Thoughts upon Slavery:
Electronic Edition.
Wesley, John, 1703-1791
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Thoughts Upon Slavery
John Wesley, A. M.
83 p.
LONDON, PRINTED: Re-printed in PHILADELPHIA, with notes, and sold by JOSEPH CRUKSHANK.
1778
This pamphlet was bound as a part of the following collection:
A Collection of Religious Tracts
48, 36, 12, 83, [1], 8 p.
Philadelphia
Printed by JOSEPH CRUKSHANK, in Third-street, opposite the Work-house.
1773 [i.e., 1778?]
Call number BR55 .C6 no. 4
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Library of Congress Subject Headings, 21st edition, 1998
LC Subject Headings:
- Slavery.
- Slavery -- Moral and ethical aspects.
- Slave trade.
- Slaves -- Social conditions.
- Slavery -- United States -- History -- 19th century.
- Tracts.
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THOUGHTS
UPON
SLAVERY.
By
JOHN WESLEY, A. M.
GENESIS, Chap. iv,
And the Lord said--What hast thou done? The voice of
thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground.
LONDON, PRINTED:
Re-printed in PHILADELPHIA, with notes,
and sold by JOSEPH CRUKSHANK.
MD,CC,LXXIV.
Page 3
THOUGHTS
UPON
SLAVERY.
I.
BY slavery I mean domestic slavery, or that of a servant to a master. A late ingenious writer well observes, "The variety of forms in which slavery appears, makes it almost impossible to convey a just notion of it, by way of definition. There are however certain properties which have accompanied slavery in most places, whereby it is easily distinguished from that mild domestic service which obtains in our own country*."
* See Mr. Hargrave's plea for Somerset the negro.
2. Slavery imports an obligation of perpetual service, an obligation which only
Page 4
the consent of the master can dissolve. Neither in some countries can the master himself dissolve it without the consent of judges appointed by law. It generally gives the master an arbitrary power of any correction not affecting life or limb.--Sometimes even these are exposed to his will: or protected only by a fine, or some slight punishment, too insiconderable to restrain a master of an harsh temper. It creates an incapacity of acquiring anything, except for the master's benefit. It allows the master to alienate the slave, in the same manner as his cows and horses. Lastly, it descends in its full extent from parent to child, even to the latest generation.
The beginning of this may be dated
from the remotest period, of which we
have an account in history. It commenced
in the barbarous state of society, and in
process of time spread into all nations. It
prevailed particularly among the Jews,
the Greeks, the Romans, and the antient
Germans: And was transmitted by them,
to the various kingdoms and states, which
arose out of the ruins of the Roman empire.
But after christianity prevailed, it
gradually fell into decline in almost all
parts of Europe. This great change began
in Spain, about the end of the eighth century:
Page 5
And was become general in most
other kingdoms of Europe, before the middle
of the fourteenth.
4. From this time slavery was nearly
extinct, till the commencement of the fifteenth
century, when the discovery of
America, and of the western and eastern
coasts of Africa, gave occasion to the revival
of it. It took its rise from the Portuguese,
who to supply the Spaniards with
men, to cultivate their new possessions in
America, procured negroes from Africa,
whom they sold for slaves to the American
Spaniards. This began in the year 1508,
when they imported the first negroes into
Hispaniola. In 1540 Charles the fifth, then
king of Spain, determined to put an end
to negro-slavery: Giving positive orders,
That all the negro slaves in the Spanish
dominions should be set free. And this
was accordingly done by Lagasea, whom
he sent and impowered to free them all,
on condition of continuing to labour for
their masters. But soon after Lagasea
returned to Spain, slavery returned and flourished
as before. Afterwards other nations,
as they acquired possessions in
America, followed the examples of the
Spaniards; and slavery has now taken
deep root in most of our American colonies.
Page 6
II.
Such is the nature of slavery: Such
the beginning of negro-slavery in America.
But some may desire to know, what kind
of country it is, from which the negroes
are brought? What sort of men, of what
temper and behaviour are they in their own
country? And in what manner
they are generally procured, carried to, and
treated in America?
1. And first, What kind of country is
that from whence they are brought? Is it so
remarkably horrid, dreary and barren, that it is a
kindness to deliver them out of it? I believe many
have apprehended so:
But it is an entire mistake, if we may give credit to those
who have lived many years therein, and could have no motive to
misrepresent it.
2. That part of Africa whence the negroes
are brought, commonly known by
the name of Guinea, extends along the
the coast, in the whole, between three and
four thousand miles. From the river Senegal,
(seventeen degrees north of the line)
to Cape Sierra Leona, it contains seven
hundred miles. Thence it runs eastward
about fifteen hundred miles, including the Grain-Coast,
the Ivory-Coast, the Gold-Coast,
and the Slave-Coast, with the large kingdom
of Benin. From thence it runs southward,
about twelve hundred miles, and
Page 7
contains the kingdoms of Congo and Angola.
3. Concerning the first, the Senegal-Coast,
Mons. Brue, who lived there sixteen
years, after describing its fruitfulness near
the sea, says, "The farther you go from
the sea, the more fruitful and well-improved
is the country, abounding in pulse,
Indian corn, and various fruits. Here are
vast meadows, which feed large herds of
great and small cattle. And the villages
which lie thick, shew the country is well
peopled." And again: "I was surprized,
to see the land so well cultivated; scarce
a spot lay un-improved: The low lands
divided by small canals, were all sowed
with rice: The higher grounds were planted
with Indian corn, and peas of different
sorts. Their beef is excellent; poultry
plenty and very cheap, as are all the necessaries
of life."
4. As to the Grain and Ivory Coast, we
learn from eye witnesses, that the soil is
in general fertile, producing abundance
of rice and roots. Indigo and cotton
thrive without cultivation.--Fish is in
great plenty; the flocks and herds are
numerous, and the trees loaded with fruit.
5. The Gold-Coast and Slave-Coast, all
who have seen it agree, is exceeding fruitful
and pleasant, producing vast quantities
Page 8
of rice and other grain, plenty of fruit
and roots, palm-wine, and oil, and fish in
great abundance, with much tame and wild cattle. The very same account is given us of the soil and produce of the kingdoms of Benin, Congo and Angola--From all which it appears, That Guinea in general, far from being an horrid, dreary, barren country, is one of the most fruitful, as well as the most pleasant countries in the known world. It is said indeed to be unhealthy. And so it is to strangers, but perfectly healthy to the native inhabitants.
6. Such is the country from which the negroes are brought. We come next to enquire, What sort of men they are, of what temper and behaviour, not in our plantations, but in their native country. And here likewise the surest way is to take our account from eye and ear witnesses. Now those who have lived in the Senegal country observe, it is inhabited by three nations, the Jaloss, Fulis, and Mandingos. The king of the Jaloss has under him several ministers, who assist in the exercise of justice. The chief justice goes in circuit through all his dominions, to hear complaints and determine controversies. And the viceroy goes with him, to inspect the behaviour of the Alkadi, or Governor
Page 9
of each village. The Fulis are a numerous
people; the soil of their country represented
as rich, affording large harvests, and the
people laborious and good farmers: Of
some of these Fuli blacks who dwelt on
the river Gambia, William Moor the English
factor gives a very favourable account.--He
says, they are governed by their chief
men, who rule with much moderation.
Few of them will drink any thing stronger
than water, being strict Mahometans.
The government is easy, because the people are
of a good and quiet disposition; and so
well instructed in what is right, that a
man who wrongs another is the abomination
of all.--They desire no more land than
they use, which they cultivate with
great care and industry: If any of them
are known to be made slaves by the white
men they all join to redeem them. They
not only support all that are old, or blind,
or lame among themselves; but have
frequently supplied the necessities of the
Mandingos, when they were distrest by
famine.
7. The Mandingos, says Mons. Brue, are
rigid Mahometans, drinking neither wine
nor brandy. They are industrious and laborious,
keeping their ground well cultivated, and
breeding a good flock of cattle.
Every town has a governor, and he
Page 10
appoints the labour of the people. The
men work the ground designed for corn;
the women and girls, the rice-ground.--He afterwards divides the corn and rice
among them: And decides all quarrels if
any arise. All the Mahometan negroes
constantly go to public prayers thrice a
day: there being a priest in every village,
who regularly calls them together: Some
authors say it is surprizing to see the attention
and reverence which they observe
during their worship.--These three nations
practise several trades; they have
smiths, sadlers, potters and weavers. And
they are very ingenious at their several
occupations.--Their smiths not only
make all the instruments of iron, which
they have occasion to use, but likewise
work many things neatly in gold and
silver. It is chiefly the women and children
who weave fine cotton cloth, which they dye blue and black.
8. It was of these parts of Guinea, that
Mons. Adanson, correspondent of the royal
academy of sciences at Paris from 1749 to
1753, gives the following account, both as
to the country and people. "Which way
soever I turned my eyes, I beheld a perfect
image of pure nature: An agreeable
solitude, bounded on every side by a
charming landscape; the rural situation
Page 11
of cottages, in the midst of trees; the ease
and quietness of the negroes, reclined under
the shade of the spreading foliage,
with the simplicity of their dress and manners:
The whole revived in my mind the
idea of our first parents, and I seemed to
contemplate the world in its primitive state.
They are generally-speaking, very
good-natured, sociable and obliging. I
was not a little pleased with my very first
reception, and it fully convinced me, that
there ought to be a considerable abatement
made, in the accounts we have of
the savage character of the Africans." He
adds, "It is amazing that an illiterate
people should reason so pertinently
concerning the heavenly bodies. There is
no doubt, but that with proper instruments,
they would become excellent astronomers."
9. The inhabitants of the Grain and
Ivory-Coast are represented by those that
deal with them, as sensible, courteous,
and the fairest traders on the coasts of
Guinea. They rarely drink to excess: If
any do, they are severely punished by the
king's order. They are seldom troubled
with war: If a difference happen between
two nations, they commony end the dispute amicably.
The inhabitants of the Gold and Slave-Coast
likewise, when they are not artfully
Page 12
incensed against each other, live in great
union and friendship, being generally well-tempered,
civil, tractable, and ready to help any that need it. In particular,
the natives of the kingdom of Whidah are
civil, kind, and obliging to strangers.--And
they are the most gentleman-like of
all the negroes, abounding in good manners towards each other. The inferiors
pay great respect to their superiors:--So
wives to their husbands, children to their
parents. And they are remarkably
industrious: All are constantly employ'd;
the men in agriculture, the women in
spinning and weaving cotton.
