_Author returns to his History--commitee formed as before mentioned--its
proceedings--Author produces a summary view of the Slave-trade and of the
probable consequences of its abolition--Wrongs of Africa, by Mr. Roscoe,
generously presented to the commitee--Important discussion as to the object
of the commitee--Emancipation declared to be no part of it--commitee
decides on its public title--Author requested to go to Bristol, Liverpool,
and Lancaster, to collect further information on the subject of the trade._
I return now, after this long digression, to the continuation of my
History.
It was shown in the latter part of the tenth chapter, that twelve
individuals, all of whom were then named, met together, by means which no
one could have foreseen, on the twenty-second of May 1787; and that, after
having voted the Slave-trade to be both unjust and impolitic, they formed
themselves into a commitee for procuring such information and evidence, and
for publishing the same, as might tend to the abolition of it, and for
directing the application of such money, as had been already and might
hereafter be collected for that purpose. At this meeting it was resolved
also, that no less than three members should form a quorum; that Samuel
Hoare should be the treasurer; that the treasurer should pay no money but
by order of the commitee; and that copies of these resolutions should be
printed and circulated, in which it should be inserted that the
subscriptions of all such, as were willing to forward the plans of the
commitee, should be received by the treasurer or any member of it.
On the twenty-fourth of May the commitee met again to promote the object of
its institution.
The treasurer reported at this meeting, that the subscriptions already
received, amounted to one hundred and thirty-six pounds.
As I had foreseen, long before this time, that my Essay on the Slavery and
Commerce of the Human Species was too large for general circulation, and
yet that a general circulation of knowledge on this subject was absolutely
necessary, I determined, directly after the formation of the commitee, to
write a short pamphlet consisting only of eight or ten pages for this
purpose. I called it A Summary View of the Slave-trade, and of the probable
Consequences of its Abolition. It began by exhibiting to the reader the
various unjustifiable ways in which persons living on the coast of Africa
became slaves. It then explained the treatment which these experienced on
their passage, the number dying in the course of it, and the treatment of
the survivors in the colonies of those nations to which they were carried.
It then announced the speedy publication of a work on the Impolicy of the
Trade, the contents of which, as far as I could then see, I gave generally
under the following heads:--Part the first, it was said, would show, that
Africa was capable of offering to us a trade in its own natural productions
as well as in the persons of men; that the trade in the persons of men was
profitable but to a few; that its value was diminished from many commercial
considerations; that it was also highly destructive to our seamen; and that
the branch of it, by which we supplied the island of St. Domingo with
slaves, was peculiarly impolitic on that account. Part the second, it was
said, would show, that, if the slaves were kindly treated in our colonies,
they would increase; that the abolition of the trade would necessarily
secure such a treatment to them, and that it would produce many other
advantages which would be then detailed.
This little piece I presented to the commitee at this their second meeting.
It was then duly read and examined; and the result was, that, after some
little correction, it was approved, and that two thousand copies of it were
ordered to be printed, with lists of the subscribers and of the commitee,
and to be sent to various parts of the kingdom.
On June the seventh the commitee met again for the dispatch of business,
when, among other things, they voted their thanks to Dr. Baker, of Lower
Grosvenor Street, who had been one of my first assistants, for his services
to the cause.
At this commitee John Barton, one of the members of it, stated that he was
commissioned by the author of a poem, entitled The Wrongs of Africa, to
offer the profits, which might arise from the sale of that work, to the
commitee, for the purpose of enabling them to pursue the object of their
institution. This circumstance was not only agreeable, inasmuch as it
showed us, that there were others who felt with us for the injured
Africans, and who were willing to aid us in our designs, but it was
rendered still more so, when we were given to understand that the poem was
written by Mr. Roscoe, of Liverpool, and the preface to it by the late Dr.
Currie, who then lived in the same place. To find friends to our cause
rising up from a quarter, where we expected scarcely any thing but
opposition, was very consolatory and encouraging. As this poem was well
written, but cannot now be had, I shall give the introductory part of it,
which is particularly beautiful, to the perusal of the reader. It begins
thus,--
"Offspring of Love divine, Humanity!
