t observe, that though it were admitted
that the pretended insurrection at St. Croix rendered
emancipation an act of necessity, it cannot, at all events, in
any manner be cited with regard to St. Thomas or St. John, where
no kind of disturbance existed among the slave population, Thus,
entertaining the intimate conviction that our right to
compensation is as conformable to reason, as it ought to be
sacred and inviolable, and in solemnly protesting against our
being bereft of our property without full compensation, we submit
this our representation to the Rigsdag of Denmark, with the most
unlimited confidence in its justice. We have the consoling hope
and encouraging persuasion that the representatives of a people
who, by the bill of indemnity of 30th June, 1850, have gone ahead
of, and set a brilliant example to other nations, by the
acknowledgment of the principle of equity, that "all citizens
ought equally to share the losses which the scourge of war had
brought upon individuals," will not deny a principle of justice,
which every European nation has hitherto not neglected to comply
with towards its colonies.

ST. THOMAS AND ST. JOHN, June, 1851.
To the Rigsdag of Denmark.

AN EXTRACT FROM THE WILL OF ROBERT PLEASANTS DATED FEBRUARY 6, 1800,
AND ADMITTED TO PROBATE IN HENRICO COUNTY, VIRGINIA, APRIL 6, 1801

"From a full conviction that slavery is an evil of great
magnitude and no less repugnant to the Divine command of doing to
others as we would they should do unto us that it is inconsistent
with the true interest and prosperity of my country, I did
confirm freedom to all the Negroes that by law, I had property in
by a Deed of Emancipation bearing date the first of the 8th
month, 1782, duly acknowledged and admitted to record in the
Clerk's office of Henrico County, three boys excepted names
Moses, Nat and James, who at that time lived with their mothers
in Goochland County and were forgotten but have since been
emancipated, but as it is still necessary that those who are
ancient and incapable of getting a living (being over forty-five
years of age at the time of emancipation) should be supported, I
now desire and direct it to be done and that the young ones may
have learning sufficient to enable them to transa