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LORD CRAWFURD AND LINDSAY'S

SLAVES.

It is pretty generally known that a case of much apparent difficulty, and of much interest to the friends of emancipation, has lately arisen in the Court of Chancery, in connexion with the will of the late Lord Crawfurd and Lindsay. We think the public notices of this affair indicate, and are likely to propagate, a misapprehension of its facts; and we there fore propose to state the case, according to information we have received from a gentleman who has resided for twenty-eight years in the island of Antigua, and is intimately acquainted with the history of this estate during that period. It will create some surprise to state, that Lord Crawfurd and Lindsay never possessed any land in the island, but that he leased a plantation from Clement Tudway, Esq., and purchased slaves to cultivate it.The disposition of this property, contemplated by his Lordship, may be learned from the following extracts from his will, which have been put into our hands. It bears date 31st July,

1816.

Edward Sugden has to say: "From the de-
preciation of West India property, and other
causes, the whole sum applicable to this pur-
pose (the benefit of the slaves), at the present
moment, was £750, and the trustees were
anxious to know what course they were to
pursue!" We could confidently have sworn
to this, as the genuine production of Sir Ed-
ward Sugden; so redolent is it of the learned
gentleman's character. Let us now turn to
the eclaircissement contained in the Lord Chan-
cellor's judgment; it is stated as follows, by
the Morning Herald :-

take themselves off, even if afterwards they should feel it necessary to return again to the same plantation."

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Let our readers only recollect, in connexion with these remarks, that there was no estate to which they had been attached, otherwise than casually, as a task-gang; and let them further imagine the powerful inducements which these poor creatures had to work for a man who was now withholding from them £2,500, earned by the sweat of their brow, or, rather, by their blood; and they will be in no danger of being misled by these or any other statements from the same quarter. "Every proposition," says he, "has been made that could be thought of to the slaves in this case but the idea of liberty so intoxicated them, that they would listen to no terms whatever." (We leave Sir Edward Sugden and Sir Bethell Codrington to compare notes as to the indifference of the slaves to liberty.-Tourist, p. 63.) "A melancholy proof how often it was, that the best and kindest intentions of individuals were lost on the subjects of them." We cannot imagine any thing more disgusting than this crocodile sensibility: this man's "tender mercies are cruel." Surely, if the Lord Chancellor, to whom this language was addressed, could refrain from manifesting his indignation, he must have as entire a command of his own feelings as he has of those of others.

"In the very outset of the observations which prefaced his decision, Lord Brougham very clearly showed, that the instructed statement of Counsel had not revealed the whole truth; for, although the fall in West India property might have had some effect in keeping down the amount of the accumulated fund, which was to be divided among the negroes on their manumission, yet that was not the principal cause. What was the principal cause of the present smallness of the fund will be best explained by the following words of his Lordship, who said he could not avoid ex"Whereas I took a certain part or parcel of pressing his regret that the conduct of the land in the island of Antigua, upon lease, person who had the management of the slaves from Clement Tudway, Esq. M. P., at the an- of Lord Crawfurd had not been more carefully nual rent of £600 sterling, which lease is to attended to. It appeared that this person had expire in the year 1819, I direct my execu- let out the labours of the slaves for a long petors to take another lease of the same land, of riod of time, and yet neglected altogether to obhis heir, for fourteen years; upon the expira- tain the price of their hire. It was, indeed, to tion of the new lease from the heir of the late be deeply regretted, that this person had not Clement Tudway, in the year 1833, to liberate been called to account, or that the executors of all my negro slaves, after they have been pro- the will had not striven to obtain justice against perly instructed in various trades, to make a just him for the benefit of the property. Had the use of their freedom, and after they have been labour been fairly accounted for, and the pro- "He said, he had at that moment lying treated with all the humanity that reason and ceeds recovered, according to the benevolent before him copies of two despatches transmitjustice will allow. If the land can neither be intentions of the testator, the Court would not ted by the Governor of Antigua to the Secrerented or purchased, but at a most extrava- now have been called on to interfere, as there tary of State for the colonies. In one of them gant price, I mean that my negroes should would not have been a question to dispute. it was stated that 200 negroes had been libebe kept at what is called task work, until the Thus the main difficulty in the case, which the rated in the year 1829. None of those slaves year 1833. All the rest and residue of my learned Counsel had dwelt on so much, arose were natives of the island, and yet nothing property whatsoever and wheresoever, I give not from the fall in West India produce, or could be more satisfactory than the accounts of one-half for the dispersion of the Bible through the perverseness of the slaves, but from the their conduct since they had been set free. The the world, in various languages, with the in- misconduct of the person under whose man-Governor observed, in his despatch, that they stitution and support of free schools and bene-agement those poor creatures had been placed. employed themselves with the most exemplary volent societies; and one-half to my poor ne- It appears that, owing to such misconduct, no industry in providing for their livelihood. The groes, to be divided among them, male and less than £2,500 was lost to the fund intended other despatch was not less satisfactory." female, share and share alike, in the year for the future maintenance of the negroes when 1833." manumitted; and, be it observed, that this £2,500 was part of the hard earnings of the negroes themselves.'

