dual philanthropists may do much, in opposition to which no exertions of any individuals, or of any associations of individuals, however benevolently disposed, can possibly terminate in the production of anything but evil to the slave population, which it is their purpose to befriend.

It is not at all necessary to go into the question about the origin of slavery in the world;-whether that be, or be not, one of the necessary evils attached to human society, an evil which must exist in every society in certain stages of its progress. It is not necessary to do this, because reason, and the authority of revelation, go hand in hand in teaching us that slavery is an evil; so that, of course, the only real question is, how or by what means it can be put an end to, without giving place to evils greater than itself. When St Paul tells the Christian slaves of Corinth, that whenever it is possible for them to obtain their freedom, they ought to embrace the opportunity and become free, his sentiments as to this matter are sufficiently explained to the dullest capacity. But the fact, that he throughout all his writings preaches to the slaves, as individuals, the duty of reverence and submission towards their masters, and that he never in any one instance breathes even a hint as to the emancipation of them as a class, or as to the possibility of slavery being exterminated, as a condition of human life, these facts are equally conclusive evidence that this great apostle conceived it unwise, if not impossible, to get rid of the slavery then existing in the world by any means of a sudden or violent nature-in other words, that he, contemplating withont doubt the eventual abolition of that slavery, foresaw that the best, if not the only means of abolishing it, consisted in the promotion of the virtue and industry of the slaves themselves. He foresaw that Christianity would civilize the slaves so completely, that in the course of time they, partaking in the light and improvement of society, would of necessity merge into the great mass of society, and become free citizens. And this, we know, was exactly the posterior history of the slavery of those parts of the world in which his doctrines took root. The care with which he avoided doing or saying anything that might tend to irritate the slaves against their mas

ters, and make them consider their condition as one of absolute illegality and oppression, this is truly a matter which cannot be too seriously considered by us all. Think only of the style in which such modern saints as Wilberforce address our negroes, and compare that for one moment with the constant language of the chief of the apostles of our Saviour. Compare it with the passage which we have already quoted from the First Epistle to the Corinthians, or compare it with the following perhaps still more striking passage, from his Epistle to the Church of Ephesus. (Chap. 6, verses 5 and 8.)

Οι δουλοι ὑπακουετε τοις κυρίοις κατα σαρκα, μετα φοβε και τρομε, ἐν ἁπλότητι της καρδιας ύμων, ὡς τῷ Χριστω.

Ειδότες ότι ὁ ἐαν τις εκαστος ποιήσῃ ἀγαθον τουτο κομιείται παρα το Κυρια, είτε δελος, είτε ελευθερος.-That is

"SLAVES, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of heart, even as

unto Christ.

"Knowing, that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be a slave or a free man.”

Compare such words as these with the furious, rabid invectives of the African Association. Compare them with the cold-blooded rancour of the Edinburgh Review. Compare them but for one moment with Wilberforce's Appeal, with Stephen's digest, or with Brougham's diatribes. We earnestly hope, and indeed believe, that many who have thought the whole of this subject as easy and simple as it has suited the purposes of fools, and worse than fools, to represent it, will listen to the hint which we have now thrown out to them. Search the Scriptures ere you again believe the Saints.

But-The disciples of St Paul and the other Apostles were not all slaves. There were among them, men and women of every rank; and some of very high rank. In those days, every person who was two steps above a slave, was a slave-proprietor. Such persons were of course Cornelius and Lydia, Aquila and Priscilla, Crispus, "the chief ruler of the Synagogue" at Corinth, and numberless other converts, whose names are recorded in the New Testament. Now, are we told of any one of all these ardent, enthusiastic converts having set his slaves free after his conversion ?-No. We hear no

