Chapter LIX: Appendix (5)

Here then, my dear Sir, you may perceive something of the atrocious proceedings in the island of Jamaica. Pray insert these documents in the _Emancipator_. Let the Anti-slavery friends know the state of things, and urge them to redoubled diligence. The House of Assembly will meet on the 30th instant, and then, I fear, dreadful measures will be taken. A letter from Mr. Harker, of the Jamaica Royal Gazette, about a fortnight since, addressed to Mr. Abbott, shows what absolute and cruel statutes they would wish either to act upon, or to make the models of new laws. Every act must be watched with the most jealous scrutiny. Experience shows that the planters possess an ingenuity truly diabolical, in twisting and distorting the laws to suit their own selfish purpose. Our hope is in British Christians; and we confidently hope every one of them will feel the importance of increased diligence, lest the great, and long prayed-for boon of freedom, should become a curse, instead of a blessing. The papers will inform you of the odium I have drawn on myself in defending the people's rights. That contained in the great mass, only provokes a smile. I know that every friend in England will interpret it inversely. I did feel Mr. ----'s letter in the Falmouth Post, but he knows his error, and is sorry for it. I could have answered it, but did not choose to cause a division amongst the few friends of the negro, when they had quite enough to do to withstand the attacks of their enemies.

FROM THE REV. J. M. PHILIPPO.

_Spanish Town, Oct. 13, 1838._

The following is one of the seven of the same tenor now in my possession, which will, in addition to those I forwarded by last mail, inform you of the cause of the late disinclination of the people in some districts to labour--which, with so much effrontery, has been proclaimed through the public Journals here:--

Charles Michael Kelly and Wife, to J.S. Benbow, Dr.

1830: July 14th to Sept. 9th. 1. To the rent of house and ground on Castle Kelly plantation, for eight weeks, at 6s. 8d. per week. 3l. 13 4 2. Richard Kelly and Wife. Same. 3. Elenor Mercer. Same. 4. John Ried and Wife. Same. 5. Mary Ann Christie. Same. 6. Venus Owen (or such like name). Same.

FROM THE REV. J. HUTCHINS.

_Savanna-la-Mar, Sept. 17, 1838._

I now, according to promise in my last, send you a few out of the many cases I am almost hourly troubled with. Some of our would-be great men are, I am sorry to say, harassing the poor free labourers shamefully; and should it prove, as I think in some cases it must, of serious injury to the absentee proprietors, I shall publish the cases of grievance brought me, together with the names of the estates, owners, attorneys, overseers, &c., and leave all parties to form their own opinion on the subject.

Amelia Martin, to Retrieve Estate, Dr.
1838: August 29.
To house and ground, rent at
5s. per week, from 1st August
to date 4_l._ 0 0
[A]Alliac Davis, ground
rent at
10d. per week 3 0
[A]William Davis; ditto
ditto 0 3 4
-------------
4_l._ 6 4
-------------

Thos. Tats, Esq. is Attorney, and Mr. Comry
Overseer,

[Footnote A: Boys from 9 to 11, her sons.]

* * * * *

Louisa Patter, to Retrieve Estate, Dr.
1838: Aug. 28.
To house and ground from 1st
Aug. to date 1_l._ 0 0

She states she has been sickly so long, that she has no ground in cultivation, and cannot help herself, and has only what yams her friends give her.

* * * * *

Susan James, to Albany Estate, Dr.
1838: Aug. 28.
To house and ground rent at
5s. per week, from 1st August,
to date 1l. 0 0
Thos. Hewett, ground rent 0 13 4
Elizabeth James, ditto 0 13 4
Mary Dunn, ditto 0 10 0
Letitia, ditto[A] 0 6 8
-------------
3l. 3 4
-------------

[Footnote A: These are a mother and four children in one house, and with but one ground, they tell me.] * * * * *

Richard Warren, to Albany Estate, Dr.
1838: Aug. 28.
To house and ground rent to
date 1l. 0 0
Wife 0 15 4
Child[B] 0 10 0
-------------
2l. 5 4
-------------

[Footnote B: The child is quite young, and in daily attendance at one of my schools.]

* * * * *

On this property, under the same managers as Retrieve, the people state that they are going on shamefully. "The last Sabbath but one, when we were at service, Stephen Campbell, the book-keeper, and Edward Pulsey, old-time constable, come round and mark all for we house, and charge for ebery one of we family. We don't know what kind of fee dis we hab at all; for we attorney, Mr. Tate, neber come on we property, leave all to Mr. Comeoy. We peak to him for make bargain, him say him can't make law, and him no make bargain till him heare what law come out in packet. Him say dem who make bargain are fools; beside him no call up a parcel of niggers to hold service wid me; should only get laughed at. So we know not what for do. You are for we minister, and for we only friend; and if you did not advise we to go on work till things settle down, we no lift another hoe. We would left the property." Unless an arrangement is soon entered into, I shall advise them to do so.

James Greenheld, to New Galloway Estate, Dr.
To one week's rent of house, garden, and
ground, and to 5 ditto for his wife, Margaret
Greenfield, at 5s. per week. £1 10 0

J.G. states, "I come for massa. When we make bargain with Mr. McNeal, it was a maccaroni (1s. 8d.) a day, and for we house and ground. Me is able and willing for work, so let my wife stop home; so him charge me de same sum for my wife, as for me own house and ground. And den last week me sick and get no money, and they charge me over again, (as above) one week me sick. Me no able for say what to call dat massa, me sure."

