The Anti-Slavery Examiner, Part 2 of 4

by American Anti-Slavery Society

THE ANTI-SLAVERY EXAMINER--EXTRA.

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EMANCIPATION

In The

WEST INDIES, IN 1838.

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IMPORTANT TO THE UNITED STATES.

False prophets were never stiller about their time-detected impostures than are the pro-slavery presses of the United States about the results of West India Emancipation. Now and then, for the sake of appearances, they obscurely copy into their immense sheets an inch or two of complaints, from some snarling West India paper, that the emancipated are lazy and won't work. But they make no parade. They are more taciturn than grave-stones.

In the following closely printed columns, those who wish to know will find out precisely how the "great experiment" has worked. They will find,

1. The safety of abolition demonstrated--its safety in the worst possible case.

2. That the colonies are prospering in their agriculture.

3. That the planters conferred freedom because they were obliged to by public opinion abroad.

4. That freedom, even thus unwillingly conferred, was accepted as a precious boon by the slaves--they were grateful to God, and ready to work for their masters for fair pay.

5. That the mass of the planters have endeavoured, from the first, to get work out of the free laborers for as small wages as possible.

6. That many of the attorneys and managers have refused fair wages and practiced extortion, to depreciate the price of property, that they might profit thereby.

7. That all the indisposition to labor which has yet been exhibited is fully accounted for by these causes.

8. That in spite of all, the abolition is working well for the honest of all parties.

* * * * *

WEST INDIA EMANCIPATION, IN 1838.

The immediate abolitionists hold that the change from slavery to freedom cannot be too sudden. They say that the first step in raising the slave from his degradation should be that of making him a proper subject of law, by putting him in possession of himself. This position they rest on the ground both of justice and expediency, which indeed they believe to be inseparable. With exceptions too trifling to affect the question, they believe the laborer who feels no stimulus but that of wages and no restraint but that of law, is the most profitable, not only to himself and society at large, but to any employer other than a brutal tyrant. The benefit of this role they claim for every man and woman living within this republic, till on fair trial the proper tribunal shall have judged them unworthy of it. They deny both the justice and expediency of permitting any degree of ignorance or debasement to work the forfeiture of self-ownership, and pronounce slavery continued for such a cause the worst of all, inasmuch as it is the robbery of the poor because he is poor.

What light was thrown upon this doctrine by the process of abolition in the British West Indies from the 1st of August 1834 to the 1st of June 1837, may be seen in the work of Messrs. Thome and Kimball entitled, "Emancipation in the West Indies." That light continues to shine. Bermuda and Antigua, in which the slaves passed instantaneously out of absolute slavery into full freedom, are living witnesses of the blessing of heaven upon immediate emancipation. In Antigua, one of the old sugar colonies, where slavery had had its full sway there has been especially a fair test of immediatism, and the increasing prosperity of the island does the utmost honor to the principle. After the fullest inquiry on the point, Messrs. Thome and Kimball say of this island:--

"There is not a class, or party, or sect, who do not esteem the abolition of slavery as a special blessing to them. The rich, because it relieved them of "property" which was fast becoming a disgrace, as it had always been a vexation and a tax, and because it has emancipated them from the terrors of insurrection, which kept them all their life-time subject to bondage. The poor whites--because it lifted from off them the yoke of civil oppression. The free colored population--because it gave the death blow to the prejudice that crushed them, and opened the prospect of social, civil, and political equality with the whites. The slaves--because it broke open their dungeons, led them out to liberty, and gave them, in one munificent donation, their wives, their children, their bodies, their souls--everything."

In the emphatic language of the Governor, "It was universally admitted that emancipation had been a great blessing to the island."

In November 1837, Lord Brougham thus summed up the results of the Antigua experiment in a speech in the House of Lords:--

"It might be known to their lordships that in one most important colony the experiment of instant and entire emancipation had been tried. Infinitely to the honor of the island of Antigua was it, that it did not wait for the period fixed by the Legislature, but had at once converted the state of slavery into one of perfect liberty. On the 1st of August, 1834, the day fixed by act of Parliament for the commencement of a ten years' apprenticeship, the Legislature of that colony, to the immortal honor of their wisdom, their justice, and their humanity, had abolished the system of apprenticeship, and had absolutely and entirely struck the fetters off from 30,000 slaves. Their lordships would naturally ask whether the experiment had succeeded; and whether this sudden emancipation had been wisely and politically done. He should move for some returns which he would venture to say would prove that the experiment had entirely succeeded. He would give their lordships some proofs: First, property in that island had risen in value; secondly, with a very few exceptions, and those of not greater importance than occurred in England during harvest, there was no deficiency in the number of laborers to be obtained when laborers were wanted; thirdly, offences of all sorts, from capital offences downwards, had decreased; and this appeared from returns sent by the inspector of slaves to the governor of that colony, and by him transmitted to the proper authority here; and, fourthly, the exports of sugar had increased: during the three years ending 1834, the average yearly export was 165,000 cwts., and for the three subsequent years this average had increased to 189,000 cwts., being an increase of 21,000 cwts, or one clear seventh, produced by free labor. Nor were the last three years productive seasons; for in 1835 there was a very severe and destructive hurricane, and in the year 1836 there was such a drought that water was obliged to be imported from Barbados."

Of such sort, with regard to both the colonies that adopted the principle of immediate emancipation, have been the facts--and all the facts--up to the latest intelligence.

The rest of the colonies adopted the plan proposed by the British government, which contrary to the wishes of the great body of British abolitionists, made the slaves but partially free under the name of apprentices. In this mongrel condition they were to remain, the house servants four, and the field laborers six years. This apprenticeship was the darling child of that expediency, which, holding the transaction from wrong to right to be dangerous and difficult, illustrates its wisdom by lingering on the dividing line. Therefore any mischance that might have occurred in any part of this tardy process would have been justly attributable to gradualism and not to immediatism. The force of this remark will be better seen by referring to the nature and working of the apprenticeship as described in the book of Messrs. Thome and Kimball. We have only room to say that the masters universally regarded the system as a part of the compensation or bonus to the slaveholder and not as a preparatory school for the slave. By law they were granted a property in the uncompensated labor of the slaves for six years; but the same law, by taking away the sole means of enforcing this labor, in fact threw the masters and slaves into a six years' quarrel in which they stood on something like equal terms. It was surely not to be wondered if the parties should come out of this contest too hostile ever to maintain to each other the relation of employer and employed. This six years of vexatious swinging like a pendulum over the line between bondage and liberty was well calculated to spoil all the gratitude and glory of getting across.

It was early discovered that the masters generally were disposed to abuse their power and get from their apprentices all that could by any means be extorted. The friends of humanity in Great Britain were aroused, Mr. Sturge, a distinguished philanthropist of Birmingham, accompanied by Messrs. Scohle, Harvey, and Lloyd, proceeded to the West Indies on a mission of inquiry, and prosecuted their investigation contemporaneously with Messrs. Thome and Kimball. Their Report produced a general conviction in England, that the planters had forfeited all claim to retain their authority over the apprentices, and the government was accordingly petitioned immediately to abolish the system. This it was loth to do. It caused inquiries to be instituted in the colonies, especially in Jamaica, with the evident hope of overthrowing the charges of Mr. Sturge. The result more than confirmed those charges. The government still plead for delay, and brought in a bill for the improvement of the apprenticeship. In the progress of these proceedings, urged on as they were by the heaven-high enthusiasm of the British nation, many of the planters clearly perceived that their chance of power during the remaining two years of the apprenticeship had become worth less to them than the good will which they might get by voluntarily giving it up. Whether it was this motive operating in good faith, or a hope to escape philanthropic interference for the future by yielding to its full claim, and thus gain a clear field to oppress under the new system of wages, one thing is certain the chartered colonies, suddenly, and to the surprise of many, put the finishing stroke to the system and made their apprentices free from the 1st of August, 1838. The crown colonies have mostly imitated their example.

The following table exhibits the extent and population of these colonies.

Population

Possessions	Date of acquisit.	Extent. sq. m.	White.	Slaves.	F. Col.
Anguilla[[B]],	1650	...	365	2,388	327
Antigua[[A]],	1632	108	1,980	29,537	3,895
Bahamas[[B]],	1629	4,400	4,240	9,268	2,991
Barbados[[B]],	1625	166	14,959	82,807	5,146
Bermudas[[A]],	1611	22	3,905	4,608	738
Dominica[[B]],	1783	275	840	15,392	3,606
Grenada[[B]],	1783	125	801	24,145	3,786
Jamaica[[B]],	1655	6,400	37,000	311,692	55,000
Montserrat[[B]],	1632	47	330	6,262	814
Nevis[[B]],	1628	20	700	9,259	2,000
St. Christophers[[B]],],	1632	68	1,612	19,310	3,000
St. Lucia[[B]],	1803	58	972	13,661	3,718
St. Vincent[[B]],	1783	130	1,301	23,589	2,824
Tobago[[B]],	1763	187	322	12,556	1,164
Trinidad[[B]],	1797	2,460	4,201	24,006	15,956
Tortola, orVirgin Isles[[B]],	1666	...	800	5,399	607
Total, B.W.I	...	14,466	74,328	593,879	105,572
Cape of Good Hope,	...	...	43,000	35,500	29,000
Guiana Berbice[[B]]	...	...	523	20,645	1,161
Guiana Demarara[[B]]	1803	...	3,006	65,556	6,360
Guiana Essequibo[[B]],	...	...	...	...	...
Honduras	1650	62,750	250	2,100	2,300
Mauritius	...	...	8,000	76,000	15,000
Total.	...	...	129,107	793,680	159,393

[Footnote A: Emancipated entirely on the 1st. of August, 1834.]

[Footnote B: Emancipated entirely on the 1st. of August, 1838, by vote of the local legislatures in the chartered Colonies; and by Governor and Council, in the Crown Colonies.]

The unanimity with which the apprenticeship was given up is a most remarkable and instructive fact. In the Council and Assembly of Montserrat, there was an unanimous decision in favor of Emancipation as early as February 1838. In the legislature of Tortola, which passed the bill in April 1838, the opposing party was small. In that of Barbados the bill was passed on the 15th of May with but one dissenting voice. In that of Jamaica, the bill seems to have been passed on the 8th of June, and the Jamaica Times remarks:--"No dissentient voice was heard within the walls of the Assembly, all joined in the wish so often expressed, that the remaining term of the apprenticeship should be cancelled, that the excitement produced by a law which has done inconceivable harm in Jamaica, in alienating the affections of her people, and creating discord and disaffection, should at once cease. Thank God! it is now nearly at an end, and we trust that Jamaica will enjoy that repose, so eagerly and anxiously sought after, by all who wish the Island well."

These facts come down upon the question of the safety of an immediate emancipation with an a fortiori, a much more then. For it is admitted on all hands that the apprenticeship had "alienated the affections of the people;" they were in a state less favorable to a quiet sequel, than they were before the first of August, 1834, yet the danger was not thought of. The safety was an argument in favor of emancipation, not against it. The raw head and bloody bones had vanished. The following is a fair exhibition of the feeling of the most influential planters, in regard to the safety of the step.

From the Barbadian, May 9, 1838.

AT A MEETING OF THE BOARD OF LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL, IN THE NEW COURT
HOUSE, APRIL 24TH, 1838.

The Lord Bishop rose and spoke as follows:

"Mr. President, and Gentlemen of the Council,

'I was informed yesterday that, during my absence from this island, the members recorded their opinion as to the expediency of absolutely abolishing the apprenticeship in August, 1838. I am most anxious to record my entire concurrence in this resolution, but I wish it to be understood that I do not consider the measure as called for by any hardships, under which the laborers in this island are suffering--nor from the want of any essential comfort--nor from the deprivation of any thing, which a laborer can fairly claim from his master; still I do express my concurrence in the resolution of the board, and I do so on these grounds: that I am satisfied the measure can be safely carried in this island, and if safely, then I feel justly; for I consider the very important interests which are involved in the measure. I must confess, too, that I am unwilling the Barbados should be behind any other island, especially in a measure which may be carried both safely and justly, and where its example may be of such beneficial consequence. I am just returned from visiting the Northern Islands of the Diocese. I have gone over every part of Tortola, and though it is far more fertile than the Off Islands, yet even these are sufficiently productive for the laborer to raise the lesser and necessary provision of life,--and yet with these islands in their very face, the Legislature of Tortola has passed the act of abolition. Some of the proprietors were opposed to it, but they have now given up their opposition; and I heard, whilst in Antigua, not only that the act had passed, but that on the day of its passing, or the following day, some of the leading proprietors rode through the island, and were met by the people with expressions of the utmost gratitude, regarding the act as a boon granted to them by their masters. At Nevis the act has passed. At St. Christopher's the council are in favor of its passing, and with Nevis emancipated in its vicinity, there is little doubt but the Act must pass. At Montserrat also it has passed. At Antigua, which I visited last year, I found that every thing was proceeding quietly and regularly. I found too, the planters in high spirits, and some estates, which had been given up, restored; and the small patches and tenements of the free people, commencing last year, now in a very satisfactory state of cultivation. It is possible, indeed, that these last mentioned, unless the population is proportionably increased, may affect the cultivation of the larger estates, but there they are, and flourishing, as I have described, whilst I was in the island. A contiguous, though abandoned estate was purchased by Sir Henry Martin for about 9,500 l. currency, being 3,000 l. more than he had offered a few years previously. To compare Barbados with any other island, either as to population, wealth, or state of agriculture, is unnecessary. I have seen nothing like the commercial activity which I saw in the streets yesterday, except at St. Thomas; and I feel, therefore, on all these grounds, that the act may be passed safely and justly. At the same time I am not unmindful or insensible to the state of public opinion in the mother country, nor to the many new and harassing annoyances to which the proprietors may be exposed during a protracted continuance of the apprenticeship. I request that my full concurrence in the resolution of the council, may be accorded on the minutes of this day's proceedings.'"

Such is the testimony of a witness in no wise warped by prejudice in favor of the anti-slavery party.

The debates which took place in the legislatures of both Barbados and Jamaica, are full of similar testimony, uttered by men every way qualified to bear witness, and under influences which relieve their testimony from every taint of suspicion.

In the legislature of Jamaica, on the question of a Committee to bring in a Bill, Mr. GOOD remarked, "He could say that the negroes from their general good conduct were deserving of the boon. Then why not give in with a good heart? why exhibit any bad feelings about the matter? There were many honorable gentlemen who had benefitted by the pressure from without, who owed their rank in society and their seats in that house to the industry of the negroes. Why should they now show a bad heart in the matter?--Nine tenths of the proprietors of this island had determined upon giving up the apprenticeship. Hundreds of thousands were to be benefited--were to take their stations as men of society, and he hoped the boon would not be retarded by a handful of men who owed their all to slavery."

Mr. Dallas said,--"The abolition of the remaining term of apprenticeship must take place; let them then join hand and heart in doing it well, and with such grace as we now could. Let it have the appearance of a boon from ourselves, and not in downright submission to the coercive measures adopted by the British Parliament."

After a committee had been appointed to prepare and bring in a Bill for the abolition of the apprenticeship, a member rose and proposed that the 28th of June should be its termination. We give his speech as reported in the Jamaica papers, to show how fanatical even a slaveholder may become.

"On the members resuming their seats, Mr. HART proposed that it be an instruction to the committee appointed to bring in the bill or abolishing the remainder of the apprenticeship, to insert a clause in it, that the operation of that bill should commence on the 28th of June, that being the day appointed for the coronation of the Queen. He felt proud in telling the house that he was the representative of the black population. He was sent there by the blacks and his other friends. The white Christians had their representatives, the people of color had their representatives, and he hoped shortly to see the day when the blacks would send in their own representatives. He wanted the thing done at once, Sir, said the honorable member waxing warm. It was nonsense to delay it. It could be done in three lines as he said before, dele 1840 and put in 1838. That was all that they had to do. If it were possible, let the thing be done in two words. He went there to do his duty to his constituents, and he was determined to do so. His black friends looked up to him to protect them--and he would press his motion that all the apprentices in the island should be crowned on the 28th of June. (Thundering roars of laughter.) He was as independent as any honorable member, and would deliver his sentiment, without caring who were and who were not pleased. He was possessed of property in apprentices--he had an estate with nearly two hundred negroes, that he was determined to crown on the 28th of June. (Increased roars of laughter in the house, and at the bar.) He would not be laughed down. His properties were not encumbered. He would not owe anything on them after they were paid for, and that he could do. (Loud laughter.) He was determined to have his opinion. As he had said before, the 28th day of June being fixed for the coronation of all the negroes in the island, that is the day they ought to be released from the apprenticeship. (Thundering and deafening roars of laughter). (Here the honorable member was told that the Queen was to be crowned on that day.) Ah, well, he had made a mistake, but he would tell the house the truth, he had made up his mind to give his apprentices freedom on that day, but he did not wish to do it without his neighbors doing the same, lest they should say he was setting a bad example. He would press his motion to a division. It had been seconded by his honorable friend on his right.--(Aside, "Good, didn't you promise to second it?") The honorable member then read his motion, and handed it up to the clerk."

The "mistake" of this liberal descendant of Israel, which excited so much merriment was, after all, not a very unfortunate one, if the "crown" of manhood is more important than that of monarchy. The members objected to so near an approach to immediatism, not, however, be it remarked, on account of the unfitness of the apprentices, (slaves) but their own convenience. Among those who replied to Mr. Hart, was Mr. Osborn, of unmingled African blood, born a slave, and who, we are informed, was a successful competitor for the seat he now occupies against the very man who formerly claimed him as property. Mr. Osborn and his partner Mr. Jordon were editors of the Jamaica Watchman, and had contended manfully for liberty when it was a dangerous word. Mr. Osborn said:--"He was astonished at the galloping liberality which seemed to have seized some honorable members, now there was nothing to contend for. Their liberality seemed to have outrun all prudence. Where were they and their liberality when it was almost death to breach the question of slavery? What had become of their philanthropy? But no, it was not convenient then. The stream was too strong for them to resist. Now, however, when the question was finally settled, when nothing remained for them to do, it was the time that some honorable gentlemen began to clamor their liberality, and began a race who should be the first, or who should have the honor of first terminating the apprenticeship. He hoped the motion would be withdrawn, and the discussion put an end to."

