CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN SIR CARMICHAEL SMYTH, GOVERNOR OF THE BAHAMAS, AND LORD GODERICH, ON THE SUBJECT OF FEMALE FLOGGING. In the parliamentary papers of August 8, 1832, numbered 733, there are several communications from the Governor of the Bahamas to Viscount Goderich, which throw much light on the present character of colonial slavery. We hear, in this country, of its mitigation, and are assured of the willingness of the planters to provide for the protection, comfort, and moral instruction of their slaves; but, whenever an opportunity is afforded us of looking into the system itself, its dark and revolting features are distinctly traced. It is, to use the words of Sir J. C. Smyth, "an Augean stable, which may be cleansed, but only by unceasing efforts, seconded by your Lordship's (Goderich) cordial support, and the weight of your authority." When was stronger language used by any abolitionist? It must be borne in mind, that slavery exists in a much milder form in the Bahamas than in any other of our slave colonies. No sugars are exported thence, and the negro population is increasing. If, then, in such a colony, atrocities like those mentioned by the governor can be practised with impunity, what may we not suspect of other slave communities? By a despatch, bearing date 5th of April, 1831, the Governor informs the Colonial Secretary, of the rejection, by the Assembly, of a very moderate bill on the flogging of females. The following is an extract : MY LORD,-In the concluding paragraph of the despatch of the 31st of January, 1831, which I had the honour of addressing to your Lordship, I ventured to express my hopes that such regula tions and restrictions respecting the flogging of female slaves would be adopted by the House of Assembly, in consequence of their discussion on the subject, as would materially lessen the evils of this most disgusting system. The House, I am sorry to have to report, have disappointed me, and have not only replied to my answer to their address in very general and evasive terms, but, by rejecting without a division, after its first reading only, a very moderate bill upon the subject which had passed the council, have convinced me, that although there are fortunately a few gentlemen of a proper and manly feeling, yet that the great majority of the Assembly are too prejudiced and too narrow-minded to conceive the existence of any other order of things than that which they have been accustomed to witness. In my speech at the close of the session, I thought it my duty to point out how much they had disappointed me, and how much they must sink in the esteem of their fellow-subjects of the rest of the empire. I am afraid that I shall not be able to do much immediate good; but I shall conceive it nevertheless my duty to take every opportunity, both publicly and privately, of exerting whatever influence I may possess in bringing the inhabitants, if possible, to a better feeling. Again, in a despatch of the 3rd of May, 1831, he recurs to the subject, and specifies various cases of female flogging which had recently occurred. I shall not fail to avail myself of the opportunity of the House being assembled to endeavour to procure some amendment of the law by which the power of inflicting arbitrary severe corporeal punishment on slaves of both Your Lordship's commands upon that head will be by me most cheerfully and readily obeyed. My first and great object is to do away with the flogging of female sexes is vested in the owner. slaves altogether. Most sincerely do I lament that those magistrates whom I removed for ordering two women with infants at the breast, and one other with child, to be flogged, were restored to the bench. It not only weakened my authority and influence, but, by encouraging an idea that British government was cool and indifferent upon the subject, very much paralyzed all my efforts. A female slave, of only fourteen years of age, was punished last week in the workhouse with thirtynine lashes by order of her inhuman mistress, a kept woman, after having been two months in prison, and for some most trifling offence. A middle-aged female slave received, about ten days ago, thirty-nine lashes, by order of a white girl of seventeen years of age, who, in the absence of her father, had charge of his house. A female slave at Exuma was so severely flogged that a justice of the peace (a planter on the island) wrote to me, and made an affidavit, that he could not tell what number of lashes she had received, but that he had never seen so cruel a punishment. been to complain. I caused the owner in this On returning home, she was flogged for having last case to be prosecuted by the crown lawyer; but as the proof of the second flogging rested solely upon slave evidence and of one free coloured other cases I have mentioned I could not legally man, the grand jury ignored the bill. In the two interfere. The Attorney-General, to whom I referred the particulars of the case of a minor of seventeen years of age having