Facts Proving the Good Conduct and Prosperity of Emancipated Negroes (183x])

8/3/2019 Facts Proving the Good Conduct and Prosperity of Emancipated Negroes (183x])

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FACTS PROVING THE GOOD CONDUCT

AND PROSPERITY OFEMANCIPATED NEGROES.

Of tlie many persons who declare themselves averse toslavery and yet afraid to join in measures for its abolition,some perhaps have not paid much attention to the instan-ces of emancipation that have already taken place. If anysuch will take the trouble to read the following account ofthe effects of emancipation as far as it has hitherto beentried, they will perhaps see that their fears on the subjectare not justified by experience.

The History of Hayti when separated from the acciden-tal circumstances attending it, furnishes irrefragable evi-

dence of the safety and advantage of immediate Emancipa-tion. It is true that much blood was shed there during thecourse of the french revolution ; but this was not owing tothe emancipation of the slaves, but was the consequenceeither of the * civil war which preceded the act of eman-cipation ; or of the atrocious attempt to restore slavery.

In September 1793 Polvirel, one of the Commissionerssent to St. Domingo by the National Convention, issued aproclamation declaring the whole of the slaves in theisland free. Colonel Malenfant, a slave proprietor, resi-

dent at the time in the island, thus describes the effects of

this sudden measure, t " After this public act of Eman-

cipation the Negroes remained quiet both in the south andin the west, and they continued to work upon all theplantations. Tliere were estates which had neither own-ers nor managers resident upon them, yet upon theseestates though abandoned, the negroes continued theirlabours where there were any even inferior agents to guide

See this point fully proved in Clarkson's thouf^hts on the necessity of ina-proving the Condition of the slaves &c. page ly to 29, Hatchard.

t Memoire Hislorique et Politique des Colonics 6cc. page 62.


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tluMii, and on tlio>e estate!^ where no white nu n wcveleft to direct them they betook themselves to the plaiitiiii,^of provisions ; bnt npon all the plantations where thewhites resided the blacks continued to labour as quietly

as before." Colonel Malenfant says * that when many ofhis neic^hbours, j)roprietors or managers, were in prison,the nepfroes of their plantation came to him to beg him tolirect them in their work. "Iff you will take care notto talk to them of the restoration of sfaveiy but talk tothem of freedom, you may Avith this word chain thenv

down to their labour. How did Toussaint succeed ?How did I succeed before his time in the plain of the Cul-de-Sae on the plantation Gouraud, during more thaneight months after liberty had been granted to the slaves ?Let those who knew me at that time, let the blacks them-selves be asked : they will all reply that not a single negroupon that plantation, consisting of more than 450 labour-ers, refused to work : and yet this plantation was thoughtto be under the worst discipline and the slaves the mo^tidle of any in the plain. I inspired the same activity intothree other plantations of whicli I had the management.If all the negroes had come from Africa within six months,if they hatl the love of indepentlence that the Indians haveI should own that force must be employed ; but 99 out ofa hundred of the blacks are aware that without labourthey cannot procure the things that are necessary forthem ; that there is no other method of satisfying their

wants and their tastes. They know that they must work,they wish to do so, and they will do so.

Such was the conduct of the negroes for the first ninemonths after their liberation, or up to the middle of 1794.In the latter part of 1/96 Malenfant says " The colonywas flourishing under Toussaint, the whites lived haj)pilyand in peace upon their estates, and the negroes contiimedto work for them." General Leewix who published his

"Memoirs for a History of St. Domingo" in

1819,says

that in 1797 the most wonderful progress had been madein agriculture. " The Colony '' says he " marched as byenchantment towards its ancient splendor : cultivationprospered ; every day pro


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brigade of artillery in St. Domingo and a piopiiolor oltstates in the island, was sent by Toussaint to Paris iuI80I to lay before the Directory the new constitutionAvhjeh had been agreed upon in St. Domingo. He arrivedin France just at the moment of the peace of Amiens, anilfound that Bonaparte was preparing an armament for the[)urpose of restoring slavery in St. Domingo. He remon-strated against the expedition ; he stated that it was totallyunnecessary and therefore criminal, for that every thingwas going on well in St. Domingo. The proprietors werein peaceable possession of their estates ; cultivation was ma

king a rapid progress;

the blacks wereindustrious and

beyon


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villages. It was an interesting sight to behold this classof the Haytians, now in possession of their freedom, co-ming in groups to the market nearest which they residedbringing tlie produce of their industry for sale ; and after-wards returning carrying back the necessary articles ofliving which the disposal of their commodities had ena-bled them to purchase ; all evidently cheerful and happy,Nor could it fail to occur to the mind that their presentcondition furnishes the most satisfactory answer to thatobjection to the general emancipation of slaves founded

on their alleged unfitness to value and improve the bene-fits of liberty.

