Chapter X: Part 10

“I was regarded with astonishment and fear, and was obliged to sit all day without victuals, in the shade of a tree, and the night threatened to be very uncomfortable, for the wind rose, and there was great appearance of a heavy rain; and the wild beasts are so very numerous in the neighbourhood, that I should have been under the necessity of climbing up the tree, and resting among the branches. About sun-set, however, as I was preparing to pass the night in this manner, and had turned my horse loose that he might graze at liberty, a woman, returning from the labours of the field, stopped to observe me, and perceiving that I was weary and dejected, inquired into my situation, which I briefly explained to her; whereupon, with looks of great compassion, she took up my saddle and bridle, and told me to follow her. Having conducted me into her hut, she lighted up a lamp, spread a mat on the floor, and told me I might remain there for the night. Finding that I was very hungry, she said she would procure me something to eat; she accordingly went out, and returned in a short time with a very fine fish, which, having caused to be half broiled upon some embers, she gave me for supper. The rites of hospitality being thus performed towards a stranger in distress, my worthy benefactress (pointing to the mat, and telling me I might sleep there without apprehension), called to the female part of her family, who had stood gazing on me all the while in fixed astonishment, to resume their task of spinning cotton; in which they continued to employ themselves great part of the night. They lightened their labour by songs, one of which was composed extempore, for I was myself the subject of it; it was sung by one of the young women, the rest joining in a sort of chorus. The air was sweet and plaintive, and the words, literally translated, were these:—“The winds roared, and the rains fell—The poor white man, faint and weary, came and sat under our tree—He has no mother to bring him milk, no wife to grind his corn.” Chorus: “Let us pity the white man; no mother has he,” &c. &c.—Trifling as this recital may appear to the reader, to a person in my situation the circumstance was affecting in the highest degree. I was oppressed by such unexpected kindness, and sleep fell from my eyes. In the morning I presented my compassionate landlady with two of the four brass buttons which remained on my waistcoat, the only recompence I could make her.” (pp. 197–198.)

“About eight o’clock we passed a large town called Kabba, situated in the midst of a beautiful and highly cultivated country, bearing a greater resemblance to the centre of England, than to what I should have supposed had been the middle of Africa.”—(p. 202).

“We passed, in the course of the day, a great many villages, inhabited chiefly by fishermen; and in the evening, about five o’clock, arrived at Sansanding, a very large town, containing, as I was told, from eight to ten thousand inhabitants.”—(p. 203.)

“We accordingly rode along between the town and the river, passing by a creek or harbour, in which I observed twenty large canoes, most of them fully loaded, and covered with mats, to prevent the rain from injuring the goods.

“He shewed me some gunpowder of his own manufacturing.”—(p. 206.)

“About fifteen years ago, when the present king of Bambarra’s father desolated Maniana, the dooty of Sai had two sons slain in battle, fighting in the king’s cause. He had a third son living; and when the king demanded a further reinforcement of men, and this youth among the rest, the dooty refused to send him. This conduct so enraged the king, that when he returned from Maniana, about the beginning of the rainy season, and found the dooty protected by the inhabitants, he sat down before Sai, with his army, and surrounded the town with the trenches I had now seen. After a siege of two months, the towns-people became involved in all the horrors of famine; and whilst the king’s army were feasting in their trenches, they saw with pleasure the miserable inhabitants of Sai devour the leaves and bark of the bentang tree that stood in the middle of the town. Finding, however, that the besieged would sooner perish than surrender, the king had recourse to treachery. He promised, that if they would open the gates, no person should be put to death, nor suffer any injury, but the dooty alone. The poor old man determined to sacrifice himself for the sake of his fellow-citizens, and immediately walked over to the king’s army, where he was put to death. His son, in attempting to escape, was caught and massacred in the trenches; and the rest of the towns-people were carried away captives, and sold as Slaves to the different Negro Traders.”—(p. 227.)

“The Mandingoes in particular are a very gentle race; cheerful in their dispositions, inquisitive, credulous, simple, and fond of flattery.”—(p. 261.)

“It is impossible for me to forget the disinterested charity, and tender solicitude, with which many of these poor heathens (from the sovereign of Sego, to the poor women who received me at different times into their cottages, when I was perishing of hunger) sympathized with me in my sufferings, relieved my distresses, and contributed to my safety.”—(p. 262.)

