Baxters Directions to Slave-Holders, Notes
NOTES ON THE SLAVE TRADE.
IT may not be neceſſary to repeat what has been ſo fully declared in ſeveral modern publications, of the inconſiſtence of ſlavery with every right of mankind, with every feeling of humanity, and every precept of Chriſtianity; nor to point out its inconſiſtency with the welfare, peace and proſperity of every country, in proportion as it prevails; what grievous ſufferings it brings on the poor NEGROES; but more eſpecially what a train of fatal vices it produces in their lordly oppreſſors and their unhappy offſpring. Nevertheleſs for the ſake of ſome who have not met with, or fully conſidered thoſe former publications, and in hopes that ſome who are ſtill active in ſupport of ſlavery may be induced to conſider their ways, and become more wiſe, the following ſubſtance of an addreſs or expoſtulation made by a ſenſible Author, to the ſeveral ranks of perſons moſt immediately concerned in the trade, is now republiſhed.
"And firſt, to the Captains employed in this trade. Moſt of you know the country of Guinea, perhaps now by your means, part of it is become a dreary uncultivated wilderneſs; the inhabitants being murdered or carried away, ſo that there are few left to till the ground; but you know, or have heard, how populous, how fruitful, how pleaſant it was a few years ago. You know the people were not ſtupid, not wanting in ſenſe, conſidering the few means of improvement they enjoyed. Neither did you find them ſavage, treacherous, or unkind to ſtrangers. On the contrary they were in moſt parts a ſenſible and ingenious people; kind and friendly, and generally juſt in their dealings. Such are the men whom you hire their own countrymen to tear away from this lovely country; part by ſtealth, part by force, part made captives in thoſe wars which you raiſe or foment on purpoſe. You have ſeen them torn away, children from their parents, parents from their children: Huſbands from their wives, wives from their beloved huſbands; brethren and ſiſters from each other. You have dragged them who had never done you any wrong, perhaps in chains, from their native ſhore. You have forced them into your ſhips, like an herd of ſwine,*The following relation is inſerted at the requeſt of the author. That I may contribute all in my power towards the good of mankind, by inſpiring any of its individuals with a ſuitable abhorrence for that deteſtable practice of trading in our fellow creatures, and in ſome meaſure attone for my neglect of duty as a chriſtian, in engaging in a wicked traffic, I offer to their ſerious conſideration, ſome few occurrences of which I was an eye witneſs. That being ſtruck with the wretched and affecting ſcene they may foſter that humane principle, which is the noble and diſtinguiſhed characteriſtic of man. About the year 1749; I ſailed from Liverpool to the coaſt of Gainea, ſome time after our arrival, I was ordered to go up the country a conſiderable diſtance, upon having notice from one of the Negroe Kings, that he had a parcel of ſlaves to diſpoſe of, I received my inſtructions and went, carrying with me an account of ſuch goods we had on board, to exchange for the ſlaves we intended to purchaſe; upon being introduced, I preſented him with a ſmall caſe of ſpirits, a gun and ſome trifles, which having accepted. and underſtood by an interpreter what goods we had, the next day was appointed for viewing the Slaves; we found about two hundred confined in one place. But here how ſhall I relate the affecting fight I there beheld, the ſilent ſorrow which appeared in the countenance of the afflicted father, and the painful anguiſh of the tender mother, expecting to be forever ſeparated from their tender offspring; the diſtreſſed maid wringing her hands in preſage of her future wretchedneſs, and the general cry of the innocent, from a fearful apprehenſion of the perpetual Slavery to which they were doomed. I purchaſed eleven, who I conducted, tied two and two, to our ſhip. Being but a ſmall veſſel (ninety ton) we ſoon purchaſed our cargo, conſiſting of one hundred and ſeventy Slaves, whom thou may'ſt reader range in thy view, as they were ſhackled two and two together, pent up within the narrow confines of the main deck, with the complicated diſtreſs of ſickneſs, chains and contempt; deprived of every fond and ſocial tie and in a great meaſure reduced to a ſlave of deſperation. We had not been a fortnight at ſea, before the fatal conſequence of this deſpair appeared, they formed a deſign of recovering their natural right, Liberty, by raiſing and murdering every man on board; but the goodneſs of the Almighty rendered their ſcheme abortive, and his mercy ſpared us to have time to repent: The plot was diſcovered; the ring leader tied by the two thumbs over the barricado door, at ſun riſe received a number of laſhes; in this ſituation be remained till ſun-ſet, expoſed to the inſults and barbarity of the brutal crew of ſailers, with full leave to exerciſe their cruelty at pleaſure: The conſequence was, the next morning the miſerable ſufferer was found dead, fleed from the ſhoulders to the waiſt. The next victim was a youth, who from too ſtrong a ſenſe of his miſery refuſed nouriſhment and died diſregarded and unnoticed till the hogs had fed on part of his fleſh. them who had ſouls immortal as your own. You have ſtowed them together as cloſe as ever they could lie, without any regard to decency or conveniency—And when many of them had been poiſoned by ſoul air, or had ſunk under various hardſhips, you have ſeen their remains delivered to the deep, till the ſea ſhould give up his dead. You have carried the ſurvivors into the vileſt ſlavery, never to end but with life: Such ſlavery as is not found among the Turks at Algiers, no, nor among the heathens in America.