At his Lordship's death, in 1825, the estate reverted to the proprietor, and the slaves, in number 144, were let on a lease, which was to expire in 1833, by Mr. John Farr, agent to the executors of Lord Crawfurd, to Mr. William Burnthorn, proprietor of a plantation called Herberts. This arrangement now appeared to be lamentably ill-judged on the part of the testator: Burnthorn leased some waste lands in the vicinity of his own estate, for the purpose of employing the slaves. Being a task gang, as it is called, their own condition was worse than that of any other slaves in the island, having no home, and being merely provided with temporary huts, erected by their task-master. In addition to this, the latter, having no permanent proprietorship in them, of course found it his interest to extort as much labour from them as possible, during the term of his contract. The result is sufficiently apparent in a decrease of their numbers, at the rate of 9 per cent. (though the circumstance of eighteen infants being included in their present number proves their tendency to increase,) and in the fact, that of the remainder, twelve are disabled a number nearly double the general average of the island!

After this statement, let us hear what Sir

This, however, the learned Counsel "had abstained from stating, because it was almost unnecessary, and would not assist his Lordship's decision."

Our readers will be sufficiently prepared by this specimen of Sir Edward's ingenuity, for the following passage in his address:

"All the flattering prospects respecting the manumission of these slaves were utterly hopeless. Nothing could prevent these slaves from claiming their freedom, and they knew it. It had been proposed to lay out the fund to which they were entitled for their general benefit, by erecting huts for them, and apportioning to each small plots of land, if they would consent to remain together, and work on the estate; but they had all declared they meant to avail themselves of their liberty, to separate, and to remain no longer on the estate where they had heretofore been located. A letter from a respectable person on the island, well acquainted with the dispositions of the slaves, stated that it was quite unreasonable to suppose that any thing could induce the slaves on this estate to continue to work on it after next month-they would be sure to

We will close this article with some remarks, which fell from his Lordship, in giving judgment. As to the capacity of the negro for the safe and rational enjoyment of freedom, his Lordship set that question at rest, by a reference to the history of Antigua itself.

THE DYING IMPROVISATORE.
NEVER, oh! never more,
On thy Rome's purple heaven my eye shall dwell,
Or watch the bright waves melt along thy shore-
My Italy, farewell!

Alas! thy hills among,
Had I but left a memory of my name,
Of love and grief one deep, true, fervent song,
Unto immortal fame!

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THE TOURIST.

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 1833.

THE SAFETY OF IMMEDIATE EMAN-
CIPATION."
No. IV.

GUADALOUPE.

IN prosecution of the design of our former articles under this head, we extract the following account of the Island of Guadaloupe, from the Report of the late Committee of the House of Lords. It is supplied by T. F. Buxton, Esq., and stands supported by an ample body of documentary evidence, which our limits will not allow us to insert. It may be found by referring to the Report, from p. 924. We esteem the following statement more conclusive to our point than any thing we could offer, and shall, therefore, insert it without note or comment.

