Star. — London, England, 1825-01-07 00:00:00

MAP! • WEST INDIA SLAVERY. LETTER MI.-PART IT. i s CONTINUATION IROM tliS STAR OP WPDNESDAY. TO THE EDITOR OF THE STAR. My chief authority for the statements I shall give respecting Cayenne, is the wok of Colonel M alenfant • nt i tie d "Des Colonies, pr i nted at Paris in 1814. — Both Colonel Malenfant and General De la Croix had awe d in the West Indies, and both have been quoted, with approbation, by the Abolitionists. It is necessary to say, respecting Colonel Malenfant, that h e had served both in St. Domingo and in Cayenne;' le d that he disapproved of the system of wages, and referred the system of St. Domingo, where a division e` the results of labour took place between the pro . ural pq ecor of the soil, buildings, and machinery, and the vricolt labourer. 'Mr. Stephen, on the other hand, disapproved of the s ystem of the distribution of produce, or its value, and referred fixed wages. 'shall first notice the plan of giving wages, and its r esult in Cayenne. In that Colony the Negroes were elan ipated by the Republican Government of France, with the least opposition; the soil was fertile, and the w hi t - proprietors formed a very small portion of the iontants. The writers on the side of abolition, at different times, have promised to afford the public a detail ot the circumstances which occurred at that pst liptl; but I am not acquainted with any writer who . bar collected and published them. Colonel Malenfant's introduction is certainly not fa vourable, as to the advantages of tree labour, for he tlati contrasts Cayenne with Surinam, a Colony culti-, vat:d by Slaves:—.... Pour parler de Cayenne," says M. Malenfant," j'avoue quid ne Gut pas venir de Stir ina won tout annonce la grandeur, l'opulence, en on l'on • voit la propriete la plus recherche . ..". En sortant de Caterme, et V 1 p:rcevant Parimaribo, on eprouve la • meme sensation, qu' A la vue des Champ. Ely , ers, au "lever du Rideau a i'opera." As to food, &c. forming she elements of the natural price rd wages, M. Maletitant thinks more favourably of Caye'rne than Haiti ; for, besides its not being ex posed to !no Ilene% wild animals and fish, for food, ate both excellent, and eit,ily procured. The plantain, a wholesome and nutritious vegetable food, flourishes there, and the soil requi:es very little labour to yield it it abundance. Humboldt has desctibed the plantain ix, perhaps, exaggerated colours, with reference to the portions of food produced by it, compared with those wised in Europe from the same space of ground culti oted in potatoes, or wheat ; but as he has not noticed, favnur of the plantain, the comparative small portion 0 labour required for its cultivation, and preparation as food, his comparison may be considered sufficiently correct. He says, the same portion of suitable ground, chltivated in plantains, yields 14 times more food than the same extent of land, as well adapted for the pro duction of wheat, and forty-four times more than a crop of potatoes. Cayenne is inhabited by Europeans, Negroes, and In dians. The latter have been considered free for these many years past, both by the French and English in the West Indies. Their weltare, however, never appears to have excited the same interest as that of the Negroes. The possession of freedom, howeser, does not appear to have other encreased their industry, or numbers ; which tends to prove that mere emancipation, without a suit able preparation, is not the remedyfor evils incident to a backward state of knowledge and civilization: as to making the free Indians industrious, without assigning any reason, the Colonel gives them up at once, saying, Quota aux Indians, it jaudra, des Siècles pour infant truvailkr d k culture." Yet they are men, and operated upon by the same passions as the Negroes; respecting whose industry M. Malenfant is perfectly enthusiastic. He says: "Je connois si bien l'esprit des nagres de "Cayenne, que je suis convaincu que les Matrons del 441tivia•es de Mahury, et de Maroni, demanderaient travailler, s'ils voyaient qu'on accordit le quart aux " cultivateurs. Un missionaire varitablement vertueua, " politique et philosophe, ramenerait tous ces noire, "comme un berger conduit des moutons. Je crois qu'il "y a pins de soixante mille nlgres Marrons dans les "Guyannes," The enthusiasm of M. Malenfant is here skewn, in believing that 60,000 free Negroes will leave their oods and villages, to labour for the fourth part of their own toil, when they have refused to settle themselves, trader a regular controul, upon the express condition of having the whole result of their labour ex clusively to themselves: yet, in the opinion of Colonel llalenfant, the free Indians living in the same place, sonld rcquire ages to induce them to cultivate the soil. Respecting these Maroon Negroes, however, M. Ma kuet, late Minister for Marine and Colonies in France, who had personally seen them, gives rather a different ecountof their industry from that of Colonel Malenfant. 