Ralph Waldo Emerson - The Emancipation of The Negroes in The British West Indies (1844)

THE
EMANCIPATION OF THE NEGROES

BRITISH WEST INDIES.
AN ADDRESS DELIVERED AT CONCORD, MASSACHUSETTS, ON 1st AUGUST 1844.
R.
W.
EMERSON.
" Fetters, chains, monopolies, thefts, sales, statutes, all engines of tyranny, found insufficient to annihilate freedom, for the good reason, that they cannot annihilate the Soul, whose first law of being is freedom. Despite
men have
of lies
which the ages have told, Freedom lives imperishable."
of tyrannies
which the ages have established,
LONDON: JOHN CHAPMAN, 121. NEWGATE

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STREET.
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THE
EMANCIPATION OF THE NEGROES
BEITISH WEST INDIES

AX ADDRESS DELITERED AT COXCORD, MASSACHUSETTS, OX 1st august, 1844
BY
R.
W. EMERSOIS".
" Fetters, chains, monopolies,
thefts, sales, statutes, all
engines of tyranny,
insufficient lo annihilate freedom, for the good reason, that they cannot annihilate the Soul whose first law of being is freedom. Despite of lies which the ages have told, of tyrannies which the ages have established.
men have found
Freedom
lives imperishable."
LONDON JOHN CHAPMAN, 121, NEWGATE STREET.
A.
at3c?.3r
LONDOK
I'KlJfTED
BY RICHARD KINDER, GREEK ARBOUR COCRT, OLD BAILEY.
ADDRESS
Friends and Fellow-Citizens,
We
reason
are met to exchange congratulations on the anniversary

;
of an event singular in the history of civilization

;
a day of
better
of the clear light
of that which
:
makes us
than a flock of birds and beasts
a day which gave the imof gross history,
mense
fortification
It
of a
fact,
to ethical
abstractions.
was the
settlement, as far as a great empire
was concerned, of a question on which almost every leading

citizen in
it
had taken care
to record his vote
one which
for
many
years absorbed the attention of the best

I
and most emi-
nent of mankind.
studies,
in this
might well
hesitate,
coming from other

be a special labourer
and without the smallest claim
to
work of humanity,
;
to
undertake to set this matter beto
fore
you
which ought rather
be done by a
;
strict
co-opera-
tion of
for
many
it
well-advised persons
but
I shall
not apologize
is
my
weakness.
;
In this cause, no man's weakness

;
any
prejudice
has a thousand sons

;
if
one man cannot speak,

its
ten others can
and whether by the wisdom of

its
friends, or
;
by the
folly
of
adversaries
by speech and by silence

it
by
I
doing and by omitting to do,

will speak,
goes forward.
Therefore
or, not I,
but the might of liberty in
my weakness.
4
The
subject
is
ON NEGRO EMANCIPATION
said to have the property of
making
dull
men
eloquent.
It
has been in
all
men's experience a marked
effect of the
enterprise in behalf of the African, to generate an overbear-
ing and defying
spirit.
The
institution of slavery
feels
seems
to its
opponent
to
have but one side, and he
that
none but a
stupid or a malignant person

facts.
can hesitate on a view of the

I
Under such an impulse,
was about
to say.
If
let
any
cannot speak, or cannot hear the words of freedom,
him
let
go hence,
had almost
said.
!
Creep
I
into
your grave, the uni:
verse has no need of you
But
have thought better
him not
go.
When we
consider what remains to be done for
this interest, in this country, the dictates of
humanity make us
selfish-
tender of sucli as are not yet persuaded.

ness
is to
The hardest
be borne with.
can,
Let us withhold every reproachful,

In this cause,
and,
if ^\e
every indignant remark.
we
must renounce our temper, and the

be any
risings of pride.
If there
man who
comfort,
thinks the ruin of a race of
men
a small
matter, compared with the last decoration and completions of

his
own
who
would not so much as part with

I
his
I
ice-cream, to save
them from rapine and manacles,

man,
that also his
think,
must not
hesitate to satisfy that
cream and
piques
vanilla are safer
and cheaper, by placing the negro nation on

If the Virginian
a fair footing, than by robbing them.
himself on the picturesque luxury of his vassalage, on the
heavy Ethiopian manners of his house-servants, their silent

obedience, their hue of bronze, their turbaned heads, and
would not exchange them

that
for the
I
more
intelligent but preca-
rious hired-service of whites,
shall not refuse to
show him,
be their
when
their free-papers are
made
and
out,
it
will
still
interest to
remain on his
estate,
it is
that the oldest planters of

to
Jamaica are convinced, that
cheaper
pay wages, than to
own the slave. The history
of
mankind
interests us only as
it
exhibits a
steady gain of truth and right, in the incessant conflict whicti
IN
THE BRITISH WEST INDIES.
it
records, between the material

it
and the moral nature.
From
the earliest monuments,
appears, that one race was victim,
and served the other
races.
In the oldest temples of Egypt,

at-
negro captives are painted on the tombs of kings, in such

titudes as to
show
that they are on the point of being exe-
cuted; and Herodotus, our oldest historian, relates that the
Troglodytes
hunted
earliest
the
Ethiopians
in
four-horse-chariots.
article
From
the
time, the negro has been an
of
to
luxury to the commercial nations.
So has
it
been,
down
the day that has just
dawned on the world.
Language must
be raked, the secrets of slaughter-houses and infamous holes

that cannot front the day, must be ransacked,
to tell
what
negro-slavery has been.
These men, our benefactors, as they
are producers of corn and wine, of coffee, of tobacco, of cotton, of sugar, of

selves,
rum, and brandy, gentle and joyous themfor the civilized
and producers of comfort and luxury
world,
there seated in the finest climates of the globe, child-
ren of the sun,

there,
am
heart-sick
when
read
how
they
came
out
and how they are kept there.
Their case was
left
of the mind and out of the heart of their brothers.
The
prizes of society, the trumpet of fame, the privileges of learning, of culture, of religion, the decencies
and joys of marriage,
honour, obedience, personal authority, and a perpetual melioration into a finer civility, these
were
to
for all, but not for
them.
filthy
For the negro, was the slave-ship

hold he sat in irons, unable to
ficiency of that
;
begin with, in whose

;
lie
down
;
bad food, and
insuf-
disfranchisement
;
no property
in the rags
that covered
him
no marriage, no right in the poor black
woman
that cherished
;
him
in her
bosom,
no
right to the
children of his body
no security from the humours, none

toil,
from the crimes, none from the appetites of his master:

famine, insult, and flogging
;
and,
when he sunk
in
the fur-
row, no wind of good fame blew over him, no priest of salvation

visited
him with glad
tidings
but he went down
to
death,
with
dusky dreams of African shadow-catchers and
Obealis hunting liim.
Very sad was the negro
tradiiion, that
the Great Spirit, in the beginning, offered the black man,
whom
he loved better than the buckra or white, his choice of

little
two boxes, a big and a
one.
The black man was

full
greedy,
and chose the
largest.
" The buckra box was
up with
bill
pen, paper, and whip, and the negro box with hoe and
and hoe and
bill for
negro to this day."

in
But the crude element of good
human
its
affairs
must work
and ripen, spite of whips, and plantation-laws, and

dian interest.
sleep.
West
In-
Conscience rolled
on
pillow,
and could not

with the poor
We
but
;
sympathize
very tenderly here

so
aggrieved planter, of
said
;
whom
many
unpleasant things are
if
we saw
the whip applied to old men, to tender
women and, undeniably, though 1 nant women set in the treadmill for
not they, but the eternal
shrink to say so,
preg-
refusing to work, when,

to
law of animal nature refused

flayed
work
if
we saw men's backs
with cowhides, and

;"
" hot rum poured on,
superinduced with brine or pickle,
rubbed
in
with a cornhusk, in the scorching heat of the sun

the runaways hunted with
if
we saw
blood-hounds into
swamps and
his
hills,
and, in cases of passion, a planter throwing
negro into a copper of boiling cane-juice,
if
we saw
is
these things with our eyes,

pleasant
slavery
gust,
:
we
too should wince.

