CHAPTER VIII. 



The decline of Jamaica explained — The complaints of the planters 

 — The remedies proposed by the planters — The real difficul- 

 ties in Jamaica stated — First, the degradation of labor. 



The present ruinous condition of Jamaica is ascribed by 

 its inhabitants mainly to three causes, the abolition of 

 slavery in 1834, the inadequate compensation paid to the 

 owners of the slaves, and to the repeal of the protective 

 duty on British colonial sugar. 



1st. The abolition of slavery they aver, caused the price 

 of labor to advance beyond the point of successful compe- 

 tition with countries where slavery was tolerated. It be- 

 came impossible, as they claimed, for a Jamaica planter, 

 with free labor, to raise sugar for anything like the prices 

 at which it was sold by the planters of Cuba, Brazil, and 

 Porto Rico. 



2d. England, they say, paid them but a small propor- 

 tion of the value of the slaves when she emancipated them. 

 The Commissioners appraised the slave property of all the 



