The first is, Absenteeship, particularly of the more affluent
Proprietor, who could afford to be liberal, whose presence among his
Slaves would naturally produce a sort of parental feeling, and cause him
habitually to interest himself in their comfort and improvement; and
whose affluence might enable him to carry into effect the plans, whether
in the way of exemption or beneficence, which his liberality should
devise.
I have not leisure to point out in detail the various bad consequences
which follow from the Owner’s absence; but they will naturally occur to
any one who will consider the peculiar circumstances of the West Indian
Slaves, in connection with this subject.
But let me point out one consequence which has been less attended to
than it deserves to be, the unspeakable loss to the society, of that
very class of men, not only in the legislature, but in private life
also, who, from their rank and fortune, must in general be supposed to
have received the best education, and to possess the most enlarged and
liberal minds; who consequently would raise the general standard of
morals and manners, whose presence, and the desire of being admitted
into whose company, would be a check to dissoluteness; who would not
only abound themselves in acts of kindness to the wretched Negroes, but
who might make liberality popular, and render, more than it now is, the
ill-treatment of Negroes disreputable; for I trust it is already so in
no small degree, where it is discovered. Many absentee Proprietors, of
large property, even if they do, once or twice in their lives, visit
their estates; yet, while living in the West Indies, they consider
themselves not at home, but only on a visit, and on a visit commonly
which is not very agreeable to them, and which, therefore, especially
when, as often is the case, constrained by œconomical motives, they mean
to end, as soon as they have saved enough to enable them to live again
in the mother country in ease and affluence. Hence they are too
naturally persuaded to adopt the generally prevailing practice as to
feeding and clothing, and other particulars; and, however desirous they
may be of introducing a more liberal system, they are easily dissuaded
from it, knowing that they shall not be able themselves to superintend
the actual observance of their own regulations.
As for the far larger class of absentee Proprietors, who reside
constantly in the mother country, though I give them all due credit for
benevolent intentions, yet they are commonly precluded by their very
ignorance of plantation affairs, from interfering with any confidence,
or to any good purpose, in the detail of management. How little they are
often acquainted with these particulars, I was not even myself aware
till lately, when it appeared, that an old West Indian Proprietor,
acknowledged by all who know him to be remarkable for the extent and
accuracy of his information, and intimately conversant with all the
detail of political and commercial œconomy, was wholly ignorant of its
being the universal practice to work the Negroes in their field-work
under the whip. This is the more remarkable, because the practice is not
a partial or an occasional procedure, but the constant and universal
mode; because for several years, men in general in this country, though
personally unconnected with the West Indies, had been naturally led to
turn their attention to the system of negro management.
I doubt not that the absentee Proprietor directs his manager to treat
the Slaves with all due kindness and liberality; yet it must not be
conceded with equal readiness, that the orders even of these benevolent
Absentees will be faithfully executed. For in supposing this to be the
case, we suppose a combination of incidents, and an assemblage of
qualities, each of which, unconnected with the others, is sufficiently
rare; how much more rare, then, must it be, to suppose them all
concurring. We must suppose this benevolent Absentee to be affluent
also, that he may be able to give effect to his benevolence.
Benevolence, I trust and believe, will generally be found in the higher
class of Proprietors; but I fear affluence, in proportion to their rank
and way of living, is not so common. Again, we have also to suppose the
more rare occurrence, not merely of equal but of far superior
benevolence, in a man of inferior rank, fortune, connections, and
manners, most probably of inferior education also. We must suppose this
man of extraordinary benevolence to select for himself the situation of
a manager in the West Indies, a somewhat unlikely choice; and that this
benevolent owner, and this still more benevolent manager, happen to come
together; I repeat it, still more benevolent, because this quality in
the owner, though a generous, is a transient effusion, when the mind is
in close contact with its object; or we may assign to it the higher
character, of the habitual generosity of a just judgment, and a liberal
heart. But such a judgment and such a feeling may often be found in a
moment of serious reflection, in men, who from various infirmities, are
not practically kind and beneficent in all the homely occurrences of
daily life; especially under circumstances in which there are many
little trials to be borne, and many vexatious obstacles to be
surmounted.
But we are to suppose a manager whose benevolence is of this hardier and
firmer kind. It must be a principle ever wakeful and observant; combined
with judgment, and improved by experience; the very acquisition of which
experience implies the having been long practically conversant with the
system. We must suppose also, what is very extraordinary, that this long
familiarity with prevailing abuses has not, in any degree, impaired the
power to perceive, or the promptitude to redress them. In short, we are
to suppose a principle so vigorous as to resist the strongest
counteractions, and not only to maintain its existence, but to support a
continued activity, under circumstances the most powerfully calculated
to impair and destroy it.
