at only five thousand inhabitants. Dr. Clarke, through some error in his manuscript-notes, talks of fifty families only.

The Nogay Tatars and the Greek colonists are severally described and depicted: next the German colonists, and the frugal industrious Bulgarians: but none of these races seem to thrive, since the vastness of the estates, and the feudal tenure of all the landed property, oppose a fatal obstacle to any lasting amelioration. Until the soil be rendered freehold, and a great subdivision of proprietorships be accomplished, no farmer's family can have a real interest in bettering its condition. Will the vassal expend his savings, or employ his industry, about the houses and grounds of his lord? — Here a new sort of ghost-story is introduced :

"It is recorded, and believed by all denominations of the superstitious inhabitants of the Crimea, that this quality (hospitality) was the means of preserving a whole village from the dreadful visitation of the plague during the years 1812 and 1813. The belief of the personification of evil is rarely found, though we read of it in all the eastern tales. The story is as follows: Near midnight a stranger knocked, and obtained admittance, at the cottage of one of these villagers; he begged for food and drink, both of which were freely given to him, and his stay for the remainder of the night pressed; but having refreshed himself, he got up to depart, and thanking them for their reception of him, assured them he would amply repay it. "I am," said he, "THE PLAGUE, and during the scourge with which I am come to visit this country, your village shall remain unhurt and untouched amidst surrounding devastation." The promise was fulfilled, and the village escaped the infection, which spread with horrid rapidity around.'

On the eve of her departure, Mrs. Holderness thus sums up her observations:

From what has been premised, it will readily be seen, that the routine of a country life amidst such a primitive race as the Tatars, though it was occasionally enlivened by visits to the towns, or neighbouring proprietors, or made interesting by the means of serving our poorer neighbours, yet could have little of anecdote, while it afforded much of observation, and abundance of employ

ment.

The moral character of the peasantry of the Crimea is exceedingly depraved and vicious; and, excepting the Tatars, I never found it possible, by any good offices or kindness, to excite any attachment in them, that the sight of a glass of brandy would not instantly surmount; and amongst the servants we have had, from nearly every nation, there, a gross immorality and inveterate love of drunkenness were almost invariably the leading traits.

The different modes by which they manifested their regret at the time of my leaving Karagoss were thus evinced: my Tatar

neighbours were with me throughout the day previous to my departure, either sitting silent in my room, or assisting in the arrangement for the journey; but on the day of my departure few could see me; and when the children went to bid good-bye to the women, they found them shut up, and really grieving. My two servants, one a Pole, the other a German, busily and attentively assisted me throughout the preceding day; but when their duty was done, they took care to drown their sorrow in large libations of wine and brandy, which they had previously promised me they would not do. On the morning of my departure, they felt still more strongly the necessity of repeating that, which the preceding night had produced exhilaration; and I fear, if not the ostensible, I was at least the nominal cause of a repetition of the same offence the following evening: and well was it if the evil stopped here.

I conclude with noticing, that on being seated in the carriage, and ready to depart, I was presented by the Polish woman with a small loaf of bread and some cheese, which she had sent to the market-town to purchase for me; she gave it with a particular injunction, that I should eat it myself, and then I should not want bread upon the road. That I did not feel this want, however, I certainly owed to a more powerful charm than her little loaf, though I received it with a ready promise to purchase my good fortune by so accommodating a price.'

A second edition follows of the writer's Notes on the Crim Tatars; in which various instructive particulars are given respecting the marriages, feasts, cookery, and habits of the various classes of the people; their superstitions, funerals, punishments, and diseases; their farming, gardening, utensils, plants, and animals. The buffalo is thus characterized:

There are some few camels in the Crimea, and many buffaloes. These latter are, of all domestic animals, the most disagreeable and difficult to use, being totally unable to bear extremes of temperature. In hot weather they become altogether unmanageable, and towards noon will desert their work, running furiously into the first water, to refresh themselves by rolling in the mud. When this fit takes them, they will frequently run with a loaded waggon into the sea. In winter they are almost equally troublesome, since they require to be kept so warm, that huts must be made for them below the surface of the ground. They are extremely destructive among trees, constantly breaking off all the lower -branches. The female gives a profusion of milk, which is said to contain a large proportion of cream; but the butter is white, and not so well flavoured as that of the cow. The skin of the buffalo is very valuable, and the Tatars make traces of it wherewith to draw their ploughs and waggons. The strength of these may be estimated, from their power of sustaining the draught of seven pairs of oxen, in ploughing a stiff clay.'

It is pleasing to observe how well our English ladies travel, in a literary point of view; and how quick and detailed are

their observations on all that passes around them. These female pilgrims of civilization catch exquisitely the present features of nature and society; and they have the art of alluring in conversation every variety of information, which it would be reckoned dangerous or trifling to communicate to We therefore exhort those of our countrywomen, who have the opportunity of visiting foreign nations, to be less reluctant in publishing their remarks.

men.

ART. VI. View of the past and present State of the Island of Jamaica; with Remarks on the Moral and Physical Condition of the Slaves, and on the Abolition of Slavery in the Colonies. By J. Stewart, late of Jamaica. 8vo. 10s. 6d. Boards. Whittakers. 1823.