Though of the same race and possessing the same gene-ral traits of character as the negroes of the other VVestlndi-dian Islands, they are already distinguished from them byhabits of industry and activity such as slaves are seldomknown to exhibit. As they would not sutfer, so they donot require the attendance of one acting in the capacityof a driver with the instrument of punishment in his hand.As far as I had an opportunity of ascertaining from whatfell under my own observation and from what I gatheredfrom other European residents, I am persuaded of onegeneral fact which on account of its importance I shallstate in the most explicit terms, viz : that the Haytiansemployed in cultivating the plantations as well as the restof the population, perform as much work in a given timeas they were accustomed to do during their subjection to

the French. And if we may judge of their future im-provement by the change which has been already effected,it may be reasonably anticipated that Hayti will ore longcontain a population not inferior in their industry to thatof any civilized nation in the world.

While the interior of the island was in this improving;tate and its inhabitants Mere peaceful and inchistrious.Cape Francois and the other towns presented scones otthe utmost order and activity : the great majority of theiidiabitants of Cape Francois consisted of trades-peopleand mechanics, the former of whom were supplied by tlieresident merchants with cloths linens silks and otliermanufactures, which they sold to the natives in smallquantities. Their business was seldom so great as to ena-ble them to amass fortunes, but it afforded them amplemeans of support. Towards strangers who entered theirshops, whether for the purpose of making purchases ornot, they were invariably and remarkably civil ; a trait in


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the character of Christophe's subjects which I believe tohave been universal. The mechanics though many ofthem were deficient in skill from having been imperfectlyinstructed, were all enabled by their industry to gain acompetent maintenance. On the whole the scene whichCape Francois presented was as interesting as it was inmany respects surprising. In few places of commercecould there be seen greater regularity in the dispatch ofbusiness, greater diligence displayed by those engaged init, or more evident marks of a prosperous state of things.Every man had some calling to occupy his attention ! in-stances of idleness or intemperance were of rare occurrence,the most perfect subordination prevailed, and all appearedcontented and happy. A foreigner would have found itdifficult to persuade himself on his first entering the placethat the people he now beheld so submissive industriousand contented, were the same people who a few yearsbefore had escaped from the shackles of slavery.

A gentleman who had been for upwards of twenty yearspast a general Merchant in Hayti, frequently crossing toEurope and America, gave the following account of thecondition of the Haytians to Captain Stuart at Belfast lastwinter. The present population he supposes consists ofat least 700,000. He said that there was very universalhappiness amongst them, and tliat though their conductwas not unexceptionable yet there was a less proportionof such crimes as disturb the public peace in Hayti, andless distress than in any other country within his know-ledge. That they obtain abundance by their own labour.There were no paupers except the decrepid and agedthat the people were very charitable hospitable and kind,very respectful to Europeans, temperate grateful faithfulorderly and submissive, easily governable, lively and con-tented, good mechanics, and that no corporal punishmentsare allowed.

Cayenne and Guadaloupe were the only other French

colonies in which the slaves were emancipated. In Cay-enne * the sudden enfranchisement was attended with noill consecpiences ; after their emancipation the negroes ingeneral continued voluntarily upon the plantations of theirformer masters, and no irregularities whatever werecommitted by those men who had thus suddenly obtainedtheir freedom.

VovHg'- a la Guiaac .fj-c. cap. ii.


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In Guadalonpc (where the disproportion of hlacks to

whitesis

atleast as qroat as in

our colonies) the conductof the freed nrgroes was equally satisfactory. The per-fect subordination which was established and the industrywhich prevailed there are proved by the otficial Reportsof Victor Huf^ues the Governor of Guadaloupe to theFrench Governnient. In 1793 liberty was proclaimeduniversally to the slaves in that island, and during theirten years of freedom their Governors bore testimony totheir regular industry and uninterniptedsirbmission to thelaws. The Reports of the Commissioners to the localGovernment also speak of the tranquillity which reignedin the agricultural districts and on the plantations. In aletter addressed by the supreme Council of the Colony inFebruary 18()2 to the Commissary Valluet of the Cantonde Deshayes, it is said "Continue Citizen Commissary, tomaintain that order in your Canton which now reignsuniversally througlkiut the Colony. We shall have thesatisfaction of having given an example which will provethat all classes of people may live in perfect harmony witheach other under an administration which secures justiceto all classes."

Within the last fifty years many bodies of Wet Indianand American slaves have been emancipated without anyof that educational ai\d ''cligious instruction now said tobe a necessary preliminary to freedom ; and settled atSierra Leone. During the first American war a nuniberof slaves ran away from their North American ujasters andi()ine


