life, is likely to have fewer victims than heretofore. I am looking forward to almost a stoppage of emigration as respects all but the very needy or desperate classes; provided always, however, that the cause of scarcity of labour in the colonies cannot by any means be removed, and prevented from returning. My own notion of the means by which the scarcity of labour might be effectually removed and prevented from returning, must now be explained. . 1 2 At the epoch of the discovery of America, the population of Europe was small, and it could only make scanty contributions of people to the New World; and as it was itself just emerging from a state of barbarism, it could not extend to new regions any elevated or enlightened civilization. Slavery was one of the established systems of that period, and the holding of heathen slaves enjoyed the full sanction of the church. And it had so happened, that the value of the negro in the condition of servitude had been long tried, especially in Spain and Portugal, and was well understood. What has occurred in America, was, under all the circumstances, inevitable. Incalculable resources existed in the mine and in the soil, but by whose hands could they be developed? Where it was practicable to enslave the native people of the country, their physical organization was unequal to the forced labors imposed upon them, and they perished speedily from the face of the earth. Europe was itself sparsely populated. A few, under the stimulus of religious zeal, or adventurous spirit, tried the voyage (then one of months instead of weeks) across the Atlantic; while others, but still few, submitted to the expatriation as the commuted punishment of their crimes. The people who could subdue and cultivate the New World, existed only in Africa. Their number was indefinitely large; and not only did no existing moral and religious scruples forbid their coerced appropriation to that work, but it was considered rather to be in the safe line of religious duty, to subject the negro heathen to Christian baptism and Christian masters. 1 Consult also the extracts under The Labor Problem of New Countries, in Chapter XIV, pp. 695–701. 2 Weston, The Progress of Slavery [1857], pp. 153–155, 155–156. It is oftentimes loosely said, that America has been settled by the European races, and different portions are distinguished, as settled by the English, French, Spanish, and Portuguese. The truth really is, that America, including its islands, has been settled chiefly from Africa, and by negroes; and it is only in our own immediate times, that its colonization by Europeans has been commenced upon a scale of any magnitude. Prior to the commencement of the present century, the number of negroes brought hither had probably exceeded the whole number of Europeans of all nationalities, who had emigrated hither, twenty-fold, or even more; and down to within less than twenty years ago, the African slave trade still brought in more people than did voluntary white immigration. Writing in 1751, Dr. Benjamin Franklin says that the then computed number of English in North America was one million, and that the immigration from England was thought to have amounted to eighty thousands. If Dr. Franklin had exclusive reference to the "English," as his language implies, there should be added to the estimate a proportionate amount for the immigration of other nationalities, which would not greatly augment it. The immigration down to the period of the Revolutionary War may possibly have been larger, but still could not have been great. In 1792, according to the report made to the King of Spain by the Conde de Revillagigudo, Mexico, exclusive of the Intendancies of Vera Cruz and Guadalaxara, contained a total population of 4,483,529, of whom 7,904 were Europeans, and 677,458 were creoles of European blood. The excluded Intendancies contained, in 1803, a total population of 786,500, and probably a greater proportion of European stock. These results correspond substantially with those arrived at in 1803 by Humboldt. They imply a very small European immigration into Mexico. At the commencement of the present century, the general statement commonly made by geographers was, that the number of whites in Mexico equalled the number of whites in the whole of South America. As late as 1819, Bonnycastle computed the whites in Brazil at only 500,000, and the negroes at four times as many. In 1761, more than two centuries after the settlement of Brazil by the Portuguese, Edmund Burke, in his "Settlements in America," says that the negroes there outnumbered the whites ten to one. Upon the whole, it would not appear that the total European emigration to America, during the first three centuries after its discovery, exceeded half a million. In reference to the number of negroes taken in Africa for transportation to America, the Encyclopedia Americana (1851) says it has been "calculated to amount during the last three centuries to above forty millions, of whom fifteen or twenty per cent. die on the passage. In 1840, the estimates of the number taken for transportation ranged from 150,000 to 250,000. . . In short, considering the time of the discovery of America, the inviting fields for labor presented in it, and the difficulty, if not impossibility, of supplying this labor, except from Africa, the slave trade to this continent was an inevitable fact. It was sustained by interests wide and strong, and has yielded only slowly and reluctantly to the changed opinions of mankind. In an