Abstract of the evidence for the abolition of the slave-trade (1791)/Chapter 16
Mr. Irving states, by means of official papers from the Custom-house, that the British West India Islands, in their present state, produce annually a greater quantity of sugar and rum than is requisite for the consumption of Great Britain, her immediate dependencies, and the kingdom of Ireland, and, to extend the cultivation, he considers to be very impolitick, for two reasons:
First, because such extension can only be made from British capitals, which might be employed in carrying, on and extending the manufactures, commerce, and agriculture of the mother country; but which must thus be transferred to the most vulnerable parts of the empire, and there invested in pursuits, which do not appear to him to be productive of a profit to the proprietor, or of advantage to the publick, in any degree adequate to the precarious situation in which such property stands, from the contingencies of climate and of war: for, if but one island should be lost, it is a complete loss of so much capital to the empire: and Mr. Irving shews their extremely hazardous situation, by the capture of six of them, and the final separation of Tobago in the late war.
Secondly, because the sugar and rum to be produced by extending the cultivation (the present cultivation being more than sufficient for the demand of England and her dependencies) must be exported to foreign states. This, says Mr. Irving, is exceedingly impolitick; for the sugar made in the French islands can be afforded (which he shews by official papers) so much cheaper than the British, that, in order to enable the planters to sell it at the same price as their rivals, Government must give large and destructive bounties. Mr. Irving even states, and this again officially, that, in the most favourable period for the British islands, viz. before the late war, the French planters were able to sell their sugars from twenty to thirty per cent. cheaper than the British planters: and he conceives it to be a maxim thoroughly established in national commerce, that it is unwise to push forward by monopolies, restrictive regulations, or bounties, any branch of commerce or manufactures, which cannot be carried on, after a fair trial, within fifteen per cent. of the prices of other rival countries.
To the above reasons, given by Mr. Irving, we may add, that the extension of the cultivation, by means of purchasing new slaves, must be exceedingly impolitick, if we bear in mind the evidence adduced in the preceding chapter: inasmuch as it must be, as it ever has been, attended with debts, mortgages, and ruin.
Now, if the above arguments should, in the opinion of the reader, fully prove the impolicy of the measure of carrying the cultivation beyond its present bounds by means of the present system, it will be very easy to evince the policy of doing it by means of the rising generation of slaves, and by them alone. [1] This will appear, first, because the breeding of slaves where it has been attended to as an object, has been shewn to increase the proprietor's capital: for this reason therefore, and from the circumstance of the slaves being in this case the growth of the estates, and not, as by the former system, purchased, no capital need be drawn from the mother country, to the hazard and detriment described. Secondly, because those estates mentioned in the evidence, upon which the breeding system has been most attended to, are almost universally noticed, with this remark, namely, that they had "got out of debt," or "were flourishing," or "were making money." Now, if estates get out of debt, or flourish, where the negroes are bred, while the reverse is the cafe, where they are purchased, it can only be because the system of cultivating by means of population must be cheaper than in the other way: hence the British planters would be enabled, without any destructive bounties from Government to meet their rivals on an equal or perhaps a more favourable footing in foreign markets. It is evident also from the expressions mentioned above to have been annexed to those estates where attention was paid to breeding, that the planters would cultivate, in this case, to their own certain emolument, and not, as in the present system to their equally certain embarrassment and ruin.
Having now mentioned the principal facts contained in the evidence offered to Parliament by the petitioners of Great Britain, in behalf of the abolition of the slave trade, we cannot close this compilation better than in the words of Mr. Hercules Ross: he says, "finally as the result of his observations and most serious reflection, he hesitates not to say, that the trade for slaves ought to be abolished, not only as contrary to sound policy, but to the laws of God and nature; and were it possible, by the present inquiry, to convey a just knowledge of the extensive misery it occasions, every kingdom of Europe must unite in calling on their Legislatures to abolish the inhuman traffick. This is not a hasty nor a new sentiment, formed on the present discussion, which has, in no respect, influenced his judgment. The same opinion he publickly delivered seventeen years ago in Kingston, Jamaica, in a society formed of the first characters of the place, on debating the following question, (proposed, he thinks, by the late Mr. Thomas Hibbert, who had been forty or fifty years the most eminent Guinea factor there) "Whether the trade to Africa for slaves was consistent with sound policy, the laws of nature, and morality?" This discussion occupied several meetings, and at last it was determined by a majority, That the trade to Africa for slaves, was neither consistent with sound policy, the laws of nature, nor morality."
FINIS.
- ↑ Sir George Young states his belief, that if the slave-trade were abolished, and every proper regulation adopted, to encourage the breeding of negroes in the West Indies, the stock of negroes would gradually increase, so as to be adequate to the clearing and cultivation of all the islands, to the full extent of which they are capable.