a kind of carriage without wheels, for the conveyance of weighty things, as stones, bells, and the like. The sledge for carrying criminals, condemned for high treason, to execution, is called a hurdle. The Dutch have a kind of sledge on which they can carry a vessel of any burden by land. It consists of a plank of the length of the keel of a moderate ship, raised a little behind, and hollow in the middle; so that the sides go a little aslope, and are furnished with holes to receive pins. The rest is quite even.
SLEDGE is a large smith's hammer, to be used with both hands. Of this there are two sorts, the up-hand sledge, which is used by under workmen, when the work is not of the largest sort. The other, which is called the about-
shown a disinclination to work, except during the few weeks immediately succeeding their complete manumission; and we look forward with a confident hope to improvement both of society and statistics, believing firmly that the planters have now fairer prospects before them than they have enjoyed at any time during the last half century. If the event shall be otherwise, justice has at least been done; and some atonement has been made for the most heinous crime which our nation ever committed. Nay more, a revolution has been averted, which, before many generations, would assuredly have repeated in our Caribbean Islands all the horrors of Saint Domingo.
Of the Twenty Millions voted by Parliament as compensation to the owners of slaves, the following Table shows the proportions assigned to each colony by the Commissioners appointed by the Act for the Abolition of Slavery, with the value and numbers of slaves in each.
| COLONY | Average Value of a Slave from 1822 to 1830 | Number of Slaves by the last registration in this country | Relative Value of the Slaves | Proportion of the Ls.20,000,000, to which the colony is entitled | |-----------------|--------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------|------------------------------------------------------------------| | Bermuda | £27 4 11½ | 4,203 | £114,527 7 5½ | £50,584 7 0½ | | Bahamas | £29 18 9½ | 9,705 | £290,573 15 34 | £128,340 7 5½ | | Jamaica | £44 15 2½ | 311,692 | £13,951,139 2 3 | £6,161,927 5 10½ | | Honduras | £120 4 7½ | 1,920 | £230,844 0 0 | £101,958 19 7½ | | Virgin Islands | £31 16 12 | 5,192 | £165,143 9 3 | £72,940 8 5½ | | Antigua | £32 12 10½ | 29,537 | £964,198 8 10½ | £425,866 7 0¼ | | Montserrat | £36 17 10½ | 6,355 | £234,466 8 0¼ | £103,558 18 5¾ | | Nevis | £39 3 11½ | 8,722 | £341,893 6 3¼ | £151,007 2 11½ | | St. Christopher's | £36 6 10½ | 20,660 | £750,840 7 1 | £331,630 10 7½ | | Dominica | £43 8 7½ | 14,384 | £624,715 2 0 | £275,923 12 8½ | | Barbadoes | £47 1 3½ | 82,807 | £3,897,276 19 0½ | £1,721,345 19 7¾ | | Grenada | £59 6 0 | 23,556 | £1,395,784 16 0 | £616,444 17 7¾ | | St. Vincent's | £58 6 8 | 22,997 | £1,341,491 13 4 | £592,508 18 0¼ | | Tobago | £45 12 04 | 11,621 | £529,941 16 2½ | £234,064 4 11½ | | St. Lucia | £56 18 7 | 13,348 | £759,890 10 4 | £335,627 15 11¾ | | Trinidad | £105 4 5½ | 22,359 | £2,352,655 18 0¾ | £1,039,119 1 3¾ | | British Guiana | £114 11 5¼ | 84,915 | £9,729,047 13 5¼ | £4,297,117 10 6¾ | | Cape of Good Hope | £73 9 11 | 38,427 | £2,824,224 7 9 | £1,247,401 7 0¾ | | Mauritius | £69 14 3 | 68,613 | £4,783,183 15 3 | £2,112,632 10 11¾ |
780,993 45,281,738 15 10¼ 20,000,000 0 0
* Deficient fractions. SLEWICK, or Schleswig, a province in the kingdom of Denmark, in that division usually denominated the Duchies, including, with this province, Holstein and Lauenberg, all of which are inhabited by people of German origin, who speak that language, and are regulated by different laws from the rest of Denmark. This province is bounded on the north by Jutland; on the north-east by the Little Belt, wherein the Island of Aroe, which is a part of it, lies; on the east by the Baltic sea, wherein are the Islands Alsøn and Femern; on the south by Holstein, from which it is divided by the river Eyder and the Sleswick canal; and on the west by the German Ocean, in which are the islands of Nordstrand, Pellworm, and some other smaller ones. The whole extent is 3515 square miles. It comprehends thirteen cities, fourteen market-towns, and 1500 hamlets or villages, divided into 257 parishes, which contained 36,000 inhabitants in 1832. It is in general a level district, having on the western side many tracts of rich meadow land; while, on the eastern side, its agricultural produce are corn, butter, cheese, and meal; but through the middle of the province runs a ridge of sandy hills, which scarcely repay the cost of cultivation. There are many lakes and marshes, and on the eastern side, fiords or bays, formed by projecting woody headlands, which have a picturesque appearance. The climate is cold in winter, but remarkably variable. There are few manufactures, and the trade chiefly consists of the export of the products of the soil, or of the fisheries; which last forms an important part of the occupation of a great number of the inhabitants. The principal towns, besides the capital, are Hadersleben, Apenrade, Tondern, Bredstedt, Husum, Nordstrand, Toning, Friedrichstadt, Flensburg, and Eckernförde.