authority would be diminished by the impunity of their offences. This at once begets cruelty in the legislator, and forbearance in the breast of the judge; and whilst it teaches us the contradictory temper of tyranny, shews there are remedies in the order of nature to cure even the evils of slavery. Hard, indeed, would be the condition of him who is deprived of that will, which by the moral responsibility annexed to the enjoyment of it, nature intended for her creatures, were there not in the circle of man's civil progression, some compensation for its loss, some atonement, however slight, for its involuntary sacrifice. But to return to the

manner of proceeding on the trial of slaves.

"In all common cases, a Justice of the Peace is empowered to "hear the complaint, and proceed to judgment; and on the most "ordinary and trivial aggressions, the evidence of the first gentle66 men in Barbadoes, against the worst negro, is given on oath. "But in cases of felony, two Justices of the Peace are required "to take cognizance of the offence, and to summon a jury of three "freeholders; not merely of the vicinity, lest any partiality "should be used in the selection, but who are nearest to the spot "where the felonious act was committed. Here the same forma. "lity is practised, as in all judicial proceedings. The accused is "confronted with his accuser and the witnesses; he has counsel "assigned him at the expence of his master, and every means "known to the courts at Westminster Hall, are employed in the "full and fair investigation of the cause. When the evidence is "closed, the magistrates and the jury, collectively, are left to de"cide, and a single dissentient absolves the prisoner from guilt. "If he is convicted, there yet remains another chance of saving "him from the sentence of the law, the right of appeal to the "Governor and Council; a right which is usually exercised, "whenever there is the least prospect of its being successful."

&

"To this trial," says the author, "the only objection which "can possibly exist, is to the number of the jury. It might, "however, be doubted by the sceptical inquirer, whether the "mode of trial, which was intended to guard the rights of free men, "be in reality an acquisition to slaves, The trial by jury, it (( might be said, does not create in the breast of the slave that high (6 assurance, that his cause will be canvassed by justice and im "partiality, which is its best characteristic; but degraded as is "the negro in condition, he sees in his jurymen whites, who are the enemies of his race. Nor would his rights be affected by that summary process, which usually marks governments that

"are despotical, and nations that are enslaved; for what rights "in effect has a slave to lose? But in reality the owners of slaves 66 are humane from policy, and sedulous of their lives from interest; "and the deliberative slowness of the trial by Jury, gives time "to these calculating principles of our nature to expand and "operate."

This is all we could gather from our author on the state of slavery in Barbadoes a subject which, of all others, interests our feelings and warms our imaginations. It is lamentable to think, that there are so many thousands of our fellow-creatures lost to morals, to science, and to humanity, through the selfish and base purpose of pampering the luxuries of a few of their species. Policy may indeed require that the préscription of property remain inviolate, and justice may dictate that what has been established by public sanction, should be guarded by public faith; but the time is not far distant when the Negroes will assert the native independence of their nature, and bury their chains amid the ruins of their oppressors. They have now the example of Hayti before their eyes, nor is there any thing so dreadful in rebellion as the abjectness of slavery. It needs but time and the accession of a few ideas, which the abolition of the slave trade will tend to excite, to turn them loose on their owners. Dreadful indeed will be the havoc that will ensue! But we turn our eyes with horror and dismay from the contemplation of this scene, nor will we call up the prophetic spirit to lap the blood of our brethren. The lesson, however, may be learned by statesmen, how dangerous it is to disturb the natural order of society, and to expose so foul an example to the world, as that the right of the stronger should be the rule of the universe.

