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Les diagrammas suivants illustrant la mdthode. by errata nad to lent une pelure. fagon d 1 2 3 32X 1 2 3 4 5 6 > J'' ^ I (1 #'i|i1 "''VM^k i1 •iclD '^£i:; .._.. ^^:.^ ■, *^ ^rc^^ai v.rj^ . ? • ■, . «-lJ io i!:5}?K.;j Jtnuy.ci tdi i4i «.-.i w» •til 83«il o| ftf ^n iviwij •w^);sO iio:ii dun ;:. :oii a.jj lo i: 'T t >- EMANCIPATION 1^ M BISGUISE, OR THB TRUE CRISIS of the COLONIES. TO WHICH ARE ADDED, CONSIDERATIONS mN}»IEASURES PROPOSED FOR THEIR TEMPORARY RELIEF AND OBSERVATIONS UPON COLONIAL MONOPOLY. SHEWING, The different Effects of its Enforcement and Relaxation, exposing the Advantages DERIVED BY AMERICA FROM LOUISIANA: AND LASTLY, SUGGESTIONS ton A PERMANENT PLAN TO SUPPLY OUR COLONIES WITH PROVISIONS AND OUR N,4 r Y ^^ WITH CERTAIN >__«. NAVAL STORES indepenoemt of FOREIGN SUPPLIES. Fr'mted for J. Ridgwav, Picoadilly; and J. M. Richardson Nu. U2, CuRNHiiL, opposite the RoyalSxchanqe. 1807. f1 ■%^fi , h; ■ I : 'A,\ If ' ,i' I 1- M I ■ f I '' h I t' '!.!* [If . A \ • » I e, \y. I ! ' iTii ' ■ . ."M )';•* :/ J. • i' « •• 1 « . . -vi, •f .'1 y* t < ■ i' nies, has not hefo.T been exposed, as depending upon Emancipation in Dixs(ui.s'e, connected with the Sovereigjifjj of the Nc<^rocs in the West Indies ; nor has the plan of raising provisions in the AVest Indies, been so particularly and extensively made out, even by the pamphlet that has appeared since this Permanent Plan was first sent to press j al- though great praise is due to that Pamphlet for its suggestions, and great satisfaction was pro- duced in the mind of the Author of this Work upon finding that his notions on a subject of such importance, were so well supported by an Au- thor who certainly is well informed upon the oc- casion. The Author therefore trusts with the more confidence, that such parts of the per- n:anent plan, recommended for adoption in the fertile and extensive Island here alluded to, as may be adaptable, will be the more readily at- tended to in all the other Islands also. iifi The consideration of the advantages that are, and may be still more extensively, derived by America from Louisiana, are of very in- Ill t^.esting importance in our present political situation with America : and the recent tlecla- ration of the Russian War, the consequences of which were anticipated while writing tliesc pages, render the remarks, relative to tlie means of obtaining certain articles of Naval Stores independent of foreign supplies, of the highest importance to the British Navy at this eventful period. If the Author has not done justice to the Subjects which he has ventured to treat, he may at least plead, that the danger of delay forbade him to lose any more time in an attempt at embellishment, lest the pernicious influence of certain popular publications should induce the adoption of measures that may draw down upon this Nation the ruin that is suspended by a very slender thread, and which may be too easily broken, should it take a wrong turn in our negociations with America. — The Author learns, with anxiety, that two Negro Ambas- sadors are arrived from Saint Domingo, but ho]|es, that the dangers which he has exposed. ! 1 * IV as connected with the support of the revolted negroes of that Island, will avert the horrors of colonial Insurrection. I »? ' t. (^ di EMANCIPATION IN DISGUISE; OR, THE TRUE CRISIS OF THE COLONIES. 1 HE distressed state of our Colonies, and of tlie different interests in Great Britain connected with and dependent upon them, have, for some time past, excited the attention, and called forth the inquiries, of several industrious essayists upon the subject. The effect is, that, minute investigations having been made into the causes and probable consequences of the pre- sent situation of West -Indian affairs, various plans are proposed for the relief of those who are the greatest sufferers: but, so opposite are the principles upon which many of these plans are recommended, that, without enterftig into B ^'■i > 1 1 Ifn ) i 1 1 1 1 ' t i i i ■A si •i 1 A a strict examination of them, so as to separate and compare the suggestions of contending in- terests, with the view to adopt those, only, which do not involve in them irreconcileablc pro- positions : the mind would be almost so cquallv attracted in different directions, that a distracting perplexity would be produced, rather than any rational conclusions, upon which to direct that wise and liberal policy, which may be adopted with safety, and with certain benefit. But, as the numerous publications which have treated of these subjects have almost exhausted the sources of information, in the minute de- tails which they have exposed to the public, it would be useless to go the same ground over again : more especially, as I am not ignorant of the extensive view, which Mr Brougham has taken, of the " Colonial policy of the Eu- ropean Powers," nor of the valuable collection of authentic documents, which Sir W. Young lias commented upon in so masterly a manner in his West- inula Common-Place-Book, nor of the successive labors of My Bosanquet and !\Ir Lowe, who have amplified upon some points, in a manner very worthy of attention. But, as there arc otliers opposed to those works, which have a tendency to add to the inju- ries which our Colonies have already sustained, under the plausible pretexts of commercial in- terests, naval superioriti/i and national danger ,- some comments may yet be made, without much form or met od, that may lead to the detection of principles, the exposure of which may direct our attention to the true source of all our colo- nial dangers ; and suggest the means of affording, not only an immediate, but a certain and per- manent, relief to our friends in the West Indies j whose present distress and dreadful prospects none can so well conceive, as those to whom a residence in that country has furnished the mean's of an intimate knowledge of their lamentable situation. The plan of permanent relief, which I would propose, will properly follow my more general observations upon the subjects which have oc- curred to me during my perusal of the different publications ; among which those on the subject of the neutral carrying-trade bear the hardest upon the colonial interests. To the opening of the monopoly of th^ French colonial carrying- trade, the present ruined state of our own Colo- nies is boldly attributed, by the author of an eloquent work, called " War in Disguise ;" who threatens us, also, from the same cause, with the ruin of our commerce, the loss of our B2 ! i. 'I'' t 1 ' M m iif uaval superiority, and the greatest danger to the empire. On the other side, he considers the Avierkan carrying -trade as a " war in disguise," contrived by the French government, and eagerly entered into by the Americans, to support the French Colonies, skrcen the French commerce, and lay the foundation for a future French navy. The author of these assertions, at the same time that he founds his arguments upon premises which are inadmissable, carries them to an ex- treme extent ; and, assuming every where too much, writes with an imposing confidence, which may be mistaken for the effects of con- viction. For, certainly, the torrent of elo- quence,which he pours in upon the reader, seems to carry every thing along with it, right or wrong, and hurries you on into a whirlpool of declama- tion, where he winds you round and round, un- til, as it were, the brain becomes confused and incapable of attending to the dangers of the situation into which he has led you ; while he carefully avoids the exposure of the trer:jendous rocks below the surface, called " African freedom and African sovereignty." — It is, therefore, al- most impossible to resist him at every turn, or to perceive, in his rapid course, whither he would conduct you: but, when a *• crisis'* or an " op- portunity'* exposes the dangers of the Colonies, ill the plan for emancipation and " African sovereignty," under the specious shape of a " war in disguise ;" we ought no longer to suffer our- selves to be deluded into the plausible current of his popular opinions, which has hitherto car- ried away with it so many minds at the expence of reason. Let us, then, " look before we leapj" least, having once committed ourselves, we may not be able to stop before we become dashed upon his hidden rocks, and sink in this black gulph, never to rise again. With a view to the investigation of the various points which are to come under our discussion, it is necessary, before considering the monopoly of the Colonies, and the neutral carrying-trade, to premise, that the civil war of St Domingo, the temporary emancipation of the slaves of Guada- loupe, and the charib and brigand wars in St Vin- cent and Grenada, encouraged, for a time, the extension of sugar plantations, by the deficiency of the croDS of those Islands, in the European market ; which raised and kept up the prices to a degree, that induced great speculations in West- India property: and it has been ably demon- strated, by works which are already before the public, that this rage for speculation, added to the productive nature of the Bourbon cane ; the restoration of tranquility in St Vincent and Gra- B 3 ■H, i ! I . ' kJ %■ I ':5i ii nada ; the temporary possession of Martinique and St. Lucie j the conquest of Surinam, Deme- rara, and Tobago ; and the cession of Trinidad ; have, together, been a great cause of the de- priciation of West-India produce. For it is shewn, by returns that may be referred to in the works I have mentioned*, that the deficiency, which the disasterous states of these different Islands causea in the European sugar-market, has been more than made up by the increased cuhivation of our Colonies ; so that we have, now, a superabundance, for which we shall re- quire, in future, either an increased consumption, or exportation, for a very great amount above any quantity that ever before appeared in our market. It is, also, clearly made out, that this state of West-Indian affairs has been rendered more ruinous by an addition of duties in proportion to the diminution of price ; which, also, has been p. :)duced by the exclusion of our sugars from the ports of Europe. Have we not here dis- played causes enough, when added to the war- expences of our ozcn carrying-trade, to explain the difficulties under which our planters labour, without referring them to the American carrying- trade. * Vide West-India Com mon-PIacGrBook. Bosanquet. Lowe. inquct. Lowe. T'ne exportation of our colonial produce, to the ports of Europe, has been stated to be one- third of the whole imports from our West-In- dies. — Sometimes, this exportation has decreased to almost nothing ; and this decrease has been attributed to the American carrying-trade; which has, certainly, been extended to an unprecedented degree : but it does not necessarily follow, that the increase of the latter has caused the decrease of our exportation ; on the contrary, this de- crease, in which the Americans could not pos- sibly use any influence, has naturally promoted their carrying-tvade. Have we not exported, notwithstanding these carriers, whenever the markets on the continent were open to us, and our prices were low enough to afford the exporter his proper profit ? The Americans cannot carry more French produce, in time of war, than the French would carry for themselves in time of peace : and, therefore, if it be necessary to the support of our Colonies and Navy, that the sugars of the French Islands should not reach the continent of Europe in time of war ; tlic same means of preventing the French colonists from shipping their sugars should be resorted to in time of peace; and, thus, we must have an eternal war B4 »"('?] Ill m i h 1 , . \ ( 1 with France in order to ruin Iwo Colonies, and monopolize the whole sugar-trade of the conti nent of Europe ! But this is too absurd. The ports of Europe xvill be shut against us. It is the fact even now ; and we may, therefore, blockade the French Tslands, prohibit the Americans from carrying the French produce, allow drawbacks and offer bounties on the exportation of our own ; and make every other possible effort j but what will it avail ? It will not avert the ruin of the plant- ers ; for it will not open the markets of the con- tinent to our sugars during the war : our ware- houses will still continue filled with them, while their prices will become sp low as not even to pay the storage. And what will it profit our planters, that the produce of the French islands shall be accumulating, crop after prop, in the same pro« portion ; while, in the mean time, a few advent turous neutrals will run v(\\ risks, and make their fortunes in the midst of danger ? And, even if peace can promise relief; under such previous circumstances what will it eventually amount to ? —-That, on the opening of the ports, there will still be only an unprofitable market ; for the accumulated crops of the French, as well as our pvvn islands, y>n\l rush in, and glut all Europe, And thus, even the much-desired event of peace will, at length, arrive without its attendant be- nefits. . It is evident that the present state of the Bri- tish West-Indies depends on other causes than the continuance of the American carrying-trade, and it is taking a very forced view of this trade, to consider it as the effect of any artifice of France, or designed encroachment of America : — would not the French government prohibit the American carrying-trade to-morrow, could they protect the fleets of their own merchantmen, or were a peace to take p]ace? — Would she allow neutrals to carry for her, in time of peace, when ?he can carry cheaper for herself? — Would France have ever allowed the Americans to be the carriers at all if she could have prevented it? — If she had a navy, would not the prohibition be her first and best policy in order to raise sea- men for that navy ? — Is not then the neutral carrying- trade, in a great measure, the natural consequence of our glorious victories over the French navv ? Have we not destroved their means of protecting commercial fleets? Ought we, then, to be astonished, or to consider it as ^n artifice, that they will not trust their merchant- men on the ocean unprotected, when their men of war cannot protect themselves ? The neutral Il ,1 ' £ JO carrying-trade is the natural efifect of a cause so glorious to ourselves, that there will be less dan- ger in reconciling ourselves to its temporary con- tinuance, than in forcing our enemy to attempt the recovery of that state of commercial great- ness and naval power, from which he was re- duced at the incalculable loss of that immortal hero, whom we can no longer call to the per- formance of those feats of war, unparalleled in the naval history of the world -, and than which nothing less could have averted the ruin of our Empire. But, though the destruction of the French navy, by prohibiting their commerce, promoted the American carri/ing-tradef and thereby was one cause of the present flourishing state of Guadaloupe and Martinique ; it was not the only cause of opening the colonial monopoly, on which the prosperity of those islands depends. For it is stated * " that the principle of the rule of the war of 1756 did not apply to the whole extent of the existing neutral commerce with those Colonies ;" (Guadaloupe and Martinique;) for that " their ports were open, to a considerable extent, to foreign vessels bringing necessary sup- plies/* before the war began : and it is owned * War in Disguise, p. 30. 11 that " this relaxation of the national monopoly was a mere temporary expedient, the result of distress, occasioned by civil war in the parent state and the consequent neglect of her trans- marine interests in general,*" If, then, we suffered them, under such cir- cumstances, to open the monopolf/ of their co- lonial carrying-trade before the tvar, it cannot, with trmh, be asserted that the Americans arc now " allowed a commerce with a belligerent, in time of war, which was not permitted in time of peace." When such a trade became necessary, and was permitted on account of distress, civil war, and the neglected state of our enemies shipping- interest ; the distress and necessity, which in- duced it, became still greater when the ruin of their commerce became complete by our glorious victories over their navy. When consequences are attributed to such causes in time of peace, why attribute the same consequences in time of war to causes so peculiarly different as a dis- guised hostility in our allies, and a state of com- merce, which, of all other situations, is the very * War in Disguise, p, 32. m 12 reverse of that which our enemy must desire as the only means of recovering the naval power of /■^ancc. If the neglect of her maritime interest * as one of the causes which rendered a round- about commerce necessary, the continuance of such commerce must increase the evil, by pre- venting the restoration of her marine ; for, a^ a loss of commerce must be attended by a loss of naval power, so, without a navy in time of war, there will be no commerce. France cannot de- sire such a situation ; and it is our advantage that she cannot improve it. America could not produce it, and will not be allowed to reap any benefit from it, when France can again exclude her from her Colonies. Instead, then, of sapping the maritime re- sources of Britain, France has suffered the de- struction of her navy, and has lost, for the pre- sent, the means of its re-establishment. Instead of America carrying on a " War in disguise," she has openly carried on a trade with our ene- my; not contraband, and, therefore, innocent. Motives of justice, as well as policy, forbid our interference with such a trade. Justice forbids that the colonial cultivators should be designedly made to suffer by a warfare that ought to be rather directed agaipst the present v\ i ! 13 government of France, which neither the roy- alists nor republicans of Martinique nor Gua- deloupe established nor uphold ; and whose measures or modes of warfare would not be altered in one jot even by the total ruin of these Colonies. Our policy, too, forbids that wc should quarrel with the Americans for feeding the peaceable planters of these islands, inas- much as it would also endanger the safety of our own. Because we are involved in the disasters of war, ought we to desire that our American allies, whose geographical situation and political dispo- sition render them more than ordinarily suscepti- ble of the advantages of peace, should not profit by their peaceful state ? It always has been, and always will be, the consequence of war, that those who can preserve themselves in a state of peace will profit by the disasters of their neigh- hours. We ought not to blame them for avoid- ing the calamities of warfare : and it is a nrrt^e- rable selfishness to grudge them those accidental advantages which we cannot ourselves enjoy. They do not contrive the state of distress by which they profit, nor do they profit by the dis- asters of war, because the disasters are ours. — They profit as much by the disasters of our ene- ri! n h 1 If niy. And ii, during the nli^crIcs of war, our enemy benefits, in some measmv, by the peace- ful state of neutral powers, while we obstinatily refuse the same assistance, wliie.h they would as readily give to us, we ought not to lay the blame upon the neutral, because we *' are labouring under great and increasing burthens" in our Co- lonies, while " those of the enemy, compara- tively, are thriving *." The author of " "War in Disguise," with more ingenuity than logic, argues the case of general freedom on a road, and the particular privilege of carrying the mail on that road, as analogically applicable to general freedom on the seas, and the privilege of the carrying-trade. But his analogy is fallacious. To put this plausible point in a fair view, we may suppose the case of the general post and the two-penny post, forwarded on the same road by two different persons. In this case, though each man has the right of carrying his own mail- bag on this common road, he has nothing to do with the controul, or right, of carrying the other mail-bag : and should the one chuse to relin- • War in Disguise. M 15 (inihh his advantage ij( carrying his mail to a tlilrcl person, because his horse became lame or died, what right has the other to complain while he retains the carrying of his own mail? And should it happen, that the third person carries the mail wilh greater advantage to the con- tractor, than he could carry it himself; and that the other may be somewhat benefited by this new carrier also, but obstinately will not so benefit himself; is it reasonable that he should complain of the benefit his fellow postman de- rives from the new carrier ; or be jealous of the latter, because he aflfords that relief to the one, which he would also willingly afford to both. This is the true case. If the Americans were to supply our enemies with provisions in return for their produce, and at the same time were to refuse us the means of subsistence, and also refuse to take our produce off our hands, there would, then, be a just cause of complaint for an adherence to, and a partial support of, our enemy : but if they take away all our enemy's produce, it is because we will not let them have any of ours : if they carry provisions to the enemy in preference to us, it is from our obsti- nate refusal to barter with our produce, though we do not know how else to dispose of it. It is our fault, and not theirs, that our Colonics are starved and ruined with the means of plenty in l» H m^ i, ' % !' i6 our poasession, and that the Colonics of oui* enemy are well supplied and rich. For, In the American carrying-trade, TrencH produce finds a ready market at a good price, and the planters supply their slaves with provisions at a low price on easy terms of payment. ■I ' :'■ lUi 4 vii 1 I $ ! ; 1 1 r: '' H f ! ■} ti II J i 'r m ^ ' 'Ik '' ■|) Bat, France would never have injured her commerce, and weakened her navy, merely thus to benefit the planters.* She was driven to the encouragement of her Colonies, also, by their ** Another cause, which forced her to resort to neutral flags originated in the fallacious principles of our taxing policy : for, in 1795 and 1798, our national vanity induced us to imagine, that nothing could prevent us from monopolising the colonial trade, and, instead of being satisfied, as we ought to have been, we greedily endeavoured to make foreigners do what the " Crisis'* (by the author of Plain Fac's) has lately recommended, viz. " compel France to contribute to the support of our maritime strength," by preventing her from acquiring every thing she wants, *' till a duty has been levied on it in some British port." But the folly of .such presumption is now felt. We forced the carrying of colonial produce into other channels ; and having once got into another plan, which they have found out to be the cheapest, we shall not per- suade them to return to the ancient course ; nor is it possible, Avholly, to prevent the new one : and now we complain of the effects of our own greedy policy, and attribute it to the insidious plans of our enemy, and *' the frauds of neutral flags." But this is neither new nor stfan^o, it is an old trick, ^o lay our faults at otiier men's doors. 17 precarious stnte, as depending on the unstable disposition of her negroes. From this necessity she the more readily yielded up the monopoly of the colonial trade, in order to avert the al- most-inevitable loss of her Colonics. They were on the very brink of ruin from the total failure of the credit, which he: merchants very naturally withdrew, on the revolted state of St Domingo, and the temporary emancipation of the slaves of Guadaloupe. This situation of those islands so palsied the commercial faith, and checked the vital influence, of European credit, that the ne- cessity of opening their trade to the Americans, (the only nation on earth that could save them from famine,) must ultimately have suggested itself, even if it had not been, so soon in the war, confirmed by our preventing them flora carrying on their own trade. M But, the success of St. Domingo in resisting the French arms during the interval of peace ; the abolition of the slave-trade during the late administration ; and the exclusion of British West-India produce from the ports of Europe, have caused similar effects upon the commerce and credit of the British Colonies: so that, in our turn, we find our Planters and Merchants tottering on the brink of ruin, and in the very state from which Guadaloupe and Martinique :■! '* 18 have so lately escaped. And because there k not a navy in the world powerful enough to de- stroy our commerce, and thereby force us to relieve our Planters by the same easy measure, we are hesitating about the policy of the means of relief, until famine will produce, in our islands, the fate of St Domingo. That this w'lll ultimately be the case, there is no doubt ; unless, forejreeing the necessity, we resort, before it is too late, to that temporary -mode of relief of which the French have availed themselves in their open trade with the Ameri- cans. J. I ■ I 1 <• i i.j tim'" The state of nations and policy of govern- ments are not what they used to be. Under the ordinary circumstances of former times, the poli- tical rules of those times required to be con- stantly acted upon. But a new order of things has taken place, upon which new rules of action are necessary. The inconsistency, then, is, in acting always upon the same rufes, when the circumstances requiring them arc no longer the same. And, yet, we are so bigotted in our ad- herence to ancient principles, though no longer adaptable to the state of our affairs, that we shall involve ourselves in a certain evil of tre- mendous magnitude, to avoid one as inferior in ft force us to point of importance, as it is uncertain that It will ever occur. When the politics of Europe shall return to their ancient course, we may consistently return with them : but let us not be led away, by the canting and ironical expressions oi fondness for nntiqiKitcd British attadimentSy to despise the natural suggestions of modern, extraordinary, and unparalleled, events. Unprecedented mea- sures are justified by unprecedented necessities for them ; and, as it is fortunate when the evil suggests the remedy, so it is unpardonably stupid to refuse relief on no other account than from a bigotted repugnance to innovation. To those who are uninfluenced by mercenary, political, or even more visionary motives ; to those who look through a moderate medium with the eye of reason, and who read with a desire to be convinced ; to those, alone, I ad- dress my arguments : which, I hope are calcu- lated to dispel the mists of prejudice, expose the fallacies of party, and clear the way to a proper view of our own national interests; re- gardless of the collateral advantages enjoyed by our peaceful allies ; and unaffected by *':at maddening jealousy, which sacrifices every thing magnanimous to a sordid selfishness. C 2 III I LiWi 1! 'I ■ IV? ' 1 ! i i * ■ i^ ^iii 1 -v . ::• ,-V iM' ' 1 ■ i I I 20 Of such a nr.ture is the recommendation of the author of " War in Disguise," who would shut out the Americans from the ports of our Enemy. He writes, too, of the " Enemy-planter and Enemy-merchant," as though we were at war with the French Planters and Merchants. Are we at war with the interests and opulence of these private individuals; or is it with the over- reaching ambition and gigantic power of the government of France that we contend ? Would it not be a narrow, paltry, ignoble and unfeeling principle of war, to fight the battles of nations by distressing the peaceable Cultivator and the Merchant, instead of attacking the war- riors of our Enemy? As well, in the case of a beseiged city, bombard, in particular, the con- vents and the hospitals of the women, the chil- dren, the aged and the sick, in order to induce the governmeunt of the city, either to surrender, for the sake of these innocent and defenceless objects, or to give them up to such unfeeling malice and such a cowardly mode of warfare. Fie upon such unmanly propositions i Would it have caused the surrender of Mar- tinique had the Officer, in possession of the Dia- mond-Rock, captured every vessel, coasting from one part of the island to another, with the rndation of who would )orts of our smy-plantcr ve were at Merchants, nd opulence it with the ic power of re contend? ignoble and the battles of le Cultivator Ling the war- he case of a liar, the con- len, the chil- ler to induce to surrender, d defenceless ich unfeeling e of warfare. IS I ;nder of Mar- on of the Dia- ssel, coasting her, with the 21 produce and plantation-stores of the individual inhabitants ? Certainly not ! But it would have greatly distressed, and even ruined, a great num- ber of the peaceable Planters. And while the government of France would have been unaf- fected by it, such a mode of warfare would have rendered our navy, which is not now more feared than it is respected, as odious as it is powerful. The humane and liberal will not agree with the philanthropic author of " War in Disguise," in recommending the plan of distressing, by famine, the Planters even of our Enemy. And every naval Commander, who possesses the mag- nanimity of a British warrior, will disdain the means of enriching himself in the ruin of the industrious and peaceable Cultivator of the land. But let us inquire what would be the imme- diate consequences to the colonies of our Fne- my, and the ultimate effects upon our own, even if we could pt rfectly carry into effect the block- ading system against him, without also excluding the same means of subbistence from ourselves. The utmost effect, that can be desired by those who recommend such a measure, would be famine : and this dreadful calamity would be C3 II ill • \ '. ' fi M \\ ( 1 m' .11 v\ ) i iiyifc..'