proach occasioned-not that the people dreaded oppression (darins were impressed with the idea that the Englishman or injustice, but they dared not lookupon him! they ima- had performed the kotau, although rather in an awkward gined such a sight would strike them blind; and upon and inexperienced manner.

an occasion when other nations would think it the highest Having met with a gracious reception, the officers rerespect they could pay to assemble round their sovereign, turned to their boats, and, taking that of their visiter in or his representative, the Chinese, with a more exalted tow, quickly gained the opening of Whampoa Reach; on idea of reverential awe, considered themselves unworthy their coming in sight, the Company's ships manned their to look upon him, and that the only proper thing to do yards, and saluted with twenty-one guns, to the no small was to get out of his way in all directions, as fast as pos-discomposure (as they afterwards learned) of the object of their courtesy.

sible.

The river and its banks, always swarming with life and The Warley had, of course, her side-ladder (a perfect activity, began to present an appearance of unnatural staircase in point of convenience and safety) ready; but stillness; the provision-boats, usually managed by women, the regal boat was no sooner alongside, than up ran seveslipped away from their accustomed stations about the ral of the attendants with a ladder of their own, which ships, bearing with them sea-nymphs of all sorts, bidding they fixed and covered very expeditiously with carpeting. In adieu to their English friends, and hastening to hide the mean time, the chief officer descended into the boat, themselves in some little creek, until the expected earthly and received the Viceroy at the door of his cabin; after meteor had appeared and passed. having made a very profound obeisance, he took him by The morning arrived; the English ships were decked the hand and helped him up the ladder. On his arrival out in all their colours, ready to fire their salute and man on deck, all the Englishmen bowed respectfully; but the their yards at the expected signal. They were all ships Chinese merchants, who had formed themselves into a line of the East India Company, those princes among mer- from the gangway to a sort of chair of state, which had chants. I do not think that the view of our most superb been placed in the centre of the quarter-deck, turned themman-of-war impresses an intelligent foreigner so much as selves round in silence, presenting a line of backs, decothat of one of these trading vessels: the one, in more or rated with long plaited tails, reposing on their rich robes less perfection, is common to all nations that can arm a of cloth and silk. One of them ventured to move his pary; but the other is peculiar to England, a type of the head round a little, and said in an anxious undertone in solidity of her wealth and of her wisdom. English: "Leave go his hand, Mr. N-;" but Mr. The chief officer of the Warley stood upon his deck, N- declined the hint, and, having seated the Viceroy surrounded by the officers, several supercargoes, and some in his chair, bowed again, and took his station by his side. of the first Chinese merchants of Canton, all in full dress; The dress of all the Chinese present was not only splenthe band was at its station, and the collation prepared. At did, but, what we less expect to learn, was remarkably length, the distant sound of the gong gave notice of the becoming. It consisted of the finest broadcloth of the approach of the Viceroy; every ship sent off a boat to meet darker colours, chiefly crimson and puce, confined round him; that of the Warley, under the command of her se- the waist by a belt, embroidered in gold, or silver, with a and officer, of course took the lead. They attained the clasp of precious stones; a large square of silk was laid on bend of the river, which concealed the Viceroy's boats the breast and back, also richly embroidered with various fran view, and, turning it, were soon in contact with devices, of which the crane was the most prevailing. The then. The first boat of the procession was that of the caps of the Mandarins were peculiarly shaped, the higher executioner, in which was erected a gallows, surrounded part being composed of a profusion of thick silk threads, by soldiers armed with swords and whips: then came that gathered and fastened at the top with a brilliant gem, difof the Viceroy, attended numerously by others, containing fering in size and value according to the rank of the reral Mandarins, his household and troops, together with wearer. The military wore in addition one or two peacomplete depots of all that it was thought possible he or cock's feathers drooping backwards. Boots turned up and cortege might require. Nothing by the bye, can ex-square-toed, of black satin, very handsomely embroidered, ed the comfort and order of Chinese boats generally; completed the dress. The prevailing colour of the Vicebut those in which persons of distinction travel are luxu- roy's was yellow. Most of the Chinese present were tall ly fitted up. The Warley's boat, followed by the and well formed; the Viceroy himself was of rather low , was soon alongside that of the Viceroy; all the offi- stature and advanced in years.

