The West India colonies; the calumnies and misrepresentations circulated against them by the Edinburgh review, Mr. Clarkson, Mr. Cropper, &c. &c.

Front matter

I

THE

WEST INDIA COLONIES;

Preface

THE imminent danger which at present threatens our West India Colonies ; the vast importance of these possessions in the agricultural, commercial, and political scale ; the dreadful misrepresentations scattered abroad against them; and the unmitigated, unmerited, and degrading charges heaped upon the character and the conduct of the whole class of West India proprietors, renders it an imperious duty on the part of every one who has any regard for the character or safety of his country, and who may be acquainted with the real state of affairs in the Colonies, to lay the truth before the public. Having no stake whatever in the West Indies, actuated only by a regard for truth, and love for my country, without any interest to serve, or resentment to gratify ; but not shrinking from a subject

b2

Viii PREFACE.

for the present so unpopular, I have presumed to lay before the world the following sheets. With what success I have defended the cause of these valuable and much injured possessions, it is for the public to determine.

It was not my intention, and it is far from my thoughts, to hurt the personal feelings of any man, or any body of men, who on these subjects may differ from me in opinion. I deprecate and disclaim any such objects. On the subjects in dispute, because I feel strongly, I have spoken my sentiments freely, but not disrespectfully or offensively, nor in stronger language than the statements put forward by the anti-Colonists (more especially their anonymous writers) have appeared to warrant, or the importance of the subject to require. Where the names of individuals have unavoidably been introduced, I have to state that my observations and censures apply only to their public conduct, writings, and proceedings, connected with this important discussion. The benevolent intentions of multitudes who take a different view of the subject

PREFACE. IX

from what I do, cannot be doubted, and deserve the highest praise. But they have been misled, and unless they attend to truth, their exertions in the cause of humanity may be attended with fatal results. It is to those secret informers and anonymous writers who have misled them, that my strongest and severest censures apply.

An enemy to personal Slavery in the abstract, still I cannot shut my eyes to the fact, that it has always existed, and still exists to a prodigious extent amongst mankind. Much as I should rejoice to see only freemen — men capable of enjoying freedom in every country on earth, still I am not so sanguine as to imagine or to believe, that either the present generation, or the children's children of the present generation, will witness that consummation. It is because I am an enemy to Slavery, that I would oppose the rash, unjust, and dangerous measures now proposed for the abolition of personal Slavery in the West Indies, measures which, whatever the authors of them intend, will make the freemen in these possessions Slaves, and give the rein to bar-

X PREFACE.

barism to trample down— to extirpate civilization.

Genuine Christianity will accomplish, and it only can accomplish, what its Great Author intended, namely, such a reformation (where reformation is sought) in the human character and manners as would lead to a safe amelioration in political institutions, and a more equal distribution of civil rights amongst nations ; such amelioration as will raise the Slave to freedom, with the master's consent, as soon as the Slave shall be fitted to make a proper use of that freedom. Every other interference with political institutions and municipal rights, Christianity condemns. "Do ye unto others whatsoever things ye would that others should do unto you," is the Christian rule; but our modern reformers and emancipators forget that the text has a context which imperatively enjoins, that before we judge and condemn, we should endeavour to place ourselves in the situation of those whom we are about to judge and condemn, and then remember and be guided by the Divine law;

PREFACE. XI

and further, our anti-Colonists should remember that this injunction was laid upon Slaves as well as upon masters, and that it is equally binding upon both. It is through a diffusion of true knowledge that we can alone look to bring about emancipation. This mode requires no accusation— no defamation — no declamation — no misrepresentation—no injustice. We have the example and commands of our Saviour and his Apostles to guide us in such matters, and let us follow His and their footsteps and commands, rather than the footsteps and commands (I mean no reflections upon the creeds or the understandings) of Mr. Buxton, Mr. W. Smith, Mr. Stephen, and Mr. Clarkson, however specious their professions, or respectable their character.

