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diff --git a/old/10611.txt b/old/10611.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..24ef910 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/10611.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6353 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of An Essay on the Slavery and Commerce of the +Human Species, Particularly the African, by Thomas Clarkson + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: An Essay on the Slavery and Commerce of the Human Species, Particularly the African + Translated from a Latin Dissertation, Which Was Honoured With the First Prize in the University of Cambridge, for the Year 1785, With Additions + +Author: Thomas Clarkson + +Release Date: January 6, 2004 [EBook #10611] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ESSAY ON SLAVERY *** + + + + +Produced by Carlo Traverso, David Gundry and PG Distributed Proofreaders +from images generously made available by the Biblioth que nationale +de France (BnF/Gallica) at http://gallica.bnf.fr. + + + + + + + + +AN ESSAY ON THE SLAVERY AND COMMERCE OF THE HUMAN SPECIES, +PARTICULARLY THE AFRICAN, + +TRANSLATED FROM A LATIN DISSERTATION, WHICH WAS HONOURED WITH +THE FIRST PRIZE IN THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE, FOR THE YEAR 1785, +WITH ADDITIONS. + + * * * * * + + +_Neque premendo alium me extulisse velim_.--LIVY. + + + +M.DCC.LXXXVI. + + * * * * * + + + +TO THE +RIGHT HONOURABLE +WILLIAM CHARLES COLYEAR, +EARL OF PORTMORE, +VISCOUNT MILSINTOWN. + + +MY LORD, + +The dignity of the subject of this little Treatise, not any persuasion +of its merits as a literary composition, encourages me to offer it to +your Lordship's patronage. The cause of freedom has always been found +sufficient, in every age and country, to attract the notice of the +generous and humane; and it is therefore, in a more peculiar manner, +worthy of the attention and favour of a personage, who holds a +distinguished rank in that illustrious island, the very air of which has +been determined, upon a late investigation of its laws, to be an +antidote against slavery. I feel a satisfaction in the opportunity, +which the publication of this treatise affords me, of acknowledging your +Lordship's civilities, which can only be equalled by the respect, with +which I am, + +Your Lordship's, +much obliged, +and obedient servant, + +THOMAS CLARKSON. + + * * * * * + + + +Books Printed and Sold by J. PHILLIPS, + +ESSAY on the TREATMENT and CONVERSION of +AFRICAN SLAVES in the BRITISH Sugar Colonies. +By the Rev. J. RAMSAY, Vicar of Teston in +Kent, who resided many Years in the West-Indies. +In One Volume, Octavo. Price 5s bound, +or 4s in Boards. + +An INQUIRY into the Effects of putting a Stop +to the African Slave Trade, and of granting Liberty +to the Slaves in the British Sugar Colonies. +By J. RAMSAY. Price 6d. + +A REPLY to the Personal Invectives and Objections +contained in two Answers, published by +certain anonymous Persons, to an Essay on the +Treatment and Conversion of African Slaves, in +the British Colonies. By JAMES RAMSAY. Price 2s. + +A LETTER from Capt. J.S. SMITH, to the +Rev. Mr. HILL, on the State of the Negroe Slaves; +to which are added an Introduction, and Remarks +on Free Negroes, &c. by J. RAMSAY. Price 6d. + +THOUGHTS on the Slavery of the Negroes. +Price 4d. + +The CASE of our Fellow-Creatures, the Oppressed +Africans, respectfully recommended to the serious +Consideration of the Legislature of Great-Britain, +by the People called Quakers. Price 2d. + +A SERIOUS ADDRESS to the Rulers of America, +on the Inconsistency of their Conduct respecting +Slavery. Price 3d. + +A CAUTION to GREAT BRITAIN and her +Colonies, in a short Representation of the calamitous +State of the enslaved Negroes in the British +Dominions. By ANTHONY BENEZET. Price 6d. + +A Description of Guinea, its Situation, Produce, +and the general Disposition of its Inhabitants; with +an Inquiry into the Rise and Progress of the Slave +Trade, &c. By ANTHONY BENEZET. Bound 2s. 6d. + + + + * * * * * + + +THE PREFACE. + + +As the subject of the following work has fortunately become of late a +topick of conversation, I cannot begin the preface in a manner more +satisfactory to the feelings of the benevolent reader, than by giving an +account of those humane and worthy persons, who have endeavoured to draw +upon it that share of the publick attention which it has obtained. + +Among the well disposed individuals, of different nations and ages, who +have humanely exerted themselves to suppress the abject personal slavery, +introduced in the original cultivation of the _European_ colonies +in the western world, _Bartholomew de las Casas_, the pious bishop +of _Chiapa_, in the fifteenth century, seems to have been the +first. This amiable man, during his residence in _Spanish America_, +was so sensibly affected at the treatment which the miserable Indians +underwent that he returned to _Spain_, to make a publick remonstrance +before the celebrated emperor _Charles_ the fifth, declaring, that +heaven would one day call him to an account for those cruelties, which +he then had it in his power to prevent. The speech which he made on the +occasion, is now extant, and is a most perfect picture of benevolence +and piety. + +But his intreaties, by opposition of avarice, were rendered ineffectual: +and I do not find by any books which I have read upon the subject, that +any other person interfered till the last century, when _Morgan +Godwyn_, a _British_ clergyman, distinguished himself in the +cause. + +The present age has also produced some zealous and able opposers of the +_colonial_ slavery. For about the middle of the present century, _John +Woolman_ and _Anthony Benezet_, two respectable members of the +religious society called Quakers, devoted much of their time to the +subject. The former travelled through most parts of _North America_ +on foot, to hold conversations with the members of his own sect, on the +impiety of retaining those in a state of involuntary servitude, who had +never given them offence. The latter kept a free school at +_Philadelphia_, for the education of black people. He took every +opportunity of pleading in their behalf. He published several treatises +against slavery,[001] and gave an hearty proof of his attachment to the +cause, by leaving the whole of his fortune in support of that school, to +which he had so generously devoted his time and attention when alive. + +Till this time it does not appear, that any bodies of men, had +collectively interested themselves in endeavouring to remedy the evil. +But in the year 1754, the religious society, called Quakers, publickly +testified their sentiments upon the subject,[002] declaring, that "to +live in ease and plenty by the toil of those, whom fraud and violence +had put into their power, was neither consistent with Christianity nor +common justice." + +Impressed with these sentiments, many of this society immediately +liberated their slaves; and though such a measure appeared to be +attended with considerable loss to the benevolent individuals, who +unconditionally presented them with their freedom, yet they adopted it +with pleasure: nobly considering, that to possess a little, in an +honourable way, was better than to possess much, through the medium of +injustice. Their example was gradually followed by the rest. A general +emancipation of the slaves in the possession of Quakers, at length took +place; and so effectually did they serve the cause which they had +undertaken, that they denied the claim of membership in their religious +community, to all such as should hereafter oppose the suggestions of +justice in this particular, either by retaining slaves in their +possession, or by being in any manner concerned in the slave trade: and +it is a fact, that through the vast tract of North America, there is not +at this day a single slave in the possession of an acknowledged Quaker. + +But though this measure appeared, as has been observed before, to be +attended with considerable loss to the benevolent individuals who +adopted it, yet, as virtue seldom fails of obtaining its reward, it +became ultimately beneficial. Most of the slaves, who were thus +unconditionally freed, returned without any solicitation to their former +masters, to serve them, at stated wages; as free men. The work, which +they now did, was found to better done than before. It was found also, +that, a greater quantity was done in the same time. Hence less than the +former number of labourers was sufficient. From these, and a variety of +circumstances, it appeared, that their plantations were considerably +more profitable when worked by free men, than when worked, as before, by +slaves; and that they derived therefore, contrary to their expectations, +a considerable advantage from their benevolence. + +Animated by the example of the Quakers, the members of other sects began +to deliberate about adopting the same measure. Some of those of the +church of England, of the Roman Catholicks, and of the Presbyterians and +Independants, freed their slaves; and there happened but one instance, +where the matter was debated, where it was not immediately put in force. +This was in _Pennsylvania_. It was agitated in the synod of the +Presbyterians there, to oblige their members to liberate their slaves. +The question was negatived by a majority of but one person; and this +opposition seemed to arise rather from a dislike to the attempt of +forcing such a measure upon the members of that community, than from any +other consideration. I have the pleasure of being credibly informed, +that the manumission of slaves, or the employment of free men in the +plantations, is now daily gaining ground in North America. Should +slavery be abolished there, (and it is an event, which, from these +circumstances, we may reasonably expect to be produced in time) let it +be remembered, that the Quakers will have had the merit of its +abolition. + +Nor have their brethren here been less assiduous in the cause. As there +are happily no slaves in this country, so they have not had the same +opportunity of shewing their benevolence by a general emancipation. They +have not however omitted to shew it as far as they have been able. At +their religious meetings they have regularly inquired if any of their +members are concerned in the iniquitous _African_ trade. They have +appointed a committee for obtaining every kind of information on the +subject, with a view to its suppression, and, about three or four years +ago, petitioned parliament on the occasion for their interference and +support. I am sorry to add, that their benevolent application was +ineffectual, and that the reformation of an evil, productive of +consequences equally impolitick and immoral, and generally acknowledged +to have long disgraced our national character, is yet left to the +unsupported efforts of piety morality and justice, against interest +violence and oppression; and these, I blush to acknowledge, too strongly +countenanced by the legislative authority of a country, the basis of +whose government is _liberty_. + +Nothing can be more clearly shewn, than that an inexhaustible mine of +wealth is neglected in _Africa_, for prosecution of this impious +traffick; that, if proper measures were taken, the revenue of this +country might be greatly improved, its naval strength increased, its +colonies in a more flourishing situation, the planters richer, and a +trade, which is now a scene of blood and desolation, converted into one, +which might be prosecuted with _advantage_ and _honour_. + +Such have been the exertions of the Quakers in the cause of humanity +and virtue. They are still prosecuting, as far as they are able, their +benevolent design; and I should stop here and praise them for thus +continuing their humane endeavours, but that I conceive it to be +unnecessary. They are acting consistently with the principles of +religion. They will find a reward in their own consciences; and they +will receive more real pleasure from a single reflection on their +conduct, than they can possibly experience from the praises of an host +of writers. + +In giving this short account of those humane and worthy persons, who +have endeavoured to restore to their fellow creatures the rights of +nature, of which they had been unjustly deprived, I would feel myself +unjust, were I to omit two zealous opposers of the _colonial_ tyranny, +conspicuous at the present day. + +The first is Mr. _Granville Sharp_. This Gentleman has particularly +distinguished himself in the cause of freedom. It is a notorious fact, +that, but a few years since, many of the unfortunate black people, who +had been brought from the colonies into this country, were sold in the +metropolis to merchants and others, when their masters had no farther +occasion for their services; though it was always understood that every +person was free, as soon as he landed on the British shore. In +consequence of this notion, these unfortunate black people, refused to +go to the new masters, to whom they were consigned. They were however +seized, and forcibly conveyed, under cover of the night, to ships then +lying in the _Thames_, to be retransported to the colonies, and to be +delivered again to the planters as merchantable goods. The humane Mr. +_Sharpe_, was the means of putting a stop to this iniquitous traffick. +Whenever he gained information of people in such a situation, he caused +them to be brought on shore. At a considerable expence he undertook +their cause, and was instrumental in obtaining the famous decree in the +case of _Somersett_, that as soon as any person whatever set his foot in +this country, he came under the protection of the _British_ laws, and was +consequently free. Nor did he interfere less honourably in that cruel +and disgraceful case, in the summer of the year 1781, when _an hundred +and thirty two_ negroes, in their passage to the colonies, were thrown +into the sea alive, to defraud the underwriters; but his pious +endeavours were by no means attended with the same success. To enumerate +his many laudable endeavours in the extirpation of tyranny and +oppression, would be to swell the preface into a volume: suffice it to +say, that he has written several books on the subject, and one +particularly, which he distinguishes by the title of "_A Limitation of +Slavery_." + +The second is the _Rev. James Ramsay_. This gentleman resided for +many years in the _West-Indies_, in the clerical office. He perused +all the colonial codes of law, with a view to find if there were any +favourable clauses, by which the grievances of slaves could be +redressed; but he was severely disappointed in his pursuits. He +published a treatise, since his return to England, called _An Essay on +the Treatment and Conversion of African Slaves in the British Sugar +Colonies_, which I recommend to the perusal of the humane reader. +This work reflects great praise upon the author, since, in order to be +of service to this singularly oppressed part of the human species, he +compiled it at the expence of forfeiting that friendship, which he had +contracted with many in those parts, during a series of years, and at +the hazard, as I am credibly informed, of suffering much, in his private +property, as well as of subjecting himself to the ill will and +persecution of numerous individuals. + +This Essay _on the Treatment and Conversion of African Slaves_, +contains so many important truths on the colonial slavery, and has come +so home to the planters, (being written by a person who has a thorough +knowledge of the subject) as to have occasioned a considerable alarm. +Within the last eight months, two publications have expressly appeared +against it. One of them is intitled "_Cursory Remarks_ on Mr. +Ramsay's Essay;" the other an "_Apology for Negroe Slavery_." On +each of these I am bound, as writing on the subject, to make a few +remarks. + +The _cursory remarker_ insinuates, that Mr. Ramsay's account of the +treatment is greatly exaggerated, if not wholly false. To this I shall +make the following reply. I have the honour of knowing several +disinterested gentlemen, who have been acquainted with the West Indian +islands for years. I call them disinterested, because they have neither +had a concern in the _African_ trade, nor in the _colonial_ +slavery: and I have heard these unanimously assert, that Mr. +_Ramsay's_ account is so far from being exaggerated, or taken from +the most dreary pictures that he could find, that it is absolutely below +the truth; that he must have omitted many instances of cruelty, which he +had seen himself; and that they only wondered, how he could have written +with so much moderation upon the subject. They allow the _Cursory +Remarks_ to be excellent as a composition, but declare that it is +perfectly devoid of truth. + +But the _cursory remarker_ does not depend so much on the +circumstances which he has advanced, (nor can he, since they have no +other existence than in his own, brain) as on the instrument +_detraction_. This he has used with the utmost virulence through +the whole of his publication, artfully supposing, that if he could bring +Mr. _Ramsay's_ reputation into dispute, his work would fall of +course, as of no authenticity. I submit this simple question to the +reader. When a writer, in attempting to silence a publication, attacks +the character of its author, rather than the principles of the work +itself, is it not a proof that the work itself is unquestionable, and +that this writer is at a loss to find an argument against it? + +But there is something so very ungenerous in this mode of replication, +as to require farther notice. For if this is the mode to be adopted in +literary disputes, what writer can be safe? Or who is there, that will +not be deterred from taking up his pen in the cause of virtue? There are +circumstances in every person's life, which, if given to the publick in +a malevolent manner, and without explanation, might essentially injure +him in the eyes of the world; though, were they explained, they would be +even reputable. The _cursory remarker_ has adopted this method of +dispute; but Mr. _Ramsay_ has explained himself to the satisfaction +of all parties, and has refuted him in every point. The name of this +_cursory remarker_ is _Tobin_: a name, which I feel myself +obliged to hand down with detestation, as far as I am able; and with an +hint to future writers, that they will do themselves more credit, and +serve more effectually the cause which they undertake, if on such +occasions they attack the work, rather than the character of the writer, +who affords them a subject for their lucubrations. + +Nor is this the only circumstance, which induces me to take such +particular notice of the _Cursory Remarks_. I feel it incumbent +upon me to rescue an injured person from the cruel aspersions that have +been thrown upon him, as I have been repeatedly informed by those, who +have the pleasure of his acquaintance, that his character is +irreproachable. I am also interested myself. For if such detraction is +passed over in silence, my own reputation, and not my work, may be +attacked by an anonymous hireling in the cause of slavery. + +The _Apology for Negroe Slavery_ is almost too despicable a +composition to merit a reply. I have only therefore to observe, (as is +frequently the case in a bad cause, or where writers do not confine +themselves to truth) that the work refutes itself. This writer, speaking +of the slave-trade, asserts, that people are never kidnapped on the +coast of _Africa_. In speaking of the treatment of slaves, he +asserts again, that it is of the very mildest nature, and that they live +in the most comfortable and happy manner imaginable. To prove each of +his assertions, he proposes the following regulations. That the +_stealing_ of slaves from _Africa_ should be felony. That the +_premeditated murder_ of a slave by any person on board, should +come under the same denomination. That when slaves arrive in the +colonies, lands should be allotted for their provisions, _in +proportion to their number_, or commissioners should see that a +_sufficient_ quantity of _sound wholesome_ provisions is +purchased. That they should not work on _Sundays_ and _other_ +holy-days. That extra labour, or _night-work, out of crop_, should +be prohibited. That a _limited number_ of stripes should be +inflicted upon them. That they should have _annually_ a suit of +clothes. That old infirm slaves should be _properly cared for_, +&c.--Now it can hardly be conceived, that if this author had tried to +injure his cause, or contradict himself, he could not have done it in a +more effectual manner, than by this proposal of these salutary +regulations. For to say that slaves are honourably obtained on the +coast; to say that their treatment is of the mildest nature, and yet to +propose the above-mentioned regulations as necessary, is to refute +himself more clearly, than I confess myself to be able to do it: and I +have only to request, that the regulations proposed by this writer, in +the defence of slavery, may be considered as so many proofs of the +assertions contained in my own work. + +I shall close my account with an observation, which is of great +importance in the present case. Of all the publications in favour of the +slave-trade, or the subsequent slavery in the colonies, there is not +one, which has not been written, either by a chaplain to the African +factories, or by a merchant, or by a planter, or by a person whose +interest has been connected in the cause which he has taken upon him to +defend. Of this description are Mr. _Tobin_, and the _Apologist +for Negroe Slavery_. While on the other hand those, who have had as +competent a knowledge of the subject, but not the _same interest_ +as themselves, have unanimously condemned it; and many of them have +written their sentiments upon it, at the hazard of creating an +innumerable host of enemies, and of being subjected to the most +malignant opposition. Now, which of these are we to believe on the +occasion? Are we to believe those, who are parties concerned, who are +interested in the practice?--But the question does not admit of a +dispute. + +Concerning my own work, it seems proper to observe, that when, the +original Latin Dissertation, as the title page expresses, was honoured +by the University of Cambridge with the first of their annual prizes for +the year 1785, I was waited upon by some gentlemen of respectability and +consequence, who requested me to publish it in English. The only +objection which occurred to me was this; that having been prevented, by +an attention to other studies, from obtaining that critical knowledge of +my own language, which was necessary for an English composition, I was +fearful of appearing before the publick eye: but that, as they flattered +me with the hope, that the publication of it might be of use, I would +certainly engage to publish it, if they would allow me to postpone it +for a little time, till I was more in the habit of writing. They +replied, that as the publick attention was now excited to the case of +the unfortunate _Africans_, it would be serving the cause with +double the effect, if it were to be published within a few months. This +argument prevailed. Nothing but this circumstance could have induced me +to offer an English composition to the inspection of an host of +criticks: and I trust therefore that this circumstance will plead much +with the benevolent reader, in favour of those faults, which he may find +in the present work. + +Having thus promised to publish it, I was for some time doubtful from +which of the copies to translate. There were two, the original, and an +abridgement. The latter (as these academical compositions are generally +of a certain length) was that which was sent down to Cambridge, and +honoured with the prize. I was determined however, upon consulting with +my friends, to translate from the former. This has been faithfully done +with but few[003] additions. The reader will probably perceive the Latin +idiom in several passages of the work, though I have endeavoured, as far +as I have been able, to avoid it. And I am so sensible of the +disadvantages under which it must yet lie, as a translation, that I wish +I had written upon the subject, without any reference at all to the +original copy. + +It will perhaps be asked, from what authority I have collected those +facts, which relate to the colonial slavery. I reply, that I have had +the means of the very best of information on the subject; having the +pleasure of being acquainted with many, both in the naval and military +departments, as well as with several others, who have been long +acquainted with _America_ and the _West-Indian_ islands. The +facts therefore which I have related, are compiled from the +disinterested accounts of these gentlemen, all of whom, I have the +happiness to say, have coincided, in the minutest manner, in their +descriptions. It mud be remarked too, that they were compiled, not from +what these gentlemen heard, while they were resident in those parts, but +from what they actually _saw_. Nor has a single instance been taken +from any book whatever upon the subject, except that which is mentioned +in the 235th page; and this book was published in _France_, in the +year 1777, by _authority_. + +I have now the pleasure to say, that the accounts of these disinterested +gentlemen, whom I consulted on the occasion, are confirmed by all the +books which I have ever perused upon slavery, except those which have +been written by _merchants, planters, &c_. They are confirmed by +Sir _Hans Sloane's_ Voyage to Barbadoes; _Griffith Hughes's_ +History of the same island, printed 1750; an Account of North America, +by _Thomas Jeffries_, 1761; all _Benezet's_ works, &c. &c. and +particularly by Mr. _Ramsay's_ Essay on the Treatment and +Conversion of the African Slaves in the British Sugar Colonies; a work +which is now firmly established; and, I may add in a very extraordinary +manner, in consequence of the controversy which this gentleman has +sustained with the _Cursory Remarker_, by which several facts which +were mentioned in the original copy of my own work, before the +controversy began, and which had never appeared in any work upon the +subject, have been brought to light. Nor has it received less support +from a letter, published only last week, from Capt. J.S. Smith, of the +Royal Navy, to the Rev. Mr. Hill; on the former of whom too high +encomiums cannot be bestowed, for standing forth in that noble and +disinterested manner, in behalf of an injured character. + +I have now only to solicit the reader again, that he will make a +favourable allowance for the present work, not only from those +circumstances which I have mentioned, but from the consideration, that +only two months are allowed by the University for these their annual +compositions. Should he however be unpropitious to my request, I must +console myself with the reflection, (a reflection that will always +afford me pleasure, even amidst the censures of the great,) that by +undertaking the cause of the unfortunate _Africans_, I have +undertaken, as far as my abilities would permit, the cause of injured +innocence. + +London, June 1st 1786. + + * * * * * + +FOOTNOTES + + +[Footnote 001: A Description of Guinea, with an Inquiry into the Rise +and Progress of the Slave Trade, &c.--A Caution to Great Britain and her +Colonies, in a short Representation of the calamitous State of the +enslaved Negroes in the British Dominions. Besides several smaller +pieces.] + + +[Footnote 002: They had censured the _African Trade_ in the year +1727, but had taken no publick notice of the _colonial_ slavery +till this time.] + + +[Footnote 003: The instance of the _Dutch_ colonists at the Cape, +in the first part of the Essay; the description of an African battle, in +the second; and the poetry of a negroe girl in the third, are the only +considerable additions that have been made.] + + + * * * * * + + +CONTENTS. + + + * * * * * + + +PART I. + +The History of Slavery. + + CHAP. I. Introduction.--Division of slavery into voluntary and + involuntary.--The latter the subject of the present work.--Chap. II. + The first class of involuntary slaves among the ancients, from + war.--Conjecture concerning their antiquity.--Chap. III. The second + class from piracy.--Short history of piracy.--The dance + carpoea.--Considerations from hence on the former topick.--Three + orders of involuntary slaves among the ancients.--Chap. IV. Their + personal treatment.--Exception in AEgypt.--Exception at + Athens.--Chap. V. The causes of such treatment among the ancients in + general.--Additional causes among the Greeks and Romans.--A + refutation of their principles.--Remarks on the writings of + AEsop.--Chap. VI. The ancient slave-trade.--Its antiquity.--AEgypt + the first market recorded for this species of traffick.--Cyprus the + second.--The agreement of the writings of Moses and Homer on the + subject.--The universal prevalence of the trade.--Chap. VII. The + decline of this commerce and slavery in Europe.--The causes of + their decline.--Chap. VIII. Their revival in Africa.--Short history + of their revival.--Five classes of involuntary slaves among the + moderns.--Cruel instance of the Dutch colonists at the Cape. + + + * * * * * + + +PART II. + +The African Commerce or Slave-Trade. + + CHAP. I. The history of mankind from their first situation to a + state of government.--Chap. II. An account of the first + governments.--Chap. III. Liberty a natural right.--That of + government adventitious.--Government, its nature.--Its end.--Chap. + IV. Mankind cannot be considered as property.--An objection + answered.--Chap. V. Division of the commerce into two parts, as it + relates to those who sell, and those who purchase the human species + into slavery.--The right of the sellers examined with respect to + the two orders of African slaves, "of those who are publickly seized + by virtue of the authority of their prince, and of those, who are + kidnapped by individuals."--Chap. VI. Their right with respect to + convicts.--From the proportion of the punishment to the + offence.--From its object and end.--Chap. VII. Their right with + respect to prisoners of war.--The jus captivitatis, or right of + capture explained.--Its injustice.--Farther explication of the + right of capture, in answer to some supposed objections.--Chap. + VIII. Additional remarks on the two orders that were first + mentioned.--The number which they annually contain.--A description + of an African battle.--Additional remarks on prisoners of war.--On + convicts.--Chap. IX. The right of the purchasers + examined.--Conclusion. + + + * * * * * + + +PART III. + +The Slavery of the Africans in the European +Colonies. + + CHAP. I. Imaginary scene in Africa.--Imaginary conversation with an + African.--His ideas of Christianity.--A Description of a body of + slaves going to the ships.--Their embarkation.--Chap. II. Their + treatment on board.--The number that annually perish in the + voyage.--Horrid instance at sea.--Their debarkation in the + colonies.--Horrid instance on the shore.--Chap. III. The condition + of their posterity in the colonies.--The lex nativitatis + explained.--Its injustice.--Chap. IV. The seasoning in the + colonies.--The number that annually die in the seasoning.--The + employment of the survivors.--The colonial discipline.--Its + tendency to produce cruelty.--Horrid instance of this + effect.--Immoderate labour, and its consequences.--Want of food + and its consequences.--Severity and its consequences.--The forlorn + situation of slaves.--An appeal to the memory of Alfred.--Chap. V. + The contents of the two preceding chapters denied by the + purchasers.--Their first argument refuted.--Their second + refuted.--Their third refuted.--Chap. VI. Three arguments, which + they bring in vindication of their treatment, refuted.--Chap. VII. + The argument, that the Africans are an inferiour link of the chain + of nature, as far as it relates to their genius, refuted.--The + causes of this apparent inferiority.--Short dissertation on African + genius.--Poetry of an African girl.--Chap. VIII. The argument, that + they are an inferiour link of the chain of nature, as far as it + relates to colour, &c. refuted.--Examination of the divine writings + in this particular.--Dissertation on the colour.--Chap. IX. Other + arguments of the purchasers examined.--Their comparisons + unjust.--Their assertions, with respect to the happy situation of + the Africans in the colonies, without foundation.--Their happiness + examined with respect to manumission.--With respect to + holy-days.--Dances, &c.--An estimate made at St. Domingo.--Chap. X. + The right of the purchasers over their slaves refuted upon their own + principles.--Chap. XI. Dreadful arguments against this commerce and + slavery of the human species.--How the Deity seems already to punish + us for this inhuman violation of his laws.--Conclusion. + + + * * * * * + + +ERRATA. + + For _Dominique_, (Footnote 107) read _Domingue_. + + N. B. In page 18 a Latin note has been inserted by mistake, under + the quotation of Diodorus Siculus. The reader will find the original + Greek of the same signification, in the same author, at page 49. + Editio Stephani. + + + * * * * * + + + +AN ESSAY + +ON THE SLAVERY and COMMERCE + +OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. + + +IN THREE PARTS. + + + * * * * * + + + +PART I. + +THE HISTORY OF SLAVERY. + + + * * * * * + + + +CHAP. I. + +When civilized, as well as barbarous nations, have been found, through a +long succession of ages, uniformly to concur in the same customs, there +seems to arise a presumption, that such customs are not only eminently +useful, but are founded also on the principles of justice. Such is the +case with respect to _Slavery_: it has had the concurrence of all +the nations, which history has recorded, and the repeated practice of +ages from the remotest antiquity, in its favour. Here then is an +argument, deduced from the general consent and agreement of mankind, in +favour of the proposed subject: but alas! when we reflect that the +people, thus reduced to a state of servitude, have had the same feelings +with ourselves; when we reflect that they have had the same propensities +to pleasure, and the same aversions from pain; another argument seems +immediately to arise in opposition to the former, deduced from our own +feelings and that divine sympathy, which nature has implanted in our +breasts, for the most useful and generous of purposes. To ascertain the +truth therefore, where two such opposite sources of argument occur; +where the force of custom pleads strongly on the one hand, and the +feelings of humanity on the other; is a matter of much importance, as +the dignity of human nature is concerned, and the rights and liberties +of mankind will be involved in its discussion. + +It will be necessary, before this point can be determined, to consult +the History of Slavery, and to lay before the reader, in as concise a +manner as possible, a general view of it from its earliest appearance to +the present day. + +The first, whom we shall mention here to have been reduced to a state of +servitude, may be comprehended in that class, which is usually +denominated the _Mercenary_. It consisted of free-born citizens, +who, from the various contingencies of fortune, had become so poor, as +to have recourse for their support to the service of the rich. Of this +kind were those, both among the Egyptians and the Jews, who are recorded +in the sacred writings.[004] The Grecian _Thetes_[005] also were of +this description, as well as those among the Romans, from whom the class +receives its appellation, the [006]_Mercenarii_. + +We may observe of the above-mentioned, that their situation was in many +instances similar to that of our own servants. There was an express +contract between the parties; they could, most of them, demand their +discharge, if they were ill used by their respective masters; and they +were treated therefore with more humanity than those, whom we usually +distinguish in our language by the appellation of _Slaves_. + +As this class of servants was composed of men, who had been reduced to +such a situation by the contingencies of fortune, and not by their own +misconduct; so there was another among the ancients, composed entirely +of those, who had suffered the loss of liberty from their own +imprudence. To this class may be reduced the Grecian _Prodigals_, +who were detained in the service of their creditors, till the fruits of +their labour were equivalent to their debts; the _delinquents_, who +were sentenced to the oar; and the German _enthusiasts_, as +mentioned by Tacitus, who were so immoderately charmed with gaming, as, +when every thing else was gone, to have staked their liberty and their +very selves. "The loser," says he, "goes into a voluntary servitude, and +though younger and stronger than the person with whom he played, +patiently suffers himself to be bound and sold. Their perseverance in +so bad a custom is stiled honour. The slaves, thus obtained, are +immediately exchanged away in commerce, that the winner may get rid of +the scandal of his victory." + +To enumerate other instances, would be unnecessary; it will be +sufficient to observe, that the servants of this class were in a far +more wretched situation, than those of the former; their drudgery was +more intense; their treatment more severe; and there was no retreat at +pleasure, from the frowns and lashes of their despotick masters. + +Having premised this, we may now proceed to a general division of +slavery, into _voluntary_ and _involuntary_. The _voluntary_ +will comprehend the two classes, which we have already mentioned; +for, in the first instance, there was a _contract_, founded +on _consent_; and, in the second, there was a _choice_ of +engaging or not in those practices, the known consequences of which +were servitude. The _involuntary_; on the other hand, will +comprehend those, who were forced, without any such _condition_ or +_choice_, into a situation, which as it tended to degrade a part of +the human species, and to class it with the brutal, must have been, of +all human situations, the most wretched and insupportable. These are +they, whom we shall consider solely in the present work. We shall +therefore take our leave of the former, as they were mentioned only, +that we might state the question with greater accuracy, and, be the +better enabled to reduce it to its proper limits. + + + * * * * * + + +FOOTNOTES + + +[Footnote 004: Genesis, Ch. 47. Leviticus XXV. v. 39, 40.] + + +[Footnote 005: The _Thetes_ appear very early in the Grecian +History.--kai tines auto kouroi epont'Ithakes exairetoi; he eoi autou +thentes te Dmoes(?) te; Od. Homer. D. 642. They were afterwards so much +in use that, "Murioi depou apedidonto eautous ose douleuein kata +sungraphen," till Solon suppressed the custom in Athens.] + + +[Footnote 006: The mention of these is frequent among the classics; they +were called in general _mercenarii_, from the circumstances of +their _hire_, as "quibus, non male praecipiunt, qui ita jubent uti, +ut _mercenariis_, operam exigendam, justa proebenda. Cicero de +off." But they are sometimes mentioned in the law books by the name of +_liberi_, from the circumstances of their _birth_, to distinguish +them from the _alieni_, or foreigners, as Justinian. D. 7. 8. 4. +--Id. 21. 1. 25. &c. &c. &c.] + + + * * * * * + + + +CHAP. II. + +The first that will be mentioned, of the _involuntary_, were +_prisoners of war_.