The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1852-05-25 00:00:00

JAMAICA.

We receive by the Parana advices from Jamaica
to the 29th of April inclusive. They are of the same
gloomy character as heretofore. The papers, which,
generally speaking, are uninteresting and barren of
news, teem, however, with complaints as to the
wretched condition of the colony.

~
An anti-slavery meeting had been held in the
parish of St. George, at which some excellent reso-
lutions were agreed to.

The black and coloured inhabitants of the parish
of St. James also had a meeting, at which an
address was agreed to to the people of the United
Kingdom, setting forth the misery and destitution
of the inhabitants caused by the working of the
iniquitous Sugar Bill of 1846, and praying the
attention and co-operation of the British public
in endeavouring to procure redress from parliament.
The May season was just setting in ; and, pre-
vious to the sailing of the packet, there had been a
few copious showers of rain. Many of the estates
in the interior had been suffering severely from the
long drought which had been experienced, and the
crops have in consequence been kept hack. On
many properties, which depend on water power for
the taking in of the crop, the canes have actually
rotted after being out—the " dryness of the river,"
as the peasantry say, having prevented the process
of manufacture from going on. We understand,
also, that there has been a serious loss of horned
stock, and that the result of these calamities will
be the exportation of a still more limited quantity
of sugar and rum than was originally anticipated.
Small-pox was fearfully spreading in many parts
of the island, and with increased virulence. Many
deaths had taken taken place, and it was feared that
many more would occur. There was no medical
man to be had, and no board of health formed.
A man, named John Stewart, was hung at
Montego Bay, on the 19th ult., for murder. The
following horrible account of the execution is taken
from the County Union newspaper :
..

"At about five minutes to ten, the wretched man,
accompanied by the cbaplain to the gaol, the Rev. Mr.
Moore, was led out of the condemned cell into the back
part of the gaol yard. He was clad in white, the halter
round his neck, and being taken to the gallows, the
warrant, for his execution was read by the deputy-sheriff,
Mr. Magnus. The chaplain read a portion of the appointed
service, and the culprit, without the slightest hesitation,
walked up the steps, and stood upon the platform which
separated him from eternity. The sheriff asked him if he
wished to say anything, when, in a firm voice, which did
not exhibit the slightest trepidation, he replied, Gentle-
men, I am going to be hung wrongfully ; it is my sweet-
heart and my own son hang me, but never mind.' The
burial service was then commenced, and at a given signal
the platform fell, when horrible to relate, the rope broke,
and he came heavily to the ground.
" The deputy sheriff and his assistants hastened to cut
the rope, which was strangling him, and he came to and
asked for a glass of water, which was handed to him, and
while sitting down until a fresh rope could be procured,
he actually wanted to splice the same rope, and com-
menced doing it. When he was perfectly recovered, the
chaplain, holding in one band a piece of the broken rope,
thus addressed him: Now, John Stewart, God has
spared you a few minutes longer to live : he has respited
you for a short time in order that you may confess your
guilt before you die; what have you to say now ?' The
prisoner with even greater firmness than before, replied :
' Massa, I am not guilty ; for the old man's murder alone
lam not afraid! The fresh rope being adjusted and the
usual formality gone through, the drop fell, and after a
short struggle be quitted this life to meet that Judge from
whom nothing is hid, and who knoweth the hearts and the
secrets of men.

" Thus ended the tragedy of the day."
Respecting the present sugar crop, the Cornwall
Chronicle says :
" We have to state, with great concern, that the pre-
sent crop in most of the properties in this parish will fall
far, very far short of the estimates formed at its com-
mencement. A variety of circumstances have occurred to
operate this serious falling off. Sickness, small-pox,
drought, and last, though not least, the increase of rats
on some, if not on all properties, especially where water-
courses run through them. Some have fallen short one-
third, ant: some, with the low state of the markets. will
barely pay their expenses. If a remission of duties—a
total remission, to keep us from being swamped by slave-
grown sugar—be not determined upon, famine, or some-
thing like it, must be looked for, without the prospect or
means of preparation. The great additional island ex-
penditure of Jamaica for cholera and small-pox purposes,
and other matters over which we could have no controul,
ought to arouse the people of England to our destitute
condition."