UNIVERSITY OF ILLINGIS = ~F.ARY AT URBAWA-CiiA. IPAIGN BOOKSTACKS The person charging this material is re- sponsible for its return to the library from which it was withdrawn on or before the Latest Date stamped below. Theft, mutilation, and underlining of books are reasons for disciplinary action and may result in dismissal from the University. | To renew call Telephone Center, 333-8400 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS LIBRARY AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN OCT 7 1985 L161—O-1096 Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2021 with funding from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign https://archive.org/details/lecturesonslaverOO0godw_0 g PALE ate a. : ee ple eee a.” ys , 7 | ; yr ie : > s "i . at monies (ein pie 6% ores (gs Haat LECTURES wo¥ » peo yo Er ke BY REV. BENJAMIN GODWIN, D.D. AUTHOR OF LECTURES AGAINST ATHEISM. “ Homo sum}; humani nihila me alienum puto.”’—TERENCE. “ Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them.’’—HeEs. xiii. 3. FROM THE LONDON EDITION, WITH ADDITIONS TO THE AMERICAN EDITION. BOSTON: JAM is B. DOW. 1836. Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1836, by Wiuram §S. ANDREWS, in the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of Massachusetts. PRINTED BY WILLIAM A. Hatt & Co. # $ Hi, PREFACE TO THE AMERICAN EDITION. Tue Lectures upon Slavery, which compose this work, were written by Dr. Godwin, in England, during the period when the question of emancipation, in the British West-India Islands, was before Parliament and the En- glish nation. They were delivered, in that country, to highly intelligent, respectable, and crowded audiences ; and were listened to by them with breathless attention and deep interest. The strong impression produced by them upon the public mind and feeling, both in their delivery and perusal, without doubt contributed very much to the production of that powerful national sentiment, which continued to gather strength in its progress, until, with the power of a cataract, it swept over the whole land, —bore down, with irresistible impulse, every obstacle before it, and finally produced the abolition of slavery in the whole British Empire. That such may be the effect which it shall produce in the United States, also, we ardently hope; and it is only necessary that it should be introduced to the public at- 62037. 6 PREFACE. ignorance, delusion ,infidelity,and barbarism. In their march up the firmament, they have reached our beloved country; and God grant that their cheering rays may en- lighten our intellectual atmosphere, and warm and in- vigorate our moral soil, as they have done that of our father land. AMERICAN EDITOR. PREFACE. Wuen the following Lectures were delivered, the Au- thor had not the remotest idea of publication; but as he has ventured to come before the public, he begs to say a few words in explanation of his reasons and his object. From his earliest years he felt a hatred to oppression: his love of liberty, civil and religious, ‘grew with his growth, and strengthened with his strength.” He no sooner heard of slavery in the British dominions, and the miseries necessarily attendant on such a state, than he deeply deplored the case of the injured Negro. He was too young to take any part in the great struggle for the abolition of the slave trade, though he sincerely rejoiced in that great triumph of humanity. Since 1823, howev- er, he has takena more lively interest inthe subject; and towards the close of the last year, by means of the infor- mation which was laid before the public, from time to time, his mind became so strongly impressed with the subject, that it followed him night and day: he felt that, for the peace of his own mind, he must make some at- tempt on behalf of his suffering fellow-creatures; it be- 8 PREFACE. came a point of conscience. The inquiry then arose, what could he do, engaged as he was as tutor in a Dis- senting college, and pastor of a church and congregation ? The first thing suggested was, to preach on the subject; but, besides the probability that many might hesitate to come toa Dissenting chapel, there were many topics connected with slavery which appeared scarcely suited to the pulpit. He thought then of lecturing in the public room of the Exchange; but the idea was new, and he hesitated ; but, on mentioning it to some respected friends, he was encouraged to proceed. The experiment succeed- ed. The delivery of the Lectures was honored by a nu- merous, respectable, and attentive audience; and he had the happiness of seeing that his immediate object was accomplished,—information was extended, and a general interest was excited in the neighborhood. The Lectures were afterwards delivered, by request, at York and Scar- borough. Many invitations came from different places, to which the Author could not attend: in fact, from the additional labor and excitement his health began to suf- fer, and his immediate duties would not admit of his proceeding any further in this course. He received many requests to publish, which he uniformly resisted, till it was suggested, that, though there were many works extant on the subject, yet there was not one which exhibited it as a whole; and that, as the Lectures gavea connected and condensed view of all the principal facts and arguments connected with Negro slavery, the work PREFACE. 9 might be useful as a kind of text-book, to those who wish- ed at this particular crisis to make themselves acquainted with the subject, and might not have time or inclination to examine the details in a large number of books and pamphlets. With the hope of serving the cause of Ne- gro freedom, he has committed the Lectures to the press. How far the Author has done right in publishing, and whether the work is adapted to promote the end which he has in view, the public will judge. As to the execution, there are some circumstances which the Author thinks entitle him to the candor of the public. Such are his engagements, that the time devoted to a preparation of the Lectures for the press has been what should have been given to rest from the fatigues and exhaustion which his various duties occasion; and as it was considered desirable that the work, if published at all, should be out in time for circulation before the meeting of Parliament, there has been and could be no opportunity for a careful revision. The Lectures were not read, nor delivered memoriter, though copious notes had been taken: in writing them out for the press, it was therefore impossible to secure the same mode of expres- sion in every instance as was employed in the delivery ; and this also will account for the additional time requi- site in preparing them for publication. The Author wishes that he could have rendered them in this respect more worthy the acceptance of the public: but he wishes this to be understood of the composition only ; for the 10 PEEEACE. statements which are made, and the reasonings which are employed, he asks no mercy: let them stand at the bar of justice. He believes that no fact produced willbe found to be materially incorrect ; nor is he aware of any thing unsound in the various lines of argument which he has taken. These, however, he is perfectly willing to submit to a fair and honest criticism. Bowling Cottage, near Bradford, Yorkshire, September 7, 1830. CONTENTS. LECTUREH I. GENERAL VIEW OF SLAVERY. Design AND PLaN or THE LECTURES page 17 GEOGRAPHICAL AND Hisroricat Notices - eee Africa - - = ~ é - - - ib. The West Indies - - - - - + 25 GENERAL VIEW OF THE SLAVE SYSTEM - - - 28 White, Black, and Colored Population - ib. Employmentofthe Slaves - - - - 3i Cultivation of the Sugar Cane -~ - - 33 Manufacture of Sugar - - - ai 1B Holeing - - - . - - - 34 The Driving Whip - = =i! SPL Provisions - - - - - - - 40 Principat FEATURES OF THE SLAVE SYSTEM - ae Yroof.