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wore accordingly conveyed. Many hundreds of the ne-groes who ha(i formed tlie West Indian black regimentswere removed in 1819 to Sierra Leone, where they wcrt;set at liberty at once, and founded the villai^cs of Water-loo, Hastings and others. Several hundred maroons (run-away slaves and their descendants) being exiled fromJamaica, were removed in 1801 to Sierra Leone, wherethey were landed with no other property than the clotheswhich they wore and the muskets which they carried intheir hands. A body of revolted slaves were banished fromHarbadoes in 1816 and sent also to Sierra Leone. The

rest of the population of this colony consists almost entire-ly of negroes who have been recaptured from slave ships,and brought to Sierra Leone in the lowest state of miserydebility and degradation : naked diseased destitute, whollyignorant of the english language in this wretched helplesscondition they have been suddenly made free and put intopossession at once of the rights and privileges of Britishsubjects- All these instances of sudden emancipationhave taken place in a colony where the disproportion be-tween black and white is more than a hundred to onebeing a far greater disproportion than that in our slavecolonies. Yet this mixed population of suddenly emanci-pated slaves runaway slaves criminal slaves and de-graded recaptured negroes, are in their free conditionliving in order tranquillity and comfort, and many of themin affluence. This fact is amply proved by the Reports ofthe Commissioners appointed in 1825 to enquire into thestate of the liberated captives ; by those of LieutenantColonel Denham, General Superintendent of liberatedAfricans at Sierra Leone, and of Major Ricketts on whomthe task of reporting on their state afterwards devolved,and by a great number of other public and private ac-counts. In a report printed for the House of CommonsMay 7th 182/ (No. 312) the Commissioners say "The ge-neral appearance of the Nova Scotia settlers differs butlittle

from that of the free people of colour in the WestIndies. On Sundays their dress is neat and clean, andtheir general deportment very respectable. This remarkis equally applicable to all the other coloured classes whichcompose the resident population of Freetown, where greatexternal respect is paid to the sabbath."

Of the maroons they say " They happened to arrive ata time when their services were much wanted to repel ahostile attack^ on which occasion they appear to have


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conducted themselves well ; and they have since main-tained pretty generally the good opinion then formed ofthem. Several of tiiem have been successful in trade bywhich they have acquired a comfortable livelihood: anda few of them who arc most extensively^ engaged in mer-cantile transactions are supposed to have attained to con-siderable affluence, at the same time that they have main-tained a character of great respectability. Tlie dress andgeneral appearance of the Maroons is very respectable,particularly on Sundays when a peculiar neatness is ob-

servable, and their deportment not only in Chapel but asfar as opportunities have oflered of observing it elsewhereduring that day is very creditable. " The slaves banishedfrom Barbadoes were employed in public works for two orthree years. " At the expiration of this time " say the Com-missioners " they were permitted to employ themselvesfor their own benefit and they have in general shownthemselves to be industrious and useful. " Of the blacksoldiers of the African corps settled in the colony they say" Many of them appear industrious. They have gene-rally maintained a respectable character, and have bytheir own exertions (aided by some liberal residents) andunder the zealous superintendence of the Rev. Mr. Ruban,erected a Chapel in the distant part of the town (Free-town) where they reside. That gentleman officiates theretwo days in the week to a congregation averaging per-haps one hundred persons, whose appearance and deport-

ment are very creditable.Speaking of the inhabitants generally, the Commissi-

oners observe " The coloured men (under this termthey include the blacks who form the great bulk of thepopulation, and who in fact are the persons who sit onjuries) whom we have had opportunities of observing onjuries, appeared attentive and anxious to ascertain themerits ot the case, and as far as we couldjudgc from theirverdict, seemed to be possessed

ofsufficient intelligence

to insure the ends of justice. They are selected princi-pally from the older settlers (Nova Scotians and Maroons)and in some few instances from the liberated Africans,The individual at present holding the office of Coroner atFreetown is a Maroon. The present Mayor is one of theearly Nova Scotia settlers ; the senior Alderman one of theearly Maroon settlers.

A Report sent by Lieutenant Colonal Denham, datedMay 21 1827, confirms the favorable account of the Com-


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!ni?sioncrs, and affoids incontestable evidence of the wil-

ling industry of the negroes and their desire of improving

their condition.

" What the liberated Africans have felt the most wantof, is instruction capital and example. With the verylittle they have had of either conveyed in a manner likelyto benefit them generally, it is to me daily an increasingsubject of astonishment that the liberated Africans settled

here have done so much for themselves as they have. Ihave not observed any disinclination for voluntary labour

it apj)ears to be a system perfectly understood and prac-

tised by them. Labourers wages have varied from oneshilling to sixpence per day, yet there has never been a

deficiency of liberated Africans who were willing to labourfor hire. On the naval stores now erecting are nearly twohundred liberated African labourers, who work well andsteadily at twenty shillings per month. Labourers in this

colony work from six in the morning till five in the after-noon constantly, with the exception of the hour whichthey are allowed for breakfast. An anxious desire to ob-tain and enjoy the luxuries of life is apparent in every

village from the oldest settler to the liberated African of

yesterday. European articles of dress are the first objectsof their desire and for the means of obtaining these bothsexes will cheerfully labour ; and a gradual improvementhas takenplace in their dwellings as they became possessedof the necessary means for that purpose "

