Slave Trade Abolition Fails from The Debate on a Motion for the Abolition of the Slave-Trade (1791)
Compiler's Note: Christian philanthropist and member of Parliament,
William Wilberforce, after much encouragement from his supporters in Parliament
and an inspired presentation of reason for his motion, brilliantly based
on every evidence and proof of wicked beastly examples that the slave
trade was unchristian, inhuman, demonic, having no popular support and
totally wrong by any measurement known to God, sat down and listened to
the opposition speak as follows.
Facsimile
of title page from the debate.
Colonel Tarelton declared, that "gratitude towards those constituents,
who had sent him so honorably to that House, as well as a thorough conviction
of the justice of their cause, impelled him to vindicate their character
and property, although, perhaps, from experience, or inability, he might
not be able to accomplish what he so ardently desired. The ingenuity,
the amplification, and the pathetic eloquence, of the Hon. Gentleman,
Wilberforce having worked no conviction on his mind, he should proceed
to arrange the arguments he had to offer, against the Abolition of the
Slave Trade. So many branches of the commerce of this country were connected
and interwoven with the question, that it would be necessary to make any
statements, form several calculations, and read various extracts, to elucidate
the subject. Throughout the whole of what he had to say, he should
aim more at perspicuity than embellishment, and labor rather to convince
the understanding than bewilder the imagination."
Before he entered upon any part of the subject, he though it necessary,
for the sake of clearness, and to prove to Gentlemen, that he did not
mean to evade or blink any strong part of the question, to enumerate the
different heads upon which he was about to speak. He said, he should state
the beginning of the Trade, the sanction given to it be Government, the
manner of conducting the Trade on the Coast of Africa, the transit to
the West Indies, the employment and treatment of the Negroes in the West
Indies, the amount of the property engaged in the trade, the value of
the West India Islands to this country, the eagerness other nations have
discovered to enlarge their Slave-Trade, and the importance of the Trade
as a nursery for seamen. He then went into an historical account, from
the reign of Queen Elizabeth down to the present time, quoting his authority,
and dwelling some time on this part of the subject.
Colonel Tarleton next came to the sanction of Parliament was had always
countenanced the Trade, and could not, without a breach of faith, be withdrawn;
and here he recollected what had fallen from a Right Hon. Gentleman on
a former occasion, and which he thought applicable to those concerned
in the African Trade; it was, that upon no occasion, short of absolute
necessity, ought private property to be seized by public acts, without
granting a compensation. The Colonel contended, that the Africans
themselves had no objections to the Trade; and many people who were prejudiced
against it, had been led away by mistaken humanity, and often by misrepresentation.
With regard to the number of deaths, which happened on the passage, he
had access to examine, and could distinctly state, to the Committee, that
they never had exceeded in the Liverpool ships, on an average, five out
of a hundred, whereas, in regiments sent out to the West Indies or America,
the average was about ten and half in the hundred.
Many attempts had been made to cultivate the lands in the different Islands,
by white laborers; but it was found, that from the difference of climate,
and other causes, population had decreased, and that those who took the
greatest pains to accomplish this, found that, in ten years time, they
could not have any proportion of Whites capable of purposes of cultivation
at all. He therefore agreed in the necessity of the Slave-Trade, if
we meant to carry on the West India Commerce and Cultivation; and he quoted
the opinions of Gov. Parry, Adm. Hotham, Com. Gardiner, Sir. Arch. Campbell,
and a long list of respectable names, in support of the position which
he had laid down. Next, he gave the opinion of that gallant officer,
Lord Rodney, respecting the great advantage that accrued to the Navy,
upon the breaking out of a war, by having so numerous a body of mariners,
inured to the climate, when we wish to send a fleet to the West Indies;
a circumstance worthy of attention. And from Liverpool alone, he said,
the Navy might be supplied with 993 seamen annually, from the best calculation
that could be made; an object that certainly ought not to escape the notice
of a wise Government.
