New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1859-08-09
WEST INDIA EMANCIPATION.

stricted liberty to those apprentices.
Many Of the free coloret people Of this country
haze been accustomed TO celebrate the acoiversa'y
Of these events, some Of tie most intelligent and
vutUoss Of our white citizens joining 10 these
festivities. This anniversary .eeius to have been
more generally Observed this year than for come
time before This fact has evoked much criticism
from the press. Our cotemporaries have Com
nrnted- with more or lees elaboration, upon the
condition and prospects, Of the British islands, and
the effects Of emancipation upon their agricultural
and commerce.! prosperity.
We have read many of these criticisms ard COM
meLtaries. Feeble as was our faith IL the abl,y
Of TIE majority Of the American press to discuss
this subject nteligeuty, We confess to our surprise
at the gnorsnce that prevails in regard to it.
Hardly OF journal III ten that has spoken upon 1t
but declares that tie West indies Are 4" ruined"
aid that the experiment Of emancipation Is :" a
failure" Some regard this e.ult regrrtful'y.
some eleefnlly while Others, and particularly Dem
ocratic newspapers. max. it the occasion for sing
ing peans to perpetual Slavery, or uttefing objurg1
tons sgsirst "the Black Republicans" @ho would
whem the Southern State. in cslamiti's Like those
We do Lot now propose 10 examine the politico-
economical phases Of This question. five should,
it would be easy to show that By far tue larger
share of the financial reverses that succeeded the
radical and unprecedented social changes Of 1854
H. le3- spraDg not from the conduct OF tse freed
men, but from the stupidity ard Peryerslty OF the
proprietary body; that much OF the decrease 10
two or three agricultural staples is due to the fact
that large numbers Of the negroes, regarding field
lsbor ss type of seIvtude, have abandoned 1t tor
other lees aborious, and to them less Degrading
calings: while Others have purchased small prop
critics of their own, on which they do not pretend
to cultivate the great staples and still others haze
become mechanics and traders that the great
draw back upon West India production has been
scarcity OF agricultural laborers arising from the
causes Just mentioned that, BY system of imm-
grafton nov going on, this want is nov supplied;
that slresdy marked change is spreading over the
face Of the islands, and the old staples like sugar,
are steadily rising from depression toward the
highest int reached under tue ancient regime; and
that in mapy respects the islands were never 50
prosperous as at this hour.
Its not, however, Of mere material and fnan-
cia matters that We are now to speak; but our
purpose is to remind our readers Of the precise
Kind of ruin" which croakers and crayens, when
Parliament was discussing the question OF aboi-
ton. predicted would snite the isl,nds; to note 10
what respects they then alleged that the expert
ment would prove 50 failure;" and to see how
tbese prophecies have been fulfilled Though ready
on fit occasion to silence BY unanswerable facts toe
present politico-economical clamors OF the adso-
Gates of perpetual Slavery, We will not allow them
to change the issues they themselves rendered to
III. friends of Freedom at the outset of this con-
troyersy, until Judgment is entered against one or
the other of the parties on that branch Of the case
Those who heard snd read coteuPoraneously, or
will low peruse, the prolific productions OF the
press, the platform, and the pulpit on this theme,
both in the United States aud Great Britain,
twenty five years and more ago. will observe that
the ." ruin which they predicted would promptly
follow abolition in the West Indies Was mainly Of
four specific kinds, namely:
l. Assassination. immediately on the passage
of the Abolition act the negroes were to rise en-
masse and stay the whites. ''Cut their masters
thrcats," was the usual phrase. Nearly every
body either believed III this bloody bugbear, or pre-
tended TO.
H. Crime. Hawkins, Blackstone, Archbold,
Russell, the Newg.t Calendar, and the City Hall
Recorder were ransacked for materials to furnish
a catalogue of the offences that would abound
throughout the islands soon as the negroes wee
turned loose to prey on society.
I'LL. Pauperism. Scsrcely anybody seemed 10
doubt that hen the negroes ceased to have mas
,ers to provide for them they would be unable 70
:. take care of Themselves and would speedily
sink into squslor and starvation.
". Barbarian. 1t was asserted that the freed
men. stohd in intellect, aud brutal IN instinct,
would gradually relapse into semi-baroarism' aud
that ere quarter of century had passed away,
society in the Islands would descend IN the scale Oh
civilization almost TO the level OF the heathenish
tribes in the interior of Africa.
Five ard twenty years $50, In all hooks ana
corners Of the land from the ST. John TO the Sabine,
these grim pictures painted in all imaginable haes'
and BY mners Of every grade OF capacity were hung
M 70 fright the country from is proPrefy. These
oIoory predictions were elaborated by orators, and
editors, in every form of speech, and phrase; were
the common currency Of Northern merchants, who
had wares 10 sell 10 Southern customers; were the
small change of unrs asouipg interruptions der>a-
gocses, who had votes 10 purchase OF the multi
tude fell in woeful warnings from the waillng lips
OF white-liyered diyines: and were belched out,
with running chorus of curses, ard brickbsts, by
the drunken denzens Of stews, and dramshOps.