The Connecticut courant and Hartford weekly intelligencer — Hartford, Conn., 1774-09-12 00:00:00, page 1

H E following Address wasfirft begun in the Cofi
nefticut Journal ; but there having been much
publijhed in that Paper upon the Subject, it was judged
best for that and other Re aft ns, to transfer the Remain
der of it to the Connecticut Courant. It is hoped that
V-dle Americans are so zealousfor their own Liberty
they will not be altogether negligent. of the Liberty of
Others—While they are so jealous of any Infringement
of their own Rights, that they will not be altogether inat
tentive to the Rights of Others, and particularly to the
Rights of the unhappy Africans, in a State of Slavery
among us. Nothing is more common than for Men to
treat the Negroes, and to Jpeak of them in the mos con
temptuous Manner, as tho’ they did not belong to the fame
Species. But let us remember ,thatGodmade of oneßlood
all nations to dwell on all the Face of the Earth,
and being Men, they have the fame Rights of Men, as
the Rest of^us. Most men in these Days, profefs to be
Friends to Liberty. But to be a real Friend to Liberty
is, not meerly to be willing and defir otts of enjoying Li
berty ourselves ; it is to be willing thatOthers,that all Man
kind Jhouldenjoy it. A Son of Liberty is a CharaAtr of
which many Mett are fond,and even boast of it in the loudest
Tsrms. But to be a true Son of Liberty is to hate Slavery
in every Form, at well when it is beneficial to us, as
when it is detrimental He is but a poor Friend to
’Juftice, who willpractice Justice indeed, when it is
for his Inter est, but .will not pradice it when it is a
gainst his Interest. So he is blit a bast ard Son of Liber
ty, who will have Liberty hims f, but at the fame
^istse will-not fifir others to eitjoy it with him. Theft
Hints I thought proper to premise to the following Address,
which, as it relates to a very important ftueftion, a
fueftion concerning Liberty and Slavery, Justice and In
justice, Sin and Duty, it is hoped the Reader will not
peruse without some Attention.
An ADDRESS to Americans upon Slave-Keeping.
SEEING in the public papers that others have
written upon this fubjeft, and some, as I ap
prehend, with very considerable ingenuity;
and being unwilling that the public fliould be
cloy’d with having too much upon one subject ; I
have the more willingly yielded to any other avoca
tions, and omitted the continuation of my address.
But finding that others have not very much touch
ed upon the arguments I mean mainly to infill up
on ; I would beg the candid attention of the pub
lic to a few more thoughts on this interelling sub -
jest.—l hope it will be remembered that I endea
voured to shew in my former addrefles upon flave
keeping, that thbfe Haves who were born in this
country ace, by virtue of their humanity, entitled
to freedom ; as they have never been under a ca
pacity to lose it, and are therefore unjustly kept
in a state of slavery. Thatof those imported from
Africa, we have all the reafori to believe not one
in forty are justly 'deprived of their liberty ; and that
it is incumbent on the slave-holder to prove that
each particular Have he forcibly keeps in a state of
slavery, has actually forfeited his liberty, before he
can with a good confidence keep him in that state.
Thus I have endeavoured to prove that flave
keeping is wrong (except in such instances where
the flavc-holder can prove, that the person or per
sons he detains in slavery, has actually forfeited his
or their liberty) from the natural rights of man
kind, without having recourse to the manner in
which the Have-trade is carried on. This I pro
mised to confider in my next address, which I shall
now attempt. If it can be made to appear, from
the manner in which the Have trade is carried on
from the coasts of Africa, that it is a very criminal
and wicked trade ; then certainly it mult be very
wrong for any person to encourage that trade, by
buying and keeping Haves; for there is always
a degree of criminality in aiding and encouraging a
wrong thing. I know in most cases, ’tis not con
clu'five to argue from the manner in which a thing
is conduced, against the thing in general : But where
the manner is inseparably connected with the afli
on, or univerfaiiy attends it; then ’tis conclusive
MONDAT,Smmn KI i^ ; THE [NUMBER 507.]
CONNECTICUT y C O U R A N T 3
A N D I t HART F ° R D
WEE K L Y INTELLIGENCE IL
Containing the both"FOREiGN aniDbMESTIC.
Open to all PARTIES not under the influence of ANY;
arguing from the criminality of the manner, to the
criminality cf the a&ion o' practice in general. Now
I trull it may be made to appear, thkt the manner
in which this trade is uni verfilly carried on is cri -
minal ; and that circumstances are such, that, if
the trade is prosecuted, it can’t in reason be ex
pected to be otherwise. And,
First. The very beginning of this trade in Afriqz',
is very wicked and wrong. I truftl Eave made it
fufficiendy maniieft by the quotations I have here
tofore published from authors, who luve been ei
ther concerned in; or intimately knowing to the
trade ; that great number.! of the Africans brought
into America, and here enslaved, are flolen away
from their friends and relations, either by the Eu
ropeans, or by their wicked neighbours. That
others are taken in wars, or rather piratical excursi
ons for the foie purpose of obtaining slaves ; which
is no better than jtealinj. Others condemned to
slavery by their princes sos the smallest crimes -
Others without the pretence of a crime, seized and
fold by their arbitrary kings, merely for the fake
of gain; Now I will pfelume the-e are none of
my countrymen so 16ft to all sense of virtue and
humanity, as to pretend that such praftifes arejuf
tifiable ; or that there is not great guilt some
where, when persons are enslaved in this manner.
But the reply, lam sensible, will be “ they must
bear the blame, who are the perpetrators of these
crimes, which ire the‘*.4. grots themselves, not the'
Europeans." Butdsitn wrong to excite and en
courage others to do wrong, and when we are fare
that a trade doth prove Shsdirebl means of exciting
others to wickedness, can we lawfully continue that
trade ? What I have already published, Ihews that
the Europeans not only persuade and excite them to
make war upon each other ; but have in some in
stances hired them to do it by large sums of money.
