Page:On the motion of Sir George Strickland; for the abolition of the negro apprenticeship.djvu/16

8 substance and in practice it is otherwise. We hear constantly, for example, of the original contract or compact between the ruler and the subject. Where is that contract written, or in what store of archives is it preserved? It is written in the nature of things; it is merely a form of expressing the essential obligatory relations which connect the parties. And so in this case; there was all the substance, there was the nearest possible approach to the form of a contract in the Abolition Act of 1833, ratified by his Majesty; it had every sanction that the proceedings of Parliament could give, and it had a yet deeper foundation on the immutable principles of justice.

As between the administration of Lord Grey and the West Indian body, the compact was clear even in form. To show this I will state, in the presence of the noble mover of the bill, who will correct me if I am inaccurate, that before the final basis of the plan of emancipation was submitted to Parliament, Lord Spencer and Lord Stanley, on the part of the government, had an interview with several gentlemen on the part of the West Indians, to whom they offered the choice of the following three alternatives, in the nature of compensation.

The first: a grant of twenty millions, with twelve years' apprenticeship.

The second: a grant of twenty millions, a loan of ten millions, and a seven years' apprenticeship.