May I ſpeak plainly to you? I muſt. Love conſtrains me: Love to you, as well, as thoſe you are concerned with. Is there a God? You know there is. Is he a juſt God? Then there muſt be a ſtate of retribution: A ſtate wherein the juſt God will reward every man according to his work. Then what reward will he render to you. O think betimes! before you drop into eternity: Think how, He ſhall have judgment without mercy, that ſhewed no mercy. Are you a man? Then you ſhould have a human heart. But have you indeed? What is your heart made of? Is there no ſuch principle as compaſſion there? Do you never feel another's pain? Have you no ſympathy? No ſenſe of human woe? No pity for the miſerable? When you ſaw the flowing eyes, the heaving breſt, or the bleeding ſides and tortured limbs of your fellow-creatures. Was you a ſtone or a brute? Did you look upon them with the eyes of a tiger? When you ſqueezed the agonizing creatures down in the ſhip, or when you threw their poor mangled remains into the ſea, had you no relentings? Did not one tear drop from your eye, one ſigh eſcape from your breaſt? Do you feel no relenting now? If you do not, you muſt go on till the meaſure of your iniquities is full. Then will the great God deal with you, as you have dealt with them, and require all their blood at your hands. And at that day it ſhall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah than for you: But if your heart does relent; tho' in a ſmall degree, know it: is a call from the God of Love. And to-day, if you hear his voice, harden not your heart—To day reſolve, God being your helper to eſcape for your life—Regard not money: All that a man hath will he give for his life. Whatever you loſe, loſe not your ſoul; nothing can countervail that loſe. Immediately quit the horrid trade: At all events be an honeſt man.
This equally concerns every merchant who is engaged in the ſlave-trade. It is you that induce the African villain to ſell his countrymen; and in order thereto, to ſteal, rob, murder men, women and children without number: by enabling the Engliſh villain to pay him for ſo doing; whom you over pay for his execrable labour. It is your money, that is the ſpring of all, that improwers him to go on, ſo that whatever he or the African does in this matter, is all your act and deed. And is your conſcience quite reconciled to this? Does it never reproach you at all? Has gold entirely blinded your eyes and ſtupified your heart? Can you ſee, can you feel no harm therein? Is it doing as you would be done to? Make the caſe your own. Maſter (ſaid a ſlave at Liverpool to the merchant that owned him) what if ſome of my countrymen were to come here, and take away my miſtreſs, and maſter Tommy and maſter Billy, and carry them into our country and make them ſlaves, how would you like it? His anſwer was worthy of a man: I will never buy a ſlave more while I live. O let his reſolution be yours! Have no more any part in this deteſtable buſineſs. Inſtantly leave it to thoſe unfeeling wretches, who laugh at humanity and compaſſion.
And this equally concerns every perſon who has an eſtate in our American plantations: Yea all ſlave-holders of whatever rank and degree; ſeeing men-buyers are exactly on a level with men-ſtealers. Indeed you ſay, I pay honeſtly for my goods; and I am not concerned to know how they are come by. Nay but you are: You are deeply concerned, to know that they are not ſtolen: Otherwiſe you are partaker with a thief, and are not a jot honeſter than him. But you know they are not honeſtly come by: You know they are procured by means nothing near ſo innocent as picking of pockets, houſe breaking, or robbery upon the highway. You know they are procured by a deliberate ſeries of more complicated villainy (of fraud, robbery and murder) than was ever practiſed either by Mahometans or Pagans; in particular by murders of all kinds; by the blood of the innocent poured upon the ground like water. Now it is your money that pays the merchant, and thro' him the captain and African butchers. You therefore are guilty: Yea principally guilty, of all theſe frauds, robberies, and murders. You are the ſpring that puts all the reſt in motion; they would not ſtir a flep without you—Therefore the blood of all theſe wretches, who die before their time, whether in their country or elſewhere, lies upon your head. The blood of thy brother, (for whether thou wilt believe it or no, ſuch he is in the ſight of him that made him) crieth againſt thee from the earth, from the ſhip and from the waters. O! whatever it coſt, put a ſtop to its cry, before it be too late. Inſtantly, at any price, were it the half of thy goods, deliver thy ſelf from blood guiltineſs! Thy hands, thy bed, thy furniture, thy houſe, thy land, are at preſent ſtained with blood. Surely it is enough; accumulate no more guilt: Spill no more the blood of the innocent! Do not hire another to ſhed blood! Do not pay him for doing it! Whether thou art a Chriſtian or no, ſhew thy ſelf a man; be not more ſavage than a lion or a bear.
Perhaps thou wilt ſay, I do not buy any NEGROES: I only uſe thoſe left me by my father. But is it enough to ſatisfy your own conſcience! Had your father, have you, has any man living, a right to uſe another as a Slave? It cannot be, even ſetting REVELATION aſide. It cannot be, that either war, or contract, can give any man ſuch a property in another as he has in his ſheep and oxen: Much leſs is it poſſible, that any child of man, ſhould ever be born a Slave. Liberty is the right of every human creature, as ſoon as he breathes the vital air. And no human law can deprive him of that right, which he derives from the law of nature. If therefore you have any regard to juſtice, (to ſay nothing of mercy, nor of the revealed law of GOD) render unto all their due. Give Liberty to whom Liberty is due, that is to every child of man, to every partaker of human nature. Let none ſerve you but by his own act and deed, by his own voluntary choice, away with whips, chains, and all compulſion. Be gentle towards all men. And ſee that you invariably do unto every one, as you would he ſhould do unto you.
End of the text · Richard Baxter, Baxters Directions to Slave-Holders (1785)