“The negroes are very acute in making bargains.  A difficulty once arose on an estate under my charge, between the manager and the people, in settling for a job which the laborers had done.  The latter complained that the manager did not give them as much as was stipulated in the original agreement.  The manager contended that he had paid the whole amount.  The people brought their complaint before me, as attorney, and maintained that there was one shilling and six-pence (about nineteen cents) due each of them.  I examined the accounts and found that they were right, and that the manager had really made a mistake to the very amount specified.”—­Dr. Daniell.

“The emancipated people manifest as much cunning and address in business, as any class of persons.”—­Mr. J. Howell.

“The capabilities of the blacks for education are conspicuous; so also as to mental acquirements and trades.”—­Hon. N. Nugent.

It is a little remarkable that while Americans fear that the negroes, if emancipated, could not take care of themselves, the West Indians fear lest they should take care of themselves; hence they discourage them from buying lands, from learning trades, and from all employments which might render them independent of sugar cultivation.

SIXTEENTH PROPOSITION.—­Emancipation has operated at once to elevate and improve the negroes.  It introduced them into the midst of all relations, human and divine.  It was the first formal acknowledgment that they were MEN—­personally interested in the operations of law, and the requirements of God.  It laid the corner-stone in the fabric of their moral and intellectual improvement.

“The negroes have a growing self-respect and regard for character.  This was a feeling which was scarcely known by them during slavery.”—­Mr. J. Howell.

“The negroes pay a great deal more attention to their personal appearance, than they were accustomed to while slaves.  The women in particular have improved astonishingly in their dress and manners.”—­Dr. Daniell.

Abundant proof of this proposition may be found in the statements already made respecting the decrease of licentiousness, the increased attention paid to marriage, the abandonment by the mothers of the horrible practice of selling their daughters to vile white men, the reverence for the Sabbath, the attendance upon divine worship, the exemplary subordination to law, the avoidance of riotous conduct, insolence, and intemperance.

SEVENTEENTH PROPOSITION—­Emancipation promises a vast improvement in the condition of woman.  What could more effectually force woman from her sphere, than slavery has done by dragging her to the field, subjecting her to the obscene remarks, and to the vile abominations of licentious drivers and overseers; by compelling her to wield the heavy hoe, until advancing pregnancy rendered her useless then at the earliest possible period driving her back to the field with her infant swung at her back, or torn from her and committed to a stranger.  Some of these evils still exist in Antigua, but there has already been a great abatement of them, and the humane planters look forward to their complete removal, and to the ultimate restoration of woman to the quiet and purity of domestic life.