10. The Gold and Slave-Coasts are divided
into several districts, some governed by
kings, others by the principal men, who
take care each of their own town or village,
and prevent or appease tumults.--They
punish murder and adultery severely;
very frequently with death.--Theft
and robbery are punished by a fine
proportionable to the goods that were
taken. All the natives of this coast,
though heathens, believe there is one GOD,
the author of them and all things. They
appear likewise to have a confused apprehension
of a future state. And accordingly
every town and village has a place
of public worship.--It is remarkable that
Page 13
they have no beggars among them: Such
is the care of the chief men, in every city
and village, to provide some easy labour,
even for the old and weak. Some are employ'd
in blowing the smiths bellows; others in pressing
palm-oil; others in grinding of colours. If they are too weak even for this, they sell provisions in the market.
11. The accounts we have of the natives of the kingdom of Benin is, that they are a reasonable and good-natured people, sincere and inoffensive, and do no injustice either to one another or to strangers.--They are civil and courteous: If you make them a present, they endeavour to repay it double. And if they are trusted, till the ship returns next year, they are sure honestly to pay the whole debt.--Theft is punished among them, although not with the same severity as murder. If a man and woman of any quality, are taken in adultery, they are certain to be put to death, and their bodies thrown on a dunghill, and left a prey to wild beasts. They are punctually just and honest in their dealings; and are also very charitable: The king and the great lords taking care to employ all that are capable of any work. And those that are utterly helpless they keep for GOD'S sake;
so that here also are
Page 14
no beggars. The inhabitants of Congo and Angola are generally a quiet people. They discover a good understanding, and behave in a friendly manner to strangers, being of a mild temper and an affable carriage.--Upon the whole therefore the negroes who inhabit the coast of Africa, from the river Senegal to the southern bounds of Angola, are so far from being the stupid, senseless, brutish, lazy barbarians, the fierce, cruel, perfidious savages they have been described, that on the contrary, they are represented by them who had no motive to flatter them, as remarkably sensible, considering the few advantages they have for improving their understanding:--As very industrious, perhaps more so than any other natives of so warm a climate.--As fair, just and honest in their dealings, unless where whitemen have taught them to be otherwise:--And as far more mild, friendly and kind to strangers, than any of our forefathers were. Our forefathers! Where shall we find at this day, among the fair-faced natives of Europe, a nation generally practicing the justice, mercy, and truth, which are related of these poor black Africans? Suppose the preceding accounts are true, (which I see no reason or pretence to doubt of) and we may
Page 15
leave England and France, to seek genuine honesty in Benin, Congo, or Angola.
III.
We have now seen, what kind of country it is, from which the negroes are brought: And what sort of men (even whitemen being the judges) they were in their own country. Enquire we, Thirdly, In what manner are they generally procured, carried to, and treated in America.
1. First. In what manner are they procured? Part of them by fraud. Captains of ships from time to time, have invited negroes to come on board, and then carried them away. But far more have been procured by force. The christians landing upon their coasts, seized as many as they found, men, women and children, and transported them to America. It was about 1551, that the English began trading to Guinea: At first, for gold and elephants teeth, but soon after, for men. In 1566, Sir John Hawkins sailed with two ships to Cape Verd, where he sent eighty men on shore to catch negroes. But the natives flying, they fell farther down, and there set the men on shore, "to burn their towns and take the inhabitants." But they met with such resistance, that they had seven men killed, and took but ten negroes. So they went still farther down,
Page 16
till having taken enough, they proceeded
to the West-Indies, and sold them*.
*Here it may be well to give a particular account
of that transaction in the very words in which
it is transmitted to us by early historians, as it is
a clear proof, that it was solely from a desire
of gain that the English first undertook to seize
and bring the unhappy Africans from their native
country; and is a clear and positive refutation of
those false arguments frequently advanced in vindication
of the slave trade, viz. That the first purchase of negro
slaves by the English, was from motives of compassion,
with views of saving the lives
of some of those blacks who being taken prisoners
in battle, would, if not thus purchased, have been
sacrificed to the revenge of their conquerors: but
this plea is manifestly false; from all the accounts
we have of the disposition of the negroes in those
early times, they appear to have been an innocent people, gentle and easy in their nature, rather averse to war, as is the general disposition of the natives of these warm climates; till being corrupted by an intercourse with the Europeans, and stimulated by the excessive use of spirituous liquors, they were induced to join them in their cruel depradations against their unhappy countrymen. The account given of that transaction by Thomas Lediard in his naval history, at page 141, is in the following words:
"That Sir John Hawkins in his several voyages to the Canary Islands, understanding that negroes were a very good commodity in Hispaniola, (then settling by the Spaniards) and that they were easy to be had in great numbers on the
coast of Guinea. Having opened his mind to his friends, he soon found adventurers for his undertaking; amongst whom were Sir Lionel
Docket, Sir Thomas Lodge, and others: and having fitted out three small vessels, manned only with 100 men, he departed from the coast of England in October 1562, and sailed first to Teneriffe, where he took in several refreshments; from thence to the coast of Guinea, where he got in possession, partly by the sword, and by other means, upwards of three hundred of the natives, besides several commodities which that country afforded: with this booty he set sail for the island of Hispaniola in the West-Indies; where he disposed of his negroes. Two years after, he went another voyage on the coast of Guinea; there he staid several days at the island Sabula, where every day they took some of the inhabitants; burning and
ravaging their towns: when having compleated their number of negroes, they set sail for the West-Indies."
Page 17
2. It was some time before the Europeans
found a more compendious way of procuring
African slaves, by prevailing upon
them to make war upon each other, and
to sell their prisoners.--Till then they
seldom had any wars: But were in general
quiet and peaceable. But the white
men first taught them drunkenness and
avarice, and then hired them to sell one
another. Nay, by this means, even their
kings are induced to sell their own subjects.
Page 18
So Mr. Moore (factor of the African
company in 1730) informs us, "When
the king of Barsalli wants goods or brandy,
he sends to the English governor at James'
fort, who immediately sends a sloop.--Against the time it arrives, he plunders
some of his neighbours towns, selling the
people for the goods he wants. At other
times he falls upon one of his own towns,
and makes bold to sell his own subjects."
So Mons. Brue says, "I wrote to the
king (not the same) "if he had a sufficient
number of slaves I would treat with
him. He seized three hundred of his
own people, and sent word, he was ready
to deliver them for the goods." He adds,
"Some of the natives are always ready"
(when well paid) "to surprize and carry
off their own countrymen. They come
at night without noise, and if they find
any lone cottage, surround it and carry
off all the people."--Barbot, (another
French factor) says, "Many of the slaves
sold by the negroes are prisoners of war,
or taken in the incursions they make into
their enemy's territories.--Others are
stolen. Abundance of little blacks of both
sexes, are stolen away by their neighbours,
when found abroad on the road, or in the
woods, or else in the corn-fields, at the
time of year when their parents keep
Page 19
them there all day to scare away the
devouring birds." That their own parents
sell them, is utterly false:
3. To set the manner wherein Negroes
are procured in a yet stronger light, it will suffice to give an extract of two voyages to Guinea on this account. The first is taken verbatim from the original manuscript of the Surgeon's Journal.
"SESTRO, Dec. 29, 1724. No trade
to day, though many traders came on board. They informed us, that the people are gone to war within land, and will bring prisoners enough in two or three days; in hopes of which we stay.
"The 30th. No trade yet: but our traders came on board to day, and informed us the people had burnt four towns: So that to-morrow we expect slaves off.
"The 31st. Fair weather: but no
trading yet. We see each night towns burning. But we hear, many of the Sestro men are killed by the inland Negroes: So that we fear this war will be unsuccessful.
"The 2d. of January. Last night we
saw a prodigious fire break out about
eleven o'clock, and this morning see the
town of Sestro burnt down to the ground."
(It contained some hundred houses.) "So
that we find their enemies are too hard
Page 20
for them at present, and consequently
our trade spoiled here. Therefore about
seven o'clock we weighed anchor, to
proceed lower down."
4. The second extract taken from the journal of a Surgeon, who went from New-York on the same trade, is as follows.
"The Commander of the vessel sent to
acquaint the king, that he wanted a cargo
of slaves. The king, promised to furnish
him, and in order to it, set out,
designing to surprize some town, and
make all the people prisoners. Some
time after, the king sent him word, he
had not yet met with the desired success: Having
attempted to break up two towns,
but having been twice repulsed: But
that he still hoped to procure the number
of slaves. In this design he persisted, till
he met his enemies in the field. A battle
was fought, which lasted three days.
And the engagement was so bloody, that
four thousand five hundred men were
slain upon the spot."
Such is the manner
wherein the Negroes are procured!
Thus the christians preach the gospel to the heathens!
5. Thus they are procured. But in
what numbers and in what manner are
they carried to America?--Mr. Anderson
in his History of trade and commerce,
Page 21
observes, "England supplies her American
colonies with Negro slaves, amounting
in number to about an hundred
thousand every year." That is, so many are
taken on board our ships; but at least
ten thousand of them die in the voyage:
About a fourth part more die at the different
Islands, in what is called the Seasoning.
So that at an average, in the passage
and seasoning together, thirty thousand
die: That is, properly are murdered.
O earth, O Sea, cover not thou their blood!
6. When they are brought down to
the shore in order to be sold, our surgeons
thoroughly examine them, and that
quite naked, women and men, without
any distinction: Those that are approved
are set on one side. In the mean time a
burning iron, with the arms or name of the
Company, lies in the fire, with which
they are marked on the breast. Before
they are put into the ships, their masters
strip them of all they have on their backs:
So that they come on board stark naked,
women as well as men. It is common
for several hundreds of them to be put
on board one vessel; where they are stowed
together in as little room, as it is possible
for them to be crowded. It is easy to suppose
what a condition they must
Page 22
soon be in, between heat, thirst, and
stench of various kinds. So that it is no
wonder, so many should die in the passage;
but rather, that any survive it.*
*Thomas Philips in his account of a voyage he
made to Guinea, and from thence to Barbadoes,
with a cargo of slaves relates, "That they took
seven hundred slaves on board. When they were
brought in the vessel, the men were all put in irons,
two and two shackled together, to prevent their
mutinying or swimming ashore. The negroes, he
says, are so loath to leave their own country, that
they have often leapt out of the canoe, boat and
ship, into the seas, and kept under water until they
were drowned, to avoid being taken up, and saved
by the boats which pursue them."--They
had about twelve negroes who willingly drowned
themselves; others starved themselves to death--
Philips was advised to cut off the legs and arms of
some to terrify the rest; (as other captains had
done) but this he refused to do: From the time
of his taking the negroes on board, to his arrival
at Barbadoes, no less than three hundred and twenty
died of various diseases: Which the author says,
"was to their great regret, after enduring much
misery and stench, so long, among a parcel of
creatures nastier than swine: No gold-finder, says
Philips, can suffer such noisome drudgery as they
do who carry negroes, having no respite from their
afflictions so long as any of their slaves are alive."
