Star. — London, England, 1823-05-16 00:00:00

stances, although the strugglescould not belong, yet that his cause was good, as he (Mr. Buxton), felt his., the.catasttpphe would be terrible; and 'it concluded own to be, and that hesshould feel he had chosen his by saying' that the Colonies were endangered by the line discree:ly, as he (Mr. Buxton) felt, before he ven-1 fanaticism of enthusiastic and visionary men. New ture3 m reject such a considetatie.m. Ile would tell he would only tumble the House" by a reference to ' .ly as 1817. *Mr. Max. one more prediction so recently as t... well, the then Governor of Dominica, had said, in a letter to Lord Bathurst— " Many instances have come to my knowledge, gncl particu larly some cases in which iron collars and chains have been ari.le:l to their sufferings after severe whipping. The Colonial Law for the regulation of the Slaves authotises the corporal pu nishment ; but as there exists no authority for the use of these iron torments, I have considered it my duty to check the use of them in every instance which comes to my knowledge; and it w..s my int:talon to have ordered prosecutions against some individuals for this illegal mode of punishing at the last Ses sions of Peace, on the 26th ultimo, but I was induced to forego this determination, in consequence of an assurance from both branches of the Legislature of a speedy revision of the Slave Laws, in compliance with my Message, urging the absolute ne cessity of the measure. " With reference to the presentment of the Grand Jury on the 23:h ultimo, the Court refused to receive it, considering it indecorous and out of the province of the Grand Jury. On this eximorciinary proceeding of the Grand Jury I shell not make any comment ; but I take leave to assure your Lordship that I have not heard of any agitation or discontent among the negroes, except what has arisen on some properties from the tyrannical conduct of owners and managers, and on others from the dete riorated state of the land, and consequent poverty of the owners. The latter lamentable circumstance is becoming more evident every day." Cases of Negroes who were brought to him in chains, in which they were obliged to work by their Owners or Managers during the last three months: " 1. A boy, about 15 years of age, a large iron chain round his neck; fastened with a padlock, total weighing 221bs. " 2. Two girls of 12 years of age, much marked by the effects of the cart-whip, fastened together with iron chains round their necks, padlocked, weighing 161bs. " 3. A full-grown main after a severe flogging with the cart whip, loaded with an iron collar and chains, weighing 211bs. " 4. An old man, apparently 60 years of age, after having been saverely beaten by his master, was plaied in he stocks with an iron collar round his neck, and chains weighing 201bs. " 5. A boy, about 12 years of age, loaded with an iron collar, chains, and log of wood, weighing 261bs. " Government House, Dominica, Sept. 5,1617." Cozy of a Presentment of the Grand Jury of Dominica, dated auth August, 1817. The Grand Jurors of our Sovereign Lord the King do present— That at the particular request of the Bench they visited and inspected the Gaol, which they regret to find in the same'State as in February last. notwithstanding the, repeated presentments of former Grand Juries on the subject. The Grand Jury lament that they are under the necessity of noticing an improper interference on the part of the Executive, between Master and Slave, which has caused considerable agita— tion and discontent among the Negroes, and if persevered in, is likely to lead to the most ruinous consequences. (Signed) W. ROBINSON, Foreman. Grand Jury-room, 26th August,lBl7. Now here he must remark, that if that Jery had said in their presentment that the cruel whipping and imposition of irons had pmduced an irritation on the minds of the negroes, and a consequent agitation on the minds of the planters, then the meaning would be fair and intelligible; but when they stated that the negro was agitated, as if he considered it his own peculiar privilege to be whipped, he did not know what to make of the meaning. The same argument precisely was now used. But he would ask, what was it that they wished to do, and which was to pro- - duce such disturbances ? In ite first place, their pro position was, that the negro should have the Sunday to himself as a day of rest, and another day for the cultivation of his land ; in the next place, they wished that negro children should be free. So far from thinking that the negro should feel any discontent at these regulations, he believed that there could be no measure so directly calculated to promote tranquil lity as that of giving education and freedom to negro children. Another thing that they proposed, was to get rid of the whip, and surely no one ~could con tend