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PETITION FOR COMPENSATION FOR THE LOSS OF 
SLAVES BY EMANCIPATION IN THE DANISH 
WEST INDIES I 
We, the undersigned, 
inhabitants of the West India Islands 
St. Thomas and St. John, beg leave most respectfully 
to present 
to 
the Rigsdag of Denmark, this Petition, praying that just and 
equitable compensation 
may be granted us for the loss we have 
sustained in our property, 
in consequence of the ordinance of 
the Governor General, bearing date 3d July, 1848, by which he 
took upon himself 
to abolish Negro Slavery in the Danish Colonies, 
and which act received the Royal sanction on the 22d September 
of 
the same year. 
If, notwithstanding 
the heavy loss thus sustained, we have 
hitherto 
been silent, it should be attributed 
to the hope we had 
entertained, 
that the government, 
without being called upon to 
do so, would have taken steps to obtain compensation 
for us; and 
to the sentiments 
of sympathy 
with which we beheld the struggle 
of the mother country 
in the trying situation in which the revolt 
of the Duchies, and war with many powerful 
enemies had placed 
her, a struggle 
which required all her resources, 
both intellectual 
and material, 
of which she could dispose; and thus it would have 
been inopportune 
had we at that time obtruded ourselves on the 
notice of the government. But now, that the clouds which ob- 
scured the political horizon have been dissipated, now, that a 
glorious war is concluded, 
and peace sheds its blessings 
over Den- 
mark, we can no longer defer our just demand for compensation, 
lest our silence should be construed 
into acquiescence 
with the act, 
by which we have been despoiled of our property, 
or interpreted 
as an abandonment 
of our claims. We had as good a title of 
property 
to our negroes, 
as to our land, houses, or any other property 
we possess; this right was established not only by law, but the 
government 
had moreover ever encouraged the subjects to ac- 
quire such property as being advantageous to the state. For 
this purpose the government 
granted loans to the colonists upon 
reduced interest 
from 
the so dominated 
"negro loan." The govern- 
ment bought and sold such property, 
took it in mortgage, 
levied 
423 
424 
JOURNAL OF NEGRO HISTORY 
duties upon their importation, 
and imposed a yearly capitation 
tax, consequently 
not a shadow of doubt could exist of the legality 
of such property; and if it was a fault to become possessors of 
such property, 
it must be laid to the charge of the government 
which had fostered and encouraged it. The highest tribunal of 
the land, the King's High Court, acknowledged 
this right in its 
fullest sense, so that a negro slave, even on the free soil of Den- 
mark, continued to be the property 
of his master so thoroughly, 
that the latter in direct opposition 
to the slave's will, could oblige 
him to return to the West Indies. That the negro's ability to 
work, and personal qualities, enhanced his value, is a fact too pal- 
pable to stand in need of proof; the numberless 
legal appraise- 
ments upon oath, the sales which took place daily between man and 
man, as well as the normal value, which according 
to the Ordinance 
of the first 
of May, 1840, was determined 
every year by the govern- 
ment, after a previous hearing of the Burgher Council, and the 
respective 
authorities, 
render this matter incontestable. 
This ordinance admits the owner's right to full compensation, 
for only on condition 
of paying the full value of the services which 
the master could have from the slave, had the slave the right to 
demand his freedom; but without such remuneration, 
his master 
could not be deprived of him. 
The forementioned 
ordinance, 
the common 
law, and in particular 
the eighty-seventh 
section of the constitution, 
lay down as an 
invariable rule, that no subject can be compelled 
to cede his prop- 
erty, unless the general good of the commonwealth 
requires it, and 
then only on receiving 
full compensation. 
Those civilized nations in whose colonies slavery has been abol- 
ished, have neither 
raised any question nor doubt as to the legality 
of the principle of compensation. Thus England, France and 
Sweden have granted compensation. The first ? 25 12 2 sterling 
at an average per head; the second 490 francs per head, which is, 
however, considered 
but part of the whole sum; and the third in 
the following 
manner: first 
class, under fifteen 
years, $80 per head, 
second class, from fifteen 
to sixty years, $240 per head; third class, 
over sixty years, $40 per head. 
With regard to emancipation 
without compensation, 
the fol- 
lowing language was held to the King of Sweden: "Your most 
gracious Majesty, in your high wisdom, will never allow such vio- 
lation of justice as emancipation 
without compensation 
would be; 
such a thing has never anywhere 
occurred." 
