The Sun.
London, England, 1835-10-16 00:00:00

Tilt stJN,

against placing any reliance on it. Nothing is more
easy than to make stroll laws—nothing inure difficult
than to render them effective. If, as the enactment of
such laws would imply, the negro is deficient in those
feelings and qualities which characterize the white man,
hoiv will they be made to bear upon him ? In no
other way that we can see than by a return to the cart
whip, with all its brutalizing consequences.
But whatever be the restili et the treat experimei;t
now going on in tfito-vv ‘2,'.terii World, die coidsd Cc; 1.7 e
pursued by the linters is plain. It is obviously their
best policy, were e'very other consideration laid aside,
to co-operate hearlil'j with the Government in amelio-
rating the moral state of the negro. That much has
already been done towards the accomplisbinent of this
great end we fear cannot be asserted with truth. But
with zeal and good faith much may ho done even in
a short time. And among the first and most miportant
of the means necessary, in our opinion, to lay the foun-
dation of negro improvement, is the residence of the
proprietors. If the non-residence of the landed pro-
prietors has contributed so much to barbarize Ireland,
what unspeakable mischief must the same cause have
produced where the proprietor of the land was also the
proprietor of its cultivator—of the human being who
was ".yoked with the brutes, and fzgered to the soil ?''
This Mr. INN ES justly considers one of the principal
evils in the present system, and his remarks deseive the
most serious attention of all West India landholders:—
. The two leading evils of this island are (says he), ab-
senteeism, and what may he termed a monopoly of attor-
ships ;—these place the negroes at a distance from those to
whom they ought to be able to look as their best friends.
There are whole parishes with scarcely a resident proprietor
of magnitude ; and in an examination into the working of
the apprenticeship which took place before a Committee of
the House of Assembly, in November last, it will be seen,
by the Parliamentary papers, that one gentleman was exa-
mined who had forty-eight estates, with a population of
about 10,000, under his charge. Another witness had
charge of twenty-nine estates (besides one of his own), with
from 7to 8,000 apprentices. When the size and popula-
tion of estates are considered, it will be obvious that only
a nominal superintendence can be exercise~ by such attor-
neys, even when the properties are contiguous but that
when they are scattered, as is frequently the case, In: one
n
not gifted with übiquity, can even go through the form of
attending to many of the important duties of an attorney.
There are instances of estates upwards of 100 miles distant
from each other being under the same attorney ; and 100
miles here, considering the climate, roads, and modes of
conveyance, are equal to 200 miles in England.
" To these combined evils of absenteeism and attorney-
ship-monopoly, may be traced much of what is distressing
and alarming in the present position of affairs. But for
absenteeism, it is impossible that the negroes should not
have advanced further than they have done in civilization.
Had a proprietor resided on each estate, he would have
found it for his interest and comfort to be surrounded by
persons who could read, and understand the duties of so-
cial life ; he would have studied to enlighten those on whom
his own comfort so much depended, and with whom he
must be in daily intercourse. Attorneys, whose visits arc
necessarily short, suffer little or no personal inconvenience
from the ignorance of the negroes, with whom they rarely
come in contact, their communications being principally
with the overseer. [Overseers in Jamaica are the same as
managers, and book-keepers the same as overseers, in the
other colonies.] Overseers are so engrossed by their daily
laborious occupations, that they have no time to bestow on
the mental improvement of those under them ; and the
book-keepers are too subordinate to interfere. Thus, with
few exceptions—[l could name some planters who have
provided for the moral and religious instruction of their
negroes on the most liberal scale]—.the daily business of
the estates of absentees proceeds without instruction form-
ing any part of it ; and the negroes are without a family at
their head by whose example they might profit. In one of
the parishes I visited, the time was in the recollection of
one of the residents when about forty close carriages were
seen every Sunday taking families to church ; whereas there
are now only two such carriages in the parish, the other
families having deserted the island. In some large districts
it is uncommon to meet with a married man of influence.
In such a state of society it would be unnatural to expect
a high moral tone, or much regard to external religious ob-
servances. Indeed, where there is not ready access to the
society of amiable females of education, indifference to our
higher duties will ever be soon found to prevail. Almost
every man I conversed with deplored the state of society ;
and expressed anxiety for its improvement : but too many
have entanglements in which they have been involved, in
opposition to their judgment, to be able to set the example
they desire with effect ; and therefore the amelioration will
be a work of time, and must be founded on the introduc-
tion of married families, and encouragement of married
men in every department. Hitherto marriage has been an
obstacle, if not an insuperable bar, to employment as over-
seers and book-keepers. Hereafter, I trust, it will be made
the reverse, consistently with the interest of employers."
The length to which we have unconsciously ex-
tended our remarks prevents us from giving some other
interesting extracts from Mr. IN NEs'S pamphlet to-day,
but we shall return to the subject in a day or two.