The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1852-10-05 00:00:00

been easily put down. The Commander of ti
repeatedly asked for orders, but in vair

f-battle-ship and a steamer were at hand to re-

store order; and an offer of assistance was received
the neighbouring Spanish colony of Porto

Rico. Still the Governor-General, VoN SHOLTEN,
refused to act ; and, at length, whether from

cowardice

or from some other motive, we know

not, that functionary, to the an

nent of t

colonists, proc

aimed the uncond
in the Danish P

although neither at St. John's, nor St. Thomas's,
had there been the slightest disturbance. For this
act, on his return to Europe, he was tried by a
Commission at Copenhagen, and condemned for a
dereliction of duty.

Under such circumstances, the Colonists na-
turally look for compensation for their property;
and be it remarked that the right of ownership in
a slave was more strongly recognised by the Danish
Laws than by those of Great Britain. A large

6 2
portion of the population thus illegally enfranchised
left the Estates, refusing to work at all, whilst the

remainder were only willing to do so at greatl

advanced rates. In November, 1843, a King's
Commissioner was sent out by the Government of

Denmark, by whom a law was framed, establis

regulations for hiring of labour and service, un er
which cultivation has since been carried on, and
these Islands prevented from sinking into utter
ruin. Impoverished though they are, the Colonists

abstained until last year from pressing their claims
urgently, considering, with a patriotism worthy of
their race, that whilst the mother country was
engaged in her struggle with the revolted Duchies
and Prussia, she required all the resources which
she could provide. In their Memorial. however, of
June last, which is at present before the Danish
Government, they remark :--" Now, that the
clouds which obscured the political horizon have
been dissipated ; now, that a glorious war is con-
cluded, and peace sheds its blessings over Denmark,
we can no longer defer our just demand for corn-
Densation, lest our silence should be construed into
acquiescence with the act by which we have been
despoiled of our property, or interpreted as an
abandonment of our claims."

Although there cannot be the
as to the justice of this claim, that point is very ably
argued in the document from which we have
quoted. England, France and Sweden have granted
The Dutch Government has de-

shadow of

compensation

dared that it will not abolish Slavery without
granting compensation. There is only a solitary
instance of such an act of injustice; and that was
committed by the National Convention of France in
1793. Ten years afterwards, in 1802, under the
first Consulate, that act was declared to have been
one of spoliation ; and Slavery was re-established
in the French Colonies. We trust that further
delay on the part of Denmark, in satisfying the
claims of her West India Colonists, to many of
whom an early settlement is a matter of almost life
and death, may occur. Such a settlement would
tend very materially to increase the respect in which
her character is held throughout Europe.