Col. Tarleton then proceeded nearly as follows: Having received the indulgence
of the House during various statements, which, perhaps, had nothing of
novelty in them, but which were indispensably necessary, and which he
had endeavored to render as concise as possible, he would not much longer
trespass on it's patience. It could not, however, he trusted, be deemed
superfluous if he mentioned some circumstances to the House which he might
have omitted, or which he had not sufficiently enforced to attract it's
attention. He could with Gentlemen to advert to the property and connections
dependent on the African Trade; as much dependent on the African Trade,
to use the language of a nervous and elegant writer, as a "bird is
on its wing, for food, and when wounded there, it starves!" He
could wish to impress Gentlemen strongly with the recollection of the
sanction the African Trade had obtained from Parliament. He could wish
to remind them of the length of time the question of Abolition had been
pending in that House. He could wish to give as much assistance as lay
in his power, which he acknowledged to be extremely feeble, to accelerate
that adjudication which had been so often, and so earnestly, entreated
by the numerous merchants and manufacturers of this country, whose interest
had been materially injured by procrastination: and he trusted he could
not make a futile appeal to that House, when he called upon it's justice
to extend an immediate vote of protection to the West India Planters,
whose lives had been, and were, exposed to imminent and hourly danger,
and whose property had undergone a sever and unmerited depreciation, notwithstanding
the existing laws of this country, for the inquisitorial powers vested
by the constitution in this House. To what could Gentlemen ascribe that
depreciation? To what could they impute the late insurrection at Dominica?
Which Island the Governor lately pledged himself to hold in subjection,
without the assistance of the military, but which was lately saved, from
horrid carnage and midnight butchery, by the adventitious presence of
two British regiments? To what, he repeated, could Gentlemen impute
this insurrection, but to the question of Abolition? And, after a
tedious investigation on that question for near four years, he could not
discover the slightest reason to justify delay, except Gentlemen could
not prevail upon themselves to decide, before an insurrection had absolutely
taken place at Jamaica, when the sorrow, he had almost said the penitence,
of the Mover and abettors of the Abolition, and the interference of that
House, would be equally unavailing.
To gentlemen of great landed property, it was unnecessary for him to
point out the tendency and probable effect of the proposed Abolition.
If he possessed all the eloquence and ingenuity in that House, with those
powerful auxiliaries, he should not be able to convince them, that the
Abolition would lessen the national debt, increase the commerce of the
country, or take one fraction from the oppressive taxes they now endured:
but, he believed they would give him credit, inexperienced as he was in
that House, when he plainly advanced, that it would have a directly contrary
effect; when he asserted, that the authors and abettors of the Abolition
endanger their honor, their property, and their happiness; and when he
inferred, that the Minister, not being taken by surprise, must be supposed
to have some capital resource in store, either from some novel calculation
that the land tax would bear an additional burden, or from some inexhaustible
source of unclaimed property, which had hitherto escaped the vigilance
of his predecessors in office, and would compensate to the public for
such a diminution of the Trade, and consequent defalcation of the revenue
of the country.
To the mercantile part of the House, he must likewise use language, which,
he was sorry to say, seemed consonant to the feelings of the authors and
abettors of the Abolition. "Gentlemen, your success in trade,
has of late years been so prodigious, that it seems necessary to suspend
your activity, by cutting off one of the principal branches of your trade,
for the sake of humanity and the honor of the nation. You are to have
no farther respect for, or future confidence in, Acts of Parliament. The
sanction of the Legislature is nothing. A few of the Ministerial side
of this House have been gifted with religious inspiration, and the revelation
has been extended to certain imminent Personages on this side of the House;
and these enlighted Philanthropists have discovered, that it seems necessary,
for the sake of humanity, and the honor of the nation, that all British
merchants concerned in the African Trade should have their designs harassed,
their property injured, and their reputation traduced; notwithstanding
such persecution must, undoubtedly, softer, encourage, and aggrandize
the surrounding nations of Europe, who rival Great Britain in her commerce,
and in her navigation." As the superstition and bigotry, in the
thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries, which, during those dark,
ignorant, and barbarous ages, threw down every barrier erected by reason
by justice-in the name of God, let not a mistaken humanity, in these enlightened
times, furnish a colorable pretext for any injurious attack on property
or reputation.
But if all the authorities which he had adduced, were doubtful-if his
premises were fallacious-if some of the circumstances of cruelty were
proved, which the Abolitionists have only asserted, and which, fortunately
for this country, and happily for human nature, were unfounded, he thought
himself guilty of a rash and impolitic measure in voting for the Abolition,
if he took only a cursory glance at the finances of England, and her relative
situation with Europe. He could not bring himself to think this is
a convenient time, the country in an eligible situation, or the Minister
serious in his inclination to make an experiment which presents a certain
prospect of loss, and no probability of advantage. An Abolition would
instantly annihilate a trade, which annually employs upwards of 5,500
sailors, upwards of 160 ships, and whose exports amount to 800,000 sterling.
