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mere personal vanity, from the desire to appear to play a great part; if his language can be fairly taken to convey threats, which it is neither the interest nor the intention of this country to follow up by acts, nothing can be more unstatesman-like and weak. But Mr. Canning ought not to be interpreted according to the glosses of his enemies. His language on questions of foreign policy has been that of dissent from the principles of the continental monarchs; forcible as every thing he says is forcible, but not stronger than the occasion has warranted. The despotic governments of the Continent have not been sparing in declarations of their opinions, to which the silence of the government of England, as a government, and the language of its ministers, in controversy with democratical opponents, had been taken for assent. Since the invasion of Naples by the Austrian army, it has become manifest that no union could any longer exist between this country and the sovereigns of the Holy Alliance; and if at that moment the swagger of Mr. Canning had been brought into play, it is very probable that calamities which have since fallen upon Europe, would have been avoided. Lord Londonderry did dissent from that act, we believe; for though we have read his paper, we as little remember its contents as those do, probably, to whom it was addressed. This was statesman-like; that is to say, no one could well understand it at the time, or remember it afterwards. By this piece of statesmanship the invasion of Spain was prepared and justified.

At this sort of statesmanship the nations of the Continent would always beat us. It is really the privilege and the duty of the statesmen of this country to speak out. Their privilege, because they have rights as citizens, which they do not sink by the acceptance of office; their duty, because, being accountable to Parliament, they ought to address that body without disguise. This Mr. Canning has done. He has spoken without any of the cant of diplomacy, and there is no doubt that he has produced a good effect. His wisdom, as Lord Bacon says of the ancient mythology, has been either great or happy -great, if he intended to rally round England the affections of the world; happy, if he, intending nothing less, has been led by his temper or his genius to such a result.

Whether or no au action or a discourse is statesman-like, must be judged by its fitness to produce the end aimed at. To hear some people talk of statesmanship, it would seem that it signified to hem and haw, not to know your own will, or let others know it; to let the world slide, to be baffled and betrayed. The truth is, that many find fault with Mr. Canning's statesmanship, because his objects are not their objects, because they really wish to see the remaining liberty of Europe betrayed to those who choose to assail it.

On the subject of domestic policy, Mr. Canning has excited praise and envy by the same process, by seeing clearly and speaking out. His speech on the Silk Trade contains, in the following passage, the best manifestation of his opinions.

"Why is it to be supposed that the application of philosophy (for I will use that odious word); why is it to be supposed, that to apply the refinement of philosophy to the affairs of common life, indicates obduracy of feeling or obtuseness of sensibility? We must deal

with the affairs of men on abstract principles, modified, of course, according to times and circumstances. Is not the doctrine and spirit of those who persecute my right hon. friend, the same which in former times stirred up persecution against the best benefactors of mankind? Is it not the same doctrine and spirit which embittered the life of Turgot? (Cheers.) Is it not a doctrine and spirit such as these which consigned Galileo to the dungeons of the Inquisition? (Cheers.) Is it not a doctrine and a spirit such as these, which have at all times been at work to roll back the tide of civilization-a doctrine and a spirit actuating little minds, who, incapable of reaching the heights from which alone extended views of human nature can be taken, console and revenge themselves by calumniating and misrepresenting those who have toiled, to those heights for the advantage of mankind. (Cheers.) Sir, I have not to learn that there is a faction in the country-I mean not a political faction-I should, perhaps, rather have said, a sect, small in number and powerless in might, who think that all advances towards improvement are retrogradations towards Jacobinism. These persons seem to imagine, that under no possible circumstances can an honest man endeavour to keep his country upon a line with the progress of political knowledge, and to adapt its course to the varying circumstances of the world. Such an attempt is branded as an indication of mischievous intentions, as evidence of a design to sap the foundations of the greatness of the country. Sir, I consider it to be the duty of a British statesman, in internal as well as external affairs, to hold a middle course between extremes; avoiding alike the extravagance of despotism, or the licentiousness of unbridled freedom -reconciling power with liberty; not adopting hasty or ill-advised experiments, or pursuing any airy and unsubstantial theories; but not rejecting, nevertheless, the application of sound and wholesome knowledge to practical affairs; and pressing, with sobriety and caution, into the service of his country, every generous and liberal principle, whose excess, indeed, may be dangerous, but whose foundation is in truth."