DOCUMENTS 
425 
The Dutch government 
has declared that it will not abolish 
slavery without indemnifying 
the owners, and for this reason it 
has not given any formal sanction to the liberty which the Dutch 
governor 
of St. Martin's (with the consent of the planters) found 
himself compelled to concede to the negroes, when emancipation 
was proclaimed in the French part of the same island, but left 
matters in statu quo. Once, however, 
there existed an instance of 
emancipation 
without 
compensation. The National Convention 
of 
France, in the year 1793, did, disregarding 
the sacred rights of 
property, 
proclaim the abolition of slavery; but ten years after- 
wards, on the 28th of May, 1802, that act was declared by the corps 
legislatif, 
to be an act of spoliation, and as such illegal; conse- 
quently slavery was re-established 
by decree of the First Consul, 
and continued 
for half a century, 
and would in all probability 
be 
still in full vigor, at least for some time, had it not been for the 
revolution 
of February. For us, we have the most implicit 
reliance 
on the honor of the Danish Government, 
and the Danish people, 
and we feel persuaded that they will not follow the example of the 
National Convention. In Denmark, 
love of justice and respect for 
the sacredness of the rights of property 
are too deeply implanted 
in the soil to be easily rooted out. The proverbial 
honesty 
of Den- 
mark is as firm 
as the courage, loyalty, and gallantry 
of which her 
sons have so lately given such signal proof. 
The Rigsdag of Denmark will not on account of the burden, 
shrink from the demands of justice; it will not allow it to be said 
that it refused to satisfy a claim, the justness of which has never 
been doubted by any civilized nation, nor will it suffer 
a number 
of its fellow citizens to be illegally bereft 
of their property 
without 
compensation. The Rigsdag of Denmark will not leave it in the 
power of the world to say, that it was liberal at the expense of 
others, or that it denied compensation 
to the weak, because they 
had only the right, but not the power to enforce 
it. In reviewing 
the means that present themselves, 
the burden will not be so con- 
siderable or so heavy, when we take into consideration 
that the 
state possesses many plantations, 
in respect of which to their former 
complement 
of slaves, there will of course be no question of com- 
pensation, and that it also holds mortgages 
on many properties, 
where the compensation 
can be written 
off, without any real loss 
in many cases; on the other hand, the realm, by fulfilling 
its duty 
in settling a lawful claim, will gain by the disbursement 
of the 
compensation, 
which will as may reasonably 
be expected, 
not alone 
426 
JOURNAL OF NEGRO HISTORY 
increase the prosperity 
of the colonies, but their inhabitants 
will 
attach themselves 
more closely to Denmark. 
We do not entertain 
any doubt but that the Rigsdag will grant 
us the compensation 
to which we have the most incontestable 
right, 
and which cannot be controverted 
by such futile arguments, 
as, 
that the owners have lost nothing by the government 
depriving 
them of their property, 
as the stock of labor is the same, and to 
be had for an equitable hire. If it even in reality were the case, 
that the expenses were not greater, 
and the work not less than be- 
fore the emancipation, 
while, alas! the contrary is the case, it 
would, nevertheless, 
be a species of argument 
in itself contrary 
to 
common 
sense, in a degree, 
that it would scarcely 
require any refu- 
tation at the bar of the enlightened 
Rigsdag, as it might with just 
as much reason be said, that all the rest of the property 
of people 
could be taken away whenever 
the government 
managed matters 
in 
such a way, that the properties 
could be rented at so moderate a 
rate, that the expenses did not exceed, what those of the keeping 
of the property 
yearly had amounted 
to. It will be clearly evident 
that the owner notwithstanding, 
loses his essential rights, 
for the 
property 
would no longer be at his disposal, or under his control, 
he would be dependent 
upon others not only as to renting 
of that 
kind of property 
of which he had formerly 
been possessed, but he 
would not be able to sell, mortgage, 
or dispose of it in any manner 
whatever, 
either in favor of himself, 
his children, 
or other heirs; 
in short, property 
would to him, entirely 
lose its money value, and 
the capital vested in it would be sunk as is now the case with us. 
