THE JUST LIMITATION OF SLAVERY IN THE LAWS OF GOD, COMPARED WITH The unbounded Claims of the AFRICAN TRADERS and BRITISH AMERICAN SLAVEHOLDERS.
BY GRANVILLE SHARP.
With a copious APPENDIX: CONTAINING,
An Answer to the Rev. Mr. Thompson's Tract in favour of the
African Slave Trade.
—Letters concerning
the lineal Descent of the Negroes
from the Sons of HAM.—The Spanish Regulations for the gradual Enfranchisement of Slaves.—A Proposal on the same Principles for the gradual Enfranchisement of Slaves in
America.
—Reports of Determinations in the several COURTS OF LAW AGAINST SLAVERY, &c.
—Take away your Exactions from my People, SAITH THE LORD GOD!
Ezekiel xlv. 9.
LONDON: Printed for B. WHITE, in Fleet-Street, and E. and C. DILLY, in the Poultry.
M.DCC.LXXVI.
TRACT I. THE Just Limitation of Slavery.
THE opinion of the lords Hardwick and Talbot, which I laboured to refute in my Tract against
Slavery in England
(1) A Representation of the Injustice and dangerous Tendency of tolerating Slavery in
England.
, (printed in 1769,) has since been effectually set aside by a clear determination, in the Court of King's-Bench
(2) See Appendix.
, in favour of
James Somersett, a Negro,
against his former Master,
C
******
S
******, esq. in the year 1772.
But it is not enough, that the Laws of England exclude
Slavery
merely
from this island,
whilst the grand Enemy of mankind triumphs in a toleration,
throughout our Colonies,
of the most monstrous
oppression
to which human nature can be subjected!
And yet this abominable wickedness has not wanted advocates, who, in a variety of late publications, have attempted to palliate the guilt, and have even ventured to appeal to Scripture for the support of their uncharitable pretensions: so that I am laid under a double obligation to answer them, because it is not the cause of
Liberty
alone for which I now contend, but for that which I have still much more at heart, the honour of the holy Scriptures, the principles of which are entirely opposite to the selfish and uncharitable pretensions of our American Slaveholders and African Traders.
A late anonymous writer, who calls himself
"An African Merchant,"
remarks, that,—
By the Law of Moses, the Israelites might purchase Slaves from the Heathens, and even their own people might become Slaves to their brethren.
A Treatise on the Trade from Great-Britain to Africa, &c. by an African Merchant. P.
8
and
9.
Now, with respect to the first part of his observation, it is true, indeed, that the Israelites were expressly permitted to keep Bond-Servants, or Slaves,
of the
Heathen,
(or, more properly, of the
Nations
) that
were round about
them,
and of
the children of the strangers that sojourned among
them. (Levit. xxv. 44 to 46.) But we must remember, that these
Heathen,
or
Nations that were round about them;
were an abandoned race of people, already
Slaves
and
worshippers
of devils, and by them led to debase
human nature,
and to pollute themselves with the most unnatural and abominable vices:
For in all these,
(said the Almighty,)
the nations are defiled which I cast out before you: and the Land is defiled; THEREFORE I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants,
&c.
Again:
For all these abominations have the men of the land done which were before you, and the land is defiled,
&c.
See Levit. xviii. And the
"children of the strangers,"
abovementioned, were (probably) also of the same detestable nations of Palestine, the Amorites, Canaanites,
&c.
which were expressly doomed to destruction
(3)
Observe thou that which I command thee this day: behold, I drive out before thee the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite. Take heed to thyself, lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land whither thou goest, lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee,
&c.
Exod. xxxiv. 11 and 12.
, and that by the hand of the Israelites,
who were commanded to shew them no pity
(4)
And thou shalt consume all the people which the Lord thy God shall deliver thee: thine eye shall have
no pity upon them,
&c.
Deut. vii. 16.
The Lord thy God will put out those nations by little and little,
&c.
The Lord thy God shall deliver them unto thee, and shall destroy them with a mighty destruction until they be destroyed. And he shall deliver their kings into thine hand, and thou shalt destroy their name from under heaven: there shall no man be able to stand before thee until thou have destroyed them.
Deut. vii. 23 and 24.
.
But no doctrine must be drawn from these commands to
execute God's vengeance
upon the said wicked
strangers,
without considering, at the same time,
that very contrary treatment of strangers
which was
equally
enjoined in the Law: for the Israelites were positively commanded not to
vex
or
oppress a Stranger.
Thou shalt love him as thyself,
said Moses, by the express command of God.
If a Stranger sojourn with thee in your land, ye
shall not vex
(or
oppress
)
him. But
the Stranger
that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and
thou shalt love him as thyself:
for ye were
Strangers
in the land of Egypt.
Levit. xix. 33.34. And again:
The Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty and a terrible, which
regardeth not persons
nor taketh reward: he doth execute the judgement of the fatherless and widow, and
loveth the Stranger,
in giving him food and raiment.
Love ye,
therefore,
the Stranger;
for ye
were Strangers
in the land of Egypt.
Deut. x. 17 to 19. In all these passages, and many others, the Israelites were reminded of their
Bondage in Egypt:
for so the almighty
Deliverer
from
Slavery
warned his people to
limit
and moderate the
bondage,
which the Law permitted, by the remembrance of
their own former bondage
in a foreign land, and by a remembrance also of his great mercy
in delivering them
from that
bondage:
and he expressly referred them to
their own feelings,
as they themselves had experienced the intolerable yoke of Egyptian Tyranny!
Thou shalt not
oppress a Stranger;
for ye know the heart of
a stranger,
seeing ye were
strangers
in the land of Egypt.
Exod. xxiii. 9. And again:
Thou shalt remember that
thou
wast
a Bond-man
in the land of Egypt, and the Lord thy God
redeemed thee:
Deut. xv. 15.
We must, therefore, necessarily conclude, when these very opposite commands are considered, that the
Heathen,
or
nations
that were "ROUND ABOUT," or in the
environs
of the promised land, and also the
children of the strangers,
that dwelt among them, mentioned at the same time, whom the Israelites were permitted to retain
in perpetual bondage,
were not intended to be included and ranked under that general denomination of
Strangers,
to whom so much real
affection, benevolence,
and
consideration,
are strictly commanded, in the texts to which I have just now referred. And, consequently, it must be allowed, that the particular nations, (the seven nations of Palestine, see Deut. vii. 1.) which were expressly devoted to destruction, were the only
Strangers
whom the Jews were permitted to hold in
absolute Slavery;
so that the wicked practice of
enslaving
the poor
African Negroes
would have been as
unlawful,
under the Jewish Dispensation, as it certainly is, now a-days, to Englishmen, and other subjects of Great-Britain, that profess
the Christian Religion; in whose consideration,
ALL STRANGERS, from every other part of the world, are, without doubt, entitled to be ranked, esteemed, and beloved,
as brethren,
which I have elsewhere particularly demonstrated; and which even the law of Moses expressly commanded: —
But
the stranger,
that dwelleth with you, shall be unto you
as one born among you,
and THOU SHALT LOVE HIM AS THYSELF; for
ye were strangers
in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.
Levit. xix. 33 and 34.
This excellent system of benevolence to
strangers,
which the Israelites were so strictly enjoined to observe, cannot, I apprehend, be otherwise reconciled with the permission to the Israelites of retaining in perpetual bondage
the heathen that were round about them,
and the children of
the strangers
that sojourned among them: for, if this permission were to be extended to
strangers in general,
it would subvert the express command concerning
brotherly love
due to
strangers;
because a man cannot be said
to love the stranger as himself
if he holds
the stranger
and his progeny in a perpetual
involuntary servitude.
The observation therefore of the African Merchant, that
THE ISRAELITES
might purchase Slaves from the heathens,
will by no means justify the
enslaving
of
modern heathens,
by
Englishmen,
or by any other nation now subsisting. The Israelites, at that time, might not only purchase Slaves of those particular heathen nations, but they might also
drive out these heathen;
(I mean, these which were particularly named;) nay, even
kill
(5)
But of the cities of these people, which the Lord thy God doth give thee for an inheritance, thou
shalt save alive nothing that breatheth.
Deut. xx. 16.
and
extirpate
them, and
take possession of their cities, houses,
and
lands.
All these acts of violence
might
the Israelites do
without sin,
though the like would justly be esteemed
murder
and
robbery,
if practised by any other nation, not under the like peculiar circumstances: so that the example of the Israelites affords no excuse for the uncharitable practices of the
African Merchant
and
West-India Planter!
The Israelites had an express commission
(6)
Now, therefore, kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him.
Numbers xxxi. 17. This was the judgement against the Midianitish prisoners. The seven nations of Palestine were likewise subjected to the same condemnation.
Thou shalt smite them and utterly destroy them: thou shalt make no covenant with them,
nor shew mercy unto them.
Deut. vii. 2. And a reason for this condemnation was plainly delivered in the fourth verse, to confirm the justice of it:
For they will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods.
The Amalekites were also doomed to destruction in the like manner:
Thou shalt
blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven; thou shalt not forget it.
Deut. xxv. 19.
to execute God's vengeance,
without remorse
(7)
And thou shalt
consume all the people
which the Lord thy God shall deliver thee; thine eye shall have
no pity
upon them. Deut. vii. 16.
, upon several populous nations, which had rendered themselves
abominable in the sight of God,
and therefore deserved no consideration; so that
even mercy,
in the Israelites, was a sin
(8)
But, if ye will not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then it shall come to pass, that those, which ye let remain of them, shall be pricks in your eyes and thorns in your sides, and shall vex you in the land wherein ye dwell. Moreover, it shall come to pass, that
I shall do unto you
as
I thought to do unto them.
Numb. xxxiii. 55 and 56. And the Israelites were expressly told, that it was not on their own account that this extraordinary authority was put into their hands, but on account of the
abominable wickedness
of those who possessed the promised land.—
The land is defiled; therefore I do visit
the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants.
Levit. xviii. 25.
"For all these abominations" (unnatural lusts, mentioned in the former part of the same chapter)
have the men of the land done which were before you; and the land is defiled.
Levit. xviii. 27. And the Israelites were warned against presumption, lest such extraordinary authority should occasion spiritual pride.
Not for thy righteousness, or for the uprightness of thine heart,
dost thou
go to possess the land, but for the
wickedness of those nations the Lord God doth drive them out from before thee,
&c.
Deut. ix. 5.
, when it interfered with this positive command of God!
The commission there given, however, was but
temporary;
and no other nation, except God's peculiar people, was charged with the execution of it; and therefore, though the Europeans have taken upon themselves, for a long time past,
to attack, destroy, drive out, dispossess, and enslave,
the poor ignorant
Heathen,
in many distant parts of the world, and may, perhaps, plead custom and prescription (to their shame be it said) for their actions, yet, as they cannot, like the Israelites, produce an
authentic written commandment from God
for such proceedings, the offenders can no otherwise be esteemed than as
lawless robbers
and
oppressors,
who have reason to expect
a severe retribution
from God for their tyranny and oppression. It is unreasonable, therefore, to suppose that the severe treatment of the
ancient Heathen,
by the Israelites, under
the dispensation of the Law,
either in
killing, dispossessing,
or
enslaving,
them, should justify our
modern
acts of
violence
and
oppression,
now that we profess obedience to the
Gospel of Peace.
And, with respect to the second part of the African Merchant's observation, concerning the Israelites, (
viz.
that even
their own people might become Slaves to their brethren,
) I must remark, that he does not deal fairly by the Jewish Law, to quote that circumstance, without mentioning, at the same time,
the Just Limitation
to which it was subject, and the admirable provision, in the same Law, against
the involuntary servitude of brethren;
because no Hebrew could be made
a Slave
without
his own consent,
and even
desire,
which was to be
"plainly"
and
openly
declared in a court of
record:
—
if the servant shall
plainly say,
I love my master, my wife, and my children,
I will not go out free,
then
(says the text)
his master shall bring him
unto the Judges,
&c.
(whereby an acknowledgement
in a court of record
is plainly implied,)
and his master shall bore his ear through with an aul; and he shall serve him for ever.
Exod. xxi. 5.6. But, without that
public acknowledgement
of
voluntary consent before the Judges,
the Hebrew master had no authority to bore the servant's ear
(9) Yet our inconsiderate West-Indian and American Planters make no scruple even of
branding
their poor Negro-servants with a
hot iron,
to mark them
for perpetual Bondmen, against their will,
though they are certainly their
Brethren
in the eyes of GOD. But GOD hath declared,
expressly,
concerning the crimes of these men,
who enslave the poor,
—
SURELY,
I will never forget any of their works! Shall not the land tremble for this!
&c.! &c.! &c.!
Amos, viii. 7.8. See also the whole context, from the 4th verse.
in token of bondage: and, in every other case, it was
absolutely unlawful
for the Israelite to hold a
Brother Israelite in Slavery!
The Law expressly declares,
If thy
Brother, (that dwelleth)
by thee, be waxen poor, and
be sold unto thee; thou shalt not
compel him to serve as a
bond servant: (but)
as an
hired servant;
and as a
sojourner
he shall be with thee;
(and)
shall serve thee unto the year of jubilee: and
(then)
shall he depart from thee,
(both)
he
and his children
with him;
&c.
(and the reason of this command immediately follows;) "for they are
my servants,
" (said the Lord,)
which I brought forth out of the land of Egypt:
(i. e.
which God himself delivered from Slavery:
)
they shall not be sold as Bond-men:
thou shalt not rule over him with rigour, but
shalt fear thy God.
Levit. xxv. 39 to 43. And again, in the 55th verse, "For
unto me
" (said the Lord)
the children of
Israel are servants; they are my servants,
whom I brought out of the land of Egypt:
I am the Lord your God.
Thus it appears that the
involuntary servitude
of
brethren
is entirely inconsistent with the Jewish Law; which, therefore, is so far from
justifying
the
African Merchant,
that it absolutely
condemns
him. But he is still more mistaken, when he insinuates that Slavery is not inconsistent with the Gospel.
Jesus Christ, the Saviour of mankind and Founder of our religion,
(says he,)
left the moral laws and civil rights of mankind upon their old foundations: his kingdom was not of this world, nor did he interfere with national laws:
he did not repeal that of slaves,
nor assert an universal freedom, except from sin: with him bond and free were accepted, if they behaved
righteously.
&c.
p. 9.
But how can a man be said to
behave
righteously,
who sells his
brethren,
or holds them in Slavery
against their will?
For, though, with Christ,
bond
and
free
are accepted,
yet it behoves
the African Merchant
very diligently to examine, whether he is not likely to forfeit his
own acceptance,
if he does not most heartily repent of having
enslaved his brethren,
and of having encouraged others to the same
uncharitable practices,
by misinterpreting the holy Scriptures.
Under the Gospel Dispensation,
all mankind
are to be esteemed
our brethren.
Christ commanded his disciples to go and teach (or make disciples of)
all nations,
"
." Matth. xxviii. 19. So that
men of all nations
(who, indeed, were
brethren
before, by
natural
descent from
one common father
) are now, undoubtedly, capable of being doubly related to us, by a
farther
tie of
of brotherhood,
which the law of Moses seemed to deny them, and of which the peculiar people of God (jealous of their own adoption) once thought them incapable; I mean, the inestimable privilege of becoming sons, also, to
one almighty Father, by adoption,
as well as the Jews, and, consequently, of being
our brethren,
through Christ, by a
spiritual,
as well as a
natural,
relationship.
The promises of God, likewise, in every other part of the New Testament, are made to
all mankind in general, without exception;
so that a Negro, as well as any other man, is capable of becoming
"an adopted son of God;"
an
heir of God through Christ
(10)—"that we might receive the
adoption of
SONS." (said the apostle, to the Galatians:)
And, because
ye are Sons,
God hath sent forth the spirit of
his Son
into your hearts, crying
Abba, Father:
wherefore thou art
no more a servant, but a
SON; and,
if a Son,
then AN HEIR OF GOD THROUGH CHRIST.
Galat. iv. 5.6. and 7.
; a
temple of the Holy-Ghost
(11)
Know ye not that ye are the Temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the
Temple
of God
is holy,
which
Temple ye are.
1 Corinth. iii. 16.17. See also chap. vi. 19.20.
;
an heir
(12)
That the Gentiles should be
fellow-heirs,
and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ
by the Gospel.
Ephes. iii. 6.
of salvation;
a partaker of
the divine nature
(13) —
through the knowledge of him that hath called us to
glory
and
virtue:
whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises; that by these ye might
be partakers
of the
divine nature.
&c.
2 Pet. i. 3 and 4.
; "a
joint-heir with Christ
(14)
If children, then heirs; heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ:
&c.
Rom. viii. 17.
; and capable, also, of being joined to that glorious company of Saints, who shall one day
"come with him to judge the world;"
for "the
Saints shall judge the world.
" 1 Cor. vi. 2.3. — And, therefore, how can any man, who calls himself a Christian, presume to retain, as a mere chattel, or
private property,
his fellow man and
brother,
who is equally capable with himself of attaining the high dignities abovementioned! Let Slaveholders be mindful of the approaching consummation of all earthly things, when, perhaps, they will see thousands of those men, who were formerly esteemed mere
chattels
and
private property,
coming
(15) —
at the
coming
of our Lord JESUS CHRIST
with all his Saints.
1 Thess. iii. 13.
—
And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord
cometh,
with
ten thousands of his saints, to execute judgement upon all,
and to convince all that are ungodly among them, of all their ungodly deeds,
&c.
Jude, xiv. 15.
in the clouds
(16) —
and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory.
Matt. xxiv. 30.
Behold, he cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see him: and they also
which pierced him:
Rev. i. 7. And those men, also, who have worn out their brethren in slavery, may surely be ranked with the wretches that
pierced their Lord.
— in as much as ye have done it
unto one of the least of these my brethren,
(said our Lord,)
"ye have done it unto me."
Matt. xxv. 40. (See the conclusion of my Tract on the Law of Liberty.)
, with their heavenly Master, to judge tyrants and oppressors, and to call them to account for their want of
brotherly love!
The Ethiopians, or Negroes, received the Christian faith
much sooner
than the Europeans themselves: their
early
conversion was foretold by the Psalmist: (Psalm lxviii. 31.)
Princes shall come out of Egypt,
(or from
Mizraim
); "and Ethiopia"
(17) Wherever we find mention made, in the Old Testament, of
Ethiopians,
(though a general name for Negroes,) yet we shall find them expressed, in the Hebrew, by the name of the eldest branch of Ham,
viz. Chus,
. However, we must remember, that all Ethiopians are not
Cushites.
The prodigious army, of a million of
Ethiopians,
which was overthrown by Asa, were not all descendants of
Chus,
though mentioned under the general name of
Chusim,
in 2 Chron. chap. xiv. for we read, in the 16th chap. 8th verse, that part of that vast body were
Lubims.
Were not the
Ethiopians
and
Lubims
(
) "a huge host?" said the prophet Hanani, when he reminded Asa of his former success. The
Lubims,
or
Libyans,
were a great nation, from whom the internal part of Africa receives its name of
Libya,
and were descended from Mizraim, the second son of Ham, who was also the father of the Egyptians.
(or
Cush
)
shall soon stretch out her hands unto God.
And, accordingly, we find the
Ethiopian
Eunuch
(18) Who might justly be esteemed
a Prince
of that country, being
,
a Lord,
or one
of great authority
under Candace, Queen of the Ethiopians,
who had the charge of all her Treasure,
&c.
particularly mentioned in Scripture among the first converts to Christianity: and that extraordinary exertion of the HOLY SPIRIT, in favour of the eunuch, was, perhaps, the foundation of the ancient Church of Habassinia