And the same experiment would undoubtedly, bring the West India trade
to decay, whose exports and imports amount to upwards of 6,000,000 sterling,
and which gives employment to upwards of 160,000 tons of additional shipping,
and sailors in proportion-all objects of too great magnitude to be hazarded
on an unnecessary speculation, which, in all human probability, would
prove ruinous to the commercial consequence, to the national honor, and
the political glory of Great Britain.
Mr. Grosvenor, having come into the House while Col. Tarelton was speaking,
rose immediately after him. He prefaced his speech with many compliments
to the humanity and good intention of the Honorable Mover. He said, he
had read only the Report of the Privy Council; for he wanted no other
evidence, and it appeared to him, from the delay of two years, that the
Honorable Gentleman himself must have great doubts of the propriety of
his motion; for, if it was so clear a point as it was declared to be,
it could not have needed either so much evidence or so much time. Mr.
Grosvenor said, he had heard a great deal of kidnapping Slaves, and of
other barbarous practices. He was sorry for it; but it should be recollected,
that these things were the consequence of the natural law of Africa, and
that, instead of declaiming against it, we should endeavor, like wise
men, to turn it to our own advantage. Gentlemen had displayed a great
deal of eloquence in exhibiting, in horrid colors, the traffic in Slaves.
He acknowledged it was an unnamable Trade, so also were many others: the
trade of a butcher was an unnamable trade, but it was necessary one, notwithstanding.
He could not help thinking there was great reason to doubt the propriety
of the motion; and, the more he considered the subject, the more was he
persuaded that it was an improvident and unwise measure. Mr. Grosvenor
said, he would endeavor to explain the nature of his objections to the
motion, by introducing a story. When the Duke of Marlborough was abroad,
the Commander of a garrison, which he visited, made an apology for not
saluting His Grace, according to the custom, assuring him he had one hundred
reasons to assign for not doing it. The first of which was, that he had
no cannon: upon which the Duke immediately answered, that he would excuse
him the other ninety and nine. In the same manner, said Mr. Grosvenor,
"I have twenty reasons for disapproving the Abolition of the Slave
Trade, the first of which is, That the thing is impossible; and therefore,
I need not give the other nineteen." Parliament could not abolish the
Trade: they might relinquish it; but to whom? To France, Spain, and Holland,
and other countries, who would take it up and share it among them; so
that the Trade would be still continued, and without the humane regulations
which were applied to it by the English.
After some observations, Mr. Grosvenor quoted a saying of the late Alderman
Beckford, on the origin of the American War, when he cautioned the House
against it: "Meddle not with troubled waters (said the Alderman)
they will be found to be bitter waters, and the waters of affliction."
He again said, that he admitted it was an unnamable Trade; but he would
not gratify his humanity at the expense of the interests of his country,
and he though we should not too curiously enquire into the unpleasant
circumstances with which perhaps it was attended. He should, therefore,
certainly oppose the Abolition.
Mr. Burdon said, he was a good deal embarrassed how to act. The Honorable
Gentleman who moved the question, had, in a great measure, met his ideas.
He considered himself as very much in his hands; but he wished to go gradually,
and not so much at one, to the question of Abolition. He wished to
give time to the Planters; for taking such measures as would keep up their
stock; and he feared the immediate Abolition might cause a monopoly among
the rich Planters, to the prejudice of the less affluent. We ought,
like a judicious physician, to follow Nature, and promote a recovery that
should be gradual. He wished, therefore, for some motion short of Abolition.
Tuesday, April 19.
Sir William Young rose and said, that having the day before listened,
with due attention, and he might say, with admiration, to the Speech of
his Honorable Friend (Wilberforece), he felt the presumption of any attempt
to counteract the first impression on the minds and passions of the House,
and he therefore had reserved his opposition to a more cool and temperate
period of the Debate.
He knew that the part which, with others, he was to take, would bear
time and reflection, that he had the vantage ground of fact and of argument,
which he had much need to possess, while so much ability, as well as influence
of situation and character, were ranged on the side of his adversaries.
