was not, therefore, without necessity, that I have torn from that social monster the screen which distance and falsehood had cast before him; and exhibited him to the eyes of the British people in his true and hideous forms.

'Having now performed that painful and invidious task; having shown, by decisive evidence, what the slavery of the sugar colonies really is, both in law and practice; I will not waste the time of my readers, by offering any arguments in proof, that such a state should no longer be suffered to exist. It would, indeed, be worse than idle; it would be insulting their understandings and their hearts to do so. It would be supposing in them a perfect insensibility to every moral obligation. That personal slavery should find apologists and patrons among the people of England, is strange, and opprobrious enough; especially at the present day, when we hail with enthusiasm the march of civil liberty in every foreign land, and are scarcely satisfied with its perfection in our own; but, if our love of freedom be thus grossly inconsistent, I trust our national humanity will be more impartial; and that, though many among us, who profess to detest slavery, civil or personal, in Greece and Spain, and Portugal and Algiers, have defended its far heavier yoke in the sugar colonies, all who are not principals, or accomplices, in the cruel and mur◄ derous oppressions which I have here delineated, will view them with abhorrence. I will anticipate, then, no dissent, by any disinterested reader, from my conclusion, that this most odious system ought to exist no more.'· - pp. 387

389.

Having said so much of the condition of the slaves in the West Indies, we are naturally led to inquire what is the situation of the same class of our own population. Into this inquiry, however, we shall not enter at this time, not because we do not consider it a proper subject of discussion in the Northern States, but because we have already gone beyond our usual limits, and because our information on the subject is not so full and satisfactory as we could desire.

It is but justice, however, to say, that we have good reason to believe, that the usual treatment of slaves, in this country, is, in some particulars, more mild and humane than in the British West Indies. This seems to be established by the single fact, that the natural increase of the slaves in this country is nearly, if not quite, as rapid as that of the whites,* while in the British sugar islands, they are constantly diminishing..

*This, of course, must be understood of the whole United States. In the slave-holding States, the slaves, on the whole, have increased more

We are inclined to believe, that slaves are not so much overworked in this country as they are in the West Indies. The driving system, which is universal in all the sugar colonies, is not so general in this country, but a system of task-work is established in its place.

The causes, which have produced a better treatment of slaves in this country, are sufficiently obvious. We can only allude to them. The most important, probably is, that the disproportion of numbers between the slaves and the whites, is in no part of our country so great, as it is between the same classes in the West Indies. Taking all the British slave colonies together, there are nearly eight times as many slaves as whites, and a free black and colored population considerably exceeding the whites. In some of the islands, there are ten times as many slaves as whites; and in others, the slaves exceed the whites even in a greater proportion. In this country, on the other hand, the slaves are more numerous than the whites only in two States, South Carolina and Louisiana, and in those, only in a very small proportion; while all the slave-holding States together contain nearly twice as many free persons as slaves.

Another reason, why slavery is not quite so severe in this country as in the British colonies, is, that here food is probably cheaper, and more abundant, than it is in the West Indies.

Besides this, the cultivation of sugar, in which it is admitted that the labors of the slave are more severe and exhausting than in any other, has been but little pursued in this country, compared with the West Indies.

One of the chief causes of the extreme ill-treatment of slaves in the West Indies, is the general non-residence of the owners

rapidly than the whites. We cannot, however, say, with certainty, that the natural increase of the slaves, in that section, is greater than that of the whites, on account of the emigration of the whites into the nonslave-holding States, and other causes.

Whether the natural increase of the slaves be not quite as rapid as that of the free population of our country, it is difficult to determine. A mere comparison of the censuses will not lead to any satisfactory conclusion, for various elements must be brought into any calculation on the subject, whose value it is not easy to ascertain. These are, the increase of the free population of the United States, by voluntary immigration; the increase of the slave population, before 1808, by new importations; the diminution of the slave population, by enfranchisement; and the diminution of the free people of color, by emigration.

of estates.

The great majority of these proprietors reside in Great Britain, and large numbers of them never visit the islands from which they draw their revenues. The consequences to the poor slaves, who are thus left in the hands of men, whose interest in their good treatment and comfort is not very direct and obvious, whose morals are low, and education imperfect, are, as might be expected, very melancholy. In this country, on the contrary, we believe that the entire non-residence of planters on their estates, is very rare. That the slaves must usually be benefited by the personal supervision of their owners, can scarcely be questioned.

