mitigating the sufferings of the Negroes, and of directing the planters
to those judicious and salutary reforms which would be found in the end
to have been not more humane than politic, he addressed publicly his
West Indian brethren, by whom, both from his general character for
understanding and experience, he was naturally much respected, and among
whom he was entitled to the more credit for having been among the
foremost to repel the attack of the Abolitionists. But it was impossible
to address the planters publicly, without his work being at the same
time read by the friends of abolition. He must be on his guard
therefore, lest he should afford a triumph to the latter by laying open
the various evils of the West Indian system in their full extent. He had
obviously a most difficult task to perform; and it is no more than
justice to say that few men ever performed a difficult task with more
ability. It is impossible, however, to peruse his work without
perceiving in every page that he felt extremely embarrassed, by wishing
to suggest the most salutary remedies without letting the world know too
much of the disease. He writes like a man who on the one hand is
conscious that he is prescribing to a patient who is very liable to take
offence, and who wishes on the other not to disparage the reputation of
the system of management which had been pursued by the former
practitioner. Hence he rather hints a fault, and hesitates dislike, than
speaks out plainly. We ought to bear in mind the author’s peculiar
situation, and its effects, during our perusal of his work, or we shall
form a very inadequate idea of the real strength of the various abuses,
from the soft colouring with which he paints them.
[Sidenote: The increase a subordinate object of attention.]
And here I ought to commence with stating, as a grand and universally
operative cause why the numbers of the Slaves did not increase more
rapidly, that their increase was not made in general a primary object of
attention. Here also there were individual instances of a contrary sort,
but still the position is generally true. The dependance for keeping up
the stock of Slaves was placed not on the increase to be obtained by
births, but on the power of purchasing from time to time from the Slave
market. This was abundantly proved by positive evidence; nay, even by
the express declaration of the managers and overseers themselves; but it
was established perhaps still more decisively, by its being almost
invariably found that the most intelligent West Indians, who were the
most fully acquainted with every other particular of the system, were
commonly utterly ignorant of all that related to this important topic.
On this head, their minds were a mere blank, wholly unfurnished with any
of those particulars with which they must have been familiar, had the
increase of their Negroes been any great object of their care. Even
medical men, though perfect adepts in all which regarded planting,
appeared quite at a loss, when questions were asked of them connected
with the breeding and rearing of children.
In some instances, even the colonial statutes have been framed on the
same principles, and an annual poll-tax has been laid on Negro Slaves
from their earliest infancy.
It is not however, that I impute even to the managers, much less to the
proprietors of West Indian estates, that they entered into any grave and
minute comparison between the breeding system on the one hand, and the
working down and buying system on the other, and that they deliberately
gave the preference to the latter as the most economical, in the full
view of all its horrid consequences; but the truth is, that under all
the circumstances of the West Indian colonies, it was perfectly natural
that the buying rather than the breeding system should be pursued; nay,
reasoning from experience, I had almost said, it was scarcely possible
that the case should be otherwise, for it was a mode of proceeding which
resulted from causes of sure and universal operation. Mr. Hume has
clearly proved the truth of this position, in his celebrated Essay on
the populousness of ancient nations; and he himself, after stating why
the buying system had been preferred among the ancients, applies the
reasoning to our Trans-Atlantic colonies, and speaks of the confirmation
which his doctrine receives, from the maxims of our planters, as a known
and acknowledged fact.[21] From the operation of similar causes, buying
rather than breeding Slaves became the general policy, among the nations
of antiquity; and hence it will infallibly continue the general policy
in the West Indies, so long as a Slave market remains open for a
purchaser’s supply.