What had become of the visions of blood and slaughter? Could there be more impressive testimony to the safety of Emancipation in all, even the worst cases?

We might add to this testimony that of the universal newspaper press of the British West India colonies. We have room, however, to select only from a few of the well known opponents of freedom.

"We seriously call upon our representatives to consider well all the bearings of the question, and if they cannot resist effectually these encroachments of the Imperial Government, adopt the remaining alternative of saving themselves from an infliction, by giving up at once and entirely, the bone of contention between us. Thus only shall we disarm, if anything in reason or in nature can, our enemies of their slanderous weapons of offence, and secure in as far as possible, a speedy and safe return of peace and prosperity to the "distracted" colony.--Without this sacrifice on our parts, we see no shelter from our sufferings--no amelioration of present wrongs--no hope for the future; but on the contrary, a systematic and remorseless train laid for the ultimate ruin of every proprietor in the country. With this sacrifice which can only be to any extent to a few and which the wisdom of our legislature may possibly find out some means or other of compensation, we have the hope that the sunshine of Jamaica's prosperity shall not receive any farther diminution; but shall rather dawn again with renewed vigor; when all shall be alike free under the protection of the same law, and the same law-givers; and all shall be alike amenable to the powers that punish without favor and without affection."--Jamaica Standard.

"There is great reason to expect that many Jamaica proprietors will anticipate the period established by the Slavery Abolition Act for the termination of the apprenticeship. They will, as an act of grace, and with a view to their future arrangements with their negroes, terminate the apprenticeship either of all at once, or by giving immediate freedom to the most deserving; try the effect of this gift, and of the example afforded to the apprentices when they see those who have been discharged from the apprenticeship working on the estates for wages. If such a course is adopted, it will afford an additional motive for inducing the Legislature to consider whether the good feeling of the laboring population, and their future connection with their former employers, may not be promoted by permitting them to owe to the grace of their own Legislature the termination of the apprenticeship as soon as the requisite legislation for the new state of things has been adopted."--Jamaica Despatch.

Of such sort as this is the testimony from all the Colonies, most abundantly published in the Emancipator and other abolition papers, to the point of the safety of entire Emancipation. At the time when the step was taken, it was universally concluded that so far from being dangerous it promised the greatest safety. It would not only put an end to the danger apprehended from the foreign interference of the abolitionists, but it would conciliate the negroes! And we are not able to find any one who professes to be disappointed with the result thus far. The only evil now complained of, is the new freemen do not in some instances choose to work on the terms offered by the planters. They have shed no man's blood. They have committed no depredation. They peaceably obey the laws. All this, up to the latest date, is universally admitted. Neither does any one now presume to prophesy anything different for the future.

INDUSTRY.

On the one topic of the industry of the Emancipated people, the West Indian papers give the most conflicting accounts. Some represent them as laboring with alacrity, diligence and effect wherever anything like an adequate compensation is offered. It is asserted by some, and not denied by any authorities that we have seen, that the emancipated are industriously at work on those estates where the masters voluntarily relinquished the apprenticeship before the first of August and met their freed people in good faith. But most of the papers, especially in Jamaica, complain grievously that the freed people will work on no reasonable terms. We give a fair specimen from one of the Jamaica papers, on which our political editors choose most to rely for their information:--

"In referring to the state of the country this week, we have still the same tale to tell of little work, and that little indifferently done, but exorbitantly charged for; and wherever resisted, a general "strike" is the consequence. Now this, whatever more favourable complexion the interested and sinister motives of others may attempt to throw around it, is the real state of matters upon nine-tenths of the properties situated in St. James's, Westmoreland, and Hanover. In Trelawny they appear to be doing a little better; but that only arises, we are confident from the longer purses, and patience of endurance under exorbitant wages, exhibited by the generality of the managers of that parish. Let them wait till they find they can no longer continue making sugar at its present expensive rate, and they will then find whether Trelawny is substantially in a better condition than either of the other parties."--Standard, quoted in the Morning Journal of Nov. 2.

This is the "tale" indeed, of a great part of the West India papers, sung to the same hum drum tune ever since the first of August; and so faithfully echoed by our own pro slavery press that many of our estimable fellow citizens have given it up that the great "experiment" has turned out unfavorably, and that the colored population of the West Indies are rapidly sinking from the condition of slaves to that of idle freemen. Were we all in a position perfectly disinterested and above the peculiar influence of slavery, we might perhaps consider these complaints as asking for, rather than against, the character of the Emancipated and the cause of freedom, inasmuch as they prove the former slaves to have both the discretion and the spirit which should characterise freemen. But to the peculiar optics which abound in these United States it may be necessary to show the entire picture.

To prove in the first place the general falsehood of the complaints themselves it is only necessary to advert to recent official documents. For our present purpose it will be sufficient to refer to Jamaica. The legislature was convened on the 30th of October and addressed by the Governor Sir Lionel Smith in a speech of which the following extract pertains to our subject:--

"Gentlemen of the Council, Mr. Speaker, and Gentlemen of the House of Assembly,

The most important event in the annals of colonial history has taken place since last I had the pleasure of meeting the legislature of this Island; and I am happy in being able to declare that the conduct of the laboring population, who were then the objects of your liberal and enlightened policy, entitles them to the highest praise, and amply proves how WELL THEY HAVE DESERVED the boon of freedom.

It was not to be expected that the total extinction of the apprenticeship law would be followed by an instantaneous return to active labor, but feeling as I do the deepest interest in the successful result of the great measurement now in progress, I sincerely congratulate you and the country at large, on the improvement which is daily taking place on the resumption of industrious habits, and I TRUST THERE IS EVERY PROSPECT OF AGRICULTURAL PROSPERITY."

Such is the testimony of a Governor who is no stranger in the West Indies and who was put in the place of Lord Sligo as more acceptable to the planters. But what said the House of Assembly in reply?--a House made up chiefly of attornies who had more interest than any other men in the continuance of the old system and who, as will presently be shown, were not unwilling to have the "experiment" fail? They speak as follows:--

"May it Please your Excellency,

We, her Majesty's dutiful and loyal subjects, the Assembly of Jamaica, thank your Excellency for your speech at the opening of the session.

The House join your Excellency in bearing testimony TO THE
PEACEABLE MANNER in which the laboring population have conducted
themselves in a state of FREEDOM.

It certainly was not to be expected that so great a change in the condition of the people would be followed by an immediate return to active labor. The House, however, are willing to believe that some degree of improvement is taking place, and they sincerely join in the HOPE expressed by your Excellency, that the agricultural interests of the Island may ultimately prosper, by a resumption of industrious habits on the part of the peasantry in their new condition."

This settles the question. Those who will not be convinced by such documents as these that the mass of the Emancipated in Jamaica are ready to do their part in the system of free labor, would not be convinced if one rose from the deed to prove it.

We are now prepared to investigate the causes of the complaints, and inquire why in numerous cases the negros have refused to work. Let us first go back to the debates Jamaica Legislature on the passage of the Emancipation bill in June, and see whether we can discover the temper in which it was passed, and the prospect of good faith in its execution. We can hardly doubt that some members, and some especially from whose speeches on that occasion we have already quoted, designed really to confer the "boon of freedom." But others spoke very differently. To understand their language we must commence with the Governor's speech at the opening of the session:--

"Gentlemen of the Council, Mr. Speaker, and Gentlemen of the Assembly

I have called you together, at an unusual season, to take it to your
consideration the state of the Island under the Laws of
Apprenticeship, for the labouring population.

I need not refer you to the agitation on this subject throughout the British Empire, or to the discussions upon it in Parliament, where the honourable efforts of the ministry were barely found sufficient to preserve the original duration of the Laws, as an obligation of the National faith.

I shall lay before you some despatches on this subject."

* * * * *

"Gentlemen,

General agitation and Parliamentary interference have not, I am afraid, yet terminated.

A corresponding excitement has been long going on among the apprentices themselves, but still they have rested in sober and quiet hopes, relying on your generosity, that you will extend to them that boon which has been granted to their class in other Colonies."

* * * * *

"Gentlemen of the Council, Mr. Speaker and Gentlemen of the Assembly,

In this posture of affairs, it is my duty to declare my sentiments, and distinctly to recommend to you the early and equal abolition of the apprenticeship for all classes. I do so in confidence that the apprentices will be found worthy of freedom, and that it will operate as a double blessing, by securing also the future interests of the planters.

I am commanded, however, to inform you that her Majesty's ministers will not entertain any question of further compensation. But should your views be opposed to the policy I recommend, I would entreat you to consider well how impracticable it will become to carry on coercive labor--always difficult, it would in future be in peril of constant comparisons with other colonies made free, and with those estates in this island made free by individual proprietors.

As Governor, under these circumstances, and I never shrink from any
of my responsibilities, I pronounce it physically impossible to
maintain the apprenticeship with any hope of successful agriculture.

* * * * *

"Gentlemen of the Council,

Mr. Speaker, and gentlemen of the Assembly.

Jamaica, is in your hands--she requires repose, by the removal of a law which has equally tormented the laborer, and disappointed the planter--a law by which man still constrains man in unnatural servitude. This is her first exigency. For her future welfare she appeals to your wisdom to legislate in the spirit of the times, with liberality and benevolence towards all classes."

* * * * *

When such a man as Sir Lionel Smith pronounced it no longer practicable to carry on coercive labor, he must have been a bold as well as a rash planter who would venture to hold on to the old system under Lord Glenelg's improvement Act. Accordingly we find some of the staunchest advocates of slavery, men who had been fattening on the oppression of the apprentices up to that moment the first, and the most precipitate, is their proposals of abolition. Mr. Hyslop, Mr. Gay and others were for acting at once on the Governor's speech without referring it to a committee. The former said: "He believed that a proposition would be made to abandon the apprenticeship from the 1st of August, but he would say let it be abandoned from Sunday next. He would therefore move that the speech be made the order of the day for tomorrow."

Mr. Guy said:--

"The Governor's speech contained nothing more than what every Gentlemen expected, and what every Gentlemen, he believed, was prepared to do. In short he would state that a bill had already been prepared by him, which he intended to introduce tomorrow, for the abolition of the apprenticeship on the 1st of August next."

Both these gentlemen are well known by the readers of Jamaica papers as obstinate defenders slavery. The latter was so passionately devoted to the abuses of the apprenticeship that Lord Sligo was obliged to dismiss him from the post of Adjutant General of militia. In the ardor of his attachment to the "peculiar institution" of getting work without pay, he is reported to have declared on a public occasion, that the British ministry were a "parcel of reptiles" and that the "English nation was fast going to the dogs." In another part of the debate:--

"Mr. Guy hoped the house would not go into a discussion of the nature of the apprenticeship, or the terms upon which it was forced us by the government. All that he knew about the matter was, that it was a part and parcel of the compensation. Government had so declared it. In short it was made law. He could not help believing that the Hon. member for Trelawny, was arguing against the dictates of his own honest heart--that he came there cut and dry with a speech prepared to defend the government."

Mr. Barclay, to whom, some years ago, the planters gave a splendid service of plate for his ingenious defence of slavery against the terrible pen of JAMES STEPHEN, said "it appeared to be the general feeling of the house that the apprenticeship should be done away with. Be that as it may, he was free to say that in that part of the island he was from, and certainly it was a large and wealthy district, the apprenticeship system had worked well, and all parties appeared satisfied with it. He denied that there existed any necessity to disturb the working of the system, it would have gradually slided into absolute freedom if they were permitted to regulate their own affairs, but the government, or rather, the people of England, had forced on the predicament in which they were placed. The ministry could not help themselves--They were driven to violate the national compact, not in express words, it is true, but in fact. It was, however, the force of public opinion that operated in producing the change. They were placed in a situation from which they could hardly extricate themselves.-- They had no alternative, he was afraid, but to go along with the stream."

Mr. Hamilton Brown, who at the commencement of the apprenticeship came into a Special Magistrate's court and publicly told him that unless he and his colleagues "did their duty by having recourse to a frequent and vigorous application of the lash, there would he rebellion in the Parish (of St. Ann's!) in less than a month, and all the responsibility of such a calamity would rest on their shoulders"! discoursed in the following manner. "It was always understood, for the apprenticeship had become marketable. Properties had been bought and sold with them, their time had been bought by others, and by themselves."

"He had no hesitation in saying, that the statements which had been made in England against the planters were as false as hell--they had been concocted here, and sent home by a parcel of spies in the island. They were represented as a cruel set of men, as having outraged the feelings of humanity towards the negroes, or in matters in which they were concerned. This was false. He did not mean to deny that there were a few instances of cruelty to the apprentices, but then those were isolated cases, and was it not hard that a hue and cry should be raised against the whole body of planters, and all made to suffer on account of those few. He would say that there was a greater disposition to be cruel to the negroes evinced by young men arriving in this island from England, than by the planters. There was, indeed, a great deal of difficulty in restraining them from doing so, but the longer they lived in the country, the more kind and humane they became. The negroes were better off here than many of the people of Great Britain, and they would have been contented, had it not been for the injudicious interference of some of the Special Justices. Who had ever heard of negroes being starved to death? Had they not read accounts in the English papers of men destroying their wives, their children, and afterwards themselves, because they could not obtain food. They had been grossly defrauded of their property; and after doing that, it was now sought to destroy their constitutional rights. He would repeat, they had been grossly defrauded of their property." [Here is the true slaveholder, logic, chivalry and all.]

Mr. Frater said, among other things, "He knew that it might be said the bill (Lord Glenelg's) did not go to the extent of freeing the negroes--that we are about to do ourselves, but he would ask whether we were not driven into the difficulty by which we are now surrounded! Had we not been brought into this alarming position, into this exigency, by the conduct of the British Government. Why do we not tell the English nation frankly and candidly, that they agreed to give the planter six years' services of their apprentices, as a part of the compensation, and if they desired to do away with it, that we must be paid for it, otherwise we will NOT ANSWER FOR ANY CHANGE, FOR ANY EVILS WHICH ARE LIKELY TO ENSUE. Why did the government force such an obnoxious bill upon us? They had in substance done this, they refused to annul the apprenticeship themselves, it is true, but said, we will place them in a situation that will compel them to do it themselves. He must say that the Government had acted cowardly and unjustly, they had in substance deprived them of the further two years' services of their apprentices, agreeably to the compact entered into, upon a pretext that we had not kept faith with them, and now tell us they will give us no compensation. He hoped the allusion to it in the address would be retained."

We beg the patient attention of the reader to still more of these extracts. The present state of things in Jamaica renders them very important. It is indispensable to a correct judgment of the results of the experiment to understand in what temper it was entered upon by the parties. Nothing can show this more clearly or authoritatively than the quotations we are making. We find another little torrent of eloquence from the same Mr. Hamilton Brown above quoted. He and several other gentlemen rose to reply to the statements of Richard Hill, a friend of freedom, and Secretary of the Special Magistracy.

Mr. Brown--"Mr. Chairman, I am on my legs, Sir. I say that we have to thank the Special Justices, and the private instructions which they have acted upon, for all the evils that have occurred in the country. Had they taken the law for their guide, had they acted upon that, Sir, and not upon their private instructions, every thing would have gone on splendidly, and we should have done well. But they had destroyed the negroes with their instructions, they had given them bad advice, and encouraged them in disobedience to their masters. I say it, Sir, in the face of this committee--I would say it on my death-bed tomorrow, that if the Stipendiary Magistrates had done their duty all would have gone on well, and I told his Excellency that he might then have slept on a bed of roses."

Here was one of the abolishers of the apprenticeship who held that more flogging would have made it work more "splendidly." Mr. Hugh Fraser Leslie, who the February before had, in his place in the Assembly, denominated the anti-slavery delegates assembled in London, as "a set of crawling wretches;" "the scum and refuse of society." "The washings and scrapings of the manufacturing districts," &c. &c. now delivered himself of the following:--

"He would ask any man in the house, nay, in the country, whether the house had any discretion left to them in the steps they were about to take? Could it be denied, that they were driven to the present alternative? Could they any longer say they were an independent legislature? It would be preposterous--absolutely absurd to entertain any such idea. The apprenticeship had been forced upon the country as a part and parcel of the planters' compensation--it had been working well, and would insensibly have slided into a state of absolute freedom, had the masters been left alone to themselves. It is now utterly impracticable to continue it. A most obnoxious measure had been passed by the British parliament, and sent out to this country to be promulgated by the Governor as the law of the land. The functions of the legislature were put in abeyance, and a British act crammed down their throats. It could not be denied that they were now under a military Government. He was only sorry that the thing had not been more honestly done; in his opinion, it would have been better for all classes, for then the government would have taken all the responsibilities which might attend the sudden change they had driven the house to make, and find the means of conducting the affairs of the country into a peaceable and successful state. Let any person look to the excitement which at present prevailed throughout the country, couple that with the speech which had been delivered by the Governor, and say if it was any longer practicable to carry one the system of apprenticeship. With respect to the doctrine which had been broached, that the apprenticeship was not a part and parcel of the compact between the government and the planters; that they (the planters) did not possess an absolute but an incidental right to the services of their apprentices, he confessed he was at a loss to understand it, he was incapable of drawing so nice a distinction. He repeated, the government and nation had made the apprenticeship a part of the consideration of the abolition of slavery, and having placed us in a situation to render its continuance impracticable they were bound in honor and common honesty to compensate us for the two years."

Once more, and we have done. Mr. Berry said,

"He did not think that because the Governor said they were not entitled to compensation, that therefore they should give up the claim which they unquestionably had upon the British nation for further compensation. He would contend also, that the apprenticeship was one part of the consideration for the abolition of slavery. He had heard it remarked that the apprenticeship must cease, but it ought to be added that they were compelled--they were driven to put an end to it by the Government, though they were convinced that neither party was at this moment prepared for immediate abandonment. The Governor, in his opening speech, had told the house that from the agitation at home, and the corresponding agitation which at the present moment prevailed here, it was physically impossible to carry one the apprenticeship with advantage to masters and labourers. He would take leave to remark, that the apprenticeship was working very well--in some of the parishes had worked extremely well. Where this was not the case, it was attributable to the improper conduct of the Special Justices. He did not mean to reflect upon them all; there were some honorable exceptions, but he would say that a great deal of the ill-feeling which had arisen in the country between the masters and their apprentices, was to be traced to the injudicious advice and conduct of the special Justices."