Truth and reason, he said, must indeed be with him, and strongly too,
to warrant a single hope of success in the event of that night's Debate!
Yet that hope he ventured to entertain, relying on the facts and inferences
which he should state.
It was indisputable, that the interests of private property and of commerce,
might be affected by the measure proposed. A new trade, indeed, in Africa,
was held out as an indemnification; and considerations also of still greater
force, namely, the paramount claims of justice and of humanity, had also
been brought in aid of the argument. Such claims no one would oppose,
when clear and acknowledge; but the premises on which the Committee were
urged to proceed, ought first to be examined, and a discrimination made
of circumstances of objects and effects. The probable attainments,
on the side of Philanthropy and moral obligation, ought to be sifted out,
since the sacrifice proposed was, in the opinion of many, nothing less
than a considerable portion of British Commerce, and an ultimate surrender
of the British Colonies.
Before he gave his vote for the Abolition of the Slave Trade, he should
wish to be convinced, that whilst Britain loses, Africa would gain. No
one was more averse to a traffic of men, termed a Slave Trade, and he
happily anticipated it's termination at no very distant period of years,
under a wise and temperate system of regulation. He spoke of the present
measure, as crude and indolent, as precluding better and wiser measures
already in train, and as tending to withhold the necessary encouragement
to our Colonies, in what they were now doing, preparatory to the object,
of finally suppressing the Trade, which we had in view; and he observed,
that it ought to be the characteristic of a British Parliament, to attain
not only the best ends, but by the wisest means.
Great Britain might abandon her share of this Trade, but could not abolish
it. The general question of the Abolition of the Trade for Salves to Africa,
was not before the Committee. They were not an Assembly of Delegates from
France, from Spain, from Holland, and other Powers, now engage in that
Commerce, but the Legislature of a single Nation, whose dereliction of
it could not, in anywise suppress, but would eventually aggravate, those
miseries incident to it, which every enlightened man must acknowledge,
and every good man must deplore. He wished to see the traffic for ever
closed, as much as his Honorable Friend, but that "consummation devoutly
to be wished," would be farther removed, by a too hasty and unqualified
secession on the part of Great Britain.
We might, by regulation, give example of new sentiments, new policy,
and principles of justice, and of nature, both to Africa, and to the Nations
trading with her, but if we suddenly withdrew from this Commerce of Slaves,
like Pontius Pilate, we washed our hands indeed, but we should not be
innocent as to the consequences.
He then stated, that the Nations of Europe, as well as the United
States of America, were crowding to this Trade for Slaves, and only waited
it's suppression, on the part of Great Britain, to rush on the Coasts
of Africa, in competition for the share of traffic, thus newly opened
to them. The new projects would go far beyond the old mark of temperate
acquisition, and in the zeal of rivalship, the present evils of comparatively
sober dealing, would be aggravated to an enormity beyond all estimate,
in this new Auction, this new heat of Bidders for Life and Limb.
On the first agitation of this business, his Honorable Friend (Wilberforce)
spoke with confidence, of other Nations abandoning this traffic, after
our example. The prophecy was scarcely delivered, when a similar procedure
was instituted in the National Assembly of France, under every advantage:
yet what was the result? The Slave Trade was referred to a Select Committee,
and the report of that Committee to reject the measure of Abolition. Mr.
Barnave moved sundry resolutions to such effect, which were received with
acclamation, and voted with unanimous assent. He was astonished to hear
again, the same promises and expectations held out. He then quoted
the evidences of Mr. Dalzell, Mr. Penny, Mr. Falconbridge, and others,
to show that the French were actually foremost in continuing and extending
the Slave Trade, giving bounties of 40 Livres a ton, on the shipping employed
in it, and 60 Livres on each Slave, imported into Martinique and Guadeloupe,
100 Livres on each, being the bounty to several other Islands; that Spain
also was seeking a Slave Trade, giving a bounty of four dollars each,
and opening certain Ports for two years, to all foreign vessels, freighted,
exclusively, with African Slaves; that Denmark also was desirous of a
portion of this commerce, as appeared from the evidence; that America
did not neglect this Trade, but was advancing in it: and that the Dutch,
as appeared by resolutions of the States of Holland and West Friezeland,
recognized it's necessity, and formally recommended effectual means for
it's recovery.
