The Athens post. [volume] (Athens, Tenn.) 1848-1917, 1853-04-01
EMANCIPATION IN CAYENNE.

On tho 18th there was delivered ut the
Tabernacle, New York, n lecture on thu
French Colony of Cayenne in Guiana, by ]
w. Fabena, late U. s. Conscl in that coun.
try. We extract:
"You all remember that bright March morn.
ing in the year 1913, when the news of the
flight of Louis Philippe from France broke
over your busy city like Il thunder clap. -
Those shouts: Vie Ia RepubliTn, which
came booming across the Atlantic - calm
rcsoIlte, full Of the promise of hope, as il
seemed, found u welcome echo in your heart!
There was one very brief article in the first
Proc amation issued by the Provisional Gov
ernncnt, which we thought it best upon the
who,e not to say much about. 1t read in
this y sc: -"Slavery is henceforth abolished
in tia French possessions You see it was :.
delicate subject. 1t might arol'ac rnp!caJant
agitation. So we rather ignored its existence,
and the nation rs one man rose up and bid
that new born people Il God speed OH their
careeriug path.
A brighter morning never visited the earth
than that which smiled upon Guiana on the
memorable morrow. AS the dull darkness
rolled away, the old town was seen kabited
in its holiday attire.
The drum beats = it is the signal for silence.
In u fine impressive voice the Governor am
nounccs that the inhabitants of French
Guiana arc thenceforth recognized us free and
equal.
Go now, ycwho are fond of the pleasures of
melancholy, to that once fertile colony, and
see for yourselves what have been the results
Of this political measure. These must be
seen and felt to be appreciated. | can only
point you to fair fields of cane, and plania-
tions of spice, coffee, and cocoa, yielding to
the inroads Of rank unwholesomc negotiations,
and human labor retrcating ANONYMOUSLY
before horde Of venomous insects and wild
beasts. can point you to Il deserted road
stead to crowded goals and hospitals, to
loathesome grog shops thronged to sulloca-
tion to miserable parents abandoned by their
offspring, dying Of want in sqalid huts to
parents yet more miserable, begging Il scanty
pittance, to pay perchancc for hiding deccnty
beneath the soil the bloatcd carcass of u son,
whose freedom had been death.
Far SOuth-but still on the shore of the
New World, Il handful OF earnest men We're
pcering anxious! y over the noisy waters in
the direction oi their fnth"rIand As yet
they saw no glimmer in the Eastern horizon,
they heard no rolling echo of those far oil
shouts. They, too, were looking for the
dawn. For many years II night of poverty
and distress had cnvelopcI them, but their
faith in those to whom they had right to
look for sympathy and succor had not died
out. Still they sat patiently beneath the
palms of that ever green shore, but saw as
yet ''no welcome day.star climb the cold grey
pathway Of the morn" There is suddenly Il
bl."r ~ rght illnminatin" the sen and sky
and erst dark old shore with glare fearful
from its brilianry. And the watchers rise
and look each other gratefully and lovingly
in the face, shouting, "the sun the sun" 1t
is not the sun - but Il flame of fire that is to
run through their gardens and their homes,
blackcning and blasting them forever.
On the evening Of the 9th of August,
1913, when the guns of the fort Numbered
forth parting saIutation to the setting sun -
the blacks Of French Guinea, reversing the
order Of good old Uncle Ned--laid down the
shovel and the hoe as bonded laborcrs torcv-
Grand prepared themselves for the unrcsrain-
cd enjoyment of the fiddle and the bow.