The Horrors of the Negro slavery existing in our West Indian islands, irrefragably demonstrated from official documents recently presented to the House of Commons

THK

HORRORS

OF

JVEGRO S IL^rERT.

SECOND EDITION,

jPrkeOne SmlliTigy

r^. IS'Bl^M ^6.3

S. GosNELL, Printer, Little Queen Streit.

THE

HORRORS

OF THE

JVEGRO S LA-VERY

EXISTING IN OUR

WizQi fnlrian f slanus,

IRREFRAGABLY DEMONSTRATED

FROM

OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS

RECENTLY PRESENTED TO

THE HOUSE OF COMMONS,

SECOND EDITION.

LONDON :

PRINTED FOR J. HATCHARD, PICCADILLY; MESS. RICHARD-SONS,

CORNHILLJ R. BICKERSTAFF, ESSEX STREET, ST?..iND;

AND HAZARD, BATH.

1806.

Digitized by the Internet Archive

in 2011 with funding from

Associates. of the Boston Public Library /The Boston Foundation

http://www.archive.org/details/horrorsofnegroslOOgrea

THE

HORRORS

OF

EGRO SLAVERY

In the last Session of Parliament a variety of papers re=
specting the Slave Trade was laid on the table of the
House of Commons, and among tbem, the following
extract of a letter from Lord Seaforth, the Governor of
Barbadoes, to Lord Hobart, dated at Barbadoes, the
38th March 1802, viz. " Your Lordship will observe in
the last days proceedings of the Assembly, that the ma-
jority of the House had taken considerable offence at a
7nessage of mine, recommendi7ig an act to le passed to
make the murder of a Slave felony. At present the fine
for the crime is only ff teen pounds currency, or eleven

POUNDS FOUR SHILLINGS STERLING."

It was difficult to conceive a stronger proof of the de-
plorably unprctected condition of the Negro Slaves m
Barbadoes, the oldest and most civilized of our slave

B

colonies, than is furnished by the above official docu-
ment. In a community where even the life of a Kegro
slave is estimated at the cheap rate of eleven pounds four
shilUngs sterling, and where a proposition to raise Its
leo-al value to a price which may be ies"^ revolting to Eu-
ropean feelings is resented as an affront by a grave legisla-
tive assembly; it would argue an utter ignorance of the
nature of man, and of the principles by which his conduct
is usually guided, to expect that the general treatment of
Negro slaves should be humane and lenient. But we are
not at present reduced to the necessity of inferring, by the
aid of disputable analogies, the practical nature of the
existing slavery, from the state of the laws respecting it.
What might, last year, have been considered by some as
matter of presumption merely, of presumption, however,
sufficiently strong to remove all doubt from unprejudiced
niinds, is now matter of fact. We have now the prac-
tice of slavery so graphically described, in some further
documents of unquestionable authority, as to supersede the
-necessity of reasoning, and to silence the most deter-
mined stickler for West Indian humanity.

On the 25th of February 1805, a number of addi-
tional papers respecting the Slave Trade was presented to
the House of Commons by His Majesty. To these
papers it is the purpose of this pamphlet to call the atten-
tion of the public, as exhibiting a picture of Negro bond-
age, witli which every individual in the kingdom ought
to be made fully acquainted, who has a heart to feel for
the miseries of his fellow-creatures, or a voice to raise
against that detestable traffic which is the main prop of
colonial despotism.

The first thing which occurs in these papers particu-
larly deserving of notice is a continuation of the corre-

spondence between Lord Seaforth and the Secretary of
Stale. The following is a transcript of it, with the
addition of a few notes intended to illustrate the text :

'* Extract of a Letter from Lord Seaforth to the Llarl
Camden, dated Barbadoes, i^th November 1804.

*^ I also enclose four papers, numbered from number
I to 4, containing, from different quarters, reports
on the horrid murders I mentioned in some former
letters; they are selected from a great number, among
which there is not one in contradiction of the horrible
facts, though several of the letters are very concise and
defective: the truth is, that nothing has given me more
trouble to get to the bottom of than these businesses,
so horridly absurd are the prejudices of the people*; how-
ever, a great part of my object is answered, by the alarm
my interference has excited, and the attention it has
called to the business •, bills are already proposed to make
murder felony in both the Council and the Assembly;
but I fear they will be thrown out for the present in the
Assembly ; the Council are unanimous on the side of
himianity.

" (President Ince's Statement.)

*' On the loth day of April 1804, on my return to
Enmore in the evening, I found Mr. Justice Walton and
Mr. Harding, former manager of Prettejohn's estate,
and now the manager of the Society's estate, attached to

* Not of one ©r two, or of a few individuals., but of thf
People.

the suppott of Codrington College. Mr. Wahon'toU me
that Mr. Harding had brought before him a man of the
name of Henry Halls, a private soldier in the St. Mi-
chael's or Royal regiment, who had, in presence of Mr.
Harding, in a most wanton, malicious manner, mur-
dered a Negro woman, that he did not know personally,
but had since heard she was the property of Mr. Clarke,
the owner of the estate called Simmons's; that she was a
valuable slave, and had five or six cliildren. Mr. VVal*
ton said, that Hulls seemed to he very indifferent about
the crime^ and that he had called upon me to know what
was to be done with him, as Mr. Walton said, in his
situation as a Magistrate, the laiv of the island admitted
him no jurisdiction or authority over him, and he did not
consider he had a right to commit him to prison ivithout
my order*. Mr. Harding then gave the following testi-
mony : That he was returning from town, and just above
the Line of Pilo-rim he overtook several market Ne2;roes,
and this man. Halls, on the road ; he did not know
this man at the time, but he had bis musket and bayonet
fixed over his shoulder, and his regimentals, as returning
from the alarm which had arisen that morning, and
discharged ai noon ; that when he overtook this man it
was not six o'clock in the evening; as he drew near him,
he heard him muttering some words, and saw him run
after some Ne2;roes with his bayonet charged; that the
woman was on the other side of the road still going up ;

* \Vhat can more expressively shew the dreadful state of so-
ciety which prevails in this island, than that a Magistrate should
find himself v/ithout the power even of coitimitment in the cas? of
a man apprehended in the very act of perpetrating a raost fouh adl
vrarttcn murder?

aiKl as he came up, this man. Halls, stopped until the
woman came by, and immediately crossed the road, as
Halls made ajter ilia woman, aiid platiged the bayonet,
into her bodi/t when the poor creature dropped^ arid
without a groan expired. He immediately went to him,
and spoke harshly to him, and said, he ought to be
hanged, for he never saw a more wicked, unprovoked
murder, and that he would certainly carry him before a
magistrate, and that he should be sent to gaol : and he
said, ^ For what? killing a Negro*?' On which
he got assistance, and brought him to Mr. Walton the
Magistrate, and that he, Mr. Harding, had accompa-
nied Mr. Walton to me, to relate the fact. I told Mr.
Walton that I regretted, with real concern, the deficiency
in our law ; but that there was a penalty due to the
King t in such cases ; and that, as Mr. Harding had suf-
ficiently substantiated the fact, I would order him to be
committed till he paid the forfeiture, or a suit should be
commenced against him : accordingly he was sent to
prison, where he now remains, and under arrest from
Mr. Clarke's representatives, to be recovered according to
law, and the King's fine, and will possibly be there for
life, as I hear he is not worth a shilling, nor no expect-
ancy ever to pay it. Perhaps, my Lord, it was a stretch

