American Colonization Society, the Committee would propose that the subscription should be so arranged as to leave it to the option of each subscriber, either to appropriate the amount of his subscription directly or indirectly to that object, or commit it to the disposal of the government of the society. IV. SLAVE TRADE. An Address from His Excellency the Governor to the Inhabitants of the Island of Mauritius. Inhabitants of Mauritius !—Among the numerous duties which the office intrusted to my care imposes upon me, I have not found any more pleasing than having it in my power, in the account transmitted by me to His Majesty's minister for the colony, again to state that no attempt has been made on our coasts to import slaves. I feel peculiar satisfaction in giving you this information. The zeal, activity, and talents displayed by His Majesty's marine in its unremitted endeavours for the rigid execution of the laws against the trade, and the ready co-operation which the measures taken by Government daily receive from the colony, render me especially desirous to transmit to the minister this fresh assurance of your obedience to the laws against the slave trade; and to assure him of the confidence which I have in the sentiments that you solemnly and unanimously avowed in your declaration in the month of September, 1820, respecting those despicable enemies of the colony, who endeavoured to sully our coast by this odious and criminal traffic, which we have destroyed at this place, (and which there is good reason to hope will soon be exterminated in the whole of this hemisphere,) even to every vestige of this unlawful commerce, which has been the means of drawing upon the whole colony that dishonourable reproach mentioned in the documents published in London, "that the Isle of France was the only English colony, where the laws for the prohibition of the slave trade had not succeeded in effecting its abolition.” Nevertheless, in order to promote the tranquillity and happiness of this country, I shall ever consider it as my duty unceasingly to stimulate and encourage the strictest vigilance of the respectable inhabitants over their truest interests. These interests will always depend upon a firm, continued, and united exertion against any attempt to renew this iniquitous traffic, which has been practised with condemnable audacity by unsubjected, unprincipled, selfish men, connected to this country neither by relationship nor any other of those sacred ties which unite man in social life. inviolable integrity, Inhabitants of Mauritius! I feel confident of your I have every reason to believe the slave trade is wholly extirpated from this colony; the renewal of so shameful a traffic would doubtless bring with it fresh misfortunes by which your tranquillity would be disturbed. It is therefore to avoid so deplorable a calamity, it is in order to preserve the honour of your country, that I entreat persons of every rank in life to ex ert ert that vigilance and zeal which have already been the means of removing this stigma. I will not lose this opportunity, though I am not induced to it by any particular motives, to urge your especial attention to that part of the population which is so valuable to the cultivators. Your own interest imposes this duty upon you. The measures which the Government has taken for supplying food and clothing at cost price, ought to convince the inhabitants of its earnest solicitude, by every possible means, to promote their real interest. Those would be inexcusable who should neglect to perform those duties towards the individuals dependent upon them, which humanity, the laws, and their own private interests, equally require. R. T. FARQUHAR. An Account showing the Amount of Moneys assessed and levied in England and Wales, at the several periods for which Returns have been required by Parliament; distinguishing the Payments made thereout, for other purposes than the Relief of the Poor; the Sums expended in Law, Removals, &c. and the Sums expended for the Relief of the Poor also, the Average Price of Wheat in each Year for which it can be ascertained. * For these periods there is no particular account of the sums expended in Law, or in Removals. † For these periods there is no account of the sums expended, as distinguished from those assessed and levied. For this year (1820-21), the Order required a Return, not of the sum assessed and levied, but of the sum levied. An Account showing Money expended for the Maintenance of the Poor in England and Wales, in the Years ending 25th March 1813, 1814, 1815, 1816, 1817, 1818, 1819, 1820, and 1821, respectively; and stating the Number of Parishes in each County in which Select Vestries have been formed, or Assistant Overseers appointed, pursuant to Act 59 Geo. 3, c. 12. |