394
FOUR YEARS’ RESIDENCE
theless in that short time saw enough of the planters to justify him in saying, “ I know perfectly well that there are many persons scattered throughout our numerous colonies who do inwardly cling to their old prejudices, and very likely mourn in secret over the actual or designed reformations of the present day. But in almost every island there is a majority of better mind, so powerful in numbers and respectability, that it not only puts to silence men of the ancient leaven, but even compels them, through fear of shame, to become the ostensible friends of amelioration.” This assertion of Mr. Coleridge, joined to opinions of the same tendency expressed by others, proves, that to the liberality of the planters, among other causes, the slave is indebted for his improved condition. The Bishop of Jamaica confirms the veracity of this statement, when, in his dispatch to Lord Bathurst, he says, “ I am happy in being able to assure your lordship that a very general wish to ameliorate the condition of the slaves, and to instruct them in the principles of religion and the established church, seems to pervade the great mass of proprietors*.” Supposing, as I do, that my readers will be satisfied with the instances I have produced of the good intentions of the planter, and of his cooperation in the work of improvement, I will now bring forward some regulations passed in the different islands, by which * Vide extract from papers presented to Parliament, in a little work, called “ Sketches and Recollections of the West Indies.”