NEGRO EMANCIPATION--SUGAR AND SLAVERY.
IN examining the Ministerial project for the abolition of Slavery in the Colonies, last week, we stated some of the principal reasons which should induce the West India proprietors on the one side, and the more moderate portion of the At: ti-Slaveryparty on the other, to give it a favourable reception. We were far front mean- ing to contend, that the plan was not liable to many and fair ob- jections from both of these parties, while at the same time we our- selves pointed out the injury which the nation at large would suffer from it in more-ways than one. Some of the weightier of these objections we propose now to consider rather more at length; not with the view of exaggerating or underrating their force in the spirit of partisanship, but simply with the desire of coming to a clear and rational understanding of the merits and demerits of the plan. The Emancipationists declare, that the Negroes are unfairly treated in being compelled to work out their own freedom. The Ministerial plan involves this principle, which is said to be opposed to the plainest rules of justice and religion. MP. STANLEY'S pro- positions set out with affirming that the Negro, from the passing of the bill, shall enjoy the privileges of a free man ; and then im- mediately proceed to declare that, for twelve years, he shall be compelled to labour for the purchase of that freedom which he is said to be already in possession of. The same enactment in one clause confers freedom on the Negro, and in the next decrees that Isis labour shall be compulsory. The one clause in a very im- portant degree neutralizes the other. There is a great deal of mystification in this part of the plan, which ought to be very sim- ple. Now, suppose that Mr. STANLEY had said nothing about ap- prenticing the Negro, and enabling him to buy off his appren- ticeship out of the proceeds of' a certain portion of his labour, but had merely proposed, that at the expiration of twelve years, slavery should be entirely abolished; and that, in the mean time, the Ne- gro should be protected from the unreasonable exactions and capricious cruelty of his owner, and should be allowed seine oppor- tunity for moral and intellectual cultivation : in that case, the only dispute between the Government and the more ardent Emanci- pators would have been one of time—whether a shorter period than twelve years should not be fixed for the emancipation of the Negroes. Let the slave become his 'master's apprenticed la- bourer (if it be thought desirable to get rid of the term slave), with all the privileges which it is proposed to bestow upon him, except that of being permitted to work for whomsoever he pleases for a quarter of his time: and then we get rid of all the troublesome machinery which this portion of the project would require to keep it in motion. If this were done, what would be the real state of the slave ? He would be secure, as at present, of his maintenance for twelve years, and exempt from maltreatment by an irre- sponsible master; and being in possession of several of the more important privileges of free men, he might be expected gradually to become more fitted for the discreet enjoyment of absolute liberty. As it is, the Planter is to be robbed in one way, and repaid in another; he is to lose a quarter of his slave's time, and to be paid for it by the slave. We get rid of this difficulty, by simply for- bidding the slave to work for anybody except his master, during the twelve years which is to elapse previously to his emancipa- tion.
It is said that twelve years form by far too long a period to re- tain the Negroes in bondage. But, in the mean time, some of the most hatdful features of that state are to be softened down; and before the Emancipationists condemn the plan, it would be as well for them to remember, that they have gained their main point, and that Mr. STANLEY has gone further than even Mr. Bux- TON declared, some years ago, would be satisfactory to them. He has not only fixed a period at which slavery must entirely cease in our Colonies, by means of that provision which renders all children born after a certain time free, but would immediately confer upon the whole Negro race some of the most enviable privileges of White men.
Another objection to the plan is, that no provision is made by it for the support of the aged and infirm. This is a defect which may be easily remedied, by the introduction of a system of poor-laws into the Colonies. Hitherto the owner of a plantation has main- tained all the Negroes attached to it, in sickness or in health, in youth or age. It will not, therefore, be felt as an additional bur- den if his estate, with others in the colony, should be taxed in fu- ture for the support of the paupers. We do not conceive this diffi- culty to be a serious one. If the parents fail to maintain their children under six years of age, the planters are to be compelled to do so. This, it is said, will tend to encourage improvidence in parents. Be it so: but what is to be done ?—somebody must support the children, and nobody will support them gratuitously. In one way or another, they must be maintained by the proprietors of the land ; and should he compelled, when able, to repay the cost of their own maintenance. We see no reason, however, why the term of their apprenticeship should be extended till they have reachmi the age the females of twenty and the males of twenty-four. This is an impolitic and by no means an essential part of the plan; and as a Negro of six years of age will be eighteen at the time of the eman- cipation of his brethren, it seems to be hardly fair—certainly it would not be prudent—to prolong his apprenticeship for two or six years longer. then, we get rid of the complex part of the plan for securing to the Negro his two hours and a half each day, we have a simple and intelligible project of emancipation before us. All children under six years of age will be emancipated at once, if their parents are able and willing to maintain them ; if not, the worst thing that can happen to them is to be bound apprentice for twelve years to a master, who will net be allowed to abuse them. All the other slaves, of whatever age they may be, will likewise be made free at the end of twelve years : and in the mean time, religious and moral education will be afforded them ; they will be secured from the vengeance of brutal overseers, and will gradually approximate, as far as the rights of freedom are concerned, to an equality with the Whites. If the slaves were to be left for twelve years longer to the arbitrary will of their masters, the Emancipationists might have just cause for complaint on their behalf; but, from the pas- sing of the proposed measure, the slaves will in fact be more than half free.
