensive) labour of slaves; with pro-
tecting duties to secure a monopoly of the home market;
and bounties to enable them to deal abroad; and so dis-
pense with prudence, and gratify their extravagance or
avarice on easier terms.-As long as we continue thus
to indulge their improvidence or cupidity, they will so
go on, nay, lay 'us under greater contributions if they
can—and after all, are generally beggaring themselves,
as well as fleecing the nation, and oppressing their slaves.
- Would it not be kind to their interest and character,
as well as just to others, to force them into better
measures, for their own safety, honor, and welfare, in
spite of themselves--hereafter they may be thankful -
* Those who are in a state of insolvency, from whatever cause,
or otherwise cannot well carry on their concerns, or extricate
themselves, cannot expect the Nation to do it for them they
must, as in all such cases, give up or dispose of their property
and effects, or make the best arrangement they can, fortunate if
they can save any thing out of the fire-then their estates will
generally get into fresh hands, who will start free, and may, with
sufficient capital and good management, do well enough for thom-
selves.


65
at any rate, we shall have done our duty to them, to
our West India black and coloured subjects, to our
Eastern brethren, and to the Nation.
If there be really any innate and insuperable cause to
prevent the due prosperity of West India affairs, under
proper management, without the continuance of slavery,
bounties, protecting duties, and with all the factitious
aid hitherto afforded them are still a drooping concern,
crying out for more and more help—then why should
we seek thus to uphold them, against the soundest
principles of political economy, when we can obtain the
same tropical produce, with all fair and natural com-
mercial advantages, on better terms, from our Eastern
possessions, and even from Foreigners.
West India proprietors in trying to shew they are in
such a predicament, overshoot the mark, and are
proving too much for their purpose, by demonstrating
that it is not worth our while at such rate to support
them.
West India affairs either can or cannot shift for them-
selves by fair and natural means if they can, then why
do not proprietors make the most of their resources-
if they cannot, then why should we attempt to bolster
up such a losing, and even nefarious concern, by unjust
and impolitic measures-let them get out of this di-
lemma how they can.
They boast of the six millions a year, they say they
bring to our Revenue.—Why at least two millions of
this are annually lost to the nation, in bounties, pro-
tecting duties, expenses for the defence, government,
&c. of our West India colonies and the whole of the
duties on imported tropical produce are paid by the
consumer, not by the grower--so that the same clear
duties might be levied, were we to purchase from our
East India subjects, or even from foreigners--and at


more
66
least two millions a year saved by taking off the pro-
tecting duties, &c. which now also shut out cheaper
productions, and prevent a greater consumption.
Then as for the importation of English raw or manu-
factured articles into our West India colonies—'tis
probably not near so great as might be expected would
take place in our East India possessions, if the trade
in Sugar, &c. were thrown open to fair competition-
indeed, we might secure great commercial advantages
from both parties.-And where could our West India
colonists go, even if they were independent, to find a
better market to buy or to sell, especially with their
English habits—see the continued trade between us and
the American States since their separation—and after
all, 'tis at least questionable, whether our most profit-
able commerce is not with the world at large, rather
than with our encumbering colonies, except perhaps at
first establishing the English language and habits
among them-see the flourishing trade of the American
States without possessing any colonies.—And how
much greater would be the trade between us and our
West India colonies, particularly the importation and
consumption of English goods for the immense black
and coloured population, if Slavery were Abolished, and
the negroes and people of colour accumulating property,
--See the much greater consumption of foreign and do-
mestic articles by the free blacks and coloured people,
than the slaves, in the American States; and by the
present citizens of Hayti, than the former slaves of St.
Domingo.—Here is a mine of wealth, yet comparatively
unimproved for the Mother country and her colonies.
West India proprietors say, “ that they have as much
right to Protecting Duties, &c. as the English land-
lords to Corn Laws in favour of their produce”-per-
haps so, but they must first prove that the landlords of


67
England have any such right in equity or sound policy
to inflict high prices on the Nation, by keeping out
cheaper productions, cramping our commerce, and
shamefully fleecing the poor in obtaining the Staf of
Life.- However, unjust and impolitic as are our Corn
Laws, they chiefly aim at giving preference to our home
over the same foreign commodity.-Whereas, the pro-
tecting duty in favor of West India sugar, the pro-
duction of slavery, is a special partiality shewn to our
colonists in the West, to the detriment of our Eastern
subjects, who furnish the article by the labour of freemen,
could on lower terms supply the nation, and probably
take more of our home productions in return.—More-
over, our Corn Laws appear on the point of being re-
pealed or modified, and succeeded by a more just and
enlightened policy.
West Indians tell us “ to reform the state of Ireland,
before we meddle with their system of Slavery.”—This
is a home thrust to be sure—but what does it do for
them ?-why only shews that others are allowed to
tyranize as well as themselves; and is this the best ex-
cuse they can find for their own acts of oppression ?-a
sure sign of a bad cause, which cannot better defend
itself-they seek to justify their own, by raking up the
delinquency of others. However, Government inust
expect to have such examples thrown in its teeth.
---Heaven knows the state of Ireland is bad enough,
and needs reform ; but not so bad neither as, or any
justification of West India Slavery.--And now at
length, Government seems really disposed to render full
justice to Ireland.-West Indians also say, that abuse
of power is suffered to exist in our Eastern dominions
-At any rate, Englishmen there are not allowed to be
Slave-holders.
West India proprietors now cry out for some
E 2


68
measures to bring their Sugar into use instead of Grain
for our distilleries. Certainly, as British subjects, they
are entitled to every facility and fair encouragement for
the disposal of their produce in the home market—but no
force work, infliction of high prices, or other incon-
venience on the nation, or injury to any part of our sub-
jects--and least of all in favor of Slave-holders. Let
them get rid of that stigma, then let us do for them all
we fairly can, and even be generous as far as expedient.
Let them avail themselves to the utmost of their fair
and natural resources, which are great, many, sufficient,
and far more calculated for their real welfare, than the
present artificial, unjust, and inefficient system.—Mr.
Huskisson's Bill on Colonial Trade, now brought into
Parliament, and so much in their favor, will greatly tend
to develop their capabilities, encrease their means, ex-
cite their energies, and place their honest prosperity
on a proper basis--which let us promote as far as we
can with justice and good policy.
The most natural, fair, and eligible mode for Govern-
ment to afford relief to our West India proprietors,
besides the provisions in Mr. Huskisson's Bill now
pending in Parliament, would be to reduce the duties on
their produce to the peace rate, say of 1791–or as
nearly so as our revenue will admit, which would induce
a greater consumption-this our colonists and the
nation have a right to expect-but then, even if we cun-
tinue to allow, at least for a time, the present bounties
on re-exportation of West India, the restrictive duties
against East India sugars should be withdrawn, which
would be so much saved to the Nation, and a fair com-
petition admitted in the home market between our East
and West India subjects, though higher duties, as at
present, if deemed politic, might still be levied on
Fore.gners. - It would also be more politic and equitable
1
21


69
to withdraw at once the bounty on exportation from
England of refined West India sugar, and freely allow
the planters and others to manufacture refined sugars
of any quality and quantity in the colonies, to use and
dispose of as they please.
Let the duties on East and West India sugars be
at least equalized, id est, the same on each ; or which
would be far more equitable, rated according to
classification of quality.-This our West Indians need
not dread; their sugars possess a stronger saccrine pro-
perty, and are better manufactured, so will commonly
command a preference in the market.-- They have also
a much shorter transit in their favor.--These, and
other circumstances are their great, natural, and perma-
nent advantages, which they may safely rely on (with
general good management) rather than meanly and un,
justly seeking to exclude their Eastern brethren who
after all at least as yet can only furnish an inferior
commodity, brought from a far greater distance.*
• A plain and practical Pamphlet, lately published by Hatchard,
on East India sugar, shews that its quality may be greatly im-
proved, especially in point of strength, by a better process than
hitherto in use among the natives; and it has always been of a
fairer colour, greater delicacy of flavour, and superior fineness
than West India sugar, and a more elegant article for use in an
unrefined state; and may well serve as a substitute for the pro-
dace of Slavery, at least until the system shall be Abolished-
when the public may take the choice of either, and purchase as
best suits the particular purpose required; and will then obtain
both on lower terms than at present.—The Tropical Free Labour
Company now forming, will possess and use the means to bring
East India sugar to its greatest possible degree of perfection.–At
present it could and would be sold in our market much oheaper, if
the extra duty of 10s. per cwt. were taken off, now levied on it
more than on West India sugar.—What a shameful imposition on
our East India subjects and on the Nation, as well as against the
freedom of Commerce; and solely for benefit of our West India


70
Why if the artificial system of protecting duties, &c.
is resorted to, it had better be in aid of the natural dis-
advantages our East India subjects unavoidably labour
under, in being only able to produce inferior Sugar
brought from a greater distance; whilst the better sort
from our West India colonies, much nearer at hand,
must generally command the market, and can shift for
itself.—But even suppose that East India should ever
attain an equal or greater degree of perfection than
West India sugar, is this a fair and politic plea for
restraining, nearly to prohibition, the admission into the
home market of such production of our Eastern subjects,
and from the labour of freemen, in order to give a
monopoly to comparatively a handful of West India
Slave-holders, much nearer at hand, with other advan-
tages-yet, who without competition, will probably never
furnish the article on as good terms to the Nation-and
after all, from their paucity of numbers, and other
causes, will not be able to take so much of our home
productions in return, as our Eastern subject are likely
to do if fairly encouraged.--And on the same plea,
though certainly against the soundest principles of
national trade and policy, we ought to levy a higher duty
on Sugars from the more productive soil of Demerara,
Essequebo, &c. than on those of our less fertile West
India colonies, or exclude them altogether from our
market-indeed, the old West India colonists have
actually attempted this with the Government in their
own favor, but expect that our East India subjects
should be treated on quite a diamatrically opposite
principle—that is, to pay a higher impost in proportion
Colonists, comparatively few in number, and for support of their
slave system, in preference to those of our subjects who produce
the same commodities by their free labour, and within our own
territories!


