THE WEST INDIES. 9 



Bishop's Palace, he received a lesson which he never forgot. 

 In the slavery question he was also trained to take a lively- 

 interest ; but his views on the subject of emancipation 

 were somewhat modified by a few months' stay in the 

 West Indies, during the year 1833, as the companion of 

 Mr, Estlin, whose health required a sojourn in a warm 

 climate. 



It was his first long separation from his family, and the 

 closely written sheets which he sent back to England, bore 

 witness to the strength of the feeling to which he had felt 

 unable at parting to give expression. On his first Sunday 

 on board ship, his thoughts go out with longing to the dear 

 circle singing their evening hymn in the library, perhaps 

 (in remembrance of him) to one of his favourite tunes ; his 

 minute observations on sky and sea, and on the beautiful 

 landscapes of St. Vincent, are all illustrated by familiar 

 comparisons with objects nearer home. The estate on 

 which he resided was remarkably well managed, and he 

 was greatly struck with the physical comfort of the slaves, 

 contrasted with their total want of mental and moral 

 culture. This degradation of character filled him with far 

 greater horror than the loss of personal liberty. 



What I have hitherto seen does not in the least diminish, 

 hut rather increases, my aversion to slavery ; but the causes of 

 it are certainly altered, and I am led to make more allowance 

 for the planters, when I sec more plainly the difficulties by which 

 they are surrounded. 



To this experience he frequently recurred in after-life 

 when he was tempted himself, or saw others tempted, to a 

 sternness of judgment which wider knowledge might have 

 modified : " We should learn," he said, " to be tolerant of 

 "others' intolerance." On his return in the summer, the 

 record of his observations was communicated by his father 

 to one of his Parliamentary friends, who was so much struck 



