SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES.

HL Deb 18 March 1844 vol 73 cc1156-60

Lord Denman

wished, he said, to address a few observations to their Lordships on a subject that had been referred to by a noble and learned Friend of his a few nights before; who had stated that there had been in Louisiana the capital conviction of a person for promoting the escape of a slave; but when the subject had been brought before their Lordships, there appeared then to serve party purposes, the work I have been employed upon, the insignificant wages I have received, the hopes and expectations which have been held out to me, and now (when they have got all out of me they can) the manner in which I have been cast off, even by Lord Ashley himself, without assigning any reason, and refusing to listen to my claims, all this would form a pamphlet as large as that of Jowett's, which I inclose. I could then expose this Jowett, who has taken so much pains, as you will see by the inclosed pamphlet, to cast a stigma on your firm and others. In order that you may know what sort of a man this is, I will tell you the orders I received from him, previous to visiting your place last year. 'You must go to Turton and get all the information you can concerning the works of Messrs. Ashworth, they are show mills. The Ashworths are deep, cunning fellows, and you must take particular care not to come in contact with them, or their people.' Thus you see, I was to stroll about in the immediate vicinity of your mills, and get in the company of any stray person I might see, and by treating them with beer or by any other means, get all the information I required—if the person was one that you had cast off, so much the better." My name having acquired a notoriety in consequence of the manner in which my case has been held up to the public, I have had an offer to write articles on the Factory System, for a low weekly paper; I have already wrote one as a trial, but it is much against my feelings, only it supplies me with a dinner when, otherwise, I might probably be obliged to go without." November 2, 1842. You will perhaps be surprised to hear, that in nay necessity, I wrote to Lord Ashley, sta- to be no great reason to fear that the sentence passed would be carried into effect. The probability then was, that the law being once declared, denouncing the heaviest punishment against offences of this description, that declaration would have been thought sufficient—that it was not likely, or credible, that a law like this would have been carried into execution. But, unfortunately, since that time a document had been published in the public papers, with respect to the authenticity of which no doubt could be entertained, and by which it appeared that on the 25th April one of their fellow-creatures would undergo the punishment of death for having promoted the escape of a slave! Now, nobody could be more sensible than him- ting my circumstances, and requesting the remittance of a small balance due to me for services rendered, and received a very angry letter, saying that I had no claim upon them, that my employment was 'a mere matter of charity,' that I had received so much money, and even recounted the dinners I had received at his Lordship's table, and told me the condition I was in at the time he took notice of me, and other matters equally galling. It is very clear that the party has all along considered me only as a tool, and that having made all the use they can of me, I may now go about my business. I am sorry that I am not in a situation in life as would enable me to speak my mind freely; was I in a good business and entirely independent of the party, I could "a tale unfold,' but this, circumstanced as I now am, would be my ruin. In addition to the letters from which the foregoing extracts are taken, there were thirteen other letters, placed for a time in the hands of Mr. Henry Ashworth, but afterwards returned to Dodd. The following is a verbatim copy of a letter from Dodd which accompanied them, and from it may be inferred something of their contents, which is all that can now be given of them, as Mr. Ashworth returned them without taking copies or making any extracts from them. This letter is headed EXPLANATION. Sir,—I have numbered the letters, &c., from one to thirteen, for the purpose of enabling you more easily to comprehend their contents, and hope you will have no difficulty in understanding the whole affair; but lest anything should appear doubtful, I have given the following explanation which wilt assist you a little. These are but a few of the papers, but they will be sufficient to shew you the nature of the business they wanted me for self that it was the duty, the right of all States to lay down rules which were to guide the conduct of all their people; and the duty of all other States to abstain from interfering with them; but from the deep respect which they entertained in this country—and he spoke, he might say, in the name of the whole judicial body—for the manner in which justice was administered in America, the humanity anti legal knowledge which guided its proceedings, and inspired the eminent men who presided in the courts, and communicated their decisions, that he was induced to advert to this subject here, entreating of all in authority, in the name of humanity and of justice, to pause a moment, and consider whether such a sentence ought to be No. 1.—Card of the gentleman to whom I was engaged. No. 2.—Letter I received after Mr. Jowett had waited upon Sir F. W. M—, showing that it had been asked him to postpone Ins experiment, till I had done my business for Lord A— No. 3.—Letter from ditto respecting the agreement which I was induced to decline in consequence of the promises and assurances of Mr. Jowett and Lord A— No. 4.—Letter showing the connection of Lord A—and Mr. Jowett. No. 5.—Letter from Mr. Jowett spewing a little of his instructions to me. No. 6.— Letter from ditto on Fielden's mills No. 7.—Two pages of colouring matter on ditto. No. 8.—A letter on money matters. No. 9.—A letter from the book-binder slimming how he had been reduced in the price of binding from 4½d. per vol. the price I had promised him, to something less than 4d. by the men who are wishing to uphold (?) the wages of the labourer. Nos. 10 and 11.—Two letters from Lord A—,commending my dilligence, &c. No. 12.—One letter on business. No. 13.—A letter I received after I had taken every step I could think of to draw his Lordship's attention to the ill treatment I had experienced from Mr. Jowett. This will spew how his Lordship's mind had been poisoned, and will shew the manner of dismissing those who will not 'go the whole hog' in their service. Had I allowed Mr. Jowett to put forth his statements under my name, I should not have received this latter, neither would I have been cast off without a hearing in the presence of Mr. Jowett, my accuser, as I have been. In this letter there are many erroneous statements, which I could contradict if I had an opportunity. carried into effect. He believed that no such event had ever happened before, and he believed that every consideration of self-respect would induce them to forego the intention. The State of Louisiana was remarkable for being one of the first in which the sanguinary code of former times was mitigated. Many years ago, Mr. Livingstone drew up a code much less severe than that which had previously existed, and all the nations of Europe, including our own, had been proud to take a lesson of humanity from it, and had found the benefit of it in a diminution in the amount of aggravated crimes. Neither the general question of Slavery, nor any abstract question was involved; but he would respectfully ask how far a punishment so disproportioned to the offence should be carried into effect, as a matter of expediency. He knew that some persons might apprehend that a public avowal of sentiments of this kind might, when conveyed across the Atlantic, give rise to a degree of jealousy and irritation, increasing the probability of the sentence being carried into execution; but, from the best inquiries he had been able to make on this subject, it was his most decided conviction that he incurred no danger of tins sort; that some benefit might be produced, and that it was quite impossible that there could be any injury from those opinions being stated. Indeed, it required but a moment's consideration to be perfectly convinced that, in a civilized state, no motive could be afforded for carrying such a law into effect by the expression of opinion in any part of the world. It was, therefore, with a deep feeling on his part, with the same feeling on the part of some of his learned brethren, though they felt that as a body they were precluded from coming forward, that he thus publicly called attention to the subject. He hoped that those to whom his appeal was made would feel that the devoting a fellow-creature to death, for a crime such as this man had been convicted of, was throwing back the cause of civilization, and risking the protection of the property which the law was intended to defend. He had given no notice to Her Majesty's Government of his intention to bring this matter forward, being fully aware that it was utterly impossible for the State to interfere in any way. He did not ask for any answer. It was only from the probability that this sentence might he mitigated by the expression of public opinion, that in the few hours which he could take from the circuit he had given up a portion of that time to call for a reconsideration of this matter on the ground of the general principles of humanity and expediency; for every man who thought must know, that on the respect which attends the execution of the law, its efficiency must depend.