The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1838-10-19 00:00:00

judgment and costs ? Half a dozen examples thus
made would do more good in buinginc, the people to
their senses than all the wheedling and coaxing in the
world. Surely the law, making three months' notice
necessary, could not have contemplated Ihe boon or
gift of our houses and land for that space of time. If
it did, the principle is established, and the vested rights
of property are no where. Surely the same power
that can take away three months can deprive alto-
gether..

"In this parish every man seems to vie with his
neighbour in boasting of the numbers at work, and all
sorts of untruths are bruited abroad respecting the
modus operandi—each, of course, trying to outvie his
neighbour, not in good management, but in good
boasting. lam sure out of 16,000 labourers there are
not 300 at work in field labour throughout this parish.
Plans vary; at some estates Friday is given, and
about sd. worth of labour obtained. At other places
Is. Bd. per day is given, and little more work exacted.
That sugar can be profitably made under either of
these plans is out of the question. Day labour will
not answer ; pay the highest wages for good work,
and encourage the labourers to do three times what
they used to do, and exact full rent for houses, grounds,
pasturage, &c. The peasantry would then know what
they were about, and the planter would only pay for
work performed ; each party would be satisfied, and it
would be the interest of the labourer• to identify him-
self with the work of the property, never to leave it.
However, the big wigs will it otherwise; and so long
as the wiseacres at home deem the non-possession of
two ideas to be one of the essentials necessary to qua-
lify a man for the management of property and unli-
mited sway in the adjustment of matters of vital im-
portance to this colony, so long must Jamaica go head-
long to destruction. Scarce a big wig in this coun-
try now attempts to arrange the commonest domestic
affairs of an estate without a consultation with the sec-
tarian parson, and to talk of wages without reference
to the priesthood of the question. Tempora
fur,
A letter from the parish of St. Elizabeth has the fol-
lowing language :—" As the Governor is decidedly
deaf to all complaints or reports made to him by a
proprietor, be he ever so respectable; and perfectly
blind to the infamous breaches of the peace now being
committed by " armed bodies of negroes"—deceived,
headed, and goaded on by that vile incendiary Knibb;
so is he miserably lame in the few communications he
has condescended to make on subjects of vital import-
ance to the country, in our present distracted state.
The madman Courtney (alias Thorn) was proceeded
against ere he had committed the fiftieth part of the
atrocities already perpetrated by this Baptist villain,
whose public acknowledgments are alone sufficient to
prove that he is handsomely paid for his efforts to raise
a second rebellion. I say second, because none will
deny that Birchall and himself originated the last. It
seems the '• Star Chamber is retired ;" and magis-
trates are now absolutely afraid or disinclined, in many
cases, to do their duty, lest a quiet supersedeas should
be their reward. Why is Knibb amenable only to a
special commission, more than any other individual ?
His crime is against the state, as well as against ca-
nonical laws. He excites her Majesty's liege subjects
to rebellion ; and appears abroad with thousands of
them armed, ready to commit any overt and desperate
act ;—whereas the maniac Courtney did not muster
one hundred. He encourages their diabolical threats,
to make Jamaica a second St. Domingo ; and 3-et he
remains at large, and unmolested. It will not end
here!!! If not immediately checked, a few weeks will
bring the worst.

"You have taken great pains to act up to your
motto, in publishing various reports of the state of the
labouring classes in different parishes—and have there-
by gained much credit; but let your readers bear in
mind, that some of these reports have been furnished
by canters, Flacamen, and aspirants to government
favor. Now, boldly and fearlessly to speak the truth,
there is not in this extensive parish one single pro •
perty, where the people who ought to work a limited
time in payment for houses, grounds, have turned
out ! r!
"I assert this without fear of contradiction, having
instituted the strictest investigation, and know what
I state to be a fact. You may hear a person say—
,' Oh ! yes, my people are at work !" Press him
closely, and you'll find that where he formerly had 25
in the field, he now has 7 or 8. The wife will not.
work, and the husband pretends he does not live on
your property ; but he comes every night clandestinely
and feeds from it—consequently works out for hire,
and you thus lose two.

