The Washington union. [volume] (City of Washington [D.C.]) 1857-1859, 1858-01-10
A NEW PLAN TO SUPPLY THE WEST INDIES
WITH LABOR.
From the London Times, Doc i9l

day will have to adopt u bOneWuot uuIuUicu tOiS lur
manfestoes OF Exeter Hall must for once be defensive
and apologetic for the world il now wiser than when
pulpit and platform resounded with indignant appeals to
humanity five and twenty years ago The touching dc.
scrptions of philanthropc noveiwr'es wall 80 iof little
now. as far as regards colonies Those who
old enough may recoect the traditional portraits of West
India popreos their wives and children which are TO
be found in the .'noral tales Of the last generation
The owner Of a Jamaica property was always VMg Gu
sofa, drinking sangaree and swearing at ssmbo, fine
mulatto youth whose quivering lips and hashing eye
told how much he felt The lady of the house, always
represented faded beauty with her brow wreathcd
with pearls was OF course, being famed by two female
slaves whose delicate forms bore recent traces Of the bash
The youthful heir wandered about the house exercising
whip given him by his mother expressly to beat the little
negroes with faithful and pious Pompey, exposed to
every kind of i'll usage, because Dnah who loved him.
OH how ferventy would not listen to the unInany
proposals of Drive the oversecr completed the picture
By such representations these body OF az Woodworking
and loyal subjects England possessed were held
to obloquy and negro emancipation effected without
regard to the interests of who were popularity sup
posed to be revealing in ilgotten gains But politicians
and the public and the friends of the slaves them
selves have begun to see matters in clearer light
Our own colonies are impoverished 1T the of slavery
is not diminished it has only been transferred from
to more grasping pitiless and interruptions hands
Never the prospect of emancipation distant than
now that foreign slave establishing monop
oily of all the great staples of tropical produce The
islands which in the old times supplied no much sugar
coffee, and cotton going out OF cultivation while
Cuba the United States and Brazil are every day extend
ing the of their cultivation and the number Of their
slaves So valuable indeed, is the slave in Cuba that
spite of treaties and penal laws, cruisers and bookad
thousands Of Africans yearly carried across the At
antc to work the sugar and tobacco plantations The
wealth of the island is such that in spite OF msgovcrn
mcnt oppressive taxes and Spanish army of rs, 900
men, proprieors among the richest in the world
AS to the United States it is, indeed, folly to expect
any change in that quarter Slavery ON the North Amer
lean continent has extended Is extending will extend
As long the supplies of cotton below the demand
all the markets of the world long will slave labor
be valuable to be parted with 1t may be declared
that the attacks of abotonsts and the interference of
the North are the of this determination to uphold
slavery but no sensible will believe that r
taton and obstinacy could lead to such great results
The existence of slavery is economical question and
long as the system is profitable cannot doubt that
it will be maintained Much the may be said with
respect Brazil where the institution prevails with ea
of cruelty unknown in the worst Of times
der English rule
products which the chief basis OF industry
among the chief sources of our revenue They be-
coming ch powerful arrogant every day less inclined
be guided by English counses moved BY English in
reference With all the readiness which sclfnterest IN
duces they have learnt the arguments against limiting
slavery and slave importation from mishaps,
acknowledgements of failure from their prosperity and
from our dependence upon them They have the law Of
nations their sde and may quote 1t in to any
assertion of rights to interfere in the Of hu
mainly. They free nations and Africa Is free coast
Negroes necessary to raise the cotton, sugar coffee
and tobacco which the world wants The white can
not work under tropical and unless the African he
used aborer, the aircst regions of the New World
must remain desert In fine, negroes must be had at
any cost and nation has right TO impose its
scrupulosity other free communities England has
ruined her colonies that is why she should
seek check the progress Of the whole American cont
nent Such is the kind of reasoning which il becoming
more and common every day; and we depend upon
it that in some form under pretext the fsye-
of the other hemisphere will again attempt to OBJ
tain supply of negroes from the coast Of Africa The
recent importation into the French colonies has naturally
aroused their attention. and 1t s wonder that hear
it asked why few cargoes Of such emgrants could
not be brought to New Orleans Savannah there 10 be
settled according the domestic institutions Of the State
With this renewed vitality Of slavery owing to the rap
idly increasing value of the slave have to deal
Andit is not by preaching, protesting threaten
ing denouncng, that the objects Of humanity be
attained The last generation content to be merely
destructves they broke down the slave system In the
West Indies without attempting to replace it by better
and the consequence has been the multiplication of the
former evils and deepening Of the guilt In which
indirectly participate consumers Of the Save-raised pro-
duce After twenty years experience called
upon to provide remedy On all sides we hear the
colonies pershing for want Of sufficient labor
By additional supplies alone the principle of free labor
in the tropics he vndced and real blow struck at the
iniquities against which we have long acclaimed Cur
attention has been directed report Of the council on
immigration for the island Of Trinidad which shows how
British colony may decay while all around 1t il flour
ishlnG Ii trinidad hnn renamed under spanish II
might in spite of tyranny and misrulc, be the wealthy
island which Its position and fertility would naturally
make it, But we learn that, although tho island
tans $50 900 acres yet the extent of all the land
under cultivation only about S07 acres and Of this
the sugar plantations only 34,050 The
entire number of agricultural abores working for wages
in the cultivation of sugar and Is only IA, O00
of whom nearly 5000 immigrants from India and
China introduced at the public expense 1t IL found
that these by far better abores for wages than the
negro, who it is stated twill not I've stimulated to
greater industry by any increase of wages And at tho
present time the planters would gladly obtain labor by
advance of wages The high price Of sugar and other
tropical productions has stimulated enterprise greater
extent of land is being brought under cultivation and all
that wanted for the development Of the colony
supply of hands Such the fertility md the abund
OF land that hc expense of establishing on virgin
land estate capable OF producing ESQ hogshcads of
gar including the cost of machinery and buildings would
exceed &C. 900 sterling But with the present sup
ply of labor the present production Of the colony
cannot be kept up The coonsts, therefore. beg the
government to assist them in obtaining immigrants from
China and India The colony, says the report could
without difficulty meet the expense of introducing and
without risk find employment for 500 Chinese immi
grants But is to British India that the colony chiefly
looks Under free system the coolies work better than
Africans The former ambitious and work for wages
the latter go off and squat in remote districts content 10
support life little Now this document comes, We
think, OPPORTUNITY at present There he no doubt
TINT slavery will gain the ascendant unless
carry out plan of free labor Our colonies in the
West the field for such scheme empire in the
East may furnish the aborcr and the new hold shall
have Asia will give facilities for doing what wish
Whether should send mutinous sepoys the
ter a hardly decisiOn think