CHAPTER XXVI.

--Continuation from July, 1790, to July, 1791.--Author travels again

throughout the kingdom; object of his journey.--Motion in the House of

Commons to resume the hearing of evidence in favour of the abolition;

list of all those examined on this side of the question; machinations

of interested persons, and cruel circumstances of the times previously

to the day of decision.--Motion at length made for stopping all

further importation of Slaves from Africa; debates upon it; motion

lost.--Resolutions of the committee for the Abolition of the Slave

Trade.--Establishment of the Sierra Leone Company.

It was a matter of deep affliction to us to think, that the crimes and

sufferings inseparable from the Slave Trade were to be continued to

another year. And yet it was our duty, in the present moment, to

acquiesce in the postponement of the question. This postponement was not

now for the purpose of delay, but of securing victory. The evidence, on

the side of the abolition, was, at the end of the last session, but half

finished. It was impossible, for the sake of Africa, that we could have

then closed it. No other opportunity might offer in parliament for

establishing an indelible record in her favour, if we were to neglect

the present. It was our duty, therefore, even to wait to complete it,

and to procure such a body of evidence, as should not only bear us out

in the approaching contest, but such as, if we were to fail, would bear

out our successors also. It was possible, indeed, if the inhabitants of

our islands were to improve in civilization, that the poor slaves might

experience gradually an improved treatment with it; and so far testimony

now might not be testimony for ever; but it was utterly impossible,

while the Slave Trade lasted, and the human passion continued to be the

same, that there should be any change for the better in Africa; or that

any modes, less barbarous, should come into use for procuring slaves.

Evidence, therefore, if once collected on this subject, would be

evidence for posterity. In the midst of these thoughts another journey

occurred to me as necessary for this purpose; and I prayed, that I might

have strength to perform it in the most effectual manner; and that I

might be daily impressed, as I travelled along, with the stimulating

thought, that the last hope for millions might possibly rest upon my own

endeavours.

The committee highly approved of this journey; Mr. Wilberforce saw the

absolute necessity of it also, and had prepared a number of questions,

with great ingenuity, to be put to such persons as might have

information to communicate. These I added to those in the tables, which

have been already mentioned, and they made together a valuable

collection on the subject.

This tour was the most vexatious of any I had yet undertaken; many still

refused to come forward to be examined, and some on the most frivolous

pretences, so that I was disgusted, as I journeyed on, to find how

little men were disposed to make sacrifices for so great a cause. In one

part of it I went over nearly two thousand miles, receiving repeated

refusals; I had not secured one witness within this distance; this was

truly disheartening. I was subject to the whims and caprice of those

whom I solicited on these occasions[A]; to these I was obliged to

accommodate myself. When at Edinburgh, a person who could have given me

material information declined seeing me, though he really wished well to

the cause; when I had returned southward as far as York, he changed his

mind, and he would then see me; I went back that I might not lose him.

When I arrived, he would give me only private information. Thus I

travelled, backwards and forwards, four hundred miles to no purpose. At

another place a circumstance almost similar happened, though with a

different issue. I had been for two years writing about a person, whose

testimony was important. I had passed once through the town in which he

lived, but he would not then see me; I passed through it now, but no

entreaties of his friends could make him alter his resolution. He was a

man highly respectable as to situation in life, but of considerable

vanity. I said therefore to my friend, on leaving the town, You may tell

him that I expect to be at Nottingham in a few days, and though it be a

hundred and fifty miles distant, I will even come back to see him if he

will dine with me on my return. A letter from my friend announced to me,

when at Nottingham, that his vanity had been so gratified by the thought

of a person coming expressly to visit him from such a distance, that he

would meet me according to my appointment; I went back; we dined

together; he yielded to my request; I was now repaid, and I returned

towards Nottingham in the night. These circumstances I mention, and I

feel it right to mention them, that the reader may be properly impressed

with the great difficulties we found in collecting a body of evidence in

comparison with our opponents. They ought never to be forgotten; for if

with the testimony, picked up as it were under all these disadvantages,

we carried our object against those who had almost numberless witnesses

to command, what must have been the merits of our cause! No person can

indeed judge of the severe labour and trials in these journeys. In the

present, I was out four months; I was almost over the whole island; I

intersected it backwards and forwards both in the night and in the day;

I travelled nearly seven thousand miles in this time, and I was able to

count upon twenty new and willing evidences.

Having now accomplished my object, Mr. Wilberforce moved on the 4th of

February in the House of Commons, that a committee be appointed to

examine further witnesses in behalf of the abolition of the Slave Trade,

This motion was no sooner made, than Mr. Cawthorne rose, to our great

surprise, to oppose it. He took upon himself to decide that the House

had heard evidence enough. This indecent motion was not without its

advocates. Mr. Wilberforce set forth the injustice of this attempt, and

proved, that out of eighty-one days which had been given up to the

hearing of evidence, the witnesses against the abolition had occupied no

less than fifty-seven. He was strenuously supported by Mr. Burke, Mr.

Martin, and other respectable members. At length the debate ended in

favour of the original motion, and a committee was appointed

accordingly.

The examinations began again on February 7th, and continued till April

5th, when they were finally closed. In this, as in the former session,

Mr. Wilberforce and Mr. William Smith principally conducted them; and

indeed it was necessary that they should have been present at these

times; for it is perhaps difficult to conceive the illiberal manner in

which our witnesses were treated by those on the other side of the

question. Men who had left the trade upon principle, and who had come

forward, against their apparent interest, to serve the cause of humanity

and justice, were looked upon as mercenaries and culprits, or as men of

doubtful and suspicious character; they were brow-beaten; unhandsome

questions were put to them; some were kept for four days under

examination. It was however highly to their honour that they were found

in no one instance to prevaricate, nor to waver as to the certainty of

their facts.

But this treatment, hard as it was for them to bear, was indeed good for

the cause; for, coming thus pure out of the fire, they occasioned their

own testimony, when read, to bear stronger marks of truth than that of

the generality of our opponents; nor was it less superior when weighed

by other considerations. For the witnesses, against the abolition were

principally interested; they, who were not, had been hospitably received

at the planters' tables. The evidence, too, which they delivered, was

almost wholly negative. They had not seen such and such evils; but this

was no proof that the evils did not exist. The witnesses, on the other

hand, who came up in favour of the abolition, had no advantage in making

their several assertions. In some instances they came up against their

apparent interest, and, to my knowledge, suffered persecution for so

doing. The evidence also which they delivered was of a positive nature.

They gave an account of specific evils, which had come under their own

eyes; these evils were never disproved; they stood therefore on a firm

basis, as on a tablet of brass. Engraved there in affirmative

characters, a few of them were of more value than all the negative and

airy testimony which had been advanced on the other side of the

question.

That the public may judge, in some measure, of the respectability of the

witnesses in favour of the abolition, and that they may know also to

whom Africa is so much indebted for her deliverance, I shall subjoin

their names in the three following lists. The first will contain those

who were examined by the privy council only; the second those who were

examined by the privy council and the House of Commons also; and the

third those who were examined-by the House of Commons only.

LIST I.

LIST II.

LIST III.

The evidence having been delivered on both sides, and then printed, it

was judged expedient by Mr. Wilberforce, seeing that it filled three

folio volumes, to abridge it. This abridgement was made by the different

friends of the cause. William Burgh, Esq., of York; Thomas Babington,

Esq., of Rothley Temple; the Rev. Thomas Gisborne, of Yoxall Lodge; Mr.

Campbell Haliburton, of Edinburgh; George Harrison, with one or two

others of the committee, and myself, were employed upon it. The greater

share, however, of the labour, fell upon Dr. Dickson. That no

misrepresentation of any person's testimony might be made, Matthew

Montagu, Esq., and the Honourable E.J. Elliott, members of Parliament,

undertook to compare the abridged manuscripts with the original text,

and to strike out or correct whatever they thought to be erroneous, and

to insert whatever they thought to have been omitted. The committee for

the abolition, when the work was finished, printed it at their own

expense, Mr. Wilberforce then presented it to the House of Commons, as a

faithful abridgement of the whole evidence. Having been received as

such, under the guarantee of Mr. Montague and Mr. Elliott, the committee

sent it to every individual member of that House.

