slave under what laws he lives than what is the character of his master, yet if the laws had extended to them favour and protection instead of degradation, this would have tended to raise them in the social scale, and operating insensibly on the public mind, might, by degrees, have softened the extreme rigour of their bondage. Such, however, had been the contrary effects of an opposite process, on the estimation of the Negro race, before the ever-tobe-honoured Granville Sharpe, and his followers, had begun to vindicate their claim to the character and privileges of human nature, that a writer of the highest authority on all West India subjects, Mr. Long, in his celebrated History of Jamaica, though pointing out some of the particulars of their ill treatment, scrupled not to state it as his opinion, that in the gradations of being, Negroes were little elevated above the oran outang, 'that type of man.' Nor was this an unguarded or hastily thrown out assertion. He institutes a laborious comparison of the Negro race with that species of baboon; and declares, that 'ludicrous as the opinion may seem, he does not think that an oran outang husband would be any dishonor to a Hottentot female.' When we find such sentiments as these to have been unblushingly avowed by an author of the highest estimation among the West India colonists, we are prepared for what we find to have been, and, I grieve to say, still continues to be, the practical effects of these opinions." P.11.

He then adverts to several real evils, which we shall be glad to see redressed-the sale of slaves for the debts of their masters, the inadmissibility of their evidence against white men, the system of driving them when at work with a cart whip, and the rare occurrence of the marriage ceremony. These are customs which it is impossible to defend. But at the same time, it is very easy to exaggerate their nature and effects. The question at issue between Mr. Wilberforce and the Planters, is not whether the condition of the slaves be capable of improvement, not whether this or that particular practice should be continued or discontinued-but whether things are stationary, or better or worse. If the abolition of the slave trade has hitherto done no good, and this, strange to say, is the opinion of Mr. Wilberforce, he may plausibly contend that the Planters are incurable, and that nothing can be expected at their hands. But is it a good proof of this fact to shew, that certain cruelties were committed long ago, and to add, that he has no doubt they are repeated still? We have a long account, p. 55-8. of the murder of a negro

natures of the same Negroes and other slaves, being such as renders them wholly unqualified to be governed by the laws, practices, and customs of other nations." Other instances of a like spirit might be cited in the acts of other colonies.',

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slave, in the year 1804, which is intended to shew that the abolition has not made the whites more considerate or more just. And when an improvement has actually taken place in the laws, and therefore cannot be dissembled or denied, we are assured upon the authority of Sir George Prevost, that it was not intended to be acted upon!!

"I must not be supposed ignorant that of late years various colonial laws have been passed, professedly with a view to the promoting of religion among the slaves: but they are all, I fear, worse than nullities. In truth, the solicitude which they express for the personal protection, and still more for the moral interests, of the slaves, contrasted with the apparaut forgetfulness of those interests which so generally follows in the same community, might have appeared inexplicable, but for the frank declaration of the Governor of one of the West Indian islands, which stood among the foremost in passing one of these boasted laws for aineliorating the condition of the slaves. That law contained clauses which, with all due solemnity, and with penalties for the non-observance of its injunctions, prescribed the religious instruction of the slaves and the promoting of the marriage institution among them; and in order to secure as far as possible the good treatment of the slaves, and to ascertain the cause of their decrease, if any,' it required certificates of the slaves' increase and decrease to be annually delivered on oath, under a penalty of 50l. currency. His Majesty's government, some time after, very meritoriously wishing for information as to the state of the slaves, applied to the governor for some of the intelligence which this act was to provide. To this. application the Governor, the late Sir George Prevost, replied as follows: The act of the legislature, entitled 'An act for the encouragement, protection, and better government of slaves,' appears to have been considered, from the day it was passed until this hour, as a political measure to avert the interference of the mother country in the management of slaves.' The same account of the motives by which the legislatures of other West Indian islands were induced to pass acts for ameliorating the condition of the slaves, was given by several of the witnesses who were examined in the committee of the House of Commons in 1790 and 1791.