(19) The learned Lutholf was of a different opinion, and supposed that the Habassinians were not converted till the time of Constantine the Great, about the year 330; and, though it is not clear whether this latter period was the time of their first conversion or not, yet, certain it is, that, ever since that time, they have maintained the Christian faith, and the sacramental institutions of Christ, without yielding to the adulterations of the church of Rome, though the same were pressed upon them with all the authority that one of their own Emperors could exert! Lutholf has given a full and clear account (printed in 1691) of those Christian Negroes and their church, which seems to be reserved, by the providence of God, as a
Witness
of the purity of his holy Religion: a
Witness
not less remarkable than the church of the Vaudois!
, which, notwithstanding all worldly disadvantages, remains in some degree of
purity
to this day, as a lasting monument of
Christianity among the sons of Ham,
even in the most remote and inaccessible part of Africa!
(20) They still retain Water-Baptism and the holy Communion
in both kinds,
and drove out the Portuguese Jesuits for attempting, by force, to pervert and corrupt these
primitive rites.
Certain it is, (say the learned Assembly of Divines,) that Ethiopia, according to this unquestionable prophecy,
(Psalms, lxviii. 31.)
was one of the first kingdoms that was converted to the Christian faith; the occasion and means whereof we read of Acts viii. 27, 28.
&c.
The progress of the truth must have been very rapid in Africa, because we read of a council of African and Numidian Bishops, held at Carthage, so early as the year of Christ 215
(21)
Carthaginense 1. circa annum ccxv. sub Agrippino, episcopo Carthaginensi, ab
Africae
et
Numidiae
episcopis,
de rebaptizandis haereticis habitum.
Dr. Cave's Hist. Literaria, p. 99.
; (though our Anglo-Saxon ancestors remained in the grossest pagan darkness near 400 years afterwards;) and, in the year 240, a council of 99 Bishops was assembled at Lambesa, an
inland city of Africa,
on the confines of Biledulgerid, against Privatus Bishop of Lambesa on a charge of Heresie.
(22) Dr. Cave's Hist. Literaria, p. 99.
The fourth Council of Carthage in the year 253 was held by 66 Bishops, concerning the Baptism of Infants.
(23) Ibid.
And in the eighth Council at that place (anno 256) besides
(24) "Presentes erant preter Presbyteros, Diaconos maximamque plebis partem, Episcopi lxxxvii, &c. See Dr. Cave's Hist. Literaria, p. 100. also Bohun's Geog. Dict. p. 219, under the word
Lambesa.
Priests, Deacons and Laymen, there were present 87 Bishops. In another council of Carthage, about the year 308, no less than 270 Bishops of the Sect of the Donatists
(25) Dr. Cave's Hist. Lit. p. 222.
were present; and in the year 394, at Baga, an inland City of Africa, 310
(26) Ibid. p. 234.
Bishops were collected together, though the same was long before the conversion of the English and Dutch, the great traders in
African slaves;
and though the Africans have, since, lamentably fallen back into gross ignorance, yet we must not, on that account, look upon them in the same light that the Jews did upon
"the children of the strangers,"
whom they were permitted to hold in slavery (Levit. xxv. 45.) because we cannot do so without becoming
strangers
ourselves to
Christianity;
and hastening
our own apostacy,
which seems already too near at hand.
(27) The alarming increase of infidelity, and the open declarations of Deists, Arians, Socinians, and others, who deny the Divinity of Christ, and of the Holy Ghost, are lamentable proofs of the growing apostacy! The African Church fell away by degrees in the same manner, till it was totally lost in the most barbarous ignorance, (except in Habessinia) for even those Africans who are free from idolatry, and profess to worship
the true God,
are, nevertheless, ensnared and enslaved in the gross errors of
Mahometanism,
to which a neglect of the necessary Faith in the
Divinity of Christ,
and of the
Holy Ghost,
has an apparent tendency! We have likewise a remarkable instance of
infidelity,
or at least of a total neglect of Scripture authority and revelation, in the attempt of two late writers to prove that Negroes are
"an inferior species of men:"
but the learned Dr.
Beattie,
in his
Essay on Truth,
has fully refuted the insinuations of Mr.
Hume,
the first broacher of that uncharitable doctrine, as well as Aristotle's futile attempt to justify
slavery;
so that Mr.
Estwick
's subsequent attempt, which was prompted only by the authority of Mr.
Hume,
needs no further confutation.
That I may not be thought a blind admirer of antiquity, (says Dr. Beattie) I would here crave the reader's indulgence for one short digression more, in order to put him in mind of an important error in morals, inferred from partial and inaccurate experience, by no less a person than Aristotle himself. He argues, 'That men of little genius, and great bodily
strength, are by nature destined to serve,
and those of
better capacity to command;
and that the natives of Greece, and of some other countries, being naturally superior in genius, have
a natural right to
empire; and that the rest of mankind, being
naturally stupid,
are destined to
labour and slavery,
' (De Republ. lib. 1. cap. 5, 6.) This reasoning is now, alas! of little advantage
to Aristotle's countrymen, who have for many ages been doomed to that slavery,
which,
in his
judgment,
nature had destined them to impose on others;
and many nations whom he would have consigned
to everlasting stupidity,
have shown themselves
equal
in genius to the most
exalted of human kind.
It would have been more worthy of Aristotle, to have inferred man's natural and universal right to liberty, from that natural and universal passion with which men desire it. He wanted, perhaps, to
devise some excuse for servitude;
a practice which, to
their eternal reproach,
both Greeks and Romans tolerated even in the days of their glory.
Mr.
Hume
argues nearly in the same manner in regard to the superiority of white men over black. 'I am apt to suspect,' says he, 'the negroes, and in general all the other species of men, (for there are four or five different kinds) to be naturally inferior to the whites. There
never was
a civilized nation of any other complexion than white,
nor even any individual
eminent either in action or speculation.
No
ingenious manufactures among them,
no
arts,
no
sciences.—There are negro slaves dispersed all over Europe, of which
none
ever discovered any symptoms of ingenuity.' (Hume's Essay on National Characters.)—These assertions are strong; but I know not whether they have any thing else to recommend them. For, first, though true, they would
not prove the point in question,
except it were also proved, that the Africans and Americans, even though arts and sciences were introduced among them, would still remain unsusceptible of cultivation. The
inhabitants of Great Britain and France were as savage two thousand years ago,
as those
of Africa and America are at this day.
To civilize a nation, is a work which it requires long time to accomplish. And one may as
well say of an infant, that he can never become a man, as of a nation now barbarous, that it never can be civilized.
Secondly, of the facts here asserted,
no man could have sufficient evidence, except from a personal acquaintance with all the negroes that now are, or ever were, on the face of the earth.
Those people write no histories; and all the reports of all the travellers that ever visited them, will not amount to any thing like a proof of what is here affirmed. BUT, THIRDLY, WE KNOW THAT THESE ASSERTIONS ARE NOT TRUE. The empires of Peru and Mexico could not have been governed, nor the metropolis of the latter built after so singular a manner, in the middle of a lake,
without men eminent both for action and speculation.
Every body has heard of the magnificence, good government, and ingenuity, of the ancient Peruvians.
The Africans and Americans are known to have many ingenious manufactures and arts among them, which even Europeans
would find it no easy matter
to imitate.
Sciences indeed they have none, because they have no letters; but in oratory, some of them, particularly the Indians
of the Five Nations,
are said to be greatly our superiors. It will be readily allowed, that the condition of a slave is not favourable to genius of any kind; and yet,
the negro slaves dispersed over Europe,
have
often discovered symptoms of ingenuity, notwithstanding their unhappy circumstances.
They
become excellent handicraftsmen, and practical musicians,
and indeed learn every thing their masters are at pains to teach them, perfidy and debauchery not excepted. That a negro slave, who can neither read nor write, nor speak any European language, who is not permitted to do any thing but what his master commands, and who has not a single friend on earth, but is universally considered and treated as if he were of a species inferior to the human;—that such a creature should so distinstuish himself among Europeans, as to be talked of through the world for a man of genius, is surely no reasonable expectation. To suppose him of an inferior species, because he does not thus distinguish himself, is just as rational, as to suppose any private European of an inferior species, because he has not raised himself to the condition of royalty.
Had the Europeans been destitute of the arts of writing, and working in iron, they might have remained to this day as barbarous as the natives of Africa and America. Nor is the invention of these arts to be ascribed to our superior capacity. The genius of the inventor is not always to be estimated according to the importance of the invention. Gunpowder, and the mariner's compass, have produced wonderful revolutions in human affairs, and yet were accidental discoveries. Such, probably, were the first essays in writing, and working in iron. Suppose them the effects of contrivance; they were at least contrived by a few individuals; and if they required a superiority of understanding, or of species in the inventors, those inventors, and their descendents, are the only persons who can lay claim to the honour of that superiority.
That every practice and sentiment is barbarous which is not according to the usages of modern Europe, seems to be a fundamental maxim with many of our critics and philosophers. Their remarks often put us in mind of the fable of the man and the lion. If negroes and Indians were disposed to recriminate; if a Lucian or a Voltaire from the coast of Guinea, or from
the Five Nations,
were to pay us a visit; what a picture of European manners might he present to his countrymen at his return! Nor would caricatura, or exaggeration, be necessary to render it hideous.
A plain historical account of some of our most fashionable duellists, gamblers, and adulterers,
(to name no more) would exhibit
specimens of brutish barbarity and sottish infatuation,
such as might vie with any that ever appeared in Kamschatka, California, or the land of Hottentots.
It is easy to see with what views some modern authors throw out these hints to prove the natural inferiority
of negroes. But let every friend to
humanity pray, that they may be disappointed.
Britons are famous for generosity; a virtue in which it is easy for them to excel both the Romans and the Greeks.
Let it never be said, that slavery
is countenanced by the bravest and most generous people on earth; by a people who are animated with that heroic passion, the love of liberty, beyond all nations ancient or modern; and the fame of whose toilsome, but unwearied, perseverance,
in vindicating, at the expence of life and fortune, the sacred rights of mankind, will strike terror into the hearts of sycophants and tyrants,
and excite the admiration and gratitude of all good men, to the latest posterity.
Essay on Truth, P. 458, 459, 460, 461, 462, 463 and 464.
We may lament the fallen state of our unhappy brethren, but we have
no commission under the Gospel
to punish them for it, as the Israelites had to punish the
Heathens
that were condemned in the law! Our endeavour should be rather to restore the
Heathens
to their lost privileges, than to harden them in their prejudices by tolerating amongst us a greater degree of
despotism
and
oppression
than was
ever permitted among the Jews,
or even among the ancient
Heathens!
for in one of our own
antichristian
colonies, even the
murder
of a negro slave, when under
private
punishment,
is tolerated
(see the 329th act of Barbadoes); and by the same diabolical act of assembly a man may
of
wantonness,
or of
bloody mindedness,
or
cruel intention
(it is expressly said) "
wilfully kill
a negro, or
other slave
of
his own,
" without any other penalty for it than a trifling fine of £15 sterling. (See remarks on this act in my tract against slavery in England,
(28) A representation of the injustice and dangerous tendency of tolerating slavery in England. London, 1769.
p. 66 and 67.) Many instances of West-India cruelty have fallen even within my own knowledge, and I have certain proofs of no less than three married women being violently torn away from their lawful husbands,
(29) Nothing can be more presumptuously contrary to the laws of God, than these unnatural outrages! "Have ye not read" (said Christ himself)
that he which made
(them)
at the beginning, made them male and female? and said, for this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wise: and they twain shall be
one flesh.
Wherefore they are
no more twain,
but
one flesh.
What, therefore, GOD HATH JOINED TOGETHER LET NO MAN PUT ASUNDER.
Matth. xix. 4, 5 and 6.
even in London, by the order of their pretended proprietors! Another remarkable instance of tyranny, which came within my own
knowledge,
was the advertizing a reward (in the Gazetteer of the 1st June, 1772) for apprehending
an East-India black boy about
14
years of age, named Bob or Pompey:
he was further distinguished in the advertizement by having
round his neck a brass collar,
with a direction upon it to a house in Charlotte-street, Bloomsbury-square.
Thus the
black Indian Pompey
was manifestly treated with as little ceremony as a
black namesake of the dog kind
could be. I inquired after the author of this unlawful and shameful advertizement; and found, that he was a merchant even in the heart of the city of London, who shall be nameless; for I do not want to expose
individuals,
but only their
crimes.
Now if masters are capable of such monstrous OPPRESSION,
even here in England,
where their brutality renders them liable to severe penalties, how can we reasonably reject the accounts of TYRANNY
in America,
howsoever horrid and inhuman, where the abominable plantation laws will permit a capricious or passionate master, with impunity, to deprive his wretched slave even of life.
I am frequently told, nevertheless, by interested persons from the West-Indies, how well the slaves are used; and that they are much happier than
our own poor at home.
But though I am willing to believe that
some sew
worthy West-Indians treat their slaves with humanity, yet it is, certainly, far from being
the general case;
and the misery of our
own poor
will not be any excuse for
the oppression of the poor
elsewhere! When any of our own countrymen
at home
are miserably
poor,
it is not always clear whether themselves, or others, are to be blamed: all we can know for certain is, that it is the indispensable duty of
every man
to
relieve them
according to his ability; and that the neglecting an opportunity of doing so, is as great an offence before God as if we had denied assistance to
Christ himself
in the same wretched condition; sor so it is expressly laid down in Scripture,
(30)
Then shall the king say unto them on his right hand,—Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a
stranger,
and ye took me in: naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed
(thee)?
or thirsty, and gave
(thee)
drink? When saw we thee a
stranger,
and took
(thee)
in, or naked, and clothed
(thee)?
Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the king shall answer, and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as ye have done
(it)
unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done
(it)
unto me! Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me,
ye cursed into everlasting fire,
prepared for the devil and his angels: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: I was a
stranger,
and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or a thirst, or a
stranger,
or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you,
inasmuch as ye did (it) not to one of the least of these, ye did (it) not to me.
And these shall go away into
ever lasting punishment:
but the righteous into
life eternal.
Matth. xxv. 34—46.
through the mercy of God towards
the poor:
but it is obvious to whom the misery of
a slave
is to be attributed: for
the guilty possessor
will certainly be answerable to God for it; and every man, who endeavours to palliate and screen such
oppression,
is undoubtedly
a partaker of the guilt.
The
slaveholder
deceives himself if he thinks he can really
be a
CHRISTIAN,
and yet hold such property.
Can he be said
to love his neighbour as himself?
(31) I have examined this point more at large in a tract on
"The Law of Liberty,"
which is intended also for publication.
Does he behave to others as he would they should to him?
Ye have heard that it hath been said,
Thou shalt love thy neighbour,
and hate thine enemy;
but I say unto you
(said our Lord himself)
love your enemies,
&c. That ye may be the children of your Father which is in Heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise
on the evil,
and on the good, and sendeth rain
on the just and on the unjust;
(Matth. v. 44, 45) so that
Heathens
are by no means excluded from the benevolence
of Christians.
Thus Christ has enlarged the antient Jewish doctrine of
loving our neighbours as ourselves;
and has also taught us, by the parable of the good Samaritan, that
all mankind,
even our
professed enemies
(such as were the Samaritans to the Jews) must necessarily be esteemed our
neighbours
whenever they stand in need of our charitable assistance; so that the
same benevolence
which was due from the
Jew to his brethren of the house of Israel
is indispensably due,
under the Gospel,
to OUR BRETHREN OF THE UNIVERSE, howsoever opposite in religious or political opinions; for this is the apparent intention of the parable.
No nation therefore whatever, can now be lawfully excluded as
strangers,
according to that uncharitable sense of the word
stranger,
in which the Jews were apt to distinguish all other nations from themselves; and, since
all men
are now to be esteemed
brethren and neighbours
under the Gospel, none of the Levitical laws relating to the bondage of
strangers
are in the least applicable to justify slavery
among Christians;
though the same laws bind
Christians
as well as
Jews
with respect to all the lessons of
benevolence
to
strangers,
which are every where interspersed therein; because these are
moral doctrines
which never change, for they perfectly correspond with
"the everlasting Gospel."
(Rev. xiv. 6.) As for instance,
Thou shalt
not oppress a Stranger,
for ye know the heart of a
Stranger,
seeing ye were
strangers
in the land of Egypt.
Exod. xxiii. 9. This is an appeal to the
feelings
and experience of the Jews who had themselves endured a
heavy bondage,
so that it clearly corresponds with the
"royal law" or "law of liberty"
in the Gospel.
"Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself."
Gal. v. 14. or as our Lord himself has more fully expressed it.
All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for
THIS IS THE LAW AND THE PROPHETS.
Matth. vii. 12.
Again,
If a
stranger
sojourn with thee in your land, ye shall not vex or (oppress him)
(but)
the
stranger
that dwelleth with you, shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou SHALT LOVE HIM "(viz.
the stranger
)" AS THYSELF; for
ye were
STRANGERS in the land of Egypt.
I am the Lord your God.
(Levit. xix. 33.) Let every slaveholder consider the importance of this command and the unchangeable dignity of him who gave it. "I AM THE LORD YOUR GOD"!—for
the LORD YOUR GOD is
God
of
Gods,
and
Lord
of
Lords,
a
great
God, a
mighty,
and a
terrible,
which regardeth not persons
(not the Masters more than any slaves)
nor taketh reward. He doth execute the judgment of the fatherless and widow, and LOVETH THE STRANGER, in giving him food and raiment. LOVE YE
therefore the stranger:
for ye were
strangers
in the land of Egypt.
Deut. x. 17, 18, 19. And how can a man be said to
love
the
stranger,
and much less to
love him as himself
(see the express command above) who presumes to vex and oppress him with a perpetual involuntary bondage? Is this obedience to that great rule of the Gospel, which Christ has given us as the
sum of the law and the prophets?
Would the American slaveholders relish that contemptuous and cruel usage with which they oppress their poor negroes; and that the
African
(31) The prosent deplorable slate of the
African strangers in general.
ought to warn us of similar ju
gments against the inhabitants of th
se kingdoms! My own Grandfather
near a century ago
(wanting only three years, viz in 16
) warned our great national counsel of God's vengeance
by this very example,
That
AFRICA (says h
) which is not now more fruitful of monsters, than it was once of excellently wise and learned men; that AFRICA which formerly afforded us our Clemens, our Origen, our Tertu
ian, our Cyprian, our Augustine, and many other extraordinary lights in the church of God; that FAMOUS AFRICA,
in whose soil Christianity did thrive so prodigiously, and could boast of so many jourishing churches, alas is now a wilderness. The wild boars have broken into the vineyard and eaten it up, and it brings forth nothing but briars and thorns:
to use the words of the prophet. And
who knows but
GOD
may suddenly make
THIS CHURCH AND NATION, THIS OUR ENGLAND, which, Jeshurun like, is
waxed fat and grown proud,
and
has kicked against God,
SUCH ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF THE VENGEANCE OF THIS KIND?
