Page:Remarks upon the Situation of Negroes in Jamaica.pdf/38

 who had theſe tender and pleaſing ties to bind them to the property.

A planter who wiſhes to look forward to future independency, ſhould not be too ſanguine in his purchaſes, under the idea of puſhing his property to decreaſe his debt: he ſhould conſider, that, for what he buys, notwithſtanding the temptations of a long credit, he muſt be at laſt obliged to pay; he ſhould conſider beſides that intereſt is a perpetual motion, and that even with the beſt proſpects, hurricanes may ſweep away, the blaſt deſtroy, or drought burn up his canes. Expence is certain, but the fruits of that expence precarious: and I rather think that eſtate will be the ſooneſt clear of debt (for I conſider almoſt all in the Weſt-Indies to be ſo, particularly ſince the late calamitous viſitations of heaven) which proceeds with a mild and ſteady operation of its ſtrength and means, the proprietor of which is more anxious