The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1805-04-18 00:00:00

EXTRACTS
11011 PAPERS RESPECTING 711
SLAVE TRADE

AID seroat THE HOUSE or COMMONS Olt fIIDAY
THI sTil Of APRIL, 1805.
(Continued from our Paper of Monday )

r.—Estract n( a Letter from Gowrnor Prevost, to the Pad

Camden, dated Domitlicd, Jan. I, 1805 —Nu. GI

In addition to that part of my letter of the 10th
of last month (No. 39), which related to the heads
of information required by your Lordship. I have
the honour to enclose h•rewith the following papers.
being the most authentic and particular informatiot.
I can obtain.
No. I. An Account of Names importod and exported from
Dec. 1788 to Dscember tans.
No. 2. A Statement of the Population of the Calms of
Dominica, &c.
3. A List of all Consi %ions had, and Fines and For-
feitures recnverod, &c. s . .

Nr;:;:;;Letter from the Rev. John Audain, containing a
Return of the Biptisras and Burials, &c. &e.
The principal revenue of Dominica arises from a
tax on Slaves of every denomination and descrip-
tion without exception, in consequence the steps
taken only led to ascertain their numbers in the
gross, requiring from the owners no other descrip-
tion than that to be found in the return. Although
I am conscious it will not meet your Lordship's ex-
peaations, still I preferred transmitting it, to in-
cutting a delay of several months in the pursuit of
more correct information.

The AS of the Legislature, intituled " An AR
for the IlncourAitement, ProteEtion, and better Go-
vernment of Slaves," appear, to have ken considered,
from the tiny it tons passed until Ohl: hour, as a political
:Reason. to arrrl .he iisterferosett of ,he Mother Country,
I. Me usaisodernent of Slaves*. Navin,' said this, your
Lordship will not be surprised tulrain drat clause 7lb of
14,, Bill has been whay negletirelt. As to the Rth
clause, it is ton intimately connefted with the public

interest to be allowed to sleep.
I am apprehensive you will find the account of all
conviaions had, and fines or forfeitures recovered,
and of all prosecutions commenced against the de-
faulters, pursuant to the said Aa of the Assembly,
very unsatisfaCtory; however here, now and then,
the A& has sheen; some symptoms of life.
As to the parochial and established clergy, I find
Mr. Margaret filling the situation from annary
1783 to January 1793 ; he was succeeded in 1797
by a Mr. Peters, and ultimately in January 1802.
my predecessor Colonel Jolinstone presented the rec-
tory of the parish of St. George's to the Rev. John
Audain, the present incumbent whose letter wilt
explain to your Lordship why the clauses 3 and 4
are not carried into effei9, and the obstacles he meets
with.

P. No. 4.—. Copy of a Ltitet from the Reverend John Au-
&in, to ti..ternor Prevo.t ; dated Dominica, Dec. Jl, 1804
SIR;— Dominica, Dec. :11, 1884.
In conformity to your Letter, I herewith transmit
to you an accurate return of all the baptisms and
burials of the free-coloured people and Slaves, from
the Ist day of January, 1802, to this 31st day of De-
cember, 1804., being the day I was instituted to the
Living of the town of Roseau, and parish of St.
George's.
The very incorrect state of the only documents I
have been able to get from the Secretary's Office,
renders it impossible for me to furnish your Excel-
lency with the return you have required from the
year 1788, no register being to be found fur the
space of four years of that time.
From the extra Els I have returned you from my
Register, your Excellency will readily perceive that
the increase is infinitely greater than the decrease ;
and I have no doubt but it has heretofore been,
and will be generally so.
Your Excellency may also observe, that in my re-
turn I have made no mention of the marriages; any
reason for it is, that a very few errs of the Iree-
coloured peop.r marry, and not one Slnre since I have
been here. Why tidy do not I reeddy conceict, parli.
elderly the Slaves. Their roomers do not exhort !him to
et fl, and trey they on dr:position thendeltes to alter
the: mode of cohabdation which they have been erz.ess-
toned to from the infancy of the colony. A lawful
union of the Slave:, considered in a moral-point of
view, is devoutly to be wished ; but I have my
doubts, whether any reel good will arise from it,
until they are more generally instrulled in the prin-
ciples of the Christian Religion, and become more
serious ; yet still, I think, it may be attended with
no political evil or inconvenience.
I have the honour to be, &c.
Joan ALIO AIN, A. M.
Rector of St. George's.
_ . _

To Governor Preure, &c. &c. &c.

RIR, P. Nn. 6 —Donau, 90th DiteensV2r, 1904.
IN answer to your Excellency's Letter of the 1 lth
instaht, relative to the Marriages, Christenings,
and Bvri ils, of th, Free Persons of Colour in this
Island, and 31aves, since 1788, to the last of De-
cember 1804 ; 1 have to answer, is order to comply
with your Escellency's Injunttion on these Points ;
Primo, That since this Island became a Part of

' the British Empire, my Predecessors kept no re:
gisters of the Burials or Christenings of Slaves ;
and as to their legal Marriages, no such thing is
prof, sed in the Entlirh islands.• As to the mar-
riages of free people of colour, one in a thou-
sand is, I believe, legally married ; and the
rest, according to the law of nature, which is to
join and separate ad Mita'''. With regard to their
christenings, such as have property are registered
when they require it, and the rest are indifferent
about it, as they are in general illegitimate; it is
the same with their interments.

