The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1838-09-21 00:00:00

work, and the demand for a high rate of wages upon
which some of them insist, under the instructions 01
their pretended friends, we find a very excellent sum-
mary of news in the Times of Tuesday last. That
journal treats of this subject in the following terms
"Jamaica was in a state of some excitement, mote
particularly on the north side, through the disinclina-
tion of the negroes to work, and disputes with their
masters about the rate of wages to be paid in future
since the total emancipation on the Ist. A great deal
of coffee was ready for picking, but likely to be lost,
it was said, from want of hands. The strike about
wages seemed to be almost general in that district,
and some Baptist ministers were loudly accused, it
may be hoped on report only, of being the instigators
of the blacks, two of them being named as having
used very strong and exasperating languages in their
discourses, advising the negroes to "let the canes rot
upon the field, and the ships go home in ballast,"
sooner than take less than 2•. 6d. a-day; and one of
them was said to have "dared his hearers to lift a hoe"
under that sum. On the south side of the island, and
to windward, the agitation was not so conspicuous, but
there was an almost total cessation from labour. The
domestic negroes in• the towns, or non-predials, were
stated to be equally indolent and ungrateful in their
demeanour towards their masters."

Respecting the other colonies, the same journal re-
marks:—" The accounts from Barbados to the 12th
ult., and from Demerara to the 28th of July, are much
of the same tenour with respect to the diScontented
and even threatening aspect of the enfranchised black
population. It .had been judged expedient in Jamaica
to publish an act passed in February last for the sup-
pression of riots and seditious meetings, but not pre-
viously made known, enforcing certain penalties of
transportation where twelve or more persons should
continue assembled after due warning and reading the
act by the authorities On the question of wages, the
planters themselves appear to be greatly undecided,
and differ widely with respect to the rate of wages to
be offered. In Demerara, the wages variously pro•
posed as a standard rate range from three dollars to
eight dollars per month, with allowance as usual, or
according to a certain scale of food, lodging, clothing,
and medical assistance. In one instance a planter
proposed to pay ten dollars per month for the old scale
of nine hours daily work, with a house for each family,
as much land as could be cultivated in the extra time,
and medical attendance for every effective labourer.
Payment proportionate to be made fur extra or over-
hours work, with deductions in the same ratio when-
ever the work performed shall fall short of the agree-
ment. The Trinidad papers are to the Bth of August.
The termination of the apprenticeship took place there
on the Ist, according to the. decision of the council.
adverted to on a former occasion, and was celebrated,
as in the other colonies, as a day of thanksgiving.
The negroes, so far, according to the papers, had not
shown any particular spirit of insubordination. Some
animadversions are made on the conduct of the govern-
ment, which, only one week before the emancipation
was decreed, had issued a proclamation to the negroes,
enjoining obedience to the apprenticeship law until its
expiration in 1840. The general rate of wages agreed
upon in Trinidad was 3s. per day, with the usual al-
lowance of salt fish, a house, and ground for the culti
vation of provisions. It is proper to add, howe%er,
that private letters do not speak so favourably of the
conduct of the emancipated apprentices. " From the
Ist to the morning of the sth of August," says one of
these, " scarcely a sufficient number of persons, could
be got to procure grass for the stot•k on some estates
at Naparima." On several
.estates none went to
work in the fields., Some of those return ed from cocoa
to sugar cultivation were returning by gangss-to their
old quarters. Many large properties were said to re-
main without labourers, and a great falling off in Fro
duction was anticipated."
" From Grenada, on the 9th and 11th of August, it
is stated in pi vat-, setters that no disposition to work
was evinced by the negroes, and that eleven days had
already been spent in idleness. These accounts it
may be hoped are somewhat exaggerated, so far as the
apprehensions expressed for the future, by the feats
and anxieties of the writers, not, under the circum-
stances, unaccountable. It may be loped that after a
short time the excitement natural on passing from a
state of qualified slavery to one of entire freedom may
wear off, and that the exercise of good temper and
sound discretion on the part of the planters may bring
about a more harmonious agreement about the rate of
wages and the hours of work, which will be, no doubt,
the sorest part of the subject. In several cases, where
the negroes had refused to work at all in Jamaica,
they still retained, and insisted on retaining, posses-
sion of their houses and grounds, under some mis-
taken notion of right. But when they shall be unde-
ceived, it is probable that, rather than quit, they will
be the more readily disposed to come to terms with
their old masters."

