Lord Ellenboroughsaid, he wished to ask the noble Marquess the Secretary for the Colonies a question concerning the importation of Hill Coolies into the British colonies. He had seen the report of certain commissioners, called negro commissioners, presented to the Court of Policy in Demerara, who gave a somewhat favourable account of the condition of the negroes in that colony, but not of the Hill Coolies. It appeared that on an estate called Bellevue out of eighty Hill Coolies imported within a few months twenty had died, and twenty-nine were in a state too horrid to be described. It was stated, also, that the manager of the estate himself was seriously ill with a fever, which he had caught in visiting the pest-house which contained them, for he could call it nothing else, but which went under the name of an hospital. He wished to know whether the noble Marquess was in possession of that report?
The Marquess of Normanbywas not in possession of the report to which the noble Baron had alluded. But a report of one particular estate had arrived, from which it appeared that enquiry had been pursued to a considerable extent, and much evidence on the subject had been collected, which he had read with great care. Immediate attention should be paid to the subject.
Lord Ellenboroughmust say this, those who advised the emigration or importation of these Hill Coolies, under the order in Council for that purpose, were deeply responsible for the consequences.
Lord Broughamwas painfully reminded of the warning which he gave their Lordships when the subject of these Hill Coolies was under discussion last year, and when unhappily they refused to attend to his warning. He never foresaw anything but the worst possible consequences from that detestable traffic in slaves. It was now being renewed after all the attempts which had been made to get rid of it—extended into Asia, after the mischiefs it had done to Africa. It appeared that five out of every eight of those wretched beings on one es- 658 tate had perished. Out of eighty there had actually died twenty, in the course of a few months, and twenty-nine others were in such a state that the sufferings of death, it might be said, would be a relief from their wretchedness, and therefore comparatively a mercy as well as a certainty. And all these circumstances were to be contemplated with this most painful aggravation, that they were added to the murders which had been committed on the passage of these wretched persons on board ship; they had survived the horrors of carrying them over the seas from their native home to the charnel-houses of Demerara, for only a very short period. He knew that a great amount of blood-guiltiness must hang over the heads of those who were concerned in this traffic, and who if not here, must hereafter be answerable for the murders committed in that passage; because be knew the papers which were upon the Table of their Lordships' House contained the astounding fact, that twenty per cent. in one vessel had perished miserably in a voyage of five weeks, between Asia and Demerara, and thirty per cent. in another; thus exceeding by far the mortality and massacre of the African middle passage itself. He hoped, therefore, that he should now receive an answer to the question which he had formerly put, because, coupled with what had been stated by the noble Baron that evening, the case became aggravated and called for immediate explanation. It was said, that two or three slave vessels had been seized on the Brazilian coast, their cargoes—such was the term applied to their contents—their human cargoes, consisting of 1,400 wretched beings; and under the pretence of their being liberated, it was stated that they had been apprenticed at 5l. per head. And where? In foreign slave countries, where there was no security that they would be treated even so well as they were in Guiana, and he wished to know whether it was the practice for our cruisers to apprentice these unfortunate men in those countries where slavery still existed instead of carrying them to our own colonies. He hoped he should receive an answer denying the statements which had been made in respect to this subject.
The Marquess of Normanbyhad communicated with the late Colonial Secretary respecting the letter to which he supposed the noble and learned Lord alluded, and 659 the subject to which it related still engaged his attention.
§ Conversation dropped.