Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1858-07-31

the whole Of those islands were like an Arabian
scene, illuminated by the light of co~ntentment.
peace. and good will towards all men. M
people, after gaining an unexpected vic.
tory, could have shown more ieiicacy and forbenr
ance than was exhibited by the slaves at the great
moral they had attained. There
was not a look or a gesture which could gall the
eyes of the master. Not n sound escaped from
negro lips which could wound the cars Of the
most feverish planter, in the Islands. All was JOY.
mutual congratulation and hope.
y y at was held that the day Of eman-
ciration would be one of riot and debauchery, that
even the lives Of the planters would be endangcr'
ed. So far from this proving the case, the whole
of the negro population kept it as a most sacred
festival, and in this light, | am convinced it will
ever BE viewed.
n 4 y y TN one island, where tho bounty of
nature seems to provoke the APPETITE to indulgence,
and to scatter with a %profuso hand all the means
of excitement, I state a fact, when ] say, not a
drunken negro was found during the whole of the
day. No less than 800. 900 slaves were libera'ed
in that one day, and their peaceful festivity was
disturbed only on one estate in one parish by an
irregularity which three or four persons suficcd to
q%uell."
Such were the results of justice on the enamel.
pated on the day of emancipation. And subse.
quent events for the last twenty four years have
been similar in character, demonstrating the safe
ty and value of emancipation in every point of
view. But still in this country the same class of
men who then predicted ruin. are still muttering
the same do,eful predictions. and have the impu,
dence and falsehood to affirm in the face of con-
tradicting facts, that their predictions have been
verified. Hardly a day passes that in the pro-
E slavery newspapers of this country, we do not hear
of the ruin Of jamaica or see its poverty and
agricultural and commercial dcsolation contrasted
with the life and prosperity of slave holding and
y slave trading Cuba. These statements, made by
n the interested and mendacious, are repeated ant
Q believed by the thougbtless ard ignorant. anC
d thus the work of justice in this country is re
r tarded.
=. 1t is not to be wondered at that these represen
tations are made. The planters of the West Indi;
islands wero not repentant Shareholders. The,
e enamel pated in obedience to the imperative will o
|, the British people expressed though their govern
ment, and though they were pecuniarily recon
o ciled to the measure by receiving from tie Brit
ish people twenty million pounds sterling, yet tn
loss of their personal authority sorely grieve,
h them, and this with other kindred sources has in
IS duced them to encourage and aid their slave
h holding brethren in this country in their work @
f. pc, ~petuating slavery here by mis-representiug tn
lie state and effects of freedom there.
AS Jamaica is referred TO as representing tn
state of affairs in the colonies, where emancipatio
~ has been effected, it is we'll that we look q little q
"a. :.ax ~.,I ul xsa,k W. ..o Iornc,s
is copied in a preceding column q part of the tel
r. timony Of q reliable witness of the state of thing
~ as they now exist.
is Jamaica, the largest of the British West Ind
ne Islands, contains about 5000 square miles and
thus a triAe larger in area than the states of Coz
to necticut and Rhode Island together. 1t is moi
Sc subject to drouth and destructive storms and lei
rfs fertile than the neighboring large Islands of Cub
II IIayti and Porto Rico. The Spaniards were
,m first European settlers, who after speedily extern
of mating the natives ny slavery, replaced their ser,
ed ces by those of the moro enduring Africans
he About two centuries ago, the British conquer'
a. the island, then thinly populated when the negro
,ed fled to the mountains where they maintained the
Ter freedom, were called Maroons and were exceedin
'se y troublesome to their white neigbbors. till redr
,d1 ed by force!and treachery they were colOnizcd
" Nova Scotia and eventually with some refug
nor slaves from Virginia and Maryland were remov
'nd to Sierra Leone as the first settlers of that color
n nr The early English inhabitants were distinguish
lea. as buccaneers as we'll as sugar planters, Duri
'ar' the last century, Kingston its capital, and tn
IS a the largest city in the West Indies, lad very mu
id, g ;,.no.,,h f.o, .ho ,uoe.o -, ol,,.,,,
for for which it was an e~ntrepot for other islands a
for Spanish America. From the loss of II
.a trade, Kingston has suffered far more, than FRI
I. the laziness Of emancipated negroes.
". AT the time of emancipation in 1884, whate'
of prosperity Jamaica then had, shO owed to
extorted labor of her 800. 600 slaves, whose nu
= Der was kept good only by fresh importations fr
Africa. The severity Of their servitude preve
will ing their natural Increase. But these 800 900 II
the cradle slaves were not taken into the account
full the s:prosperity' of Jamaica. When that was S
ken of, only the % 600 whites of the island W
thought OLA large portion of whom were ignor
ES. and ~thriftless, their occupation mainly being t
of managers, or overseers, book keepers, Ia sor
ldia underling overseers) attorneys ,&c.-all manag
the of the negroes and the business of the plar
the tons. Besides these whites and the slaves, tn
lree were about 5000 free people Of color, mos
.OOO them the children of the white men of the lsl'
nee who had ordinarily for house keepers and mistr'
heir es either free colored women or slaves. The wi
and females Of the Island being far inferior in numb
d to to the males of that complexion. If the colo
und children of this connection had a slave for a MI
fore they generally were emanc;pated by their faith
lda' but in very rare cases did they receive any edt
the ton, and they were unprovided with the mean
mn. n,oo,,;,u 70, tb an,oolyaa bnpOroIla maan
for livelihood. They were subject to many of
'nts, legal indignities and disabilities of the free cole
people of this country. The highest positior
very which the females of this class could aspire
that of concubinage with the white ~overseer
here From this state of things it must be evident
COM the Landed prosperity of Jamaica under the
ONT of slavery could not have added more to
mea' refinement or the moral development of