How unreasonable was it in Philips, thus
to reflect on negroes; could such a number be
crowded together in so warm a climate, even if
they had all been healthy, without being extremely
offensive: How much more when so many lay
sick, dead and dying. He speaks of the English
people's great sufferings by nastiness, stench, &c.
but he forgets the sufferings of the poor blacks,
which must have been incomparably greater than
their's; not to mention the painful sorrow, and
anxiety of mind these distressed creatures must have
laboured under.
Page 23
7. When the vessels arrive at their
destined port, the Negroes are again
exposed naked, to the eyes of all that
flock together, and the examination of
their purchasers: Then they are separated to the plantations of their several
masters, to see each other no more. Here
you may see mothers hanging over their daughters,
bedewing their naked breasts
with tears, and daughters clinging to their
parents, till the whipper soon obliges
them to part. And what can be more
wretched than the condition they then
enter upon? Banished from their country,
from their friends and relations for
ever, from every comfort of life, they
are reduced to a state scarce any way
preferable to that of beasts of burthen.
In general a few roots, not of the nicest
kind, usually yams or potatoes, are their
Page 24
food, and two rags, that neither screen
them from the heat of the day, nor the
cold of the night their covering. Their
sleep is very short, their labour continual,
and frequently above their strength;
so that death sets many of them at liberty,
before they have lived out half their days.
The time they work in the West Indies,
is from day break to noon, and from
two o'clock till dark: During which
time they are attended by overseers,
who, if they think them dilatory, or
think any thing no so well done as it
should be, whip them most unmercifully,
so that you may see their bodies long
after whealed and scarred usually from
the shoulders to the waist. And before
they are suffered to go to their quarters,
they have commonly something to do,
as collecting herbage for the horses, or
gathering fewel for the boilers. So that
it is often past twelve, before they can
get home. Hence if their food was not prepared,
they are sometimes called to
labour again, before they can satisfy their hunger.
And no excuse will avail. If
they are not in the field immediately, they
must expect to feel the lash. Did the
Creator intend, that the noblest creatures in the visible world,
should live such a life as this!
Page 25
"Are these thy glorious works, Parent of Good?"
8. As to the punishments inflicted on
them, says Sir Hans Sloan, "They frequently
geld them, or chop off half a foot: After they are whipped
till they are raw all over, some put pepper and
salt upon them: Some drop melted wax
upon their skin. Others cut off their ears,
and constrain them to broil and eat them.
"For Rebellion," (that is, asserting
their native Liberty, which they
have as much right to as the air they
breathe) "they fasten them down to the
ground with crooked sticks on every
limb, and then applying fire by degrees,
to the feet and hands, they burn them
gradually upward to the head."*
* Sir Hans Sloan after describing the severe tortures
practiced on the negroes, sums up the pains
they are made to suffer under the terms of exquisite
and extravagant.
Now must not the reasonable and humane nature
of those who order these dreadful tortures, as well
as those who execute them, be changed into devilish,
who can thus put their fellow creatures
to such extravagant, such exquisite torment? And
for what? Often, even for that which their tormentors themselves
would have done if in their situation. If thro' the exertion of barbarous and unjust laws, the natural attendant on slavery,
these our hapless fellow men are doomed to die,
yet in their deaths, let it at least be remembered
that they are men. We hear with horror and detestation
of some such execution in the inquisitions and
under some tyrannic governments; but these
inhumanities are certainly contrary to the genius
and disposition of the British nation, and quite
abhorent of its laws, which do not allow of tortures
either in punishment, or to extort confessions.
Sir I Dalrymple in his memoirs says that the
Parliament in the declaration of right asserted, that
pitying and respecting humane nature, no cruel and unusual
punishment should be inflicted.
How Britons can so readily admit of a change in
their disposition and sentiments, as to practice
in America what they abhor and detested in Britain,
can be accounted for on no other principle, but
as being the natural effect of slave-keeping, which
as the celebrated Montesquieu observes, "insensibly
accustoms those who are in the practice of it, to
want all moral virtues, to become haughty, hasty,
hard hearted, passionate, voluptuous and cruel.
The evil attendant on the condition of the poor
slaves will end with their lives, and the merciful father
of the family of mankind will doubtless look on
their deep affliction, and where their hearts are
thereby humbled, requite them good in another state
of existence for their sufferings in this:
but with respect to their lordly oppressors, this
horrible abuse of their fellow men, will doubtless
extend its baneful influence even into the regions of eternity.
It is surprising that the thoughtful
people, where slavery prevails, should so little advert
to its dreadful consequent effects to themselves
and families, particularly on the necessity they are
in of sending away their offspring from under
their own paternal care, in very early life, lest
their tender minds should be corrupted, and every noble and
generous sentiments eradicated by the oppression and
cruelty they are daily witnesses of.--That
parents should be thus incapacitated and deprived of
the opportunity and satisfaction of forming the
minds of their offspring to virtue and happiness,
but that this most sacred and delightful trust
must be left to the care of the hireling and the
stranger, must to every tender thinking parent,
appear an evil of so afflictive a nature, and so
contrary to the divine order, that no human
advantage can compensate for.
The author of the history of Jamaica, wrote about
the year 1740, in his account of the sufferings of the negroes, says, The people of that island have indeed
the severest ways of punishing; no country
exceeds them in a barbarous treatment of their
slaves, or in the cruel methods by which they are
put to death. After confirming what is before said
he adds, "They starve them to death, with
a loaf hanging over their mouths. I have seen
these unfortunate wretches gnaw the flesh off their
shoulders, and expire in all the frightful agonies of
one under the most horrible tortures. He adds,
I incline to touch the hardship which these poor creatures
suffer in the tenderest manner, from a particular
regard which I have to many of their
masters; but I cannot conceal their sad circumstances
entirely: the most trivial error is punished
with terrible whipping. I have seen some of them treated
in that cruel manner, for no other reason
but to satisfy the brutish pleasure of an overseer,
who has their punishment mostly at his discretion.
I have seen their bodies all in a gore of blood, the
skin torn off their backs with the cruel whip, beaten
pepper and salt rubbed in the wounds, and a large
slick of sealing-wax dropped leisurely upon them.
It is no wonder, (adds this author) if the horrid pain
of such inhuman tortures incline them to rebel."
The same author gives us extracts of some of the
laws of Jamaica relating to the punishment of slaves,
taken as he says, from a general collection of the
plantation laws, the printed statutes, or the secretary's
office, viz.
"If any slave by punishment from his owner for
running away, or other offence, suffer in life or limb,
none shall be liable to the law for the same; but
whoever shall kill a slave out of wilfulness, wantonness,
or bloody mindedness, shall suffer three
months imprisonment, and pay fifty pounds to the
owner of the slave. If the party so offending be a
servant, he or she shall have on the bare back thirty-nine
lashes, and also (after the expiration of the term
with his or her master or mistress) shall serve
the owner of the deceased slave the full term of
four years. If any person kill a slave stealing or
running away, or found at night out of his owner's
ground, road, or common path, such person shall
not be subject to any damage or action for the same.
"Those that go out in parties to reduce the
negroes, shall receive from the treasurer for every
rebellious negro that shall be killed, bringing in his
head to any justice, forty pounds; for every negro
taken and brought in alive, and not maimed,
ten pounds, to be paid by the owner, who is hereby
obliged under the penalty of fifty pounds, to transport
such slave so taken; and in case the owner
cannot be found, then the treasurer shall pay the ten
pounds, receive the slave, sell and transport him,
and retain the produce to be employed in the said service,"
The following advertisement was taken from one
of the North-Carolina news papers.
"Run-away last
November, from the subscriber, a negro fellow named
Zeb, about 36 years of age, about 5 feet 8 inches
high, a very good cooper by trade, &c.--As he is
outlawed, I will pay twenty pounds proclamation
money out of what the act of the assembly allows in
such cases, to any person who shall produce his
head severed from his body, and five pounds proclamation
money if brought home alive."
JOHN MOSLEY.
It is alleged by the planters in excuse for these
unnatural, these monstrous cruelties, that the
greatest severity, the most cruel punishments, are
absolutely necessary for the management of slaves,
on account of those train of vices which slavery
necessarily introduces. A late author remarks how shocking
it is to think that those unhappy victims
must from the nature of the thing become dangerous
and refractory, in proportion to the greatness and
generosity of their minds.
Can there be a more dangerous maxim, than that
necessity is a plea for injustice? For who shall
fix the degree of this necessity? What villain so
atrocious who may not urge this excuse? or as Milton
expresses it--
How many thousands and tens of thousands has
this dev'lish plea of necessity brought to a cruel and
untimely end? What account will in future states
of existence, be given to the father of the family of mankind,
for the lives of so many of our fellow men
so inhumanly murdered. A particular instance
of the destruction of human beings, under the pretence
of necessity, is related by captain Cook, in
his voyage round the world, in company with
messieurs Banks and Solander, in the year 1768,
being at Rio Janiero, one, if not the principal town
of Brazil; he relates, page 29, "That the inhabitants,
who are very numerous, consists of Portuguese,
Negroes, and Indians. The township of Rio
Janiero, which he was told was but a small part
of the province, is said to contain thirty-seven
thousand white people, and six hundred and twenty-nine
thousand blacks, many of whom are free,
in the proportion of seventeen to one."
Page 34. (he tellsus[) ]"The riches of the place
consists chiefly in the mines; that much gold
is brought from these mines, but at an expence of
life that must strike every man, to whom custom
has not made it familiar, with horror. No less
than forty thousand Negroes are annually imported
on the king's account to dig in the mines; and (he adds)
we are credibly informed, that the last year
but one before we arrived here, this number fell so
short, probably from some epidemic disease, that
twenty thousand more were draughted from the
town of Rio Janiero."
