Page:Remarks upon the Situation of Negroes in Jamaica.pdf/65

 claims from inheritance; and frequently deſpond when (removed to other hands) they become the chattels of unwilling poſſeſſion. In Ruſſia and Poland a vaſſal is purchaſed with the ſoil; and although this traffic be licenſed in Europe, and over a tract of land, compared to which our weſtern iſlands would be a dot; yet the practice is hardly mentioned in a light to affect, or intereſt humanity.

If negroes be not kept in conſtant motion, they cannot otherwiſe fill up an hour of vacation, or the periods of indulgence by any mechanical, or induſtrious avocation of preſent or future avail to themſelves and families; on the contrary, whether it be from a conſtitutional lethargy, or from a vacuity of ideas, they no ſooner ceaſe to move, than they ceaſe to think; and four out of five would remain in a continual torpor; unleſs they were rouſed by the provocatives of thirſt or hunger. Notwithſtanding this diſpoſition of natural indolence, their work ſhould be regular, and never ſtrained; and I am convinced that it will be better done, although perhaps not quite ſo ſoon, if they were