Page:Remarks upon the Situation of Negroes in Jamaica.pdf/103

 both a credit, and an ornament, I can with confidence affirm; and it has frequently hurt me to ſee ſome of this deſcription ſuſtain a ſubordiriate character in the drama of life, when their pretenſions and abilities would enable them to move in the ſphere of independency, wealth and command.

The firſt buſineſs of an indulgent overſeer ſhould be to ſecure the negroes property committed to his charge. His wife, his houſe, his flock, his ground ſhould be always ſacred. No power ſhould be uſed to force, no temptation put in practice to ſeduce the perſon of the firſt—his hut ſhould be his caſtle, and the ground upon which it ſtands his fee. A plague is not ſo deſtructive upon a property as the removal of negroes from their accuſtomed grounds, from thoſe grounds that have been delivered down from father to ſon: when this happens, which is the height of preſent imprudence, and conſequent diſtreſs, they pine away in ſecret, neglect the cultivation of new lands, and pinched by hunger, and