* This short, but significant sentence is of more weight than a
thousand arguments in favour of the mild treatment of Negro
slaves ; and it furnishes an unanswerable proof, that they are re-
garded by their oppressors as a different order of beings from them-
^Ives : under the influence of this sentiment they are naturally
enough denied the common rights of humanity, and excluded from
the participation of that sympathy which the sense of a common
xiature and a common extraction is calculated to inspire.

f Namely, the eleven pounds four shillings mentioned above. ".*

6

of power in me to order commitment before a recovery
of the fine ; but the evidence of Mr. Harding, a man of
unblemished character, the circumstances of the case so
horrid, so wickedly dehberate and unprovoked, conspired
to induce me to secure his person until the only remedy
of some punishment could be applied *. Lamentable
indeed is it, that our Assembly (for I cannot allow Legis-
lature to form the word) should look upon such things
with cold indifference, and not provide that just remedy
which the law of God and man in every other civilized
community but this, has in effect, and even upon larger
extent of population and slavery; in Jamaica not the
smallest inconvenience has ever arisen. Surely! surely.^
they will be more disposed to hear reason, and to establish
justice ! I

* Mr. President Ince seems property aware of the illegality of
his proceeding : doubtless Halls also is aware of it; nor shou'd
\ be surprised to hear that he has been able to rouse the popular
feeling of the island in his favour, as a man unjustly and illegally
oppressed. To have suffered so severe a punishment as that of
imprisonment, for so paltry an offence as killing a Negro slave,
particularly as his commitment was contrary to law, will be likely
to excite no small degree of 'virtuous indignation among the Bar-
badians : and the danger lest such an unauthorized lestriction of
the freedom of individuals should grow into a precedent may
possibly call forth the most vigorous resistance. This expecta-
tion seems perfectly justified by what took place some years ago
on a similar occasion in the neighbouring island of St. Kitt's,
where the prosecution of a man of the name of Herbert, vs'ho
had treated one of his slaves with the most wanton barbarity, was
Dot only not productive of any punishment to the offender,
though the facts were clearly proved, but was likely to have been
followed by very inconvenient effects to the prosecutor, in conse-
•[uence qf the popular clamour which v.'as excited against him.

" To the second query from your Lordship; Lbelieve
the fact relates to the case which was instituted by action
in the Court of Exchequer, before your Excellency left
the Government^ as I signed the writ when Chief Baron,
atfthe suit of Colbeck against Crone; and I understand
judgment has been admitted without being given to Jury,
against Crone in favour of Colbeck ; but whether the
King's fine is included in that recovery I really do not
know, and your Excellency may be better informed from
the present Chief Baron or the Attorney General. The
circumstances of that case I do not know exactly ; from
common report, they must have been richly deserving of
the jus per coll.

" To the third query.^ — T never heard any official ac-
count of the case. I understand from inquiry, that the fact,
as to the murder, is true; that the party's name is Thomas
Nowell, a butcher by trade, in the parish of St. Andrew;
and that being in the direct vicinity of the Reverend Mr.
Payne, and the Honourable Colonel Jordan, your Excel-
lency may obtain a more particular account of this infa-
mous wretch, who, I am told, ought to have been re~
moved from society long ago."

'' Advocate General's Letter to Lord Seafortk; dated
October 2 ^ih, 1804.
" My Lord, October i^th, 1804.

'' I have many apologies to make to your Lordship for
not sending an earlier answer \o the several questions re-
specting the Negroes who have of late been most wan-
tonly and inhumanly murdered. The delay has been
owing to the difficulty I have met with in procuring any
thing like satisfactory information as to the last of the
cases ; and therefore I shall hope for your Lordship's ex-,
cuse.

*' With respect to the first; a man of the name of
Hails, belonging to the Royai regiment, was returning
home from his exercising duty, on one of his mihtia
days ; several Negroes were upon the road before him
going on very quietly, and amongst them a woman big
with child. Halls was in liquor, and was constantly
bawling out to the Negroes and abusing them, and telling
them if they did not get out of his way he would make
them. On his beginning to run after them, they all got
out of his reach, except this unfortunate woman ; Halls
ran up to her, and, unthout the least provocation on her
part, very coolly and delihei'ately stabled her several times
in the breast icith his bayonet. The woman, I believe,
was not killed upon the spot, hut died soon afterwards.
Mr. Harding, the overseer of the Society's plantation, was
on his way home, and saw the whole transaction ; he im-
mediately secured Halls, and had him taken to gaol,
where he now is.

'' As to the second ; Mr. Colbeck, who lived overseer
on Cabbage-tree plantation in St, Lucy's parish, had
bought a new Negro boy out of the yard *, and carried
him home; taking a liking to the boy, he brought him
into the house, and made him wait at table. Mr. CronC'
(the overseer of Colonel Rowe's estate, and which is near
to Cabbage-tree) visited Colbeck, had noticed the boy,
and knew him well, A fire happening one night in the
neighbourhood, Colbeck went to give assistance, and the
boy followed him. On Colbeck's return home he missed
the boy ; and as he did not make his appearance the next
day, Colbeck sent round to the neighbours, and particu-
larly to Crone, informing them that the boy was missing,
and desiring them to send him home if they should meet

* Meaning the Slave-yard, where Negroes are exposed to sale
in the same manner as cattle and sheep in Smithfield- market.

9

with him. Two or three days elapsed, atid the poor crea-
ture was first discovered in a gully, near to Colonel Rowe*s
estate ; and a number of Negroes were soon assembled
about the place. The boy, naturally terrified with the
threats, the noise, and the appearance of so many people,
hid himself under a rock in the gully. By this time Crone
and some other white persons had come up, a Jire was
ordered to be put to the place where the hoy was, and he
was actually burnt out. From this hole the boy ran to a
piece of water, which was near, and some of the Negroes
went in after him. The boy, it is said, took up a stone
and threw it at one of them. Crone, who it seems had
brought a gun with him, levelled it at the boy, and shot
him ; and other gu7is, as I have understood, were also
Jired. The poor wretch luas then dragged out of the
water, and, without even sending to his master, a hole
was immediately dug, and he was put into it by Crone's
order. 1 have been told that the boy was not quite dead
when he was biaied. Colbeck, the owner, soon after-
wards came up, and had the boy taken out of the ground;
and there cannot be the least doubt that Crone must have
known him to be Colbeck's new Negro who had been
missing. A man of the name of HoUingsworth, it was
said, also fired at the boy, and Colbeck brought his action
in the Exchequer, under the act of the island, against
Crone and HoUingsworth. The cause was ready to be
tried, and the Court had met for the purpose, when
Crone and HoUingsworth thought proper to pay double
the value of the boy, and 25/. for the use of the island,
with all the costs, rather than suffer the business to go on ;
and this I am truly sorry to say was the only punishment
which could be inflicted for So barbarous an4 atrocious a
crime. The Attorney General and myself were retained
as counsel for Colbeck, and receiv^^d- instructions tq the

e

JO

above purport. The case did not appear so strpfig against
HoIIingsworth ; but I verily believe that, as aganist
Crone, it would have been substantiated by the fullest
evidence. It is due to Colonel Rowe to observe, that he
was in England when the horrid transaction took place.