that such a proceeding would produce an agi tation amongst the Negroes. All that they, in fact, wished to do, was to ameliorate the condition of the Negroes, to give them something like the protection of law, and that their children born after a certain day should be free. He could not understand how any of these regulations could be made to excite the discontent of Negroes. They all appeared to him to be calculated rather to secure tranquillity than to en danger it. But there was one point which he should not be satisfied to pass over, and to which he re quired the consideration of those Gentlemen con nected with the West Indies, and his Majesty's Go vernment, namely—the great change which had taken place in the West Indies within the last thirty years. They should consider the spectacle which the Negroes had constantly before them. They saw a neighbouring Island in which every man was free—in which 800,000 men, women, and children, exercised all the tights of a free people. He did not say whether they had obtained that freedom bt atrocious or by good conduct, but obtained it they had. If, then, this country continued a course of oppression, the day would come when some Empe ror of an adjoining island would make an attempt on Jamaica. 'Or might not America send an army to the West Indies, and proclaim freedom to the slaves, in conformity with our own example, both in the original war with America, and in the war of 1013?' He would ask, was there not a lesson to be learnt from this? The question was, whether they should continue to grind the Negro until any change in his situation would be for the better; or whether they should make his situation .such, that any change would be for the worse? He would quote one authority, that of Mr. Pitt, who had said, that it was impossible to increase the happiness of •the Negro, without giving an equal degree.of security to the colonist and every individual connected with them. He did not mean to say that there would not be great danger in the experiment. He said that there was danger, because be knew, that wherever there was oppression there was danger; but the question was, how the danger was to be avoided? He would answer, by doing justice to - the negro. But, sup posing (what he would not admit) that the danger of going forward and standing still was equal, still he would ask the House to consid er whether it would be better to incur peiil its the cause of justice, huma nity, and freedom,' or to incer it in the cause of sla very, inhumanity, and injustice? He hoped that he should not be deemed imprudent if he threw off re serve, and stated truly to the House what was the object that - they Wished to secure. The object then was the extinction of slavery—nothing less than its entire and total extinction in the whole of the British dominions. At the same time they did not contem plate a sudden extinction, bat to take such-precau tions as might - 10d to a gradual extinction. Gentle ., men would be so good at to remember, that ht the same breath in which he declated that the extinction the Honse - why he had ventured to incur such a re sponsibility, after the deepest consideration which he had been able to give to the subject. t!.e first place, he felt a conviction that the dangers apple hended, if not entirely groundless, were at least much overrated ; and secondly, he felt a conviction, that it was impossible to overrate the blessings which would accrue to millions or persons truth the subject being agitated in that House. There w as no doubt that slavery could not stand an investigation. Upon that . point he felt clearly : and as, on the one hand, he felt that the benefit produced would be incalcula ble, .so, on the other, he felt that the raerils to be en countered were not so great as those which had been imagined by the Government and sonic of the Ho nourable Members opposite. They had heard a . great o deal of latabout the danger of an insurreconin the West Indies ; and to tint point he would, with the permission of the House, first address himself. — If he were-the first rash man who had ventured upon the delicate subject of slavery, or.upon the more de li Cate subject of emancipation from slavery, then the allegation of danger might be advanced on plausible rounds: But it did happen that the delicate subj ect •: • olgavery and em mcipation had been debated again and again in that House. It did also happen that a Committee of that House had sat upon the subject thiity" years ago, at a time when Committees had not' been very usual, and when they had still less usually publidied tinsir evidence; but that Com mittee had takini evidence and published it to the world. A Committee of the House of Lords had at the same time taken evidence, and published it ; and a Committee of the Privy Council had done the same. There was also another consideration; there