"In all that I state concerning the religious interests of the slaves, as well as in every other instance, I must be understood to speak only of the general practice. There are, I know, resident in this country, individual owners of slaves, and some, as I believe, even in the colonies, who have been sincerely desirous that their slaves should enjoy the blessings of Christianity: though often, I. lament to say, where they have desired it, their pious endeavours have been of little or no avail. So hard is it, especially for absent proprietors, to stem the tide of popular feeling and practice, which sets strongly in every colony against the religious instruction of slaves. So hard also, I must add, is it to reconcile the necessary

means of such instruction with the harsh duties and harsher discipline to which these poor beings are subjected. The gift even of the rest of the Sabbath is more than the established œconomics of a sugar plantation permit even the most independent planter to confer, while the law tacitly sanctions its being wholly withheld from them.

"Generally speaking, throughout the whole of our West Indian islands, the field slaves, or common labourers, instead of being encouraged or even permitted to devote the Sunday to religious purposes, are employed either in working their provision-grounds for their own and their families' subsistence, or are attending, often carrying heavy loads to, the Sunday markets, which frequently, in Jamaica, are from ten to fifteen miles distant from their abodes.

"These abuses confessedly continue to prevail in despite of the urgent remonstrances, for more than the last half century, of members of the colonial body, and these sometimes, like Mr. B. Edwards, the most accredited advocates for the interests and character of the West Indians." P. 25.

The state of the Colonies in 1791 and 1792, has little or nothing to do with the fact which Mr. Wilberforce undertook to prove; unless his ten-fold repetition of that wornout tale be considered evidence of his inability to bring forward modern instances of misconduct. The confessed continuance with which our extract closed may serve to introduce the reader to Sir Henry Martin. This gentleman, in a plain and sensible manner, upsets the whole of Mr. Wilberforce's assertions by subjecting them to the simple test of truth. Can any thing savour less of "unrelenting cruelty" and "heathenish immorality" than the following modest and unpretending details :

"The Negroes have moderate labour, estimated individually, even before the introduction of the plough*, at less than one half that of an English day labourer; they have ample time allowed for their meals, viz. half an hour for breakfast, and two hours for dinner; they are well clothed twice a year; they are abundantly fed by the planter, so as to need no other resources; yet they have, for their sole use, mountain or other land on the estates, and considerable gardens round their cottages; in both of which they have all the tropical fruit trees, as shaddock, mangoes, oranges, limes,

"The English plough is now getting very generally into use; my own land is wholly cultivated by it. I once measured the garden of a field negro on my property, it lay round his cottage, and was 120 yards in length, and 35 yards in width; and fully cropped. In proof that their cottages, &c. are esteemed their exclusive property, I hired some houses and 17 rooms, at one dollar per month for each room, from the negroes upon my own property; for the accommodation of a gang which I had purchased from an estate till houses were built for their occupation.

lemons, and numerous others, also pine-apples, melons, cassada, arrow-root, and most of the English vegetables; and they breed pigs and poultry: all these articles they consume themselves, or sell at the markets. Their treatment, as to discipline and punishment, is certainly much milder than that of the sailor or soldier. The Negroes have the best medical care; each estate has an hospital, attended twice a week invariably by a professional gentleman of the first respectability; and, in cases of dangerous sickness, or surgical operations, daily, or as much oftener, as he may consider necessary, for all which extra business he receives additional payment.

