|
We include this article because it throws some light on how some Douglases
found themselves in the Americas
ENGLAND'S IRISH SLAVES
by Robert E. West
PEC Illinois State Director*
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Records
are replete with references to early Irish Catholics in the West Indies.
Gwynn in Analecta Hibernica, states: 'The earliest reference to the
Irish is the establishment of an Irish
settlement on the Amazon River
in 1612."(1) Smith, in Colonists in Bondage, reports: "a
Proclamation of the year 1625 urged the banishing overseas of dangerous
rogues (Irish Political
Prisoners); kidnapping (of Irish) was
common."(2)
Condon states that the first
considerable emigration from Ireland to the southern latitudes of America
was to Guiana in 1629.(3) Newton declares that Antigua and Montserrat were
occupied as early as 1632 and that many emigrant Irish came out among the
early planters and servants in these islands.(4) Dunn, in Sugar and
Slaves, asserts that, in 1636, Ireland was already a
prime source of
supply for servants: as early as 1637, on Montserrat the Irish heavily
outnumbered the English colonists, and 69 percent of Montserrat's white
inhabitants were Irish.(5) Lenihan writes: in 1650 "25,000 Irishmen sold
as slaves in Saint Kitt's and the adjoining islands, petitioned for a
priest..."(6)
In 1641, Ireland's
population was 1,466,000 and in 1652, 616,000. According to Sir William
Petty, 850,000 were wasted by the sword, plague, famine, hardship and
banishment during the
Confederation War 1641-1652. At the end of the
war, vast numbers of Irish men, women and children were forcibly
transported to the American colonies by the English government.(7) These
people were rounded up like cattle, and, as Prendergast reports on
Thurloe's State Papers(8) (Pub. London, 1742), "In clearing the ground for
the adventurers and soldiers (the English capitalists of that day)... To
be transported to Barbados and the English plantations
in America. It
was a measure beneficial to Ireland, which was thus relieved of a
population that might trouble the planters; it was a benefit to the people
removed, which might thus be made
English and Christians ... a great
benefit to the West India sugar planters, who desired men and boys for
their bondsmen, and the women and Irish girls... To solace them."(9)
J. Williams provides additional
evidence of the attitude of the English government towards the Irish in an
English law of June 26, 1657: "Those who fail to transplant themselves
into Connaught (Ireland's Western Province) or (County) Clare within six
months... Shall be attained of high treason... Are to be sent into America
or some other parts beyond the seas..."(10) Those
thus banished who
return are to "suffer the pains of death as felons by virtue of this act,
without benefit of Clergy."(11)
The
following are but a few of the numerous references to those Irish
transported against their will between 1651 and 1660.
Emmet asserts that during this time, more that "100,000 young children who
were orphans or had been taken from their Catholic parents, were sent
abroad into slavery in the West Indies, Virginia and New England, that
they might lose their faith and all knowledge of their nationality, for in
most instances even their names were changed... Moreover, the contemporary
writers assert between 20,000 and 30,000 men and women who were taken
prisoner were sold in the American colonies as slaves, with no respect to
their former station in life."(12) Dunn claims in Barbados the Irish
Catholics constituted the largest block of servants on the island.(13)
Higham estimated that in 1652 Barbados had absorbed no less than 12,000 of
these political prisoners.(14) E. Williams reports: "In 1656 Cromwell's
Council of State voted that 1,000 Irish girls and 1,000 Irish young men be
sent to Jamaica."(15) Smith declares: "it is impossible to say how many
shiploads of unhappy Irish were dispatched to America by the English
government," and "no mention of such shipments would be very likely to
appear in the State Papers... They must have been very considerable in
number."(16)
Estimates vary between 80,000
and 130,000 regarding the amount of Irish sent into slavery in America and
the West Indies during the years of 1651 - 1660: Prendergast says
80,000(17);
Boudin 100,000(18); Emmet 120,000 to 130,000(19); Lingard
60,000 up until 1656(20); and Condon estimates "the number of Irish
transported to the British colonies in America from 1651 - 1660 exceeded
the total number of their inhabitants at that period, a fact which ought
not to be lost sight of by those who undertake to estimate the strength of
the Celtic element in this
nation..."(21)
It is impossible to ascertain the exact number of those unfortunate
victims of English injustice during this period, but we do know the amount
was massive. Even though the figures given
above are but estimates,
they are estimates from eminent historians.
