The History of the Rise, Progress and Accomplishment of the Abolition of the African Slave Trade by the British Parliament (1808) by Thomas Clarkson

T >> Thomas Clarkson >> The History of the Rise, Progress and Accomplishment of the Abolition of the African Slave Trade by the British Parliament (1808)

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[Footnote A: Africa.]

Another, upon whom I had time to call, was the amiable Bishop of Chartres.
When I left him, the Abbe Syeyes, who was with him, desired to walk with me
to my hotel. He there presented me with a set of his works, which he sent
for, while he staid with me; and on parting, he made use of this
complimentary expression, in allusion, I suppose, to the cause I had
undertaken,--"I am pleased to have been acquainted with the friend of man."

It was necessary that I should see the Comte de Mirabeau and the Marquis de
la Fayette, before I left Paris. I had written to each of them to
communicate the intelligence of my departure, as soon as I received it. The
Comte, it appeared, had nearly canvassed the Assembly. He could count upon
three hundred members, who, for the sake of justice, and without any
consideration of policy or of consequences, would support his motion.
But alas! what proportion did this number bear to twelve hundred? About
five hundred more would support him; but only on one condition; which
was, if England would give an unequivocal proof of her intention to
abolish the trade. The knowledge of these circumstances, he said, had
induced him to write a letter to Mr. Pitt. In this he had explained,
how far he could proceed without his assistance, and how far with it.
He had frankly developed to him the mind and temper of the Assembly on
this subject; but his answer must be immediate: for the White Colonists
were daily gaining such an influence there, that he foresaw it would be
impossible to carry the measure, if it were long delayed. On taking leave
of him he desired me to be the bearer of the letter, and to present it
to Mr. Pitt.

On conversing with the Marquis de la Fayette, he lamented deeply the
unexpected turn, which the cause of the Negros had lately taken in the
Assembly. It was entirely owing to the daily intrigues of the White
Colonists. He feared they would ruin every thing. If the Deputies of Colour
had been heard on their arrival, their rights would have been acknowledged.
But now there was little probability that they would obtain them. He
foresaw nothing but desolation in St. Domingo. With respect to the
abolition of the Slave-trade, it might be yet carried; but not unless
England would concur in the measure. On this topic he enlarged with much
feeling. He hoped the day was near at hand, when two great nations, which
had been hitherto distinguished only for their hostility, one toward the
other, would unite in so sublime a measure; and that they would follow up
their union by another, still more lovely, for the preservation of eternal
and universal peace. Thus their future rivalships might have the
extraordinary merit of being rivalships in good. Thus the revolution of
France, through the mighty aid of England, might become the source of
civilization, of freedom, and of happiness to the whole world. No other
nations were sufficiently enlightened for such an union, but all other
nations might be benefited by it.

The last person whom I saw, was Brissot. He accompanied me to my carriage.
With him therefore I shall end my French account; and I shall end it in no
way so satisfactory to myself, as in a very concise vindication of his
character, from actual knowledge, against the attacks of those who have
endeavoured to disparage it; but who never knew him. Justice and truth, I
am convinced, demand some little declaration on this subject at my hands.
Brissot then was a man of plain and modest appearance. His habits, contrary
to those of his countrymen in general, were domestic. In his own family he
set an amiable example, both as a husband and as a father. On all occasions
he was a faithful friend. He was particularly watchful over his private
conduct. From the simplicity of his appearance, and the severity of his
morals, he was called The Quaker; at least in all the circles which I
frequented. He was a man of deep feeling. He was charitable to the poor as
far as a slender income permitted him. But his benevolence went beyond the
usual bounds. He was no patriot in the ordinary acceptation of the word;
for he took the habitable globe as his country, and wished to consider
every foreigner as his brother.

I left France, as it maybe easily imagined, much disappointed, that my
labours, which had been of nearly six months continuance, should have had
no better success; nor did I see, in looking forward, any circumstances
that were consoling with respect to the issue of them there; for it was
impossible that Mr. Pitt, even if he had been inclined to write to
Mirabeau, circumstanced as matters then were with respect to the hearing of
evidence, could have given him a promise, at least of a speedy abolition;
and, unless his answer had been immediate, it would have arrived, seeing
that the French planters were daily profiting by their intrigues, too late
to be effectual.

