no foundation, and therefore I believe will ultimately be fruitful of no results Why contrast the debate that is now going on with the debates that have taken place in this House for the abolition of slavery. (Hear, hear.) Your ministers of the Crown coming forward, and in the face of England acknowledging that they have been for forty years in error, and that they must terminate for ever the greatest effort that a people themselves had ever commenced for any object. (Hear, hear.) You yourselves acknowledge that fifty millions have been expended in this effort, and the very men who are coming forward and virtually telling you that the slave-trade baffles all your efforts-that it has increased and ended in the triumph of those whom you intended to overwhelm-and that you are now to become its tributaries—these are the men and ministers who announce that you have for the last forty years expended more that fifty millions. I ask you, as you are going to the hustings how you will explain that to the people? Will not the people say, why, what is that parliamentary Government of England worth, these men who tell us they have expended fifty millions only to effect a failure? (Hear, hear.) But when I see that the policy of England has always been to retrace its steps, I can have no doubt that it will retrace these steps in reconstructing the great industrial system which yourselves have so rashly, and under circumstances so peculiar, destroyed. (Hear, hear.) If that be an error, if this completion of a course which I believe and denounce as mischievous, be an error, this may be said of the people, that they have not participated in it: they did not send you here to destroy the colonial system of England (hear, hear); for you, therefore, remains all the glory, and under no circumstances can they experience the shame. (Loud cries of "hear, hear,") Sir, I would no longer trespass on the attention of the House did I not remember that there was one speech made in the course of the debate last night which I do not think ought to pass unnoticed. (Hear, hear, and laughter.) Sir, we heard last night a funeral oration delivered over the abolition cause, by the noble lord, the member for Liverpool. I thought that if the subject were not choice, the orator at least was chosen. When I remembered another speech which that noble lord had made on the same subject, at a time not very remote, I must say that he was the last person from whom I could have expected any criticism on the resolution of my noble friend. Certainly the resolution of the noble lord, the member for Lynn, whatever may be its failings, if it has any, did not merit the prudential parenthesis in which it was alluded to in the speech of the noble lord. (Hear, hear.) I cannot take upon myself, whatever may be my private opinion, to presume to inform the House which is the authentic speech as regards the expression of the opinions of the noble lord. By courtesy, of course, his speech of last night should be so regarded; by unction I should say his speech of 1841. Strange as are the changes which we have witnessed, I must say that to complete the wonders of this eventful session to see the noble lord, the member for Liverpool, mounted on a hogshead of sugar, in a wide street, holding the taper of penitence, and crying "peccavi." (Laughter.) The noble lord at his last election, I remember, had carried before him a wooden Bible. (Laughter.) I am of opinion, Sir, that the speech of last night was the wooden Bible speech, and that the litera vera is still the speech of 1841. (Hear, hear, hear.) Notwithstanding the secedence from our ranks of the chosen champion of sugar protection and anti-slavery, we still thought we could do little in our good old ways against the measure of her Majesty's ministers, if we could reckon on the assistance of the right honourable baronet, the member for Tamworth. The right honourable gentleman has made a speech which appears to me an admirable resumé of every argument that could be adduced against the resolutions of the noble lord. No one understood the West Indian question better than the right honourable gentleman. There is not a detail connected with it which has not had his vigilant attention, and I am sure that the warning which he gave to the noble lord, that if he imported free labourers to the West Indian colonies there ought to be a sufficient quantity of females among them, will not be lost sight of. But, Sir, great was the mortification of myself and of my friends, when we found that that speech terminated by a resolution that was fatal to all our hopes. (Hear, hear.) But I must say that the reason which was given for the course taken by the right hon. gentleman was less ingenious and more surprising than most of the arguments which have come from him. The right honourable gentleman's opinions, expressed with so much ability, were all in favour of the value of our colonial empire, and of the importance of maintaining the interests of our colonies. And I ask, Sir, under such remarkable circumstances are these interests which we all must admit to be most important and extensive, to be sacrificed for such minute considerations as who shall sit on that bench? (Loud cries of "hear, hear.") I said a few minutes since, that if we go to the hustings and tell the people of England that 50,000,000 of their treasure have been expended in prosecuting a delusion, they might, perchance, have some misgiving as to the excellence of this parliamentary system under which they have been so long living; but when they are told that it is not a question of 50,000,000 yearly, but it may be 500,000,000 of countless treasure, of principles which they