PRELIMINARY ESSAY. 



63 



condition, and social degradation of the population 

 of Jamaica. It is from a speech delivered by the 

 Rev. Dr. King, of Glasgow, Scotland, at a large 

 meeting in Kingston, Jamaica, the very scene of his 

 eloquent and vivid description, where every one of 

 his hearers could have contradicted his statements, 

 had they not been in accordance with the facts. 

 They were not contradicted, but were reported by 

 David Turnbull Esq., one of the British champions 

 of the movement for negro emancipation, and 

 printed in London. 



" Allusion has been made to the distressed condi- 

 tion of Jamaica, and I am sure that its distress has 

 not been exaggerated. You inhabit a beautiful 

 island. Its climate is so good, that when its advan- 

 tages for health shall be better known, I think your 

 colony must come to replace Madeira in British esti- 

 mation, as a desirable retreat for consumptively dis- 

 posed patients. Your soil is confessed to be gener- 

 ally excellent. The weeds of your public roads are 

 the ornamental plants of our green-houses and hot- 

 houses. Your very wilds are orchards. The grand- 

 eur of your mountains is qualified only by the soft 

 charms of their vegetation, and the bounty of nature 

 has transformed your rocky cliffs into hanging-gar- 

 dens. 



