362

FUTURE SUPPLIES

CHAP. XXIX.

very insignificant if it be considered that thewhole capital of all the companies, supposing themto remain undiminished when their actual opera-tions commenced, would certainly not amountto a fiftieth, perhaps not to a hundredth, part ofwhat has been lost to America , or transmitted toEurope .

It is evident from all the accounts which havereached Europe from Columbia, Peru , Chili, andBuenos Ayres, that a great scarcity of labourersis there experienced. The large proportion of thepopulation in these thinly peopled countries whichhas been compelled to become soldiers may ac-count for this, but the fact is so strongly stated inevery report from thence as to leave no doubt ofits accuracy. Though the inhuman trade in slaveshas continued to convey negroes from Africa toCuba , none have lately been carried to the continent.Those who were in a state of slavery on theplantations in Columbia have been liberated, butbeing thus freed were almost universally pressedinto the military service. The white inhabitantsare too idle or too proud to labour, as long as theycan subsist on the productions of those more fruit-ful soils, where a few days’ labour will raise foodfor a year’s support—where little clothing andless fuel are required, and where a shed serves thepurpose of a dwelling. In such circumstances fewwill work with assiduity, and none without higherinducement than the hope of obtaining luxuries