71
to the disadvantages they have to contend with !*_And
to carry the unnatural system still further, we might pro-
hibit our colonies which can produce Sugar the best,
from cultivating it at all, and reserve the privilege
solely for those, that can only furnish it under the greatest
disadvantages. We had better leave things to find their
proper level, and individuals to do the best they can for
themselves.
But our West India planters think, that if Govern-
ment will only allow them to monopolize the home
market, which it has done, they can then, with assis-
tance of the bounties allowed, afford to sell their super-
fluous produce, if they have any, to foreigners as cheap
as other folks, or if they cannot so deal abroad, they
can do without, and our East India subjects, or any
body else, may fatten on their leavings--mighty liberal
and patriotic truly—but ought they to be thus indulged,
* They even protest against the trifling quantity of Sugar raised
in the small and single colony of the Mauritius being admitted in-
to the home market on the same terms as that from the West Iu-
dies; though the mode of culture and manufacture is exactly the
same, and the Mauritius as much a British Colony as any in the
Western hemisphere; and from its greater liability to devastation
from hurricanes, disadvantage of remoter distance, &c. requiring
and entitled to at least equal fostering care from the Mother coun-
try.--It appertains to the Crown, not to the East India Company;
and at its surrender during the late war, was guarranteed an equa-
lity of privileges with our West India colonies.--Moreover, the
slave system is as much carried on in the Mauritius—and though
this ought to be no plea in favor of the colony with Government,
yet why should those who operate by slave labour in our Eastern
territory be invidiously excluded from the same advantages we
grant to those in the West; and the latter ought to admit them, if
only from a fellow feeling for their kind; yet they object, such is
their selfishness and rapacity, they expect to be the only favored
party.-But neither ought to be so encouraged in support of the
slave system.


73
ed by fair competition, at least between our own subjects.
---And why have we so greedily sought to increase our
sugar possessions ?-if to keep them out of the hands of
foreigners, that will never do, unless we could engross
the whole sugar land on the globe, or could supply them
cheaper than they can grow it themselves, or elsewhere
obtain it—what wretched policy, which recoils on our-
selves.-Foreign nations having tropical colonies, and
who will not be tributary to us, or suffer our undue
monopoly of the trade, are thus induced to extend their
sugar cultivation, by breaking up fresh land, which is
usually the best for the purpose, in order to supply
themselves and others; it can also be procured by other
means on better terms than from us-so we have too
much left on our hands, thus is the biter bit—and we go
floundering on in vain attempts to bolster up an
unnatural system.--But we could supply ourselves and
others cheaply, and our Sugar trade be much extended,
with other advantages, if we left things to find their
proper level, and our East and West India subjects with-
out partiality to either, equally to shift and do the best
they can for themselves.-Among other effects, our West
India colonists no longer secure of a monopoly of the
home market, would be drove to do their utmost to
supply us and others on the best possible terms, a most
fortunate necessity for them, which would be sure to
induce good management on their part, and throw them
on their own capabilities and resources, sufficient if
made the most of.-Whilst a free admission of East
India sugar would keep down the price, increase the
consumption, and vastly enlarge our return trade with
our Eastern subjects. This also would be more conso-
nant to the sound and enlightened policy of late
adopted by our Government in its other commercial
relations.-Yet notwithstanding the wise and liberal


74
maxims now professed and acting on by our Government,
in its colonial and general commercial policy, the
removal of impediments to trade of all kind being the
order of the day--not a hint is given as to repealing, or
even lowering the Restrictive duty on East India sugar,
though an abatement of the heavy impost on their silk
and cotton goods is to take place.- This inconsistency
is too glaring to be plausibly ascribed to inadvertency,
or even honest, though mistaken notions of expediency.
— 'Tis plain, that West India influence is still predo-
minant against the rights of our Eastern subjects, and
the general good of the Nation-The Mother country
proves herself a Step-mother to her Eastern family.
With more sugar colonies than any nation, and with
at least equal capital, skill, and enterprise, why cannot
we turn them to advantage by supplying the article to
ourselves and others on at least as good terms as it can
be any where obtained ?-'tis for want of good national
policy, and inividual management-our Sugar Colonies
might be rendered far more advantageous and less bur-
densome to the Mother country, and prosper well them-
selves, under a proper system.—But to return to the sub-
ject of Slavery.
Slave-holders expect to be allowed to do Wrong, mere-
ly because they say it is for their Interest. Whether or
not it will be most for the interest of West India proprie-
tors to substitute free for slave labour, is more their
affair than that of the Nation.—'Tis enough that justice,
humanity, and expediency, imperiously require the pro-
hibition of Slavery in the British dominions, and these
are paramount reasons, superceding all others, for its
Abolition.—But that it assuredly will (with general good
management) prove most advantageous for such pro-
prietors; appears so self-evident, as the natural sequence
of cause and effect (as I have particularly point-
1


75
ed out, and endeavored to prove, in the late pamphlet
Emancipation”)—that did we not know the perverting
power of habit, prejudice, and crooked policy, we might
be astonished to find any difference of opinion on the
matter.
Nor is it a question that ought to influence us, whe-
ther or not our West India colonists may be able to con-
tinue their system of Slavery.—They generally flatter
themselves they can, if allowed and assisted by the
Mother country * -- for my own part, who have well
marked the progress and tendency of the West In-
dia system, I verily believe, that from the acquired
and increasing knowledge and civilization of the slave
population, impossible to prevent; their vast superiority
in number and physical strength; the nature of the
country and climate; with the example of St. Domingo
before their eyes; and other causes ; the Whites will
not much longer be able to keep them in slavish sub-
jection, by any means they possess, however base they
may be willing to employ, and though backed, as hither-
to, by all the power of Great Britain so shamefully ap-
plied—and that most likely the continued attempt will
end in a terrible catastrophe to the White colonists.
But even suppose they should for ever be able to keep
up their system of slavery and oppression, ought they
to be allowed and assisted by the English Government
and people ?—The crime is as atrocious and infamous
in us at home, who could at once put an end to it, as in
* Speaking lately with a large West India proprietor resident
in England, I requested him to seriously consider the improbability
of being much longer able to keep up their slave system.--He an-
swered,“ Why we do think we can keep up the system, if Govern-
ment will only let us alone, and supply us with plenty of troops.”
-This short and pithy reply, speaks volumes as to the real views
and intentions of Slave-liolders.


70
its more immediate perpetrators in our colonies--and
moreover as fleecing, as iniquitous and disgraceful to
the Nation-here is an appeal to our self-interest, as
well as to our justice and humanity, which when gene-
rally understood, must finally prevail, or our folly must
be equal to our crime.
The immediate Abolition of Slavery in our colonies, is
'not only the most just, but also the most likely mode by
which it will ever at all be put an end to.
The Abolitionists have fallen into a fatal error, and
given up the main strength of their cause, by supposing
and admitting that Slavery can only be discontinued by
very slow degrees—their opponents will take especial
care it shall be slow indeed-done, as they boys say,
“ to-morrow come never”—and like Penelope's web,
never get on—“Festine lente” (make haste slowly) will
be their Motto.
'Tis a stale trick with crafty men benefited by a cor-
rupt system, on finding a general outcry for its Reform,
to plausibly admit that some reform is necessary-but
this is not the proper time, or that it must be done by
very cautious slow degrees; and above all, endeavor to
get the contrivance and management of the plan to them-
selves, and then the game is their own.
Thus we find our West India colonists declare “ that
whatever reform of their slave system may be necessary
and practicable, must be effected by very gradual means;
and those suggested and executed only by themselves--
that they will not suffer any interference from without,
are the best judges of what can and ought to be done,
and most interested in doing the best.”—This has long
been their tone, yet to go no further back than the last
quarter of a century, since Reform has been more strenu-
ously urged upon them, what have they done?-why
nothing, or next to nothing—their system remains essen-


77
tially the same in all its prominent parts of injustice
and oppression, and any little improvement which may
have taken place, bas been mostly effected by other
causes than the voluntary wish and endeavors of the
white colonists, chiefly by the outcry in England, and
the increasing knowledge of the slaves rendering them
less controulable than formerly under outrageous op-
pression.
Within these few months the chief Island of Jamaica,
the leading organ of all the colonies, and containing in it-
self nearly a moiety of our whole West India slave popu-
lation, has officially declared “that on a late review of
the slave code, they find it so complete in all its parts,
as not to require or admit of any alteration !-and that
they will resist even the least, as only leading to greater
innovations, finally tending to entirely upset the slave
system, which they cannot do without, and will never
agree to give up.”—This, though bold, is at least honest,
and ought to open our eyes.-
Are we to go on believing
or hoping that the colonists will voluntarily and in good
earnest set about any material improvement of their
slaves condition, and above all will cordially co-operate
in measures for the final extinction of Slavery?
For my own part, I think we ought to feel thankful to
them for their frank and open avowal of determined
opposition to the measures only proposed, but not en-
forced by Government-for had they professed acqui-
escence, I know them too well, and the nature of the
slave system, to have believed in their sincerity-it would
have been followed by every species of evasion, and
thus, at least for a time, the Nation might have been
beguiled.
The propositions or instructions unanimously agreed
to in Parliament two years ago, and sent out by Govern-
ment to all our West India colonies, for improving the


79
1
The whole has dwindled down into a trial of parts of
the plan in the single island of Trinadad, not containing
more than a 40th part of our West India slave popula-
tion. And even here, though more under the controul
of the Crown, every possible opposition and evasion
may be expected--but even suppose that the Regulations
are duly enforced, and productive of the best practical
effects—the other colonists will not suffer it, for at least
many years to come, to be even quoted as an experiment
sufficiently tried—and then will find some plausible
excuse for not adopting it among themselves--such as,
“it may do well enough for Trinadad, but not for us”-
or "we have Legislatures of our own, and best know how,
and are entitled to enact for ourselves the internal
regulations of our own colony"_thus is got rid of,
sine die, the hated business of reform.
If they honestly wanted only to ascertain the practi-
cal effects of general emancipation—they might behold
the experiment ready made to their hands in St. Domingo,
Sierra Leone, the French West India colonies during
several years up to the time of Buonaparte, Colombia,
&c. but
“A man convinc'd against his will,
Is of the same opinion still.”
Meanwhile their suffering slaves are doomed to
is not his Majesty's intention to emancipate the slaves"-whereas,
the aforesaid propositions expressly state, “ that this House looks
forward to a progressive improvement in the character of the slave
population, such as may prepare them for a participation in those
civil rights and privileges, which are enjoyed by other classes of
his Majesty's subjects.”—The Proclamation is also in other re-
spects sadly at variance and inconsistent with the vote of Parlia-
ment, and seems a lame attempt at Retraction on the part of
Ministers, as if they thought they had previously gone too far, and
wish to draw in their horns; or at any rate, to pacify the West
India party.---It has been aptly called “ The Hope Extinguisher.”