Let us now consider some of the objections which the West Indians have to the plan of emancipation. And here we find, that some of the clauses which the Anti-Slavery party dislike so much, are equally disapproved of by the Planters, though not for the same reasons. We allude to those which authorize the Negro, whenever it answers his purpose, to call upon his master for em- ployment and wages for his spare time, while the master cannot compel his services during that time, however much he may re- quire them. This is an unequal provision: it is evidently unfair towards the master, and we suspect it would prove any thing but advantageous to the slave. Again then, we say, expunge that part of the project at once, and let the master retain his control over the slave, under the limitations elsewhere provided, for the whole period. On reference to the proceedings and resolutions of the West India body, it will appear that many other minor objec- tions to the Government plan might thus be obviated.
It is said that the Negroes will refuse to labour except under the immediate dread of the driver's whip ; and that if we are to depend for the cultivation of the Colonies upon free Negro labour, those Colonies will soon become uncultivated deserts. As regards the first part of this objection, we observe that the West India proprietors do not seem to attach much weight to it. In com- menting upon the clause which transfers the power of inflicting corporal punishment from the owner to the Magistrate, the Stand- ing Committee of the West India body remark, that "the only object being to secure the labour of the Negro, the substitution of any authority which may be efficient, according to the various circumstances of' different Colonies, to attain that end, would be most desirable." The second part of the objection, requires deep consideration ; but it does not immediately apply to the plan be- fore us, because the labour of the Negro is to be compulsory for twelve years. At the termination of that period, the most hazar- dous part of the experiment will therefore commence; and we think that it is very doubtful indeed whether the Negroes will be induced to labour for more than a bare subsistence. In that case, there will certainly be an end to the cultivation of sugar and coffee. Indian corn, fruit, pigs, and poultry, will be raised in- stead, and in very small quantities. This is one view of the case. On the other hand, we should consider, first, that if the Ministerial plan is carried into execution, the emancipated Negroes of our Colonies Will be the first who will have received the benefits of a preparatory education for freedom; and secondly, that the facility of acquiring lands of their own, which in the United States would cause an immediate dispersion of the emancipated Negroes, would not exist in the West India Islands. In the Southern States of North America, the land, if not cultivated by slave labour, would not be cultivated at all, because almost every man has it in his power to become a landowner instead of a hired labourer, owing to the superabundance of land to be procured at an extremely low price. Give the Negro of America the same prisileges as a White man, and he will immediately follow the example of the Whites, and purchase a few acres of land at five shillings per acre, and set up for himself. But land is not to be had in our West India Colonies in such plenty; the emancipated Negro therefore would still be compelled to labour for his subsistence on other per- sons' property ; and if by bestowing real freedom and some sort of education upon him, we raise him in the scale of being, his ex- ertions will not be confined to the getting of absolute necessaries merely, but will extend to the procurement of the comforts of life. Should that be the case, a valuable body of free labourers would be created, who, though they would refuse to work at boiling sugar, would still be profitably employed in the cultivation of other pro- ductions of the earth. We admit that this is taking a favourable view of the case; and we by no means pretend to see our way clearly through the immediate or ultimate consequences of the proposed change in the condition of the Negro, from servitude, to at first partial, and then to absolute freedom.
