, 1872-02-10

49,
part OF the former, and animosity and ha-
tired on the part Of the latter, made it abso-
IuteIy necessary for the local government
to intervene and define their respective OBJ
legations.
The STAKEHOLDER had been compelled to
let go bis iron grasp the slave could not
be any longer compelled to obey by the
end of the clamp ;" and the latter, natu-
rally remembering his long-enduring ills,
and knowing that he was free,-tree to
move, free to act, aud free to think for
hlmseIf-felt the desire to indulge himself
for a while. This abnormal state of things,
however, must soon have proved seriously
detrimental to both parties and hence,
the utility of regulating matters by a pro-
%visjonaI act for the time being, was obvi-
Gus.
The con %ervatiye principles, however,
by which the enactmentS in this ordinance
aremarked, evidence very plainly by whence
they emauated. Advised by the very per-
sons who considered themselves totally
ruined by the Emancipation, and who evil
IDENTIFY desired to retain as many Of the
usages and practices of slavery as possible,
Governor Hansen, His Majesty'S Commits
9lOHCl III IlOSO udJSj uO uOuUG, IGIl IlIlO
the error Of yielding too much to his ad-
Vlsers; for it cannot be denied by any i'm
partial and liberal observer, that the en-
actnents contained in the "Labour Act,''
incline more Immediately towards the
conservative principles of the institutionsof
slavery, than they do towards the working
OF a liberal and progressive system Of free
dom.
Slavery, under the most literally devils
ed Institutions, keeps its victim in con
slant dependence subverts his right to
think aud act for himself depriyes him of
his viii to choose for himself; and con
tracts even his dearest affections to the
marrow bounds Of his selfish and obdurate
masters view.
But methink hear one and all asking,
''}Ehat has this description of SLAYER to
DO with the Labour Act 2"
This is the question. Had the late slave
holder acknowledged tho natural rights of
the IubOurer as a free man, he would have
abolished every relic of slavery and placed
the emancipated labourer upon such a foot
ing as would have thrown him more I'M
medlately upon his own recources ; at least,
he would have urged this condition upon
the government, as the one best calculated
to deyelope the energies of the iabourcr
and mark out a weli-deined path Of indie
pendence for both employers and employ
ecs, in the shortest possible time. Instead
OF this, he must be fed from the cellar he
must be housed at the estates expense his
children must be nursed doctors charges
must be paid for him by the estate
in fact, the same state of dependence and
inertia which slavery entails and from
which he had just emerged, was forced up
on him by the PRONUNCIATION Of the LA
bour Act And who will deny the fact,
that such a state of dependence is %ruinous
both TO the moral and physical powers of
its object?
Let the labourer feel that the obtaining
of his dali. food, in fact, of all the daily
necessities of life, solely depends upon his
own exertions, and then prove whether he
will not perform doubly, yea trebly as
much work as he does now under the
present circumstances.
But such a progressive idea is at vari-
ance with the enuctments Of the " Labour
Act ;" for it compels the weak man and
the strong man to work side by side ofeach