ACT of 3 and 4 WILLIAM IV, chapter lxxiii, § 12. Be it enacted, that all and every of the persons, who, on the first day of August, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-four, shall be holden in slavery within any such British colony as aforesaid, shall, upon, and from and after the first day of August, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-four, become and be to all intents and purposes, FREE and discharged of, and from all manner of SLAVERY, and shall be absolutely and for ever manumitted; and that the children thereafter to be born to any such persons, and the offspring of such children, shall in like manner be free from their birth; and that from and after the first day of August, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-four, SLAVERY shall be, and is hereby utterly and for ever ABOLISHED and declared unlawful throughout the BRITISH colonies, plantations, and possessions abroad.

WILLIAM BLACKSTONE.

Those rights which God and nature have established, and are, therefore, called natural rights-such as life and liberty-need not the aid of human laws to be more effectually invested in every man than they are; neither do they receive any additional strength when declared by the municipal laws to be inviolable. On the contrary, no human legislature has power to abridge or destroy them, unless the owner himself shall commit some act which amounts to a forfeiture. The first and primary end of all human laws is, to maintain and regulate those absolute rights of individuals. The absolute rights of man, considered as a free agent, endowed with discernment to know good from evil, and with power of choosing those measures which appear to him most desirable, are usually summed up in one general appellation, and denominated the natural liberty of mankind. This

WILLIAM BEST-GRANVILLE SHARP.

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natural liberty consists, properly in a power of acting as one thinks fit, without any restraint or control, unless by the law of nature; being a right inherent in us by birth, and one of the gifts of God to man at his creation, when he endued him with the faculty of free will. But every man, when he enters into society, gives up a part of his natural liberty, as the price of so valuable a purchase; and, in consideration of receiving the advantages of mutual commerce, obliges himself to conform to those laws which the community has thought proper to establish.

These rights and liberties are no other than either that residuum of natural liberty which is not required by the laws of society to be sacrificed to public convenience; or else those civil privileges which society hath engaged to provide in lieu of the natural liberties so given up by individuals.-These are, the right of personal security, the right of personal liberty, and the right of private property.—Commentaries. [See also "John Wesley," in this compilation.]

WILLIAM BEST.

It is a matter of pride for me to recollect, that while economists and politicians were recommending to the Legislature the protection of this traffic, and senators were framing laws for its promotion, and declaring it a benefit to the country,-the judges of the land, above the age in which they lived, standing upon the high ground of natural right, and disdaining to bend to the lower doctrine of expediency, declared that slavery was inconsistent with the genius of the English Constitution, and that human beings could not be the subject matter of property. As a lawyer, I speak of that early determination, when a different doctrine was prevailing in the senate, with a considerable degree of professional pride.

GRANVILLE SHARP.

I might allege, indeed, that many of the plantation laws (like every act that contains any thing which is malum in se, evil in its own nature) are already null and void in themselves; because they want every necessary foundation to render them valid, being absolutely contradictory to the laws of reason and natural equity, as well as to the laws of God. Yet, as many of them (to the disgrace of the English name) have been long in force, and have had the formal assent of kings, they will require a formal repeal by all the parties, in order to preserve, in each branch of the Legislature, that reciprocal faith, which is due to all solemn compacts.

That your lordship may see the absolute necessity of such a measure, I have likewise sent a short, lively representation in MS, of the present state of slavery in Maryland.

"But whether I shall go thither or return home, I am yet undetermined; indeed nowhere shall I stay long from England; for I had much rather enjoy the bare necessaries of life there, than the most affluent circumstances in this country of most wretched slavery. * * * There are four things under the sun, which I equally abhor and abominate, viz. slavery, licentiousness, pride, and impudence, all which abound here, in a monstrous degree.

sun.