" As to the third : A man of the name of Nowell, who
lives in St. Andrew's parish, as 1 understand, had been in
the habit of behaving most brutally towards his wife, and
one day went so far as to lock her up in ^ room, and con-
fine her In chains. A Negro woman belonging to this
man, touched with compassion for her unfortunate mis-
tress, undertook privately to release herj Novvell found
it out, and, as I first heard the story, had the Negro's
tongue immediately cut out nearly by the roots, of which
she instantly died. I have since been told, that Nowell
had the poor creature's tongue put through a hole in a
door, and ait a part of it off himself', hut that she is still
alive. This case has been told different ways ; and I
have not, after many inquiries, been able to satisfy my-
self as to the real truth *. Thus much I have no doubt
is certain, that the wretch, Nowell, has most barbarously
and cruelly used this Negro, merely because she acted a
kind and compassionate part towards her mistress.

'^ Permit me now, my Lord, as a Barbadian, to return
you my warmest thanks for the zeal you have shewn in -
this business j and I trust the day is not far distant, when.

* If any thing could add to the horror which the shocking bar-
barity of Nowell must excite, it is the doubt existing, " after many
irrquiries"' — existing too in the minds of the Advocate and Attorney
General— as to whether this poor creature was alive or dead^
Were there no means of forcing Nowell to produce her ? Could
no inquest have been instituted ? Dreadful state of things!

11

through your Lordship's exertions, I shall see that act in
our statute-book repealed, which remains a disgrace to my
country,

*' I have the honour to be, he.

*' M. COULTHURST.

" TJie Right Honourahle Lord Seaforthy

" Extract from the Reverend Mr. Pilgrim^s Letter to
Lord Seaforth ; dated St. James's Parsonage, Sep-
tember 2^th, 1804.

" The man who killed the woman near Pilgrim, is, I
apprehend, named Halls or Halts, one of Sir John Bur-
ney's tenants, and belonging to Saint Michael's regiment
of militia.

*^ The manager who sliot the man in the water Is named
Crone, living on Mr. H. Rowe's plantation in Saint
Lucy's parish. The man was an African, a slave to a
Mr. Colbeck, the manager to a neighbouring plantation,
and had accidentally strayed from his master : Crone
seeing him, pursued him with several Negroes | the poor
creature pelted his pursuers with stones, and at length
took refuge in a pond, where he was inhumanly shot by
the dastardly manager, and taken out of the pond ; I re-
peat, my Lord, what I have heard, though I could hope,
for the sake of humanity, my information has been false,
and hiiried him while yet alive.

" Nowell, a butcher, living in Saint Joseph's parish, is
the wretch loho murdered the slave for letting his wfe
ont of confinement. The ci?'cnmstances of this horrid
larbaritij are almost too shocking to le related. On dis
covering the poor creature had been instrumental to hii

c 2

12 .

wife's escape, ke obliged her to put her tongue through a
hole in the hoard, to which hefastensd it on the opposite
side with a fork, and leaving her in that situation for some
time, he afterwards drew out her tougue by the roots.

'^ This, my Lord, is what I have heard relative to the
cases on which your Lordship desires information ; and
as I have heard the circumstances I have mentioned from
different persons, told in nearly the same manner, I am
led to suspect that the statement will be found to be but
too correct." Papers, 8cc. p. 7-10.

'^ Extract of a Letter from the Right Honourable Lord
Seqforth to Earl Camden; dated Pilgrim, -jth January
1805.

*f I enclose the Attorney General's letter to me on the
subject of the Negroes so most ivantonly murdered. I am
sorry to say, several other instances of the same barbarity
have occurred with which I have not troubled your Lord-
ship, as I only wished to make you acquainted with the
subject in general,"

«^ Copy of a Letter from Mr. Bcckles to Lord Seaforth j
dated i^th November 1804.

** Bay Plantation,
" My Lord, igth November 1804.

** I have delayed to answer your Excellency's note of
the 19th of September, enclosing queries as to some cases
of cruel murders committed upon Slaves, with the hope
of being able to establish the facts, so as to communicate
them to your Excellency without any doubt of their au-
thenticity J but, notwithstanding every inquiry, I can

13

make no discover^/ of the murder which had been currently
reported to have been committed hy one Nowell, of the
parish of St. Andrew *. The fact is by many supposed
to be true, at the same time that it is denied by others ;
and all that I can ascertain is, that Nowell is in general a
cruel man to his Slaves.

*' The militia-man is Hallsj of St. Michael's

regiment. Returning from his jluty upon an alarm, after
stopping at a dram-shop, where he had drank so as to
be rather intoxicated ; hearing some Negroes singing be-
ibre him, who were returning from their daily labour, he
called out to them that he would kill them j upon which
a Mr. Harding, who was going the same way, told him to
take care what he was about; he immediately pursued the
Negroes, who not supposing that he really intended to do
them any injury, but imagining that what he had said
was in joke, did not endeavour to escape, but as he came
up to them, they separated to make room for him to pass;
the nearest to him being a woman far advanced inpreg-
nancy y he ran his bayonet into her, ivithout the smallest
provocation, and killed her on the spot : Mr. Harding and
another gentleman, who were eye-witnesses, seized him,
and carried him before the President, who sent him to
prison.

" In the other case, which happened in the parish of
St. Lucy, two white men were concerned, Crone and
Hollingsworth. A Mr. Colebeck, the manager of a plant-
ation in the neighbourhood, had some months before
purchased an African lad, who was much attached to his
person, and slept in a passage contiguous to his chamber.

* Had the Attorney General then no means of aacertaining
whether the woman was alive or dead ?

