Thr alpettator
JANUARY 26, 1833
IN our report of prOceedings in the Lord Chancellor's Court this week, will be found an account of a very interesting application relative to the manumission of certain slaves in the Island of Antigua, belonging to the estate of the late Lord CRAWFURD. . . . It appears that the majority of the slaves are utterly unable to support themselves, and that there is no adequate provision for their maintenance should they be set at liberty and leave the plantation from which they have hitherto derived subsistence. The number of these slaves is 134. . . . Suppose, instead of 134, that there were 800,000, it is evident that the misery which would .result from their immediate emancipa- tion would be dreadful. The fact is, that the slaves will not be fit for freedom till they have been taught how to take care of themselves. The inference which we would draw from the situation of the slaves on Lord CRAWFURD'S estate is, not that emancipation should be indefinitely postponed, but that no time should be lost in preparing slaves for the right use of freedom.
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