The consequences of this new competition, he was persuaded, would be
more pernicious to the Africans, than the share of Trade now held by Great
Britain. Things were bad enough indeed, as they now ere, but they would
bear aggravation. He did not admit the disorders imputed to the Trade,
in all their extent. The Slave Coast was said, in evidence, to be populous.
He did not allow, therefore, that pillaging, or kidnapping, could
be general, though too frequent instances of it were in proof. Crimes
were said to be falsely imputed, for the purpose of procuring Slaves;
this also, he admitted, but only to a certain extent. Witchcraft, he believed,
was the secret of poisoning (a crime, surely, of the deepest dye) and
adultery, in countries, where, as in Africa, polygamy was practiced, was
wont to be so severely punished, that a number of convictions on this
ground, was not to be wondered at. He feared, if a sale of these Criminals
was hastily done away, massacre would be the substitute; and he urged
the sanguinary temper of the Africans, which appeared from a variety of
witnesses, as a ground of this suspicion.
His Hen. Friend had stated, that a full third of those sold to the slave
ships, were children; and had then asked, as in just triumph of argument,
"Have these committed crimes, have these been taken in war?"
In answer to this, he declared, That women and children were often included
in the massacres of savage Nations, engaged in war; and he quoted a Book,
entitled, A State of Hudson's Bay, mentioning the destruction of a young
girl, by the Savages, at war, in proof of this assertion.
A Right Hon. Gentlemen, of leading abilities, had asked, on a former
day, "Is it an excuse for committing robbery on Hounflow Heath, to
say, that another would commit it, adding murder also, if you did not?"
This was begging the question. A Trade for Slaves did not necessarily
imply robbery or rapine. Not long since, Great Britain sold her Convicts,
indirectly at least, to Slavery. But he was not advocate for the Trade;
it rested on principles repugnant to the temper of his mind. He wished
it had never begun. He wished it might soon terminate; but the means proposed
were not merely inadequate, but would preclude the effect. He had shown,
that other States would supersede, and even go beyond us in the Trade,
is we left it. Where, then, would be the improved manners and industry
of the Africans?
He therefore thought, that all argument respecting the improved agriculture,
manufactures, and civilization of Africa, ought to be put out of the question.
A Right Hon. Gentleman (Mr. Burke) distinguished for his genius, had said,
"That in adopting the measure proposed, we must prepare to pay the
price of our virtue." He was ready to pay his share of that price;
but, the object of purchase must be ascertained. Was it the happiness
or the misery of thousands? Gentlemen must not be allured from their duty,
by mere names. If they did not estimate the effect, it was not benevolence,
but dissipation.
Some persons, in a high tone, had said, "A traffic in human flesh,
was not to be borne with; let the consequences be what they would, the
national honor, glory, and character, required it's suppression; the consequences
were not at our door." He answered, that his conscience told him,
that the consequences were at our door, and though statesmen might rest
every thing on a plausible manifesto of cause; the humbler moralist, meditating
on peace and good will towards men, would venture to call such statesmen
responsible for consequences. He then spoke of the regulations respecting
objects of sale in Africa, demurrage on the Coast, transport to the West
Indies, or the Settlement of Slaves when arrived there. The Trade to Africa,
he said, must principally be abolished in and from the West Indies.
In regard to the Colonies, a sudden Abolition would introduce oppression,
and defeat the purposes of humanity. We ought, also, rather to lead our
Colonies into the way we deem right, than force them to it, especially
when Government had once protected, and even instituted the present course
or trade. No violence, but preparatory experiment, should be used in order
to show that nothing but extreme necessity would induce the Legislature
to change it's ancient and it's own system. He was persuaded the Legislatures
in the West Indies would act wisely and humanely, to attain the object
pointed out to them; that a natural increase of their Negroes might be
effected by an improved system of Legislation; and that, in the result,
the Slave Trade would no longer be necessary.
He insisted that a direct Abolition of the Trade would cause both
distress and disaffection in our colonies; that supplies were necessary
for some period to come; that the Negroes did not now generally increase
by birth; that the numerous White Servants and Apprentices, appropriated
to themselves a great number of Negro females, which caused the disproportion
of sexes to be more material; that the gradation of ages was not yet duly
filled, there not having been so great an attention to breeding some time
since, as there was now; that the neglect of marriage, the dissoluteness
of morals, and the inattention to infants, were also evils which could
not be overcome suddenly.
