/r^r ^: SS \ F 1868 .fl55 Copy 1 JAMAICA THE AM E EICANS. BY \} WILLIAM WEMYSS ANDERSON, ESG^., FOllMEaLT OXE OF THE PROTECTORS OF SLAVES, ANn LATELY A MEMBER OF THE LEGISLAT0RE OF THE ISLAND OF ««}*. / ii/yr^ t^A-^gy . NEW- YORK : STANFORD AND SWORDS 1851. JAMAICA AND THE AMERICANS. BY WILLIAM WEMYSS ANDERSON, ESQ., FOEMBELY ONE OF THE PE0TECT0E9 OF SLAVES, AND LATELY A MEMBEE OF THE LEGISLATUEE OF THE ISLAND OF JAMAICA. / NEW- YORK : STANFORD AND SWORDS. 1851. JOHN R. M'GOWN, PRINTEK, 57, Ann-steeet. t\ La ^ > A 5 / ^ TO AMERICANS, WHOSE PTATE OF HEALTH RENDERS IT DESIRABLE TO HAVE, DURING THE WINTER MONTHS, A PLACE OF RESIDENCE IN A GENIAL CLIMATE IN THE VIOINITT OF THEIR OWN MAGNIFICENT COUNTRY, WITHOUT INVOLVING THE PAINFUL NECESSITY OF WHOLLY ABANDONING IT, THIS LITTLE WORK IS VERY RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED, PRELIimAM STATEMENT. I remember in my early life,*' in Scotland, when a young friend was sent to Jamaica to pusli his fortune, that we con- sidered him almost as lost to us, for at least twenty years. After such a term we hoped we might, if he survived, see him back amongst us with his fortune. Our feelings were very sad on these occasions, and the memory of them still excites the tenderest emotions. The voyage from England then oc- cupied about sixty days ; sometimes three months ; and the expense of passage by the Post-office Packets was not under £100 sterling. The relations of the countries are vastly altered. The dis- tance from England via America may now be estimated at seventeen days, and the passage money, in steam-floating palaces, not above d£35 sterling. Such a voyage may now be made as a trip of pleasure in the long holidays. The impor- tance of this to both countries will be appreciated so soon as the value of the Island in respect of its climate, the variety and value of its productions, and the fertility of its soil are more generally known. On all these points there is still much ignorance even in England. Though in its relation to America, Jamaica is a foreign country, yet let it be known by Americans that it seeks to be to them a friendly one. The inhabitants speak the same lan- * Say thirty years ago. 6 JPRELIMINARY STATlEMElTT. guage, have the same customs, and use the same literature as those of America, and in numerous instances are they inter- linked by the ties of family and friendship. Jamaica is suf- fering under fiscal regulations that depress the markets for sugar and coffee, below fair remunerating prices. Many of her best inhabitants have consequently been ruined, and pro- perty has fallen to an incredibly low value. But there are various directions in which well directed energy may still accomplish a great deal. Under this impression we would hail the Americans as neighbors more likely than any other people, from their proximity and many valuable qualities, to aid us by their energy and agricultural skill, in developing the abounding and varied wealth of our soil. Is it not proved to be rich, from the single well known fact that during slavery a negro laborer^generaliy derived for himself, abundant means of support by the labor of one day in the fortnight on his provision ground, loith his hoe. His labor was unaided and unabridged by implemental husbandry or labor-saving ma- chines. The climate, it is true, is unfavorable to severe and long continued bodily exertion, but that is not required from cultivators of the soil to the same extent as in England or America. The moderate labor of five hours a day con- ducted by skill, would produce results in Jamaica equal to the ten hours of the American farmer. I have often rejoiced in the thought of what might some day be done, and will yet be done in Jamaica, as I believe and hope. Jamaica is the Italy of the Western world. Its climate is genial ; and if indolejit and dissipated habits be avoided, there is no country where a bet- ter or more agreeable state of health may be maintained. Its proximity must be of peculiar interest to that class in the United States Vvdiose constitutions are unable to endure a severe winter climate. Pulmonary patients who go sufficient- ly early to Ja.maica, almost invariably obtain relief and resto- ration to perfect health and ability for every kind of exertion. PRELIMINARY ST ATE MEN 1\ 7 1 think I am justified in stating generally that farmers could obtain an easier and a better subsistence by a far less amount of well directed labor than would be required in any one of the United States. In addition to corn and stock of all kinds, for which there is ever a ready market, they could cultivate plantains, yams, arrow root, cassava, sugar, coffee, chocolate, indigo, tobacco, cotton, ginger, grapes, and a va- riety of oils, nuts, fruits, &o. Labor is cheap, and if well superintended would be both effective and profitable. is there any thing to hinder those who wish to have a farm and a residence in Jamaica and one in America too, and to at- tend to both ? I think not. I believe I v/ill follow that course myself. The transition is easily made, and by making it, per- petual summer may be enjoyed, which to many individuals must be of vital importance to the preservation of life and enjoyment, I venture to publish this little work for circulation in America, because it contains my impressions of both countries after