ising an untried system, the adoption of which must be attended
with difficulties. His objection to the provision was, that the labour
of the negro was, for the greater part of his time, to be obtained by
direct compulsion; his opinion was that the negroes would be in a worse
condition at the termination of the experiment than they were at the
present moment. Ministers replied that the question was not, as it
had been represented, merely one of gradual or immediate abolition; no
matter what might be the period of apprenticeship, whether ten or twelve
years, from the moment the bill passed, slavery in the British colonies,
in its offensive and essential features, was for ever annihilated.
The bill recognised the rights of property; it conferred freedom from
corporal punishment; it respected the domestic ties of the negro in
their tenderest relations; and it ensured to him a considerable portion
of the fruits of his own labour: with these great enactments surely it
was not too much to say that slavery, in its obnoxious features,
could not be said to exist. Mr. Buxton, having been assured that the
resolution did not bind the house to any particular period of compulsory
labour, withdrew his motion to reject it, and proposed to insert
words declaring that the labour was to be for wages. He withdrew this
likewise; but Mr. O'Connell insisted on dividing the house on
the original resolution, when it was carried by three hundred and
twenty-four to forty-two. The fourth resolution, respecting the
compensation to planters, was attended with still greater difficulty.
The original proposal was a loan of L15,000,000, for which they were to
pay interest; but ministers found such stern opposition from the West
India planters, that they were compelled to convert this loan into
an absolute payment of L20,000,000. Mr. Stanley, after admitting the
difficulty of ascertaining what the amount of compensation ought to be,
moved that "Towards the compensation of the West India proprietors,
his majesty be enabled to grant a sum not exceeding L20,000,000, to be
appropriated as parliament may hereafter think fit." This proposition
called forth much opposition and many amendments; but it was
finally earned by a majority of two hundred and ninety-six against
seventy-seven. The fifth and last resolution was carried by a majority
of two hundred and ninety-six against seventy-seven; and the whole were
then sent to the peers, who agreed to them on the 25t