"Convenient lock-up houses are built near the hospital, for the confinement of men and women, separately, as a punishment; which is substituted for personal infliction, whenever it can reasonably be done, and, in respect to women, invariably, as far as my own actual knowledge extends. No punishment on a plantation can exceed thirty-nine lashes, (without the order of a magistrate,) and this is generally for such crimes as in England would be death. Many, or most of their punishments arise from the idle and illdisposed robbing the gardens of the industrious; and I can affirm, that even when a few lashes (eight or ten) are necessary (where confinement for similar offences may have failed) it is really trifling, as compared to one half the number given by the cat in the navy or army; and a white person always attends the punishment. If the Negroes consider themselves ill-treated, they can (and sometimes do) complain to the sitting magistrates for the week, or to the governor, who is generally a military officer of high rank, with every motive to act impartially, and their real grievances are properly redressed. For great matters they are always under the protection of the law. They have a regale, or harvest home, when the crop is finished, and three or four holydays at Christmas, with presents of particular articles of provision

They are mostly members of the Moravian Church, many of the Church of England, and some, I am sorry to say, of no Church, I mean Dissenters, who are generally dissatisfied, self-sufficient, and troublesome; very few, I believe, are Heathens. They all have the opportunity of attending the Parish Churches or Moravian Chapels. On Sundays I have constantly noticed both men and women, neatly dressed, proceeding in parties to attend Divine Service. The Moravian Priests receive annual presents for their religious attendance upon the Negroes +.

"After the foregoing statement, my reader will probably be surprised at the following quotation from the first page of Mr. W.'s Appeal: The Negro slavery in the British colonies is a system of

"If it should be said, that I merely describe what is done upon my own property, I answer, that I certainly state such particulars as have come under my own knowledge; but I conceive they may be taken as a fair medium specimen of general usage."

"I paid 1007. last year towards erecting a new Moravian chapel near my estates."

the grossest injustice, of the most heathenish irreligion and immorality, of the most unprecedented degradation and unrelenting cruelty; a national crime of the deepest moral malignity; containing those essential and incurable vices which will ever exist whereever the power of man over man is unlimited.'

"This violent and abusive language I can readily forgive; but the last sentence, implying unlimited power to be possessed by the planter over the Negro, is an assertion too ridiculous for any person pretending to write on West India affairs.

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Again, in page 21 he says, Licentiousness is not confined to the Negroes; the fact is perfectly notorious, that it has been the general policy to employ, instead of married managers and overseers, single young men, as the immediate superintendants of the gangs, and hence it too naturally follows, that they who from their being the depositaries of their master's authority ought to be the protectors of the purity of the young females, too often become their corrupters.'

"This is a gross and disgusting charge, and I utterly deny the notoriety of such a policy, for I never even heard of it; and, if any planters pursued it, they must be blind to their interest, as well as careless of their reputation, for the general policy is, to have black, and not mongrel children *.

"In page 24, Mr. W. favours us with his further opinion of the West India system, describing its physical evils as cruel, odious, and pernicious, but that the almost universal destitution of religious and moral instruction among the slaves, is the most serious of all its vices.'

"The planters recommend and urge the Negroes to attend to their religious and moral duties, but as they dare not presume to take upon themselves the office of the priesthood, like our modern methodists, what more can they do? Are they to force religion and morality upon the Negroes, vi et armis ?

"It is affirmed, page 27, that the gift even of the Sabbath is more than the established economies of a sugar plantation permit even the most independent planter to confer, while the law tacitly sanctions its being wholly withheld from them.'

"I give my manager five pounds for every black child born alive upon my property, and five pounds annually for each increase beyond the decrease in the whole pop ulation."

"I conceive that English Gentlemen would not be well pleased to have their conduct brought under public discussion by an accusation that they did not do every thing (which their accusers might deem right) for the religious and moral improvement of their servants, labourers, or dependents.

"I can truly say, that I never heard the Liturgy more solemnly and impressively read, nor better sermons preached, both as to matter and manner, than by the Rev. Mr. Harman, rector of St. John's in the island of Antigua; the body of the church was always filled with Negroes, whose attention to the service, and punctuality in kneeling and standing, at the proper time, was truly commendable, and many made use of their Prayer Books. The clerks in all the Parish Churches are invariably men of education, which greatly adds to the effect of the church service."