The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1824-01-20 00:00:00

lei

yo%
he first
"Peet.
colony
ith the
t it the
TY into

r not to
hat hi,
Ilia ins.
nt sash
at pre.
n for
Mere to

r iil not
irectitig

enable
)f ever,
lition of
ccesaity
len and
pal con.
si tate to
may be
in they
I by the
elfsrre
rfully to
ting this

met ot►
hr the
rat:oloLn
Sabbaly
labour,
the time
he mart
obably,
!yen, and
r, to tits
inarken
ibtruction

vcrn went
pecs.
ions eau.
Sandy
• for that

iinary to
ti of the
if Justice.
yes must
for tbeir
all slaves
Trance in
oilies, too
Iv be eon-
lent of tin

In., that,
tloptcd by
tleclarOg
all txcapt,

i I'ourt.to
LI either of

religious
to instruct

itntas has

ion as, is
to tinder-
-1Y: cos-
:r of the
as would
preventing
ry to keep
potency to
•n certifiel
1 in such'
, and *
such ccr.•
ifk sties ss
164 as rair
M-
ei:mown;
e such ilia
ge of Est

bc founds.
c system rt
iscratior
to canigial
carrot be
his institir,
niers whici
Clic prised
.nts another
Lv, it will
litre with I
nv, or ens
ith any Fr.

dy takes of
;Laudon;

a as pow
sine estate!,
lits is mane
h moreover
of the 'We
.art of this
r exemptirg
Firm nnw..
'al the nth-
Ileinnisatiss
risers miiMt
engaged to
s where the
:nplanil era•
liken that 111
the riri4
nsent of the

tile "astel
i• *lieulll te
is resistartc

Patties

)ur attentiof

;; obescle
.ttri from the
co!ony, hie
learn tbst
pre, ; no
;;;y the cet".
nril rim' u•
al reef wifiell
mire peeill"
freer

he owncr.

den of mu,-
would be is*
to be nittiv'
Secretary
•istcring tEe
he slave Ir.'i
age. and .ti
,
.':e! or intro-
years of agr.
in those eto^
mired, bef._.
owners VO.'
V should, tg.
!could,
n in the ease
Lit Own 1142 b.
wens to trli"
,1 urged tilt'
tc, cannot k"
his own free.
/.
form DOII&
r course.
of the 8111°
n might k
!night be Po:
e in the mt'
'es to;L:111 bi