ordered such a cruel punishment, informed me that she had a right so to do. In the case of the young girl of fourteen years of age punished by order of the kept woman to whom she belongs, I caused a whom she lives, expressive of my sentiments of letter to be written to the Spanish merchant with regret and astonishment that he should permit such proceedings in his house, and the more so, as this is the second female slave flogged by the gaoler from this house within a month. Subsequently to my letter to the Spanish merchant, a man who keeps a retail spirit shop, and who is most unfortunately a Member of the Assembly, has caused his female slave to receive thirty-nine lashes, after having struck and otherwise ill-treated her. It has been repeated to me, that this unfortunate woman was at the time very unwell, and that there were some particularly indelicate cirOf the latter part of the story, of the ill-health of the woman, and of her cumstances in this case. the power of inflicting punishment, is not to be looked for in a hurry," is but too well founded. It is fit, however, that it should be distinctly understood that the government and people of Great Britain will not patiently acquiesce in the continuance of such a system in any part of his Majesty's dominions. It is not to be expected that a contumacious refusal to rescue these unfortunate females from such barbarous and disgusting punishments should be much longer tolerated; and you will have the goodness to impress, in the strongest terms, on the Council and Assembly, the fixed determination of the Ministers of the Crown to omit no methods sanctioned by law and justice to arrest the progress of such cruelties. Nothing can be more unfounded than the opinion which you state to have prevailed, that the British Government was cool and indifferent upon the subject. I hear, with much concern, that your efforts have been paralyzed by the prevalence of such a notion; yet I cannot regret that those efforts were made. However irksome the necessary interference ings, it is highly satisfactory to learn that you on such occasions must have been to your feelhave exerted yourself with so much energy, though unhappily with so little effect, to bring the offenders to justice. shall recur to this correspondence again ere Here we must close for the present, but long. In the meantime, we strongly recom mend the whole to the attentive examination of our friends. ALCHYMY. gances, that, as Mr. Evelyn observes in his HENRY VI. was so reduced by his extravaNumismata, he endeavoured to recruit his empty coffers by Alchymy. The record of this singular proposition contains "the most solemn and serious account of the feasibility and virtues of the philosopher's stone, encouraging the search after it, and dispensing with This record all statutes and prohibitions." was, very probably, communicated (says an ingenious antiquary) by Mr. Selden to his beloved friend, Ben Jonson, when he was writing his comedy of the Alchymist. After this patent was published, many probeing previously struck, there is only slave evi-mised to answer the King's expectations, so dence, or I would endeavour to bring this man to effectually (the same writer adds) that the details to show your Lordship, that, from an As- he tells his subjects that the happy hour was punishment. I have entered into the foregoing next year he published another patent, wherein sembly selected from a society where such horrors drawing nigh, and by means of THE STONE, as I have described are allowed to take place with- which he should soon be master of, he would out any animadversion, a change of the law, and pay all the debts of the nation, in real gold and voluntary surrender of the power of inflicting silver. The persons picked out for this new punishment, is not to be looked for in a hurry. operation were as follow:— There are, however, unquestionably some very good and very well-meaning men, and I am unwilling to give up the hope of ultimate success. It is an Augean stable, which may be cleansed, but only by unceasing efforts, seconded by your Lordship's cordial support, and the weight of your authority. The following reply of the Colonial Secretary will be read with pleasure. It contains the germ and promise of those measures which the Administration are about, we hope, to bring forward. I have received your despatch dated the 3rd of May last. Thomas Hervey, an Austin friar; Robert Glaselay, a preaching friar; William Atclytte, of St. Lawrence, Pontigny College, in London; the queen's physician; Henry Sharp, master Thomas Cook, Alderman of London; John Fyld, fishmonger; John Yonghe, grocer; Robert Gayton, grocer; John Sturgeon, and John Lambert, mercers, of London. This patent was likewise granted authoripatent in his Aurum Regina, p. 135, concludes tate parliamenti. Prynne, who has given this with this sarcastic observation, "A project never so seasonable and necessary as now.' The following statute, repeated in the preceding record, proves that "multiplication of gold' was the term applied to one branch of alchymy. "None from henceforth shall use to multi The shameful and degrading cruelties practised upon female slaves, which it has been your painful duty to recapitulate, have excited in my mind the same feelings which they have produced in your own. It is especially distressing to learn, that, from the state of the law respecting the evidence ply gold or silver, or use the craft of multipliof slaves, such crimes can be perpetrated with cation; and if any the same shall do, he shall impunity. Your remark, that From an Assem-incur the pain of felony."