mr. Stanley's defence of absenteeism. 



85 



that this premise is not quite broad enough for the conclu- 

 sion. It is a perfectly good reason for a man to give for 

 not going to a tropical climate, that it does not agree with 

 his constitution, but that would be no reason for his draw- 

 ing five or six fair profits off his estates there, one foy him- 

 self, one for his attorney, another for his overseer, and two 

 or three others for his book-keepers, without enduring any 

 of the exposure or exercising any of the supervision and 

 forethought which is necessary to earn even a single profit 

 in any other part of the globe. The insalubrity of a place 

 is a good reason for keeping away from it, and it is a good 

 reason for compensating those who do go to it, liberally ; 

 it is a good reason for those who cannot or dare not live in 

 it, to sell out to those who dare, but we do not see with what 

 face the non-resident proprietor can step up and ask the 

 government to give him a monopoly which will enable him 

 to hire others to do all his working and thinking, and to 

 pocket cent, per cent, on his investment besides. 



But Mr. Stanley goes farther, he claims, in substance, 

 that the supervision and management of an agent is as 

 faithful as that of his principal, and that agents and ser- 

 vants are as thrifty and as serviceable under the eye of an 

 agent as under the eye of the real party interested in the 

 product of their labor ; for he substantially affirms both 

 these propositions, when he denies the assertion that any of 

 the unproductiveness of the British West India islands is 



