114 WANDERINGS IN 



SECOND an( ] fifty-six guilders ; the public expenditure, four 



JOURNEY. * 1.1111 



hundred and fifty-one thousand six hundred and 



three guilders. 



slavery. Slavery can never be defended ; he whose heart 

 is not of iron can never wish to be able to defend 

 it : while he heaves a sigh for the poor negro in 

 captivity, he wishes from his soul that the traffic 

 had been stifled in its birth ; but, unfortunately, 

 the governments of Europe nourished it, and now 

 that they are exerting themselves to do away the 

 evil, and ensure liberty to the sons of Africa, the 

 situation of the plantation slaves is depicted as 

 truly deplorable, and their condition wretched. 

 It is not so. A Briton's heart, proverbially kind 

 and generous, is not changed by climate, or its 

 streams of compassion dried up by the scorching 

 heat of a Demerara sun ; he cheers his negroes in 

 labour, comforts them in sickness, is kind to them 

 in old age, and never forgets that they are his 

 fellow-creatures. 



Instances of cruelty and depravity certainly 

 occur here as well as all the world over ; but -the 

 edicts of the colonial government are well calcu- 

 lated to prevent them; and the British planter, 

 except here and there one, feels for the wrongs 

 done to a poor ill-treated slave, and shows that 

 his heart grieves for him by causing immediate 

 redress, and preventing a repetition. 



Long may ye flourish, peaceful and liberal in- 

 habitants of Demerara. Your doors are ever open 