I had but just arrived in England, when Mr. Wilberforce made a new motion
in the House of Commons on the subject of the, Slave-trade. In referring to
the transactions of the last sessions, he found that twenty-eight days had
been allotted to the hearing of witnesses against the abolition, and that
eleven persons only had been examined in that time. If the examinations
were to go on in the same manner, they might be made to last for years. He
resolved therefore to move, that, instead of hearing evidence in future in
the house at large, members should hear it in an open committee above
stairs; which committee should sit notwithstanding any adjournment of the
house itself. This motion he made; and in doing it he took an opportunity
of correcting an erroneous report; which was, that he had changed his mind
on this great subject. This was, he said, so far from being the case, that
the more he contemplated the trade, the more enormous he found it, and the
more he felt himself compelled to persevere in endeavours for its
abolition.

One would have thought that a motion, so reasonable and so constitutional,
would have met with the approbation of all; but it was vehemently opposed
by Mr. Gascoyne, Alderman Newnham, and others. The plea set up was, that
there was no precedent for referring a question of such importance to a
committee. It was now obvious, that the real object of our opponents in
abandoning decision by the privy council evidence was delay. Unable to meet
us there, they were glad to fly to any measure, which should enable them to
put off the evil day. This charge was fixed upon them in unequivocal
language by Mr. Fox; who observed besides, that if the members of the house
should then resolve to hear evidence in a committee of the whole house as
before, it would amount to a resolution, that the question of the abolition
of the Slave-trade should be put by, or at least that it should never be
decided by them. After a long debate, the motion of Mr. Wilberforce was
voted without a division; and the examination of witnesses proceeded in
behalf of those who were interested in the continuance of the trade.

This measure having been resolved upon, by which dispatch in the
examinations was promoted, I was alarmed lest we should be called upon for
our own evidence, before we were fully prepared. The time which I had
originally allotted for the discovery of new witnesses, had been taken up,
if not wasted, in France. In looking over the names of the sixteen, who
were to have been examined by the committee of privy council, if there
had been time, one had died, and eight, who were sea-faring people,
were out of the kingdom. It was time therefore to stir immediately
in this business. Happily, on looking over my letters, which I found
on my arrival in England, the names of several had been handed to me,
with the places of their abode, who could give me information on the
subject of our question. All these I visited with the utmost dispatch.
I was absent only three weeks. I had travelled a thousand miles in
this time, had conversed with seventeen persons, and had prevailed
upon three to be examined.

I had scarcely returned with the addition of these witnesses to my list,
when I found it necessary to go out again upon the same errand. This second
journey arose in part from the following circumstances. There was a matter
in dispute relative to the mode of obtaining slaves in the rivers of
Calabar and Bonny. It was usual, when the slave-ships lay there, for a
number of canoes to go into the inland country. These went in a fleet.
There might be from thirty to forty armed natives in each of them. Every
canoe also had a four- or a six-pounder (cannon) fastened to her bow.
Equipped in this manner they departed; and they were usually absent from
eight to fourteen days. It was said that they went to fairs, which were
held on the banks of these rivers, and at which there was a regular show of
slaves. On their return they usually brought down from eight hundred to a
thousand of these for the ships. These lay at the bottom of the canoes;
their arms and legs having been first bound by the ropes of the country.
Now the question was, how the people, thus going up these rivers, obtained
their slaves?

It was certainly a very suspicious circumstance, that such a number of
persons should go out upon these occasions; and that they should be armed
in such a manner. We presumed therefore, that, though they might buy many
of the slaves, whom they brought down, at the fairs, which have been
mentioned, they obtained others by violence, as opportunity offered. This
inference we pressed upon our opponents; and called upon them to show what
circumstances made such warlike preparations necessary on these excursions.
To this they replied readily. The people in the canoes, said they, pass
through the territories of different petty princes; to each of whom, on
entering his territory, they pay a tribute or toll. This tribute has been
long fixed; but attempts frequently have been made to raise it. They who
follow the trade cannot afford to submit to these unreasonable demands; and
therefore they arm themselves in case of any determination on the part of
these petty princes to enforce them.