negroes to their former state of slavery. This attempt was resisted on the part of the negroes, and it was not till after a severe struggle, and dreadful slaughter, that they were again brought under the power of the cart-whip. The accounts from the island immediately preceding this event were most satisfactory. The reports of the commissioners of different cantons to the local government speak of the tranquillity which reigned in the agricultural districts, and on the plantations; and the government, on the other hand, in its circular addresses to the commissioners, dwell upon it most anxiously and sedulously, as an essential part of their duties, that, while they enforce order and regularity among the labouring classes, they should maintain their just rights, and secure to them the full measure of the remuneration to which they were entitled for their labours, punishing, with exemplary severity, proprietors who should be guilty of any failure in this respect, or of any other conduct towards the labourers which should be inconsistent with the claims of humanity and justice. The regulations by which the rights and privileges of the labourers were guarded were ordered, by the law, to be translated into the Creole dialect, to be posted up in conspicuous places, and to be read and explained once a month on every estate. We have beGuadaloupe, in common with all the colo- fore us a letter addressed by the Supreme nial possessions of France, partook of the con- Council of the colony, in February, 1802, to vulsions with which the revolution of 1792 so the Commissary Valluet of the Canton de violently agitated the mother country; and in Deshayes, to this effect:-"We have received, that colony the contests of the partisans of Citizen Commissary, your letter of the 6th inroyalism and democracy, and those of the stant, with the different returns relating to the white and coloured colonists, were carried on payment of their fourth to the cultivators. We with a fury which could not fail to excite the perceive, with pleasure, that you have devoted slaves, who from time to time were called in your attention to this most essential branch of to aid the contending parties. No insurrec- your administration. It is in exercising this tion, however, properly servile, followed; and justice towards the men whose sweat is the the slaves who were not converted into com- source both of our private and public wealth batants continued their usual labours. In that you can alone acquire a right to exert February, 1794, the French Convention passed your authority to enforce upon them the due a decree giving liberty to the slaves in all the performance of their duties. Continue, Citizen colonies of France. This decree was carried Commissary, to maintain that order in your into effect in Guadaloupe, under certain local canton which now reigns universally throughregulations called La Police Rurale, which out the colony. We shall have the satisfacwas administered, in the different districts of tion of having given an example which will the island, by commissioners appointed by the prove that all classes of people may live in government. By these regulations the labour-perfect harmony with each other under an ers were entitled to a fourth part of the pro- administration which secures justice to all duce of the estate which they were employed classes." in cultivating, independently of their food, which was wholly furnished from the estate. The only deductions to which this fourth part was liable, before it was divided in fixed proportions among the labourers, were the expences of a medical attendant and medicines, and of packages for their own share of the produce. All other expences of every kind, including taxes, were to be defrayed from the other three-fourths. The shares of labourers absenting themselves from labour were to be reduced in proportion to the length of their absence, and the sums thus deducted were to

be added to the shares of those who had laboured regularly. Under these regulations, agriculture appears to have flourished, after a vigorous government had repressed the furious intestine commotions among the different political parties of whites, and between the whites and the free people of colour; and in April, 1801, we have an enumeration of the plantations then under cultivation, amounting to 390 of sugar, 1,355 of coffee, and 328 of cotton, besides twenty-five pasture or grass farms. In the succeeding year, on the peace of Amiens, a powerful French force was sent to take possession of Guadaloupe, and to reduce the

in the legal possession of their personal liberty, to their former bondage, an object the attainment of which is said to have required the sacrifice of nearly 20,000 negro lives.

The result, unfortunate as it was, does not prove the unfitness of the slaves of Guadaloupe for the liberty that had been granted to them; and which, as we have seen, was granted under circumstances of public disturbance particularly unfavourable to their quiet enjoyment of its blessings. When all those circumstances are taken into the view of emancipation, it is impossible not to feel that the case of Guadaloupe is so far from justifying the anticipa tions of their opponents, that it furnishes an undeniable confirmation of the general proposition maintained by the abolitionists, that an act of emancipation by the supreme government in quiet and peaceful times, accompanied by such precautionary measures as would be obviously expedient, and not resisted, but acquiesced in, by the masters, might be carried into complete effect without the slightest danger to the public tranquillity, and with the most unquestionable advantage to the slaves themselves.