THE appearance of this volume, from the pen of an individual who has long resided in the largest of our West Indian islands, has induced us to resume the very important subject to which our attention was lately drawn by the publi cations of Mr. Wilberforce and Mr. Macaulay. In the pages which we devoted to the two excellent pamphlets of those gentlemen, (Number for June last,) we endeavored to present a concise view of the state of slavery in our colonies; and to shew that the enormous abuses, generated by that system, imperiously called for a remedy. We did not offer any observations on the subject of compensation to the planters, in the supposed case of a complete emancipation of the slaves, because it was a question to which neither of the writers under review had applied themselves; nor did we enter into an examination of the various methods which have been proposed for the accomplishment of an ultimate emancipation:

our object was to prove the necessity existing for a change in the system, and the safety with which that change might be wrought. On the present occasion, however, we shall inquire into the vested rights of the planters, with their claims to compensation; and we shall examine the practicability, in which we shall be materially assisted by the details and observations of Mr. Stewart, of some of the modes proposed for accomplishing the complete removal of this most disgraceful stain on our national character.

In considering the question of the continuance of slavery, with reference only to the master and the slave, there cannot be a doubt that, according to every law of religion, morality, humanity, and justice, the latter is immediately, without stay or hinderance of any kind, intitled to a full, unconditional, and absolute emancipation. The colonists tell us, indeed,

that,

that," however invidious it may be, they explicitly and openly avow and claim their right of property in their slaves, as well as in the lands which they cultivate:" but, with equal explicitness and openness, might the celebrated Turpin have avowed and claimed his right of property in the horse which he rode and the watch which he wore, though both the one and the other were acquired by force on Hounslow-heath. The colonists claim a right of property in that in which no property can possibly reside. † Did the matter rest here, we should say to the planters, "Yours has been the guilt, and yours must be the reward of guilt; you have bought your brothers' blood, and you must pay for it with your own ruin:" but, in the present state of things, a sentence like this would be grossly unjust. The nefarious man-traffic was long supported by our laws, and the existence of slavery is still recognized by them the colonists have acted and still act under the sanction of the laws; and to them, therefore, they properly appeal for protection. The country at large has indeed been a particeps criminis in the offence, and therefore must bear its portion of the burden. The legislature cannot say to the slaveowner, "It is true we told you that you might kidnap the Negro, and might work and lash him: but we have changed our opinion: it is illegal, and you must suffer the loss!" We grant, then, that the colonist is intitled to a compensation : but, as no claim to compensation can arise without a previous loss, let us see what would be the damage sustained by the slave-owner if his Negroes should be emancipated.

The value of a slave consists solely in his labor; for in his mere blood and bones and sinews, without their being put in action, his master can have no possible interest. If it can be proved, then, that the labor performed by a Negro, when a slave, would be procured from him at a less expence if he were free, it is evident that his owner would be benefited by the change, and that not the shadow of a right to compensation would exist. The value of the slave would in that case be added to the value of the land. Thus, if a plantation in

* See "Further Proceedings of the Honorable House of Assembly of Jamaica relative to a Bill introduced into the House of Commons," (the Slave-Registry Bill,) 1816, p. 37.

The overwhelming power of self-interest in warping the judgment and feelings is almost inconceivable. In the proceedings of the House of Assembly, cited in the above note, amongst other arguments of the Committee in support of the abstract doctrine of slavery, we are told that "In 1 Cor. c. vii. v. 21. and 24. St. Paul makes it perfectly immaterial whether a man is bond of

free.".

itself worth 10,000l. at present be cultivated by slaves who cost 50007., it will be worth 15,000l. when the purchaser is not compelled to lay out 5000l. in order to procure laborers. Arguing on the acknowleged operation of human feelings, there cannot be a simpler proposition than that voluntary labor must always be more productive than that which is compulsory: a truth that rests on the principle of self-interest, which is a principle that the West Indian planters ought to know how to appreciate. If we may be told that this is a theory, true in the abstract but false in practice, then let the question be examined by the strong test of fact and experience. The experiment has been repeatedly tried; and the result has been found favorable to the interests of humanity."

"A few Polish nobles," says Mr. Coxe in his Travels in Poland, "have ventured upon the expedient of giving liberty to their vassals. The event has shewn this to be no less judicious than humane, no less friendly to their own interests than to the happiness of the peasants; for it appears that in the districts in which the new arrangement has been introduced, the population of their villages has been considerably increased, and the revenues of their estates augmented in a triple proportion. The first noble who granted freedom to his peasants was Zamoiski, formerly Great Chancellor, who in 1761 enfranchised six villages in the palatinate of Masorin. In 1777 the receipts of this particular district were nearly triple, and Zamoiski, pleased with the thriving state of the six villages, has enfranchised the peasants of all his estates."

In the Brazils, also, a system of voluntary labor has been adopted in working for gold and jewels.

"The master supplies the slave daily with a certain quantity of provisions and tools, and the slave is obliged to return a certain quantity of gold or jewels according to the nature of the ground. Every thing that remains over this ration the Negro keeps himself, were the balance to be millions. The gold-mines of Popayan and Choco in Spanish America are wrought in the very same way. The finest pearl-fisheries in South America, those of Panama for example, are in the hands of Negro tenants, as it were. These are bound to give a certain number of pearls every week. The Negroes in the towns are allowed to hire themselves out to services of different kinds, on condition of their returning to their masters a certain portion of their wages; the rest they may spend or hoard up for their own use." (Brougham on Colonial Policy.)

Much valuable information on this subject is collected in a short but able pamphlet, intitled "A Letter to M. Jean Baptiste Say on the comparative Expence of Free and Slave Labour. By Adam Hodgson. Hatchard and Son. 1823:"-and to this letter we are indebted for many of the details which we have given on the point in question.

The