XXXVII. CHAP. stringent provisions prohibiting corporal punishment on any male apprentice, except in presence of a magistrate specially summoned for the occasion. 1838. 118. Lord Brougham's Lord Brougham, who was the mouthpiece of the anti-slavery party, which had become violently excited picture of on the recital of these severities, gave a still more ed horrors melancholy account of the increased horrors of the of the slave middle passage and augmentation of the slave trade, the increas trade. 119. in consequence of the nominal emancipation of the English negroes, and the real stimulus given to the foreign slave colonies. On occasion of presenting a petition for immediate emancipation, on 19th January 1838, he said: "The accursed traffic flourishes under the very expedients adopted to crush it, and increases in consequence of the very measures adopted for its extinction. So far from our efforts materially checking it, I find that the bulk of this infernal commerce is undiminished. The premium of insurance at the Havannah on slave-ships is no more than 12 per cent to cover all risks. Of this 4 per cent is allowed for the usual sea risk, leaving only 8 per cent to meet the chances of capture. In 1835 eighty slave-ships sailed from the Havannah alone, and six of them brought back an average of 360 slaves; so that 28,000 were brought to that port alone in the year. In December of the same year, between 4000 and 5000 were safely landed at Rio. One of the ships carried 570, another no less than 700 slaves. Of all the criminals engaged in this accursed traffic, the Spaniards, the Portuguese, and the Brazilians are the greatest-the three nations with whom our influence is the most commanding, and our commerce the most intimate and profitable. "Lamentable as this increase of the slave trade is, the Continued. horrors attending its carrying out are still more heartrending. The cruiser intrusted with the duty of preventing the traffic, carefully avoids approaching the creek or harbour where the slavers are lying. She stands out, XXXVII. 1838. therefore, just so far as to command a view of the port CHAP. from the mast-head, being herself quite out of sight. The slaver, believing the coast to be clear, accomplishes his crime and makes sail. Let us see how the unavoidable miseries of the middle passage are exasperated by the contraband nature of the adventure-how the unavoidable mischief is aggravated by the means taken to extirpate it. Every consideration is sacrificed to swiftness of sailing in the construction of the slave-ships, which are built so narrow as to put their safety in peril, being made just broad enough on the beam to keep the sea. What is the consequence to the slaves? Before the trade was put down in 1807, the slaves had the benefit of what was termed "the Slave-carrying Act," which gave the unhappy victims the benefit of a certain space between the decks, in which they might breathe the tainted air more freely, and a certain supply of water. But now there is nothing of the kind, and the slave is in the condition in which our debates found him half a century ago, when the venerable Clarkson awakened the world to his sufferings. 120. "The scantiest portion of food which will support life is alone provided; and the wretched Africans are com- Concluded. pressed and stowed away in every nook and cranny of the ship, as if they were dead goods concealed on board smuggling vessels. On being discovered, the slaver has to determine whether he will endeavour to regain his port or will push on across the Atlantic, reaching the American shores with a part at least of his lading. No sooner does the miscreant find that the cruiser is gaining upon him, than he bethinks him of lightening the ship, and casts overboard men, women, and children. Does he first knock off their fetters? No! because these irons, by which they have been held together in couples for safety, are not screwed together and padlocked, so as to be removed in case of danger from tempest or fire, but they are riveted-welded together by the blacksmith in XXXVII. 1838. CHAP. his forge, never to be removed or loosened until, after the horrors of the middle passage, the children of misery shall be landed to bondage in the civilised world. The irons, too, serve the purpose of weights; and if time be allowed, more weights are added, to the end that the wretches may be entangled, to prevent their swimming. Nor is this all. Instances have been recorded of other precautions for the same purpose. Water-casks have been filled with human beings, and one vessel threw 1 Parl. Deb. twelve overboard thus laden. In one chase, two slave1288; Ann. ships endeavoured, but in vain, to make their escape, and in the attempt they flung five hundred human beings into the sea, of all ages and either sex." 1 xlvi. 1287, Reg. 1838, 88, 89. 