Thoughts on the Necessity of Improving the Condition of the Slaves in the British Colonies - With a View to Their Ultimate Emancipation; and on the Practicability, the Safety, and the Advantages of the Latter Measure. by Thomas Clarkson
page 61 of 92 (66%)
page 61 of 92 (66%)
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whereas magistrates may live at a distance from the plantations, and not
be always at home. Secondly, because the holding of a Negro-court would give consequence to those Negroes who should compose it, not only in their own eyes but in the eyes of others; and every thing, that might elevate the Black character, would be useful to those who were _on the road to emancipation_; and, lastly, because there must be some thing satisfactory and consoling to the accused to be tried by their peers. It appears, thirdly, that both of them were agreed again in the principle of making the Negroes, in either case, _adscripti glebae_; or attached to the soil, though they might differ as to the length of time of such ascription. And it appears, lastly, that they were agreed in another, and this the only remaining point, viz. on the necessity of holding out a stimulus to either, so as to excite in them a very superior spirit of industry to any they had known before. They resorted, however to different means to effect this. Toussaint gave the labourers one _fourth_ of the produce of the land; deducting board and clothing. Mr. Steele, on the other hand, gave them _daily wages_. I do not know which to prefer; but the plan of Mr. Steele is most consonant to the English practice. But to return. It is possible that some objector may rise up here as before, and say that even the case, which I have now detailed, is not, strictly speaking, analogous to that which we have in contemplation, and may argue thus:--"The case of Mr. Steele is not a complete precedent, because his slaves were never _fully_ emancipated. He had brought them only to _the threshold_ of liberty, but no further. They were only _copyholders_, but _not free men_." To this I reply, first, That Mr. Steele _accomplished all that he ever aimed at_. I have his own words |
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