“Accordingly, the maternal affection (neither suppressed by the restraints, nor diverted by the solicitudes of civilized life) is every where conspicuous among them, and creates a correspondent return of tenderness in the child. An illustration of this has been given in p. 47, “Strike me,” said my attendant, “but do not curse my mother!” The same sentiment I found universally to prevail; and observed in all parts of Africa, that the greatest affront which could be offered to a Negro, was to reflect on her who gave him birth.”—(p. 264.)

“One of the first lessons, in which the Mandingo women instruct their children, is the _practice of truth_. The reader will probably recollect the case of the unhappy mother, whose son was murdered by the Moorish banditti at Funingkedy, page 102. Her only consolation in her uttermost distress, was the reflection, that the poor boy, in the course of his blameless life, had _never told a lie_.”

“For, though the Negro women are very cheerful and frank in their behaviour, they are by no means given to intrigue: I believe that instances of conjugal infidelity are not common.”—(p. 268.)

“With the love of music is naturally connected a taste for poetry; and, fortunately for the poets of Africa, they are in a great measure exempted from that neglect and indigence, which, in more polished countries, commonly attend the votaries of the Muses. They consist of two classes; the most numerous are the singing-men, called jilli kea, mentioned in a former part of my narrative. One or more of these may be found in every town. They sing extempore songs in honour of their chief men, or any other persons who are willing to give “solid pudding for empty praise.” But a nobler part of their office is to recite the historical events of their country; hence, in war, they accompany the soldiers to the field, in order, by reciting the great actions of their ancestors, to awaken in them a spirit of glorious emulation. The other class are devotees of the Mahometan faith, who travel about the country singing devout hymns, and performing religious ceremonies, to conciliate the favour of the Almighty, either in averting calamity, or insuring success to any enterprise. Both descriptions of these itinerant bards are much employed, and respected by the people, and very liberal contributions are made for them.”—(p. 278.)

“The Negroes in general, and the Mandingoes in particular, are considered by the whites on the coast as an indolent and inactive people; I think, without reason. Few people work harder, when occasion requires, than the Mandingoes; but, not having many opportunities of turning to advantage the superfluous produce of their labour, they are content with cultivating as much ground only as is necessary for their own support.—(pp. 280, 281.)

“The labours of the field give them pretty full employment during the rains; and in the dry season, the people who live in the vicinity of large rivers employ themselves chiefly in fishing.” “Others of the natives employ themselves in hunting.” “They are very dextrous marksmen, and will hit a lizard on a tree, or any other small object, at an amazing distance.” “While the men are employed in these pursuits, the women are very diligent in manufacturing cotton cloth.” “The thread is not fine, but well twisted, and makes a very durable cloth. A woman, with common diligence, will spin from six to nine garments of this cloth in one year.” “The loom is made exactly upon the same principle as that of Europe, but so small and narrow, that the web is seldom more than four inches broad.” “The women dye this cloth of a rich and lasting blue colour, with a fine purple gloss, and equal, in my opinion, to the best Indian or European blue. This cloth is cut into various pieces, and sewed into garments with needles of the natives own making.”

“As the arts of weaving, dying, sewing &c. may easily be acquired, those who exercise them are not considered in Africa as following any particular profession; for almost every Slave can weave, and every boy can sew. The only artists which are distinctly acknowledged as such by the Negroes, and who value themselves on exercising appropriate and peculiar trades, are the manufacturers of leather and iron.” “They are to be found in almost every town.” “They tan and dress leather with very great expedition.” “They are at great pains to render the hide as soft and pliant as possible.” “The hides of bullocks are converted chiefly into sandals, and therefore require less care in dressing than the skins of sheep and goats, which are used for covering quivers and saphies, and in making sheaths for swords and knives, belts, pockets, and a variety of ornaments.”—(pp. 281, 282.)

“The manufacturers of iron are not so numerous as of leather; but they appear to have studied their business with equal diligence.” “In the inland parts, the natives smelt this useful metal in such quantities, as not only to supply themselves from it with all necessary weapons and instruments, but even to make it an article of commerce with some of the neighbouring states.”—(p. 283.)

