The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1824-01-23 00:00:00

TO THE EDITOR OF THE BRITISH PRESS.

The following letter is from the pen of a mast 'res-
pectable member of the Livoity,ol Society for the abolition
of slav,ov. It is earnestly recommended at the present
crisis to the wiTusal of' all those who take a part in the
question of West Indian slavery.
Many benevolent p..esons have joined the ranks df
the abolitionists without maturely weighing the import-
ant intevats that are at stake. They ought to be
warned that many and very scrims difficulties stand
in the way of emancipation ; that instead of arriving
at the end proposed—the extinction of slavery, revolt and
ruin would be the certain consequences of premature and
incautious measures. In a word, that the effect of their
interference would be only to increase the evil, which it is
their object to terminate.
Patti t of sight every thing but the accomplishment
of a fa scheme, some sanguine individuals are dissa-
tisfied "C the work of an age be compressed anti the
space of a day," and have yet to learn " that the affairs of
this world are not to be governed, nor the liaprin..te. of
mankind secured by intentions, however good, which mili-
tate against a sound and prudent policy."—Quarterly Re-
vol. xxix. 418.
Let it also ba remembered that emancipation has not,
until a very late period, entered into the views of those who
profers, to be most interested in the happiness of the negro
population. Subsequently to the accomplishment of the abo-
lition of the Slave-trade, Mr. Wilberforce himself has expli-
citly declared, "that an attempt had b...en made, with con-
siderable success, to confinond the abolition of the /nide in
abased,with the emancipation of those already in tie
thotigh the abolitionists took all opportunities
of-proclaiming that it was the dare trade, and not daecey,
against which they were directing their efforts." (Letter
to his Excellency the Prince Talleyrattd, &c. &c. p.
I am, fire. S. 1).
London, Jag. It, 1914

LETTER TO THE 'AVE/WOOL SOCIETY FOR THE
ABOLITION OF SLAVERY.
When I was solicited to became a number of your society, I
corsented to.be pat in nomination more from a wish to strengthen
your numbers, and to give variety to the character and callings of
Its members, thso from a hops that 1 could, by my own personal
efforts, contribtite anything to promote the cause which you advo-
cated. Haring been elected, I entered sealously on my duty,
though not thee sufficiently impressed with the Importance of the
subieet ; for the more I have since viewed it in all its cosh; ,ations
and coneemieuess; the greater the di iteulties in the way of emu- ,
chat* have appeared. From the very that I felt myself bound
tolisrse many of the principle ego.: which you were acting;
a
trust I had some share in reducing the tone and character of
y rD4 di' raann of P , lielpies, to a standard to which you may ,
appeal with satisfaction to yourselves, and without giving offence
matters. I have also found myself compelled to oppose every
marling calculated to amount the society. as to the period of
emancipation ; mid to combat many of the notions entertained as
to the treatment and condition of the slaves. If, in the course of
my opposition, I have betrayed anything like warmth of liertina-
city, it has arisen from a zealous wish to discharge what 1 con-
ceived the isomer of truth required. I know well that in the
minds of times who wild make no allowance toe constitutional tem.
geament, stab etentiesaas tat easily eztenuated ; but I trust that
awe, whisk softens allekap, will induce such persons to speak of
site with las sego* thae..l am aworipbsve done.
,Till dir. Clarkson foraged thepith a detail of his pro-
electing,. I Mt no cistopenction for the society had done; en
the mammy, what they had miesengaktipf duzing the last session of
floliaina't wasinhey, railir in/ 1 Wit when I foiled, that after
the coneemios by Fadament, the 'Eats es the abolitionists
were to he redoubled, add thin petitions wen to be got tip after
~
the manner ot,11:s Cartwright a for Reform,l felt that it was
time to lama: th 'Which wss.then little better than the impres-
s* of few, bed inilly strengthened into conviction, and beset
Idarth beesoMmy decided 'advent. I can go no further with
31si s, Miding ea hseme of dele, end of berami-
tatiMil to me. rum the expressers of my seoti-
meats I.bare.leelly resolved to withdraw. In tak-
hig *vs meats; I dad! odbr a feu obsetiations, partly in
satilleseisit Weds mut emiduct, and pertly with a view of mode-
rates *magi Id time who feel indaposed to listen to any species
oldimponwiss Realm
triVidi4 V. 4! 17 thinty*,lstgatinevertvhcliewat,abeih;eriVtileioaantv advert,
Y, to its origin end pact*. ftrawy lima institution of it
Miran« and tyymny ; sad the history of Cason shows, thug ifs
reciprocals if gam, and slurry is rombrody misprint society
bog;:
in its allow. • Trull* hi** anisig vg sermaisont. and
'slava, as odd shaiiirel.iiii si its 'Alt Olin, slavery
is the foundation olimigsment, ir „ho Smoldered that ir
A ranee 'eed ' tylsai, illitall hos . it through so
Amy ages, we: thud hi organise been to slow,
ems in Yen civilised pots of thil sad, It has *listed In an ages,
sod ib ins kis diegreliatislauz
i:lsteraaVilbli Istweiges cfolty,easx it were,
4rolf id this civilized Wien. I &not state Mirth
of "dislustp, show hew slow has been its cradles.
'lldilain.reliwbc4 it bas mimed in monmenities, the gnat majority
;zif 1114111 dam few Idd cullisul'Essa. That it hoe been so slew is
kraAdo, at Let skit* 'aches surprise ; but a temperate
rlifilior will Inatsuse di that resolutions in the affairs and
di' nraiddi ads *e melt 'of ages ; and, in my mind, he
Mho would nil* Ohm dm plural improvement has nee boss sof.
deisedy mid; seas' bs pospenod to prove that the ceder of nosnrs
and events bas Ale fieliwary senneition. Believing in the enteral
disposition if ihr:rt all time, to better his condition, I
ikuidc it Is islt as much Ins been accomplished es
p lees been all eiraunstapece lo contemplating
'lie rause ' or any portion of our species we should,
.osedibi‘ do meanie to diererrif:e lostruedmi of tam. Look.
Ind Mdkaegkz_eil dm mold et who con dpolit but that slavery
Waidthellssi to be.* lot o a 'arise pottion of our fellow.
Centuries yet to come. I, for one, have no doubt of
ft, thug:frail not without hope that their numbers will diminish,
at a rate accelerated by the civilization and Improvements which
will be headed down from steamiest to generation.
• ,After this brief rue:epee of the aisle, practice, and decline. of '
'tam tbroughoot the world, let us come to the question imme.
y before us—its gradual abolition in our West India Colo.
ties; and here, 1 confess, I can derive no light either from prem.
sent: or analogy. There is no precedent of an attempt being made
by free men so emenapate a body Ottawas, surrounding and out.
umbering them in the proportion of Bto 1. Precedent fah us;
d as to analegy. I 1:40 form no idea what will he the precise
mural ee poll al effect of any given degree of instruction, be.
cause instruction hos never' been conveyed under the same circum-
stances.

