Some Historical Account of Guinea, Its Situation, Produce, and the General Disposition of Its Inhabitants by Anthony Benezet
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Anthony Benezet >> Some Historical Account of Guinea, Its Situation, Produce, and the General Disposition of Its Inhabitants
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[Footnote A: A memorable instance of some of the dreadful effects of the
slave-trade, happened about five years past, on a ship from this port,
then at anchor about three miles from shore, near Acra Fort, on the
coast of Guinea. They had purchased between four and five hundred
Negroes, and were ready to sail for the West Indies. It is customary on
board those vessels, to keep the men shackled two by two, each by one
leg to a small iron bar; these are every day brought on the deck for the
benefit of air; and lest they should attempt to recover their freedom,
they are made fast to two common chains, which are extended on each side
the main deck; the women and children are loose. This was the situation
of the slaves on board this vessel, when it took fire by means of a
person who was drawing spirits by the light of a lamp; the cask
bursting, the fire spread with so much violence, that in about ten
minutes, the sailors, apprehending it impossible to extinguish it before
it could reach a large quantity of powder they had on board, concluded
it necessary to cast themselves into the sea, as the only chance of
saving their lives; and first they endeavoured to loose the chains by
which the Negroe men were fastened to the deck; but in the confusion the
key being missing, they had but just time to loose one of the chains by
wrenching the staple; when the vehemence of the fire so increased, that
they all but one man jumped over board, when immediately the fire having
gained the powder, the vessel blew up with all the slaves who remained
fastened to the one chain, and such others as had not followed the
sailors examples. There happened to be three Portugueze vessels in
sight, who, with others from the shore, putting out their boats, took up
about two hundred and fifty of those poor souls who remained alive; of
which number, about fifty died on shore, being mostly of those who were
fettered together by iron shackles, which, as they jumped into the sea,
had broke their legs, and these fractures being inflamed by so long a
struggle in the sea, probably mortified, which occasioned the death of
every one that was so wounded. The two hundred remaining alive, were
soon disposed of, for account of the owners to other purchasers.]
Now here arises a necessary query to those who hold the balance of
justice, and who must be accountable to God for the use they have made
of it, That as the principles on which the British constitution is
founded, are so favourable to the common rights of mankind, how it has
happened that the laws which countenance this iniquitous traffic, have
obtained the sanction of the legislature? and that the executive part of
the government should so long shut their ears to continual reports of
the barbarities perpetrated against this unhappy people, and leave the
trading subjects at liberty to trample on the most precious rights of
others, even without a rebuke? Why are the masters of vessels thus
suffered to be the sovereign arbiters of the lives of the miserable
Negroes, and allowed with impunity thus to destroy (may I not properly
say, _to murder_) their fellow-creatures; and that by means so cruel, as
cannot be even related but with shame and horror?
CHAP. XIII.
Usage of the Negroes, when they arrive in the West Indies. An hundred
thousand Negroes brought from Guinea every year to the English colonies.
The number of Negroes who die in the passage and seasoning. These are,
properly speaking, murdered by the prosecution of this infamous traffic.
Remarks on its dreadful _effects and tendency_.
When the vessels arrive at their destined port in the colonies, the poor
Negroes are to be disposed of to the planters; and here they are again
exposed naked, without any distinction of sexes, to the brutal
examination of their purchasers; and this, it may well be judged, is, to
many, another occasion of deep distress. Add to this, that near
connexions must now again be separated, to go with their several
purchasers; this must be deeply affecting to all, but such whose hearts
are seared by the love of gain. Mothers are seen hanging over their
daughters, bedewing their naked breasts with tears, and daughters
clinging to their parents, not knowing what new stage of distress must
follow their separation, or whether they shall ever meet again. And here
what sympathy, what commiseration, do they meet with? Why, indeed, if
they will not separate as readily as their owners think proper, the
whipper is called for, and the lash exercised upon their naked bodies,
till obliged to part. Can any human heart, which is not become callous
by the practice of such cruelties, be unconcerned, even at the relation
of such grievous affliction, to which this oppressed part of our species
are subjected.
