Semi-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1853-18??, 1857-02-18
g THE NORTH CAROLINA

WEDNESDAY !, FEB'Y. is, !
to the British Government by Lord Howden, its
Minister At Madrid and are contained in volume
of the State papers, They bear date, as signed by
the Queen, March %, 1854 Their examination
shows that the Coolies are in fact, no better than
slaves Even the provisions made especially for their
benefit shows this and read few as specimens:
By the twentieth article, " The coonists may con-
tract marriage with the consent Of their masters.
By the thirty fourth article, Forbidden to leave
estate without written permission of MASTER" &c.
The thirty-eighth article provides "That they
shall not be compelled to work more than twelve
hours on the average"
By the thirty article, They shall not be
obliged to work more than fifteen hours in one day,
and shall always have at least six consecutive hours
Of rest by night or by day."
Loot at these provisions and tell me If the slaves
are in any State of this Unionworkcd an average
throughout the year, twelve hours per day. or they
fifteen hours. As to giving them six consecutive
hours for rest why, most field negroes in the South
would sleep twice that period of time if they did not
get hungry while so doing.
Article sixty-one declares for what offenses they
shall be punished, as follows:
&C." INSTRUMENTATION the MASTER to the superintendent
any other delegate of the master.
@ Refusal to work. want of punctuaty in any partic
s. Injuries which do not oblge the party injured to
pend work.
4. Desertion.
5. Drunkenness.
g. naction Of the rules of discipline established the
z Ofenses against good constituting crimes
g. Any other act done with malice and from which injury
damage accrues to third person, &c.
"AR- g. When the punishments pointed out in article
ysx not sufficient to prevent the colonist from repea
ing the committing other ofenses, the master shall
apply to the protector who if constitutes oense
according the laws shall decide that the guilty coont
shall be punished by them and if not by additional dscp
linary punishment"
By these DEGREES it is provided that the inhabitants
of China and Yucatan may be imported. The Chi
nese are white people, and the Yucatanese are In
dams and it might be supposed that these two races
ought to be sufficient for the Island of Cuba.
find, however, in the newspapers, another pro-
position made to the Spanish Government, though
am not prepared to say that it has actually been
adopted. If not already sanctioned suppose it will
be, it is strictly in accordance with the policy
heretofore established:
a. Her Catholic Majesty shall concede to the contractor
Ser Meana the usuruct Of the Islands Of Fernando P
Annobon and Carsco with their wild and cleared lands fer
the term of twenty years from the date Of the
giving him also an assistant Of $4,000 yearly
H. shall be authorized to transport to the Island of Cuba
to the exclusion all Others under the
eight years. such inhabitants of the SAID islands voun
ari and without kind Of coercion, to come
to it, under the following condition.:
"The grantee shall receive repayment of all COST
from the masters to whom tho contracted shall be
assigned and whom, with this view, their shall
be transferred greater than 1904 for such are be-
eighteen aud foryve years age and for such
between eight and eighteen"
The Island of Fernando Pc, l need hardly remind
the House, is situated in the Gulf of Guinea, in sight
of the main land, and in fact within some thirty miles
of Old Calabar, principal station for the African
slave trade. o. course, the people taken from this
region will be Guinea negroes But it is provided
that none shall be taken away but those who agree
to 60. Who will they be, sir? Why, it is well
known that annually large numbers of slaves are
brought from the interior to the coast to be sold and
when purchasers are not found they slaughtered
in large gangs, because their masters are afraid to
turn them loose; l mean the males. The females
are bought usually by the kroomen along the shore;
and as have been informed by our Navy officers
stationed on that coast, they command sixteen dol
lars apiece, while the male negroes may be worth
only six. OF course these negroes, when they find
that it is choice between death and transportation
will agree to take the latter and will thus be enrolled
The provision limiting the price for the first class
to 1904 is pregnant with suggestions. 1t is not in
tended to cripple diminish the trade since it is
clear that even at these rates, enormous profits will
be made by the shippers and sellers. 1t is, on the
contrary, directly intended to increase the traffic to
the most rightu extent the supply is inexhaust-
IDLE. BY thus putting them at a low rate, the pur-
chaser will be the more tempted The planters OF
Cuba, seeing that their island is to be ruined any
how, will be forced to conclude that it is their true
interest to get many of these creatures as posi-
BILE, and work them even to death in eight years.
Every one knows that one who hires horse for q
short period is apt to take less care Of him and work
him harder than the owner would do. Then it may
be assumed that not many will survive this perio6.
Bpt should they even do SO, and be then in good
faith liberated, how many of them will in fact ever
reach Africa again? Who that knows the Guinea
negro expects them to return by force Of this Span
,sh contract? No. sir, they will remain there; and
these negroes, by their mixture with the Chinese
Coolies the Yucatanese Indians, and the present
black and mongre population Of Cuba will fill the
island with body of savages, SO that such of the
planters as have the means of emigrating will be
forced to do SO, and thus this beautiful gem of the
Antilles will soon be in worse condition than it
was when Columbus crossed the Atlantic.
The acts of the British Government Justify in
assuming that, as she sees the West India Islands
likely to be ours, she has deliberately resolved
to ruin them as far it in their power lies. This
is, however, all protested to be done in the name of
humanity! How long is it, sir, since Great Britain,
in one year, permitted more than two millions Of
her Irish subjects to starve to death? Why, the
newspapers state-whether truly or not cannot
tell-that more than twenty.one thousand of them
persisted in Il is way during the past year. These
things are permitted to occur without any real or
sincere effort to prevent them. In fact, what she
has spent her African feet would have been more
than sufficient, if properly directed, to have saved
the lives of every one Of these white people, Then
look to the rightfuy cruel system that is carried
on by her in India. There, population more than
five times great that Of the whole United States
is subjected to the most grinding oppression. The
land is owned by the Government in places and the
people are compelled to work it. and pay one half,
lect this exhorbitant amount torture is habtually
applied to the miserable laborers. There is no
doubt about this matter. The British Parliament
was forced, by public opinion at home, to appoint