ON THE AMELIORATION OF SLAVERY. PART I. WHEN those good men through whose means the abolition of the slave trade was effected, commenced their career, their hopes and expectations were probably directed only to the accomplishment of that great object, and they did not perhaps look farther. But since the chief bar to improvement has been removed, I should imagine that every one who is hearty in the cause of attempting to decrease the evils which exist in any part of the world, must have entertained hopes regarding the ultimate extirpation of domestic slavery from all those quarters in which 'its existence is at present sanctioned. No man can think of emancipating the slaves of the Columbian islands by an act of the British legislature; this is not possible and not expedient; such an act would bring with it far greater immediate evils than we are warranted in bringing down upon any set of men, with the prospect of any ultimate good however great that might be; and whether or not this ultimate good would arise is extremely doubtful. No government has a right to impoverish a whole body of men, however upright its intentions may be, if the wealth of that body of men has been obtained through the laws, or by any means which that government has sanctioned. The slaves too are not in a condition to become freemen at once; the change from a most degrading state of bondage to free agency would be accompanied by every species of disorder and confusion-probably by the destruction of the white population of the islands and anarchy among the negroes. But in the end the emancipation of the slaves must take place; the state of the world will require it, the improving state of mankind will call for it; and at the present moment the tide of public opinion is fast flowing into that channel, nor is it likely to swerve from thence, although it may be checked,-several truths are now established as political maxims which were not formerly acknowledged,-which were in other times considered as the speculative opinions of wise men whose notions of the world were erroneous. It was supposed that the slave trade and slavery were good things;that the poor ought to be kept in ignorance ;-that intolerance and persecution would make men change their opinions;-that the world was becoming worse instead of better; and other subjects of importance might be mentioned. In fact, the world was, by its own opinions, in part causing the accomplishment as natural consequences of those things which were only the effects of the notions which were entertained. Man was perhaps degenerating or was becoming more wicked and more ignorant, because man himself would not attempt to ameliorate his own condition. Whether he would have succeeded in accomplishing his own degradation is another question; whether that good power which created us and which rules over us would have permitted this debasement of the creature which it formed in its own image; whether we should have become the worst of the beings in the creation instead of continuing in the rank which is our due, cannot now be judged. The work of improvement is at present progressively advancing; it can however only proceed gradually and systematically;-great changes should be effected by slow degrees. But the matter is to convince those whose part it is to bring about these changes, that they are necessary; when once this is done, a plan must be fixed upon for the purpose of effecting them, and that plan must be followed without swerving and without pausing; it must be followed fearlessly, without attending to slight collateral circumstances which have no bearing upon the great question. Where an evil system has been formed, evil from thence must be expected to proceed; nor can it be got rid of without some mischief. The matter is to compass the desired purpose with as much care as possible, with attention to the interests of all those persons who are concerned, but undeviatingly with a bearing to the great object of ameliorating the state of man, of extirpating slavery,-of abolishing a wicked system, perhaps the most wicked, considering its extent, that ever was formed by human beings:-the transportation of the natives of one quarter of the globe, to labor in another, for the purpose of supplying luxuries for the inhabitants of a third. The late insurrection of the negroes in Barbadoes has done much injury to the cause of abolition and amelioration. How much better would it be (if the negroes could possibly know the mischief that they were causing to themselves and to their brethren by these risings) that they should bear the heavy yoke patiently, until the time was come for their condition to be bettered. This insurrection has aided the favourers of the wicked system, and has much contributed to the loss of the Registry Bill. It ought not to have had this effect, for it should be imagined that some evils must arise from any plan which may be proposed for alteration in the internal state of the Columbian islands; and if none greater than such a slight rising as this should be the consequence of a great step gained, the matter might be considered as being accomplished at a cheap rate. That what is good is to be done without producing some mischief, never did occur and never can;-great changes cannot be accomplished without being felt. The object is to rise as