In an enlightened and intelligent country like this, it is truly surprising that the real situation of the West India Colonies, with which we have so long had such frequent intercourse, should be so little known, and so easily and so grossly misrepresented. Yet so it is. But the system of delusion which has so long been employed to

Xli PREFACE.

defame the inhabitants of those countries is approaching its termination. The veil is rent asunder— truth will prevail. The people of this generous nation, misled by the perversion and misapplication of the sacred names of liberty and humanity, will return — are already returning to the path of reason and justice, with the resolution to protect, not to devote to misery — despair — destruction, their fellow-countrymen, in those distant but most valuable portions of our dominions. This generous nation and enlightened people will, I feel confident, no longer endure that unfair and unehristianlike system, which, upon insulated and exaggerated acts of cruelty and oppression, condemns and consigns to infamy and ruin a whole community — they will no more, I repeat, endure and tolerate this system, than they would endure that the general character of Britons should be judged by the actions and conduct of a Thurtell, a Probert, and a Hunt, or by the conduct of those individuals who, while they branded with every crime innocent West India Colonists, eulogized the

PREFACE. Xlll

character of the most cold-blooded murderer that ever stained the annals of the criminal calendar of this country.

The enlightened statesmen who guide the affairs of this mighty nation, cannot fail to perceive that the crude schemes of our anti-Colonists if carried into execution, would lead to the loss of the West India Colonies. Insurrection and rebellion might, I allow, be put down by the mighty power of Great Britain ; but if the property is destroyed by internal convulsion, it can never be replaced or restored ; and after putting down these insurrections, Great Britain would find that she only ruled over unproductive lands. But even without insurrectious, emancipation would destroy the credit — the capital, which have hitherto carried on the agriculture of the Colonies. After what has already taken place, the British Government will find it a more difficult business to restore that credit, without which cultivation cannot go on in the Islands, than to reconquer the Colonies, were the whole of them in open rebellion. This is a xiv PREFACE.

point which may now be ridiculed,, and passed over as undeserving of notice, but a short period will bring it full in the face of the governors and the governed, in all its appalling reality. With ten sail of the line, and 40,000 troops— and an additional expense of three millions annually, this country may keep emancipated negroes in subjection, and obtain from the proceeds of their labour the produce of the few Cotton and Coffee bushes at present growing in our Colonies (even could their produce be guarded from the Americans), but she would obtain from them nothing more.

From the events passing in other countries let us learn wisdom. Some years ago the Emperor Alexander decreed the emancipation of the villeins, or slaves, in the Polish provinces bordering upon Russia Proper. The order was obeyed, but mark the consequences — the masters were all ruined, and the slaves left without means or credit. The master who previously had an income of £10,000, was left with less than a twentieth part of that sum. For his land

PREFACE. XV

he could get no rent from miserable people who had nothing to give, and neither the inclination nor the means of earning wherewithal to pay rent. Where the ample fortune of the master had enabled him previously in cases of necessity, to provide for his Slaves, he had no longer the means nor an interest to do so, and the consequence has been, that the lands have remained either ill-cultivated, or wholly barren, and tens of thousands of the emancipated Slaves (unwilling to work) have been swept away by famine, and extreme misery covers whole provinces once flourishing. These facts may be ascertained by any one who willt take the trouble to inquire ; and if such were the results in Russian Poland, where 500,000 bayonets kept down open revolt, how much more dreadful will the consequences be of emancipating the African Slaves in our West India Colonies ?

Without a single inquiry or investigation — without duly -considering how emancipation was to be effected, or what would be the result of of emancipation to the important interests in-

Xvi PREFACE.

volved in that great revolution in the frame of society in the Colonies, Mr. Buxton, hurried on bimself, has precipitated his country into a situation from which her wisest and her boldest statesmen must shudder to go forward, and be perplexed how to turn back.

The labours of the ant and the bee have been held up by moralists as examples to teach mankind wisdom and industry. Both, but more especially the latter, may, in this case, teach statesmen a lesson, and prove a sure guide to estimate the productive labour and industry of the sluggish uncivilized natives of the torrid zone, when not directed by civilized knowledge. Take the bee from Britain to the West Indies, and for the first year, during the summer months, it continues to amass its stores, and provide for approaching winter ; finding, however, no winter, and that supplies of food can be had at all seasons, it relaxes its industry, and ceases, as in Europe, to collect a store ; it adopts the character of an inhabitant of the torrid zone, and

PREFACE. XVII

the mere food for the day is all that is sought after.