80
endure for an indefinite, and who can say how long a
period, unrestrained unmitigated oppression. And
when they know that the King's Government has merci-
fully interfered to ameliorate the condition of slaves in
Trinadad, but not for them-it will only render them
more impatient of their own hard lot-enough to drive
to desperation-which may produce violent convulsions,
ending either in the general massacre or expulsion of
the Whites; or else the continued slavery and oppres-
sion of the Negroes, until their race becomes extinct or
nearly so, in our colonies, already fast diminishing un-
der the slave system, which will be further accelerated
by occasional wholesale butcheries of them on any at-
tempt, which henceforth most likely will happen more
frequently and formidably than ever, to shake off their
thraldom-either alternative is dreadful-to avert which
is the earnest wish of the Abolitionists,
Whilst a man is a slave he cannot be effectually pro-
tected from injustice—whilst under the arbitrary will
and power of his task-masters, subject to any inflic-
tion they may impose ; considered and treated as chat-
tles; liable to be sold like a beast; torn from his home
and dearest connections; no right in his own personal
carcass; denied the rights of a husband and parent,
his wife and children, as well as himself belong to
another; deprived of all free agency; his evidence not
admitted in a court of justice against any free person,
however his oppressor; the administrators of the Law
Slave-holders themselves -- any enactment or regula-
tions made apparently in his favor, will practically
proye mere nullities—every opposition, collusion and
evasion, may be expected from Slave-holders and their
myrmidons—who can prevent, detect, or redress all the
abuse of power, especially going on in the secret re-
cesses of plantations and other slave establishments;
!!


81
or how dare the slave prefer his complaint to such con-
stituted public tribunals; what chance has he of redress,
nay, he is liable to their sentence of punishment for
false, frivolous, or malicious accusation, if he fail to
establish his plea !-and has still more to dread from the
vengeance of his oppressors, against whom he has com-
plained, when he returns into the clutches of their
fearful power !*
Render all slaves free, define their rights as citizens,
place them under the government and protection of the
Law, (the administrators of which will no longer be
Slave-holders) appoint respectable independent men to
defend and preserve the rights of the emancipated
negroes and people of colour-then, and not 'till then,
may they be effectually protected from oppression, and
their condition really and materially improved.-And
we shall thus at once get rid of the crime and odium of
keeping our fellow creatures and subjects in Slavery.
Abolish Slavery at once and for ever--when West
India proprietors find that this is really and irrevocably
done, then, and not till then, will they give up all further
contest, evasion, &c. as useless ; submit with a good
grace, and seriously set about making the best of the
new order of things-as they did on the Abolition of
their Slave Trade with Africa. The Colonists, if left
to themselves, will be as averse to reform or abolition of
* Mr. J. Smith, late Missionary at Demerara, states in his
journal" The rigours of Negroe Slavery I believe can never be
nitigated, the system must be abolished.” - The Rev. T. Cooper, late
of Jamaica, it is I think, who says, “I once thought that Slavery
might be ameliorated, I am now of opinion that it cannot, but must
be abolished.”-For my own part, I had not been long in the West
Indies, before I arrived at the same melancholy conviction, and
have ever since continued to give it as my decided opinion.—This
is the grand secret well known to practical Slave-holders, though
they do not chuse to say much about it, except among themselves.


82
their slave system for ages to come, as at present, and
always have been.-We had better begin and finish
with them by doing all that is necessary and practicable
at once, and keep a tight hand over them until we have
done.
It is as great an error to suppose that Slavery can be
best Ameliorated, as that it can also be best Abolished,
by partial slow degrees.-We must begin where we
now only expect to end, by its Abolition at once and
for ever, before any material improvement can take
place in the condition of the enslaved.--Proprietors
could not, if they would, and by far the greater part of
them would not if they could, effect much alteration for
the better in their slave system.-It must continue pretty
much as it is, or cease to exist at all, and probably die
a violent death, involving the Aggressors in ruin or des-
truction. 'Tis entirely kept up by brutal force and
despotic power on the part of owners, against the will
and interest of their slaves, who will evade their toil-
some profitless tasks, and otherwise trick their tyrants,
whenever they can.--Craft against force is their chief
weapon, unless they should obtain the ascendency, then
power as well as stratagem will be employed, and most
likely with a vengeance against the oppressors.
A slave has no motive to drudge for his owner except
that of being forced by irresistible compulsion--with-
out fair benefit to himself.—The moment you relax from
the strict and ready discipline of the whip and other
inflictions most suited to goad him, he will proportion-
ally relax in his exertions on behalf of his task-master.
-Grant him other indulgences, his low and degraded
mind will be apt to abuse them ;-he has no sufficient
motives for personal respectability of character, nor
hopes of emerging from Slavery he knows he is still
a slave, and thinks he owes no gratitude on any account


84
the most severe of any, one estate only excepted, in the
whole Island-which shews how difficult it is for humane
proprietors, especially if Absentees, to prevent being
thwarted even by their own Agents, besides the opposition
of surrounding Slave-holders and their myrmidons,
jealous of any innovation on the general practice and
policy of the country.-And even Mr. Hibbert repeat-
cdly declares, he will not venture on any measure that
may endanger the existence of the slave system; but
only ainis at its Amelioration, not its Abolition (which
is also generally the case even with the best among
Slave-holders—Amelioration is their ne plus ultra) thus
he would not suffer his slaves to be taught to read, &c.
-Being so shackled, 'tis not surprising he should not
be able to effect much good.-Mr. Cooper ascribes the
failure of his own mission to the circumstance of the
slaves not having sufficient leisure from their avocations
to attend his instructions, though it appears the pro-
prietor had ordered sufficient time to be set apart for
that purpose. Yet how few, if any Slave-holders can
be found, so benevolent and liberal as Mr. Hibbert, so
able and willing to make such sacrifices in attempts to
ameliorate and improve the system, yet even in this
case under such unusual favorable circumstances, has it
failed in producing any material alteration for the better
_such is the nature of Slavery, it must be Abolished, it
cannot be Improved.
It has been supposed, that if the owners of large West
India estates more generally resided in the colonies, it
would be much better for their slaves-perhaps so--but
most of the large proprietors are living in Europe, and
usually beyond their natural means of income, are often
much embarrassed, and very greedy after large remit-
tances from their agents in the colonies, without being
over scrupulous as to the means by which they are


85
obtained, which leads to the exhaustion of slaves and
soil—and their managers well know how best to please
them by remitting them largely, which answers the pur-
pose for the present, and both parties are generally
reekless of future distant consequences. - Besides,
managers are usually paid by a per centage on the
amount of produce, and otherwise try to feather their
nests by every means in their power-in consequence,
every thing is overstrained to satisfy proprietors and
agents-among the rest, they get as much work with as
little expense as possible out of the slaves.
Even those absentee proprietors more prudent, who
live within bounds, are content with moderate profits,
and aim at good management, can very little know or
controul the proceedings of their agents across the At-
lantic, who will go on pretty much as they please
above all, are generally averse to every innovation on
the ordinary treatment of slaves.-And what must we
think of large proprietors who each own and hold
several hundred human beings in slavery, and live in
Europe, abandoning them to the management of mer-
cenary hirelings 5,000 miles off, content with merely
giving orders for the general good treatment of their
slaves, to those whom it may be expected will evade
them, as contrary to their own ideas and interest.
The Rev. R. Bickell recently returned from Jamaica,
where he had officiated as a clergyman during the last
five years, states in his work lately published, that
several large West India proprietors resident in
England, had sent out directions to their managers in
that Island, to put in practice on their estates the
measures recommended by the mother Government,
but that such orders were generally unattend to,
evaded, and opposed-we wish not to doubt the sin-
cerity of their principals.