[007] "It was a law, established from time +immemorial among the nations of antiquity, to oblige those to undergo +the severities of servitude, whom victory had thrown into their hands." +Conformably with this, we find all the Eastern nations unanimous in the +practice. The same custom prevailed among the people of the West; for as +the Helots became the slaves of the Spartans, from the right of conquest +only, so prisoners of war were reduced to the same situation by the rest +of the inhabitants of Greece. By the same principles that actuated +these, were the Romans also influenced. Their History will confirm the +fact: for how many cities are recorded to have been taken; how many +armies to have been vanquished in the field, and the wretched survivors, +in both instances, to have been doomed to servitude? It remains only now +to observe, in shewing this custom to have been universal, that all +those nations which assisted in overturning the Roman Empire, though +many and various, adopted the same measures; for we find it a general +maxim in their polity, that whoever should fall into their hands as a +prisoner of war, should immediately be reduced to the condition of a +slave. + +It may here, perhaps, be not unworthy of remark, that the +_involuntary_ were of greater antiquity than the _voluntary_ +slaves. The latter are first mentioned in the time of Pharaoh: they +could have arisen only in a state of society; when property, after its +division, had become so unequal, as to multiply the wants of +individuals; and when government, after its establishment, had given +security to the possessor by the punishment of crimes. Whereas the +former seem to be dated with more propriety from the days of Nimrod; who +gave rise probably to that inseparable idea of _victory_ and +_servitude_, which we find among the nations of antiquity, and +which has existed uniformly since, in one country or another, to the +present day.[008] + +Add to this, that they might have arisen even in a state of nature, and +have been coequal with the quarrels of mankind. + + + * * * * * + +FOOTNOTES + + +[Footnote 007: "Nomos en pasin anthropois aidios esin, otan polemounton +polis alo, ton elonton einai kai ta somata ton en te poleis, kai ta +chremata." Xenoph. Kyrou Paid. L. 7. fin.] + + +[Footnote 008: + +"Proud Nimrod first the bloody chace began, +A mighty hunter, and his prey was man." + +--POPE.] + + + * * * * * + + + +CHAP. III. + +But it was not victory alone, or any presupposed right, founded in the +damages of war, that afforded a pretence for invading the liberties of +mankind: the honourable light, in which _piracy_ was considered in +the uncivilized ages of the world, contributed not a little to the +_slavery_ of the human species. Piracy had a very early beginning. +"The Grecians,"[009] says Thucydides, "in their primitive state, as well +as the contemporary barbarians, who inhabited the sea coasts and +islands, gave themselves wholly to it; it was, in short, their only +profession and support." The writings of Homer are sufficient of +themselves to establish this account. They shew it to have been a common +practice at so early a period as that of the Trojan war; and abound with +many lively descriptions of it; which, had they been as groundless as +they are beautiful, would have frequently spared the sigh of the reader +of sensibility and reflection. + +The piracies, which were thus practised in the early ages, may be +considered as _publick_ or _private_. In the former, whole +crews embarked for the benefit[010] of their respective tribes. They +made descents on the sea coasts, carried off cattle, surprized whole +villages, put many of the inhabitants to the sword, and carried others +into slavery. + +In the latter, individuals only were concerned, and the emolument was +their own. These landed from their ships, and, going up into the +country, concealed themselves in the woods and thickets; where they +waited every opportunity of catching the unfortunate shepherd or +husbandman alone. In this situation they sallied out upon him, dragged +him on board, conveyed him to a foreign market, and sold him for a +slave. + +To this kind of piracy Ulysses alludes, in opposition to the former, +which he had been just before mentioning, in his question to Eumoeus. + + +"Did pirates wait, till all thy friends were gone, +To catch thee singly with thy flocks alone; +Say, did they force thee from thy fleecy care, +And from thy fields transport and sell thee here?"[011] + + +But no picture, perhaps, of this mode of depredation, is equal to that, +with which[012] Xenophon presents us in the simple narrative of a dance. +He informs us that the Grecian army had concluded a peace with the +Paphlagonians, and that they entertained their embassadors in +consequence with a banquet, and the exhibition of various feats of +activity. "When the Thracians," says he, "had performed the parts +allotted them in this entertainment, some Aenianian and Magnetian +soldiers rose up, and, accoutred in their proper arms, exhibited that +dance, which is called _Karpoea_. The figure of it is thus. One of +them, in the character of an husbandman, is seen to till his land, and +is observed, as he drives his plough, to look frequently behind him, as +if apprehensive of danger. Another immediately appears in fight, in +the character of a robber. The husbandman, having seen him previously +advancing, snatches up his arms. A battle ensues before the plough. The +whole of this performance is kept in perfect time with the musick of the +flute. At length the robber, having got the better of the husbandman, +binds him, and drives him off with his team. Sometimes it happens that +the husbandman subdues the robber: in this case the scene is only +reversed, as the latter is then bound and driven, off by the former." + +It is scarcely necessary to observe, that this dance was a +representation of the general manners of men, in the more uncivilized +ages of the world; shewing that the husbandman and shepherd lived in +continual alarm, and that there were people in those ages, who derived +their pleasures and fortunes from _kidnapping_ and _enslaving_ +their fellow creatures. + +We may now take notice of a circumstance in this narration, which will +lead us to a review of our first assertion on this point, "that the +honourable light, in which _piracy_ was considered in the times of +barbarism, contributed not a little to the _slavery_ of the human +species." The robber is represented here as frequently defeated in his +attempts, and as reduced to that deplorable situation, to which he was +endeavouring to bring another. This shews the frequent difficulty and +danger of his undertakings: people would not tamely resign their lives +or liberties, without a struggle. They were sometimes prepared; were +superior often, in many points of view, to these invaders of their +liberty; there were an hundred accidental circumstances frequently in +their favour. These adventures therefore required all the skill, +strength, agility, valour, and every thing, in short, that may be +supposed to constitute heroism, to conduct them with success. Upon this +idea piratical expeditions first came into repute, and their frequency +afterwards, together with the danger and fortitude, that were +inseparably connected with them, brought them into such credit among the +barbarous nations of antiquity, that of all human professions, piracy +was the most honourable.[013] + +The notions then, which were thus annexed to piratical expeditions, did +not fail to produce those consequences, which we have mentioned before. +They afforded an opportunity to the views of avarice and ambition, to +conceal themselves under the mask of virtue. They excited a spirit of +enterprize, of all others the most irresistible, as it subsisted on the +strongest principles of action, emolument and honour. Thus could the +vilest of passions be gratified with impunity. People were robbed, +stolen, murdered, under the pretended idea that these were reputable +adventures: every enormity in short was committed, and dressed up in the +habiliments of honour. + +But as the notions of men in the less barbarous ages, which followed, +became more corrected and refined, the practice of piracy began +gradually to disappear. It had hitherto been supported on the grand +columns of _emolument_ and _honour_. When the latter therefore +was removed, it received a considerable shock; but, alas! it had still a +pillar for its support! _avarice_, which exists in all states, and +which is ready to turn every invention to its own ends, strained hard +for its preservation. It had been produced in the ages of barbarism; it +had been pointed out in those ages as lucrative, and under this notion +it was continued. People were still stolen; many were intercepted (some, +in their pursuits of pleasure, others, in the discharge of their several +occupations) by their own countrymen; who previously laid in wait for +them, and sold them afterwards for slaves; while others seized by +merchants, who traded on the different coasts, were torn from their +friends and connections, and carried into slavery. The merchants of +Thessaly, if we can credit Aristophanes[014] who never spared the vices +of the times, were particularly infamous for the latter kind of +depredation; the Athenians were notorious for the former; for they had +practised these robberies to such an alarming degree of danger to +individuals, that it was found necessary to enact a law[015], which +punished kidnappers with death.--But this is sufficient for our present +purpose; it will enable us to assert, that there were two classes of +_involuntary_ slaves among the ancients, "of those who were taken +publickly in a state of war, and of those who were privately stolen in +a state of innocence and peace." We may now add, that the children and +descendents of these composed a third. + + + * * * * * + + +FOOTNOTES + + +[Footnote 009: Thucydides. L. 1. sub initio.] + + +[Footnote 010: Idem.--"the strongest," says he, "engaging in these +adventures, Kerdous tou spheterou auton eneka kai tois asthenesi trophes."] + + +[Footnote 011: Homer. Odyss. L. 15. 385.] + + +[Footnote 012: Xenoph. Kyrou Anab. L. 6. sub initio.] + + +[Footnote 013: ouk echontos po Aischynen toutou tou ergou pherontos de +ti kai Doxes mallon. Thucydides, L. 1. sub initio. kai euklees touto +oi Kilikes enomizon. Sextus Empiricus. ouk adoxon all'endoxon touto. +Schol. &c. &c.] + + +[Footnote 014: Aristoph. Plut. Act. 2. Scene 5.] + + +[Footnote 015: Zenoph. Apomnemon, L. 1.] + + + * * * * * + + + +CHAP. IV. + +It will be proper to say something here concerning the situation of the +unfortunate men, who were thus doomed to a life of servitude. To +enumerate their various employments, and to describe the miseries which +they endured in consequence, either from the severity, or the long and +constant application of their labour, would exceed the bounds we have +proposed to the present work. We shall confine ourselves to their +_personal treatment_, as depending on the power of their masters, and +the protection of the law. Their treatment, if considered in this light, +will equally excite our pity and abhorrence. They were beaten, starved, +tortured, murdered at discretion: they were dead in a civil sense; they +had neither name nor tribe; were incapable of a judicial process; were +in short without appeal. Poor unfortunate men! to be deprived of all +possible protection! to suffer the bitterest of injuries without the +possibility of redress! to be condemned unheard! to be murdered with +impunity! to be considered as dead in that state, the very members of +which they were supporting by their labours! + +Yet such was their general situation: there were two places however, +where their condition, if considered in this point of view, was more +tolerable. The AEgyptian slave, though perhaps of all others the greatest +drudge, yet if he had time to reach the temple[016] of Hercules, found a +certain retreat from the persecution of his master; and he received +additional comfort from the reflection, that his life, whether he could +reach it or not, could not be taken with impunity. Wise and salutary +law![017] how often must it have curbed the insolence of power, and +stopped those passions in their progress, which had otherwise been +destructive to the slave! + +But though the persons of slaves were thus greatly secured in AEgypt, yet +there was no place so favourable to them as Athens. They were allowed a +greater liberty of speech;[018] they had their convivial meetings, their +amours, their hours of relaxation, pleasantry, and mirth; they were +treated, in short, with so much humanity in general, as to occasion that +observation of Demosthenes, in his second Philippick, "that the +condition of a slave, at Athens, was preferable to that of a free +citizen, in many other countries." But if any exception happened (which +was sometimes the case) from the general treatment described; if +persecution took the place of lenity, and made the fangs of servitude +more pointed than before,[019] they had then their temple, like the +AEgyptian, for refuge; where the legislature was so attentive, as to +examine their complaints, and to order them, if they were founded in +justice, to be sold to another master. Nor was this all: they had a +privilege infinitely greater than the whole of these. They were allowed +an opportunity of working for themselves, and if their diligence had +procured them a sum equivalent with their ransom, they could +immediately, on paying it down,[020] demand their freedom for ever. This +law was, of all others, the most important; as the prospect of liberty, +which it afforded, must have been a continual source of the most +pleasing reflections, and have greatly sweetened the draught, even of +the most bitter slavery. + +Thus then, to the eternal honour of AEgypt and Athens, they were the only +places that we can find, where slaves were considered with any humanity +at all. The rest of the world seemed to vie with each other, in the +debasement and oppression of these unfortunate people. They used them +with as much severity as they chose; they measured their treatment only +by their own passion and caprice; and, by leaving them on every +occasion, without the possibility of an appeal, they rendered their +situation the most melancholy and intolerable, that can possibly be +conceived. + + + * * * * * + + +FOOTNOTES + + +[Footnote 016: Herodotus. L. 2. 113.] + + +[Footnote 017: "Apud AEgyptios, si quis servum sponte occiderat, eum +morte damnari aeque ac si liberum occidisset, jubebant leges &c." +Diodorus Sic. L. 1.] + + +[Footnote 018: + +"Atq id ne vos miremini, Homines servulos +Potare, amare, atq ad coenam condicere. +Licet hoc Athenis. +Plautus. Sticho." +] + + +[Footnote 019: +"Be me kratison esin eis to Theseion +Dramein, ekei d'eos an eurombou prasin +menein" Aristoph. Horae. + +Kaka toiade paskousin oude prasin +Aitousin. Eupolis. poleis.] + + +[Footnote 020: To this privilege Plautus alludes in his _Casina_, +where he introduces a slave, speaking in the following manner. + +"Quid tu me vero libertate territas? +Quod si tu nolis, siliusque etiam tuus +Vobis _invitis_, atq amborum _ingratiis_, +_Una libella liber possum fieri_." +] + + + * * * * * + + + +CHAP. V. + +As we have mentioned the barbarous and inhuman treatment that generally +fell to the lot of slaves, it may not be amiss to inquire into the +various circumstances by which it was produced. + +The first circumstance, from whence it originated, was the +_commerce_: for if men could be considered as _possessions_; +if, like _cattle_, they could be _bought_ and _sold_, it +will not be difficult to suppose, that they could be held in the same +consideration, or treated in the same manner. The commerce therefore, +which was begun in the primitive ages of the world, by classing them +with the brutal species, and by habituating the mind to consider the +terms of _brute_ and _slave_ as _synonimous_, soon caused +them to be viewed in a low and despicable light, and as greatly +inferiour to the human species. Hence proceeded that treatment, which +might not unreasonably be supposed to arise from so low an estimation. +They were tamed, like beasts, by the stings of hunger and the lash, and +their education was directed to the same end, to make them commodious +instruments of labour for their possessors. + +This _treatment_, which thus proceeded in the ages of barbarism, +from the low estimation, in which slaves were unfortunately held from +the circumstances of the commerce, did not fail of producing, in the +same instant, its _own_ effect. It depressed their minds; it numbed +their faculties; and, by preventing those sparks of genius from blazing +forth, which had otherwise been conspicuous; it gave them the appearance +of being endued with inferiour capacities than the rest of mankind. This +effect of the _treatment_ had made so considerable a progress, as +to have been a matter of observation in the days of Homer. + + +For half _his_ senses Jove conveys away, +_Whom_ once he dooms to see the _servile_ day.[021] + + +Thus then did the _commerce_, by classing them originally with +_brutes_, and the consequent _treatment_, by cramping their +_abilities_, and hindering them from becoming _conspicuous_, +give to these unfortunate people, at a very early period, the most +unfavourable _appearance_. The rising generations, who received +both the commerce and treatment from their ancestors, and who had always +been accustomed to behold their _effects_, did not consider these +_effects_ as _incidental_: they judged only from what they +saw; they believed the _appearances_ to be _real_; and hence +arose the combined principle, that slaves were an _inferiour_ order +of men, and perfectly void of _understanding_. Upon this +_principle_ it was, that the former treatment began to be fully +confirmed and established; and as this _principle_ was handed down +and disseminated, so it became, in succeeding ages, an _excuse_ for +any severity, that despotism might suggest. + +We may observe here, that as all nations had this excuse in common, as +arising from the _circumstances_ above-mentioned, so the Greeks +first, and the Romans afterwards, had an _additional excuse_, as +arising from their own _vanity_. + +The former having conquered Troy, and having united themselves under one +common name and interest, began, from that period, to distinguish the +rest of the world by the title of _barbarians_; inferring by such +an appellation, "that they were men who were only noble in their own +country; that they had no right, from their _nature_, to authority +or command; that, on the contrary, so low were their capacities, they +were _destined_ by nature _to obey_, and to live in a state of +perpetual drudgery and subjugation."[022] Conformable with this opinion +was the treatment, which was accordingly prescribed to a +_barbarian_. The philosopher Aristotle himself, in the advice which +he gave to his pupil Alexander, before he went upon his Asiatick +expedition, intreated him to "use the Greeks, as it became a +_general_, but the _barbarians_, as it became a _master_; +consider, says he, the former as _friends_ and _domesticks_; +but the latter, as _brutes_ and _plants_;"[023] inferring that +the Greeks, from the superiority of their capacities, had a +_natural_ right to dominion, and that the rest of the world, from +the inferiority of their own, were to be considered and treated as the +_irrational_ part of the creation. + +Now, if we consider that this was the treatment, which they judged to be +absolutely proper for people of this description, and that their slaves +were uniformly those, whom they termed _barbarians_; being +generally such, as were either kidnapped from _Barbary_, or +purchased from the _barbarian_ conquerors in their wars with one +another; we shall immediately see, with what an additional excuse their +own vanity had furnished them for the sallies of caprice and passion. + +To refute these cruel sentiments of the ancients, and to shew that their +slaves were by no means an inferiour order of beings than themselves, +may perhaps be considered as an unnecessary task; particularly, as +having shewn, that the causes of this inferiour appearance were +_incidental_, arising, on the one hand, from the combined effects +of the _treatment_ and _commerce_, and, on the other, from +_vanity_ and _pride_, we seem to have refuted them already. +But we trust that some few observations, in vindication of these +unfortunate people, will neither be unacceptable nor improper. + +How then shall we begin the refutation? Shall we say with Seneca, who +saw many of the slaves in question, "What is a _knight_, or a +_libertine_, or a _slave_? Are they not names, assumed either +from _injury_ or _ambition_?" Or, shall we say with him on +another occasion, "Let us consider that he, whom we call our slave, is +born in the same manner as ourselves; that he enjoys the same sky, with +all its heavenly luminaries; that he breathes, that he lives, in the +same manner as ourselves, and, in the same manner, that he expires." +These considerations, we confess, would furnish us with a plentiful +source of arguments in the case before us; but we decline their +assistance. How then shall we begin? Shall we enumerate the many +instances of fidelity, patience, or valour, that are recorded of the +_servile_ race? Shall we enumerate the many important services, +that they rendered both to the individuals and the community, under whom +they lived? Here would be a second source, from whence we could collect +sufficient materials to shew, that there was no inferiority in their +nature. But we decline to use them. We shall content ourselves with some +few instances, that relate to the _genius_ only: we shall mention +the names of those of a _servile_ condition, whose writings, having +escaped the wreck of time, and having been handed down even to the +present age, are now to be seen, as so many living monuments, that +neither the Grecian, nor Roman genius, was superiour to their own. + +The first, whom we shall mention here, is the famous AEsop. He was a +Phrygian by birth, and lived in the time of Croesus, king of Lydia, to +whom he dedicated his fables. The writings of this great man, in +whatever light we consider them, will be equally entitled to our +admiration. But we are well aware, that the very mention of him as a +writer of fables, may depreciate him in the eyes of some. To such we +shall propose a question, "Whether this species of writing has not been +more beneficial to mankind; or whether it has not produced more +important events, than any other?" + +With respect to the first consideration, it is evident that these +fables, as consisting of plain and simple transactions, are particularly +easy to be understood; as conveyed in images, they please and seduce the +mind; and, as containing a _moral_, easily deducible on the side of +virtue; that they afford, at the same time, the most weighty precepts of +philosophy. Here then are the two grand points of composition, "a manner +of expression to be apprehended by the lowest capacities, and, (what is +considered as a victory in the art) an happy conjunction of utility and +pleasure."[024] Hence Quintilian recommends them, as singularly useful, +and as admirably adapted, to the puerile age; as a just gradation +between the language of the nurse and the preceptor, and as furnishing +maxims of prudence and virtue, at a time when the speculative principles +of philosophy are too difficult to be understood. Hence also having been +introduced by most civilized nations into their system of education, +they have produced that general benefit, to which we at first alluded. +Nor have they been of less consequence in maturity; but particularly to +those of inferiour capacities, or little erudition, whom they have +frequently served as a guide to conduct them in life, and as a medium, +through which an explanation might be made, on many and important +occasions. + +With respect to the latter consideration, which is easily deducible from +hence, we shall only appeal to the wonderful effect, which the fable, +pronounced by Demosthenes against Philip of Macedon, produced among his +hearers; or to the fable, which was spoken by Menenius Agrippa to the +Roman populace; by which an illiterate multitude were brought back to +their duty as citizens, when no other species of oratory could prevail. + +To these truly _ingenious_, and _philosophical_ works of AEsop, +we shall add those of his imitator Phoedrus, which in purity and +elegance of style, are inferiour to none. We shall add also the Lyrick +_Poetry_ of Alcman, which is no _servile_ composition; the +sublime _Morals_ of Epictetus, and the incomparable _comedies_ +of Terence. + +Thus then does it appear, that the _excuse_ which was uniformly +started in defence of the _treatment_ of slaves, had no foundation +whatever either in truth or justice. The instances that we have +mentioned above, are sufficient to shew, that there was no inferiority, +either in their _nature_, or their understandings: and at the same +time that they refute the principles of the ancients, they afford a +valuable lesson to those, who have been accustomed to form too +precipitate a judgment on the abilities of men: for, alas! how often has +_secret anguish_ depressed the spirits of those, whom they have +frequently censured, from their gloomy and dejected appearance! and how +often, on the other hand, has their judgment resulted from their own +_vanity_ and _pride_! + + + * * * * * + + +FOOTNOTES + + +[Footnote 021: Homer. Odys. P. 322. In the latest edition of Homer, the +word, which we have translated _senses_, is _Aretae_, or +_virtue_, but the old and proper reading is _Noos_, as appears +from Plato de Legibus, ch. 6, where he quotes it on a similar occasion.] + + +[Footnote 022: Aristotle. Polit. Ch. 2. et inseq.] + + +[Footnote 023: Ellesin hegemonikos, tois de Barbarois despotikos krasthar +kai ton men os philon kai oikeion epimeleisthai, tois de os +zoois he phytois prospheresthai. Plutarch. de Fortun. Alexand. Orat. 1.] + + +[Footnote 024: Omne tulit punctum, qui miscuit utile dulci. Horace.] + + + * * * * * + + + +CHAP. VI. + +We proceed now to the consideration of the _commerce_: in +consequence of which, people, endued with the same feelings and +faculties as ourselves, were made subject to the laws and limitations of +_possession_. + +This commerce of the human species was of a very early date. It was +founded on the idea that men were _property_; and, as this idea was +coeval with the first order of _involuntary_ slaves, it must have +arisen, (if the date, which we previously affixed to that order, be +right) in the first practices of barter. The Story of Joseph, as +recorded in the sacred writings, whom his brothers sold from an envious +suspicion of his future greatness, is an ample testimony of the truth of +this conjecture. It shews that there were men, even at that early +period, who travelled up and down as merchants, collecting not only +balm, myrrh, spicery, and other wares, but the human species also, for +the purposes of traffick. The instant determination of the brothers, on +the first sight of the merchants, _to sell him_, and the immediate +acquiescence of these, who purchased him for a foreign market, prove +that this commerce had been then established, not only in that part of +the country, where this transaction happened, but in that also, whither +the merchants were then travelling with their camels, namely, AEgypt: and +they shew farther, that, as all customs require time for their +establishment, so it must have existed in the ages, previous to that of +Pharaoh; that is, in those ages, in which we fixed the first date of +_involuntary_ servitude. This commerce then, as appears by the +present instance, existed in the earliest practices of barter, and had +descended to the AEgyptians, through as long a period of time, as was +sufficient to have made it, in the times alluded to, an established +custom. Thus was AEgypt, in those days, the place of the greatest resort; +the grand emporium of trade, to which people were driving their +merchandize, as to a centre; and thus did it afford, among other +opportunities of traffick, the _first market_ that is recorded, for +the sale of the human species. + +This market, which was thus supplied by the constant concourse of +merchants, who resorted to it from various parts, could not fail, by +these means, to have been considerable. It received, afterwards, an +additional supply from those piracies, which we mentioned to have +existed in the uncivilized ages of the world, and which, in fact, it +greatly promoted and encouraged; and it became, from these united +circumstances, so famous, as to have been known, within a few centuries +from the time of Pharaoh, both to the Grecian colonies in Asia, and the +Grecian islands. Homer mentions Cyprus and AEgypt as the common markets +for slaves, about the times of the Trojan war. Thus Antinous, offended +with Ulysses, threatens to send him to one of these places, if he does +not instantly depart from his table.[025] The same poet also, in his +hymn to Bacchus[026], mentions them again, but in a more unequivocal +manner, as the common markets for slaves. He takes occasion, in that +hymn, to describe the pirates method of scouring the coast, from the +circumstance of their having kidnapped Bacchus, as a noble youth, for +whom they expected an immense ransom. The captain of the vessel, having +dragged him on board, is represented as addressing himself thus, to the +steersman: + + +"Haul in the tackle, hoist aloft the sail, +Then take your helm, and watch the doubtful gale! +To mind the captive prey, be our's the care, +While you to _AEgypt_ or to _Cyprus_ steer; +There shall he go, unless his friends he'll tell, +Whose ransom-gifts will pay us full as well." + + +It may not perhaps be considered as a digression, to mention in few +words, by itself, the wonderful concordance of the writings of Moses and +Homer with the case before us: not that the former, from their divine +authority, want additional support, but because it cannot be unpleasant +to see them confirmed by a person, who, being one of the earliest +writers, and living in a very remote age, was the first that could +afford us any additional proof of the circumstances above-mentioned. +AEgypt is represented, in the first book of the sacred writings, as a +market for slaves, and, in the [027]second, as famous for the severity +of its servitude. [028]The same line, which we have already cited from +Homer, conveys to us the same ideas. It points it out as a market for +the human species, and by the epithet of "_bitter_ AEgypt," +([029]which epithet is peculiarly annexed to it on this occasion) +alludes in the strongest manner to that severity and rigour, of which +the sacred historian transmitted us the first account. + +But, to return. Though AEgypt was the first market recorded for this +species of traffick; and though AEgypt, and Cyprus afterwards, were +particularly distinguished for it, in the times of the Trojan war; yet +they were not the only places, even at that period, where men were +bought and sold. The Odyssey of Homer shews that it was then practised +in many of the islands of the AEgean sea; and the Iliad, that it had +taken place among those Grecians on the continent of Europe, who had +embarked from thence on the Trojan expedition. This appears particularly +at the end of the seventh book. A fleet is described there, as having +just arrived from Lemnos, with a supply of wine for the Grecian camp. +The merchants are described also, as immediately exposing it to sale, +and as receiving in exchange, among other articles of barter, "_a +number of slaves_." + +It will now be sufficient to observe, that, as other states arose, and +as circumstances contributed to make them known, this custom is +discovered to have existed among them; that it travelled over all Asia; +that it spread through the Grecian and Roman world; was in use among the +barbarous nations, which overturned the Roman empire; and was practised +therefore, at the same period, throughout all Europe. + + + * * * * * + + +FOOTNOTES + + +[Footnote 025: me tacha pikren Aigypton kai Kypron idnai. Hom. +Odyss. L. 17. 448.] + + +[Footnote 026: L. 26.] + + +[Footnote 027: Exodus. Ch. 1.] + + +[Footnote 028: Vide note 1st. (Here shown as footnote 025).] + + +[Footnote 029: This strikes us the more forcibly, as it is stiled +_eurreiten_ and _perikallea_, "_beautiful and well watered_," +in all other passages where it is mentioned, but this.] + + + * * * * * + + + +CHAP. VII. + +This _slavery_ and _commerce_, which had continued for so long +a time, and which was thus practised in Europe at so late a period as +that, which succeeded the grand revolutions in the western world, began, +as the northern nations were settled in their conquests, to decline, +and, on their full establishment, were abolished. A difference of +opinion has arisen respecting the cause of their abolition; some having +asserted, that they were the necessary consequences of the _feudal +system_; while others, superiour both in number and in argument, have +maintained that they were the natural effects of _Christianity_. +The mode of argument, which the former adopt on this occasion, is as +follows. "The multitude of little states, which sprang up from one great +one at this AEra, occasioned infinite bickerings and matter for +contention. There was not a state or seignory, which did not want all +the hands they could muster, either to defend their own right, or to +dispute that of their neighbours. Thus every man was taken into the +service: whom they armed they must trust: and there could be no trust +but in free men. Thus the barrier between the two natures was thrown +down, and _slavery_ was no more heard of, in the _west_." + +That this was not the _necessary_ consequence of such a situation, +is apparent. The political state of Greece, in its early history, was +the same as that of Europe, when divided, by the feudal system, into an +infinite number of small and independent kingdoms. There was the same +matter therefore for contention, and the same call for all the hands +that could be mustered: the Grecians, in short, in _heroick_, were +in the same situation in these respects as the _feudal barons_ in +the _Gothick_ times. Had this therefore been a _necessary_ +effect, there had been a cessation of servitude in Greece, in those +ages, in which we have already shewn that it existed. + +But with respect to _Christianity_, many and great are the +arguments, that it occasioned so desirable an event. It taught, "that +all men were originally equal; that the Deity was no respecter of +persons, and that, as all men were to give an account of their actions +hereafter, it was necessary that they should be free." These doctrines +could not fail of having their proper influence on those, who first +embraced _Christianity_, from a _conviction_ of its truth; and +on those of their descendents afterwards, who, by engaging in the +_crusades_, and hazarding their lives and fortunes there, shewed, +at least, an _attachment_ to that religion. We find them +accordingly actuated by these principles: we have a positive proof, that +the _feudal system_ had no share in the honour of suppressing +slavery, but that _Christianity_ was the only cause; for the +greatest part of the _charters_ which were granted for the freedom +of slaves in those times (many of which are still extant) were granted, +"_pro amore Dei, pro mercede animae_." They were founded, in short, +on religious considerations, "that they might procure the favour of the +Deity, which they conceived themselves to have forfeited, by the +subjugation of those, whom they found to be the objects of the divine +benevolence and attention equally with themselves." + +These considerations, which had thus their first origin in +_Christianity_, began to produce their effects, as the different +nations were converted; and procured that general liberty at last, +which, at the close of the twelfth century, was conspicuous in the west +of Europe. What a glorious and important change! Those, who would have +had otherwise no hopes, but that their miseries would be terminated by +death, were then freed from their servile condition; those, who, by the +laws of war, would have had otherwise an immediate prospect of servitude +from the hands of their imperious conquerors, were then +_exchanged_; a custom, which has happily descended to the present +day. Thus, "a numerous class of men, who formerly had no political +existence, and were employed merely as instruments of labour, became +useful citizens, and contributed towards augmenting the force or riches +of the society, which adopted them as members;" and thus did the greater +part of the Europeans, by their conduct on this occasion, assert not +only liberty for themselves, but for their fellow-creatures also. + + + * * * * * + + + +CHAP. VIII. + +But if men therefore, at a time when under the influence of religion +they exercised their serious thoughts, abolished slavery, how impious +must they appear, who revived it; and what arguments will not present +themselves against their conduct![030] The Portuguese, within two +centuries after its suppression in Europe, in imitation of those +_piracies_, which we have shewn to have existed in the _uncivilized_ +ages of the world, made their descents on Africa, and committing +depredations on the coast,[031] _first_ carried the wretched +inhabitants into slavery. + +This practice, however trifling and partial it might appear at first, +soon became serious and general. A melancholy instance of the depravity +of human nature; as it shews, that neither the laws nor religion of any +country, however excellent the forms of each, are sufficient to bind the +consciences of some; but that there are always men, of every age, +country, and persuasion, who are ready to sacrifice their dearest +principles at the shrine of gain. Our own ancestors, together with the +Spaniards, French, and most of the maritime powers of Europe, soon +followed the _piratical_ example; and thus did the Europeans, to their +eternal infamy, renew a custom, which their _own_ ancestors had so +lately exploded, from a _conscientiousness_ of its _impiety_. + +The unfortunate Africans, terrified at these repeated depredations, fled +in confusion from the coast, and sought, in the interiour parts of the +country, a retreat from the persecution of their invaders. But, alas, +they were miserably disappointed! There are few retreats, that can +escape the penetrating eye of avarice. The Europeans still pursued them; +they entered their rivers; sailed up into the heart of the country; +surprized the unfortunate Africans again; and carried them into slavery. + +But this conduct, though successful at first, defeated afterwards its +own ends. It created a more general alarm, and pointed out, at the same +instant, the best method of security from future depredations. The banks +of the rivers were accordingly deserted, as the coasts had been before; +and thus were the _Christian_ invaders left without a prospect of +their prey. + +In this situation however, expedients were not wanting. They now formed +to themselves the resolution of settling in the country; of securing +themselves by fortified ports; of changing their system of force into +that of pretended liberality; and of opening, by every species of +bribery and corruption, a communication with the natives. These plans +were put into immediate execution. The Europeans erected their +forts[032]; landed their merchandize; and endeavoured, by a peaceable +deportment, by presents, and by every appearance of munificence, to +seduce the attachment and confidence of the Africans. These schemes had +the desired effect. The gaudy trappings of European art, not only caught +their attention, but excited their curiosity: they dazzled the eyes and +bewitched the senses, not only of those, to whom they were given, but of +those, to whom they were shewn. Thus followed a speedy intercourse with +each other, and a confidence, highly favourable to the views of avarice +or ambition. + +It was now time for the Europeans to embrace the opportunity, which this +intercourse had thus afforded them, of carrying their schemes into +execution, and of fixing them on such a permanent foundation, as should +secure them future success. They had already discovered, in the +different interviews obtained, the chiefs of the African tribes. They +paid their court therefore to these, and so compleatly intoxicated their +senses with the luxuries, which they brought from home, as to be able to +seduce them to their designs. A treaty of peace and commerce was +immediately concluded: it was agreed, that the kings, on their part, +should, from this period, sentence _prisoners of war_ and _convicts_ +to _European servitude_; and that the Europeans should supply them, in +return, with the luxuries of the north. This agreement immediately took +place; and thus begun that _commerce_, which makes so considerable a +figure at the present day. + +But happy had the Africans been, if those only, who had been justly +convicted of crimes, or taken in a just war, had been sentenced to the +severities of servitude! How many of those miseries, which afterwards +attended them, had been never known; and how would their history have +saved those sighs and emotions of pity, which must now ever accompany +its perusal. The Europeans, on the establishment of their western +colonies, required a greater number of slaves than a strict adherence to +the treaty could produce. The princes therefore had only the choice of +relinquishing the commerce, or of consenting to become unjust. They had +long experienced the emoluments of the trade; they had acquired a taste +for the luxuries it afforded; and they now beheld an opportunity of +gratifying it, but in a more extentive manner. _Avarice_ therefore, +which was too powerful for _justice_ on this occasion, immediately +turned the scale: not only those, who were fairly convicted of offences, +were now sentenced to servitude, but even those who were _suspected_. +New crimes were invented, that new punishments might succeed. Thus was +every appearance soon construed into reality; every shadow into a +substance; and often virtue into a crime. + +Such also was the case with respect to prisoners of war. Not only those +were now delivered into slavery, who were taken in a state of publick +enmity and injustice, but those also, who, conscious of no injury +whatever, were taken in the _arbitrary_ skirmishes of these _venal_ +sovereigns. War was now made, not as formerly, from the motives of +retaliation and defence, but for the sake of obtaining prisoners alone, +and the advantages resulting from their sale. If a ship from Europe came +but into sight, it was now considered as a sufficient motive for a war, +and as a signal only for an instantaneous commencement of hostilities. + +But if the African kings could be capable of such injustice, what vices +are there, that their consciences would restrain, or what enormities, +that we might not expect to be committed? When men once consent to be +unjust, they lose, at the same instant with their virtue, a considerable +portion of that sense of shame, which, till then, had been found a +successful protector against the sallies of vice. From that awful +period, almost every expectation is forlorn: the heart is left +unguarded: its great protector is no more: the vices therefore, which so +long encompassed it in vain, obtain an easy victory: in crouds they pour +into the defenceless avenues, and take possession of the soul: there is +nothing now too vile for them to meditate, too impious to perform. Such +was the situation of the despotick sovereigns of Africa. They had once +ventured to pass the bounds of virtue, and they soon proceeded to +enormity. This was particularly conspicuous in that general conduct, +which they uniformly observed, after any unsuccessful conflict. +Influenced only by the venal motives of European traffick, they first +made war upon the neighbouring tribes, contrary to every principle of +justice; and if, by the flight of the enemy, or by other contingencies, +they were disappointed of their prey, they made no hesitation of +immediately turning their arms against their own subjects. The first +villages they came to, were always marked on this occasion, as the first +objects of their avarice. They were immediately surrounded, were +afterwards set on fire, and the wretched inhabitants seized, as they +were escaping from the flames. These, consisting of whole families, +fathers, brothers, husbands, wives, and children, were instantly driven +in chains to the merchants, and consigned to slavery. + +To these calamities, which thus arose from the tyranny of the kings, we +may now subjoin those, which arose from the avarice of private persons. +Many were kidnapped by their own countrymen, who, encouraged by the +merchants of Europe, previously lay in wait for them, and sold them +afterwards for slaves; while the seamen of the different ships, by every +possible artifice, enticed others on board, and transported them to the +regions of servitude. + +As these practices are in full force at the present day, it appears that +there are four orders of _involuntary_ slaves on the African +continent; of [033]_convicts_; of _prisoners of war_; of +those, who are publickly seized by virtue of the _authority_ of +their prince; and of those, who are privately _kidnapped_ by +individuals. + +It remains only to observe on this head, that in the sale and purchase +of these the African commerce or _Slave Trade_ consists; that they +are delivered to the merchants of Europe in exchange for their various +commodities; that these transport them to their colonies in the west, +where their _slavery_ takes place; and that a fifth order arises +there, composed of all such as are born to the native Africans, after +their transportation and slavery have commenced. + +Having thus explained as much of the history of modern servitude, as is +sufficient for the prosecution of our design, we should have closed our +account here, but that a work, just published, has furnished us with a +singular anecdote of the colonists of a neighbouring nation, which we +cannot but relate. The learned [034]author, having described the method +which the Dutch colonists at the Cape make use of to take the Hottentots +and enslave them, takes occasion, in many subsequent parts of the work, +to mention the dreadful effects of the practice of slavery; which, as he +justly remarks, "leads to all manner of misdemeanours and wickedness. +Pregnant women," says he, "and children in their tenderest years, were +not at this time, neither indeed are they ever, exempt from the effects +of the hatred and spirit of vengeance constantly harboured by the +colonists, with respect to the [035]Boshies-man nation; _excepting such +indeed as are marked out to be carried away into bondage_. + +"Does a colonist at any time get sight of a Boshies-man, he takes fire +immediately, and spirits up his horse and dogs, in order to hunt him +with more ardour and fury than he would a wolf, or any other wild beast? +On an open plain, a few colonists on horseback are always sure to get +the better of the greatest number of Boshies-men that can be brought +together; as the former always keep at the distance of about an hundred, +or an hundred and fifty paces (just as they find it convenient) and +charging their heavy fire-arms with a very large kind of shot, jump off +their horses, and rest their pieces in their usual manner on their +ramrods, in order that they may shoot with the greater certainty; so +that the balls discharged by them will sometimes, as I have been +assured, go through the bodies of six, seven, or eight of the enemy at a +time, especially as these latter know no better than to keep close +together in a body."-- + +"And not only is the capture of the Hottentots considered by them merely +as a party of pleasure, but in cold blood they destroy the bands which +nature has knit between their husbands, and their wives and children, +&c." + +With what horrour do these passages seem to strike us! What indignation +do they seem to raise in our breasts, when we reflect, that a part of +the human species are considered as _game_, and that _parties of +pleasure_ are made for their _destruction_! The lion does not +imbrue his claws in blood, unless called upon by hunger, or provoked by +interruption; whereas the merciless Dutch, more savage than the brutes +themselves, not only murder their fellow-creatures without any +provocation or necessity, but even make a diversion of their sufferings, +and enjoy their pain. + + + * * * * * + + +FOOTNOTES + + +[Footnote 030: The following short history of the African servitude, is +taken from Astley's Collection of Voyages, and from the united +testimonies of Smyth, Adanson, Bosman, Moore, and others, who were +agents to the different factories established there; who resided many +years in the country; and published their respective histories at their +return. These writers, if they are partial at all, may be considered as +favourable rather to their own countrymen, than the unfortunate +Africans.] + + +[Footnote 031: We would not wish to be understood, that slavery was +unknown in Africa before the _piratical_ expeditions of the +_Portuguese_, as it appears from the _Nubian's Geography_, +that both the slavery and commerce had been established among the +natives with one another. We mean only to assert, that the +_Portuguese_ were the first of the _Europeans_, who made their +_piratical_ expeditions, and shewed the way to that _slavery_, +which now makes so disgraceful a figure in the western colonies of the +_Europeans_. In the term "Europeans," wherever it shall occur in +the remaining part of this first dissertation, we include the +_Portuguese_, and _those nations only_, who followed their +example.] + + +[Footnote 032: The _Portuguese_ erected their first fort at +_D'Elmina_, in the year 1481, about forty years after Alonzo +Gonzales had pointed the Southern Africans out to his countrymen +as articles of commerce.] + + +[Footnote 033: In the ancient servitude, we reckoned _convicts_ +among the _voluntary_ slaves, because they had it in their power, +by a virtuous conduct, to have avoided so melancholy a situation; in the +_African_, we include them in the _involuntary_, because, as +virtues are frequently construed into crimes, from the venal motives of +the traffick, no person whatever possesses such a _power_ or +_choice_.] + +[Footnote 034: Andrew Sparrman, M.D. professor of Physick at Stockholm, +fellow of the Royal Academy of Sciences in Sweden, and inspector of its +cabinet of natural history, whose voyage was translated into English, +and published in 1785.] + + +[Footnote 035: Boshies-man, or _wild Hottentot_.] + + + * * * * * + + +End of the First Part. + + + * * * * * + + + + +PART II. + + + +THE AFRICAN COMMERCE, + +OR + +SLAVE TRADE. + + + * * * * * + + + +CHAP. I. + +As we explained the History of Slavery in the first part of this Essay, +as far as it was necessary for our purpose, we shall now take the +question into consideration, which we proposed at first as the subject +of our inquiry, viz. how far the commerce and slavery of the human +species, as revived by some of the nations of Europe in the persons of +the unfortunate Africans, and as revived, in a great measure, on the +principles of antiquity, are consistent with the laws of nature, or the +common notions of equity, as established among men. + +This question resolves itself into two separate parts for discussion, +into _the African commerce (as explained in the history of +slavery)_ and _the subsequent slavery in the colonies, as founded +on the equity of the commerce_. The former, of course, will be first +examined. For this purpose we shall inquire into the rise, nature, and +design of government. Such an inquiry will be particularly useful in the +present place; it will afford us that general knowledge of subordination +and liberty, which is necessary in the case before us, and will be +found, as it were, a source, to which we may frequently refer for many +and valuable arguments. + +It appears that mankind were originally free, and that they possessed an +equal right to the soil and produce of the earth. For proof of this, we +need only appeal to the _divine_ writings; to the _golden age_ +of the poets, which, like other fables of the times, had its origin in +truth; and to the institution of the _Saturnalia_, and of other +similar festivals; all of which are so many monuments of this original +equality of men. Hence then there was no rank, no distinction, no +superiour. Every man wandered where he chose, changing his residence, as +a spot attracted his fancy, or suited his convenience, uncontrouled by +his neighbour, unconnected with any but his family. Hence also (as every +thing was common) he collected what he chose without injury, and enjoyed +without injury what he had collected. Such was the first situation of +mankind; [036]a state of _dissociation_ and _independence_. + +In this dissociated state it is impossible that men could have long +continued. The dangers to which they must have frequently been exposed, +by the attacks of fierce and rapacious beasts, by the proedatory +attempts of their own species, and by the disputes of contiguous and +independent families; these, together with their inability to defend, +themselves, on many such occasions, must have incited them to unite. +Hence then was _society_ formed on the grand principles of +preservation and defence: and as these principles began to operate, in +the different parts of the earth, where the different families had +roamed, a great number of these _societies_ began to be formed and +established; which, taking to themselves particular names from +particular occurrences, began to be perfectly distinct from one another. + +As the individuals, of whom these societies were composed, had +associated only for their defence, so they experienced, at first, no +change in their condition. They were still independent and free; they +were still without discipline or laws; they had every thing still in +common; they pursued the same, manner of life; wandering only, in +_herds_, as the earth gave them or refused them sustenance, and +doing, as a _publick body_, what they had been accustomed to do as +_individuals_ before. This was the exact situation of the Getae and +Scythians[037], of the Lybians and Goetulians[038], of the Italian +Aborigines[039], and of the Huns and Alans[040]. They had left their +original state of _dissociation_, and had stepped into that, which +has been just described. Thus was the second situation of men a state of +_independent society_. + +Having thus joined themselves together, and having formed themselves +into several large and distinct bodies, they could not fail of +submitting soon to a more considerable change. Their numbers must have +rapidly increased, and their societies, in process of time, have become +so populous, as frequently to have experienced the want of subsistence, +and many of the commotions and tumults of intestine strife. For these +inconveniences however there were remedies to be found. +_Agriculture_ would furnish them with that subsistence and support, +which the earth, from the rapid increase of its inhabitants, had become +unable spontaneously to produce. An _assignation_ of _property_ +would not only enforce an application, but excite an emulation, +to labour; and _government_ would at once afford a security +to the acquisitions of the industrious, and heal the intestine +disorders of the community, by the introduction of laws. + +Such then were the remedies, that were gradually applied. The +_societies_, which had hitherto seen their members, undistinguished +either by authority or rank, admitted now of magistratical pre-eminence. +They were divided into tribes; to every tribe was allotted a particular +district for its support, and to every individual his particular spot. +The Germans[041], who consisted of many and various nations, were +exactly in this situation. They had advanced a step beyond the +Scythians, Goetulians, and those, whom we described before; and thus was +the third situation of mankind a state of _subordinate society_. + + + * * * * * + + +FOOTNOTES + + +[Footnote 036: This conclusion concerning the dissociated state of +mankind, is confirmed by all the early writers, with whose descriptions +of primitive times no other conclusion is reconcileable.] + + +[Footnote 037: Justin. L. 2. C. 2.] + + +[Footnote 038: Sallust. Bell. Jug.] + + +[Footnote 039: Sallust. Bell. Catil.] + + +[Footnote 040: Ammianus Marcellinus. L. 31. C. 2. et. inseq.] + + +[Footnote 041: Agri pro Numero Cultorum ab universis per vicos +occupantur, quos mox inter se secundum dignationem partiuntur. Tacitus. +C. 26. de Mor. Germ.] + + + * * * * * + + + +CHAP. II. + +As we have thus traced the situation of man from unbounded liberty to +subordination, it will be proper to carry our inquiries farther, and to +consider, who first obtained the pre-eminence in these _primoeval +societies_, and by what particular methods it was obtained. + +There were only two ways, by which such an event could have been +produced, by _compulsion_ or _consent_. When mankind first saw +the necessity of government, it is probable that many had conceived the +desire of ruling. To be placed in a new situation, to be taken from the +common herd, to be the first, distinguished among men, were thoughts, +that must have had their charms. Let us suppose then, that these +thoughts had worked so unusually on the passions of any particular +individual, as to have driven him to the extravagant design of obtaining +the preeminence by force. How could his design have been accomplished? +How could he forcibly have usurped the jurisdiction at a time, when, all +being equally free, there was not a single person, whose assistance he +could command? Add to this, that, in a state of universal liberty, force +had been repaid by force, and the attempt had been fatal to the usurper. + +As _empire_ then could never have been gained at first by +_compulsion_, so it could only have been obtained by _consent_; +and as men were then going to make an important sacrifice, +for the sake of their _mutual_ happiness, so he alone could +have obtained it, (not whose _ambition_ had greatly distinguished +him from the rest) but in whose _wisdom, justice, prudence_, +and _virtue_, the whole community could confide. + +To confirm this reasoning, we shall appeal, as before, to facts; and +shall consult therefore the history of those nations, which having just +left their former state of _independent society_, were the very +people that established _subordination_ and _government_. + +The commentaries of Caesar afford us the following accounts of the +ancient Gauls. When any of their kings, either by death, or deposition, +made a vacancy in the regal office, the whole nation was immediately +convened for the appointment of a successor. In these national +conventions were the regal offices conferred. Every individual had a +voice on the occasion, and every individual was free. The person upon +whom the general approbation appeared to fall, was immediately advanced +to pre-eminence in the state. He was uniformly one, whose actions had +made him eminent; whose conduct had gained him previous applause; whose +valour the very assembly, that elected him, had themselves witnessed in +the field; whose prudence, wisdom and justice, having rendered him +signally serviceable, had endeared him to his tribe. For this reason, +their kingdoms were not hereditary; the son did not always inherit the +virtues of the sire; and they were determined that he alone should +possess authority, in whose virtues they could confide. Nor was this +all. So sensible were they of the important sacrifice they had made; so +extremely jealous even of the name of superiority and power, that they +limited, by a variety of laws, the authority of the very person, whom +they had just elected, from a confidence of his integrity; Ambiorix +himself confessing, "that his people had as much power over him, as he +could possibly have over his people." + +The same custom, as appears from Tacitus, prevailed also among the +Germans. They had their national councils, like the Gauls; in which the +regal and ducal offices were confirmed according to the majority of +voices. They elected also, on these occasions, those only, whom their +virtue, by repeated trial, had unequivocally distinguished from the +rest; and they limited their authority so far, as neither to leave them +the power of inflicting imprisonment or stripes, nor of exercising any +penal jurisdiction. But as punishment was necessary in a state of civil +society, "it was permitted to the priests alone, that it might appear to +have been inflicted, by the order of the gods, and not by any superiour +authority in man." + +The accounts which we have thus given of the ancient Germans and Gauls, +will be found also to be equally true of those people, which had arrived +at the same state of subordinate society. We might appeal, for a +testimony of this, to the history of the Goths; to the history of the +Franks and Saxons; to, the history, in short, of all those nations, from +which the different governments, now conspicuous in Europe, have +undeniably sprung. And we might appeal, as a farther proof, to the +Americans, who are represented by many of the moderns, from their own +ocular testimony, as observing the same customs at the present day. + +It remains only to observe, that as these customs prevailed among the +different nations described, in their early state of subordinate +society, and as they were moreover the customs of their respective +ancestors, it appears that they must have been handed down, both by +tradition and use, from the first introduction of _government_. + + + * * * * * + + + +CHAP. III. + +We may now deduce those general maxims concerning _subordination_, +and _liberty_, which we mentioned to have been essentially +connected with the subject, and which some, from speculation only, and +without any allusion to facts, have been bold enough to deny. + +It appears first, that _liberty_ is a _natural_, and +_government_ an _adventitious_ right, because all men were +originally free. + +It appears secondly, that government is a [042]_contract_ because, +in these primeval subordinate societies, we have seen it voluntarily +conferred on the one hand, and accepted on the other. We have seen it +subject to various restrictions. We have seen its articles, which could +then only be written by tradition and use, as perfect and binding as +those, which are now committed to letters. We have seen it, in short, +partaking of the _federal_ nature, as much as it could in a state, +which wanted the means of recording its transactions. + +It appear thirdly, that the grand object of the _contrast_, is the +_happiness_ of the people; because they gave the supremacy to him +alone, who had been conspicuous for the splendour of his abilities, or +the integrity of his life: that the power of the multitude being +directed by the _wisdom_ and _justice_ of the prince, they +might experience the most effectual protection from injury, the highest +advantages of society, the greatest possible _happiness_. + + + * * * * * + + +FOOTNOTES + + +[Footnote 042: The author has lately read a work, intitled Paley's Moral +and Political Philosophy, which, in this one respect, favours those +which have been hinted at, as it denies that government was a contract. +"No social compact was ever made in fact,"--"it is to suppose it +possible to call savages out of caves and deserts, to deliberate upon +topicks, which the experience and studies, and the refinements of civil +life alone suggest. Therefore no government in the universe begun from +this original." But there are no grounds for so absurd a supposition; +for government, and of course the social compact, does not appear to +have been introduced at the time, when families coming out of their +caves and deserts, or, in other words, quitting their former +_dissociated_ state, joined themselves together. They had lived a +considerable time in _society_, like the Lybians and Gaetulians +before-mentioned, and had felt many of the disadvantages of a want of +discipline and laws, before government was introduced at all. The author +of this Essay, before he took into consideration the origin of +government, was determined, in a matter of such importance, to be +biassed by no opinion whatever, and much less to indulge himself in +speculation. He was determined solely to adhere to fact, and, by looking +into the accounts left us of those governments which were in their +infancy, and, of course in the least complicated state, to attempt to +discover their foundation: he cannot say therefore, that upon a very +minute perusal of the excellent work before quoted, he has been so far +convinced, as to retract in the least from his sentiments on this head, +and to give up maxims, which are drawn from historical facts, for those, +which are the result of speculation. He may observe here, that whether +government was a _contract_ or not, it will not affect the +reasoning of the present Essay; since where ever the contract is +afterwards mentioned, it is inferred only that its object was "the +_happiness of the people_," which is confessedly the end of +government. Notwithstanding this, he is under the necessity of inserting +this little note, though he almost feels himself ungrateful in +contradicting a work, which has afforded him so much entertainment.] + + + * * * * * + + + +CHAP. IV. + +Having now collected the materials that are necessary for the +prosecution of our design, we shall immediately enter upon the +discussion. + +If any man had originally been endued with power, as with other +faculties, so that the rest of mankind had discovered in themselves an +_innate necessity_ of obeying this particular person; it is evident +that he and his descendants, from the superiority of their nature, would +have had a claim upon men for obedience, and a natural right to command: +but as the right to empire is _adventitious_; as all were +originally free; as nature made every man's body and mind _his +own_; it is evident that no just man can be consigned to +_slavery_, without his own _consent_. + +Neither can men, by the same principles, be considered as lands, goods, +or houses, among _possessions_. It is necessary that all +_property_ should be inferiour to its _possessor_. But how +does the _slave_ differ from his _master_, but by _chance_? +For though the mark, with which the latter is pleased to +brand him, shews, at the first sight, the difference of their +_fortune_; what mark can be found in his _nature_, that can +warrant a distinction? + +To this consideration we shall add the following, that if men can justly +become the property of each other, their children, like the offspring of +cattle, must inherit their _paternal_ lot. Now, as the actions of +the father and the child must be thus at the sole disposal of their +common master, it is evident, that the _authority_ of the one, as a +_parent_, and the _duty_ of the other, as a _child_, must +be instantly annihilated; rights and obligations, which, as they are +sounded in nature, are implanted in our feelings, and are established by +the voice of God, must contain in their annihilation a solid argument to +prove, that there cannot be any _property_ whatever in the _human +species_. + +We may consider also, as a farther confirmation, that it is impossible, +in the nature of things, that _liberty_ can be _bought_ or +_sold_! It is neither _saleable_, nor _purchasable_. For +if any one man can have an absolute property in the liberty of another, +or, in other words, if he, who is called a _master_, can have a +_just_ right to command the actions of him, who is called a +_slave_, it is evident that the latter cannot be accountable for +those crimes, which the former may order him to commit. Now as every +reasonable being is accountable for his actions, it is evident, that +such a right cannot _justly_ exist, and that human liberty, of +course, is beyond the possibility either of _sale_ or _purchase_. +Add to this, that, whenever you sell the liberty of a man, +you have the power only of alluding to the _body_: the _mind_ +cannot be confined or bound: it will be free, though its +mansion be beset with chains. But if, in every sale of the _human +species_, you are under the necessity of considering your slave in +this abstracted light; of alluding only to the body, and of making no +allusion to the mind; you are under the necessity also of treating him, +in the same moment, as a _brute_, and of abusing therefore that +nature, which cannot otherwise be considered, than in the double +capacity of _soul_ and _body_. + +But some person, perhaps, will make an objection to one of the former +arguments. "If men, from _superiority_ of their nature, cannot be +considered, like lands, goods, or houses, among possessions, so neither +can cattle: for being endued with life, motion, and sensibility, they +are evidently _superiour_ to these." But this objection will +receive its answer from those observations which have been already made; +and will discover the true reason, why cattle are justly to be estimated +as property. For first, the right to empire over brutes, is +_natural_, and not _adventitious_, like the right to empire +over men. There are, secondly, many and evident signs of the +_inferiority_ of their nature; and thirdly, their liberty can be +bought and sold, because, being void of reason, they cannot be +_accountable_ for their actions. + +We might stop here for a considerable time, and deduce many valuable +lessons from the remarks that have been made, but that such a +circumstance might be considered as a digression. There is one, however, +which, as it is so intimately connected with the subject, we cannot but +deduce. We are taught to treat men in a different manner from brutes, +because they are so manifestly superiour in their nature; we are taught +to treat brutes in a different manner from stones, for the same reason; +and thus, by giving to every created thing its due respect, to answer +the views of Providence, which did not create a variety of natures +without a purpose or design. + +But if these things are so, how evidently against reason, nature, and +every thing human and divine, must they act, who not only force men into +_slavery_, against their own _consent_; but treat them altogether +as _brutes_, and make the _natural liberty_ of man an article +of publick commerce! and by what arguments can they possibly +defend that commerce, which cannot be carried on, in any single +instance, without a flagrant violation of the laws of nature and of God? + + + * * * * * + + + +CHAP. V. + +That we may the more accurately examine the arguments that are advanced +on this occasion, it will be proper to divide the _commerce_ into +two parts; first, as it relates to those who _sell_, and secondly, +as it relates to those who _purchase_, the _human species_ +into slavery. To the former part of which, having given every previous +and necessary information in the history of servitude, we shall +immediately proceed. + +Let us inquire first, by what particular right the _liberties_ of +the harmless people are invaded by the _prince_. "By the _right +of empire_," it will be answered; "because he possesses dominion and +power by their own approbation and consent." But subjects, though under +the dominion, are not the _property_, of the prince. They cannot be +considered as his _possessions_. Their _natures_ are both the +same; they are both born in the same manner; are subject to the same +disorders; must apply to the same remedies for a cure; are equally +partakers of the grave: an _incidental_ distinction accompanies +them through life, and this--is all. + +We may add to this, that though the prince possesses dominion and power, +by the consent and approbation of his subjects, he possesses it only for +the most _salutary_ ends. He may tyrannize, if he can: he may alter +the _form_ of his government: he cannot, however, alter its +_nature_ and _end_. These will be immutably the same, though +the whole system of its administration should be changed; and he will be +still bound to _defend_ the lives and properties of his subjects, +and to make them _happy_. + +Does he defend those therefore, whom he invades at discretion with the +sword? Does he protect the property of those, whose houses and effects +he consigns at discretion to the flames? Does he make those happy, whom +he seizes, as they are trying to escape the general devastation, and +compels with their wives and families to a wretched _servitude?_ He +acts surely, as if the use of empire consisted in violence and +oppression; as if he, that was most exalted, ought, of necessity, to be +most unjust. Here then the voice of _nature_ and _justice_ is +against him. He breaks that law of _nature_, which ordains, "that no +just man shall be given into slavery, against his own _consent_:" +he violates the first law of _justice_, as established among men, +"that no person shall do harm to another without a previous and +sufficient _provocation_;" and he violates also the sacred +condition of _empire_, made with his ancestors, and necessarily +understood in every species of government, "that, the power of the +multitude being given up to the wisdom and justice of the prince, they +may experience, in return, the most effectual protection from injury, +the highest advantages of society, the greatest possible +_happiness_." + +But if kings then, to whom their own people have granted dominion and +power, are unable to invade the liberties of their harmless subjects, +without the highest _injustice_; how can those private persons be +justified, who treacherously lie in wait for their fellow-creatures, and +sell them into slavery? What arguments can they possibly bring in +their defence? What treaty of empire can they produce, by which their +innocent victims ever resigned to them the least portion of their +_liberty_? In vain will they plead the _antiquity_ of the +custom: in vain will the _honourable_ light, in which _piracy_ +was considered in the ages of barbarism, afford them an excuse. Impious +and abandoned men! ye invade the liberties of those, who, (with respect +to your impious selves) are in a state of _nature_, in a state of +original _dissociation_, perfectly _independent_, perfectly +_free_. + +It appears then, that the two orders of slaves, which have been +mentioned in the history of the African servitude, "of those who are +publickly seized by virtue of the authority of their prince; and of +those, who are privately kidnapped by individuals," are collected by +means of violence and oppression; by means, repugnant to _nature_, +the principles of _government_, and the common notions of +_equity_, as established among men. + + + * * * * * + + + +CHAP. VI. + +We come now to the third order of _involuntary_ slaves, "to +convicts." The only argument that the sellers advance here, is this, +"that they have been found guilty of offences, and that the punishment +is just." But before the equity of the sentence can be allowed two +questions must be decided, whether the punishment is _proportioned_ +to the offence, and what is its particular _object_ and _end_? + +To decide the first, we may previously observe, that the African +servitude comprehends _banishment_, a _deprivation_ of _liberty_, +and many _corporal_ sufferings. + +On _banishment_, the following observations will suffice. Mankind +have their _local_ attachments. They have a particular regard for +the spot, in which they were born and nurtured. Here it was, that they +first drew their infant-breath: here, that they were cherished and +supported: here, that they passed those scenes of childhood, which, free +from care and anxiety, are the happiest in the life of man; scenes, +which accompany them through life; which throw themselves frequently +into their thoughts, and produce the most agreeable sensations. These +then are weighty considerations; and how great this regard is, may be +evidenced from our own feelings; from the testimony of some, who, when +remote from their country, and, in the hour of danger and distress, have +found their thoughts unusually directed, by some impulse or other, to +their native spot; and from the example of others, who, having braved +the storms and adversities of life, either repair to it for the +remainder of their days, or desire even to be conveyed to it, when +existence is no more. + +But separately from these their _local_, they have also their +_personal_ attachments; their regard for particular men. There are +ties of blood; there are ties of friendship. In the former case, they +must of necessity be attached: the constitution of their nature demands +it. In the latter, it is impossible to be otherwise, since friendship is +founded on an harmony of temper, on a concordance of sentiments and +manners, on habits of confidence, and a mutual exchange of favours. + +We may now mention, as perfectly distinct both from their _local_ +and_ personal_, the _national_ attachments of mankind, their +regard for the whole body of the people, among whom they were born and +educated. This regard is particularly conspicuous in the conduct of +such, as, being thus _nationally_ connected, reside in foreign +parts. How anxiously do they meet together! how much do they enjoy the +fight of others of their countrymen, whom fortune places in their way! +what an eagerness do they show to serve them, though not born on the +same particular spot, though not connected by consanguinity or +friendship, though unknown to them before! Neither is this affection +wonderful, since they are creatures of the same education; of the same +principles; of the same manners and habits; cast, as it were, in the +same mould; and marked with the same impression. + +If men therefore are thus separately attached to the several objects +described, it is evident that a separate exclusion from either must +afford them considerable pain. What then must be their sufferings, to be +forced for ever from their country, which includes them all? Which +contains the _spot_, in which they were born and nurtured; which +contains their _relations_ and _friends_; which contains the +whole body of the _people_, among whom they were bred and educated. +In these sufferings, which arise to men, both in bidding, and in having +bid, adieu to all that they esteem as dear and valuable, +_banishment_ consists in part; and we may agree therefore with the +ancients, without adding other melancholy circumstances to the account, +that it is no inconsiderable punishment of itself. + +With respect to the _loss_ of _liberty_, which is the second +consideration in the punishment, it is evident that men bear nothing +worse; that there is nothing, that they lay more at heart; and that they +have shewn, by many and memorable instances, that even death is to be +preferred. How many could be