into her face, till she was herself exhausted, and her poor
victim covered with blood. This scene was renewed every
morning, and the cries and moans of the poor suffering
blacks, announced that they were enduring the penalty of
slavery, in being the objects on which the irritable and
malevolent passions of the whites are allowed to vent
themselves with impunity; nor could I help deeply deploring
that state of society in which the vilest characters in the
community are allowed an almost uncontrolled power of life
and death, over their innocent, and far more estimable
fellow-creatures."--(Notices of Brazil, vol. ii. p.
354-356.)

* * * * *

In conclusion, I may observe that the history of Mary Prince furnishes a
corollary to Lord Stowell's decision in the case of the slave Grace, and
that it is most valuable on this account. Whatever opinions may be held by
some readers on the grave question of immediately abolishing Colonial
Slavery, nothing assuredly can be more repugnant to the feelings of
Englishmen than that the system should be permitted to extend its baneful
influence to this country. Yet such is the case, when the slave landed in
England still only possesses that qualified degree of freedom, that a
change of domicile will determine it. Though born a British subject, and
resident within the shores of England, he is cut off from his dearest
natural rights by the sad alternative of regaining them at the expence of
liberty, and the certainty of severe treatment. It is true that he has the
option of returning; but it is a cruel mockery to call it a voluntary
choice, when upon his return depend his means of subsistence and his
re-union with all that makes life valuable. Here he has tasted "the sweets
of freedom," to quote the words of the unfortunate Mary Prince; but if he
desires to restore himself to his family, or to escape from suffering and
destitution, and the other evils of a climate uncongenial to his
constitution and habits, he must abandon the enjoyment of his
late-acquired liberty, and again subject himself to the arbitrary power of
a vindictive master.

The case of Mary Prince is by no means a singular one; many of the same
kind are daily occurring: and even if the case were singular, it would
still loudly call for the interference of the legislature. In instances of
this kind no injury can possibly be done to the o