I might offend the delicacy of this gentleman, by mentioning his name; but surely without his leave I may venture to describe him. I fear there are but two or three others with whom, in all the following particulars, he can be well confounded. I may state him, then, to be the Jamaica Proprietor, in whom I believe humanity and kindness to his Slaves are hereditary virtues; and who, having more waste but cultivable land, than almost any other Jamaica landholder, had more to gain by the continuance of the Slave Trade, while he has been among the first to abandon, or rather to abolish it; who has ever had his eyes more open than most other proprietors to the abuses of the West Indian system, and his endeavours more warmly and actively exerted to correct them; being more exempt than most others of his brethren from West Indian prejudices, but often, I fear, counteracted by the prejudices of others; who has been desirous especially of promoting those moral reforms which would above all other improvements tend to the comfort of the Slaves, and the security and prosperity of the islands.
This is not general and indiscriminate praise; each commendation has it’s object. May he go forward in the path on which he has so honourably entered, and may he be followed by descendants, inheriting his principles as well as his property, who may perfect the work which he has commenced.
Power of party spirit in the West Indians.
That the principle of party spirit is adequate to the production of most powerful effects; that it may be even sufficient to prompt men to act in manifest opposition to a clear, direct and valuable interest, has been decisively established in the case of our West Indian Proprietors themselves in a very recent instance. For, what but this party spirit could cause them to support the continuance of that branch of the Slave Trade which consisted in supplying foreigners with Slaves, and still more, which could prevent their even strenuously and eagerly anticipating the efforts of the Abolitionists for stopping the supply for the cultivation of the immeasurable expanse of the South American continent. In the colonies which we there conquered, near twenty millions of the capital of this country were actually invested during the short period after their conquest, for which we remained in possession of them during the last war; and, on their being restored by the peace, all this vast sum contributed to the improving and enriching of the colonies of a power which unhappily even then could be considered only as the vassal of our already too powerful rival. The proprietor in our old islands will not deny that those continental settlements not only have injured him by greatly increasing the quantity of colonial produce in the market, but that, enjoying very decided advantages over our older islands, from a more fertile soil, from being exempted from hurricanes, from the opportunity of feeding the Slaves more plentifully, and at a cheaper rate, they have been to him the cause of very great loss and embarrassment. Had this evil been suffered to advance, the ruin which must have followed from it, though gradual, would have been sure and complete. From that misfortune the Abolitionists have relieved him, by obtaining the Order of Council, since confirmed and sanctioned by an Act of Parliament, for stopping the importation of Slaves, not only into foreign colonies, but even into those possessions, chiefly in Guiana, which in the present war have been again conquered from the enemy. And surely we may assume to ourselves some credit for having willingly rendered to them, our opponents, the greatest benefit which they could receive. But while we are engaged on this topic, let me call on the West Indians in our own ancient possessions, for whom again I must declare I feel most good will, as those who have long been our fellow subjects, in company with whom we have weathered many a storm and rejoiced after many a victory; let me call on them to bear in mind a very probable source of extreme injury to their particular interests, which will be opened on the restoration of peace, if the Slave Trade be not abolished.
Supposing us to retain the conquered settlements, the importation of Slaves cannot be withheld from the proprietors in those colonies, while we allow it to their fellow subjects; yet, if granted to the former, by far the larger part of our whole export from Africa will be allotted to their use. Their settlements will be every year increasing; new cargoes of colonial produce will be poured by them into the market, and the planters in our old islands, for whom and for whose interests we ought to feel most concern, will be plunged deeper and deeper into a gulf, in which, by their own confession, they have already sunk almost irretrievably. But supposing us even to give up the conquered West Indian settlements on the restoration of peace, still Trinidad will remain to us; and that large and fertile island would of itself be sufficient to furnish such an immense quantity of fresh colonial produce as almost to consummate the ruin at least of our more ancient and less fertile colonies.
