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at all; trusting it to him, in the confi-But the other hon. gentleman, as agent dence that the agent would effect by mis- for the island of Jamaica, might be con take what he, the principal, might more sidered as a more skilful and accurate ineasily effect by his own direct endeavours? terpreter of the language of the assembly; But farther, was this a fair or flattering and his interpretation was therefore to be mode of treating between the legislatures listened to with the utmost deference and of two countries? Would it please the attention; and a very curious and ingeniassembly of Jamaica to be told, "we ous interpretation it was. The hon. gengive no credit to your professions; but we tleman did not venture, like his right hon. have no apprehension of what you can do friend, to represent the assembly as meanto thwart our purposes. Proceed in your ing the direct reverse of what they had own way-counteract us, if you will-but stated. No; he knew too well the real in the end you shall find, to your confu- bias and inclination of their, minds, to sion, that you have only been counteract- take such a liberty with their words. But ing yourselves; that you have done the he contrived to gloss over the too sharp very thing that we wished to be done, and and prominent expression of their rewhich you deterniined not to do." If they solution to persevere in the Slave trade were to be cautioned, as the House had to all eternity, to cultivate, to inbeen, to speak with respect of the as- prove, to increase, to cherish it-this he sembly of Jamaica, is this the most re-endeavoured to gloss over by an interpre spectful strain in which it is possible to address them? or would it not be more fair and manly, and had not the assembly of Jamaica deserved, by the fair and manly way in which they had declared their determination, that the House of Commons should say to them, "you have dealt honestly by us. We think the Slave trade ought not to subsist. If you had thought the same, we would willingly have left it to you to devise the means of putting an end to it. But you tell us plainly, that such is not your opinion. You tell us plainly that so far as depends upon you, the Slave trade shall be carried on to the end of time; that you see no prospect, that you see no reason, that you entertain no wish, that you will take no step for its termination. The avowal is frank, whatever we may think of the principle. There is no delusion, no hypocrisy in it. We thank you for your openness. It appears from what you say, that we must do our own work, if we would have it done at all-and, please God, we will set about doing it." Would not this be a more reasonable, and a more just mode of proceeding, than by construing, with his right hon. friend, the words of the assembly of Jamaica, in a way the very reverse of their obvious and evident meaning, to charge that assembly with falsehoods and inconsistency, in order to find an excuse to the House for its own supineness, and to reconcile it to the abandonment of its own object, and its own power?

His right hon. friend, however, could of course pretend to no higher authority than conjecture, for his interpretation.

tation that should do neither good nor harm:-he could not hope to persuade us that the assembly meant well, as to the termination of the trade; it was a great point gained, if he could persuade the House that they meant nothing. According to that hon. gentleman's construction, the word " NOT with any view to the termination of the Slave trade," meant," not influenced in what they are doing by any apprehension that the Slave trade will be terminated; not induced thereto by the threats of abolition." Upon this interpretation, he would only say, that if there was one unprejudiced man in the House who would get up, and laying his hand upon his heart would gravely aver, that he in his conscience believed this to be the true intent and meaning of the passage, he would give up the question. He paused to see if any man would venture to do so➖➖➖➖➖

As no man ventured to make such an averment, he must conclude that the House felt, as he did, that the passage was to be taken in its plain, obvious, unmistakeable sense that the assembly of Jamaica, while it was represented here as taking measures to carry into effect the recommendation of the king founded upon the address of the House of Commons for the termination of the Slave trade, had not any view to any such termination. Such was their plain language. But if there could be any additional light thrown upon the sense of a passage alacady as clear as noon day, what followed in the address was in itself the best commentary upon it. The two passages, indeed, mutually illustrated each

would, under all circumstances,' continue to do so. And he had as little doubt that it was not by obeying their local and transitory prejudices, nor by yielding to their temporary passions, but by consulting and securing their permanent interest, honour and happiness, that Great Britain would best deserve, and most effectually secure, their connexion and attachment.

other. "The right of obtaining labourers from Africa." The right! He had learnt, indeed, by painful experience of what had of late years passed in the world, to associate the word right, with ideas very different from those which, in old times, it was calculated to convey. He had learnt to regard the mention of rights as prefatory to bloody, destructive, and desolating doctrines, hostile to the happiness and to the freedom of mankind. Such had been the lesson which he had learnt from the rights of man. But never, even in the practical application of that detested and pernicious doctrine, never he believed, had the word right been so shamefully affixed to murder, to devastation, to the invasion of public independence, to the pollution and destruction of private happiness, to gross and unpalliated injustice, to the spreading of misery and mourning over the earth, to the massacre of innocent individuals, and to the extermination of unoffending nations; never before was the word right so prostituted and misapplied, as when the right to trade in man's blood was asserted by the enlightened government of a civilized country. It was not wonderful that the slavery of Africa should be described in a term consecrated to French freedom..