a very delightful trip I made to the latter last year, go- ing in the " Empire City" and returning in the " Crescent City" steam vessels. I think the work may convey to Ameri- cans especially, much useful practical knowledge of this coun- try. The facility with which I made so pleasant a transition to the United States made a deep impression on my mind. My feelings of interest too, were greatly enlivened and ren- dered permanent by the kind and liberal hospitality of the commanders of these noble vessels, and the cordiality of my communications with numerous American citizens, whom I had the pleasure of meeting as fellow passengers. To all of those who may remember me, I tender for myself and fellow- countrymen who were with me, our sincere, friendly and grateful acknowledgements. I cannot conclude these observations without entreating visitors not to receive their impressions of this lovely Island 8 PRELIMINARY STATEMENT. from our dry and dusty city of Kingston. By all means, hire a horse and take a ride to the top of the beautiful moun- tains beyond, and if you do not see there any thing to excite your attention and fix your regards, I shall not have a word further to say. Richmond Pen, near Kingston, Jamaica, 29th July, 1850. JAMAICA AND THE AMERICANS.^ There seems to be a new epoch opening in the history of Jamaica different in its characteristics from all that have preceded. After the close of the long dark drama of slavery, an artificial and ill-considered system succeeded, which though framed with the object of facilitating the transition to a better state, betrayed great ignorance of our true condition, signally failed of success in every point, and demanded an abrupt termination to save the country from the evils which it engendered. The apprenticeship was chiefly remarkable for the development, in greater intensity, of hostile instead of friendly and improved rela- tions between master and servant. It exhibited the last contest on British soil betwixt Slavery and Freedom. That contest having been closed, a free but most profitless con- dition of society succeeded, in which each party strove to make the most of his position, regardless of consequences except to himself, and the result has been injury almost irreparable to all. Exhaustion has now supervened, and men are beginning anxiously to inquire how it is that the fairest and most beautifully gifted spot of the Western world has become a desolation and a bye-word for all that is inferior in condition and backward in progress ; and they all * A lecture read at Kingston, before the Colonial Literakt Society, on Monday, the 17th day of January, 1850. By Wm. Wemyss Anderson, Esq. 10 JAMAICA AND THE AMERICANS. now lend a willing ear to lessons which in other days might have been considered as unacceptable. From the proximity of Jamaica to the United States, and the frequent intercourse thence arising, and of late greatly facilitated, it is natural that we should, from the natural tendency to make comparisons, be attracted to a consideration of the elements of their remarkable progress and rapid accumulation of wealth and power. Their country teems with lessons of profit to us, and there is no better mode of ascertaining the secrets of our past weakness, and of the strength that we may yet acquire, than by a close study of the social condition of America ; its agriculture, its commerce, and its legislation. "What I have now to offer is, as a composition, little better than a few desultory sugges- tive observations, but coming from one who, regarding the island as his home, can have no motive but to enlarge the field of knowledge and of happiness, and to point oiit what appears to him likely to conduce to that end, I trust my views may receive at least the favor of candid consideration. Having an engagement of business in the United States, I embarked on the American Steamer the " Empire City," on the 5th day of September last, and arrived in the harbor of New- York on the 11th ; making within six days a voyage which by a sailing vessel usually occupied from fifteen to twent}'". On approaching the shores of America, I sslw every sign of wealth, abundance, and power. The numerous shipping approaching to and departing from the port — the beautiful villas studding the banks of the harbor from its entrance far into the noble river beyond, and the vast city in the distance, teeming with industrial life, strongly and fearfully contrasted with the desolation I had left here ; and at the moment I could not but feel oppressed by melancholy and by a desire to transfer to such a land my future enterprise and fortune. On a nearer approach, the hotels, with their magnificent accommodations, and the almost Tyrian splendor of the habitations of her merchant princes, greatly strengthened JAMAICA AKD THE AMERICANS. H and confirmed my first impression of the power and the happiness of this great Republic of the "West. One of the earliest inquiries that rose to my mind was, whence this wealth? It is at no remote period of English history that America was first approached for colonization. The main object of the early settlers w^as to secure " freedom to worship G-od," which England in those days had denied them. They landed on the desolate and rock-bound shores of Cape Cod, one of the least inviting and cheerless districts