I am sorry to say, that this has been the hard fate with many a proprietor already, and must, ere long, overwhelm the whole colony. My property was considered one of the finest in the island, and if it perish none can stand. I might give particulars of many cases of extreme hardship, but it is needless to multiply these, as you must have many similar facts from other sources.” The following letter is taken from a late number of a Jamaica newspaper, and we recommend it seriously to the attention of our readers: “_To the Editor of the Jamaica Despatch, Chronicle, and Gazette._ “‘Coming events cast their shadows before.’ “SIR,—I have just returned from Lucea, where I have witnessed a sight any thing but gratifying to my feelings. “A vessel has arrived from ‘Trinidad de Cuba,’ to load with the mill and machinery, coppers, and other apparatus, from Williamsfield Estate in this parish, late the property of Mr Alexander Grant. The estate has, since Mr Grant’s death, been, from the difficulty of the times, abandoned; and Mr D’Castro, the owner of the vessel now at Lucea, has purchased the fixtures for an estate settling in Cuba. “Is not the fate of Jamaica estates foreshadowed in this circumstance? Is it not a melancholy reflection that we are being wantonly sacrificed by our fellow countrymen, solely for the aggrandisement of foreigners? “It does not require, Mr Editor, a prophet to foretell the fate of Jamaica sugar properties, and that for every man’s property destroyed here half a dozen will flourish in Cuba. A new branch of trade is opened to us, and for a few months, no doubt, it will be a brisk one. I would strongly recommend gentlemen who are advertising properties for sale to send the advertisement to Cuba; an estate now is not worth more than the cattle and machinery on it, and our neighbours in Cuba, might obtain all the machinery necessary for the settlement of their sugar plantations on very easy terms; and it will be, no doubt, exceedingly agreeable at some future time, when necessity compels us to quit our own country, to seek a living in Cuba, to see our late still, steam-engine, or coppers, and if we, are particularly fortunate, obtain the superintendence of any one of them. I am, Mr Editor, your obedient servant, A PROPRIETOR.” “Hanover, Oct. 23, 1847.”