"The punishments of the poor negroes and convicts, are beyond all conception, being entirely subject to the will of their savage and brutal masters. They are often punished for not doing more than strength and nature will admit of; and sometimes because they cannot on every occasion, fall in with their wanton and capricious humors. One punishment is to flay their backs with cowhides, or other instruments of barbarity, and then pour on hot rum, superinduced with brine or pickle, rubbed in with a corn husk, in the scorching heat of the For certain, if your judges were sensible of the shocking treatment of the convicts here, they would hang every one of them, as infinitely less punishment; and transport only those, whose crimes deserve the severest death. Better be hanged seven hundred times, than serve seven years here: and there is no redress, for magistrates and all are equally interested and criminal. If I had a child, I had rather see him, the humblest scavenger in the streets of London, than the loftiest tyrant in America, with a thousand slaves at his beck." Old Jewry, 18th February, 1772.

In connexion with this letter, Granville Sharp adverting to the existing slave laws of the colonies, says in his journal of the same day, (18th Feb. 1772) "If such laws are not absolutely necessary for the government of slaves, the law-makers must unavoidably allow themselves to be the most cruel and abandoned tyrants upon earth, and, perhaps, that ever were on earth. But, on the other hand, if it be said that it is impossible to govern slaves, without such inhuman severity and detestable injustice, the same is an invincible argument against the least toleration of slavery among Christians; because temporal profits, cannot compensate the forfeiture of everlasting welfare-that the cries of these much injured people will certainly reach heaven— that the Scriptures denounce a tremendous judgment against the man, who shall offend one little one-that it were better for the nation that their American dominions had never existed, or even that they had sunk in the sea, than that the kingdom of Great Britain should be loaded with the horrid guilt of tolerating such abominable wickedness," &c.

It ought to be remembered that while Granville Sharp thus boldly remonstrated with the government of his country, he filled a government situation and was dependant for his present subsistence, and for his future prospects in life, upon the ministry of the day.—Life of Sharp by Charles Stuart.

THOMAS CLARKSON-WM. WILBERFORCE.

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THOMAS CLARKSON.

I passed through no town in which some individual had not left off the use of sugar. In the smaller towns there were from ten to fifty by estimation, and in the larger, from two to five hundred, who had made this sacrifice to virtue. These were of all ranks and parties. Rich and poor, churchmen and dissenters, had adopted the measure. Even grocers had left off trading in the article in some places. In gentlemen's families, where the master had set the example, the servants had often voluntarily followed it; even children, capable of understanding the African's sufferings, excluded, with the most virtuous resolution, the accustomed sweets from their lips. By the least computation I could make, from notes taken down in my journey, no fewer than three hundred thousand (300,000) persons had abandoned the use of sugar.

This account of the manner in which light and information proceed in a free country, furnishes us with some valuable knowledge. It shows us, first, the great importance of education; for all they who can read may become enlightened. They may gain as much from the dead as from the living. They may see the sentiments of former ages. Thus they may contract, by degrees, habits of virtuous inclination, and become fitted to join with others in the removal of the evils of life.

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It shows us, secondly, how that encouraging maxim may become true, That no good effort is ever lost. For if he, who makes the virtuous attempt, should be prevented by death from succeeding in it, can he not speak through the tomb? Will not his works still breathe his sentiments upon it? May not the opinions, and the facts, which he has recorded, meet the approbation of ten thousand readers of whom it is probable, in the common course of things, that some will branch out of him as authors, and others as actors or laborers, in the same cause?

PARLIAMENTARY SPEECHES,

[From Clarkson's History of the Abolition of the Slave-trade.]

WILLIAM WILBERFORCE.

It was ridiculous to say that men would be bound by their interest, when gain or ardent passion urged them. It might as well be asserted that a stone could not be thrown into the air, or a body move from place to place, because the principles of gravitation bound them to the surface of the earth. If a planter found himself reduced in his profits, he did not usually dispose of any part of his slaves; and his own gratifications were never given up, so long as there was a possibility of making any retrenchment in the allowance of his slaves.

