were passed merely to secure the means of evading them*. Were the next packet to bear the intelligence of the Island Legislators having, to the full, embraced all the regulations of the Trinidad Order in Council, the pamphlets of the Abolitionists would be circulated with the same assiduity, their meetings would be as frequent, their denunciations of West Indian Society as fierce and unrelenting as ever. Macaulay would declaim, and Stephen would write without the slightest diminution of rancour and invective. We judge of the future by the past; and we appeal to the equitable sense of Englishmen, whether the citation of the following instance (only one amongst a thousand) is not sufficient to bear us out in our uncompromising assertion. Amid many expressions of dissatisfaction with the Colonists abroad, Ministers never hesitated, for a moment, to allow them their full and due mead of praise for the ardent enthusiasm with which they received the measures proposed for the further diffusion of religious instruction among the slaves. The testimony on which that praise was founded, was firm and unequivocal; yet never, in one single instance, not in the most minute paragraph of their voluminous writings, not in one solitary sentence of any one of their speeches, whether in or out of Parliament, did the Abolitionists notice this unquestionable proof of anxiety on the part of the Abolitionists towards their slaves, with even the most niggardly approbation. Wherever they could, they avoided all allusion to the subject; and when it was forced upon their attention, they denied the merit of the deed, and they reviled the respectable Prelates upon whose exertions the success of the mission was to depend. Religion was always considered as the only safe foundation of emancipation. Long and loudly had the West Indians been reproached for their neglect of it; yet the very moment when they joined hand and heart, in the measures suggested for diffusing it, the Abolitionists discovered that it was of no importance; Brougham asserted, and the elder Macaulay insinuated, what, we hope, if forgiven, will never be forgotten, "that the Established

Church of England was not calculated for the task." Opposition so ungenerous and uncandid there is no hope of appeasing; and whatever be the conduct of the West Indians, in this important junction of their fate, contumacy in it the Abolitionists will make, if they cannot find.

The Abolitionists are, however, entirely dependant for the small authority which they may possess, upon the degree to which they can influence the people. That they will attack the West Indians, is certain, and as certain it is, that they will choose that part of the conduct of their adversaries which will afford them the most plausible pretext for enlisting the multitude in their favor. The interference of Government on their behalf, is dependant upon the compliance or non-compliance of the Colonists with the Order in Council for Trinidad, and they will stimulate the people to goad the Government

See in support of this assertion the recent numbers of the Monthly Anti-Slavery Reporter, a work full of the grossest misrepresentation.

to redeem its pledge, if the West Indians should reject even one of the regulations contained in that much-talked-of emanation from the wisdom of the Colonial Secretary. No allowance will be made for the adoption of other measures of equal importance, and less dubious character, if only one of the specific plans shall be rejected, on whatever plea of difficulty or danger. They know well, that the famous "Compulsory Manumission clause," as it is commonly, if not very accurately, called, will not be adopted; and this circumstance alone, they will make the foundation of their attack in the next Session of Parliament upon their West Indian fellow subjects.

The Planters in this country have, therefore, at present to defend their cause with reference only to this single point; and they may now call upon the nation in general, and the Parliament in particular, to consider the West India Question as confined to this one topic. Can the rejection of the "Compulsory Manumission clause" be considered a sufficient reason for charging the West Indians with contumacy, and as thereby requiring the interposition of the paramount authority of the mother country to enforce its adoption?"

Whether the behaviour of the Colonies can be termed “contumacious" or not, depends so much upon the merits of the measure upon which gives rise to it, that it will be necessary to say but very few words upon this isolated view of this part of the subject. If it should be found to exist, it exists only at present, and can exist as far as regards the Executive Government alone. There is no vote

of either House of Parliament, ordering the Trinidad Order in Council to be received by the Colonists as law. These regulations are, at present, the unauthorized, unsanctioned decrees of the Colonial office. Before the Parliament will convict the Colonists of contumacy in rejecting them, they will first consider, whether there was not impolicy in introducing them, and whether if the Colonists were refractory, Lord Bathurst was not precipitate. But there is no occasion to look upon the subject in this point of view, as the first ebullition of West Indian anger has died away, and their resistance is occasioned now solely by the measures themselves, and not by the manner in which they were attempted to be thrust upon them. The representatives of the British nation can fairly look upon themselves as entitled to interfere between the Executive Government and the Colonies only, after they shall have enacted as laws, the schemes proposed by the former and forwarded to the latter. This they have not done, and before they do so, they should consider well, whether their schemes are in themselves wise or expedient, and adapted to the end which they have in view.

