Chalmers . Thoughts on Slavery · 1826
32.15
1175
SA


O
A
FEW THOUGHTS
ON
THE ABOLITION
OF
COLONIAL SLAVERY.
BY
THOMAS CHALMERS, D.D.
PROFESSOR OF MORAL PHILOSOPHY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF ST. ANDREWS.
GLASGOW:
PRINTED FOR CHALMERS & COLLINS;
WILLIAM WHYTE & CO. AND WILLIAM OLIPHANT, EDINBURGH;
R. M. TIMS, AND WM. CURRY, JUN. & CO. DUBLIN;
AND G. B. WHITTAKER, LONDON.
1826.


THOUGHTS ON SLAVERY.
It must be still fresh in the remembrance of many,
that the efforts of the British public, for the abolition
of the Slave Trade, created the liveliest alarm in
the minds of those who were connected, either by
trade or by property, with the West Indies. And
now that the measure has been carried into effect,
and the trial has been made for years, of finding
the requisite labour without the importation of
negroes from abroad, it is palpable to all, that the
forebodings which were then awakened have not
been realized. That the West Indian interest has
had to sustain reverses and difficulties, under the
new system of things, is undoubted, but these were
not at all connected with the abolition of the
Slave Trade. It is even the opinion of many pro-
prietors, that an impulse of prosperity was given
to our whole colonial system in the west, by a
measure which was regarded beforehand with all
the terror of an approaching death-blow; and
that it in fact warded off the very extermination


emancipations have been already accomplished, be-
sides the happy result of certain partial experi-
ments which have been made within the limits of
the British colonies. The comparison, in point of
cheapness, between free and forced labour, is par-
ticularly important; and, on the whole, it is fondly
hoped, that the perusal of this little work, by the
most eminent labourer in the cause, will serve both
to enlighten its friends, and to disarm the antipa-
thy of its adversaries. It is worthy of especial no-
tice, that he who is best fitted to expound the
views of the abolitionists, nowhere supposes that
the emancipation is to be immediate, or that the
work is to be done with a rash and rapid hand,
but that in every step of the preparation for this
great event, regard should be had to the interest
of the proprietor, as well as to the comfort and
principles of the slaves.
It is much to be regretted, that the abolitionists
and the planters have hitherto stood at such an im-
practicable distance from each other; and more
especially that a whole class of men, comprising
in it many humane and accomplished individuals,
should have had such an indiscriminate stigma af-
fixed to them, by the more intemperate advocates
of a good cause. There is a sacredness in proper-
ty, which a British legislature, in that calm and
equitable spirit by which it is so honourably cha-
racterised, will ever hold in reverence; and every
thing ought to be done consistently with the great


object of a full and final emancipation, to tran-
quillize the natural fears of the slave-holders, and,
it may be added, to meet and to satisfy their natu-
ral appetite for justice. On the part of the aboli-
tionists, there is a frequent appeal to the abstract
and original principles of the question. But, on the
part of the proprietors, it may be asked, Who ought
to be at the expense of reforming the mischief
that has arisen from the violation of these princi-
ples?--whether the traders who have hitherto acted
under the sanction and the shelter of existing laws, or
the government that framed these laws ?--whether
the party that have been lured into a commerce
which they found to be tolerated and protected by
the state, or the party that, by this very toleration,
may be said to have given their promise and their
authority in its favour?-whether the children who
have been misled, or the parent who has misled
them ?-whether, in a word, the men who have
been singled out for the execration of the public,
or that same public, under whose observation, and
by whose connivance, the property that they would
now seize upon has been legalized, and its present
possessors have made their sacrifices of time, and
labour, and money, to obtain it? It were a noble
achievement, this conversion of slaves into free-
men; and therefore the more important for its ul-
timate success, that in every step of its prosecu-
tion there should be an even-handed justice to all
the parties concerned. More especially, would it


regulated price, another free day in the week.
Having thus two days to himself, he is able to ac-
celerate his future purchases of freedom; and thus,
as the fruit of his own industry and care, might he,
in a very few years, work out his complete eman-
cipation.
i Or the scheme may be made still more intelli-
gible, when illustrated by numbers. Let the whole
slave population of the British colonies be 800,000.
At £50 each, which is a high estimate when thus
made to include all ages, the sixth part of their
whole value to the owners is short of seven mil-
lions. By funding this sum to the credit of the
proprietors, one day's free labour to each slave
might become the universal law of the British
West Indies. The registry of slaves gives every
facility for assigning the shares of this stock to the
respective proprietors, whether they be principals
or mortgagees upon the estates. And when once
this arrangement is made, a patent and a practi-
cable way is opened for the full deliverance of the
negroes from a state of slavery. Whole gangs are
not unfrequently hired out at 3s. 4d. currency a
head per day, and their maintenance: and there
can be no doubt, from the difference between free
and forced labour, that an ordinary working slave
could earn for himself, on the day that is his own,
at least 3s. 4d. sterling.* This sum weekly is more
* It should be remarked, however, that free negroes are hired at rates
which are exceedingly various in the different colonies.


