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I,ate of the University of Edinburgh. , r . . , , , . , T be "rival of a general peace had, among a variety of befits which are its usual concomitants, the good effect ot awakening the attention ot nations to the necessity of abolishing Chris tian Slavery in those piratical states vhere it was found to exist. In this enlightened age, when ihe principles of general Liberty are so widely dif fuse# stud appreciated, it was not to lie tolerated that any Power should assume to itself the right of detaining captives in a state of bondage, to la .1 ■ « • I I , , Bor sulely fur the mdfv dual interests ot their oppressors, i he long con tinuance oi European warfare delayed | the neecsjary work ot retribution un til tho jarring views of conflicting pat tirs should be harmonized, when. simultaneously as it were, the re proacii ofhaving, fora time, submit ted to the indignity and injustice of Christian Slavery was sought to dt effvn-cd bv the several maritime now ers. After due chastisement bestow ed upon the perpetrators of so flagrant , h .. , an enormity, the supreme head of the barbary states was compelled to en »op iiunSf*M, his ht'.ips &nd succ-ps ut»rs. lor k> vt*.p to abolish that slavery iu his dominions. But Africa, injur ed,- desolated Africa, is unable to Bve«i h e the wrongs she sustains from European aggression. Debased by the policy of moral degradation too successfully exerted by crafty abver saries*—roi.bert tiy their intrigues of her unhappy victims, she is impotent In exertion and ineffectual in com .r.,i . - i , plaints. To the tears andremonstran ecs ol the unfriended African, country triewls are aline strangers-—they «re deal t .» his voice «n r i inaccessible to his entreaties. Without, the power of vindicating herself, Africa must look for relief to those friends of liu inanity who have associated them selves for Hie purpose of initigatim' tier sor-.-ows, to** lamp togottu-p iw good** in comforting Htiil civilizing a much injured people lost, in the pr. ». I / • til-, roundest ignorance and ha- bansinf. lo them the appeal most approm at ely brings, who, aetu.tted by the true charity ofthe (iospel. have pro el aimed aloud to t.he world the moral obligation on all mankind lo suppi'c t-i >• and blood stained tmlB permit trd for a lime to disgrace those who "call themselves Christians." ©dato are ^ajette. WILMINGTON t WEVNESUJir, AUGUS'l 6. COMMUNICATED. Thoughts on the amelioration of the condition of the Slave population in the West Indies , together -with the uttinuile^abolition of Slavery, awl Ute nuMiui of cuiliXiing ,i/'rica. . [k rom an unpublished manuscript.] BX J. A. MOS&EL, Esq. A purify t reasoning to (hat ivhki' itriLr «iced civilized .niihms in reduc ing itiai .1 pi'idenUntix to lyr.iii ■ ng captives, appears >. sii*i peel ■"(. analogy, to tie if the African slave trade alrca cf denounced and abolished by in most enlightened powers. Korcih!' So apply ihe labor of one fellow oroa lures to our individual pue poses with out emolument or requital to the per sons so ia'iuri ig, is utterly irreeon eil-, mie with the primary dictates of bull, wily and natural justice—sub versive of every moral principle, und calculated in its efFe t to loosen the attachment of man to man. Thi ISSl .mu to a qonseq : , -es of impairing or weaken ing that attachment whether it spring from interested or from moral motives or both, are more serious and exten sive iu iiirir influence than persons iici usto red to European politics alone ere qualified to conçoive, fiopuhuio.t in some of the British West India islands is so considerable and preponderating over the number of whites, so abject in condition, and oppress' d by w rongs that if would not ho mutter of surprize, if attempts at rebellion should lie repeated, and Ira f'i-.