Weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1858-1865, 1860-11-21

far as the State is concerned, the effect would be
the same-she would be robbed of her labor her re-
sources would fail and the result would be "a re-
pudation of every bond of the State or an emigra-
ton to some less burthened land"
In short 1.-THE value of slavery" to the State Of
North Carolina may be, think. very accurately and
Justly summed up to be "a necessity and one that no
law of figures can reach Without slavery, till re-
dundant population causes labor to beg for employ
ment as in Europe-our lands must remain until.
led, and our fields now Laughing with abundance,
follow those of Jamaica and grow up in bush -
Those not familiar with the result Of English eman
cpation in the West Indies, recommend to consult
the reports of the Governors of those Islands, also
Bairds experiences in the West Indies in lo4)-oO
and Trollopes "West Indies and the Spanish main"
1s50-6O. The writer will quote one or two pas
saees themselves volume of experience to us, if
we will so them. Baird says: Take Jamaica,
the chief of the British West India Islands, as
sample of the present condition of the British pos
sessions in these seas 'eX uno, disco omnes 1t ap-
pears from the report OF the committee OF the House
of Assembly appointed in 1s47 to enquire into the
cause and extent of the agricultural distress, that OF
the G53 sugar estates in cultivation III Jamaica III
the year 1884, the year of emancipaton) only DUB
were cultivated III 1S47, the remaining estates con-
tanning 16S032 acres of land, and employing up
wards of twenty-threc thousand :aborers having
been abandoned This was in 1S47; the downward
tendency has certainly not been checked since then
matters are now great deal worse, as regards the
growth of sugar cane in Jamaica. Were we to take
into consideration the coffee cultivation, the detail
would be still more distressing. The same observa-
ton as to desertion of estates may be made with re-
gard ID all the other colonies, (Barbadoes alone, ex-
cepted because Of its extreme population beng
greater to the square mile, than Great Britain her
sell. See Baird elsewhere) In particular British
Guiana. Even while write. have before me list
of fty-six cotton coffee and sugar estates deserted
and abandoned in that productive and vast posses
sion of late years, because wholly improbable. y
Page one hundred and tifty-three, he says:
by lessening the number of laborers for con-
Quoting the operations in the fields, or at the boiler
houses and distillery of the effects Of the eman-
clpatlon act, was to inhict heavy blow upon the
production of the British West Indies"
Lord Harris, one of the West India Governors,
says in home dispatch of 1877: 81 do not hest
tate to express to your lordship the home Sccreta
ry, my conviction that if this colony, Trnidad) is
not to be left to subside into State Of comparative
barbarsm, some more than ordinary relief is neceS
sary to support it in the contest which, in common
with other British West India colonies it is now en-
gagged in. Circumstanced as it is, believe it inca
pable of successfully competing in the British mar
ket with the produce OF countries where slavery IS
still permitted" Sir Charles Grey, reports of ia
the persons most thoroughly acquainted with the
subject that at the present prices and the present
rates of duties, it will be impossible to carry
here, without loss ruin the cultivation of sugar
for expectation" Baird says page one hundred and
sixty-three NEARLY all the dispatches from the Gov
ernors to the colonial office since 1910 have borne
evidence to the fact of West India Gecadence."
Now let's see whether matters have improved in
the ten years since past. Mr. Anthony Trollope
employed on official business by the English govern
ment, visited the same places on which Mr.. Baird
made his observations, only last year. Quoting
from page lO3, he says: THAT Jamaica land
of wealth. rivalng the East in its means Of riches,
nay eXcelling it as market for capita,, and that
now it is a spot on the earth almost more poverty
stricken than any other-so much is known almost
to all men. That this change ,cas brought about By
the manumissiOn Of the slnres which was completed
in 1888, of that ALSO the English world is generally
aware And we may also say that the solicitude of
Englishmen goes no further. The families who are
connected with Jamaica are becoming fewer and
fewer. Property has been abandoned as COOL far
nothing and nearly forgotten" &c, &c. Again,
page 107: "Are .Englishmen in general aware that
half the sugar estates in Jamaica and believe more
than half the coffee plantations hare gone back into
a state of bush? That all this land, rich with the
richest produce only some thirty years past, has
now fallen back into wilderness? And of those who
are now growing cane in Jamaica, great portion
have lately bought their estates for the ralue Of tie
copper in the sugar boilers and Of the metal IN the
run, stills" On page 10: 1.-The complaint gen
orally resolves itself into this, that free labor in ia
maica cannot be commanded, &C., &c. The negro
will never work unless compelled to do so. He is
strong as bull, hardy as mule. docilc as dog
when conscious of a master-a salamander regards
heat He can work without pain and without anoy-
ance. But he will never work as long as he can cat
and sleep without it."
Are we, the citizens of the good old State of North
Carolina, prepared to witness like state of things
in our beloved country? The unfortunate lnhahi-
and misled people in England. Are we to be gov
erned by similar people at the North? Is history
to be no guide? experience no light to US?
In the same paragraph, Mr.. Moore says: Even
with perfect Union of the Southern States after
severance the Republic would require least twen-
ty-fve millions for an economical government in
time of profound peace. The portion of North Car
DINA in this burthen could not be less than two
millions and would he raised almost entirely by d.
rect taxation" Let us examine the first statement
1t is an assumption only. Mr. Moore gives no basis
on which it is made, and though were it ten mil
lions than his estimate still it could be raised
more easily by Southern Confederacy, than is our
present revenue by the General Government as
expect speedily to show and that too, without one
dollar of direct taxation! deem it. however, desi-
rable in the present crisis, when our State may be
compelled to decide upon measures that must fix
her position for veal or woe in the future, that
full and accurate knowledge possible, be had of all
the responsibilities involved on both sides the ques-
ton before her. The following are some of the rea-
sons why twenty-five millions per annum, is too
high estimate for the maintenance of an able and
dignifed government for the Southern States in
COnfederacy. The entire cost of supporting the
government Of the United States during the admin
istraton Of the latter Adams, when the population
Of the country far greater than that of the pro-
posed Corfederacy will be, when the government
was engaged in most expensive system of coast de-
fence, including the enormous military works at
Boston, New York, Newport, Old Point Comfort and
elsewhere; when our frontier required an army
greatly dsproportioned to that necessary for u.s. 1--WE
are considering the question during "a time of pro-
found peace, when it was necessary frequently to
move troops from Houlton Barracks, Maine, to Fort
Leavenworth on the extreme west of Missouri, and
from Michigan to Florida, lin 1881, the expenses of
the army were more than half the whole expenses of