The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1859-08-01


meeting of the people be called immediately-
citizens of all political creeds and all religious
sects-and let bold declaration Of rights be
Get forth, and such strong measures adopted a.
are necessary to get rid of the whole code Il
Sunday laws forever.
Jubilees OF the Abolitaonl,ts-What Has
Emancipation Done Sor the West India
Negroes.
Our telegraphic and general news columns dur
ing the past week have informed the public that
a saturnalia of jubilees and thanksgivings is, n
many parts of New England and in some places
in this State, the order Of to-day. As a nation,
enjoying peace, plenty and general prosperity,
we have at all times much to be thankful for,
and our paans of praise to the great dispenser
of good for His merciful protection over US are
always in season. We have our special days ot
thanksgiving in every State of the Union, and
our national holidays also, and many other days,
are observed by different classes Of our fellow
citizens commemorative of events to them Of
special interest. The day on which ST. George
killed the dragon, and that on which ST. Patrick
baniahed from his adopted country the last snahe
uliQ UVu0-WuCu ouI OlA'u WIO CltlZcud pcItO1I1
that ancient and interesting rite Of drowning
the d,amrock ARE, of course, solemn festivals.
The event which evekes the laudde Dominurn
of many of our politically humane and
philanthropic fellow citizens to-day occurred
on the LIST of August, 1888. It was the emanof-
patton of the negro slaves Of the British West
India Colonies subject of interest at this
time in the United States-in the North as we'll
the South.
The British possessions of the West Indies
comprise the following dependencies, viz
Auguilla, Antigua, Barbados, Dominica Ora
NADIA, Guiana, British Honduras, Jamaica, Mont
serrat, Nevis, st. Kits, St. Lucia, st. Vincent.
Tobago, Trinidad and the Virgin isles, all
reposing upon the bosom Of the Atlantic, and
capable Of yielding inexhsustible supplies Of
all the tropical products in our market It
may be questioned whether there be possessions
on the eaxth's surface more profitable to the
labor OF the planter than the British West Indies
would be were their productive soil fully Guilt
waited and their immense resources thoroughly
developed. But one-twentieth Of the resources
of the West Indies or of any one colony Of
them, never was, and, under existing circum-
stances never will be, developed.
1t would be almost impossible to- give
the statistics Of the West Indics but al. ano disco
onnes, the statistics we give of one will apply to
the whole. jamaica and Trinidad, and Guiana.
and Antigua, were tolerably we'll cultivated thirty
or forty years ago. The profits of the West India
planter, and the princely manner in which he
lived, gave rise to the saying, Gas rich as West
India planter"-his heiress was the heroine Of
novel writers, and his very name was synony-
nous with all that is comfortable and happy
The West India planter of those days was rich.
He invested his thousands in mills and machine
ry and he cultivated his estate with pleasure and
with profit All around him was industry and
prosperity; his slaves were cheerful and satisfied.
and be himself was the happiest of men. But
this happy and contented state of things was des-
tined to be Of short duration. The Wilberforces
and Broughams of England made the puleit
and the platform to resound with appeals
to the humanity of the English people.
The West India slave must be made free; his
freedom would stimulate him to increased indus
Try, as the hope Of reward sweetens labor; it
would benefit himself and the country; but the
planter, most of all, would be the gamer by It
With the most plausible arguments, the people
of England were made to believe that in freeing
the West Indian slaves they were performing not
only what they humanely thought to be duty,
but were doing great service to the country
also, and they cheerfully submitted to be taxed
so as to raise the enormous sum of one hundred
millions Of dollars, the price of that liberty.
Twenty-one years experience of West India
negro freedom we have now before us to re-
view. What has been it's result?
In 1928, ten years before the emancipation,
the imports Of England from the West Indies
were f9,496,950, and in 1s48, ten years after
the emancipation, the imports were down to
92,l5S,ll7. So much for the general imports
Now look at the crops:-In Jamaica the sugar
crop of 1928 was 100000 hogsheads, and In l848
1t was only 29,165. In British Guiana the sugar
crop Of 1928 was co. 2S hogsheads, and in lS48
only 2l,317. The cotton crop of British Guiana
in 1928 was ALL bales, in 1s48 its production
was abandoned. The production of coffee in
Jamaica In 1928 was 5,2S7, pounds, and
in ls4S the cultivation Of the article was aban-
doned.
AT the present time more than three. fourths or
the plantations of the West Indies are abandoned
altogether, and the machinery that worked them
either sold into Cuba or corroded with rust in
the lettering and dilapidated buildings which
were once the busy theatre Of remunerative in
dustry and the pride Of the hospitable planter.
The estates not yet abandoned, what are they
doing? They are struggling hard to keep agoing
at all, laden down with debts and mortgages,
swelled into three times their value, the fore
closure Of which would hardly pay the
lawyers fees; but still the poor hoping pro-
prietor keeps going on, expecting better times
when the mutinous "sepoys' arrive, or batch Of