[7] If any thing could add to the horror which the shocking barbarity of Nowell must excite, it is the doubt existing, “after many inquiries”—existing too in the minds of the Advocate and Attorney General—as to whether this poor creature was alive or dead. Were there no means of forcing Nowell to produce her? Could no inquest have been instituted? Dreadful state of things!
[8] Had the Attorney General then no means of ascertaining whether the woman was alive or dead?
[9] Papers, &c. page 43, 44.
[10] The 7th clause enacts, that “in order to secure, as far as possible, the good treatment of the Slaves, and to ascertain the cause of the decrease of the Slaves, every owner, overseer, &c. shall, in the month of January every year, deliver in on oath a certificate of the increase or decrease of the Slaves under his direction, how many have been born, or how many have died, within twelve months previous thereto, and the cause of the death of such Slaves; which certificate shall be lodged in the Secretary’s office of this island; for the filing of which the Secretary shall be allowed a fee of ninepence: and if any owner, &c. shall fail to deliver in such certificate on oath at the time appointed, he shall be fined in the sum of fifty pounds.” The 8th clause enacts, that Slaves, convicted of murder, highway robbery, or burglary, shall suffer death.
[11] These clauses run thus: “Whereas a knowledge of the doctrines, and a due attention to the exercise of the duties of the Christian religion, would tend to improve the morals, and to advance the temporal and eternal happiness of the Slaves, it is enacted, that all owners, overseers, &c. shall, on every Sunday on their several plantations, convene together the Slaves for the purpose of performing divine worship, and shall not fail to exhort all unbaptized Slaves to receive the holy sacrament of baptism; and all the unbaptized children of Slaves shall receive the said sacrament: and on neglect of these duties the owners, &c. shall be fined in not less than 10l. nor more than 25l. And all owners, &c. shall encourage and exhort all Slaves, arrived at years of maturity, and desirous of entering into a connubial state, to receive the ceremony of Christian marriage, and in neglect of doing so shall be subject to a fine 5l.”
[13] This representation, it may be presumed, is fairly applicable to all the West Indian Legislatures: indeed it would be unjust to them to suppose, that they were less politic and provident than the Legislature of Dominica. The charge involved in it, however, is certainly far from being light or trivial, especially as it is made by one who is a thorough master of the subject on which he writes, “having passed many years in the West Indies, and having been resident in most of the Colonies.” P. [34]. The charge amounts to this: that the individuals composing the legislatures of the Islands, and who we may suppose to be the most honourable part of the community, have entered into a combination to deceive the British Parliament and the British public; that they have prostituted the solemn legislative functions with which they were invested, to the promotion of this dishonourable purpose; and that, with the pretended view of promoting the protection, security, and comfort of the Negroes, they have framed a set of laws, the real object of which is not to benefit the Negroes, but to prevent the mother-country from interfering to mitigate the cruel oppression under which they groan. The reader must form his own judgment of persons capable of such conduct.
[14] If the reader will have the goodness to refer back to p. [19], he will see with what parade this very clause is introduced into the Act. It was framed expressly “to secure, as far as possible, the good treatment of the Slaves;” and yet it appears from the first to have been regarded in the island as an absolute nullity. “It has been wholly neglected.” Not one certificate has been filed in consequence of it, nor has one penalty been enforced for the neglect. How different this from the fate of the eighth clause, denouncing the punishment of death on Negro Slaves guilty of certain crimes! This clause, we are told, has not been allowed to SLEEP! Here we have a lively picture of the nature of West Indian legislation. When laws are directed against the Negro Slave, they operate with certainty and permanent effect. When enacted in his favour, they prove dormant from the moment of their birth.
[15] The act requires owners, &c. to exhort their Slaves to marry. Mr. Audain says, that their owners do NOT exhort them to it.
[16] The Slaves, it is affirmed, will confound abolition with emancipation. But what proof is there of this? Have they done so in Virginia? The Slave trade has been abolished in that state for near thirty years. Has any such misconception, as is now anticipated, taken place among the Virginian Slaves? Certainly not. Experience therefore is against the reasoning of the West Indian body.