had been no man of distlnCtion in that House thirty years ago ho had nor given his opinion on the subject; not only those men, who from their professions of great attachment to liberty might naturally be expected try denounce slavery, as Mr. Fox, Sir S. Roniilly, and Mr. Sheridan, but also those men who were opposite to them on every point but talent. Mr. Dundas, a wary and cautious statesmau, and who had never been considered an enthusiast ; Mr. Burke, who had never been suspected of being fond of change; Mr. Pitt, Mr. Grenville, and others, had again and again avowed their sentiments to the House; they had seen no danger from that avowal; and no danger, in point of fact, had attended it. But they had even gone still further; many of tlice gentlemen had prepared Bills, and one of them had brought forward a Bill in that House for the emancipation of negroes; and the im pression upon his mind was, that it would be unwor thily to betray a good cause, if he were now to be intimidated by extravagant apprehensions or un founded predictions, which had been constantly falsi fied by events. It was singular that no motion had ever been made on the subject of the Slave Trade, which bad not been met by exactiy the same predic tions. Na matter what the particular object of the motion had been, the predictions bad been the same, and expressed in nearly the same terms. In the year 1787, a feeble attempt had been made to abate the horrors of the middle passage, by admitting a little more air into the hold where the slaves were confined. Immediately the strne a.lar.o had been raised, and the ruin of the We.t Indies bad been foretold as the 'certain event of that measnre. hr the House Of Lords, indeed, a Noble Duke (the Duke of Chandos), after taking the liberty of telling their Lordships that he was better acquainted than most of them with the situation of the West Indies, had said that his pockets were filled with letters from his correspondents in the West Indies, stating that the negroes read the papers, and that as soon as they came to the para graph which should inform them that the House of Lords had taken the subject into consideration, they 'would break out into open rebellion. It did so hap pen, howeier, that no such consequence had followed • the adoption of that measure. It had not been long after that period when his Honourable Friend (Mr. 'Wilberforce) had commenced the career, of which it would be improper in him then to speak. His endea vours had been marked by three striking occurrences: 1: The - effect produced for the benefit of the Ne groes ; 2. The predictions which had been made of a consequent insurrection cf the Blacks; 8. The otter falsification which the event had given to those predic tions At that time the Slave Trade had been found so advantageous to this country, that we had become the carriers of other nations. His Honourable Friend had first introduced a Bill to check that practice. Im mediately the cry of an insurrection among the Blacks had been raised ; it had been re-echoed by seven West Indians in that blouse, but the measure had been car ried, and the anticipated evil had never taken place. In the year 1802, the Governor of Bar badoes had dis covered a series of shocking murders which had been perpetrated. in that island, the particulars of which he 'would not fatigue the House by detailing, but they had been as barbarous as any ever heard of in that . House. Some of the perpetrators had been detected, brought to trial, and convicted ; and the Governor had inflicted on them the highest punishment which, the law of Banbadoes had enabled them to inflict—a fine of El 1.45 , which was somewhat less than, ac cording to the law of England, was paid as a penalty for the unlawful killing of a partridge! (Hear, hear.) The Governor had afterwards applied to the Colonial Assembly for the repeal of the law, and for the enact ment of another, making the murder of a slave a ca pital offence. The answer had been the same that had been continually given here, viz. that air insur rection of the negroes would follow; and the Assem bly had consequently rejected the proposition, and inflicted, at the same time, the highest chastisement that they could upon the Governor, in an Address, telling him that they knew their own interests, and • that they did not require from him instructions how to act. The next prediction of the same kind had been made upon an occurrence to which his attention bad only been called within a few hours. A Com mittee of the House of Assembly in Jamaica had been appointed to consider the proceedings then pending in the British Parliament for the abolition of Slavery. The Report had first of all stated, that the cruelties alleged to have been practised on the Slaves had been so satisfactorily refuted, that they could make no im pression on any except ignorant