—Resolutions of 1823 - - - 46 CONCLUSION” - - - ~ . - - =, 52 12 CONTENTS. LECTURE II. THE EVILS OF SLAVERY. P, PRELIMINARY REMARKS - - - - «+ = 53 NatTuRAL EvILs - : - . “ 2 "oe The Negroes torn from Africa—Why this is noticed = - S - “ - - ib. General Treatment of the Slaves in the Col- onies, as to Labor, Food, and Punishment 59 Their Situation in reference to Society at large - - - - . a ~ oe Inequality of Law and Right ~~ - - - ib. The manner in which Justice is administered 79 The Difficulty of Redress—Inadmissibility of Evidence = - - ~ - - 8 The Misery inflicted on every social Feeling 93 The whole State that of complete Degrada- tion - ~ . - - - - - 97 Free Blacks and Persons of Color not entire- ly exempt - - - - - - 106 Mora Evi.s or THE SystTEM - - - - 108 On the Victims of its Oppression - - ib. A Re-action on all who administer the System 110 Particular Evils resulting from it . - 112 With Reference to Africa - - - - 123 PouiticAL Evits. Maintained at a vast Expense - - ~ 125 Bounties, &c. - - - - - 126 Waste of Human Life - - - - ib. To the Injury of our Commerce and Manu- factures = - - - - - ib. National Guilt - . ~ - - - 127 CONTENTS, LECTURE IU, THE UNLAWFULNESS OF SLAVERY. OBJECTIONS TO THE STATEMENTS OF THE Last LeEc- TURE NOTICED - - - m - ~ - That the Slaves are better off than our Peas- antry - - “ = = = That they are contented and happy if left to themselves - - - - - P That it is the Interest of the Planters to use their Slaves well - - - 2 = That the Accounts of the Miseries of Slavery are exaggerated . - - - - PRELIMINARY EXPLANATIONS - = = - - SLAVERY, A VIOLATION OF THE NATURAL RiGHTS OF Man . § isisolo-ed3 to cig: ro - What they are, and in what Cases they may be suspended - = E y Application to our Colonial Stavery - - OBJECTIONS, OR SUPPOSED PALLIATIONS - -~— - A Participation in the original Act denied - The Slaves originally Captives or Criminals The Negroes an inferior Race - . - CoNTRARY TO THE SPIRIT AND PRACTICE OF THE Brit- IsH CONSTITUTION - - = " e 2 Explanatory Remarks +002 WISISOR .- Application - - - - - - Law of Nations violated by Slavery - ~— - Notice of Arguments derived from the gene- ral Prevalence and Antiquity of Slavery— 128 130 135 135 140 141 142 146 148 ib. 149 153 158 ib. 159 161 14 CONTENTS. P. Acts of Parliament—and Jewish Slavery - 165 OprosED To THE NaTuRE AND TENDENCY OF CuHRIS- TIANITY - - - - - - - 173 Concessions - - - - - - ib. Views which Christianity gives of God - 176 Views which it gives of Man - = - 177 The Dispositions which it inculcates - - 180 The Duties which it requires - - - 181 LECTURE IV. THE ABOLITION OF SLAVERY. A VIEW OF WHAT HAS ALREADY BEEN DONE - - 188 The Origin of the Colonial Slavery - - ib. The Progress and Extent of the Slave Trade 189 lst Pertod.—By whom reprobated_ - a ee State of Slavery in the Colonies - - - ib. Granville Sharp - - - - - - 190 The Decision of the Judges in Westminster Hall - - - - - - - 192 2d Period.—Various Advocates of the Negroes _ ib. 132 Slaves thrown overboard alive - - 193 Efforts of Friends - - - - - 194 Mr. Clarkson and Mr. Wilberforce - - ib. Society formed for the Abolition a. UB "05 The great Contest - - - 196 The Abolition of the Slave Trade - - 197 3d Period.—State of the Slaves - - - 198 Resolutions of 1823 > - - - - 201 CONTENTS. 4th Period.—Conduct of Government and Colo- nial Authorities - - - - - Review of what has been done - - - In the Crown Colonies - - * - In the Chartered Colonies - - - ~ The Condition in which Slaves are still left Inquiry INTO THE Duty or THE FRIENDS oF RELI- GION AND OF Humanity - - - . - The Slaves claim our Sympathy - -~ - Are entitled to our active Efforts on their Be- half - - ~ - - - - - WHATIS THE OBJECT TO WHICH OUR EFFORTS SHOULD BE DIRECTED? - - - - - - - Should it be Amelioration or Abolition 2? - 15 203 207 208 ib 209 210 ib. 212 217 ib. Its supposed Interference with vested Rights - 218 The Question of Compensation considered - 220 Should we aim at gradual or immediate Abo- lition ? = ERP oe ae MMC eta ea Reasons on both Sides —- - . - In wHaT MANNER SHOULD WE SEEK THE ABOLITION oF SLavery 2 ~ - ~ - - - Should we discourage Slave Produce? - — - Petitions - - - - - - - Elections - - - - - - - APPEALS ON THE CONDITION OF THE ENSLAVED NE- GROES TO Our Benevolence : : - J : Our Patriotism - . F ‘ f a Our Piety - . = = . m " Two CavTIons = a “ 4 at 7 3 CONCLUSION < if 2 ~ _ v b 226 227 238 242 247 250 251 252 2503 254 257 ain He “pallida aatorsts apie ant 76: =r cy , \ He Paasone epet ‘E. ait nour Oe dats Az" -— LECTURES, &c. LECTURE LI. In presenting myself to your notice as a Lecturer, the inquiry is very natural and reasonable, why I thus solicit your attention. My reply is, that I stand for- ward on behalf of suffering humanity, and venture to plead the cause of nearly a million of my fellow-crea- tures and fellow-subjects. On most of the topics to which I shall advert, the press has, I admit, communicated ample and authentic information ; and through the same medium many pow- erful appeals have been made to the public feeling. But all that is printed is not read; oral instruction is frequently more effectual than written information ; and, in addresses to the consciences or the feelings, there is a power in the living voice which all the machinery of the press cannot command. Hence, on the most sa- cred themes, the written Scriptures have not rendered 2 18 LECTURES ON SLAVERY. the labors of preachers unnecessary or unprofitable. Most of the sciences have long been taught in this man- ner in our great seminaries of learning ; and now the importance of public lectures in conveying knowledge begins to be generally recognized, so that this mode of instruction is becoming increasingly prevalent. We have, in the present day, lecturers in almost every branch of science, and in every department of know- ledge, traversing the country, enlightening the public mind, and exciting an interest in literature, in philoso- phy, in politics. The commodious, I may say, elegant building in which we are now assembled, the erection of which is an honor to those under whose auspices it was raised, and an ornament to the town in which we live, was scarcely finished, when it was occupied by a gentleman who called your attention to the wonders of the Heav- ens. He was succeeded, with scarcely an interval, by another, who taught the power of Eloquence and the graces of Elocution, and who, by his recitations, afford- ed no less amusement than instruction. I venture now to follow in the train, but with a far different object. You contemplated with pleasure the harmony, the beau- ty and the glory of the celestial phenomena: I ask you now to behold the wretchedness and misery of earthly scenes. I hold out no promise of pleasure and amuse- ment: Ihave to tell a tale of woe, and that not the fic- tion of creative fancy, framed only for the excitement of sensibility, but real facts and serious truths.—My sub- ject is SLAVERY! LECTURE I. 19 The very term is shocking to an Englishman who has not been familiarized to the sad scene till he has ceased to feel. A love of freedom seems to be drawn in with the very air we breathe. Liberty is the spirit which pervades our laws; it is the presiding genius of the constitution. The history of Britain is that of a perpetual struggle for civil and religious liberty. It is a subject on which our historians love to dwell: its blessings are sung by our poets ; and often have its in- spirations kindled the fire of eloquence and the glow of fancy, while the walls of the British senate have re- sounded with the favorite theme. My object in the present lectures is, in the first place, to communicate information. I believe this is needed. I cannot think that, if all England knew the present state of Slavery, in the British dominions, and what is paid in public property and human life to support it, the system would be tolerated by a free and generous people. The condition of the enslaved Negro must, I think, when known, touch a sympathetic chord in eve- ry heart, where interest and prejudice do not indurate the feelings and exclude conviction. I wish my pres- ent auditory to know, that they may feel; and to feel, that they may act. ‘The subject is one that should ex- cite commiseration, but not despair. Itis an evil of long standing, of enormous extent, and of tremendous power, both in the infliction of misery and in the resist- ance which it opposes to every effort of amelioration ;* * We wish our readers to notice this. Slavery isa relation essentially evil. There is no good in it—nothing that can be made 20 LECTURES