A good deal has been said about the violence with which the Colonial Legislatures have met this important question. Before we judge their proceedings, we must first endeavour to place ourselves in their situation. Their greatest, and their only error, is in having identified the executive government of the mother country with the formidable anti Colonial party lately sprung up in it. Now, considering the conduct and proceedings of the leaders and prompters of this party — considering that they had described the Colonists to be u white savages," &c. &c. — men fit to be placed without the protection of law — that this party called — call upon the Legislature and the Government of the country, to annihilate and take away the privileges and rights which, as British subjects, the Colonists are entitled to possess — and considering, further, that this party, by every means in their power, have taught the Slaves in these Colonies that their masters are their oppressors, not their protectors, xviii PREFACE.

and that, consequently, the nation ought to emancipate the whole of them, passings as lightly as possible, over the word compensation — considering all these things — considering that the Colonists saw (if I may use the expressions) the hand of the robber at their pockets, and the dagger of the assassin at their bosoms, no wonder that their representations were strong, and their voice loud. They would have been unworthy the name of Britons, if they had not complained, and made their complaints reach the mother country with the utmost speed, energy, and strength. Yet, after all, what are their proceedings, complaints, and resolutions, when compared with the proceedings, complaints, and resolutions at public meetings in this country, extolled to the skies by those very men, who are the foremost on this occasion to condemn with unqualified reprobation the conduct of our persecuted and calumniated Colonies?

The British agriculturists settled in the Colonies hold, and must continue to hold their

PREFACE xix

property as matter of right. They will never condescend to enter the lists with those who insist that they hold, and must only hold it as a matter of favour.

If the existence of personal Slavery in any part of our dominions is become so obnoxious to our constitution and laws, that it must be abrogated, and equal political rights bestowed upon every class in our dominions, then let those laws, which instituted Slavery as advantageous to the national interests, do it away by paying the value of the property. Whenever the legislature of this country, from motives of policy and regard to civil rights, determines that this should be done, I, for one, shall willingly pay my quota of the tax, but let it not be demanded, because the Slaves in our Colonies are illegally held as Slaves, or treated with cruelty and oppression, which is not the case.

With regard to our valuable possessions in the East Indies, I esteem them as highly as either Mr. Clarkson, Mr. Cropper, or Mr.

Stephen can do. They are a bright gem in the

XX PREFACE.

British crown, and may, Ihumbh conceive, be rendered still more valuable, by laying that trade open to British subjects, which is free to every foreigner. Where I have spoken of these possessions, or those connected with the direction of them with asperity, it has been forced from me in argument, and in order to meet with facts the thoughtless and injudicious comparisons, brought forward by men, who call themselves their advocates, but who are actuated by principles alike hostile to all our Colonial possessions; and whose formidable machinery, fairly put in motion, will overturn from its foundations the mighty power of Britain in India, and then coolly tell us it is a punishment from Heaven for our national misdeeds — the scape-goat of all injudicious and ignorant reformers. The government at present established in India, is, considering every circumstance the best that could be instituted in a country so demoralized and disorganized. It is the best that could be established to bring peace and security to the afflicted people, the prey of ignorant tyrants— -it is the best

PREFACE. XX i

calculated., I believe, to bring order out of confusion, and pave the way for the introduction of true knowledge ; but let the prompters of the African Institution once get a footing either in India or in Leadenhall-street — let but a few such " good men5' as lately enlightened Demerara, have liberty to exercise their talents on the banks of the Ganges, and the prophecy of the Edinburgh Review would be realized — we should lose our Indian Empire as quickly " as a frigate or a fort." Even Mr. Stephen himself feels no small degree of alarm on this subject, and gives our Statesmen fair warning, " Let any Statesman," says he, " turn his eyes to our enormous wide extended possessions in the East ; which every maritime State beholds with an envy undisguised, and where Feance will no longer have to direct her means of annoyance for purposes of defence," Sec. Aye, let the would-be- Statesmen among us turn their eyes and contemplate this prospect, and learn therefrom not to endanger or destroy our West India Colonies by their crude speculations.

XXII PREFACE.