86
If West India proprietors will keep slaves, at least
they ought to reside on the spot, and by their personal
care endeavor to lighten the chains of their captivity.-
I have often wondered how they can rest in
peace,on
their pillows, and enjoy their guilty luxuries in Europe,
under such heavy responsibility, and fearful dereliction
of duty, to say nothing of the main enormity, that of at
all keeping their fellow creatures in Slavery.
But even the comparatively few large proprietors who
actually do reside in the colonies, very often lead ex-
travagant dissipated lives on their estates, or in the
neighboring towns where they can better enjoy them-
selves, and leave the management of their affairs to
agents nearly or entirely as much as if they were Ab-
sentees--or else are rapaciously bent on making as
much as soon as possible to enable them to retire to
Europe, careless about the welfare of their slaves, and
often tainted with all the West India prejudices against
them.-Large proprietors are often not a bit more liberal
in purse or in sentiment than the more petty, especially
respecting their slaves-indeed, a slave is generally of
most consequence to the latter, and who can better look
after him, with few or no intermediate agents, often the
greatest tyrants.-Small proprietors are generally the
best managers, and come most in personal contact with
every branch of their own affairs.
The Island of Barbadoes contains a greater proportion
of resident proprietors of large estate than any of our
West India colonies—yet are they not remarkable for
kind treatment of their slaves, but commonly severe
and haughty masters, though there may be more general
good management of their own concerns—and are very
rapacious after gain.
I have been among the Spanish plantations in the
Island of Cuba.-The proprietors lead a kind of patri-


87
archial life, consider the Colony as their permanent
home, live and die on their estate, and are succeeded in
possession by their children from generation to genera-
tion—their habits are simple, their wants are few, and
they cultivate on a small scale only sufficient to supply
them-are kind and indulgent masters, and enjoy much
more comfort, and so do their slaves, than is the case
under a very different order of things in the British
West Indies.
Many proprietors, though of large estate, are really
more necessitous and embarrassed than those of smaller
perty.-Some succeed to an over-encumbered con-
cern; or purchase on credit without sufficient funds to
go on, or even to pay the purchase-money by instal-
ments; or are careless, extravagant, or otherwise bad
managers.-Many are entirely under the controul of
their creditors; others are put out of possession until
their debts are paid, and their creditors bent on making
as much as they can during their own reign, and the
same may be said of Executors in those regions.-
Under these and many other untoward circumstances,
continually occurring in West India affairs under the
present system, is it likely much improvement can take
place in the condition of slaves.-But were they re-
tained as freed servants, they must be properly treated,
or the estate would remain without hands, or must do
the needful for those attached to it.
Proprietors of all sorts, whether of large or less
estates, may be bad, unprincipled, and unfeeling men,
who can and may neglect their duty and abuse their
fearful power over their slaves, or else unable, if not un-
willing, to take proper care of them.- But were they
free servants under the protection of the Law as citi-
zens, no one would be allowed to do or occasiop them
harm, whether intentionally or not.-Many slaves suffer


.88
as much from the neglect, bad management, or necessi-
ties of their owners, as others do from more wilful
cruelty.
But take a rara avis, the beau ideal of the sticklers
for Slavery, from which they argue at least by implica-
tion.-A West India Planter, a good and sensible man,
free from debt and incumbrances, with ample capital
for all necessary purposes, residing on his colonial
estate, managing well, and anxiously desiring and en-
deavoring to improve the condition of his slaves --yet
he cannot answer for those who may come after him, or
what may happen to himself; thus may his slaves be
eventually transfered from a good to a bad master.-
And even during his own time he will find himself con-
tinually thwarted by the nature of the slave system and
its abettors, even among his own subordinate agents.
-Nor is it likely he will venture to endanger its exist-
ence, or if he did, would soon be checked by surround-
ing Slave-holders.
If this be the case even with the best among Slave-
holders, under circumstances so peculiarly favorable
as rarely to be met with-how much worse must it be
as to the far more general run of proprietors, who eithur
cannot, or will not, at any rate do not improve the con-
dition of their slaves.
Many, more especially among petty proprietors, and
the subordinate agents and their understrappers of
those with larger estate, are often the offscourings of
Europe, needy, greedy, desperate adventurers, who risk
their health and life in a deleterious clime, bent on
making pelf by any means in their power, thorough
goers through thick and thin, who will boggle at nothing
they can do with impunity to answer their own purposes
—these are generally the persons who come in most
immediate contact, and are the practical men with the


89
slaves, and continually present impediments to all im-
provement in the condition of slaves, whether belonging
to themselves or to others, and often finally arrive at
being considerable proprietors.--Nay, do we not fre-
quently find, even among opulent and enlightened men
in England, those who purchase West India estate on
speculation, merely to make the most of their money
and consider the slaves as part of the cattle on the
property to be drudged or sold to the utmost profit.*-
Look at tho unholy league lately forming, called “The West
India Company," with a capital of four millions, for the purpose
of upholding and profiting by West India Slavery.-The list of
subscribing names ought to be placed on permanent record—'tis
said they have been prudently destroyed.
In drawing out the foregoing Note some nionths ago, which bere
remains unaltered, the Author had certainly supposed that the
precious scheme alluded to had, from certain causes, died in its
infancy, but finds himself mistaken—for a Bill is now passing
through Parliament to form the same or a like concern into a joint
stock company-by which this confederacy will probably in course
of time acquire nearly all the fee simple of our West India colo-
nies; and needy, embarrassed, or inconsiderate proprietors of
estates, &c. almost comprehending the whole, will, by getting into
its clutches, be kept in thraldom, finely fleeced, and finally ousted.
-Then what unsparing task-masters will such a sordid firm of
money-makers and their agents prove to the poor slaves.-The
system is bad enough at present even under individual owners,
some of whom at least may from a right sense of interest, or
feeling of compassion, be induced not to overstrain their slaves—
but what can be expected from the ravenous nature of such a many
headed monster.—However, as a counteracting project, has been
first publickly announced within these few days the formation of
“A Tropical Free Labour Company”—with also a capital of four
millions.--'Tis gratifying to find that some men are as ingenious
in their more laudable contrivances for the downfall, as others for
the support of a nefarious system. This is a new, and will pro-
bably prove a mighty blow against Slavery.
N. B.-Unless the more knowing leading Managers of the West


90
Is it from such we are to expect improvement in the
condition of slaves.--In short, what can be expected
but abuse of power from men, either good or bad, who
are allowed to do as they please, or it may suit their con-
venience, with their fellow creatures.- Is it not against
every institution of civilized society to guard against
Tyranny ?-Yet such is our West India system of Sla-
very-bad at best,,but in bad, negligent, or incompe-
tent hands, most deplorable.
Even supposing that the most able and willing to
benefit their slaves, may generally be found among the
larger proprietors; these constitute but a small propor-
tion of the great mass of Slave-holders, and have little
or no influence over them. It has been said, that the
great West India proprietors resident in England gene-
rally agreed to the propositions voted by Parliament,
and recommended by Government two years ago--yet
we know they were peremptorily rejected in the Colo-
nies.—And even the colonial Assemblies, which may
be
supposed constituted chiefly of the first rate and most in-
telligent Planters, or their Attornies, are as averse to
any innovation, as the lowest and most ignorant
Slave-holders.-And if any member should be found
hardy enough to propose it, he would probably find as
little support within as without the walls, and would
be soon ousted from his seat by his constituents.
India Company prove very immaculate characters, and if they or
their proteges have West India property or claims of no very
secure or profitable nature, they may palm them on the Company,
and get more than their worth from the funds, or be otherwise
accommodated. Let the uninitiated unfavored Subscribers keep
a sharp look out after the application of their money.
+ This, among many other instances, has been lately further il-
lustrated by the recent proceedings of the Jamaica House of As-
sembly. On the 16th November last, one of its members, Mr.


91
The fact is, that from long continued habit, prejudice,
and surrounding custom, as well as supposed interest,
the Colonists have brought themselves to believe there
is no great harm, if any, in keeping Negroes in Slavery,
whom they have bought with their own money or other-
wise legally succeeded to, and that the general treatment
of slaves is good enough for such inferior beings, or as
much so as expediency will admit of-these notions
not only render them very tenacious of what they deem
their rights and privileges as Slave-holders—but they
also fear that besides present inconvenience, any tam-
pering with their slave system may not only produce
the final extinction of Slavery, which they will never
voluntarily agree to--but likewise bring on themselves
massacre, expulsion, or ruin-so far they may be excu-
sable—though many who consider the present system
as advantageous to themselves, are totally regardless,
though fully conscious, of its injustice to those who suffer
Rennall, brought in a Bill, “ rendering Negroe evidence or tes-
timony admissible, upon any trial of an indictment against a white
or free person, for murder, or for felonious homicide, of any ne-
groe or other slave, or upon any trial of a misdemeanor in mu-
tilating or dismembering any slave, or wantonly or cruelly whip-
ping, maltreating, beating, bruising, wounding, or imprisoning, or
keeping in confinement without sufficient support, any slave," &c.
--The Bill was thrown out on its second reading, by a majority of
34 to 1, and that one the mover of the question, accompanied by
the declaration of several members who took part in the debate,
that they opposed it not only as unnecessary, mischievous, and
dangerous in itself, but also to shew their determination not to ad-
mit of any innovation whatever on their slave system, or interfe-
rence of the Mother country.”—And certainly, if they will not con-
sent to such a measure as that proposed by Mr. Rennall, they
need not fear we can entertain any doubt that they mean to abide
by their declaration.-Persons not having easy access to Jamaica
Newspapers, will find a detailed account of the debate in “ The
Times" of 17th January, 1825.