Such were the sentiments of by far the majority of those who spoke in the Assembly. Such, doubtless, were the sentiments of more than nine-tenths of the persons invested with the management of estates in Jamaica. What, then if we had heard that nine-tenths of the emancipated had refused to be employed? Could that have been counted a failure of the experiment? Was there any reason to believe that the planters would not resort to every species of oppression compatible with a system of wages?

Before proceeding to the question of wages, however, we invite the reader to scan the temper and disposition of the parties of the other part, viz., the laboring population. Let us observe more carefully how they behaved at the important period of

TRANSITION

Two of the sturdiest advocates of slavery, the Jamaica Standard and the Cornwall Courier, speak as follows:--

The Standard says--"On Tuesday evening, (July 31), the Wesleyan, and we believe, Baptist Chapels, (St. James') were opened for service--the former being tastefully decorated with branches of the palm, sage, and other trees, with a variety of appropriate devices, having a portrait of her Majesty in the center, and a crown above. When we visited the Chapel, about 10 o'clock, it was completely full, but not crowded, the generality of the audience well dressed; and all evidently of the better class of the colored and negro population. Shortly after, we understand, a very excellent and modern sermon, in all political points, was delivered by the Rev. Mr. Kerr, the highly respected pastor. The congregation was dismissed shortly after 12 o'clock; at which hour the church bell commenced its solemn peal, and a few noisy spirits welcomed in the morning of Freedom with loud cheers, and planted a huge branch, which they termed the "Tree of Liberty," in the center of the two roads crossing the market square."

Again the Standard observes, "The long, and somewhat anxiously expected jubilee of Emancipation has arrived, and now nearly passed over, with a remarkable degree of quiet and circumspection. Of St. James's of course, we speak more particularly,--St. James's, hitherto the most reviled, and most unwarrantably calumniated parish, of all the parishes in this unfortunate and distracted colony!"

The Cornwall Courier says, "The first of August, the most important day ever witnessed in Jamaica, has passed quietly as far as actual disturbance is concerned."

The Jamaica Morning Journal, of whose recent course the planters should be the last to complain, gives more particular information of the transition in all parts of the island. We give copious extracts, for to dwell upon such a scene must soften the heart. It is good sometimes to behold the joy of mere brute freedom--the boundings of the noble horse freed from his stable and his halter--the glad homeward flight of the bird from its cage--but here was besides the rational joy of a heaven-born nature. Here were 300,000 souls set free; and on wings of gratitude flying upwards to the throne of God. There were the gatherings in the public squares, there were the fireworks, the transparencies, the trees of liberty and the shouts of the jubilee, but the churches and the schools were the chief scenes, and hymns and prayer the chief language of this great ovation. There was no giving up to drunken revelry, but a solemn recognition of God, even by those who had not been wont to worship him. His temples were never so crowded. His ministers never so much honored. We give the picture in all its parts, faithfully, and as completely as our information will enable us to do.

August 2.

"In this city, the day has passed off in the way in which such a day ought to pass off. With glad hearts and joyful lips, the people have crowded the temples of the living God, and poured out their praises and thanksgivings for the great benefits they had received at the hands of a beneficent Providence. That they will continue to deport themselves as dutiful subjects, and good men and women, we have no doubt. From the country we wait with anxious hopes to hear that everything has gone off with the same peace, and quiet, and order, and regularity which have prevailed here, and especially that the people have returned to their labor, and are giving general satisfaction."

From the same.

Among the various ways of interesting the minds of our newly enfranchised peasantry on the 1st of August, was that of planting a Palm tree emblematical of liberty, and commemorative of its commencement in this island. Both in Kingston and in Liguanca, we understand, this ceremony was performed by the schools and congregations of the "London Missionary Society." The following hymn, composed by Mr. Wooldridge, for the purpose, and committed to memory by many of the children, who were treated with cakes and lemonade.

Appropriate sermons were preached, both morning and evening, by the Rev. Messrs. Woodbridge and Ingraham, and in the evening a Temperance Society was formed for the district of Liguanca, when several signed the pledge.

The thorny bush we'll clear away
The emblem of old slavery--
Let every fibre of it die,
And all its vices cease to be.

Let indolence, deceit, and theft,
Be of their nourishment bereft,
Let cruel wrong now disappear,
And decent order crown each year.

PROCEEDINGS AT TRELAWNEY.--A correspondent in Trelawney writes. The first of August was observed by the people so decently and devoutly, and with such manifestations of subdued, yet grateful feeling, that they appeared more like a select class of Christians celebrating some holy day of their church, than a race but recently converted from idolatry, and who were just emerging from the pollutions and degradation of slavery.

TREAT TO THE CHILDREN.--The most interesting and truly exciting scene of all in Trelawny, was the spectacle of some hundreds of happy children dining. This feast for them, and for all who had hearts that could sympathise with the happiness of others, was provided by the Rev. Mr. Knibb. Similar scenes were enacted in the rural districts. The Rev. Mr. Blyth had, I believe, a meeting of his scholars, and a treat provided for them. The Rev. Mr. Anderson had a large assemblage of his scholars at the school-house, who were regaled with meat, bread, and beverage, and also a large meeting of the adult members of his Church, to every one of whom, who could, or was attempting to learn to read, he gave a book.--[HE GAVE A BOOK.]

AT ST. ELIZABETH.--At the hour of 10, A.M., there was about 3000 persons assembled at Crosmond, when the clergyman, the Rev. Mr. Hylton, proposed an adjournment from the Chapel to the shade of some wide-spreading trees in the common pasture, whither the happy multitude immediately adjourned. The morning service of the church having ended, the Rev. Gentleman preached a most impressive sermon from the 4th chapter of Zech. 6th verse--"Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of Hosts"--In his application, he took a brief review of the history of the island--the conquest by the Spanish--the extermination by the Indians--and the consequent introduction of the negroes from Africa. He then adverted to the several insurrections that had taken place during the period since the conquest by the British, to the last general rebellion in 1832, in which both himself and many present were deeply interested. Having shown that all these insurrections had been suppressed, and had come to nought, he proceeded to point out how through Divine providence Mr. Wilberforce was raised up to advocate the cause of the oppressed African, and since that period, step by step, various privileges had been quietly conceded to the colored race, until the final consummation by the Legislature, in abolishing the last vestiges of slavery on the 1st of August, 1838.

The Rev. Gentleman's honorable mention of Mr. Wilberforce appeared to be deeply felt and acknowledged by all around. After the service was concluded, the assembled multitude gave three hearty cheers for Queen Victoria, and three for Lord Mulgrave, the first free Governor that ever came to Jamaica.

A more decent, orderly, and well-behaved assemblage could not be seen in any part of the world. The people have indeed proved themselves worthy of the "great boon" conferred upon them.

AT PORT MARIA.--The first of August passed off happily and peaceably. The people felt deeply the great blessing that had been conferred on them, and behaved uncommonly well. All the places of worship were crowded; indeed, thrice the number would not have contained those who attended, and many of whom could not be accommodated.

From the Cornwall Chronicle of Aug. 4.

Nothing could give a fairer and fuller confidence in the character of the negroes than their conduct on so joyous and trying an occasion, as what they have exhibited during the brief period of their political regeneration. It may be considered as an earnest of their future peaceable demeanor; the disbelief of the sceptic will thus be put to the blush, and the apprehensions of the timid allayed. The first of August has passed, and with it the conduct of the people has been such as to convince the most jealous, as well as the most sanguine of the evil prognosticators, that they are a good and trust-worthy people. There is no doubt but that this day will be held for ever as a sacred anniversary--a new Pentecost--upon which they will render thanks for the quiet "possession of their Canaan"--free from all political oppressions, and that they can suffer only from the acts of their own indiscretion. If ever they were placed in a favorable situation which they could improve, it could not have been equal to the present.--The exercise of moderation, however, is now most required, and will be greatly appreciated to themselves at a future time.

CUMBERLAND PEN., ST. CATHERINE.--The conduct of the people in this district generally, is such as to entitle them to the highest commendation. Well knowing the inconvenience to which their masters' customers would be otherwise reduced from a want of food for their horses and cattle, they voluntarily went out to work on the second day, and in some instances on the following, and supplied the usual demand of the market, presenting their labor thus voluntarily given as a free-will offering to their employers. Comment on such conduct world be superfluous. The late apprentices of Jamaica have hitherto acquired honors,

Above all Greek,
Above all Roman fame.

So far as they are concerned, the highest expectations of their friends have been more than realized. Let the higher classes universally but exhibit the same dispositions and conduct, and the peace and prosperity of Jamaica are for ever secured.

Morning Journal of August 4.

SAINT THOMAS IN THE EAST.

Up to the moment when the post left Morant Bay, the utmost tranquillity prevailed. In fact, from the quiet of the day and the circumstance of droves of well-dressed persons going to and from the Church and Chapels, I was occasionally deluded, says a correspondent, into the belief of the day being Sunday. The parish Church was crowded, and the Rector delivered a very able and appropriate address. The Methodist and Independent Chapels were also filled. At both places suitable sermons were preached. At the latter, the resident minister provided an ample second breakfast, which was faithfully discussed under the shade of a large tent purposely erected for the occasion. The Rev. Mr. Atkins, Wesleyan Minister, has proceeded from this place to lay the foundation stone of a chapel this afternoon, (1st August) at Port Morant, in which important service he will be assisted by Thomas Thomson, Esq., Church warden, and Alexander Barclay, Esq., Member for the parish. It is expected that many thousand spectators will be present at the interesting ceremony. From all I have been able to learn the changes among the labourers on the estates in this quarter, will be very limited, these people being apparently satisfied with the arrangement for their continued domicile on the respective properties.

Another correspondent writes--"we are very quiet here. The day has arrived and nearly passed off, and thank God the predictions of the alarmists are not fulfilled. The Chapels were quite full with a great many persons in the yards. The Independents are just sitting down to a feast. The Rector delivered a sermon or rather a string of advices and opinions to the labouring population, the most intolerant I have heard for a long time. This parish will, I am quite certain, enjoy in peace and quietness this happy jubilee."

MANCHESTER.

We learn from this parish that the Churches and Chapels were crowded many hours before the usual time for beginning service. Several thousand persons remained outside the respective places, which were much too small to afford the accommodation. Every thing was quiet and orderly when the post left.

Says the Jamaica Gazette of Aug. 4th, a paper of the Old School--"In spite of all the endeavours of a clique of self-interested agitators, clerical humbug and radical rabble, to excite the bad passions of the sable populace against those who have been the true friends of Colonial freedom, and the conservators of the public peace and prosperity of the country, the bonfire, bull-roast, and malignant effigy exhibited to rouse the rancor of the savage, failed to produce the effect anticipated by the projectors of the Saturnalia, and the negro multitude fully satisfied with the boon so generously conceded by the Island Legislature, were in no humor to wreak their wrath on individual benefactors, whom the envy of party spirit had marked out as the victims of truth and independence.

We are happy to give our meed of praise to the decent and orderly conduct of the sable multitude, and to record that it far excelled the Loco Foco group of bullies and boasters in decency of propriety of demeanor. A kind of spree or scuffle took place between donkey-driver Quallo and another. We don't know if they came to close fisti-cuffs, but it was, we are assured, the most serious affray on the Course."

The following is the testimony borne in regard to Barbados.

From the Barbados Liberal, Aug. 4th.

FIRST OF AUGUST.

"It gives us great pleasure to state that, so far as our information from the country extends, this day was observed in a manner highly creditable to our brethren. We never ourselves anticipated any riotings or disorder on the part of the emancipated. A little exhilaration begetting a shout or two, would not have surprised us; but even this, we are happy to say, made no part of their manifestation of joy. The day was spent in quiet piety! In heartfelt, soul overflowing gratitude to their heavenly Father, whose divine agency had raised up friends in their necessity, and brought their great tribulation to an end, they crowded at an early hour to the several churches and chapels, in which their numbers could scarcely find turning room, and then quietly and devoutly poured forth their souls in prayer and praise and thanksgiving! No revellings, no riotings, no drunkenness, desecrated this day. We have heard from five parishes, and in none of the five have we heard of a single convivial meeting. From church and chapel they went to their homes, and eat their first free dinner with their families, putting to shame the intolerant prejudices which had prepared powder and balls, and held the Riot Act in readiness to correct their insubordinate notions of liberty!"

From the New Haven, Ct., Herald.

"Barbados, Aug. 2, 1838

Yesterday's sun rose upon eight hundred thousand freemen, on whom and their ancestors the badge of slavery had rested for two hundred years. It was a solemn, delightful, most memorable day. I look upon it as a matter of exceeding thankfulness, that I have been permitted to be a witness to it, and to be able to speak from experience and from observation, of the happiness to which that day has given birth. The day had previously been set apart by proclamation of the Governor, "as a day of devout thanksgiving and praise to Almighty God for the happy termination of slavery." The thanksgiving and praise were most truly sincere, heartfelt and general. It was an emancipation not merely of the slave but of the proprietor. It was felt as such; openly acknowledged and rejoiced in as such. Never have I witnessed more apparently unfeigned expressions of satisfaction than were made on that day by the former owners of slaves, at the load of which they had been relieved.

I do not wish to be understood as asserting that previous to the working of emancipation, the slave proprietors wished the abolition of slavery. Far from it. But having, though unwillingly, been made witnesses of the operations of freedom; and having themselves tasted of the previously unknown satisfaction of employing voluntary and contented, because free laborers; their minds became enlightened, softened, changed: and from being the determined opposers, they became themselves the authors of complete emancipation. I know not in what terms to describe to you the emotions excited by passing through the streets of this populous town on that memorable morning. There was a stillness and solemnity that might be felt. It was caused by no display of force, for none was to be seen. Here and there a policeman going his usual rounds, but not a soldier, nor the slightest warlike preparation of any kind to strike the eye, or overawe the spirit of disorder.

The spirit that seemed to fill the entire population was eminently the spirit of peace, good will, thankfulness and joy too deep, too solemn, to allow of any loud or noisy demonstration of it. Of course, all stores, shops and offices of every kind were closed. So also were all places of amusement. No sound of revelry, no evidences of nightly excess were to be heard or seen. I do not say too much when I assert that the reign of order, peace, and sobriety, was complete.

To give eclat to an event of such importance, the Governor had ordered one company of militia to attend with him at the cathedral. It is an immense building, and was crowded in every part of its spacious area, galleries and aisles, with a most attentive assemblage of people, of all colors and conditions. Several clergymen officiated, and one of them at the opening of the services read most appropriately the 58th chapter of Isaiah. Imagine for a moment the effect in such an audience, on such an occasion, where were many hundreds of emancipated slaves, of words like these:--"Is not this the fast that I have chosen, to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?" The sermon by the Bishop was, as might have been expected on such an occasion, interesting and impressive. He spoke with great effect of the unexpected progress of freedom, from island to island, from colony to colony, until, with a solitary exception, upon that day the stain of slavery was obliterated forever from every British possession. The progress of education, the gradual reformation of morals, and the increasing thirst for religious instruction, were all dwelt upon with great force, and the glory of all ascribed, as was most fit, to the Great Giver of every good and perfect gift. It was an occasion rich with happy emotions, and long to be remembered as a bright and beautiful spot in the pathway of our earthly pilgrimage.

The close of the day was not less auspicious than its commencement. In company with Mrs. H., I drove through several of the principal streets, and thence through the most public thoroughfare into the country; and no where could aught be seen to mar the decent and truly impressive solemnity of the day. There were no dances, no merry-making of any sort; not a solitary drunkard, not a gun fired, nor even was a shout heard to welcome in the newborn liberty. The only groups we saw were going to or returning from the different chapels and churches: except in a few instances, where families might be seen reading or singing hymns at their own dwellings.

And now, sir, having arrived at the long looked for consummation of all the labors and prayers of the friends of the slave for so many years, as I cast my eye around this land of liberty, how many thoughts crowd my mind? I ask myself--is it indeed finished? And are there none to lament the downfall of time-honored, hoary-headed slavery? Where are the mourners? Where are the prognosticators of ruin, desolation, and woe? Where are the riots and disorders, the bloodshed and the burnings? The prophets and their prophecies are alike empty, vain, and unfounded, and are alike buried in oblivion.

And why, in the name of humanity, was not this glorious consummation brought about ages ago?--Is it because the slaves of 1838 are better fitted for freedom than those of fifty or a hundred years since? No one believes it. The only preparation for freedom required in this island, or any where else, in order to put a peaceful end to slavery, is the preparation of heart in the slaveholder to grant deliverance to the captive.

Yours truly,

WM. R. HAYES

P.S. August 9th.--All is quiet, and the utmost good order every where prevails."

To complete the picture we will give two extracts of letters from eminent Jamaica Attornies to their employers in England, with regard to the turning out to work. It is remarked by the English papers that the Attornies generally in writing to their employers adopt the same strain. They are all doing well on their estates, but hear that the rest of the island is in a woful condition.--These are the men who are the greatest, if not the only, losers by emancipation; hence their testimony is doubly valuable.

From the British Emancipator, Nov. 14.

LETTERS FROM ATTORNIES.

Extract of a Letter from an eminent Estate Attorney, in St. Mary's, Jamaica, dated August 24, 1838.

"There was nothing whatever done in this parish, or throughout the island, for the first two weeks of the month. In this quarter some estates did a little last week, and have been making more progress since, but the far greater number have not yet done any work; the minds of the people are very unsettled, and full of all sorts of foolish notions, which will continue more or less till we hear of the home government having accepted and approved of our abolition bill, and their views with regard to us.

On several of the estates which have wrought, the people have struck once or twice. We have in this parish ministers of every denomination, and they are all acting very properly; but they do not seem to have as much influence as expected; we must be as considerate and liberal as possible to secure their confidence ourselves. We are in St. Mary's paying the highest rate of wages in the island; 1s. 8d. currency per day nett, with allowances, are generally offered; I am giving here, from sheer necessity, 2s. 6d. currency per day, without charging any rent in the mean time. In the present state of things when so few estates are doing anything at all, I have much satisfaction in saying that the people here, on ----, a good proportion of them were at work last week, and I have now the mill about making sugar, with every probability, I think of going on satisfactorily; and looking dispassionately at the great change which has so suddenly taken place, our present difficulties are not much to be wondered at.

