Poor Miss L. is one of that unfortunate class who have hitherto gained a meagre support from the stolen hire of a few slaves, and who, after entire emancipation, will be stripped of every thing.  This is the class upon whom emancipation will fall most heavily; it will at once cast many out of a situation of ease, into the humiliating dilemma of laboring or begging—­to the latter of which alternatives, Miss L. seems inclined.  Let Miss L. be comforted!  It is better to beg than to steal.

We proceeded from Morant Bay to Bath, a distance of fourteen miles, where we put up at a neat cottage lodging-house, kept by Miss P., a colored lady.  Bath is a picturesque little village, embowered in perpetual green, and lying at the foot of a mountain on one side, and on the other by the margin of a rambling little river.  It seems to have accumulated around it and within it, all the verdure and foliage of a tropical clime.

Having a letter of introduction, we called on the special magistrate for that district—­George Willis, Esq.  As we entered his office, an apprentice was led up in irons by a policeman, and at the same time another man rode up with a letter from the master of the apprentice, directing the magistrate to release him instantly.  The facts of this case, as Mr. W. himself explained them to us, will illustrate the careless manner in which the magistrates administer the law.  The master had sent his apprentice to a neighboring estate, where there had been some disturbance, to get his clothes, which had been left there.  The overseer of the estate finding an intruder on his property, had him handcuffed forthwith, notwithstanding his repeated declarations that his master had sent him.  Having handcuffed him, he ordered him to be taken before the special magistrate, Mr. W., who had him confined in the station-house all night.  Mr. W., in pursuance of the direction received from the master, ordered the man to be released, but at the same time repeatedly declared to him that the overseer was not to blame for arresting him.

After this case was disposed of, Mr. W, turned to us.  He said he had a district of thirty miles in extent, including five thousand apprentices; these he visited thrice every month.  He stated that there had been a gradual decrease of crime since he came to the district, which was early in 1835.  For example, in March, 1837, there were but twenty-four persons punished, and in March, 1835, there were as many punished in a single week.  He explained this by saying that the apprentices had become better acquainted with the requirements of the law.  The chief offence at present was absconding from labor.