n.inds; that the emancipation of the Slaves would be a dangerous crisis to the West Indies ; that under such eii cum would recollect, by the advance, however extrava gant it might appear. The Hon. Member, in explana mon of his views, read the letter which we here insert, He ftrefaced it by saying that it contained, in his opi• nioni one or two reasons which he con] t van. tageothly pass over in favour of his posni is was is I . OIIOWS : `:of slower/40a their object, he also rife ared that they sought easing- more than a slow avid gradual ex tinction. Nothing could prove more strongly the cautious measures which they wi,lred to pursue than the fact, that no map could say (for be professed him self unable) at what time slavery would be abolished. In point of fact they did not mean to ester minate or cut it down. It would subside, and die away, and altogether be forgotten. He would beg the I louse to look to the manner in which these principles had already operated. They mean to say that there should be no more Slave Trade, that no more chil dren should he made slaves. There was at this mo ment a certain number of slaves—the next year that -number would be somewhat reduced—tea years hence it would be considerably abated—in twenty or thirty years all the young negroes would he free, whilst those only would be sid”cs who were decliningl in age. livery succeeding year would diminish the number, till at length the Slave Tr at would go out and be forgotten. Ile wished also to shew to the house that this was not a theoretical speculation, but that the trial of it had already taken place. Many Gentlemen might not be awa:e that slavery had gone out of New York. Thirty years ago that State had. been a Negro State, and subject to all the convulsionF which slavery entailed. The principle for which tl:ey were now contending bad been then adopted, and by its operation, without any inconvenience La - disturb ance, the Slave Trade had gone out. It had done so in New Jersey, it had done so in Philadelphia, and in several, of - the United States. lie requested the 1-louse to obset., that this change had been gradual—with out any convulsion, without any insurrection ; and it any person here asked what effect the change had pro duced ? his answer would be, that there was no per son in the part of the world in which the change had been brought about who did not confess that it had not more benefited the blacks than it had con duced to the prosperity of the whites. There were, then, parts of the world in which this principle had been tried; nay, there were parts of the world in which the principle was at this very moment ope rating, and in which slavery was gradually going out. He would now put it to each Member, whether he knew in what part of the British dominions the prin ciple was now in full operation ? He had said that that operation was quiet ; his opponents had said that it would be noisy, and produce convulsions.. Let the dispute then be decided by the fact. He asked if any Hon. Member knew .where the principle was in full operation? for if it was unknown to them, or the greater part of them, then his statement was borne out that it was a quiet operation. The fact was, that the principle was now at work in the Island of Cey lon, and had been so for many years. It had been introduced by Sir Alexander Johnson, in 1816, and yet.no noisy consequence had followed. The same system had been tried - at Bencoolen, arid in other places, and was now at work in St. Helena. He thought that St. Helena was a favourable illustration of the operation of this principle. The public curio sity had . been drawn towards St. Helena; a great quantity of books had been published concerning it; every transaction of Sir Hudson Lowe's had been re lated at length ; every part, hoivever slight, every expression, however trivial, had been exposed ; even the opinions of the General as to whether the weather would be wet or dry, had been opened to the public; whilst the only fact which had passed so smoothly as to escape all observation was this, that Sir Hudson Lowe bad given the death-blow to slavery in St. He lena. By a fundamental law of the Republic of Co lombia, every child was born free, and a duty of three per cent. was imposed upon all personal property, such money to be exclusively employed in procuring the freedom of slaves—with this single reservation, that the industrious and peaceable are entitled to the speediest liberation. There was a country over run by an immense population of slaves, and he was instructed to say that the change was accom plished without the slightest inconvenience or danger. Now he wished to proceed upon this principle—he wished to cut off the supplies—to exhaust the sources of slavery ; and that was only to be accomplished by declaring that all children born of slaves should be declared free. He put