“Most of the African blacksmiths are acquainted also with the method of smelting gold.” “They likewise draw the gold into wire, and form it into a variety of ornaments, some of which are executed with a great deal of taste and ingenuity.” “I might add, though it is scarce worthy observation, that in Bambarra and Kaarta, the natives make very beautiful baskets, hats, and other articles, both for use and ornament, from rushes, which they stain of different colours; and they contrive also to cover their calabashes with interwoven cane, dyed in the same manner,”—(p. 285.)

“It seems to be the universal wish of mankind to spend the evening of their days where they spent their infancy. The poor Negro feels this desire in its full force. To him, no water is sweet but what is drawn from his own well; and no tree has so cool and pleasant a shade as the tabba tree of his native village. When war compels him to abandon the delightful spot in which he first drew his breath, and seek for safety in some other kingdom, his time is spent in talking about the country of his ancestors; and no sooner is peace restored than he turns his back upon the land of strangers, rebuilds with haste his fallen walls, and exults to see the smoke ascend from his native village.”—(p. 292.)

“It was not possible for me to behold the wonderful fertility of the soil, the vast herds of cattle, proper both for labour and food, and a variety of other circumstances favourable to colonization and agriculture; and reflect withal, on the means which presented themselves of a vast inland navigation, without lamenting that a country, so abundantly gifted and favoured by nature, should remain in its present savage and neglected state. Much more did I lament that a people, of manners and dispositions so gentle and benevolent, should either be left as they now are, immersed in the gross and uncomfortable blindness of Pagan superstition, or permitted to become converts to a system of bigotry and fanaticism.”—(p. 312.)

“During a wearisome peregrination of more than five hundred British miles, exposed to the burning rays of a tropical sun, these poor Slaves, amidst their own infinitely greater sufferings, would commiserate mine; and frequently, of their own accord, bring water to quench my thirst, and at night collect branches and leaves to prepare me a bed in the wilderness.”—(p. 356.)

_Effects of Slave Trade on Administration of Justice. By the Sieur Brüe, Director General of the French Senegal Company, about 1700.—Astley’s Voyages, vol. ii. & iii._

[Sidenote: Astley’s Voyages.]

“Crimes here are seldom punished with death, unless it be treason and murder. For other faults, the usual penalty is banishment, to which end the king generally sells them to the company, and disposes of their effects at his pleasure. In civil cases, the debtor, if unable, is sold with his family and effects, for the payment of the creditor, and the king has his thirds.”—(p. 59.)

Barbot says, that the Negro kings are so absolute, that upon any slight pretence, they order their subjects to be sold for Slaves, without regard to rank or profession. Thus a Marbut was sold to him at Goree by the Alkade of Rio Fresco, by special order of the Damel, for some misdemeanors. This priest was above two months aboard the ship before he would speak one word.”—(_Travels of Barbot_, p. 257.)

“The smallest crimes whatever are punished with banishment.—(p. 315.)

Criminal causes are tried by a public Palaver, or Assembly of the head men of the country, and Slavery is the usual punishment; a circumstance which holds out a strong temptation to prefer false accusations, particularly as the African mode of trial furnishes convenient means of promoting purposes of avarice and oppression.—(_Winterbottom’s Account_, &c. &c.)

Marchais.—In case of the debtor’s insolvency, the king allows the creditor to sell him, his wives, and even his children, for the sum due. Here is also another extraordinary law; if the creditor, before witnesses, three times asks his debt of a person, whom he cannot arrest or sue on account of his dignity or power, and the debtor refuses to pay him, the creditor has a right to seize the first Slave he meets, let him belong to whom he will.

There is but one sort of punishment for offences here, the offender, and all his generation, being made Slaves.

In their proceedings they take no care whether the party be guilty, or deserves to be punished.

[Sidenote: Golberey.]

