Part 15 (2/2)
”I grant that such has been the case, and may occasionally be so now; but do not the newspapers of England teem with acts of barbarity? Men are the same every where. But, sir, it is the misfortune of this world, that we never know _when to stop_. The abolition of the slave-trade was an act of humanity, worthy of a country acting upon an extended scale like England; but your philanthropists, not content with relieving the blacks, look forward to the extermination of their own countrymen, the whites--who, upon the faith and promise of the nation, were induced to embark their capital in these islands.”
”Doubtless they wish to abolish slavery altogether,” replied Berecroft.
”They must be content with having abolished the horrors of it, sir,”
continued the planter. ”At a time when the mart was open, and you could purchase another slave to replace the one that had died from ill treatment, or disease, the life of a slave was not of such importance to his proprietor as it is now. Moreover, the slaves imported were adults who had been once free; and torn as they were from their natural soil and homes, where they slept in idleness throughout the day, they were naturally morose and obstinate, sulky and unwilling to work. This occasioned severe punishment; and the hearts of their masters being indurated by habit, it often led to acts of barbarity. But slavery, since the abolition, has a.s.sumed a milder form--it is a species of _bond_ slavery. There are few slaves in existence who have not been born upon the estates, and we consider that they are more lawfully ours.”
”Will you explain what you mean by _more lawfully_?”
”I mean captain (for instance), that the father of that boy (pointing to one of the negro lads who waited at breakfast), was my slave; that he worked for me until he was an old man, and then I supported him for many years, until he died. I mean, that I took care of this boy's mother, who, as she bore children, never did any work after her marriage, and has since been only an expense to me, and probably will continue to be so for some years. I mean, that that boy was taken care of, and fed by me until he was ten years old, without my receiving any return for the expense which I incurred; and I therefore consider that he is indebted to me as a bond, slave, and that I am ent.i.tled to his services; and he in like manner, when he grows too old to work, will become a pensioner, as his father was before him.”
”I perceive the drift of your argument; you do not defend slavery generally.”
”No; I consider a man born free and made a slave, is justified in resorting to any means to deliver himself; but a slave that I have reared is lawfully a slave, and bound to remain so, unless he can repay me the expense I have incurred. But dinner is ready, captain; if you wish to argue the matter further, it must be over a bottle of claret.”
The dinner was well dressed, and the Madeira and claret (the only wines produced), of the best quality. Their host did the honours of his table with true West Indian hospitality, circulating the bottle after dinner with a rapidity which would soon have produced an effect upon less prudent visitors; and when Mr Berecroft refused to take any more wine, he ordered the ingredients for arrack punch.
”Now, Mr Forster, you must take a tumbler of this, and I think that you'll p.r.o.nounce it excellent.”
”Indeed--!” replied Newton.
”Nay, I will take no denial; don't be afraid; you may do any thing you please in this climate, only be temperate, and don't check the perspiration.”
”Well, but,” observed Newton, who placed the tumbler of punch before him, ”you promised to renew your argument after dinner; and I should like to hear what you have to urge in defence of a system which I never have heard defended before.”
”Well,” replied his host, upon whom the wine and punch had begun to take effect, ”just let me fill my tumbler again to keep my lips moist, and then I'll prove to you that slavery has existed from the earliest times, and is not at variance with the religion we profess. That it has existed from the earliest times, you need only refer to the book of Genesis; and that it is not at variance with our religion, I must refer to the fourth commandment. How can that part of the commandment be construed, 'and the stranger that is within thy gates?' To whom can this possibly apply but to the slave? After directing, that the labour of all the household, 'man-servant and maid-servant,' should cease, it then proceeds to the ox and the a.s.s, and the stranger that is within thy gates. Now, gentlemen, this cannot be applied to the stranger in the literal sense of the word, the hospitality of the age forbidding that labour should be required of him. At that time slaves were brought from foreign lands, and were a source of traffic, as may be inferred by the readiness with which the Ishmaelites purchased Joseph of his brethren, and resold him in Egypt.
”Nay, that slavery was permitted by the _Almighty_ is fully proved by the state of the Jewish nation, until _He_ thought proper to bring them out of the house of bondage.
”If then the laws of G.o.d provided against the ill treatment of the slave, slavery is virtually acknowledged, as not being contrary to his divine will. We have a further proof, _subsequent to the mission of our Saviour_, that the Apostles considered slavery as lawful.”
”I remember it: you refer to Paul sending back the runaway slave Onesimus. Well, I'll admit all this,” replied Mr Berecroft, who had a great dislike to points of Scripture being canva.s.sed after dinner; ”and I wish to know what inference you would draw from it.”
”That I was just coming to: I a.s.sert that my property in slaves is therefore as legally mine as my property in land or money; and that any attempt to deprive me of either is equally a _robbery_, whether it be made by the nation, or by an individual. But now, sir, allow me to ask you a question; show me where liberty is?--Run over all the cla.s.ses of society, and point out one man who is free.”
Mr Berecroft, who perceived the effect of the arrack punch, could not refrain from laughing as he replied, ”Well, your friend Mr Kingston, is he not free?”
”Free! not half so free as that slave boy who stands behind your chair.
Why, he is a merchant, and whether he lives upon a scale of princely expenditure, whether wholesale or retail, banker or proprietor of a chandler's shop, he is a speculator. Anxious days and sleepless nights await upon speculation. A man with his capital embarked, who may be a beggar on the ensuing day, cannot lie down upon roses: he is the _slave_ of Mammon. Who are greater _slaves_ than sailors? So are soldiers, and all who hold employ under government. So are politicians; they are _slaves_ to their tongues, for opinions once expressed, and parties once joined, at an age when reason is borne down by enthusiasm, and they are fixed for life against their conscience, and are unable to follow its dictates without blasting their characters. Courtiers are _slaves_ you must acknowledge.”
”I beg your pardon,” interrupted Kingston, ”but I perceive that you make no distinction between those enthralled by their own consent, and _against_ it.”
”It is a distinction without a difference,” replied the planter, ”even if it were so, which it is not, but in particular cases. The fact is, society enthralls us all. We are forced to obey laws, to regard customs, to follow the fas.h.i.+on of the day, to support the worthless by poor-rates, to pay taxes, and the interest of a debt which others have contracted, or we must go to prison.”
”And the princes and rulers of the land--do you include them?” inquired Newton.
”They are the greatest of all; for the meanest peasant has an advantage over the prince in the point on which we most desire to be free--that of the choice in his partner in life. He _has none_, but must submit to the wishes of his people, and trammelled by custom, must take to his bed one whom he cannot take to his heart.”
<script>