-al scenes of wide calamity and fixed root, as at Barbadoes, again ot Thu sanguinary effects of thm most deufin-v.lde event—the des; rue tic.t of m -i rt y and loss to individuals are tar The slave eur. it «tied as to their remote consequ. urea by the mischief resulting * This is evident fyom the constant intrigii 's ainone tlie petty princes and chi- fis of tribe practised by the slave, dealers, win. thus succeed in promot ing discord and contention betw the natives -thorn they encourage to entrap and s.dl each other. Prisoners in war of both parri are frequently Sôld to the same dealer. f We allude to the African institu tion of London, founded in 1806, bv the joint exertions of Wilberforee, Clarkson. Gt'a ville. Sharp, and other distinguished philanthropists. oen of it oi' From the necessity or severe ant! nu merous punîshfhénts, anil no less pro bably by the seem workings of the deep though silent curses of every breast that- mourns a comrade slain. IIow far the effect of these occurren ces is likely to survive in the memory of the negro, and what turn of mind, they may serve to produce can best lie conceived by those who understand his character by experience. May the day of vengeance he far distant, and the arm of irritated slavery, seek ing to establish the sacred rL, fits of liberty and independence, he stayed by the adoption of a milder anti a wiser policy ! To Britain, the possessor of a more , ample share of colonies than has fallen } of otheP poweV) it is natu . ral l0 look *ft/ r the decisive part she has takeB in lhis Rre8t ques tion, for the hap pv example of an improved policy, tend iqg at once to remove the causes of dts content and to hind the laborer to his em ployer. We are taught to believe that there is, on the part of the British cabi net, a disposition to place the colonies oi^' to lhe m° 5t favored footing, and on behalf of that mo ? t usefMl and laborious class vvho constitute so considerable a propor la- " on . of ' he inhah, 'f ms ' 11 13 b V l to claim some title to consideration and c ,„ m . n is 110t t00 nnlch to , 1op ., iBdeed) thal %v , lat Africa cannot of , ih ,- ,• | )r ; B g about, the government of England will voluntarily yield—that, when it si. tii be seen' the preservation of the West India islands in their all- : iat.ee to tlu parenl state depends cn-i-dy upon a more judicious line of conduct in tin of planters—that the civilization or Africa, dt togetüsr with • bene«rial extended com w: ' rce w ' l * ; interior ot tnat vast con ' ine "f 13 * i<: htt PW res " i: h B com ' *>*nat,°n of measures to prose... itself with every feasibility, the British government will kre.tatc no longer to in terpose, and, renderi .■ to Africans and the descendants of Africans a great act of national justice, identify their interests with the cause of th dr. mployers and the to cause of the government. Influenced by a sincere desire to pro by mote the v.-dfareof mankind, to advance too tl,e interests of my country and to efface that st'gma on Ute /rational character ton of sllt ^; r,d t0 i am induced to f"' "f 3t . tbe P r ."P r 'ety as well as polir.} of ^'shiting,mayor ofthe slave popi.la tun in the British West India islands To estahlish lhe pracl icability of mv plans , aml l0 serve 90nie Rujde 11( th ; discussion» to which a consideration of this weighty question mu at necessavilv lead, I have been careful to colite at! the information it was possible to obtain liu- during a recent visit to the West indies, -md, in the inferences drawn, my jud. ■ ment, not bo ne away iw imagtae. uj.jhwmw nui_ a exercised in that sober induction « ich ao!s ' va, ' rant and iva3tm,n * l»™«*« a 1 some may ty, hré bee,. a ao!s ' va, ' rant and iva3tm,n * l»™«*« investigation, ïa.riy and mipaiiiafly con* duct „ d , , ' wU1 ' t , ec i,|e on the tenor of my pI . (lpos i tiol .. s which it is believed, are se cure in their tendency and practicable in ipeiaoon. I; is not confined to the student ot .vni philosophy to Uoo v that where eh ,teres-: «cites, industry will b« pro. ion-dm the ratio of '.he stimulus, •'« iC ' r - Un West Indies must m I ■ observed the quantity of ior bestowed upon a soil to have been greatly accelerated by a promise to il,e slaves of money or of drink*. ich of the land about Deinurai'a and iter bice was cleared with astonishing rapidity by these successful appeals to human nalure, ■nd it is not doubted thal cultivation might be extended, to 'lie great advali age of capitalists, in some very ferlile parts of South America adjacent to those provinces, were the introduction of hired '«borers encouraged, according io the principles proposed to he unfolded in the following treatise —It is unquestionable '.hat tlie efforts of ihe slaves are much relaxed when Ihcy reflect that they labor without emolument, and sow what they ue not permitted to reap This relaxa tion has been frequently ascribed to na oral indolence, the heat of climate, such slight predisposing causes, though merely to the one most