rly, _not one of the other effects_,
so anxiously looked for, has been realized. The condition of the slaves
has not yet been improved by _law_. It is a remarkable, and indeed
almost an incredible fact, _that no one effort has been made_ by the
legislative bodies in our Islands with _the real_ intention of meeting
the new, the great, and the extraordinary event of the abolition of the
slave trade. While indeed this measure was under discussion by the
British Parliament, an attempt was made in several of our Islands to
alter the old laws with a view, as it was then pretended, of providing
better for the wants and personal protection of the slaves; but it was
afterwards discovered, that the promoters of this alteration never meant
to carry it into effect. It was intended, by making a show of these
laws, _to deceive the people of England_, and _thus to prevent them from
following up the great question of the abolition_. Mr. Clappeson, one of
the evidences examined by the House of Commons, was in Jamaica, when the
Assembly passed their famous consolidated laws, and he told the House,
that "he had often heard from people there, that it was passed because
of the stir in England about the slave trade;" and he added, "that
slaves continued to be as ill treated there _since the passing of that
act as before_." Mr. Cook, another of the evidences examined, was long
resident in the same island, and, "though he lived there also _since the
passing of the_ act, _he knew of no legal protection_, which slaves had
against injuries from their masters." Mr. Dalrymple was examined to the
same point for Grenada. He was there in 1788, when the Act for that
island was passed also, called "An Act for the better Protection and
promoting the Increase and Population of Slaves." He told the House,
that, "while he resided there, the proposal in the British Parliament
for the abolition of the slave trade was a matter of general discussion,
and that he believed, that this was a principal reason for passing it.
He was of opinion, however, that this Act would prove ineffectual,
because, as Negro evidence was not to be admitted, those, who chose to
abuse their slaves, might still do it with impunity; and people, who
lived on terms of intimacy, would dislike the idea of becoming spies and
informers against each other." We have the same account of the
ameliorating Act of Dominica. "This Act," says Governor Prevost,
"appears to have been considered from the d