92
by it--and the more knowing and least prejudiced among
them, are as well aware as ourselves, that their estates
might be cultivated, and all the business of life carried
on in the West Indies, as well and probably better by
free agents as by slaves.-But this they will never con-
sent to, whilst allowed to drudge their fellow creatures
for nothing, and subject them to their own arbitrary will
and power.-And others act without thought on the
matter.
Now though I can never admit on any pretence their
right to keep their fellow creatures and subjects in Slavery
--especially when indemnified for their Emancipation,
and their services further secured to them on easy terms;
nor that the general treatment of slaves is as good as
it need be, or that Slavery ought not to be put an end
to-yet I do think there is much more difficulty and
probable danger likely to accrue from attempts at in-
compatible Reform, than the entire Abolition of the in-
corrigible system. Their error and their fault consist
not so much in their repugnance to an incongruous piece
of patch-work of half and half Slavery, which will
not match or hold well together, as in their opposition
to the entire extinction of Slavery, and the substitution
of an uniform better order of things.
Look at the regular, every day, authorized usages un-
der our West India system of Slavery.-A slave has no
personal right to himself, to his wife or children, they
belong to another; are oonsidered and treated as chat-
tles, may be bought, sold, let out on hire, given away,
seized on for debt, &c. and for ever separated from each
other; are driven and drudged like brute beasts; are
not within the pale of the Law as citizens; but entirely
subjected to the will, convenience, neglect, necessities,
&c. of their owners; and have to run the gauntlet through
all the abuse of power by subordinate agents; with other


94
established and observed among Slaves, deprived of the
rights of husband and wife, parents and children-so on
through all the abominations of the system, presenting
at every turn insuperable obstacles to improvement-
its entire Abolition is more safe, easy, and beneficial.
As for any piecemeal attempts at Reform, Slave-hold-
ers are as jealous and averse to any even the least Alter
ration, as to the entire Abolition of their system, to
which they consider it only as a prelude, and will never
consent or co-operate; but will resist, thwart, and evade
all measures for the purpose, and but too much possess
the practical means to render them abortive.-The at-
tempts to do away with one abomination after another
of the slave system, will be each considered by Slave-
holders as great an attack on their rights and privileges,
and as much disputed as would be the immediate and
entire Abolition of their system.-So that we shall
have to dispute the ground inch by inch, and instead of
by one grand effort getting rid of the whole system at
once, and establishing a complete better order of things,
we shall long be engaged in a succession of struggles,
and most likely very often, if not always, foiled-whilst
the system will be rendered incongruous and more dan-
gerous, by being partly reformed, partly not.
At present, 'tis a machine kept in motion for the pur-
poses intended, by a nice and cunning adaptation of its
several parts to each other-derange its mechanism by
the introduction of incompatible alterations, the whole
is thrown into confusion, and will no longer operate for,
but probably against its directors, and become uncon-
troulable. This is what is principally meant by the
Report of the Committee lately appointed by the Ja-
maica assembly, “ That on a review of the Slave Code,
they find it so complete in all its parts, as not to require
or admit of any Alteration."--There may be more truth


95
than generally supposed in the assertion of Slave-holders,
" that the system has already been reformed as much
or nearly so as it will admit of, to be longer carried on
with safety and advantage."-For my own part, were I
a Slave-holder, I should, on the score of safety and
self-interest, prefer the entire Abolition to any attempt
at Alteration of the system. And I verily believe that
much more difficulty and probable danger is likely to
accrue from any attempts at piecemeal incongruous
Reform, than in the immediate and entire Abolition of
the incorrigible evil-then we start free and unshackled
to establish a complete and consistent better order of
things, which will assimilate and work well together on
uniform principles, for the reciprocal welfare of masters
and their slaves as freed servants and citizens, and bene-
fit of all parties concerned.--To this, after many vain
attempts at partial Reform, we shall probably find it
necessary to come at last, and had better commence
with, if we really intend and expect, by the best means,
to effect the extinction of Slavery.—The evil is radical,
we had better strike at the root than aim at its branches
--with all our lopping off and attempts at engrafting on
the old stock, it never will produce good fruit, we can-
not grow grapes on thorns, nor figs on thistles.
Even suppose that our system of Slavery might be Re-
formed and finally Abolished by slow degrees, in spite
of existing obstacles, abounding in itself, and further
thrown in the way by its abettors—consider the time
that must elapse before much essential good could be
effected; during which the slaves must continue to suffer
from remaining grievances, especially the main evil of
still being in Slavery-and the very means taken to im-
prove their condition, enlighten their minds, &c. will
render them more impatient of their thraldom, being still
slaves, and bent on shaking off the yoke as soon as they


PART III.
EARL BATHURST, our Colonial Secretary, advert-
ing last session in the House of Peers to the prompt and
decisive measures adopted by the Colombian Govern-
ment for the extinction of Slavery throughout the
Republic; his Lordship is reported to have said_“That
the slaves in Colombia may be more safely emancipated,
because they are less numerous than in our West India
Colonies.”—In reply may be said, that the danger of
attempting to forcibly keep human creatures in slavery
against their will and endeavors to be free, is great in
proportion to the magnitude of their number—if so, then
must not the danger be greater in our West India Colo-
nies than in Colombia.-And mark, the emancipated
negroes are about 150 to 1 white person in Sierra Leone
-so much for his Lordship’s logic.*
* “ The West India party must have been agreeably surprised
to receive this side long aid to their cause, from no less a per-
sonage than the Right Honorable Secretary for Colonial Affairs,
especially after the late badgering they had previously given him,
-threatening to petition his Majesty to remove him from his
councils for incapacity, &c. &c.-Let us admire his Lordship's
marvellous Magnanimity!


98
The enlightend and honorable Parliament of England
took a quarter of a century to debate year after year,
whether it should put an end to our horrible Slave
Trade with Africa—and after all, it was Abolished by a
new set of men only a few months in power, who
having the cause really at heart, actually did at once,
what their predecessors had been so long only in talking
about.-Now nearly 20 years afterwards, it is beginning
to talk of putting an end to Slavery in the British
dominions-and this is already the third session it bas
been debating about the matter, and will most likely
fill up another quarter of a century before it agrees as
to the expediency and mode of effecting it-and then, if
the plan of gradual emancipation be adopted, ages may
roll away before much if any progress is made in accom-
plishing the main and ultimate object, the extinction of
Slavery.—During all which time we are holding near a
million of our suffering subjects in slavery within our
own dominions, and so we have done for centuries ! -
What a specimen of the vaunted justice and humanity
of the British Nation, or at least of its Government, and
its promptitude to redress oppression, that the most
revolting, a system of human Slavery existing among
free born Englishmen, with all their boasted love of
Liberty for themselves, and the rest of mankind!
N.B.-It will form a curious feature in future history
of the last half century, supposed a moral and enlight-
ened æra by its contemporaries, that the Parliament of
Great Britain took so many years to debate on the ex-
pediency of an Abolition of our Slave Trade with
Africa, the Emancipation of Ireland, the Abolition of
Slavery throughout our dominions, and other equally
important questions of such self-evident solution, and
incumbent duty to act with promptitude and justice,
that hesitation may be considered as disgraceful as


100
from denial, delay, or insufficient redress of their
grievances, than from prompt, effectual, and decisive
measures for that purpose—and if a general rising
should take place, and the slaves obtain the mastery,
wreck their vengeance on their incorrigible oppressors,
expel the survivors, and retain possession of the
colonies, it will be in vain for the English Government,
or for West India proprietors, to throw the blame on
the Abolitionists—the sensible part of the Nation will
rightly ascribe it to their obstinate perseverance in a
system no longer tenable, against the dictates of com-
mon prudence and the warnings of the Abolitionists.-
Government cannot thus excuse itself;
nor will it
redeem the character, or retrieve the affairs of the
infatuated and ruined Colonists.
Mr. Canning, with his usual dexterity, appears to
trim between both parties—on the one hand not giving
an entire negative to the prayer of the Abolitionists;
on the other not much alarming their opponents, who
perfectly understand him, and have lately ventured to
praise his discretion."--By holding forth the necessity
of slow and cautious measures, he seems to think he
* That Mr. Canning possesses first-rate talents is unquestion-
able--but which, if so disposed, only enables a man with moro
plausible dexterity, to evade right, commit wrong, and make the
worse appear the better cause. The age of man is threescore
years and ten.-Mr. Canning is verging on his grand climacteric,
a period of life when the world, its wiles and maneuvres are fast
vaning in consequence to him, and be bas no time to lose.-Sleep
hath been called the semblance of Death, and lying down in our
bed to lying down in the grave.-I solemnly conjure him, as he
hopes to leave a good name among the virtuous in this world,
and meet the approbation of his Maker in the next-Let him each
night as he lies down on his couch for repose, scrupulously enquire
of himself—“ Have I done all I can, to put an end to human
Slavery in the British dominions ?)"--and let him act accordingly.


101
has brought West India affairs into such train, that
Government may take its own time to do any thing or
nothing, just as it pleases.-And so far he need not have
been so scrupulous in superceding Mr. Buxton's more
comprehensive propositions, and substituting his own
for the general practice of all our West India colonies,
because it turns out that neither have been so put into
execution.-But it happens (perhaps inadvertently on
the part of the Foreign Secretary) that he pledged the
Government to this, namely, that iſ the propositions
thus unanimously voted by Parliament were not com-
plied with, they should be enforced on the Colonists.-
Now then, if the Government is not disposed to go
further at present, let it at any rate redeem this pledge
before it seeks for, or the Abolitionists grant it, further
confidence and let the latter look well to its fulfill-
ment.
At present, 'tis not a question in the colonies, whether
it shall be immediate or gradual Emancipation, for they
declare they will never consent to either.-Nor how
much or how little shall be done in the way of Reform
by the National Government, for they say they will not
suffer any interference with their slave system, but will
only do as they please.--What is a handful of emaci-
ated Whites, trembling with fear of surrounding myriads
of their slaves; and who could not exist in safety for an
hour without the protecting arm of the Mother country,
to spurn the councils, dispute the supremacy, and brave
the power of Great Britain ?--Jamaica in a Passion, a
Puddle in a Storm !--Why the very troops we furnish
them with to keep down their slaves, if accompanied by
proper civil functionaries of our own appointment,
would be more than sufficient to enforce any regulations
of the supreme Government respecting the slaves, or
any other ordinance (that is, if it placed the slaves
under the protection of the Law as citizens, otherwise


102
the colonists might by craft and opportunity covertly
evade, what by power they could not openly resist)
and if we were to withdraw our troops, the slaves would
soon settle the matter for themselves-or only war with
West India finances, withdraw the protecting duties,
&c. admit East India on the same terms as West India
sugars; and if that be not sufficient, shift the protecting
duty to the former; and if that prove not enough for
supply of the home market, &c, then give all due encouº
ragement to Foreigners. This would soon bring our in-
fatuated, hectoring West Indians to their proper senses,
and tame submission.-Thus then, if there be a will,
there is a way.-Let us now wait for a while, and watch
the future proceedings of Government,
Whether the British Government be really friendly to
the general cause of Freedom, I shall not here stop to
investigate, nor adduce instances of its policy at home
and abroad, which might elucidate the fact.—But this
is certain, that whilst it is under the domination of an
overruling, selfish, and rapacious Oligarchy, were all the
members of our Cabinetas enlightened and liberal as only
some are now supposed to be; and were they usually as
unanimous, as said to be discordant in their views and
opinions; they would often find they could not execute
their designs, however wise and virtuous.—Mr. Pitt de-
clared, that “ under the present system, no English
Minister could be an Honest Man."-But this Mr. Can-
ning calls“ The system working well.”—Thus Corn Laws,
oppressive and impolitic, espeoially grinding on the
poor, are made to give a monopoly and high prices to
the Landlords of England, who chiefly constitute both
Houses of Parliament.*---Protecting Duties are given
* The Landlords of England whilst indulged with their Corn
Laws, cannot with any face object to Protecting Duties in favor
of the West India interest'tis a give and take business among
the Oligarchs in dividing the Loaves and Fishes.


