[060]
Including the number that perish on the voyage, and in the seasoning. It is generally thought that not half the number purchased can be considered as an additional stock, and of course that 50,000 are consumed within the first two years from their embarkation.
[061]
That part of the account, that has been hitherto given, extends to all the Europeans and their colonists, who are concerned in this horrid practice. But we are sorry that we must now make a distinction, and confine the remaining part, of it to the colonists of the British West India islands, and to those of the southern provinces of North America. As the employment of slaves is different in the two parts of the world last mentioned, we shall content ourselves with describing it, as it exists in one of them, and we shall afterwards annex such treatment and such consequences as are applicable to both. We have only to add, that the reader must not consider our account as universally, but only generally, true.
[062]
This computation is made on a supposition, that the gang is divided into three bodies; we call it therefore moderate, because the gang is frequently divided into two bodies, which must therefore set up alternately every other night.
[063]
An hand or arm being frequently ground off.
[064]
The reader will scarcely believe it, but it is a fact, that a slave's annual allowance from his master, for provisions, clothing, medicines when sick, &c. is limited, upon an average, to thirty shillings.
[065]
"A boy having received six slaves as a present from his father, immediately slit their ears, and for the following reason, that as his father was a whimsical man, he might claim them again, unless they were marked." We do not mention this instance as a confirmation of the passage to which it is annexed, but only to shew, how cautious we ought to be in giving credit to what may be advanced in any work written in defence of slavery, by any native of the colonies: for being trained up to scenes of cruelty from his cradle, he may, consistently with his own feelings, represent that treatment as mild, at which we, who have never been used to see them, should absolutely shudder.
[066]
In this case he is considered as a criminal against the state. The marshal, an officer answering to our sheriff, superintends his execution, and the master receives the value of the slave from the publick treasury. We may observe here, that in all cases where the delinquent is a criminal of the state, he is executed, and his value is received in the same manner; He is tried and condemned by two or three justices of the peace, and without any intervention of a jury.
[067]
Particularly in Jamaica. These observations were made by disinterested people, who were there for three or four years during the late war.
[068]
The action was brought by the owners against the underwriters, to recover the value of the murdered slaves. It was tried at Guildhall.
[069]
Phillis Wheatley, negro slave to Mr. John Wheatley, of Boston, in New-England.
[070]
Lest it should be doubted whether these Poems are genuine, we shall transcribe the names of those, who signed a certificate of their authenticity.
His Excellency Thomas Hutchinson, Governor.
The Honourable Andrew Oliver, Lieutenant Governor.
The Hon. Thomas Hubbard
The Hon. John Erving
The Hon. James Pitts
The Hon. Harrison Gray
The Hon. James Bowdoin
John Hancock, Esq.
Joseph Green, Esq.
Richard Carey, Esq.
The Rev. Cha. Chauncy, D.D.
The Rev. Mather Byles, D.D.
The Rev. Ed. Pemberton, D.D.
The Rev. Andrew Elliot, D.D.
The Rev. Sam. Cooper, D.D.
The Rev. Samuel Mather
The Rev. John Moorhead
Mr. John Wheatley, her Master.
[071]
In the Preface.
[072]
As to Mr. Hume's assertions with respect to African capacity, we have passed them over in silence, as they have been so admirably refuted by the learned Dr. Beattie, in his Essay on Truth, to which we refer the reader. The whole of this admirable refutation extends from p. 458. to 464.
[073]
Genesis, ch. iv. 15.
[074]
Genesis, ch. ix. 25, 26, 27.
[075]
Jeremiah says, ch. xiii. 23, "Can the Æthiopian change his colour, or the leopard his spots?" Now the word, which is here translated Æthiopian, is in the original Hebrew "the descendant of Cush," which shews that this colour was not confined to the descendants of Canaan, as the advocates for slavery assert.
[076]
It is very extraordinary that the advocates for slavery should consider those Africans, whom they call negroes, as the descendants of Canaan, when few historical facts can be so well ascertained, as that out of the descendants of the four sons of Ham, the descendants of Canaan were the only people, (if we except the Carthaginians, who were a colony of Canaan, and were afterwards ruined) who did not settle in that quarter of the globe. Africa was incontrovertibly peopled by the posterity of the three other sons. We cannot shew this in a clearer manner, than in the words of the learned Mr. Bryant, in his letter to Mr. Granville Sharp on this subject.
"We learn from scripture, that Ham had four sons, Chus, Mizraim, Phut, and Canaan, Gen. x. 5, 6. Canaan occupied Palestine, and the country called by his name: Mizraim, Egypt: but Phut passed deep into Africa, and, I believe, most of the nations in that part of the world are descended from him; at least more than from any other person." Josephus says, "that Phut was the founder of the nations in Libya, and the people were from him called (phoutoi) Phuti." Antiq. L. 1. c. 7. "By Lybia he understands, as the Greeks did, Africa in general: for the particular country called Lybia Proper, was peopled by the Lubim, or Lehabim, one of the branches from Mizraim, (Labieim ex ou Libnes) Chron. Paschale, p. 29.