appreciate beyond all treasure-when they are told that these are to be given up by one of the most gifted of our assembly against his conviction, (loud cries of "hear hear") for the sake of party convenience (renewed cheers), for the calculation who shall be the Minister of England, it will, I fear, be fatal to the Parliament of England. (Hear). The right hon. gentleman told us indeed that he could not, under the circumstances of the case, act otherwise than he has done, because he could not see how a government could be formed if the noble lord and his ministry were obliged to leave office. I will not stop to notice the indecorous mode which has crept into this House, of always supposing that the government of this country is to be appointed and selected, not by one out of this House and in a higher station, but by the vote of a majority here (loud cries of "Hear, hear ".) But this I will tell the right honourable gentleman, that in my mind his forte rather lies, not so much in framing a government, as in destroying it. (Cheers.) Sir, these are the views which I have imperfectly attempted to express, that have influenced my noble friend, and my honourable friends around me, in resisting the resolutions of her Majesty's Government. I am led to believe that there is not scarcely a member of that Government, that there is not scarcely a member of this House, who can suppose that in the course we have taken we have been influenced by any illegitimate or sinister feelings. I think the noble lord, the member for the city of London, instead of resigning, might much more justly come forward and say, in case his resolutions were not adopted, I am opposed—but this is not a vital question; for when the right honourable gentleman the member for Tamworth and his ministry were opposed by the Parliament of England in 1830, on the sugar duty, he did not think fit to resign. (Hear.) The noble lord might have said that he had been called to power under peculiar circumstances, that he had received expressions of confidence from those who were opposed to him on great constitutional principles, and that the question which he put forward in a memorable speech did not in any degree compromise his opinions. He might have said, I am not anxious to disturb the public mind of England-I am not anxious to place ourselves in opposition to the quasi confidence of a party that, in numbers at least, is not to be despised; and he might have added, that in not resigning on this question, he but followed the example of a minister who, whether right or wrong, I will not say, has forfeited for ever the confidence of parliamentary England. (Hear, hear.) He might have said, considering these circumstances-considering that the right honourable gentleman himself, when in a similar position, did not think fit to resign-considering that there is in this House of Commons anything but evidence of an effective opposition-considering the position of the right honourable gentleman, the great influence which he has in this House, and the acts which have deprived him for ever of influence in the country-I think I am only doing my duty to my country and my sovereign, whatever may be our opinions on this question, by still remaining in power. I believe that if the noble lord had remained in office under such circumstances, he would have continued there with honour to his party, with credit to himself, and I would fain believe with advantage to the country. (Hear, hear.) But the course which the noble lord has taken left no option to us but to give an honest, a hearty, and a sincere opposition to his measure. (Hear, hear.) I call, then, on every member of this House who is meditating what vote he shall give on this occasion to decide with us. (Laughter.) I tell him, whatever may be the result, that of this I am certain, if the question be carried against us, it will give another, and, I hope, a last blow to the character of public men, and will be met by those out of the House who have sent us here with blended feelings of sorrow and indignation. (The honourable gentleman resumed his seat amidst loud cheers.) LORD JOHN RUSSELL in reply defended the proposition on the ground of its social urgency, while the effect of the measure on the interests of the slave-trade would not be such as was anticipated by its opponents. Free labour would ultimately prove itself to be economically, as it was socially, the most beneficial to all concerned. Monopoly in any shape was adverse to the general interest; increase of competition was the cause of developing human enterprise, and it was his firm belief that the West Indies would rise, instead of sink, under the pressure to which the present measure would expose it. He was a warm advocate and supporter of the colonial system; but all the great changes which reason and truth had compelled in every department of our general policy had been not merely progressive, but permanent, and he did not doubt that the present measure would form one of the long list in the catalogue of removals of restrictions on religious, civil, and economical freedom. He could not remain at the head of the Government, if the resolution proposed by Lord George Bentinck were approved by a majority of the House; in thas case the opinions of Parliament should be reflected by those who could conscientiously carry out the principle which it affirmed. For himself, he believed that it would neither conduce to the dignity of the crown, nor the honour of public men, that he should remain in office, crippled in his power of carrying out the principles of which he approved. On a division there appeared For Lord G. Bentinck's Amendment Against it Majority in favour of the Government ........ ...... 135 265 130 LIVERPOOL LONDON, .... Fanny Tribe, No. 9, Portland-street, Kingsdown. M. P. Blair, Bathwick Hill. Lydia Sturge, Edgbaston. Caroline Thompson. Sarah Ann Alexander, Church Street, M. Merrington, 27, New Broad Street, BELGRAVE, near LEICESTER.. Priscilla Ellis. For the information of those who are kindly disposed to contribute, it may be stated, that the following are some of the articles that would be very acceptable. Engravings of distinguished, religious, philanthropic or literary characters, drawings or models of their residences; simple implements, such as rulers or paper-folders, manufactured from articles belonging to them; autographs, new devices in worsted work, net worsted shawls, neck-ties, papier maché articles, purses, needle-books. [We have been compelled in consequence of the length of our Parliamentary Report to omit our usual Colonial and Foreign Intelligence. Our subscribers will consider the importance of the debates an excuse for the omission of their contributions.] Printed by JACOB UNWIN, of 33, Dowgate Hill, in the City of London, at his Printing Office, 31, Bucklersbury, in the parish of St. Stephen Walbrook, in the City of London, and published by PETER JONES BOLTON, of No. 8, Kennington Terrace, Kennington Lane, in the county of Surrey, at No. 27, New Broad Street, in the Parish of St. Botolph, Bishopsgate, in the City of London. SATURDAY, AUGUST 1, 1846. Sold by W. Everett, 14, Finch Lane, and 17 Royal Exchange. REPORT ON THE SLAVE-TRADE OF THE GREAT DESERT. Isle of Jerbah, 12th June, 1846. To the Committee of the British and Foreign Anti-slavery Society. Gentlemen,-In communicating to you information respecting the inhuman and nefarious traffic in slaves, as I found it in Ghat, Ghadames, and the Great Desert of Sahara, I must beg to refer you to what I have already written to your secretary during the past month. In those communications I deduced the following general facts from information collected in my journal: 1st. That the slave-trade is on the increase in the Great Desert. 2nd. That slaves were flogged to death en route from Ghat to Tripoli, and others were over driven or starved to death. 3rd. That the youngest female child was violated by her brutal captors or masters en route from Bornou to Ghat and Fezzan by the Tibboos. (1) 4th. That slave children of five years of age walk more than one thousand and thirty days over the Great Desert, and through other districts of Africa, before they can reach the slave-market of Tripoli to be sold. 5th. That three-fourths of the slave-traffic of Central Africa and the Great Desert is supported by the money and goods of European merchants, resident in Tunis, Tripoli, Algiers, and Egypt. 6th. That a considerable traffic in slaves is carried on in the southern provinces of Algeria under French protection by the Shouif and Shanbat Arabs. 7th. That at present there are no wars in Central Africa, but those undertaken exclusively for the capture of slaves. To these I add other two facts or statements. 8th. That slaves are the grand staple commerce of the Soudan and Bornou caravans, and without slaves this commerce would hardly exist, at least, without a great exchange in African commerce. 9th. That the trade of Tripoli at the present time, entirely depends on slaves, other commerce being neglected or abandoned. But, lest I should be charged with wishing to destroy the commerce of the Great Desert, and so snapping asunder the only link which binds together Northern and Central Africa, I observe, that there is a vast source of available export commerce without slaves, only requiring that the demand for slaves should be cut off to stimulate the African people to cultivate the appropriate exports, and avail themselves of the natural resources of their countries. As to Tripoli, it is the bad government which drains that country of all its capital, leaving nothing at the disposal of the Arab farmers and shepherds to cultivate the earth or rear cattle. Sir Stratford Canning exults over the change in the councils of the Sublime Porte, pretending that the Grand Seignior has now almost become a Christian in his policy. What a pity it is that his Excellency would not cast his eyes towards Tripoli of the west! There he would see a most unparalleled system of extortion, which besides starving to death a great part of the population, and reducing all the female Arab population to prostitution to get bread to keep them alive, is filling the regency with slaves, and making it the greatest slave emporium of all Africa. It makes my heart sick to see what hypocrisy is practised in high places, and to observe how the people of England are humbugged by fine speeches pronounced at the capital of Turkey by the very man who is charged with the keeping of the good faith and honour of the British nation. To come to figures, the present revenue of Tripoli is absorbed, fully half or more, by two or three high functionaries. The case is this: - But to Here go 102,000 mahboubs for three functionaries. The whole revenue is not more than 170,000 mahboubs. What then is to pay the troops and the salaries of the other employés? attempt this, the whole country is being pillaged; so that there being no money to cultivate the earth, nor any money in the pockets of the native merchants to carry on commerce, slaves are now nearly the sole objects of trade, and the goods to obtain them belong to European merchants under French and English protection. This mention of the British ambassador of the Porte, calls to my mind the memorandum, (3) which Sir Stratford Canning transmitted to the British coal at Tripoli to have me recalled from Ghadames without a single remark on the part of his Excellency.