Freedom is the antagonist of slavery. Free labour must drive out of the market the labour of the slave. We were told before emancipation, that the former was cheaper than the latter: we have yet to learn that it is not. A glance at the present condition of the sugar-producing countries will convince any one that the West India planter has immense advantages over his rival of Cuba or Brazil. There is a great amount of misunderstanding on this subject. The soil of the West India Islands is always represented as exhausted, which is far from being actually the case. In Cuba, according to an estimate made by the patriotic society of Havanna, it appears that two hundred and fifteen acres of _new_ land are expected to produce, in cane cultivation, thirteen hundred boxes of sugar, or 2172 lbs. per acre. We may reasonably infer, that the production in Brazil does not equal this. We find that the exports of sugar from the latter country have rather declined, while those of Cuba have been nearly doubled within the last few years; while from the evidence taken by a committee of the House of Commons, it appears that with the present imperfect system of cultivation, the following results have been obtained, including ratroons, or canes cut for several years successively. {21} Jamaica, about 2000 per acre. St. Vincent, „ 3000 „ Antigua, „ 3000 „ Barbadoes, „ 3000 „ A pretty fair result, it must be confessed, considering the exhausted condition of the soil. Another advantage the West India Islands possess over Brazil, arises from their facilities for water carriage. Their limited extent is anything but a drawback,—it makes them all sea coast. With labour and capital, they would be put in a position that would enable them to under-sell slave-grown sugar. The great disadvantage under which they suffer, is scarcity of labour. Antigua alone has, in this respect, a sufficient supply, and let us hear the result. The first witness we shall call is Captain Larlyle, governor of French Guiana. The captain was sent by the French government to visit most of the British West India Islands, and to see the working of the present system; the report he made has been published by government, in a work, entitled, “Abolition de l’Esclavage dans les Colonies Anglaises.” Evidently his prejudices are for the continuance of slavery, but with respect to Antigua, he was forced to bear witness of a contrary character. He observes, (our quotations are from the Anti-Slavery Reporter, of May 1st, 1844,) that “it has maintained, during the last seven years, a state of prosperity, which every impartial person cannot fail to acknowledge.” p. 189. “The exports have rather increased than diminished since emancipation.” pp. 194, 5. “If, under the system of slavery, labour had been as complete and productive as it ought to have been, if the negroes