FOOTNOTES:

THE END.

S. Gosnell, Printer, Little Queen Street.

FOOTNOTES:[1]Not of one or two, or of a few individuals, but ofthe People.[2]What can more expressively shew the dreadful state of society which prevails in this island, than that a Magistrate should find himself without the power even of commitment in the case of a man apprehended in the very act of perpetrating a most foul and wanton murder?[3]This short, but significant sentence is of more weight than a thousand arguments in favour of the mild treatment of Negro slaves; and it furnishes an unanswerable proof, that they are regarded by their oppressors as a different order of beings from themselves: under the influence of this sentiment they are naturally enough denied the common rights of humanity, and excluded from the participation of that sympathy which the sense of a common nature and a common extraction is calculated to inspire.[4]Namely, the eleven pounds four shillings mentioned above.[5]Mr. President Ince seems properly aware of the illegality of his proceeding: doubtless Halls also is aware of it; nor should I be surprised to hear that he has been able to rouse the popular feeling of the island in his favour, as a man unjustly and illegally oppressed. To have suffered so severe a punishment as that of imprisonment, for so paltry an offence as killing aNegro slave, particularly as his commitment was contrary to law, will be likely to excite no small degree ofvirtuousindignation among the Barbadians: and the danger lest such an unauthorized restriction of the freedom of individuals should grow into a precedent may possibly call forth the most vigorous resistance. This expectation seems perfectly justified by what took place some years ago on a similar occasion in the neighbouring island of St. Kitt’s, where the prosecution of a man of the name of Herbert, who had treated one of his slaves with the most wanton barbarity, was not only not productive of any punishment to the offender, though the facts were clearly proved, but was likely to have been followed by very inconvenient effects to the prosecutor, in consequence of the popular clamour which was excited against him.[6]Meaning the Slave-yard, where Negroes are exposed to sale in the same manner as cattle and sheep in Smithfield-market.[7]If any thing could add to the horror which the shocking barbarity of Nowell must excite, it is the doubt existing, “after many inquiries”—existing too in the minds of the Advocate and Attorney General—as to whether this poor creature was alive or dead. Were there no means of forcing Nowell to produce her? Could no inquest have been instituted? Dreadful state of things![8]Had the Attorney General then no means of ascertaining whether the woman was alive or dead?[9]Papers, &c. page 43, 44.[10]The 7th clause enacts, that “in order to secure, as far as possible, the good treatment of the Slaves, and to ascertain the cause of the decrease of the Slaves, every owner, overseer, &c. shall, in the month of January every year, deliver in on oath a certificate of the increase or decrease of the Slaves under his direction, how many have been born, or how many have died, within twelve months previous thereto, and the cause of the death of such Slaves;which certificate shall be lodged in the Secretary’s office of this island; for the filing of which the Secretary shall be allowed a fee of ninepence: andif any owner, &c. shall fail to deliver in such certificate on oath at the time appointed, he shall be fined in the sum of fifty pounds.” The 8th clause enacts, that Slaves, convicted of murder, highway robbery, or burglary, shall suffer death.[11]These clauses run thus: “Whereas a knowledge of the doctrines, and a due attention to the exercise of the duties of the Christian religion, would tend to improve the morals, and to advance the temporal and eternal happiness of the Slaves, it is enacted, that all owners, overseers, &c. shall, on every Sunday on their several plantations, convene together the Slaves for the purpose of performing divine worship, andshall not fail to exhortall unbaptized Slaves to receive the holy sacrament of baptism; and all the unbaptized children of Slaves shall receive the said sacrament: andon neglect of these dutiesthe owners, &c.shall be fined in not less than 10l. nor more than 25l.And all owners, &c. shallencourage and exhort all Slaves, arrived at years of maturity, and desirous of entering into a connubial state,to receive the ceremony of Christian marriage, and in neglect of doing so shall be subject to a fine 5l.”[12]Papers, &c. page34.[13]This representation, it may be presumed, is fairly applicable to all the West Indian Legislatures: indeed it would be unjust to them to suppose, that they were less politic and provident than the Legislature of Dominica. The charge involved in it, however, is certainly far from being light or trivial, especially as it is made by one who is a thorough master of the subject on which he writes, “having passed many years in the West Indies, and having been resident in most of the Colonies.” P.34. The charge amounts to this: that the individuals composing the legislatures of the Islands, and who we may suppose to be the most honourable part of the community, have entered into a combination to deceive the British Parliament and the British public; that they have prostituted the solemn legislative functions with which they were invested, to the promotion of this dishonourable purpose; and that, with the pretended view of promoting the protection, security, and comfort of the Negroes, they have framed a set of laws, the real object of which is not to benefit the Negroes, but to prevent the mother-country from interfering to mitigate the cruel oppression under which they groan. The reader must form his own judgment of persons capable of such conduct.[14]If the reader will have the goodness to refer back to p.19, he will see with what parade this very clause is introduced into the Act. It was framed expressly “to secure, as far as possible, the good treatment of the Slaves;” and yet it appears from the first to have been regarded in the island as an absolute nullity. “It has been wholly neglected.” Not one certificate has been filed in consequence of it, nor has one penalty been enforced for the neglect. How different this from the fate of the eighth clause, denouncing the punishment of death on Negro Slaves guilty of certain crimes!This clause, we are told,has not been allowed toSLEEP! Here we have a lively picture of the nature of West Indian legislation. When laws are directedagainstthe Negro Slave, they operate with certainty and permanent effect. When enacted in his favour, they prove dormant from the moment of their birth.[15]The act requires owners, &c. toexhorttheir Slaves to marry. Mr.Audainsays, that their owners doNOTexhortthem to it.[16]The Slaves, it is affirmed, will confound abolition with emancipation. But what proof is there of this? Have they done so in Virginia? The Slave trade has been abolished in that state for near thirty years. Has any such misconception, as is now anticipated, taken place among the Virginian Slaves? Certainly not. Experience therefore is against the reasoning of the West Indian body.[17]Suppose a plantation under the management of such a man as Crone, the proprietor being in England; what a sum of misery might be crowded into a short space of time![18]This horrid feature of our colonial system prevails uniformly throughout the whole range of our West Indian possessions. No one can have visited them without knowing that the practice ofdrivingNegroes at their work by means of the whip isuniversal: and yet such is the gross ignorance of the subject prevailing in this country, that the fact, though as notorious in the West Indies as that slavery exists there at all, has been sometimes disputed even in the House of Commons.[19]See Long’s History of Jamaica, and, in addition to many other proofs which might be adduced, the preceding part of this pamphlet.[20]Imaginary misery!Am I then wrong in having attributed to West Indians a different set of moral perceptions from those which prevail among the inhabitants of Great Britain? If at the time when this Report was framed the reporters were ignorant of the horrors which have recently taken place in the West Indies, they could not be ignorant that such horrors might be practised with impunity.