of the country, where they formed the colony of Plymouth, and with their wives and little Ones, and the companions who subsequently joined them, they struggled through cold, privation, and disease, and much deaths often obliged to watch for their lives with their implements of husbandry in hand, and their weapons of defence for protection against the Indians by their side. They had not, as we have, a genial climate or fruitful soil, readily yielding abundance for little labor. Their climate was, as it is now, intolerably severe, and the soil yielded its moderate returns only to long years of severe toil. Thus were they disciplined. Comparing Jamaica with what I have seen of the United States, it is most obvious to me that in respect of soil, variety of products, excellence ©f climate, and cheapness of labor, Jamaica has many advantages peculiarly its own. But the energy and skill put forth by the Americans to guide their labor, and the constancy and industry with which that labor is prosecuted, has hitherto enabled them to leave us far in the distance. Our natural advantages have, in conse- quence of our supineness and bad management, hitherto counted as nothing in our favor. We do not yet even raise our food, except very partially, from our own soil. The corn, the pork, beef, lard and potatoes Ave consume, are raised mainly on theirs, or in Ireland. So also the cotton and woollen clothing that]we wear are all grown, dyed, spun, and woven in America and England. Cotton, say wc, is not worth raising, nor wool worth gathering when shorn from 12 JAMAICA AND THE AMERICANS. our sheep ; and although our population do not, on an average of the whole island, work five hours of each working day, yet we, it seems, consider it better and cheaper to have the labor of the highly paid agriculturists and manufacturers of America and England than to work for ourselves in such leading and indispensable departments of human industry. The sad truth, however, is, that the spirit of indolent, sensual life, which is a stranger to self-denial and sustained energy, has obtained the supremacy, and struggles hard to keep it ; and may I not also add, the spirit of a pride that is founded, not on what is ennobling, but on the pitiable notion that hard work degrades, instead of elevating as it ever must do, the mind, is a fearful incubus on the industry of the great bulk of the colored inhabitants. One of the characteristics which appeared to me more strongly characteristic of American society than any with which I have been acquainted, is the honorable estimation in which manual labor is held by all classes. A man may there follow the plough without denuding himself of the standing of a gentleman, if he really has the education and knowledge of society, and good manners that entitle him to that distinction. So a woman, whose good qualities entitle her to it, may continue to mix freely with intelligent and educated society, (I do not say fine or fashionable,) although she be \forking her ten hours a day at her loom. I will bye and bye instance cases in proof of this. Let me not, how- ever, be mistaken. Pride and luxury have done their work there as well as here. There is a class in America in which wealth and not worth, either moral or intellectual, constitute the criterion of its members' qualifications. The " whole lump," therefore, has not yet been leavened with the feelings and principles I have referred to, but the good and peculiar characteristics I speak of, prevail generally in American society, excepting in their great cities. It cannot, I fear, be denied that the peculiarities of habits and opinion which distinguish slave-holding countries, still, in some degree, linger here, and have made us very blind to JAMAICA AND THE AMERICANS. 13 truths which are recognised and acted on elsewhere, as lying on the very surface of society. In most old free coun- tries, not only labor, but very hard labor, seems the recognised lot of all, but those who have been born in the lap of wealth ; while in slave countries, the privilege of an easy or indolent life is claimed by multitudes whose chief title to it is their peculiar race. Ten hours is considered in England or Ameri- ca as a moderate day's work, and in the latter country I believe twelve hours is not uncommon ; and I am sorry also to state that the females in many of the factories of America, are amongst the overtasked. But even if so, they are well fed, comfortably and genteely dressed, and well lodged, and they have a surplus over, after comfortably and abundantly providing for themselves, which often becomes the foundation of much future comfort to themselves and their families. They not unfrequently work out, to relieve the family embar- rassments, or to accumulate handsome marriage portions for themselves ; and assuredly such women need no other for- tunes than their own worth to the happy men who may se- cure them. As to the labor of farmers in the field, the hours of three and four in the morning are not uncommon for com* menceraent in summer. The American farmer not only goes out with his laborers, to overlook and direct them, but he is their leader in labor, and cheers them on, and works heartily with them with his hands. Labor so directed, is of course applied faithfully and vigorously, and most profitably. A good, moderate