is
:
They are not

anti-
sights.
it
The bloody
slavery.
moral
the blood
runs cold in the veins
the stomach rises with disit
and curses
Well, so
or
girl,
it
happened
so
a good
man
of
all
or
woman, a country boy

The horrid
if
would
fall out,
once in
tell
it
a while saw these injuries, and had the indiscretion to
them.
story ran
and flew
the winds blew
over the world.

great friends,
richest
They who heard

it
it,
asked their rich and

lies.
was
true,
or only missionary
The
be-
and
greatest, the
prime minister of England, the king's

it
privy-council were obliged to say, that
was
too true.
It
came
plain to
all
men, the more
this business
was looked
into,
that the crimes and cruelties of the
slave-traders
and slave-
IN
owners could not be overstated.

the
The more
it
was searched,
not to be
more shocking anecdotes came up,
things
spoken.
insisted
Humane
persons
who were informed
of the reports,
on proving them.
Granville Sharpe was accidentally
made acquainted with

India
planter
the sufferings of a slave,

to
whom
West
had brought with him

and the man useless
London, and had
beaten with a pistol on his head so badly, that his whole body
became
diseased,
to his master, to
who
Mr.
left
him
to
go whither he pleased.
surgeon,
The man applied
Wm.
Sharpe, a charitable
the poor.
who
attended the diseases of

healed.
Granville
for
In
process
of time, he was
Sharpe found him
at his brother's,
and procured a place

accidentally
to
him
in
an apothecary's shop.
The master
met
his recovered slave,
and
instantly
endeavoured
get posses-
sion of
him
again.
Sharpe protected the
slave.
In consult-
ing with the lawyers, they told Sharpe the laws were against
him.
Sharpe would not believe
it.
No
prescription on earth
could ever render such iniquities legal.

are against you, and
" But the decisions

justice
sat
Lord Mansfield, now chief

Sharpe instantly
law
for
of
England, leans to the decisions."
down
and gave himself

two years,
until
to the study of English
more than
he proved that the opinions relied on of Talbot
and Yorke, were incompatible with the former English decisions,
and with the whole
spirit of
English law.
He pub-
lished his
book
in
1769, and he so
filled
the heads and hearts
of his advocates, that
when he brought
the case of George
Somerset, another slave, before Lord Mansfield, the slavish

decisions
were
set
aside,
and equity affirmed.
There
is
sparkle of God's righteousness in
Lord Mansfield's judgment,

he suggested twice
which does the heart good.

from the bench,
Very unwilling had that great

;
lawyer been to reverse the late decisions

in the course of the
trial,
how
the question
;
might be got rid of: but the hint was not taken
the
case
was adjourned again and again, and judgmenl delayed.

last
At
judgment was demanded, and, on the 22nd June, 1772,
8
Lord
:
Mansfield
is
reported
to
have
decided
in
these
words " Immemorial usage preserves the memory o^ positive law, long after all traces of the occasion, reason, authority, and time
of
its
introduction, are lost
and
in a
case so odious as the

;
condition of slaves, must be taken strictly

ject to natural principles, the claim
(tracing the sub-
of slavery never can be

this return never
supported.)
The power claimed by
was
in
is
use here.
We
cannot say the cause set forth by this return
allowed or approved of by the laws of this

therefore the
kingdom
"
and
man must be
pure for
discharged."
the principle
that the
air
This decision
established
of
England wrongs
is
too
any slave to
breathe,"
but
the
in the islands
were not thereby touched.

that way,
Public at-
tention, however,
was drawn
and the methods of

Africa,
the
stealing
and the transportation from
became
noised abroad.
The Quakers
They were
got the story.

this
In
their plain
meeting-houses, and
got entrance.
inheritance,
prim dwellings,
rich
;
dismal agitation
they owned for debt, or by

they
island
property;
;
were
religious,
to
tender-
hearted
men and women

it
and they had

Six Quakers
hear the news,

in
and digest
as they could.
met
London on
the 6th July,
William Dillwyn, Samuel Hoar, George Harrison, Thomas Knowles, John Lloyd, Joseph Woods, " to consider what step they should take for the relief and libe-
1783
ration of the negro slaves in the
West
Indies,
and
for the
discouragement of the slave-trade on the coast of Africa."
They made
interested
friends
and raised money

meeting
;
for the
all
slave; they
their
yearly
and
English
and
all
American Quakers.
yet an apprentice,
John Woolman of
in his
New
Jersey, whilst
set
was uneasy
mind when he was
to write a bill of sale of a negro, for his master.
He
gave
his
testimony against the
traiTic,
in
Maryland and Virginia.
Thomas Clarkson was
a youth at
the subject given out for
Cambridge, England, when a Latin prize dissertation, was, " Is
IN

slaves of others against their will
;
it
right
to
make
"
He
wrote an essay, and won the prize

for his
but he wrote too well

if
own peace
;
he began to agk himself,

if
these things
could be true
and
;
they were, he could no longer rest.

fell
He
left
Cambridge
to
he
in
with the six Quakers.
They
engaged him
act for
them.
He
himself interested Mr.

in
Wilberforce in the matter.
The shipmasters
that trade
were the greatest miscreants, and

their
guilty of every barbarity to
own
crews.
Clarkson went to Bristol,
made himself
acquainted with the interior of the slave-ships, and the details

of the trade.
The
facts
confirmed his sentiment, " that Provito
dence had never made that
be wise, which was immoral,

as impolitic as
fatal
it
and
that
that the slave-trade

it
was
was unjust
was found peculiarly
to
those employed in
it.
More seamen died

Fox were drawn
in that trade in
one year, than in the whole

in
remaining trade of the country
two.
Mr. Pitt and Mr.

In 1788, the
In 1791, a
into the generous enterprise.
House of Commons voted Parliamentary

bill to
inquiry.
abolish the trade
was brought
in
by Wilberforce, and
Pitt,
supported by him, and by Fox, and Burke, and
with the
utmost
ability
and faithfulness
resisted
by the planters, and
the whole
sixteen
West Indian
interest,
and
lost.
During the next

the
years,
ten times, year
after year,
attempt was
renewed by Mr. Wilberforce, and ten times defeated by the

planters.
The
it.
king,
and
all
the royal family but one, were

instructive,
against
These debates are
as they
show on
Every
to the
bare-^
what grounds the trade was

thing
attack.
assailed
is
and defended.
sure to
generous, wise, and sprightly
come
On
to
the other part, are found cold prudence,
faced
selfishness,
and
silent
votes.
But
fact
the
nation
was
aroused
enthusiasm.
Every horrid
became known.
In 1791, three hundred thousand persons in Britain pledged
themselves to abstain from

planters
all articles
of island produce.
in
The
were obliged
bill
to give
way
and
1807, on the 25th
March, the
passed, and
liie
slave-trade
was abolished.
10
assailants of slavery
The
had early agreed

to
to limit their
political action
on this subject
the abolition of the trade,
but Granville Sharpe, as a matter of conscience, whilst he

acted as chairman of the
London Committee,
felt
constrained
to record his protest against the limitation, declaring that sla-
very was as
trade.
much a crime
trade,
against the Divine law, as the slavefalse flags,
The
under
went on
as before.
to the
In
1821, according
to official
documents presented
Ameslaves
rican government by the Colonization Society,
200,000
were deported from Africa.

the port of Havana alone.
Nearly 50,000 were landed in

In consequence of the dangers of
the trade growing out of the act of abolition, ships were built
sharp for swiftness, and with a frightful disregard of the comfort of the victims
they were destined to transport.
They
carried
five, six,
even seven hundred stowed in a ship built so
narrow
as to
be unsafe, being made just broad enough on the

sea.
beam
to
keep the
In attempting to
make
its
escape from
the pursuit of a man-of-war, one ship flung five hundred slaves

alive into the sea.
These
facts
went
into Parliament.
In the
islands,
was an ominous
state of cruel
and
it
licentious society
;
every house had a dungeon attached to
every slave was
worked by the whip.