! !»r^ M m fif ■) 'A ■t Bi *'lt ' y 22 first felt by the wretched slaves. How would the production of such a direful event be rccon- cileable to the humane regards, which we profess towards this oppressed race of people ? The French planters, although we are at war with them, would apply to the neighbouring Colonies for relief; and our speculating traders would readily supply them at the high prices which they would be willing to give. But, as Planters have no means to purchase but by their produce, our Merchants must take that mode of payment ; and they would demand a profit in proportion. Thus the Colonies of our enemy would be supplied V>y us with American provisions, instead of being supplied directly by Americans j who would receive in payment, cir- cuitously, the French produce through the same medium. And thus the French would find agents in our islands to carry on the trade, which we should force them so to carry on, by our very attempts to prevent their carrying it on as they do now. It is in vain to tell me, that our naval Com- manders and colonial Governors would not allow them to be supplied from our islands ; and that 23 the supplies and returns would be captured and condemned. It does not follow, because they would be confiscable, that they would be confiscated. Those, who know the situation of the Colonies will acknowledge the impossibility of totally preventing the smuggling which such an ex- traordinary demand would encourage. The desperate state of the French negro population, threatened with famine, would induce the French planters and their governments, to tempt the greatest risks and the great danger of such enterprises would meet with proportionate re- wards. The safe arrival of one cargo would compensate for the loss of many unsuccessful voyages. But those who know the aflairs of the West Indies, know better than to conclude, that such risks would be incurred. IM Whatever may be the schemes of policy which European councils may, in their wisdom, folly, or madness, contrive and attempt '■. c:.e- cute, there is a community of iiit.rest, a ■ on- sideration of relative safctv, and a svinnath'viinfr fellow feeling, which, upon great occasi(.,;;s, will influence all the Color.ies in one manner; situated as they are, all together forming one C 4 H iy i 1 "■ ♦I'' '' 2\ neighbourhood, at a distance from the difFerent and separate parent-states. The humane and hospitable conduct of the inhabitants of Antigua, St Kitts, and Mont- serrat, will never be forgotten by the unfortu- nate sufferers of Guadaloupe. And when their own Rochfort squadron fired the town in Domi- nica, the inhabitants in Martinique, emulating British generosity and humanity, sent supplies of provisions and other necessaries to the dis- tressed people of St Ruperts. But, still later, and more in point, when the return of the inter- course-bill from America lately threatened a rupture with that country, the American mer- chants consequently discontinued their trading voyages under the apprehensions of capture : the effect was, that our Colonies, which seldom have even three months provisions in them, were in danger of starving, and received supplies from the island of Martinique, though the parent- states are at war ! The necessity of allowing such an uncommon intercourse beiween tvvo colonies of states at war was so absolute, that, on the capture of a vessel laden with provisions from Martinique to Trinidad, the Governor of the latter requested the captain of the British cruiser to relinquish 25 :he difFcrent his prize in consideration of the alarming state of the Colony ; both as to the want of food for the army, as well as for the other inhabitants. It must not, therefore, be doubted that we should as readily return them these aids when starvation stares them in the face. No mandates from any power on earth could successfully effect so diabolical a purpose as that of prc- ventinjT the Colonists, of whatever nation, from succouring their neighbours in distress ; even if a common interest in the peaceable state of the slaves were not, as it is, a paramount induce- ment to assist in feeding them, by mutually affording supplies in periods of want. , To exclude -the American supplies from the Colonies of any nation, even if not an idle and impossible scheme, would be ultimately equally ruinous to our own, and to the Colonies of our Enemy, against which ever it mii^iit be attempted. Because it would excite insurrection, emancipa- tion, and independence. And, in which ever island that may happen first, it would too soon be followed by the same events in the neigh- bouring islands. il \ ! 1 But, who can doubt, when a parent-state shall be so indifferent to the subsistence of her 1 1 u ( f i s i I ' ! , 1 ■ ' , 1 .1 I 1 ^-; ' 'ki \ ; ' ^i i'' ^' . ) '•_ i 1 ' li li; '^ii ' 1 ^ 1 ; 1 • ''! .1 1 1. 1; 1 1 ' ' Ji r ■ 1 1 : ■ iM '. ■ iK fw ' 1 1 1 .' i m 1 ^^I3| *l ' 1 26 Colonies, that there will be much hesitation which to prefer, whether loyalty and certain ruin, or an attempt at independence in order to preserve life and property ? * And if, in such a disastrous state of colonial affairs, these islands must of necessity become independent, it will he more for the interest of the parent-state, and for the cause of humanity, that the masters, rather than the slaves, shall be the independent people. The former may be established without rapine and murder ; but the latter must be effected by all the horrible means of negro insur- rection, characterised, as it always has been, by the savageness of their nature, in acts the most brutally atrocious, with all the ferocity of long-cherished revenge, bursting forth in the madness of unexpected and licentious liberty. * The disposition of the West Indians was candidly avowed by Mr Bailllc, in the House of Commons, on the 2d of April, 1792. *' The West Indies^ Sir, is the most vulnerable part of our dominions, and being at a distance and having no interest in Parliament, is of course, the most likely to become an easy object of prey to artful and designing men. However, Mr Chairman, our brethren in those islands being the sons of Britons, and their forefathers having carried across the At- lantic ocean all the rights and privileges that pertain to British subjects, you may rest perfecdy satisfied, that they will not tamely submit to being robbed of every thiug that is near and dear to them." 27 Those who are wclUvIshers to the slnvcs, will never coincide in a measure, that will excli du the means of their subsistence. How an Planters feed their negroes properlv, when sugar is cheap and provisions scarce? — How can the abolition of the slave-trade be prevented from ruining the West Indies, but by promoting the propagation of the negro-species, by supporting mothers a id raising children? and, under tlie present circumstances, how can this be done? — What will so soon excite insurrection as starva- tion ? Then, while we are aware of this ulti- mate necessity for a more liberal, though tempo- rary, colonial intercourse with America, let us not drive off the evil to that day when it must happen at any rate, and when the remedy may cither be no longer within our power, or not adequate to the relief which the aggravated des- paration of the case may require. lii The poverty of the Planters will produce a famine among the negroes ; which coill be suc- ceeded by revolt, and end in that eventful eman- cipation and " African sovereignty," which, though to be purchased by the blood of tlioa- sands of our countrymen, relatives, and friends, the author of War in Disguise would teach us to look Ixirward to " with satisfaction rather than 1 hh^ tl! i !. 1 !; 1 '• '' \ ■P' ! t i ' . f I '',i ' il 1 . u dismay." But, in this view none can join him but the most visionary enthusiasts. For though it may be true and to be lamented, that slavery has been maintained bv the blood of thousands in that abominable tiade, which is so wisely abolished j yet it is not more necessarily just, than it is expedient or humane, that their eman- cipation should be effected at the same expence. Nor could their freedom or sovereignty be ef- fected by the destruction of the whole race of white people alone. The effects of such a re- bellion would be horrible, even to the poor ne- groes ; for, instead of a happy freedom, the Jives of the survivors would be constantly em- bittered by the losses, sustained in their own contentions, — of fathers, — husbands, — and sons ! " M. Malouet reckons, that during the first ten years of revolt in St Don.ungo, the negro- population was diminished from 500,000 to 300,000, and that the loss was chiefly in males. — Labone in 1797 estimated the reduction at much more than one half of the numbers in 1789; Edwards supposes it to have been two- fifths of the same numbers."* ♦ Brougham, v. ii. p. 111. 29 The view, which the ** Inquiry into the state of the Nation" takes of the eftVcts, which would be produced by preventing Americans from carrying home the sugars of the plantation to its proprietor, is founded in ** a just and rational policy :" — it will not, indeed, promote the pro- gress of " African freedom and African so- vereignty:" on the contrary, it will preserve private property, by affording the proprietor the means of preventing the inducements to insur- rection, massacre, and emancipation : it will prevent the discontents of hungry and naked negroes, by feeding and clothing them. Such a policy, in the neighbourhood of our own Colo- nies, is not only "rational and just," but hu- manely and wisely generous : for it is a sort of warfare that ill accords with the liberality of the English character, to induce rapine and murdet among families and domestics, by the horrors of famine : and it comes most ill from those, whose philanthropy has so lately effected one great event in the affairs of the Colonies, to propose a measure, which can only portend evils more horrible than those, the repetition of which they have laboured twenty y«"ars to prevent. But, if to exclude the Americans from the French Colonies would, in so much, be incon- m 30 sistent with justice and humanity; how much more unwise to exclude them from our own Colonies, whose inhabitants claim every thin^ from our humanity in common with the rest of mankind, but, in particular, have a right to de* iiiand it as our fellow-subjects, friends, and re- latives. It is their misfortune, more than their crime, that they are owners of slaves ; for they are dependent on these slaves for the very sub- sistence of their families: and, surely, these fami- lies are entitled to a proper share of that con- sideration, from the philanthropic author of " War in Disguise," which ought to suggest to him a due regard to the hunger and nakedness ot the masters, as well as of the servants. The arguments of " AVar in Disguise" against the American carrying-trade would be cogent enough, if that trade were to be allowed for ever. But, as France w^ill not allow it with her Colonies during peace, because she must encou- rage her own shipping-interest to promote the re -establishment of her navy; and as w^e shall not w^ant it, because all the European markets will be open to our ships ; so it is only neces- sary during war, and will even injure America at a peace ; for she will then have a great quan- tity of shipping thrown useless upon her hands. 31 On the other side, if that third of our West- India produce, which used to be exported, should now not find any market, the planter must necessarily diminish his cultivation, and manufacture less sugar-; and, in that event, one third of our West -India sVi'ps will be as efFec- tiinlly thrown out of employment, as thou' h we were to allow that third of our sugar, which is usually exported, to be carried by neutrals : and thus a bad effect will be produced, without any opposing good. Besides, that a diminution in the cultivation of sugar would render useless, at a peace, a third of our West-India ships, which otherwise may again be employed in the export-trade, when neutral carriers will be pro- hibited by the navigation-laws of France as well as England. I have considered the case as a friend to our manufactories and Colonies, on which our com- merce and shipping depend ; and not as a " champion of neutral pretentions." * I do not " contend for the rights of neutral nations to trade with powers at war, whenever and in whatsoever commodities they please ;*' but I contend, that they are not the cause of the war bv which so much of the commerce of ' ;i 1 1 • War in Disguise. *^v• :i' ; I / , 82 Europe lias been thrown into their hands : — tlie advantage is theirs, but not the fault ; and wc un- necessarily extend this advantage, beyond the neu- tral, towards our enemy, by excluding the neu- tral from the same advantages in our ports, which are offered to him in the ports of our enemv: thus unintentionally and blindly bcnefittinjr our enemy, and injuring ourselves, from motives of jealousy, not more to him than to our ally. It is asserted, that the " late vast apparent increase of (neutral) commerce is fictitious ;"* and that the neutrals, in fact, carry on the trade of our eaemies. This is a round assertion ; and, even if it be granted, it may with truth be replied, that it is less dangerous for us, and worse for our enemy, that neutrals should carry on his trade, than that he should be able to carry it on himself. To prevent the neutral carrying-trade, we shall, ultimately, even benefit our enemy to in- jure our ally. We shall enforce our navigation- laws on the colonial trade of our enemy : but why are they enforced against our omn ? is it not to encourage the employment of our own ships, and to raise seamen for our navy ? * War ill Disguise, 33 Dur enemv: Would it not also force our Enemy to employ his own ships and men ? and having no navy to protect his fleets, every merchantman would be obliged to be fully manned and armed, in order to make running voyages, in the course of which, they would be often obliged to fight singly ; and thus we should teach them, from necessity, to navigate and to fight, and force them to lay the foundation of a future navy. They would thus acquire the ?neans, at the same time that they would incur the necessity, of a navy. But the author of " War in Disguise" exults in the necessity which enforcing the colonial mo- nopoly would produce, on the part of France, to build ships, raise men, equip fleets, &c. in order to protect the commerce into which she would then be forced ! let us not forget, that our own naval greatness owes its origin to this very sort of necessity. Oliver Cromwell, during the common wealth, out of resentment to tlie Colonists, prohibited neutrals from carrying lljcir produce. Our jealousy of the Americans, who carry the crops of the French Colonies, if we act upon it as we are advised, will produce the same effect on the marine of France. The extraordinary exertions of our enemy have pro- duced wonders, at his command, on shore; and such a necessity mviy induce him to make <;igaa- D ' ; ! '31 U Iff: ;F I! i i i V , ' ■■i. ■*■■ 1 1 1 ■ r 1 ■ ■ ■' 34 tic efforts to effect a more rapid re-establishment of an armament at sea, than we may be willing to believe possible. At any rate, to enforce those Laws to the advancement of the navy of our Enemy, which have been so effectually enforced to the advancement of our own, can never ter- minate in our advantage. It is also said, * that, " looking forward to a long protracted war, we must, before the close of it, lose our naval superiority, if the Enemy be allovi^ed to retain, and still continue to improve, his present oppressive advantages." I ask, how can France, by the carrying-trade of America, cause the loss of our naval superiority ? France must have seamen to have a navy ; but the neu- tral trade will not give her seamen ; on the con- trary, it prevents her from raising them, and thereby confirms the inferiority cf the French navy, and preserves, instead of endangering, the superiority of our own. But, admitting the fact, that the commerce of our enemy is carried on by the neutrals; " while, in the mean time, he is preparing the means of active maritime enterprises ;"t i^ will avail him but little, to build ships of the line, while he has no fleets of merchantmen from which he -iian man them. • War in Disguise, p. 208. f War in Disguise. 85 Nor can I conceive any thing more enfeebling to our Enemies naval power, or more invigorating to our own, than the very state in which our author seems to lament that both are placed ; for, though in the mean time, the number of hostile ships " may be augmented ;** yet, while they are obliged to be, as our author describes them, " nursed and reserved for a day of trial ;" we shall have but little to dread from their raw fresh-water crews, on their suddenly emerging from their nursery, unpractised in maritime ma- noeuvres, and unseasoned in sea fights, when opposed to our gallant tars, who have become invincible from the verv cause that our author ^ considers a hardship, viz. because they are con- stantly " sustaining all the most laborious duties of war." * The conclusions drawn to our dis- advantage, by this author, must be exactly re- versed ; lor, nothing cnn more promote our pre- sent naval superiority, than the very circum- stances of which he complains.f 1, Great stress has been laid upon the injury sus- tained by our shipping-interests, in the neutral • War in Disguise. f Mr Bosanquet has, "ith much cleverness, exposed the conclusions which this autlior draws by his " most extraordi- nary inversion of all political calculation." Thoughts on the Value of Colonial Trade, D2 I,: u f: ,j ,11 ! i > ; 1 ■IV. 1 ", n 36 carrying-trade, and of the decoy wliicli the neu- tral service is to our seamen. The fallacious representations of the decrease of shipping has been exposed by the returns of Sir William Young, in his West- India Common-Place-Book. The ship-owners say, that the planters ought not to complain, for that it is their fault if they produce more sugar than the market can dispose of: forgetting, that if the planters are obliged to limit their cultivation, there will be not only less freight for ships now, but even at peace; as the re-cultivation of abandoned estates is not the work of a day, even in those instances where it is possible at any distance of time. The planters may as well retort upon the ship- owners, that they ought not to build more ships than they can man with British seamen ; and then they would not have to complain that the Americans can rival them in the carrying-trade, and navigate cheaper, on account of the high wages which British ships are obliged to pay, to obtain neutral sailors in time of war. But this complaint of the high expence of our navigation, is, on other occasions, to serve a purpose, contradicted ; for our seamen are said to be enticed into the American service bv the neu- fallacious pping has r William ce-Book. ters ought Lult if they lan dispose re obliged 3e not only I at peace ; tates is not inces where on the ship- l more ships amen ; and ain that the rrying-trade, ,of the high |d to pay, to [pence of our to serve a lien are said service by 57 greater wages than they can get in our own merchantmen. However, it is not trut' that the Americans give higher wa^^s tiian is given in British ships. Their wages may be higher than in our ships of war, but so, also, is the pay of our own merchantmen. So far are the Americans from having any want of men, that their wages is much below ours : from eight to twenty dollars is the rate at which they pay, for lads and landsmen up to the skilful and able seaman. It is a fact, that no ships, that sail the ocean, give such high wages as is given in our mer- chant-service in time of war. It is to avoid the confinement and discipline of our ships of war, that British seamen go into neutral employment. To support their families liberally, at a moderate expence, may be another motive ; for mariners are not the only class of people who are driven from British employment: it is to avoid religious intolerance, the burthen of taxes, and the enor- mously-increased cxpences of living, that so many thousands, annually, go into an unwilling exile from their native shores. When, by an unwise and overbearing policv, we drove the North American C.^lon'sts to des- perate resistance, which iiiniinatcd in ihcir sepa- I) 3 38 I .! %\i)} . i: ration from the parent state, we became recon- ciled to the event, by finding, that, with the loss of sovereignty, we had not lost our commerce ; but, on the contrary, that it has increased ; so that we have the profit of a trade without the ex- pence of supporting it. Yet, still it was unrea- sonable not to count upon those evils which arc necessarily opposed to the good of every event. ■i' W^ I' / While the America? shipping was a nursery for our navy, we did not feel the evil of its being a refuge and an asylum for our deserters. This is one of the irremediable evils inseparable from the new situation into which we have forced them. And are we to quarrel with the Ameri- can government, because * our subjects will ap- ply to " The landlords of public-houses for fie- titious certificates of naturalizationf ?" or because they sell them to each other for a ** measure of ale or grog;** or erase a name from a true certifi- cate, to insert the name of an English sailor ? These things are unavoidable ; they will happen always, and every where, as long as there is wickedness in the world. * Such causes of war among nations remind mo of the high strain of ridicule in which Dean Swift indulge;', on such occa- sions for war, in his Gulliver. f War in Disguise, page 238, N. ^i \i9 While we cry out against our seamen being employed in foreign service, which certainly is an evil at any time, but of most magnitude in time of war; we ought not to forget, that, in time of war also, we are giving great encou- ragement to the sailors of neutral powers. Let it be asked which is the greatest crime, t/iat neutrals should emploi/, in peaceful trade, the subjects of pozvers at ivrr .- or that ive should entice, by high rvageSy the subjects of nations at peace, to enter into our service zvhile at warf I do not mean to say, that both are not evils in certain relations j and that as much as we can do, with justice, we ought to do, to remedy the evil which is suffered on our part ; but, it is not candid to say, that ive have the only right to complain of the evil. For each Englishman that is in the American service, there are, in time of war, at least fifty neutrals in the service of Great Britain, 1 1 { It would, then, be wiser to try to remedy the evil, by humane treatment and more liberal pay : for, while the high wages of our merchant-ser- vice entices foreigners into our trading ships, the inferior pay of our navy induces the malcontents to prefer the freedom of neutral employment. D 4 40 When I speak of humane treatment, I should be sorry to be understood as intending, even in tlie least degree, the relaxation of that discipline on which our naval superiority, especially, in battle, so materially depends j nor would I be understood to impeach the general conduct of our naval com- manders. On the contrary, there are many ves- sels that scarcely ever lose a man by desertion ; and whose crews are so rivetted in their affec- tions to their commanders, by their generous, humane, and yet manly treatment of the sea- men, that they would make great sacrifices ra- ther than be obliged to leave their ships ; and to be turned over the side of such a ship would be considered as an indelible blot in the character of a British sailor. But there are, also, other ships, and I wish the number of them were small, from which the desertions, that are continually taking place, can only be accounted for by the exercise of an un- feeling severity, and indiscriminate despotism. And, when such treatment is added to small pay, and a continual absence from family and friends, who can wonder at desertions, or that the discontented seamen should seek refuge in the asylum ot neutral trade ? There is, there- fore, no necessity to attribute their desertions to any attempts on the part of the Americans, to 41 debauch our British sailors. It is evident enough, that there is no need to decoy them into the only ships on the ocean in which they can be asso- ciated with men of the same origin, the sanie manners, the same language and religion. It is more impossible for the American go- vernment to prevent such evils, than it is for our own to obviate it, in some degree, by gene- ral good treatment, and more llbeial pay to our fighting-seamen. If to quarrel with America could force, or en- able, her to prevent the evil complained of, it would, even then, be a matter worthy of serious consideration to calculate, whether the advantage to be gained would more than counterbalance the mischief which we should incur in our Colo- nies. The advantage to be gained ought to be very great and certain before we risk the occur- rence of an evil, the magnitude of which, to the interest and safety of our colonies, and even to the empire, is ahiiost beyond calculation. But if quarreling wi^h America will only leave us where we began, with the evil as we found it; while the atte iipt to enforce a remedy will induce convulsions more alarming and fatal than the original complaint, would it not be as bad T (,. ,)l ) It •; •: : I ■I R as strangling a patient in the attempt to force the intended lemcdy down his throat ? Of such a nature are our present efTorts, in the attempts to support our own navy, by insisting upon the search tor Deserters on board the navy of America. She does not dispute with you the right to search cither for merchandize or men in her trading vessels. She does not expect of you any of those ** concessions" which you have been told would be the ** Bane of Britain :" she only requires, that her Flag and Officers shall not be provoked by those insults to which, if our Officers were to submit, we should punish them with disgrace or death. She rightly reasons as though there were a community and equality of national rights : and, while we only search their merchant-ships during war, we act only lip to the rights which the law of nations have permitted to belligerent powers over neu- trals. But in exercising a power over the armed ships of a nation at peace, which we would not submit to, ourselves, under the same circumstances; and for the exercifee^ of which there is no precedent*, nor law of nations, to ♦ When I say there is no precedent, perhaps it will be re- collected, and objected to me by some, that the search for Men in armed ships was enforced against the Dutch, in the tyran« ? >•' !:u 43 sanction us, is exercising the right olf power, but not the riglit of justice. Let it be grunted, that tliere are eren thousands of Englishmen in American merchant- ships, are there not also thousands of Englishmen on American farms? and yet we do not think of quarrelling for these j nor need we quarrel for our Sailors, as they do not refuse the search of their trading-vessels for them ; and what farther advantage ought we to deniand, unless it be the exultation of insult- ing them, because their navy is so insignificant ? But the brave and the magnanimous never tri- umph over the weak ! It cannot be, that our naval superiority is en- dangered by desertions to their ships of war. Naval discipline is irksome in every Man-of-war. There may be inducements to desert to trading vessels, and we may pursue and punish thern there : but there is no inducement, and, there* nica! reign of James the Second ; but, surely, none of us can wish to see the tyranny of those times restored, whether to be exercised upon ourselves or our allies. — The despotism of the strong, exercised over tiie weak, can never amount to a precedent for a right : and reason and ju'stice will not admit ol saying more, than that the use of such a power, in the tyrannical reign of James the Second, was equally wrong, though not so inconsistent, as the exercise of suth an over, streched power under the more wise and liberal policy of the yeign of George the Third. • i: '■'''• >■{■ 'il .» i J i 1 ' til ■ *'' f 1 1 h i ' 1 b m 41 fore, there is so little risk of mir i^ood sailors de- serting from our navy to any odif^r navy, lii; ^, in the whole navy of America, which does not con- sist of more than " a dozen frigates and a score or two of gun-boats,'* there is not, probably, as many English deserters as they have armed ships*. It is complained, that, " because our com- manders have successfully enforced the right (the " power" would be a more proper term) of search to recover deserters, they have denied to our ships the common rights of hospitality." This is too absurd. What ! if a man should enter forceably into my house, and add insult to intru- sion, am I to be accused of a breach of hospitality, if I do not ask him to sit down, and take a glass of wine with me ; or refuse it to him, when he would take the liberty of helping himself? And is it rot an insult, when a foreigner goes on board a national armed vessel, and orders her men to be turned upon deck, to be examined by that foreign officer ? Will we allow such a thing to be done on board of our Men-of-war ? Cer- * And those few consist of rebel Irish, or condifionall)- pardoned felons, whose odious characters render their situa- tions so irksome among the more honest fellows who do credit to our ships, that their mutinous dispositions actually mukc Iheir desertion more desireuble than their service. 45 tuinly not ! — Then we would use the law of power, and not the law of justice. But, let us examine a little ii to the state of our West- India nursery for Seamen, and see how far the American carrying-trade, by being even allowed, in time of war, to diminish the employ- ment of our ships to the amount of one-third, can possibly endanger the superiority of our naval power ; and, if it be possible that it do produce such an evil, how far, and by what means the evil can be remedied. It is stated, that our West-India ships employ about 17,000 Seamen; but, as by the 2 1st Geo. III. c. 11, merchant-ships are allowed to be navigated by a crew, of which not more than one-fourth need be Englishmen; and, as Men-of- war will press every able English sailor, they can get at, above the number necessary by law for the navigation of the ships ; it may be pre- sumed, that on an average, three-fourths of every crew are foreigners. So that, if by allozv' ing the American carrying-trade, one-third of our West-India ships were to be laid up for want of employment, the number of truly British seamen less employed, being only one-twelfth of the number employed, would only amount to J416. — This diminution in our nursery for Sea- ;(. • I ) I !i,i?;*: 46 men, is of trifiing conlparisdn to the injury which our Colonies would sustain in an attempt to obviate it, as well as to our manufactories 5 which, by any injury done to our Coloriies, would be so affected as to employ less people ; which want of employment would check the pro{.