"I'd be a butterfly, born in a bower, Where roses, and lilies, and violets meet," &c. first came to Grenada it had not been a week in the island before every black little scamp in Georgetown was singing the air to the following parody: I. Me be a nigger boy, born in de hovel, What plantain da shade from de sun wha da shine; Me be a nigger boy, born in de hovel, What plantain da shade from de sun wha da shine. Me be a nigger boy, When me live happy, wha for me repine? II. Me neber run from my massa' plantation. He hab de freedom, dat no good for me: Me be a nigger boy, Me happy fellow, den why me want free? But to return to the festivals, which I would give so much to show to some of my countrymen; the * Africans who have served their apprenticeship during a certain period, and are now free, are called by the slaves "Willy-force niggers," meaning Wilberforce's negroes. song I have just quoted contains only a profession, but those assemblies are a manifestation of happiness. I have said that croptime is their grand jubilee, I will now add that it is not their only time of amusement. Besides the seasons of Christmas, Easter, Whitsuntide, and, among catholics, the carnival, which are always seasons of gaiety, they are perpetually assembling in little parties, whenever they can find time and opportunity; and none who have witnessed the joyousness of these parties can deny the happiness of the slaves. This happiness appears the more complete because it is partaken by all. Old men of sixty scruple not to foot it in the merry round, with some dozen or two of their grandchildren; and if their step be not as light, and their action as lively as some of the young ones in the happy group, it is only the effect of time, for the eagerness with which they all flock to their little fêtes, and the glad smile of pleasure and goodnature that sits on every countenance while they continue, sufficiently proves them to be enjoyed. CHAPTER L. CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS ON SLAVERY. "Another word, gentlemen, and I have done." Defence of a Prisoner to the Jury. THE few preceding chapters will, I think, give the reader an idea of the existing state of slavery in our colonies, and of the characters and manner of life of that race of people whom Englishmen are so anxious to see emancipated. I I imagine that none who have read the pages have written on slavery with a calm and dispassionate mind,—with a mind unbiassed by prejudice, and resolved only to regard those statements which I have pleged myself to be true, will retire from their perusal without being in some degree convinced of the ameliorated condition of the negroes, and of the folly of emancipating them before that ameliorated condition be more and more improved. I have before stated, that the ideas of my countrymen on this important subject have been continually turned into a wrong channel by the misrepresentations of both parties concerned; by antislavery pamphlets on one hand, and by opinions and publications emanating from the colonists on the other. The circulation of such works has produced both harm and good, and their writers are partly to be praised, partly to be pitied, and partly to be blamed. The abolitionists and enthusiasts in the cause of anti-slavery are to be praised for their vigorous support of principles which they thought right, and for their sturdy opposition to those which they considered wrong; yet they are to be blamed for acting too often only upon what they thought, and what they considered, rather than upon what they were sure of, and what they knew; and they are to be pitied for the ignorance which in many instances caused their good intentions to produce bad effects. On the other hand, the colonists are to be praised for their exertions to ameliorate the condition of their slaves, for the good laws they have passed, and their endeavours to make public the truth; blamed for having asserted in some instances a little more than the truth; and pitied because it was the principle of self-interest that prompted them to do so,-a principle which pervades the arguments of all men when they are speaking on a subject which concerns themselves, and which they no more than others could resist. I am however willing to think with Pope, that "Whatever is is best ;" and I believe that the violent controversies on slavery, however censurable in themselves, have nevertheless been productive of good. The loud calls of the anti-slavery party for the actual and immediate emancipation of the slaves, have stimulated the planters to better their condition; and by convincing the colonists that emancipation must sooner or later be granted, have roused them to make those exertions best calculated to prepare the negroes for it. Up to this point good has been done, but evil, and that evil irreparable, may be the consequence of more violent measures. Here then let the abolitionists pause they have done their duty,-in too many cases more than their duty, and let them now leave the colonists to do theirs. They call for emancipation: the work that is to produce it, and to render it a safe measure, is begun; it is vigorously continuing: let them watch that it be fairly completed; but let them not, if they be the friends of the negroes, strive to enforce their favorite, Freedom, upon them, before they be in a condition to receive her. I said that the colonists and the anti-colonists have done both good and harm. The good lies in the ameliorated condition of the negroes, produced by the violence of one party stimulating the other to action. The harm is caused by the circulation of ranting pamphlets, and false reports that have misled the public from some; and by the mingled truth and falsehood of contradictory publications, emanating from others. Thus the world, with both sides of the question before it, could not decide between them, because neither side was fairly stated. It is thus clearly proved that Englishmen who |