in the
to strip
offence.
There
is
no end
to the tragic anecdotes
municipal records of the colonies.
The boy was
set
and
to flog
his
own mother
to blood, for a
small
Looking
in the face of his
master by the negro was
held to be violence by the island courts.

sixteen hours,
He was worked
and
his ration
by law, in some islands, was a
pint of flour and one salt herring a day.

stripes, mutilation, at the
He
suffered insult,
:
humour
of the master
iron collars
were
riveted on their necks with iron prongs ten inches long

in the eyes of the females
;
capsicum pepper was rubbed
and
they were done to death with the most shocking levity between
the master and manager, without fine or inquiry.
at last,
And when,
some Quakers, Moravians, and Wesleyan and Baptist

and
missionaries, following in the steps of Carey
Ward
in the
IN
East Indies, had been moved to come and cheer the poor
victim with the hope of some reparation, in a future world, of the wrongs he suffered in this, these missionaries were perse-
cuted by the planters, their lives threatened, their chapels
burned, and the negroes furiously forbidden to go near them.
These outrages rekindled the flame of British indignation.

Petitions poured into Parliament
their
:
million persons signed
names
to these;
and
in
1853, on the 14lh May, Lord
Stanley, minister of the colonies, introduced into the
House of
Commons
his bill for the Emancipation.
The scheme of the

that on 4 St August,
entitled
minister, with such modification
as
it
received in the legislature, proposed
gradual emancipation
1834,
all
persons
now
slaves should
be
to
to
be registered as apprenticed
all
labourers, and
acquire
thereby
the
rights
and privileges of freemen,
subject to the restriction of labouring under certain conditions.
These conditions were, that the praidials should owe threefourths of the profits of their labour to their masters for six
years,
and the nonprsedials
for four years.
The other
fourth of
sell
the apprentice's time was to be his own, which he might

to his master, or to other persons
;
and
at the
end of the term
of years fixed, he should be free.
With
that all
these provisions and conditions, the bill proceeds, in
the twelfth section in the following terms.
" Be
it
enacted,
shall
and every person who, on

and and
Jst August,
1834,
be
holden in slavery within any such British colony as aforesaid,

shall
upon,
from
to
all
after
the said
first
of August,
become and be
charged
absolutely
intents
all
and purposes
slavery,
free,
and
shall
dis-
of and from
manner of
;
and
be
and
for ever
manumitted
be
and that the children
thereafter born to any such persons,
and the offspring of such

from their birth
;
children, shall, in like manner,

that,
is
free
and
from and
after the 1st
August, 1834, slavery shall be and
hereby utterly and for ever abolished and declared unlawful
42
throughout the British colonies, plantations, and possessions

abroad."
The
colonies
ministers, having estimated the slave products of the

in
annual
exports
of sugar,
rum, and
total
coffee,
at
361,500,000 per annum, estimated the

slave
value of the
property
at
5650,000,000
sterling,
and
proposed
of the
to give the planters, as a

slaves'
compensation for so
took
much
time
as
the
act
from
them,
for
3620,000,000
the nineteen
sterling, to
be divided into nineteen shares

to
colonies,
and
be distributed to the owners of slaves by
commissioners, whose appointment and duties were regulated
by the Act.
majorities.
After
much
debate,
the bill passed by large

is
The apprenticeship system

who,
said,
understood to have
proceeded from Lord Brougham, and was by him urged on

his colleagues,
it is
were inclined
to the policy of
immediate emancipation.
The
of the
colonial legislatures received the act of Parliament with
various degrees of displeasure, and, of course, every provision

bill
was
criticised
with severity.
it
The new
relation
between the master and the apprentice,

be
mischievous
;
was feared, would

appointment
of
for
the bill required the
magistrates
who
should hear every complaint of the apprentice,
and see
that justice
was done him.
It
was feared that the
interest of the master and servant would

tual discord between them.
now produce
perpe-
In the island of Antigua, con-
taining 57,000 people,
50,000 being negroes, these objections

legislature rejected the apprentice-
had such weight, that the
ship system, and adopted absolute emancipation.

islands the system of the ministry
In the other
was accepted.
in
The
reception of
it
by the negro population was equal
nobleness to the deed.
The negroes were
called together
by
the missionaries and by the planters, and the news explained

to
them.
On
the night of the 5 1st July they
met everywhere
at their
churches and chapels, and at midnight,
when
the
IN
15
clock Struck twelve, on their knees, the silent, weeping assembly
became men
they rose and embraced each
other
they
cried, they sung, they prayed, they
were wild with
joy,
but
there was no
history
riot,
no
feasting.
have never read anything in
more touching than the moderation of the negroes.

captains
left
Some American
the shore and put to sea, antici-
pating insurrection and general murder.

ferent thoughts, the negroes spent the
But with
far dif-
hour
in their huts
and
chapels.
in
I will
not repeat to you the well-known paragraph,
which Messrs. Thome and Kimball, the commissioners scut
out in the year 1837, by the American Anti-Slavery Society,

describe the occurrences of that night in the island of Antigua.
It
has been quoted in every newspaper, and Dr. Channing has

it
given
additional fame.
But
must be indulged
follow
it,
in quoting
a few sentences from the pages that
narrating the
behaviour of the emancipated people on the next day.

* "
The
first
of August
all
came on Friday, and

until the next
a release
was
proclaimed from
work
Monday.
The day
was
chiefly spent
by the great mass of the negroes in the
churches and chapels.
The
clergy and missionaries through-
out the island were actively engaged, seizing the opportunity

to enlighten the
people on
all
the duties and responsibilities of

to the
their
new
relation,
and urging them
attainment of that
higher liberty with which Christ maketh his children free.

In every quarter,
bath.
we were Work had ceased.

us, that
assured, the day
was
like a
Sabstill
The hum
of business
was
tranquillity
pervaded the towns and country.
The
planters
informed
they went to the chapels where their
own
Hill,
people were assembled, greeted them, shook hands with them,
and exchanged the most hearty good wishes.

there were
at least
At Grace
a thousand persons around the Moravian

in.
Chapel who could not get

* " Emancipation
in
For once the house of God

:
the
West Indies
146, 147.
a Six Months Tour in Antigua,
Barbadoes, and Jamaica, in the year 1837.

ball.
By
J.
A.
Thome and
J. II.
Kim-
New
York,
1833." pp.
i4
suffered violence,
aud the violent took

all
it
by
force.
At Grace
were
Bay the people,
dressed in white, formed a procession,
and walked arm in arm into the chapel.

that
We
told
the dress of the
negroes
on that occasion
was unleast dis-
commonly simple and modest.

position to gaiety.
single dance
There was not the

island, there
Throughout the
of,
was not a
known
either day or night, nor so
much
as a
fiddle played."
On
the next
Monday morning, with very few
exceptions,
every negro on every plantation was in the field at his work.
In some places, they waited to see their master, to
know what
bargain he would
make
but,
for
the most part, through-
out the islands, nothing painful occurred.
In June, 4835,
the ministers. Lord Aberdeen and Sir George Grey, declared

to the Parliament, that the system
worked well
that
now
for
ten months, from 1st of August, 4854, no injury or violence
had been offered
to
any white, and only one black had been

:
hurt in 800,000 negroes

dictions, that the
and, contrary to
of island
many
sinister prefall
new crop
produce would not
short of that of the last year.
But the habit of oppression was not destroyed by a law

and
a day of jubilee.
It
soon appeared in
all
the islands,
that the planters
were disposed
;
to use their old privileges,
and
overwork the apprentices
to take
from them, under various

;
pretences, their fourth part of their time
and
to
exert the
same
licentious despotism as before.
The negroes complained

In the island of
to the magistrates,
and
to the governor.
Jamaica, this
ill
blood continually grew worse.

