Page:Substance of the speech of His Royal Highness the Duke of Clarence, in the House of Lords.djvu/54

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To prove to your Lordships how very little can be effected by men who are unacquainted with the prejudices and customs of those who bear the relationship of master and slave, I am to inform your Lordships, from the most undoubted and respectable authority, that the East India Directors have lately sent out, certainly from the best and most laudable motives, a new code of laws to observed on the Island of St. Helena, relative to the treatment of Slaves. So far, my Lords, from producing any good effect, that the Slaves themselves are rendered unhappy by it; and if a remonstrance has not already arrived in England from the inhabitants, a very serious one may shortly be expected.

A few more words, my Lords, on the subject of Abolition. In the year 1787, the Island of Jamaica was in extreme distress for provisions, and the Assembly presented an Address to the then Governor, to induce him to allow supplies to be imported in American