532 The Colonists, [Nov. 



so she could not spit in his face) sent them to the secretary of state, and 

 indignantly appealed to him, whether, in a country like this, so flagi'ant 

 an offence against common decency ought not to be punished by the 

 law of the land ? That it might be, and that it ought to have been 

 punished, there can be no doubt ; but perhaps it w^as a more discreet 

 course to leave the lurking knave in the obscurity to which he was 

 born, and from which the grossest of his follies has not been able to 

 remove him. But such are the people — such are the counsels that the 

 Anti-Slavery Society patronises, and well are they worthy of each other. 

 It is not necessary to speculate upon the effect which such " cheap 

 clay" might produce among the Avorking classes of England ; but we 

 have no doubt that this Westminster proposition would produce as 

 much disgust and indignation among the negro-women of Jamaica, as 

 its former one did among the women of England. 



We have, however, done with the Caliban and his promoters, and we 

 return to the question upon which the existence of the Colonies depends, 

 namely, whether England will extend to them that just protection 

 against their numerous enemies, of which they stand in great need, and to 

 which their present importance and their past services entitle tliem. There 

 are two points, and two only, on which this question has to be considered : 

 the first is the political importance of these colonies to the empire ; the 

 second, the moral obligation, if there be any such, of putting an end to 

 the system by which the Colonies have been established. The first 

 includes the value of the Colonies to Great Britain in peace and in war 

 — the great wealth of which they have been the sources, and of which, 

 in spite of free trade, and short-sighted new-fangled schemes, and 

 every other kind of mismanagement, they will continue to be the sources 

 — and the power with whicii they have armed this country to repel her 

 distant enemies, and to strike rapid and effectual blows against those who 

 would have assailed her peace and prosperity. The second is a question of 

 no less moment than delicacy ; for, whatever be the advantages which 

 shall be proved to have been derived by this country from her Colonies, 

 we shall not be found amongst those who would deny that they must 

 unhesitatingly be sacrificed, if the retention of them be found incom- 

 j)atible with the principles of moral justice, or inconsistent with that 

 Christian religion which has been said, not less truly than emphatically, 

 to be part and parcel of the constitution of this country. 



To estimate the political importance of her colonies to this country, 

 let us look to the experience of the past half century — to go further 

 back, would strengthen the position for which we contend — and see 

 what is the picture the events of those years present — what is the 

 demonsti'ative proof they afford. The shipping interests of the country 

 have been improved tC' a degree as much beyond all former precedent in 

 this country, as it surpasses that of every other. The Britisli navy has 

 not only been kept up, in a force which bids defiance to all rivalry, 

 but a constant supply has been at all times furnished by the crews 

 employed in the colonial trade, than whom, abler or braver seamen 

 never sailed. The manufactures of Great Britain, have been carried to 

 markets, which, but for the facilities the colonial trade afforded, they 

 never could have reached ; have been sold under circumstances in the 

 highest degree advantageous, and in return a great influx of wealth has 

 fouiid its way into this country, which with all its distresses, and in spite 

 of mismanagement — in spite even of the free-trade vag-aries of modern 

 politicians — makes it the most opulent country imder the sun. And 