Will not they, who might hesitate to adopt this position, be disposed at
least to deem it probable, when they hear, that, notwithstanding all the
steps which have been taken, for so many years, towards the abolition of
the Slave Trade; even yet, the price of women Slaves continues, as it
has always been, inferior to that of men. This is the more curious,
because our opponents have uniformly alleged their not having a due
proportion of females, as a primary cause of their not keeping up their
numbers. It is obvious, that this is a cause which could, at the utmost,
only exist among the imported Africans, and that there would be the
usual proportion of males and females among the Slaves born in the
islands, which, in all but the new settlements, constitute beyond all
comparison the bulk of the Black population. What then can shew more
clearly, that the planters do not, even yet, set themselves in earnest
to produce an increase by breeding, than that, under an exaggerated
impression of the effects of importing a too small proportion of
females, and with a probability, at least, of abolition before their
eyes, they suffer it to continue the interest of the Slave merchant, in
preference to bring over males.
[Sidenote: Vices of the West Indian system:—Insufficient feeding.]
I must begin my enumeration of the abuses of the West Indian system, by
mentioning _insufficient feeding_. It must be granted, indeed, that in
this particular, the Slaves are very differently circumstanced in
different islands. In the larger island of Jamaica, for instance, and in
Dominica, wherein the Slaves can be chiefly fed by provisions produced
on the estate, their quantity of food is far more ample than in those
islands where the land is so valuable, that little or none of it can be
spared for this service; where also the droughts are so frequent and
great, that the Negroes own provision grounds furnish but a very
precarious and scanty supply. It might be sufficient to mention, that
the allowance of provisions alleged to have been commonly given to the
working Slaves, in most of the Leeward Islands, was not above half the
quantity which, by an act of Assembly, lately passed in Jamaica, was
required to be given to such runaway Slaves as, having been taken up,
were lodged in prison till they could be returned to their masters. A
prison allowance is not meant to be such as will pamper the body; yet
double the food given in the former case to the working Negroes, was
prescribed for a Slave in prison, who had nothing to do. I might also
mention that acknowledged truth, that during the five or six months of
crop time, when the labour is the most severe, the Slaves uniformly
become much stouter and fatter, from the nourishment derived from the
cane juice.
But as time will not allow me to prove the point completely, let me
abstain from an imperfect enumeration of arguments, and satisfy myself
with affirming, that I am fully warranted by the very respectable
authority just now alluded to, in placing insufficient feeding among the
general vices of the West Indian system; though in Jamaica, and in some
of the other islands, the lands allotted to the Slaves for raising their
food is sufficient, had they but time enough for working it.[22] I will
only remark farther, that in America, where the Slaves increase so
rapidly, the quantity of food allowed to the Negroes was vastly greater
than the largest West Indian allowance.
[Sidenote: Defects in point of clothing and lodging.]
Clothing and lodging are, in the West Indian climate, less important
particulars; yet in them too there is room for improvement, as there is
also in the point of medical care. [Sidenote: Overworking.] Overworking
is a still more important hindrance, in which perhaps the excess in the
continuance of the labour, is more injurious than in its intensity. And
here I might call in Mr. Long as a witness, from whose experience on
this head there ought to be no appeal. The passage is well worthy of
attention: “I will not deny that those Negroes breed the best, whose
labour is least, or easiest. Thus the domestic Negroes have more
children than those on penns, and the latter than those who are employed
on sugar plantations. If the number of hogsheads, annually made from any
estate, exceeds, or even equals, the whole aggregate of Negroes employed
upon it, but few children will be brought up on such estate, whatever
number may be born. But, where the proportion of the annual produce is
about half a hogshead for every Negro, there they will, in all
likelihood, increase very rapidly; and not much less so, where the
_ratio_ is of two hogsheads to every three Negroes, which I take to be a
good _mesne_ proportion.” Does it not then indisputably follow, that
where the Slaves diminish, it is owing to the labour being
disproportionate to their strength?
[Sidenote: Moral defects of the West Indian system.]