-J. S. Andrews's bly selected from a society where such horrors are History of Great Britain. allowed to take place without any animadversion, a change in the law, and a voluntary surrender of DUNCAN FORBES. "Thee, FORBES, too, whom every worth attends, THE subject of this biographical sketch was born at Culloden House, County of Inverness, in the year 1685, and is well entitled to be ranked among the most distinguished characters which Scotland has produced. Viewed as a lawyer, a legislator, a judge, a patriot, a Christian, and a man, few individuals have appeared possessing such a combination of splendid talents and genuine worth. The family from whom he was descended are mentioned in the earliest records of the country as one of considerable importance. Alexander de Forbes, a man of great magnanimity and courage, was Governor of the Castle of Urquhart, which he gallantly defended against Edward I. of England, to the very last extremity; after a lengthened resistance the fortress was taken by storm, and the whole garrison, including Forbes, and all his sons, were put to the sword. His lady was soon afterwards delivered of a son, named Alexander, who, while a youth, performed many heroic deeds under Robert Bruce. In the time of Cromwell, one of his descendants was a merchant in Inverness, who, by his enterprising and industrious conduct, acquired sufficient means to purchase the estate of Culloden. His grandson considerably enlarged the property; he had two sons who were educated at King's College, Old Aberdeen, where they distinguished themselves as diligent students and excellent scholars, although participating in all the excesses of youth; certainly not much to their credit, both had the reputation of being the two greatest topers in the north. Duncan, the second son, had a wish to join the army, but was persuaded by his friends to enter into business. From losses at sea, and a want of discrimination in giving credit, his patrimony (10,000 marks, Scotch *) was soon exhausted, when he relinquished commercial avocations, and betook himself to the study of the civil and municipal law of Scotland. When twentythree years old he was admitted a member of the Scotch bar. Stimulated with an ardent desire to excel, he soon attracted considerable notice as an advocate. His manly eloquence was never prostituted to promote a bad cause, and his well-known integrity of conduct gave immense weight to his speeches, both with the judges and the juries. county in Parliament. His opponent, strongly | grant was afterwards purchased by govern- incredulity; the latter is addressed to a bishop. What he published to the world he exemplified in his own life, not teaching only, but also practising religion. After his lamented death the faculty of advocates at the Scotch bar paid a high compliment to his memory, by erecting an admirable statue, by Roubiliac, in the Court where he had presided (formerly the Parliament House). Under the statue is the following inscription : DUNCANO FORBES de Culloden, When the standard of rebellion was again unfurled in 1745, he was zealously engaged in preventing the Highland chiefs, with their tails (followers), from joining in the mad attempt of the Chevalier to regain the throne of his fathers. Through his exertions in assisting the government to suppress the rebellion, he impaired and almost ruined his private fortune; but renown was his only reward-no blushing honours were pressed upon him. Soon after the victory, or rather butchery, of the battle of Culloden, the Lord President came to London. Great as his exertions were in supporting the family on the throne, and ardent as his zeal was in its cause, his magnanimous mind revolted at, and led him to protest against, the sanguinary conduct of the Duke of Cumberland, and the uncalled for severity exercised by government upon the deluded victims of the infatuated Stuarts; and on his During the rebellion, 1715, he joined his with marked indifference. The King put the appearance at Court George II. received him elder brother, with some other Highland fa- following question to him:-"Is it true, my milies who espoused the cause of the House of Lord President, that a party of the Duke's Hanover, and was very instrumental in per-army (after the battle was over) killed certain suading many from joining the Stuart party supposed rebels who had fled for safety into OPPRESSION! I have seen thee, face to face, John, Duke of Argyle and Greenwich, who at that