The famine which is now preying upon some parts of the South illustrates the mischief done by the disorganization of labour, and the comparative excellence of the old system. Such was its beneficence, that it carried the Southern country through all the exhausting trials of the war, without actual dearth in any part of the Confederacy. Hundreds of thousands of our most vigorous men were wholly withdrawn from productive pursuits; our own armies were to be sustained; great hosts of enemies were continually tearing the vitals of the country; the year 1864 brought a drought so severe that in some parts of the country the crops of grain were reduced to one-tenth of the usual harvests; and yet, such was the happiness of our system, that it endured all these enormous trials, and met the wants of all. But after the new _régime_ was well established, there came in 1866 such a drought as the South had several times experienced before, without inconvenience; and although all was peace, there were no armies to support, and no labouring man was called from the farm to the unproductive toils of the camp and the intrenchment, famine immediately resulted. Here is a fair comparison of the system of free African labour, with the old one. Indolence is the parent of crime. While the smaller misdemeanours are more frequent, there has been an alarming increase of felonies. In the orderly little county of Prince Edward, the criminal convictions of black persons averaged only one per year before the war. The last year they numbered twelve! An inquiry into the statistics of crime in our cities would reveal a yet larger increase.[78] [Footnote 78: From April 31st, 1860, to May 31st, 1862, two years and one month, there were _two_ criminal convictions of negroes by Prince Edward Court. From April 31st, 1865, to April 31st, 1867, a less period by one month, there were, in the same court, thirty-five criminal indictments of negroes, and fifteen convictions, leaving thirteen cases over to be tried at subsequent terms. And this aggregate of crime has already accumulated in our once peaceful little community, notwithstanding that the jurisdiction of our courts over negroes was totally suspended by our conquerors for a number of months after April 31st, 1865.]