L^id. PRESBYTER'S LETTERS WEST INDIA QUESTION ADDRESSED TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE SIR GEORGE MURRAY, G.C.B., MP. COLONIAL SECKETARY, &C. &C. BY HENRY I^UNCAN, D.D. RUTH WELL. LONDON : T. AND G. UNDERWOOD, FLEET-STREET. 1830. i25o PREFACE. The principal substance of this little work origi- nally appeared, under the signature of Presbyter, in the weekly columns of the Dumfries and Galloway Courier, a Provincial Newspaper of some celebrity/. As these ephemeral productions attracted considerable attention, the Author has been induced carefully to revise them, and after enlarging them by filling up such parts a^ seemed to be defective, to give them to the Public i-n their present form. Should these Letters prove the means of leading the community, or even a single influential individual, to a more dispassionate and enlightened consideration of the question at issue — a question involving the most 832 VI important interests both of the white and black popu- lation of our colonies in the Western Archipelago, he will thankfully acknowledge that his humble labour has not been without its reward ; and will feel satis- fied, that, in stretching a little beyond the immediate line of his professional duties as a minister of the gospel, he has, at least, not been deviating from the service of his Divine Master. RuTHWELL Manse, October, 1830. CONTENTS. Page Letter I. — Introductory Remarks 9 II. — Slavery not prohibited by express Christian precept . . 17 III — Our Slaves at present unfit for freedom 22 IV. — Progressive improvement of the Negro race 31 V — The same subject continued 41 VI. — Period advancing when Emancipation will become the interest of the Planters 52 VII — ^Duty of Government 63 VIIT. — Duty of the Public at home, and of West India Proprietors 71 IX. — People of Colour — their condition and the means of its improvement 87 X. — Foreign Slave Trade — its extent and consequences . . 98 XI. — Necessity of reducing Taxes on West India Produce — Conclusion 109 LETTER I. INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. Sir, I AM well aware that your office of Colonial Secretary is no sinecure ; and, in particular, that the questions involved in the policy which your public duty imposes on you, as to our possessions in the West Indies, are of a delicate and embarrassing nature. Nor am I in- clined to forget the forbearance due to a brave and patriotic individual, who from asserting the honour of his country in the field, has transferred his services to the cabinet, and has found himself suddenly engaged in the unwonted turmoil of politics. You may, therefore, rest assured, that I do not, thus unbidden, obtrude myself on your notice, either for the unfriendly purpose of embarrassing your operations, or with the arrogant expectation of conveying to you instruction or advice; but simply from the hope that by associating your well-known name with this humble B 10 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. attempt to benefit those over whose interests you pre- side, I may obtain for myself a more patient and favour- able hearing. The discussion of our West Indian affairs at the present moment, it were not possible, were it even de- sirable, to blink. On the one hand, the feelings excited in this country as to the question of slave manumission, and on the other, the depressed state of colonial pro- duce, which must compel West India proprietors to apply to Parliament for a reduction of taxes, render such a discussion as unavoidable, as the subject itself is important. With regard to the former of these questions, in- deed, the note of preparation has already been sounded by the abolitionists, in various quarters of the country ; and in Ireland especially, a strong demonstration has been made of the sentiments of all political parties. Meetings have been held, and petitions have been pre- pared, against slavery as it exists in our colonies ; and these are, doubtless, only a prelude to steps of a similar nature in other parts of the United Kingdom ; while publications have issued from the press, intended, by exciting the public indignation against the colonists, and by depreciating the value of the colonies, to hurry on a crisis, which, if premature, it is impossible for any sober-thinking and impartial man to contemplate with- out alarm. The period, therefore, is momentous ; and I have too high an opinion. Sir, of your good sense and liberality not to be persuaded, that, under such circumstances, you will take in good part the honest endeavours of an hum- ble individual to direct pubUc attention to the course INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 11 which appears to his mind best calculated for promot- ing the general welfare. The very name of slavery is happily so abhorrent to the inhabitants of this free and Christian land, that the mind readily admits as true every description of misery among the enslaved, with which impassioned oratory, delighting in its own power, strives to harrow the feel- ings ; and, our sympathies being roused, the imagina- tion warms, and nature revolts. When we are told by an eloquent speaker, with such a mixture of truth in his glowing words, as serves to conceal their exaggerations, that the sugar and coffee which the soil of our western dependencies so abundantly produces to pamper the luxurious taste of Britons, is raised by the forced labour of negro slaves, driven to their daily toil by the lash already red with their blood ; and when we are further told, that these slaves are either free-born Africans, treacherously torn from their native land, who, after surviving the horrors of the middle passage, have been subjected to the degradation and misery of a cruel and unmitigated bondage, or the descendants of these in- jured fellow-men, born under British dominion, to a life of the same hopeless and heartless oppression — when these things are heard and believed, there is no room for wonder that the heart should sicken, and that all the man within us should cry aloud for vengeance. That slavery should have ever been permitted to exist, under the sanction of Britain, is itself a fact deeply humiliating to our national pride ; but that our countrymen should have been the principals and the agents in scenes of such horrid injustice, cruelty and murder, as came to light in the parliamentary investiga- B 2 12 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. tioii of the slave trade, and that, even after this infa- mous traffic in human flesh was, at the resistless call of an indignant Christian nation, put down by the strong arm of power— that even after this, the crowds of mise- rable human beings thus violently removed from the land of their fathers, with their children and their chil- dren's children, should still be doomed to endure a yoke so unjustly imposed, are facts, the very mention of which is calculated to rouse and inflame the mind, precluding all prudential reasoning and cool delibera- tion. — " Let us at once and for ever wash off this foul stain from the British name," is the sentiment with which every generous heart must burn on the first con- sideration of a question thus partially stated ; and till the mind is presented with more enlarged views of the interests of the slaves themselves — for we speak not at present of the claims of their masters — to reason and to hesitate on such a subject, seems to be a species of sacrilege against human nature. But it is here precisely that I conceive the danger to lie. It is not under the exaggerating influence of ex- cited feeling that any political question, and much less such a question as this, can be wisely determined ; and, deep as is the interest I feel in the ultimate manumis- sion of the black population of the West Indies, I am on that very account, and out of a sincere and Chris- tian regard for the welfare of that degraded race, most anxious that my fellow-citizens should look at the sub- ject in all its bearings, and should not take either their facts or opinions from the fervid speeches delivered at public meetings, or from the ex parte statements of tracts and periodical publications. We all know how JNTRODUCTOllY KEMAllKS. 13 much men attached to a party, or under the influence of some strong feeling, are, with the most honest, inten- tions, liable to be biassed in their judgment; and how unwilling too they naturally are to admit the truth of every fact which militates against their views, or even tends to modify them ; nor can any of us be ignorant how generally writers and speakers regard it as a legi- timate artifice to throw into the shade all opposing ar- guments, and to give a high, if not a false colouring, to every thing which tends to advance their cause. But persons of this description — as you. Sir, well know — are very unsafe guides on a subject so interesting to the feelings, and involving such momentous considerations as those which relate to the state of our Western Co- lonies. I have lately been led into this train of thinking by a candid perusal of some recent works on that ques- tion, as well as by the accounts which have from time to time been published in the newspapers, of the anti- slavery meetings already alluded to ; and being struck with the fatal consequences which might arise from hasty and violent measures, originating in an uninform- ed zeal and a misguided benevolence, I have felt it my duty to contribute my mite towards a sober con- sideration of the subject. I flatter myself that, what- ever may be my disqualifications, I shall at least com- mand unprejudiced attention, when I state that, so far from belonging to those whose interests and prepos- sessions are favourable to slavery, I have, from my youth to the present hour, entertained only one desire on the subject, and that desire has been for the final emancipation of