the stock of eighty thousand Negroes in Barbadoes, there die every year
five thousand more than are born in that island; which failure is
probably in the same proportion in the other islands. _In effect, this
people is under a necessity of being entirely renewed every sixteen
years._ And what must we think of the management of a people, who, far
from increasing greatly, as those who have no loss by war ought to do,
must, in so short a time as sixteen years, without foreign recruits, be
entirely consumed to a man! Is it not a christian doctrine, _that the
labourer is worthy of his hire?_ And hath not the Lord, by the mouth of
his prophet, pronounced, _"Wo unto that man who buildeth his house by
unrighteousness, and his chambers by wrong; who uses his neighbour's
service without wages, and giveth him nought for his work?"_ And yet the
poor Negro slaves are constrained, like the beasts, by beating, to work
hard without hire or recompence, and receive nothing from the hand of
their unmerciful masters, but such a wretched provision as will scarce
support them under their fatigues. The intolerable hardships many of the
slaves undergo, are sufficiently proved by the shortness of their
lives.--And who are these miserable creatures, that receive such
barbarous treatment from the planter? Can we restrain our just
indignation, when we consider that they are undoubtedly _his brethren!
his neighbours! the children of the same Father, and some of those for
whom Christ died, as truly as for the planter himself_. Let the opulent
planter, or merchant, prove that his Negro slave is not his brother, or
that he is not his neighbour, in the scripture sense of these
appellations; and if he is not able so to do, how will he justify the
buying and selling of his brethren, as if they were of no more
consideration than his cattle? The wearing them out with continual
labour, before they have lived out half their days? The severe whipping
and torturing them, even to death, if they resist his unsupportable
tyranny? Let the hardiest slave-holder look forward to that tremendous
day, when he must give an account to God of his stewardship; and let him
seriously consider, whether, at such a time, he thinks he shall be able
to satisfy himself, that any act of buying and selling, or the fate of
war, or the birth of children in his house, plantation, or territories,
or any other circumstance whatever, can give him such an absolute
property in the persons of men, as will justify his retaining them as
slaves, and treating them as beasts? Let him diligently consider whether
there will not always remain to the slave a _superior_ property or right
to the fruit of his own labour; and more especially to his own person;
that being which was given him by God, and which none but the Giver can
justly claim?
CHAP. IX.
The advantage which would have accrued to the natives of Guinea, if the
Europeans had acted towards them agreeable to the dictates of humanity
and christianity. _An inordinate_ desire of gain in the Europeans, the
true occasion of the slave trade. Notice of the misrepresentations of
the Negroes by most authors, in order to palliate the iniquity of the
slave trade. Those misrepresentations refuted, particularly with respect
_to the Hottentot Negroes_.
From the foregoing accounts of the natural disposition of the Negroes,
and the fruitfulness of most parts of Guinea, which are confirmed by
authors of candour, who have wrote from their own knowledge, it may well
be concluded, that the Negroes acquaintance with the Europeans might
have been a happiness to them, if these last had not only bore the name,
but had also acted the part, of Christians, and used their endeavours by
example, as well as precept, to make them acquainted with the glad
tidings of the gospel, which breathes peace and good will to man, and
with that change of heart, that redemption from sin, which christianity
proposeth; innocence and love might then have prevailed, nothing would
have been wanting to complete the happiness of the simple Africans: but
the reverse has happened; the Europeans, forgetful of their duty as men
and christians, have conducted themselves in so iniquitous a manner, as
must necessarily raise in the minds of the thoughtful and well-disposed
Negroes, the utmost scorn and detestation of the very name of
christians. All other considerations have given way to an infallible
desire of gain, which has been the principal and moving cause of the
most _iniquitous and dreadful scene_ that was, perhaps, ever acted upon
the face of the earth; instead of making use of that superior knowledge
with which the Almighty, the common Parent of mankind, had favoured
them, to strengthen the principle of peace and good will in the breasts
of the incautious Negroes, the Europeans have, by their bad example, led
them into excess of drunkenness, debauchery, and avarice; whereby every
passion of corrupt nature being inflamed, they have been easily
prevailed upon to make war, and captivate one another; as well to
furnish means for the excesses they had been habituated to, as to
satisfy the greedy desire of gain in their profligate employers, who to
this intent have furnished them with prodigious quantities of arms and
ammunition. Thus they have been hurried into confusion, distress, and
all the extremities of temporal misery; every thing, even the power of
their Kings, has been made subservient to this wicked purpose; for
instead of being protectors of their subjects, some of those rulers,
corrupted by the excessive love of spirituous liquors, and the tempting
baits laid before them by the factors, have invaded the liberties of
their unhappy subjects, and are become their oppressors.
