ees; 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 from slavery to freedom.
To complete the unhappy circumstances under which the experiment
began, the Act of Emancipation was passed by a distant government,
having no intimate knowledge of the subject; and the consequence
was, that a system of 'Apprenticeship,' as it was called, was
adopted, so absurd, and betraying such ignorance of the principles
of human nature, that, did we not know otherwise, we might suspect
its author of intending to produce a failure. It was to witness the
results of an experiment promising so little good, that our authors
visited three islands, particularly worthy of examination--Antigua,
Barbadoes, and Jamaica.

Our authors went first to Antigua, an island which had been wise
enough to foresee the mischiefs of the proposed apprenticeship, and
had substituted for it immediate and unqualified emancipation. The
report given of this island is most cheering. It is, indeed, one of
the brightest records in history. The account, beginning page 143,
of the transition from slavery to freedom, can hardly be read by a
man of ordinary sensibility without a thrill of tender and holy joy.
Why is it not published in all our newspapers as among the most
interesting events of our age? From the accounts of Antigua, it
appears that immediate emancipation has produced only good. Its
fruits are, greater security, the removal of the fears which
accompany slavery, better and cheaper cultivation of the soil,
increased value of real estate, improved morals, more frequent
marriages, and fewer crimes. _The people proclaim, with one voice,
that emancipation is a blessing, and that nothing would tempt than
to revert to slavery._

Our authors proceeded next to Barbadoes, where the apprenticeship
system is in operation; and if any proof were needed of the docility
and good dispositions of the negroes, it would be found in their
acquiescence to so wonderful a degree in this unhappy arrangement.
The planters on this island have been more disposed, than could have
been anticipated, to make the best of this system, and here,
accordingly, the same fruits of the Ac