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ings. He differed from Sir Robert Peel on many points. On one point, however, he fully agreed with him. Let the proud Americans learn that all parties in this country unite in condemnation of their present conduct; and let them also learn that the worst of all aristocracies is that which prevails in America-an aristocracy which had been aptly denominated that of the human skin. The most insufferable pride was that shown by such an aristocracy.

He would continue to hurl his taunts across the Atlantic. These would ascend the Mississippi, they would descend the Missouri, and be heard along the banks of the Ohio and the Monongahela, till the black man would leap delighted to express his gratitude to those who had effected his emancipation. (Cheers.) And, Oh-but perhaps it was his pride that dictated the hope that some black O'Connell might rise among his fellow-slaves (tremendous cheers,) who would cry agitate, agitate, agitate (renewed cheering,) till the two millions and a half of his fellow-sufferers learned the secret of their strength-learned that they were two millions and a half. (Enthusiastic cheers.) If there was one thing which more than another could excite his hatred, it was the laws which the Americans had framed to prevent the instruction of their slaves. To teach a slave to read was made a capital offence. (Shame.) To be seen in company with a negro who could write was visited with imprisonment (shame,) and to teach a slave the principles of freedom, was punished with death. Were these human laws, it might be asked? Were they not laws made by wolves of the forest? No, they were made by a congregation of two-legged wolves-American wolves-monsters in human shape, who boast of their liberty and of their humanity, while they carry the hearts of tigers within them. (Cheers.) With regard to the attacks which had been made upon his countrymen by such men, he rejoiced at them. (Cheers.) These proved to him that the sufferings to which they had been subjected in the land of their birth, had not been lost upon them; but that their kindly affections had been nurtured into strength, and that they had ranged themselves on the side of the oppessed slave. (Cheers.)— Speech in Glasgow, Scotland, Sept. 1836.

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.

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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.

BLACKSTONE-SHARP-THOMAS CLARKSON.

WILLIAM BLACKSTONE.

89

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 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 comform 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.

GRANVILLE SHARP.

"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.-Journal, Feb. 18th, 1772.

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

90

90

WILLIAM WORDSWORTH-WILBERFORCE.

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 degress, habits of virtuous inclination, and become fitted to join with others in the removal of any of the evils of life.

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 suceeding 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 propable, 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 ?*

WILLIAM WORDSWORTH.

TO THOMAS CLARKSON.

On the final passing of the Bill for the abolition of the Slave-trade, March, 1807.

CLARKSON! it was an obstinate hill to climb:
How toilsome-nay, how dire it was, by thee
Is known, by none perhaps, so feelingly;
But, thou, who starting in thy fervent prime
Did'st first lead forth this pilgrimage subline,
Hast heard its constant voice its charge repeat,
Which out of thy young heart's oracular seat,
First roused thee.-O true yoke-fellow of time
With unabating effort, see, the palm

Is won, and by all nations shall be worn!

The bloody writing is for ever torn,

And thou henceforth shalt have a good man's calm,
A great man's happiness; thy zeal shall find
Repose at length firm friend of human kind!

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

"Resolved, That the Speaker be requested to acknowledge the receipt and acceptance of Clarkson's History of Slavery, presented by the American Convention for promoting the abolition of slavery, and improving the condition of the Africans, and that the said work be deposited in the library "-House of Representatives, Feb. 18, 1809.

WILLIAM PITT-EDMUND BURKE.

91

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.

It was the gracious ordinance of Providence, both in the natural and moral world, that good should often arise out of evil. Hurricanes cleared the air; and the propagation of truth was promoted by persecution. Pride, vanity, and profusion contributed often, in their remoter consequences, to the happiness of mankind. In common, what was itself evil and vicious was permitted to carry along with it some circumstances of palliation. The Arab was hospitable; the robber brave. We did not necessarily find cruelty associated with fraud, or meanness with injustice. But here the case was far otherwise. It was the prerogative of this detestable traffic to separate from evil its concomitant good, and to reconcile discordant mischiefs. It robbed war of its generosity; it deprived peace of its security; we saw in it the vices of polished society, without its knowledge or its comforts; and the evils of barbarism without its simplicity. No age, no sex, no rank, no condition, was exempt from the fatal influence of this widewasting calamity. Thus it attained to the fullest measure of pure, unmixed, unsophisticated wickedness; and, scorning all competition and comparison, it stood without a rival in the secure, undisputed possession of its detestable pre-eminence.

WILLIAM PITT.

Mr. Pitt rose, and said, that from the first hour of his having had the honor to sit in parliament down to the present, among all the questions, whether political or personal, in which it had been his fortune to take a share, there never had been one in which his heart was so deeply interested as in the present; both on account of the serious principles involved, and the consequences connected with it.

The present was not a mere question of feeling. The argument, which ought in his opinion to determine the committee, was, that the slave-trade was unjust. It was, therefore, such a trade as it was impossible for him to support, unless it could be first proved to him, that there were no laws of morality binding upon nations; and that it was not the duty of a legislature to restrain its subjects from invading the happiness of other countries, and from violating the fundamental principles of justice.

EDMUND BURKE.

Nothing makes a slave but a degraded man. In proportion as the mind grows callous to its degradation, and all sense of manly pride is lost, the slave feels comfort. In fact, he is no longer a man. If he were to define a man, he would say with Shakspeare,

"Man is a being, holding large discourse,
Looking before and after."

But a slave was incapable of looking before and after. He had no

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