The abolitionists had been also accused as the authors of the late insurrection in Dominica.  A revolt had certainly taken place in that island.  But revolts there had occurred frequently before.  Mr. Stanley himself, in attempting to fix this charge upon them, had related circumstances, which amounted to their entire exculpation.  He had said, that all was quiet there till the disturbances in the French islands; when some Negros from the latter had found their way to Dominica, and had excited the insurrection in question.  He had also said, that the Negros in our own islands hated the idea of the abolition; for they thought, as no new labourers were to come in, they should be subjected to increased hardships.  But if they and their masters hated this same measure, how was this coincidence of sentiment to give birth to insurrection?

Other fallacies also had been industriously propagated.  Of the African trade it had been said, that the exports amounted to a million annually; whereas, from the report on the table, it had on an average amounted to little more than half a million; and this included the articles for the purchase of African produce, which were of the value of a hundred and forty thousand pounds.

The East Indian trade, also, had been said to depend on the West Indian and the African.  In the first place, it had but very little connection with the former at all.  Its connection with the latter was principally on account of the saltpetre, which it furnished for making gunpowder.  Out of nearly three millions of pounds in weight of the latter article, which had been exported in a year from this country, one half had been sent to Africa alone; for the purposes, doubtless, of maintaining peace, and encouraging civilization among its various tribes!  Four or five thousand persons were said also to depend for their bread in manufacturing guns for the African trade; and these, it was pretended, could not make guns of another sort.—­But where lay the difficulty?—­One of the witnesses had unravelled it.  He had seen the Negros maimed by the bursting of these guns.  They killed more from the butt than from the muzzle.  Another had stated, that on the sea-coast the natives were afraid to fire a trade-gun.

In the West Indian commerce two hundred and forty thousand tons of shipping were stated to be employed.  But here deception intruded itself again.  This statement included every vessel, great and small, which went from the British West Indies to America, and to the foreign islands; and, what was yet more unfair, all the repeated voyages of each throughout the year.  The shipping, which could only fairly be brought into this account, did but just exceed half that which had been mentioned.

In a similar manner had the islands themselves been overrated.  Their value had been computed, for the information of the privy council, at thirty-six millions; but the planters had estimated them at seventy.  The truth, however, might possibly lie between these extremes.  He by no means wished to depreciate their importance; but he did not like that such palpable misrepresentations should go unnoticed.