ON SLAVERY. but it is not beyond the reach of remedy. It can be re- moved—it must be removed—and sooner or later it will be removed, in mercy or in judgment. And that we may contribute our portion of aid towards the peace- able extinction of this cruel and degrading system, is the final object I propose in these lectures. I confess that, though accustomed to public speaking, I experience much diffidence on the present occasion ; nor is it without a considerable expense of feeling that I engage in this undertaking. But there were two things which strongly urged me to it: the one, a sym- pathy for the poor suffering Negro; the other, a sense of duty. I felt bound in conscience to contribute my mite of influence towards the removal of an evil, which, while it inflicts unnumbered miseries on hundreds of thousands of our fellow-creatures and fellow-subjects, is a foul blot on our national character, and a crying sin in the sight of Heaven. If I fail in exciting that por- tion of interest which I humbly hope will attend these lectures, I shall still have the satisfaction of an approv- ing conscience. It wasa high commendation bestowed by the Saviour on a poor woman of old, “ She hath done what she could.” The plan I propose is, first, to give a general view of good. Itisa circumstance which robs man of his prerogatives. Disguise it as you may, still it holds the man in subjection to another’s will, it holds him liable to the incidents that may befal his property. The first thing, therefore, to be done for the im- provement of aslave, is to break this yoke, and secure to him the rights of a man. Am. Ep. LECTURE I. Q1 the state of Slavery, as it exists in the British domin- ions; then, to show more fully the evils of the system ; after which I shall endeavor to prove the unlawfulness of it. Ishall then give a sketch of what has been done towards the abolition of Slavery; and close with an in- quiry as to the duty of British Christians with reference to this subject. The present lecture will comprise a view of the gen- eral character of Slavery, as it exists in the British Col- onies. I hope it will not be deemed superfluous if I commence by a few brief notices of the country from which, for ages, the Slaves have been imported, and of that which is the place of their hard servitude. Africa, which furnishes our colonies with Slaves, is a quarter of the globe which is considerably larger than Europe. It is, indeed, a vast peninsula to the south of Europe, connected with Asia by the Isthmus of Suez. The Mediterranean Sea is its northern boundary; on the east, the Arabian Gulf, or Red Sea, stretches contig- uously from the Isthmus of Suez to the Straits of Babel- mandel; from thence to the Cape of Good Hope, which is its southern extremity, the Indian Ocean washes its coasts; and from this point northward, to the Straits of Gibraltar, the Atlantic Ocean forms its western limit. Its figure is triangular, the base of which is its northern coast, and its vertex the Cape of Good Hope. From its most northerly cape, Bona, in the Mediterranean, which is in 37 deg. 10 min. N. Lat., to the Cape of Good Hope, in 34 deg. 29 min. S. Lat., the distance is about 4980 miles. From Cape Verd, its most west- 22 LECTURES ON SLAVERY. erly point, in 17 deg. 33 min. W. Lon. to Cape Guar- dafui, in 51 deg. 20 min. E. Lon., the extent is about 4790 miles. The far greater part of it, as you will per- ceive by the map, lies in the torrid zone. “ Those parts, however, that lie near the coasts, or in valleys, and on the banks of the rivers, are very fertile and pro- ductive ; and the country in general is capable of great improvement by cultivation. Its situation for commerce is preferable to that of any other quarter of the globe, as it has a more easy communication with Europe, Asia, and America, than either of these has with the rest.’’* A great portion of this vast continent was unknown to those ancient geographers whose works have come down to modern times. The Greeks and Romans knew but little ofthe interior: their information extend- ed principally to the northern states, with Egypt and Ethiopia to the east. If Africa now ranks low in civil- ization, and is considered the most degraded of the four quarters of the world, there was a time when she rank- ed high, and if not equal, was second only to Asia. Before imperial Rome was known even by name, Thebes the wealthy and the great was celebrated in Ho- meric song, and Memphis was renowned as first in pow- er and magnificence. When Greece was in a state of barbarism, Egypt shone unrivalled in the light and glory of science; its population was immense, and its wealth boundless. Nor was Ethiopia without a name. Ata later period Carthage, on the coasts of the Medi- * Rees’s Cyclop. art. Africa. LECTURE I. 23 terranean, was, in riches and grandeur and power, the rival of Rome, and contended long with her for the great prize of universal empire. Other kingdoms and states of Northern Africa dared also, at different times, to enter into conflict with the mistress of the world. Atan early period Christianity was introduced into Africa, which gave birth to many of the fathers of the church, eminent for their learning and piety: Origen, Tertullian, Cypri- an, and Augustine, were all natives of Africa, which at one time numbered among its ecclesiastical officers sev- eral hundred bishops. And ata later period, when the dark ages almost threatened the extinction both of Chris- tianity and of human science, the Moors of Africa were distinguished for their superior learning and genius and gallantry. Since then Africa has gone back in civiliza- tion: a number of semi-barbarous states on the northern coasts, some of which extend even to the Great Desert, are subject to the Mohammedan power; but Egypt, which is still nominally dependent on the Grand Porte, seems rising of late into considerable importance, under its present intelligent and enterprising Pacha. One remarkable feature of this country is the immense Desert, which, extending from east to west, through nearly the whole of Africa, to the very borders of Egypt, in a breadth of eight or nine hundred miles, separates the northern states from the interior, and from those re- gions whence the Negroes are brought for sale to Ku- ropeans, South of the great desert is a vast tract of country called Negroland, or Nigritia, through which the river Niger runs; these names being evidently de- 24 LECTURES ON SLAVERY. rived from the color of the inhabitants. The population of this part of Africa has never been correctly ascer- tained: it comprises a great variety of states and tribes, in very different degrees of civilization. It has for more than two centuries been annually drained of im- mense numbers of its inhabitants, to be exported as slaves to the opposite shores of the Atlantic. A long line of coast has been resorted to for this purpose, by European traders, extending from the river Senegal to the kingdom of Angola. But it is not only from places contiguous to the coast that the unhappy Negroes are drawn: they come sometimes from the very centre of Africa, a journey of many weeks, and even of months, to be transported to a distant land, there to wear out their lives in perpetual bondage. Let me now take you, not in the suffocating hold of a slave ship, but on the wings of fancy, from the shores of Africa, westward, across the Atlantic Ocean, to those islands which were the first fruits of discovery to the enterprise of Columbus, when the intelligence of a new world was announced to astonished Europe. It was on the 12th of October, 1492,* that this illustrious naviga- tor first beheld one of those islands now called the Ba- hamas, of which he took possession in the name of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, and gave to it the name of St. Salvador. Subsequently, and at. different intervals, the other islands, together with the great con- tinent of North and South America, were discovered. ‘ ” Robertson’s Hist. of America, book ii. LECTURE I. 25 This great man had no idea that a vast continent inter- vened between the western shores of Europe and the eastern extremity of Asia, which then went by the gen- eral name of India. He supposed that by a