103
in favor of the West India Interest, which has much in-
fluence within and without the walls.--So on through
all the range of the Oligarchal party to be secured and
satisfied; with rank, office, pensions, sinecures, &c. to
its individual proteges.—And after all, its bigotry and
prejudices are to be combatted with, and very often
yielded to.—Ministers, and even a higher Personage,
are as much in thraldom as West India slaves, and under
as unsparing tyrants in their way.–And this must be
the case, until our Rulers trust for support to the integ-
rity of their motives, the wisdom of their measures, and
the consequent approbation of the Nation, always sen-
sible of, and grateful for, the blessings of good govern-
ment, and ready to rally round and defend it.-Oh what
strength and glory for a British Monarch, and his Minis-
ters!
It cannot well be supposed that the English Govern-
ment should have any natural voluntary liking for our
West India system of Slavery, which is most infamous
in itself; disgraceful, impolitic, and shackling to the
Government; and fleecing to the Nation; as well as
against its better feelings and constitutional principles ;
and the general spirit of the Age-and Ministerial patro-
nage in the West Indies would remain as much as ever,
probably more, under a system of general emancipation,
as of Slavery. And if it were not for the political in-
fluence at home of the West India party, the National
Government might not be detered by the empty vaporing
and peurile refractoriness in the colonies, from enforcing
its measures for the extinction of Slavery in that only
part of our dominions where it is so shamefully and
anomalously suffered to exist; and Ministers might not
be sorry for a sufficient excuse to satisfy the West
India leaders at home, by being enabled to plead the
irresistible voice of the Nation for the Abolition of
Slavery.---Let then the people of England thus aid its


104
Government, and whether the latter really wish for it
or not, it must finally give way to public opinion, if
generally expressed and resolutely persevered in-how
many abuses have thus been Reformed.
But it is not a partial, faint, or short-lived effort, a
sudden impulse and soon over, which will sway the
Government.--Ministers are accustomed to watch the
public feeling, and on any outcry for reform or change
of measures, to lay by and temporize to ascertain
whether it is likely after a time to weaken and die away,
or to continue and become more formidable. In the
first case, they bend to the storm, until its violence has
passed over, and then resume their former position and
practices. In the latter, though often tardily and re-
luctantly, they really give up to public opinion“'tis
by a long pull, a strong pull, and a pull altogether,"
the Abolitionists must seek to influence the Government,
which will then coerce the Colonists, and the business
is done. The Nation has already caused Government
to stir in the Slave question, and must not be diverted
from its main object by a tub thrown out to the whale.
The Colonists protest against any interference of the
Mother country with their slave system-but vaguely
say that they will do what is right and necessary in the
way of Reform at proper seasons, if left to themselves,
without any specification of plan as to object, time,
mode, or particular measures; or any guarantee for
their performance. And even if they were to propose
or consent to any defined or sufficient plan not only for
the mitigation, but also final extinction of Slavery, is it
likely, if left to themselves, they would honestly and
zealously put it in practice?—No, Ministers cannot be
so credulous as to believe or expect it.-And if they go
on much longer in merely attempting to persuade the
Colonists to adopt the measures recommended, and
afterwards trust to them for their execution, then the


105
obvious inference to be drawn by all persons of common
sense and penetration must be, that Ministers are de-
luding the Nation, and playing into the hands of the
West India party—that's plain English without mincing
the matter.-If they really wish and intend to accom-
plish the measures they ostensibly recommend, and to
prove their sincerity, let them ordain instead of merely
propose, and provide sufficient means for the execution
of their ordinances.--And although it is my clear and
firm conviction, that our West India system of Slavery
cannot be materially mitigated whilst suffered at all to
exist, and that the best, most likely, and probably only
effectual means ever to produce its Abolition, will be to
render all slaves at once free under certain necessary
restraints and regulations, and placing them as subjects
under the government and protection of the law and
proper authorities; with suitable enactments and pro-
visions specially made for the state and condition of
the emancipated classes, and those connected with
them.--Yet, if the supreme Government be not yet dis-
posed to go so far, but to proceed by more gradual
measures, then what it deems requisite and sufficient
to be done-let it ordain and enforce.
N. B.-The daring aim and cunning policy of our
leading slave colonies appear at present to be, to set
out by making a bold stand for the whole and sole con-
troul of their slave system, rejecting in toto any inter-
ference, whether in the shape of propositions, or other-
wise, of the Mother country.-But if they find that this
will not prevail, then most likely they will appear to
concede so far as to consent to some Reformations,
stipulating that the arrangement and execution shall be
left to themselves, then little practical good can be ex-
pected.—But if after all, they find the supreme Govern-
ment bent on framing and enforcing them, then comes
their last resource, namely, they will trust to their ability


106
to thwart and evade any measures they dislike in actual
practice which they will possess too much power and
opportunity of doing, unless the slaves are declared free,
and placed as subjects under the protection of the law,
and of proper authorities appointed by, and dependent
on, the National Government.
'Tis pretty well known that the West India party now
flatters itsek that the late outcry against their slave
system is beginning to subside in England; that most
of the clamour, as they term it, has been excited by a
few leading Abolitionists, who stirred up the people en
mass, and obtained signatures to Petitions for Negroe
Emancipation, &c. from the multitude imposing in
numbers on paper, but not of much consequence in point
of respectability; and who, for the most part, really
know or care little or nothing about the matter-a
sudden ebulition soon evaporating; that it is not likely
they can again be brought or kept to the charge with
much ardour, weight, or perseverance--that all which
has been written, said, or otherwise done on the subject
of Slavery has only produced a transient sensation-
indeed, that the people of England generally, feel but.
little curiosity or interest about what is going on in
distant colonies across the Atlantic; that out of sight
is out of mind, and most folks are fully engaged in their
own more immediate concerns, those also often of as
nefarious a nature as West India Slavery, and may keep
it in countenance.—That Government will not materially
interfere with their system, unless overborne by the
voice of the Nation, which is not likely to happen, or if
it do, the Colonists may be able to resist, thwart, or
evade all attempts at Alteration, not approved of by
themselves.-In short, that the West India party will
be able to stand its ground.-But in this, and other cal-
culations, it is egregiously mistaken.
Such is the nature of the West India system that it


107
only requires to be thoroughly known to be generally
reprobated—that knowledge is fast diffusing among the
people of England; and must secure as determined
opponents the virtuous, intelligent, and reflecting part
of the community, who, acting from a sense of right and
duty, are not likely to flag or prove lukewarm in such
a cause, or to fail in influencing others.--"Tis not alone
the just, humane, and honorable among us, who feel for
the wrongs of our fellow creatures and subjects held in
Slavery by Englishmen within our own dominions-
'tis not only those who seek to erase this foul stain from
our national character—but even persons chiefly in-
fluenced by self-interest, must join in the hue and cry
against it, when they come to know that the West
India system is as fleecing as disgraceful to the Country
—thus will it be assailed on all hands. Thank heaven,
'tis not a narrow party question, the good and sensible
of all parties join in their execration of the slave
system, and will cordially unite their efforts to put an
to it in the British dominions.
I have heard West Indians jeeringly say, that “ John
Bull does n't trouble his head about whether the Sugar
he uses is produced by the labour of slaves or of free-
men; or whether it comes to him a penny or twopence
a pound dearer for the support of Slavery, as long as
he gets it at all when he wants it.”—But wait a bit; and
let us see, when his eyes are sufficiently opened, whether
he will prove so spiritless and doltish, as to tamely bear
to be sneered at and choused at the same time, and also
entrapt into being a virtual supporter of Slavery.
Nor let our West Indians flatter themselves that the
temporary calm which has succeeded to the late crowd
of petitions and general outcry against Slavery, is any
indication of abated zeal or perseverance in the cause-
they rejoice in the truce, and will not be the first to


108
break it.-The Abolitionists are giving time for the
Colonists to act right if they will, and for the Govern-
ment to induce or coerce them-but the motions of both
are watched, and will, if necessary, be quickened and
regulated by the irresistible voice of the Nation. Then
too, a thorough knowledge of the nature and effects of
the slave system is widely diffusing among the people of
England, and must produce, as the result of sufficient
information and calm reflection, determined resistance
to its further continuance. The seed of knowledge is
sown, and must spring up, yielding a plentiful harvest of
sturdy opponents to Slavery.
Let it likewise be observed, that not only will the
public voice be raised with one accord, and prove
irresistible in swaying the Government, but the people
of England possess within themselves, independent of
their Rulers, the means to give a staggering, and per-
adventure a deadly blow to the West India system, by
merely abstaining from the produce of Slavery; and at
the same time clear themselves from the personal guilt
of being its supporters.-Nor will this occasion them
much sacrifice, for they can be sufficiently supplied with
similar productions from the labour of freemen and fellow
subjects and tropical produce would soon in con-
sequence come to us cheaper than ever.-Then too, as
already observed, The Tropical Free Labour Company
now forming, will further tend to accelerate the downfal
of Slavery.--The people of England can also mark their
scorn and abhorrence by shunning all personal inter-
course with Slave-holders individually and collectively.
-If men branded with infamy, are excluded from respec-
table society on account of their mal-practices, what
can be more atrocious and infamous than holding human
creatures in Slavery, especially when offered an indem-
nity for their emancipation, and a continuance of their