sized farm is cultivated, and the produce sent to market by the aid of three or four servants, in circum- stances where we would probably require fifteen. AVages of laborers there, vary from two to three shillings per day, and are sometimes even higher, and yet they raise, and bring into the market for sale, Corn, at prices varying from 9d. to 2s, per bushel ; " a great fact," as Carlyle would say, which it greatly concerns us to get an account of. Certainly their superiority over us is not to be found either in their soil or climate, but in their more laboriously and more skilfully di- rected industry, aided by implemental husbandry. If an 14 JAMAICA AND THE AMERICAIfS. acre is to be planted in corn or potatoes, the usual course for a Jamaica farmer is, to send twelve or fifteen laborers with their hoes, and probably at the end of the day, the ground may have been turned up. And then follows the planting^, which is done slowly by the hand, and the making of the drills, and subsequently the cleaning and moulding are all ac- complished by the tedious and primitive process of hand- hoeing. But in America, how is it ? A single man with his little one-horse plough is sent to the field alone, and in a day he does the work of fifteen of ours. Then the harrowing fol- lows with equal speed, facility and economy of labor ; the sowing by a machine which does by an almost simulta- neous operation the three-fold work of making a drill, drop- ping the seed at equal distances, and covering it up — all as quickly as a horse can walk from end to end of the field. As fast as he walks this three-fold work is done by a self-acting machine, which only requires to be dragged over the ground, to put the whole of its powers into effective operation. What wonder then at the cheapness of their corn and pork, and the impossibility of our competing with them in thiese articles, so long as we continue in our old ways. "We all suffer, because, in truth, our neglected rural population is willing to remain a century behind the rest of the world, wedded to their old customs and modes of working — self-sat- isfied and deficient in enterprise ; and as yet there has been no apostle of a better system to stir them up. The plough is still comparatively rare in this island. By the cultivators of corn and provisions it is never used, while it is universal in America. I learned an extraordinary fact illustrative of this one day when I was purchasing some agricultural im- plements at the store of an eminent maker in New- York : he informed me that to the State of Virginia alone he sent an- nually 10,000 ploughs ! These implements, it is true, are cheap, and some so small in size that they are often worked on easy soils by girls with perfect facility. The ground is turned up as fast as the horse travels, and a wide field of JAMAICA AND THE AMERICANS. 15 corn is easily prepared. Food, therefore, is cheap and abundant ; it is raised by intelligence and labor, and comfort and independence reign every where. "Were the labor on our magnificent soils managed by as wise an economy, the in- crease in the value of our land would be astounding. Our land is cheap and valueless only because we have not a sys- tem of general cultivation to turn it to profitable account. Following our system, America would be poor as we are. In their northern states the land is poor and cold, and yields in most cases little surplus beyond a living, even after the exertion of such labor, directed by skill and well-made in- struments. But consider our soil. See what an ignorant mountain cultivator can extract from a single acre. Seldom, indeed, is it that much more is cultivated by a Jamaica peasant than enough to supply his family's wants. The abund- ant and varied products of the soil enable him to live in comfort even with so small a modicum of exertion. Were any man to work his ten hours a day, and be aided by suit- able implements for economising labor, and better informa- tion, how easily could he achieve for himself comfort and independence, and wealth, and cease to be, as he has been too often, a mere dependant or hanger-on upon society or relatives. The hardy industry of the Americans had its origin in their difficult circumstances. Indeed, it may truly be said, that all virtue has its rise in difficulties and trouble. A man that has not experienced these, rarely ranks amongst those who have advanced to eminence as successful or useful men. Many men of good education in America, and qualified for important stations in society, lay their hand manfully to the plough ; and some have continued at the work until the moment of their call to the President's chair. In the British provinces and the countries of Australia, there are the same willing minds for hard work. The spirited emigrants that are now leaving England in such multitudes, are many of them men of good family, and have tasted but little of pre- vious hardship ; but they are men of nerve and independence 16 JAMAICA AND THE AMERICANS. of feeling. A man of that class, with his fowling piece and small supply of provisions in a bag, fearlessly enters the woods and makes his log-house, and subdues the land around him, until he is surrounded by fertility and abundance and beauty. Would that the day had arrived in Jamaica, when a leader for her youth should arise (too