(3) In this way, in the nineteenth century, our ambassadors protect English tourists in exploring Africa! In fact, the memorandum, says expressly that I was gone to Ghadames "dans le but de faire un voyage et d'acquerir de connaissances." Why, we are ten thousand times worse off in dealing with the Sublime Porte than with the savage tribes of the Great Desert; for the Touaricks of Ghat actually aided and assisted me in my object "d'acquerir de connaissances." But as this subject is somewhat personal to myself, I will drop it and make a remonstrance in another quarter and at another time. But I can assure you that everybody in Tripoli congratulated me that I escaped being assassinated by order of the Ottoman Government. So much for our good allies the Turks-so much and more for the influence of our ambassador and this laudatory speech, that the Sultan had become a Christian! When will the world learn to speak the truth? . . I now subjoin various facts partly illustrating these general statements as well as giving additional information. I must beg, gentlemen, your patience. On arriving at Ghat I cautiously began my inquiries on this inhuman traffic, it being the principal object of my mission to the Great Desert. I found, however, that the people were disposed to converse on this subject spontaneously, and that I was looked upon as an abolition agent. Some of the Ghadames merchants even consulted me on the probable duration of the slave-traffic, in order that they might purchase their slaves with more security for the markets of Tripoli and Constantinople. The first complaint which I heard was that the slaves were very dear, selling from thirty to one hundred dollars each. This was attributed to the arrival of several merchants direct from Tripoli, not before competitors in the market. And the dearness of price continued all the Souk or mart, notwithstanding there was an unusual number of some eight or nine hundred brought by this winter caravan. Two hundred slaves had also arrived just before from Bornou, brought by the Tibboos. The next fact I learnt was that nearly all the slaves of the present Soudan caravan were the property of the Touaricks of Aheer, (4) an enterprising commercial people, and in whose hands is most of the commerce of Soudan. These were sold in Ghat. But the rest of the slaves were the property of the merchants of Ghadames, who are settled in Kanon in Soudan, and who are joint partners with their friends and relatives resident in their desert oasis. I now take the liberty of distinguishing between the Touarick slave-dealers of the Tibboo country, which latter carry on the traffic between Ghat, Fezzan, and Bornou; for here, as in This Mussulman. (7) They have, also, been occupied much with their own quarrel and war with the robber tribe of Shânbat Arabs, the greatest scourge of the desert. In general, slaves may be said to pass through the following hands before they are finally sold in Constantinople, now their usual place of destination: The kidnappers and manstealers of Soudan-receivers of the human cattle from the kidnappers-negro and Moorish merchants of Kanonslave-dealers from the north-Tripoline merchants at Ghat-slavedealers, European (including French and English) and Moorish merchants, in Tripoli-speculating captains of vessels, (8) slavedealers in Constantinople, &c., &c., &c., besides various intermediate agents; and we must not forget that these poor human brute cattle are liable to be sold all their life-time. (1) There is a great variety of character amongst the Tibboos. The western tribes are mostly peaceable traders; but the eastern, who inhabit the mountains of Tibesti, are little less than wild bandits. Their features vary from the common Negro feature, some having thin lips and aquiline noses like Europeans. But they are the worst of the slave-dealers in all this part of Africa, the most cruel, and the most licentious. (2) A Tripoli mahboub is about four shillings of English money, or equal in exchange here to five francs. (8) I enclose copy of the Memorandum. opposite side of the Desert, was formerly the grand rendezvous of Soudan (4) Air in the maps, but not correctly spelt. This city on the commerce. But now it is greatly depopulated, and Kanon, in the centre of Migritia, has become the great emporium of trade. Aheer and Aghadez, the capital, are peopled by Touaricks, the descendants of the ancient Numidians of the North Coast of Africa. Kanon is peopled by Negroes and Fullans or Fellatahs, the latter of whom possess the government. Succatous is the capital of Soudan, but Kanon is three times larger. I met the people of Kanon at Ghat, and found them gentle and obliging. I made unceasing inquiries about the mode in which slaves were obtained in Central Africa. I got information from every one, but particularly from the Touaricks of Aheer, themselves both captors as well as principal slave-dealers. The result of my inquiries was, as above stated, that slaves are obtained by private kidnapping and marauding expeditions, and not by wars between independent and powerful kingdoms. (5) The matchlock is the chief weapon of capture, the negroes being frightened to death at guns. Bows and arrows and spears are the usual weapons of warfare amongst the negro nations. I once saw some of the slaves of the caravan with which I travelled, amuse themselves with throwing arrows made of palm branches at one another, and it was astonishing to see with what precision they threw these harmless darts. The negroes are also very skilful at extracting poison, principally vegetable; with these they poison their arrows. So we see nothing What