on 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. If required, I could give you a host of similar cases, with
the names of the parties. But it seems unnecessary. The mere impulse
given to the value of property in this island by emancipation, is a
thing as notorious _here_, as the _fact_ of emancipation.

But, are not crimes more frequent than before? I have now before me
a Barbados newspaper, printed two weeks since, in which the fact is
stated, that in _all_ the county prisons, among a population of
80,000, only _two_ prisoners were confined for any cause whatever!

"But," says a believer in the necessity of Colonization, "how will
you _get rid_ of the negroes?" I answer by adverting t