many of whom are now prostrated under a long-continued depression) who, re- solving to achieve independence at any cost for himself and them, and to vanquish the apathy that has so long borne down the energies of the country, would call to his fellows, "A home in the woods ! "Who will follow?" And if such a purpose, laid deep in a foundation of religion and virtue, were to prevail generally, then indeed would be the commence- ment of the epoch of Jamaica's glory. To spirited men, there is every thing to delight in the " forest home," and the " hunter's hut," associated as they must be with thoughts of activity, health, manly effort, and free glorious independ- ence. "Were such a race to appear amongst us here, soon would farm houses, and interior towns spring up, as in America, the abodes of peace, plenty, industry, and virtue. "What a change would that be, from the listless feeble life to which too many in this island have resigned themselves, sink- ing under the adversities of the times, instead of rising like men above them ! Look at the young American, with his cheerful, hard working wife, and their . neat tidy home, and well brought up children — all working, living in the fear of G-od, and in obedience to the sacred obligations of family and society, and compare it with the cheerless condition of too many of our youth and their dependent families. I forbear to follow out the comparison ; but I implore the rising gene- ration to consider it. That I may not seem to speak the language of Utopia in my praise of American life, let me tell you a true tale. I knew a youth who had been born in this island, and had en- joyed its style and its comforts in the first degree, and would as soon have thought of a dishonorable action as to have put his hand to manual labor. He had, however, burning within JA^MAICA AND THE AMERICANS. 17 him the love of independence ; but he was not rich in money* A friend who perceived the high qualities of his nature, and that the energy that was slumbering within him was, if roused) fully sufficient to place him in a position of honorable inde- pendence, advised him to seek a home in the woods of Ameri- ca. He had the spirit to follow the advice. He went to America and set himself in the family of a farmer to learn to "Work. The farmer looked incredulous and told him that he with his soft hands could never labor. " Try me," said the youth. " Well, I will try you," quoth the farmer, and forth- with sets him to work on one of the most discouraging and unpleasant jobs which could have been selected in the whole circle of the farm work. Forth he went however to the work. He told me that he did once falter for a moment. But in- stantly reflecting, he rallied and began again. He completed the work and was encouraged by having gained the good opinion and cordial respect and approbation of the worthy farmer, who became, and now is, his attached friend. This same youth I have seen manfully driving his team in open day ; and in the estimation of those who see, and know him, he is not one whit less the gentleman on that account. He moves in the best circles of the superior society which his dis- trict aJiFords. I have seen his letter describinar the delight of his change of life. No more, he says, have I unsound and feverish sleep. I start at dawn of day, at five, or even four o'clock in Summer : I work an hour, then breakfast; goto the field till twelve ; then dine — and out again till five ; see the stock housed and fed, and then supper, and social enjoy- ment, and early to my well earned rest — to sound sleep and heavenly dreams — I use his own expression — to " the rest of the laboring man, which is sweet, whether he eat little or much." If you could have heard and seen that brave young fellow, rejoicing in the glorious independence which his own right arm had worked out for him, you would feel anxious for the honor of taking the first step to follow his example and break the general apathy, and perhaps I may add, indolence 2 18 JAMAICA AND THE AMERICANS. and pride, which, has bound down so many around us, to lives^ of comparative uselessness. In an American farm house there are no drones. I visited one : the ovv^ner, a hard working man, had amassed a fortune of 20 to 30,000 dollars. I called one evening and found the family together; and a fine group they were — a highly intel- ligent and genteel, but homely woman, the mother and six lovely young women, her daughters, around her. They had been carefully trained, and they adorned the circle in which they moved, because they had been liberally educated. But in that family there never had been a domestic servant. They were of the old Puritan stamp. All had a share of the house- hold work — no idlers. They had been formed according to the beautiful ancient female model mentioned in Holy Writ, who is thus described: "Her price is far above rubies. She seeketh wool and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands She layeth her hands to the spindle, and her hands hold the distaff : she maketh fine linen, and selleth it, and de- livereth girdles to the merchant : she riseth also while it is yet night, and giveth meat to her household, and a portion to her maidens : she openeth her mouth with wisdom, and in her tongue is the law of kindness : she looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness. Her