Europe, three or four centuries ago, was in many parts as barbarous as Africa is at present, and chargeable with as bad practices. For, what would be said, if so late as the middle of the thirteenth century, he could find a parallel there for the

slave-trade? Yes. This parallel was to be found even in England. The people of Bristol, in the reign of Henry VII, had a regular market for children, which were bought by the Irish; but the latter having experienced a general calamity, which they imputed as a judgment from Heaven, on account of this wicked traffic, abolished it.

Above all, the state of degradation to which they were reduced, deserved to be noticed; as it produced an utter inattention to them as moral agents. They were kept to work under the whip like cattle. They were left totally ignorant of morality and religion. There was no regular marriage among them. Hence promiscuous intercourse, early prostitutions, and excessive drinking, were material causes of their decrease.

"Mr. Ross conceived a master had a right to punish his slave in whatever manner he might think proper." The same was declared by numberless other witnesses. Some instances indeed had lately occurred of convictions. A master had wantonly cut the mouth of a child, of six months old, almost from ear to ear. But did not the verdict of the jury show, that the doctrine of calling masters to an account was entirely novel; as it only pronounced him "Guilty, subject to the opinion of the court, if immoderate correction of a slave by his master be indictable!" The court determined in the affirmative; and what was the punishment of this barbarous act? A fine of forty shillings currency, equivalent to about twenty-five shillings sterling. It was in evidence, that they were in general under-fed.

The fact was, that these [the managers] sought to establish their characters by producing large crops at a small immediate expense; too little, considering how far the slaves might suffer from ill treatment and excessive labor. The pursuit of such a system was a criterion for judging of their characters, as both Mr. Long and Mr. Otley had confessed. But he hoped the committee would attend to the latter part of the assertion of Captain Smith. Yes; this trade, while it injured the constitutions of our sailors, debased their morals. Of this, indeed, there was a barbarous illustration in the evidence. A slave-ship had struck on some shoals, called the Morant Keys, a few leagues from the east end of Jamaica. The crew landed in their boats, with arms and provisions, leaving the slaves on board in their irons. This happened in the night. When morning came, it was discovered that the negroes had broken their shackles, and were busy in making rafts; upon which afterwards they had placed their women and children. The men attended upon the latter, swimming by their sile, whilst they drifted to the island where the crew were. But what was the sequel? From an apprehension that the negroes would consume the water and provision, which had been landed, the crew resolved to destroy them as they approached the shore. They killed between three and four hundred. Out of the whole cargo only thirty-three were saved, who, on being brought to Kingston, were sold.

In answer to a suggestion of regulating the treatment of slaves by law, he asked, How could any laws made by legislatures be effectual, whilst the evidence of negroes was in no case admitted against white men? What was the answer of Grenada? Did it not state, "that they, who were capable of cruelty, would in general be artful enough to prevent any but slaves being witnesses of the fact? Hence it had arisen, that when positive laws had been made, in some of the islands, for the protection of the slaves, they had been found almost a dead letter. Besides, by what law would you enter into every man's domestic concerns, and regulate the interior economy of his house and plantation? This would be something more than a general excise. Who would endure such a law? And yet on all these and innumerable. other minutiæ must depend the protection of the slaves, their comforts, and the probability of their increase. The provisions of the Directorio had been but of little more avail in the Portuguese settlements, or the institution of a Protector of the Indians, in those of the Spaniards. But what degree of protection the slaves would enjoy might be inferred from the admission of a gentleman, by whom this very plan of regulation had been recommended, and who was himself no ordinary person, but a man of discernment and legal resources. He had proposed a limitation of the number of lashes to be given by the master or overseer for one offence. But, after all, he candidly confessed, that his proposal was not likely to be useful, while the evidence of slaves continued inadmissible against their masters. But he could even bring testimony to the inefficacy of such regulations. A wretch in Barbadoes had chained a negro girl to the floor, and flogged her till she