"Antigua hastened in advance of all other colonies to emancipate her slaves. She refused to believe in the virtues of an apprenticeship, or in the doctrine that her bondmen needed a purgatory to prepare them for freedom. Her rulers were wise in their generation. They foresaw that with the substitution of free labor for slave labor much had to be learned, and much to be unlearned; that the success of the new system could only be determined by time and experience; and that an early start in the race was a point to be gained, not to be neglected. Antigua has never had any cause to regret the independent course she then thought proper to pursue. * * * The improved condition of the peasantry is never doubted or questioned in the island itself, and it is well shown by the nature and extent of the imports during late years, as compared with their nature and extent before emancipation. From 1822 to 1832, the average annual value of goods imported by Antigua was £130,000 sterling; in 1858, the island imported to the value of £266,364 sterling. During ten years preceding emancipation, the average number of vessels that annually entered the different ports of the island was 340, and the tonnage 30,000. In 1858, the number of vessels was 668, and the tonnage 42,534. In 1846, there were in the island 67 villages, containing 3187 houses and 9033 inhabitants. All these villages were founded, and all these houses built, since emancipation. In 1858, 2000 additional houses had been built, and the number of village residents had risen to 15,644. At the same period, there were only 299 paupers in the island. The planters of Antigua avow, what is unquestionably true, that by the introduction of a cheaper system of labor, the island was saved, in 1834, from impending ruin."