whites, If the blacks are free, they will do what they please, and, if they please, do nothing at all. Say the blacks, If we do not work, we must go naked, and die speedily of hunger.

Mons. Malenfant informs us, that the negroes are passionately fond of European commodities; passionately fond of dress, and ornaments, and other articles of luxury: that if these objects of desire are only placed within their reach, by allowing them to reap a share of the profits of their labour, they will afford them abundant motives to engage them to labour; that it requires only a competent knowledge of human nature, and experience of the characters of the negroes, to be assured beyond a doubt that freedom will not detach them from labour; and that the fact is indubitably ascertained by decisive experiment; for the blacks have been found to work cheerfully and steadily, wherever they have had the natural inducements to work. The wines, the viands, the fabrics, the shoes, of Europe, the tastes, in short, of that cultivated quarter of the globe, are, says M. Malenfant, the means of coercing the negro. Habit, by exalting into wants the enjoyment of these commodities, will impose upon him a voluntary servitude. And the portion which should be left to him of the produce which he raises, would afford him the means of satisfying those salutary desires. This, adds our author, is the course which is recommended, by the interests of the colonies, no less than by those of the mother country. This will afford security to the fortunes of the planters, which will never be less than precarious under a state of slavery without the sweets of reward. The most reasonable among the planters, he says, are not averse to the adoption of my opinions. I have found among the owners of estates many whom the love of humanity and of the public interest have long disposed to carry them into effect.

Allowing the practicability of this scheme, it is impossible not to be struck with a conviction of the advantages which would accrue from it. It is easy to see how great a stimulus is given to labour by the rule which bestows an adequate share of the produce of that labour, and exactly proportions the reward to the performance; yields much where much is done; and diminishes the receipt of the workman according to the diminution of the work.

Another advantage of paying the labourers by a proportion of the produce of an estate is-that it gives them, both collectively and distributively, an interest in the prosperity of the estate and every thing which contributes to that prosperity.

Instead of diminishing the security of the property, as in a state of slavery they do, and that to an extraordinary degree, the negroes

would be its guardians and defenders. By paying the blacks with a portion of the produce, says Malenfant, the colonist is relieved from the apprehension of wilful fire. Who in that case will think of taking revenge on his master, by setting fire to his canes, or his buildings? Such events were rare, even under slavery; but they will be unknown, when the labourer reflects that himself, his father, his brothers, his sisters, his friends, have a portion in the property which he would destroy. Even under slavery the negroes had a strong propensity to identify their own interests with those of their master; since their constant expression was, "our house," "our estate," and in general they manifested a zeal for its preservation and safety. This attachment will receive a powerful increase, when, in place of stripes for their only share, they are sure of enjoying a material portion of the produce.

Instead of requiring a superintendant to make them work, and the lash to second his exhortation, they themselves will be the most efficient superintendants of one another; and for the most obvious reasons. The less any one labours, the less will be the share of the produce which every individual will receive. Malenfant relates some decisive instances to prove the efficacy of this superintendance of theirs, in repressing among themselves misconduct of every sort, during the period of freedom, when he employed them on the principles which are here described. The matter, therefore, rests upon the sure ground of experience.

Another advantage which our author adduces, and which he represents as no trifle to the owners of the estates, is, that it will afford them a sure test of the real produce, and an efficient check against the infidelity of their agents.

I

In fact, he represents the adoption of this mode of treatment towards the slaves, as not only the mode, exclusively, by which the colony of St. Domingo can be re-established, but as a mode calculated to promote the interests of the planters to a degree far surpassing slavery, even if it could be established as perfectly as before. So thoroughly, he says, am I persuaded of this, that engage upon the four plantations of the Cul-de-Sac which may be assigned me, to yield with ease nearly ten per cent. of income more than was yielded in 1789.-Were I to conduct the business for a sufficient length of time, I would also make it appear, that the negroes would multiply in a double proportion to that of the period of slavery.-I will further engage, that the labourers shall be contented and happy :-not rich, because, excited by their passion for dress and decoration, they will never practise economy.

In my travels, says the author, I have communicated my ideas to several Dutch and English planters-persons who listen with pleasure to observations tending to ameliorate the condition of the slaves-I never among them met with an individual who replied not: "We are perfectly convinced that, if the blacks had a share in the produce of their labour, they would work with animation and superior effect. It is surprising that the men who founded the colonies thought not of the important expedient of bestowing upon the labourers a portion of that which they produced. We should by that means have avoided a great many misfortunes, and a great many crimes." Several days together I have passed, says he, with M. Fredericy, the governor and a rich planter of Surinam; a man equally respectable by his knowledge, and amiable by his virtues. I made him remark, that if the slaves fought with desperation against the black maroons, to save a few pigs or fowls, they would do so with much more eagerness, when defending not a few pigs or fowls merely, but the hopes arising from fields of sugar-canes or coffee. That is true, said he; and I have a perfect conviction that such a system would be advantageous to the planters, and even to the manufactures of the mother country, though the proprietors who reside in Holland send out every six months every thing necessary for their slaves, and even their managers.

