Properties had been bought and sold with them, their time had been bought by others, and by themselves." "He had no hesitation in saying, that the statements which had been made in England against the planters _were as false as hell_--they had been concocted here, and sent home by a parcel of spies in the island.

They were represented as a cruel set of men, as having outraged the feelings of humanity towards the negroes, or in matters in which they were concerned.

This was false.

He did not mean to deny that there were a _few instances_ of cruelty to the apprentices, but then those were _isolated cases_, and was it not hard that a hue and cry should be raised against the whole body of planters, and all made to suffer on account of those _few_.

He would say that there was a greater disposition to be cruel to the negroes evinced _by young men arriving in this island from England, than by the planters.