I leave with you to make your own comments, and to do what you please with the above. Although my chapel is £700 in debt, and my schools, one of 180 and one of 160 scholars, are heavy, very heavy on me, I cannot do other than advise my people to save every mite, buy an acre of land, and by that means be independent, and job about wherever they may be wanted.

FROM THE REV. T. BURCHELL.

_Montego Bay, October_ 2, 1838.

The reason why I have not written to you so long, is the intensely anxious time we have had. I feel, however, that it is high time now to address you; for, if our friends in England relax their efforts, my conviction is, that freedom will be more in name than in reality, in this slave-holding Island. There is nothing to be feared, if the noble band of friends who have so long and so successfully struggled, will but continue their assistance a short time longer. The planters have made a desperate struggle, and so, I have no doubt, will the House of Assembly, against the emancipated negroes. My firm conviction has been, and still is, that the planters have endeavored, by the offer of the most paltry wages, to reduce the condition of the laborer, and make him as badly off as he was when an apprentice or a slave, that he may curse the day that made him free.

Though unable to conduct the usual services on Sunday the 5th August, at the close I addressed the congregation, urging upon them the necessity of commencing their work on the following day, whether arrangements were made between themselves and their masters or not; as by so doing they would put it out of the power of their opponents to say anything evil of them. They assembled, and on Monday the 6th thousands turned out to work, and continued to labor, unless prevented by the Manager, until arrangements were made.

You will remember, that prior to the 1st of August, a white man who hired out a gang of apprentices to an estate was paid at the rate of 1s. 6d. sterling per diem for each able laborer. The apprentice received the same when he worked for the estate on his own days, Friday and Saturday; and whenever they were valued for the purpose of purchasing the remaining time of their apprenticeship, the planter upon oath stated that their services were worth at least 1s. 6. per diem to the estate, and the apprentice had to redeem himself at that rate.

After the 1st of August, the planters discovered, that, whilst the properties would well afford to continue the lavish and extravagant expenditure in managing the estates, "it would be certain ruin to the properties, if the labourer was paid more than 71/2d. per diem. for the 1st class of labourers, 6d. the 2nd class, and 41/2d. for the 3rd class:" and why? I know not why, unless it was because the long oppressed negro was to put the money into his own pocket, and not his white oppressors. This seems to have made all the difference. The above wages were accordingly offered, and rejected with scorn; the people feeling the greatest indignation at the atrocious attempt of their old oppressors to grind them down now they are free, and keep them in a state of degradation. The greatest confusion and disorder ensued; the labourers indignant at the conduct of their masters, and the planters enraged against the people, for presuming to think and act for themselves. As a matter of course, the fury of the planters was directed against half a dozen Baptist missionaries, and as many more friends and stipendiary Magistrates; and I can assure you that the Jamaica press equalled its most vituperative days, and came forth worthy of itself. The Despatch, or the Old Jamaica Courant, so well known in 1832 for advocating the burning of chapels, and the hanging of missionaries; was quite in the shade. The pious Polypheme, the Bishop's paper, with the Jamaica Standard of infamy and falsehood, published in this town, took the lead, and a pretty standard it is. Let foreigners judge of Jamaica by the Jamaica Standard of August last, and they must suppose it is an island of savages, or a little hell. The press teemed with abuse of the most savage nature against us, and published the most barefaced lies. That, however, you who know the generality of the Jamaica Press, will say is nothing new or strange; well, it is not, nor do we regard any statements they make; for no one believes what they publish, and it is a source of gratification to us that we have never forfeited our character or principles in the estimation of the reflecting, the philanthropist, or the Christian public, by meriting their approbation.

In the mulct of this seemingly general conspiracy to defraud the laborer of his wages by exorbitant rents, &c. Sir Lionel Smith, the Governor, proceeds from district to district, giving advice to both of the contending parties, and striving to promote a mutual understanding. His testimony to the designs of the planters given to their faces, and not denied, is very important; we give therefore one of his meetings, as the find it reported in the Jamaica papers. Here is a rather familiar conversation among some of the chief men of that island--where can we expect to find more authoritative testimony?

SIR LIONEL SMITH'S VISIT TO DUNSINANE.