brought to enforce the performance of it: A third, and
ch more rious obstacle to manumission, arises out of
tlw legal limitations under which slaves are frequently held.
Thus , for e oainple, a slave and his issue may have been
ode the so'O.ct of entails, cr of family settlements, or
may be held under two or more successive mortgages, &c.;
sod his mautermission cannot be effected without the con-
currence of a series of reversioners, remainder-men, mon-
gooses, or en vogagors, some of whom may be infants, and
others, who may not even be in existence during the life of
the stove. A ilidieulty analogous to this arises from the
case of doubt Oil or disputable titles, and from the circum-
stance of a slave being regarded as assets for the payment
of the debts o' a dicta.`: l owner ; since in either of these
eel, it is inotossihle for the individual prepared to eman-
cipate such s'ave, to know in whom the legal right to the
slave is vested. The p oteleney of a suit or action, involv-
ing the question of the title of the two litigant parties to
a slave, imposes on the latter the necessity of waiting the
determination of the controversy, before he can safely pay
to either the prier of his freedom.
To remove all the pr colitis; obstacles to manumission.
li
you will thervOmre propose to the lootgislature of
•---- to 1,0,51 a law to the following effect :—Permanent I
Commissioners should be appointed, who (on application
is ing made by. or on the behalf of any slave, with his
master's consent) should ascertain the names and places of,
abode of every loosen having ally interest, or probable in-
terest in him, either as tenant fur years or for life, as re-
versioner, remainder-man. mortgagee, mortgagor, trustee,
executor, receiver, or creditor of any deceased owners, or
their agenm, all these persons should he anemone el, by
personal notice if possible ; and if not, then by public ad-
vertisement, to att. nil at the time and place of time ap-
Praisement of the alive. The appraisement should take
place at the time and place to be thus appointed, in the
presence of at least cne t'oinenissiener, and by at least one
sworn Appraiser; and the Cononisaioners should have au-
thority, on application made within one month, by any of
the parties ins rested, to direct a new spin:flacon tit, in
MC there should s seta reason to dispute the justice of the
original volute:tom The second appraiscment should he
Anal. The aopraiaid value should then be paid into the
Colonial Tr, asnry. The Treasurer should invest the
amount in good sseutity ; and every right which formerly
existed in the slave, should thenceforward exist, not in
him, but on the food to be thus purchased by the ap-
praised price of his freedom.
The lost teeOc relating to manumission, to which I think
It necessary at present to advert, is the loss of the deed of
roanumissi.on. It will be expolicnt that provision should
be made for the registration of all manumissions ; and
that to s. curt punctuality in this respect, a simple form of
Icanutbission should be prescribed by legislative autho-
rity, and that the appearance of the party before the Re-
gistrar, or cue of his d, pieties, should he an essential part
of every act of manumission.
I have 'lost to advert to the subject of the sale of slaves,
in satisfaction of the debts of tleir owners. Among the
whole rang? of projected improvements in the Colonial
systenn, there is, perhaps, none which, on an attentive
consideration, will be found to present more difficulties
than this.
As far as the rules of Colonial law, respecting the sale
of slaves, arc to los collected from the documents in this
office, they may. I conceive, be stated, without any ma-
terial inaccuracy. as followa :
First— It appears to be a general maxim in our Colonial
jurisprudence, that the whole property of the debtor, whe-
ther real or personal, and all his interest in real estates,
whether legal or equitable, may be taken in execution, and
I sold in satisfaction of any judgment against him. I fur-
-1 tha collect, that in the order of sale, the executive officer
of the Court,. (the Sheriff or Provost Marshal) is bound
to seize and sell such property in the following order:
that is—lie ia first to take tie severed crops, then the
moveable wde, then the debts due to the defendant, then
his plantation utensils, then his slaves, and lastly his
land; resorting to the two latter descriptions of property
only, in res., of a deficiency in the former. It also seems,
that in every one of the Colonies, a judgment has the effect
of a mortgne upon all the immoveable property, and upon
all the interests in such property, which were vested in the
debtor, when judgment was entered against him.
Lastly—lt soma that an earlier judgment will, in the
wider of payment, take precedence of a later mortgage.
A judgment, having sea much greater effect in the COIO.
Ties than in England, the number entered in the West
Indies bears a most unusual proportion to the numb! r of
the free inhabitants, and to the extent of their pecuniary
transactions. Another result has been, that morteagies
have usually taken judgments as a collateral security for
the advances they have made. There is, therefore. a large
laxly of persons toiling charges on the slaves throughout
the Colonies, which they have acquired upon the faith of
laws loosed by the Assemblies, and subsequently approved
by the Croon. Now, if a law were introduced by which
the sale of slaves under legal process, in satisfaction of time
debts of the proprietor' were prohibited absolutely and
without qualification, the rights thus acquired Under acts
of assembly would be subverted, and I tun not prepared to
reoinmen( a measure trenching so largely on the tights of
pirate property. Supposing that the prohibition were
prospeetive only, and that it therefore should aff ct neer, ly
done debts which might subsequintly be contracted, still
the provost Marshal might put up the utensils, and the
land itself to sale ; and it is obviously immaterial to the
present question. whether the slaves ate sold without time
land, or time land without the slaves. Suppesirg further,
that both time land, the slaves, and the utensils, were with-
drawn from legal process, if the proprietor still retained
the ?toyer of voluntary sale, the practical result would be
this, that men would then relieve their necessities by sell-
their siesta, as they could find purchasers, instead of
rowing motley on the credit of them as at present. It
seems then, to foliose, that the absolute prohibition of the
sale of saves in satisfmmetion of the dchts of the proprietor,
would not have the effect of preventing time forced separa-
tion of the slave from his leoeue, tudess the right of volun-
tary sale were siva taken away. But a prohibition thus
extensive is a more coosiderable innovation on the law
than I ant prepared to recommend.
It is cat:sfactory, however, to remark that although the
theory of the law allows the sale of slaves to payoler debts
of the owner, yet, in practice, such sales can only take place
where the owner has the fee simple of the land and slaves
fwh:ch, from the practice of strict entails, in the West
'rites, is, in many of the Colonies, unusual), and has
also not contracted any mortgage debt, which ( I am afraid)
is, in most of them, 51:11 more move Th • 1 and
the dates teeing nimm.
I dilf
ong almost woversally
as one onsolidated property, settled, or mortgaged
the rights of the reversiouer,
or remaimterotian in the one caw—' n
• of the mortoagee in
the other, necesoirily prey cot
illou•eFi thereforeditir from selling the
slaves apart from the land.
infer that the great maierity of slaves who are dbir'oP°ftughdt to
o
sale for the pay:of:tit of their Illab!Cr'S debts, whether under
tile out Enelialm writ of " seadoooti eaponoe” in Jamaica,or under the general exacoruetisoorie:ldirec tot by the Court ft:lS
of time smaller islands, with the land, and suffer
to other alteration 'from the tranfaction than that of a
close: of masters.. The staves who are sold at parately are,
t'o'rear in all
oi priehalility (fur the
returoslive no acme-
whs I this t
prom') for the greater part, thow
re lost habitually worked upon the plantations, toed
are in general the elotiootiservants e • • toriuy,mi by
,bt, .owof
1 it LAY ners, or are
er classes ot free men in various menial
C.C4011,1:4.5a05. for the profit of their masters. Slaves thus
,
ioli Leo are not, perhaps, materially injured by a
,tl.',7µ.nt,
ioiry sale, since their employments are not such as
s strung local attachments.
I...,,sitteiii ernes to
derree the removal of cloves from
to satisfy the debts of their owners may
It is obviously fit that it should, if possible, be pre-
m'cer;.."!. and that precaution should be taken against the
- If.s.metit occurrence of such removals Imereafte.r. I
Lore, with reference to the preceding remarks, to
e.„L tan the attention of' the Legislature of the
it to the following amendments of
,91'''n this subject. Without infeinging on the
1„4 „ivy kids:meta creditors who may at present
1.4
i!Nneti.aivil judgments, provision might be trade
al to,. t
toing the keeping of such judgments alive
os for which they may have been obtained.
been really satisfied. A time should aiso
icy oteel whore no existing jeoloome. tet should
, of btirg riVorced. With re ferenee t
( which may be hereafter obtained, the cow-
-1 n issue on them nifght perhaps be. both
1 d, a sequestration rather than a sale ; that
. • creditor might he p.. millet! to take possession

