To The Editor Of The Time...
The Times, 1824-01-19T00:00:00

nir,; l'he Kev. (i. W. Bridges, the rector of Illanchester parish in the island of Jamaica, has lately published a pamphlet, entitled J Voicefrorn famaica, in reply to .lF; Fotberforce. B.s" Th' gentleman has taken great pains to convince his readers of the un- paralleled blessings of West Indian slavery as compared with the evils of liberty. In the prosecution of this task, he introduces tht following observations:- ;' Want is unknown to the slaves in these isles, while the toils ofr the British labourer, the sweat of whose care.worn brow has hardly gained a scanty subsistence for his craving children too often termi- nate in the long-dreaded horrors of the parish poor-house. It is tbe free Negro an coloured population of these colonies, that slothful mace, living without labour or means, dependent alone upon the spontaneous production of a grateful soil, and in its worst features, resexnhling the English husbandinen, which merit vour coinnsisera. tfon, and should elicit your sympathy. Their habits of life are such, that wnile the slave is protected, and his necessities administerect to in age or incapadty, they are exposed, under suchl circurn. stances, and without resource, to all the want and misery which close alife of-unrestrained indolence, apatbh, and vice."_ Vokfrom Jamaica, p. 32. The misrepresentations of this writer on the subject of the mar- riage ofslaves in Jamaica have been fnlly exposced in other publica.- tions. (a) Our object at present is to show that the statements cort- tained in the above extract are still less entitled to confidence; He there tells us, that the free black and coloured population o? Jsantuca-amounting In number, if we mav believe Mr. Stewart, to upwards of 30,Oio, and many of whom, as we shaU show, muvt be possessed of considerable property-live, most strangel, "WiTH.. OUT LABOURt AND MsEANS ;" and that " they depend ALoN the ;pontaneoas productions of a gratefjd soil." Therae is here surely some exaggeration, to say the least, on the part of the reverend author. They are alsp, he tells us, a " slothful race,' " exposed, without resource, to all the want and misery which cloe. a life of unrestrained indolence, apathy, and vice." But would it net have been a Christian act in AMr. Bridges, while he was thus stigmatizing that part of his flock which eonsists of free coloured persots, to have pointed out the causes which bad contributed to their degradation and poverty, and the means of their removal ? Was it quite fair towards them, was it fair even to hia.. white parishioners, to pass wbolly unnoticed the ciril disabilities under which they had long laboured, and indeed still continue to labour ? Vas he not aware, that from the year 1761, until the year 1813, it was the law of Jamaica, with a view expremssl to maintain "the distinction requisite and absolutel,? necessary to be kept up in' this island between white persons, and Ne%ros. and their issue aai offspring," that all Negroes and Mulattoes, &c. should be 'neapnAci.. taited from purchasing or inheriting any real or persoal Prop,erty1 except under the following provisos, nainelyr. "1Provided always, that nothing in this act shall extend to any gifts or grants hereafter to be made for any full valuable, and atde. quate considerations, really and bon' flde paid Lb sc Negro, u.. latto, or other person, not born in lwi wedlock, and being deemed a. Alulatto out of their own proper monies and effects, so ass the whole of aI such gVft, grantrt, and ourchasese, from all n vr the arntor., given and granted to, and purchased by, such Negro, A9ulatto, or otberperson not born in lawful vedlock'shall not, i the whole, exceed the vlue of the -sum o rf 2 otLb i l e Provided likewise, that it shall and may be lawfif for such Negro, &c. to receive and tak-e anylands, Nlegrokes, Mulatto, orotlier slaves, cattle, stock, money or othier astate, real or pesonal, in this isand, so that the value ana amount of such land, &c. given. esunt.. (a) See subtance of Debate on Air Buxton's motiot p 166 and 244. No notice, however, having been there taken of r. Bridges' statements on the subject of baptism, it nay be expedient here t' advert to them. " During my residence in the paisb," r. BriJ es observes, :' I have actuggy baptised 9,413 Negro slaves." Nov, hSr Bridges, when he stated this fact, bad been only two or thtp . Years the rector of the parish of Manchester, inw hich no churc) had been epeneduntil afke hisappointnient. Itisajustandstrikingremard of AIr. Basiau, himseilae West India