No. I.
COPY OF A LETTER FROM MR. EDWARD CARBERY, TO MR. GREENE, CHAIRMAN OF THE BALTIMORE COMMITTEE OF EMIGRATION.
Tremont House, Boston, Dec. 11, 1839.
Dear Sir, Being fully aware that you take a great interest in any subject connected with the welfare of the class to which you belong, I venture to trouble you with this communication the object of which is to bring to your notice the proceedings at a public meeting of the Inhabitants of British Guiana, which took place in Georgetown, on the tenth of October last, and a full report of which is contained in the Guiana Chronicle of the following day. I regret it is not in my power to forward you the paper containing the report, as I only borrowed it from a gentleman in this city who received it a few days ago. The Extracts in question, go far to corroborate the statements I made to you and your friends relative to the advantages which the free-colored people of this country would derive from emigration to British Guiana, and they will at least prove that these statements were not exaggerated. The respectability of the parties in question, no less than the publicity of the whole proceedings entitle their statements to the fullest confidence.
The High Sheriff having taken the Chair, said,—"I cannot better open the proceedings on this occasion at which you have done me the honor to call me to the chair, than by referring to the requisition on which I judged it proper and necessary to convene this public meeting, and thus directing your attention to the object for which we are assembled,—to wit: In the words of the requisition 'for the purpose of giving expression to the general feeling in favor of immediate measures being taken for the promotion of Immigration to this Colony, and for taking into consideration by what means this important object can most speedily be carried into effect.'"
The Hon. Peter Rose, a member of the Colonial Legislature, and Proprietor of a Sugar Plantation called Lima, moved the first resolution, which was as follows.
"That a consideration of the present state of the colony, with its limited number of agricultural laborers, leads this meeting to the irresistible conclusion that unless immediate immigration on a large scale takes place, the exportable produce of the Colony already diminished to an alarming extent, will yet further decrease."
Mr. Rose then proceeded to address the meeting, and in the course of his speech, when alluding to the causes of the decreased production of British Guiana and the rate of wages, he observed—
"Eight or nine dollars per month, is the common rate, but it is the custom to estimate the day's labor by the old tariff, 7 1-2 hours, and it is well known that an industrious man can in that time perform considerably more than double the quantity of labor laid down by that tariff. I have myself paid to a man cutting canes, 1 1-2 dollars for work that did not occupy him more than eight hours. When we take it into consideration that the laborer is provided with a house and medical attendance, it is clear that he can support himself for a week by one day's labor, and with this in our knowledge, can we wonder that his labor and industry are unsteady?" Mr. Rose, in another part of his speech, speaking of the decrease that had taken place in the number of laborers on most estates since the Emancipation, observed, "of those who have left estates, some have purchased land, paying for it sometimes as much as £200 sterling."
The Hon. D. C. Cameron, also a member of the Colonial Legislature and proprietor of several estates, moved the second resolution which was of similar import to the first, and the following is an extract from the able and temperate address he delivered. "But I have pleasure in bearing my humble testimony that the cause of decrease in our crops has not proceeded from that which was most dreaded, the insubordination of the freemen of 1838, but from causes which operate in every country where the soil is rich and the laborers few. Many of our peasantry have already amassed funds which have enabled them to purchase land of their own, and are industriously improving it for their own benefit. They are no longer hired servants; they are owners of houses and lands which yield them sufficient to supply their wants, and as yet their ambition extends no further. But the misfortune is, that although they maintain themselves and families by their industry in this way, they are unprofitable to the colony. They produce no taxable articles either for this or the home market. I for one do not complain of this system;—but on the contrary, believe it will be beneficial to society in the end, and wait its progress. Hence the necessity for immigration to fill up the blank occasioned by the independence and comfort of our former servants. In this colony, sir, every laboring man of ordinary capacity may, in a few years, become proprietor of land sufficient to supply all his wants, by laboring upon it for thirty hours in the week. I am persuaded that it is only necessary to make the capabilities of our magnificent colony known, to insure us a large influx of emigrants."
Many other speeches were also made declaratory of the anxiety of the proprietory body to encourage Immigration. But as this communication has already exceeded the ordinary limits of a letter, I will not trespass longer on your patience, nor will I detain you by making any observations on the foregoing extracts. I offer them to you and your friends as evidence in support of the declaration I publicly made at Baltimore, that the free colored people of America will derive great and substantial advantages by emigrating to British Guiana. I am, dear sir, your most obedient servant,
EDWARD CARBERY.
Mr. Greene, Chairman, &c. Baltimore.