of the estate, slaves, and ufenigla, and to bold them toge-
ther until his claims were satisfied by the proceeds; or the
rents and profits of the land, slaves, and utensils, might
he put up to sale as one entire lot, without 'removing the one
from the other. lf, however, the substitution of a seques-
tration for a sale should not be practicable,. the only other
plan which I can suggest is that of directing that the land,
slaves, and plantation utensils, shall always be sold toge-
ther in one entire lot. It may be also expedient to provide
that slaves shall not in future be considered as separate
assets for the payment of debts of the deceased owner, bill
that the land, and slaves, and plantation stock, shall always
be sold together.
With regard to all slaves, whether attached to estates or
not, you will propose an enactment prohibiting their being
sold apart from their husbands or wives, or apart from any
child who may be under the age of fourteen. As, unhap-
pily, the disuse of marriage has prevented the growth of soy
legal relationship between the slaves, the prohibition must
extend to th. case of repOrd husbands, wives, or children.
I have also to suggest, that if the debtor should not be the
proprietor, both of the husband and wife, or of the parents
and children, an appraisement should be made of the va-
lue of such members of a family as are the property of the
debtor, and they should be offered at something below such
appraised value to the proprietor of the other members of
the family.
On the subject of the punishment of slaves, I have al-
ready in some degree anticipated the object of the presen:
despatch, by directing that legislative measures should be
proposed for preventing the punishment of flogging in
every case where the offender is a woman ; I also pointed
out the necessity of prohibiting the use of the whip in the
field. I have now, in addition to those instructions, to di-
rect that you will cause some effectual law to be submitted
to the legislature, for preventing any domestic punishment
whatever, until the day following that on which the of-
fence may have been committed, and even then, except in
the presence of one free person, besides the person under
whose authority the punishment may be inflicted. If the
punishment shOuld exceed three lashes, it should be provided
that a regular entry should be made in a plantation book to
be kept for that purpose : first, of the nature of the QM nee ;
secondly, of the time when, and of the place where it was
committed; thirdly, of the names of the free persons pre-
sent at the punishment; and fourthly, of the number of
lashes received. The accuracy of the entries in this bock
should be certified quarterly, by an oath to be taken by the
owner, manager, or overseer, before a tnagistra:e. As the
offence of punishing a slave in the absence of any free per-
son would not be susceptible of direct proof, if it should
happen that the slaves themselves were not among that
class whcse evidence it is proposed to admit, to insure as
tar as possible the detection of any such counteraction of
the law, it mould be enacted, that if the person of a slave
should exhibit masks of recent flozging or mutilation,
which lie or any other slave should state to be the traces
of punishment not duly registered, such appearances
should be considered sufficient to raise a presumption of
the law having been broken, sod the manager or overseer
should he condemned to suffer a given penalty to be
enacted, unless be could repel that provamption by sufli-
cit nt evidence.

The last subject to which i propose at present to advert
is, the necessity of insuring to the slave the enjoyment of
whatever proptrty lie may be able to acquire. For this
purpose Savings Banks should be established under legis-
lative authority, upon the model of those in Ergland, but
with this alteration, via. that the depositor should at the.
time of first becoming a subscriber, state to whom, in the
event of his own death, the fund is to devolve. An entry
of this declaration being duly registered at the Bank,
should be declared equivalent to a will in the absence of

any other.
In conclusion, I have mast earnestly to impress upon
you the necessity of proceeding to tarry these improve-
ments into effect, not only with all possible despatch. but
in the spirit of perfect and cordial co-operation with the
efforts of his Majesty's Government. More particularlY,
yen will be attentive to have the necessary laws frattu'l

with such precaution and 1 oresight, as. it pessille, to provide
an cff.ctual security for the faithful observance of them.

To this end you will consult with the legal advisers of the
Crown on the frame of the necessary bills, and you will
from time to time communicate with toe upon the pro-
gress you make in this won►, or upon the ilifacultits which
may obstruct its completion, and if (what I ant unwilling
to imagine) yen should meet with any serious opposition,
you will lore no time in transmitting to me the ueemary
communication, in order that 1 may take the earliest oppor-
tunity of laying the matter before Parliament, and submit-
ting for their consideration such ineaLures as it may be fit
to adopt in cons:•quence.
I have the honour to be,
Your obedient servant,