proprietor, that among the slaves ;4 nothing could f: easier than to introduce Christianity in name, as from tte most in. significant reward they would universll aecept bapt3;w b7ut that it were better they should,remain as they are. etoAthata peoples whose religion, if indeed it cali he called -suckasU ,otnrgis frt as it , shouald beregarded as Christian,"S Se Jdr. Barhaaig, Pamphlet, pp.4 and 5. Sir George Rose, another large West bedl proprietor, stbtes, in a pamphlet which be has published, ttat with respect to baytbsm, we ought to putait entirely out of oiur calcy$atxon 'whiere It has noe been attendedl by Christigii ingtnictioo adtea ndetf th neophyte. -On the hapgeet and best of hs etates in Jamaica, his: slaves. though tihty. had been ftized, he found to be " UT it. withorzt reli h ie nocprant. alsorerly, and dishonest." t TeI arrOp el ercal acutmbrities might be adduced to theY 160 saves. sN in the fate of these testimonies, what is it, in the case of yl bridges, which vwe are called tc e le was pre., renited to a parish, theo mlesissjcd duties of which he iad to per.. fom si isp with the aid of a curdamtaough thasnowhere appeas. .s4r~ population of 'whlta and tree.cooured inhabit. antsj~icspel t ersto dotcupied almostexclusively thepastoral care o~wetdnda.~icumbcnis, it contained -about 16,000 slaves. wless thavc thremre Years he reports, thait of thee he has acy tUS~ bptiad ,43. If we assume these 9,413 to have beers als~actall covered romPaganism to Christianity, or even to ~1rae been tagteoh of the fundamental truths of the Gospl toundestad te engagements into -which they enltered.. we have here a ircl as great as was ex~hibited on the day c Pentecost. Abd if they were not converted to Chri3tianity, or they did not understand the nature ef the solemn vowv and coveyja. they weecalled tosnake, whataoekeryorreligion what'saprs. titution of the sacred initiatory rsgbt of baptlsm, is here made se bUbeCCt of boast! When he eprinkled them with water, "'inhno. name of the Father, and of the Son, and of thelHoly Gbhosr4 anr)*- Ithem promise UK- I_ek 'to keep God'sahocy will ina commadat,a~t ~ i ahk again, l h days Of thecir life ?" If hg- did, eret'uldl ask again, hether these en3gagMentg, with respet tc, almost aul his neophytes, were not words vijthout a Mesa.. ing, How -man of' thes 9,418 mvoerts were actual!Hvung at te tme, nd ave continued since to live-, in a- state ollAwlesa. concubInage, indulging, day by day wi'thout restrainL irstend-of reon ing the carnal desires of die fleahi" oat o~~t t16,OOg slaves, by hsOwn account, be -had married only 187 co4de In what atate Were all the rest of thosi pernso living whoa.he. pea. flounced, on their baptismn, to " be regenerate and groftei into the body of Christ's church," andforwhomhesolemn1vgaylthaaka to Almighty GOd," I~ suh-.payingz-t, "that they m4, read thew rest of teir'life to tis begtnnimt?", Does.i;0 a trna.- aetoion require a comment? Then, as to keeping God's 0manad.. tnents, what'sball wre say to the fourth P Has the Sundi;' easedl to. be thtesiarket-day, or a day -of labor .!ta tiese U~itzed Ngroesp ? And wen tey cme rallyto ,idertodth'e aequlditons of*the? iism, what tnug they thiof oit the pro w to -. edl, nd by a.llana ecerY the d6nars a ?tstato"s,-being white pler coas, exceed n6tthe'mi of 2,(=G. in-the lihble'to any onse person." Until the s-ale vear, 1813, it wakaSils umlawf'ul tbor an free negro or pmaron of colour, even to navigate avessel owned by him, eclf, plIng along the coasts of the island for hire. - Until t-S3 s-me yea every suc}h pereon' tolding or hiring slaves Ws obliged to sigage one or.more wahite persons, serving in-the mi- lia, accoraing to tea numberof his slaves.;p or to pay certain sagis of money, in case the number of sich persons should be dificlent. Until tl szaee vesr no f'ree nero or emulatto could supply acb d2ciencv, eithser tbr himself or for anyother free negr or mulatto. Untl die s sme yenr no Ice negro or mulatto could be adeintted as 3 wiSinSa inS any court of justiCe in a cause in which a white person Wn tat year, but not till then, the Legislature of Jamaica passed acts relaxing tbe rigour of these restrictions, abolishng t mie meuulstions waitha respect to the acquisition of propery by vuSTh s r rbe 5 aest e:rmi ttin g free negroes or mnulattoes t W 3navgate thaown vnit&s sillowingr thsem to save deficiencese fr tesrow pr;xertv, or fort tat of oier free negroes nnd mnulattoes, and par- ~tly ardmitng their testimony-for or against white persona in courts Tl-hese manulres, as far as they w ent, wrere highly beoed c'aL The