This answer we never judged to be satisfactory. We tried therefore to throw
light upon the subject, by inquiring if the natives, who went up on these
expeditions, usually took with them as many goods, as would amount to the
number of the slaves they were accustomed to bring back with them. But we
could get no direct answer, from any actual knowledge, to this question.
All had seen the canoes go out and return; but no one had seen them loaded,
or had been on board them. It appeared, however, from circumstantial
evidence, that, though the natives on these occasions might take some
articles of trade with them, it was impossible from appearances, that they
could take them in the proportion mentioned. We maintained then our
inference as before; but it was still uniformly denied.

How then were we to decide this important question? for it was said, that
no white man was ever permitted by the natives to go up in these canoes. On
mentioning accidentally the circumstances of the case, as I have now stated
them, to a friend, immediately on my return from my last journey, he
informed me, that he himself had been in company, about a year before, with
a sailor, a very respectable-looking man, who had been up these rivers. He
had spent half an hour with him at an inn. He described his person to me.
But he knew nothing of his name, or of the place of his abode. All he knew
was, that he was either going, or that he belonged to, some ship of war in
ordinary; but he could not tell at what port. I might depend upon all these
circumstances, if the man had not deceived him; and he saw no reason why he
should.

I felt myself set on fire, as it were, by this intelligence, deficient as
it was; and I seemed to determine instantly that I would, if it were
possible, find him out. For if our suspicions were true, that the natives
frequently were kidnapped in these expeditions, it would be of great
importance to the cause of the abolition to have them confirmed; for as
many slaves came annually from these two rivers, as from all the coast of
Africa besides. But how to proceed on so blind an errand was the question.
I first thought of trying to trace the man by letter. But this might be
tedious. The examinations were now going on rapidly. We should soon be
called upon for evidence ourselves. Besides, I knew nothing of his name. I
then thought it to be a more effectual way to apply to Sir Charles
Middleton, as comptroller of the navy, by whose permission I could board
every ship of war in ordinary in England, and judge for myself. But here
the undertaking seemed very arduous; and the time it would consume became
an objection in this respect, that I thought I could not easily forgive
myself, if I were to fail in it. My inclination, however, preponderated
this way. At length I determined to follow it; for, on deliberate
consideration, I found that I could not employ my time more advantageously
to the cause; for as other witnesses must be found out somewhere, it was
highly probable that, if I should fail in the discovery of this man, I
should, by moving among such a number of sea-faring people, find others,
who could give their testimony in our favour.

I must now inform the reader, that ships of war in ordinary, in one of
which this man was reported to be, are those, which are out of commission,
and which are laid up in the different rivers and waters in the
neighbourhood of the King's dock-yards. Every one of these has a boatswain,
gunner, carpenter, and assistants on board. They lie usually in divisions
of ten or twelve; and a master in the navy has a command over every
division.

At length I began my journey. I boarded all the ships of war lying in
ordinary at Deptford, and examined the different persons in each. From
Deptford I proceeded to Woolwich, where I did the same. Thence I hastened
to Chatham, and then, down the Medway, to Sheerness. I had now boarded
above a hundred and sixty vessels of war. I had found out two good and
willing evidences among them. But I could gain no intelligence of him, who
was the object of my search.

From Chatham, I made the best of my way to Portsmouth-harbour. A very
formidable task presented itself here. But the masters' boats were ready
for me; and I continued my pursuit. On boarding the Pegase, on the second
day, I discovered a very respectable person in the gunner of that ship. His
name was George Millar. He had been on board the Canterbury slave-ship at
the dreadful massacre at Calabar. He was the only disinterested evidence
living, of whom I had yet heard. He expressed his willingness to give his
testimony, if his presence should be thought necessary in London. I then
continued my pursuit for the remainder of the day. On the next day, I
resumed and finished it for this quarter. I had now examined the different
persons in more than a hundred vessels in this harbour, but I had not
discovered the person I had gone to seek.