109
for the
of bech
-Та
ects di
ople of
ficient
stance
Ege is
rest of
prore
people
ent of
dper-
services.-Slave-holders had better not drive us to ex-
tremities with them.
Moreover, the West India system is quick undermin-
ing on its own ground in the colonies, by the progress of
its slaves, who are growing more and more impatient of
the yoke, and increasing in means to shake off their
thraldom, and may not stop there.-From these and
other causes, the system is more than beginning to
totter, and must soon fall to pieces--let not its blind and
infatuated proppers up tempt too far their fate, or they
may be crushed in its ruins.
Slavery in our West Indies must be put an end to
either by the Colonists, the supreme Government and
Nation, or by the Slaves themselves, or continue to go
on. That the Colonists will never effect it of their own
voluntary accord, is clear to demonstration. How far
Ministers may be really sincere and zealous in the cause,
or disposed to go far enough, let us await their further
proceedings before we decide on the matter. But after
all, the Nation may be relied on for putting an end to
the nefarious system.--As for the Slaves effecting their
own deliverance, the attempt and even success, is far
from improbable--and were there no alternative, if they
and their posterity must either remain in interminable
slavery, or by force overpower their tyrants, and even
exterminate them, what honorable man in England would
not say, “if there be no other way, then even so must it
be done; be the blood of the incorrigible aggressors upon
their own head”-this we seek to avert, not only for sake
of the slaves themselves, and even of their oppressors,
but above all, because we are sure that the Nation,
unless anticipated by the slaves, will put an end to their
grievances by means beneficial for all parties concerned,
instead of such a catastrophe.- In the interim, let the
slaves remain patient, and firmly rely on the justice,
und at
guilt
them
ellow
COD-
), as
pany
enfal
their
ter
els.
Dec-
hat
man
em-
heir


110
humanity, and power of the Mother country, which
henceforth will not fail to end their wrongs, and promote
their welfare-'tis a debt we deeply owe them, and duty
to ourselves.
Never will the Abolitionists rest until they have ac-
complished the downfal of Slavery in the British do-
minions. In this they are sure eventually to succeed,
the system is too atrocious and impolitic to be much
longer endured among Englishmen, when sufficiently
aware of its nature and effects-no pains will be spared
to enlighten them.-Slave-holders had better cede with
a good grace to the necessity of the case—but no, every
feint, every fetch will they practice to prolong the game,
though their chance is now so desperate, that it may be
considered as already decided against them.—The con-
test may be of longer or shorter duration according to
circumstances, as in the case of the Abolition of our
Slave Trade with Africa, but the result is as certain-
and temporary procrastination will prove only a sorry
consolation to Slave-holders, whose final discomfiture
is sure, and will be the more disgraceful in proportion
as they stand out to the last in defence of an infamous
cause.–And in the interim peradventure the slaves may
step in between them and the Nation, and settle the
matter themselves, then probably woe to the Colonists.
--Nor may our Government be so able or willing as,
hitherto to supply them with troops, on which they so
much depend, to butcher their slaves on any attempt to,
shake off their thraldom, or if it can and do, they may
not prove effectual, even if willing to act for the
infamous purpose. - Thus by delay alone of proper
measures may not only the base designs of the Colonists
be frustrated, but what must be lamented, the benevo-
lent intentions of the Government and Nation may
also be rendered abortive.- What is necessary to be


111
hich
mote
ac-
done ought to be done promptly and effectually-no
half measures, no delay.
The West India party would fain as formerly con-
tinue to glide silently on without observation, and trust
to the distant corner of our empire, where alone Slavery
is suffered to exist for concealment of its atrocities-
but the secrets of the prison-house are unfolding to the
people of England, and that is the best appeal to their
judgment and feelings.*
do-
uch
antly
-red
ery
ume,
be
con-
sto
our
n -
DITT
ture
tion
ous
nay
* Mr. George Hibbert, agent for Jamaica, a shrewd and know-
ing man, well versed in the mystery of West India policy, and
very dexterous in the management-usually on any convention of
a public meeting of West India proprietors, recommends to the
company “not to launch into debate on the general West India
question, but to confine themselves to the business of the day,
passing the Resolutions which will be brought before them (ready
cut and dry) and leaving the rest to be managed by their com-
mittee and agents, who well know what ought to be done, and
how to set about it.”—This is discreet, for the less said in public
on the West India system, the better for its party.–And the more
wary among them generally seek to shun discussion, but cannot
always restrain their less judicious adherents.
Mr. H. bas lately been honored by an unanimous vote of thanks
from the Honorable House of Assembly at Jamaica for his services
as their Agent; which he richly deserves, for he has laboured
hard, and long, and adroitly, in his vocation; and may be as
proud of this feather in his cap, as Captain John Hawkins, of no-
table memory, who (vide Hume) received the honor of Knighthood
from Queen Elizabeth for the meritorious service of being the
first of her subjects who opened the Slave Trade between England
and Africa !-And granted him a patent to bear for his crest a
demi Moor bound with a cord.--And to do him the greater honor,
Clarencieux, King at Arms, was commanded to wait on him in pro-
per form with the patent.-- What blushing Honors for those who
confer and receive them.
Mr. H. hath grown Rich by the slave system--but naked came
we into this world, and naked must we go out of it, stript of
every thing but Virtue, the only current coin in the world to come.
the
sts.
as
SO
I to
ay
che
per
Sts
VO-
bay
be


112
Slave-holders, mirabile dictu, expect that their system
and themselves should be treated with the greatest
courtesy and forbearance-but what is there to deserve
it in either.-The system is the most unjust, inhuman,
and impolitic that can possibly exist among any civil-
ized people, most of all inexcusable among Englishmen,
and what must we think of its more immediate perpetra-
tors.-- Then too, who more furious and abusive than
Slave-holders-touch their system and you touch the
apple of their eye-as if it were the most just and
salutary imaginable, and themselves the most honor-
able and wrongfully persecuted among mortals—they
wish to pass as the emblem of injured innocence per-
sonified.–Fair argument they have none, their cause will
not admit of it, so necessarily have recourse to sophis-
try, invective, and false statement.–Certainly the thou-
sand pounds voted by the Jamaica Assembly, and
proportionate quotas from the other slave colonies, for
the purpose of hiring mercenary scribblers to make the
best of a desperate cause, may purchase a plentiful deal
—'Tis said, that Buonaparte's physician on receiving certain pro-
posals, replied, “If it requires such qualities to make a great
man, I thank God I do not possess them”-and so we may say
of many a Rich man.
Human life is short, even from its commencement-and though
we attain its most protracted span; no sooner are we born, than
we begin to die.—Mr. H. is gliding down the vale of years, and
hath grown grey in the West India service. Great is the propen-
sity of Man to excuse and cajole himself even in his greatest aber-
ration from plainest duties.What qualms of conscience, or per-
adventure what degree of satisfaction, Mr. H. may experience
from the review of a long life spent in support of the slave sys-
tem, I cannot pretend to know-or how far at the close of the
scene, when he finds this world receding from bim, and be is
verging on another state of Retribution, he may hope for the
welcome greeting, “ Come thou good and faithful servant, enter into
the joy of thy Lord.”


113
of cavil, falsehood, and scurrility--though if the nymphs
of Billingsgate could only write in the same strain as
they can speak, the latter article of scurrility might
probably there be purchased on lower terms, but cer-
tainly not in grosser perfection.-Yet in sober serious.
ness, all this only renders the discerning people of
England more abhorrent at the frightful system of
Slavery, and disgusted with the ferocity, baseness, and
meanness of its abettors.
Slave-holders resident in the colonies, blinded by pre-
judice, surrounding custom, and wrong notions of in-
terest; elated with the power of domineering, and their
imaginary superiority uver the black and coloured
people, keep each other in countenance, all think and
act in the same way, and really imagine among them-
selyes that they are mighty good sort of people, and
their system right and necessary, or at least very exeu-
sable.-And so think the felons in Newgate of them-
selves and their depredations—but the just, intelligent,
and dispassionate among the people of England enter-
tain very different notions on the matter.—As for those
in the colonies, who, callous to every honorable princi-
ple, or feeling of humanity, would knowingly and
willingly perpetrate any deed, however atrocious, to
gratify or aggrandize themselves, if they could do it with
impunity-there are no hopes of voluntary good from
them.—But it might be expected that the more enlight-
ened, and supposed honorable and liberal West India
proprietors, chiefly resident in England, would not only
be fully aware of the injustice of their system, but also,
marking the signs of the times, would perceive that in all
probability it cannot be much longer tenable, by any
means in their power, and would have at least the good
sense, (leaving honor and humanity out of the question)
to cede to the necessity of the case, and prepare for a
H


116
than the present system.-When this shall be achieved,
and they reap the advantages, the angry passions will
subside, and even Slave-holders may prove thankful to
the Abolitionists.- If we bore them any grudge, we need
only leave them length of rope enough, and they would
be pretty sure to hang themselves.
To conclude--why should Slavery exist any longer in
the British dominions than it can well be got rid of ?--
That it can be best done away with at once and for ever
with safety, justice, and advantage to all parties con-
cerned, I have here endeavored to shew.-And if that
has been proved, then what honest or plausible plea can
we adduce to justify or excuse us in the opinion of the
good and sensible part of mankind for its farther conti-
nuance-cant and craft will not avail-with our preten-
sions to liberty and liberal institutions, to superior sanc-
tity, justice, and benevolence, we must stand confest as
the most hypocritical, selfish, and inexcusable among
Nations.
The Author has here throughout recommended the
immediate emancipation of all our slaves, under certain
necessary regulations, as the best and most likely means,
under existing circumstances in our West India colo-
nies, by which the Abolition of Slavery can be accom-
plished.--And even if it be admitted that Slavery might
be put an end to by slower degrees, yet why should
such a monstrous evil be suffered to last any longer in
the British dominions, than it can be got rid of with
safety and advantage to all parties concerned.
That it
can be so immediately done, and its necessity, I am
clearly convinced, and have here endeavored to shew.


