Holmes County farmer. [volume] (Millersburg, Ohio) 1857-1926, 1863-10-29
istellaneous.
From the London Anthcnacum.
Will Free Negroes Work.
A CAPITAL ARTICLE FOR EMAN
CIPATIONISTS TO READ.

blow to our West Indian Colonies
/, Where prosperity once reigned there is
now poverty and distress flourishing
towns have assumed the character of poor
country villages, forests have again taken
possession Of land once in high state
of cultivation, thousands of families have
beeu ruined or become hopelessly invol
we'd: whilst the negro, for whose sake
these sacrifices SO vast have been made,
has hitherto shown no inclination to
take advantage of the freedom which
the nation has so generously bestowed
upon him. All the predictions of our
philanthropists have been falsifed. The
negro, unless compelled by necessity,
, will not work. If ho can make sufficient
, money in day to cover the expenses Of
, a week, he will only work one day out
of seven, and he is moreover every chary
about entering into any contract or en-
gagement that can be enforced by law"
The West Indian planters have, since
the day that proclaimed freedom to o g
and ruined the other, resorted, but with
Indifferent success, TO every measure that
could possibly induce the blacks to work.
Their last ray of hope was that the pro-
lection given to the Colonial sugar wo'd
be maintained; but when in 1915, free
: trade swept away this remnant of an ac-
quainted system, general despair seized
(, upon the cane growing community. We
happened to be in the steamer which took
:, out the intelligence of the sugar act hav-
. ing passed through Parliament, and well
= | rnp lor tho onN,o,,c ,c fhnen
who FASTENED on board to know whether
st their doom was irretrevably sealed. For
&c a year or two the energies of the planter S
: were totally paralyzed by the repeated
blows aimed a. their prosperity. Only
s. one or two of the smaller Islands, inclu.
:. ding Barbados, where labor happened to
be abundant, weathered the storm. ia.
maica has to this day not recovered her.
sell, Mr.. E. B. Underhll, in his new
u work--'The West Indies, their Socia
and Religious Condition, says:
"There were very few disposed to TAX
= a hopeful view of the prospects Of tn
country. The newspapers, with scarce
t., ly an exception, represent things in tn
darkest light, and if we may believe tn
statements increasingly made, Jamaica i
st hopeessly ruined.
in In the usual course of things, the in
/ hsbitants of country areproud Of thei
native land, are disposed to hide he
faults and to apologize for her weakness
n In Jamaica it is not so. Planters, off
", cials, clergymen, merchants, shop keep
Sa SG ers seem to take delight in exposing tn
J worst features of its social life, in de
claiming against the lower classes of th
G, people, in representing everything a
II; gone to utter decay, and in depreciatinl
of of the prospects before them. Nothing i
ms right. The Government is extravagan
he and bad, tho officers are venal; the Leg
islature is governed by class interests
and addicted to log rolling; the planter
are poor, their estates worthless. an,
les their cultivation thriftless and unskilllul
n. X. The people are idle, vain, improvident
unchaste. Their religion is hypocrisy
their social condition is one of African
- barbarism and dark superstition. II
short the Island is in a state Of irretrieva
BILE decay. Such is the picture which i
held up to the stranger, and no littl
" pains are taken to make him believe i
a faithful representation. There is mucl
in the appearance of Kingston to cor
= ioborate its view. Its wharves are com
paratively silent the large stores an,
warehouses which follow the line of tn
II harbor are but partially occupied, an
betray but few signs of active business
some tenantless. Here forty years ag
the commerce of Central and Souther
e, America had its entrepot. 1t was tn
mart where the productions of the tror
IS. ical countries of the West were exchau
ged for the manufactures of Europe
The trade has found other channels, III
, Island of St.Thomas has partially attra'
. ted it, while cargoes are now sent dire'
- from the mills of Manchester to the ma
W. kets they are intended to supply. 1t
only during the shipping sea son for 81
gar that activity prevails among I'll
IL, stores, which were formerly busy IL
year round with foreign and intercolon
al traffic.
'o' America rather prevails among the store
which were formerly busy the year roun
~ with foreign and intercolonial traffi
The merchant of Central America ratb'
prefers to avail himself of the facilitiC
= which steam affords to visit the marts
Europe than to stop half way at IL
warehouses of Kingston, and the ric
produce of the mines of Mexico now go
q. direct to its destination in the Golfers
the banks of England. France ar
,re, Spain" .
be Trinidad has also had to pass thro'
}. terrible ordeal:
- "Three years after emancipation.
1S4I, the condition of the Island WI
most deplorable; the laborers had for Il
:. most part abandoned the estates, and t
= ken possession OF plots of vacant Ian
especially in the vicinity of towns, wit
LIE out purchase or lawful right. Vagra
W cy had become al alarming habit
'"' great numbers; every attempt to take
eful census of the population was bafiied
the frequent mierations that took plac
Criminals easily evaded justice by a
,lll sconding to places where they were u
known, or by hiding themselves in t
dense forests which in all parts edged
closely to the cleared lands. Drnnke
old ness increased to an enormous degr'
ave assisted by planters who freely suppl
I atV Of rum to the laborers to induce them
and remain as cultiyators on their estat