Major Ricketts writes on the 27th March 1829 " Theliberated Africans appear happy ; at Wellington they arebuilding by subscription among the inhabitants a goodsized church and market-house of store ; and a number ofprivate store buildings are springing up. The managerat Hastings is endeavouring to erect new bridges with theworkmen and others of the village who give labour andfurnish materials gratis. Several of the liberated Africans

who have obtained lots of land in Freetown, have built

good houses. Many of them and of the disbanded soldiersemploy themselves in the burning of lime, saAving ofboards, cutting shingles and clap boards; all of which arecarried for miles from the spot whore they are prepared totheir villages, and from thence either brought to Freetownby land, or by water in canoes which are kept and hiredout for that purpose by the liberated Africans residing invillages situated on the banks of the river or on the seacoast. In return for these articles they generally receive


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cash whicli is not kept dormant; for with tliat they |.ur-chase cattle from the natives trading to the colony, aiid

taking them to the country villages they are fattened andafterwards sent to the market, and a profit of nearly onehundred per cent is realised by this species of industry.Pigs antl poultry are raised in the villages, and the marketof Freetown receives from them an ample supply daily ofthis kind of stock as well as of eggs and vegetables. Someof the persons supplying the market are known to travelfrom Waterloo and Hastings, the former being twentytwo and the latter sixteen miles from Freetown, carryingtheir produce in baskets on their heads ; this kind ofindustry clearly manifests the desire the liberated Africans

have to labour voluntarily to enable them by honest meansto become possessedof those luxuries which they see theirmore wealthy brethren enjoying. The police of the villa-ges is administered by the liberated Africans ; they havegiven evident proof of their affection for the laws as theyare administered, by the interest they show in implicitly

obeying them ; and when it has been found requisite toadopt local regulations particularly affecting them, theyhave cheerfully conformed to them. So very useful arethe liberated Africans found in the rafting and cutting oftimber, and sawing boards, and scantling, that many ofthem are receiving from four to five dollars per monthAvith food and clothing. The schools for the admission ofchildren born in the colony are still progressively improv-

ing, and the parents evince an anxious desire to aXailthemselves of the opportunity afforded them of obtaininguseful instruction for their children.

"

During the last American war JJA slaves escaped fromtheir masters, and were at the termination of the warsettled in Trinidad as free labourers, where they arcearning tlieir own livelihood with industry and good con-duct. The following extract of a letter received in 1829from Trinidad by Mr. Pownall, will show the usefulnessand respecttvbility of these liberated negroes. " A fieldnegro brings 400 dollars, but most of the work is done byfree blacks and people from the main at a much cheaperrate, and as these are generally cm[)loyed by foreigners,thisaccounts for their succeedingbetter than our own coun-trymen who are principally from the old islands and areunaccustomed to any other management than that otslaves ; however they are coming into it fast. In Trinidad

there are upwards of fifteen thousand free [)eoplc of rolouf ;


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thert is nut a single pauper amongst tlicm ; tliey liveindependently and comfortably and nearly halt of the pro-perty of the' island is said to be in their hands. It is

admitted tiiat they are highlyrespectable in character

andarc rapidly advancing in knowledge and refinement. "

Mr. Mitchell, a sugar planter who had resided 27 yearsin Trinidad and who is the superintendent of the liberatednegroes there, says he knows of no instance of a manu-mitted slave not maintaining himself. In a paper printedby the House of Commons in 1827 (No. 479) he says ofthe liberated blacks under his superintendence, that eachof them possessed an allotment of land which he cultivat-ed and on which he raised provisions and other articlesfor himself and his family ; his wife and children aidinghim in the work. A great part however of the time ofthe men (the women attending to the domestic menage)was freely given to labouring on the neighbouring planta-tions, on which they worked not in general by the daybut by the piece. Mr Mitchell says that their work iswell executed and that they can earn as much as fourshillings a day. If then these men who have land onwhich they can support themselves are yet willing towork for hire, how is it possible to doubt that in case ofgeneral emancipation the freed negroes who would haveno land of their own would gladly work for wages ?

A few years ago about 150 negro slaves at differenttimes succeeded in making their escape from Kentuckyinto Canada. Captain Stuart who lived in upper Canadafrom 1817 to 1822 was generally acquainted with themand employed several of them in various ways. He foundthem as good and as trustworthy labourers in every res-pect as any Emigrants from the islands or from the UnitetlStates, or as the natives of the country. In 1828 heagain visited that country and found that their numbershad increased by new refugees to about 300. They hadpurchased a tract of woodland a few miles from Amherst-burgh and were settled on it, had formed a little village,had a minister of their own number colour and choice, agood old man of some talent with whom Captain Stuartwas well acquainted, and though poor were living soberlyhonestly and industriously, and were peacefully and use-fully getting their own living.