^ress of population, and thereby our army- rcciuiting service would be also injured. It is evident, also, that, by allowing the crews of our merchajit-ships to consist of three-fourths neutrals in time of war, the greater our com- merce, the more sailors wc raise for neutrals j as it is a matter of course, that, by employing that number in our ships during war, it encou- rages that number of young neutrals to become sailors ; thereby enabling them to learn British naval tactics, and to man, with greater advan- tage, Danish, Swedish, and Russian ships of war. W'fi But, if instead of allowing this pernicious means of making Seamen for the neutral navies, which may some day be opposed to us ; we were to enforce our navigation-acts, sq that instead of three-fourths, only one-half of neutrals should be allowed to sail in our ships; it is evident, that, by that means, one-third more British Seamen would be employed than are now employed, 'k i i 47 us ; we were even though one-third less ships were to be in the West-India service, than are now in it. Therefore, if our navigation-acts were enforced, in respect of manning our ships with half Eng- lishmen, our navigation-laws might be relaxed in respect of the colonial monopoly ; and, instead of injuring our nursery for British seamen, it would be improved ; while the navies of the European powers would seriously feel it : for, at present, we certainly very wrongly encourage their navies, by promoting the raising of Sea- men for them, in the service of our merchant- men. And thus, also, the great objection which the ship-owners of England pretend to enter- tain against a more liberal intercourse between our Colonies and America, would not only be obviated, but their clamours having no longer the dangers of our naval superiority for their ostensible object, would be confined to the real ground on which they would run the risk of ruining our Colonies j viz. the partial and tempo- rary inconvenience of their own interest ! But, Sir William Young has shewn, that facts do not bear them out in their complaints ; and that, to enforce the monopoly of the English carrying- trade, would only serve the ship-owners for one season. " British-built schooners, and other small craft of Bermuda," would be wholly employed, Davigated by negroes and neutral seamen, so that i; ^ fj: ;! ^^ ■ 1' t i 1 1 i > i i! i ! ' ■ I ' ■ ■ ' \ f t fl I ' it 48 neither the English shipping-interest, nor tli(? navy, would be benefitted by enforcing a scheme, that, in the mean time, would ruin theAVest*India rianter. But, which is of most consequence to the nation in general, that one-third of the West-India ships, should, pro tempore, be otherwise employed, or even laid up, in order that 11 our Colonies should flourish, our merchants remain whole, and our manufacturers employed j or that the reverse of this . '"ould be the eflfect of our listening to the partial and unfounded* complaints of a few * In July, 1 806, in the debates of the Home o'' Jommons on the American-Intercourse Bill, it was forcibly urged, " that the carrying-trade being reduced, and, as apprehended, fur- ther diminishing from year to year, during a long period of war, it would be diilicult, from deficiency of shipping, to resume it on return of j)eace ; as, wiiilst the old mercliant- vessels were falling into decay, and many yet were out of employ, the ship-builders would have no orders, and no ves- sels be ready, or even on the stocks, preparing to supply the!*" place." The worthy members for the city of London supported these allegations, by petitions from the ship-owners, staling their heavy losses from ships out of employ: and by others from the ship-builders, representing that their business was on the decline; that for the year 1806 scarcely any orders lor building had been received ; that, the few ships built on speculation, and to retain their workmen, had been sold at a loss, or remained on hand. (Sir W. Young's West-India-Com- mon-Place-Book, p. 2i8.) St, nor ihe g a scheme, :West*India to the nation t-India ships, :mployed, or lonies should lole, and our he reverse of tening to the :s of a few niseo'' Jommons bly urged, " that pprehended, fur- ; a long period of of shipping, to le old rnerchant- yct were out ot ers, and no vcs- ng to supply thei' ,ondon supported p-owners, staling : and by others leir business was ely any orders lor w ships built on lad been sold at a West-India-Com- 4& Ship-owners, who consider only their immediate hrofit, though at the expence of uUimately ruin« ing the Colonies, and in course, with them, the zcholef instead of a part, of the AV^est-India shipping concerns? th * comparison will not bear; and the clamour ot those, who seek for po- pularity from the English enemies of America, as well as from the avowed enemies to the whole system of the West Indies, ought to be exposed. Let the motives be examined of those who raise this cabal against the relief which the opening of the West-India monopoly during a convenient period would give, and perhaps it may be found, that the author, who saw no- thing alarming to our naval superiority, in putting But this attempt to impose upon the Parliament, in "order to support the clamour raised against the temporary opening ot the colonial monopoly, is exposed by Sir William Young, who gives us the return which was made to the House of Commons, on June the 24th, 1806, by Which it appears, instead of a decrease, '* under every consideration, the addi. tion of 28,380 tons of shipping, in ISOi — 5, or above 14,000 tons by the year, more than was built the year pre- ceding the war, may be presumed hitherto, to have kept up the compliment of British shipping, and to have preserved the mercantile basis of the British navy, yet unimpaired. Sc DO !l I' far the public mind may be relieved from anxiety, as to the actual state of this national resource." (Sir W, Young's West-India Common -Place-Book, p, 251.) E 50 !^';^1| *' ' m. 'J ■ -I out of employ so many African ships, would see nothing alarming in producing the same in- jury to the West-India shipping-interest, if it favoured the principles upon which he supported the abolition of the slave-trade. Let us look, closely enough into the clamour against allowing our Colonists to barter their produce, for the means of liberally supporting their slaves, bv a plentiful supply of American provisions, and we may find, that this is only an oblique blow at the Neutrals, intended for the destruction of the Planter. I I 'f / , Are these naval alarmists, those, who felt no alarm of the sort in abolishing the African carry- ing-trade ? if they are, then the ruin of the Colonists would be no matter of regret to them. Is not the author of " War in Disguise," also the author of ** the Crisis,"* and ** the Oppor- tunity ;" — and, does he not say in the latter publication, that " St Domingo whatever course we take, will one day be mistress of the Western Archipelago ;" that " the shocking sla- very of our Colonies cannot much longer be maintained is sufficiently certain;" but, " by a just and rational policy y toe might be enabled ia look forward to the pj^ogress not only of Ajri' * or the sugar Colonies. 51 cdnfreedorrit hut o/* African Soversignty, in the West Indies, ivilh satisfaction rathet than dismay*" ! ! ! Does the author^ who takes this view of our colonial, mercantile and manu- facturing ihterestSi hold any personal regard for our Planters, or any cdnsideration for their wel- fare ? or, rather, is it not clear, that he estimates both so far below the value of " African free- dom and African sovereignty y^ that he cail look forward to their progress ** with satisfaction rather than dismay** And yet is this Author's alarm-bell to be five times rung in our ears, to put us on our guard against " a War in Dis- guise," the ostensible object of his work, while the real one is negro Emajicipation. But it ap* pears to be his opinion, that, even in such an event, ouf ships would, nevertheless, be em- ployed to bring us the sugars which would be required for our home-consumption. If we con- cede to him so much of the argument, then, in that case, there would be employed only two- thirds of the ships in the West-India trade, and that third which he now deplores the loss of in the American trade, would still be not em- ployed, and yet he does not threaten us in this case, with any consequent danger neither to the Navy nor the Nation. * " Th« Opportunity," page 42. E2 '','1^'i ivm Let his naval insensibillly^ when " African freedom and African sovereignty'' are in the scale, be compared with his naval apprehensiom, when the prosperity of the slave-owners is pro- posed by a temporary relief from the Americans; :v/iOy by the way, as slave-ownerSy he equally abominates. When his feelings are thus brought to the balance, the preponderating scale exhi- bits the partiality ; and it is plainly perceivable, that his objections to the carrying-trade of the Americans, while they are apparently dictated by a commercial jealousy, and a political tena- city of our naval superiority, are as strongly prompted by a contempt for that government, which, while ostentatiously, boasting of freedom, maintains absolute slavery among its inhabitants ; as by that secret satisfaction, which the present state of the West Indies aflfords to those who look forward with pleasure, to the progress of negro emancipation and 7iegro dominion. For, if the impending ruin, which at present threatens the Planter, be allowed to fall on him, by an obsti- nate refusal to open the monopoly, out of spite to the Americans j who can doubt, that it will hasten the progress of these events? what is so likely to excite insurrection, and the consequent assertion of " African freedom," as the state to which the Planter will be soon reduced? — a total want' of the means of feeding and clo- \" 53 iliing the slaves, by whose labor alone he is en- abled to feed his own family. When the negroes shall find their masters no longer able to support them, self-preservation justifies them in adopting the means of support- ing themselves: and, as to what means, and how to adapt them to their situation, they are not at a loss, with the example of St Domingo before their eyes ! then will arrive that eventful period in the West Indies, to which our author, by his "just and rational policy," would teach you " to look forward with satisfaction rather than dismay." Then, indeed, will our author's pro- phecy, too soon become verified! — for under such circumstances, we may assert in his own words, it " is sufficiently certain, our Colonies cannot much longer be maintained," and " St Domingo will, one day, be mistress of the western Archipelago !" To this state of colonial distress, I cannot look forward but with extreme horror and dis- may, instead of satisfaction: notwithstanding which, I confidently assert, our author himself does not more lament tlian I do, that Great Bri- tain ever allowed a state of slavery to exist under her government i nor can he rejoice more at the E 3 I • h ^11 < i f 1' ir h I') H abolition of that trafic for slaves, which was so wicked and abominable in all its stages. But every rational mind niust dread the evils and tre- mendous excesses wiiich are the concomitants of great revolutions among mankind; however much we should rejoice to see so many millions of our fellow-creatures emerge from the gloom of despotism, to assume their proper rank among the nations of the earth, were it possible to effect it, without violating the laws of nature, or injuring, among other men, the rights of so- ciety. i if ti III The sentiments of Mr. Lowe are so accordant with mine, that I can scarcely express myself in language different from his own. With him I can honestly declare, that I have *' no personal interest in the cause which I plead.'* — I am neither Merchant, American, nor Planter. I have none of the views which may be attributed to those persons whose hardships I would re- commend for relief I, also, " join my individual voice to the national approbation of the aboli- tion of the slave-trade :" but, as " it is one thing to annihilate this odious traffic, and an- other to deny the industrious Planter the reward of his labour," so it is also one thing to clip the wings of a rival commercial State, and another I'l which was sa 55 to ruin our whole colonial interests, in order to •» forward the progress of African freedom and African sovereignly ♦." It may appear too harsh to assume, as a fact, that this author is influenced by such motives «/owe; and his reputation for humanity should encourage the presumption, that, as he ought not, he does not desire to see the events described. On the con- trary, that he too would feel horror and dismay at an emancipation to be accomplished by such a calamitous state of poverty and want, as must shortly exist, if the principles he proposes he too promptly put in practice. But, while we give him credit for his sincerity in favor of " African freedom and African uovereignty^' if we are, also, to give him equal credit for humanity to- wards the Planters, in the means by which he would effect it ; how is it reconcileable to rea- son, that a man possessing such mental powers should not readily perceive, that, by refusing, under the present state of the West-Indies, to relax the monopoly, we shall produce events that will hurry on the slaves to a sudden attempt at emancipation, which must Inevitably involve the plantptions in all the horrible devastations and crimes of St. Domingo, And such arc the I'l * " The Opporlunity, page 12." E 4 Ui!Al / 1 ; , 1 ■ -^.v 1 • ■ .It ^'' i : I 1 1 • ' 1 : t i - 1 1 "' 1 fii 1 *.' UH t f 1 '- :) ' 1 m 'i Hi ■ n ' n , i t ; ; ' 1 . "' li ) Mil JiaHj' 1 'iiiifii^'''^ m iin. .' 56 events with which he threatens us, in his " Op, portunity," unless we form an alliance with the negroes of that island. Events which, in his own words, are described as ** dreadful indeed in their effects upon individuals, and pernicious to the nation at large." But, whatever may be the justification, which he may think himself morally and religiously capable of offering, in support of the extensive and bold means by which he would accomplish the favorite object of his high enthusiasm, we must neither suffer ourselves to be carried alonff with him, nor even tacitly stand by and see hini hasten the progress of such a tremendous revo- lution. We must rather endeavour to remove the medium through which he sees the object so falsely; or, at least, so to place it before those who see with their own eyes, that they may no longer be so wrongly affected by his fallacious views. The ingenious construction of his positions, his elegant, declamation, and finely- finished pe- riods, are dangerous illusions to those readers, who rather seek the gratification of their literary passion, than to judge impartially between con- tending interests. To analyse the composition of such palatable, but poisonous, preparations for the public taste, is a task of delicacy, when we liold the knowledge and abilities of the composer ia high estimation, and equally respect him for his moral virtues ; among which his philanthropy is said to be pre-eminent. But, however we may esteem his heart, we cannot but wonder at, and warn our readers against, the wrong direction that his powerful mind has given to a train of arguments, which, if any farther acted upon in the political economy of our Colonies, must sink them, irre". iLOverably, in the chaos of negro-revolutions. But, he is not, at the same time, the only prophet in West-lndia-revolutions. Mr. Broug- ham, whose knowledge of colonial policy is so extensive, as well as profound, says*, " that the negroes are truly the Jacobins of the West ; they are the anarchists ; the terrorists ; the do- mestic enemy : against them it becomes rival nations to combine, and hostile governments to coalesce." And, that, " of all civil wars it (a colonial one) is, perhaps, the most to be looked for f ." Nor will they be denied, from mercenary men, every means of effecting their freedom and sovereignty. For, although the government of America anticipated us in the abolition of the plave-trade^ yet, on the earliest notice of insur- I! k M-i- *Vol. II. p. 311. tVol. I. p. 101. 58 rection in any of our Colonies, there are wretches among the American merchants who will be induced by the expectation of enormous profits, as they were in the revolutionizing armament of Miranda against the Spaniards, to send out, to the revolted negroes, ample supplies of arms and ammunition ; for which they will be paid in the produce to be seized on the estates of the Planters; who will be murdered, in order thus to obtain the means of trading for such articles, as well as the provisions with which they will be supplied from the same hands. The author of " War in Disguise" will not, on this point, urge his reliance on the honor, justice, and humanity, of the Americans, as he does when he urges that they will not confiscate the property of British creditors in the event of a war : for he knows the American traders would supply the revolted negroes, because he knows they did supply " the illustrious Tous- saint*," and his people of St Dorr^ingo, with warlike stores : and in his arguments before the Right Honourable Court of Appeal, instead of considering such assistance, on the part of the Am.ericans, as either unjust, cruel, or dishonorable, he virtually recommended the encouragement of * Opportunity, p. 41f 59 it, by arguing for the repeal of the sentence of condemnation, and a restoration of such contra- band property to the American owner. It is true, he recommended it as a measure of policy, and very plausibly represented *' that the negroes oF St. Domingo are in a totally-new political cha- racter ; being neither our allies, our Ciiemies, nor neutrals ; but that, as they are the enemies of our enemy, it might be good policy to allow our American allies to assist them to annoy that Enemy.'* Their Lordships, very wisely, rejected such dangerous sophistications by confirming the condemnation of these warlike stores. But, after such a perversion of the principles of policy, to serve the favorite scheme of sup- porting the " freedom and sovereignty^' of the negroes of St. Domingo, what faith can we have in the purity of the policy recommended in that specious publication which professes to expose a " War in Disguise ?'* When a trading people are carrying only provisions to barter for the pro- duce of the Planters, the jealou ;y of our mer- chants is roused by the threatened annihilation of our commerce ; and a whole nation, whose highest pride is the superiority of its navy, is thrown into alarm at the dangers that await the country in the insidious designs, which even our i > M , 1 * 1 1 1 1 ' ■ 1 ' 1 . '' 1.'. al-'i i / 1! 60 Allies are accused of cciitriving to sap the foundation of our maritime greatness. But, when the " freedom and sovereignty" of the negroes of a revolted colony are to be sup- ported, then the same allies may, virith impu- nity, be allovv^ed not only to carry innocent arti- cles of merchandize, but even every thing that is ordinarily deemed the most contraband, such as warlike stores of the most dangerous descrip- tion ; and no injuries are to be apprehended from such an unprecedented licence in neutral trade ! Can there be any thing more insulting to common sense, than to propose, as good policy, such glaring political inconsistencies ? What ! will this revolutionizing centre of attraction have no influence on the surrounding bodies of negro people ? What will so effectually extend the revolutionary spirit fo our own Colonies, as al- lowing the neutral powers to assist in confirming,, within sight of our own slaves, the " freedom and sovej^eignty^' of the slaves of St Domingo ? And will the loss of our Colonies not endanger our commerce, and thereby our navy ? T assert, there is nothing that will so cer- tainly bring on the destruction of our own plantations, as the measures which the author ' ( les? What! traction have 61 of " War in Disguise" has recommended. Listen to him and adopt his advice, all ye, who can " look forward to the progress of Afri- can freedom and African sovereignty with satis- faction rather than dismay." Prevent Ameri- cans from bartering their provisions for West- India produce, and allow them, at the same time, to carry arms and ammunition to the re- volted negroes of St Domingo, and you will soon have an " opportunity" to rejoice in the Emancipatioji of the w^iole negro-race. Suffer the people of St Domingo, by the assistance of mercenary merchants, to establish a depot of military stores, and it is all that is wanted ta fulfil the proph^ ./ of the " Opportunity:" for it will confirm the soverciiinty of the negro-natijus over ihe whole western Archipelago. The peo- ple of St Domingo must look forward to a peace in Europe, as another period for the renewal of attempts at their subjugation. They well know", that against them it is the interest of " rival na- tions to combine, and hostile governments to coalesce;" that the only prospect for the confir- mation of their owm freedom ?s in promoting the Emancipation of their fellow-c??atures, from the yoke of every European power ; and when, b}^ the proposed prohibition of the American pro- visions, famine shall excite discontent^ then will they seize the opportunity to avert the dangers , \ iii .' «j 5 ',''» il! !. / i„ ' fe 62 of a coalition against themselves, by distfibtitift* among the discontented negroes in the neigh- bourhood, the arms and ammunition with which they would be furnished by the Americans; whom, in the mean time we would condemn, for carrying the sugars of the white Planter. The description of the consequences of such a policy, is given in terms so true and touching, that it would be an injustice to my argument not to quote it. " * It is indeed no common fate to which Eu- ropean settlements in the Charaibean sea will be left, if their parent-states desert them by suffering the French negroes to triumph in St Domingo. •* It is not to the peaceable yoke of some civi- lised nation nor the quiet transference ot domi- nion by treaty or conquest, nor the miseries of long-contested invasion by regular troops, not the hardships of blockade and famine, nor even to the anarchy of jacobin law. The worst of these calamities, which may be dreaded from the preponderance of France in the colonial system, is nothing compared with the warfare of the African labourers. Hordes of blood-thirsty * Colonial Policy of the European Powers, V^. ri, page 308» Powers, V^. il 63 savages, intimately acquainted with every cor* ner of the Planter's house, every retreat into which his family may be driven, every crevice in the whole country; mad with unnatural rage against all that deviates from the sable hue of their own ferocious brethren ; pouring over each spot where European life exists ; scattering on all sides, not destruction, for that would be mildness, but every exquisite form of ingenious torment; only stopping, in moments of satiety to lay aside the sword for the torch, and, in the intervals of mercy nione, exchanging tor- ture for murder ; marching against the parent with the transfixed body of his butchered in- fant as a standard ; sacrificing the weaker sex to their brutal lust, amidst the expiring bodies of husbands and kinsmen ; and enacting other deeds of sucn complicated horror, that it is not permitted to the pen of a European to describe or to name them. — These are a few features of the picture which wretched eye-witnesses have given us of negro warfare; and it is to scenes like these that we shall inevitably expose thou^ sands of our countrymen, if we sacrifice the security of the Europeans to gratify cither a foolish jealousy of our rivals in the Vrest-Indian commonwealth*, or a still less excusable tender- * EJwards's History of St Domingo, chap, vii. I I . :> if: / , '.' I it HI 64 liess for tbe barbarians who have unhappily teen poured into the French islands. " With the greatest sympathy, then, for the unmerited sufferings of the unfortunate negroes, with unmingled detestation of the odious traffic to which they owe all their wrongs, and the "West-Indian Colonies their chief dangers ; the consistent friend of humanity may be permitted to feel some tenderness for his European brethren, although they are white and civilized, and to deprecate that inconsistent spirit of canting phi- lanthropy, which in Europe is only excited by the injuries or miseries of the poor and the profligate, and, on the other side of the Atlantic, is never warmed but towards the Savage, the Mulatto, and the Slave." Were it even possible to pass over, without reflection, the dreadful means by which revolu- tions are accomplished, or accompanied, surely we should not neglect to consider what would be the effects, upon our own national interests, of the political phenomenon of jicgro sovereignty in the West-Indies. The commerce which we hold with the West- Indian Colonies is of the most valuable kind to Great Britain, because " it replaces two- 65 ca})itals * ; the trade is domestic ; both ends are British -f." But, if that policy which has been so strongly recommended as" just and rational J," were to place the Colonies of Great Britain un- der "African sovereignty,'' they would no longer be obliged to continue that commerce with us which is equal in its advantages to our " land nnd domestic trade:" for thev would receive from the Continent of Europe, French, German, and other manufactures, together with American provisions, in exchange for their colonial pro- duce ; and Britain would only supply v/hat could not be obtained to greater advantage from other nations. AVhat, then, would become of our manufactures, our population, our commer- cial and shipping interests, and our navy ? All — all would decline, and with them the wealth and the power of great Britain ! i V If it be replied, that all this was threatened by the separation of North America from the * Vide Brougham's Colonial Policy, Vol. i. pages 1 19 and 168, for much accurate reasoning and knowledge upon thii subject. t Also Bosanquet's Thoughts on Colonial Trade. t "The Opportunity,", by the Author of " the Crisis of llie Sugar Colonies." I'iV i Ui H 66 f the disposi- tions of the Americans, to succumb, from ava- ricious motives, to any thing that threatens them ; and that they would smother every warlike feel- ing, rather than uicur the inconveniences of war.* se " property Since the affair of the Chesapeake, it is evi- dent, that neither " the commerce," nor " the interior state of the country," would prevent them from engaging in a war with England, should the other circumstances of their situation require it. If, then, a war with America be an event from which the benefits that may be derived are not as certain as they ought to be great betore we should venture upon it, it would be madness to adopt the measures which are recommended^ upon the vain presumption, that America is too prudent, or avaricious, to venture upon hosti- lities. There is lio doubt that America is ver) repug- nant to a war with Great Britain. She has * War in Disguise, p. 218. 1 — J w ._. 1 ; ' :i'. . ! ■ ! 1 1 1 '; !■ 'i|. 1 \ J i n''*i: ii !■ f i, . . Wi 90 abundant cause for such a repu^inancc. She has no Navy : and it is her best policy, at present, not to have a Navy. She has Seamen, it is true ; but her situation with a Navy would be very different to what it is now, as it relates to the other Powers of the world. At present she is in amity with all the world. She supplies every nation with provisions, &c. — She is usesui to all, and ought not to be an object of jealousy to any. But if she had a Navy she would he watched with a suspicious eye by every maritime Power. Her costly armaments would involve her in debt only to add ships of the line to our fleets whenever we should quarrel with her. Her merchantmen, that now sail singly and safely all over the world, would fall into cur hands by fleets. We should then have inducements to quarrel with her, to put down her Navy, to prevent her rising greatness on the ocean, and to hinder her fleets from coalescing with our Enemies. What would she benefit, and how much would she not lose, by a Navy ? — She would be involved in European wars, which would be ruinous to h( r as an infant nation : while, on the contrary, in the present state of her naval power, she en- joys a peace she never could command, and holds a con:mcrcial intercourse witli every trading eountry in the world, instead of being cor fined to the hazardous trade of our Enemies alone: for, during war, she would be excluded from the ports of our allies as well as our own ; and her trade with our Enemies would be interrupted in every direction. It will be our fault if she should ever have a powerful navy. The very attempt to build ships ot the line ought to be a cause for a declaration of war. It is, therefore, more to her advantage that she should have no navy at present, in order that she may continue to rise as a commercial and agricultural nation *, * As nations in every age have had their ambitious propen* iities, America, without interfering with Europe, or requiring fleets, may, and no doubt will, gratify her natural ambition by carrying conquest into Soiith America. No power on earth can so easily accomplish the conquest of South America, and the emancipation of its miserable inhabitants. Mexico, Chili, and Peru, will, probably, belong ultimately to the government of the United States; while the Isthmus of Panama may form the boundary between those and the provinces which we may emancipate to the southward and the east : for, an opening to that part of the continent will be as convenient to our Colo- nies, and as desireable for the commerce of the parent state, as the more distant and vvestern Spanish provinces would be to the Nortn Americans. G tic ;M( 1' ; 1 1 V ' 1 1 1 ' • li. '.1 1 1 1 ■■\ ' S' :< . i ! 11 , 1 ; i ^'1 i 1 ,-1? \ 1 ,1 j ' 1 i : '■? !■ ^; ij li i ■ ■ ''"! J''i'.'