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THIS is an American species of the genus felis. It grows to the size of the wolf, or rather larger, and inhabits the hotter parts of South America. Its disposition and habits seem to have been somewhat misrepresented by some emiwho, it appears probable, confounded it nent naturalists, especially by Buffon, In the Moniteur of 19 Germinal, an 10, with the ocelot, a much smaller and less (April, 1802), there is inserted a communica- formidable animal. He describes it as tion from Guadaloupe, dated in the preceding destructive to other quadrupeds, but as February, stating that "all was perfectly tran- cowardly and flying at the approach of quil in that colony, and that, although there man. This, however, is only true of such existed some anxieties (anxieties which appear as have been observed near European to have been caused solely by the apprehen- colonies, where their natural ferocity has sions excited among the negroes by the news of the peace of Amiens, lest France should at- been somewhat modified. tempt to restore slavery in Guadaloupe), yet mentions many instances of the ferocious every thing promised the peaceable re-estab- courage of the jaguar; amongst others lishment of lawful authority" (meaning, doubt- the following:-An animal of this species less, the restoration of slavery and the cart- had seized a horse belonging to a farm in whip). "Cultivation," the writer adds, "has the province of Cumana, and dragged it never been discontinued; and although the last sugar-crop happened to be not very proof the dying horse," says Humboldt, "The groans ductive, yet there is now considerable produce in hand, and the next sugar-crop is likely to "awoke the slaves of the farm, who went be large." out armed with lances and cutlasses. The animal continued on its prey, awaited their approach with firmness, and fell only after a long and obstinate resistance. This fact, and a great many others, verified on the spot, prove that the great jaguar of Terra Firma, like the jaguaret of Paraguay, and the real tiger

In about two months from the date of this communication a powerful French force, under Richepanse, disembarked in Guadaloupe; and, in a short time, by the indiscriminate massacre of all who opposed his purpose, he reduced the whole body of the surviving negroes, whom the law of 1794 had emancipated, and who, during the intermediate eight years, had been

of Asia, does not flee from man when he is dared to close combat, and when he is not alarmed by the great number of his assailants. Naturalists are now agreed that Buffon was entirely mistaken with respect to the largest of the feline genus in America. What that celebrated writer says of the cowardly tigers of the New Continent relates to the small ocelots; and we shall shortly see that, on the Oronoko, the real jaguar of South America sometimes leaps into the water to attack the

Indians in their canoes."

This animal, like the tiger, of which it bears the most distinguishing features,

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plunges its head into the body of its white gloves, as a present from his pretended
victim, and sucks out the blood before it wife. At a subsequent visit he told her that
devours it. It generally lies in ambush his wife could discourse of nothing but the
kindness of those good people of the Tower;
near the side of rivers, and there is some-
and that she had long studied, and at last be
times seen a singular combat between it thought her, of a handsome way of requital.
and the crocodile. When the jaguara You have, quoth he, way of requital.
he, a pretty gentle-
comes to drink, the crocodile, ready to woman to your daughter, and I have a young
seize any animal that approaches, raises nephew, who hath two or three hundred a year
its head out of the water, upon which the
in land, and is at my disposal. If your
jaguar darts his talons into the eyes (the bring him here to see her, and we will endea
daughter be free, and you approve it, I will
only vulnerable part) of the reptile. The
vour to make it a match." This was readily
latter instantly dives to the bottom, drag- assented to by old Mr. Edwards, who invited
ging his enemy with him, where both the disguised ruffian to dine with him on that
generally perish together.
day; the invitation was willingly accepted,
and Blood, taking upon him to say grace, per-
formed it with great seeming devotion, con-
cluding his long-winded oration with a prayer
for the king, queen, and royal family.

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THE JEWEL APARTMENT, TOWER OF LONDON.

THE above represents the Tower in which have long been deposited the insignia of England. One of the most remarkable occurrences connected with this place is the attempt to steal the crown in the reign of Charles II. The following notices of that event are taken from Britton and Brayley's History of the Tower :

During the interregnum, the emoluments attached to the keeping of the regalia were enjoyed by Sir Henry Mildmay; but on his attainder, soon after the restoration of About three weeks prior to his attempt, Charles II., the office was conferred upon Sir Blood, a disbanded officer of the Protectorate, Gilbert Talbot; when, at the instance of the went to the Tower in the habit of a parson, Lord Chancellor Hyde, many of the perquisites" with a long cloak, cassock, and canonical were either abolished, or came into other hands. Notwithstanding those deductions, the pecuniary advantages, in the same reign, amounted to £1300 annually. Since that period, all the duties and perquisites attached to the custody of the regalia have been either abolished, or have merged into the office of the Lord Chamberlain.

