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year 1798; and so on through all or nearly all the other colonies. Now, what reason can be assigned for this contemporaneous burst of philanthropy throughout all these independent legislatures? It can scarcely be supposed that such a great revolution in the conduct and character of the planter had taken place, at that particular moment, through all these islands, as to call for this reform; neither have we read in the history of the West Indies any thing to lead us to suppose, that the sensibility of the legislators of that part of the world had, at the period in question, received any great additional warmth. But we do remember, that, just at the time when these laws were passed, debates had been renewed in the Parliament of Great Britain for the abolition of the slave trade; that the promoters of that measure, supported by the voice of the whole people of this kingdom, were triumphing in the hope of immediately subverting that horrible system of murder; that much argument in support of their cause was drawn, and most justly drawn, from the wretched condition of the West Indian negroes; and that a rigid inspection of the abuses which had taken place in these islands, had been very intelligibly threatened. Just at this moment the dormant humanity of the colonists awoke. Crimes which had been passing for ages under their eyes, unnoticed and unchecked, instantly assumed magnitude and importance, when they had attracted the notice of the British Parliament. Then humanity began her work, and cruelties were prohibited by severe laws, the very existence of which, previously to the enactment of those laws, had been most pertinaciously and confidently denied. Beyond controversy it was highly proper that such crimes should be prohibited: we admit with joy that much pretended and some real reformation did take place; and are quite ready to allow to many individuals the praise of having exerted themselves, with great energy and benevolence, in the service of the unfortunate race of men for whose protection the laws in question were intended. This only we wish to insist upon---that this "ameliorating" system was adopted under circumstances of great suspicion; that if it was very humane, it was not less politic, at that particular time, to pass well-sounding acts for the protection of the slaves; that it put an argument of great seeming force into the mouths of Mr. Fuller and the other eminent champions of the colonies in this kingdom; and was, in point of fact, of eminent service in protracting for eight or ten years the so much dreaded abolition.

Is it, then, we would ask, any very unjustifiable strain of suspicion, if we distrust the sincerity of legislators passing statutes of such obvious convenience to themselves, and at the same time so irreconcileably inconsistent with all their previous practice and professions. We frankly confess that we have always doubted

extremely the beneficent intentions of these lawgivers, and have more than once found that edicts so framed and promulgated would, in practice, be habitually despised and evaded. Let us inquire what has been the fact? Have the ameliorating acts been fairly and honestly carried into execution, or have they not? It would be an endless task to travel seriatim through all the different statutes of this description, examining, with respect to each colony, into the manner and degree in which they have been put in force. A few instances illustrative of the general habits of the West Indians, will be all that we can now afford to produce.

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By the act of Grenada and the Grenadines of the 9th December, 1797, sec. 19, it is enacted, that, from and after the publication of this Act, it shall not be lawful for any person or persons to manumit or set free any slave or slaves, &c. without 'first paying unto the treasurer of these islands, for the time being, the sum of 100l. for each and every slave so manumitted.' The preamble of this section deserves particular notice. It runs thus: Whereas the manumitting, and setting free, slaves 'diseased, blind, aged, or otherwise disabled from working, without making provision for their sustenance and comfort, ought to be prevented, as it obliges them to ramble about and beg for subsistence, which frequently compels them to the necessity of robbing and stealing, and leads them to other bad practices to support themselves: and whereas it is also 'necessary to discourage the too frequent manumission of slaves without a sufficient provision being made for their support; "Be it therefore, &c.'