Sunday night, 8th Sept.--The foregoing was written, but too late, for the last packet; but as another sails to-morrow, I write you a few lines more. There is, up to this moment, but little material alteration in the state of affairs generally, certainly none for the worse. I have made here twenty hogsheads of sugar since the 1st ult. We are altogether in an uncertain state, but there are more mills about, and more work doing in this district than in any other in the island, which might and ought to be a feather in the cap of Maitter, our late stipe. I have no time to say more now, excepting that, although I am in great hopes that things will soon generally improve, and am of opinion that our present difficulties are not to be wondered at, yet our situation is still so critical, that I dare not venture to hazard an opinion as to the success of the great experiment, I repeat, however, again, that we have not seen anything to disappoint or surprise us, bad as many things are."

Extract of a Letter from an Attorney in St. Mary's, Jamaica, 24th August, 1838

"The services of the stipes are much wanting here; I am paying 10s. a week for first class, 6s. 8d. for second, and 4s. 2d. for third, for five days work; they say they will not work on Fridays. However, I have got people at ---- to work today; they are behaving better than most others. I hope things will now improve; and it is my opinion that good estates will do, and others will fall to the ground. Old Mr. Tytte is dead, and his son Alexander made stipe for the district. The Governor's speech respecting women has done a great deal of harm. None of the women want to work. If Lord Glenelg had made such a mistake, he would have heard enough of it. I wish the Government would take it on themselves to settle the rate of wages, otherwise two-thirds of the estates will be thrown up before next year; of course I can stand this as well as any. The ---- people have behaved well: they did every thing I told them; they are working on piece-work, which is the best plan."

Precisely similar is the testimony of private correspondents and of the public press so far as we have been able to learn, in all the other colonies where emancipation has taken place. There is certainly nothing in all this that indicates a disposition on the part of the emancipated to throw off the employment of their former masters, but much the reverse. We may safely challenge contradiction to the assertion, that at the expiration of the jubilee there were not a set of free laborers on earth from whom the West India planters could have got more work for the same money. It may be proper in these days, when the maxims of slavery have so fearfully overshadowed the rights of man, to say that a man has a right to forbear laboring when he can live honestly without it--or, at all events, he has a right to choose whether he will employ himself or be employed by another. Hence it may turn out that the refusal to labor, so far as there has been any, only serves to prove the more clearly the fitness of the laborers of freedom.

WAGES

It must have been obvious to every man of reflection that in a change so vast, involving so many laborers, and in circumstances so various, there would arise almost infinite disputes about the rate of wages. The colonies differ widely as to the real value of labor. Some have a rich, unexhausted, and, perhaps, inexhaustible soil, and a scanty supply of laborers. Others are more populous and less fertile. The former would of course offer higher wages than the latter, for so sudden was the step there could be no common understanding on the point. Again, as we have seen, the planters came into the measure with different views. Some anticipated the general change, and either from motives of humanity or policy, or more probably of both, adopted a course calculated to gain the gratitude and good will of the laborer.--These would offer wages which the less liberal would call ruinous. Many, and it would seem the great body of them in Jamaica, yielded unwillingly to superior power. They saw the sceptre of despotic authority was to be wrested from their grasp. They threw it down, as one may easily believe, resolved to seize the best substitute they could. They would infallibly fall upon the plan of getting the greatest possible amount of work for the least possible amount of pay. When we consider that even in the oldest, most civilized, and most Christianized free-labor communities, employers are wont to combine to keep down the rate of wages, while on the other hand the laborers throw up work to raise it, we shall not be surprised that there should be things of this sort in Jamaica, liberty being in the gristle. The only help for such an evil is, that there is always a rate of wages which is advantageous to both parties, and things being left to themselves, it will at last be found.

To the planters and freed-men in settling the question what wages they should offer and receive, two standards or guides presented themselves,--1. The rate of wages which had been given in Antigua since 1834. 2. The compensation that had been demanded by the Jamaica planters themselves, and adjudged by the magistrates, in case of apprentices buying their own time. Hundreds of planters had declared upon oath what the time of the apprentice was worth to them. Possibly as sellers, in the elasticity of their consciences, they may have set a higher price than they would be willing to give as buyers. In strict honesty, however, it is difficult to see why labor should not be worth to them as much in the one case as the other. The rate of wages fixed upon in Antigua may be seen by a reference to the Journal of Thome and Kimball to be very inadequate to the wants of the laborer. Free labor is there screwed down to the lowest possible point. The wonder is that the laborers should have submitted to such a scale for a moment. But they had no precedent to guide them, no advisers free from the yoke of the proprietary, no valuations given by their own masters, and there was every facility for successful combination on the part of the masters. They must work for such wages as the masters pleased to offer, or starve.

Say Messrs. Thome and Kimball--"By a general understanding among the planters, the rate is at present fixed at a shilling per day, or a little more than fifty cents per week, counting five working days." This Antigua scale, and not the one they themselves had sold labor by during the apprenticeship, became at once the favorite with a great part of the Jamaica and Barbados planters. If they in any cases offered higher wages, they made it up by charging higher rent for the houses and grounds, which the negroes had built and brought under culture on their properties. It was before the first of August that this procedure was resolved upon by the planters, as we gather from numerous communications in the papers recommending a variety of modes of getting labor for less than its natural market value. We select a single one of these as a specimen, by the application to which of a little arithmetic, it will be perceived that the employer would bring the laborer in debt to him at the end of the year, though not a moment should be lost by sickness or other casualty. The humanity of the document is perfectly of a piece with that of the system which would civilize mankind by making merchandize of them.

To the Editor of the Morning journal.

SIR,--Let meetings be held, not only in every parish, but in every district of a parish, and let all land-owners, &c., agree not to rent land under £8[[A]] per acre, and not to sell it for less than double that sum. Should a few be found regardless of the general weal, let the proprietary, &c. join and purchase such lands, and if otherwise, it is presumed the dissentients to the measure would be so small as not to affect in any material degree the general interest, inasmuch as those who dissented, from the consequent scarcity of land arising from the measure, would demand a high rental for their land. The maximum system appears to be preferable to the minimum. I have therefore made choice of it as a stimulus to the laborers to work at least four days or thirty-six hours in the week to pay for their rent, &c. &c., or pay 2s. 1d. for every day's absence; or, if sick, pay up the labor by working on the Friday, &c., and Saturday, if needful. Weekly settlements with both parties, or immediate summary ejectment, if deemed necessary.

[Footnote [A]: The sums are in the currency of the islands when not otherwise specified, that is 7s 6d to the dollar.]

	£	s.	d.
Rent of 2 acres of land as a ground for each able adult, at £5 per acre	10	0	0
Do. of house and garden, from £4 to £10 per annum, say	6	0	0
Medical attendance, medicine, &c. &c., worth £4 per annum	4	0	0
Clothing and Christmas allowance per annum	1	13	4
	----	----	----
	21	13	4
	----	----	----
Four days' or 36 hours' labor in each week, at 2s. 1d. per day, or 208 days, at 2s. 1d.	21	13	4
If task-work were adopted, or the day's labor prolonged to 10-1/2or 12 hours' labor, 3 days' or 3-1/2 days' laborwould suffice, consequently, the laborer would have 2 or 3days in each week to work for extra wages.	21	13	4
In addition to the above, say pasturagefor a horse, at 4s. 2d. per week per annum	10	16	8
Pasturage for an ass, at 2s. 1d. per week per annum	5	6	4
Run of pasturage and fruit, for a sow, barrow, or sholt; IF RUNG IN THENOSE, 10d. per week;IF NOT RUNG, 1s. 8d. per week; perannum, at 10d. per week	2	3	4

The above charges for pasturage might be paid for either by additional labor or in money, and to a good head-man they might be granted as a gratuity, and perhaps an additional acre of land allowed him to cultivate. It would be desirable that the negroes should, when quite free, work 11 hours per day in the short days, and 12 hours in the longer ones. I believe the shortest day's labor in England in the winter months in 10 hours' actual labor, and 12 hours' in the summer, for which 2 hours they are paid extra wages.

St. Mary's, 8th June, 1838. S.R.

The date should not escape notice. By this plan, for a few petty indulgences, all of which were professedly granted in the time of slavery itself, the master could get the entire labor of the negro, and seven or eight pounds per annum besides! Some may be disposed to regard this as a mere joke, but we can assure them it was a serious proposal, and not more monstrous than many things that the planters are now attempting to put in practice. The idea of actually paying money wages was horrifying and intolerable to many of the planters; they seem to have exercised their utmost ingenuity to provide against so dreadful a result. One who signed himself an "Old Planter" in the Despatch, before the abolition of the apprenticeship, in view of the emancipation of the non-praedials which was to take place on the first of August, gravely wrote as follows:--

"It is my intention, therefore, when the period arrives for any arrangement with them, to offer them in return for such services, the same time as the praedials now have, with of course the same allowances generally, putting out of the question, however, any relaxation from labor during the day, usually allowed field laborers, and understood as shell-blow--house people being considered at all times capable of enjoying that indulgence at their pleasure, besides the impossibility of their master submitting to such an inconvenience.--This appears to me to be the only mode of arrangement that would be feasible, unless we resort to money wages, and I should regret to find that such a precedent was established in this instance, for it would only be a forerunner to similar demands at the coming period, when the praedials became free."

There were more reasons than one why "money wages" were feared by the Jamaica planters. A great many estates are managed by attorneys for absentee proprietors. These gentlemen pocket certain commissions, for which reason they keep in cultivation estates which cannot possibly yield a profit under a system of paid labor. They deem it for their interest to retain their occupation even at the expense of their employers. Not a few conceive it for their interest to depreciate the value of property that they may purchase low, hence they deem it good policy to refuse wages, let the crops perish, and get up a panic. The documents we shall furnish will be clear on these points. The great diversity of practice in the planters in regard to wages, as well as the reasonable disposition of the laborers, is shown by the following paragraphs culled from the Morning Journal of August 10:--

"ST. DAVIDS.--A gentleman in the management of a property in this parish, writes in the following strain to his employer--"I have an accession of strength this morning. The people are civil and industrious. I have received letters assuring me that the example of the Cocoa Walt estate people, has been the means of inducing those on other estates to enter into the terms proposed"--that is 5s. per week, with houses, grounds, medicines, &c, &c."

"St. Thomas in the East.--The apprentices on Golden Grove Estate, turned out to work on Monday, but we have not learnt on what terms. At Mount Vernon, the property of Kenneth McPherson Esq., they turned out on Tuesday morning to work for five days in the week, at 10d. per day with houses, grounds, &c."

"Trelawny--A correspondent writes, every thing is quiet, and the people would go to work if any bargains were made, but I believe throughout the parish the people were directed to go to work on Monday morning, without any previous arrangement, or being even told how much they would be paid, or asked what they expected. On one estate 1s. 8d. with houses and grounds was offered and refused. Some of the masters are determined, it is said, to hold out, and will not consent to give more than 1s. 3d. or 1s. 8d. per day."

"St. Johns.--The people in this parish are at work on most of the estates without any agreement. They refuse the offer of 1s. 01-2d. per day, but continue to labor, relying on the honor and liberality of the planters for fair and reasonable pay. If they do not get these in two weeks, our correspondent writes, there will be a dead stop. The laborers fix the quantity of work to be done in a day, agreeable to the scale of labor approved of by the Governor during the apprenticeship. For any thing beyond that, they demand extra pay, as was usual under that system."

"St. Thomas in the Vale--No work, we understand, is being done in this parish as yet. A correspondent states that some of the overseers and attorneys wish the people to turn out to work without entering into any arrangements, which they refuse to do. The attorney for Rose Hall, Knollis, New Works, and Wallace Estates has offered 1s. 3d. per day, out of which £5 per annum is to be deducted for houses and grounds. The offer has been refused. The overseer of Byndloss estate required his people to work without agreeing as to the rate of wages they were to receive, but they refused to do any thing without a proper agreement."

"St. Mary's--On some estates in this parish we are informed, and particularly those under the charge of Richard Lewis, Esq. such as Ballard's Valley, Timperon's estates, Ellis' estates, &c. and of Charles Stewart, Esq. Trinity, Royal, Roslin Bremer Hall, &c., and also of James Geddes, Esq., the laborers are getting from 2s. 6d. to 3s. 4d. per day. The same rates are paid upon many outer properties. On many estates the people have refused to labor, and urge objections against the managers, as a reason for so acting. They remain and will engage to labor, provided the obnoxious parties are removed."

How could the people be blamed for refusing 10d. per day, while on "many properties" they were getting from 2s. 6d. to 3s. 4d.? Such being also the valuation which the masters had uniformly placed upon their time during the apprenticeship?

When the planters found that the free laborers could neither be prevailed upon to labor for half-price nor be driven to excesses by such paltry persecution, they turned their wrath, as had been long their custom, upon the Baptist Missionaries. Upon Mr. Knibb especially they laid the blame of giving mischievous advice to the peasantry. And for the obvious purpose of exciting the thousands of people warmly devoted to him, to acts of violence, they attempted to burn him in effigy and actually circulated the report that he had been murdered. Thousands of his people flocked into Spanish Town, threatening to destroy the town if the report proved true. But on learning its falsity were easily persuaded to retire, and did so without being guilty of any excess whatever. Unmeasured and unceasing have been the attacks of the Jamaica press upon the missionaries. Upon their shoulders has been laid "the ruin of that fine island."--They have corrupted the peasantry and put it in their heads to ask more wages than the estate can possibly give. To determine the value of the testimony of the missionaries in this case it is important to know the nature of their influence upon the laborers touching the question of wages. We are happily furnished with the required information from their own lips and pens in the Jamaica papers.

From the Falmouth Post.

REV. W. KNIBB'S ADVICE TO THE NEGROES.

MEETING AT THE "SUFFIELD SCHOOL-ROOM."

On Friday evening last we attended the suffield School-room, in this town, which, at an early hour was crowded with apprentices and head people, from upwards of twenty properties, who had met for the purpose of receiving advice from the Rev. Wm. Knibb, and Special Justice Lyon, respecting the course of conduct it will be necessary for them to adopt, on taking their stand in society as freemen. Several gentlemen connected with the commercial and agricultural interests of the parish were present on the occasion.

The Rev. W. Knibb commenced by saying, that he attended a meeting of a similar nature at Wilberforce Chapel, on the preceding evening. He had thought it better to request the attendance this evening of the head people, who being the more intelligent would be able to explain to others, the advice which they would now receive themselves. "I am glad," said the Rev. Gentleman, "to see so many persons present, among whom I notice a few gentlemen who are not connected with my church: I am glad of the attendance of these gentlemen, for what I do, I do openly, and any one is at liberty to express his opinion at this meeting if he desires to do so.

You will shortly, my friends, be released from your present state of bondage; in the course of a very few weeks you will receive the boon of freedom, and I would therefore impress deeply on your minds the necessity of your continuing the cultivation of the soil on the receipt of fair and equitable wages. I am not aware myself of any complete scale of wages having been drawn up, but I have been on 10 or 12 different properties, I have conversed with several proprietors, and I am glad to say that with some of them there appears to be a disposition to meet the charge fairly and honorably. Those who are more conversant with figures than I am, will be enabled to show what the owner can afford to give for the cultivation of his property. In the mean time I would say to you, do not make any hasty bargain: take time and consider the subject, for it is one of vital interest and importance to all! If you demand too high a rate of wages, the proprietors will be ruined; if you consent to take too low a sum, you will not be able to provide for the wants of yourselves and families. In making your arrangement, if there be an attempt to grind you down, resist the attempt by all legal means; for you must consider that you are not acting for yourselves alone, but for posterity. I desire to see every vestige of slavery completely rooted out. You must work for money; you must pay money to your employers for all you receive at their hands: a fair scale of wages must be established, and you must be entirely independent of any one. If you continue to receive those allowances which have been given during slavery and apprenticeship, it will go abroad that you are not able to take care of yourselves; that your employers are obliged to provide you with these allowances to keep you from starvation; in such a case you will be nothing more than slaves.--To be free, you must be independent; you must receive money for your work; come to market with money; purchase from whom you please, and be accountable to no one but that Being above, who I hope will watch over and protect you!--I sincerely trust that proper arrangements will be made before the 1st of August.--I have spoken to nearly four thousand persons connected with my church, and I have not yet learnt that there is any disposition among them to leave their present employers, provided they receive equitable wages. Your employer will expect from you good crops of sugar and rum; and while you labour to give him these, he must pay you such wages as will enable you to provide yourselves with wholesome food, good clothing, comfortable houses, and every other necessity of life. Your wages must be such as to enable you to do this; to contribute to the support of your church; the relief of the distressed; the education of your children, and to put by something for sickness and old age. I hail the coming of the 1st August with feelings of joy and gratitude. Oh, it will be a blessed day; a day which gives liberty to all; and my friends, I hope that the liberty which it will bring to you will by duly appreciated. I trust I may live to see the black man in the full enjoyment of every privilege with his white brethren, and that you may all so conduct yourselves as to give the lie direct to those who have affirmed that the only idea you have of liberty is that it will enable you to indulge in idle habits and licentious pursuits. When liberty casts her benignant smiles on this beautiful island, I trust that the employer and the laborer will endeavour to live on terms of friendship and good will with one another.--When the labourer receives a proper remuneration for his services--when the employer contemplates the luxuriance of his well-cultivated fields, may they both return thanks to a merciful God, for permitting the sun of liberty to shine with bright effulgence! I need scarcely assure you, my friends, that I will be at all times ready to protect your rights. I care not about the abuse with which I may probably be assailed; I am ready to meet all the obloquy and scorn of those who have been accustomed to place the most unfavourable constructions on my actions. I am willing to meet the proprietors in a spirit of candour and conciliation. I desire to see you fairly compensated for your labor; I desire also to you performing your work with cheerful industry: but I would warn you not to be too hasty in entering into contracts. Think seriously before you act, and remember, as I have already old you, that you have now to act not only for yourselves, but for posterity."

We give numerous documents from these gentlemen, as among the best if not the greatest part of our fellow citizens; we trust their testimony will be deemed the best that could be offered.