cer were received on board with much politeness; the As soon as the Viceroy was seated, a pipe was presentdoxes of the Viceroy's cabin were thrown open, and the ed to him by one of his attendants, while another filled it ficere, forming a line, with their companion of the War- with tobacco, which was carefully renewed after every ley at their head, prepared to enter. He of the Warley single whiff. For a few minutes a perfect silence prevailTalthough young, rather short and fat; in the anxiety ed. Mr. N- then gave a signal to the band, which

the moment to support, with dignity and propriety, the struck up with a roll of the long drum. The old man ading part allotted to him on this occasion, and for that started, and, taking the pipe from his mouth, enquired pove holding up his head in a becoming manner, he hurried what that was. He was told it was music by an foot perceive a small ledge at the entrance of the cabin, English band. He had the good breeding to listen with raced along as a support to the doors-it tripped him up, apparent pleasure to our national air; but he whispered and he came with a heavy, scrambling fall upon his face something to his interpreter, who, stepping round to the re the Viceroy. An irrepressible titter ran through chief officer, told him that the Viceroy liked this music line, m spite of the almost painful efforts of each indi- very much, but begged there might be no guns fired off al to restrain it: The disconcerted leader, however, while he was on board.

and his feet, brushed his knees with his sleeve, and then After the performance, the Viceroy was apprized that ly looking up, met the grave and placid eyes of the refreshments were laid for him below, but could be brought Viceroy, almost buried as he was among his silken up on deck should he prefer it; he replied, he was very

What made the blunder more diverting was, comfortable where he was, and desired that they should it was easy to perceive that the Viceroy and his Man- be brought up. It is to be observed that refreshinents

were ready to be sent from his own boat, but this of ously attacked; the salute was fired, the band struck up course, was not permitted by his English hosts. While and the cherry-brandy went merrily round.

the trays were preparing below, the Viceroy amused him- Their glee was by no means moderated by the arrival of self by conversing with a few of the backs and long plait- a large boat with presents from the Viceroy-presents ined tails, that still kept the same immoveable line in which deed! truly oriental and imperial!-twelve fine fat bulthey had at first arranged themselves; he spoke to them locks, several jars of wine, (a light acid wine resembling by name, and seemed to be as familiar with them as we claret, but inferior to it) tubs of preserves, a suit of clothes are with faces of our acquaintances; and, had they changed for each of the ship's company, and two suits, with a preplaces and turned round, he would, probably, have been at sent of money, for each of the band. A small, neat parcel a loss to know immediately and exactly which were the was handed to Mr. N- ; it contained a silk purse of faces that belonged to such or such among his friends, the beautiful workmanship, and in it were two little gold pills; backs. he was assured that this was a rare and highly compli The trays were brought up, and from one of them he mentary present, and that the pills possessed some extratook some very slight refreshment; he then accepted, with ordinary virtues. evident pleasure, a glass of cherry-brandy, which the Chinese are very fond of; he took half and presented the remainder to Mr. N, who, being aware of the great compliment his so doing implied, received it with satisfuction.

Thus concluded this Chinese Visitation, apparently much to the satisfaction and enjoyment of all parties.

From the Edinburgh Review.

An Account of the present state of the Island of Puerto Rico. By Colonel FLINTER, of the General Staff of the army of her Most Catholic Majesty. 8vo. London: 1834.