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Upon this clause it must be observed, in the first place, that it gives a curious though distressing picture of the manner in which a Creole master contrived to deliver himself from the burden of supporting his "diseased," "blind," "aged," or "disabled" slaves. In the next place, it illustrates the jealousy with which, contrary to the policy of every other people possessing a slave population, the West Indians repress, by taxation, the disposition of the master to liberate his slave. But it is not on these accounts that we have made the quotation. The 20th clause of the same act provides, that every person so manumitted shall be intitled out of the hundred pounds to an annuity of 107.; and by the 21st clause it is provided, that this annuity shall be enjoyed even though the manumitted person should be absent from the island. This provision seems, and certainly was, a beneficent attention to the wants of the manumitted negro; and in 1797, no doubt, produced an impression very favourable to the humanity of the legislature of Grenada. But what will our readers think of these pseudo-philanthropists, when they are informed that in 1806, when the scrutiny of the British Parlia

ment had become less exact and severe, these men passed a law repealing so much of the preceding act as intitled the slave to his annuity, while the tax on manumission was preserved entire. The alteration was made by striking out that part of the act of 1797, which we have printed in italics. A similar Act, imposing a tax on manumission, is to be found in the Acts of Saint Christopher's; and in the 9th section of an Act passed in the year 1784, for the government of slaves in the Bahamas.

The dreadful tragedy, in which the family of Huggins acted so conspicuous a part in the island of Nevis, is, we believe, well known to all our readers. They may not, however, be aware that the editor of a newspaper in St. Kit's was prosecuted and convicted in heavy damages, for publishing the resolution of the House of Assembly in Nevis, reprobating the execrable cruelties of the elder Huggins, and that the poor man was nearly ruined by the effect of the prosecution, and the public odium which he sustained, for having given publicity to this vote of the legislature. Neither, perhaps, is it generally understood, that the younger Huggins has lately been found guilty of manslaughter, for shooting a negro boy in the open day, in the market-place of Nevis, and sentenced to pay 2501. currency, exactly one-half of the tax established by the laws of that island for the manumission of a slave.

The complicated murders committed by Arthur Hodge on fifty of his negroes in Tortola---the shameful delay in bringing this man to justice, though the facts were universally notorious in the colony---the long discussion which was there entertained in open Court, whether the murder of a slave is a punishable offence---the reluctance of the jury to return a verdict of guilty--their recommendation of the culprit to mercy---the rebellion apprehended by Governor Elliott, in consequence of his determination to execute the sentence ;---all these things are already familiarly known to those who have read the Reports of the African Institution.

If we look to another part of these islands, we shall find a similar spirit of ferocious cruelty and tardy justice prevailing. Lord Seaforth's letter to his Majesty's government details barbarities practised in Barbadoes on the slaves, not to be equalled but in the West Indies. As that statement however is familiarly known to our readers, we prefer quoting from Dr. Pinckard's travels one or two similar instances, which cannot be too frequently cited or too deeply impressed on the recollection of the public. The first we shall refer to, occurred in the colony of Demerara, on an estate called Lancaster, the property of an English gentleman.

← Two unhappy negroes, a man and a woman, having been driven by cruel treatment to abscond from the plantation Lancaster, were

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'taken a few days since, and brought back to the estate, when the manager, whose inhuman severity had caused them to fly from his ' tyrannic government, dealt out to them his avenging despotism with ⚫ more than savage brutality. Taking with him two of the strongest drivers, armed with the heaviest whips, he led out these trembling and wretched Africans, early in the morning, to a remote part of the estate, too distant for the officers to hear their cries; and, there, ⚫ tying down first the man, he stood by, and made the drivers flog him with many hundred lashes, until, on releasing him from the ground, it was discovered that he was nearly exhausted and in this state the inhuman monster struck him on the head, with the butt end of · a large whip, and felled him again to the earth; when the poor negro, escaping at once from his slavery and his sufferings, expired at the murderer's feet: but not satiated with blood, this savage tyrant next tied down the naked woman, on the spot by the dead body of her husband, and with the whips, already deep in gore, 'compelled the drivers to inflict a punishment of several hundred lashes, which had nearly released her also from a life of toil and

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torture.