LETTER OF EIGHT BAPTIST MISSIONARIES.

To the Right Hon. Lord GLENELG, &c.

My Lord--We feel assured that no apology is necessary, in requesting your attention to the subject of this letter. The official connection which you hold with the colony, together with the peculiar circumstances in which its newly-emancipated population are placed, render it an imperative duty we owe to ourselves to lay before you our sentiments.

Having labored in the island for many years, and having been in daily intercourse with the objects of our solicitude, we do feel devoutly thankful to ALMIGHTY GOD, that he has spared us to see the disenthralment of our beloved flocks; while it gives us increased pleasure to assure your lordship that they received the boon with holy joy, and that the hour which made them men beheld them in thousands humbly prostrate at the footstool of mercy, imploring the blessing of HEAVEN upon themselves and their country, while, during the night and joyful day, not a single case of intoxication was seen.

To us, as their pastors, they naturally looked for advice, both as to the labor they should perform and the wages they should receive. The importance of this subject was deeply felt by us, and we were prepared to meet it with a full sense of the responsibility it involved, and happily succeeded in inducing them to accept of a sum lower than that which the representatives of the landowners had formerly asserted was fair and just.

We regret to state, that a deep combination was formed by many of these middlemen to grind the peasantry to the dust, and to induce, if possible, the acceptance of remuneration which, by affording no inducement to the peasant cheerfully to labor, would have entailed pauperism on him and his family, and ruin on the absentee proprietor. It was to this circumstance, and not in the least to any unwillingness in the free negro to work, or to demand more for his labor than it was fairly worth, that for one or two weeks, in some places, the cultivation of the soil was not resumed. Upon the planting attorneys, so long accustomed to tyranny and oppression, and armed with a power over the land which must prove inimical to the full development of the resources of this valuable colony, the blame entirely rests.

We suppose that your lordship is fully aware, that the laws under which the laborer is now placed are tyrannical and unjust in the extreme; laws, we hesitate not to affirm, which are a disgrace to those who framed them, and which, if acted upon by a local magistracy, will entail upon the oft-cheated, over-patient negro some of the worst features of that degrading state of vassalage from which he has just escaped. We particularly refer to "An Act to enlarge the Powers of Justices in determining complaints between Masters and Servants, and between Masters, and Apprentices, Artificers, and others," which passed the Assembly the 3rd day of July, 1834, while by police acts, especially one regulating the town of Falmouth, our people will be daily harassed and annoyed.

We think it right to inform your lordship, that the greater part of those who hold the commission of magistrates are the very persons who, by their connection with the soil, are the most unfit, because the most interested, honestly to discharge their important duties; while their ignorance of the law is, in too many cases, equalled only by their love of tyranny and misrule. Time must work a mighty change in the views of numbers who hold this office, ere they believe there is any dereliction of duty in daily defrauding the humble African. We cannot but entreat your lordship to use those means which are in your power to obtain for the laborer, who imploringly looks to the Queen for protection, justice at the hands of those by whom the law is administered. We must, indeed, be blind to all passing events, did we not see that, without the watchful care of the home government, the country district courts, held sometimes in the very habitations of those who will have to make the complaints, will be dens of injustice and cruelty, and that our hearts will again be lacerated by the oppressions under which our beloved people will groan.

We beg to apprise your lordship, that we have every reason to believe that an early attempt will be made to deprive the peasantry of their provision grounds--that they will not be permitted, even to rent them; so that, by producing starvation and rendering the population entirely dependent upon foreign-supplies for the daily necessaries of life, a lower rate of wages may be enforced. Cruel as this may appear to your lordship, and unlikely as it may seem, long experience has taught us that there is no possible baseness of which a slave-owner will not be guilty, and no means of accomplishing his purposes, however fraught with ruin to those around him, which he will not employ.

Should the peasantry be thus treated, we shall feel it our duty humbly to implore that the lands belonging to the crown may be made available for their use. Your lordship will remember that these ill-treated people became not the subjects of her Majesty by choice, though they are now devotedly attached to her government. Their fathers were stolen and brought hither. On their native shores they had lands and possessions capable of supplying all their wants. If, then, after having toiled without remuneration, they are prevented even renting a portion of land which has hitherto been esteemed as their own, we shall ask, and shall feel assured that the boon will not be withheld, that her Most Gracious Majesty will throw open the lands belonging to the crown, where we may retire from the tyranny of man, and with our people find a peaceful and quiet home.

Though still surrounded by obloquy and reproach, though the most abusive epithets and language disgracefully vulgar has been employed to assail us, especially by a newspaper known to be under the patronage of a bishop, and in which all official accounts of his diocese are given to the world, yet we assure your lordship that, in endeavouring to promote the general interests and welfare of this colony, we shall still pursue that line of conduct which is the result of our judgment, and in accordance with the dictates of our conscience.

In no part of the island are arrangements made so fully or so fairly, as in those districts where our congregations reside, and in no part are the laborers more faithfully performing their duty. We deeply feel our responsibility at the present crisis, and pledging ourselves to your lordship and the British Government by the sacred office we hold, we assure you that ceaseless efforts shall still be exerted, as they have ever been, to promote the peace and happiness of those around us.

In the name and on the behalf of our churches, for the sacred cause of freedom throughout the world, we unitedly implore your lordship to throw the shield of Britain's protection over those who are just made her loyal subjects. All they want, and all they ask, is, that, as they are raised to the dignity, so they may receive all the rights of man, and that the nation who purchased them from bondage may fully secure to them that civil and religious liberty, to which both their unparalleled sufferings and their unexampled patience so richly entitle them.

We cannot conclude this letter, without expressing the high sense we entertain of the noble and disinterested conduct pursued by his excellency Sir Lionel Smith, the Governor of this colony. But for his firmness, Jamaica would have presented all the horrors of a civil war.

Feeling assured that your lordship will give that attention to this letter which the subject demands, and with earnest prayer that this colony, now blest with liberty, may exhibit increasing prosperity, we are, my lord, your most obedient servants, Signed by

THOMAS BURCHELL
WILLIAM KNIBB
THOMAS ABBOTT
WALTER DENDY
JOHN CLARK
B.B. DEXTER
SAMUEL OUGHTON
J. HUTCHINS

Baptist Missionaries, North Side Union.

[On the foregoing letter the London Sun has the following observations.]

"Every arrival from the West Indies but strengthens our conviction, that there never will be happiness, security, or peace for the emancipated negroes, so long as the administration of the laws, and the management of the plantations, are continued in the hands of those white officials whose occupation, previous to the passing of the emancipation act, consisted in torturing and tormenting them with impunity. They cannot endure to witness the elevation to the rank of free, intelligent, and well-behaved fellow-citizens, of a class of beings whom they were accustomed to treat a myriad of times worse than they did the "beasts that perish." Having pronounced them incapable of civilization, and strangers to all the better feelings of our nature, they deem it a sort of duty to themselves to employ every artifice to neutralize or retard every measure calculated to ameliorate the moral and social condition of the negro race. Several of the colonial agents have powerful inducements to the provocation of some insurrectionary outbreak, on the part of the colored population. In the first place, such an emute would fulfil their predictions with regard to the passing the Emancipation Act, and so establish their reputation as seers; and in the next, it would lead to the sale of many of the plantations at one-sixth their real value, and so transform them from agents to principles, as they would not fail to be the purchasers. That such is their policy cannot, we think, be doubted for a moment by those who will take the trouble to peruse a letter addressed by eight Baptist missionaries, long resident in Jamaica, to Lord Glenelg, which will be found in another part of The Sun. These missionaries, we are assured, are men of irreproachable lives, of indefatigable Christian zeal, and of conversation becoming persons whose sacred office it is to preach the gospel of peace. That their representation will produce a powerful effect upon the minds of the people of this country, we feel as confident as we do that our gracious Queen will concede any boon in her royal gift, necessary to the welfare of her colored subjects."

The following are a series of letters to Mr. Sturge, published in the British Emancipator for Nov. 28, 1838. The one from a Special Justice clearly developes the principal causes of the backwardness of the laborers. The testimony of this letter to some important facts will be fully confirmed by that of the Governor of Jamaica. The evidence of extortion submitted by the missionaries is so explicit, that we beg the attention of the reader to all the details. Remember the experiment involves the claims of millions to that without which life is little better than a curse. Every thing hangs on the inquiry whether the emancipated or their former masters are chargeable with whatever there is of ruin in the "fine island" of Jamaica. Says Mr. Sturge, in laying these letters before the public, "it should be clearly understood that the fee simple of all negro houses in Jamaica is not worth £10 each on an average, and that their provision grounds have been brought into cultivation by the negroes themselves in their own time."

Extract of a letter from a Missionary:--

Savannah-la-Mar, Sept. 8, 1838.

MY DEAR SIR,--You are probably aware that the following question has been submitted by the Governor to the Attorney-General for his opinion:

(copy.)

(No. 844.) King' House, Aug. 27, 1838.

SIR,--I am desired by the Governor to request you will give your opinion for general publication. 1st. Whether in instances of notices to quit their houses and grounds, having been served upon the late apprentices, they are liable to be made to pay rent for the occupation of such house, during the three months allowed by law?

(OPINION.)

They are.

(Signed,)

D O'REILL.

We shall soon see the evil effects of this opinion, it being generally previously understood that the late apprenticed population would not be liable for rent until the three months had expired, after receiving notice to quit.

As a specimen of this being made an instrument of great oppression in the hands of managers of estates, I would state that two notices were yesterday brought to brother Hutchins for his inspection; one was served upon David Clarke, a labourer, on King's Valley estate, in this parish. On the back of the notice to quit was written as under;--

"The rent of your house and grounds is twenty-one pounds six shillings and eight pence, per annum, commencing 1st of August, 1838, if legal."

(Signed) J. H. JONES.

Mr. Sturge appends the following West India accounts, which be says are in his possession by which it is evident that the planters are bringing their laborers in debt to them, by a spirit of shameless extortion.

	£	s.	d.
Charles Duncan to John Dixon, Dr. 1838. Sept. 15. To rent of house and ground, from 1st of August to date, 6s. 8d. per week.	2	3	9-1/2
Cr. By balance, five days, 1s.8d. per day	0	8	4
	----	----	----
	1	15	5-1/2
Charles Brown, to John Dixon, Dr. 1838. Sept. 13. To rent of house and ground, 6s. 8d. per week, from 1st Aug, to date.	2	1	10
Charge for running a sow and pigs, from 1st Aug. to date, 2s. 6d. per week	0	15	8-1/2
	----	----	----
	2	17	6-1/2
John Alfred Bullock to John Dixon, Dr. 1838. Sept. 15. To rent of house and garden, from 1st of Aug. to date, 6s. 8d. per week,	2	3	9-1/2
Rent of provision ground, 5s. per week,	1	12	6
Pasturage, two weeks, for an ass, 6s. 3d, per month,	0	3	4
Two hogs, 1s. 8d. per week,	1	1	10-3/4
	----	----	----
	5	1	6-1/4
Cr. By two days' labour, 1s. 8d. per day	0	3	4
	----	----	----
	4	18	2-1/3

LETTER TO MR. STURGE, FROM A SPECIAL JUSTICE.

Jamaica, Oct. 12th, 1838.

Freedom has brought with it the blessings we anticipated; and as we progress in civilization we shall all be happier. I have ever been sanguine as to its beneficial results, and I am not in the least disappointed. I cannot find language sufficiently strong to express the commendation due to the negroes for their steady and good conduct since the 1st of August. Amidst the most trying circumstance, they have exhibited the greatest forbearance, and placed their whole reliance on the laws for protection. I am satisfied that no other nation of free men could conduct themselves so temperately and well, under similar circumstances; and in my opinion, they have proved themselves infinitely superior to many of those who so lately exercised almost unlimited control over them. I declare to you, to see such a mass of persons, whose morals have been little regarded by those who held them in slavery, and without education, rise all at once, and express and conduct themselves so admirably, is wonderful. When seeking redress before the magistrates for wrongs committed by there former owners they have maintained more coolness and temper than their more fortunate brethren, when maters are decided against them. There is a hard struggle on the part of the pro-slavery faction to compel the negro to work for little or nothing, in order that the attorneys and overseers may keep their places as before; and I am informed, by a gentleman whose veracity is not to be doubted, and who is himself an attorney, that he can still keep his overseer and merchant as in former days, draw his own commissions, and send home to his employer a very handsome surplus. Under such circumstances, well may the friends of freedom cry shame at the opposition which has for so long a time been thrown in the way of liberty, by these West Indians of practical knowledge. The facts are, that the absent proprietors have been led by the advice they have received from their attorneys; and these have had so many ways of making more than an honest commission, and have so speedily made their fortunes, that as long as they could continue slavery, they have exerted every influence. The overseer was paid, housed, fed, and waited upon, all at the expense of master and slave, beside; keeping a fine stud of horses, and as many brood mares at pasture on the property as would enable him to dispose of seven or eight prime mules annually; and so long as he drove and tormented the poor negro, and made good crops for the attorney's commissions, and supplied his horses with corn, these little perquisites were never discovered. Now the proprietor will hardly pay for more labor than is absolutely necessary to grow and manufacture the produce of his estate; and these gentlemen must henceforth look to their own resources, for the payment of servants to attend and take care of their own interests and comforts. An overseer's situation on an estate making 300 hogsheads, was calculated in slavery to be equal to 2000l. a year. Indeed no man in any town could have lived in such luxury for that sum. If the proprietor would only come out, and live prudently, he would save all this by residing on his property, which he could easily manage by employing, for extra wages, his former steady head people. They, from long residence, know the best manner of working the land; and, as to the manufacture of sugar, they are the persons who have all their lives been working at it. The most important part of an overseer and book-keeper's business was to make use of their eyes. The negro had to make use of his legs, arms and strength; and, in nine cases out of ten, his brains kept the white people in their situations, by preventing matters from going wrong.

I perfectly coincide with you, as to the propriety of the negro speedily becoming possessed of the elective franchise. In Antigua there is very little more land than is in cultivation for the estates, but here it is widely different; and they are beginning to settle themselves by purchasing small lots very fast. At Sligoville there are nearly fifty new freeholders. The negroes are taught to do this by the perpetual worry of their employers, threatening to oust them on every trifling occasion, and withholding part of their wages on the plea of non-performance of work.--The root of all evil is the Assembly and the Juries. Nothing requires greater alteration; and I shall never rest, until I see the black man stand the same chance at the bar of his country as the white man.--The negroes will not work under their former hard task-masters. They determinedly resist all solicitations to labor with those who treated them ill. They say that the pain is gone, but the mark remains, and I respect them for this proud feeling.

* * * * *

I have come under his displeasure for taking the opinion of Middleton and McDougal, as to the legality of charging the negro hire for his house and grounds, for the three months during which the notices to quit are running.--Had we not taken these opinions, what a fearful state things might we have been brought to in this country! I am quite satisfied that no rent could be recovered until the expiration of the three months, from which time it would commence to run, and the plaintiff would in law be considered in possession of his lands again, which, in slavery, he was compelled to give to his slave for his support and maintenance. He must re-enter before he could demand rent, for it is impossible for him to prove a contract, or imply one. The negro did not willingly come from Africa, and occupy his land; he was torn from his native land, and compelled by his owner, under laws that took his life, not to quit the land; how therefore can he be considered to have made a contract, or consented to one?

FROM THE REV. J. KINGDON

Manchioneal, Oct. 9, 1838.

In passing through Hector's River great house yard, in my way to my preaching spot, I have the most sensible demonstration of the reality of the political change happily brought about; for that hot-house, in which I have seen one of my own members in irons for having a bad sore leg, and in which I have been grossly insulted for daring to go to see my poor people--that house is shut up! Delightful, I assure you, are my feelings, whenever I go by that place, attached to which, too, was the old-time prison, a perfect charnel-house.

FROM THE REV. S. OUGHTON.

Lucea, October 2, 1838.

Unused to acts of justice and humanity, the Planters, in a moment of mad excitement passed an act to abolish the accursed system of Slavery. The debates on that occasion proved with what an ill grace they performed that scanty act of justice, and all experience since that period proves how bitterly they repent it. It is true, we are not now, as before, distressed by hearing recitals of barbarous corporeal punishments, and we are no longer pained by seeing human beings chained to each other by the neck; but, although cruelty has, to a certain extent, ceased, oppression has become ten thousand times more rampant than ever. Every act which ingenuity or malice can invent, is employed to harass the poor negroes. Prior to August 1st, the planter studiously avoided every thing like an arrangement with the laborer, and when, on the following Monday, they turned out to work, the paltry pittance of 12-1/2d. (7-1/2d. sterl.) was all that in the majority of cases was offered for the services of an able-bodied negro, although 2s. 6d. per day (currency), had before been invariably exacted from them, when they were desirous of purchasing the remaining term of their apprenticeship. Of course, the people refused to receive so paltry a remuneration for their labour, and this has laid the foundation for a course of systematic oppression scarcely conceivable. Notices to quit were served indiscriminately on every one, old and young, sick and healthy. Medical attendance was refused, and even a dose of physic from the Estates' hospitals. Cattle were turned into the provision-grounds of the negroes, thus destroying their only means of support; and assaults of the most wanton and brutal description were committed on many of the peasantry. On one estate the proprietor and his brother assaulted a young man in the most unprovoked manner. One presented a pistol to his breast, and threatened to shoot him; while the other levelled a gun at his head for the same purpose. They were bound over to take their trial at the Quarter Sessions; but what hope is there in such a tribunal as that, composed principally of men engaged in the same reckless course, and banded together by mutual interests? On another estate (Content), the attorney ordered the cattle of a poor man (a member of my Chapel) to be taken up and impounded. It was done, and the man was obliged to pay 6l. to redeem them; when, as soon as he carried them back, they were again taken and impounded. The man has been to my house with his case of oppression, on my return from Kingston. He states that he exhausted his last farthing to redeem the cattle the first time, and was also obliged to borrow of his friends; they have now been impounded five weeks, and unless he can raise the money to redeem them (upwards of 10l.), they will be sold to pay the expenses. Thus is an honest and worthy man, in a few weeks, stripped of every thing which, by years of industry and care, he had accumulated for the comfort of his old age, or the benefit of his family. Yesterday a negro came and informed me that the owner of a property had told him last year, that he must cultivate more ground, so as to be able to continue possession as a tenant; and now that he has done so, another person, saying that he had purchased the property, came a few days ago, and told him that in three weeks he would drive him from the place. He then ordered a man whom he had with him to climb a bread-fruit tree, and pull the fruit, which he forcibly carried away to give to his hogs. But I must forbear: were I to state half the cases of oppression which have occurred in Hanover since August 1st; I should require a volume instead of a sheet. I think, however, I have said enough to prove the bitter and rancorous spirit which at present animates the planters. Enclosed I send a specimen of another artifice adopted to harass and distress the negroes. They have adopted the notion (sanctioned by the opinion of the old Planters' Jackall, Batty, and the Attorney General), that the people are liable to pay rent for houses and grounds during the three months' possession to which the Abolition Act entitled them, and notices have been served on the people, demanding the most extravagant amounts for the miserable sheds which the people inhabited. You will perceive that in once case 21l. 6s. 9d. has been demanded. This conscientious demand was made by John Houghton James, Executor and Attorney for Sir Simon Clark. Another is from a Mr. Bowen, of Orchard Estate; and the third from Mr. Brockett, of Hopewell and Content Estates, the property of Mr. Miles, M.P. for Bristol. Let it be borne in mind that these shameful and exorbitant demands are not made, as in England, on the head of the family only, but on every member who is able to do the least work, and even little children have papers demanding 2s. 4d. per week for ground, although unable to do the least thing: one of these I also enclose.

