The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1853-04-28

it is hanicd in OK carts TO the mill Ninety-foor
yoke OF oxen are employed here, chiefly IN this
work. When the great, red.tiled shed Of the mill
is full to the top, and the fat old Spanish sugar
master who eats five meals day and dreams
every night he is dying Of hunger) is nearly
beside himself with fear, lest the mayoral will
ruin him by giving him more juice than he
can work up, the task changes, and for three
days and nights the Withholding hordes of ne
groes tramp up and down the platform Of the
mill, tbrusting armsfull of cane into the pom
derous jaws OF the rolling machine and there
is no pause in the flowing of the milky stream
of canejuice, which, plunging in a small cata-
ract from beneath the rollers, runs swiftly
through canals of cloven palm trunks into the
watts Of the purging house, where it is put
through u course Of purgatorial endurances, to
be tormented and transmogriGed, sizzling here,
fosming there, here moody and sluggish
brown and turbid pool, there tossing and bub-
bling Gu uneasy sea of liquid gold, sending up
its wholesome vapors in dense white wreaths;
now beaten into perfect syllabub by stalwart
negroes with long paddles made of aloes-wOod,
and anon ladled out, in like manner, into a
trench with lofty sides, wherein it is stirred
and flung aloft in beautiful showers tinted
with the softest browns, crystallzing slowly
as it falls and cools. Three days and nights
this work goes on. But they who are engaged
in it. work by watches, like sailors each watch
working five hours, with recess during that
time of an hour and a half for sleep.
The laws of the island require the slaves to
be enclosed at night in their baracon. This
baracon, built around hollow square, is divi-
ded into separate dwellings for the separate
families. These domiciles are about as large as
an average cabin in Wales, and far neater
than anything of the kind | saw in that para
disc of consonants.
The sight of women working in the fields
was by no means new sight to me, nor do
think that life more calculated to destroy
either body or soul than the mournful existence
of thousands Of poor lab0ring women in our
own cities. The hoe in the fields is less deadly
than the needle in the garnet. The old women
flor the old of both sexes here are not sent to
the dealers in human flesh, whose marts dis
grace New Orleans) have large nursery In
which they take charge of the children With
out the walls is the hospital, chiefly under the
charge of an old African Sangrado, skilled in
leeching and cupping, as also in compounding
strange medicines, such as the butter of
snakes and the like The estate is, however,
visited twice week by physician from the
neighboring village.
am convinced that have seen agricultural
slavery here under its best aspect and have
tried to give you faithful picture of it and
all that have seen confirms my conviction
that to him. who only looks at slavery, who sees
but the surface and the present moment the
deep and serious hostility to the System Of oil
men who think earnestly upon the subject may
indeed seem often unaccountable There are
frightful things enough to be seen, doubtless,
in all slave countries, but ii as not easy for the
traveller 10 sec them. That which is most ter
rible and overwhelming to a freeman, who finds
himself amid slave population, is the thought
OF that calm denial of human rights which has
taken shape and life all around him. In free
country you may see the manufacturing opera
tive starving in his hut his wife laid in u pau
per's grave, his children come to public shame.
Yes but the misery Of this man is the misery
of q mda-pf q man born free to work or 10
Starvs, you may say, but still born free to make
even that dismal election man suffering
now because the industry of his country suffers,
and the social system is yet so imperfect that
the hardest workers receive the least wages !;
but always free, when the industry of his coun-
try RECEIVERS its course, to strike for better
state; free, too, to think upon his condition,
and to say to his fellows what he thinks of it.
to take counsel and to prepare action. In
slave country you may see the slave, sleek, fat,
and gay but his enjoyment is not the enjoy
ment of a man. He came into the world with
no liberty of choice as to his lot He has
master, who may force him to eat and then
force him 70 work His condition is uniform
what it was originally that it is to the end
For him there is no Future. He ia forbidden
to think whether there BIO or be not anything
better for him than his present state, and for
hidden to speak on the subj ect. He is provided
| for always, like a beast OF child. He has no
majority. His mind is never to be exercised
upon those subjects which most inspire, elevate
and purify the human soul Nor is he to dream
Of better lot for his children. The futur,
widens for the generations of the free-for tn,
generations of the slave the thing that 10 now
shall be forever
This short stay in slave country, surround
ed by the mildest form of slavery, has brought
the middle ages more wildly before me than
ever did castle, schloss or chateau Why 20
to Ragland or Chambord, to Avignon or Baden,
to read the records Of those old saignorial
times The seris are az our doors
| tremble to think that this Island, with its
half million of slaves, may 30 soon be added 10
the weight under which the Union staggers
now. The condition of The negroes will be
made far worse The Spanish law will proba-
bly, disappear with the Spanish crown The
American slave trade will flow in this direc-
ton, and the value Of slaves which the oontip.
ual clandestine importation Of Africans aud
the introduction of coolies, bound 10 labor at
VI month, cannot affect will soon be dimin-
ished; for, though vast quantities of new land
will be brought under cultivation, still the to.
bacco planting, to which the majority of Amer
lean settlers will be naturally led, requires 80
few hands, that the supply of negroes from
the States must affect their price. With the
fall in price will come corresponding change
for the worse in their treatment And as to
the whites, the Creoles suddenly emancipated
from the degrading tyranny of Spain, will
hardly be found more fit for freedom, than
their kinsmen of the Spanish continental do
minions. Played upon by the most corrupt
devices OF demagOgueism, what representatives
will they not send to our unfortunate Congress
And yet what but anneSatiGn, are we to ex.
pectl This Government, with its sxaoting, in.
sulting Administration, its domiciliary visits,
its still continued executions, cannot be leng
endured by the tamest people. Cuba once in
revolt who shall check the career thitherward
of the sympathizers! Cuba once Independent,
and moved to annexation, where is the North
ern delegation that will oppose her admission
Aprd2.
My wish for a little tropical rain has been
more than gratiGed. | cannot charm the |
water demon back into his broomstick, and VIC
are like to be flooded. We had furious out |
pouring at Ratabano hucketsful fairly beating
10 the ground, thunder soaring the hounds
lightning brighter than molten iron. The dir
was 30 charged with electricity, that when
took my steel-bound spectacles from the table,
! received smart shock, accompanied by a
very pretty spark and tho next day, when
we set out for the Havana we found the road,
which always resembles water-course imper-
fectly reclaimed from the error of it's ways in
most admired disorder. But the little majagna
"a Al