SETTLEMENTS ON THE DEMERARY, &C. 125 



or ten hours of labor every day. The vassal disposes of nearly 

 fifteen hours. What British labourer pays for his shelter, his 

 food, his raiment, and his ale-house bill, vv'ith the sacrifice of 

 a smaller proportion of his time I 



The laws of vassalage may in some rules require amend- 

 ment and revision ; but the system itself is a necessary step in 

 human society, without which agriculture cannot overspread 

 a new country. Vassalage is only a form of bartering labor 

 directly for shelter and food, where there are not cottages to 

 be hired, or shops at which to buy bread and meat. Unless 

 the planter were to make, on a large scale, provision for the 

 lodging, clothing, and feeding of as many peasants as he 

 needs, not one of his labourers could subsist a week, upon the 

 estate. In Jamaica, they have to send over to North America 

 for flour, to Novascotia for fish, and to Ireland for the beef, 

 which is to give the negroes their Christmas dinner ; we are 

 better off on the continent, and shall shortly supply many of 

 the wants of Jamaica ; but where absolute necessaries must 

 be fetched from a vast distance, some one powerful indivi- 

 dual must undertake the contract for the common supply, 

 and take care to proportion it to the mass of his people. No 

 doubt the time will come when our population is numerous ; 

 when, instead of hucksters, we shall have stationary shop- 

 keepers; and when the peasantry will be able to subsist on wages 



