+-------------------------------------------------+ |Transcriber's note: | | | |Obvious typographic errors have been corrected. | | | +-------------------------------------------------+ THE RIGHT WAY THE SAFE WAY, PROVED BY EMANCIPATION IN THE BRITISH WEST INDIES, AND ELSEWHERE. BY L. MARIA CHILD. "The world is beginning to understand, that injuring one class, for the immediate benefit of another, is ultimately injurious to that other; and that to secure prosperity to a community, _all_ interests must be consulted."--_Dr. Davy._ NEW YORK: PUBLISHED AND FOR SALE AT 5 BEEKMAN STREET. 1862. CHAPTER I. THE WEST INDIES BEFORE THE ABOLITION OF SLAVERY. It is a common idea that the British West Indies were a mine of wealth before the abolition of slavery, and since that event have been sinking into ruin. To correct those erroneous impressions, I have carefully collected the following facts from authentic sources:-- Official Reports, returned to the British Parliament, prove that the outcry about ruin in the West Indies began long _before_ the abolition of slavery, and even before the abolition of the slave _trade_; and we ought, moreover, never to forget that this outcry related solely to the ruin of the _masters_; nobody expended a thought upon the ruin of their 800,000 laborers. As early as 1792, a Report to Parliament stated that, in the course of the preceding twenty years, one hundred and seventy-seven estates in Jamaica had been sold for the payment of debts; the cultivation of fifty-five had been abandoned; ninety-two were in the hands of creditors; and 80,021 executions, amounting to £22,500,000 sterling ($109,012,500), had been lodged in the provost marshal's office. In 1805, the Reports described the condition of the West India planters as one of "increasing embarrassment, and impending ruin." The Reports in 1807, 1808, 1812, 1830, and 1832, were still more lamentable. In 1830, four years before emancipation, Lord Chandos presented to Parliament a petition from West India planters and merchants, setting forth "the extreme distress under which they labored." In his speech, in support of the petition, he said, "They are reduced to a state in which they are obliged earnestly to solicit relief from Parliament. It is not possible for them to stand up against such a pressure any longer." Mr. Bright said: "The distress of the West India Colonies is unparalleled in the country. Many families, who formerly lived in comparative affluence, are reduced to absolute penury." The West India Reporter also quoted thus from a Report on the commercial state of the Colonies: "There are strong concurrent testimonies and proofs that, unless some speedy and efficient measures of relief are adopted, the ruin of a great number of the planters must inevitably take place." An able writer in the _Edinburgh