Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1847-12-01
From the Ne,o Orleans Mercury.

THE COOLIES OFsJAMAlCA.
State of the Isiand.-We perceive
by our Jamaica files, that the planters Of
Jamaica are thoroughly aroused on the
subject Of The Coolies, who are brought
10 Them from India by the British Gov
ernmcnt as subs,tutesfoI negro laborels.
The Jamaica Morning Jonrnal of the
Cd inst. contains several petitions on the
subject from planters, merchants, and
other citizens of Jamaica, TO the House
Of Assembly, in which they complain
bitterly of the Cody system as oppres.
sive and unjust. Tie petitioners state
that they are taxed So SO annually for
each Cody in their employ, that there
are not over two ontiree out Of every
forty Of ,hep imported sho areft for
agricultural Iaborers, and that the re-
n,ainder of them are tlre very dregs Of
thefpopulation of g Calcdtta and MADRAS.
l'hey sselled Ios slisye;b the e nglish
would all be good agricultural siaborrrs,
and that they (the planters would have
the preference Of their employment for
five wears. On the coulrary,the moment
the laborers' contract is ended, say The
petitioners. they wander all over the
country, and a large number betake
themselves TO begging, and become
either a nuisance 10 travellers, or III.
mates Of the poor houses, the remainder
going from one estate to The other, Tor
work, as suits their habits aud convent
ence.
After the first year the Coolies refuse
TO enter into new contract with the
many planters, who are, nevertheless,
taxed IS SS annually for each Cody.
The petitioners beg to be relieved from
the tax. The law regulating the Colly
system in jamaica allows none but
planters to employ them, imposing a
heavy penalty on all others who take
them into ,hpn service; but at the same
time it makes no provision TO secure a
continuance OF the contracts OF the COO
lies with the planters, who thus only get
their services for the first year, during
which period shey lose much OF their
labor from sickness which invariably
attacks them, and have TO pay besides
all The expenses OF medical attendance,
medicine, nourishment, &c.
Such are the results Of abolition and
English legislation on negro slavery in
Jamaica. The experiment has been
fairly tried there, aud the result is that
the agricultural interests Of Jam aica are
ruined. The planters find ii impossible
10 compete with the negro labor in other
countries. The various petitions declare
that the cultivation of coffee ard sugar Z,
their two chief staples, is So Improbable
as to be nearly abandoned that the Plan
.ers are barely able to furnish their fans
lies with the necessaries of lile-that
they chiefly depend on the sales of live
stock for subsistence, and that they now
apprehend great aiminution OF the
demand for live stock, owing to the
suga- planters being unable to purchase
as formerly.
The condition ofproperly in Jamaica
is as low as regards value aud produc'
ton, as can well be imagined, yet the
people there think they have notreac'ed
the lowest point, and will not for yea'
or TWO. About eighty sugar properties
are thrown up, not paying the expenses
of cultivation, and every thing on then
gone to ruin. Before the emancipation
The export of sugar was 100000 hogs
heads, last year it amounted TO l'''I'
more than $4,000. Fhe Coffee "pro'
.perlies," which are in the mountains
are doing somewhat better; but bad y
the best, All the white inhabitants abe
TO leave The Island have gone away.
Red,ced IN state of distress ant