The book having been thus presented, and a day fixed for the final

determination of the question, our feelings became almost insupportable;

for we had the mortification to find, that our cause was going down in

estimation, where it was then most important that it should have

increased in favour. Our opponents had taken advantage of the long delay

which the examination of evidence had occasioned, to prejudice the minds

of many of the members of the House of Commons against us. The old

arguments of emancipation, massacre, ruin, and indemnification, had been

kept up; but, as the day of final decision approached, they had been

increased. Such was our situation at this moment, when the current was

turned still more powerfully against us by the peculiar circumstances of

the times. It was, indeed, the misfortune of this great cause to be

assailed by every weapon which could be turned against it. At this time,

Thomas Paine had published his _Rights of Man_. This had been widely

circulated. At this time, also, the French revolution had existed nearly

two years. The people of England had seen, during this interval, a

government as it were dissected. They had seen an old constitution taken

down, and a new one put up, piece by piece, in its stead. The

revolution, therefore, in conjunction with the book in question, had had

the effect of producing dissatisfaction among thousands; and this

dissatisfaction was growing, so as to alarm a great number of persons of

property in the kingdom, as well as the government itself. Now will it

be believed that our opponents had the injustice to lay hold of these

circumstances, at this critical moment, to give a death-blow to the

cause of the abolition? They represented the committee, though it had

existed before the French revolution, or the _Rights of Man_ were heard

of, as a nest of Jacobins; and they held up the cause, sacred as it was,

and though it had the support of the minister, as affording an

opportunity of meeting for the purpose of overthrowing the state. Their

cry succeeded. The very book of the abridgment of the evidence was

considered by many members as poisonous as that of the _Rights of Man_.

It was too profane for many of them to touch; and they who discarded it,

discarded the cause also.

But these were not the only circumstances which were used as means, at

this critical moment, to defeat us. News of the revolution, which had

commenced in St. Domingo, in consequence of the disputes between the

whites and the people of colour, had, long before this, arrived in

England. The horrible scenes which accompanied it, had been frequently

published as so many arguments against our cause. In January, new

insurrections were announced as having happened in Martinique. The

negroes there were described as armed, and the planters as having

abandoned their estates for fear of massacre. Early in the month of

March, insurrections in the smaller French islands were reported. Every

effort was then made to represent these as the effects of the new

principles of liberty, and of the cry for abolition. But what should

happen, just at this moment, to increase the clamour against us? Nothing

less than an insurrection in Dominica.--Yes!--An insurrection in a

British island. This was the very event for our opponents. "All the

predictions of the planters had now become verified. The horrible

massacres were now realizing at home." To give this news still greater

effect, a meeting of our opponents was held at the London Tavern. By a

letter read there, it appeared that "the ruin of Dominica was now at

hand." Resolutions were voted, and a memorial presented to government,

"immediately to despatch such a military force to the different islands,

as might preserve the whites from destruction, and keep the negroes in

subjection during the present critical state of the slave bill." This

alarm was kept up till the 7th of April, when another meeting took

place, to receive the answer of government to the memorial. It was there

resolved that, "as it was too late to send troops to the islands, the

best way of preserving them would be to bring the question of the Slave

Trade to an immediate issue; and that it was the duty of the government,

if they regarded the safety of the islands, to oppose the abolition of

it." Accounts of all these proceedings were inserted in the public

papers. It is needless to say that they were injurious to our cause.

Many looked upon the abolitionists as monsters. They became also

terrified themselves. The idea with these was, that unless the

discussion on this subject was terminated, all would be lost. Thus,

under a combination of effects, arising from the publication of the

_Rights of Man_, the rise and progress of the French revolution, and the

insurrections of the negroes in the different islands, no one of which

events had anything to do with the abolition of the Slave Trade, the

current was turned against us; and in this unfavourable frame of mind

many members of parliament went into the House, on the day fixed for the

discussion, to discharge their duty with respect to this great question.

On the 18th of April, Mr. Wilberforce made his motion. He began by

expressing a hope, that the present debate, instead of exciting asperity

and confirming prejudice, would tend to produce a general conviction of

the truth of what in fact was incontrovertible; that the abolition of

the Slave Trade was indispensably required of them, not only by morality

and religion, but by sound policy. He stated that he should argue the

matter from evidence. He adverted to the character, situation, and means

of information of his own witnesses; and having divided his subject into

parts, the first of which related to the manner of reducing the natives

of Africa to a state of slavery, he handled it in the following

manner:--

He would begin, he said, with the first boundary of the trade. Captain

Wilson and Captain Hills, of His Majesty's navy, and Mr. Dalrymple, of

the land service, had concurred in stating, that in the country

contiguous to the river Senegal, when slave-ships arrived there, armed

parties were regularly sent out in the evening, who scoured the country,

and brought in their prey. The wretched victims were to be seen in the

morning bound back to back in the huts on shore, whence they were

conveyed, tied hand and foot, to the slave-ships. The design of these

ravages was obvious, because, when the Slave Trade was stopped, they

ceased. Mr. Kiernan spoke of the constant depredations by the Moors to

procure slaves. Mr. Wadstrom confirmed them. The latter gentleman showed

also that they were excited by presents of brandy, gunpowder, and such

other incentives; and that they were not only carried on by one

community against another, but that the kings were stimulated to

practise them in their territories, and on their own subjects: and in

one instance a chieftain, who, when intoxicated, could not resist the

demands of the slave merchants, had expressed, in a moment of reason, a

due sense of his own crime, and had reproached his Christian seducers.

Abundant also were the instances of private rapine. Individuals were

kidnapped, whilst in their fields and gardens. There was an universal

feeling of distrust and apprehension there. The natives never went any

distance from home without arms; and when Captain Wilson asked them the

reason of it, they pointed to a slave-ship then lying within sight.

On the windward coast, it appeared from Lieutenant Story and Mr. Bowman,

that the evils just mentioned existed, if possible, in a still higher

degree. They had seen the remains of villages, which had been burnt,

whilst the fields of corn were still standing beside them, and every

other trace of recent desolation. Here an agent was sent to establish a

settlement in the country, and to send to the ships such slaves as he

might obtain. The orders he received from his captain were, that "he was

to encourage the chieftains by brandy and gunpowder to go to war, to

make slaves." This he did. The chieftains performed their part in

return. The neighbouring villages were surrounded and set on fire in the

night. The inhabitants were seized when making their escape; and, being

brought to the agent, were by him forwarded to his principal on the

coast. Mr. How, a botanist in the service of Government, stated, that on

the arrival of an order for slaves from Cape Coast Castle, while he was

there, a native chief immediately sent forth armed parties, who brought

in a supply of all descriptions in the night.

But he would now mention one or two instances of another sort, and these

merely on account of the conclusion, which was to be drawn from them.

When Captain Hills was in the river Gambia, he mentioned accidentally to

a Black pilot, who was in the boat with him, that he wanted a cabin-boy.

It so happened that some youths were then on the shore with vegetables

to sell. The pilot beckoned to them to come on board; at the same time

giving Captain Hills to understand, that he might take his choice of

them; and when Captain Hills rejected the proposal with indignation, the

pilot seemed perfectly at a loss to account for his warmth; and drily

observed, that the slave-captains would not have been so scrupulous.

Again, when General Rooke commanded at Goree, a number of the natives,

men, women, and children, came to pay him a friendly visit. All was

gaiety and merriment. It was a scene to gladden the saddest, and to

soften the hardest, heart. But a slave-captain was not so soon thrown

off his guard. Three English barbarians of this description had the

audacity jointly to request the general, to seize the whole unsuspicious

multitude and sell them. For this they alleged the precedent of a former

governor. Was not this request a proof of the frequency of such acts of

rapine? for how familiar must such have been to slave-captains, when

three of them dared to carry a British officer of rank such a flagitious

proposal! This would stand in the place of a thousand instances. It

would give credibility to every other act of violence stated in the

evidence, however enormous it might appear.

