III.-ST. CHRISTOPHER-continued. No. 4.-REMARKS on the annexed AcTS of the LEGISLATURE, from THE Leeward Island Act of 1798, passed upwards of thirty years ago, is an inportant proof of Lord Eldon's declaration being true *, that if the Legislatures had been left to themselves, they would have done more to meliorate the condition of the slaves, than if goaded by a party at home, whose object is believed in the Colonies to be to render the planters odious in the eyes of their fellow countrymen, to afford them, by raising a clamour, to obtain for themselves political power.-See ST. VINCENT Report. The excellent law above quoted proves that the Colonial Legislatures may safely be trusted to legislate for their slaves. There is scarcely an important suggestion since made which has not been anticipated and practically attained by it or by its influence, which gave a character to and produced the existing usages of the Colonies. By that law, the master is the guardian of the slave and protects his property. It is true that the law did not provide against the master taking the property of the slave, because such an offence had been and is to this day unheard of, and would place the master out of the pale of society. The term "maltreat" has been considered by the best lawyers as a protection which, on all occasions, has enabled the Attorney-general, or any magistrate, to prosecute in any cases of alleged cruelty, and convictions have followed. It has no doubt happened in the West Indies, as in England, that persons have been acquitted from defects in the law, or indictment, or evidence, or from one or more perverse jurors, as has occurred here where persons have been acquitted of an offence of which they had been convicted some time before on the same or similar evidence. These cases, however, form the exception, not the rule. It is notorious, that although the law did not forbid the separation of slave families, families are not separated in this island and sold, nor indeed in any other. It is moreover the interest of the master not to separate the husband and wife, or reputed husband and wife, or the children from the parents; they have the opportunity, if they were separated, of seeing each other as often and oftener than domestic servants in this country. Lord Bathurst's circular letter of the 9th July 1823, recommended certain measures which the Colonists had practised, and which they would probably have adopted at once as laws, if they had not felt sore at having been caluminated here. The law of 1828 only converted a portion of their usages into laws; and it does not really appear that the actual condition of the slaves, generally speaking, has been improved by them. It must be admitted on all hands, that nothing could have been more conciliatory or more courteous than the course adopted by the Colonial Secretaries in conducting this delicate and difficult negotiation. Time is the only beneficial innovator and * 7th March 1826:-" My fixed opinion is, that these great and desirable objects, viz. those contemplated by the Resolutions of 1823, have been more retarded by the intemperate zeal of those who have been the advocates of those measures, than they had been or could be by any direct opposition on the part of those who opposed them." III. ST. CHRISTOPHER-continued. improver of society. It is too much to expect to change the confirmed habits and usages of a people by mere legislative enactments. Free labour therefore must be the result of experience. The report of the Branch Association of St. Christopher, made up from the reports of the clergymen of the different parishes, shows that the education there of the free and slave children to be making most satisfactory progress. Indeed the numbers educated there in proportion to the population, exceed the numbers educated by the national schools in England, in proportion to the population of this country. The planters of St. Christopher resident in England, petitioned the House of Commons for inquiry; as the prayer of that petition has not been complied with, it is evident the House acquiesced in the statements made by the religious, civil, military and naval authorities as to the condition of the slave being good, otherwise the House would have been doing great injustice to the Colonists, by refusing to them the opportunity of disproving the charges against them made by the anticolonists, by which their characters have been traduced and vilified.-See St. VINCENT, No. 6. For General Observations, see ST. VINCENT, No. 4. IV.-N E V I S. See ST. CHRISTOPHER, No. 1. LEEWARD ISLAND MELIORATION ACT, 1798, at present in force in ANTIGUA, ST. CHRISTOPHER, NEVIS, MONTSERRAT, and THE VIRGIN ISLANDS. NEVIS, 2 & 10 Oct. and 18 Dec. 1828. IV.-NEVIS-continued. No. 2.-PROVISIONS under Six different Heads proposed in Lord Bathurst's Additional Provisions contained in Eight Bills sent out to Governors of Legislative No slave to be hired nor employed, except for domestic purposes, on Sunday, under a penalty. No slave to be employed against his will in field labour, and to be paid wages for it. Clergyman may solemnize marriage without consent of master. Slaves, under certain restrictions, to be enabled invito domino to purchase their freedom, and that of their families and relations. Additional Provisions contained in Sir George Murray's Letter to Governors of Legislative Slave should not be compelled to labour for his subsistence on Sunday, to supply him the rest of the week. Act 4. Sunday markets and shops to be closed at eleven A. M. except druggists, and for the sale of perishable food out of church hours, as in England. No person shall employ slaves in any kind of labour, except domestic affairs, or in cases of accident or emergency on Sunday. Penalty, 1. to 10 l. for each offence. Unlimited slave evidence in civil and criminal cases. (In the notes on Bill No. 2, transmitted on 10 May 1826, it is observed, that the evidence of six slaves in Demerara, where slave evidence has always been received as unfettered as the evidence of free persons, the testimonies of six slaves to a punishment are considered as equivalent to that of one free person.) See Order in Council, 2d Feb. 1830; S. 22. Act. 2. Slave evidence admitted, except against owners and managers in capital charges. (2d Oct. 1828.) Act 3. An Act for regu- Act. 7. An Act more ef lating the solemnization of fectually to facilitate the mumarriages among slaves, and numission of slaves. for declaring such mar- S. 1. If a manumitted slave riages valid and effectual in | be likely to become chargelaw. Clergymen to celebrate able to the public, from inawithout fee or reward. Own- bility to support himself, bis ers refusing permission, or owner shall enter into suitnot giving sufficient reason, able recognizance to defray the ordinary may authorize his maintenance. the solemnization of the marriage. |