Sligo,
The governors.
sent out
Lord Belmore, the Earl of

Smith, (a governor of their
to gratify the planters,)
and afterwards Sir Lionel

class,
own
who had been

the
threw themselves on the side of the

angry and
oppressed, and are at constant quarrel with

bilious island legislature.
Nothing canêxceed the ill-humour

this assembly.
and sulkiness of the addresses of

I
may here
express a general remark, which the history of
IN

it is
lo
slavery
seems
to justify, that
not founded solely on the

say, the
avarice of the planter.
We
him
;
sometimes
planter does
not want slaves, he only wants the immunities and the luxuries
which the
slaves yield
chine that will yield

will thankfully let
him
as
them
go.
give him money, give him a mamuch money as the slaves, and he He has no love of slavery, he
wants luxury, and he will pay even this price of crime and
danger for
it.
But
think experience does not warrant this

besides the
favourable distinction, but shows the existence,

covetousness, of a
bitterer element,
the love of power, the

in his absolute con-
voluptuousness of holding a
trol.
human being
We
sometimes observe, that spoiled children contract a
habit of annoying quite wantonly those
who have charge
of
them, and seem to measure their
own
sense of well-being, not
by what they do, but by the degree of reaction they can cause.
It is
vain to get rid of

is
them by not mhiding them
if
;
purring then
if
and humming
not noticed, they squeal and screech
you chide and console them, they

ceeds, and they begin again.
find the experiment suc-
The
child will
If
sit
in
your arms
contented, provided you do nothing.

read, he
you take a book and
commences
hostile
operations.
The
planter
is
the
spoiled child of his unnatural habits, and has contracted in his
indolent and luxurious climate the need of excitement by

tating
irri-
and tormenting
his slave.
Sir Lionel Smith defended the poor negro girls
the prey
of the planter's licentiousness
they shall not be whipped with
tamarind rods,
if
they do not comply with their master's will
he defended the negro

the cane-holes, (which
women
is
they should not be
made
to dig
;)
the very hardest of the field-work
he defended the Baptist preachers and the stipendiary magistrates,
who
are the negroes' friends, from the power of the

planters, however, to oppress,
planter.
The power of the
was
greater than the

to withstand.
power of the apprentice and of his guardians

that
Lord Brougham and Mr. Buxton declared
the planter had not fulfilled his part in the contract, whilst
46
the apprentices liad fulfilled theirs
and demanded that the
emancipation
abolished.
should
be
hastened,
and the apprenticeship

ill-humour
Parliament was compelled to pass additional laws
for the defence
and security of the negro, and
in
at these acts, the great island of Jamaica,
with a population of
half a million, and
500,000 negroes,
early in
1838, resolve
to
throw up the two remaining years of apprenticeship, and

emancipate absolutely on the 1st August, 1838,
to
In British
Guiana, in Dominica, the same resolution had been earlier
taken with more good-will
and the other islands
fell
into the
measure; so that on the 1st August, 4838,

dropped from every British
have from
all parties,
the
shackles
slave.
The accounts which we
both from the planters, and those too,
the
who were originally most opposed to the measure, and from new freemen, are of the most satisfactory kind. The manner in which the new festival was celebrated, brings
tears to the eyes.
The
1st of August,
1838, was observed

Sir Lionel
It
in Jamaica as a day of thanksgiving
and prayer.
Smith, the governor, writes to the British Ministry, "

impossible for
is
me
to
do justice
to the
good order, decorum,
and gratitude, which the whole labouring population manifested
on that happy occasion.

it
Though
joy
beamed on every
countenance,
fulness to
was throughout tempered with solemn thank-
God, and the churches and chapels were everywith these happy people in humble offering of
where
filled
praise."
The Queen,
in her speech
to the
Lords
ajid
Commons,
:
praised the conduct of the emancipated population

4 840, Sir Charles Metcalfe, the
and, in
new governor
:
of Jamaica, in
his address to the Assembly, expressed himself to that late
exasperated body in these terms
"
All those
who
are ac-
quainted with the state of the island,
know
that our emanci-
pated population are as

as well-conditioned, as
free, as
independent in their conduct,
much
in the
enjoyment of abundance,
liberty,
and as strongly sensible of the blessings of
as
any
IN

All disqualifications
;
47
and
ihet
we know
of in any country.
distinctions of colour have ceased
men
of
all
colours have
equal rights in law, and an equal footing in society, and every
man's position
is
settled
by the same circumstances which re-
gulate that point in other free countries,
where no
difference
of colour exists.
It
may be
asserted, without fear of denial,

all
that the former slaves of
Jamaica are now as secure, in
social rights, as freeborn Britons."
He
further describes the

schools,
erection of
numerous churches, chapels, and
which
de-
the
new
population required, and adds that more are
still
manded.
The
Legislature, in their reply, echo the governor's
statement, and say, "
The
peaceful
demeanour of the emanci-
pated population redounds to their
own
credit,
and
affords a
proof of their continued comfort and prosperity."

I
said, this
event
is
signal in the history of civilization.
There are many

is full
styles of civilization,
and not one only.

faculties in
Ours
of barbarities.
its
There are many
man, each
is
of which takes
turn of activity, and that faculty which
paramount
nation,
in any period,
and exerts
itself
through the strongest

;
determines the
its
civility
of that age
and each age

culture
is
thinks
own
the perfection of reason.
Our
very
cheap and
it.
intelligible.
Unroof any house, and you
shall find
The well-being
toast,
consists in having a sufficiency of coffee

;
and
with a daily newspaper
a well-glazed parlour, with

;
marbles, mirrors and centre-table
and the excitement of a
few parties and a few rides in a year.

is,
Such
as
one house
such are
all.
The owner
rivals
of a
New
York manor imitates

;
the
mansion and equipage of the London nobleman

his brother of
the
Boston merchant
villages
New York
natioi.^
and the
Ijy
copy Boston.
There have been
elevated
great sentiments.
Such was the

it
civilization of Sparta
and the
Dorian race, whilst

elements of ours.
was defective
in
some of the chief

intellect
in poetry,
That of Athens, again, lay in an That of Asia Minor

;
dedicated to beauty.
music,
and
arts
that of Palestine in piety
tliat
of
Rome
in military
B 3
18
arts
and
virtues, exalted
by
a prodigious
magnanimity
that of
China and Japan

etiquette.
in the last
exaggeration of decorum and

style of,
Our
as
civilization,
is
England determines the
inasmuch as England
nations,
the strongest of the family of existing

It
is
and
we
are the expansion of that people.

;
that of a trading nation
it is
a shopkeeping civilization.
The
English lord
is
a retired shopkeeper, and has the prejudices
and
timidities of that profession.
And
row,
vê are
shopkeepers,
to trade.
and have acquired the vices and virtues that belong
We
peddle,
we
The
truck,
we
sail,
we
we
ride in cars,
we
creep in teams,
of goods.
we go
in canals
to market,
and
for the sale
national
aim and employment streams

habits,
into our
ways of thinking, our laws, our

Tlie
and our manners.
customer
is
the immediate jewel of our souls.
Him we
flatter,
him we
It
feast,
it
compliment, vote
for,
and
will not con-
tradict.
was or
seemed the
dictate of trade, to keep the

less warlike,
negro down.
We
had found a race who were
and
less
energetic shopkeepers than
we
who had
we
very
little
skill in trade.
We
found
it
very convenient to keep them at
work, since, by the aid of a

wôrk for
little
whipping,
could get their
nothing but their board and the cost of whipsa few unpleasant scenes on the coast of Africa
off;
?
Wlial
if it cost
That was a great way
and the scenes could be endured
by some sturdy, unscrupulous fellows,
who
could go for high
wages, and bring us the men, and need not trouble our ears
with the disagreeable particulars.
If
any mention was made
of homicide, madness, adultery, and intolerable tortures,
we
would
swell
raised
let
the
church-bells
ring
louder, the
cliurch-organ
its
peal,
and drown the hideous sound.