But he would now have recourse for a moment to circumstantial evidence.

An adverse witness, who had lived on the Gold Coast, had said that the

only way in which children could he enslaved, was by whole families

being sold when the principals had been condemned for witchcraft. But he

said at the same time, that few were convicted of this crime, and that

the younger part of a family in these cases was sometimes spared. But if

this account were true, it would follow that the children in the

slave-vessels would be few indeed. But it had been proved, that the

usual proportion of these was never less than a fourth of the whole

cargo on the coast, and also, that the kidnapping of children was very

prevalent there.

All these atrocities, he said, were fully substantiated by the evidence;

and here he should do injustice to his cause, if he were not to make a

quotation from the speech of Mr. B. Edwards in the Assembly of Jamaica,

who, though he was hostile to his propositions, had yet the candour to

deliver himself in the following manner there. "I am persuaded," says

he, "that Mr. Wilberforce has been rightly informed as to the manner in

which slaves are generally procured. The intelligence I have collected

from my own negroes abundantly confirms his account; and I have not the

smallest doubt, that in Africa the effects of this trade are precisely

such as he has represented them. The whole, or the greatest part, of

that immense continent is a field of warfare and desolation; a

wilderness, in which the inhabitants are wolves towards each other. That

this scene of oppression, fraud, treachery, and bloodshed, if not

originally occasioned, is in part (I will not say wholly) upheld by the

Slave Trade, I dare not dispute. Every man in the Sugar Islands may be

convinced that it is so, who will enquire of any African negroes, on

their first arrival, concerning the circumstances of their captivity.

The assertion that it is otherwise, is mockery and insult."

But it was not only by acts of outrage that the Africans were brought

into bondage. The very administration of justice was turned into an

engine for that end. The smallest offence was punished by a fine equal

to the value of a slave. Crimes were also fabricated; false accusations

were resorted to; and persons were sometimes employed to seduce the

unwary into practices with a view to the conviction and the sale of

them.

It was another effect of this trade, that it corrupted the morals of

those who carried it on. Every fraud was used to deceive the ignorance

of the natives by false weights and measures, adulterated commodities,

and other impositions of a like sort. These frauds were even

acknowledged by many who had themselves practised them, in obedience to

the orders of their superiors. For the honour of the mercantile

character of the country, such a traffic ought immediately to be

suppressed.

Yet these things, however clearly proved by positive testimony, by the

concession of opponents, by particular inference, by general reasoning,

by the most authentic histories of Africa, by the experience of all

countries and of all ages,--these things, and (what was still more

extraordinary) even the possibility of them, were denied by those who

had been brought forward on the other side of the question. These,

however, were chiefly persons who had been trading-governors of forts in

Africa, or who had long commanded ships in the Slave Trade. As soon as

he knew the sort of witnesses which was to be called against him, he had

been prepared to expect much prejudice. But his expectations had been

greatly surpassed by the testimony they had given. He did not mean to

impeach their private characters, but they certainly showed themselves

under the influence of such gross prejudices, as to render them

incompetent judges of the subject they came to elucidate. They seemed

(if he might so say) to be enveloped by a certain atmosphere of their

own; and to see, as it were, through a kind of African medium. Every

object which met their eyes came distorted and turned from its true

direction. Even the declarations, which they made on other occasions,

seemed wholly strange to them. They sometimes not only forgot what they

had seen, but what they had said; and when to one of them his own

testimony to the privy council was read, he mistook it for that of

another, whose evidence he declared to be "the merest burlesque in the

world."

But the House must be aware that there was not only an African medium,

but an African logic. It seemed to be an acknowledged axiom in this,

that every person who offered a slave for sale had a right to sell him,

however fraudulently he might have obtained him. This had been proved by

the witnesses who opposed him. "It would have stopped my trade," said

one of them, "to have asked the broker how he came by the person he was

offering me for sale."--"We always suppose," said another, "the broker

has a right to sell the person he offers us."--"I never heard of such a

question being asked," said a third; "a man would be thought a fool who

should put such a question."--He hoped the House would see the practical

utility of this logic. It was the key-stone which held the building

together. By means of it, slave-captains might traverse the whole coast

of Africa, and see nothing but equitable practices. They could not,

however, be wholly absolved, even if they availed themselves of this

principle to its fullest extent; for they had often committed

depredations themselves; especially when they were passing by any part

of the coast, where they did not mean to continue or to go again. Hence

it was (as several captains of the navy and others had declared on their

examination), that the natives, when at sea in their canoes, would never

come near the men-of-war, till they knew them to be such. But finding

this, and that they were not slave-vessels, they laid aside their fears,

and came and continued on board with unsuspecting cheerfulness. With

respect to the miseries of the Middle Passage, he had said so much on a

former occasion, that he would spare the feelings of the committee as

much as he could. He would therefore simply state that the evidence,

which was before them, confirmed all those scenes of wretchedness which

he had then described: the same suffering from a state of suffocation,

by being crowded together; the same dancing in fetters; the same

melancholy singing; the same eating by compulsion; the same despair; the

same insanity; and all the other abominations which characterized the

trade. New instances however had occurred, where these wretched men had

resolved on death to terminate their woes. Some had destroyed themselves

by refusing sustenance, in spite of threats and punishments. Others had

thrown themselves into the sea; and more than one, when in the act of

drowning, were seen to wave their hands in triumph, "exulting" (to use

the words of an eye-witness) "that they had escaped." Yet these and

similar things, when viewed through the African medium he had mentioned,

took a different shape and colour. Captain Knox, an adverse witness, had

maintained, that slaves lay during the night in tolerable comfort. And

yet he confessed, that in a vessel of one hundred and twenty tons, in

which he had carried two hundred and ninety slaves, the latter had not

all of them room to lie on their backs. How comfortably, then, must they

have lain in his subsequent voyages! for he carried afterwards, in a

vessel of a hundred and eight tons, four hundred and fifty; and in a

vessel of one hundred and fifty tons, no less than six hundred slaves.

Another instance of African deception was to be found in the testimony

of Captain Frazer, one of the most humane captains in the trade. It had

been said of him, that he had held hot coals to the mouth of a slave, to

compel him to eat. He was questioned on this point; but not admitting,

in the true spirit of African logic, that he who makes another commit a

crime is guilty of it himself, he denied the charge indignantly, and

defied a proof. But it was said to him, "Did you never order such a

thing to be done?" His reply was, "Being sick in my cabin, I was

informed that a man-slave would neither eat, drink, nor speak. I desired

the mate and surgeon to try to persuade him to speak. I desired that the

slaves might try also. When I found he was still obstinate, not knowing

whether it was from sulkiness or insanity, I ordered a person to present

him with a piece of fire in one hand, and a piece of yam in the other,

and to tell me what effect this had upon him. I learnt that he took the

yam and began to eat it, but he threw the fire overboard." Such was his

own account of the matter. This was eating by duresse, if anything could

be called so. The captain, however, triumphed in his expedient; and

concluded by telling the committee, that he sold this very slave at

Grenada for forty pounds. Mark here the moral of the tale, and learn the

nature and the cure of sulkiness.

But upon whom did the cruelties, thus arising out of the prosecution of

this barbarous traffic, fall? Upon a people with feeling and intellect

like ourselves. One witness had spoken of the acuteness of their

understandings; another, of the extent of their memories; a third, of

their genius for commerce: a fourth, of their proficiency in

manufactures at home. Many had admired their gentle and peaceable

disposition, their cheerfulness, and their hospitality. Even they who

were nominally slaves, in Africa lived a happy life. A witness against

the abolition had described them as sitting and eating with their

masters in the true style of patriarchal simplicity and comfort. Were

these, then, a people incapable of civilization? The argument that they

were an inferior species had been proved to be false.