But we have not yet done. Besides this extraordinary portion of
benevolence, this rare manager must have some other qualities not less
uncommon. He must not only have the firmness to dare to be singular, and
to expose himself to the imputation of wishing to be thought to have
more humanity than his neighbours, a sort of courage the most difficult
of all to be found in our days; but, above all, he must resist the
consciousness, that in return for all his humane exertions he may be
misrepresented to his employer; that, having acquired the character of a
visionary schemer, who sends home comparatively small returns, and calls
for great expences, he may, in consequence of such representations, be
dismissed from his present office, and in vain solicit another. To find
such a man, of so much benevolence, combined with so much resolute
integrity, must be acknowledged to be no common occurrence. That such a
man should be in the precise situation of overseer of a West Indian
estate we should still less expect; and that this rare manager should
meet with this more than commonly benevolent owner, is a still more
curious coincidence. Yet all these expectations must be realized, for an
Absentee’s plantation to be regulated as it ought to be, under the
present circumstances of the West Indies.
This subject is of such primary practical importance, that I must still
be permitted to add one word more. Any man who will consider what his
own feelings and temptations would be likely to be, were he the absentee
Proprietor of a West Indian estate, will acknowledge the force of my
reasoning; and they who may see no reason to suspect themselves, will be
precisely those, concerning whom all other men would be apt to entertain
the strongest suspicions. Were we ourselves West Indian proprietors, we
naturally should wish that the income of our estate might be as large,
and the outgoings as small as might be; and though in a benevolent, or
rather let me call it, a just mind, this wish would be qualified by the
understood condition, that the Slaves should be sufficiently provided
for; yet, ever allowing most honourable exceptions to the contrary, that
which would in general constitute a manager’s recommendation, which
would obtain him a character, would be his increasing the clear profits
of the estate. All this depends on principles of universal, infallible,
and constant operation. It was the case in Mr. Long’s time. He pointed
out to the West Indian Proprietors, in the strongest terms, the mischief
done by “overseers,[35] whose chief aim it was to raise to themselves a
character as able planters, by increasing the produce of the respective
estates; this is too frequently attempted, by forcing the Negroes to
labour beyond their abilities; of course, they drop off, and if not
recruited incessantly, the gentleman steals away, like a rat from a barn
in flames, and carries the credit of great plantership, and vast crops
in his hand, to obtain advanced wages from some new employer in another
district of the island. The Absentees are too often deceived, who
measure the condition of their properties by the large remittances sent
to them for one or two years, without adverting to the heavy losses
sustained in the production of them.”
Let me likewise again remind the benevolent absentee Proprietor to
beware lest he is misled by the ambiguities of language. Let him bear in
mind that when he receives from his manager in the West Indies,
assurances that his Negroes have _sufficient_ supply of food, and
clothing, and medical care; that their work is not _unduly_ hard, nor
their treatment _unduly_ rigorous; that _sufficient_ regard is paid to
their comforts, and their feelings: Let me again remind him, that this
_sufficiency_ is not necessarily estimated by the measure of the claims
and wants and feelings of a human being. Of course, I mean to speak only
of managers in general. Individuals there are of that class, I doubt
not, of a liberality and feeling, which would do honour to any rank. But
it must be remembered, that it would be unreasonable to expect them to
be exempt from prejudices and feelings, to which they are peculiarly
exposed, and which have been so lately proved to prevail in the majority
of a body of men like the Assembly of Barbadoes, greatly superior to
them in rank, connections, and fortune. If such a prejudice could shew
itself also, and exert its influence in the sight of the world, and in
the face of so many opposing considerations, how much more must it not
be expected to operate, when there is no bystander to witness its acts,
and when indolence, self-interest, habit, example, and various other
motives, conspire to give effect to it?
[Sidenote: Effect of the pressure of the times.]
But if, in the way which has been lately stated, the Slaves suffered
from absenteeship thirty or forty years ago, for it is so long since Mr.