14

On Sunday night there was an alarm of fire in the planta-
tion, which induced Mr. Colebcfck to go out hastily, and'
the next morning he missed the lad, who he supposed
had intended to follow him in the night, and had mis-
taken his way. He sent to his neighbours, and to Mr,
Crone among the rest, to inform them that his African
lad had accidentally strayed.from him ; that he could not
speak a word of English, and that possibly he might be
found breaking canes, or taking something else for his
support; in which case he requested that they would not
injure him, but return him, and he wouid pay any damage
he niidit have committed. A dav or two after Mr. Cole-
beck was informed that Crone and Hollingsworlh had
killed a Negro in a neighbouring gullyy-and buried him
there. He went to Crone to inquire into the truth of the
report, and intended to have the grave opened to see whe-
ther it was his African lad. Crone told him a Negro had
heen killed and luricd there', but assured him it was not
his, for he knew him very well, and he need not be at the
trouble of opening the grave. Lpon this, Coleheck w6nt
away satisjied', but receiving further information, which'
left no doubt upon his mind that it was his Negro, he re-
turned and opened the grave, and found it to be so. I was
Mr. Colebeck's leading counsel, and the facts stated in my
brief were as follows : that Crone and Hollingswortb
being informed that there was a Negro lurking in the
gully, went armed with muskets, and took several Negro
men with them. The poor African, seeing a parcel of
men come to attack him, was frightened ; he took up a
stone to defend himself, and retreated into a cleft rock,
where they could not easily come at him ; they then went
for some trash, put it into the crevice of the rock behind
him, and set it on fire 3 after it had burnt so as to scorch.

15

the poor fellotUi he ran' into a pool of walernear by; they
iSent a Negro to bring him out, and he threw the stone at
the Negro ; upon which the two ivhite men Jired several
times at him with the guns loaded with shot, and the Ne-
groes pelted him with stones. He teas at length dragged
out of the pool in a dying condition, for he had not only
received several bruises from the stones, hut his breast was
so pierced with the shot that it icas like a cullender* Tlie
white Savages ordered the Negroes to dig a grave, and
ivhilst they tvere digging it, the poor creature made signs
of begging for water, ivhich was not given to him; but as
soon as the grave was dug, he was thrown into it, and
covered over, and there seeiiis to he some douht luhetJier h§
was then quite dead. Crone and Holhngsworth deny
this; butColebeck assured me, that he couhd prove it by
more than one witness ; and I have reason to believe it to
be true, because on the day of trial Crone and HoHings-
worth did not suffer the cause to come to a hearing, but
paid the penalties and the costs of suit, which it is not
supposed they \yould have done had they been innocento
*^ I have the honour to be, &c.

'' John Beckles *,
" The Right Honourable Lord Seaforth,

&c.m,&c."

One circumstance of the above narrative may not strike
the minds of some readers-vvith its due force, although to
me it appears to be the most affecting part of the whole
case. They may have been led to conceive^ that vvhatevcr
atrocity there v/as in the proceedings of Cron£ and hi?
companion, yet in Colbeck there was some approxi-
mation to European feering. But how stands the fact
with respect to Colbeck ? On being coolly told that a,

* Papers, &c. page 43, 44.

16

Negro had been killed aiid buried, — told so by the mur-
derer himself, his neighbour and frequent visitor j — is he
shocked by the tale ? Does he express any horror or in-
dignation on the occasion ? No ! he goes away satisfied
with the assurance i that the murdered Negro is not his own.
Let the reader give its due weight to this one circumstance,
and he will be convinced that a state of society exists in the
West Indies, of which an inhabitant of this happy island
can form no adequate conception. Had it been his horse
instead of his Negro Slave, Colbeck would have been af-
fected in much the same way as he is said to have been.

From this impressive circumstance may also be inferred
the value of West Indian testimony, when given in fa-
vour of West Indian humanity. Mr. Colbeck, for ex-
ample, would naturally enough be spoken of as a man of
humanity by his West Indian brethren, and they would
probably be sincere in giving him that praise. But who
is this man of humanity ? It is one who, hearing that a
fellow-creiture has been cruelly and wantonly murdered,
goes away satisfied, because he himself has sustained
no pecuniary loss by the murder ! In truth, the moral
perceptions and feelings which prevail in that quarter of
the globe, are wholly different from those which are found
on this side of the Atlantic. An exception may, indeed,
be made in favour of a few men of enlightened minds ;
but the remark is just as applied to the bulk of the com-
munity— the people, whose prejudices are stated by Lord
5eaforth to be so horribly absurd, as to resist all mea-
sures for remedying this shocking state of society.

We shall doubtless hear it argued on the present as
on former occasions, when similar barbarities have been
incontestably proved, that " individual instances of cru«
elty, like those which have now been produced, are nd

proofs of general Iniuimanity. Instances of, at least,
equal atrocitV;, might be collected from the annals of the
Old Bailev. But how very unjust would it be to regard
these as exhibiting a fair view of the English character ?'*
There is, however, a remarkable defect in the analogy
which is here attempted to be established ; a defect which
seems fatal to the argument. In this happy country,
when we hear that crimes have been perpetrated, we hear
also that they have been punished : we have at least the
satisfaction of knowing, that no practicable means are
left unaitempted for securing the criminals, and bring-
ing them to justice. But is this the case in Barbadoes?
We hear of great crimes indeed; but we hear at the same
time of their ivipunity. The criminals are not under the
necessity of endeavouring to elude detection, or of screen-
ing themselves from prosecution by concealment : they
even talk of their crimes with a shocking indifference.
The laws themselves conspire to defeat the ends of justice.
We find, not the lawless part of the community, but the
legislative assembly of the island, sanctioning the perpe-
tration of the foulest murders, by their refusal to recog-
nise murder as a felonious act. We find even officers
of the Crown neglecting the obvious duty of instituting
a legal inquest into these murders. To what is this neg-
lect to be attributed ? To the contagious Influence of
those prejudices, and of that savage indifference to Negro
life, which evidently pervade the people at large ? Or is it
to be accounted for on the ground that the law has actu-
ally deprived His Majesty's Attorney General, and His
Majestv's Coroner, of the constitutional power of insti-
tuting: such an inquest? In either case our colonial
system will stand justly chargeable, not only with out -

D

IS

raging every feeling of humanity, but with violating
every acknowledged principle of justice.

But the West Indians and their friends will probably
have recourse to another argument. "^ Granting," they
may say, *^ in its fullest extent, the truth of all that you
have stated with respect to Barbadoes, it is yet very unfair
to extend the charge of inhumanity, virhich is justly
broughtagainst that island, to theWest Indies in general.
The Legislatures of all the other Islands have passed laws
which make the murder of a Slave felony ; they have also
provided such salutary regulations 'for the support,' and
^ for the encouragement, protection, and better govern-
' ment of Slaves,' as serve to place them in a situation of
even enviable security and comfort."

It will be readily admitted, that the Legislatures of
most, if not all the islands, with the exception of Barba-
does, have passed laws which make the murder of a Slave
a felonious act. It must also be admitted, that many
regulations have been framed and placed on the insular
statute-books, which, if faithfully enforced according
to their apparent intent, could not fail to produce bene-
ficial results. But have the clauses which contain these
regulations been carried into effect ? Are they any thing
more than a blind, intended to conceal from the eyes of
the British public the enormity of our West Indian
system ? Was it ever even in the contemplation of the
lawcvivers themselves that these laws should be executed ?
The papers to which so large a reference has already been
made happily contain a distinct answer to these ques-
tions : that answer it will now be proper to state.

