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late Simon

As Mr. Stephen has given an anecdote to shew Anecdote of the how the property of slaves is respected in Africa, Taylor, Esq. and intimated what, according to his belief, would have been the conduct of a British West India planter in such a case, I shall take leave to give one also; and this I do the more readily, as the circumstances of it came within my own knowledge.

In the garden fronting the spacious mansionhouse of Holland, the property of the late honourable Simon Taylor, in the parish of St. Thomas in the East, a large cluster of cocoanut trees for many years shut out a view of the sea, and obstructed from the house a necessary circulation of air. They were originally planted by the proprietor merely for ornament; but the more substantial use of them-the fruit, was not lost sight of by the negroes; who soon considered,, not only the fruit, but the trees as their own property-each claiming, as he happened first to have taken possession. In process of time, as new trees sprang from the seed of the old, these' were claimed in like manner, till a perfect thicket was reared up, to the serious injury, not only of the mansion-house, but also of the breeze-mill, when the wind was northerly. Still Mr. Taylor, from extreme delicacy, in interfering with what his people claimed as their right, would not allow the trees to be cut down: nor was it till 1807, when the evil greatly increasing, and some deaths having taken place, attributed to the house being so much covered, that, at the request of Mr.

Hunter, the manager, he consented, provided the sanction of his negroes could be obtained by giving them a compensation, but not otherwise; for, added he, they have long claimed these trees as their own, and that claim I never shall dispute with them. These instructions were faithfully attended to; the overseer durst not act otherwise; and not a tree was felled until the person claiming it had received what he acknowledged to be a full compensation. Thus Mr. Taylor paid to his own labourers £1. 6s. 8d. for each cocoa-nut tree cut in his own garden.

Slaves regard-RULE VII.-The Slave, in the British Colonies, is at all times ed as Property. liable to be sold, or otherwise aliened, at the will of the

master, as absolutely in all respects, as cattle, or any other personal effects."

'RULE VIH. — He is also at all times, liable to be sold by
process of law, for satisfaction of the debts of a living, or
the debts or bequests of a deceased master, at the suit of
creditors or legatees.'

' RULE IX.—In consequence of a transfer in either of these
ways, or by the authority of his immediate owner, the slave
may be at any
time exiled, in a moment, and for ever, from
his home, his family, and the colony in which he was born,
or in which he has long been settled.' p. 63.

These rules, classed together by Mr. Stephen, briefly amount to this-that slaves are held to be property, and sold as such. From the researches he has made into ancient slavery, on this point, it appears, that in some countries at least, and ' under some particular circumstances, men in this "condition might be alienated without the domain,

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or without the whole of the domain, to which they belonged.' p. 64.

But of the liability of the slaves to be seized and sold separate from the lands they cultivate, by the master's creditors for the payment of his ‹ debts, it may safely, I believe, be pronounced, that a precedent for such cruel injustice is not 'to be found in any part of the Old World.' p. 68.

Granting it were so, what is the difference to the slave, between being sold by the creditors, or the creditors compelling the master to sell him, -which they must by some means have had in their power? Mr. Stephen, who has, it seems, a perfect knowledge of the customs, institutions, and state of society, among the various tribes, and tongues in Africa, assures us, that even barbarous Africa, the fountain-head of slavery, will not 'furnish a pattern of this feature of colonial despo'tism!' p. 71.

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Jamaica contains nearly one-half of all the slaves in the British West India colonies; and let me ask Mr. Stephen, if he ever heard of a slave being sold from thence to serve a new master in a distant island or territory? Or, if he ever heard of the wife and husband being sold to different masters in different counties in that island?

Not only are families sold together, but in general allowed to choose a master for themselves: and to regulate sales under process of distress,

Slaves sold in allowed to

families and

choose a

master.

Sales of Slaves.

when the owner had not this in his power, a law was passed nearly one hundred years ago, 8 Geo. II. cap. 6, sec. 9, which enacts, that slaves sold under writs of Venditione, shall be sold in families. Had this law passed since the agitation of the Registry question, Mr. Stephen, no doubt, would have ascribed it to his thunder,' as he has done all other changes favourable to the slaves; but as it was passed in 1735, it will be difficult to ascribe it to any other cause than a proper feeling of humanity on the part of the colonists themselves, even in those days of comparative barbarity. The philanthrophists of the present day can therefore have little merit in calling attention to an evil, that was so long ago seen and remedied.

Purchases of negroes often cannot be effected, in consequence of their dislike to go to the plantation they are wanted for; and the removal of them never is attempted but with their own free consent and approbation. Public sales are rare, but under process of distress; and although these look formidable in the marshall's advertisements, they are confined in a great measure to the slaves of poor people, who possess only a few, and whose slaves are commonly bettered by getting out of such hands. Where the slaves do not belong to poor people, the marshall's sales are frequently nominal, for the purpose of making good the conveyance on a private sale, as will afterwards be explained. On occasion of such sales, I have

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seen the negroes openly abuse white persons who wished to purchase them, and of whose characters as masters, they had heard an unfavourable report. Their language was to this effect: We know you well-we know what your plantation is-and how you treat your negroes. If you buy us you will lose your money; we will not have you for a master'we will not belong to you, nor work for you, if we 'should go and live in the woods.' No man in his senses would wish to be the master of people who entertained sentiments of this kind towards him; or, indeed, of people who were not perfectly willing to belong to him. Proofs enough could be adduced of intended sales and transfers of slaves from place to place, which have been abandoned for no other reason than that the slaves, after sending a deputation of their own body to inspect the new situation, have decidedly objected to the removal..

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It is complained of as a hardship in the sale of slaves, that if, as it ordinarily happens, the ' dearest relatives of the slave belong to neighbouring estates, and are the property of different

' owners; these, as well as his home, may be lost for ever, by the death of his immediate master.' p. 72.

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Here our author's information is not correct; slaves are not ordinarily so connected; there may be indeed occasional cases of men forming connections on perhaps several different estates; but such characters generally give themselves little

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