401 



(according to the medical report) it was not such as 

 to authorise the sending the mistress to be tried at 

 the assizes. She was accordingly dismissed from 

 farther investigation* and the girl was once more 

 considered as belonging to me, as soon as the title 

 could be made out. But the fatality which had so 

 often prevented Nicholas from obtaining his free- 

 dom, was not weary yet. On the very morning, 

 when he was to sign the title, a person whose 

 signature was indispensable, was thrown out of his 

 chaise, the wheel of which passed over his head, 

 and he was rendered incapable of transacting busi- 

 ness for several weeks. Yesterday, the titles were 

 at length brought to me complete, and this morn- 

 ing put Nicholas in possession of the object, in 

 the pursuit of which he has experienced such re- 

 peated disappointments. The conduct of the poor 

 child's mulatto mistress in this case was most un- 

 pardonable, and is only one of numerous instances 

 of a similar description, which have been men- 

 tioned to me. Indeed, I have every reason to be- 

 lieve, that nothing can be uniformly more wretched, 

 than the life of the slaves of free people of colour 

 in Jamaica ; nor would any thing contribute more 

 to the relief of the black population, than the pro- 

 hibiting by law any mulatto to become the owner 

 of a slave for the future. Why should not rich peo~ 

 pie of colour be served by poor people of colour, 

 hiring them as domestics ? It seldom happens that 

 mulattoes are in possession of plantations ; but 



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