9. But will not the laws made in the
Plantations, prevent or redress all cruelty
and Oppression? We will take but a
few of those Laws for a specimen, and
them let any man judge.
slave shall be set free, under any pretence
whatever, except for some meritorious
services, to be adjudged and allowed by
the governor and council: And that where
any slave shall be set free by his owner,
otherwise than is herein directed, the
church-wardens of the parish wherein
such negro shall reside for the space of
Will not these Law-givers take effectual
care, to prevent cruelty and oppression?
11. But the law of Barbadoes exceeds
even this. "If any negro under punishment,
by his master, or his order, for
running away, or any other crime or misdemeanor,
shall suffer in life or member,
no person whatever shall be liable to any
fine therefore. But if any man of WANTONNESS,
or only of BLOODY-MINDEDNESS
OR CRUEL INTENTION, wilfully kill
a negro of his own" (Now observe the
severe punishment!) "He shall pay into
the public treasury fifteen pounds sterling!
And not be liable to any other punishment or forfeiture for the same!"
IV.
1. This is the plain, un-aggravated
matter of fact. Such is the manner
wherein our African slaves are procured:
Such is the manner wherein they are removed
from their native land, and wherein
they are treated in our Plantations. I would
now enquire, whether these things can
be defended, on the principles of even heathen
honesty? Whether they can be reconciled
(setting the Bible out of the question)
with any degree of either justice or mercy.
2. The grand plea is, "They are authorized
by law." But can law, human
law, change the nature of things? Can
Page 34
it turn darkness into light, or evil into
good? By no means. Notwithstanding
ten thousand laws, right is right, and
wrong is wrong still. There must still
remain an essential difference between
justice and injustice, cruelty and mercy.
So that I still ask, Who can reconcile
this treatment of the negroes, first
and last, with either mercy or justice.
Where is the justice of inflicting the
severest evils, on those who have done
us no wrong? Of depriving those that never
injured us in word or deed, of every
comfort of life? Of tearing them from
their native country, and depriving them
of liberty itself? To which an Angolan,
has the same natural right as an Englishman,
and on which he sets as high a value? Yea
where is the justice of taking away the lives
of innocent, inoffensive
men? Murdering thousands of them in
their own land, by the hands of their
own countrymen: Many thousands, year
after year, on shipboard, and then casting
them like dung into the sea! And
tens of thousands in that cruel slavery, to
which they are so unjustly reduced?
3. But waving, for the present, all
other considerations, I strike at the root
of this complicated villainy. I absolutely
deny all slave-holding to be consistent
Page 35
with any degree of even natural justice.
I cannot place this in a clearer light,
than that great ornament of his profession,
judge Blackstone has already done.
Part of his words are as follows:
"The three origins of the right of
slavery assigned by Justinian, are all built
upon false foundations. 1. Slavery is
said to arise from captivity in war. The
conqueror having a right to the life of
his captive, if he spares that, has then
a right to deal with him as he pleases.
But this is untrue, if taken generally,
That by the law of nations, a man has a
right to kill his enemy. He has only a
right to kill him in particular cases in cases
of absolute necessity for self-defence. And
it is plain, this absolute necessity did not
subsist, since he did not kill him, but
made him prisoner. War itself is justifiable
only on principles of self-preservation.
Therefore it gives us no right over
prisoners, but to hinder their hurting us by confining them. Much less can it give a right to torture, or kill, or
even to enslave an enemy when the war
is over. Since therefore the right of making
our prisoners slaves, depends on a
supposed right of slaughter, that foundation
failing, the consequence which
is drawn from it must fail likewise."
Page 36
"It is said, Secondly, slavery may begin,
by one man's selling himself to another.
And it is true, a man may sell himself
to work for another: But he cannot
sell himself to be a slave, as above defined.
Every sale implies an equivalent given to
the seller, in lieu of what he transfers to
the buyer. But what equivalent can be
given for life or liberty? His property
likewise, with the very price which he
seems to receive, devolves ipso facto to his
master, the instant he becomes his slave:
In this case therefore the buyer gives
nothing, and the seller receives nothing.
Of what validity then can a sale be, which
destroys the very principle upon which
all sales are founded?"
"We are told, Thirdly, that men may
be born slaves, by being the children of
slaves. But this being built on the two
former rights, must fall together with
them. If neither captivity, nor contract
can by the plain law of nature and reason,
reduce the parent to a state of slavery,
much less can they reduce the offspring."
It clearly follows, that all slavery is as irreconcileable
to justice as to mercy.
4. That slave-holding is utterly inconsistent
with mercy, is almost too plain to
need a proof. Indeed it is said, "That
these negroes being prisoners of war, our
Page 37
captains and factors buy them merely to
save them from being put to death. And
is not this mercy?" I answer, 1. Did Sir
John Hawkins, and many others, seize
upon men, women and children, who
were at peace in their own fields or houses,
merely to save them from death? 2. Was it
to save them from death, that they
knock'd out the brains of those they could
not bring away? 3. Who occasioned and
fomented those wars, wherein these poor
creatures were taken prisoners? Who
excited them by money, by drink, by
every possible means, to fall upon one
another? Was it not themselves? They
know in their own conscience it was, if
they have any conscience left. But 4.
To bring the matter to a short issue. Can they
say before GOD, That they ever took
a single voyage, or bought a single negro
from this motive? They cannot. They
well know, to get money, not to save lives,
was the whole and sole spring of their
motions.
But if this manner of Procuring and
treating negroes is not consistent either
with mercy or justice, yet there is a plea
for it which every man of business will
acknowledge to be quite sufficient. Fifty
years ago, one meeting an eminent statesman
in the lobby of the house of commons,
Page 38
said, "You have been long talking
about justice and equity. Pray which is
this bill? Equity or justice?" He answered,
very short, and plain, "D--n justice: It is necessity."
Here also the slave-holder
fixes his foot: Here he rests the strength
of his cause. "If it is not quite right, yet
it must be so: There is an absolute necessity
for it. It is necessary we should procure
slaves: And when we have procured
them, it is necessary to use them
with severity, considering their stupidity,
stubbornness and wickedness."
I answer, You stumble at the threshold:
I deny that villany is ever necessary. It
is impossible that it should ever be necessary,
for any reasonable creature to violate
all the laws of justice, mercy and truth.
No circumstances can make it necessary
for a man to burst in sunder all the ties of
humanity. It can never be necessary for
a rational being to sink himself below a brute.
A man can be under no necessity, of
degrading himself into a wolf. The
absurdity of the supposition is so glaring,
that one would wonder any one can help seeing it.
6. This in general, But to be more particular,
I ask, 1. What is necessary?
And, secondly. To what end? It may be
be answered, "The whole method now
Page 39
used by the original purchasers of negroes,
is necessary to the furnishing our colonies
yearly with an hundred thousand slaves."
I grant, this is necessary to that end. But
how is that end necessary? How will you
prove it necessary, that one hundred, that
one of those slaves should be procured?
"Why, it is necessary to my gaining an
hundred thousand pounds." Perhaps so:
But how is this necessary? It is very possible
you might be both a better and an
happier man, if you had not a quarter of it.
I deny that your gaining one thousand is
necessary, either to your present or
eternal happiness. "But however you
must allow, these slaves are necessary for
the cultivation of our islands: inasmuch
as white men are not able to labour in
hot climates*."
* It is not proposed to remove the negroes from
labouring in the several provinces and islands where
they are now employed; in order to employ white
men in their stead, what is proposed, is only to prevent
any farther import of negroes, except those
who may come voluntarily and in a free condition;
and to fall upon such just regulations and proper
encouragement with respect to those already
amongst us, that from dangerous grudging slaves,
they may become willing heartened labourers, who
having an interest in the peace and welfare of the country,
will be parties in its strength and support.
But whilst deficiencies by the death of the labouring
slaves can be so easily made up by the continual fresh
imports from Guinea, and the planters find it
cheaper to make new purchases than to raise the
children, or spare and cherish the parents of those
already in their service, little amendment can be
expected in the hardship they are put to, and the
cruelties exercised upon them. Surely the number
already in our colonies and islands, which on a
calculation made four or five years past, was between
eight and nine hundred thousand since yearly imported:
all these, with their increase, if well used, would
certainly be sufficient to perform all necessary labour.
If an end was put to the import of negroes, and
the odious and cruel distinction of master and slaves,
with all its attendant horrors should cease, many
labouring people from Europe, who are now
discouraged from an apprehension of being put on a
level with slaves, would probably be willing to come over and engage in the service.
John Miller, professor of law at Glasgow, in his
late observation concerning distinction of ranks in society,
observes, "That the slavery established in our
colonies is an object of great importance, and is attended
with difficulties which cannot be easily removed.
It has been thought that the management of our plantations
requires a labour in which
free men would not be willing to engage, and which
the white people are from their constitution incapable
of performing. How far this opinion is
well founded according to the present manner of
labouring in that part of the world, seems difficult to determine,
as it has never been properly examined
by those who are in a condition to ascertain the
facts in question. But there is ground to believe,
that the institution of slavery is the chief circumstance
that has prevented those contrivances to
shorten and facilitate the more laborious employments
of the people, which takes place in other countries,
where freedom has been introduced. With
regard to the planting of sugar, experiments have
been made in some of the islands, from which it appears,
that in some species of cultivation, cattle
might be employed with advantage, and that the
number of slaves might be greatly diminished. But
these experiments have been little regarded, in opposition
to the former usage, and in opposition to a lucrative
branch of trade which these innovations
would in a great measure destroy. At any rate, the interest
of our colonies seems to demand, that the
negroes should be better treated, and even that they
should be raised to a better condition.--The author
of a late elegant account of our American settlements,
has proposed, that small wages should be given them,
as an encouragement to industry. If
this measure were once begun, it is probable that
the master would soon find the utility of pushing it
to a greater extent. Nothing can appear more
astonishing than the little attention that has hitherto
been paid to any improvement of this nature, after
the good effects of them have been so fully illustrated
in the case of the villains in Europe. At the
same time, it affords a curious spectacle to observe,
that the same people who talk in so high a strain
of political liberty, and who consider the privilege
of imposing their own taxes, as one of the unalienable
rights of mankind, should make no scruple of
reducing a great proportion of the inhabitants into
circumstances by which they are not only deprived
of property, but almost of every right whatsoever.