[1]Not of one or two, or of a few individuals, but ofthe People.

[2]What can more expressively shew the dreadful state of society which prevails in this island, than that a Magistrate should find himself without the power even of commitment in the case of a man apprehended in the very act of perpetrating a most foul and wanton murder?

[3]This short, but significant sentence is of more weight than a thousand arguments in favour of the mild treatment of Negro slaves; and it furnishes an unanswerable proof, that they are regarded by their oppressors as a different order of beings from themselves: under the influence of this sentiment they are naturally enough denied the common rights of humanity, and excluded from the participation of that sympathy which the sense of a common nature and a common extraction is calculated to inspire.

[4]Namely, the eleven pounds four shillings mentioned above.

[5]Mr. President Ince seems properly aware of the illegality of his proceeding: doubtless Halls also is aware of it; nor should I be surprised to hear that he has been able to rouse the popular feeling of the island in his favour, as a man unjustly and illegally oppressed. To have suffered so severe a punishment as that of imprisonment, for so paltry an offence as killing aNegro slave, particularly as his commitment was contrary to law, will be likely to excite no small degree ofvirtuousindignation among the Barbadians: and the danger lest such an unauthorized restriction of the freedom of individuals should grow into a precedent may possibly call forth the most vigorous resistance. This expectation seems perfectly justified by what took place some years ago on a similar occasion in the neighbouring island of St. Kitt’s, where the prosecution of a man of the name of Herbert, who had treated one of his slaves with the most wanton barbarity, was not only not productive of any punishment to the offender, though the facts were clearly proved, but was likely to have been followed by very inconvenient effects to the prosecutor, in consequence of the popular clamour which was excited against him.

[6]Meaning the Slave-yard, where Negroes are exposed to sale in the same manner as cattle and sheep in Smithfield-market.

[7]If any thing could add to the horror which the shocking barbarity of Nowell must excite, it is the doubt existing, “after many inquiries”—existing too in the minds of the Advocate and Attorney General—as to whether this poor creature was alive or dead. Were there no means of forcing Nowell to produce her? Could no inquest have been instituted? Dreadful state of things!

[8]Had the Attorney General then no means of ascertaining whether the woman was alive or dead?

[9]Papers, &c. page 43, 44.

