or purchaseable. One, therefore, has no body but himself to blame, in case he shall find himself deprived of a man, whom he thought he had, by buying for a price, made his own; for he dealt in a trade which was illicit, and was prohibited by the most obvious dictates of humanity. For these reasons, every one of those unfortunate men who are pretended to be slaves, has a right to be declared to be free, for he never lost his liberty; he could not lose it; his Prince had no power to dispose of him. Of course, the sale was _ipso jure_ void. This right he carries about with him, and is entitled every where to get it declared. As soon, therefore, as he comes into a country in which the judges are not forgetful of their own humanity, it is their duty to remember that he is a man, and to declare him to be free. I know it has been said, that questions concerning the state of persons ought to be determined by the law of the country to which they belong; and that, therefore, one who would be declared to be a slave in America, ought, in case he should happen to be imported into Britain, to be adjudged, according to the law of America, to be a slave; a doctrine than which nothing can be more barbarous. Ought the judges of any country, out of respect to the law of another, to shew no respect to their kind, and to humanity? out of respect to a law, which is in no sort obligatory upon them, ought they to disregard the law of nature, which is obligatory on all men, at all times, and in all places? Are any laws so binding as the eternal laws of justice? Is it doubtful, whether a judge ought to pay greater regard to them, than to those arbitrary and inhuman usages which prevail in a distant land? Aye, but our colonies would be ruined if slavery was abolished. Be it so; would it not from thence follow, that the bulk of mankind ought to be abused, that our pockets may be filled with money, or our mouths with delicacies? The purses of highwaymen would be empty, in case robberies were totally abolished; but have men a right to acquire money by going out to the highway? Have men a right to acquire it by rendering their fellow-creatures miserable? Is it lawful to abuse mankind, that the avarice, the vanity, or the passions of a few may be gratified? No! There is such a thing as justice to which the most sacred regard is due. It ought to be inviolably observed. Have not these unhappy men a better right to their liberty, and to their happiness, than our American merchants have to the profits which they make by torturing their kind? Let, therefore, our colonies be ruined, but let us not render so many men miserable. Would not any of us, who should–be snatched by pirates from his native land, think himself cruelly abused, and at all times entitled to be free? Have not these unfortunate Africans, who meet with the same cruel fate, the same right? Are they not men as well as we, and have they not the same sensibility? Let us not, therefore, defend or support a usage which is contrary to all the laws of humanity.
“But it is false, that either we or our colonies would be ruined by the abolition of slavery. It might occasion a stagnation of business for a short time. Every great alteration produces that effect; because mankind cannot, on a sudden, find ways of disposing of themselves, and of their affairs; but it would produce many happy effects. It is the slavery which is permitted in America, that has hindered it from becoming so soon populous as it would otherwise have done. Let the Negroes be free, and, in a few generations, this vast and fertile continent would be crowded with inhabitants; learning, arts, and every thing would flourish amongst them; instead of being inhabited by wild beasts, and by savages, it would be peopled by philosophers, and by men.”
Francis Hutcheson, professor of philosophy at the university of Glasgow, in his _System of Moral Philosophy_, page 211, says “He who detains another by force in slavery, is always bound to prove his title. The slave sold, or carried into a distant country, must not be obliged to prove a negative, that _he never forfeited his liberty_. The violent possessor must, in all cases, shew his title, especially where the old proprietor is well known. In this case, each man is the original proprietor of his own liberty. The proof of his losing it must be incumbent on those who deprive him of it by force. The Jewish laws had great regard to justice, about the servitude of Hebrews, founding it only on consent, or some crime or damage, allowing them always a proper redress upon any cruel treatment, and fixing a limited time for it; unless upon trial the servant inclined to prolong it. The laws about foreign slaves had many merciful provisions against immoderate severity of the masters. But under christianity, whatever lenity was due from an Hebrew towards his countryman, must be due towards all; since the distinctions of nations are removed, as to the point of humanity and mercy, as well as natural right; nay, some of these rights granted over foreign slaves, may justly be deemed only such indulgences as those of poligamy and divorce, granting only external impunity in such practice, and not sufficient vindication of them in conscience.”