11r. Brougham, in his Colonial Policy, vol. 2, p. 415, taY: " Malonet, who bore a special Commission "from the French Government to examine the charac ter and habits of the Maroons in Dutch Guiana, and "to determine whether or not they were adapted to be "tome hired labourers, informs us, that they will only " work one day in the week, which they find abundantly "sufficient, in the fertile soil and genial climate of the :New World, to supply all the wants that they have "yet learnt to feel. The rest of their time is spent in "absolute indolence, and sloth. •Le repos,' says he, "l'oisivete sont devenu dans leur eat social leur " anique passion.'" M. Malenfant was probably ignorant of the praise worthy exertions ofthe Moravian Missionaries amongst these Negroes, and the Indians, some of whom were tieverted to Christianity, but none to steady agricul taral labour, even for their own exclusive benefit. M Malenfant attributes the cause of these free Ne tt*: not settling in Cayenne, to the punishments in fitted on the Slaves there, but he forgets that for a long l!riod there were no Slaves in Cayenne, as they were lliensancipated. Indeed he asks, what was this freedom ? lid be answers it himself, thus: id deux cols par jour let tine ache dix fois trop forte pour un pareil salaire. !et as the Negroes were entirely free, no person could ?Pie that task upon them, or oblige them to pet for m L W the result p roves , that had labour been en ced at se cheap a rate, the Cayenne Proprietors 1 . ; 1 4d have be en t h e r i c h est Pl anters in the West In !" whereas, in point of fact, they were not in better .teirlstances than their former Slaves, even on the 7 4 ,.ntity of M. Malenfant, Whose words I quote in , 4511 , from the N e F 1 or Patois, introduced sbgro renc the Passage, "I lie Negroes at Cayenne laughed .7 rae," says the Colonel, " when I told them, you for your labour in wages. What wages? _said , tn eY—two sous for a day!, work from sun-rise to 11141 et. Besides, the Proprietor of the laid doll's Pal us money : 1 e buys old cod-fish, old herrings, and " stinking mackerel. Such wages won't do for us: In " spite of this the Cayenne Blacks • love their Masters. " Poor-Cayenne White man r say the Blacks, " he is " not rich, Ise eats cassava (a coarse kind of bread), fish. " pimento,—he drinks tafia (the worst kind of rum), " just like a Negro." It does not appear that any very unkind or, violent proceedings took place at Cayenne, between the whites and blacks, the latter being infinitely more numerous; and the former quietly submitting to the decree of the 'French Directory, as to emancipation, retained their land, buildings, and machinery, as formerly ; the only change being, that instead of having the labour of Slaves, 'they had now to hire free Negroes. The na tural and the market rates of wages for agricultural labour, according to M. Malenfant, appear to have settled themselves solely with reference to the value of food; but if that were insufficient to induce the free Negro to labour, greater wages would have been given, and s new principle would have come into action, by which the Proprietor would have had to look to the result of the labour, as regulating the amount of wages which he could afford to give, and this would have de pended on the quantum of exertion on the part of the free Negro, and its effect in yielding a crop having ex changeable value. This quantum of exertion, there fore, appears to have been valued by the Proprietor at two s' us a day, which probably corresponds with the half hour in the day mentioned by President Boyer, as necessary to obtain subsistence, so that, in all probabi lity, the free Negro, let to himself, in both cases used the same quantum of exertion, through whatever number of hours he may have distribute) it, and which was measured by thelabour necessary to obtain subsistence, and a low scale of comforts. This system he appears to have preferred to the pain of continued labour (notwithstanding its ultimate advantages) when he had the choice in acting as a flee man. I have strewn that a more arbitrary mode of rule prevailed among the black Governors in St. Domingo, than in Cayenne, and the result on productive industry was correspondent thereto. In Cayenne, the system of emancipation was not beneficial either to blacks or to whites, and slavery was restored almost with as little trouble as emancipation had been enforced. And it is historically interesting, to find Victor Hugues, whom Mr. Stephen justly calls " the popular founder of Negro freedom,' owning a