lition of the Methodist Chapel in Barbadoes. Ordered to be printed 16th March 1825, and numbered 113.

D. Further Papers relating to Slaves in the West Indies; Demolition of the Methodist Chapel in Barbadoes. Ordered to be printed 21st March 1825, and numbered 127.

E-Papers relating to the Manumission, Government, and Population of Slaves in the West Indies, 1822-1824. Ordered to be printed 1st March 1825, and numbered 66.

Ordered to be

F. Further Papers relating to Slaves in the West Indies; Information respecting Lecesne and Escoffery. printed 4th March 1825, and numbered 74. G.-Honduras: L'etter from Captain R. Maclean. Ordered to be printed 18th June 1824, and numbered 439. H.-Slave Population, West Indies. June 1824, and numbered 424.

Ordered to be printed 14th

I.-Slave Population, West Indies, Cape of Good Hope, and Mauritius. Ordered to be printed 1st July 1825, and numbered 512.

K.-Population of the Mauritius. Ordered to be printed 30th May 1825, and numbered 361.

L.-Slaves in Tortola. Ordered to be printed 25th April 1825, and numbered 235.

M.-Slaves in Tortola: Case of the Donna Paula. Ordered to be printed 18th June 1824, and numbered 441.

In the Appendix to the Second Report of the Anti-slavery Society will be found a copy of the Instructions transmitted to the Governors of the different West-India colonies by Earl Bathurst, respecting the reforms in the system of colonial slavery which his Majesty's Ministers were desirous of introducing; together with the substance of the Order in Council for improving the condition of the slaves in Trinidad, in which Order those instructions were for the most part embodied. Soon after that Order was promulgated in Trinidad, · Lord Bathurst, in July 1824, transmitted a copy of it to the different local governments in the West Indies, accompanied by a letter recommending its adoption. The general tenor of these letters will be sufficiently understood by the following copy of one of them, which was addressed to the Governor of Jamaica, and from which the others do not materially vary. It is as follows:

"I have the honour of enclosing to your Grace a copy of the Order in Council for the improvement of the condition of the slaves in Trinidad; and I have also to notify to you, his Majesty's appointment of two Bishops, the one for Jamaica, and the other for the Leeward Islands; to whom are to be entrusted the controul of the Clergy of the Church of England within their re spective dioceses, and the duty of reporting upon the state of the Ecclesiastical establishments, particularly as it relates to the slave population; and upon the best means of diffusing the benefits of religious instruction to that part of the community. Your Grace must, indeed, have been long informed of both these measures; but my reason for calling your attention to them at this moment, is for the purpose of enabling you to bring more completely under the consideration of the Legislature, at their ensuing meeting, the whole of the measures which his Majesty's Government have in contemplation for the melioration of the state of the slave population.

"His Majesty's Government have been anxious to prove the deep interest which they feel in the encouragement of the religious and moral instruction of the Negroes, by at once taking upon themselves the whole charge of placing the Clergy of the West Indies under Episcopal controul; and they have further directed, that a given sum shall be forthwith placed at the disposal of the Bishops, for the purpose of providing for the more immediate supply of persons in holy orders within their respective dioceses; and his Majesty confidently expects to receive every assistance from the Assembly, to promote the establishment of a system so calculated to produce the most beneficial effects on the morals and habits of the slave population.

"With respect to the Order in Council for meliorating the condition of the slaves in Trinidad, similar provisions to those which are contained in that Order will be extended to Demarara and Essequibo, St. Lucia, the Cape, and the Mauritius, with such modifications as may be necessary to adapt them to the Dutch and French laws, which are respectively in force in those possessions.

"The Assembly of Jamaica shewed their anxiety for the improvement of the condition of the slaves, by many of the provisions of their Consolidation Act, passed in 1816, and it is impossible to believe, that, consistently with the spirit which then animated them, they will now refuse to go further. On attentively considering the provisions of the Order in Council, they will not fail to perceive much which practice has already established in

Jamaica, and which requires little more than the formal sanction of a law to complete *. In comparing it with the provisions of their own Act, they will observe, that, upon the principle of those provisions, many of the suggested alterations must be considered as improvements; and by incorporating in their statutes those additional provisions of the Order, which as yet are not to be found in their Consolidation Act, they will lay the foundation for such a system of gradual improvement of the condition of the slave population, as will prove equally honourable to the Assembly, and beneficial to those for whose advantage it appears to be more immediately intended.