He then requested to know whether it would be agreea ble to the Viceroy to view the ship below; this was acceded to, and Mr. N- -, as before, handed him down the companion ladder: although touching his hand was evidently This volume has the recommendation of presenting us a breach of Chinese etiquette, yet the Viceroy being a with a full and interesting account of a valuable island, perfectly well-bred man, and the principles of good-breeding less known in this country than evan Japan or Madagasbeing the same in all countries, however they may vary in car and it possesses an additional value in our eyes, from external appearances, he by no means declined the proffer- being the production of a writer who has evidently formed ed assistance. On arriving below, he seemed to appreciate his opinions on his own account. His sentiments do not the order, neatness, and comfort, of the arrangements; savour of any class or school: on the contrary, he freand admired the spacious and handsomely fitted up cabin quently advances, in the same breath, positions which are of the captain; but the more important parts of the ship, its usually maintained by persons of opposite principles in machinery, and management, he appeared not in the least political matters. Thus, being an officer in the service of to understand, and, therefore, remarked them but slightly; Spain, he has a high respect for the administration of the he was, however, much struck at the number and size of late King Ferdinand, and a thorough contempt for the all the guns, enquired their calibre, and asked several other various liberal sects which overturned his absolute throne, questions concerning them; at the same time, requesting and have now taken his daughter under their protection. that the parting-salute might not be fired until he had ar- He moreover holds in utter abhorrence all the promoters of rived at a safe distance. the South American revolution, and all persons and things On his coming on deck he prepared for departure: the connected with the new republican governments; which band again commenced; he waved his hands to the Eng- afford, it must be confessed, but too good grounds for his lish; spoke affably, as he passed along, to the backs and sarcastic remarks. Here, however, besides the feelings of tails; and, assisted by Mr. N-, descended to his boat, the soldier and the royalist, additional bitterness is imparted followed by his immediate attendants. The chief officer to the Colonel's pen, by his recollection of the sufferings saw him safely immersed among his silken cushions in and losses of his father-in-law, Don Francisco Arambureo, his own cabin, and then took his leave, receiving many one of the wealthiest landed proprietors of Caraccas.' But compliments and thanks from the Viceroy. As soon as at the same time he is a strong partisan of negro emanthey had pushed off, the bands ceased and the gongs began. cipation; and his book, written before, but published after, For a short space, those on board watched the receding the passing of that great enactment by the British Parliaboats in silence, and then the real fun of the business ment, contains some of the most pointed examples which commenced. The Chinese faced about, and embraced have yet been adduced in its favour. He is moreover a cach other and their English friends, with marks of extra- political economist; and has garnished his pages with a vagant joy; as to Mr. N, he had risen many degrees great many citations from Say, who appears to be his favourin their opinion, and a certain reverence mingled with ite authority. But with all his ardour for the cause of free their first congratulations to him. "How happy you must trade in general, he nevertheless impresses upon his gobe! You have held him unreproved by the hand! You vernment, the necessity of protecting the manufactures of have taken cherry-brandy out of the same glass! You the Peninsula: these he asserts the colonists of Cuba and have spoken face to face to the near relative of the sun and Puerto Rico will not take, though as good and better than moon! Are not you dazzled? do not your eyes water?" At those of France and England, owing to a perverse prejuthis the Englishman's politeness gave way, and he burst dice; and they should be compelled, in his opinion, to adopt into such a long and glorious laugh, that not only his more impartial sentiments by the gentle arguments of the eyes watered to their heart's content, but the infection Custom House; while, on the other hand, they should be caught his comrades and English guests, and many even restrained from importing provisions from abroad, that they of the Chinese, who, being well-informed men, and in the may be encouraged to develope their own agricultural reconstant habit of communication with foreigners, had sources. If, without entering into our military author's (whatever they might pretend to outwardly) got rid of speculations on these subjects, we shall content ourselve many of their prejudices. After this unexpected death- with the facts which he has brought before us, concerning blow to all dignity, some of the commanders of the other the present condition of this island, we shall find, in his ships having come on board, the good things were vigor- details, some singular views of a state of society which

