I
Suspected That These Moans Were From A Tortured Slave, For I
Was Told That This Was The Case In Another Instance.
Near
Rio de Janeiro I lived opposite to an old lady, who kept
screws to crush the fingers of her female slaves.
I have
stayed in a house where a young household mulatto, daily
and hourly, was reviled, beaten, and persecuted enough to
break the spirit of the lowest animal. I have seen a little
boy, six or seven years old, struck thrice with a horse-whip
(before I could interfere) on his naked head, for having
handed me a glass of water not quite clean; I saw his
father tremble at a mere glance from his master's eye.
These latter cruelties were witnessed by me in a Spanish
colony, in which it has always been said, that slaves are
better treated than by the Portuguese, English, or other
European nations. I have seen at Rio de Janeiro a powerful
negro afraid to ward off a blow directed, as he thought, at his
face. I was present when a kind-hearted man was on the
point of separating forever the men, women, and little
children of a large number of families who had long lived
together. I will not even allude to the many heart-sickening
atrocities which I authentically heard of; - nor would I have
mentioned the above revolting details, had I not met with
several people, so blinded by the constitutional gaiety of the
negro as to speak of slavery as a tolerable evil. Such people
have generally visited at the houses of the upper classes, where
the domestic slaves are usually well treated, and they have
not, like myself, lived amongst the lower classes. Such
inquirers will ask slaves about their condition; they forget
that the slave must indeed be dull, who does not calculate
on the chance of his answer reaching his master's ears.
It is argued that self-interest will prevent excessive cruelty;
as if self-interest protected our domestic animals, which
are far less likely than degraded slaves, to stir up the rage
of their savage masters. It is an argument long since protested
against with noble feeling, and strikingly exemplified,
by the ever-illustrious Humboldt. It is often attempted to
palliate slavery by comparing the state of slaves with our
poorer countrymen: if the misery of our poor be caused
not by the laws of nature, but by our institutions, great is
our sin; but how this bears on slavery, I cannot see; as well
might the use of the thumb-screw be defended in one
land, by showing that men in another land suffered from
some dreadful disease. Those who look tenderly at the slave
owner, and with a cold heart at the slave, never seem to put
themselves into the position of the latter; what a cheerless
prospect, with not even a hope of change! picture to yourself
the chance, ever hanging over you, of your wife and
your little children - those objects which nature urges even
the slave to call his own - being torn from you and sold
like beasts to the first bidder! And these deeds are done
and palliated by men, who profess to love their neighbours
as themselves, who believe in God, and pray that his Will be
done on earth! It makes one's blood boil, yet heart tremble,
to think that we Englishmen and our American descendants,
with their boastful cry of liberty, have been and are so
guilty: but it is a consolation to reflect, that we at least
have made a greater sacrifice, than ever made by any nation,
to expiate our sin.
On the last day of August we anchored for the second time
at Porto Praya in the Cape de Verd archipelago; thence we
proceeded to the Azores, where we stayed six days. On the
2nd of October we made the shore, of England; and at Falmouth
I left the Beagle, having lived on board the good little
vessel nearly five years.
Our Voyage having come to an end, I will take a short
retrospect of the advantages and disadvantages, the pains
and pleasures, of our circumnavigation of the world. If a
person asked my advice, before undertaking a long voyage,
my answer would depend upon his possessing a decided taste
for some branch of knowledge, which could by this means be
advanced. No doubt it is a high satisfaction to behold various
countries and the many races of mankind, but the pleasures
gained at the time do not counterbalance the evils. It is
necessary to look forward to a harvest, however distant
that may be, when some fruit will be reaped, some good
effected.
Many of the losses which must be experienced are obvious;
such as that of the society of every old friend, and of the
sight of those places with which every dearest remembrance
is so intimately connected. These losses, however, are at
the time partly relieved by the exhaustless delight of
anticipating the long wished-for day of return. If, as poets
say, life is a dream, I am sure in a voyage these are the
visions which best serve to pass away the long night. Other
losses, although not at first felt, tell heavily after a period:
these are the want of room, of seclusion, of rest; the jading
feeling of constant hurry; the privation of small luxuries, the
loss of domestic society and even of music and the other
pleasures of imagination. When such trifles are mentioned, it is
evident that the real grievances, excepting from accidents, of
a sea-life are at an end. The short space of sixty years has
made an astonishing difference in the facility of distant
navigation. Even in the time of Cook, a man who left
his fireside for such expeditions underwent severe privations.
A yacht now, with every luxury of life, can circumnavigate
the globe. Besides the vast improvements in ships and
naval resources, the whole western shores of America are
thrown open, and Australia has become the capital of a
rising continent.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 202 of 205
Words from 204630 to 205645
of 208183
