Note 13 — Front matter

This representation, it may be presumed, is fairly applicable to all the West Indian Legislatures: indeed it would be unjust to them to suppose, that they were less politic and provident than the Legislature of Dominica. The charge involved in it, however, is certainly far from being light or trivial, especially as it is made by one who is a thorough master of the subject on which he writes, “having passed many years in the West Indies, and having been resident in most of the Colonies.” P. 34. The charge amounts to this: that the individuals composing the legislatures of the Islands, and who we may suppose to be the most honourable part of the community, have entered into a combination to deceive the British Parliament and the British public; that they have prostituted the solemn legislative functions with which they were invested, to the promotion of this dishonourable purpose; and that, with the pretended view of promoting the protection, security, and comfort of the Negroes, they have framed a set of laws, the real object of which is not to benefit the Negroes, but to prevent the mother-country from interfering to mitigate the cruel oppression under which they groan. The reader must form his own judgment of persons capable of such conduct.