western passage he had arrived at the Indian, or Asiatic islands, and that the continent was not far distant. These were therefore called the Indian Islands; and after the dis- covery of the new continent they were called the West Indies, Asiatic India acquiring the designation of the East Indies. The term West Indies now includes all those islands which extend from the Bahamas in the north, to Trinidad, near the coast of South America; and Honduras, Demerara, and Berbice, colonies on the adjacent continent, belonging to the British Crown, are also commonly comprised under this term. When the Europeans first visited these islands, they were believed by the simple inhabitants to have descend- ed from heaven: the scenes which this part of the world has since witnessed, have, to the lasting shame of hu- manity, lamentably proved the contrary. Nature, in these islands, appearing to the first discoverers in all her loveliness, adorned with every form of beauty, and exhibiting the richest fertility, at once astonished and delighted them ; but it is among the inscrutable myste- ries of Providence, that from the first period of their dis- covery they have continued to be the scenes of the most shocking depravity and heart-sickening misery. No sooner were they known than their original inhabitants became the victims of the sordid avarice and wanton barbarity of their intruders: their beautiful isles resound- 26 LECTURES ON SLAVERY. ed with the cries of the tortured natives, and the earth was dyed with their blood. And since the period of these atrocious cruelties, by which the aborigines were soon exterminated, Africa has been stripped of her chil- dren to supply the waste, and to minister to the luxurie and to the insatiable cupidity of Europeans ;—the soil has been watered with their tears; the air has resound- ed with their groans; and thousands, and hundreds of thousands, nay, millions, have there worn out their lives in bitterest bondage. Besides the general appellation of West Indies, by which the whole of these islands are designated, they are also divided into the Greater and Lesser Antilles, the Caribbee Isles, and the Windward and Leeward Islands. These terms, however, have not been always uniformly applied, nor are they now in general use; so that it is less necessary to fix their respective limits. The largest of these islands is Cuba, belonging to Spain: its length is about 700 miles, its average breadth about 70.—The next in size is St. Domingo, called by. the Spaniards Hispaniola, and by the natives Hayti. This is now a free and prosperous empire* of Blacks and * Great pains are taken by the pro-slavery party in this country to make it believed, that the experiment in Hayti has been un- successful, going to show, that colored men may not safely be en- trusted with their own government. But the fact that the Hay- tians have maintained their independence until now, and _pre- served a government at least as good as that of most of the white nations of the earth, should be enough to put their calumniators toshame. And when we consider the condition of the Island, after their struggles for independence—the general impoverish- LECTURE I. pad persons of color, who, after a desperate struggle against the legions of Bonaparte, secured, by force of arms, the personal freedom which had previously been granted to them by the French Convention, but which, in 1802, Bonaparte iniquitously attempted to wrest from them. 4 The national independence ofthis Negro state has been since formally recognized by France.—Jamaica, the next in size, was formerly Spanish, but is now possessed by the English: its length is about 120 miles, and its average breadth about 40.—The smaller islands have been possessed as colonies by the Spaniards, the Eng- lish, the French, the Dutch, and the Danes; but the greater part of them now belong to the British Crown, partly by colonization, and partly by conquest.—Besides their produce for home consumption, their exports con- sist principally in sugar, rum, cotton, coffee, dye-woods, and some spices. In addition to the various islands in the West Indies belonging to Great Britain in which slavery prevails, there are three colonies on the adjacent continent of South America, (Demerara, Berbice, and Honduras,) and also the colonies of the Cape of Good Hope, and the Mauritius, (a small island in the Indian Ocean,) ment, the mental and moral degradation of the mass of the peo- ple, owing to the slavery in which they had been held, the entire derangement of public affairs incident to a revolution, and the dissimilar views of the leaders of the enterprise,—the marvel is that they have done so well; and the result proves any thing but ‘that, which the opposers of Negro emancipation wish should be believed.— Am. Eb. 28 LECTURES ON SLAVERY. where the bulk of the population are in the same un- happy state of bondage. Of these colonies,—twenty in all—six, viz. Berbice, the Cape of Good Hope, Demerara, Mauritius, St. Lucia, and Trinidad, are directly subject to the British Crown, and receive their laws from the King in council, through the medium of the local authorities appointed by him. These are termed Crown Colonies. The case of Hon- duras is anomalous. The other thirteen, which are called Chartered Colonies, have each a legislature of its own, consisting of a governor and council appointed by the King, and an assembly chosen by the White proprietors. These legislatures have the power of making laws, which are in force when approved by the governor, though not established permanently till they receive the assent of the King of Great Britain. The chartered colonies are, Antigua, Bahamas, Barbadoes, Bermuda, Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica, Montserrat, Nevis, St. Christopher's, St. Vincent's, Tobago, and Tortola. To avoid a lengthened description, I must now beg leave to refer toa tabular view, which is prefixed to this lecture, and which exhibits all the slave colonies of Great Britain, the time and manner of their first pos- session, by the British Crown, their extent, population, produce, &c. Let us now take a general view of the system itself, not at present to enter into a detail of its many enormi- ties—that we shall reserve for another occasion—but to LECTURE I. 29 notice its principal circumstances, and to pourtray its more prominent features. Look, then, “with your mind’s eye,” on those beautiful islands already referred to. You see the population distinguished by their color. Here are white men, black men, and those who are partially tinged with the sable hue. None of them are the original inhabitants: these were long ago ex- terminated by men who called themselves Christians! Some have sprung from Europe, but the greater part from Africa. 'These White men, who bear themselves so haughtily, and who-appropriate to themselves all power, and all the luxuries which a tropical climate can yield, are either Europeans or the descendants of Eu- ropeans, who, for the love of enterprise, or in pursuit of gain, left their native shores in the different kingdoms and states of the old world——These blacks also are a race of foreigners, natives of Africa, or the children of Africans—Negroes, who came hither, not from motives either of enterprise or gain, but bound as prisoners, and sold, as so many head of cattle, to the highest bidder. —Those who by different shades have a less dark com- plexion, are called, generally, People of Color,* and are * Under this general term several distinctions are included, which, according to Mr. Edwards, in his History of the West In- dies, are thus specified :—The offspring of a Black Woman by a Mulatto Man, or vice versa, is a Sambo. Black Woman - - White Man - - - - -'!