to be the result, with ample opportunity to
the free negro in those islands to develop
himself, and show the wonderful results pre-
dieted by Dr Channing? The statistics are
very copious upon that subject; and I could
occupy the time of the Convention for hours
upon this point. Here is what Prof. De Bow,
the former Superintendent of the United
States Census Bureau, says upon the subject,
and although gentleman may differ with him
in politics, and in his convictions in reference
to this question, I presume they will at least
admit that he is good authority upon subjects
of statistics:
" Without the institution of slavery, the
great staple products of the South would
cease to be grown, and the immense annual
results, which are distributed among every
class of the community, and which give life
to every branch of industry, would cease.
The world furnishes no instances of these pro-
ducts being grown upon a, large scale by free
labor. The English now acknowledge their
failure in the Bast Indies. Brazil, whose
slave population nearly equals our own, is
the only South American State which has
prospered. Cuba, by her slave labor, show-
ers wealth upon old Spain, whilst the British
West India Colonies have now ceased to be a
source of revenue, and from opulence have
been, by emancipation, reduced to beggary.
St. Domingo shared the "same fate, and the
poor whites have been massacred equally with
the rich."
I will only read some statistics in reference
to the exports of Hayti; and the same holds
good in reference to Jamaica, and other is-
lands, where emancipation has been enacted.
In Hayti the exports in 1789 amounted to
nearly $28,000,000; in 1860 to only from
$5,000 000 to $6,000,000. Sugar is no longer
exported, and the quantity of coffee scarcely
exceeds one-third, and of cotton one-tenth of
the exports of 1789. This is given on North-
ern authority, la reference to Jamaica the
statistics in reference to exports are as fol-
lows :
Exports. 1789. 1857.
Sugar....... 150,352 hhds. 30,459 hhds.
Rum......... 93,950 " 15,991 "
Coffee........24,137,393 lbs. 7,095,623 lbs.
And there would not be that much cof-
fee exported, except that it grows wild, and
without the labor of cultivation; they simply
pick as much as they choose.
And I have other testimony on that point,
which I suppose will be considered both legal
and reliable.
The United States Consul at Trinidad says
of .that island in his report to Mr. Seward
and published by authority of Congress in
1861 in the Commercial Relations, page 39 :
"Sine emancipation its preogress has been
much checked for want of a laboring popu-
lation, but this deficiency is being rapidly |
supplied by the large coolie immigration un-
der the auspices of Government."
This statement proves two things in a most
conclusive manner. First, that the negro race
emancipated and left to provide for them-
selves will not engage in any industrial pur-
suits or laborious occupation, but relapse into
a condition of indolence, improvidence and
dissipation, for if they remained industrious,
active and enterprising in their habits it is
contended they will under the additional mo-
tives and inducements that freedom coffers,
why is it that the " progress and products of
the islands have been much checked" as the
consul tells us since emancipation? The ne-
gro population has not been removed, but
still remains in the island. The only inference
and the fact is that since they have been
emancipated they have closed to work, living
only in the most indolent manner and ad-
dicted to the most vicious habits, and hence
the progress of the island has been checked
and its products greatly diminished. And,
secondly, it proves that the English nation
who have been the great champions and advocates
of freedom for the negro rice, have
themselves repudiated their own doctrines,
acknowledged their error and absurdity, and
under the garb of coolie apprenticeship re-
introduced slavery where they had once abol-
ished it, and in a manner and by means much
more objectionable than it anywhere exists in
the United States.
The moral and intellectual condition of the
negro, as well as his physical condition, in
liberty after emancipation is vastly worse
than in a state of slavery. In Massachusetts
there are four times as many negro convicts
in proportion to the population as in Mary-
land. In Massachusetts, the pink of perfec-
tion, the model State, the great head and front
of this movement of progress under the be-
nign influence of free institutions, there are
four times as many negro convicts in propor-
tion to the entire negro population as there
are in miserable, degraded Maryland.
Mr. STOCKBRIDGE. in proportion to all the
population, or in proportion to the colored
population ?
Mr. HENKLE. In proportion to all the pop-
ulation. in Pennsylvania the negro convicts
bear the proportion of four to one in Mary-
land; there, too, they have tree institutions.
In New York the proportion is seven to one
in Maryland. in Massachusetts the negro
convicts in proportion to the whites are al-
most ten to one in proportion to population.
In Pennsylvania sixteen to one. In New
York fourteen to one. In Massachusetts there
were three negro paupers to one white pau-
per. I regret that the returns of pauperism
are so incomplete in the census reports, for I
am sure they would have a ?????? tale to
tell, if reported fully. Thus you see that in
every view you can take of the subject, the
negro after emancipation is less prosperous |