Shortly after the appointment of Sir Gilbert Talbot, and in consequence of the above-mentioned reduction in the official perquisites, the regalia in the Tower was first allowed to be

creants said, "He is dead, I'll warrant him." Edwards, who had come a little to himself, heard his words, and, conceiving it best to be thought so, lay quietly.

The rich prize was now within the villains' grasp, and one of them, named Parrot, put the orb into his breeches; Blood held the crown under his cloak; and the third was proceeding to file the sceptre in two, in order that it might be put into a bag, because too long to carry, when their proceedings were interrupted by the unexpected arrival of a son of Mr. Edwards, from Flanders, who, having first spoken to the person who stood on the watch at the door, went up stairs to salute his relations. Seizing the opportunity, the ruffians instantly hasted away with the crown and orb, leaving the sceptre unfiled.

swim; that the cause of this resolution, in himself and others, was, his majesty's severity over the consciences of the godly, in suppressing the freedom of their religious assemblies; but that, when he had taken his stand among the reeds for that purpose, his heart was checked by an awe of majesty; which made him not only to relent himself, but likewise to divert his associates from their design.

generally find a luegi (as it is called) ready prepared-two stones standing up on end, with sufficient space between them to see through without being seen; there one of the hunters creeps, unperceived, without his gun, and, carefully observing every way with his spy-glass, directs his companions by signs.

The utmost circumspection and patience are requisite on the part of the hunter when apasso-proaching his game; a windward situation would infallibly betray him by the scent; he creeps on from one hiding rock to another, with his shirt over his clothes, and lies motionless in the snow, often for half an hour together, when the herd appears alarmed and near taking flight. Whenever he is near enough

When further questioned, as to those ciates, he replied, that he would never betray a friend's life, nor ever deny a guilt in defence of his own. At the same time he told the king, that he knew these confessions had laid him open to the utmost rigour of the law; but that there were hundreds of his friends, yet undiscovered, who were all bound, by the indispensable oaths of conspirators, to revenge each other's death upon those who should bring them to justice; which would expose his majesty, and all his ministers, to the daily fear and expectation of a massacre. But, on the other side, if his majesty would spare the lives of a few, he might oblige the hearts of many; who, as they had been seen to do daring mischief, would be as bold, if received into pardon and favour, to perform eminent services for the crown.

The old keeper now raised himself, and, freeing his mouth from the gag, cried, "Treason!-murder!" which being heard by his daughter, she rushed out of doors and reiterated the cry, with the addition, "The crown is stolen!" The alarm being thus given, young Edwards and Captain Beckman, his brother-in-law, pursued the robbers, who were advanced beyond the main guard [at the White Tower], and were hastening towards the draw-bridge. Here the Warder put him- After this examination, Blood and his acself in posture to stop them; but, on Blood complices were remanded to the Tower, there firing a pistol at him, he fell, although unhurt, to be kept as close prisoners; but, to the surand the thieves got safe to the little Ward-prise of the nation, they were all subsequently house Gate, where one Sill, who had been a soldier under Cromwell, stood sentinel; but he offering no opposition, they passed over the draw-bridge, and through the outward gate upon the wharf. Horses were stationed for them at St. Katharine's Gate, called the Iron Gate, and, as they ran that way, they raised the cry of "Stop the rogues!" by which device they proceeded, unopposed, until overtaken by Captain Beckman, at whose head Blood discharged his second pistol; but the captain avoided the shot by stooping down, and immediately seized the ruffian. The crown was still beneath his cloak; and, although every chance of escape was now over, he struggled vigorously to retain his prey; and, when it was wrested from him, said, "It was a gallant attempt, howsoever unsuccessful; for it was for

a crown!"