_Page_ 85. It is pleaded, that “In some barbarous nations, unless the captives were bought for slaves, they would be all murthered. They, therefore, owe their lives, and all they can do, to their purchasers; and so do their children, who would not otherwise have come into life.” But this whole plea is no more than that of _negotium utile gestum_ to which any civilized nation is bound by humanity; it is a prudent expensive office, done for the service of others without a gratuitous intention; and this founds no other right, than that to full compensation of all charges and labour employed for the benefit of others.
A set of inaccurate popular phrases blind us in these matters; “Captives owe their lives, and all to the purchasers, say they. Just in the same manner, we, our nobles, and princes, often owe our lives to midwives, chirurgeons, physicians,” &c. one who was the means of preserving a man’s life, is not therefore entitled to make him a slave, and sell him as a piece of goods. Strange, that in a nation where the sense of liberty prevails, where the christian religion is professed, custom and high prospects of gain can so stupify the conscience of men, and all sense of natural justice, that they can hear such computations made about the value of their fellow-men, and their liberty, without abhorrence and indignation.
_James Foster_, D.D. in his _discourses on natural religion_ and _social virtue_ also shews his just indignation at this wicked practice; which he declares to be “_a criminal and outrageous violation of the natural right of mankind_.” At _page_ 156, vol. 2 he says, “Should we have read concerning the Greeks or Romans of old, that they traded with a view to make slaves of their own species, when they certainly knew that this would involve in schemes of blood and murder, of destroying, or enslaving each other; that they even fomented wars, and engaged whole nations and tribes in open hostilities, for their own private advantage; that they had no detestation of the violence and cruelty, but only feared the ill success of their inhuman enterprises; that they carried men like themselves, their brethren, and the off-spring of the same common parent, to be sold like beasts of prey, or beasts of burden, and put them to the same reproachful trial, of their soundness, strength, and capacity for greater bodily service; that quite forgetting and renouncing the original dignity of human nature, communicated to all, they treated them with more severity, and ruder discipline, than even the _ox_ or the _ass_, who are _void of understanding_–should we not, if this had been the case, have naturally been led to despise all their _pretended refinements of morality_; and to have concluded, that as they were not nations destitute of politeness, they must have been _entire strangers to virtue and benevolence_?
“But notwithstanding this, we ourselves (who profess to be christians, and boast of the peculiar advantage we enjoy, by means of an express revelation of our duty from heaven) are, in effect, these very untaught and rude heathen countries. With all our superior light, we instill into those, whom we call savage and barbarous, the most despicable opinion of human nature. We, to the utmost of our power, weaken and dissolve the universal tie, that binds and unites mankind. We practise what we should exclaim against, as the utmost excess of cruelty and tyranny, if nations of the world, differing in colour, and form of government, from ourselves, were so possessed of empire, as to be able to reduce us to a state of unmerited and brutish servitude. Of consequence, we sacrifice our reason, our humanity, our christianity, to an unnatural sordid gain. We teach other nations to despise, and trample under foot, all the obligations of social virtue. We take the most effectual method to prevent the propagation of the gospel, by representing it as a scheme of power and barbarous oppression, and an enemy to the natural privileges and rights of men.
“Perhaps all that I have now offered, may be of very little weight to restrain this enormity, this aggravated iniquity; however, I still have the satisfaction of having entered my private protest against a practice, which, in my opinion, bids that God, who is the God and Father of the Gentiles, unconverted to christianity, most daring and bold defiance, and spurns at all the principles both of natural and revealed religion.”
EXTRACT
From an ADDRESS
in the
VIRGINIA _GAZETTE_,
of MARCH 19, 1767.
Mr. RIND,
Permit me, in your paper, to address the members of our assembly on two points, in which the public interest is very nearly concerned.
The abolition of slavery, and the retrieval of specie in this colony, are the subjects on which I would bespeak their attention.–
Long and serious reflections upon the nature and consequences of slavery have convinced me, that it is a violation both of justice and religion; that it is dangerous to the safety of the community in which it prevails; that it is destructive to the growth of arts and sciences; and lastly, that it produces a numerous and very fatal train of vices, both in the slave and in his master.
