The Sun.
London, England, 1841-05-12 00:00:00

EVENING EDITION.

NEGRO EMAN( IPA.' lON.

• •
The intense interest felt is the negro em4nci-
pation question through _the United Stat 'Ten'
ders the opinion of its observant I,hilanthropists
well deserving of attention from British Aboli-
tionists. The part taken by the eloquent „Dr.
Charming is well known. From a tract, by Jinn,
entitled Emancipation," published at Boston,
U.S., in November last, we take the following
remarks, accasioned by Mr. J. Gurney's 44 Let-
ters" :•-• •

" What matters it that the staples of the West Indies are
diminished? Do the people there starve? Ale they driven
bs want to robbery? ti6:s the negro passed from the banes
of the overseer into those of the hangman? We learn fruit
Mr. Gurney that the prophecies of ruin to the West Indies
are fulfilled chiefly in regard to the prsons. hose are
in some places falling to decay, and everywhere have fewer
inmates. And what makes this result more striking is, .that
since emancipation, many offences formerly punished sum-
marily by the maser on the plantation, now fall under the
cognizance of the Magis; rate, and are, of course, punisliabir by
imprisonment. Do the freed slaves want clothing ? Do rag!.
form the standard of emencilation ? We hear not only of
decent apparel, but are told that cegro vanity, hardly suri,a,se"
by that of the white dandy, suffers nothing for want .or de-
coration or fashionable. attire. There is nut a sign dat the
people fare the worst for freedom. Enough
.is prodUced
to give subsistence to an improved and cheerful .populatkall
and what more can we desire In our symi athy
the rich proprietor, shall we complain of a change tehie"
has secured to every man his rights, and to thou'
sands, once trodd, n under foot, the comforts of life and the
means of intellectual and moral progress ? Is it nothing that
the old unfurnished hut of the slave is in many spots giving
place to the comfortable cottage? Is it nothing that in theme
cottages marriage is an indisoluble tie?—that the mother
presses her child to her heart as indeed her own ? Is it nothing
that churches are springing up, not from the donations of the
opulent, but from the hard earnings of the religious poor?
What if a few owners of sugar estates export less than for-
merly ? Are the many always to be sacrificed to the feu??
Suppose the luxuries of the splendid mansion to be retrenched,
Is it no compensation that the comforts of the labourer,
hut are increased? Emancipation was resisted on the ground
that the slave, if restored to his rights, would fall into
idleness and vagrancy, and even relapse into barbarism. But
the emancipated negro discovers no indifference to the comfort'
of civilized life. kie has wants various enough to keel) hint
in action. His standard of living has risen. He &sit-es $
better lodging, Tress, and food. lie has begun, too, to l/aifg
for accumulation. As Mr. Gurney says, "he understands nis
interests as well as a Yankee." He is more likely to fall into
the civilized mart's cupidity than into the sloth and filth of*
savage. Is it an offset for all these benefits that the Custorn-
house r eports a diminution of the staples of slavery ?
W hat a country most needs is, not an increase of its eV,
ports, but the well.being of all classes of its popeationrand.
especialli of the most numerous class; and these things are it
one and the same. It is a striking fact, that while the export
of the emancipated islands have decreased, the imports are
greater than before. In Jamaica, during slavery, the indtisti
of the labourers was given chiefly to a stalk, which was sent !'s
absentee proprietors, who expended the proceeds very Muth in
a luxurious lie in England. At present not a little of this in'
dustry is employed on articles of subsistence and comfort (4 thie
working class and their families; and, at the same time, such
an amount of labour is sold by this class to the planter, and se
fast are they acquiring a taste for better modes of living, that
they need and can pay for great impoi is from the mother eon'
try. Surely, when we see the fruits of industry diffusing
themselves more and more through the mass of the communitit;
finding their way to the very hovel, and raising the multito
of men to new civilization and self-respect, we cannot grilee
much, even though it should appear that on the a hole t"
amount of exports or even of products is decreased."