THE LAST SCENE IN BRITISH EMANCIPATION. "After the 1st, Aug. 1834, SLAVERY shall be and is hereby utterly and forever abolished and declared unlawful throughout the BRITISH colonies, plantations, and possessions abroad." Act, 3d and 4th, Wil liam IV. This noble Act was trammelled with an apprenticeship (to slavery to prepare its victims for freedom!) Antigua and Bermuda, declined the proffered continuation, with, of course, the happiest results. The Legislatures of Jamaica, Barbadoes, St. Vincent, St. Kitts, and the West Indies generally, have done likewise and on Aug. 1, 1838, threefourths of a million of human beings were, by law, restored to their birth-right by Nature. The Sun of Righteousness shall arise, with healing under his wings. JAMES A. THOME. JOSEPH H. KIMBALL. EMANCIPATION IN THE BRITISH WEST INDIES. The event of emancipation passed peaceably. The first of August, 1834, is universally regarded in ANTIGUA, as having presented a most imposing and sublime moral spectacle. It is almost impossible to be in the company of a missionary, a planter, or an emancipated negro, for ten ininutes, without hearing some allusion to that oc casion. In every quarter we were assured that the day was like a Sabbath. Work had ceased, the hum of business was still, and noise and tumult were unheard on the streets. Tranquillity pervaded the towns and country. A Sabbath indeed! when the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary were at rest, and the slave was free from his master! The planters informed us that they went to the chapels where their own people were assembled, grected them, shook hands with them, and exchanged the most hearty good wishes. There has been since emancipation, not only no rebellion in fact, but no fear of it in Antigua. The militia were not called out during Christinas holidays. Before emancipation, martial law invariably prevailed on the holidays, but the very first Christmas after cmancipation, the Governor made a proclamation stating that in consequence of the abolition of slavery, it was no longer necessary to resort to such a precaution. There has not been a parade of soldiery on any subsequent Christmas. Emancipation is regarded by all classes as a great blessing to the island. There is not a class, or party, or sect, who do not esteein the abolition of slavery as a special blessing to them. The rich, be cause it relieved them of "property" which was fast becoming a disgrace, as it had always been a vexation and a tax, and because it has emancipated them from the terrors of insurrection, which kept them all their life time subject to bondage. The poor whites-be cause it lifted from off them the yoke of civil oppression. The free colored population-because it gave the death blow to the prejudice that crushed them, and opened the prospect of social, civil, and po litical equality with the whites. The slaves-because it broke open their dungeon, led them out to liberty, and gave them, in one munificent donation, their wives, their children, their bodies, their souls --every thing! The negroes work more cheerfully, and do their work better than they did during slavery. Wages are found to be an ample substitute for the lash-they never fail to secure the amount of labor desired. This is particularly true where task work is tried, which is done occasionally in cases of a pressing nature, when considerable effort is required. The governor said, "The negroes are as a race remarkable for docility; they are very easily controlled by kind influence. It is only necessary to gain their confidence, and you can sway them as you please." Let it be remembered that the negroes of Antigua passed, " by a single jump, from absolute slavery to unqualified freedom." In proof of their subordination to law, we give the testimony of planters, and quote also from the police reports sent in monthly to the Governor. "I have found that the negroes are readily controlled by law; more so perhaps than the laboring classes in other countries."-David Granstoun, Esq. "The conduct of the negro population generally, has surpassed all expectation. They are as pliant to the hand of legislation, as any people; perhaps more so than some."-Wesleyan Missionary. "Before emancipation took place, there was the bitterest opposition to it among the planters. But after freedom came, they were delighted with the change. I felt strong opposition myself, being accordingly unwilling to give up my power of command. But I shall never forget how differently I felt when freedom took place. I arose from my bed on the first of August, exclaiming with joy, 'I am free, I am free; I was the greatest slave on the estate, but now I am free. "Mr. J. Howell. BARBADOES."The state of crime is not so bad by any means as we might have expected among the negroes-just released from such a degrading bondage. Considering the state of ignorance in which they have been kept, and the immoral examples set them by the lower class of whites, it is matter of astonishment that they should behave so well. "The apprentices would have a great respect for law, were it not for the erroneous proceedings of the managers, overseers, &c. in taking them before the magistrates for every petty offence, and often abusing the magistrate in the presence of the apprentices, when his decision does not please them. "Not the slightest sense of insecurity. As a proof of this, property has, since the commencement of the apprenticeship, increased in value considerably-at least one third. "The most prejudiced planters would not return to the old systent if they possibly could. They admit that they got more work from |