In the last Session of Parliament a variety of papers respecting the Slave Trade was laid on the table of the House of Commons, and among them, the following extract of a letter from Lord Seaforth, the Governor of Barbadoes, to Lord Hobart, dated at Barbadoes, the 18th March 1802, viz. “Your Lordship will observe in the last days proceedings of the Assembly, that the majority of the House had taken considerable offence at a message of mine, recommending an act to be passed to make the murder of a Slave felony. At present the fine for the crime is only fifteen pounds currency, or ELEVEN POUNDS FOUR SHILLINGS STERLING.”
It was difficult to conceive a stronger proof of the deplorably unprotected condition of the Negro Slaves in Barbadoes, the oldest and most civilized of our slave colonies, than is furnished by the above official document. In a community where even the life of a Negro slave is estimated at the cheap rate of eleven pounds four shillings sterling, and where a proposition to raise its legal value to a price which may be less revolting to European feelings is resented as an affront by a grave legislative assembly; it would argue an utter ignorance of the nature of man, and of the principles by which his conduct is usually guided, to expect that the general treatment of Negro slaves should be humane and lenient. But we are not at present reduced to the necessity of inferring, by the aid of disputable analogies, the practical nature of the existing slavery, from the state of the laws respecting it. What might, last year, have been considered by some as matter of presumption merely, of presumption, however, sufficiently strong to remove all doubt from unprejudiced minds, is now matter of fact. We have now the practice of slavery so graphically described, in some further documents of unquestionable authority, as to supersede the necessity of reasoning, and to silence the most determined stickler for West Indian humanity.
On the 25th of February 1805, a number of additional papers respecting the Slave Trade was presented to the House of Commons by His Majesty. To these papers it is the purpose of this pamphlet to call the attention of the public, as exhibiting a picture of Negro bondage, with which every individual in the kingdom ought to be made fully acquainted, who has a heart to feel for the miseries of his fellow-creatures, or a voice to raise against that detestable traffic which is the main prop of colonial despotism.
The first thing which occurs in these papers particularly deserving of notice is a continuation of the correspondence between Lord Seaforth and the Secretary of State. The following is a transcript of it, with the addition of a few notes intended to illustrate the text:
“Extract of a Letter from Lord Seaforth to the Earl Camden, dated Barbadoes, 13th November 1804.
“I also enclose four papers, numbered from number 1 to 4, containing, from different quarters, reports on the horrid murders I mentioned in some former letters; they are selected from a great number, among which there is not one in contradiction of the horrible facts, though several of the letters are very concise and defective: the truth is, that nothing has given me more trouble to get to the bottom of than these businesses, so horridly absurd are the prejudices of the people[1]; however, a great part of my object is answered, by the alarm my interference has excited, and the attention it has called to the business; bills are already proposed to make murder felony in both the Council and the Assembly; but I fear they will be thrown out for the present in the Assembly; the Council are unanimous on the side of humanity.
“(President Ince’s Statement.)
“On the 10th day of April 1804, on my return to Enmore in the evening, I found Mr. Justice Walton and Mr. Harding, former manager of Prettejohn’s estate, and now the manager of the Society’s estate, attached to the support of Codrington, College. Mr. Walton told me that Mr. Harding had brought before him a man of the name of Henry Halls, a private soldier in the St. Michael’s or Royal regiment, who had, in presence of Mr. Harding, in a most wanton, malicious manner, murdered a Negro woman, that he did not know personally, but had since heard she was the property of Mr. Clarke, the owner of the estate called Simmons’s; that she was a valuable slave, and had five or six children. Mr. Walton said, that Halls seemed to be very indifferent about the crime, and that he had called upon me to know what was to be done with him, as Mr. Walton said, in his situation as a Magistrate, the law of the island admitted him no jurisdiction or authority over him, and he did not consider he had a right to commit him to prison without my order[2]. Mr. Harding then gave the following testimony: That he was returning from town, and just above the Line of Pilgrim he overtook several market Negroes, and this man, Halls, on the road; he did not know this man at the time, but he had his musket and bayonet fixed over his shoulder, and his regimentals, as returning from the alarm which had arisen that morning, and discharged at noon; that when he overtook this man it was not six o’clock in the evening; as he drew near him, he heard him muttering some words, and saw him run after some Negroes with his bayonet charged; that the woman was on the other side of the road still going up; and as he came up, this man, Halls, stopped until the woman came by, and immediately crossed the road, as Halls made after the woman, and plunged the bayonet into her body, when the poor creature dropped, and without a groan expired. He immediately went to him, and spoke harshly to him, and said, he ought to be hanged, for he never saw a more wicked, unprovoked murder, and that he would certainly carry him before a magistrate, and that he should be sent to gaol: and he said, ‘For what? killing a Negro[3]?’ On which he got assistance, and brought him to Mr. Walton the Magistrate, and that he, Mr. Harding, had accompanied Mr. Walton to me, to relate the fact. I told Mr. Walton that I regretted, with real concern, the deficiency in our law; but that there was a penalty due to the King[4] in such cases; and that, as Mr. Harding had sufficiently substantiated the fact, I would order him to be committed till he paid the forfeiture, or a suit should be commenced against him: accordingly he was sent to prison, where he now remains, and under arrest from Mr. Clarke’s representatives, to be recovered according to law, and the King’s fine, and will possibly be there for life, as I hear he is not worth a shilling, nor no expectancy ever to pay it. Perhaps, my Lord, it was a stretch of power in me to order commitment before a recovery of the fine; but the evidence of Mr. Harding, a man of unblemished character, the circumstances of the case so horrid, so wickedly deliberate and unprovoked, conspired to induce me to secure his person until the only remedy of some punishment could be applied[5]. Lamentable indeed is it, that our Assembly (for I cannot allow Legislature to form the word) should look upon such things with cold indifference, and not provide that just remedy which the law of God and man in every other civilized community but this, has in effect, and even upon larger extent of population and slavery; in Jamaica not the smallest inconvenience has ever arisen. Surely! surely! they will be more disposed to hear reason, and to establish justice!!
“To the second query from your Lordship; I believe the fact relates to the case which was instituted by action in the Court of Exchequer, before your Excellency left the Government, as I signed the writ when Chief Baron, at the suit of Colbeck against Crone; and I understand judgment has been admitted without being given to Jury, against Crone in favour of Colbeck; but whether the King’s fine is included in that recovery I really do not know, and your Excellency may be better informed from the present Chief Baron or the Attorney General. The circumstances of that case I do not know exactly; from common report, they must have been richly deserving of the jus per coll.