Wilmington daily gazette., 1873-05-29
From the Baltimore Gazette,
na jamaica az q Lesoon.


While We, ia Americo, are specializing with
SaInans. and fully and intellectually sympathizing
with Cuba, We never think Of e. cOntigupus West
lndla paradise which is looming up into great
Importance. Jamaica n one-hsif that Of the as-
Ter isls. "Cuba says recent writer, 'ior nearly
the whole Of Western and Central Cuba, il q fat
"a dead level There Il nothing to temper the
heat Of torrid climate, aud the rapid devastation
OF its forests tends to aggravate Its dFyneas and
raise ia temperature Jamaica is stilI her Indian
namJ1mplied, the Land Of springs and woods |
Her lofty mountain ranges everywhere intsrsect !
the plata. One hours drive 10 Sufficient to con-
vey man from any point on the coast to the |
breezy hiIls. From Kingston TO Kings House, |
five miles of at the foot Of the hills, and from this
latter place to Craigt0n, at about the same dis
tance on the hills themsel yea one pasees thKough
the various degrees Of Temperature which dlstin-
gniah in Mexico the IieTrq CalisNte and l1jeTyP
1empIadG and the IieTTdS Fra ThOssl heallh
reatoring hills, which in India can only be reach
cd by many days travel, are here everywhere at
hand. They are not the Himaaya, nor even the
Alps; bat they can compare with whatever the
ApPenlnes' the Jasa' or the Black Forest can
boast either Of holiness OF picturesque abruptness
and such spets as Roaring RiVeEy MOnnt DablO,l
OK the BOkpalk, have all the charms OF the most
| striking Swiss scenery, enhanced BY glimpses ef
oveT-PEe4ent sea, and BY vegetation TO the lnxu-
riAnee and variety Of which almost every climate
seems made 70 contribute. AAd yet this land,
1 which might veil answer the description Of an
earthly Paradise, is TO be had almost fer TIE mere
asking And why, let us ask, IL this p Why ~
this "Pafadise" desolate why the prolific soil u-
J titled The answer is at hand. IVis littIs ever
forty years, and within the msmoty Of many liV-
ing mens that Great Britain ostentatiOUsly and If
the giving OF monsy makes generosity, pFoclaimed
freedom to her ooloAlal sIavSs Ard now. VfthiIi
less than = half century, British writer says -
and all England agrees with him fs E-
Had It not been for negro emancipation, 4Ja-
maica would, at the present moment, bO as well
oil - Cuba-oF, rather, Cuba would be no better
; Oh than Jamaica; for, what enriched Cuba was
not so much slavery as the long monopoly oi
slavery and tie slave trade. The Jamaica plant
eTs were not Only ruined, but dlsAeartened by
the unfair competition Of slave with free grown
produce. They were at loss what to do will
their freed blacks. They despised, mistrusted
and at last dreaded them. They saw shcmselye
reduced to q small knot of white shepherds il
charge OF q very numerous black flock and the
had lost that magic ascendency OF race WhicI
= had hitherto rendered the flock a. anaenablsg II
! rule as the merost dumb cattle. A free negro be
= gan to consider himself as good as q white man
nay, for agricultural purposes and In this cliInat
far better. He settled or squatted on the land b
: ! the footing Of equality; and, a. he had nHmhur
y on his side, he hrat gained the upper hand BY th
= nero vote, and, when thwarted ii the exercise
= his rights, he attempted to establish his supreu
= acy by sheer fOrce. Had the eontest bean Slngl
y between the white CreOles Of Jamaica and TIC
= former slaves the struggle WOuld have been shaT
= and deeislve. The whites would have utterl
- disappeared, aud Jamaica would have bee
y, plunged into all the barbarian OF Hayti or So
~ Domingo. But the British Government, intu
posed lts strength and authority. 1t depfly.
IN both blacks ana whites, at the request Of the ID
~ Yer, OF the dangerous principle Of selEgoVsn
~ mcnt, aud laid the island under paternsl mi
= which, while II insured peace and ortleF. allow,
~ also as much freedom as very few OF the Cons
m tutiOnal Or Republican States Of the Old or NJ
In World are able to enjoy. From the catastrop
he Of 1865, which was 80 nearly fatal 10 the isar
TO the present day, . new life has developed its
N Jamaica. With military force not axc1odil
s6a officers and men, and police Of go cons
oles, sergeants and inspectors, the Island enlo
tho most profound security : 81 =
Then comes the further coniea.ion.
ing There are evils In Jamaiea, 10 we've. with Viii
w even the patelnal Govenment lnds Il dIfIicnlt
- gnpPle. To say 1t in one word, the GOVsrnmG
-, cannot ''wash the negro white" o.
u interesting as the specific subject is We hh
~ neither the room nor the inclination to pursue
~. IN but We cannot refrain from pointing the no
W. which it teaches Oars asi Tar asa the plant
- - States are concerned, Is ths case Of Jamaica 70
an .L years ago. with the aggravation that smAneil
ton vas here an act OF violence, and the wh
racs Nas not only deprived OF what it .dseu
- property by an executive agency quite as su
~ ~ mary as Parliamentary Omnipotsnce, but '
~ crashed By the bloody process Of war. Still,
~, problem of the haaaen supEemacy ofl d
heE or, IN homely phrase OF 'washlng the blackamt
/, IN ~ white" Is common to both, and We, without
I advantage which Jamaica enjoys OF having an
ol responsible pateFnal Government 70 provide for
va VA emergency. We honestly believe that the nat
tae whites Of the South would prefer an universal
OUT franehisement of blacks and whites alike-an
NJ ~ TOgaton Of "the dangerous pHVilsge 90 saIlsE
cry immi0rant ,Shita asoSnarai- Sol1
are maintained In power aud position by a 80
st pAteFRal Government This 81 course is, in d
OF form, impossible, and, hence the forecast is
ould shst AItv ysdrs aes li s5 N ~
snu @ Louisiana as perfect . paradise as Jamaica