"But it was the right to import labourers"-gentle words! Not slaves, not for the world, not to trade in slaves,' but to import labourers ;' "The right to import labourers from Africa is secured to your majesty's faithful subjects in this colony, by several British acts of parliament," &c. They then proceeded to state in the next paragraph, that they "have the utmost reliance on his majesty's paternal goodness, that this right should remain inviolate as long as they should remain faithful to his majesty, and true to the allegiance which they owe to the imperial crown of Great Britain." He quoted this passage particularly for the purpose of disclaiming any intention of countenancing the implication which the House had been so justly cautioned not to entertain, that the allegiance of the assembly was made dependent on the continuance of the Slave trade. He believed no such thing. He would have wished indeed, that the two subjects had not been coupled so closely in words; but he had no doubt of the loyalty of the colonial assemblies. They had given ample and honourable proofs of their affection for this country. He had no doubt that they [VOL. XXXIV.]

But whatever might be the general credit which he was willing to give to the legislature of Jamaica for its readiness to acknowledge the paternal and superintending care of the British parliament; when he heard such acts of that legislature as were now on the table of the House, quoted as substantial proofs of their intention to carry into effect the declared opinion of the British parliament, that measures ought to be taken for the termination of the Slave trade (an intention which the legislature of Jamaica itself unequivocally disclaimed), he could not refrain from expressing a sentiment both of astonishment and indignation. "Never mind their declarations," said the hon. gentleman, the agent for Jamaica, "look to their acts." He looked to their aets; and what did he find? A better maintenance secured to their parochial clergy-good. What has this to do with the termination of the Slave trade? But what more? An act imposing a duty amounting to prohibition upon the importation of slaves above 25 years old. This too was good, and he thanked the hon. gentleman for calling upon him to examine it; but it was good, only as it proved the utter falsehood and futility of almost every argument upon which the propriety of the Slave trade had ever been attempted to be defended, and the impossibility of abolishing it attempted to be proved, from the first discussion of the subject up to the present hour.

First, then, here is a duty amounting to a prohibition. So it was possible to prohibit then? And all the arguments that the House had been in the habit of hearing, how vain and fruitless it would be to endeavour to establish Custom-house regulations, which should restrict the trade, or prevent contraband importation,--all these arguments were overthrown from their foundation by a single phrase of the legislative assembly of Jamaica. But would it be said, that though to prohibit importation altogether would be impossible, to limit it within certain bounds, taking the age of the negroes for your rule, would be very easy and prac[N]

ticable? This might be so, but it certainly did not strike one at the first view, as creating an additional facility, but rather an additional difficulty, that the custom house officer was directed to prevent, not the importation of negroes, but the importation of negroes above twenty-five years old. For how, after all, was this to be known? Was it in Africa that the age was to be ascertained? By what species of parish register? By what testimony, verbal or written? Or was there some mark of mouth by which the age of those unfortunate beings was to be distinguished? Or rather, was not the whole regulation known and felt to be nugatory? And if such a regulation had been proposed by the friends of the abolition, would it not have been met with scorn and mockery, and answered merely by a sally against the ignorance and temerity of speculative reasoners upon practical subjects? But, supposing this regulation could be made effectual, mark how it was contrived to run directly in the teeth of all that had ever been advanced, to give a colour of justice to the exportation of negroes from Africa. The House had often been told that the unhappy victims who were torn from their country by our slave traders, were, in fact, saved from a worse fate at home; for that they were convicts, or prisoners of war, who, if not sold for slaves, would be put to death: the slave traders would scorn to take any but such as were thus to be rescued from death by slavery-they, in fact, acted from motives of kindness to those whom they purchased; it would be barbarous to shut up the only issue which was left for those who were condemned to torture and destruction, to escape. All this had been gravely argued. But mark how the assembly of Jamaica has put it down. They will take nothing above 25 years old. How was this? Had they found some secret by which they could prevent any African from being guilty of a crime, any African from being made a prisoner of war, after he was five and twenty? Or did they mean to consign all those who were above that age, and were yet, in spite of this salutary regulation which precluded them from all escape from their country, so headstrong as to become convicts and captives, to consign them unpityingly to their fate? The women toothey were not to be more than twentyfive. Their crime the House had often been told (as they could not be prisoners

