New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1846-02-14

suit To those who have closely studied the cues
,ior those causes are Obvious enough. Letthe Per.
lianentarv Reports, which have been laid before
the Legislature be consulted. and !; will no, fail 10
be perceived that the Legislation which usbered i,
the epoch of complete freedom. and the farrsD; in.
Justice which marked the conduct OF too many Of
he planters, begot spirit Of resistance and es.
arrangement the effects OF which arc visible al this
hour II was this treatment which drove large
number of them from the es;ates which led 10 the
formation of independent ana free villages. and IN,
purchase OF considerable lots OF lnnd for ;iace and
consequently 10 a decreased amount of sugar chilli
walton. The number Of freehods purchased since
emancipation in Jamaica. is nearly 90 600. md in
British Guiana nearly 5000 other Colonies in pro-
portion.
To the unwise course referred to. may be added
the almost unparalleled drouihs which have RACED
in the sugar Colonies and the inability Of q large
body of planters 10 secure by regular money pay
erlts the services of the laborers which surrounded
them Ii must not from this remark however, be
Inferred that the cast OF labor is high. We have
before us q large body Of evidence on this point
recently Obtained from the West Indies and Guiana
which shows that labor Is, and may be had on NODE
rate rerus In Jamaica, wages range from Is 10 Is
Sd 10, d,era in British Guiana from Is. III 10 Is
Sd yer dem and in Trinidad, from Is 3D. 20 Is
Sd 77sr diem for the first class lshorers When
work is performed by the job the laborers can earn
more but the rates OF WAGES are falling generally
in The Colonies; and again assert, thar capital
and not labor is the principal thing wanted 10 secure
what il is said is so much coveted. O! course we
do not shut out from our consideration the serious
disadvantages resulting from the non.residence Of
prop-ietor-; and that under the present expensive
system of management or rather nismanasencnt
much capital is wasted that might be most bene-
ficallv employed; do we forget the difficulties
almost amounting 10 resistance. thrown in the way
OF agricultural Improvements by men of the old
school whose influence is too much felt and feared
in the enancipe,ed Colonies. But there is cure,
we trust; for these evils, Tor wiser men and better
ha bits are beginning 10 appear The old system it
is found will not do The practices of slavery and
The privileges of freedom Will not coassce. Most
heartily do we hope that those present interested
in plantation property may be wise in time and
Weld TO the exigencies OF their position. Those
Who happily have done So are reaping rich har-
vest as the reward of their practical saeacity, and
have demonstrated that The cost of production BY
ireemen is much less than II ever was by slaves.
AS TO anv serious loss having been sustained BY
the West India body. whole by emancipation,
we are more than skeptcal. individuals may have
suffered from il, but we believe them to be few in
number And more than this, we affirm, that their
losses in the great majority of instances. have re-
suited from other causes than the Abolition os
Slavery: such as heavy mortgages which they could
not pay off even with the aid of the compensation
money allowed them the exhausted soil the
favorable situation OF their estates; and the logged
resistance they have offered to the new order Of
things. But making every allowance that can be
fairly claimed for individual cases, we observe that,
if there has been diminished export of Produce
since The period OF complete emancipation, il has
been more than compensated by enhanced prices.
The average price OF Sugar, during the six last
years Of Slavery, was 27s. per cwt. the average
price during the six years OF complete Freedom
has been about 3ss Cd. per cwt. But hot TO dwell
ic clpo thar DrniuciiOn rpnchpd
its lowest point in 1871, when the amount of Sugar
exported to Great Britain. from the British West
Indies and Guiana, 2l4s,2l5 cWts. in lSi4,
= .503.5G7 cwis. and this year there can be no
doubt, from the advices which have been received,
that the quantity OF Sugar exported to Great Britain
will be larger than al any period since the entire
Abolition of Slavery took place. Indeed we may
say the cry now is not so much for labor Tor ordl-
nary, as for extraordinary purposes. The Planters
allegc that they have not enough hands TO take OFT
their crops; they want continuous labor,-that Is,
they want during the of crop, their laborers
10 work from sixteen 10 eieheen hours day, for
six days il nc week, which few OF them will con-
sent 10 give; occupying it does from live 10 SIX
months in the year. But even in this case, ar
GAgement, and not labor. is the thing principally
required.
with respect TO the export trade to the British
West Indies and Guiana, we lind the total declared
value 20 have been. during the sycars ending
wiki 1888, SIS. l0s.576; whilst, during the six
wears ending in 1874 they amounted 10 tl7 800 s23
Nor must it be omitted that the export trade from
the United States to the emsncpated Colonies. has
increased at least 30 per since the Abolition of
Slavery took place.
We have dwet longer on the subject, probably
than il deserves and we therefore tarn from 1t TO
once more the vast blessing which has
been conferred on upward OF 700 600 human beings
by the great Act OF Emancipation. The whip no
longer sounds in their ears, the smuant TO labor
and the instrument of torture; the letter no longer
gals their limbs; the market place no longer be-
holds them submitted for sale, III lots 10 suit pur-
chasers; the anguish of iorcibe separation is
longer felt feared instruction Is no longer inter
diced the preaching OF the Gospel is no longer
Masters OF their own persons and their
ov. n labor the emancipa,ed slaves can now bestow
il when and where they please, as may best suit
their taste or serve their interess-ihe marriagete
halows and blesses their unions-the relations OF
parents and children exist; and cannot be severed
by the caprice or will of slave mastersthe chastity
Of woman no longer be violated with impunity,
nor the hearts of mothers aceTeted BY the base and
degrading uses 10 which their offspring were de-
voted.
These are some OF the precious fruits OF emanci-
patton And let it be remembered that The liberty,
,rilh all its presen, and future privileges and bles
sings which has been conferred on the existing
will be transmitted To their children and
their children's children 10 the remoe.t generations
most sordid light 10 make lhe OF ,=
sitv and value depend on the amount Of eXpor,ahle
produce raised in the British Colonies. Ye:, even
in an economical sense What was sound in morals
has been found wise in policy What would have
been the condition of the Yves; India body at this
time had not the Abolition OF Slavery taken place
In 1889 they the verge Of ruin, their credit
in the money market utterly gone and their Slaves
decreasing al The rate OF 5000 per annum. They
had stimulated production by the most cruel means
TO its utmost limit The interests due 20 Mort
saeees and Merchants in The Mother Country. and to
meet the current expenditure OF their Estates and
with what effect let Lord Stanley say In all the
Islands there had been general increase in the pro
iuc,ion OF Sugar and u corresponding decrease u.
tie amount Of tie iabortRg population His Lord
ship illustrated his statement by facts drawn from
official records; for instance the medium slave popu
aton in jamaica during the three years ending June
1896 was 1898, and The average quantity of Sugar
raised was 354 AS cwts. The medium population
during three years ending June, 1882, 7,46l.
the average amount of Sugar raised, l4l0026 cwts
Demarara showed more trishlu result. For the
first period referred 10. the Slave population was
- 722 the quantity of Sugar raised 652 1856 cwts.
Tor the second period the population bad decreased
to 67.74l. and they were compelled TO produce
600 100 cwts of Sugar Now what did Enancipa-
lion do when arrested in its this murderous