The History of the Rise, Progress and Accomplishment of the Abolition of the African Slave Trade by the British Parliament (1808), Vol. I 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), Vol. I

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A few words then passed between Mr. Pitt and Mr. Fox in reply to each
other; after which Lord Penrhyn rose. He said there were two classes of
men, the African merchants, and the planters, both whose characters had
been grossly calumniated. These wished that an inquiry might be instituted,
and this immediately, conscious that the more their conduct was examined
the less they would be found to merit the opprobrium with which they had
been loaded. The charges against the Slave-trade were either true or false.
If they were true, it ought to be abolished; but if upon inquiry they were
found to be without foundation, justice ought to be done to the reputation
of those who were concerned in it. He then said a few words, by which he
signified, that, after all, it might not be an improper measure to make
regulations in the trade.

Mr. Burke said, the noble lord, who was a man of honour himself, had
reasoned from his own conduct, and, being conscious of his own integrity,
was naturally led to imagine that other men were equally just and
honourable. Undoubtedly the merchants and planters had a right to call for
an investigation of their conduct, and their doing so did them great
credit. The Slave-trade also ought equally to be inquired into. Neither did
he deny that it was right His Majesty's ministers should inquire into its
merits for themselves. They had done their duty; but that house, who had
the petitions of the people on their table, had neglected it, by having so
long deferred an inquiry of their own. If that house wished to preserve
their functions, their understandings, their honour, and their dignity, he
advised them to beware of commitees of privy council. If they suffered
their business to be done by such means, they were abdicating their trust
and character, and making way for an entire abolition of their functions,
which they were parting with one after another. Thus,

"Star after star goes out, and all is night."

If they neglected the petitions of their constituents, they must fall, and
the privy council be instituted in their stead. What would be the
consequence? His Majesty's ministers, instead of consulting them, and
giving them the opportunity of exercising their functions of deliberation
and legislation, would modify the measures of government elsewhere, and
bring down the edicts of the privy council to them to register. Mr. Burke
said, he was one of those who wished for the abolition of the Slave-trade.
He thought it ought to be abolished, on principles of humanity and justice.
If, however, opposition of interests should render its total abolition
impossible, it ought to be regulated, and that immediately. They need not
send to the West Indies to know the opinions of the planters on the
subject. They were to consider first of all, and abstractedly from all
political, personal, and local considerations, that the Slave-trade was
directly contrary to the principles of humanity and justice, and to the
spirit of the British constitution; and that the state of slavery, which
followed it, however mitigated, was a state so improper, so degrading, and
so ruinous to the feelings and capacities of human nature, that it ought
not to be suffered to exist. He deprecated delay in this business, as well
for the sake of the planters as of the slaves.

Mr. Gascoyne, the other member for Liverpool, said he had no objection that
the discussion should stand over to the next session of parliament,
provided it could not come on in the present, because he was persuaded it
would ultimately be found that his constituents, who were more immediately
concerned in the trade, and who had been so shamefully calumniated, were
men of respectable character. He hoped the privy council would print their
Report when they had brought their inquiries to a conclusion, and that they
would lay it before the house and the public, in order to enable all
concerned to form a judgment of what was proper to be done relative to the
subject, next session. With respect, however, to the total abolition of the
Slave-trade, he must confess that such a measure was both unnecessary,
visionary, and impracticable; but he wished some alterations or
modifications to be adopted. He hoped that, when the house came to go into
the general question, they would not forget the trade, commerce, and
navigation, of the country.

Mr. Rolle said, he had received instructions from his constituents to
inquire if the grievances, which had been alleged to result from the
Slave-trade, were well founded, and, if it should appear that they were, to
assist in applying a remedy. He was glad the discussion had been put off
till next session, as it would give all of them an opportunity of
considering the subject with more mature deliberation.

