The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1881-01-29
Degenerate Jamaica.

a~
A century ago a nabob hailed from
tho West, rather than the East, In
dies. When the novelist of that peri
cd set about to depict fabulous wealth
N acme of luxury, he went TO Ja-
maica for his a Tommy Merton's
papa, san extremely wealthy man."
hailed from that famous island, and
the picture of Tommy taking a air.
ing, attended by two negro slaves,
lives in the memory of millions OF
her Britannia Majesty's lieges in on
ncction with their first ideas of SPLEEN
dor. Up to that time, and for thirty
years later, Jamaica was, in q certain
way, the fashion, which East India
never was. She even had ducal Gov
ernors at quite an early date, the Sec
ond Duke of Albemarle, son of the
famous George Monk, having (attend-
ed by Sir Hans Sloane, the founder OF
the British Museum, as his physician)
obtained the Governorship, chiefly
with q view to raising q sunken trea-
SURE ship, an object in which he was
completely successful and long after
came q Duke of Portland to reign at
@The King House." as the Governors
magnificent residence was not inap-
propriately styled. Those were the
days when the Beckfords, Storers, FL
lisses, Lawrences, Tharpes, Scarlets,
vassalls, and many more were deriv-
ing immense incomes from the island.
Greatly would they have been aston
ished had they been told that q youth
of q family which, albeit respectable,
had fallen from its high estate and
become merely provincial bourgeois,
was going to strip them of their SPLEEN
did position. None of those West In
dian maguates who gave balls in
Grosvenor Square and drove curricles
and barouches which were the envy
Of young mobiles in Hyde Park had
then even heard of William Wilber-
force, and no o suspected the
source whence the blow to strike
them was to come than did English
Squires twenty-five years ago recog-
nize their ruin in our Western States.
Emancipation was-to Jamaica espe-
cially-a complete prostrating blow.
There was, 1t is true, a compensation
granted by Parliament, but it was o.
mere drop in the bucket. The Jamai-
CO negro lost no time in showing that
he considered he had worked enough
for all time. AS q rule, he declined
to do much more than would keep
him. In some cases proprietors act
ually abandoned their property all
together. Some staid and cked out a
livelihood on the wreck, while tho
best off kept an agent OH the spot and
lived in England on a tenth of their
former income. Thus matters have
gone on for many years, during which
q large proportion of Jamaica proper
ty has been sold in the West Indies
Incumbered Estate Court, and is no
longer in the hands of the families of
the original proprietors. During the
past five years, however, al encourag-
ing circumstance is found in the sue
cess of the importation of coolies, who
take most kindly to the soil, desire to
stay when their period of contract
expires, and seem likely to prove a
very valuable element /; and moro re-
Gently o number of Cubans lave
sought q refuge there, who are report
with much success. A largo proper
ton of the island has been allowed to
lie almost fallow for so long that it
would probably bear heavy cropping,
and If Jamaica tobacco gets a rcpuia-
ton at all equal to Cubans there is no
saying how soon the island will not
once o assume a moro imporLan,
position among British dependencies.
Thus, while heavy losses and complete
ruin has attended the lot of individuals
the probabilities are that, in time, ia
maica will again blossom as tho rose,
its unproductive estates again become
valuable, and its neglected plantations
the abode of happy and prosperous
people. The mother country will be
tho gamer from its increased revenues
and the ruin wrought by Wilbcrforce
will DO repaired.