In consequence of the Revolution in Columbia all theslaves who joined the Columbian armies amounting to aconsiderable number, were declared free. General Boli-


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var enfranchised his own slaves to the amount of betucew700 and 800, and many proprietors followed his example.At that time Columbia

wasover-run

byhostile armies an


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An experiment tried on a small scale in Tartola (it mustbe owned witli some peculiar advantages) has been coni-l)letely successful. Samuel Nottingham a quaker whobecame possessed of a small estate in Tortola to whicliwere attached twenty five negroes determined on manu-mitting them and did so by a deed executed on the 3()tliof June 177c. He gave them a plantation with every thingthereunto belonging and secured it to them and their off-spring. In the year 1822 this plantation was visited severaltimes by tM'o highly respectable gentlemen who give thefollowing account of its proprietors. " Of the original per-sons liberated nine are still alive ; besides whom there aretwenty five of their children and nine grand children,making in all forty five persons. The whole of them resideon the same plantation which they have ever since culti-vated. Half of it is chiefly in provisions and the rest isused as pasturage for their stock which consists of twentyeight cows thirteen goats and thirteen hogs, Jeffrey Noi-tingham, one of those originally emancipated, exclusive ofhis share in the plantation and stock possesses five acres

of land, a house in Spanish Town, and a vessel of twentythree feet keel. Diana and Eve have each a boat of seven-teen and fourteen feet keel. For some years the seasonswere so bad that they found it difficult to get water fortheir stock and got little return for their labour ; but siillthey had been able to support themselves and to acquirethe property mentioned above, while they increased innumber from 25 to 43. Not one of them is now in debtand their property is free from all incumbrance. Duringthe whole period since their emancipation none of themhave been sued in court or brought before a Magistrate toanswer to any complaint. They arc a fine healthy race,all black, and seem to dwell very ha])pily together. "

The account given in several Jamaica newspapers of thecondition of a little colony of runaway slaves in Trelawnvproves very decidedly their fitness for freedom, yet thereis not the slightest reason to think that they were betterqualified to make a good use of it than any other slaves inour colonies. These accounts are given by their enemiesAvho mix with the description insults and wishes for theirdestruction. About the year 1812 a dozen negroes whohad escaped from slavery settled themselves in the backdistricts of Trelawny in the interior of Jamaica, wherethey built a few houses and l)rought two luindred acres ofland into cultivation. The Montego Bay Gazette of Octo-


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bci' 29th 1824 gives the following account of tlie state inwhich a party who went to seize the settlers as runaways,found their town and lands. "They had about two hun-dred acres of very fine provisions in full bearing, withabundance of hogs and poultry. The houses appear to beof considerable magnitude, are well built, shingled andfloored ; one of the buildings is seventy feet long, anotherforty and few under twenty five. VVe also understandthat there is near the town, from thirty to forty acres ofbeautiful coffee and a large field of canes. " The Corn-

wall Courier of November 3rd gives nearly the sameaccount and adds " We understand a runaway who istaken mentions there is a track to the town from WindsorPen, by which the negroes of different estates have beenin the practice of going with asses to exchange salt provi-sions with the runaways for their ground provisions andwith which they have added to the supply of the Sundaymarket in this town. " The Cornwall Gazette of Novem-ber 2nd says " After our last publication we gave circula-tion to a bulletin briefly relating the particulars of the

now famous town called by its refined and polishedinhabitants " We no seen, you no come. " The party ofmilitia and maroons under the command of LieutenantColonel Scott, after a march of eight hours, reached thefirst of their provision-grounds, consisting of a cocoa piecenearly a mile from the town. The party now having fullpossession of the town, quietly took up their quarters in

the houses where the former possessors had been busilyemployed in culinary affairs and the assailants became theunbounded partakers of that cheer which was intendedfc>r themselves." The writer of the account adds " TheJamaica journals before-mentioned contain no directcharge against the inhabitants of this little settlement.All the circumstances mentioned (and these are given bytheir enemies) warrant us in concluding that they ke[)t

themselves peaceably at home and that they did no injuryto their neighbours. Indeed it appears that they wereuseful to them as through the medium of the negroes whocame to them with their asses they contributed to supplywith ground provisions the markets in one of the neigh-bouring towTis. These facts enable us to confute thosecalumnies which describe the negroes as insensible to theblessings of freedom, and convince us that they are able to

manage their own concerns and that they would work ifemancipated willingly, and that they need no impulse from


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the wliip. No one ean look back to what these fugitiveshave (lone in the way of cuhivation and believe that ne-f^rocs would not work when emancipated if a properstimulus were given them."

A Colony of free negroes and coloured persons from theUnited States of America and of liberated Africans, wasformed at Liberia on the Western coast of Africa in 1822.From the accounts which have been received of their pro-ceedings it would appear that these negroes are not onlyequally but far better qualified for such an undertakingthan white men have generally shown themselves, whether

we consider their care of their worldly interests ; theirattention to the concerns of morality and religion ; ortheir conduct to the natives in the neighbourhood of thesettlement. The following particulars are taken fromintelligence circulated by the managers of the AmericanColonization Society in 1826. * "In all the internal con-cerns and foreign relations of the colony there is everyevidence of growing prosperity strength and security. As

