a rent for the house and land he occupied, and to supply himself with the articles formerly furnished by his master, he would be apt to regard his situa tion as not much improved-certainly not so much so as to induce him to pay a large sum of money for his manumission. The liberal practice of allowing freed negroes, as a matter of grace, to remain on the plantation and occupy the houses and land which they possessed as slaves, although not certainly to be expected from Mr. Stephen's account of the feelings of the colonists towards the negroes, that hated and despised race,' has not been uncommon, I wish I could say that the good conduct of these afforded a practical illustration of the blessings of freedom to the negroes~~~ that, released from the master's authority, they were industrious for themselves-that they acquired better moral habits, or enjoyed greater comforts; but, unfortunately, in all these important particulars the reverse is well known to be the case. Abandoning themselves to listless indolence, or doing only what little is necessary for existence, they not only are a bad example to the other people, but, having more opportunities, often aid them in stealing and marketing the produce of the estate.* From the considerations which have been stated, * I once saw a free negro detected at Plantain Garden River Wharf with no less than 1680lbs. of sugar, which he was putting on board a drogger for Kingston, in covered baskets as edoes. On inquiry, it was found that he had procured it through the slaves on the estate where he resided. The manager threatened to have him tried and hanged; but an opportunity was given him to escape. it does not appear to me that the granting a right of redemption could, on the one hand, be attended with so much danger to the land-owners, or, on the other, with so much benefit to the slaves, as many suppose. Its effects, at best, could be but limited in changing the condition of the slave population. Not only are many of the slaves unable to redeem themselves, but, if it were otherwise, the sacrifice is too great to be submitted to, circumstanced as they are, and as yet so incapable of estimating the blessings of freedom. how to be How then, it may be asked, is this object, so de- Emancipation, sirable to humanity to be accomplished? is there accomplished. to be no end to negro slavery? To this I answer, that, like many other evils, time will be necessary for its cure or removal. Individual manumissions may do something, may be a necessary means, but it is to the improvement of the people, to the gradual melioration of their condition, to the emancipation, not of slaves, but of slavery,' as Mr. Barham has well expressed it, that we must look for the final extinction of this degrading state. In proportion to the progress of the negroes in moral improvement, in knowledge, religion, and habits of industry growing with a taste for the comforts and enjoyments of civilized life, the arbitrary power of the master will become unnecessary, and will be abridged or relinquished; the power of punishment will pass more and more into the hands of the civil magistrate, and slavery will gradually as similate to the servitude of Europe. Thus only can general emancipation be accomplished with advantage to the negroes. An act of parliament, or rather the power of the mother country, might emancipate the negroes from their present masters-the Governor of Jamaica might be instructed to issue a proclamation in the King's name, declaring the slaves in that island to be free, (and let the reader pause to imagine the probable consequences!) but an act of parliament, or a proclamation by the Governor, can no more convert them into a free, industrious, and happy peasantry, than it can change the colour of their skins. 1 Too many in this country are apt to charge the ignorance, and rude state of the negroes in our colonies, wholly on their being slaves, forgetting that they were carried thither from the most barbarous parts of the earth, (many of them not twenty years ago,) and have not yet had time, under any system, to make great progress towards refinement. But, though not yet civilized and refined, (as the Edinburgh Review assures us the negroes in St. Domingo are!) they are making progress; and in Jamaica it is by no means inconsiderable; they have become more intelligent and industrious; from the cultivation of the land allotted to thein they are acquiring wealth, and learning habits of voluntary labour; and, most important of all, religion is now spreading its benign light among them, and dispelling the gloomy horrors of African superstition. of giving Land The system adopted in Jamaica of assigning Good effects land to newly-imported Africans, and requiring them to cultivate it for their own subsistence, was not perhaps the best calculated for their preservation in the first instance. Many of them (notwithstanding every care and attention on the part of their owner or manager) made a very ill use of the time given them for the cultivation of their grounds. But, on the other hand, when they had learned or become accustomed to do this, and as people born in the island grew up, the system possessed many advantages over that (adopted in some of the other colonies) of providing food for them. Negroes, working exclusively for the master, and supported from hand to mouth, as it is termed, have no opportunity or incitement to voluntary labour, and therefore can scarcely ever acquire habits of industry, so essential to raise them in the scale of civilization. Where land is allotted to them the case is different; three or four hundred people require a large part of a sugar estate for their provision grounds, and each considers the portion of land he occupies just as much his property, while a slave on the domain, as the canefield is the property of his master. Thus set down with his family on his little farm, a negro has a powerful incentive to industry; he finds his labour repaid by the enjoyment of comforts far beyond the mere means of subsistence; he cultivates such articles of food as he likes best for his own use; he carries his surplus productions to market, and with the means thus procured furnishes his house and dresses his family in a superior manner; in short, as in other communities, he finds his share of the good things of life, and the consideration paid him by his compeers, proportioned to his enterprise and successful industry. A common opinion entertained in this country regarding the slaves is, that the circumstances of the whole are exactly the same,-a herd of wretches toiling and fed like cattle. Nothing can be more erroneous; the circumstances of the negro labourers in a plantation village are just as various as those of the working classes in an English village: some are indolent, some industrious-some improvident and poor, some saving and rich-some have poor accommodation, some well furnished and comfortable houses. It is almost unnecessary to remark (as another advantage of the system) that, with the increasing wealth of the negroes, the security of the island is increasing at the same time. A man who has a good house and garden, a stock of pigs and poultry, and a piece of land in good cultivation,-who goes home at night when the work of the day is over, to find himself comfortable with his wife and family, will be much less likely to embark in any desperate undertaking than an individual who may gain something by revolution, and has nothing to lose. It is well observed by Mr. Stephen (though of course he does not allow that the observation applies in the British colonies) that, if it has been |