it to the House, what earthly right had they to continue the slavery of these children? It was a crime to commit murder, even though a child was the victim—the robbery of a child was only less criminal; but the devotion of an infant upon the altar of slavery, at the very moment of its birth, was justified by law, and tolerated even in the present civilized condition of the world. Here they did not call upon them not to take the full be nefit and fruition of their former traffic ; they only said—Pause; stop where you now are, and let slavery end with the present generation. Of this he was sure, that when that awful day arrived which would make bare the guilty secrets of this world, the stains and enormities which would then bediVulged, connected with this black trade, would call aloud for punish ment upon the guilty—(Hea r, hear).—No nation had ever been so much engaged in that nefarious traffic as the British people, and their crimes were only to be blotted out by making usurious amends to those unhappy people, who still ate the bitter bread. of slavery. With regard to the being who was now in slavery, their object was to diminish his sufferings.— They were not disposed to say, that the slave of to-day should become the free man of to-morrow. But he took no praise for this moderate declaration. If be thought that a slave could at once burst his bonds and enjoy liberty, he for one would require his free dom. But it was the curse of slavery, that it ren dered a man not capable of suddenly enjoying liberty. There were persons whose notions of justice were so conOned, as to fancy the planter bad a property in the body of his slave. Here was a valuable commo dity in dispute. There were two contending parties. To whom did the article belong ? What was it ? The liberty of the black man. What was the black man's claim to it ?—He derived it from GOD-it was a gift no other than Himself could alienate from him ; it was his • birth-right. And what was the title of the white man to it ? His father bequeathed the slave who was stolen from the land of his nativity. If it were at all necessary, it would not Pe difficult to shew how these Islands (the West Indies) were peo pled with slaves. It was enough for him to know 'that the planter had no possible right over the slave. The planter had pet haps some right to remuneration for Ins tosses. Indeed that remuneration cold not fairly be denied to him by the Legislature. Let it be as liberal as necessary ; it was .good.cause ; and the liberty of millions of persons was procured, they - - " The subject divides itself into twrso—the condition cit thetz isting Sl.cer, and the condition of tbeir children. With regard to_the former, I wish the foams:tog improvements: "1. That the Slaves should be attached-to the island, and s under modifications, to the st 2. That they ce:;se to be chattels in the eye of the law. " That their testimony he received quantum valeta. " 4. That when any oneputs in his claim to the services of a Negro, the onus should rest on tit& claimant. " 5. That obstructions to manumi , sion should be rem ove d. G. That the provisions of the Spanish Law (being by co potent authority the value of the Slave, and allowing him to pur. chat., a dai, at a time) should he introduced. " 7. That no Governor, Judge, or Attorney-General,,shoul4 be a Slave-owner. " S. That an effectual proyision shall be made for the ttliglosio nstructi!):l of be Slave. • " 9. That marriage should be enforced and sanctioned. " 10. That the Sunday should be devoted by the Slave to re• pose and religious instrsn:tion ; and that other time should be al , lotted In; the ctO.tivztion of their provision grounds. " 11. That some (hut what I cannot say) measures should be ta?:en t ) restrain the authority of the master in puni.hing his untried Slave, awl that some substitute should be found for the driving system. " These are the proposed qualifications of the rusting slavery. But I am far more anxiously bent upon theminc!ion ef sl.xery altugeslier.. By rendering all the Negro children, born after a errs tain dry, free—for them it will be necessary to provide education. " Gots grant that his Majesty's Ministers may he disposed to accomplish these objecti, or to permit uthersito accomplish theta " Believe me, my dear Sir, yours very truly, " Spring-Garden Elute!, April 15, 1823. " I'. F. B." And now, said the Honourable Gentleman, having stated the object which we have in view, I must take the liberty to state, that the humanityfrriti.rinaennitt.e.iligtlir,i)sn,miefatisluerree we owe to the calls of humanity and j us ti ce; we owe it also to the dictates of the Christ be any truth in ill,. doctrine of' Do unto others as you xvisli others should do unto you.' We owe it to our re putation an the eyes mf Europe; we owe it too to the ;unanimous voice of the British nation; but above all, .we