Part 23

See Parke, p. 26. 290. 356.—So Lieutenant Matthews (an Opponents’ witness, Privy Council Report p. 27.) says, “The Slaves that are purchased before the rainy season commences are employed upon their plantations, and are sold to the Europeans, and sometimes among themselves, from one master to another, after the rice is planted.”

Footnote 14:

Vide Report of the Committee of the House of Assembly of Jamaica, in the Privy Council Report.—Vide also Long’s History of Jamaica.

Footnote 15:

Vide evidence of Mr. Newton, Mr. Claxton, and others.

Footnote 16:

I cannot vouch for the following fact, but it was related at the time with every appearance of authenticity. A few years ago the male convicts suffered very severely during their passage to New South Wales, and if I mistake not, for I speak from memory, several of them at length died from the hardships which they endured. On inquiring into the cause, it was stated to be, that the person whose province it was to provide necessaries for the voyage, had, by mistake, purchased such fetters as were used on board Slave ships, instead of the common fetters for convicts.

Footnote 17:

Vide evidence taken before the House of Commons.

Footnote 18:

Vide the late Publication of a professional Planter.

Footnote 19:

Vide Practical Rules for the Management of Negro Slaves, by a professional Planter. “New Negroes says he, court the warmest situations they can find, nothing less intense than actual fire being too hot for them. Hence we see that when they turn out in the morning, even in the low lands in the West Indies, they embrace their bodies closely with their wrappers to defend them from the cold.”

Footnote 20:

Vide the evidence of —— Botham, Esq. in the Minutes of Evidence taken before the Privy Council.

Footnote 21:

Vide Hume’s Essays, vol. i. page 407. Edinb. 1777. Cadell.

Footnote 22:

The professional Planter’s own words well deserve to be inserted: “For I aver it boldly, melancholy experience having given me occasion to make the remark, that a great number of Negroes have perished annually by diseases produced by inanition. To be convinced of this truth, let us trace the effect of that system, which assigned, for a Negro’s weekly allowance, six or seven pints of flour, or grain, with as many salt herrings; and it is in vain to conceal what we all know to be true, that in many of the islands they did not give more. With so scanty a pittance, It is indeed possible for the soul and body to be held together a considerable portion of time, provided a man’s only business be to live, and his spirits be husbanded with a frugal hand; but if motion short of labour, much more labour itself, and that too intense, be exacted from him, how is the body to support itself.”—“Their attempts to wield the hoe prove abortive, they shrink from their toil, and, being urged to perseverance by stripes, you are soon obliged to receive them into the hospital, whence, unless your plan be speedily corrected, they depart but to the grave. It may possibly be urged in palliation of this practice, that in cases of such short allowance as I have mentioned above, Negroes do not depend upon that solely for their subsistence, but that they derive considerable aid from little vacant spots on the estate, which they are allowed to cultivate on their own account. Though frequently otherwise, this may sometimes be the case; yet even there it is to be observed, that such spots, in the low-land plantations, are capable of producing only for a part of the year, either through the drought of the season or the sterility of the soil, and when that happens, the Negro is again at his short allowance; and having no honest means of eking it out, to make it square with the demands of nature, he is compelled to pilfer.”—The writer goes on to state, that the delinquent, extending his thefts, is detected and apprehended, is severely whipped and chained, and confined; but as neither chains nor stripes, nor confinement, can extinguish hunger, he returns, when released, to the same practices, till, partly from the discipline, partly from scanty nourishment, and colds from exposure during his desertion, he, ten to one, falls into a distempered habit, which soon hurries him out of the world. The close is very remarkable, “Now this was set down as a vicious incorrigible subject, and his death is deemed a beneficial release to the estate.”

Footnote 23:

Vide Privy Council Report—head, Antigua and Barbados—and some following articles.

Footnote 24:

Vide Captain Wilson’s evidence.