plantation, cultivated by Slaves, in this , very colony, and stipulating, in his treaty for the surrender of they , colony to the British and Portuguese forces, in 1809, that the French Negroes, whom the Commanders by sea and land of his Royal Highness the Prince Regent have engaged for the service during the war,' and to whom, in virtue of their orders, they have given their freedom, " shall be sent out of the Colony, as they can " only remain there in future objects of trouble and " dissention." Sach was the opinion, in 1809, of Victor Hugues, " the popular founder of Negro freedom." Ther cases of St. Domingo and Cayenne, under circumstances somewhat different, agree in skewing the powerful in fluence of those principles noticed by Mr. Whitmore, as necessary to be considered in estimating the effect of wages, with reference to agricultural industry. In both cases, the labourers were free Negroes in the West Indies, and under the stimulus of bettering their condition, by receiving such reward for their voluntary industry, as the proprietors of the soil, buildings, and machinery could afford to give. In both cases it appears the natural price of wages was low, because, from the climate, and the fertility of the soil,, as is stated in Mr. Brougharn's work on the Colonies, the labourer could maintain himself by a very small portion of exertion, in comparison with what he would be obliged to use in England, for the same purpose. The stimulus of necessity to procure subsistence, at inducing the labourer in England to work the usual number of hours in a day, and the usual number of days in the year, it will be seen, had not the same effect in St. Domingo and Cayenne. The French Government, however, hoped that the other powerful i principle in human nature, the desire of improving the condition of the labourer; and that of his family, by appropriating to these purposes the results of his own voluntary industry, would act upon him as efficiently as the stimulus of necessity, combined with it, is seen to act in Europe. Contrary to the expectations of the French -philan thropists, their hopes were disappointed. At that period, the effect of a great difference between the na tural and market price of wages, on agricultural in dustry, was little understood ; and although it was the most powerful cause in operation, yet it does not ap pear, during the Revolution, to have been discovered to be the chief cause why the principle of bettering the condition of the labourer, and that of his family, was less efficient in Cayenne and St. Domingo, than in Europe. It is now well understood by political econo mists, and President Boyer has perceived its truth. When this will be the ease with ANGLIN, it is not worth while enquiring. but, in time, there can be no doubt of the principle producing a due effect on the public mind. The natural price of labour, or the value of subsistence, and a certain scale of comforts, is repre sented by the exertion of an hour or two during the day in the West Indies. The exact amount of exertion, of course, varies not only in different islands, but during different years in the same island, from the effect of seasons, difference of soil, &c. In Cayenne, it appears, on the authority of M. Malenfant, that the Proprietor of the land, buildings, and machinery, could only get from the fr,ee Negro, a ,degree of voluntary exertion during a whole day, which was valued at two sous ; but with which, and the mode of payment, the labourer was dissatisfied. Now the market price of the labourer's wages would depend on the supply and demand for labour in the Colony. That, again, would depend on the exchange able.value of the results of that labour, which had been hired to cultivate a rich and fertile soil. These re sults, when exhibited in sugar, coffee, cotton, &c. and in quantities beyond the consumption of the Colony, must depend, for their exchangeable value, on the supply and denaand of these articles in markets where similar articles would enter into competition with them for sale. The articles thus entering into competition with those from Cayenne, were raised in other Colo nies by Slaves whose labour cost only their mainte nance, and the amount of -all the losses and risks inci dent to that kind of property. The market price of the wages of the free Negro labourer in Cayenne, would„ therefore, be chiefly regulated by the natural price of wages in similar countries, together with the risks inci dent to Slave property. The *mai ket pike of wages ap pears to-have been only a *malt degree greater than the natural price of wages in the Colony of Cayenne; but, as shewn in St. Domingo, thcargument is not altered byl the market price of wages actually being higher than Colonel Malenfant " states. For, had the Cayenne free Negro