Fortune, perhaps never produced a situation more
calculated to ridicule a grave and even a liberal
hypothesis, or to show how little the conduct of man is at bottom directed by any philosophical principles."
We have accounts from England of some regulations
that have taken place in the Spanish colonies,
which do the Spaniards much honour, and are certainly
worthy of our imitation; they are to the following
effect:--"As soon as a slave is landed, his
name, price, &c. are registered in a public register,
and the master is obliged by law, to allow him one
working day in every week to himself, besides sundays:
so that if the slave chuses to work for his master
on that day, he receives the wages of a freeman for
it; and whatever he gains by his labour on
that day, is so secured to him by law, that the
master cannot deprive him of it. As soon as the
slave is able to purchase another working day, the master is obliged to sell it to him at a proportionable
price, viz. one fifth part of his original cost,
and so likewise the remaining four days at the same rate,
as soon as the slave is able to redeem them; after which he is absolutely free." This is such encouragement
to industry, that even the most indolent would be tempted to exert themselves. Men
who have thus worked out their freedom, are inured
to the labour of the country, and are certainly
the most useful subjects that a colony can acquire.
I answer, 1. It were better
Page 40
that all those islands should remain
uncultivated for ever, yea, it were more
desirable that they were all together sunk
in the depth of the sea, than that they should
be cultivated at so high a price, as
the violation of justice, mercy, and truth.
But, Secondly, the supposition on which
Page 41
you ground your argument is false. For
white men, even Englishmen, are well able
to labour in hot climates: provided they
are temperate both in meat and drink,
and that they inure themselves to it by
degrees. I speak no more than I know by experience. It appears from the thermometer,
Page 42
that the summer heat in Georgia,
is frequently equal to that in Barbadoes,
yea to that under the line. And yet I
and my family, (eight in number) did employ
all our spare time there, in felling of trees and clearing of ground, as hard labour
as any negro need be employed in. The
German family likewise, forty in number,
Page 43
were employed in all manner of labour.
And this was so far from impairing our health,
that we all continued perfectly
well, while the idle ones all around
us, were swept away as with a pestilence.
It is not true therefore that white men are
not able to labour, even in hot climates,
full well as black. But if they were
not, it would be better that none should
Page 44
labour there, that the work should be left
undone, than that myriads of innocent
men should be murdered, and myriads
more dragged into the basest slavery.
7. "But the furnishing us with slaves
is necessary, for the trade, and wealth,
and glory of our nation:" Here are several
mistakes. For 1. Wealth is not necessary
to the glory of any nation; but
wisdom, virtue, justice, mercy, generosity,
public spirit, love of our country. These
are necessary to the real glory of a nation;
but abundance of wealth is not. Men of
understanding allow, that the glory of
England was full as high, in Queen Elizabeth's
time as it is now: Although our
riches and trade were then as much
smaller, as our virtue was greater*.
* We are told in Hill's naval history, page 239,
That when captain Hawkins returned from his first
voyage to Africa, he was sent for by Queen Elizabeth, who expressed her concern to him, lest any of the
African negroes should be carried off without their
free consent, declaring it would be detestable, and call
down the vengeance of heaven upon the undertakers.--
Captain Hawkins promised to comply with the
Queen's injunction, but acted quite contrary to his
promise, which occasioned that author to remark,
"That here began the horrid practice of forcing the
Africans into slavery, an injustice and barbarity
which so sure as there is vengeance in heaven for
the worst of crimes, will sometime be the destruction
of all who act, or who encourage it."
Geraldus Cambrensis, a noted author who lived
about six hundred years past, in his observations
concerning the causes of the prosperity of the English
undertakings in Ireland, when they
conquered that island, tells us, "That a synod or council
of the clergy being then assembled at Armagh, and
that point fully debated, it was unanimously agreed,
that the sins of the people were the occasion of
that heavy judgment then fallen upon their nation;
and that especially their buying of Englishmen from
merchants and pirates, and detaining them under
most miserable hard bondage, had caused the Lord
by way of just retaliation, to leave them to be reduced
by the English to the same state of slavery; whereupon
they made a public act in that council, that
all the English held in captivity throughout the
whole land should be presently restored
to their former liberty."
But,
Page 45
Secondly, it is not clear, that we should
have either less money or trade, (only less
of that detestable trade of man-stealing)
if there was not a negro in all our islands,
or in all English America. It is demonstrable,
white men, inured to it by degrees
can work as well as them: And they would
do it, were negroes out of the way, and
proper encouragement given them. However,
Thirdly, I come back to the same point;
better no trade, than trade procured by
villany. It is far better to have
Page 46
no wealth, than to gain wealth, at the expence
of virtue. Better is honest poverty,
than all the riches brought by the tears,
and sweat, and blood of our fellow-creatures.
8. "However this be, it is necessary
when we have slaves, to use them with
severity." What, to whip them for
every petty offence, till they are all in gore
blood? To take that opportunity, of rubbing
pepper and salt into their raw flesh? To drop
burning sealing wax upon their
skin? To castrate them? To cut off
half their foot with an axe? To hang them on
gibbets, that they may die by inches, with
heat, hunger, and thirst? To pin
them down to the ground, and then burn
them by degrees, from the feet,
to the head? To roast them alive? When did a
Turk or a Heathen find it necessary to
use a fellow-creature thus?
I pray, to what end is this usage necessary?
"Why, to prevent their running
away: And to keep them constantly
to their labour, that they might not idle away
their time. So miserably stupid is this
race of men, yea, so stubborn, and so
wicked." Allowing them to be as stupid as you say,
to whom is that stupidity owing?
Without question it lies altogether
at the door of their inhuman masters:
Page 47
Who give them no means, no opportunity
of improving their understanding:
And indeed leave them no motive, either
from hope or fear, to attempt any such thing.
They were no way remarkable for
stupidity, while they remained in their
own country: The inhabitants of Africa
where they have equal motives and equal
means of improvement, are not inferior
to the inhabitants of Europe: To some of
them they are greatly superior. Impartially
survey in their own country, the
natives of Benin and the natives of Lapland.
Compare, (setting prejudice aside)
the Samoeids and the Angolans. And on
which side does the advantage lie, in point
of understanding? Certainly the African
is in no respect inferior to the European.--Their stupidity therefore in our plantations
is not natural; otherwise than it is
the natural effect of their condition.--Consequently it is not their fault, but
your's: You must answer for it, before GOD and man.
9. "But their stupidity is not the only reason
of our treating them with severity.
For it is hard to say, which is the greatest,
This, or their stubbornness and wickedness."--It may be so:--But do not these,
as well as the other, lie at your door? Are
not stubbornness, cunning, pilfering, and
Page 48
divers other vices, the natural, necessary
fruits of slavery? Is not this an observation
which has been made, in every age and
nation.--And what means have you used
to remove this stubbornness? Have you
tried what mildness and gentleness
would do? I knew one that did: That had
prudence and patience to make the experiment:
Mr. Hugh Bryan, who then
lived on the borders of South-Carolina--And what was the effect? Why, that all
his negroes (And he had no small number of them)
loved and reverenced him as a
father, and chearfully obeyed him out of
love. Yea, they were more afraid of a
frown from him, than of many blows from
an overseer. And what pains have you
taken, what method have you used, to
reclaim them from their wickedness?
Have you carefully taught them, that there is a GOD,
a wise, powerful, merciful Being, the Creator and
Governor of Heaven and
Earth? That he has appointed
a day wherein he will judge the world,
will take an account of all our thoughts,
words and actions? That in the day he
will reward every child of man according to
his works: That "then the righteous
shall inherit the kingdom prepared for
them from the foundation of the world:
And the wicked shall be cast into everlasting
Page 49
fire, prepared for the devil and his angels."
If you have not done this, if
you have taken no pains or thought
about the matter, can you wonder at their wickedness?
What wonder, if they should
cut your throat? And if they did, whom
could you thank for it, but yourself?
You first acted the villain in making them
slaves, (whether you stole them or bought them.)
You kept them stupid and wicked,
by cutting them off from all apportunities
of improving either in knowledge or virtue: And now you assign their
want of wisdom and goodness as the reason
for using them worse than brute beasts!
V.
1. It remains only, to make a little
application, of the preceding observations.--But to whom should that application be made?
That may bear a question. Should
we address ourselves to the public at
large? What effect can this have? It may
inflame the world against the guilty, but
is not likely to remove the guilt. Should
we appeal to the English nation in general?
This also is striking wide: And is never
likely to procure any redress, for the sore evil
we complain of.--As little would it in
all probability avail, to apply to the parliament.
So many things, which seem of greater importance lie before them that
Page 50
they are not likely to attend to this. I
therefore add a few words to those who
are more immediately concerned, whether
captains, merchants or planters.
2. And, first, to the captains employed
in this trade. Most of you know, the
country of Guinea: Several parts of it at
least, between the river Senegal and the
kingdom of Angola. Perhaps now, by
your means, part of it is become a dreary
uncultivated wilderness, the inhabitants
being all murdered or carried away, so
that there are none left to till the ground.
But you well know, how populous,
how fruitful, how pleasant it was a few years
ago. You know the people were not stupid,
not wanting in sense, considering the
few means of improvement they enjoyed.
Neither did you find them savage,
fierce, cruel, treacherous, or unkind to strangers.
On the contrary, they were
in most parts a sensible and ingenious people.
They were kind and friendly,
courteous and obliging, and remarkably
fair and just in their dealings. Such are
the men whom you hire their own countrymen,
to tear away from this lovely country;
part by stealth, part by force,
part made captives in those wars, which
you raise or foment on purpose. You
have seen them torn away, children from
Page 51
their parents, parents from their children:
Husbands from their wives, wives from their
beloved husbands, brethren and
sisters from each other. You have dragged them
who had never done you any wrong,
perhaps in chains, from their native shore.
You have forced them into
your ships like an herd of swine, them who had
souls immortal as your own: (Only
some of them have leaped into the sea, and
resolutely stayed under water, till they
could suffer no more from you.) You have
stowed them together as close as ever they
could lie, without any regard either to
decency or convenience.--And when
many of them had been poisoned by foul
air, or had sunk under various hardships,
you have seen their remains delivered to
the deep, till the sea should give up his
dead. You have carried the survivors into
the vilest slavery, never to end but with
life: Such slavery as is not found among
the Turks at Algiers, no, nor among the
heathens in America.
