Between the West India Pr...
The Times, 1824-11-18T00:00:00

Between the West Inilia Proprietors andl their aitago. fists, our Miniisters at lhome do not appear to stand in the mr.ost comfortablc contlitiol. The planters, tTtrough whom an inmmene revenue is raised, are thireatening Hlis AIA- JESTY'S Government on one side with a total ruin and ex- tinction of the colonies if any interference shoultl be en- couraged between inaster aud slave; while, on the other 'side, the abolitionists, whlo thiik little abiut revenue, and care not much, perhaps, for sugar colonies, are incessaiitly urging Miniisters to carry their interposition to a point wvhich the others insist would he destructive of all disci- pline, security, and property in the West Indies. The system of Ministers has been (discreetly, as it seems to us) to mediate between these parties; but with what suecess they have enforced their own principle is rather tloubtful, if we are to judge by (he fernmentation which still continues iua most of the islands,where thecircularsof Lord BATHIItRsT have been construed, by whites anid blacks, as direct ad- vances towartds negro emancipation, and have been as wildly, j perverted by the slave, as they are hotly canvassed and in- dianantly deprecated by his owner. In Trinidad, the re- monstranices against the newv arrangements of the Crown went so far, as to derrand of Sir RALPH WOODFORD a sus- penision of the KI-NG's oilders until a fiulrther exchange of communications should take place with England-a reqttest which it was impossible for any Governor in his senses to acce(le to. Sir RALPH, however, did transmit to the Colo- nial Secretary the catalogue of complaints w*hichi were fur- nished to hirn by the colonists, and has latterly issued a proclamationi, detailing such constructions anid explanatory supplements, as he was authorized by Lord B&TvURST to subjoin to the original letter. Oin these we have only to remark, that they are for the most part coticeived in a spirit of becoming moderation and humanity, with a lean- ing (if any) in favour of the unfortLnate Negro. To an objection by the colonists, that the abolition of the wlhip must be attended 'with considerable danger, it is replied, that the whip shall be disused no otherwise than as a constant and immediate stimulus to labour, but not in all cases as a means of necessary andI deliberate chastisement A second objection having bcen made upon this point-viz. that an exemption froti coT- poral punishment in all instances will place the female slave on a better footing than tnat of the free woman of colour, Lord BATITURST lhas autlhorized Sir RA.rm WVooD- roaI) to publish the mnerciful and manly assuranice, that Government consider such a fact to be ground sufficient for ertending the relief to the free woman-nlot for wi-h drawing it from the slave. It is provided by the nlew supplementary regulations, that no work of any kind, ex- cept where the absolute safety of property may be con- cerned, shall be required of the Negro on Sunday ; and that on Satirdlay he shall not hire himsc-lf to any person, not to his own master more than others, for any description of labour-a prudent safeguiard, as most people vill be of opinion, against collusive evasions of the law. h'lhere ap- pears, we may add, throughout this reconsidered expres- sion of the views of Miinisters, a degree of temper and good feeling from which wye have no desire to withhold our praise. The present docum6nt may of course be regarded as applying in principle,with due allowance to localities, to the otlier islands, and is therefore to be held as possessing the mere importance.