diaiiisbowvever, under which the free pegpiC still labour, are euffilenty numerous. They will be best areecipated by atterding to the facts stated in the following series of resolutions, ado pted at a meeting of delegates from the free people of colour of Jamaica, which assembled at Kingston on the 12th of May, 183, Mr. A. ). Simpson in the chair, as the basis of a petition to be presented to the 'olonial ieislature-n2mely, " That th-e peole of colour, in seeking by constitutional rneas to attain to the erenise of the privileges of citizens. demonstrate, in the value they attach to those nghts as British subject, the devotion -hic. has heretofore animated, and wlich always wiU animate them, in supporting the honour and interests of the British empire. (a) " Thet the local legislature lias imposed rcstraints and disabilities upon the coloured population (the pressure of which bas onlyj 'With- in a few years, been in any degree ameliorated or relaxed); the opa- raticn of which disabilities, notwithstanding the recognition of the =otaner countrm, has totallv divested them in the colonies of the cha- cter o' free denizens of England.'* "That in claiming a closer approximation to the imniunities of the white inhabitants, they caU to recollection the character they have mainraed under those restraints; and they look to the devo- tiDon they have always manifested to the interests-ofttbe isand,as the fairegt pledge of an :ndoubted fitness to be now releved from their politica3 disabilitien. (b) That the laws bv which they fed themnselves aggrieved and op- pressed are-I. The faws limiting their efforts in life, the defidiency aw, which escludes tbem from an equal participation with a white inhabitants in the productive labourof the soiL and the enactnients which debar them from employmnent in the public offices of the island. 2. Those which exclude them from exercising the ordinary rights of British subjects, the ighlt of admisson on juries, aud the rghtof sufrage offreeholders. 3. The law which requites fromff them iestimonials of baptism and freedomnbeforetbeybedeelied fit , }^2w'-einacause. lrstly,theycomnplain oftheri no-provision,in nsrishesofthe island, for the instructionof theuneducated T-9'51Zcolour. (c) 3' t'hat in seeling to obtaiin the repeal of the laws which thus op- press thern, they owe it in justice to themselves to declare, that they are actuated by'no tumultuous or declamatory motives, but are im- peled to the measureby a patient review of the hardships of their condition. The Operation of the legacy limitation law (repealed in the ycar 1813) successfully rendered the people of colour a poor comnnmunity. Compelled to look to individual exertion alone, they rk those common opportunities of exerting themselves, in obtain. ing a subsistence, which are to be found in a free access to the ad. rantages of agriculture. (6d) Circumscribed in their present opportu. nities, they feel the influence of the existing system in depressing their exertions and demoralizing their habits. " That, aware how much their general body must be moraUy bet. tered by having opened to them employment, derived from a recom. mnendation of intellectual acqWurements, they urgethe repeal of those zTmtutes which excludetbem froni beingemployed inthepublic olOces of the island. ae) " That, as a confident reliance in the adm nistration of justic ecan cnlvbc found in an admission toparticippate in thejudgmentreposed in jieres, they seek for this privilege. As the right of judgment can only be delegated to those of settled habits, and of fixed residence and in- terest in the soil, no suspicion of undue influence can arise from this concession: the operation of this immunity, by holding up the benefits of education, and ofprovideat habits, must greatly mcrease the morality of a people. " That a similar result moust take place from a Concession of the elective franchise. By rendering the people of colour partakers in the nppointment of individuals to the framning of laws which hind the lives and properties of themselves and their posterity-by iden. tifjing the entire people with the legislatorial powers of a state, and thc acts and ordinances of a government, there must be created a famer reliance, and a more united effort, in the whole body of the goerned. "That the law requiring, before the admission to testimony in courts, the documents of baptism, and those ofthe right to exercise the immunitiesofthefree, tend only to-annecessarydegradation, and to bar the avenues of justice, by suppressing evidence in courts of law,on the part of those whio withhold