named here, who, having suffered the +_loss_ of _liberty_, have put a period to their existence! How +many, that have willingly undergone the hazard of their lives to destroy +a tyrant! How many, that have even gloried to perish in the attempt! How +many bloody and publick wars have been undertaken (not to mention the +numerous _servile_ insurrections, with which history is stained) +for the cause of _freedom_! + +But if nothing is dearer than _liberty_ to men, with which, the +barren rock is able to afford its joys, and without which, the glorious +fun shines upon them but in vain, and all the sweets and delicacies of +life are tasteless and unenjoyed; what punishment can be more severe +than the loss of so great a blessing? But if to this _deprivation_ +of _liberty_, we add the agonizing pangs of _banishment_; and +if to the complicated stings of both, we add the incessant _stripes, +wounds_, and _miseries_, which are undergone by those, who are +sold into this horrid _servitude_; what crime can we possibly +imagine to be so enormous, as to be worthy of so great a punishment? + +How contrary then to reason, justice, and nature, must those act, who +apply this, the severest of human punishments, to the most insignificant +offence! yet such is the custom with the Africans: for, from the time, +in which the Europeans first intoxicated the African princes with their +foreign draughts, no crime has been committed, no shadow of a crime +devised, that has not immediately been punished with _servitude_. + +But for what purpose is the punishment applied? Is it applied to amend +the manners of the criminal, and thus render him a better subject? No, +for if you banish him, he can no longer be a subject, and you can no +longer therefore be solicitous for his morals. Add to this, that if you +banish him to a place, where he is to experience the hardships of want +and hunger (so powerfully does hunger compel men to the perpetration of +crimes) you force him rather to corrupt, than amend his manners, and to +be wicked, when he might otherwise be just. + +Is it applied then, that others may be deterred from the same +proceedings, and that crimes may become less frequent? No, but that +_avarice_ may be gratified; that the prince may experience the +emoluments of the sale: for, horrid and melancholy thought! the more +crimes his subjects commit, the richer is he made; the more +_abandoned_ the subject, the _happier_ is the prince! + +Neither can we allow that the punishment thus applied, tends in any +degree to answer _publick happiness_; for if men can be sentenced +to slavery, right or wrong; if shadows can be turned into substances, +and virtues into crimes; it is evident that none can be happy, because +none can be secure. + +But if the punishment is infinitely greater than the offence, (which has +been shewn before) and if it is inflicted, neither to amend the +criminal, nor to deter others from the same proceedings, nor to advance, +in any degree, the happiness of the publick, it is scarce necessary to +observe, that it is totally unjust, since it is repugnant to +_reason_, the dictates of _nature_, and the very principles of +_government_. + + + * * * * * + + + +CHAP. VII. + +We come now to the fourth and last order of slaves, to _prisoners of +war_. As the _sellers_ lay a particular stress on this order of +men, and infer much, from its _antiquity_, in support of the +justice of their cause, we shall examine the principle, on which it +subsisted among the ancients. But as this principle was the same among +all nations, and as a citation from many of their histories would not be +less tedious than unnecessary, we shall select the example of the Romans +for the consideration of the case. + +The law, by which prisoners of war were said to be sentenced to +servitude, was the _law of nations_[043]. It was so called from the +universal concurrence of nations in the custom. It had two points in +view, the _persons_ of the _captured_, and their _effects_; both +of which it immediately sentenced, without any of the usual +forms of law, to be the property of the _captors_. + +The principle, on which the law was established, was the _right of +capture_. When any of the contending parties had overcome their +opponents, and were about to destroy them, the right was considered to +commence; a right, which the victors conceived themselves to have, to +recall their swords, and, from the consideration of having saved the +lives of the vanquished, when they could have taken them by the laws of +war, to commute _blood_ for _service_. Hence the Roman lawyer, +Pomponius, deduces the etymology of _slave_ in the Roman language. +"They were called _servi_[044], says he, from the following +circumstance. It was usual with our commanders to take them prisoners, +and sell them: now this circumstance implies, that they must have been +previously _preserved_, and hence the name." Such then was the +_right of capture_. It was a right, which the circumstance of +_taking_ the vanquished, that is, of _preserving_ them alive, +gave the conquerors to their persons. By this right, as always including +the idea of a previous preservation from death, the vanquished were said +_to be slaves_[045]; and, "as all slaves," says Justinian, "are +themselves in the power of others, and of course can have nothing of +their own, so their effects followed the condition of their persons, and +became the property of the captors." + +To examine this right, by which the vanquished were said to be slaves, +we shall use the words of a celebrated Roman author, and apply them to +the present case[046]. "If it is lawful," says he, "to deprive a man of +his life, it is certainly not inconsistent with nature to rob him;" to +rob him of his liberty. We admit the conclusion to be just, if the +supposition be the same: we allow, if men have a right to commit that, +which is considered as a greater crime, that they have a right, at the +same instant, to commit that, which is considered as a less. But what +shall we say to the _hypothesis_? We deny it to be true. The voice +of nature is against it. It is not lawful to kill, but on +_necessity_. Had there been a necessity, where had the wretched +captive survived to be broken with chains and servitude? The very act of +saving his life is an argument to prove, that no such necessity existed. +The _conclusion_ is therefore false. The captors had no right to +the _lives_ of the captured, and of course none to their +_liberty_: they had no right to their _blood_, and of course +none to their _service_. Their right therefore had no foundation in +justice. It was founded on a principle, contrary to the law of nature, +and of course contrary to that law, which people, under different +governments, are bound to observe to one another. + +It is scarce necessary to observe, as a farther testimony of the +injustice of the measure, that the Europeans, after the introduction of +Christianity, exploded this principle of the ancients, as frivolous and +false; that they spared the lives of the vanquished, not from the sordid +motives of _avarice_, but from a conscientiousness, that homicide +could only be justified by _necessity_; that they introduced an +_exchange_ of prisoners, and, by many and wise regulations, +deprived war of many of its former horrours. + +But the advocates for slavery, unable to defend themselves against these +arguments, have fled to other resources, and, ignorant of history, have +denied that the _right of capture_ was the true principle, on which +slavery subsisted among the ancients. They reason thus. "The learned +Grotius, and others, have considered slavery as the just consequence of +a private war, (supposing the war to be just and the opponents in a +state of nature), upon the principles of _reparation_ and +_punishment_. Now as the law of nature, which is the rule of +conduct to individuals in such a situation, is applicable to members of +a different community, there is reason to presume, that these principles +were applied by the ancients to their prisoners of war; that their +_effects_ were confiscated by the right of _reparation_, and +their _persons_ by the right of _punishment_."-- + +But, such a presumption is false. The _right of capture_ was the +only argument, that the ancients adduced in their defence. Hence +Polybius; "What must they, (the Mantinenses) suffer, to receive the +punishment they deserve? Perhaps it will be said, _that they must be +sold, when they are taken, with their wives and children into +slavery_: But this is not to be considered as a punishment, since +even those suffer it, by the laws of war, who have done nothing that is +base." The truth is, that both the _offending_ and the _offended_ +parties, whenever they were victorious, inflicted slavery +alike. But if the _offending_ party inflicted slavery on +the persons of the vanquished, by what right did they inflict it? It +must be answered from the presumption before-mentioned, "by the right of +_reparation_, or of _punishment:_" an answer plainly absurd +and contradictory, as it supposes the _aggressor_ to have a +_right_, which the _injured_ only could possess. + +Neither is the argument less fallacious than the presumption, in +applying these principles, which in a _publick_ war could belong to +the _publick_ only, to the persons of the _individuals_ that +were taken. This calls us again to the history of the ancients, and, as +the rights of reparation and punishment could extend to those only, who +had been injured, to select a particular instance for the consideration +of the case. + +As the Romans had been injured without a previous provocation by the +conduct of Hannibal at Saguntum, we may take the treaty into +consideration, which they made with the Carthaginians, when the latter, +defeated at Zama, sued for peace. It consisted of three articles[047]. +By the first, the Carthaginians were to be free, and to enjoy their own +constitution and laws. By the second, they were to pay a considerable +sum of money, as a reparation for the damages and expence of war: and, +by the third, they were to deliver up their elephants and ships of war, +and to be subject to various restrictions, as a punishment. With these +terms they complied, and the war was finished. + +Thus then did the Romans make that distinction between _private_ +and _publick_ war, which was necessary to be made, and which the +argument is fallacious in not supposing. The treasury of the vanquished +was marked as the means of _reparation_; and as this treasury was +supplied, in a great measure, by the imposition of taxes, and was, +wholly, the property of the _publick_, so the _publick_ made +the reparation that was due. The _elephants_ also, and _ships of +war_, which were marked as the means of _punishment_, were +_publick_ property; and as they were considerable instruments of +security and defence to their possessors, and of annoyance to an enemy, +so their loss, added to the restrictions of the treaty, operated as a +great and _publick_ punishment. But with respect to the +Carthaginian prisoners, who had been taken in the war, they were +retained in _servitude:_ not upon the principles of _reparation_ +and _punishment_, because the Romans had already received, +by their own confession in the treaty, a sufficient satisfaction: +not upon these principles, because they were inapplicable +to _individuals:_ the legionary soldier in the service of the +injured, who took his prisoner, was not the person, to whom the +_injury had been done_, any more than the soldier in the service of +the aggressors, who was taken, was the person, who had _committed the +offence:_ but they were retained in servitude by the _right of +capture_; because, when both parties had sent their military into the +field to determine the dispute, it was at the _private_ choice of +the legionary soldier before-mentioned, whether he would spare the life +of his conquered opponent, when he was thought to be entitled to take +it, if he had chosen, by the laws of war. + +To produce more instances, as an illustration of the subject, or to go +farther into the argument, would be to trespass upon the patience, as +well as understanding of the reader. In _a state of nature_, where +a man is supposed to commit an injury, and to be unconnected with the +rest of the world, the act is _private_, and the right, which the +injured acquires, can extend only to _himself:_ but in _a state +of society_, where any member or members of a particular community +give offence to those of another, and they are patronized by the state, +to which they belong, the case is altered; the act becomes immediately +_publick_, and the _publick_ alone are to experience the +consequences of their injustice. For as no particular member of the +community, if considered as an individual, is guilty, except the person, +by whom the injury was done, it would be contrary to reason and justice, +to apply the principles of _reparation_ and _punishment_, +which belong to the people as a collective body, to any individual of +the community, who should happen to be taken. Now, as the principles of +_reparation_ and _punishment_ are thus inapplicable to the +prisoners, taken in a _publick_ war, and as the _right of +capture_, as we have shewn before, is insufficient to intitle the +victors to the _service_ of the vanquished, it is evident that +_slavery_ cannot justly exist at all, since there are no other +maxims, on which it can be founded, even in the most equitable wars. + +But if these things are so; if slavery cannot be defended even in the +most _equitable_ wars, what arguments will not be found against +that servitude, which arises from those, that are _unjust?_ Which +arises from those African wars, that relate to the present subject? The +African princes, corrupted by the merchants of Europe, seek every +opportunity of quarrelling with one another. Every spark is blown into a +flame; and war is undertaken from no other consideration, than that +_of procuring slaves:_ while the Europeans, on the other hand, +happy in the quarrels which they have thus excited, supply them with +arms and ammunition for the accomplishment of their horrid purpose. Thus +has Africa, for the space of two hundred years, been the scene of the +most iniquitous and bloody wars; and thus have many thousands of men, in +the most iniquitous manner, been sent into servitude. + + + * * * * * + + +FOOTNOTES + + +[Footnote 043: _Jure Gentium_ servi nostri sunt, qui ab hostibus +capiuntur. Justinian, L. 1. 5. 5. 1.] + + +[Footnote 044: _Serverum_ appellatio ex eo fluxit, quod imperatores +nostri captivos vendere, ac per hoc _servare_, nec occidere +solent.] + + +[Footnote 045: Nam sive victoribus _jure captivitatis_ servissent, +&c. Justin, L. 4. 3. et passim apud scriptores antiquos.] + + +[Footnote 046: Neque est contra naturam spoliare eum, si possis, quem +honestum est necare. Cicero de officiis. L. 3. 6.] + + +[Footnote 047: 1. Ut liberi suis legibus viverent. Livy, L. 30. 37. 2. +Decem millia talentum argenti descripta pensionibus aequis in annos +quinquaginta solverent. Ibid. 3. Et naves rostratas, praeter decem +triremes, traderent, elephantosque, quos haberent domitos; neque +domarent alios; Bellum neve in Africa, neve extra Africam, injussu P. R. +gererent, &c. Ibid.] + + + * * * * * + + + +CHAP. VIII. + +We shall beg leave, before we proceed to the arguments of the +_purchasers_, to add the following observations to the substance of +the three preceding chapters. + +As the two orders of men, of those who are privately kidnapped by +individuals, and of those who are publickly seized by virtue of the +authority of their prince, compose together, at least[048], nine tenths +of the African slaves, they cannot contain, upon a moderate computation, +less than ninety thousand men annually transported: an immense number, +but easily to be credited, when we reflect that thousands are employed +for the purpose of stealing the unwary, and that these diabolical +practices are in force, so far has European _injustice_ been +spread, at the distance of a thousand miles from the factories on the +coast. The _slave merchants_, among whom a quantity of European +goods is previously divided, travel into the heart of the country to +this amazing distance. Some of them attend the various markets, that are +established through so large an extent of territory, to purchase the +kidnapped people, whom the _slave-hunters_ are continually bringing +in; while the rest, subdividing their merchandize among the petty +sovereigns with whom they deal, receive, by an immediate exertion of +fraud and violence, the stipulated number. + +Now, will any man assert, in opposition to the arguments before +advanced, that out of this immense body of men, thus annually collected +and transported, there is even _one_, over whom the original or +subsequent seller can have any power or right? Whoever asserts this, in +the first instance, must, contradict his own feelings, and must consider +_himself_ as a just object of prey, whenever any daring invader +shall think it proper to attack _him_. And, in the second instance, +the very idea which the African princes entertain of their villages, as +_parks_ or _reservoirs_, stocked only for their own convenience, +and of their subjects, as _wild beasts_, whom they may pursue +and take at pleasure, is so shocking, that it need only be +mentioned, to be instantly reprobated by the reader. + +The order of slaves, which is next to the former in respect to the +number of people whom it contains, is that of prisoners of war. This +order, if the former statement be true, is more inconsiderable than is +generally imagined; but whoever reflects on the prodigious slaughter +that is constantly made in every African skirmish, cannot be otherwise +than of this opinion: he will find, that where _ten_ are taken, he +has every reason to presume that an _hundred_ perish. In some of +these skirmishes, though they have been begun for the express purpose of +_procuring slaves_, the conquerors have suffered but few of the +vanquished to escape the fury of the sword; and there have not been +wanting instances, where they have been so incensed at the resistance +they have found, that their spirit of vengeance has entirely got the +better of their avarice, and they have murdered, in cool blood, every +individual, without discrimination, either of age or sex. + +The following[049] is an account of one of these skirmishes, as +described by a person, who was witness to the scene. "I was sent, with +several others, in a small sloop up the river Niger, to purchase slaves: +we had some free negroes with us in the practice; and as the vessels are +liable to frequent attacks from the negroes on one side of the river, or +the Moors on the other, they are all armed. As we rode at anchor a long +way up the river, we observed a large number of negroes in huts by the +river's side, and for our own safety kept a wary eye on them. Early next +morning we saw from our masthead a numerous body approaching, with +apparently but little order, but in close array. They approached very +fast, and fell furiously on the inhabitants of the town, who seemed to +be quite _surprized_, but nevertheless, as soon as they could get +together, fought stoutly. They had some fire-arms, but made very little +use of them, as they came directly to close fighting with their spears, +lances, and sabres. Many of the invaders were mounted on small horses; +and both parties fought for about half an hour with the fiercest +animosity, exerting much more courage and perseverance than I had ever +before been witness to amongst them. The women and children of the town +clustered together to the water's edge, running shrieking up and down +with terrour, waiting the event of the combat, till their party gave +way and took to the water, to endeavour to swim over to the Barbary +side. They were closely pursued even into the river by the victors, who, +though they came for the purpose of _getting slaves_, gave no +quarter, _their cruelty even prevailing over their avarice_. They +made no prisoners, but put all to the sword without mercy. Horrible +indeed was the carnage of the vanquished on this occasion, and as we +were within two or three hundred yards of them, their cries and shrieks +affected us extremely. We had got up our anchor at the beginning of the +fray, and now stood close in to the spot, where the victors having +followed the vanquished into the water, were continually dragging out +and murdering those, whom by reason of their wounds they easily +overtook. The very children, whom they took in great numbers, did not +escape the massacre. Enraged at their barbarity, we fired our guns +loaden with grape shot, and a volley of small arms among them, which +effectually checked their ardour, and obliged them to retire to a +distance from the shore; from whence a few round cannon shot soon +removed them into the woods. The whole river was black over with the +heads of the fugitives, who were swimming for their lives. These poor +wretches, fearing _us_ as much as their conquerors, dived when we +fired, and cried most lamentably for mercy. Having now effectually +favoured their retreat, we stood backwards and forwards, and took up +several that were wounded and tired. All whose wounds had disabled them +from swimming, were either butchered or drowned, before we got up to +them. With a justice and generosity, _never I believe before heard of +among slavers_, we gave those their liberty whom we had taken up, +setting them on shore on the Barbary side, among the poor residue of +their companions, who had survived the slaughter of the morning." + +We shall make but two remarks on this horrid instance of African +cruelty. It adds, first, a considerable weight to the statements that +have been made; and confirms, secondly, the conclusions that were drawn +in the preceding chapter. For if we even allow the right of capture to be +just, and the principles of reparation and punishment to be applicable +to the individuals of a community, yet would the former be unjust, and +the latter inapplicable, in the present case. Every African war is a +robbery; and we may add, to our former expression, when we said, "that +thus have many thousands of men, in the most iniquitous manner, been +sent into servitude," that we believe there are few of this order, who +are not as much the examples of injustice, as the people that have been +kidnapped; and who do not additionally convey, when we consider them as +prisoners of war, an idea of the most complicated scene of murder. + +The order of _convicts_, as it exists almost solely among those +princes, whose dominions are contiguous to the European factories, is +from this circumstance so inconsiderable, when compared with either of +the preceding, that we should not have mentioned it again, but that we +were unwilling to omit any additional argument that occurred against it. + +It has been shewn already, that the punishment of slavery is inflicted +from no other motive, than that of gratifying the _avarice_ of the +prince, a confederation so detestable, as to be sufficient of itself to +prove it to be unjust; and that it is so disproportionate, from its +_nature_, to the offence, as to afford an additional proof of its +injustice. We shall add now, as a second argument, its disproportion +from its _continuance:_ and we shall derive a third from the +consideration, that, in civil society, every violation of the laws of +the community is an offence against the _state_[050]. + +Let us suppose then an African prince, disdaining for once the idea of +emolument: let us suppose him for once inflamed with the love of his +country, and resolving to punish from this principle alone, "that by +exhibiting an example of terrour, he may preserve that _happiness of +the publick_, which he is bound to secure and defend by the very +nature of his contract; or, in other words, that he may answer the end +of government." If actuated then by this principle, he should adjudge +slavery to an offender, as a just punishment for his offence, for whose +benefit must the convict labour? If it be answered, "for the benefit of +the state," we allow that the punishment, in whatever light it is +considered, will be found to be equitable: but if it be answered, "for +the benefit of any _individual whom he pleases to appoint_," we +deny it to be just. The state[051] alone is considered to have been +injured, and as _injuries cannot possibly be transferred_, the +state alone can justly receive the advantages of his labour. But if the +African prince, when he thus condemns him to labour for the benefit of +an _unoffended individual_, should at the same time sentence him to +become his _property_; that is, if he should make the person and +life of the convict at the absolute disposal of him, for whom he has +sentenced him to labour; it is evident that, in addition to his former +injustice, he is usurping a power, which no ruler or rulers of a state +can possess, and which the great Creator of the universe never yet gave +to any order whatever of created beings. + +That this reasoning is true, and that civilized nations have considered +it as such, will be best testified by their practice. We may appeal here +to that _slavery_, which is now adjudged to delinquents, as a +punishment, among many of the states of Europe. These delinquents are +sentenced to labour at the _oar_, to work in _mines_, and on +_fortifications_, to cut and clear _rivers_, to make and +repair _roads_, and to perform other works of national utility. +They are employed, in short, in the _publick_ work; because, as the +crimes they have committed are considered to have been crimes against +the publick, no individual can justly receive the emoluments of their +labour; and they are neither _sold_, nor made capable of being +_transferred_, because no government whatsoever is invested with +such a power. + +Thus then may that slavery, in which only the idea of _labour_ is +included, be perfectly equitable, and the delinquent will always receive +his punishment as a man; whereas in that, which additionally includes +the idea of _property_, and to undergo which, the delinquent must +previously change his nature, and become a _brute_; there is an +inconsistency, which no arguments can reconcile, and a contradiction to +every principle of nature, which a man need only to appeal to his own +feelings immediately to evince. And we will venture to assert, from the +united observations that have been made upon the subject, in opposition +to any arguments that may be advanced, that there is scarcely one of +those, who are called African convicts, on whom the prince has a right +to inflict a punishment at all; and that there is no one whatever, whom +he has a power of sentencing to labour for the benefit of an unoffended +individual, and much less whom he has a right to sell. + +Having now fully examined the arguments of the _sellers_[052], and +having made such additional remarks as were necessary, we have only to +add, that we cannot sufficiently express our detestation at their +conduct. Were the reader coolly to reflect upon the case of but +_one_ of the unfortunate men, who are annually the victims of +_avarice_, and consider his situation in life, as a father, an +husband, or a friend, we are sure, that even on such a partial +reflection, he must experience considerable pain. What then must be his +feelings, when he is told, that, since the slave-trade began, +[053]_nine millions_ of men have been torn from their dearest +connections, and sold into slavery. If at this recital his indignation +should arise, let him consider it as the genuine production of nature; +that she recoiled at the horrid thought, and that she applied instantly +a torch to his breast to kindle his resentment; and if, during his +indignation, she should awaken the sigh of sympathy, or seduce the tear +of commiseration from his eye, let him consider each as an additional +argument against the iniquity of the _sellers_. + + + * * * * * + + +FOOTNOTES + + +[Footnote 048: The total annual exportation from Africa, is estimated +here at 100,000 men, two thirds of whom are exported by the British +merchants alone. This estimate is less than that which is usually made, +and has been published. The author has been informed by disinterested +people, who were in most of the West India islands during the late war, +and who conversed with many of the most intelligent of the negroes, for +the purpose of inquiring by what methods they had originally been +reduced to slavery, that they did not find even two in twenty, who had +been reduced to that situation, by any other means than those mentioned +above. The author, desirous of a farther confirmation of this +circumstance, stopped the press till he had written to another friend, +who had resided twenty years in the West-Indies, and whose opinion he +had not yet asked. The following is an extract from the answer. "I do +not among many hundreds recollect to have seen but one or two slaves, of +those imported from Africa, who had any scars to shew, that they had +been in war. They are generally such as are kidnapped, or sold by their +tyrants, after the destruction of a village. In short, I am firmly of +opinion, that crimes and war together do not furnish one slave in an +hundred of the numbers introduced into the European colonies. Of +consequence the trade itself, were it possible to suppose convicts or +prisoners of war to be justly sentenced to servitude, is accountable for +ninety-nine in every hundred slaves, whom it supplies. It an insult to +the publick, to attempt to palliate the method of procuring them."] + + +[Footnote 049: The writer of the letter of which this is a faithful +extract, and who was known to the author of the present Essay, was a +long time on the African coast. He had once the misfortune to be +shipwrecked there, and to be taken by the natives, who conveyed him and +his companions a considerable way up into the country. The hardships +which he underwent in the march, his treatment during his captivity, the +scenes to which he was witness, while he resided among the inland +Africans, as well as while in the African trade, gave occasion to a +series of very interesting letters. These letters were sent to the +author of the present Essay, with liberty to make what use of them he +chose, by the gentleman to whom they were written.] + + +[Footnote 050: Were this not the case, the government of a country could +have no right to take cognizance of crimes, and punish them, but every +individual, if injured, would have a right to punish the aggressor with +his own hand, which is contrary to the notions of all civilized men, +whether among the ancients or the moderns.] + + +[Footnote 051: This same notion is entertained even by the African +princes, who do not permit the person injured to revenge his injury, or +to receive the convict as his slave. But if the very person who has been +_injured_, does not possess him, much less ought any other person +whatsoever.] + + +[Footnote 052: There are instances on the African continent, of +_parents_ selling their _children_. As the slaves of this +description are so few, and are so irregularly obtained, we did not +think it worth our while to consider them as forming an order; and, as +God never gave the parent a power over his child to make him +_miserable_, we trust that any farther mention of them will be +unnecessary.] + + +[Footnote 053: Abbe Raynal, Hist. Phil. vol. 4. P. 154.] + + + * * * * * + + + +CHAP. IX. + +It remains only now to examine by what arguments those, who +_receive_ or _purchase_ their fellow-creatures into slavery, +defend the _commerce_. Their first plea is, "that they receive +those with propriety, who are convicted of crimes, because they are +delivered into their hands by _their own magistrates_." But what is +this to you _receivers_? Have the unfortunate _convicts_ been +guilty of injury to _you_? Have they broken _your_ treaties? +Have they plundered _your_ ships? Have they carried _your_ +wives and children into slavery, that _you_ should thus retaliate? +Have they offended _you_ even by word or gesture? + +But if the African convicts are innocent with respect to you; if you +have not even the shadow of a claim upon their persons; by what right do +you receive them? "By the laws of the Africans," you will say; "by which +it is positively allowed."--But can _laws_ alter the nature of +vice? They may give it a sanction perhaps: it will still be immutably +the same, and, though dressed in the outward habiliments of +_honour_, will still be _intrinsically base_. + +But alas! you do not only attempt to defend yourselves by these +arguments, but even dare to give your actions the appearance of lenity, +and assume _merit_ from your _baseness_! and how first ought +you particularly to blush, when you assert, "that prisoners of war are +only purchased from the hands of their conquerors, _to deliver them +from death_." Ridiculous defence! can the most credulous believe it? +You entice the Africans to war; you foment their quarrels; you supply +them with arms and ammunition, and all--from the _motives of +benevolence_. Does a man set fire to an house, for the purpose of +rescuing the inhabitants from the flames? But if they are only +purchased, to _deliver them from death_; why, when they are +delivered into your hands, as protectors, do you torture them with +hunger? Why do you kill them with fatigue? Why does the whip deform +their bodies, or the knife their limbs? Why do you sentence them to +death? to a death, infinitely more excruciating than that from which you +so kindly saved them? What answer do you make to this? for if you had +not humanely preserved them from the hands of their conquerors, a quick +death perhaps, and that in the space of a moment, had freed them from +their pain: but on account of your _favour_ and _benevolence_, +it is known, that they have lingered years in pain and agony, and have +been sentenced, at last, to a dreadful death for the most insignificant +offence. + +Neither can we allow the other argument to be true, on which you found +your merit; "that you take them from their country for their own +convenience; because Africa, scorched with incessant heat, and subject +to the most violent rains and tempests, is unwholesome, and unfit to be +inhabited." Preposterous men! do you thus judge from your own feelings? +Do you thus judge from your own constitution and frame? But if you +suppose that the Africans are incapable of enduring their own climate, +because you cannot endure it yourselves; why do you receive them into +slavery? Why do you not measure them here by the same standard? For if +you are unable to bear hunger and thirst, chains and imprisonment, +wounds and torture, why do you not suppose them incapable of enduring +the same treatment? Thus then is your argument turned against +yourselves. But consider the answer which the Scythians gave the +AEgyptians, when they contended about the antiquity of their +original[054], "That nature, when she first distinguished countries by +different degrees of heat and cold, tempered the bodies of animals, at +the same instant, to endure the different situations: that as the +climate of Scythia was severer than that of AEgypt, so were the bodies of +the Scythians harder, and as capable of enduring the severity of their +atmosphere, as the AEgyptians the temperateness of their own." + +But you may say perhaps, that, though they are capable of enduring their +own climate, yet their situation is frequently uncomfortable, and even +wretched: that Africa is infested with locusts, and insects of various +kinds; that they settle in swarms upon the trees, destroy the verdure, +consume the fruit, and deprive the inhabitants of their food. But the +same answer may be applied as before; "that the same kind Providence, +who tempered the body of the animal, tempered also the body of the tree; +that he gave it a quality to recover the bite of the locust, which he +sent; and to reassume, in a short interval of time, its former glory." +And that such is the case experience has shewn: for the very trees that +have been infested, and stripped of their bloom and verdure, so +surprizingly quick is vegetation, appear in a few days, as if an insect +had been utterly unknown. + +We may add to these observations, from the testimony of those who have +written the History of Africa from their own inspection, that no country +is more luxurious in prospects, none more fruitful, none more rich in +herds and flocks, and none, where the comforts of life, can be gained +with so little trouble. + +But you say again, as a confirmation of these your former arguments, (by +which you would have it understood, that the Africans themselves are +sensible of the goodness of your intentions) "that they do not appear to +go with you against their will." Impudent and base assertion! Why then +do you load them with chains? Why keep you your daily and nightly +watches? But alas, as a farther, though a more melancholy proof, of the +falsehood of your assertions, how many, when on board your ships, have +put a period to their existence? How many have leaped into the sea? How +many have pined to death, that, even at the expence of their lives, they +might fly from your _benevolence_? + +Do you call them obstinate then, because they refuse your favours? Do +you call them ungrateful, because they make you this return? How much +rather ought you receivers to blush! How much rather ought you receivers +to be considered as abandoned and execrable; who, when you usurp the +dominion over those, who are as free and independent as yourselves, +break the first law of justice, which ordains, "that no person shall do +harm to another, without a previous provocation;" who offend against +the dictates of nature, which commands, "that no just man shall be given +or received into slavery against his own consent;" and who violate the +very laws of the empire that you assume, by consigning your subjects to +misery. + +Now, as a famous Heathen philosopher observes, from whose mouth you +shall be convicted[055], "there is a considerable difference, whether an +injury is done, during any perturbation of mind, which is generally +short and momentary; or whether it is done with any previous meditation +and design; for, those crimes, which proceed from any sudden commotion +of the mind, are less than those, which are studied and prepared," how +great and enormous are your crimes to be considered, who plan your +African voyages at a time, when your reason is found, and your senses +are awake; who coolly and deliberately equip your vessels; and who spend +years, and even lives, in the traffick of _human liberty_. + +But if the arguments of those, who _sell_ or _deliver_ men +into slavery, (as we have shewn before) and of those, who _receive_ +or _purchase_ them, (as we have now shewn) are wholly false; it is +evident that this _commerce_, is not only beyond the possibility of +defence, but is justly to be accounted wicked, and justly impious, since +it is contrary to the principles of _law_ and _government_, +the dictates of _reason_, the common maxims of _equity_, the +laws of _nature_, the admonitions of _conscience_, and, in +short, the whole doctrine of _natural religion_. + + + * * * * * + + +FOOTNOTES + + +[Footnote 054: Justin, L. 2. C. 1.] + + +[Footnote 055: Cicero de Officiis. L. 1. C. 8.] + + + * * * * * + + + + +PART III. + + + +THE + +SLAVERY of the AFRICANS + +IN THE + +EUROPEAN COLONIES. + + + * * * * * + + + +CHAP. I. + Having confined ourselves wholly, in the second part of this Essay, to +the consideration of the _commerce_, we