"To prove these remarks, a few cases on one pro-
perty will suffice. I have in charge a small plantation,
on which were 16 apprentices previously to the Ist of
August. Mark the deficiency !
"No. I. A man, has a ~wife on next property ; he
works abroad, but maintains a right to his property
here.

"No. 2. A ditto, gone off altogether; nothing
wrong in this, as I never see him.

" No. 3. A ditto, will not work, will not quit;
smokes and struts about all day.

"No. 4. A man, says lie has hired h;mself else-
where ; but still terrains here, doing no work, and
refuses to give up his house, &c., till Ist November.
"No. 5. A lad, supposed to be gone away, but is
occasionally seen here ; no doubt for provisions.
"No. 6. A woman, worked at odd jobs up to 31st
July ; refuses to do anything at all, and states, that
as her Saviour has taken her out of bondage, she will
live here as long as she likes. She walks almost every
Sunday from five to six miles to chapel, and returns
in the afternoon.

"No. 7. A man did nothing for the last four or five
months, as he kept his sores open ; everything is now
healed, and he is as fat as a pig—but refuses to work,
and holds his ground, &c.
"No. 8. A woman, with a sore leg, used to shell
corn, weed, &c., &c., up to the 31st July ; but will not
now think of doing anything for

"Independent of all this (from which I cannot re-
lieve mvself,) three women have their husbands here,
who live on the property, work the land, and hire them
selves elsewhere. • They sleep here every night, and
sometimes bring their horses ;—also, one man has his
wife and children here, and he only turns out two days
in each week. This gentleman keeps a filly, and some-
imesgoes to work with a fowling piece on his shoulder;
during the latter days of the week he carries it to his
ground. I now muster only seven,including a washer-
woman, field cook, and an old fellow, who repairs walls.
The other (to make up 10) is denominated a w atchm an ;
and has nothing to watch but his own grounds, as I
plant nothing now for them to steal. lam waiting to
see if any redress will he afforded by circulars and or-
ders, or in any other shape to improve this system. If
not, 1 shall certainly try some of those cases, in spite
of the special spies around us ;—for, be it known to
my countrymen, that those retained, now hold that en-
viable office, if we may judge, by a remark which fell
from one of them not long since, and which ivas as fol-
lows, viz.—` I should be sorry, Mr. , to hare
such a case /9 report to the Governor Let every per-
son draw his own conclusion."

From the parish of Ann's we hear—" Nothing is
doing here ; the people refuse to work at ss. per week,
with houses, grounds, and gardens, and other indulgen-
cies. I have been obliged to hire people, (strangers
to th►e property, to pick one crop of pimento, at ss. per
bushel.) Will you credit it, that yesterday, some vil-
lains, circulated a report amongst the pickers, that time
Governor had ordered the police to scour the pimento
walks in this parish, and to flog every one they found
at work picking pimento at ss. per bushel—the evil is
considerable. His Excellency has much to answer for
unless he steps for ward and vindicates the character he'
bears, and puts the labourers in the right way of doing
what is just and right, otherwise lie shall carry his grey
hairs to the grave with sorrow and dishonour."
A correspondent in Trelawny says—" This parish
has been, and is in a miserable state occasioned by the
agitation of the Baptists, and one of the Stipendiary
Magistrates of the name of Lyon, who have been ad-
vising the labourers to demand more wages than the
proprietors can afford. It is a pity that the proprietors
in England do not exert themselves and demand the
dismissal of the Stipendiary Magistrates, or most of
them."