In a book, printed in Liverpool, called _The Liverpool Memorandum_,
which contains, amongst other things, an account of the trade of that
port, there is an exact list of the vessels employed in the Guinea
trade, and of the number of slaves imported in each vessel; by which it
appears that in the year 1753, the number imported to America by one
hundred and one vessels belonging to that port, amounted to upwards of
thirty thousand; and from the number of vessels employed by the African
company in London and Bristol, we may, with some degree of certainty,
conclude, there are one hundred thousand Negroes purchased and brought
on board our ships yearly from the coast of Africa. This is confirmed in
Anderson's history of Trade and Commerce, lately printed; where it is
said,[A] "That England supplies her American colonies with Negroe
slaves, amounting in number to above one hundred thousand every year."
When the vessels are full freighted with slaves, they sail for our
plantations in America, and may be two or three months in the voyage;
during which time, from the filth and stench that is among them,
distempers frequently break out, which carry off commonly a fifth, a
fourth, yea sometimes a third or more of them: so that taking all the
slaves together, that are brought on board our ships yearly, one may
reasonably suppose, that at least ten thousand of them die on the
voyage. And in a printed account of the state of the Negroes in our
plantations, it is supposed that a fourth part, more or less, die at the
different islands, in what is called the seasoning. Hence it may be
presumed, that at a moderate computation of the slaves who are purchased
by our African merchants in a year, near thirty thousand die upon the
voyage, and in the seasoning. Add to this, the prodigious number who are
killed in the incursions and intestine wars, by which the Negroes
procure the number of slaves wanted to load the vessels. How dreadful
then is this slave-trade, whereby so many thousands of our fellow
creatures, free by nature, endued with the same rational faculties, and
called to be heirs of the same salvation with us, lose their lives, and
are, truly and properly speaking, murdered every year! For it is not
necessary, in order to convict a man of murder, to make it appear that
he had an _intention_ to commit murder; whoever does, by unjust force or
violence, deprive another of his liberty, and, while he hath him in his
power, continues so to oppress him by cruel treatment, as eventually to
occasion his death, is actually guilty of murder. It is enough to make a
thoughtful person tremble, to think what a load of guilt lies upon our
nation on this account; and that the blood of thousands of poor innocent
creatures, murdered every year in the prosecution of this wicked trade,
cries aloud to Heaven for vengeance. Were we to hear or read of a nation
that destroyed every year, in some other way, as many human creatures as
perish in this trade, we should certainly consider them as a very
bloody, barbarous people; if it be alledged, that the legislature hath
encouraged, and still does encourage this trade, It is answered, that no
legislature on earth can alter the nature of things, so as to make that
to be right which is contrary to the law of God, (the supreme Legislator
and Governor of the world) and opposeth the promulgation of the Gospel
of _peace on earth, and good will to man_. Injustice may be methodized
and established by law, but still it will be injustice, as much as it
was before; though its being so established may render men more
insensible of the guilt, and more bold and secure in the perpetration of
it.
[Footnote A: Appendix to Anderson's history, p. 68.]
CHAP. XIV.
Observations on the disposition and capacity of the Negroes: Why thought
inferior to that of the Whites. Affecting instances of the slavery of
the Negroes. Reflections thereon.
