1830.] [ 521 ] 



THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, AND THE BRITISH WEST INDIES. 



IN giving some account of the state of society in Sierra Leone, and 

 in those other parts of Africa mentioned in official documents, or which 

 have recently been visited by European travellers, we, in former numbers, 

 endeavoured to submit, for the information of our readers, such extracts 

 from new publications and government papers as we hoped would in- 

 duce them to investigate and judge for themselves, rather than adopt, 

 upon slight examination, the decided opinions which we have formed upon 

 the important matters brought under their notice.* 



In following up this investigation, we are quite aware of the great dif- 

 ficulty by which the main point of the subject is surrounded ; and we 

 agree with our industrious countryman, Captain Hall, that " a person 

 quite unaccustomed to the actual presence of slavery is naturally very shy 

 of admitting any thing, even to himself, which shall look like approving 

 of the principle ; and it requires considerable time, and a knowledge of 

 many details, before he can be sure that he is doing the subject justice. 

 Ignorance is so apt to usurp the place of knowledge ', that, by a strange 

 perversity, fresh information often appears unnecessary, and is not un- 

 frequently resisted as intrusive." But these obstacles, instead of deterring 

 us from a proper examination of this very important matter, should rather 

 stimulate our exertions to ascertain and elucidate the real humanity of 

 the case. Having already endeavoured to explain the state of society 

 and slaves in Africa, we now propose to avail ourselves of the information 

 afforded in Captain Basil Hall's valuable and laborious work on the 

 United States, to show the extent and condition of slavery in that free 

 country. 



Let it not be supposed that we are advocates for perpetual slavery in 

 our own colonies, or elsewhere. We, on the contrary, are heartily de- 

 sirous of concurring in every measure likely to raise the mental and 

 physical powers of the negro, so as to fit him for the becoming enjoy- 

 ment of freedom in every part of the globe. We wish, in particular, to 

 see our own colonial labourers continue the advance, which they are 

 progressively making, in civilization and in habits of industry, until 

 they arrive at that point when they shall be capable of appreciating 

 and fulfilling the arduous duties of industrious freemen, without which 

 it must be evident that emancipation would be no benefit to them. It 

 is well known to every person acquainted with our West India colonies 

 that, besides considerable property, they have already attained a higher 

 degree of civilization, and the enjoyment of greater privileges and com- 

 forts, than their brethren in the foreign colonies, or even in the United 

 States ; and we earnestly recommend to every true friend of humanity 

 to consider the subject attentively, in all its bearings, before sanctioning, 

 even in appearance, the rash schemes of the anti-colonists (manifested 

 by their ignorant petitions to parliament, and other absurd representa- 

 tions), who, were they permitted to have their own way, would, by 

 premature and compulsory manumission, wantonly complete the ruin of 

 thousands of their countrymen, but, as in the cases of St. Domingo and 

 Mexico, plunge the negroes into that state of barbarism, from which, 

 under the present mild and humane colonial system, they are so gradually 

 emerging. 



* Vide " Our West India Colonies," " Sierra Leone," and " Ancient and Modern Systems 

 of Slavery," Monthly Magazines for February, March, and April last. 

 M.M. New Series. VoL.IX. No. 53. 3 X 



