AMELIORATION OF THE CONDITION OF

THE SLAVE POPULATION.

MARCH 16th, 1824.

MR. SECRETARY CANNING appeared at the bar with papers.

THE SPEAKER.—Mr. Secretary Canning, what have got there?

you

MR. SECRETARY CANNING.-Papers, Sir, by command of His Majesty.

THE SPEAKER.-Please to bring them up.

Having been brought up, the Speaker put the question, "That the title of these papers be now read;" which having been carried, the clerk read the title. "Papers, in explanation of the measures adopted by His Majesty's Government for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Slave Population in His Majesty's dominions in the West Indies."

MR. SECRETARY CANNING proceeded to address the House as follows:-Sir, I rise to discharge my duty to the House, both as the mover of the Resolutions which were passed on the 16th of May last year, and as the organ, in this House, of the Government which undertook to carry the principles of those Resolutions into effect. With

a review of the measures which have been adopted, and of the course which has been pursued by His Majesty's Government, in obedience to those Resolutions, it is my intention to combine another subject, kindred in its nature-I mean a proposition for the more effectual abolition of the odious trade which furnished to the West Indian colonies that population, the condition of which it is now our study to ameliorate. I shall postpone, however, to the conclusion of what I have to state to the House, the latter subject, on which I anticipate an entire concurrence; and shall address myself, in the first instance, to the contents of the papers which I have just laid upon the table.

I begin, Sir, with requesting that the Resolutions of the 16th of May, 1823, may be read.

The Clerk then read the following Resolutions.

"Resolved, nemine contradicente, "That it is expedient to adopt effectual and decisive measures for ameliorating the condition of the slave population in His Majesty's colonies.

"That, through a determined and persevering, but at the same time judicious and temperate, enforcement of such measures, this House looks forward to a progressive improvement in the character of the slave population, such as may prepare them for a participation in those civil rights and privileges which are enjoyed by other classes of His Majesty's subjects.

"That this House is anxious for the accomplishment of this purpose at the earliest period that shall be compatible with the well-being of the slaves themselves, with the safety

of the colonies, and with a fair and equitable consideration of the interests of private property."

Mr. Secretary Canning continued.-I am desirous, Sir, that the House should have present to its mind the text of these Resolutions: because it is by the spirit and meaning of them, that the conduct of His Majesty's Government has been guided. These Resolutions, therefore, and not any more sweeping principle, or any more widespread theory, constitute the criterion by which the conduct of the Government is to be judged.

Undoubtedly, Sir, if there be a question at which it is impossible for any person, the most careless, to look with indifference, but which any man, who approaches it as a subject of legislation, must view with the deepest awe, it is the question now before us. To speak of the difficulties which encompass it, as compared with almost any other question which has ever occupied the attention of Parliament, would be to draw but a faint and feeble picture of those difficulties: they are, indeed, apparent to the most casual observation; but he who has to probe and prove them, for the purpose of applying a remedy, finds them thickening around him at every step, and leaving him frequently nothing but a choice of evils. Formidable, however, as the question is, in its present shape, it is undoubtedly less so than it was last year, when first propounded to

the House. At that time we had to steer our course amidst conflicting prejudices, and opposite extravagancies of principles; beset on the one hand with theories, which would not suffer fact or establishment to stand in their way; and on the other hand, with long established interests, and inveterate habits of thinking, sensitively jealous of any innovation or correction. These contradictory impulses were alike opposed to any practical step that could be taken to forward what all admitted to be expedient-the amelioration of the condition of the negro slave.

The concurrence of the House in the Resolutions of last year has considerably narrowed the ground of dispute. I hope I shall not be considered as misrepresenting the collective sense of Parliament, and the general feeling of the country, when I describe that sense and feeling to have been-an unequivocal abhorrence of slavery in the abstract; an acknowledgment of the almost hopeless difficulty of curing all its horrors, but a determination, nevertheless, to look the evil in the face, and to endeavour steadfastly to apply to it such remedies as might mitigate, if they were not powerful enough to extinguish it. But the repeated sanctions of the legislature, the settled rights of inheritance, and the various ramifications of property and of interest growing out of them, create impediments which the House are not prepared to sweep at once away, in order that we

VOL. V.

may have a clear stage for the exhibition of theoretical experiments. I hope, therefore, I do not misrepresent the sense of the House of Commons when I say that, in passing the Resolutions of last year, there was no general disposition to encourage any thing like a sudden emancipation of the negro; that the House looks forward to the termination of slavery as the result of a gradual and general improvement in the condition of the slaves, and not as the consequence of an instantaneous proclamation of general freedom. I hope I do not misapprehend the feelings of the House and of the country in taking their intention to be, that His Majesty's Ministers should consider not only what may be right in theory, but what will be wise in practice; not only how to do the greatest possible good, but how to do it with the least possible mischief. I hope I may add that, in the opinions of the House and of the country upon this subject, there is no mixture of hostility or of ill-will towards individuals whose lot is cast in those distant regions, in which the system of slavery exists; regions which, notwithstanding their separation, are subject to the protection of the British Crown, and entitled to the care of the British Parliament. While, with a deliberate purpose, and with a steady hand, we are carrying forward, in its due course, an amelioration of the condition of the slave, I hope and I believe, that we act in obedience to the feel