;
The sugar they

in
it.
was excellent
;
nobody tasted blood

incense
;
The
coffee
was fragrant
nations
raised
the tobacco was

;
the
brandy made
happy
the
cotton
clothed
the world.
?
What
!
all
by these men, and

!
no wages
Excellent
what
convenience
They seemed created by Providence
to bear
the heat and the whipping, and
make
these fine articles.
IN

is
19
born
But unhappily, most unhappily, gentlemen, man

with
sense
intellect, as well
as with a love of sugar,
and with a
These
of justice, as well as a taste for strong drink.
ripened, as well as those.
You could
not educate him, you
could not get any poetry, any wisdom, any beauty in
woman,
any strong and commanding character in man, but these

absurdities
would
for
still
come
a
too,
flashing out
these absurdities
of a
demand
justice,
generosity for
for the
the
weak and
laws
of
oppressed.
Unhappily,
planter,
:
the
nature are in harmony with each other
that
which the head
and the heart demand,
is
found to be, in the long run, for
what the
sense
is
grossest calculator calls his advantage.
The moral
always supported by the permanent interest of the

Else,
I
parties.
know
not how, in our world, any good would

to the planters that they, as well
that,
ever get done.

as the negroes,
It
was shown
slaves
; ;
were
though they paid no wages,
they got very poor work
that their estates

;
were ruining them,

needed the severest
under the
finest
at
climate
and
that they
monopoly laws
home
to
keep them from bankruptcy.
The
full
oppression of the slave recoiled on them.

vices
;
They were
of
their children
were lumps of pride,

position of
sloth, sensuality,
and rottenness.
it
The
woman was
nearly as bad as
could be, t>nd, like other robbers, they could not sleep in
security.
Many
Slavery
planters
have said, since the emancipation,
that, before that

estates.
day, they were the greatest slaves on their

is
no scholar, no improver
;
it
does not love
the whistle of the railroad
it
does not love the newspaper,
the mail-bag, a college, a book, or a preacher,
who
;
has the
absurd
whim
of saying what he thinks

;
it
does not increase

soil
the white population
it
does not improve the
everything
goes to decay.
For these reasons, the islands proved bad cusIt
tomers
to
England.
was very easy
for
manufacturers
less
shrewd than those of Birmingham and Manchester

if
to see, that
the slaves had wages, the slaves

fill
would be clothed, would

tools,
build houses, would
them with
with pottery, with
20
crockery, with hardware

as well as
w^hite
and negro
women
love fine clothes
women.
In every naked negro of those
thousands, they saw a future customer.
Meantime, they saw
further, that the slave-trade, by keeping in barbarism the
whole
coast of eastern Africa, deprives
them of
countries and nations
of customers,
if
once freedom and
civility,
and European man-
ners could get a foothold there.

abolished,
whilsl
this
But the trade could not be
hungry West Indian market, with an
appetite like the grave, cried, " More,
more
bring
me
a hun-
dred a day
" they could not expect any mitigation in the
madness of the poor African war-chiefs.

opened the eyes of the
dullest in Britain.
These considerations
More than
this,
the
West Indian
estate
was owned or mortgaged
in England,
and
the owner and the mortgagee had very plain intimations that
the feeling of English liberty was gaining every hour
new mass
would be
and
velocity,
and the
hostility to
such as resisted
it,
fatal.
The House of Commons would

so they hastened to
bill.
I
destroy the protection
of island produce, and interfere on English politics in the island

legislation
;
make
the best of their position,
and accepted the
These considerations,
doubt
not,
had their weight, the
interest of trade, the interest of the revenue, and, moreover,
the
good fame of the action.

feel
It
was
inevitable that
to
men
have
should
these motives.
But they do not appear
had an excessive or unreasonable weight.

history,
I
On
It
reviewing this
think the whole transaction reflects infinite honour
on the people and Parliament of England.

spectacle, to see the cause of
was a
stately
human
rights argued with so
much
in
patience and generosity, and with such a mass of eviIt is
dence before that powerful people.

the
history, that
a creditable incident
first
when,
in
4789, the
privy-council
all
report of evidence on the trade, a bulky

the facts
folio,
(embodying
which the London Committee had been engaged

all
for
years in collecting, and
the examinations before the council,)

a late day
was presented
to the
House of Commons,
being
IN

give
21
time,
named
for the discussion, in order to

Pitt, the
members
Mr. Wilberforce, Mr.
prime minister, and other gen-
tlemen, took advantage of the postponement, to retire into the

country, to read the report.
For months and years the

its
bill
was debated, with some consciousness of the extent of

tions
rela-
by the
;
first citizens
of England, the foremost
men
of the
earth
every argument was weighed, every particle of evidence
sifted,
and
laid in the scale
and, at
last,
the right triumphed,
the poor
I
man was vindicated, and
the oppressor was flung out.
know
that
England has the advantage of trying the question

exists
at a
wide distance from the spot where the nuisance
the planters are not, excepting in rare examples,

legislature.
members
of the
The
extent of the empire, and ihe magnitude
and
number
of other questions crowding into court, keep this one
in balance,
and prevent
it
from obtaining that ascendency, and
being urged with that intemperance, which a question of properly tends to acquire.
There are causes
in
the composition
its
of the British legislature, and the relation of
leaders to the
country and to Europe, which exclude

injurious in other legislative
much that is pitiful and assemblies. From these reasons,

to a paltry elec-
the question was discussed with a rare independence and
magnanimity.
It
was not narrowed down

I
tioneering trap, and,
must
say, a delight in justice,
an honest
tenderness for the poor negro, for
man
suffering these wrongs,

to give the
combined with the national

support of English
soil,
pride,
which refused
or the protection of the English flag,
to these disgusting violations of nature.
Forgive me, fellow-citizens,
if I
own
to you, that in the last

this his-
few days that

tory, I
my
attention has
to
been occupied with

it,
have not been able
read a page of
without the
I
most painful comparisons.

have thought of
Whilst
have read of England,

I
New
England.
Whilst
have meditated in
my
solitary
walks on the magnanimity of the English Bench

to
and Senate, reaching out the benefit of the law

helpless citizen in her world-wide realm,
I
the most
have found myself
22
A.s I
oppressed by other thoughts.
have walked in the pasI
tures and along the edge of woods,
could not keep
my
ima-
gination on those agreeable figures, for other images that in-
truded on me.
triots
could not see the great vision of the paslave's cause

:
and senators who have adopted the
turned their backs on me.
No
see other pictures
they
of
mean men
black
see very
poor, very ill-clothed, very ignorant

friends,
men, not surrounded by happy
to
be plain,
poor
of
men
of obscure employment as
mariners,
cooks, or
stewards, in ships, yet citizens of this our
Commonwealth
Massachusetts,
freeborn as we, whom the slave-laws of the

and Louisiana, have arvisited those ports,
States of South Carolina, Georgia,
rested in the vessels in
which they
and
shut up in
jails so
long as the vessel remained in port, with

if
the stringent addition, that

costs of this official arrest,
the shipmaster
fails to
pay the
and the board
in jail, these citizens
are to be sold for slaves, to pay that expense.

these men,
this
I
This man,
see,
and no law
to
save them.
Fellow-citizens,
I
crime will not be hushed up any longer.
have learned
that a citizen of Nantucket, walking in
New
Orleans, found a
freeborn citizen of Nantucket
man,
too, of great personal
worth, and, as
his
it
happened, very dear to him, as having saved

in the streets of that city, kid-
own
life,
working chained
napped by such a process as
this.
In the sleep of the laws,
the private interference of two excellent citizens of Boston has,