In this "robustious struggle" a large pearl, a fair diamond, and a number of smaller stones, were bulged from the crown; but both the former, and several of the latter, were subsequently picked up and restored; the ballas ruby, which had been broken off the sceptre, was found in Parrot's pocket, so that nothing of considerable value was eventually lost. Parrot (who had been a silk-dyer in Thames Street, and afterwards a lieutenant in the parliament's service) was stopped by a servant; and Hunt, Blood's son-in-law, who had been waiting with the horses, was soon afterwards seized, together with two others of the party.

The attempted robbery was immediately made known to the king, who commanded that the two persons first seized, and who had been lodged in the White Tower, should be examined in his own presence at Whitehall. This circumstance is supposed to have saved them from the gallows.

During his examination, Blood behaved with the most unblushing effrontery. He not only acknowledged having been the leader in an atrocious attempt upon the life of the Duke of Ormond (whom he had intended to hang at Tyburn), but also avowed that he had been engaged to kill his majesty himself, with a carbine, from among the reeds, by the Thames' side, above Battersea, where he often went to

pardoned and released. Blood himself had landed property granted to him, in Ireland, to the amount of £500 per annum; and was likewise admitted into all the privacy and intimacy of the court, in which he industriously employed his influence, and became a most successful solicitor in others' behalf; but many gentlemen courted his acquaintance as the Indians pray to the devils, that they may not hurt them.

CHAMOIS HUNTING.

CHAMOIS are very fearful, certainly not without sufficient cause; and their sense of smell and sight being most acute, it is extremely difficult to approach them within the range of a shot. They are sometimes hunted with dogs, but oftener without, as dogs drive them away to places where it is difficult to follow them. When a dog is used, he is to be led silently to the track, which he will never afterwards lose, the scent being very strong. The hunter, in the meantime, chooses a proper station to lay in wait for the game-some narrow pass through which its flight will most likely be directed.

More frequently the hunter follows his dog, with which he easily keeps pace by taking a straighter direction, but calls him back in about an hour, when he judges the chamois to be a good deal exhausted, and inclined to lie down to rest; it is then approached with less difficulty. An old male will frequently turn against the dog when pursued, and, while keeping him at bay, allows the hunter to approach very near.

Hunters, two or three in company, generally proceed without dogs. They carry a sharp hoe to cut steps in the ice, each his rifle, hooks to be fastened to his shoes, a mountain-stick with a piece of iron, and in his pouch a short spy-glass, barley cakes, cheese, and brandy made of gentian or cherries. Sleeping the first night at some of those upper chalets which are left open at all times, and always provided with a little dry wood for a fire, they reach their hunting-grounds at day-light. There, on some commanding situation, they

to distinguish the bending of the horns, that is, about the distance of 200 or 250 steps, he takes aim; but if, at the moment of raising his piece, the chamois should look towards him, he must remain perfectly still the least motion would put them to flight before he could fire, and he is too far to risk a shot otherwise than at rest. In taking aim, he endeavours to pick out the darkest coat, which is always the fattest animal; this darkness is only comparative, for the colour of the animal varies continually, between light bay in summer, and dark brown, or even black, in winter. Accustomed as the chamois are to frequent and loud detonations among the glaciers, they do not mind the report of the arms so much as the smell of gunpowder, or the sight of a man; there are instances of the hunter having time to load again, and fire a second time, after missing the first, if not seen. No one but a sportsman can understand the joy of him who, after so much toil, sees his prey fall; with shouts of savage triumph he springs to seize it, up to his knees in snow, dispatches the victim if he finds him not quite dead, and often swallows a draught of warm blood, deemed a specific against giddiness. He then guts the beast to lessen its weight, ties the feet together, and then proceeds down the mountain, much lighter for the additional load he carries. When the day is not too far spent, the hunters, hiding carefully their game, continue the chase. At home, the chamois is cut up, and the pieces salted or smoked; the skin is sold to make gloves or leathern breeches; and the horns are hung up as a trophy in the family. A middle-sized chamois weighs from fifty to seventy pounds, and, when in good case, yields as much as seven pounds of fat. Not unfrequently the best marksman is selected to lie in wait for the game, while his associates, leaving their rifles loaded by him, and acting the part of hounds, drive it towards the spot. Sometimes, when the passage is too narrow, a chamois, reduced to the last extremity, will rush headlong on the foe, whose only resource, to avoid the encounter, which, on the brink of precipices, must be fatal, is to lie down immediately, and let the frightened animal pass over him. There was once an instance of a herd of fourteen chamois which, being hard pressed, rushed down a precipice to certain death rather than be taken. It is wonderful to see them climb abrupt and naked rocks, and leap from one narrow cliff to another, the smallest projection serving them for a point of rest, upon which they alight, but only just to take another spring. Their agility made people believe formerly that they could support themselves by means of their hooked horns. They have been known to take leaps of twenty-five feet down hill, over fields of snow.