- a Maulatto. Mulatto Woman - White Man - - - - - - aQuadroon. Quadroon Woman White Man - - - - - a Mestize. The offspring of a Mestize by a White Man are White by law. —Creoles are those who, whether white or black, have been born in the colonies, 30 LECTURES ON SLAVERY. the offspring of a mixed race. As the children of fe- male slaves are, by the colonial laws, born slaves, many of the children of the white lords of these islands have, by the vices of their parents, the miserable inheritance of slavery entailed on them; while this illicit intercourse has frequently produced the purchase of the freedom of such children by the white parent, or, in cases where the parent was also the owner, the gratuitous manumis- sion of both mothers and children. There are also considerable numbers of free Blacks in these Colonies, who have had their freedom bequeathed or given to them by humane proprietors, or who have found means to pur- chase it, or who are the descendants of those who had obtained their freedom in some of these ways. In all our slave colonies, the whole number of White inhab- itants is not supposed to exceed from 80 to 90,000; a considerably larger number are free Blacks and People of Color; but the great mass of the population, consist- ing of about 800,000, are enslaved Negroes. And this immense majority, whose misfortune it is to have a skin different in color from our own, are claimed as the property, and treated as the property, of their fellow-creatures! Inthe British slave colonies upwards of 800,000 are thus possessed by comparatively a few free men, chiefly Whites. But how was this property acquired? In the same way, in many instances, as you came by your cattle, your horses and dogs. You may have obtained them by bequest, or by inheritance; you may have purchased them together, as the live stock of an estate; or you may have selected them individually ; LECTURE I. ae or they may be the breeding produce of your stock. Just so was this property in human flesh acquired; and those who hold them insist on possessing them, as you do your cattle, male and female, till their last breath is drawn, unless they previously sell them to others: they claim an absolute right of property in them and theirs, not to the third and fourth generation, but forever ! But how came this kind of property to exist? How came this article of traffic inthe market? The planters tell you that they, or those from whom they received them, bought them honestly in the market.—But who brought them there? That merciless dealer in human flesh, the slave-captain—And where did he procure them? Of slave-merchants or agents on the African coast; and these, perhaps, of others in the interior.— But how were they first deprived of freedom? 'The greater part by wars excited for the express purpose of furnishing supplies for the slave-market, and receiving articles of commerce in return; by the burning of vil- lages and towns, in order to surprise the helpless fugi- tives; by false accusations, mock trials; by kidnapping some, by decoying others—in short, by every mode of force and fraud which an inhuman spirit of avarice could suggest.* Let us now glance at their situation and employment inthe colonies.t Someare employed as domestic slaves, * See “Cries of Africa,” by Mr. Clarkson; with “ Abstract of Evidence before a select Committee of the House of Commons, in 1790 and 1791,” chap. i. + The description here given of the situation and employment 32 LECTURES ON SLAVERY. when and how the owner pleases; by day or by night, on Sundays or other days, in any measure or degree, with any or with no remuneration, with what kind or quantity of food the owner of the human beast may choose. Male or female, young or old, weak-or strong, may be punished, with or without reason, as caprice or passion may prompt. When the drudge does not suit, he may be sold, like a horse that has seen his best days, for some inferior purpose, till like a worn-out beast he dies, unpitied and forgotten! In some cases slaves of this kind are purchased, not because their personal ser- vices are needed, but as a profitable speculation, to be let out to hire. Some, having had the opportunity to learn a trade, pay their owners a stipulated sum per week, or month, or otherwise, and have the surplus earnings for themselves ; with which, it may happen, if they are industrious, and have their health, and are suc- cessful, they may, in course of time, lay up a sum to purchase their‘own freedom, or that of a wife or child. But the owner may charge what he pleases for his time: if he be covetous, may screw him to the last farthing ; or, if he need money, may sell him to some distant part of the colony, to any other proprietor, who, again, may do with him just as he pleases. But the greatest number of these degraded beings are doomed to field labor, and that in a climate the heat of which is intense, and almost unremitted. Almost all of the West India slaves, prior to their emancipation in 1834, may give our readers a very correct idea of the condition of 2,000,000 ofthe American People at this time.—Am. Ep. LECTURE I: 33 the tillage of the soil, which in our agricultural pro- cesses we perform by horses and oxen assisted by ma- — chinery, is in the colonies carried on by the manual operations of the enslaved Negroes. The cultivation of cotton, coffee, sugar, indeed of all the productions of the plantations, devolves on them. It is the culture of the last-mentioned article, sugar, which appears to ex- pose them to the most toilsome drudgery and the severest treatment. While my plan does not allow of giving a particular description of every kind of produce which employs slave labor, I feel desirous that my audience should know in what manner that luxury of our tea- table and of our confectionary is raised. Sugar is the produce of a reed, or cane, the botanical name of which isarundo saccharifera. “It is a pointed reed,’ says Mr. Edwards,* “terminating in leaves or blades, whose edges are finely and sharply serrated. The body of the cane is strong, but brittle, and, when ripe, of a fine straw color inclinable to yellow; and it contains a soft, pithy substance, which affords a copious supply of juice, of a sweetness the least cloying and most agreeable in nature. The intermediate distance between each joint of the cane varies according to the nature of the soil: in general, it is from one to three inches in length, and from half an inch to an inch in diameter. The length of a whole cane depends like- wise upon circumstances: in strong lands richly ma- nured I have seen some that measured twelve feet from * Edwards’s History of the West Indies, book V. chap. i. 3 34 LECTURES ON SLAVERY. the stole to the upper joint: the general height, howev- er (the flag part exciuded,) is from three feet and a half to seven feet; and in very rich lands the stole or root has been known to put forth upwards of one hundred suckers, or shoots.”—The sugar-cane is propagated by cuttings; the most proper season of planting which, is, according to the same author, between August and the beginning of November; so that, as the canes are ordi- narily ripe in from twelve to fifteen months, they are fit for the mill in the beginning of the second year. “In most parts of the West Indies it is usual to hole and plant a certain proportion of the cane (commonly one third) in annual succession. ‘The common yielding of this land, on an average, is seven hogsheads of 16 cwt. to ten acres which are cut annually.”* The canes, when cut, are carried to the mill, which consists of strong rollers, through which the canes are passed, and which are worked by wind, water, cattle, or steam. By this means the juice is expressed, from which, after it has been clarified and has undergone various processes, the sugar is obtained. From the refuse, which is skim- med from the cane-juice, and the molasses, which are drained from the sugar, rum is produced by distillation. The first important operation in sugar planting, after the ground has been duly prepared, is that of holeing, which Mr. Edwards thus describes :—*“ The quantity of land intended to be planted, being cleared of weeds and other incumbrances, is first divided into several plats of * Rees’s Cyclop. art. Sugar. LECTURE I. 35 certain dimensions, commonly from fifteen to twenty acres each: the spaces between each plat, or division, are left wide enough for roads, for the convenience of carting, and are called intervals. Each plat is then sub- divided, by means ofa line and wooden pegs, into small squares of about three feet anda half Sometimes, in- deed, the squares area foot larger; but this circum- stance makes but little difference. The Negroes are then placed in a row in the first line, one to a square, and directed to dig out with their hoes the several squares, commonly to the depth of five or six inches, The mould which is dug up being formed into a bank at the lower side, the excavation, or cane-hole, seldom exceeds fifteen inches in width at the bottom, and two feet anda halfat the top. The Negroes then fall back to the next line, and proceed as before.’’