To prove these assertions, shall be the purpose of the following essay.
That slavery then is a violation of justice, will plainly appear, when we consider what justice is. It is truly and simply defined, as by _Justinian, constans et perpetua voluntas ejus suum cuique tribuendi_; a constant endeavour to give every man his right.
Now, as freedom is unquestionably the birth-right of all mankind, _Africans_ as well as _Europeans_, to keep the former in a state of slavery, is a constant violation of that right, and therefore of justice.
The ground on which the civilians who favour slavery, admit it to be just, namely, consent, force, and birth, is totally disputable; for surely a man’s own will and consent cannot be allowed to introduce so important an innovation into society, as slavery, or to make himself an outlaw, which is really the state of a slave; since neither consenting to, nor aiding the laws of the society in which he lives, he is neither bound to obey them, nor entitled to their protection.
To found any right in force, is to frustrate all right, and involve every thing in confusion, violence, and rapine. With these two, the last must fall; since, if the parent cannot justly be made a slave, neither can the child be born in slavery. “The law of nations, says Baron _Montesquieu_, has doomed prisoners to slavery, to prevent their being slain; the _Roman_ civil law permitted debtors, whom their creditors might treat ill, to sell themselves. And the law of nature requires that children, whom their parents, being slaves, cannot maintain, should be slaves like them. These reasons of the civilians are not just; it is not true that a captive may be slain, unless in a case of absolute necessity; but if he hath been reduced to slavery, it is plain that no such necessity existed, since he was not slain. It is not true that a free man can sell himself, for sale supposes a price; but a slave and his property becomes immediately that of his master; the slave can therefore receive no price, nor the master pay, &c. And if a man cannot sell himself, nor a prisoner of war be reduced to slavery, much less can his child.” Such are the sentiments of this illustrious civilian; his reasonings, which I have been obliged to contract, the reader interested in this subject will do well to consult at large.
Yet even these rights of imposing slavery, questionable, nay, refutable as they are, we have not to authorise the bondage of the _Africans_. For neither do they consent to be our slaves, nor do we purchase them of their conquerors. The _British_ merchants obtain them from _Africa_ by violence, artifice, and treachery, with a few trinkets to prompt those unfortunate people to enslave one another by force or stratagem. Purchase them indeed they may, under the authority of an act of the British parliament. An act entailing upon the _Africans_, with whom we are not at war, and over whom a British parliament could not of right assume even a shadow of authority, the dreadful curse of perpetual slavery, upon them and their children for ever. _There cannot be in nature, there is not in all history, an instance in which every right of men is more flagrantly violated._ The laws of the antients never authorised the making slaves, but of those nations whom they had conquered; yet they were heathens, and we are christians. They were misled by a monstrous religion, divested of humanity, by a horrible and barbarous worship; we are directed by the unerring precepts of the revealed religion we possess, enlightened by its wisdom, and humanized by its benevolence; before them, were gods deformed with passions, and horrible for every cruelty and vice; before us, is that incomparable pattern of meekness, charity, love and justice to mankind, which so transcendently distinguished the Founder of christianity, and his ever amiable doctrines.
Reader, remember that the corner stone of your religion, is to do unto others as you would they should do unto you; ask then your own heart, whether it would not abhor any one, as the most outrageous violater of that and every other principle of right, justice, and humanity, who should make a slave of you and your posterity for ever! Remember, that God knoweth the heart; lay not this flattering unction to your soul, that it is the custom of the country; that you found it so, that not your will; but your necessity, consents. Ah! think how little such an excuse will avail you in that aweful day, when your Saviour shall pronounce judgment on you for breaking a law too plain to be misunderstood, too sacred to be violated. If we say we are christians, yet act more inhumanly and unjustly than heathens, with what dreadful justice must this sentence of our blessed Saviour fall upon us, “_Not every one that saith unto me Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doth the will of my Father which is in heaven.”_ Matth. vii. 21. Think a moment how much your temporal, your eternal welfare depends upon an abolition of a practice which deforms the image of your God, tramples on his revealed will, infringes the most sacred rights, and violates humanity.