It would be a waste of time further to follow Mr. Stephen's wild lucubrations. I shall now leave them, after briefly noticing one more of his recommendations. He calls upon the British Parliament to " cease impotently and mischievously to reco7n?nend, and begin at length to ordain" his laics for the Colonies. Whenever the British Parliament begins to follow Mr. Stephen's advice, and " ordain" that British subjects shall no longer have a voice in directing, regulating, and preserving their property, from that moment we are all Slaves — the principle may, with equal justice be applied to himself — to every one of us, and we should have a government armed with the same powers as a Napoleon, a Tamerlane, or a Zenghis Khan; and who, being no more interested in our personal comfort, safety, and prosperity, than those tyrants were in the safety and prosperity of their subjects, might, after the example of those great personages, doom us to be " food for cannon" or for the sword.

The principles recommended by Mr. Stephen

PREFACE. XXlll

will, if inforced, raze from its place the foundation stone of the British Constitution. These principles drove James II. from his throne, and brought Charles the I. to the scaffold, and enabled a parcel of canting hypocrites, during their day, to trample upon a mighty nation.

Mr. Stephen may advocate such principles, and broach such doctrines, but he is not prime minister of Great Britain. If he was, it is evident that by unconstitutional conduct, he would raise a tempest which would sweep him from his place in a moment.

Mr. Stephen may also possess that nerve and temerity which would induce him to set his foot upon the neck of on eighth part of the population of the United Kingdom, and annihilate their property; but I feel convinced that there is not yet born in Great Britain, another Statesman, who dare even to hint that such are his feelings and intentions.

To the sneers which Mr. Stephen and his colleagues throw out about the trifling amount of the British exports to the West India Islands,

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Xxiv PREFACE.

the reply is very short. By the evidence taken before the House of Commons, 1806, it clearly appeared that the expense of cultivating each cwt. of Sugar, cost in the Leeward Islands, 19s. 6d. and in Jamaica, 20s. 6d. Now, these Colonies produce in round numbers 4,000,000 cwts. Sugar, consequently here is a consumption of ^4,000,000 British exports in one shape or another, independent of what is consumed on cotton, coffee, and cocoa plantations and other ways.

In page 199 1 have stated the exports of Hayti in coffee as being under 20,000,000 lbs. At that time I had no accurate data to guide me in the exports to Continental Europe. The London general mercantile returns for last year, if correct, which I shall assume, supply that deficiency and increase the quantity exported. It will stand thus : —

Page 199. British and Americans, take. . . . 13,057,177 lbs, Continental Europe, 1822 19,577,600

Half the quantity imported into Continental Europe was into France. In the above, how-

PREFACE, XXV

ever, it must be recollected the exports from the Spanish part of St. Domingo are included.

What these are I know not, but they must be considerable. Only 270 tons of Sugar were imported into Continental Europe from St. Domingo last year.

The powerfullest states in South America also sink into insignificance before our West India Colonies. Colombia, with a population of 3,000,000, does not export and import one half the amount that Demarara and Essequibo with a population of only 83,000 do. Mexico, the richest and most powerful state in South America, contains 7,000,000 of inhabitants. The average exports and imports for fifteen years ending 1820 were as under : —

Imports from all parts, annually £2,763,725

Exports to all parts, specie <£2,355,262

Ditto Produce 838,532

3,193,794

The whole host of the enemies of our Colonies alternately boast and threat about the great sum this country pays annually for bounty upon Sugar, which by-the-bye the East Indies enjoy, or may enjoy, as well as the West. Let us exa-

XXVi PREFACE.

mine and see what this great sum is. This bounty or drawback is only paid on what is exported, and at the rate of 3s. per cwt. The quantity exported last year of refined, when reduced into the raw material upon which the bounty is calculated, was 790,600 cwt., the bounty on which will stand thus : — -

Against which we have to set —

Rerenue from 4£ per Cents £ 48,000

Charge of duty on deficiency of strength and quantity ~\

of Rum in bond, equal to £2 per puncheon on an > 100,000 average — this on 50,000 puncheons is J

£148,000

or a gain of ^30,000 to this country. Can Mr. Clarkson, Mr. Cropper, or Mr. Stephen deny these facts ? — and till they can do so, let them keep silence about the loss Great Britain sustains by the trifling bounty paid upon West India Sugar when exported.