It is a striking circumstance, that in Africa, before the Slave Trade was introduced, the punishments for offences generally consisted of mulcts or fines, as is evident from the testimony of Artus, Barbot, Ogilby, Bosman, Loyer, Nyendael, and others, and that nobody was mulcted beyond his ability, except by an accumulation of crimes. Murder and sorcery were punished capitally in some of the countries of Africa, but in others, murder and every species of offence had no other punishment than a fine. If people could not pay these fines, they were disposed of in two ways. Some of them were sent into a temporary banishment in Africa; others were sold into home slavery. Debtors also, who refused to pay their debts, or became insolvent, were sold for the benefit of their creditors, in case their relations would not redeem them, and worked for these at their respective homes. But since this trade has been used, says Moore, all _punishments_ are changed into _slavery_: there being _an advantage_ in such condemnation, they _strain_ for crimes _very hard_, in order to get the _benefit of selling the criminal_. Not only murder, theft, and adultery, are punished by selling the criminal for a Slave, but _every trifling_ crime is punished in the same manner.”[61]

Moore gives us a history of some of these crimes. “There was a man, says he, brought to me in Tommany, to be sold, for having stolen a tobacco-pipe. I sent for the alcade, and with much ado persuaded the party aggrieved to accept of a composition, and leave the man free. In Cantore, a man seeing a tyger eating a deer, which he had killed and hung up near his house, fired at the tyger, and the bullet killed a man. The king not only condemned him, but also _his mother_, _three brothers_, and _three sisters_, to be sold. These eight persons were brought down to me at Yamyamacunda. It made my heart ache, says Moore (_for this was in the infancy of the Trade_) to see them, and I did not buy them.” But it appears in the sequel, that this kind action in Moore did not produce the desired end. “For they were sent, says he, further down the river, and sold to some _separate_ traders at Joar, and the king _had the benefit of the goods_ for which they were sold.”

In estimating the revenues of king Forbana, he mentions[62] “the criminals that were sold, _a part of the profit_ of _which_ devolved _upon his majesty_.” [63] “In Africa, says he, crimes are punished either by fines, slavery, or death. _Offences_ are _rare_, but _accusations common_; because the chiefs frequently accuse for the purpose of _condemning_, that _they may be able to procure Slaves_.”

“The crime of magic is that which the Negro kings and chiefs most frequently _cause_ to be preferred against individuals of the lower class, _because this crime is punished by slavery, and consequently produces Slaves_.”

_Evidences examined before the House of Commons._

[Sidenote: House of Commons Evidence.]

[64] Capt. Wilson, of the Royal Navy, says, it is universally acknowledged, and he believes it to be true, that free persons are sold for real or imputed crimes, for the benefit of their judges. Soon after his arrival at Goree, the king of Damel sent a free man to him for sale, and was to have the _price himself_. One of the king’s guards, who came with the man, on being asked whether he was guilty of the crime imputed to him, replied, with great shrewdness—he did not conceive that was ever inquired into, or of any consequence.

[65] Dr. Trotter says, that of the whole cargo, he recollects only three criminals in the ship where he was. One of these had been sold for adultery, and the other for _witchcraft, whose whole family shared his fate_. The first said, he had been decoyed by a woman, who told her husband of the transaction, and he was sentenced to pay a Slave; but, being poor, he was sold himself. Such _stratagems_ are _frequent_. The fourth mate of the ship Brookes was so decoyed, and obliged to pay a Slave, under the threat, that trade would be stopped if he did not. The other had quarrelled with one of the Cabosheers. The Cabosher, in revenge, accused him of witchcraft. In consequence of this accusation he was sold with his family. His mother, wife, and two daughters, were sentenced with him. [Sidenote: House of Commons Evidence.] The women shewed the deepest affliction; the man a sullen melancholy; he refused his food, tore his throat open with his nails, and died.

[66] Lieutenant Simpson, of the Royal Marines, considered two crimes as almost made on purpose to procure Slaves. These were, adultery, and the removal of _Fetiches_, (or of _charms founded on a notion of witchcraft_). As to adultery, he was warned against connecting himself with any woman not pointed out to him, for that the kings _kept several_, who were _sent out to allure the unwary_; and that, if found to be connected with these, he would be seized, and made to pay the price of a man Slave. As to fetiches, consisting of pieces of wood, old pitchers, kettles, &c. laid in the path-ways, he was _warned to avoid displacing_ them, for if he should, the natives, who were on the watch, would seize him, and, as before, exact the price of a man Slave. These baits were laid equally for the natives, as the Europeans; but the former were better acquainted with the law, and consequently more circumspect.