This is vague, it may be said, but vagueness of a very different description from that which had long been fashionable among Tory statesmen. "The progress of political knowledge," "Turgot," "Galileo," ""liberal principles," are names and phrases which would not have been a few years ago found in the speech of a minister.

The twelve years which have elapsed since the conclusion of the war against France, have prepared a great change, or rather restoration of opinion in the country. Previously to the French Revolution, the tendency of this country decidedly was towards political improvement. The minister, a declared friend to Parliamentary Reform, practised severe economy in the expenditure, meditated an improvement in the church establishment, and a commutation of tithes, or other extensive plans of amelioration. Some followed, others outran him, but no very marked difference of opinion existed. A friendly feeling also prevailed towards all improvements in the political condition of other nations. The French Revolution entirely changed this state of things. The minds of some men were exalted, but of more, and those of the most influential, terrified. A few men meditated revolutions, but it became the fashion to hate changes, to stand still, or if to move at all, to go back was the chief merit of a statesman;

and any attempt at innovation in any part of the world, no matter how provoked or justified, was viewed with undisguised horror. But this condition of the mind of a large portion of the public in a country where discussion was free, could not long outlive the terror which gave rise to it. Since the peace, the nation has gradually reverted to the same position in which it stood previously to the war; the objects to which its attention are turned are different, but the temper is similar. Many of the remaining members of the Pitt party have not accommodated themselves to this change of circumstances. The cant, the catch words of the time of the revolutionary war have stuck by them; they talk of Pitt's principles, meaning thereby the expedients he adopted against dangers, the very imagination of which has passed away. They praise Pitt's actions, without reference to the circumstances in which he was placed, and, like Panurge's sheep, would follow the precedent of the bell-wether in jumping into the sea, not recollecting that their great leader did not go in, but was thrust in. Mr. Canning has had the sense to see that the time for this folly is going by; that nothing is so hopeless as the attempt to keep up the humbug alarm at the danger of innovation, which never perhaps had any foundation in fact, but which has now lost all its foundation in imagination; that the dangers to be avoided in the time of Robespierre were different from those to be avoided in the time of Ferdinand of Spain. As Mr. Canning has gained immense credit by recognizing the new states, that is, by proclaiming a fact which it was impossible rationally to deny, so he has completed his fame by adverting to a change in England which none but the purblind can mistake.

Mr. Canning is accused by the high Tories of consummate talents for intrigue as well for popularity as for power. His great intrigue seems to have been opening his eyes, a process which mole-like opponents cannot easily conceive. He has done less than Mr. Peel-he has probably not wished to do more; but he has looked to the state of the country, he has spoken of it; and by a few words of good sense and frankness, he has conciliated a great body of people who had been alienated from the government, and who had hated him. It will remain to be seen whether he will justify this popularity.

MAJOR MOODY ON NEGRO LABOUR, AND THE EDINBURGH REVIEW.

WE fear calm and reasonable discussion (in which we excell) is at a considerable discount in the discussions on negro slavery. The West Indians are furious against the saints, to whom they attribute the wish to destroy their property; and the saints, in the way of humanity, are just as savage against any who doubt not merely the propriety of their object, but the expediency of any of their means. The rest of the world, we fear, do not care a straw about the matter, and leave a clear field for the contending parties. We shall, however, in the character of Wisdom, cry aloud in the streets; if no one regard us, that is not our concern.

In resolving all questions as to the mode in which slavery is to be put an end to in the West Indies, and even the question, (if any one entertains it,) whether it be desirable to put an end to slavery at all, it is necessary previously to ascertain what is the real amount of the benefit of slavery to the parties for whose supposed advantage it is maintained—that is, to the proprietors of slaves. The relation of master and slave in the West Indies implies certain rights and obligations, but mainly, the right, on the part of the master, of compelling the slave to work by physical coercion, and the obligation, on the part of the same master, to provide for his sustenance.

If it were proved that the negro would afford to an employer the same, or nearly the same labour, in return for his sustenance, in a state of freedom, as he now does in a state of slavery, the coercion which is at present employed would be proved to be unnecessary, the slavery to be a pure evil. It does not indeed follow, on the other hand, that even if free negroes will not afford labour so cheaply, sla very is desirable or justifiable; but it is important to ascertain the fact, in order that we may know whether any or what compensation is due to the slave holder; and generally, that we may not be in ignorance of all the consequences of the steps we may take to put an end to an existing system.

