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Show 102 JAMAICA. capita against husband, wife, and each of the children, as a penal exaction, to compel labor-the screw for this purpose being completed, in many cases, by distraint of goods and imprisonment of person. Sor· rowful to say, this plan has been practised through the length and breadth of the island. Every one must perceive that it classes under slavery, of which the very essence is comp~tlsory labor. The discontent, heart burning, and desertion of estates, to which it has given rise, are the natural consequences of the infraction of pure justice ; and they form the principal explanation of the discouraging accounts, which have from time to time been given of Jamaica, since the date of freedom. On the other hand, the estates which have been managed on those just and equal principles which allow full scope to the freedom of the laborer, have in general been blessed with tranquillity and pros· perity. The favorable and unfavorable accounts from Jamaica (allowing for a little exaggeration on either side) are both essentially true; and, with little exception, they are the respective results of two opposite methods of management. But the evil is correcting itself; a better understanding is gradually taking place; aud masters and laborers are increasingly in the way of being bound together-not by unfair me· thods of compulsion, but by the surer, safer bond of a common interest. Notwithstanding the kindnt>ss with which the ne· groes have long been treated on Papine estate, we are inclined to believe that the comparatively unthrifty condition of that property, as it respects labor, aflords JAMAICA. 103 a confirmation of the above remarks. At Hope, under a reasonable arrangement of rent and wages, self. interest is legitimately finding its way to prosperity. At Papine, where a peculiar degree of kiudness has been exerted, a less judicious plan has prevented the thrift which might otherwise have been expected. By the system practised, on that estate, of charging no rents, and paying wages low in proportion, the questions of rent and wages are in fact intermingled; and women and young persons, as well as the male heads of families, are indirectly involved in the payment of rent. This is obviously unfair. Were the heads of families, on that property, made independent tenants, on moderate rents, and were wages paid to the laborers at the higher rate adopted on the generality of the neighboring estates, we have no doubt that, under a wise and vigorous management, continuous labor and increased produce would soon be the consequence. To continue our narrative-afier visiting the Hope estate, we rode to an independent village consisting of the settlements of seventy families, who have purchased good plots of land, and have built, or are building for themselves, pretty comfortable cottages. We were glad to find that the men of this settlement arr still working for wages on the neighboring estates. OUI· friend Manning was with us, and the people at the village seemed very anxious to obtain, through his assistance, some permanent arrangement for a weekly religious service. The village appeared to us to be a scene of thrift and contentment. "How many dollars should I find in thy purse at homer. , sm' d a f'n ·e nu·' in our company to a young |