The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1860-02-22
NEGRO EMANCIPATION IN THE WEST
Z INDIES.

Planned In their libraries for the benefit of the
human race, when put into operation only serve
to show the worthlessness of the schemes, or
their efficacy In retarding the progress of civili-
EATON tor another decade. That experience is
bought too dearly which, to- accomplish some
indefinite imaginary good sacrifices the pros
perlty and the happiness of thousands and
Sinilllons of the human race. No more disas-
tfous example of this literary craftsmanship
and hhmbug philahthrophy is afforded in the
s. history of the world, than in the result of
British emancipation in the West India Islands.
The London Times of the 9th of January,
Z contains a lengthy and able article upon the
IA practical results OF negro emancipation in the
West India Colonies of the British Crown, and
the conclusions at which that journal arrives,
aifer Q thorough investigation of all the facts,
are that that magnificent scheme of British
asf ~ philanthropy has proved an inglorious failure;
ma that it has been destructive to the interests of
the white race; ruinous to the race intended
to be benefited by it, and will eventually
-tsbs prove the final and utter destruction of the
Islands. In support of its conclusions the
-A9s Times exhibits a formidable array of solid, ir
reslstable facts, any one of which is worth all
,sa4 the splendid theories and pathetic elooue nee
~ of all the abolition reforlners in the world
The history of West India emanci' patton
scarcely need be recapitulated. In tn e wear
- 1888 the British Parliament abolished slavery
af IN its colonies, appropriated one hup dred mil.
lions of dollars to, compensate thu. PLANTERS.
and made a discrimination in fl .yor of free
grown sugar. The protection t O free sugar
sog was, however, seoB-after aboP shed. On the
6Hses island of Barbadoes:the emap cination effected
no injury, for 1t amounted to nothing; there
-iass was ne vacant land there up on which the negro
u coutd squat, and he was compelled to work
.ss>4, Ikea galley slave or sta we. In Jamaica and
the important islands of Grenada, Dominica
sasz1 and ST. Lucia it we ,rked differently. Here
there are thousands of acres of vacant land
eshRa upon which the neg 70 squats; the abundance.
10 Of tropical fruits afford him sustenance for
. whlch ne ~exertiol is necessary; as labor is op-
tienal with hiw and not necessary to his sup
-gs ssFort, he viii not work; and the consequence
= <'ssjs, that vast plantations, capable of producing
millions ct money annually, have been desert
.zsHte ed and are rapidly going back to a state of
s-s wilderness for want of cultivation. The plant
es are bankrupt; the commerce of the Islands
Is ruined, and the rich and fertile regions
wherein man IS the only growth that dwindles,
are gradually, but surely, ~relapsing into Afri-
can barbarism and desolation. Here the char
acterlstlcs of the African race reach their nat
ural development. Totally untitled by nature
II s5. to govern himself in o rational manner, with
out spirit, without ambition, and destitute of
ezt everything bearing the most distant relation to
- = energy. or enterprise the negro sinks to that
degradation which In all ages and in all climes
has been regarded as his natural position. A
little makes him happy, and, as Mr.. TRoLLoPE
says, he IS SO entirely the creature of the pres
-ent that nothing can make him permanently
s5 arwretched. The planter caIIo. compel him to
work, and it is impossible to hire him, for a
shilling gratifes his wants and beyond the
4es IS qualification of the present moment he has no
.aFes desire. What matters it to him if fertile plan
4'si tations relapse, into deserts, and broad fields
which Hf tickled with a hoe, laugh with a
s.,5ss harvest, become the haunts of wild beasts?-
IF he can get all he wants to eat from a cocoa
nut, or work an hour for a penny's worth of
"a rum and water upon which to get drunk and
: lay in the shade, the only aspiration of his
ssasli soul is gratifed and he is content. The same
characteristics observable in the free negro in
this country are in the tropical chimes carried
to a great length. There his greatest desire is
,s4a TO sell his daughters virtue for a pittance asd
.mH get drunk on the proceeds of the transaction.
These are rugged truths, but still they are
49, truths, and why conceal them? There is no
y. more ncontrovertible truth in history than
that the African race is INDECENT, degraded
and dependent, notwithstanding the humbug
philanthropists in this and other countries who
would have us believe that the world was made
for the negro, and that ethe sole use of sugar
is to sweeten the negro's existence"
The effect of this state of things is plain
The West India planters were compelled to
seek lsborers elsewhere, or perish. They have
attempted to import Coolies and Cinnamon, to
work their plantations as apprentices. These
Coolies bind themselves to work for five years
at stipulated wages; at the end of that time
they have free passages home. Against this
scheme the British Anti-Slavery Society and
Abo.itionists throughout the world set up a
howl of horror. The grounds for their OPP
position to this system may be briefly stated:
First, because it is doing a great wrong to al
low the Coolie to earn a living in that manner,
as philanthropy thinks of doing the Coolie a
service who starves in his own country on two
pence a day, by preventing him from earning
two shillings a day in a different country; and
SECOND, because the negro laborer ought to be
protected from the competition of the Ceolie
laborer. The negro thinks emancipation from
slavery means emancipation from work, and
in this philanthropy proposes to sustain him.
saps the negro positively refuses. to labor,
and as philanthropy thinks it wrong to import
those who will work, the only alternative is to
have no work done at all. Here the case rests.
The ultimate abandonment of the Islands by
the whites, under these circumstances is inev-
table; and the subsequent humiliation of the
negroes remaining is almost as sure. The lat
ter have a natural tendency to relapse into war
ring tribes of heathens whenever left to them
selves, and become, as in Africa, mere instru-
znents Of mutual destruction. Thus one of
Ae the most magnificent schemes of modern phi
huthropy-a word which has become under
stood as expressing the essence of public folly
aud lunaey-will find a bloody elimination
There are those in this country who could
study the history of this emancipation with
profit but it is a lamentable fact that the
lessons of history and experience are alike lost
upon fanaties-Ohio Statesman.
eee3
p6-The Senate on yesterday evening dis
o. posed of Mr.: HARRIsoN's military invasion
,aBbill by an indefinite postponement. The ma
Iority have too great a sympathy with JOHN
BBowN's sraid-aEe too deeply committed to
s6e-firrepressible eaudict," to permits meas