Enough, I hope, has been asserted, to prove that slavery is a violation of justice and religion. That it is dangerous to the safety of the state in which it prevails, may be as safely asserted.
What one’s own experience has not taught; that of others must decide. From hence does history derive its utility; for being, when truly written, a faithful record of the transactions of mankind, and the consequences that flowed from them, we are thence furnished with the means of judging what will be the probable effect of transactions, similar among ourselves.
We learn then from history, that slavery, wherever encouraged, has sooner or later been productive of very dangerous commotions. I will not trouble my reader here with quotations in support of this assertion, but content myself with referring those, who may be dubious of its truth, to the histories of Athens, Lacedemon, Rome, and Spain.
How long, how bloody and destructive was the contest between the Moorish slaves and the native Spaniards? and after almost deluges of blood had been shed, the Spaniards obtained nothing more than driving them into the mountains.–Less bloody indeed, though, not less alarming, have been the insurrections in Jamaica; and to imagine that we shall be for ever exempted from this calamity, which experience teaches us to be inseparable from slavery, so encouraged; is an infatuation as astonishing as it will be surely fatal:–&c. &c.
EXTRACT
OF A
SERMON
PREACHED BY THE
BISHOP OF GLOUCESTER,
Before the SOCIETY For the PROPAGATION of the GOSPEL, at the anniversary meeting on the 21st of _February_, 1766.
From the free-savages, I now come (the last point I propose to consider) to the savages in bonds. By these I mean the vast multitudes yearly stolen from the opposite continent, and sacrificed by the colonists to their great idol, the GOD OF GAIN. But what then? say these sincere worshippers of _Mammon_; they are our own property which we offer up. Gracious God! to talk (as in herds of cattle) of property in rational creatures! creatures endowed with all our faculties; possessing all our qualities but that of colour; our brethren both by nature and grace, shocks all the feelings of humanity, and the dictates of common sense. But, alas! what is there in the infinite abuses of society which does not shock them? Yet nothing is more certain in itself, and apparent to all, than that the infamous traffic for slaves directly infringes both divine and human law. Nature created man free, and grace invites him to assert his freedom. In excuse of this violation, it hath been pretended, that though indeed these miserable out-casts of humanity be torn from their homes and native country by fraud and violence, yet they thereby become the happier, and their condition the more eligible. But who are You, who pretend to judge of another man’s happiness? That state, which each man, under the guidance of his Maker, forms for himself, and not one man for another? To know what constitutes mine or your happiness, is the sole prerogative of Him who created us, and cast us in so various and different moulds. Did your slaves ever complain to you of their unhappiness amidst their native woods and deserts? Or, rather, let me ask, did they ever cease complaining of their condition under you their lordly masters? where they see, indeed, the accommodations of civil life, but see them all pass to others, themselves unbenefited by them. Be so gracious then, ye petty tyrants over human freedom, to let your slaves judge for themselves, what it is which makes their own happiness. And then see whether they do not place it in the return to their own country, rather than in the contemplation of your grandeur, of which their misery makes so large a part. A return so passionately longed for, that despairing of happiness here, that is, of escaping the chains of their cruel task-masters, they console themselves with feigning it to be the gracious reward of heaven in their future state, which I do not find their haughty masters have as yet concerned themselves to invade. The less hardy, indeed, wait for this felicity till over-wearied nature sets them free; but the more resolved have recourse even to self-violence, to force a speedier passage.
But it will be still urged, that though what is called human happiness be of so fantastic a nature, that each man’s imagination creates it for himself, yet human misery is more substantial and uniform throughout all the tribes of mankind. Now, from the worst of human miseries, the savage Africans, by these forced emigrations, are intirely secured; such as the being perpetually hunted down like beasts of prey or profit, by their more savage and powerful neighbours–In truth, a blessed change!–from being hunted to being caught. But who are they that have set on foot this general HUNTING? Are they not these very civilized violaters of humanity themselves? who tempt the weak appetites, and provoke the wild passions of the fiercer savages to prey upon the rest.
