The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1859-04-28


Herald OF freedom, Joy and love:
Thy breezes whisper, Slaves, be free"
Now is the Negroes jubilee!
so Thou. whose. favor long was sought,
What full delverance hast thou wrought!
The captlve's groan has pierced thine ear,
And thou hast wiped the falling tear.
The curse Is past, the slave is free
This is the Negroes jnblee
'Our prayers shall now with praise combine,
For freedom poured on every cline;
For holy freedom, gracious Lord.
To join world in sweet accord
Then freed from sin, from error free,
Well keep brighter jubilee
| hope the time will soon come, when
thousands of Christian ministers, with
their congregations, tbroug bout the length
and breadth of the United States will be
able to sing that Jubilee Hymn!
But, sir, find that am trespassing
upon the time and patience of the audi
ence, and therefore | will hasten to an.
other subject, which l have found, since
| have been in New England, is regard
ed by many persons as of great import
ance, namely, The Working of Emanci-
patton in the British Colonies.
| have been told, since | have been
here. that EN- mancipatioD, it is understood
has been failure. am prepared to
give this statement an unqualified contra
diction. There is no sense whatever in
which the emancipation of the slaves of
the British colonies has proved failure.
Sir, emancipation has not proved fail
ure in this sense--the people are all free.
It has not failed to break their chains
and set them Free In that it is no fail
ure, but blessed reality. Then, sir, |
am told that the people are worse off in
freedom than they were in slavery, and
in that sense emancipation has proved a
failure. But. sir, it is not true; and won
der. have often wondered, how any ma u
with common sense could for a mome ut
entertain such an opinion. Sir, the peo-
pie now, throughout the British colonies,
have their own time at their Disposal
their whole time This was not the case
in the days of slavery. The only time
they had at their disposal then was one
day in two weeks. to cultivate their pro
vision grounds and procure the necessa-
ries of life. and the Sabbath to 90 to mar
ket, and for religious worship, if they
chose. That was all the time the peo.
pie of Jamaica had at their disposal un-
der slavery. Their masters did not give
them food or wages, but they gave them a
piece of land,-it might be two or three
acres,i if they could cultivate them, ,-some-
times four or five, even ten or fifteen miles
away from the estate on which they resi-
ded; and they gave them one day in two
weeks to raise provisions upon this piece
of laDd-and that was all, except little
salt fish now and then, With which to sea.
son their provisions. Now, sir, the peo.
pie have all their time; they can spend il
to the best advantage, according to their
own judgment, and according to their
views Of their own interest. Then, sir
the people now have the Sabbath. For.
merly it was impossible for them to keer
holy the Sabbath day; they had to go &c
market oD that day; and when their mar.
ket was over, they would bring their bas.
kets and trays to the place of worship
and deposit them there,-having taken
some opportunity to change their apparel
while they went into the sanctuary t.
worship God. That was all the Sabbatt
the negro bad. The Sabbath marke
preyailed over the whole of'the West In
dies, and there was more business done
on that day than on all the other days o.
the week. All this was brought to at
end by emancipation. The negro cal
now spend the whole day with his family
10 the house of prayer and in the worship
of God, according to the dictates of hi
conscience.
Then, sir, the negro is free from th'
liability to the lash. 1t is true. that fo'
some years before emancipation, the Law
limited the masters power of punishment
to the inlction of thirty-nine lashes
one time; but the IN aster had onl y to taki
care that none but slaves were witnesses
and he might inaict three hundred an'
ninety lashes instead of thirty nine, will
out the slightest apprehension of punish
ment, because the testimony of slsv
could not be received against his master
whatever he might do. Now, sir, th
power of punishment was taken from To-
hands of the master. at the time of emsn
cipation, and placed 10 the hands of To