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one , I tfaihk ^ Aviii envy the reflectkras of these " pfrofesskag Unitarians / ' when the victim of their verdict shall * as is too probabl ^ L < be torn frdm her hus * fraud and in rant family by a sentence to a prison , and perhaps that family beggared by a moderate fine . But there are , in the conclusion of your correspondent ' s letter , some important considerations , which have not
yet received the attention they deserve I am incompetent to decide on their application to the case in question ; but of this I have no doubt , that jury * - nien , especially in the cases of libel , ought , as S . C . recommends , to examine more minutely than they have generally done , and upon moral rather
than on legal principles , the accusations of a prosecutor , who , by the wordy vituperations against a defendant , with which be is allowed to charge his weapon of warfare , whether a declaration ^ indictment or information ex ojjicioy often becomes himself the publisher of " a false , scandalous and malieioiis libel . ' *
That interesting letter , ( pp . 492—495 ) the result of much attentive observation and mortifying experience * is calculated to make a humane English- ; man blush for his country * and wish that the Protector ' s Admiral in 1665 ,
instead of conqderifrg Jamaica , had * steered homeward in An opposite direction . The following representation ^ may serve to confirm Mr . Cdopef S opinion respecting the hopelessness , or rather the impolicy , if not the injustice , of attempting tti communicate
religious instruction to Negroes , while they " are to remain the victims of a disgusting tyranny / ' under a perpetual hereditary bondage , which shews how incomplete was the applauded triumph of humanity in the Abolition ^ of the Slave Trade .
"The Rev . James Ramsay , M . A ., Vicar of Teston , in Kent / ' ( where he died in 1789 , ) published in 1784 , «« An Essay on the Treatment and Conversion of African Slaves , in the British Sugar Colonies / ' among \ t hich he had resided 20 years * This author ,
described by Glarkson as * ' the first controversial writer , afrd ohc of the most able and indefatigable labourers " m the cause of th £ Abdlition , has a , chapter entitled , " The Advancement « f Slaves must accompany their ReKipoua kktohxttitini "
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Mi * . Rariafcay remarks that € * master and slave are in every respect oppo * site terms ; the £ er&mfe to whom they are applied are natural tfnereies to each other , ' * and that ** to make a man capable of religion ^ we must civ » dow him with the rigiits and ptirilejf ^ s of a man ; we must teach him to reel his weight in society * and set a valtte on himself as a member of the con ^
munity * before we can attempt to persuade him to lay in his claim to heiaven . " Then ' * to shew the neces- » sity of advancing the slave in the scale of social life , " he proceeds to " rfclata t ^ ie little efficacy of such attempts as have been made to communicate religious knowledge to him in his hitherto debased state . "
Among Mr . Ramsay ' s testimonies is " Robertson , a minister of Nevis /* who " wrote professedly on the conversion of slaves in out colonies /' ( about 1 / 34 , ) " and seems to have
laboured honestly irt it himself . " He appears , " from his observations , " to have been " of opinion that the manufacture of sugar and the practice of religion were things incompatible y and that before we began to deliberate about the conversion of slaves , th < 3
previous question had need to be discussed whether we should maintain this manufacture , or apply ourselves to promote the growth of Christianity . " This just view of the subject seems
td have been well understood by the privileged orders in the West Indies . Mr , Ramsay relates , that , on his " first settlement" there , besides instructing Negroes in his own family , he kt made also some public attettijyts
to instruct slaves ; " It was , however , " quickly suggested , and generally believed , that he wanted to intefriip * the work of slavey to give them titne * forsooth , to say their prayers ; that k& aimed at making of them Christiafts , to render them incapable of being
good slaves . " Thus < c he stood , in opinion , a rebel convict against the interest and majesty of plantersbip . " And as , " in the bidding prayefr , he had inserted a petition for the e&ttv 6 tsion of slaves , it was deemed so disa- » gi ' eeable a memento , that sehr ^ ral white people on account of it teft off
attending divine service ; " so that " he was obliged to omit the pfaVer entirety , to try awd bring them back . "
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Mr , Rvtl on the Conviction jf Mrs * Wright * ft ©
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1822, page 549, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2516/page/29/
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