2d. It is customary throughout the island to give two hours (from 12 to 2) recess from labor. We were told that in many cases this time is spent in working on their private provision grounds, or in some active employment by which a pittance may be added to their scanty earnings. What are the facts respecting the natural _inferiority_ of the negro race, and their incompetency to manage their own affairs? Said Mr. Armstrong--"The negroes are exceedingly quick _to turn a thought_. They show a great deal of shrewdness in every thing which concerns their own interests. To a stranger it must be utterly incredible how they can manage to live on such small wages. They are very exact in keeping their accounts with the manager." "The negroes are very acute in making bargains. A difficulty once arose on an estate under my charge, between the manager and the people, in settling for a job which the laborers had done. The latter complained that the manager did not give them as much as was stipulated in the original agreement. The manager contended that he had paid the whole amount. The people brought their complaint before me, as attorney, and maintained that there was one shilling and six-pence (about nineteen cents) due each of them. I examined the accounts and found that they were right, and that the manager had really made a mistake to the very amount specified."--_Dr. Daniell_. "The emancipated people manifest as much cunning and address in business, as any class of persons."--_Mr. J. Howell_. "The capabilities of the blacks for education are conspicuous; so also as to mental acquirements and trades."--_Hon. N. Nugent_. It is a little remarkable that while Americans fear that the negroes, if emancipated, could not take care of themselves, the West Indians fear lest they _should_ take care of themselves; hence they discourage them from buying lands, from learning trades, and from all employments which might render them independent of sugar cultivation. SIXTEENTH PROPOSITION.--Emancipation has operated at once to elevate and improve the negroes. It introduced them into the midst of all relations, human and divine. It was the first formal acknowledgment that they were MEN--personally interested in the operations of law, and the requirements of God. It laid the corner-stone in the fabric of their moral and intellectual improvement. "The negroes have a growing self-respect and regard for character. This was a feeling which was scarcely known by them during slavery."--_Mr. J. Howell_. "The negroes pay a great deal more attention to their personal appearance, than they were accustomed to while slaves. The _women_ in particular have improved astonishingly in their dress and manners."--_Dr. Daniell_.