It may be good for you, but it will be evil for him-it will extinguish in him the spark of life; there is a gentler means that first may be used, and then we may give him wine. So it is with the the Slave. They have arrived at that delicate point which touches on the verge of civilization. Though they came savages to the Colonies, their children are now educated; they have been impressed with European feelings, and European habits; their society is just changing into the form and mould of European life. What do our opponents now plead for? An armed police is said to be contemplated by the Government. An armed police! argue the Anti-Slavery Society-what are they to do? To compel the free men to work, to bring compensation to the Planter. (Cheers.) What will you do with those that will not work? Flog them, say Buxton and Knibb-only don't let the flogger be a man in whose possession the Slave is; and that would be merciful, because the Slave being his property, he might be supposed to take care of himself, by taking care of the Slave. Is it possible to conceive that the Planter would flog the Slave so very severely as to prevent him from working in the fields? No! It must not be the Planter that is to punish, but a flogger sent out. (Cheers.) Perhaps it might be Mr Zachary Macauley-(great cheers)-I believe he had some practice in this on Hyde estate; or perhaps it might be some one under his superintendance; and the Slaves then will say, 26 Macauley time come back again, Massa." (Cheers.) They are to be flogged and driven to their work, not by law, but by the point of the bayonet. They are to be flogged, but not by the man whose interest it is to keep them in good health, but by a man who has no connection with the Planters at all. I suppose we all know the value of a sugar-boiler. Take away the sugar-boiler at a certain season, and the fruitful labour of that whole year is lost. Well, suppose the flogger has an enmity at the Planter, and he calls the sugar-boiler away on some pretended offence, and he is flogged by this independent flogger-(great laughter) -how much may the Planter be injured! This is their line of argument against the Planter. (Immense cheering.) And we find that the Slave is to be much worse treated under this new system than he is now. Is this Immediate Emancipation?-Unhallowed mockery! I will tell you a better way than this. Abolish the word Slavery from the English language altogether (great cheering)-or let it remain to designate that condition only of which it is most aptly descriptive-namely, that of a pledged Member of Parliament-(bursts of laughter);-abolish, I say, the word Slavery, and you have Immediate Emancipation. (Cheers.) How much more free is the Slave now than he would be under such Immediate Emancipation? Who drives him to his work? No one. Is the whip to be abolished under the new system? No; they are to be flogged hereafter by the Immediate Emancipationists themselves-so that it does amount to this, that the Slave has as much freedom now as he will have under the new system. My plan is Immediate-theirs is Gradual Emancipation; nay, so far is their plan from being Emancipation at all, that I would not lift up my voice to plead for the Planter, if it were not that I am convinced that such a plan of Emancipation is neither more nor less than fixing the Slave in everlasting and irremediable slavery. He never can be redeemed from that description of slavery: you take him half a savage, and place him in the condition of a free man, and you say to him work. • Work! By what compulsion? I am free-you have passed a law by which you say I am free; your king has made me free; and, if in the time of Jamaica's insurrection I was deceived-if then I did wrong, I am now no longer deceived; you have told me I am free now. Why did I rebel in Jamaica, and take an oath, drinking human blood, to banish all white and free men from the country-to enslave in deeper bondage than they are now those that were under me to lower the condition of the blacks over whom I had any influence?—but because I believed we were free." This is the effect of Immediate Emancipation. They ask, where is the danger? Where! where is it not? In the history of the world, where was slavery abolished immediately without danger? Was it in St Domingo, Gaudaloupe, or amongst the Crown Slaves in Antigua? I will not trouble you with any farther evidence to-day, than simply with the reading of a few extracts upon this subject. With regard to St Domingo, Immediate Emancipation was given there. What was the effect of it? With regard to their moral condition, I have a letter from a gallant officer in the navy, in which he states : "SIR-In compliance with your request, and my desire to contribute every thing in my power to the elucidation of truth, I proceed to state, that, having had frequent opportunities of visiting St Domingo, during several years of professional service in the West Indies, I feel myself competent to form a tolerably correct judgment on the state of the negro population of that illfated but beautiful island; and I have the greater confidence in doing so, iną asmuch as I have no interest whatever, direct or indirect, through friends or relations, that might influence my opinion as bearing on the important subject of Emancipating the Slaves in the British West India Colonies. "I desire, with every man of generous and Christian feeling, to see the alave made free; but I have seen such misery arise from Sudden Emancipation of ignorant Negroes, not only in St Domingo, but in the British Colonies, that I consider myself bound, as a man and a British officer, to state what I know, what I have seen on the subject. "Commerce has almost ceased in St Domingo, because what were once productive plantations under the French planter, are now young forests. The houses of the expelled French planters are now only discoverable by their quins. Yams and plantains are nearly the whole cultivation of the island. "Religion is only a name-morals at the lowest ebb-the intercourse between the sexes promiscuous. "As no census has been taken of the population, I cannot take upon me. to say that it has decreased; it may, however, be fairly inferred. "From the condition of the Negroes in St Domingo, where I last had an opportunity of informing myself (which was in the year 1815), and from