must have been chiefly, though not entirely, accumulated by the labouring classes since slavery was abolished.  A proprietor told me the other day that he had, within twelve months, sold ten acres of land in small lots, for the sum of 900_l_.  The land sold at so high a price is situated near a town, and the purchasers pay him an annual rent of 50_s_. per acre, for provision grounds on the more distant parts of the estate.  Again, in most districts, the labourers are possessed of horses, for which they often pay handsomely.  A farm servant not unfrequently gives from 12_l_. to 20_l_. for an animal which he intends to employ, not for purposes of profit, but in riding to church, or on occasions of festivity.

Whence then are these funds derived?  That the peasantry are generally frugal and sober I have already observed.  But they are assuredly not called to tax their physical powers unduly, in order to achieve the independence I have described.  Although the estate I lately visited is well managed, and the best understanding subsists between employer and labourers, the latter seldom made their appearance in the field until some time after I had sallied forth for my morning walk.  They work on the estate only nine days in the fortnight, devoting the alternate Fridays to the cultivation of their provision grounds, and the Saturdays to marketing and amusements.  On the whole, seeing that the climate is suited to their constitutions, that they experience none of the drawbacks to which new settlers, even in the most fertile countries, are subject, that they are by disposition and temperament a cheerful race, I much doubt whether any people on the face of the globe enjoy as large a share of happiness as the Creole peasantry of this island.  And this is a representation not over-charged, or highly coloured, but drawn in all truth and sobriety of the actual condition of a population which was, a very few years ago, subjected to the degrading, depressing influences of slavery.  Well may you and others who took part in the work of emancipation rejoice in the success of your great experiment.

But was it possible to indulge the same feelings of exultation when contemplating their condition morally, and marking the indications of advance towards a higher state of civilisation?  In the island itself controversy was rife as to the degree in which such results had been already achieved, and the promise of further progress.  Some of the more enthusiastic and ardent of that class of persons who had been the zealous advocates of the interests of the Negro population at a former period, were now disposed to judge most hardly of their conduct.  Their very sympathy with the victims of the system formerly prevailing, led them to conceive unbounded hopes of the benefits, moral and social alike, which a change would effect; the admirable behaviour of the peasantry at the time of emancipation, confirmed such anticipations; and they were now beginning to experience disappointment on finding that all they looked for was not immediately realised.  These feelings, however, Lord Elgin did not share.