time commanded the King's troops in the Court of Culloden House?" The reply And met thy cruel eye and cloudy brow; Scotland, was so convinced of the honesty of was, "Your Majesty, I wish I could say No." But thy soul-withering glance I fear not now, his zeal and great usefulness, that he bestowed 12th of the following December his Lordship Of slavish knees, that near thy footstool bow, Here ended his favour at Court; and on the For dread to prouder feelings doth give place Of deep abhorrence! Scorning the disgrace on him many tokens of affection and esteem, died, in the 60th year of his age, leaving his I also kneel-but with far other vow and afterwards proffered him the management family in very embarrassed circumstances, Do hail thee and thy herd of hirelings base. of his extensive estates, with a handsome salary. Forbes declined accepting of the latter, had made in suppressing the rebellion. A few solely from the large pecuniary advances he I swear, while life-blood warms my throbbing veins, but undertook the task of conducting his affairs on the sole consideration that his Grace years after his death his son obtained from would treat him as a friend. In 1722, Mr. government, as a compensation for his father's Forbes stood a contest to represent a northern exertions, liberty on his lands to distill spirits free of duty, and without being under the surveillance of the excise. Hence originated * About £550.j the far-famed "Ferintosh whiskey." This TO OPPRESSION. R. Still to oppose and thwart, with heart and hand, Pringle's Ephemerides. large green cloth, a large myrtle, and other NUMEROUS tales have been told of the coloured substances, but I could never find chameleon; some too improbable to be be- that there was ever any connexion between the lieved, and others too inconsistent to be recon- colour assumed by the creature and that of the ciled with each other, or with truth. Amidst substance. Once, indeed, there was the semthis diversity of statement, very little appears the outside of the window, it became so much blance of this; for having made its escape to to have been known, with certainty, respecting like the stones (black and white) as to escape the character and habits of this singular crea- observation for a considerable time; but I have ture. Every opportunity, therefore, which pre-known it to assume exactly the same colours sents itself of increasing our scanty knowledge when under very different circumstances and on these points, or of correcting the ideas we may formerly have entertained, deserves to be surrounded by substances of a different colour. highly valued. It is on these accounts that It was kept under no more restraint than the we have perused with very great interest, a limits of a large room afforded, but after conpaper by Mr. J. Couch, F.L.S., inserted in the tinuing for hours on a green or scarlet cloth, Imperial Magazine, which contains a register or on green vegetables, I never saw it assume of observations made by him on a chameleon those colours when so situated; nor, indeed, did I ever see it assume the scarlet at all." which lived in his possession four months, a longer period than any one was ever known to Another error which these observations have live in England before. corrected, is, that the chameleon does not drink. This had been affirmed by Mr. Jack son, who attended to the habits of this creature in its native country: but Mr. Couch has seen it drink several times while in his possession, and describes its action as that of lapping, lifting up the head, and swallowing by repeated efforts. This animal measured ten inches in length, of which the tail was four inches and a half. It was embarked on board a ship at Cadiz, with several others, the greater part of which died during the voyage; and came into the possession of Mr. Couch about the end of July, in perfect health. He observes that the chameleon moves rather slowly, especially on the ground. Its most favourite place of resort is a bush, or branched stick, along which it advances with great circumspection-never losing its hold with one hand (as its singularly formed feet may well be termed), until it has secured a certain grasp with the others. The tail, in the mean while, is employed in holding fast, by twisting round the branch on which it is advancing. The prehensile tail is particularly useful in preserving the body erect; for which purpose, when on a slender twig, the feet alone are not always sufficient. But it is the colour of this animal, as our readers well know, which has long been regarded as the most interesting part of its history, and concerning which the most wonderful stories have been narrated, most of them, however, resolving themselves into this, that upon whatever substance the chameleon was placed, it never failed to assume, in a short time, the colour of that substance. This notion, the observations of Mr. Couch completely disprove, although they confirm the fact that the colour of the animal is really "subject to never-ceasing variations," and that