—See arch bp. Sharp's Sermons second vol. 1st Serm. which was preached before the house of Commons, April 11. 1679. (Page 22)
strangers
should do even so to themselves without the least personal provocation or fault on their part, viz. to be branded with a hot iron, in order to be known and ranked as the cattle and private property of their oppressors? Like the cattle also to be ignominously compelled by the whip of a driver to labour hard
"without wages"
or recompence? If the African merchants and American slaveholders can demonstrate that they would not think themselves injured by such treatment from others, they may perhaps be free from the horrid guilt of
unchristian oppression
and
uncharitableness,
which must otherwise inevitably be imputed to them, because their actions will not bear the test of that excellent rule of the Gospel abovementioned, which Christ has laid down as the measure of our actions—
All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them, for this is the law and the prophets.
Math vii. 12. I must therefore once more repeat, what I have before advanced, that the permission formerly granted to the Jews of holding
heathens and strangers
in slavery is virtually repealed, or rather superseded by the Gospel, notwithstanding the contrary assertion of the African merchant, that Christ
"did not repeal that of slaves"
The
African merchant
has also republished the letters of his fellow advocate
Mercator,
who professes in the same manner to draw his authority
"from Sacred history"
—
To the sedate, to the reasonable, to the Christian readers (says he) I shall more fully set forth the
lawfulness of the slave trade
from the express allowance of it in Holy writ:
(ibid appendix: B. iv.) but the very first insinuation concerning the origin of slave
y which follows this specious address to the sedate &c. is founded on TWO
false assertions even in
ONE sentence, and therefore I cannot esteem him worthy of any further notice than that of pointing out these proofs of his little regard to truth;
As to its origin (says he) it may possibly be derived from that sentence expressed against Canaan (
from whom the Africans,
says he,
are descended
) by his father Noah at the hour of his death.
(32) It was not
"at the honr of his death,"
but
when he awoke from his wine
after he had tasted too freely the fruits of the vineyard, which he planted when he began to be a husbandman; the time therefore was probably very soon after the flood, and not
at the hour of his death,
as misrepresented by Mercator, for he lived after the flood 350 years, Genests ix. 28.
Cursed be Canaan, a servant of servants shall he be to his brethren.
But though the author afterwards allows that
both the origin of slavery and the colour of the Africans are incapable of
positive proof,
yet the futility of his insinuation concerning the
descent of the Africans
is not like the other two circumstances
incapable of positive proof.
For the
Africans
are not
descended from Canaan,
if we except the Carthaginians (a colony from the sea coast of
the land of Canaan
who were a free people, and at one time rivalled, even the Roman common wealth, in power. The
Africans
are principally descended from the three other sons of
Ham,
viz.
Cush, Misraim,
and
Phut;
and to prove this more at large I have subjoined to this tract a letter which I received (in answer to mine on the same subject) from a learned gentleman who has most carefully studied the antiquities of the line of
Ham:
the insinuation therefore concerning the
sentence expressed against Canaan
can by no means justify the
African slave trade,
so that
Mercator
seems indeed to write like a
mere trader,
for the sake of his iniquitous
Traffic,
more than for the sake of
truth,
notwithstanding his professions of regard for the Holy Scriptures.
If we carefully examine the Scriptures we shall find, that slavery and oppression were ever abominable in the sight of God; for though the Jews were permitted by the law of Moses (on account of the
hardness of their hearts
) to keep slaves, as I have remarked in my answer to the
Reverend Mr. Thompson
on this subject (which is subjoined,) yet there was no inherent right of service to be implied from this permission, because whenever the flave could escape he was esteemed
free;
and it was
absolutely unlawful
for any man (who believed the word of God)
to deliver him up again to his master
(see Deut. xxiii. 15, 16.) whereas in our colonies, (which in acts of OPPRESSION may too justly be esteemed
antichristian
) the slave who
runs away
is
deemed rebellious,
and a reward of £ 50 is offered to those who SHALL KILL
or "bring in alive any rebellious slave"
(see the 66th act of the laws of Jamaica.) By an act of Virginia (4 Ann, ch. 49 § 37 P. 227.) after proclamation is issued against slaves that
run away and lie out
it is
LAWFUL for
any person whatfoever to
KILL
and
DESTROY SUCH SLAVES
by such ways and means as he, she, or they
SHALL THINK FIT,
without accusation or impeachment of any crime for the same,
&c. See the remarks on these, and such other
diabolical acts
of plantation assemblies in pages 63 to 73, of my representation of the injustice and dangerous tendency of tolerating slavery in England. Printed in 1769.
By another act of Virginia, (12 Geo. 1. chap. 4, § 8. P 368.) if a poor fellow is taken up as
a runaway
and committed to prison, the goaler may let him out to hire, in order to pay the fees, even though he is not claimed,
and his master or owner
(says the act)
cannot be known;
and in a following clause the goaler is ordered to
cause a strong
IRON COLLAR TO BE PUT ON THE NECK
of such negroe or runaway, with the letters
(P. G.)
stamped thereon;
a most abominable affront to human nature! our spiritual enemy must have had a notorious influence with the plantation law makers to procure an act so contradictory to the laws of God,
(33) Even white servants,
English, Scotch, and Irish
are frequently taken up by the
sheriff
and
goalers
without any warrant, or previous judgment whatever, merely "on
suspicion of being servants;
" and they are then
advertized
to be
delivered up
to their tyrannical masters; but though there is great injustice and oppression in taking up these poor people merely "on suspicion
of being servants,
" yet it does not appear to be so flagrant a breach of God's command beforementioned, as the delivering up the poor runaway
negroes,
who are foreigners, and strangers, and consequently less capable of obtaining redress when they are really injured: the white servants are generally understood to be bound to their masters only for a short limited time, either with their own consent by private contract, or as felons who are banished their mother country after a fair trial
by jury
(which excludes any suspicion of injustice) and are sold for a certain term to pay the expences of their passage, &c. whereby the right of service claimed from them by the master is more in the nature of a
pecuniary debt
than of absolute slavery, so that the white runaway servant may perhaps,
as a debtor,
be delivered up to his master without any direct breach of the law of God beforementioned; provided there is no apprehension or probability of his being treated with cruelty on his return; or that the master would be liable to exact more service than is due; in which case the law ought to afford protection and redress; but no pretences of this kind can justify the
delivering up
a a negroe
stranger!
The poor negroes are claimed
for life,
as an
absolute property,
though (to compare their case with white servants) they never offended any member of our community either at home or abroad to justify such a severe punishment under
British Government;
neither are they capable of entering into such a
legal contract
for service, as might justify a master's claim to it, being absolutely incapacitated by
unlawful duress,
to
enter into any contract
as long as they are detained by force or fear in the
British dominions
(for which
injustice
to
strangers
the
British dominions
must sooner or later receive a severe
retribution
) and therefore
the delivering up to his master a negroe servant
"THAT HAS ESCAPED FROM HIS MASTER," and has since regained his natural liberty, must necessarily be esteemed a shameful and notorious breach of God's law.
Nevertheless our publick prints inform us even of an English man of war
and another vessel being lately sent from Grenada to the Spanish main,
to claim some slaves that had made their escape from the Islands,
(see Gazetteer June 30, 1773) the writer of the paragraph also expresses great disappointment on account of the issue of this unwarrantable and disgraceful embassy:
instead of meeting with that justice and civility which
(sa
he)
they had a right to expect, the Governors at both places, we are told, treated them with the greatest haughtiness and contempt and refused to give them the smallest satisfaction:
but alas the
very expectation
of better treatment (upon an errand so unlawful in itself, and so disgraceful to his Majesty's naval service) is a proof of the most deplorable degeneracy and ignorance! Even the cruel Spaniards are more civilized and shew more mercy to their slaves at present than the English, of which their new regulations for the abolishing of slavery afford ample proof, though the RETRIBUTION for their former Tyranny has lately fallen heavily on them according to the last accounts from
Chiloe
and
Chili,
which ought to be considered as merciful warnings to the rest of the world against tyranny and slavery!
and in particular to that (last cited) from Deutrenomy, viz.
Thou shalt not deliver unto his master the servant which is escaped from his master unto thee; He shall dwell with thee, among you. in that place which he shall choose
(that is manifestly as a free man)
in one of thy gates
where it liketh him best; thou shalt not
oppress him.
Deut. xxiii. 15, 16. This is clearly a
moral law,
which must be ever binding as the will of
God;
because the benevolent
intention
of it is
apparent,
and must ever remain the same: for which reason I conclude that AN ACTION of TROVER
cannot lye for a slave;
and that no man can lawfully be prosecuted for protecting a negroe, or any other slave whatever, that has
escaped from his master
because that would be punishing a man for doing
his indispensable duty
according
to the laws of God:
and if any law, custom or precedent should be alledged to the contrary it must necessarily be rejected as
null and void;
because it is a maxim of the common law of England, that
the inferior law must give place to the superior, man's laws to God's laws.
(attorney general Noy's maxims P. 19) And the learned author of the
Doctor
and
Student
asserts, that even
Statute law
ought to be accounted
null and void,
if
it is set forth contrary to the laws of God.
ETIAM SI ALIQUOD STATUTUM ESSE EDITUM, CONTRA EOS NULLIUS VIGORIS
in legibus Angliae censeri debet, &c
— chap, vi.
The degree of servitude, which the Israelites were permitted to exact of
their brethren,
was mild and equitable, when compared with the servitude which (to our confusion be it said) is common among Christians? I have already quoted from Leviticus a specimen of the limitation to the servitude of BRETHREN; but the Jews were not only restrained
from oppressing their
BRETHREN, but were also bound by the law
to assist them generously and bountifully
according to every man's ability, when they dismissed them from their service; which is a duty too seldom practiced among Christians! (see Deutrenomy xv. 12.)
If thy brother an Hebrew man, or an Hebrew woman, be sold unto thee, and serve thee six years; then in the
SEVENTH YEAR
thou shalt let him
GO FREE
from thee.
(34) See also Exodus xxi. 2.
And when thou sendest him out
FREE
from thee, thou shalt
NOT LET HIM GO AWAY EMPTY:
Thou shalt furnish him
LIBERALLY
out of thy flock, and out of thy floor, and out of thy wine press:
(of that)
wherewith the Lord thy God hath blessed thee, thou shalt give unto him. And thou shalt remember that
THOU WAST A BONDMAN
in the land of Egypt,
AND THE LORD THY GOD REDEEMED THEE: THEREFORE
I command thee this thing to day.
These are the very utmost
limits of servitude
that we might venture to exact of our brethren
even if we were Jews!
and how much more are we bound to observe every thing that is merciful in the law whilst we profess
Christianity?
What then must we think of ourselves if we compare these Jewish limitations with our Plantation laws!
A bountiful recompence
for the service is
plainly enjoined,
whereas the whole substance perhaps, of the most wealthy
English
or
Scotch
slaveholders would not suffice to pay
what is due, in strict justice,
to those who have
laboured in his service,
if the reward is to be proportioned to their sufferings: but it shall one day be required of them—
Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall
EAT YOUR FLESH AS IT WERE FIRE:
Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.
BEHOLD THE HIRE OF THE LABOURERS
which have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud,
CRIETH:
and
THE CRIES
of them
WHICH HAVE REAPED
are eutered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth
(
or of
ARMIES) James. v. 3 and 4.
The
slaveholder
perhaps will say, that this text is not applicable to him, since he cannot be said to have
kept back by fraud
the hire of his labourers,
because he never made any agreement with them for
wages,
having bought their
bodies
of the
slave dealer,
and thereby made them his
own private property;
so that he has
a right
(he will say)
to all their labour without wages.
But this is a vain excuse for his
oppression,
because it is not so much
the previous agreement
as the LABOUR which renders
wages due:
for
THE LABOURER
is worthy of
HIS HIRE
(Luke x. 7.) and the sin which
CRIETH
in the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth
is the
using
a poor man's LABOUR "WITHOUT WAGES;" so that whether there is an
agreement for wages,
or
no agreement,
yet, if THE LABOUR
is performed,
the
wages are due;
and those, who keep them back, may be said to
build their house in unrighteousness:
as the prophet Jeremiah has declared in the strongest terms (Jer. xxii. 13.)
Wo unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness, and his chambers by wrong; (that)
USETH HIS NEIGHBOUR'S SERVICE WITHOUT WAGES, AND GIVETH HIM NOT FOR HIS WORK.
And the holy Job, even before the law, declared his detestation of UNREWARDED SERVICE.
If my land
(said he)
cry against me, or that the furrows likewise thereof complain:
IF I HAVE EATEN THE FRUITS THEREOF WITHOUT MONEY,
or have caused the owners thereof to lose there life:
(35) Which was too much the case in the late English acquisition of
"the fine cream part of the Island"
of St. Vincent's.—See authentic papers relative to the expedition against the Charibbs. Page 24.
let thistles grow instead of wheat, and cockle instead of barley!
Job. xxxi. 38.—40
The wise son of Sirach has also added his testimony to the same doctrine
He that defraudeth the
LABOURER
of his hire is a bloodsheder.
Ecclesiasticus xxxiv. 22. The slaveholder will perhaps endeavour to evade these texts also, by alledging, that though, indeed, he
useth his neighbour's service
WITHOUT WAGES, yet he cannot be said to
give him nothing for his work,
because he is at the expence of providing him with food and cloathing
(36) Osnabrug trowsers, and sometimes also a Cap
and therefore this severe text is not applicable to him. But let such a one remember (if he calls himself a
Christian
) that
Christian
masters are absolutely bound to have some regard to
the interest
of their servants, as well as to their own
interest.
Masters, give unto your
SERVANTS
that which is
JUST AND EQUAL,
knowing that
YE ALSO
have
a MASTER
in heaven.
Colloss. iv. 1.
But
slaveholders
in general, have no idea of what is "JUST AND EQUAL" to be given
to servants
according to the Scriptures!
It is not a mere support in food and necessaries, as a master feeds his horse or his ass to enable the creature to perform his labour: but as
man
is superior to
brutes,
a further reward is
"just and equal"
to be given to the human
servant.
I have already sufficiently proved that
every man
under the Gospel is to be considered as our
neighbour
AND
brother,
and consequently, whatever was
"just and equal"
"to be given by a Jew, to his neighbour, or
Hebrew brother
under the Old Testament, the same must, necessarily, be considered as
"just and equal,"
and
absolutely due
from
Christians
to men of
all nations
without distinction, whom we are bound to treat
as brethren
under the Gospel
in whatever capacity they serve us.
Let the American
slaveholder
therefore remember, that
even according to the Jewish law,
(if he argues upon it
as a
CHRISTIAN
ought to do
) he is absolutely indebted to each of his slaves
for every days labour
BEYOND
the first six years
OF HIS SERVITUDE.
In the
SEVENTH
year
(said the Lord by Moses,)
thou shalt let him
GO FREE
from thee. And when thou sendest him out
FREE
from thee, thou
SHALT NOT LET HIM GO AWAY EMPTY.
Thou shalt furnish him
LIBERALLY
out of thy
FLOCK, &c.
wherewith the Lord thy God hath blessed thee, thou shalt give unto him
&c.
If this was the indispensable duty
even of Jews!
how much more is it "JUST AND EQUAL to be observed by
Christian?
The same command, when applied to the
American planter,
will include a proper stock of plants for cultivation, as Sugar-Canes, Tobacco, Indigo, &c. as well as cattle and stores, to enable a poor man to maintain himself and family upon a small farm, or lot of spare ground, lett, for a certain limited time, on reasonable terms; and renewable on equitable conditions; which are the only true means of reducing
the price of labour,
and
provisions.
Let not the planter
grudge
to part with his
servant
when he has
served
a reasonable time in proportion to
his price,
(agreeable for, instance, to the regulations adopted by the
Spaniards
which I have already recommended to the
English
planters See Appendix 5.) for the word of God forbids any such base reluctance.
It shall not
SEEM HARD UNTO THEE
when thou sendest
HIM AWAY FREE
from thee; for he hath been worth a double hired servant
(to thee)
in serving thee six years: and the Lord thy God shall bless thee in all that thou doest.
Deut. xv. 18
The slaveholder perhaps will alledge that, though the Jews were bound to shew this benevolence to their
brethren of Israel,
yet the same laws do not bind the American planter, because his slaves are for the most part
heathens
or (as some of the negroes are)
Mahometans,
and therefore he is not bound to consider them as his
brethren;
being rather justified by the law, which permitted the Jews to keep
heathen slaves,
and
the children of the strangers,
in perpetual bondage &c. They shall be your
bondmen for ever
—see Leviticus xxv. 44, 45, and 46.—But I have already guarded against this objection, in the former part of this tract; and it must clearly appear, by the several points since mentioned, that
as Christians,
we must not presume to look upon any man whatever in the same light that the
Israelites
once did upon
"the children of the strangers,"
whether they be
black
or
white, Heathens
or
Mahometans.
If a
Heathen,
or a
Mahometan,
happens to fall into our hands, shall we confirm his prejudices by
oppression,
instead of endeavouring to instruct him as a
brother?
Surely the blood of such a poor infidel must rest on the guilty head of that
nominal
Christian, who neglects the opportunity of adding to the number of
his brethren
in the Faith! And therefore, let that man, who endeavours to deprive others of their just privileges as
brethren,
take heed lest he should thereby unhappily occasion his
own rejection
in the end, when that dreadful doom, which the uncharitable must expect will certainly be pronounced!—For then "
the
KING" (the King of King's)
shall answer, and say unto them,— Verily I say unto you,—In as much as ye have done
(it)
unto one
of
the least of these
MY BRETHREN,
(for that glorious KING will esteem even the meanest SLAVES as HIS BRETHREN, if they believe in him,)
ye have done
(it)
unto
ME! DEPART FROM ME YE CURS
D
into everlasting Fire, prepared for the Devil and his Angels.
(Matt. xxv. 40, 41.)
I know you not!
(xxv. 12.)—
I never knew you;—Depart from me ye that work iniquity!
(Matt. vii. 23.)
Soli Deo Gloria et Gratia.
FINIS
APPENDIX (No . 1.)
An ESSAY on SLAVERY, Proving from SCRIPTURE its Inconsistency with HUMANITY and RELIGION; By GRANVILLE SHARP.
"With an introductory PREFACE,"
(by a Gentleman of the Law, in West Jersey)
"containing the Sentiments of the Monthly Reviewers on a Tract, by the Rev. T. Thompson,
in Favour
of the
Slave Trade.
"
The Lord also will be a Refuge for the Oppressed— a Refuge in Time of Trouble,
Psalm. ix. 9.
BURLINGTON:
WEST JERSEY, Printed, M.DCC.LXXIII.
LONDON:
reprinted, 1776.
Preface by the American Editor.
THE following Essay, though wrote, as the Author signifies, in haste, is thought to have such merit as to deserve a publication.—The copy was sent to one of the Writer's particular friends, whether for his own peculiar satisfaction, or the press, is uncertain; but as the subject is
Liberty,
so it is expected the
Freedom
which is here taken, cannot justly give him offence, or be unacceptable to the public.
IT was designed to confute a piece wrote by Thomas Thompson, M. A. some time fellow of C. C. C. entitled,
The African trade for Negro Slaves shewn to be consistent with principles of humanity, and with the laws of revealed religion.
'Printed at Canterbury.'
IN order to shew that the Essay Writer has not misrepresented the text, nor is single in his observations upon it, the sentiments of the Monthly Reviewers on that pamphlet in May, 1772, are here inserted.
"We must acknowledge," say they,
that the branch of trade here under consideration, is a species of traffic which we have never been able to reconcile with the dictates of humanity, and much less with those of religion. The principal argument in its behalf seems to be, the
necessity
