RESTRICTIONS ON COMMERCE. 



99 



were sometimes thrown open by proclamation of the Go- 

 vernor, as for example when extensive fires took place, and 

 lumber was required to replace the buildings that had been 

 destroyed, or when approaching famine was apparent. But 

 this was of such uncertain occurrence, that no regular trade 

 could be engaged in, from the United States ; and wdien 

 the exigency had ceased, the ports were again closed as 

 before. It was an assumption of power on the part of the 

 Governors to suspend the operation of an Act of the Im- 

 perial Parliament, which rendered an act of indemnity 

 necessary on their retiring from their government ; and 

 consequently they rarely incurred the responsibility of such 

 interference unless when demanded by an urgent necessity. 



Such being the situation of the planters, and being com- 

 pelled to pay on an average double what they should have 

 done for the support of their negroes, it is not surprising 

 that, in^the absence of that tact and economy which never 

 co-exist with slavery, they became gradually insolvent, and 

 after a lapse of years, their estates very generally were 

 encumbered. Although the other islands labored under 

 the same disadvantage as to the importation of food, yet it 

 bore with peculiar hardship upon Jamaica, as vessels from 

 the North American provinces first touched at Barbadoes 

 in search of a market, and failing in obtaining one there, 

 ran down the islands, selling where they could ; and if un- 

 able to meet with a sale before, bore up for Jamaica as a 

 last resort. The consequence was, either a glut or a scar- 

 city, and no steady or uniform price ever prevailed. 



This state of things commenced with the independence 

 of the United States, and it is not to be wondered at, 