Many a slave owner derived his living from the yearly income 
which the hire of his slaves produced, 
but now the state has bereft 
him of his property, 
and hurled him, widows and orphans into 
the most abject poverty and misery, 
while that act, as yet with- 
out compensation, 
has more or less generally 
affected 
those who 
possessed that class of property, 
and in numberless 
instances pro- 
duced pecuniary 
embarrassment; 
while the slave owners who are 
proprietors 
of plantations 
have not alone lost the capital invested 
in 
their slaves, but the subversion 
of the ancient normal order in the 
colonies, 
but in addition thereto, 
they are exposed to the imminent 
risk of seeing their estates, buildings, 
and fabrics 
eventually 
reduced 
to no value whatever. Most assuredly the circumstances 
which 
precede the emancipation, 
cannot be brought forward 
in support 
of the necessity 
thereof. Such a delusion cannot hold good. It is 
notorious 
that the so called insurrection 
which was begun in the 
DOCUMENTS 
427 
jurisdiction 
of Fredericksted, 
at St. Croix on the 3d of July, 1848, 
would have been put down, if the forces, although reduced as 
they had been, had been called out and made use of by the govern- 
ment of that island. This is borne out by the sentence of 5th 
of February, in this year, rendered against the governor-general 
by the commission, 
which sentence expressly 
states that the decla- 
ration of emancipation 
partly originated in a desire to procure 
the treasury an exemption from compensation, 
or what is the 
same thing, it was intended to serve as a means to deprive the 
proprietors 
of their lawful rights. Furthermore, 
it is quite evi- 
dent, that even the most trifling 
commotion 
would not have oc- 
curred, if the Captain-General 
of Puerto Rico's offer 
of assistance 
on perceiving 
the impending 
dangers had been accepted. Neither 
is it less certain that the normal order could have been re-estab- 
lished subsequently. His Majesty's government 
by presenting 
to 
royal assent the emancipation 
of the negro slaves, which the gov- 
ernor-general 
had taken upon himself 
to grant, has adopted the 
act as its own. It has also from the very beginning 
been con- 
sidered 
that the insurrection 
could not be viewed as sufficient 
founda- 
tion for the act. This is clearly to be seen from the wording 
of the 
royal mandate on which the emancipation 
is made a concession 
'to the lively" wishes of the negroes. That his late Majesty King 
Christian VIII., of glorious and blessed memory, 
had by rescript 
of 28th July 1847, given freedom 
to all children 
born of slaves in 
the Danish West India possessions, 
and at the same time ordained 
that slavery should finally 
cease in twelve years, cannot be pleaded 
as a reason that proprietors 
of slaves are to sustain loss and receive 
no compensation, 
for the question remained open, and had been 
only glanced at by said rescript. It is much to be lamented that 
the emancipation 
in the manner it took place, and with the cir- 
cumstances with which it was accompanied, induced the slave 
population, although erroneously, 
to believe that they had over- 
awed the government, 
and to receive the emancipation 
not as boon, 
but rather 
as a trophy. The bad impression 
which such a manage- 
ment of matters 
has caused, will ever remain, 
and render 
the march 
of administration 
difficult, 
for defiance has taken the place which 
only should have been ceded to gratitude. It ought here to be 
observed that a succession 
of ordinances 
had gradually loosed the 
ties which existed between the master and the slave. What here- 
tofore had been esteemed as a favor on the master's part, was by 
law converted 
into an obligation, 
and the slave was not only ren- 
428 
JOURNAL OF NEGRO HISTORY 
dered more and more independent 
of his master, but his senti- 
ments of attachment 
to him were destroyed. Thus the law made it 
obligatory 
on the master to cede a negro his freedom when he 
could pay his full value; a favor which hardly any one had thought 
of refusing; thus the law bound the master to give his slaves cer- 
tain little extras for Christmas, 
a favor which no one had thought 
of denying, 
and thus the law compelled the planter to give his 
negroes the Saturday free; a boon, which hitherto 
frequently 
had 
been granted as a recompense 
for diligent work during the week. 
But from the moment that the law converted 
into an obligation, 
that which hitherto had been received as a favor, indifference 
usurped the place of gratitude. Thus, by consecutive 
innovations, 
the state of things became precarious, 
the relations insecure, im- 
patience sprung up, and the seeds of the tumultuous 
scenes which 
ensued and served as a pretext 
for emancipation, 
were sown. Here 
we must observe, that though it were admitted that the pretended 
insurrection 
at St. Croix rendered 
emancipation 
an act of necessity, 
it cannot, at all events, in any manner be cited with regard to 
St. Thomas or St. John, where no kind of disturbance existed 
among the slave population, 
Thus, entertaining 
the intimate con- 
viction that our right to compensation 
is as conformable 
to reason, 
as it ought to be sacred and inviolable, 
and in solemnly 
protesting- 
against our being bereft of our property 
without full compensa- 
tion, we submit this our representation 
to the Rigsdag of Denmark, 
with the most unlimited 
confidence 
in its justice. We have the 
consoling 
hope and encouraging 
persuasion 
that the representatives 
of a people who, by the bill of indemnity 
of 30th June, 1850, have 
gone ahead of, and set a brilliant 
example to other nations, by the 
acknowledgment 
of the principle of equity, that "all citizens 
ought equally to share the losses which the scourge of war had 
brought upon individuals," will not deny a principle of justice, 
which every European nation has hitherto 
not neglected 
to comply 
with towards its colonies. 
ST. THOMAS AND ST. JOHN, June, 1851. 
To the Rigsdag of Denmark. 
I Knox, "An Historical Account of St. Thomas, West Indies," pp. 255- 
261.