of such a rescource, in order to carry on the works in our plantations, which, we are told, it is otherwise impossible to perform. But this, though the urgency of the case may be very great, is not by any means sufficient to justify the practice. There is a farther consideration which has a plausible appearance, and may be thought to carry some weight; it is, that the merchant only purchases those who were slaves before, and possibly may, rather than otherwise, render their lituation more tolerable. But it is well known, that the lot of our Slaves, when most favourably considered, is very hard and miserable; besides which, such a trade is taking the advantage of the ignorance and brutality of unenlightened nations, who are encouraged to war with each other for this very purpose, and, it is to be feared, are sometimes tempted to seize those of their own tribes or families that they may obtain the hoped for advantage: and it is owned, with regard to our merchants, that, upon occasion, they observe the like practices, which are thought to be allowable, because they are done by way of reprisal for theft or damage committed by the natives. We were pleased, however, to meet with a pamphlet on the other side of the question; and we entered upon its perusal with the hopes of finding somewhat advanced which might afford us satisfaction on this difficult point. The writer appears to be a sensible man, and capable of discussing the argument; but the limits to which he is confined, rendered his performance rather superficial. The plea he produces from the Jewish law is not, in our view of the matter, at all conclusive. The people of Israel were under a
theocracy,
in which the Supreme Being was in a peculiar sense their King, and might therefore issue forth some orders for them, which it would not be warrantable for another people, who were in different circumstances, to observe. Such, for instance, was the command given concerning the extirpation of the Canaanites, whom, the sovereign Arbiter of life and death might, if he had pleased, have destroyed by plague or famine, or other of those means which we term natural causes, and by which a wise Providence fulfils its own purposes. But it would be unreasonable to infer from the manner in which the Israelites dealt with the people of Canaan, that any other nations have a right to pursue the same method. Neither can we imagine that St. Paul's exhortation to servants or slaves, upon their conversion, to continue in the state in which christianity found them, affords any argument favourable to the practice here pleaded for. It is no more than saying, that Christianity did not particularly enter into the regulations of civil society at that time; that it taught persons to be contented and diligent in their stations: but certainly it did not forbid them, in a proper and lawful way, if it was in their power, to render their circumstances more comfortable. Upon the whole, we must own, that this little treatise is not convincing to us, though, as different persons are differently affected by the same considerations, it may prove more satisfactory to others.
'IN another place they observe,'
since we are
all brethren,
and God has given to
all
men a natural right to
Liberty,
we allow of no
Slavery
among us, unless a person forfeits his freedom by his crimes.
THAT Slavery is not consistent with the English constitution, nor admissable in Great Britain, appears evidently by the late solemn determination, in the court of King's Bench at Westminster, in the case of James Somerset, the Negro; and why it should be revived and continued in the colonies, peopled by the descendents of Britain, and blessed with sentiments as truly noble and free as any of their fellow subjects in the mother country, is not easily conceived, nor can the distinction be well founded.
'IF
natural rights, such as
life
and
Liberty,
receive no additional strength from municipal laws, nor any
human legistature
has
power
to abridge or
destroy them,
unless the owner commits some act that amounts to a forfeiture;
(a)
1 Blackstone's Commentaries, 54.
'If
the natural
Liberty of mankind
consists properly in a power of acting as one thinks fit, without any restraint or controul 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:
(b)
Dit. 125.
If an
act of Parliament
is
controulable by the laws of God and nature;
(c)
4 Bacon's Abridg. 639.
and
in its consequences
may be
rendered void for
absurdity, or a
manifest contradiction to common reason:
(d)
1 Black. Com. 91.
If
Christianity is a part of the law of England;
(e)
Stra. Reports, 1113.
and 'Christ expressly commands,
Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them,
at the same time declaring,
for this is the law and the law and the prophets,
(a)
Matt. vii. 12.
And if our forefathers, who emigrated from England hither, brought with them all the rights, liberties, and privileges of the British constitution (which hath of late years been often asserted and repeatedly contended for by Americans) why is it that the poor sooty African meets with so different a measure of justice in England and America, as to be
adjudged free
in the one, and in the other held in the most
abject Slavery?
WE are expressly restrained from making laws, "repugnant to," and directed to fashion them,
as nearly as may be, agreeable to, the laws of England.
Hence, and because of its total inconsistency with the principles of the constitution, neither in England or any of the Colonies, is there one law directly in favour of, or enacting
Slavery,
but by a kind of side-wind, admitting its existence, (though only founded on a barbarous custom, originated by foreigners) attempt its regulation. How far the point litigated in James Somerset's case, would bear a sober candid discussion before an impartial judicature in the Colonies, I cannot determine; but, for the credit of my country, should hope it would meet with a like decision, that it might appear and be known, that
Liberty
in America, is not a partial privilege, but extends to every individual in it.
'I MIGHT here, in the language of the famous JAMES OTIS,
Esq
ask,
Is it possible for a man to have a natural right to make a Slave of himself or his posterity? What man is or ever was born free, if every man is not? Can a father supersede the laws of nature? Is not every man born as free by nature as his father?
(a)
1 American Tracts by Otis, 4.
There can be no prescription old enough to supersede the law of nature, and the grant of God Almighty, who has given to every man a natural right to be free.
(b)
American Tracts by Otis, 17.
The Colonists are by the law of nature free born, as indeed all men are, white or black. No better reason can be given for the enslaving those of any colour, than such as Baron Montesquieu has humourously assigned, as the foundation of that cruel Slavery exercised over the poor Ethiopeans; which threatens one day to reduce both Europe and America to the ignorance and barbarity of the darkest ages. Does it follow that it is right to enslave a man because he is black? Will short curled hair like wool, instead of christians hair, as it is called by those whose hearts are hard as the nether millstone, help the argument? Can any logical inference in favour of Slavery, be drawn from a flat nose‖ a long or a short face? Nothing better can be said in favour of
a trade
that is the most shocking violation of the laws of nature; has a direct tendency to diminish every idea of the inestimable value of Liberty, and makes every dealer in it a tyrant, from the director of an African company, to the petty chapman in needles and pins, on the unhappy coast.
(a)
American Tracts, 43, 44.
To Those who think Slavery founded in Scripture, a careful and attentive perusal of the Sacred Writings would contribute more than any thing to eradicate the error, they will not find even the name of
Slave
once mentioned therein, and applied to a servitude to be continued from parent to child in perpetuity, with approbation. —The term used on the occasion in the sacred text is
Servant;
and, upon a fair construction of those writings, there is no necessity, nor can the service, consistent with the whole tenor of the Scripture, be extended further than the generation spoken of; it was never intended to include the posterity.
THF mistaken proverb which prevailed in that early age,
The fathers had eaten four grapes, and the childrens teeth were set on edge,
was rectified by the prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel, who declared to the people, that
they should not have occasion to use that proverb any more;—Behold all souls are mine, as the soul of the father, so the soul of the son, the soul that sinneth it shall die;—the son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son;—the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.
(a)
Jer. xxxi. 29. Ezek. xviii. 3, 4, and 20.
And the apostle Peter assures us, after the ascension of our Saviour, that God is no respecter of persons, but in every
nation
he that feareth him is accepted of him.
(b)
Acts x. 34.
It is also remarkable, that at that time, an
Ethiopian,
a man of great authority,
(c)
Ditto, viii. 27.
was admitted to the freedom of a Christian, whatever we may think of the colour now, as being unworthy of it.
But admitting Slavery to be established by Scripture, the command of the Sovereign Ruler of the universe, whose eye takes in all things, and who, for good reasons, beyond our comprehension, might justly create a perpetual Slavery to effect his own purposes, against the enemies of his chosen people in that day, cannot be pleaded now against any people on earth; it is not even pretended to in justification of Negro Slavery, nor can the sons of Ethiopia, with any degree of clearness, be proved to have descended from any of those nations who so came under the Divine displeasure as to be brought into servitude; if they are, and those denunciations given in the Old Testament were perpetual, and continue in force, must we not look upon it meritorious to execute them fully upon all the offspring of that unhappy people upon whom they fell, without giving quarter to any?
MANY who admit the indefensibility of Slavery, considering the subject rather too superficially, declare it would be impolitic to emancipate those we are possessed of; and say, they generally behave ill when set at liberty. I believe very few of the advocates for freedom think that all ought to be manumitted, nay, think it would be unjust to turn out those who have spent their prime of life, and now require a support; but many are in a fit capacity to do for themselves and the public; as to these let every master or mistress do their duty, and leave consequences to the Disposer of events, who, I believe, will always bless our actions in proportion to the purity of their spring. But many instances might be given of Negroes and Mulatoes, once in Slavery, who, after they have obtained their liberty, (and sometimes even in a state of bondage) have given striking proofs of their integrity, ingenuity, industry, tenderness and nobility of mind; of which, if the limits of this little Piece permited, I could mention many examples; and why instances of this kind are not more frequent, we may very naturally impute to the smallness of the number tried with freedom, and the servility and meanness of their education whilst in Slavery. Let us never forget, that an equal if not a greater proportion of our own colour behave worse with all the advantages of birth, education and circumstances; and we shall blush to oppose an equitable emancipation, by this or the like arguments.
LIBERTY, the most manly and exalting of the gifts of Heaven, consists in a free and generous exercise of all the human man faculties as far as they are compatible with the good of society to which we belong; and the most delicious part of the enjoyment of the inestimable blessing lies in a consciousness that we are
free.
This happy persuasion, when it meets with a noble nature, raises the soul, and rectifies the heart; it gives dignity to the countenance and animates every word and gesture; it elevates the mind above the little arts of deceit, makes it benevolent, open, ingenuous and just, and adds a new relish to every better sentiment of humanity.
(a)
Blackwell's Court of Augustus.
On the contrary,
Man is bereaved of half his virtues that day when he is cast into bondage.
(b)
Homer.
THE end of the christian dispensation, with which we are at present favoured, appears in our Saviours words,
The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the
broken hearted;
to preach deliverance to the captives; and recovery of
sight to the blind;
to set at
liberty them that are bruised;
to preach the
acceptable year of the Lord.
(c)
Luke iv. 18.
THE Editor is united in opinion with the author of the Essay, that slavery is contrary to the laws of reason, and the principles of revealed religion; and believes it alike inimical and impolitick in every state and country;
for as
righteousness exalteth a nation, so sin is a reproach to any people.
(a)
Prov. xiv. 34.
Hence whatever violates the purity of equal justice, and the harmony of true liberty, in time debases the mind, and ultimately draws down the displeasure of that Almighty Being,
who
is of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look on iniquity.
(b)
Habakuk i, 13.
Yet he is far from censuring those who are not under the same convictions, and hopes to be understood with charity and tenderness to all. Every one does not see alike the same propositions, who may be equally friends to truth, as our education and opportunities of knowledge are various as our faces. He will candidly confess to any one who shall kindly point it out: any error which in this inquiry hath fell from his pen. There can be but one beatific point of rectitude, but many paths leading to it, in which persons differing in modes and non-essentials, may walk with freedom to their own opinions; we may much more innocently be under a mistake, than continue in it after a hint given, which occasions our adverting thereto; for it seems a duty to investigate the way of truth and justice with our utmost ability.
A much more extensive and perfect view of the subject under consideration, has of late prevailed than formerly; and he believes nothing is wanting but an impartial disinterested attention to make still greater advances. Thus, by a gradual progression, he hopes the name of
Slavery
will be eradicated by the general voice of mankind in this land of
Liberty.
THE mode of manumitting negroes in New-Jersey is such as appears terrific, and amounts almost to a prohibition, because of its incumbering consequences, which few prudent people chuse to leave their families liable to. It is much easier in several other colonies. In Pennsylvania a recognizance entered into in THIRTY POUNDS to indemnify the township, is a compleat discharge. In Mariland; where Negroes are so numerous, I am informed, the master or mistress may at pleasure give Liberty to their slaves without the least obligation, and be clear of any future burden. Both these are exceptionable, and may be improved. Proper distinctions are necessary; for as the freedom of all gratis might be unjust, not only to the publick but the Slave: so any clog upon the owner who gives up his right at an age when he cannot have received much or any advantage from the labour of the individual, would be unreasonable. The wisdom of a legislature earnestly disposed to do good, will I hope be directed to surmount every little difficulty in pointing out a scheme more equal and perfect, by steering a middle course; and proper care being kindly taken to assist and provide for the usefulness of those deserving objects of benevolence, the approbation of Divine Providence will I doubt not, attend such laudable endeavours, and crown them with success.—That the legislative body of each province in America may give due attention to this important engaging subject, and be blessed to frame and establish a plan worthy of the united jurisprudence, wisdom, and benevolence of the
Guardians of Liberty,
is the sincere wish of
THE EDITOR.
AN ESSAY on SLAVERY, Proving from Scripture its inconsistency, with Humanity and Religion,
By
GRANVILLE SHARP.
A REVEREND author, Mr. Thomas Thompson, M. A. has lately attempted to prove
that the African trade for Negroe Slaves is consistent with the principles of
humanity
and
revealed religion.
FROM Leviticus xxv. 39 to 46, he draws his principle conclusion, viz.
that the buying and selling of Slaves
is not contrary to the law of nature,
for (says he) the
Jewish constitutions
were strictly therewith consistent
in all points:
and these are in certain cases the rule by which is determined by
learned lawyers
and casuists, what is, or is not,
contrary to nature.
I have not leisure to follow this author methodically, but will, nevertheless, examine his ground
in a general way,
in order to prevent any ill use that may be made of it against the important question now depending before the judges.
(a)
Meaning I suppose, (says the American editor) the case of Somerset, which then depended.
THE reverend Mr. Thompson's
premises are not true,
for the Jewish constitutions
were not "strictly consistent"
with the
law of nature
in all points, as he supposes, and consequently his principal
conclusion
thereupon is erroneous. Many things were formerly tolerated among the Israelites, merely through the mercy and forbearance of God, in consideration of their extreme frailty and inability, at that time, to bear a more perfect system of law. Other laws there are in the five books (besides the ceremonial laws now abrogated) which are merely
municipal,
being adapted to the peculiar polity of the Israelitish commonwealth, on account of its situation in the midst of the most barbarous nations, whom the Hebrews were at all times but too much inclined to immitate.
THE universal
moral laws
and those of
natural equity
are, indeed, every where plentifully interspersed among the
peculiar laws
abovementioned; but they may very easily be distinguished by every sincere Christian, who examines them with
a liberal mind,
because the
benevolent purpose
of the Divine Author is
always apparent
in those laws which are to be
eternally binding;
for
it is
the reason
of the law which constitutes the
life of the law,
according to an allowed maxim of our own country, "Ratio Legis est anima Legis," (Jenk. Cent. 45.) And with respect to these
moral
and
equitable
laws, I will readily agree with the Reverend Mr. Thompson, that they are the best rule by which
learned judges and casuists can determine what is, or is not,
contrary to nature.
BUT I will now give a few examples of laws, which are in
themselves contrary to nature or natural equity,
in order to shew that Mr. Thompson's
premises
are totally false:
THE Israelites were expressly
permitted by the law of Moses
to give a bill of divorce to their wives whenever they pleased, and to marry
other women;
and the women who were put away, were also expressly permitted, by the Mosaic law,
to marry again,
during the lives of their for mer husbands.
ALL which practices were manifestly contrary to
the law of nature
in its purity, though not perhaps to
the nature of our corrupt affections and desires;
for Christ himself declared, that
from the beginning it was not so,
Matt. xix 8, 9. and at the same time our Lord informed the Jews, that
Moses, because of
the hardness of their hearts,
suffered them to put away their wives.
NEITHER was it
according to the law of nature,
that the Jews were
permitted
in their behaviour and dealings, to make a partial distinction between their
brethren
of the house of Israel, and strangers. This national partiality was not, indeed, either commanded or recommended in their law—but it was clearly
permitted
or
tolerated,
and probably, for the same reason as the last mentioned instance—
thou
shalt not lend
upon usury to
thy brother,
&c.—
unto
a stranger
thou mayest
lend upon usury
&c. Deut. xxiii. 19.—Again— of
a foreigner
thou
mayest exact;
(that is, whatsoever
has been lent,
as appears by the preceding verses) but that which is,
thine,
with thy brother,
thine hand shall release,
Deut. xv. 3
Now all these laws were
"contrary to the law of nature"
or
"natural equity,"
(whatever Mr. Thompson, may think) and were certainly, annulled or rather
superseded,
as it were, by the more perfect doctrines of
universal benevolence
taught by Christ himself, who
"come not to destroy, but to fulfill the law."
IN the law of Moses we also read,
Thou shalt not avenge or bear grudge against
the children of thy people but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself,
Leviticus xix. 18.
THE Jews, accordingly, thought themselves sufficiently justified, if they confined this glorious perfection of charity, viz.
the loving others as themselves,
to the persons mentioned in the same verse, viz.
the children of their own people;
for they had no idea that so much love could possibly be due to any other sort of
neighbours
or
brethren.
But Christ taught them by the parable of
the good Samaritan,
that
all strangers whatever
even those who are declared enemies, (as were the Samaritans to the Jews) are to be esteemed our
neighbours
or
brethren,
whenever they stand in need of our charitable assistance.
"THE Jewish institution" indeed, as Mr. Thompson remarks
permited the use of
bondservants,
but did not permit the
bondage of brethren:
STRANGERS ONLY could be
lawfully
retained as
bondmen
—"of the heathen," (or, more agreeable to the Hebrew words,
of the nations
)
that are round about you; of
them
shall ye buy
bond
men and
bond
maids. Moreover of the children of
strangers
that do sojourn among you,
of them shall ye buy,
&c.—
They
shall be your
bondmen for ever.
Levit, xxv 39 to 46.
THIS was the law, I must acknowledge, with respect to
a stranger
that was
purchased;
but with respect to
a brother
or Hebrew of the seed of Abraham, it was far otherwise, as the same chapter testifies; (39th verse) for,
if thy
brother
that dwelleth by thee be waxen poor, and be
sold
unto thee; thou
