WEST INDIA QUESTION. IMMEDIATE EMANCIPATION WOULD BE SAFE FOR THE MASTERS;-PROFITABLE FOR THE MASTERS;- AN OUTLINE FOR IMMEDIATE EMANCIPATION; AND REMARKS ON COMPENSATION. BY CHARLES STUART. REPRINTED FROM THE (Eng.) QUARTERLY MAGAZINE AND REVIEW, OF APRIL, 1832. THE WEST INDIA QUESTION. GREAT BRITAIN rather totters than stands on a pinnacle-her crimes are gnawing at her heart-every one that loves her, trembles for her safety, and anxiously enquires into the causes of her danger. It is the object of the following pages to point out one of those causes a master cause-and to suggest its remedy. Should the writer appear severe, let it be remembered, that no disorder of any magnitude, whether physical or moral, can be removed by lenitives. The medical poison must be given at once; the limb must be amputated; the lust must be crucified while it is not yet too late, or the patient perishes. The writer disclaims entirely, all intention of giving offense. It is the extinction of crime, not the injury of criminals, which he seeks; and he speaks boldly of criminals, that their iniquity may not prove their own and their country's ruin. The case to which he alludes is Negro Slavery. As a political evil he meddles not with it; but as a moral crime, it is a common nuisance, and fills him with horror and alarm. He finds it an infraction of all righteous law. He sees that it is the bane of all true love; an act of high-treason against God: and an outrage, concentrating in itself all outrages, against man. He cannot believe the Bible without being persuaded, that the fiercest vengeance of Almighty God, the moral and righteous ruler of the universe, is waxing - hotter and hotter against us every moment that we persist in it. He knows that amongst the actual possessors and managers of Negro Slave property, there are some of the most honorable men in the nation; men who in other respects are examples of excellent and noble things; but he cannot forget that He who said, "Do not commit adultery," said also, "Let the oppressed go free." "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." "He that loveth not his brother abideth in death." "For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all." And he therefore cannot permit himself to be blinded by the glare, however bright, of partial obedience: a whole heart, a brotherly heart, is what God requires; the undissembling voice of which shall be, "Glory to God in the highest, aud on earth, peace, good-will to man," withuot respect of persons; and not a heart yielded merely so far as may be sanctioned by convenience, or interest, or prejudice; or what men call prudence and benevolence, when they substitute this world's wisdom, for cordial and confiding obedience. In the course of the following observations, where things apparently barsh shall be found, let them apply only where they fit; but where they do fit, the writer entreats the persons in question, whoever they be, to remember, that وو "the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness,' and to believe, that as far as he knows himself, this is his motive for writing as he does: not to judge, but to warn; not as desiring to destroy, but as wishing to be an instrument of salvation. The subject, is Negro Slavery as it exists under British power And the question, is how may it be remedied? The Negro Slave party, that is, they who are interested, from whatever motives, in the continuance of Negro Slavery, honorable wealthy, talented and united, declare that immediate abolition is forbidden by self-presevation; regard for the negroes; rights of the masters; pledges of goverment; and national interests. And another reason, not much avowed, but well understood, and of all others the most deeply felt by the great body of managers and of resident proprietors, is the fear of losing that endless variety of gratifications, which the possession of despotic power affords. But of all, few or none under the British empire, pretend at this day, that Negro Slavery should be interminable. All agree that it ought to be eventually abolished; but they require time, in order to avert the dangers, which they anticipate from so a great and sudden a change as immediate emancipation would produce. Now if it can be clearly shewn, that these objections have no force, either in nature or in fact; that the immediate emancipation of the negroes, is the best way to give the masters security, and the negroes happiness; to absolve the duty of the government, and to support or improve the colonial and national revenues: and if it can be further shewn, that delay is a cruel and dangerous delusion: and that the licentious gratifications of despotic power, dear though they be to the sinner, as a hand or an eye, are altogether ruinous and degrading: the difficulties which are heaped like mountains in the way of duty, will be removed, and unless rottenness have altogether gotten hold of us, we shall open our eyes and see how safe, and only safe it is, to obey God and let the oppressed go free. Can such proofs be supplied; or where are they? I propose briefly exhibiting them under the following heads, by shewing that THE IMMEDIATE EMANCIPATION OF The Negroes1st. Would be safe and profitable for the masters. 2nd. Would be happy for the negroes. 3rd. Would be right in the government. 4th. Would be advantageous to the nation. 5th. Would interfere with no passions but such as are disgraceful and destructive; and 6th. Cannot be postponed without great danger. But two things must be premised; viz: 1. The real condition of the enslaved negroes in the British Colonies; and II. What we mean by immediate emancipation. 1st. The real condition of the enslaved negroes in the British Slave Colonies. Each estate is a little despotism: the master may imprison,* flog, torture, sell and seperate his slaves, under certain limitations essentially more or less inefficient, at his discretion. He gives them no wages; merely supporting them as beasts are supported. He may impose upon them, at all times, an overwhelming amount of labor; and this is left particularly to his own ungoverned discretion, during the season of crop, or for about four months in each year. His slaves may be seized and sold without any fault, or imputation of a fault, for their master's debts. They can be mortgaged like goods and chattels; and the greater number of them could not obtain their liberty, though thousands were offered to redeem them, except their masters pleased. When they come or are brought to England, they are free while in England; but should they return to their native country, they are again made slaves. This is their general condition. Kind masters alleviate it; but it is generally aggravated by unkindness; and where sugar is cultivated, this aggravation is so severe, as to eventuate yearly in the slaughter of thousands of them, by the most lingering and painful deaths.† But who are these slaves? Or of what enormous transgressions have they been guilty, that they should thus be consigned to a state of such hopeless and consuming oppression? Where is the record of their crimes and condemnation? Who were their judges? By what special commission were they tried? They are British subjects. The great body of them were born within the king's allegiance, and have never forfeited his protection by any crime. They were never condemned; never tried; never accused. They are unoffending British subjects, with the same rights to the king's protection which any other British subject has ;endowed with property in their own bodies by their Maker, and inheriting a right to the King's protection, by having been born within his allegiance. They are slaves merely because they are in the hands of their enemies, who are stronger than they; and because their king and their country, who are bound by the most sacred ties to do them right, still choose to crouch beneath the pride and wickedness of their oppressors, and, with God's judgments ringing a thunder alarum through the world, to leave his poor to be destroyed. 2ndly. What do we mean by immediate emancipation? We mean, immediately to treat the unoffending negroes in their true character, as guiltless British subjects; to give them the pro *See Jamaica Slave Law of 1831. Regulations for Crown Colonies of 1831. Nine Letters to the Duke of Wellington, by Ignotus. J. Jeremie's Four Essays. James Stephen's 2 volumes. Jamaica Christian Record. Colonial Gazettes, and Parliamentary Papers. + See Population Returns, as quoted from Parliamentary papers in the House of Commons, by Brougham and Buxton. |