better hour, repeal a law, which experience has shown to be so pernicious. "The most enlightened writers on the subject of West-Indian concerns, have uniformly condemned this impolitic and inhuman law. In the whole system of colonial slavery, so universally, and often unjustly, censured in Europe, there is none more injurious and oppressive to the negroes than the legal usage of levying upon them, and selling them at auction. It is by far the highest degree of cruelty annexed to their condition. One of the strongest principles of human nature is, that local attachment which man feels for the place of his nativity. The untutored African shares this universal sentiment in common with the civilised European; and the sable creole is no less tenderly attached to the spot on which the careless days of infancy were spent; to the humble tenement which he has cultivated; to the friendly tree, under whose verdant shade he has passed the noon-tide hour; to the peaceful cot, beneath whose lowly roof he has participated with his wife and his children the few domestic comforts which have fallen to his lot. By a barbarous, erroneous policy, the wretched slave is dragged from this scene of all his enjoyments; torn from the hallowed spot which contains the remains of the mother whom he revered, the wife that he loved, or the child who was dear to his heart; dispossessed of the little property which bestowed on him an ideal importance in the eyes of his fellow-labourers; and sold into a new bondage, into a distant part of the country, under the dominion of an unknown master. Separated from the only consolations which can beguile the rigour of servitude, these wretched victims of avarice and folly often sink into a premature grave." P. 333. As Mr. Poyer manifests himself a good subject in general, and a real friend to his country, he has very justly animadverted on the factious parsimony of the Legislative Assembly of Barbadoes, when, in 1778 the island was menaced with invasion, it absolutely refused to assist the governor in putting the country in a proper state of defence; and after "some common-place professions of zeal and loyalty," declared that they "would not consent to increase the public burthens." "That a British legislative assembly should be so perfectly insensible of the blessings of civil liberty, as to hazard its enjoyment by a pertinacious adherence to an erroneous system of economy, and to talk of arming only when the enemy should be at their gate, are facts scarcely credible, were they not authenticated by the minutes of their proceedings, published by their own authority. Nor can it fail to excite the astonishment of posterity, that the representatives of a free people should prefer individual conveniency to the public safety, and risk the whole of their property rather than sacrifice a part for the preservation of the rest. That public virtue, says the elegant Gibbon, which, among the ancients, was denominated patriotism, is derived from a strong sense of our own interest in the preservation and prosperity of the free government of which we are members. But among the Barbadians, the only patriotism known, at the period of which we are speaking, seems to have consisted in an opposition to the measures of government, and an endeavour to promote the voluptuous ease of mercenary individuals at the hazard and expense of the country." P. 387. As a striking contrast to the "entire dereliction of public spirit, which fatally pervades every department of our little state," the noble defence of Lord Macartney at Granada is then cited with merited approbation. Mr. Poyer having witnessed the dreadful havoc made by the hurricane in 1780, describes its effects with great minuteness and perspicuity; the simple pathos of his narrative is highly. affecting, and would do honour to many a more learned writer; his picture is lively, natural, and impressive, without any gaudy decoration or colouring. It is estimated that property to the amount of 1,018,9287. sterling was destroyed by it, while more than three thousand persons perished in the ruins. The following contrasted anecdotes will not fail to excite the feelings of the reader. The houses containing the prisoners of war were all levelled to the ground, and their inmates set at liberty. But, -- "To the immortal honour of Don Pedro de Saint Jago, captain of the regiment of Arragon, and the Spanish prisoners under his direction, let it be remembered with gratitude, that, laying aside all national animosity in that season of calamity, they omitted no service nor labour for the relief of the distressed inhabitants and the preservation of public order." P. 454. "The humanity of the Marquis de Bouille should not be forgotten. The Laurel and Andromeda frigates having been wrecked on the coast of Martinico, that magnanimous commander sent thirty-one English sailors, who were all that were saved out of both crews, under a flag of truce to Commodore Hotham, at Saint Lucia, with a letter, purporting that he could not consider in the light of enemies, men who had escaped in a contention with the elements; but that they, in common with his own people, having been partakers of the same danger, were, in like manner, entitled to every comfort and relief which could be given in a season of such universal calamity and distress. "What a contrast does this act of generosity in a noble enemy afford to the conduct of Governor Cunninghame! Amid the general convulsion of the Caribbean Sea, a small Spanish launch, having a few mules on board, sought security from the winds and waves in Maycock's Bay. The matrosses detained her until the governor's pleasure was known; and his excellency ordered her to be seized as a droit of admiralty, made the crew prisoners of war, and converted the vessel and cargo to his own use. Thus, what the wretched mariners had saved from the angry elements was torn from them by the rapacity of a human being, insensible of the tender emotions of pity and compassion!" P. 455. We think that the author has rendered an essential service, not only to the whole West Indies, but to this country, in exposing the infamous rapacity of Majorgeneral James Cunninghame, whose malversations and bad government well deserve public exposition: at the same time, the factious malignity of the Assembly is not concealed; and it is declared that, "in the indulgence of their resentment, they sometimes lost sight of the welfare of their country." The dispute was originally occasioned by the Assembly, in consequence of the adverse situation of the colony, refusing to allow Governor Cunninghame more than 2000% a year salary, instead of 3000l. as given to his predecessor; and thus, for the paltry sum of 1000l., the governor and Assembly continued in perpetual enmity, and both neglected the permanent interests as well as the external security of the colony. The greediness of Cunninghame to extort illegal fees, and the unparallelled obstinacy of the Assembly in resisting them, occupy a considerable part