Jamaica, ss. Notice is hereby Given, That the sum of eight shillings and four pence, weekly, will be exacted from you and each of you respectively, for the houses and grounds at Orchard Estate, in the parish of Hanover, from August of the present year, until the expiration of the three months' notice, from its period of service to quit; or to the period of surrendering to me the peaceable possession of the aforesaid house and provision grounds.

J. R. BOWEN.

Dated this 17th day of Sep. 1838.

TO JAMES DARLING and SARAH DARLING, of the parish of HANOVER.

Here then, my dear Sir, you may perceive something of the atrocious proceedings in the island of Jamaica. Pray insert these documents in the Emancipator. Let the Anti-slavery friends know the state of things, and urge them to redoubled diligence. The House of Assembly will meet on the 30th instant, and then, I fear, dreadful measures will be taken. A letter from Mr. Harker, of the Jamaica Royal Gazette, about a fortnight since, addressed to Mr. Abbott, shows what absolute and cruel statutes they would wish either to act upon, or to make the models of new laws. Every act must be watched with the most jealous scrutiny. Experience shows that the planters possess an ingenuity truly diabolical, in twisting and distorting the laws to suit their own selfish purpose. Our hope is in British Christians; and we confidently hope every one of them will feel the importance of increased diligence, lest the great, and long prayed-for boon of freedom, should become a curse, instead of a blessing. The papers will inform you of the odium I have drawn on myself in defending the people's rights. That contained in the great mass, only provokes a smile. I know that every friend in England will interpret it inversely. I did feel Mr. ----'s letter in the Falmouth Post, but he knows his error, and is sorry for it. I could have answered it, but did not choose to cause a division amongst the few friends of the negro, when they had quite enough to do to withstand the attacks of their enemies.

FROM THE REV. J. M. PHILIPPO.

Spanish Town, Oct. 13, 1838.

The following is one of the seven of the same tenor now in my possession, which will, in addition to those I forwarded by last mail, inform you of the cause of the late disinclination of the people in some districts to labour--which, with so much effrontery, has been proclaimed through the public Journals here:--

Charles Michael Kelly and Wife, to J.S. Benbow, Dr.

1830: July 14th to Sept. 9th.
1. To the rent of house and
ground on Castle Kelly
plantation, for eight weeks,
at 6s. 8d. per week. 3l. 13 4
2. Richard Kelly and Wife. Same.
3. Elenor Mercer. Same.
4. John Ried and Wife. Same.
5. Mary Ann Christie. Same.
6. Venus Owen (or such like name). Same.

FROM THE REV. J. HUTCHINS.

Savanna-la-Mar, Sept. 17, 1838.

I now, according to promise in my last, send you a few out of the many cases I am almost hourly troubled with. Some of our would-be great men are, I am sorry to say, harassing the poor free labourers shamefully; and should it prove, as I think in some cases it must, of serious injury to the absentee proprietors, I shall publish the cases of grievance brought me, together with the names of the estates, owners, attorneys, overseers, &c., and leave all parties to form their own opinion on the subject.

Amelia Martin, to Retrieve Estate, Dr.
1838: August 29.

To house and ground, rent at 5s. per week, from 1st August to date	4l.	0	0
[[A]]Alliac Davis, ground rent at 10d. per week		3	0
[[A]]William Davis; ditto ditto	0	3	4
	----	----	----
	4l.	6	4
	----	----	----

Thos. Tats, Esq. is Attorney, and Mr. Comry
Overseer,

[Footnote [A]: Boys from 9 to 11, her sons.]

* * * * *

Louisa Patter, to Retrieve Estate, Dr.
1838: Aug. 28.

To house and ground from 1st Aug. to date

1l.

0

0

She states she has been sickly so long, that she has no ground in cultivation, and cannot help herself, and has only what yams her friends give her.

* * * * *

Susan James, to Albany Estate, Dr.
1838: Aug. 28.

To house and ground rent at 5s. per week, from 1st August, to date	1l.	0	0
Thos. Hewett, ground rent	0	13	4
Elizabeth James, ditto	0	13	4
Mary Dunn, ditto	0	10	0
Letitia, ditto[[A]]	0	6	8
	----	----	----
	3l.	3	4
	----	----	----

[Footnote [A]: These are a mother and four children in one house, and with but one ground, they tell me.]

* * * * *

Richard Warren, to Albany Estate, Dr.
1838: Aug. 28.

To house and ground rent to date	1l.	0	0
Wife	0	15	4
Child[[B]]	0	10	0
	----	----	----
	2l.	5	4
	----	----	----

[Footnote [B]: The child is quite young, and in daily attendance at one of my schools.]

* * * * *

On this property, under the same managers as Retrieve, the people state that they are going on shamefully. "The last Sabbath but one, when we were at service, Stephen Campbell, the book-keeper, and Edward Pulsey, old-time constable, come round and mark all for we house, and charge for ebery one of we family. We don't know what kind of fee dis we hab at all; for we attorney, Mr. Tate, neber come on we property, leave all to Mr. Comeoy. We peak to him for make bargain, him say him can't make law, and him no make bargain till him heare what law come out in packet. Him say dem who make bargain are fools; beside him no call up a parcel of niggers to hold service wid me; should only get laughed at. So we know not what for do. You are for we minister, and for we only friend; and if you did not advise we to go on work till things settle down, we no lift another hoe. We would left the property." Unless an arrangement is soon entered into, I shall advise them to do so.

James Greenheld, to New Galloway Estate, Dr.

To one week's rent of house, garden, and ground, and to 5 ditto for his wife, Margaret Greenfield, at 5s. per week.

£1

10

0

J.G. states, "I come for massa. When we make bargain with Mr. McNeal, it was a maccaroni (1s. 8d.) a day, and for we house and ground. Me is able and willing for work, so let my wife stop home; so him charge me de same sum for my wife, as for me own house and ground. And den last week me sick and get no money, and they charge me over again, (as above) one week me sick. Me no able for say what to call dat massa, me sure."

I leave with you to make your own comments, and to do what you please with the above. Although my chapel is £700 in debt, and my schools, one of 180 and one of 160 scholars, are heavy, very heavy on me, I cannot do other than advise my people to save every mite, buy an acre of land, and by that means be independent, and job about wherever they may be wanted.

FROM THE REV. T. BURCHELL.

Montego Bay, October 2, 1838.

The reason why I have not written to you so long, is the intensely anxious time we have had. I feel, however, that it is high time now to address you; for, if our friends in England relax their efforts, my conviction is, that freedom will be more in name than in reality, in this slave-holding Island. There is nothing to be feared, if the noble band of friends who have so long and so successfully struggled, will but continue their assistance a short time longer. The planters have made a desperate struggle, and so, I have no doubt, will the House of Assembly, against the emancipated negroes. My firm conviction has been, and still is, that the planters have endeavored, by the offer of the most paltry wages, to reduce the condition of the laborer, and make him as badly off as he was when an apprentice or a slave, that he may curse the day that made him free.

Though unable to conduct the usual services on Sunday the 5th August, at the close I addressed the congregation, urging upon them the necessity of commencing their work on the following day, whether arrangements were made between themselves and their masters or not; as by so doing they would put it out of the power of their opponents to say anything evil of them. They assembled, and on Monday the 6th thousands turned out to work, and continued to labor, unless prevented by the Manager, until arrangements were made.

You will remember, that prior to the 1st of August, a white man who hired out a gang of apprentices to an estate was paid at the rate of 1s. 6d. sterling per diem for each able laborer. The apprentice received the same when he worked for the estate on his own days, Friday and Saturday; and whenever they were valued for the purpose of purchasing the remaining time of their apprenticeship, the planter upon oath stated that their services were worth at least 1s. 6. per diem to the estate, and the apprentice had to redeem himself at that rate.

After the 1st of August, the planters discovered, that, whilst the properties would well afford to continue the lavish and extravagant expenditure in managing the estates, "it would be certain ruin to the properties, if the labourer was paid more than 71/2d. per diem. for the 1st class of labourers, 6d. the 2nd class, and 41/2d. for the 3rd class:" and why? I know not why, unless it was because the long oppressed negro was to put the money into his own pocket, and not his white oppressors. This seems to have made all the difference. The above wages were accordingly offered, and rejected with scorn; the people feeling the greatest indignation at the atrocious attempt of their old oppressors to grind them down now they are free, and keep them in a state of degradation. The greatest confusion and disorder ensued; the labourers indignant at the conduct of their masters, and the planters enraged against the people, for presuming to think and act for themselves. As a matter of course, the fury of the planters was directed against half a dozen Baptist missionaries, and as many more friends and stipendiary Magistrates; and I can assure you that the Jamaica press equalled its most vituperative days, and came forth worthy of itself. The Despatch, or the Old Jamaica Courant, so well known in 1832 for advocating the burning of chapels, and the hanging of missionaries; was quite in the shade. The pious Polypheme, the Bishop's paper, with the Jamaica Standard of infamy and falsehood, published in this town, took the lead, and a pretty standard it is. Let foreigners judge of Jamaica by the Jamaica Standard of August last, and they must suppose it is an island of savages, or a little hell. The press teemed with abuse of the most savage nature against us, and published the most barefaced lies. That, however, you who know the generality of the Jamaica Press, will say is nothing new or strange; well, it is not, nor do we regard any statements they make; for no one believes what they publish, and it is a source of gratification to us that we have never forfeited our character or principles in the estimation of the reflecting, the philanthropist, or the Christian public, by meriting their approbation.

In the mulct of this seemingly general conspiracy to defraud the laborer of his wages by exorbitant rents, &c. Sir Lionel Smith, the Governor, proceeds from district to district, giving advice to both of the contending parties, and striving to promote a mutual understanding. His testimony to the designs of the planters given to their faces, and not denied, is very important; we give therefore one of his meetings, as the find it reported in the Jamaica papers. Here is a rather familiar conversation among some of the chief men of that island--where can we expect to find more authoritative testimony?

SIR LIONEL SMITH'S VISIT TO DUNSINANE.

His Excellency, Sir Lionel Smith, visited Dunsinane on Thursday last, agreeably to arrangements previously entered into, for the purpose of addressing the late apprenticed population in that neighborhood, on the propriety of resuming the cultivation of the soil. About two miles from Dunsinane, his Excellency was met by a cavalcade composed of the late apprentices, who were preceded by Messrs. Bourne, Hamilton, and Kent, late Special Justices. On the arrival of his Excellency at Dunsinane, he was met by the Hon. Joseph Gordon, Custos, the Lord Bishop attended by his Secretary, and the Rev. Alexander Campbell; the Hon. Hector Mitchel, Mayor of Kingston, and a large number of highly respectable planters, proprietors, and attorneys. His Excellency, on being seated in the dwelling, said, that from information which he had received from other parishes, and facts gathered from personal observation, he believed that the same bone of contention existed there as elsewhere--a source of discontent brought about by the planters serving the people with notices to quit their houses and grounds. He did not question their right to do so, or the legality of such a proceeding, but he questioned the prudence of the step. The great change from slavery to unrestricted freedom surely deserved some consideration. Things cannot so soon be quiet and calm. Depend upon it, nothing will be done by force. Much may be by conciliation and prudence. Do away with every emblem of slavery; throw off the Kilmarnock cap, and adopt in its stead, like rational men, Britannia's cap of liberty. He (Sir Lionel) doubted not the right of the planters to rent their houses and grounds; in order to be more certain on that head, he had procured the opinion of the Attorney General; but the exercise of the right by the planter, and getting the people to work, were very different matters. Much difficulty must be felt in getting rid of slavery. Even in the little island of Antigua, it had taken six months to get matters into a quiet state; but here, in a large country like Jamaica, could it be expected to be done in a day, and was it because it was not done, that the planters were to be opposed to him? You are all in arms against me (said his Excellency,) but all I ask of you is to exercise patience, and all will be right. I have done, and am doing all in my power for the good of my country. If you have served the people with notices to quit, with a view to compel them to work, or thinking to force them to work for a certain rate of wages, you have done wrong. Coercive measures will never succeed. In Vere, which I lately visited, the planters have agreed to give the people 1s. 8d. per day, and to let them have their houses and grounds for three months free of charge. His Excellency, on seeing some symptoms of disapprobation manifested, said, Well, if you cannot afford to pay so much, pay what you can afford; but above all, use conciliatory measures, and I have not a doubt on my mind but that the people will go to their work. Seeing so many planters present, he should be happy if they would come to an arrangement among themselves, before he addressed the people outside.

Mr. WELLWOOD HYSLOP remarked, that Vere and other rich sugar parishes might be able to pay high rates of wages, because the land yielded profitable crops, but in this district it was impossible to follow the example of those parishes. He thought that two bits a day might do very well, but that was as much as could be afforded.

His EXCELLENCY said that in Manchester, where he believed he had more enemies than in any other parish, he had advised them to work by the piece, and it had been found to answer well.

Mr. HINTON EAST said that he would submit a measure which he thought would be approved of. He proposed that the people should be paid 5s. for four days' labor; that if they cleaned more than 130 trees per day, either themselves or by bringing out their wives and children, they should be paid extra wages in the same proportion.

Mr. ANDREW SIMPSON said that he could not afford to pay the rates named by his Excellency. It was entirely out of the question; that a good deal depended upon the state the fields are in--that his people, for instance, could, with much ease, if they chose, clean 170 trees by half-past three o'clock.

Mr. MASON, of St. George's, said he was willing to pay his people 1s. 8d. per day, if they would but work; but the fact was that they refused to do so, on account of the stories that had been told them by Special Justice Fishbourne; willingly too would I have given them their houses and grounds for three months, free of charge, had they shown a desire to labor; but what was the lamentable fact? the people would not work, because Mr. Fishbourne had influenced them not to do so, and he (Mr. Mason) had been a loser of one thousand pounds in consequence. He had been compelled in self-defence to issue summonses against two of his people. He had purchased his property--it was his all--he had sacrificed twenty of the best years of his life as a planter, he had a wife and family to support, and what was the prospect before him and them? He admitted having served notices on his people to quit their houses--in truth he did not now care whether they were or were not located on the property--he was willing to pay fair, nay, high wages, but the demand was exorbitant. He had a servant, a trustworthy white man, who laboured from day-dawn to sunset for 2s. 1d. per day, and he was quite satisfied. All the mischief in his district had been owing to the poisonous stories poured into the ears of the people by Special Justice Fishbourne. If he were removed, the parish might probably assume a healthy state; if allowed to remain, no improvement could possibly take place.

His EXCELLENCY said that the Assembly had passed a law preventing the special magistrates from going on the estates; they could not, however, prevent the people from going to them, and taking their advice if they wished it. He had understood that the people had gone to the special magistrates, informing them that the planters demanded 3s. 4d. per week rent for the houses and grounds, and that they had been advised, if such were the case, that they ought to be paid higher wages. He understood that to be a fact.

Mr. ANDREW SIMPSON said that the people would, he had no doubt, have worked, but for the pernicious advice of Mr. Fishbourne. He had heard that the people had been told that the Governor did not wish them to work, and that he would be vexed with them if they did.

Sir LIONEL replied that he was aware that white men were going about the country disguised as policemen, pretending to have his (Sir Lionel's) authority, telling the people not to work. He knew well their intention and design, he understood the trick. You are anxious (said his Excellency) to produce a panic, to reduce the value of property, to create dismay, in order that you may speculate, by reducing the present value of property; but you will be disappointed, notwithstanding a press sends forth daily abuse against me, and black-guard and contemptible remarks against my acts. I assure you I am up to your tricks.

Mr. ANDREW SIMPSON would be glad if his Excellency would speak individually. There was a paper called the West Indian, and another the Colonial Freeman. He wished to know whether his Excellency meant either of those papers. [Some slight interruption here took place, several gentlemen speaking at the same time.]

His EXCELLENCY said he had not come to discuss politics, but to endeavour to get the people to work, and it would be well for them to turn their attention to that subject.

Mr. SIMPSON said he had a gang who had jobbed by the acre, and had done well, but it was unfortunate in other respects to observe the disinclination shown by the laborers to work. He wished them to know that they must work, and trusted that his Excellency would endeavour to force them to labor.

Sir LIONEL--I can't compel them to do as you would wish, nor have I the power of forcing them to labor. The people will not suffer themselves to be driven by means of the cart-whip. It is the policy of every man to make the best bargain he can. I can say nothing to the people about houses and grounds, and price of wages. I can only ask them to work.

Mr. WILES said that the planters were anxious to come to amicable arrangements with the people, but they were unreasonable in their demands. The planters could not consent to be injured--they must profit by their properties.

