Our first land travelling, in which we had to take our chance with the world in general, was across the State of New York. My account of what we saw may seem excessively minute in some of its details; but this style of particularity is not adopted without reasons. While writing my journal, I always endeavoured to bear in mind the rapidity with which civilization advances in America, and the desirableness of recording things precisely in their present state, in order to have materials for comparison some few years hence, when travelling may probably be as unlike what it is now, as a journey from London to Liverpool by the new railroad differs from the same enterprise as undertaken a century and a half ago.

To avoid some of the fatigues and liabilities of common travelling, certain of our shipmates and their friends., and ourselves had made up a party to traverse the State of New York in an “exclusive extra;” a stage hired, with the driver, for our own use, to proceed at our own time.

About four o'clock in the afternoon of the 6th of May we were conveyed, by a large party of friends, to the “Henry Clay,” on board of which accommodations had been secured for us by great exertion on the part of a fellow-voyager. The “Henry Clay” had the highest reputation of any boat on the river, having made ninety-six trips without accident; a rare feat on this dangerous river. As I was stepping on board, Judge P. said he hoped we were each provided with a life-preserver. I concluded he was in joke; but he declared himself perfectly serious, adding that we should probably find ourselves the only cabin passengers unprovided with this means of safety. We should have been informed of this before: it was too late now. Mr. E., of our party on board, told me all that this inquiry made me anxious to know. He had been accustomed to ascend and descend the river annually, with his family; and he made his arrangements according to his knowledge of the danger of the navigation.

I have said, that in the early publications respecting Barbados, it is staled, that it was made a matter of debate even in England, and was asserted boldly in several instances, that the African was not a human being, but a gradation between man and monkey, without any rational soul, and therefore to be classed with the beasts that perish. Such assertions, however, did not hinder some pious men from proceeding to Barbados at a very early period of its settlement; and who accounted it no dishonour to preach to, and instruct the black slaves, and zealously to labour amongst them to promote their welfare in this world, and more especially in the next. These men were ministers of the Church of England, and their labours were not altogether in vain. Every means, however, were had recourse to (even to persecution,) to banish such missionaries from the colony.

Though they could no longer deny their humanity the early planters were soon satisfied that the less their slaves knew of the Gospel of Christ, they would be the better fitted for the duties they had to require of them; and although the island was divided into parishes, and churches were built for the accommodation of the white population, the clergymen were strictly prohibited from preaching to the blacks. On no account could a person of colour be allowed to enter any of these churches; and it was not even permitted that their bodies should be buried within the same enclosure where that of the white man was committed to the earth.

Formerly the colony of Trinidad was under the command of a Governor, who was Commander-in- Chief in and over the island and its dependencies, Vice-Admiral thereof, sole Judge of the tribunals of Royal Audiencia and Court of Appeal of Civil Jurisdiction, Intendant of the Royal Treasury, Judge of Crown Lands, President of the Illustrious Board of Cabildo, and Royal Vice-Patron of the Holy Roman Catholic Church. There was no Executive Council whatever, and his Majesty's Council, or the persons with whom the Governor might advise or consult, if he thought it necessary, consisted of six individuals selected by himself, and who held the appointment during his pleasure only. The highest law court was the Royal Audiencia, of which, as we have seen, the Governor was sole Judge; while the inferior officers were an Assessor, the Attorney and the Solicitor-General, the Alguasil Mayor, or Provost-Marshal, and a clerk of the court.

In the Court or tribunal called “of Appeal of Civil Jurisdiction,” the Governor was assisted by an Assessor; and in the Court of Appeal of Criminal Jurisdiction, he had the aid of the whole of his councillors. The Court of the First Instance for the trial of Civil matters consisted of a Chief Judge, the Judge of Criminal Inquiry, and the Alcaldes in ordinary. The Court for the trial of Criminal prosecutions consisted of the Chief Judge of the colony, and the Governor's Assessor, together with the first and second Alcaldes of the capital; but the Court of Criminal Inquiry was composed of one Judge only, and a clerk of the court.