It is an octavo

and it would,

SINCE our last number went to press, we have had the pleasure of receiving, amongst the publications of June, a copy of the London Missionary Society's Report of the Proceedings against their excellent Missionary, Mr. Smith. We have read it with the deepest interest and astonishment. volume of two hundred closely printed pages, therefore, be totally incompatible with our plan, to attempt even an analysis of it. We shall, however, submit to our readers a few documents, which may give a general idea of the whole business, without entering into minute particulars: only premising, that the more we have attended to the minutest circumstances, the more our minds have been distressed and afflicted.

Respecting the Insurrection, generally, we shall quote a few paragraphs from the Christian Observer for March. After having stated some previous causes of discontent, the paper we refer to proceeds thus:

"Such was the state of things in Demerara in the months of June and July last, when at the close of the latter month the dispatch of Lord Bathurst arrived in the colony requiring the flogging of women to be abolished, and the whip to be laid aside in the field, as the instrument of coercion in the hands of the driver. We have before us the copy of a letter from a person holding a public situation in Demerara, dated the 6th September last, in which he states that at this time' the public mind was much excited; and that it was well known among the Slave population that something was

going forward for their benefit, although the colonial newspapers were prohibited from touching on the subject; and it seemed evident to every one that the sooner some step, according with the wishes and desires of the General Government, was taken by the Colonial Government, the better; and every one looked to an immediate promulgation on the subject on the meeting of 'the Court of Policy; so much so, that on the day of its first meeting people were in town, we mean White persons, from most estates, for the purpose of returning to their estates informed and prepared how to act. The Court met, continued its sittings for several days; but nothing was done or known. Upon its adjourned meeting, a fortnight afterwards, precisely the same thing. A third adjourned meeting took place, to no better purpose. It was now understood, however, that there was a difference of opinion among the members of the court, and that some of those who are exten(sive proprietors argued that every concession to the Slave population was so much taken from the value of their property, and was leading to the absolute destruction of it, and that it was better to correspond with the Government before taking any step; and perhaps the matter might, on representation, be entirely abandoned. Thus the Court of Policy, after meeting for the third time, rose without doing any thing; at least without either public or private communication on the subject, or as to the result of their sittings.'

"It may be easily conceived in what a state of perturbation and anxiety the mind of the Negroes must have been kept, during this awful and protracted period of suspense. Every thing dear to them was felt to be at issue;,,and, knowing the men to whose decision their fate, and that of their children was left, their alarms and apprehensions might be pardoned. We must place ourselves in their situation, if we would duly estimate its difficulties and temptations.

"The Governor of Berbice, on receiving Lord Bathurst's dispatch, very judiciously employed a Missionary to explain its purport to the Slaves, and to address to them the necessary precautions and qualifications. At Berbice all has remained tranquil. Such was not the course pursued at Demerara, Whether Governor Murray imagined that the matter might be kept secret from the Slaves until a communication could be had with Lord Bathurst on the subject, we know not. In that case, he ought at least

to have adopted measures for preserving the public peace in the interim. But the gentleman whom we have last quoted affirms, that "no measures of security were taken, nor any additional surveillance, except increasing nominally the militia drill days to two days in the week; and even this, he says, was not strictly acted on; the police, in all its branches, remaining in the same state of looseness and inactivity as usual, The Governor omitted even to guard the privacy of his own domestic circle. The whole tenor of the evidence on the trial of the riotous Slaves proves that the information respecting the contents of Lord Bathurst's dispatch, reached them principally through the medium of the Governor's own domestics. On the trial of Jack Gladstone, whose name has become familiar to our readers, it appeared that Jack told his fellows that he had been informed by his friend, Daniel, the Governor's servant, that it was really true about their freedom.' Not satisfied with this, the witness says he asked him whether he had himself read the newspaper? to which he answered, No; but, in order to obviate all distrust, he adds, "I'll tell you a little news. The manager of Port Estate lately said to a Negro who was being flogged, What, because you are to be freed, you don't want to work! What say you to that?” To this the witness says he replied, as well he might, "I am glad of it."