77Theislaves in the Colonies have passed through few or no stages
of improvement; they have been brought from a country where
`man exercises no natural rights, but where be is the slave of slaves,
Ignorant and ineal,irle of every thing connected with civilization.
zY hew lots es is the esse.of .europciui slaves, partaken of the
w awl silent improvew.ents which have been induced by contact
'with free men for ages ; on the contrary, they ere thrust forward
snub all their claims and all their for immediate rotten
and early emancipation. To theirce I would concede more
thee 1 would to their *Mims; their ignorance excites our com-
psasion, but their claims do not, because they are suggested b
others, aid can only be considered as like those of a minor, vmted,
it is true, but not to ease Into poaseuos , until the parties are
-capable of enjoying them. Pound in • state ofnature, in us lowest
aid most deidozable aspeet, there are, however, those who content-
plate bestowing upon them the rights and liberties of free men, at
en distant perresl; notwithstanding all experience testifies that, in
the natural pragnss of civilization, an enlargement of desire and
ehange of be 't are the work of ages*. To such persona I would
1111 in the weeds of an eleonent writer an another subject—" Veal
will find it • mu attempt to build Grecian Temples with brickbats
Arad itutriaeL"
The more I have reflected met nancipation, the more I have be-
come alarmed at the bri&rdons nature of the subject. I see a,
large number of my fellow-countrymen surrounded by a slam
pope,stion, which may any day rise up and sweep them out of
esistruce. To Kite such persons knowledge is to give then
power; sod I min distrustful of almost any scheme which is to
deer. aid govern the passions, the whirlwinds, of half-informed
minds. The sue opt to mingle blacks and whites, now separated
by feeling and principle, like the castes of India. into an harl2lo-
- society, where uninvited's wrongs shall remain untalented,
does appear to me, when I look at the vast disparity of numbers,
tri be a most perilous undertaking. I shrink from the attempt
•almost in despair, and can find no consolation in the whole subject,
but that I have dime so little to urge on that catastrophe. which I
Winder your premeditated proongs will probably. produce. I
know that what is generally understood by emancipation must and
will take place, bat never, I fear, as you propoee: your measures
wlil aceelriate the crisis, and then, for Emancipation you will have
to read Rreult.

am sensible that to remain passive spectators, of events
which, in their natural course, muct end in disaster and ruin,
without making an effort to avert the calamity. would betray a
wart of mural energy. and become a subject of just reproach. I
&sew that a system of gradual amelioration mist be put in ani-
ma ; that instruction must be conveyed to the minds of the slaves;
and if subordination followed in their train, as a certain and neces.
gory consequence, they could scarcely be imparted too rapidly, but
there is the danger and the diffkulty—a danger oat len imminent
to the slaves than to the planters; and ■ difficulty which the
planters will have to encounter without the light of experience, or
precedent as a goicle. It is obvious. therefor,, that the most con-
summate caution and the most vigilant exercise of authority must
be observed. But all this is dearly the butinesa of the planters,
fir they are surrounded with difficilties, from which there is but
one escape—they increase upon thews—and pressed as they are by
palilic opinion and the force of wireumstantee, their only resource
us amelioration. If they were wise, they would rather solicit aa-
ourtance, than depreiate every vpeties of interference; and if the
ibeitiocist,, had a joct regard far the welfare of the slaves, they
;should support. mad (if necessary) recite the planters, instead of
abusing and urging them to adopt measures, • hich would inevit-
ably prose fatal to both partin. With all the care and caution

, .
• 31r. Buxton's Speceh, 13th May, 11122—" In twenty or thirty
yews the young, the vtgorotta, siod rutting grnerntio:: will L•e lice,
and oily the ag,cl aocreind reallilk; IL slavery."