Here it may be necessary to observe, that the accounts we have of the
inhabitants of Guinea, are chiefly given by persons engaged in the
trade, who, from self-interested views, have described them in such
colours as were least likely to excite compassion and respect, and
endeavoured to reconcile so manifest a violation of the rights of
mankind to the minds of the purchasers; yet they cannot but allow the
Negroes to be possessed of some good qualities, though they contrive as
much as possible to cast a shade over them. A particular instance of
this appears in Astley's collection, vol. 2. p. 73, where the author,
speaking of the Mandingos settled at Galem, which is situated 900 miles
up the Senegal, after saying that they carry on a commerce to all the
neighbouring kingdoms, and amass riches, adds, "That excepting _the
vices peculiar to the Blacks_, they are a good sort of people, honest,
hospitable, just to their word, laborious, industrious, and very ready
to learn arts and sciences." Here it is difficult to imagine what vices
can be peculiarly attendant on a people so well disposed as the author
describes these to be. With respect to the charge some authors have
brought against them, as being void of all natural affection, it is
frequently contradicted by others. In vol. 2. of the Collection, p. 275,
and 629, the Negroes of North Guinea, and the Gold Coast, are said _to
be fond of their children, whom they love with tenderness_. And Bosman
says, p. 340, "Not a few in his country (viz. Holland) fondly imagine,
that parents here sell their children, men their wives, and one brother
the other: but those who think so deceive themselves; for this never
happens on any other account but that of necessity, or some great
crime." The same is repeated by J. Barbot, page 326, and also confirmed
by Sir Hans Sloane, in the introduction to his natural history of
Jamaica; where speaking of the Negroes, he says, "They are usually
thought to be haters of their own children, and therefore it is believed
that they sell and dispose of them to strangers for money: but this is
not true; for the Negroes of Guinea being divided into several
captainships, as well as the Indians of America, have wars; and besides
those slain in battle, many prisoners are taken, who are sold as slaves,
and brought thither: but the parents here, although their children are
slaves for ever, yet have so great love for them, that no master dares
sell, or give away, one of their little ones, unless they care not
whether their parents hang themselves or no." J. Barbot, speaking of the
occasion of the natives of Guinea being represented as a treacherous
people, ascribes it to the Hollanders (and doubtless other Europeans)
usurping authority, and fomenting divisions between the Negroes. At page
110, he says, "It is well known that many of the European nations
trading amongst these people, have very unjustly and inhumanly, without
any provocation, stolen away, from time to time, abundance of the
people, not only on this coast, but almost every where in Guinea, who
have come on board their ships in a harmless and confiding manner: these
they have in great numbers carried away, and sold in the plantations,
with other slaves which they had purchased." And although some of the
Negroes may be justly charged with indolence and supineness, yet many
others are frequently mentioned by authors _as a careful, industrious,
and even laborious_ people. But nothing shews more clearly how unsafe it
is to form a judgment of distant people from the accounts given of them
by travellers, who have taken but a transient view of things, than the
case of the Hottentots, viz. those several nations of Negroes who
inhabit the most southern part of Africa: _these people_ are represented
by several authors, who appear to have very much copied their relations
one from the other, as so savage and barbarous as to have little of
human, but the shape: but these accounts are strongly contradicted by
others, particularly Peter Kolben, who has given a circumstantial
relation of the disposition and manners of those people.[A] He was a man
