s, expect the aid of Mr. Elmore and others of equal
distinction in the South, in giving to their fellow-citizens the
information that we have always believed, and that they now acknowledge,
to be so, important to them?

_May 24, 1838_.

JAMES G. BIRNEY.]

APPENDIX.

* * * * *

APPENDIX A.

Extract from an article addressed to the editor of the Christian
Register and Observer, signed W.E.C.--attributed to the Rev.
Dr. Channing.

"Speaking of slavery, I wish to recommend to your readers a book
just from the press, entitled 'Emancipation in the West Indies,' and
written by J. A. Thome and J.H. Kimball, who had visited those
islands to inquire into the great experiment now going on there. I
regard it as the most important work which has appeared among us for
years. No man, without reading it, should undertake to pass judgment
on Emancipation. It is something more than a report of the
observation and opinions of the writers. It consists, chiefly, of
the opinions, conversations, letters, and other documents of the
very inhabitants of the islands whose judgments are most
trust-worthy; of the governors, special magistrates, police
officers, managers, attorneys, physicians, &c; and, in most cases,
the names of these individuals are given, so that we have the
strongest evidence of the correctness of the work.

The results of this great experiment surpass what the most sanguine
could have hoped. It is hardly possible that the trial could have
been made under more unfavorable circumstances. The planters on all
the islands were opposed to the Act of Emancipation, and, in most,
exceedingly and fiercely hostile to it, and utterly indisposed to
give it the best chance of success. The disproportion of the colored
race to the whites was fearfully great, being that of seven or eight
to one; whilst, in our slaveholding states, the whites outnumber the
colored people. The slaves of the West Indies were less civilized
than ours, and less fit to be trusted with their own support.
Another great evil was, that the proprietors, to a considerable
extent, were absentees; residing in England, and leaving the care of
their estates and slaves to managers and owners; the last people for
such a trust, and utterly unfit to carry the wretched victims of
their tyranny through the solemn transition fr