He would now go to a new part of the subject. An opinion had gone forth

that the abolition of the trade would be the ruin of the West India

Islands. He trusted he should prove that the direct contrary was the

truth; though, had he been unable to do this, it would have made no

difference as to his own vote. In examining, however, this opinion; he

should exclude the subject of the cultivation of new lands by fresh

importations of slaves. The impolicy of this measure, apart from its

inhumanity, was indisputably clear. Let the committee consider the

dreadful mortality which attended it. Let them look to the evidence of

Mr. Woolrich, and there see a contrast drawn between the slow, but sure,

progress of cultivation carried on in the natural way, and the attempt

to force improvements, which, however flattering the prospect at first,

soon produced a load of debt, and inextricable embarrassments. He might

even appeal to the statements of the West Indians themselves, who

allowed that more than twenty millions were owing to the people of this

country, to show that no system could involve them so deeply as that on

which they had hitherto gone. But he would refer them to the accounts of

Mr. Irving, as contained in the evidence. Waving, then, the

consideration of this part of the subject, the opinion in question must

have arisen from a notion, that the stock of slaves, now in the islands,

could not be kept up by propagation; but that it was necessary, from

time to time, to recruit them with imported Africans. In direct

refutation of this position he should prove: First, that, in the

condition and treatment of the Negroes, there were causes sufficient to

afford us reason to expect a considerable decrease, but particularly

that their increase had not been a serious object of attention:

Secondly, that this decrease was in fact, notwithstanding, very

trifling; or rather, he believed, he might declare it had now actually

ceased: and, Thirdly, he should urge many direct and collateral facts

and arguments, constituting on the whole an irresistible proof, that

even a rapid increase might henceforth be expected.

He wished to treat the West Indians with all possible candour: but he

was obliged to confess, in arguing upon these points, that whatever

splendid instances there might be of kindness towards their slaves,

there were some evils of almost universal operation, which were

necessarily connected with the system of slavery. Above all, the state

of degradation to which they were reduced, deserved to be noticed, as it

produced an utter inattention to them as moral agents; they were kept at

work under the whip like cattle; they were left totally ignorant of

morality and religion; there was no regular marriage among them; hence

promiscuous intercourse, early prostitution, and excessive drinking,

were material causes of their decrease. With respect to the instruction

of the slaves in the principles of religion, the happiest effects had

resulted, particularly in Antigua, where, under the Moravians and

Methodists, they had so far profited, that the planters themselves

confessed their value as property had been raised one-third by their

increased habits of regularity and industry.

Whatever might have been said to the contrary, it was plainly to be

inferred from the evidence that the slaves were not protected by law.

Colonial statutes had indeed been passed, but they were a dead letter;

since, however ill they were treated, they were not considered as having

a right to redress. An instance of astonishing cruelty by a Jew had been

mentioned by Mr. Ross; it was but justice to say, that the man was held

in detestation for it, but yet no one had ever thought of calling him to

a legal account. Mr. Ross conceived a master had a right to punish his

slave in whatever manner he might think proper; the same was declared by

numberless other witnesses. Some instances indeed had lately occurred of

convictions. A master had wantonly cut the mouth of a child, of six

months old, almost from ear to ear. But did not the verdict of the jury

show, that the doctrine of calling masters to an account was entirely

novel, as it only pronounced him "Guilty, subject to the opinion of the

court, if immoderate correction of a slave by his master be a crime

indictable!" The court determined in the affirmative; and what was the

punishment of this barbarous act?--A fine of forty shillings currency,

equivalent to about twenty-five shillings sterling.

The slaves were but ill off in point of medical care. Sometimes four or

five, and even eight or nine thousand of them, were under the care of

one medical man; which, dispersed on different and distant estates, was

a greater number than he could possibly attend to.

It was also in evidence that they were in general under-fed; they were

supported partly by the produce of their own provision-ground, and

partly by an allowance of flour and grain from their masters. In one of

the islands, where provision-ground did not answer one year in three,

the allowance to a working Negro was but from five to nine pints of

grain per week: in Dominica, where it never failed, from six to seven

quarts: in Nevis and St. Christopher's, where there was no

provision-ground, it was but eleven pints. Add to this, that it might be

still less, as the circumstances of their masters might become

embarrassed, and in this case both an abridgment of their food and an

increase of their labour would follow.

But the great cause of the decrease of the slaves was in the

non-residence of the planters. Sir George Yonge, and many others, had

said, they had seen the slaves treated in a manner which their owners

would have resented if they had known it. Mr. Orde spoke in the

strongest terms of the misconduct of managers. The fact was, that these

in general sought to establish their characters by producing large crops

at a small immediate expense; too little considering how far the slaves

might suffer from ill-treatment and excessive labour. The pursuit of

such a system was a criterion for judging of their characters, as both

Mr. Long and Mr. Ottley had confessed.

But he must contend, in addition to this, that the object of keeping up

the stock of slaves by breeding had never been seriously attended to.

For this he might appeal both to his own witnesses and to those of his

opponents, but he would only notice one fact. It was remarkable that,

when owners and managers were asked about the produce of their estates,

they were quite at home as to the answer; but when they were asked about

the proportion of their male and female slaves, and their infants, they

knew little about the matter. Even medical men were adepts in the art of

planting, but when they were asked the latter questions, as connected

with breeding and rearing, they seemed quite amazed, and could give no

information upon the subject of them.

Persons, however, of great respectability had been called as witnesses

who had not seen the treatment of the Negroes as he had now described

it. He knew what was due to their characters, but yet he must enter a

general protest against their testimony. "I have often," says Mr. Ross,

"attended both governors and admirals upon tours in the island of

Jamaica, but it was not likely that these should see much distress upon

these occasions. The white people and drivers would take care not to

harrow up the feelings of strangers of distinction by the exercise of

the whip, or the infliction of punishments, at that particular time;

and, even if there were any disgusting objects, it was natural to

suppose that they would then remove them." But in truth these gentlemen

had given proofs that they were under the influence of prejudice. Some

of them had declared the abolition would ruin the West Indies; but this,

it was obvious, must depend upon the practicability of keeping up the

stock without African supplies; and yet, when they were questioned upon

this point, they knew nothing about it; hence they had formed a

conclusion without premises. Their evidence, too, extended through a

long series of years; they had never seen one instance of ill-treatment

in the time, and yet, in the same breath, they talked of the amended

situation of the slaves, and that they were now far better off than

formerly. One of them, to whom his country owed much, stated that a

master had been sentenced to death for the murder of his own slave; but

his recollection must have failed him, for the murder of a slave was not

then a capital crime. A respectable governor also had delivered an

opinion to the same effect; but, had he looked into the statute-book of

the island, he would have found his error.

It had been said that the slaves were in a better state than the

peasantry of this country; but when the question was put to Mr. Ross,

did he not answer, "that he would not insult the latter by a

comparison!"

It had been said again, that the Negroes were happier as slaves than

they would be if they were to be made free. But how was this

reconcilable with facts? If a Negro under extraordinary circumstances

had saved money enough, did he not always purchase his release from this

situation of superior happiness by the sacrifice of his last shilling?

Was it not also notorious, that the greatest reward which a master

thought he could bestow upon his slave for long and faithful services

was his freedom.

It had been said again, that Negroes, when made free, never returned to

their own country. But was not the reason obvious? If they could even

reach their own homes in safety, their kindred and connexions might be

dead. But would they subject themselves to be kidnapped again; to be

hurried once more on board a slave-ship, and again to endure and survive

the horrors of the passage? Yet the love of their native country had

been proved beyond a doubt; many of the witnesses had heard them talk of

it in terms of the strongest affection. Acts of suicide, too, were

frequent in the islands, under the notion that these afforded them the

readiest means of getting home. Conformably with this, Captain Wilson

had maintained that the funerals, which in Africa were accompanied with

lamentations and cries of sorrow, were attended, in the West Indies with

every mark of joy.

