A Practical View of the Present State of Slavery in the West Indies, Or, An Examination of Mr. Stephen's "Slavery of the British West India Colonies": Containing More Particularly an Account of the Actual Condition of the Negroes in Jamaica : with Observations on the Decrease of the Slaves Since the Abolition of the Slave Trade, and on the Probable Effects of Legislative Emancipation : Also, Strictures on the Edinburgh Review, and on the Pamphlets of Mr. Cooper and Mr. Bickell |
From inside the book
Page
We also add an extract from the Code Rural of Haiti containing those clauses ,
which may be usefully compared with the Jamaica Law . The fidelity of the
translation of these extracts may be ascertained by comparing them with the
original ...
We also add an extract from the Code Rural of Haiti containing those clauses ,
which may be usefully compared with the Jamaica Law . The fidelity of the
translation of these extracts may be ascertained by comparing them with the
original ...
Page 77
A shooting , stabbing , and maiming in Scotland bill , with a clause making the
throwing oil of vitriol on a person a capital offence , was passed last session of
parliament . much unknown in the West Indies , as in England Enfranchisement
for ill ...
A shooting , stabbing , and maiming in Scotland bill , with a clause making the
throwing oil of vitriol on a person a capital offence , was passed last session of
parliament . much unknown in the West Indies , as in England Enfranchisement
for ill ...
Page 110
... be hanged for so obeying the imperious dictates of nature . ' p . 190 . The
following clause of the slave act is the sole ground upon which this unparalleled
charge rests ; and I beg the reader to remark upon 110 Slave's right of self -
defence .
... be hanged for so obeying the imperious dictates of nature . ' p . 190 . The
following clause of the slave act is the sole ground upon which this unparalleled
charge rests ; and I beg the reader to remark upon 110 Slave's right of self -
defence .
Page 111
The words assault , or offer violence , ' clearly imply the slave's being the
aggressor , and the clause has no reference to the slave's right of self - defence
in the case of his being assaulted or offered violence to . But because a slave is
so much ...
The words assault , or offer violence , ' clearly imply the slave's being the
aggressor , and the clause has no reference to the slave's right of self - defence
in the case of his being assaulted or offered violence to . But because a slave is
so much ...
Page 112
Oh , says owner's person not son , ( the case alone that the clause of the act is
providing for ) but a white or free person that assaults or offers violence to him ?
Mr. Stephen ( for such is his meaning in printing in italics ) , it should also have ...
Oh , says owner's person not son , ( the case alone that the clause of the act is
providing for ) but a white or free person that assaults or offers violence to him ?
Mr. Stephen ( for such is his meaning in printing in italics ) , it should also have ...
What people are saying - Write a review
We haven't found any reviews in the usual places.
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
African allowed appear attend authority authority aforesaid British called carried cause charge clause colonies colonists colour committed condition considered conviction court death direct duty effect enacted England English established evidence existed fact feeling field free persons freedom further enacted give given grounds hands humanity important Indies interest island Jamaica justice kind known labour land less magistrates manner manumission master means meeting months nature necessary negroes never notice object occasion offence overseer owner paid parish passed peace penalty perhaps person plantains plantation poor possession pounds practice present Price produce protection punishment receive respect says sent shillings ships slave or slaves slavery Stephen suffer sufficient sugar taken thing tion trade trial true West India whole workhouse
Popular passages
Page 63 - Where this is the case in any part of the world, those who are free are by far the most proud and jealous of their freedom. Freedom is to them not only an enjoyment, but a kind of rank and privilege. Not seeing there that freedom, as in countries where it is a common blessing and as broad and general as the air, may be united with much abject toil, with great misery, with all the exterior of servitude, liberty looks amongst them like something that is more noble and liberal.
Page 190 - ... or shall wilfully, maliciously, and unlawfully administer to, or cause to be administered to, or taken by any of his Majesty's subjects, any deadly poison, or other noxious and destructive substance or thing, with intent such his Majesty's subject or subjects thereby to murder, or thereby to cause and procure the miscarriage of any woman then being quick with child...
Page 189 - Of all species of deaths, the most detestable is that of poison; because it can of all others be the least prevented either by manhood or forethought'.
Page 24 - And whereas it has been found that the practice of ignorant, superstitious, or designing slaves, of attempting to instruct others, has been attended with the most pernicious consequences, and even with the loss of life : Be it enacted, That any slave or slaves, found guilty of preaching and teaching as Anabaptists, or otherwise, without a permission from their owner and the quarter sessions for the parish in which such preaching or teaching takes place, shall be punished in such manner as any three...
Page x - Are you, in point of fact, at this moment able to protect yourselves against your slaves without our assistance ? If you can still rise up and lie down in security — if you can still eat the bread of the fatherless, and grind the faces of the poor — if you can still hold your petty parliaments, and say your little speeches, and move your little motions — if you can still outrage and insult th« Parliament and people of England, to what do you owe it?
Page 324 - River, the road appeared of a reddish colour, as if strewed with brick-dust. I dismounted from my horse to examine the cause of so unusual an appearance, and was not a little astonished to find that it was owing to myriads of young black crabs, about the size of the nail of a man's finger, crossing the road, and moving at a pretty pace direct for the mountains. I was concerned to think of the destruction I was causing in travelling through such a body of useful creatures, as I fancied that every...
Page 323 - ... to the planters in dry weather, when vegetation is slow, by nipping off the blade of the young canes and corn as it shoots through the ground. In situations of this kind, the negroes have a somewhat singular method of catching them ; they know from the appearance of a crabhole if there be a crab in it, and dig down with a hoe through the soft loam, till they come to water (about eighteen inches or two feet) ; and then close the hole firmly with a handful of dry grass. In this manner a negro will...
Page 191 - Obeah man, driver on an estate in the parish of St. David, who, by the overwhelming influence he had acquired over the minds of his deluded victims, and the more potent means he had at command to accomplish his ends, had done great injury among the slaves on the property before it was discovered. One of the witnesses, a negro belonging to the same estate, was asked — "Do you know the prisoner to be an Obeah man?' 'Ess, massa, shadow-catcher, true.' 'What do you mean by shadow-catcher?' 'Him ha...
Bibliographic information
| Title | A Practical View of the Present State of Slavery in the West Indies, Or, An Examination of Mr. Stephen's "Slavery of the British West India Colonies": Containing More Particularly an Account of the Actual Condition of the Negroes in Jamaica : with Observations on the Decrease of the Slaves Since ... A Practical View of the Present State of Slavery in the West Indies; Or, An Examination of Mr. Stephen's "Slavery of the British West India Colonies.": Containing More Particularly an Account of the Actual Condition of the Negroes in Jamaica, Alexander Barclay HeinOnline: Slavery in America and the world: history, culture & law |
| Author | Alexander Barclay |
| Edition | 2 |
| Publisher | Smith, Elder & Company, 1827 |
| Original from | the University of California |
| Digitized | 5 Oct 2007 |
| Length | 462 pages |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |