The Right Way the Safe Way / Proved by Emancipation in the British West Indies, and Elsewhere

by Unknown

Gen. Lafayette, the consistent friend of human freedom, made a practical experiment of emancipation, as early as 1785. In the French Colony of Cayenne, most of the soil belonged to the crown, and he was able to obtain it on easy terms. He expended $30,000 in purchasing land and slaves. He employed an amiable and judicious gentleman to take the management. The first thing the agent did, when he arrived in Cayenne, was to call the slaves together, and in their presence burn all the whips and other instruments of punishment. He informed them that their owner, Gen. Lafayette had bought them for the purpose of enabling them to obtain their freedom. He then stated to them the laws and regulations by which the estate would be governed, and the pecuniary advantages that would be granted, according to degrees of industry. This stimulus operated like a charm. The energy of the laborers redoubled, and they were obedient to the wishes of their manager. He died from the effects of the climate. But when the slaves in all the French Colonies were emancipated in 1793, the laborers on this estate in Cayenne waited upon the new agent, and said if the land still belonged to Gen. Lafayette they wished to resume their labor for him on the old terms, giving as a reason that they were "desirous to promote the interests of one who had treated them like men, and cheered their toil by making it a certain means of freedom."

In 1811 the British authorities emancipated all the slaves in Java. This also proved a complete success; as any one can ascertain by examining the account given by Sir Stamford Raffles, who was Governor of the island.

At successive periods, between 1816 and 1828, the South American Republics, Buenos Ayres, Chili, Bolivia, Peru, Colombia and Guatemala emancipated all their slaves. In some of those States means were taken for the instruction of young slaves, who were enfranchised on arriving at a certain age. In other States, slaves of all ages were emancipated after a certain date, fixed by law. In no one instance were these changes productive of any injury to life or property.

In 1828 the British government emancipated all the slaves in Cape Colony. 30,000 Hottentot Helots were admitted by law to all the rights and privileges of the white inhabitants. The slave-holders in the Colony remonstrated vehemently against this measure. They declared that the Hottentots were stupid, sensual, brutal, vicious, and totally incapable of taking care of themselves. They predicted awful outrages, as the consequence of emancipating a horde of such degraded wretches. But the event proved quite otherwise. The poor creatures were grateful for their freedom, and tried to behave as well as they knew how. All went on as peaceably as before, as concerned the white inhabitants, and much more peaceably, as concerned the blacks, who had previously suffered shocking barbarities at the hands of their masters. In the sunlight of freedom even the Hottentots have been gradually emerging out of barbarism. Year by year they pay more for British manufactures, because they wear calico and woollen cloth, instead of sheepskin mantles. They have horses and wagons, and flocks of their own, and their small weekly contributions to the Missionary Societies at the Cape amount to many hundreds of dollars.

From the time that Mexico became independent of Spain, in 1821, there was an increasing conviction in the public mind, that the existence of slavery was inconsistent with their professed principles as a Republic. This feeling soon manifested itself in laws. The prices of slaves were fixed by magistrates, and they were required to work, at stipulated wages, till they had paid for themselves. Protective laws were passed, enabling the servants to work for others, if they were not justly and humanely treated by their masters. Transfers of service might also take place to accommodate the masters; but never without consent of the servants. Mr. Ward, the British Minister to Mexico, in his work on that country, speaks very highly of the beneficial effects produced by these regulations. He says they gave a powerful stimulus to industry, and rapidly increased agricultural prosperity. A Mississippi slave-holder, who went to reside in Matamoras, was also so much pleased with the results of this experiment, that he wrote of it with enthusiasm, as an example highly important to the United States. He declared that the value of plantations was soon increased by the introduction of free labor. He says: "No one was made poor by it. It gave property to the servant, and increased the riches of the master." Free labor commended itself so much in this process, that on September 15th, 1829, President Guerrero published the following decree: "Being desirous to signalize the Anniversary of Mexican Independence by an act of national justice and beneficence, we hereby declare slavery forever abolished in this Republic. Consequently, all those individuals who, until this day, have been considered slaves, are free!" No interruption of public peace or prosperity followed this just decree.

In 1831, 3,000 prize negroes received freedom in South Africa; 400 in one day. No difficulty or disorder occurred. All gained homes; and at night scarcely an idler was to be seen.

In 1848, the French government, after careful examination into the state of things in the British West Indies, decreed immediate emancipation to all the slaves in their Colonies. M. Arago, formerly member of the Provisional Government, wrote thus, in 1851: "Much has been said of the ruin which the Act of Emancipation has scattered over our Colonies. But it should be remembered that they were in a deplorable condition for a long time previous. The Chamber of Deputies resounded daily with their lamentations. Extreme and utterly inadmissible measures for their relief were continually proposed. The Act of Emancipation cut peacefully one of the most complicated questions our social state afforded. Free labor has taken the place of slave labor without much resistance. So far, it has been attended with results sufficiently favorable, and these cannot fail to grow better." O. Lafayette, grandson of General Lafayette, member of the Chamber of Deputies, wrote thus, in 1851: "In one day, as by the stroke of a wand, 150,000 human beings were snatched from the degradation, in which they had been held by former legislation, and resumed their rank in the great human family. And this great event occurred without any of those disorders and struggles, which had been threatened, in order to perplex the consciences of the friends of abolition."

In 1841, the Bey of Tunis prohibited the exportation or importation of slaves, and declared all children free that should be born in his dominions after December 8th, 1842. In 1846, he proclaimed that slavery was abolished entirely, "for the honor of God, and to distinguish man from the brute creation." To these measures he was greatly influenced by the British Minister, Sir Thomas Reade.

Not far from the same date, Sweden proclaimed emancipation in the Island of St. Bartholomew, the only place under her dominion where slavery existed.

Christian VIII. of Denmark, and his Queen, Caroline, were so openly in favor of emancipation, that the price of slaves in their dominions became greatly reduced. The kind-hearted Queen obtained a promise from the King that he would celebrate the anniversary of their Silver Wedding by a decree of universal emancipation. Accordingly, on the 28th of July 1847, it was proclaimed that all children born on or after that day should be free; and that all the slaves in the Danish possessions, about 30,000 in number, should receive their freedom in 1859. This was intended to give time to prepare for the change; but it worked badly. It made the negroes restless to hear of freedom without obtaining it; and this feeling was increased by intercourse with the neighboring French islands, where all had been proclaimed unconditionally free. The masters were opposed to emancipation, and not at all disposed to conciliate their laborers. In July, 1848, local insurrections broke out. A good deal of property was destroyed, but few lives lost, except those of slaves who were executed. The panic produced caused a proclamation of immediate emancipation; since which there have been no insurrections, nor any fear of them. Fifty dollars for each slave was awarded to the masters, who have never ceased to grumble against the government and against the negroes. Such a transition, of course, could not take place without temporary evils and inconveniences. The effects of a system so bad as slavery cannot be suddenly outgrown, either by masters or servants. But improvement is more and more perceptible as years pass on. A gentleman writing from St. Thomas to the N. Y. Tribune, September, 1854, says: "The former owners are constantly complaining of the ignorance, faithlessness, and degradation of the negroes, without seeming to have any consciousness of the fact that they themselves have brought them to this very character and condition. Whether their state is at once bettered is not the decisive question, but whether they are in a condition where there is a chance for improvement. And for my own part, the respectability attained by many persons of color in this town, and the industry and capacity manifested by large numbers, in various employments, as artisans, clerks, bookkeepers, and public officials, give me a hope I never before entertained, of the certain advancement of the African race, wherever they shall become disembarrassed of the shackles of slavery, and of an unjust social prejudice."