and enforced directly afterwards by law, would produce more willing as
well as more able and valuable labourers than before; and that this
effect, when once visible, would again lead both masters and legislators
on the score of interest to treat their slaves still more like men; nay,
at length to give them even privileges; and thus to elevate their
condition by degrees, till at length it would be no difficult task, and
no mighty transition, _to pass them_ to that most advantageous situation
to both parties, _the rank of Free Men?_

These were the three effects, which the simple measure of the abolition
of the slave trade was expected to produce by those, who first espoused
it, by Mr. Granville Sharp, and those who formed the London committee;
and by Mr. Pitt, Mr. Fox, Mr. Burke, Mr. Wilberforce, and others of
illustrious name, who brought the subject before Parliament. The
question then is, how have these fond expectations been realized? or how
many and which of these desirable effects have been produced? I may
answer perhaps with truth, that in our own Islands, where the law of the
abolition is not so easily evaded, or where there is less chance of
obtaining new slaves, than in some other parts, there has been already,
that is, since the abolition of the slave trade, a somewhat _better
individual_ treatment of the slaves than before. A certain care has been
taken of them. The plough has been introduced to ease their labour.
Indulgences have been given to pregnant women both before and after
their delivery; premiums have been offered for the rearing of infants to
a certain age; religious instruction has been allowed to many. But when
I mention these instances of improvement, I must be careful to
distinguish what I mean;--I do not intend to say, that there were no
instances of humane treatment of the slaves before the abolition of the
slave trade. I know, on the other hand, that there were; I know that
there were planters, who introduced the plough upon their estates, and