can we do?" Slaves, then, must be had, war must be made, and is wanting, even amongst the most barbarous of human tribes, to work the work of death; so ingenious is man in producing his own misery and destruction. At present, however, there is but one exception to the statement of general peace in Central Africa. This is the war which the Tibboo Prince of Zindie, a country midway between Bornou and Kanon, is carrying on against the Fullân kingdoms of Soudan. The prince is a soldier of fortune, and a usurper and a foreigner. He has already captured several of the Fullân (or Fellatahs) cities, and there is no knowing where his conquests will end. This war has lately supplied the markets of Fezzan and Ghat with Fullân slaves, some of them of the most beautiful features, almost European, and of a complexion nearly white, or as fair as Portuguese and Spanish. The Moorish slavedealers look upon the Fullân or Fellatahs people as "Arab Creoles.” These slaves sell for an enormous price, and the great probability is, if we were on the spot, we should find that this war is now being incited by the Moors simply for the procuring of this superior species of slaves. (6) I cannot give any particulars of the mode of the capture of slaves. I questioned several of the slavese but got unsatisfactory answers. All I could learn was, that they were carried off during the night from their native homes, conveyed through many countries, chained whilst passing through the Soudanic cities, and knew nothing of where they were going, and what was the object of their capture, till brought to the slave markets. But from the merchants I learnt that the slaves were purchased from free-booting kidnappers, and collected in masses at Kanon until the caravans for the Barbary coast were ready to start. The chief slave-captors now are the Touaricks Aheer, who also bring a great quantity of senna to the Souk of Ghat. Formerly the Touaricks of Ghat captured many slaves, principally from the neighbouring Tibboo towns, and many marauding parties sallied forth, each man returning with a booty of three, seven, ten, or twenty slaves. Now, however, the Touaricks of Ghat have learnt to consider such expeditions as inconsistent with their profession of good (5) The Soudan merchants in relating these kidnapping expeditions to me would crouch down and skulk and run along, holding a spear in their hands to represent a musket. Whole villages are carried off during the darkness of the night. These sable merchants never think, in their exulting over the misfortunes of their brethren, that they themselves may one day become slaves-to be captured in this clandestine manner. "The (6) The Shieks of Bornou once said to our countrymen, Arabs and Moors will have slaves for their merchandize and nothing else. Africa be desolated. What a calumny on the poor Africans to pretend that the slave-dealers only purchase prisoners condemned to death! (7) The merchants of Ghadames make a great distinction between the stealers of the slaves, and the receivers of the stolen goods. They would not steal a slave, but they would buy him, with a good conscience, from the man-stealer. How like is this morality to the present European and American slave-dealers! (8) These vessels are often manned by European sailors. THE BRITISH EMANCIPATED COLONIES. A document has recently been presented to both Houses of Parliament by command of Her Majesty on "the past and present state of Her Majesty's colonial possessions," which contain some references to the condition of the emancipated classes of much interest and importance. These we shall transfer to our columns, in the hope that they will attract the attention which they merit. In doing this, however, it will be impossible for us to follow the order in which the Reports are made; for, unfortunately, no uniformity of system is adopted in their preparation. We shall, therefore, group such parts of them as bear on the same points together. CONDUCT OF THE EMANCIPATED CLASSES. JAMAICA."In many and most important respects, the expectations of the friends of emancipation have been unquestionably more than realized by the results of that measure. The peaceful demeanour of the recently emancipated classes, their general deference for law, their respect for religious observances, have formed the theme of repeated and well-merited eulogy. No less remarkable and creditable to all classes, is the rapidity with which feelings which tend to estrange slaves and slave-holders have yielded to the growth of more liberal and kindly sentiments. When it is considered that the negro race in these colonies have passed at one stride from slavery to the full possession of the privileges enjoyed under the British constitution in the nineteenth century; the readiness with which they have adapted themselves to their new condition, and the moderation which they have generally displayed under eircumstances so intensely interesting and exciting, are subjects of gratification as regards the past, and of hope for the future."Reports, p. 22. St. LUCIA."The disposition of the people is good; aggravated crime is rare; petty thefts and assaults are the principal infractions of the law. The enfranchised population is in a high degree grateful to the British Government, and by their contentment and their orderly conduct they vindicate both the policy and the justice of emancipation. Their disposition to labour improves, and is great considering their few wants in a climate and on a soil requiring so little artificial means to promote comfort and to create plenty. The influence of the clergy is apparent in the diminution of libertinism and the greater frequency of marriages. A desire for the education of their children exists to a certain extent. The public schools (Mico) are fairly attended, but the parents' subscription, merely nominal though it be, is rarely paid; the teachers refraining from pressing for it in dread of the withdrawal of the pupil. In this respect, however, I am informed that some improvement is observable, and more is looked for."