I have the honour to he, &e.
L'ABISE CANVAN.

To Governor Prevost, Ste. &e. &c.
• A farther poor that the btestod Slave Laws of Dominica
are a mere mockery.

EXTRACT ROM AN
ESSAY ON THE EN7 ROPEON ;
OR INVERSION Of THE L76•LIDS, IV PHILIP

caAmpTow, Y. D.

Cast: I.—Anne Woods, aged thirty-five, a weav-
er, was admitted into the Meath Hospital on the
10th of April, 1801.—The margin of the upper
eye-lid in b•sth eyes was completely inverted. The
eye-lashes, which grew in great profusion, lay upon
the surface of the eyes: the eye-lids appeared tumid
and elongated; the conjunetiva was highly inflam-
es'; swarths cornea was of a leaden colour, and so
opake, that the iris could not be distinguished
through it. She had from her infancy been af-
Rifted with sore eyes ; but she said she had not per-
ceived the inversion of the hairs till within the last
five years. She had formerly experienced tempo-
rary relief by gcting the cilia plucked out ; but
finding that the succeeding hairs grew stronger and
in greater abundance, she relinquished the praCtice.
On the Bth of May, in the presence of some of the
surgeons of the house, I applied the :taint caetery
to the levator palpebra muscle of the left eye, by
means of an instrument adapted to the convexity of
the eyelid : the immediate effed of the operation
was to restore the margin of the eye-lid to its natu-
ral position. On the 9d of June I performed a simi-
lar operation on the tight eye, and she was shortly
afterwards discharged from the hospital much re
lieved. It is to be observed, however, that ss her-
ern- she turned the eye upwards, the margin of the
eyelid was suddenly rolled inwards.
She returned to the Hospital on the 2,1 of Ofto-
ber. The tarsi were as much inverted as ever. As

1 supposed that a sufficient quantity of the integu-
ments had not been removed by the first operation,
I advised her to submit to a secnnd, and I hoped a
more effeelual one. On the 30th March, 1802,1 per-
formed the operation by suture. In a few weeks she
left the Hospital. She did not seem to have derived
so muds benefit horn the second, as from the first
operation. I met hsr but a tew months since, and was
sorry to observe, that the cilia were nearly as much
inverted as before any operation had been perform-
ed. I could not prevail upon her to submit to
another operation of any kind.
Cass ILL—Catherine Roarke, aged thirty. a
ear vsun, applied at the County Dublin lofirrnary
on the 10th of May 1802. The margin of the
upper eyelid of the let eye was completely inverted.
and the cilia, which grew in great profution, lay
upon the surface of the eye. The sufferings of this
uMortunate woman were almost intolerable. The
constant frietion of the hairs upon the highly sensi-
ble conjunCtive excited and maintained the most
acute degree of opthalmia. A symptomatic fever,
attended with excruciating head-ache, by depriving
her of her appetite and rest, prevented her from
g Lining a livelihood, and rendered her situation truly
deplorable. The disease commenced about 10 years
be.ore she applied to the Hospital, and succeeded to
A violent attack of the opthalmia. The hairs had
been frequently extirpated, and the margin of
the tarsus, from whence they proceeded, had been
rubbed with lapis internalis ; but from neither
of these operations had the received any perma-
nent advantage. On the 20th of May I performed
the following operation, in the presence of Mr.
Deese' and of Messrs. P. and C. Roney, surgeons
to the County of Dublin Infirmary. Having seated
her with her back to a window, that she might open
her.eyes with greater ease, and her head being sup-
ported on the breast of an assistant, I raised the
upper eyelid by means of the first and second fin-
gers of my left hand, while I passed a very narrow,
slightly-curved, and sharp-pointed bistoury, be-
tween the eye and the eye-lid, at its external angle.
I then pushed out the point of the knife, so as to
divide the internal conflating ligament of the tarsus
and the external integument, obliquely upwards.
This incision was about three lines in length. I
then made a similar incision at the internal angle,
completely dividing the superior branch of the ten-
don of the orhicnlaris palpebrarum. The eyelid
immediately felt unconfined, and its margin could
with ease be turned outwards; however, I thought
it necessary to divide the contraCted conjuneliva ;
this was effeCted by running the knife along the in-
ternal membrane of the eyelid, beginning at the ex-
ternal, and terminating at the internal angular sec-
tion. As soon as the bleeding ceased, the parts
were washed and dried, and a suspensorium palpe-
brarum was applied in the regular manner. Ilse
first dressings were went for thirteen days ; they
then become loose, and were removed; but the
margin of the eye was completely restored to its
proper position. However, three or four hairs, that
seemed to grow within the natural arrangement of
the cilia, still rubbed against the cornea, and kept
up a great degree of irritation. They were repeat-
edly extirpated, and vatious applications were tried
to prevent their return ; but they increased in num-
bet and strength after every operation. This deter-
mined me to take some decisive step. Upon exa-
mining the tarsus minutely, I perceived a slight de-
pression on its external edge, immediately over the
inverted hairs, and a corresponding cicatrix on the
internal membrane. The portion of the tarsus that
contained the inverted hairs was supported in its
proper position by a sitspensorium palpebrarum for
almost three weeks, and the woman was perfectly
and permanently relieved from her painful disease.
In the menth of February, 1804, she was examined