The West Indian Controver...
The Times, 1824-01-23T00:00:00

* TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMIES. Sir,~-If the subject of Parliament interference with the initernai regtilations of the colonies is considered as a question of exediency,. the objections-to it are equally cogent . Tue imrp.racticanbility of le.. gislating for a country at a distance of 3,0OO satles, arlPttwhere the, state of society is so different fromi outrown-tha errors.to which our Ministers mnust. be constantly liable forvwant o oalikno_1MwJtdge.--~ the danger of their bieing inisled by false or interMsed represenlta- tin-tedfficulty the cofonis,ts would -findi in explaiigterra siituiation, in fising the attention-of Ministers on objects sio-remotc, and procuring redress against the opprssionof intlividuas po~es-.itiK- great. intfreit, and beling teiutlaeproteg6s' of tevr men in power to whom the c-omplaints against tliitii amust be ud-- dressed ;-these, and innumerable otlher objections to transferrsnj~-: the legislative authority from the Colonial Oovermmenut- to the IMO ttiter Country, immnediately crowd upon the mind _-but for thelsalcoef. brevity, instead of enlarging uponi themn, I shall coxitert i.yself withf quotng hc sntientsof ther, wichare entitled to greater weight' than ny oinion of y own Thelate Dr. Franklfiti his- left- thefolowig ccont f coveratin haipasedbetwireliltheOeatr Lor Chthai ad imslf n tisver pont:"Itook cOeasson,` says he Dctor" toremar to im, hat n fo merses, ,1etemh- pire hai crmble fist a thir etreities, frorm-this csua O tr,inZ1 countrie remote from the sea and eye of government.,'whichi,'tltei- fore, could not well underst an their affairs, for irani bf fuill nadX true information, liad never been well gdyerned, but hit bean op.- pressed with biad Governors-, on the - itesumpstion tthat cormplaint. was dillicilit tobe made aad-supportcd-a"ainst them at such a dis-. tauice. Henice, such Governors hsad b~ea enoirageA to - go on1, till' their oppression became hinsuiportdible. 'Btitihbat this empire had haPPfIy found, and long b-een-in the ptractice of, a~ thethod, by Whicb. ever povince. was well gover-ned, being tristed, in a,grect mieasure, wiAthter government of itself; andfItht hen-e bad arisen such teds- facti.on in the subijects, and such encourageuienitf to new, set- tletnenes, tlint had it not- beeni for the late wrong polities, (which wvoutld have Parliamient toI ' be oamnh.terat, though i outgbt not to be so, u 'nless it could be at the same tine, -omni;., cen.,we milght have gone on extending, onr, esem Emie adding province to prai'ince, as far as the SOUit SeaC ~L hca elied, " that the idea-wvas ai;otinud one, worthyof a geat, enevolen- adcomlrprehensive,tiiiild." 7ank- Iin' Memirs,vol.I, . 225. Al r.- Broughain, in hiis able 1,tit colniapolcy,say,"To revise the domeistic codes of-the- col paes, woud b a ~sl whchno Europeain Government couild- sunderta'ke, for wanit of information and for want of time. Any parliiim, St. council, or senate, whlich'shocddl begin such a worlki would fiad'.it tnec-essary to give uip legislating for the mother country, partly tip, niar anid party To neglect thte legislation of the colonies."-Brottgt-. atm's C'olonhidi Policy, vol.- 2, a. 504. Thle truth and force of tfie,o sentimenits are established. by, thoc want of local intformatio,ninanifestitJ itn the recentprocec-diitks 6f big MAajesty's Ministerns, founded on tile sliscussion thai-took piltice'-it Ithle House Of C-ommons. Amoang other! ,easuroa ;ecOmsen(el the W1est Indian Legistature-s for innnlediate,ZdoptiGon, -v~r abolition of the pu1nishnient of the Nyhip, as a 'splicobie tow and the allow.ance of one day in every w~e`k to tUe ~'Cgroes, fr the cultivation of- their, provisiotf.gronnds. The necessi6 Of inodif'tng` l thefirst ofo totse regulptiolns is stronigly proved in ,, lZ1Iowing- ob- servations of Mfr. rHamdeu, a inember of the Council.of t trbadocs The puntishmenit of flogging is to be totally interdictedins.'~ao wbere Ele offnder is a w6miian. NOW, Sir,atog h dlogging a wonian mtay shockc our njotions ofglatyIbeiv 'h sound reason of the thing consists in thissta iciiain l rcgard to punishments should rest on a real difrerence of chtarac- ter and conduct, as to softness of manners and sensibilitv of: miind; andl accordingly Nye find, not only in savage life, vwhefi_- there -appears to be scarcely anly nattiral differcn~e of characo. ter between thec sexes, hut even in the imost -civilized socie.. ties, that whienever the gentler sex have, by,depravity or -vulga.. rily, forf'eited their claihn to distinction, thiey .are treated with ar, inuch iharshniess uts the taet.. And I doubt whether a milder ilisci- pline wvould be