managing an estate. Managers had not half the
perplexity and trouble in watching, driving, &c. They could leave the
affairs of the estate in the hands of the people with safety. 4th. _The
freedom from danger_. They had now put away all fears of insurrections,
robbery, and incendiarism.

There are two reflections which the perusal of these items will probably
suggest to most minds: 1st. The coincidence in the replies of different
planters to the question--What are the advantages of freedom over
slavery? These replies are almost identically the same in every case,
though given by men who reside in different parts of the island, and
have little communication with each other. 2d. They all speak
exclusively of the advantages to the _master_, and say nothing of the
benefit accruing to the emancipated. We are at some loss to decide
whether this arose from indifference to the interests of the
emancipated, or from a conviction that the blessings of freedom to them
were self-evident and needed no specification.

While we were in the boiling-house we witnessed a scene which
illustrated one of the benefits of freedom to the slave; it came quite
opportunely, and supplied the deficiency in the manager's enumeration of
advantages. The head boiler was performing the work of 'striking off;'
i.e. of removing the liquor, after it had been sufficiently boiled, from
the copper to the coolers. The liquor had been taken out of the boiler
by the skipper, and thence was being conducted to the coolers by a long
open spout. By some means the spout became choaked, and the liquor began
to run over. Mr. C. ordered the man to let down the valve, but he became
confused, and instead of letting go the string which lifted the valve,
he pulled on it the more. The consequence was that the liquor poured
over the sides of the spout in a torrent. The manager screamed at the
top of his voice--"_let down the valve, let it down_!" But the poor man,
more and more frightened, hoisted it still higher,--and the precious
liquid--pure sugar--spread in a thick sheet over the earthen floor. The
manager at last sprang forward, thrust aside the man, and stopped the
mischief, but not until many gallons of sugar were lost. Such an
accident as this, occurring during slavery, would have cost the negro a
severe flogging. As it was, however, in the present case, although Mr.
C. 'looked daggers,' and exclaimed by the workings of his countenance,
'a kingdom for a _cat_,'[A] yet