He had now, he said, made good his first proposition--that in the

condition of the slaves there were causes, which should lead us to

expect, that there would be a considerable decrease among them. This

decrease in the island of Jamaica was but trifling, or, rather, it had

ceased some years ago; and if there was a decrease, it was only on the

imported slaves. It appeared from the privy council report, that from

1698 to 1730 the decrease was three and a-half per cent.; from 1730 to

1755 it was two and a-half per cent.; from 1755 to 1768 it was lessened

to one and three-quarters; and from 1768 to 1788 it was not more than

one per cent. This last decrease was not greater than could be accounted

for from hurricanes and consequent famines, and from the number of

imported Africans who perished in the seasoning. The latter was a cause

of mortality, which, it was evident, would cease with the importations.

This conclusion was confirmed in part by Dr. Anderson, who, in his

testimony to the Assembly of Jamaica, affirmed that there was a

considerable increase on the properties of the island, and particularly

in the parish in which he resided.

He would now proceed to establish his second proposition, that from

henceforth a very considerable increase might be expected. This he might

support by a close reasoning upon the preceding facts; but the testimony

of his opponents furnished him with sufficient evidence. He could show,

that wherever the slaves were treated better than ordinary, there was

uniformly an increase in their number. Look at the estates of Mr.

Willock, Mr. Ottley, Sir Ralph Payne, and others. In short, he should

weary the committee, if he were to enumerate the instances of

plantations, which were stated in the evidence to have kept up their

numbers only from a little variation in their treatment. A remedy also

had been lately found for a disorder, by which vast numbers of infants

had been formerly swept away. Mr. Long, also, had laid it down, that

whenever the slaves should bear a certain proportion to the produce,

they might be expected to keep up their numbers; but this proportion

they now exceeded. The Assembly of Jamaica had given it also as their

opinion, "that when once the sexes should become nearly equal in point

of number, there was no reason to suppose, that the increase of the

Negroes by generation would fall short of the natural increase of the

labouring poor in Great Britain." But the inequality, here spoken of,

could only exist in the case of the African Negroes, of whom more males

were imported than females; and this inequality would be done away soon

after the trade should cease.

But the increase of the Negroes, where their treatment was better than

ordinary, was confirmed in the evidence by instances in various parts of

the world. From one end of the continent of America to the other, their

increase had been undeniably established; and this to a prodigious

extent, though they had to contend with the severe cold of the winter,

and in some parts with noxious exhalations in the summer. This was the

case, also, in the settlement of Bencoolen in the East Indies. It

appeared from the evidence of Mr. Botham, that a number of Negroes, who

had been imported there in the same disproportion of the sexes as in

West Indian cargoes, and who lived under the same disadvantages, as in

the islands, of promiscuous intercourse and general prostitution, began,

after they had been settled a short time, annually to increase.

But to return to the West Indies.--A slave-ship had been, many years

ago, wrecked near St. Vincent's. The slaves on board, who escaped to the

island, were without necessaries; and, besides, were obliged to maintain

a war with the native Caribbs: yet they soon multiplied to an

astonishing number; and, according to Mr. Ottley, they were now on the

increase. From Sir John Dalrymple's evidence it appeared that the

domestic slaves in Jamaica, who were less worked than those in the

field, increased; and from Mr. Long, that the free Blacks and Mulattoes

there increased also.

But there was an instance which militated against these facts (and the

only one in the evidence), which he would now examine. Sir Archibald

Campbell had heard that the Maroons in Jamaica, in the year 1739,

amounted to three thousand men fit to carry arms. This supposed their

whole number to have been about twelve thousand; but in the year 1782,

after a real muster by himself, he found, to his great astonishment,

that the fighting men did not then amount to three hundred. Now the fact

was, that Sir Archibald Campbell's first position was founded upon

rumour only, and was not true; for, according to Mr. Long, the Maroons

were actually numbered in 1749, when they amounted to about six hundred

and sixty in all, having only a hundred and fifty men fit to carry arms.

Hence, if when mustered by Sir Archibald Campbell he found three hundred

fighting men, they must from 1749 to 1782 have actually doubled their

population.

Was it possible, after these instances, to suppose that the Negroes

could not keep up their numbers, if their natural increase were made a

subject of attention? The reverse was proved by sound reasoning. It had

been confirmed by unquestionable facts. It had been shown, that they had

increased in every situation, where there was the slightest circumstance

in their favour. Where there had been any decrease, it was stated to be

trifling; though no attention appeared to have been paid to the subject.

This decrease had been gradually lessening; and, whenever a single cause

of it had been removed (many still remaining), it had altogether ceased.

Surely these circumstances formed a body of proof which was

irresistible.

He would now speak of the consequences of the abolition of the Slave

Trade in other points of view; and first, as to its effects upon our

marine. An abstract of the Bristol and Liverpool muster-rolls had been

just laid before the House. It appeared from this, that in three hundred

and fifty slave-vessels, having on board twelve thousand two hundred and

sixty-three persons, two thousand six hundred and forty-three were lost

in twelve months; whereas in four hundred and sixty-two West Indiamen,

having on board seven thousand six hundred and forty persons, one

hundred and eighteen only were lost in seven months. This rather

exceeded the losses stated by Mr. Clarkson. For their barbarous usage on

board these ships, and for their sickly and abject state in the West

Indies, he would appeal to Governor Parry's letter; to the evidence of

Mr. Ross; to the assertion of Mr. B. Edwards, an opponent; and to the

testimony of Captains Sir George Yonge and Thompson, of the Royal Navy.

He would appeal, also, to what Captain Hall, of the Navy, had given in

evidence. This gentleman, after the action of the 12th of April,

impressed thirty hands from a slave-vessel, whom he selected with the

utmost care from a crew of seventy; and he was reprimanded by his

admiral, though they could scarcely get men to bring home the prizes,

for introducing such wretches to communicate disorders to the fleet.

Captain Smith of the Navy had also declared, that when employed to board

Guineamen to impress sailors, although he had examined near twenty

vessels, he never was able to get more than two men, who were fit for

service; and these turned out such inhuman fellows, although good

seamen, that he was obliged to dismiss them from the ship.

But he hoped the committee would attend to the latter part of the

assertion of Captain Smith. Yes: this trade, while it injured the

constitutions of our sailors, debased their morals. Of this, indeed,

there was a barbarous illustration in the evidence. A slave-ship had

struck on some shoals, called the Morant Keys, a few leagues from the

east end of Jamaica. The crew landed in their boats, with arms and

provisions, leaving the slaves on board in their irons. This happened in

the night. When morning came, it was discovered that the Negroes had

broken their shackles, and were busy in making rafts; upon which

afterwards they placed the women and children. The men attended upon the

latter, swimming by their side, whilst they drifted to the island where

the crew were. But what was the sequel? From an apprehension that the

Negroes would consume the water and provisions, which had been landed,

the crew resolved to destroy them as they approached the shore. They

killed between three and four hundred. Out of the whole cargo only

thirty-three were saved, who, on being brought to Kingston, were sold.

It would, however, be to no purpose, he said, to relieve the Slave Trade

from this act of barbarity. The story of the Morant Keys was paralleled

by that of Captain Collingwood; and were you to get rid of these,

another, and another, would still present itself, to prove the barbarous

effects of this trade on the moral character.

But of the miseries of the trade there was no end. Whilst he had been

reading out of the evidence the story of the Morant Keys, his eye had

but glanced on the opposite page, and it met another circumstance of

horror. This related to what were called the refuse-slaves. Many people

in Kingston were accustomed to speculate in the purchase of those, who

were left after the first day's sale. They then carried them out into

the country, and retailed them. Mr. Ross declared, that he had seen

these landed in a very wretched state, sometimes in the agonies of

death, and sold as low as for a dollar, and that he had known several

expire in the piazzas of the vendue-master. The bare description

superseded the necessity of any remark. Yet these were the familiar

incidents of the Slave Trade.

But he would go back to the seamen. He would mention another cause of

mortality, by which many of them lost their lives. In looking over

Lloyd's list, no less than six vessels were cut off by the irritated

natives in one year, and the crews massacred. Such instances were not

unfrequent. In short, the history of this commerce was written

throughout in characters of blood.