And ’tis easy to fee that if the Europeans or Americans
will purchase slaves gotten in the ways above-men
tioned, it will excite and encourage persons to the
commission of those crimes : for such is the corruption
of human nature, that'a profpe€l of gain with im
punity, will, in every country, excite many to the
commission of the most enormous crimes ; the high
duties paid to the Negro princes upon all slaves ex
ported from their dominions, makes them wink at
mari-ftealing among their fubjefls, as it fills their
coffers with money : so that it can be pra&ifed ge
nerally with impunity ; and the profpeft of gain
which this trade affords (such thirst for gain is in the
human breast) will keep their petty states in perpe
tual wars, without the least just foundation.—This
will excite their despotic princes, for every trivial
crime, to condemn their fubjefts to' perpetual slave
ry. And these criminal methods of enslaving are
so eflentially connected with the trade, that were
they to cease, the trade must aimoil wholly cease ;
for without these methods; the market could not be
supplied with a tenth part of the slaves that now are
brought to it.---Now, what a shocking trade must
that be, which depends almost wholly for its support
on such wickedness as this. And when experience
thews us that these crimes are corinefied with this
trade-—and rfiafon teaches it is no more (considering
the corruption of human nature) than what may be
expedled; it certainly must be wrong to continue
the trade, unless it be right to excite and encourage
persons to the most villainous aftions ; and if the
trade to Africa cannot, for this reason, be juftified,
neither can the buying a Have ; since that encourages
and upholds this wicked trade. Was civil govern
ment so weak among us, that we could steal and fell
one another kwftaves with impunity —and one Towii
make incursions upon another, and carry off cap
tives, without any superior power to controul them,
—ls it to be imagined there are not those among tis
wicked enough to perpetrate these crimes, if they
could have a good vend for their captives to some
distant land ? And were we to make the case our
own, fliould we not think, the nation that purchas
ed these captives, knowing the manner how taken
^nd enslaved, Were fliarers with this lawless banditti
in their awful guilt ? And if it would be criminal to
carry on such a trade with regard to us, why not with
regard to the inhabitants of Africa ? Why have not
they as good a right to justice and equity as other
nations ?
Again, secondly, The manner in which the slaves
are treated afterwards, till they are fold in America,
and the confoquences that follow from it, are shock
ing to the last degree. T hose purchased in the in
land countries sc are drove down to markpt tied
together by the neck with leather thongs, 30 or 40
in a firing, with a load of corn or elephants teeth on
their heads :’* * and when brought to the sea-coasts,
qxamined naked, without any regard to fox or age,
by the Englifli surgeons and factors, so as even to
shock the modesty of the Negroes themselves, not
withilanding all the barbarity iff which they are e
ducated ; those, which are approved, are commonly
branded on the breast with ahotdron, with the arms
dr name of the company ; then while they continue
on fliore, they are allowed two pence per day for
• maintenance ; which (as my author bbferves) just
serves to subsist them like criminals on bread and wa
ter ; and this is foexpenfive that they put them on
board as soon as possible to save charges : f Good
• C^gH what must their living on board be, when it
cofK«*their mailers less than two pence per day ?
Next they are put naked on board, without any re
gard to modesty,. age, or sex ;• unless the-mailer
more cqmpaffionate than the generality, affor cis'them
fomtsthing just to ctfver their nakedness : then flow
ed as close as they can possibly be crowded, some
times sor 600 in one hold the men, as though
the worst of criminals, shackled with irons tn®
filth and stench of the hold commonly breeds disea
ses among them, that very often carry off a quar
ter or more of the cargo, before they arrive to Ame
rica. After they are landed in the Weft-Iridia i
slands and southern provinces, where most of the
Negroes are carried, ’tis computed full one fourth
die in what they call feafoning'. Of ioo;ooo slaves
that have been yearly exported from Africa to Bri
tiih America, ’tis thought a moderate computation
to allow 30,000 to die in the voyage, and in getting
inured to a new country.J Now what humane foul
can view these circumstances of the trade without
horror ! our fellow men led bridled like horses to
market :— branded like beasts :—fo treated as to
prove the death of near one third at least. What a
shocking trade must that be, which so puts bff all
feelings of humanity, and murdefs so many thou
sands of our fellow creatures ? Surely the thought
is shocking, and every humane breast must recoil at
the tho’ts of contributing any thing to encourage
such a detestable trade. Must not these 30,000
be deemed victims facrificed at the ffirine of Mam
mon ? And will not the blood of these poor unhap
py creatures, murdered every year in the prosecuti
on of this wicked and barbarous trade, call aloud to
heaven for vengeance on the British nation ? It cannot
be laid that these are extraneous things, not essen
tial to the trade ; owing to the cruelty of particular
matters ; for these are things that universally attend
the trade. And are there no humane persons that
have been concerned therein ? And it is easy to fde
that most of this treatment is neceflary for their own
focurity and indemnification, if they will carry on.
the trade ; if they did riot keep them at foch short
allowance, and so rnany in one vessel the trade
would never quit their cost. If they did not keen
thein secured with chains ; such is their love of li
berty and fondnefs for their native land ; they would
rife agairilt those, Who were carrying them to per
petual slavery : and many times mailers of vcliels
upon attempts of this kind, use the moll barbarous
punishments inftifted even to death by their despotic
mandate^ ; to which they are in some meafore ne
cessitated for their own preservation, to deter others
* Moor P. zS. quoted by A. Bene^et, P. 1
-J- Benczet from Bojman, P, 113. u 6.«
I See Benczef P. 130.