labor, but feeling as I do the deepest interest in the successful result of the great measurement now in progress, I sincerely congratulate you and the country at large, on the improvement which is daily taking place on the resumption of industrious habits, and I TRUST THERE IS EVERY PROSPECT OF AGRICULTURAL PROSPERITY.”

Such is the testimony of a Governor who is no stranger in the West Indies and who was put in the place of Lord Sligo as more acceptable to the planters.  But what said the House of Assembly in reply?—­a House made up chiefly of attornies who had more interest than any other men in the continuance of the old system and who, as will presently be shown, were not unwilling to have the “experiment” fail?  They speak as follows:—­

    "May it Please your Excellency,

    We, her Majesty’s dutiful and loyal subjects, the Assembly of
    Jamaica, thank your Excellency for your speech at the opening of
    the session.

    The House join your Excellency in bearing testimony TO THE
    PEACEABLE MANNER in which the laboring population have conducted
    themselves in a state of FREEDOM.

It certainly was not to be expected that so great a change in the condition of the people would be followed by an immediate return to active labor.  The House, however, are willing to believe that some degree of improvement is taking place, and they sincerely join in the HOPE expressed by your Excellency, that the agricultural interests of the Island may ultimately prosper, by a resumption of industrious habits on the part of the peasantry in their new condition.”

This settles the question.  Those who will not be convinced by such documents as these that the mass of the Emancipated in Jamaica are ready to do their part in the system of free labor, would not be convinced if one rose from the deed to prove it.

We are now prepared to investigate the causes of the complaints, and inquire why in numerous cases the negros have refused to work.  Let us first go back to the debates Jamaica Legislature on the passage of the Emancipation bill in June, and see whether we can discover the temper in which it was passed, and the prospect of good faith in its execution.  We can hardly doubt that some members, and some especially from whose speeches on that occasion we have already quoted, designed really to confer the “boon of freedom.”  But others spoke very differently.  To understand their language we must commence with the Governor’s speech at the opening of the session:—­

    "Gentlemen of the Council,

    Mr. Speaker, and Gentlemen of the Assembly,_

    I have called you together, at an unusual season, to take it to your
    consideration the state of the Island under the Laws of
    Apprenticeship, for the labouring population.