all, that the very evil which the repealed act was falsely alleged to produce would be produced by the act of repeal; for the land would continue liable to be sold under 5 Geo. II., while the slaves would not; and the latter would obviously be torn from their settlement by the estate being sold from the debtor to whom they belong, as effectually as if they were sold from the estate.

But the colonial legislators have been so far from giving effect to the intentions of parliament and suggestion of government, that they treated both with contempt, and the liability of slaves to be sold by legal process is still left every where on its former footing.

By the 55th section of the Bahama Consolidation Slave Act, passed this year, the jury are required to be unanimous in their verdict on the trial of a felonious offence.

That the lower class of white persons frequently rob the slaves is proved by the following extract from the report of the assembly of St. Christopher, dated 1797. It was the practice of some of the lower class of white persons to beat and ill treat the Negroes, and frequently to take from them any articles that they carried to town for sale." And Sir William Young, a planter and zealous apologist of slavery, when governor of Tobago, states, in his report of 1811, that "the slaves coming from distant plantations to the market of Scarborough (the chief town), with poultry, pigs, corn, and fruit for sale, were often defrauded in weight and measure, or their goods were forced from them at a less price than they asked, or they were robbed of the whole by some miscreant white people, or Mulatto housekeeper, with impunity, slaves not being admitted to give evidence of the wrong they had suffered from a person who is free."

Sir William represented that an act had put a stop to these abuses; but he was too sanguine in his expectations, for he afterwards speaks of the utter inefficacy of all laws for the protection of slaves while their evidence is rejected.

Upon the 6th of May, the Duke of Portland sent the following circular letter to the governors of Jamaica, St. Vincent's, Dominica, Barbadoes, Leeward Islands, and Grenada.

"MY LORD, or SIR,

"Whitehall, 6th May, 1797.

"I have received his Majesty's commands to transmit to your lordship the enclosed resolution of the House of Commons of the 6th of April last, respecting the Negroes in his Majesty's plantations in the West Indies; and to signify to you his royal pleasure, that you should take the earliest opportunity of communicating it to the council and assembly of the island of , to whose particular attention and consideration you will recommend the formation of such a system of measures as may appear to them best suited to the attainment of the several important objects which are specified

Stephen on West Indian Slavery, pp. 157. 316.

Parliamentary Papers, A. 11.

in the resolution. Your lordship will not fail to transmit to me, from time to time, accounts of the proceedings of the legislature of your island, in consequence of this communication; and I desire you will take care, in your first dispatches, to inform me whether any measures have been already taken by the legislature of the island, which may tend to promote the purposes expressed by the resolution of the House of Commons; and you will also be attentive at all times, to avail yourself of every opportunity of cultivating and improving the disposition you observe in the planters and inhabitants to promote the humane and benevolent views which the legislature of this kingdom has so eminently manifested in the resolution which is herewith transmitted to you.

"I am, &c.,

"PORTLAND."

The Address of the House of Commons.

Jovis, 6° die Aprilis, 1797.

Resolved, "That an humble address be presented to his Majesty, requesting that his Majesty will be graciously pleased to give directions to the governors of his Majesty's plantations in the West Indies, to recommend to the respective councils and assemblies of the said plantations to adopt such measures as shall appear to them best calculated to obviate the causes which have hitherto impeded the natural increase of the Negroes already in the islands, gradually to diminish the necessity of the slave trade, and ultimately to lead to its complete termination; and particularly, with a view to the same effect, to employ such means as may conduce to the moral and religious improvement of the Negroes, and secure to them, throughout all the British West India islands, the certain, immediate, and active protection of the law; and at the same time assuring his Majesty, that this house will concur in such measures as shall appear requisite to be taken by this house for the attainment of the same object."

The Spanish government had adopted several regulations to oblige the merchants to compose their cargoes for America of national commodities. "In a little time they exacted but a third; but to those who included more than a third of their cargoes, they allowed a premium in the reduction of the duties. Finally, by an order of the 20th of November, 1797, the King accorded to shippers the liberty to export as they pleased, either in foreign or national commodities."

Sir Thomas Picton's Proclamation.

"By virtue of an official paper which I, the governor of this island of Trinidad, have received from the Right Honourable Henry

Depon's South America, vol. ii. p. 25.

Dundas, minister of His Britannic Majesty for foreign affairs, dated the 7th of April, 1797, which I here publish in obedience to orders, and for the use which your excellency may draw from its publication, in order that you may communicate its tenor, which is literally as follows:-The object which at present I desire most particularly to recommend to your attention, is the means which might be best adapted to liberate the people of the continent near to the island of Trinidad from the oppressive and tyrannic system which supports with so much rigour the monopoly of commerce, under the title of exclusive registers which their government licences demand; also to draw the greatest advantages possible, and which the local situation of the island presents, by opening a direct and free communication with the other parts of the world, without prejudice to the commerce of the British nation. In order to fulfil this intention with greater facility, it will be prudent for your excellency to animate the inhabitants of Trinidad in keeping up the communication which they had with those of Terra Firma previous to the reduction of that island, under the assurance that they will find there an entrepôt or general magazine of every sort of goods whatever. To this end, His Britannic Majesty has determined in council to grant freedom to the ports of Trinidad, with a direct trade to Great Britain. With regard to the hopes you entertain of raising the spirits of those persons with whom you are in correspondence, towards encouraging the inhabitants to resist the oppressive authority of their government, I have little more to say, than that they may be certain, that whenever they are in that disposition, they may receive at your hands all the succours to be expected from His Britannic Majesty, be it with forces, or with arms and ammunition to any extent; with the assurance, that the views of His Britannic Majesty go no further than to secure to them their independence, without pretending to any sovereignty over their country, nor even to interfere in the privileges of the people, nor in their political, civil, or religious rights.'