thing of the sort about any one of them. It follows, therefore, that St Paul's silence to the slaves themselves upon the matter of emancipation, was not merely the result of a fear to irritate the minds of the slaves, but proceeded also from his knowledge that slavery could not, in the then condition of the world, be abolished. He never told the masters that they sinned in having slaves; that their property was an atrocity; that, if they were Christians, they would set them free on the instant. Nay, he did not even tell them that they ought to be looking forward to their emancipation, and preparing them for it. The Apostle, therefore, relied on other things than the exertions of individuals or of sects. He relied on the effects of that reformation of life and manners which he knew must mark the progress of a christianized population. He relied on the gradual increase of knowledge, virtue, and religion; on the natural consequences of these upon the industry of individuals in the condition of slavery; on the certainty that, whenever slaves, as a body, become sensible to their duties as husbands and fathers, and exert themselves, as if they were freemen, then, from the very necessity of things, they must become freemen. He knew, in a word, that men, from a sense of their own interests, always have availed themselves, and always will avail themselves, of free labour, rather than of forced labour, when they can get it. He knew this great rule— he looked back upon the history of the world-ay, and he looked forward too, which is more than we, or even than Wilberforce, can do--and this was the view of the matter which found favour with his understanding-an understanding naturally as strong as any that ever inhabited a human bosom an understanding enriched with all the knowledge and philosophy of Greece and Rome; graced with every excellence of wisdom, humanity, and genius-and enlightened and armed with the immediate inspiration of Heaven, for the achievement of the greatest service to man and society that it has ever fallen to the lot of a mere man to undertake and to accomplish.

This argument comes indeed with an a fortiori character, when we attend to the character of the negro population, and to the character of the climate and country in which it has been placed. VOL. XVI.

We cannot at present go at length into this part of the subject: it is sufficient to remember the plain facts, that these negroes are newly and imperfectly reclaimed savages, and that they live in a tropical climate, and upon a teeming soil, where all the natural wants of such barbarians can undoubtedly be supplied without the necessity of almost any exertion on their part whatever; where plantains, sufficient for the subsistence of the year, are raised without difficulty, by the easy labour of a month; where the most luxurious fruits and herbs are lavished abroad by the virgin munificence of nature; where clothing and lodging can scarcely be said to be natural wants of our species at all. Now, who will believe that these negroes are willing to labour in the West Indies, when we think for a moment of the effects which are produced on the Lazzaroni of Naples, by the facilities of subsistence which their climate gives-nay, when we think of the listless indolence in which the greater part of the infinitely superior peasantry of Spain at this time indulge

of the apathy in which, until of late, the Scotch Highlanders were contented to pass their days, gaining by a little exertion enough of fish and game, &c. for the support of life, and never dreaming of exerting their strength in order that they might be better clothed and better lodged ;—in other words, in order that they might partake in the comforts and duties of a more civilized life;-or, lastly, of the condition of the vast mass of potatoeeaters, whose idleness, rags, and misery, are at this moment the disgrace of Ireland? No, no. You cannot have free labour until you inspire the wish for comforts, for refinement, for something above the mere support of nature. The negroes, as a body of men, are as yet entirely destitute of any habits or desires which could form a sufficient inducement to labour-to anything that Europeans talk of as labour. They are, it is true, advancing rapidly towards the state in which they must acquire such habits and such desires. They are gradually beginning to have some notions about dress, finery, superior lodging. Let them go on to strengthen these feelings, and no doubt these habits will ere long produce their effects. But act as the pretended friends of the negroes dictate, and you, by one rash act of cowardice and imbecility

out this population from the only real prospect of immediate improvement and ultimate freedom which lies before them. You arrest the savage in his steps towards civilization. You declare him free ere he has any wish beyond the indulgence of the native indolence of his barbarous race. You make a new Africa in the West Indies, and condemn a new region of the earth to the curse of African darkness, unproductiveness, licentiousness, brutality, and bloodshed.

4. What we have been saying leads naturally to the mention of a fourth great feature of improvement, which, if the planters and their medical, military, and clerical witnesses, may be trusted, has begun to make its appearance in many of these colonies. The system of TASK WORK, they assert, is already almost universal in some estates, and is rapidly increasing in many more. The meaning of this is, that the negroes on these estates are beginning to have such a degree of sense as to their own interests, that the masters find it possible to say to a man in the morning, "Do so much work, and you are free to do what you like for the rest of the day." Who can believe that a planter would not prefer having his work done in this way, to superintending, whip in hand, or not in hand, his gang, during the whole hours of their labour? It is absurd to say that this thing can be otherwise. And who can doubt, that although the task-work negroes at present consume in idleness and amusement, for the most part, the hours which they have to themselves after their work is done-(that is to say, a great proportion of their whole day-for the statement is, that a diligent worker can always finish the work expected by any negro by Two O'CLOCK in the day; and that, in general, those who do task-work at all, are done by FOUR o'clock)—who can doubt, that, in the natural progress of human affairs, the ambition of these men must be stimulated by habits of working, and by the experience of what working leads to-who can believe that in time they will not come to feel how much better many of their at present idle hours can be occupied for the interests of themselves and their families, than in idleness? The planters put forth this statement in the most solemn manner. They, once again, demand investigation as to facts. Once again, their facts are met with nothing

but a scornful denial—their arguments with nothing but the sneer of malice, or the scowl of blindness and bigotry.

