The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1848-09-12 00:00:00

JAMAICA IN 1848.

(From the John Bull.)
It was upon a first of August that England, in her
generosity, gave freedom to her negrces. The day is a
blessed ene in the calendar of the Black, The glorious
anniversary has never once passed in Jamaica without
finding the liberated man happier than he had been
during all the months and days preceding it. A fortnight
before its advent, the approach of the precious day was
already visible in the accelerated movements and happier
tone of the labourer's spirits. The interval was a jocund
one; every negro, however poor, laid in his little stock for
the auspicious day. and gratitude overflowed in virtuous
merriment. The scene and the actor are nc longer the
same; both are benumbed by the cold cloud that passes
over them. "In 1848," dismally writes an authority on
the spot, "NO ONE CAN AFFORD TO BE lIAPPY." Sad
and bitter words, unnatural, and unacceptable to ,the ear
of God.

The first of August, 1848, differed in no respect. are
are told, from the day that went before and the day that
followed it : yet its gloom was intolerable. For the first
time the, hypocrisy and falsehood of the great gift was
suspected. The day reminded the sable eons of the for-
mer benevolence of their rulers ; it a:so brought more
poignantly home the melancholy reflection that Christian
England has become the great nourisher of slavery, and
that their own tenure of freedom has, by England's act,
lost the value of a solitary year's purchase. To save
pence, Great Britain has perpetuated the tortures of the
African. The dark labourers in the distant isles were
conscious of the dr,,adful fact, and meeting their brethren,
-refused to rejoice. The
fiat had gone forth. The accu-
mulated sufferings of negro slaves had already been com-
municated. Cuba was alive with shrieks, and red with
blood. "In 1848, NO ONE COULD AFFORD TO alit
HAPPY."

But more than this ! Ruin has taken possession of the
British West Indies. Jamaica is 'prostrate ; business in
that island is at an end ; the population is starving.
Negroes thrown out of employment, in order to live have
taken to the trade of fruit selling. The market, deluged
with fruit, yields no return to the sellers. Those who
should be purchasers, not of their fruit, hut of their ho-
nest labour, bevildered and dismayed, tliink less 'of
England than of the United States ; and to think of the
stars and stripes, is to seal the doom of those who till
now have thanked Heaven on their knees for the blissful
first of August. Can we wonder that "in 1818," and
on the island of Jamaica, "NO ONE CAN 1.17011 D TO fl
HAPPY ?"

LATEST INTELLIGENCE.
(ny EXPRESS

MONEY MARKET. YESTERDAY.
The market is quiet, but trm. We -quote Consols SZI_ to
for money, and 8,31 to for time, without much business. Re-
duced Tilrees, £40,1 to Three-and-a-Quarter per Cents., 87 t•
*. Exchequer Bills are better, at 295.-to 325. premium.

MARKorn 117,Tb.
y---Ytitrrs it DAY.
land-carriage samples
The supLpSyNonf()WNheCaOtßtlNiis
from Essex was good ; that from Kent was hut moderate. The
condition of a large portion of the Essex white What was supe-
rior to that of last week, which e- abed factors to obtain fully the
rates of Monday last. Inferior runs were a heavy sale at that
day's quotations. In free foreign Wheat the transactions were
limited to tlr acl- al wants of the millers. who had to pay the
extreme value of last week. Very little business was done in
bonded or floating cargoes. Barley sold on about the same
terms as last week. The fresh arrivals of Oats have been un-
important in amount, and the trade ruled dull at previous
prices. Beans and Peas were una'tesed in value. The top
Price of town-made Flour remains nominally the same as last
quoted ; but ship and country marks were difficult of disposal,
with the turn in price in favour of the buyer.