To resume the discussion in which I was lately engaged. Let me again declare, that so much do I ascribe to the effects of that party spirit of which I have treated so largely, that I am convinced, if the colonial proprietors were not warped by prejudice, and heated by esprit de corps, such of them as are really well acquainted with the subject in it’s various parts and bearings, would be in favour of abolition; they would agree with me, that, excepting only some particular interests, the present West Indian system, and, above all, the Slave Trade, as it’s basis and ground-work, are contrary to sound policy, no less than to justice and humanity. In truth, this question has been already decided; for, we have been assured by the same respectable gentleman who was before alluded to, that, above thirty years ago, the following question was discussed in Kingston, the capital of Jamaica, in a society formed of the first characters of the place, “Whether the Trade to Africa for Slaves was consistent with sound policy, the laws of nature and morality.”—The discussion occupied several meetings, and at last was determined, by a majority, that the Trade to Africa for Slaves was neither consistent with sound policy, the laws of nature, or morality[[46]].
“The chief ground on which the advocates for the Slave Trade rested their opinion (he thinks) was, that God had formed some of the human race inferior to others in intellect, and that Negroes appeared to have been intended for Slaves; or to that purpose.”
Let this incident, and the conclusions which it suggests, be well considered. It deserves to have the more weight, on account both of the understanding and character of the individual who gave the account of it; for, no man living was ever less likely to confound any hasty expressions of men of warm and feeling minds, or of men of speculation or ingenuity, who might like to defend a paradox, with the real deliberate judgment of men of reflection, practical knowledge, and personal experience. Observe, the only ground on which the Slave Trade was defended, even in Jamaica, was that of the Negroes being an inferior species. This opinion, as I formerly remarked, was the original foundation of the Slave Trade, and it is the only ground on which it can be rested with the smallest pretence to reason, justice, or humanity. Happily, the friends of these wretched beings have, at length, obtained the recognition of their human nature; but as yet it is a barren and unprofitable right, if, while we grant them to be men, we treat them as if we still deemed them of an inferior species. But still more this incident shews, that they, who, from their local circumstances and pursuits were most conversant with this great subject in all it’s parts, had adopted, above thirty years ago, the position which Mr. Pitt asserted so confidently, and proved so unanswerably, that the Slave Trade was contrary not to justice and humanity only, but to sound policy also; and if even so long ago they entertained this opinion; what, if relieved from the blinding effects of prejudice and party, would be their judgment now, when all the facts and principles, on which the Slave Trade system must have been proved impolitic, have received an almost unspeakable accession of force, and when the arguments, by which it’s policy could alone be contended for, have since been almost entirely done away: I regret that I have not time for enlarging on this topic. But any man who has obtained any insight into this question will readily discern the several considerations to which I allude.
The hope of West Indian body’s opposition ceasing.
But notwithstanding I ascribe so much of the opposition which has been made to us, to the operation of party spirit, yet I dare not hope that the flame is likely to become weaker, or at length to die away. On the contrary, there is a store of aliment fully sufficient to maintain it in continual and even interminable vigour. For after all that I have stated, of it’s being rather the spirit of party, or at the utmost a mistaken apprehension of loss, than a just sense of interest, which animates the efforts of the great mass of West Indian Proprietors, yet there are many who, it cannot be denied, are prompted by a true persuasion that the abolition of the Slave Trade will materially lessen their gains. Of this number is that great, respectable, affluent, and, as we have fatally experienced; most powerful body, the West Indian Merchants. I cannot deny that many, perhaps almost all of this class, may have a direct interest in the extension of West Indian cultivation. Though planting speculations may not answer to the immediate undertakers, they may answer to the merchant in this country; and he might gain by the cultivation being pushed to an extent which would utterly ruin the planters. He pays himself in the first instance both for the articles furnished for the supply of the estate, and for his profits on the importations from abroad; and if he have prudence sufficient, which however is seldom the case, to prevent his advancing too much on any one estate, so as to compel him to become the proprietor of it, he is certainly engaged in an advantageous branch of business. Hence he is always the foremost to petition against the abolition.