Footnote 25:

Vide a late publication on the beneficial effects of Christianity, by the venerable Bishop of London, a prelate in whom, whether in the closet, the pulpit, or the senate, the poor and the oppressed have ever found a zealous, and eloquent advocate.

Footnote 26:

“_Are they Slaves?_ No, they are men; they are comrades; they are humble friends. Are they Slaves? Nay, rather fellow servants; if you reflect on the equal power of fortune over both you and them.”

“Were you to consider, that he, whom you call your Slave, is sprung from the same origin, enjoys the same climate, breathes the same air, and is subject to the same condition of life and death, you might as well think it possible for you to see _him_ a Gentleman, as he to see _you_ a Slave. In the fall of Varus, how many born of the most splendid parentage, and not unjustly expecting, for their exploits in war, a senatorial degree, hath fortune cast down! She hath made of one a shepherd, of another a cottager. And can you now despise the man, whose fortune is such, into which, while you despise it, you may chance to fall?”—Seneca, Epistle 47, p. 158.

Footnote 27:

Edwards’s History of the West Indies, 4to. vol. ii. page 124.

Footnote 28:

Dr. Pinckard’s Notes on the West Indies, printed for Longman. It ought, perhaps, in fairness to be mentioned, that the Author appears originally to have had no prejudices against the West Indian system.

Footnote 29:

Even before Mr. Long wrote, between thirty and forty years ago, this was a great evil. “And it is inconceivable,” says Mr. Long, “what numbers have perished in consequence of the law for recovery of debts, which permits Negroes to be levied on and sold at vendue. By this means they are frequently torn from their native spot, their dearest connections, and transferred into a situation unadapted to their health, labouring under discontent, which co-operates with change of place and circumstance to shorten their lives.” Long’s Jamaica, vol. ii. p. 435.

Footnote 30:

But a nearer, and more particular view of the manner of working may be necessary to those who have never seen a gang of Negroes at their work:

“When employed in the labour of the field, as for example, in _holeing a cane piece_, i. e. in turning up the ground with hoes into parallel trenches, for the reception of the cane plants, the Slaves of both sexes, from twenty perhaps to four score in number, are drawn out in a line, like troops on a parade, each with a hoe in his hand; and close to them in the rear is stationed a driver, or several drivers, in numbers duly proportioned to that of the gang. Each of these drivers, who are always the most active and vigorous Negroes on the estate, has in his hand, or coiled round his neck, from which by extending the handle it can be disengaged in a moment, a long, thick, and strongly platted whip, called a _cart-whip_, the report of which is as loud, and the lash as severe, as those of the whips in common use with our waggoners, and which he has authority to apply, at the instant when his eye perceives an occasion, without any previous warning. Thus disposed, their work begins, and continues without interruption for a certain number of hours, during which, at the peril of the drivers, an adequate portion of land must be holed.

“As the trenches (continues our Author) are generally rectilinear, and the whole line of holers advance together, it is necessary that every hole or section of the trench should be finished in equal time with the rest; and if any one or more Negroes were allowed to throw in the hoe with less rapidity or energy than their companions in other parts of the line, it is obvious that the work of the latter must be suspended; or else, such part of the trench as is passed over by the former, will be more imperfectly formed than the rest. It is therefore the business of the drivers not only to urge forward the whole gang with sufficient speed, but sedulously to watch that all in the line, whether male or female, old or young, strong or feeble, work as nearly as possible in equal time, and with equal effect. The tardy stroke must be quickened, and the languid invigorated, and the whole line made to _dress_, in the military phrase, as it advances. No breathing time, no resting on the hoe, no pause of languor, to be repaid by brisker exertion on return to work, can be allowed to individuals: all artist work, or pause together.”

Footnote 31:

Vide Evidence taken before the Committee of the House of Commons.

Footnote 32:

Dr. Pinckard’s late publication adds some painful instances of this sort to others contained in the evidence of very respectable men.

Footnote 33:

Vide House of Commons papers.