probable und portant, because tins u is ttie policy of the planter to conceal, viz. the want of a sufficient inducement to exertion. That q'iliü) of « am un at withy of his hire," is an axiom as equitable as it is natural. But, hitherto, the case ol the negro lias been rendered, most unjustly and indefensibly, an exception to this general rulç. To hire, rather than [ chase would, unquestionably, have had the effect of propelling cultivation for ward, in a much greater degree than estates are now administered, under the existing system, bark in the concern of an extensive plan |alien, when the price affixed lo each share in most instances, exceeds 1001. sterling or 500 dollars per head, where 's by engaging laborers who would, as hereafter shewn, if fairly paid, always resort in considerable numbers t.o the West India islands. More estates might be cultivated, with scarcely any advance ol capital, and the genera! prosperity of those Islands would of course be materi ally advanced. It might be necessary in the first instance, to fix the price of every man ts pur . as 1'i- w can afford to em to bv * The latter species of reward ought, most decidedly to be discouraged, apt to engender numberless evils, 8c poses instead of advancing that great moral principle which cannot be' too carefully promoted, viz. the desire of man to better his condition, It is op tocrÎTTrfï thi are 3 termed ft »tÄÄ^ wages, in return , , labor, would conrect Uie cuUivato, with ins empl-ver, by the %££of all ti- sell u!. est. After the expulsion oi the French from St. Domingo, or. ,he establishment of a régula 1 ' government t> the blacks, it w.,s in contemplation to adopt mis principle ,n fixing me price of labor— to not ...at i. is u. ■ received as a problem oi' any merit i» economy to nuia-|<ia sure the rate of vvai/es permanent,}', by fit of oi^' ,• a ' to of ; of ■ Attempts to the will of the Leg'slaiure. interfere in such cases are usually pro ductive of dissatisfaction, and do harm. Labor should at ah times be left to find its own level, and to answer Inc demand, except perhaps or die first occurrence uf a great change in the order and consti tution ot socie 1 V when interests are un revtrsed, and clashing if being composed. A settled, font loubts in nt At per day* : P : id probably bate been considered an the anciem rrgise ; tint to reconcile op position it was determined to make trial of an appropriulbn of one fourth part of the gros- produce to the cultivator, a system that has been found by experi ence calculated to give genc-iai satrefac m ihe circumstances of that coun by the Planters under 1 1 * >n try, and is now embodied into a fixed law. On a cevum day, after crop time, the aggregate produce is weighed anil portioned or', De buyers who go round the country, bring ready to convertit in to cash—The /''conveniences attend ml on annual seé,< ment are remedied by occasional advances on the part of the proprietors, so as to enable the cultiva tors on the (Stilt; to procure necessaries, while the accumulation in reserve is of course beneficialto the interests of the prudent. A strict police undjhe exer tions of manages prevent instances of intoxication fro i being frequent—this . vil, it might b- bought, would be a con sequence of wealth suddenly ac; . red, ; of ignorant pc. .c: y affairs, discipline especially in th but, as ret ruilit essential to he'veil being of an army, is a strict police, and punishment when!nor deserved, equally necessary in the ad ministration of an esta'e. nil no where is such police live efficient than in that island In the case of uncleared lands and new settlements, some useful hints may pos sii"v b« uerivetl ho in the practice ol St. D nnhigo, where the blacks must be supposed to uni erstand full well Die na ture of the equivalent 'hat is suited to the wants of th' '. quondam fellow slaves, — A man of ccuife, >c capita!, >1,1^..;, iii'tliio view, feel himself competent to under take the cultivation of an estate—In South America, in -try voll, some 'idle an estate—In South America, in parts adjacent to French and Dutch Guyana, even on the hanks of the rivers, Corantain and Esse ir'jibi. under British protection, fertile districts, in a staie of nature might he I reared and plaid.il at an expellee com paratively trifling, and tree from the orbitunt demands which the settler would '-.ave to encounter in many of the Islands. By agree! 