THE END.
INDEX.
A
_Adanson_ (M.) his account of the country on the rivers _Senegal_ and _Gambia_, 14. Extraordinary fertility, _ibid._ Surprising vegetation, 15. Beautiful aspect of the country, 16. Good disposition of the natives, _ibid._
_Advertisements in the New-York Journal_, for the sale of slaves, 158. Also in the news-papers of _London_, 160.
_Africa_, that part from whence the Negroe slaves are brought, how divided, 6. Capable of a considerable trade, 143.
Alien (every) or stranger coming within the King’s dominion, becomes a subject, 148.
Antientest account of the Negroes, 41. Were then a simple innocent people, 43.
_Angola_, a plentiful country, 39. Character of the natives, 40. Government, _ibid._
B
_Barbadoes_ (laws of) respecting Negroe slaves, 170.
_Barbot (John)_ agent general of the _French African Company_, his account of the _Gold Coast_, 25. Of the _Slave Coast_, 27.
_Bosman (William)_ principal factor for the _Dutch_ at _D’Elmina_, his account of the _Gold Coast_, 23. Of the _Slave Coast_, 27.
_Brue (Andrew)_ principal factor of the _French African Company_, his account of the country on the river _Senegal_, 7. And on the river _Gambia_, 8.
_Benin_ (kingdom of) good character of the natives, 35. Punishment of crimes, 36. Order of government, _ibid._ Largeness and order of the city of _Great Benin_, 37.
_Britons_ (antient) in their original state no less barbarous than the _African_ Negroes, 68.
_Baxter (Richard)_ his testimony against slavery, 83.
C
Corruption of some of the Kings of _Guinea_, 107.
D
_De la Casa_ (bishop of _Chapia_) his concern for the _Indians_, 47. His speech to _Charles_ the Fifth Emperor of _Germany_ and King of _Spain_, 48. Prodigious destruction of the _Indians_ in _Hispaniola_, 51.
_Divine principle_ in every man, its effects on those who obey its dictates, 14.
E
_Elizabeth_ (Queen) her caution to captain Hawkins not to enslave any of the Negroes, 55.
_English_, their first trade on the coast of Guinea, 52.
_Europeans_ are the principal cause of the wars which subsist amongst the Negroes, 61.
_English_ laws allow no man, of what condition soever, to be deprived of his liberty, without a legal process, 150. The danger of confining any person without a warrant, 162.
F
Fishing, a considerable business on the Guinea coast, 26. How carried on, _ibid._
_Foster (James)_ his testimony against slavery, 186.
_Fuli_ Negroes good farmers, 10. Those on the _Gambia_ particularly recommended for their industry and good behaviour, _ibid._
_France_ (King of) objects to the Negroes in his dominions being reduced to a state of slavery, 58.
G
_Gambia (river)_8, 14.
_Gloucester_ (bishop of) extract of his sermon, 195.
_Godwyn (Morgan)_ his plea in favour of the Negroes and Indians, 75. Complains of the cruelties exercised upon slaves, 76. A false opinion prevailed in his time, that the Negroes were not objects of redeeming grace, 77.
_Gold Coast_ has several European factories, 22. Great trade for slaves, _ibid._ Carried on far in the inland country, _ibid._ Natives more reconciled to the Europeans, and more diligent in procuring slaves, _ibid._ Extraordinarily fruitful and agreeable, 22, 25. The natives industrious, 24.
_Great Britain_, all persons during their residence there are the King’s subjects, 148.
_Guinea_ extraordinarily fertile, 2. Extremely unhealthy to the Europeans, 4. But agrees well with the natives, _ibid._ Prodigious rising of waters, _ibid._ Hot winds, _ibid._ Surprising vegetation, 15.
H
_Hawkins_ (captain) lands on the coast of Guinea and seizes on a number of the natives, which he sells to the Spaniards, 55.
_Hottentots_ misrepresented by authors, 101. True account given of these people by Kolben, 102. Love of liberty and sloth their prevailing passions, 102. Distinguished by several virtues, 103. Firm in alliances, _ibid._ Offended at the vices predominant amongst christians, 104. Make nor keep no slaves, _ibid._
_Hughes (Griffith)_ his account of the number of Negroes in Barbadoes, 85. Speaks well of their natural capacities, 86.
