The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1840-04-17 00:00:00

THE STATE OF JAMAICA.

(Prom the Jamaica Standard.)
We have refrained from saying much of late upon the state
or prospects of agriculture in this and the neighbouring
parishes, in the hope that my letting the subject rest awhile,
we might, when next resuming it, have occasion to speak
more favourably than we have hith...rto been in the habit of
doing. We regret to say, however, that these our expec-
tations have been but very slightly realiszed ; and that were
we to wait until we had decidedly good news to report, we
much fear that even the most patient of our readers would
turn away exhausted. The month of February has arrived,
which used formerly to be considered in this parish the second
month of harvest, and in Hanover, Westmoreland, &c., more
generally the third ; but now, it is a rare thing to hear of
any estate having " gone about," and still more rare to learn
that it is with any certainty either of continuing uninterrupt-
edly, or even making such a crop as shall leave anything to
the proprietor. The exceptions to this rule are few, and
cannot influence the general features. Next comes the ques-
tion—Why this backwardness in commencing crop ? We
answer—From the unwillingness of the labourer to accept
any terms but those of his own naming, and which are gene-
rally so unreasonable that it becomes a serious matter of
consideration with the planter whether it would not be just
as profitable to let the canes rot on the ground, or eat them
down with the cattle! And here, again, the still unsettled
rent question lends its aid in promoting discord ; and many
who were even partially paying it beforehand, now refuse to
do so during crop, or else demand to be paid such extra
wages as would far more thau cover the amount of rent
claimed. On a variety of estates, in one district, for instance,
there was a general strike about a fortnight ago, because the
masters would not accede to their proposals of being paid
half a dollar each for a task, which one and all could accom-
plish easily between sunrise and 10 or 11 o'clock in the foie-
noon, thus enabling as many as chose, to make a dollar a day,
by working only nine hours, independent of any other con-
sideration of "liquor," profits of provision-grounds, &c.
&c. Whether these terms have been acceded to, we have
not yet heard ; but in the meantime, of course, the canes are
spoiling, as well as the prospects for next year materially
suffering. Where the labourers are more left to themselves,
however, and less misled by bad advice, they are receiving
from a maccaroni to four bits for the same task, and perform-
ing it cheerfully ' - but these cases, as we before observed, are
unfortunately the exception as yet, and not the rule.
Again, with respect to the crops themselves, there seems
to be but one opinion, that in the aggregate, each parish will
again fall off, if not a third, at least one-fourth, even of last
year's miserable deficiency,—and this ari..sing wholly from the
want of labour during the last year ; for in respect to " sea-
sons," it is universally admitted they have been admirable,
and that to these may be attributed, through the blessing of
Providence, the fact that our crops are even such as they
are.

LORD STANLEY'S BILL.—Mr. John Gibson, " registering
barrister for the Crown," has been sent down on a " forlorn
hope," from the Castle, to swamp the conservative franchise
in the borough of Belfast. Whether the learned gentleman
will " go the whole hog" for his employers remains to be
seen ; but certain it is, that the anxiety of the government is
great to procure those two seats. In appointing a Roman
Catholic barrister to the county of Antrim, they supposed
their object
.would have been attained, and, arguing upon
analogy, their expectations were justified ; but in their for-
mer nomination they reckoned without their host, for Mr.
Baldwin proved to be a conscientious judge and a high-mind-.
ed gentleman, discharging his functions according to law (of
which he possesses a competent knowledge), and not, as a
political partisan, to meet the views of a political party. Jus-
tice is all the conservatives seek or ask. a'he very basis of
Lord Stanley's bill rests upon this principle. It attempts to
curtail no man's right—if he have a right—but is calculated
to defeat fraudulent and fictitious claims, whenever set up ;
and for this we are threatened with a rebellion, and an arma-
ment of 3,000,000 of teetotallers or ribandmen, or any other
name under which, as insurgents, such a body choose to fight.
—Dublin &ming Mail.