The Times of Wednesday has the following further
remarks on the same subject :—" From the deep in-
terest naturally attaching to the state of the West
India colonies at the moment when the late accounts
came away, and the communication to-day of a variety
of private and confidential correspondence from several
of the islands, a recurrence to the subject may not be
unseasonable. It may- be observed, that accounts
from different islands not only differ from each other
in various particulars, but even the• same difference
exists in letters written from distinct localities in the
same island. The individual character of the planters
and the more or less degree of harshness with which
the negroes have been formerly treated in their capa•
cities as slaves or apprentices must, of course, exer-
cise no inconsiderable influence upon their present
and future conduc►. The mere unwillingness to set
to work in the first days of their delivetance from
bondage ought not to create surprise, much less alarm ;
in that respect they are acting only “like, overgrown
children," whose school days are over, to whom holy-
days are a novelty, having become their own masters
for the first time, with no possible curb to reduce then)
to working discipline but that necessity which is the
only certain inducement to industry with the people of
all countries and colours. Under the actual circum-
stances of the negoes, it would appear to be only a
question therefore of somewhat more time. Some
not-unaccountable misconceptions were cur rent among
them, which might serve also to retard an adjUstment
of working contracts, for the
_negroes believed that if
they went into the fields and resumed work they would
be bound in another al prenticeship for seven years.
This arose, no doubt, from the fact, vaguely under
stood, that once having contracted with the planters
for a price and a period specified, they could be com-
pelled'by summary process to fulfil the stipulation,
which, with their confined views of the nature of a
legal obligation, would naturally appear tantamount
to a re-enactment of the apprenticeship. The conduct
of some of the masters was not of a nature calculated
to correct these rude misconceptions, or to sm,the-the
remains of irritation arising out of past treatment.
One of the letters from Barbados, front a party Whose
bias would he with those of his own order, confesses
that g a great deal of bad reeling is brought to bear
against them (the negrees) by prejudiced priipriettos,
and many have turned the people out 01 their houses
for not working the very day after the Ist of August.
All this is bad, and dwi imenthl to all iniet es s,
sufficient to disgto-' ai't)y the mass of labourers.'
Assuredly this was not the way considerate men would
have acted at a moment when the great object should
have been, by more than ordinary allowance for the
first moments of a pardonable enthusiasm and excite
ment, gradually to have calmed and brought down the
emancipated blacks to their ordinary habits of labour.
The writer of a sensible letter from St. Vincent's, of
the 7th August, who seems by no means inclined to
view the prospects of the planters in a very flattering
light, from various other causes, thus expresses him-
self with respect to the negroes :—' The Ist of August,
when our population, hitherto apprentices, was de-
clared free, passed over peaceably and orderly, giving
good evidence of -the very improved condition and
moral character of the neg,ro. The price offered by
the planter, however,—viz., ls. 6d. per day, (this cur-
rency,) for all (query able?) persons, and Is. Od. re-
spectively for second and third class people, with use
of house and provision grounds, and medical atten-
dance, has been rejected by Quashee as insufficient,
and at present even those_ estates which had come
under agreement to this effect have not been able to
induce the people to work. Combination is evident,
and some time, at all events, will ensue before matters
are adjusted. I sincerely hope the new system will
work well, but otir landed proprietor has much to con•

fend with. Ido not regret having no stake in sucl

pr. pert 5.,• "