Long remarked the evil, how much must their sufferings have been
aggravated in our days, when (this is the second circumstance to which I
alluded some time ago) the increased extravagance of the age on the one
hand, and the increased price of all articles of consumption on the
other, furnish to every man, strong additional inducements for raising
his estate to its utmost value? Above all, how powerfully must this
principle operate in the case of those whose estates are considerably
encumbered with debts? And this, remember, is actually the case of
probably nine tenths of all West Indian Proprietors. Here in truth
consists the grand obstacle in the way of all those regulations, in the
present system, which would call for any additional expenditure in the
first instance. Proprietors, whose estates, after paying the interest of
their mortgages, leave scarcely enough, in our times of pecuniary
difficulty and pressure, for merely decent subsistence, much less
sufficient to live upon in the way naturally acceptable to the West
Indians, who are, in general, men of liberal and hospitable habits; such
Proprietors, so circumstanced, must naturally be endeavouring in every
instance to discover the minimum of charge, and the maximum of
production. The manager of the estate will not be long in learning this,
and his endeavours will be directed to the same objects. The effects of
lessening the allowances of the Slaves may not be immediately visible,
and he may really conceive that, without injury to them, somewhat may be
saved for the master. But I will not pursue this invidious topic into
its too obvious consequences. The professional Planter has just sketched
a faint outline of some of the effects.[36]
Let me, however, remind all Proprietors who are thus circumstanced, that
however inconvenient it may be to them, to increase, for a time, the
outgoings, and subtract from the receipts of their estate, to go on as
they are now doing, is sure and utter ruin. Will they say, that the
course which I recommend, however politic ultimately, yet at the moment,
and in their circumstances, deserves no better a name? I must reply, the
professional Planter will tell them, that the opposite system of working
down their gangs of Negroes, and making them good from the Slave market,
is murder added to ruin, murder too in its most painful and shocking,
because a protracted form.
The topic on which I have just now touched, so lightly, considering its
importance, reminds me of another circumstance, which, in various ways,
has a most unfavourable tendency on the treatment and happiness of the
Slaves; and which, though it has operated powerfully in the West Indies,
has never, perhaps, produced such extensive effects as within the last
twenty or thirty years. This is, the buying of West Indian property on
speculation. [Sidenote: West Indian speculations injurious to the
Slaves.] Wherever this is the principle of purchase, it is for the most
part connected with the formation of new settlements, and this is in
various ways, some of which have been already specified, productive of
unspeakable misery to the Negroes employed in forming them.
But besides this probable class of evils, where any one is engaged in
planting speculations, there must naturally be a disposition to regard
the undertaking as a mercantile transaction, in which the investiture of
capital is to be made as small, and the returns as large as possible;
rather than as a landed property, or as (for that is the light in which
a West Indian estate ought still more to be considered) as a little
sovereignty of a feudal nature, the vassals of which have a claim to
their lord’s protection, with whom, therefore, he is instituting a
connection of mutual duties, services, and attachments, which is to
subsist on both sides through generations yet unborn.
I scarcely need state, that, most commonly, West Indian speculations
fail; and in that failure, at whatever number of years it happens, is
most probably involved the sale of such of the Slaves as survive, to a
new owner. But I must forbear from enlarging on this important topic,
and hurry you through what remains of our painful journey. It is a
course furnishing, at every moment, numerous and interesting objects:
But in the case of the greater part of them, I must be forced to content
myself with doing little more than barely pointing them out for your own
more deliberate consideration. Other duties now demand my time, and I
should be strongly tempted to desist from my undertaking, from the
consciousness that in such a brief and hasty progress, I cannot do
justice to the great interests which are at stake, if I were not deeply
impressed with a sense of the importance of stating at this time, though
but imperfectly, the real views and principles of the Abolitionists.
To resume my subject. I have now stated the chief vices of the present
West Indian system. But before I quit the discussion concerning West
Indian abuses, [Sidenote: Admirals and other most respectable witnesses
gave evidence of the good treatment of Slaves.] I might appear wanting
in justice to the cause, and even in deference towards many gentlemen of
high respectability, if I were not to acknowledge, that the condition
and treatment of the Negro Slaves were painted in colours which were
almost a direct contrast to all which have been here used, by several
West Indian Proprietors of great consideration and affluence; and still
more by several persons of high rank, who resided for some time in the
West Indies, either in a naval and military capacity, or, in some few
instances, as governors of islands.
It is no disparagement to the characters of these justly respected men,
to affirm, that this was not the stage which they trod to the most
advantage. It is due to them however, to say, in general, that they came
forward from the impulse of grateful and generous feelings. While in the
West Indies, they had been treated with that liberality and kindness
which strangers never fail to experience in those hospitable islands. If
they visited a country plantation, it was commonly on a scheme of
pleasure; every countenance around them was lighted up with cheerfulness
and gaiety; they themselves naturally partook of the same feelings, and
looked on every object with a good-humoured eye.
But even when a longer residence afforded more ample means of acquiring
information, they looked down from an elevation far too high to allow of
their having a just perception of the state and circumstances of the
poor depressed Negro Slaves. It will not, I trust, be deemed
disrespectful treatment of men, towards whom, in common with their
countrymen, in general, I feel great respect and gratitude, to say, that
they came forward under the influence of strong prejudices. And who
needs be told of the wonder-working powers of prejudice, in colouring,
adding to, or subtracting from the scene which it contemplates? What can
render this more apparent, than that they had come to a conclusion,
without touching on the premises on which it must depend. They expressed
a decided opinion, that the abolition must ruin the Colonies; an opinion
which, it is obvious, must necessarily depend on the practicability of
keeping up, or increasing, the stock of Slaves; and yet on the latter
point they had formed no opinion. In others of their statements, the
effects of prejudice were not less visible.
