Letters on the West India Question. [DEC. 



at least I am prepared to say, that, as long as the representatives of the people 

 loathe rapine, despise fraud, and abhor blood, they will not on one day pledge 

 themselves to the equitable consideration of the interests of a particular class 

 of private property, and on a future day maintain that the pledge was not bind- 

 ing, inasmuch as, in that particular class of property, an equitable interest 

 could not exist. For, if they do thus fritter away the plain meaning of the 

 English language, they cannot ' despise fraud/ and who knows but that 

 rapine and blood may be the result of such glaring tergiversation ?" 



We have quoted freely from this pamphlet, which is written in 

 the bold and manly language of truth ; and we repeat, nearly in the 

 words of Mr. Horton, that unless all persons taking an interest in 

 the agitation of this question of Abolition, take pains to inform them- 

 selves of its real merits, they may be guilty of the greatest, and most 

 unpardonable injustice ! 



The Rev. Dr. Duncan, minister of Ruthwell, a distinguished mem- 

 ber of the Church of Scotland, the originator and promoter of parish 

 banks and other benevolent institutions for the benefit of the indus- 

 trious poor, has also directed his attention to this momentous subject. 

 In a series of letters, addressed to the late Colonial Secretary, he has 

 clearly pointed out, that slavery is not prohibited by express Christian 

 precept ; that our slaves are not yet arrived at that period when eman- 

 cipation would be a benefit to them, although he demonstrates that a 

 progressive improvement has, and is daily taking place, and that the 

 period is advancing, when emancipation will become the interest of 

 the planters. On this last part of the subject, we confess that we 

 are sceptical, unless the question be conjoined with that of compen- 

 sation. He points out in the true spirit of a Christian pastor, the duty 

 of the government and of the public at home, the duty of the West 

 India proprietors, and concludes with some excellent observations on 

 the people of colour their condition and the means of its improvement 

 --the extent and consequences of the foreign Slave Trade, and, finally, 

 with a view to that gradual amelioration, which must precede the 

 emancipation of the slaves, he points out the necessity of reducing 

 taxes on West Indian produce. 



" Meetings," says the Reverend Doctor, " have been held, and petitions 

 have been prepared, against slavery as it exists in our colonies ; and these 

 are, doubtless, only a prelude to steps of a similar nature in other parts of the 

 United Kingdom; while publications have issued from the press, intended, by 

 exciting the public indignation against the colonists, and by depreciating the 

 value of the colonies, to hurry on a crisis, which, if premature, it is impos- 

 sible for any sober-thinking and impartial man to contemplate without alarm. 

 Every one sees the absurdity of sending the negroes back to Africa ; and it 

 will, I think, require no great effort of reasoning to shew, that immediate 

 manumission, in any shape, could not fail to be a curse instead of a blessing 

 that it would add injury to injury, and would crown all, by preparing, for a 

 whole people, inevitable ruin, under the insidious and insulting name of a 

 boon." 



If there were any direct precept in the word of God declaring slavery 

 unlawful, this would be decisive of the question. But the Mosaic Law 

 " not only permitted, but sanctioned by express statute, the holding of 

 heathen slaves ; and, what is more, allowed the temporary bondage, 

 and by consent of the party a consent rendered irrevocable by certain 

 public forms even the perpetual slavery of individuals among the 

 chosen people themselves ;" and what is of much greater consequence 



