Did they, on the other hand, increase?--Yes. But if so, no further
importations were wanted: Was their population (to take a middle course)
nearly stationary, and their treatment neither so good nor so bad as it
might be?--Yes. But if so, this was the proper period for stopping further
supplies; for both the population and the treatment would be improved by
such a measure.
But he would show again the futility of the argument of his honourable
friend. He himself had admitted, that it was in the power of the colonists
to correct the various abuses, by which the Negro population was
restrained. But they could not do this without improving the condition of
their slaves; without making them approximate towards the rank of citizens;
without giving them some little interest in their labour, which would
occasion them to work with the energy of men. But now the Assembly of
Grenada had themselves stated, "that though the Negros were allowed the
afternoons of only one day in every week, they would do as much work in
that afternoon, when employed for their own benefit, as in the whole day,
when employed in their masters' service." Now after this confession, the
House might burn all his calculations relative to the Negro population;
for, if it had not yet quite reached the desirable state which he had
pointed out, this confession had proved, that further supplies were not
wanted.
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