5. The planters assert generally and decidedly, that the Creole slaves, born in the West Indies, are distinguished from the Africans by a marked superiority in intelligence, in industry, and in morals. They consider it as equally certain, that the next generation will surpass, in all these particulars, the present. They consider it as certain, that the sweeping measures, (Brougham's own pet phrase,) must make the Creoles Africans again, if they be resorted to before the Africans are entirely merged in the Creoles.

Here, we believe, the planter's facts are not disputed. Their argument, of course, is scoffed at. Let the impartial be judges, whether it is not at least deserving of an answer.

II. So much for Mr Brougham's first position, viz.--that the present system must be changed, because it has been proved that the present system does not, and is incapable of doing, any good to the negroes. In the course of commenting on this part of his lucubration, our readers will see that we have said a great deal which equally refers to his second assertion, viz.— that the colonies would not cease to be productive to the planters, although the sweeping measures were resorted

to.

On a former occasion, also, we found an opportunity to say a good deal as to the introduction of free labour into the West Indies at present, or soon, as a system. We have not at present time, (nor would room be given us here.) for recurring at length to this part of our subject. We must be contented with stating, in two words, that the question has been practically tried in one West Indian island, and that the results of that trial are before the world. 1st, St Domingo has almost entirely ceased to be an island exporting West Indian produce: 2d, the coffee there raised for home consumption is exclusively the produce of the trees planted before the revolution: and, 3dly and lastly, whatever is done there in the way of labour, beyond raising plantains and yams enough for mere food, (which costs scarcely any labour at all,) is done at the point of the bayonet. Our planters call upon us to investigate these facts; they boldly appeal to every British naval officer, who has recently visited St Domingo, whether they

have, in the smallest degree, exaggerated these facts-and Brougham laughs in their face, and Zachary snuffles.

Here, will Mr Brougham be so good as to answer us one question en passant? Does not this very number of the Edinburgh Review contain a long and elaborate article, in which the subject of pauperism is handled in a very able manner? And may not the whole argument of that paper be summed up in one sentence, viz.—You should make no provision for your own countrymen in the way of poors'-rates, because the moment you make men sure of an actual subsistence, you, of necessity, sink the tone of their minds, take away from them the stimulus to labour, and of course bring ruin on the society, and on every branch of industry, by means of which the society is supported in a state far above that of mere nature?— We defy any man to tell us that this is not the sum and substance of the argument in this coarsely and vulgarly written, but certainly very shrewd and sagacious paper. And we beg to know where that reasoning man is to be found, who can, for one moment, doubt, that if it applies at all to the European labouring classes, it must apply with force tenfold, and a hundred-fold, to the West Indian negroes? What are any possible poorrates to an European, compared with the poor-rates which nature has established for the inhabitants of a rich soil, in a tropical climate-and this, too, in a country where, if nothing were grown but what is conducive to the physical necessities of the population, that population might bear to be increased in a proportion altogether incalculable above its present rate. A strong fact, or a strong truth, is not strengthened by strong words. We leave this as it is to Mr Brougham.

III. The third, and concluding statement of the anti-colonial Statesman and Reviewer, is-that even if these colonies were lost to England, this would be no evil at all worthy of being balanced against the good consequences of the "sweeping measures."

In relation to this grand position, we beg leave to call the most serious attention of every man who really wishes to have the means of forming a con

scientious opinion for himself, to a work which has just appeared, under the title of " Considerations on Negro Slavery, with authentic Reports illustrative of the actual Condition of the Negroes in Demarara, &c., by Alexander M'Donnell, Esq. secretary to the Committee of the Inhabitants of Demarara. "We regard this book as upon the whole the most comprehensive that has yet appeared on either side of the question before us. The author is evidently a man not only of sense and shrewdness, but of really large, profound, and philosophical views. He reasons boldly: he states his facts boldly and he writes with great freedom and energy of style; yet, throughout the whole of his work, he preserves a tone so candid, so calm, so widely different from the frenzied or reckless compositions promulgated by the other party or parties, that we cannot help looking forward to most important results from the interest which the book must excite, and the thought and reflection to which, it is quite impossible for us to doubt, it must stimulate every mind in which candour is united with the habits of intelligence and the powers of reasoning. We shall probably have occasion to say more of this work hereafter, as there are many things in it altogether foreign to the views we ourselves have formed. But in the meantime we shall lay before our readers some extracts from that part of it which is devoted to the branch of the subject now before us-confident that no man who truly desires to be in the right as to this great matter, can reconcile it to his conscience to go one step further, until he has given the whole of Mr M'Donnell's book a careful and deliberate consideration.

