“If not, they soon will be: it is the interest of all the planters that they should; and by that, like all the rest of the world, they will be guided.”
“But still there have been great acts of cruelty committed; quite enough to prepossess us against you as a body.”
“I grant that such has been the case, and may occasionally be so now; but do not the newspapers of England teem with acts of barbarity? Men are the same every where. But, sir, it is the misfortune of this world, that we never know when to stop. The abolition of the slave-trade was an act of humanity, worthy of a country acting upon an extended scale like England; but your philanthropists, not content with relieving the blacks, look forward to the extermination of their own countrymen, the whites—who, upon the faith and promise of the nation, were induced to embark their capital in these islands.”
“Doubtless they wish to abolish slavery altogether,” replied Berecroft.
“They must be content with having abolished the horrors of it, sir,” continued the planter. “At a time when the mart was open, and you could purchase another slave to replace the one that had died from ill treatment, or disease, the life of a slave was not of such importance to his proprietor as it is now. Moreover, the slaves imported were adults who had been once free; and torn as they were from their natural soil and homes, where they slept in idleness throughout the day, they were naturally morose and obstinate, sulky and unwilling to work. This occasioned severe punishment; and the hearts of their masters being indurated by habit, it often led to acts of barbarity. But slavery, since the abolition, has assumed a milder form—it is a species of bond slavery. There are few slaves in existence who have not been born upon the estates, and we consider that they are more lawfully ours.”
“Will you explain what you mean by more lawfully?”
“I mean captain (for instance), that the father of that boy (pointing to one of the negro lads who waited at breakfast), was my slave; that he worked for me until he was an old man, and then I supported him for many years, until he died. I mean, that I took care of this boy’s mother, who, as she bore children, never did any work after her marriage, and has since been only an expense to me, and probably will continue to be so for some years. I mean, that that boy was taken care of, and fed by me until he was ten years old, without my receiving any return for the expense which I incurred; and I therefore consider that he is indebted to me as a bond, slave, and that I am entitled to his services; and he in like manner, when he grows too old to work, will become a pensioner, as his father was before him.”
“I perceive the drift of your argument; you do not defend slavery generally.”
“No; I consider a man born free and made a slave, is justified in resorting to any means to deliver himself; but a slave that I have reared is lawfully a slave, and bound to remain so, unless he can repay me the expense I have incurred. But dinner is ready, captain; if you wish to argue the matter further, it must be over a bottle of claret.”
The dinner was well dressed, and the Madeira and claret (the only wines produced), of the best quality. Their host did the honours of his table with true West Indian hospitality, circulating the bottle after dinner with a rapidity which would soon have produced an effect upon less prudent visitors; and when Mr Berecroft refused to take any more wine, he ordered the ingredients for arrack punch.