Mr. Martin desired to say a few words only. He put the case, that,
supposing the slaves were treated ever so humanely, when they were carried
to the West Indies, what compensation could be made them for being torn
from their nearest relations, and from every thing that was dear to them in
life? He hoped no political advantage, no national expediency, would be
allowed to weigh in the scale against the eternal rules of moral rectitude.
As for himself, he had no hesitation to declare, in this early stage of the
business, that he should think himself a wicked wretch if he did not do
every thing in his power to put a stop to the Slave-trade.

Sir William Dolben said, that he did not then wish to enter into the
discussion of the general question of the abolition of the Slave-trade,
which the Chancellor of the Exchequer was so desirous of postponing; but he
wished to say a few words on what he conceived to be a most crying evil,
and which might be immediately remedied, without infringing upon the limits
of that question. He did not allude to the sufferings of the poor Africans
in their own country, nor afterwards in the West India islands, but to that
intermediate state of tenfold misery which they underwent in their
transportation. When put on board the ships, the poor unhappy wretches were
chained to each other, hand and foot, and stowed so close, that they were
not allowed above a foot and a half for each individual in breadth. Thus
crammed together like herrings in a barrel, they contracted putrid and
fatal disorders; so that they who came to inspect, them in a morning had
occasionally to pick dead slaves out of their rows, and to unchain their
carcases from the bodies of their wretched fellow-sufferers, to whom they
had been fastened. Nor was it merely to the slaves that the baneful effects
of the contagion thus created were confined. This contagion affected the
ships' crews, and numbers of the seamen employed in the horrid traffic
perished. This evil, he said, called aloud for a remedy, and that remedy
ought to be applied soon; otherwise no less than ten thousand lives might
be lost between this and the next session. He wished therefore this
grievance to be taken into consideration, independently of the general
question; and that some regulations, such as restraining the captains from
taking above a certain number of slaves on board, according to the size of
their vessels, and obliging them to let in fresh air, and provide better
accommodation for the slaves during their passage, should be adopted.

Mr. Young wished the consideration of the whole subject to stand over to
the next session.

Sir James Johnstone, though a planter, professed himself a friend to the
abolition of the Slave-trade. He said it was highly necessary that the
house should do something respecting it; but whatever was to be done should
be done soon, as delay might be productive of bad consequences in the
islands.

Mr. L. Smith stood up a zealous advocate for the abolition of the
Slave-trade. He said that even Lord Penrhyn and Mr. Gascoyne, the members
for Liverpool, had admitted the evil of it to a certain extent; for
regulations or modifications, in which they seemed to acquiesce, were
unnecessary where abuses did not really exist.

Mr. Grigby thought it his duty to declare, that no privy council report, or
other mode of examination, could influence him. A traffic in the persons of
men was so odious, that it ought everywhere, as soon as ever it was
discovered, to be abolished.

Mr. Bastard was anxious that the house should proceed to the discussion of
the subject in the present session. The whole country, he said, had
petitioned; and was it any satisfaction to the country to be told, that the
commitee of privy council were inquiring? Who knew any thing of what was
doing by the commitee of privy council, or what progress they were making?
The inquiry ought to have been instituted in that house, and in the face of
the public, that every body concerned might know what was going on. The
numerous petitions of the people ought immediately to be attended to. He
reprobated delay on this occasion; and as the honourable baronet, Sir
William Dolben, had stated facts which were shocking to humanity, he hoped
he would move that a commitee might be appointed to inquire into their
existence, that a remedy might be applied, if possible, before the sailing
of the next ships for Africa.

Mr. Whitbread professed himself a strenuous advocate for the total and
immediate abolition of the Slave-trade. It was contrary to nature, and to
every principle of justice, humanity, and religion.

Mr. Pelham stated, that he had very maturely considered the subject of the
Slave-trade; and had he not known that the business was in the hands of an
honourable member, (whose absence from the house, and the cause of it, no
man lamented more sincerely than he did,) he should have ventured to
propose something concerning it himself. If it should be thought that the
Trade ought not to be entirely done away, the sooner it was regulated the
better. He had a plan for this purpose, which appeared to him to be likely
to produce some salutary effects. He wished to know if any such thing would
be permitted to be proposed in the course of the present session.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer said he should be happy, if he thought the
circumstances of the house were such as to enable them to proceed to an
immediate discussion of the question; but as that did not appear, from the
reasons he had before stated, to be the case, he could only assure the
honourable gentleman, that the same motives which had induced him to
propose an inquiry into the subject early in the next session of
parliament, would make him desirous of receiving any other light which
could be thrown upon it.