{'' h ' 1 IJli 1 I^t! ! ' ' 11 ^ h ! ^iJi u If-' m But, having now no navy, why should we prcsuMie that 5,hc can wish to go to war with us from any thing that has occurred in her present situation? — *\'ct,what evils are there that human nature may not be induced to bear, rather than to suffer insult and injustice? Death is often preferred to disgrace. Let us not, then, drive them to a state of desperation ; for though t'ioy cannot equal us in the contest, we must share with them its evils. Mow should we be gainers upon such terms, even putting justice out of consideration. We may bully America into a ^va^ by our insults ; but she must wish to avoid it. as an event wluch would be very contrary to her interests. What would become of her ships when they would be no longer allowed to navi- gate the ocean ? AVhat would become of her warlike manufactories and her farmers, when no longer allowed to export her w^arlike stores and her provisions ? It is true, then, that she would suffer, though not so nmch as ourselves. The shutting of her ports would, in a great measure, have the same effect on us, as though our Enemy were to blockade our own ports. We should lieiiiier get provisions for our own use, nor em- ployment for our manufacturing people, who would thus have two causes of starvation at .'5nce ; want of money, and dearness of food. S3 The injuries the Americans would receive would not lighten our own ; and, therefore, would be a childish ground on which to reconcile the evils of a war with them. The reciprocity of mischievous consequences ought to beget mutual efforts to preserve peace; for if, on both sides, the evils are calculated which will be produced to each ; and if the disposition to war, in both, will be in pro- portion to the evils each will sustain; then, there must be inducements to war on both sides ; be- cause both parties must be greatly injured. It is in vain, therefore, on such principles, for either country to calculate on peace, from the repug- nance to war which, it is supposed, its evils will beget in the opponents. Yet on such vague principles do some men found the recommendation of their plans : while, from the other * publications of the day, which are contrived to promote their own salt at the expence of reason, truth, and peace, as the the purchase-money of popularity, we have continually dinned in our ears the expressions " recently contraband, -^ extensive and destruc- • " The Crisis, by the Author of ?lain Facts." G2 .f^-n ,.^a. IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) -^ // ^/ ^ .<^. 5»*A k, A v.. 1.0 I.I Z us lit 1^ 1^ 2.0 IL25 i 1.4 IIIIIM 1.6 % '/l / Hiotographic .Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. USSO (716) 872-4S03 V iV k •<^ c\ \ ■-$■ / , ■V i ^i' ' ;rP{|| ■i^j^> 84 ' five commerce, — ancient and acknowledged rights, — ascendency of the British trident*," &c. * ' ■ ■ AVhat is all this jargon ? examine it, make the most of it, even in the pages where it is worked up with merely mechanically-connecting senten- ces ; and where it is not fomid to be an unmean- ing /<'/77'fl'o^o, we shall find that national mischief is risked for literary fame or profit : while " War in Disguise" is continually extolled as a political oracle, and is so received by all those, who, like them that extol it, are ignorant of the situation and true interests of the Colonies ; or who, if they do not think of the evils which are suffered there as dreams, or imaginary tales, do worse ; they think of them as trifles when in comparison of " negrO'Sovcreif^iity ,'' even though that would be destructive of the very ends which they intend to promote. Every thing is alledged, which ingenuity can suggest, or suspicion lead to, in order to enrage the public against Americans, as well as West- Indians. *' False Bills of lading and false oaths" are said to be commonly made. No doubt, they are somethna had recourse to under neutral flags. • The Crisis/' by the Author of " Plain Facts." 8i5 Certainly where these are detected they justify condemnation. But what can we argue from the cases in which they arc, to the cases in which they are not detected ? Are we thence to con- clude, that all neutral bills of lading and neutral oaths are false ? As well draw the same conclu- sion in the transactions of our own custom- houses ; where, it is beyond doubt, there are sometimes false oaths taken, and false manifests received. But this would be straining the ar- gument beyond all reason, and delicacy, and justice. Because it is sometimes the case, that a perjured evidence is detected in the Court of King's Bench, are we therefore always to conclude, or even to suspect, that every oath taken there is also an act of perjury? Would not this end in the rejection of all evidence, and the subversion of all justice ? and so it is in the commercial case. But as the one must be re- ceived unless contradicted by facts ; so the other must not be so cruelly stamped with universal falshood, as these writers would represent to be the case. Lamentable, indeed, would be our situation, if in ours, as was the case in some ancient go- vernments, the measures to be pursued in the preservation of the state were to depend on the G3 I I'll 8G hf i 'If"! mt- voice of the multitude : for under such an in- fluence as the extravagant language, and wild speculations of our pecuniary, and even philan« thropic pamphleteers, would produce upon the public mind, political madness would distract the state; while, now, the calmness of reason, and de-^ liberations of experience, prevent the evils, and promote the goods, which present themselves to the minds of a few Individuals who are entrusted with the reigns of government ; and who, it is to be hoped, will not suffer themselves to ht affected by the senseless clamour of popular prejudice, to overlook, in a pitiful jealousy of a weak, defenseless, and trading power, the most serious interests of the country, as connected with the present dangers of the colonies, and the commerce and manufactures dependent thereon. :l. ; i What can we call those* propositions, but extravagant and absurd, which " would not suf* fer a neutral bark to float upon the seas ;" or that would ^* compel France to contribute to the support of our maritime strength," by preventing her from acquiring every tiding she wants, " till a duty had been levied on it in some British port." * ". The Crisis, by the Author of Plain Facts." 1' 87 Owen Glendowcr could " call spirits from the vasty deep ;" but " would they come ?" It is easy to talk of doin;; wliat is proposed to be done with neutrals and with Buonaparte : but, to propose and to perform arc vastly dif-' ferent. Some of these publications have recourse to the most dangerous sophistications, to reconcile the eJ^pcdiency of repelling wickedness by wick- edness, under the plausable pretext that " the ravages of this cruel spoiler are only to be re- sisted by the weapons which he himself cm- ploys:" and, that " what in him is the basest and most wanton depravity, is reduced in us to nothing more than justifiable retaliation*." Merciful God ! forgive the man, and correct his heart, who can wish to involve our country in the imitption of those crimes which have already beej made the scourge of our guilt ! INIay we be deaf to thise devilish delusions, which will only plunge us deeper and deeper by such vain attempts to extricate ourselves ! In every publication, by the author of " War in Disguise," an antipathy to tlie Colonies is • " The Crisis, by the Author of Plain racts." G ^ jl I \ . i ./ every where most anxiously fomented. In one place they are nothing but a military grave: — in another, a source of expcncc without pro- fit. — He states our army to he exhausted in the West Indies, almost faster than it can be re- cruited. * Even under the cloak of arguing in favor of young recruits, he points the dagger at the Colonist. — He says, " the British armv, from its fatal employment in the West Indies, has, alas ! not much longevity." From my own local knowledge, I must subscribe to the pro- test of ]\Ir Bojanquet, who has, with mucli spirit and truth, repelled these insinuations ;| as well as those relating to the unprofitableness of the Colonies. 'Vi: * Dangers of the Country, p. 7. t " I do again protest against the inju«;tice of imputing to the Colonies, the sacrifice of British troops and treasure, in the various expeditions which have been fitted out for conquest. Was any benefit intended to the British Planter from the expedition under Sir Charles Grey, or that under Sir Ralph Abercrombie ? Were not Granada and St Vincent .^i^crificed to foreign conquest ; and have not the British Colonies been long smarting under the effects of this grasping system ? It is sulhciently humiliating to receive injury at the lumd of a friend; but to be accused of inflicting on others the wounds under which ourselves arc sinking, surpasses human patience." Eosanquet on the Value of Colonial Trade, p. 70. h *' 89 The value oF our American commercial con* iicxions has never been denied ; but it is evident, that our own colonial commerce is still more valuable, because it will be continual; while, with America, it may be interrupted by war, or by their ultimately establishing manufac- tories of their own : which they may, too soon for our advantage, be obliged to do; for besides the want of our manufactures, the w^ant of a niarket for their raw materials, will induce them to work up their own cotton, &c. into nianufactures for their own use. This we ougbt to calculate upon as a natural event, if we go to war with them, or otherwise exclude them from the ports of Euro|)e: bu* unless we force them into such a measure, prematurely, it is probably at a great distance. • . olonial Trade, p. 70. For, although manufacturers are continuallv emigrating to America, they soon linlaii(ls, cannot be tiiixi«- grt'sscd. I^Lit. the iiKMcasino^ population of Aniciicu w ill iLoiistantly rcuiuiie more of our nianiifictures; which will consequently employ more jjcople \\\ our maniifaetorics : and as our population, in the present unwiselv-liniited state of our a^i!,ri- culture, cannot be wliolly fed by our home pro- vince, we must get it from alnoad ; in return tor which our manufactures will be taken : and thus, as it were in a circle, our population will |)c increased, and will be supporte"iu the Colo- nies of our Enemy, under " the frauds of neu- tral flags :"' and not one hogshead of which would, at any rate, have given freight to our shipping. But, under the encouragement, which such u valuable acciuisition must meet with from such an cuterprizhjg people as the Americans, the produce of Louisiana must have annually in- creased since they obtained possession of it in 1S03; and will account, in a great measure, for the additional expoits from America since that period. There is no doubt that the produce of the fertile soil of this valuable territory will continue to increase ; for the Aniciicai;is will well know how to appreciate it, in the event Oi our excluding them from the West Indies, whether by the enforcement of the colonial monopoly, or by going to Avar with them. If, then, we ha\ fe been guilty of an error, in which, by wrongly attributing the whole Euro- 97 pean imports of sugar to neutral covering, we liave nearly fallen into a war with the Ameri* caiTS, which, while they have not so much de- served as it was supposed, would ruin our Colo- nics, Manufactories, and Cor lerce; it behoves us, when we see that error, to avoid others which will be ecfually fatal. It is now plain, that America would be still much less injured by a war than we should be. With Louisiana in her possession, the period will arrive when she will no longer depend upon the Colonies of any European power for sugar for her home-consumption, and perhaps not even for exportation. I do not know to what extent the produce of Louisiana has increased since its cession to the government of America ; nor how much sugar the whole of the United States consume : but, whether they already receive from Louisiana more than their own consumption requires, there can be no doubt that the cultivation of sugar will be encouraged at any rate, until that neces- sary supply is accomphshed ; and then, if they do not already, the Americans will go on to cul- tivate in order to supply the markets of Europe. H .11 :i !^ !' i ^ M 58 ' Tlie effect, tliereforc, of eiiforcing the colo- nial monopoly, or of goin<»' to war M'ith America, Avill be, tliiit slie will reiuicr herself inde- pendent of the ^Ve.st Indies, not only for Siig'ar for lier home-consnmption, but for ex- portation to Europe; wlierc she W'U obtain in return such manufactures as she ir.ay want; and thus she will become independent of us br)tli at home and abroad. »< > ( ?':'!■ 4^ . ■i' But it may he opposed to tliis, that we Avill prevent her from carryiniij lier sugar, and from returning across the seas with European merciian- dize : — granted. — The effect of that would be, that ha\'ing forced her to be independent of your Colonies, you Avill force her to be inde- pendent of Europe also; and thereby pre\'ent the necessity of ever returning to the Britisli manufacturing market, in the event of quarrel- ing with her friends on the continent of Europe. For, by the want of manufactures, their price will be so enhanced, that the temptation of higli profits will induce enterprizing specu- lators to establish manufactories. It is true, that all this will be the case ultimately, whether we exclude her from Europe, and from the Colo- nies, or do not exclude her. It is not, how- c^•er, in the mean time, to our advantage to I 99 hasten on her commercial, as we did her po- litical in(lcj)cn(lcncc: on the contrary, it is one of tliose cases in whicli we onglit to drive oiY the e\il as far as possihle from lis : and as we may foresee the period will arrive, wheii America will, hy degrees, less want our sugar and our manufactures, until she will not want them at all ; so wc ought to take the advantage of protracting, as long as possihle, thate\ent; in order that we may, m the me:m time, pre- pare ourselves as gradually for such a change in our relative situation, by planning the means of supplying our Colonies with provisions in- dependently of the United States ; in order that our own Colonies, at least, may he preserved, to encourage our manufactures and colonial com- merce, \vhcn the final separation from America shall in the natural course of events take place, or he more suddenly produced by an una\'oidable war with her. But as we are now situated, such a sudden rupture before we are prepared with aviy means to subsist our Colonies, would, as i have demonstrated, scarcely injure America, while it would sap the foundation of our navy and our commerce, by the ruin of our Colonies ; and would raise America to a degree of wtdltli and power, at least ecjual to that, to which we should be reduced l^y the same means. II 2 i ( . •:f 'i : 100 From every view we ean take of our situa- tion, it hccomes more and more obvious, that it is our policy to render it as little as pos- sible advanta^ous for the Americans to cultivate sulans have already undergone very considerable tliscussion. I can, therefore, add onlyafew obser\arions vvitliout goin"; over again the approbation or objeciion vviiieh they seve- rally merit: and tlien 1 will proceed to add to those leconmiendatiorts for an immediate relief, the suggestions for a plan of more pamaneiit relief, to be directly acted upon, and contiramlly encouraged, in order to render our Colonies sate from insuirection, and independent of the prc- ca; lous resource f(>r supplies, i.om which America cat! cut us nrf at any time, when either necessity or caprice may induce the American government to adopt such a measure. ( ','. "^ rl ! !. All the writers upon the subject of West-In- dian atiairs have treated, only with the greatest diffidence, of the expedient of relaxing the colonial moiiopcdy ; excej)tmg the authi r of " War in Disgidse," \\\v-> universally reprobates it: but most of them ni^xiously endeavour to pr<;mote some means of leiicf adecjuate to the distress of he Plaii?ti : aiui ^cvtral ot tlicm consider, that great relief may be attbrded by 103 3ur own Noi tli- nieans of an additional duty on sugar consumed at home, to be returned to the Planter by a bounty upon the sugar exported. One* recommends, tliat tlie bounty should be equal to tlie additional duty; and that both bounty and duty shall be absolute ; as the con- cUtioiiat addition of duty is not jnoductive of revenue to government when the prices are below a certain sum, viz. 50§, Another)' recommends, tliat the bounty on exportation shall be double the additional duty on the home-comsumption ; as the sugar con- sinned at home is double the quantity of that which is exported. The Committee, in their report of July 24, 1807, recommended an increase of bounty; and that for every 2^. that sugar falls in price below 80f t m I i iFMIIJf: 104 ment, while our debt is great, and war adds to our expences. If a market for exported sugars could be gua- ranteed, then some such proposals might be listened to, and that of Mr Lowe would be preferable ; as " an additional duty of 3^. per cwt. on home-consumption, will supply a fund ade- quate to the payment of fully 6s. per cwt. on exportation ; because the quantity consumed is double the quantity exported,'* page 66. But, as the present precarious state of our Colonies will not admit of experiments, or uncertainties^ any more than it will admit of delays, so I am afraid that these proposals must not be trusted to as adequate to the relief required. What will it avail to add 3^. duty per cwt. on the quantity consumed at home, to be returned by double that amount in bounty on sugar exported, if the price of sugar do not rise, and if a market be not found to which we can export ? for it is ad- mitted that " *were sugars not to rise, this duty like all the late duties would be a dead loss to the Planter;" and who can say that they will rise ? This would only hasten the Planter's ruin; fqr if the duties have already been increased so * J-owe's Inquiry, page 67 . I war adds to 105 high, as to have greatly injured the Planters, no risk sh^>uld be run of adding to their burthens. If I^v. per cwr. be added to tlie duties on tlic home-consumption, with the intention of return- ins; it by 6s. per cwt. on the exportation ; and, after all, the ports of Europe should continue to be effectually shut against British produce, the experiment will be fatal. We lay on 3^. per cwt. absolurely, it mnst be paid. We offer 6y. pet cwt. bountv, hut it may never be received : for what avails it. to offer .jiducements to export, if all the ports of Europe are shut against you ? and even though s me sugir were to be ex- ported ; yet, if the proportion exported be not one-third of all our West- Indian produce, the 6,1. per cwt. bounty will not cover the Ss. per cwt. duty ; and instead of being paid on the whole, or even a part, it is not likely to be paid on any ; as the policy of our Enemy is our total exclusion from Europe. But, tro.ss ot dini'rcnt Islands is un.ujual, because the duiios on the produce ot d' ^icnt Islands are unecjual ; so the mode of re. niusi be varied accordingly; or equal relief \\ ill not be afforded. The Island of Rarbadoes, and nil ihe Lee- ward Charribee Islands, pay a duty of four- and-half per cent, on their produce in these Colonies i and, notwithstanding, they do not pay ]ess duties in Great Britain than the produce of those other Islands that do not pay any colonial Duty at all. In consequence of the inequality of these Colo- nies in respect of the four-and-half per cent, duty paid on produce in the Island, all those Colonies, that pay this impost, have been more and more unprosperous for some years past. Purchasers of sugar-estates prefer those Islands in which no such duty is paid ; because those Islands get a profit of four-and-half per cent, upon their crops, whenBARBADOEsand the Leeward Islands, by paying the four-and-half per cent, colonial duty, get nothing : and, of course, it is only when the exempted Islands make more than four-and- half per cent, profit upon their crops, that the taxed Islands make so much above nought. I !: ^ 107 ;illy di'-triVnitcd .^ss ot din'i'R'iit diiiios on the unocju.'il ; so 1 accordingly i d nil llie T.EE- ' a dutvoi four- ducc in tlu^sc hey do not pay the produce of ay any colonial ,r of these Colo- " per cent, duty those Colonies, nore and more Purchasers of in which no Islands get a >on their crops, ARD Islands, cent, colonial it is only when than four-and- rops, that the above nought. Unt whon prices become so low, that even those Islat'ds, \\!iich arc exempted froin tiie tour-and- half per cent, do not get even a common inte- rest for their capital, but are linking every day, then Barbadgi'S, anc' the Leeward Islands, must be four-andhall per cent, worse, than the ruined state to which even the other Islands are reduced ! But in a stiH worse state is the island of Tri- nidad, which n(-t oniv pays three- ami'lialf per ce:.t. upon its own produce, but also upon such pro'luce of South America as, when bartered for British manufactures, is exported to Great Bri- tain ; besides, that all the imports, whether British manufactures or provisions, also pay ihy'ec-a)nl-luitf per cent : so that, this impost is equal to a duty of xevcn per cent, as it is paid both upon exports and imports. The glaring impolicy of a duty upon our own manufactures, and the oppression of it upon the agriculture of such an important, though infant settlement, is fully exposed by its eflects there, as demonstated in the * account of that Island, That such a tax has been continued so long, is the more astonishing ; as it appears, that not a * Vide Political Account of Trinidad, page 68, ct seq. liil •'■ * A I ' iSl i ' i i 1 , 'f 'ill ■"- m Ik 108 shlllinfj of it has gone into the treasury of Great Britain : and if, as Mr. Brougham states it, out of ^326,529 sterling, the total value collected of the four-and-half per cent, no more than ^140,032 is paid into the Exchequer*, it is not to be expected that even so much as tliat pro. portion of the seve?i per cent in Trinidad can have been expended in that Colony. For if, where there arc proper persons, as in Great Bri- tain, to examine into the expence of collecting, fees. Sec. considerably more than one-half of the whole amount collected is squandered away, or never reaches the Exchequer, have we not a right to conclude, that a much greater propor- tion of that sum which is collected in Trinidad, upon the imports and exports, has not been ap- plied to the useful purposes of the Colony; where there arc no examining officers, or auditors of accounts, to repress the extravagance, or check the frauds and impositions, which are generally carried on to a shameful extent, even under the very eye of suspicious inspection, and in the very tests of authorized investigation. That the duties alluded to are not so produc. tive as they ought to be, and would be, were they laid on and levied by the representative Colonial Policy, Vol. i, p. 552. f ■' 109 Assemblies of the Colonics, and expended for tlie benefit of the Colonies by those who impose them, is evident from the statements of Mr Brougham, as well as known to ourselves. The four and-half per cent, which is said to be cxpen('*?d in the service of the Colonies, ought to be strictly applied to the cxpences of illose Colonies, alone, in which that duty is levied, I do not agree with the author of " Colonial Policy," in his strictures upow Mr Burke's in- veighing against the division of this fund : for it matters not whether this fund be applied to the payment of pensions like Mr Burke's, or the expences of Colonies that do not contribute to it. The hardship on the Colonies is, that the amount of the four-and-half per cent, duty levied in them, is not expended upon them, but on those Colonies that contribute nothing to the four-and-half per cent. fund. Certainly, if the four-and-half percent, which is collected in each island, were expended on each of those islands, only, in which it is col- lected, it would defray the expences of those islands, which the Colonists are now obliged to provide for otherwise, besides paying the four- and-half per cent; while other Colonies have a part of their expences paid, out of the four- and-half per cent, fund, though they contribute ! 51 t ilif I 1 l!' iP i 1 1 'Mi • I i ' ■ 1 1 ^ .i 111 'i n i \ *;. lil L'ttll 1 ■ 1 '■ 1 .1 1 Mil I lio nothing townrds it. It onj^fit to be so arranged, that, at least, each Colony should raise the means to pay its own expences ; rather thr?i that the expenc<"s of the one should be paid by the contributions of the other : as is the cate with Granada the Bahamas, Berrrudas, and others, that do not contribute to the four-and-half pef cent. fund. After what has been stated it must be evident thatjusti^-^ demands in the relief to be applied to the distressed state of the Planters, a proper consideration, as to the greater degree of relief by decrease of duty or addition of bounty, which the Colonists require, who pay the four- and-half per cent, duty, above that degree of relief, which may be sufficient in those islands, that do not pay any colonial duty. But there is another hardship which I think also requires consideration in respect of the duties upon sugar. The duty is not now pM ad valorem, but upon the quantity; so that bad sugar pays a greater duty, in proportion to its price, than good sugar. I know that there has been much discussion upon this point at the meetings of West-India Proprietors and Merchants at the London Ta- Ill vern, and that mnr^- ingenuity has been exer- ci<;f"(i upon thv' question, by f/tof^e who possess; or have mortgages upon, or are otherwise co?i' cerned rvif.h plantations in our ancient Colonics^ in ordL-r to raise objections to the principle of duties ad valm-em. Not having any thing of the sort to bias my mind, and tlierofore taking an impartial view of the subject, I cannot help perceiving th. hard- ship of the case, which the owners of estates in new Colonies labor under. That I have not neglected the interests of the old Colonies is evident from what I have stated relative to the four-and-half per cent ; it is only fair, then, that I should propose for consider- ation, the peculiar hardship which the new Colonies in our possession labor under, in pay- ing a duty on their inferior sugar, equal to that which the higher- priced sugar ot the old islands pays. It is an incontrovertible fact, tHat any spe cific quantity of bad sugar is manufactured, and appears at market at a greater expence than the same quantity of good sugar. The quantity of liquor received from plant- canes, is greater than the quantity received from M? 112 f I ill I ':^ > [yt S> I tlie rattoon-canes; more especially in the new sugar Colonies, where the land is rich, and the rains very frequent during a great part of the year. But this great quantity of liquor does not pro- duce so much sugar, as the same quanfihj of liquor from either plants or rattoons in long-cul- tivated islands : and as it requires a greater quantity of temper-lime, its colour is as inferior as its body; and therefore it is less marketable ; while, at the same time, more animal labor is requisite to cut, carry, and grind the canes necessary to produce any quantity of such sugar, than the same quantity of sugar, of a finer quality, from canes in the old sugar Colonies. And, to boil this inferior liquor into sugar, more fuel is also necessary : wliicli is a consideration of great moment in any manufactory : add to all this, that when this inferior, sugar, at double the ex- pence of labor, is manufactured ; any quantity of it in value requires double the expence of casks, cartage, porterage, storeage, freight, in- surance, &c. &c. that the same quantity in value of finer sugar requires; and as the duties are now paid, such inferior sugars pay double the amount of duty upon their value; because, accorling to their value, they are double the quantity of the same value of finer sugars. 113 The error of this system must be very evident, and the hardship very great upon our new sugar- plantations, after encouraging by conquest, the investing of large British capitals in the culti- vation of new lands : and all the ingenuity and sophistry of those gentlemen, who have an in- terest in ruining the nezv, from a possession of property in the old Colonies, will not destroy my conviction, that a duty ad valorem is the most equitable, and ought to be a principle con- sideration in the equality of relief to be afforded to the Planters. Onc of the means of relief to the Planter has been proposed in a reduction of the duty on rum ; and it is stated, that this " would relieve the Planter without loss to the revenue ; which would be indemnified by an increarsed consump- tion of that spirit." As a friend to the cause of morality, I would not recommend a reduction of the duty on rum in order to increase the consumption of that spirit. That would be an unwise and wicked expedient indeed. I l^now not any thing upon a parallel with it j excepting the measure of supplying the slaves in the West Indies with arms and ammunition by the hands of the !■: [\}\\ :-ir >. I i > ..■ •1 . y ! -..'t r j-j;. I I fill ,. » i 114 American through the medium of St Domingo, To reduce the duty on rum would be to debauch the morals, and destroy the constitutions of some millions of our labouring people, in order to indemnify the revenue in the relief of the Planters. No, the use of rum instead of brandy in our whole navy and army, would very con- siderably benefit the Planter, without doing in- jury in any other direction : and, certainly, justice towards the Planter, and policy towards our enemy, ought to induce us to use the pro- duce of our own plantations, rather than the produce of the country of our enemy. The introduction of sugar into our breweries and distilleries, by the prohibition of the use of grain, is recommended by some, as another mean of affording temporary relief to the Colo- nists ; as well as a mean of consuming the future additional quantity of sugar; the increasing production of which, our late erroneous system of conquest and colonization has encouraged. This measure has its opponents among the British land-holders ; and is decidedly objected to in the report of the Distillery- Committee, Fe- bruary 17, 1807. But I am satisfied, that the eftect upon the land-holder will not be such as is apprehended; and so far as that evil is the only objection, the measure may be adopted with safety. I do not see, that the relief it would 115 afford to the West-India Planter would be only ** at the expence'' of the British farmer ; for by taking off the restriction upon the exportation of flour to the Colonies, the farmer would not be discouraged in the growth of grain j as he may grow wheat instead of barley : and this encou- ragement for the growth of wheat would ren- der the danger of famine less likely to occur even at home : and certainly, it would not be any more unjust to\^»irds the land-holder, to en- force the use of sugar in our breweries and dis- tilleries, by prohibiting the use of grain in them, in order to feed our fellow-subjects in the Colo- nies; than it was, to enforce that measure ia order to feed our fellow-subjects in the parent- state, when scarcity threatened us with fa- mine. t' The farmer might then export his grain in the form of flour, to feed the Planters and their labourers, to the amount of 431,504 barrels of that article, which they are now obliged to pro- cure from America ; on whom they are there- fore dependent for food. But at present, our farmers are prohibited by statute from exporting more than thirty-two thousand barrels of flour, because our own consumption will not allow, with safety, of a greater exportation ; least scarcity at home should be the consequence. And I 2 ;u ! Ik r"? !