"The sons of Phut settled in Mauritania, where was a country called Phutia, and a river of the like denomination. Mauritaniæ Fluvius usque ad præsens Tempus Phut dicitur, omnisq; circa eum Regio Phutensis. Hieron. Tradit. Hebroeæ.-Amnem, quem vocant Fut." Pliny, L. 5. c. 1. Some of this family settled above Ægypt, near Æthiopia, and were styled Troglodytæ. (phoud ex ou troglodotai.) Syncellus, p. 47. Many of them passed inland, and peopled the Mediterranean country."
"In process of time the sons of Chus also, (after their expulsion from Egypt) made settlements upon the sea coast of Africa, and came into Mauritania. Hence we find traces of them also in the names of places, such as Churis, Chusares, upon the coast: and a river Chusa, and a city Cotta, together with a promontory, Cotis, in Mauritania, all denominated from Chus; who at different times, and by different people, was called Chus, Cuth, Cosh, and Cotis. The river Cusa is mentioned by Pliny, Lib. 5. c. 1. and by Ptolomy."
"Many ages after these settlements, there was another eruption of the Cushites into these parts, under the name of Saracens and Moors, who over-ran Africa, to the very extremity of Mount Atlas. They passed over and conquered Spain to the north, and they extended themselves southward, as I said in my treatise, to the rivers Senegal and Gambia, and as low as the Gold Coast. I mentioned this, because I do not think that they proceeded much farther: most of the nations to the south being, as I imagine, of the race of Phut. The very country upon the river Gambia on one side, is at this day called Phuta, of which Bluet, in his history of Juba Ben Solomon, gives an account."
[077]
When America was first discovered, it was thought by some, that the scripture account of the creation was false, and that there were different species of men, because they could never suppose that people, in so rude a state as the Americans, could have transported themselves to that continent from any parts of the known world. This opinion however was refuted by the celebrated Captain Cooke, who shewed that the traject between the continents of Asia and America, was as short as some, which people in as rude a state have been actually known to pass. This affords an excellent caution against an ill-judged and hasty censure of the divine writings, because every difficulty which may be started, cannot be instantly cleared up.
[078]
The divine writings, which assert that all men were derived from the same stock, shew also, in the same instance of Cush, (Footnote 075), that some of them had changed their original complexion.
[079]
The following are the grand colours discernible in mankind, between which there are many shades;
White } { Copper
} -Olive- {
Brown } { Black
[080]
See note, (Footnote 075). To this we may add, that the rest of the descendants of Ham, as far as they can be traced, are now also black, at well as many of the descendants of Shem.
[081]
Diseases have a great effect upon the mucosum corpus, but particularly the jaundice, which turns it yellow. Hence, being transmitted through the cuticle, the yellow appearance of the whole body. But this, even as a matter of ocular demonstration, is not confined solely to white people; negroes themselves, while affected with these or other disorders, changing their black colour for that which the disease has conveyed to the mucous substance.
[082]
The cutaneous pores are so excessively small, that one grain of sand, (according to Dr. Lewenhoeck's calculations) would cover many hundreds of them.
[083]
We do not mean to insinuate that the same people have their corpus mucosum sensibly vary, as often as they go into another latitude, but that the fact is true only of different people, who have been long established in different latitudes.
[084]
We beg leave to return our thanks here to a gentleman, eminent in the medical line, who furnished us with the above-mentioned facts.
[085]
Suppose we were to see two nations, contiguous to each other, of black and white inhabitants in the same parallel, even this would be no objection, for many circumstances are to be considered. A black people may have wandered into a white, and a white people into a black latitude, and they may not have been settled there a sufficient length of time for such a change to have been accomplished in their complexion, as that they should be like the old established inhabitants of the parallel, into which they have lately come.
[086]
Justamond's Abbe Raynal, v. 5. p. 193.
[087]
The author of this Essay made it his business to inquire of the most intelligent of those, whom he could meet with in London, as to the authenticity of the fact. All those from America assured him that it was strictly true; those from the West-Indies, that they had never observed it there; but that they had found a sensible difference in themselves since they came to England.
[088]
This circumstance, which always happens, shews that they are descended from the same parents as ourselves; for had they been a distinct species of men, and the blackness entirely ingrafted in their constitution and frame, there is great reason to presume, that their children would have been born black.
[089]
This observation was communicated to us by the gentleman in the medical line, to whom we returned our thanks for certain anatomical facts.
[090]
Philos. Trans. No. 476. sect. 4.
[091]
Treatise upon the Trade from Great Britain to Africa, by an African merchant.
[092]
We mean such only as are natives of the countries which we mention, and whose ancestors have been settled there for a certain period of time.
[093]
Herodotus. Euterpe. p. 80. Editio Stephani, printed 1570.
[094]
This circumstance confirms what we said in a former note, (Footnote 085), that even if two nations were to be found in the same parallel, one of whom was black, and the other white, it would form no objection against the hypothesis of climate, as one of them might have been new settlers from a distant country.