The question having been then put, the resolution was agreed to
unanimously. Thus ended the first debate that ever took place in the
commons, on this important subject. This debate, though many of the persons
concerned in it abstained cautiously from entering into the merits of the
general question, became interesting, in consequence of circumstances
attending it. Several rose up at once to give relief, as it were, to their
feelings by utterance; but by so doing they were prevented, many of them,
from being heard. They who were heard spoke with peculiar energy, as if
warmed in an extraordinary manner by the subject. There was an apparent
enthusiasm in behalf of the injured Africans. It was supposed by some, that
there was a moment, in which, if the Chancellor of the Exchequer had moved
for an immediate abolition of the Trade, he would have carried it that
night; and both he and others, who professed an attachment to the cause,
were censured for not having taken a due advantage of the disposition which
was so apparent. But independently of the inconsistency of doing this on
the part of the ministry, while the privy council were in the midst of
their inquiries, and of the improbability that the other branches of the
legislature would have concurred in so hasty a measure; What good would
have accrued to the cause, if the abolition had been then carried? Those
concerned in the cruel system would never have rested quietly under the
stigma under which they then laboured. They would have urged, that they had
been condemned unheard. The merchants would have said, that they had had no
notice of such an event, that they might prepare a way for their vessels in
other trades. The planters would have said, that they had had no time
allowed them to provide such supplies from Africa as might enable them to
keep up their respective stocks. They would, both of them, have called
aloud for immediate indemnification. They would have decried the policy of
the measure of the abolition;--and where had it been proved? They would
have demanded a reverse of it; and might they not, in cooler moments, have
succeeded? Whereas, by entering into a patient discussion of the merits of
the question; by bringing evidence upon it; by reasoning upon that evidence
night after night, and year after year, land thus by disputing the ground
inch as it were by inch, the Abolition of the Slave-trade stands upon a
rock, upon which it never can be shaken. Many of those who were concerned
in the cruel system have now given up their prejudices, because they became
convinced in the contest. A stigma too has been fixed upon it, which can
never be erased: and in a large record, in which the cruelty and injustice
of it have been recognised in indelible characters, its impolicy also has
been eternally enrolled.

CHAPTER XXIII.

_Continuation to the middle of July--Anxiety of Sir William Dolben to
lessen the horrors of the Middle Passage till the great question should be
discussed--brings in a bill for that purpose--debate upon it--Evidence
examined against it--its inconsistency and falsehoods--further debate upon
it--Bill passed, and carried to the Lords--vexatious delays and opposition
there--carried backwards and forwards to both houses--at length finally
passed--Proceedings of the commitee in the interim--effects of them.--End
of the first volume_.

It was supposed, after the debate, of which the substance has been just
given, that there would have been no further discussion of the subject till
the next year: but Sir William Dolben became more and more affected by
those considerations which be had offered to the house on the ninth of May.
The trade, he found, was still to go on. The horrors of the transportation,
or Middle Passage, as it was called, which he conceived to be the worst in
the long catalogue of evils belonging to the system, would of course
accompany it. The partial discussion of these, he believed, would be no
infringement of the late resolution of the house. He was desirous,
therefore, of doing something in the course of the present session, by
which the miseries of the trade might be diminished as much as possible,
while it lasted, or till the legislature could take up the whole of the
question. This desire he mentioned to several of his friends; and as these
approved of his design, he made it known on the twenty-first of May in the
House of Commons.

