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I had shown them, and earnest entreaties that I 

 would come to visit them another time. Whether 

 my visit will have been productive of essential 

 service to them must remain a doubt ; the trustee 

 at least promised me most solemnly that my regu- 

 lations for their happiness and security should be 

 obeyed, and that the slave-laws (of which I had 

 detected beyond a doubt some very flagrant viola- 

 tions) should be carried into effect for the future 

 with the most scrupulous exactness. If he breaks 

 his promise, and I discover it, I have pledged my- 

 self most solemnly to remove him, however great 

 may be his merits as a planter ; if he contrives to 

 keep me in ignorance of his proceedings (which, 

 however, from the precautions which I have now 

 taken, I trust, will be no easy matter), and the 

 state of the negroes should continue after my de- 

 parture to be what it was before my arrival, then 

 I can only console myself with thinking, that the 

 guilt is his, not mine ; and that it is on his head 

 that the curse of the sufferers and the vengeance 

 of heaven will fall, not on my own. I have been 

 told that this estate of mine is one of the most 

 beautiful in the island. It may be so for anything 

 that I can tell of the matter. The badness of the 

 weather and the disquietude of my mind during 

 the whole of my short stay, made every thing look 

 gloomy and hideous ; and when I once found my- 

 self again beyond my own limits, I felt my spirits 

 lighter by a hundred weight. Of all the points 