The flow of the Irish to the American colonies throughout the remainder of
the 17th century was large and continuous, but not nearly as massive as
between 1651 and 1660. Some of the many statements by historians give
evidence of this Irish tide. Higham reports that in 1664 the Irish took
the place of the French on St. Bartholomew's.(22) Smith claims that during
the four years leading up to 1675, already 500 Irish servants were brought
to Jamaica by ships from Bristol, England that stopped in Ireland for
provisions.(23) During 1680 on the Leeward Islands, Dunn posits: "with so
many Irish Catholic servants and farmers... The English planters became
obsessed with the fear of popery."(24) Dunn also states that in Jamaica in
1685 the 2nd Duke of
Aberlmarle, after his appointment by James II, a
Catholic, mustered his chief support from the Irish Catholic small
planters and servants and that the indentured servants who constituted the
island militia were mainly Irish Catholic.(25) In reporting on Father
Garganel's statements, Lenihan claims: "in 1699 Father Garganel, S.J.,
Superior of the island of Martinique, asked for
one or two Irish
Fathers for that and the neighboring isles which were 'fill of Irish' for
every year shiploads of men, boys and girls, partly crimped, partly
carried off by main force for the purposes of slave trade, are conveyed by
the English from Ireland."(26)
Smith has
recorded that "Servants sailed from every port in the British Isles, but
by far the greater number came from London, Bristol, Liverpool, Dublin and
Cork, and, doubtless, it was principally the merchants of Bristol,
Whitehaven and Liverpool which conducted trade with Ireland."(27) Emmet
clarifies Smith's statement in detail by asserting: "the early and
continued emigration of the Irish to this country during the 17th century
has been lost sight of in consequence of this change to English surnames
and from the fact that no vessel was knowingly allowed to sail from
Ireland direct, but by law was obliged first to visit an English port
before clearance papers could be obtained. Consequently, every Irish
emigrant (slave, servant, etc..) crossing in an Irish or English vessel
from either England or Ireland, appeared in the official records as
English, for the voyage did not begin according to law until the ship
cleared from an English port, and all passengers on arrival in this
country (American Colonies) were rated as English."(28)
It is also of importance to be aware of the fact, as Dunn confirmed, that
most population lists for Barbados, Jamaica and the Leeward Islands
concern only parish registers of the Church
of England, all other
people were essentially ignored in the head count."(29)
The English government variously referred to Irish to be transported as
rogues, vagabonds, rebels, neutrals, felons, military prisoners, teachers,
priests, maidens etc. All historians call them servants, bondsman,
indentured servants, slaves, etc., and agree that they were all political
victims. The plain facts are that most were treated as slaves. After their
land was confiscated by England, which drove them from their ancestral
homes to forage for roots like animals, they were
kidnapped, rounded up
and driven like cattle to waiting ships and transported to English
colonies in America, never to see their country again. They were the
victims of what many called the
immense "Irish Slave Trade."
All writers on the 17th century American colonies are in agreement that
the treatment of white servants or white slaves in English colonies was
cruel to the extreme, worse than that of
black slaves; that inhuman
treatment was the norm, that torture (and branding FT, fugitive traitor,
on the forehead) was the punishment for attempted escape. Dunn stated:
"Servants were punished by whipping, strung up by the hands and matches
lighted
between their fingers, beaten over the head until blood ran,"
--all this on the slightest provocation.(30) Ligon, an eyewitness in
Barbados from 1647-1650 said, "Truly, I have seen cruelty there done to
servants as I did not think one Christian could have done to another."(31)
It is a matter of great importance to realize
that most of the white slaves, servants and small farmers abandoned the
West Indies for the mainland colonies in America. Dunn reports: "Between
1678 and 1713, Leeward sugar planters became more rich and powerful and
controlled all local councils and assemblies so white servants and small
farmers abandoned the Leeward Islands."(32) Craven said that between 1643
and 1667, about 12,000 left Barbados for other plantations(33) and Dunn
said the white population of the Leeward Islands was reduced by 30 percent
between 1678 and 1708.(34) According to Craven, in Colonies in Transition,
prior to the 1680's, the hopes which sustained the Carolina venture
continued to depend chiefly upon the migration of settlers from the older
colonies, especially from the West Indies.(35) Smith asserted that after
1670, the emigration of whites from the smaller islands at least equalled
the
immigration.(36) Condon declared: "In [the] course of time many of
those who had been transported to the West Indies in this manner found
their way to the colonies on the continent, in search of greater freedom
and a more healthful climate."(37)
All writers on the 17th century history agree that between one-half and
two thirds of white immigrants in the British West Indies and mainland
America were servants, most of them severely mistreated. Most all Irish
immigrants were 'servants.' Irish were almost exclusively Catholic (at
least they were when they left Ireland) and most were of ancient Irish
families even though they appeared in English records as English, if
recorded at all. After 20,000 Puritans arrived in the
American colonies from 1630-1640, migration of English colonists all but
subsided. Some writers say after 1640 only a trickle of English colonists
arrived. In 1632, many Irish were on Antigua. In 1637, 69 percent of
whites on Montserrat were Irish. In 1650, 25,000 Irish were on St. Kitt's
and Nevis and some were on other Leeward islands. In 1652, prior to the
wholesale transportation of Irish, most of 12 thousand political prisoners
on Barbados were Irish.