was not believed to exist in the West Indies, and which, although even here, water, according to our author, is according to theories generally received amongst us, was always found at half a yard beneath the surface. The a priori conceived impossible. sugar-cane, notwithstanding the drought, thrives abundColonel Flinter appears to have commanded, for several antly, and most of the chief plantations of this island are years, the regiment of Spanish troops which was in per- formed on this coast. This inestimable benefit of moismanent garrison at Puerto Rico; and must have had am- ture, Puerto Rico derives from its forests, which as yet ple opportunities of becoming fully acquainted with its clothe a large portion of the interior; the thick cover at internal condition. It will be perceived, no doubt, that his once attracting the rain and preventing evaporation. By local partialities sometimes lead him into apparent over- the laws of the colony every person who cuts down a tree statements and manifest contradictions; but every candid is bound to plant three in its place. But it is to be feared reader will make allowance for the spirit of exaggeration that a law so difficult of enforcement is habitually violated, which appears occasionally to dictate his eulogies on his and that it will come, like some other islands, which forfavourite colony. merly exhibited a similar feature, to present a naked surThe early history of Puerto Rico affords few features of face to the ineffectual vapours of the Atlantic: its fertility interest. Although one of the oldest colonies of the Spa- will then diminish, and its perennial rivers waste away; nish crown, it served for three centurics only as a convict even as the clearing of the forests on various parts of the station; and its free population presented, until a few years Mediterranean coasts,-in peninsular Greece and Sicily, ago, a marked specimen of the besotted indolence which for example,-which were well wooded within the historical characterised a Spanish settlement of the old times. The era, has diminished the classical rivers of antiquity into military and civil expenses were defrayed by remittances mere occasional torrents. from Mexico; and it was not until the revolution caused Although the climate of Puerto Rico does not appear to these remittances to cease in 1810, that the island, owing differ materially, as far as its effects can be measured by to the extreme embarrassment of its financial condition, instruments, from that of other islands of the Gulf of began to attract the notice of the mother country. In Mexico, yet its inhabitants certainly seem to enjoy a more 1815 a decree was published in its behalf, distinguished, than ordinary exemption from the evils which afflict hulike many of the early acts of the restored government, by manity in these sickly regions. The mortality, according ita enlightened sagacity. But this decree, whilst it greatly to our author's tables, does not exceed that which prevails encouraged free industry, unfortunately at the same time in some of the healthier countries of Europe. A still gave an impulse to the employment of slave labour, which more singular characteristic appears to distinguish this bad hitherto been unused, rather from indolence and want island from its neighbours, namely, the great deficiency of of capital than from motives of humanity. Colonists whre native animals of every sort; especially the entire absence invited to the island on the most liberal terms-lands were (if our author can be credited) of those noxious reptiles allotted gratis; the settlers were freed from direct taxes,and, and insects which seem to inherit the rest of the West fre a certain number of years, from the tithes and alcabala; Indies as their peculiar possession. well as from the exportation duties, which formed one The population of Puerto Rico amounted, according to of the most impolitic features of the old Spanish system. the Spanish census of 1830, to 323,858; of which 127,287 From the period of this decree, the advance of Puerto were free people of colour, and 34,240 only, slaves. But Ees in wealth and population has been unexampled, even as the numbers of all the classes were probably underrated; as the virgin regions of America. A preat additional im- and as there was every inducement to return an under pale was given by the arrival of capitalists, driven by estimate of the slaves, in order to avoid the capitation, our tivil war from the Spanish Main;-men distinguished in author calculates, apparently on good grounds, the whole the mere prosperous times of South America for their, number at 400,000, and the slaves at 45,000; or nearly ady regularity and probity in the transaction of busi. 180 inhabitants to the square mile. Our limits will not allow us even to abridge our Here, then, we have a free white population of 200,000 anthor's account of the rapid improvements of the island; souls, or half the entire amount of inhabitants. What and of the manner in which her soil has been cultivated causes can have produced a result so utterly different from tatil she is become, next to Brazil and Cuba, the most for-that which exists in all the West India Islands, except andable rival with which our colonies have to contend in those of Spain? Whence arises this numerous and prosthe production of their staple article, and at the same perous Creole yeomanry, (for we shall see that a great profe a granary competent to supply all the ordinary wants portion of them are owners or occupiers of land,) whilst of her abundant population.

other colonies are divided between a few white proprietors, The island appears to be one of the most lovely of all and a degraded multitude of slaves, with hardly a vestige these regions of loveliness which are washed by the Carib- of an intermediate class? Such was not always the state Sea. Even in that archipelago it is distinguished by of our own islands. Without admitting the exaggerated de luxuriance of its vegetation and the soft variety of its accounts of the early greatness of Barbadoes, we have sery. It comprises every kind of tropical landscape in abundant evidence that Antigua, St. Kitts, Dominica, and space not much exceeding the area of one of the larger, other colonies, possessed, a hundred years ago, a multitude of Eaglab counties. Like Jamaica, it is divided from cast English settlers; who have gradually dwindled away, by into west by a range of forest-covered monntains, which do temperance, by their own misconduct, and above all through tot appear to exceed 3000 or 4000 feet in height, but the extension of the sugar cultivation, and of its companion the vach are sufficient to create a very marked difference of slave trade, to the small remnant which now exists. We bediate between their opposite declivities. The northern lieve that if any causes should arise to give a sudden impulse struct is moist, subject not only to the periodical rains of to the colonial industry of this now happy Spanish island, the West Indies, but visited also by occasional showers. it would soon follow-as Cuba is already following-the Bence its undulating surface is adapted for pasture and the baneful course of our own settlements, and purchase wealth cre ordinary kinds of cultivation, and is intersected by at the expense of happiness. But this is an opinion which nerous perennial rivers; whilst the southern part of the our readers will be best enabled to estimate, by observing bad as frequently without rain for many months together, the results displayed in the work before us. FUL. EXVIIL JANUARY, 1836.-6.

