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