shall now proceed to the +consideration of the _slavery_ that is founded upon it. As this +slavery will be conspicuous in the _treatment_, which the +unfortunate Africans uniformly undergo, when they are put into the hands +of the _receivers_, we shall describe the manner in which they are +accustomed to be used from this period. + +To place this in the clearest, and most conspicuous point of view, we +shall throw a considerable part of our information on this head into the +form of a narrative: we shall suppose ourselves, in short, on the +continent of Africa, and relate a scene, which, from its agreement with +unquestionable facts, might not unreasonably be presumed to have been +presented to our view, had we been really there. + +And first, let us turn our eyes to the cloud of dust that is before us. +It seems to advance rapidly, and, accompanied with dismal shrieks and +yellings, to make the very air, that is above it, tremble as it rolls +along. What can possibly be the cause? Let us inquire of that melancholy +African, who seems to walk dejected near the shore; whose eyes are +stedfastly fixed on the approaching object, and whose heart, if we can +judge from the appearance of his countenance, must be greatly agitated. + +"Alas!" says the unhappy African, "the cloud that you see approaching, +is a train of wretched slaves. They are going to the ships behind you. +They are destined for the English colonies, and, if you will stay here +but for a little time, you will see them pass. They were last night +drawn up upon the plain which you see before you, where they were +branded upon the breast with an _hot iron_; and when they had +undergone the whole of the treatment which is customary on these +occasions, and which I am informed that you Englishmen at home use to +the _cattle_ which you buy, they were returned to their prison. As +I have some dealings with the members of the factory which you see at a +little distance, (though thanks to the Great Spirit, I never dealt in +the _liberty_ of my fellow creatures) I gained admittance there. I +learned the history of some of the unfortunate people, whom I saw +confined, and will explain to you, if my eye should catch them as they +pass, the real causes of their servitude." + +Scarcely were these words spoken, when they came distinctly into sight. +They appeared to advance in a long column, but in a very irregular +manner. There were three only in the front, and these were chained +together. The rest that followed seemed to be chained by pairs, but by +pressing forward, to avoid the lash of the drivers, the breadth of the +column began to be greatly extended, and ten or more were observed +abreast. + +While we were making these remarks, the intelligent African thus resumed +his discourse. "The first three whom you observe, at the head of the +train, to be chained together, are prisoners of war. As soon as the +ships that are behind you arrived, the news was dispatched into the +inland country; when one of the petty kings immediately assembled his +subjects, and attacked a neighbouring tribe. The wretched people, though +they were surprized, made a formidable resistance, as they resolved, +almost all of them, rather to lose their lives, than survive their +liberty. The person whom you see in the middle, is the father of the two +young men, who are chained to him on each side. His wife and two of his +children were killed in the attack, and his father being wounded, and, +on account of his age, _incapable of servitude_, was left bleeding +on the spot where this transaction happened." + +"With respect to those who are now passing us, and are immediately +behind the former, I can give you no other intelligence, than that some +of them, to about the number of thirty, were taken in the same skirmish. +Their tribe was said to have been numerous before the attack; these +however are _all that are left alive_. But with respect to the +unhappy man, who is now opposite to us, and whom you may distinguish, as +he is now looking back and wringing his hands in despair, I can inform +you with more precision. He is an unfortunate convict. He lived only +about five days journey from the factory. He went out with his king to +hunt, and was one of his train; but, through too great an anxiety to +afford his royal master diversion, he roused the game from the covert +rather sooner than was expected. The king, exasperated at this +circumstance, immediately sentenced him to slavery. His wife and +children, fearing lest the tyrant should extend the punishment to +themselves, _which is not unusual_, fled directly to the woods, +where they were all devoured." + +"The people, whom you see close behind the unhappy convict, form a +numerous body, and reach a considerable way. They speak a language, +which no person in this part of Africa can understand, and their +features, as you perceive, are so different from those of the rest, that +they almost appear a distinct race of men. From this circumstance I +recollect them. They are the subjects of a very distant prince, who +agreed with the _slave merchants, for a quantity of spirituous +liquors_, to furnish him with a stipulated number of slaves. He +accordingly surrounded, and set fire to one of his own villages in the +night, and seized these people, who were unfortunately the inhabitants, +as they were escaping from the flames. I first saw them as the merchants +were driving them in, about two days ago. They came in a large body, and +were tied together at the neck with leather thongs, which permitted +them to walk at the distance of about a yard from one another. Many of +them were loaden with elephants teeth, which had been purchased at the +same time. All of them had bags, made of skin, upon their shoulders; for +as they were to travel, in their way from the great mountains, through +barren sands and inhospitable woods for many days together, they were +obliged to carry water and provisions with them. Notwithstanding this, +many of them perished, some by hunger, but the greatest number by +fatigue, as the place from whence they came, is at such an amazing +distance from this, and the obstacles, from the nature of the country, +so great, that the journey could scarcely be completed in seven moons." + +When this relation was finished, and we had been looking stedfastly for +some time on the croud that was going by, we lost sight of that +peculiarity of feature, which we had before remarked. We then discovered +that the inhabitants of the depopulated village had all of them passed +us, and that the part of the train, to which we were now opposite, was a +numerous body of kidnapped people. Here we indulged our imagination. We +thought we beheld in one of them a father, in another an husband, and in +another a son, each of whom was forced from his various and tender +connections, and without even the opportunity of bidding them adieu. +While we were engaged in these and other melancholy reflections, the +whole body of slaves had entirely passed us. We turned almost insensibly +to look at them again, when we discovered an unhappy man at the end of +the train, who could scarcely keep pace with the rest. His feet seemed +to have suffered much from long and constant travelling, for he was +limping painfully along. + +"This man," resumes the African. "has travelled a considerable way. He +lived at a great distance from hence, and had a large family, for whom +he was daily to provide. As he went out one night to a neighbouring +spring, to procure water for his thirsty children, he was kidnapped by +two _slave hunters_, who sold him in the morning to some country +merchants for a _bar of iron_. These drove him with other slaves, +procured almost in the same manner, to the nearest market, where the +English merchants, to whom the train that has just now passed us +belongs, purchased him and two others, by means of their travelling +agents, for a _pistol_. His wife and children have been long +waiting for his return. But he is gone for ever from their sight: and +they must be now disconsolate, as they must be certain by his delay, +that he has fallen into the hands of the _Christians_". + +"And now, as I have mentioned the name of _Christians_, a name, by +which the Europeans distinguish themselves from us, I could wish to be +informed of the meaning which such an appellation may convey. They +consider themselves as _men_, but us unfortunate Africans, whom +they term _Heathens_, as the _beasts_ that serve us. But ah! +how different is the fact! What is _Christianity_, but a system +of _murder_ and _oppression_? The cries and yells of the +unfortunate people, who are now soon to embark for the regions of +servitude, have already pierced my heart. Have you not heard me sigh, +while we have been talking? Do you not see the tears that now trickle +down my cheeks? and yet these hardened _Christians_ are unable to +be moved at all: nay, they will scourge them amidst their groans, and +even smile, while they are torturing them to death. Happy, happy +Heathenism! which can detest the vices of Christianity, and feel for +the distresses of mankind." + +"But" we reply, "You are totally mistaken: _Christianity_ is the +most perfect and lovely of moral systems. It blesses even the hand of +persecution itself, and returns good for evil. But the people against +whom you so justly declaim; are not _Christians_. They are +_infidels_. They are _monsters_. They are out of the common +course of nature. Their countrymen at home are generous and brave. They +support the sick, the lame, and the blind. They fly to the succour of +the distressed. They have noble and stately buildings for the sole +purpose of benevolence. They are in short, of all nations, the most +remarkable for humanity and justice." + +"But why then," replies the honest African, "do they suffer this? Why is +Africa a scene of blood and desolation? Why are her children wrested +from her, to administer to the luxuries and greatness of those whom they +never offended? And why are these dismal cries in vain?" + +"Alas!" we reply again, "can the cries and groans, with which the air +now trembles, be heard across this extensive continent? Can the southern +winds convey them to the ear of Britain? If they could reach the +generous Englishman at home, they would pierce his heart, as they have +already pierced your own. He would sympathize with you in your distress. +He would be enraged at the conduct of his countrymen, and resist their +tyranny."-- + +But here a shriek unusually loud, accompanied with a dreadful rattling +of chains, interrupted the discourse. The wretched Africans were just +about to embark: they had turned their face to their country, as if to +take a last adieu, and, with arms uplifted to the sky, were making the +very atmosphere resound with their prayers and imprecations. + + + * * * * * + + + +CHAP. II. + +The foregoing scene, though it may be said to be imaginary, is strictly +consistent with fact. It is a scene, to which the reader himself may +have been witness, if he has ever visited the place, where it is +supposed to lie; as no circumstance whatever has been inserted in it, +for which the fullest and most undeniable evidence cannot be produced. +We shall proceed now to describe, in general terms, the treatment which +the wretched Africans undergo, from the time of their embarkation. + +When the African slaves, who are collected from various quarters, for +the purposes of sale, are delivered over to the _receivers_, they +are conducted in the manner above described to the ships. Their +situation on board is beyond all description: for here they are crouded, +hundreds of them together, into such a small compass, as would scarcely +be thought sufficient to accommodate twenty, if considered as _free +men_. This confinement soon produces an effect, that may be easily +imagined. It generates a pestilential air, which, co-operating with, bad +provisions, occasions such a sickness and mortality among them, that not +less than _twenty thousand_[056] are generally taken off in every +yearly transportation. + +Thus confined in a pestilential prison, and almost entirely excluded +from the chearful face of day, it remains for the sickly survivors to +linger out a miserable existence, till the voyage is finished. But are +no farther evils to be expected in the interim particularly if we add to +their already wretched situation the indignities that are daily offered +them, and the regret which they must constantly feel, at being for ever +forced from their connexions? These evils are but too apparent. Some of +them have resolved, and, notwithstanding the threats of the +_receivers_, have carried their resolves into execution, to starve +themselves to death. Others, when they have been brought upon deck for +air, if the least opportunity has offered, have leaped into the sea, and +terminated their miseries at once. Others, in a fit of despair, have +attempted to rise, and regain their liberty. But here what a scene of +barbarity has constantly ensued. Some of them have been instantly killed +upon the spot; some have been taken from the hold, have been bruised and +mutilated in the most barbarous and shocking manner, and have been +returned bleeding to their companions, as a sad example of resistance; +while others, tied to the ropes of the ship, and mangled alternately +with the whip and knife, have been left in that horrid situation, till +they have expired. + +But this is not the only inhuman treatment which they are frequently +obliged to undergo; for if there should be any necessity, from +tempestuous weather, for lightening the ship; or if it should be +presumed on the voyage, that the provisions will fall short before the +port can be made, they are, many of them, thrown into the sea, without +any compunction of mind on the part of the _receivers_, and without +any other regret for their loss, than that which _avarice_ +inspires. Wretched survivors! what must be their feelings at such a +sight! how must they tremble to think of that servitude which is +approaching, when the very _dogs_ of the _receivers_ have been +retained on board, and preferred to their unoffending countrymen. But +indeed so lightly are these unhappy people esteemed, that their lives +have been even taken away upon speculation: there has been an instance, +within the last five years, of _one hundred and thirty two_ of them +being thrown into the sea, because it was supposed that, by this +_trick_, their value could be recovered from the insurers[057]. + +But if the ship should arrive safe at its destined port, a circumstance +which does not always happen, (for some have been blown up, and many +lost) the wretched Africans do not find an alleviation of their sorrow. +Here they are again exposed to sale. Here they are again subjected to +the inspection of other brutal _receivers_, who examine and treat +them with an inhumanity, at which even avarice should blush. To this +mortifying circumstance is added another, that they are picked out, as +the purchaser pleases, without any consideration whether the wife is +separated from her husband, or the mother from her son: and if these +cruel instances of separation should happen; if relations, when they +find themselves about to be parted, should cling together; or if filial, +conjugal, or parental affection, should detain them but a moment longer +in each other's arms, than these _second receivers_ should think +sufficient, the lash instantly severs them from their embraces. + +We cannot close our account of the treatment, which the wretched +Africans undergo while in the hands of the _first receivers_, +without mentioning an instance of wanton, barbarity, which happened some +time ago; particularly as it may be inserted with propriety in the +present place, and may give the reader a better idea of the cruelties, +to which they are continually exposed, than any that he may have yet +conceived. To avoid making a mistake, we shall take the liberty that has +been allowed us, and transcribe it from a little manuscript account, +with which we have been favoured by a person of the strictest integrity, +and who was at that time in the place where the transaction +happened[058]. "Not long after," says he, (continuing his account) "the +perpetrator of a cruel murder, committed in open day light, in the most +publick part of a town, which was the seat of government, escaped every +other notice than the curses of a few of the more humane witnesses of +his barbarity. An officer of a Guinea ship, who had the care of a number +of new slaves, and was returning from the _sale-yard_ to the +vessel with such as remained unsold; observed a stout fellow among them +rather slow in his motions, which he therefore quickened with his +rattan. The slave soon afterwards fell down, and was raised by the same +application. Moving forwards a few yards, he fell down again; and this +being taken as a proof of his sullen perverse spirit, the enraged +officer furiously repeated his blows, till he expired at his feet. The +brute coolly ordered some of the surviving slaves to carry the dead body +to the water's side, where, without any ceremony or delay, being thrown +into the sea, the tragedy was supposed to have been immediately finished +by the not more inhuman sharks, with which the harbour then abounded. +These voracious fish were supposed to have followed the vessels from +the coast of Africa, in which ten thousand slaves were imported in that +one season, being allured by the stench, and daily fed by the dead +carcasses thrown overboard on the voyage." + +If the reader should observe here, that cattle are better protected in +this country, than slaves in the colonies, his observation will be just. +The beast which is driven to market, is defended by law from the goad of +the driver; whereas the wretched African, though an human being, and +whose feelings receive of course a double poignancy from the power of +reflection, is unnoticed in this respect in the colonial code, and may +be goaded and beaten till he expires. + +We may now take our leave of the _first receivers_. Their crime has +been already estimated; and to reason farther upon it, would be +unnecessary. For where the conduct of men is so manifestly impious, +there can be no need, either of a single argument or a reflection; as +every reader of sensibility will anticipate them in his own feelings. + + + * * * * * + + +FOOTNOTES + + +[Footnote 056: It is universally allowed, that at least one fifth of the +exported negroes perish in the passage. This estimate is made from the +time in which they are put on board, to the time when they are disposed +of in the colonies. The French are supposed to lose the greatest number +in the voyage, but particularly from this circumstance, because their +slave ships are in general so very large, that many of the slaves that +have been put on board sickly, die before the cargo can be completed.] + + +[Footnote 057: This instance happened in a ship, commanded by one +Collingwood. On the 29th of November, 1781, fifty-four of them were +thrown into the sea alive; on the 30th forty-two more; and in about +three days afterwards, twenty-six. Ten others, who were brought upon the +deck for the same purpose, did not wait to be hand-cuffed, but bravely +leaped into the sea, and shared the fate of their companions. It is a +fact, that the people on board this ship had not been put upon short +allowance. The excuse which this execrable wretch made on board for his +conduct, was the following, "_that if the slaves, who were then +sickly, had died a natural death, the loss would have been the owners; +but as they were thrown alive into the sea, it would fall upon the +underwriters_."] + + +[Footnote 058: This gentleman is at present resident in England. The +author of this Essay applied to him for some information on the +treatment of slaves, so far as his own knowledge was concerned. He was +so obliging as to furnish him with the written account alluded to, +interspersed only with such instances, as he himself could undertake to +answer for. The author, as he has never met with these instances before, +and as they are of such high authority, intends to transcribe two or +three of them, and insert them in the fourth chapter. They will be found +in inverted commas.] + + + * * * * * + + + +CHAP. III. + +When the wretched Africans are thus put into the hands of the _second +receivers_, they are conveyed to the plantations, where they are +totally considered as _cattle_, or _beasts of labour_; their +very children, if any should be born to them in that situation, being +previously destined to the condition of their parents. But here a +question arises, which, will interrupt the thread of the narration for a +little time, viz. how far their descendants, who compose the fifth order +of slaves, are justly reduced to servitude, and upon what principles the +_receivers_ defend their conduct. + +Authors have been at great pains to inquire, why, in the ancient +servitude, the child has uniformly followed the condition of the mother. +But we conceive that they would have saved themselves much trouble, and +have done themselves more credit, if instead of, endeavouring to +reconcile the custom with _heathen_ notions, or their own laboured +conjectures, they had shewn its inconsistency with reason and nature, +and its repugnancy to common justice. Suffice it to say, that the whole +theory of the ancients, with respect to the descendants slaves, may be +reduced to this principle, "that as the parents, by becoming +_property_, were wholly considered as _cattle_, their children, +like _the progeny of cattle_, inherited their parental lot." + +Such also is the excuse of the tyrannical _receivers_ +before-mentioned. They allege, that they have purchased the parents, +that they can sell and dispose of them as they please, that they possess +them under the same laws and limitations as their cattle, and that their +children, like the progeny of these, become their property _by +birth_. + +But the absurdity of the argument will immediately appear. It depends +wholly on the supposition, that the parents are _brutes_. If they +are _brutes_, we shall instantly cease to contend: if they are +_men_, which we think it not difficult to prove, the argument must +immediately fall, as we have already shewn that there cannot justly be +any _property_ whatever in the _human species_. + +It has appeared also, in the second part of this Essay, that as nature +made, every man's body and mind _his own_, so no _just_ person +can be reduced to slavery against his own _consent_. Do the +unfortunate offspring ever _consent_ to be slaves?--They are slaves +from their birth.--Are they _guilty_ of crimes, that they lose +their freedom?--They are slaves when they cannot speak.--Are their +_parents_ abandoned? The crimes of the parents cannot justly extend +to the children. + +Thus then must the tyrannical _receivers_, who presume to sentence +the children of slaves to servitude, if they mean to dispute upon the +justice of their cause; either allow them to have been _brutes_ +from their birth, or to have been guilty of crimes at a time, when they +were incapable of offending the very _King of Kings_. + + + * * * * * + + + +CHAP. IV. + +But to return to the narration. When the wretched Africans are conveyed +to the plantations, they are considered as _beasts of labour_, and +are put to their respective work. Having led, in their own country, a +life of indolence and ease, where the earth brings forth spontaneously +the comforts of life, and spares frequently the toil and trouble of +cultivation, they can hardly be expected to endure the drudgeries of +servitude. Calculations are accordingly made upon their lives. It is +conjectured, that if three in four survive what is called the +_seasoning_, the bargain is highly favourable. This seasoning is +said to expire, when the two first years of their servitude are +completed: It is the time which an African must take to be so accustomed +to the colony, as to be able to endure the common labour of a +plantation, and to be put into the _gang_. At the end of this +period the calculations become verified, _twenty thousand_[059] of +those, who are annually imported, dying before the seasoning is over. +This is surely an horrid and awful consideration: and thus does it +appear, (and let it be remembered, that it is the lowest calculation +that has been ever made upon the subject) that out of every annual +supply that is shipped from the coast of Africa, _forty thousand +lives_[060] are regularly expended, even before it can be said, that +there is really any additional stock for the colonies. + +When the seasoning is over, and the survivors are thus enabled to endure +the usual task of slaves, they are considered as real and substantial +supplies. From this period[061] therefore we shall describe their +situation. + +They are summoned at five in the morning to begin their work. This work +may be divided into two kinds, the culture of the fields, and the +collection of grass for cattle. The last is the most laborious and +intolerable employment; as the grass can only be collected blade by +blade, and is to be fetched frequently twice a day at a considerable +distance from the plantation. In these two occupations they are jointly +taken up, with no other intermission than that of taking their +subsistence twice, till nine at night. They then separate for their +respective huts, when they gather sticks, prepare their supper, and +attend their families. This employs them till midnight, when they go to +rest. Such is their daily way of life for rather more than half the +year. They are _sixteen_ hours, including two intervals at meals, +in the service of their masters: they are employed _three_ +afterwards in their own necessary concerns; _five_ only remain for +sleep, and their day is finished. + +During the remaining portion of the year, or the time of crop, the +nature, as well as the time of their employment, is considerably +changed. The whole gang is generally divided into two or three bodies. +One of these, besides the ordinary labour of the day, is kept in turn at +the mills, that are constantly going, during the whole of the night. +This is a dreadful encroachment upon their time of rest, which was +before too short to permit them perfectly to refresh their wearied +limbs, and actually reduces their sleep, as long as this season lasts, +to about three hours and an half a night, upon a moderate +computation[062]. Those who can keep their eyes open during their +nightly labour, and are willing to resist the drowsiness that is +continually coming upon them, are presently worn out; while some of +those, who are overcome, and who feed the mill between asleep and awake, +suffer, for thus obeying the calls of nature, by the loss of a +limb[063]. In this manner they go on, with little or no respite from +their work, till the crop season is over, when the year (from the time +of our first description) is completed. + +To support[064] a life of such unparalleled drudgery, we should at least +expect: to find, that they were comfortably clothed, and plentifully +fed. But sad reverse! they have scarcely a covering to defend themselves +against the inclemency of the night. Their provisions are frequently +bad, and are always dealt out to them with such a sparing hand, that the +means of a bare livelihood are not placed within the reach of four out +of five of these unhappy people. It is a fact, that many of the +disorders of slaves are contracted from eating the vegetables, which +their little spots produce, before they are sufficiently ripe: a clear +indication, that the calls of hunger are frequently so pressing, as not +to suffer them to wait, till they can really enjoy them. + +This, situation, of a want of the common necessaries of life, added to +that of hard and continual labour, must be sufficiently painful of +itself. How then must the pain be sharpened, if it be accompanied with +severity! if an unfortunate slave does not come into the field exactly +at the appointed time, if, drooping with sickness or fatigue, he appears +to work unwillingly, or if the bundle of grass that he has been +collecting, appears too small in the eye of the overseer, he is equally +sure of experiencing the whip. This instrument erases the skin, and cuts +out small portions of the flesh at almost every stroke; and is so +frequently applied, that the smack of it is all day long in the ears of +those, who are in the vicinity of the plantations. This severity of +masters, or managers, to their slaves, which is considered only as +common discipline, is attended with bad effects. It enables them to +behold instances of cruelty without commiseration, and to be guilty of +them without remorse. Hence those many acts of deliberate mutilation, +that have taken place on the slightest occasions: hence those many acts +of inferiour, though shocking, barbarity, that have taken place without +any occasion at all: the very slitting[065] of ears has been considered +as an operation, so perfectly devoid of pain, as to have been performed +for no other reason than that for which a brand is set upon cattle, +_as a mark of property_. + +But this is not the only effect, which this severity produces: for +while it hardens their hearts, and makes them insensible of the misery +of their fellow-creatures, it begets a turn for wanton cruelty. As a +proof of this, we shall mention one, among the many instances that +occur, where ingenuity has been exerted in contriving modes of torture. +"An iron coffin, with holes in it, was kept by a certain colonist, as an +auxiliary to the lash. In this the poor victim of the master's +resentment was inclosed, and placed sufficiently near a fire, to +occasion extreme pain, and consequently shrieks and groans, until the +revenge of the master was satiated, without any other inconvenience on +his part, than a temporary suspension of the slave's labour. Had he been +flogged to death, or his limbs mutilated, the interest of the brutal +tyrant would have suffered a more irreparable loss. + +"In mentioning, this instance, we do not mean to insinuate, that it is +common. We know that it was reprobated by many. All that we would infer +from it is, that where men are habituated to a system of severity, they +become _wantonly cruel_, and that the mere toleration of such an +instrument of torture, in any country, is a clear indication, _that +this wretched class of men do not there enjoy the protection of any +laws, that may be pretended to have been enacted in their favour_." + +Such then is the general situation of the unfortunate Africans. They are +beaten and tortured at discretion. They are badly clothed. They are +miserably fed. Their drudgery is intense and incessant and their rest +short. For scarcely are their heads reclined, scarcely have their bodies +a respite from the labour of the day, or the cruel hand of the overseer, +but they are summoned to renew their sorrows. In this manner they go on +from year to year, in a state of the lowest degradation, without a +single law to protect them, without the possibility of redress, without +a hope that their situation will be changed, unless death should +terminate the scene. + +Having described the general situation of these unfortunate people, we +shall now take notice of the common consequences that are found to +attend it, and relate them separately, as they result either from long +and painful _labour_, a _want_ of the common necessaries of +life, or continual _severity_. + +Oppressed by a daily task of such immoderate labour as human nature is +utterly unable to perform, many of them run away from their masters. +They fly to the recesses of the mountains, where they choose rather to +live upon any thing that the soil affords them, nay, the very soil +itself, than return to that _happy situation_, which is represented +by the _receivers_, as the condition of a slave. + +It sometimes happens, that the manager of a mountain plantation, falls +in with one of these; he immediately seizes him, and threatens to carry +him to his former master, unless he will consent to live on the mountain +and cultivate his ground. When his plantation is put in order, he +carries the delinquent home, abandons him to all the suggestions of +despotick rage, and accepts a reward for his _honesty_. The unhappy +wretch is chained, scourged, tortured; and all this, because he obeyed +the dictates of nature, and wanted to be free. And who is there, that +would not have done the same thing, in the same situation? Who is there, +that has once known the charms of liberty; that would not fly from +despotism? And yet, by the impious laws of the _receivers_, the +absence[066] of six months from the lash of tyranny is--_death_. + +But this law is even mild, when compared with another against the same +offence, which was in force sometime ago, and which we fear is even now +in force, in some of those colonies which this account of the treatment +comprehends. "Advertisements have frequently appeared there, offering a +reward for the apprehending of fugitive slaves either alive or +_dead_. The following instance was given us by a person of +unquestionable veracity, under whose own observation it fell. As he was +travelling in one of the colonies alluded to, he observed some people in +pursuit of a poor wretch, who was seeking in the wilderness an asylum +from his labours. He heard the discharge of a gun, and soon afterwards +stopping at an house for refreshment, the head of the fugitive, still +reeking with blood, was brought in and laid upon a table with +exultation. The production of such a trophy was the proof _required by +law_ to entitle the heroes to their reward." Now reader determine if +you can, who were the most execrable; the rulers of the state in +authorizing murder, or the people in being bribed to commit it. + +This is one of the common consequences of that immoderate share of +labour, which is imposed upon them; nor is that, which is the result of +a scanty allowance of food, less to be lamented. The wretched African is +often so deeply pierced by the excruciating fangs of hunger, as almost +to be driven to despair. What is he to do in such a trying situation? +Let him apply to the _receivers_. Alas! the majesty of _receivership_ +is too sacred for the appeal, and the intrusion would be +fatal. Thus attacked on the one hand, and shut out from every +possibility of relief on the other, he has only the choice of being +starved, or of relieving his necessities by taking a small portion of +the fruits of his own labour. Horrid crime! to be found eating the +cane, which probably his own hands have planted, and to be eating it, +because his necessities were pressing! This crime however is of such a +magnitude, as always to be accompanied with the whip; and so +unmercifully has it been applied on such an occasion, as to have been +the cause, in wet weather, of the delinquent's death. But the smart of +the whip has not been the only pain that the wretched Africans have +experienced. Any thing that passion could seize, and convert into an +instrument of punishment, has been used; and, horrid to relate! the very +knife has not been overlooked in the fit of phrenzy. Ears have been +slit, eyes have been beaten out, and bones have been broken; and so +frequently has this been the case, that it has been a matter of constant +lamentation with disinterested people, who out of curiosity have +attended the markets[067] to which these unhappy people weekly resort, +that they have not been able to turn their eyes on any group of them +whatever, but they have beheld these inhuman marks of passion, +despotism, and caprice. + +But these instances of barbarity have not been able to deter them from +similar proceedings. And indeed, how can it be expected that they +should? They have still the same appetite to be satisfied as before, and +to drive them to desperation. They creep out clandestinely by night, and +go in search of food into their master's, or some neighbouring +plantation. But here they are almost equally sure of suffering. The +watchman, who will be punished himself, if he neglects his duty, +frequently seizes them in the fact. No excuse or intreaty will avail; he +must punish them for an example, and he must punish them, not with a +stick, nor with a whip, but with a cutlass. Thus it happens, that these +unhappy slaves, if they are taken, are either sent away mangled in a +barbarous manner, or are killed upon the spot. + +We may now mention the consequences of the severity. The wretched +Africans, daily subjected to the lash, and unmercifully whipt and beaten +on every trifling occasion, have been found to resist their opposers. +Unpardonable crime! that they should have the feelings of nature! that +their breasts should glow with resentment on an injury! that they should +be so far overcome, as to resist those, whom _they are under no +obligations to obey_, and whose only title to their services consists +in _a violation of the rights of men_! What has been the +consequence?