Such is the outline of the plan which is proposed by Mons. Malenfant for the future cultivation of the colonies; and such is a specimen of the reasons by which he supports it. That these reasons are just and conclusive, we cannot for a moment hesitate to believe. The grand point is-whether the blacks can be expected to work without compulsion? If they can,—and to us the fact appears to be incontestably proved,-there is a fine field laid open for the exertions of the African Institution. Most assuredly, if the work of the slaves can be got performed through other and better motives than a long whip lacerating the naked back, no time ought to be lost in effecting a change which humanity demands with so loud a voice. We take it for granted, that no man will deny this proposition. We take it for granted, every man in the kingdom will allow, that if the negro, upon receiving such a reward for his labour as secures the diligence of the labourer in other quarters of the world, will be diligent in the West Indies, the African Institution ought to bend all their powers, indefatigably and without intermission, till they procure him such a reward in the colonies of their own country. This is by far the most interesting point of view in which the business of the colonies can be contemplated. This is the first great improvement which is

capable of being made in the condition of the black population of the West Indies. The time seems to be actually come when the important change may be made. If it may, it is indisputable that it ought. The evidence that it may is so strong, that to such a mind as that of Sismondi it appears to be conclusive, and he recommends the scheme of Mons. Malenfant in the strongest manner. "The negro slave (he says) is perfectly qualified to fulfil the contract of a metayer, to cultivate the ground with the capital of his master, and pay him a share of the produce. The metayer labours with pleasure, because he knows that he will have his share in the produce; he does every thing with care, every thing with diligence, because he knows that his care and his diligence are for himself: no inspector, no driver will be needed for the negro under terms like these; because the fruits of his good or his bad behaviour will return upon himself. Those who pretend that the negroes are too indolent to fulfil the conditions imposed upon the metayer, carelessly or wilfully overlook the garden of the negro, which is generally cultivated with the utmost industry and zeal. They carelessly or wilfully forget that St. Domingo is at this moment cultivated by the negroes; and that not to the mere extent of their own subsistence, but for general commerce."

The subject is therefore brought before the world, (and thanks to the authors by whom it has so been brought,) and placed in such a light that it cannot be overlooked. The African Insti

tution are under the necessity of taking it up. And if they do, the present crisis in the affairs of the colonies, gloomy as it one time did appear, may be the happiest which yet has beamed upon these unfortunate regions of the earth.

Malenfant subjoins to his work a code of regulations, or laws for the government of the colonies according to the system which he proposes. It contains many important suggestions; though in many respects we think it might be considerably improved. Into the details of it, the length to which the present article has already extended will not permit us to enter.

Upon the grand particular, the mode of remuneration, which is already explained, we shall make one remark. A fourth part of the produce is proposed by the author. But some deduction ought to be made in the case of the application of fresh capital, which increases the productive powers of the labourer; otherwise this mode of payment would operate as a tax upon improvement. A deduction ought to be made, at least equal to the ordinary profits of stock in the business. If the labourers were not attached to the soil, but at liberty to change their masters, the re

muneration might be left to be settled by a particular contract for each particular instance. And this appears to be the modification of the circumstances which is pointed out by Sismondi. He recommends not that the negroes should be made serfs, but metayers, the distinction of which last is, that they are not attached to the soil, and bound to any particular master. If the negroes are attached to the soil, and have not the power of changing their masters, it is evident that the contract between the master and the servant must be fixed by competent authority; because, if not, the servant is placed at the mercy of his master, and must take just as much or as little as the master is pleased to bestow. In making a general standard, there will always be some inconvenience, and some inequality. But, with proper skill, we are persuaded that neither the inconvenience nor the inequality need be very great; and as soon as ever the bondage of the servant is dispensed with, the inconvenience is at an end.

The grand objection to the removal of the bondage, we doubt not, will be drawn from the idea of the property which the master has in his slave. But on what does the value of the property depend? In other words, What is the real subject of the property? Undoubtedly the labour. It is not the quantity of the flesh and bones which are the appendages to the labour; for, could he obtain the labour without those appendages; could it be done, for example, by invisible spirits, the planter would never regret the absence of the flesh and the bones. Now it is according to the supposition on which we are arguing, and which we conceive to have been proved, that the labour will be performed without the bondage, and better performed than with it: that is to say, where the expense of maintenance, or of payment, is the same, the labour will be more productive; where the produce of the labour is the same, the expense will be less. The planters, therefore, will not lose. The land-owners of England lost nothing when the people on their estates passed from the condition of serfs or villains, attached to the soil, to the condition of servants cultivating their masters' soil with their masters' capital, and paying him a share of the produce, but free to change his service at their pleasure. If the masters had been to lose by this change, it never would have taken place; because the masters were strong, and had the power of making the laws, as regarded the villains, just what they pleased. They found they were to be gainers; that their estates would be more productive under the last than the former mode of cultivation; and that, though they would not any longer have slaves to sell, their estates would be raised in value; and that what they lost in the one way was much