The examiner. [volume] (Louisville, Ky.) 1847-1849, 1849-02-03

which the public mind 10 fermenting, TO permit
US to publish 1t without inviting to II the par
ticular attention Of our readers.
HAVANA, Jan. z. l549.
Every rejecting American has, of course,
looked with no small degree Of interest to the
great experiment of the abolition Of slavery in
the British West India Islands Its results must
60 far to influence The destiny of that sad and
fatal Institution in our own slave States also
For myself, /, from n very early period, locked
to that quarter Of the heavens, as the region
where was to appear the first dawn of that
! thrice blessed day, which shoald witness the
fall Of the last shacse from the last slave in our
own dear and glorious land. Early accounts of
| the success of the emancipation in Antigua,
(where il was first carried into complete effect,
without any transition stage of apprentice
ship,") awakened confident hope that many
years would not pass before "great change
would take place. in the minds of our own
| southern slave owners themselves, causing them
to be the most anxious for the benefits Of sim
liar reform. At that period an intelligent owner
of plantation in Antigua assured me that, far
from needing or being entitled to any compen-
sation from the British government for the
emancipation of their slaves, the interest Of the
former masters themselves, might rather have
led them, II they had rightly understood il, to
pay an equal amount for the benefits of the
change.
This was stated by the person referred TO, at
a dinner party at the White House at WISH
ington, about ten years ago, with confession
Of the abandonment of former strong prejudi-
ces on the subject. Confirmed by other similar
evidences, as well as by all natural reasoning on
the question, was led to wait with patient
hope, that solution of the problem of slavery
in the United States which must, sooner or
later, be brought home TO us, practically and
conclusively, from the emancipated West India
Islands. Let but our own southern slave-own-
ers have their eyes opened to the truth that they
may cast Oft the burthen of this institution,
not only with safety, but with positive be ne6t
to themselves as the capitalist and proprietary
class, and all question on the subject would Of
course be at an end. II federal aid were in
any way needed, We of the north should then
have only to resist their appeals tous, to violate
the constitution for the speedier abolition OF
slavery.
| Well, thus far it must be confessed that this
hope has not been realised. AS measure sup
posed to be beneficial to the proprietors of the
land, or even reconcieable with their interests,
emancipation in those islands has hitherto been
generally regarded as a failure. There has
been great falling off in the production and
exports Of their staples, sugar and coffee. The
supplies Of labor required for the working Of the
estates have been irregular and insufficient; the
cry of distress from the proprietors has been
loud and constant; and they have declared them.
selves and the islands ruined past redemption.
say nothing about the interest Of the ne
groes in the questionable former slaves. now
the free laboring population of the islands
WE, probably, should regard that as a pretty
important consideration in judging of the
Success" Of the emancipation. II their con-
dition, moral and material, had experienced even
fraction of the improvement naturally to be
expected from their creation out of slavery into
the life OF freedom, we might, perhaps, fl nd in
that result consolation for our regrets at some
reduction in the annual crops and incomes of
their ex-masters; for, after ell, Corporal Trim
was not far from the truth in his idea that the ne
groes have souls well as we. But we could
hardly expect our southern friends TO view the
! subject in the same light. And am speaking
of sbe ailegod s'farare,. of the Enei,s,, ex,er,.
meni, and its supposed disastrous consequence,
to those colonies, only in reference to the inter-
ests Of the proprietors.
You will share the qualification with which
am able to inform you Of some interesting evil.
dence which has reached me here, tending 10
reverse the impression generally entertained a,
home, and universally among our southern
slave owners, respecting the practical working
OF the emancipation in the island of Jamaica.
was present a few days age at conversation
between two large sugar planters and slayehold.
ers Of this island, Cuba; one Of whom was re-.
lating to the other the substance of some COM
munications recently received by him from
friend OF his in Jamaica, an English planter.
whose arrival he shortly expected on a visit to
Cuba. The latter was described as a highly
intelligent man, a frst-rate planter. and the
proprietor Of two sugar estates in jamaica
This gentleman pronounced wholly untrue the
common impression that the emancipation was
disastrous measure, fatal to the proprietors.-
Its first effects had indeed been such, but chiefly
through the fault Of the planters themselves.
and the wasteful and bad methods of MANAGE.
ment which were incident to the system Of
slave labor, and which remained altar IN.
emancipation Of the slaves; but now II was all
working out to his entire satisfaction. Thein-
ability to procure the amount Of labor required
for the culture and manufacture Of the sugar
(which processes. you know, are united in the
same hands, the planter employing extensive
and costly machinery to manufacture his sugar
on thespot where he grows hiscane. had forced
them to the adoption of labor-savsng improve
ments and economies; and with the aid of these.
all the labor needed could be obtained from the
negroes for moderate wages, better in quality
and cheaper in expense to the planter. than
under the old system Of slavery. In particular.
he stated that he had recently introduced on his |
estatescertain Improvements, by means Of which |
the sugar boiling process was performed within
twelve hours Of the day, instead Of occupying
The whole s.~sasy four formerly y, and .. stiIf
practised elsewhere; and that he was now able
10 accomplish as much within the twelve hours
as before within the twenty-four He was able
% have as much labor as he wanted, at a shIl-
A