the volume betray a violation of good sense and good feeling, but the most unblushing and palpable untruths stare us in the face in every sentence we peruse. The book is divided into twelve chapters; in every one of which it would be no difficult task to expose twelve glaring errors and yet with such testimony does the Anti-Slavery Society endeavour to abuse the public mind; -with facts drawn from such pitiful sources are the good old ladies (male and female) of Clapham and Peckham entertained! We, moreover, have been invited to join these laudable and amiable coteries- we ourselves have received pressing exhortations to visit Aldermanbury,-to which our only reply was—

Quid Romæ faciam? mentiri nescio."

Our authoress, in the preface, denies that she is a copyist: and for the sake of the literary world we hope she is not; for the first sentence of the first chapter betrays unique ignorance. The title is "Sunrise brings sorrow in Demerara." And how well the lady must be acquainted with the fact is apparent, by her speaking of the "autumnal deluge," 66 hurricanes," 66 storms of hail," and the sea, "blue as the heavens themselves, kissing the silent shore." Why this is a mere "Midsummer-night's dream!" The "tropical winter," and its accompanying beauties, are the mere coinage of some Ferdinand Mendez Pinto a hurricane was never dreamt of in Demerara; and as for the blue sea, any foremast man would tell you that the Thames, after a thaw in a severe winter, is crystal in comparison with the sea on the coast of Guiana.

So much for geography and natural phenomena: now for generalities. An interesting young blue-stocking, one of the dramatis personæ in the tale, expresses her surprise at "the wretched half-starved looking cows," when the cattle which graze in the Savannahs, and on the dams of Guiana, are proverbial for their excellent condition ;and the planter's wife is made to affirm, that "nobody in the house was up for many hours after the conch sounded;" whereas the truth is, the mornings in the tropics being by far the most delightful portion of the day, many ladies may be seen on horseback, or in their various vehicles, taking an excursion at sunrise; and the planters themselves invariably visit their plantations before breakfast. Equally true is the assertion hazarded respecting the negroes proceeding, "like boys unwillingly to school," to their daily task,—the majority of them are as cheerful, and salute their masters with far greater familiarity, than the peasantry of Great Britain; and the sentimentality of Willy, and his ethical dissertation upon the system under which he lives, is too absurd even to smile at.

Chap. II. says, "Law endangers property in Demerara." This fallacy is maintained in a dialogue between the planter, Mr. Bruce,

and his son, a raw youth, who has been attending some lectures on political economy at the London University. This worthy pupil of M'Culloch speaks of tenants upon estates in the West Indies finding it their interest to work their slaves to the utmost during the term of their lease. Our reply shall be brief: there are not three estates in the colony let on lease-we believe but one. And then a bond of indemnity is given, and other covenants introduced, so that the utmost care shall be taken of the slaves; and that, at the expiration of the lease, they shall be equally efficient, as on the day before the tenant entered into possession. Besides, the law regulates the hours of labour.

Chap. III.-"Prosperity impoverishes in Demerara." Our young philosopher here incidentally asks, "Should cattle be fed by human labour?" We have not heard of its being done by steam, at present; perhaps Miss Martineau has made the important discovery of a substitute. As to her assumed position respecting prosperity, we should think it was a joke on Lord Goderich, did we not find this accurate writer talking of "the fertility of the soil, which stretched from the height to the distant ocean," when it is well-known there is not even a mole-hill, much less a mountain in Demerara. arguments are equally baseless. Come we now to

Her

Chapter IV." Childhood is wintry in Demerara." We wish our fair lady could have one eye upon the little smiling black rogues on a sugar estate, and the other in a Manchester factory, we think she would blush for what she has written, especially as the following is an unqualified, and (if wilful) a malignant untruth.

"Little Hester was only ten years old, when she was first put under old Sukey, according to the custom by which novices in bondage are made to serve a sort of apprenticeship to those who have been long under the yoke. Some humane masters, observing the facilities thus afforded to slave-tyranny, have attempted to break through the custom; but have found that, with all its abuses, it is too much liked by the slaves to be given up." Besides, if the above were true, it would be a strong argument against immediate emancipation.

Chapter V." No haste to the wedding in Demerara." This chapter contains many unjust and unfounded accusations respecting the separation of families which is never permitted; and although the progress of religion has not yet been so effective as to multiply marriages to the extent desired, yet they are by no means unfrequent; and the planters are themselves so anxious to promote the institution, that great privileges are granted to the parents of a certain number of children born in wedlock. Persons who talk of " no haste to the wedding," ought to see a negro marriage, or at least look at home, to our parish weddings in Great Britain.

Chapter VI.-"Man worth less than beast in Demerara." We have here an attempt to establish a political theory that would astound the Archbishop of Dublin; and, we honestly confess, we do not comprehend it, being well aware that no colonist or any one acquainted with the West Indies, ever weighed their fellow-creature, though a slave, in the same balance as his beast.

Chapter VII." Christianity difficult in Demerara." On this head we beg to refer our readers to an authentic document in another page, wherein it will be perceived that the colony of Demerara has made a more efficient provision for the religious instruction of the slaves, than any community of the like extent in the known world.

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The libellous charges in this chapter, are not, however, confined to the master, for it is asserted, that a planter was afraid to leave his household in the power of his slave," and this merely during a casual ride! Ladies, to our own knowledge, are frequently, for several days, left by themselves; and during that period, an instance of insubordination, we speak it to the credit of the negro, was never contemplated.

Chapter VIII." The proud covet pauperism in Demerara." This position, which is not attempted to be maintained by our ingenious sophist, is assumed merely as a point d'appui, from which a plentiful volley of abuse against the colonies may be discharged. As a specimen of the style, we recommend the subjoined line of persiflage, wherein Miss Martineau,

Projicit ampullas, et sesquipedalia verba, in most grandiloquent style; but what she means, we defy the grand Llama to explain.