^; ; H I 116 as a proof, that under our present state of agri- culture, we are unable to allow of a greaier exportation than by statute is allowed, it is shewn, that during ten years, Great Biitain supplied the Colonies annually with only 1570 barrels of flour. " Whereas, the quantity of bread-flour required by our Colonists and garri- sons in the West Indies, and actually furnished in the year 1 803 by the United States of Ame- rica exclusively amounted to 431,504 barrels of flour and meal!"* According to the calculation of the author of " Concessions," the import of the British Colo- nies 'Vom America, may be computed as equal to 300,000 quarters of grain. And, he calcu- lates, that the use of sugar in the breweiies and distilleries, by the prohibition of the use of grain in them, will leave " 360,000 quarters of "wheat applicable to the subsistence of the peo- ple,"f in the West Indies. If this prohibition could, as certainly and as beneficially succeed with our Colonies, as it would in the case of scarcity at home, it would have several other good effects to recommend it, * Sir W. Young's Common-Place-Book, p. 137. t *' Concessions, &c." p. 21. W: 117 besides feeding our Colonists: for it would pros- per our Planters to a certain degree, at the same time that it would feed their slaves : it would serve our ship-owners by promoting ex- portation ; and the encouragement of exporta- tion would promote the cultivation of grain ; which would provide for times of scarcity. But it appears, that the prohibition of grain in our breweries and distilleries, though it would afford the supply of such a great quantity of flour to our Colonists, would not sufficiently re- lieve them in the consumption of their sugars ; since according to the report of the Distillery- Committee, February 17, 1807, *' it does not appear probable that more than 12,000 hogs- heads of sugar, even at the reduced prices (therein stated,) would be taken out of the market, by the permission being given at this time to the distillers to use that article in their trade ; even if the use of grain were entirely prohibited." It is true, that as one of the means for con- suming the additional quantity of our West- India produce, which requires a market to an amount so much greater than formerly j the pro- hibition of the use of grain in fermented liquors will have a sensible effect, though not to half I 3 Hi ■ ... :; . I. ^' ir 118 the amount necessary ; for it appears, that be- sides the one-third of West-India produce which used to be exported, an additional quantity of 30,000 hogsheads annually produced, requires, either an additional home-consumption, or an additional exportation in future, independent of the immediate relief required. And it is con- sidered, that, " * the sugar-market is to expect a proportion of influx from Trinidad, from To- bago, from St Vincent, from Granada, and above all, from Jamaica." Ill exposing the insufficiency of relief as arising from the greatly-increased production of sugar, I do not hold out an objection to the in- troduction of it into our breweries and distil- leries : on the contrary, it is an additional proof of the absolute necessity of adding that expe- dient to every other measure that can be devised to promote the market for our surplus sugar; and therefore, that it ought to be adopted along with the temporary relaxation of the colonial monopoly, as well as a bounty upon sugar ex- ported to the continent of Europe : for as the relief of this increased home-consumption will only be partial j and the effect of bounties on exportation, and a more liberal intercourse with sir W. Young, p. 24. 119 America must, from the politics of Europe, be uncertain ; it is absolutely necessary, to adopt all these measures with a view to some degree of immediate and certain relief; and there is no doubt, although the opening of the European markets is necessary to the full prosperity of our Colonies, that an increase of the home-consump- tion, and allowing the Americans to take a part of our surplus sugar, will avert the present dan- ger which threatens the Colonies. But, however beneficial the expedient of using sugar in our breweries and distilleries would be to the Planter, in the consumption of his produce; the attempt to supply him wholly with provisions, either from Great Britain, or the British provinces in America, will be found to be impracticable, and particularly in time of war. How can we spare provisions to the Colo- nies under our present agricultural state, when our market offers a constant sale for American provisions? which would not be the case, if it were the fact that we produce even only enough for our home-consumption: * and that we do not * Great Britain does not in all seasons grow corn sufficient for the subsistence of its own inhabitants." — Sir W. Young, p. 92. " We see Great Britain, notwithstanding all the improve- ments in agriculture, at present unable to supply the demand I 4 ':\i ;^' 120 ii^ m lliw: \, > ■t li" produce that sufficiency is evident, because we are obliged occasionally to give bounties to en- courage the importations of flour and rice.* But even if we could be satisfied, that by the prohibition of grain in breweries and distilleries, mid also by an increased cultivation of grain in neio inclosures of our waste-lands, a sufficient supply could be spared for the subsistence of the Colonists, yet such an attempt would be attend- ed with very great difficulties, arising from the circumstances of large and numerous cargoes ariving in great fleets, after long delays in wait- ing for convoys. Every intelligent mind must be sufficiently aware of the precarious nature of such supplies, as the effect of glutted markets at one time, and starving scarcity at another; the former state so lowering the prices as to involve the English shippers in such disappointments, if not even ruin, as to prevent future consignments i V. wants, harrass the Colonists by machinntions among the negroes. And what should we not have -to apprehend from the srate of discontent which could so easily be excited among them when ready to sink under the pressure of ** tabor icithoiU reivard,'^ and hunger without food, Kut while I point out the difficulties which attend the supplies from Great Britain, I do not mean to object to the attempt of supplying the Colonies with European provisions. I only in- tend to deter those who would be too sanguine in their expectations, that the mother-country could whollij feed her West Indians. In time of war such a resource for supplies is not at all to be depended upon -, but in tip*e of peace, much may be done to render the Colonies independent of the United States ; and it might be done with great advantage to Great Britain : for Ireland can supply all the beef and pork, and New- foundland, with the home-fisheries, could furnish all the fish necessary for the Negroes. And cer- tainly the flour that could be spared by the use ot sugar in our distilleries, would, by the occa- sional supplies in single ships during peace, go a great way towards the subsistence of our Plant- ers. But on the occurrence of war all the diffi- culties will recur J and we shall still find the , I ! ii i? iill 123 necessity of other co-operating means of pro- ducing a more certain dependence, than a total reliance either on Great Britain or the United States. There are sanguine minds, that turn, with great expectations, towards our provinces in America. But I apprehend, that little relief is to be received from that part of the world im- mediately : and even when, by great encourage- ment, the raising of provisions shall become considerable ; still there will be less dependence, than perhaps, in any other resource that can be mentioned. From Sir William Young's Reports, we have several convincing proofs. — The exportation of sugar and rum from the West Indies to the British Northern provinces, was in 1803, less than one-eighth of the former, and one-fifth of the latter of those articles exported from the West Indies to the United States. But as to the supply of flour immediately; the Canadas cannot even supply Newfoundland with enough of bread-flour: and therefore it was, that the 25th George III. C. 1, was passed, to H H ■ N *V ;i ti [I -1 f V.-5 f H> •I ■ ^ii S. !' :\ 124 admit from the United States the necessar}- supply of fluur for Newfoundland*. And in 1788, instead of supplying the West Indies, Nova Scotia could not spare staves enough for the use of Newfoundland : and in consequence, 25,500 staves were exported from the West In- dies to that settlement to pack the fishf. By the returns of 1793, and 1803, it appears, that the British Northern provinces may produce a large proportion of plank and fir; but that staves will always be very deficient J. He also demonstrates that West-Indians must prefer the trade of the United States to that of Nova Scotia ; because the population of this last will not take off enough of West- Indian produce : besides, that the voyage is longer and more perilous ; and that frost lays a certain embargo during many months of every winter. But, when the impossibility of conveying the supplies from that country to the West Indies during the winter-months is urged, the case of our supplying our wants in England from the Baltic during the summer-months is given as an answer; and that we could do so too from Canada during the months when there is no ice. * Sir W. Young, p. 1 1 8. t Ibid. + Ibid. p. 1 22. 125 Though this argument is good as it relates to the Baltic and England, it will not hold good in the case of Canada and the West Indies, We do MOt import grain from the Baltic in summer, to use it in winter when the frost prevents our bringing it from the Baltic ; but we consume it as we import it, while the grain of our own country is growing ; and our own crops supply us in winter, when we cannot get it from the Baltic. This is not the case with the Canadas and the West Indies ; where they do not grow grain in one part of the year to be used in the other. So that, if Canada could supply the West Indies in summer, when her waters are open, what would the West Indians do in winter, when the Ca- nadas are frozen up ? But even if Canada could supply, in summer, as much provisions as would feed the West- In- dians both summer and winter, it would not answer ; for in a warm and moist climate, like the West Indies, provisions wouH not keep so long. - » Even under the circumstance of the present frequency of supplies from the United States in small quantities, trifling delays in the voyage, or m\ II' t rMr I ' n V- i'26 4, 'i i,^' it:. \ li H \ '' ' ^^ i ,r\mi >\ ■ ■ I I :< in the sale after arrival, so materially damage the cargoes of these perishable articles, as to hurt their price, and even render them unfit for use. Nor will such an uncertain trade be worth the attention of the persons who might engage in it under the high expence of war-freights, of war- insurance, of war-wages, and of the other ex- pences of navigation in war-time ; which would add so much to the price of every article used on estates, that the loss of the Planter in that way, would be almost as ruinous as the present depriciated price of his produce : and the evil is equally to be dreaded, whether it arise from the low price of sugar, or the high expence of pro- ducing it. If, then, we can resort with ad- vantage to our British provinces in America only during peace, recurring to other resources for supplies during war ; those Colonists will never find it answer, to cultivate for our West-India Islands at one period, when the uncertain events of another period may prevent the disposal of their crops. But how short-sighted are those, who calculate upon raising our West-India supplies in the Bri- tish provinces in America ; or how forgetful are they of the probability of losing those possessions altogether, in the event of a war with the United States ? which is the very event that those pro- ' I 127 vinces are supposed, by some, to be capable of providing against. When it is recollected, that the French have numerous connexions in those provinces ; and that while an American army would not require a naval force, ?.nd fleets of transports, to convey them to the scene of action ; we could not have any force there to defend our possessions, but by those very means, which would be ex- cluded by nature a great part of every year: how can we imagine that the American Go- vernment would neglect the immediate conquest of them ; which could be so readily accomplish- co, by the numerous army that might easily be poured in upon them ? And should we, in the mean time, relying upon those provinces, not provide any other source of supplies ; in such an event, from whence conld we derive food for our Colonies* ? 'I V I • '• To insist that the Colonists and their Negroes In our Islands, should be dependent for their provisions exckisively on the British provinces in America, would be to lay a direct em* bargo on their subsistence, and to endanger not merely trade aiul produce, but the very root and stock of all, — the main- teijancc and safety of our people throughout the Islands !" page 1 19. " No benevolent man, no considerate statesman, no friend to his Country and its Colonies, will require that they should 1 1, 'i' , 128 Having now considered the various measures which have been reco»rjmended for adoption, in order to relieve the Colonies imrnediately ; I will recapitulate those which will most certahily^ as well as most immediately, avert the impending ruin with which they are threatened. 1 1 Each writer upon this subject has had one favorite proposal to recommend and support : but I have endeavoured to show, that a total reliance upon any one of them, will be succeeded by disappointment ; as neither of them are ade- quate to the relief that is required. And our Colonies are not in a situation to admit of risking the events of uncertain experiments : and de- Jay will be still more dangerous than incerti' tude. I 'I \A % But why should we wish to confine ourselves to one mean of relief, only for the sa^ e of say- ing, that the plan has the merit of simplicity. It is true, that nature never does by two causes what can be as well done by one : but, like na- ture, we must deviate from this rule occasionally : and the present is an occasion, on which all the means, that can be used together, will not be depend for provisions, that is for food and life, on supplies to be furnished exclusively by and from the British provinces in Americ?i." page 1 20. — Sir fV. Young. d ii 129 viore than powerful enough, if they will be even sufficicuf, to remove the great and various diffi- culties, which the present peculiar politics of the World have thrown upon us. The MEANS that maybe immcdialeh) resorted to, and with a certainti} of relief, are the fol- lowing : 1st. Relax our colonial monopoly to Ame- ricans bringing only certain enumerated articles of food ; restricting the return-cargoes of West- Indian produce, to the colonial value of their cargo of American supplies. 2d. As the first means would not take off enough sugar to relieve he Planter of his sur- plus produce; introduce sugar into our distilleries by prohibiting the use of grain therein. I would not recommend the introduction of sugar into our breweries ; because it would not merely make a less palatable, but also a less salutary beer. Its strong disposition to fermentation would ren- der it injurious to health ; and-would prevent the exportation of those quantities of beer which we now send to nil parts of the world : for it would become, like the American porter made from molasses, ro/;y, and unfit for use, before it could reach its place of destination. Not t;; use it in K ^i I. i ' / :■ '*. :a' J30 beer would also less alarm the land-fiokler; and as it would also less relieve the West- India Planter, — A 3d. means would be the more fclr, in suit- able bounties given for the encouragement of ex- ports to any markets of Europe, that may be, or remain open. But, as all the Islands are not equally situated in respect of colonial duties, lot the sugars of those Islands onlij that pay the fuur- and-half per cent, receive the bounty on expor- tation : and this measure will perform the justice of most relieving those who are most oppressed j without making any difference to the govern- ment, or reducing its revenue. And, also, as there is another inequality in the circumstances of the Colonies, in repect of the value of their sugars ; let the duties be collected in England ad valurenty and then the duties will be felt more equally by all. 4th. Let Rum be used in the whole of our Navy and Army ; Jind lay such duties upon Brandj/ as will amount to a prohibition of its importation : but do not lesscii the duties on rum ; both because it would injure the revenue, and promote bad habits among the vulgar. Rather increase the duty on the private consumption of .rum to indemnify government in the payment of I I'ii vn ' ':\^^ 131 :i-!iokler; and West- India ? felt, in suit- igemcnt of ex- lat may be, or slands arc not mial duties, let t pay the fuur- unty on expor- brm the justice lost oppressed; to the govern- And, also, as ; circumstances p value of their I in England ad \\ be felt more bounties on sugar ; and the increased consump- tion of 7??//?? in the Navy and Army will still give great relief to the Planter. 5th. Take off the restriction upon the exporta- tion of flour to the Colonies. As the bounty on fish from Newfoundland has already produced a good supply in the West Indies, — 6th. Give a bounty on other salt provisions, and 01 flour and meal, from the British North- American provinces. All these six means w^ould give our Colonists an immediate, a safe^ and a certain relief. But they may be thus divided, as to the necessity of their duration. w I whole of our h duties upon ohibition of its duties on rum; c revenue, and mlgar. Rather consumption of the payment of 1. Relaxation of the colonial mo-^ nopoly. 2. Bounty on sugars exported. r;. Bounty on articles from British northern provinces. To be conti- >• nued only du- ring war-time. K2 1 iii v> i ^ ,.cnt. 1S2 1. The use of sugar in our distillc-'' rics. 2. Tlic removal of restriction upon the exportation of Hour to the '. 7^ i^^ pcnm" Coloniesj and also upon oats and beans. 3. The use of rum instead of bran- dy in our whole Navy and Army.^ Therefore the three last means, although enu- merated among those for immediate relief, also be- long to the plan jor permanent relief : but their operation alone, will be insufficient to produce our independence of the continent of America : which we ought to establish against the occur- rence of difficulties in future wars ; and most especially against the events of a war with the United States. i I \-i:' 1": Towards tbe plan for the pfrmanent sup- port of the tVest Indies, proposals have been already made. Mr Farquhar, it seems, has anticipated Captain Layman, in the public proposal to prevent the evils of decrease in the number of West-India labourers, as a conse- quence of the abolition of the slave-trade, by the importation and settlement of Chinese : and 133 - 'i To bo pcrma' both of these gentlemen, particularly tlie latter, have communicated so much good information upon the subject, that, at least, as ouc of the means, a f;iir trial ought to be given to it, in f/ie plan for jwrniaiu nf relief : but, like those which have been recommended for immediate and /ef?i/)ora?y nlief, the ( Jiim'se plan is too precarious to be solelij depended upon. In stating the suggestions which arise from my notice of these publications, I shall be \i:d to my own train of thoughts upon the plan for per- maneut. relief; but the subject is so extensive and so fertile, that more than an outline will be beyond my powers : — the finish must be per- formed by a more able hand. Until my last communications from the West Indies, I entertained sanguiie expectations of seeing a great aid given to the plan for permanent relief, in tlic ado])tion of the recumniendarions of those who would introduce the Ciiiuesc peo- ple to cultivate the West Indies. But those who planned nnd executed the scheme, ^o far as it went, ought to have been made to "io-,v, that it is not only necessary to the success of the plan, that eacli importation of Chinese people, should, after arrival in the island, be kept to- gether to work in one body j or if too nume- K3 ' f! r ',." f I- 1 , I ^1 t ' ' 1 > i .:i , i f - ^ f ■ ■; ,i p ' 1 ■ ; , ' ' ■ ■ i, ' ■ < nil I * Oil I: '' : ii 1 ' \ i 1 it' 134 1 '■ !« I "J ,*, . <| i 7 ■ i I. I'lM'ii^^ rous for one gang, that at least they should be settled together in the same part of the country; but, also, that instead of being left to the direc- tion of the Planters, who consider it their best plan to make every measure fall that is different from the one so long in practice, in order that the means of continuing the old plan may be again resorted to, the Chinese people ought not to have been at all in their power ; but ought to have been employed upon a lot of land be- longing to Government, which Colonel Ru- therford, the Si(rveyor-Gcneral, caused to be cleared and planted with provisions in a very healthy situation near Arima: and had that Offi- cer beer in the Island at the time of their ar- rival, he would, no doubt, have recommended this measure. There they might have been employed under the inspection of persons who would not have considered themselves interesled in tJieJailure of the scheme : and these labourers might have re- imbursed Government, by raising provisions for the use of the troops, as well as Rice for their own use: for the upland rice is cultivated to ad- vantage in Trinidad by the few who have been wise enough to try it : and there can be no doubt of the possibility of raising the lowland or swamp rice, where there are such swamps. K4 ifi '■ i ■' (I if; 135 By lluis keeping them togctlicr, and allowlnoj them to work or l)e idle, at such times, and in such manner, as mij^ht best please themselves, provided they did but perforin the quantity of work allotted to the whole gang, they would have been contented, and would have worked : but to insist upon their working in a manner contrary to their customs, and in any weather, fair or foul, is too rigid and arbitrary a plan to succeed with any human beings, excepting the poor Africans; whose spirits must be first broken by chains on-board ship, and the cart-ivhip after their arrival, before the few who survive such treatment, can, with advantage, be reduced to " passive obedience." It is not only necessary, that these Chinese Colonists should be associated in their labour; but also, that Bafavian cultivators of cane, and manufacturers of sugar, who un- derstand their language, manners, and disposi- tions, should be introduced with them. .i!V It is unreasonable to expect, that they will succeed, either when placed at work with people so different as the Negroes are, in a'most every human characteristic ; or under the management of persons, who in general have no notion of any mode of managing but one ; and that, in- deed, too often uubuccesstul even with the Ne- groes. Besides, that by introducing the Batavian K4 I t i'f.3 \ i 13G v • ii fi \ i ill ■ 1 •■ ' 1 'iB cultivators and manufacturers of su'^ar, tlic pro- cess might be carried on at that very low expence at which it is done in Batavia ; but which coulJ never be introduced Iw any man who had not been tauglit the art in that country. Bntnvi'.m implements of husbandry should also be brouiijht with the people : and, certainly, as ?nafn/ Chinese zvomen as 77ien ought to be obtained; and all the other particulars of Captain Layman's plan, should be seriously considered, as they mav be carried into effect with safety, and with every prospect of success. The ill success of the attempt in Trinidad must be attributed to the want of proper prepa- ration for their reception, and proper plans for their commencmg operations. It ouglit not to deter government from adopting a better plan in future : and a time of peace will be more favor- able for the attempt, as Government will then be able to devote a proper attention to an object of so great magnitude. As the value of the labor oi free labourers must be an object of great consideration in that part of the plan for f)tnna>ietd relkj and support by means of such free labor in the West Indies j J37 Captain Layman's calculations, nnd rotiiniks, conic properly under our contcniplatatiou in this place. lie has calculated, that, at the original cost of ^XbO sterling the annual cost of a slave is j[\i stcrliiiii: : * " but as the annual number of work- ors, i. e. able-bodied men and women, is not computed, even on a well-conducted plantation, to exceed one-third of the whole number on the estate, the owner is at the expencc of maintain- ing three persons to obtain the labour of one, at an apparent annual charge of jL 12 : but with every allowance for the work of negro-artificers, the labor of boys and girls, 8<:c. at an actual charge of not less than X28." He also calculates the expence of breeding a slave at^KO^ and hence concludes, in favor of what is said to be " proved from experience ;" that, " the expence of the labor of purchased slaves, enormous as it has been for the last seven years, is cheaper than that of negroes bred upon plantations." Captain Layman calculates, upon the evidence delivered to the Lords Committee of the Council, * Capt. Layman's plan for cultivation and defence of the West hidies, page 1 4'. I l« ': If I 1 138 '■* I ■ ;>l J R h ■ ' v> r'-'li ./!:i ^'»i. V iSs ns to " the avcrajrc-duration of the laborina; period of a slave's life:" but a long residence in the West Indies and an immediate interT course with Planters, has convinced me, that, as it is their interest to represent favorably the state of new slaves, and the success in preserving them, in order to weaken the objections very justly made to the slave-trade ; so their repre- sentations are to be taken with great allowance for their partiality. I am of opinion that the average-duration of the laboring period of a new slave's life, may be more fairly stated at ten years, than at six- teen : for the greatest mortality among the Afri- can slaves in the West Indies is within the first five years after their importation : and, of the number that die in that time, the majority die in the second and third years: and of the pro- portion that survive five years, the period of labor is to be considered less by the time in which indulgence is necessary to be shewn to them immediately after importation, as well as during the time in which they are suffering under dis- seases by which creole-slaves are seldom afflicted. And even those that survive five years, do not reach the old age of Creoles : for that imbe- cility which comes on only gradually with creolc- '■ ;* 139 of the laborin? nge, arrives prematurely in the case of the friendless African. I am therefore satisfied, that by adding the cost of those who die to that of the survivors, whioh is the most fair mode of calcnIatinG: the price which they cost in the accounts of the plantation ; and by dividing the sum by ten years, instead of sixteen ; " the expence of the labor of purchased slaves" will far exceed the expence of ^100 ;* which is calculated as the expence of breeding a slave : and in so much is the abolition of the slave-trade justifiable even where the Planters themselves would oppose it. And, instead of " the expence of hired slave-labour being still more considerable," it is not more than the outside sum at which the labor of the able-bodied slave is calculated, on those estates where only one-third of the whole gang are workers. ■ i.\ seldom afflicted, /e years, do not for that imbe- ally with crealc- It is true, that a porter-negro will earn a dollar per day, but that is not a certain employ- ment : and negroes employed on public ivorks will earn sixteen dollars per month. But these are not fair cases for a calculation of hired negro- labor in general, and much less for agricultural jabor. *■ Captain Layman's Outline, &c. p. 17. MO I ' . < I hiii..t i' 1 ■tu n '•(;'■ IJi f.-ii 'I r ii AVIiat can be clone on plantations with gangs of hired negroes, all being able-boil/cd, is the case for consideration. I know not as to Ja- maica, but in the Windward and Leeward Cha- ribbee Islands gangs of working-negroes may be hired for the field at the rate of four to six dollars per month: and in those Colonies in which labor is the highest, not more than eight dollars are given ; to which sums, must be added, the expence of feeding and medical attendance. Now, taking the greatest of these sums, viz. eight dollars per month, at 4s. Sd. the dollar, we have ^22 8.s'. per annum j and adding the sum which is allowed * for even clothing, as well as food and medicine, which is Jj4 4s. the whole annual hire of a laborer in the field is not more than J[26 ]2s. which is less than the annual hire of either a new slave or one bred in the Colonics, according to Captain Lav- man's calculation ; and XlO less than the calcu- lation he has given of the expence of hired slave-labor. But that those whose great interest it is to breed and raise young slaves may not be depressed by the calculations which are given of the expence of raising negro-children ; it must not be passed over, that some great mistake must have been made in charging the cost of * Captain Layman's Outline, &:c. j:. 13. 