Part 17

It is hardly necessary here to do more than remind our readers of the great and generous effort made by this country for the abolition of slavery in our colonies. For that purpose the nation agreed, without a murmur, to pay the large sum of twenty millions sterling—a sacrifice to principle and philanthropy which every one must allow to be unparalleled in the annals of the world. At the same time we must not allow our praise or admiration of this act to hurry us into extravagance or exaggeration. The sum of twenty millions so granted was not a boon, but merely compensation to a class of British subjects for the compulsory surrender of a property which the law entitled them to hold. The institution of slavery in the colonies, be it specially remembered, was not the work of the planters, but of the British nation and crown. The lands of Jamaica and other West Indian colonies were originally patented on the special condition that they should be cultivated by slaves, for the promotion of the national wealth; and the policy so originated was continued under the sanction of laws equally sacred with those which relate to any other species of property whatever. Nay, more, it was from Jamaica, and not from the mother country, that the first proposals for a partial suppression or cessation of the slave-trade proceeded. The importations from Africa had become so great, that the people of that colony requested that for some time the trade might be stopped; and their petitions were rejected, on the ground that any such measure would be injurious to the mercantile interests of England. But at last, to use the words of the writer whom we have already quoted—

“The country became aware of the cruelty and injustice of that infamous traffic, and abolished it. Years afterwards, she awoke as from a dream, and began to abuse the planters for possessing slaves; declared they had no right to hold them in bondage (although she sold those slaves to them;) had them valued by commissioners whom she appointed; paid eight shillings in the pound of this valuation, and set them free, without any consideration whatever for the landed property, buildings, and machinery, amounting to much more than the aggregate price of the slaves, which were to be rendered useless and valueless from want of labourers. The appraisement by those commissioners, as directed by the Act, was based on the average sales in each colony for eight years preceding the passing of the bill, which was in 1833. The value of the slave property was thus distinctly ascertained. The land, buildings, and machinery were not taken into consideration, because neither the Parliament nor the people admitted that they were to be placed in jeopardy by the emancipation of the slaves. On the contrary, an opinion prevailed that, with a free population, the planters would be more prosperous than they had ever been.”

Of the inadequacy of this compensation, however large it may appear upon paper, there cannot be a doubt. Enormous sums had been expended in the cultivation of the estates, in the building of works, and the transportation of machinery, all of which were jeopardied, and, as the sequel has proved, most frightfully deteriorated in consequence of the measure. But the public demand that slavery should cease for ever throughout the British dominions was peremptory; and, in pursuance of this laudable desire, the government of the day did not hesitate to adopt a course which will ever be a dangerous precedent; to

“Wrest once the law to their authority: And for a great right do a little wrong.”

“This frightful experiment,” as it was termed by Lord Stanley, then colonial secretary, was therefore decidedly of the nature of a compulsory bargain, forced by the people of Great Britain, no doubt from most praiseworthy motives, upon the holders of lands and slaves in the colonies. The terms of that bargain ought to have been adhered to by Parliament with the strictest good faith and scrupulosity. They had, on the part of the nation, expended a sum of twenty millions upon an experiment, the success or failure of which involved an amount of property which it would be very difficult to estimate, but certainly not short of two hundred millions sterling. The greater portion of this, be it remarked, was British capital, expended under the sanction and with the full consent of the British Government; and no one can doubt the fact that so large an interest as that was never before put in peril for the sake of any experiment whatever. Still it was made; and we maintain that the voluntary payment of the twenty millions gave the Government or people of this country no shadow of a right to depart from one iota of the bargain which they had forced the colonists to accept. The Act of 1833, which emancipated the slaves, also provided that, for six years more, they should remain in a state of apprenticeship, obviously for the purpose of preventing any violent outbreak, or an entire cessation of that labour which hitherto had been compulsory. The intermediate period, considering the risk which was incurred, was by no means a long one. It was not a boon to the planters, but a distinct condition, from which no consideration whatever should have induced the Government to swerve.

We need not detain our readers with any account of the manner in which emancipation was carried out. It was submitted to by the colonists, not without apprehension, but in the best possible spirit. Every thing was done to facilitate the plans of Government; and on the 1st of August 1834, there was no longer a slave throughout the whole of the British dominions. In closing that eventful session of the Jamaica House of Assembly, the Governor, Lord Mulgrave, used the following terms:—“In conclusion, I must express my firm belief that, in your future difficulties, your ready recognition of the natural rights of your fellow men will meet its best reward in the revived diffusion of national sympathy, and the cheerfully continued extension of British protection.” These are honeyed words—let us now see how the promise has been kept.