To whom, his eldest born, th' Eternal gave
Dominion o'er the heart; and taught to touch
Its varied stops in sweetest unison;
And strike the string that from a kindred breast
Responsive vibrates! from the noisy haunts
Of mercantile confusion, where thy voice
Is heard not; from the meretricious glare
Of crowded theatres, where in thy place
Sits Sensibility, with, watry eye,
Dropping o'er Fancied woes her useless tear;--
Come thou, and weep with me substantial ills;
And execrate the wrongs, that Afric's sons,
Torn from their natal shore, and doom'd to bear
The yoke of servitude in foreign climes,
Sustain. Nor vainly let our sorrows flow,
Nor let the strong emotion rise in vain;
But may the kind contagion widely spread,
Till in its flame the unrelenting heart
Of avarice melt in softest sympathy--
And one bright blaze of universal love
In grateful incense rises up to Heaven!
"Form'd with the same capacity of pain,
The same desire of pleasure and of ease,
Why feels not man for man! When nature shrinks
From the slight puncture of an insect's sting,
Faints, if not screen'd from sultry suns, and pines
Beneath the hardship of an hour's delay
Of needful nutriment;--when Liberty,
Is priz'd so dearly, that the slightest breath,
That ruffles but her mantle, can awake
To arms unwarlike nations, and can rouse
Confed'rate states to vindicate her claims:--
How shall the suff'rer man his fellow doom
To ills he mourns or spurns at; tear with stripes
His quiv'ring flesh; with hunger and with thirst
Waste his emaciate frame; in ceaseless toils
Exhaust his vital powers; and bind his limbs
In galling chains! Shall he, whose fragile form
Demands continual blessings to support
Its complicated texture, air, and food,
Raiment, alternate rest, and kindly skies,
And healthful seasons, dare with impious voice
To ask those mercies, whilst his selfish aim
Arrests the general freedom of their course;
And, gratified beyond his utmost wish,
Debars another from the bounteous store!"
In this manner was the subject of this beautiful poem introduced to the
notice of the public. But I have no room for any further extracts, nor time
to make any further comment upon it. I can only add, that the commitee were
duly sensible as well of its merits, as of the virtuous and generous
disposition of the author, and that they requested John Barton to thank him
in an appropriate manner for his offer, which he was to say they accepted
gratefully.
At this sitting, at which ten members were present out of the twelve, a
discussion unexpectedly arose on a most important subject. The commitee,
finding that their meetings began to be approved by many, and that the
cause under their care was likely to spread, and foreseeing also the
necessity there would soon be of making themselves known as a public body
throughout the kingdom, thought it right that they should assume some
title, which should be a permanent one, and which should be expressive of
their future views. This gave occasion to them to reconsider the object,
for which they had associated, and to fix and define it in such a manner,
that there should be no misunderstanding about it in the public mind. In
looking into the subject, it appeared to them that there were two evils,
quite distinct from each other, which it might become their duty to
endeavour to remove. The first was the evil of the Slave-trade, in
consequence of which many thousand persons were every year fraudulently and
forcibly taken from their country, their relations, and friends, and from
all that they esteemed valuable in life. The second was the evil of slavery
itself, in consequence of which the same persons were forced into a
situation, where they were deprived of the rights of men, where they were
obliged to linger out their days subject to excessive labour and cruel
punishments, and where their children were to inherit the same hard lot.
Now the question was, which of the two evils the commitee should select as
that, to which they should direct their attention with a view of the
removal of it; or whether, with the same view, it should direct its
attention to both of them.
It appeared soon to be the sense of the commitee, that to aim at the
removal of both would be to aim at too much, and that by doing this we
might lose all.
The question then was, which of the two they were to take as their object.
Now in considering this question it appeared that it did not matter where
they began, or which of them they took, as far as the end to be produced
was the thing desired. For, first, if the Slave-trade should be really
abolished, the bad usage of the slaves in the colonies, that is, the hard
part of their slavery, if not the slavery itself, would fall. For, the
planters and others being unable to procure more slaves from the coast of
Africa, it would follow directly, whenever this great event should take
place, that they must treat those better, whom they might then have. They
must render marriage honourable among them. They must establish the union
of one man with one wife. They must give the pregnant women more
indulgencies. They must pay more attention to the rearing of their
offspring. They must work and punish the adults with less rigour. Now it
was to be apprehended that they could not do these things, without seeing
the political advantages which would arise to themselves from so doing; and
that, reasoning upon this, they might be induced to go on to give them
greater indulgencies, rights, and privileges in time. But how would every
such successive improvement of their condition operate, but to bring them
nearer to the state of freemen? In the same manner it was contended, that
the better treatment of the slaves in the colonies, or that the
emancipation of them there, when fit for it, would of itself lay the
foundation for the abolition of the Slave-trade. For, if the slaves were
kindly treated, that is, if marriage were encouraged among them; if the
infants who should be born were brought up with care; if the sick were
properly attended to; if the young and the adult were well fed and properly
clothed, and not overworked, and not worn down by the weight of severe
punishments, they would necessarily increase, and this on an extensive
scale. But if the planters were thus to get their labourers from the births
on their own estates, then the Slave-trade would in time be no longer
necessary to them, and it would die away as an useless and a noxious plant.
