195/620 Remember the experiment involves the claims of millions to that without which life is little better than a curse. Every thing hangs on the inquiry whether the emancipated or their former masters are chargeable with whatever there is of _ruin_ in the "fine island" of Jamaica. Says Mr.Sturge, in laying these letters before the public, "it should be clearly understood that the fee simple of all negro houses in Jamaica is not worth L10 each on an average, and that their provision grounds have been brought into cultivation by the negroes themselves in their _own_ time." Extract of a letter from a Missionary:-- Savannah-la-Mar, Sept. 8, 1838. |