I have the authority of my noble friend behind me, (the Marquis of Sligo,) who very particularly, inquired into the matter, when I state that on nine estates out of ten there was no difficulty in obtaining as much work as the owners had occasion for, on the payment of wages.

How does all this contrast with the predictions of the "practical men ?" "Oh," said they, in 1833, "it is idle talking; the cart-whip must be used--without that stimulant no negro will work--the nature of the negro is idle and indolent, and without the thought of the cartwhip is before his eyes he falls asleep--put the cartwhip aside and no labor will be done." Has this proved the case?
No, my lords, it has not; and while every abundance of voluntary labor has been found, in no one instance has the stimulus of the cartwhip been found wanting.

The apprentices work well without the whip, and wages have been found quite as good a stimulus as the scourge even to negro industry.

"Oh, but" it is said, "this may do in cotton planting and cotton picking, and indigo making; but the cane will cease to grow, the operation of hoeing will be known no more, boiling will cease to be practised, and sugar-making will terminate entirely." Many, I know, were appalled by these reasonings, and the hopes of many were dissipated by these confident predictions of these so-deemed experienced men.

But how stands the case now?
My lords, let these experienced men, come forth with their experience.