thesettlement has increased in population

commerce andwealth, the moral character has advanced ; the intelli-gence and virtue of the people evincing the capacity forself government. Agriculture and commerce are now insuch happy operation as to assure the adequacy of thecolony to its own maintenance. The trade in rice coffeecamwood and ivory is already considerable ; and is soregulated as to inspire the confidence of the natives in theliberal and fair dealings of the colonists. During the pastyear two churches have been built. Five schools are inactive operation besides sabbath schools. The adults arebusily engaged in finishing and improving their dwellingsand property. A vessel of ten tons has been built by oneof the colonists, several other boats belong to the estab-lishment. Fort Stockton has been rebuilt and with someother fortifications renders the town perfectly secureagainst any foe. Two well-disciplined companies, one ofinfantry the other of artillery, present an active force readyfor any service at a moment's warning. The emigrantsfrom Boston have been received as brothers and sis-ters. The sabbath is almost universally observed with allthe outward marks of religious decorum : domestic wor-ship is common : there is a general attendance of all classeson the public and occasional worship of God : and chari-

Missionan- Pcgistcr for July 1826,


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table and pious associations (chiefly for the instruction ofnative children) appear to have been undertaken in thatspirit of intelligent zeal which promise? both perseveranceand success." x\ later Report of the Society says " Thetrade of Liberia has increased with a rapidity almostunexampled ; and while it has supplied the colonistsnot only with the necessaries but with the conveniencesand comforts of life, the good faith with which it hasbeen conducted has conciliated the friendship of the na-tives, and acquired the confidence of foreigners. Be-

tween the 1st of January and tiie 25th of July 1826, noless than fifteen vessels touched at Monrovia and purchasedthe produce of the counti-y to the amount of more than40,000 dollars African value. An industrious familytwelve months in Africa destitute of the means of furnish-ing an abundant table is not known, and an individualwithout ample provision of decent apparel cannot it isbelieved be found. Every family and nearly every singleadult person in the Colony have the means of employingfrom one to four native labourers at an expense of fromfour to six dollars the month ; and several of the settlerswhen called upon in consequence of sudden emergenciesof the public service, have made repeated advances of mer-chantable produce to the amount of from 300 to 600 dol-lars each. The new agency house market house Lancas-terian school and town house in Monrovia were somemonths since far advanced, and the finishing strokes were

about to be given to Government House on the St, Pauls.The wing of the old agency house has been handsomelyfitted up for the colonial library which now consists oftwelve hundred volumes systematically arranged in glazedcases with appropriate hangings ; all the books are sub-stantially covered and accurately labelled ; and piles ofmore than ten newspapers more or less complete, are pre-served : the library is fitted up so as to answer the pur-

pose of a reading room ; andit is intended to

makeit a

museum of all the natural curiosities of Africa which canbe procured."

The actual condition of the hundred thousand emanci-pated blacks and persons of colour in our West IndiaColonies certainly gives no reason to apprehend that if ageneral cn)ancipation should take place the newly freedslaves would not be able and willing to support themselves.On this point the Returns from fourteen of the Slave Colo-nies laid before the House of Commons in 1826 give satis^


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IS

paupers to ])e 295, of black and coloured paupers 148 ; (lieproportion of white paupers to those of the other classaccording to the whole population being as four to one.Nevis. The white population is estimated at about i-i(X>,the free black and coloured at about 1800. The numberof white paupers receiving relief is stated to be 25 ; thatof the other class 2; being in the proportion of 28 to 1.St. (Jristojihers. The average number of white jjaupersappears to be 115; that of the other class 14 ; althoughthere is no doubt that the population of the latter class

greatly out-numbers that of the former. St. Vincents.The white population in 1825 was 1301 : the other class2824. " We have never had " says the Governor Sir C.Brisbane " any poors rate. The few paupers (alwayswhite) who resort hither, are supported from the townfunds." Tobago. The Governor Sir F. P. Robinson in-forms Lord Bathurst that "there is no fund for assistingpaupers except that of the Church (which does not amount

tosixty dollars per

annum)as there are no other poor people

who require that kind of relief." Tortola. In 1825 thefree black and coloured population amounted to 607. ITiewhites are estimated at about 300. The number of whitepaupers relieved appears to be 29: of the other class 4:being in the proportion of fourteen to one. Trinidad. Thewhite population is about 3,500; the other class amountsto about 15,000. No funds raised for the poor.

In short, in a population of free black and colouredpersons amounting to from 80,000 to 90,000, only 229persons have received any relief whatever' as paupersduring the yeai's 1821 to 1825, and these chiefly the con-cubines and children of destitute whites : while of about65,000 whites in the same time 16"5 received relief. Theproportion therefore of enfranchised persons receiving anykind of aid as paupers in the West Indies is about one in370 : whereas the proportion among the Whites of the

West Indies is about one in forty ; and in England gene-rally one in twelve or thirteen, in some counties one ineight or nine.

Can any one read these statements made by the Coloniststhemselves, and still think it necessary to keep the negroesin slavery lest they should be unable to maintain them-selves if free ? There is clearly much more reason onthis ground for reducing the poor whites both in the WestIndies and in England to slavery than for retaining thenegroes in that state.

