The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke Volume VI Part 16

IV. And whereas the condition of persons in a state of slavery is such that they are utterly unable to take advantage of any remedy which the laws may provide for their protection and the amendment of their condition, and have not the proper means of pursuing any process for the same, but are and must be under guardians.h.i.+p: and whereas it is not fitting that they should be under the sole guardians.h.i.+p of their masters, or their attorneys and overseers, to whom their grievances, whenever they suffer any, must ordinarily be owing:

[Sidenote: Attorney-General to be protector of negroes.]

[Sidenote: To inquire and file information _ex officio_.]

1. Be it therefore enacted, that his Majesty's Attorney-General for the time being successively shall, by his office, exercise the trust and employment of protector of negroes within the island in which he is or shall be Attorney-General to his Majesty, his heirs and successors; and that the said Attorney-General, protector of negroes, is hereby authorized to hear any complaint on the part of any negro or negroes, and inquire into the same, or to inst.i.tute an inquiry _ex officio_ into any abuses, formations and to call before him and examine witnesses upon oath, relative to the subject-matter of the said official inquiry or complaint: and it is hereby enacted and declared, that the said Attorney-General, protector of negroes, is hereby authorized and empowered, at his discretion, to file an information _ex officio_ for any offences committed against the provisions of this act, or for any misdemeanors or wrongs against the said negroes, or any of them.

[Sidenote: Power to challenge jurors.]

2. And it is further enacted, that in all trials of such informations the said protector of negroes may and is hereby authorized to challenge peremptorily a number not exceeding ---- of the jury who shall be impanelled to try the charge in the said information contained.

[Sidenote: To appoint inspectors of districts.]

[Sidenote: who are to report to him twice in the year the number and condition of the slaves.]

3. And be it enacted, that the said Attorney-General, protector of negroes, shall appoint inspectors, not exceeding the number of ----, at his discretion; and the said inspectors shall be placed in convenient districts in each island severally, or shall twice in the year make a circuit in the same, according to the direction which they shall receive from the protector of negroes aforesaid; and the inspectors shall and they are hereby required, twice in the year, to report in writing to the protector aforesaid the state and condition of the negroes in their districts or on their circuit severally, the number, s.e.x, age, and occupation of the said negroes on each plantation; and the overseer or chief manager on each plantation is hereby required to furnish an account thereof within [ten days] after the demand of the said inspectors, and to permit the inspector or inspectors aforesaid to examine into the same; and the said inspectors shall set forth, in the said report, the distempers to which the negroes are most liable in the several parts of the island.

[Sidenote: Instructions to be formed for inspectors.]

4. And be it enacted, that the said protector of negroes, by and with the consent the governor and chief judge of each island, shall form instructions, by which the said inspectors shall discharge their trust in the manner the least capable of exciting any unreasonable hopes in the said negroes, or of weakening the proper authority of the overseer, and shall transmit them to one of his Majesty's princ.i.p.al secretaries of state; and when sent back with his approbation, the same shall become the rule for the conduct of the said inspectors.

[Sidenote: Registry.]

5. And be it enacted, that the said Attorney-General, protector of negroes, shall appoint an office for registering all proceedings relative to the duty of his place as protector of negroes, and shall appoint his chief clerk to be registrar, with a salary not exceeding ----.

[Sidenote: Ports where negroes are to be landed. Vessels to be inspected.]

[Sidenote: Masters or officers offending to be fined.]

6. And be it enacted, that no negroes shall be landed for sale in any but the ports following: that is to say, ----. And the collector of each of the said ports severally shall, within ---- days after the arrival of any s.h.i.+p transporting negroes, report the same to the protector of negroes, or to one of his inspectors; and the said protector is hereby authorized and required to examine, or cause to be examined by one of his inspectors, with the a.s.sistance of the said collector, or his deputy, and a surgeon to be called in on the occasion, the state of the said s.h.i.+p and negroes; and upon what shall appear to them, the said protector of negroes, and the said collector and surgeon, to be a sufficient proof, either as arising from their own inspection, or sufficient information on a summary process, of any contravention of this act, or cruelty to the negroes, or other malversation of the said captain, or any of his officers the said protector shall impose a fine on him or them, not exceeding ----; which shall not, however, weaken or invalidate any penalty growing from the bond of the said master or his owners. And it is hereby provided, that, if the said master, or any of his officers, shall find himself aggrieved by the said fine, he may within ---- days appeal to the chief judge, if the court shall be sitting, or to the governor, who shall and are required to hear the said parties, and on hearing are to annul or confirm the same.

