The Sun.
London, England, 1847-11-11 00:00:00

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.
FROM THE MORNING PIPERS OF THIS DAY.
TIMES.—The recent history of the British West
Indies, and our dealings with the slave and his mas-
ter, remarkably illustrates a truth which the moralist
knows in the abstract, and the practical man by ex-
perience—that doing good is not simply undoing. It
begins to be pretty well understood that it seldom or
never is enough to remove what may happen to be
objectionable. Something more, not es say every-
thing, remains to be done. It must be confessed that
of late years philanthropy, and every form of what is
called enlightenment, has too exclusively taken a de-
atnictive course. Concentrating itself against some
gi eat abuse, which perhaps it rather exaggerated, it
proceeded from a protest to a crusade, which merged
every other consideration in a struggle for one single
victory. "A house swept and garnished" was the end
3f its aspirations. The abolitionists marched under
h inPeter the Hermit to the rescue of their sacred
ity, as it the negro once free, all would go right.
They w2re as confident of the finality as they were
of the justice of their measure. The result shows
that we have something more to do than roam over
the earth, like knights of romance, performing acts of
deliverance. The knight, indeed, was occasionally
embarrassed by finding a beautiful maiden, after her
rescue, thrown upon his hands. In his case there
was generally a method of extrication from this inte-
resting perplexity. But when the liberated negro
and the unslaved colonies were thrown on our hands,
it was not so easy to say what we should do with
them. Experience has opened our eyes ; and we dis-
cover that emancipation, instead of being the end,
was only the beginning of national difficulty and
duty. Indeed, the difficulties consequent on that act,
which redounds so much to the glory of this empire,
have increased continually up to this very hour. The
question of apprenticeship, the question of the slave
coast blockade, the question of colonial protection,
the question of " foreign free" and " foreign slave "
sugar, the question of Cooly and of African
emigration, and twenty other questions, have
contended for :painful, and even disastrous pre-emi-
nence. At the present moment our position cer-
tainly is comparatively clear. It is as clear as that of
the sailor who, after the anxieties of an intricate and
perilous navigation, finds his vessel a wreck and him-
self safe on shore. Nearly all these questions have
been answered. Protection is abolished. The pro-
duce of slavery will soon be admitted on equal terms
with the fruits of that freedom which has cost us so
much. To the peculiar misfortunes of the planter is
now added the common lot—want of capital and
ruinous discounts. The pressure has told with tre-
mendous effect on a trade peculiarly dependent on the
system of credit. The Colonial-office is besieged
with anxious proprietors, who no longer prophesy
evil, because, as far as they are concerned, all is over.
" Advance money, remit taxation, release us from the
navigation-laws, and, above all, give us labour ;" is
the universal cry of the merchant and the planter.
That problem is now brought to a comparatively
narrow compass ; and remedies will be quietly-
tolerated now, the bare mention of which
would lately have roused a storm of discussion.
The very able and lucid dispatch from the
Colonial-office to the Governor of Jamaica, which we
publish to day, announces a much bolder and more
positive step than any yet attempted since the eman-
cipation. The want of labour being now incontro-
vertible, and Coolies having been found unequal to the
climate and the work, the return ships of the West
India merchants are now to be allowed to call at such
ports of the African coast as are free from the slave
trade, and carry to the West Indies negroes under
under voluntary contracts of limited service. The
principle of such a supply has been already admitted,
but on a small and experimental scale. Her Majesty',
war-steamer the Growler has been tediously travers-
ing the Atlantic, conveying small driblets of labour,
amounting probably in the year to not 1 cent. of the
moving mass transported by the slavers, many of
which have Low the advantage of steam. The exper-
iment of supplying our West India colonies with a
single war-steamer can only be paralleled by the
crazy old bark which in classic mythology was all the
means of transit for souls to their eternal destina-
tion. To make the matter worse, the Charons of
the Growler do dot seem to have liked their em
ployment so much as their ferryman of Styx. The
officers of her Majesty's Navy, who are generally
squeamish of freight particularly disliked their
employment as drivers and cads of a floating " nigger"
omnibus. No one expected an adequate supply from
means so scanty and agents so unwilling. The ex-
periment, however, is entirely successful in proving
the adventurous spirit of the Africans, and the work
will now be thrown open to the West Indians them-
selves. With proper superintendence and securities
they are to carry as many as they please; aril, cer-
tainly, as far as we can see, it must be their fault if
they are not now supplied. The only objection to
new arrangement is one entirely superficial, and
which does not touch the real merits of the case.
Of course, we are prepared to hear it decried as a
legalized slave trade. The more successful it is, the
greater the number of emigrants, the more they
take to work, and the more extensive and lasting
the revival of industry and production, the more
shall we be told we are returning to our old
abomination, and have only learned by experience
to disguise it with a thin veil of hypocrisy.