But of all the vices of the West Indian system which tend to prevent the
increase, those which may be termed the moral vices and preventives, are
those on which I must insist most strongly, and on which also I must
dwell more particularly, because even by benevolent and liberal minds
they have been too generally neglected. These are of all others the most
efficient; since, in their consequences, they naturally produce the
existence, or at least the aggravation of all the rest. Of these let me
first specify the practice of polygamy, and much more the almost
universal dissoluteness and debauchery of the Negro Slaves. These are
evils which have been almost always assigned by the West Indian
gentlemen themselves, as the grand obstacle to the production and
rearing of children. And yet, strange as it may seem, no attempts
whatever appear to have been made, excepting by three or four
enlightened and liberal proprietors, to reform these abuses. Can a more
decisive proof be afforded, either that the increase of the Negroes was
never any serious object of general attention, or that the prejudices
and passions of men often make them act contrary to their clear and
known interest? [Sidenote: Neglect of religious instruction.] No efforts
have been made for the religious instruction and moral improvement of
the Negroes, and any plans of that kind, when adopted by others, have
been considered as chimerical, if not dangerous. This is the more
extraordinary, because an example on a large scale, has been of late
years furnished in the little Danish islands, and in one settlement, at
least, of our own smaller islands, of the happiest effects resulting
from such endeavours: so that men of great knowledge and experience in
West Indian affairs, in estimating the effects of the labours of the
missionaries, who were employed in this benevolent service, by a
pecuniary standard, declared, that a Slave, by becoming one of their
converts, was worth half as much more than his former value, on account
of his superior morality, sobriety, industry, subordination, and general
good conduct.[23]
In the French islands, likewise, the religious instruction of the Slaves
was an object of very general care; and the intelligent West Indian
Writer before alluded to, frankly declares, “that no person who has
visited the French islands can deny, that in consequence of the
improvements derived from this source, their Slaves are incomparably
better disposed than our own.” This is no singular opinion, and the
Governor of Dominica stated an undeniable truth, when, in answer to the
queries sent out by his Majesty, he declared, that “he was satisfied it
was principally from this cause (of religious instruction), that the
French Slaves were, in general, better, more attached, more contented,
more healthy, more cleanly than ours.” Their greater attachment and
contentment are the more worthy of remark, because it is pretty
generally agreed, that they were treated with more severity, and worked
harder than our own.
In the Portuguese settlements also, and probably in the Spanish
likewise, the religious instruction of the Slaves has ever been regarded
as a concern of high importance.
Might we not then have expected that our own West Indian Proprietors
would be prompted, not only by considerations of self-interest, but by
motives of a still higher order, to pay some attention to the religious
instruction of their Negroes? Might not mere humanity have enforced the
same important duty? Might we not have hoped, that the Slaves of this
Protestant and free nation, might have had some compensation made to
them, for the evils of their temporal bondage, by a prospect being
opened to them of a happier world hereafter, a world of light and
liberty? But, alas! no such cheering prospects are pointed out to them.
It is left, alas! to Paganism to administer to them, I had almost said
happily, a faint imitation of that more animating hope which
Christianity should impart; and these poor beings are comforted by the
idea, that death will once more restore them to their native land; on
which account it is, that, as we learn from most respectable testimony,
the negro funerals in the West Indies are seasons of joy and triumph,
whereas in Africa, they are accompanied with the usual indications of
dejection and sorrow.[24]
[Sidenote: Degradation of the Negro race.]
But though this neglect of the religious and moral instruction of the
Slaves, so manifestly leading to the master’s immediate interest, may
surprize on the first view, the problem will be completely solved on a
farther insight into the system of management; and the mischief may be
traced, if I mistake not, to a sure source of numerous and most
malignant evils. [Sidenote: Degradation of the Negro race.] For the
various moral defects of the negro system appear to me often to be
almost entirely caused, and always to be extremely augmented, by the
Negroes, as a race, being sunk into the lowest state of degradation.
