Agricultural Societies. 261 
Domburg ; Hugh Rogers, of Clonbrook, &c. ; M. J. Retemeyer, of Little 
Diamond ; Geo. Rainy, of Leonora, &c. ; Alex. Simpson, of Mon- 
trose, &c. ; Colin Simson, Representative of Sans Souci, &c. ; Thomas 
Teschemaker, of Amersfoot, &c. ; J. Van Waterschoodt, of Plaisance ; 
George Warren, of Farm, &c. ; Alexander Wishart, of Aberdeen. 
The inaugural dinner took place as had been arranged, 
on the 29th June, 1833, the day on which, it may be noted, 
the new Governor, Sir James Carmichael Smyth, held 
his first levee. It was early in Sir James Carmichael 
SMYTH'S administration that the institution of slavery 
received its first blow, and the first duty which the young 
society was called upon to perform was in connection 
with the great measure which had been heralded. On the 
1 8th July, His Excellency directed to be published in the 
Royal Gazette (there was no Official Gazette until some 
nine or ten years later) a despatch which had been re- 
ceived from the Right Hon. E. G. Stanley, Secretary 
of State for the Colonies, together with a copy of the 
'•' Resolutions for the Abolition of Colonial Slavery, agreed 
to by the House of Commons, June 12th, 1833." In a 
notice also published by way of preface to the foregoing 
momentous documents, Mr. T. G. Hammill, a6ting 
Government Secretary, said : — 
" In thus frankly and openly communicating to the inhabitants, with- 
out reserve, not only the whole of the details of the proposed changes 
respecting the slaves, which have been determined upon by His Ma- 
jesty's Ministers, but also the arrangements contemplated for carrying 
these measures into execution, the Lieutenant Governor has been 
influenced by two motives — In the first place, His Excellency is anxious 
to prevent the circulation of all garbled extracts (which might be trans- 
mitted here from other colonies) and which could only produce unneces- 
sary excitement and alarm : and because in the second place, he is con- 
fident that the liberal and prudent measures as advocated and proposed 
by His Majesty's Ministers will, when once distinctly understood, be 
duly appreciated by the generality of the inhabitants of British Guiana ; 
