The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1839-06-14 00:00:00

- The financial affairs of Chili appear to be in a very
flourishing condition, notwithstanding which we do not
hear of any arrangements being made for paying the
British bondholders.

We have received our files of the Jamaica Royal
Gazette, Despatch, and Standard, to the 25th of April
inclusive. The accounts from the island continue to
be of a gloomy and unfavourable character. The same
difficulty as heretofore continues to be experienced in
getting the negroes to work. It is still found utterly
impossible to prevail upon them to be constant in their
hours of work. They will sometimes perform a day's
labour without any interruption ; but in the great ma-
jority of cases they persist in leaving their work after a
few hours' exertion, and in many instances they will
not work for more than two or three days in the week.
Their wages, where they continued steadily at work,
were from 2s. to 3s. 4d. per day. The interference of
the Baptist agitators is described as the principal ex-
citing cause of the insubordination and indisposition to
labour of the negroes. The intemperate language
employed by these mischief-makers in their harangues
to these deluded labourers has been productive of the
most painful and deplorable consequences. The fol-
lowing extract from a reply to the report on the state
of labour and cultivation in the parish of St. James,
will afford some idea of the violent spirit which actu-
ates the leaders of the sect to which we have alluded.
In accounting fo the diminished amount of labour,
and the decreased number of labourers, they observe
of the females, that " many of these are suffering from
the cruel effects of 81;:very, which have left many of its
victims with incur .41)13 infirmities, disorders, and other
physical disabilities, even among the youthfu! popula-
tion, arising from the bloody lacerations inflicted upon
them by the cart-:vhp and the cat-o'-nine-tails, the bil-
boes, the collars, the dungeons, and other inventions of
torment and tyranny, the result of the genius of slavery."
And then it is asked, " can it be expected that the hor-
rors of slavery should be forgotten in a day—that the
deep wounds inflicted on them could be healed in a
day ? That their many years of unremunerated labour
would never recur to their recollection, and that the
labourers, spaniel-like, would have confidence in, and
show their attachment just in proportion to, the cruelty
to which they have been subjected ?" The employ-
ment of such language, in the present crisis of affairs
in Jamaica, is reprehensible in the highest degree.
These professed "heralds of peace" seem to take de-
light in renewing old feelings of animosity, and in
prompting the labourers to acts of vengeance. Such
conduct is highly inconsistent with the sacred office of
a Christian missionary, whose province it is to repress
rather than to excite a feeling of vindictiveness. In
reference to the specimens of intemperance which we
have quoted the Times very justly remarks,
quite clear that the cultivation of mutual good feeling
between the employers and the labourers can alone
contribute to the welfare of each, and to the prosperity
of the island; but the way to produce a result so de-
sirable is not assuredly by the indulgence of vitupera-
tion and abuse, and the repetition of past grievances,
leading, of course, to mutual exasperation, and widen-
ing the breach instead of healing it." It is our firm
conviction that the principal cause of the continued in-
disposition to labour of the negroes has been the re-
sult of the improper stimulants of the Baptist mission-
aries, and the other agitators who pretend to be the
friends and protectors of the labourers. But for their
injudicious and culpable interference it is probable that
much more work would have been done, and done
cheerfully, than the planters have yet been able to ob
tain from their emancipated apprentices.

" It is

A committee of the Privy douncil of Kingston had
been appointed, to inquire into the issue of small notes,
and whether any laws existed to sanction or prevent
them in Jamaica, as well as to institute a general in-
quiry into the system of banking. From this inquiry
the most beneficial results were anticipated. Great
complaints were made of the multitude of dollar notes
in circulation. The Post-office had refused to take this
description of paper. Silver coin was still very scarce,
and seriods' inconvenience was felt in consequence.
The principal cause of this scarcity is said to be the
habit of hoarding specie contracted by the negroes.
The determination of the Whig ministry to interfere
with the established and recognised constitutional rights
of the island seems to have excited a great sensation in
the colony. Respecting the meditated suspension of
the House of Assembly the Despatch remarks—
" When we consider the faithless and perfidious course
of policy pursued towards the proprietors of this co-

lony, we cannot see a shadow of excuse for the wrongs
they have endured. For no man could have acted more
loyally and generously in conceding all that the nation
required, and sacrificing two-thirds of their lawfully-
acquired property to appease the clamours of a faction.
The proprietary body of the West Indies have humbled
themselves to the dust to gratify the avarice and ambi-
tion of their former slaves, to elevate them to the same
condition as free-born Britons, and to grant them every
constitutional right and privilege. For this noble boon,
they receive neither recompense nor thanks, but the
basest treachery and ingratitude. The minimum of
compensation is curtailed, and, by the juggling of
government agents, they are cheated out of a third of
their due, pledged as the price of concession. At the
very moment they have a fair claim to the redemption
of the pledge, they are officially told—' This perfidy is
not enough; we will likewise deprive you of your
constitutional birthrights—of the charter of your liber-
ties and laws—of the power to protect your personal
privileges and property, or to defend them against law-
less aggression and robbery. You are weak—we are
strong ; and we will use the physical force of a giant
to stifle your groans—to overawe your complaints, and
to destroy your vital existence.' " The arrival of the
next packet from England was looked forward to with
very great interest, as the future prosperity of the co-
lony was considered as depending in a very great degree
upon the arrangements which might be determined
upon by the British legislature. We need scarcely say
that we share in the apprehensions of the planters.

We have been favoured with a copy of the Barba does
Mercury of the 4th of May. This journal contains
some very shrewd remarks on the present position of
the whig ministry. It remarks that " Lord John Rus-
sell is in rather a ticklish situation at present. He is
veering about in the political breeze which is likely to
blow out the Melbourne administration. His lordship
is sore perplexed and very dubious about the course of
policy that may be best pursued, in order to pacify the
clamour which the ministers have raised against them-
selves, and to avert the threatened danger, that within
a very brief period they must bid for ever adieu to
place and power." This is precisely the position of
Lord John Russell and his associates, and how much
longer the same game may continue it is not for us to
predict. With respect to the vote of confidence claimed
by the ministry, in reference to their Irish policy, the
Mercury exclaims—" The bugbear is utterly exploded
—the humbug has worn itself out—and a vote of con-
fidence from the majority of the House of Commons
to the present cabinet would be tantamount to one man
trusting another with his purse, whose character is
proverbially known to be that of a thief. The West
Indians have every reason to join in the cry—'Away
with the Melbourne administration." So think we,
and so thinks every man who has the welfare of his
country at heart.

It appears that sugar-making was proceeding very
slowly in Barbadoes. The labourers were becoming

Callao, taking with him 1,000 men of the garrison,
and leaving Moran to hold the castles with 500 men.
Lafuente, with the combined Chilian and Peruvian
forces, had advanced to Chiquian, 25 leagues south-
east of Yungay, having been to Truxillo, and other
places on the coast, which he had sacked, and from
which he had collected a booty of about 60,000 dol-
lars. With a portion of the troops he was to advance
upon Lima, where Vigil would give him battle, provided
the forces of Lafuente should not exceed 700 strong.
It is said that the people in Chili were in great exulta-
tion on account of this victory, and the government
were determined, it is asserted, to carry on the war, if
necessary, for two years longer. A reinforcement of
2,000 were preparing to be sent to Peru, and more were
to follow.

Santa Cruz attributed his defeat to the treachery of
a general officer, who permitted the enemy to pass a
position which he had been appointed to defend. The
Chilians were in the very centre of the camp of the
hostile army before an individual was aware of their
approach.