The Kansas herald of freedom., 1859-08-06
IPs 1tcraI0 Of Freeoom
LAWRENCE. x. It.
Saturday Morning, August 6, 1863.
West Indian EMANCIPATION No, a raiIur..

West Indian Emancipation Not Failure.
The New York Times has had a cor
respondent in the Windward West India
Islands, who has paid special attention
to the present condition of those islands,
AID the results of emancipation in them
As will be seen from his concluding re-
marks, which We give below, he is no ia
natic, nor does he attempt to pervert facts
to the upbuilding Of favorite theory:
There are some general conclusions to
be drawn from the present condition OF
the Islands, Of which N this series of let
tens | have endeavored to give a faithful
representation. In the first place, they
demonstrate, beyond all doubt, and be.
you'd all possibility of reasonable arsu
menr, that the black race, under freedom,
has advanced and is advancing in the
scale of civilization. They show that,
after the negro has acquired the habit OF
selt-dependence, which liberty must ul-
timately force upon him, he will work
and does work far better than he did
when he thought, spoke, or moved only
as a master might dictate. Experience
proves this; statistics prove it; the con-
dltion of all or any of these Islands proves
1t, They prove that the habits of an en-
shaved people are not their habits after
they have been freed and have recovered
from the prostration which great social
revolution must be expected to produce.
These Windward Islands show that il the
moral Improvement of the African crsoles
has not kept pace with their material pro-
Srtss, 1t Is tec,use their superiors aud
rulers have looked with suspicion aud
diStrnst upon edu alton, aud, until very
lately, have refused to sanction any sys-
tenn Of popular instruction. 1t is impus-
slble 10 contemplate without astonlsh-
ment the very large proportion of colored
people III these colonies which, in spite
oil Obstacles almost insurmountable, have
risen to positions OF wealth and indepen.
deuce within quarter of a century. II
Islands like Tobago, St Vincent, or Grena
ia export less sugar in 1859 than they
did In $780, owing to the Abandonment
OF large estates and the ruin of large pro-
pnetors, they still show that this alb IN
Comment and ruin can be traced to other
causes as well as to the emancipation OF
tue laboring classes. / do not deny that
'ne British emancipation was an ill-judged
scheme, hastily, unwisely, wrongly exc
Cuted, and entailing an amount of evil
upon the colonies and violation of pri'
Va'e rights which no after.legislation could
possibly redress But, right or wrong, il
was done, and cannot be undone. and
would not be undone if it could; for, with
Tue act OF emancipation, its evil effects
nave come and gone, and its great bene'
Jus are beginning to stand prominently
forward III the face of this middle day
I,, DO most emphatically deny that the
"ihdwari Islands present any such pic
lure OF ruin as that engraved in the pop
ular belief. Is it an evidence of decay
'nat Tor the four years ending in 1893
sne exports of the British West IndI'
Colonies amounted 10 f32, 500. 600, ant
'nat Tor the four years ending in 1857
tney exported f37,000,000-an increase
OF iour and a.half millions sterling, with
10 a period of four years 1 do also de-
ny that the partial decline in sugar ex
pouatlon. which some OF the islands show
Is legitimate consequence of emancipa
uon alone. If We really desire 10 under
stand the causes that have combined t.
orlns down the West India planter from
Tue position of nabob to something low
sr than that Of an English or America
farmer, must we not consider that III
price Of his only product has fallen with
In twenty five years, from 90 shilling
per cwt. to 20 shilliDgs per cwt.-or Is
nothing to the argument, that at the pc
nod OF abolition, and long before, his es
'ates were overwhelmed with hopeless