The Press. — London, England, 1857-04-11 00:00:00

TERNS OF SUBSCRIPTION FOR Zbe Press: (STAMPED) Per Annum .. .. Half Yearly.. .. Quarterly .. .. PAYABLE IN ADVANCE. 6 .. 0 13 0 .. 0 6 6 Subscribers are requested to semi their orders through News Agents; if direct to the office, accompanied by a remittance . Advertisements also must have a reference or remittance Money Orders to be made payable to Mr. ALFRED IV/4. 110' Strand, London. rljiv irvgg• LONDON, SATURDAY ; APRIL 11, 1857. POSTSCRIPT. (By Telegraphic Despatch.) l'Anrs, April 10. The Swiss Government have instructed Dr. Kern, their Plenipotentiary to the Conference,, to refuse further concessions on the Neufchatel question. His Imperial Highness the Grand Duke Con. stantine has manifested his intention of visiting England in May. Intelligence from Marseilles, April oth, states that accounts from Naples of the tlth announce the arrival there of the King of Bavaria on the :Irkl. Ile was to leave on the tith for Palermo, whence he would proceed to Greece and France. A letter from Pitrig, Thursday evening, says : am enabled to state, on the best authority, that the amnesty which is to crown the visit of the Emperor Francis Joseph to Hungary will be of the most complete description ; it will alone exclude Louis Kossuth. The remainder of the emigration, including all the glorious commanders of the Hungarian war, will be authorised to return to their native land, and enjoy a new era of com parative freedom and national prosperity. RUSSIA. The Nord of Brussels states that in the reply of the Cabinet of St. Petersburg to the circular despatch of M. de Scheele Russia recommends Denmark to display deference and conciliatory dispositions towards the great German powers, and engages her to discuss the question with Germany in a direct manner without heightening the difficulties by any intervention on the part of other parties. The same journal states that, — According to explanations given by the Danish Govern. ment, the major portion of the proceeds of the funds derived from the capitalisation of the Sound dues will be employed in paying off the two loans contracted in London in 1849 and 1ti.50, which prove a heavy burden to the country. A letter from St. Petersburg of the 31st ult. IA .Ys • - - - - - - - A grand ball was given the night before last by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, which was honoured by the presence of the Emperor. The Prince of Mecklenburg was likewise present. The Emperor conversed some time with Prince Gortschakoff, Governor of the Kingdom of Poland. A grand review of the Imperial Guard took place yesterday in front of the winter palace. The weather was very favourable for the evolutions, which attracted a large crowd of spectators. The merchants of St. Petersburg have given an order to the sculptor Pimenoff for a statue in white marble of the Emperor Nicholas, which will be placed in the grand ball of the Exchange. MONTENEGRO. A Paris letter in the Indipendance of Brussels, in speaking of the present efforts of Ptince D tnilo to interest the great European powers in his favour, o')serve4 It has been attempted to throw doubt on the question of the independence of Montenegro by affirming that it has never been solemnly recognised. That is quite true ; but, on the other hand, nothing has ever taken place to invalidate that independence, although many things concur to establish it. Thus, for instance, it is certain -Ist, that Montenegro never admitted the suzerainty of any monarch ; 2ndly, that the Montenegrin chiefs have never paid tribute; 3rdly, that Montenegro was never occupied by the sovereigns of any neighbouring nation ; and, forthly, that numerous treaties have been signed by the rulers of Montenegro with the Porte. But treaties, it must be remembered, are not signed with a vassal. On this latter point it may perhaps be objected that the Porte signed a treaty with the Viceroy of Egypt. Such was undonbtedly the fact ; but in that case the respective qualities of the contracting parties were carefully specified, one being designated the sovereign, and the otbera vassal. In the treaties s ith the rulers of Montenegro—and such documents are numerous—nothing of the kind is to he seen. The Montenegrin ruler always treats with the pachaa of the Herzegnwine and with the Porte precisely as an independent sovereign would have a right to do. It is from this peculiarity of position that l'rince Thank) has probably the best chance of bringing his arrangements with the Porte to a successful issue. THE PRESS. 