The leader of the herd is always an old female, never a male. She stands watching when the others lie down, and rests when they

sent, confine ourselves to the evidence of Mr. | tremely filthy, that was at Halfway Tree, near my
Wildman, the proprietor of three estates, and
own house; I had occasion to commit a negro
of 640 slaves, respecting the extent and nature there, and she was reported to me to be in so bad
of the punishments inflicted in Jamaica. The a state, I made a point of inspecting the gaol in
law referred to in his replies is still in force.
consequence, and found it in a most filthy state,
The clause respecting punishment was included inquisition; they were actually tortured there;
and the punishments were very little short of the
in the Act of 1831.
the mode of flogging was to put a rope round each
wrist, and a rope round each ancle, and then they
were what the sailors call bowsed out with a tackle
and pullies.

What do you conceive was the limitation of your power in Jamaica at the time, as to punishment of the slaves?—If I had stuck to the law, which is not usually the case, either one side or the other, I might have given them thirty-nine lashes with the whip; I punished him with a small cat made of string with six tails to it.

are up at feed; listening to every sound, and
anxiously looking around. She often ascends
a fragment of rock, or heap of drifted snow,
for a wide field of observation, making a sort
of gentle hissing noise when she suspects any
danger; but when the sound rises to a sharper
note, the whole troop flies at once, like the
wind, to some more remote and higher part of
the mountain. The death of this old leader
is generally fatal to the herd. Their fondness
for salt makes them frequent salt springs and
salt marshes, where hunters lie in wait for
them. The latter practise also a very odd
ruse de guerre. Having observed the chamois
are apt to approach cattle on the pastures, and
graze near them, a hunter will crawl on all
fours towards cattle, with salt spread on his
back, to attract the cattle, and is immediately
surrounded and hid by them so completely,
"That you understood to be the law at that time?
that he finds no difficulty in advancing very--Decidedly; I was the sole judge when a man
near the chamois, and taking a sure aim. At should be punished, and to what extent, provided
other times a hunter, when discovered, will it was not beyond that; that was the nominal
drive his stick into the snow, and place his punishment I was restricted to by law; but per-
hat on the top of it; then, creeping away, go sons do go far beyond the law constantly.
round another way, while the game remains
intent on the same object, which it still sees
in the same place.-From Simond's Switzer-
land.

REVIEW.

REPORT FROM THE SELECT COMMITTEE OF
THE HOUSE OF COMMONS ON THE EXTINC-
TION OF SLAVERY. London: Sherwood,
Gilbert, and Piper. 1833.

EVERY abolitionist in the kingdom should immediately obtain this volume. The multifarious and important information which it supplies establishes the general correctness of the view which anti-slavery writers have been accustomed to give of the immorality of the white, and the wretchedness of the black population of the West Indies. The safety of immediate emancipation, ray, more than this, the fearful convulsions which are hazarded by its delay, is also distinctly affirmed by numerous, intelligent, and disinterested observers. Accustomed as we have been to the examination of documents bearing on this question, we have never met with one which supplies so complete a vindication of our cause, or enables us so triumphantly to refute the unblushing falsehoods of our opponents. Let any person be thoroughly acquainted with this volume, and he need not fear the most subtle, talented, and unflinching of the colonial advocates.

The West Indians must bitterly repent their having so clamorously demanded the appointment of this Committee. They meant it for evil, but God has over-ruled it for good. Thus it frequently happens that the very means which vice employs for the accomplishment of its designs are rendered subservient to the interests of virtue. The reprint before us is published at a very cheap rate, and should be extensively and rapidly circulated. The evidence of Messrs. Taylor, Wildman, and Austin, in conjunction with that of the missionaries, Barry, Duncan, and Knibb, and of Admiral Fleming, will be found to supply a comprehensive, accurate, and heart-rending view of the state of the slave population. To this portion of the volume we would especially direct attention, though the colonial witnesses will be found, on a careful examination, to have materially served our cause.

