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BARBADOS.
mistresses voluntarily sent them for improvement. Barbados is far behind Antigua in the general spread of education, but is in advance of it, in the character of its schools. Besides those which we visited to day, which are in a satisfactory state of efficiency, there are many good private schools for all classes. 10th.—We went at noon to tjke House of Assembly. This body, like that of Antigua, meets by short ad journments, and is always in session. It is annually elected. The proceedings to day, were not of much interest. Several bills were read a first, second and third time; and, so far as the lower House is concerned, were pushed through their several stages in one sitting. The Solicitor General gave notice, in a speech of con siderable length, of a Bill to adopt on the part of this colonjr, the Imperial Act for a change in the judicial system. The Solicitor General appears to possess great influence in the House, and is reported to pos sess great influence out of it, particularly in the coun cils of the Governor. He is a young man of agreeable manners, and a persuasive speaker. He politely intro duced himself to us, in the lobby of the House, and conversed with us for a few minutes on the state of the jail, and the administration of criminal justice ; and also on the condition of the free children. Their desti nation, he observed, had become a vital question to the colony. They were now being brought up in habits of idleness and petty stealing. He wished they could be apprenticed till their mothers became free, were it merely for the purposes of maintenance and education; but complained of the jealousy existing on this subject in England, where it was characterised as a perpetua tion of slavery. He observed, that sending the children away from the estate, had only occurred in one or two