The Sun.
London, England, 1863-12-19 00:00:00

members present were of the contrary opinion. At sel
events, two or three days after this assertion was made, an
address was presented to his Excellency, signed by no less
than 13 gentlemen, on behalf of themselves and their con-
stituents. They state, in a few words, that they are favour-
able to free immigration from the United States of America
and the island of Barbadoes, that they consider that the cost
of such immigration should be defrayed from the general
revenues of the colony, and that they are satisfied that, so
far from their being no demand for labour, these people
would find immediate employment, if introduced as free
agents." We need hardly remind our readers that this is
no new question in British Guiana, or, indeed, in any of
our West Indian colonies. The abolition of slavery, righte-
ous as it was in principle, and cautiously as it was carried
out, paralysed the industrial system of these dependencies,
and drove the Europeaa landowners to introduce cheap
labour for definite terms of service from other tropical coun-
tries, We have a series of Orders in Council confirming
or disallowing. ordinances of British Guiana to regulate
immigration, and a series of correspondence with the Colo-
nial-office respecting the traffic in Coolies and Chinese. A
very considerable proportion of the whole population is of
foreignof extraction, and by thus replacing the most indolent
the enfranchised negroes and their descendants, British
Guiana has managed to escape the wholesale ruin of the
neighbouring islands. Still, but a small fraction of the
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sugar, coffee, or cotton, is held by the proprietors under
the same precarious conditions as the flats of Hol-
land, It is protected by dams from inundations of
salt and fresh water, and demands incessant care
and vigilance. Hitherto the system of husbandry has been
rude in the extreme, and it has been calculated that a few
simple improvements, requiring, however,
more skilled
labour, would enormously increase the productiveness
t
estates. It is no doubt with the hope of effecting this
de-
sirable object more rapidly that some of the colonists pro-
pose to turn President Lincoln's necessity into their own
opportunity. If Professor Cairnes is to be taken as an
authority on the value of slave labour, the economical
soundness of such a speculation is more than doubtful. Ac-
cording to him, the negroes in the Southern States are
naturally incapable of any but the most primitive and
mechanical operations of agriculture. They cannot be
trusted to plough, or to use manure, or, in fact, to do anye
thing but to pick cotton or cut the sugar-cane. Whether
the present condition of the Confederate States is consistent
with this estimate of negro intelligence we will not stop to
inquire; but, supposing it to be true, and that mere eman-
cipation does not work a magical change in their nature, it
is clear that it would not be worth while to import them in
any great numbers into British Guiana. What appears to
be there wanted is not hands alone, but labour of a superior
kind, such as can be employed to clear, drain, and render
profitable new and less fertile districts. Perhaps, however,
we may safely assume that the colonists understand their
own business, and, having tried labourers of various races,
including the African, know which is best adapted for their
climate and methods of culture. We can only hope that
they do not count upon getting these poor creatures upon
terms to be fixed arbitrarily by the Federal Government.
There can be no doubt that, in their anxiety to be rid of
them, the authorities of the United States might be willing
to make a very bad bargain on their behalf. Having looked
about in vain for some means, however costly, of deporting
them, they would not be very scrupulous about their rights
and future destiny, if they could father a portion on any
other civilised nation. This makes it the more necessary that
our Government should watch any transaction of the kind.
The Chines:, though often maltreated by their white neigh-
bours, are comparatively able to take care of themselves,
but the service of starving negroes, under contracts with
American emigration agents, might very easily become
slavery in disguise. There is another consideration directly
affecting ourselves, which it is our duty to take into ac-
count. By opening our colonies to a regular export of
" free niggers" from the Northern States, we should, in
fact, be giving them a powerful weapon against the South.
As it is, the misery of those who have accepted the offer of
liberty without enlisting in the army has probably deterred
many others from running away. It is quite possible the
promise of a free passage to British Guiana, with high
wages and other inducements which a clever Yankee would
present to the negro imagination, would prAve a more
tempting bait. We do not say it would, for even among
slaves there is a sentiment of adhesiveness, which cannot,
indeed, be called love of country, but which attaches them
to the scene of their daily joys and sufferings. Had a negro
with a good master been asked before the war whether he
would exchange servitude oa an Alabama plantation for
freedom on a South American farm, we very much doubt
whether he would have chosen the latter alternative
But war must have done its work in unsettling the minds
of the slave population, and preparing them for change,
and it may be that some runaways would gladly accept a
refuge in the West Indies. If they could 'nage their escape
thither for themselves, welcome or unwelcome, they would
be entitled to our protection on British territory. This is
one thing, but to encourage a system of decaying and ship.
ping them oil' to West Indian ports is another. It may be
strictly consistent with neutrality, and open to no valid ob-
jection, but it would certainly place us in an unfriendly
relation to the Confederates, and therefore should be well
considered. A grant " from the general revenues" of a
British colony to put chase, or at least to procure, that
which by the laws of the Southern States is the property
of their citizens, is a questionable measure—not the less so
because, according to cur own laws, it is neither their pro-
perty nor the property of those with whom we should have
to negotiate.