James Morley, 1760 and 1776.—On pretence of adultery, he remembers a woman sold. He learnt that this was only a pretence, from her own mouth, for she spake good English, and from the respect with which her husband, king Ephraim, treated her, when he came on board; whereas, in real cases of adultery, they are very desperate.

Sir George Young, 1767, 1768, 1771, 1772.—Has always heard, that the sovereign or chief of a district generally derives a certain profit from the sale of Slaves.

[Sidenote: House of Commons Evidence.]

Henry Hew Dalrymple, Esq. 1779.—All crimes, in the parts of Africa he was in, were punished with slavery.

James Towne, 1760, 1767.—He has repeatedly heard, both from the accused and accusers themselves, and he believes it common on the coast, to impute crimes falsely for the sake of having the accused person sold.

_Mode of Warfare, &c._

[Sidenote: Parke.]

The Moors purchase the fire-arms and ammunition from the Europeans in exchange for Negro Slaves, whom they obtain in their predatory excursions.—_Parke’s Travels_.

“Some neighbouring and rebel Negroes plundered a large village belonging to Daisy (the king), and carried off a number of prisoners.”—(p. 110.)

“They accordingly fell upon two of Daisy’s (the king’s) towns, and carried off the whole of the inhabitants.”—(p. 169.)

“I passed, in the course of this day, the ruins of three towns; the inhabitants of which were all carried away by Daisy, king of Kaarta, on the same day that he took and plundered Yamina.”—(p. 230.)

“Mansang separated the remainder of his army into small detachments, ordered them to over-run the country, and seize on the inhabitants before they had time to escape.

“Most of the poor inhabitants of the different towns and villages, being surprized in the night, fell an easy prey.

“Daisy had sent a number of people to plant corn, &c. &c. to supply his army; all these fell into the hands of Sambo Sego; they were afterwards sent in caravans to be sold to the French, on the Senegal.”—(p. 109.)

_African Population._

[Sidenote: Winterbottom.]

Winterbottom’s Travels in Africa.—The towns on the seacoast are in general small, and seldom consist of more than forty or fifty houses; but as we advance inland, they become more populous.—(p. 81.)

The villages near the sea coast not only consist of fewer houses than those more inland, but they also shew less neatness and ingenuity in their construction.—(p. 83.)

Teembo, the capital of the Foola kingdom, is computed to contain about 8,000 inhabitants; Laby, the second in size, has about 5,000; and several of those which I have visited in the Soosoo and Mandingo countries, contain from 1 to 2 or 3,000 inhabitants.—(p. 87.)

_Domestic Slaves State in Africa.—Travels of Moore, a Factor of African Company._

[Sidenote: Astley’s Voyages.]

They seldom sell their family Slaves, except for great crimes.—(vol. iii. p. 242)

Some of them have a good many house Slaves, in which they place a great pride; and these Slaves live so well and easy, that it is hard to know them from their Owners, being often better cloathed; especially the females, who have sometimes coral, amber, and silver necklaces and ornaments to the value of £. 20. or £. 30. sterling.

The author never heard of but one that ever sold a family Slave, except for such crimes as they would have been sold for if they had been free. If one of the family Slaves (where there are many) commits a crime, and the Master sells him for it without the consent of the rest, they will all run away, and be protected in the next kingdom.—(p. 267)

[Sidenote: Winter-]

Winterbottom’s Travels.—Their domestics are in general treated by them with great humanity, and it is not uncommon to see the heir-apparent of a head man sitting down to eat with the meanest of his father’s people, and in no wise distinguished from them by his dress.—(p. 127.)

Captain Wilson, 1783.—The Slaves employed by the Africans live with their Masters, and are so treated as scarcely to be distinguishable from them.

Isaac Parker, 1764.—Dick Ebro’ had many Slaves of his own, whom he employed in cutting wood and fishing, &c. but he treated them always very well.

James Morley, 1760 and 1776.—They treat their Slaves with the greatest kindness, more so than our servants and Slaves in the West Indies.

Henry Hew Dalrymple, Esq. 1779.—Slaves are treated so well, eating and working with their Masters, that they are not distinguishable from free men.