-Reports, p. 82. MONTSERRAT.-"It followed as a necessary consequence on the emancipation of the negro population from the debasing yoke of slavery, that their character and habits should rapidly and permanently improve; they have done so in this island since 1838, even to a greater extent in so short a space, than could have been previously anticipated, although from local causes, amongst which the principal seems to be that, at the termination of the apprenticeship, the population of this, and the smaller islands, had not advanced in equal proportion with those of the larger, wealthier, more populous and better frequented, so that being behind hand when the great change took place, they have not yet been able to attain the level of their brethren more fortunately circumstanced. Still similar results, though on a smaller scale, have taken place here, and the progress has not only been visible, but great. Baptism and marriage have become general. Churches and chapels are densely attended; a stronger sense of propriety is discernible in their language and manners, and more decency manifested in their apparel, dwellings, and domestic arrangements. Courtesy at least among themselves, seems to be a general trait in the negro character; the very lowest scrupulously address each other as sir, or ma-am, and even domestics require from their fellows the urbane prefix to their names of Mr. Mrs. or Miss, as the case may be."-Reports, p. 112. VIRGIN ISLANDS.-"The people are contented and industrious. The colony is remarkably free from crime; the average number of offenders in prison at any one time seldom exceeding four, and these, for the most part, convicted of offences which would ordinarily appear in the police sheet, while the gaol is sometimes even empty."-Reports, p. 116. s; NEVIS.-" Crimes and offences of a grave nature rarely occur. With the exception of the unfortunate criminal, Nevis Moore, who was executed for murder, an almost total absence of crime exists: the habits of all classes are peaceable and orderly. At my last visit to the gaol it had not a single inmate."-Reports, p. 117. ST. KITTS. "I am happy to be enabled," says the officer administering the government of this island, "to bear my humble testimony to the general good conduct of our labouring population, although, at this moment, the gaol is more than usually crowded with prisoners charged with the commission of minor offences."Reports, pp. 111, 112. No specific reference is made in the Reports from other colonies on the conduct of the emancipated classes; but it is clear, from their general tone, that no serious cause of complaint exists against them in any colony, whilst in most, if not all, there has been a marked diminution of crime, and an amount of order and industry which deserves the warmest commendations. IMPROVEMENTS. JAMAICA." Notwithstanding serious disappointments and losses arising from this and other causes, I have much satisfaction in assuring you, that the zeal on behalf of the improvement of agriculture, of which it has been my pleasing duty, from time to time, to furnish such gratifying proofs to the Secretary of State, has not abated. Both owners and managers are assiduously engaged in introducing those changes in the system of cultivation which are necessary to enable them to meet the exigencies of their position as employers of free labour. So great is the amount of land suited to the culture of provisions and procurable at easy rates of purchase; and food of that description on which the peasantry chiefly subsisted during slavery can be raised from it in ordinary seasons with so little toil, that the growth of civilization among them, and of the tastes and habits which it creates, furnishes, in the judgment of many well-informed persons, the only effective security for their becoming generally and permanently dependent on the wages of continuous labour. Hence the importance, even on behalf of interests purely material, of promoting education among the lower classes, and replacing in the conduct of operations on estates the rude and laborious methods inherited from slavery by processes requiring fewer and more highly qualified workmen.”—Reports, p. 19. BRITISH GUIANA. "I have gone over," says Governor Light, "the greatest part of the province; there is nothing that bespeaks retrogression; new sources of riches are presenting themselves unthought of in former days." "The internal prosperity of the colony, as regards the mass, is undoubted. I had flattered myself that the crisis of the planters had passed; they have yet to recover from that dispensation of Providence, drought, which has for so many months affected the plantations."-Reports, p. 50. TOBAGO. "Having been only four months in the administration of the government of this colony, my observations in so short a time do not justify me, with confidence, to speak of the future prospects of Tobago. As it, however, enjoys a fine climate, and possesses a rich and well-watered soil, with a rapidly augmenting population, I see every reasonable ground to look forward to increasing prosperity, the great impediment to which is the very natural disinclination of the capitalist to vest money on West Indian property, so long as the annual agitation of the sugar duties prevents his being able to make permanent improvements with any certainty of a profitable return."