'g with his laborers to assign ■ < them one fourth pari of the whole a "oum ot produce, lie would attract an ouple number of hands necessary to ena ble him io prosecute ins design, whereas to piirchase a sufficient quantity of slav might he wholly out of his power. It has been ascertained that th of task ex . s e appor work, with suitable in njccinents, has been attended with 'lie best ef!vet in stimulating the the lie MCI "K energies i.l m such r.aXus. of course the proportioned r.nuineratioi is i lantitv of labor performed_The puii ey ol this measure will he at the ■ once ap parent, when we ( ousidcr the disposition of man to adapt his labor to I e reward, « egulating the former r.y tht frequency of the latter. One great bur to improvement io West Indies, is to be found in the |istin;> pr.ctice of valuing estates acccrd mg to he number of negioes attached to them—the consequence is, few indi viduals, hut some of desperate fortunes will he found lo embark m the purchase of an estate in most of the British West India possessions, because the first out lay exceeds in the ■ x amount what any prudent man would thir.z proper to hazard in such a speculation, attended with v. risks .... . . . 'doub l he posinou is not altered by the circumstance of that outlay being can muted lor personal bonds, guarded by mortgage deeds of the estate, and power, with warrant of attorney.—These the refuges of the venturous planter, not the voluntary covenants of ihe prudent. By separating the land from'the negroes! it is probable many respectable persons might be induced to give a higher price lor the land alone, than when coupled with tlie sale of those unfortunate beings some of whom, skilled as artisans or me chanics, have, since the abolition of the traffic by sea, been sold for are upwards of *tn the stats of Delaware, with which only I profess any acquaintance, blacks and colored men who mostly perform al! agricultural labor, receive from 6 to 8 dollars per month, beside their board Carpenters and mechanics have been known to make from 12 to 20 dollars iter month. , ,, bic , D™ affqnot part of a Spanish nllar In St. Domingo eleven bits com pose _ a dollar; in different Islands the division and currency vary. llVxUed" than thi labor of the fiel., Ä?T: ."ÄÄn de! that have so long divided mankind on the slave question. Ton, the co op,.1 legislature, however, it is hopeless to ex peci any regulations of internal {economy such as those alluded to. Composed of .he leading planters,* then-interests, they maintain, are diametrically opposed to concessions ot whatever nature-until they shall be roused to a sense ol their ige: and convinced of their errors. I o he mother country we must look lor the origin and accomplishment ot such measures as may be ascertained to bene fit a most valuable body, by whom all cul tivation is performed, and, nearly all and callings exercised—attended with as light a sacrifice as possible on the part of those who hitherto have mo nopoliser! all consideration, and been per mitted exclusively to reap the benefits of the prevailing system. The substi me proposed, in order to supply the place of slaves in new settle ments, and to replenish the hands re quired in the old, is to be found in the disposition of the JCroonier, (a hardy race of people in Africa, who come down from ihe interior to work at Sierra Leone) voluntarily to emigrate in search of em ployment, and in tile hope of gain. The reports of the London African institu tion, founded oil the information of gen tlemen long resident on the Western Coast of Africa, represent these people as a most laborious and itidifatigable class of persons, performing all the se verer toils about the different forts and settlements, and contented with a very moderate reward. is the To on is traces first instance by contract, for five or seven ; years, at a stipulated rate, the Westln relia Islands would, soon be ftsorted to, isjunder due restrictions, by their country Tliey have been known frequently to row fifteen miles out to sea and return perfectly satisfied if they earn a leaf of tobacco, by rendering any service to vessels ori the coast. No reasonable doubt can exist that, were a number of these Kroomer hired in the solmen, in numbers adequate to the demand; when!nor islt !ess likely that they would be in jclined to quit ti.eir native shores than the Malays, the Hindoos or the Chinese, who, Malays, the Hindoos or the Chinese, who, (under the denomination of Lascars, freely -engage themselves to the commanders of East India shipping, to navigate ves sels on an European voyage. We have experience of the fact of these Kroomer removing 800 and 1000 miles from the interior, down to the coast, in seatch of hire and its reward—Their fidelity and competence to hard labor are abundantly testified.