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"The object of the movement which they did make it is obvious from the whole of the evidence, was to obtain, from the constituted authorities of the colony, an explicit declaration as to the intentions of the Government towards them, and as to what their future condition was to be. In the prosecution of this object, the Slaves of several estates on the east coast appear to have agreed to lay aside their tools; in other words, to strike work until they could obtain the requisite satisfaction. The 18th of August was the day chosen for the purpose. On that day several outrages were committed by the Slaves. They seized such arms as they could obtain, which however were few in number; and they confined in the stocks several overseers and managers, who either resisted their proceedings, or were quitting the estates in order to spread the alarm of insurrection; and they are also said to have fired some shots, and to have roughly handled some individuals. But even

* How it has happened that these domestics were neither brought to trial, nor produced as witnesses, is a mystery yet to be explained.

this degree of violence appears to have been beyond their purpose. Telemachus says, that orders were given that they must not hurt the White people;' and several White persons testified that when Jack, who seemed to be the leader, knew of their confinement in the stocks, he immediately caused them to be released. It was reported at first that several White persons had been put to death by the Slaves; but this report appears, after a minute inquiry, to have had no foundation in truth. One White man only, we believe, was killed; and his death is said to have been caused by an accidental shot from his own party.

"Such appears to have been the extent of the violence of which the refractory Slaves were guilty. Neither in the evidence which has been published, nor in the various statements, have we been able to discover one well-authenticated fact which goes beyond it. They do not appear to have taken the life of a single White, to have demolished a single house, or to have set fire to a single cane-piece. It is a remarkable circumstance that on the very day on which they struck work, a considerable body of the Slaves, amounting, it is said, to about a thousand, had a long conference with the Governor, who happened to be riding out in the direction of the disturbed estates. To him they came forward to represent their grievances, and to solicit his interference. They are said to have also expressed to him their loyalty to the King, and their desire to act peaceably; and it does not appear that any one of those who were present at this conference were guilty of any violence, or even of any disrespect towards the Governor. What tone he took we have yet to learn: we have reason however to believe, that he quitted them without having made any satisfactory communication on the subject which chiefly agitated them, and we have not been told that he gave them any assurance that the griev ances under which they laboured would be inquired into and redressed. Had he done so, it would, without doubt, have been stated by the planters by way of aggravating the guilt of the firsurgents. No such statement, however, has been made in any public or private communication which we have seen. It may therefore be assumed that no such assurance was given; and this reserve on the part of the Governor would naturally be associated, in the minds of the Slaves, with the discouraging circumstance that he was himself a planter.

The Slaves, however, do not seem on this account to have abandoned the hope of effecting their object without violence. Two days more pass, and no cane piece is consumed, no house is de molished, no life is taken; though in the interval some of their numbér are said to have been killed and some made prisoners. Nay, when Colonel Leahy advanced to the disturbed estates with a considerable force composed of King's troops and militia, the Slaves were so far from manifesting any hostile purpose that they came forward in a large body to confer with that officer. They are said to have represented to him, as they had done to the Governor, their loyalty to the King, and the confidence they placed in the friendly feelings of the King's officers towards them. To the King's officers, therefore, they addressed themselves, imploring their protection against the planters, of whose exactions and severities they complained. While they were thus conferring with Colonel Leahy, or just as their conference ceased, the troops are said to have begun firing upon them, and, some accounts add, without orders. As the Slaves were crowded together, and were not expecting an attack, the carnage was considerable. In a few minutes one hundred and fifty of them, or, according to some statements, two hundred, lay dead or wounded on the spot; the rest, as soon as they recovered from their surprise, fled with precipitation, and without offering any resistance whatever.* The carnage appears to have been for a time pursued. The Indians were called in and used as blood-hounds to track the fugitives in the woods, and to bring them in alive or dead; whether with the stipulation of the usual reward, on the exhibition of the right arm of the murdered Slave, we know not. Courts-martial were immediately put in requisition to try the prisoners; and we have yet to learn how many hundreds of these wretched beings have perished by the sword and the gallows. But, be the number what it may, a thousand as some say, or eight hundred, or one hundred, it becomes the Parliament of this country to make diligent inquisition respecting the blood which has been thus profusely shed, and to judge fairly between the oppressor and the oppressed.

Different statements have been given of this important transaction. But af ter a careful comparison of those statements, and a minute inquiry into the circumstances of the case, the above has appeared to us to be the most correct aacount of it.