-Reports, pp. 54, 55. ST. LUCIA. The cultivation improves from year to year. In good hands, and with sufficient capital, it appears to realize to the planter an ample return. In few islands, perhaps, has the experiment of free labour been more successful, in spite of an insufficient population, a lack of capital, much waste land, and plentiful and cheap food. The following return of sugar exported in the last fifteen years shows latterly a steady average, and one scarcely lower than that previous to emancipation. Before the abolition of slavery. Since the abolition of slavery. lbs. 1831, 7,671,723 1832, 5,154,982 lbs. 1838, 5,533,330 1839, 5,151,108 The latter average would doubtless have been higher, had it not been for the constant succession of dry seasons, which have, for the last eight years, been so regular as to constitute an entire change in the climate and seasons, formerly, during nine months in the year, subject to continual rains, which were eminently favourable to the growth of the sugar-cane.-Reports, p. 84. New GENERAL REMARKS.-"If, on the whole, the progress made by the late slave has been great and satisfactory in this small island," says Lieut.-Governor Baynes, in his report on Montserrat, "in the larger, it has been vastly more extensive and rapid. towns have been founded in most of the colonies. Chapels-Wesleyan, Baptist, and Moravian, towards which the legislatures have, in some instances, refused to contribute-have been erected at the expense of the negroes. Societies, agricultural, and even scientific institutions, in the days of slavery beyond the aim, and even the hope, of the white planter, are now flourishing by the exertions and contributions of blacks. Land in the neighbourhood of towns, or in new settlements, have risen in value to £50, £80, or even £100 sterling, per acre. Many black men have, in every colony, become freeholders and electors. In this island, a late slave has been elected a member of the House of Assembly, and manifested his moderation by not taking his seat. Population is augmenting in such a ratio, that in some of the islands it will double itself in sixteen, in almost all, except those already densely peopled, in the course of twenty, years, and thus render immigration not only unnecessary, but positively pernicious. The description of their furniture, the comfort of their houses, the quality of their dress, and of their food, have improved on a par with the various rates of wages prevailing in the different colonies. Imports of the necessaries, conveniences, and even luxuries of life, have increased in proportion with the augmented means of the masses; and the blessings of education and liberal legislation are gradually diffusing themselves, and they warrant the sanguine anticipation of advance in the social scale in a still greater ratio of the rising generation. Time only, the grand maturing and developing agent of the powers of the human intellect, is wanting; as, from the progress already made, we are justified in confidently hoping for the satisfactory solution of the question, as to the natural equality of the white and black races of mankind. "It should be kept in mind, that the emancipation of her slaves by Great Britain was wrought, not by commercial or agricultural speculation, for the purpose of gain, but disinterestedly, and at a prodigious cost to her, for the redress of an enormous wrong, by religious and philanthropic conviction. An intrinsic and conscientious sense of right was the weight in the balance, and if other advantages were found incompatible, or could not be made concomitant with the primary object in view, they were not, however desirable in themselves, to be for that reason permitted to act as a counterpoise in the opposite scale. Happily, there is not the slightest ground for doubting the ultimate achievement of these secondary ends also."-Reports, p. 113. The foregoing extracts from the reports will be regarded as highly satisfactory, especially when it is considered that the emancipated classes have had to contend with bad laws badly administered, and bad managers, who have not yet learned to act with the discretion which their new circumstances demand. To this must be added, as a circumstance which has greatly affected the prosperity of the colonies, the long-continued droughts, which, for a period of many years, have greatly interfered with the operations of agriculture, and diminished the produce of the soil. 7th. When the contract is for work to be performed not by the piece but by the time, it shall specify as precisely as may be the number of hours of daily labour, and the hours of the day at which such labour is to commence and to be suspended, and to recommence and to terminate. 8th. In cases in which the remuneration or any part of it is to be made, not in money but in kind, the contract must specify with all practicable precision, the nature and amount and quality of the articles to be supplied to the servant, and the time when, and the places or place at which, such articles are to be delivered. 