[Sidenote: Rates respecting the sale of negroes.]

7. And be it enacted, that no sale of negroes shall be made but in the presence of an inspector, and all negroes shall be sold severally, or in known and ascertained lots, and not otherwise; and a paper containing the state and description of each negro severally sold, and of each lot, shall be taken and registered in the office aforesaid; and if, on inspection or information, it shall be found that any negroes shall have, in the same s.h.i.+p, or any other at the same time examined, a wife, an husband, a brother, sister, or child, the person or persons so related shall not be sold separately at that or any future sale.

[Sidenote: Every island to be divided into districts.]

[Sidenote: A church to be built in each.]

8. And be it enacted, that each and every of his Majesty's islands and plantations, in which negroes are used in cultivation, shall be, by the governor and the protector of negroes for the time being, divided into districts, allowing as much as convenience will admit to the present division into parishes, and subdividing them, where necessary, into districts, according to the number of negroes. And the said governor and protector of negroes shall cause in each district a church to be built in a convenient place, and a cemetery annexed, and an house for the residence of a clergyman, with ---- acres of land annexed; and they are hereby authorized to treat for the necessary ground with the proprietor, who is hereby obliged to sell and dispose of the same to the said use; and in case of dispute concerning the value, the same to be settled by a jury, as in like cases is accustomed.

[Sidenote: Appointment of a priest and clerk.]

9. And be it enacted, that in each of the said districts shall be established a presbyter of the Church of England as by law established, who shall appoint under him one clerk, who shall be a free negro, when such properly qualified can be found, (otherwise, a white man,) with a salary, in each case, of ----; and the said minister and clerk, both or one, shall instruct the said negroes in the Church Catechism, or such other as shall be provided by the authority in this act named; and the said minister shall baptize, as he shall think fit, all negroes not baptized, and not belonging to Dissenters from the Church of England.

[Sidenote: Owner to deliver a list of negroes to the minister, and to cause them to attend divine service.]

10. And the princ.i.p.al overseer of each plantation is hereby required to deliver annually unto the minister a list of all the negroes upon his plantation, distinguis.h.i.+ng their s.e.x and age, and shall, under a penalty of ----, cause all the negroes under his care, above the age of ---- years, to attend divine service once on every Sunday, except in case of sickness, infirmity, or other necessary cause, to be given at the time, and shall, by himself or one of those who are under him, provide for the orderly behavior of the negroes under him, and cause them to return to his plantation, when divine service, or administration of sacraments, or catechism, is ended.

[Sidenote: Mister to direct punishment for disorderly conduct.]

11. And be it enacted, that the minister shall have power to punish any negro for disorderly conduct during divine service, by a punishment not exceeding [ten] blows to be given in one day and for one offence, which the overseer or his under agent or agents is hereby directed, according to the orders of the said minister, effectually to inflict, whenever the same shall be ordered.

[Sidenote: Spirituous liquors not to be sold.]

12. And be it enacted, that no spirituous liquors of any kind shall be sold, except in towns, within ---- miles distance of any church, nor within any district during divine service, and an hour preceding and an hour following the same; and the minister of each parish shall and is hereby authorized to act as a justice of the peace in enforcing the said regulation.

[Sidenote: Register of births, burials, and marriages.]

13. And be it enacted, that every minister shall keep a register of births, burials, and marriages of all negroes and mulattoes in his district.

[Sidenote: Synod to a.s.semble annually, and to form regulations,]

14. And be it enacted, that the ministers of the several districts shall meet annually, on the ---- day of ----, in a synod of the island to which they belong; and the said synod shall have for its president such person as the Bishop of London shall appoint for his commissary; and the said synod or general a.s.sembly is hereby authorized, by a majority of voices, to make regulations, which regulations shall be transmitted by the said president or commissary to the Bishop of London; and when returned by the Bishop of London approved of, then, and not before, the said regulations shall be held in force to bind the said clergy, their a.s.sistants, clerks, and schoolmasters only, and no other persons.

[Sidenote: and to report to the Bishop of London.]