Mr. MASON said, that the only bone of contention was the subject of rent. His people were outside waiting to be satisfied on that head. He hesitated not to say, that the proprietors were entitled to rent in every instance where the laborer was unwilling to labor, and unless that subject was at once settled, it would involve both parties in endless disagreement. He was not one of those persons alluded to by his Excellency, who circulated misrepresentations for private benefit, nor was he aware that any one in the parish in which he lived had done so. All that he desired was the good of the country, with which his interests were identified.

Sir LIONEL--I could not possibly be personal towards any gentleman present, for I have not the honour of knowing most of you. My observations were not confined to any particular parish, but to the Island of Jamaica, in which the occurrences named have taken place.

Dr. RAPKY, of St. George's--If your Excellency will only do away with a curtain magistrate, things will go on smoothly in the parish of St. George. This gentleman has told the people that they are entitled to the lands occupied by them, in consequence of which the parish is now in an unsettled state.

Sir LIONEL--Who is the magistrate!

Dr. RAPKY--Mr. Fishbourne.

Sir LIONEL--I am afraid I cannot please you. The question of possession of lands and houses has for the present been settled by the opinion of the Attorney-General, but it is still an undetermined question at law. There are many persons in the island who are of opinion that the legislature had not so intended; he (Sir Lionel) was at a loss to know what they meant; seeing, however, some members of the assembly present, perhaps they would be disposed to give some information.

Mr. S.J. DALLAS said, that it was the intention of the legislature that rent should be paid. He thought it fair that 1s. 8d. per day should be offered the people to work five days in the week, they returning one day's labor for the houses and grounds.

Mr. SPECIAL JUSTICE HAMILTON said that complaints had been made to him, that in many instances where the husband and wife lived in the same house, rent had been demanded of both. The laborers had, in consequence, been thrown into a state of consternation and alarm, which accounted for the unsettled state of several properties--a serious bone of contention had in consequence been produced. He held a notice in his hand demanding of a laborer the enormous sum of 10s. per week for house and ground. He had seen other notices in which 6s, 8d. and 5s. had been demanded for the same. He did not consider that the parties issuing those notices had acted with prudence.

Mr. HYSLOP explained--He admitted the charge, but said that the sum was never intended to be exacted.

Sir LIONEL said he was aware of what was going on; he had heard of it. "It was a policy which ought no longer to be pursued."

We have given the foregoing documents, full and ungarbled, that our readers might fairly judge for themselves. We have not picked here a sentence and there a sentence, but let the Governor, the Assembly, the Missionaries, and the press tell their whole story. Let them be read, compared, and weighed.

We might indefinitely prolong our extracts from the West India papers to show, not only in regard to the important island of Jamaica, but Barbados and several other colonies, that the former masters are alone guilty of the non-working of the emancipated, so far as they refuse to work. But we think we have already produced proof enough to establish the following points:--

1. That there was a strong predisposition on the part of the Jamaica planters to defraud their labourers of their wages. They hoped that by yielding, before they were driven quite to the last extremity, by the tide of public sentiment in England, they should escape from all philanthropic interference and surveillance, and be able to bring the faces of their unyoked peasantry to the grindstone of inadequate wages.

2. That the emancipated were not only peaceful in their new freedom, but ready to grant an amnesty of all post abuses, and enter cheerfully into the employ of their former masters for reasonable wages. That in cases where disagreement has arisen as to the rate of daily or weekly wages, the labourers have been ready to engage in task work, to be paid by the piece, and have laboured so efficiently and profitably--proving a strong disposition for industry and the acquisition of property.

3. That in the face of this good disposition of the laborers, the planters have, in many cases, refused to give adequate wages.

4. That in still more numerous cases, including many in which the wages have been apparently liberal, enormous extortion has been practiced upon the laborer, in the form of rent demanded for his hovel and provision patch--£20 per annum being demanded for a shanty not worth half that money, and rent being frequently demanded from every member of a family more than should have been taken from the whole.

5. That the negroes are able to look out for their own interest, and have very distinct ideas of their own about the value of money and the worth of their labour, as well as the best methods of bringing their employers to reasonable terms. On this point we might have made a still stronger case by quoting from the Despatch and Standard, which assert numerous instances in which the labourers have refused to work for wages recommended to them by the Governor, Special Magistrates, or Missionaries, though they offered to work for 3s. 4d., 5s., or a dollar a day. They are shown to be rare bargain-makers and not easily trapped.

6. That the attorneys and managers have deliberately endeavoured to raise a panic, whereby property might be depreciated to their own advantage; showing clearly thereby, that they consider Jamaica property, even with the laborers, irreclaimably free, a desirable investment.

7. That in spite of all their efforts, the great body of the laborers continue industrious, doing more work in the same time than in slavery. The testimony to his very important point, of the Governor and House of Assembly, is perfectly conclusive, as we have already said. A house that represents the very men who, in 1832, burnt the missionary chapels, and defied the British Parliament with the threat, that in case it proceeded to legislate Abolition, Jamaica would attach herself to the United States, now HOPES for the agricultural prosperity of the island! Indeed no one in Jamaica expresses a doubt on this subject, who does not obviously do so for the sake of buying land to better advantage! Were the colony a shade worse off than before Emancipation, either in fact or in the opinion of its landholders, or of any considerable portion of persons acquainted with it, the inevitable consequence would be a depreciation of real estate. But what is the fact? said Rev. John Clark, a Jamaica Baptist Missionary, who has visited this country since the first of August, in a letter published in the Journal of Commerce:--

"The Island of Jamaica is not in the deplorable state set forth by your correspondent.--Land is rising in value so rapidly, that what was bought five years ago at 3 dollars per acre, is now selling for 15 dollars; and this in the interior of the Island, in a parish not reckoned the most healthy, and sixteen miles distant from the nearest town. Crops are better than in the days of slavery--extra labour is easily obtained where kindness and justice are exercised towards the people. The hopes of proprietors are great, and larger sums are being offered for estates than were offered previous to August, 1834, when estates, and negroes upon them, were disposed of together."

Again, as in Jamaica commerce rests wholly upon agriculture, its institutions can only flourish in a flourishing condition of the latter.--What then are we to infer from an imposing prospectus which appears in the island papers, commencing thus:--

"Kingston, October 26, 1838

Jamaica Marine, Fire, and Life Assurance Company.

Capital £100,000,

In 5000 shares of £20 each.

It has been long a matter of astonishment that, in a community so essentially mercantile as Jamaica, no Company should have been formed for the purpose of effecting Insurance on Life and Property; although it cannot be doubted for an instant, that not only would such an establishment be highly useful to all classes of the community, but that it must yield a handsome return to such persons as may be inclined to invest their money in it," &c.

Farther down in the prospectus we are told--"It may here be stated, that the scheme for the formation of this Company has been mentioned to some of the principal Merchants and Gentlemen of the Country, and has met with decidedly favourable notice: and it is expected that the shares, a large number of which have been already taken, will be rapidly disposed of."

The same paper, the Morning Journal, from which we make this extract, informs us: Nov. 2d--

"The shares subscribed for yesterday, in the Marine Fire and Life Insurance Company, we understand, amount to the almost unprecedented number of One Thousand Six Hundred, with a number of applicants whose names have not been added to the list."

The Morning Journal of October 20th in remarking upon this project says:--

"Jamaica is now happily a free country; she contains within herself the means of becoming prosperous. Let her sons develope those resources which Lord Belmore with so much truth declared never would be developed until slavery had ceased. She has her Banks.--Give her, in addition, her Loan Society, her Marine, Fire, and life Assurance Company, and some others that will shortly be proposed, and capital will flow in from other countries--property will acquire a value in the market, that will increase with the increase of wealth, and she will yet be a flourishing island, and her inhabitants a happy and contented people."

Now men desperately in debt might invite in foreign capital for temporary relief, but, since the compensation, this is understood not to be the case with the Jamaica planters; and if they are rushing into speculation, it must be because they have strong hope of the safety and prosperity of their country--in other words, because they confide in the system of free labor. This one prospectus, coupled with its prompt success, is sufficient to prove the falsehood of all the stories so industriously retailed among us from the Standard and the Despatch. But speculators and large capitalists are not the only men who confide in the success of the "great experiment."

The following editorial notice in the Morning Journal of a recent date speaks volumes:--

SAVINGS BANK.

"We were asked not many days ago how the Savings Bank in this City was getting on. We answered well, very well indeed. By a notification published in our paper of Saturday, it will be seen that £1600 has been placed in the hands of the Receiver-General. By the establishment of these Banks, a great deal of the money now locked up, and which yields no return whatever to the possessors, and is liable to be stolen, will be brought into circulation. This circumstance of itself ought to operate as a powerful inducement to those parishes in which no Banks are yet established to be up and doing. We have got some five or six of them fairly underweigh, as Jack would say, and hope the remainder will speedily trip their anchors and follow."

We believe banks were not known in the West Indies before the 1st of August 1834. Says the Spanishtown Telegraph of May 1st, 1837, "Banks, Steam-Companies, Rail-Roads, Charity Schools, etc., seem all to have remained dormant until the time arrived when Jamaica was to be enveloped in smoke! No man thought of hazarding his capital in an extensive banking establishment until Jamaica's ruin, by the introduction of freedom, had been accomplished!" And it was not till after the 1st of August, 1838, that Jamaica had either savings banks or savings. These institutions for the industrious classes came only with their manhood. But why came they at all, if Emancipated industry is, or is likely to be, unsuccessful?--In Barbados we notice the same forwardness in founding monied institutions. A Bank is there proposed, with a capital of £200,000. More than this, the all absorbing subject in all the West India papers at the present moment is that of the currency. Why such anxiety to provide the means of paying for labor which is to become valueless? Why such keenness for a good circulating medium if they are to have nothing to sell? The complaints about the old fashioned coinage we venture to assort have since the first of August occupied five times as much space in the colonial papers, we might probably say in each and every one of them, as those of the non-working of the freemen. The inference is irresistible. The white colonists take it for granted that industry is to thrive.

It may be proper to remark that the late refusal of the Jamaica legislature to fulfil its appropriate functions has no connection with the working of freedom, any further than it may have been a struggle to get rid in some measure of the surveillance of the mother country in order to coerce the labourer so far as possible by vagrant laws, &c. The immediate pretext was the passing of a law by the imperial Parliament for the regulation of prisons, which the House of Assembly declared a violation of that principle of their charter which forbids the mother-country to lay a tax on them without their consent, in as much as it authorized a crown officer to impose a fine, in a certain case, of £20. A large majority considered this an infringement of their prerogatives, and among them were some members who have nobly stood up for the slave in times of danger. The remarks of Mr. Osborn especially, on this subject, (he is the full blooded, slave-born, African man to whom we have already referred) are worthy of consideration in several points of view. Although he had always been a staunch advocate of the home government on the floor of the Assembly are now contended for the rights of the Jamaica legislature with arguments which to us republicans are certainly quite forcible. In a speech of some length, which appears very creditable to him throughout, he said--

"Government could not be acting fair towards them to assume that the mass of the people of this island would remain in the state of political indifference to which poverty and slavery had reduced them. They were now free, every man to rise as rapidly as he could; and the day was not very distant when it would be demonstrated by the change of representatives that would be seen in that house. It did appear to him, that under the pretext of extending the privileges of freemen to the mass of the people of this country, the government was about to deprive them of those privileges, by curtailing the power of the representative Assembly of those very people. He could not bring himself to admit, with any regard for truth, that the late apprentices could now be oppressed; they were quite alive to their own interests, and were now capable of taking care of themselves. So long as labor was marketable, so long they could resist oppression, while on the other hand, the proprietor, for his own interest's sake, would be compelled to deal fairly with them."

Though it is evidently all important that the same public opinion which has wrested the whip from the master should continue to watch his proceedings as an employer of freemen, there is much truth in the speech of this black representative and alderman of Kingston. The brutalized and reckless attorneys and managers, may possibly succeed in driving the negroes from the estates by exorbitant rent and low wages. They may succeed in their effort to buy in property at half its value. But when they have effected that, they will be totally dependent for the profits of their ill-gotten gains upon the free laboring people. They may produce what they call idleness now, and a great deal of vexation and suffering. But land is plenty, and the laborers, if thrust from the estates, will take it up, and become still more independent. Reasonable wages they will be able to command, and for such they are willing to labor. The few thousand whites of Jamaica will never be able to establish slavery, or any thing like it, over its 300,000 blacks.

Already they are fain to swallow their prejudice against color. Mr. Jordon, member for Kingston and "free nigger," was listened to with respect. Nay more, his argument was copied into the "Protest" which the legislature proudly flung back in the face of Parliament, along with the abolition of the apprenticeship, in return for Lord Glenelg's Bill. Let all in the United States read and ponder it who assert that "the two races cannot live together on term of equality."

Legislative independence of Jamaica has ever been the pride of her English conquerors. They have received with joy the colored fellow colonists into an equal participation of their valued liberty, and they were prepared to rejoice at the extension of the constitution to the emancipated blacks. But the British Government, by a great fault, if not a crime, has, at the moment when all should have been free, torn from the lately ascendant class, the privileges which were their birthright, another class, now the equals of the former, the rights they had long and fortunately struggled for, and from the emancipated blacks the rights which they fondly expected to enjoy with their personal freedom. The boon of earlier freedom will not compensate this most numerous part of our population for the injustice and wrong done to the whole Jamaica people.

The documents already adduced are confined almost exclusively to Jamaica. We will refer briefly to one of the other colonies. The next in importance is

BARBADOS

Here has been played nearly the same game in regard to wages, and with the same results. We are now furnished with advices from the island down to the 19th of December 1838. At the latter date the panic making papers had tapered down their complainings to a very faint whisper, and withal expressing more hope than fears. As the fruit of what they had already done we are told by one of them, the Barbadian, that the unfavourable news carried home by the packets after the emancipation had served to raise the price of sugar in England, which object being accomplished, it is hoped that they will intermit the manufacture of such news. The first and most important document, and indeed of itself sufficient to save the trouble of giving more, is the comparison of crime during two and a half months of freedom, and the corresponding two and a half months of slavery or apprenticeship last year, submitted to the legislature at the opening of its session in the latter part of October. Here it is. We hope it will be held up before every slave holder.

From the Barbadian of Dec. 1.

Barbados.--Comparative Table, exhibiting the number of Complaints preferred against the Apprentice population of this Colony, in the months of August, September and to the 15th of October, 1838; together with the Complaints charged against Free Labourers of the same Colony, during the months of August, September and to the 15th of October, 1838. The former compiled from the Monthly Journals of the Special Justice of the Peace and the latter from the Returns of the Local Magistracy transmitted to his excellency the Governor

APPRENTICESHIP.

Total of Complaints vs. Apprentices from the

1st to 31st August 1837.	1708
Ditto from the 1st to 30th September	1464
Ditto from the 1st to 15th October	574
Grand Total	3746

Total number of Apprentices punished from the

1st to 31st August	1608
Ditto from the 1st to 31th September	1321
Ditto from the 1st to 15th October	561
Grand Total	3490

Total compromised, admonished and dismissed

1st to 31st August	105
Ditto from the 1st to 30th September	113
Ditto from the 1st to 15th October	38
Total	256

Deficiency in compromised cases in 1837 comparatively with those of 1838	158
Grand Total	414

FREEDOM.

Total of Complaints vs. Labourers from the 1st to the 31st August 1838	582
Ditto from the 1st to the 30th September	386
Ditto from the 1st to the 15th October	103
Total	1071
Comparative Surplus of Complaints in 1838	2675
Grand Total	3746
Total of Laborers punished from the 1st to the 31st August, 1838,	334
Ditto from the 1st to 30th September	270
Ditto from the 1st to 15th October	53
Total	657
Comparative surplus of punishment in 1837	2833
Grand total	3490
Total compromised, admonished and dismissed from the 1st to the 31st August	248
Ditto from the 1st to 30th September	116
Ditto from the 1st to 15th October	50
Grand Total	414

NOTE.

It may be proper to remark that the accompanying General Abstract for August, September, and to the 15th October, 1837, does not include complaints preferred and heard before the Local Magistrates during those months for such offences--viz. for misdemeanors, petty debts, assaults and petty thefts--as were not cognizable by the Special Justices; so that estimating these offences--the number of which does not appear in the Abstract for 1837--at a similar number as that enumerated in the Abstract for 1838, the actual relative difference of punishments between the two and a half months in 1837 and these in 1838, would thus appear:

Surplus of Apprentices punished in 1837, as above

2833

Offences in August, September, and to the 15th, October, 1837 heard before the General Justices of the Peace, and estimated as follows:

Petty thefts	75
Assaults	143
Misdemeanors	98
Petty Debts	19--835
Actual surplus of punishment in 1837,	3168

From the Journal of Commerce.

Letter from W.R. Hays, Esq. Barbados, W.I. to Rev. H.G. Ludlow, of New Haven.

BARBADOS, Dec. 26, 1838.

I gave you in my last, some account of the manner in which the first day of emancipation came and went in this island. We very soon afterwards received similar accounts from all the neighboring islands. In all of them the day was celebrated as an occasion "of devout thanksgiving and praise to God, for the happy termination of slavery." In all of them, the change took place in a manner highly creditable to the emancipated, and intensely gratifying to the friends of liberty. The quiet, good order, and solemnity of the day, were every where remarkable. Indeed, is it not a fact worth remembering, that whereas in former years, a single day's relaxation from labor was met by the slaves with shouting and revelry, and merry-making, yet now, when the last link of slavery was broken forever, sobriety and decorum were especially the order of the day. The perfect order and subordination to the laws, which marked the first day of August, are yet unbroken. We have now nearly five months' experience of entire emancipation; and I venture to say, that a period of more profound peace never existed in the West Indies. There have been disputes about wages, as in New England and in other free countries; but no concert, no combination even, here; and the only attempt at a combination was among the planters, to keep down wages--and that but for a short time only. I will not enter particularly into the questions, whether or not the people will continue to work for wages, whether they will remain quiet,--or on the other hand, whether the Island will be suffered to become desolate, and the freed slaves relapse into barbarism, &c. These things have been speculated about, and gloomy predictions have had their day; the time has now come for the proof. People do not buy land and houses, and rent property for long terms of years, in countries where life is insecure, or where labor cannot be had, and the tendency of things is to ruin and decay. In short, men, in their senses, do not embark on board a sinking ship. Confidence is the very soul of prosperity; of the existence of this confidence in this Island, the immense operations in real estate, since the first of August, are abundant proof. There are multitudes of instances in which estates have sold for $20,000 more than was asked for them six months ago; and yet at the time they were considered very high. A proprietor who was persuaded a few weeks since to part with his estate for a very large sum of money, went and bought it back again at an advance of $9600. A great many long leases of property have been entered into. An estate called "Edgecombe," mentioned by Thome and Kimball, has been rented for 21 years at $7500 per annum. Another called the "hope" has been rented for 10 years at £2000 sterling, equal to $9600 per annum. Another, after being rented at a high price, was relet, by the lessee, who became entirely absolved from the contract, and took $16,000 for his bargain. If required, I could give you a host of similar cases, with the names of the parties. But it seems unnecessary. The mere impulse given to the value of property in this island by emancipation, is a thing as notorious here, as the fact of emancipation.