He began by observing, that he would take up but little of their time. He
rose to move for leave to bring in a bill for the relief of those unhappy
persons, the natives of Africa, from the hardships to which they were
usually exposed in their passage from the coast of Africa to the Colonies.
He did not mean, by any regulations he might introduce for this purpose, to
countenance or sanction the Slave-trade, which, however modified, would be
always wicked and unjustifiable. Nor did he mean, by introducing these, to
go into the general question which the house had prohibited. The bill which
he had in contemplation, went only to limit the number of persons to be put
on board to the tonnage of the vessel which was to carry them, in order to
prevent them from being crowded too closely together; to secure to them
good and sufficient provisions; and to take cognizance of other matters,
which related to their health and accommodation; and this only till
parliament could enter into the general merits of the question. This humane
interference he thought no member would object to. Indeed, those for
Liverpool had both of them admitted, on the ninth of May, that regulations
were desirable; and he had since conversed with them, and was happy to
learn that they would not oppose him on this occasion.

Mr. Whitbread highly approved of the object of the worthy Baronet, which
was to diminish the sufferings of an unoffending people. Whatever could be
done to relieve them in their hard situation, till parliament could take up
the whole of their case, ought to be done by men living in a civilized
country, and professing the Christian religion: he therefore begged leave
to second the motion, which had been made.

General Norton was sorry that he had not risen up sooner. He wished to have
seconded this humane motion himself. It had his most cordial approbation.

Mr. Burgess complimented the worthy Baronet on the honour he had done
himself on this occasion, and congratulated the house on the good, which
they were likely to do by acceding, as he was sure they would, to his
proposition.

Mr. Joliffe rose, and said that the motion in question should have his
strenuous support.

Mr. Gascoyne stated, that having understood from the honourable Baronet
that he meant only to remedy the evils, which were stated to exist in
transporting the inhabitants of Africa to the West Indies, he had told him
that he would not object to the introduction of such a bill. Should it
however interfere with the general question, the discussion of which had
been prohibited, he would then oppose it. He must also reserve another case
for his opposition; and this would be, if the evils of which it took
cognizance should appear not to have been well founded. He had written to
his constituents to be made acquainted with this circumstance, and he must
be guided by them on the subject.

Mr. Martin was surprised how any person could give an opposition to such a
bill. Whatever were the merits of the great question, all would allow that,
if human beings were to be transported across the ocean, they should be
carried over it with as little suffering as possible to themselves.

Mr. Hamilton deprecated the subdivision of this great and important
question, which the house had reserved for another session. Every endeavour
to meddle with one part of it, before the whole of it could be taken into
consideration, looked rather as if it came from an enemy than from a
friend. He was fearful that such a bill as this would sanction a traffic,
which should never be viewed but in a hostile light, or as repugnant to the
feelings of our nature, and to the voice of our religion.

Lord Frederic Campbell was convinced that the postponing of all
consideration of the subject till the next session was a wise measure. He
was sure that neither the house nor the public were in a temper
sufficiently cool to discuss it property. There was a general warmth of
feeling, or an enthusiasm about it, which ran away with the understandings
of men, and disqualified them from judging soberly concerning it. He
wished, therefore, that the present motion might be deferred.

Mr. William Smith said, that if the motion of the honourable Baronet had
trespassed upon the great question reserved for consideration, he would
have opposed it himself; but he conceived the subject, which it
comprehended, might with propriety be separately considered; and if it were
likely that a hundred, but much more a thousand, lives would be saved by
this bill, it was the duty of that house to adopt it without delay.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, though he meant still to conceal his
opinion as to the general merits of the question, could not be silent here.
He was of opinion that he could very consistently give this motion his
support. There was a possibility (and a bare possibility was a sufficient
ground with him) that in consequence of the resolution lately come to by
the house, and the temper then manifested in it, those persons who were
concerned in the Slave-trade might put the natives of Africa in a worse
situation, during their transportation to the colonies, even than they were
in before, by cramming additional numbers on board their vessels, in order
to convey as many as possible to the West Indies before parliament
ultimately decided on the subject. The possibility, therefore, that such a
consequence might grow out of their late resolution during the intervening
months between the end of the present and the commencement of the next
session, was a good and sufficient parliamentary ground for them to provide
immediate means to prevent the existence of such an evil. He considered
this as an act of indispensable duty, and on that ground the bill should
have his support.