6 orrtsgroatitrt. SLAVE AND FREE LABOUR. TO THE EDITOR OF "THE PRESS." Sir,—An American gentleman, Mr. F. L. Olmsted, has recently published a work, "Our Slave States," in which he is anxious to show that free labour is less expensive than slave labour, hut which, I tear, will tend, like Mrs. Stowe's " Uncle Tom," more to the injury of the humane cause he advocates than other wise, judging from the statements he puts before us, for I find at page 55 that — The each value of a slave for sale, above the cost of raising it to the age at which it commands the highest price, is generally considered among the surest elements of a planter's wealth ln the States of Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Missouri, as much attention is paid to the breeding and growth of negroes as that of horses and mules. And a page or two further on I find a planter telling him— That every one of their (negro) babies, in his estimation, was worth '2OO dole., u negroes were selling now, the mo• meat it drew breath. And furthermore he tells us — That a gang of slaves on a farm will increase to four times their original numbers in thirty or forty years. At page 127, Mr. Olmsted finds that— One freeman's wages (in Virginia) amonnted last year, as I am informed by his employer, to over 900 dols. _ _ _ This would be at the rate of I.2ta. per day for 300 days, or 3 dols. per day. At page 687, I find the annual cost of eighty slaves on a Louisiana sugar estate estimated as follows : DOLL DOLFI. For salt meat and spirits h:10-10110 per heal Clothing Medical atten. and medicine 400.. 5 It Indian corn 3.520 43'96 6d. per day for 365 days. To this, however, must he added the annual interest on the first cost of the slave, his wear and tear, and mortality, which, at the present high price of the prime, able article, may ha put at ls. 6d. per day, or a total of 2s. per day, or 183 dols. per annum, against the freeman's wages of 900 dols. A slave is usually compelled to do quite as much work what employed by his owner as he would do if hired to another, and Mr. Olmsted overheard a slave say " working berry hard ton, up to twelve o'clock at night, berry often." Thus, it we deduct 183 dols., the annual cost of a slave to his owner, from 900 dols., as the wages of a hired hand, we find a balance of 717 dols., which represents the profit of slave over free labour. Mr. Olmsted also gives us statements of tbo quantity of land a slave will cultivate within the year on well-regulated sugar estates in Louisiana— viz., five acres ; and that the pruduce would be 5,0001b5. of sugar, and 125 gallons of molasses; that the sugar sells on the spot at 5i cents the lb., and the molasses at 18 cents the gallon ; thus realising 297.50 dols., from which, if you deduct 183 dots., the balance in favour of the owner would be only 115 dols.; yet, on page 669, he says,—" The profits on these (sugar estates), in favourable seasons, are immense "; and a Mr. R. tells him That last year he made 6710 hhds. of sugar, and 1,200 barrels of molasses. The molasses alone brought me a sufficient sum to pay all my plantation expenses, and the sugar yielded me a clear prtyit of twenty-rive per cent. on my whole investment. Again, at page 697, he speaks of another estate of 1,108 acres of land, with 66 slaves, 20 horses and mules, and 5 yoke of oxen, planting annually 280 acres of cotton, and 125 acres of corn, together 405 acres, or something over 0 acres to each slave. Another American gentleman, Mr. Ballastier (American Consul at Singapore a few years since), with whom I was personally acquainted, writing on the sugar question, says : In Louisiana, notwithstanding the immatured condition of the canes when cut, which, owing to the cold season, are obliged to be manipulated before they are ten months old, each hand or labourer on the estate. men, women, and children, able to work, produce from five to seven hogsheads of sugar, of about 1,000 lbs. each, according to the returns made to, and published by, Congress The immense economy of manual labour in Louisiana shows but too clearly the advantages to be obtained by the use of suitable helps and improvements sixty stout mules, thirteen plough's, and about 150 hands, or slaves, suffice for the cultivation of 000 acres of canes, and '2OO of Indian corn, besides cutting a sufficiency of wood for the steam•engine and a range of concentrating coppers. This is something over five acres for every man, woman, and child, able to work ; and if we put their produce in sugar at an average of 0,000 lbs. each, and sell it at five and a halt' cents. the lb., it would amount to 330 dols. per head, without taking any account of the value of molasses and corn; and it' we deduct 183 dols. as the annual cost of a prime, able slave, not a child, the slareowner has a balance. in his favour of 14 7 dols. per head for children and all. • SATURDAY, From practical experience as a manager in Jamaica prior to the emancipation, I know that an able slave could produce easily within the year 2 blids. of sugar of 18 owt. each, with the usual proportion of