A letter from St. Andrews, dated August 30, says—
"We can't get the people out in this quarter. Mount
Dakins offered a mac a bushel to pick coffee, as it was
dropping off the trees, but they refused. Hermitage
(Spalding's) offered a mac a day, with house and
ground, but they will not take it. What can the Go-
vernor be thinking of ? Is he being gulled by the abo-
minable lies of the " West Indian" and "Colonial
Freeman ?" We see those ruinous papers occasion-
ally. They (the labourers) promise me tairly enough,
but will not fulfil those promises. No property can
afford more than Is. in this quarter, with house and
ground, and many must be entirely thrown up, as they
cannot afford sd. lam certain the proprietors in this
district are ALL ruined. The Governor, they say, has
told them to wait patiently till he gets an answer from
the Queen, who will fix a scale of wages for them. I
can't get hands to pick last year's crop in the store,
nor to pick the ripe in the fields; and the grass is
higher than the trees—a pretty prospect for the crops
of the next two or three vears."

Again, in the Gazette of the Bth ult., a correspond-
ent from Manchester writes as follows :—" I have
waited in hopes to inform you that the people in this
part of the parish had at length resumed labour; but
they have not yet dune so for their late masters on any
property I know of.
"My own people will pay no rent in any way for the
three months—saying the Governor told them so at
Penis. I think it would be better were the Governor
to issue a proclamation to undeceive them, and have it
forwarded to every local magistrate i❑ every parish
that are known to be loyal men, and no agitators;
then, and only then, would the people be made ac-
quainted with the truth, without unfair comment.

"As the Governor could not be distinctly heard in
addressing so large a body of negroes, with what fa-
cility they perverted the words, " that several gentle-
men of the parish did not intend to charge any rent for
houses and ground for three months," into—that none
were to pay rent for that lime. I was not aware of
the intended visit, though my constables were, and
two of them went. If all the gentlemen, magistrates,
did agree to give up three months rent, several, I
know, must have changed their intentions in a very
short time. One offered his people a dollar a barrel
to pick coffee; another or two five shillings, and fire
shillings and tenpence. This may tend to injure

others. Will it benefit either themselves or the ne-
groes ? No. One had 80 apprentices, and may pro-
bably make five tierces coffee ! One hundred dollars
to be divided among 80 people in a crop! Can that
be an inducement for them to work at home, and pay
40 dollars per week for rent ? Two other properties,
with about 160 people, making perhaps 25 tierces, or
320 barrels, at ss.—£Bo in four months. Will it pay
their rent ? If these gentlemen have agreed to forego
their rent, I commend them for it ; as Ido not other-
wise see how they can retain their people.
"There are many other properties in this district
similarly situated,—they cannot, therefore, afford to
hire, cultivation only being kept up to the extent of the
labour for rent—say two days work in each week. To
show that high wages, where small crops are made, has
only a temporary effect where labourers are abundant.
Although my own people will not work, more people
apply to me front the neighbouring properties than I
can employ, and actually pick my coffee for 3s. 4d. per
barrel ; although they cannot earn more than Is. 3d.
to Is. Bd. each. This exhibits one trait of the negro
character, viz., their aversion to refund anything in the
shape of rent, as they would rather work for me for
10d. or 15d. per day, than Is. Bd. at home, and pay
rent. My own people are doing the same, when they
can get work, or set down if they cannot."
In St. Elizabeth's, on estates, it is worse. You will
see on one, with 3 or 400 people on it, a small part of
one cane-piece cleaned, apparently done by one family,
since the Ist of August. On another of same magni-
tude, 3 or 4 acres cleaned—on others, of 150 to 200
people, about the same quantity cleaned. It is truly
distressing to see such Princely fortunes going so fast
to destruction. If his Excellency does not exert him-
self to stop it, no means will be left to pay any wages;
and their freedom will be a curse, instead of a blessing,
and ruin to nearly all connected with them. Excuse
this one rem irk, which I hope you will take in good
part. Old people are apt to turn stubborn, when urged
too much; and like the pig, go the way they should
not. Perhaps your frequent severe remarks on Sir
Lionel may defeat your patriotic intentions. The old
gnarled oak cannot be bent like the Sapling."
Respecting the conduct of the the Governor the same
journal has the following remarks :—As some individu-
als have expressed an opinion that some of our remarks
upon his Excellency the Governor have been so severe
and caustic, we think we may now safely refer to his
proceedings at Dunsinane on Thursday as affording
ample proof of the correctness of our conduct.