15. And be it enacted, that the said president shall collect matter in the said a.s.sembly, and shall make a report of the state of religion and morals in the several parishes from whence the synod is deputed, and shall transmit the same, once in the year, in duplicate, through the governor and protector of negroes, to the Bishop of London.

[Sidenote: Bishop of London to be patron of the cures.]

16. And be it enacted and declared, that the Bishop of London for the time being patron of the shall be patron to all and every the said cures in this act directed; and the said bishop is hereby required to provide for the due filling thereof, and is to receive, from the fund in this act provided for the due execution of this act, a sum not exceeding ---- for each of the said ministers, for his outfit and pa.s.sage.

[Sidenote: and to have power of suspending and removing ministers.]

17. And be it enacted, that, on misbehavior, and on complaint from the said synod, and on hearing the party accused in a plain and summary manner, it shall and may be lawful for the Bishop of London to suspend or to remove any minister from his cure, as his said offences shall appear to merit.

[Sidenote: Schools for young negroes.]

18. And be it enacted, that for every two districts a school shall be established for young negroes to be taught three days in the week, and to be detained from their owner four hours in each day, the number not to be more or fewer than twenty males in each district, who shall be chosen, and vacancies filled, by the minister of the district; and the said minister shall pay to the owner of the said boy, and shall be allowed the same in his accounts at the synod, to the age of twelve years old, three-pence by the day, and for every boy from twelve years old to fifteen, five-pence by the day.

[Sidenote: Extraordinary abilities to be encouraged.]

19. And it is enacted, that, if the president of the synod aforesaid shall certify to the protector of negroes, that any boys in the said schools (provided that the number in no one year shall exceed one in the island of Jamaica, and one in two years in the islands of Barbadoes, Antigua, and Grenada, and one in four years in any of the other islands) do show a remarkable apt.i.tude for learning, the said protector is hereby authorized and directed to purchase the said boy at the best rate at which boys of that age and strength have been sold within the year; and the said negro so purchased shall be under the entire guardians.h.i.+p of the said protector of negroes, who shall send him to the Bishop of London for his further education in England, and may charge in his accounts for the expense of transporting him to England; and the Bishop of London shall provide for the education of such of the said negroes as he shall think proper subjects, until the age of twenty-four years, and shall order those who shall fall short of expectation after one year to be bound apprentice to some handicraft trade; and when his apprentices.h.i.+p is finished, the Lord Mayor of London is hereby authorized and directed to receive the said negro from his master, and to transmit him to the island from which he came, in the West Indies, to be there as a free negro, subject, however, to the direction of the protector of negroes, relatively to his behavior and employment.

[Sidenote: Negroes of Dissenters.]

[Sidenote: their marriages, &c., to be registered.]

20. And it is hereby enacted and provided, that any planter, or owner of negroes, not being of the Church of England, and not choosing to send his negroes to attend divine service in manner by this act directed, shall give, jointly or severally, as the case shall require, security to the protector of negroes that a competent minister of some Christian church or congregation shall be provided for the due instruction of the negroes, and for their performing divine service according to the description of the religion of the master or masters, in some church or house thereto allotted, in the manner and with the regulations in this act prescribed with regard to the exercise of religion according to the Church of England: provided always, that the marriages of the said negroes belonging to Dissenters shall be celebrated only in the church of the said district, and that a register of the births shall be transmitted to the minister of the said district.

[Sidenote: Regulations concerning marriage.]

21. And whereas a state of matrimony, and the government of a family, is a princ.i.p.al means of forming men to a fitness for freedom, and to become good citizens: Be it enacted, that all negro men and women, above eighteen years of age for the man and sixteen for the woman, who have cohabited together for twelve months or upwards, or shall cohabit for the same time, and have a child or children, shall be deemed to all intents and purposes to be married, and either of the parties is authorized to require of the ministers of the district to be married in the face of the church.

[Sidenote: Concerning the same.]

22. And be it enacted, that, from and after the ---- of ----, all negro men in an healthy condition, and so reported to be, in case the same is denied, by a surgeon and by an inspector of negroes, and being twenty-one years old, or upwards, until fifty, and not being before married, shall, on requisition of the inspectors, be provided by their masters or overseers with a woman not having children living, and not exceeding the age of the man, nor, in any case, exceeding the age of twenty-five years; and such persons shall be married publicly in the face of the church.