order and progress of things, dictated by irresistible causes, it was the mission of the negro to furnish the chief labor of the New World, until, in the fullness of time, its different portions have been and shall be enabled to pass successively to the higher and nobler civilization of freedom. We are now [1857], at length, in the midst of a new and better epoch. The population in America of European extraction has grown so large, and the accessions to it by immigration are so vast, that we can begin to see that the mission of the negro here is nearly completed, and that the limits of his possible expansion may be computed. In fifty years, the white races now in the United States, and their descendants, will number more than one hundred millions. While it is impossible to predict exactly the march of this great multitude, or to define precisely the regions it will occupy, it is easy to see that the negro in North America must be pressed into narrow bounds. And it is in North America only that he is formidable, because it is here only that his numbers are increasing; the African race in South America and in the West Indies being either stationary or declining, except so far as it is kept up by the slave trade, which is reduced now to a single island, restrained even there within close limits, and menaced constantly by that complete extinction which it cannot long escape. which I will not omit 2 In an economical point of view Slavery presents some difficulties. As a general rule, I agree it must be admitted, that free labor is cheaper than slave labor. It is a fallacy to suppose that ours is unpaid labor. The slave himself must be paid for, and thus his labor is all purchased at once, and for no trifling sum. . . . But besides the first cost of the slave, he must be fed and clothed, well fed and well clothed, if not for humanity's sake, that he may do good work, retain health and life, and rear a family to supply his place. When old or sick, he is a clear expense, and so is the helpless portion of his family. No poor law provides for him when unable to work, or brings up his children for our service when we need them. These are all heavy charges on slave labor. Hence, in all countries where the denseness of the population has reduced it to a matter of perfect certainty, that labor can be obtained, whenever wanted, and the laborer be forced, by sheer necessity, to hire for the smallest pittance that will keep soul and body together, and rags upon his back while in actual employment — dependent at all other times on alms or poor rates in all such countries it is found cheaper to pay this pittance, than to clothe, feed, nurse, support through childhood, and pension in old age, a race of slaves. Indeed, the advantage is so great as speedily to compensate for the loss of the value of the slave. And I have no hesitation in saying, that if I could cultivate my lands on these terms, I would, without a word, resign my slaves, provided they could be properly disposed of. But the question is, whether free or slave labor is cheapest to us in this country, at this time, situated as we are. And it is decided at once by the fact that we cannot avail ourselves of any other 1 For an excellent discussion of the causes and results of the African slave trade, consult Lucas's Historical Geography of the British Colonies, III, 70–95. 2 Hammond, Letters [to Clarkson] on Slavery, 1845, in Pro-Slavery Argument, pp. 121-122. than slave labor. We neither have, nor can we procure, other labor to any extent, or on anything like the terms mentioned. We must, therefore, content ourselves with our dear labor, under the consoling reflection that what is lost to us, is gained to humanity; and that, inasmuch as our slave costs us more than your free man costs you, by so much is he better off. You will promptly say, emancipate your slaves, and then you will have free labor on suitable terms. That might be if there were five hundred where there now is one, and the continent, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, was as densely populated as your Island. But until that comes to pass, no labor can be procured in America on the terms you have it. II. ECONOMIC ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF SLAVERY 1 The economic advantages of slavery are easily stated: they are all comprised in the fact that the employer of slaves has absolute power over his workmen, and enjoys the disposal of the whole fruit of their labours. Slave labour, therefore, admits of the most complete organization, that is to say, it may be combined on an extensive scale, and directed by a controlling mind to a single end, and its cost can never rise above that which is necessary to maintain the slave in health and strength. On the other hand, the economical defects of slave labour are very serious. They may be summed up under the three following heads it is given reluctantly; it is unskillful; it is wanting in versatility. It is given reluctantly, and consequently the industry of the slave can only be depended on so long as he is watched. The moment the master's eye is withdrawn, the slave relaxes his efforts. The cost of slave labour will therefore, in great measure, depend on the degree in which the work to be performed admits of the workmen being employed in close proximity to each other. If the work be such that a large gang can be employed with efficiency within a small space, and be thus brought under the eye of a single 1 Cairnes, The Slave Power [1861], pp. 38-39, 40-45. |