Footnote 34:

The very words which I am now writing suggest to my mind another possible explanation of the conduct of the Assembly of Barbadoes. Possibly the majority, in rejecting the Governor’s proposition, acted not so much from their own judgment and feelings, as from deference to those of the bulk of the community. Considering that, as is stated above, it must be regarded as a part of their duty to set the tone of public judgment and feelings, this would not be a very creditable plea; nor have I found any hint of it in the papers laid before the House of Commons; but, on the contrary, an expression of resentment against the Governor, with an intimation of the danger of interfering between Master and Slave. But as the idea in question has occurred to me, I think I should scarcely be acting candidly in suppressing it.

Footnote 35:

Long’s History of Jamaica, vol. ii. page 406.

Footnote 36:

The passage to which I allude, contains such important truths, and bears so strongly on the point now under discussion, that I shall take the liberty of inserting a large part of it. I should place it in the Appendix, but that, for various reasons, I wish not to introduce in the Appendix any article respecting the West Indian branch of the subject.

“To superior morality I lay no claim; but I understood my interest, and happily, interest and morality were not in that case, as in many others, at variance. I lost very few Negroes in comparison with other gentlemen, even of such as were purchased out of Guinea yards, and surprisingly few of the infants born on the estate.

“It may be urged, as an objection to this system of management, that the expence attending it would be too great to be defrayed with such a portion of the produce of the estate as it is consistent with prudence to apply to that object alone. That the expences of estates will be considerably larger than at present I admit, because it is proposed that the Negroes should be fed and clothed more liberally than they now are, and be more indulged during their indisposition; whence an excess of expence, and an apparent decrease of income: But let it be remembered at the same time, that an expenditure, when judiciously applied, is not a waste, but the investment of a capital with a view to productive return. It will be found so in this case; for, when Negroes are so treated, there will be fewer sick than in the common mode of management, and they will certainly be enabled to make much more vigorous efforts when engaged at their labour; for they will be more robust of body, more alert and contented in mind, so that, performing more work, the gross income of the estate, far from being reduced, will necessarily experience a considerable increase. But not only the gross income will be greater, but it may be presumed that fewer Negroes will die, and that more will be born, so as to afford a reasonable hope that your number may be kept entire without any foreign recruits; whence a saving in itself, probably equivalent to the extraordinaries incurred by the proposed melioration of their treatment; and the balance at the end of the year, so far from being against the planter, will probably be in his favour. Were it, however, otherwise, who would not submit to a small pecuniary loss, for the inappreciable advantage resulting from a mind contented with itself, and conscious of no neglect of duty? As to those who are unfortunately in such a situation, with respect to incumbrance and credit, as to be disabled from supplying their Negroes as they ought, it behoves them to consider whether by the utmost their undue savings can effect, they can possibly be retrieved from their embarrassments, and if they can, they ought seriously to ponder on the consequence by which their relief is to be obtained; that it must be by the blood of their own species—a horrid thought; and if they cannot, how much better would it be for them to surrender at once their property to their creditors, and to repose in the humble, though exquisite enjoyment of ease of mind, and a fair name, and to trust to recommendations for a future subsistence, which, in the West Indies, is never denied to the industrious, while it is frequently conferred on the undeserving.”

Footnote 37:

Vide Privy Council Report, Part III. Jamaica, A. N^o. 5.

Footnote 38:

Edwards’s History of the West Indies, vol. ii. p. 20.

Footnote 39:

Edwards’s History of the West Indies, vol. ii. p. 18.

Footnote 40:

It is a mistake however to suppose, that, from any natural or moral infirmity, the Negroes are not as willing as the people of other countries to perform ordinary out-of-doors work for hire, as free labourers. This was decisively proved both in the Sierra Leone and Bulam Colonies. Vide Sierra Leone Company’s Report; and Beaver’s African Memoranda. This fact, through inadvertency, was not inserted in its proper place; but it ought not to be left unnoticed, because several authors have confidently stated the contrary as an undoubted fact. Their works were in general, I believe, written before the publication of the intelligence from Sierra Leone and Bulam.