I
have ascertained, rescued several natives of this State from
these southern prisons.
Gentlemen,
thought the deck of a
Massachusetts ship was as

as the floor
much
the territory of Massachusetts,

It
on which we stand.
should be as sacred as the

that floats
temple of God.
The poorest fishing-smack,
under
the shadow of an iceberg in the northern seas, or hunts the
whale in the southern ocean, should be encompassed by her

laws with comfort and protection, as
of Cape
within
much as within the arms Ann and Cape Cod. And this kidnapping is suffered our own land and federalion, whilst the fourth article
IN
25
of the Constitution of the United States ordains in terms, that
" The citizens of each Stale shall be entitled to
all
privileges
If
and immunities of
citizens in the several Stales."
such a
damnable outrage can be committed on the person of

with impunity,
State
;
a citizen
let
the Governor break the broad seal of the

in vain.
he wears the sword

is
The Governor of Massais
chusetts
a trifler
the State-house in Boston

is
a play-house
the General Court
a dishonoured body
if
they
make laws
which they cannot execute.

left
The
great-hearted Puritans have

in State-street, but
no
posterity.
The
rich
;
men may walk
they walk without honour
and the farmers may brag their

If
democracy
in the
country, but they are disgraced men.

to
the State has no
power
it
it
defend
its
own
people in
its
own
shipping, because
has delegated that power to the Federal
Government, has
no representation
I
in the
Federal Govern-
ment ?
Are those men dumb ?

forms.
am no
lawyer, and cannot

is
indicate the forms applicable to the case, but here
some-
thing which transcends
all
Let the senators and re-
presentatives of the Slate, containing a population of a million
freemen, go in a body before the Congress, and say, that they
have a demand to make on them so imperative, that

tions of
all
func-
government must
slop, until
it,
it is
satisfied.
If ordi-
nary legislation cannot reach

applied.
then
extraordinary must be
The Congress should
instruct the President to send
to those ports of Charlestown,
Savannah, and
New
Orleans,
all
such orders and such force, as shall release, forthwith,
such citizens of Massachusetts as were holden in prison without the allegation of any crime, and should set on foot the
strictest
inquisition
to
discover where such persons, brought
into slavery
by
these local laws, at

first
;
any time heretofore,
may
to
now
be.
That
and
then, let order be taken to indem-
nify all
such as have been incarcerated.
As
is
for
dangers
the Union, from such
demands
the Union
already at an
end,
Is
it
when
the
first
citizen of Massachusells is thus outraged.
an union and covenant in which the Slate of Massa-
24
chusetts agrees to be imprisoned, and the State of Carolina to
imprison
?
I
Gentlemen,
am
loath to say harsh things,
and
perhaps
know
too little of politics for the smallest weight to
attach to any censure of mine,
but
am
at a loss
how
to
characterise the tameness and silence of the two senators and
the ten representatives of the State at Washington.
To what
purpose have
we
clothed each of those representatives with
the power of seventy thousand persons, and each senator with

nearly half a million,
if
they are
to sit
dumb
There
at
;
their desks,
to
and see their constituents captured and sold

gentlemen
sitting
by them
in the hall.
is
rumour
it is
that has been swelling louder of late years,

false,
wholly
perhaps scandalous perhaps

a
I
that
members
are bullied into silence by
southern gentlemen.
to
It is
so easy to omit to speak, or even

to
be absent when delicate things are
be handled.
may
as well say
what
all
men
feel,
that whilst our very amiable

at
and very innocent representatives and senators

dinners and
caucuses, there
I
Washington,
are accomplished lawyers and merchants, and very eloquent at

i^t
is
disastrous
want of
men
from
New
England.
suffer
would gladly make exceptions, and

to
you will not
me
forget one
eloquent old man, in

rolls,
whose veins the blood of Massachusetts

against
and who singly
has defended the freedom of speech, and the rights of the

free,
the usurpation
of the slave-holder.
But the
perplexed
reader of Congressional debates in

to see with
New
England,
is
what admirable sweetness and patience the maand ridden by the mi-
jority of the free states are schooled
nority of slave-holders.
What
sirs,
if
we
should
send
thither
representatives
who were
a particle less amiable and less innolet
cent
this
entreat you,
not this stain attach, let not

If the
misery accumulate any longer.
managers of our
;
political parties are too
prudent and too cold
if,
most un-
happily, the ambitious class of
young men and

no graceful
political
men
to
have found out, that these neglected victims are poor and
without weight
;
that they have
hospitalities
IN
THE BRITISH ^VEST INDIES.
25
offer
no valuable business to throw into any man's hands, no

;
strong vote to cast at the elections
and therefore may with
impunity be
then
let
left
in their chains, or to the chance of chains,
the citizens in their primary capacity take up iheir
cause on this very ground, and say to the government of the

State,
and of the Union, that government
exists to
;
defend the
weak and the poor and the injured party

strong can belter take care of themselves.
the rich and the
And
as an
omen
and assurance of success,
point you to the bright example

this day, ten years ago.
which England
set you,
on
There are other comparisons and other imperative duties
which come sadly

theme,
to
mind,
but
;
do not wish
to
darken the
hours of this day by crimination
turn gladly to the rightful
to the bright aspects of the occasion.
This event was a moral revolution.

before you.
The
history of
it
is
Here was no prodigy, no fabulous hero, no Troall
jan horse, no bloody war, but
was achieved by plain means
of plain men, working not under a leader, but under a senti-
ment.
Other revolutions have been the insurrection of the

;
oppressed
this
was the repentance of the
tyrant.
It
was the
masters revolting from their mastery.

I will
The
slave-holder said,
not hold slaves.
The end was
noble, and the
means
were pure.
of history.
Hence, the elevation and pathos of
this chapter
The
lives of the advocates are
pages of greatness,
this question,
lives.
and the connection of the eminent senators with

constitutes the immortalizing
moments of those men's
The bare enunciation

legislators
of the thesis, at
which the lawyers and
arrived,
gives a
glow
to the heart of the reader.
Lord Chancellor Norlhington is the author of the famous sentence, " As soon as any man puts his foot on English ground,
he becomes free."
"
I
was a
slave," said the counsel of SoI
merset, speaking for his client, " for
was
in
America
am
are the
now in a country, where the common rights of mankind known and regarded." Granville Sharpe filled the ear of
judges with the sound principles, that had from time
c
to
time
26
legal authorities.
been affirmed by the
not be superior to the power from which
" Derived power canit is derived." " The "

It
is
it
reasonableness of the law
is
the soul of the law."
better to suffer every evil, than to consent to any."
Out
would come, the God's

cloud, for
sensibly in
all
truth, out
it
came,
like a bolt
from a
very
the
mumbling
of the lawyers.
One
feels
all this
history that a great heart
and soul are be-
hind there, superior to any man, and making use of each

in turn,
and
infinitely attractive to every
person according to
the degree of reason in his
own mind,
it
so that this cause has
had the power

worth
in
to
draw
to
every particle of talent and of

All the great geniuses
England, from the beginning.
of the British senate
Fox,
Pitt,
Burke, Grenville, Sheridan,

its
Grey, Canning, ranged themselves on
side
the poet
Cowthe
per wrote for

country,
subtlety
all
it
Franklin, Jefferson, Washington,

All
in this
recorded their votes.

fire
men remember
liberal
and the
of indignation, which the Edinburgh

to
Review contributed
the
cause
and every
mind,
poet, preacher, moralist,
statesman,
has had the fortune to
appear somewhere for this cause.

peared the reign of pounds and
rage and stupidity
dlestone
in
;
On
the
other part, apall
shillings,
and
manner of
at-
a resistance which
drew from Mr. Hud-
Parliament the observation, " That a curse

it."
tended this trade even in the mode of defending

certain fatality,
By
none but the
vilest
arguments were brought
forward, which corrupted the very persons
who used them.

in-
Every one of these was built on the narrow ground of

terest,
of pecuniary profit, of sordid gain, in opposition to
every motive that had reference to humanity, justice, and religion, or to that great principle
all."
This
which comprehended them
moral force perpetually reinforces and dignifies