"It had frequently occurred to Alfred, that forebodings of pauperism came with a very ill grace from a body who subsist on the most expensive pauper establishment ever invented. The West-India monopoly is a most burdensome poor-rate; levied by compulsion, and bestowed on those who ought to maintain themselves. It operates as poor-rates always do, in producing discontents among those who pay; and indolence, recklessness, waste, and profligacy among those who receive it, together with incessant and greedy demands for further assistance. The main difference is, that the West-India paupers might and would flourish, if the mother country could be prevailed upon to withhold the alms so clamorously craved; which is more, alas! than can be said of parish paupers."-Pp. 101, 102.

We read of "a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing" such a tale is now before us. Let us hasten, therefore, to its conclusion.

Chapter IX.-" Calamity is welcome in Demerara." This assertion rests upon the malignant joy of some few ill-disposed negroes, at the death of an overseer, during one of Miss Martineau's hurricanes, and the swell of the mountain-torrents consequent thereon. As we have

already shewn that the aforesaid hurricanes and mountains have neither "a local habitation nor a name" in the colony, our readers will not look for any refutation from us of this innocent fiction.

We cannot resist the fine writing and graphic fidelity of the following passage, however, which we accordingly submit to the perusal of our already gratified readers, merely premising, that on the coast of Guiana there never was a breeze of wind strong enough to disturb the symmetry of a Dutch flower-garden, or rouse the fear of its master for the safety of a favourite tulip.

"Hester shrieked when she saw a whole field of sugar-canes whirled in the air. Before they had time to fall, the loftiest trees of the The mill disappeared, a forest were carried up in the same manner. hundred huts were levelled; there was a stunning roar, a rumbling beneath, a rushing above. The hurricane was upon them in all its fury."-P. 108.

There only wanted an inroad of the "Anthropophagi, and men who wore their heads beneath their arms," with whom our early travellers peopled this coast, to have completed the picture. And although Miss Martineau has not, in this chapter, indulged us with these figments of diseased imagination, we shall perceive that monsters equally fictitious, find a ready historian in her morbid pages.

Chapter X.-" Protection is oppression in Demerara." Here we are entertained with indecent exultations over the ruin of a professedly amiable family-an allusion to the colonial laws, of which the writer is extensively ignorant and a mean attempt to prove that the office of "protector of slaves" affords no substantial protection to the blacks. If Miss Martineau is ignorant that by a recent order in Council, the slaves have Saturday, as well as Sunday, to themselves, independent of their holidays at Christmas, Easter, and Whitsuntide, she ought never to have published a book upon the subject. And what apology she can make for the following unfounded libel on the administration of justice between master and slave, we are at a loss to "that the overseer was in the surmise. "It appears," she says, habit of appointing a heavier task on Saturdays than other days, and compelling a completion of it on the Sunday. It was evident that if he chose to appoint a double task on the Saturday, the negroes might be deprived altogether of the benefit of the Sunday." Now how stands the fact? Long before the order in Council was out, the Sunday was secured to the slave, not on the recommendation of the mother country, but by voluntary legislative enactments of the colonists; and the utmost diligence of the emissaries of the Anti-Slavery Society have not been able to discover a single case, wherein the negro has been worked, upon the Sabbath, to the extent of Mr. Buxton's brewers, or young Mr. Wilberforce's carters.

Chapter XI.-" Beasts hunt men in Demerara." We know not how to express ourselves in language sufficiently strong against this most false, and most disgraceful charge. The chapter is wrought up with the greatest tact to catch the public eye, and tickle the vitiated palates of the Anti-Slavery partizans and the negro dying under the gripe of the bloodhound, whilst engaged in providing for the rescue of his sister, is a picture sure to find admirers, who will scarcely trouble themselves to inquire whether the sketch is drawn from the imagination or from life.

Readers, this tale is pronounced to be a true history, derived from "properly authenticated" sources,-is told by a woman-sanctioned by the Anti-Slavery Society, and commented upon by political candidates and their supporters. We unhesitatingly, and without the slightest fear of contradiction, pronounce it a detestable and scandalous libel upon the planters of Demerara; than whom a more honourable, a more enlightened, and a more humane body of men cannot be found; and who, as we have before stated, have advanced infinitely greater sums for the extension of the truths and blessings of real religion founded on the unadulterated Gospel of Christ, than all the Baptist missionaries have effected, since that schism found its way into the Church. But what that society must be which tolerates— what that lady must be who promulgates-and what those candidates and their supporters must be, who use so foul a means to answer their purposes-is more than we dare to pronounce. Let the public

decide.

Chapter XII.-"No master knows his man in Demerara." Another paradox, which, not having the skill of Edipus, we have been unable to solve. Compulsory manumission appears to be the object contemplated; and the planters, from entertaining some natural doubts whether the act would work so well as its framers anticipated, or whether the dishonest and ill-disposed would not plunder for their ransom, and thus a premium be offered to villany and corruption, are accused of "disregarding equally the laws of nature, the law of God, and the ordinances of the government under which they live." Miss Martineau! the law of God is the law of truth; for "God is truth." Whether the colonists of Demerara or yourself are most obnoxious to the charge you so unhesitatingly bring against them, we leave to the public to judge after the perusal of these observations. In the meantime, we recommend you to practise more Christian charity to be less credulous, and, if possible, to atone by a candid apology for the injury you have attempted (we hope unwittingly) to do to a large body of your fellow-countrymen.

. Having thus disposed of the question, and shewn the fallacy of the grounds upon which the Anti-Slavery Society proceed, as well as