Matters now began to look rather disheartening, I mean, as far as my grand
object was concerned. There was but one other port left, and this was
between two and three hundred miles distant. I determined however to go to
Plymouth. I had already been more successful in this tour, with respect to
obtaining general evidence, than in any other of the same length; and the
probability was, that, as I should continue to move among the same kind of
people, my success would be in a similar proportion according to the number
visited. These were great encouragements to me to proceed. At length, I
arrived at the place of my last hope. On my first day's expedition I
boarded forty vessels, but found no one in these, who had been on the coast
of Africa in the Slave-trade. One or two had been there in King's ships;
but they had never been on shore. Things were now drawing near to a close;
and, notwithstanding my success as to general evidence in this journey, my
heart began to beat. I was restless and uneasy during the night. The next
morning, I felt agitated again between the alternate pressure of hope and
fear; and in this state I entered my boat. The fifty-seventh vessel, which
I boarded in this harbour, was the Melampus frigate. One person belonging
to it, on examining him in the captain's cabin, said he had been two
voyages to Africa; and I had not long discoursed with him, before I found,
to my inexpressible joy, that he was the man. I found too, that he
unravelled the question in dispute precisely as our inferences had
determined it. He had been two expeditions up the river Calabar in the
canoes of the natives. In the first of these, they came within a certain
distance of a village. They then concealed themselves under the bushes,
which hung over the water from the banks. In this position they remained
during day-light. But at night they went up to it armed; and seized all the
inhabitants, who had not time to make their escape. They obtained
forty-five persons in this manner. In the second they were out eight or
nine days; when they made a similar attempt, and with nearly similar
success. They seized men, women, and children, as they could find them in
the huts. They then bound their arms, and drove them before them to the
canoes. The name of the person, thus discovered on board the Melampus, was
Isaac Parker. On inquiring into his character from the master of the
division, I found it highly respectable. I found also afterwards, that he
had sailed with Captain Cook, with great credit to himself, round the
world. It was also remarkable that my brother, on seeing him in London,
when he went to deliver his evidence, recognised him as having served on
board the Monarch man-of-war, and as one of the most exemplary men in that
ship.

I returned now in triumph. I had been out only three weeks, and I had found
out this extraordinary person, and five respectable witnesses besides.
These, added to the three discovered in the last journey, and to those
provided before, made us more formidable than at any former period; so that
the delay of our opponents, which we had looked upon as so great an evil,
proved in the end truly serviceable to our cause.

On going into the committee-room of the House of Commons on my return, I
found that the examinations were still going on in the behalf of those, who
were interested in the continuance of the trade; and they went on beyond
the middle of April, when it was considered that they had closed. Mr.
Wilberforce moved accordingly on the twenty-third of the same month, that
Captain Thomas Wilson, of the royal navy, and that Charles Berns Wadstrom
and Henry Hew Dalrymple, esquires, do attend as witnesses on the behalf of
the abolition. There was nothing now but clamour from those on the opposite
side of the question. They knew well, that there were but few members of
the House of Commons, who had read the privy council report. They knew
therefore, that, if the question were to be decided by evidence, it must be
decided by that, which their own witnesses had given before parliament. But
this was the evidence only on one side. It was certain therefore, if the
decision were to be made upon this basis, that it must be entirely in their
favour. Will it then be believed that in an English House of Commons there
could be found persons, who could move to prevent the hearing of any other
witnesses on this subject; and, what is more remarkable, that they should
charge Mr. Wilberforce, because he proposed the hearing of them, with the
intention solely of delay? Yes. Such persons were found, but, happily, only
among the friends of the Slave-trade. Mr. Wilberforce, in replying to them,
could not help observing, that it was rather extraordinary that they, who
had occasioned the delay of a whole year, should charge him with that, of
which they themselves had been so conspicuously guilty. He then commented
for some time on the injustice of their motion. He stated too, that he
would undertake to remove from disinterested and unprejudiced persons many
of the impressions, which had been made by the witnesses against the
abolition; and he appealed to the justice and honour of the house in behalf
of an injured people; under the hope, that they would not allow a decision
to be made till they had heard the whole of the case. These observations,
however, did not satisfy all those, who belonged to the opposite party.
Lord Penrhyn contended for a decision without a moment's delay. Mr.
Gascoyne relented; and said, he would allow three weeks to the
abolitionists, during which their evidence, might be heard. At length the
debate ended; in the course of which, Mr. Pitt and Mr. Fox powerfully
supported Mr. Wilberforce; when the motion was negatived without any
attempt at a division.

