Page:Remarks upon the Situation of Negroes in Jamaica.pdf/71

 there will of courſe be ſo many ſeamen maintained at a private expence, who when neceſſity requires may be called into the public ſervice. That in different countries different manners obtain, I am well aware; but in reſpect to the Weſt Indies ſome reſerve ſhould certainly take place. The ſudden tranſition of drink from beer to rum has been fatal, and will always be ſo, if not uſed with the greateſt moderation, to an European. As porter is cheap, I would make it a ſubſtitution. It is true, that the latter will go farther in ſpirit, but the firſt in ſtrength: and if it be new, it is a kind of poiſon: The Creole who drinks his dram, very ſoon becomes a martyr to the grave.

I now come to the leading principle of the spending bill, to that principle which is meant to introduce a levelling precept, to make no diſcrimination between colour and climate; to give to ſlavery the rights of freedom, to expunge oppreſſion from the general creed, and to eſtabliſh humanity upon a general ſcale, throughout our Weſtern Iſles. That the plan of unconditional emancipation would anſwer the expected purpoſe, I have, not only my doubts, but