He spoke of the Planters, as oppressed with debts, and as being generally
the Slaves of the British Creditors, that they could not afford to remit
the industry of their Slaves, and that if their numbers were less, their
work being more, the extent of their misery could not be conceived without
horror. He quoted Mr. Ottley, Chief Justice in St. Vincent's, after
paying him some handsome compliments, in confirmation of this. Slaves,
it was said by him, were liable to seizure for their master's debts, in
default of other goods and chattels, nor was there any provision in this
case, against the separation of families, except as to the mother and
infant child. These separations were one on the chief outrages complained
of in Africa; why then should we institute new causes of such separation
in the West Indies? The confinement on board a slave ship was also bitterly
complained of, but under a distrain for debt, the poor Slave might linger
in a goal jail twice or thrice the time of a Middle Passage.
On it's own grounds, he most explicitly declared, that he could not be
an advocate for the traffic in Slaves, on any one question, even of natural
expediency; but as a resource, and he hoped but a temporary one, to our
West India colonies, it was of such importance as to touch the very existence
of the British Empire. He then stated the amount of exports from Great
Britain to the West Indies, in value above 1,600,000, and it's imports
above 3,700,000 the excise and customs on which were about 1,600,000 the
ships being 570, and the tonnage above an eighth of the whole tonnage
of these kingdoms.
He then hinted at the collateral advantages of the West India Trade,
and said that every thing he had stated, the Committee was requested to
endanger, at least, by a vote for immediate Abolition.
Sir William Young then made some observations on the volume of evidence
relating to the West India Planters, who, he said, in the course of this
business, had been no way spared. He blamed, in strong terms, the censure
cast upon them, and the cruel stories hastily and lightly told. He adverted,
with regret, to the invidious comparisons which degraded a British Slave
owner, below a Frenchman, a Spaniard, or a Dutchman, in the same circumstances,
observing, that one of our best comic writers discriminated better the
pretensions of our people. When wishing to show benevolence in it's fairest
colors, he personified it in the character and conduct of the West Indian.
He wished that the Slave might become as secure, or even more so, than
the Apprentice in this country; but it was necessary that the alarms concerning
the Abolition of the Trade, should, in the mean time, be quieted; and
he rejoiced that the motion before the House, was such as to put the question
at issue.
He regretted all the hasty expressions which had been thrown out the
day before, and the want of Christian charity, which they seemed to imply;
and he trusted that the good sense and true benevolence of the House,
would reject the present motion.
Mr. Stanley (Agent for the Islands) though laboring with an indisposition,
thought this an occasion in which he was called upon to refute the many
false and malicious calumnies which had, for some years, gone abroad against
the Planters in the West India Settlements, and which, having been lately
adopted and dispersed from the seminaries of learning, and the pulpits
of the church, places that should be employed to better and more useful
purposes, had at length produced the mischievous measure that was now
under the discussion of the House. Representations had been made
of the mischievous consequences of holding any set of people in any situation
of slavery whatever; and these declamations came blazoned out to the public
in the most high sounding language, and were urged with as much violence
of enthusiasm, as if there never before had been a Slave from the days
of Adam to the present moment. He, on the contrary, maintained, that
it appeared to be the intention of Providence, from the system of the
universe, That one set of men must always be Slaves to another. This truth
was as old as it was universal. It was recognized in every history, and
in every Era; under every Government, and in every Religion. The Christian
Religion itself showed no more repugnance to it than any other; and, in
proof of this, he cited the authority of the Bishop of Gloucester, (Dr.
Halifax) drawn from a passage in St. Paul's Epistle to the Corinthians;
and mentioned other passages as a farther confirmation of his, and the
Bishop of Gloucester's opinion.
He read over a number of documents, and went (though with rather a low
voice) into a considerable length of argument to show, that the Slaves
were not captured in the manner described. It being the nature of
all Savages to put their prisoners to death, he thought they ought to
be thankful for being led into a state of captivity, where their condition
was more meliorated.