"Your Grace will readily anticipate the serious extent of the disappointment which his Majesty's Government will experience, if, unfortunately for their best interests, as well as for the cause of humanity, the Assembly of Jamaica shall reject the substance of these regulations, which they must be aware have received the sanction of Parliament, and the general approbation of the country." (A. p. 6.)

We shall now proceed to state the effect which has resulted in the colonies from the various recommendations of his Majesty's Government, as far as it is to be deduced from the papers recently laid before Parliament; combining with that information the substance of such communications from the colonies on collateral topics, as may bear materially on the main subject of the present publication,―the Progress of Colonial Reform. The colonies will be taken separately, and in their alphabetical order.

I. ANTIGUA.

The only information obtained from this island is to be found in a dispatch of Mr. President Athill, addressed to Earl Bathurst, dated Sept. 3, 1824, and is as follows:

"The Committee, to form the Bill for consolidating the laws respecting the slave population into one Act, have not proceeded with as much industry as might have been ex

* Lord Bathurst, we fear, has been led to think far too favourably, both of the law and the practice of Jamaica.

pected from the importance of the subject. Since I received your Lordship's letter, I have called the attention of the chairman to the subject; and I hope that will be more completely done by the consideration of the dispatch itself, when laid before the Assembly, at their meeting, on the 9th of this month." (A. p. 102.)

The want of industry in the Colonial Assembly, of which the President complained on the 3d of September 1824, does not appear to have been remedied by the subsequent communication to them of Lord Bathurst's dispatch. No further report of progress appears to have been since made to his Majesty's Government.

II. BAHAMAS.

The Legislature of the Bahamas has given us a useful specimen of the kind and degree of improvement to be expected, when it is left to the colonists themselves to reform their slave code. In the Bahamas, from their peculiar circumstances, but more especially from the unproductiveness of their soil, and the total absence of all sugar culture, the treatment of the slaves has been practically less severe than in most of the other slave colonies. The slaves have been less worked and better fed; and their numbers have consequently increased, at the rate of about two per cent. per annum, or probably at a still higher rate. In January 1824, the Bahama Legislature proceeded, in compliance with the recommendations of his Majesty's Government, to pass Acts to amend their slave laws, and to improve the condition of the free People of Colour. It will be only necessary to advert to the provisions of these Acts, in order to judge how far this colony has advanced in the career of amelioration.

In some of his Majesty's colonies, free Blacks and Persons of Colour have been long admitted to give testimony in courts of justice against Whites; but in the colony of the Bahamas it was not until the year 1824 that a person of any description, not White, was admitted to this privilege. Free Blacks and People of Colour are now allowed to give evidence in courts of justice, in all civil or criminal cases affecting

White persons. But it is under the guard of the most jealous restrictions that even this privilege is conceded to them: none are permitted to enjoy it fully, who have not been born free, and who have not been born Creoles-that is to say, who are not natives of the West Indies-and who have not resided at least five years in the Bahamas. Thus a

Mulatto born in England, for example, whatever may be his acquirements, his station in life, or the respectability of his character, is excluded from giving evidence, in all cases affecting the White persons who form the petty oligarchy of the Bahamas.-But the next clause contains a further extension of this liberal system. All Creole Negroes or Mulattoes, who, though not born free, yet have been manumitted since their birth, and have actually enjoyed freedom for five years, and who profess the Christian Religion, shall be admitted to all the rights and privileges in this respect of Persons of Colour born free in the Bahamas; except that they shall not be allowed to give evidence of any treason, felony, or other offence committed previous to their emancipation. But from these rights and privileges all “ Negroes, Mulattoes, and other Persons of Colour, being natives of Africa, or of any of the islands contiguous thereto," are to be absolutely excluded; while all who are not Creoles—that is, natives of the West Indies-are virtually excluded from them. We presume that this extraordinary Act has not received his Majesty's sanction. (A. p. 20.)

The new Consolidated Slave Law contains seventy-eight clauses. (A. p. 21-37.) We shall briefly advert to such of them as require observation.

§ 2. The allowance of provisions given to slaves is to be equal to twenty-one pints of wheat flour per week *.

§ 3. All manumissions of slaves incapable of labour are made void, and the master is bound, under a penalty of ten pounds for every failure, to provide for such slave +.

*This is more than double the allowance in the Leeward Islands, where the labour is far more severe than in the Bahamas.

+ Lord Bathurst justly objects to this clause, which, he argues, may become the source of great abuses. "If the slave," his Lordship remarks, possesses, or can find, the means of purchasing his own freedom, there is