The Sun.
London, England, 1827-10-22 00:00:00

nient form, for the third clause of the act of .1825,
which allowed to slaves the aid of a solicitor at the
public expence. But then no means are provided
for enforcing the due performance of the duties of
this officer; nor is any penalty attached to his neg-
lect of them. We may therefore assume how ina-
dequately they will be performed, for a population
of 80,000 slaves, by a legal practitioner, probably in
high practice, whose only remuneration amounts to
400/. currency a-year.
" 2. It is enacted, that the evidence of slaves shall
be admitted in all cases of civil action for trespass or
assault; and in all cases of misdemeanor, felony,
murder, or any other offence, except forgery, provided
they shall produce a certificate of baptism from the
resident clergyman of the parish, and also a clergy-
man's certificate of competent religious knowledge :
and provided, too, in every case, the owner of the
slaves, or any other persons, may be summoned and
examined as to their character; and, provided, fur-
ther, that no while or free person shall be convicted
on the testimony of slaves unsupported by other evi-
dence. The testimony of slaves may, however, be.
taken against any person of free condition, who shall
be proved to have associated with them in cock-
fighting, gambling, getting drunk, or in any crime.
"3. Owners of diseased slaves suffering them to
go at large, to infest the highways,, are to forfeit 101.
for each offence. -

" 4. Owners depriving slaves of personal pro-
perty, honestly acquired, shall forfeit. double the
value ; but they may (not impound but) destroy
any hogs, sheep, goats, or poultry, belonging to
slaves trespassing on the plantations.
" h. By the former law, all runaways not elaimed
were to be sold for slaves at the end of a year. By
this, if a person committed as a runaway claims to-
be free, the marshal is to advertise for proof, and if
at the end of three months none is produced, the
Governor and Council shall examine the matter;
and unless it is proved that the person claiming to
be free iv bona fade a slave, he shall be set at liberty
as free; but if not a native of the island, he may
forthwith be deported. This is doubtless an improve-
ment. _

" 6. A tread-mill is to be erected, and to be used
in certain cases as a commutation for other modes
of punishment.
" 7. In cases of cruelty, to which only 25/. cur-
rency had been attached as a penalty, it is now
made not less than 2.5/.3 nor more than 100/. cur-

rency.
" 8. The only remaining changes consist in a few
new penal inflictions on the slave. He is to be
flogged, if he conceals a slave guilty of any offence,
or sends him off the island; or if he tempts a slave
to leave his master's service. It is also provided,
that if a slave, possessed of personal property, shall
be convicted of a theft, his property may be taken
to defray the expences of prosecution, and to indem-
nify the party injured.
" Besides this principal Act, there is a supple-
mental one passed on the same day, entitled An
Act for encouraging the baptisms and marriages of
slaves, and for the due observance of the Lord's
Day,' and which enacts, though without any sanc-
tions or penalties, that owners' (borrowing the
ineffective language of the legislature of Jamaica for
130 successive years) shall, as much as in them
lies, endeavour to instruct their slaves in the prin-
ciples of the Christian religion,' and shall cause to
be baptized, by the clergyman of the established
church, all slaves hereafter to be born, and all, al-
ready born, who shall be made sensible of the
duties of the Christian faith ;' and permitting any
clergyman of the established church' to solemnize
the marriage of any slaves, being the property of
the same owner,' producing the consent, in writ-
ing, of the owner,'—it being provided that such
marriage shall confer on slaves no rights inconsistent
with the rights of their owners. Of such baptisms
and marriages so solemnized, a register is to be kept.
By the same Act, all Sunday markets are declared
unlawful, on pain of forfeiture of the goods exposed
to sale, and of a fine of 5/: to free persons, and of a
whipping to slaves. Every recognition of the sa-
credness of the Sabbath is to be hailed with satis-
faction ; and yet, while no other day is appointed,
or given to the slave, for marketing, the measure
obviously becomes one of severity and oppression
to the slave, who is to. be flogged if he comes to
market on a Sunday, and who has, nevertheless, no
other time allowed him for that put-pose.* Inducing
or compelling Sunday labour is also forbidden, with
certain exceptions.
" A bill for abolishing the tax on manumission,
and for giving to persons who have been heretofore
manumitted without paying that tax, the right, of
which they had been debarred by an act passed in
1817, of giving testimony in Courts of Justice, has
not passed into a law, the Governor having refused
his sanction on account of some informality.t
" With these various modifications, the slave law
of Barbadoes remains in nearly the same state in
which it was left by the act of 1825; and if any one
wishes to see what are the severities of that act, he
has only to turn to the publication already referred
to, The Slave Colonies of Great Britain, p. 11 to 19.
6"rhe Assembly have attempted to vindicate their
conduct in having thus !lisappointed the wishes of
His Majesty's Government, and of the nation.T
" 1. ' The safety of the inhabitants, the interest
of their property, and the welfare of the slaves them-
se
l ve
ss have prevented
recommendations h their
prohibit
r yiel i
the g ' to Earl
Bat h
punish-
ment of women by flogging, and the use of the whip
in the field. To forbid, by legislative enactments,
the flogging of female slaves, would, in the judg-
ment of the Assembly be productive of the mpst
injurious consequences ;' especially in the case of
owners possessed of only one or two female slaves,
domestics.
"2. Considerations no less powerful prevailed

Sir Henry Warde seems almost to think (p. 204)
that it is some reparation for this act of injustice that Dr.
Maycock had made a speech at a public meeting, in which
he expressed a hope that time would be given to•the slave
in lieu of Sunday, by the considerate humanity of the mas-
ters. And yet, in expressing that hope, Dr. Maycock ad-
mits that bad it been required to give other time in lieu of
Sunday, as a condition for abolishing the Sunday market,
it would have still continued to disgrace the island."
Papers presented by command, 1827.—Part f.,
p. 204."
t Papers presented by command, p.