The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1833-05-14 00:00:00

SLAVE EMANCIPATION.

The following is the government plan :—lt is proposed—
I. That every slave, upon the passing of this act, should be .at
liberty to claim, before the protector of slaves, custos of the pa-
rish, or such other officer as shall be named by his Majesty for
that purpose, to be registered as an apprenticed labourer.
IL That the terms of such apprenticeship should be-
-Ist. That the power of corporal punishment should be alto-
gether taken.from the master, and transferred to the magistrate.
2nd. That in consideration of food and clothing, and such al-
lowances as are now made by law to the slave, the labourer
should work for his master three-fourths of his time, leaving i%
to be settled by contract whether for three-fourths of the week
or of each day.

3rd. That the labourer should have a right to claim employ-
ment of his master for the remaining one-fourth of his time, ac-
cording to a fixed scale of wages.
.Ith.l'hat during such one-fourth of his time the labourer
should be at liberty to employ himself elsewhere.
sth. That the master should fix a price upon the labourer at
the time of his apprenticeship.
6th. That the wages to be paid by the master should bear
such a proportion to the price fixed by him, that for the whole
of his spare time, if given to the master, the negro should re-
ceive 1-12th of his price annually ; and in proportion for each
lesser term.

7th. That every negro, on becoming an apprentice, shall be
entitled to a money-payment weekly, in lieu of food and cloth-
ing, should he prefer it, the amount to be fixed by, a magistrate
with reference to the actual cost of the legal provision.
Bth. 'rat every apprenticed labourer be Wound to pay a por-
tion, to be fixed, of his wages, half-yearly, to an officer to be
appointed by his Majesty.
9th. That in default of such payment the master he liable,
and, in return, may exact an equivalent amount of labour with-
out paymen't in the succeeding half-year.
10th. That every apprenticed negro, on payment of the price
fixed by his master, or such portion of it as may from time to
time remain due, be absolutely free.
11th. That every such apprentice may borrow the sum so re-
quired, and bind himself, by contract before a magistrate, for a
limited period, as an apprenticed labourer to the lender.
111. That a loan to the amount of £15,000,000 sterling be
granted to the proprietors of West Indian estates and slaves, on
such security as may be approved by commissioners appointed
by the Lords Commissioners of his Majesty's treasury.
IV. That such loan be distributed among the different colo-
nies, in a ratio compounded of the number of slaves, and the
amount of exports.
V. That the half-yearly payments hereinbefore authorized to
be made by the apprenticed neeroes be taken in liquidation of
so much of the debt contracted by the planter to the public.
VI. That all children who at ttie time of the passing of this
act shall be under the age of six years be free, and be main-
tained by their respective parents.
VII. 'That in failure of such maintenance they be deemed
apprentices to the master of the parents (without receiving
wages,) the males till the age of 24, the females to the age of
20, at which periods respectively they and their children, if any,
shall be absolutely free.
VIII. That this act shall not prevent his Majesty from as-
senting to such acts as may be passed by the colonial legisla-
tures for the promotion of industry or the prevention of va-
grancy, applicable to all classes of the community.
IX. That upon the recommendation of the local legislatures,
his Majesty will be prepared to recommend to Parliament, out
of the revenues of this country, to grant such aid as may be
deemed necessary for the due support of the administration of
justice, of an efficient police establishment, and of a general
system of religious and moral education.