The Camden journal. [volume] (Camden, S.C.) 1836-1851, 1848-03-15
THE WEST INDIES AND THE SLAVE
TRADE,


jects:
Ministers will have to deal with a most per-
picking question very early in the coming sHs,
sion. anG that is the condition of the West In
dia Islan1sand the sugar planters. 1t seems
To be now almost universally admitted. except
ING by the orators of Exeter Hall, and they
have lately been comparatively y silcnt upon the
subject, that the condition ofthe African has
not been improved either by the f20.00O,00O
sterling which were expended in giving Tree
dom 10 the slaves in the British West Indies, or
by the f25, 100000 sterling which have been
already expended by France and England in
blockadine the coast of Africa, and in other
measures in prevention Of the slave trade-.to
say nohing of the expense which the United
States Government has incurred for the same
object. Recent returns from British Consuis
shaw. that there have been imported from iie
east and west coasts Of Africa, from 1914 to Ia.
AZ, into the colonies of different European ma
,tions no fewer than 667, ls9. The consular
returns do not of course include those who died
Id the prisons and barracoons on the coast
whilst waiting to be shipped, nor those who died
during the passage, nor those who were prob
ably su,nppled on shore in the West Indies.
Sir Fowell Buxton has calculated that the
mortality of the middle passage has increased
in consequence of the precautions taken to "a
void the blockading sqnadrons from nine to
twenty five per cent. This alone would raise
the number exported to above $4,000; and if
the oiher items he added the probability is that
the whole number brought to the coast TO be
soil into slavery will not be fewer than 100000
or 10000 annually. Parliamentary returns
- - ;,,f fba CT " =.
43, the number ofslaves emancipated by the
mixed commission was 57,539. or about $500
!, annually number scarcely equal to the loss
of British lives in our army and navy every
.yearson the perilous coast of Africa. Again;
Look al another scheme of the ''friends to Atfi.
cap--the settlement al Sierra Leone. Read
the statements relating to that colony as gwen
the "Quartery Review" for December, and
the accounts in the other Journals of the day OF
the intolerabe system of management existing
there, and sayif more misery, oppression, deg.
radiation, and moral dcpravty ever existed
in any other tropical colony in the worst days
Of history; and vet this colony at Sierra Leone
costs the English nation 100000 annually,
and has done so for nearly halfa century.
Take one other item in proof of the present
state Of the African slave trade: one hundred
anes three slave vessels were captured and
brought into Sierra Leone in little more than
the last. year; we have no return of the mum.
Der Of victims they contained. Another COM
;parison will force itself upon us. Read the &C.
counts of the American settlement at Liberia;
then look upon this pcnlre and upon that"
So much for The success of our exertions to a.
abolish the slave trade. Now, what is the true
cth with fo ho
;cipaten ofihe slaves in our West India Islands?
y..'Ehe principle was good,' says writer in
sBiackwood's Magazine" for April, lS47, 'but
.you were in too great hurry. Before giving
them freedom, you should have made them fit
.forit.- They were not impatient Some out
layot public money, and extreme care and pru:
,dcncc in your measures, would have enabled
YOU to secure their humane treatment in the IN.
teryai. Thirty or forty years and million OF
money would have done the business. The re.
suits would have hecn from first to last benef.
caI;to the colonies. 1t would have set an cS
amDie which other nations could have followed.
1t would have been noble return for having
Temporarily used the race as slaves. 1t would
have been an act of Enlightened philanthropy"
The "Quarter!y Review" recommends that
the Exeter Hall influence, which has, up to the
present day, pervaded the colonial counsels in
.Downing street, should cease, and that every
individual sheltered under the British flag, be
he white, brown, red, black. or copper coored,
should henceforward be permitted to lapse un.
der the protection of practical government and
common sense" Again the reviewer says:
I'VE are quite prepared 10 allow that The et-
forts ofthe friends of the African somewhat &C.
celerated the extinction OF slavery in the Brit.
ish dominions, and have since mainly tended to
raise The negro to his present enviable condi-
tionssBut that slavery would have been abol-
ished long ere this throughout our colonies,
without their Interference, we arc equally con-
lyinced; and we further believe, that had they
been less impatient and impractlcabe, or had
the Government of,hat day been less suscepti.
BILE to spressure from without most wanton
sacrifice of life and property might have been
spared. and far more permanently advantage.
Gus results in favor OF the negro and ofour colo
.nies might have been insured"
It. was most oppressive act towards the
West India planters that they should have been
prevented from introducing additional free la.
.borers by immigration, especially from Africa,
thus: giving the newly emancpated negroes
monopoly of labor. and subecting their late own
,rs TO. an etxortionate rate OF wages. Those
who are acquainted with the negro character
will be quite aware tha, the difficulty of getting
him 10 work snd keeping at work, will he in
creased Just in proportion to the wages he can
earn by working. Could the West India Ian.
ter prosper under such system ofthngs? And
will I: be believed that in the year lS46 "lwo
thousand recaptured negroes were appren'ced
to idIeness, want, and vice in Sierra Leone, and
but three have reached our West India colonies!