*—Into these holes, the cuttings are placed, and covered with mould; and as they grow, the earth is drawn around them, and the ground kept cleared of weeds. As vegetation proceeds, the joints increase in number, one growing out of anoth- er. A field of canes, when in full blossom, is said to be one of the most beautiful objects in nature. The field labor of the Negroes, when employed in holeing, is thus described by a gentleman of unimpeachable veracity, who spent many years in the West Indies.t “In holeing a cane-piece—i. e. in turning up the * Edwards’s Hist. of West Indies, book V. chap. 1. t‘*The Slavery of the British West India Colonies delinea- ted,” by J. Stephen, Esq. vol. I. App. p. 477; where. the state- ment here quoted is vindicated by unexceptionable references. . 36 LECTURES ON SLAVERY. ground with hoes into parallel trenches, for the recep- tion of the cane-plants—the slaves, of both sexes, from twenty to fourscore 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 number duly proportioned to that of the gang. Each of the 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 ex- tending the handle, it can be disengaged in a moment, a long, thick, and strongly plaited 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 wagoners; 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 acertain number of hours,* durmg which, at the peril of the drivers, an adequate portion of the land must be hoed, ‘“ As the trenches are generally rectilinear, and the whole line of holers advance together, it is necessary that every hole or section of the trench should be fin- ished 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 lat- ter must be suspended ; or else, such part of the trench * The hours of jield labor extend by law in Jamaica from five in the morning, to seven in the evening, with intervals of half an hour for breakfast, and two hours at noon. LECTURE I. 37 as is passed over by the former will be more imperfect- ly 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 im 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 quicken- ed, and the languid invigorated; and the whole line made to dress inthe military phrase as it advances. No breathing time, no resting on the hoe, no pause of lan- suor, to be repaid by brisker exertion on return to work, can be allowed to individuals. All must work or pause together. “T have taken this species of work as the strongest example. But other labors of the plantation are con- ducted on the same principle, and, as nearly as may be practicable, inthe same manner. “ When the nature of the work does not admit of the slaves being drawn up in a line abreast, they are dis- posed, when the measure is feasible, in some other reg- ular order for the facility of the driver’s superintendence and coercion. In carrying the canes, for instance, from the field to the mill,* they are marched in files, each with a bundle on his head, and with a driver in the rear: his voice quickens their pace, and his whip, when necessary, urges on those who attempt to deviate or loi- ter in their march.” * On most estates the canes are carried on the backs of mules, or in carts, from the field to the mill. 38 LECTURES ON SLAVERY. As we shall often have, in the subsequent lectures, to refer to that terrible instrument of coercion and punish- ment, the cartwhip, let me here briefly describe its use and power. The quotation which [ shall make, is from the same work of Mr. Stephen, to which I have al- ready adverted.* “A long, thick, and strongly plaited whip, with a short handle, is coiled and slung like a sash over their shoulders (i. e. of the drivers,) except when extended in the hand for use, as the ensign of their fearful office ; and, being long trained to the expert use of it, they well know how to direct, and how to aggravate or mitigate its inflictions, at the will of their employers, or their own. They have an emulation in the loudness of the report which they produce from this instrument of tor- ture, the sound of which is enough to make the stout- est of its male patients tremble; and the smack of the cart-whip, frequently repeated from a distant cane-piece, * “The Slavery of the British West India Colonies delineat- ed,” vol. I. p. 49,50; where Mr. 8. has amply corroborated his ac- count of the whip by quotations from Mr. Beckford and Dr. Col- lins, both avowed apologists of colonial slavery; and from Dr. Pinckard, who has not in his work taken either side of the ques- tion. See Beckford’s “ Account of Jamaica,” vol. II. p.51; Dr. Pinckard’s “ Notes on the West Indies,” vol. L p. 257; and Dr. Collins’s “ Practical Rules for the Management and Treatment of Negro Slaves in the Sugar Colonies,” 1803, p. 209. ‘To which may be added the testimony of Mr. Barrett, whose language in the assembly of Jamaica was, “I do say, that 39 lashes with this horrid instrument can be made more grievous than 500 lashes with a cat.” He calls it also an “odious, horrid, detestable in- strument, when used for the punishment and torture of slaves ;” “an engine of cruelty,” &c. See extracts from his speech, in vol. I. pp. 306, 307, “ Anti-Slavery Reporter.” LECTURE I. 39 serves often instead of a bell or conch-shell, to summon the Negroes from their huts at the earliest dawn to the theatre of their morning labors. The drivers, however, can, wher they please, in actual punishment, produce a loud report without proportionate severity of stripes; and, on the other hand, when told to cut, as the phrase is, they can easily inflict a gash at every stroke, so as to make even a few lashes a tremendous punishment. A planter, who valued himself on his humanity, once point- ed out to me a driver of his then passing by, as a man whose strength of arm and adroitness in the use of the whip were uncommonly great, and who had also a cru- el disposition. I once actually saw the fellow, said he, lay open the flank of a mule he was driving, cutting, fairly through its tough hide at a single stroke. He added, that he had him punished for it; and that it was his general injunction, to him and to other drivers, not to cut the Negroes in their whippings, upon pain of be- ing laid down and flogged themselves. Cutting does not merely mean drawing blood and peeling off the scarf-skin, for those are the effects of almost every stripe on the naked body with this instrument, however le- niently applied, but it means cutting through the cutis, or true skin, into the muscles or flesh below; and this is so usual in cart whippings, when regularly inflicted for a serious fault, that confinement to the hospital dur- ing the cure is an ordinary consequence, and large scars or weals remain during the life of the patient.* To be * Let not American readers console themselves with the sup- position that such cruelties, as are here described, are unknown. * 40 LECTURES ON SLAVERY. exempt from such vestiges of severe punishment receiv- ed, is regarded as a distinction creditable to the charac- ter of a plantation slave, and enhancing his value toa purchaser.” How are the Negroes supported? In what manner do they live? ) In the Leeward Islands, comprising Antigua, St. Christopher's, Nevis, Montserrat, and Tortola, with a slave population of about 62,000, the slaves receive from their masters an allowance of food fixed by law; but so inadequate to the comfortable sustentation of life, that it does not amount to much more than a third of the stipulated allowance in the island of Jamaica to run- away slaves, or other delinquents, confined in the work- houses and prisons. This will appear from the fol- lowing comparison of the two scales of allowance: The weekly Legal Allowance of the Weekly Legal Allowance of Per- adult Laboring Slaves in the sons confined in the Prisons Leeward Islands. and Workhouses of Jamaica. 