The West Indians also object to the compensation or loan clause. They state, that the sum of fifteen millions
"is quite inadequate to the value of the rights invaded; but being granted upon loan only, it cannot be considered (whatever its amount) in the light of compensation. Again, the moment that the rights of property are in- vaded, the compensation, in whatever form it shall be agreed to be given and taken, must be immediate and peremptory. Besides, an advance of money in the shape of loan would be no accommodation to proprietors of unencumbered property, who may not choose to avail themselves of it, because they might not think that they could derive any return equivalent to the interest they would be required. by Government to pay; yet whose right to compensation—if compen- sation be intended—is surely not weakened by the circumstance of declining vo- luntarily and unnecessarily to become debtors to the public.
-" The.propesed measure, in the compensation it professes to give, as well as
in its various details, has been framed without any regard to that class of pro- prietors whose Negroes are unattached to any estate, comprising a proportion of at least one sixth of the whole Negro population. " Neither does it contemplate nor provide for the interests of annuitants, and various other claimants under family settlements, secured upon Negroes only."
How far fifteen millions is adequate to the value of " the rights invaded," is more than we can undertake to say ; but some of the other objections stated in the above extract, we take to be unanswer- able, and quite conclusive against the clumsy invention of the loan. The case is altered if the loan is converted into a free gift; and the plan then again becomes intelligible and simple. We should then say to the planters—" You shall have the use of your slaves for twelve years, under certain retrictions, which you will probably find as much to your ultimate advantage as theirs ; and you shall moreover receive fifteen millions sterling now, as a compensation for the loss of your slaves twelve years hence." And upon con- sideration, it will appear that this fifteen millions would form a more adequate compensation than at first glance might be ima- gined. It is well known that the property of' nearly all the Planters is heavily mortgaged to their London correspondents. ,Mr CROP- PER, of Liverpool, in a pamphlet on the subject of the loan of fifteen millions, which he has just published, asserts that "the rate of interest which they pay, including commercial advantages given to the mortgagee," amounts to from 15 to 20 per cent. Now the value of ready money to a person who, from peculiar cir- cumstances, is under the necessity of paying so extravagant a rate of interest on his debts, is evidently 10 or 15 per cent, per annum greater than it would be to one who could procure accommodation in money at a reasonable rate. It should also be borne in mind, that the property for which the compensation is sought, is of a re- markably hazardous and unsaleable description at the present time. The Planters state, as another defect in the measure, that a great alteration is to be made in the condition of the Negroes without the previous establishment of an efficient police. This is one of several petty and unimportant cavils at the details of the plan, which do not deserve much consideration. The Government is willing to modify and improve the details; and, we take it for granted, will do so in this instance.
The objections which we have been hitherto considering are such as admit of a comparatively easy answer; at any rate, there is no necessity for abandoning the project on their account. There are others, however, which we think Mr. STANLEY, with all his confidence and cleverness, will be puzzled to obviate satis- factorily.
In the first place, there is the loan, or as we may safely term it the gift, of fifteen millions. Though the West India proprietors say that this is an inadequate compensation, still it is more than we can afford to give. The people of England are in vain struggling ' to obtain some relief from the burden of taxation, and now they are to be called upon to pay 600,000/. a year, in addition to their present payments for military garrisons and establishments in the Colonies. How this sum is to be raised, we know not. We question whether the House of Commons, subservient as it is to the existing Ministry, dare to impose fresh taxes for that purpose. We suspect that the plan of Ministers will break down here. In addition, however, to this interest, we are, it seems, to be encum- bered with the continuance of the Sugar Monopoly. Now we are persuaded that the People of England will bear this but a very short time longer. Every body is crying out against it, from the importer of the Raw Muscovado to the consumer of Double Refined. We have more than once exposed the injurious operation of this monopoly on our domestic and foreign trade; and it is really mon- strous to attempt to saddle the country with it for twelve years longer. Then there will be the 600,000/. yearly interest of the loan, the proposed increase in the police, the establishment of schools and churches, and above all, the loss of the best part of the trade with Brazils and the East,—all of which we must sub- mit to, in order to enable the planter to pay the interest on his mortgages by the forced culture of sugar on an exhausted soil. When we weigh this part of the subject carefully, and recollect that the estates in several of the West India Islands, Negroes and all, would be abandoned if the monopoly were put an end to, we confess that all this labour and expense about the emancipation of the slaves, appears to be almost thrown away. Let the Emanci- pationists struggle for the removal of the Sugar Monopoly : that once obtained, Slavery, in our Colonies, has received its death-blow. There are several other points of this important and interesting subject, which we have not room at present to dilate upon : we shall return to them.
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