Immediately after the Emancipation Act was passed, the produce of the West Indian estates began rapidly to decline, and their value to be correspondingly depreciated. This was the inevitable consequence of the abridgment of the working hours, and of the withdrawal of a great number of labourers altogether from plantation employment. In fact, the want of adequate labour began to be felt most painfully throughout the colonies. Notwithstanding this the planters went on, making every exertion they could, under peculiarly difficult circumstances.

The increased expense, occasioned by the altered circumstances of the colonies, soon absorbed more than the compensation-money which they had received, and in addition, they were urged by Government to provide “more fully for the administration of justice, for the consolidation of the criminal law, for establishing circuit courts, amending the workhouse laws, improving the state of gaols for better prison discipline, establishing weekly courts of petit sessions, providing places of confinement for prisoners, raising an efficient police, &c.;” things, no doubt, very desirable in themselves, but not to be accomplished save at a grievous cost, which, of course, was thrown entirely upon the shoulders of the planters. The following extract from the answer of the Jamaica Assembly, in reply to the Governor’s address at the opening of that chamber on 4th August 1835, will show the state of the colonies at the close of the year immediately subsequent to emancipation: “Seeing large portions of our neglected cane-fields becoming overrun with weeds, and a still larger portion of our pasture lands returning to a state of nature; seeing, in fact, desolation already overspreading the face of the land, it is impossible for us, without abandoning the evidence of our own senses, to entertain favourable anticipations, or to divest ourselves of the painful conviction, that progressive and rapid deterioration of property will continue to keep pace with the apprenticeship, and that its termination must (unless strong preventive measures be applied) complete the ruin of the colony.”

We now come to a matter extremely painful in itself, inasmuch as it involves a gross, flagrant, and dishonourable breach of our plighted faith. The colonies which had already suffered so much, even under the apprentice system, again became the object of fierce attack by the Liberal party in England. Every one knows how easy it is to get up a shout upon any vague pretext of humanity, and how frequently the credulity of the people of England has been imposed on by specious and designing hypocrites. With this set of men, Africa, has been for many years a pet subject of complaint. They have made the wrongs of the negro a short and profitable cut to fame and fortune, and their spurious philanthropy has never failed to engage the support of a large number of weak but well-meaning individuals, who are totally ignorant of the real objects which lie at the bottom of the agitation. Utterly regardless of the nature of the bargain so recently and solemnly made, throwing aside and trampling upon national honour with unparalleled effrontery, these men began to denounce apprenticeship in the colonies as something worse than slavery, and to demand its instant abolition. The subject of declamation was a popular one, and unfortunately it gathered strength. No one thought of the condition of the colonists, who had been already subjected to so much hardship, and to whom the continuance of apprenticeship for a certain period had been solemnly and advisedly guaranteed. The spirit of our constitution does not recognise the presence of any representation of the colonies within the walls of the Imperial Parliament: and although it is popularly, or rather ludicrously, said that Jamaica is as much a portion of the British dominions as Yorkshire, we have no hesitation in meting out to the one a measure of injustice which no Parliament and no Minister would dare to venture in the case of the other. To our shame therefore be it said, that the agitation, so subversive of good faith and of public morals, was crowned with success. Two years of the apprentice period were curtailed. A robbery to that extent—for it was nothing else—was perpetrated upon the unfortunate colonists, and on the 1st of August 1838, unqualified freedom was granted to the negro population.

The following were the immediate and extremely natural consequences:—“There was no violence; the mass of the labouring population being left in quiet possession of the houses and grounds on the estates of their masters. For successive weeks universal idleness reigned over the whole island. The plantation cattle, deserted by their keepers, ranged at large through the growing crops, and fields of cane, cultivated at great cost, rotted upon the ground for want of hands to cut them. Among the humbler classes of society, respectable families, whose sole dependence had been a few slaves, had to perform for themselves the most menial offices. Still the same baneful influence continued to rule the Government. In all cases of difference, the stipendiary magistrates supported the emancipated mass against the helpless proprietor, and even took an active part in supporting the demands of the people for an extravagant rate of wages, alike injurious to both classes.”