3. May I speak plainly to you? I must.
Love constrains me: Love to you, as well as
to those you are concerned with.
Is there a GOD? you know there is. Is
He a just GOD? Then there must be a state
of retribution: A state wherein the just
GOD will reward every man according to
Page 52
his works. Then what reward will he
render to you? O think betimes! Before
you drop into eternity! Think now, He
shall have judgment without mercy, that
shewed no mercy.
Are you a man? Then you should have
an human heart. But have you indeed?
What is your heart made of? Is there no
such principle as compassion there? Do
you never feel another's pain? Have you
no sympathy? No sense of human woe?
No pity for the miserable? When you saw
the flowing eyes, the heaving breasts,
the bleeding sides and tortured limbs of
your fellow-creatures, was you a stone,
or a brute? Did you look upon them with
the eyes of a tiger? When you squeezed
the agonizing creatures down in the ship,
or when you threw their poor mangled
remains into the sea, had you no relenting?
Did not one tear drop from your eye,
one sigh escape from your breast? Do
you feel no relenting now? If you do not,
you must go on, till the measure of your
iniquities is full. Then will the great
GOD deal with you, as you have dealt with
them, and require all their blood at your
hands. And at that day it shall be more
tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah than for
you! But if your heart does relent, though
in a small degree, know it is a call from
Page 53
the GOD of love. And to day, if you
hear his voice, harden not your heart.--To day resolve, GOD being your helper,
to escape for your life.--Regard not money!
All that a man hath will he give for his life?
Whatever you lose, lose not
your soul: nothing can countervail that
loss. Immediately quit the horrid trade:
At all events, be an honest man.
4. This equally concerns every merchant,
who is engaged in the slave-trade.
It is you that induce the African villain, to
sell his countrymen; and in order thereto,
to steal, rob, murder men, women and
children without number: By enabling
the English villain to pay him for so doing;
whom you over pay for his execrable
labour. It is your money, that is the spring
of all, that impowers him to go on: So
that whatever he or the African does in
this matter, it is all your act and deed. And
is your conscience quite reconciled to this?
Does it never reproach you at all? Has gold
entirely blinded your eyes, and stupefied
your heart? Can you see, can you
feel no harm therein? Is it doing as you
would be done to? Make the case your own.
"Master, (said a slave at Liverpool to the
merchant that owned him) "what if
some of my countrymen were to come
here, and take away my mistress, and master
Page 54
Tommy, and master Billy, and carry
them into our country, and make them
slaves, how would you like it?" His answer
was worthy of a man: "I will
never buy a slave more while I live." O
let his resolution be yours! Have no more
any part in this detestable business.
Instantly leave it to those unfeeling wretches,
"Who laugh at human nature and compassion!"
Be you a man! Not a wolf, a
devourer of the human species! Be merciful,
that you may obtain mercy!
5. And this equally concerns every
gentleman that has an estate in our American
plantations: Yea all slave-holders of
whatever rank and degree; seeing men-buyers
are exactly on a level with men-stealers.
Indeed you say, "I pay honestly
for my goods: and I am not concerned
to know how they are come by." Nay, but
you are: You are deeply concerned, to know
they are honestly come by. Otherwise
you are partaker with a thief, and
are not a jot honester than him. But you
know, they are not honestly come by:
You know they are procured by means,
nothing near so innocent as picking of
pockets, house-breaking, or robbery upon
the highway. You know they are procured
by a deliberate series of more complicated
villainy, of fraud, robbery and
Page 55
murder) than was ever practiced either by
Mahometans or Pagans: in particular by
murders, of all kinds; by the blood of
the innocent poured upon the ground like
water. Now it is your money that pays
the merchant, and thro' him the captain,
and the African butchers. You therefore
are guilty, yea, principally guilty, of all
these frauds, robberies and murders. You
are the spring that puts all the rest in motion:
they would not stir a step without
you:--Therefore the blood of all these
wretches, who die before their time, whether
in their country, or elsewhere lies upon
your head. The blood of thy brother,
(for, whether thou wilt believe it or no,
such he is in the sight of him that made him)
crieth against thee from the earth, from
the ship, and from the waters. O, whatever it
costs, put a stop to its cry before it
be too late. Instantly, at any price, were it
the half of your goods, deliver thyself from
blood-guiltiness! Thy hands, thy
bed, thy furniture, thy house, thy lands
are at present stained with blood. Surely
it is enough; accumulate no more guilt;
spill no more blood of the innocent!
Do not hire another to shed blood: Do
not pay him for doing it! Whether you
are a christian or no, shew yourself a man;
be not more savage than a lion or a bear!
Page 56
6. Perhaps you will say, "I do not buy any
negroes: I only use those left me by
my father."--So far is well; but is it
enough to satisfy your own conscience?
Had your father, have you, has any man
living, a right to use another as a slave?
It cannot be, even setting revelation aside.
It cannot be, that either war, or contract,
can give any man such a property in another
as he has in sheep and oxen. Much
less is it possible, that any child of man,
should ever be born a slave. Liberty is
the right of every human creature, as soon
as he breathes the vital air. And no
human law can deprive him of that right,
which he derives from the law of nature.
If therefore you have any regard to
justice, (to say nothing of mercy, nor of
the revealed law of GOD) render unto all
their due. Give liberty to whom liberty
is due, that is to every child of man, to
every partaker of human nature. Let
none serve you but by his own act and deed,
by his own voluntary choice.--Away with all whips, all chains,
all compulsion! Be gentle towards men. And
see that you invariably do unto every one,
as you would he should do unto you.
7. O thou GOD of love, thou who art
loving to every man, and whose mercy
is over all thy works: Thou who art the
Page 57
father of the spirits of all flesh, and who
art rich in mercy unto all: Thou who hast
mingled of one blood, all the nations upon
earth: Have compassion upon these outcasts
of men, who are trodden down as
dung upon the earth! Arise and help these
that have no helper, whose blood is spilt
upon the ground like water! Are not
these also the work of thine own hands,
the purchase of thy Son's blood? Stir them
up to cry unto thee in the land of their
captivity; and let their complaint come
up before thee; let it enter into thy ears!
Make even those that lead them away captive
to pity them, and turn their captivity as
the rivers in the south. O burst
thou all their chains in sunder; more
especially the chains of their sins: Thou,
Saviour of all, make them free, that they
may be free indeed!
The servile progeny of Ham
Seize as the purchase of thy blood!
Let all the heathen know thy name:
From idols to the living GOD
The dark Americans convert,
And shine in every pagan heart!
FINIS
Page 58
SIMILAR causes will produce similar
effects; the dreadful consequence of
slavery is the same amongst every people
and in every nation where it prevails:
this truth is verified in the following
accounts of the inhuman treatment the
negroes met with both from the Hollanders
and the French.
The first is taken from the late writings of
Edward Bancroft, an English physician,
who resided some years in that part of
America, called Dutch Guiana, which includes
the several settlements of Surinam, Barbices, Demarara,
&c. The insensibility
with which this author relates and vindicates
the cruelties and indignities exercised,
by the Dutch, on the miserable
Africans, shew that the advantage accruing
to him from the labour of the slaves, as well
as his connection with their oppressors,
had its usual and natural effects, in
obscuring his understanding, and hardning
his heart against the dictates of reason and
humanity.
Page 59
The French author appears to have been
in a very different situation; he was an
officer belonging to the troops quartered in
the island Mauritis, now called The Isle of
France, who not reaping any advantage
from the labour of the slaves, nor having
any dependence on the planters, his mind
remained so unprejudiced, that the dictates
of reason and tender feelings of humanity,
had free liberty to exert themselves.
Doctor Bancroft, whilst he is giving his
readers a genuine relation of the prodigious
oppression and cruelty exercised on
the negroes, advances such arguments in
defence of the practice of slavery, as are,
indeed, a dishonour to reason, and shocking
to humanity. He tells us,
"That the labour of the country is almost
wholly performed by negroes--that they
are kept at a submissive and humble distance, by severity of discipline,"
which he is so hardened as to say, "not
only contributes to the safety of the
white inhabitants, but even the happiness
of the slaves, because, adds he, the
impossibility of attaining is ever found
to destroy the desire of enjoyment, and
rigid treatment, by annihilating every
hope of liberty, renders the slaves content
with the enjoyment of slavery."--
Page 60
He acknowledges,
"That the negroes
are indeed spurred to industry by the
whip of correction, which is ever at their
heels, and not sparingly exercised;
but, that there is no medium: either
the minds of the slaves must be depressed by
abject slavery, or the lives
of the masters are in imminent danger:
For this reason (he says) they have been
oppressed by many humiliating
penalties and distinctions. The evidence
of slaves relating to white persons
are of no validity. An attempt to strike
a white inhabitant is punished with
death. Their masters or overseers have
not only the power of inflicting corporal
punishment, but are in some
measure allowed to exercise a right over
their lives, since the putting a negro
to death is attended only with a pecuniary
punishment. In which situation,
he confesses, they are subject to many
complicated species of misery, exposed
to the tyranny of the imperious, and
lust of the libidinous; and to an incessant
toil which will have no period
but with their lives."
Thus this author
thro' the whole of his reasoning, manifestly
shews the depraving effect which
the sight and practice of those hard and
cruel measures which are attendant on
Page 61
slavery, has upon the heart and reason of
men, otherwise of good judgment.--Hence, he adds,
"That tho' this treatment
has the appearance of cruelty, and
cannot be reconciled to the principles
of justice and equity, yet many things
which are repugnant to humanity, may
be excused on account of their necessity
and for self-preservation."
--Speaking
of the provision made for the negroes in
food and clothing, he says, "The expence
of maintaining them in this
climate is very trifling--they are
assigned a piece of ground, from this
the slave is supplied with a sufficient
stock for his sustenance; on which
however he is not allowed to labour
but only on sundays; receiving from
his master a weekly allowance of dried
fish to the amount of a pound and an half;
which is all that his master contributes
towards his food. The females
receive the same treatment, and the drink
of both is nothing but water:
yet from this water and vegetables,
with a morsel of dried fish, these people
derive sufficient nutriment to sustain
the hardest labour in the most enervating
climate. The cloathing of the negroes
(who work in the fields) is scarce sufficient to answer the demands of
Page 62
modesty. If any of them have either
shirts, breeches, or petticoats, they are
the produce of their private industry,
as their masters furnish only a piece of
coarse blue or brown linen, which is
applied to the middle, in both sexes,
and a blanket with which the slave
covers himself at night; sleeping on
boards only."