9th. No servants' wages, if contracted for in money, may be paid in kind, or if contracted for in kind may be paid in money, or in any other than the stipulated kind, except by the express consent of the servant. It was further provided that all contracts for service should be enforced by the stipendiary magistrates, whose jurisdiction was declared to be not only summary but exclusive. It has been a main object of the local magistracy and the great body of the planters, of whom they formed a part, to get this order in council repealed, or to impair its efficiency by altering its provisions. In this they have succeeded partially by the aid of the colonial assemblies; and, by little and little, will completely succeed, unless the Home Government be continually reminded of their duty, and the utmost vigilance be observed by the friends of the emancipated classes and the immigrants who may be persuaded to resort to the colonies for employment. On the 23rd of June, 1841, a second order in council was issued abrogating so much of the order in council of the 7th September, 1838, as relates to contracts of service made in the United Kingdom, on the plea that the labourers of this country were able to take care of themselves. We need scarcely remind our readers of the fatal effects which followed this alteration. Many of our countrymen accepted engagements; they were deceived, and the greater part of them perished under circumstances which excited the deepest pity for the deluded victims, and indignation against the parties who abused their confidence. This was the first step in the wrong direction. On the 4th January, 1843, a third order in council was issued abrogating that of 1888, so far as related to contracts of service made in North America. Not any, or, at all events, not many of the coloured people of the United States or Canada, could be induced to emigrate to the British colonies, MMIGRATION INTO THE BRITISH EMANCIPATED and those who did were found to be too shrewd for the planters, COLONIES. On the 7th September, 1838, the British Government issued "An order in council for regulating, within the colonies of British Guiana, Trinidad, St. Lucia, and Mauritius respectively, the relative duties of masters and servants," copies of which were transmitted to all the other colonies as a model enactment in reference to this important point. That order in council was justly regarded as a guarantee for the freedom of the emancipated negroes, and of all persons resorting to the colonies as labourers. After providing that all contracts made out of the colony, previous to its promulgation, should be regarded as invalid, if the parties thereto had been "induced to enter the same by any fraud, misapprehension, or concealment," it provided 1st. No contract of service shall be of any force or effect within any of the colonies aforesaid, unless the same shall be made within the limits and upon the land of the colony in which the same is to be performed. 2nd. No contract of service shall be in force within any of the said colonies for more than four weeks from the date thereof, unless the same shall be reduced into writing with all the formalities subsequently mentioned. 3rd. No written contract of service shall be in force within any of the said colonies unless it shall be signed with the name, or in case of illiterate persons with the mark, of each of the contracting parties, in the presence of a stipendiary magistrate, nor unless such stipendiary magistrate shall subscribe the written contract, in attestation of the fact that it was entered into by the parties voluntarily, and with a clear understanding of its meaning and effect. 4th. No such written contract for service shall be valid for more than one year from its date. 5th. Every such written contract shall expire at the close of the stipulated time of service, without any notice on either side for that purpose. 6th. Every such written contract shall specify as accurately as may be, the general nature of the employment in which the servant s to be engaged. who now express no very great desire to obtain that class of labourers. Subsequently to this, on the 10th June, 1843, another order in council was issued, which empowered the colonial legislatures to amend the order of the 7th September, 1838, or, to use the words of the order, "to revoke, alter, and amend the provisions contained in the said order," and, since that period, the local legislatures have been at work, in various ways, to get rid of the original contract law. It was easy to foresee that after such inroads as those we have indicated were allowed in the order in council of 1838, that attempts would be made to violate its essential enactments; we therefore find that Lord Stanley intimated to Lord Elgin in a despatch dated 5th March, 1845, that "if the legislature of Jamaica should entertain the design of importing labourers from China, an exception should be made in favour of contracts made abroad with Chinese emigrants for periods not exceeding five years"! Other colonies wishing this class of emigrants were, of course, to be placed on the same footing. As, however, the Chinese were to be brought into the colonies, at the expense of the importers, and not at the expense of the colonists, the project was abandoned by the West India body in this country, who originally proposed it, and no Chinese have been introduced. In British Guiana and Trinidad, ordinances have been passed which still further materially affect the order in council of the 7th September, 1838; against them the Anti-slavery Committee has earnestly protested. The returns moved for in Parliament, when they are made, will show how far the Government have yielded to the clamours of the planters, by giving the local magistracy concurrent jurisdiction with the stipendiary, in enforcing contracts for service on their labourers. But the most grievous departure from the spirit and letter of the order in council of the 7th September, 1838, is that contemplated, In order to at the present time by Her Majesty's Government. facilitate emigration to the British colonies, and to secure to the planters labour on lower terms than they can obtain it at present, they are to be permitted to resort to India and to certain parts |