1 I 141 raising young negroes to :he age of twelve years, at £% per annum ; when the " expence of food, clothing, medical attendance, and contingen- cies *" of adults, is charged at no more than JEi' As. per annum. Here must be an inacu- racy. laves may not ^hich arc fjivcn Some authors who have written upon these subjects consider, that the maintenance ot one man is equal to that of four children : and a soldier's child is allowed the fourth of one man's rations in our own regiments. And even on those plantations, which are most liberally sup- plied with provisions never more than half the allowance of an adult is measured out for a child; which allowance there is no doubt is an abundance, if care be taken that it be food properly adapted for the nourishment of children. I cannot, therefore, understand how it can be made out, that the annual cost of raisins: a child to twelve vears of age can be double the sum which, it is allowed, is annually expended in the mamtenance of a working negro. This must be one of those partial representations which have been made to the Lord's committee of Council, to make the * Captain Layman's Outline^ p. 1 1. \ I If ' it ! MO I u. 1 tl! 'Til t^ m!^ 't..-.i «11I 142 comparison st. )ng, between the expence of raising and importing negroes, in order to favor the slave-trade* It is, however, too true, that the expence of raising children, however small, added to their incapacity for labor during several years, has prevented the value of children from being properly estimated. The lu^ or of an adult has been a certain gain to the slave-owner, while it is uncertain that the children may live to yield any profi .ble labor. Therefore the presmi labor of the moiner is preferred to the future inferior labor of the child. ! 1? % hi "t ' ii- .i vi. I i :«il('^l^ Yet in America, children at a very early age are capable of valuable labor, and arc cherished in order to be put forward in the habits of in- dustry, so as to assist in maintaining the family of which they are members. But in the West- Indies, hitherto, a woman with child got more curses than care when she was likely to increase her family ; for, by pregnancy and child-birth, her work was lost for a certain time. Instead of promoting the health nnd growth of the rising generation as a source of wealth to the owner, children were neglected and considered as an expence without a return of profit. lis A new order of things, introduced by tlie abolition of the slave-trade, will gradually in- duce a new sort of calculation upon these points, and new methods of economy : and we shall see, " that zvliat could n. t be gained from Im- waniti/y ivill be ivnuig from avarice.^' Women will be as valuable if not more so, than men ; particularly breeding-women will be most va- luable, where they were before least so : and on the very estates wliere children were the least valued before, they will be most che- rished now: for, the rising generations having been the most neglected on such estates, more exertions to encourage breeding will become nc- essary to keep up the stock ; and perhaps, the effect of all this will be, that, polygamy, which has not hitherto been prohibited, or at least not prevented, will now be even promoted and en- couraged; so that evils will arise even out of the ashes of those which will be destroyed. And thus it will islways be found, that a system originating in evil, cannot be easily, if ever, made to terminate in good. M . I 1' •■ i' But to conclude what I have to state upon tlie comparalive value\of labor. It is a fact, that as far as relates to the value of labor, pro- visions may be raised as cheaply in the West- Indies as in America ; for labor is about the same % ■M h' • i4i * price in both countries. It \s the value of lrni(!'■,( r ,1 i,'. I' : 1. ; ■ fittt Ml ff ,» l|i til '!■! f;;i ■w r '# 1^ ^ 1 ^ Ur' m 148 Slave-trade more cannot be produced, but ratbct tbe quantity will dccrrise ; and in twelve or fourteen years tbe gradudlly-mcreasing consump- tion v/ill require as fjiuch above tbe quantity now produced as will amount to, at least, our pre- sent surplus quantity. But before tbe expiration of even tbe first seven years, a jKvmancnl plan of relief may be carried into effect. The bigh price of provisions, or the low price of West- India pro- duce, or both happening at once, will induce the 'Planters to cultivate tbe provisions necessiuy for their use. A sudden privation of supplies from usual re- sources, could not however be quickly enough followed .by tbe adoption of means to avert the evils which would so suddenly succeed : there fore the Colonists must not in the mean time be abandoned to tbe evils which threaten them, while the temporary means of relief which have been proposed are in our power : nor would it be wise, nor is it necessary, to trust, for permanent relief, to tbe natural return of West-India affairs to their former level, while means may be adopt- ed with certainty and safety, which, added to tbe temporary relief, may confirm its benefits to tbe Colonists, and thereby bring about at an earlier period, and with less intervening sacrifice, that more prosperous state of the Colonies which ; 1^1 149 tliey once enjoyed ; and to vvhicli they m'njht \n- deed possihlt/ be restored, even by allowing, at the cost of great intervening sacrifice, that the present evUs should work out their own slow and expensive cure. Quitting, therefore, these unfeeling and lingering j)lans of cure by aban- donment, which must be fatal to some, even while others revive, I shall proceed with more consolatory consideration, to state, that. Upon the principie of permanent relief, sug- gestions for the cultivation of the Cape of Good Hope have also been submitted to the public. The fertility of the soil, and the facility of cultivating it by the use of the plough, added to the greater ease with which labourers might be procured and employed there, are facts which appear to favor this recommendation. But the distance from our West-India Colonies, and the uncertainty of supplies io war-time, with other objections that suggest themselves after ail that has been written upon those points, do not en- courage a reliance upon this proposal, as long as more certain and local means may be proposed : and more especially as fertility of soil, abundance of vacant lands, and the facility of using the plough, are advantages to be found more immediately among the Colonies requiring re- lief. L3 t I :; i "i , Is.:,; ! i' 1 I iik 150 mm '- It may be tlirown in as an objection here, that more lands cannot be cultivat^nl now, nor in future ; as the increase of labourers necessary for an increased cultivation is not to be found since the abolition of the slave-trade. I if iff ill' n % I regret, that I must acknowledge the validity of this objection to a certain extent, in conse- quence of the failure of two great means which I had calculated upon in the plan for that pe?'??! a ncnt relirf, which it is absolutely necessary to esta- blish, in order to render our Colonies inde- pendent of the United States. I mean the failure of the first attempt to colonize Trinidad "with C/iinese labourers ; and our disappointed scheme of establishing posts on the continent of Soiff/i America. But as it is evident, that the plan for a Chinese Colony in the West Indies has failed, only because it was not properly conduct- ed, and therefore we may expect a more judi- cious attempt will yet be made ; so I would still encourage a hope, that the unmerited neglect of General Miranda's services, and the causes of the failure of our attempts in the Rio de la Plata, will be taken into consideration, in due time, and under such favorable auspices, as yet to be pnductive of events, that may realize our grand views of commerce with the people of South Americas as well as to afford the means r. 151 of assisting in the cultivation of our "West-Indian Islands. If Government were serious in tlie plan of making an establishment upon the Continent of South America when the expedition against Buenos Ayres was undertaken, it could not have been more effectually promoted, than by assisting General Miranda at the same lime, to divert the attention of. the Spanish Covimandants, by his at- tack in the neighbourhood of the Caraccas ; and nothing could prove the feasibility of the project more than our first success at Buenos Avres, and the progress which Miranda made with his small force. And if General Beresford had been in- structed to give freedom to the people, as they proposed; and General Miranda had been sup- ported in his attack, by British forces, making the same proposal ; the whole Continent of South America would have been opened to our com- mercial view ; and the abolition of the slave- trade would never have been felt, in any defi- ciency of labour to cultivate our sugar-plantations. But, General Beresford was not iveli instructed ; and General IMiranda was not at ail supported ; and other circumstances conspiring, I am afraid the confidence must be much shaken, which is necessary to induce such an immense mass of people to permit any future innovations on our L 4 1-1 M . ' jl 1 1 ' !: 1 », 1 ' 1 ■ ■ ^ 1 1 ij Ml 152 part, whatever they may attempt themselves, Yet I am of opinion, that something might still be done by a proptrlii concerted plan, preceded hi/ pro- posals/or their emaficipation, instead of al tempi s to conquer tliein : and by making the attempt at many places at once, in order to distract the at- tention of the Governors of different districts. I ^ n i ,;, But, whether such attempts may be ever made again, or,*if made, succeed ; Labourers may be easily induced to go over to the Island of Trini- dad, where great numbers of Indians already go from the Continent, to clear lands, plant provi- sions, and cut canes for the sugar-mills. Jn a permanent plan for supplying the other Colonies with provisions, the Island of Trinidad merits the sprious attention, and fostering aid and protection of Government, Hitherto these harmless, docile people who arc called Peons ^ and are the peasantry of the South - American Continent, have not been encouraged, but have been rather deterred from the advantage which the extensive cultivation of now planta- tions offered to them, by too rigidly enforcing the militia- laiv^., upon those who ought rather to be allowed to come and go at their ease, when they have earned what satisfies them, and with ¥^ \^ I' ' 'i eni selves. Yet 153 which they would willingly return to their fami- liCvS on the Continent. 'I'his facility would pro- duce a constant succession of labourers ; and a mild and p^enerous t'eatment of them might in- tice great numbers of these valuable cultivators to emigrate from the country in which the Spa- nish yoke is almost intolerable : but such emi- grations are not to be expected, while, instead of the boasted liberty which they have looked for under the British flag, they have hitherto seen more intolerance than that, to which, from bcinjj habituated under a Spanish flag, they are more willing to submit, A higher value will now be set upon these labourers, since the abolition of the slave-trade; and, no doubt, suitable protection will be af- forded by government in future ; so that by en- couraging them to domiciliate in great numbers in Trinadad, ihey may be engaged, through their connexions there, to emigrate, i^ia Trini- dad, to the other islands, to assist in taking olT the crops, or to perform such labour upon plan- tations, as may be performed by fash; which is a mode of labouring best calculated for thtse people, who, like the Chinese, are not to be dtmen to work, but will do their Job at their pwn rate. i;. !• I n ' , : I ^iiii 154 In the encouragement of l!-ie Spanish Peons there are none of the difficulties attending the new colony of Cliinese. There are none of the great cxpences in their conveyance to the island : they defray that expence both going and re- turning. No stock of provisions is required to be collected for them : they are a hardy race, accustomed to the climate, and to the soil, from which they obtain all the food they require, excepting salt fish, of which they are very fond. They are frequently employed to build huts in preparation for newly-purchased negroes, and being very expert at this sort of building, they are never at a loss for habitations; but as they are more enured to the climate, habitations are less necessary to them, than to negroes; and therefore, in travelling they frequently swing their hammock from tree to tree, and, covering themselves with a blanket, repose till morning ; when they pursue their journey or their sport. Even negroes could not do this, and, I suppose, much less could the Chinese. 'I*. '^■}. The Peons are also accustomed to the same food that the negroes eat, and know, even better than the negroes, how to cultivate it. None of the precautions that are necessary in the introduction of the Chinese are requisite to a 155 be observed with tbe Peons. They are ac- cjuainted with the characters of the negroes, and do not hesitate to associate and to work with them ; nor do they seem averse to living separate ; nor is it at all necessary that they should ; for they may indulge their inclinations in that respect, as there are several Indian towns in which some hundreds of them associate , and there are nearly two thousand of these Indians already settled in Trinadad. All the difficulties of commencing coloniza- tion are overcome, and nothing is now needful, but by a just, wi^^, and liberal policy, to en- courage their emigration from the continent, t^* settle in such numbers in this island, as that they may in due time, if not greatly assist the cul- tivation of sugar in the other islands, at least be employed in raising part of the provisions to feed the negroes of each ColoFiy. r^ ed to the same id know, even to cultivate it. re necessary in are requisite to But, what I am convinced is practicable, they man ultimatcdij raise as much Jood in the island oj Trinadad, as would feed alt the negroes of our Windivard and Lenvard Charibbee islands, Jamaica excepted, which has vacant land enough to cultivate provisions for its own popula- tion. IS m •' . ii 'I \r ; . » r ',<\ HM ■I I ^;i ;/ 15(3 That this is possible with regard to provisions, need not be doubted; since Sir William Younrj* gives the following account of this island's ca- pacity. ** Trinidada, — if fully settled, might pro- duce a quantitxj of sugar equal to that of alt the other Windivard and Lezvard islands. It already returns 12,000 hogsheads." But it appears, that this island is already more productive than this statement makes it to be : for, the " Political Account of Trinidad," f repo.ts the crop of the year 1805, to be equal to 29,725,044 lbs. of sugar, which in hogsheads of 1 3 cwt. amounts to 22,865 hogsheads. This return, in proportion to the number of negroes, gives double th*^ quantity per negro, of the produce of Jamaica ; and one-sixth more^ than the most fertile of the Qther sugar-islands, viz. St Vincent. As a proof that this valuable island is capa- ble of becoming a sufficient provision-plantation for all the other islands belonging to Great Briv tain in the West Indies, it may be stated, be- sides that the productiveness of the soil is so great, there are about fijteen hundred thousand 'y\ * WcsL-India Common-Place-Book, p. 22. t Page, 100. .1 - r ■ i ■\k' : i 'ttfl' L J^ -J 157 acres of land in this island, all of which is capa- ble of cultivation, and therefore it is not difficult to calculate its capacities in the plan of providing the necessary food for our other Colonies. Of these fifteen hundred thousand acres, lots of land have been given, to private individuals, by the Spanish government, to the amount of 400 grants, each lot being upon an average 100 carecs, or 320 acres j the granted lands, therefore, in the whole, amount to about 128,000 acres. Nov; it appears from the reports of Sir W. Young, * that the lands in Jamaica which are cultivated in sugar, colT'ce, provisions, pasture, and pens, do not amount to more than 1 30,000 acres, of which not more than 105,232 acres are cultivted in sugar ; so that without granting any more lands in Trinadad to be cul- tivated in sugar than are already granted, Trini- dad may cultivate 13,980 acres in sugar ?nor€ than there are now cultivated in that article in Jamaica, even after allowing the same number of acres to be deducted from the whole, for provisions, pasture, and pens, as are cultivated for those purposes in , Jamaica : and then there will remain to be cultivated in the island of Trinadad, thirteen hundred and sc- I *■■ * Wcit-IiiJia Common-Plixc-Book, diap. 2 U ti'j i^ 1 ^ '!:y, '■\ ' ■ i ■ii , ! 1?' ■.'■ f 1 1 , m 158 vcnty-two thousand acres of the most fertile lands. To tills valuable Island then let us devote our serious attention, with :> view to that permanent relief wliich may render our Other Colonies in- dependent of America; after having taken the precautionary steps for their immediate and tem- porary relief. Those lands that are already in the possession of private individuals will be continued in their present state of cultivation by the negroes al- ready settled upon ihem, assisted by such labour- ers as can be procured, whether Indians of South America, Chinese, or other free labourers : and, excepting a few of the last-imported slaves, the necessity for preserving the health of negroes, since the abolition, will cause such a degree of care and kindness to be bestowed upon them in every situation, that I doubt not, after a fair time for adopting new plans, the numbers will not diminish. And every proprietor will see the necessity of raising as much provision as he possibly can cultivate, without abandoning the usual cultivation of produce for Europe. As every means ought to be adopted that can save animal labour, the use of the Plough r-'t e most fertile 159 and the Steam-cnginf: ought to be encouraged. In a country like IVinidad, vvlicrc rock and cravel are even more scarce than rich soil is In many of tlie other islands, the plough may be used with great ease and advantage, to the great relief of labourers, and to the great profit of the planter. As, also, the steam-engine has been applied with so much success in Ja- maica and Trinidad, its use will no doubt be- come more general in those islands ; and its ad- vantages becoming more generally known, great relief of animal labour will be gained in every island where Planters are not too bigotted in ancient customs to give themselves the oppor- tunity of trying this useful power. With a view to cultivate this Island as a pro- vision- plantation ^ the disposal of the lands must be conducted upon principles very different to those on which the Crown -lands of other Islands have been disposed. I i Upon former occasions it has been the prac- tice to sell the Crown-lands ; and it hasv been suggested that the sale of Crown-lands in Gra- nada and Trinidad would " after paying the an- nual expenccs of the latter" yield a considerable annual revenue. That suggestion arose before the abolition of the slave-trade : but, under such i\ n Wi ' 1 !J . ! I r • »i ft 1 rtO clrciinisfnnccs as now exist in our Colonics, ii woiikl be a cruel measure, were Government to jjell tlic crown-lands in rrinidad in order to pay the cxpences oF the civil government of that or any other Colony. Indeed there is not now aiiv probability of purchasers appearing in a marivct for West-India possessions ; and vverc purchasers to be found in such a market, the proceeds of the Si'lt of crown-lands might be better ap- pi , .', i , liowcd to constitute a fund for certain bcnv^ficiai vurposcs in the plan for perviauent relief. For Instance. As there may appear persons desirous of settling upon easy terms on new lands in Trinidad ; and some of them, whose pecuniary situations may be more liberal than others, may desire to have a preference in the choice of tlie lots to be granted to them ; lot the intended grants be divided into two descriptions : one to be granted upon the condition of the Grantees choosing a lot suitable to his own views ot settlement and cultivation, he giving a certain small sum per acre as a premium to obtain pos- session thereof, or a certain ground-rent for a term of years. And the other to be granted at the discretion of the Commissioners for Crown- lands, according to the number and description of the people to be settled thereon j and ccr- ■ni 161 tain regulations may be adopted, to govern in some measure, those circumstances. Hut the premium on ground-rent to be paid for those lands which the Settlers will be allowed tochuse, ought to he funded for two purposes : and first, for a boui»ty for certain encourage- ments to cultivators of certain articles; — breeders of stock, — women having large fami- lies of children, &:c. to be hereafter noticed more particularly: — and secondly, to afford loans for the poorer settlers, in order to aid th m while the first growth of their crops and tocL is advancing. This proposal brings me to the cor. .deration of a description of Settlers who might be intro- duced, much to their own advantage as well as to the encouragement of the plan for permanent relief. There are a great number of Planters in seve- ral of the old settled Colonies, who possess very valuable slaves with very worthless lands ; and who in course are scarcely enabled by the la- bour of their negroes upon such barren lands, to pay the expences of their estates ; and much less to support their families properly, under the present depressed state of West-India produce. M I'li r ) \ \ i[j \ i 88 M l! '■ I ,■ !■ n ' ' ,; il r- J 1 ■' i ; .' .1 1 ';; ■. '^ •li it 162 But such has been the unprospcrous connexion with Wcst-Indici property for some time past, that even though such Planters may not he in- debted to tlieir British correspondents, the credit of West-India property is so completely de- stroyed, that no aid for new speculations will be given from Great Britain, and therefore these Planters cannot remove from their old esta- blishments, whatever advantages may offer them- selves in any new prospect ; because they can- not defray the expence of transportation ; nor, can they aflbrd to abandon their buildings to build new ones upon any new lands which they might acquire in lieu of the old lands which they would abandon. To assist these people to quit their unprofit- able toil on worn-out, or naturally barren lands; the proposal may be made to them, that they shall be put in possession of fertile lands in the island of Tunadad, proportioned to the quantity of land they will abandon ; or in proportion to the number of their families and slaves: and that they shall be conveyed from the old to the new possessions, free of the expence of con- veyance ; which may be effected by ordering the transport-vessels in the employment of Govern- ment, as they may disembark the troops occa- sional] v sent to the Colonies, to take on- board 163 such families and their slaves, as may have ap- plied, throuj^h the proper offices, for convey- ance, to take possession of their appointed grants of land. T Next, as the loss of the buildings wljich they may abandon will be severely felt by those who have not the means of making new establish- ments ; in order to render such losses not irre- coverable, let the fund formed fiom the pre- miums, or ground-rent, be partly appropriated in the giving of loans to a moderate amount, say ^2000, to such persons whose families and slaves require erections to that amount; and less, in proportion, to those who have abandoned less, or whose situations require less. These loans to be returned after the first year, by annual pay- ments of five percent, without interest. : of Govera- That the temporary aid of small sums to com* mence settlements^ in islands where agriculture requires encouragement in order to promote its extension to the greatest advantage, may be adopted with a certain prospect of great benefit ; we need only turn our eyes to the island of St Croix, where a fund for loans for such a pur- pose has been long established ; and to which the highly-cultivated state of that country is to be attributed. This island which within a few M2 - H 11 j, ,1 ■( ' •> I. ' ' m i-?i t i years past was but of little value, is now to be compared only to a garden : and to this superior degree of cultivation it has been brought, prin- cipally by British settlers ; who not only obtained lands upon easy terms, but were assisted with negroes, mules, and implements of husbandry ; and I believe even casJi to erect or repair build- ings: and such advances were included in a mortgage given to the Government upon the ■whole property, for an amount to be liquidated in a very gradual manner; so that the possessor of the estate might be able with certainty to repay it, besides providing for the expences of the estate, and the maintenance of his family. And thus, possessors of estates belonging to the Go- vernment were encouraged to extend the cultiva- tion of the island, and at the same time were gradually liquidating their debt ; and thereby realizing a property for their families. I believe the rate at which this is done, does not exceed six-and'a-half per cent 4 per anniuu, of which, four per cent, goes for interest upon the capital, a;id two-and-a-half per cent, towards the liqui- dation of the debt. The liberality of such a system is beyond dispute ; and the beneficial eflfect both to the Cultivator and the Government is beyond doubt; because, individuals, who be- gan to cultivate lands upon these terms, with h\ ■ pi'! 165 little, and in some instances with no capital, have become even extremely opulent ; and the island, by its perfect cultivation, has become very valuable to the government. The islands of St Thomas and St John, also belonging to the Danish Crown, are placed under the same liberal plan. A system of this sort, though perhaps not extended to an equal degree of liberality, was adopted in the island of Trinidad, previous to its conquest by the British forces : and, even up to the time of that event, many Planters were indebted to the Spanish government for the value of mules, and other aids, with which they were supplied to promote an extensive cul- tivation of this fertile country. The adoption of such a plan, even upon the narrow scale that characterizes the mercenary views of a Spanish government, is evidence of a conviction, that it would be highly beiieficial ; which, added to the experience of its successful adoption in the Danish islands, ought to call forth the attention of the British government in theii plans for the colonization and cultivation of Trinidad, %\^ t I !■: '■■ k :\ 1 [, 1 it :l : ri i (!■ I lIlM^' 171': >ttf§ 166 With this view, I would first recommend, that an invest igatw?i should be instituted into the debts of the Planters to the Spanish government, due on account of the advances which were made to them as described. Ihis debt, owing from the settlers to the Government of Spain, became by the conquest, due to the Government of Great Britain; and as it may be presumed, that it has not been collected sr.ice the conquest, in-as-much as it was the mutual interest of the debtors to keep the secret, and of no ad- vantage to any other persons to divu'gc it j so I conclude, that these debts are still owing, and due to the British government. But as [here are yet residing in the Island, Officers of the Spanish government who must be w^ell informed upon these points, information may be easiiy obtained relative thereto ; so that proper me- thods may be taken to collect such sums as may be still recoverable : which sums added to the premiuwsy or ground-reuty before recom- mended, may form a fund: and this fund may be rendered still more equal to the accomplish- ment of the plan, for giving loans to assist new settlers, by the following means. The impolicy of exacting the three-and-a-lialf per cent, upon our own manufactures and the produce of the Colony, being very evident ; it nmend, that id into the government, which were debt, owinn; nt of Spain, Government c presumed, he conquest, interest of d of no ad- 'u'ge it i so I 1 owing, and [kit as there fficers of the veil informed ay be easily proper me- ich sums as uns added to efore recom- lis fund may 2 accomplish- to assist new ree-and-a-half turcs and the f evident ; it 167 is to be expected, that it will be no longer ex- acted, when a Colonial Jss^cmblji/ shall be called to rai^e taxes for the payment of the Colonial expences : and if the plan of growing pro- visions in the Colony be not adopted, the iJirec- and-lialf per cent, would be equally impolitic upon American provisions also. But if the plan of devoting this island to the cultivation of pro- visions should be adopted, then the three-and- half-per cent, duty, being already paid upon American provisions will not be felt as a prohibi- tory duty upon them, and may be continued on those articles in order to the encouragement of co- lonial provisions: and the amount of the duties so collected, may be added to the other means for affording loans to new settlers, and thus a very substantial fund would be established to sup- port the proposed plan for permanent relief. But whether a fund can be established from such debts due to government, or from lands granted upon the condition of paying a low premium or ground-rent; nevertheless, a find could certainly be formed from the collections of three-and- half per cent, upon American provisi- ons; from which /;t;?r/, loans might be given upon the plan of the Danish loan, with equally bene- ficial effects in the island of Trinadad : and cer- tainly, upon the principle of forming a provision" M 4 !:f ni' n % f I 1 ■i ■n I' ! 11 > I'- ■M 1 ;,! ;! 1 ^ li^ ' . 1 ni'^ ll ^' in . .- " ,;' II 1 at '' 1 y I 1 ill 1 ■i^!^ I ' 1 i' 168 plantation^ from which to supply the other Colo- nies, it deserves the most attentive consideration, as a great mean of permanent reiir^ to the other Island^. If these proposals be approved, a proclama- tion may be issued from the Governments of all our Islands, by the directions of the Secretary of State for the Colonial department, offering lands in the island of Trinidad to the persons who may chuse to abandon their exhausted or barren possessions; and conveyance, to those who re- quire it; when such opportunities offer as have been before described : together with loans pro- portioned to the necessity of the cases of those requiring them; the re-payment of which, to be secured to government by mortgage of the lands granted, and the buildings, negroes, and stock, to be placed thereon. Upon these terms, a great number of Settlers would offer themselves in almost every Island : many of whom now employ their gangs of slaves to very little profit, and cannot even support their families after feeding their ne- groes ; and who are therefore becoming poorer every year by the sale of a part of their gang, levied upon by executions at the suit of creditors. i 169 for supplies furnished for slaves, who do uot earn the value of their food. The Islanas from whence such emigrations o^ white families and their slaves .