On the 4th of October 1804, it appears that Earl Cam-
den addressed letters to the Governors of the different
West Indian islands^ requiring from them information on

19

a variety of points, A copy of the heads of information
transmitted to one of the islands, Dominica, will furnish
the reader with a sufficiently clear idea of the nature of
these requirements. It is as follows :

'' An account of all the Negro Slaves imported every
year since 1788, and of the number re-exported in each
year.

** The most authentic and particular account which
ican be obtained, of the number of Negro Slaves, dividing
them into classes of male and female ; children from i to
1 2 ; youths from 1 2 to 20, full-grown men and women
from 20 to 60 ', and the aged ; and stating, as accurately
as possible, the number in each class respectively : also,

*' An account of the total number of free Negroes and
coloured people.

" N.B. It is desirable that the manner in which the
information is obtained, and the account made up, should
be stated as distinctly as possible.

**^ You are also desired to transmit at the same time, in
original and duplicate, the following further information,
viz.

'^ A list and abstract, or general account of all returns,
made upon oath by owners, overseers, or managers, in
pursuance of the ^th and 8th clauses or sections of an
act, passed in December 17B8, intituled, ' An Act for the
* Encouragement, Protection, and better Management of
•^ Slaves*.'

* The 7th clause enacts, that " in order to secure, as far as pos-
sible, the good treatnietit of the Slaves, and to ascertain, the caiue of
the decrease of the Slaves, every owner, overseer, &c. shall, in the
monthof January every year, deliver in on oath a certificate of the
increase or decrease of the Slaves under his direction, how many
tave been borft, or how many have died, within twelve montfas
P 2

10

^^ If it appears that no such accounts or returns have
been duly made, or that they have been in any great mea-
sure neglected, you are requested further to send,

" An account or list of all convictions had, and fines
or forfeitures recovered, and of all prosecutions com-
menced against the defaulters, pursuant to the said act of
Assembly.

" If the said returns and accounts have been wholly or
generally neglected, and no prosecutions have taken place
'ior that cause, you are to send a certificate to that effect.

*' You will also state whether the island had in 1788,
or in 1799, when the act was made perpetual, or yet hai?-^
any and what parochial or established clergy, by whom
the regulations in sections 3 and 4, have been or can be
carried into effect*."

previous thereto, and the cause of the death of such Slaves; which
certificate shall be lodged in the Secretary s office of this island ; for
the -filing of which the Secretary shall be allowed a fee of nine-
pence : and i/.anj> owner, ^c. shall fail to deliver in such certificate
on oath at the time appointed, he shall be fined in the sum of fifty
peimdsJ' The 8th clause enacts, that Slaves, convicted of murder,
highvi^ay robbery, or burglary, shall suffer death.

* These clauses run thus : " Whereas a knowledge of the doc-
trines, and a due attention to the exercise of the duties of the Christian
religion, would tend to improve the morals, and to advance the tem-
poral and eternal happijiess of the Slaves, it is enacted, that all
owners, overseers, &c. shall, on every Sunday on their several
plantations, convene together the Slaves for the purpose of per-
forming divine worship, and shall not fall to exhort all unbaptized
Slaves to receive, the holy sacrament of baptism; and all the un-
• baptized children of Slaves shall receive the said sacrament : and
on neglect of these duties the owners, &c. shall be fined in not less
than 10/. nor more than 25I. And all owners, &c. shall encourage
and exhort all Slaves, arrived at years of maturity, and desirous of
entering into a connubial state, to receive the ceremony of Christian
marriagii and in neglect ofdoing40 shall be subject to a fine of ^l.

^1

To these inquiries no answer appears to have been rc-»
tLirned by the Governors, either of Jamaica or the Ba-
hamas. From those of the Leeward Islands, St. Vincent
and Grenada, letters have been received, stating the dif-
ficulty of immediately coinplying with the requisitions of
Earl Camden, but promising to take measures,, without
delay, for procuring the desired information. Now here
it may be proper to remark, that with respect to several
important heads of inquiry, particularly those which re-
late to the execution of the laws enacted for the protection
of Slaves, a very short delay must have been sufficient.
The Governors, by referring to the Secretary of tlie
island, or to the clerks of the several courts of record,
could have at once ascertained whether the legal pro-
visions mentioned by Earl Camden had or had not been
carried into effect. If they had ; a copy of the record
would have been all the answer which was requisite: If
they had not ; it was only necessary tp say so, and to state
the reasons of the failure.

This manly and becoming course has been pursued
only in one instance, viz. in that of the Governor of Do-
minica : and his answers, though defective in some im-^
portant particulars, yet contain a candid disclosure of
facts, and are therefore calculated to throw considerable
light, not only on the causes which may possibly have
impeded the returns from the other islands, but on the
general state of Negro slavery in the West Indies,

Governor Prevost, in his letter to Earl Camden, repre-
sents Dominica ** as distinguished by the laws it ha^
passed for the encouragement, protection, and govern-
ment of Slaves;" but he goes on to remark, " I am
sorry I cannot addr that they are as religiously enforced as
you could ivish *," Now this is' precisely what has been

* Papers, &c. page 34,

22

asserted^ with respect to the laws In question, by the ad-
vocates of abolition, and as strenuously denied by West
Indians. The laws may look well on paper, but they are
inefficient : nay, they were never meant to be otherwise.
If any one is so extremely ignorant of West Indian
affairs, as not to have been already apprized of this fact,
let him read the following passage in an official letter
of the Governor of Dominica:

** The Act of the Legislature, intituled, 'An Act for
' the Encouragement, Protection, and better Government
* of Slaves,' appears to have been considered, from the day
it was passed until this hour, as a i-olitical measure t9
avert the interference of the mother- country in the ma-
nagement of Slaves *. Having said this, your Lordship
will not be surprised to learn the clause seventh of that

* This representation, it may be presumed, is fairly applicable
to all the West Indian Legislatures : indeed it would be unjust
to them to suppose, that they were less politic and provident
than the Legislature of Dominica. The charge involved in it,
however, is certainly far from being light or trivial, especially as
it is made by one who is a thorough master of the subject on
which he writes, " having passed many years in the West Indies,
and having been resident in most of the Colonies." P. 34. The
charge amounts to this: that the individuals composing the legis-
latures of the Islands, and who we may suppose to be the most*
honourable part of the community, have entered into a combi-
nation to deceive the British Parliament and the British public;
that they have prostituted the solemn legislative functions with
which they were invested, to the promotion of this dishonourable
purpose; and that, with the pretended view of promoting the pro-
tection, security, and comfort of the Negroes, they have framed a
set of laws, the real object of which is not to benefit the Negroes,
but to prevent the mother-country from interfering to mitigate the
cruel oppression under which they groan. The reader must form
his own judgment of persons capable of such conduct.
'4

23

teiil has been wholly neglected*. As to the eighth clause,
it is too intimately connected with the public interest to
be allowed to sleep.

** I am apprehensive you will find the account of all
convictions had, and fines or forfeitures recovered, and
of all prosecutions commenced against the defaulters,
pursuant to the said act, very unsatisfactory ; however,
here, now and then, the act has shewn some signs of
life." P. 36.