The witnesses in behalf of the abolition of the Slave-trade now took
possession of the ground, which those in favour of it had left. But what
was our surprise, when only three of them had been heard, to find that Mr.
Norris should come forward as an evidence! This he did to confirm what he
had stated to the privy council as to the general question; but he did it
more particularly, as it appeared afterwards, in the justification of his
own conduct: for the part, which he had taken at Liverpool, as it related
to me, had become a subject of conversation with many. It was now well
known, what assistance he had given me there in my pursuit; how he had even
furnished me with clauses for a bill for the abolition of the trade; how I
had written to him, in consequence of his friendly cooperation, to come up
as an evidence in our favour; and how at that moment he had accepted the
office of a delegate on the contrary side. The noise, which the relation
and repetition of these and other circumstances had made, had given him, I
believe, considerable pain. His friends too had urged some explanation as
necessary. But how short-sighted are they who do wrong! By coming forward
in this imprudent manner, he fixed the stain only the more indelibly on
himself; for he thus imposed upon me the cruel necessity of being examined
against him; and this necessity was the more afflicting to me, because I
was to be called upon, not to state facts relative to the trade, but to
destroy his character as an evidence in its support. I was to be called
upon, in fact, to explain all those communications, which have been stated
to have taken place between us on this subject. Glad indeed should I have
been to have declined this painful interference. But no one would hear of a
refusal. The Bishop of London, Mr. Pitt, and Mr. Wilberforce, considered my
appearance on this occasion as an imperious duty to the cause of the
oppressed. It may be perhaps sufficient to say, that I was examined; that
Mr. Norris. was present all the time; that I was cross-examined by counsel;
and that after this time, Mr. Norris seemed to have no ordinary sense of
his own degradation; for he never afterwards held up his head, or looked
the abolitionists in the face, or acted with energy as a delegate, as on
former occasions.

The hearing of evidence continued to go on in behalf of the abolition of
the trade. No less than twenty-four witnesses, altogether, were heard in
this session. And here it may not be improper to remark, that, during the
examination of our own witnesses as well as the cross-examination of those
of our opponents, no counsel were ever employed. Mr. Wilberforce and Mr.
William Smith undertook this laborious department; and as they performed it
with great ability, so they did it with great liberality towards those, who
were obliged to come under their notice in the course of this fiery ordeal.

The bill of Sir William Dolben was now to be renewed. On this occasion the
enemies of the abolition became again conspicuous; for on the twenty-sixth
of May, they availed themselves of a thin house to propose an amendment, by
which they increased the number of the slaves to the tonnage of the vessel.
They increased it too, without taking into the account, as had hitherto
been done, the extent of the superficies of the vessels, which were to
carry them. This was the third indecorous attempt against what were only
reasonable and expected proceedings in the present session. But their
advantage was of no great duration; for, the very next day, the amendment
was rejected on the report by a majority of ninety-five to sixty-nine, in
consequence, principally, of the private exertions of Mr. Pitt. Of this
bill, though it was renewed in other years besides the present, I shall say
no more in this History; because it has nothing to do with the general
question. Horrible as it yet left the situation of the poor slaves in their
transportation, (which the plate has most abundantly shown) it was the best
bill, which could be then obtained; and it answered to a certain degree the
benevolent wishes of the worthy baronet, who introduced it: for if we could
conclude that these voyages were made more comfortable to the injured
Africans, in proportion as there was less mortality in them, he had
undoubtedly the pleasure of seeing the end, at least partially, obtained;
though he must always have felt a great drawback from it, by reflecting
that the survivors, however their sufferings might have been a little
diminished, were reserved for slavery.

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