I gave you in my last, some account of the manner in which the first day of emancipation came and went in this island.  We very soon afterwards received similar accounts from all the neighboring islands.  In all of them the day was celebrated as an occasion “of devout thanksgiving and praise to God, for the happy termination of slavery.”  In all of them, the change took place in a manner highly creditable to the emancipated, and intensely gratifying to the friends of liberty.  The quiet, good order, and solemnity of the day, were every where remarkable.  Indeed, is it not a fact worth remembering, that whereas in former years, a single day’s relaxation from labor was met by the slaves with shouting and revelry, and merry-making, yet now, when the last link of slavery was broken forever, sobriety and decorum were especially the order of the day.  The perfect order and subordination to the laws, which marked the first day of August, are yet unbroken.  We have now nearly five months’ experience of entire emancipation; and I venture to say, that a period of more profound peace never existed in the West Indies.  There have been disputes about wages, as in New England and in other free countries; but no concert, no combination even, here; and the only attempt at a combination was among the planters, to keep down wages—­and that but for a short time only.  I will not enter particularly into the questions, whether or not the people will continue to work for wages, whether they will remain quiet,—­or on the other hand, whether the Island will be suffered to become desolate, and the freed slaves relapse into barbarism, &c.  These things have been speculated about, and gloomy predictions have had their day; the time has now come for the proof.  People do not buy land and houses, and rent property for long terms of years, in countries where life is insecure, or where labor cannot be had, and the tendency of things is to ruin and decay.  In short, men, in their senses, do not embark on board a sinking ship.  Confidence is the very soul of prosperity; of the existence of this confidence in this Island, the immense operations in real estate, since the first of August, are abundant proof.  There are multitudes of instances in which estates have sold for $20,000 more than was asked for them six months ago; and yet at the time they were considered very high.  A proprietor who was persuaded a few weeks since to part with his estate for a very large sum of money, went and bought it back again at an advance of $9600.  A great many long leases of property have been entered into.  An estate called “Edgecombe,” mentioned by Thome and Kimball, has been rented for 21 years at $7500 per annum.  Another called the “hope” has been rented for 10 years at L2000 sterling, equal to $9600 per annum.  Another, after being rented at a high price, was relet, by the lessee, who became entirely absolved from the contract, and took $16,000 for his bargain.