Barclay, Alexander: [Beaumont, Augustus]:

$2,750 · Offered by William Reese Company · No longer available

A PRACTICAL VIEW OF THE PRESENT STATE OF SLAVERY IN THE WEST INDIES; OR, AN EXAMINATION OF MR. STEPHEN'S "SLAVERY OF THE BRITISH WEST INDIA COLONIES." CONTAINING MORE PARTICULARLY AN ACCOUNT OF THE ... The second edition of this detailed discussion of slavery in Jamaica, improved over the first by the addition of a Jamaican imprint, the 1827 CONSOLIDATED SLAVE LAW and EXTRACTS FROM THE CODE RURAL OF HAYTI. Barclay lived in Jamaica for many years, and this work is based largely on personal observations and experience. He states that his purpose is not to defend slavery, but to correct misrepresentations and errors concerning the current conditions and treatment of slaves in Jamaica, particularly as portrayed in James Stephens' SLAVERY OF THE BRITISH WEST INDIA COLONIES. It is in fact a spirited defense of the system as employed in the colony (and more particularly of the colonists who enact it), which Barclay argues has been unfairly represented by the hyperbolic tracts of abolitionists across the Atlantic. He does this by providing anecdotes and other evidence on a wide array of topics brought up by Stephens, including the status of corporal punishment, private property, the slave trade, legal protections, religious and secular education, "the fatal consequences of premature emancipation," and more. Barclay argues that emancipation must at some point occur, but should be applied gradually and not until enslaved people have made more "progress towards refinement." Barclay furt

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