The account given by the French officer
of the disposition of the blacks, and the
treatment they received from his countrymen
on the island Mauritius, is as affecting
as the former, tho' apparently wrote
from a different motive and in a quite
different spirit. He informs us, that the
slaves who are employed in the cultivation
of that island, are brought chiefly from
the island Madagascar, situate about two
hundred leagues distance.
"That these black men, whose features
bear a nearer similitude to the Europeans
than the negroes of Guinea, are handy,
intelligent, and sensible of honour; In
their own country they apply themselves
to many little handicrafts with great industry;
they are passionately fond of
dancing and music; their instrument is a
kind of bow, to which a calibash is fixed;
from which they draw a soft kind of harmony,
accompanied with songs of their
Page 63
own composition. Love is always the subject.
The girls dance to the song of
their lovers; the spectators beat time.--These poor people in their own country are
extremely hospitable: when a black
in Madagascar is on his journey, he goes
into the first house that suits his exigency,
and tho' unknown, the family share their
provisions with him. He is neither asked
whence he comes or whither he goes:
it is the custom of the country. With such
arts and such manners these black people
are brought to the island Mauritius to labour
for the whites. They are set on shore
quite naked, except a rag that covers
their loins; the men are ranged on one side
and the women on the other, with their
little children, who cling about their mother
thro' fear. The planter examines the
whole, and purchases such as suits him.
Brothers, sisters, friends, lovers, are separated;
they take leave of each other
with tears, and depart for the plantation.
These blacks are naturally of a joyous
temper; but after some years of slavery
they grow melancholy.--The treatment
they receive from their masters is rigorous;
at day break, three cracks of the whip
are the signal that calls them to
work: each slave appears in the plantation
with their mattock; here they work almost
Page 64
naked in the heat of the sun. For
the least neglect they are bound hand and
feet on a ladder; their commander armed
with a postillions whip stands over
them, and gives them on their naked
posteriors fifty, an hundred, or two
hundred lashes. Every lash brings off
the skin. The poor wretch covered with
blood, is let loose, and dragged back to
his work. Some of these miserable creatures
on being thus chastised, are not able to
sit down for a month after. The
women are punished in the same manner.
There is a law made by the French king
in their favour, called the black code:
this law ordains that at each punishment
they shall receive no more than thirty lashes;
that they shall not be obliged to
work on sundays; that they shall
have their provision weekly, and their
shirts yearly: but this law is not observed.
Sometimes when they grow old, they are
turned adrift to get their living as they
can. One day I saw one of them who
was nothing but skin and bone cutting
flesh from a dead horse to eat. It appeared
to be one skeleton devouring another.--They have occasionally the consolation
of religion proposed to them, and are
from time to time baptised. They are
told that they are made brethren of the
Page 65
whites, and shall go to heaven; but they
hardly know how to believe the Europeans
should conduct them to heaven, whilst
they are, they say, the cause of all their
sufferings on earth.--They frequently
refuse us, say they, necessary meat and
cloaths, and beat us cruelly without reason:
of this I have seen many instances.
A slave, almost white, threw herself one
day at my feet; her mistress made her
rise early and watch late: if she chanced
to sleep, she rubbed her mouth with ordure:
and if she did not lick her lips, she
commanded her to be whipt; she begged
of me to solicit her pardon, which she obtained.
Sometimes the masters of these
wretches grant such request, and within
two days double their punishment, reckoning
in tale of lashes what they had professedly
forgiven. A counsellor of whom
some blacks had complained to the governor,
assured me, that tho' they were
exempted from punishment that day, the next
he would have them slead from head to
foot.--In short, when those wretched
creatures can no longer support their condition,
they sink into despair. Some of
them put a period to their lives by poison
or a halter: others throw themselves into
some petty boat, without sails, without
compass, without provision: in this manner
Page 66
they hazard a passage of two hundred
leagues to return to the island of Madagascar,
from whence they were brought.
I have known them land there, be retaken
and returned to their masters. In
general they take refuge in the woods
where they are hunted by detachments
of soldiers, negroes, and dogs. Planters
there are who make on such occasions
a party of pleasure. They are attacked
with the spear, like wild beasts.
When they cannot be reached this way
they are shot. Their heads are cut off
and carried in triumph to town on the
end of a pole. This is what I have seen almost
weekly--I have seen them hanged
and broke alive, they went to their punishment
with pleasure and supported it
without complaint. I have seen a woman
throw herself voluntarily from
the ladder. They cry that in another
world they shall find a happier life, and
that the father of mankind is not so unjust
as man--I have daily beheld men and women whipt
in the manner before
described for having broken a pot, or forgot
to shut a gate, their bloody limbs
afterwards rubbed with vinegar and salt
to heal them.--I have seen them
in the excess of their anguish unable to
cry any longer.--I have seen them
Page 67
bite the cannon on which they were
bound.--I sicken at the recital of these
horrors.--My eyes ach with feeling
them--My ears with hearing them.
Here I see poor negro women bending o'er
their spades, their naked children bound upon
their backs: Miserable creatures
that tremble as they pass before me.--Sometimes I hear the sound of their drum,
but more frequently the sound
of whips cracking in the air like the report of
a pistol; and the heart rending
cries of mercy, master mercy.--If the
unfortunate creatures would complain
that the laws in their favour are not observed
to whom can they complain; their
judges are often their greatest tyrants
(witness the counsellor before mentioned)
It is alleged that without this severity,
it is impossible to manage the slaves, you
must have punishments and pains, iron
collars with braces, whips, blocks to
bind them by the foot, and chains to
go round their necks. They must in
short be treated like beasts, that the
whites may live like men. Can we wonder
at reasoning like this? "Where there
is injustice in the principle, there
must be inhumanity in the consequence.
Page 68
I am mortified when I think that those
philosophers, who have shewn so much
fortitude in their attacks of moral and
religious abuses, have not mentioned
the poor negroes--They turn from the
view of their misfortunes, they talk of
the massacre of the Mexicans by the Spaniards,
as if that crime were not the guilt
of their own days; a guilt in which
half Europe is concerned. Is it a greater
crime at once to assassinate a people who
differ from us in opinion, than to hold in
living torments, a race of men who
labour for the gratification of our palates
and appetites, our internal and external
luxuries?"
If it is alleged in answer to these narratives,
that such cruelties may indeed
be practiced by the Hollanders and French,
but that they are seldom used amongst
the English, to this it may, with truth,
be replied, that tho' different circumstances
may occasion a variation of conduct
in different places, yet there is in effect
but little difference; wherever slavery is
practiced, and an unlawful desire
of gain prevails, it will have its natural
effect, it will harden the heart, and induce
to the use of hard and cruel measures, to obtain the end proposed. Its
Page 69
generally thought that the Hollanders
exercise a greater degree of rigour and
cruelty towards their slaves, than the
English. Nevertheless our nation is in
some cases said to exceed the former. An
instance of this is related by Captain Cook
before mentioned, who on his return
in his voyage round the world, at page
797. when at the Island St. Helena's,
belonging to the English, tells us,
"that
the negro-slaves are very numerous in that
island.--That they appear to be
a miserable race, worn out by excessive
labour, and partly by ill usage,
of which they frequently complain."
he adds, I am very sorry to say, "that
instances of wanton cruelty are much more
frequent among my country-men here, than
among the Dutch, who are, and perhaps
not without reason, generally reproached
with want of humanity, at Batavia and
the Cape."
The foregoing accounts of the cruel
usage the miserable Africans find, with
little variation in all places and amongst
every people where slavery prevails, will
doubtless be grevious to such who feel
for the cause of humanity and justice.
Nor is it to be expected that there will be
any amendment, whilst the defficiencies
which happen by deaths, can so
Page 70
easily be made up by fresh imports, and
the lives of the miserable negroes are left
to the caprice and passion of their owners,
or their overseers, more especially
as these last generally expect favour from
their masters, in proportion to the sugar, &c.
they cause to be made, without any
check from the laws, which rather countenance
the murder of the slaves, if done,
or said to be "done by way of chastisement."
And even when it is publickly known
that the death of a slave
has been occasioned thro' "bloody mindedness
or wanton cruelty;" yet agreeable to the prevailing opinion, that the
spirits of the slaves must be kept down
by the most humiliating distinctions, and
severity of discipline; the prosecution
of such murders is discouraged, indeed
great difficulties would attend those who
would attempt it, as it is seldom that any
white person is present when such murder
is committed, except the overseer or his
dependants; and that the evidence of
negroes is of no validity against
the whites. Hence the lives of
the poor slaves are in every respect, in
a very precarious situation, subject to the
passion and rage of those who have the
rule over them, and the spilling of their blood unnoticed
by those who ought to
Page 71
protect them; nevertheless, it is not hid
from the all-seeing eye of God, and will
doubtless remain, tho' a covered, yet accumulated
store of divine displeasure against
the perpetrators of it.
And here it may not be improper to
lay before the reader a few instances
from the many, very many, which might
be given of the shocking cruelties exercised
on the miserable negroes, being a
striking instance of the dreadful insensibility
which the habit of hard and cruel
measures will gradually introduce in the human heart.
The first instance was related by a person
who furnished the compiler with the
advertisement from North-Carolina, viz.
That whilst he was there a negro woman
flying into the woods, probably
from ill usage, was pursued by the overseer,
who having met with her, after
cruelly beating her, fastened her to his horse,
so to drag rather than lead her; that
before he reached the house she was a dead
corpse. Such usage of a fellow-creature
appeared most unnatural and cruel to the relater;
but what most surprized him was, to find that this poor
creature's life being taken away in so
brutal a manner, made no impression on
the minds of the people; it raised no
Page 72
indignation against the murderer, or
commiseration for the unhappy victim;
they seemed quite hardened to such scenes.
He heard but one person take any manner
of notice of the matter.
