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Show Al'l'EKUJX, one o f. tI 1 c pan.s I1 es, a ~c w days since, I was alarmed. b.y obse.r v• inO' thnt whereas the number of debtors confined m tt, durmg th~' whole of 1839, was only 12; more than double that uumber, . 1 d d through that (Jrison since the commenccmcut VlZ. 25, 1a passe · of 1840-that is, in a little more than two months: Of these, 16 were rent cases, under the petty debt act. If such 1s the operat·i on o f tl n·s act in a single p. arish, what must it be in the whole of Jamaica? Are we to forget that to cast a free laborer m· to pn· son-eve-n for ten days-is to break down .h.i s rcspecta-bility, and to undermine his moral worth, as a ctt1zcn of the state'! I own I tremble, when I look at the too probable case of a free laborer who cannot agree with his master respcr.ting the terms and duration of his weekly labor. l-Ie may be charged one of these penal and fictitious rents. Under the petty debt act he may be despoiled of his goods, and imprisoned for a short period. Driven from his home by repeated vexations, or legally expelled from it by his employer, he may be found traversing the country in search of a new location, or sleeping at night on the road's side, in the open air. Under the police act, he may then be questioned and seized by an armed watchman; and finally, under the vagrant act, he may be punished with sixty days' imprisonment, aml hard labor in a penal gang. If these things arc so, what is his alternative? It is to yield to the compulsion, to comply with the requirements of his employer, and to labor against his own free-will, for such wages, and for so many days and hours in the week, as his master may see fit to dictate. This surely is a perfect contravention of the intent and purpose of the imperial act of emancipation. In plain English, it is slavery. That these laws may serve some good purposes, is probable; that the design of those who framed them may have been good, I am quite willing to suppose; but that . they are capable of an abuse most dangerous to the cause of justice and liberty, and therefore to the tranquillity and welfare of Jamaica, is to me • RECONCILlAl'lON. 249 Point which admits of little question M · ost earnestly do I crave the watchful care of all persons of in£! . 1 . . ucncc m t 1e Island m guarding against that abuse. Once suffer 't t .1 , ' • • 1 o prevm , anu our bnght and pleasant hopes of the prosperity of Jamaica arc dashed to the ground. The injustice of attempts to compel the ]abo f f · . . . r o recmen, IS equalled o~>ly by !Is lmpohcy. The estates on which they have been practiSed, arc preciSely those which are the most exposed to perplexity, desertion, and decay. On the contrary, where rent and wages have been kept entirely distinct, and have each been settled at a fair market value, case and prosperity have, in general, been the happy consequence. Little difficulties may indeed have occasionally arisen; but these have been overborne by the superior influence of wholesome and undeniable practical principles. Am I wrong in venturing upon the assertion, that wherever the laborers have been fairly, ldndly, and wisely treated, there they have been working well, and all things prosper? Certainly, my friends, there is a native virtue in universal freedom, which, when suffered to act without restriction, and under the blessing of Divine Providence, cannot fail to diffuse innumerable advantages, and to make a very wilderness of thorns and briars "blossom :ts the rose." Taking it for granted then, that both justice and policy dictate a total surrender of every contrivance to compel the labor of the peasantry, what arc the means of which we are left in possession for procuring that labor? I anSiver : First of all-fair though not extravagant wages, paid with undeviating 1·egularity, at a stated !tour, once every week, and paid without any reference whatsoever to rent. The more I inquire into the difficulties which have arisen on some properties in Jamaica, the stronger is my conviction of the importance of the regular and frequent payment of wages. A cndit in account has a much weaker influence as a stimulus to action, especially on uneducated minds, than money placed in tlte hand. |