The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1844-05-10
Havana.
Correspondence OF the Herald

| Full Particulars Of the Instruction in Cuba-7hot
Island and hyti co,apared-1he Results, &c.
| have long been expecting to peruse in the CO.
lumns Of your widely circulating journal some ac-
count of the recent terrific developments in regard
TO the conspiracy among the negroes in this beauti-
tul Island, tor the determination OF It's white popu
latlon and repetition Of the dreadful enact
ed in Santo Domingo, but having been heretofore
disappointed, will attempt to give you some faint
idea thereof, though | can but wish it had fallen
| TO some ADLER pen than mine.
About the beginning OF the present year il was dis
| covered through the communications of a negro
girl, slave on estate near Maanzas, thai there
| existed a conspiracy among the negroes against the
whites. Several SITS were made, and ii was
thought to be mere local affair." but on investiga.
ton, the necessity of special commission, to take
evidence and steps IN the matter became appare mt,
and one was at once formed to hold its sttings in
| MatanZas. In the snort space OF six weeks the
prisons there were filled with nearly three thousand
negroes slaves and free, arrest leading anoh-
er, until they became continual throughout the Is.
land and many, indeed may say nearly all the
free negroes and mulattoes of any standing. have
been implicated and arrested. AS far rs can be
learned. the details OF the plan were nearly these
On Easter day of this present year, Uhe 9Th of AprD
poison was to have been put into the frod of the
whites, including the soldery; and on the night OF
that day, such as had escaped the venom, were to
have been the victims OF an indscriminate slaugh-
ter. AS a rich free negro who was TO have been
President OF the new formed community expressed
It, AL our proceedings from that day forth shall
/
| to have been left.
The ramiicaiiens of the plot extend to the BAHIA
mas, Jamaica, and Santo Dominge-Cuba was to
have been the home of the newly freed blacks
The meetings Of the chic IS of this conspiracy were
held in a large room, carousy contrived and built
IN house erected for the purpose by 'Urribe, 1.-THE
rich negro, who was to have been Head" of the
Nation" and whose infamous declaration have
quoted above, the which was delivered at one OF
their conclaves, in the latter part of February last
on the occasion of one of the conspirators advanc
NO hat Incy had H..
the whites and he would propose that TO such piece
of green cloth should be given, which should be their
badge Of safety" He wasdenoanced BY "Urribe"
quoted assertion. This has been declared by the
denounced" who was ever after kept under strict
survell lance, and never suffered to be without an
attendant. lie was since shot by sentinel in an at
tempt to escape from prison. Urribe has cut his
throat Cevallas, another OF the chiefs, poisoned
himself. Blakely, a muatto dentist, educated in
London, and among whose papers were found Sc
the notorious Turnbul, late British Consul here
and now Commissioner of Emancpated Negroes
at Jamaica, in whose side doubt still rankles
the thorn OF his having been defeated here in his
nefarious designs, some three years SINCE and be-
ing sent away from the island on the plea of insan
ty, instead OF being deservedly shot, attempted to
hang himself. A mulatto at Matanzas, who under
the sign ,ture OF Sc PlacdO," had been ravishing
the sand with his fine imagination, and who gave
promise to be one Of the first poets OF the day. COM
mited suicide IN prison. Arrests daily made,
I and concealed repositories of arms discovered.
Il To-day an order has been issued by the govern
ment that every free negro or muatto of foreign
birth shall leave the island within Is days. And the
police are busy notifying them to that effect, in
This will doubt be followed by another order to
all free negroes without property, real estate per-
haps, to leave, and term given for those holding
property to realize and emgrate.
We do not seek for the causes of this diabolical
conspiracy in acts of local oppression or injustice.
We boldly assert such do not exist. We seek them
IN the deep, all-pervading ever existing, hatred be-
tween the two races. Not grown up either from
oppression tyranny Of the white, but of existing
in the negro from the first moment Of his expc-
rlencing the intellectual and physical superiority OF
the negro IN his war of determination here against
the white, would he have bettered his physical OF
moral condition! Would il have been other than
81 on ri bands ms Oh %
are far the most lenient. We hold not, aVd have
only to appeal to Santo Domingo in itsspast and
present condition for proof. McCulloch says " One
of the first effects of the revolution in Hayt which
abolished the slavery Of the blacks, was an ener-
nous decrease in the amount Of agricultural pro.
dnce, and in seven years the country had become
almost desert, not only from the waste of civil
war, but also from the Incidence Of the black popu-
aton. The famous Toussaint L'Ovrrure adopted
coerclve measures to restore agriculture; and II is
believe, idle to suppose that any other will
/, to labor BY an edict issued in 1900, Toussani
Obliged every Hayuan, not proprietor of land no
hire himself as an agricultural laborer to some pro.
pretor without the power subsequently to Withdraw
himself from his service. The of the whip
was abollshcd; but the other hand the
J sabre, musket and bayonet employed to
keep the Peasantry at work. The compulsory sys-
TEN was followed both by Dessaines, who at one
period raised the value Of the exports to third OF
chat it pas in 1850, and by Crstophe, an able
though sanguinary and brutal tyrant Potion, on
the contrary, abandoned the coercive measure, and
the consequence was that the Island displayed lit.
IL hal casion al ia Of 81 Row
during the first years OF his rule, continued the lax
system OF his predecessor, and the state Of agrcul-
lure at that time was most deporable. The very
rile field labor effected is generally performed by
elderly people, principally old Guinea negroes. No
measures OF the government can induce the young
Creoles to labor depart from their habitua cen-
. tiousness and vagrancy The few young females
that live on the plantations seldom assist in any la
Dor whatever, but live in constant state Of idle
ness and debauchery. This is tolerated by the SOL
dlery and military police, whose RIGHTEOUSNESS was
gratlfied by this means AT length, however
Boyer adopted coercivs measures, and in 1926 pro-
mulgated his code Rural II enacts that every Hay
tan, not employed in civil or military service, in
I some manufacture, as patented tradesman, or as
domestic servant, shall, under pain Of imprlson-
ment and hard labor, attach himself TO some estate
and employ himself in agricultural labor. lie can
not quit the country fer the purpose Of residing in
. any town or village, nor venture of the estate
without a license he dare not desst from labor
during the specified hours, nor take any recreation
except at stated times he prohibited from keep
ing a shop, nor can he even send his children to
school, or TO be apprenticed in q town without spe-
; cal permission. In return he has right TO the
fourth part Of the produce Of his labor and the pro-
prieor is bound to pay the expenses OF his mainte-
nance and other agricultural charges. What phi
lanthroplst will say that this state is preferable to
, the present condition of the blacks' Who will be-
lleve that the negro is more Just and equitable
employer than the white, or that he is not ground
way Who will hold that this condition Of man
is conducive to his ee walton and advancement or
that this abandonment of the faires portions of the
world is conducive to the welfare of the human
. race -
We are pleased that this conspiracy has existed,
5 though it will no doubt cause much suffering But
ITS effect will be experienced for ages, in the po-
lItica situation OF the island, because it will show
the people how wild and perncious to themselves,
would be any collision with the present govern.
ment Because it will teach the blacks how des-