So much for the “sympathy” which was extended to the colonists for their ready acquiescence in the Act of Emancipation! Like most Whig promises, it had served its purpose, and was thereafter cast aside and forgotten. It might naturally be supposed that this violent curtailment of the period of apprenticeship, would, out of mere shame, have impressed ministers with the propriety of doing something for the relief of the colonies—not by way of actual pecuniary assistance, which was never asked—but by giving every facility in their power to the introduction of free labour from every quarter whence it could be hired or obtained. However, a course diametrically opposite was immediately pursued; and, up to the present time, no facilities whatever for procuring labour have been given to the colonists, and every obstacle has been thrown in the way of the importation of free labourers from the coast of Africa.

Under such a system the decline of the colonies was, as a matter of course, inevitable. The following is the Jamaica statement of the relative amount and value of the exports of that island at various periods:—

“The destructive result to property, by the changes thus precipitately forced on the colony, will be best manifested by a reference to the exports of our three great staples—sugar, rum, and coffee.

Hhds. Punch. lbs. Annual Sugar, Rum. at Coffee, at Value. £ at £20. £10. 60s. per 100 lbs.

Average of the five years 131,962 50,462 23,625,377 3,852,621 ending 1807, last of the African trade

Average of the five years 118,490 48,726 24,394,790 3,588,903 ending 1815, date of Registry Act

Average of the five years 110,924 41,046 18,792,909 3,192,637 ending 1823, date of Canning’s Resolutions

Average of the five years 95,353 35,505 17,645,602 2,791,478 ending 1833, first five of slavery

Average of the five years 42,453 14,185 7,412,498 1,213,284 ending 1843, first five of freedom

“Up to 1807, the exports of Jamaica, progressively rose as cultivation was extended. From that date they have been gradually sinking; but we more especially entreat attention to the evidence here adduced of the effect of emancipation, which, in ten years, reduced the annual value of the three principal staples from £2,791,478, to £1,213,284, being in the proportion of seven to sixteen, or equal, at five per cent., to an investment of about thirty-two millions of property annihilated. We believe the history of the world would be in vain searched for any parallel case of oppression, perpetrated by a civilised government upon any section of its own subjects.”

In other places the alteration and decline has been even more startling. The following table exhibits the state of exports from British Guiana, at intervals of three years, beginning with 1827, and ending as above with 1843:—

Year. Sugar. Rum. Molasses. Cotton. Coffee. Hhds. Puncheons. Casks. Bales. lbs. Dutch.

1827 71,168 22,362 28,226 15,904 8,063,752

1830 69,717 32,939 21,189 5,423 9,502,756

1833 63,415 17,824 44,508 3,699 5,704,482

1836 57,142 24,202 37,088 3,196 4,801,352

1839 38,491 16,070 12,134 1,364 1,583,250

1843 35,738 8,296 24,937 24 1,428,100

And during the whole period of those changes, there was a constantly augmenting consumption in the mother country of all the articles of colonial produce!

The causes of this extraordinary decline of production are abundantly clear, and the facts now adduced ought to cover with confusion those ignorant and pragmatical personages who averred that, under a system of free trade, no loss whatever would be sustained by the planters. No doubt, had free labour been ready and attainable, the loss would have been much diminished; but the misfortune was, that free labour could not be found within the colonies to any thing like the required extent; and neither time nor opportunity were afforded to the planters to obtain it elsewhere. The friends of the African have either persuaded themselves, or endeavoured to cheat the public into the belief, that the negro has attained a point of civilisation and docility from which a large proportion of the inhabitants of the British islands are at this moment very widely removed. They promised, on his behalf, that when emancipated, he would set down seriously to work, and, with a heart full of gratitude, proceed to earn his wages by toiling in the service of his employer. It is well for those gentlemen that they did not offer any tangible forfeit in the event of the failure of their protégé. The negro is perhaps more fully alive than any other class of mankind to the luxury of undisturbed idleness. He has few wants, and those few are easily supplied in such a splendid island as Jamaica, where his provision ground, with the smallest possible amount of cultivation, will afford him every necessary, and some of the luxuries of life. What he cannot raise for himself must, of course, be obtained by labour; but a very slight portion indeed of the primal curse now lights upon the emancipated negro, who has no ambition, and consequently no motive to persevere. Nor, indeed, can we wonder at this, if we only reflect seriously on the scenes which are visible at home. Do we not all know how difficult it is to rouse the western Highlander to any thing like active exertion? How many thousands of the Irish are there at this moment who will not work, preferring to depend for life itself upon the precarious existence of a miserable root, which, of all articles of human food, requires the smallest degree of culture? And can we, while such things happen among Christians, in a land where the severity of the climate ought to be of itself a sufficient inducement to exertion, wonder that the negroes, who have neither the same advantages, nor the same cogent motives for labour, should abandon themselves to a life of lazy sensuality, and look upon the neglected cane-fields and choked coffee-plantations with an eye of utter indifference?

