Cover Story Black History Month
Right: Lord Grenville, as portrayed by Gainsborough; far right: Henry Morton Stanley, the Victorian explorer who played a major part in establishing Leopold II’s slave hold over Congo
subject, in their turn, to the same disaster. But we are carrying on a trade in slavery, of which I hope in God
we shall never be the objects and that no misfortune shall remind us of the miseries of captivity; and yet we ought to remind ourselves of it. But such is the disposition of the mind of man that he does not really sympathise in those miseries in which he is not a sufferer himself; and hence arises the facility with which men can speak of the miseries of the African Slave Trade almost without emotion. But we should feel for such miseries, however improbable it is
that we ourselves may become the objects of them. Tis reflection should lead us to a determination to remove the evil, not by trying to render that tolerable, which is, in its nature, absolutely intoler- able; not to try to render that humane which is inhuman; but to abolish the thing itself; for there is no other remedy for the evil; and this is not only our duty, but we are really inexcusable for not having performed it long ago. Te practice is much more cruel in us than if it was founded on
something like necessity, for which there is no pretence in our case. My Lords, in what manner are the slaves procured? Do not let us deceive ourselves on this subject. We should have the fortitude to look at the cruelties of this practice, however they may excite our horror. Have we forgotten the evidence which has been adduced to show that our practice of this Traffick tends to keep a large portion of the habitable globe in bondage? We possess the most indisputable testimony of the cruelty of
this Traffick; for a well-known author (Bryan Edwards), being himself a planter and a dealer in slaves, and besides an advocate for the continuance of the Traffick, tells you, I know not for what purpose except truth, and he speaks not from hearsay but from actual knowledge, that by far the larger part of them are put into that situation by the crimes of those who take them. All nations calling themselves civilised, nay, many to whom we
have denied the character of civilisation, have abolished this hateful practice [of selling captives made in war] as being inconsistent with humanity. By whom is it continued? By us who call ourselves the most civilised. By what means is it kept up? By the wars of Africa, instigated, not by the passions of the inhabitants of Africa, but by our avarice; because if it were not for this Traffick, thus carried on by us, there would be no motive for engaging in many, if not most, of those wars. My Lords, it is said that all the cruelties exercised over the Ne-
groes are done by the Africans themselves; and that those Negroes who are purchased by us would be put to death by them if we did not buy them. But by this assertion, intended I presume, as a de- fence of the African Slave Trade, we are made the executioners of the inhuman cruelties of the inhabitants of Africa. In civilised nations, even when acting under the authority of
the law, the office of executioner is generally an odious office; and yet you, the first nation upon [the] earth, by the continuance of this Traffick stoop to become the executioners of the cruelties of the most barbarous people upon [the] earth. It is said, as an excuse for our conduct, that we do this to prevent cruelties. What shall we say, my Lords, if it should turn
48 | October 2011 | New African
than abolition... and we are really inexcusable for not having performed it long ago.”
out that we are the cause of those very cruelties which we affect to prevent? But if it were not so, shall we condescend to be the executioners of the cruelties of bloody tyrants whose names can- not be mentioned, or whose character cannot be alluded to in this House, but with horror? Te next thing to be noticed is a practice which is prevalent in
Africa and is distinct from that of making captives in war; I mean the practice of “man-stealing”. Tis is another source of supply to the Slave Trade, and we are the persons who excite and encourage this system of violence and fraud. My Lords, these are the modes by which the Trade is carried on. How inhuman is a system towards those who are its wretched victims! I will not say by what fraud, what robbery, what bloodshed, this system is kept up. I will not say over what a large track of the habitable globe you
“There is no other remedy
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