of war), was witchcraft. What secret had the assembly of Jamaica found by which the practice of that dark art (which he was far from meaning to defend) could be confined within the limits of five and twenty? Or were they determined to rescue none but the young witches, and to leave the old ones to their fate? He was ashamed to appear to treat with levity a subject at which he could not look without horror and disgust. But when the most absurd and unreasonable pretences were set up in defence of the most abominable practices, it was impossible not to feel the attempt to impose on one's understanding, as an aggravation of the outrage to one's feelings. And when he recollected how often, and how boldly, these arguments of the justice of the trade had in former sessions been forced upon the House, he could not repress the triumph which he felt in seeing them thus laid prostrate and trampled under foot, by those very proceedings upon which the cause of the Slave trade was now exclusively rested.

Such, then, were the regulations which were to supersede the necessity of any interference on the part of the parliament of Great Britain, for an object which the parliament thinks indispensable, which the assembly by whom these regulations are made neither has nor pretends to have in view, and which these regulations are obviously not calculated in the smallest degree to promote. If, however, the interference of the British parliament were necessary, the House were told it must be ineffectual. The Slave trade would go on, do what they could to put a stop to it.

What? Is a trade carried on by British subjects, with British capitals, in British bottoms, from British ports-not subject to British restrictions and regula tions, not to be controlled, or abolished by British acts of parliament? But the trade, if not carried on by British traders, would fall into the hands of foreign nations. Foreign nations, it was well known, had almost entirely abandoned the trade; and that, in fact, Great Britain alone monopolized the gain and the guilt of the traffic in human creatures. Where is the law, or what is the power that can prevent her from washing out so foul a stain upon her commercial character? But the islands, if not supplied by Great Britain, would smuggle for themselves. Had they fleets then? Had they a commercial and a military navy? He would to God they had

for he was persuaded that never could

any country attain to the degree of prosperity which such an establishment would argue, without having long, long before it reached that height, disused and abjured the practice of importing annual cargoes of misery and discontent, of outnumbering the civilized population of the country by crowds of savage and injured spirits, watching only the opportunity of rebellion and revenge. Away then with all apprehension of the incompetency of the British parliament to rescue the British name from the disgrace. Could the assembly of Jamaica prohibit the delivery of the cargo at the ports of Jamaica? And could not the parliament of Great Britain forbid its freight in the ships of Great Britain?

That in all the steps to be taken for the termination of the trade, the co-operation of the colonial assemblies was highly desirable, he frankly avowed: and he would even gladly purchase it at the price of some concession. He would state fairly what he should have considered as a serious manifestation on the part of the colonial assemblies of a desire to do something substantial towards bringing on the termination of the trade. If he had found in the papers upon the table, instead of a professed resolution to resist the termination of the trade; if he had found a law, prohibiting the cultivation of any new land in the island, beyond what was already cultivated, and another law, expressly limiting the amount of the annual importation of negroes to the amount of the annual decrease in their populationhe should then have owned that he believed the colonial legislatures to be in earnest. And though he could not bring himself to say, that so often as the question was put to him, whether or no he would with his own good will allow an other slave ship to sail to the coast of Africa; whether he would allow another cargo, another individual human being to be dragged from that country? though he could not say that, to that question so put to him, he could ever answer otherwise than by a flat negative; yet he would own, that had he seen the two regulations which he had mentioned solemnly enacted, and begun to be fairly acted upon by the colonial legislatures, he should very much have wished that question to be suspended, until the efficacy of those two measures towards rendering the continuance of the trade unnecessary had been allowed a trial.

