length of time declared, that the disgrace of slavery should not be suffered to remain part of our national system." He went on to recount, that after a unanimous vote of the House in 1823, certain "ameliorating measures" had been suggested to the colonists; but these had been "unheeded and disregarded by all the colonial legislatures." "Eight bills were sent to them in 1826 by the secretary of state, and not one colony would adopt a single bill out of the whole eight; nay, they expressed lofty indignation at our interfering with what was their exclusive business." He proceeded to quote Mr. Burke on the inutility of trusting the colonial legislatures in the matter of the negro, because they will never execute the law. "The law does not carry with it the executory principle" in Mr. Burke's words. Who would expect, after this, that the speaker was about to give to the colonists the task of training the negroes for freedom in a seven years' apprenticeship? As an apprentice, the negro had no motive to work; for he was not to receive wages, and the whip was taken from the overseer. Sad experience had proved in Jamaica and elsewhere, that if a humane master, fresh from England, put a sharp limit on the stripes of the whip, the quantity of sugar enormously decreased. This apprenticeship was the height of stupidity, and could only aggravate difficulties. Popular opinion ascribed its origination to Henry Brougham, now become Lord Chancellor Brougham, a vastly different man from his former self: but the present writer knows no proof that that rumor was true. However, in this first bill "Mr. Secretary Stanley" proposed a loan to the planters of fifteen millions, with a requirement that they shall sacrifice a fourth part of the labor of the slaves, who were to be allowed to buy their own three-fourths time, and were to be registered as apprenticed freemen. He volunteered to state his own opinion, that it would be quite unjust to expect the planters to repay the loan of fifteen millions; but the slaves ought to pay it, or a part of it: the rest might be borne by this country, unless indeed Parliament thought fit to convert the loan into a gift.
Viscount Howick (the present Earl Grey) vehemently protested against the continuance of the existing system for a single day, and insisted that, instead of the slaves paying anything to the masters, they ought rather "to receive compensation for past services and unrequited labors." Mr. Fowell Buxton also and others were highly dissatisfied with the proposals. This debate went on till May 14, 1833.
Not to trouble the reader with further details, the loan of fifteen millions was finally changed into a grant of twenty millions, by two hundred and eighty-six ayes against seventy-seven noes; and the ministry, against protest, insisted on calling it "compensation." Children under six years old were made free, so were all the negroes, nominally; then why compel them to labor for seven years unrequited? This forsooth was "the safest, speediest, happiest way" of liberating them!
We may well ask, How had the planters deserved this large gift or payment from our innocent nation? If the executive government winks at crime, does crime become rightful, and is the nation unable to forbid it without paying the criminals? Such was the doctrine of a majority of the Grey ministry; certainly not of the present Lord Grey, who always looks earnestly at the just and right. At any rate, the twenty millions bought up the worth of all the estates, and we might have claimed them as crown property, and have given to the negroes independent freeholds; though of course no sugar would have been forthcoming for many years in that way. In the Mauritius notoriously the slave trade had been largely carried on since 1807. But somewhat must now be said as to the worth of West Indian property at that time.
One word first on the laziness imputed to the negroes. They had twenty six days in the year to work on their own allotments, and by this work they fed themselves — that is, by one day out of fourteen. Surely this denotes how well they worked, when they would themselves enjoy the fruit of their labor. A negress of Berbice complained bitterly that her mistress never gave her clothes, yet punished her by tearing her clothes in pieces; hence it would seem that the negroes often clothed themselves, as well as fed themselves. After the nominal freedom given in 1833, a negro might buy his own complete freedom, but no maximum price was fixed. He was valued by a stipendiary magistrate from England and two local justices; hence the ablest negro had to pay most. Even so, the Rev. Mr. Knibb attested that in Jamaica a full thousand negroes had in three years worked out their entire freedom, while only one-fourth of their time was their own. How fatuous is the complaint of idleness in "black Quashee"!
But now, as to the masters and overseers, were not they idle? After the slave trade