We purpose extracting from the Report in successive numbers of our work; and, at pre

"As you were permitted with respect to law,
might you have given to the extent of thirty-nine
lashes altogether if any thing displeased you, or
1
must it have been for some legal offence ?-Just as

liked, for looking at me.

"Your understanding, and from your conversation with other gentlemen, you believe their understanding of the state of the law to be that, for looking at you, a man might be punished with thirty-nine lashes?-That I put as an extreme case; it was perfectly arbitrary; and, if a slave did any thing to offend his overseer or owner, he might do that.

"You understood that a man was not liable to be questioned for the exercise of punishment within those limits?-Certainly; he was answerable to no one."

Here is a commentary on the law of Jamaica, which, if read by the people of England, will harrow up their soul, and sting them, by the thought of the negro's wrong, to effect his speedy redemption.

One extract more, and we have done for the present. The following is from Mr. Wildman's evidence, and may serve to show us what the kindness is which the negroes are reported by the colonists to receive from their masters.

"Did you make any complaint of this state of the workhouse in St. Ann's ?-I did to the custos and to the parish generally.

"What was the result of that complaint?-The result was, that the system of the block and tackle was defended as being a humane practice, that it prevented their turning; but, when I went to examine the gaol, a negro was called to come and lie down, that I might see how it was done; a skin was put down on the gravel, he was laid upon the skin, and then this tackle was applied to him; and, though I was looking on, and several others at the time, a negro took hold of the rope to draw it up, the man gave a yell that quite made me start. "Was that from apprehension ?-From the actual pain."

APHORISMS.

As the rose-tree is composed of the sweetest flowers, and the sharpest thorns; as the heavens are sometimes fair and sometimes overcast, alternately tempestuous and serene: so is the life of man intermingled with hopes and fears, with joys and sorrows, with pleasures and with pains.-BURTON.

Friendship consists properly in mutual offices, and a generous strife in alternate acts of kindness; but he who does a kindness to an ungrateful person, sets his seal to a flint, and sows his seed upon the sand: upon the former he makes no impression, and from the latter he finds no production.-DR. SOUTH.

Advice, like snow, the softer it falls, the longer it dwells upon, and the deeper it sinks into the

heart.-COLERIDGE.

The ideas as well as children of our youth "What are the punishments in use in the island often die before us; and our minds represent to of Jamaica now?They are very cruel ones. us those tombs to which we are approaching, "Will you state what they are?-The general where, though the brass and marble remain, yet system of flogging is to give them a certain number the inscriptions are effaced by time, and the of stripes with a long whip, which inflict a dread-imagery moulders away. The pictures drawn in ful laceration or a dreadful contusion; and then our minds are laid on in fading colours, and, if not sometimes refreshed, vanish and disappear.LOCKE.

they follow up that by a very severe flogging with
ebony switches, the ebony being a very strong wiry
plant, with small leaves like a myrtle-leaf, and
under every leaf a very sharp tough thorn, and
then, after that, they rub them with brine.

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In what part have you known that practised? -I can speak of it as having been practised in every part of the island.

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To your own knowledge?-I never saw it done; I could not have borne it; but I have seen the slaves who have complained of its having been done, and shown me their persons; and my own strike them a number of times with one, and then people have complained most woefully of it; they them in the bilboes in the most unmerciful manthrow that away and take another; also they punish

ner.

"That is a species of stocks?—Yes; there is an iron champ goes round the foot, and it is put into a bar, so that they may have ten or a dozen on the same bar; they let them out for their work, and put them in again when that is over, and keep them for three weeks together.

"Can they recline at night?-Yes, they do iron bar is along the bottom of it, when the foot is recline; the bench is an inclined plane, and the clamped on upon the iron bar, and the negro lies back; the punishments in the workhouse also are

dreadful.

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amusement of the soul when she is disencumbered Dreams may be said to be the relaxation and of her machine; her sports and recreations when she has laid her charge asleep.-ADDISON.

The shortest way to be rich is not by enlarging our estate, but by contracting our desires.

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