It
the friends of the cause.
gave that tenacity to their point

;
which has ensured ultimate triumph

riority in
all
and
it
gave that supe-
reason, in imagery,
in
eloquence, which makes in
countries anti-slavery meetings so attractive to the people,
I>
27
" eloquence
and has made

is
it
a proverb in Massachusetts, that
dog-cheap
I
at the anti-slavery
chapel
!"
will
say further, that
we
are indebted
it
mainly to this
movement, and
sion
to the continuers of
for the popular discus-
of every point of practical ethics, and a reference of

It is
every question to the absolute standard.
notorious, that
the political, religious, and social schemes, with which the
minds of men are now most occupied, have been matured, or

at least
broached, in the free and daring discussions of these
assemblies.
tion,
Men
have become aware through the emancipa-
and kindred events, of the presence of powers, which,

of darkness, they had overlooked.
in their days
Virtuous
men
day,
ing,
will not again rely
on
political agents.
They have found
out the deleterious effect of political association.
Up
to this
we have allowed and we bow low
to statesmen a
paramount
the great.
social stand-
to
them
as
to
We
cannot
extend this deference to them any longer.
The
secret cannot
be kept, that the seats of power are

ignorant,
that
filled
by underlings,
timid,
and
selfish,
to destroy all
claim, excepting
on compassion,
to
the society of the just and generous.
What happened
notoriously to an
American ambassador
to
in
to
England, that he found himself compelled

disguise the fact that he
palter,
and
to
was a slave-breeder, happens

is
men
of state.
Their vocation
presumption
against
them,
among well-meaning
power and
office,
is
people.
The
superstition
respecting
going to the ground.
The stream of
little
human
affairs flows its
own way, and
is
very
affected
by
but
the activity of legislators.
What
great masses of
it
men wish
done, will be done
and they do not wish
for a freak,
because
it
is
their state
and natural end.
There are now
other energies than force, other than political, which no

in
man
felt,
future can
allow
himself to disregard.
There
is
direct
conversation and influence.
A man
is
to
make himself
his merits,
by his proper force.

this point,
The tendency
of things runs steadily to
namely, to put every
man on
and
to
28
give
less.
him
so
much power
as
he naturally exerts
no more,
who
all
no
are
Of
course, the timid and base persons, all
conscious of no worth in themselves, and

place to
who owe
their
the
opportunities
which the old order of things
allowed them to deceive and defraud men, shudder at the

change, and would fain silence every honest voice, and lock
up every house where

for.
liberty
and innovation can be pleaded

for fear is very cruel.
They would
raise
mobs,
But the
no comcannot
strong and healthy
yeomen and husbands of the
land, the selffear
sustaining class of inventive and industrious

petition or superiority.
men,
Come what
will, their faculty
be spared.
The
into
First of
August marks the entrance of a new element

namely, the civilization of the negro.
modern
is
politics,
man
added
to the
human
family.
is,
Not the
least
affecting
part of this history of abolition,
the annihilation of the old

In the
indecent nonsense about the nature of the negro.

case of the ship
"Zong,"
in
1781, whose master had thrown

sea,
one hundred and thirty-two slaves alive into the

the underwriters, the
first
to cheat
jury gave a verdict in favour of the
master and owners

done.
they had a right to do what they had

is
Lord Mansfield
left to
reported to have said on the bench,

is,
" The matter
the jury
they had no doubt,
though
made
Was
if
it
from necessity ?
For
that
it
shocks one very much,
the case of slaves was the same as

overboard.
It
is
horses had been thrown
a very shocking case."
But a more enMr. Clark-
lightened and
humane
opinion began to prevail.
son, early in his career,

tions
a collection of African producarts
and manufactures, as specimens of the

;
and culture
of the negro
comprising cloths and loom, weapons, polished
stones and woods, leather, glass, dyes, ornaments, soap, pipe-
bowls, and trinkets.
These he showed
to
Mr.
Pitt,
who saw
sight of
and handled them with extreme

these," says Clarkson,
interest.
"
On
" many sublime thoughts seemed to

;"
rush
at
once into his mind, some of which he expressed
IN

to arise a project
29
and hence appeared

to
which was always dear

a
him, of the
civilization of Africa,
dream which
for ever
elevates his fame.
In 1791, Mr. Wilberforce announced to
the House of
tory
:
Commons,
" We have aheady gained one

for
vic-
wê
have obtained for these poor creatures the recogni-
tion of their
human
nature, which,
It
time,
was most
shamefully denied them."

quieu, "
lest
it
was the sarcasm of Montes-
it would not do to suppose that negroes were men, should turn out that whites were not ;" for, the white
has, for ages,
done what he could
to
keep the negro in that

furies.
It
hoggish
state.
His laws have been

is,
now
appears,
that the negro race
more than any
other,
is
susceptible of
in
rapid
civilization.
The emancipation
observed,
the
islands, to
have wrought for the negro a benefit as sudden as

is
when
It
a thermometer
brought out of the shade into the sun.

If,
has given
him
eyes and ears.
before,
he was taxed with

set
such stupidity, or such defective vision, that he could not

a table square to the walls of an apartment,
principal,
is,
he
is
now
;
the
if
not the only mechanic, in the
West
Indies
and
besides, an architect, a physician, a lawyer, a magistrate,

political
an editor, and a valued and increasing

recent testimonies of Slurge, of
power.
The
Thome and
Kimball, of Gur-
ney, of Philippo, are very explicit on this point, the capacity
and the success of the coloured and the black population in
employments of
is
skill,
of profit, and of trust

their moderation.
and, best of
all,
the testimony to
They receive
will
hints
and advances from the whites, that they

ceived as subscribers to the Exchange, as
that committee of trust.
other, that " social position
I
be gladly reof this or

to
members
They hold back, and say

is
each
not to be gained by pushing."

it
have said that this event interests us because

;
came
mainly from the concession of the whiles

it is
add, that in part

pity
the earning of the blacks.
They won the

their
and respect
which they have received, by

ments.
I
powers and native endow-
think this a circumstance of the highest import.
50
Tlieir
ON Mi:GUO EMANClPAT10x\
whole fulore
is
in
it.
Oor
planet, before the
age of
written history, had
its
races of savages, like the generations of
sour paste, or the animalcules that wriggle and bite in a drop

of putrid water.
Who
cares for these or for their wars

!
We
do not wish a world of bugs or of birds

of Scythians, Caribs, or Feejees.
neither afterwards
style
The grand
of nature,
cares for
her great periods,
is all
we
observe in them.
Who
oppressing whites, or oppressed blacks, twenty centuries ago,
more than
for
bad dreams?
;
Eaters and food are in the haris
mony
of nature
and there too
the
germ
for ever protected,
unfolding gigantic leaf after

in every period, yet its next
It will
leaf,
newer
is
flower, a richer fruit,
product
never to be guessed.
;
only save what
is
worth saving
It
;
and
it
saves not by
compassion, but by power.

lion,
appoints no police to guard the
but his teeth and clav^s

;
no
fort
or city for the bird, but

tlieir
his wings
no rescue
for
ilies
and mites, but

It
spawning
numbers, which no ravages can overcome.

after the
deals with
foolish,
men
same manner.
go.
If they are
at
last
rude and
a race, a
down
they
must
When
is
in
it
new
principle
appears, an idea,
If the black
that conserves
feeble,
ideas only save races.

to the existing
man
and not important
races, not serve,
on a parity with the best race, the black
and be exterminated.
But
if
the black
a
his
bosom an indispensable element of

for
man must man carries in new and coming

no wrong, nor
civilization,
the
sake of that element,
strength nor circumstance, can hurt play his part.

as Toussaint,
him
he will survive and
So now, the
arrival in the
world of such
men
all
and the Haytian heroes, or of the leaders of their
race in Barbadoes and Jamaica, outweighs in good
omen
is
the English and American humanity.
The
anti-slavery of the
whole world,
is
dust in the balance before this,