Doubts may arise in the minds of some, whether the foregoing accounts,
relating to the natural capacity and good disposition of the inhabitants
of Guinea, and of the violent manner in which they are said to be torn
from their native land, are to be depended upon; as those Negroes who
are brought to us, are not heard to complain, and do but seldom manifest
such a docility and quickness of parts, as is agreeable thereto. But
those who make these objections, are desired to note the many
discouragements the poor Africans labour under, when brought from their
native land. Let them consider, that those afflicted strangers, though
in an _enlightened Christian country_, have yet but little opportunity
or encouragement to exert and improve their natural talents: They are
constantly employed in servile labour; and the abject condition in which
we see them, naturally raises an idea of a superiority in ourselves;
whence we are apt to look upon them as an ignorant and contemptible part
of mankind. Add to this, that they meet with very little encouragement
of freely conversing with such of the Whites, as might impart
instruction to them. It is a fondness for wealth, for authority, or
honour, which prompts most men in their endeavours to excell; but these
motives can have little influence upon the minds of the Negroes; few of
them having any reasonable prospect of any other than a state of
slavery; so that, though their natural capacities were ever so good,
they have neither inducement or opportunity to exert them to advantage:
This naturally tends to depress their minds, and sink their spirits into
habits of idleness and sloth, which they would, in all likelihood, have
been free from, had they stood upon an equal footing with the white
people. They are suffered, with impunity, to cohabit together, without
being married; and to part, when solemnly engaged to one another as man
and wife; notwithstanding the moral and religious laws of the land,
strictly prohibiting such practices. This naturally tends to beget
apprehensions in the most thoughtful of those people, that we look upon
them as a lower race, not worthy of the same care, nor liable to the
same rewards and punishments as ourselves. Nevertheless it may with
truth be said, that both amongst those who have obtained their freedom,
and those who remain in servitude, some have manifested a strong
sagacity and an exemplary uprightness of heart. If this hath not been
generally the case with them, is it a matter of surprize? Have we not
reason to make the same complaint of many white servants, when
discharged from our service, though many of them have had much greater
opportunities of knowledge and improvement than the blacks; who, even
when free, labour under the same difficulties as before: having but
little access to, and intercourse with, the most reputable white people,
they remain confined within their former limits of conversation. And if
they seldom complain of the unjust and cruel usage they have received,
in being forced from their native country, &c. it is not to be wondered
at; it being a considerable time after their arrival amongst us, before
they can speak our language; and, by the time they are able to express
themselves, they have great reason to believe, that little or no notice
would be taken of their complaints: yet let any person enquire of those
who were capable of reflection, before they were brought from their
native land, and he will hear such affecting relations, as, if not lost
to the common feelings of humanity, will sensibly affect his heart. The
case of a poor Negroe, not long since brought from Guinea, is a recent
instance of this kind. From his first arrival, he appeared thoughtful
and dejected, frequently dropping tears when taking notice of his
master's children, the cause of which was not known till he was able to
speak English, when the account he gave of himself was, "That he had a
wife and children in his own country; that some of these being sick and
thirsty, he went in the night time, to fetch water at a spring, where he
was violently seized and carried away by persons who lay in wait to
catch men, from whence he was transported to America. The remembrance of
his family, friends, and other connections, left behind, which he never
expected to see any more, were the principal cause of his dejection and
grief." Many cases, equally affecting, might be here mentioned; but one
more instance, which fell under the notice of a person of credit, will
suffice. One of these wretched creatures, then about 50 years of age,
informed him, "That being violently torn from a wife and several
children in Guinea, he was sold in Jamaica, where never expecting to see
his native land or family any more, he joined himself to a Negroe woman,
by whom he had two children: after some years, it suiting the interest
of his owner to remove him, he was separated from his second wife and
children, and brought to South Carolina, where, expecting to spend the
remainder of his days, he engaged with a third wife, by whom he had
another child; but here the same consequence of one man being subject to
the will and pleasure of another man occurring, he was separated from
this last wife and child, and brought into this country, where he
remained a slave." Can any, whose mind is not rendered quite obdurate by
the love of wealth, hear these relations, without being deeply touched
with sympathy and sorrow? And doubtless the case of many, very many of
these afflicted people, upon enquiry, would be found to be attended with
circumstances equally tragical and aggravating. And if we enquire of
those Negroes, who were brought away from their native country when
children, we shall find most of them to have been stolen away, when
abroad from their parents, on the roads, in the woods, or watching their
corn-fields. Now, you that have studied the book of conscience, and you
that are learned in the law, what will you say to such deplorable cases?
When, and how, have these oppressed people forfeited their liberty? Does
not justice loudly call for its being restored to them? Have they not
the same right to demand it, as any of us should have, if we had been
violently snatched by pirates from our native land? Is it not the duty
of every dispenser of justice, who is not forgetful of his own humanity,
to remember that these are men, and to declare them free? Where
instances of such cruelty frequently occur, and are neither enquired
into, nor redressed, by those whose duty it is _to seek judgment, and
relieve the oppressed_, Isaiah i. 17. what can be expected, but that the
groans and cries of these sufferers will reach Heaven; and what shall we
do _when God riseth up? and when he visiteth_, what will ye answer him?
