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their Slaves as comfortable as the English peasantry!!!

I have neither time, opportunities, nor perhaps abilities to search into and sift out the whole of this profound question of right, in the mother country, to legislate internally for the colonies, contrary to the charter given; if I were asked my opinion on the subject as an Englishman, I should most probably say, it would be a stretch of power to do so; but this is merely the abstracted view of the question ; things change with time; "Tempora mutantur, et nos mutamus in illis." - It is now seen that the Slaves in our colonies ought not, any longer, to be kept down in that brutish state in which they have so long been. The Imperial Government says to the dependent Colonial Governments, you should keep pace with the march of time; you should pass such and such laws, consistent with the safety of the colonies, for the amelioration of Slavery; as we think ourselves (and are induced to urge it from our knowledge of the sentiments of his Majesty's subjects) that such inhumane laws ought to continue no longer in force, nay, that the Slaves themselves will not much longer be content with such a coercive state of things. - The Colonial Governments resist this, and reply, we will not listen to your instructions, nor will we make any further amelioration till we think proper, as the Negroes are very well off, and we fancy it would endanger the safety of our properties if we were now to ameliorate their condition. Then arises another question. Admitting that the British Government has no abstract right to interfere, has it no right to preserve the empire entire, by preventing the mistaken colonists from driving the Slaves to desperation, and risking the loss of the colonies altogether? I would say, in such a case, that any paternal government has not only a right, but is bound to interfere for its own advantage and safety; and I am borne out in this by a respectable public writer: Vattel, sur le droit de gens, says, "Une nation est obligée de se conserver." And after commenting upon that head, he goes on to say-" Puis donc, qu'une Nation est obligée de se conserver, elle a droit à tout ce qui est nécessaire à sa conservation. Car la loi naturelle nous donne droit a toutes les choses sans laquelles nous ne pouvons satisfaire à notre obligation; autrement elle nous obligerait à l'impossible, ou plutot elle se contredirait ellemême, en nous prescrivant un devoir et nous interdisant, en même temps, les seuls moyens de le remplir." Again he goes on to say, on the right which a nation has to every thing which can tend to prevent loss or peril to her

self." La nation ou l'Etat a droit à tout ce qui peut lui servir pour détourner un péril imminent, &c. &c."

Were the colonists inclined of themselves to make any material and beneficial changes in their Slave Code, neither the British Government, nor British people, would think of interfering; but experience teaches us, that their professions, with respect to their Slaves, are unmeaning and empty, and that even the few concessions that have been wrung from them are not bona fide fulfilled. Witness their compelling them to labour in their grounds, and permitting them to make sugar on Sundays. Witness their not allowing them time to attend the places of worship (the pretended chapels, which were never built) for moral and religious instruction. Witness the non-redress of their just complaints, for severity and cruelty of punishment. Witness their throwing numerous obstacles in the way of individual emancipation. Witness their preventing those of the curates who wished to attend on some of the estates, to preach and catechise, from doing so, and thereby shutting the doors of instruction on the poor Slaves altogether!!

It must be plain to every impartial person, indeed, that the colonists do not wish or intend to lighten the hardships of their Slaves, or grant them any privileges, if it be likely to lessen their income; their principal object is to keep them in total ignorance, and to compel them to raise the greatest possible quantity of produce; for they calculate thus" If we do away with the Sunday-market, there must be more time given to the Slaves, and our crops will fall short; if we allow them to be instructed, it will take a little more time, and the Negroes will also know too much to be content." They therefore do, and will oppose all interference by the British Parliament, because they wish, and intend, at all hazards, to keep the Slaves and their descendants in perpetual bondage. It will be for the British Government to determine, if such a cruel and impolitic system shall be allowed to go on, to the shame and outrage of religion and humanity, and to the risk of so great a loss to the British crown.

It appears to me then, that the whole question will resolve itself into these two points:

First, whether such a state of things as I have represented ought to be allowed to continue; and, secondly, if they should be allowed, (both by the British Parliament and Colonial Legislatures,) whether the Negroes themselves would be content under such a state of things. As to the first, I think, humanity, religion and justice, forbid that the present system respecting the Slaves in our colonies, should be any longer carried on; for, admitting that the present generation of them must of necessity, and for the sake of justice to their owners, remain in Slavery, many years to come, yet humanity would shudder at the idea of their being, all that time, subjected to the unnumbered and uncontrolled lashes of the drivers and overseers; and to other punishments for which they have no redress, some of these being thought unworthy the cognizance of a magistrate; such as being put in the stocks at pleasure, for an indefinite time, and sent to the gaol to be flogged, chained by the neck to another Slave, and to labour in that mode till the time of confinement expires, and then to be flogged again at going out. These things, with others of the like nature, can be done without the interference of a magistrate, for any owner or overseer, may send merely to the gaoler (or supervisor of the workhouse) for ever so little a fault, and the request is sure of being complied with. All who possess real humanity, must grieve at this, as the Slaves should, out of pity's sake, have some hearing, or trial, before they underwent such severe treatment, or that such punishments could be inflicted upon them; it is contrary, not only to humanity, but to all right and justice.

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