shalt not compel him to serve as a bondservant:
but as an hired servant, and as a sojourner he shall be with thee, and shall serve thee unto the year of jubilee. And
then shall he depart from thee, both he and his children with him,
&c. This was the
utmost servitude
that a Hebrew could
lawfully
exact from any of his
brethren
of the house of Israel, unless the servant entered
voluntarily
into a perpetual servitude: and, let me add, that it is also, the very
utmost servitude
that can
lawfully
be admitted
among christians:
because we are bound as christians to esteem EVERY MAN
as our brother,
and
as our neighbour,
which I have already proved; so that this consequence which I have drawn, is absolutely
unavoidable.
The Jews indeed, who do not yet acknowlege the commands of Christ, may perhaps still think themselves
justified
by the law of Moses, in making partial distinctions between
their brethren
of Israel,
and other men?
but it would
be inexcusable
in christians to do so! and therefore I conclude, that we certainly have no right to exceed the
limits of servitude,
which the Jews were bound to observe, whenever their poor
brethren
were sold to them: and I apprehend that we must not venture
even to go so far,
because the laws of
brotherly love
are infinitely enlarged, and extended by the gospel of peace, which proclaims
"good will towards men,"
without distinction; and because we cannot be said to
love our neighbours as ourselves;
or to
do to others as we would they should do unto us
"—whilst we retain them against their
will,
in a despicable servitude as
slaves,
and
private property,
or
mere chattels!
THE glorious system of the gospel destroys all
narrow, national partiality;
and makes
us citizens of the world,
by obliging us to profess
universal benevolence:
but more especially are we bound, as christians, to commiserate and assist to the utmost of our power all persons in
distress,
or
captivity;
whatever
the
worshipful
committee of the company of merchants trading to
Africa,
may think of it, or their advocate, the reverend Mr. Thompson.
CHARITY, indeed, begins at home; and we ought most certainly to give the preference to our own countrymen, whenever we can do so without injustice; but we may
not do evil that good may come;
(though our statesmen, and their political deceivers may think otherwise) we must not, for the sake of
Old England,
and its
African trade,
or for the supposed advantage, or imaginary necessities of our
American
colonies, lay aside our
christian charity,
which we owe to
all the rest of mankind:
because,
whenever we do so,
we certainly deserve to be considered in no better light than as an overgrown
society of robbers,
a
mere banditti,
who, perhaps, may
love one another,
but at the same time are at enmity with
all the rest of the world.
Is this
according to the law of nature?
—For shame Mr. Thompson!
I HAVE much more to communicate, but no more time to write:—if I had, I could draw from the scriptures the most alarming examples of God's severe judgments upon the Jews, for tyrannizing over
their brethren,
and,
expressly,
for exceeding the
limits
of
servitude
just now mentioned.
(a)
This I have since accomplished in a tract, intituled, "THE LAW OF RETRIBUTION,
&c.
I must find time however to adopt one observation even from the reverend Mr. Thompson, (p. 11.) viz.
This subject will grow more serious upon our hands, when we consider the
buying and selling Negroes,
not as a clandestine or piratical business, but as an
open public trade, encouraged
and promoted by acts of parliament; for so, if being
contrary to religion it must be deemed
A NATIONAL SIN;
(b)
If this just remark by Mr.
Thompson,
be compared with the above mentioned tract on
the Law of Retribution,
(wherein the usual course of
God
's judge: ments against NATIONS, is fairly demonstrated by a variety of unquestionable examples in the scriptures,) it will appear that nothing but
a thorough reformation
with respect to the said "NATIONAL SIN," can afford us the least room
even to hope
that THIS NATION, may escape the tremendous effects of GODS TEMPORAL VENGEANCE now dreadfully hanging over us!
and as such may have a consequence that
would be always to be dreaded.
May God give us grace to repent of this abominable "NATIONAL SIN," before it is too late!
If I have vindicated the law of Moses, much easier can I vindicate the benevolent apostle Paul, from Mr. Thompson's insinuations, with respect to slavery; for he
did not
entreat
Philemon
to take back his servant
Onesimus,
in his former capacity,
as Mr.
Thompson
has asserted, in order to render bondage
consistent with the principles of revealed religion,
—but St.
Paul
said
expresly,
not now as a servant, but, above a servant,
a
brother beloved,
(a)
This single circumstance one would think a sufficient bar to the inferences drawn from this epistle, in favour of slavery, by the reverend Mr.
Thompson,
and others; and yet even the learned Archbishop
Theophylact
seemed inclined to admit the same supposed
right of the master.
In the preface to his commentary on this epistle, where he gives a short account of the use and purport of it, and of the doctrines which may be deduced from it, (he says)
Thirdly. That it is not fit, through pretence of piety, to draw away servants from masters, that are unwilling to part with them.
" But though the apostle declared, indeed, to
Philemon
the master, (v. 14.)
"without thy mind, would I do nothing;"
&c. yet this by no means proves
the right of the master,
but only that the apostle, in love and courtesy to
Philemon,
desired, that
"the benefit,"
which he required of him,
"should not be as it were of necessity, but willingly,"
(ver. 14.) for the apostle's
right
to have retained
Onesimus,
even
without the master's consent,
is sufficiently implied in
a
preceding verse, (viz. 8.) "
though I might be much bold in Christ, to enjoin,
(or command) "
thee that which is convenient. Yet,
(said the apostle,) "
for
LOVE's SAKE,
I rather beseech.
" &c. And a further reason for his not
commanding,
is also declared, viz. that he depended on the willing obedience of
Philemon. "Having considence
(said he)
in thy obedience, I wrote unto thee, knowing that thou wilt also do more than I say.
" And yet that which he really did
say,
or require in behalf of
Onesimus,
was as strong a recommendation to
favour
and
superior kindness
as could be expressed. He required him to receive
Onesimus, "not now as a servant, but above a servant, as a
BROTHER
beloved,"
&c. (16 verse.) that "
if he hath wronged thee, or
OWETH OUGHT," (
, in which expression even the supposed
debt of service
may be included,)
"put that on my account,"
(said the apostle, ver. 18.) which must be a complete discharge of all the master's temporal demands on
Onesimus;
and therefore it is a strange perversion of the apostle's meaning to cite this epistle,
in favour of slavery,
when the whole tenor of it is in behalf of the
slave!
But there is still a further observation necessary to be made, which puts the matter out of dispute.
Theophylact,
himself, allows that
Onesimus
(at the very time he was sent back,) was
a minister of the gospel,
or a
minister of preaching
(
,
. But that he should send him back again, to the
service
of
preaching,
of which he is
a labourer,
(or minister.) Comment on the 1st. verse, page 863.
edit. London,
1636.
) which is an office of the sacred ministry, not beneath the highest order in the church, for it was the principal employment even of the apostle himself.
And this opinion of
Theophylact,
is corroborated by a variety of circumstances. By the epistle to the
Colossians,
it appears that
Onesimus
was joined with
Tychicus,
(therein declared to be a
minister,
)
All my state shall
TYCHICUS
declare
unto you, (who is)
a beloved brother,
A FAITHFUL MINISTER AND FELLOW SERVANT IN THE LORD;
whom I have sent unto you for the same purpose, that he might
KNOW YOUR ESTATE, AND COMFORT YOUR HEARTS
with
ONESIMUS,
a faithful and beloved brother,
(by which it is apparent that
Onesimus
was joined in the same services, "to KNOW THEIR ESTATES AND COMFORT THEIR HEARTS," an office that would have very ill become him, had he been sent back to his master as a SLAVE, or as Mr.
Thompson
says
IN HIS FORMER CAPACITY!)
"
who is one of you. They
(that is
Tychicus
and
Onesimus,
jointly)
shall make known unto you all things which
(are done)
here." Coloss
iv. 7.9.
in an
ecclesiastical commission
from the apostle to the church of the
Colossians,
at the very time that he was sent back to
Philemon;
Ludov. Capellus, remarks that these epistles, (viz. to
the Colossians
and to
Philemon
) were wrote, (and consequently sent) at the same time, and after assigning several reasons for his opinion, concludes as follows, "
Ex his itaque,
(says he)
liquere puto utramque Epistolam simul codem tempore fuisse scriptam.
" Hist. Apost. illust. page 79. ed
Genovae,
1634.
and it would surely have ill become the apostle to send back
Onesimus,
then a
minister of the gospel,
to serve his master
Philemon, in his former capacity,
(that is as a SLAVE) which is the doctrine presumed in page 18, of the reverend Mr.
Thompson
's tract; Mr.
Thompson,
as a clergyman, ought to have considered, that this would not have been for the credit of the
gospel ministry.
But
Onesimus
was not only a
minister,
and
preacher,
but afterwards even a
bishop,
which will by no means suit with Mr.
Thompson
's doctrine. The learned bishop
Fell,
testified from the authority of
the ancients,
that this
Onesimus
was a bishop.
"Onesimus"
(says he in his commentary on Colloss. iv, 5.) "
servant to Philemon, a chief man in Colosse. The antients say that he succeeded Timothy, in the
BISHOPRICK
of Ephesus.
" And the great archbishop
Usher,
makes express mention of
Onesimus
in that
bishoprick,
from the authority both of
Eusebius
and
Ignatius,
(see his little tract de Episcoporum et Metropolitanorum Origine, p. 9. ed. Lond. 1687.) So that though
Paul
mentions to
Philemon
the receiving ONESIMUS FOR EVER (
that thou shouldest receive him
FOREVER." ver. 15) yet it would be most unreasonable to conceive that the apostle meant that he should receive him FOR EVER AS A SLAVE! The several circumstances I have mentioned, demonstrate the contrary.
&c. So that Mr.
Thompson
has notoriously wrested St.
Paul
's words.
IN the other texts where St.
Paul
recommends submission to
Servants,
for conscience-sake, he at the same time enjoins the master to entertain such a measure of
brotherly love
towards his servants, as must be entirely subversive of the
African
trade, and
West-Indian
slavery. And though St.
Paul,
recommends christian patience under servitude, yet, at the same time, he plainly insinuates, that it is inconsistent with christianity, and the dignity of Christ's kingdom, that a
christian brother
should be a
Slave.
Can'st thou be made free?
(says he to the christian servants)
choose it rather,
for he that is
called
of the Lord,
being a servant,
is the
freeman
of the Lord; and, in like manner, he that is called,
being free,
is the
servant of Christ,
—
Ye are bought with a price;
BE NOT THEREFORE THE SERVANTS OF MEN.
The apostle, indeed, had just before recommended to his disciples to
abide in the same calling,
wherein they were called, and,
"being servants, not to care for it:"
That is, not to grieve on account of
their temporal
state; (for if, instead of thus enjoining
submission,
he had absolutely declared
the iniquity of
SLAVERY, tho'
established
and
authorized
by the laws of
temporal
governments, he would have occasioned more
tumult
than
reformation
among the multitude of SLAVES, more striving for
temporal
than
spiritual
happiness; yet it plainly appears, by the insinuations, which immediately follow, that he thought it derogatory to the honour of christianity, that men,
who
are bought,
with the inestimable
price of Christ
's blood, should be esteemed
servants;
that is,
the Slaves,
and private property of other men; and had christianity been established by
temporal
authority, in those countries where
Paul
preached, as it is at present in these kingdoms, we need not doubt but that he would have
urged,
nay, compelled the masters,
as he did Philemon,
by the most pressing arguments, to treat their quondam slaves,
NOT NOW AS SERVANTS, BUT ABOVE SERVANTS—AS BRETHREN BELOVED.
AN ELEGY
On the miserable STATE of an African SLAVE, by the celebrated and ingenious William Shenstone,
Esq
—SEE the poor native quit the Lybian shores,
Ah! not in love's delightful fetters bound!
No radiant smile his dying peace restores,
Nor love, nor same, nor friendship heals his wound.
Let vacant bards display their boasted woes,
Shall I the mockery of grief display?
No, let the muse his piercing pangs disclose,
Who bleeds and weeps his sum of life away!
On the wild beach in mournful guise he stood,
Ere the shril boatswain gave the hated sign;
He dropt a tear unseen into the flood;
He stole one secret moment, to repine.
Yet the muse listen'd to the plaints he made;
Such moving plaints as nature could inspire;
To me the muse his tender plea convey'd,
But smooth'd, and suited to the sounding lyre.
"Why am I ravish'd from my native strand?
What savage race protects this impious gain?
Shall foreign plagues infest this teeming land,
And more than sea-born monsters plough the main?
Here the dire locusts horrid swarms prevail;
Here the blue asps with livid poison swell;
Here the dry dipsa wriths his sinuous mail;
O can we not here, secure from envy, dwell?
When the grim lion urg'd his cruel chace,
When the stern panther sought his midnight prey,
What fate reserv'd me for this christian race?
O race more polish'd, more severe than they!
Ye prouling wolves pursue my latest cries!
Thou hungry tyger, leave thy reeking den!
Ye sandy wastes in rapid eddies rise!
O tear me from the whips and scorns of men!
Yet in their face superior beauty glows;
Are smiles the mein of rapine and of wrong?
Yet from their lip the voice of mercy flows,
And ev'n religion dwells upon their tongue.
Of blissful haunts they tell, and brighter climes,
Where gentle minds convey'd by death repair,
But stain'd with blood, and crimson'd o'er with crimes
Say, shall they merit what they paint so fair?
No, careless, hopeless of those fertile plains,
Rich by our toils, and by our sorrows gay,
They ply our labours, and enhance our pains,
And feign these distant regions to repay.
For them our tusky elephant expires;
For them we drain the mine's embowel'd gold;
Where rove the bratal nations wild desires?—
Our limbs are pucchas'd, and our life is sold!
Yet shores there are, blest shores for us remain,
And favour'd isles with golden fruitage crown'd,
Where tusted flow'rets paint the verdant plain.
Where ev'ry breeze shall med'cine ev'ry wound.
There the stern tyrant that embitters life
Shall vainly suppliant, spread his asking hand;
There shall we view the billow's raging strife,
Aid the kind breast, and waft his boat to land."
APPENDIX (No. 2.)
Extract of a Letter from a Gentleman in
Maryland,
to his Friend in
London.
BUT whether I shall go thither or return home, I am yet undetermined; indeed, no where 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; which alone would render the life of any humane man most miserable. There are four things under the Sun, which I equally abhor and abominate, viz.
Slavery
(under which I comprehend all cruelty, oppression and injustice) and
licentiousness, pride
and
impudence,
all which abound here in a monstrous degree.
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 can't on every occasion fall in with their wanton and capricious humours. One common punishment, is to flea their backs with cow hides, or other instruments of barbarity, and then pour on hot rum, superinduced with brine or pickle, rub'd in with a corn husk, in the scorching heat of the Sun. For certain, if your judges were sensible of the shocking treatment of the convicts here, they would hang every one of them, as an 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.
—
APPENDIX, (No . 3.)
A Letter from
Granville Sharp,
to
Jacob Bryant,
Esq
concerning the Descent of the Negroes.
SIR,
I Have conceived a very high opinion of your abilities, by perusing your learned account of
Egypt, and the Shepherd Kings,
&c. and as you seem to have studied, very particularly, the history of the
Cuseans
and antient
Arabians,
you can (I apprehend) easily resolve some doubts, relating thereto, which occurred to me on reading your book.
I HAD always supposed that black men in general were descended from
Cush,
because a distinction in colour from the rest of mankind, seems to have been particularly attributed to his descendants,
the Cushim,
even to a proverb.
Can the Cushi
(commonly rendered Ethiopian)
change his Skin,
&c. (Jeremiah, xiii. 23.) and
therefore I concluded that all negroes as well
East Indian
as
African,
are entitled to the general name of
Cushim,
as being, probably, descended from different branches of the same stock, because the proverb is equally applicable to both, with respect to their complection, tho' in many respects they are very different. But in p. 254, of your learned work, where you are speaking of the
Cuseans
in general, you say, that they are
to be found within the tropics, almost as low as the Gold coast,
&c. as if you apprehended, that the negroes on the Gold coast, and below it,
were not descended from Cush.
Now, Sir, I shall think myself greatly obliged, if you will be pleased to inform me, whether you really have any particular reason to apprehend that the negroes on the coast of
Guinea
(from whence our plantations are most commonly supplied) are descended from any other stock? Or whether their descent can at all be traced?
I AM far from having any particular esteem for the negroes, but as I think myself
obliged
to consider them as
Men,
I am certainly
obliged,
also, to use my best endeavours to prevent their being treated
as beasts,
by our unchristian countrymen, who deny them the privileges of
human Nature;
and, in order to excuse their own
brutality,
will scarcely allow that negroes are
human Beings.
THE tracing their descent, therefore, is a point of some consequence to the subject, in which I am now engaged for their defence.
* * * *
I am, SIR, Your most obedient, humble Servant, GRANVILLE SHARP.
Old Jewry,
19th Octr.
1772.
JACOB BRYANT,
Esq
APPENDIX (No. 4.)
Mr.
Bryant
's Answer to the foregoing Letter.
Cypenham,
20th Octr.
1772.
SIR,
I MOST sincerely wish you success in your laudable purpose: and am very glad to find in these base times, that there is a person, who will stand up in defence of human nature; and not suffer it to be limited to a set of features and complexion. There is nothing, I believe, in my writings, that can affect any argument, which you may think proper to urge in favour of those, whom you would patronize. But to take away all embarrasment, and uncertainty, I will give you my opinion upon the subject, which you have stated to me in your letter, in respect to the origin of the Nigritae or Negroes. You seem to think, that all, who are of that very deep tint, which is observable in the natives upon the coast of Guinea, are the offspring of
Chus:
and all black men in general are of the same origin. To this I take the liberty to answer, that all the natives of
Africa
are more or less swart: and even among the negroes there are a great variety of tints, from a light copper colour to the darkest black. All the inhabitants of this vast continent are assuredly the sons of
Ham:
but not equally descended from
Chus.
For though his posterity was very dark, yet many of the collateral branches were of as deep a die: and
Africa
was peopled from
Ham,
by more families than one. It was possessed by some of them, as there is good grounds to surmise, before the
Cushites
came into
Egypt.
We learn from scripture, that
Ham
had four sons,
Chus, Mizraim, Phut
and
Canaan,
Gen. x. v. 6.
Canaan
occupied
Palestine,
and the country called by his by his name:
Mizraim Egypt:
But
Phut
passed deep into
Africa,
and, I believe, most of the nations in that part of the world are descended from him: at least more than from any other person.
Josephus
says,
that Phut was the founder of the nations in Libya,
See Josephus, Antq. lib. 1 c. 7.
and the people were from him called,
(
)
Phuti.
By
Libya
he understands, as the
Greeks
did,
Africa
in general: for the particular country, called
Libya
proper, was peopled by the
Lubim,
or
Lehabim,
one of the branches from
Mizraim,
. Chron. Paschale, p. 29.
THE sons of
Phut,
settled in
Mauritania,
where was a country called
Phutia,
and a river of the like denomination.
Mauritaniae Fluvius usque ad praesens tempus
Phut
dicitur, omnisque circa eum regio
Phutensis.
(Hierons . Tradit. Hebraeae.) — Amnem, quem vocant▪
Fut:
(Pliny, lib. 5. c. i.)—Some of this family settled above Egypt, near Aethiopia, and were stiled Troglodytae.
syncellus, p. 47. many of them passed inland, and peopled the
Mediterranean
country. In process of time, (after their expulsion from
Egypt,
) the sons of
Chus
made settlements upon the sea coast of
Africa,
and came into
Mauritania.
Hence we find traces of them also in the names of places, such as
Churis, Chusares,
upon the coast: and a river
Cusa,
and a city
Cotta,
together with a promontory
Cotis
in
Mauritania,
all denominated from
Chus;
who at different times and by different people was called
Chus, Cuth, Cosh
and
Cotis.
The river
Cusa
is mentioned by
Pliny,
lib. 5. c. 1. and by
Ptolomey.
Many ages after these settlements, there was another irruption of the
Cushites
into these parts, under the name of
Saracens
Query.
—Whether the
Saracens
may not rather be said to be of the line of
Shem,
as being descended from
Abraham?
—Though indeed, both the mother and the wise of
Ishmael,
were
Egyptiant.
and
Moors;
who over ran
Africa,
to the very extremities of mount
Atlas.
They passed over, and conquered
Spain
to the north: and they extended themselves southward, as I said in my treatise, to the rivers
Senegal
and
Gambia,
and as low as the
Gold Coast.
I mentioned this, because I do not think, that they proceeded much farther: most of the nations to the south being, as I imagine, of the race of
