40

ALLEGED INDOLENCE OF THE NEGRO.

ments now in the face of the facts which recent observations have revealed to us. "We, in the United States," says Mr. Sewell," have heard of abandoned properties in the West Indies, and, without much investigation, have listened to the planters' excuse the indolence of the negro, who refuses to work except under compulsion. But I shall be able to show that, in those colonies where estates have been abandoned, the labouring classes, instead of passing from servitude to indolence and idleness, have set up for themselves, and that small proprietors since emancipation have increased a hundred fold."

"It is a fact which speaks volumes that, within the last fifteen years, in spite of the extraordinary price of land and the low rate of wages, the small proprietors of Barbadoes holding less than five acres have increased from 1100 to 3537- A great majority of these proprietors were formerly slaves, subsequently free labourers, and finally landholders. This is certainly an evidence of industrious habits, and a remarkable contradiction to the prevailing idea that the negro will work only under compulsion. That idea was formed and fostered from the habits of the negro as a slave; his habits as a freeman, developed under a wholesome stimulus and settled by time, are in striking contrast to his habits as a slave. I am simply stating a truth in regard to the Barbadian creole, which here, at

GROUNDLESSNESS OF THE CHARGE.

41

least, will not be denied. I have conversed on the subject with all classes and conditions of people, and none are more ready to admit than the planters themselves, that the free labourer in Barbadoes is a better, more cheerful, and more industrious workman than the slave ever was under a system of compulsion." And, again, of an island very differently circumstanced from Barbadoes the same author writes: "I have taken some pains to trace the creole labourers of Trinidad from the time of emancipation, after they left the estates and dispersed, to the present day; and the great majority of them can, I think, be followed, step by step, not downward in the path of idleness and poverty, but upward in the scale of civilization to positions of

greater independence." This testimony of a perfectly unimpassioned witness, coming after ten years' further experience in corroboration of the evidence given by Mr. Bigelow in 1850, ought to set this question at rest. There is not a tittle of evidence to show that the aversion of the negro to labour is naturally stronger than that of any other branch of the human family. So long as he is compelled to work for the exclusive benefit of a master, he will be inclined to evade his task by

* Sewell's Ordeal of Free Labour in the West Indies, pp. 34-35, 39-40. And for evidence to the same effect respecting the Jamaican negroes, see post, pp. 198, 202, &c.

42 TRUE SOLUTION OF THE PROBLEM-ECONOMIC.

every means in his power, as the white man would do under similar circumstances; but emancipate him, and subject him to the same motives which act upon the free white labourer, and there is no reason to believe he will not be led to exert himself with equal energy.

A circumstance more influential in determining the history of slavery in America than either origin or climate is pointed at by De Tocqueville in his remark, that the soil of New England "was entirely opposed to a territorial aristocracy." "To bring that refractory land into cultivation, the constant and interested exertions of the owner himself were necessary; and, when the ground was prepared, its produce was found to be insufficient to enrich a

* "Considérons," says M. De Gasparin, "ces jolies chaumières, ces mobiliers propres et presque élégants, ces jardins, cet air général de bien-être et de civilisation; interrogeons ces noirs dont l'aspect physique s'est déjà modifié sous l'influence de la liberté, ces noirs dont le nombre décroissait rapidement à l'époque de l'esclavage et commence au contraire à s'accroître depuis l'affranchissement; ils nous parleront de leur bonheur. Les uns sont devenus propriétaires et travaillent pour leur propre compte (ce n'est pas un crime, j'imagine), les autres s'associent pour affermer de grandes plantations ou portent peut-être aux usines des riches planteurs les cannes récoltées chez eux; ceux-ci sont marchands, beaucoup louent leurs bras comme cultivateurs. Quels que soient les torts d'un certain nombre d'individus, l'ensemble des nègres libres a mérité ce témoignage rendu en 1857 par le gouverneur de Tabago: 'Je nie que nos noirs de la campagne aient des habitudes de paresse. n'existe pas dans le monde une classe aussi industrieuse." "—l'n Grand Peuple, p. 312.

TRUE SOLUTION OF THE PROBLEM-ECONOMIC.

43

master and a farmer at the same time. The land was then naturally broken up into small portions which the proprietor cultivated for himself." Such a country, for reasons which will presently be more fully indicated, was entirely unsuited to cultivation by slave labour; but what I wish here to remark is, that this fact, important as it is with reference to our subject, is yet insufficient in itself to afford the solution which we seek; for, though it would account for the disappearance of slavery from the New England States, it fails entirely when applied to the country west and south of the Hudson, which is for the most part exceedingly fertile, but in which, nevertheless, slavery, though extensively introduced, has not been able to maintain itself. To understand, therefore, the conditions on which the success of a slave régime depends, we must advert to other considerations than any which have yet been adduced.

if

The true causes of the phenomenon will appear we reflect on the characteristic advantages and disadvantages which attach respectively to slavery and free labour, as productive instruments, in connexion with the external conditions under which these forms of industry came into competition in North America.

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

44

MERITS AND DEFECTS OF SLAVE LABOUR.

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 unskilful; 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 overseer, the expense of superintendence will be slight; if, on the other hand, the nature of the work requires that the workmen should be dispersed over an extended area, the number of overseers, and therefore, the cost of the labour which requires this supervision, will be proportionately increased. The cost of