9 Pints of unground corn, or 16 Pints of unground corn, or 8 Pints of wheat or other flour, or 21 Pints of wheat or other flour, 20 Pounds of yams, or or 30 Pounds of plantains. 56 Pounds of yams, or 56 Full-grown plantains, equal to about 75 to 80 pounds. The legal allowance of the Leeward Islands to working men, therefore, might easily be shown to be a starving allowance, being a little more than one-third of the al- in our country. They are as frequent in our Southern States as they were in the West Indies. Am. Ep. LECTURE I. Al lowance which is indispensable to the comfortable sub- sistence of the laborer. In Barbadoes, Demerara, and Berbice, the slaves are fed from provisions grown by the labor of the whole gang, and dealt out to them by the master, but without the le- gal limit by which the allowance ofthe Leeward Island slave is stinted to the smallest quantity by which his life can be sustained. But if there be no direct legal sanction in these three colonies for the same cruelly pe- nurious system in feeding the slaves which disgraces _ the legislature of the Leeward Islands, yet it is obvious, that to the discretion, or rather to the caprice or avarice of the owner alone, it is left to decide as to the quantity ‘of food which shall be allowed to the slave for his sus- tentation and comfort; and neither in these three colo- nies, nor in the Leeward Islands, is a single hour allot- ted to the slave by law, which he can employ for eking out his scanty allowance, on any day except on Sunday. In all the other West India colonies the slaves have usually provision grounds allotted to them,* and a few days in the year, besides Sundays, assigned to them for laboring in these grounds for thetr sustenance;}+ the number of days varying in different colonies. In To- bago, it amounts to thirty-five; mm Jamaica the number is twenty-six; in Trinidad it amounts only to from four- *As Jamaica, Grenada, St. Vincent’s, Trinidad, Tobago, Dom- inica, St. Lucia, &c. + These provision grounds are frequently at a considerable dis- tance from the homestall of the plantation; sometimes three, six, or even ten miles. See “ Facts illustrative of the Negro Slaves in Jamaica,” by T. Cooper, 1824, 42 LECTURES ON SLAVERY. teen to seventeen ; and to about the same in the other colonies. On these, in addition to the Sundays, the Negroes raise vegetables for their own use; and the surplus, if any, they bring on Sundays to market, at a distance frequently of many miles, sometimes ten, twen- ty, or even thirty; the sale of which enables them to purchase a few trifling articles, either of food or appar- el. In addition, they are generally allowed a few salt herrings, or other fish, weekly; and they receive also annually from their masters a small quantity of clothing, the least and the cheapest that can possibly cover them. A few of the more industrious keep afew poultry, and perhaps a pig, which also become articles of traffic. And thus individual slaves sometimes succeed, by dint of ex- treme parsimony in acquiring a little property; by which, after a length of time, they are enabled to pur- chase their freedom. This, however, is a very rare occurrence indeed in the case of field slaves.—Their huts are built by themselves, often of very rude materi- als, but sometimes with materials furnished by their owners; andare generally, for the sake of convenience, near the buildings where the manufacture of sugar is conducted, though seldom with much regard to order in their position. Allow me now, in drawing the first lecture towards a close, to give a summary of the principal characteris- tics* of our colonial slavery as it existed in the colo- * We advise the reader to compare the summary here given, with the Digest or Sketch of American Slaves Laws, by George LECTURE I. 43 nies prior to the year 1824, when measures were first taken for its mitigation. 1. Perpetual bondage, to the last moment of the slave’s earthly existence, and to all his descendants to the latest posterity, unless the owner voluntarily relin- quished his claim. 2. Compulsory and uncompensated labor. There was no covenant between him and his master; no stip- ulated remuneration for a certain quantity of labor; no hope of reward cheered him. In the house, a pure des- potism controlled him; in the field, the fear of the dri- ver’s lash was ever before him. 3. The right of property was exercised over the Ne- gro slave. His owner claimed him as his goods and chattels. He might be sold by private sale or public auction ; individually, or “in lots to suit the purchaser ;” with his family, or separated forever from them. He might be exchanged for other marketable commodities ; might be mortgaged; might be taken in execution for debts or taxes. 4. Very great obstructions existed to the manumission of the enslaved Negroes. Should aslave by any means happen to obtain a sum sufficient to purchase his free- dom, a heavy tax threw a formidable difficulty in the way, or a bond to a considerable amount was required ; which operated also powerfully against the bestowal of freedom by gift or bequest. In all the colonies, without M. Stroich, published in Philadelphia, 1824, that he may know how similar the Slavery here is to the Slavery that was in the West Indies.—Am., Ep. 44 LECTURES ON SLAVERY. exception, it was entirely at the owner's option, whether he should part with his slave for any price. 5. The Colonial bondman was liable, within certain limits, to severe and arbitrary punishment—without any trial; without any means of legal redress; wheth- er his offence were real or imaginary; by the owner, the attorney, the overseer, the manager, and the driver. 6. Females were subject to the same degrading and severe punishments, and that in a manner as indecent* as it was cruel; not only at the order of the magistrate, but at the will of the master, or of any of his subordinate agents. , 7. No legal rights of property were possessed by the slave: so that if by his industry, or the kindness of friends, he happened to obtain any, it was possessed, not as a matter of right, but by sufferance,t and was legally the property of his master. 8. The sacred rite of Marriage, instituted by the Great Creator himself, was set at nought by this system. No legal sanction protected the slave in the enjoyment of conjugal rights; and promiscuous intercourse was not only permitted, but even encouraged, throughout the colonies, and more especially by the general example of licentiousness among the Whites themselves. 9. The evidence of slaves was not admitted against * See Bickell’s ‘‘ West Indies,” pp. 48, 49. _ t See this illustrated, and the condition of the West India slave, in this respect, compared with that of the villein, when vassalage existed in England. Stephen’s “ Slavery of the Brit. W. Ind. Col. delineated,” vol. I. pp. 46, 47. LECTURE 1. 45 a White or free man in a court of justice. He might give testimony against a fellow-slave, even in cases which affected his life; but when a white or free man was concerned, it was universally rejected. 10. No means of any kind had been provided by law for the education and religrous instruction of the slave. While the master reaped the profits of his labor, till, worn out with toil, he sunk into the tomb, he had in almost all cases too much reason to say “ No man car- eth for my soul.” 11. And, finally, the beneficent arrangements of the Creator, in providing one day in seven for bodily rest and holy worship, were frustrated, by the necessity of the poor slave's laioring for himself on that sacred day, and by the Sunday markets.