244 TiMEHRI. 



their birth. History and tradition they had none; their 

 folk-lore was rudimentary in the extreme, while patri- 

 otism, as we understand the term, the very conditions ot 

 their life precluded. Religion, such as they had, lacked 

 almost everything that ennobles its possessor ; grovel- 

 ling fatuity varied with inhuman cruelty were the 

 extremes of its gamut, and only as he rose and lived 

 above it did the African prove himself a man. 



Such were the blacks introduced to the West Indies, 

 and from such were developed our slaves. 



I do not sympathise with slavery even in its mildest 

 " domestic form" any more than the tenderest hearted 

 abolitionist, and yet I contend that the condition of the 

 average slave in the West Indies was far above that of 

 the average negro at home. Neither do I wish to waste 

 time defending or condoning the " horrid traffic;" I 

 merely desire to point out to the reasoning men and 

 women of England the futility of speaking of, legislating 

 for, and treating the blacks as upon all-fours with our- 

 selves. Privation, suffering and enjoyment are relative 

 terms, and before the woes or joys of a people can be 

 estimated their capacity to suffer or enjoy must be 

 ascertained. One of the frightful blots upon the slavery 

 system, and of which crying horrors were lavished upon 

 English ears in bygone days, was the power masters had of 

 separating husbands from their wives, and children from 

 their parents. Yet if side by side with these heart-rending 

 atrocities could have been placed our experience of con- 

 nubial fidelity and parental affe6lion in the race, two- 

 thirds of its horrors would have disappeared at once. 

 Had the slave been badly housed — though that charge as 

 far as I remember used not to be brought against the 



