112] ANNUAL REGISTER, 1818. 



fchain," and if any master thought 

 that his slave had oft'ended, he 

 had a right to send him to that 

 punishment. Men, boys, and 

 even girls of the most tender age, 

 had been subjected to this mode 

 of torture ; and the governor 

 found that he could not interfere. 

 Willing to alleviate the sufferings 

 of these wretched people, he 

 consulted the attorney-general, 

 tt^ho gave an opinion that he had 

 no right to remit the punishment 

 awarded by the master. From a 

 work which he then held in his 

 hand, the cruelties inflicted by 

 this kind of punishment were 

 described as follows. " The slave 

 who has been found guilty of any 

 misdemeanor shall be put into 

 the workhouse, where his labours 

 are much harder than in the usual 

 course of employment ; he is 

 employed to dig, and to perform 

 other difficult duties, with a chain 

 fixedabouthis body, and attached 

 to other culprits, leaving him 

 merely room to walk, whilst he is 

 driven on to work by cattle whips, 

 and other modes of castigation.'' 

 In this view of the case, it was 

 important to observe, that the 

 king has the power of mitigating 

 all sentences of punishment in 

 this country, except those which 

 are founded on an impeachment 

 by the Commons ; but in the 

 island ofDominica the prerogative 

 is limited by the power of the 

 masters. The only effective 

 remedy, in his opinion, would be 

 that recommended by Mr. Burke 

 to Mr. Dundas, and published in 

 his posthumous works, which was 

 to constitute the attorney-general 

 ih every island guardian of the 

 slaves, and to make it an essential 

 part of his duty to interpose 



between the master and the slave 

 when there should be a necessit;, . 



Another thingwhich he thought 

 liis duty to mention was, the 

 legislation of this country for the 

 colonies. It had been said, that 

 this country had not properly th,- 

 power of legislating for her colo- 

 nies. It was needless for him to 

 state that it had been already 

 done in numerous instances. 

 Taking the matter into serious 

 consideration, no man could for a 

 moment imagine that the consti- 

 tution could immediately apply 

 to any of these colonies. The 

 constitution should be taken in 

 every part ; it should be taken as 

 a whole. The moment an indi- 

 vidual set his foot upon the 

 British shore, he became as free 

 as any other individual ; but 

 M'hat could be more inconsistent 

 than the conduct of those who 

 talked of establishing that prin- 

 ciple in the West India islands ? 

 The constitution would be then 

 reversed and destroyed. What 

 was recommended would be, 

 under the auspices of British 

 liberty, rendering slavery worse 

 than under the most arbitrary 

 government. 



The laws passed in Dominica 

 no long time since, for the pur- 

 pose of encouraging the manu- 

 mission of slaves, had not been 

 attended to. A slave born on 

 the island was obliged to pay 16/. 

 10^. for his manumission, and 

 those not born on it were obliged 

 to pay 35/. The law by which 

 this was enacted was passed in 

 June 1810. It stated, that " No 

 person of colour, covning from 

 another island or colony, is en- 

 titled to his freedom, unless he 

 produce a certificate, and pay a 



certain 