The last number of the Edinburgh Review (No. XC.) contains an article on this subject, which exhibits proofs of the disinclination, on the part of the abolitionists, as well as the slave holders, to reason calmly on this subject. The article in question is a review of Major Moody's Report to the Secretary of State for the Colonies, on the captured negroes in Tortola.

The major, who seems to have been a very observant and acute man, has certainly laboured occasionally under an excess of theory, and a defect of grammar, both of them diseases very common to men unpractised in authorship, and one of them at least very excusable in a production not published by him, or intended for publication. It is amusing to see, under such circumstances, so much eloquence thrown away by the reviewer, to prove that a man uses a superfluity of that's.

It is not our wish, however, to defend the major's style; and we have as little concern about his theories. He has generalized in some respects rashly. He is not the first who has done so; but the reviewer, in giving what he conceives to be a refutation of the major's theories, gives us to suppose that he settles some practical part of the question of West India slavery. He gives judgment as on demurrer, and because the objections which the major makes to the supposition that labour can be cheaply obtained from free negroes in the West Indies, are encumbered with doubtful propositions, he would evidently lead us to infer that there would be no difference between the labourer in the West Indies, and the labourer in England, if the slaves were made free.

The main question of any interest, therefore, connected with the Major's Report, the reviewer altogether shirks, viz., "Will the negroes, after they are made free, work as they now work, for such wages as the planters are able to give them?" This question, in the absence of any satisfaction from the Review, we shall attempt to argue for ourselves.

If we look at the circumstances of our principal West India colonies, Jamaica, Demerara, and Trinidad, we find countries, very small parts of the best lands of which are cultivated, and of such fertility, that a very small portion of the labour of a man is sufficient to provide him with subsistence. In such countries the land itself is worth nothing; it does not yield any rent (taking rent in the sense in which it is used by the economists); the whole value of an estate consists in the improvements which have taken place, and in the buildings which have been erected on it. According to the slave law of Jamaica, it should seem, that the only provision which it is compulsory on a master to make for a slave, is to supply him with a provision ground (which, under such circumstances, is of no value), which the slave is to till in his leisure time, that is to say, on Sundays, and twenty-six days in the year, which are allowed them for that purpose. (Consolidated Slave Law of Jamaica, 57 Geo. 3, c. 25.) The slaveowner, therefore, gets eleven-twelfths of the labour of the slave, and pays him with the other twelfth; and this is the whole of the payment,* unless he add a rag to cover the nakedness of the animal. At any rate it is a main part of it.

Now it is impossible to conceive that if these men were free, their labour could be obtained on such terms. The negro might indeed be willing to work the twenty-six days in the year, to provide himself with yams or plantains; but that he should work during the 286 days in the year, exclusive of Sundays, for the plantation, without some payment other than the privilege of working twenty-six days more for himself, we do not believe. The saints may, for faith will remove mountains.

Major Moody considers it a part of the philosophy of labour, that man will not work without a motive, in the lowlands of the torrid zone. The reviewer objects that the same principle applies to all parts of the world; and we so far agree with the objection, that we would not work upon the terms on which it is expected that a negro is to work if we were on the highlands of Iceland. But, because the reviewer proves the Major's proposition to be less extensive than it might have been, he does not prove it to be untrue within the limits to which the Major restricts it. Under certain circumstances, says the Major, the Blacks will not work under the torrid zone. This is not answered by saying, under the same circumstances Whites would not work under the temperate zone.

The climate does make a difference in this respect-that, whether the pleasures of idleness under a burning sun be or be not greaterthe wants of a negro, beyond food, are certainly less in Jamaica than in England. If the negroes are at all like whites, (the object of the reviewer seems to be to prove that they are, and for this purpose they may be safely taken to be so,) the pain of labour, and the pleasure of rest, must be greater under a burning sun than in a temperate climate; and the Major certainly gives us great matter for doubting whether a free labourer under such circumstances would give his labour steadily for any reward which could possibly be offered to him.

*This is evident, from another part of the same law, where it is provided, that if no provision ground is given, the slaves shall have money wages, 3s. 4d. per week each, "in order that they may be properly supported and maintained."—Sect. 6.

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