Dayton daily empire. [volume] (Dayton [Ohio]) 1850-1865, 1863-04-09
4 Capital Article fOr Negro
EmancipRtiOnist TO Read.
WILL rEEg SroRoEs WORK


I
blow TO our West lAdian Colonies Where
once property reigned, there is now poverty
and distress Aourishiug towns have assumed
the character Of poor country villages, forests
have again taken possession Of land once in
a high state OF cultivation, thousands of fam
| lilies have been ruined or become hopelessly
involved whilst the negro, for whose sake
sacrifices so vast have been made, has hither-
to shown no inclination TO take advantage of
the freedom which the nation generously be-
slowed upon him, All the predictions OF our
philsnthropists have been falsifed The ne
gro unless compelled by necessity, will not
work. IL he can make sufficient money in a
day TO cover the expenses of whole week.
he will only work one day out Of the seven ;
and he is moreover VERY chary of entering
into any contract or engagement that can be
enforced by law" The West Indian planters
have since the day which proclaimed freedom
TO one andruin to the other, resorted, but with
indifferent success. to every measure that
could possibly induce the black TO work
Their last ray Of hope was that the protec-
ton given to colonial sugar would be main
tanned; but when, in l845, free-trade swept
away this remnant OF an anliquated system,
4 general despair seized the cane-growing
community. We happened to be in the
steamer which took out the Intelligence of the
sugar Act having passed through Parlia,
ment, and well remember the anxious faces
OF those who hastened on board to know
whether their doom was irretrievsbly sealed
For a year or two the energies of the plan
ters were totally paralyzed by the repeated
blows aimed at their prosperity; only one or
TWO Of the smaller Islands, including Barba-
does, where labor happened to be abundant,
weathered the storm. Jamaica has, to this
day, not recovered herself Mr.. f. B I'm
derhll, in his new work, The West Indies;
their Social and Religious Condition, says:
'There were very few disposed to take a
hopeful view of the prospects of the country
The newspapers, with scarcely an exception,
represent things in the darkest light and if
we may believe the statements increasingly
10 sde, Jamaica is hopelessly ruined In the
usnal course of things, the inhabitants of
a country are proud Of their native land, are
disposed to hide her raults and 10 apologize
for her weaknesses In Jamaica it is not so.
Planters, officials, clergymen, merchants,
shopkeepers seem to take delight in exposing
the worst features Of ts social lite in declaim.
ing against the lower classes OF the people,
in representing every thing as gone to utter
decay, and in depreciating the prospects be-
fore them. Nothing is right The Govern
ment is extraVsgant and bad; the officers are
vepal the Legislature is governed by class
interests, and addicted TO log rolling the
planters are poor, their estates worthless, and
their cultivation thriftess and unskillful.
The people are idle, vain, improvident un-
chaste. Their religion is hypocrisy their
social condition is one Of African barbarism
and dark superstition. In short, the island
is in a state of irretrievable decay. SuLais
the picture which is held up to a stranger,
and no little pains are taken to make him be.
lieve It a faithful representation. There is
much in the appearance Of Kingston to cor
roborOte this view. Its wharves are compar-
atvely silent the large stores and warehouses
which follow the line Of the harbor are but
partially occupied, and betray but few signs
OF active business some are tenantless
! Here forty years ago the commerce of Cen.
trail and Southern America had its entrepot
II was the mart where the productions Of the
tropical countries of the West were exchanged
| for the manufactures Of Europe. That trade
/ has found other channels The Island of St.
Thomas has partially attracted it ; while car.
goes are now sent direct from the mills OF
Manchester TO the markets they are inten.
ded to supply 1t is only during the shipping
season for sugar that activity prevails among
the stores, which we're formerly busy the year
roundwith foreign and intercolonial traffic The
merchant Of Central America rather prefers
to avail himself OF the facilities which steam
affords to visit the marts of Europe than 10
stop hall way at the warehouses of Kingston,
and the rich produce Of the mines Of Mexico
nov goes direct TO its destination in the Golfers
Of the banks OF England, France and Spain.
Trinidad has also had to pass through q
terrible ordeal
Three years after emancipation, in l84l,
the condition Of the island was most deplora.
Bile; the laborers had for the most part aban,
doned the estAtes and taken possession OF
plots of vacant land, especially In the vicinity
OF the towns, without purchase or lawful
right YAgranoy had become an alarming
| habit of great numbers every attempt to take
q census Of the population was bafled by the
| frequent migrations which took place. Grim
, ipals easily eyaded justice by absconding Ia
places where they we're unknown, or BY hiding
themselves in the dense forests which in al
parts edged 30 closely on the cleared lands
/. Drunkenness increased 70 an enormous de-
gree, assisted by planters who freely supplied
rum TO tbs laborers, to induce them to remain
/ as culhyators on their estates High wages
!. were obtained, only to be squaudered in
: amusement, reVelry aud dissipation; at tht
8 same time, these high wages induced di
J. miuished cultivation Of food, aud CORES
2 popdng increase in price and in the impor
r Of provisions from the ueighboring islandl
Q and continent The lRborers steadily refused
e to enter into contracts which would obligC
0 them to remain in the service OF master
e this would too much have resembled the stat,
. Of slavery from which they had but Just emer
0 ged. 1t was with reference to this state o
e things that Lord Harris wrote in ls4s-'0n,
r of the many errors which have been commit
n ted since the granting Of emancipation is th'
little attention paid TO any legislation having
e for It's end the formation of society, on true