A LETTER ΤΟ ROBERT HIBBERT, JUN. ESQ., IN REPLY TO HIS PAMPHLET, ENTITLED, "FACTS VERIFIED UPON OATH, IN CONTRADICTION OF THE REPORT OF To which are added, A LETTER FROM MRS. COOPER TO R. HIBBERT, JUN. ESQ., And an Appendix, CONTAINING AN EXPOSURE OF THE FALSEHOODS AND CALUMNIES OF THAT GENTLEMAN'S AFFIDAVIT-MEN. BY THOMAS COOPER. "Out of thine own mouth will I condemn thee." London: SOLD BY J. HATCHARD AND SON, PICCADILLY, AND 1824. Price Half-a-Crown. US 5263.45.5 HARVARD JUN 24 1942 From the gift of Henry L. Shattuck G. SMALLFIELD, Printer, Hackney. ADVERTISEMENT. I cannot permit the following pages to go before the public, without expressing the regret I feel, that the brief account which I have felt it my duty to give of what I saw of the evils of the Slave-system in Jamaica, should have involved me in a personal contest with Mr. Hibbert. Things of this kind are always unpleasant, and especially when they are carried on through the medium of the press. Mr. Hibbert might have scrutinized my report without endeavouring to destroy its credit, by wounding my reputation. The object of all fair and profitable controversy, is to ascertain, by a charitable and dispassionate examination of the evidence on both sides of a disputed question, where the truth lies; and as long as the parties confine themselves to facts and argument, they may expect a patient hearing from the candid and impartial. I .wish Mr. Hibbert and his friends had reflected a little on this before they commenced their attack on me. The controversy which Mr. George Hibbert provoked and carried on with me in the newspapers, was, one should have thought, sufficiently personal and unceremonious, without returning to the charge supported by persons sworn on the "holy evangelists of Almighty God." This, however, has been done; and I have no alternative left but to appeal to the public, which I now do, under the hope that those who have read the attack, will do me the justice to peruse the reply. I have endeavoured to compress my remarks as much as possible-yet they have extended considerably beyond the bounds within which I originally hoped to confine them. It will be seen that I have spoken of several individuals in very plain language; but this my opponent compelled me to do. He put things in such a train, that it became necessary for me, in self-defence, to explain the reasons which induced me not to acknowledge Mr. Vaughan and Mr. Oates as persons "seriously concerned about religion." These gentlemen will doubtless be offended, but they have themselves and their friends to blame. I assure the reader, that I much regret the unpleasant necessity under which I have been laid. I feared, from the confident and feverish spirit manifested in Mr. George Hibbert's letters, what would be the result of his dragging individuals before the public, for the purpose of examining their moral and religious pretensions. I kept back till the last moment, from an idea that my accusers might see the propiety of quietly withdrawing from this part of their ground. But as they determined otherwise, it was not for me to allow them to quit the field with the advantage which they have sought to gain over me. The remarks which I have contrasted with the affidavits of Mr. Hibbert's witnesses, I could, with a very safe conscience, have supported on oath; but I am quite persuaded, that if I cannot be believed on my word, in a case like the present, I should gain nothing by going before a magistrate. At any rate, I have the approbation of my own mind in what I have done, notwithstanding the rough treatment I have met with. Besides, I am not the only sufferer scarcely an individual has dared to utter a syllable against the justice, or even policy, of colonial bondage, who has not been met with affidavits and a torrent of abuse. This is surely an indication that the West Indians have a bad cause to defend, though they would fain have the public believe that not only truth and justice, but even reason and revelation are all on their side. If this were really the case, or they in their hearts believed it to be so, would they not court, rather than strive to put down, inquiry? Would they, in the room of temperate and candid discussion, substitute gross personalities, affidavits, and threats of rebellion against the government? Shelton, near Newcastle-under-Lyme, Sept. 16, 1824. T. C. YOUR Pamphlet, entitled " Facts verified upon Oath," &c. in contradiction to what I have reported and published concerning the present condition of the Negro and other Slaves in Jamaica, especially those on your own estate of Georgia, demands a reply from me. The public have been already apprized, in my Second Letter to Mr. George Hibbert, that I obtained your full permission before I sent a word of my offensive narrative to press; and the following paragraph from your letter to me, dated East Hide, Feb. 26, 1822, more than ten months after I had quitted your estate, will enable the reader to judge of the feelings under which you gave your sanction: "I shall," you tell 66 me, procure the Monthly Repository for March, to see what you say of your Jamaica labours; and as your Report will be that of an honest man, desirous of telling the sober truth without embellishment or for vain glory, I much rejoice that you have commenced such an undertaking." Now, after this, I felt myself at full liberty to proceed with my design without reserve; not doubting that as you professed to approve so heartily of my wishes, you would, if you saw any thing objectionable in what I might advance, point it out to me, not, indeed, by the help of persons "sworn on the holy evangelists of Almighty God," but B |