been in a situation that he must work or starve, he would have exerted himself for the market price of wages, regulated as I have explained, whatsoever these wages may have been; bur, horn the climate, and the fertility of the soil, he had no fears about subsistence, and the only inducement which the Piopi ietor of the land and buildings could afford to give, in wages, was insufficient to overcome the reluctance which a free man, whether Indian or Negro, has to encounter agi cultural labour, in a climate where he has no fear of want ; and where indolence and repose are felt, and en joyed, as sources of pleasure and happiness. The white Capitalist, or proprie(or of land, building., and machinery, being equally unable to c•.eice the ex ertion of the free labourer, or to give him such wages as would induce the necessary degace of eaertion to cultivate his canes, naturally sank into poverty an,' ruin, his capital affording him little more than su'ssist ence, and a scale of comforts proportionate to hi• own exertions, or that portion of his capital which might have exchangeable value. The French Government, therefore, it appears, was obliged to interfere, and to a certain, but limited extent, some Proprietors were enabled to.have la bourers, but in a manner so unprluitalde to a'l parties, that S:avery was ultimately restored in the Colony of Cayenne, wages having failed in accomplishing the ob ject expected. In St. Domingo, for reasons explained, the black plo prietors of the soil could afford to give higher wages to agiicultural labourers than in any British West India Colony: but yet the market price must there be limited, as elsewhere, by the principles already mentioned. The result, therefore, is, that although food will be raised for subsistence, by the stimulus of necessity, yet the articles having exchangeable value in a foreign market, as sugar, coffee, cotton, affording profit to the capi talist, will diminish, and in a ratio having reference to the greater or less portion of labour which may enter into the elements composing the ,value of the article produced. Of those colonial productions, perhaps sugar and ginger require most labour, and these ar ticles, consequently, are least cultivated among the free Negroes, wherethe market rate of wages is high. Coffee, cocoa, &c. being produced from trees, when once planted, can be preserved, and continued with little labour, and the fruits, in like manner, being easily ga thered and preserved, labour does not form so great a proportion in their elements of value; nor is the ex ertion of labour, when required, so steady and uni form, since, during a short period only is it required, chiefly to gather the fruits of trees produced by such natural agents as the sun, the showers, and the soil. IA this case, short periods of human exertion, pro ducing great results, can afford to be better paid, for that short period, than the same exertion could be re warded if engaged for the whole year, when its results would not be so profitable to the Proprietor. A species of irregular industry like this, or occa sionally felling timber, is found consistent with those habits of life which distinguish people who are in a backward state of knowledge and civilization in the Torrid' Zone. Yet even in these kinds of industry, I spewed, in any ninth letter, that the President of Haiti deemed it necessary t', impose certain restraints on the free and intelligent Negroes who were about to emi grate thither from the United States of America. In the Constitution of Haiti, under Petion, to encourage agri cultural labour, and permanent engagements therein, in preference to service in towns as domestics, a law was passed siaipending the latter description of persons, when receiving wages, from exercising the privileges of free citizens of the Republic, in common with persons guilty of certain crimes, which are enumerated'. In short, it has been found necessary to form laws and re gtilations relative to labour, which would not be tole rated:in England by a free people ; but without these re gulations, it must be admitted, that the black Proprie tors-of Haiti have found themselves una b le to derive adequate benefit from possessing the lands of the former white Proprieiors, who had been destroyed or expelled. • Constitution D'Haiti, page 9. (To be continued.) The Brighton Gazette says—" Mrs. and Miss FOOTE are continuing their stay in Brighton, and' much cu riosity has been manifested to obtain i sight of the lat ter at the Theatre, where she has occupied a box every night, we believe, since our last." The votes for the Presidency of the United States stood as follows:—Mr. ADAMS, 74; General JACKSON, 44; Mr. CRAW/TODD 32. There remained 107 votes not given. It was understood that the appointment of 'Chief