`• As the same indisposition to resume work, and the
same differences on the question of wages, were ap-
parent in all the islands at the same time, without the
oossibility of concert and intercommunication, on the
termination of the apprenticeship, the combination, if
any such really existed, which does not seem improba-
ble, must have been arranged beforehand, and through
other agency than that of the blacks themselves, who
must clearly be incompetent to transactions so compli-
cated. It must not, however, be forgotten, that the
conduct of the negroes in the Crown colonies, where
the intention of total emancipation was kept profoundly
secret, and even the contrary resolution of letting the
apprenticeship run out its legal term made manifest
and officially published within a week of the decree of
emancipation, was in all circumstances precisely simi-
lar-to that of their brethren elsewhere, with whom they
could have held no communication, as not expecting to
be placed in the same position.
" The state of affairs in Trinidad, one of these
Crown colonies, is represented by a respectable resi-
dent by no means in the same gloomy colours as given
in the papers: In this letter, dated on the 10th of
August, he says, "The Ist of August w Is a high church
day throughout the colony for thanksgiving and prayer.
The labouring classes generally went to their work on
the Monday following; the wages are 3s. currency,
or about is. 2J. sterling per day; some give 31b. of
fish i 1 addition per week, and others do not. Nothing
could be more orderly than their conduct and behaviour
have been since the Ist. I was instrumental in carry-
ing the measure, and now•that it is clone, people begin
to be satisfied with the plan that has been adopted, and
which has prevented anarchy, confusion, and a passive
resistance, under which we should have been compelled
to do that which we have now done Of our own free
good will, and we have parted good friends to meet .
each other on a new and, I am satisfied, better system."
From what follows it will appear tire writer was no
partisan of the abolitionists, but it mac be useful to
quote it as a fair specimen of the sentiments of his class
in the colony, and not, therefore, unworthy-of attention.
It is undoubtedly desirable now, for the promotion of
peace and the best interests of all concerned on both
sides, that no undue and prejudicial interfererne should
he exerted between the planter and his workpeople.
He continues—" But, will the government now let us
alone ? I think some of the fanaticswho have nothing to
lose will be hatching some new plots against us; they
will not cause the government to prohibit the importa
lion of sugar from slave countries; no, that would
touch their pockets : but the government now ought
to foster, and not to harass, the Inhabitants of the
West Indies. It (the emancipation of the Ist) will
make a difference to me of £5OO sterling for the first
year, but then tire system will be better and no heart
burnings." The recriminatory expressions, and the
indirect attack against the admission of foreign slave-
grown sugar, are excusable, as hasty ebullitions in a
moment of excitement ; but it is not the less true that
if the West India colonies are not to be thrown away,
the great interests involt ed in their well-being are
entitled loan possible protection at the hands of govern-
ment short of the sacrifice of other interests not less
valuable.

"Jamaica, according to the public accounts, ap
peared to he in the greatest agitation of any island,
yet thete really seemed no cause fur despair, as the
following extract of a letter to his correspondent at
Kingston from an extensive proprietor and attorney
(agen ) in the'patish of St. Thomas in the• Vale would
show

" • We are now on the 8111 attic month (August,) and not
a person at field labour in the parish on sugar estates. The
people are mad, and I think likely to continue so until all
their nviney is gone. They are quite aware that they ale
Wide for rent, but would rattle' decline paling any. They
talk of ss. a.day for wages: it will be some tune ere the re-
sources of tin; fine colony are developed at this rate, but I
at2ree with you that the blacks are likely to become a fine
peasantry by and by, when they understand their new anal
true position. Alas ! for our canes in the meantime; while
the grass (weeds) grows the canes die."'
"A prominent subject of uneasiness in all these
letters and accounts is the ditninished amount of pto
duct ion which mar be feared in succeeding years under
the new system, and the impossib;lity of competing in
prices with foreign sugars, truer-the high wages likely
to be demanded by the neg roes and paid, coupled w ith
the reduced bounty on the export of refined sugar,--a
measure, it is observed, which, however, the rates of
wages will reach their fair, level, and the expehses of
the manufacture of sugar, all former incidental casual-
ties allowed for, will be found probably not to exceed
the proportion in die days of slave labot;r."

. .
At Jamaica it was ;fated that the negroes on the
Marquess of Sligo's property had struck for wages, and
declared that !hey would not return to !about unless
they received 2s. 6d. or 3s. per day.- This affords a
striking proof the s-ort of popularity enjoyed by a
" liberal lord." The Marquess hascontri but ed, perhaps,
more than any other individual to bring about the
emancipation of the apprentices—and he now meets
with his reward.

Complaints are made in all the colonies of the scar-
city of small change, and the necessity for a large sup-
ply to be provided by government from home, now
that so much would be wanted for wages.
The Bank of British Guiana appears to have pros-
pered considerably, and had declared a dividend of 6
per cent., after leaving a rest of 21- per cent. on their
subscribed capital. Fifty per cent. of the capital of
that hank had been paid upon 6000 shares, and every
confidence appears to be placed in the institution.
We subjoin a few extracts from the various West
Indian journals:—

