400 J A M A I C A. 



his reply was to the followhig effect; that he would much rather flay, 

 live, and end his days, where he was. That he could not live lb com- 

 fortably in his own country ; for in Jamaica he had food and cloathino- 

 as much as he wanted, a good houfe, and his family about him; but 

 that in Africa he would be deftitute and helplefs, without any fecurity 

 to his life, or any of thofe enjoyments which now rendered it com- 

 fortable. Although fome few of thefe poor wretches may have inex- 

 orable tyrants for their mafters, who may treat them worfc perhaps 

 than any perfon of humanity would treat a brute; yet, in general, the 

 cafe is very different, and one thing is felf-evident, that it being fo op- 

 pofite to the intereil: of any planter thus barbaroufly to treat, or inhu- 

 manly to work his Haves to death ; if ever fuch inftances of cruelty 

 happen, the owner is, without doubt, either a fool or a madman. 



Many of the Negroes in this ifland, the tradefmcn, and fuch as are 

 iifually called Houfe Negroes, live as well, or perhaps much better, in 

 point of meat and drink, than the poorer clafs of people do /i\i England; 

 and not one of them, even to the plantation labourer, goes through 

 half the work; for even thofe who cultivate the lands, are not without 

 indulgence, and frequent intervals of recreation. 



If, indeed, we fuppofe a man bred up and habituated to a ftate of 

 fure^/lavery ^mong numberlefs others in the fame predicament, fubjedl 

 to the vilell: fpecies of bondage ; that his life, his perfon, his food, and 

 acquilitions, are all at the abfolute and arbitrary difpofal of his owner, 

 as much as if he were a meer ox or (heep ; and that he is in hourly 

 peril of being damnified in lome one or other of them, by the wanton 

 cruelty or caprice of his owner; let us then imagine this unhappy 

 wretch conveyed into another region, and among a people very differ- 

 ent from the laft, in government, manners, and difpofition; where his 

 fervitude is tempered with lenity, where he is permitted to enjoy a 

 little property undifturbed, where his life, his body, his food, and 

 raiment, are prote<Sled and affured to him by public regulations ; can 

 we hefitate one moment to fay, that his yoke is now become eafy, 

 his burthen light? and (hall we not conclude, that fuch a being, 

 though perhaps averfe at firft to the change, through erronepus im- 

 preflions, and utter ignorance of his future defliny, will foon difcern 

 the more happy circumftances of his new condition, and really think, 

 that, compared with the paft, his prefent fervices are perJeB freedom. 



3 i^ 