If 'his Excellency can advance into the interior of
the country, and, before large bodies of people, insult
respectable proprietors, by declaring that their object
was to reduce the value of property to enable them to
speculate at other men's expense—if he ungenerously
and untruly asserts that white men adopting the garb
of policemen, are hired for the like purposes, to mix
amongst the negroes, and set them by the ears,—then
do WE assert the right of exposing and denouncing the
mischievous tendency of the Governor's conduct."

The Jamaica Dispatch, of the 10th ultimo, contains
the following strong remarks, which, are, neverthe-
less, justified by the actual circumstances of the
planters :—" It is quite clear to us, that the proprie-
tors of this colony will never be relieved from the sys-
tem of misrule and agitation by which they are op.
pressed, until they form within themselves a combined
phalanx to protect their own rights, property, and in-
dependence.

It is in vain to concede—in vain to conciliate.
Their generosity only provokes fresh aggression, and
the hypocrites to whom they have yielded every thing
—the serpents whom they have fostered on the very
hearth stone, wish to beard them on the threshold, and
to fasten their venomous stings in the very heart's
blood of the benefactors who warmed them into anima-
tion and life.
" Henceforth let the maxim of the colonists be—
"charity begins at home." Let them beware how
they injure themselves to serve an enemy. No more
hospitality ! No more generous contributions for
snakes who sting the hands from which they are re-
ceived. If such wretches had been treated as they are
in Great Britain—left to work for their bread and
maintain themselves—their power of doing mischief
would have been nipped in the bud. But the open
unsuspecting generosity of the West India colonists
has laid them bare to treachery and ingratitude. They
have hitherto been made victims ; and it is now time
they should make an effort to cast off the thraldom.
They have strangled the cant cry of slavery for ever.
Let them now assert the independent rights of free-
born men, to drive out their tyrants and oppressors—
to relieve themselves from hireling spies and domestic
robbers; and all the factious tribe of mercenary syco-
phants who infest the land. If we are to pay function-
aries, let it be a parliamentary defender to re-echo the
cry of "justice" for the oppressed, the loyal, and
free sons of Jamaica!! !"

We cordially echo the demand, and trust that a
conser vat ive administration will shortly have it in their
power to render "Justice to Jamaica."

LIVERPOOL SOCIETY FOR RECLAIMING UNFORTU-
NATE FEMALES.—We rejoice to find that a society un
der this denomination has been recently formed in thi
town, and cordially hope that the promoters of so ex
cellent an in.titution will meet with success in carry
ing their praiseworthy intentions into effect. No ade
plate efrols have been hitherto made for reclaiming
from their evil courses those unhappy females who
are now found infesting our streets, alluring to de-
struction thousands of our youths. It is true that the
"Female Penitentiary" has afforded refuge to numbers
of these unfortunate creatures, who have been lcd, by
the compunctious visitings of conscience, to seek an
asylum within its walls. Bet something more than
this has been long wanting. This society proposes to
seek out and to induce abandoned females to avail them-
selves of an opportunity for returning into the paths
of virtue. The general plan and objects of the society
will be found amply detailed in the advertisement,
which will be found in another page, and to which we
would earnestly direct the attention of the christian
public. It is to be hoped that ample funds will be
placed at the disposal of the committee, to enable them
to prosecutetheir benevolent labours with success. We
feel assured that christian liberality cannot be directed
to a more praiseworthy object.