It is to be regretted that among the Parliamentary papery


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Uurc are no returnsof the comparative numhtrulcoux ict-c:d criminal in tlic enfranchised and tlie white jiopnhition,

except one from Jamaica. As Jamaica however contains

as hu-i,'C a pojinlation as that of all the rest of our WestIndia Colonies united; this one will probably afford a tol

orably tair estimate of the comparative quantity of crime

}u the two classes throughout the West Indies. The en-franchised inhabitants of Jamaica are considerably morenumerous than the whites : and yet by a return fromseveral of its parishes ordered to be printed by tJic Houseof Commons in 1815 (No. 478) it appears that the propor-tion of criminal convictions of whites and of enfranchised

persons was as twenty-four of the former to eight of tljelatter.

Incontestable testimony both public and private hasbeen given to the good conduct of tlie freed black amicoloure


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I publicly declared my good opinion of them, which hassince been corroborated by Mr. Steele and General Totten-ham, anfl still more by their own general good conduct."

Mr. Bickell, a clergyman of the Church of England wholived six years in Jamaica, says * " I am well aware it hasbeen asserted that nothing but coercion can induce anegro to labour more than barely to raise enough for hissubsistence : this is extremely erroneous ; witness thegreat number of free blacks in the towns of Jamaica ; inKingston they are most of them good mechanics, andwork as regularly and as hard as white men in this coun-try (England.) They also conduct themselves as well,can read and write many of them, and are more respect-ably clad than white men of the same class in England.In Port Royal just the same ; they are industrious andintelligent, and several of them have more, much morereligion than the low white men there who affect to de-spise them. They are very anxious to get their childreneducated, and in Kingston Spanish-Town Port-Royal and

other towns most of thefree children can read and write,

in Kingston the church is thronged every Sunday morn-ing principally by free people of colour and free blacks.There is but one church, on this account the dissentershave four or five places of worship : the means by whichsome of these chapels were built redound very much tothe credit of the free people of colour free blacks andslaves of Kingston ; for I was credibly informed that itwas principally through the donations and subscriptionsof these too much despised classes that two of these build-ings were raised."

In 1823 the Assembly of Grenada passed a resolutiondeclaring that the free coloured inhabitants of these colo-

nies were a respectable Avell behaved class of the conunu-nity, were possessed of considerable property, and wereentitled to have iheir claims viewed with favour.

In 1824 when Jamaica had been disturbed for months

by unfounded alarms relating to the slaves, a committeeof the lcgi^lative assembly declared that " the conduct ofthe freed people evinced not only zeal and alacrity but awarm interest in the welfare of the colony, and every wayidentifiod them with those who are the most zealous pro-moters of its internal security." The assembly confuincdthis favourable report a few months ago by passing a bill

* Wf'st Inrlks as they arc piif^c 16.


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conferrinc; on all free black and coloured persons thesame privileges, civil and political, with the white inha-bitants.

In the Orders issued in 1829 by our own Governmentin St. Lucia placing all freemen of African descent uponthe footing of equal rights with their white neighbours,the loyalty and good conduct of that class is distinctlyacknowledged and they are declared "to have shownhitherto readiness and zeal in coming forward for themaintenance of order." As similar Orders have been is-sued for Trinidad Berbice and the Cape of Good Hope,it may be presumed that the conduct of the free blacksand coloured persons in those Colonies has likewise givensatisfaction to Government.

As far as it can be ascertained from the various docu-ments which have been cited and from others which fromthe fear of making this account too long are not particu-larly referred to, it appears that in every place and timein which emancipation has been tried not one drop ofwhite blood has been shed or even endangered by it : that

it has every where greatly improved the condition of theblacks, and in most places has removed them from a stateof degradation and suffering to one of respectability andhappiness. Can it then be justifiable on account of anyvague fears of we know not what evils, to reject this justsalutary and hitherto uninjurious measure ; and to clingto a system which we know by certain experience is pro-ducing crime misery and death during every day of itsexistence ? Is it possible that any persons can persuadethemselves that though emancipation even when perfectlysudden and utterly unprepared for, has been harmless andbeneficial wherever it has hitherto been tried ; yet that ifit should be legally established throughout our Coloniesand introduced into them with the most carefully consi-dered precautions, it would be attended with the massacreof the whites und the ruin of the blacks ? Those who docome to such an incomj)rehcnsiblc conclusion may withoutself-reproach s[)cak write or vole for melioration, in otherwords for perpetual slavery, or at least of slavery whichwill in all probability continue till its victims are set freeeither by the frightful mortality which is so rapidly dimi-nishing their numbers or by the strength of their ownarm.

But what rational motive is there for preferring slaveryto emancipation ? Slavery we know kills many thousands


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annually in our colonic?, inflicts mo>t grievous sufferingson those whom it does not destroy, creates and nourishesevery bad passion in those by whom it is administered.Emancipation as far as we know hais not destroyed any,has not inflicted sufferings on any, has not nourished badpassions in any ; and no reason has ever been advanced tomake it appear probable that it would even cause any ofthese evils in future. Why then should we prefer slaveryto emancipation ? I believe many shut their eyes and willnot see that this is in reality all the choice they have.