Soon after this the question was put, and leave was given for the
introduction of the bill.

An account of these proceedings of the house having been sent to the
merchants of Liverpool, they held a meeting, and came to resolutions on the
subject. They determined to oppose the bill in every stage in which it
should be brought forward, and, what was extraordinary, even the principle
of it. Accordingly, between the twenty-first of May and the second of June,
on which latter day the bill, having been previously read a second time,
was to be committed, petitions from interested persons had been brought
against it, and consent had been obtained, that both counsel and evidence
should be heard.

The order of the day having been read on the second of June for the house
to resolve itself into a commitee of the whole house, a discussion took
place relative to the manner in which the business was to be conducted.
This being over, the counsel began their observations; and, as soon as they
had finished, evidence was called to the bar in behalf of the petitions
which had been delivered.

From the second of June to the seventeenth the house continued to hear the
evidence at intervals, but the members for Liverpool took every opportunity
of occasioning delay. They had recourse twice to counting out the house;
and at another time, though complaint had been made of their attempts to
procrastinate, they opposed the resuming of their own evidence with the
same view,--and this merely for the frivolous reason, that, though there
was then a suitable opportunity, notice had not been previously given. But
in this proceeding, other members feeling indignant at their conduct, they
were overruled.

The witnesses brought by the Liverpool merchants against this humane bill
were the same as they had before sent for examination to the privy council,
namely, Mr. Norris, Lieutenant Matthews, and others. On the other side of
the question it was not deemed expedient to bring any. It was soon
perceived that it would be possible to refute the former out of their own
mouths, and to do this seemed more eligible than to proceed in the other
way. Mr. Pitt, however, took care to send Captain Parrey, of the royal
navy, to Liverpool, that he might take the tonnage and internal dimensions
of several slave-vessels, which were then there, supposing that these, when
known, would enable the house to detect any misrepresentations, which the
delegates from that town might be disposed to make upon this subject.

It was the object of the witnesses, when examined, to prove two things:
first, that regulations were unnecessary, because the present mode of the
transportation was sufficiently convenient for the objects of it, and was
well adapted to preserve their comfort and their health. They had
sufficient room, sufficient air, and sufficient provisions. When upon deck,
they made merry and amused themselves with dancing. As to the mortality, or
the loss of them by death in the course of their passage, it was trifling.
In short, the voyage from Africa to the West Indies "was one of the
happiest periods of a Negro's life."

Secondly, that if the merchants were hindered from taking less than two
full-sized, or three smaller Africans, to a ton, then the restriction would
operate not as the regulation but as the utter ruin of the trade. Hence the
present bill, under the specious mask of a temporary interference, sought
nothing less than its abolition.

These assertions having been severally made, by the former of which it was
insinuated that the African, unhappy in his own country, found in the
middle passage, under the care of the merchants, little less than an
Elysian retreat, it was now proper to institute a severe inquiry into the
truth of them. Mr. Pitt, Sir Charles Middleton, Mr. William Smith, and Mr.
Beaufoy, took a conspicuous part on this occasion, but particularly the two
latter, to whom much praise was due for the constant attention they
bestowed upon this subject. Question after question was put by these to the
witnesses; and from their own mouths they dragged out, by means of a
cross-examination as severe as could be well instituted, the following
melancholy account:

Every slave, whatever his size might be, was found to have only five feet
and six inches in length, and sixteen inches in breadth, to lie in. The
floor was covered with bodies stowed or packed according to this allowance.
But between the floor and the deck or ceiling were often platforms or broad
shelves in the mid-way, which were covered with bodies also. The height
from the floor to the ceiling, within which space the bodies on the floor
and those on the platforms lay, seldom exceeded five feet eight inches, and
in some cases it did not exceed four feet.

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