121. Violent clamour in and total abolition of slavery. Aug. 1. The Duke of Wellington and Lord Glenelg acquitted Lord Brougham of all exaggeration in this harrowing England, statement, which affords a melancholy picture of the aggravation of real evils by rash and ill-judged efforts for their removal. The true way to put down the trade in slaves was to make it not worth while for any one to import them, and this could only be done by rendering the labour of the slaves already settled in the West Indies so productive that no additions to their number were required. Instead of this, the emancipation of the negroes, by rendering their labour less productive, increased the demand for slaves in the slave colonies of other states, and thus fearfully extended this infernal traffic. But though this was clearly pointed out at the time, yet there was no getting the public to be disabused on the subject. They persisted in holding that the labour of freemen was more productive than that of slaves, and that the slave trade would be at once abolished by the extinction of slavery in the British West India islands. So violent did the clamour become, and so unequivocally was it manifested in the large constituencies, that the planters, who had already suffered severely from the refractory spirit of the slaves, and the difficulty of getting them to submit to continuous labour, took the XXXVII. 1838. Smith's only course which in the circumstances remained open to CHAP. them; and on the recommendation of Sir Lionel Smith, the governor of Jamaica, the parliament of that island abolished the apprentice system altogether, and declared Sir Lionel all the negroes free on an early day. The provincial Speech, legislatures of all the other islands adopted the same 1838; Ann. course, and on the 1st August 1838 SLAVERY ENTIRELY 346, 347. CEASED IN THE BRITISH COLONIES.1 June 5, Reg. 1838, 122. of the eman the West Sir Lionel Smith transmitted to Government the following account of the manner in which this great change Reception was received in Jamaica: "It is impossible for me to do cipation in justice to the good order, decorum, and gratitude which Indies. the whole of the labouring population manifested upon this happy occasion. Not even the irregularity of a drunken individual occurred. Though joy beamed in every countenance, it was throughout the island tempered with solemn thankfulness to God; and the churches and chapels were everywhere filled with these happy people, in humble offering of praise for the great blessing He had conferred upon them." The Bishop of Jamaica bore similar testimony: "I had long known," said he, "the objects of this benevolent measure as the most 2 Sir Lionel patient, enduring, and long-suffering upon earth, and not Lord Gleneasily provoked; but it was not until the actual promul- 8, 1838; gation of this great and glorious measure of justice and Bishop of mercy that I was enabled fully to appreciate this advance Lord Glenin Christian principles. The quiet manner in which the 1838; Ann. whole has passed off has added much to the general effect, 318. and made a deep impression on men's minds." 2 Smith to elg, Aug. Jamaica to elg, Aug. 6, Reg. 1838, consequent It is a noble spectacle to see a great nation voluntarily 123. repairing wrong by a great act of mercy; and it is Difficulties doubly so when that act was not done at the expense on it. merely of others, but that a lasting and heavy burden had been undertaken by it to indemnify the immediate sufferers by the change. The immediate results of emancipation did not belie these flattering appearances; and nearly two months after the change, Sir Lionel Smith XXXVII. 1838. 1838. CHAP. wrote to the Colonial Secretary that " experience had now established two important facts: first, that the negroes were willing, and even eager, to work for fair remuneration; and that so far from their resorting to the woods, to Sept. 24, squat in idleness, as had been predicted, they submitted to the most galling oppression rather than be driven from their homes." But unhappily these flattering appearances were as shortlived as they were fallacious; and negro emancipation remains a lasting proof, that great alterations in human affairs are not to be made with the rapidity of changes of scene on the opera stage, and that to be enduring they must be as slow and imperceptible as the revolutions of nature. Before many months had elapsed, it was found that, though willing to work occasionally when it suited their inclinations to do so, yet the negroes were averse to continuous labour, and demanded such high wages for what they did perform, as rendered it more than doubtful whether cultivation at such rates could be carried on to a profit. Eight or nine dollars a-month for working five days in the week, of nine hours each, besides house and garden-ground, came soon to be the wages generally demanded, and in many cases given. These rates, however, were soon found to be higher than the price of sugar, reduced as it was by, the heavy import-duty and contraction of the currency in Great Britain, could afford. Thence ensued combinations among labourers to raise their wages, which were strongly supported by the Baptist missionaries, who warmly sympathised with the feelings of their sable flocks, 1 Mr Burge's and among the planters to get them down, who were as 23, 1838; strongly urged on by stern necessity. Disorder and vioSir Lionel lence succeeded as a matter of course, which both seriously Despatches, impeded the progress of rural labour, and engendered an 1838; Ann. angry feeling between employer and employed, occasion351-359. ing frequent collisions, which all the efforts of the stipendiary magistracy were unable to prevent.1 Note, Oct. Smith's Nov. 3, Reg. 1838, Matters were brought to a crisis in Jamaica and the |