_Did not he that made them, make us; and did not one fashion us in the
womb_? Job xxxi. 14.
CHAP XIV.
The expediency of a general freedom being granted to the Negroes
considered. _Reasons_ why it might be productive of advantage and
_safety to the Colonies_.
It is scarce to be doubted, but that the foregoing accounts will beget
in the heart of the considerate readers an earnest desire to see a stop
put to this complicated evil, but the objection with many is, What shall
be done with those Negroes already imported, and born in our families?
Must they be sent to Africa? That would be to expose them, in a strange
land, to greater difficulties than many of them labour under at present.
To let them suddenly free here, would be perhaps attended with no less
difficulty; for, undiciplined as they are in religion and virtue, they
might give a loose to those evil habits, which the fear of a master
would have restrained. These are objections, which weigh with many well
disposed people, and it must be granted, these are difficulties in the
way; nor can any general change be made, or reformation effected,
without some; but the difficulties are not so great but that they may be
surmounted. If the government was so considerate of the iniquity and
danger attending on this practice, as to be willing to seek a remedy,
doubtless the Almighty would bless this good intention, and such methods
would be thought of, as would not only put an end to the unjust
oppression of the Negroes, but might bring them under regulations, that
would enable them to become profitable members of society; for the
furtherance of which, the following proposals are offered to
consideration: That all farther importation of slaves be absolutely
prohibited; and as to those born among us, after serving so long as may
appear to be equitable, let them by law be declared free. Let every one,
thus set free, be enrolled in the county courts, and be obliged to be a
resident, during a certain number of years, within the said county,
under the care of the overseers of the poor. Thus being, in some sort,
still under the direction of governors, and the notice of those who were
formerly acquainted with them, they would be obliged to act the more
circumspectly, and make proper use of their liberty, and their children
would have an opportunity of obtaining such instructions, as are
necessary to the common occasions of life; and thus both parents and
children might gradually become useful members of the community. And
further, where the nature of the country would permit, as certainly the
uncultivated condition of our southern and most western colonies easily
would, suppose a small tract of land were assigned to every Negroe
family, and they obliged to live upon and improve it, (when not hired
out to work for the white people) this would encourage them to exert
their abilities, and become industrious subjects. Hence, both planters
and tradesmen would be plentifully supplied with chearful and
willing-minded labourers, much vacant land would be cultivated, the
produce of the country be justly increased, the taxes for the support of
government lessened to individuals, by the increase of taxables, and the
Negroes, instead of being an object of terror,[A] as they certainly must
be to the governments where their numbers are great, would become
interested in their safety and welfare.
[Footnote A: The hard usage the Negroes meet with in the plantations,
and the great disproportion between them and the white people, will
always be a just cause of terror. In Jamaica, and some parts of
South-Carolina, it is supposed that there are fifteen blacks to one
white.]
CHAP. XV.
Answer to a mistaken opinion, that the warmth of the climate in the
West-Indies, will not permit white people to labour there. No complaint
of disability in the whites, in that respect, in the settlement of the
islands. Idleness and diseases prevailed, as the use of slaves
increased. _The great_ advantage which might accrue to the British
nation, if the slave trade was entirely laid aside, and a fair and
friendly commerce established through the whole coast of Africa.