these changes are noticeable in the minute tubercles with which the body is covered, and not in the interstices. Its most common colour, when enjoying itself in its favourite occupation of basking in the sun, is that of a dingy black, nearly approaching to the colour of soot; and a light or whitish yellow is that which it assumes while asleep; yet it is remarkable that it rarely retains the same hue for ten minutes together, and the changes it undergoes are perfectly astonishing, and appear to be altogether unaccountable. These changes, it would seem, are often independent of the volition of the animal; for they occurred during its sleep as fully and as decidedly as when it was awake. Sometimes they were produced by the approach of a lighted candle; sometimes by the presence or absence of the solar rays; sometimes by contact with another substance, as the touch of the thermometer, when it was desired to ascertain its temperature: in all these cases the colours were various, and the changes more or Jess partial. The popular opinion of its assuming the colour of the substance on which it rests, is here shown to be false. "It has passed over and rested," observes Mr. Couch, "on carpets variegated with different colours, a brated and strongly fortified castle, the built of stone, and almost of an oval form. from the fact, that the walls in the lower parts of the tower are nine feet thick; the cement or mortar by which they are bound together being as hard as the mixture of shells of sea-fish and other enstones themselves, and composed of a during materials. It was built by Hubert de Burgh, Earl of Kent, in the reign of Henry the Third, and by his permission. THE rage for novelty which has distinguished this nation of late years has, perhaps, no where shown itself more unequivocally than in the changes which have taken place in our language. The simple beauties which were the pride of its youth seem now to be totally despised, and superseded by a host of new-fangled refinements from continental neighbours, insomuch that if some of our old forefathers could come from their graves, and open the publications which generally lie on the tables of our reading-rooms, they would be some time in determining in what language they were written. Nor is this habit of borrowing terms confined to ourselves: sometimes, on the other hand, we lend some of our own to enrich the vocabulary of our neighbours. We understand, for example, that the French have of late adopted our word comfort, which (for obvious reasons) had no place in their nomenclature. On hearing of this fact, we were naturally led to ask ourselves what we had received in return; and the first words which occurred to us were, etiquette and ennui! If this instance may be considered as indicating the ordinary par of exchange between us, we fear we are not likely to gain much by our bargains. It is the object of this article to show that no necessity exists in our language for any such interpolations as we have alluded to, and we accordingly subjoin some instances furnished by Turner, in his History of the Anglo-Saxons, tending to show the strength and copiousness of the original English language, and the degree of its prevalence in dif ferent eras of our literature. The great proof of the copiousness and power of the Anglo-Saxon language may be had from considering our own English, which is principally Saxon. It may be interesting to show this by taking some lines of our principal authors, and marking in Italics the Saxon words they contain. SHAKSPEARE. To be or not to be, that is the question; Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer The stings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, And by opposing end them? To die, to sleep; No more! and by a sleep to say we end The heart-ach, and the thousand natural shocks The flesh is heir to! 'twere a consummation Devoutly to be wish'd. To die; to sleep; To sleep? perchance to dream! MILTON. With thee conversing I forget all time, All seasons, and their change; all please alike. Sweet is the breath of morn, her rising sweet, With charm of earliest birds; pleasant the sun When first on this delightful land he spreads His orient beams on herb, tree, fruit, and flower, Glistening with dew; fragrant the fertile earth COWLEY. Mark that swift arrow! how it cuts the air! Fool! 'tis thy life, and the fond archer thou. And they made ready the present against Joseph bread there. came at noon: for they heard that they should eat brought him the present which was in their hand into And when Joseph came home they the house, and bowed themselves to him to the earth. And he asked them of their welfare, and said, Is your father well, the old man of whom ye spake? Is he yet alive? And they answered, Thy servant our father is in good health, he is yet alive. And they bowed down their heads, and made obeisance. And he lift up his eyes, and saw his brother Benjamin, his mother's son, and said, Is this your younger brother, And he said, God be of whom ye spake unto me? gracious unto thee, my son. Gen. xliii. 