SLAVE and SUGAR TRADE. Art. 23. Obfervations on Slavery, and the Confumption of the Produce of the Weft India Iflands: together with an Abstract of the Evidence given before the Committee of the Privy Council, and the Select Committee of the House of Commons, refpecting the Treatment of Slaves in the West Indies. 8vo. Is. Boofey. PP. 61. 1792. In feafons when people are hurried along by hafty prepoffeffions, it is pleafing to find a few individuals whofe cool fenfe keeps them out of the croud; and fuch a writer is now before us; for his calmnefs enables him to comprehend the full fcope of the argument, and to fee it in its true light. With regard to the mafs of evidence given before the committee of Privy Council, and the select committee of the Houfe of Commons, refpecting the treatment of flaves, this writer justly remarks, that most of the inftances of ill treatment of the Negroes recited, are hiftories of particular facts, which will occafionally occur in all fituations and circumstances; while the proof of the contrary, is deduced from general obfervations, and prevailing experience. Of the latter, he has felected the declarations of gentlemen of known character and abundant knowlege of what they defcribed; and their reprefentations may prove not a little confolatory to numbers, whofe feelings have been much diftreffed by accounts of a very contrary tenour. Art. 24. The Duty of abstaining from the Use of West India Produce; a Speech delivered at Coachmaker's Hall, Jan. 12, 1792. 12mo. PP. 23. 28. Knott, &c. This orator certainly exerted his influence to a good purpose, in ftrenuously diffuading his auditors from indulging their palates with articles of luxury; and fo far as his arguments prevail, fo far will they reap the profits of economy: provided always that they become fincere reformers,—that they do not deceive themfelves as well as others, and Compound for fins they are inclin❜d to, By damning thofe they have no mind to." Art. 25. Thoughts on the prefent high Price of Sugars: proving it to have arifen from the Rumour of the Slave Bill, and from that Caufe only and demonftrating the Folly, Futility, and Abfurdity of attempting an Importation from the Eaft Indies. Dedicated (without Permiffion) to William Wilberforce Efq. By an Old Trader. 8vo. pp. 92. 28. Debrett. 1792. Clofet politicians, according to the Old Trader, ought not to interfere in matters of Commerce; by which we are to understand that they ought not to give their opinions on the fubject of the Slave-trade, which this experienced Gentleman pronounces to be a material and interefting traffic. The Slave bill, introduced into Parliament by Mr. Wilberforce, and fupported by the combined eloquence of Mr. Pitt, Mr. Fox, and other eminent members of the British Senate, is condemned by this pamphleteer as a nefarious and ludicrous bill, full of folly, indigeftion, and wantonness. Abhorrent as the Slave Trade is to the feelings of humanity, we have announced it to be our opinion, that great wifdom and prudence ought to be exercised in its abolition; and that fome regard, in point of juftice, should be paid to the planter, who, relying on the faith of parliament, has embarked his fortune in the cultivation of a West Indian eftate; yet we cannot allow that the difficulties attending the abolition will justify this writer in pronouncing the abolition bill a nefarious and ludicrous one. highly commendable: but, fays this writer, if you abolish the The object of it is Slave Trade, you will advance the price of fugar to fo enormous a degree, as not only to exclude the lower clafs of people, but even the mediocrity, from the ufe of this article. Sugars, he proves, have regularly advanced, in proportion to the increafing price of Slaves. The answer from the nation at large will be fiat juftitia. He ridicules the idea of an importation of fugars from the Eaft Indies. The company's fhips, we are told, would not bring home fugar enough to faveeten the tea of the common labourers in the hayharvest.' He does more than ridicule the idea, he demonftrates: but perhaps fome of his readers will apply, to his demonstration, the definition in the play, "Demonftration comes from Demon, the father of lies." According to this writer, the West India islands make about four hundred thousand hogfheads of fugar in a year. Art. 26. An Addrefs to the Right Reverend Prelates of England and Wales, on the Subject of the Slave Trade. 12mo. 3d. Parfons. 1792. This well-written and refpectful addrefs ought not to be overlooked by the right reverend bench.-Should there be any arch inuendos couched under this fenfible and hand fome application, we shall leave them to be discovered and explained by their Lordfhips. One thing is pretty clear and certain, viz. that no Chriftian bishop, who understands his character and office, and who thinks and acts on Chriftian principles, can ever be an advocate for the Slave-trade, or for any kind of perfecution and oppreffion. 