His Excellency, Sir Lionel Smith, visited Dunsinane on Thursday last, agreeably to arrangements previously entered into, for the purpose of addressing the late apprenticed population in that neighborhood, on the propriety of resuming the cultivation of the soil. About two miles from Dunsinane, his Excellency was met by a cavalcade composed of the late apprentices, who were preceded by Messrs. Bourne, Hamilton, and Kent, late Special Justices. On the arrival of his Excellency at Dunsinane, he was met by the Hon. Joseph Gordon, Custos, the Lord Bishop attended by his Secretary, and the Rev. Alexander Campbell; the Hon. Hector Mitchel, Mayor of Kingston, and a large number of highly respectable planters, proprietors, and attorneys. His Excellency, on being seated in the dwelling, said, that from information which he had received from other parishes, and facts gathered from personal observation, he believed that the same bone of contention existed there as elsewhere--a source of discontent brought about by the planters serving the people with notices to quit their houses and grounds. He did not question their right to do so, or the legality of such a proceeding, but he questioned the prudence of the step. The great change from slavery to unrestricted freedom surely deserved some consideration. Things cannot so soon be quiet and calm. Depend upon it, nothing will be done by force. Much may be by conciliation and prudence. Do away with every emblem of slavery; throw off the Kilmarnock cap, and adopt in its stead, like rational men, Britannia's cap of liberty. He (Sir Lionel) doubted not the right of the planters to rent their houses and grounds; in order to be more certain on that head, he had procured the opinion of the Attorney General; but the exercise of the right by the planter, and getting the people to work, were very different matters. Much difficulty must be felt in getting rid of slavery. Even in the little island of Antigua, it had taken six months to get matters into a quiet state; but here, in a large country like Jamaica, could it be expected to be done in a day, and was it because it was not done, that the planters were to be opposed to him? You are all in arms against me (said his Excellency,) but all I ask of you is to exercise patience, and all will be right. I have done, and am doing all in my power for the good of my country. If you have served the people with notices to quit, with a view to compel them to work, or thinking to force them to work for a certain rate of wages, you have done wrong. Coercive measures will never succeed. In Vere, which I lately visited, the planters have agreed to give the people 1s. 8d. per day, and to let them have their houses and grounds for three months free of charge. His Excellency, on seeing some symptoms of disapprobation manifested, said, Well, if you cannot afford to pay so much, pay what you can afford; but above all, use conciliatory measures, and I have not a doubt on my mind but that the people will go to their work. Seeing so many planters present, he should be happy if they would come to an arrangement among themselves, before he addressed the people outside.

Mr. WELLWOOD HYSLOP remarked, that Vere and other rich sugar parishes might be able to pay high rates of wages, because the land yielded profitable crops, but in this district it was impossible to follow the example of those parishes. He thought that two bits a day might do very well, but that was as much as could be afforded.

His EXCELLENCY said that in Manchester, where he believed he had more enemies than in any other parish, he had advised them to work by the piece, and it had been found to answer well.

Mr. HINTON EAST said that he would submit a measure which he thought would be approved of. He proposed that the people should be paid 5s. for four days' labor; that if they cleaned more than 130 trees per day, either themselves or by bringing out their wives and children, they should be paid extra wages in the same proportion.

Mr. ANDREW SIMPSON said that he could not afford to pay the rates named by his Excellency. It was entirely out of the question; that a good deal depended upon the state the fields are in--that his people, for instance, could, with much ease, if they chose, clean 170 trees by half-past three o'clock.

Mr. MASON, of St. George's, said he was willing to pay his people 1s. 8d. per day, if they would but work; but the fact was that they refused to do so, on account of the stories that had been told them by Special Justice Fishbourne; willingly too would I have given them their houses and grounds for three months, free of charge, had they shown a desire to labor; but what was the lamentable fact? the people would not work, because Mr. Fishbourne had influenced them not to do so, and he (Mr. Mason) had been a loser of one thousand pounds in consequence. He had been compelled in self-defence to issue summonses against two of his people. He had purchased his property--it was his all--he had sacrificed twenty of the best years of his life as a planter, he had a wife and family to support, and what was the prospect before him and them? He admitted having served notices on his people to quit their houses--in truth he did not now care whether they were or were not located on the property--he was willing to pay fair, nay, high wages, but the demand was exorbitant. He had a servant, a trustworthy white man, who laboured from day-dawn to sunset for 2s. 1d. per day, and he was quite satisfied. All the mischief in his district had been owing to the poisonous stories poured into the ears of the people by Special Justice Fishbourne. If he were removed, the parish might probably assume a healthy state; if allowed to remain, no improvement could possibly take place.

His EXCELLENCY said that the Assembly had passed a law preventing the special magistrates from going on the estates; they could not, however, prevent the people from going to them, and taking their advice if they wished it. He had understood that the people had gone to the special magistrates, informing them that the planters demanded 3s. 4d. per week rent for the houses and grounds, and that they had been advised, if such were the case, that they ought to be paid higher wages. He understood that to be a fact.

Mr. ANDREW SIMPSON said that the people would, he had no doubt, have worked, but for the pernicious advice of Mr. Fishbourne. He had heard that the people had been told that the Governor did not wish them to work, and that he would be vexed with them if they did.

Sir LIONEL replied that he was aware that white men were going about the country disguised as policemen, pretending to have his (Sir Lionel's) authority, telling the people not to work. He knew well their intention and design, he understood the trick. You are anxious (said his Excellency) to produce a panic, to reduce the value of property, to create dismay, in order that you may speculate, by reducing the present value of property; but you will be disappointed, notwithstanding a press sends forth daily abuse against me, and black-guard and contemptible remarks against my acts. I assure you I am up to your tricks.

Mr. ANDREW SIMPSON would be glad if his Excellency would speak individually. There was a paper called the West Indian, and another the Colonial Freeman. He wished to know whether his Excellency meant either of those papers. [Some slight interruption here took place, several gentlemen speaking at the same time.]

His EXCELLENCY said he had not come to discuss politics, but to endeavour to get the people to work, and it would be well for them to turn their attention to that subject.

