The History of the Rise, Progress and Accomplishment of the Abolition of the African Slave-Trade | Page 6

education, to pave the way for emancipation
by restraining the master's power, to create an intermediate State of
transition from slavery to freedom by partial liberty, as by attaching
them to the soil, and placing them in the preparatory state through
which our ancestors in Europe passed from bondage in gross to entire
independence--all such measures were in the absolute discretion; not of
the planters, but of the resident agents, one of the worst communities in
the world, who had little interest in preparing for an event which they
deprecated, and whose feelings of party, as well as individually, were
all ranged on the oppressor's side. All this Mr. Stephen, enlightened by
experience, and wise by long reflection, clearly and alone foresaw; all
this vision of the future was too surely realized by the event. No
improvement of treatment took place; no additional liberality in the
supplies was shown; no abstinence in the exaction of labour appeared;

no interference of the Colonial Legislature to check misconduct was
witnessed; far less was the least disposition perceived to give any rights
to the slaves, any security against oppression, any title independent of
his Master, any intermediate state or condition which might prepare
him for freedom. It is enough to say, that a measure which every man,
except Mr. Stephen, had regarded as the natural, almost the necessary
effect of the abolition--attaching the slaves to the soil--was not so much
as propounded, far less adopted; it may be even said, was never
mentioned in any one local assembly of any of our numerous colonies,
during the thirty years which elapsed between the abolition and the
emancipation! This is unquestionable, and it is decisive.
As soon as it began to be perceived that such was likely to be the result
of the abolition in regard to the emancipation, Mr. Stephen's authority
with his coadjutors, always high, rose in proportion to the
confirmations which the event had lent his predictions; and his zealous
endeavours and unwearied labours for the subversion of the accursed
system became both more extensive and more effectual. If, however,
strict justice requires the tribute which we have paid to this eminent
person's distinguished services, justice also renders it imperative on the
historian of the Abolition in all its branches, to record an error into
which he fell. Having originally maintained that the traffic would
survive the Act of 1807, in which he was right, that Act only imposing
pecuniary penalties, he persisted in the same opinion after the Act of
1811 had made slave-trading a felony; and long after it had been
effectually put down in the British dominions, he continued to maintain
that it was carried on nearly as much as ever, reasoning upon
calculations drawn from the island returns. Hence he insisted upon a
general Registry Act, as essential to prevent the continuance of an
importation which had little or no real existence. The importance of
such a measure was undeniable, with a view to secure the good
treatment of the negroes in the islands; but the extinction of the Slave
Trade had long before been effectually accomplished.
In the efforts to obtain Negro Emancipation, all the Abolitionists were
now prepared to join. The conduct of the Colonial Assemblies having
long shown the fallacy of those expectations which had been

entertained of the good work being done in the islands as soon as the
supply of new hands should be stopped by the Abolition, there
remained no longer any doubt whatever, that the mother country alone
could abate a nuisance hateful in the sight of God and man. Constant
opportunities were therefore offered to agitate this great question,
which was taken up by the enlightened, the humane, and the religious,
all over the empire.
The magnitude of the subject was indeed worthy of all the interest it
excited. The destiny of nearly a million of human beings--nay, the
question whether they should be treated as men with rational souls, or
as the beasts which perish--should enjoy the liberty to which all God's
creatures are entitled, as of right, or be harassed, oppressed, tormented,
and stinted, both as regarded bodily food, and spiritual
instruction--whether the colonies should be peopled with tyrants and
barbarians, or inhabited by civilized and improving christian
communities--was one calculated to put in action all the best principles
of our nature, and to move all the noblest feelings of the human heart.
Thomas Clarkson, as far as his means extended, aided this great
excitement. He renewed his committees of correspondence all over the
country; aided by the Society of Friends, his early and steady
coadjutors in this pious work, he recommenced the epistolary
intercourse with the provinces, held for so many hopeless years on the
Slave Trade, but now made far more promising by the victory which
had been