Another circumstance, which, no doubt, has a favorable influence on the condition of the slaves in this country, is the contiguity of the slave-holding States to those in which slavery is prohibited. The opinions upon the law and practice of slavery, which are generally entertained, and in some degree expressed in the Northern States, we believe, tend to diminish the evils of the system. Though the expression of these opinions sometimes excites violent bursts of indignation at the South, yet they are not the less certainly producing changes in sentiment among slave-holders. It can hardly be questioned, that slavery, as it exists, in law and practice, in Maryland, Virginia, and Kentucky, which join upon the non-slave-holding States, and are therefore more readily influenced by their habits and opinions, is milder than it is in the more southerly States.

Having thus conceded, as justice demanded, that slavery in this country is less severe than it is in the British colonies, we trust that our concession will not be thought to extend to any approbation of the system, as it exists here, or of any system of slavery whatever.

It is not our intention, at present, to consider the modes in which the great work of enfranchisement, which is sooner or later to take place in the Southern States, ought to be attempted by their legislative assemblies. But nothing, we believe, would do more to promote this good cause, than a work similar in plan to Mr. Stephen's Second Volume, giving a plain account of the practice of slavery in regard to the time and mode of labor in the cultivation of the principal staples, as of cotton, tobacco, rice, and sugar; the manner in which labor is enforced; the situation of the slaves in regard to food, clothing, lodging, and treatment in sickness, and the varieties of practice in all these particulars, in different parts of the country. We are

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aware, that the work which we suggest is one of great labor, and scarcely to be accomplished, except by one who has been long resident in the Southern section. Perhaps the whole of it can scarcely be expected from a single hand. But there are men in the country who are able to contribute largely towards it. A person who will give a detailed account of slavery in any one State, cannot fail to produce a work of novelty and interest, and, at the same time, of great utility. The accounts of the institution in the books of travels which we have seen, are most meagre and unsatisfactory. The general remarks, which we often meet with from the apologists of slavery, upon the health, good spirits, and comfort of the slaves, and the lightness of their labors, in all which particulars they are sometimes said to be far better situated than the peasantry of New England, even if they do not excite a smile or a sigh of incredulity, give no definite information concerning the Arcadian felicity which they attest. On the other hand, the instances of oppression and cruelty, which are stated by writers opposed to slavery, though, no doubt, affording a strong argument against a system which necessarily leads to frequent and atrocious abuses, give us no means of judging of the usual situation of the negroes, under masters who are not distinguished for severity.

Many of our readers are probably not aware, that a volume, giving an account of the law of slavery in the Southern States, by Mr. George M. Strond, was published in 1826. The information given in this work, we think, will be found highly interesting and instructive, by all who wish to make themselves acquainted with the actual situation of the negro population at the South. A thorough account of the practice of slavery would make the subject complete. We conclude, by repeating our wish, that a work of this kind may be soon given to the public.

THE

CHRISTIAN EXAMINER.

No. XLVII.

NEW SERIES No. XVII.

NOVEMBER, 1831.

ART I.-1. A View of the general Tenor of the New Testament regarding the Nature and Dignity of Jesus Christ; including a Collection of the various Passages in the Gospels, Acts of the Apostles, and the Epistles, which relate to that Subject. By JOANNA BAILLIE. London, 1831. 8vo. pp. 146.

2. Religious Prejudice overcome, by a careful Examination of the Old and New Testament; a serious Address to Christian Professors. By Mrs. CHARLES TOOGOOD. Dorchester and London. 8vo. 3. The Essential Faith of the Universal Church; deduced from the Sacred Records. By HARRIET MARTINEAU. London. 1831. 8vo. pp. 88.

pp. 59.

WE regard with much interest the simultaneous appearance of these three books. They are small in size, but they lead the mind to important conclusions.

Two of these works, one of which is by a lady of high rank in the literary world, are examinations of Scripture testimony on the nature and dignity of Christ. Both result in Unitarianism; in a conviction that the long revered doctrine of the Trinity in Unity is not to be found in the Sacred Writings. They are not indeed the only instances of such an investigation terminating in the same result; but they are new and valuable testimonials to the truth of the assertion invariably made by Unitarians, that their faith is not only the most rational but the most scriptural too. They are in

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