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Show LETTER IX. JAMAICA, Flushing, L. L, 6th Month (June) 12th, 1840. Mr OBAR FnlBND. I will now continue my diary. Third-month (March) 9th. At an early hour this morning, my friend Mahlon Day and myself, drove out ten miles on the high road to Old Harbor, to Bravo Penn, a handsome villa, the seat of Alexander Bravo. He is a member of the Council, Custos of the parish of Clarendon, a large land owner, and once the holder of a thousand slaves. Great as his stake was in the old system, he was even then the firm friend of freedom, in the efficacy of which he felt great confidence ; and when all aronnd him were talking of ruin, he set his apprentices to work to build the capital mansion, in which he now resides. He is a married man, the father of a large young family. At his house we were met by our friends, Palmer, late of Surrey, and Ramsay, Custos of St. Catharine's. That confidence in the safety of freedom, which A. Bravo displayed by building his mansion during the apprenticeship, has been farther manifested, since emancipation, by his hiring two large properties belonging to the Marquess of Sligo. These he is now conducting, for his own benefit, in addition to several sugar and coffee estates of which he is the owner ; and I find he is yet further extending his sugar cultivation, by forming a new plantation for the purpose, on a farm hitherto in grass. These proceedings involve a practical testimony of the highest value, in favor of the present system. They are, as I understand, connected with the fact, that the payment of wages to a comparatively small number of free laborers, produces a far less formi· JAMAICA. 95 dable debit in account, than the support of a thousand slaves, with all its collateral pecuniary burdens. Our friend Bravo has had the good sense to separate the two points of rent and wages. He charges the people a fair rent on their cottages and provision grounds, according to the moneyvalue of their occupation ; at the same time, he pays them good wages, and leaves them at perfect liberty to take their labor to a better market, if they can find one. The consequence is that they arc, in general, happy and contented, and work on his estates, willingly and vigorously. The result of his own experience and of his extensive knowledge of the island, is just this-that the emancipated negroes, arc working well, on the properties of their former holders, wherever they are fairly, kindly, and wisely, treated. These adverbs are severally intended to have their distinct force. All infractions of pure justice- all new fangled attempts to compel labor--all oppressive, inequitable modes of management- must in the first place be renounced. Harsh, unkind treatment, profane swearing, and all bard language, must, in the second place, be avoided. And lastly, there must be discretion and firmness. Where fairness and kindness are practised, there will still be little probability of success, if unwise sacnfices are made of the rights of the master- if, for mstance, the laborers are allowed to take any quantity of wild land that they please, for their provision grounds, for little or no rent, and so render themselves independent of wages. Again, the occasional capnces to which they are prone, and which are apt to irritate the tempers of overseers, require to be met by a calm and steady resistance. On one of A. Bravo's estates, the people had shortly before, struck work for the renewal of an extravagant rate of wages, which had been allowed them, under peculiar circumstances, the year before. Our friend knew that the demand was unreasonable, and quietly yet firmly resisted it. The consequence was that in a very few days, they were all at work _again, as heartily as before. He is further of the judgment, that hke other laborers, all the world over, they require a careful supermtendence. In the nature of things, their service will be |