Of the free inhabitants of Puerto Rico, a very small pro-fight, or to a dance, thinking himself the most indeportion is settled in the towns: indeed, the capital, San pendent and happy being in existence.'-Pp. 76--78. Juan, with about 8000 souls, is the only place which seems Riding out one afternoon in the country, I was to merit such a title. Some of the best, in point of con-overtaken by one of those sudden showers of rain so nexions and respectability, are the descendants of military common in tropical climates. 1 filed for shelter to the men, who, during the long period when the island was a nearest house, which happened to be the cottage of a mere garrison, formed alliances and settled within it. poor Xivaro. It was on the slope of a little hill, surrounded by plantain trees, which did not appear to be These people maintain the pride of their descent with all carefully cultivated, and a large patch of potatoes was the stateliness of grandees; and some of them are opu- close by. I placed my horse without ceremony under lent. Wealthy merchants and planters (many of whom the projecting roof. I entered the humble dwelling are foreigners) form the next class; but the latter, fortu- with the usual salute, which is the same as in Ireland, nately for the happiness if not for the riches of the island, "God save all here," which was courteously answered form altogether but a small, and not now a very thriving by the man of the house, who seemed to be about forty class. The number of sugar estates is about 300; chiefly years of age. He was dressed in a check shirt and situated on the southern coast. They hardly pay at pre-of such small dimensions, that his body was actually wide linen drawers. He was coiled up in a hammock sent, according to our author, the expenses of cultivation. doubled in two; one foot rested on the ground, with But there are, in addition, some 1300 small plantations which he propelled the hammock to and fro; and at belonging to poor cultivators, who, growing only an acre or intervals with his great toe he turned a large sweet potwo of cane, devote their attention chiefly to the raising of tato, which was roasting on a few embers, placed on a provisions. There are 148 coffee estates; but in this flag on the ground close to him, and which no doubt was branch of cultivation, as well as that of sugar, the larger intended for his evening meal, He had a guitar in his capitalists have been gradually losing money and abandon. hand, from which he produced sounds which appeared ing their estates; whilst the small farmer who pursues to me discordant, but seemed to please him exceedingly. various lines of industry on his little tract of land, has on my entrance he turned on his side, and offered me been able, in this way, to increase his comforts.

the hammock, which of course I refused to accept.Two small children, perfectly naked, were swinging to It is this class that forms the distinctive feature of the and fro in another small hammock, and greedily devourpopulation. A numerous race of cultivators-brave, for ing large 1oasted plantains. The woman of the house their courage was hardly tried in the exigencies of the was squatted on the floor feeding four game-cocks, South American wars-of white blood, and Spanish feel the husband every now and then would warn her not to which were lodged in the best part of the house, while ings, opinions, and prejudices,—is something so widely dif- give them too much corn or too much water. They referent from what is to be found in our own islands or ceived me with an urbanity unknown to the peasantry those of France-that we are almost tempted to abandon of Northern Europe. They placed a large leaf of the the principles of political economy, and to feel grateful for palm-tree over my saddle to protect it from the rain; the want of enterprise, and slothful contentment, which and pressed me to sit down in the kindest manner. undoubtedly have prevented the conversion of the island The host was very communicative; he gave me the into one wild sugar factory, with white overseers and ne. whole pedigree of his game-cocks, and enumerated the gro labourers, Our author gives the extraordinary number of 19,000 proprietors of land in perpetuity: nearly 18,000 of these are small cocupiers, raising provisions and herding cattle. The Xivaros-as the white country population are called-are, it cannot be denied, an indolent race; who seem to multiply under an easy condition of existence, without adding much to the commercial wealth or social refinement of their country,

battles they had won. He pointed out one to me which he said was "a most delicate bird," an expression made concluded by offering it to me as a present. Indeed a use of by the Xivaros to denote its great value; and he Xivaro would form a very poor opinion of a person who could not discuss the merits of a game-cock. In going away they offered me their cabin with as much politeness as if it had been a palace, and hoped to see me again. I was forcibly struck with the native courtesy of these people, and it gratified me to observe the content and happiness they enjoy, without a thought for the present or a care for the future-without wants, without wishes, without ambition.'-P, 80.

