them. On his return to England, yielding to his own feelings of
duty and the solicitations of some amiable friends, he published a work,
which he called An Essay on the Treatment and Conversion of the African
Slaves in the British Sugar Colonies. After having given an account of the
relative situation of master and slave in various parts of the world, he
explained the low and degrading situation which the Africans held in
society in our own islands. He showed that their importance would be
increased, and the temporal interest of their masters promoted, by giving
them freedom, and by granting them other privileges. He showed the great
difficulty of instructing them in the state in which they then were, and
such as he himself had experienced both in his private and public attempts,
and such as others had experienced also. He stated the way in which private
attempts of this nature might probably be successful. He then answered all
objections against their capacities, as drawn from philosophy, form,
anatomy, and observation; and vindicated these from his own experience. And
lastly, he threw out ideas for the improvement of their condition, by an
establishment of a greater number of spiritual pastors among them; by
giving them more privileges than they then possessed; and by extending
towards them the benefits of a proper police. Mr. Ramsay had no other
motive for giving this work to the public, than that of humanity, or a wish
to serve this much-injured part of the human species. For he compiled it at
the hazard of forfeiting that friendship, which he had contracted with many
during his residence in the islands, and of suffering much in his private
property, as well as subjecting himself to the ill-will and persecution of
numerous individuals.

The publication of this book by one, who professed to have been so long
resident in the islands, and to have been an eye-witness of facts,
produced, as may easily be supposed, a good deal of conversation, and made
a considerable impression, but particularly at this time, when a storm was
visibly gathering over the heads of the oppressors of the African race.
These circumstances occasioned one or two persons to attempt to answer it,
and these answers brought Mr. Ramsay into the first controversy ever
entered into on this subject, during which, as is the case in most
controversies, the cause of truth was spread.

The works, which Mr. Ramsay wrote upon this subject, were, the Essay, jus