Phut.
The very country upon the river
Gambia
on one side, is at this day called
Phuta,
of of which
Bluet,
in his history of
Juba Ben Solomon,
gives an account.
It is not possible to discriminate at this aera of time the several casts among the black nations, but I should think, that we may be pretty certain, that they were not all
Cushim,
or
Cuseans.
The Negroes are woolly headed; and so were some of the
Aethiopes
or
Cushim:
but nothing can be inferred from this: for many of the latter had long hair, as we learn from
Herodotus,
lib. 7. c. 70.
. We find from
Marcellmus,
that the
Egyptians
were
Crispi,
and had a tendency to woolly hair: so that this circumstance cannot always be looked upon as a family characteristic.
THIS, Sir, is my opinion concerning the people in question, which I submit to your consideration, merely as matter of opinion: for I cannot pretend to speak with certainty. It makes very little difference in respect to the good cause, which your humanity prompts you to espouse, whether the Nigritae are
Phutians,
or
Cushites.
They are certainly the sons of
Ham:
and, what is more to the purpose, they are the work manship of God▪ formed in his image with a living Soul; as well as ourselves. Consequently they deserve better treatment, than they have generally experienced from those, who look upon themselves, as more enlightened, and possessed of a greater degree of humanity. I join with you sincerely in detesting the cruel traffic: and am, with great truth, SIR,
Your most obedient, and most humble Servant, JACOB BRYANT.
P. S.
You are pleased to observe,
that a distinction in colour from the rest of mankind seems to have been particularly attributed to the descendants of the Cushim.
They certainly were very dark: but so were all the sons of
Ham.
And it is difficult to say, who were the darkest, as it was a circumstance depending upon the situation of the people spoken of, and upon many occult causes. The same family in different parts varied from itself, as I have shewn from
Herodotus.
The sacred writers speak of the
Cushi
's complexion particularly, because they were most acquainted with it, as being very near
Shem.
There were several regions, called
Cushan
or
Aethiopia,
one of which was upon the confines of
Judaea,
near
Amalec
and
Edom;
but still nearer to
Midian.
Hence the prophet
Habbakuh
says in a vision,—
I saw the tents of
Cushan
in affliction, and the curtains of
Midian
did tremble.
C. iii. v. 7. These were the
Araba Cushitae;
with whom the
Israelites
were most acquainted. Of the sons of
Phut,
and of the
Ludim, Lebabim,
and other descendants of
Ham,
in
Africa,
they had probably little or no cognizance, excepting only the
Mizraim,
and the
Aethiopians
immediately above them to the south of
Syene.
With these they were acquainted. Should it be in my power to give you any farther satisfaction, I shall be very proud of your commands. * * * * * *
THE whole of what you mention, that all Moors, Negroes, and black persons are from one common stock is most assuredly true, if you make the head of that family
Ham,
instead of
Chus.
One remove higher makes every thing strictly consonant to the truth.
APPENDIX, (No. 5.)
The Regulations lately adopted by the
Spaniards,
at the
Havanna,
and some other Places, for the gradual
enfranchisement of Slaves,
are to the following Effect.
AS soon as a slave is landed, his name, price,
&c.
are registered in a public register; and the master is obliged, by law, to allow him
one working day,
in every week, to himself,
besides Sundays;
so that, if the slave chuses to work for his master on that day, he receives the
wages of a freeman
for it; and whatever he gains by his labour, on that day, is so secured to him by law, that the master cannot deprive him of it. This is certainly a considerable step towards the abolishing
absolute slavery.
As soon as the slave is able to purchase
another working day,
the master is obliged to sell it to him at a proportionable price,
viz.
one fifth part of his original cost; and so, likewise, the remaining four days, at the same rate, as soon as the slave is able to redeem them; after which
he is absolutely free:
This is such encouragement to industry, that even the most indolent are tempted to exert themselves. Men, who have thus worked out their freedom, are enured to the labour of the country, and are certainly the most useful subjects that a colony can acquire. Regulations might be formed upon the same plan to encourage the industry of slaves
that are already imported into the colonies,
which would teach them how to maintain themselves, and be
as useful,
as well as
less
expensive to the planter. They would by such means become members of society, and have an interest in the welfare of the community; which would add greatly to the strength and security of each colony: whereas, at present, many of the plantations are in
continual danger of being cut off by their slaves,
a fate which they but
too justly deserve.
APPENDIX, (No. 6.)
Extract of a Letter from the Author, to a Gentleman at
Philadelphia.
—and surely there needs no argument to demonstrate the weakness and danger of the more southern colonies, from
the immense multitude of slaves,
that are forcibly detained therein!
THE congress have acted nobly in forbidding the iniquitous importation of
more slaves;
but the business is but half done, 'till they have agreed upon some equitable and safe means of
gradually enfranchising
those which remain. No time should be lost in forwarding this equitable measure; —and, to secure the affections of the negroes, assurances should be immediately given of such friendly intentions towards them, lest any attack should, in the mean while, be made in those quarters, which might encourage
an insurrection.
I tremble for the probable consequences of such an event! for though
domestic slavery,
(which I detest from my heart) would thereby be abolished, yet that effect would be wrought at the expence of
public Liberty;
and the
tyranny
and injustice of private individuals would seem, perhaps, to be too severely punished by that horrid carnage and implacability, which usually attend the conflicts between masters and slaves!
LET
private interest
therefore give place to
justice
and
right,
which will most effectually administer to the public safety.
LET it be remembered that many of the negroes are natives of the colonies, and consequently have
a natural right
to a
free existence
therein, as well as the Landholders themselves. I shall not presume to
advise
the mode of effecting this important and necessary enfranchisement, but will only offer a few hints in order to promote the consideration and determination of those who are best able to judge of the matter.
SUPPOSE the value of every slave now in the colonies, was to be fairly estimated, by juries appointed for that purpose, and the value to be entered, under their inspection, (as a pecuniary
debt
due from each negroe to his master,) in a public register for each district. Suppose also that the landholders, who do not occupy all their grounds, were advised to divide what lands they can spare into
compact little farms,
with a small wooden cottage to each, which should be allotted to those negroes only, who are natives of the colony, or else have been so long in it, that their dispositions are sufficiently known, whether or not they may safely be entrusted with their liberty. Let such negroes hold these small portions of land by leases, for a certain term of years; and at equitable rents, to be paid in such portions of
the produce
from time to time, as shall be thought most reasonable, leaving the tenants a moderate gain, (besides their necessary subsistence) to encourage industry, and yet so as to yield the landlords a due profit from each portion of their estates, besides an adequate allowance to reimburse (within the limited time) not only the registered price of their quondam slaves, but also whatever sums they may have advanced towards the expence of
building,
of
implements,
of
live stock,
of
seed, &c. &c.
the amount of which ought to be added to the first debt and registered, in like manner, before the leases are executed. By these means the landlords will lose nothing of their wealth, and yet the most useful and worthiest of the negroes will acquire a
natural interest
in the welfare and safety of the community, which will insure their assistance against any hostile attempt of the rest. Other negroes, that are not capable of managing and shifting for themselves, nor are fit to be trusted, all at once, with liberty, might be delivered over to the care and protection of a county committee, in order to avoid the baneful effects of
private property in men;
and might, by the said committee, be let out, as
hired servants,
to such persons as would undertake the charge of them, to be paid (also
in produce
) towards the discharge of the registered debt for each man's original price; and the labourer himself in the mean while to be allowed one day in a week (beside the Sunday) for his own profit, or be paid for it according to the mode of the
Spanish regulations,
(which I before transmitted) that he may have an opportunity to acquire a little property of his own, which will
prepare his mind,
as well as his circumstances
for freedom,
by enabling him, as a member of the community to shift for himself at the time of his discharge. By some such regulations, as these, slavery might be changed into a condition, more nearly resembling that of
hired servants,
as no master would be the
absolute proprietor
of those he employs, and yet all reasonable advantages arising from their labour, would remain; which must occasion a reciprocal improvement in the morality and humanity both of masters and servants; and in process of time, instead of
wretched slaves,
a new and useful order of men, at present unknown in America, (where every
freeman
cultivates his own ground only) would be established amongst you; I mean a hardy body of
free peasants,
serving either as
trusty tenants
or
farmers,
to improve the estates of landed gentlemen, or else as
laborious cottagers,
who might be employed with infinite advantage to the neighbourhood, wherever established, especially if they were encouraged by an allotment of a small patch of land for a potatoe ground or garden, with a right of pasture for a little live stock upon some common field in the neighbourhood of their little cottages.—Landholders by this means would have their estates better peopled and improved, and yet avoid the guilt and danger of oppression. In the mean while, the hours of labour should be uniformly regulated, to prevent the oppression of avaricious exactors, and the danger of discontent: and schools should be opened in every district, to give the poor labourers and their children, some general ideas of morality and religious knowledge, which constitute the most effectual
bond of peace.
These regulations I mention only by way of hint: you have the same earnest regard for the cause of
general liberty,
and
the natural rights of mankind
that I have, and much greater abilities to defend them, and to propose a more perfect system than what is here suggested. Let me therefore intreat you to consider this matter, and to forward, as soon as possible, some scheme of general enfranchisement, because American liberty cannot be firmly established 'till this is done.
I am with great esteem, Dear SIR, Your affectionate friend and humble servant. GRANVILLE SHARP.
London,
18 July, 1775.
APPENDIX, (No. 7.)
Extract from Mr.
Morgan
's Book, intituled,
A Plan for the Abolition of Slavery, in the West Indies.
—Page 12.—
Nothing can be more opposite to every idea of justice and morality than the present practice of buying slaves, to cultivate the West Indian islands and the southern provinces on the continent of America; nor can any thing, I
think, be eventually more fatal
—***
Page 13.—
Yet something, out of worldly prudence ought to be done;—for, as this evil has been violently introduced, contrary to the natural course of things and the constitution of the world, it will one day find a remedy even in its excess. Matters will be fatally brought to a crisis, and nature will vindicate her own laws, and restore the credit of her equal and just administration, to the lasting punishment of those who abused it. THIS WILL BE WHEN THE BLACKS OF THE SOUTH-THERN COLONIES ON THE CONTINENT OF AMERICA SHALL BE NUMEROUS ENOUGH TO THROW OFF AT ONCE THE YOKE OF TYRANNY TO REVENGE THEIR WRONGS IN THE BLOOD OF THEIR OPPRESSORS, AND CARRY TERROR AND DESTRUCTION TO THE MORE NORTHERN SETTLEMENTS. Such a revolution cannot take place in the islands until this period, on account of the want of intelligence and communication between the slaves of one island and another and of the easy communication and mutual assistance of whites. But an insurrection on the continent, once communicated, will be an incitement in the islands, and a signal for a general and (but that every Englishman is alike concerned, and the planter not peculiarly criminal) A MERITED CARNAGE.
Nothing can be conceived MORE DESTRUCTIVE, MORE INSATIATE, THAN THE WARS WHICH WILL FOLLOW THIS EVENT; they will be every where marked with THE MOST HORRIBLE CRUELTIES, and THE MOST FURIOUS REVENGE. The distinction of
black
and
white,
which we have so unreasonably made the marks of
freedom
and
slavery,
will then become the obvious colours of mutual hostility and revenge; and it seems likely that these wars MAY END TO THE DISADVANTAGE OF THE WHITES; because the blacks, as will be presently observed, will increase faster, and because their nature seems better able to bear the severity of cold, than the whites can that of heat.
—
&c.
APPENDIX, (No 8.)
A Copy of what
is said
to be the substance of Lord
Mansfield
's speech in the case of
Somerset
and
Knowles:
ON Monday the 22d June, in Trinity term, 1772, the court of
King
's
Bench,
proceeded to give judgement in the Case of
Somerset
and
Knowles,
upon the return of the Habeas Corpus. LORD MANSFIELD first stated the return; and then spoke to the following purport, which is taken from the second edition of a Tract, printed in 1773, intituled,
Considerations on the Negroe Cause, so called, addressed to the right honourable lord
Mansfield,
lord chief justice of the court of King's Bench, by
SAMUEL ESTWICK,
A. M. Assistant Agent for the island of
Barbadoes.
page vii.
viz.
WE pay due attention to the opinion of Sir
Philip Yorke
and Mr.
Talbot,
in the year 1729, by which they pledged themselves to the British planters for the legal consequences of bringing Negroe-slaves into this kingdom, or their being baptized; which opinion was repeated and recognized by lord Hardwicke, sitting as chancellor, on the 19th of October, 1749, to the following effect: he said,
that trover would lay for a negroe-slave: that a notion prevailed, that if a slave came into England, or became a Christian, he thereby became emancipated; but there was no foundation in law for such a notion: that when he and Lord Talbot were attorney and solicitor general, this notion of a slave becoming free by being baptized pervailed so strongly, that the planters industriously prevented their becoming christians: upon which their opinion was taken;
and upon their best consideration they were both clearly of opinion,
that a slave did not in the least alter his situation or state towards his master or
owner,
either by being christened, or coming to England: that though the statute of Charles II. had abolished
(
homage
(‡) See a part of my lord
Mansfield
's speech printed in the Appendix, (p. 11.) of
a Treatise upon the Trade from
Great Britain
to
Africa,
by an African merchant,
wherein this word
"homage"
is inserted.
)
tenure so far, that no man could be a
Villein regardant;
yet if he would acknowledge himself a
Villein
engrossed in any court of record, he knew of no way by which he could be entitled to his freedom, without the consent of his master.
We feel the force of the inconveniences and consequences that will follow the decision of this question: yet all of us are so clearly of one opinion upon the
only
question before us, that we think we ought to give judgment without adjourning the matter to be argued before all the judges, as usual in the habeas corpus, and as we at first intimated an intention of doing in this case. The only question then is,
Is the cause returned sufficient for the remanding him? If not,
he must be discharged. The cause returned is, the
slave
absented himself and departed from his master's service, and refused to return and serve him during his stay in
England;
whereupon, by his master's orders, he was put on board the ship by force, and there detained in secure custody, to be carried out of the kingdom and sold. So high an act of dominion must derive its authority, if any such it has, from the law of the kingdom
where
executed. A foreigner cannot be imprisoned
here
on the authority of any law existing in his own country. The power of a master over his servant is different in all countries, more or less limited or extensive, the exercise of of it therefore must always be regulated by the laws of the place where exercised. The state of slavery is of such a nature, that it is incapable of being now introduced by courts of justice upon mere reasoning, or inferences from any principles natural or political; it must take its rise from
positive law;
the origin of it can in no country or age be traced back to any other source. Immemorial usage preserves the memory of
positive law
long after all traces of the occasion, reason, authority, and time of its introduction, are lost, and in A CASE SO ODIOUS AS THE CONDITION OF SLAVES MUST BE TAKEN STRICTLY.
(Tracing the subject to natural principles, the claim of slavery never can be supported.)
(‡) These additions in Italics between hooks before and after the words "THE POWER CLAIMED BY THIS RETURN WAS NEVER IN USE HERE," are taken from the notes of a very ingenious and able counsellor, who was present when the judgement was given.—The rest of his notes sufficiently agree in substance with what Mr.
Estwick
has printed.
THE POWER CLAIMED BY THIS RETURN WAS NEVER IN USE HERE: (or
acknowledged by the law.
) No master ever was allowed here to take a slave by force to be sold abroad because he had deserted from his service, or for any other reason whatever; WE CANNOT SAY,
the cause set forth by this return
IS ALLOWED OR APPROVED OF BY THE LAWS OF THIS KINGDOM, and therefore the man must be discharged.
Upon this Mr.
Estwick
has been pleased to observe as follows,
i must confess
(says he)
I have been greatly puzzled in endeavouring to reconcile this judgement with this state of it, and with my comprehension,
&c.
But the writer quoted by the
African merchant
before mentioned, is not so modest in his censure of this judgement, nor so honest in his
recital
of it, as Mr
Estwick,
for he partially conceals the most material part of the learned judge's speech, because it happens to make against his own wicked cause; and tells us by way of excuse for so notorious and partial an omission—that
the remainder of the speech is too vague to come into consideration,
&c. (p. 12.) Another anonymous writer (author of a pamphlet, intitled
CANDID REFLECTIONS
upon
THE JUDGEMENT
lately awarded by the Court of King's Bench, in Westminster Hall, on what is commonly
called the NEGROE CAUSE,
by
a
Planter,
) after comparing this JUDGEMENT of the King's Bench, with the opinions of the judges
Holt
and
Powel,
and those of the attorney and solicitor general,
York
and
Talbot,
&c. is pleased to
reflect
thereupon as follows.
A point,
(says he)
upon which these great Oracles of the law have published such opposite sentiments, seems as far as ever from being established upon the solid ground of absolute
PRECISION.
The planters of course have been left
(says he)
as much puzzled by this
DELPHIC AMBIGUITY,
as the sages themselves appear to have been, in forming their judgements upon the subject. The matter having been
CONFOUNDED
in this
GRAND UNCERTAINTY,
&c. (p. 57.) But these heavy charges of the want of "PRECISION," of "DELPHIC AMBIGUITY," and of being
CONFOUNDED in GRAND UNCERTAINTY,
&c. are so far from being "CANDID REFLECTIONS," (as this author would have us believe them,) that even
his own evidence
on the proceeding page, clearly proves the falsehood and injustice of this censures; for he has there given us the EFFECT of that late judgment of the court of King's Bench, in THE CLEAREST TERMS, without the least
doubt
or
difficulty;
so that the
delphic ambiguity,
of which he
immediately after
complains, must be (even according to his own evidence,) a mere
calumny!
After reciting the opinion of lord chief justice
Holt,
he immediately adds as follows.
Lord chief justice mansfield
(says he)
adds to this effect.
That the laws of
Great Britain
do not authorize a master to
reclaim
his fugitive SLAVE,
confine
or
transport
him out of the kingdom. In other words;
(says he)
that a negroe slave, coming from the colonies into
Great Britain
becomes,
ipso facto,
FREE.
Thus, notwithstanding the
un-candid reflections
of this author about DELPHIC AMBIGUITY, yet even
he himself
has without
doubt
or
difficulty,
declared THE
certain
and
unavoidable
EFFECT of the judgement delivered by Lord
Mansfield!
That this author (notwithstanding his prejudices, and unjust censures about ambiguity) has really stated the
certain
and
unavoidable
EFFECT of the said judgment, will appear by the following remarks upon it.
APPENDIX, (No. 9.)
Remarks on the Judgment of the Court of
King
's
Bench,
in the Case of
Stewart
and
Somerset.
By
Granville Sharp.
THIS judgment will not appear doubtful and inexplicit, (as some have too hastily esteemed it) if the whole be taken together, and THE EFFECT of it be duly considered.
LORD
Mansfield
pronounced the sentiments or judgment
of the whole bench,
and therefore if any thing was wrong, the blame ought not to rest on him alone; nevertheless, if we fairly examine what was said, we shall find no room for blame or cavil, His lordship said,