The great object of the planters, therefore—for the existence of the colonies seemed to depend upon the success of their endeavours,—was to obtain labour at any cost, from any quarter whatever. It has been perfectly well ascertained that the constitution of Europeans will not admit of their pursuing out-door labour in a tropical climate, and therefore white labour is out of the question. The natives of Madeira, indeed, have been tried, but they are unfit for the work, and even were it otherwise, the supply from that quarter is limited. Coolies were brought out from the East Indies at an enormous expense, equal to two-fifths of their wages for a period of five years, and after all, it was found that two Coolies could hardly perform the task which one African can accomplish with ease. Instead of assisting these efforts towards emigration, government, as if actuated by the most rancorous hatred to the colonies, threw a formidable obstacle in their way. We borrow the following passage from the pamphlet of the Guiana Planter.

“This very large importation of people was effected at the expense of the planters exclusively, who lavished their means freely on what they fondly believed to be the only chance that remained. Government, goaded by the _vis a terqo_, threw an impediment in the way, which was the abolition of all contracts formed out of the colony to which the immigrant was destined. This, like a two-edged sword, operated both ways; it prevented people from going to a distant country where they had to _search_ for work; they felt that without an assurance of employment for a limited period, they would be embarking on a very precarious undertaking; and the planter could not derive the desired benefit from the labour of immigrants unless they were bound to remain with him for a certain space of time. Nevertheless, so fully aware were the latter of the necessity for additional hands, that they continued to import them, trusting to their remaining where they were located, notwithstanding the cancelling of their agreements; and the intending immigrants, who were chiefly Madeira people, after a time, learned from their friends, already settled in the colony, that there would be no lack of work for them.

“Want of contracts operates injuriously in another way still, besides those we have mentioned; it is found that immigrants for the first six months require much care and attention, and also considerable outlay, because they then undergo a seasoning to the climate. Now, planters are not inclined to take a man from the ship under the prospect of paying more for medical attendance, wine, and nourishment, than his labour is worth, provided he is at liberty to depart as soon as he finds himself strong enough. The impolicy of refusing to us the privilege of entering into agreements for at least twelve months, out of the colony, is herein exemplified, and there is considerable reason to fear that there will be great backwardness in applying for the next batches of Coolies on this account, as they will not enter into contracts here. Every man says, ‘I am not in a hurry, I shall wait until I can get seasoned people.’ It is well known that of the last lots of Portuguese and Coolies; (those of 1845-6,) nearly one-half have been since that period on the sick list, most of them not seriously ill, but in that feeble and inert state which change of climate is apt to produce.”

From all this, and from the experience of centuries, it is evident that the African alone is physically suited to undergo with case and without danger the fatigue of field labour in the climates which are suited for sugar cultivation. We shall presently allude to the obstacles which have been thrown in the way of obtaining a supply of free labour from that quarter; and we think we shall be able to convince the most scrupulous reader, that the line of conduct adopted by the pseudo friends of the African, is one most admirably calculated to foster the state of barbarism, cruelty, ignorance, oppression, and crime, which is the melancholy characteristic of the inhabitants of that unhappy country. In the meantime, let us go back to the history of our colonies, whose singular case of unmerited persecution is by no means yet brought to a close.

In 1842, a Committee of the House of Commons was appointed to inquire into the state of the West India colonies, and from their report, which is now before us, we make the following extracts. Resolved,—

That, unhappily, there has occurred, simultaneously with the amendment in the condition of the negroes, a very great diminution in the staple productions of the West Indies, to such an extent as to have caused serious, and, in some cases, ruinous injury to the proprietors of estates in those colonies.

“That while this distress has been felt to a much less extent in some of the smaller and more populous islands, it has been so great in the larger colonies of Jamaica, British Guiana, and Trinidad, as to have caused many estates, hitherto prosperous and productive, to be cultivated for the last two or three years at considerable loss, and others to be abandoned.

“That the principal causes of this diminished production, and consequent distress, are, the great difficulty which has been experienced by the planters in obtaining steady and continuous labour, and the high rate of remuneration which they give for the broken and indifferent work which they are able to procure.