the Africans, placed by the unprin- 14 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. cipled cupidity of our forefathers under British domi- nation. This intrusion of my own motives and feelings will, I am sure, be pardoned by you, to whom I have not the honour to be known, and who must be well aware how essential it is to a fair hearing on such a subject, that a writer should be acknowledged to be free from the bias of personal interest, and to be actuated by pa- triotic intentions. To those who happen to be acquaint- ed with me, such a statement, I trust, is altogether super- fluous. No trifling part of the abhorrence with which negro slavery is now viewed, took its origin, I suspect, in the excitement of the public mind on the discovery of the manifold and unspeakable atrocities practised in the slave trade. But these scenes of horror, so far as Britain is concerned, have passed away for ever; and I trust one other glory yet remains to be achieved for her, added to those with which she has im- mortalized her name on that very ocean which was conscious of her disgraceful cruelties, — the glory of putting an end to the inhuman traffic throughout the world. The present question, however, is of a very diff^erent nature, and ought not to bear the odium of delinquen- cies, over which Time has, for a quarter of a century, been passing her hand. Whatever may have been the injustice with which so many of the black population of Africa were originally transported to the West (and God forbid that I should say one word in palliation of those horrors), in our islands they now live — British subjects, cast on British protection ; — and the only ques- INTJIODUCTORY REMARKS. 15 tion which remains with regard to them is. How shall we best acquit ourselves, both nationally and indivi- dually, of the responsibility in the sight of God and man which is thus entailed on us? This is an im- portant duty which no sophistry can gainsay, and no interest, either public or private, can counterbalance. If, on a due consideration of all the circumstances con- nected with their situation, we discover that we can best compensate their injuries, either by returning them to their native soil, or by instantly breaking oiF their fet- ters on the shore to which they have been carried — in the name of humanity — in the name of justice, let it be done. No expediency as to their masters — no vested rights — no sanction of unhallowed laws, can cancel the sacred obligation which lies on Britain to repair, as far as they can be repaired, the wrongs of that crushed and degraded race. Objections raised on such fallacious grounds you will, doubtless, cast to the winds. If former administrations, by their unprincipled policy, deluded and entrapped the colonists into a snare, as I believe they did, let this wrong also be redressed, and let the country pay the forfeit. But I am well persuaded it will be found, that neither of the methods to which I have referred, can in any degree answer the end in view. Every one sees the absurdity of sending the negroes back to Africa ; and it will, I think, require no great effort of reasoning to shew, that immediate manumission, in any shape, could not fail to be a curse instead of a blessing — that it would add injury to injury, and would crown all, by preparing, for a whole people, inevitable ruin, under the insidious and insulting name of a boon. 16 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. Such is the view of this part of the question which I first propose to take, and^ with your permission, I shall afterwards use the freedom to make a few cur- sory remarks on the whole subject, with the importance of which I am deeply impressed. LETTER 11. SLAVERY NOT PROHIBITED BY EXPRESS CHRISTIAN PRECEPT. Sir, If there were any direct precept in the word of God, declaring slavery unlawful, this would be decisive of the question, and, precluding all argument on its ex- pediency to the slaves themselves, and still more to their masters, would establish the absolute necessity of immediate and uncompromising manumission; because no consideration of consequences can ever be brought in competition with a command of the Most High. But happily this is not the case. The Mosaic Law not only permitted, but sanctioned by express statute, the holding of heathen slaves ; and, what is more, allowed the temporary bondage, and, by consent of the party — a consent rendered irrevocable by certain public forms — even the perpetual slavery of individuals among the chosen people themselves. The law revealed to Moses, however, may be held, on account of the temporary nature of many of its en- 18 SLAVERY NOT PROHIBITED actments, adapted as they were to the very peculiar circumstances of the Israelites, to be, in the present in- stance, no sufficient guide to Christians; and it is therefore of much greater consequence to remark that, in all the injunctions of our Saviour, and in all the writ- ings of his apostles, from the beginning to the end of the New Testament, there is not a single precept directly condemning the state of servitude to which the laws and customs of the world had, in their days, ^ reduced so large a proportion of the lower orders ; and that, on the contrary, there are many directions given to Christian masters as to the treatment of their slaves, (for such is the meaning of the word douloi, translated, in our version, servants,^ and to Christian slaves as to the duty which they owe their masters, which all tacitly, but unequivocally, infer that the condition was not positively prohibited. The case of Onesimus is remarkably in point. He was a runaway slave belonging to Philemon, an emi- nent Christian of the Apostolic age — who, having gone to Rome while Paul was detained in that capital of the world as a prisoner, was, by the spiritual labours of that zealous teacher, converted to the Christian faith, and became exceedingly serviceable and acceptable to the aged apostle ; so much so, indeed, that he would gladly have retained him about his own person, had he not been impelled, by a sense of duty, to restore him to his master. Here, undoubtedly, was an opportunity which could not have been passed over, of laying down an authoritative precept as to the unlawfulness of sla-. very, had it been the object of the gospel to interfere directly in this respect with the established law of na- tions. But Paul did no such thing. On the contrary. BY CHRISTIAN PRECEPT. 19 he avowed the authority of the master over his slave, and, while he delicately intimated the strong desire which he felt of having the advantage of his services, expli- citly owned that he had no right to these services with- out Philemon's permission ; and, indeed, that, were his wishes complied with, the favour would be wholly be- stowed, not by Onesimus, but by his master, '' Whom," says he, " I would have retained with me, that in thy stead he might have ministered unto me ; but without thy mind would I do nothing ; that thy benefit [that is, the benefit derived from thee] should not be, as it were, of necessity, but willingly." It is true, indeed, that the apostle says he might have been " much bold in Christ to enjoin" Philemon to do what was " convenient" or proper ; but if this meant any thing more than a gently expressed hint as to the personal obligations which he owed to " Paul the aged," at all events the context abundantly proves that it bore not the slightest reference to the duty of restoring his slave to freedom. It is true, also, that the apostle afterwards afi*ectionately and earnestly exhorts him to receive his converted bondman " not now as a slave, but above a slave, a brother beloved ;" but I see no reason to believe that this request necessarily im- plies manumission ; and even granting that it does so, it is assuredly not urged, as a right which Onesimus could justly demand, but as a favour to be conceded to the apostle by the friendship and gratitude of one of his converts, who owed to him, as he emphatically expresses it, '^ even his own self." The whole of this remarkable and warm-hearted epistle is indeed exceedingly instructive in several re- spects, and especially as it places the question of slavery. 20 SLAVERY NOT PROHIBITED SO far as it is a religious one, on its true footing. Chris- tianity does not alter by express laws the political condi- tion of society ; but it is eminently calculated in its spirit and tendency, to break down all that is harsh and partial in that condition ; gradually, but irresistibly and permanently, sweeping cruelty and oppression from the earth, and spreading, over the whole face of an enlightened and renovated world, the blessings of free institutions and equal rights. To recur to the case of Onesimus as an example. — Who can doubt that the good Philemon, if he did not give legal manumission to his restored slave, and thus '^ do more than Paul said,'* would at least comply with the request of his spiritual father to the very letter, and treating his fellow-convert, from that mo- ment, rather as a ^' brother beloved"" than as a bond- man — would raise him to a station in his family to which he had been previously an entire stranger ? And a similar effect must necessarily be produced by the influence of Christianity, wherever it is embraced, not in name, but in reality. The mild and affectionate spirit of the gospel requires that, without distinction of bond or free, we should regard each other as brethren, and conduct ourselves towards the very meanest of our fellow-creatures with the kindness due to members of the same family. This necessarily implies an en- tire change in the relation which subsists between a master and his slaves, and, by immediate consequence, although not by direct statute, leads, under favourable circumstances, to their complete manumission — an effect actually produced in the condition of the lower classes within the bounds of European Christendom. I infer, then, from this statement, that the duty which BY CHRISTIAN PRECEPT. 