easonable mind--that men who have all their lives been
subject to compulsory labor should, on having this labor left to
their discretion, be disposed at first to relax, and, in some
instances, totally abstain from it, was equally to be expected. But
we have no reason to despond, nor to imagine that, because such has
occurred in some districts, it will continue.

It is sufficient that the ignorant have been undeceived in their
exaggerated notions of their rights as Freemen: it was the first
step towards resumption of labor in every part of the Colony. The
patient forbearance of the Employers has produced great changes. If
some Estates have been disappointed in the amount of labor
performed, others again, and I have reason to believe a great
number, are doing well. It is well known that the Peasantry have not
taken to a wandering life: they are not lost to the cultivated parts
of the Colony: for the reports hitherto received from the
Superintendents of Rivers and Creeks make no mention of an augmented
population in the distant parts of their respective districts.

I hear of few commitments, except in this town, where, of course,
many of the idle have flocked from the country. On the East Coast,
there has been only one case brought before the High Sheriff's Court
since the 1st of August. In the last Circuit, not one!

With these facts before us, we may, I trust, anticipate the
continued prosperity of the Colony; and though it be possible there
may be a diminution in the exports of the staple commodities in this
and the succeeding quarter, yet we must take into consideration that
the season had been unfavorable, in some districts, previous to the
1st August, therefore a larger proportion of the crops remained
uncut; and we may ask, whether a continuance of compulsory labor
would have produced a more favorable result? Our united efforts
will, I trust, not be wanting to base individual prosperity on the
welfare of all."

The Governor of Demerara is HENRY LIGHT, Esq., a gentlemen who seems
strongly inclined to court the old slavery party and determined to shew
his want of affinity to the abolitionists. In another speech delivered
on a similar occasion, he says:

"Many of the new freemen may still be said to be in their infancy of
freedom, and like children are wayward. On _many of the estates_ they
have