The New Orleans crescent., 1868-12-08

performing on this later instrument 10 OF Tue mose
mysterious kind, as it is impossible to tatoom us
5cpth or arslyze its meaning, and his musical
talent apparently has been acquired rom lne
"tarfborsn of the plantstiou negroes. he pcs
sess education enough, perhaps. to speil ous
printed sentence and scrawl his name, anu 'nSI
his Intellectual accomplishments terminate 40
ru2tly. he is not susceptible 70 any progressing
tendencies whatever, and breaks up bis Land wita
the old wooden plow OF his fore 'sthers, tnnKius
that what was good enough for them Is unoOuoe-
edy good enough for himself. De dreams away
life without a settled purpose. entirely o6ivioos
of the meaning OF the words, Onward" ana
Upward" cultivating only thet poruon OF
the soil which is actually necessary Tor ,hs
wants of life from day to DIV. and wnen
Sunday comes, buckles on his MGchete. taxes
bis game cock under his arm, mounts his . Rosi'
pante" and proceeds TO the neighporlng vhiage,
or cross road tavern as the case may be, 20 ENJOY
the deecsable pleasures afforded by lighting
cock Tournament and from which he probably de-
parts (minus cock and money for Els hocse,
- sadder," but by no means a wiser MAJ Cnil-
dren, meanwhile. make their appearaus9 IN the
family arena eBtailing more expenditure on toe
part Of, pdfre toniiids, who bas made no provi-
sion for this new call on him: tie consequence
is that the offspring of 20 worthy sire grow upI
ip souslor and whretched ignOronce. without hav-
ing being taught that life possesses one noble OBJ
iect by their model padre. and finally. becomay
disturbed throughout the country as "mayorals
and bayerosn (overseers and buli-drivers) or
charcoal burners, while some become squatters
on the domains OF the Weaitny Dhuters, anu Oullu
ing their palm tree huts, exc out miserable exis
| ieDce by the cultivation of portion Of gronndI
! conceded TO them by estate owners, ostensiblyI
| through charity. but really through fear.
| as it is well known fact that many oiI
| the conlagrstions of cane fields which ans
| nually take place are the work OF vindictive
| Guajiros, who. for some ipjury,'real or fancied
| done him by the planter, apply the torch TO his
| cane fields in retaliation. as ae illustration oiI
| the truth of my statement, I will here relate Q
story told me by an overseer OF plantation,
| merely Withholding the names OF the parties:
| "Senor A had an administrator for q number |
of years, but getting tired Of hm suddenly, and,
| withal having some serio1s doubts of his ho1.
esiy politely informed him that bis services could
| be dispensed with in future. whiah announcement
| was received in high dndgeon by the administra-
tor, who bad been festhering his nest to some pur
| pose. Finding, however, that remonstrance was |
| useless, be concluded 10 obey The mandate, but,
in arranging his affairs With the ewner he brought
him in some 5000 IN hie debt The planter, salts
fed of the injustice of his claim refused to pay
| him. wbeTenpon the administrator significantly
remarked: oh, yes, you will pay me- and took
| his departure. The dry season came on,
preparations were made for grinding the hot sun
| hao psrched up the cane blades when, 10 of q
sudden the cry of fire was raised, and the bel
| rung cut an alarming peal. Whites, negroes. old
young, all rushed to the thc ely curling volume oil
| smoke which proclaimed that the alarm|
| had been no false one, and wsDt to work With
will to master the dreaded element. At the|
| moment that all hands had Become well occupied
another cry of fire was raised, and Gre was dis.
covered at another distant part of the plantation.
| This divided the efforts Of she force, aud in the
endesvor TO save ell, nearly all lost for with,
disbolical ingenuity the torch Lad been applied to-
| the windward. The following year the thing was
repeated, and the owner was ir DESPAIR. He took
| counsel of his overseer and asked his advice; the
| overseer inquired if he had nos at some time pre-
| vious discharged some party without satisfying
their claim, but without waiting for the panter'S
reply advised him to pay Fhei claim ct whateveq
| cost, as if not be would become a ruined mani
| The former administrator was accordingly sent
for, the justice of his unjust claim ackno wledged,
he was paid, and the confsglatons Immediately
ceaseo.n
This is a truthful story, as the parties most i'm.
mediately concerned viii admit If this should hap
pen TO meet their eye, and the picture drawn il by
| 10 means partial n its colo'iug. Taking the Pals
| newspaper as authority. We are informed that
over IS per cent. of the inhabitants OF Cnha can
/ neither read nor write. Whit, then is to be ex-
| pected Of a people sunk in ignorance, supersti-
| ton and semi-barbsrisml Why. look at their
| Chiefs who, IL reports do not lie amazingly, are
not natives OF the soil nor even Spaniards, being,
| in a great many instances, Dominicians and Mexi-
| can adventurers, who use these people as their
| tools and would fain make their nscks the step
ping stones TO the power which they wish TO
usurp trading in their blind pgotry and cheating
| Them with the hacbneyed cries of " Liberty!"l
| Equality " and " Fraternity !" Liberty. equal
ity and fraternity l-how? As tits enjoye ia Mex
| leo ?-Lord save us! As they practice IL in Hayti
| anu Oen nDOullIHOt-uSaNtn pIOtect US! now can
| those people underst nd the meaning of these
| words when they commit crimes in the name OF
the first, at which the bright goddess herself
shrinks back in horror! Equality they
| regard as a word eHlbodying the whole doctrine
Of appropratDg the property of others to their
| own vile purposes. Fraternity dragging down
| Of society, no matter how noble or elevated it's
position, TO wallow in the level of social faith and
degradation which they themselves occupy. Well
| may We exclam with Madame de Stael; /" Oh,
Liberty, what crimes are committed iR thy
| name "
THE BURNING OF SUGAR ESTATES
Is pursued by the insurgents as fsvorite diver
| sion, and many families are daily arriving at
Havana. They say that ia the rebel disiricts'
| the greatest terrorism prevails, and that theI
rebels are conscripting aH from the ages of
eighteen TO forty, burning tle property of thosel
who have the hsrdheod 10 sefuse to comply will
| their demands. SeWard's assurance that tn
| United States gcvernBen. will not permit any Ill
| clustering expeditions TO leave the United Ststel
| is causing good effect here generally, and It
confidently believed the revolution will shortly die
| of pure inanition. PORro CABRER0.
GENJ:RAY. ITEMS.