New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1859-06-20
ST. CPOjX.
IT'S INHABITANTS AND NORTHUMBERLAND
OF EMANCIPATION
Correpop5tnce q The ". Y. Tribune.
FREDERIKsTED, ISLAND OF ST. CRox, !

have been for the last ten days lnxuriating 10
boast as the garden Of the West Indies, and have
found 30 many things to Interest and instruct me,
that feelsimpelled to scribble my thoughts on
paper, lest they should ly away, never to retarn
and, as The TRIBUNE has become the general dis
trbu,ng Office for oil foreign correspondence and
my Western friends viii hear of my Hhereabout
sooner through that medium than any other, Of
course send my greeting thltherward.
Our company arrived on this east end Of the lei
and on the 18th Of this month after voyage Of
six day from Havana, against strong trade wind.
The little 10 0! CbrstiaDsted not throDged
with strangers as Was Havana, and ae found no
trouble in getting quirt and comfortable rooms in
which TO dispose ourselves, and recruit from the
terrible sickness which seems TO attend all lands
men who 'go down to the sea in ships"
From this point we diverged for week or more,
climbing the mOunfaios, visiting the estates and
hunting up friends, among whom was the Rev.
Theodore Parker, with bis family, whom We fonnd
SjourniDg in this place, aud very much improved IN
health and strength since his arrival here on the Sd
of March.
The slsnd is now suffering fearful dr0ntb, and
the known ing predict an entire failure ni the
growing sugar crop, unless rain falls soon. We IN
the States can hardly Conceive OF drOuth where
every tree and shrub is green in the month Of
March, and where ripeDiug fruits and vegetables
are all arouDd you, and your senses are RECALLED
from morn til eve with the fragrance OF jasmlns,
| roses aud oil. aDd-rs.
But Tia even so-the orange trees are witberng,
the flowers scarce, the bill sides are brown and
bare, the wild goats poor and bleat for their
| scanty food: the deer which are plenty 10 the
| mountains, ravagiDg the gardens and destroying
the tops for the want of better things; the roads
through the island which are the finest ever saw,
are very dusty and the water-c0urses and springs
many of them dry.
And yet, Nth all this, the island is the most
beautiful and picturesque landscape l have ever
any where seen, when locked over from ths top
of its mount AIMS which ny Oh lts borders and
near the sea shore, and stand like guardians of the
rich valleys within.
But none Of these things move me" as does the
great problem Of Human Freedom, which s being
worked out on this inland
have Travelled through the island from east To
west stopped by the wayside to zee the laborers
plow plant, weed and gather their sugar cane. l
have gone 10 the mi seen it grOuod, boiled aud
put by. have visited the great house snd the
negro house, gone TO the churches, and talked With
the children their way TO school, The market
women upon the street. and the nuIse at the door.
/ have asked the qucsts,n again and again, Would
you like 10 be- slaves again, uUder the care OF your
old masters" and the answer has been, "No,
Missis uever-ehery one work for himself now"
They may be pnor, thrftle-s, unwilling to toll
| and iguoraniy and guobly willing to live on the
least that will supply the demands of nature; but
still they hove burning IN Their hearts spark oil
that immortal fire, which soa yet gather force,
and if kindly fOsersd, IN time illuminate the
whole. But | do mt find them unwilling to work;
nor do they in mass, seem waiting 10 srlt-rrsprct
Even their attempts at fine dress do not strike me
as at all ridiculous, nor their willingness to live
without labor strange And the white man or
woman who sits with folded hands, dressed in all
the folly of hounces aud fufbelows neck-tles and
patent leatber-bemosning the laznes, and ex-
travaesDce Of the idle negroes only shows the
thinker where they got their patterns.
And the young gentleman who can't set his own
char 10 the table, the young lady who must
needs call a col0red gl tn cut her beeistenk, does
not impress one from the laboring classss If the
West as being the best judge in csse like this.
We sre told by the whites that the Island is
running down and that emancipation Is the cause.
But If We are only watchful, We soon hear
them tell of years of fearful drouth; OF ex-
hausted cane-6elds, which no longer capable
of producing their wuntrd auiouut OF caue;
of the d, ing of their trees, which were once
estimated worth IS apiece when the estate COM
msnded price according 10 the number OF IT'S
palms. Now the drOuth and a banefnl insect are
destroying them all. Then, again, they tell you
that the " bites unable to i've without slave labnr
have left the Island, and Others discouraged with
the late dry SEASON., which all attribute u the III
discriminate destruction of the forests, have given
I'D their es ates and pernsit-d them to 90 to ruin
or at least, Ia lie Idle. After examining closely,
We find that estates sell high now AS at any for
mer time; aid though the planters have some
II "a lahn 4NArN
where recognized as being in every respect better
| off.
They work but an average of ten hours day, and
| but fve DAYS in d week unless paid extra wages
foI 60 doing. 1t costs but triile Ia live; aud chs
lsborer who gets his ak quarts Of cora meal aud
two pouncs of salt fish, can, if he is thrifty (Which
l am told many Of them are, gather his traits
(al on the est.tes now belong the lab0rer), and
with HE usual privilege of keeping his owa horse,
his own cart his own cnick, De- ducks and turkeys
and tilipg bis fifty feet of land Which Is all tied 10
esch 'frst-class l,bOrrr" be or his wife is able
IA 60 10 market on Saturday mornings, and make
moIe money than the labor of the week brings 10
their bands.
These carts. which are everywhere styled
Emancipation Carte" I'LL the towns on Sstur-
DAYS; the women do nearly ali the marketing. and
the men, if it is a busy time, work i,r extra wages.
An Episcopal cereymen, whose iather lost his
property by the Emancipation act, Told US thai
great changes for the better had been made for the
laboGers, and that they were laying up money many
of them, and buying lands for themselves. One
other tact be gave us. which bespeaks greater JUS
tee in the tribunals which rule Santa Cruz than IN
any portion of the world Of which We have ever
heard Many owners of estates have never mar
red. or if married have not brought their legal
wives 10 the Island, but have taken 10 themselves
companions from ths IT own households OF slaves
To the children of such fayvrites the law gives
h.. ~. 1aer n. fha