owe it to that unhappy African race whom we 'have so long and so cruelly oppressed. We owe them a long act of atonement for all the blood which was shed in the dreadful civil war which teas created by this odious system; for all the honors which these poor creatures endured when roused from their rest by the cruel man-hunters. We owe them some com pensation for having so long excluded them from all the privileges of human beings, for excluding instruc tion, and for excluding Christianity for more than two centuries. We owe them atonement for the tens of thousands of unfortunate creatures who fell victims to the midnight marauder s, for the tens of thousands who were smothered in.the dat k holds of British slave ships. For all these crneltieswe owe them a long and liberal compensation, and now that we had it in our power we were bound at least to sweeten their captivity.— We should afford them redress ; we have it in oar power to interpose between them and,the barbarity of their masters servants, the protection of a Jury.— We should introduce a free spirit amongst them, give the children a full and complete religious education, and strip them of every vestige of slavery. I shall now conclude with the last sentence in my letter to Lord Bathurst :—" GOD grant that his Majesty's Mi nisters may be disposed to accomplish these objects, or to permit others to accomplish them" He then concluded with moving the following Resolution: "•That the state of alavery is repugnant to the principles of the British Constitution, and of the Christian Religion, and that it ought to be abolished gradually throughout the British colonies, with as much expedition as may be found consistent with a due regard to the well-being of the parties concerned. On the Resolution being read by Elie SPEAKER, Mr. Secretary CANNING rose.—The appeal with which the H .n. Member concluded his speech, di rected as it was to his Majesty's Government, made him feel it to be his duty to address the House, for the purpose of stating, without reserve, the opinion entertained-by himself and the whole of the Govern ment with respect to that most important, andMie must say, notwithstanding the denial of the Hon.- Gentleman, that most fearful question.. He coo , fessed that he never approached any question upon which he felt more timidity not so much with re. spect to any practical conclusion to which he thought it expedient to come, as to the danger attendant upon a discussion in which a rash word or an ar• dent expression might raise a flame which coul4 only be extinguished in blood—(Hear, He meant not to deprecate a free and fair discussion; but he took the liberty, thus early in the debate, been a confliction of opinion produced its almost invaria ble attendant, warmth of expression, to caution Gar tlemen against colouring too. highly those pienttes which had been already sketched with no lightlutedi with no disposition to avoid effect, or to court* scurity—(Hear, bear).—What, he confidently asked, had the latter pant of the Honourable Geotlelsatrti sj.eech to do with the question ? Why was it neces sary to recur to the past delinquencies of this country, which, if ever delinquencies were to be atoned foro had long since been expiated ? Why should he have called the recollection of the House to the horrors and cruelties of former times, when those horrors have long since become only matter of history, nail those cruelties ceased to exist, except in the recollec tion of those who have witnessed in their own day the death of such cruelties? Why had he coupled this question with the abolition of the Slave Trade self? He did think that the Hon.. Gentleman bad entered too laboriously into topics no way connected with the question itself, to which it was bit (Mr • Canning's) intention, however, to confine himstife The Hon. Gentleman had stated, but surely he hid used it as a figure of eloquence rather than any 'sub stantial reason, that we owed the concessio n of Isis motion to the slaves, not as a measure of justice a had no of judgment, but as one of atonement. No w he hasad no hesitation in declaring, that that was not a cos tive to influence the conduct of Parliament. Se, l 7 merit and feeling might and must weigh with to° historian and the moralist, but there were other co! siderations, which no sound politician could prod 1 1 danesd h p how far fle e is e found e.lie laeolakregdeastlatvhee population oatfintnliewirh'ecs nis t In p dies, ma: Lively few whites, and the question was, ni to those slaves without endanger in g the property , eg ; portion of happiness could be com mu those who w ere our own iellow-subjects and citiseo se and he who recommended the ab ru p t measure. ' strongly enforced by the ain. Gentleman, inight d ! doubtedly pi-mince, with diligent preparati on, eta** quent speek.h„ but would probably fail in persuadiog