He would next consider the effects of the abolition on those places

where it was chiefly carried on. But would the committee believe, after

all the noise which had been made on this subject, that the Slave Trade

composed but a thirtieth part of the export trade of Liverpool, and that

of the trade of Bristol it constituted a still less proportion? For the

effects of the abolition on the general commerce of the kingdom, he

would refer them to Mr. Irving; from whose evidence it would appear,

that the medium value of the British manufactures, exported to Africa,

amounted only to between four and five hundred thousand pounds annually.

This was but a trifling sum. Surely the superior capital, ingenuity,

application, and integrity of the British manufacturer would command new

markets for the produce of his industry, to an equal amount, when this

should be no more. One branch, however, of our manufactures, he

confessed, would suffer from the abolition; and that was the manufacture

of gunpowder; of which the nature of our connexion with Africa drew from

us as much as we exported to all the rest of the world besides.

He hastened, however, to another part of the argument. Some had said,

"We wish to put an end to the Slave Trade, but we do not approve of your

mode. Allow more time. Do not displease the legislatures of the West

India islands. It is by them that those laws must be passed, and

enforced, which will secure your object." Now he was directly at issue

with these gentlemen. He could show, that the abolition was the only

certain mode of amending the treatment of the slaves, so as to secure

their increase: and that the mode which had been offered to him, was at

once inefficacious and unsafe. In the first place, how could any laws,

made by these legislatures, be effectual, whilst the evidence of Negroes

was in no case admitted against White men? What was the answer from

Grenada? Did it not state, "that they who were capable of cruelty, would

in general be artful enough to prevent any but slaves from being

witnesses of the fact?" Hence it had arisen, that when positive laws had

been made, in some of the islands, for the protection of the slaves,

they had been found almost a dead letter. Besides, by what law would you

enter into every man's domestic concerns, and regulate the interior

economy of his house and plantation? This would be something more than a

general excise. Who would endure such a law? And yet on all these and

innumerable other minutiae must depend the protection of the slaves,

their comforts, and the probability of their increase. It was

universally allowed, that the Code Noir had been utterly neglected in

the French islands, though there was an officer appointed by the crown

to see it enforced. The provisions of the Directorio had been but of

little more avail in the Portuguese settlements, or the institution of a

Protector of the Indians, in those of the Spaniards. But what degree or

protection the slaves would enjoy might be inferred from the admission

of a gentleman, by whom this very plan of regulation had been

recommended, and who was himself no ordinary person, but a man of

discernment and legal resources. He had proposed a limitation of the

number of lashes to be given by the master or overseer for one offence.

But, after all, he candidly confessed, that his proposal was not likely

to be useful, while the evidence of slaves continued inadmissible

against their masters. But he could even bring testimony to the

inefficacy of such regulations. A wretch in Barbados had chained a Negro

girl to the floor, and flogged her till she was nearly expiring. Captain

Cook and Major Fitch, hearing her cries, broke open the door and found

her. The wretch retreated from their resentment, but cried out

exultingly, "that he had only given her thirty-nine lashes (the number

limited by law) at any one time; and that he had only inflicted this

number three times since the beginning of the night," adding, "that he

would prosecute them for breaking open his door; and that he would flog

her to death for all any one, if he pleased; and that he would give her

the fourth thirty-nine before morning."

But this plan of regulation was not only inefficacious, but unsafe. He

entered his protest against the fatal consequences which might result

from it. The Negroes were creatures like ourselves; but they were

uninformed, and their moral character was debased. Hence they were unfit

for civil rights. To use these properly they must be gradually restored

to that level, from which they had been so unjustly degraded. To allow

them an appeal to the laws, would be to awaken in them a sense of the

dignity of their nature. The first return of life, after a swoon, was

commonly a convulsion, dangerous at once to the party himself and to all

around him. You should first prepare them for the situation, and not

bring the situation to them. To be under the protection of the law was

in fact to be a freeman; and to unite slavery and freedom in one

condition was impracticable. The abolition, on the other hand, was

exactly such an agent as the case required. All hopes of supplies from

the coast being cut off, breeding would henceforth become a serious

object of attention; and the care of this, as including better clothing,

and feeding, and milder discipline, would extend to innumerable

particulars, which an act of assembly could neither specify nor enforce.

The horrible system, too, which many had gone upon, of working out their

slaves in a few years, and recruiting their gangs with imported

Africans, would receive its death-blow from the abolition of the trade.

The opposite would force itself on the most unfeeling heart. Ruin would

stare a man in the face, if he were not to conform to it. The

non-resident owners would then express themselves in the terms of Sir

Philip Gibbs, "that he should consider it as the fault of his manager,

if he were not to keep up the number of his slaves." This reasoning

concerning the different tendencies of the two systems was self-evident;

but facts were not wanting to confirm it. Mr. Long had remarked, that

all the insurrections and suicides in Jamaica had been found among the

imported slaves, who, not having lost the consciousness of civil rights,

which they had enjoyed in their own country, could not brook the

indignities to which they were subjected in the West Indies. An instance

in point was afforded also by what had lately taken place in the island

of Dominica. The disturbance there had been chiefly occasioned by some

runaway slaves from the French islands. But what an illustration was it

of his own doctrine to say, that the slaves of several persons, who had

been treated with kindness, were not among the number of the insurgents

on that occasion!

But when persons coolly talked of putting an end to the Slave Trade

through the medium of the West India legislatures, and of gradual

abolition, by means of regulations, they surely forgot the miseries

which this horrid traffic occasioned in Africa during every moment of

its continuance. This consideration was conclusive with him, when called

upon to decide whether the Slave Trade should be tolerated for a while,

or immediately abolished. The divine law against murder was absolute and

unqualified. Whilst we were ignorant of all these things, our sanction

of them might, in some measure, be pardoned. But now, when our eyes were

opened, could we tolerate them for a moment, unless we were ready at

once to determine, that gain should be our god, and, like the heathens

of old, were prepared to offer up human victims at the shrine of our

idolatry?

This consideration precluded also the giving heed for an instant to

another plea, namely, that if we were to abolish the trade it would be

proportionably taken up by other nations. But, whatever other nations

did, it became Great Britain, in every point of view, to take a forward

part. One half of this guilty commerce had been carried on by her

subjects. As we had been great in crime we should be early in our

repentance. If Providence had showered his blessings upon us in

unparalleled abundance, we should show ourselves grateful for them by

rendering them subservient to the purposes for which they were intended.

There would be a day of retribution, wherein we should have to give an

account of all those talents, faculties, and opportunities with which we

have been intrusted. Let it not then appear that our superior power had

been employed to oppress our fellow-creatures, and our superior light to

darken the creation of God. He could not but look forward with delight

to the happy prospects which opened themselves to his view in Africa,

from the abolition of the Slave Trade, when a commerce, justly deserving

that name, should be established with her; not like that, falsely so

called, which now subsisted, and which all who were interested for the

honour of the commercial character (though there were no superior

principle) should hasten to disavow. Had this trade indeed been ever so

profitable, his decision would have been in no degree affected by that

consideration. "Here's the smell of blood on the hand still, and all the

perfumes of Arabia cannot sweeten it."

He doubted whether it was not almost an act of degrading condescension

to stoop to discuss the question in the view of commercial interest. On

this ground, however, he was no less strong than on every other. Africa

abounded with productions of value, which she would gladly exchange for

our manufactures, when these were not otherwise to be obtained: and to

what an extent her demand might then grow, exceeded almost the powers of

computation. One instance already existed of a native king, who being

debarred by his religion the use of spirituous liquors, and therefore

not feeling the irresistible temptation to acts of rapine which they

afforded to his countrymen, had abolished the Slave Trade throughout all

his dominions, and was encouraging an honest industry.

