be otherwise, for it was a mode of proceeding which resulted from causes of sure and universal operation. Mr. Hume has clearly proved the truth of this position, in his celebrated Essay on the popoulousness of ancient nations; and he himself, after stating why the buying system had been preferred among the ancients, applies the reasoning to our TransAtlantic colonies, and speaks of the confirmation which his doctrine receives, from the maxims of our planters, as a known and acknowledged fact.* From the operation of similar causes, buying rather than breeding Slaves became the general policy, among the nations of antiquity; and hence it will infallibly continue the general policy in the West Indies, so long as a Slave market remains for a purchaser's supply.

open

Will not they, who might hesitate to adopt this position, be disposed at least to deem it probable, when they hear, that, notwithstanding all the steps which have been taken, for so many years, towards the abolition of the Slave Trade; even yet, the price of women Slaves continues, as it has always been, inferior to that of men. This is the more curious, because our opponents have uniformly

* Vide Hume's Essays, vol. i. page 407. Edinb, 1777. Cadell.

alleged

alleged their not having a due proportion of females, as a primary cause of their not keeping up their numbers. It is obvious, that this is a cause which could, at the utmost, only exist among the imported Africans, and that there would be the usual proportion of males and females among the Slaves born in the islands, which, in all but the new settlements, constitute beyond all comparison the bulk of the Black population. What then can shew more clearly, that the planters do not, even yet, set themselves in earnest to produce an increase by breeding, than that, under an exaggerated impression of the effects of importing a too small proportion of females, and with a probability, at least, of abolition before their eyes, they suffer it to continue the interest of the Slave merchant, in preference to bring over males.

West Indian

Insufficient

I must begin my enumeration of the abuses Vices of the of the West Indian system, by mentioning systeminsufficient feeding. It must be granted, feeding. indeed, that in this particular, the Slaves are very differently circumstanced in different islands. In the larger island of Jamaica, for instance, and in Dominica, wherein the Slaves can be chiefly fed by provisions produced on the estate, their quantity of food is far more ample than in those islands where the land

is so valuable, that little or none of it can be spared for this service; where also the droughts are so frequent and great, that the Negroes own provision grounds furnish but a very precarious and scanty supply. It might be sufficient to mention, that the allowance of provisions alleged to have been commonly given to the working Slaves, in most of the Leeward Islands, was not above half the quantity which, by an act of Assembly, lately passed in Jamaica, was required to be given to such runaway Slaves as, having been taken up, were lodged in prison till they could be returned to their masters. A prison allowance is not meant to be such as will pamper the body; yet double the food given in the former case to the working Negroes, was prescribed for a Slave in prison, who had nothing to do. I might also mention that acknowledged truth, that during the five or six months of crop time, when the labour is the most severe, the Slaves uniformly become much stouter and fatter, from the nourishment derived from the cane juice.

But as time will not allow me to prove the point completely, let me abstain from an imperfect enumeration of arguments, and satisfy myself with affirming, that I am fully warranted by the very respectable authority

just

just now alluded to, in placing insufficient feeding among the general vices of the West Indian system; though in Jamaica, and in some of the other islands, the lands allotted to the Slaves for raising their food is sufficient, had they but time enough for working it. * I will

only

*The professional Planter's own words well deserve to be inserted: "For I aver it boldly, melancholy ex"perience having given me occasion to make the re"mark, that a great number of Negroes have perished "annually by diseases produced by inanition. To be "convinced of this truth, let us trace the effect of that "system, which assigned, for a Negro's weekly allow

ance, six or seven pints of flour, or grain, with as "many salt herrings; and it is in vain to conceal what

we all know to be true, that in many of the islands "they did not give more. With so scanty a pittance, "it is indeed possible for the soul and body to be held "together a considerable portion of time, provided a "man's only business be to live, and his spirits be hus"banded with a frugal hand; but if motion short of larbour, much more labour itself, and that too intense, "be exacted from him, how is the body to support it"self."-" Their attempts to wield the hoe prove abortive, they shrink from their toil, and, being urged to perseverance by stripes, you are soon obliged to re"ceive them into the hospital, whence, unless your plan be speedily corrected, they depart but to the grave. It may possibly be urged in palliation of this "practice, that in cases of such skort allowance as I "have mentioned above, Negroes do not depend upon "that solely for their subsistence, but that they derive "considerable aid from little vacant spots on the estate, "which they are allowed to cultivate on their own ac

66

"count.

Defects in

point of

lodging.

only remark farther, that in America, where' the Slaves increase so rapidly, the quantity of food allowed to the Negroes was vastly greater than the largest West Indian allowance.

Clothing and lodging are, in the West clothing and Indian climate, less important particulars ; yet in them too there is room for improvement, as there is also in the point of medical care. Overworking is a still more important hindrance, in which perhaps the excess in the continuance of the labour, is more injurious than in its intensity. And here I might call

Overwork

ing.

in

"count. Though frequently otherwise, this may some"times be the case; yet even there it is to be observed, "that such spots, in the low-land plantations, are ca"pable of producing only for a part of the year, either

through the drought of the season or the sterility of "the soil, and when that happens, the Negro is again " at his short allowance; and having no honest means "of ekeing it out, to make it square with the demands "of nature, he is compelled to pilfer."-The writer. goes on to state, that the delinquent, extending his thefts, is detected and apprehended, is severely whipped and chained, and confined; but as neither chains nor stripes, nor confinement, can extinguish hunger, he returns, when released, to the same practices, till, partly from the discipline, partly from scanty nourishment, and colds from exposure during his desertion, he, ten to one, falls into a distempered habit, which soon hurries him out of the world. The close is very remarkable, "Now. "this was set down as a vicious incorrigible subject, "and his death is deemed a beneficial release to the "estate."