After examining with the utmost attention the account
to which Governor Prevost refers (and which is inserted
at page 39), it does not appear that c single Jine or for-
feiture has leen recovered, nor a single prosecution com-
menced against defaulters, during the seventeen years
that the act has been, not to say in force, for that would
be ridiculous, but in existence. Of convictions there is
indeed a considerable number, but, with the exception of
two, they are all convictions of Negroes. Of these two,
one is for the murder of a Negro : but the record which
states the conviction, states also that the convict was par-

* If the reader will have the goodness to refer back top. 19, he
will see with what parade this very clause is introduced into the
Act. It was framed expressly " to secure, as far as possible, the goad
treatment of the Slai)es;" and yet it appears from the first to have
been regarded in the island as an absolute nullity, " It has been
WHOLLY NEGLECTED." Not onc Certificate has been filed in
consequence of it, nor has one penalty been enforced for the neg-
lect. How different this from the fate of the eighth clause, de-
nouncing the punishment of death on Negro Slaves guilty of cer-
tain crimes ! This clause, we are told, has not been allowed /o s le E P !
Here we have a lively picture of the nature of West Indian legis-
lation. When laws are directed agabist the Negro Slave, they
operate with certabty and permanent effect. When enacted -in
his favour, they prove dormant from the moment of their birth.

24

doncd by Governor Johnstone. The murderer was a
soldier in the 68th regiment. The other case is that of a
man who was fined thirty pounds currency for ill-treating
a Slave, the property of Doctor Fellan. No other parti-
culars are mentioned respecting this singular trial and
conviction. The signs of life, therefore, which have been
shewn by this act, as far as regards the protection of
Negro Slaves, must be admitted to be ver\' equivocal.

Governor Prevost refers Earl Camden to a letter from
the Rev* John x\udain, Rector of St. George's, as ex-
plaining " why the clauses 3 and 4 are not carried
into effect." Mr. Audain's letter, however, throws little
light on the subject. He can furnish no returns of mar-
riages, because (he says) ^' a very few even of the free co-
loured people marry, and not one Slave since I have been
Jiere. Why they do not, I readily conceive, particularly
the Slaves. Their owners do not exhort them to it, and
they shew no dispositions theniselves to alter that mode
of cohabitation which they have been accustomed to.'"''
P. 40.

It appears then, that the 3rd and 4th clauses of this
boasted act are as nugatory as the 7th : "they are not,"
says Governor Prevost, " carried into eflect*." And
yet if the reader will turn back tp page 20, he will find that
these clauses are introduced by a preamble of peculiar
solemnity. They are enacted with the professed view of
*' improving the morals and advancing the temporal and
eternal happiness of the Slaves." What is this but im-
pious mockery ? Have they been executed ? No. Has a
single penalty been enforced for their non-execution ?

* The act requires owners, &c. to exhort their Slaves to marry,
Mr. AuDAiN says, that their owners do not exhort them to it.

25

No. Surely^ after this discovery, it is impossible that such
mere mummery of legislation should continue to impose
on the good sense of the people of Great Britain. They
will see that the difference between Barbadocs, and the
other islands, is in fact merely nominal : and that the
same lamentable deficiency of legal protection, the same
system of unqualified oppression, characterizes Negro
bondacje throuirhout the whole extent of our West Indian
possessions.

Before the pamphlet closes, it will be proper to devote
a few pages to the consideration of a long Report of the
Assembly of Jamaica whicli forms a part of these papers.

The picture given in that Report of the situation of the
West Indian islands is in the highest degree discouraging;
but it is represented by the reporters as less gloomy than
the truth. " A faithful detail," it is said, p. 26, " would
have the appearance of a frightful caricature; and unless
speedy and efficacious measures are adopted for giving
permanent relief, by a radical change of measures, we
must suppose that the West Indian islands are doomed to
.perish as useless appendages to the British empire."
Credit is represented to be at an end; the planters, gene-
rallv, to be labouring under the pressnre of accumulating
debt; and the greatest distress to pervade all classes of
the community. Admitting the fidelity of this repre-
sentation, a question will still arise respecting the causes
which have produced so unfavourable a state of things.
The Report affirms, that it has chiefly been produced by
the enormous duties imposed on West Indian produce ;
by the competition of East Indian sugars; and by the
attempts made to abolish the Slave trade.

The two first points would lead to very lengthened de-
tails, and are foreign from the design 'of this pamphlet;,

E

26 ' •

It may be observed, however, in general, that notwith-
standing the labour employed by the reporters to prdve
that the additional duties imposed on West Indian pro-
duce fall not on the consumer, as in every other instance,
but on the grower, no peculiarity appears to exist in the
case under consideration, which exempts it from the ope-
ration of the general rule ; a rule which is familiar to the
merest sciolist in political economy. The protecting duties
imposed on East India sugar appear also to be suffici-
ently high to exclude them from competition with West
Indian sugar in the British market. A part of the East
Indian sugar, it is true, is consumed in this country; but
it is a small part, the demand for it being confined to a
few individuals, who are willing to pay a high price for
sugar rather than wound their consciences, by using
what is procured through the oppression of their brethren :
the rest is exported.

The attempts made to abolish the Slave trade operate,
it is said, to the disadvantage of the island, by increasing
the danger of insurrection among the Slaves*, and by dis-
couraging the hope of a permanent supply of labourers.
West Indian property, it is added, is thus so greatly di-
minished in its value, that merchants will no longer ad-
vance money upon it ; and without an advance of
money, the plantations cannot be carried on with ad^
vantage.

* The Slaves, it is affirmed, will confound abolition with
emancipation. But what proof is there of this ? Have they done
so in Virginia ? The Slave trade has been abolished in that state
lor near thirty years. Has any such misconception, as is now an-
ticipated, taken place among the Virginian Slaves ? Certainly
not. Experience therefore is against the reasoning of the West
iBdiau body.

^1 ^

The Report, however, overlooks the effect produced on
the value of property in the old islands by the extended
cultivation of Trinidad and Dutch Guiana. But is not
the great and growing rivalry of these colonies a far more
formidable evil than that of the East Indies ? Why then
have they so much insisted on the latter, while the
former, though much more obvious and much more mis-
chievous, is passed over in silence ? Is it that the re-
porters have a sympathy with the owners of Slaves, which
even self-interest cannot overcome ; and that they dread
the precedent of cultivating sugar by free men, as is done
in Bengal ? They must feel that it would have been
greatly to the advantage of the old islands, had they con-
sented to an abolition of the Slave trade fourteen years
ago, before the fertile plains of Guiana had yet been
brought into cultivation by the enormous amount of
British capital, which has been transferred thither.

The reporters labour to keep out of view the dangers
which threaten Jamaica from the example and proxi-
mity of St. Domingo, and from an increase of the Negro
population in the island ; and they absurdly argue, that
the more the Negro population is increased, the greater
will be the security of the West Indies. As to the plea
so strongly urged, of danger, even from discussing the
question of abolition in the British Parliament, it is ren-
dered almost ridiculous by the circumstance, that the
debates which have taken place on that subject are regu-
larly published, at great length, in the official newspapers
of Jamaica ; and that even the present Report, in which
the question of abolition is largely discussed, has been
inserted, by authority of the Assembly, in the Royal
Gazette of that jsland.