Magistrate would devolve on the House of ' Representatives. Among the many new Companies and schemes lately brought forward in the City, is a Slaughtering Society ; or as they introduce themselves in a prospec tus," The London Improvement Society." The Com pany, which takes its idea from the abattoirs, or public slaughter-houses of Paris, exposes its hopes and pros pects in the following paragraphs:—" To effect the re moval of the nests of slaughter-houses from . the Me tropolis, with all their attendant evils and annoyances to the Public; to destroy those haunts of vice and in humanity in their neighbourhood, which ate the con stant resort of the desperadoes in the employ of the carcase butchers, must be admitted, by every reflecting person, to be objects of the first importance. It will pave the way for the removal of Smithfield market, and for other improvements connected with the health, comfort, and convenience of the inhabitants of London; and also afford a fair opportunity to those who are in. terested in the success of the undertaking, to employ their cap ital with advantage ; as will appear by the ,fol lowing alculation, supposing the prices charged, are for 14 552 beasts, at 51. each - 2e37,7,811 1,264,120 sheep, 2s. - - 126,412 300,000 pigs, 21, 64. - - 37,500 200,000 calves, ts. ed. - . 25,e00 £226,000 With these views an Association will be formed, with a capiial of 1,000,0001. to be raised in shares of 50/. each, 51. to be paid.at the time of subscribing, and the re mainder as the Directors of the Association may le quire, for the purpose of erecting public buildings, as slaughter-houses." At the Westminster Sessions, yesterday, the noted ci-devant Captain Patten•ho, otherwise O'Hara, was tried on a charge of fraudulently passing a note for la of the Weald of Kent Bank, which stopped payment in 1814. The prisoner as found Guilty, and sentenced l to seven )ean' transportation. Mit i r P " ? ' 77.‘P . r . . ,NATAL INTELLIGENCE. We are without any further accounts of the loss of the ship Dia. mood, Captain Macey, which sunk in Cardigan Hay oil Saturday night. It is not known, with any degree of accuracy, boir many persons were on board the ship at the time she struck; norhow many were saved from a watery grave. We fear, however, that the number will be considerable. It is not known how Many sengers were on board ; but she was advertised in the New York papers received by the Silas Itichards," for passengers only," and a ' Gentleman who arrived in the Packet states, that wveral passen gers It al engaged places tin board the Diamond before he left New York The Zama, A t.t.eir, of Sunderland, sunk in Hollesly Bay onWed nesday—crLw and materials saved. The Mont,lue, Nlomto, front Leith to Hull, was on shore on Holy I.land, on Tuesday. , Faimovvri, Jas. 3.—Wind R.S.E.—Arrived his Majesty's ship REYNA RI), tram a cruize ; and Success, RUSSeLL, from St. John's, New Brunswick. S died the whole of the outward bound. Pie MOUTH, JAL s.—Wind E.—Sailed the whole of the outward bound. Of the port, the Buyard, Itotitzsoe, from New York. Poevsatouvir, JAN. 6. --. Wind Southerly, with light airs..-7 Ar rived the Lord &Acid, Direan, for Bengal, with damage, having been run foul of in the Downs. Sailed the Maria and Frinsbury transports, tor Sierra Leone; and the remainder of th outward bound which did not get away yesterday, except the Louisa, Dounrev, for Grenada; Elizabeth, WA !SCR, for ditto; and Her-roles, Vxmarae, for New South Wales, which vessels remain. Dear., JAN.6.—Wind N.W. light airs.—No arrivals or sailing.. LivErtroot., Jay. 5. Wiod E.— Arrived the Gulnare, Luta, from N'irginia, and is on shore near the Magazines. Forty-two sail, all bound to foreign ports, have sailed this day. GLASGOIIi J4NU.4RY 4. DREADFUL ACCIDENT AT THE THEATRE.- Last night, between six and seven o'clock, these was a deploi able accident at the opening of the Theatre, in Q.seen-street. The crowd were so eager to obtain ad mission to the shilling gallery, that they rushed up in one dense mass, which continued to accumulate and the pressure to increase, till those at the top of the stairs dashed in the window-glass for air, and no longer, even then, able to endure their situation, made a despeiate effort to push back those immediately behind them.