Page:Substance of the speech of His Royal Highness the Duke of Clarence, in the House of Lords.djvu/47

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Lordships that I address this observation, because it is with real pleasure I observe, that all the idea of inhuman treatment from the British planter to the slave was done away in the opinion of your Lordships, shortly after the investigation first took place, by the examinations at the Bar of this House. I mention this, my Lords, that as an eye witness and a resident for some years amongst those West India planters, I may bear witness to their good conduct, to their humanity, and to the care and attention of their Slaves.

Facts, my Lords, speak for themselves:—Since the year 1792, and since the commencement of the French War, three events have arisen in the British West India islands. The first, the Maroon War, in the island of Jamaica. A tribe of Coromantine Negroes (part of the Maroons) in amity with the British Nation, unjustly made war upon the inhabitants of Jamaica. From the British officers employed in that war, I understand