MR. ASHTON YATES AND HIS TIPPERARY FRIENDS.
—The popularity-hunting wight who has exchanged.
the peaceful retirement of the Dingle for the bogs of
Tipperary, and, for the sake of shining as a senator,
has consented to become a joint of O'Connell's caudal
extremity, is now seeking to emulate his great master
in the epistolary way. Having failed in attracting
any notice in the House of Commons, and feeling
chagr toed at the neglect of his liberal friends in not
rewarding him with official promotion, as a recom-
pense for the large pecuniary sacrifices which he has
made in seeking to promote their interests, be now
has recourse to the expedient of trying to establish
his fame as an accomplished " letter- writer." We are
sorry to inform him that, from the specimens which
have come under our notice, he enjoys but a very
sorry chance of posthumous fame. His effusions have
one quality which cannot fail to secure the contempt
of the public—they are pervaded by a reckless disre-
gard of truth. In his wilful exaggerations and his
gross misrepre4entations he certainly has succeeded in
rivalling his mendacious patron : hut as he lacks the
talent to clothe his multifarious fictions in the garb of
poetry—as his sophistries are too transparent to de-
ceive even the most ignorant—we cannot assure him
that his celebrity will ever be equal to that of Junius.
It appears that Mr. Ashton Yates recently addressed
a letter to the Spectator, in defence of his conduct as
an Irish member, upon which the editor of that tho-
roughly " honest and independent" radical journal
made sundry slashing anti severe remarks. In answer
to these castigatory observations he has indited ano-
ther prosy epistle to the same paper. We never have
seen so many untruths crowded together in the same
compass before, as we have discovered in this letter.
As we do not wish to be personally offensive we shall
not characterise the numerous misrepresentations of
facts contained in Mr. Ashton Yates' letter by their
proper name. We shall, therefore, classify them un-
der the denomination of "things which are not," of
which the following are undoubted specimens :-
1. That the peasants of Borrisokane, under the old tory
regime, when gathered together at fair or funeral, were shot
like dogs—with impunity—on the slightest pretext.
2. That they—the peasants—could get no justice in those
days.

: That in Tipperary farmers are every week turned out
of their holdings, on account of having voted for the liberal
members.

4. That the conduct of the landlords in that county is
the great cause of the disturbances which exist there.
5. That he himself has seen a poor farmer on his way to
shoot his landlord, because he had no redress by law—but
was prevented by his priest.
6. That he has himself seen many of these peasantry
scooping out an abode, like beavers, in the side of a barren
hill, with nothing but the sand to lie on and the sods of heath
to form a covering.

7. That the peasantry were goaded to rebellion in 98, in
order to accomplish the Union.
S. That he, Mr. Ashton Yates, did not become connected
with the county of Carlow by virtue of any negotiation with
Mr. O'Connell.

9. That it is safe for any man (except, of course, a member
or favourer of the predial conspiracy) to sleep in the county
Tipperary with his doors unbarred—safer than in many parts
of England : and
10. That if English gentlemen of fortune, who are em-
ploying their money yin wild schemes and adventures at
home, would visit these parts of Ireland, and make them.
selves acquainted with the real state of the country and the
character of the people, they would see the wisdom of pur-
chasinv land and coining to settle upon and improve it! !
11. That a purer election never took place than that of the
county of Carlow; and that if the freeholders of the Engltsh
counties were as independent, honest, and incorruptible as
they, (Otery. who ?) they (the Irish, we presume) would not
now be in the critical state in which they were.
12. That he is in every sense as independent of Mr.
O'Connell as he was in 1832.

This is a tolerable quantity of mistatements for a
s:ngle epistle. As we said before, we shall not have
recourse to a harsher phraseology in describing them
than the one which we have adopted. Let our readers
apply the proper term.
As an illustration of the statement upon which Mr.
Aston Yates has ventured in reference to the present
condition of Tipperary we have the following pithy
paragraph in the Dublin Evening Mail of Wednes-
day last. Speaking of the Gazette our contemporary
remarks—" Our Marquizzical contemporary of Tues•
day proclaims only one—new murder, two cases of at-
tacks on dwelling. houses by armed parties, accompa-