He sums up the advantages which Britain derives from her West Indian colonies as follows,

"I. The colonies give a vent to the employment of the capital of the parent state, by persons lending out money on mortgage, which yields advantages not to be derived from any foreign trade.

"II. It is erroneous to consider the dealings with colonies as only equal to the dealings with other countries. They are in reality much more extensive; and this is occasioned by the persons emi

grating carrying out along with them British customs, manners and feelings; from similarity of language, and greater freedom and frequency of intercourse.

"III. Trade in general is supposed to benefit the two trading countries alike; but with regard to the West Indies, the gain which in common traffic would be derived by the other country, here reverts back to England, from the circumstance of the proprietors either residing there, or ultimately returning thither, and bringing all their wealth along with them.

"IV. In a political point of view the colonies afford many advantages; by contributing to our safety as well as our prosperity; by giving an outlet in period of war to our products, which without such possessions could not be obtained; by rearing our national means of defence, and rendering that certain which otherwise would be precarious.

"I. When a country first begins to distinguish itself in commerce, the want of capital is generally the greatest difficulty. In this state of things, the temptation of high profit abroad is injurious instead of beneficial. By drawing off the funds to a distant quarter, it cramps the operations of the home trade, which at this period is much more desirable and deserving of encouragement. By degrees, as the nation by its industry and frugality becomes richer, the home trade becomes fully stocked, and a portion of the capital naturally seeks a vent in foreign traffic. Even then the trade with the adjacent countries is to be preferred to that with the more distant, as the returns are quicker, which necessarily puts in motion a greater quantity of domestic industry. In the progress of time, however, if the nation continue her frugality, all these channels of commerce are filled up, and the desideratum then becomes, not to procure, but to get a vent for capital. England has long passed this period; her monied men experience great difficulty in getting employment for their funds; and on this account, the West Indies have not only hitherto afforded great benefit, but they might be made to yield still more, if the present unhappy feelings towards them had subsided. I believe this is a distinct feature of advantage which they possess. In any foreign trade, no person would ever think of lending out money in a similar manner; the difficulty of recovering it in foreign courts of law, and the incidents to which it would be liable in case of a war, would be considerations so strong, that none would be willing to encounter the risk.

In viewing, then, the question of the colonial trade, this part of the subject should be kept distinct; and I will only appeal to any intelligent man of business to look to London, Liverpool, Glasgow, and Bristol, and he will see how much it has operated in favour of our mercantile prosperity.

"II. Persons leaving their own country to seek their fortunes abroad, it is obvious, will be much better customers to the parent state, than any foreign nation. The powerful influence of early prepossessions and habits, will naturally tend to cement the intercourse, and to make the newly established settlement follow all the changes in fashion which are continually taking place. Not only the different articles of clothing, but the furniture of the houses, the equipages, and every article that ministers to the wants of men, will be imitated and introduced from the mother country. If, for example, we take the French islands of Martinique and Guadaloupe, and imagine their population to be exactly equal to that of Jamaica; and suppose their commerce was then perfectly open in the manner desired by the advocates for the free-trade, the dealings with Jamaica would certainly be much greater than those with the foreign islands, from the plain obvious circumstance of having the same language, and continuing to practise a similar mode of living. This very great advantage will be found to bear in every case that can be assumed; and it certainly involves a consideration sufficiently cogent to determine a wise legisla ture to give a preference on all occasions to British settlements.

III. The effect produced by the residence of a large portion of the West Indian proprietors in England, though very generally noticed in a cursory manner in different publications, has never yet been sufficiently investigated. I am of opinion that it forms the most material feature in the whole system. Ever since we have understood the nature of what is termed adjustment of the supply to the demand, we have been taught to control many points in political economy, which before were at best somewhat problematical. Thinking men are now pretty much agreed, that an extensive consumption is the great principle from which prosperity is derived. The sentiments of Adam Smith, relative to productive and unproductive labourers, are at present regarded as not very correct. It is apparent, that it is quite out of the question for men to work, unless they can procure a market for their commodities. Whenever a manufacturer finds a sale for his wares, he