We are sincerely desirous, that the "Compulsory Manumission "Clause" should be tried by no other test, than, whether it is, or is not, consistent with the resolutions of the House of Commons in 1823? The Parliament have pledged themselves to a principle by those resolutions, but they have not pledged themselves to the measures by which that principle is to be developed. They have spoken the sentiments of the nation in declaring their determination to forward

the emancipation of the negroes, by such means as shall be consistent with their welfare, and not destructive of the interests of their masters. In the principle we agree. We have the same object in our view as the Government. Our intention is to advocate such plans as shall most safely lead to negro emancipation. Apologists for slavery, we are not, nor will ever be. We propose, for our writings, the same end as the Abolitionists; but we differ widely as to the means. They demand emancipation at all hazards, and act as if they thought that freedom would of itself lead the negroes to social happiness, to civilized enjoyments, and religious feelings. They would reverse the order of nature, while we contend that emancipation may be procured without injury to any one, and contend that it can only safely be founded on moral and religious instruction. We make no hypocritical professions of admiration of the candour of Brougham, the purity of Macaulay, the talents of Buxton, or the sanity of Stephen, we avow we like neither the characters nor the principles of these Abolitionists; but in calling on the public to decide between their views and ours, we scorn to reason from our prejudice alone. It is their schemes which we oppose, because we are convinced of their futility and danger: the same test we apply to the measures of the Government, for the characters of whose members, both for honesty and wisdom, we have a very different opinion. And before entering into any discussion of the "Compulsory Manumission "Clause," to which alone we object, it is necessary to observe this, that we are not prepared to say, that under certain provisions for adequate compensation to the master, under certain modifications to promote the good conduct of the slave, a law to grant this compulsory manumission, would not be wise. The idea in the abstract appears unobjectionable, but we are opposed to the means of reducing it to practice developed in the Trinidad Order in Council. Ministers have declared, that from this they will not recede. They have made such declarations too recently, and abstained from carrying them into effect, for us to care much about such unwise and uncalled for pledges; but upon the principles which they themselves have proposed to found it on,-for the purpose of securing the welfare of the slave, and preventing loss of property to the master, we conceive the measure to be mischievous and impracticable; and are certain it must undergo considerable revision, and be preceded by many preliminary measures, before a just Parliament will invade the right of the Colonists, in order to carry it into effect.

The principal objections to this measure were briefly, but forcibly, stated in the House of Commons by Mr. Ellis, (now Lord Seaford,) and his language and authority will at once explain and legitimatize our own conclusions.

"The slave who might be desirous of purchasing his freedom, so long as he looked "up to his master as possessing the power to grant or to withhold his manumission, would "feel it his interest to conciliate the good will of his master by his own good conduct. "But from the moment when he is invested with the power of compelling his master to "manumit him, that motive is removed; and as the period may approach when he will "be enabled to exercise that privilege, his regard for the good will of his master, or even

“for his authority, will, to say the least, be very much and very inconveniently impaired. "He cannot fail to be aware also, that his price will be estimated in proportion to his "value to his master; that in proportion as he is industrious and well-behaved, the sum "which he will have to pay for his freedom will be enhanced. In a word, he will feel "that it is his interest to render himself as worthless to his master as he can contrive to "be, with impunity.

"On the other hand, if the master should apprehend any inconvenience from the "loss of his slave, or for any motive be reluctant to manumit him, (and otherwise the regu"lation giving the compulsory power is superfluous) he will feel it to be his interest always "to prevent his slave from acquiring the means of purchasing his freedom --to keep him "always poor; and he will be tempted to deprive him of many of those indulgencies "which the slaves now enjoy, and which the law cannot compel the master to grant. In "a word, it would be difficult to devise a regulation more calculated to aggravate instead "of mitigating the evils inherent in the relationship of master and slave; as to implant, "in the breast of each, motives more at variance with that reciprocal good will which is "essential to the improvement in the condition of the slaves which it is the object of the "House to promote.

"For these reasons, for the sake of the slaves themselves, he (Mr. Ellis) lamented "the determination of the Government to enforce this regulation."

It might be naturally supposed, that the Minister of the Crown, in declaring in the face of these objections, so forcibly and distinctly stated, his resolution to adhere to his measure, would at least have endeavoured to answer the arguments by which his resolution was endeavoured to be averted. The following quotation we submit from Mr. Canning's reply, and we leave our readers to decide upon the justice of the case, as between him and his friend.