those documents th'rough an honest shamne of unmerited debasement. " That, aware how much a community must gain in habits of cader, and in moral and religious feeling, by a general diftusion of knowledge, they press upon the attention of the legisleture the un- educated state of the poor in many parishesof the iland. " That, in calling the attention of the legislature to the disabili. tie's under wrhich the people of colour labour, they deem it expedient to axdvert to the policy which, without a commensurate object, has esxcrLded the coloured natives of the other British West India pos- sessionkiom being received as equally entitled to the benefits of the eractments passed in favour of those born in the island of Jamaica- the wocessions of late made by the legislature here to the coloared people, having totally overlooked their interests in society." Will it be believedthat the framers of these resolutions, passed about the very time when Mr. Bridges must have been writing his book, were the delegates of upwards of thirty thousand individuals, who were living around him in quiet submission even to the unequal laws of wbich they compltined-sustained by their own labour, contributing largely to the expenses of the state, though exduded from its favouniable regards-formiuig a main part of the colonial militia, the uniform of which they themselves ,,,y for, and whom he nevertheless stigmatizes as slothful and vi- ci.us ? In as far as they are reaUy obnoxious to this charge, the blar'te enidently belongs not to them, but to those oppressive laws ,which have been adverted to ; in a still greater degree, to the gene. ral negl[act of their moral and religious instruction, of which the Colonial 6iovernment has been guilty, and, above all, to the profli- gate, debasf;7g, and deioralizing habits, whichf he Whites have in. troduced, and, still universally cherish, among their women, to whom we must, in all cases, chiefdy lookfor theformationof manners. This mary see?f a harsh judgment, but what says Bryan. Ed- wards on this point I " Of their womer, such as are young, and have tolerable persois, are nniv,ersally mairntained by White mer of allranks and conditions. as kept mistresses. The factis too notorious to be concealed or eontroverted ;" and he considers the practice as;, a viJlation of aU decency anddecorum, and an in7sult and an injury to society." The degradation to which the men of colour are re. duced by dte colonial institutions, he and Mr. Stewart assign as a reason rv,bvthese women, uneducated, insensible of the beauty and sanctity-o marriage, " ignorant of Christian and moral obligations, threatened by poverty, urged by passion, and encouraged by exam- ple," prefer a licentious intercourse with the privileged and domi. nent White, te marriage with one of their own proscribed caste, with wbom however rich and well educated, " the lowest white per. sop," eryan Edwards teUs us," twill disdain to associate," and with whom thev even hold it " an abomination to eat bread." But what, after aU lias been said that can fairly be said in dispa. ragnment of this aggrieved class, is the fact with respect to them ? Alr.Stewart tells us, 'that " in 1788, it was computed that there were 10,000 free people of colour in the island" but that now, in 1821, " there are upwards of three times that nuniber." He even thinks the number may be set down at 35,000. The number of manumissions in that time may probably have been considerable; but yet, after malking all due allowance for these, the increase, if Mlr. Stewart be at all correct, is prodigious, (f) and is the more-re, markable when contrasted with the dreadful raste of slave life which baa taken place in the same period. And yet Mr. Bridges would fain fiersuade us that pltnty,andcousfort,and industryarethse exclusive at. tr 'butes of slavery, while want, andmisery,and indolence,snd apathy-, and vice are the unfailing concomitants of freedom in this aipgular island. fIere we have indeed a most extreordslinasy reveress of' all the knowi laws of human nature Two faet which ste are about to state will ssrve to place the truth and fairness of MIr. Bridges's representations wvith respect to the people of colour in their proper light. On the 20th Mlay, 1812, the clerk of the peace at Kingstota, 'rbo- L. Ennis, made a return to Parliament of the population of hioat town (papers printed fuly 12, 1813.) Ilis estimate of the white inhabitants is 8,000, and of the.free black and coloured 8,000. The nuulber ha5 sinca, we believe, very considetably increased, But assumniDg this to be the nuimber, we have