21 a Christian owes to his slaves, is, not only to treat them with the strictest regard to justice and humanity, but also to use his best efforts for raising them in the scale of society, and promoting the interest of their immortal part ; and, as it seems to me, on the proper means of performing this paramount duty, clearly hinges the ques- tion of manumission. Independent of this, there does not appear, from the express precepts of Scripture, to be any abstract right to freedom inherent in the slave. I speak advisedly when I limit the observation to express pre- cepts, for the lawfulness of the condition of slavery is by no means settled by ascertaining this point. The ques- tion depends on other grounds altogether, which I shall endeavour to develope in the course of the proposed in- quiry.* And this brings me to the very principles on which I intend to found my argument ; which are, that the Ne- gro population of the West Indies are not at this mo- ment in a condition to be benefited by freedom ; that they may and ought to be brought into this condition ; that they are in actual progress towards it ; that this progress should be accelerated by every legitimate means ; and that, when the period shall arrive in which emanci- pation shall cease to be an injury to them, it will, from that moment, become an act of injustice and criminality to withhold it. See note A. LETTER III. OUR SLAVES AT PRESENT UNFIT FOR FREEDOM. Sir, The incapacity of the negroes in our West India pos- sessions for the immediate enjoyment of freedom, con- sidering them as a body, will scarcely be questioned by any candid man at all acquainted with their real circum- stances. It is now twenty-two years since the slave trade was put down by law, and although it is but justice to remark, that for many years no new slaves have been brought from Africa into our dependencies, not less than a fourth part of the whole black population, even in our oldest colonies, still consists of imported Africans, while in those which have fallen into our possession at a later date, the proportion is much greater. These Africans, being chiefly savage warriors taken in battle, brought along with them all the ignorance, all the preju- dice, and all the superstitious and immoral practices of their countrymen. To govern them was difficult ; to enlighten and reform them, even if it had been at- tempted, would have been a still more arduous task; OUR SLAVES, &C. 23 and I fear it is necessary to add, that, till lately, no such attempt was made. An undue contempt for the negro race unhappily prevailed among the whites, induced, I suppose, during the continuance of the traffic, by the brutal condition in which their minds were kept on account of the con- stant importation of fresh barbarians with their savage manners from the original source, and afterwards maintained, like other prepossessions, chiefly from its having once gained a hold of public opinion. In what- ever way it originated, there undoubtedly existed a general conviction that the intellectual and moral perceptions of a negro were altogether of an infe- rior order, and nearly incapable of culture or improve- ment ; that the whole race, in short, had the stamp of imbecility and corruption upon their minds, and, like the brutes, were intended by nature to be drudges and bearers of burden to the higher species of human beings. It was, I believe, by such reasoning as this, that the great body of slave-masters, while professing the diff*usive principles of Christianity, justified to themselves the pertinacity with which they so long withheld from their negro dependants all moral and religious instruc- tion. But there was yet another opinion, which, though in some respects inconsistent with the former, seems, by being united with it in the sentiments of the planters, to have confirmed their determination of denying to their slaves all access to the lights possessed by themselves. It was thought necessary to keep the black population in a state of mental darkness, lest, by learning their own strength, and acquiring intel- lectual vigour, they should be induced to combine 24 OUR SLAVES AT PRESENT against their masters, and overwhelm the whites in one common ruin — an alarm which was probably in- creased, by some injudicious but well-meant endea- vours, made by societies in this country, to enlighten the negroes in spite of their masters. Both the fear and the prejudice are now rapidly disappearing ; but, while they lasted, it is not surprising that they should have erected an impregnable barrier between the slaves and civilization, and should have even excluded them from that knowledge which indeed forms the basis of all moral and intellectual improvement — the knowledge of the will of God and the grace of the Redeemer, as revealed in the Scriptures. Stupified by hereditary ignorance, and jealously excluded from the light of knowledge, human and divine, such blind and degraded beings must be held, during their continuance in a condition so abject, alto- gether incapable either of duly estimating or rightly improving the blessings of liberty ; and, although it will afterwards be shewn that they are now in a state of rapid amelioration, the change in their circumstances is much too recent to render it either desirable or safe that they should yet be permitted to become their own masters. Another circumstance, operating along with those already mentioned, tends also to render the immediate manumission of the negroes entirely inconsistent with their best interests. They are but little accustomed to labour without compulsion, and would, in their pre- sent state of feeling — I spe^k of the great bulk of the population, for doubtless there would be many excep- tions — abuse their freedom from restraint, by spending the greater part of their time in idleness or intoxication, UNFIT FOR FREEDOM. 25 if not in attempts on the lives and properties of their former masters. This is not a mere hypothesis. It is confirmed by undeniable experience. In Hay ti, where the negroes achieved their own free- dom by the destruction of their masters, a government of blacks has been established ever since the com- mencement of the French revolution. And what has been the result 1 Precisely what might have been anticipated from the sudden emancipation of an ignorant, savage, and unprincipled population. A reign succeeded, first of anarchy, and then of almost unmitigated tyranny ; and when, after a quarter of a century of turmoil and oppression, the new community at last settled down into somewhat of a more regular government, the public functionaries found it necessary to drive their consti- tuents to labour, at the point of the bayonet ! Nor i» the condition of what may be called the lower classes of the people in that beautiful island greatly improved at this moment. In compelling them to work, fine and imprisonment have been substituted by law for more arbitrary means, but the necessity which exists of hav- ing recourse to even this modification of a compulsory system, indicates a state of society the very reverse of flattering. The fact, indeed, is, that the inferior orders are poor, abject, and dissipated in the extreme; and, so averse are many of them to toil, that, when any extraordinary work is to be performed, either by go- vernment, or even by private individuals, the object is said to be effected by applying to the military police, " who sweep together all the idle negroes that can be found, and keep them to labour till the work is done." Yet, notwithstanding this power assumed by th^ 2p OUR SLAVES AT PRESENT negro government, of enforcing labour by compulsion, official documents prove that the wealth of the island has lamentably decreased. On comparing the produce of St. Domingo (Hayti) under white proprietors pre- vious to the revolution, with its present produce, we find^ that in its former condition, from the French part of the island alone, 490,000 persons exported 15 1,481 tons, averaging to each 692 lbs. ; and that under the Haytean government, the whole island, containing, as is said, 935,335 persons, now exports only 16,365 tons, averaging to each the remarkably diminished amount of 39 lbs. This gives a most distressing view of the idleness of the black population, while a comparative consider- ation of their imports affords a proof equally decisive of their poverty, as it appears that while for the slave population of Jamaica not less than the value of .£3 each is yearly imported by their masters in clothing and other necessaries which the West Indies do not afford, the whole amount of the articles of foreign produce annually consumed in Hayti does not, according to the shewing of their own official documents, exceed the average of fourteen or fifteen shillings for each indivi- dual of all ranks. If this be true, the greater part of the inhabitants, although they may, in that tropical country, be able to procure food, must be utterly des- titute of clothing.* * I am quite aware that the accuracy of the documents from which I have taken the above statements, cannot be depended on, either as to the amount of population, or of exports and imports, and that the late Consul- General, MrM'Kenzie, has made returns^ differing from these in many particulars. But his reports, which UNFIT FOR FREEDOM. 