Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1865-12-15
THE INsuRREorIoN IN JAMAICA


We commend, to such as have been point
ing to Jamaica as warning to us Of the
dangers to be apprehended from negro
poprlation, the following article from the
London Spectator They viii find that the
danger arises not from freeing and educa-
ting the blacks, but from expressing them
and keeping them in ignorance. They who
are in fear of negro insurrection viii here
learn whence the danger arises and how to
avoid it
We are still without precise intelligence
from Jamaica, but enough is known of the
condition Of the island to justify US in a
blank denial Of the assertions that the ne
| groes said TO be in insurrectcon are infiuenc-
( cd by Hayiien agitators, and are themselves
only too we'll off. They are badly off: SO
/ badly off that the island has for months
/ been perplexity to the Colonial Office, and
/ that, for seven weeks at least, the Secretary
/ of State has expected news of an attempted
! insurrection Letters are even now in town
! from Jamaica, in which the alarm of the
/ local government and the strange move
ments among the squadrons are noticed
/ either with ridicule or apprehension, and the
/ few persons still keenly interested in the col
! ony are well aware of discomfort which a
/ trife may have sufheed to blow into a fame
! This discount has been growing for years
4 and Inds It's ultimate root In two causes. one
Of which is ineradicable, except perhaps by
/ long-continued prosperity, while the other is
within the reach of parliamentary Sction.
/ The two are the increase Of population and
the character of the Legislative Assembly.
! The negroes, always prolific, as very poor
/ races are everywhere apt to be, have since
/ the emancipation multiplied with extraordi
/ nary rapidity. The climate suits them. The
release from forced labor has increased the
/ healthiness Of the women, early marriage
4 has been fostersd as an antidote to the i'm
4 morality customary in slave colonies, and
/ though there Is a terrible amount of lcence
remaining, it Is not Of kind or degree to
check greatly the increase of population
4 The pressure for subsistence becomes yearly
greater, while the means of procuring it
4 grow yearly less. Sugar, the grand staple
OF the export trade, cannot be cultivated to
advantage without scientific appliances
that is, without capital; and capital has for
I years been leaving Jamaica, till only some
] 1000 persons are now maintained by the
j ancient cultivation of the island. Other
/ planting scarcely exists, and the negroes
/ therefore, are driven to hire little plots of
ground, upon which they grow their food
I and some little tobacco, but scarcely any
i thing else which can be converted into mon
/ ey. The island is therefore practically pop
ulated by cottiers, as poor as irish cottiers,
as dependent upon the harvest, and, il it be
possible. still more unenlightened
10 this population, over numerous. poY-
erty-strcken and ignorant, the Legislative
Assembly adds number of colored immi-
grants imported form India. and used mn al
a frightful pace and refuses Justice. ednca-
ton, and sound system of conyevanee
That Assembly is elected by less than ,, 500
voters in population of AL 600, and leeis-
4 lates exclusively in the interest of the plan
tiers. These latter are, as body, inheritors
of the slaveholding ideas, and sometimes Of
4 the slaveholding morality; and they have
refused all measures In the interest of the
/ blacks, wasted half a million sterling on COO
lies, who die ike sheep, passed whipping
act which recalls the tone of the old Black
Code, and imposed enormous dutieson Eng
! Hsh imports; duties so heavy that. as was
publicly stated in the Assembly, the negroes
were falling back upon nakedness to avoid
the cost of clothing as raised by the last tar
if. They could pay in kind, but they can
not in cash, and they have no means of
/ raising more. The planters viii not buy of
i them, the dealers do not ike the halfclean-
cd produce which is all they, as cottier cult