To understand the bearing which this decrease of production, by free labor, has upon the interests of the African race, it must be remembered, that the consumption of cotton and sugar has not diminished, but increased, vastly; and that for every bale of cotton, or hogshead of sugar, that the free labor production is diminished, an equal amount of slave labor cotton and sugar is demanded to supply its place; and, more than this, for every additional bale or hogshead required by their increased consumption, an additional one must be furnished by slave labor, because the world will not dispense with their use. As no material change has occurred, for several years, in the commercial condition of the islands, it is not necessary to bring this statement down to a later date than 1848. The causes operating to encourage the American planters, in extending their cultivation of cotton and sugar, can now be understood.
In relation to the moral condition of Hayti, we need say but little. It is known that a great majority of the children of the island are born out of wedlock, and that the Christian Sabbath is the principal market day in the towns. The American and Foreign Christian Union, a missionary paper of New York, after quoting the report of one of the missionaries in Hayti, who represents his success as encouraging, thus remarks: "This letter closes with some singular incidents not suitable for publication, showing the deplorable state of community there, both morally and socially. There seems to be a mixture of African barbarism with the sensuous civilization of France. . . . . That dark land needs the light which begins to dawn thereon."
Thus matters stood when the second edition of this work went to press. An opportunity is now afforded, of embracing the results of emancipation to a later date, and of forming a better judgment of the effects of that policy on the question of freedom in the United States. For, if the negro, with full liberty, in the West Indies, has proved himself unreliable in voluntary labor, the experiment of freeing him here will not be attempted by our slaveholders.
Much has been said, recently, about British emancipation, and the returning commercial prosperity of her tropical islands. The American Missionary Association[66] gives currency to the assertion, that "they yield more produce than they ever did during the existence of slavery." It is said, also, in the Edinburgh Review, that existing facts "show that slavery was bearing our colonies down to ruin with awful speed; that had it lasted but another half century, they must have sunk beyond recovery. On the other hand, that now, under freedom and free trade, they are growing day by day more rich and prosperous; with spreading trade, with improving agriculture, with a more educated, industrious and virtuous people; while the comfort of the quondam slaves is increased beyond the power of words to portray."[67]
Now all this seems very encouraging; but how such language can be used, without its being considered as flatly contradicting well known facts, and what the American Missionary Association, Mr. Bigelow, and others, have heretofore said, will seem very mysterious to the reader. And yet, the assertions quoted would seem to be proved, by taking the aggregate production of the whole British West India islands and Mauritius, as the index to their commercial prosperity. But if the islands be taken separately, and all the facts considered, a widely different conclusion would be formed, by every candid man, than that the improvement is due to the increased industry of the negroes. On this subject the facts can be drawn from authorities which would scorn to conceal the truth with the design of sustaining a theory of the philanthropist. This question is placed in its true light by the London Economist, July 16, 1859, in which it is shown that the apparent industrial advancement of the islands is due to the importation of immigrants from India, China, and Africa, by the "coolie traffic," and not to the improved industry of the emancipated negroes. Says the Economist:
"We find one of the Emigration Commissioners, Mr. Murdock,[68] in an interesting memorandum on this subject, giving us the following comparison between the islands which have been recently supplied with immigrants, and those which have not:
| Number of Immigrants. | Sugar, pounds. The three years before Immigration. | Sugar, pounds. The last three years. | |
| Mauritius | 209,490 | 217,200,256 | 469,812,784 |
| British Guiana | 24,946 | 173,626,208 | 250,715,584 |
| Trinidad | 11,981 | 91,110,768 | 150,579,072 |
"With these are contrasted the results in Jamaica and Antigua, where there has been very little immigration:—
| Sugar, pounds. The three years after apprenticeship.[69] | Sugar, pounds. The last three years. | |
| Jamaica | 202,973,568 | 139,369,776 |
| Antigua | 63,824,656 | 70,302,736 |