27 Such is the condition of the free black population of Hayti, which, having emerged prematurely from a state of slavery, has not been able, in the course of more than forty years, though placed in the most fertile island of the western Archipelago, to procure for itself the comforts, or even the necessaries, of civilized so- ciety, and much less to make any effectual progress in moral and intellectual improvement. I must not omit, however, to remark, that the argu- ment^ drawn from the state of Hayti, can extend no far- ther than toprovethe necessity of a prudent and cautious policy, in effecting the emancipation of the Negroes. Many circumstances may be mentioned in the revolution of that Island, and its subsequent history, which must prevent the unhappy condition of its present inhabi- tants from being fairly adduced as militating againsl the gradual manumission of the slaves in our own colo- nies* The blacks in Hayti, as I have already remark- ed, waded to freedom through the blood of their mas- ters. They were, at that period, nearly in the condition of our own negro population before the abolition of the slave trade. By far the greater proportion of them were native Africans, fresh from the barbarities of that uncivilized land, and swelling with savage vengeance for the oppressions of their self-constituted masters. To their own wild and brutal passions was are also liable to be disputed, bring out a similar result, and I thought it best to adhere to returns which have at least the au- thority of official documents. It is impossible, at all events, with every allov^rance, to deny the fact, that the present state of Hayti is most deplorable. 28 OUR SLAVES AT PRESENT added all the demoralizing influence of French revo- lutionary principles ; and the movement, — sudden, san- guinary, and relentless, — which put them in possession not only of freedom, but of civil power, contributed, doubtless, to render their characters still more base and degenerate. It is not strange, then, that they were destined to undergo the dreadful ordeal of alternate license and oppression, and that a period of thirty years should have passed before they could begin to acquire the blessings of a regularly constituted government ; — • much less can it be matter of surprise that, even now, they are but commencing the career of improvement. The wonder, on the contrary, is, that their progress in the arts and principles of civilized society should be so considerable, as even its greatest detractors allow it actually to be. I am by no means sure, that, under such circumstances, a white population would not have exhi- bited a still more distressing spectacle of degradation and misery; and, while Hayti is justly held up as a beacon against precipitate measures, I confess the whole circumstances of its revolutionary history im- press my mind with no mean view of the comparative intelligence and energy of the negro character, and hence confirm my prepossessions in favour of ultimate manumission. Returning from this digression, however, it is more to our present purpose to observe, that the experiment made at Sierra Leone, chiefly for the express purpose of ascertaining the practicability of raising African slaves to the state of free labourers, so far from succeeding to any desirable extent, has resulted in the recommen- dation of the Commiss^'^ **-** " ** c:5:.-tem of modi- UNFIT FOR FREEDOM. 29 lied coerced labour should be introduced, in order to counteract the disposition to idleness, or the want of inclination to adopt habits of industry and useful pur- suits found in the Africans."* This speaks volumes against premature manumis- sion, and nothing can be more true than the observation which you, Sir, are reported to have made last May in the House of Commons in adverting to this subject, that if the recommendation was founded on a correct view of the state of the colony, we were working in a circle, and, in endeavouring to give freedom to the blacks, were carrying them back to a system of slavery. I have no hesitation in thinking that the same en- lightened sentiments which led you to make this re- mark, must prevent you from forming any very sanguine opinion in favour of the present state of those colonies, which are under the direct control of government, where the experimental system has actually been introduced ; for it appears from public documents that the plan is far from working well, and is not likely to produce, so soon as was expected, those advantages to the slave popu- lation that were anticipated. By this observation I must not, however, be understood to express any fear that the ultimate result of this system, under * It must be owned, however, that even this example does not exactly apply to the present state of the West India negroes : for the uncultured condition of the blacks in Sierra Leone, is perpetuat- ed by the constant importation of fresh savages from the captur- ed slave vessels ; and there has also, I fear, been much misman- agement in that colony, which has counteracted, very unnecessar- ily and unjustifiably, the benevolent intentions of the friends of the negroes. 30 OUR SLAVES UNFIT FOR FREEDOM. such prudent and cautious management as yours, will fail to be beneficial. Meanwhile, it is well known, that throughout our West Indian possessions, the greater part of the free labourers and manumitted slaves have acquired indolent and dissolute habits. They are indeed said to be " almost entirely without property; for the most part either supported by their former masters, or living in an idle and worthless man- ner." Of the truth of this statement you must be well aware ; but if it be doubted by others, I may refer, in confirmation of it, to the Fiscal of Demerara, who, in a letter addressed to the Commissioners of Inquiry, of date 2Ist January, 1829, remarks of liberated negroes in that settlement, that ** the greater part of their time is passed in gambling, in strolling about the coun^ try, in committing petty thefts, and in idleness." No person, I think, who impartially considers these facts, will venture to say that the slave population of the West Indies is, in its present condition, prepared for enjoying and profiting by the blessings of liberty. But it may be asked, if their state must be therefore considered hopeless and irretrievable? or, if we must trust to the humane and enlightened views of the slave-holders themselves, for the introduction of such a system of training and education, as may advance them in the scale of moral beings, and eventually fit them for acting their part as free members of civilized society ? To the consideration of this important subject, I sj^all use the freedom to address myself in my next. LETTER IV, PROGRESSIVE IMPROVEMENT OF THE NEGRO RACE. Sir, From what I have already stated, I flatter myself you will think me warranted to conclude, that, although Christianity is, in its spirit and tendency, decidedly hostile to every kind of arbitrary power, yet it does not, by express statute, interfere with existing institutions ; but, with a wisdom truly divine, leaves religion to work its resistless, though often silent and gentle way, and,' by convincing the judgment and affecting the heart, gra- dually sheds over the face of society its substantial and enduring blessings, of a temporal, as well as of a spiri- tual nature. It follows from this, as a legitimate con- clusion, that, when Christians find themselves in actual possession of slaves, they are not required instantly, and without inquiry into consequences, to break up the connection which has thus been formed between them and their fellow-men, as if that connection were, under 32 PROGRESSIVE IMPROVEMENT all circumstances, sinful ; but, on the contrary, that they are constrained by duty to consider themselves, as re- spects these dependants, placed in a situation of the highest responsibihty, and charged by Providence with the care, not merely of their worldly comfort and advan- tage, but of their intellectual improvement, and of their moral and religious education. If immediate manu- mission be inconsistent with such objects, it is plainly inconsistent with the Christian obligation of masters ; and therefore, so far from being required, may safely be regarded as forbidden, by the spirit of our holy reli- gion. But that it is inconsistent with such objects I persuade myself was proved in my last, when I shewed that the negro population is, at present, altogether unfit for liberty, and would, by being turned loose on society, be materially injured, both as regards their temporal and spiritual interests. I am thus led to take a view of their present condi- tion, for the purpose of considering to what extent those interests are actually consulted, and what prospect there is of their ultimate preparation for being admitted to the rights and privileges of civilized society. The final abolition of the slave trade, as respects our colonies, was the commencement of a new era to those unhappy Africans and their descendants, who had pre- viously been subjected to the yoke of British masters. Before that period, I believe, the system of slavery was altogether revolting ; and I would willingly cast a veil over it, were it not necessary to go back to the original state of the black population, that we may the better estimate the nature and extent of the amelioration which is now in progress. This is the more necessary, on account of the ten- OF THE NEGRO RACE. 33 dency which has evinced itself in ardent minds, to lose sight of what has already been effected, in the consider- ation of the important objects which yet remain to be attained, and thus to form on the subject an altogether perverted and inadequate opinion. It may be quite true, that, when considered positively, as to the intrinsic value of their attainments, or relatively, in comparison with the improved and enlightened state of the whites among whom they dwell, the negroes are in a most lamentable condition of degradation and barbarism ; and yet, when their present situation in these respects is contrasted with that in which they were placed but a few years before, the improvements which have been made among them, may be found to be remarkable and satisfactory ; and it is obviously by the estimate of this progress alone, that their real condition, both with reference to the present and to the future, can be truly judged. Were we to find them in possession of a de- gree of civilization much superior to what they have actually attained, but retrograding, or even stationary, we should have reason to pronounce their situation far more hopeless, than if, though in point of present ac- quirements greatly inferior, they were in the act of pushing forward in the path of melioration. It is necessary, therefore, to look back to the period before the abolition. And what do we see.? Truth compels me to answer, — a system of unmitigated slavery. By far the greatest part of the blacks were imported Africans, for, from whatever reason, few negro children were then reared. These generally consisted, as I have already said, of warriors taken captive in battle, and included all ranks, from the native bondman to the haughty and independent chief. It is easy to conceive, 34 PROGEESSIVE IMPROVEMENT that, out of such untractable materials, to create bands of serviceable drudges, would be no holiday task. To hold their reins loosely, was ruinous — to drive them gently and rule with kindness, required, to say the least, more skill and Christian forbearance, than fell to the lot of many masters, or could be expected of the kind of overseers actually employed. The only instrument with which the backs of the savage and refractory crew were bent to the yoke — I speak generally — was a rod of iron.* To their daily toil they were driven with the lash ; with the lash they were goaded on beyond their strength ; with the lash even a rebellious look was terribly avenged ; and other tortures more dreadful still, awaited those whose proud spirits the lash could not subdue. It is not, I fear, too much to say, that they were treated with less humanity than if they had been mere beasts of burden. The lower animals, when stub- born and indocile, are spared even by a brutal master, because they are of an inferior species, irresistibly im- pelled by the instincts of their nature. But the negroes — however mean the estimate which may have been made of their intellectual and moral characters — were still acknowledged to be men. They could understand the orders of their superior — they could reason against these orders — they could rebel in their hearts — they could harbour revenge. * I wish it to be distinctly understood, that when I speak either here or elsewhere, in such strong terms of the horrors to which the slaves were subjected, I describe the general bearing of the system, and mean not to reflect on individuals ; well knowing as I do, that among the slave owners even of the period to which I now refer, there were many amiable men and humane masters. OF THE NEGRO RACE. 35 How much these qualities, by exciting the bad pas- sions of the overseers, if not of the slave-owners them- selves, aggravated the miserable condition of the ne- groes, I do not pretend to determine. It is enough to know, that whatever effect self-interest or a more lau- dable sentiment may have had, in counteracting such in- centives to cruelty, and in providing for the bodily health and comfort of the blacks, no attempt, during the period of which I am now speaking, was ever made, except perhaps in a very few isolated cases, to instruct their minds or to open their eyes to the truths of re- vealed religion. On the contrary, there was a delibe- rate plan, as I have already noticed, to exclude them from all the lights of civilization, and from all partici- pation in the hopes of Christianity. This was the cry- ing and intolerable iniquity of West Indian slavery, which rendered the system altogether unhallowed and anti-christian, and which characterised it as one of the foulest stains that ever blotted the pages of history, since the gospel shed it benign influence over civilized society. But that dark period of colonial policy is now pass- ed, or at least is rapidly passing away — I trust for ever. Since the abolition of what has been justly call- ed the detestable traffic in human flesh, there has no longer existed a ready market, where the waste of ne- gro life could be supplied more cheaply and rapidly than by the process of rearing from the birth; and, without meaning any severe reflection on the former management of the planters, or even of their overseers and agents, I must be allowed to say that this circum- stance alone made a most material and a highly fa- '^ PROGRESSIVE IMFxtv>, ^ vourable change in the condition of the slaves. It be- came necessary, for the very existence of the West In- dies as a productive country, that the black population, by whose labour the soil was cultivated, should be pro- tected and cherished ; the value of slaves was sudden- ly so enhanced that they could scarcely be purchased for money ; and hence the prosperity of a proprietor came now to depend much more on the number and sound condition of the negroes he happened to possess, than on the extent of his estate, or the natural richness of the soil. The interest of the planters under these new circumstances powerfully co-operated with their humanity, in inducing them to attend to the health and comfort of their negro dependants, as well as to the rearing of children, — from which latter source alone they could ultimately hope to extend or even to keep up the cultivation of their property. The promiscuous intercourse of the sexes was therefore discouraged. Permanent marriages, which were previously altoge- ther unknown, began to be earnestly recommended, and rewarded with peculiar marks of favour. Separate houses were built for parents of families, and allotments of land, proportioned to their wants and industry, were assigned to them ; — the personal property acquired by slaves came to be more generally respected, and many privileges, formerly unknown, were gradually conced- ed to them, first by general consent, and afterwards by express statute. Punishments became more rare and less cruelly inflicted ; and a council of protection was appointed to attend to the complaints of the slaves, by which the tyranny of masters and subordinate agents was materially restrained. Thus the outward condi- OF THE NEGRO RACE. 37 tlon of this degraded race has, in a very few years, been remarkably improved, and a salutary impulse having once been given in this direction, their improve- ment can scarcely fail to proceed in an increasing ratio. But it is not to the mere bodily comfort of the ne- groes that the attention of their masters has been turn- ed. A no less extraordinary change has taken place in regard to their moral and religious welfare. The Creole or native slaves have been trained under the eye of those whose interest it was to prevent them from acquiring the savage and dissolute manners which characterised the imported Africans, and who enter- tained towards them more kindly feelings, arising part- ly from a natural regard for what has been reared and nourished by one's self, and partly also from a general change of sentiments among the whites with respect to the reciprocal duties of master and slave. The effects of this training are distinctly visible in the mental im- provement of the Creole race. They are altogether different from their parents in their manners and sen- timents. Many of them can read and even write ; they have all begun to despise the superstitions of Af- rica, and to long for instruction ; — the practice of ne- cromancy, under the name of Obeah, which took so fa- tal a hold on the imaginations of these ignorant people, has almost ceased to be known ; and what is more, the encouragement now given to their religious instruc- tion, and the means provided for this purpose by the whites, scanty and inadequate as it has hitherto been, has been warmly seconded by their own inclinations ; and a reformation of principles and manners, at once rapid and sincere, is spreading among them to an e^ 88 PROGRESSIVE IMPROVEMENT tent which, a few years ago, could not have been be- lieved. I trust you will not think me unnecessarily tedious, if, in my next, I continue this subject, by entering somewhat more into detail, with regard to the improv- ed sentiments and conduct both of masters and slaves. Meanwhile, I think I cannot better conclude this let- ter than by quoting from the very judicious publica- tion of a gentleman, who was lately, and for 21 years, resident in Jamaica, a passage in which he enumerates some of the changes that have taken place in the con- dition of the negroes, and some of the ameliorations in the slave laws : — "At no very distant period, when savage Africans were pour- ing into Jamaica, and while there were yet but few natives or Creoles, the master's power of punishing his slaves was little re- strained by law ; and was exercised to a great extent by the sub- ordinate white people, and by the drivers. It is now limited to 30 stripes, to be inflicted by order, and in presence of the master or overseer, and 10 by subordinate agents ; and, comparatively speaking, is but seldom required at all. There is not now one punishment for twenty that were inflicted 15 or 20 years ago. *^* Ten years ago, chains were in common use on the plantations, for punishing criminal slaves ; the use of them is now entirely abolished. " Twenty years ago, there was scarcely a negro baptised in Ja- maica ; now they are nearly all baptised. ^' Twenty years ago, the churches were scarcely at all attended by the slaves ; since then the number of churches, or places of worship of one kind or other, has been more than doubled, in fact nearly trebled ; and yet, in the districts where I have had an op- portunity of seeing them, they are all fully attended, and princi- pally by slaves. ** Twenty years ago, negroes were buried at midnight, and the funeral