The reporters are greatly displeased that they should

28

be thouglit not to know their own Interests, and what

is most likely to promote them. This however is an

imputation which they share in common with a great part

of mankind, and which particularly attaches to all who,

like them, are engaged in gambling speculations. The

West Indian party, it will be remembered, vehemently

opposed the bills for regulating the Middle Passage, and

yet they have since confessed, that those bills have been

i productive of great benefit to their concerns : and had

jhey not been so infatuated as to oppose, fourteen years

f4gQj unfortunately with more effect, the abolition of the

Slave trade, they would have been saved the ruinous

competition of Dutch Guiana; and they would have had

.at this moment the almost exclusive possession of the

•J sugar-market of Europe.

The reporters Liisist with much earnestness on their
jight to the continuance of the Slave trade, on the ground
of] its having.been sanctioned by Acts of Parliament. But
.^i^Jtiiot absurd to suppose that any Acts of Parliament,
^jwbich may .have, been framed to encourage the importa-
tion of African labourers into the West Indies, can have
conveyed to West Indians theright of establishing such a
,, frightful system of oppression as the preceding part of
this pamphlet has proved to exist among them ? What
,act can be produced which binds the Imperial Parliament
to uphold a system so outrageously opposed to every prin-
..,ciple of British policy and of British law ; and not only
, to, uphold, it, but to enlarge its influence by the perpetual
increase of its wretched victims ? Granting that West
. Indians have that claim to which they pretend on the
justice and faith of Parliament, the claim attaches to this
: country, and not to Africa, which was no party in the
rx)ntr2c-U

29

The reporters are very indignant that any of the par-
iJamentarv orators should haye dared to express an opinion
that the Slave trade is ^* contrary to the principles of
justice and humanity;" and they add, that " the parti-
cular accusations of oppression, withoutthe means of re-
dress ; of avaricious and unfeeling rigour towards our
Slaves, unrestrained by a sense of interest, or the dic-
tates of humanltv; heaped lipon the inhabitants of the
British West Indian colonies ; have been repelled and re-
fated by such irrefragable evidence^ that theij can now
make little impression, except on the prejudiced and unin^
for7ned." Page t2.

How far a sense of Interest or the dictates of humanity
are capable of preventing imfeeling rigour from being ex-
ercised towards Negro Slaves, let the corr:espoiid.ence of
Lord Seaforth, already referred to, testify. If farther evi-
dence were required on this point, that of Governor Pre-
vostmight be adduced. He expressly declares (p. 34),.
that " the interest of the master in his Slaves' well-being
is not always a sufficient checks' But even supposing
cthat a sense of interest should operate with the owners
of Negro Slaves in restraining cruel treatment, yet what is
likely to be the operation of this potent principle in cases
where the management of the estates of absent proprie-
tors is left to attornies, whose commissions are enlarged
in proportion to the amount of the crops j, and to over-
seers, who hold their office during the pleasure of those
•attornies, and whose reputation as planters depends not
on the increase of Slaves, but on the increase of the
-yearly produce of the estate ? It is the more necessary to
make the inquiry, because by far the greater part of the
..sugar. plantations of Jamaica are in this predicament.
Allowing, therefore, that the principle of self-interest

30

possesses all the force which is attributed to it, yet in'the
present circumstances of Jamaica its operation on the
whole is more likely to be injurious than beneficial to the
Negro Slaves *.

But what is this *' irrefragable testimony" to
which the Assembly of Jamaica refer, as disproving the
allegations of abolitionists? It cannot have been the cor-
respondence of Lord Seaforth with Earl Gamden, for that
had not yet been made public. They ought to have
pointed to the chapter and page in which this invaluable
testimony lies concealed. For my own part, anxious as I
am that this great cause should have an impartial hearing,
I still would be willlno; that it should be decided without
referring to any other testimony than that which has
already been produced by West Indians and their friends.
Even on their own shewing, the charges of ^^ inhumanity
and injusllce," at least to the moral perceptions of Eng-
.lishmen, are not only not disproved, but incontrovertibly
established. West Indians cannot deny that the Negroes-
whom they purchase are procured in Africa by means the
most revolting to humanity mid justice. BrvanEdwaudS,
their own historian and apologist, has said, that to deny
this would be '^ insult and mockery." They cannot
deny that the Negroes are transported in fetters to the
West Indies, and there sold like cattle in a fair. Neither
can they deny that the Negroes, being sold, become
the absolute property of their purchaser, who may sepa-
rate parents from children and from each other, and sell
them when and to whom he pleases: that, moreover,

* Suppose a plantation under the manageinent of such a man as
Crone, the proprietor being in England ; what a sum of misery
-might be crowded into a short space of time I

31 .

West-Indian Slaves have no civil rights whatever, which
are not equally enjoyed bv brutes, the parade of laws ia
their flivonr signifying nothing, as has already been
proved, while their evidence is inadmissible in a court of
justice, and while the men who administer those laws have
an interest, real or supposed, in their violation : and that
therefore no effectual limit can be put to the master's
discretion, either as to the quantity of food to be given,
of labour to be enforced, or of punishment to be inflicted.
It is a fact equally undeniable, that the labour of Negro
Slaves is extracted from them, as it is from a team of
oxen, by the lash or the terror of the cart-whip*: that,
in a climate congenial to their own, they nevertheless
decrease so fast as to require constant importations to
keep up their wasted numbers : and lastly, that they
are regarded as an inferior order of beings f ; from
which it flows as a corollary that they can have no
claim to a participation in those rights of humanity,
or in that sympathy which men in general are willing to
bestow on those whom they consider as fellow men. Now
these are all points of general notoriety : they are either
distinctly admitted by the West Indians, who have given
evidence before the Privy Council and the House of Com-
mons ; or they are established beyond dispute by written

* This horrid feature of our colonial system prevails uniformly
throughout the whole range of our West Indian possessions. No
one can have visited them without knowing that the practice of
drilling Negroes at their work by means of the whip is nni'versal :
and yet such is the gross ignorance of the subject prevailing in
this country, that the fact, though as notorious in the West Indies
as that slavery exists there at all, has been sometimes disputed even
in the House of Commons.

f See Long's History of Jamaica, and, in addition to many
other proofs which might b* adduced, the preceding part of this
pamphlet.

documents which the West Indian Legislatures and Go-
vernors have officially furnished. That they are confirmed
in some important particulars by the papers which have
now been reviewed, will scarcely be controverted. If,
however, the bare statement of the above facts, facts, let
it be remembered, resting on West Indian testimony,
should amount (as it will appear to do to all who have not
been accustomed to breathe the moral atmosphere of our
Slave colonies) to a charge of " injustice and inhuma-
nity," of" oppression," and " unfeeling rigour," against
the West Indian system, then surely the bold and unqua-
lified assertion that such a charge has been ** refuted Inj
irrefragable testimony y" has no foundation on which to
stand.

