REVIEWS, TRANSLATIONS, AND SELECTED ARTICLES. 137 



occupations. But one remarkable fact appears well worthy of 

 attention. If the African race cannot be roused to activity by high 

 wages, they work diligently when they cultivate the soil on their oivn 

 account ; and these are now rising up as an independent, respectable, 

 and trustworthy middle class. They are even becoming the employers 

 of hired labour. The gratifying result is that the emancipated race 

 evince a capacity for freedom when they can appropriate to them- 

 selves a fair share of the wealth they create. They properly value 

 the possession of a leasehold or freehold property, and in due time 

 we may hope to see labourers, animated by the example of their 

 brethren who have achieved independence, more and more inclined to 

 work for wages as the sole means, if accompanied by economy, of 

 acquiring that capital which will place them in the position of becom- 

 ing the owners of moderate holdings. Many years have elapsed 

 since Mr. Carey, the American economist, expressed his conviction 

 that what is now witnessed in Jamaica would prove the true solution 

 of slavery in the Southern states. He predicts that a time will come 

 when ' there will be seen to arise a class of free black men, culti- 

 vating for their own use their own land, bought from their old 

 masters, who will find in the price of the land a compensation for the 

 price of the labour.'* 



" British Hondubas. — Here the chief trade is mahogany, which 

 has been entirely engrossed by four or live influential firms. Two of 

 these failed in 1859, and the result was great distress at Belize. The 

 resident importing merchants who used to sell goods to purchasers 

 from the contiguous states of Central America have lost their 

 customers by a change in the course of trade, because the facilities 

 of steam packet navigation have induced foreigners to draw their 

 supplies direct from British manufacturers instead of procuring them, 

 as heretofore, through Belize. However, the staple trade in maho- 

 gany and dyewoods is maintained with vigour; and there is the 

 prospect of easier communication with Guatemala. The trade of 

 Honduras is, however, small. In 1859 the value of the exports was 

 56288,000, and of the imports £175,000. 



" Bahamas.— In 1859 the revenue was £30,727, net. This is a 

 ridiculously small sum : but the value of the imports was £213,166, 

 and of the exports £141,896. The staple produce of this colony 



» " The Past, the Present, and the Puture," p. 3U1. By H. G. Carey. 