* * “Tt (¢. e. Sunday) is the only market-day which the poor Ne- groes and Colored Slaves have; and instead of worshipping their God, they are either cultivating their portions of land to preserve life, or trudging like mules w ith heavy loads, five, ten, or even twenty miles, toa market, to sell the little surplus of their provis- ion-grounds, or to barter it for a little salt fish to season their poor meals; or, what is much worse, to spend, very often, the value in new destructive rum, which intoxicates them, and drowns for a short time the reflection that they are despised and burdened slaves. “T shall never forget the horror and disgust which I felt on go- ing on shore, for the first time in Kingston in the month of Au- gust, 1819: it was ona Sunday, and I had to pass by the Negro market, where several thousands of human beings, of various nations and color, but principally Negroes, instead of w orshipping their Maker on his Holy Day, were busily employed in all kinds of traffic in the open streets. Here were Jews, with shops and Standings as ata fair, selling old and new clothes, trinkets, and small wares at cent. per cent. to adorn the Negro person: there were low Frenchmen and Spaniards, and people of color, in petty shops and with stalls; some selling their bad rum, gin, to- 46 LECTURES ON SLAVERY. To show that these were, what in too many respects they still are, the true and genuine features of the sys- tem, I need only to refer to the unanimous Resolutions of the House of Commons in May, 1823, when the sub- ject was formally brought before it by Mr. Buxton ; and to the sentiments of his Majesty's Ministers, ex- pressed in those Resolutions, which were proposed by themselves, and in their subsequent official correspond- ence with the colonial authorities. This testimony is the more remarkable, considering how great was the influence of the West-India body in Parliament, and how long and powerfully it had operated to shut out from public reprehension the wrongs and the actual miseries of hundreds of thousands of enslaved British subjects. On the motion of the late Mr. Canning, it was then unanimously resolved by the House of Com- mons, “Ist. That it is expedient to adopt effectual and deci- sive measures for meliorating the condition of the slave population in his Majesty’s dominions. . “2d, That, through a determined and persevering, but judicious and temperate, enforcement of such meas- ures, this House looks forward to a progressive im- bacco, &c., others salt provisions and small articles of dress, and many of them bartering with the slave, or purchasing his surplus provisions to retail again: poor free people and servants also, from all parts of the city, to purchase vegetables, &c., for the fol- lowing week. The different noises and barbarous’ tongues re- called to one’s memory the confusion of Babel; but the drunken-— ness of some, with the imprecations and obscenities of others, put © one in mind rather ofa Pandemonium, or residence of devils.”— “ The West Indiesas they are,” by Rev. R. Bickel , p- 66, 67.— 1825. | LECTURE I. 47 provement in the character of the slave population; such as may prepare them for a participation in those civil rights and privileges which are enjoyed by other classes of his Majesty’s subjects. “3d. That this House is anxious for the accomplish- ment of this purpose at the earliest period that may be compatible with the well-being of the slaves, the safety of the colonies, and with a fair and equitable considera- tion of the interests of private property. “4th. That these resolutions be laid before his Ma- jesty.” These resolutions were subsequently adopted with the same unanimity by the House of Lords. Here, then, it was assumed, not only that his Britan- nic Majesty had slaves in his dominions, but that one class of his Majesty's subjects consisted of slaves ;—that such was the condition of the enslaved subjects of Brit- ain, as absolutely to require the “ decisive and effectual” interference of Parliament to relieve them ;—and that nothing but a “determined and persevering enforce- ment” of its humane intentions could rescue these un- happy beings from the?r miserable thraldom. In consequence of this measure on the part of the House of Commons, his Majesty's Government imme- diately proposed to introduce into our slave colonies the following reforms: To provide the means of religious instruction and Christian education for the slave population. To put an end to markets and to labor on the Sunday, and to appropriate that day entirely to rest and 48 po LECTURES ON SLAVERY. recreation, and to religious worship and instruc- tion; and instead of Sunday, to allow them equiv- alent time on other days for the cultivation of their provision-grounds. To admit the testimony of slaves in courts of justice. To legalize the marriages of slaves, and to protect them in the enjoyment of their connubial rights. To protect the slaves by law in the acquisition and possession of property, and in its transmission by bequest or otherwise. To remove all the existing obstructions to manumis- sion, and to grant to the slave the power of re- deeming himself and his wife and children at a fair price. To prevent the separation of families by sale or oth- erwise. To prevent the seizure and sale of slaves detached from the estate or plantation to which they belong. To restrain generally the power, and to prevent the abuse, of arbitrary punishment at the will of the master. To abolish the degrading corporal punishment of fe- males. To abolish the use of the driving-whip in the field, either as an emblem of authority or as a stimulus to labor. To establish savings’ banks for the use of the slaves. These, then, were the measures of amelioration pro- sed by Government, and with the professed concur- rence of the West India body themselves who were resi- LECTURE 1. 49 dent in England. And what point of oppression, or of degradation, which has been alleged of this system, is not here either admitted or implied? Does not the ap- plication of a remedy involve the admission of an evil? If, therefore, in charging these evils on the system its administrators conceived themselves to be libelled, they were libelled by the British Parliament, by the Govern- ment, by their own patrons and supporters. It may be necessary here to make two or three re- marks. The state of slavery varied somewhat in dif- ferent colonies. Their enactments and usages might bear upon the slave with more or less severity, accord- ing to circumstances: but, with specific distinctions, there was a general similitude in the law and the prac- tice of all our slave colonies. It is also admitted that the condition of the slaves may be considerably modified by the views and dispositions of the owners, if resident among them, or of the overseers or managers who exact and superintend their labors: some have more human- ity, more calmness and consideration, than others. It does not follow that every slave suffers all the evils to which his condition exposes him; but he is subject to all these miseries, and cannot help himself—many suf- fer them to the full, and all may. The Resolutions of 1823, and the measures which followed them, have pro- duced some changes ; but small, indeed, has been the measure of improvernent. The promise they held out has yet produced little better than disappointment ; it has been a “hope deferred, which maketh the heart sick.’ ‘The boon which the Government of England 4 50 LECTURES ON SLAVERY. vouchsafed to ask of the colonial legislatures for these poor wretches has been contemptuously refused, or evaded ; or eked out in so scanty a manner, that next to nothing has hitherto been done; and even in the Crown colonies Government has fallen far short of its pledges. The particulars we shall reserve for a future occasion, and only here remark, that the great mass of evil still remains in undiminished malignity. What a strange and afflicting state of society is here presented to our view! And that, not in the dark ages of ignorance and barbarity, but in the Nineteenth cen- tury, amidst the wide diffusion of knowledge, the numer- ous and ever-increasing plans of benevolence, and the strong professions of liberality, which mark the present age! Such usages existing, not among hordes of sav- ages, but among men, civilized, enlightened, and calling themselves Christians! Found, not in the territories of some despotic tyrant, but in the dominions of Britain, whose boasted glory is the freedom of her constitution, the liberty of her subjects, the wise and just adminis- tration of her laws, the equal rights of all! i mn oY Yi = 5 ’ @ Mur ” oe | if t 4 an : Larry, : nih ope, OR Gis a Pg rah = / way ; yh ‘ if a baa ad vO vile ; é we ee eae Ora Us . i eer Ge Raiet z oie nya 4 { , Mis [ UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS-URBANA HINA 3 0112 062954455 ' ' yt i res ati an Hat A ? é n } 1 ie y ’ ‘