Page:The History of Slavery and the Slave Trade.djvu/235

 of two thousand slaves in Jamaica might be therefore charged to the importation; which, compared with the whole number on the island, hardly fell short of the whole one per cent, decrease.

Joining this with all the other considerations, he would then ask, could the decrease of the slaves in Jamaica be such; could the colonies be so destitute of means; could the planters, when, by their own accounts, they were establishing daily new regulations for the benefit of the slaves; could they, under all these circumstances, be permitted to plead the total impossibility of keeping up their number, which they had rested on, as being indeed the only possible pretext for allowing fresh importations from Africa? He appealed, therefore, to the sober judgment of all, whether the situation of Jamaica was such as to justify a hesitation in agreeing to the present motion.

It might be observed, also, that when the importations should stop, that disproportion between the sexes which was one of the obstacles to population, would gradually diminish, and a natural order of things be established. Through the want of this natural order, a thousand grievances were created, which it was impossible to define, and which it was in vain to think that, under such circumstances, we could cure. But the abolition of itself would work this desirable effect. The West Indians would then feel a near and urgent interest to enter into a thousand little details which it was impossible for him to describe, but which would have the greatest influence on population. A foundation would thus be laid for the general welfare of the islands; a new system would rise up, the reverse of the old; and eventually both their general wealth and happiness would increase.

He had now proved far more than he was bound to do; for, if he could only show that the abolition would not be ruinous, it would be enough, lie could give up, therefore, three arguments out of four, through the whole of what he had said, and yet have enough left for his position. As to the Creoles, they would undoubtedly increase. They differed in this entirely from the imported slaves, who were both a burthen and a curse to themselves and others. The measure now proposed would operate like a charm; and, besides stopping all the miseries in Africa and the passage, would produce even more benefit in the West Indies than legal regulations could effect.

He would now just touch upon the question of emancipation. A rash emancipation of the slaves would be mischievous. In that unhappy situation, to which our baneful conduct had brought ourselves and them, it would be no justice on either side to give them liberty. They were as yet incapable of it; but their situation might be gradually amended. They might be relieved from every thing harsh and severe; raised from their present degraded state, and put under the protection of the law. Till then, to talk of emancipation was insanity. But it was the system of fresh importations which interfered with these principles of improvement; and it was only the abolition which could establish them. The suggestion had its foundation in human nature. Wherever the incentive of honor, credit, and fair profit appeared, energy would spring