[095]
Suppose, without the knowledge of any historian, they had made such considerable conquests, as to have settled themselves at the distance of 1000 miles in any one direction from Colchis, still they must have changed their colour. For had they gone in an Eastern or Western direction, they must have been of the same colour as the Circassians; if to the north, whiter; if to the south, of a copper. There are no people within that distance of Colchis, who are black.
[096]
There are a particular people among those transported from Africa to the colonies, who immediately on receiving punishment, destroy themselves. This is a fact which the receivers are unable to contradict.
[097]
The articles of war are frequently read at the head of every regiment in the service, stating those particular actions which are to be considered as crimes.
[098]
We cannot omit here to mention one of the customs, which has been often brought as a palliation of slavery, and which prevailed but a little time ago, and we are doubtful whether it does not prevail now, in the metropolis of this country, of kidnapping men for the service of the East-India Company. Every subject, as long as he behaves well, has a right to the protection of government; and the tacit permission of such a scene of iniquity, when it becomes known, is as much a breach of duty in government, as the conduct of those subjects, who, on other occasions, would be termed, and punished as, rebellious.
[099]
The expences of every parish are defrayed by a poll-tax on negroes, to save which they pretend to liberate those who are past labour; but they still keep them employed in repairing fences, or in doing some trifling work on a scanty allowance. For to free a field-negroe, so long as he can work, is a maxim, which, notwithstanding the numerous boasted manumissions, no master ever thinks of adopting in the colonies.
[100]
They must be cultivated always on a Sunday, and frequently in those hours which should be appropriated to sleep, or the wretched possessors must be inevitably starved.
[101]
They are allowed in general three holy-days at Christmas, but in Jamaica they have two also at Easter, and two at Whitsuntide: so that on the largest scale, they have only seven days in a year, or one day in fifty-two. But this is on a supposition, that the receivers do not break in upon the afternoons, which they are frequently too apt to do. If it should be said that Sunday is an holy-day, it is not true; it is so far an holy-day, that they do not work for their masters; but such an holy-day, that if they do not employ it in the cultivation of their little spots, they must starved.
[102]
These dances are usually in the middle of the night; and so desirous are these unfortunate people of obtaining but a joyful hour, that they not only often give up their sleep, but add to the labours of the day, by going several miles to obtain it.
[103]
Bishop of Glocester's sermon, preached before the society for the propagation of the gospel, at the anniversary meeting, on the 21st of February, 1766.
[104]
There is a law, (but let the reader remark, that it prevails but in one of the colonies), against mutilation. It took its rise from the frequency of the inhuman practice. But though a master cannot there chop off the limb of a slave with an axe, he may yet work, starve, and beat him to death with impunity.
[105]
Two instances are recorded by the receivers, out of about fifty-thousand, where a white man has suffered death for the murder of a negroe; but the receivers do not tell us, that these suffered more because they were the pests of society, than because the murder of slaves was a crime.
[106]
A negroe-funeral is considered as a curious sight, and is attended with singing, dancing, musick, and every circumstance that can shew the attendants to be happy on the occasion.
[107]
In 96 years, ending in 1774, 800,000 slaves had been imported into the French part of St. Domingo, of which there remained only 290,000 in 1774. Of this last number only 140,000 were creoles, or natives of the island, i. e. of 650,000 slaves, the whole posterity were 140,000. Considerations sur la Colonie de St. Dominique,(See errata-should be read as "St. Domingue") published by authority in 1777.
[108]
Ten thousand people under fair advantages, and in a soil congenial to their constitutions, and where the means of subsistence are easy, should produce in a century 160,000. This is the proportion in which the Americans increased; and the Africans in their own country increase in the same, if not in a greater proportion. Now as the climate of the colonies is as favourable to their health as that of their own country, the causes of the prodigious decrease in the one, and increase in the other, will be more conspicuous.
[109]
See Part II Chapter I second paragraph.
[110]
See Part II Chapter IX last paragraph.
[111]
Epist. to Philemon.
[112]
The African slave is of this description; and we could wish, in all our arguments on the present subject, to be understood as having spoken only of proper slaves. The slave who is condemned to the oar, to the fortifications, and other publick works, is in a different predicament. His liberty is not appropriated, and therefore none of those consequences can be justly drawn, which have been deduced in the present case.
[113]
See the description of an African battle (Footnote 049).
[114]
The lowest computation is 40,000, (Footnote 060).
[115]
The legislature has squandered away more money in the prosecution of the slave trade, within twenty years, than in any other trade whatever, having granted from the year 1750, to the year 1770, the sum of 300,000 pounds.
[116]
Sermon preached before the University of Cambridge, by the Rev. Peter Peckard.
[117]
The first noted earthquake at Jamaica, happened June the 7th 1692, when Port Royal was totally sunk. This was succeeded by one in the year 1697, and by another in the year 1722, from which time to the present, these regions of the globe seem to have been severely visited, but particularly during the last six or seven years. See a general account of the calamities, occasioned by the late tremendous hurricanes and earthquakes in the West-Indian islands, by Mr. Fowler.
[118]
The many ships of war belonging to the British navy, which were lost with all their crews in these dreadful hurricanes, will sufficiently prove the fact.
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