The Express.
London, England, 1865-12-05 00:00:00

'IOHN BROGDEN'S GOLD LLBJERT C A INS.

r A MO
/INBROGDIS'BO 0 L D B R 0 0 0 Et C S .

..2----___
VICILCOATS. -HAMILTON and K IMPTON
Oea especial &Poetise to tise NEW WINTER OOODS tor
OVERCOATS, sad invite aa early legation ot the saille. N.B.
Specimen presents slways oa bead.
No. leis atm* Wei. Exeter fish.
--------

LONDON must have a Sapper and Music Room
for Gentlemen.—Reetember we watt toe you at EYASS'a
alter the Covent Garden Opera arri the Theatres.

gilt ervregigi.

TO 0011111111PONDINTS.
Advertlesoteote Intended foe " The Acores." Loudon Tvenfeg
pew, suet be at the Oase, 10, Bouvedeotreet, by Two
o'clock co Ow day of pabbleilba.

ILILYMAWIT.
THIS EvrannO, THE OVIMLIAND ROUTS. Meads. Bu
ow-
nt-
Mona, C. Mathews, and Compton,. Madames Mathews, Sn
den, Hill, et Wright. —W ILO K !LIED COCK KOl3lll t Mews. C.
Mathews and Chippeddele ; Mn. C. Mathewe.—And the BALLET.

ranicsess.
True Eviansi, QUIST LOD6INOS.—Atter which IT IS
XXV= TOO LATX TO KIND. Mama Vials& G. Melville,
T. Mead, D. Murray, h. Oldham, 7. Villiers J. 6... re, G. Mur-
ia', and B. (X‘huirt MINOS L. Moore and IL Lodgers.
_ _

LYCEUM.
TIM Emma, THE DAY Anita THE WEDDING. Mr.
and Mn.s HOISIIISEL —T HZ WATCH CRY. Mews. iechter.
Wlthltromb, A. Emery, C. Rename, ItAymood. FitApetnck,
*.M Clifford; Ala glawoctliy.—ADd CROCE CHICKWEED.

szmurzru.
nue ammo. WARWICK, THE KING MAKER. Mr. Drum-
mond. Mn. Yaroold.—The D'Aubam—Olmar, Klag of Graillasta.
lOSALIE MORTIMKR OR. FATE AND ITS VIC-
TIMS. Mews. Reynold@ and Craulord; Mrs. 8. Lana.

MGM WA AT LONDON-BRIDGE.
Ilui DAT IIIamb& ft. Ais......Aftesson. Sts. Oa.
TO4IOIIOIII Smola& ,Lllia.— —llllanboaa. ,t34a.

LONDON. TUESDAY. DECEMBER 5.

IT was by no means an exceptional circumstance,
before emancipation, for the Jamaica planters to
complain to Parliament of loss and ruin. In 1792,
a committee of the Assembly reported as follows
on the sugar interest :—" In the course of twenty
"years 177 estates in Jamaica have been sold for
" the payment of debts ; 55 have been thrown up,
" and 92 are still in the hands of creditors ; and it
"appears, from a return made to the Provost-
" Marshal, that 80,121 executions, amounting to
" 22,563,786/. sterling, have been lodged in his
" office in the course of twenty years." In 1808
the House of Commons ordered the printing of a
statement containing this declaration : "The
" sugar estates lately brought to sale, and now in
" the Court of Chancery in this inland (Jamaica),
" and in England, amount to about one-
" fourth of the whole number of the colony."
At the time of emancipation the plantation land of
the island was mortgaged far beyond its total
value, though the planters had received, in the
form of bounty alone, upwards of 1,000,0001. per
annum. Such was the state of things before com-
plaints could arise of deficiency of labour, high
wages, and paucity of capital. Such was the pos-
ture of affairs when the experiment of free labour
had to be tried.

The very first thing the planters did was to
drive away the labouring class from the centres
of industry. We all remember their Vagrant Law
(which the State of Mississippi seems to be now
trying to copy)—that law which was framed to
entrap every man and woman who made any use
of the freedom conferred by emancipation, and
which subjected the victims to such cruel punish-
ment that they naturally strove to go beyond
its reach. We all remember the tyranny and
exactions inflicted under the name of de-
mands of rent, which also tended to banish
the people to some district where the,
could house themselves and pay no rent. We
all remember how, when they obtained land and
became producers, a system of taxation was
brought to bear on them which was oppressive be-
yond example—lessening the profits of their sales
and enhancing the cost of their purchases, so that
it was hoped that they would be driven back to
work on the plantations on their former masters'
terms. By their own industry, however, the
people struggled on, and even prospered on their
own holdings. They supplied themselves with
sugar, and exported coffee, pimento, and arrow-
root ; they built chapels, and supported schools,
and bought horses and mules, and dressed hand-
somely, and furnished their houses well, and sup-
ported many of the degraded of their own race,
who really were such "lazy negroes" as we hear
so much of. Then arose the planters' cry of
the scarcity of labour, by which their estates were
going to ruin. They were asked how
labour could be scarce while the coloured
population was larger than ever ; and
their answer was that the people demanded
wages ruinous to employers. It was at length re-
marked by • sagacious American observer who in-
quired into the matter on the spot that it was •
singular illustration of English credulity that this
aasurance was accepted without any inquiry what-
ever as to what planters understand by high wages.
He made it all out, and published the result. The
wages paid were from 9d. to Is. • day to able-
bodied labourers, and from 6d. to 9d. to old men
and boys—the labourers having to board them-
selves. In crop time, • men might earn 2s. ; but,
on the other hand, he was employed only at in-
tervals ; and he was wanted exactly at times when
his own field or garden wanted him. Yet, so
desirous were the people to work on the planta-
tions, and to bring up their children to do so, that
they would have worked for ls. a day, at much
sacrifice, but for other difficulties.
Of those difficulties we have a pretty full dis-
closure in the returns supplied to the Committee
of the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society,
who sent out commissioners to take evidence on
every band as to the actual state of the island and
its industry. Those returns are of great interest
now, consisting, as they do, of declarations of
planters, agents, clergy, and others well acquainted
with the interests involved on every hand. From
these the fact stands out clearly enough that the
main discouragement to labour on the plantations
was that the people could not get paid. In case
of any loud complaint of the "hands " refusing to
work, the explanation usually was that they had
not received • shilling for • month—for seven
weeks—for a quarter or half • year. Another
evil—and an insuperable one to the better sort of
negroes--was the bad accommodation afforded.
Men, women, and children were herded together