herc 8,000 persons of oloaur collecCld writhin the town of Klingston, the dry and parched soil of which cer ainly yields no productions of any kind which cog be made available to the sustenance of mom. How, then, do these 8,B0. pardons live ? Dai they, too, live " without labour or means ?" Who has crected for '- theni the handsome dwellings which multitudes of them inhabit ? Who supplies their daily food ? The free IYegr and colonrayl population of these colonies () depend ALONE,*' says this con54ent writer, " upon the spon- eaneosts productions cf agratefuslsoil.'4oi' these8,0 coloured inha: bitants of Kingston forming a third or a Ciourt3' of the wholecoloured populatin of the isiand, bare no "grateful soii- ',a which they cAn have recourse. It will be for Mlr. Bridges, in his next pamphlet, to explain to us how-theysubsist; and not only how they :uzbJ't, hut howthey procure the gav clothing,anddefiray the expenseof the b1U5 and entertainments in which they are said to indulge; and still more- (a) " I am happy," says Bryan Edwards, speaking of the people of coleas of Jamaica, " to assert that their fidelity aud lovalty have hitherto remained unimpeached and unsuspected."-11f4or, voL. p. 24 5thedt. (b) I'he free Blacks and people of colour are saidto be now more numerous than the Whites; and yet it appears, from returns made by several parisbhs in Jamaica, and printed by the ffouse of Com- mons on the 12th of July, 1815 that the proortion of criminal con- victions of Whites and free Regroes and Mulattoes, was AS 23 of the former to 7 of the latter. Bryan Bdwards afrirms, that In. their deportinent towards the Whites, they' are humble, submissive, and unadiuming. - (c) The reality and oppressive nature of these restrictions sre cand2dly admitted by Bryan Edw7ard1s. They " tend to degrade them in their on eyes and. in the eyes of the commuslity *" 'i to make tliemnatonce n7retched and useless." "They haveVno rnotfves of asufficent energv to engage thein eithFr in the service of their coun. try or in profitable labour for thcit own advantage. Tbaer improve- ment in knowledge is aniniatedTby noencouragement, their attach- ment is received without. approbation,ahd their diligencesexertgd gwitheutreward."_Vol.ii, p.22; (d) They are debarred even from employment as overseers, book- ceeers, &, on the plantations of-white men; beeause, however re- ,irctable and well educated, and though serving.in the militia, they are not even now permitted to save what ar caUed. deficeneics for such plantations. - f.cJ " They are excluded," bgays M2r. Stexwart, in his " Past an?d Present Stateo.f Ja7 ai,'"" from all ofceS,Tcivil, military, 8nd e:s lesinstical~'-p. 322. They cannot even be canstables.- (f) A respectable- clergyman of Jamaics assured Mr. Stewart, hat-- he usually had occasion to baptize about fifteen brown chil- dren forone-white child."_P.3S5S..- (g) fUr. Bridges does not cone hirdy arsertion,to Jamaica, but extends it to al tb.colonies. lthas ben eathorativelyconta dicted by tde Assembly of Grepala. fThe case of the othlritlands would be equally conlusive, how tn y con&aive-to pay fheir tanses, fio3ll. Ensia teetnis to hiv-c eonsulted ii tas:rolls for teir numberst They must pos-' s.es admirable -faculties inzded, if, living in Kings^on, they derive, " without.labouroz means,Erom.the spontanieous production of the 30il ALON3t:," the means of defraying all-these items of.expenditure. ! But vie have another case to adduce which is no less in .poiut. 1'2r. Bridges idoubtless, well acquainted with the iMaroons ofJamaica. In 1749, Mr. Long0 tells us, that their number, by actual-census, amounted to 660 in all. In 1770 (see Privy Council Report),they .had iicreasedto 88M. In 1782, their numberwas about 1,200. In 1IiJ the Mlacoon war broke out,. on thetermination of wbichb bouit 00 laiaoons *cr_ tiansported fion3amlica to Nova Scdtia2 and thence to Sierra Leone, yet,,n 1810, the number remaining in thie island amnounted to- 893. In 1816, they had increased to l,055, being an increase of 162, or 18 -per cent. in six years I In 1821, Dlr. Stewart computes their number at 1,200, being an increase of 145, or about. 1 per cent. in jive years. N%ow, it is admitted by Bryan Edwards, that no attention had been 1aid by the Colonial Le isIarure "to the improvement of these s1rnt People in- civilization and morals." No schools wvere -established, n bapels erected: they remained in gene. ral, " ignorant of our-languaze and attached to- the gloomy sB;- er5tstiton of Africa, jwith such enthusiastic zeal and reverential ar. our, aslI thinlc can only be eradicated With their lives."