ments of a proprietor who has been kind enough to place them in my hands, and the correctness of which I have no doubt of. And once for all I disclaim every motive of hostility to the interests of these colopies. My nearest friends and connexions, as you know, are connected with them; and in drawing your attention to the expensive system of management that is pursued, and to the attractions that I plainly see must be made in that system if the estates are to be carried on for the benefit of the proprietors, I am doing that which I know is a thankless and an invidious task, but one, nevertheless, which I would willingly press on the attention of every West India proprietor who is living in the mother country. The estate I allude to is one of the best managed in the island of Jamaica. The attorney is an intelligent, industrious, and honourable man. The number of negroes on the property is 300. The account is for the year 1833, and is sworn to by the overseer. The returns for the year are 300 hogsheads of sugar, and 146 puncheons of rum. The total disbursements in Jamaica, covering all contingencies, are £3792 currency. The total disbursements at home for supplies amount to £1500 sterling; a very low sum, owing to the proprietor's economical mode of purchasing the supplies. The sum total of the expenses then is, in sterling about £3800. And what are the returns? Produce sold in the island £395 currency, and nett value of 300 hogsheads of sugar, and 146 puncheons of rum sold in England; the total nett value of which may be estimated from the prices of that period. The sugar leaving a nett after paying duties and all charges from shipment to sale, of about £10 sterling a hogshead: the rum from £8 to £10 a puncheon. Some idea of the bill of sale of the former may be formed from one before me for thirty hogsheads of sugar, sold in the same year, and belonging to the same proprietor VOL. II. 15 SALE. 30 hogsheads, nett weight 421 cwt. at 50s. £1054 13 9 Being the small residue of produce sold to the amount of a thousand and fifty-four pounds, out of which the proportionate expenses of the estate have yet to be defrayed before the unfortunate proprietor has to look for a miserable balance clear of all deductions. Now let us see what the expenses of the estate were for that year, in the island. I find the following charges in currency— Paid for salary of overseer For salaries alone £200 0 0 350 0 0 70 0 0 60 0 0 70 0 . 160 0 0 £990 0 0 But some deduction should be made from the amount of Attorney's salary, which is a moderate charge, in lieu of commission, as this sum includes his remuneration for the charge of an adjoining pen, on which there are about seventy negroes. The charge for workhouse fees is Medical attendance at 58. per ann. each £. s. d. 3 17 4 75 5 0 Taxes on slaves, stock, and land £. s. d. 105 1 6 Usual allowance for Christmas cheer Hired gangs to dig cane-holes, at 78. per acre For ten young heifers, at £17 each "Equal to 5,590 days of labour of able negroes, at 28. per day" وو "614 days' labour of second gang, at 1s. 8d. a day" 10 13 4 362 5 0 540 0 0 170 0 0 582 5 10 51 3 4 The last two items are not easily understood, but, I presume, they are average estimates of the customary expenses for jobbers. The other charges which I have not taken notice of, are chiefly for lumber, staves, wharfage, and, under any management, would be indispensable. Now this property, I repeat, is one of the best managed in the island; and, perhaps, the chief reason that it is so, is, that it is not in debt. But yet, what returns can bear up against such expenses? What would be thought of a farm in England, not exceeding nine hundred acres, a third of which is planted in its staple produce, the salaries of the managers of which alone is nearly £1000 currency? This £1000 a year would go a long way in paying wages to the labourers, at the ordinary price of jobbed labour in this island-a maccaroni or a shilling sterling a day, which is about £15. 10s. sterling a year. Of the 300 negroes on the estate, I will suppose one-half capable of earning wages at that rate; the sum total of one year's wages would then amount to £2,325 sterling, for a more effective gang than is generally to be found among a similar number of negroes. The saving in the salaries and supplies that are necessary under the present system would amply pay the wages of the free labourers; and one-third more of serviceable labour, at least, might be obtained from the paid labourer, than is now to be got from his unpaid toil. But the planters say the negroes will not work for wages: I can only say, that my experience is altogether opposite to theirs on this point. Hitherto, the apprentices have not only cheerfully worked for wages, in the few instances in which it has been paid to them, but wherever they have been well treated, they have even been satisfied with moderate wages. Night-work, I am aware, they will not do, as they have done it heretofore, for any wages; neither is it desirable that they should. On the property of a gentleman who is one of the most humane owners in the island, I visited the works during crop time one morning, at a very early hour. The men, who were scumming the sugar when I entered, I observed, appeared worn out with fatigue and watching. They had then been at work twenty-four hours without intermission, day and night; it was then five o'clock in the morning: they had gone to work at the same hour on the preceding day, and were to continue at labour till seven o'clock in the evening of that day, in all, making thirty-eight hours of constant labour. Now, labour like this the negroes never will be got to perform again-it is needless to expect it. It is not just to infer, because they will not undertake immoderate labour, they will not perform that which is reasonable. In this case I have just mentioned, when I remonstrated with the book-keeper, who was superintending the labour of the negroes, I was told that they preferred having a long spell and being done with it. My own opinion was, that no man would prefer thirtyeight hours of continuous labour, who could obtain any reasonable time of intermission. I was told, some of the others who kept spell were for a shorter period: these were the coopers and carpenters; they had been only kept up all night, but at sunrise were again expected to be at their ordinary employments. But then, it will be said, this extra labour is only exacted in crop time, or while the mill is about; but it so happens, that the mill is about nine months out of the twelve on many plantations. In the preceding instances, the proprietor knew nothing of the harassing service exacted from his apprentices. The aim and end of all my observations and animadversions on this system, are to induce the proprietors to abandon the present mode of managing their estates; to substitute wages for supplies; to trust to free labour only for the cultivation of their estates; to make tenants of their labourers; and to allot small farms to the more independent and well-conducted persons of the coloured and of the negro population. Under any circumstances, the cultivation of sugar in all probability will decrease; but with the changes proposed, and a firm but conciliating system of policy on the part of the government and its subordinate agents, I entertain sanguine expectations of the revival of prosperity in this colony; and even as things are, with only the hope of these changes for preserving the actual tranquillity of the country, the value of property since this day twelvemonth, (the brief period of my experience,) I would say, has been enhanced nearly in a twofold measure. My opinion is, that the negroes are qualified for complete and immediate freedom; and the attempt to keep them from it, for the term proposed by the new law, I greatly fear will lead to occurrences which no one can contemplate with unconcern. I am, my dear Sir, Yours, very truly, R. R. M. LETTER XXXV. WORKING OF THE APPRENTICESHIP SYSTEM IN JAMAICA. TO MONS. JULIEN, MY DEAR Sir, Kingston, Nov. 6, 1834. The failure of the apprenticeship system would be to be regretted on no account more than for the unfa |