That such a calumny will be not only circulated, but
implicitly believed in almost every city of North and
South America, is very probable. It is some com-
fort, however, to reflect that it must be shortlived.
A few years will serve to decide whether we are, or
are not, re-establishing slavery in Jamaica and our
other possessions. The gradual increase and social
progress of a great free population will be a fact of
splendid and momentous significance, that will excite
not only the admiration, but the alarm of every
American slaveholder. The day may come when
our Cuban and Brazilian rivals will be too deeply
and personally alive to the facts of the case, to amuse
themselves in misrepresenting our policy, and calling
it a covert revival of slavery. To this objection,
therefore, we do not attach very much weight at
present, indeed, it is well to avoid even the appearance
of ill, still more any circumstance of actual tempta-
tion. To freqaent the depots of the slave trade, or
to redeem slaves from the grasp of the kidnapper,
-would be both unseemly and dangerous. The time,
however, may come when the purity of our inten-
tions, and the soundness of the results, as exhibited
in the real condition of the emigrants, will be so
undeniable, as to allow a wider range to our mer-
chants on the African coast, and, perhaps, even a
removal of official checks. It is always safe to doubt
the success of a novel expedient. In this instance,
however, it is neither an expedient nor a novelty that
we have to deal with. It is simply the partial re-
moval of a prohibition. From a well-founded, though
perhaps excessive
jealousy, we have prohibited be-
tween Africa and our West India islands that spon-
taneous flow of population which we permit between
all other countries in our power. The present con-
dition of those islands is itself a proof that a real and
lasting benefit is conferred on the negro brought
under our institutions and laws. With a constant
intercourse between the opposite coasts, with much in
Africa to drive out its teeming population, and much
in the West Indies to invite it, we see no reason to
doubt a sufficient supply. The docility of the
negro, and his aptitude for any employment, no one
denies. Though apt to consult his own convenience
as to times, he can work, and does work hard.
With free labour the West Indians are increasing
their exports. The yearly increase of imports itself
demonstrates that, whatever the present diversions
and distraction of his industry, the enfranchised
near°, in one way or another, is earning his share of
the luxuries as well as the necessaries of life. The
planter does not complain of the free negro, nor does
he grudge him the :present rate of wages. lie will
be quite content to pay the same wages to more of
such labourers. We could almost look further. We
have, indeed, a strong and cheerful presentiment that
posterity will see the reward of our national sacrifices
and exertions. An increasing population, not to say
an extending empire of free negro subjects, taking
refuge under our laws from their native or their en-
forced homes, is a spectacle sufficient to compensate
for all the costs and ill-successes of our national
generosity.
It is impossible to limit the beneficial
consequences of such a result on both sides of the
Atlantic. The banner of negro liberty, raised by this
empire mnti ay be
Transatlac • bncome the great rallying point for
? dage and African degradation and
disquiet. we
Christendom
thave done more than all the rest of
may still be ou reverse
tovearse " the curse" of Ham, and it
ccomplish that noble design.

NAPOLEON'S '
carried
from 'lttuT
AT;:---- ~,
~
" From the time of my `Jo:um
about nescslcia,"
" I had constantly SUICIDE
said he,
portion of ledpoisonousraY
powder , in a little
silken bag, a
when I was
in
fewahrich Ivan
had prepared by my orders,
carried off by the Cossacks,
to my country ; the events of the life no longer ‘...)f• being
again rendered me master of it the last few du:longed
.so much suffering? and who kn. Why should IYs had
ows that my
endure
not place the crown on the head of my ,n ,death may
was saved—l hesitated no longer, but-1
sp- *e from
bed mixed the poison in a little water, anddrank-oinrny
with a sort of happiness. But time had taken
strength ; fearful pains drew fcrth some groaanwsa); ita
zne ; they were heard, and medical assistance r"a
arrived.
It was not Heaven's will that I should die so soon, SL
Helena was in my destiny !"—Blackwood.
=The Earl of Digby has come forward in the most
munificent manner with the donation of 2,500/. towards
the necessary repair and restoration of the ancient abbey
church at Sherborne, Dorset. The venerable fabric was
founded in 704, andj it is computed that 5,000 L will be
required for its restoration.
We much regret to learn that Mr. Campbell, of
Islay, has been obliged to suspend payment. The amount
of his liabilities we do not know; but we learn that the
Property of the respected gentleman is sufficient ulti-
ltely to discharge all his debts, and leave a very hand-
some reversion.—Scottish Guardian. [Mr. Campbell
was formerly M.P. for Argyllshire.]