necessamy fot thie puissassles of* Paris,.or the fttries of Billing.sgate, thani for thieir hardy spouses. Are not wobaen flogged, in houses of correction in Enigland ? And - what dLqisciiination isn there in the punishimenit of men and womuen for crimes -? -Let it- liere be reenierbered, that crirre,-ay, crimes of a veryserious at.. ture, are often tire objects of domestic punishment aaitrig'os': -. and - that slaves, in this, couintry receive moderate floggiug-s tin' ofiencew whtich in Enigland wouldI be punishied withi' deathi, wlhether sre, o%fnder were m-ani or woman. In poiint of fact., feeliutgs-of tenidd.. ne&ss towards femabrs, which, if they be not natural, the refinemeatsp of educ-ationi and hiabit Ihave m2tdu, almost as strong as1 if theY WLY& so, do operate powverfully in mitigating-the punishmients of femalav.. , Iene it is, that even I, who have failedt to give thle niost tuneqtiis-& CIL] proof of tenderness for thie sex," can say, that 1. have never- ordered a womian to be floggedI sinae I have assumedl the marnage., moent of my estate. Buit of- this I am certain, that did, the womenc on my plantatlioni douibt that I liad power to flog thiem, Ishonld-be provoked to it in a very few lioitre. Unfortunately, our blaclk ladies have rather a tendency to the Atnazonian cast of cbaracter; and I believe that their hiusbands wvould be very sorry to hear chaLt-they were placed beyond the reachi of chastisement. In 'tle eise'Of one' wontian on iay plantation, who hiad a inore than ordiniary fonldness for pjugilistic exercises, I made her put orn a sutit of bet broth,er', clothes, thiat the habit moight seem mnore becominig the-sex. fftkladU a ood effect. Howevr tortrn h onily punishment fo fleces of' r~imigitude, that alts be substituted for flogging, ia- confinie. ianeii ;- and this is a miode of- punirliment for wenaca not without serious objections, on the score of humianity. Most-women, at the age when thiey are en!ared in the actiwelabcours of the field, have Young families ; and as te miothers cannot be confinled beyond a day or two without injury to the chLildIren, every hiumane nman avoies this as muchi as poqsible. And besides,, must it not occur to every mian, that to prohibit the flogging of women absolutely, antI statler all circuinstanees, would htave time eflect of covering t'he men also withi iiiipminity, ? Ate your buildings broken open-your fields plundered ? Of course it has, been done by a womnan. "What bas she to fear?' would be the hiusband'-s arguuiesnt.- And, after all, thiere cani be little dloubt thiat, in a mocral point 'of v-iew, there are mluch more serious objections to the prison discipline of England than to the very modierate corporal punishments which are hmflictej Oil wivnen hi this country." The same gentleman proves that re- gulations applicable to somie colonies are wbblly inapplicable to others-.u distinction wlichb neithter Parliament - nor his aet' 1Alintisters appear to be aware o1'. 1 have saidl that'arraugernents wvhich may be adopted without much incomivenTience in sonmecoloni'es, wvould lead to disastrous consequenmdes-in others; and in illustrating this remark, I shall be able to point out'the in.justice which mtist result fromn this Procrustian system of legislationi, which, without any regard to peculiarities of physical.or moral condition, by whiich different countries are discriminated, would preseribe, the same standardi for all. ln some of the more favoured islands arouind us, as, for example, in Trinidad, St. Vlincent, St. Lucia, Tobago, and, I believe, in the colonies.on the southern continent, where the soil is "tore fertile than oursi and whiere there is a miore xegular- anid constant succession of rain, the labour of a man for one day ii, endsl week, is found sufficient to provide sulislatesice foir himrself; and (I believe) for his family, it ha-s hitherto beeni the custora to aillow the slaves a day in the wveek, for tie pu'posoe of cuiltivating - spots of landt whiclh are allotted to them for their snpport; andl the masster has no turthler concern about tfeeding them. In such countries, five days of the week vet remain to be applied to the cultivation of the staple. crop of the 'plaistation. in this isl-and, where our soil has become so Steril as to require constant m-anuting, and where the drouights are sometimes so protracted that vegetation is occasionally at astand for mronths, itis louind nece-sar' tmaehemising of -a stiflicient crop of provisions apiary object of plantatioin economy: and the same causes which=fri the masiter to truist to the sponateosus in- dutstry of the slave, and the cincertaits returits of constantlY varying seCaSOnS, compel him to bestow an infinitely larger