Abstract of the evidence for the abolition of the slave-trade (1791)/Chapter 11
Captain Ross says, he knows of three estates in the island of Jamaica, one belonging to Lord Dudley, another to Messrs. Muir and Atkinson, and a third to Mr. Malcolm, on which there was a considerable increase of the slaves by birth.
Lieutenant Davison confirms the account given of Mr. Malcolm's estate: that gentleman, he says, had not bought a negro for ten or twelve years, during which time the slaves had considerably increased. Lieutenant Davison also knew an estate, where the negroes were all Creoles.
Mr. M. Cook knew two estates in the same island, on which he really believes the negroes to have increased by births.
Mr. Coor says, there was a plantation in Jamaica belonging to a Mr. Dunn, which, when he Mr. Coor first went there, was a small one, not for want of land but of negroes. This estate at that time made about fifty hogsheads of sugar yearly. In consequence, however, of good usage the negroes increased so fast (the children seeming to swarm on this estate) that, before Mr Coor quitted the island, Mr. Dunn had not only doubled the produce, but had settled another estate out of it, which made sixty hogsheads per year, and he had never bought but six new negroes in the whole time.
In the same island, and parish of Clarendon, the negroes on Ramsbury estate increased so fast, says Mr. Fitzmaurice, that a gang of them was drawn off to settle a new estate, called Yarmouth, which he had then the care of, but the settlement was discontinued from the change of the attorney. On Orange, in St. James's, no negroes were bought for at least fifteen years, and they increased; as also on Eden in the same parish. He lived on both these estates.
Mr. Forster, speaking of the island of Antigua, says, that on the whole of Colonel Farley's plantations they had no need of new negroes. He has heard the Colonel say there was a considerable increase, but on one particularly. Mr. Thomas Gravenor's negroes also increased. He knew Captain Thomason, of Seacow Bay, Tortola, who wanted no new negroes for many years.
Mr. Duncan observes, that the treatment on the estate that he lived on, which was in the island of Antigua, was better than common: the effect was that the slaves increased. The slaves also on Sir G. Thomas's Belfast estate, and Carlisle's, and several others he cannot now name increased, or kept up their numbers without any addition by purchase.
Mr. Giles says, that on two estates where he lived, the increase of the slaves, under a milder treatment in the island of St. Croix, exceeded their decrease by one per cent.
Capt. Hall, of the navy, mentions an estate, belonging to the Marquis de Rouvray, in the island of St. Domingo, where in consequence of good usage the slaves increased so fast as to have rendered any farther purchases unnecessary.
Mr. Bishop told Mr. Town, that in a plantation of his, in Barbadoes, they had not bought a Guinea negro for upwards of forty years, and that by good usage there were a great many more now there than formerly.
The Reverend Mr. Davies says, that on Kendal plantation, in the island of Barbadoes, belonging to Mr. Steel, the stock of slaves was kept up by births. He knew also a few other estates which kept up their numbers without importation.
The Dean of Middleham, while in Barbadoes, understood from Dr. Mapp's son, that the stock on the estate, to which he had just succeeded, had increased so much by birth, that there was a redundance sufficient nearly to stock another estate. The Rev. Mr. Carter's slaves also increased considerably, and these cultivated his glebe and planted canes. The Dean's brother also informed him, that his own negroes had doubled their number by natural increase in twenty years, and they were employed, he believes, in common field business as other negroes. The Dean had heard of several others of his acquaintance, who had kept up their stocks by the natural increase, without purchase.
Having now mentioned those estates, on which it appears that the slaves have increased by birth, it will be proper to mention those other facts in the evidence, by which it will be clear, that the Africans by general good usage will increase so generally as to supersede the necessity of the slave-trade.
1.In the island of Barbadoes the field slaves appear to be better treated than elsewhere. Accordingly we find from Mr. Woodward, that while resident there, in the years 1782 and 1783, he never heard any complaint of the want of negroes to carry on the plantation or other business. And yet he does not recollect: the sale of a single cargo of slaves during that time.
2.Field slaves cultivating cotton, pimento, and coffee, are described by Mr. Cook as being treated better, and as increasing faster by birth than those employed on sugar estates.
3.Domestics are universally said to be treated better on the whole than field slaves, and these are generally said to increase. There are many more children, says Jeffreys, among domestics than field slaves. Captain Hall says, that in his time the domestics were understood to increase by birth, and Lieutenant Davison, that they did actually increase. Mr. Forster gives an instance of rapid increase among the domestics. A widow Shervington was left in debt with five or six negroes, who by kind treatment in fifteen or twenty years increased to fifteen or more. He knows several instances of the kind.
4.The Maroon negroes, originally Africans, who live in small communities in Jamaica, as free people, and who of course are not subject to ill usage like the slaves, are said to increase also. M. Cook believes the Maroon negroes to be increasing very fast. Lieutenant Davison asserts, that in his time they increased most certainly. He has often been in all their towns, and always saw great numbers of children. Their numbers were considerably more when he left, than when he came to the island. It was impossible for them to have received any addition of number from other quarters.
5.African negroes also, when transported to the East Indies, have, by good usage, increased there. Mr. Botham says, that in the year 1764, the East India Company sent slave ships to Africa and Madagascar, and transported to Bencoolen, for their public and other works, nearly a thousand slaves, and in much the same proportion of men, women, and children, as they are carried from Africa to the West Indies, that is, more men than women and children. These slaves, on the first years of their arrival, from the unhealthiness of the climate, and other causes, decreased: but when they had been at Bencoolen a few years, where they were humanely treated, they began annually to increase; notwithstanding from the little attention that was paid to their way of life, both men and women lived in the most abandoned way. The wonder was, that they did increase, as the young women slaves were common prostitutes to the soldiers and sailors.
