Washington sentinel., 1899-01-28
IN, - SENTINEL
The West Indies,
British RAIN

.uG lslauN dbOuAAS WIN 9AaA w az |
negroes, male and female, who
rom the close wav in which they
are packed, are sometimes forced
much against their inclination to
work Ii must be remembered that
the black mans wants are small;
he is sober, frugal. easilycontented.
The climate in which he lives is so
favorable, that if the ground be
scratched Tor six weeks in the year,
crops more than abundant enough
for mans subsistence will spring
into being. The clothing neces.
sary in these zephyr laden airs is
no more than that which mild
regard for decency prescribeS.
Were il not, indeed, for the love OF
finery which distinguishes the sons,
and even more the daughters, OF
Ham, they probably would be con-
tent to 60 about with a cotton SHIRT
Tor all cover; but their religion
vague compound OF Obeahworship
and severe Puritanical dogma
seems also, fortunately, to lay on
them the obligation to appear in
very fiue clothes, at least on Sun
day when attending Divine service.
Thus their absolute relapse into
barbarisn is prevented. But IN
Jamaica it is almost impossible to
get the negro to do any work at
all. There abides, il is true, in the
mountain ranges, which traverse
the island in all directions, a quiet,
amiable race not averse to labor,
which class is termed, with great
contempt by plain dwellers, "the
mountain men" But in the vicin-
ity Of the capital, or, indeed, any
where else in the island the great
and ever present difficulty S to find
hands, either to pick and spread
the coffee berries on the barbecues,
to cut the cane, or gather the fruit,
or, in short, to do anything at all,
1t must be remembered that this
island, which is over a hundred
miles long, and twenty miles
across in its narrowest part, con-
tains only GOO, 900 souls, of which
a little over TO- 900 are white.
When this small population and
the inertia OF the negro are taken
together into Consideration. the
wonder is how the white or colOred
proprietors obtain a5y labor at all.
1t must be remembered that the
white man cannot work on the sea
level, in the sun, in the tropics.
In the days Of slavery without
going into the question ofhow the
slaves were treated--they, at all
events, we're fed, and proceeded
every morning with unfailing
regularity TO perform their daily
task. With this constant supply
OF labor the vast cane estates were
worked at enormous profits. Many
there are who maintain that in
that tir le the negro slave was, on
the majority Of estates, happier
tnan the free black man OF to-day.
With kind masters he was well
fed. fairly housed, and decentlY
clad. IL was unusual to part fami-
lies, who grew up together in
successive generations on the
same estate. In his spare time
the negro was wont to sing and
amuse himself in apparently Joy
Gus and coutented manner, and in
the time Of sickness he was regu-
larly attended to in the estate in
Urinary. The reverse Of the medal
shows that the laws which gov
erned the black race we're feroci.
Gus, if not diabolical, in their
severity. Death was the punish
ment, fer raising the hand on a
white man. Offences against dis
cipline.o or crimes like theft, absence
or Tudeness, justified an application
Of the lash which was sickening in
its severity. And even more hor-
rible tales have been told as to the
immortality which existed, and was
countenanCed and, in some cases,
approved by the masters or the
masters sons. If we strike a
ean,and say that, il well behaved
and constant at work, the negro
slave was well off, but the HzaHVaiS
SN1eES were treated with merciless
rigour, we shall probably be near
the mark AS soon as slavery was
abolished, the estates languished
little by little. The West Indies
were apparently committed to
sugar. The planters were essen
TALLY conservative in the bad sense
Of the word AS their fathers had
not established rehneries in the
Antilles, but had sent their mo-
lasses to Bristol to be refined and
made into sugar, so must they
continue. Who had ever heard
then ofcofee grown in American
limits1 If logwoud had been cut
at great trouble in the forests, and
brought TO the coast to be shipped
in enormous bulk TO Europe by
their fathers and grandfathers. why
should they squeeze the juice from
the wood on the spot, and so ex-
port it at infinitely less trouble and
expense2 No! avaunt all such
new-ianpled notions. For a few
years their palaces might not be
so crowded with guests, but some
how or another the negro would
be got to work again. The Home
Government would reimburse
them the full value Of the liberated
slavesl People must still have
sugar. People must still drink
RUM All would soon be we'll
again.
Whilst Napoleon kept Europe
in terror, and her fields, manured
with blood, produced but crops OF