(including the time employed in going to and returning from the field) of a sixth, or perhaps a fifth, of that precious time. We cannot but regard such a proceeding as a most wanton infringement of the legal rights of the slave; an infringement which it became them to resist, by every legal means in their` power. And yet, had they in their power any legal means of redress? We doubt it. They could only have complained to a magistrate; and Mr. John Malcolm their master, the very person who inflicted the wrong, was himself a magistrate, and, from his connections, one of the most influential magistrates in the parish. We cannot, therefore, greatly blame their adopting the only mode which was open to them, however unsafe and imprudent it may have been, of intimating to their master the sense they entertained of the wrong he had done them. 2. We think that the conduct of Mr. Malcolm was not only unjust and illegal, but that it was ill-timed. He must have known that the minds of the Negroes had been much agitated by the rumours and discussions which had been afloat in the island, and by the trials and executions which had been taking place around them. The Duke of Manchester's. recent letter to Mr. Vaughan might have reminded him of this circumstance. Surely this was not the time to innovate, in the way of severity, in the treatment of his slaves, and particularly by a regulation which must, in many ways, have been extremely galling to them. If he had intended to excite their bad passions, and to 'provoke resistance to his authority, he could not have fallen upon a more effectual device than that which he was so ill advised as to adopt. 3. That the appearance of the military on the estate should have led to the momentary defection of all the slaves, was no more than might have been expected. Their terror at the thought of military execution sufficiently accounts for it. Thus far they might fairly have found in the court and jury which tried them, that lenient construction of their conduct which was so judiciously given by the Duke of Manchesterto the alleged conspirators of St. James's. The acts of violence afterwards perpetrated by a few individuals, were, doubtless,, acts deserving severe punishment; but they were not acts which could be considered as involving any but the actual perpetrators; and certainly not such as could be considered as involving even the perpetrators, and much less the other slaves, in the crime of rebellion against the Government. 4. We observe on these trials, as on all the others which have taken place, a remarkable disregard of all the received rules of evidence; and in this instance also the slaves appear to have had no legal advocate, or even solicitor. On the face of the minutes, however, it is obvious that much would have been gained in favour of the prisoners, as well by a judicious cross-examination, as by the rejection of improper and irrelevant and mere hear-say evidence. On an English reader, for example, it is calculated to make a strong impression to be told that most of the Negroes were armed with macheats, and that one man was grinding his macheat. A single question would have brought out the answer, that the macheat is one of the common tools of the field Negroes. 5. In the case of this, as of all the other trials, the informers and material witnesses either are rewarded with their freedom (a freedom which they had doubtless the assurance of before-hand); or obtain the pardon of their own crimes, in order to qualify them to give evidence against others. (A. p. 17.) A Return is made in these papers of the number of Maroons in Jamaica; by which it appears that they had been greatly increasing. The returns are dated in June, July, and August, 1824, and are as follows-(E. pp. 21–33) Accompong-town (besides 14 slaves) ......... Charles-town Moore-town (besides 49 slaves) 328 68 365 438 1199 The only remaining document in the Jamaica papers, is a letter from the Bishop of Jamaica, which, we think, it would have been well to have suppressed. It is dated on the 12th March 1825, when he had only been about three weeks in the island, and when it was impossible he could have formed any just judgment of the actual state of things, except from information, the soundness of which it would have been prudent to have questioned. "Wherever I go," says the Bishop, "I find the greatest aversion to Sectarianism of every kind and denomination, but every degree of confidence in any teachers of religion whom I may be pleased to appoint*. "I have as yet seen very little of the slave population, except during a short excursion into the Port-Royal mountains. The great want is, places of worship in situations where the Negroes of many surrounding estates might be easily assembled, and houses for the clergy †. Many proprietors have indeed tendered houses, which might be adapted for the purpose: and, from all I hear from the Clergy, much has been done in this way, particularly since the Society for the Education of Negroes has directed its attention to this point. From the great uncertainty and capriciousness of the Negro character, it is difficult to make sure of their attendance even where * The Bishop, of course, speaks here of the Clergy and the White colonists: he cannot mean to refer either to the free People of Colour, or to the slaves. It was not necessary to have Episcopal authority for this fact it was perfectly notorious. Did any doubt whatever exist of the perfect hatred which the planters of Jamaica generally bear to Methodist and Baptist missionaries? † According to the Bishop's account, the great want has not been any want of zeal in the resident Clergy, or any want of facilities to their labours on the part of the laity, but the want of churches and houses; and yet all previous accounts, even from the