117
· I am aware that the proposition of immediate general
emancipation, will startle those who have been in the
habit of taking it for granted that Slavery in our West
India colonies can only be safely and beneficially
abolished by very slow and cautious measures.-But I
believe that this opinion, so generally entertained, has
been adopted from want of sufficient knowledge of the
practical nature and effects of the slave system scarcely
admitting of improvement; with the general habits and
dispositions of Slave-holders and their agents, equally
adverse to any innovation.-Nor let us be unmindful
of the progress of time and events; the present race of
slaves are far more enlightened and civilized than their
predecessors of former times, and proportionally fitter
subjects for an extension of privilege, more impatient
of their thraldom; and more dangerous as slaves to the
white community; they are likewise as much entitled
to freedom as their posterity; we have also lost much
time, which now requires a plan of quicker operation.
-And I conceive it will be difficult, nay impossible, to
prove, that placing such slaves as freed subjects under
the government and protection of the law and proper
constitued authorities, allowing the fair controul,
instead of arbitrary will and power of their masters, is
not sufficient for every good and necessary purpose.
I earnestly entreat my readers to fairly examine the
matter--and trust they will be as thoroughly convinced
as myself of the utility and necessity of the plan here
recommended, in preference to any of less comprehen-
sive nature, slower progress, or more uncertain effects.
-To their candour I leave it. -- "Tis a serious subject,
requiring fair and full consideration.—What just man
among us would not wish for the Abolition of Slavery
as soon and entirely as prudently practicable.
However, if what at least I deem a fatal error, should


118
longer continue generally to prevail, namely, that slaves
of the present race, at least those too old for education
and proper training, are not fit subjects for general
emancipation-Then at any rate, it must be admitted
that such objection cannot be urged against their children,
under 7 years of age, who must be as susceptible of all
necessary improvement, as those of any generation
which may hereafter exist.
If then all the present race of slaves, above 7 years
of age (except say those of colour down to Mulattoes
inclusive) many of them still in early life, are to be
generally doomed to the hard and hopeless lot of
Slavery, to end only in the grave-which I am convinced
is as unnecessary, as crạel and unjust, moreover, may
not be unattended with danger to the Whites.--But if,
alas! it should be so decreed, then, besides facilitating
the means for individual Manuinissions among this class,
as far as deemed expedient, let the supreme government
take proper measures for the Amelioration of their con-
dition as slaves, and entrust them to its own constituted
authorities--though after all, slaves cannot be effectually
protected from injustice-which is among the cogent
reasons for the entire Abolition of Slavery, as soon and
as well as we can.
Under this more contracted plan, let all existing
slave children, of every shade, not above 7 years of age,
be at once declared free, properly brought up, and bound
to serve their Mother's owner gratuitously up to the age
of 24-quite sufficient, as already shewn for his indem-
nification and profit, and then be allowed to act as free
agents and provide for themselves.-Or if proprietors of
such slave children, must be paid in money their standing
worth, under 7 years of age at the time of sale-then
on the scale aforementioned, for 150,000, at the average
rate of £10. each, it will cost the nation £1,500,000.


119
222
of all
Slaves of colour, above 7 years of age, down to
Mulattoes inclusive, being when adults, at least a gene-
ration before the Negroe slaves generally at present in
knowledge and civilization, and for other reasons afore-
stated,* may, and ought to be at once emancipated, and
at the age of 24, left to act as free agents, having served
their owner gratuitously up to that period, and then paid
for at the rate of £20. each; which at their estimated
number of say 80,000, (deducting one-fifth or 16,000
=£160,000 for their children, under 7 years of age, to
be purchased at the average rate of £10. each) will
amount to £1,440,000.
N.B,-The deduction of one-fifth for such children of
colour, must be taken into the calculations of the pre-
ceding pages,
Tears
1
ittoes
to be
inced
1
£1,500,000
class
,
ment
cost for Redemption of all existing slare cbil-
dren under 7 years of age, at average rate of
£10. each.
cost for ditto of all slaves of colour, down to
Mulattoes inclusive, above 7 years of age,
at £20. each-to be paid on their having
attained the age of 24.
con
tuted
1,440,000
1
ually
1
agent
£2,940,000
and
1
Thus then, the whole cost to the Nation for Redemp-
tion of all slaves, on the limited scale of not including
1
1
a age,
vund
age
dem
free
The Charter granted to the first settlers of Jamaica by Charles
IId, contains the following passage—“And we do further publish
and declare, that all children of any of our natural born subjects of
England, to be born in Jamaica, shall, from their respective births,
be reputed to be, and shall be free denizens of England.”
Thus then, at least all persons of colour, down to Malattoes in-
clusive, born in Jamaica, being white men's children, and their
fathers Englishmen, are free denizens of England, by right of
birth, without fee or reward, purchase or favor.--I wish they
would try the question on this side the water.
Ts of
Hing
chen
age


120
slaves of the present race above 7 years of age, except
those of colour down to Mulattoes inclusive, will
amount only to £2,940,000.-certainly not a large sum,
or to be grudged, for the accomplishment of so much
good.-Nor ought the additional expense in Annuities
stated at page 52, for the purchase of all other slaves
at or above the age of 34, to be considered as a suffi-
cient plea for leaving them to pass the whole of their
lives in Slavery-especially as the bounties and protect-
ing duties, of much greater amount, now granted in
support of the slave system, might be withdrawn, and
thus Slavery abolished with a saving to the Nation-
and West India proprietors would thrive better under a
system of free labour, and general good management.
Let all children henceforth born of slave parents be
declared free from their birth, be properly trained, and
bound to serve gratuitously their Mother's owner, if
the child be reared by him, up to the age of 24-and
then released from such servitude, and afterwards to
provide for themselves.—This is six primest years more
than allowed in Colombia for indemnification of such
proprietors-and ought to satisfy the more rapacious
English Slave-holder.
Thus then, on this limited scale of speedy emanci-
pation, all slaves of the present race under 7 years of
age, and all slaves of colour aforesaid, will be rendered
free. And though unfortunately, and I think unnecessa-
rily, it leaves all the other existing slaves to bondage for
life, yet all their children henceforth born will be free,
which though a poor consolation to the parents for their
own hard fate, or to restrain them from forcibly assert-
ing their rights, and perhaps inflicting vengeance on their
oppressors; yet, besides much present good effected, it
fixes a certain specific time and mode for the entire
Abolition of Slavery--which has ever hitherto been


121
1
cept
sum,
much
Luities
laves
sufi.
their
tect-
d in
and
on-
der a
alt.
ts be
- and
-and
is to
carefully avoided by the abettors of the system.--All
this might and ought to have been done long ago, when
at least most of our slaves at the present day might now
have been free subjects, properly trained, and acting as
free agents for their own benefit, and useful members of
the community—but up to this late period, we have
done nothing, or next to nothing, for the Abolition of
Slavery within the British dominions.—'Tis high time
we should redeem our character, and bring the matter
to the test.
Let Government, in which at its own seeking we have
confided, now take the most prompt, judicious, and
effectual measures for the purpose--if it do not of its
own accord, then let the people of England insist that it
shall be done, and it will be done.-In the interim, let
overy conscientious person abstain from the guilty
produce of Slavery--this is in every one's power, and if
generally done, will alone soon put an end to our
slave system.
If the people of England do not thus exert themselves
to the utmost--then are they more inexcusable than
the Government, and even than Slave-holders them-
selves.---The Government, under the present system,
may plead the shackling power of West India influence
over it--but the people of England are under no such
shameful controul.--The crime of Slave-holders may
be somewhat paliated, by allowing for their prejudices,
long continued habits, and supposed, though mistaken,
notions of interesi.-But the people of England know
and avow the iniquity of the slave system; and as for
any advantage--'tis as fleecing as disgraceful to the
Nation.-Therefore, if we do not all we ought and can
to get rid of it--why then, as before said, our folly
must be equal to our crime.
THE END.
(Published 2011 June, 1825.)
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CORRECTIONS.
The number of Slaves of Colour, only down to
Mulattoes inclusive, as stated at page 60 and 119–is
probably much overrated-if so, it does not alter the
principle of the plan proposed, but will cost the Nation
proportionately less for their separate Redemption.
The over statement, if any, proceeds from having
taken the usual West India calculation, that the slaves
of colour amount to about one-tenth of the whole slave
population--but this probably includes Samboes, a nu-
merous grade, the offspring of Negroe and Mulattoe
parents conjunctively. The plan proposed, only com-
prehends slaves of colour down to Mulatioes inclusive,
which would be a great reduction of numbers, and con-
sequently of expense for their purchase to the Nation.
-Most likely, since the Registry of slaves, the exact
number of each and every class may be accurately
ascertained-but I have not been able to gain access,
if they exist, to any such documents.
At page 119, £10. each is allowed towards the
Redemption of slave children of colour, under years
of age-but no such extra charge need to be made, as
such children must be fully included in the amount of
£1,500,000. provided for the purchase of all slave
children under 7 years of age of every description-
which is a further diminution of expense to the Nation.
--The deduction of one-fifth for the children under 7
years of age, on 80,000 slaves of colour, at £20. each,
amounts to £320,000. only £160,000. is deducted at
page 119.-Or say, deduct one-fifth = 16,000 from
80,000-leaves 64,000, at £20. each--amounting to






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