James Kiernan,—Persons of property there have a great number of persons under the denomination of Slaves, whom they treat as Europeans would people of their own family.

[Sidenote: Parke.]

“The Mandingo Master can neither deprive his domestic Slave of life, nor sell him to a stranger, without first calling a palaver on his conduct; or, in other words, bringing him to a public trial.” (p. 23)

“He told me, that he had always behaved towards me as if I had been his father and master.” (p. 68.)

“He sometimes eats out of the same bowl with his camel driver, and reposes himself, during the heat of the day, upon the same bed.”—(p. 155.)

“In all the laborious occupations above described, the Master and his Slaves work together, without distinction of superiority.”

The authority of the Master over the domestic Slaves elsewhere observed, extends only to reasonable correction; for the Master cannot sell his domestic without having first brought him to a public trial before the chief men of the place.”—(p. 286.)

_Bristol Slave Trade formerly.—William of Malmsbury, book ii. ch. 20.—Life of St. Wolstan, Bishop of Worcester._

Directly opposite the Irish coast there is a seaport town called Bristol, the inhabitants of which, as well as others of the English, frequently sail into Ireland on trading speculations. St. Wolstan put an end to a very ancient custom of theirs, in which they had become so hardened, that neither the love of God, nor that of the king (William the Conqueror) had been able to abolish it. For they sold into Ireland, at a profit, people whom they had bought up throughout all England, and they exposed to sale maidens in a state of pregnancy, with whom they made a sort of mock marriages. There you might see with grief, fastened together by ropes, whole rows of wretched beings of both sexes, of elegant forms and in the very bloom of youth, a sight sufficient to excite pity even in Barbarians, daily offered for sale to the first purchaser. Accursed deed! infamous disgrace! that men, acting in a manner which brutal instinct alone would have forbidden, should sell into slavery their relations, nay, even their own offspring; yet, St. Wolstan destroyed at length this inveterate and hereditary custom. The historian goes on to state, that from the effect of religious instruction, the people of Bristol not only renounced this vicious practice themselves, but afforded an example of reform to the rest of England; harsh methods however were resorted to where persuasion was in vain; for one of the inhabitants of Bristol who resisted the good bishop’s reform with peculiar obstinacy, was expelled from the city, and had his eyes put out.

In 1171, on the invasion and conquest of Ireland by Henry II. it was the unanimous judgment of a great ecclesiastical council, called at Armagh, that the event was to be regarded as a providential visitation for their guilt in making Slaves of the English, whether obtained from merchants, robbers, or pirates; and this opinion was regarded as the more probable, because England herself, the natives of which, by a vice common to that nation, had been used to sell their children and nearest relatives, even when not under the pressure of famine or other necessity, had formerly expiated a similar crime by a similar punishment (alluding to the Norman Conquest.) To the honour of the Irish, a resolution was then passed, that throughout the kingdom the English Slaves should be immediately emancipated. I trust their Hibernian descendants, in our day, will shew themselves actuated by a like humane spirit, and that the English will no longer continue subject to that foul stain with which, even in these early days, she was contaminated.

The city of Bristol is once more exempt from the disgrace of being concerned in the traffic of human beings.

FINIS

Printed by Luke Hansard & Sons, near Lincoln’s Inn Fields.

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Footnote 1:

The Report of the Privy Council to the King in 1788, and still more
the Reports of the Committee of the House of Commons, to which had
been referred the various petitions for and against the abolition, and
in the Appendixes to which is contained the Evidence at length of the
Witnesses who were examined on that occasion. For the convenience of
those who might not have leisure to peruse so voluminous a mass of
evidence, an abridged abstract of it was made. This occupies two small
octavo volumes, and is entitled “An Abridgement of the Minutes of the
Evidence on the Slave Trade. 1790.” It is to be purchased at
Phillips’s, George-yard, Lombard-street.—Various Papers and Accounts,
tending to give useful information, have also been laid before the
House of Commons from time to time. The titles of these will be found
in the House of Commons Journals. See especially a voluminous mass of
Papers respecting the Slave Trade, ordered to be printed 8th June
1804; and another very important set of Communications from the West
Indies, ordered for printing 25th February 1805. See also two very
interesting Reports of the House of Assembly of Jamaica.