That this was to be naturally expected, will be obvious to every
reflecting mind, which considers, that, for many successive generations,
the Negroes have not only been an inferior cast, a race of slaves, the
slaves too of men enjoying themselves, political freedom, and therefore
elevated above them to a still higher point; but that there is a variety
of circumstances, not forgetting that most important particular of
colour, all tending powerfully to designate, and stamp them, as a
peculiar, and that a base and degraded order of beings.
These are considerations of inexpressible importance; for these are
they, which, by extinguishing sympathy, render the yoke of African
slavery so peculiarly galling, and make it press on the West Indian
Slave with such aggravated weight. [Sidenote: West Indian compared with
ancient slavery.] Slavery, we know, existed among the ancients; and
according to the savage maxims of Pagan warfare,(too strikingly agreeing
with the mode of carrying on war which the Slave Trade has produced in
Africa), not only the soldiery of an enemy, but the peaceable
inhabitants of conquered countries were commonly sold as Slaves. But
what an idea does it convey of the abhorred system, which, with
coadjutors abler than myself, I have been so long endeavouring to
abolish; that, just as in Africa, it has forced Christianity to
acknowledge the superior power of Mahometanism, in rooting out the
native superstitions, and in instructing and civilizing the
inhabitants—so in our possessions in the western Hemisphere, it combines
the profession of the christian faith with a description of slavery, in
many respects more bitter in its sufferings, than that which the very
darkness of Paganism itself could scarcely tolerate.
This is the more grievous to those who duly venerate and love our most
pure and excellent form of christian faith, because to have first
mitigated the evils of slavery, and at length in a great degree to have
abolished the institution itself, have been numbered among the peculiar
glories of Christianity;[25] and because, what we deem a corrupted
system of Christianity, has produced highly beneficial effects on the
negro Slaves of our Roman Catholic neighbours in the same quarter. I
cannot now enlarge on this topic; but thus much I must state, that the
single particular, that the Slaves among the ancients were in general of
the same complexion, features, and form, with their masters, was of
itself a consideration of extreme importance. These masters were aware
their situation was one, into which they themselves might be reduced by
the fortune of war: this circumstance, together with the frequent
elevation of Slaves to occupations of the highest confidence and
importance, with a prospect, frequently realized, of emerging by
emancipation into a state of liberty and comfort, was sufficient to
render their condition infinitely preferable to that of our West Indian
Slaves.[26] In the case of ancient slavery, instead of there being no
place for sympathy, it was often in lively exercise; but even still
more, hope was not extinguished; hope, the cordial drop of life, that on
which, perhaps, more than on all which rank, and wealth; and power, and
prosperity can give, depends the happiness of man. But to the West
Indian Slave, on the contrary, his colour, his features, his form, his
language, his employment, all tend on the one hand to extinguish
sympathy, and on the other to shut him up as it were close and bound in
his dreary dungeon, without a ray of light, without a chance of escape,
the victim at once of degradation and despair.
Can it be necessary for me, in order to justify myself for dilating on
so invidious a topic as that of the degradation of the negro race, to
insist on the important effects which this degradation must necessarily
produce in all the various particulars of negro treatment? [Sidenote:
Important effects of Negro degradation.] Let me not here be
misunderstood. The degradation of which I shall speak, and of which,
while it continues, I must ever speak in terms of indignation, as of a
gross infraction on the just claims of our common species, is not to be
regarded as important, only, or chiefly, in the view of its being an
outrage on the feelings of the Negroes themselves. If that were all, I
might perhaps be charged with over-refining, and with measuring the
opinions and feelings of the Slaves by a standard justly applicable only
to men of far more enlightened and elevated minds. Though, even in this
view, what an idea does it convey to us of their wretched state! How
scanty must be their stock of comforts, when their very happiness is to
arise from their being insensible to circumstances of humiliation, which
all but a brute must understand and feel.
