This statute had absolutely no effect to stay the evolution of a strong public opinion against the institution of slavery. The latest recorded sale of a slave was in 1802, and slavery gradually died out as a fact, although it was possible in law until the Imperial Act of 1833, freeing all slaves under the British flag.
Before the culminating emancipation act, however, the Provincial Legislature had repealed the obnoxious statute of 1781. The act of 1825, 5 George IV, c. 7 (P. E. I.), reads:
"An Act, to repeal an Act, made and passed in the twenty-first year of His late Majesty's Reign, intituled 'An Act declaring that Baptism of Slaves shall not exempt them from Bondage.'
"Whereas by the aforesaid Act Slavery is sanctioned and permitted within this Island, and it is highly necessary that an Act so entirely in variance with the laws of England and the Freedom of the Country should be forthwith repealed, and Slavery forever hereafter abolished in this Colony.
"Be it therefore enacted by the Lieutenant Governor, Council and Assembly, That from and after the passing hereof the said Act, intituled 'An Act declaring that Baptism of Slaves shall not exempt them from Bondage,' and every Clause, Matter and thing therein contained, be, and the same is hereby, repealed.
"Provided always, That nothing herein contained shall have any effect until His Majesty's Pleasure shall be known."
The act was transmitted by the Lieutenant-Governor, Colonel John Ready, in a dispatch to Secretary of State George Canning, of date November 8, 1825, in which he says: "The preamble explains the reasons for passing this act." The bill received the Royal approval and became law. But it will be seen that, while the act of 1781 went further than its preamble, that of 1825 fell far short. It did not abolish slavery, but simply repealed the previous act.
William Renwick Riddell.
Osgoode Hall,
Toronto, March 24, 1921.
DOCUMENTS
From the Proceedings of the American Convention of Abolition Societies may be obtained valuable information in the form of the reports as to slavery, the appeal of the anti-slavery groups to Congress, and their addresses to the citizens of the United States. There is unconsciously given in these documents most interesting facts as to what the Negro was doing and what was being done for him. The important documents falling within these three groups follow.