368 HISTORY OF THE [book iv. 
land, and sold with it. The good effect of a simi¬ 
lar regulation in the system of ancient villanage has 
been pointed out and illustrated by a great many 
writers; and those persons who now oppose an ex¬ 
tension of the same benefit to the negroes in the 
West Indies, would do well to reflect, that, while 
they arraign the conduct of the resident planters 
towards their slaves, they are themselves abettors 
and supporters of the greatest of all the grievan¬ 
ces under which those unfortunate people continue 
to suffer.* 
* It is peculiarly gratifying to the Author of this work, that he hag 
the opportunity, in the present edition, to inform his readers, that in 
June 1797, he had the honour and happiness as a member of the Bri¬ 
tish parliament, to bring into the house of commons, and to succeed 
in carrying it into a law, a bill to repeal so much of the 5 Geo. II. 
c. 7. as relates to negroes in his majesty’s Plantations. 
