The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1848-11-24

plot of SIX feet by two that had not been very re-
Gently excavated for the receptacle, temporary to
be sure, of body, at a charge Of eleven dollars.
Now, when we take into consideration the large |
area comprised within the limits Of this burial |
ground IN Eleventh street, and the positive and
deniabe fact that two-thirds of it has been used
for burying purposes, not once, but twice and
three times, the inquiry arises, what becomes
of the tremendously large revenue which this
burial ground has furnished to John, Bishop of
New York; How many shields for Ireland's
Defence at five hundred dollars each would il fur
nish The expenses attending this ground have
been little or nothing. 1t has always been exempt
ed from city assessments, and the poor priest who,
in summers suns and winters srows, had to per-
form the regular burial service, was paid only
three hundred dollars year. What, we would
ask, has become OF the tremendously large sums
OF money which John, Bishop of New York, has
received from this source alone, throwing aside
the prncely revenue OF thirty thousand dollars
year from the Cathedral!
We thirk the Catholics of New York should
demand an answer to those questions from the
Bishop of New York. They should demand in
formation of the manner in VIII lch this annual rev.
enue of the Cathedral, and the proceeds of the
Eleventh street speculation, have been disposed Of
when the other churches are bankrupt, and the
lenders of money to them forced ,on account ofnon-
payment, to seek refuge in the almshouse. If all
is fair and honest there will be no hesitation in
answering.
1he Condition of the British West India
Islands.
We have received mass of very interesting
l. i
pondents IN the British West Indies, relative to the
present condition and prospects OF these highly inn
portant islands. Accompanying the letters of our
correspondents, are several files of West India
papers, by an examination OF which we derive
considerable light thrown upon the affairs of the
British colonies. This part of the world possesses,
at the present moment, considerable portion OF
interest," in an historical, moral and political point
of view. To us, in the United States, the contem-
paton OF the prospects and progress of these sugar
colonies, ia, under many aspects, of singular and
special interest. These islands have been for
some time past the arena of doubtful experiment,
entered into by the British government and nation,
IN relation TO the best policy to be pursued towards
,hat portion OF the African race which, from
state of death, servitude and misery in their native
land, are gwen up by the barbarous rulers to
whom they ale subjugated, to be carried by Euro
peans from their own native field of slaughter to
the field of West Indian labor and subsection. 1t
Is an escape to them from death, or rather an ex-
change of servitude, as field and domestic ser
wants, IN lieu of being brutay assacred, or more
brutay lll-treated on their native shores by their
own colored oppressors. Thus transported, and
under such state Of things TO the fields the sugar
plantations of the western world, they have be-
come object OF serious consideration and great
political agitation to the white race, among whom
they have, as above shown, been for centuries
past, IN the manner and from the causes above men,
toned, introduced.
II is still question, we may say, with the world
at large, whether the policy pursued by the British
Parliament towards this race OF men, is the best
and wisest which could have been pursued. 1t may
be said to be purely question of facts, and that
question is, whether the complete emancipation
of rude, ignorant, barbarous, and uncvilized
race, is good for them !-whether they have been
benefited or not by the emancipation which the
British Parliament has bestowed upon them!-
whether giving them, on this continent, the liber-
ties which their race enjoys In Africa, will not
tend to convert every place on this continent
where they may be found, into the same sort Of
charnel house, into the same scene OF brutality,
anarchy, and barbarity as is seen In their own
country, where they are let loose and uncurbed!
We are not attempting to settle or decide this
important question: we content ourselves with
saying, that it is stla prob lem which yet awaits
solution. One effect of the policy of the British
Parliament is, we believe, clearly seen and admit
ted on all hands-and that is, the ruin Of the for
merly thriving and prosperous people settled in the
various islands. If, in the scales which the British
Parliament held suspended from its hand, that
scale containing the black man has gone up, and
the other in which the white race were weighed,
has miserably gone down, 1t might be made
question whether any good can ever be said to be
done, where, the doing oft, an equal amount Of
injury and evil is produced
1t may possibly have comported with the views
and interests of great and powerful party in the
Parliament and nation which has effected this
double deco, of kindness on side to the black,
and rum, on the other side, to the whIte-to have
brought about this admitted result The British
West India islands, formed by their rich products,
and the skill, industry, and capital of their nha-
btants, powerful rival 10 the great and increasing
interests of the British IN the East Indies. When
we conjoin the fact that it the interest Of the
East India trade to crush that of the West Indles
with the other iac that the latter have been, by the
course OF British legislation efectually crushed, it
Is Impossible to avoid an inclination towards the
conclusion that the effect produced was the result
of design, with the view to certain object In
this view Of the case, the pretensions to religion,
morality, philanthropy, and so forth, by which
the deed was pretended to be motived, and by
which the simple mass was led, or rather driven,
to its support, vanish before the uncovered mask
of interested trading motives and party selshness,