rum, say 112 gallons. The ordinary calculation of a fair return was 1 hhd. of sugar and 60 galls. of strong rum per head for every slave, of all descrip tions, on an estate. Thus 200 slaves, with cattle in proportion, were expected to turn out 200 18-cwt. hhds. and 100 puncheons of rum. Some land would produce as much as four of these hogs heads to the acre, and three and two were not unusual returns, but the average estimated return for all the land under cares in the island was one ton of sugar to the acre with a proportionable quantity of rum. The land and climate of Cuba is quite equal to that of Jamaica, and if an able Cuban slave cultivates only four acres in the year—producing 1 ton of sugar and 60 galls. of molasses to the acre, selling on the spot at 5i cents the pound and 18 cents the gallon—it would amount to 536 dols., and, deducting the 183 dols. a s annual cost, you leave a balance to his Spanish master of 353 dols., or nearly 70/. ; and Cuba sugar sells better than Louisiana to the extent of from one to two cents the pound. These statements, by which Mr. Olmsted en deavours to prove the greater economy in employing free labour, may be of service to those uninitiated in tropical cultivation, as pointieg out the improbability of either the Yankees or the Spaniards adopting his views, as the only free labour they employ is when there is danger to the life of the valuable slave, for he is told, page 91, they employ Irishmen be cause It is dangerous work, and a negro's life is too valuable to be risked at it. Again : The negroes are worth too much here (Alabama), and if the Paddies get knocked overboard, or get their backs broke, nobody loses anything. Of the great profits that must accrue to the Cuba planters from slave labour and the use of the lash to the unfortunate African, and I fear China cooly also, there can be but little doubt, as compared to the case of free labour by our West India and other planters, as the free African works or not, as it may suit his inclination, as the best of them on squatting and be coming proprietors, working, to use the vernacular of our Yankee competitors, on their own hook. Neither do I think Mr. Olmsted's book will have any influence in preventing the fitting out in American ports the 40 slave ships, which we are told make ten voyages each annually to the slave coast, and realise a profit of 22,000,000 dols., whilst we pay annually for an African squadron to prevent this slave trade, besides 600,0001. a year, interest for the money we paid to'rnanumise the slaves we once held. Yours, sir, most obediently, April, 1837. AN OLD JAMAICA PLANTER. SIR JOHN BOWRING. TO THE EDITOR OF " THE PRESS." Sir,—On looking over a file of newspapers received by the last West India packet, I have met with a curious coincidence of opinion, in reference to an individual whose conduct has been lately brought prominently before the public of this courtry. Almost at the very time that Sir J. Bowring's pro ceedings at Canton were being canvassed in the House of Commons, and that functionary himself characterised as a " meddlesome official," his conduct in relation to quite a different subject happened to he under discussion in the Court of Policy (the local Legislature) of British Guiana. _ _ On the 23rd of February last, the Governor an nounced to the court that their proclamation offering a bounty on the introduction of Chinese labourers into the colony had been disallowed by the Secretary of State for the Colonies, in consequence of Sir J. Bowring having raised "diplomatic difficulties" in the way of further immigration from China. In the course of the discussion which ensued on this announcement, the following remarks were made by Mr. Rose, a member of the court and a very old colonist : His experience of the Home Government was this, that they opposed everything that a as for the good of the colony. As to Sir J. Bowring's reasons, he had seen them, and they were very fitmay. He knew Sir J. Bowring ; he was a troublesome fellow, and always had been, and he only wanted to set aside what his predecessor had done. He would advise his Excellency to let the matter stand over. Let them get some one to bring it before Parliament, and show the absurdity of the Government preventing their getting immigrants from China. Luckily for Mr. Rose, the date at which he ven tured to express his opinion of the character of Sir J. Bowring precludes all risk of his being charged as accessory to the notable " factious coalition."—l am, sir, your obedient servant, April Bth, 1857. G. LATEST POLLING. DOWN Couyrr (Close of firsid7tT).LHlU, 4,977; Fords, 4,837 ; Ker, 2,891. . . KILKENNY Cori (Close of first day).—Ellis, 1,800; Most3n, 626; Bbee, 611 ; Greene, 1)81. This le missive of the return from Castlecomer. ~~~. ,nw,~G , ,r , ~. _ ....-- - 362