Like the peasantry of Ireland, they are proverbial for their hospitality, and, like them, they are ever ready to fight on the slightest provocation. They swing them selves to and fro in their hammocks all day long, smoking their cigars, and scraping a guitar. The plantain We cannot see, in the descriptions of character which grove which surrounds their houses, and the coffee-tree, the Colonel has here given, any symptoms of the industry which grows almost without cultivation, afford them a which he elsewhere attributes to the husbandinen of Puerto frugal subsistence. ., The cabins are thatched Rico. But it is quite clear, that the spread of these trowith the leaves of the palm-tree; the sides are often open, or merely constructed of the same sort of leaves pical backwoodsmen over the virgin soil of the island, has as the roof-such is the mildness of the climate. Some prevented it thus far from falling into the hands of the su. cabins have doors, others have none. There is nothing gar monopolist; and it furnishes a sufficient answer to dread from robbers, and if there were banditti, their those who imagine that a European race, living by its own poverty would protect them from violence. A few labour, cannot exist, where 80° is the average height of calabash shells, and earthen pots-one or two ham- Fahrenheit's thermometer. With the gradual diffusion o mocks made of the bark of the palm-tree-two or three education, of which our author admits that there is game-cocks, and a machete-form the extent of their lamentable deficiency, much of the grosser parts of thei moveable property. A few coffee-trees and plantains, character may be progressively removed.

to

Puerto Rico produced in 1830, 414,000 quintals o

a cow and a horse, an acre of land in corn or sweet potatoes, constitute the property of what would be denominated a comfortable Xiyaro-who, mounted on his sugar, 250,000 of coffee, and 35,000 of cured tobacco meagre and hardworked horse, with his long sword pro. besides other colonial produce; and it possessed, in addi truding from his baskets, dressed in a broad-brimmed tion, very numerous herds of cattle, divided among nume straw-hat cotton jacket, clean shirt, and check panta-rous proprietors-from the three or four who owne loons, sallies forth from his cabin to mass, to a cock. upwards of 1000 each, to the poorest of the free peasantry

who possessed a cow or two for the supply of their family. in the elements of Christianity, so that they may be ad Its revenue is stated at 800,000 Spanish dollars; its whole mitted into the church by Baptism within a year after their expenses, civil and military, at 630,000. importation. Twenty-five stripes form the maximum of The free coloured inhabitants of Puerto Rico are by far punishment. The regulations for the encouragement of more numerous than in any other West India island; and marriage-according to our author's statement--are so this fact alone, when we consider the ineradicable pre-favourable to the slaves, that they must frequently produce Judice attaching to colour, which has brought such infinite much hardship to the owner. These are only a few spemisery, and social discomfort, over great part of the world, cimens of a clement code, which seems to be so seconded -speaks more than any eulogy in favour of its people and by the natural humanity of the people, as to leave as little their government. The whole British West Indies con- of misery and shame attached to servitude, as is compatible tamed, before 1834, not more than 80,000 free coloured with its miserable and shameful nature. inhabitants, in a population of ten times that amount: of Thus far it is easy to agree with our author, upon the these, sixteen thousand were to be found in Trinidad alone, —an island which had long been governed by Spanish island. The statements by which he endeavours to esta whole, in his estimate of the condition of his favourite laws. Although white blood is, in Puerto Rico, as every blish the practicability of sugar cultivation, by unrestricted where else beyond the Atlantic, a patent of nobility, yet

ferior in station.