But, are not crimes more frequent than before? I have now before me a Barbados newspaper, printed two weeks since, in which the fact is stated, that in all the county prisons, among a population of 80,000, only two prisoners were confined for any cause whatever!

"But," says a believer in the necessity of Colonization, "how will you get rid of the negroes?" I answer by adverting to the spectacle which is now witnessed in all the Islands of the former proprietors of slaves, now employers of free laborers, using every endeavor to prevent emigration. Trinidad, Demerara, and Berbice, want laborers. The former has passed a law to pay the passage money of any laborer who comes to the Island, leaving him free to choose him employment. Demerara and Berbize have sent Emigration agents to this and other islands, to induce the laborers to join those colonies, offering high wages, good treatment, &c. On the other hand, Barbados, Grenada, St. Vincent, and all the old and populous islands, individually and collectively, by legislative resolves, legal enactments, &c. &c.--loudly protest that they have not a man to spare! What is still better, the old island proprietors are on every hand building new houses for the peasantry, and with great forethought adding to their comfort; knowing that they will thereby secure their contentment on their native soil. As a pleasing instance of the good understanding which now exists between proprietors and laborers, I will mention, that great numbers of the former were in town on the 24th, buying up pork, hams, rice, &c. as presents for their people on the ensuing Christmas; a day which has this year passed by amid scenes of quiet Sabbath devotions, a striking contrast to the tumult and drunkenness of former times. I cannot close this subject, without beating my testimony to the correctness of the statements made by our countrymen, Thome and Kimball. They were highly esteemed here by all classes, and had free access to every source of valuable information. If they have not done justice to the subject of their book, it is because the manifold blessings of a deliverance from slavery are beyond the powers of language to represent. When I attempt, as I have done in this letter, to enumerate a few of the, I know not where to begin, or where to end. One must see, in order to know and feel how unspeakable a boon these islands have received,--a boon, which is by no means confined to the emancipated slaves; but, like the dew and rains of heaven, it fell upon all the inhabitants of the land, bond and free, rich and poor, together.

It is a common thing here, when you hear one speak of the benefits of emancipation--the remark--that it ought to have taken place long ago. Some say fifty years ago, some twenty, and some, that at any rate it ought to have taken place all at once, without any apprenticeship. The noon-day sun is not clearer than the fact, that no preparation was required on the part of the slaves. It was the dictate of an accusing conscience, that foretold of bloodshed, and burning, and devastation. Can it be supposed to be an accidental circumstance, that peace and good-will have uniformly, in all the colonies, followed the steps of emancipation. Is it not rather the broad seal of attestation to that heaven born principle, "It is safe to do right." Dear brother, if you or any other friend to down trodden humanity, have any lingering fear that the blaze of light which is now going forth from the islands will ever be quenched, even for a moment, dismiss that fear. The light, instead of growing dim, will continue to brighten. Your prayers for the safe and happy introduction of freedom, upon a soil long trodden by the foot of slavery, may be turned into praises--for the event has come to pass. When shall we be able to rejoice in such a consummation in our beloved America? How I long to see a deputation of slaveholders making the tour of these islands. It would only be necessary for them to use their eyes and ears. Argument would be quite out of place. Even an appeal to principle--to compassion--to the fear of God--would not be needed. Self-interest alone would decide them in favor of immediate emancipation.

Ever yours,

W.R. HAYES.

DEMERARA.

SPEECH OF THE GOVERNOR, ON OPENING THE SESSION OF THE COURT OF POLICY,
SEPT. 17, 1838.

From the Guiana Royal Gazette.

"I should fail in my duty to the public, and perhaps no respond to the expectations of yourselves, Gentlemen of the Colonial Section of this Honorable Court, did I not say a few words on the state of the Colony, at this our first meeting after the memorable first of August.

We are now approaching the close of the second month since that date--a sufficient time to enable us to judge of the good disposition of the new race of Freemen, but not perhaps of the prosperity of the Colony. It is a proud thing for the Colonist--Proprietors and Employers--that nothing has occurred to indicate a want of good feeling in the great body of the laborers. It is creditable to them, satisfactory to their employers, and confounding to those who anticipated a contrary state of affairs.

That partial changes of location should have taken place, cannot surprise any reasonable mind--that men who have all their lives been subject to compulsory labor should, on having this labor left to their discretion, be disposed at first to relax, and, in some instances, totally abstain from it, was equally to be expected. But we have no reason to despond, nor to imagine that, because such has occurred in some districts, it will continue.

It is sufficient that the ignorant have been undeceived in their exaggerated notions of their rights as Freemen: it was the first step towards resumption of labor in every part of the Colony. The patient forbearance of the Employers has produced great changes. If some Estates have been disappointed in the amount of labor performed, others again, and I have reason to believe a great number, are doing well. It is well known that the Peasantry have not taken to a wandering life: they are not lost to the cultivated parts of the Colony: for the reports hitherto received from the Superintendents of Rivers and Creeks make no mention of an augmented population in the distant parts of their respective districts.

I hear of few commitments, except in this town, where, of course, many of the idle have flocked from the country. On the East Coast, there has been only one case brought before the High Sheriff's Court since the 1st of August. In the last Circuit, not one!

With these facts before us, we may, I trust, anticipate the continued prosperity of the Colony; and though it be possible there may be a diminution in the exports of the staple commodities in this and the succeeding quarter, yet we must take into consideration that the season had been unfavorable, in some districts, previous to the 1st August, therefore a larger proportion of the crops remained uncut; and we may ask, whether a continuance of compulsory labor would have produced a more favorable result? Our united efforts will, I trust, not be wanting to base individual prosperity on the welfare of all."

The Governor of Demerara is HENRY LIGHT, Esq., a gentlemen who seems strongly inclined to court the old slavery party and determined to shew his want of affinity to the abolitionists. In another speech delivered on a similar occasion, he says:

"Many of the new freemen may still be said to be in their infancy of freedom, and like children are wayward. On many of the estates they have repaid the kindness and forbearance of their masters; on others they have continued to take advantage of (what? the kindness and forbearance of their masters? No.) their new condition, are idle or irregular in their work. The good sense of the mass gives me reason to hope that idleness will be the exception, not the rule."

The Barbadian of NOV. 28, remarks, that of six districts in Demerara whose condition had been reported, five were working favorably. In the sixth the laborers were standing out for higher wages.

TRINIDAD.

In the Jamaica Morning Journal of Oct. 2d and 15th, we find the following paragraphs in relation to this colony:

"Trinidad.--The reports from the various districts as to the conduct of our laboring population, are as various and opposite, the Standard says, to each other as it is possible for them to be. There are many of the Estates on which the laborers had at first gone on steadily to work which now have scarcely a hand upon them, whilst upon others they muster a greater force than they could before command. We hear also that the people have already in many instances exhibited that propensity common to the habits of common life, which we call squatting, and to which we have always looked forward as one of the evils likely to accompany their emancipation, and calling for the earliest and most serious attention of our Legislature. We must confess, however, that it is a subject not easy to deal with safely and effectually."

TRINIDAD,--The Standard says: "The state of the cultivation at present is said to be as far advanced as could have been anticipated under the new circumstances in which the Island stands. The weather throughout the month has been more than usually favorable to weeding, whilst there has also been sufficient rain to bring out the plants; and many planters having, before the 1st of Augus, pushed on their weeding by free labor and (paid) extra tasks, the derangement in their customary labor which has been experienced since that period, does not leave them much below an average progress."

"Of the laborers, although they are far from being settled, we believe we may say, that they are not working badly; indeed, compared with those of the sister colonies, they are both more industrious and more disposed to be on good terms with their late masters. Some few estates continue short of their usual compliment of hands; but many of the laborers who had left the proprietors, have returned to them, whilst many others have changed their locality either to join their relations, or to return to their haunts of former days. So far as we can learn, nothing like insubordination or combination exists. We are also happy to say, that on some estates, the laborers have turned their attention to their provision grounds. There is one point, however, which few seem to comprehend, which is, that although free, they cannot work one day and be idle the next, ad libitum."

Later accounts mention that some thousands more of laborers were wanted to take off the crop, and that a committee of immigration had been appointed to obtain them. [See Amos Townsend's letter on the last page.] So it seems the free laborers are so good they want more of them. The same is notoriously true of Demerara, and Berbice. Instead of a colonization spirit to get rid of the free blacks, the quarrel among the colonies is, which shall get the most. It is no wonder that the poor negroes in Trinidad should betake themselves to squatting. The island is thinly peopled and the administration or justice is horribly corrupt, under the governorship and judgeship of Sir George Hill, the well known defaulter as Vice Treasurer of Ireland, on whose appointment Mr. O'Connell remarked that "delinquents might excuse themselves by referring to the case of their judge."

GRENADA.

"GRENADA--The Gazette expresses its gratification at being able to record, that the accounts which have been received from several parts of the country, are of a satisfactory nature. On many of the properties the peasantry have, during the week, evinced a disposition to resume their several accustomed avocations, at the rates, and on the terms proposed by the directors of the respective estates, to which they were formerly belonging; and very little desire to change their residence has been manifested. One of our correspondents writes, that 'already, by a conciliatory method, and holding out the stimulus of extra pay, in proportion to the quantity of work performed beyond that allowed to them, he had, 'succeeded in obtaining, for three days, double the former average of work, rendered by the labors during the days of slavery; and this, too, by four o'clock, at which hour it seems, they are now wishful of ceasing to work, and to enable them to do so, they work continuously from the time they return from their breakfast.'"

"It is one decided opinion, the paper named says, that in a very short time the cultivation of the cane still be generally resumed, and all things continue to progress to the mutual satisfaction of both employer and laborer. We shall feel indebted to our friends for such information, as it may be in their power to afford us on this important subject, as it will tend to their advantage equally with that of their laborers, from the same being made public. We would wish also that permission be given as to mention the names of the properties on which matters have assumed a favorable aspect."

Jamaica Morning Journal of Oct. 2.

GRENADA.--According to the Free Press, it would appear that 'the proprietors and managers of several estates in Duquesne Valley, and elsewhere, their patience being worn out, and seeing the cultivation of their estates going to ruin, determined to put the law into operation, by compelling, after allowing twenty-three or twenty-four days of idleness, the people either to work or to leave the estates. They resisted; the aid of the magistrates and of the constabulary force was called in, but without effect, and actual violence was, we learn, used towards those who came to enforce the law. Advices were immediately sent down to the Executive, despatched by a gentleman of the Troop, who reached town about half past five o'clock on Saturday morning last. We believe a Privy Council was summoned, and during the day, Capt. Clarke of the 1st West-India Regiment, and Government Secretary, Lieut. Mould of the Royal Engineers, and Lieut. Costabodie of the 70th, together with twenty men of the 70th, and 20 of the 1st West India, embarked, to be conveyed by water to the scene of insubordination.'

"'We have not learnt the reception this force met with, from the laborers, but the results of the visit paid them were, that yesterday, there were at work, on four estates, none: on eleven others, 287 in all, and on another all except three, who are in the hands of the magistrates. On one of the above properties, the great gang was, on Friday last, represented in the cane-piece by one old woman!'"

"'The presence of the soldiers has had, it will be seen, some effect, yet still the prospects are far from encouraging; a system of stock plundering, &c. is prevalent to a fearful degree, some gentlemen and the industrious laborers having had their fowls, &c. entirely carried off by the worthless criminals; it is consolatory, however, to be able to quote the following written, to us by a gentleman: "Although there are a good many people on the different estates, still obstinate and resisting either to work or to leave the properties, yet I hope that if the military are posted at Samaritan for some time longer, they will come round, several of the very obstinate having done so already." Two negroes were sent down to goal on Monday last, to have their trial for assaulting the magistrates.'"

"'Such are the facts, as far as we have been able to ascertain them, which have attended a rebellious demonstration among a portion of the laboring population, calculated to excite well-founded apprehension in the whole community. Had earlier preventive measures been adopted, this open manifestation of a spirit of resistance to, and defiance of the law, might have been avoided. On this point, we have, in contempt of the time-serving reflections it has drawn upon us, freely and fearlessly expressed our opinion, and we shall now only remark, that matters having come to the pass we have stated, the Executive has adopted the only effective means to bring affairs again to a healthy state; fortunate is it for the colony, that this has been done, and we trust that the effects will be most beneficial.'"

TOBAGO.

The following testifies well for the ability of the emancipated to take care of themselves.

"'Tobago.--The Gazette of this Island informs us that up to the period of its going to press, the accounts from the country, as to the disinclination of the laborers to turn out to work are much the same as we have given of last week. Early this morning parties of them were seen passing through town in various directions, accompanied by their children, and carrying along with them their ground provisions, stock, &c. indicating a change of location. Whilst on many estates where peremptory demands have been made that work be resumed, or the laborers should leave the estate, downright refusal to do either the one or the other has been the reply; and that reply has been accompanied by threat and menace of personal violence against any attempts to turn them out of their houses and grounds. In the transition of the laborers from a state of bondage to freedom, much that in their manners and deportment would have brought them summarily under the coercion of the stipendiary magistrate, formerly, may now be practised with impunity; and the fear is lest that nice discrimination betwixt restraints just terminated and rights newly acquired, will not be clouded for some time, even in the minds of the authorities, before whom laborers are likely to be brought for their transgression. Thus, although it may appear like an alarming confederacy, the system of sending delegates, or head men, around the estates, which the laborers have adopted, as advisers, or agents, to promote general unanimity; it must be borne in mind that this is perfectly justifiable; and it is only where actual violence has been threatened by those delegates against those who choose to work at under wages, that the authorities can merely assure them of their protection from violence.'--Morning Jour., Oct. 2."

The Barbadian of November 21, says, "An agricultural report has been lately made of the windward district of the Island, which is favorable as to the general working of the negroes." The same paper of November 28, says, "It is satisfactory to learn that many laborers in Tobago are engaging more readily in agricultural operations."

ST. VINCENT.

"Saint Vincent.--Our intelligence this week, observes the Gazette of 25th August, from the country districts, is considerably more favorable than for the previous fortnight. In most of the leeward quarter, the people have, more or less, returned to work, with the exception of very few estates, which we decline naming, as we trust that on these also they will resume their labor in a few days. The same may be said generally of the properties in St. George's parish; and in the more extensive district of Charlotte, there is every prospect that the same example will be followed next week particularly in the Caraib country, where a few laborers on some properties have been at work during the present week, and the explanation and advice given them by Mr. Special Justice Ross has been attended with the best effect, and we doubt not will so continue. In the Biabou quarter the laborers have resumed work in greater numbers than in other parts of the parish, and the exceptions in this, as in ether districts, we hope will continue but a short time."

The Barbadian of November 21, speaks of a "megass house" set on fire in this island which the peasantry refused to extinguish, and adds that but half work is performed by the laborer in that parish. "Those of the adjoining parish," its says, "are said to be working satisfactorily." In a subsequent paper we notice a report from the Chief of Police to the Lieutenant Governor, which speaks favorably of the general working of the negroes, as far as he had been able to ascertain by inquiry into a district comprising one-third of the laborers.

The New York Commercial Advertiser of February 25, has a communication from Amos Townsend, Esq., Cashier of the New Haven Bank; dated New Haven, February 21, 1839, from which we make the following extract. He says he obtained his information from one of the most extensive shipping houses in that city connected with the West India trade.

"A Mr. Jackson, a planter from St. Vincents, has been in this city within a few day, and says that the emancipation of the slaves on that island works extremely well; and that his plantation produces more and yields a larger profit than it has ever done before. The emancipated slaves now do in eight hours what was before considered a two-days' task, and he pays the laborers a dollar a day.

Mr. Jackson further states that he, and Mr. Nelson, of Trinidad, with another gentleman from the same islands, have been to Washington, and conferred with Mr. Calhoun and Mr. Clay, to endeavour to concert some plan to get colored laborers from this country to emigrate to these islands, as there is a great want of hands. They offer one dollar a day for able bodied hands. The gentlemen at Washington were pleased with the idea of thus disposing of the free blacks at the South, and would encourage their efforts to induce that class of the colored people to emigrate. Mr. Calhoun remarked that it was the most feasible plan of colonizing the free blacks that had ever been suggested.

This is the amount of my information, and comes in so direct a channel as leaves no room to doubt its correctness. What our southern champions will now say to this direct testimony from their brother planters of the West Indies, of the practicability and safety of immediate emancipation, remains to be seen. Truly yours." AMOS TOWNSEND, JUN.

ST. LUCIA.

Saint Lucia.--The Palladium states that affairs are becoming worse every day with the planters. Their properties are left without labourers to work them; their buildings broken into, stores and produce stolen, ground provisions destroyed, stock robbed, and they themselves insulted and laughed at.

On Saturday night, the Commissary of Police arrived in town from the third and fourth districts, with some twenty or thirty prisoners, who had been convicted before the Chief Justice of having assaulted the police in the execution of their duty, and sent to gaol.

"It has been deemed necessary to call for military aid with a view of humbling the high and extravagant ideas entertained by the ex-apprentices upon the independence of their present condition; thirty-six men of the first West India regiment, and twelve of the seventy-fourth have been accordingly despatched; the detachment embarked yesterday on board Mr. Muter's schooner, the Louisa, to land at Soufriere, and march into the interior."

In both the above cases where the military was called out, the provocation was given by the white. And in both cases it was afterwards granted to be needless. Indeed, in the quelling of one of these factitious rebellions, the prisoners taken were two white men, and one of them a manager.

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