would not have quietly resumed their labours as they had always been accustomed to do when those holidays had expired.

This interference with the usual holidays indicated so much of utter insanity on the part of the planters that Lord Goderich refuses to credit the possibility of such a circumstance, and, in the absence of any direct reference to it by Lord Belmore, he calls for further proof. And yet the evidence stated by us in our former number (No. 94, pp. 99-103) seems, in the absence of better information, to be almost irrefragable. Lord Goderich indeed states that he had been able to discover only two overt acts of violence indicating a rebellious spirit before the Christmas holidays. But he goes on to observe :—

"Your Lordship will find, on reference to my despatch of 16th June last, a remark upon the Slave Act of the preceding February, which I shall here transcribe: The former statute declares that, for the future, all slaves in the island shall be allowed the usual seasons of Christmas, Easter, and Whitsuntide. It is now enacted that they shall be allowed the usual holidays of Christmas and Easter. Thus the three annual holidays are reduced to two, and the slave is deprived of the security formerly given to him that he should enjoy the usual number of such days.'

"When writing this passage, I was strongly impressed with the importance and danger of such an innovation, knowing that the value of a holiday could not be correctly estimated, except by endeavouring to enter into the feelings of those who were to enjoy or to lose it, and believing that the slaves would attach to this very ancient privilege an importance which, to persons in a very different condition of life, might easily appear exaggerated.

"In the year 1831 the 25th of December was a Sunday, and, that being a day privileged on other grounds, the slaves, as appears from Mr. Annand's statement, conceived themselves entitled to the three following days-a pretension very reasonable in itself, and to which it appears Mr. Annand consented, on condition that the gang should first turn out. Ile says that, before the demand was made, he had ordered them to turn out to work. On referring to the despatch of the Custos of Trelawny of the 28th of December (the Wednesday already mentioned) I find the following passage:- I believe nine-tenths of the whole slave population have this morning refused to turn out to work.' The refusal, of course, presupposes the demand; and it must be inferred, from the expressions employed by the Custos, that the demand was addressed to at least nine-tenths of the population. That the words of the new law might be urged in defence of this innovation I do not deny; but the impolicy of innovating upon such a subject is but the more strongly impressed on my mind by that circumstance. What effect this attempted abridgment of the usual relaxation of Christmas may have had, or whether it contributed at all to the subsequent revolt, are conclusions which, in my present state of information, I do not feel myself warranted to draw. It is, however, most important that your Lordship's attention should be directed to the subject, in order that a ground of discontent so easily removed may no longer be permitted to exasperate the slaves. The season of Whitsuntide is not very remote, and I greatly dread the effect which may be produced on the minds of the Negroes when they shall, for the first time, experience the loss of that holiday."

Now it is perfectly plain that the "refusal" of the slaves to turn out on this holiday, as we have proved (No. 94, p. 101), was regarded by the planters as "actual rebellion:" and, in order to quell it, unsparing military execution was at once resorted to. The head and front of their offending in the first instance, therefore, appears to be that, having been ordered to turn out into the field on the Wednesday

:

morning, they did not do so, conceiving the order to be unwarranted; and had the matter been passed over, as it ought to have been, there, in all probability, the disobedience would have terminated they would have had the day they reasonably claimed, and, on the succeeding day, to which they made no claim, they would probably have been found quietly at their work, as at other times, and in other parishes. But, in the mean time, the attack and the massacre had commenced. The slaves, terrified, fled to the woods. And what else could they do? Flight seemed their only means of safety from indiscriminate slaughter; but this very flight was made an aggravation of their crime. They were first causelessly treated as rebels, for refusing to comply with what they deemed an illegal demand; and then the attempt to escape summary execution as rebels, by quitting the plantation, was regarded as proving them rebels. They were first assumed to be so, and the flight which followed the attack on them as such is adduced as proof of the assumption.

It is difficult for men unacquainted with the peculiar structure of society in a slave colony to conceive what the effect would be of letting loose a body of armed planters on an unarmed black population which has dared to indicate, by common consent, any hesitation to obey the master's will, or to assume an attitude of resistance to it, however passive. Their rage and resentment would know no bounds; and it is impossible to estimate the atrocities which these might tend to produce. Nor will any one who knows what human nature is be surprised that the terror, and dismay, and suffering of the slaves, caused by such atrocities, should excite, in the minds at least of many of them, feelings of exasperation and revenge, sharpened by all they already knew of the wishes of the Government towards them, and of the contumacious and rebellous resistance of the planters to those wishes. Hence, without arms, or other means of annoyance or defence, they would naturally and almost necessarily resort, as their sole weapon of retaliation, to nocturnal conflagration (for from blood they seem to have shrunk), every act of which would serve to inflame still more the fury and vengeance of the dominant party. What could be expected under such circumstances, but the scenes of slaughter and of desolation which have marked this unhappy movement? Fear is the most cruel of all passions; and blind terror, on the part of both planter and slave, was here in full and destructive operation.