Thus it was of no consequence, which of the two evils the commitee were to
select as the object for their labours; for, as far as the end in view only
was concerned, that the same end would be produced in either case.
But in looking further into this question, it seemed to make a material
difference which of the two they selected, as far as they had in view the
due execution of any laws, which might be made respecting them, and their
own prospect of success in the undertaking. For, by aiming at the abolition
of the Slave-trade, they were laying the axe at the very root. By doing
this, and this only, they would not incur the objection, that they were
meddling with the property of the planters, and letting loose an irritated
race of beings, who, in consequence of all the vices and infirmities, which
a state of slavery entails upon those who undergo it, were unfit for their
freedom. By asking the government of the country to do this, and this only,
they were asking for that, which it had an indisputable right to do;
namely, to regulate or abolish any of its branches of commerce; whereas it
was doubtful, whether it could interfere with the management of the
internal affairs of the colonies, or whether this was not wholly the
province of the legislatures established there. By asking the government,
again, to do this and this only, they were asking what it could really
enforce. It could station its ships of war, and command its custom-houses,
so as to carry any act of this kind into effect. But it could not ensure
that an act to be observed in the heart of the islands should be
enforced[A]. To this it was added, that if the commitee were to fix upon
the annihilation of slavery as the object for their labours, the
Slave-trade would not fall so speedily as it would by a positive law for
the abolition; because, though the increase from the births might soon
supply all the estates now in cultivation with labourers, yet new
plantations might be opened from time to time in different islands, so that
no period could be fixed upon, when it could be said that it would cease.
[Footnote A: The late correspondence of the governors of our colonies with
Lord Camden in his official situation, but particularly the statements made
by Lord Seaforth and General Provost, have shown the wisdom of this remark,
and that no dependence was to be had for the better usage of the slaves but
upon the total abolition of the trade.]
Impressed by these arguments, the commitee were clearly of opinion, that
they should define their object to be the abolition of the Slave-trade, and
not of the slavery which sprung from it. Hence from this time, and in
allusion to the month when this discussion took place, they styled
themselves in their different advertisements, and reports, though they were
first associated in the month of May, The commitee instituted in June 1787,
for effecting the Abolition of the Slave-trade. Thus, at the very outset,
they took a ground which was for ever tenable. Thus they were enabled also
to answer the objection, which was afterwards so constantly and so
industriously circulated against them, that they were going to emancipate
the slaves. And I have no doubt that this wise decision contributed greatly
to their success; for I am persuaded, that, if they had adopted the other
object, they could not for years to come, if ever, have succeeded in their
attempt.
Before the commitee broke up, I represented to them the necessity there was
of obtaining further knowledge on all those individual points, which might
be said to belong to the great subject of the abolition of the Slave-trade.
In the first place, this knowledge was necessary for me, if I were to
complete my work on the Impolicy of this Trade, which work the Summary
View, just printed, had announced to the world. It would be necessary also,
in case the Slave-trade should become a subject of parliamentary inquiry;
for this inquiry could not proceed without evidence. And if any time was
peculiarly fit for the procuring of such information or evidence, it was
the present. At this time the passions of men had not been heated by any
public agitation of the question, nor had interest felt itself biassed to
conceal the truth. But as soon as ever it should be publicly understood,
that a parliamentary inquiry was certain, (which we ourselves believed
would be the case, but which interested men did not then know,) we should
find many of the avenues to information closed against us. I proposed
therefore that some one of the commitee should undertake a journey to
Bristol, Liverpool, and Lancaster, where he should reside for a time to
collect further light upon this subject; and that if others should feel
their occupations or engagements to be such as would make such a journey
unsuitable, I would undertake it myself. I begged therefore the favour of
the different members of the commitee, to turn the matter over in their
minds by the next meeting, that we might then talk over and decide upon the
propriety of the measure.
The commitee held its fourth meeting on the twelfth of June. Among the
subjects, which were then brought forward, was that of the journey before
mentioned. The propriety and indeed even the necessity of it was so
apparent, that I was requested by all present to undertake it, and a minute
for that purpose was entered upon our records. Of this journey, as
gradually unfolding light on the subject, and as peculiarly connected with
the promotion of our object, I shall now give an account; after which I
shall return to the proceedings of the commitee.