of this narrative, which we hope will have the effect of warning all future governors-that, whatever may be the distance or the smallness of their dominions, they will one day or other be brought before the British public, and be rewarded by impartial posterity according to their merits.The government of George Points Ricketts, esq., a native of Jamaica, from 1794 to 1800, and his conduct in pardoning the mulatto Joe Denny, who deliberately murdered a poor white man named Stroud, occasioned the following remarks, which deserve to be generally known, as an example to others. "Unfortunately for the governor, unfortunately for Barbadoes, his excellency had brought with him, from Tobago, a mulatto woman, who resided at Pilgrim, and enjoyed all the privileges of a wife, except the honour of publicly presiding at his table. His excellency's extraordinary attachment to this sly insidious female was the greatest blemish in his character, and cast a baleful shade over the lustre of his administration. The influence which she was known to possess, produced a visible change in the manners of the free-coloured people, who assumed a rank in the graduated scale of colonial society, to which they had been hitherto strangers; and which the impolicy of subsequent measures and the immorality of the times have contributed to extend and confirm in a degree that cannot be contemplated without fearful apprehension. A woman of this description, who had been convicted of receiving stolen goods, and condemned to imprisonment, had been lately liberated by the No. 128, Vol. 32. Feb. 1809. K governor's order; and some other offenders, in the very commission of their crimes, had boasted of the impunity which they could obtain through the influence of Betsey Goodwin. A report had circulated, at least a fortnight before Denny's condemnation, of his having received assurances from her, that, let the event of his trial be what it might, she would protect him.' P. 639. " The sketch of the constitution of Barbadoes convinces us how difficult it is to imitate that of England, and how easily some of its most valuable privileges may be perverted or misapplied. As the latter part of this volume treats of times just passed, it is of course less interesting; for absolute impartiality, which is the soul of history, is not to be expected in a writer who is a member of so small a community, and perhaps personally known to nearly all the white people of the island. About four hundred and fifty subscribers, however, patronise his labours, which will perhaps be better received, both in his own and this country, than he seems to expect. Clutterbuck's Inquiry into the Seat and Nature of Fever. [Continued from P. 55 of this Volume.] IN the fifth and last chapter, Dr. Clutterbuck treats of the cure of fever generally, in relation to his doctrine; or chiefly, as theoretically deducible from the pathology which he has laid down; namely, "topical inflammation of the brain, or its membranes." Accordingly, the common treatment of inflammation is recommended; "evacuations of various kinds, as blood-letting, purging, sweating, &c.; the application of cold, and irritation of neighbouring and distant parts, as by blisters, sinapisms, &c." Our author, however, does not contend that this mode of treatment is universally applicable in inflammation. "There are many inflammations," says he, "that are best treated by means the reverse of this-by remedies that give vigour to the system, and increase its activity.". In this opinion we cordially agree, and think we could show that the antiphlogistic method of cure, as it has been termed, is much less applicable in the treatment of inflammation than has been hitherto imagined. We confine our observations, however, to the subject of fever. Is fever, then, an inflammatory affection?-and if so, is blood-letting a proper remedy in this disease? -- "If, under the title of inflammation of the brain, we are to consider only the most violent and acute form of the disease- that to which authors have especially given the denomination of phrenitis – undoubtedly it differs in many points, both in its symptoms and mode of cure, from ordinary fever. No one doubts of the propriety and necessity of having recourse in this case to profuse evacuations of every kind, and especially blood-letting; to the most rigid abstinence; and to all the other means calculated to subdue active inflammation. But it by no means follows, that, because this practice is not generally applicable in the treatment of fever, the disease must be of a different kind, and the doctrine that fever is inflammation' consequently ill founded. If it be admitted that the brain, like other organs, is susceptible of different degrees of inflammation that the inflammation may be more or less diffused or circumscribed; in other words, that it may partake of the nature of erysipelas or of phlegmon-that it may be with or without general affection of the vascular system that it may take place in different habits of body, and in combination with other affections; circumstances, all of which are found to modify greatly the treatment of inflammation wherever seated-surely it ought not to be expected that blood-letting should be universally admissible in the cure of inflammation in the brain: nor does its frequent inutility in fevers constitute an objection of any weight to the doctrine here endeavoured to be maintained." P. 233. By this sort of probation we may prove any thing, or nothing, in medicine; for example: "This, I know, is in opposition to received opinions, and will be supposed to involve an inconsistency; namely, the recommending at once blood-letting, and the use of tonic and stimulant remedies. The inconsistency, however, in this case, is more apparent than real. If disease do not consist essentially in weakness simplyas has, I think, been clearly shown-but in some unknown deviation from the natural and healthy mode of acting; then it is clear that it may be obviated, and health restored, by remedies of either the stimulating or debilitating classes, which have no right therefore to be set in opposition to one another on this occasion. In fact, whatever is capable of producing any considerable impression on the system, or of changing its mode of acting, may become a remedy for its disorders; and hence means apparently the most opposite are often found to remove one and the same disease. Diseases accompanied with great debility have often been cured by loss of blood, and other evacuations, while those of an opposite character have, in many instances, yielded to the most active stimulants. A slight acquaintance with the history of physic will serve to convince us of this. The practice of Sydenham was in many respects in direct opposition to that of Morton: the one employed bleeding, where the other gave the most active stimulants; yet there can be no doubt that they both frequently succeeded in curing their patients." P. 237. And in killing them, too, we should suppose!-Accor 2 |