children arise up and call her blessed." Such country life was common in ancient times, and in modern times I rejoice to say it is not confined to the Ameri- cans, for the same is to be found in Canada, and other British American provinces, and the countries of Australia. "Why then should Jamaica, so well calculated as it is, to rejoice the hearts of its people, not be distinguished by like customs ? She is becoming docile under the rod. Starvation, sorrow, and grinding dependence will, I trust, break up the apathy of her sons and daughters ; the movement has commenced. I cannot leave this important topic without seeking further to acquaint you with the nature and extent of the industry of American females. They are occupied in all the business of the dairy — the small stock, the spinning wheel, JAMAICA AND THE AMERICANS. i9 the loom, and the knitting wires. A large supply of goods, the products of female industry, in New Brunswick, are, as I know, for I have seen and purchased them, sent yearly to the market at St. John's, and supply the people with much of what we import, and also with butter, cheese, fowls, eggs, woolen and cotton yarn, mixed woolen and cotton cloths, stockings, and all kind of knitted work. There are, I know, in Canada, and generally in the other American countries, large quantities of soap and candles made at home. Now, look at the results. We of Jamaica have a population of about 400,000, one half of whom are females. Of these there must at the lowest computation be 50,000 who in the proper discharge of the duties of their station ought to " work willingly with their hands." Now what value of home manufactures could such a body of workers send to market ? In the British provinces a little girl sometimes makes as much as £5 worth of goods in the course of the year. Now, calculating by what this young New Bruns- wicker made — there might be five times 50,000, or a quarter of a million pounds sterling for the year, added to the wealth of the country, or nearly one-fourth of the export value of the products of our plantations, the proceeds of which we unfortunately spend in British and foreign manufactures, and impoverish the country instead of enriching it, by ex- pending the amount amongst ourselves. Why is it so ? Is it not because we labor under the erroneous impression that we can import cheaper than we can make ? But surely it is most evident that we can import nothing cheaper than the products of labor performed in time that would other- wise be lost. It is distressing to think how much of our poverty is the result of idle habits. Never can we have virtue and content prevailing generally amongst us until we redeem time, which I fear is frittered away and lost, and accomplish a large amount of steady industry ; for inno- cence and idleness never live together. On the subject of the expediency of raising our food on our own soil — the case against Jamaica is most remarkable. 20 JAMAICA AND THE AMERICANS. and I believe unique. "With tlie finest soil and climate iii the world, and a half idle population, we are eating daily the corn grown upon the soil of America, "We ought to raise every article of corn, corn-meal, rice, beef, and pork, salted and smoked, lard and butter, candles, soap, and oil. We have been actually importing coooanut and castor oil from the East Indies ! How can there be the least prosperity amongst us so long as we stand disgraced before the world by such anomalies as these ? They are not easily credited when told out of the island. I have sometimes hardly been able to believe my own words when I described to others the common well known facts of the social and economical con- dition of the island. It can hardly be too much borne in mind by us of Ja- maica, or too often repeated, that the source from which American wealth has proceeded, and out of which it has ac- cumulated to its present great amount, is the immediate in- dustry of the people, aided by an education and general intelligence, which enable them to exercise that industry with patience and skill on profitable undertakings. Hitherto all proposals made here to remedy the evils of our lot by cutting out new channels for labor, have been met by the most wither- ing discouragement. Those who propose to do so, are gene- rally counted as quacks who profess to remedy what they know nothing about ; or disturbers ©f the general quietude. How untenable most of these propositions are, could easily be shown were there a fair field for meeting them. Take, for instance, the common assertion that we can import cheaper than we can farm for ourselves, or manufacture for ourselves. This could only be true, were the population busily and pro- fitably employed in something else. Now, the fact is, that a large portion of our population are nearly half idle for lack of demand for their labor ; so that any employment of that labor which would yield marketable products, would be a benefit to the country. If a child or an aged woman only earned 3d. a day by knitting, it is better for the country and happier for themselves that they should be doing so, than that JAMAICA AND THE AMERICANS. 