— Experiment only is necessary the pri ticul'ility nf ir-duoing them freely, and ot their own accord, to enter into voluntary engagements to serve for a limited period in the West Indies. As some proof of this project being far from visionary, may be adduced also the fact, ol no less that eight British West Imii lo of ble yet to io ni a tC.a a regiments, consisting wholly oops, having been laised and embodied in Africa to serve in the Wesl 'rnlia islands. During a period coeval with '.he breaking out ofthe war between England and France np to the present lay, these day regiments, so remarkable or their good conduct have been recruited from Africa undei very circumstance of opposition from he slave dealers on tlie one hand, and ihe watchful scrutiny of the abolitionists l the slave trade on the other. It might he curious to enquire with Dial feelings the slave on a plantation, who cannot be said to be a human being rithnut thought, regarding the condition <f die more fortunate negro soldiers ; so doing we cannot oinii to some degree of approximation between the relative situation and claims of a body f slaves, contrasted with those of a bat talion of free men. >f black it on ail occasions, s on of in a ly i.l in arrive al 'I lie soldier is free, inasmuch as a price has not been sei upon on, head, hut restraint severity—fatigue sometimes privations he isoblig d patiently to endure—implicit obedi nice to the will of a superior officer, is his first duty—neglect of it is attended with punishment. So far the soldier is a slave: hut ilien he earns the wages of his calling, and honor is supposed to con stitufe a portion of his reward.* Not so with the slave. He knows no reward. His labor goes unrequited in llts body the pro perty of a purchaser—but with a sou! equally acceptable to Got». the by not the How long snail such palpable injustice be permitted to exist? What exception to the gene ral title to remuneration,enjoyed by each laboring individual in civilized society, shall be pleaded in bar of extension, to the unoffending African ! At a time when the abolition of the trade in slaves is pro leased to be enforced, how long shall tin. price of man continue to be estimat ed, buyers still be found, and seller ready, even under the sanction of to legalise their bargains ? system is to be upheld—if the rights of man are yet to be quibbled away by phistical evasion, then indeed, there re mains no hope for suffering humanity, and it is an abolition only in name. But, the planter may urge the tenure ot his property, the value of his freehold, and the prescriptive nature of his rights. Letit he so. The slave has also his tights, suspended hut not forfeited, and to arbi trate between the two is the difficulty. It are s ever courts, If such a so of al! 8 the * Governor Elliott's letter. * See Adam Smith's Wealth ol Na tions, on the subject of « the profits of professions." is impossible in the first place to forego the principle, of labor entitling to reward To wave it would he to consign pon-. , and right to the strongest ; toil without redress to the weaker ; enjoining to the latter unqualified submission to «hate the other might impose, the abandonment of all those moral ties on which the frame of human founded, would in these ver To consent to society is our reasonings prion , go to favor one class of niun kind at the expence of the other—dt> pressingthe slave to theleveloftht brn.s, and erecting fhe pioprietor into a lord uf tlie universe, even over his own kind. To the planter it may be urged that, to concede somewhat in order io ensure the preservation and security of the whole, is the part of wisdom, lie must be lost indeed lo all sense of reason, if lie vea lures to deny those precepts of natural and revealed religion, which prescribe the duties to all sorts and conditions of men, and teach us that eth a multitude of sins. " charity cover " But it will hereafter appear in what his interest on this point consists, must be seen that a gradual emancipa tion is most