I need not refer you to the agitation on this subject throughout the British Empire, or to the discussions upon it in Parliament, where the honourable efforts of the ministry were barely found sufficient to preserve the original duration of the Laws, as an obligation of the National faith.

    I shall lay before you some despatches on this subject.”

* * * * *

    "Gentlemen,

    General agitation and Parliamentary interference have not, I am
    afraid, yet terminated.

A corresponding excitement has been long going on among the apprentices themselves, but still they have rested in sober and quiet hopes, relying on your generosity, that you will extend to them that boon which has been granted to their class in other Colonies.”

* * * * *

    "Gentlemen of the Council,

    Mr. Speaker and Gentlemen of the Assembly,_

In this posture of affairs, it is my duty to declare my sentiments, and distinctly to recommend to you the early and equal abolition of the apprenticeship for all classes. I do so in confidence that the apprentices will be found worthy of freedom, and that it will operate as a double blessing, by securing also the future interests of the planters.

I am commanded, however, to inform you that her Majesty’s ministers will not entertain any question of further compensation.  But should your views be opposed to the policy I recommend, I would entreat you to consider well how impracticable it will become to carry on coercive labor—­always difficult, it would in future be in peril of constant comparisons with other colonies made free, and with those estates in this island made free by individual proprietors.

    As Governor, under these circumstances, and I never shrink from any
    of my responsibilities, I pronounce it physically impossible to
    maintain the apprenticeship with any hope of successful agriculture.

* * * * *

    “Gentlemen of the Council,

    Mr. Speaker, and gentlemen of the Assembly._

Jamaica, is in your hands—­she requires repose, by the removal of a law which has equally tormented the laborer, and disappointed the planter—­a law by which man still constrains man in unnatural servitude.  This is her first exigency.  For her future welfare she appeals to your wisdom to legislate in the spirit of the times, with liberality and benevolence towards all classes.”

* * * * *