Semi-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1853-18??, 1854-05-20
+ Correspondence Of the North Carolua Standard. ]
THE VOYAGE 10 CALIFORNIA.
sAS. FnAsclseo, .AprsI Is, 1854.


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"A VOYAGE in one of our California steamers-touch
ing only at the stated port for coal and water--is
usually barren ofthat diversity Of incident necessa-
nv to make up readable letter journal and which
might be supposed to crowd journey round the
Horn or Hope in of our trading clippers.
But in the passage to our golden Ell Dorado-after
surrendering the customary but unwilling tribute
to Neptune which the sstand and deliver OF Bor-
cas- off Hattera sure exort the traveller scarce
" gets his mind-much less his stomach-well set
tied, ere the heavy booming of the iron war dog IN
the bows of the ship summons all ashore at Aspln-
wall
The ssnoise and confusion, and the varied scenes
enacted on the steamers pier and decs, at the foot
of Warren St, New York, on the days of departure
9TH and goth of each month-are we'll worth OBJ
serving. Late Corners hurry up the gangways breath
less with the apprehension of being left though steam
has not yet been got up;' these are followed oy
sweating porers with heavy trunks which, with the
extra clothing they contain had better be left
In one corner of the ladies' saloon is a group,
whose firm ntergrasp of hands, silent lips and tear
full eyes, betray deep sorrow at the approach OF
the hour of long separation. That noise upon the
quarter deck is from bevy of fast boys, who are
imbibing parting drink with one, of whom their
last "reminiscences may be those shouts of revery.
At length, ssa who are not passengers are reques-
ted to go ashore hurried and convulsive adieus
are spoken-the gang planks bend under the rush
to the dock-the haWSerS unaShed and shipped
the huge leviathan the Ohio this 9th March, 1854,
moves with slow and stately pace into the stream
amid the booming of the heavy gun, the waving OF
handkerehiefs and the cheering from wharves and
surrounding vessels-anSwered by thousand pill
grims who are now leaving their homes in quest of
wealth. Now we moving toward the broad At
lantic. Soon Gordon of the outstretched arms and
interlocked hands of half score OF gentlemen from
Africa is thrown the extreme after part of the
shp--in front walks the inexble purser, who, that
no one may ride to the isthmus free, examines our
tickets-takes one-returns a .check-the Gordon
disjoins-and we pass to the rear
Meanwhile, during this sitting process the steam
er moves slowly down the Narrows, till at the Hook,
where the veteran pilotwithout whose services thus
far our insurance policies would fail, is discharged
and taking along half dozen tickctless and penni-
less WORTHLESS denominated skulkers-the fruits of
the said cleansing operations soon under sail In
Is No. z. !" for New York.
The powerful engines now work faster and soon
night closes upon ALL and in the morning the shores
of Jersey and our ship are in fog. Another day
discloses the proximity of Hatteras by the rising
winds, the plunging of the oakribbed ship and the
numerous processes of eectment which were served
upon many undulating stomachs.
The voyager upon the ocean does not realize its
extent from the simple fact that he is out of sight of
land for the of actually visible is small,
but it is the continued onward progress of the ship
through wilderness of waters with no land ahead,
which gives conception of the vastness, the ini-
mensty, the eternity of the sea.
Passing the Bahamas, reminded that one
of the -Watland-though barren and unin-
habited is yet rich in historic associations For on
this sterile spot first appeared the light to Columbus
and his on the evening previous to the landing
on San Salvador; and though not first trodden by
the foot of the great discoverer it may be said to
have been the first land by him west of the
Canaries.
Soon the revolving light off Port Royal, Jamaica,
appears-and passing by at sunrise towards Kings
ton the gorgeous beauty and the spendor of tropical
scenery meet the eye every side The horizon
on either side is bounded by majestic mountains,
which rise in stately grandeur till their SUBMITS
blended with the azure of a torrid CLING.
At Kingston, before leaving the ship, let us pause
to witness the novel spectacle of a swarm of eman
cipated colored women, who, with tubs Of coal ON
their heads throng in Indian file up of the after
gangways and emptying their loads of Anthracite,
singing the while their wild Congo airs return by
the forward plank, thus making complete circle of
darkness arovnd the wheel-house.
Most OF the passengers now go ashore to purchase
their clothes, fruit-not few old Jamaica'-and
see this city of decay. For upon spot of earth
probably does the hand Of decay aud ruin rest with
firmer and more tenacious grasp than on Jamaica
and her once prosperous chief city. The planta-
tons throughout the whole island are in waste,
their former workees living life of indoent, thiev
ing freedom ?-mQre beggarly- and degraded than
the Lazzaroni of Italy. Kingston is one mass of
delapdated and rotting buildings, and the only
son of thrift CLEAN of prosperity the arrival of
an American or British steamer
Inc cause OF this wide scene of decay and ruin is
simply emancipation and the attempt to substitute
free labor in the cultivation of of slave products in
torrid climate. The secret motive power in Brit
ish West India emancipation is dscerned not in the
labors of Clark, Wberforce or Fox, but in the
cupidlty and seltishness of the East India Company
who knowing that the introduction of free labour
would be followed by speedy pecuniary blight and
ruin to their western rivals, sought to build up their
own ACKNOWLEDGEMENT on the ruins of those gems of
the tropics'-hoping to supply from the plains of
Hindostan the worlds demand for cotton sugar and
rice. And believing that Britains example would |
be initiated by the French and Spanish govern !
ments, that company laid their behests upon sup
pie Parliament, and the world rang with loud ac-
claim at the humanity of England
The sequence to that measure is the financial and |
industrial prostraton of Jamaica; whilst the squaid
poverty the vice and crime of the liberated popua-
ton demonstrate the utter incapacity of the untu-
tored African to enjoy and ennoble state of free
dom.
The ruin of British India is complete but the ag-
grandlzement of her more powerful rival in the an
tclpated monopoly is less apparent for to this day
american cotton feeds the looms of England, and /
her markets and warehouses are supplied with the
other staples from the broad savannas of the South
and that beautiful but misgoyerned island now near
~ ready for annexation to our splendid confederacy
But notwithstanding this decay and ruin the nat
ura advantages of Jamaica and her commercial cap-
al are unsurpassed The soil is fertile and exhaust
less as the beautiful lands of your own gallant State
prolific IN the fruits of the sunny chimes of the
tropics, and the climate is as salubrious as ever
Kingston is situated on plain at the base of mag
nihcent mountains and fronting the sea. Its streets
are laid out with the regularity of the city of Penn
and are lined on either side with the orange tree the