:
if
a poor
squeamishness and nervousness

here
:
the might and the right are

is
here
is
the anti-slave
is
here
man
and
you have
man, black or while

is
an insignificance.
it,
The
i
intellect
that
miraculous
Who
has
has the talisman
his skin
and
1>
THE HiUTISH WEST INDIES.
5t
bones, though ihey were of ihe color of night, are transparent,
and the everlasting
stars shine through,

is
with attractive beams.
But
compassion for that which

is
not,
and cannot be useful
or lovely,
degrading and
futile.
All the songs,
and news-
papers, and money-subscriptions, and vituperation of such as
do not think with

to you,
us, will avail
nothing against a
fact.
say
;
yon must save yourself, black or white,

is
man
or
woman
other help
none.
esteem the occasion of this jubilee to
be the proud discovery, that the black race can contend with
the white
piece of
;
that, in the great
anthem which we
after
call history, a
many
parts
and vast compass,
playing a long
time a very low and subdued accompaniment, they perceive

the time arrived
when
they can strike in with effect, and take
a master's part in the music.
The
civilization of the
is
world has
indisfor
reached that pitch, that their moral genius

pensable, and the quality of the race
itself.
is
becoming
to
be honoured
For
this,
they have been preserved in sandy deserts,
in rice- swamps, in kitchens
and shoe-shops, so long: now
let
them emerge, clothed and

subject opens, but
in their
own
form.
There remains the very elevated consideration which the
which belongs
;
to
more
abstract views than
we
are
now
taking
this,
namely, that the

is
civilization of
It
is
no race
a doc-
can be perfect whilst another race

trine alike
degraded.
of the oldest, and of the newest philosophy, that
man
is
one, and that you cannot injure any

all
member, without
is
sympathetic injury to
the members.
America
not
civi--
lized whilst Africa i& barbarous.
These considerations seem
to leave
no choice
for the action
of the intellect and the conscience of the country.
There have
moral his-
been moments
tory,
in this, as well as in every piece of
when
;
there seemed
room
for the infusions of a sceptical
when it seemed doubtful, whether brute force would not triumph in the eternal struggle. I doubt not, that sometimes a despairing negro when jumping over the ship's
philosophy
sides to escape from the white devils
who surrounded him,
32
has believed
rible
to
ON NEGRO EMANCIPATION, ETC.

there was no vindication of right
of,
is
it
hor-
think
but
it
seemed
so.
doubt
not
but
sometimes the negro's
friend, in the face of scornful

felt
and brutal
Espar-
hundreds of traders and drivers, has

pecially,
it
his heart sink.

is
seems
to
me, some degree of despondency
donable,
intellect, his
when he observes the men of conscience and of own natural allies and champions, those whose
attention should be nailed to the grand objects of this cause,

so hotly offended by whatever incidental petulances or infirmities of indiscreet
defenders of the negro, as to permit them;
selves to
be ranged with the enemies of the human race

liberty
and
names which should be the alarums of

words of
selfishness
and the watch-
truth,
are mixed
I
up with
all
the rotten rabble of
and tyranny.
assure myself that this coldness
and blindness
will pass away.
single noble
I
wind of
senti-
ment
what
will scatter
them
for ever.
am
sure that the good and
wise elders, the ardent and generous youth will not permit
is
incidental
essential
and exceptional
to
withdraw their devotion
from the
and permanent characters of the question.

I said,
There have been moments,

forgiven
when men might have been

past.
who
it
doubted.
Those moments are

is
Seen in
masses,
society.
cannot be disputed, there

is
progress in
human
There
a blessed necessity
by which the interest of

;
men
all
is
always driving them to the right
and, again, making

is
crime mean and ugly.

;
The genius of the Saxon race The
friendly to liberty
the enterprise, the very muscular vigour

Intellect,
of this nation, are inconsistent with slavery.
with blazing eye, looking through History from the beginning
onward, gazes on
this blot,
and
it
disappears.
The sentiment
more
articu-
of right, once very low and indistinct, but ever

late,
because
it is
the voice of the universe, pronounces Freethat built this fabric of things affirms
it
dom.
The Power
;
in
the heart
and
in the history of the 1st of August, has
made
a sign to the ages, of his will.
Jiuj^t l^ttiilij^ftctf,
uniform
bitft tfti^ 2)2ajxrS,
SELF-CULTURE.
âper cover, 6d.
;
By William
Ellery Channing. By
the Author
cloth, Is.
or.
The
&c.
LOG-CABIN
The World before You.

;
of " Three Experiments of Living," " Sketches of the Old Painters,"
In paper cover,
1*.
or,
6d.
cloth, 2*.
extra cloth, gilt edges, 2s. 6d.
is a very interesting narrative of American life, including a vivid sketch of an early settler's experience in the Forests of the West. The tale is told with beautiful simplicity and clearness, and every fit opportunity is seen and seized, whereby the principles and necessity of moral and intellectual culture may be set forth, and inculcated
"Thk Log-Cabin;
Thk Would Before You,"
with
effect."
Will be published in a few days,
HISTORICAL SKETCHES
Author of " The Log Cabin."
of the
OLD PAINTERS. By
2s. 6d.
;
the
In paper cover,
cloth, 3s.
I
The RATIONALE Martineau.
The Publisher
volumes of a
of
To be followed by
RELIGIOUS ENQUIRY.
By James
of the above works intends
them
to
form the
first
series of judiciously
selected works, embracing various
departments of literature.
An
endeavour
will
be
made
to present to the public a class of interall
esting books entirely free from
sectarian thought or feeling,
and the
authors of those of the series which

will
maybe
;
of a philosophical character,
probably possess
little
in
common, except a
progress
love of intellectual
freedom, and a faith in
human
they
will
be united by sym-
pathy of spirit, not by agreement in speculation.
Just Published, in Royal 8vo, price 9d.,
NEW EDITION
OF
LECTURES to YOUNG MEN, on the CULTIVATION of the MIND, the FORMATION of CHARACTER, and the CONDUCT
of
LIFE.
By
G.
W. Burnap.
In 8vo, price M.,
The YOUNG Emerson.
AMERICAN.
Lecture.
By Ralph Waldo
^<j^^
^^s^

Ralph Waldo Emerson - The Emancipation of The Negroes in The British West Indies (1844)

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Ralph Waldo Emerson - The Emancipation of The Negroes in The British West Indies (1844)

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THE

EMANCIPATION OF THE NEGROES

which the ages have told, Freedom lives imperishable."

which the ages have established,

LONDON: JOHN CHAPMAN, 121. NEWGATE

EMANCIPATION OF THE NEGROES

BEITISH WEST INDIES

" Fetters, chains, monopolies,

thefts, sales, statutes, all

men have found

LONDON JOHN CHAPMAN, 121, NEWGATE STREET.

BY RICHARD KINDER, GREEK ARBOUR COCRT, OLD BAILEY.

are met to exchange congratulations on the anniversary

of an event singular in the history of civilization

of the clear light

than a flock of birds and beasts

a day which gave the imof gross history,

settlement, as far as a great empire

was concerned, of a question on which almost every leading

had taken care

to record his vote

years absorbed the attention of the best

and most emi-

coming from other

and without the smallest claim

undertake to set this matter beto

which ought rather

In this cause, no man's weakness

has a thousand sons

one man cannot speak,

ten others can

and whether by the wisdom of

by speech and by silence

doing and by omitting to do,

but the might of liberty in

men's experience a marked

enterprise in behalf of the African, to generate an overbear-

ing and defying

have but one side, and he

stupid or a malignant person

can hesitate on a view of the

Under such an impulse,

cannot speak, or cannot hear the words of freedom,

your grave, the uni:

verse has no need of you

have thought better

consider what remains to be done for

this interest, in this country, the dictates of

tender of sucli as are not yet persuaded.

Let us withhold every reproachful,

every indignant remark.

must renounce our temper, and the

thinks the ruin of a race of

matter, compared with the last decoration and completions of

would not so much as part with

them from rapine and manacles,

hesitate to satisfy that

vanilla are safer

and cheaper, by placing the negro nation on

a fair footing, than by robbing them.

himself on the picturesque luxury of his vassalage, on the

heavy Ethiopian manners of his house-servants, their silent