gradually as circumstances will allow, that as few persons as possible be dissatisfied, that as little distress be experienced as the state of the case will permit. If the legislature will turn from their point, will concede upon such trifling grounds as these, theu whatever is to be performed on this subject, can only be carried by public opinion; the great battle must be fought over agaiu, and as in the case of the Abolition of the execrable trade, the whole kingdom must be roused to inform the Legislature that the people will not suffer so many of their fellow creatures to continue in a state of brutal ignorance, in a state of abject, of most degrading bondage, that some steps at least shall be taken for their improvement.' * In thus speaking of the insurrection at Barbadoes, I have argued as if the statements of the advocates of slavery respecting the causes of it were correct, that is, that the rising proceeded from the agitation of the question of the Registry Bill. But it is far from being proved that this question had more than a partial bearing upon the cause of the commotion. The insurrection was far from being general, and appears to have only taken place on a few estates. "What may be the result of farther evidence it would be premature to say. In the mean time the accounts already received contain nothing which renders it necessary to assume that the whole mischief did not originate in a revolt of Mr. Scott's negroes against their immediate masters or managers, excited by some local and peculiar cause; and which in its progress may possibly have been aggravated by the impressions the negroes may have received from the intemperate representations of their masters respecting the tendency of the Registry Bill." Remarks on the insurrection in Barbadoes, &c. p. 7. If the planters were afraid of the slaves imbibing revolutionary ideas owing to having obtained a knowledge of what was doing in England respecting them, they took a strange method of concealing such dangerous information, for "in the Newspapers of Barbadoes, formal Resolutions of the Assembly were published only three or four months before the insur rection broke out, denouncing the Registry Bill as a plan for the emancipation of the slaves." And "in a Jamaica Gazette of March, 1816, the Registry Bill is elaborately arraigned as founded on views of a revolutionary kind and calculated to produce insurrection." Remarks, &c. p. 5 and 4. I have before stated that the emancipation of the labourers of the Columbian islands is not what ought to be attempted at present; this would be unjust towards the planters and injurious to the slaves. It is the amelioration of the latter which ought to be rendered an object of deep attention; and God knows, their masters too might undergo much improvement. I say unjust towards the planters, because the laws of their country permitted them to acquire this species of property, and therefore having sanctioned such proceeding, this permission must not be retracted all at once to the ruin of so large a portion of the community. But the justice or injustice of which I treat has no relation to that superior feeling of equity which ought to direct the conduct of human beings towards each other; it is merely worldly justice of which I speak,-and indeed I doubt whether in this case such a word eht to have been used; whether I had not better have said, that convenience would and must prevent the emancipation of the slaves, even if they were in a fit condition to be set at liberty. Other nations have imbibed the opinion that Great Britain abolished the Slave Trade because her own colonies were fully stocked with Africans, and therefore that she was afraid of introducing a greater number of them under the apprehension of endangering her dependencies; and that now she wishes to prevent the farther transportation of the natives of Africa to the New World, that the establishments of foreigners may not rival her own ;-that as her colonies are well supplied and those of other nations deficient, she is desirous of preserving her ascendancy. This opinion is founded upon a total ignorance of the principles upon which that great question was handled in Great Britain, when the majority of her people seemed to have only one heart and one soul, and that these were directed to the attainment of the desired object. Clarkson, Wilberforce, and Granville Sharp; three such men as these could only act from principles of right and wrong in every thing which they did; their lives have proved their disinterestedness, their zeal, their sincerity; they have done their share of good in this world. Happy is the man who has the heart to prompt him to such exertion, and such opportunities of shewing his activity. One of them has already gone to meet with his reward in a better state of existence, and when the last hour of the other two shall come, they may bow their heads in for their ways have been ways of righteousness. peace, The discussion which has been occasioned by a publication respecting Sierra Leone has done much mischief and will yet do more. If the author of the first pamphlet upon the subject supposed that he was aiding the cause of freedom, he was deeply mistaken, for among the Portugueze in particular it will do much towards a confirmation of their views regarding the motives of Great Britain, |