Husbandry of the Negroes carried on in common, 28.
_Hutcheson (Francis)_ his declaration against slavery, 184.
I
_Jalof_ Negroes, their government, 9.
_Indians_ grievously oppressed by the Spaniards, 47. Their cause pleaded by Bartholomew De la Casa, 48. Inland people, good account of them, 25.
_Ivory Coast_ fertile, &c. 18. Natives falsely represented to be a treacherous people, _ibid._ Kind when well used, 19. Have no European factories amongst them, 21. And but few wars; therefore few slaves to be had there, 22.
J
Jury, Negroes tried and condemned without the solemnity of a jury, 174. Highly repugnant to the English constitution, 176. Dangerous to those concerned therein, _ibid._
L
Laws in Guinea severe against man-stealing, and other crimes, 106.
M
_Mandingoe_ Negroes a numerous nation, 11. Great traders, _ibid._ Laborious, 11. Their government, 13. Their worship, _ibid_. Manner of tillage, _ibid._ At Galem they suffer none to be made slaves but criminals, 20.
_Maloyans_ (a black people) sometimes sold amongst Negroes brought from very distant parts, 27.
Markets regularly kept on the Gold and Slave Coasts, 30.
_Montesquieu’s_ sentiments on slavery, 72.
_Moor (Francis)_ factor to the African company, his account of the slave-trade on the river Gambia, 111.
Mosaic law merciful in its chastisements, 73. Has respect to human nature, _ibid._
N
National wars disapproved by the most considerate amongst the Negroes, 110.
_Negroes_ (in Guinea) generally a humane, sociable people, 2. Simplicity of their way of living, 5. Agreeable in conversation, 16. Sensible of the damage accruing to them from the slave-trade, 61. Misrepresented by most authors, 98. Offended at the brutality of the European factors, 116. Shocking cruelties exercised on them by masters of vessels, 124. How many are yearly brought from Guinea by the English, 129. The numbers who die on the passage and in the seasoning, 120.
_Negroe_ slaves (in the colonies) allowed to cohabit and separate at pleasure, 36. Great waste of them thro’ hard usage in the islands, 86. Melancholy case of two of them, 136. Proposals for setting them free, 129. Tried and condemned without the solemnity of a jury, 174.
_Negroes_ (free) discouragement they met with, 133.
P
_Portugueze_ carry on a great trade for slaves at Angola, 40. Make the first incursions into Guinea, 44. From whence they carry off some of the natives, _ibid._ Beginners of the slave-trade, 46. Erect the first fort at D’Elmina, _ibid._
R
_Rome_ (the college of cardinals at) complain of the abuse offered to the Negroes in selling them for slaves, 58.
S
_Senegal_ (river) account of, 7, 14.
Ship (account of one) blown up on the coast of Guinea with a number of Negroes on board, 125.
Slave-trade, how carried on at the river Gambia, 111. And in other parts of Guinea, 113. At Whidah, 115.
Slaves used with much more lenity in Algiers and in Turkey than in our colonies, 70. Likewise in Guinea, 71. Slavery more tolerable amongst the antient Pagans than in our colonies, 63. Declined, as christianity prevailed, 65. Early laws in France for its abolishment, 66. If put an end to, would make way for a very extensive trade through Africa, 143. The danger of slavery taking place in England, 164.
_Sloane_ (Sir Hans) his account of the inhuman and extravagant punishments inflicted on Negroes, 89.
_Smith (William)_ surveyor to the African company, his account of the Ivory Coast, 20. Of the Gold Coast, 24.
V
VIRGINIA (laws), respecting Negro slaves, 172. _Virginia_ (address to the assembly) setting forth the iniquity and danger of slavery, 189.
W
WALLACE (_George_) his testimony against slavery, 180.
_West Indies_, white people able to perform the necessary work there, 141.
_Whidah_ (kingdom of) agreeable and fruitful, 27. Natives treat one another with respect, 29.