He also represented the stories, concerning their distresses in the
Middle Passage, as exaggerations and falsehoods; and as to their treatment
in the West Indies, he was himself witness that it was, in general, highly
indulgent and humane.
With regard to the possibility of encouraging their increase, by any
other means or a better mode of treatment, he earnestly prayed of a Gentlemen
to let him know how that could be effected. As a Planter, he would thank
them for it; and he was sure that if it could be made to appear practicable,
neither he nor any of his brother Planters, would ever wish to purchase
another slave. It was absurd to suppose that any set of men could
be so blind to their own interest, as not to use the natural means of
obtaining Slaves, if it was in their power. It was very well known that
one Creole Slave was worth two Africans; and, setting humanity quite out
of the question, their interest must suggest that the propagation of Slaves
was a better mode of increasing their stock, than the constant purchase
of imported Negroes, of whom, he confessed, that one half very frequently
died in the seasoning.
He then argued the impossibility of Beasts doing the work of the Plantations;
and, amongst other reasons, he observed, that it would be impossible to
supply them with food. A great part of the food used by the Negroes and
Whites also was imported; it frequently happened, that, for eight months
together, there was not a shower of rain in many of the islands. Their
grain was obliged to be kiln dried for preservation, and the idea of feeding
a considerable number of cattle was, therefore, quite out of the question.
Mr. Stanley, after having gone through a considerable detail of observations,
concluded by objecting to the motion.
Mr. Sumner declared himself against the total, immediate, and unqualified
Abolition, which he thought would wound at least the prejudices of the
West Indians, and might do mischief, but a gradual Abolition, he said,
he should much wish to see.
Major Scott declared he could not possibly give a silent vote on so momentous
a question, and particularly after what had been said of those who should
dissent from the Motion. He declared there was no Member in the House
who could give a more independent and honest vote upon the question than
himself. He had no sort of concern either in the African or West India
Trade, farther than an acquaintance with many very respectable West India
Merchants, which could not possibly bias his judgment. He said, that he
had read the evidence with the utmost care, and had heard all that had
been said upon it; but in the present alarming state of the Finances
of this Country, he was clearly of opinion that it would be a most dangerous
experiment indeed, to risquÍ any one part of our foreign commerce.
As far as regulation could go, he would most heartily join, and was confident
that the inquiries of the Hon. Gentleman (Mr. Wilberforce) had produced
many very beneficial effects; but a total and immediate Abolition of the
Slave Trade, struck him as a very dangerous experiment. Let the Trade
be regulated, and as populations increased in the West Indies, the African
Trade would abolish itself.
Mr. Drake spoke strongly against the Abolition. He came into the House,
he said, with an unimpassioned vacancy of head and heart, but with all
his might he would oppose the question. We had by want of temperance
and of prudent conduct lost America. He said the House should beware of
being carried away by the meteors they had been dazzled with. The Leaders,
it was true, were for the Abolition; but the minor orators, the dwarfs,
the pigmies, he trusted, would this day carry the question against them.
The property of the West Indians was at stake, and though men might be
generous of their own property, they should not be so with the property
of others.
Lord Sheffield, in strong terms, reprobated the overbearing language
that had been used by some Gentlemen, towards others who differed in opinion
form them on a matter so great difficulty and so much doubt as this, and
said it was not he way to convince him. He protested against a debate
in which he could trace nothing like reason, but on the contrary downright
frenzy, raised perhaps by the most extraordinary eloquence; yet he
was satisfied he could at any other time demonstrate the Abolition, as
proposed, was impracticable, and that the attempt would be productive
of the greatest mischief. He denied the right of the British Legislature
to pass such. He turned to the Chancellor of the Exchequer and warned
him, that the day on which the Bill should pass into a law, would be the
worst he had ever seen. It would hamper him more than his Spanish
or Russian War, or a War with all Europe, in as much as a Civil War was
more terrible than all other Wars.
Lord Sheffield replied, that his opinion had always been the same, and
that the Honorable Gentlemen misunderstood what he had been reading. He
wished the condition of the Negroes in the West Indies to be meliorated
as much as any man, but to be done with justice and good sense; and
through the medium of the West India Assemblies, who alone could do it.
Mr. Wilberforce made a short reply to some arguments used in the course
of the debate, and at half past three o'clock, the House divided.
Noes 163
Ayes 88
Majority against the Abolition 75
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