For his own part, he declared that, interested as he might be supposed

to be in the final event of the question, he was comparatively

indifferent as to the present decision of the House upon it. Whatever

they might do, the people of Great Britain, he was confident, would

abolish the Slave Trade when, as would then soon happen, its injustice

and cruelty should be fairly laid before them. It was a nest of

serpents, which would never have existed so long but for the darkness in

which they lay hid. The light of day would now be let in on them, and

they would vanish from the sight. For himself, he declared he was

engaged in a work which he would never abandon; the consciousness of the

justice of his cause would carry him forward, though he were alone; but

he could not but derive encouragement from considering with whom he was

associated. Let us not, he said, despair; it is a blessed cause, and

success ere long will crown our exertions. Already we have gained one

victory; we have obtained for these poor creatures the recognition of

their human nature[A], which, for a while, was most shamefully denied

them. This is the first fruits of our efforts; let us persevere, and our

triumph will be complete. Never, never, will we desist till we have

wiped away this scandal from the Christian name; till we have released

ourselves from the load of guilt under which we at present labour; and

till we have extinguished every trace of this bloody traffic, which our

posterity, looking back to the history of these enlightened times, will

scarcely believe had been suffered to exist so long, a disgrace and a

dishonour to our country.

[Footnote A: This point was actually obtained by the evidence before the

House of Commons; for, after this, we heard no more of them as an

inferior race.]

He then moved, that the chairman be instructed to move for leave to

bring in a bill to prevent the further importation of slaves into the

British colonies in the West Indies.

Colonel Tarleton immediately rose up, and began by giving an historical

account of the trade from the reign of Elizabeth to the present time. He

then proceeded to the sanction which parliament had always given it;

hence it could not then be withdrawn without a breach of faith: hence,

also, the private property embarked in it was sacred; nor could it be

invaded, unless an adequate compensation were given in return.

They who had attempted the abolition of the trade were led away by a

mistaken humanity; the Africans themselves had no objection to its

continuance.

With respect to the middle passage, he believed the mortality there to

be on an average only five in the hundred; whereas in regiments sent out

to the West Indies, the average loss in the year was about ten and a

half per cent.

The Slave Trade was absolutely necessary, if we meant to carry on our

West India commerce; for many attempts had been made to cultivate the

lands in the different islands by white labourers, but they had always

failed.

It had also the merit of keeping up a number of seamen in readiness for

the state. Lord Rodney had stated this as one of its advantages on the

breaking out of a war. Liverpool alone could supply nine hundred and

ninety-three seamen annually.

He would now advert to the connexions dependent upon the African trade.

It was the duty of the House to protect the planters, whose lives had

been, and were then, exposed to imminent, dangers, and whose property

had undergone an unmerited, depreciation. To what could this

depreciation, and to what could the late insurrection at Dominica be

imputed, which had been saved from horrid carnage and midnight-butchery

only by the adventitious arrival of two British regiments? They could

only be attributed to the long delayed question of the abolition of the

Slave Trade; and if this question were to go much longer unsettled,

Jamaica would be endangered also.

To members of landed property he would observe, that the abolition would

lessen the commerce of the country, and increase the national debt and

the number of their taxes. The minister, he hoped, who patronized this

wild scheme had some new pecuniary resource in store to supply the

deficiencies it would occasion.

To the mercantile members he would speak thus: "A few ministerial men in

the house had been gifted with religious inspiration, and this had been

communicated to other eminent personages in it: these enlightened

philanthropists had discovered that it was necessary, for the sake of

humanity, and for the honour of the nation, that the merchants concerned

in the African trade should be persecuted, notwithstanding the sanction

of their trade by Parliament, and notwithstanding that such persecution

must aggrandize the rivals of Great Britain." Now how did this language

sound? It might have done in the twelfth century, when all was bigotry

and superstition; but let not a mistaken humanity, in these enlightened

times, furnish a colourable pretext for any injurious attack on property

or character.

These things being considered, he should certainly oppose the measure in

contemplation. It would annihilate a trade, whose exports amounted to

eight hundred thousand pounds annually, and which employed a hundred and

sixty vessels, and more than five thousand seamen. It would destroy also

the West India trade, which was of the annual value of six millions; and

which employed one hundred and sixty thousand tons of shipping, and

seamen in proportion. These were objects of too much importance to the

country to be hazarded on an unnecessary speculation.

Mr. Grosvenor then rose. He complimented the humanity of Mr.

Wilberforce, though he differed from him on the subject of his motion.

He himself had read only the privy council report, and he wished for no

other evidence. The question had then been delayed two years; had the

abolition been so clear a point as it was said to be, it could not have

needed either so much evidence or time.

He had heard a good deal about kidnapping, and other barbarous

practices. He was sorry for them. But these were the natural

consequences of the laws of Africa; and it became us as wise men to turn

them to our own advantage. The Slave Trade was certainly not an amiable

trade. Neither was that of a butcher; but yet it was a very necessary

one.

There was great reason to doubt the propriety of the present motion. He

had twenty reasons for disapproving it. The first was, that the thing

was impossible. He needed not, therefore to give the rest. Parliament,

indeed might relinquish the trade. But to whom? To foreigners, who would

continue it, and without the humane regulations which were applied to it

by his countrymen.

He would give advice to the House on this subject, in the words which

the late Alderman Beckford used a different occasion:--"Meddle, not with

troubled waters; they will be found to be bitter waters; and the waters

of affliction." He again admitted, that the Slave Trade was not an

amiable trade; but he would not gratify his humanity at the expense of

the interests of his country; and he thought we should not too curiously

inquire into the unpleasant circumstances which attended it.

Mr. James Martin succeeded Mr. Grosvenor. He said he had been long aware

how much self-interest could pervert the judgment; but he was not

apprized of the full power of it, till the Slave Trade became a subject

of discussion. He had always conceived that the custom of trafficing in

human beings had been incautiously begun, and without any reflection

upon it; for he never could believe that any man, under the influence of

moral principles, could suffer himself knowingly to carry on a trade

replete with fraud, cruelty, and destruction; with destruction indeed,

of the worst kind, because it subjected the sufferers to a lingering

death. But he found now, that even such a trade as this could be

sanctioned.

It was well observed, in the petition from the University of Cambridge

against the Slave Trade, "that a firm belief in the providence of a

benevolent Creator assured them that no system, founded on the

oppression of one part of mankind, could be beneficial to another." He

felt much concern, that in an assembly of the representatives of the

country, boasting itself zealous, not only for the preservation of its

own liberties, but for the general rights of mankind, it should be

necessary to say a single word upon such a subject; but the

deceitfulness of the human heart was such, as to change the appearances

of truth, when it stood in opposition to self-interests. And he had to

lament that even among those, whose public duty it was to cling to the

universal and eternal principles of truth, justice, and humanity, there

were found some who could defend that which was unjust, fraudulent, and

cruel.

The doctrines he had heard that evening ought to have been reserved for

times the most flagrantly profligate and abandoned. He never expected

then to learn that the everlasting laws of righteousness were to give

way to imaginary, political, and commercial expediency; and that

thousands of our fellow-creatures were to be reduced to wretchedness,

that individuals might enjoy opulence, or government a revenue.

He hoped that the House, for the sake of its own character, would

explode these doctrines with all the marks of odium they deserved; and

that all parties would join in giving a death-blow to this execrable

trade. The royal family would, he expected, from their known

benevolence, patronize the measure. Both Houses of Parliament were now

engaged in the prosecution of a gentleman accused of cruelty and

oppression in the East. But what were these cruelties, even if they

could be brought home to him, when compared in number and degree to

those which were every day and every hour committed in the abominable

traffic which was now under their discussion! He considered, therefore,

both Houses of Parliament as pledged upon this occasion. Of the support

of the bishops he could have no doubt; because they were to render

Christianity amiable, both by their doctrine and their example. Some of

the inferior clergy had already manifested a laudable zeal in behalf of

the injured Africans. The University of Cambridge had presented a

petition to that House worthy of itself. The sister-university had, by

one of her representatives, given sanction to the measure. Dissenters of

various denominations, but particularly the Quakers, (who, to their

immortal honour, had taken the lead in it,) had vied with those of the

Established Church in this amiable contest. The first counties, and some

of the largest trading towns, in the kingdom had espoused the cause. In

short, there had never been more unanimity in the country, than in this

righteous attempt.

