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Show 152 JAMAICA. . c I ponds with Dr. Davy's account g1on penect y corres of th' e decrease o f cn.m e· "The parish over which .I . , . 1 1 "contains 22,000 souls. There IS pres1de, sm< 1e, . no cn.m e · · The 1·ail has only three mmates- 10 It now. . , one Ol d CODVI.C t , ac nd two person, s for an assau, lt. N ow I an1 Sure , my dear fnend, thou w1lt agree w1· t 11 me ·m tl1 e sentiment ' that even .i f em. anci.p ation had for ever brought to a close the cult1vat~on of coffee, m· t h e pan· sh of M·' mchester, such a Circums.t ance. , however undesirable, would have been as nothmg m the scale, when weighed against these rich blessings, social, moral, and religious. Had all the. planters in the district been deprived of their profits, it would still have been a small point in the comparison. But happily, the prosperity of the propriet01:s is_ linked, by an indissoluble tie, to that course of JUStice, mercy, and wisdom, which insures the well being of the po· pulation at large. The experience of A. B. and of his friend Dr. Davy, affords the clearest evidence, that a fair arrangement with the laborers, on the ground of full and unrestricted freedom, answers for the pocket. In the first place, they have discovered, that a good rental may be obtained from the laboring population, under the character of an independent tenantry, to the great advantage of the proprietor. A. B. showed me a rent-roll of £1270 per annum, (whether currency or sterling I know not) which sum he was levying, on a few of the estates under his care, without the smallest difficulty to himself, or uneasiness on the part of the people. And secondly, they have ascertained tb~fact, that a f.r eeman , under the stn· nu1 u s o 1· w..1 g es (pmd on JAMAICA . 153 job-work especially) will do a great deal more work than a slave under the impulse of the whip; and th. erefor.e that work on a small scale ' (a s in some, par-tiCular JOb-or work on a large scale, as in the whole conducting of an estate-may be obtained at a much cheaper rate now, than it was under the old system. The argument when fully stated stands thus : the pop~llation _being in both cases the same, a larger proportwn of 1t becomes operative in freedom than in slavery; and, of the operative part, each individual does more work in freedom than in slavery-and thus more labor is thrown upon the market, and of course labor becomes cheaper-in freedom than in slavery. But this truth, with A. B. and his friends, is matter not of argument merely, but of account. The expense of working one of A. B's. estates in 1837, during the apprenticeship, was £2,400 currency; in 1839, since freedom, it was only £1,200 currency-exactly one half. In this case the prod nee was somewhat diminished, but the profit was increased. This is a point worthy of peculiar attention. The prosperity of the planters in Jamaica must not be measured by the mere amount of the produce of sugar or coffee, as compared with the time of slavery. Even ~here produce is diminished, profit will be increased:; freedom be fairly tried-by the saving of expense. "I had rather make sixty tierces of coffee," said A. B. under freedom, than one hundred and twenty under bsl avery-sue·! 1 · th · f · IS e savmg o expense, that I make a etter profit by it-nevertheless, l mean to make one hundred and twenty, as bifore." |