422 Sir George Murray and the Sectarians. OCT. 



since the last excitement in favour of the heathen. And this we do not 

 wonder at. In truth we rather wonder that any thing is done for the 

 temporal comfort of friends, where the doctrine, on which modern 

 missions chiefly rest, is believed. We refer to the doctrine that the 

 whole heathen world are on the brink of a bottomless and endless hell ; 

 that thousands every day, and millions every year, are sinking into this 

 abyss of torture and woe; and that nothing can save them but sending 

 them out religion ! We see not how they, who so believe, can give 

 their families or friends a single comfort, much less an ornament of 

 life. They must be strongly tempted, one would think, to stint them- 

 selves and their dependents to necessaries, and to cast their whole 

 remaining substance into the treasury of missionary societies." In the 

 eagerness of the negroes to contribute to the support of missionaries by 

 the purchase of " salvation" tickets a desire which has occasionally led 

 them even to commit theft when other means failed we can trace 

 strong indications of a similar doctrine having been impressed on their 

 minds. Yet, in the face of all these facts, Sir George Murray is said 

 to have affirmed, that it appeared to him " probable that the missionaries, 

 who had been viewed with so much jealousy at Jamaica, may be, in 

 some respects, more successful instruments in teaching the gospel 

 amongst a slave population, than even the ministers of the established 

 church, because," says he, " a little tincture of enthusiasm is necessary, 

 beyond that which would, perhaps, be proper, or desirable, in the 

 ministers of the established church ! ! !" 



Every person in the least acquainted with the state of parties in the 

 West Indies will, at once, perceive that a more unguarded opinion could 

 scarcely have come from the lips of a minister of the crown. Govern- 

 ment, for the purpose of instructing the negroes, has wisely chosen the 

 episcopal form, as being best calculated to secure order, uniformity, and 

 moderation, and, at the same time to afford full scope to the most ardent 

 arid well regulated zeal : but this declaration cannot, we fear, be viewed 

 in any other light than as a direct encouragement to the fanatic, and as 

 tending to paralyze the efforts of the discreet and sober-minded. We 

 are disposed to place every confidence in the good intentions of Sir 

 George Murray, but something more than good intentions are requisite 

 to the due discharge of the important duties of his station ; and we fear 

 that, in more instances than one, he has allowed his own judgment to be 

 biassed by a consideration for the opinions of persons inimical to the 

 colonists, and who are, perhaps, placed too near to him in office : need 

 we instance the late extraordinary proceedings in Tobago, an island, 

 which having gone greater lengths than most others in complying with 

 the wishes of the British Parliament in regard to slave amelioration, 

 might, on that account, have expected reasonable consideration, or at 

 least justice, from the Colonial-office ; but what have they received in 

 return for their dutiful and liberal compliances ? A South American 

 adventurer, who had been clerk to an Edinburgh writer (solicitor), 

 and who had not even received the legal education of a common 

 attorney, arrived at a particular moment, arid by his subserviency to a 

 former governor, had got himself appointed attorney-general. He was 

 suspended by the present governor, and charges of the most serious 

 nature, such as for taking fees from both sides, and other disgraceful 

 practices, were preferred against him. He came to England contrived 

 to gain the ear of certain persons about the Colonial-office, and without 

 any opportunity having been afforded to the authorities in Tobago for 