portion of labour on the cultivation of provisions than is found necessary in those favoured islands. I liave inquired among a ra uber of 'the most experiencedI planters, wh-iat is the quota of the labour of an estate devoted so this obiect; and not one hias placed it below a dual; somne hiave stated it at onie-half. I believe we may take the amdim, amid fix it at two.fiftlhs. Thte poverty, also, of our-soil, ren- ders thle labouir whichi remains to be applied to the cultivation of the stale crop, less pr-oductive than elsewhiere. And, as hi the islanids abov alluded to, the slaves are themselIves farmes, and dependup otmesuccess of their farmin, so are they necessarl rdes n dependent on their success in Ite miarkets. With us, every neces- sary which time slave can require is. proivided by the master ;- and is to be found in the stores of the plantation. The goods which they have to take to market aLre comparatively insignificant : nor are the stipplies which thiey procure from thence, less so. The polr wihtey mnay raise with the superflutity of their-allowance, oIr the surplu.s' of allowanice in kind, -which can never be considerable, ,Ire the only Objects of honest traflic which they have. As to more valuable articles of'property, it is, y-ou know, itsual for the silave tto ask fur a dais' in tIme wveek s~ben'he wishes-to sell .his pig or his goat; and no tespectable owner or over.seer, Ibelieve, ever'etiase.s it. You aliLkuow, gentlemeen, that not one-fourth nf the adult population ot' vouir estateis visits the town oni ihe- pirciFantc iarket--day, Sundtay. Nevertheless, as thie slaves have beeni accustomed tothe privilege 'of' cominiig to towni on that day, if thev wished it, or of going any where else that inclination or busuness ma)' direct them, we mnust grant somne allowance of' time, as a compensation for the privation which is im- ple nte abolition otf Sunday, markets. This muse be the sub- oet0 ucre arranigemienit. An infinitely smeller concession thet Lord Baft-hur.at proposes will be stitfilcient to saif hesae ouii counit of cthe iinnovation ; whitle it would afford themi abiwane mean ofnegtiaing hei vey crcmscribed market transactions. A jdicoct seecionof ne r mremembers from eachi family, chagin th pesois, o a togiv toeac slvea holyday in -turn, will peraps accmplih al cIes i reuird Bath Mr.Buxtn ail M. Wibertrcedeclaim tiost bitterly against the colonial legisilatures for-not attaching the Negroes t6 the sal; and Mr. Buxton says-" 1 have aevor beard that there is one single planitation in the IVast lIncies so barren, that provi- sions will iiot growv upon it -sufficient for- the mnaintenanc-e of. the slaves belonging to it."-Dcbate ot -ill'. B,rxion's Moationt, p. 94. He wtill ,fid better information oni this point than he is now possessed of in the following passages of the letter before referred to, of the C)on,rnittee oe' Corre-pondenice of the Bahatma Islands. To attachi a gang of Negroes to any one: plarui6tion in the Bahamas, wouild be to condemn them to famGine ina ver few yeas; for the sail is of so light a textcsre, and of suchlittlI del pthT,T)iat when de. h'rived of the. protection and shande of the woods, atid -broughit inito cultivation, thie land is roor, reduced to a intre rock-y barren." i W1N,ith respect to the subject of attaching Negroes to the stoil, we rangeiment in fact, evinces either wantonness 'and treachery on the one hand, or, on the other, a decidelignorwnce, not only of the na. ture and capabilities of thecountry, but of the disoosition and habits of our Negroes. Antl even could such a plan be carried into effect, we are puzzled to understand hiowit would tend to the mitigation of slavery, either in point of factor feeling. To confine a certain num. ber of hurnan beings within a gieen space of ground, tbere, with their posterity, to vegetate and rot like weeds,-to convert them into a sort of heir-loom or mere chattel, attached to the freehold, in our viewv of the suibject, is certainly one of the strangest exVedients imaginable, either for tliephysical amelioration of the condition, or moral elevation, of the slave. Mr. Wilberforce, indeed, rebukes us severely witli considering our Negroes, not as persons, ' but -mere, chattels,' amid yet would himself, when it suits the purposes of en argumemit, reduce them to the condition, of chattels cf the mearest kind. The persevering anxiety of the abolutionists for this one scheme in particitlar, haslong canrried with it, to our miutds,xvat the abolitionists, indeed, now cease to disevow,-that their grand object.