Cover Story Black History Month
A slave in the US, Peter, shows the scars from being whipped by an overseer. In this instance, the master dismissed the overseer when he saw the wounds
I say this is an encouragement to go into the Trade, which makes it bona fide British. If therefore you have changed your opinion of this Trade, no
matter from what cause, I say you are bound in the first instance, to give a pledge to all the planters of the colonies that in all cases made out fairly, you will grant compensation. I should have been satisfied had the Right Honourable Secretary of State [Mr Fox] stated thus much; I trust that in the next session of Parliament you will give that pledge, without which I do not see the smallest chance of our intention being carried into effect... My Honourable Friend [Mr Wilberforce] alluded to the vote
of 1791, [in] which the division in this House was 300 to 82, and he seems to think there is no reason for this House coming to a different Resolution at the present moment. But, Sir, has nothing happened in the interim, which should induce Gentlemen in this House to pause at this measure? Do they forget the state of St Do- mingo [Haiti]? Do they forget that this Traffick produces £6m of revenue? Let them look at the state of St Domingo. I do hope that every Gentleman who has a vote to give upon this subject will turn it in his mind a great deal before he gives that vote.
Then Mr William Smith, a pro-abolitionist, rose and said: Te Honourable Gentleman who spoke lately asks: “Whether or not this Trade had been sanctioned by [an] Act of Parlia- ment?” Is it really possible that any Gentleman can, with the common ideas of a legislator, ask that question in this House, with a view of offering it as an impediment to the abolition of the Slave Trade? Are we after such a full and ample discussion as this subject has
undergone; after we have solemnly declared “that the Slave Trade is contrary to justice and humanity”, to be gravely told that we cannot abolish it because it was sanctioned in the time of Elizabeth, and has been continued to the disgrace of this country, to the infinite disgrace of this country, up to the present day? Is the length of time which this Traffick has been allowed to subsist, capable of being used for anything but our own reproach? Sir, I have long thought that whether this Trade be abolished or
not, it cannot long exist; for a great many parts of this country are actually tired of the load of guilt which attends it. It is, at present, only carried on in the ports of London, Bristol and Liverpool. Te city of Bristol, to its honour, as well as to its interest, has almost washed its hands of it. Te city of London is doing the same thing, for there are but [a] few employed in it now, in that port. Tat in Liverpool it would continue longer if not abolished by
law, I have no doubt; for there the maxim of defendit numerus ap- plies. But I am confident that if it proceeds with such rapid strides to decline, as it has done of late, no man engaged in the Slave Trade will be able soon to show his face. No dealer in human blood, even in the town of Liverpool,
will be long able to encounter the execration of all mankind by continuing it. And while the friends of the Trade talk of danger in the discus-
44 | October 2011 | New African
sion, by which they mean only danger to the continuance of the Trade, for that danger certainly must attend the discussion of it; the friends of abolition take pleasure in seeing the moral effect of that discussion. What I meant chiefly to say tonight was that the Slave Trade
is, in my opinion, wrong in itself, a great evil in itself, and that therefore, you should somehow abolish it. But how is a matter to be considered deliberately thereafter,
not excluding considerations of the prosperity of this country, of the causes of that prosperity; of the power of this country, of the means of continuing that power; of the safety of our dominions, of the effect likely to be produced in Africa by the abolition; of the effect in Europe, of the effect in the West Indies. And, seeing all these points before me, it will be on a balance
of them that I shall decide for myself on the question of the final abolition of this Traffick.
Summing up Te debate went on far into the night, and finally, Secretary of State Fox had the honour to sum up and close it. He told the House: “I rejoice at what I have heard tonight, by which we find that almost without exception, the African Slave Trade has been held up in this House to the execration of mankind. Even the Honourable Members who think it cannot be abolished, have, in their speeches, admitted the character of it to be detestable. “Tis must give pleasure to the House, as it has done to me.
It goes to the conviction of men’s understanding while it gratifies their feelings. We should retain in our memory the execration of this Trade, and mix an expression to that effect with the execu- tion of our duty in the abolition of this abominable Traffick.”
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