With such support, and with so good a cause, it would be impossible to

fail. Let but every man stand forth who had at any time boasted of

himself as an Englishman, and success would follow. But if he were to be

unhappily mistaken as to the result, we must give up the name of

Englishmen. Indeed, if we retained it, we should be the greatest

hypocrites in the world; for we boasted of nothing more than of our own

liberty; we manifested the warmest indignation at the smallest personal

insult; we professed liberal sentiments towards other nations: but to do

these things, and to continue such a traffic, would be to deserve the

hateful character before mentioned. While we could hardly bear the sight

of anything resembling slavery, even as a punishment, among ourselves,

how could we consistently entail an eternal slavery upon others?

It had been frequently, but most disgracefully, said, that "we should

not be too eager in setting the example: let the French begin it." Such

a sentiment was a direct libel upon the ancient, noble, and generous

character of this nation. We ought, on the other hand, under the

blessings we enjoyed, and under the high sense we entertained of our own

dignity as a people, to be proudly fearful, lest other nations should

anticipate our design, and obtain the palm before us. It became us to

lead. And if others should not follow us, it would belong to them to

glory in the shame of trampling under foot the laws of reason, humanity,

and religion.

This motion, he said, came strongly recommended to them. The honourable

member who introduced it was justly esteemed for his character. He was

the representative, too of a noble county, which had been always ready

to take the lead in every public measure for the good of the community,

or for the general benefit of mankind; of a county, too, which had had

the honour of producing a Saville. Had his illustrious predecessor been

alive, he would have shown the same zeal on the same occasion. The

preservation of the unalienable rights of all his fellow-creatures was

one of the chief characteristics of that excellent citizen. Let every

member in that House imitate him in the purity of their conduct and in

the universal rectitude of their measures, and they would pay the same

tender regard to the rights of other countries as to those of their own;

and, for his part, he should never believe those persons to be sincere

who were loud in their professions of love of liberty, if he saw that

love confined to the narrow circle of one community, which ought to be

extended to the natural rights of every inhabitant of the globe.

But we should be better able to bring ourselves up to this standard of

rectitude, if we were to put ourselves into the situation of those whom

we oppressed. This was the rule of our religion. What should we think of

those who should say, that it was their interest to injure us? But he

hoped we should not deceive ourselves so grossly as to imagine that it

was our real interest to oppress any one. The advantages to be obtained

by tyranny were imaginary, and deceitful to the tyrant; and the evils

they caused to the oppressed were grievous, and often insupportable.

Before he sat down, he would apologize if he had expressed himself too

warmly on this subject. He did not mean to offend any one. There were

persons connected with the trade, some of whom he pitied on account of

the difficulty of their situation. But he should think most contemptibly

of himself as a man if he could talk on this traffic without emotion. It

would be a sign to him of his own moral degradation. He regretted his

inability to do justice to such a cause; but if, in having attempted to

forward it, he had shown the weakness of his powers, he must console

himself with the consideration, that he felt more solid comfort in

having acted up to sound public principles, than he could have done from

the exercise of the most splendid talents, against the conviction of his

conscience.

Mr. Burdon rose, and said he was embarrassed to know how to act. Mr.

Wilberforce had in a great measure met his ideas. Indeed he considered

himself as much in his hands; but he wished to go gradually to the

abolition of the trade. He wished to give time to the planters to

recruit their stocks. He feared the immediate abolition might occasion a

monopoly among such of them as were rich, to the detriment of the less

affluent. We ought, like a judicious physician, to follow nature, and to

promote a gradual recovery.

Mr. Francis rose next. After complimenting Mr. Wilberforce, he stated

that personal considerations might appear to incline him to go against

the side which he was about to take, namely, that of strenuously

supporting his motion. Having himself an interest in the West Indies, he

thought that what he should submit to the House would have the double

effect of evidence, and argument; and he stated most unequivocally his

opinion, that the abolition of the Slave Trade would tend materially to

the benefit of the West Indies.

The arguments urged by the honourable mover were supported by the facts,

which he had adduced from the evidence, more strongly than any arguments

had been supported in any speech he had ever heard. He wished, however,

that more of these facts had been introduced into the debate; for they

were apt to have a greater effect upon the mind than mere reasonings,

however just and powerful. Many had affirmed that the Slave Trade was

politic and expedient; but it was worthy of remark, that no man had

ventured to deny that it was criminal. Criminal, however, he declared it

to be in the highest degree; and he believed it was equally impolitic.

Both its inexpediency and injustice had been established by the

honourable mover. He dwelt much on the unhappy situation of the negroes

in the West Indies, who were without the protection of government or of

efficient laws, and subject to the mere caprice of men, who were at once

the parties, the judges, and the executioners.

He instanced an overseer, who, having thrown a negro into a copper of

boiling cane-juice, for a trifling offence, was punished merely by the

loss of his place, and by being obliged to pay the value of the slave.

He stated another instance of a girl of fourteen, who was dreadfully

whipped for coming too late to her work. She fell down motionless after

it; and was then dragged along the ground, by the legs, to an hospital;

where she died. The murderer, though tried, was acquitted by a jury of

his peers, upon the idea, that it was impossible a master could destroy

his own property. This was a notorious fact. It was published in the

_Jamaica Gazette;_ and it had even happened since the question of the

abolition had been started.

The only argument used against such cruelties, was the master's interest

in the slave; but he urged the common cruelty to horses, in which their

drivers had an equal interest with the drivers of men in the colonies,

as a proof that this was no security. He had never heard an instance of

a master being punished for the murder of his slave. The propagation of

the slaves was so far from being encouraged, that it was purposely

checked, because it was thought more profitable and less troublesome to

buy a full grown negro, than to rear a child. He repeated that his

interest might have inclined him to the other side of the question; but

he did not choose to compromise between his interest and his duty; for,

if he abandoned his duty, he should not be happy in this world; nor

should he deserve happiness in the next.

Mr. Pitt rose; but he said it was only to move, seeing that justice

could not be done to the subject this evening, that the further

consideration of the question might be adjourned to the next.

Mr. Cawthorne and Colonel Tarleton both opposed this motion, and Colonel

Phipps and Lord Carhampton supported it.

Mr. Fox said, the opposition to the adjournment was uncandid and

unbecoming. They who opposed it well knew that the trade could not bear

discussion. Let it be discussed; and, although there were symptoms of

predetermination in some, the abolition of it must be carried. He would

not believe that there could be found in the House of Commons men of

such hard hearts and inaccessible understandings, as to vote an assent

to its continuance, and then go home to their families, satisfied with

their vote, after they had been once made acquainted with the subject.

Mr. Pitt agreed with Mr. Fox, that from a full discussion of the subject

there was every reason to augur that the abolition would be adopted.

Under the imputations, with which this trade was loaded, gentlemen

should remember, they could not do justice to their own characters,

unless they stood up, and gave their reasons for opposing the abolition

of it. It was unusual also to force any question of such importance to

so hasty a decision. For his own part, it was his duty, from the

situation in which he stood, to state fully his own sentiments on the

question; and, however exhausted both he and the House might be, he was

resolved it should not pass without discussion, as long as he had

strength to utter a word upon it. Every principle that could bind a man

of honour and conscience, would impel him to give the most powerful

support he could to the motion for the abolition.

The motion of Mr. Pitt was assented to, and the House was adjourned

accordingly.

On the next day the subject was resumed. Sir William Yonge rose, and

said, that, though he differed from the honourable mover, he had much

admired his speech of the last evening. Indeed the recollection of it

made him only the more sensible of the weakness of his own powers; and

yet, having what he supposed to be irrefragable arguments in his

possession, he felt emboldened to proceed.

And, first, before he could vote for the abolition, he wished to be

convinced, that, whilst Britain were to lose, Africa would gain. As for

himself, he hated a traffic in men, and joyfully anticipated its

termination at no distant period under a wise system of regulation: but

he considered the present measure as crude and indolent; and as

precluding better and wiser measures, which were already in train. A

British Parliament should attain not only the best ends, but by the

wisest means.