In British Guiana, or Demerara, on the main land, the same fact has brought about a similar result. The emancipated negro could not be depended upon for regular work. He established himself on his small freehold, and lived, like Theodore Hook's club-man, "in idleness and ease." But for some years past laborers have been brought in freely from India and China, and the fertile colony is now in a state of abundant prosperity. Mr. Trollope seems to us to refute effectually the notion, so far at least as regards the British West Indies, that this Cooly immigration, is only slavery under another name. "On their arrival in Demerara," he says, "the Coolies are distributed among the planters by the Governor,—to each planter according to his application, his means of providing for them, and his willingness and ability to pay the cost of the immigration by yearly instalments.
[Footnote 1: We quote from an extract in an able article in the Edinburgh Review for April, 1859, entitled, The West Indies as they were and are.]
They are sent to no estate, till a government officer shall have reported that there are houses for them to occupy. There must be a hospital for them on the estate, and a regular doctor, with a sufficient salary. The rate of their wages is stipulated, and their hours of work. Though the contract is for five years, they can leave the estate at the end of the first three, transferring their services to any other master, and at the end of the five years they are entitled to a free passage home." "The women are coming now, as well as the men; and they have learned to husband their means, and put money together."
We pass over the other British "West Indies," though Mr. Trollope's animated sketches tempt us to linger. The main conclusion to which this part of his book leads is, that this question of labor is the one upon which the results of emancipation hinge. Unless moved by necessity, the negro is disinclined to work. Slavery has rendered labor offensive to him, and his own nature inclines him to idleness, The pressure of population, as in Barbadoes, may compel him, for his own good, to labor; or he may, as in Demerara, be superseded by other workmen. If left to himself, his tendency seems to be to sink into sensuality, rather than to rise in civilization by his own efforts. The condition of the mass of the negroes is undoubtedly a happier one than in the days of slavery; but it may be fairly doubted whether emancipation has led to any moral improvement in the race.
How far a forced system of labor for wages might answer for the blacks,—how far a regular and organized plan of education might elevate them,—how far the danger of their relapse into barbarism might be obviated by preliminary precautions,—are questions which that country which next undertakes emancipation must solve for itself, and which the example of the British West Indies will give some of the means for solving in a satisfactory manner. Mr, Trollope's book is well worth reading by those who would prepare themselves by knowledge and by reflection for a proper appreciation of the advantages and the evils of giving unlimited freedom to a race that has been long enslaved.
There is less interest in his account of Central America than in the other parts of his volume. The ground is more familiar to American readers, and some of our own travellers have given descriptions of the country far more thorough and not less entertaining.
Of Cuba, which he trusts may, for the benefit of humanity, be some day transferred to American keeping, he says but little; and after Mr. Dana's late excellent, though hasty, sketches of the island, that author must have more than common ability who can, with hope of success, venture over the same ground.
The Public Life of Captain John Brown. By JAMES REDPATH. With an Autobiography of his Childhood and Youth. Boston. 1860. l2mo. pp. 408.
It would have been well, had this book never been written. Mr. Redpath has understood neither the opportunities opened to him, nor the responsibilities laid upon him, in being permitted to write the "authorized" life of John Brown. His book, in whatever light it is viewed,—whether as the biography of a remarkable man, as an historic narrative of a series of extraordinary and important events, or simply as a mere piece of literary jobwork,—is equally unsatisfactory. He has shown himself incompetent to appreciate the character of the man whom he admires, and he has, consequently, done great wrong to his memory.
There never was more need for a good life of any man than there was for one of John Brown. The whole country was curious to learn about him, and to be told his story. Those who thought the best of him, and those who thought the worst, were alike desirous to know more of him than the newspapers had furnished, and to become acquainted with the course of his life, and the training which had prepared him for Kansas and brought him to Harper's Ferry. Whatever view be taken of his character, he was a man so remarkable as to be well worthy of study. In the bitter and excited state of public feeling in regard to him, there was but one way in which his life could be properly told,—and that way was, to allow him, as far as possible, to tell it in his own words. For that part of his life which there were no letters of his to illustrate, his biographer should have been content to state facts in the simplest and most careful manner, entering into no controversy, and keeping himself entirely out of sight. Thus only could John Brown's character produce its due effect. His letters from prison had shown that he was a master of the homeliest and strongest English. His words said what they meant, and they were understood by everybody; he had found them in the Bible, and had been familiar with them all his life. Whatever he was, he could have told us better than any other man; and he was the only man who would have been listened to with much confidence concerning himself. Mr. Redpath has, very unfortunately, thought differently. He has not taken pains to collect even all the letters of John Brown which had been previously published; he has written in the worst temper and spirit of partisanship, so that with every cautious reader doubts attend many statements which rest only on his authority; he has thrust himself continually forward; and he has exercised no proper care in arranging his materials.