Page:Remarks upon the Situation of Negroes in Jamaica.pdf/87

, in ſickneſs, can preſerve his capital unbroken, will at the end of twenty years be more rich than he who makes a larger proportion of produce, but is frequently obliged, by a want of theſe eſſentials, to have recourſe to foreign purchaſe. I am aware that ſome may inſinuate this idea, will not the difference between one hundred and fifty hogſheads and one hundred, furniſh ſufficient means to keep up a full complement? a full complement of negroes it certainly may, but will thoſe purchaſed be ſo valuable, be ſo good, or durable, as thoſe who were formerly able, but who have now failed through exceſs of labour? A creole well eſtabliſhed in family, houſe, and ground, is in my opinion, (which opinion I found upon my own perſonal experience) worth more than any three imported from the coaſt. If it be thought poſſible, that the colonies can ſupply themſelves without any foreign aſſiſtance; a ſuſpenſion of this trade, for a few years, might with certainty determine. But ſuppoſe that the Engliſh ſhould forego this commerce, would not other nations ſmuggle them into the country, and to illegality ſuperadd