desirable even for his welfare. He is the subject of real property—the perverted object of purchase and sale ids services have been bought for a valu • able consideration.. In order to conci liate the concurrence of the planter thus materially implicated, he can only pect by industrious perseverance, and the accumulations of a strict frugality, to aspire, in time, to the purchase of Ids freedom by slow degrees, so soon as a regular system of wages is introduced in the island. A legislative enactment on this subject would do more real ho nor to its framers than any. measure perhaps, connected with the slave trade, -since the remarkable day of its abolition. But let us see in how far the planter, the West Indian iuterests, so predominant in the British Parliament, and we may add, the government itself, are severally concerned in the adoption of a more en larged and beneficent scheme of policy. Revolutions would effect all, and though we may pronounce on the inelficacy of such partial attempts at insurrection, as in Barbadoes: yet, when the proportion of the slaves to whites is considered, be ing in the i-land of St, Kill's alone, as 3!) to 1, the mischiefs even attendant on those attempts, are not to be laid out of calculation. As to the slave, it ex a The insurrection of the negroes in St. Vincent and Grenada, about the year 1795, when all the estates were nearly destroyed, will long be remembered, and ought to furnish a useful lesson at th» present day, when the flame of discon tent appears smothered only for a while, lo burst out anew with additional horrors. But, a higher motive exists to invoke impartial attention to this momentous enquiry. The history of mankind for duration of a state of peace. A few years may materially vary the pacific vn-ws of different powers. In such a contingency will it be forgotten, that during the hos tilities with America, a British naval force under Admiral Cochiane. giving freedom to the slaves on the plantations of the Chesapeake, received on board and transported to Nova Scotia, a considera ble body of the fugitives ? Has France yet ceased to impute her reverses in St. Domingo, partly to the/defeats that let! to the capture of Cape St. Nichbia Mole and, partly, the ascendancy of the blacks io the instrumentality of the British; arms C The evident policy of England ni neutralizing that important colony, may be too successfully imitated in cases .where possession might not be conveni ent. rêtla " «•«. )' "r*W» f*f> ent. In a state of feeling like the present, on the part of the slaves, with the seeds of rebellion long implanted and ready to start to life, it would not be difficult of accomplishment for a hostile force bom barding the towns, harassing the inhab - tants with feigned attacks, in front, and inciting the negroes to revolt in the rear, in this manner to ruin a valuable posses sion where conquest might not be practi cable. During the late American war it was understood that a squadron of light fri gates under commodore Porter was in a forward state of preparation for a similar source when intelligence of the treaty of Ghent being concluded was received. In a series of years we have seen nations rise and fall, and maritime strength (hitherto the bulwark of British power) acquiring consistency or verging to de cline, according to the vigor or decrepi tude of governments. In such a crisis as we have contem plated. the sole security of the British West India islands would rest essential ly upon that attachment of the negro to his employer which it should be the ob ject of the statesman equally with the philanthropist to bring about—an attach ment founded upon reciprocal interesis, alike necessary toeacb, deriving in com mon, protection from the government# that still reconcile the planter's rights with the fuir' claims of the laborer, and thereby„preserve the colonies m their al legiance to the parent slate. May the days of peace be far prolonged and na tional animosities give way to that spirit of forbearance, one to,,another, which is no less consistent with prudence and sound policy, than with the injunctions of our religion ! In a subsequent essay Che learned Author proceeds to review, brießy, the united reasons converging to his princi - pfll conclu don, that by adapting the prin ciples unfolded in his work', the way is paved to the civilization of Africa, and the means essentially facilitated. An