Let it be remembered, too, that our only details of these transactions are from the planters. But every part even of these details manifests that contempt of Negro rights and feelings, and that indifference to Negro life, which Negro Slavery always does and always must generate in the breasts of those who administer it. Its corrupting influence is there awfully and characteristically exhibited, and extends not only to the slaves themselves, but to all who dare to indicate any sympathy in their sufferings.

We could exemplify this position by innumerable extracts from the journals of Jamaica during the first three months of the present year, but we forbear. In the mean time we greatly desiderate lists of the killed and wounded on both sides.

Some of the concluding paragraphs in the despatch are particu

larly deserving of the attention of the public. We quote them with much satisfaction.

"I am aware that to persevere in the measures announced in my despatch of the 10th December, at the present moment, may possibly be described as pregnant with imminent danger. I still, however, think that his Majesty's Government could not desist from urging the proposed measures of relief, and that the Colonial Legislature could not reject that proposal without incurring another danger, at least as imminent. Throughout this protracted controversy the voice of dispassionate reason has, unhappily, been seldom heard or heeded amidst the violent invectives with which the contending parties have mutually assailed each other. It is at once my duty and my earnest desire to inculcate on all parties a spirit of moderation and mutual forbearance, and to warn them of the inevitable calamities which must follow if interests so momentous shall continue to be made the sport of angry passions. In considering the situation of the gentlemen with whom the legislative authority in Jamaica resides, I cannot forget the difficulties with which they have to contend, nor employ any other language than that of conciliation and respect; yet I would wish, with the utmost earnestness, to impress upon them that they cannot safely overlook the state of society and of public opinion throughout the civilised world, and especially in this kingdom. Were they resident here they would need no assurance of mine to convince them that the views of his Majesty's Government on the subject of Negro Slavery are in harmony with those of Parliament and the nation at large, and that, during a discussion of nine years' continuance, men of all ranks have been progressively acquiring a more uniform and firm conviction of the soundness of those views. It were a fatal mistake to suppose that the voice of the country at large on this subject is nothing more than the transient clamour of a small but importunate party; yet it is an error into which, at such a distance, the local Legislature may not improbably fall.

"To claims unjust and unreasonable in themselves it is doubtless the duty of Government to oppose a stedfast resistance. Even the most moderate and reasonable demands, when enforced by open violence and insurrection, must be resisted, until the dominion of the law has been vindicated and established; but, that indispensable duty being performed, it remains that what is reasonably demanded should be conceded with frankness. The present calamity might prove to be but the precursor of disasters still more lamentable, should it fail to convince the local Legislature that the time for concession has fully come, and that the opportunity of conceding with dignity and safety may, ere long, be irretrievably lost. Under the influence of erroneous opinions, and of a passing excitement, the slaves may have indeed advanced claims which it is impossible to admit; but neither the extravagance with which some hopes may have been indulged, nor the violence with which some designs may have been expressed, can afford any just answer to the more sober and moderate claims which are made on their behalf, and to which, with the aid of better information, they will probably reduce their demands.

"His Majesty, therefore, cannot revoke the instructions which your Lordship will have already received on the subject of Negro Slavery. If, however, the events which have formed the subject of this despatch should have compelled you to suspend the execution of the orders you have received, you have his permission to continue that suspension until the restoration of general tranquillity; but you will take the earliest occasion, after internal peace shall have been re-established, for again directing the attention of the Council and the Assembly to the subject."

We need hardly say that the despatch of Lord Goderich throws utter discredit on the unfounded suspicions of a participation, on the part of the missionaries, in any measure for aiding or fomenting this disturbance.

London: Printed by S. Bagster, Jun., 14, Bartholomew Close.

THE

ANTI-SLAVERY REPORTER.

No. 100.]

SEPTEMBER 1, 1832.

[Vol. v. No. 11. A DETAILED VIEW OF THE PROGRESS OF POPULATION AMONG THE SLAVES IN THE SEVERAL SLAVE COLONIES OF GREAT BRITAIN, SINCE THE FIRST INSTITUTION OF THE SYSTEM OF REGISTRATION; WITH OBSERVATIONS

THEREON.

THE following view of the progress of population among the Slaves in the Colonies of Great Britain was drawn up by Mr. Buxton, from official documents laid before the House of Commons. These consist either of Parliamentary Papers moved for by the House and printed by its order, and of which the year, and the numbers as they stand on the documents of that year, are given ;---or of Papers presented to both houses of Parliament by the Command of His Majesty, and which have no numbers attached to them. The former are distinguished by the letters P. P.; the latter by the letters P. C.

Notwithstanding the pains which have been taken to attain perfect accuracy, by closely following the official statements throughout, yet it is possible that some errors may have crept in, as the statements themselves are occasionally defective, and in some instances discrepant. In those cases, however, the conclusion the least unfavourable to the Colonists has been invariably adopted, and the utmost care has thus been taken to avoid all exaggeration in exhibiting the evils of the Slave system.