Hearing of these acts of cruelty, on my return from the hospi tal, and scarcely believing it possible that they could have been ⚫ committed, I went immediately to the sick-house to satisfy myself by 'ocular testimony: when, alas! I discovered that all I had heard was too fatally true; I found the wretched and almost murdered woman lying stark-naked on her belly, upon the dirty boards, without any covering to the horrid wounds which had been cut by the whips, and with the still warm and bloody corpse of the man extended at her side, upon the neck of which was an iron collar, and a long heavy chain, which the now murdered negro had been made to wear from the time of his return to the estate. The flesh of the woman was so torn, as to exhibit one extensive sore, from the loins almost down to her hams; nor had humanity administered even a drop ' of oil to soften her wounds: the only relief she knew, was that of extending her feeble arm in order to beat off the tormenting flies, with a small green bough, which had been put into her hand for that pur pose by the sympathizing kindness of a fellow slave. A more shocking and distressful spectacle can scarcely be conceived The dead man, and the almost expiring woman had been brought home, from the place of punishment, and thrown into the negro hospital, amidst the crowd of sick, with cruel unconcern. Lying on the opposite side ⚫ of the corpse was a fellow-sufferer, in a similar condition to the poor woman. His buttocks, thighs, and part of his back, had been 'flogged into one large sore, which was still raw, although he had 'been punished a fortnight before.

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A few days after the funeral, the attorney of the estate happened to call at Lancaster to visit the officers, and the conversation naturally turning upon the late cruelty of the manager, and the con. sequent injury derived to the proprietor, we asked him what punish⚫ment the laws of the colony had provided for such crimes; expressing our hope that the manager would suffer the disgrace he so justly merited; when, to our great surprize, the attorney smiled and VOL. X.

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treated our remarks only as the dreams of men unpractised in the "ways of slavery. He spake of the murder with as little feeling as the manager had perpetrated it, and seemed to be amused at our visionary ideas, of punishing a white man for his cruel treatment of slaves. To the question, whether the manager would not be dismissed from the estate, he replied "certainly not"-adding that " if the negro had 'been treated as he deserved, he roould have been flogged to death long before." Such was the amount of his sympathy and concern! The 'laws of the colony, he said, were intended to prevent any person from 'punishing a slave with more than thirty-nine lashes, for the same offence: but by incurring only a small fine, he could, at any time, punish a negro with as many hundred lashes as he might wish, "although the governor and the fiscal" were standing at his elbow.'*

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Although Dr. Pinckard's book does not contain any other case equally atrocious with that which we have transcribed, yet there are some passages in it which we must point out to our readers, as illustrative of the indifference with which even women, in the highest stations of society in the West Indies, contemplate the sufferings of their slaves. We have no room for additional quotations, but must refer our readers to pages 192, 201, and 239, of the second volume of the Doctor's book, for proofs of the accuracy of our representation. These instances, forming only a part of the catalogue of enormities practised against this unprotected race of men, we wish it distinctly to be observed, are all subsequent to the date of the ameliorating acts.

Now what answer is given when, from facts like these, it is argued, that the character and feelings of our fellow subjects in the West Indies are unnaturally perverted upon all questions affecting the life or happiness of the negro population of those islands? We know well that an answer has been attempted, and it is this---that the cases we have mentioned are only instances of individual depravity, and that in such monsters as Bellingham, and the wretch who committed the murders at Ratcliffe Highway, we can find in our own country counterparts of the characters of Hodge and others in the West Indies. That such a declaration as this should be seriously made and seriously maintained, we can only consider as a proof of the degree in which some persons, presuming upon our supposed ignorance of colonial affairs, present to the public any statement which may happen to suit a temporary purpose. Bellingham and the other murderer we have mentioned, were the outcasts of society in this country. Hodge, on the other hand (to select only one instance) occupied an exalted station in the community in which he resided: he was the most opulent, and beyond comparison the most powerful, among the planters of Tortola. The difference of rank, however, between the assassin in the West Indies and him in Europe, constitutes the least important

* Pinckard's Notes on the West Indies. Vol. III. pp. 65, 71.

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