The reporters have incidentally introduced into their
Report a comparison between the state of the Negro
Slaves and that of " the oppressed peasantry" of Bengal.
After giving an exaggerated representation of the wretch-
edness of the latter, they add, " such is the situation of
twenty millions of free subjects of the British empire in
India, whilst its legislature is hunting for imaginary
misery''' in the West Indian colonies, where the lot of
the labourer is a thousand times more fortunate." P. i8.

I would here ask the framers of this Report a few ques-
tions, which may serve to throw light on the comparison,
which they have instituted. Do they not know that the
Bengal peasant is not dragged from his own country by

* Imaginary misery! Am I then wrong in having attributed to
West Indians a different set of moral perceptions from those
which prevail among the inhabitants of Great Britain ? If at the
time when this Report was framed the reporters were ignorant of
the horrors which have recently taken place in the West Indies,
they could not be ignorant that such horrors might be practised
with impunity. ,

3^

forcie or fraud, loaded with fetters, chained to the deck,
or stifled in the hold of a Slave-shi|); bartered as a mere
implement of agriculture; separated at the pleasure of
another from his wife and children; worked under the
lash without the liberty even of pausing in his toil, but at
the bidding of the driver ; and liable to be punished to
any extent, and with any circumstances of cruelty, which
the caprice of his master may direct ? Do they not know
that the Bengal peasant is not punishable by any other
sentence than that of the law, after a regular trial and
conviction ; that his person and property are as fully se-
cured to him as those of the Governor General of India ;
and that he is the sole judge both of the labour and of the
food which suit him ? There is only one answer which
can be returned to these questions; and that answer will
prove it to be no better than absolute mockery in the
Asseiiiu.y of Jamaica thus to compare the condition of
the Bengal peasant with that of the Negro Slave.

But this is not all. The reporters enter into tedious
calculations to shew how much higher the wages of the
Negro Slave are than those of the Bengal peasant ; but
they omit to advert to one very material point of difference
between them. The wages of the Bengal peasant are
paid to himself: he labours for his own benefit solely.
But it is to his master, and not to himself, that the wages
, of the Negro Slave are paid. From his thankless toil
must be extracted, not only the means of bis own sub-
sistence, but the means of pampering the huury, swelling
the pomp, gratifying the avarice, or discharging the debts
of his owner. And when the circumstances in which
the planters are now placed have been considered, it can-
not be expected that a very ample proportion of the Slave'g
earnings should be applied to his own sustentatioUy

F

34

Copecially as that proportion, whatever It may be, depeuds
entirely on the will of an insolvent, or nearly insolvent
master.

The reporters complain that they were not permitted,
in the session of 1 804, to produce fresh evidence at the
bar of the House of Commons in favour of their right to
a continuance of the Slave trade. But would aiiy evi-
dence which they could produce contradict that state-
ment of the nature of West Indian slavery which they
themselves have already furnished, and by which its in-
justice and inhumanity are clearly demonstrated ? And
supposing they had been hardy enough to do this, would
any credit have been due to such contradictory testi-
mony ? Besides, what confidence can the British Par-
liament or the British Public repose in the declarations of
West Indians, even if they should sanction those decla-
rations with all the solemnity of an oath; when it ap-
pears from the acknowledgment of Governor Prevost, and
from the concurring testimony of their own records, that
the most honouralle men among them could so far forget
their high obligations as legislators, as to join in a com-
bination to deceive the Government and the Legislature
of this country, and to obtain credit to themselves for
humanity, by passing laws which they meant at the time
to be wholly inoperative ?

I shall only detain the reader while I notice one more
argument in favour of the Slave trade which is contained
in this Report. The continuance of importations, it is
afHrmed, will not increase the disproportion of Blacks
and Whites so much as the abolition would. This is an
argument not very level to common understandings; but.
the reasoning on Vvhlch It is built is of this kind. If the
uSlave trade were, abolished, the number of adventurers

35

who repair to the West Indies in the hope of amassing a.
fortune would be diminished, and consequently the white
population would decrease. But supposing the number of
adventurers who go out with such large expectations were
diminished, does it follow that an equal number, with
more moderate views, might not be procured to supply
their place ? While emigrations to America are so fre-
quent and numerous, might not a part of them, with
proper encouragement, be easily diverted to the filling of
vacancies in Jamaica ? The planters off that island, how-
ever, are far from feeling, on this point, the solicitude
which they express. Several proofs of this might be
given. In the first place, do they not almost universally
refuse to employ on their estates, in any capacity, white
men who are married and have families ? If they really'
w ished to increase the number of whites, would not men
with families be the most desirable persons to employ ?
Another proof is, that although there is a law of the island
requiring the proprietors of estates to maintain a certain
number of white servants in proportion to their slaves
(about one white to thirty slaves), yet the tax, which is
payable in case of a deficiency in that number, is so low,
that it is in general a gain to the proprietor to pay the tax
rather than to procure the individuals. In short, it is no-
torious, notwithstanding the language employed in the
Report, that no pains have been taken to remedy the dis-
proportion of the black and white population.

The true reason', however, of this argument is to be
found, not in the increased danger which will result to the
island from abolishing the Slave trade, but in the consti-
tution of the Jamaica Assembly. That Assembly (though
containing a small proportion of wealthy planters)
j;; chiefly composed of such adventurers as are alluded

36

ta in the Report^ and for whose privileges so much solici*'
tude is there manifested : viz. either merchants v;ho ^re
concerned in the sale of Slave cargoes, or agents employed
to manage the estates of absent proprietors; to whom are
added a few insolvent proprietors of sugar estates, largely
indebted, perhaps, to those very merchants and agents*
Now it is the voice of these adventurers which is heard on
the present occasion, and not that of the real proprietors
of Jamaica. The real proprietors, if their voice could be
heard, . might possibly speak a different language ; and
we see that in some cases they do so. Many of them are
sensible, that, added to the fatal rivalry of Guiana, the
true cause of their embarrassment (as their historian Long
has well shewn), and the grand source of their danger
also, is the continuance of the Slave trade: and if they
were not influenced by prejudice or party connexions, or
deterred by the threats of creditors, or duped by the mis-
representations of agents, they would foUowthe example
which Mr. Bar ham has set them, and take that part
which prudence and policy concur with justice and hu-
manity in dictating 5 1 mean the part of forwarding a
legislative abolition of the Slave trade^ as the only safe
and practicable, and at the same time effectual remedy,
which can be applied to the dreadful evils of our colonial
system. Eighteen years have passed since this question
v;as first agitated in Parliament; and since the public
have been amused with tales of the amelioration of
Colonial bondage. That every hope of this kind is
completely blasted, the informatiou contained in this
pamphlet suftlcienlly proves. Nor can such a hope be
otherwise than abortive, until Parliament shall consent
t©; abolish the Slave trade.

THE END.

»>, liusMtLLj Pnatcr, Little Uueen Street,