évinced the sentiment, "that the armed occupation of the revolted states, and a nominal sovereignty were of far less importance than the chance of a future commercial intercourse;" that the Crown consented to the abandonment of its rights.

Whilst Spain continues to hold, and can hold Cuba, a point d'appui is afforded to her, as against her South American colonies; and neither their own safety and their disseverance from the parent state can be relied on, whilst she retains such a rendezvous; for though she may not fit out expeditions on an extensive scale, yet, by an intercourse of intrigue, she may produce a counteraction in public opinion, and either obtain a modified acknowledgment of her jurisdiction, or a more favoured state of mutual and commercial intercourse.

The policy of England, therefore, as between the European and its colony, appears to be this : "fight your own battles, and work out, without interference, your own independence---your civil wars will not affect our neutrality. It is presumed that we know nothing diplomatically of the nature of your disputes-we trade with you as merchants, on the best terms we can procure, and you with us, as your own interest points out-and when you can give us the guarantee of a free and independent state, in which is included the avoidance (in consequence of any acknowledgment by us, your independence) of a war with the parent state,

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then are we ready to admit you into the rank of a nation."

There is no country more interested than England; in laying down, enforcing, and abiding by certain fixed and equitable principles, as regards the contest of a parent state and a province or colony; for possibly, at this very moment may be sown, seeds of danger and of future difficulty in many of our distant settlements-already some colonial journals speak the language of a threatened defiance. “The Parliament of England (including Scotland) made laws for us (say they); but are we bound by laws made since the union with Ireland?" Untenable as is the position, yet there is in such a sentiment "an ingenuity of mischief." And again-" We consider ourselves justified in calling on Parliament-on the British nation, to pay us for our possessions, or to leave us at liberty to offer our allegiances where our personal safety can be secured by the observance of legal enactments."

Against the effects of such language of scarcely stifled menace, England must be prepared. Can she be better prepared than by having herself previously laid down a severe rule of right, by which she conducts herself towards other countries having colonies; so that in any contest with her own, she may point to such rule, and deprive all of the shadow of a pretence to interfere, grounded on her own misconduct or bad faith.

It is said by some, that however great the power of England, she sits upon a barrel of gunpowder. Be it so! Where is the torch which she cannot avert or quench? And if such language is used in reference to any loss she may sustain in her colonial relations, the argument is soon answered, by affirming, that the disseverance of a colony from the jurisdiction of the parent country, may not destroy, or even injure the latter; and by quoting the United States of America as the proof of such position-" but no islands can maintain their independence against a maritime parent state, having an efficient navy."

Colonies, like children, being nursed up to a certain extent of growth, will become independent states, when extensive enough to provide for their own defence; and if, during their growth or pupilage, the habits, customs, and laws of the parent state are well inculcated, (the habits, customs, and laws of such parent state being worthy of imitation), a dissolution of the province from the metropolitan, is but to create a second England in another hemisphere. Independence by no means includes a dislocation of mutual wants, mutual interests, or mutual intercourse.

The daughter separates upon her marriage, from the parental roof, and becomes herself a mother, retaining an affection for the guide of her youth. If then the Constitution of England is so admirable, and the principles emanating from it

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are profitable and worthy of imitation, colonies may be trained as children, who, even in a state of separation, may still be bound by wants, feelings, and interests mutual to both. But to be capable of such feelings, the colony must be, as it were, impregnated with the customs and habits of the mother country.

THE COLONIES.

The colonies of England are of two kinds. Those which can be completely commanded and protected by her marine, and those which can be retained only by military occupation.

Her West Indian possessions are of the former, and her East Indian dependencies of the latter character.

The one is held amidst a greatly disproportionate body of slaves, the other amidst an overwhelming population, whose castes do but form a slavery of a different aspect; for surely, the being, who from his birth, is predestined to an employment from which he can never depart, without being considered as an alien among his countrymen; is as much, or more a captive, than a slave from whom are not irrevocably withheld the power of obtaining liberty, and the exercise of his will.

When a mighty genius shall arise, and break the bondage of the Indian castes; India would in all human calculation, shake off our controul, re

sume her independence, frame her own government, and possibly become Christian.

But in the West Indies, the negro is 'not bound by the fetters of an ancient religion, but by those of a personal slavery-the emancipation from which, either by hasty, unconditional, or unprepared steps, might be the signal of death to their white masters, or to themselves of an exterminating warfare; and by either extreme, the object in view would be frustrated.

We have come now to that most important and anxious subject-the question of slavery as it exists in the West Indies, and the means of producing such an amelioration in the negro character and habits, as shall prepare them for participating in a state of regulated freedom.

The question is not now, whether slave-labour shall be abolished, but how it can be done. The impulse which has been given to the subject, has overpowered the legislature, which has been completely caught in its former ambiguities.

It is one of the highly important and solemn duties of a Christian people, and of a Protestant government, to draw no profit to themselves by bad means. The revenue of slavery is against the spirit of the British people; but still that revenue, under existing circumstances, must be preserved, or what becomes of the property of individuals upon which public credit is bottomed? To preserve that property and that revenue, the labour