rites, in the forms of African superstition, were the occa- sion of continual excesses among those who attended. Negroes OP THE NEGRO RACE. 39 are now buried during the day, and in the same manner as the white people. "Ten years ago, the marriage rite was altogether unknown among the slaves. The number now married is not inconsider- able, and is fast increasing. " While the importation of Africans was continued, the practice of Obeah was common and destructive ; it is now seldom heard of. "The working of sugar-mills encroached on Sunday during crop ; it is now prohibited by law, and Sunday is strictly a day ot rest. " Formerly the negroes cultivated their grounds on Sundays — White persons were even sent to superintend them. Now they have by law 26 working days in the year for this purpose. Every manager must swear that he has given them this number of days ; and no slaves now work at their ground on Sunday, but such as are more inclined to make money than to attend church. " When the abolition of the African trade took place, a large proportion of the slaves were newly-imported Africans, maintained with provisions raised or bought by the master, or lodged with other slaves, who had grounds which they assisted in cultivating. Now, the plantation slaves in Jamaica have all houses of their own, and grounds of their own ; and are in every respect more comfortable and independent. They form more steady connec- tions, pay more attention to their families in the way of keeping them clean and dressing them neatly : and, in short, have acquir- ed more taste and desire for domestic enjoyments. " Manumissions were at one time burdened with heavy taxes ; they are now perfectly free. " For cruel or improper punishments slaves had formerly no adequate redress ; now they are manuraised and provided with an annuity for life ; and magistrates are appointed a council of pro- tection to attend to their complaints. *^ Formerly the trial of slaves was, I believe, by parole, and the power of death was entrusted to the slave courts, who could order the criminal to immediate execution ; now the whole evidence and conviction must be transmitted to the governor ; and, unless in cases of rebellion, the sentence cannot be carried into execution without his warrant. " For ten slaves that were executed twenty years ago, there is not now more than one, and I think not even that proportion. 40 PROGRESSIVE IMPROVEMENT, &C. " Twenty years ago, the coasting vessels of Jamaica were al- most exclusively manned with slaves. From the increase of the free population, the coasting vessels are now more commonly manned with freemen. The operative mechanics about towns, carpenters, ship-build- ers, &c., were mostly slaves : This description of work is now per- formed principally by free people of colour. ** A few years ago, marriage was unknown among the free peo- ple of colour : It is now becoming common ; and many of them are careful to preserve the sanctity of the institution. '' The number of free persons in Jamaica in 1787 was estimat- ed at only 10,000 ; It is now 35,000, and rapidly increasing by manumissions as well as by births. " These few particulars will convey but a very inadequate idea of the progress made by the negroes, and how superior a people they are in every respect to what they were when the slave trade was abolished in 1807. But if, as Mr Stephen observes, 'every mitigation of slavery is a step towards freedom,' this brief state- ment may be sufficient to shew that progress is making towards it."* • Barclay's Practical View of the Present State of Slavery in the We&t Indies, &c. LETTER V. THE SAME SUBJECT CON'TINUED. Sir, The causes to which I alluded in my last, of the very remarkable improvement in the condition of the black population of our colonies, were, chiefly, the absence of that contaminating influence which arose from the con* stant importation of untamed and untameable savages from the shores of Africa, and the necessity under which the planters were laid, by the cessation of all ex- ternal supplies, to cherish the slaves already subjected to their power, and turn their attention to a source, hitherto almost entirely overlooked — the propagation of the negro race on their own estates. It is obvious that these causes alone must have powerfully operated in promoting the comforts and domestic habits of that enthralled peopley and in ad- vancing them in the scale of society. But there are other causes which, in no trifling degree, have co* operated with these, and have given them a moral 42 PROGRESSIVE IMPROVEMENT power, and a principle of permanency not naturally in- herent in them. Among these, must be mentioned as the most influential, a salutary change in the moral character and habits of the slaveholders and their agents. The human mind, though it cannot be called the creature of circumstances, is at least strongly af- fected by them. The temptations, which formerly ex- isted, for exercising over the imported slaves a rigorous and cruel system of coercion, while it justified that sys- tem in the eyes of selfish and grasping men, brutalized their dispositions, and deadened them, I fear, to the perception of moral and religious truth. They were in a distant land, too, removed from the kindly influences of those social and domestic relations, and from the per- vading power of that Christian feeling, which shed such a charm over society in their native country, and which, working often with an unseen hand, find their way to every heart, softening and moulding the character of the whole community. In these transatlantic islands, to which, with imaginations glowing with visions of future wealth and enjoyment, they had voluntarily ex- patriated themselves, they were introduced to new scenes, new associates, and new principles of action — all of them alluring, and, I grieve to say, demoralizing. Among the whites they found men, though doubtless with many honourable exceptions, whom a supposed necessity had rendered hard and unfeeling in the treat- ment of their numerous dependants, and with whom, while the most dissolute manners were without re- proach, oppression was held to be an indispensable duty. In the negroes, they found a debased, an unprincipled, and frequently an untractable race, to whom they stood OP THE NEGRO RACE. 43 in such a relation as gave free scope at once to the Iho'st debauched habits, and the most brutal passions of their nature. The effects of such a trying situation were, generally speaking, such as might have been ex- pected ; and the system of colonial slavery, at the pe- riod to which I now refer, was marked among the {)]anters and their agents, for I do not at present speak of the mercantile part of the community, with a char- acter to which I am unwilling to give a name. The change which the last twenty years has in this, as in other respects, effected, though far from being complete, is yet, as far as it goes, highly satisfactory. The planters, from being the tyrants, are rapidly be- coming the benevolent protectors of their slaves. They have not only imbibed more liberal views of their own interest, but have actually become a more moral, and I would gladly hope, too, a more religious body than they ever were before. The progress of society at home •^the influence of public opinion which has been so strongly directed towards the colonies— the interfer- ence of Parliament— and other causes partly con- nected with the personal character of the great proprie- tors, some of which might be called fortuitous, if any fhing under the superintending care of Providence Could be Sfo considered — have combined to bring about this desirable result. Nor is the change confined to the planters ; — it ex* tends, in almost an equal degree, to their agents. On this subject, it will be more proper to allow an author to speak, who, himself, went through all the gradations of a planter^s life, from the situation of a book-keeper. 44 PROGRESSIVE IMPItOVEnfENT to that of a manager, if not a proprietor, and who des- cribes the state of West India Society, with sOme na- tural softening perhaps, but, upon the whole, with a moderation and good feeling which reflect credit on ^h character, and give weight to his statements. " The better observance of Sunday, and attendance at Church," says he, '* is liot confined to the slaives, but applies equally to the whole community, and is but a part of a general improvement that has taken place in the character and condition of all classes within the last fifteen years : an improvement which, I have no hesita- tion to say, may challenge comparison in magnitude with anything on record in any country. The causes which have produced so great a change deserve investigation. In the houses of overseers of the present day, there is a sobriety, good order, and decorum, so entirely different from what prevailed twenty or twenty-five years ago, as can scarcely be believed by those who have not seen it. I have heard this attributed, and I think not improperly, to those circumstances in the mother country, which favoured the extension of education ; and particularly to the great advance which took place in the value of farm produce after the breaking out of the late war, which enabled the middle classes in Scotland, and the north of Ireland, whence Jamaica is principally supplied with its white population, to give a better education to their fa- milies than they had previously done ,* and to send more of them abroad. The consequence was, that, about that period, a class of young men sought their fortunes in the colonies, much superior to the indented servants, who were before sent out by agents, and to those adventurers, frequently carried out on speculation, in ship loads, for sale to whoever would pay their passage. That this is one causfe, which, unperceived, like the silent hand of time, has had a very favourable influence, no one \., pp. 127-8. 46 PROGRESSIVE IMPROVEMENT in the views and moral character of the white populgi- tion, as well as in the general condition of their negro dependants. That these improvements must have a re- ciprocal effect, creating in the freeman a strong and inr creasing spirit of kindliness towards his slave, and, in the slave, not only greater attachment and fidelity to- wards his master, but also more enlightened sentiments, and greater cultivation of mind, cannot, I think, bq doubted; and, in the progress of this state of rapid melioration, there seems to be no resting place, till it end in general manumission — as freely granted by thq slave masters, whose interest, not less than their duty, it will become, as it will be acceptable and advan- tageous to a respectable, attached, and industrious negro population. In arriving at this conclusion, I have particular re- gard to the work of religious tuition which you. Sir, are well aware is now going on among the slaves wjit^ extraordinary success. Formerly, as I have observed in a previous letter, the proprietors had a decided aversion to the instruct tion of their slaves in the principles of Christianity ; and their conduct, in this respect, formed the worst feature in the system of oppression which was then sq general. But an entirely new view has of late been taken on this important subject ; which, however, has, I fear, in many instances, led to the opposite extreme^ by countenancing an abuse of the sacred rite of bap- tism, which no true Christian can justify. The ne- groes are, in general, exceedingly desirous to throw away their African superstitions and prejudices, and to be admitted within the pale of the Christian church. But OF THE NEGRO RACE. 4/] among many of them, this is anything but the result of enlightened or pious views. On the contrary, to be baptized is merely regarded among the more ignorant, as a step in the scale of society, by an introduction into some of the privileges belonging to the whites, to whom they are taught to look up as a superior race. This view, however, happens to correspond with the present policy of their masters, and I see but too unequivocal symptoms of its having given rise to rash and unwar- rantable admissions to the baptismal font, for which the clergy are still more reprehensible than the masters. The negroes, on whole plantations, have been baptised at once, with scarcely any previous preparation by re- ligious instruction, or at best, with a preparation which must be characterised as exceedingly defective and superficial — as indeed a mere mockery of Christian education. This cannot be denied, when it is known, that in Jamaica, as well as in other islands, there is, at this moment, scarcely a single negro, whether native African or Creole, who has not been baptised ; and when yet it is confessed, that vast numbers of them are still in a state of the deepest ignorance and the most deplorable debasement of mind and of principles. Independent of the religious duty most shamefully compromised by this precipitancy, it is much to be lamented on account of the opportunity which has thus been lost, of conveying to the slaves the knowledge and the genuine spirit of the gospel, along with its outward forms, and of raising among them the general tone of moral and religious feeling, by drawing a broad line of distinction between the initiated and the uniniti- ated. 48 PROGRESSIVE IMPROVEMENT But, while this error must be viewed with the most marked disapprobation, the altered opinions which it indicates, cannot but afford a cheering prospect to those who have at heart the real welfare of the working classes in our colonies. It unequivocally shews that a triumph of no trifling nature has been gained over the pre- judices of the whites, which must lead to the most salutary practical results. If the whites are at all consistent with themselves, no obstacles can any longer be thrown in the way of the instruction of the negroes, except such as may arise from a natural jealousy as to the prudence and competency of the instructor — a jealousy which may indeed be frequently ill-founded and hurtful, but which will certainly yield to a system of judicious and enlightened management on the part of Government, and of those religious societies who have turned their benevolent attention to this highly important object. The great barrier is broken down ; and as certainly as a well taught and religious popula- tion is more peaceable and more docile, more intelligent, and more moral, more amiable, industrious and trust- worthy, than an ignorant, savage, and unprincipled rabble, so certainly will the system of Christian instruc- tion prevail and become universal. The progress, indeed, which that system has already made, notwithstanding the deep-rooted prejudices and prepossesions transmitted from more unhappy times, is quite wonderful, Mr. Barclay, whose work was pub- lished in February, 1 828, and who tells us that he left Jamaica about 18 months before, describes the black and coloured population of that island, as even then crowding to places of worship in a manner altogether OF THE NEGEO RACE. 49 unexampled at any previous period, and imbibing a rapidly increasing relish for religious truth. Since that period the work of conversion has been going on in a still increasing ratio, and in a manner still more satis- factory. The Episcopal church establishment, with its bishops at its head, which, ever since the western colo- nies were divided into dioceses, has been assuming a much more active and efficient attitude, has made great and well-directed efforts to spread the knowledge of the gospel among all classes of the people ; and, by the founding and superintendence of schools and places of worship, by the institution of catechetical examina- tions and diets of visitation, as well as by other useful and pious arrangements, has contributed its part to the improvement of the negro race ; while missionaries, sent from religious bodies in the mother country, and bene- volent private Christians or their agents, have prose- cuted the same object with the most extraordinary success. For the truth of this, I might appeal to the reports contained in missionary publications, which can no longer be considered as a suspected source, since the intelli- gence conveyed in them is confirmed by all who are acquainted with the state of our colonies ; — but I feel rather inclined, at present, to quote one or two passages from the private letters of a young but intelligent and excellent friend of my own, now residing in the West Indies, and actively engaged in promoting both the temporal and spiritual interests of the slaves ; because on his veracity I have the strongest personal reasons for placing implicit confidence. Though these letters were written at intervals, between November, 1828, 50 PROGRESSIVE IMPROVEMENT and September, 1829, I shall, to prevent repetition and prolixity, run together in one paragraph the information which I extract: — " To a religious mind, Jamaica presents a most animating pros- pect. On all sides the work of conversion is going on. My time is much spent in moving about among the properties I have the charge of. I like the management much. It is all conducted on Christian principles : — No oppression, — no attempt to keep the ne- groes in ignorance. Marriages are multiplying — the Sunday con- gregations are enlarging, and the Sunday Schools are well attended. It is a delightful sight to see the little negro children, who have been taught to read, winningly and aflfectionately endeavouring to in- struct their ignorant parents. The chapel, on Sundays, presents a truly interesting sight. Not satisfied with instructing the negroes on our own estates, we invade the territories of our neighbours. By circulating tracts, spelling-books, &c., and by entreaties, we endeavour to entice the adjoining negroes into our religious toils. An ardent desire to learn to read is thus awakened in the minds of those who do not already enjoy that advantage ; and nothing but a system of plain education among the slaves will save the land. The feeling of this community is much changed. A leaven of Christian principle has gone abroad, that is making a wondrous impres- sion. Tumult and rebellion I fear not; there is too much Bible reading." It is impossible to read these extracts — with which I have only taken such liberties as were necessary to connect them together — without being at once asto- nished and delighted with the changes which are in progress in Jamaica ; especially as these may be taken as a fair, though somewhat favourable, specimen of the state of the whole British colonies in the Western Archipelago. It must, however, be confessed, that the animating accounts I have just quoted, refer chief- OF THE NEGRO RACE. 51 ly to a few estates, belonging to individuals imbued with Christian principles, which are placed under the jnanagement of a gentleman of similar views. But this is no solitary experiment ; and, when we consider the state of the negroes and the prepossessions of pro- prietors, only a few years ago, it is impossible not to think it much, that the experiment is made at all — and still more, that it succeeds. A few more such ex- periments and the point is gained. It will appear, in the islands of the Atlantic, as it has already so abun- dantly appeared in those of the Pacific Ocean, that to Christianize a savage race is to civilize them, and to render them estimable and useful members of society ; and it will then be proved to be the worldly interest of every slave-holder, not merely to baptize his negroes, but to instruct them in Christian principles. Nor do I conceive that you can consider it in any degree Utopian to entertain the expectation at which I have already hinted, that this altered state of