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heathen slaves to bear witness against their Christian masters. proposal so preposterous can originate only in the most consummate ignorance of the character of the negroes.

They are pagans in the most extensive signification of that opprobrious appellative. Without even the advantage of idolatry, they have no system of morality, no sense of religion, nor faith in its doctrines; their creed is witchcraft, and their only religious rite the practice of Obeah. Travellers report, that the Africans are believers in the Supreme Being; that they have modes of worship, and many religious ceremonies. But those who have been brought to Barbadoes seem to have left their national faith and household gods behind; and, what is far more unfortunate, they have adopted no others in their stead. Some, indeed, profess Christianity, that is, they have been baptised, but their hearts are as void of any religious impressions as if they had continued in the wilds of Africa. Frequent attempts have been made by some humane owners to convert their favourite slaves to Christianity, and though many of them are treated with parental fondness and indulgence, no benefits have been derived from the pious endeavours to effect their conversion." P. 140.

"I have already shown that the negroes are not possessed of those religious sentiments which can inspire them with a just sense of the sacred obligation of an oath. Besides an obvious distinction presents itself to the mind, between the testimony of infidel witnesses, in particular cases, and that of slaves admitted generally against their masters. The admission of such testimony, in special cases, in Europe, can be attended with no material inconvenience to the people. With us there is a difference; and it would be almost madness to expose the lives, the liberties, and properties, of the West Indians, to a savage multitude, who have not the fear of God before their eyes to restrain them as witnesses, from glutting their revenge by the most horrid perjuries. Were the testimony of slaves once allowed, Barbadoes would be no place of abode for any honest man who had a regard for his reputation, his interest, or his personal safety. No innocence of life, no integrity of heart, would afford security from criminal prosecutions, supported by such evidence. If in civilised society, in the most polished provinces of Europe, the most barefaced perjuries are daily committed by men educated in the principles of Christianity, it is easy to foresee what must be the fatal consequences of legalising the testimony of an ignorant, superstitious, vindictive race, whom no religious nor moral obligation can bind to speak the truth." P. 143.

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Speaking of the frequent conspiracies among the negroes, he furnishes a powerful argument to his opponents. It is scarcely possible," he concludes, "in a country where slavery subsists [exists], to guard against the dark designs of secret treachery, or the more daring attacks of open violence." This we believe is true: but a more cau

tious advocate for his country would have said, “where negroes exist," instead of "slavery." This, however, should be attributed to his candour, as the author very properly reprobates an opinion of his countryman, Mr. Frere, in his "Short History of Barbadoes;" maintaining that a native, or a person who had an interest in the country, was best qualified to make a good governor. Mr. Poyer calls this? one of the many plausible theories whose fallacy is demonstrated by experience." Of the situation of the clergy in Barbadoes, we have the following particulars:

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"As this venerable body of men have been separated from-the busy part of mankind, that they may pursue those studies which would qualify them to instruct others in the great duties of religion, reason and justice demand that their situation should be rendered comfortable and respectable by a competent provision for their maintenance. Hitherto, the emoluments of the sacerdotal office consisted in the annual receipt of an assessment of one pound of sugar on every acre of land, and of such fees on inarriages, baptisms, and burials, as custom had authorised. This was far from being a decent or an adequate maintenance for the clergy. It was therefore enacted, that, in addition to their glebes, most of which are considerable, the rectors of the different parishes should receive a salary of one hundred and fifty pounds, besides fees for the performance of occasional duty. This provision is certainly inadequate to meet the advance which the lapse of a century has made in the habits and expense of living; but it is to be observed, that, among the fees of office, to the augmentation of which the people have patiently submitted, those of the clergy have not been neglected; and in most parishes the rector's fees exceed one hundred pounds a year. Besides, in the liberality of the yestry, the incumbent generally finds an ample compensation for the smallness of the legal stipend. The annual presents voted to the rectors are commonly equal to the established salary, and frequently exceed it. Hence the least valuable church living in the island may be moderately rated at four hundred pounds a year. In addition to this revenue there is on every glebe a commodious, nay in most instances an elegant mansion, built and kept in excellent repair, at the expense of the parish, for the accommodation of the minister. "It has lately been doubted whether even this is a sufficient* provision for the support of the clergy, of whom many appear extremely anxious to be made independent of the bounty of their vestries. Those who are satisfied with what they receive, need neither wish for more nor for any alteration in the mode by which it is granted; and the minister who is determined to perform his duty diligently, and to conduct himself with humility and decorum, need not fear the resentment of those from whom he expects his reward.