C O N TENT 8,

Chapter I

Introduction. — Former opinions of the Review onWest India Subjects — complete change, — East India Sugar.— Erroneous statements regarding it. — The mode of manufacturing it. — Small quantity produced.— The high price and bad quality. — Loss this Country would sustain by using it. — Attempts to cultivate Sugar in India in the West India mode. — Failure and loss to the Company. — Ad valorem duty wanted. — Absurd calculations and statements, by Mr. Cropper. — Right of West Indians to protection; East India Company admit. — Parliament determine the question in their favour Page 1

Chapter II

East and West Indies — political constitutions totally different. — Mis-statements of Mr. Clarkson regarding the expense of each to Great Britain. — Trade, East Indies and China. — Trade, West Indies. — Great superiority of the latter. — Deceptions in the Parliamentary returns on these heads. — Hoiv India may be benefitted, and the West Indies not injured.

Contents

Misrepresentations of the Review and Mr. Cropper regarding the Indian trade, examined and exposed. Trade, United States to Canton almost equal to that of Great Britain. — Absurd regulations of East India Company, 5yc 51

Chapter III

West Indies charged with continuing the African Slave Trade. — Refuted from Official Documents. — Foreign Slave Trade. — Great extent — extended, not diminished. — Ruin to our Colonies. — Wrong method chosen to suppress it. — Sierra Leone. — Immense expense it has cost this country. — Yields nothing, be fyc. ... , 78

Chapter IV

Statements of the anti- Colonists that Sugar is cultivated in India by free men instead of Slaves. — Not correct. — Slaves in India — the cultivators of the soil. — Females sold as Slaves for the purpose of prostitution. This practice common in the East. — Miserable situation of the free farmers in India, — Wretched state of their Slaves. — The numbers of the latter very great. — Hard labour — bad food — herd with cattle. — Inflammatory and deceitful statements of the Reviewer, Mr. Clarkson, and Mr. Cropper, on these points, as directed against our West India Colonies, examined and refuted * 92

CONTENTS,

Chapter V

Pamphlet of Mr. Clarkson. — Unfounded and grievous calumnies. — Their falsehood exposed. — Statement of Clarkson and others, that to hold or to own Slaves constitutes a crime in the eyes of Heaven. — Examined and refuted from both the Old and New Testament. — Slaves in our Colonies asserted to have been obtained by Violence, " stolen," and consequently title to them illegal, — The Trade in which they were obtained shewn to have been formerly legal, both by the laws of this country and of Africa. — Origin of Slavery. — Laivs and practice of the Jews concerning it. — Prisoners of war sold as Slaves. — Great extent and long standing of the trade in Africa. — Europeans found the Trade — did not create it. — Proofs from Report Committee of Privy Council, 1789, and from various authorities, to shew the legality of the Trade. — Its prevalence in Africa. — Who are made Slaves there. — Criminals, debtors, and prisoners of War. — Cruelty of the African Princes. — Kill or sacrifice the Prisoners they cannot sell. — Mr. Clarkson s false statements on these Points refuted, $c. fyc 119

Chapter VI

Mr. Clarkson s and the Reviewer's statements of the success of free labour by emancipated Slaves examined and refuted — has every where failed. — In Sierra Leone.— Miser able state of that place — Trade thereof

CONTENTS.

—deceptions practised upon this country regarding it. — A great burden to us — yields no returns. — American negroes set free in Trinidad — interesting and important account — their character — work little — great expense of their labour — cannot be depended upon in any way — cultivation of Sugar cannot be carried on with them, — To rtojl a negroes set free by Mr. Nottingham, and the apprenticed Africans. — Gross mis-statements put forward regarding them by Mr. Clarkson and the African Institution. — Cultivate no produce for exportation — A striking instance of the fallacy of the arguments of the Emancipation Society exhibited in the state of these very people, be 151

Chapter VII

St. Domingo — adduced by Mr. Clarkson as a proof of the blessings and advantages of negroe emancipation — his accounts relative to it in every point at variance with historical facts. — True account of the rise and progress of the insurrection in it. — Horrid cruelties. — Island totally ruined. — British expedition there in 1795. — Forced to abandon it. — Its former state and trade. — Its present state and trade, from official and authentic documents. — Striking contrast. . . Miserable state of the country compared to what it formerly was. — Immoral and debased and degraded state of its population. — Sinking fast into their original barbarism. — Productive industry on the lowest scale, &c. $c. . . .176

CONTENTS.

