East Saginaw courier. (East Saginaw, Mich.) 1859-18??, 1859-09-15
London Times and the Negro.

The beauties of West India Emanci-
patton, and its beneficial effects upon the
negro, have been often depicted, and we
commend to those laboring under a delu-
sion, that the negro has been benefited
by the change, and that his present con-
dition is satisfactory, the following from
the London Times m
"Thcre is no blinking the truth
Years of bitter experience-years of hope
deferred, of sclf-devoton unrequited, of
poverty, of humiliation, of prayers un-
answered, Of sufferings derided, of insults
unrcsented, of contumely patiently endur-
ed-have convinced US Of the truth. 1t
must be spoken out loudly and energeti-
cally, despite the wild mockings of
"howling can't" The free West India
slave will not till the soil for wages the
free son of the ex-slavc is obstinate as
his sire. He will cultivate lands which
he has not bought for his own yams,
mangoes and plantains. These satisfy
his wants; he does not care for yours.
Cotton and sugar, and coffee, and tobacco
he cares little for them. And what
matters it to him that the Englishman
has sunk his thousands and tens of thous-
ands on mills, machinery and plant, which
now totter on the languishing estate
which for years has only returned beg
gary and debts. He eats his yams and
sniggers at "Buckra."
awe know not why this should be
but it is so. The negro has been bought
with price--the price of English taxa
tion and English toll. He has been re-
deemed from bondage, "by the sweat
and travail Of some millions Of hard
working Englishmen. Twenty million
of pounds sterling -one million of dol
lars-have been distilled from the brains
and muscles of the free English laborer,
of every degree, to fashion the West In
dian negro into "free and Independent
laborer." Free and independent enough
nc has become, God knows; but laborer
he is not, and so far as we can see, never
will be. He will sing hymns and quote
texts, but honest, steady industry he not
only detcsts but dcspises. We wish to
Heaven that some people in England
neither Government people, nor parson,
nor clergyman-but some just minded,
honest-hcarted and clear sighted men
would 90 out to some of the islands--say
jamaica Dominica or Antigua-not for
month or three months, but for year
-wonld watch the precious protege of
Engiish philanthropy, tile fivuu ncgio, la
his daily habits would watch him as he
lazily plants his little squatting; would
see him as he proudly rejects agricultural
or domestic service, or accepts it only ct
wages ludcrously disproportionate to the
value of his work. We wish too, they
would watch him while, with hide
thicker than a hipopotamus and body
to which fcrvid heat is a comfort rather
than an annoyance, he droningly lounges
over the prescribed task on which the in
trepid Englishman, uninured to the burn
ing sun, consumes his impatient energy,
and too often sacrifices his life. We
wish they would 90 out and view the
negro in all the blazonry of his idlencss,
his pride, his ingratitude, contemptuously
sneering at the industry of that race
which made him free, and then come
home and teach the memorable lesson
of their experience to the fanatics who
have perverted him into what he is"