25-29. Then when Mary was come where Jesus was, and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying unto him, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled. And said, Where have ye laid him? They said unto him, Lord, come and see. Jesus wept. Then said the Jews, Behold how he loved him! John xi. 32-36. THOMSON. Are but the varied God. The rolling year I was yesterday, about sun-set, walking in the open fields, till the night insensibly fell upon me. I at first amused myself with all the richness and parts of heaven. In proportion as they faded away variety of colours which appeared in the western and went out, several stars and planets appeared, one after another, till the whole firmament was in a glow. The blueness of the æther was exceedingly heightened and enlivened by the season of the year. comes by them? I know it is a received doctrine that men have native ideas, and original characters stamped upon their minds in their very first being. Locke's Essay, Book xi., c. 1. POPE. How happy is the blameless vestal's lot! Let Indians, and the gay, like Indians, fond SWIFT. 'Tis a Wisdom is a fox, who, after long hunting, will at last cost you the pains to dig out. 'Tis a cheese, which by how much the richer has the thicker, the homelier, and the coarser coat; and whereof, to a judicious palate, the maggots are the best. sack posset, wherein the deeper you go you will find it the sweeter. But then, lastly, 'tis a nut, which, unless you choose with judgment, may cost you a tooth, and pay you with nothing but a worm. ROBERTSON. This great emperor, in the plenitude of his power, and in possession of all the honors which can flatter the heart of man, took the extraordinary resolution to resign his kingdom; and to withdraw entirely from any concern in business or the affairs of this world, in order that he might spend the remainder of his days in retirement and solitude.-Dioclesian is, perhaps, the only prince, capable of holding the reins of government, who ever resigned them from deliberate choice, and who continued during many years to enjoy the tranquillity of retirement, without fetching one penitent sigh, or casting back one look of desire towards the power or dignity which he had abandoned. HUME. Charles V. air, combined to make her the most amiable of The beauties of her person, and graces of her women; and the charms of her address and conversation aided the impression which her lovely figure made on the heart af all beholders. Ambitious and active in her temper, yet inclined to cheerfulness and society; of a lofty spirit, constant and even vehement in her purpose, yet politic, gentle, and affable, in her demeanor, she seemed to partake only so much of the male virtues as to render her estimable, without relinquishing those soft graces which compose the proper ornament of her sex. GIBBON. In the second century of the Christian æra the empire of Rome comprehended the fairest part of the earth, and the most civilized portion of mankind. The frontiers of that extensive monarchy were guarded by ancient renown and disciplined valour. The gentle but powerful influence of laws and manners had gradually cemented the union of the provinces. Their peaceful inhabitants enjoyed and abused the advantages of wealth and luxury. The image of a free constitution was preserved | esce in the policy of this forbearance; and not with decent reverence. JOHNSON. Of genius, that power which constitutes a poet; that quality, without which judgment is cold and knowledge is inert; that energy which collects, combines, amplifies, and animates; the superiority must, with some hesitation, be allowed to Dryden. It is not to be inferred that of this poetical vigour Pope had only a little, because Dryden had more; for every other writer since Milton must give place to Pope; and even of Dryden it must be said, that if he has brighter paragraphs, he has not better poems. From the preceding instances we may form an idea of the power of the Saxon language; but by no means a just idea; for we must not conclude that the words which are not Saxon could not be supplied by Saxon words. On the contrary, Saxon terms might be substituted for almost all the words not marked as Saxon. TO THE EDITOR OF THE TOURIST. DEAR SIR,-The comparative silence of his Majesty's Government upon the great question of the Abolition of Slavery has evidently induced a deep solicitude on the part of many to know more of the present condition of the cause. To meet this wish, I have deemed it expedient to give a more extended publicity to an article which has already appeared in the Christian Advocate. Will you allow me to transfer to your columns such extracts from it as are most adapted to my purpose? I am yours faithfully, E. R. C. AN anxiety exists on the subject of emancipation which has never been equalled on any other subject of foreign policy. We wish that we could satisfy that anxiety. It is our duty to state all that we can, with propriety, publish; and, in saying this, we do