The West indies in 1837

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RESULTS OF

offspring of their apprentice population, and a few, such as they are, have already been sent to Montserrat and elsewhere. The state of Antigua, as regards the public peace, would also be erroneously inferred from an unexplained statistical comparison of criminal calendars and police records. There has been an apparent increase of of­ fences, owing to the fact, that Emancipation gave near­ ly thirty thousand citizens to the state ; and that the magistrate now takes formal cognizance of offences which previously were summarily punished by the mas­ ter. A large proportion of the middle class in the towns, are people of color, many of whom are persons of intelligence, education, and true respectability. The standard of morals is far more elevated among them, as well as the whites, than in the other colonies, though still in some respects lamentably below that of the mother country. The Sabbath is however more strictly observed than in England, and the attendance on pub­ lic worship very exemplary. Although the island suf­ fers from absenteeism, it has proportionably a more nu­ merous resident proprietary than any other colony, except Barbados. To this circumstance has been attributed, with apparent justice, its adoption of the complete abolition of slavery, in preference to the Apprenticeship ; the legislatures of the other islands being filled with attorneys, who form themselves a part of existing abu­ ses, and whose interests are wholly identified with the maintenance of the present order of things. We cannot conclude without observing, that though it is impossible to convey upon paper, the strong im­ pression on our own minds, of the benefits which have resulted to all classes, from immediate Emancipation ; yet, that those benefits would be greatly increased by


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