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refouaded. as they then had been, by Mr. Pitt and Mr. Fox, the acts of declining to interfere in the amelioration of the slaves ‘been the came.aa-how.—the state of the slaves and their infit nee’. : legislation of England had then adopted the princi ples of proper legislation, what would now have been the result? the West India calonies..would possess a population sound, wealthy, ‘avorall and precigious. A contrary course had been adopted, and what were the effecta? The state of the English colonies demonstrates them. Of all the charges which could be brought against the English West India Colonies, that of their neglect of the signs of the limes was the heaviest. If slave-trading and slave owning were,among the mala prohibita at this moment, they has been equally so forty years ago. The immutable principles, of t justicg,and of morality had not changed their demerice within 40 years—and they had then been as criminal as they now, were, though declared to be felonies. Mén ought then, as well as now, to have known that rights even in their slaves.were modified ; that although the masters had a right to some of the labour of the slave, there was an obligation on their part also,a took after the welfare of the unfortunate sgogro. Those obligations existed before laws had been established ; they did not rest merely. upon the 30Lh Geo.3., they were written ‘on the heart of man in indelible characters, which every human being ought to know. There was another subject connected with the slaves, to which he would beg the attention of the house—it was the cultivation of sugar~the frestest evil, per uf al, an ita effects proved. In a paper on the table, an account of the state of the Island of Anguilla was to be found; from which it appeared, that,“ the ground is poor, there is no capital, there is no government to punish crime, and there is no morality to restrain the commission of it.” And further, it stated, that the slaves,there , were miserable wretches, without proper clothing, shelter, or food ; and finally, that it was impossible to conceive a system more injurious alike,a master or slaves, than that there practised. .. Yet the evil to which he should call the affection of the House, the decrease of human life, was not so rievous there agin fliage of other colonies, where the cultiva tion of engar was greatest. It appeared, from the returns before the House, that in those colonies, where the annual propor tion of sugar demanded, from each: slave was eight hun dred. weight,hat the proportion of the’ decrease of human life was much greater, than where the demand was not more than four,or, five, hundred weight. In most of the islands. the situation of the slaves was better than to the island of Anguilla, yet in the latter island the decrease of Jie,as sit..appears. from. the. returns, was much I¢se in pro portion to the other Colonies, where the comparative cultivation of agar. was greater; the slaves there were vigorous and healthy ‘when contrasted with those.in the other islands. This subject ‘demanded the serious.attention of the House. In the observa tions which he had addressed to the House, and in the motion which he intended to gubmit to its consiferation, he did not mean to cast any reflections either on, individuals or on any community, but he felt it to ba:his duty, to bring before the House the evils of a system, the continuance of which he deprecated most sincerely. ‘The Hon. Member thanked the Fionge for its attention, and con alssed by mering the following resolutions :— * That from the‘official documents laid before the House, and other authentic information respecting the Colonies of Demerna ma and Berbice, that it appears, that although protection has been affected to be afforded to the slave population in those Colonies, either by the Fiscal or Chief Judge, in the capacity of protector of slaves, or by some other person acting in that character, yet that the slaves have been, and still remain, exposed to numerous vexatious and grievous oppressions, demanding effectual relief— and that this House has, therefore, had great satisfaction in ob serving the declared determination of his Majesty’s Ministers to proulgate in those Colonies an Order of Council on this im portant subject, to which unqualified obedience will be required. _ But that from all reasoning and experience, this House has reason to conclude that no legal enactment, however well de vised, and strongly framed, can prove sufficient for the effectual protection of the slave, unless the officers, both principal and Subordinate, to whom the execution of the law is to be entrusted, shall be appointed and supported by the fovernment at home, and absolutely prohibited fam possessing or employing of slaves in any capacity, either predial or domestic.” Mr. W. HORTON said, that the speech of the Hon. Member Was 20 little in keeping with tthe resolution with which he con ‘luded, that he felt himself at a loss which he should answer, was however obliged to object to some of the remarks, which the Hon. Member had made. In making comments on the pract ice of the law, adopted in the Colonies of Demerara and Ber the Hon. Member had reflected upon the conduct of his Majesty's Ministers. The law, which had been sanctioned by the Parliament was now in full operation in the Colonies of Demerara and Berbice, and it therefore would be advan tageous to know what the results of its operations would do, before an opinion should be pronounced on them. He thought it would be better to allow the system which Govern ment had acted upon, in conformity with the Resolutions of that House (a system which was already in progress in Deme rara, and shortly would be so in Berbice), to take its course, than to endeavour, by exaggerated and partial statements, to excite an unfair prejudice against those who were occupied in, endeavour. ‘dng to‘effeat ’ great good. He acknowledged that he felt some Alftealty in replying to the speech of the Hon. Member, when he considered how materially his speech differed from the Resolu tiona with which he had concluded. In some part of these Reso lutions he willingly concurred. He did not think it right, for it bartier