the accounts of the Negroes on the coast of Africa, I think if they have not already returned to the barbarous condition of their ancestors, they are fast approaching to it. "When France possessed the island, the coloured people about the cities. and towns were well-dressed, now almost all appear quite naked. "Can this be the state to which our philanthropists are desirous to bring our well-fed, well-treated West India slaves ? "I know there are some few instances of tolerably educated Negroes becoming, when free, useful members of society, but such instances are rare; and it is well known to persons acquainted with Jamaica, that the Maroons will not work, but live a wild life in the mountains. "SIR, (Signed) "Seyncomb, Nov. 29th 1832." "I remain yours faithfully, "In justice to the West Indians generally, I must state, that in eight years, that I served in this country (at different periods), I have been very much amongst the masters and negroes, on different estates, both on the coast and in the interior, far removed from my ship. In the islands of Barbadoes, Trinidad, Antigua, Jamaica, also the French and Spanish islands, I solemnly declare that I never witnessed or heard of an act of cruelty committed by a white master; but I have seen some, by women of colour, possessors of slaves; that I have witnessed much kindness, care, and attention, during their sickness, having visited the little hospitals on several estates; and I do declare that I never knew more kind-hearted men than the West Indian Planters. "In St Domingo I have been an eye-witness of much cruelty and oppres sion; and I think the free blacks there a most indolent, immoral, dirty, and wretched race. I am here speaking of that part of the island that was under Christophe. "GEO. GOSLING." "I can only add, that I wish I could see the poor of this country half as happy, and well taken care of as the negroes in the West Indies. "G. G." Extract from Mr Keith Douglas's speech in the House of Commons, on Monday the 2d of July 1832, taken from the Mirror of Parliament : "Before sitting down, I must request permission to call attention to the relative state of produce in the island of Hayti, as showing the inefficiency of free labour. Consul-General M'Kenzie was sent there by the Foreign Office, for the purpose of reporting with respect to the produce of the island, and it is from his returns that I am now quoting. The official evidence on the same subject, not with regard to St Domingo, but Antigua, is still a stronger proof. I call your attention to this evidence, because I know that, in the course of the argument that may be laid before you by the Immediate Emancipators, the Crown Slaves of Antigua will be brought forward as an example of Immediate Emancipation. Lord Howick brought forward this example immediately after their Emancipation; but here is the official report. Remember, here was a trial of Immediate Emancipation of what it would do for a certain number of Slaves. I beg to read it. "Report of a Committee of the Council and Assembly of Antigua, respecting the State of the Apprenticed Africans, liberated by the Crown in 1828, and of the Manner in which they Employ themselves. "Your Committee now come to the statement in the Colonial Agent's letter, that 371 Crown Slaves were made free in the present year: to this assertion they feel themselves bound to give the most positive contradiction. They are aware that a number of captured Africans have received papers, conferring conditional freedom, under the authority of his Majesty's Government, in the month of January 1829; and to these persons alone can your Committee trace any connection with the statement contained in the letter of the Colonial Agent. By the annexed document, No. 6, it appears that 262 Africans received free papers in 1829; that 67 are still retained, and entirely maintained at the expense of Government; that 22 are Creole Slaves, who were libelled in the Court of Vice-Admiralty for some supposed illegal practices by their owners; 17 were condemned, being unclaimed; the remain. ing 5 were acquitted by the Judge in this country-the acquittal was affirmed by Lord Stowell, and the owners were indemnified at the expense of his Majesty's Government; and that 8 are fugitive Slaves from Guadaloupe. "And here your Committee are called upon to draw the serious attention of the House of Legislature, as to the character, conduct, and general course of life of these persons, as derived from the evidences attached to this Report. In the first place, your Committee beg to notice the important fact, that these persons, since the year 1821, have been maintained, by his Majesty's Government, at an expense amounting to upwards of L.40,000 currency. While, then, this enormous sum has been expended by his Majesty's Government in supporting these unfortunate people in indiscriminate idleness, it does not appear that the smallest provision has been made for their spiritual care, religious and moral instruction. The small number of these people who have made any progress, are indebted to the benevolence of the Moravian Mission for their instruction; and it is amongst these that any examples of good behaviour and industry are to be found. Can it, then, be expected that such persons, so lately removed from savage life, and unimproved by education, should readily and immediately fall into a course of industrious living and habits? But your Committee beg to state, most decidedly, that the fact is directly the reverse; that it is to be lamented, that even where the African has been apprenticed, so long as to acquire a useful knowledge of some handicraft, the Committee have learnt but of one instance in which he has, after his liberation, maintained himself by the exercise of his trade. "Your Committee, in conclusion, consider it lamentable that the natural disinclination of the African to agricultural labour, should have been encou raged by a positive stipulation in the terms of all their various apprenticeships, that he should not be required to till the earth (See No. 8); so that up to the present time there does not exist a single instance of a liberated African cultivating the soil." The descriptions given in the various examinations before the Committee of the House of Legislature in Antigua are miserable. I will give you an idea of them : 1. Abraham Roach. "Mr Roach examined. 