He wished not to be misunderstood on these points. By allowing now new land to be brought into cultivation by slaves, he did not mean to tie down the planter to the actual spot which he was now working, or to prevent his removing from one estate, which might become effete and worn out, to another, with the same gang of negroes. What he meant to restrict was, the taking an additional quantity of land into cultivation, and thereby creating a new necessity for an increased importation of slaves. With regard to the annual decrease in the population, he had heard it said formerly that it was impossible to ascertain it. But the papers upon the table gave a direct contradiction to that, as they did to most of the other old arguments in favour of the Slave trade: for among other regulations he saw one for this specific purpose, of obtaining a correct account of the annual increase or decrease of slave population upon each estate. A tax was paid too for each slave. What could be ascertained for one purpose, was equally to be ascertained for another. Another point was, the compensation to the owners of uncultivated lands, for the advantage which they gave up in restricting themselves from additional cultivation. This compensation, he had no hesitation to say, ought to be liberally adjusted, and cheerfully given. By these two regulations, sincerely adopted, he had little doubt that more would be done than by any other mode that the colonial legislatures could adopt towards making the trade unnecessary: but till these were adopted, all pretence of putting an end to the trade, was an attempt to impose upon the understanding of the House. Every additional acre that was brought into cultivation was not the continuance of the existing Slave trade, but the opening of a new one. Every negro that was imported beyond the population necessary for keeping up the present rate of cultivation, was the victim of a trade begun now, under all the aggravation of a pretended conviction of its injustice, and a pretended desire to put an end to it. The discovery of a new island, and the ravage of a hitherto untouched coast, would not be more completely and substantially the beginning of a fresh trade in slaves, the source and fountain of new horrors, and outrages and calamities. Let no man who was not ready to subscribe heartily to these two regulations, expect to gain a moment's credit, by his profession, that he wished

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selfish as to desire even so beneficial a boon at the expense of their fellow creatures in Africa; and the heart shudders to conceive what must be the state of Africa without the Slave trade." Really, if any stranger had come into the House during that part of the debate, he must have conceived that the West Indians had been petitioning to be relieved from the burthen of importing annually vast numbers of dangerous, rebellious, unprincipled barbarians: and that the hon. gentleman, as agent for Africa, was stating to the House, in terms of the utmost pathos, the cruelty of depriving that country of so advantageous an export for its superfluous population. The British parliament must not be so hard

human beings, the commerce of flesh and blood, out of mere humanity. It was not indeed the first time that the inhabitants of Africa had been the victims of humanity. The first importation of them into the West Indies was traced to a good Spanish bishop, who obtained the title of Friend of the Indians, by proposing to import negroes to relieve the native inhabitants of America from the toil with which their new inmates overwhelmed them. But the hon. gentleman went beyond the Spanish bishop in humanity; the bishop began the Slave trade for the ad vantage of the native inhabitants of the West Indies; the hon. gentleman would continue it, for the benefit of Africa, even though the present inhabitants of the West Indies were, as he said, averse to its continuance.

He now came to the arguments of some gentlemen who had been chiefly instrumental in introducing into the debate that degree of novelty and variety, which had eminently distinguished this debate from any other that he remembered upon the same subject. Not contented with insisting, in the first place that the declaration of the assembly of Jamaica, that they had no view to the termination of the Slave trade, was to be accepted as a proof that they had the termination of the Slave trade' constantly in their view and near their heart, not con-hearted. It must continue the traffic in tented with contending, that in limiting the age of imported negroes, and adding to the salaries of the clergy of the island, the assembly of Jamaica had done all that human wit could devise, and all that human legislation could enact, towards the accomplishing the purposes of the friends of the abolition: the gentlemen who had contended against the motion, had added to these ingenious arguments another and a broader and still bolder one, which, if it be true, leaves very little room to question and very little reason to care, whether either of the other statements be true or false; namely, that for the sake of Africa the Slave trade ought to be continued. And to illustrate and adorn this topic, the hon. gentlemen had availed themselves of all those common places of humanity and philanthropy, all those appeals to the feelings of the House, which have been usually supposed to belong to those who contended on the other side of the question, and upon which they (the friends of the abolition) had, by these pathetic reasoners themselves, in this very debate, been accused of relying exclusively. He appealed to the House, whether he had not been right in ascribing the character of novelty to a debate, in which all the topics of fine feelings were found forcibly enlisted on the side of the Slave trade. One hon. gentleman (Mr. Petrie), had informed the House, that as a planter, he was most anxious for the abolition of the trade, but as a cosmopolite, as a friend of human nature and of the world at large, he must oppose it. "If you would confer a boon on the West Indies," said the hon. gentleman, "abolish the trade; but the West Indians are not so

him

Next to the hon. gentleman, in kind consideration for the unhappy natives of Africa, came an hon. baronet (Sir W. Young), and an hon. gentleman (Mr. Dent), whom he classed together, because their two arguments, though in some degree contradictory to each other, made (when taken together) a complete defence of the Slave trade system in all its parts. The hon. baronet took upon self the defence of the system of treatment in the islands: the hon. gentleman, as connected with a slave trading town, had to prove the propriety of the expor tation from Africa. And this was the "Slaway in which they went about it. very, according to the hon. baronet, was taken in a vulgar sense by those who talked in so lamentable a strain upon the subject-the nature of slavery was not correctly understood there was nothing

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