of learning, sent from the court of Prussia solely to make astronomical
and natural observations there; and having no interest in the slavery of
the Negroes, had not the same inducement as most other relators had, to
misrepresent the natives of Africa. He resided eight years at and about
the Cape of Good Hope, during which time he examined with great care
into the customs, manners, and opinions of the Hottentots; whence he
sets these people in a quite different light from what they appeared in
former authors, whom he corrects, and blames for the falsehoods they
have wantonly told of them. At p. 61, he says, "The details we have in
several authors, are for the most part made up of inventions and
hearsays, which generally prove false." Nevertheless, he allows they are
justly to be blamed for their sloth.--_The love of liberty and indolence
is their all; compulsion is death to them. While necessity obliges them
to work, they are very tractable, obedient, and faithful; but when they
have got enough to satisfy the present want, they are deaf to all
further intreaty_. He also faults them for their nastiness, the effect
of sloth; and for their love of drink, and the practice of some
unnatural customs, which long use has established amongst them; which,
nevertheless, from the general good disposition of these people, there
is great reason to believe they might be persuaded to refrain from, if a
truly christian care had been extended towards them. He says, "They are
eminently distinguished by many virtues, as their mutual benevolence,
friendship, and hospitality; they breathe kindness and good will to one
another, and seek all opportunities of obliging. Is a Hottentot's
assistance required by one of his countrymen? he runs to give it. Is his
advice asked? he gives it with sincerity. Is his countryman in want? he
relieves him to the utmost of his power." Their hospitality extends even
to European strangers: in travelling thro' the Cape countries, you meet
with a chearful and open reception, in whatsoever village you come to.
In short, he says, page 339, "The integrity of the Hottentots, their
strictness and celerity in the execution of justice, and their charity,
are equalled by few nations. _In alliances, their word is sacred; there
being hardly any thing they look upon as a fouler crime than breach of
engagements. Theft and adultery they punish with death_." They firmly
believe there is a God, the author of all things, whom they call the God
of gods; but it does not appear that they have an institution of worship
directly regarding this supreme Deity. When pressed on this article,
they excuse themselves by a tradition, "_That their first parents so
grievously offended this great God, that he cursed them and their
posterity with hardness of heart; so that they know little about him,
and have less inclination to serve him_." As has been already remarked,
these Hottentots are the only Negroe nations bordering on the sea, we
read of, who are not concerned in making or keeping slaves. Those slaves
made use of by the Hollanders at the Cape, are brought from other parts
of Guinea. Numbers of these people told the author, "That the vices they
saw prevail amongst christians; their avarice, their envy and hatred of
one another; their restless discontented tempers; their lasciviousness
and injustice, were the things that principally kept the Hottentots from
hearkening to christianity."
[Footnote A: See Kolban's account of the Cape of Good Hope.]
Father Tachard, a French Jesuit, famous for his travels in the East
Indies, in his account of these people, says, "The Hottentots have more
honesty, love, and liberality for one another, than are almost anywhere
seen amongst christians."
CHAP. X.
Man-stealing esteemed highly criminal, and punishable by the laws of
Guinea: _No_ Negroes allowed to be sold for slaves there, but those
deemed prisoners of war, or in punishment for crimes. _Some_ of the
Negroe rulers, corrupted by the Europeans, violently infringe the laws
of Guinea. The King of Barsailay noted in that respect.