--But here let us spare the feelings of the reader, (we +wish we could spare our own) and let us only say, without a recital of +the cruelty, _that they have been murdered at the discretion of their +masters_. For let the reader observe, that the life of an African is +only valued at a price, that would scarcely purchase an horse; that the +master has a power of murdering his slave, if he pays but a trifling +fine; and that the murder must be attended with uncommon circumstances +of horrour, if it even produces an inquiry. + +Immortal Alfred! father of our invaluable constitution! parent of the +civil blessings we enjoy! how ought thy laws to excite our love and +veneration, who hast forbidden us, thy posterity, to tremble at the +frown of tyrants! how ought they to perpetuate thy name, as venerable, +to the remotest ages, who has secured, even to the meanest servant, a +fair and impartial trial! How much does nature approve thy laws, as +consistent with her own feelings, while she absolutely turns pale, +trembles, and recoils, at the institutions of these _receivers_! +Execrable men! you do not murder the horse, on which you only ride; you +do not mutilate the cow, which only affords you her milk; you do not +torture the dog, which is but a partial servant of your pleasures: but +these unfortunate men, from whom, you derive your very pleasures and +your fortunes, you torture, mutilate, murder at discretion! Sleep then +you _receivers_, if you can, while you scarcely allow these +unfortunate people to rest at all! feast if you can, and indulge your +genius, while you daily apply to these unfortunate people the stings of +severity and hunger! exult in riches, at which even avarice ought to +shudder, and, which humanity must detest! + + + * * * * * + + +FOOTNOTES + + +[Footnote 059: One third of the whole number imported, is often computed +to be lost in the seasoning, which, in round numbers, will be 27000. The +loss in the seasoning depends, in a great measure, on two circumstances, +viz. on the number of what are called refuse slaves that are imported, +and on the quantity of new land in the colony. In the French windward +islands of Martinico, and Guadaloupe, which are cleared and highly +cultivated, and in our old small islands, one fourth, including refuse +slaves, is considered as a general proportion. But in St. Domingo, where +there is a great deal of new land annually taken into culture, and in +other colonies in the same situation, the general proportion, including +refuse slaves, is found to be one third. This therefore is a lower +estimate than the former, and reduces the number to about 23000. We may +observe, that this is the common estimate, but we have reduced it to +20000 to make it free from all objection.] + + +[Footnote 060: Including the number that perish on the voyage, and in +the seasoning. It is generally thought that not half the number +purchased can be considered as an additional stock, and of course that +50,000 are consumed within the first two years from their embarkation.] + + +[Footnote 061: That part of the account, that has been hitherto given, +extends to all the Europeans and their colonists, who are concerned in +this horrid practice. But we are sorry that we must now make a +distinction, and confine the remaining part, of it to the colonists of +the British West India islands, and to those of the southern provinces +of North America. As the employment of slaves is different in the two +parts of the world last mentioned, we shall content ourselves with +describing it, as it exists in one of them, and we shall afterwards +annex such treatment and such consequences as are applicable to both. We +have only to add, that the reader must not consider our account as +_universally_, but only _generally_, true.] + + +[Footnote 062: This computation is made on a supposition, that the gang +is divided into three bodies; we call it therefore moderate, because the +gang is frequently divided into two bodies, which must therefore set up +alternately _every other night_.] + + +[Footnote 063: An hand or arm being frequently ground off.] + + +[Footnote 064: The reader will scarcely believe it, but it is a fact, +that a slave's annual allowance from his master, for provisions, +clothing, medicines when sick, &c. is limited, upon an average, to +thirty shillings.] + + +[Footnote 065: "A boy having received six slaves as a present from his +father, immediately slit their ears, and for the following reason, that +as his father was a whimsical man, he might claim them again, unless +they were marked." We do not mention this instance as a confirmation of +the passage to which it is annexed, but only to shew, how cautious we +ought to be in giving credit to what may be advanced in any work written +in defence of slavery, by any native of the colonies: for being trained +up to scenes of cruelty from his cradle, he may, consistently with his +own feelings, represent that treatment as mild, at which we, who have +never been used to see them, should absolutely shudder.] + + +[Footnote 066: In this case he is considered as a criminal against the +state. The _marshal_, an officer answering to our sheriff, +superintends his execution, and the master receives the value of the +slave from the publick treasury. We may observe here, that in all cases +where the delinquent is a criminal of the state, he is executed, and his +value is received in the same manner; He is tried and condemned by two +or three justices of the peace, and without any intervention of a +_jury_.] + + +[Footnote 067: Particularly in Jamaica. These observations were made by +disinterested people, who were there for three or four years during the +late war.] + + + * * * * * + + + +CHAP. V. + +Some people may suppose, from the melancholy account that has been given +in the preceding chapter, that we have been absolutely dealing in +romance: that the scene exhibited is rather a dreary picture of the +imagination, than a representation of fact. Would to heaven, for the +honour of human nature, that this were really the case! We wish we could +say, that we have no testimony to produce for any of our assertions, and +that our description of the general treatment of slaves has been greatly +exaggerated. + +But the _receivers_, notwithstanding the ample and disinterested +evidence, that can be brought on the occasion, do not admit the +description to be true. They say first, "that if the slavery were such +as has been now represented, no human being could possibly support it +long." Melancholy truth! the wretched Africans generally perish in their +prime. Let them reflect upon the prodigious supplies that are +_annually_ required, and their argument will be nothing less than a +confession, that the slavery has been justly depicted. + +They appeal next to every man's own reason, and desire him to think +seriously, whether "self-interest will not always restrain the master +from acts of cruelty to the slave, and whether such accounts therefore, +as the foregoing, do not contain within themselves, their own +refutation." We answer, "No." For if this restraining principle be as +powerful as it is imagined, why does not the general conduct of men +afford us a better picture? What is imprudence, or what is vice, but a +departure from every man's own interest, and yet these are the +characteristicks of more than half the world?-- + +--But, to come more closely to the present case, _self-interest_ +will be found but a weak barrier against the sallies of _passion_: +particularly where it has been daily indulged in its greatest latitude, +and there are no laws to restrain its calamitous effects. If the +observation be true, that passion is a short madness, then it is evident +that self-interest, and every other consideration, must be lost, so long +as it continues. We cannot have a stronger instance of this, than in a +circumstance related in the second part of this Essay, "that though the +Africans have gone to war for the express purpose of procuring slaves, +yet so great has been their resentment at the resistance they have +frequently found, that their _passion_ has entirely got the better +of their _interest_, and they have murdered all without any +discrimination, either of age or sex." Such may be presumed to be the +case with the no less savage _receivers_. Impressed with the most +haughty and tyrannical notions, easily provoked, accustomed to indulge +their anger, and, above all, habituated to scenes of cruelty, and unawed +by the fear of laws, they will hardly be found to be exempt from the +common failings of human nature, and to spare an unlucky slave, at a +time when men of cooler temper, and better regulated passions, are so +frequently blind to their own interest. + +But if _passion_ may be supposed to be generally more than a +ballance for _interest_, how must the scale be turned in favour of +the melancholy picture exhibited, when we reflect that +_self-preservation_ additionally steps in, and demands the most +_rigorous severity_. For when we consider that where there is +_one_ master, there are _fifty_ slaves; that the latter have +been all forcibly torn from their country, and are retained in their +present situation by violence; that they are perpetually at war in their +hearts with their oppressors, and are continually cherishing the seeds +of revenge; it is evident that even _avarice_ herself, however cool +and deliberate, however free from passion and caprice, must sacrifice +her own sordid feelings, and adopt a system of tyranny and oppression, +which it must be ruinous to pursue. + +Thus then, if no picture had been drawn of the situation of slaves, and +it had been left solely to every man's sober judgment to determine, what +it might probably be, he would conclude, that if the situation were +justly described, the page must be frequently stained with acts of +uncommon cruelty. + +It remains only to make a reply to an objection, that is usually +advanced against particular instances of cruelty to slaves, as recorded +by various writers. It is said that "some of these are so inconceivably, +and beyond all example inhuman, that their very excess above the common +measure of cruelty shews them at once exaggerated and incredible." But +their credibility shall be estimated by a supposition. Let us suppose +that the following instance had been recorded by a writer of the highest +reputation, "that the master of a ship, bound to the western colonies +with slaves, on a presumption that many of them would die, selected an +_hundred and thirty two_ of the most sickly, and ordered them to be +thrown into the sea, to recover their value from the insurers, and, +above all, that the fatal order was put into execution." What would the +reader have thought on the occasion? Would he have believed the fact? It +would have surely staggered his faith; because he could never have heard +that any _one_ man ever was, and could never have supposed that any +_one_ man ever could be, guilty of the murder of _such a +number_ of his fellow creatures. But when he is informed that such a +fact as this came before a court[068] of justice in this very country; +that it happened within the last five years; that hundreds can come +forwards and say, that they heard the melancholy evidence with tears; +what bounds is he to place to his belief? The great God, who looks down +upon all his creatures with the same impartial eye, seems to have +infatuated the parties concerned, that they might bring the horrid +circumstance to light, that it might be recorded in the annals of a +publick court, as an authentick specimen of the treatment which the +unfortunate Africans undergo, and at the same time, as an argument to +shew, that there is no species of cruelty, that is recorded to have been +exercised upon these wretched people, so enormous that it may not +_readily be believed_. + + + * * * * * + + +FOOTNOTES + + +[Footnote 068: The action was brought by the owners against the +underwriters, to recover the value of the _murdered_ slaves. It was +tried at Guildhall.] + + + * * * * * + + + +CHAP. VI. + +If the treatment then, as before described, is confirmed by reason, and +the great credit that is due to disinterested writers on the subject; if +the unfortunate Africans are used, as if their flesh were stone, and +their vitals brass; by what arguments do you _receivers_ defend +your conduct? + +You say that a great part of your savage treatment consists in +punishment for real offences, and frequently for such offences, as all +civilized nations have concurred in punishing. The first charge that you +exhibit against them is specifick, it is that of _theft_. But how +much rather ought you _receivers_ to blush, who reduce them to such +a situation! who reduce them to the dreadful alternative, that they must +either _steal_ or _perish_! How much rather ought you _receivers_ +to be considered as _robbers_ yourselves, who cause these +unfortunate people to be _stolen_! And how much greater is +your crime, who are _robbers of human liberty_! + +The next charge which you exhibit against them, is general, it is that +of _rebellion_; a crime of such a latitude, that you can impose it +upon almost every action, and of such a nature, that you always annex to +it the most excruciating pain. But what a contradiction is this to +common sense! Have the wretched Africans formally resigned their +freedom? Have you any other claim upon their obedience, than that of +force? If then they are your subjects, you violate the laws of +government, by making them unhappy. But if they are not your subjects, +then, even though they should resist your proceedings, they are not +_rebellious_. + +But what do you say to that long catalogue of offences, which you +punish, and of which no people but yourselves take cognizance at all? +You say that the wisdom of legislation has inserted it in the colonial +laws, and that you punish by authority. But do you allude to that +execrable code, that _authorises murder_? that tempts an unoffended +person to kill the slave, that abhors and flies your service? that +delegates a power, which no host of men, which not all the world, can +possess?-- + +Or,--What do you say to that daily unmerited severity, which you +consider only as common discipline? Here you say that the Africans are +vicious, that they are all of them ill-disposed, that you must of +necessity be severe. But can they be well-disposed to their oppressors? +In their own country they were just, generous, hospitable: qualities, +which all the African historians allow them eminently to possess. If +then they are vicious, they must have contracted many of their vices +from yourselves; and as to their own native vices, if any have been +imported with them, are they not amiable, when compared with yours? + +Thus then do the excuses, which have been hitherto made by the +_receivers_, force a relation of such circumstances, as makes their +conduct totally inexcusable, and, instead of diminishing at all, highly +aggravates their guilt. + + + * * * * * + + + +CHAP. VII. + +We come now to that other system of reasoning, which is always applied, +when the former is confuted; "that the Africans are an inferiour link of +the chain of nature, and are made for slavery." + +This assertion is proved by two arguments; the first of which was +advanced also by the ancients, and is drawn from the _inferiority of +their capacities_. + +Let us allow then for a moment, that they appear to have no parts, that +they appear to be void of understanding. And is this wonderful, when, +you _receivers_ depress their senses by hunger? Is this wonderful, +when by incessant labour, the continual application of the lash, and the +most inhuman treatment that imagination can devise, you overwhelm their +genius, and hinder it from breaking forth?--No,--You confound their +abilities by the severity of their servitude: for as a spark of fire, if +crushed by too great a weight of incumbent fuel, cannot be blown into a +flame, but suddenly expires, so the human mind, if depressed by rigorous +servitude, cannot be excited to a display of those faculties, which +might otherwise have shone with the brightest lustre. + +Neither is it wonderful in another point of view. For what is it that +awakens the abilities of men, and distinguishes them from the common +herd? Is it not often the amiable hope of becoming serviceable to +individuals, or the state? Is it not often the hope of riches, or of +power? Is it not frequently the hope of temporary honours, or a lasting +fame? These principles have all a wonderful effect upon the mind. They +call upon it to exert its faculties, and bring those talents to the +publick view, which had otherwise been concealed. But the unfortunate +Africans have no such incitements as these, that they should shew their +genius. They have no hope of riches, power, honours, fame. They have no +hope but this, that their miseries will be soon terminated by death. + +And here we cannot but censure and expose the murmurings of the +unthinking and the gay; who, going on in a continual round of pleasure +and prosperity, repine at the will of Providence, as exhibited in the +shortness of human duration. But let a weak and infirm old age overtake +them: let them experience calamities: let them feel but half the +miseries which the wretched Africans undergo, and they will praise the +goodness of Providence, who hath made them mortal; who hath prescribed +certain ordinary bounds to the life of man; and who, by such a +limitation, hath given all men this comfortable hope, that however +persecuted in life, a time will come, in the common course of nature, +when their sufferings will have an end. + +Such then is the nature of this servitude, that we can hardly expect to +find in those, who undergo it, even the glimpse of genius. For if their +minds are in a continual state of depression, and if they have no +expectations in life to awaken their abilities, and make them eminent, +we cannot be surprized if a sullen gloomy stupidity should be the +leading mark in their character; or if they should appear inferiour to +those, who do not only enjoy the invaluable blessings of freedom, but +have every prospect before their eyes, that can allure them to exert +their faculties. Now, if to these considerations we add, that the +wretched Africans are torn from their country in a state of nature, and +that in general, as long as their slavery continues, every obstacle is +placed in the way of their improvement, we shall have a sufficient +answer to any argument that may be drawn from the inferiority of their +capacities. + +It appears then, from the circumstances that have been mentioned, that +to form a true judgment of the abilities of these unfortunate people, we +must either take a general view of them before their slavery commences, +or confine our attention to such, as, after it has commenced, have had +any opportunity given them of shewing their genius either in arts or +letters. If, upon such a fair and impartial view, there should be any +reason to suppose, that they are at all inferiour to others in the same +situation, the argument will then gain some of that weight and +importance, which it wants at present. + +In their own country, where we are to see them first, we must expect +that the prospect will be unfavourable. They are mostly in a savage +state. Their powers of mind are limited to few objects. Their ideas are +consequently few. It appears, however, that they follow the same mode of +life, and exercise the same arts, as the ancestors of those very +Europeans, who boast of their great superiority, are described to have +done in the same uncultivated state. This appears from the Nubian's +Geography, the writings of Leo, the Moor, and all the subsequent +histories, which those, who have visited the African continent, have +written from their own inspection. Hence three conclusions; that their +abilities are sufficient for their situation;--that they are as great, +as those of other people have been, in the same stage of society;--and +that they are as great as those of any civilized people whatever, when +the degree of the barbarism of the one is drawn into a comparison with +that of the civilization of the other. + +Let us now follow them to the colonies. They are carried over in the +unfavourable situation described. It is observed here, that though their +abilities cannot be estimated high from a want of cultivation, they are +yet various, and that they vary in proportion as the nation, from which +they have been brought, has advanced more or less in the scale of social +life. This observation, which is so frequently made, is of great +importance: for if their abilities expand in proportion to the +improvement of their state, it is a clear indication, that if they were +equally improved, they would be equally ingenious. + +But here, before we consider any opportunities that may be afforded +them, let it be remembered that even their most polished situation may +be called barbarous, and that this circumstance, should they appear less +docile than others, may be considered as a sufficient answer to any +objection that may be made to their capacities. Notwithstanding this, +when they are put to the mechanical arts, they do not discover a want of +ingenuity. They attain them in as short a time as the Europeans, and +arrive at a degree of excellence equal to that of their teachers. This +is a fact, almost universally known, and affords us this proof, that +having learned with facility such of the mechanical arts, as they have +been taught, they are capable of attaining any other, at least, of the +same class, if they should receive but the same instruction. + +With respect to the liberal arts, their proficiency is certainly less; +but not less in proportion to their time and opportunity of study; not +less, because they are less capable of attaining them, but because they +have seldom or ever an opportunity of learning them at all. It is yet +extraordinary that their talents appear, even in some of these sciences, +in which they are totally uninstructed. Their abilities in musick are +such, as to have been generally noticed. They play frequently upon a +variety of instruments, without any other assistance than their own +ingenuity. They have also tunes of their own composition. Some of these +have been imported among us; are now in use; and are admired for their +sprightliness and ease, though the ungenerous and prejudiced importer +has concealed their original. + +Neither are their talents in poetry less conspicuous. Every occurrence, +if their spirits are not too greatly depressed, is turned into a song. +These songs are said to be incoherent and nonsensical. But this proceeds +principally from two causes, an improper conjunction of words, arising +from an ignorance of the language in which they compose; and a wildness +of thought, arising from the different manner, in which the organs of +rude and civilized people will be struck by the same object. And as to +their want of harmony and rhyme, which is the last objection, the +difference of pronunciation is the cause. Upon the whole, as they are +perfectly consistent with their own ideas, and are strictly musical as +pronounced by themselves, they afford us as high a proof of their +poetical powers, as the works of the most acknowledged poets. + +But where these impediments have been removed, where they have received +an education, and have known and pronounced the language with propriety, +these defects have vanished, and their productions have been less +objectionable. For a proof of this, we appeal to the writings of an +African girl[069], who made no contemptible appearance in this species +of composition. She was kidnapped when only eight years old, and, in the +year 1761, was transported to America, where she was sold with other +slaves. She had no school education there, but receiving some little +instruction from the family, with whom she was so fortunate as to live, +she obtained such a knowledge of the English language within sixteen +months from the time of her arrival, as to be able to speak it and read +it to the astonishment of those who heard her. She soon afterwards +learned to write, and, having a great inclination to learn the Latin +tongue, she was indulged by her master, and made a progress. Her +Poetical works were published with his permission, in the year 1773. +They contain thirty-eight pieces on different subjects. We shall beg +leave to make a short extract from two or three of them, for the +observation of the reader. + + +_From an Hymn to the Evening_[070]. + + + +"Fill'd with the praise of him who gives the light, +And draws the sable curtains of the night, +Let placid slumbers sooth each weary mind, +At morn to wake more heav'nly and refin'd; +So shall the labours of the day begin, +More pure and guarded from the snares of sin. +----&c. &c." + + + + * * * * * + + +_From an Hymn to the Morning_. + + + +"Aurora hail! and all the thousand dies, +That deck thy progress through the vaulted skies! +The morn awakes, and wide extends her rays, +On ev'ry leaf the gentle zephyr plays. +Harmonious lays the feather'd race resume, +Dart the bright eye, and shake the painted plume. +----&c. &c." + + + + * * * * * + + +_From Thoughts on Imagination_. + + + +"Now here, now there, the roving _fancy_ flies, +Till some lov'd object strikes her wand'ring eyes, +Whose silken fetters all the senses bind, +And soft captivity involves the mind. + +"_Imagination!_ who can sing thy force, +Or who describe the swiftness of thy course? +Soaring through air to find the bright abode, +Th' empyreal palace of the thund'ring God, +We on thy pinions can surpass the wind, +And leave the rolling universe behind: +From star to star the mental opticks rove, +Measure the skies, and range the realms above. +There in one view we grasp the mighty whole, +Or with new worlds amaze th' unbounded soul. +----&c. &c." + + + + * * * * * + + +Such is the poetry which we produce as a proof of our assertions. How +far it has succeeded, the reader may by this time have determined in his +own mind. We shall therefore only beg leave to accompany it with this +observation, that if the authoress _was designed for slavery_, (as +the argument must confess) the greater part of the inhabitants of +Britain must lose their claim to freedom. + +To this poetry we shall only add, as a farther proof of their abilities, +the Prose compositions of Ignatius Sancho, who received some little +education. His letters are too well known, to make any extract, or +indeed any farther mention of him, necessary. If other examples of +African genius should be required, suffice it to say, that they can be +produced in abundance; and that if we were allowed to enumerate +instances of African gratitude, patience, fidelity, honour, as so many +instances of good sense, and a sound understanding, we fear that +thousands of the enlightened Europeans would have occasion to blush. + +But an objection will be made here, that the two persons whom we have +particularized by name, are prodigies, and that if we were to live for +many years, we should scarcely meet with two other Africans of the same +description. But we reply, that considering their situation as before +described, two persons, above mediocrity in the literary way, are as +many as can be expected within a certain period of years; and farther, +that if these are prodigies, they are only such prodigies as every day +would produce, if they had the same opportunities of acquiring knowledge +as other people, and the same expectations in life to excite their +genius. This has been constantly and solemnly asserted by the pious +Benezet[071], whom we have mentioned before, as having devoted a +considerable part of his time to their instruction. This great man, for +we cannot but mention him with veneration, had a better opportunity of +knowing them than any person whatever, and he always uniformly declared, +that he could never find a difference between their capacities and those +of other people; that they were as capable of reasoning as any +individual Europeans; that they were as capable of the highest +intellectual attainments; in short, that their abilities were equal, and +that they only wanted to be equally cultivated, to afford specimens of +as fine productions. + +Thus then does it appear from the testimony of this venerable man, +whose authority is sufficient of itself to silence all objections +against African capacity, and from the instances that have been +produced, and the observations that have been made on the occasion, that +if the minds of the Africans were unbroken by slavery; if they had the +same expectations in life as other people, and the same opportunities of +improvement, they would be equal; in all the various branches of +science, to the Europeans, and that the argument that states them "to be +an inferiour link of the chain of nature, and designed for servitude," +as far as it depends on the _inferiority of their capacities_, is +wholly malevolent and false[072]. + + + * * * * * + + +FOOTNOTES + + +[Footnote 069: Phillis Wheatley, negro slave to Mr. John Wheatley, of +Boston, in New-England.] + + +[Footnote 070: +Lest it should be doubted whether these Poems are genuine, we shall +transcribe the names of those, who signed a certificate of their +authenticity. + + +His Excellency Thomas Hutchinson, Governor. +The Honourable Andrew Oliver, Lieutenant Governor. + +The Hon. Thomas Hubbard +The Hon. John Erving +The Hon. James Pitts +The Hon. Harrison Gray +The Hon. James Bowdoin +John Hancock, Esq. +Joseph Green, Esq. +Richard Carey, Esq. +The Rev. Cha. Chauncy, D.D. +The Rev. Mather Byles, D.D. +The Rev. Ed. Pemberton, D.D. +The Rev. Andrew Elliot, D.D. +The Rev. Sam. Cooper, D.D. +The Rev. Samuel Mather +The Rev. John Moorhead +Mr. John Wheatley, her Master. +] + + +[Footnote 071: In the Preface.] + + +[Footnote 072: As to Mr. Hume's assertions with respect to African +capacity, we have passed them over in silence, as they have been so +admirably refuted by the learned Dr. Beattie, in his Essay on Truth, to +which we refer the reader. The whole of this admirable refutation +extends from p. 458. to 464.] + + + * * * * * + + + +CHAP. VIII. + +The second argument, by which it is attempted to be proved, "that the +Africans are an inferiour link of the chain of nature, and are designed +for slavery," is drawn from _colour_, and from those other marks, +which distinguish them from the inhabitants of Europe. + +To prove this with the greater facility, the _receivers_ divide in +opinion. Some of them contend that the Africans, from these +circumstances, are the descendants of Cain[073]: others, that they are +the posterity of Ham; and that as it was declared by divine inspiration, +that these should be servants to the rest of the world, so they are +designed for slavery; and that the reducing of them to such a situation +is only the accomplishment of the will of heaven: while the rest, +considering them from the same circumstances as a totally distinct +species of men, conclude them to be an inferiour link of the chain of +nature, and deduce the inference described. + +To answer these arguments in the clearest and fullest manner, we are +under the necessity of making two suppositions, first, that the +scriptures are true; secondly, that they are false. + +If then the scriptures are true, it is evident that the posterity of +Cain were extinguished in the flood. Thus one of the arguments is no +more. + +With respect to the curse of Ham, it appears also that it was limited; +that it did not extend to the posterity of all his sons, but only to the +descendants of him who was called Canaan[074]: by which it was foretold +that the Canaanites, a part of the posterity of Ham, should serve the +posterity of Shem and Japhet. Now how does it appear that these wretched +Africans are the descendants of Canaan?--By those marks, it will be +said, which distinguish them from the rest of the world.--But where are +these marks to be found in the divine writings? In what page is it said, +that the Canaanites were to be known by their _colour_, their +_features_, their _form_, or the very _hair of their heads_, +which is brought into the account?--But alas! so far are the +divine writings from giving any such account, that they shew the +assertion to be false. They shew that the descendants of Cush[075] were +of the colour, to which the advocates for slavery allude; and of course, +that there was no such limitation of colour to the posterity of Canaan, +or the inheritors of the curse. + +Suppose we should now shew, upon the most undeniable evidence[076], that +those of the wretched Africans, who are singled out as inheriting the +curse, are the descendants of Cush or Phut; and that we should shew +farther, that but a single remnant of Canaan, which was afterwards +ruined, was ever in Africa at all.--Here all is consternation.-- + +But unfortunately again for the argument, though wonderfully for the +confirmation that the scriptures are of divine original, the whole +prophecy has been completed. A part of the descendants of Canaan were +hewers of wood and drawers of water, and became tributary and subject to +the Israelites, or the descendants of Shem. The Greeks afterwards, as +well as the Romans, who were both the descendants of Japhet, not only +subdued those who were settled in Syria and Palestine, but pursued and +conquered all such as were then remaining. These were the Tyrians and +Carthaginians: the former of whom were ruined by Alexander and the +Greeks, the latter by Scipio and the Romans. + +It appears then that the second argument is wholly inapplicable and +false: that it is false in its _application_, because those, who +were the objects of the curse, were a totally distinct people: that it +is false in its _proof_, because no such distinguishing marks, as +have been specified, are to be found in the divine writings: and that, +if the proof could be made out, it would be now _inapplicable_, as +the curse has been long completed. + +With respect to the third argument, we must now suppose that the +scriptures are false; that mankind did not all spring from the same +original; that there are different species of men. Now what must we +justly conclude from such a supposition? Must we conclude that one +species is inferiour to another, and that the inferiority depends upon +their _colour_, or their _features_, or their _form_?--No--We +must now consult the analogy of nature, and the conclusion will be this: +"that as she tempered the bodies of the different species of men in a +different degree, to enable them to endure the respective climates of +their habitation, so she gave them a variety of colour and appearance +with a like benevolent design." + +To sum up the whole. If the scriptures are true, it is evident that the +posterity of _Cain_ are no more; that the curse of _Ham_ has +been accomplished; and that, as all men were derived from the same +stock, so this variety of appearance in men must either have proceeded +from some interposition of the Deity; or from a co-operation of certain +causes, which have an effect upon the human frame, and have the power of +changing it more or less from its primitive appearance, as they happen +to be more or less numerous or powerful than those, which acted upon the +frame of man in the first seat of his habitation. If from the +interposition of the Deity, then we must conclude that he, who bringeth +good out of evil, produced it for their convenience. If, from the +co-operation of the causes before related, what argument may not be +found against any society of men, who should happen to differ, in the +points alluded to, from ourselves? + +If, on the other hand, the scriptures are false, then it is evident, +that there was neither such a person as _Cain_, nor _Ham_, nor +_Canaan_; and that nature bestowed such colour, features, and form, +upon the different species of men, as were best adapted to their +situation. + +Thus, on which ever supposition it is founded, the whole argument must +fall. And indeed it is impossible that it can stand, even in the eye of +common sense. For if you admit the _form_ of men as a justification +of slavery, you may subjugate your own brother: if _features_, then +you must quarrel with all the world: if _colour_, where are you to +stop? It is evident, that if you travel from the equator to the northern +pole, you will find a regular gradation of colour from black to white. +Now if you can justly take him for your slave, who is of the deepest +die, what hinders you from taking him also, who only differs from the +former but by a shade. Thus you may proceed, taking each in a regular +succession to the poles. But who are you, that thus take into slavery so +many people? Where do you live yourself? Do you live in _Spain_, or +in _France_, or in _Britain_? If in either of these countries, +take care lest the _whiter natives of the north_ should have a +claim upon yourself.--But the argument is too ridiculous to be farther +noticed. + +Having now silenced the whole argument, we might immediately proceed to +the discussion of other points, without even declaring our opinion as to +which of the suppositions may be right, on which it has been refuted; +but we do not think ourselves at liberty to do this. The present age +would rejoice to find that the scriptures had no foundation, and would +anxiously catch at the writings of him, who should mention them in a +doubtful manner. We shall therefore declare our sentiments, by asserting +that they are true, and that all mankind, however various their +appearances are derived from the same stock. + +To prove this, we shall not produce those innumerable arguments, by +which the scriptures have stood the test of ages, but advert to a single +fact. It is an universal law, observable throughout the whole creation, +_that if two animals of a different species propagate, their offspring +is unable to continue its own species_. By this admirable law, the +different species are preserved distinct; every possibility of confusion +is prevented, and the world is forbidden to be over-run by a race of +monsters. Now, if we apply this law to those of the human kind, who are +said to be of a distinct species from each other, it immediately fails. +The _mulattoe_ is as capable of continuing his own species as his +father; a clear and irrefragable proof, that the scripture[077] account +of the creation is true, and that "God, who hath made the world, hath +made of one blood[078] all the nations of men that dwell on all the face +of the earth." + +But if this be the case, it will be said that mankind were originally of +one colour; and it will be asked at the same time, what it is probable +that the colour was, and how they came to assume so various an +appearance? To, each of these we shall make that reply, which we +conceive to be the most rational. + +As mankind were originally of the same stock, so it is evident that they +were originally of the same colour. But how shall we attempt to +ascertain it? Shall we _Englishmen_ say, that it was the same as +that which we now find to be peculiar to ourselves?