WE
pay due attention
to the opinion of Sir
Philip York
and Mr.
Talbot,
in the year 1729,
Now the purport of that opinion was, that the master
may legally compel
his slave
to return to the plantations.
LORD
Mansfield
modestly declined giving a direct contradiction, in express words, to the opinion of two such very eminent and learned lawyers; but chose rather to condemn it, tacitly, by
the effect
of the judgment, which he was about to pronounce; and therefore he merely recited the opinion without the least comment, and proceeded to the determination of the court upon the case before them; which is clear and incontrovertible with respect to the main point of the question, viz. the power claimed by the master, of carrying away his slave by force.
The power claimed by this return,
(said the chief justice)
was never in use here, or acknowledged by the law.
Now it was certainly the duty of the court to give judgment according to
the known laws,
and not to be influenced by
any opinion
whatsoever.
THEY acknowledged, indeed, the having
"paid due attention"
to the said opinion; but as their determination was diametrically opposite to the assertions in that opinion, it is manifest, that the court
did not think it grounded in law,
according to which alone they were bound to determine. The conclusion of lord
Mansfield
's speech contains more substantial and unanswerable reasons for the judgment he was about to give, than the generality of his hearers, perhaps, were aware of; for he very ingeniously expressed in the small compass of two short sentences, that the masters claim was contrary to three principal foundations of the
English
law, viz. NATURE, USE, (or
Custom,
) and the WRITTEN LAW; which last also includes two other foundations, viz. MAXIMS and STATUTES. With respect to the first, he said —
traceing the subject to
NATURAL
principles, the claim of
SLAVERY
never can be supported.
With respect to the second, he said,—
The power claimed by this return, was never in
USE
here,
and thirdly, that it was "never
acknowledged by
THE LAW."
THESE seem to have been
the reasons
of the determination; and consequently the court was obliged
by the common law
(which always favours LIBERTY)
Law favoureth life,
LIBERTY,
and
DOWER.
LIBERTAS
est res inestimablis.
' (Jenk. Cent. 52.)
Law regards the
PERSON
above his possessions,
—
IFE and LIBERTY,
most,
&c. (Principia Legis et Aequit. p. 56.
to discharge the man from the
unnatural
and
unprecedented
claims of his master, which was accordingly done, so that the true meaning of this determination is rendered clear and incontrovertible, as well by
the effect of it,
as by the unanswerable
reasons
above mentioned.
THAT there is nothing
doubtful
or
inexplicit
in this
judgement,
delivered by lord
Mansfield,
will further appear by the following report of a case in the PREROGATIVE COURT, wherein this very determination on
Somerset
's case, is expressly cited, and the EFFECT of it clearly and fully declared by a learned judge of that court. And the propriety of the said judgment has very lately been still further confirmed by a decree also in THE HIGH COURT OF ADMIRALTY, after a very learned and solemn debate concerning the
legality,
or,
illegality of slavery in England,
wherein the merits of the question on both sides was fully examined and discussed. A short state of the Case, together with the substance of the decree will be found in Appendix, No. 11. The offence expressed in this latter Case was so flagrantly wicked in all its circumstances, and upon the whole, was so notorious a contempt of the laws and constitution of this kingdom, as well as of
natural right,
and common honesty, that all persons, who have any regard for justice, must be moved with indignation against the authors of the mischief, and must wish to see them corrected by some
adequate
and
exemplary punishment,
instead of a decision against them for the mere
recovery of wages.
In order therefore to prevent any unjust prejudice of well meaning people, against the manner of proceeding in this case for redress, it is necessary to remark, that the negroe did not '
apply for redress of these injuries,
' till more than two years after they were committed, whereby he was deprived of the
satisfaction
to which THE HABEAS CORPUS ACT would otherwise have entitled him
IN ANY OF HIS MAJESTY'S COURTS OF RECORD,
viz.—
to recover his treble costs, besides damages, which damages so to be given,
(lays the act)
shall not be less than
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS,
that is
five hundred pounds
from
each
offendor,—frm
every individual
concerned (and these seem, in the present case, to have been more than 4 or 5) that had either been '
advising aiding,
or '
assisting,
' in so flagrant a breach of the peace; and they would likewise have been subject to all the '
pains, penalties, forfeitures, losses
or
dissabilities
ordained in THE STATUTE
of
PROVISION
and
PRAEMUNIRE! See my
Representation of the injustice, and dangerous tendency of tolerating Slavery in
England,
printed in 1769, pages 25 to 29.
GRANVILLE SHARP.
APPENDIX, (No. 10.)
CASE,
Prerogative Court, May
11th, 1773. CAY and CRICHTON.
—A. B. deceased,
in
1769, among other effects, left behind him a
negroe servant.
CRICHTON, the executor, was called upon by CAY, to give in an
inventory
of the deceased's
goods and chattels,
which he accordingly did, but omitted the
negroe.
This omission
was made a ground of exception to the inventory, as being, therefore, not
perfect.
UPON argument, it was said by the council on behalf of
Crichton,
that by a very late case in the King's Bench, of
Knowles
(a) Knowles
was the master of the ship who detained
Somerset,
by order of Mr.
Stewart,
who claimed the latter as his
property.
and Somerset,
negroes were declared
to be free in England,
and consequently, they could not be the subjects of
property,
or be considered as any part of a personal estate.
IT was answered, that the case abovementioned was determined only in 1772; that A. B. died in 1769, at which time negrees were in some respects, considered as property, and therefore that he ought to have been included in the account,
THE judge (Dr.
Hay,
) said that this court had no right to try any question relating to freedom and slavery; but as
Negroes
had been
declared free
by the court which had the proper jurisdiction, that determination referred to them, as well at the preceeding time, as at the present, and therefore directed, that article, in which the
negroe
was mentioned, to be struck out of the
exceptive allegation.
APPENDIX, (No. 11.)
High Court of Admiralty, before Sir
Geo. Hay,
Knt. L.L.D.
June, 29, 1776.
CASE.
ROGERS,
alias
RIGGES
against
JONES.
Dr.
Wynne
Dr.
Bever
Proctor Torriano.
Dr.
Harris
Dr.
Calvert
Proctor Holman.
GEORGE ROGERS alias RIGGES, a negro about nineteen years of age, had been a servant to several gentlemen in
England,
and in the summer of 1766, being then out of place, became acquainted with
John Latter
and
John Sessins,
who contracted with
Arthur Jones
for the sale of him; an assignment was accordingly drawn for that purpose, and signed by
John Latter,
by which
Rogers
was transferred to Messrs.
Mason
and
Jones,
as a slave, for the sum of twelve guineas.
SOME time in August, 1766, after the sale above mentioned,
Rogers,
under some false pretences, was carried on board the ship
Britannia,
then lying at
Deptford,
of which Messrs.
Mason
and
Jones
were owners, was there detained against his will, and that hemight not escape, was carried down into the sail room, by order of the chief mate, and the gratings were put upon him. In this confinement he was kept, till the ship set sail, when he was released, and suffered to go about upon deck; but not being entered in the ship's books as a mariner, nor having any particular office, or wages assigned to him, he was set to work about the ship's duty in general till he was appointed as an assistant to the cook, which office he executed sometimes as assistant, and sometimes as principal cook, during the whole voyage. The ship first sailed to the coast of
Africa,
on the SLAVE TRADE, and from thence to
Porto Rico,
where he was offered to sale, by the captain of the
Britannia,
as a prime slave; but
Rogers
having found an opportunity of relating his story to the
Spanish
merchants, they refused to purchase him; he therefore returned with the ship, in which he still acted in his former capacity of assistant cook; and upon their arrival in the port of
London,
in
May
1768, when the other mariners were paid and discharged, he was still detained on board against his will.
HERE he continued for some time, till he contrived to give the officers the slip, and by the assistance and advice of some friends, went to
Doctors Commons,
and applied to Mr.
Faulckner,
a proctor, to put him in a way of recovering his wages, or some other recompence for his labour. Mr.
Faulckner
accordingly wrote to
Arthur Jones,
one of the owners, for that purpose; and
Rogers
being appointed likewise to meet
Jones
at the proctor's office, was waiting at a public house, in
Doctors Commons,
till sent for; when
Jones, Seffins,
and another man, came into the house, forced
Rogers
into a coach, conveyed him back, and forced him on board another ship, where he was chained to the mainmast, till he was released by the deputymarshal of the High Court of Admiralty, with the assistance of Mr.
Shea,
one of his old masters, and some other friends, who had obtained a warrant to take him out of his confinement.
SEVERAL reasons prevented his applying for redress of these injuries, till the beginning of the year 1774, when Mr.
Torriano
was employed to commence an action against
Arthur Jones,
as one of the owners, for the purpose of recovering the usual wages, or some other recompence in lieu thereof.
AFTER the usual proceedings, the cause was brought for hearing on June, 29, 1776; when the facts being all clearly proved as above stated, the principal question was,—
How far the plea of SLAVERY, set up by the defendant, could be admitted in bar of the demand of wages?
IT was insisted on by the counsel on behalf of
Rogers,
that the kind of slavery, here spoken of, never had any existence under the laws of
England;
and in support of that, referred to the well known Case of
Knowles
and
Somerset,
before lord
Mansfield;
and likewise to a late one in the PREROGATIVE COURT, of
Cay
and
Crichton.
THE counsel for the defendant argued, that, till the case of
Somerset,
the law of
England
admitted slavery; and in support of this, they quoted the authority of Lord Chief Justice
Hale;
and, in particular, the opinions of the Lords
Talbot
and
Hardwick.
THE Decree of the Court thereupon was, in substance, as follows.
THERE are two principal points in this cause;
(said the Judge)
1st.
Whether such a service is proved (as stated in the summary Petition) as to entitle the plaintiff to the wages demanded? and
2dly.
Whether the plea of slavery shall be a sufficient bar to the claim?
With regard to the
FIRST,
it appears by the fullest evidence, that the plaintiff had served on board the ship, either in the capacity of assistant to the cook, or as cook himself, during the greatest part of the voyage, and consequently was entitled to some recompence for his services; but not being entered as a mariner in the ship's book, nor having any stipulated wages assigned him, it being probable that the owners meant to sell him again in the West Indies, he cannot be allowed any specific sum under the name of
WAGES;
but as be certainly performed the duty to which he was assigned, without any objection to his behaviour in it, the maritime law clearly gives him a
QUANTUM MERUIT.
The cook's wages appear to have been
£1. 5
s.
6
d. per Month, which is more than
Rogers,
mast probably, could fairly deserve. But upon inspection of the mariners contract, it appears that there were several negroe boys in the same ship, in the quality of apprentices, who were allowed from
10
s. to
17
s. and
6
d. per month;
he signified his opinion therefore,
that
Rogers
might fairly deserve
15
s. per month,
which he accordingly decreed him, from the time of his being first carried on board.
With regard to the
SECOND
point, it was urged
(said the judge)
that the plaintiff was a
SLAVE,
and consequently was not entitled to any reward for his service at all.
The practice of buying and selling slaves
(the learned judge remarked)
was certainly very common in
England,
before the case of
SOMERSET,
in the Court of King's Bench,
1772,
but however it might have been the law of the Royal Exchange,
he hoped,
it never was the law of
England.
The
OPINIONS
of lord
Hardwicke,
and lord
Talbot,
when Attorney and Solicitor general, have been quoted in support of this practice, and have formerly given too much countenance to it, though they seemed originally to have been only applied to the difference created by baptism.
But by a late determination of one of the ablest judges that ever presided in this kingdom, these opinions have been held to be mistaken and unsound; and there can be no further doubt, that the claim of
SLAVERY
is not maintainable by the laws of
England.
The law therefore was the same before the time of the above opinions, as since; and, consequently, refers to all sales whatsoever of this nature; which are every one illegal: and therefore the pretended sale in the present case, in
1766,
was an absolute nullity; and when the allegation, stating the sale, was admitted on behalf of the owners, had
Rogers
appeared, under protest, upon this point of law, it would have been received in bar of the plea!
The owners seem to have acted upon a mistaken notion of their right; but as the claim of slavery is clearly against the law of this country, and as it appeared that
Rogers
had always acted in some useful capacity during the whole time of his having been on board,
the judge said, he thought
him entitled to a
QUANTUM MERUIT
for his service,
—which he accordingly fixed as above; and condemned the owners in costs; which were immediately taxed to the amount of £81. 11
s.
0
d.
APPENDIX, (No. 12.)
From the General Evening Post, No. 6033.
June
13th, 1772.
To the Editor of the
General Evening Post.
SIR,
AS the great cause depending between Mr.
Stuart,
and
Somerset,
the negro, is at present one of the principal topics of general conversation, by inserting the following you will afford a seasonable and rational entertainment to your readers. I am your's, &c.
Extract of a letter from a person in
Maryland,
to his friend in
Philadelphia.
I am so happy as to think as you do, with regard to trading in man, or keeping him a slave. The custom is wicked and iniquitous, neither consistent with reason, or the laws of God or man. Poor unhappy slaves, particularly those forced from their places of nativity, are most certainly deplorable objects of commiseration. I never bought more than two during twenty years residence here. One proved to be the son of an African Prince; he was a most comely youth: having observed his uncommon good parts, I sent him to school, and used him like a free man during his stay with me. The directors of the African Company having enquired, and offered a reward for him, I by a public act presented the poor creature with his freedom, gave him an order for the reward aforesaid, and sent him to London; from whence the following year he remitted me the same sum he cost me, and sundry rich goods to the amount of three hundred pounds and upwards, and therewith a letter in his own native language, translated by Dr. Desaguillier, of Cambridge.
The next I purchased was an unhappy lad, kidnapped from his free parents at the taking of Guadaloupe. During his stay with me he decayed or pined so much, and expressed so sensible a sorrow of cruel separation from his aged parents, relations, and countrymen, that actuated by the unerring good providence which directs us in all our good deeds, I likewise set this poor creature free, and sent him to his native place. Providence again would not excuse my being further rewarded, for performing this my duty as a Christian. The truly honest father, from the produce of his plantations, has made me presents to the amount of fifty pounds sterling, with direction to draw upon him for the full cost of the poor youth, which I do never intend, being more than paid by presents
I write this to convince you that the inhabitants of Africa are not such senseless brutish creatures as thoughtless authors represent them to be: they undoubtedly are capable of receiving instruction, and far out-do Christians in many commendable virtues. Poor creatures! their greatest unhappiness is being acquainted with
Christians.
The worthy and benevolent writer must mean such
Christians
only as those, who carry out with them nothing of that most amiable profession of religion but
the name,
to the '
ship-wrack,
' of their own souls, and to the disgrace of their native country, if that also is called
Christian!
The following is a letter from the Negro Prince, some time after he arrived at
London,
to his master in
Maryland.
Translated by Dr.
Desaguillier,
of
Cambridge,
1743.
From the great city, 3d moon after my release.
O my kind merciful master, my good white brother, too good, a very good son of a good woman, and of a very good old man, created good old people by the GREAT SPIRIT, who made my country, thy poor (I should say heretofore poor) most grateful black prisoner, now rendered rich by thy goodness and mercy, is now most dead, most drunk, most mad with joy! Why is he so? because he is going to his good warm country, to his good old mother, to his good old father, to his little sister and his brother. In my good warm country all things are good, except the white people who live there, and come in flying houses to take away poor black prisoners from their mothers, their fathers, their sisters and brothers, to kill them with hunger and filth, in the cellars of their flyinghouses, wherein if they do not die fast enough, and poor prisoners talk for bread and water, and want to feel the wind, and to see THE GREAT SPIRIT, to complain to him, to tell him all, or to see the trees of his good warm country once more for the last time, the King of the white people [
prabably the negro meant the captain
] orders the officer called Jack, to kill many of the black prisoners, with whips, with ropes, knives, axes and salt. The governor of thy flying house has been to shew that which is to carry me and him to my good warm country; I am glad, very glad indeed! He goes there with wine. Should he be sick, (and white people seldom escape being so there,) because of thee my kind merciful master, and good white brother, and because he has been good to me, and is a very good white man too, I will nurse him myself, my mother, my father, my little sister, and my brother, shall be his brother, his mother, his father, and his sister too; he shall have one large heap of elephants teeth and gold, for thee my kind merciful master, and kind brother, and one for himself also (but smaller.) He at present is my father, I eat at his house, and lie there too upon the bed thou presented me with. His woman is my mother, and kindly nurses me, being very sick of the sea and fire made of black stones. I have received a great quantity of gold, besides what thou did present me with by means of thy hand writing, to the people who are to send me to my country, some part whereof I have given to the governor of thy swimming-house, to be sent to thee; had I an houseful should send the whole with equal pleasure; however, thou shalt see hereafter, that black people are not beasts, and do know how to be grateful. After thou my kind merciful master and good white brother left me in thy swiming-house, we, thy white people, and we thy grateful black prisoners, were by the GREAT SPIRIT, who was angry with us, sent by the wind into an immense great river, where we had like to have been drowned, and where we could see neither sun nor moon, for six days and nights. I was dying during one whole moon, the governor was my father, and gave me those good things thou presented me with on my bed, he lodged me in the little room thy carpenter built for me. Thou gave me more cloaths than I could carry, yet I was very cold; nothing availed with poor black prisoner, till at last having THE GREAT SPIRIT to send me safe to thy house on shore, I thought I was carried there, [
this appears to have been a dream
] where thou my good white brother did use me with wonted goodness, spake to THE GREAT SPIRIT, and TO HIS SON, that I might keep so during the voyage and afterwards, which they have done for thy sake; they will always do me good because of thee my good white brother; therefore my kind merciful master, do not forget thy poor black prisoner. When thou dost speak to THE GREAT SPIRIT and TO HIS SON, I do know he will hear thee, I shall never be sick more, for which I shall be thankful. Pray speak for my good old mother, my good father, my little sister, and my brother; I wish they may be healthy, to many very many moons, as many as the hairs on thy head; I love them all much, yet I think not so much as I do thee, I could die in my country for thee, could I do thee any kindness. Indeed THE GREAT SPIRIT well knows I mean no lie, shall always speak to him for thy good, believe me my good white brother, thy poor black prisoner is not a liar.
Dgiagola, son of Dgiagola, Prince of Foal,
The country, here called FOAT, is probably named (the sound being nearly the same) from PHUT, the third son of
Ham;
concerning whom, and his descendants in the interior part of
Africa,
particular mention is made in Mr.
Bryant
's letter, on the descent of the negroes. See Appendix, No. 4. pages 48 to 52: or perhaps it may mean
the very country upon the river Gambia on one side,
which (as Mr.
Bryant
informs us from
Bluet) 'is at this day called
PHUTA.' See p. 50.
Africa.
INDEX OF Texts referred to in the foregoing Work.
GENESIS.
Chap.
Verses.
Pages.
ix.
28.
47 n.
x.
5, 6.
App. 48.
EXODUS.
xxi.
2.
57 n.
 
