N.Nugent_.
We might multiply testimony on this point; but suffice it to say that with very few exceptions, the planters, many of whom are also civil magistrates, concur in these two statements; that the amount of crime is actually less than it was during slavery; and that it _appears_ to _be greater_ because of the publicity which is necessarily given by legal processes to offences which were formerly punished and forgotten on the spot where they occurred.
Some of the prominent points established by the foregoing evidence are, 1st.

That most of the crimes committed are petty misdemeanors such as turning out to work late in the morning, cutting canes to eat, &c.

_High penal offences_ are exceedingly rare.
2d.

That where offences of a serious nature do occur, or any open insubordination takes place, they are founded in ignorance or misapprehension of the law, and are seldom repeated a second time, if the law be properly explained and fully understood.
3d.

That the above statements apply to no particular part of the island, where the negroes are peculiarly favored with intelligence and religion, but are made with reference to tire island generally.