Page:Emancipation in the West Indies.djvu/8

So much for the “ruin" of the British colonies, and the prosperity of the Spanish. Let us now turn to the last argument of the British planters; that Emancipation would barbarize the negro. Nor have we dwelt so long on the pecuniary results of Emancipation because we regard those as the most important; but because they have been most frequently called in question. We believe most firmly in that good old maxim of the Democratic party, "the greatest good of the greatest number,"—interpreting it to mean "the greatest good of all." So even if the 100 000 whites in the British colonies had been pecuniarily ruined by Emancipation, and the prosperity of the colonies destroyed, we think we could have endured it with fortitude, on the assurance that the 800 000 negroes and mulattoes were immeasurably the gainers. Now the whites have not been ruined as a whole, and their own folly is the chief cause of what troubles have come upon them since 1834. Leaving them for the present out of the question, let us consider the moral and social condition of the negroes since Emancipation. Here the testimony is all one way, and of the strongest kind. True, Mr. Carlyle sneers at "Quashee" lying in the sun, with his "pumpkin," and "his saccharine juices,"—but a sneer is not testimony nor argument. Did not Mr. Carlyle once make a rather plain statement about "eighteen million of bores," and did any American believe him?

Because a crabbed Scotchman does not fancy the color, or the features, or the dialect of some of his fellow-men, are we to disbelieve our own eyes and ears, and reject all history till he has manipulated it?

In November 1838, Lord Glenelg, who had been Colonial Secretary, wrote:^[1] "Up to this time the results of the great experiment of abolition have justified the liveliest hopes of its authors and advocates. After having examined carefully the evils that have attended its execution, it seems to me that they must be in great measure attributed to the old colonial system. Whoever has reflected on human nature, and the history of slavery, must have expected that such a reform could not be brought about without embarassments. am happy, then, to be able to say that in a short period of time there has been a progress in the social condition which will increase the happiness of mankind, and of which history affords no greater example."

In 1842 a committee of the House of Commons, reported thus:

"The great act of Emancipation of slaves in the West India colonies has produced the most favorable effects, so far as concerns the physical and social condition of the black population. As to their moral condition, their improvement is more than proved by their constantly increasing eagerness for religious and secular instruction, by their desire, more and more perceptible, to assume the obligations of marriage, and fulfil the duties of domestic life; by the reformation of their morals and their rapid progress in civilization; finally, by the value which they now attach to the acquisition of property and a position of independence.”^[2]

In 1840 a commission of French peers deputies, and official persons was appointed to examine into the results of British Emancipation, and report a project for the French colonies. At the head of this commission was the now venerable Duke de Broglie, whose position among French philanthropists, is like Lord Brougham's, in England; among its members, were the great De Tocqueville, who had already made a report in favor of Emancipation; (1889) Admiral Mackan, Hippolyte Passy, De Tracy, and other eminent statesman. They continued their inquiries until March 1843, when their report was presented, written by the Duke de Broglie. After quoting largely from English documents, they say:^[3]

"Nobody any longer pretends that the blacks are a savage, unsocial race, ready to lay waste the country the instant they are unchained. The event has quieted these apprehensions; the negroes, on the contrary, are a very gentle, very obedient, and wonderfully easy to govern. All the documents which we have examined, agree on this point. We must cease, no less, to represent them as an abject. idle, stupid race, insensible to the pleasures which activity and industry procure, and incapable of the least effort to acquire them. All the documents published by the English Government, entirely confirm this assertion. All the negroes have shown the most lively sense of the blessings of civilization all have been prompt to do what is necessary to obtain them, and most of them have succeeded. We have shown what a prodigious increase has taken place in the importation of goods for their use. They