amples. Nor are individual violations of justice and humanity to be found in the West Indies alone; in the most free and civilized countries, and in situations of life the most honourable, Without any in they will be sometimes found. tention of drawing invidious comparisons, the candid, the liberal, the humane of all descriptions, who have had opportunities of knowing and judging, may be appealed to-whether the punishments allotted for crimes and misdemeanours committed by the West India slaves, are not considerably more lenient than what is found necessary to support order and discipline in our European military establishments; or if there are any punishments whatever now inflicted on the slaves, which are not adopted, as salutary and exemplary, by the jurisprudence of every civilized government on earth. Individuals will be found, who will violate laws, who will step beyond the boundaries prescribed by them in exercising authority over their fellow-creatures; where are such characters not to be found? The question then is, whether such men are not equally amenable to, and liable to be punished by, those injured laws, for such wanton transgression, in the West Indies, as in any other? This will hereafter be shown more at large. But then it may be said, the very word slavery sounds harshly in the ear, and recalls involun tarily to our minds that affecting passage of our immortal dramatic poet→→→→ "O but man, proud man, Dress'd in a little brief authority, Plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven, It is apt to associate with it ideas and images so repulsive to all the generous feelings of our nature-racks, chains, whips, &c. Merciful God! -And yet what are many of those ideas but the yearnings of a noble heart, the broodings of a lively fancy, pictures conjured up by the imagination, which, like the figures exhibited through a magic-lanthorn, are magnified to the mind's eye. The honest truth is (let it here again be repeated) that the punishments to which the slaves of the West Indies are liable, are moderate and lenient; nor can the degree, as prescribed by the law, be often exceeded with impunity. As to labour, the fact is, that a poor peasant or labourer in Great Britain, performs twice the quantum usually performed by an able negro. But when we come to compare their respective situations (and keep but the name and idea of slavery out of the question) that of the latter has in many respects decidedly the preference. An industrious negro has it in his power to save a provision for a future day; and the author has 219 known a negro, who, without the extraordinary economy of a Dancer or an Elwes, has saved seven hundred pounds, the fruit of his industry; and yet would have refused his liberty had it been offered to him! This, it is true, was a singular instance, as there are few who amass this much. The hard earnings of the poor peasant is perhaps insufficient for the support of himself and family. The negro has a dwelling erected for him, he is clothed, in times of necessity fed, and, in sickness, he receives medical attendance, at his master's expence. Who is to supply those wants and minister those comforts to the poor labouring peasant, when, worn down by toil, age, and infirmity, or assailed by sickness, he stands in need of them? The further consideration of the condition and treatment of the negro slaves will be reserved for a future chapter. The author will conclude this one by a few brief observations on the slave trade *. Little, indeed, need now be said on this subject, as so much has already been said; and if new volumes were written on it, they would probably produce as little effect as heretofore, on the minds of either of the parties, the abolitionists and anti-abolitionists, who, like parallel lines, seem destined never to meet in opinion on * This trade, the reader will be informed, is abolished by a late act of the British legislatore. 1 this long contested question. It is now a barren and exhausted subject, on which every sentence and sentiment which could at this time be uttered, would be only a repetition of what has eagerly and long since been anticipated. It would only be ranging, on one side of the question, the words trade, commercial adventure, cultivation of waste-lands, revenue, expediency, unavoidable decrease of negroes, prosperity of the colonies, consideration of what is due to the West India planters and merchants, &c. &c. and, on the other, reason, nature, religion, grave of seamen, immutable décrees of eternal justice, and other sounding epithets; and spinning out, with these materials, supplied by the sagacity, the ingenuity, and research of original gleaners in this once fruitful field, a useless web of controversial eloquence. Were it possible that the two extreme opinions could ever coalesce, an union or compromise would long since have taken place. One only expedient would be likely to make converts of either party, or induce them to change sides.— Let the abolitionist come into possession of extensive landed property, or mortgages upon that property, in the West Indies; let the anti-abolitionist drop that hold, and, at the same time, let him be suddenly inspired with a desire for popularity, by displaying the powers of a brilliant oratory in behalf of "suffering humanity;" and perhaps the staunchness of neither of their prin ciples can be answered for. Far be it from the author to think, that the agitation of this question has been useless; on the contrary, he knows, and has already said, that it has been productive of the most beneficial effects and influence in favour of that portion of the human race which it regarded: nor does he mean to insinuate that many of its generous and distinguished leaders were not actuated by the purest and most benevolent motives. Were he to venture an opinion of his own, it would be a middle one.-He would say, that while he admitted the eternal principles and fundamental maxims (these cannot be called in question) on which one party built their opinion; he would, at the same time, join with the candid and moderate of the other, in blaming precipitation in a business which involved so much public and individual property. One evil of a very serious nature, which the abolition of the slave trade is likely to produce, he does not recollect having heard particularly urged. It will considerably diminish the encouragement to young Europeans to go and settle in the West Indies; and the white population in our colonies (an object of the greatest importance) will thereby, in the course of a little time, be sensibly and alarmingly diminished. The young planter has hardly any other way of acquiring an independency, than by the occasional purchase of a few negroes, the hire of which is a material part of |