Puerto de Espana, 26 June 1797.

THOMAS PICTON, &c. &c."

Upon the 12th of February, Rear-Admiral Harvey, with the squadron under his command, sailed from Martinico to join some transports with troops on board at Cariacou. On the 15th, in the morning, the fleet sailed from Cariacou, and on the 16th passed the Bocas, and found the Spanish admiral, with four sail of the line and a frigate, at anchor under cover of the island of Gaspergrande, which was fortified. The squadron worked up, and came to an anchor opposite to and nearly within gun shot of the Spanish

Annual Register, 1797, p. 54.
General Abercrombie's Official Letter.

ships. The frigates and transports were ordered higher up the bay, and they anchored about five miles from the town of Port d'Espagne. The disposition was immediately made for landing at daylight next morning, and for a general attack upon the town and ships of war. At two in the morning of the 17th, the Spanish ships were observed to be on fire; they burnt with great fury, one line of battle-ship excepted, which escaped the conflagration, and was taken possession of at daylight, by the boats of the fleet. The enemy at the same time evacuated the island and abandoned that quarter. quarter. The troops were immediately ordered to land; and as soon as a few hundred men could be got on shore, about four miles to the westward of the town, General Abercrombie advanced, meeting with little or no resistance.

Before night he was master of Port d'Espagne and the neighbourhood, two small forts excepted. In the morning, a capitulation' was entered into with the governor Don Chacon; and in the

Annual Register, 1797, p. 54.
General Abercrombie's Official Letter,

Articles of Capitulation for the surrender of the Island of Trinidad, between his Excellency Sir Ralph Abercrombie, K. B. Commander-in-Chief of His Britannic Majesty's Land Forces, Henry Harvey, Esq. Rear Admiral of the Red, and Commander-in Chief of His Britannic Majesty's Ships and Vessels of War, and his Excellency Don Josef Maria Chacon, Knight of the Order of Calatrava, Brigadier of the Royal Navy, Governor and Commander-in Chief of the Island of Trinidad and its Dependencies, Inspector General of the Troops of its Garrison, &c. &c.

"ART. 1. The officers and troops of His Catholic Majesty and his allies in the island of Trinidad, are to surrender themselves prisoners of war, and are to deliver up the territory, forts, buildings, arms, ammunition, money, effects, plans, and stores, with exact inventories thereof, belonging to His Catholic Majesty; and they are thereby transferred to His Britannic Majesty in the same manner and possession as has been held heretofore by his said Catholic Majesty.

"2. The troops of His Catholic Majesty are to march out with the honours of war, and to lay down their arms at the distance of 300 paces from the forts they occupy, at five o'clock this evening, the 18th of February.

"3. All the officers and troops aforesaid of His Catholic Majesty are allowed to keep their private effects, and the officers

"4. Admiral Don Sebastian Ruiz de Apodaca being on shore in the island, after having burnt and abandoned his ships, he, with the officers and men belonging to the squadron under his command, are included in this capitulation, under the same terms as are granted to His Catholic Majesty's troops.

"5. As soon as ships can be conveniently provided for the purpose, the prisoners are to be conveyed to Old Spain, they remaining prisoners of war until exchanged by a cartel between the two nations, or until peace, it being clearly understood that they shall not serve against Great Britain or her allies until exchanged.

"6. There being some officers among His Catholic Majesty's troops, whose private affairs require their presence at different places of the continent of America, such officers are permitted to go upon their parole to the said places for six months, more or less, after which period they are to return to Europe; but as the number receiving this indulgence must be limited, his Excellency Don Chacon will previously deliver to the British commanders a list of their names, ranks, and places which they are going to.

"7. The officers of the royal administration, upon the delivery of stores with which they are charged to such officers as may be appointed by the British commanders, will receive receipts, according to the custom in like cases, from the officers so appointed to receive the stores.

evening all the Spanish troops laid down their arms, and the whole colony passed under the dominion of His Britannic Majesty.

Lieutenant Villeneuve, of the 8th regiment of foot, was the only person wounded: he died soon afterwards.

General Abercrombie thanks Captain Woolley, of his Majesty's

Annual Register, 1797, p. 54.
General Abercrombie's Official Letter.

List of the Fleet with Lieutenant General Sir R. Abercrombie, at the capture of the island of Trinidad, on the 18th of February, 1797.

Ulysses armed transport, 44, Lieutenant George Lempriere; Zebra, 16, and Bittern,