THE general equity of the laws regarding free persons of colour in the Portugueze South American possessions, has been to a certain degree extended to that portion of the population which is in a state of slavery; and the lives of the slaves of Brazil have been rendered less hard and less intolerable than those of the degraded beings who drag on their cheerless existence under the dominion of other nations. The Brazilian slave is taught the religion of his master, and hopes are held out of manumission from his own exertions; but still he is a slave, and must be guided by another man’s will; and this feeling alone takes away much of the pleasure which would be felt from the faithful discharge of his duty, if it was voluntarily performed. The consciousness that if the directions were not willingly attended to, the arbitrary will of the master would enforce their performance, removes much of the desire to please; obedience to a command is not required with any idea that refusal can possibly ensue, and therefore no merit is attached to its accomplishment by him whose orders are obeyed; nor does the slave feel that he is doing in any degree more than would be enforced if he had made any doubts. The world has heard so much, and from so many quarters, of the enormities which have been committed by slave-owners in the colonies with which England has had any communication; both from her own possessions, and from those of other nations, that no doubts can be entertained of their existence. That such evil deeds are of frequent occurrence, I would not wish to suppose, though that they are dreadfully too frequent is well known; I had rather not be persuaded that man in so depraved a state is often to be met with;—that many civilized beings should have made such rapid returns to barbarism. I have to say, that in Brazil too, such instances of barbarity are spoken of—that they do exist; they are, however, of rare occurrence, they are seldom heard of, and are always mentioned with abhorrence; but it is enough that instances should be recorded, of the abuse of this absolute power of one man over another; it is enough that this absolute power itself should be allowed to continue, to render the system upon which it is founded an evil of such great importance, as to sanction all exertions for its removal, as to make any government overlook many inconveniences rather than increase the numbers of those human beings who suffer this dreadful degradation. The Indian slavery has been for many years abolished in Brazil, and the individuals who are now in bondage in that country are Africans, and their descendants on both sides, or individuals whose mothers are of African origin; and no line is drawn at which the near approach to the colour and blood of the whites entitles the child, whose mother is a slave, to freedom. I have seen several persons who were to all appearance of white origin, still doomed to slavery.