the Xivaro no more treats with contempt and contumely labour, although highly encouraging, are not, we confess, his inferior in caste, than the grandee of old Spain his in- wholly conclusive. But they form the most important in his book; and, on a question of such infinite passages But the good treatment of the slaves is the basis upon final decision the issue of the momentous experiment now importance-one, as yet undecided, and which awaits for which the polity of the island may be said chiefly to rest. Small as their number may be, we may safely say, that in in trial-all evidence is useful; and, we may add, without every community in which slavery is recognised, it gives partiality, that all evidence which appears to bear on the side of truth and religion is peculiarly welcome. a character to the whole society;-that the people in general are licentious, cruel, disorderly, according to the esti In 1823, Jamaica, with 340,000 slaves exported mate formed of the lowest class. The peculiarities of 1,400,000 quintals of sugar. Puerto Rico, with 45,000 the Spanish character are as strongly marked in the slaves produces about 410,000. The French colony of New, as in the Old World. No national character, per- Guadaloupe, with twice as many slaves as Puerto Rico, haps, is so deeply engrained with opposite hues of excel-produces an equal crop of sugar. The soil of the latter lence and of evil. The same natural and fundamental is far more fertile than that of the other islands, already But, on the other hand, cagoodness of disposition,-paradoxical as it may seem to in great measure exhausted. speak thus of a people whose evil deeds are blazoned in pital and industry form essential elements of the manuthe worst pages of European history,-prevails wherever facture, in the British and French isles, while the Spaniards the Castilian standard has been raised, and the industrious are far behind in all pursuits requiring either. From Catalan and Biscayan have assembled around it. The these premises our author concludes, not unreasonably, Spaniard is, above all mankind, subject to strong and over-that a large proportion (which elsewhere, however, he cal powering passion. His goodness of disposition, although culates at one-fifth only) of this crop of sugar is raised by radical, is but a passive quality, easily subdued by the pre- free labour.

malence of strong emotion. His reasoning powers are of

But it must be remembered, that, besides the greater the same character as his moral,-fundamentally good, yet estates, there are in Puerto Rico some 1200 or 1300 wayed and distorted by every impulse of prejudice. small sugar plantations, the property of the Xivaros of Thirst of gold in former times, then zeal for religion, and the interior, who live cheaply and work lazily, but who lastly, the spirit of party, have roused up in him all the contrive to raise a small quantity of this valuable aravage ferocity of which nature is capable. Yet in the ticle, together with provisions and cattle. If such rough worst crisis of the passions, when the evil spirit was si- cultivation as this succeeds at all, it can only be in conse. ienced even for a moment in the bosom which it swayed, a quence of the vast productiveness of the soil, cleared of Batural and graceful kindliness of heart has often shone its forests only within the last twenty-years, which gives Erth in full brightness. It was while the mania of avarice the planter the same advantage over his brethren to raled the early conquerors of America, and seduced them windward and leeward, as the settler of Illinois has over into practices revolting to human nature, that the founda- the cultivator of the worn out 'old fields' of the Atlanwere laid of a code of laws both for slaves and the tic coast. Such production can in the nature of things ve Indians, the spirit of which has ever since prevailed be only temporary. On the other hand, the great sugar g the Spanish creoles, and which puts to shame the estates, which must form the main sources of this comzations which arrogate to themselves exclusively the title modity, are evidently cultivated here as elsewhere by of enlightened. Shallow thinkers have often entertained slaves; and although at present the cultivation of sugar de paradox, that free states show less humanity in their on a large scale is extremely unprofitable, a rise in its mes, than is shown in those under absalute monarchies. price would undoubtedly cause at once an increased imOf all West India Annals, those of the French islands, be-portation of slaves, and the application of more capital fore the Revolution, were perhaps the most darkly stained and ingenuity to the business, until the small farmers with cruelty. And the free states of South America, on would be driven from the market by the slave-owning the other hand, have not only followed, but have still farther capitalists. Many contingent events might occasion such extended, in the midst of their monarchy and factions, a rise ;-as a temporary diminution of the produce of Se principles of Christian mercy and justice, which the British islands! or an increased consumption in an alone, until recently, knew and practised. Great Britain in consequence of a reduction of the duty.

By the Spanish laws, the hours of labour, the amount of Upon the whole, therefore, notwithstanding the flattering bood and clothing, and various other particulars in the anticipations of our author, we cannot see, in the pretreatment of the slaves, are minutely and humanely speci- sent state of Puerto Rico, much to justify his prophecy 14. Owners are obliged to have their slaves instructed that slave labour will be permanently dispensed with,