Year: 1865

bitches, and canals. in a similar manner
| Gates. or embouchures, admit and retail II
the tide water at will In like manne
with our rice. the cane is brought froul
tho fields in flats or punts to the mill, or
sugar house. Before the emancipation.
one hundred acres were kept in a most
luxuriant state of culture of banana or
plaintain for the benefit of the negroes
as the law required; but now the mana
ger had been compelled to abandon its
cultivation, telling the laborers that they
must now do like the whites and buy. or
raise their own provisions; for which
grounds were still allotted to families for
themselves. They thought this a great
hardship; for they expected to continue
in sLe enjoyment Of every former advan-
tage they had heen accustomed to, and
to receive their wages also. Some even
went to the "stipendiary magistrate" to
CO mplain of this injustice. He being tho
instrument of the anti colonial party, as
most British appointments in the colonies
have been for centuries back, gravely
heard the charge, and though no grounds
of just complaint could be found, his con-
duet was such as to leave heart -burnings
among the whites and discomfort and
suspicion Oh the part of the negroes to-
wards their white employers; whereas. if
the negroes had at once been simply told
the truth, how the law stood, and that
the proprietor was no longer bound TO
find food for them after the first OF Au-
gust. 1888. and if he had not proceeded
to the estate TO hold sort of trial of the
manager, in the presence Of the negroes,
everything would have gone on smooth
ly. But "poor blackie," as Mr.. Premium
expresses it. being delighted to find that
he had sort of power over Massd,
would have brought him to similar &C :
count every saturday, if the patience of
this functianary hal not. at last, given
way. and h. abandoned Cuffee for his
own vase


The crop for long time had been. on
an average. 500 hogsheads Of sugar. with
rum and molasses in the usual proportion


But in 1899. for the first time in tif' y
years, the crop was reduced one half. and
the cause of that falling off was now the
anxious subject Of enquiry and converse
ton with Mr.. p. and his neighbors. Was
anything else than the want of labor the
Gauss of thisl The manager, Dir. Brown,
man Of good education, and long in
that employment oil tho estate, said that
of the two great evils arising out of eman-
cipation. he scarcely knew which was
the worst. but they both arosJ from the
same cause the absence Of controlling
power ever the negroes, who We're Ike
infants whom the law takes care of. una
BILE by their own Judgment to regulate
their actions properly They could not
bring themselves to work continuously,
and when they were in the field, no threat
nor punishment in the power Of any one
to inhict, could induce them to execute
their task with that nice at ention which
tropical agriculture. and especially the
culture Of the cane requires; and il ap-
peared doubtful to him, whether the mere
abstraction Of their former quota of la
Dor, or the slovenly scratching work now
i obtained, operat d most injuriously for
the planter They both have direct
tendency to diminish the production of
the land, and in that way had jointly re-
suited in the general loss of crop for the
by-gone year OF fully one moiefy. On
the Fortune, nearly one half Of the former
population had gone away. In fact, OH
almost every estate. there was a general
upheaviug of society, the ties by which
it was kept together in other days hav-
ing been broken asunder, and restless
desire for change, in hopes of still fur
ther improving their condition. taking
possession of The laborins population.
Many a planter relied OH former attach
ment. fostered by kind treatment; but a
child remembers not such associations,
and can the negro. with his puerile men
tai Developments, be actuated by theml
On ign rance of this fact with many,
and wilful neglect OF it among others.
the resolution to eluancipate them, with
out sufficient preparation, and subse-
quently, the sudden termination Of the
period of apprenticeship. as fixed by the
act, are owing, and all the evils which
the sugar colonies now suffer, aud are
doomed to undergo hereafter. must ema-
nate. ---rlrrrf- p
"A hl Sleln WHICH SIulS tuc ear OI tut
ruler against the voice of practice. as op


posed to that of theory or imagination.
cannot work well. says Mr. Premium. es-
pecialy in the colonies which are SO dis
tant from the seat Of government, and
from whence the sound is but feeble, MS
compared with the turbulent agitation
and loud outcry which tho partizans of
the opposing faction are able to raise,
and which indeed overawe the ministe-
rial party The governors are generally
poor men, with nothing but their claims
on powerful friends by which to obtain a
livelihood, and if they set themselves up
in opposition to their employers. ranged
on the side of the colony they govern.
they cannot expect to continue in the
good graces of those OH whom they de-
pend In each settlement two parties
exist. which are regularly pitted against
each other, as much as buyer and seller
in any commercial transaction The Off
cial men are continually sticking for the
rights OF the IN ,ther country, and ma
king demands which the interests Of the
colony require of her representatives to
resist. Thus it is perfectly understood
thav ar,, ounosed Tn pach other and in