White Cloud Kansas chief. [volume] (White Cloud, Kan.) 1857-1872, 1858-04-22
CONSEQUENCES OF NEGRO EMANCIPATION
IN THE BRITISH WEST INDIES.


After the lapse ola quarter Of a century since
the final emancipation of the negro, we ought
to find ourselves In position to speak with
some confidence on the several points connected
with that important question. The facts, indeed
are clear enough, but the conclusion is not sat
isfactory, nor the escape very easy to find. The
phiIanthropists can undoubtedly appeal to one
great achievement. The liberation of the black
has been complete, unqualified and permanent
All the cruelties or miseries which may have
accompanied the institution Of slavery in our
colonies, whether avoidable or otherwise, have
absolutely ceased; no British planter any longer
possesses human property, nor can it be said
that any vestige Of the old system is now dis
cernible. What the anti slavery agitators sought
to abolish, they have abolished utterly, and the
shame and the scandal have disappeared from
our territories as entirely as if they had never
been known. With this admission, however,
we fear the approval Of our policy must be ter
minated. On every other point predictions have
been falsiied and expectations Disappointed
The negro himself, though he has become free,
has not become wise or Industrious. Our plan
tiers have not found the free blacks made good
laborers; our colonies have not risen in prosper
ity and afluence above the slaveholding colo
mics Of other States, and though the trade in
slaves has decreased upon the whole, its vitality
is so plain and strong, that at this very moment
we are making a considerable addition 10 the
force of our African squadron. Everything, in
short, has failed, except emancipation ITSELF
Negroes are free, but they are also brutalized;
the West Indies have been ruined; immense
tracts of the most productive soil in the world
other nations, discerning in our policy warning
rather than an example, are pushing the oppor-
tunities Of slaverysto the utmost and making
fortunes over the heads of British colonies.
These results are traceabIe in the main to the
spirit Of legislation directed exclusively to the
eradication Of slavery, without regard to any of
the functions which slaves had until then dis
charged. The agriculturists Of our tropical
colonies were suddenly deprived of the labor by
the aid ofWhich their crops were produced, and
the controlling authorities, instead Of assisting
them in replacing the lost element, appeared to
charge themselves only with the duty Of scru-
tiniEing and impeding all efforts in this direc-
ton, lest anything resembling slavery should be
introduced in another form. This was not IN
natural, nor perhaps unnecessary; but in the
meantime cultivation was suspended and prop
erty destroyed, while British consumers repaired
10 foreign markets for the very commodities
which our own countrymen had been forbidden
10 produce. The emancipated negro would do
no work at all. No attempts have succeeded in
inspiring him with the wants and warnings Of
civilized life, and as his needs are small, his
exertions are small also. The climate enables
him to dispense with re6nements Of shelter or
apparel; the soil provides him with sustenance,
and vagraney and Incidence leave him at least
as much like beast as ever, though he Is no
longer a beast Of burden. The obligation Of
labor no longer rests on these members Of the
race of Ham. The West India squatter can
vegetate in absolute t,leness without eOmpul-
sion or euticement t0employ his faculties in
work.-Lsndsa Times.