[10]The 7th clause enacts, that “in order to secure, as far as possible, the good treatment of the Slaves, and to ascertain the cause of the decrease of the Slaves, every owner, overseer, &c. shall, in the month of January every year, deliver in on oath a certificate of the increase or decrease of the Slaves under his direction, how many have been born, or how many have died, within twelve months previous thereto, and the cause of the death of such Slaves;which certificate shall be lodged in the Secretary’s office of this island; for the filing of which the Secretary shall be allowed a fee of ninepence: andif any owner, &c. shall fail to deliver in such certificate on oath at the time appointed, he shall be fined in the sum of fifty pounds.” The 8th clause enacts, that Slaves, convicted of murder, highway robbery, or burglary, shall suffer death.

[11]These clauses run thus: “Whereas a knowledge of the doctrines, and a due attention to the exercise of the duties of the Christian religion, would tend to improve the morals, and to advance the temporal and eternal happiness of the Slaves, it is enacted, that all owners, overseers, &c. shall, on every Sunday on their several plantations, convene together the Slaves for the purpose of performing divine worship, andshall not fail to exhortall unbaptized Slaves to receive the holy sacrament of baptism; and all the unbaptized children of Slaves shall receive the said sacrament: andon neglect of these dutiesthe owners, &c.shall be fined in not less than 10l. nor more than 25l.And all owners, &c. shallencourage and exhort all Slaves, arrived at years of maturity, and desirous of entering into a connubial state,to receive the ceremony of Christian marriage, and in neglect of doing so shall be subject to a fine 5l.”

[12]Papers, &c. page34.

[13]This representation, it may be presumed, is fairly applicable to all the West Indian Legislatures: indeed it would be unjust to them to suppose, that they were less politic and provident than the Legislature of Dominica. The charge involved in it, however, is certainly far from being light or trivial, especially as it is made by one who is a thorough master of the subject on which he writes, “having passed many years in the West Indies, and having been resident in most of the Colonies.” P.34. The charge amounts to this: that the individuals composing the legislatures of the Islands, and who we may suppose to be the most honourable part of the community, have entered into a combination to deceive the British Parliament and the British public; that they have prostituted the solemn legislative functions with which they were invested, to the promotion of this dishonourable purpose; and that, with the pretended view of promoting the protection, security, and comfort of the Negroes, they have framed a set of laws, the real object of which is not to benefit the Negroes, but to prevent the mother-country from interfering to mitigate the cruel oppression under which they groan. The reader must form his own judgment of persons capable of such conduct.

[14]If the reader will have the goodness to refer back to p.19, he will see with what parade this very clause is introduced into the Act. It was framed expressly “to secure, as far as possible, the good treatment of the Slaves;” and yet it appears from the first to have been regarded in the island as an absolute nullity. “It has been wholly neglected.” Not one certificate has been filed in consequence of it, nor has one penalty been enforced for the neglect. How different this from the fate of the eighth clause, denouncing the punishment of death on Negro Slaves guilty of certain crimes!This clause, we are told,has not been allowed toSLEEP! Here we have a lively picture of the nature of West Indian legislation. When laws are directedagainstthe Negro Slave, they operate with certainty and permanent effect. When enacted in his favour, they prove dormant from the moment of their birth.

[15]The act requires owners, &c. toexhorttheir Slaves to marry. Mr.Audainsays, that their owners doNOTexhortthem to it.

[16]The Slaves, it is affirmed, will confound abolition with emancipation. But what proof is there of this? Have they done so in Virginia? The Slave trade has been abolished in that state for near thirty years. Has any such misconception, as is now anticipated, taken place among the Virginian Slaves? Certainly not. Experience therefore is against the reasoning of the West Indian body.

[17]Suppose a plantation under the management of such a man as Crone, the proprietor being in England; what a sum of misery might be crowded into a short space of time!

[18]This horrid feature of our colonial system prevails uniformly throughout the whole range of our West Indian possessions. No one can have visited them without knowing that the practice ofdrivingNegroes at their work by means of the whip isuniversal: and yet such is the gross ignorance of the subject prevailing in this country, that the fact, though as notorious in the West Indies as that slavery exists there at all, has been sometimes disputed even in the House of Commons.

[19]See Long’s History of Jamaica, and, in addition to many other proofs which might be adduced, the preceding part of this pamphlet.

[20]Imaginary misery!Am I then wrong in having attributed to West Indians a different set of moral perceptions from those which prevail among the inhabitants of Great Britain? If at the time when this Report was framed the reporters were ignorant of the horrors which have recently taken place in the West Indies, they could not be ignorant that such horrors might be practised with impunity.

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