The Slave Trade, Domestic and Foreign: Why It Exists, and How It May Be ExtinguishedCarey, Henry Charles
History
The Slave Trade, Domestic and Foreign: Why It Exists, and How It May Be Extinguished
Carey, Henry Charles
Labor; Slave trade; Slavery; Slavery -- United States; Tariff -- United States; Working class
It is deemed now desirable to have cheap labour applied to the
collection of gold-dust and hides, palm-leaves and ivory, and the
description of commodities at present exported to that country will be
seen by the following cargo-list of the brig Lily, which sailed from
Liverpool a few weeks since for the African coast, but blew up and was
destroyed in the neighbourhood of the Isle of Man, to wit:--
50 tons gunpowder,
20 puncheons rum,
A quantity of firearms, and
Some bale-goods.
Such are not the commodities required for raising the value of man in
Africa, and until it can be raised to a level with his value in Cuba,
the export of men will be continued from the African coast as
certainly as the export from Ireland will be continued so long as men
are cheaper there than elsewhere; and as certainly as the trade
described in the following letter will be continued, so long as the
people India shall be allowed to do nothing but raise sugar and cotton
for a distant market, and shall thus be compelled to forego all the
advantages so long enjoyed by them under the native governments, when
the history of the cotton manufacture was the history of almost every
family in India:--
"_Havana_, Feb. 11, 1853.
"On the morning of the 7th, arrived from Amoa, Singapore, and
Jamaica, the British ship Panama, Fisher, 522 tons, 131 days'
passage, with 261 Asiatics (Coolies) on board, to be introduced to
the labour of the island, _purchased_ for a service of four years.
The loss on the passage was a considerable percentage, being 90
thrown overboard. The speculators in this material are Messrs.
Viloldo, Wardrop & Co., who have permission of the government to
cover five thousand subjects. The cargo is yet held in quarantine.
"On the 8th inst., arrived from Amoa and St. Helena, the ship
Blenheim, Molison, 808 tons, 104 days' passage, bringing to the same
consignees 412 Coolies. Died on the voyage, 38. Money will be
realized by those who have the privilege of making the introduction,
and English capital will find some play; but I doubt very much
whether the purposes of English _philanthropy_ will be realized, for,
reasoning from the past, at the expiration of the four years, nearly
all have been sacrificed, while the condition of African labour will
be unmitigated. A short term an cupidity strain the lash over the
poor Coolie, and he dies; is secreted if he lives, and advantage
taken of his ignorance for extended time when once merged in
plantation-service, where investigation can be
avoided."--_Correspondence of the New York Journal of _Commerce_.
This trade is sanctioned by the British government because it provides
an outlet for Hindoo labour, _rendered surplus_ by the destruction of
the power of association throughout India, and yet the same government
expends large sums annually in closing an outlet for African labour,
rendered surplus by the rum and the gunpowder that are supplied to
Africa!
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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