374- THE WEST INDIA QUESTION. 



overtook him, at a distance of thirty yards,, drew the trigger of his 

 rifle, and the unfortunate negro fell dead upon the spot. By a law 

 of South Carolina it is enacted that, in the event of the death of any 

 negro, averred to be accidental, by the hands of a white man, no 

 other white man being present, it shall then be lawful for the author 

 of the death of such negro, to make a deposition of the circumstances 

 before one or more magistrates, who, upon such statement, shall be 

 bound to determine that the case was one of justifiable homicide, and 

 no criminal proceedings can therefore be taken. Such statement had 

 been made by the defendant, who averred that the negro had turned, 

 and was approaching him in a menacing attitude, when he had been 

 induced to fire upon him in his own defence. It was contended by 

 the plaintiff in the present action, that the death of Solomon, if not 

 murderous and malicious, was wanton and unnecessary ; that the first 

 interference of Lord was needless and unprovoked ; that a man, armed 

 and on horseback, might have avoided the violence of the negro ; and, 

 that upon such grounds, the plaintiff was entitled to recover the value 

 of his slave, as of any other property wantonly destroyed. For the de- 

 fendant it was argued that, though he could certainly have fled upon 

 apprehending violence from the negro, it was yet contrary to all 

 good policy that a white man should be known to retreat before a 

 slave, and that the entire spirit of the laws of South Carolina went to 

 justify the deed. In his charge to the jury, the judge dwelt upon the 

 latitude allowed by the law in the attempts of white persons to appre- 

 hend stray negroes, and reasoning upon the necessity of a vigorous 

 execution of the slave regulations of the state, recommended the jury 

 to find a verdict in favour of the plaintiff for the value of the slave ;~ 

 thus, by implication, absolving Lord from any imputation of murder. 

 This case is a strong instance of the inutility of all legislation in- 

 tended to guarantee to the man, groaning in bondage, the possession 

 even of existence : barbarity is heaped upon barbarity ; whilst the 

 friends of humanity are deluded with the parade of nominal enact- 

 ments, for the gradual emancipation of the slave population. 



The darling argument of the advocates of the present system, is in 

 the pretended danger of emancipation, which, it is held, would instan- 

 taneously place in dreadful jeopardy the lives and fortunes of the 

 white population. How a redress of grievances, and the restoration 

 of his rights liberty and wages, should render the negro more re- 

 vengeful and dissatisfied, is not to be reconciled to the usual influences 

 of the conduct of mankind. In his present condition, without a hope 

 in the world over-toiled, despised, and subjected to every extremity 

 of nakedness, hunger, and the tortures of the whip, it is not unac- 

 countable that the torch of the incendiary should be his weapon of 

 revenge. Give him hope, liberty, self-interest, and the means of 

 securing to his children the accumulations of his toil ; and, from a 

 prowling incendiary, the negro will become a zealous and contented 

 labourer. 



The example of St. Domingo, and the alleged decline of com- 

 merce in that island, since the period of negro independence, are held 

 forth to alarm our ministers at the prospect of a cessation of exports, 

 and of revenue from our West India possessions. That the exports 

 of St. Domingo have decreased in recent years, is most true : but this 