.
10 .
only be enlarged by the good use that he makes
of that which he has gotten. He at length reaches
the condition of entire freedom, by a process, the
very description of which is, in itself, the best
proof of his being a right subject for freedom, as
well as the best preparation for it. No artificial
education that can possibly be devised, would an-
swer so well as this wholesome stimulus to exer-
tion and good management.
- But, secondly, the slave who idled his free
time, whether in sleep or in amusement, would
of course make no further progress towards a state
of freedom. He would live and die a slave be-
cause he chose to do so. They from whose liberty
most danger is apprehended, because of their idle
or disorderly habits, would, by the very tenure on
which it was held out to them, be debarred for
ever from the possession of it. And yet there
can be little doubt, that slavery would rapidly de-
cay and ultimately disappear under such an eco-
nomy. There would be a piece-meal emancipa-
tion going forward—a gradual substitution of free
for forced labour-an increase of regular and fa-
mily habits-the growth of a better constituted
population-an experience, on the part of plan-
ters, of the superior advantage of free labour, that
would at length incline them to forward the cause
of emancipation, and establish such a common in-
terest between the two extreme classes in the
colonies, as might ward off that threatened explo-
sion which has so long hung over them.


11
And, thirdly, were such a process established,
there would be an effectual protection to the colo-
nies from the disquiet and the disturbance of any
other proposals for emancipation. For were this
object once set a-going in this one way, no other
way could or ought to be entertained for a mo-
ment. The slaves must, under the system that is
now recommended, be made conclusively to un-
derstand, that it is by their own persevering la-
bour and frugality, and by this alone, that they
are to make sure and speedy progress towards the
consummation to which they are so fondly look-
ing forward. Otherwise, the method is paralyzed.
The industrious slave, who might otherwise em-
bark with ardour upon this attempt, and persevere
in it with unwearied constancy, and be cheered
onwards by the brightening of his hopes, as he ad-
vanced nearer every week to the fulfilment of
them, he would be quite distracted and disheart-
ened did he know of other methods in agitation,
by which the idlest of the gang might come to
emancipation as well as he, and all his labours
have been rendered useless. It were a sore pro-
vocation to him, that he had wrought so fạtiguingly,
and paid so faithfully for a deliverance, which at
length others had come at without any such ex-
pense, either of money or of enjoyment. So that,
if this particular method shall be adopted, it
seems quite indispensable that all other methods,
but those of purchase, shall be finally closed.


12
Aud it does seem no small recommendation of
the plan in question, that while compensation is
thereby rendered to the planter for each of his
slaves who is liberated, it is done by a process
which at once trains them for a state of freedom,
and confines them to the only safe and slow way
by which they become prepared for the full en-
joyment of it.
And again, in reference to the planters, it is
thought by many, of such a proposal, that it is
peculiarly accommodated to their interest. For,
not to speak of the instantaneous satisfaction and
calm which it is fitted to impart to the now rest-
less and ruffled mind of the slave population-not
to speak of its efficacy to rivet the most energetic
and intelligent amongst them to a pacific career of
diligence and good conduct, instead of unsettling
and throwing them into dangerous excitement-
not to speak of the union of interest and policy
that is thus established between the master and
the more influential part of his labourers, who
will now feel their interest to be at one with the
peace and good order of the colony, and to be
separate from that of those who seek, by violence
and insurrection, the object which they are pur-
suing by a steady course of industry and accumu-
lation,-over and above all these advantages, it is
thought that, in this method, there is a peculiar
adaptation to the present exigencies of the trade.
For, by it the planter can disengage immediately


14
tional organ for the utterance of their voice,
it is hoped that they will not refuse this advan-
tage to the West India proprietors. And, on the
other hand, it were equally desirable, that the
other party, the proprietors, should cease their
opposition to a measure thus accompanied with
what appears, on every view that is taken of it, to
be a very fair and beneficial compensation.
But lastly, in reference to the Abolitionists,
what a field would be opened by this 'measure
for the enterprises of their philanthropy! What
a coincidence would be brought about between
the interest of the planters, and their own benevo-
lent designs for the amelioration of the negroes !
With what a mighty argument might they go
forth among these neglected outcasts, when urg-
ing them to peace and contentment, and the calm
prosecution of their ulterior objects, the fulfil-
ment of which will at once enrich their masters,
and emancipate themselves! Upon such a foot-
ing, the Missionaries of the good cause might
be admitted, without suspicion, and with perfect
safety, among all the plantations, and there is
not one of them who could possibly inflict such
an outrage on all right and humane policy, as
to encourage the expectations of freedom in any
other way than the one which the Legislature
had provided, and for which it had granted so
liberal and advantageous an outset. Every lesson
which they urged, would be on the side of thrift,


:
16
sulted by the gradual extension of light, and li-
berty, and the benefit of equal laws, to the very
lowest in the scale of society.
There are subordinate details which cannot be
entered upon, and which yet, if unexplained,
might leave a doubt or difficulty in the mind.
It is thought, however, that, in practice, there
is no insuperable, even no formidable barrier
against the accomplishment of this scheme. The
interest of mortgagees could be as effectually
guarded as it is now, under the proposed arrange-
ment. And as to the alleged danger of holiday
riot and disturbance among the negroes, on their
free day, it is not necessary that it should be on
the same day of the week to all, either on a
whole island, or even throughout a whole planta-
tion. At the first, there need be no more at liberty
than one sixth of the negro population at a time,
upon any estate ; many of whom would most cer-
tainly be at hard, though voluntary work, and all
of whom would be under the restraint of those
laws which enforce decency and good conduct
among all classes.
Printed by W. Collins & Co.
Glasgow,


vesna



SA 1175.32.15
Few thoughts on the abolition of co
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