-.ould mostly take place, would be BarbadoeSy Antigua, Mont." serraf, Angiiiila, the Virgin IsL/nds, and the Bahamas: from these last, and from Harhadoes, the emigration w^ould be great. Their emigra- tion could not be injurious to tlie Colonies taken in the aggregate, because they would only re- move from one Colony to another; on the con- trary, it would be beneficial to the whole, so long as the emigrants were to be obliged to cultivate provisions, in the new settlement insteadof sugar ; which article they ought to be altogether pro- hibited from cultivating. And in another point of view, their emigration would not be injurious to mdividual Islands; for it ould be only those whose negroes are employed on unprtjductlve land, that would emigrate: and no one will deny, that the emigration of unproductive la- bourers is an advantage to every Colonv, where the external source of subsistence is threatened to be cut off; and where, at the same time, the internal means are inadequate to the consump- tion. The emigration of families and negroes from such situations to a fertile settlement, would rather benefit than injure those Colonies, by :: .J ! v: 170 Jessening the demand for provision': *n I'lf Islands they quit, and producing in the Island th- y go to cultivate, food for the Colonics wliicli tlicy abandon. ? j'n m i'.%j^^^r. I. The prohibition, for' cvcr^ of the cultivation of the su^ar-cane ought to be a condition in the grants of land ; and the quantity granted ought not, a. the most, to be more than twenhj acres for each ivhife person; and ten acres for each free coloured person ; ;md the same quantity for each slave io the amount of every domestic and field negro, or their children born at the time of granting the lands to the owner of such slaves. It would be found very advantaget)us to give this quantity for children nlso^ as it would en- courage families to settle in the island; and such Colonists are, in every point of view, prefer- able to the undomesticated ; for besides beino; more orderly and 'ndustrious, their offspring be- come more healrh^'dl adults, after passing their infancy and youth in the same climate : and, forming early connexions, they promote the population of the country. Every person owning more than ten working slaves, should be allowed to plant what he thought proper, (excepting sugar-cane), pro- 171 ir in Tu' Island^; IsliiiJ tli"y go lies xvlucii tlicv the cultivation condition in the ' "ranted ou"ht an twentxi acres acres for each me quantity for •y doniei^tic and n at tlie time of of such slaves. iitagei)us to give s it would cn- sland; and such )f view, prefer- besides beino[ eir offspring- be- er passing their climate : and, y promote the -/Hied he always plant at least five ceres in pro- visions for each person in liis fainilv, and for each of his slaves ; to do which, he ought to be obliged, in the conditions of his grant, under the penalty of its forleiture. But those Settlers who have not more than ten working slaves, ought to be prohibited from planting any thing but articles of food ; also under the penalty of the forfeiture of their grants. And thus the owners of large gangs would be enabled to employ their slaves to advantage, without encreasing tlie quantity of sugar in the market; by cultivating Cocoa, Coffee, Cot- ton, and Tobacco, according to the nature of the soil in their possession : at the same time that they would produce crops of provisions in their proper succession, while the other plantau >ns would be coming to maturity ; and indeed upon the same ground : for tlie maize would grow amongst, and afford the necessary shelter to the young cocoa-plants ; and the plantain-tree is also necessary to shelter the coffee, more es- pecially if planted on hill-sides. U-^ lan ten working plant what he gai-canc), pro- But in order to secure an abundant supply of provisions for the permanent relief proposed ; all individuals, obtaining their twenty or ten acres, according to their colour; as well as those 1 ' \"\ I *- i^ W t< ) fl] .« ft -i. i]i\ 172 whose working-slaves amount only to the num- ber limited, as before mentioned, should be pro- hibited from planting any thing but provisions; and in order to insure the cultivation of provisions on the small lots of land, in the possession of the lowest classes of individuals, (who, from bein"- able to cultivate in a day as much as would subsist themselves for a week, would often be idle and unproductive inhabitants,) the Peons, free negroes, and Chinese, should each be made to pay, for his lot of land, a certain quarterly rent, to an amount equal to what he can produce from it above his own subsistence; in order to render daily labour necessary. And the rents of such lots may go into the fund before recommended for the necessary loans to be given to new Settlers ; and for bounties to be paid for encou- raging the growth of provisions, cattle, &c. and as the greatest number of Settlers would con- sist of such individuals, but more particularly those who have only a few negroes, or who have only means enough to purchase such a small nnmber in order to obtain the grant of land ; so the greatest cultivation of granted lands would be in articles of food : and no Island, "m the possession of Great Britain, is so well aaapted to this sort of cultivation, as this Island, on account of the facility with which its soil %t: •M H mmmmm ; ijl; -^SHei^S^K M f ^'• vk ' ^rm-' 173 can be tilled, in consequence of the absence of rock and gravel ; as well as on account of the regularity of the rains, and the heavy noctur- nal dews. The Planter may calculate with safety on the value of his crop in proportion to the- quantity of land in cultivation; while in most of the other islands, much ground may be planted or sown, and yet little or nothing may be reaped from it, in propo^'tion as the season may have been wet or dry. As to the articles of provision, which this fertile Island may be capable of producing ; we may speak with certainty of a sufficient number, to afford the great and permanent 7'^/f>/' proposed : and as the Plough can be used in Trinidad with as great facility as in Europe, as far as regards the freedom of the soil from rocks and gravel; so I think the same grain may be sown there with a great prospect of success; as it is a fact arising from accident, . that some Oats, which were carelessly thrown out of a bag, vegetated and produced grain : and Clover seed, brought from America, was sown in 180G, and came out of the ground with great promise of success : but the result is no farther known to the author, as no letters have been lately received from the Planter who tried the experiment. \-i w m ii ■:<> \ '■ X t n?t'" y h 174 But from tlic moderate temperature of the rainy months, and the coolness of the nights, which in some parts of the country will admit of sleeping under a blanket, I doubt not that the same grain can be cultivated as in America and Europe. The superstratum of this Island may be pro- perly called " tr?/e vegetable earth,'' or that sort of earth which is best adapted to the nou- rishment of vegetables ; as it is con.posed of pu- trid vegetable and animal matter to a considerable depth ; and it is natural to expect it should be so, since it is probable, that from the creation of the world, the accumulation of putrifying vegeta- ble and animal matter, has never been interrupt- ed; nor that the soil has ever been disturbed : it must therefore be of the richest kind. i a ^ w ;:i If the cultivation of Wheat be attempted, the method of setting it will be the most likely to succeed ; for, besides that it has been found to answer by producing two bushels per acre more than wheat sown, and that it is of a better quality, and affords a saving in seed-wheat of six pecks per acre, it would also employ the women and children as dibbers and droppers : and one dibber with three droppers, can set an acre in two days. 17J )eratiire of the ; of the nights, intry will admit doubt not that I as in America 'I'lie method of setting bcinc; performed, by diobing h»)]cs four inches asunder every way, and one inch deep ; wliile mto cacli hole the child drops two grains of wheat, after which the holes are covered by a gate, bushed with thorns, and drawn by a liorse. id may be pro- vr///," or that )ted to the nou- oiijposed of pu- a considerable ;ct it should be 1 the creation of itrifying vegeta- been interrupt- in disturbed : it ind, attempted, the most likely to been found to s per acre more is of a better seed-wheat of Iso employ the and droppers : ers, can set an As the seasons are so different from seasons jn Europe, 1 am rather at a loss to direct the time for sowing; but I apprehend, that land prepared in September, might be set in Oc- tober, and reaped in the following crop-time j that is in the dry months of March, April, and May ; but this would be soon ascertained by the experiment. * As in many parts of the * I have been infDrmecl that wheal is cultlvateU to ad- vantage on the Continent o\ South America, in-so-much that three crops may be rea{)ecl f'i(Mn the same land onlj/ once soii-n : for, by allowing the roots to remain in the soil after reaping the crop, fresh shoots are put foitli, which yield a second crop, though less productive than the first ; and that a third crop may be obtained, in the same proportion less than the second : for instance, that the first crop may yield forty- five bushels per acre ; the second thirty hve budiels; aiid the third tweiit)-five bushels per acre. In a cour.try v\l:ere th^ price of lai)our is high, this fact is of great consequence; therefore it would be of thu greatest const-quence in Trinadud, if wheat tti// grow there. And by such a method .n culti- vating it in a country where the soil is fertile, tiie summer eiernab and vegetation al\va)s Iwxunaiii., thru crops might lue :M S'i 176 Island there is a rich soil mixed with some saiu], and I am informed the Uuck-ivheat is very pro- ductive in such a soil, that grain also might be tried with great prospect of success. The In- dian corn, or Maize, is ahcady produced in great quantities in Trinidad ; and both the mountain and lowland Rice is produced by some industrious experimentalists. Hitherto, how- ever, it has been esteemed most advantageous to attend wholly to one sort of cultivation, viz. Sugar, which being so much more valuable than provisions, the Planters have been more willing to cultivate it, and to purchase provisions with the proceeds of its sale. This is no longer the reaped there in less time than is required for the growth of tivo, in countries that ordinarily produce wheat : The average of three such crops as I iiave described to be reaped from the same land once sown, is thirty-five bushels per acre; which is a very fine crop, even if it were reaped only once from tlic same seed : but suppose that the quan- tities from which the average is taken are too greai ; let them stand at forty, thirty, and twenty, theii, as liie three crops will be reaped in the time that only txvo would be obtained in those countries where the land must be three times prepared and sown ; the three may be calculated as two crops, which gives forty-five bushels per acre for each : — or if we must consider them as three crops, the average will even then be thirty bushels per acre, which is a good crop ; especialljr •when considered along with the saving of labour and lime, amounting to two-thirds of each. 177 case. Suj^nr is not so valuable as it vv;\s, and the danj^or of beinf; deprived of the usual sup- plies liom Auieiica is now seen ; so that the cultivation of maize will be now exten-'led with advantage : and the growth of rice ought to become as general as tlie Maize : In addition to these, the Guinea-Corn, which is produced in Barhadoes nnd other Islands witli great success, ought to be attentively cultivated ; as it alTords a flour of a very superior quality: and, indeed, the inipossibility of growing wheat would be no misfortune in a country that could so abundantly produce Uice nnd Guinea-Corn ; for the flour of these grains mixed will make a very excellent Bread. All the esculent roots are cultivated in this Ldand with advantage ; but the yam and the Maniock or Cassava, are the most valuable : and of the two the Yam is to be preferred. The Plantain is even at present much relied upon. The Br e ad-Fruit tree would be still more valuable, as it is continually productive ; and requires no attention aftjr being planted where it is intended to remain. Its growth ought to be so encouraged as, at the door of every negro's hut a Bread-fruit tree should be N i '"* \ \ "; i \ ' .■,, ! lii » . U ^-- '■ '■*; IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) A 1.0 I^IM 12.5 I.I |l.25 ^ 144 "— m II U 1 ,.6 V] "/ f '/ Photographic Sciences Corporation ^^^ 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 145S0 (716)872-4503 t u ■' !i If * 1(1 11 ^'1 i r 1 |r ll 178 planted : for it is said, that one tree will produce vegetable food enough for one family. The cultivation of tlie Bread-fruit tree has been greatly successful upon some Estates in Trinidad ; and therefore, there is no uifficulty in prop;igating it very generally. There is, also, another article of food, requi- ring very little or no attention ir the cultivation, which is continually and abundantly produced ; the Piiieo?i-Pea : and an instance of the little labour required to cultivate it, in proportion to its productiveness, has lately been communicated to me by a Gentleman from that Island: who relates, that thirty new slaves being purchased for the " Exchange Estate" about the time that the American- Intercourse Bill was in ncgocia- tion, it happened that the Americans discon- tinued their supplies of provisions : and the Attorney for this Estate, foreseeing the scarcity which succeeded, directed that eight of this lot of new slaves, who were less robust than l^u- rest, should be employed in the easy task of sowing Peas, and in keeping the ground clear of weeds, until the pea-bush came to maturity ; when it was found, that the Peas cultivated, by these eight inferior negroes, were sufficient to feed, for several months, the whole of the thirty 179 ne tree will r one familv. uit tree has Tie Estates in no uifficiilty in f food, requi- re cultivation, tly produced ; ; of the little I proportion to communicated : Island: who ing purchased : the time that as in ncgocia- ■ricans discon- )ns : and the g the scarcity Tht of this lot oust than tho easy task of round clear of to maturity ; cultivated, by sufficient to of the thirty new nc2:rocs as far as amounted to the veg:eta- ble food necessary for them. The success of this economy had its influence upon tlie neigh- bouring Planters ; but not until after the scar- city, which they had not provided against, made them feel the necessity of an internal resource for subsistence. I need not, however, take up the reader's attention with cases or arguments to shew, that every sort of food, necessary for human subsist- ence, might be produced in this fertile Island, where all the pleasant seasons of the year are experienced in twenty-four hours ; the killing cold of winter being alone absent. ■Morning, noon, and evening, afford a few hours of spring, summer, and autumn, every day. It is objected to the season ableness of this fertile Island, bv those whose interest it is to recommend a preference of our more ancient colonies, that, clearing new islands of their forests renders them less seasonably supplied with rain : But I contend, that were the whole plain of Trinidad cultivated, instead of being a forest, yet this Island would not become what is called a *' dry-weather country." The great ridges of mountains, and their forests, in the centre of the plain, and on the whole norlh-side N 2 ■ 1 1" ■ .'■' , ! V ' jII U if 180 of the Island, will alvvavs sufficiontly attract and break the clouds Into plentiful sluuvers of rain. But independently of these mountains and t'neir forests, even if this Island wore a cultivated plain, it would nevor want rain^; because of its proximity to the continent, where rains nre never deficient. And as a proif, th<;t, on the South- American c^ast, moun'nins and trees are not necessary to attract showers from the clouds; it may be observed, that even at sea, out of sight of trees and land, but with'n the currents, the showers are as constant and as regular during the period of the rainy season, as they arc on the continent itself. « Ij. iff I r r» . i,i Ui HI t' '* ■ft? With such seasonable weather and such an abundance of the richest land, if proper plans be adopted for its cultivation, Trinidad can produce fiventy-fold the quantity of grain, that is now consumed by all the British colonies in the West Indies. It appears by the return * made to the House of Commons, May 5th, 1806, that in 1803, the • Sir W. Young's Common-Place-Book, p. 132. 181 fi)IIowing articles were imported from America into the West-Indies. Corn (547,8o3 Bushels. Fh^uraud Meal 431,501. Do. Rice y,3D3 Do. Total 1,088,750 Do. Taking Indian Corn for the purpose of cal- culation, it may be stated, that an acre of good land in America yields 40 bushels of corn. In Trinidad, where the soil is so rich and the weather so forcing, an acre will pro- duce more than 40 bushels of corn : but at least that quantity may be assumed. At this rate, the whole quantity of dry - provisions imported from America into our West-India colonies in 1803 would not require more than 30,000 acres of land to produce it, allowing for the difference rf the return per acre in the dif- ferent kinds of grain of which the total amount consists i and therefore the uncultivated lands in Trinidad would at this rate produce ,/iyfi/-fold the quantity now consumed in all our West-Indian islands. But under all the objections that may be brought against this calculation, and considcr- N 3 t N ' 1l I I. h I 1S2 ing ihnt It would be advi^cable to grow Tim- ber and other valuable artieles, 1 am still warranted in stating, that Trinidad would produce at least fivaUy-fold the (]uantity ot grain that is now imported from Ameriea. Also the immense Savannas of this island afford the immediate means of raising Cattle equal to the supply of all the other colonies. ]iut ev^n if these uafural meadczvs were not suincient to that amount, lands may be granted upon the condition of clearing them from pas- tine and cattle-pens. There are no difiiculties in all these plans that have not been overcome every where : and why should British Colonists be less capiible of overcoming them, than the North and South Americans, and the people of the Island of Poiio Rico ; upon whom they have hitherto been dependent for subsistence. !i i-:\i ! ' \ h To Stock Trinidad with evcrv sort of livin':' creature fit for food is more easy to be accom- plished than it could be in almost any other Island, as the Spaniards are in the habit of bringing cargoes of live stock every week from the neighbouring parts of the continent within sight, and within four hours sail of Trinidad. Will it not then be unpardonably neglectful, and a most extraordinary instance of want of p-h mi^^ 1 kii iiii 183 providence, after experiencing the truly distress- ing crisis which the colonies now feel, if the means of pcrmancnf relief which this Island affords he not immediately adopted and actively carried into ellect ? It is also a matter of great moment to Great Britain to take into consideration, the possibility of rendering this great acquisition to the British territories, a means of becoming independent of America in respect of certain other articles that are as necessary to our maritime support ; as the articles of food usually imported from America to our Colonies, are necessary to their subsist- ence. The supply of Hemp, Tar, Pitch, Tallow and Timber, so necessary for our navy, may become very deficient should we be involved in a war with Russia and America : and the in- conveniencies to be apprehended from such an event, may have an influence upon our conduct towards those powers, very derogatory to our national dignity and national interests ; when, from our dependence upon them for those supplies to a certain degree, these powers may assert rights, or endeavour to maintam political N 4 I8[ positions incompatihlo with our naval supi-- rioitv, and nalitriial honor. . ^ Trinidad aflords tlio means of rendering Cireat Hritain iiidependeiit of Russia and Anieriea for tlie articles before' enumerated, at tiie same time lliat it will raise tlic mear.s of subsistence lor tlie West- Indian Colonics. ii' ,, ,, wm Three of tliese articles, viz. Td?-, Pilch, and Tiiiiher, may be immediately obtained. Tirlloiv will be produced in great quantity, if govern- ment v,ill promote the rr..:>ir.g ot cattle on the Sax annas J or even if suflicicnt numbers of cattle be imported from the neighbouring conti- nent to graze upon these Savannas : and at least, an agent of government might be au- thorized to buy up all the Tallow that would be imported from the main land upon good encouragement being given for its importation. A ready-c.7.s7z market, or even an opportunity to barter Tallow for our Manufactures free of the tlirce-and-a-lialf per cait. duly now imposed on them, would produce an abundant supply of Tallow, even during the war t-me: but by encouraging the breeding of cattle on tlie Sa- vannas, and the grazing of those which might be largely imported from the neighbouring coast, 185 Tallow enough would ultimately be produced within the Island. a Tar, or rather a lic|uid Bi lumen answering all the purposes to which Tar is applied, may be obtained from certain places in the neigh- bourhood of Point de la Hrea, where in states of the weather known to the ii.habitants of that quarter it may be taken up by ladles to be put into proper barrels for conveyance to Kurope. But as to Pitch, it may be obtained in greater quantities than would supply not only alt the navif of Great Britain, but oil the navies, and all tlie mcrchant'slups of all the tcorld, 'J'he Lake of Pitch in Trinidad is certainly an extraordinary phenomenon. I believe a philosophical account of it has been given, in the transactions of the Royal Society, by I)r Anderson of St Vincents. 'J his T^ake occupies a space at least a mile ajid a half in circumfe- rence ; and a road to it fiom tlie sen-^hore has been naturally opened by the (;ve;iiovving of the Lake, forminjij a river of Pilc'i, the appear- ance of vvliich exhibits small wavc3 making their way into the Gu'ph of Paria. This bituminous substance is in common u'^e in Trinidad for various puvj^oscs. Tlie ends of 18(7 posts to !)(' planted in tlic ground, and the ti'nu)is and viortict^.s of suoar-nnlls and otlicr I'.icctions exposed to the xicathcr or to vcrtfii//e^ are proteeted iVoin the destnieti\e power of botli, by h(inf>- coated with this Piteli after r:eltini>' it over the fire and pouring it off, or *. raining it, from impurities. It is also used, and with tlie greatest advan- tage, to pay the bottoms of boats and larger vessels : and in the (iulj)!! where worms abound and are fatal to vessels lout*' remainino; or eon- stantly navigating there, this Bitumen is a most excellent defence, as from its peculiar pungent bitterness, or what some people call rankness, it is so noxious as to preserve the bottoms of vessels from the attacks of worms. Hntil very latclv it was used bv mcltina: one-fourth or one- third of Tallow with three-fourths or two-thirds of Pitch; but as these two articles are different in their nature, they did not combine well : and therefore Admiral Cocht^aue, who is well ac(|uainted witli the subject, and I am in- formed, has industriously applied himself to it, very judiciously directs the solid Bitumen to be melted with a proper proportion of tlie Petro- leum, in order that by the affinity of the two a more natural composition may be obtained for m 187 t!SO, ])csi(lcs llmt from the ^^(•atcr fluidity of tliis mixtiirc w bile liot its vegetable and eartby iui purities may be tliemore easily sej)arate(l, the former floating upon tlie surface may be skim- med of!', and tbe latter sinking to tbe bottom, tbe pure melted matter may be pouied into proper receptacles. As an article of mer- chandize, it will never be attended to by pri- vate individuals, because the fieigbt from the West-Indies to Great Britain, A\ill rai^e it to a price above the price at which we can obtain Tar and Pitch from America and Russia. iJut in time of war, and c\en in peace, trans- port-ships, after disembarking their troops; and store-ships after landing their cargoes, may take in a lading of this article to supply not r)nly all tbe na\al arsenals in the West-Indies, but all our dock-yards in Cireat Britain. The establishment that Mould be necessary upon the batiks of this Pitch-Lake for the pur])ose of preparing the Pitch for use, would not reciuire a great expence : and a cooperag(j for the barrels might be kept at woik upon the spot, which could be supplied witli staves, HOOPS, and heading from the adjoining forest. But as o'overnment is iie(|itentl>' detVauded while individuals are makimr forrunes, it would »lh. 'i i I ( Wi \r r J . :i\ U^, ■' I r" I I " t ■ m ,;l ri 1)0 i'uIn isc'ublt' to rontiiur wiili a pio|)CM" piisoi) to furnish this ;ii licit' at a modi rate rate: and .sliould nioncM'd nun think tlicv may otherwise turn tlieir cash to more adxanta^v, a loan iniglit he given to a proper individual j;i\inc ai^v, a loan idual u,'iMn'4 it "Taduallv j: otdv a C'cr- :h would !)(• til the whole 1uis jrovcin- >i;c without and iniposi- R is yearly procure *" is ery English- It is also laves would )rudcntially )cr tor the seciucnce to bring adopt- th Lumber k, p. 35. i IftJ) also tV(»ni Trinidad. Many Kstates in that I-,Luid never pureiiase, tVoni abroad, ei^licr sr.wis, or Moops, or iiiadinc. : and Ckdaii Mil vci.ivs, which are tlie most durable of all shini:les, are s^^u there in <»ieat ciuan^iries. All these articles are cut cuit of" rlie I'orests of that IsLnd : and it' on any I'state this eeononiv has not h.en lound to answer, it h.is not been because ilie ni.i^criais were not good, but because they were not well worked up by skilful cutters. TiMiiiuofthe most massive size and most \ ill produce all the hemp required for the ships of Great Britain, if it consumed five times the quantity which it is said to consume ; and still there would be left, uncultivated, some hun- dred thousands of acres, even besides the * Spence's " Britain Independent of Commerce," p. 63. ;• fy * * , 1 I if 'I 192 quantity before calculated for the Ji^rowth of all the j)rovi,sions that the M'cst-Iiulia Colonics consume. I conceive, that, the C7//;/cve hemp-seed would succeed better in Trinidad than seed froiu this country : and as the eneouragenient of a new scheme depends so much upon the success of the first attempt, care ought to be taken to prevent the failure of the first experiment. And as this Island is of so much value to Great Britain in the dilfcrent points of view in which it has been placed, }Jinistcrs ought to enter upon such a plan vs ith liberality and pcr- severance. 