Footnote 41:

Vide Privy Council Report, Nov. 12th 1788; 2d Report of the House of Assembly of Jamaica.

Footnote 42:

Institute schools for their children.

Footnote 43:

Why should not a right of giving evidence, with perhaps some other civil distinctions, be granted to any Slaves who have lived creditably in the marriage state, for three or five years. They might think little of these distinctions at first; but accompany them with some outward mark, and they will produce their effect. No distinctions are more impressive, than those which are arbitrary, and the essential nature of which is little understood.

Footnote 44:

See the publication of Mr. Canes, a most experienced and benevolent West Indian proprietor.

Footnote 45:

Vide Report of the Committee of the House of Assembly of Jamaica, in the Papers presented to the House of Commons.

Footnote 46:

See evidence taken before the House of Commons.

Footnote 47:

This is fully confirmed by the Assembly of Jamaica. See Privy Council Report.

Footnote 48:

These expectations have been just now confirmed by the welcome tidings, that, on the recommendation of the President of the United States, Congress are passing an act for abolishing the Slave Trade on January 1st 1808.

Footnote 49:

Vol. ii. p. 442–3.

Footnote 50:

Ibid. p. 444.

Footnote 51:

Vol. ii. p. 442.

Footnote 52:

Nothing can shew more clearly the degree of this security, than that the Jamaica newspapers have been allowed to print, not only the detailed account of all our parliamentary debates about the abolition of the Slave Trade, but even the particulars of the St. Domingo transactions.—Surely the West Indian Petitioners to the House of Lords were ignorant of these facts, or rather perhaps they thought the Abolitionists were ignorant of them, when the mere discussion of the question here was stated to be so alarming.

Footnote 53:

See Dr. Pinckard’s late work; Notes on the West Indies.

Footnote 54:

The petition of the Assembly of Jamaica, in 1775, plainly recognizes the source of danger here alluded to. “Weak and feeble (says the Assembly) as this colony is, from its very small number of white inhabitants, and its peculiar situation, from the incumbrance of more than 200,000 Slaves,” &c. &c.

Footnote 55:

For the illustration of this part of the subject, and of many other topics which I have slightly touched, I must refer my readers to Mr. Brougham’s Colonial Policy; a work from some parts of which I must express my decided dissent, but which contains a most valuable fund of commercial and financial, political and moral facts, and suggestions on all the various subjects connected with colonial interests and affairs.

Footnote 56:

See Mr. Parke’s account of his journey to the coast from the interior.

Footnote 57:

Let it be considered what immense numbers of Negroes have of late years been removed from our older islands to Trinidad, or to Guiana.

Footnote 58:

Compare this with Captain Hill’s and Wilson’s, and especially with Mr. Wadstrom’s evidence.

Footnote 59:

Compare this with Mr. Howe’s evidence.

Footnote 60:

Compare this with the absolute denial of such practices, or of any term for them, by Opponents’ witnesses.

Footnote 61:

Page 42.

Footnote 62:

Vol. ii. 237. English translation by Blagdon.

Footnote 63:

Vol. ii. 340–1.

Footnote 64:

House of Commons Evidence, p. 4, 5.

Footnote 65:

Ditto, p. 81–2.

Footnote 66:

House of Commons Evidence, p. 40.

TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES

1. P. 1, added a missing chapter title "INTRODUCTION." 2. P. 135, changed “Never was scene more distressful” to “Never was the scene more distressful”. 3. P. 319, changed “cruelty, a contrary” to “cruelty, as contrary”. 4. Silently corrected typographical errors and variations in spelling. 5. Archaic, non-standard, and uncertain spellings retained as printed. 6. Footnotes were re-indexed using numbers and collected together at the end of the last chapter. 7. Enclosed italics font in _underscores_. 8. Superscripts are denoted by a caret before a single superscript character or a series of superscripted characters enclosed in curly braces, e.g. M^r. or M^{ister}.