The men selected for magistrates, are mostly officers of the army and navy.

To those who are acquainted with the arbitrary habits of military and naval officers, and with the iron despotism which they exercise among the soldiers and sailors,[B] the bare mention of this fact is sufficient to convince them of the unenviable situation of the apprentice.

It is at best but a gloomy transfer from the mercies of a slave driver, to the justice of a military magistrate.
[Footnote B: We had a specimen of the stuff special magistrates are made of in sailing from Barbadoes to Jamaica.

The vessel was originally an English man-of-war brig, which had been converted into a steamer, and was employed by the English government, in conveying the island mails from Barbadoes to Jamaica--to and fro.

She was still under the strict discipline of a man-of-war.