Footnote 2:

Vide, especially, an Abstract of the Debate on Mr. Wilberforce’s
Motion for the Abolition of the Slave Trade in 1791, and of the Debate
on a similar Motion in 1792; both printed for Phillips, George-yard,
Lombard-street.

Footnote 3:

Mr. Clarkson’s publications well deserve this epithet, particularly
his “Essay on the Impolicy of the African Slave Trade.” See also
Remarks on the Decision of the House of Commons concerning the Slave
Trade, on April 2d, 1792, by the Rev. J. Gisborne.—Much valuable
information likewise concerning Africa is contained in Lord
Muncaster’s Historical Sketches of the Slave Trade. Again, almost all
the principal arguments involved in the discussion concerning the
abolition are to be found in Mr. Brougham’s Colonial Policy, stated
with that author’s usual ability.—Once more, a valuable Summary of the
Arguments in favour of Abolition, and of the answers to the chief
allegations of its Opponents (by a writer, whose name, if subjoined to
it, would have added great weight to the publication) was published
two years ago, printed for Hatchard, and Longman and Rees, entitled, a
“_Concise Statement of the Question, regarding the Abolition of the
Slave Trade_.” An Appendix, containing much valuable matter, soon
after followed. A valuable publication appeared also some years ago,
by a Member of the University of Oxford, now become a dignitary of the
church. I might specify several others on particular parts of the
case. In short, were it as easy to prevail on mankind to read
publications which have been some time before the world, as to peruse
a new one, my present task might well be spared.

Footnote 4:

In reading accounts of African wars, the attentive reader will
continually meet with expressions such as those here used; which
incidentally and undesignedly, and therefore the more strongly prove,
that the persons of the natives are regarded as the great booty; and
we may therefore not unreasonably infer, that they often constitute
the chief inducement for commencing hostilities.

Footnote 5:

Vide evidence of Naval Officers, &c. taken before the House of
Commons.—Smith also, who visited the coast in the service of the
African Company in 1726, says “The Natives who came off to trade with
us were mighty timorous of coming aboard, for fear of being panyard.”

Footnote 6:

Vide Nyendael and Artus of Dantzic, in De Bry’s India Orientalis,
&c.—Bosman,—Barbot.

Footnote 7:

Moore, many years factor to the African Company, about 1730, says,
‘Since this trade has been used, all punishments are changed into
slavery, there being an advantage in such condemnations. They strain
for crimes very hard, in order to get the benefit of selling the
criminal. Not only murder, theft, and adultery, but every trifling
crime is punished by selling the criminal for a Slave.’

Footnote 8:

Vide Smith’s Voyage to Guinea, p. 266.

Footnote 9:

Surely Mr. Parke, when he suggested this, forgot that experience as
well as reason teach us, that we must first abolish the Slave Trade
before we attempt to diffuse among the Africans the lessons of peace
and love; lest we are asked the same well-known question, and receive
the same reply, as the Spanish priest from the poor dying Peruvian,
when the Spaniards in America were acting on the plan which is here
advised, of at once ravaging and converting: “Are there to be any
Europeans in this Heaven, where you wish me to secure a place?” Being
told yes, “Then it is no place for Peruvians.”

Footnote 10:

This is the more astonishing, because it is mentioned by the older
writers as well as by more recent travellers, as Captain Sir G. Young
and Sir T. B. Thompson, as a term of which the meaning is clear, and
the use perfectly familiar. Thus, as a single instance, Smith, after
saying “the natives were afraid of being panyard,” (p. 104.) subjoins
the meaning in a note,—“To panyar is to kidnap or steal men. It is a
word used all over the Coast of Guinea.”

Footnote 11:

The account given of this Slave trade by an almost contemporary
historian, will be found in the Appendix.

Footnote 12:

Atkins was a surgeon in the Royal Navy, who visited all the British
Settlements in Africa, with the Swallow and Weymouth men of war, in
1721; and whose account is the more to be credited, from his being a
disinterested witness, whose testimony also was given before the
justice or humanity of the Slave Trade had been called in question.

Footnote 13:

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.

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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}.