--No--This would be +a vain and partial consideration, and would betray our judgment to have +arisen from that false fondness, which habituates us to suppose, that +every thing belonging to ourselves is the perfectest and the best. Add +to this, that we should always be liable to a just reproof from every +inhabitant of the globe, whose colour was different from our own; +because he would justly say, that he had as good a right to imagine that +his own was the primitive colour, as that of any other people. + +How then shall we attempt to ascertain it? Shall we look into the +various climates of the earth, see the colour that generally prevails in +the inhabitants of each, and apply the rule? This will be certainly free +from partiality, and will afford us a better prospect of success: for as +every particular district has its particular colour, so it is evident +that the complexion of Noah and his sons, from whom the rest of the +world were descended, was the same as that, which is peculiar to the +country, which was the seat of their habitation. This, by such a mode of +decision, will be found a dark olive; a beautiful colour, and a just +medium between white and black. That this was the primitive colour, is +highly probable from the observations that have been made; and, if +admitted, will afford a valuable lesson to the Europeans, to be cautious +how they deride those of the opposite complexion, as there is great +reason to presume, _that the purest white[079] is as far removed from +the primitive colour as the deepest black_. + +We come now to the grand question, which is, that if mankind were +originally of this or any other colour, how came it to pass, that they +should wear so various an appearance? We reply, as we have had occasion +to say before, either _by the interposition of the Deity_; or _by +a co-operation of certain causes, which have an effect upon the human +frame, and have the power of changing it more or less from its primitive +appearance, as they are more or less numerous or powerful than those, +which acted upon the frame of man in the first seat of his +habitation_. + +With respect to the Divine interposition, two epochs have been assigned, +when this difference of colour has been imagined to have been so +produced. The first is that, which has been related, when the curse was +pronounced on a branch of the posterity of _Ham_. But this argument +has been already refuted; for if the particular colour alluded to were +assigned at this period, it was assigned to the descendants of +_Canaan_, to distinguish them from those of his other brothers, and +was therefore _limited_ to the former. But the descendants of +_Cush_[080], as we have shewn before, partook of the same colour; a +clear proof, that it was neither assigned to them on this occasion, nor +at this period. + +The second epoch is that, when mankind were dispersed on the building of +_Babel_. It has been thought, that both _national features and +colour_ might probably have been given them at this time, because +these would have assisted the confusion of language, by causing them to +disperse into tribes, and would have united more firmly the individuals +of each, after the dispersion had taken place. But this is improbable: +first, because there is great reason to presume that Moses, who has +mentioned the confusion of language, would have mentioned these +circumstances also, if they had actually contributed to bring about so +singular an event: secondly, because the confusion of language was +sufficient of itself to have accomplished this; and we cannot suppose +that the Deity could have done any thing in vain: and thirdly, because, +if mankind had been dispersed, each tribe in its peculiar hue, it is +impossible to conceive, that they could have wandered and settled in +such a manner, as to exhibit that regular gradation of colour from the +equator to the poles, so conspicuous at the present day. + +These are the only periods, which there has been even the shadow of a +probability for assigning; and we may therefore conclude that the +preceding observations, together with such circumstances as will appear +in the present chapter, will amount to a demonstration, that the +difference of colour was never caused by any interposition of the Deity, +and that it must have proceeded therefore from that _incidental +co-operation of causes_, which has been before related. + +What these causes are, it is out of the power of human wisdom positively +to assert: there are facts, however, which, if properly weighed and put +together, will throw considerable light upon the subject. These we shall +submit to the perusal of the reader, and shall deduce from them such +inferences only, as almost every person must make in his own mind, on +their recital. + +The first point, that occurs to be ascertained, is, "What part of the +skin is the seat of colour?" The old anatomists usually divided the skin +into two parts, or lamina; the exteriour and thinnest, called by the +Greeks _Epidermis_, by the Romans _Cuticula_, and hence by us +_Cuticle_; and the interiour, called by the former _Derma_, +and by the latter _Cutis_, or _true skin_. Hence they must +necessarily have supposed, that, as the _true skin_ was in every +respect the same in all human subjects, however various their external +hue, so the seat of colour must have existed in the _Cuticle_, or +upper surface. + +Malphigi, an eminent Italian physician, of the last century, was the +first person who discovered that the skin was divided into three lamina, +or parts; the _Cuticle_, the _true skin_, and a certain +coagulated substance situated between both, which he distinguished by +the title of _Mucosum Corpus_; a title retained by anatomists to +the present day: which coagulated substance adhered so firmly to the +_Cuticle_, as, in all former anatomical preparations, to have come +off with it, and, from this circumstance to have led the ancient +anatomists to believe, that there were but two lamina, or divisible +portions in the human skin. + +This discovery was sufficient to ascertain the point in question: for it +appeared afterwards that the _Cuticle_, when divided according to +this discovery from the other lamina, was semi-transparent; that the +cuticle of the blackest negroe was of the same transparency and colour, +as that of the purest white; and hence, the _true skins_ of both +being invariably the same, that the _mucosum corpus_ was the seat +of colour. + +This has been farther confirmed by all subsequent anatomical +experiments, by which it appears, that, whatever is the colour of this +intermediate coagulated substance, nearly the same is the apparent +colour of the upper surface of the skin. Neither can it be otherwise; +for the _Cuticle_, from its transparency, must necessarily transmit +the colour of the substance beneath it, in the same manner, though not +in the same degree, as the _cornea_ transmits the colour of the +_iris_ of the eye. This transparency is a matter of ocular +demonstration in white people. It is conspicuous in every blush; for no +one can imagine, that the cuticle becomes red, as often as this happens: +nor is it less discoverable in the veins, which are so easy to be +discerned; for no one can suppose, that the blue streaks, which he +constantly sees in the fairest complexions, are painted, as it were, on +the surface of the upper skin. From these, and a variety of other +observations[081], no maxim is more true in physiology, than that _on +the mucosum corpus depends the colour of the human body_; or, in +other words, that the _mucosum corpus_ being of a different colour +in different inhabitants of the globe, and appearing through the cuticle +or upper surface of the skin, gives them that various appearance, which +strikes us so forcibly in contemplating the human race. + +As this can be incontrovertibly ascertained, it is evident, that +whatever causes cooperate in producing this different appearance, they +produce it by acting upon the _mucosum corpus_, which, from the +almost incredible manner in which the cuticle[082] is perforated, is as +accessible as the cuticle itself. These causes are probably those +various qualities of things, which, combined with the influence of the +sun, contribute to form what we call _climate_. For when any person +considers, that the mucous substance, before-mentioned, is found to vary +in its colour, as the _climates_ vary from the equator to the +poles, his mind must be instantly struck with the hypothesis, and he +must adopt it without any hesitation, as the genuine cause of the +phaenomenon. + +This fact[083], _of the variation of the mucous substance according to +the situation of the place_, has been clearly ascertained in the +numerous anatomical experiments that have been made; in which, subjects +of all nations have come under consideration. The natives of many of the +kingdoms and isles of _Asia_, are found to have their _corpus +mucosum_ black. Those of _Africa_, situated near the line, of +the same colour. Those of the maritime parts of the same continent, of a +dusky brown, nearly approaching to it; and the colour becomes lighter or +darker in proportion as the distance from the equator is either greater +or less. The Europeans are the fairest inhabitants of the world. Those +situated in the most southern regions of _Europe_, have in their +_corpus mucosum_ a tinge of the dark hue of their _African_ +neighbours: hence the epidemick complexion, prevalent among them, is +nearly of the colour of the pickled Spanish olive; while in this +country, and those situated nearer the north pole, it appears to be +nearly, if not absolutely, white. + +These are facts[084], which anatomy has established; and we acknowledge +them to be such, that we cannot divest ourselves of the idea, that +_climate_ has a considerable share in producing a difference of +colour. Others, we know, have invented other hypotheses, but all of them +have been instantly refuted, as unable to explain the difficulties for +which they were advanced, and as absolutely contrary to fact: and the +inventors themselves have been obliged, almost as soon as they have +proposed them, to acknowledge them deficient. + +The only objection of any consequence, that has ever been made to the +hypothesis of _climate_, is this, _that people under the same +parallels are not exactly of the same colour_. But this is no +objection in fact: for it does not follow that those countries, which +are at an equal distance from the equator, should have their climates +the same. Indeed nothing is more contrary to experience than this. +Climate depends upon a variety of accidents. High mountains, in the +neighbourhood of a place, make it cooler, by chilling the air that is +carried over them by the winds. Large spreading succulent plants, if +among the productions of the soil, have the same effect: they afford +agreeable cooling shades, and a moist atmosphere from their continual +exhalations, by which the ardour of the sun is considerably abated. +While the soil, on the other hand, if of a sandy nature, retains the +heat in an uncommon degree, and makes the summers considerably hotter +than those which are found to exist in the same latitude, where the soil +is different. To this proximity of what may be termed _burning +sands_, and to the sulphurous and metallick particles, which are +continually exhaling from the bowels of the earth, is ascribed the +different degree of blackness, by which some _African_ nations are +distinguishable from each other, though under the same parallels. To +these observations we may add, that though the inhabitants of the same +parallel are not exactly of the same hue, yet they differ only by shades +of the same colour; or, to speak with more precision, that there are no +two people, in such a situation, one of whom is white, and the other +black. To sum up the whole--Suppose we were to take a common globe; to +begin at the equator; to paint every country along the meridian line in +succession from thence to the poles; and to paint them with the same +colour which prevails in the respective inhabitants of each, we should +see the black, with which we had been obliged to begin, insensibly +changing to an olive, and the olive, through as many intermediate +colours, to a white: and if, on the other hand, we should complete any +one of the parallels according to the same plan, we should see a +difference perhaps in the appearance of some of the countries through +which it ran, though the difference would consist wholly in shades of +the same colour. + +The argument therefore, which is brought against the hypothesis, is so +far from being, an objection, that we shall consider it one of the first +arguments in its favour: for if _climate_ has really an influence +on the _mucous substance_ of the body, it is evident, that we must +not only expect to see a gradation of colour in the inhabitants from the +equator to the poles, but also different[085] shades of the same colour +in the inhabitants of the same parallel. + +To this argument, we shall add one that is incontrovertible, which is, +that when the _black_ inhabitants of _Africa_ are transplanted +to _colder_, or the _white_ inhabitants of _Europe_ to _hotter_ +climates, their children, _born there_, are of a _different +colour from themselves_; that is, lighter in the first, and +darker in the second instance. + +As a proof of the first, we shall give the words of the Abbe +Raynal[086], in his admired publication. "The children," says he, "which +they, (the _Africans_) procreate in _America_, are not so +black as their parents were. After each generation the difference +becomes more palpable. It is possible, that after a numerous succession +of generations, the men come from _Africa_ would not be +distinguished from those of the country, into which they may have been +transplanted." + +This circumstance we have had the pleasure of hearing confirmed by a +variety of persons, who have been witnesses of the fact; but +particularly by many intelligent[087] Africans, who have been parents +themselves in _America_, and who have declared that the difference +is so palpable in the _northern provinces_, that not only they +themselves have constantly observed it, but that they have heard it +observed by others. + +Neither is this variation in the children from the colour of their +parents improbable. _The children of the blackest Africans are born +white_[088]. In this state they continue for about a month, when they +change to a pale yellow. In process of time they become brown. Their +skin still continues to increase in darkness with their age, till it +becomes of a dirty, sallow black, and at length, after a certain period +of years, glossy and shining. Now, if climate has any influence on the +_mucous substance_ of the body, this variation in the children from +the colour of their parents is an event, which must be reasonably +expected: for being born white, and not having equally powerful causes +to act upon them in colder, as their parents had in the hotter climates +which they left, it must necessarily follow, that the same affect cannot +possibly be produced. + +Hence also, if the hypothesis be admitted, may be deduced the reason, +why even those children, who have been brought from their country at an +early age into colder regions, have been observed[089] to be of a +lighter colour than those who have remained at home till they arrived at +a state of manhood. For having undergone some of the changes which we +mentioned to have attended their countrymen from infancy to a certain +age, and having been taken away before the rest could be completed, +these farther changes, which would have taken place had they remained at +home, seem either to have been checked in their progress, or weakened in +their degree, by a colder climate. + +We come now to the second and opposite case; for a proof of which we +shall appeal to the words of Dr. Mitchell[090], in the Philosophical +Transactions. "The _Spaniards_ who have inhabited _America_ +under the torrid zone for any time, are become as dark coloured as our +native _Indians_ of _Virginia_, of which, _I myself have +been a witness_; and were they not to intermarry with the +_Europeans_, but lead the same rude and barbarous lives with the +_Indians_, it is very probable that, in a succession of many +generations, they would become as dark in complexion." + +To this instance we shall add one, which is mentioned by a late +writer[091], who describing the _African_ coast, and the +_European_ settlements there, has the following passage. "There are +several other small _Portuguese_ settlements, and one of some note +at _Mitomba_, a river in _Sierra Leon_. The people here +called _Portuguese_, are principally persons bred from a mixture of +the first _Portuguese discoverers_ with the natives, and now +become, in their _complexion_ and _woolly quality_ of their +hair, _perfect negroes_, retaining however a smattering of the +_Portuguese_ language." + +These facts, with respect to the colonists of the _Europeans_, are +of the highest importance in the present case, and deserve a serious +attention. For when we know to a certainty from whom they are descended; +when we know that they were, at the time of their transplantation, of +the same colour as those from whom they severally sprung; and when, on +the other hand, we are credibly informed, that they have changed it for +the native colour of the place which they now inhabit; the evidence in +support of these facts is as great, as if a person, on the removal of +two or three families into another climate, had determined to ascertain +the circumstance; as if he had gone with them and watched their +children; as if he had communicated his observations at his death to a +successor; as if his successor had prosecuted the plan, and thus an +uninterrupted chain of evidence had been kept up from their first +removal to any determined period of succeeding time. + +But though these facts seem sufficient of themselves to confirm our +opinion, they are not the only facts which can be adduced in its +support. It can be shewn, that the members of the _very same +family_, when divided from each other, and removed into different +countries, have not only changed their family complexion, but that they +have changed it to _as many different colours_ as they have gone +into _different regions of the world_. We cannot have, perhaps, a +more striking instance of this, than in the _Jews_. These people, +are scattered over the face of the whole earth. They have preserved +themselves distinct from the rest of the world by their religion; and, +as they never intermarry with any but those of their own sect, so they +have no mixture of blood in their veins, that they should differ from +each other: and yet nothing is more true, than that the _English +Jew_[092] is white, the _Portuguese_ swarthy, the _Armenian_ +olive, and the _Arabian_ copper; in short, that there appear +to be as many different species of _Jews_, as there are countries +in which they reside. + +To these facts we shall add the following observation, that if we can +give credit to the ancient historians in general, a change from the +darkest black to the purest white must have actually been accomplished. +One instance, perhaps, may be thought sufficient. _Herodotus_[093] +relates, that the _Colchi were black_, and that they had _crisped +hair_. These people were a detachment of the _AEthiopian_ army +under _Sesostris_, who followed him in his expedition, and settled +in that part of the world, where _Colchis_ is usually represented +to have been situated. Had not the same author informed us of this +circumstance, we should have thought it strange[094], that a people of +this description should have been found in such a latitude. Now as they +were undoubtedly settled there, and as they were neither so totally +destroyed, nor made any such rapid conquests, as that history should +notice the event, there is great reason to presume, that their +descendants continued in the same, or settled in the adjacent country; +from whence it will follow, that they must have changed their complexion +to that, which is observable in the inhabitants of this particular +region at the present day; or, in other words, that the _black +inhabitant of Colchis_ must have been changed into the _fair +Circassian_[095]. + +As we have now shewn it to be highly probable, from the facts which have +been advanced, that climate is the cause of the difference of colour +which prevails in the different inhabitants of the globe, we shall now +shew its probability from so similar an effect produced on the _mucous +substance_ before-mentioned by so similar a cause, that though the +fact does not absolutely prove our conjecture to be right, yet it will +give us a very lively conception of the manner, in which the phaenomenon +may be caused. + +This probability may be shewn in the case of _freckles_, which are +to be seen in the face of children, but of such only, as have the +thinnest and most transparent skins, and are occasioned by the rays of +the sun, striking forcibly on the _mucous substance_ of the face, +and drying the accumulating fluid. This accumulating fluid, or +perspirable matter, is at first colourless; but being exposed to violent +heat, or dried, becomes brown. Hence, the _mucosum corpus_ being +tinged in various parts by this brown coagulated fluid, and the parts so +tinged appearing through the _cuticle_, or upper surface of the +skin, arises that spotted appearance, observable in the case recited. + +Now, if we were to conceive a black skin to be an _universal +freckle_, or the rays of the sun to act so universally on the +_mucous substance_ of a person's face, as to produce these spots so +contiguous to each other that they should unite, we should then see, in +imagination, a face similar to those, which are daily to be seen among +black people: and if we were to conceive his body to be exposed or acted +upon in the same manner, we should then see his body assuming a similar +appearance; and thus we should see the whole man of a perfect black, or +resembling one of the naked inhabitants of the torrid zone. Now as the +feat of freckles and of blackness is the same; as their appearance is +similar; and as the cause of the first is the ardour of the sun, it is +therefore probable that the cause of the second is the same: hence, if +we substitute for the word "_sun_," what is analogous to it, the +word _climate_, the same effect may be supposed to be produced, and +the conjecture to receive a sanction. + +Nor is it unlikely that the hypothesis, which considers the cause of +freckles and of blackness as the same, may be right. For if blackness is +occasioned by the rays of the sun striking forcibly and universally on +the _mucous substance_ of the body, and drying the accumulating +fluid, we can account for the different degrees of it to be found in the +different inhabitants of the globe. For as the quantity of perspirable +fluid, and the force of the solar rays is successively increased, as +the climates are successively warmer, from any given parallel to the +line, it follows that the fluid, with which the _mucous substance_ +will be stained, will be successively thicker and deeper coloured; and +hence, as it appears through the cuticle, the complexion successively +darker; or, what amounts to the same thing, there will be a difference +of colour in the inhabitants of every successive parallel. + +From these, and the whole of the preceding observations on the subject, +we may conclude, that as all the inhabitants of the earth cannot be +otherwise than the children of the same parents, and as the difference +of their appearance must have of course proceeded from incidental +causes, these causes are a combination of those qualities, which we call +_climate_; that the blackness of the _Africans_ is so far +ingrafted in their constitution, in a course of many generations, that +their children wholly inherit it, if brought up in the same spot, but +that it is not so absolutely interwoven in their nature, that it cannot +be removed, if they are born and settled in another; that _Noah_ +and his sons were probably of an _olive_ complexion; that those of +their descendants, who went farther to the south, became of a deeper +olive or _copper_; while those, who went still farther, became of a +deeper copper or _black_; that those, on the other hand, who +travelled farther to the north, became less olive or _brown_, while +those who went still farther than the former, became less brown or +_white_; and that if any man were to point out any one of the +colours which prevails in the human complexion, as likely to furnish an +argument, that the people of such a complexion were of a different +species from the rest, it is probable that his own descendants, if +removed to the climate to which this complexion is peculiar, would, in +the course of a few generations, degenerate into the same colour. + +Having now replied to the argument, "that the Africans are an inferiour +link of the chain of nature," as far as it depended on their +_capacity_ and _colour_, we shall now only take notice of an +expression, which the _receivers_ before-mentioned are pleased to +make use of, "that they are made for slavery." + +Had the Africans been _made for slavery_, or to become the property +of any society of men, it is clear, from the observations that have been +made in the second part of this Essay, that they must have been created +_devoid of reason_: but this is contrary to fact. It is clear +also, that there must have been, many and evident signs of the +_inferiority of their nature_, and that this society of men must +have had a _natural right_ to their dominion: but this is equally +false. No such signs of _inferiority_ are to be found in the one, +and the right to dominion in the other is _incidental_: for in what +volume of nature or religion is it written, that one society of men +should _breed slaves_ for the benefit, of another? Nor is it less +evident that they would have wanted many of those qualities which they +have, and which brutes have not: they would have wanted that _spirit +of liberty_, that _sense of ignominy and shame_[096], which so +frequently drives them to the horrid extremity of finishing their own +existence. Nor would they have been endowed with a _contemplative +power_; for such a power would have been unnecessary to people in +such a situation; or rather, its only use could have been to increase +their pain. We cannot suppose therefore that God has made an order of +beings, with such mental qualities and powers, for the sole purpose of +being used as _beasts_, or _instruments_ of labour. And here, +what a dreadful argument presents itself against you _receivers_? +For if they have no understandings as you confess, then is your conduct +impious, because, as they cannot perceive the intention of your +punishment, your severities cannot make them better. But if, on the +other hand, they have had understandings, (which has evidently appeared) +then is your conduct equally impious, who, by destroying their faculties +by the severity of your discipline, have reduced men; who had once the +power of reason, to an equality with the brute creation. + + + * * * * * + + +FOOTNOTES + + +[Footnote 073: Genesis, ch. iv. 15.] + + +[Footnote 074: Genesis, ch. ix. 25, 26, 27.] + + +[Footnote 075: Jeremiah says, ch. xiii. 23, "Can the AEthiopian change +his colour, or the leopard his spots?" Now the word, which is here +translated _AEthiopian_, is in the original Hebrew "_the descendant of +Cush_," which shews that this colour was not confined to the descendants +of _Canaan_, as the advocates for slavery assert.] + + +[Footnote 076: It is very extraordinary that the advocates for slavery +should consider those Africans, whom they call negroes, as the +descendants of _Canaan_, when few historical facts can be so well +ascertained, as that out of the descendants of the four sons of Ham, the +descendants of Canaan were the only people, (if we except the +Carthaginians, who were a colony of Canaan, and were afterwards ruined) +who did not settle in that quarter of the globe. Africa was +incontrovertibly peopled by the posterity of the three other sons. We +cannot shew this in a clearer manner, than in the words of the learned +Mr. Bryant, in his letter to Mr. Granville Sharp on this subject. + +"We learn from scripture, that Ham had four sons, _Chus, Mizraim, Phut_, +and _Canaan_, Gen. x. 5, 6. _Canaan_ occupied _Palestine_, and the +country called by his name: _Mizraim, Egypt_: but _Phut_ passed deep +into _Africa_, and, I believe, most of the nations in that part of the +world are descended from him; at least more than from any other person." +_Josephus_ says, "_that Phut was the founder of the nations in Libya, +and the people were from him called (phoutoi) Phuti_." Antiq. L. 1. c. +7. "By _Lybia_ he understands, as the _Greeks_ did, _Africa_ in general: +for the particular country called _Lybia Proper_, was peopled by the +_Lubim_, or _Lehabim_, one of the branches from _Mizraim_, (Labieim ex ou +Libnes) Chron. Paschale, p. 29. + +"The sons of _Phut_ settled in _Mauritania_, where was a country called +_Phutia_, and a river of the like denomination. Mauritaniae Fluvius usque +ad praesens Tempus _Phut_ dicitur, omnisq; circa eum Regio _Phutensis_. +Hieron. Tradit. Hebroeae.--Amnem, quem vocant _Fut_." Pliny, L. 5. c. 1. +Some of this family settled above AEgypt, near AEthiopia, and were styled +Troglodytae. (phoud ex ou troglodotai). Syncellus, p. 47. Many of them +passed inland, and peopled the Mediterranean country." + +"In process of time the sons of _Chus_ also, (after their expulsion from +Egypt) made settlements upon the sea coast of _Africa_, and came into +_Mauritania_. Hence we find traces of them also in the names of places, +such as _Churis, Chusares_, upon the coast: and a river _Chusa_, and a +city _Cotta_, together with a promontory, _Cotis_, in _Mauritania_, all +denominated from _Chus_; who at different times, and by different +people, was called _Chus, Cuth, Cosh_, and _Cotis_. The river _Cusa_ is +mentioned by _Pliny_, Lib. 5. c. 1. and by _Ptolomy_." + +"Many ages after these settlements, there was another eruption of the +_Cushites_ into these parts, under the name of _Saracens_ and _Moors_, +who over-ran _Africa_, to the very extremity of Mount Atlas. They passed +over and conquered _Spain_ to the north, and they extended themselves +southward, as I said in my treatise, to the rivers _Senegal_ and +_Gambia_, and as low as the _Gold Coast_. I mentioned this, because I do +not think that they proceeded much farther: most of the nations to the +_south_ being, as I imagine, of the race of _Phut_. The very country +upon the river _Gambia_ on one side, is at this day called _Phuta_, of +which _Bluet_, in his history of _Juba Ben Solomon_, gives an account."] + + +[Footnote 077: When America was first discovered, it was thought by +some, that the scripture account of the creation was false, and that +there were different species of men, because they could never suppose +that people, in so rude a state as the Americans, could have transported +themselves to that continent from any parts of the known world. This +opinion however was refuted by the celebrated Captain Cooke, who shewed +that the traject between the continents of Asia and America, was as +short as some, which people in as rude a state have been actually known +to pass. This affords an excellent caution against an ill-judged and +hasty censure of the divine writings, because every difficulty which may +be started, cannot be instantly cleared up.] + + +[Footnote 078: The divine writings, which assert that all men were +derived from the _same stock_, shew also, in the same instance of +_Cush_, (Footnote 075), that some of them had changed their original +complexion.] + + +[Footnote 079: The following are the grand colours discernible in +mankind, between which there are many shades; + +White } { Copper + }--Olive--{ +Brown } { Black +] + + +[Footnote 080: See note, (Footnote 075). To this we may add, that the +rest of the descendants of _Ham_, as far as they can be traced, are now +also black, at well as many of the descendants of _Shem_.] + + +[Footnote 081: Diseases have a great effect upon the _mucosum corpus_, +but particularly the jaundice, which turns it yellow. Hence, being +transmitted through the cuticle, the yellow appearance of the whole +body. But this, even as a matter of ocular demonstration, is not +confined solely to white people; negroes themselves, while affected with +these or other disorders, changing their black colour for that which the +disease has conveyed to the _mucous_ substance.] + + +[Footnote 082: The cutaneous pores are so excessively small, that one +grain of sand, (according to Dr. Lewenhoeck's calculations) would cover +many hundreds of them.] + + +[Footnote 083: We do not mean to insinuate that the same people have +their _corpus mucosum_ sensibly vary, as often as they go into another +latitude, but that the fact is true only of different people, who have +been long established in different latitudes.] + + +[Footnote 084: We beg leave to return our thanks here to a gentleman, +eminent in the medical line, who furnished us with the above-mentioned +facts.] + + +[Footnote 085: Suppose we were to see two nations, contiguous to each +other, of black and white inhabitants in the same parallel, even this +would be no objection, for many circumstances are to be considered. A +black people may have wandered into a white, and a white people into a +black latitude, and they may not have been settled there a sufficient +length of time for such a change to have been accomplished in their +complexion, as that they should be like the old established inhabitants +of the parallel, into which they have lately come.] + + +[Footnote 086: Justamond's Abbe Raynal, v. 5. p. 193.] + + +[Footnote 087: The author of this Essay made it his business to inquire +of the most intelligent of those, whom he could meet with in London, as +to the authenticity of the fact. All those from _America_ assured him +that it was strictly true; those from the West-Indies, that they had +never observed it there; but that they had found a sensible difference +in themselves since they came to England.] + + +[Footnote 088: This circumstance, which always happens, shews that they +are descended from the same parents as ourselves; for had they been a +distinct species of men, and the blackness entirely ingrafted in their +constitution and frame, there is great reason to presume, that their +children would have been born _black_.] + + +[Footnote 089: This observation was communicated to us by the gentleman +in the medical line, to whom we returned our thanks for certain +anatomical facts.] + + +[Footnote 090: Philos. Trans. No. 476. sect. 4.] + + +[Footnote 091: Treatise upon the Trade from Great Britain to Africa, by +an African merchant.] + + +[Footnote 092: We mean such only as are _natives_ of the countries which +we mention, and whose ancestors have been settled there for a certain +period of time.] + + +[Footnote 093: Herodotus. Euterpe. p. 80. Editio Stephani, printed +1570.] + + +[Footnote 094: This circumstance confirms what we said in a former note, +(Footnote 085), that even if two nations were to be found in the same +parallel, one of whom was black, and the other white, it would form no +objection against the hypothesis of climate, as one of them might have +been new settlers from a distant country.] + + +[Footnote 095: Suppose, without the knowledge of any historian, they had +made such considerable conquests, as to have settled themselves at the +distance of 1000 miles in any one direction from _Colchis_, still they +must have changed their colour. For had they gone in an Eastern or +Western direction, they must have been of the same colour as the +_Circassians_; if to the north, whiter; if to the south, of a copper. +There are no people within that distance of _Colchis_, who are black.] + + +[Footnote 096: There are a particular people among those transported +from Africa to the colonies, who immediately on receiving punishment, +destroy themselves. This is a fact which the _receivers_ are unable to +contradict.] + + + * * * * * + + + +CHAP. IX. + +The reader may perhaps think, that the _receivers_ have by this +time expended all their arguments, but their store is not so easily +exhausted. They are well aware that justice, nature, and religion, will +continue, as they have ever uniformly done, to oppose their conduct. +This has driven them to exert their ingenuity, and has occasioned that +multiplicity of arguments to be found in the present question. + +These arguments are of a different complexion from the former. They +consist in comparing the state of _slaves_ with that of some of the +classes of _free_ men, and in certain scenes of felicity, which the +former are said to enjoy. + +It is affirmed that the punishments which the Africans undergo, are less +severe than the military; that their life is happier than that of the +English peasant; that they have the advantages of manumission; that they +have their little spots of ground, their holy-days, their dances; in +short, that their life is a scene of festivity and mirth, and that they +are much happier in the colonies than in their own country. + +These representations, which have been made out with much ingenuity and +art, may have had their weight with the unwary; but they will never pass +with men of consideration and sense, who are accustomed to estimate the +probability of things, before they admit them to be true. Indeed the +bare assertion, that their situation is even comfortable, contains its +own refutation, or at least leads us to suspect that the person, who +asserted it, has omitted some important considerations in the account. +Such we shall shew to have been actually the case, and that the +representations of the _receivers_, when stripped of their glossy +ornaments, are but empty declamation. + +It is said, first, of _military punishments_, that they are more +severe than those which the _Africans_ undergo. But this is a bare +assertion without a proof. It is not shewn even by those, who assert it, +how the fact can be made out. We are left therefore to draw the +comparison ourselves, and to fill up those important considerations, +which we have just said that the _receivers_ had omitted. + +That military punishments are severe we confess, but we deny that they +are severer than those with which they are compared. Where is the +military man, whose ears have been slit, whose limbs have been +mutilated, or whose eyes have been beaten out? But let us even allow, +that their punishments are equal in the degree of their severity: still +they must lose by comparison. The soldier is never punished but after a +fair and equitable trial, and the decision of a military court; the +unhappy African, at the discretion of his Lord. The one knows what +particular conduct will constitute an offence[097]; the other has no +such information, as he is wholly at the disposal of passion and +caprice, which may impose upon any action, however laudable, the +appellation of a crime. The former has it of course in his power to +avoid a punishment; the latter is never safe. The former is punished for +a real, the latter, often, for an imaginary fault. + +Now will any person assert, on comparing the whole of those +circumstances together, which relate to their respective punishments, +that there can be any doubt, which of the two are in the worst +situation, as to their penal systems? + +With respect to the declaration, that the life of an _African_ in +the colonies is happier than that of an _English_ peasant, it is +equally false. Indeed we can scarcely withhold our indignation, when we +consider, how shamefully the situation of this latter class of men has +been misrepresented, to elevate the former to a state of fictitious +happiness. If the representations of the _receivers_ be true, it +is evident that those of the most approved writers, who have placed a +considerable share of happiness in the _cottage_, have been +mistaken in their opinion; and that those of the rich, who have been +heard to sigh, and envy the felicity of the _peasant_, have been +treacherous to their own sensations. + +But which are we to believe on the occasion? Those, who endeavour to +dress _vice_ in the habit of _virtue_, or those, who derive +their opinion from their own feelings? The latter are surely to be +believed; and we may conclude therefore, that the horrid picture which +is given of the life of the _peasant_, has not so just a foundation +as the _receivers_ would, lead us to suppose. For has he no +pleasure in the thought, that he lives in his _own country_, and +among his relations and friends? That he is actually _free_, and +that his children will be the same? That he can never be _sold_ as +a beast? That he can speak his mind _without the fear of the lash_? +That he cannot even be struck _with impunity_? And that he +partakes, equally with his superiours, of the _protection of the +law_?