The day book. [volume] (Norfolk, Va.) 1857-1867, 1865-11-02

after thirty years tampering with their moral
and industrial training. The natural tendency
of the negro to revert to barbarism, has had,
in Jamaica, full time to attain its growth,
hence we now find them brought to the verge
of starvation, by being too lazy to raise even
the common necessaries of life and thus we
see him turning upon the industrious white
man, putting him and his wife and children
to violent tortures and death, and robbing him
of his hard-earned. gains The lessons taught
by the scenes now being enacted in Jamaica,
are full of import to the Southern people It
behoovcs each one of us to ponder we'll the
exigencies by which we are surrounded. The
now helpless race, whose home is in the
South, should be treated with the humanity
becoming Christian people; but it becomes
a question of vital importance, and one which
we shall soon be called upon to decide, wheth-
er they are to be nurtured and cherished and
then, perhaps, turn upon their friends, as they
are now doing in the West Indies.
We give below an interesting letter from
correspondent of the New York Daily News,
writing from Kingston, Jamaica. He gives
vivid picture of the state Of affairs in the
island, and shows that the British Government
is acting with energy in the matter:
KINGSTON, Jamaica, Oct. %, 1866.
The cloud has passed over your country to
lower upon ours The result of giving rein to
the savageism of the negro is felt in our beau
tiful but desolated island. 1t commences with
us, it may end with you Jamaica is to-day
the scene of a negro outbreak that threatens
a repetition of the horrors of the San Domin-
go instruction.
For some time past, symptoms OF lnsubor-
dination have been apparent among the
freedmen" of this island. Released from the
discipline of compulsory labor, the black pop
ulation have, from the hour Of emancipation,
exhibited disposition to relapse into their
native barbarism. Their natural disinclina-
| ton to work, their ignorance and improve
dence, have long since disordered the indus
trial system that depended upon them for its
physical efficiency. Lands were allotted to
them for their support, but they refused to till
| them even for the immediate purposes of sus-
| tenance. The plantations went to ruin, the
manor houses were deserted and left to decay,
| the negroes crowded into the cities and gave
themselves up to incidence vice and crime.
| Then came your civil war and the consunl-
nation of the grand project of universal
freedom" that has cost you so fearful sacri-
| fee. We are now beginning to reap some of
the fruits of that philanthropy as bitter as
those that you have already tasted. The ne
gro is an apt scholar in any theory that pro-
rnises him exemption from labor. The stories
of indulgence and support afforded by your
| Government to the freedmen of the South
have reached with the inevitable exaggera-
tons, the ears of our shiftless, depraved and
irresponsible black population. They regard
the result of the struggle in the United
States as an invitation to them to assert the
privileges of an equal, if not superior race.
They too demand 'Freedmans Bureau to
supply them with food and shelter, and to
secure to them the luxury Of existence in
| idleness and irresponsibility. Not content
with immunity from constrained labor, they
have learned to expect, from the consequence
of the 'irrepressible conflict" in your land
the especial legislation of government fol
their benefit and support in the dolce far
n,ente that is SO acceptable to their nature.
| I have given you what | conceive to be
| the causes of the outbreak that has turned this
island into shambles and has let loose the ne
gro population to the guidance Of their tero-
cious instincts, like iends thirstng for human
blood. The rebellion has broken upon us
| like clap of thunder, so suddenly, and, as
yet, so imperfectly known in its details, in this
locality, that | am unable to give you any
definite description without referring to re-
ports that | still hope may prove untrue. But
| it is certain that the instruction OF wide
spread, and seemingly the result OF organized
| preparation. 1t is characterized by atrocities
| revolving to human nature. The whites who
| have fallen into the hands of these savages,
| have been doomed to slaughter without dis
| tinction of age or sex. They tear out the
tongues of their victims, cut off the breasts of
women, strangle and mutilate little children,
and practice all the enormities that render the
record of the Instruction in San Domingo
the darkest page in history. The Governor
General is Justly alarmed, and taking every
measure to suppress the revolt, but the means
at his command are insufficient. He has sent a
small steamer to Nassau for troops and men
of-war and also to Halifax for the Seventeenth
Regiment stationed at that place All is con-
fusion, excitement and dismay. | have neither
time nor inclination to repeat the many re-
ports that are coming in, hoping that they
may be exaggerated. Enough, however, is
known to justify the Governor General in
| characterizing the movement as a rebellion. y
ANTILLES.
| MORE OF THE JAMAICA REBELLION.
In continuation Of the foregoing, we are
able to state that Consul General Bunch, for
merly British Consul at Charleston, now Con-
sui at Kingston, has telegraphed to Mr.. Ar
chbald, British Consul in this city, that there
is rebellion of negroes in the Western Dis
trict of Jamaica, and requests him to tele-
graph to General Hastings Doyle, command