Mr. SIMPSON said he had a gang who had jobbed by the acre, and had done well, but it was unfortunate in other respects to observe the disinclination shown by the laborers to work. He wished them to know that they must work, and trusted that his Excellency would endeavour to force them to labor.

Sir LIONEL--I can't compel them to do as you would wish, nor have I the power of forcing them to labor. The people will not suffer themselves to be driven by means of the cart-whip. It is the policy of every man to make the best bargain he can. I can say nothing to the people about houses and grounds, and price of wages. I can only ask them to work.

Mr. WILES said that the planters were anxious to come to amicable arrangements with the people, but they were unreasonable in their demands. The planters could not consent to be injured--they must profit by their properties.

Mr. MASON said, that the only bone of contention was the subject of rent. His people were outside waiting to be satisfied on that head. He hesitated not to say, that the proprietors were entitled to rent in every instance where the laborer was unwilling to labor, and unless that subject was at once settled, it would involve both parties in endless disagreement. He was not one of those persons alluded to by his Excellency, who circulated misrepresentations for private benefit, nor was he aware that any one in the parish in which he lived had done so. All that he desired was the good of the country, with which his interests were identified.

Sir LIONEL--I could not possibly be personal towards any gentleman present, for I have not the honour of knowing most of you. My observations were not confined to any particular parish, but to the Island of Jamaica, in which the occurrences named have taken place.

Dr. RAPKY, of St. George's--If your Excellency will only do away with a curtain magistrate, things will go on smoothly in the parish of St. George. This gentleman has told the people that they are entitled to the lands occupied by them, in consequence of which the parish is now in an unsettled state.

Sir LIONEL--Who is the magistrate!

Dr. RAPKY--Mr. Fishbourne.

Sir LIONEL--I am afraid I cannot please you. The question of possession of lands and houses has for the present been settled by the opinion of the Attorney-General, but it is still an undetermined question at law. There are many persons in the island who are of opinion that the legislature had not so intended; he (Sir Lionel) was at a loss to know what they meant; seeing, however, some members of the assembly present, perhaps they would be disposed to give some information.

Mr. S.J. DALLAS said, that it was the intention of the legislature that rent should be paid. He thought it fair that 1s. 8d. per day should be offered the people to work five days in the week, they returning one day's labor for the houses and grounds.

Mr. SPECIAL JUSTICE HAMILTON said that complaints had been made to him, that in many instances where the husband and wife lived in the same house, rent had been demanded of both. The laborers had, in consequence, been thrown into a state of consternation and alarm, which accounted for the unsettled state of several properties--a serious bone of contention had in consequence been produced. He held a notice in his hand demanding of a laborer the enormous sum of 10s. per week for house and ground. He had seen other notices in which 6s, 8d. and 5s. had been demanded for the same. He did not consider that the parties issuing those notices had acted with prudence.

Mr. HYSLOP explained--He admitted the charge, but said that the sum was never intended to be exacted.

Sir LIONEL said he was aware of what was going on; he had heard of it. "It was a policy which ought no longer to be pursued."

We have given the foregoing documents, full and ungarbled, that our readers might fairly judge for themselves. We have not picked here a sentence and there a sentence, but let the Governor, the Assembly, the Missionaries, and the press tell their whole story. Let them be read, compared, and weighed.

We might indefinitely prolong our extracts from the West India papers to show, not only in regard to the important island of Jamaica, but Barbados and several other colonies, that the former masters are alone guilty of the non-working of the emancipated, so far as they refuse to work. But we think we have already produced proof enough to establish the following points:--

1. That there was a strong predisposition on the part of the Jamaica planters to defraud their labourers of their wages. They hoped that by yielding, before they were driven quite to the last extremity, by the tide of public sentiment in England, they should escape from all philanthropic interference and surveillance, and be able to bring the faces of their unyoked peasantry to the grindstone of inadequate wages.

2. That the emancipated were not only peaceful in their new freedom, but ready to grant an amnesty of all post abuses, and enter cheerfully into the employ of their former masters for reasonable wages. That in cases where disagreement has arisen as to the rate of daily or weekly wages, the labourers have been ready to engage in task work, to be paid by the piece, and have laboured so efficiently and profitably--proving a strong disposition for industry and the acquisition of property.

3. That in the face of this good disposition of the laborers, the planters have, in many cases, refused to give adequate wages.

4. That in still more numerous cases, including many in which the wages have been apparently liberal, enormous extortion has been practiced upon the laborer, in the form of rent demanded for his hovel and provision patch--£20 per annum being demanded for a shanty not worth half that money, and rent being frequently demanded from _every member_ of a family more than should have been taken from the whole.

5. That the negroes are able to look out for their own interest, and have very distinct ideas of their own about the value of money and the worth of their labour, as well as the best methods of bringing their employers to reasonable terms. On this point we might have made a still stronger case by quoting from the Despatch and Standard, which assert numerous instances in which the labourers have refused to work for wages recommended to them by the Governor, Special Magistrates, or Missionaries, though they offered to work for 3s. 4d., 5s., or a dollar a day. They are shown to be rare bargain-makers and not easily trapped.

6. That the attorneys and managers have deliberately endeavoured to raise a panic, whereby property might be depreciated to their own advantage; showing clearly thereby, that they consider Jamaica property, even with the laborers, irreclaimably free, a desirable investment.

