688 FARMERS' REGISTER— EMANCIPATION POLICY OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



is the enormous quantity of 468,000 lbs. or 209 

 tons of worms, insects and their larvje, destroyed 

 by the rooks of a sin<:,le rookery : to every one 

 who knows how very destructive to vei^etation are 

 the larvae of tlie tribes of insects, as well as worms, 

 fed upon by rooks, some slight idea may be formed 

 of the devastation whicli rooks are the means of 

 preventing." 



EMArJCIPATICN POLICY OF GREAT BRITAN. 



From Napier's late work on "The Coloriie.-s &c." 



' An expedition having been sent toact along the 

 coast of America, in the year 1S13 ; it was ob- 

 served that the cruelty of the masters to their 

 slaves had produced, in the latter, such despair 

 that they were ready to revolt. And, that by 

 taking advantage of this spirit, we might have 

 shaken the confederal ion of the United States to 

 its very foundation ; but to accomplish tliis, it 

 would have been necessary to change our predato- 

 ry, I must say, on some occasions, not very credi- 

 table attacks, into a general plan of hostility, that 

 would have produced decisive results. The plan 

 proposed, was to land a great number of officers, 

 with black non-commissioned officers, and pri- 

 vates of the West India regiments, who would 

 assemble the revolters in Carolina, Maryland, 

 and Virginia : these Stales are said to contain 

 about a million and a half of slaves; and out of 

 these we might probably have formed a force of 

 two hundred thousand able bodied soldiers, ])erfect- 

 ly obedient, and detesting the enemy : with these, 

 united to whatever British force might be sent to 

 join them, we could have seized tiie whole of the 

 Delaware Country; fortified the Isthmus between 

 Elkton and Newport, and landed cannon from our 

 fleet, which, divided into two large squadrons, 

 would sail, the one u[) the Chesapeake Bay ; the 

 other up the Delaware River, and thus sustain the 

 flanks of the army.' 



' Such a force, and so placed, close to the ene- 

 my's capital, must have brought the whole of the 

 American regular forces, tumiiling down from the 

 north, hotly pursued by our Canadian army, with 

 which, at that moment, they were fiercely en- 

 gaged. This plan of campaign involved conside- 

 rable, but not insuperable, difficulties; the chief 

 of these were : — 



• 1°. The formation of the black army.' 

 '2'^. The feeding and other supplies.' 

 '3°. The throwing up the lines.' 

 'On which three points it was observed,' 

 ' jFirst. — That this spirit of animosity which in- 

 flamed the iilacks, would in those countries, where 

 the white population is so thin, enable such a vast 

 body of slaves quickly to assemble, that for a long 

 time the American forces could not be collected in 

 sufficient numbers to attack the revolted negroes. 

 The latter are perfectly acquainted with the coun- 

 try, and while accustomed to undergo every hard- 

 ship, well knew where all the i)rovisions were to 

 be found. The negroes are patient of discipline, 

 proud of being soldiers, quick to learn military 

 movements, and brave. They would have been 

 placed between the sea and the gallows; strong 

 stimulants to make men fight.' 



' Secondly, — The whole American coast is full 

 of provisions ; all must have fallen into the power 

 of the blacks ; the white population must have fled 

 in terror; a large British fleet would have sup- 

 plied arms and ammunition.' 



' Thirdly. — Where wood alwunds, defensive 

 works are not difficult to form ; the negroes are 

 strong, and inured to severe labor; an army of 

 such men can, by their labors, produce extraor- 

 dinary effects in a short time. We know what 

 Caesar did iietween Jura and Geneva, and at Ale- 

 sia. If Wellington worked more slowly at Tor- 

 res Vedras, it was because he was waging war 

 against a superior force far in front; had his lines 

 been his primar)'^, instead of his secondary, object, he 

 would have put a great force of men to work ; and 

 the relative merit of rapidity in their construction 

 would have been added to his renown. These are 

 all great examples, and might have been followed 

 in America. Assuredly they could, and the re- 

 sult of having such an army entrenched close to 

 the capital, would probably have obliged the Ame- 

 ricans to make peace.' 



' Why, then, was not this plan adopted.' Two 

 reasons were ofiven as conclusive against it.' 



' 1°. That we should not know what to do with 

 this army of Blacks when the war was over. 

 An objection much too foolish to require an an- 

 swer ' 



' 2°. That it would give a bad example to our 

 own slaves in the West Indies. This was the true 

 reason, and in it we behold the timidity of con- 

 scious injustice, and its invariable weakness. 

 Some good people, also, trembled for the throats of 

 the American slave-holders, but on their account 

 there was little to be apprehended. There were 

 ample means of preventing a general slaughter 

 of the whites, but if, in a few instances, some 

 murders should have occurred, for in war blood 

 must be spilled, still the real authors of such a mis- 

 fortune would have been those who made, not 

 those who freed the slaves I Had the above pro- 

 ject been adopted by the British Ministry, Ame- 

 rica would probably have made peace; on unfa- 

 vorable terms for the moment perhaps, but she 

 must eventually have become more strong, as sla- 

 very would have been rooted out for ever from the 

 land, to which it is, if possible, a greater disgrace 

 than to any other; a disgrace that most Ameri- 

 cans are ashamed of: they feel that it is not very 

 consistent to hear the Carolinians in the slave- 

 market of Charleston haranguing upon liberty and 

 equality ! ' 



' We shall, probably someday, have a war with 

 America, and if that day dawns upon a million of 

 black slaves there, woe to Carolina, Virginia and 

 Maryland I either the justice of the British people, 

 or the gallantry of the blacks themselves, will 

 soon free England from the infamy of this accursed 

 traffic; and, when we have no slaves ourselves, 

 the British Government will think it very right 

 to excite the American negroes to revolt. Slave- 

 ry is to America, what Ireland is to Great Bri- 

 tain, her weak point, and the game which France 

 may play against England, England will play 

 against America.' 



' America has, however, one great advantage 

 over England, her slaves are but one million. 

 The Irish are seven, whose sufferings are daily 

 increasing; they desire to separate themselves 

 from England. " But since the Coercion Bill, 

 she is quiet," say many people ; yes, she is quiet, 

 and so is the powder magazine at Woolwich!' 



[Tlie fcM-egoing extract appears in the last number 

 of the Westminster Review, without comment— and 