By an inquiry into the laws and customs formerly in use, and still in
force amongst the Negroes, particularly on the Gold Coast, it will be
found, that provision was made for the general peace, and for the safety
of individuals; even in W. Bosman's time, long after the Europeans had
established the slave-trade, the natives were not publicly enslaved, any
otherwise than in punishment for crimes, when prisoners of war, or by a
violent exertion of the power of their corrupted Kings. Where any of the
natives were stolen, in order to be sold to the Europeans, it was done
secretly, or at least, only connived at by those in power: this appears
From Barbot and Bosman's account of the matter, both agreeing that
man-stealing was not allowed on the Gold Coast. The first[A] says,
"_Kidnapping or stealing of human creatures is punished there, and even
sometimes with death._" And, W. Bosman, whose long residence on the
coast, enabled him to speak with certainty, says,[B] "_That the laws
were severe against murder, thievery, and adultery._" And adds, "_That
man-stealing was punished on the Gold Coast with rigid severity and
sometimes with death itself._" Hence it may be concluded, that the sale
of the greatest part of the Negroes to the Europeans is supported by
violence, in defiance of the laws, through the knavery of their
principal men,[C] who, (as is too often the case with those in European
countries) under pretence of encouraging trade, and increasing the
public revenue, disregard the dictates of justice, and trample upon
those liberties which they are appointed to preserve.
[Footnote A: Barbot, p. 303.]
[Footnote B: Bosman, p. 143.]
[Footnote C: Note. Barbot, page 270, says, the trade of slaves is in a
more peculiar manner the business of Kings, rich men, and prime
merchants, exclusive of the inferior sort of blacks.]
Fr. Moor also mentions man-stealing as being discountenanced by the
Negroe Governments on the river Gambia, and speaks of the inslaving the
peaceable inhabitants, as a violence which only happens under a corrupt
administration of justice; he says,[A] "The Kings of that country
generally advise with their head men, scarcely doing any thing of
consequence, without consulting them first, except the King of
Barsailay, who being subject to hard drinking, is very absolute. It is
to this King's insatiable thirst for brandy, that his subjects freedoms
and families are in so precarious a situation.[B] Whenever this King
wants goods or brandy, he sends a messenger to the English Governor at
James Fort, to desire he would send a sloop there with a cargo: _this
news, being not at all unwelcome_, the Governor sends accordingly;
against the arrival of the sloop, the King goes and ransacks some of his
enemies towns, seizing the people, and selling them for such commodities
as he is in want of, which commonly are brandy, guns, powder, balls,
pistols, and cutlasses, for his attendants and soldiers; and coral and
silver for his wives and concubines. In case he is not at war with any
neighbouring King, he then falls upon one of his own towns, which are
numerous, and uses them in the same manner." "He often goes with some of
his troops by a town in the day time, and returning in the night, sets
fire to three parts of it, and putting guards at the fourth, there
seizes the people as they run out from the fire; he ties their arms
behind them, and marches them either to Joar or Cohone, where he sells
them to the Europeans."
[Footnote A: Moor, page 61.]
[Footnote B: Idem, p. 46.]
A. Brue, the French director, gives much the same account, and says,[A]
"That having received goods, he wrote to the King, that if he had a
sufficient number of slaves, he was ready to trade with him. This
Prince, as well as the other Negroe monarchs, has always a sure way of
supplying his deficiencies, by selling his own subjects, for which they
seldom want a pretence. The King had recourse to this method, by seizing
three hundred of his own people, and sent word to the director, that he
had the slaves ready to deliver for the goods." It seems, the King
wanted double the quantity of goods which the factor would give him for
these three hundred slaves; but the factor refusing to trust him, as he
was already in the company's debt, and perceiving that this refusal had
put the King much out of temper, he proposed that he should give him a
licence for taking so many more of his people, as the goods he still
wanted were worth but this the King refused, saying "_It_ might occasion
a disturbance amongst his subjects."[B] Except in the above instance,
and some others, where the power of the Negroe Kings is unlawfully
exerted over their subjects, the slave-trade is carried on in Guinea
with some regard to the laws of the country, which allow of none to be
sold, but prisoners taken in their national wars, or people adjudged to
slavery in punishment for crimes; but the largeness of the country, the
number of kingdoms or commonwealths, and the great encouragement given
by the Europeans, afford frequent pretences and opportunities to the
bold designing profligates of one kingdom, to surprize and seize upon
not only those of a neighbouring government, but also the weak and
helpless of their own;[C] and the unhappy people, taken on those
occasions, are, with impunity, sold to the Europeans. These practices
are doubtless disapproved of by the most considerate amongst the
Negroes, for Bosman acquaints us, that even their national wars are not
agreeable to such. He says,[D] "If the person who occasioned the
beginning of the war be taken, they will not easily admit him to ransom,
though his weight in gold should be offered, for fear he should in
future form some new design against their repose."
