But, alas! though the abolition of the slave trade may have produced a somewhat better individual treatment of the slaves, and this also to a somewhat greater extent than formerly, _not one of the other effects_, so anxiously looked for, has been realized. The condition of the slaves has not yet been improved by _law_. It is a remarkable, and indeed almost an incredible fact, _that no one effort has been made_ by the legislative bodies in our Islands with _the real_ intention of meeting the new, the great, and the extraordinary event of the abolition of the slave trade. While indeed this measure was under discussion by the British Parliament, an attempt was made in several of our Islands to alter the old laws with a view, as it was then pretended, of providing better for the wants and personal protection of the slaves; but it was afterwards discovered, that the promoters of this alteration never meant to carry it into effect. It was intended, by making a show of these laws, _to deceive the people of England_, and _thus to prevent them from following up the great question of the abolition_. Mr. Clappeson, one of the evidences examined by the House of Commons, was in Jamaica, when the Assembly passed their famous consolidated laws, and he told the House, that "he had often heard from people there, that it was passed because of the stir in England about the slave trade;" and he added, "that slaves continued to be as ill treated there _since the passing of that act as before_." Mr. Cook, another of the evidences examined, was long resident in the same island, and, "though he lived there also _since the passing of the_ act, _he knew of no legal protection_, which slaves had against injuries from their masters." Mr. Dalrymple was examined to the same point for Grenada. He was there in 1788, when the Act for that island was passed also, called "An Act for the better Protection and promoting the Increase and Population of Slaves." He told the House, that, "while he resided there, the proposal in the British Parliament for the abolition of the slave trade was a matter of general discussion, and that he believed, that this was a principal reason for passing it. He was of opinion, however, that this Act would prove ineffectual, because, as Negro evidence was not to be admitted, those, who chose to abuse their slaves, might still do it with impunity; and people, who lived on terms of intimacy, would dislike the idea of becoming spies and informers against each other." We have the same account of the ameliorating Act of Dominica. "This Act," says Governor Prevost, "appears to have been considered from the day it was passed until this hour as _a political measure to avert the interference of the mother country in the management of the slaves_." We, are informed also on the same authority, that the clauses of this Act, which had given a promise of better days, "_had been wholly neglected_." In short, the Acts passed