— Many fell, and the persons in the centre being jammed at both ends, were nearly suffocated : several were car ried to houses in the neighbourhood, totally insensible —others severely maimed. One woman was taken to Anderstoneapparently lifeless. A man and a young lad were brought to the Police Office, the lad quite dead— the man, nearly so, was carried to the Infirmary. WESTMINSTER SESSIONS-,.THIS . DAY. Benjamin Barns, the pugilist, appealed against the conviction of the Magistrates for keeping his house open,the Sun, in Great Wind mill-street, at an unusual hour of the night, and allowing tippling and card-playing therein. The defetice set up was, that Vase Hest bad invited a select party of friends to sup with him, off fine tripe and plenty of good wine, and all at Hine Host's expense, which In duced his friends to stay until a late hour. It was contended fur the appellant, that no cards were played that evening, although three watchmen had declared that Mine Hod had cards in his hand, and was playing the game of cribbage.—The Cones, after hearing the whole of the evidence, were of opinion that the conviction if as fully supported, and consequently affirmed the order. It is reported in the City, that Mr. FRANCIS BARING is about to take his departure fur Mexico. The object of his visit thither is at present kept secret; but it is conjectured tbat it has relation to the recent recognition of Meiico by the British Go• vcrnment. In the Frankfort Papers, that reached us last night, there are two articles of gratifying intelligence. One g, that the Nobility of Baden have agreed to give up their rights 4 patrimonial jurisdiction, secured to them by the act of the Germtnic Confederation. The other is, the negotiation of a commercial treaty between that Duchy and Switzerland. Europe becomes more thoroughly pacific every day. The intercourse between all the States will, it may be hoped, be soon adjusted on prin.; ciples of wisdom and liberality. It is now resolved by the Committee, that the Hano ver Colossal Monument, in memory of the battle of Waterloo, shall be erected in the beautiful place on tbe. avenue to Hetenhausen. The pedestal is to be made of the cannon taken by the Hanoverian troops in that battle, and to support a column about 50 feet high, on the summit of which is a figure of Victory, with a laurel wreath and a palm branch. A true bill of indictment was yesterday found by the Grand Jury for Westminster, against Ann Dudield, (the mother of George Duclfleld, now under sentence of trans,- portation for 14 years, for the robbery of Earl Cow. PE ICS steward) for keeping a bagnio in Shire•lane.— True bills were also found against Hart and two others, of the same place, for the same offence. Much to the praise of the parish, it is determined to root out the whole of who have so long fattened on the unwary and unprotected part of the community. 711 A sum of 15,000 francs has been placed at the dis posal of the Prefect of the Lou•er , Rhine, to be disti ibu. ted among the inhabitants of the departments who have suffered by the inundation. The KING has granted 25,000 francs more to be employed in the form of re missions and reductions of the taxes, in favour of those . .who are the most distressed in consequence of those disasters. Monday morning, it ten o'clock, the remains of the late Lord EARDLRY were removed from his Lorchhip's residence, No. 10, Marine Parade, Brighton, on its route to Belvidere. The procession arrived at about four o'clock at Crawley, where it rested till- the follow. ing morning, when it proceeded to Ryegate, and on Wednesday, from thence across the country to Belvi dere, where the body was to lie in state till yesterday, when it will be conveyed to the family vault at Erith. During a general mourning, an Officer of the Army, dressed, in regimentals, made his appearance in a ball room full of people in black; and, atter calking about a minute or two, suddenly left the room for good and all, as the saying is. A Lady present compared him to a spark of fire in a tinder-box. CORN EXCHANGE, MARK LANE, JAN. 7. The arrivals of Grain this week are moderate. There is not much disposition to do business on the part of our Millers tally, and the Wheat trade remains rather heavy, at Monday's prices. Rirley is very dull in sale, and rather cheaper. Beans and Pen , fully support last quOtations. Oats find buyers with some and fully maintain the prices of Monday. Arrivals--English' Wheat, 3,150 quarters ; Barley, 3,800 luar ten ; Oats, 1970 quarters; Irish Wheat, 315 quarters; Irish Oats, 2000 quarters; Flour, 5,800 sacks. Loi;don Averages for the week ended January 1, 1825:—... • Wheat 10,122 qrs. at 68s. 2d. Barley 9,510 qrs. at 451. Id. Oats 8119 qrs. at 265. 2d. Rye 42 qrs. at 40s. 6d. Beans 1499 qrs. at 426. td. Peat 1173 qrs. at 50s. 4d. SMITHFIBLD AIARIET, JANUARY 7. In the Beef trade there is no alteration from Monday, but the' • price of Mutton is 2d. per stone dearer. Veal maintains its price firmly, and the Pork trade remains very steady at the Calves of last market day.—Beasts 550. Sh ee p 4,030. Pigs 90. Calves 140. Beef per stone of lilbs.-4s. Oti. to ss. od. Mutton 46.4 d. to 9s. 3d. Veal 54. 2d. to 6s. ad. Pork ss. 01 to 6s. Od.—Hay zd. to 51. Clover 41. to 61. Straw 11.165. to 21. 2s. - i re - ~.