My Honcrable Friend has particularly adverted to the clause for compulsory "manumission of slaves. It is undoubtedly the main clause of the whole. It is the "only one that is directly operative. All the rest go to mitigate, to improve, to regulate "the system of slavery; to render it more valuable in its existence, and to prepare its "gradual decay. This clause is the way out of that system,---the opening by which "slavery itself may escape, gradually, and, as it were, imperceptibly, without the shock "of a convulsion."

The Right Honorable Secretary replied, as he is frequently in the habit of doing, to an argument by a rhetorical figure. He wants a door for slavery to escape at, and we will follow up his metaphor, by saying, that the door of Compulsory Manumission would lead the slave only into that anarchy and desolation which he wishes to avoid.

Cursory as have been our remarks, we think they are sufficient to enable an unprejudiced enquirer to take an accurate view of the actual positions of the contending parties in this momentous crisis. Around this point will the fiercest of the impending battle be fought. It is the Hougoumont of the conflict. The West Indians are already prepared for a vigorous defence, as may be seen by the resolutions of the Planters of Demerara". This being one of the Colonies not pos

"Yesterday a private Meeting of the Proprietors of estates in the Island of Demerara, and of Merchants trading with that portion of the British West India Colonies, was held at the City of London Tavern, for the purpose of adopting such measures as might be thought necessary, in order to protect their property from the effects of the Manumission Clause in the Slave Laws. The meeting was attended by about twenty-five gentlemen of great respectability, and a series of resolutions were proposed and adopted, recommending that a Petition should be presented to His Majesty in Council, stating the great injury that would be done to their property, were the Manumission Clause put into full effect. It appears that the Authorities at Demerara have, after considerable discussion, come to the Resolution, not to act in accordance with the wishes of His Majesty's Government, as far as regards the manumission of Slaves; and the Meeting of the

sessing an independent local legislature, the Order in Council for Trinidad has been attempted to be enforced in it by the proclamations of the Governor; but the local Authorities having adopted the others with some not very important modifications, have made a determined stand against this measure. They intend to use all the constitutional means afforded by the British laws, to procure remission of the fatal decree, and have summoned the other West Indians to join them in their remonstrances. Their call will not be made in vain, and we trust the voice of justice may yet prevail in their favor, if their opposition be, as we believe it to be, founded on reason, and policy, and humanity.

Before we quit the subject, which we do only for the present, we cannot avoid noticing that the evils so directly foretold by Lord Seaford, have already began to operate. It is a striking fact, not sufficiently put forward by the Planters, or else ingeniously always left unnoticed by their enemies, that voluntary manumission was proceeding so rapidly as to afford a real, a wide, and a safe "opening" to the extinction of slavery. Since the era of Mr. Buxton's motion in 1823, the number of voluntary manumissions has diminished in the Island of Jamaica, as will be seen by the following statement, obtained by a careful research into the records of the Island.

"The number of manumissions effected by deed, in five years, from the 1st of "January, 1821, to the 31st of December, 1825, is 2285, or 457 per annum. Of this "number, 1290, or 258 per annum, have been granted without any valuable consideration, "or for the nominal one of five, ten, or twenty shillings.-- Supposing, therefore, every slave "manumized to be worth 100l. sterling, as they are principally people in the prime of life, "liberated for good behaviour, it appears that the benevolent Owners of Slaves in this "island have voluntarily made a gift of 129,000l. sterling in five years, in enfranchising "1290 Slaves. Of those liberated by purchase, very few pay their full amount of their "value for their manumissions, and it is fair to presume they have not paid more, on an average, than 70%. each, and thus have their Owners' contributed the further sum of 29,850. towards the emancipation of 995 Slaves. In most cases, indeed, where the "Owner receives a valuable consideration, that consideration is paid by some white person anxious to procure the freedom of the Slave, at least one half of such manu"missions are so obtained; thus a further sum of 34,8251. is contributed towards the "emancipation of 995 Slaves. From this it appears, of the sum of 228,500l. the value "of 2285 Slaves manumitted in five years, the inhabitants of Jamaica have bestowed "193,6754. or 38,7581. annually.---The following table will shew the number manu"mitted each year:

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"From the 1st of January to the 30th of June, in the present year, the manuPlanters resident in London was called by circular, for the purpose of backing the Authorities at Demerara in their determination. We understand that a Petition is in preparation, and will be submitted for the signature of all those who are interested in this important question. The general body of Planters, not only of Demerara, but also of the other West India Islands, are, it is said, strongly opposed to any coercive measures, and the Proprietors of estates in Demerara having as large, if not larger, stakes than others at issue, think it prudent to forward a petition to His Majesty's Government, laying before Ministers their particular case.--- Daily Newspapers of 14th November.