1792. Art. 27. An Addrefs to her Royal Highness the Duchess of York, against the Ufe of Sugar. 1200. Dozen, and 20s. per Hundred. PP. 22. 6d. or 2s. 6d. per No Bookfeller's Name. Separately from the fubj & itfelf,-let us acknowlege and admire the refolution, the virtuous refolution of numbers of the advocates for the abolition of flavery. Let us admire it the more, (whether founded in mistake or not,) as refpecting the branch which is the fubject of this pamphlet. It feems to have originated among, or at least, to have been moft ftedfastly embraced by our youth of both fexes. - Poffibly, indeed, young minds, uncontaminated by bad examples, and the corrupt practices which prevail' in the world, are the best fitted for, and the most likely to act on, laudable and worthy exertions.-This pamphlet is written in fenfible and agreeable, as well as an earnest manner. Art. 28. Hints for fome New Regulations in the Sugar Trade: with Remarks on the State of Commerce in the French and a British British West India Islands. By an Impartial Man. 8vo. pp. 31. 15. Symonds, &c. 1792. Thefe hints come profeffedly from a writer who has been for many years in the West Indies, and in the fugar refining manufactory; and whofe prefent fituation exempts him from the poffibility of being biaffed by perfonal confiderations. He pronounces pofitively on the ill policy of encouraging new fettlements for the cultivation of fugar; the temptation, as he obferves, is the prefent high price of the article-and when that fails, as fail it muft, the competition will end in mutual injury. The prefent high price he attributes chiefly to the failure of feveral fucceffive crops in the Windward iflands; and to punish the planter, therefore, is adding cruelty to misfortune. The profpects of the prefent crops are now good in all the islands; and to adopt permanent regulations for the fake of remedying a temporary evil, he confiders as highly impolitic. He argues as ftrongly against taking off the drawback; and advises that the Weft India ports fhould be opened for the free admiffion of foreign fugars and other produce, in the fame manner as they now are for cotton; and he refers to that article, to juftify the expediency of the measure. Art. 29. A Plain Man's Thoughts on the prefent Price of Sugar, &c. 6d. Debrett. 1792. 8vo. pp. 22. This writer agrees, in feveral points, with the author of the abovementioned pamphlet. He fhews, we think, to fatisfaction, why monopolies and fpeculation on fugar are not practicable to any very great extent; and that the drawback on the exportation of refined fugar, is the chief fupport of the planter. He preffes the anti-faccharites fo closely with the argumentum ad hominem, that we cannot refift the temptation of gratifying our readers with it: In the language of modern philanthropy, fuch is called free Jugar as is fuppofed to be made by the labour of free men, and not by that of flaves: many have been the letters and paragraphs in the public prints recommending the use of fuch free fugar only. Affociations have likewife been formed, and combinations entered into, to leave off all other fugar, with a view of deftroying the flave trade, and ruining thofe concerned in it, by flow, but fure degrees and very lately many thousand pamphlets have been publifhed, and induftriously circulated, at the price of only a halfpenny each, intended not merely to perfuade, but even to deter, weak minded people from the ufe of common fugar, by affuring them roundly, that every lump they fwallow is polluted with human blood. To enter into ferious argument with men who have fuffered their reafon and judgment to be led aftray, either by the heat of their own imaginations, or the declamations of well-meaning, hut misguided enthufiafts, would certainly be time loft: it may not, however, be improper just to remind them, that great part of the cloaths they wear, much of the furniture of their houfes, with many &c.'s of the most comfortable kind in civilized life, are the produce of the labour of flaves: and that, in particular, the gold and filver in their pockets is still more notoriously procured by H 4 the the very worst species of flavery, that of the mines. So that if a lump of fugar holds one drop of human blood, every guinea these advocates for unconftitutional freedom are poffeffed of, muft contain a thousand drops. In fhort, if thefe friends of univerfal equality are determined to ufe or enjoy nothing but what is clearly proved to be procured by the exertions of free labourers, they muft be content, if they mean to act confiftently, to return to the unpolished and uncomfortable ftate of their favage ancestors. On this occafion it has indeed been fhrewdly fuggefted, that conscience and worldly prudence are for once brought to go hand in hand: fo that the man who in reality grudges his family the expence of fugar, enjoys a fnug opportunity of hiding his parfimony under the fpecious and popular cloak of humanity. But, for my own part, I will continue to fuppofe, that much the greater part of our prefent philanthropists are actuated by purer motives. Let that, however, be as it may, as their fuperior feelings urge them fo strongly to shake off every convenience of life, which in the flightest degree partakes of the effence of flavery, the Rights of Man moft certainly leave them at liberty to follow their own inclinations, not only in leaving off the use of fugar, but likewife in making bonfires of their mahogany chairs and tables, and lighting them up with the cotton paraphernalia of their wives and daughters; and even in emptying their bags of gold and filver into the fea. And, in fact, until thefe tender-hearted Anti-faccharites have brought themfelves to this enviable pitch of felf-denial, they can have no right to expect credit from the world, either for their fincerity or their confiftency.' This author is an able defender of the Duke of Richmond's plan for the defence of the Weft India islands, and especially now when their quiet is endangered by fchemes of reformation in Europe, and by the devaftations carrying on in St. Domingo. We recommend both thefe publications to thofe who wish to form mature ideas on this interesting subject. POETRY. 6d. Art. 30. An Epifile to William Wilberforce, Efq. Written during the Disturbances in the Weft Indies. Small 8vo. pp. 31. Darton and Harvey, Gracechurch-street. 1792. This writer fpeaks of himself with great modefty; and to his modefty rather than to his poetry we very willingly extend our commendation: And what is liberty?—a gem, That far exceeds a diadem: For diadems will foon decay, Was liberty alone away. Witnefs the Gallic Monarch's fate, A king is nothing but a man, • Beasts feek not to deftroy their kind, If these lines be poetry, any body might make himself a poet, in fpite of Apollo and the tuneful Nine, and of the old adage, Poeta nafcitur, non fit. Art. 31. Admonitory Epiftles, from Harry Homer, to his Brother, Peter Pindar. No. 1. 4to. pp. 15. Is. Williams. 1792. It cannot be faid of Peter Pindar, as of Falftaffe, that he is not only witty himself, but the caufe of wit in others;" for, in the various poetic pieces to which his publications have given birth, we meet with nothing but dulnefs and wretched writing; of which a flagrant inftance is furnished by these epiftles;-burlesqueing the venerable name of HOMER. Art. 32. Lord Mayor's Day; or City Pageantry: a Poem. With Notes, illuftrative and explanatory. By Timothy Touchstone, Gent. 4to. pp. 30. Is. 6d. Ridgway. 1792. The annual feftival of the "good men and true, of the city of London," has long been the butt of our wits and witlings:-but wherefore? Is it because the SHOW Continues to be exhibited with fome regard to the old ftyle of pageantry which pleased in days of yore, and which may now be deemed out of tafte? or is it becaufe the faid wits and witlings find it difficult to obtain tickets for the good dinners? The latter is, probably, the case; and fo the hungry fcribblers, in revenge, rhyme to the grumbling of their craving gizzards!-How unfortunate it is, that among the incorporated citizens, there is no Poet's Company! Art. 33. Poems, Mifcellaneous and Humorous, with explanatory Notes and Observations. By Edward Nairne, of Sandwich in Kent. 8vo. pp. 144. 35. 6d. Johnfon. 1791. In this plentiful country, (happily for its inhabitants!) the fupply of food for the mind is as copious and various, as in the markets for bodily fuftenance; there is meat for all mouths, as well as mouths for all meat. The prefent compofitions may, doubtless, find admirers in the numerous claffes of thofe, who, though they have been taught to read at fchool, have never burthened their heads with dictionary words, or book learning, afterward. With fuch approbation, the writer of these humorous poems probably will, or pofitively muft, be fatisfied. Art 34. The Owl, the Peacock, and the Dove; a Fable. Addreffed to the Reverend Dr. Tatham, and the Right Honourable Edmund Burke: with the Fable of the Oxen and the Grasshopper, addressed to the Revolution Society, in Illuftration of Mr. Burke's celebrated Simile. To which is added, The Sorrows of Mr. Edmund Burke. 4to. pp. 24. 15. Johnson. 1792. When the champions in politics engage in ferious contests, they may be confidered as heavy-armed troops; the poetical auxiliaries, who attend on either fide, act in the capacity of light irregulars, to fkirmish with and harass their opponents, as opportunities faOne of thefe bufh-fighting partifans has thrown three of his hand-grenades at Mr. Burke, and lies fkulking to watch their effects: he must, however, be aware, that the execution in all fuch vour. inftances |