( From the Royal Gazette of Aug. 4.)
FREEDOM.—The Jubilee is past. That day so dreaded by
all connected with the British West India Colonies—when
the grand national experiment, of liberating hundreds of
thousands of bondsmen, and allowing them to enter into 'all
the privileges of freemen, is happily passed away. The last
remnant of slavery has been dissipated, and as time waits for
no man, as it glides swiftly and regularly on, so the hour on
which shivery was to cease, approached, arrived, went, and
the next hour beheld our people freemen in every sense of
the word. Thank God! there is no restriction, nothing to
fetter the liberated slave. He is free to roam where the
canopy of heaven 'overhangs the British dominions—he is
free as the eagle on the wing. and no man can comma him
—his fetters are unbound, broken, snapt asunder, by the
wisdom of our legislature—and he is now only amenable to
the laws of God and his country.
THE FESTIVITIES.—EarIy on the afternoon of the 31st of
July, our usually quiet city began to be in commotion, and
numerous parties were seen proceeding to the Race Course,
to inspect the preparations for the festivities of the evening.
Towards dusk a large concourse of the rabble collected to-
gether, and with fife and drum, and two or three flags, pro-
ceeded from tile Parade to the Race Course, where, soon
after, rockets were sent up, anti fire-works exhibited for the
amusement of the people; a very excellent transparency was
shown, and a miserable attempt at such a thing was also ex-
hibited on the Parade.

Towards ten o'clock, almost all had retired, some to court
the sleeping God, others to the chapels, to watch the hour
when freedom shou Id be ushered in, and no vestige of slavery
remain in Jamaica, while a few kept la! la! la! ing, to the
disturbance of the more sober citizens, with their noise.
The 2,1, like the clay before, was still and silent as the
grave. Towards midday, however, our late apprentices
and crowds of people were again seen approaching the scene
of festivity.
The Ist of August came, and the sun which rose that
morning shed its lustre on a tree country. All wars hushed
as the Sabbath, and the Church bell gave warning that the
llouse of God was open, to allow all ranks to return thanks.
and give praise for the glorious day. The day passed in
quietness—the churches and chapels were well attended, and
pothinv, but the occasional burst .of those who had been re-
galed and were making merry towards the evening seemed
to interrupt the calm and peacetui state of the city.

From the Royal Gazette of Atty.
THE STATE OF THE Isi.ANH.—lt is with sincere regret
that we have this week to deplore the lameniaide state of ex-
citc went which pervades some districts or the country, and
the pervei sett ess and obstinacy which betrays itself in the
minds of most of our people. Goaded as they are by those
who ought to preach peace and forbearance, we cannot but
condemn in the most severe terms the manner o hich the
Baptist missionaries have conducted themselves, at a period
.chin they ought to have been most guarded in preventing
those over whom they have the most unboonded sway to act
otherwise than in a manner in which no blame could base
been attached to them. But what is the state of the island?
•Proin almost every parish, accounts have been received
01 the total cessation from labour And from %vital
cause? The ex,rbitant &mood for excessive wages.
In almost every parish' 2s. 61., 3s. 4d., 01 5r . a Gay is de-
manded. evages which coital only he afforded by proprietors
Making 3,4, or 500 hogsheads of sugar under the most favor-
able circumstances—whde those making 100 or 150 must be
thrown up. Were it even possible to suppose the people
could hold out for high wages, and that the planter would
have to give in, the only manner in which it would be tiossi-
ble for the planter to exist, would he, by a complete reduc-
tion of the duties on sugar, without which he would be
ruined. This is not, however, at present the question.
We have made such extracts from the Nortbside Papers
as will show the excited and alarming state of the
parish of Trelawny ; besides which our private letters
state, "that Mr. Oughton (a Baptist Minister) has publicly
told the people to let the canes rot upon the field aud the ships
go home in ballast, sooner than take one Farthing less than
2s. 6d. per diem—and a congregation of 1500 men, heard a
Minister of the Gospel speak in the most disrespectful terms
of the proprietors at home, and dare his members to lift a
hoe under 2s. 6d. a day." Now we ask, is this a prudent
course for a Minister of the Gospel, one who ought to be
a messenger of peace, to pursue. We deprecate such
conduct. We denounce the conduct of the Bev. Gen-
tlemen, Messrs. Knibb and Oughtun, as fraught with the ut-
most danger to this island, and what ought to engage the at-
tention of her Majesty's government. We understand that
those Ministers who advocate the coursed peace and forbear-
ance, are unheeded and held up to ridicule and abuse. In
fact we have it from the best authority, that even Mr. Bar-
chell is ashamed of aid reprobates the conduct. of his Bre-
thren on the Nor tliside of the island. It is said, that the ex-
citement at this time occasioned by the addreses of Oughton,
is tremendous, and quite equal to that of Mr. Knibb.

(From the Jamaica Despatch, Aug 6.)
We have received a letter from St. Mary's, stating that
many of the apprentices on a great number of the estates
here have knocked off working for the two lait weeks, and
are going about in a state of idleness.
(From a Jamaica Paper of the 10th of August.) •
We have rec,oivid the following information from n tor.