6.African negroes also, transported to different parts of North America, have, in consequence of being [1] better used, increased by population there.
Dr. Harrison's distinction between the difference of the treatment of the negroes by the West Indians and Americans, is as follows. In Jamaica, he says, slaves were generally treated ill, and only individuals treated them well; in Carolina, on the other hand, they were generally treated well, and only individuals used them ill.—Let us now see the consequences.
Mr. Dove says, that from 1774 to 1783 there were no importations of slaves to Boston or New York, and yet he thinks that they did not decrease in their number during that time.
It was generally believed, says Mr. Stuart, that the Carolina slaves increased without importation.
Mr. Savage says also, that where they were well used in Carolina they increased greatly. A friend of his, Gabriel Manigault, Esq. informed him, that in 1737, he had on his estate eighty-six negroes, of which twelve or fourteen were superannuated. The latter he replaced by others. With no more addition than this, they had increased to two hundred and seventy about a year or two (1773) before he left the country.
Mr. Balllie also, speaking of Carolina, believes the negroes are raised there in as great a proportion as children in Europe, when they are in healthy situations, notwithstanding which he observes, that the cultivation of rice is as laborious as that of sugar, and that the climate of Jamaica is much more favourable to the constitution of the negroes than that of Carolina.
Dr. Harrison also gives his opinion as a medical man, that the climate of Jamaica is more favourable to the increase of slaves than that of Carolina; notwithstanding which disadvantage Carolina increased in slaves, while those in Jamaica decreased.
Mr. Irving mentions the increased population of slaves by birth in Carolina to have been reckoned in his time at from two to ten per cent. and yet he speaks of the climate in the same manner as the rest. The breeding of slaves, he says, was considered so advantageous, that the planter generally valued a child, on the day of its birth, at five pounds.
Mr. Clapham, examined on this subject, for Maryland, says, the negroes kept up their numbers there by propagation, and increased, so that the overplus, in some instances, were shipped to the West Indies. He has known an hundred sales, where proprietors have had too many for their use, in consequence of increase by propagation, yet they were not thought to be [2] well treated, though better than to the southward, and the climate was subject to great and sudden variety of heat and cold.
Mr. Beverley, examined respecting Virginia, states, that the negroes there always kept up their numbers, and generally increased. His father's more than doubled their numbers. In 1761 he had about two hundred, and in 1788 he paid taxes on above five hundred and forty, of whom not above twenty or thirty had been added by purchase.
Mr. Beverley was told in America, that when the abolition of the slave-trade was first agitated in 1774, many doubted the practicability of keeping up the numbers by births, and the persons so doubting have, since the abolition of the slave trade, expressed to him a conviction that their fears were groundless.
Mr. Crew states also, that the negroes in Virginia increased rapidly without importation, so much so, that it was a general opinion that it was profitable to hold slaves on this account, exclusive of the profits of their labour. He thinks, at the same time, that the culture of tobacco is nearly as laborious as that of sugar, and that the climate of Virginia is not so favourable as that of the West Indies to African constitutions on account of the severe [3] cold in the winter. Mr. Crew observes, that the importation of African slaves into Virginia has been generally discontinued since 1772.
From the above accounts, (by which the natives of Africa have been viewed in different climates and situations) but particularly from the last, it is evident that if they were in general well used in the European colonies, they would so generally increase as to supersede the necessity of the slave trade, for if in the American climate, totally uncongenial to their constitutions, they have generally increased by births, much more would they in the West Indian, which is represented as much more favourable to their propagation. This will be still more evident, if we prove that they are prolifick in their own country, and that the West Indian climate is the same as their own at home. Mr. Falconbridge says, that the females are more prolifick than those of other countries. Out of four or five deliveries, at which he was present, there were twice twins. Captain Hall has seen as many children in the towns and villages in Africa in proportion to the grown people, as he has met with in this country. Sir G. Young declares, that the negro women on the coast of Africa appeared to him as prolifick as any race of people he ever saw in any part of the world, and the climate of the West Indies to be not less favourable to them than their own. Hence he says, the stock of slaves might be kept up or increased without any importations from Africa. At first the deficiencies might be felt for a few, perhaps twenty years, but after a while, they would 'double their numbers, for he sees no physical cause to prevent a black man and woman being equally prolifick in the West Indies as in Africa.
There are others, who from their experience in the West Indies are of a similar opinion. Dr. Jackson cannot conceive, if slaves were well used, why they should not keep up their numbers. They are naturally prolifick, and the islands in general congenial to their constitutions.— It is the opinion of Mr. Coor, that, with kind and judicious treatment of the infants, the slaves in Jamaica would increase without any importations from Africa. Mr. Davies says the same thing for Barbadoes. Mr. Woodward is not apprehensive that the abolition of the slave-trade would ruin his West Indian property. He thinks it would be of advantage to Barbadoes. By using them well, and by good management, the stock of slaves would naturally increase without importation. And Mr. Giles believes, that, if they were properly treated, their increase would be general throughout the islands.
- ↑ The evidences unanimously maintain, that their usage is better in America than in the West Indies.
- ↑ The evidence warrants us in saying, that a slave in America, said to be not well used, would be considered as well used in the West-Indies.
- ↑ As a farther proof, that the climate of North America is not congenial to the African constitution, it appears from Ballie and Beverley that the negroes are always healthier in the summer than in the winter.