Clergy themselves, have given a different view of the most efficient causes of the non-instruction of the slaves. The Bishop was informed by the Clergy, that much had been done in the way of assembling the Negroes in the houses of the proprietors. This, also, is in direct contradiction to all the evidence previously obtained on the subject, both from the Clergy themselves and from others. (See Appendix to Debate of 15th May 1823, pp. 149 and 161). But we are told, that it is more especially since the Society for the Education of Negroes has directed its attention to this point, that "much has been done." The resolutions adopted by that Society were first made known in July or August 1823, in London. Its progress must have been rapid, if much has already been done by it. But in what way their resolution to institute schools could have operated in leading the Clergy to do much in the way of as sembling the Negroes in the houses of proprietors for public worship, is not very obvious. great pains have been taken*; but whenever a preacher is popular, they dress out their children and themselves, a sure sign they are in good humour, and throng the place of public worship. Psalmody and organs, have great attractions for them. They seem particularly fond of form and ceremony, and greater critics than many persons will give them credit for, remarking every particularity of manner and gesture; and have a great predilection for a powerful, sonorous voice +." "I am happy to assure your Lordship, that a very general wish to ameliorate the condition of the slaves, and to instruct them in the principles of the Established Church, seems to pervade the great mass of proprietors; and every facility is afforded me of visiting the several plantations §." XII. MAURITIUS. Respecting the state of the Slave Trade in the Mauritius, during the years 1822, 1823, and 1824, the substance of what has been communicated officially is contained in a letter * Does Mr. Trew, or Mr. Stainsby, or do the Methodist preachers, complain of a deficiency in attendance? It would be worth while to obtain a specification of the parish churches, in the island of Jamaica, which slaves and their children have been in the habit of thronging. We believe, that, besides the Methodist and Baptist chapels, they would be confined to one or two. The power and sonorousness of the Bishop's voice are loudly celebrated in all the newspapers of Jamaica. § It is humiliating to peruse this first specimen of the official labours of the head of the Church of England in Jamaica. Where did the Bishop learn the fact of the general wish to ameliorate the condition of the slaves? From the chit-chat of the dinner-table, or from the acts of the legislature? Has he not learnt to distinguish between the mere profession and the actual existence of a sincere desire for reformation? And as for the wish, attributed to the great mass of proprietors, of instructing the slaves in the principles of the Established Church, if it really exists at all, it must be a wish of very recent origin: for, until a late period, even the Jamaica District Society for promoting Christian Knowledge found it necessary to obviate the alarm, which their association had excited among those proprietors, by publicly declaring that the idea of the religious instruction of the slave population of Jamaica had not entered into their contemplation, their attention being exclusively directed to the free population. (See Appendix to Debate of 15th May 1823, p. 182.) from Sir Robert Farquhar, and one from his successor, Sir Lowry Cole, both addressed to Earl Bathurst ;-the first dated the 23d January 1823; and the second, 18th November I824. The fair inference from these communications would seem to be, that in those years the Slave Trade had been reduced to a very low ebb in the Mauritius. It is impossible, however, under all the circumstances of the case, not to entertain very considerable doubts of the accuracy of that information, and a suspicion that the Governors may have been deceived upon the subject. Sir Lowry Cole indeed affirms, that not only has the introduction of slaves ceased at the Mauritius, but that, on the part of the inhabitants, there is no disposition to renew the Slave Trade, but rathera feeling of indignation at its horrors; and this appears to have been also the opinion of Sir Robert Farquhar. The planters of the Mauritius have, without doubt, professed to renounce and to detest the Slave Trade; but it is very difficult to give them credit for the sincerity of this profession. They had long been familiar with this trade; and they had evinced, even to a recent period, an attachment to it so rooted as to lead even some of the higher classes to brave, for the sake of its profits, all the infamy of a felonious conviction. What then could have wrought this extraordinary conversion in so short a time? An external difference of conduct, indeed, might fairly be expected. The increased vigilance of our cruizers increased the risks of transgression, while the extremely low price of colonial produce, during the period in question, diminished the temptation to transgress. But to infer from this temporary cessation of the trade, even if such cessation had actually taken place, that the planters of the Mauritius had become, in principle, adverse to that trade, is not consistent with the character of those planters, or with what we know of human nature itself. Besides, it is notorious, that, during this period, the planters of the Mauritius were making great efforts to obtain the removal of the protecting duty on their sugars; and they must have felt, that a decent external compliance with the Abolition Laws was essential to their success. If a reference be made to the official testimonies already adduced, as disproving this |