From 1651 to 1660,
between 80,000 to 130,000 Irish were transported. From 1660-1700, there
was a large steady flow of Irish immigrants. Most whites, especially
servants, slaves and
small farmers went to the American mainland for
more freedom, a healthier climate and economic betterment.
There are no verifiable records on the white population of all the
American colonies in the 17th century. Some estimates include blacks, some
do not. Some list only members of the Church
of England. Estimates are
made for Barbados for a certain year while estimates are made for the
Leeward Islands for other years. The same applies to Jamaica and the
mainland colonies. One
estimate for the mainland colonies, white and
black included, was given at 204,000 in 1689.
In the absence of reliable records, I believe it is necessary to take the
following into very serious consideration: migration trends, prolificness
of people of varying national origin, laws in
effect in the country
from which people migrated; the prevailing conditions in the country
undergoing emigration; the amount of control the emigrating people
had over their own destiny; and the fact that all American colonies both
mainland and the West Indies
were very intertwined,
Well over one-half of white immigrants to the West Indies during the 17th
century were Irish Catholic servants, most who, in the course of time,
abandoned the West Indies for the mainland American colonies.
- - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
*This article comes
from the newsletter of the:
Political Education Committee (PEC)
American Ireland Education Foundation
54 South Liberty Drive, Suite 401
Stony Point NY 10980
1-914-947-2726
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - -
Bibliography
Aubrey Gwynn, S.J., Documents relating to Irish in the
West
Indies -- Analecta Hibernica
Page:
153
Note: 1
Edward
O'Meagher Condon, The Irish Race in America, New York,
A.E. and R.E.
Ford, 1887
Page: 15
41 38,9
Note: 3
21 37
Arthur Percoval Newton,
The European Nations in the West Indies
1493-1688, London, J. Dickens &
Co, Reprint 1967
Page:
163
Note: 4
Richard
S. Dunn, Sugar and Slaves, Chapel Hill, NC, U of NC
Press, 1972
Page: 56, 122, 130 ?
133 160
Note:
5
13 24 25
Page: 327 ? 131 141
Note: 29 30 32
34
Maurice Lenihan, History of Limerick, Cork, Mercier, ?
Page: 668,9 669
Note: 6 26
John P.
Prendergast, The Cromwellian Settlement of Ireland,
Dublin, ?, 1865
Note: 9 17
Sir William Petty,
Political Anatomy of Ireland, London, ?, 1719
Page: 19
Note:
7
John Thurloe, Letter of Henry Cromwell, 4th Thurloe's State
Papers, London, 1742
Note:
8
Thomas Addis Emmet, Ireland Under English Rule, NY & London,
Putnam, 1903
Page:
101, vol I 101, vol I 211,2
Note: 12
19 28
Joseph J. Williams, Whence the "Black Irish" of Jamaica, NY,
Dial,
MCMXXXII
Page: 17
17
Note: 10
11
Anthony Broudine, Propuguaculum, Pragae Anno, 1669
Note: 18
Dr. John Lingard, History of England,
Edinburgh, ? ,1902
Page:
336, vol X
Note: 20
Abbot E. Smith, Colonists in Bondage, 1607-1776, Glouster, Mass,
Smith,
1965
Page: 164
165 334 209 336
Note:
2 16 23 27 36
C.
S. S. Higham, The Development of the Leeward Islands Under the
Restoration, 1660-1688, London,
Cambridge,
1921
Page: 4
47
Note: 14
22
Richard Ligon, A True and Exact History of Barbadoes, London,
Cass, 1657, reprinted 1976
Page:
44
Note: 31
Eric
Williams, From Columbus to Castro, 1492-1969, New York,
Harper and Roe,
1971
Page: 101
Note: 15
Wesley Frank Craven, The Colonies in
Transition, 1660-1713, New
York, Harper and Roe, 1968
Page: 55
58
Note: 33
35
Se also: The
White Slave Trade
Slavery in the
Carolinas
Sample slave sale
records
Research by Allen
Omega
Caribbean/Scottish connections
|
|