Another instance fell under the immediate
notice of a person of credit, when
in the island of Jamaica, now residing
in this city. Hearing a grievous cry,
he went to the place from whence it
came, where he saw a young negro woman
of about eighteen years of age,
swung by her hands, with heavy weights
at her feet, and a man lashing her naked
body with a hard whip; making pauses
from time to time, and flinging pickle
or salt and water on the wounds, the
whip had made. The sight was so horrible,
that he turned from it and came
home. Sometime after, looking out, he
saw this same young woman carried dead
on a board: She had been cruelly whipped
to death; neither did he observe
that this pitious spectacle drew the
concern or hardly attention of the people.
A third instance happened in Charles-Town,
in the presence of a person now
residing there. A vessel had taken in a
number of slaves, on the coast of Guinea,
amongst these was a man, who probably
Page 73
from the dignity of his situation in his
own country, or from some other cause,
did not shew such submission as the ship's
people expected and require of slaves.
They attempted to tie him with ropes,
but that not answering their purpose,
they confined him in irons, and otherwise
so tormented him during their passage
from Guinea, in order to bring down his spirit,
that when they arrived at Charles-Town,
he was in so weak a condition
as to be scarce able to walk to the place
of sale, but as he was urged on
with the whip. When the slaves returned
in the evening, this man remaining unsold,
was forced along with the rest
towards the vessel, he walked on
for a while, till he came to the market-place,
where he fell; but the whip being
exercised upon him, he rose, and going
on a little farther dropt down dead.
The relater, a person of credit, saw the
transaction, and exclaimed against the
barbarity; but no notice was taken, either
judicially or otherwise; he was
dragged along and flung into the sea,
to be devoured by the sharks.
The last instance I shall mention, happened
in Carolina, on board a vessel with
slaves from Guinea, related by a person
lately in this city from thence. It
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seems the poor negroes had let in a persuasion
from a fire appearing on the shore,
that the white people proposed to
put them to death; this made them
unwilling to leave the ship: However
they were all made to comply except
one man, who had taken so strong hold
of some part of the ship, that the sailors were
not able to loose him. This raised the anger of the
captain to so great a degree, that he struck the poor fellow so
hard a blow, with something like a
handspike, as broke both his arms,
whereby the captain looking upon
the fellow as disabled and unfit for sale,
gave him another blow on the head,
which caused his brains to fly about the
vessel.
"We know, says a late respectable
author, that the negroes (employed in
our plantations) are purchased from
their princes in Guinea, who pretend to
have a right to dispose of them, and that they are
like other commodities,
transported by the merchants, who
have brought them into America, in order
to be exposed to sale. If this trade
admits of a moral or a rational justification,
every crime, even the most atrocious,
may be justified. Government
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was instituted for the good of mankind;
kings, prince, governors, are not proprietors
of those who are subject to their
authority; they have not a right to
make them miserable. On the contrary,
their authority is vested in them, that
they may, by the just exercise of it, promote
the happiness of their people. Of
course they have not a right to dispose
of their liberty, and to sell them for
slaves. Besides, no man has a right to
acquire or purchase them: Men and
their liberty are not either saleable or
purchaseable.--No one, therefore, has
any but himself to blame, in case he shall
find himself deprived of a man, whom
he thought he had, by buying for a
price, made his own; for he dealt in a trade
which was illicit, and was prohibited
by the most obvious dictates of humanity.
For these reasons, every one
of those unfortunate men, who are pretended
to be slaves, has a right to be declared
to be free, for he has never lost his liberty;
he could not lose it; his prince
had no power to dispose of him. Of
course the sale was ipso jure void. This
right he carries about with him, and is
entitled every where to get declared.
As soon, therefore, as he comes into a
country in which the judges are not forgetful
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of their own humanity, it is their
duty to remember that he is a man, and
to declare him to be free. I know it has
been said, that questions concerning the
state of persons ought to be determined
by the law of the country to which they
belong; and that, therefore, one who
would be declared to be a slave in America,
ought, in case he should happen to
be imported into Britain, to be adjudged
according to the law of America to be a
slave; a doctrine, than which nothing
can be more barbarous. Ought the
judges of any country, out of respect
to the law of another, to shew no respect
to their kind and to humanity. Out of
respect to a law, which is in no sort obligatory
upon them, ought they to disregard
the law of nature, which is obligatory
on all men at all times, and in
all places: Are any laws so binding as
the eternal laws of justice? It is doubtful,
whether a judge ought to pay greater
regard to them, than to those arbitrary
and inhuman usages which prevail in a distant
land? Aye, but our colonies
would be ruined, if slavery was abolished.
Be it so; would it not from thence
follow, that the bulk of mankind ought
to be abused, that our pockets may be
filled with money, or our mouths with
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delicacies? The purses of highwaymen
would be empty in case robberies were
totally abolished; but have men a right to
acquire money by going out to the highway?
Have men a right to acquire it by
rendering their fellow creatures miserable?
Is it lawful to abuse mankind, that
the avarice, the vanity, or the passion of
a few may be gratified? No! There is
such a thing as justice, to which the most
sacred regard is due. It ought to be inviolably
observed. Have not these unhappy men
a better right to their liberty
and to their happiness, than our American
merchants have to the profits which
they make by torturing their kind? Let
therefore our colonies be ruined, but let
us not render so many men miserables.
Would not any of us, who should--be
snatched by pirates from his native
land, think himself cruelly abused,
and at all times intitled to be free. Have not
these unfortunate Africans, who meet
with the same cruel fate, the same right?
Are not they men as well as we, and
have they not the same sensibility?"
"But it is false, that either we, or our
colonies would be ruined by the abolition
of slavery. It might occasion a stagnation
of business for a short time. Every
great alteration produces that effect: Because
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mankind cannot on a sudden, find
ways of disposing of themselves and of
their affairs: But it would produce many
happy effects. It is the slavery which is
permitted in America that has hindered
it from becoming so populous, as it
would otherwise have done. Let the negroes
free, and in a few generations, this vast
and fertile continent, would be crowded
with inhabitants; learning, arts, and
every thing would flourish amongst them:
Instead of being inhabited by wild beasts,
and by savages, it would be peopled by
philosophers, and by men." Prins. law
of Scotl.
"He who detains another by force in
slavery, is always bound to prove his
title. The slave sold or carried into a distant
country, must not be obliged to
prove a negative, that he never forfeited
his liberty. The violent possessor must in
all cases shew his title, especially where
the old proprietor is well known. In this
case, each man is the original proprietor
of his own liberty. The proof of his losing
it must be incumbent upon those who deprive
him of it by force." Syst. mor. phil.
"Long and serious reflections upon the
nature and consequences of slavery have
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convinced me, that it is a violation both
of justice and religion; that it is dangerous
to the safety of the community in
which it prevails; that is it destructive
to the growth of arts and sciences; and
lastly, that it produces a numerous and
very fatal train of vices, both in the
slave, and in his master.--Freedom is unquestionably
the birth right of all mankind;
Africans as well as Europeans: to
keep the former in a state of slavery, is
a constant violation of that right, and
therefore also of justice.--The British
merchants obtains the negroes form Africa,
by violence, artifice, and treachery,
with a few trinkets to prompt those unfortunate
people, to enslave one another,
by force or stratagem. Purchase
them, indeed they may, under the authority
of an act of the British parliament. An
act entailing upon the Africans (with
whom we are not at war, and over
whom a British parliament could not of
right assume even a shadow of authority)
the dreadful curse of perpetual slavery,
upon them and their children forever.
There cannot be in nature, there is not in
all history, an influence in which every right
of men is more flagrantly violated." Lee's Add.
Page 80
EXTRACT of a Sermon preached by the
Bishop of Gloucester, before the Society
for the Propagation of the Gospel
at their anniversary meeting, on the 21st of February, 1766.
FROM the free-savages I now come
(the last point I propose to consider)
to the savages in bonds. By these I mean
the vast multitudes yearly stolen from
the opposite continent, and sacrificed by
the colonists to their great idol, the GOD
OF GAIN. But what then, say these sincere
worshippers of Mammon, they are
our own property, which we offer up.
Gracious God! to talk (as in herds of
cattle) of property in rational creatures!
creatures endowed with all our faculties,
possessing all our qualities but that of colour;
our brethren both by nature and
grace, shocks all the feelings of humanity,
and the dictates of common sense.
But, alas! what is there in the infinite
abuses of society which does not shock
them? Yet nothing is more certain in
itself, and apparent to all, than that
the infamous traffic for slaves directly infringes
both divine and human law.
Nature created man free; and grace invites
him to assert his freedom. In excuse of
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this violation, it hath been pretended,
that though indeed these miserable outcasts
of humanity be torn from their
homes and native country by fraud and
violence, yet they thereby become the happier,
and their condition the more
eligible. But who are YOU, who pretend
to judge of another man's happiness?
That state, which each man, under the
guidance of his maker, forms for himself;
and not one man for another. To know
what constitutes mine or your happiness,
is the sole prerogative of him who created
us, and cast us in so various and different
moulds. Did your slaves ever complain to
you of their unhappiness amidst
their native woods and desarts? Or,
rather, let me ask, did they ever cease
complaining of their condition under you
their lordly masters? Where they see,
indeed, the accommodations of civil life,
but see them all pass to others, themselves,
unbefitted by them. Be so gracious then,
ye petty tyrants over human freedom,
to let your slaves judge
for themselves, what it is which makes
their own happiness. And then see whether
they do not place it in the return to their own country, rather than in the contemplation of your grandeur, of which
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their misery makes so large a part. A
return so passionately longed for, that
despairing of happiness here, that is, of
escaping the chains of their cruel task
masters, they console themselves with
feigning it to be the gracious reward of
heaven in their future state; which I do not
find their haughty masters have as
yet concerned themselves to invade. The
less hardy indeed wait for this felicity
till overwearied nature sets them free;
but the more resolved have recourse even
to self-violence, to force a speedier passage.
But it will be still urged, that though
what is called human happiness be of so
fantastic a nature, that each man's imagination
creates it for himself, yet human
misery is more substantial and uniform
throughout all the tribes of mankind. Now,
from the worst of human
miseries, the savage Africans by these
forced emigrations, are intirely secured,
such as the being perpetually hunted
down like beasts of prey or profit, by
their more savage and powerful neighbors--In
truth, a blessed change!--from
being hunted to being caught. But
who are they that have set on foot this
general HUNTING? Are they not
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these very civilized violators of humanity
themselves? Who tempt the weak
appetites, and provoke the wild passions of the fiercer savages to prey upon the rest."
THE END
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