law, and also the right to purchase his own freedom.' These regulations were not followed by the elevation of the slaves, but were followed by a diminution of the products of the colonies. Sweden finally, in 1846, determined on the abolition of slavery in her only island, St. Bartholomew. There were only 578 slaves, and to purchase these there was appropriated about $50,000, payable in five instalments. On 9th October, 1847, the work of emancipation was completed. Denmark followed the next year (1848), and by indemnifying the masters, gave liberty to the slaves in her colonies. Martinique, Guadalupe, Bourbon, and French Guiana, had slavery restored under Napoleon, although he failed in his efforts to restore it in Hayti. After British emancipation, the French abolitionists renewed the agitation of the question in France. It was argued with great zeal and learning by its advocates and opponents, and many volumes were written on either side. On 26th May, 1840, a commission was appointed by a royal edict, to examine into and report upon the state of the Colonies. The mass of material and evidence laid before this commission almost defy analysis. The reports to the Duc de Broglie upon colonial questions, by M. J. Lechevalier alone, are embodied in three huge folio volumes. From these, we learn that the condition of the French colonies was wretched in the extreme. The abolitionists at Paris were threatening, and urging emancipation. The colonists were protesting, and yet 5 'Schoelcher, Histoire de l'Esclavage, i, 532; Gurney's Letters on the West Indies, 19. 2 Gurney's Letters on the West Indies, 17 et seq. Schoelcher, as above, 534. 4 It is a little curious that Voltaire, who painted so vividly the miseries of the slave and the slave-trade, in Candide, took an interest in a slave-ship, and rejoiced, in a letter to his partner, in having "made a good speculation and done a good action." Levavasseur, pp. 75, 76. 5 The curious can find a list of these documents prefixed to the report of the Duc de Broglie. in continual suspense. The slaves were discontented and rebellious, causing frequent insurrections, with much loss of life. Once in the enjoyment of freedom, of which they were again deprived, surrounded by the English colonies, where abolition had not only granted liberty to the slaves, but a refuge and asylum for all fugitives from the French colonies, with the hopes of abolition ever held out before them, it is not at all strange that two hundred and fifty thousand negroes should resist the domination of the few constituting their masters. The report of this Commission shows, that all parties agreed as to the necessity of some action on the part of the home government. The abolitionists insisted on immediate freedom. The colonists insisted that an end be put to this state of suspense, by perpetuating the old régime. The Commission, after examining both sides with apparent candor, recommended as the most salutary plan the apprentice system adopted by the English government. The evils flowing from it were admitted, but the Commission looked hopefully to time; which, by replacing the old generation of slaves with a new of freeborn men educated to liberty, would do away with the idleness, vice, and superstition, which they attributed to the former state of bondage. Time has shown that this hope was ill-founded. The secret of the error was the ignorance of European statesmen of the negro character. The result of this Commission was the law of 18th July, 1843, which sought to ameliorate the condition of the slaves, and to regulate the relation of master and slave. It provided for the punishment of the slaves, for their marriage, for their mental and religious instruction, and for the protection and security of their pecu See the Report of Duc de Broglie to the Colonial Secretary, March, 1843. 2 There was much plausibility in this hope. Moses, under Divine direction, kept the Israelites in the wilderness until the generation of Egyptian slaves was extinct. These were not the conquerors of Canaan. M lium. It regulated the number of hours of labor to be required of the slaves, provided for their holidays, and required that one day in each week should be allowed them to labor for themselves; and that land should be provided for their cultivation on their own account, with various other similar provisions, calculated to insure humane treatment. It gave also to every slave the privilege of purchasing himself, his parents, or his descendants, and provided a mode of ascertaining the price where the master and slave could not agree. This law was followed by another, of 19th July, 1845, to encourage the introduction of free laborers from Europe into the colonies, by which 930,000 francs were appropriated, 400,000 of which were to be used in aiding slaves in the purchase of themselves. That these laws failed of their desired effect seems to be acknowledged. The abolitionists complained that the colonial officers joined with the colonists in having them evaded. In January, 1846, no part of the 400,000 francs had been used in effecting the purchase of slaves. In March, 1846, 3,900,000 francs had been expended for establishing schools, to which the young negroes were gratuitously admitted, and yet only twelve such scholars had ever partaken of their benefits. Whipping having been virtually abolished by the act, cudgelling was substituted in its place. It is useless to multiply the details.2 The French Government were not prepared to pay the requisite indemnity of the purchase of 250,000 slaves, though constantly urged thereto by the abolitionists. In June, 1846, 140,000 francs were appropriated for the purchase of the royal slaves (esclaves du domaine), and this was the only appropriation ever made for this purpose. In 1847, petitions signed as was said by one of 'Schoelcher, Histoire de l'Esclavage, i, 33–38. the orators, by "tous les Français," were again presented, demanding the complete and immediate emancipation of the slaves. A law to that effect is proposed in the Chamber of Deputies, and ably advocated among others by M. Ledru Rollin, but it could not be passed.' What could not be effected by the Kingdom of France, was soon accomplished by the Revolutionary Republic. One of the first acts of the Provisional Government of 1848, was to declare freedom to all held in bondage throughout the French dominions. No pretence of indemnity was attempted at the time. In the mad zeal for new-born liberty, justice was forgotten. We shall hereafter examine the effects of this emancipation. Subsequently, a mere nominal indemnity has been paid to the planters. 1 Schoelcher, ii, 135–146. CHAPTER XIV. THE EFFECTS OF ABOLITION. My intention was to have examined minutely the effects of abolition upon Hayti and the British West Indies, to have followed the history of the transition, to have noted the tendency and gradual return to barbarism, of a race rescued from that condition only by slavery, and to have sought in the character of the negro for the reasons of this decline; but the extent of this prefatory sketch forbids so minute a detail. It is unquestionably true, that from the ancient kingdom of Meroe, in which, centuries before Christ, the experiment of a negro government of a nation far advanced in civilization, was attended with retrogradation and final extinction, down to the latest abolition in the West Indies, however varying the circumstances, however cautious and wise the provisions, the result has been uniformly and invariably disastrous to every element of civilization. The fact is admitted; the difference of opinion exists only as to causes. "From 1804 downwards, the history of the unfortunate island (Hayti), has been little or nothing else than the history of rapine-one black rising up to contest the sovereignty with another, and filling the island with scenes of confusion and misery, which go far to prove the theory of those who maintain that the negro race is by natural incapacity unfitted for self-government." Such is the testimony of an intelligent Englishman, who |