2. Officer of Police; was for many years keeper of the public jail. 3. Ceased to be keeper of jail in March 1829. 4. Has had many and frequent opportunities of observing the conduct of the liberated Africans. 5. A few individuals among them are well-behaved and industrious, but the generality are drunken, disorderly, riotous, and idle; and believes that the major part of the robberies in town are perpetrated by them. 6. Have no regular means of support, but live from hand to mouth. 7. Remembers an instance of one of them, Tom Ronan, being convicted of larceny, and flogged and imprisoned. 8. Never heard an instance of any having been employed in agricultural pursuits; verily believes that there never were any so employed; nor would they even so employ themselves under any circumstances. 9. Knows them to be idle, dissolute and disorderly. 10. Does not know one employed in any trade, though several were appren ticed to handicraftsmen. 11. Remembers 20 of the Africans (when Apprentices) being put in jail for an attempt on Collector Whey's life about the year. 12. Looks upon them as a curse to the island. 13. Recollects on several occasions that the Slaves belonging to His Majesty in the Dock-yard having been committed to the criminal gang under Magistrates' warrants.' "John Henry Jones examined. "Is superintendant of the criminal gang; that he is well acquainted with the African Apprentices; about 60 of them were employed by the public in 1826; that their attendance was most irregular, never exceeding about 26; that they came and went as they pleased, and were under no control; that the object was to make their time available to their maintenance, but that they were dismissed as useless and intractable; that his acquaintance in the town is very extensive, and that he does not know one single instance of an African apprentice who served their time to trades earning their livelihood by working at such trade; that they were addicted to eating dead dogs, raw fish, and all sorts of carrion, in preference to cooked food; that the Slaves belonging to the Crown at the dock-yard were repeatedly sent to the crimina gang, by Commissioner Lewis and the neighbouring Magistrates, for thefts of Various kinds in His Majesty's dock-yard; that he is not aware of one individual employed in agricultural pursuits; that the hospital provided for them by Government is the greatest possible nuisance to the town, and, in fact, a den of filth, profligacy, plunder and drunkenness; that porters and occassional jobing constitutes the ostensible employment of the males, and huckstering that of the females; that many live with the Slaves on the Estates." The whole of the examinations are of a similar import. From the examples then before us, speaking of slavery, what would humanity dictate? Emancipate them immediately-they become wretched, idle, dissolute, and immoral. Retain them in slavery till they are fit for freedom, and the opposite is the effect. We have facts to prove that 17,000-17,000 even by Buxton's admission, but really 20,000-Slaves have in twelve years been Emancipated by the Planters themselves, and hardly one of them turned out a thief or a robber. (Cheering.) Which, then, is the better plan? The plan of the AntiSlavery Society, which changes them into robbers, thieves, plunderers, and vagabonds? or the plan of the Planters, which changes them into indusrious, happy freemen? One was born a slave-lived for many years a slave-was prepared for freedom gradually; and his master, when he was satisfied that he was prepared, emancipated him;—and this slave is an architect, and the splendid building, the Presbyterian Church in Kingston, Jamaica, stands a monument of his ability. Facts are stubborn things. The Free Negroes in Sierra Leone are poor, wretched, and miserable; the Crown Slaves in Antigua are poor, wretched, and miserable, and so are those in St Domingo. The Slaves liberated without being prepared for it, are such as I have described them, everywhere inclined to disorganization and misrule. Where is there an example of their being otherwise? Where? Call learning from her olden seats, and ask where? and learning is dumb. Look to history, downwards from the most ancient times, and history is dumb. Where is the example? Not in Egypt, Babylon, Tyre, Greece, Rome; not in England, nor in Scotland. Read Fletcher of Saltoun's description of Emancipation in Scotland, and you will find what evil it did there. I stand, in fact, on history-on reason; and I ask where, in reason or in history, in the lapse of time, can you shew me an example in which, by a legislative enactment, a sudden change from slavery to freedom has not been followed by evils most dangerous to the class of men emancipated, and the class of men to whom they were introduced? "Liberia!" they sometimes cry, and exultingly, because it is a pretty word, and has some connection in its sound with freedom. But the man who is pleading for Liberia is a Gradual Emancipator. If there is a man more intensely opposed to Immediate Emancipation than myself-that man is Elliot Cresson, the pleader for Liberia, who wishes to place 800,000 freed negroes upon Liberia to save them from tyranny, and ultimately to civilize Africa. I do not wish to draw invidious comparisons, but I ask you, what has the Anti-Slavery Society done? By it the Crown was stimulated to Emancipate 370 negroes. What did the Crown do for them?-made them savages! What have the Planters done?-they have made no fewer than 17,000 industrious and free men! (Great cheering.) There I leave the argument drawn from humanity. If you are to be merciful to yourselves, make them happy and industrious free men; if you are to be cruel to them, make them miserable and wretched free men. Here I ask one postulate, which will not be denied me; that is, all laws grow out of the progressive state of the human mind. If you make a law in your closet, and bring it to bear on the condition of men of whom you know nothing, you injure them. On the other hand, if you legislate for a country, you must mark where vice springs, and where virtue appears to spring. Where you see vice, arm your law with double terror; and where you see virtue, strengthen your law with encouragement-and thus you arrive at a happy moral state. This is a point which is granted. |