7. That in spite of all their efforts, the great body of the laborers continue industrious, doing more work in the same time than in slavery. _The testimony to his very important point, of the Governor and House of Assembly, is perfectly conclusive_, as we have already said. A house that represents the very men who, in 1832, burnt the missionary chapels, and defied the British Parliament with the threat, that in case it proceeded to legislate Abolition, Jamaica would attach herself to the United States, now HOPES for the agricultural prosperity of the island! Indeed no one in Jamaica expresses a doubt on this subject, who does not obviously do so _for the sake of buying land to better advantage_! Were the colony a shade _worse_ off than before Emancipation, either in fact or in the opinion of its landholders, or of any considerable portion of persons acquainted with it, the inevitable consequence would be a depreciation of _real estate_. But what is the fact? said Rev. John Clark, a Jamaica Baptist Missionary, who has visited this country since the first of August, in a letter published in the Journal of Commerce:--

"The Island of Jamaica is not in the deplorable state set forth by your correspondent.--Land is rising in value so rapidly, that what was bought five years ago at 3 dollars per acre, is now selling for 15 dollars; and this in the interior of the Island, in a parish not reckoned the most healthy, and sixteen miles distant from the nearest town. Crops are better than in the days of slavery--extra labour is easily obtained where kindness and justice are exercised towards the people. The hopes of proprietors are great, and larger sums are being offered for estates than were offered previous to August, 1834, when estates, and negroes upon them, were disposed of together."

Again, as in Jamaica commerce rests wholly upon agriculture, _its_ institutions can only flourish in a flourishing condition of the latter.--What then are we to infer from an imposing prospectus which appears in the island papers, commencing thus:--

"Kingston, October 26, 1838

Jamaica Marine, Fire, and Life Assurance Company.

Capital £100,000,

In 5000 shares of £20 each.

It has been long a matter of astonishment that, in a community so
essentially mercantile as Jamaica, no Company should have been
formed for the purpose of effecting Insurance on Life and Property;
although it cannot be doubted for an instant, that not only would
such an establishment be highly useful to all classes of the
community, but that it must yield a handsome return to such persons
as may be inclined to invest their money in it," &c.

Farther down in the prospectus we are told--"It may here be stated, that the scheme for the formation of this Company has been mentioned to some of the principal Merchants and _Gentlemen of the Country_, and has met with decidedly favourable notice: and it is expected that the shares, a large number of which have been already taken, will be rapidly disposed of."

The same paper, the Morning Journal, from which we make this extract, informs us: Nov. 2d--

"The shares subscribed for yesterday, in the Marine Fire and Life Insurance Company, we understand, amount to the almost unprecedented number of One Thousand Six Hundred, with a number of applicants whose names have not been added to the list."

The Morning Journal of October 20th in remarking upon this project says:--

"Jamaica is now happily a free country; she contains within herself the means of becoming prosperous. Let her sons develope those resources which Lord Belmore with so much truth declared never would be developed _until slavery had ceased_. She has her Banks.--Give her, in addition, her Loan Society, her Marine, Fire, and life Assurance Company, and some others that will shortly be proposed, and capital will flow in from other countries--property will acquire a value in the market, that will increase with the increase of wealth, and she will yet be a flourishing island, and her inhabitants a happy and contented people."

Now men desperately in debt _might_ invite in foreign capital for temporary relief, but, since the _compensation_, this is understood not to be the case with the Jamaica planters; and if they are rushing into speculation, it must be because they have strong _hope_ of the safety and prosperity of their country--in other words, because they confide in the system of free labor. This one prospectus, coupled with its prompt success, is sufficient to prove the falsehood of all the stories so industriously retailed among us from the Standard and the Despatch. But speculators and large capitalists are not the only men who confide in the success of the "great experiment."

The following editorial notice in the Morning Journal of a recent date speaks volumes:--

SAVINGS BANK.

"We were asked not many days ago how the Savings Bank in this City was getting on. We answered well, very well indeed. By a notification published in our paper of Saturday, it will be seen that £1600 has been placed in the hands of the Receiver-General. By the establishment of these Banks, a great deal of the money now locked up, and which yields no return whatever to the possessors, and is liable to be stolen, will be brought into circulation. This circumstance of itself ought to operate as a powerful inducement to those parishes in which no Banks are yet established to be up and doing. We have got some _five_ or _six_ of them fairly underweigh, as Jack would say, and hope the remainder will speedily trip their anchors and follow."

We believe banks were not known in the West Indies before the 1st of August 1834. Says the Spanishtown Telegraph of May 1st, 1837, "_Banks, Steam-Companies, Rail-Roads, Charity Schools_, etc., seem all to have remained dormant until the time arrived when Jamaica was to be _enveloped in smoke_! No man thought of hazarding his capital in an extensive banking establishment until Jamaica's ruin, by the introduction of freedom, had been accomplished!" And it was not till after the 1st of August, 1838, that Jamaica had either savings banks or savings. These institutions for the industrious classes came only with their manhood. But why came they at all, if Emancipated industry is, or is likely to be, unsuccessful?--In Barbados we notice the same forwardness in founding monied institutions. A Bank is there proposed, with a capital of £200,000. More than this, the all absorbing subject in all the West India papers at the present moment is that of the _currency_. Why such anxiety to provide the means of paying for labor which is to become valueless? Why such keenness for a good circulating medium if they are to have nothing to sell? The complaints about the old fashioned coinage we venture to assort have since the first of August occupied five times as much space in the colonial papers, we might probably say in each and every one of them, as those of the non-working of the freemen. The inference is irresistible. _The white colonists take it for granted that industry is to thrive_.

