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PARTITION OF THE SOIL. 



for more than they were worth, when the emancipation 

 bill passed. That measure increased the embarrassments 

 of the residents, made them the easy prey of their non- 

 resident creditors, and left them without means or capital 

 to conduct the cultivation of the land with profit or even 

 with economy. 



Fourth. — The magnitude of the estates and the princi- 

 ples upon which they have been cultivated, prevent the 

 free circulation of real property, tend to accumulate the 

 land in the hands of a few, to exterminate the middle 

 classes of men with little or no capital, and to beget a con- 

 stant and unnatural antagonism between capital and labor. 



These causes, in my judgment, would have conducted 

 Jamaica to inevitable ruin, had the tariff laws never been 

 altered nor the slaves been set at liberty. 



But the question arises, is this state of things to be per- 

 petual, or where or how is it to terminate ? I answer, that 

 it must continue until the land gets into the hands of peo- 

 ple who are not ashamed to till it. So long as it is held 

 by English landlords, it will doubtless continue to depreciate 

 in value. I say this with all possible respect for the proprie- 

 tary class here, many of whom I know, and greatly esteem. 

 It will continue to depreciate in their hands, I say, because 

 they will not cultivate it personally, nor can they command 

 the capital, fidelity and skill necessary to cultivate it with 

 profit by agents. It will continue to depreciate until the 