'A I By making the fust experiments upon tlie great scale; under •the achantage of skilful directors, who should be interested in the plans proposed, success mny be ensured. In order to effect such desirable ends ; let a suitable lot of land be chosen for a /^/r<>T /arm to be culti- vated, at the expense of Governn^.ent, in ichtat, rice, hemp, and tobacco ; and send out projjcr persons to ciect Steam-engiiies to work ^Jioiir- mill, sau'-m'ill, and any other machinery that niav be contrived for the savin «' of animal labour. And where hands are necessary, let them be hired labourers, under the diiection 193 of proper agriculturists from Flour, Rice, Hemp, and Tobacco countries. Or if, as alluded to in the establishment for the pitch-lake, government should apprehend frauds and impositions from the persons em- ployed : in like manner upon this occasion, give a loan to a liberal amount, to some person or persons who may give security for the sum of money, prescribing to them the plan, and leaving them to execute it. When such modes of cultivation are found to succeed under such a plan, the example will be generally followed : but until Government shall give some such encouragement, these ex- periments will not be made ; because private In- dividuals are generally backward to do any thing that by failure would involve them in ruin. le diiection In order to get hired labourers into the habit of daily work, while the new settlement may be in preparation for extensive cultivation ; and to convince them b}- punctual daily payment, that they are not expected to work at the un- certainty of ever receiving the earnings of their toil, which is too often the case ; let Peons be encouraged to come from the Spanish main, to work with those already domiciliated in the O H 194 Island, upon fortifications, roads, and canals, instead of arbltrt'ril;- takinfj; trom the Planters their slaves, at times ;;nd under circumstances the most inconvenient and distressing. Roads and canals will be absolutely necessary for the conveyance of timber into the Gulph of Paria, r.s well as to facilitate the conveyance of produce to the market, and provisions to the estates. I. II 'li One Canal has been already traced through a level country, from the Gulph to Ilislop fozvfi, a new settlement upon the Eastern shore of the Island ; this canal could be cut with the greatest facility through a soil that has no rock nor gravel perhaps in the whole distance through which the canal would run ; the advantages of T^'ater carriage would cause a rapid cultivation of the lands upon the banks of the canal. But all t/iis can never be carried into effect under the present system of that Island, An Assembly of Representatives must be called ; to raise, by proper taxes, the means of making roads and canals^ and of paying the other expences of the Colony. And the three- and-a-half per cent, duty must be no longer im- LH kUii! 1.95 posed on any thing exceptinf^ American pro- visions, and not even on them if the plans which are proposed in this work be not adopted. I know that tlierc are Enemies to the libt^rtics of the ColonisfSy in the very persons who ^xq friends to the liberty of the slaves. However incon- sistent such principles may be with each other, yet it is a faci, that those nho zcould enfran^ cJiise the slaves, have recommended the en- slaving of the proprietors. The author of the ** Crisis of the Sugar Colonies," while he re- commends an alliance with, and a protection of the negroes of St Domingo in their revolted state, in the same book recommends Ministers not to give the freedom of election to the Colo- nists of Trinidad ; and represents the colonial Assemblies in general to be w^orse than useless branches of the colonial Legislatures. The merit of originality is not due to this author's recommendation to the minister on the subject of Colonial Assemblies; for Stokes's " Constitution of the British Colonies" was published in 1783, and that bjok, in page 154, anticipates much of what the author of " the Crisis of the, Sugar Colonies" recommends, re- lative to such a place as Trinidad, and the im- policy, as he considers it, of granting to that O 2 ;|:r ■ ■ \ /;1 i. \' i» > ! I- ID6 Colony the freedom of electing their own Re- presentatives. That book also suggests the plan of devoting an Island wholly to the raising of provisions and stock: certainly Mr Stokes had not the island of Trinidad in his mind at the time he sug- gested this plan in his hook, for he rather de- scribes an island like Porto Rico, when he says " an Island of inodcra'e size and naturalbj defensible:" but, in respect of a good harbour capable of receiving and heaving down line-of- battle Ships, the Gulph of Paria offers such ad- vantages. "When the author of *' the Crisis of the Sugar '" Colonies" opposed the electing of an Assembly in Trinidad, and depreciated the Assemblies of the other Islands, the abolition of the slave-trade, so far from being accomplished, was almost de- spaired of. And, as it was very clear, that the members of those Assemblies were hostile to the abolition-act ; so it is still more certain, that they 'must be hostile to the state of " African free^ dom and African sovereignly" to which the author of the Crisis says we might look forward " with satisfaction rattier tlian dismay. ^^ This author therefore looks at the colonial Assemblies, and at the Councils too, l^ the only obstacles to 197 his great scheme for " African freedom and African sovereignty in the West Indies :"* and therefore he is so desirous of preventing the establishment of representative Assemblies in new Colonics, and of annihilating those already established in the old Colonies. I will add no more on this subject, than a quotation from that able colonial politician. Brougham. ** As the general interests of the community have been sacrificed to fill the purses of a few individuals : so, the general interests of the Empire have frequently been made subservient to the most narrow-minded sort of ambition which can inspire any cabinet — the preference of excessive power over a ivretclied province, to a moderate dominion over an extensive and fiourishing Empire." \ As I consider it impossible that Trinidad can, with justice, be any longer refused that eligible mode of legislating which is exercised in the other Colonies under a Governor, and Council, and an Assembly of representatives, freely elected by the inhabitants, I shall suppose this * " The Opportunity," by the Author of '' the Crisis of the Sugar Colonies/' p. 4-2. I *' Colonial Policy of European Powers," V. i. p. 105. O 3 ^ 'i 198 raeasure to be adopted, and consider the Legis- lature as vested with the power to establish and dispose of the JwnU before alluded to, upon something like the following plan. Ways and means to raise a fund for loans and bounties, without drawing upon the Treasury of Great Britain, i K 1st. A low ground-rent of per acre, to be paid by Settlers who are to be allowed the choice of their grants. And this ground-rent may be commuted by an immediate payment, 2d. Rents of lots to be let to free labourers, and to be paid quarterly, or oftener, at such a rate as may prevent them from being able to Jive independent of daily labour. 5d. Sums of money to be collected from Settlers who were indebted to the Spanish Go- vernment for aids given to them in mules, or irnplernents of husbandry, or otherwise. 4th. Three-and-a-half per cent, to be continued to be collected on all American importations. This duty being already collected, it will not be felt like any new Impost; and it is a proper 199 mean of encouraging tlie growth of provisIoTis in the Island, at the same time that it will ^ur- nish the means of aiding Settlers to cultivate provision- estates. These means will form a very liberal fund, and the last mean will continu.Tlly increase the fund for several years to come: be» sides, that after the first year or two, the loans will alwavs be returning into the fund by annual instalments ; so that in time, a pcrw erne nt fund \\\\\ be established, from whic' new Settlers may obtain laans, even after this Island shall arrive at such an extensive state of cultivation, as to produce so much provision as may annually lessen the demand for food from the United States. Loans to be given : 1st. To Settlers who cannot afford to abandon buildings in the Islands they would quit, unless assisted with a reasonable sum to erect buildings on the granted lands. 2d. To poor individual Settlers for articles as follow, viz. for building their cottage, (which the Peons will undertake for forty dollars,) for one hundred feet of boards to make doors, windows, shelves, table, and seats ; for locks, hinges, im- plements of husbandry, and a little live stock. O 4 \t 1 i I ! 4 \' iifiii n 200 Also a monthly allowance of provisions until the first crop comes in. Bounties to be paid out of "s fund. 1st. T/ie rent paid by free coloured or negro labouring people for their lots, to he remitted ppon their marrying and having cliildren, in the proportion of one-fourth part of the rent for each child : and for every one more than four children, a monthly allowance to be given from the fund until the first child is twelve years old ; when it will be able to earn the means of its sub- sistence ; so that always, the rent should be rc- mitted for four children under twelve years old, and allowance should be added for any more than four children under twelve years. And the pro- portion of rent should begin to be paid again when the number of children under twelve years be- comes less than four : and every child on attain- ing the age of sixteen should be entitled to a lot upon the same terms upon which the parents acquired their lots. 2d. A bounty to be paid] on every Ox, Cow, and Mule, of a certain age, to be bred in the Colony. The bounty upon cattle raised on pri- vate property to be double that to be paid on the 201 same bred upon Savannas, in order to encourage breeding upon farms. . 3d. A bounty to be paid for every Bread-fruit tree bearing fruit. But no more trees to be paid for than there may be persons belong to the lot upon which such bearing bread-fruit trees may be growing. 4th A bounty of per ton of Rice, Guinea corn flour, Indian-corn meal, andFarine de Manioc. Also, for black-eyed Peas, and for Beans. — Also, per acre of Plantains, and Pidgeon-peas : the number of plants upon each acre to be specified. — Also, per ton of Yams and Potatoes. — Also, a double bounty for Wheat- flour, Buck-wheat, Oats, and Barley. 5th. A bounty of per thousand bundles of cedar shingles : per thousand staves : per thousand bundles of hoops. 6th. A bounty of per thousand feet of Cedar boards and plank; and per thousand square feet of Timber suitable for mills and houses ; and double tliis bounty for plank and timber fit for Ship-building. :' I 202 7tb. A bounty of per ton of Mcmp : and double that bounty per ton of Cordage and cable, manutncturcd in IVinidad, of tbc hemp being the grovvtli and produce of that Island. 8th. A bounty of for the erection of every Steam-oni;ine working a Sugar-mill, a Flour- niill, or a Savv-niill : and twict or tluUr this bounty for a Steam-engine of a power equal, and applied, to tiao or three of these purposes at once. 9th. An annu?*] bounty of per head, to the Proprietor of the greatest number of Infant- slaves of years old. 10th. An annual bounty of per head to the Proprietor who possesses the most numerous family of Children, being the children of one Mother. / • 1 1th. The annual hire of a slave, to be paid, out of the fund, to every Proprietor who allows the Mother of six children, under twelve years, to be free from all work, excepting the care of her family. 12th. An annual bounty of to the Pro^ prietor of the oldest slave in the island : a second, 203 of HetTip : Cordage and )f the hemp at Island. erection of ■mill,aFIour- r thrice this ^r equal, and purposes at W'ing in proportion a less lounty, fur a slave of the first age below the oldest ; and a third de- gree of bounty for the second age. This bounty will form an lionorable distinc- tion between huninne persons who pvcsi'rvc tlu'ir binves; and tliose inhuman rr asters, who, under the pretext of nianumition ubandon slaves in oJd age. per head, to )er of Infant- perhcad to )st numerous dren of one be paid, out allows the ve years, to care of her to the Pro- d: a second, Having now given the outline of the per- mancnt plan of relief ; I might, with propriety, close my remarks here : but the proposals I have lastly made for the encouragements of the poorer class of Settlers, and to promote popu- lation by encouraging the care of Mothers and Children, whether free people or slaves ; sug- gest to me some remaining observations upon the comparative state of the poor people of Great Britain, and the slaves in the West Indies, There is no doubt, that the poor people of Great Britain, and even the savages of Africa, would prefer death to the slavery which the latter have been made to endure in the West Indies. Such a preference i$ natural and right 204 m i bI i i i\ 1 ) 1 1 in men who have been born in freedom, and have enjoyed the riglits of personal liberty. To free-men, slavery must be the most dreadful of all events that can befal them. As far, then, as relates to sentiment, he must be a base wretch who would not pre%r freedom even with po- verty, to slavery though in chains of gold. The yljrican slave, therefore, has my most unfeisrned commiseration, who has lost with his liberty, also his country, his family, and his friends; rmd who in his slavery does not enjoy even those comforts which the Creole slaves enjoy around him. But Creole slaves do not possess those sentiments of freedom. They are born, bred, and educated, in slavery, and know no more, than to imitate the humility and submissions of their parent slaves. Slavery is as habitual to them, though not so pl€asa7it, as freedom is to others : but, then, they never knew the sweets of liberty; there- fore their want of it is not an evil equal to that, which is sustained by those who lose the liberty they once possessed. The Instances arc very numerous of slaves, who, coming to this country and knowing that they are free here; yet, nevertheless, will not 205 tarry here j but prefer refiirnivg to slaver}) in the Colonics, w'i'ere ihcv can in(luls:e their old habits, and associate with their families and friends. This fact distinguishes the case of one who has been horn in slavery, from another, who, from a state of natural freedom, becomes enslaved. But, when we compare the slaves in the Wei^t Indies with the poor people of Great Britain, in respect of their dependence f^r the means of subsistence, separate from all con- siderations of civil liberty ; the certainty of sub- sisting a family is in favor of the slaves. In England, the employment of workmen often depends on a fashion, on weather, on peace or war; and if any of these injure the manufac- tories or trade, the poor are not employed ; and the children, at least, must starve, sicken, and die. In the West Indies, whether crops are abundant or sc intv : whether suears are at a high price, or low; the negro is still allowed the usual rations : and if the Proprietor be even ruined, the Mortgagee, or new Purchaser, who takes possession, must feed the negroes. In the consideration of the evils ot slavery, cer- tainly, the obligation of the Proprietor, to feed and clothe the slaves, is, under all circumstances, a great alleviation of their misery : and though it is said, that poverty docs not j)revent the pro- pagation of the human species; yet, I contend, ' I'i. if ^ I. I 206 that it at least prevents the rearing of children: and, therefore, population must increase faster annong the slaves, if proper plans be adopted, than it ever can among the poor people of Great Britain, where no such plans can be adopted among them, to promote the increase of popu- lation. The objection to marriage among the poor, is the apprehension of a family of chil- dren. Single men, or women, can maintain themselves very well by their industry ; but wretchedness begins with the offspring of mar- riage. AVhat was suflicient for the subsistence of a m^.n or woman when single, becomes de- ficient when children, who can contribute nothing to the domestic supplies, are constantly con- suming them. ^ The effects of poverty upon population have been long ago commented upon by able writers; and lastly by Mr Malthus. But, for my pur- pose, it is only necessary farther to observe, that, even in the slavery of the AVest Indies there must be very bad management if population do not increase; since a family, however numerous, does not deprive the parents of any part of their subsistence ; proportionate rations being allowed for all the children, and medical attendance and nurses being also employed at the expence of the slave-owner. But if these people were ii m 207 free^ the white people would be also free from the obligation by which they are now bound to support, in health and in sickness, the people who are now their slaves. The evils, under which these poor people do not now labour, but which they would have to encounter after having got rid of ihe evil of slavery, are, I am afraid, insurmountable objections to the advan- tages which are promised to them by emancipa- tion : but these objections never appeared to me in such a strouor lighf, until my attention was awakened to them by the Essay on Population. To propose any tiling towards the freedom of the sfaves, widiout being able to cisure the safety of our dominion over them, as well as more domestic prosperity to themselves than they enjoy already, would be dangerous to our Colonial government, and would give them a degree of freedom, which, from their igno- rance and servile habits, they would not perhaps derive a benefit from, equal to what they would relinquish to obtain it. ^■1 Bui, I am no defender of slavery. On the contrary, I subscribe to ]\ir Locke's opinion, that, "it is so vile and miserable an estate of man, and so directly opposite to the generous temper and courage of our nation, that it is hardly to i^. if li. 203 ' ' M I !vhen it is not rewarded, that we need not attribute this repugnance to the nature of the negio in particular. Should zee not work with equal repugnance were we as ill requited? The negro will work industriously enough, when he works for himself, as is the case when he hires himself to those who will employ him on a Sunday, or when he cultivates his provision- ground on that day and Saturday afternoon ; of which time, at certain seasons, he is also allowed to dispose. But, in general, even the two hours which are intended for rest and the noon's repast, are filled up by the negroes in most violent exer- tions to work their own grounds: and then, in- stead of proceeding in the sullen silence, which they observe during their slow dull movements in their master's work, they handle their hoe with the activity of willingness ; and cheerfully accompany their labour with their songs ; the burthen of which is frequently, their sanguine * Vol. ii. p. 412. P t; 210 calculations of articles of gay apparel, or of do- mestic comforts, which are to be purchased by the produce of their industry. This is certainly more particularly the case with the Creole slaves, tvho know better than the poor African, the arts of West-India traffic ; and having families and sick or aged relatives to assist, and youthful companions and fellow-servants to eclipse in finery of dress, they feel inducements to industry, which, the lost liberty, established melancholy, forlorn situation, and uninformed mind of the newly-ariived African savage does not admit of, and therefore they are not felt. n I i. I ;i 1 ,' Lv, 1 1^: m l&ut the number of these unhappy wretches cannot now increase! those whose stubborn hearts and hardy bodies do not sink into the grave under such an accumulation of miseries, will, when they shall in time forget their woes, learn from their neighbours lessons of domestic economy, and will form family-connexions and acquire habits of industry. This zve know is the result of association with the Creoles j and like the Creoles, they will in time have induce- ments to industry when it is their interest to work. The objection to their freedom on account of the indolence which such climates beget, and 211 ;1, or of do- lased by the is certainly reole slaves, :an, the arts ng families assist, and servants to inducements established uninformed savage does not felt. py wretches se stubborn nk into the of miseries, their woes, of domestic nexions and ve know is reoles ; and ave induce- interest to account of beget, and the encouragement to indulgence which the. abundant productions that such fertile soils afford, may be obviated by not allowing them to produce for their own use the fruits of the earth. They must be labourers for the owners of the soil, and not cultivators on their own account, at least not to any amount sufficient to make thera independent of daily labour for hire. They will still eat what they produce, but they will obtain it in the market from the white Farmer, the Gardner, and the Butcher, by the very money which they will receive from these persons as the value of their daily labour ; and it will be in the wisdom of the colonial Legislature, to fix the price of daily hire at such a rate, that while it shall be sufficient to purchase daily food, it shall leave no more than enough to provide the little clothing which the temperature of such climates require, and pay for the occupancy of the cottages, which may be rented to them ; and the dimensions of these cottages, if private property; the materials of which they are con- structed, and the rent for which they are to be hired, should also be fixed by proper laws of the Colony ; so that the poor should not be op-i pressed, rack-rented, nor even neglected. Thus there would be inducements to industry and no opportunity for idle indulgences. The indo- lence of the free negroes in the West Indies P 2 fl i 212 arises from the circumstances which such a new order of things would remove. The price of labour is not now fixed by law ; therefore by making exorbitant demands for work which must be done even at any rate, in order to carry on the business of a plantation, these free people are enabled to earn as much in one week, as will maintain them in idleness and dissipation for a con- siderable time afterwards: and as they have none of those inducements to save money, which are felt by the white people, such as a desire to give polished education to their children, to promote the aggrandizement of their families, — and to go to live in splendour in those countries where wealth can be so enjoyed ; the free people there- fore gratify such desires as their situation and habits give rise to, and return to work when the means of indulgence are exhausted. But their return to labour, even upon such a necessity, is a proof, that, were their wants continual, they "would constantly work to supply them : and therefore the suggestion arises, of not allowing them to hold lands for cultivation ; and of pre- venting them by law from extorting from their employers such exorbitant wages as is ruinously expensive to the latter, and instead of benefiting the working people, only encourages indolence and vicious dissipation ; which are productive of disease and habits of life, that prevent the mul- ■^-— < i . n.n. » «a ^ wjiuj jMjemstmia^twme 213 Implying population of this class of inhabitants in the Islands. Mr Brougham * is led wrong by Malouct from whom he quotes that, " although many of them possess land and slaves, the spectacle, was never yet exhibited of a free negro sup- porting his family by the culture of his little property." This is not the case, for I could men- tion the names of tnany Negroes in the Islands, and particularly in Trinidad, who support large families by cultivating lands; some in provisions, others in cotton, and in Trinidad even in cocoa and jugar: and it can be proved, that in this Island the number of free people having freehold estates is considerable, some of them worth from ten to twenty thousand pounds sterling. Voluntary labour for hire, though a refine- ment wholly unknown among the savage tribes of Africa, and though as unlikely to be known in the West Indies under the same circumstances that exist in Africa; would, notwithstanding, be so necessary to the very existence of these people under circumstances so different from those of Africa as these are which I propose, that vx>luntary labour would no longer be un^ * Vol. ii. p. 416. P 3 \( I. l;' I I 1 fl> >' \f H . 21i common. If negroes in the West Indies be allowed to hold lands for their own cultivation, there is no dispute about the possibility of their planting as much in a day, as will maintain them in idleness for a week; and under such circum- stances it is not wonderful that they will indulge themselves while their crops arc growing. If they be allowed to fish and hunt, it is true, that on shores which abound in fish, and in new countries where game is also abundant, they will easily be able to feed themselves by sport- ing instead of labour. But under a proper state of colonial management the Legislature might prohibit such sports. No man should be allowed to have a net but by an expensive licence to be obtained from the Government of the country: fishing with lines should be unlawful, and liable to penalties and punishments: the possession of a fowling-piece, without a license, should be also punishable; and powder and shot should pay such a heavy tax as would amount to a total prohibition of its use among the inferior classes of people. This last regulation would not only render daily labour absolutely necessary, but would also rendjgr the Colonies more secure from insur- rection ^i)d revolt ; for therp cannot be a worse 2l3r Indies be cultivation, lity of their intain them jch circum- ^ill indulge ing. t, it is true, and in new idant, they s by sport" proper state iture might . be allowed :ence to be le country: , and liable ossession of should be jhot should it to a total rior classes jnly render but would from insur- be a worse policy, than to allow arms and ammunition \o be in the hands of this class of people, whose situation affords too many inducements for tha use of such means, when opportunities for re- venge are rendered inviting by the power to gratify it. * - ^ When cultivation, fishinqj, and hunting, are prohibited to the labouring and mechanical classes of the people, they must of necessity re-- sort to daily labour for the maintenance of their • The remarks of Sir William Young, relative to the intercourse of black soldiers with female slaves, occur to my mind very forcibly, while stating the impolicy of allowing arms and ammunition to be in the hands of the negroes. Certainly the plan of having negro-soldiers in colonies where there are negro slaves merits the serious consideration of Government, as much as the approbation of black troops, ex* pressed by the Author of " War in Disguise" in •* the Crisis of the Sugar-Colonies" merits suspicion: for, in the event of that famine which the present state of the West Indies and the interrupted intercourse with America threatens, these war-like paramours of female slaves will know too well how to advise the contrivance and execution of those attempts at emancipation, to which the approaching true crisis of the Colonies may lead. And it is too much to be appre- hended, that the negro-troops would be willingly instrumental in the progress of that " African Sovereignty" which the Author of " War in Disguise" tells us in his book called " the Opportunity'," we " might look forward too with satisfaction rather than dismay." ai6 families ; and, as there is no excitement to in- dustry so certain as necessity, upon this plan the excitement will be as constant a§ it will be certain: no intervals of idleness will be possible; and thus the objections to freedom upon the plea of naitiral ctnd habitual indolence will be obviated. u ,1 1 ' nm^ .?.-:< Under the present system much labour js lost by feigned sickness: but, less labour will be lost in hospitals under such a new order of circumstances as I have described, A disposition, the very reverse of that which negroes now expose, will then affect them. While they toil without profit, their low-cunning suggests the expedient of pretended disease, and sometimes even the use of pernicious herb^ and drugs to produce real maladies. But when the profit of t;heir labour shall be their own ; in- stead oi feigning sickness, they will take pains to preserve health ; because any interruption to their labour will be their own loss. Their oivn support will depend upon their own strength; and when they may value time as their own they will not waste it. It is true, that they will still be liable to the common calamities of human life: but they are liable to these now, with the addition of many uncommonly -afflicting events besides: and as to the ordinary occurrence of accidents and disease, these and the infirmities 217 of nature, ii. fancy, and old bgo, may be pro- vided for without any thing mf^c than the j)rc- scnt ordinary cxpcncej and indeed, 1 believe at a rate far below it. Kvory slave-holder, at present pays a medical attendant for the cure and care of his sick, lame, and infirm noorocs. But, a sum by very much less th.in the annual expence which estates pay for medicine and attendance would support pro- per hospitals, to which medical men would be appointed by the free sulfrages of the governors of such institutions : and those alone would be elected whose pretensions from talents, edu- cation, regular initiation into the profession, and long experience, render most eligible for such a serious charge ; which, at present, is too often committed to ignorant pretenders and adven- turers, who are imposed on the planters by mere accident, interest, or impudence. Such Impostors abound in the Colonies : and the climate is too much blamed for the great mortality which is produced among the Whites and Africans by the timidity of some, the teme- rity of more, and the ignorance of most ; and, indeed, the last is the general cause of both the former, in the practice of men to whom the lives and properties are . indiscriminately en- % • . I f t »,. ' \ . ■' il: I i 218 trusted, of those who speadafe with both life and property in the unequal hazard to which they are thus unnecessarily re iuced. It is much to be desired that hospitals were esta- blished, to which medical men would be ap- pointed upon the same principles with those who dignify our public hospitals in Great Bri- tain. The collieries, mines, and manufactories in England employ great numbers of labourers, who are as incapable of defraying medical charges, and subsisting themselves during sick- ness as the slaves are. And the colliers, mi- ners, and manufacturers hospitals are found to be the most cheap, comfortable, and useful institutions in relieving the numerous cases which occur among their labourers, and, in- deed, the cxpence of any other mode of relief could never be sustained ; so superior is the plan of public hospitals in point of economy, as well as in point of skill and humanity. On such a principle the inferior classes would have the assistance of the highest characters in the pro- fession, instead of the lowest; and the white people would feel the benefit of that extensive experience which the practice of large hospitals can alone afford. These Planters hospitals may, even under the slave-system, be established v^'ilh v\ 11 JA 219 equal advantage to the slaves and the Proprie- tors. Bat the previous suggestions are only adaptable to some future period, when a safe plan, for a better system to be accomplished in a new generation, shall be produced and carried into effect. Although T am decided, in my opinion of the impolicy of an immediate, or, at any time, a sudden emancipation of the slaves in the West Indies, and of the difficulty and even impossi- bility of maintaining subordination and good order among them; and of their unwillingness to industry under their present lamentable state of degradation, and want of religious and moral education : yet, it is conceivable, that, a new generation, educated in religious humility, in* structed in moral obligations, habitu?^ted to in- dustry from infancy, and looking forward to the reward of labour in riper years, might be raised; and under proper colonial regulations, might render the Colonies prosperous and powerful. How far distant the proper peiiod for such an innovation must be; or how such an inno- vation should be attemptad ; and whether the negroes will, comparafwelij, be benefited the»*e- by; are such momentous matters of considera- tion, that I will not venture to decide upon 220 them. But, at least, I will decide against the •policy of the Author of *' War in Disguise," since I cannot consider it "just nor rational," that we should " look forward, with salUfaetion rather than dismay," to " African sovereignty'^ in the West Indies; whatever future events piay effectuate towards " African freedom." jj ^•-i ■. . V } '■"'..', \.\ \ :% ,' '.' J '. ■ '1 *•> ■ >' "■ 1 ■ THE END. ; ' . .' h h *M .,,,?/..'' •/. V T" • 7 ' -■■. "1' . 4>w».f: • 1 .>.. , . • -/ c ' • : J ' 'J t."^. O 1 J? *-' 'C. . z K{ •J?l"v' •^.^T; f\;<'U -^i- ;.•;:.. ■' »/• V, ■ ■;•.• ^"r •'■■ .-/■ If "' till '^' 5?n'?t rf^* .■ #.»»■ i] !'^ le against the in Disguise," nor rational," :h saihfaetion sovereignty'^ e events piay <■■ .:,.; '-'{ i .' ':■■'- ■---■\ ,1- 'J-.'S%. ,, •' : ■•»•! J '':-^t^::j-'i *!.'«, J a L. >:. • J 4 -I •i - ' i/Jf i ? <4 i «. ■ ■=j > nf4i i' ■■ -> t ^' ..•'^' » *