espective Owners.

"3. And be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That
all Children born of Women Slaves shall belong to and be the
property of the Masters or Mistresses of such Slaves."

This statute had absolutely no effect to stay the evolution of a
strong public opinion against the institution of slavery. The latest
recorded sale of a slave was in 1802, and slavery gradually died out
as a fact, although it was possible in law until the Imperial Act of
1833, freeing all slaves under the British flag.

Before the culminating emancipation act, however, the Provincial
Legislature had repealed the obnoxious statute of 1781. The act of
1825, 5 George IV, c. 7 (P. E. I.), reads:

"AN ACT, to repeal an Act, made and passed in the twenty-first
year of His late Majesty's Reign, intituled 'An Act declaring
that BAPTISM OF SLAVES shall not exempt them from BONDAGE.'

"WHEREAS by the aforesaid Act Slavery is sanctioned and permitted
within this Island, and it is highly necessary that an Act so
entirely in variance with the laws of England and the Freedom of
the Country should be forthwith repealed, and Slavery forever
hereafter abolished in this Colony.

"Be it therefore enacted by the Lieutenant Governor, Council and
Assembly, That from and after the passing hereof the said Act,
intituled 'An Act declaring that Baptism of Slaves shall not
exempt them from Bondage,' and every Clause, Matter and thing
therein contained, be, and the same is hereby, repealed.

"Provided always, That nothing herein contained shall have any
effect until His Majesty's Pleasure shall be known."

The act was transmitted by the Lieutenant-Governor, Colonel John
Ready, in a dispatch to Secretary of State George Canning, of date
November 8, 1825, in which he says: "The preamble explains the reasons
for passing this act." The bill received the Royal approval and became
law. But it will be seen that, while the act of 1781 went further than
its preamble, that of 1825 fell far short. It did not abolish slavery,
but simply repealed the previous act.

WILLIAM RENWICK RIDDELL.

OSGOODE HALL,
TORONTO, March 24, 1921.

DOCUMENTS

From the Proceedings of the American Convention of Abolition Societies
may be obtained valuable information in the form of the reports as to
slavery, the appeal of