the black population will lead to their voluntary manumission. The reasons for entertaining this expectation shall be shortly stated in my next. LETTER W. PERIOD ADVANCING WHEN EMANCIPATION WILL BECOME THE INTEREST OF THE PLANTERS. Sir, In my last, I intimated my conviction, that if the ne- groes continue for a few years longer to improve as rapidly as they have begun, their complete emancipa- tion will be generally felt to be a measure not merely required by duty, but distinctly dictated by a regard to the interests of the proprietors themselves. The necessity of hastening to other views, prevents me from entering so fully on this subject, as its importance to my argument might render desirable ; but before leaving it, I may be indulged in one or two cursory observations. The more directly the stimulus of personal interest can be applied to labour, the greater, confessedly, will be the energies of body and mind called forth, and the more expeditiously and completely will the task be performed. Hence, the difference in expedition and dexterity, between working by the job and working by PERIOD ADVANCING, &C. 53 the day, has long been proverbial in this country ; and, on a similar principle, still greater, doubtless, must be the difference, between working by the day, and drudg- ing in the unwilling and heartless toil of slaves. In New South Wales, we find a striking illustration of this well known principle. There, the convicts are in a state of bondage, and their compulsory labour is not merely employed in carrying on public works, but is (or at least used to be) very frequently granted by the lo- cal government, for a specified time, to private indivi- duals. Their hours of compelled service, however, are limited to a certain number each day ; and it frequent- ly happens that the agriculturists and others, who have thus been supplied with convict labourers, engage them after the expiration of their task, to work under them for hire. Here, we have the very same indivi- duals employed as slaves during the first part of the day, when they are fresh and vigorous; and as freemen in the evening, when they might be expected to have exhausted their strength by previous toil. The conse- quence is too marked to have escaped the observation of any one who ever visited that distant colony. In the morning, they are lazy, spiritless, and stubborn to such a degree, that scarcely any strictness of superin- tendance or coercion can render their work an equiva- lent for their maintenance, and, to make the boon worth acceptance, government rations must be added to sup- ply them with food. But, when their period of forced service is over, many of these unprofitable bondmen change their character, and become all at once active and intelligent servants. The head and heart now go along with their work, and their employer finds himself 64 PERIOD FOR KMANCIPATrON scarcely less a gainer during the interval in which he" pays them high wages, than during that in which their labour is unremunerated, and their subsistence provid- ed out of the public stores. This fact, which is readily accounted for on the prin- ciples of human nature, places in a strong light the ad- vantage oifree over constrained labour ; but there is another consideration which must be taken into account before we can see the subject in its proper point of view. Such is the natural condition of the labouring classes in every variety of situation, that, as the politi- cal economist has demonstrated, and experience has confirmed, they cannot be expected to earn more, take» on an average, than is sufficient to supply them with the common necessaries of life. In countries where slavery is unknown, these classes obtain their subsist- ence by wages in return for work ; while in such places as the West Indies, the labourers, although in bond- age, must still receive the means of support from those for whom they labour — not indeed in the form of wages, but, what is scarcely less expensive, in the form of food and clothing. The chief difference lies in this, that in the one case there is a reciprocal agreement, on the principle of mutual interest, which inspires the employed with alacrity and zeal ; in the other, this reciprocity is awanting — the labour is compelled by brute force, and though subsistence is afforded to the labourer, it is not as a remuneration, but merely as the means of keeping him alive and vigorous for the service of his master. Now this difference is essential ; as, by taking from the slave all sense of personal interest in his work, and thus destroying the chief spring of action, it gives ADVANCING. 55 to free labour an advantage almost incalculable. Indeed, I am persuaded that there is scarcely a planter in our colonies who is not ready to acknowledge, that, could he only depend on the industry and fidelity of the negroes, it would contribute greatly to his benefit to manumit them, and pay them a fair price for their volun- tary services. But here precisely lies the objection. It is alleged that the negro race are by nature so lazy and stupid — so prone to low indulgences, and so little capable of being actuated by the stimulus of honourable ambition — that, if compulsion were removed at any future pe- riod, and even after every probable improvement in their character, they would cease to be industrious. The yearly work of a few days, it is said, would suffice to supply them, in that fertile climate, with a bare sub- sistence ; and they would look for no more. Thus they would become altogether inefficient as a body of labourers, the soil would remain uncultivated, and the planters would be ruined. I must be allowed to demur to this conclusion. Al- though not personally acquainted with the character and habits of the blacks, I know that they are men, and must therefore be actuated by human motives. It is true that they are at present reluctant and inactive work- men ; but so are the whites, as we have seen, when driven to the field and labouring like beasts of burden by com- pulsion. It is true, also, that their minds are now de- graded and their habits grovelling, and that, if immedi- ately freed from the yoke, this unhappy character might long cleave to them ; but would the whites, if placed for generations in their condition, be less abject ? It is said. 56 PERIOD FOR EMANCIPATION however, that experience has decided the question against the labour of negroes, as they have been found, when emancipated, to retain all the inactive and spirit- less dispositions which characterized them in a state of slavery. But will it be gravely asserted that the ex- periment has been fairly made ? Are not even the free blacks of our Western colonies in a state of hopeless degradation ? They are nominally at liberty ; but have they not hitherto been jealously excluded from ac- quiring station in the circle of civilized society, and thus deprived of some of the most powerful motives for active exertion? I am by no means sure, however, that even the par- tial experience which has been afforded, gives counte- nance to an unfavourable conclusion against the natu- ral intelligence and enterprise of the negro character. It is well known that most of the handicraftsmen and artizans of the West Indies are either free negroes or free persons of colour; and amongst these, notwith- standing the discouragements under which they labour, are to be found a sufficient number of men of industry and ingenuity, to wipe away the opprobrium which has been attempted to be fixed on them, of great native in- feriority in mental and bodily energy.* I recur, therefore, to my former proposition — that if the improvement begun in the character and condition * Symptoms, indeed, of rapid progress in knowledge and civili- zation are multiplying among the free people of colour. In Ja- maica a periodical publication has lately been established for be- hoof of that class, conducted, I believe, by individuals of their own body, which manifests a very fair portion of talent and culti- vation. ADVANCING. 57 of the negroes shall proceed, but for a few years longer, with the rapidity with which it has commenced, the period must arrive when the manumission of the slaves will become the acknowledged interest of their mas- ters ; and may therefore possibly be effected without the compulsory interference of the legislature at home ; but, if otherwise, such a state of negro society will, at all events, remove the only legitimate plea for holding that race any longer in bondage. To accelerate this happy period, however, the bene- volent exertions of the community can and ought to do much. It is the duty of Parliament, and of the exe- cutive government, to watch with a paternal, I do not say a jealous eye, over the interests of their negro subjects ; to advance, by every gentle means in their power, their instruction in useful knowledge, and, above all, their moral and religious education ; and to take care that no baneful influence shall arise in any quarter, to retard the work of amelioration. I cannot indeed venture to recommend compulsory interference, so long as it is possible, by other means, to effect the great object in view ; and, in the pre- sent state of our colonies, I would gladly hope that we need not anticipate the probable occurrence of any circumstances which could render direct inter- ference advisable. What has to be done is now in progress, and the impulse already given is too strong to be easily stopped, or even materially retarded. The white and the black population are alike carried along by it, and nothing but the rude hand of power, injudicious- ly applied, is likely to prevent it from conducting to the E 58 PERIOD FOR EMANCIPATION desired result. The slave-masters themselves, are un-> doTlbtedly the best judges of what improvements the ■\)resent condition of the negroes will bear, and were