They fear that some evils may attend emancipation, andunder the influence of this fear they speak write or resolveto vote against it, without distinctly bringing the f\ct totheir minds that they are thus supporting slavery. Theyresolve to vote against emancipation, but flatter themselvesthat they will be voting only/or melioration : but the truthis that they will be voting for slavery. They will be creatingslavery for future years as really as if they were at thatmoment establishing it for the first time. They will bevoting for murder ; only endeavouring to prevent thenumber annually destroyed from amounting to so manythousand? as it does now : they will be voting for thecultivation of pride rage hatred ignorance irreligion licen-tiousness and misery ; only endeavouring to prevent theirgrowth from being so luxuriant as it has hitherto been.

There are many who see the guilt of slavery, but whoeither from a panic fear of immediate emancipation, or

from unwillingness to give too much oflence to some friendor connection endeavoin* to satisfy their conscience bydeclaring for melioration. I wish it were possible toinduce such persons honestly to ask themselves whatreason they have for thinking that melioration will everintroduce emancipation. Is there any reason to supposetiiat the slave-holders will be more willing to set theirslaves free at some future period because they will be a

little better fed, a little less worked, and alittle less flog-

ged than they are now ? * Will Government or Parlia-

* Better tenght we may be certain the gonernlily of masters will take careihcv s-lull not be if eduration is to lead to eniancipaiion. A liuiiclrcil-and-tliirtyyears airo a law was enacted in Jamaica declarinjj that every slave ou;^}it to be

educated and to receive instruction in the christian relif^ion ; and this very year

it is confessed that the Act has never been carried into exeenlion. Can any onewho does not wilfully blind himself believe that tiie slave-holders will be morewilling to execute it when they consider education as a preparatory step tormancipatian ? Jf anv one doubts what are the inclinations of the generality o'

5.1a vc- holders oa tlii> pi-int, let hin listen to the incontDveriil'le cvidcucc of Mr


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ment or the pcopk- be more desirous of procurhij^ tliciVeedoin of the slaves when these improvements have

taken place ? Evidently the contrary:

it is impossiblethat they shonld not be more indifferent on the subjectwhen they believe their sufferings to be lessened than theyare now. The majority it is probable will be tolerablysatisfied with the improvments enacted, will flatter them-selves that all is going on well and that the slaves arcgradually but steadily advancing towards freedom, ifwhich is still more probable, they do not altogether forgetthem. And even those who are the most deeply dissatis-fied with such measures will almost inevitably become lessanxious on the subject as time passes on : having failed intheir efforts and seeing no chance that an early repetitionof them could be of any avail, iliey will be too ready to restfrom their hopeless labours ; and then the case of the poorslaves will indeed be desperate.

Let it be supposed that Parliament will now at lastenforce the Government Recommendations on the char-

tered colonies, and let the advocates of this mode of pro-ceeding carefully and in real earnest consider whether ten(or fifty) years hence the very same reasons or fears maynot be urged against emancipation which they now thinksufficient to justify its rejection. They wish no doubt thatthe meliorating measures may improve the slaves so muchas to make that step safe and advisable which they nowdeprecate : but we are not at liberty to act on idle wisheswhen the most essential interests of our fellow creaturesare concerned. It is our duty to examine the subject, toinquire by what process and with what degree of proba-bility any or all of the suggested improvements will " fitthe slave for freedom " as the phrase is. If on such a carefulexamination we find that there is no reason to believe thatthey will produce this effect, let us speak out, and eithersay " Then the slaves shall be freed now " or let us have

Trew late Rector of St. Thomas in the East in Jamaica. * *' Few masters"be says " in Jamaica will consent to have their slaves instructed at all, and theinstruction given in ninety-nine out of one hundred cases is merely oral ; thesimple boon of permitting them to Jeam to read is withheld hy their superiors."He adds that any general attempt to teach the slave to read would be construedinto an act little short of treason. Is it likely that a British Act of Parliamentenjoining that the slaves shall be educated and religiously instructed will availagainst such a rooted dislike as this .' No : Parliament can set the slaves frebut it is perhaps not too much to say that to secure their education and religiousinstruction while they continue in slavery is beyond its power.

Nine letters to the Duke of Wellington on Colonial Slavery by Ignotus.


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the courage and sincerity to say " Then we consent to

their being slaves for ever.It seems too certain that melioration so far from being

the harbinger of emancipation, is the best friend and themost powerful ally of slavery, It is indeed the only hopeof slavery which must inevitably be soon destroyed nowthat its enormities are brought to light, if the timid andthe indolent and the unthinking and the lukewarm andthe selfish. friends of the slaves, can be prevented fromfalling into this fatal snare.

FINIS.


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Documents

Facts Proving the Good Conduct and Prosperity of Emancipated Negroes (183x])