"The legislature have just passed a law, augmenting the annual stipend of the rectors to three hundred pounds.

It were, however, much to be wished, for the sake of preserving the purity and dignity of the sacred function, that the rectors of the several parishes were rendered independent of occasional gratuities from their vestries. As lights of the world, they should be placed above the cares and perplexities of ordinary men. The clergy would then be no longer under the necessity of temporising, as some of them too often do, with the principal inhabitants of their cure. But in providing for the independence of the clergy, we should not lose sight of the circumstances of those by whom they are paid. Vestries should no longer be invested with a power, too frequently abused, of indulging an ostentatious generosity to the injury of their parishioners, whose means of subsistence are often abridged to procure the taxes which are levied on them, for the support of the parochial establishment." P. 196. '.

Mr. Poyer, after lamenting the factious broils which have long existed between the Assembly and the government, and painting their ruinous effects, proceeds to examine the actual state of the fortifications, and the administration of the military force.

"Besides an immense expenditure of stores, in which prodigality wantons without controul, great abuses are committed by the boards of commissioners. To answer some sinister purpose, to promote the interest of a favourite supervisor, or to gratify the capricious vanity of an hospitable captain gunner, considerable sums of the public money are squandered in repairing or erecting commodious houses and elegant apartments for his accommodation. Hence the annual expense of the fortifications may be fairly computed to exceed eight thousand pounds. Notwithstanding this profuse and wanton waste of the public treasure, many of the forts, particularly those which command the harbour of the second town in the island, are literally mouldering in ruins; they contain scarcely a single piece of serviceable ordnance, and are so completely destitute of ammunition, as to be frequently incapable of exciting or propagating an alarm.

"The accessible nature of the whole western coast lays the country so open to the predatory incursions of a daring or rapacious foe, that nothing can be more evident than the imperative necessity of putting some of our forts and batteries in a proper posture of defence." P. 236.

"But in their present ruined and dismantled condition, it cannot be dissembled, that the expenditure of the enormous sum annually thrown away upon them is unjust and oppressive. To provide for the support of government, and the maintenance of the public security, are duties incumbent on every good subject; but the power which wrests from him a single shilling unnecessarily must be tyrannical. To reconcile the people to the burthens imposed on them for the support of this establishment, some show of decency should be preserved. They should, at least, be amused with the idea of security. But the money drawn from their pockets is squan

dered in thoughtless profusion, without the most flimsy pretext of necessity or expediency. The voice of justice calls loudly for the redress of this grievance. It is the duty of the representatives of the people to apply the proper remedy. No objection is made to the quantum of the sum annually expended on the fortifications; the misapplication of it is the only ground of rational complaint. Were they repaired and rendered capable of protecting our defenceless towns, the money required for their maintenance would be paid without a murmur. No people in the world, who contribute at all to the support of government, are more moderately taxed than the Barbadians; nor would they be dissatisfied at any augmentation of their burthens, were the produce of their taxes faithfully employed in providing for their safety.

"It has been proposed to abandon our forts, or to sell them to the crown, rather than be at the expense of repairing them. Pitiful economy! Is there a man so lost to every sense of public virtue, as not to contemn the insidious proposal? So blind as not to see its folly and danger? Or so ignorant as not to be sensible of the necessity of keeping in repair the batteries within the vicinity of the towns, for the protection of the adjacent harbours?" P. 237.