It may be proper to remark that the late refusal of the Jamaica legislature to fulfil its appropriate functions has no connection with the working of freedom, any further than it may have been a struggle to get rid in some measure of the surveillance of the mother country in order to coerce the labourer so far as possible by vagrant laws, &c. The immediate pretext was the passing of a law by the imperial Parliament for the regulation of prisons, which the House of Assembly declared a violation of that principle of their charter which forbids the mother-country to lay a tax on them without their consent, in as much as it authorized a crown officer to impose a fine, in a certain case, of £20. A large majority considered this an infringement of their prerogatives, and among them were some members who have nobly stood up for the slave in times of danger. The remarks of Mr. Osborn especially, on this subject, (he is the full blooded, slave-born, African man to whom we have already referred) are worthy of consideration in several points of view. Although he had always been a staunch advocate of the home government on the floor of the Assembly are now contended for the rights of the Jamaica legislature with arguments which to us republicans are certainly quite forcible. In a speech of some length, which appears very creditable to him throughout, he said--

"Government could not be acting fair towards them to assume that the mass of the people of this island would remain in the state of political indifference to which poverty and slavery had reduced them. They were now free, every man to rise as rapidly as he could; and the day was not very distant when it would be demonstrated by the change of representatives that would be seen in that house. It did appear to him, that under the pretext of extending the privileges of freemen to the mass of the people of this country, the government was about to deprive them of those privileges, by curtailing the power of the representative Assembly of those very people. He could not bring himself to admit, with any regard for truth, that the late apprentices could now be oppressed; they were quite alive to their own interests, and were now capable of taking care of themselves. So long as labor was marketable, so long they could resist oppression, while on the other hand, the proprietor, for his own interest's sake, would be compelled to deal fairly with them."

Though it is evidently all important that the same public opinion which has wrested the whip from the master should continue to watch his proceedings as an employer of freemen, there is much truth in the speech of this black representative and alderman of Kingston. The brutalized and reckless attorneys and managers, _may_ possibly succeed in driving the negroes from the estates by exorbitant rent and low wages. They _may_ succeed in their effort to buy in property at half its value. But when they have effected that, they will be totally dependent for the profits of their ill-gotten gains upon the _free laboring people_. They may produce what they call idleness now, and a great deal of vexation and suffering. But land is plenty, and the laborers, if thrust from the estates, will take it up, and become still more independent. Reasonable wages they will be able to command, and for such they are willing to labor. The few thousand whites of Jamaica will never be able to establish slavery, or any thing like it, over its 300,000 blacks.

Already they are fain to swallow their prejudice against color. Mr. Jordon, member for Kingston and "free nigger," was listened to with respect. Nay more, his argument was copied into the "Protest" which the legislature proudly flung back in the face of Parliament, along with the abolition of the apprenticeship, in return for Lord Glenelg's Bill. Let all in the United States read and ponder it who assert that "the two races cannot live together on term of equality."

Legislative independence of Jamaica has ever been the pride of her English conquerors. They have received with joy the colored fellow colonists into an equal participation of their valued liberty, and they were prepared to rejoice at the extension of the constitution to the emancipated blacks. But the British Government, by a great fault, if not a crime, has, at the moment when all should have been free, torn from the lately ascendant class, the privileges which were their birthright, another class, now the equals of the former, the rights they had long and fortunately struggled for, and from the emancipated blacks the rights which they fondly expected to enjoy with their personal freedom. The boon of earlier freedom will not compensate this most numerous part of our population for the injustice and wrong done to the whole Jamaica people.

The documents already adduced are confined almost exclusively to Jamaica. We will refer briefly to one of the other colonies. The next in importance is

BARBADOS

Here has been played nearly the same game in regard to wages, and with the same results. We are now furnished with advices from the island down to the 19th of December 1838. At the latter date the panic making papers had tapered down their complainings to a very faint whisper, and withal expressing more hope than fears. As the fruit of what they had already done we are told by one of them, _the Barbadian_, that the unfavourable news carried home by the packets after the emancipation had served to raise the price of sugar in England, which object being accomplished, it is hoped that they will intermit the manufacture of such news. The first and most important document, and indeed of itself sufficient to save the trouble of giving more, is the comparison of crime during two and a half months of freedom, and the corresponding two and a half months of slavery or apprenticeship last year, submitted to the legislature at the opening of its session in the latter part of October. Here it is. We hope it will be held up before every slave holder.

From the Barbadian of Dec. 1.

Barbados.--Comparative Table, exhibiting the number of Complaints preferred against the Apprentice population of this Colony, in the months of August, September and to the 15th of October, 1838; together with the Complaints charged against Free Labourers of the same Colony, during the months of August, September and to the 15th of October, 1838. The former compiled from the Monthly Journals of the Special Justice of the Peace and the latter from the Returns of the Local Magistracy transmitted to his excellency the Governor

APPRENTICESHIP.

Total of Complaints vs. Apprentices from the
1st to 31st August 1837. 1708
Ditto from the 1st to 30th September 1464
Ditto from the 1st to 15th October 574

Grand Total 3746

Total number of Apprentices punished from the
1st to 31st August 1608
Ditto from 1st to 31st September 1321
Ditto from the 1st to 15th October 561

Grand Total 3490

Total compromised, admonished and dismissed
from 1st to 31st August 105
Ditto from the 1st to 30th September 113
Ditto from 1st to 15th October 38

Total 256

Deficiency in compromised cases in 1837 comparatively
with those of 1838 158

Grand Total 414

FREEDOM.

Total of Complaints vs. Labourers from the
1st to the 31st August 1838 582
Ditto from the 1st to the 30th September 386
Ditto from the 1st to the 15th October 103

Total 1071

Comparative Surplus of Complaints in 1838 2675

Grand Total 3746

Total of Laborers punished from the 1st to
the 31st August, 1838, 334
Ditto from the 1st to 30th September 270
Ditto from the 1st to 15th October 53

Total 657

Comparative surplus of punishment in 1837 2833

Grand total 3490

Total compromised, admonished and dismissed
from the 1st to the 31st August 248
Ditto from the 1st to 30th September 116
Ditto from the 1st to 15th October 50

Grand Total 414

NOTE.

It may be proper to remark that the accompanying General Abstract
for August, September, and to the 15th October, 1837, does not
include complaints preferred and heard before the Local Magistrates
during those months for such offences--viz. for misdemeanors, petty
debts, assaults and petty thefts--as were not cognizable by the
Special Justices; so that estimating these offences--the number of
which does not appear in the Abstract for 1837--at a similar number
as that enumerated in the Abstract for 1838, the actual relative
difference of punishments between the two and a half months in 1837
and these in 1838, would thus appear:

Surplus of Apprentices punished in 1837, as
above 2833

Offences in August, September, and to the
15th, October, 1837 heard before the General
Justices of the Peace, and estimated as follows:

Petty thefts 75
Assaults 143
Misdemeanors 98
Petty Debts 19--835

Actual surplus of punishment in 1837, 3168

From the Journal of Commerce.

_Letter from W.R. Hays, Esq. Barbados, W.I. to Rev. H.G. Ludlow, of New Haven_.

BARBADOS, Dec. 26, 1838.

I gave you in my last, some account of the manner in which the first
day of emancipation came and went in this island. We very soon
afterwards received similar accounts from all the neighboring
islands. In all of them the day was celebrated as an occasion "of
devout thanksgiving and praise to God, for the happy termination of
slavery." In all of them, the change took place in a manner highly
creditable to the emancipated, and intensely gratifying to the
friends of liberty. The quiet, good order, and solemnity of the day,
were every where remarkable. Indeed, is it not a fact worth
remembering, that whereas in former years, a single day's relaxation
from labor was met by the slaves with shouting and revelry, and
merry-making, yet now, when the last link of slavery was broken
forever, sobriety and decorum were especially the order of the day.
The perfect order and subordination to the laws, which marked the
first day of August, are yet unbroken. We have now nearly five
months' experience of entire emancipation; and I venture to say,
that a period of more profound peace never existed in the West
Indies. There have been disputes about wages, as in New England and
in other free countries; but no concert, no combination even, here;
and the only attempt at a combination was among the planters, to
keep down wages--and that but for a short time only. I will not
enter particularly into the questions, whether or not the people
will continue to work for wages, whether they will remain quiet,--or
on the other hand, whether the Island will be suffered to become
desolate, and the freed slaves relapse into barbarism, &c. These
things have been speculated about, and gloomy predictions have had
their day; the time has now come for the proof. People do not buy
land and houses, and rent property for long terms of years, in
countries where life is insecure, or where labor cannot be had, and
the tendency of things is to ruin and decay. In short, men, in their
senses, do not embark on board a sinking ship. Confidence is the
very soul of prosperity; of the existence of this confidence in this
Island, the immense operations in real estate, since the first of
August, are abundant proof. There are multitudes of instances in
which estates have sold for $20,000 _more_ than was asked for them
six months ago; and yet at the time they were considered very
high. A proprietor who was persuaded a few weeks since to part with
his estate for a very large sum of money, went and bought _it back
again_ at an _advance_ of $9600. A great many long leases of
property have been entered into. An estate called "Edgecombe,"
mentioned by Thome and Kimball, has been rented for 21 years at
$7500 per annum. Another called the "hope" has been rented for 10
years at £2000 sterling, equal to $9600 per annum. Another, after
being rented at a high price, was relet, by the lessee, who became
entirely absolved from the contract, and took $16,000 for his
bargain. If required, I could give you a host of similar cases, with
the names of the parties. But it seems unnecessary. The mere impulse
given to the value of property in this island by emancipation, is a
thing as notorious _here_, as the _fact_ of emancipation.

But, are not crimes more frequent than before? I have now before me
a Barbados newspaper, printed two weeks since, in which the fact is
stated, that in _all_ the county prisons, among a population of
80,000, only _two_ prisoners were confined for any cause whatever!