It is frequently offered as an argument, in vindication of the use of
Negroe slaves, that the warmth of the climate in the West Indies will
not permit white people to labour in the culture of the land: but upon
an acquaintance with the nature of the climate, and its effects upon
such labouring white people, as are prudent and moderate in labour, and
the use of spirituous liquors, this will be found to be a mistaken
opinion. Those islands were, at first, wholly cultivated by white men;
the encouragement they then met with, for a long course of years, was
such as occasioned a great increase of people. Richard Ligon, in his
history of Barbadoes, where he resided from the year 1647 to 1650, about
24 years after his first settlement, writes, "that there were then fifty
thousand souls on that island, besides Negroes; and that though the
weather was very hot, yet not so scalding but that servants, both
christians and slaves, laboured ten hours a day." By other accounts we
gather, that the white people have since decreased to less than one half
the number which was there at that time; and by relations of the first
settlements of the other islands, we do not meet with any complaints of
unfitness in the white people for labour there, before slaves were
introduced. The island of Hispaniola, which is one of the largest of
those islands, was at first planted by the Buccaneers, a set of hardy
laborious men, who continued so for a long course of years; till
following the example of their neighbours, in the purchase and use of
Negroe slaves, idleness and excess prevailing, debility and disease
naturally succeeded, and have ever since continued. If, under proper
regulations, liberty was proclaimed through the colonies, the Negroes,
from dangerous, grudging, half-fed slaves, might become able,
willing-minded labourers. And if there was not a sufficient number of
these to do the necessary work, a competent number of labouring people
might be procured from Europe, which affords numbers of poor distressed
objects, who, if not overlooked, with proper usage, might, in several
respects, better answer every good purpose in performing the necessary
labour in the islands, than the slaves now do.
A farther considerable advantage might accrue to the British nation in
general, if the slave trade was laid aside, by the cultivation of a
fair, friendly, and humane commerce with the Africans; without which, it
is not possible the inland trade of that country should ever be extended
to the degree it is capable of; for while the spirit of butchery and
making slaves of each other, is promoted by the Europeans amongst the
Negroes, no mutual confidence can take place; nor will the Europeans be
able to travel with safety into the heart of their country, to form and
cement such commercial friendships and alliances, as might be necessary
to introduce the arts and sciences amongst them, and engage their
attention to instruction in the principles of the christian religion,
which is the only sure foundation of every social virtue. Africa has
about ten thousand miles of sea coast, and extends in depth near three
thousand miles from east to west, and as much from north to south,
stored with vast treasures of materials, necessary for the trade and
manufactures of Great-Britain; and from its climate, and the
fruitfulness of its soil, capable, under proper management, of producing
in the greatest plenty, most of the commodities which are imported into
Europe from those parts of America subject to the English government;[A]
and as, in return, they would take our manufactures, the advantages of
this trade would soon become so great, that it is evident this subject
merits the regard and attention of the government.
[Footnote A: See note, page 109.]
EXTRACT
FROM A
REPRESENTATION
OF THE
INJUSTICE
AND
DANGEROUS TENDENCY
OF TOLERATING
SLAVERY;
OR
Admitting the least CLAIM of private Property in the Persons of Men in
_England_.
By GRANVILLE SHARP.
FIRST PRINTED IN LONDON.
MDCCLXIX.
CONTENTS.
_The occasion of this Treatise. All Persons during their residence in_
Great Britain _are subjects; and as such, bound to the laws, and under
the Kings protection. By the English laws, no man, of what condition
soever, to be imprisoned, or any way deprived of his_ LIBERTY, _without
a legal process. The danger of_ Slavery _taking place in England.
Prevails in the Northern Colonies, notwithstanding the people's plea in
favour of_ Liberty. _Advertisements in the New-York Journal for the sale
of_ SLAVES. _Advertisements to the same purpose in the public prints in
England. The danger of confining any person without a legal warrant.
Instances of that nature. Note, Extract of several American laws,
Reflexions thereon._
EXTRACT, &C.
Some persons respectable in the law, having given it as their opinion,
"_That a slave, by coming from the West Indies to Great Britain or
Ireland, either with or without his master, doth not become free, or
that his master's property or right in him is not thereby determined or
varied;--and that the master may legally compel him to return again to
the plantations_,"--this causes our author to remark, that these
lawyers, by thus stating the case merely on one side of the question, (I
mean in favour of the master) have occasioned an unjust presumption and
prejudice, plainly inconsistent with the laws of the realm, and against
the other side of the question; as they have not signified that their
opinion was only conditional, and not absolute, and must be understood
on the part of the master, "_That he can produce an authentic agreement
or contract in writing, by which it shall appear, that the said slave
hath voluntarily bound himself, without compulsion or illegal duress_."
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