21 they should be idle and burthensome. And if abler women made only 9d. a day by weaving of their six or eight yards of woolen and cotton cloths, as the New Brunswickers do by their domestic looms, such employment has this recommen- dation, that the occupation is not unwomanly, and it is pro- ductive of something, the gains are regular, and the money value is spent in the country, and not sent, as it otherwise would be, out of it, to buy the same articles. About two hundred years ago, one of the exports of this island was hog's lard. It is now an import from America and Ireland, for which, d£12,000 annually are sent out of the country, instead of being spent in it, as it might very well be. How greatly would the cost of living be diminished, were our towns sup- plied with farm produce raised by good farmers of our own soil. The high prices of such produce in this country can only be accounted for by management the most careless, thriftless, and unskilful. For how else is it, that a common turkey bird here, fetches as large a price as two sheep in the State of Wisconsin ; and a bushel of corn is raised in that country for 9d., and the laborer well paid, while here it costs 4s. to 5s., and the laborer is remunerated on the lowest scale. Our thriftless, uneconomic ways ruin us, and we shall remain prostrate until these are abandoned. How true the saying, the hand of the diligent maketh rich, and he that dealeth with a slack hand cometh to poverty. We cannot be rich, so long as the bulk of all that is earned in the country is spent out of it, even for common necessaries. Again, how is it that in the markets of New Brunswick I found that the finest mutton was to be had for 3d. per lb- while here the price is ranging from 9d. to Is. ? What but carelessness and want of common skill in the management of sheep on our extensive beautiful savannahs. In other countries we find wool one of the great staples of their wealth, while here it is often allowed to rot on the ground as worthless. No wool can be stronger or better for some important manufactures, as any one may prove who will buy from the poor Scotch emigrant women a few pairs of 22 JAMAICA AND THE AMERICANS. . their home manufactured stocking, any one pair of which is worth three or four of any imported that I have seen, and the price by no means so high as their good quality deserves, which is, neither to tear nor wear. We could, if we would, help ourselves (in many more respects than the Ameri- cans can or do help themselves,) and our men and women of all classes to profitable employment. The productions of our soil and climate are so varied that every description of skill and ingenuity is invited into exercise. The productions of the American soil in the Northern States, where I travelled, are very limited in number and variety. When I mention corn and wheat, potatoes and turnips, beef and mutton, flax and wool, and a few fruits, I enumerate the chief products of their soil. Yet with these only, how busy are they ! — But what have we here ? We have all these except wheat, and perhaps we may have that too, but we have in addition, sugar, coffee, cocoa, cotton, arrow root, cassava, indigo, spices, ginger, oil nuts, figs, and fruits in every variety and abundance. There is no country in the world that invites every description of efibrt as our island does. If men would only put forth on our soil their strength and capital, and rouse their own and their family's energies, how speedily would poverty spread her leaden wings and flee away, and they be relieved of nineteen-twentieths of the carking cares that now oppress and weigh them down. Do I exaggerate when I say that a couple of acres in a seasonable district, well enclosed and carefully cultivated, would suffice to support in moderate comfort any family whatever ? I do not. Assuredly there is no country in which they can better their lot, or obtain subsistence more readily or with less labor than in this. Let them therefore be up and doing. — How cheering to young and high-minded lovers of independ- ence who long to be rid of the uncertain and beggarly modes of living, with which too many amongst us have been con- tented ; who desire to see aged parents, unprotected sisters, and other dear relatives, and I might add, loving sweet- hearts, independent of all but their own honest exertions ; to JAMAICA AND THE A'MERICANS. 23 know that if they trust to themselves and the generous soil of this gem of the Western sea, that their independence may be achieved. 0, it is an ill-looking thing, in such circumstances as ours, to see, as we too often have seen amongst ourselves, numbers clothed in silk and other foreign adornments, instead of the production of their own handi- work, and indulging themselves in luxuries, the use of which nothing but wealth could justify, instead of being contented with the abundance around them, which a little skill or industry could easily m.ake available, but which little they withhold, jwhile on all sides they are proclaiming their poverty, and neglecting their most sacred duties to the helpless young and the aged. As a summary of the noble tlioughts that I have seen on this subject, I would recom- mend to your attention the song of the great Bard of my native land, of which the following are the commencing lines : — " What tho' on homely fare we dine, Wear hodden gray and a' that, . LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS 015 815 393 2 $ Coiuervfltion ReMNurc«s Pfa 8.Su BuOered