The remarks on the state of the legislation may tend to show some of the causes of dissension between the Assembly and government.

Every illiterate possessor of ten acres [of land] is born a legislator, or is at least eligible to a seat in the general assembly, as a representative of the parish in which his freehold lies. In some districts it often happens, that the freeholders are deprived of the power of making a discreet choice, by the difficulty of prevailing on gentlemen of respectability to accept the representation of their parishes. This inconvenience might, perhaps, be remedied, by imitating the policy of the mother country, and making it no longer necessary that the property of the person elected should be situated in the parish which he represents. In a country, circumscribed within such narrow boundaries, no danger need be apprehended from a dissimilarity of interests, or a want of local attachment; nor are genius and knowledge confined to any particular spot. An inhabitant of Christ Church may be as well qualified to represent the parish of Saint Lucy, as though he had been born and bred in the vicinity of Pye-Corner. Thus the deficiencies of one parish may be supplied by the talents of another; and the abilities which, for the want of an opportunity to display themselves, remain inert and undistinguished, may be placed in a sphere of action, in which they may be beneficially exerted for the general welfare." P. 242.

On the law passed in 1766, allowing slaves to be sold by auction or "outcry," the author observes: -

"There is scarcely a law in existence, from whose operation the island has suffered greater injury than this. By the authority given to a rapacious creditor to seize the slaves of his debtor, and to sell

them to the highest bidder, the population of the country has been lessened; its agricultural improvements have been impeded; many respectable families have been reduced to indigence, and many driven into exile. When the labourers are swept away from the plantations, the lands cease to be valuable; the buildings are left to moulder into ruins by a gradual decay; and the fields, whose fertility added to the national wealth, become a barren waste over-run with noxious weeds. Of the slaves thus sold, the rich only can become the purchasers, to the utter extinction of those small estates which, in reality, constitute the real wealth and opulence of the country. It is a gross, though a popular error, to suppose that this transfer of property is attended with no detriment to the state, because the negroes who are removed from one plantation are employed on another. The argument might assume a plausible tone, if the real and personal estate went together; the aggregate wealth of the country might then be the same; though it is obvious that the general prosperity would be diminished by limiting the diffusion of the means of subsistence. Wealth might accumulate in the hands of the rich, but the inferior orders of society, deprived of the means of cultivating their little farms, would be driven from the island to seek security under the shelter of a wiser policy.

"It will probably be objected, that these evils do not now exist in their full extent; that there are few attachments made under this. law; and that, in the present prosperous condition of the country, no man is without a home, or negroes to cultivate his land. But we should not suffer our judgment to be blinded by prosperity. It is now only thirty years since we witnessed the melancholy verification of the arguments against this law. In the vicissitudes of human affairs, similar misfortunes may be approaching to overwhelm us. During the American war, when, added to the evils incident to a state of hostility, the hopes of the industrious planter were frequently frustrated by a series of natural calamities, the fairest portions of the island were desolated and sacrificed to an unwise and iniquitous policy. Afflicted by continued drought, and visited by tribes of vermin more destructive than the locusts and caterpillars of old, Barbadoes was then reduced to a state of comparative poverty; her soil and her negroes had sunk fifty per cent. below their original value. A total failure of crops, instead of exciting commiseration, sharpened the avidity of the rapacious; and the wretched slaves of the unfortunate debtor were dragged in crowds to the market, and thence transported to cultivate and enrich by their labour those colonies which, at the conclusion of the war, passed into the hands of our enemies. At that season of calamity, the pernicious tendency of the law was made visible as the sun at noon-day. The slaves were sold for less than half their value; the soil remained uncultivated; the original proprietors were ruined, and the junior creditors were defrauded of their just due, by the accumulation of expense, and the rapacity of the provost-marshal. The evil of that day is happily passed. How soon we may be reduced to the same deplorable condition, is known only to that omnipotent Being, by whose providence all things are ordered. It may be prudent to guard against the adverse change; and, in this our