--Now, there is no one of these advantages which the +_African_ possesses, and no one, which the defenders of slavery +take into their account. + +Of the other comparisons that are usually made, we may observe in +general, that, as they consist in comparing the iniquitous practice of +slavery with other iniquitous practices in force among other nations, +they can neither raise it to the appearance of virtue, nor extenuate its +guilt. The things compared are in these instances both of them evils +alike. They call equally for redress[098], and are equally disgraceful +to the governments which suffer them, if not encourage them, to exist. +To attempt therefore to justify one species of iniquity by comparing it +with another, is no justification at all; and is so far from answering +the purpose, for which the comparison is intended, as to give us reason +to suspect, that the _comparer_ has but little notion either of +equity or honour. + +We come now to those scenes of felicity, which slaves are said to enjoy. +The first advantage which they are said to experience, is that of +_manumission_. But here the advocates for slavery conceal an +important circumstance. They expatiate indeed on the charms of freedom, +and contend that it must be a blessing in the eyes of those, upon whom +it is conferred. We perfectly agree with them in this particular. But +they do not tell us that these advantages are _confined_; that they +are confined to some _favourite domestick_; that not _one in an +hundred_ enjoy them; and that they are _never_ extended to +those, who are employed in the _cultivation of the field_, as long +as they can work. These are they, who are most to be pitied, who are +destined to _perpetual_ drudgery; and of whom _no one whatever_ +has a chance of being freed from his situation, till death +either releases him at once, or age renders him incapable of continuing +his former labour. And here let it be remarked, _to the disgrace of +the receivers_, that he is then made free, not--_as a reward for +his past services_, but, as his labour is then of little or no +value,--_to save the tax_[099]. + +With the same artifice is mention also made of the little spots, or +_gardens_, as they are called, which slaves are said to possess +from the _liberality_ of _the receivers_. But people must not +be led away by agreeable and pleasant sounds. They must not suppose that +these gardens are made for _flowers_; or that they are places of +_amusement_, in which they can spend their time in botanical +researches and delights. Alas, they do not furnish them with a theme for +such pleasing pursuits and speculations! They must be cultivated in +those hours, which ought to be appropriated to rest[100]; and they must +be cultivated, not for an amusement, but to make up, _if it be +possible_, the great deficiency in their weekly allowance of +provisions. Hence it appears, that the _receivers_ have no merit +whatever in such an appropriation of land to their unfortunate slaves: +for they are either under the necessity of doing this, or of +_losing_ them by the jaws of famine. And it is a notorious fact, +that, with their weekly allowance, and the produce of their spots +together, it is often with the greatest difficulty that they preserve a +wretched existence. + +The third advantage which they are said to experience, is that of +_holy-days_, or days of respite from their usual discipline and +fatigue. This is certainly a great indulgence, and ought to be recorded +to the immortal honour of the _receivers_. We wish we could express +their liberality in those handsome terms, in which it deserves to be +represented, or applaud them sufficiently for deviating for once from +the rigours of servile discipline. But we confess, that we are unequal +to the task, and must therefore content ourselves with observing, that +while the horse has _one_ day in _seven_ to refresh his limbs, +the happy _African_[101] has but _one_ in _fifty-two_, as +a relaxation from his labours. + +With respect to their _dances_, on which such a particular stress +has been generally laid, we fear that people may have been as shamefully +deceived, as in the former instances. For from the manner in which these +are generally mentioned, we should almost be led to imagine, that they +had certain hours allowed them for the purpose of joining in the dance, +and that they had every comfort and convenience, that people are +generally supposed to enjoy on such convivial occasions. But this is far +from the case. Reason informs us, that it can never be. If they wish for +such innocent recreations, they must enjoy them in the time that is +allotted them for sleep; and so far are these dances from proceeding +from any uncommon degree of happiness, which excites them to convivial +society, that they proceed rather from an uncommon depression of +spirits, which makes them even sacrifice their rest[102], for the sake +of experiencing for a moment a more joyful oblivion of their cares. For +suppose any one of the _receivers_, in the middle of a dance, were +to address his slaves in the following manner: "_Africans!_ I begin +at last to feel for your situation; and my conscience is severely hurt, +whenever I reflect that I have been reducing those to a state of misery +and pain, who have never given me offence. You seem to be fond of these +exercises, but yet you are obliged to take them at such unseasonable +hours, that they impair your health, which is sufficiently broken by the +intolerable share of labour which I have hitherto imposed upon you. I +will therefore make you a proposal. Will you be content to live in the +colonies, and you shall have the half of every week entirely to +yourselves? or will you choose to return to your miserable, wretched +country?"--But what is that which strikes their ears? Which makes them +motionless in an instant? Which interrupts the festive scene?--their +country?--transporting sound!--Behold! they are now flying from the +dance: you may see them running to the shore, and, frantick as it were +with joy, demanding with open arms an instantaneous passage to their +beloved native plains. + +Such are the _colonial delights_, by the representation of which +the _receivers_ would persuade us, that the _Africans_ are +taken from their country to a region of conviviality and mirth; and that +like those, who leave their usual places of residence for a summer's +amusement, they are conveyed to the colonies--_to bathe_,--_to +dance_,--_to keep holy-day_,--_to be jovial_.--But there +is something so truly ridiculous in the attempt to impose these scenes +of felicity on the publick, as scenes which fall to the lot of slaves, +that the _receivers_ must have been driven to great extremities, to +hazard them to the eye of censure. + +The last point that remains to be considered, is the shameful assertion, +that the _Africans_ are much _happier in the colonies, than in +their own country_. But in what does this superiour happiness +consist? In those real scenes, it must be replied, which have been just +mentioned; for these, by the confession of the receivers, constitute the +happiness they enjoy.--But it has been shewn that these have been +unfairly represented; and, were they realized in the most extensive +latitude, they would not confirm the fact. For if, upon a +recapitulation, it consists in the pleasure of _manumission_, they +surely must have passed their lives in a much more comfortable manner, +who, like the _Africans at home_, have had no occasion for such a +benefit at all. But the _receivers_, we presume, reason upon this +principle, that we never know the value of a blessing but by its loss. +This is generally true: but would any one of them make himself a +_slave_ for years, that he might run the chance of the pleasures of +_manumission_? Or that he might taste the charms of liberty with +_a greater relish_? Nor is the assertion less false in every other +consideration. For if their happiness consists in the few +_holy-days_, which _in the colonies_ they are permitted to +enjoy, what must be their situation _in their own country_, where +the whole year is but one continued holy-day, or cessation from +discipline and fatigue?--If in the possession of _a mean and +contracted spot_, what must be their situation, where a whole region +is their own, producing almost spontaneously the comforts of life, and +requiring for its cultivation none of those hours, which should be +appropriated to _sleep_?--If in the pleasures of the _colonial +dance_, what must it be in _their own country_, where they may +dance for ever; where there is no stated hour to interrupt their +felicity, no intolerable labour immediately to succeed their +recreations, and no overseer to receive them under the discipline of the +lash?--If these therefore are the only circumstances, by which the +assertion can be proved, we may venture to say, without fear of +opposition, that it can never be proved at all. + +But these are not the only circumstances. It is said that they are +barbarous at home.--But do you _receivers_ civilize them?--Your +unwillingness to convert them to Christianity, because you suppose you +must use them more kindly when converted, is but a bad argument in +favour of the fact. + +It is affirmed again, that their manner of life, and their situation is +such in their own country, that to say they are happy is a jest. "But +who are you, who pretend to judge[103] 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 unbenefited 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 their misery makes so large a +part." + +But since you speak with so much confidence on the subject, let us ask +you _receivers_ again, if you have ever been informed by your +unfortunate slaves, that they had no connexions in the country from +which they have forcibly been torn away: or, if you will take upon you +to assert, that they never sigh, when they are alone; or that they never +relate to each other their tales of misery and woe. But you judge of +them, perhaps, in an happy moment, when you are dealing out to them +their provisions for the week; and are but little aware, that, though +the countenance may be cheered with a momentary smile, the heart may be +exquisitely tortured. Were you to shew us, indeed, that there are laws, +subject to no evasion, by which you are obliged to clothe and feed them +in a comfortable manner; were you to shew us that they are +protected[104] at all; or that even _one_ in a _thousand_ of +those masters have suffered death[105], who have been guilty of +_premeditated_ murder to their slaves, you would have a better +claim to our belief: but you can neither produce the instances nor the +laws. The people, of whom you speak, are _slaves_, are your own +_property_, are wholly _at your own disposal_; and this idea +is sufficient to overturn your assertions of their happiness. + +But we shall now mention a circumstance, which, in the present case, +will have more weight than all the arguments which have hitherto been +advanced. It is an opinion, which the _Africans_ universally +entertain, that, as soon as death shall release them from the hands of +their oppressors, they shall immediately be wafted back to their native +plains, there to exist again, to enjoy the sight of their beloved +countrymen, and to spend the whole of their new existence in scenes of +tranquillity and delight; and so powerfully does this notion operate +upon them, as to drive them frequently to the horrid extremity of +putting a period to their lives. Now if these suicides are frequent, +(which no person can deny) what are they but a proof, that the situation +of those who destroy themselves must have been insupportably wretched: +and if the thought of returning to their country after death, _when +they have experienced the colonial joys_, constitutes their supreme +felicity, what are they but a proof, that they think there is as much +difference between the two situations, as there is between misery and +delight? + +Nor is the assertion of the _receivers_ less liable to a refutation +in the instance of those, who terminate their own existence, than of +those, whom nature releases from their persecutions. They die with a +smile upon their face, and their funerals are attended by a vast +concourse of their countrymen, with every possible demonstration of +joy[106]. But why this unusual mirth, if their departed brother has left +an happy place? Or if he has been taken from the care of an indulgent +master, who consulted his pleasures, and administered to his wants? But +alas, it arises from hence, that _he is gone to his happy country_: +a circumstance, sufficient of itself, to silence a myriad of those +specious arguments, which the imagination has been racked, and will +always be racked to produce, in favour of a system of tyranny and +oppression. + +It remains only, that we should now conclude the chapter with a fact, +which will shew that the account, which we have given of the situation +of slaves, is strictly true, and will refute at the same time all the +arguments which have hitherto been, and may yet be brought by the +_receivers_, to prove that their treatment is humane. In one of the +western colonies of the Europeans, [107]six hundred and fifty thousand +slaves were imported within an hundred years; at the expiration of which +time, their whole posterity were found to amount to one hundred and +forty thousand. This fact will ascertain the treatment of itself. For +how shamefully must these unfortunate people have been oppressed? What a +dreadful havock must famine, fatigue, and cruelty, have made among them, +when we consider, that the descendants of _six hundred and fifty +thousand_ people in the prime of life, gradually imported within a +century, are less numerous than those, which only _ten thousand_[108] +would have produced in the same period, under common advantages, +and in a country congenial to their constitutions? + +But the _receivers_ have probably great merit on the occasion. Let +us therefore set it down to their humanity. Let us suppose for once, +that this incredible waste of the human species proceeds from a +benevolent design; that, sensible of the miseries of a servile state, +they resolve to wear out, as fast as they possibly can, their +unfortunate slaves, that their miseries may the sooner end, and that a +wretched posterity may be prevented from sharing their parental +condition. Now, whether this is the plan of reasoning which the +_receivers_ adopt, we cannot take upon us to decide; but true it +is, that the effect produced is exactly the same, as if they had +reasoned wholly on this _benevolent_ principle. + + + * * * * * + + +FOOTNOTES + + +[Footnote 097: The articles of war are frequently read at the head of +every regiment in the service, stating those particular actions which +are to be considered as crimes.] + + +[Footnote 098: We cannot omit here to mention one of the customs, which +has been often brought as a palliation of slavery, and which prevailed +but a little time ago, and we are doubtful whether it does not prevail +now, in the metropolis of this country, of kidnapping men for the +service of the East-India Company. Every subject, as long as he behaves +well, has a right to the protection of government; and the tacit +permission of such a scene of iniquity, when it becomes known, is as +much a breach of duty in government, as the conduct of those subjects, +who, on other occasions, would be termed, and punished as, rebellious.] + + +[Footnote 099: The expences of every parish are defrayed by a poll-tax +on negroes, to save which they pretend to liberate those who are past +labour; but they still keep them employed in repairing fences, or in +doing some trifling work on a scanty allowance. For to free a +_field-negroe_, so long as he can work, is a maxim, which, +notwithstanding the numerous boasted manumissions, no master _ever +thinks of adopting_ in the colonies.] + + +[Footnote 100: They must be cultivated always on a _Sunday_, and +frequently in those hours which should be appropriated to _sleep_, +or the wretched possessors must be inevitably _starved_.] + + +[Footnote 101: They are allowed in general three holy-days at Christmas, +but in Jamaica they have two also at Easter, and two at Whitsuntide: so +that on the largest scale, they have only seven days in a year, or one +day in fifty-two. But this is on a supposition, that the receivers do +not break in upon the afternoons, which they are frequently too apt to +do. If it should be said that Sunday is an holy-day, it is not true; it +is so far an holy-day, that they do not work for their masters; but such +an holy-day, that if they do not employ it in the cultivation of their +little spots, they must _starved_.] + + +[Footnote 102: These dances are usually in the middle of the night; and +so desirous are these unfortunate people of obtaining but a joyful hour, +that they not only often give up their sleep, but add to the labours of +the day, by going several miles to obtain it.] + + +[Footnote 103: Bishop of Glocester's sermon, preached before the society +for the propagation of the gospel, at the anniversary meeting, on the +21st of February, 1766.] + + +[Footnote 104: There is a law, (but let the reader remark, that it +prevails but in _one_ of the colonies), against mutilation. It took +its rise from the frequency of the inhuman practice. But though a master +cannot there chop off the limb of a slave with an axe, he may yet work, +starve, and beat him to death with impunity.] + + +[Footnote 105: _Two_ instances are recorded by the +_receivers_, out of about _fifty-thousand_, where a white man +has suffered death for the murder of a negroe; but the receivers do not +tell us, that these suffered more because they were the pests of +society, than because the _murder of slaves was a crime_.] + + +[Footnote 106: A negroe-funeral is considered as a curious sight, and is +attended with singing, dancing, musick, and every circumstance that can +shew the attendants to be happy on the occasion.] + + +[Footnote 107: In 96 years, ending in 1774, 800,000 slaves had been +imported into the French part of St. Domingo, of which there remained +only 290,000 in 1774. Of this last number only 140,000 were creoles, or +natives of the island, i. e. of 650,000 slaves, the whole posterity were +140,000. _Considerations sur la Colonie de St. Dominique_,(See +errata--should be read as "_St. Domingue_") published by authority +in 1777.] + + +[Footnote 108: Ten thousand people under fair advantages, and in a soil +congenial to their constitutions, and where the means of subsistence are +easy, should produce in a century 160,000. This is the proportion in +which the Americans increased; and the Africans in their own country +increase in the same, if not in a greater proportion. Now as the climate +of the colonies is as favourable to their health as that of their own +country, the causes of the prodigious decrease in the one, and increase +in the other, will be more conspicuous.] + + + * * * * * + + + +CHAP. X. + +We have now taken a survey of the treatment which the unfortunate +_Africans_ undergo, when they are put into the hands of the +_receivers_. This treatment, by the four first chapters of the +present part of this Essay, appears to be wholly insupportable, and to +be such as no human being can apply to another, without the imputation +of such crimes, as should make him tremble. But as many arguments are +usually advanced by those who have any interest in the practice, by +which they would either exculpate the treatment, or diminish its +severity, we allotted the remaining chapters for their discussion. In +these we considered the probability of such a treatment against the +motives of interest; the credit that was to be given to those +disinterested writers on the subject, who have recorded particular +instances of barbarity; the inferiority of the _Africans_ to the +human species; the comparisons that are generally made with respect to +their situation; the positive scenes of felicity which they are said to +enjoy, and every other argument, in short, that we have found to have +ever been advanced in the defence of slavery. These have been all +considered, and we may venture to pronounce, that, instead of answering +the purpose for which they were intended, they serve only to bring such +circumstances to light, as clearly shew, that if ingenuity were racked +to invent a situation, that would be the most distressing and +insupportable to the human race; it could never invent one, that would +suit the description better, than the--_colonial slavery_. + +If this then be the case, and if slaves, notwithstanding all the +arguments to the contrary, are exquisitely miserable, we ask you +_receivers, by what right_ you reduce them to so wretched a +situation? + +You reply, that you _buy them_; that your _money_ constitutes +your _right_, and that, like all other things which you purchase, +they are wholly at your own disposal. + +Upon this principle alone it was, that we professed to view your +treatment, or examine your right, when we said, that "the question[109] +resolved itself into two separate parts for discussion; into the +_African_ commerce, as explained in the history of slavery, and the +subsequent slavery in the colonies, _as founded on the equity of the +commerce_." Now, since it appears that this commerce, upon the +fullest investigation, is contrary to "_the principles[110] of law and +government, the dictates of reason, the common maxims of equity, the +laws of nature, the admonitions of conscience, and, in short, the whole +doctrine of natural religion_," it is evident that the _right_, +which is founded upon it, must be the same; and that if those +things only are lawful in the sight of God, which are either +virtuous in themselves, or proceed from virtuous principles, you _have +no right over them at all_. + +You yourselves also confess this. For when we ask you, whether any human +being has a right to sell you, you immediately answer, No; as if nature +revolted at the thought, and as if it was so contradictory to your own +feelings, as not to require consideration. But who are you, that have +this exclusive charter of trading in the liberties of mankind? When did +nature, or rather the Author of nature, make so partial a distinction +between you and them? When did He say, that you should have the +privilege of selling others, and that others should not have the +privilege of selling you? + +Now since you confess, that no person whatever has a right to dispose of +you in this manner, you must confess also, that those things are +unlawful to be done to you, which are usually done in consequence of the +sale. Let us suppose then, that in consequence of the _commerce_ +you were forced into a ship; that you were conveyed to another country; +that you were sold there; that you were confined to incessant labour; +that you were pinched by continual hunger and thirst; and subject to be +whipped, cut, and mangled at discretion, and all this at the hands of +those, whom you had never offended; would you not think that you had a +right to resist their treatment? Would you not resist it with a safe +conscience? And would you not be surprized, if your resistance should be +termed rebellion?--By the former premises you must answer, yes.--Such +then is the case with the wretched _Africans_. They have a right to +resist your proceedings. They can resist them, and yet they cannot +justly be considered as rebellious. For though we suppose them to have +been guilty of crimes to one another; though we suppose them to have +been the most abandoned and execrable of men, yet are they perfectly +innocent with respect to you _receivers_. You have no right to +touch even the hair of their heads without their own consent. It is not +your money, that can invest you with a right. Human liberty can neither +be bought nor sold. Every lash that you give them is unjust. It is a +lash against nature and religion, and will surely stand recorded against +you, since they are all, with respect to your _impious_ selves, in +a state of nature; in a state of original dissociation; perfectly free. + + + * * * * * + + +FOOTNOTES + + +[Footnote 109: See Part II Chapter I second paragraph.] + + +[Footnote 110: See Part II Chapter IX last paragraph.] + + + * * * * * + + + +CHAP. XI. + +Having now considered both the _commerce_ and _slavery_, it +remains only to collect such arguments as are scattered in different +parts of the work, and to make such additional remarks, as present +themselves on the subject. + +And first, let us ask you, who have studied the law of nature, and you, +who are learned in the law of the land, if all property must not be +inferiour in its nature to its possessor, or, in other words, (for it is +a case, which every person must bring home to his own breast) if you +suppose that any human being can have _a property in yourselves_? +Let us ask you appraisers, who scientifically know the value of things, +if any human creature is equivalent only to any of the trinkets that you +wear, or at most, to any of the horses that you ride: or in other words, +if you have ever considered the most costly things that you have valued, +as _equivalent to yourselves?_ Let us ask you rationalists, if man, +as a reasonable being, is not _accountable_ for his actions, and +let us put the same question to you, who have studied the divine +writings? Let us ask you parents, if ever you thought that you possessed +an _authority_ as such, or if ever you expected a _duty_ from +your sons; and let us ask you sons, if ever you felt an impulse in your +own breasts to _obey_ your parents. Now, if you should all answer +as we could wish, if you should all answer consistently with reason, +nature, and the revealed voice of God, what a dreadful argument will +present itself against the commerce and slavery of the human species, +when we reflect, that no man whatever can be bought or reduced to the +situation of a slave, _but he must instantly become a brute, he must +instantly be reduced to the value of those things, which were made for +his own use and convenience; he must instantly cease to be accountable +for his actions, and his authority as a parent, and his duty as a son, +must be instantly no more_. + +Neither does it escape our notice, when we are speaking of the fatal +wound which every social duty must receive, how considerably +Christianity suffers by the conduct of you _receivers_. For by +prosecuting this impious commerce, you keep the _Africans_ in a +state of perpetual ferocity and barbarism; and by prosecuting it in such +a manner, as must represent your religion, as a system of robbery and +oppression, you not only oppose the propagation of the gospel, as far as +you are able yourselves, but throw the most certain impediments in the +way of others, who might attempt the glorious and important task. + +Such also is the effect, which the subsequent slavery in the colonies +must produce. For by your inhuman treatment of the unfortunate +_Africans_ there, you create the same insuperable impediments to a +conversion. For how must they detest the very name of _Christians_, +when you _Christians_ are deformed by so many and dreadful vices? +How must they detest that system of religion, which appears to resist +the natural rights of men, and to give a sanction to brutality and +murder? + +But, as we are now mentioning Christianity, we must pause for a little +time, to make a few remarks on the arguments which are usually deduced +from thence by the _receivers_, in defence of their system of +oppression. For the reader may readily suppose, that, if they did not +hesitate to bring the _Old_ Testament in support of their +barbarities, they would hardly let the _New_ escape them. + +_St. Paul_, having converted _Onesimus_ to the Christian +faith, who was a fugitive slave of _Philemon_, sent him back to his +master. This circumstance has furnished the _receivers_ with a +plea, that Christianity encourages slavery. But they have not only +strained the passages which they produce in support of their assertions, +but are ignorant of historical facts. The benevolent apostle, in the +letter which he wrote to _Philemon_, the master of _Onesimus_, +addresses him to the following effect: "I send him back to you, but not +in his former capacity[111], _not now as a servant, but above a +servant, a brother beloved_. In this manner I beseech you to receive +him, for though I could _enjoin_ you to do it, yet I had rather it +should be a matter of your _own will_, than of _necessity_." + +It appears that the same _Onesimus_, when he was sent back, was no +longer _a slave_, that he was a minister of the gospel, that he was +joined with _Tychicus_ in an ecclesiastical commission to the +church of the _Colossians_, and was afterwards bishop of +_Ephesus_. If language therefore has any meaning, and if history +has recorded a fact which may be believed, there is no case more +opposite to the doctrine of the _receivers_, than this which they +produce in its support. + +It is said again, that Christianity, among the many important precepts +which it contains, does not furnish us with one for the abolition of +slavery. But the reason is obvious. Slavery at the time of the +introduction of the gospel was universally prevalent, and if +Christianity had abruptly declared, that the millions of slaves should +have been made free, who were then in the world, it would have been +universally rejected, as containing doctrines that were dangerous, if +not destructive, to society. In order therefore that it might be +universally received, it never meddled, by any positive precept, with +the civil institutions of the times; but though it does not expressly +say, that "you shall neither buy, nor sell, nor possess a slave," it is +evident that, in its general tenour, it sufficiently militates against +the custom. + +The first doctrine which it inculcates, is that of _brotherly +love_. It commands good will towards men. It enjoins us to love our +neighbours as ourselves, and to do unto all men, as we would that they +should do unto us. And how can any man fulfil this scheme of universal +benevolence, who reduces an unfortunate person _against his will_, +to the _most insupportable_ of all human conditions; who considers +him as his _private property_, and treats him, not as a brother, +nor as one of the same parentage with himself, but as an _animal of +the brute creation?_ + +But the most important doctrine is that, by which we are assured that +mankind are to exist in a future state, and to give an account of those +actions, which they have severally done in the flesh. This strikes at +the very root of slavery. For how can any man be justly called to an +account for his actions, whose actions are not _at his own +disposal?_ This is the case with the _proper_[112] slave. His +liberty is absolutely bought and _appropriated_; and if the +purchase is _just and equitable_, he is _under the necessity_ +of perpetrating any crime, which the purchaser may order him to commit, +or, in other words, of ceasing to be _accountable for his actions_. + +These doctrines therefore are sufficient to shew, that slavery is +incompatible, with the Christian system. The _Europeans_ considered +them as such, when, at the close of the twelfth century, they resisted, +their hereditary prejudices, and occasioned its abolition. Hence one, +among many other proofs, that Christianity was the production of +infinite wisdom; that though it did not take such express cognizance of +the wicked national institutions of the times, as should hinder its +reception, it should yet contain such doctrines, as, when it should be +fully established, would be sufficient for the abolition of them all. + +Thus then is the argument of you _receivers_ ineffectual, and your +conduct impious. For, by the prosecution of this wicked slavery and +commerce, you not only oppose the propagation of that gospel which was +ordered to be preached unto every creature, and bring it into contempt, +but you oppose its tenets also: first, because you violate that law of +_universal benevolence_, which was to take away those hateful +distinctions of _Jew_ and _Gentile_, _Greek_ and _Barbarian, +bond_ and _free_, which prevailed when the gospel was introduced; +and secondly, because, as every man is to give an account of +his actions hereafter, it is necessary that he should be _free_. + +Another argument yet remains, which, though nature will absolutely turn +pale at the recital, cannot possibly be omitted. In those wars, which +are made for the sake of procuring slaves, it is evident that the +contest must be generally obstinate, and that great numbers must be +slain on both sides, before the event can be determined. This we may +reasonably apprehend to be the case: and we have shewn[113], that there +have not been wanting instances, where the conquerors have been so +incensed at the resistance they have found, that their spirit of +vengeance has entirely got the better of their avarice, and they have +murdered, in cool blood, every individual, without discrimination, +either of age or sex. From these and other circumstances, we thought we +had sufficient reason to conclude, that, where _ten_ were supposed +to be taken, an _hundred_, including the victors and vanquished, +might be supposed to perish. Now, as the annual exportation from +_Africa_ consists of an hundred thousand men, and as the two +orders, of those who are privately kidnapped by individuals, and of +those, who are publickly seized by virtue of the authority of their +prince, compose together, at least, nine-tenths of the _African_ +slaves, it follows, that about ten thousand consist of convicts and +prisoners of war. The last order is the most numerous. Let us suppose +then that only six thousand of this order are annually sent into +servitude, and it will immediately appear that no less than +_sixty-thousand_ people annually perish in those wars, which are +made only for the purpose of procuring slaves. But that this number, +which we believe to be by no means exaggerated, may be free from all +objection, we will include those in the estimate, who die as they are +travelling to the ships. Many of these unfortunate people have a journey +of one thousand miles to perform on foot, and are driven like sheep +through inhospitable woods and deserts, where they frequently die in +great numbers, from fatigue and want. Now if to those, who thus perish +on the _African_ continent, by war and travelling, we subjoin +those[114], who afterwards perish on the voyage, and in the seasoning +together, it will appear that, in every yearly attempt to supply the +colonies, an _hundred thousand_ must perish, even before _one_ +useful individual can be obtained. + +Gracious God! how wicked, how beyond all example impious, must be that +servitude, which cannot be carried on without the continual murder of so +many and innocent persons! What punishment is not to be expected for +such monstrous and unparalleled barbarities! For if the blood of one +man, unjustly shed, cries with so loud a voice for the divine vengeance, +how shall the cries and groans of an _hundred thousand_ men, +_annually murdered_, ascend the celestial mansions, and bring down +that punishment, which such enormities deserve! But do we mention +punishment? Do we allude to that punishment, which shall be inflicted on +men as individuals, in a future life? Do we allude to that awful day, +which shall surely come, when the master shall behold his murdered +negroe face to face? When a train of mutilated slaves shall be brought +against him? When he shall stand confounded and abashed? Or, do we +allude to that punishment, which may be inflicted on them here, as +members of a wicked community? For as a body politick, if its members +are ever so numerous, may be considered as an whole, acting of itself, +and by itself, in all affairs in which it is concerned, so it is +accountable, as such, for its conduct; and as these kinds of polities +have only their existence here, so it is only in this world, that, as +such, they can be punished. + +"Now, whether we consider the crime, with respect to the individuals +immediately concerned in this most barbarous and cruel traffick, or +whether we consider it as patronized[115] and encouraged by the laws of +the land, it presents to our view an equal degree of enormity. A crime, +founded on a dreadful pre-eminence in wickedness,--a crime, which being +both of individuals and the nation, must sometime draw down upon us the +heaviest judgment of Almighty God, who made of one blood all the sons of +men, and who gave to all equally a natural right to liberty; and who, +ruling all the kingdoms of the earth with equal providential justice, +cannot suffer such deliberate, such monstrous iniquity, to pass long +unpunished[116]." + +But alas! he seems already to have interfered on the occasion! The +violent[117] and supernatural agitations of all the elements, which, for +a series of years, have prevailed in those European settlements, where +the unfortunate _Africans_ are retained in a state of slavery, and +which have brought unspeakable calamities on the inhabitants, and +publick losses on the states to which they severally belong, are so many +awful visitations of God for this inhuman violation of his laws. And it +is not perhaps unworthy of remark, that as the subjects of Great-Britain +have two thirds of this impious commerce in their own hands, so they +have suffered[118] in the same proportion, or more severely than the +rest. + +How far these misfortunes may appear to be acts of providence, and to +create an alarm to those who have been accustomed to refer every effect +to its apparent cause; who have been habituated to stop there, and to +overlook the finger of God; because it is slightly covered under the +veil of secondary laws, we will not pretend to determine? but this we +will assert with confidence, that the _Europeans_ have richly +deserved them all; that the fear of sympathy, which can hardly be +restrained on other melancholy occasions, seems to forget to flow at the +relation of these; and that we can never, with any shadow of justice, +with prosperity to the undertakers of those, whose success must be at +the expence of the happiness of millions of their fellow-creatures. + +But this is sufficient. For if liberty is only an adventitious right; if +men are by no means superiour to brutes; if every social duty is a +curse; if cruelty is highly to be esteemed; if murder is strictly +honourable, and Christianity is a lye; then it is evident, that the +_African_ slavery may be pursued, without either the remorse of +conscience, or the imputation of a crime. But if the contrary of this is +true, which reason must immediately evince, it is evident that no custom +established among men was ever more impious; since it is contrary to +_reason, justice, nature, the principles of law and government, the +whole doctrine, in short, of natural religion, and the revealed voice of +God_. + + + * * * * * + + +FOOTNOTES + + +[Footnote 111: Epist. to Philemon.] + + +[Footnote 112: The _African_ slave is of this description; and we +could wish, in all our arguments on the present subject, to be +understood as having spoken only of _proper slaves_. The slave who +is condemned to the oar, to the fortifications, and other publick works, +is in a different predicament. His liberty is not _appropriated_, +and therefore none of those consequences can be justly drawn, which have +been deduced in the present case.] + + +[Footnote 113: See the description of an African battle (Footnote 049).] + + +[Footnote 114: The lowest computation is 40,000, (Footnote 060).] + + +[Footnote 115: The legislature has squandered away more money in the +prosecution of the slave trade, within twenty years, than in any other +trade whatever, having granted from the year 1750, to the year 1770, the +sum of 300,000 pounds.] + + +[Footnote 116: Sermon preached before the University of Cambridge, by +the Rev. Peter Peckard.] + + +[Footnote 117: The first noted earthquake at Jamaica, happened June the +7th 1692, when Port Royal was totally sunk. This was succeeded by one in +the year 1697, and by another in the year 1722, from which time to the +present, these regions of the globe seem to have been severely visited, +but particularly during the last six or seven years. See a general +account of the calamities, occasioned by the late tremendous hurricanes +and earthquakes in the West-Indian islands, by Mr. Fowler.] + + +[Footnote 118: The many ships of war belonging to the British navy, +which were lost with all their crews in these dreadful hurricanes, will +sufficiently prove the fact.] + + + * * * * * + + +FINIS. + + + * * * * * + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of An Essay on the Slavery and Commerce +of the Human Species, Particularly the African, by Thomas Clarkson + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ESSAY ON SLAVERY *** + +***** This file should be named 10611.txt or 10611.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/6/1/10611/ + +Produced by Carlo Traverso, David Gundry and PG Distributed Proofreaders +from images generously made available by the Biblioth que nationale +de France (BnF/Gallica) at http://gallica.bnf.fr. + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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