to be brought forward by an Act of Parliament here, but prepara- tion must be made for it by rendering the slaves fit for freedom, and that must be accomplished gradually, by granting to them, from time to time, as much freedom as they can bear, until they shall all become fit for it; but they should not have it sooner. And when that great work is accomplished, it will not only
redound to the honour of this country, but it will also be greatly to the advantage of this country in the dry calculation of pounds, shillings and pence; and that advantage will be in proportion to the extent of the improvement. I, as an individual, have tried to bring about an improvement
of that kind among some of my own Negroes, but in their present state, I do not think they can be prevailed upon to work for money. A Negro does not understand any condition but that of master and slave. He has so few wants that nothing you can offer him in the way of money will be regarded as an equivalent for his labour, when he has his choice between labour and rest. With him, there is no privilege equal to that of being free from
labour; for that reason a Negro is hardly ever induced to work as a free labourer: he has so few wants that money is no tempta- tion to him. Tat he will be a soldier is true, because that is not inconsistent with his aversion from labour. He has no wants which the extra labour of a week will not furnish funds to supply for almost a year; and therefore he has no inducement to labour for hire. Happening to possess estates in different parts of the Islands, I
horrors of which we are now most happily exempt. Te greatest evil of our condition that I know is the continu-
ance in our name of a Traffick in human beings, the reproach of which we ought no longer to endure. If the members of this House could actually see one thousandth part of the evils of that practice which they have for so many years under one pretence or other, been prevailed on to suffer to be continued, I do in my conscience verily believe they would not suffer the Slave Trade to exist for another year, if they would for another hour. But it is because they do not see; because some among us receive
the profits, and do not see the sufferings of their fellow creatures; because the objects, as they actually exist, are not allowed to ob- trude upon their vision, and interpose the reality of things between these Gentlemen’s consciences and their calculations. It is for these reasons that arguments such as we constantly hear,
in favour of the continuance of the Slave Trade, are heard at all. If one-thousandth part of the real horrors of this Traffick (I repeat it) were to be the subject of actual vision with its defenders, none of their arguments, I am confident, would be urged again. Shall we then continue a system of injustice and inhumanity when we have so much experience of its ruinous effects on the condition of mankind?
Mr Barham, an MP who owned hundreds of slaves and several plantations in the Caribbean, was the next to speak: As to the slaves obtaining the condition of free labour, I am not one of those who deprecate the abolition of the Slave Trade on a prospect of any evils arising from that condition of free labour which may be the result of it. Tat however is a state of things not
can venture to affirm that for 40 or 50 years past, no means have been left untried, which imagination could devise or labour ex- ecute, to counteract the evils which necessarily attend the system of slavery; but they have been without anything like the desired effect. Te Negro should be made fond of free labour by degrees,
which he is not at present. If that system should be submitted to by them, it will do; but if not, and the system should be attempted to be altered by force, such interference would be resisted. But this, I must add, that to put an end to all slavery in the Islands immediately is impossible.
Then rose Mr Manning, a strident anti-abolitionist: I confess that I have heard nothing in the course of this debate that has changed my opinion as to the expediency of this Resolution. I am of the opinion that the frequent agitation of this subject in this House is highly injurious to our valuable possessions in the West Indies, and that the present debate might therefore well have been spared, for in my opinion nothing can be effectually done without the concurrence of the Assemblies of the Islands. An expression made use of in the course of this debate by an
honourable and learned gentleman [the Solicitor General] appears to me very alarming. He asked, “Shall the debts of England be paid by the blood of the inhabitants of Africa?” Tat expression is an alarming one, as it appears to me, nor is
it as I conceive, a correct mode of speaking of the African Traf- fick; for different Acts of Parliament which I will not detain the House with moving to have read, have encouraged the African Slave Trade. Te preamble of one of which runs thus: “Whereas the Trade to Africa is highly beneficial...” [Hear! Hear! from Mr Fuller].
New African | October 2011 | 43
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100