high law officers, such as the Chief J and th Attorney-General, should be possessors of slaves, but he thought the extension of this principle to persons in subordinate offices was wrong, because it would be'casting a sort of stigma upon slave-owners in general. In 1823 certain Resolutions had passed that House, by which the property in slaves was consti tuted and defined. “By acceding to the Resolutions of the Hon. Mémber, this property, thus constituted and defined, and ‘which, as founded upon the decision of that House, the Hon. Member was bound himself to defend, would be interfered with. The consideration of this question was, however, foreignlu that be fore the House, and would more properly become the subject of assion upon a future occasion. The Hon. Member had re presented the Colonies of Demerara and Berbice as having been Stigmatised by their resistance to the Resolutions of the House. He could assure the Hon. Gentleman, however, that such was not the fact. They had,on the contrary, adopted most zealously the ruers in Council which had been sent out to Trinidad. It was however necessary that some delay should intervene, in parti cular instances, before these resolutions could be carried into full effect. Some time was, for example, necessary to distinguish between the applicability of a law which was to extend to culo. nica,, whose original Constitutions were different—such as De Merara and Trinidad. He felt great reluctance in adverting to that part of the Hon. Member's speech in which he referred to ‘the insurrestion.in Demerara. The Hon. Member had asserted, that that insurrection had arisen from local causes, and been oc casioned solely by the conduct of the proprietors towards their aves. The Hon. Member's statement was, however, af vari ance with the evidence which had been laid before the House upon a former occasion, when all those who supported his (Mr. Smith’s) views, agreed: that the insurrection had been produced by an undue impression having been made upon the minds of the apes, that they were deprived of rights which had been granted to them by the Government at home. In support of this opinion, e might refer to the letter of the Governor of that Island, Sir B. D'Urban, who had distinctly stated, that the insurrection had arisen from the cause to which he (Mr.W- Horton) had ascribed it. Had the House been,in possession of the explanation of the Fiscal, of Berbice, which he (Mr. W. Horton) had hoped it would ve been in his power long since to lay before them, they would have been enabled to come to a correct judgment upon the sub ject. He considered the statement which had been made by that officer extremely disgraceful to him (the Fiscal), and such as ought not to satisfy the House. At the same time, he was ready to concur with the Hon. Member, that the House ought not to act upon that statement, or to enter, at present into its details. There was one case on which,the Hon. Member had laid pecu liar stress. In that instance, it had, however, appeared, that the slave (Felix) had been guilty of a neglect of duty; and un der all the circumstances, he (Mr. W. Horton) did not conceive that the House was in possession of sufficient evidence to enable it to come a correct judgment upon the subject. One thing was, powwordh clears and ought in his (Mr. W. Horton’s) ow nion to be satisfactory,that Government had pledsed itself, inquire into, and to redress any act of misconduct which might have occurred. An Hon. Member had alluded to the circum stance of there having been a peculiar mortality in one of the Caribee Islands. This mortality was alleged to have prevailed principally amongst those slaves who were employed in the cur vation of sugar; but this surely was no argument against the employment of slaves, since it was well known that in every country there were employments which must be necessarily more prejudicial than others to the health of man. In Eng land, for example, those who were employed in the collieries, were in an infinitely worse situation than the slaves to whom the Honourable Member had alluded. The Hon. Member had appealed to him (Mr. W. Horton) in such a manner as might seem to call for a reply. He(Mr.W. Smith) had called upon 0 to confirm,or deny, from his offcial knowledge, the state ments which had been laid before the House in the form of petit tons, imputing cruelty to the slave masters. In reply to this, I had no hesitation: in acknowledging that cruelties might oc casionally have been exercised ; and, to any person conversant With human nature, ‘it was hardly necessary to say, that this must necessarily be the case in countries where the relative con ditions of master and slave were known to subsist. Even under most civilized forms of society acts of oppression occasion ally occurred, and it could ‘hardly be expected that the West India’ Colonies, constituted and they were, should be exempt from the general rule.. But while he had ‘no hesitation Mm admitting thus: much, he could, not, at the same time, help, expresing his conviction, that ifany of these state ments contained gross rations... The abstract question Fey, did not, however, depend upon ‘the truth or falsehood ocee ts. It was a question which, in his opinion, ought to stand or fall upon its own sners. He thought it, how ever, extremely unfair to endeavour, by exauperated state ments, such as those alluded to, to force Government to depart from. that system Which they had laid down to reqacive 8 a toms founded upon the resolutions of that House. “Er thes lotions were carried into effect, Government, would *have performed its duty; if it were proved, that Government, had acted contrary to the spirit of these resolutions, it would then be competent to Hon. Members to blama, tha. (Hear, hear.) He (Mr. W. Horton) had no disposition the motion of the Hon. Member, ine part of whose ons he faily con curred. He thought, however, that he (Mr.W. Smith)would, upon reflection, see the propriety of withdrawing it, ashen he reflected that many of the propositions, which he recommended had actually been carried into effect, while thegpthe ere at Present under the consideration of Government and would, if
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