Hitherto it has been deemed one of the most debasing effects of slavery,
to render men insensible to the extremity of their own degradation; and
it is a new way of considering things to regard this insensibility as an
alleviation of their wretchedness. But, alas! this degradation makes
itself but too intelligible to the meanest capacity, and the most
unfeeling heart. Its effects are such as come home at every turn to the
Negroes’ “business and bosoms.”
Surely it would be a waste of time to prove to you in detail, that,
throughout all nature, but especially in the human species, in
proportion as any being is considered as possessing a higher or a lower
place in the scale of existence, in that same proportion shall we be
disposed to consider him as entitled to a larger share of our kind
consideration; in short, in the same proportion will sympathy be
awakened in his behalf, and sympathy is the great author and cherisher
of every benevolent emotion. In that same proportion shall we be
inclined to reflect on his situation, to spare his feelings, to multiply
his comforts; in short, to pour, even though with a cautious hand, some
drops of comfort into a cup, which, at best, must be but bitter, and of
which, wherever sympathy is in exercise, we feel that we ourselves might
have been fated to drink. Whatever, therefore, tends to depress that
wretched class of our fellow creatures, beneath that low level which in
any case they are doomed to occupy, tends compendiously and infallibly
to the counteraction of every thing good, and the aggravation of every
thing evil, in their unhappy lot.
Let it not then be thought, that in the odious recital which will
follow, I am influenced by any invidious or ungenerous feelings towards
the colonial Proprietors. I have a solemn duty to discharge, and however
painful the task, however invidious, however liable to misconstruction,
I must not shrink from it. It may be enough, I hope, to touch on the
chief humiliating particulars.
[Sidenote: Instances of degradation.]
And, first, comes in that most degrading spectacle of a negro sale.
[Sidenote: A negro sale.]
Mr. Edwards himself acknowledges with frankness and liberality, that
“there is something extremely shocking to a humane and cultivated mind,
in the idea of beholding a numerous body of our unfortunate fellow
creatures in captivity and exile, exposed naked to public view, and sold
like a herd of cattle.”[27] But the account given of one of those sales
by a late traveller, in his highly instructive and interesting work,[28]
will convey a more precise idea of the scene:—“The poor Africans, says
he, who were to be sold, were exposed naked, in a large empty building
like an open barn. Those who came with intention to purchase, minutely
inspected them; handled them, made them jump, and stamp with their feet,
and throw out their arms and their legs; turned them about; looked into
their mouths; and, according to the usual rules of traffic with respect
to cattle, examined them; and made them show themselves in a variety
ways, to try if they were sound and healthy. All this was distressful
and humiliating; but a wound still more severe was inflicted on the
feelings, by some of the purchasers selecting only such as their
judgment led them to prefer, regardless of the bonds of nature and
affection.”
“The husband was taken from the wife, children separated from their
parents, and the lover torn from his mistress.”
“In one part of the building was seen a wife clinging to her husband.
Here was a sister hanging upon the neck of her brother. There stood two
brothers enfolded in each others arms, mutually bewailing their
threatened separation. In other parts were friends, relatives, and
companions, praying to be sold to the same master, using signs to
signify that they would be content with slavery, might they but toil
together.”
“Silent tears, deep sighs, and heavy lamentations, bespoke the universal
suffering of these poor Blacks. Never was the scene more distressful.
Among these unhappy, degraded Africans, scarcely was there an unclouded
countenance.”
To the honour of the Legislature of Jamaica, the consolidated Slave Act,
which passed in 1788, contained a proviso, which Mr. Edwards himself
subsequently endeavored to carry into more complete effect, that, as far
as possible, there should be no separation of the different branches of
the same family. I might remark that such a law, from the very nature of
the case, would be very imperfectly executed. But even where no such
humane condition has been prescribed, let me observe, that it is not so
much to my present purpose to notice the violence done to the domestic
and social feelings of the Slaves, as to point out the tendency which
the whole scene must have, to degrade and vilify the wretched beings in
the eyes of the spectators.
[Sidenote: Sales of Negroes for Owners’ debts.]