Volume II Part 52 (1/2)
”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 suns.h.i.+ne 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 antic.i.p.ate the period established by the Slavery Abolition Act for the termination of the apprentices.h.i.+p. They will, as an act of grace, and with a view to their future arrangements with their negroes, terminate the apprentices.h.i.+p 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 apprentices.h.i.+p 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 apprentices.h.i.+p 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 Emanc.i.p.ator and other abolition papers, to the point of the _safety_ of entire Emanc.i.p.ation. 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 Emanc.i.p.ated 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 a.s.serted by some, and not denied by any authorities that we have seen, that the emanc.i.p.ated are industriously at work on those estates where the masters voluntarily relinquished the apprentices.h.i.+p 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 Emanc.i.p.ated 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 doc.u.ments.
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 a.s.sembly,_
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, _ent.i.tles 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 apprentices.h.i.+p 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 a.s.sembly 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 a.s.sembly 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 doc.u.ments as these that the ma.s.s of the Emanc.i.p.ated 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 pa.s.sage of the Emanc.i.p.ation bill in June, and see whether we can discover the _temper_ in which it was pa.s.sed, 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 a.s.sembly,_