[Footnote A: Collection vol. 2. p. 29.]
[Footnote B: Note, This Negroe King thus refusing to comply with the
factor's wicked proposal, shews, he was sensible his own conduct was not
justifiable; and it likewise appears, the factor's only concern was to
procure the greatest number of slaves, without any regard to the
injustice of the method by which they were procured. This Andrew Brue,
was, for a long time, principal director of the French African factory
in those parts; in the management of which, he is in the collection said
to have had extraordinary success. The part he ought to have acted as a
christian towards the ignorant Africans seems quite out of the question;
the profit of his employers appears to have been his sole concern. At
page 62, speaking of the country on the Senegal river, he says, "It was
very populous, the soil rich; and if the people were industrious, they
might, of their own produce, carry on a very advantageous trade with
strangers; there being but few things in which they could be excelled;
_but_ (he adds) _it is to be hoped, the Europeans will never let them
into the secret._" A remark unbecoming humanity, much more
christianity!]
[Footnote C: This inhuman practice is particularly described by Brue, in
collect. vol. 2. page 98, where he says, "That some of the natives are,
on all occasions, endeavouring to surprize and carry off their country
people. They land (says he) without noise, and if they find a lone
cottage, without defence, they surround it, and carry off all the people
and effects to their boat, and immediately reimbark." This seems to be
mostly practised by some Negroes who dwell on the sea coast.]
[Footnote D: Bosman, p. 155.]
CHAP. XI.
An account of the shocking inhumanity, used in the carrying on of the
slave-trade, as described by factors of different nations, viz. by
Francis Moor, on the river Gambia; and by John Barbot, A. Brue, and
William Bosman, through the coast of Guinea. _Note_. Of the large
revenues arising to the Kings of Guinea from the slave-trade.
First, Francis Moor, factor for the English African company, on the
river Gambia,[A] writes, "That there are a number of Negro traders,
called joncoes, or merchants, who follow the slave-trade as a business;
their place of residence is so high up in the country as to be six weeks
travel from James Fort, which is situate at the mouth of that river.
These merchants bring down elephants teeth, and in some years two
thousand slaves, most of which, they say, are prisoners taken in war.
They buy them from the different Princes who take them; many of them are
Bumbrongs and Petcharies; nations, who each of them have different
languages, and are brought from a vast way inland. Their way of bringing
them is tying them by the neck with leather thongs, at about a yard
distant from each other, thirty or forty in a string, having generally a
bundle of corn or elephants teeth upon each of their heads. In their way
from the mountains, they travel thro' very great woods, where they
cannot for some days get water; so they carry in skin bags enough to
support them for a time. I cannot (adds Moor) be certain of the number
of merchants who follow this trade, but there may, perhaps, be about an
hundred, who go up into the inland country, with the goods which they
buy from the white men, and with them purchase, in various countries,
gold, slaves, and elephants teeth. Besides the slaves, which the
merchants bring down, there are many bought along the river: These are
either taken in war, as the former are, or men condemned for crimes; _or
else people stolen, which is very frequent_.--Since the slave-trade has
been used, all punishments are changed into slavery; there being an
advantage on such condemnation, _they strain for crimes very hard, in
order to get the benefit of selling the criminal_."
[Footnote A: Moor, page 28.]