Chapter VIII

Emancipation of the negroes in Cayenne. — Fata! consequences to themselves and to the cultivation. — Both ruined. — The same consequences ensued in Gaudaloupe during the Rights of Man. — The same in Grenada— Steele's scheme in Barbadoes a delusion and deception. — Natural and political causes occasioned the increased returns of his estates. — Disbanded West India Black Soldiers — their bad character. — Mr. Clarkson's singular argument, that if we emancipate our Colonial Slaves, the Slave Trade, and Slavery throughout the World, will be rooted out $1G

Chapter IX

Daring calumnies of the Abolition Society and their writers. — The Rev. Mr. Coopers statements — his conduct and proceedings examined and exposed. — Mr. John Meabry's hideous charges refuted upon oath. — Affidavit, Mr. Robertson, Jamaica, on this head — important. — Shameless and dangerous system of espionage carried on by the African Institution against the West India Colonies. — Dangerous proceedings of their spies and informers — attended with the most ruinous consequences, &c 220

Chapter X

Manifesto of the abolition society. — Examined point by point.—- Their charges refuted in every instance.

CONTENTS,

— True state of, our West India Colonies, and the treatment of our negroes in these possessions most particularly stated. — Marriages. — Religious instruction and establishments. — Population of these Colonies — their labour — their food — their clothing— their houses — their property — their punishments—fixed by law, b)C. — Scandalous mis-statements, and calumnies, advanced under these heads against the Colonies, by the Review, Mr. Clarkson, and others , 244

CHAPTER XL

Slavery as it formerly existed in Europe and in England.— Numerous important facts kept out of view by the anti- Colonists. — Negroes dislike innovations. — Instance of emancipated negroes in Tortola declining agricultural labour. — Spanish Colonial system strangely adduced, as an example for Great Britain to imitate. — Emancipated Slaves in United State*. — Their wretched state and bad character. — Enfranchisement of Slaves in Colombia misrepresented.— Row effected — Importation of Slaves still continued by the United States. — Disingenuous proceedings of the anti-Colonists. — Buxton s motion. — The time they appoint for complete emancipation 308

Chapter XII

Immense stake at issue on this question. — English laws constitute Slaves property. — African Institu-

CONTENTS.

Hon may civilize Africa without injuring the West Indies. — Great property of West India proprietors. — Productive industry of our Colonies, contrasted with that of the Mother Country and other places. — France and United States watching our conduct, and rejoicing at our errors. — Dangerous state of the Colonies. — Prompt and decided measures necessary for their preservation. — Government of the Colonies must not he taken out of the hands of the executive government. — Concluding observations. — Further exposure of the system of espionage and calumny carried on hy the anti- Colonists — Mr . Stephens new publication — Negroe Slavery — general features of it 34 L

Appendix

Four and Half per Cent. Duties — how applied. — Official Returns of the Imports and Exports of the East and the West Indies, for Nine Years, ending 1822. — Mr. Steele, Barbadoes— further and interesting particulars, fyc.fyc 409

ERRATA.

Page 137, line 1, for "practices" read "practice is,"

Page 248, note, line 5 from the bottom, for " valuable" read

" value of"

THE

WEST INDIA COLONIES, &e.

Chapter I

Introduction. — Former opinions of the Review onWest India Subjects — complete change. — East India Sugar.— Erroneous statements regarding it. — The mode of manufacturing it. — Small quantity produced.— The high price and bad quality. — Loss this Country would sustain by using it. — Attempts to cultivate Sugar in India in the West India mode. — Failure and loss to the Company. — Ad valorem duty wanted. — Absurd calculations and statements, by Mr. Cropper. — Right of West Indians to protection; East India Company admit. — Parliament determine the question in their favour.

" Most of our political and critical writers have now relieved themselves from the burden of all moral responsibility. Truth, consistency, and sincerity, are all of no moment. The object is to bite, strike, and cnt. Good faith