In truth, it scarcely needs be remarked, that these respectable visitors
could know very little of the general treatment of the Negroes, of their
allowance of food, and ordinary amount of labour, and still less of the
temper and disposition of the manager, on which so much must depend. If
he were ever so severe, or even ever so cruel, the visit of an Admiral
would not be his time for shewing these dispositions. In short, these
gentlemen appeared almost utterly unacquainted with those details, an
accurate knowledge of which would alone warrant the opinions which they
delivered. Such are the conclusions which we should naturally form, from
a general knowledge of the circumstances of the case.
But, added to all these, we fortunately obtained access to one of the
party, a West Indian gentleman, who resided many years in Jamaica; whose
high respectability and ample fortune had not so estranged him from the
poor despised Negroes, as to prevent his seeing, and pitying their
distresses; and who, with a resolute benevolence and integrity, rarely
found in these days, dared to come forward and deliver his evidence in
behalf of that injured race.
He declared that he had often accompanied Governors and Admirals in
their visits to the different plantations. That the estates naturally
being those of persons of distinction, were such as must be supposed to
be under the best management; and that all possible care would be taken
to keep every disgusting object out of sight, that the feelings of those
high personages might not be wounded.
[Sidenote: Opponents witnesses: Effects of Selection.]
There is also a remark which must be made, concerning the evidence of
several very respectable West Indian Proprietors, who appeared as
witnesses. The West Indian body, it is obvious, would naturally look
through the whole range of Proprietors, and call as witnesses those whom
they knew to be most affluent and humane. But nothing can possibly be so
unreasonable as to suppose, that we are hereby furnished with any fair
sample of the general treatment of the Negroes, which, as has been
already stated, must necessarily vary according to the temper and
disposition of the owner (and also of their manager,) and still more
than on his temper, on his being in affluent or distressed
circumstances, on the nature of his views and undertakings. But from
this selection of witnesses, which however was perfectly natural, the
treatment and the allowances of some peculiarly liberal and affluent
proprietors are taken as the treatment and allowances of all masters, in
all their several varieties. Indeed, these witnesses themselves were
disposed to take for granted, and thence to state, that their own was
the general mode of proceeding, partly from the natural repugnance which
is felt by men of liberal minds to say any thing which might have the
appearance of boasting of their own peculiar liberality; partly, from
the real ignorance of one man as to the conduct of another, in all
matters of private management.
It would, however, be gross injustice to my cause, not to mention one
instance, in which the effect of this mode of proceeding, in conveying,
quite unintentionally I doubt not, a very exaggerated idea of the
allowances and comforts of Slaves, was established by indisputable
proof.[37] The Agent for the Island of Jamaica, a gentleman truly
respectable and well-informed, with some other coadjutors of equal
respectability, when questioned by the Privy Council as to the
provisions allowed to the Slaves, stated; that the common allowance of
herrings, which are used for the Slaves as a seasoning of their
vegetable food, was from twenty to twenty-five barrels of herrings
annually, to every one hundred Slaves. Now, taking an average of five
years of peace immediately after a long war, from 1783 to 1787, the
whole number of Slaves in the island being estimated at about 230,000,
and the field Slaves, according to the usual calculation, as
seven-eighths of the whole number, the barrels of herrings consumed
ought to have been near 46,000 barrels. But the accounts of imports
shew, that the average quantity of herrings, and all other cured fish,
annually imported during the five years, not for the Negroes alone, but
for all the inhabitants of the island, amounted to not half the
quantity, to but 21,089 barrels. Surely this circumstance powerfully
confirms the supposition, which, on our reasoning from what we know of
the manner of selecting and bringing forward witnesses, would be
suggested to our minds.
It is curious likewise to observe concerning both those most respectable
witnesses who were formerly mentioned, and concerning several justly
respected members of the West Indian body who delivered their testimony,
that their evidence covers a considerable extent both of time and space,
and yet they make no distinction whatever as to periods and places. In
every island, equally, during the whole period of their acquaintance
with the West Indies, the Slaves were treated as well as possible. Now
the West Indians themselves tell us, that the treatment of Negroes has
been exceedingly improved within the last twenty or thirty years: if
this be so, there were at least defects in the system formerly; yet in
speaking of that former period, no such hint is given; but the treatment
is stated to have been uniformly excellent. These declarations are
manifestly incompatible.