(h) " Po- l'ygamy" prevailedaemonz them. They were brutal and ferocious in theirconduct, anid solo.stto sallsense of propriety, that '1 the tirst men amnong them"' wduld offer " their own daugnters' to their white visiters "with or without their consent, for the purpose of prostitution." (Vol. 1. p. 541.) And yet these free Negroes, thus infected with the worst.vices of slavery, destitute of al moral culture, left, "w vithout resource,- to all thae want and misery which dose a-life of udresttained indolence, azathb, and vice,'" have beeti rapidly increasing'their numbers; w ile the haupy slaves, to Wlhomi "w ant is unknown" (p. 39), who experience, according to Mr. Bridges, none of " the fatigue of the English laboure." (these, by the way, notwithstanding all their misery, increase also,) doing onlly a fourth par. of their oppressive task p 11, 12) ; who are " protected, and their necessities admai. nistere4 to in age'or incapacity" (p. 40); wbose life is actually a lfe, not of contentment merely, but of enjoyment; these thrice happy slaves have been diminishing, during the same periods, with a ra- pidity which leaves the West Indian -institutions with few, if any, parallels in their deathful tendency. The wretched Mla- roons, abandoned to themselves, have been multiplying their numbers,; whlie the slaves, though blessed' with such means and capacities of -felidty-though protected, watched over, fed, and intulged with almoct more than parental care, hqve been wasting away at afatc vhich, though it be now agteadty diminished - rate, would, if continued, llllv lead to the extinctioni of their race. Their numbers inthe est Indies, in three years, from 1817 to 1820, appear to have diminished by upwards of l8,000I 1! (i) I,et the p7ublic judge, from these facts, of the truth and fairness of the-statements 1 have been considering. It would be injustice to the-lergy generadly, not to afford some explanation of the phenomenon of a minister of the gospel 'appearing as the advocate of such a cause. It ought to be known, therefire, that AMr. Bridges is himself a proprietor of slaves. In the Royal Garette of Jamaica, of the 8th to the 15th of June, 1822. an ad- vertisement gives notice, that Edward, a Creole slave, belonging, to tile Rev. . Bridges of Manchester. was then confined as a run- avay in St. EHizabeth's workhouse, iii which he appears to have lain, for about two months. The statement of this fact seems necessarv, in order to afford a clue to the extraordinary sentiments which his pamphlet exbibits. That a man shouldbeso habituated to the sight of slavery, especially if he is himself a master of slaves, as to lose aUl sense of its repulsive properties, and even to become a genuine admirer of the institution, we can -conceive; but that he, being himself a native E;nglishman should place this state above that of personal freedom_- nay, above tbat ktind of oersonal freedom (fenced, and guarded, and elevated by civil and political rights, and brightened by the cheering light ot Christianity) which exists in Great Britain, is indeed mar- veUous. 'T'he black and coloured free, in bis tortuous estimation, stand far below the slave; but even the wretched black and coloured free rise high above the British peasant. " The sweat of 7;is care- worn brow hardly gains a scanty subsistence for his craving chil- dren ;" and even the debasement, and poverty, and degradation of -the free Negro and Mulatto, these victims of " want and miserv, of indolence, apathy, and vice," who " merit commiseration and elicit sympathy," resemble only "iz their worstrftatures' the hapless lot of " the English husbandmans." But I-must take my leave of Mfr. Bridges fbr the present, intend- Ia, onsr. enn me f ature occasion, to ,,me the n,nosinre of' name more nfhic f -llrn4ne r.nrpq-ntn*n--. FUBIJUS. January 17.- (h) And yet these very nien, removed to Sierra Leone, havc been induced to abandon their superstitions and to embrace Christianity, to renounce their habits of polygamy and licentiousness, and to be- come peaceable and usefuil niebers of civil society. (i) In 1790, Jamaica had a slave population ot above . 250,000 To which were subsequently added by importation . . 188,785 Th aking in all. 438,785 The populatioa of 1820 may b- reckoned at . . . 340,000 Leaving an actual decrease of . . 98,785 While, during the same period, the slaves in the United States have been increasing at the rate of 150 per cent., and the Mlaroons in Jamaica have been increasing at the rate of three per cent, per annum. TO THE EDITOR OF THE T2MES.