The cries of politicians for the decline of population, are usually weak and chimerical. Arising, as does marriage, from the intentions of nature, and by no means proceeding from the artificial refinements of man, it will ever furnish citizens for the state, if there be room for their labour, or food for their support. But Barbadoes is placed under peculiar

circumstances. The newly-settled southern colonies, offer abundant field for industry and speculation; the proprietors of plantations find it their interest to elude the laws which enact, that there shall be cottages for poorer tenants, in proportion to the number of their acres; the slaves who are trained up by their owners for this purpose, turn the poorer whites fairly out of the market of competition, as artisans or mechanics. Thus exiled from home, this unhappy people are forced to seek a miserable subsistence on foreign shores, and Barbadoes is deprived of the most valuable of her citizens. This is an evil particularly to be dreaded, in a country whose population consists of slaves as well as free men. The former must gain boldness from numbers, nor is there any chance for victory to the whites, when they may be so greatly overpowered by the physical force of their opponents. The enforcement of the militia act, by which the planter may be obliged to send armed whites into the field, and the discouragement of slaves in the mechanical arts, are recommended by our author as remedies for this evil. But perhaps the abolition of the slave trade will do more for its suppression, than positive statutes, which are always either useless or dangerous when they go counter to the interests of men. It will now be to the advantage of the proprietor, to bring up his slave to the cultivation of the soil, as he can no longer rely on Africa for supplies for his gang.

It now remains that we should give our opinion concerning the general merits of the work. It might be said of this history, as of the Palace of the Sun, that the materials are of less value than the execution of the workmanship. The history of a small colony is not likely to afford much information, that is amusing or instructive; and the author has abridged the value of his work, by neglecting some of the materials. The little he possessed, he has rendered still less important by with-holding half. We question, however, whether the work would have been really more interesting, by

:

an addition of political matter. It is already heavy and cold, and wears more the appearance of a political treatise, than of a genuine history. It wants the soul of history, splendid personages, illustrious actions, brilliant achievements, great events. All that swells the imagination, or elevates the feelings, is not here to be found, and is ill supplied by the petty debates of a remote assembly, or the humble pliancy of an illconstituted council. All that could be done by a man of genius, the author has perhaps effected. He is perspicuous without being languid, and dignified although sometimes pompous. Occasionally, indeed, he might have retrenched much awkward ornament, and generally have consulted ease more and correctness in his style but this history is a splendid fête in the Barbadian annals, and will deserve much better to be recorded, than most of the events in the pages before us. Nor will the colonists triumph less, that it was written three / thousand miles from the seat of arts, learning, and refinement. The situation, indeed, of a writer should at all times be considered in estimating the merits of his work. The transatlantic author before us was attended by many disadvantages in the prosecution of his history, which, as they were beyond his control, we should rather consider, as in some degree redounding to his credit. In spite however of his strained manner, his cumbrous attempts at the pathetic, and his occasional dryness of style, there is so much good sense, so much candour, and so much unaffected patriotism in the book, that we cannot help thinking it deserves a better fate than from its want of interest it will probably experience.

93

MRS. INCHBALD'S BRITISH THEATRE. (Continued.)

HAVING

AVING in the last number gone through our remarks on Mrs. Inchbald's Theatrical Criticisms, as far as they relate to the works of Shakspeare, it now remains to notice her observations on the minor luminaries of the British drama.

Mrs. Inchbald prefaces her edition of the comedy of "Rule "a Wife and have a Wife," with some observations on the two brother-poets, Beaumont and Fletcher. She very justly remarks, that "to the querulous and vain, it must be a "subject of astonishment, how two persons could derive fame

so directly from the same source as writing plays together, "without contending which had the strongest claim to that

general admiration which their productions excited. But "all accounts upon this point are merely conjectural; for "the authors behaved too much like men, to disclose the (6 secret means of their labour; and here a curious enquirer "after facts, might almost wish they had been women."

The Reviewer trusts Mrs. Inchbald will forgive him for entering his protest against the concluding sentence of this quotation, and for declaring it as his decided opinion, notwithstanding the proverbial notion that has given a name to one of our comedies, that a secret is to the full as safe in the breast of a woman, as in that of a man. The conjectural criticism of the editors of the joint works of these poets, has however supplied the intelligence which their candour denied ; for in the late editions, the precise labours of each are defined, with nearly as much exactness, as if the critic had been the most confidential friend of both.

The censure of the conduct of the fable, and the morality of the female characters in this entertaining play, does honour to the fair critic; but when we accede to her concluding remark, that "to preserve its fame on the stage, no commou