- alhtvavs was, as it nowv is, the totatl annihilation of all slave property in the West Indies; and their principal difficulty at tdis time is, howv that object is to be effected as expeditiously and economicaly as possible. Attachi our Negroes to the soil in tite Bahamas, and both the Negroes and the soilwillsoonbeicheap- enough for the purpose, so far at least as-worthlessness may.affm their value." - These ipstances of vwant of local knowledge are sufflcient to shoW t'te lnCotetenceol t- am ,flve1 Vttt.E sssteto Mr. Wilberforce and hia friends, to undertake the task Of lRgiirta-nfor the WVI"est India colonies. Deeply as these gentlInen *p-ofess to inr tereSt themselves in the conditson of the slaves, it is'somewhat' ssir. PVrsing that they should never have made it the subject of personsl obscrvation and inspection and the Committee of Correspondence of the Bahamas nake the following forcible remarks on their apathy lt this resPect :-" Wllien hlr. toward, the first pbilanthropist of his day, undertook the reformation of abuse.s in the public prisons, he did not sit at his ease in his study, building theories and suggestX ing plans upon the communications 01' bridewell.governors, gaolers, 'Or turnkeys, or those of any pitiful gaol-birds that might escape orn their ca,ge to carry tales to his private ear. He travelled every tthere to the prisons himself: at the risk of health and lite, at tbe 'terious sacrifice of personal comfort, he entered them, examinedl 'them througbout, collected a valuiable masu of inform ation on tlte spOt, ana did more than any mnua that ever lived towards the ame. -Oration of the condition of those unhappy sufferers, whose impri. ednte or whose crimes eondemned them to incarceration. Bitt that sof philanthropy is now getting entirely out of fasbion. Our mo. 'ern reformners overlooking some hnndred of abuses, abso. :lutely ?tiflltirg udler thieir nostrils, choose for the theatre of their philanthropy some country as far as possible beyond thfe range Of thietr own physical observation. As proplet, inferior even to Mahomet, thev will not go to the mountain, thotiuh the inObttin cannot comne tothera. All their information they ob. z not by inspir;tinn}, ertainlly hy means eqiially mysterious >4 'tnarutaf,le. And, thus informed, or inspired, they calmly in. '~ta4~e to lerislatc for countries which they never saw but wiih the eyes af others, whavhm they are for the most part ashamed to name; iid to correct ahuses that exist only in the calumnies of those who either have a soreid interest, or take a mischi6vous delight in misre- *setaing the actuala state of the colonies." The WVest India Legislatures, while they a pear,anxious to pro. 7note the ameloration of the condition of the slaves, are at the same 'tine jealous of the interference of any third power between them and theier mastets; and particullarly so of that party,who, since the failute -f their attempt toarry theRegistry Bill through the House of (romnmonsX have unceasingly cadeatvoulred to inflame Parliament ara the Fublic'+ith the bclirf that the colonill legislatures are so de- prayed 2nd so perverse, that their authority ought to be taken, Out of theic hands. After all the abuse that has been lavished upon them with so snouch industry and so little merey, no case has been made out against themti: but, on the contrar4,one of tLereports of the African Institition has been pronounced by the verdict of a jtury of their Own- countrymen to be a libel,; ind it must be adraited that the local kntowledge of the colonial legislatures rendc!rs them the best, antl indeed the only tudges, how the great r'd3eet in view can be ac- complished, either with advantage to tlle Ilaves themuselves, or with szaety to their masters: their intel',igence and discrimination will succeed, where the ignorance an' precipitaucy of br. Ntilberforce and his friends wouild t&il a,d. the question of right, as well as of expediency, is decidedly i.. their faVour. , :ather very impoortant objection to Parliamentary interference 1 internal rew4lations of the colonies, and the hLst which I '81vi er on tht"subj'ect, is, that any measures for the amelioration of-the stite ,the slaves pa ssed bv the local legislatures, would ap- pear to on,;ate in the spontaneous good wil l of their masters, of whom t hose hodiesarecomposed, and consequently excitesentiments obf grm'.djud and attachsnentpia.wrds thenm in the minds of the slaves; but if such measures are yassed at home, they appear to be forced 'ulpon the masters in oppYjsition to their wishes, and excite very dif- ferent feelings in the '.tinds of the slaves: they teach them to con- sider their masters -as their oppressors, and, as fatal experience has thown, stimulate'thlen, to insurrection. I am. Sir. vour most obehint cpr,-ne A WVEST INDIAN PROPRIETOR. I 'C WEsT IN1fltAA' olvOpRopEF . T.V.q-vRR, Y-TI.