another half
century, they must have sunk beyond recovery."[38]

What! says the planter; sunk beyond recovery! why, we find our slaves
rapidly increasing, and ourselves almost "made of gold." Be pleased to
explain, why slavery in the hands of Englishmen should be so
destructive, while with the American it is not only profitable to the
slaveholder himself, but the comfort of the slaves has been so well
secured, from the first, that their natural increase has been about
equal to that of any other people in the full enjoyment of the
necessaries of life.

Certainly, says Britain: having done our duty, we are free to confess,
that "what gave the death blow to slavery, in the minds of English
statesmen, was the population returns, which showed the fact, 'the
appalling fact,' that although only eleven out of the eighteen islands
had sent them in, yet in those eleven islands the slaves had decreased
in twelve years, by no less than 60,219, namely: from 558,194 to
497,975![39] Had similar returns been procured from the other seven
colonies (including Mauritius, Antigua, Barbadoes, and Granada,) the
decrease must have been little, if at all, less than 100,000! Now it was
plain to every one that if this were really so, the system could not
last. The driest economist would allow that it would not pay, to let the
working classes be slaughtered. To work the laboring men of our West
Indies to death, might bring in a good return for a while, but could not
be a profitable enterprise in the long run. Accordingly, this was the
main, we had almost said the only, topic of the debates on slavery in
1831 and 1832. Is slavery causing a general massacre of the working
classes in our sugar islands, or is it not, was a question worth
debating, in the pounds, shillings, and pence view, as well as in the
moral one. And debated it was, long and fiercely. The result was the
full establishment of the dreadful fact. The slaves, as Mr. Marryatt
said, were 'dying like rotten sheep.' Whatever then may be said for West
Indian slavery, this damning thing must be said of it, that _the slaves
were dying of it_. Then came emancipation."[40] And in performing this
act--in demonstrating to the world the destructive character of
slavery--Englishmen expected America to follow their example, and to
emancipate her slaves also.

And thereby deceived yourselves, says the planter, into the ruin of your
islands, without effecting any good for the Africans at large, a