"But," says a believer in the necessity of Colonization, "how will
you _get rid_ of the negroes?" I answer by adverting to the
spectacle which is now witnessed in _all_ the Islands of the former
proprietors of slaves, now _employers_ of _free_ laborers, using
every endeavor to _prevent_ emigration. Trinidad, Demerara, and
Berbice, _want_ laborers. The former has passed a law to pay the
passage money of any laborer who comes to the Island, leaving him
free to choose him employment. Demerara and Berbize have sent
Emigration agents to this and other islands, to induce the laborers
to join those colonies, offering high wages, good treatment, &c. On
the other hand, Barbados, Grenada, St. Vincent, and all the old and
populous islands, individually and collectively, by legislative
resolves, legal enactments, &c. &c.--loudly protest that they have
_not a man to spare_! What is still better, the old island
proprietors are on every hand building new houses for the peasantry,
and with great forethought adding to their comfort; knowing that
they will thereby secure their contentment on their native soil. As
a pleasing instance of the good understanding which now exists
between proprietors and laborers, I will mention, that great numbers
of the former were in town on the 24th, buying up pork, hams, rice,
&c. as presents for their people on the ensuing Christmas; a day
which has this year passed by amid scenes of quiet Sabbath
devotions, a striking contrast to the tumult and drunkenness of
former times. I cannot close this subject, without beating my
testimony to the correctness of the statements made by our
countrymen, Thome and Kimball. They were highly esteemed here by all
classes, and had free access to every source of valuable
information. If they have not done justice to the subject of their
book, it is because the manifold blessings of a deliverance from
slavery are beyond the powers of language to represent. When I
attempt, as I have done in this letter, to enumerate a few of the, I
know not where to begin, or where to end. One must _see_, in order
to know and feel how unspeakable a boon these islands have
received,--a boon, which is by no means confined to the emancipated
slaves; but, like the dew and rains of heaven, it fell upon all the
inhabitants of the land, bond and free, rich and poor, together.

It is a common thing here, when you hear one speak of the benefits
of emancipation--the remark--that it ought to have taken place long
ago. Some say fifty years ago, some twenty, and some, that at any
rate it ought to have taken place all at once, without any
apprenticeship. The noon-day sun is not clearer than the fact, that
no preparation was required on the part of the slaves. It was the
dictate of an accusing conscience, that foretold of bloodshed, and
burning, and devastation. Can it be supposed to be an accidental
circumstance, that peace and good-will have _uniformly_, in _all_
the colonies, followed the steps of emancipation. Is it not rather
the broad seal of attestation to that heaven born principle, "It is
safe to do right." Dear brother, if you or any other friend to down
trodden humanity, have any lingering fear that the blaze of light
which is now going forth from the islands will ever be quenched,
even for a moment, dismiss that fear. The light, instead of growing
dim, will continue to brighten. Your prayers for the safe and happy
introduction of freedom, upon a soil long trodden by the foot of
slavery, may be turned into praises--for the event has come to pass.
When shall we be able to rejoice in such a consummation in our
beloved America? How I long to see a deputation of slaveholders
making the tour of these islands. It would only be necessary for
them to use their eyes and ears. Argument would be quite out of
place. Even an appeal to principle--to compassion--to the fear of
God--would not be needed. Self-interest alone would decide them in
favor of immediate emancipation.

Ever yours,

W.R. HAYES.

DEMERARA.

SPEECH OF THE GOVERNOR, ON OPENING THE SESSION OF THE COURT OF POLICY, SEPT. 17, 1838.

From the Guiana Royal Gazette.

"I should fail in my duty to the public, and perhaps no respond to
the expectations of yourselves, Gentlemen of the Colonial Section of
this Honorable Court, did I not say a few words on the state of the
Colony, at this our first meeting after the memorable first
of August.

We are now approaching the close of the second month since that
date--a sufficient time to enable us to judge of the good
disposition of the new race of Freemen, but not perhaps of the
prosperity of the Colony. It is a proud thing for the
Colonist--Proprietors and Employers--that nothing has occurred to
indicate a want of good feeling in the great body of the laborers.
It is creditable to them, satisfactory to their employers, and
confounding to those who anticipated a contrary state of affairs.

That partial changes of location should have taken place, cannot
surprise any reasonable mind--that men who have all their lives been
subject to compulsory labor should, on having this labor left to
their discretion, be disposed at first to relax, and, in some
instances, totally abstain from it, was equally to be expected. But
we have no reason to despond, nor to imagine that, because such has
occurred in some districts, it will continue.

It is sufficient that the ignorant have been undeceived in their
exaggerated notions of their rights as Freemen: it was the first
step towards resumption of labor in every part of the Colony. The
patient forbearance of the Employers has produced great changes. If
some Estates have been disappointed in the amount of labor
performed, others again, and I have reason to believe a great
number, are doing well. It is well known that the Peasantry have not
taken to a wandering life: they are not lost to the cultivated parts
of the Colony: for the reports hitherto received from the
Superintendents of Rivers and Creeks make no mention of an augmented
population in the distant parts of their respective districts.

I hear of few commitments, except in this town, where, of course,
many of the idle have flocked from the country. On the East Coast,
there has been only one case brought before the High Sheriff's Court
since the 1st of August. In the last Circuit, not one!