5, 6.
15.
xxiii.
9.
7, 41.
xxxiv.
11, 12.
4 n.
LEVITICUS.
xviii.
 
4, 12.
xix.
18.
App. 24.
 
33, 34.
6, 9, 42.
xxv.
44 to 46.
3, 26, 65,
 
39 to 43.
16.
 
39 to 46.
App. 18, 25.
NUMBERS.
xxxi.
17.
11 n.
xxxiii.
55, 56.
12 n.
DEUTERONOMY.
Chap.
Verses.
Pages.
vii.
1.
8.
 
2.
11 n.
 
16.
5, 11 n.
 
23, 24.
5 n.
ix.
5.
12 n.
x.
17 to 19.
6, 43.
xv.
3.
App. 23.
 
12.
56.
 
12 to 14.
63.
 
15.
7.
 
18.
65.
xx.
16.
10 n.
xxiii.
15, 16.
49, 54.
 
19.
App. 23.
xxv.
19.
11.
II CHRONICLES.
xiv.
9.
22 n.
xvi.
8.
22.
JOB.
xxxi
38 to 40.
60, 61.
PSALMS.
lxviii.
31.
22, 24.
PROVERBS.
xiv.
34.
App. 15.
JEREMIAM.
xiii.
23.
App. 44.
xxii.
13.
60.
xxxi.
29.
App. 11.
EZEKIEL.
xviii.
3, 4, 20.
App. 11.
Chap.
Verses.
Pages.
viii.
7, 8.
15 n.
HABAKKUK.
i.
13.
App. 15.
iii.
7.
App. 52.
ECCLESIASTICUS.
xxxiv.
22.
61.
MATTHEW.
v.
44, 45.
39.
vii.
12.
42, 45.
 
 
App. 8.
 
23.
67.
xix.
8, 9.
App. 22.
xxiv.
30.
21.
xxv.
34 to 46.
37, 38.
 
40.
21, 67.
 
12.
67.
xxviii.
19.
18.
LUKE.
iv.
18.
App. 14.
x.
7.
59.
ACTS.
viii.
27, 28.
24.
 
27.
App. 11.
x.
34.
App. 11.
ROMANS.
viii.
17.
20.
I CORINTHIANS.
iii.
16, 17.
19.
vi.
19, 20.
19.
vii.
22, 23.
App. 35, 36.
GALATIANS.
Chap.
Verses.
Pages.
iv.
5, 6, 7.
19.
v.
14.
42.
EPHESIANS.
iii.
6.
19.
COLOSSIANS.
iv.
1.
62.
 
7, 9.
App. 35.
I THESSALONIANS.
iii.
13.
21.
PHILEMON.
The Intention of the whole Epistle considered as far as it relates to Onesimus.
App. 31 to 38.
JAMES.
v.
3, 4.
58.
II PETER.
i.
3, 4.
20.
JUDE.
xiv.
15.
21.
REVELATIONS.
i.
7.
21.
xiv.
6.
41.
INDEX.
A.
ADMIRALTY, report of a Determination against
Slavery
in the Admiralty Court before Sir George Hay, in the Case of
Rogers,
alias
Rigges,
against
Jones, App.
75. 79.
Africa, the Gospel of Christ received there earlier than in Europe, 21. The antiquity and purity of the church of Habassinia, 23. Early councils assembled there, 24. Lamentable apostasy of the African church, the cause of the present barbarous ignorance which now prevails there, 26. This Example cited by Abp. Sharp as a Warning to Britain, 44,
note.
All the inhabitants of, assuredly the descendants of Ham,
App.
48.
African Merchant, the justification of slavery from the Mosaic law, by a writer under that name, examined, 3. Prince, letter from, to his master in Maryland,
App.
90.
Africans, their descent inquired into, 48. See
Negroes.
America, a proposal for the gradual enfranchifement of negro slaves there,
App.
57.
Aristotle, his argument in justification of slavery refuted, 27,
note.
B.
Barbadoes, the killing of negroes there, only punished by a fine, 33.
Beattie, Dr. his examination of Aristotle on the subject of slavery, and of Mr. Hume on the mental inferiority of negroes, 27,
note.
Benevolence, universal, the distinguishing characteristic of Christianity,
App.
28.
Bishops, numerous Assemblies of them in the Ecclesiastical Synods of Africa, 24, 25.
Blackwell, Dr. his definition of liberty,
App.
13.
Bond-servants among the Israelites, who might legally be made so, 3. The law of, repealed by the Gospel, 46.
Brethren, all mankind connected under the idea of, by our Christian obligations, 40. It is inconsistent with Christianity that any of them should be slaves,
App.
33.
Bryant, Mr. his letter to the Author concerning the descent of the negroes,
App.
47.
C.
Canaan, falsely reputed the Father of the African negroes, 47, 48.
Candid Reflections
upon the Judgement lately awarded by the Court of King's Bench, &c. on the Negroe Cause. The Author of a Book so entitled, convicted of
uncandid Reflections, App.
69 to 71.
Cave, Dr. his Account of the great Ecclesiastical Synods in Africa cited, 24, 25.
Cay and Crichton, report of the case of, in the Prerogative Court,
App.
77.
Charity, Christian, is not to be partial in its objects,
App.
28.
Christianity, the benevolent spirit of, totally inconsistent with the tyrannical claims of slaveholding, 17. Negroes, as well as the rest of mankind, included under the Gospel dispensation, 19. Connects all the human race under the idea of brethren, 40. None of the Levitical Laws can justify slavery under, 41.
Chusim, the usual Name for
Negroes
in the Old Testament, 22. See also Letters on the Descent of the Negroes,
App.
44. 47.
Congress, American, their prohibition of the importation of slaves, should be followed by the gradual emancipation of those now in the country,
App.
56.
Councils, Christian, a list of those held in Africa during the third and fourth centuries, 24.
D.
Dgiagola, Prince of
Foat,
released from Slavery by his Master in Maryland,
App.
88. His grateful Letter for that favour translated by Dr. Desaguillier,
App.
90.
Desaguillier, see above.
E.
Elegy on the miserable state of an African slave, by Mr. Shenstone,
App.
39.
Emancipation of slaves, in the Colonies, a comparative view of the different modes of,
App.
16. This work remains to be done by the American Congress,
App.
56.
Estwick, Mr. his report of the late Judgement in the Court of King's Benech by Lord Mansfield, in the Case of
Somerset
and
Knowles, App.
65. His own Remarks thereupon,
App.
69. Answered by other Remarks on that Judgement,
App.
72.
Ethiopians, received the Christian faith before the Europeans, 21. Their descent traced, 22,
note.
F.
Foot,
a Region in Africa, probably the same that is called
Phuta
from
Phut
the Son of Ham,
App.
93.
H.
Habassinia, Church of, remains a Monument of Christianity among the Sons of Ham, 23.
Habeas Corpus Act. Severity thereof against those who attempt to carry away any person by force out of this Kingdom,
App.
76.
Ham, the common father of all the inhabitants of Africa,
App.
48.
Havanna, regulations adopted by the Spaniards there, for the gradual enfranchisement of negroes,
App.
54.
Hay, Sir George. See Admiralty and Prerogative Court.
Heathen, under the Mosaic law, who were implied by that term, 3. Were devoted to destruction for their abominable vices, 4. Distinguished from
strangers,
5. The bondage they were doomed to, not to be excluded from the benevolence of Christians, 39.
Hume, Mr. his opinion of the mental inferiority of Negroes, controverted by Dr. Beattie, 28,
note.
I.
Jews, were by the Mosaic law permitted to make bond servants or slaves of the Heathen, 3. And why, 4. Were commanded to treat strangers kindly, 6. Over whom their legal power of bondage extended, 8. Their national privileges not to be claimed by any other people, 10. The limitations under which they might hold their brethren in bondage, 14. Such bond brethren were to be generously assisted on dismission, 56. Their constitutions not strictly consistent with the law of nature as asserted by Mr. Thompson,
App.
19. Instances of contrariety,
App.
21.
Infidelity of the present age, so many proofs of our growing apostasy from the Christian Religion, 26,
note.
K.
King's Bench, report of a Determination in that Court before Lord Mansfield
against Slavery,
in the Case of
Somerset
and
Knowles,
or
Stewart, App.
65. Remarks on that Determination, ditto 69. A Defence of, ditto, ditto, 72.
L.
Labourer always worthy of his hire, 59.
Law of England, both common and statute, not to contradict the laws of God, 55.
Letter, from an African prince to his master in Maryland,
App.
90.
Liberty, the universality of, asserted by Mr. Otis,
App.
9. Definition of,
App.
13.
Lutholf, his account of the antiquity and purity of the church of Habassinia cited, 23,
note.
M.
Mansfield, Lord, the substance of his speech in the case of Somerset and Knowles,
App.
65. Remarks on it,
App.
69. See King's Bench Court.
Maryland, account of the cruel treatment of the negroes and convict slaves there,
App.
42.
Mason and Jones,
App.
80.
Mauritania, how first peopled,
App.
49.
Mercator, the pleas in behalf of slavery by the writer under this title, refuted, 47.
Monthly Review, considerations on negroe slavery extracted from, 3.
Morgan, Mr. extract from his Plan for the abolition of slavery in the West Indies,
App.
62.
Mosaic law, how far, and on what account, slavery was tolerated under it, 3. The benevolent treatment of strangers strongly inculcated by, 6. Will not justify slavery under the Christian dispensation, 41. Is superseded by it, 46. Not strictly consistent with the law of nature, as asserted by Mr. Thompson,
App.
19. Instances of contrariety,
App.
21.
N.
Negroes, the enslaving of, not to be justified from the Mosaic law, 8. Are branded by their masters with hot irons, 15,
note.
Are equally intitled to the promises of God in the Gospel, with the rest of mankind, 19. Received the Christian faith before the Europeans, 21. Dr. Beattie's defence of, against the insinuations of Mr. Hume, 28,
note.
Their murder compounded for by money in Barbadoes, 33. One advertised for in London, and described by a brass collar like a dog, 35. Are not treated according to the Christian law of doing as we would be done by, 43. Are treated like cattle, 45. Not descended from Canaan, 47, 48. also
App.
12. Rewards offered by our Colony laws for killing them when they run away, 50. Their different treatment in England and America inconsistent with reason, law, and religion,
App.
7. Ought to be emancipated,
App.
12. Examination into the most prudent means of emancipation,
App.
16. Their cruel treatment in Maryland,
App.
42. Queries respecting the descent of them,
App.
44. Reply to,
App.
47 Regulations adopted by the Spaniards for the enfranchisement of,
App.
54. A Proposal for the gradual enfranchisement of the British American slaves,
App.
57. May thus be converted into free peasants,
App.
60. Natural tendency of our retaining them in slavery,
App.
62. Remarks on the judgement of the Court of King's Bench in the case of Somerset,
App.
72.
Neighbours, all mankind intitled to be esteemed so, under the Christian dispensation, 40.
O.
Onesimus, in what sense he was recommended back to his former master Philemon by St. Paul,
App.
31. Was then a minister of the Gospel,
App.
34,
note.
Became bishop of Ephesus,
App.
37,
note.
Otis, Mr. asserts the universality of liberty,
App.
9.
P.
Palestine, the seven nations of, the only
strangers
whom the Jews were permitted to hold in absolute slavery, 8.
Paul, St. his Exhortation to Slaves to continue in the State in which they were called, affords no Argument for slavery,
App.
6. Is vindicated from Mr. Thompson's charge of justifying slavery,
App.
31.
Philemon. St. Paul's Epistle to him considered,
App.
31—38. See Oncsimus.
Planters, American, their pleas for slavery invalidated, 59.
Prerogative Court, report of a Determination in that Court before Dr. Hay against
Slavery,
in the Case of
Cay
and
Crichton, App.
75.77.
Proposal by the Author for the gradual enfranchisement of negroe slaves in America,
App.
57.
R.
Reports of Determinations in the several Courts of Law against
Slavery,
viz. King's Bench,
App.
65. Admiralty Court, ditto 79. Prerogative Court, ditto 77.
Retribution, Law of, referred to,
App.
30.
Rogers, alias Rigges, against Jones, report of the case of, in the high court of Admiralty,
App.
79.
S.
Saracens, query relating to their descent,
App.
50,
note.
Servants, fugitive, how treated in the British Colonies, 50, 51. Comparison between their case and that of negroe slaves, 52,
note.
Sharp, Abp. his warning to England by the example of God's Judgements against the Africans, 44,
note.
Shenstone, Mr. his elegy on the miserable state of an African slave,
App.
39.
Slavery, is not to be justified by any of the Levitical laws under the Christian dispensation, 41. Considerations on, from the Monthly Review,
App.
3. No positive law in favour of, either in England or America,
App.
8.
Slaves, who might legally be made so by the Israelites, 3. Are branded with hot irons in the British plantations, 15,
note.
The killing of them compounded for by act of assembly at Barbadoes, 33. One advertised for and described by a brass collar like a dog, 35. The holders of, cannot be real christians, 38. How treated on running away, by our American laws, 50. Examination into the most prudent means of emancipating,
App.
16.
Somerset
and
Knowles.
Case of, see King's Bench.
Spaniards, regulations adopted by, for the gradual enfranchisement of negroes,
App.
54.
Strangers, benevolence toward, strongly enjoined by the Mosaic law, 6. 41. The parable of the good Samaritan teaches Christians to consider all men as neighbours,
App.
24.
T.
Theophylact, Abp. his plea for slavery on the authority of St. Paul, refuted,
App.
32,
note.
Thompson, Rev. Mr. examination of his defence of the negroe slave trade,
App.
18.
W.
Wages, always due for labour, 59. Are decreed by the high court of Admiralty to a negroe slave,
App.
83.
FINIS.
By the same
AUTHOR.
Printed for B. WHITE, at Horace's Head, in Fleet-Street.
I. A Short Treatise on the English Tongue. Being an Attempt to render the Reading and Pronunciation of the same more easy to Foreigners. 1767.
II. Remarks on several very important Prophecies. 1st Edition 1768. 2d Edition 1775.
III. A Representation of the Injustice and dangerous Tendency of Tolerating Slavery; or of admitting the least Claim of Private Property in the Persons of Men
in England.
Being in Answer to an Opinion given in the Year 1729, by the (then) Attorney General and Solicitor General concerning the Case of Slaves in
Great Britain.
1769.
IV. Remarks concerning the Encroachments on the River Thames near
Durham Yard.
1771.
V. An Appendix to the Representation of the Injustice and dangerous Tendency of
Tolerating Slavery,
&c. 1772.
VI. Remarks on the Opinions of some of the most celebrated Writers on CROWN LAW, respecting the due Distinction between
Manslaughter
and
Murder.
1773.
VII. In Two Parts. 1. A Declaration of the Peoples
Natural Right
to a Share in the Legislature; which is the fundamental Principle of
the British Constitution of State.
2. A Declaration, or Defence of
the same Doctrine,
when applied
particularly to
THE PEOPLE OF IRELAND. 1774.
The following
TRACTS
by the same
AUTHOR, Printed for B. WHITE, at Horace's Head, Fleet-Street, and E. and C. DILLY in the Poultry.
VIII.
The Law of passive Obedience;
or, Christian Submission to personal Injuries.—Wherein is shewn that the several Texts of Scripture which command the entire Submission of
Servants
or
Slaves
to their
Masters,
cannot authorize the latter to exact an
involuntary Servitude:
and also that the several Texts which enjoin
Submission
to
Rulers
and
Magistrates,
do not justify the dangerous Doctrine of an
unlimited passive Obedience.
1776.
IX.
"The Law of Liberty;"
or (as it is called in Scripture
by way of eminence
) "the
Royal Law,
" by which
all Mankind
will certainly
be judged!
1776.
X. The Law of Retribution; or a serious Warning to
Great Britain
and her
Colonies,
founded on unquestionable Examples of GOD's temporal Vengeance against Tyrants, Slave-holders, and Oppressors. The Examples are selected from Predictions in the Old Testament of
national
Judgements, which (being compared with their actual Accomplishment) demonstrate "the sure Word of Prophecy," as well as the immediate Interposition of divine Providence, to recompence impenitent
Nations
according to their Works. 1776.
Now in the Press for Publication, by B. WHITE, in Fleet-Street, and E. and C. DILLY, in the Poultry.
I. A Tract
on the Law of Nature,
and Principles of Action in Man.
II THE CASE OF SAUL; being an Appendage to the former Tract, wherein the
compound Nature
and various
Principles of Action in
MAN (with the Reality of
supernatural, spiritual Influence,
both
good
and
bad
) are proved by unquestionable Examples from the History of that unfortunate Monarch, and also from many other parts of Scripture.