ABSTRACT
LORD COMBERMERE arrived on the 3rd of June 1817, and assumed the government the next day. In his address to the Legislature, on the 17th of June, he congratulated the country that the reconsideration and consolidation of the slave-laws had been entrusted to enlightened and humane men, possessing a practical acquaintance with the subject. He recommended the establishment of a police upon a plan which would ensure security and order, and drew chiefly their attention to the important measure for securing the political happiness of the island, by diffusing religious instruction more generally among the lower classes of the community, whether slaves or free people. The Legislature voted the sum of four thousand pounds per annum for the support of the dignity of his Excellency's government.