not wish to affect a knowledge which we do not possess. We know much, confidentially, of the expect ations of those who are officially informed; but we frankly avow that we are not of that number; nor are there, as we believe, more than three, or at the most six individuals, out of the Cabinet, who have been entrusted with the secret. It is well known that it was intended to hold a public meeting of the Anti-Slavery Society, at Exeter Hall, on the 31st ultimo, and that this meeting was postponed, sine die. The object of the meeting was never very clearly defined: the objection to it was obvious. If ministers intend to propose "immediate emancipation," it was unnecessary: if they have no such intention, the public expression of the opinion of the Anti-Slavery body must, and will, be one of such unqualified reprobation, as could not be justified upon mere rumour of disappointment. It was also felt that the duty of "O'Connellizing" was over: an Anti-Slavery House has been returned by this means, and we must wait with patience to see its conduct before we condemn. Upon these, and similar grounds, the meeting was deferred. It was also understood to be the desire of government that no unnecessary display should be made of the Anti-Slavery strength. We fully acqui the less so, because we well know how irresisti- "But, after all, what is intended?" We Though we cannot even guess what will be done, we can state what are the expectations which we have formed, and upon which we are willing, for a time, for a short time only, to suspend our judgment. We expect, then, that emancipation, unqualified by any simultaneous, much less antecedent, plan of compensation, will be granted, to take place at the expiration of two, or, at the most, three years; that, in the interim, such a change will be effected in the colonial magistracy as will ensure the protection of the slaves from oppressive labour, or from removal from the estates on which they are at present domiciled; that the whip, or any coercive discipline, by private authority, will be forthwith abolished; that, during two days in every week, the slaves will be entitled to wages for their labour; that all separation of families by sale will be abolished; that free access to their habitations will be given, not only to protectors, but to all parties whatever, engaged on any reasonable errand; and, lastly, that full and free opportunity will be allowed for moral and religious instruction, without reference to sect or creed. This is not all we wish far from it; but it is all that we expect; and in this expectation we are quiet. But we reserve our claim FOR ALL. Our just demand is, immediate, entire emancipation. We will not condemn beforehand; we have agreed to wait, and we will wait; but, once again, we declare (and we are speaking in the name of the religious community), that, if disappointment now ensues, Earl Grey will hear, not the sweet tongues of ornate orators, addressed to silks and satins at Exeter Hall, but the voice of all England, DEMANDING, IN A TONE THAT WILL ENFORCE THE REQUEST, "Immediate Emancipation." TO THE EDITOR OF THE TOURIST. JUST a few words only, dear Mr. Editor, to thank you for the comfort you have afforded me about this drop of water. To find that yours is pond water is really quite a relief. It would have gone much against me to have taken my name off the book. Besides the evil of such an instance of backsliding, I confess to you, I should have felt much uneasiness at returning to the use of spirits, on account of the pain it would give to the Friend who induced me to become a member of the Temperance Society-to say nothing of the strength of the acquired taste, which is such that I really never even look at a fine sheet of water (like that in St. John's Street Road, called the New River Head) without a sense of satisfaction and delight. A friend of mine has just come down to Woodford, Mr. Editor, who has read to me a paper, of which I contrived to take a copy, and which I now send to you, in the hope that you will put it in The Tourist, so that thousands may see it. "Good English Gin!!! Old Jamaica Rum!!! Real Cognac Brandy!!! folly, rioting, evil company, midnight revelproduce on many persons, in their conduct, dishonest practices, slovenliness in person, ling, extravagance, inattention to business, &c. &c. &c.; in their circumstances, loss of credit, loss of friends, loss of business, loss of employment, loss of character. These are only a small part of the ill effects resulting from the use of Good English Gin!!! Old Jamaica Rum!!! Besides this, they deprive a man of his health, Real Cognac Brandy!!! his peace of mind, his domestic comfort, his money, his furniture, his bedding, his clothing. named which has produced so much evil and "There is nothing under the sun that can be misery, both for time and eternity, as Good English Gin!!! Old Jamaica Rum!!! beyond what I intended, but I do think that Feb. 2, 1833. Yours, OLD MARGERY. TRANSLATION FROM LUCRETIUS. Ŏ wretched mortals! race perverse and blind! |