Summerside Journal -- 1867-08-22 -- Page 2

SEA FISH AND FISHERI

We find the following interesting article
in the Edinburgh Review, and feel assured
that it will be perused with interest by our
readers :-—

“Tf the gen is prodigal of life to a de-
gree that baffles our powers of conception
and calculation, itis no less @ scene olf
boundless destruction, The life of all
fishes is one of perpetual warfare, and the
only law that pervades the great world of
wators, is that of the strongest, the swift-
est and the most yoracious. The carnage
of the sea immeasurably. exceeds even that
which is permitted to perplex our reason
on the earth. We know, however, that

without it the population of the ocean
would-soon become so immense that, vast
As it is, it would not suftice for its muititu-
dinous inhabitants. Few fishes probably
dic a natural death, and some seem to
have been created solely to devour others.
There is probably none who does not live
on some other species or on its own.
Magy of the monsters that roam the watery
plains are provided with maws capable of

engulphing thousands of their kind in a

day. A hogshead of herrings have been

taken out ef the belly ofawhale. Ashark

probably destroys tens of thousands in a

rear. Fifteen full sized herrings have

n found in the stomach of a cod, If
we allow a codfish only two herrings per
day for only seven months in the year, we
have 420 as his allowance during that
period, and fitty codfish equal one fisher-
man in destructive power. But the quan-
tity of cod and ot ling, which are ag des-
tructive as cod, taken in 1861, and regis-
tered by the Scotch fishery board, was,
says the Commissioners, over 81,000 ewts.

— On an ayerage thirty codfish make one

handred weight of dried fish, and 2,400,000
will equal 48,000 fishermen. In other
words, the cod and ling caught on the

Scotch coast in 1861, if they had been left

in the water, would haye devyouredas many

herrings as were caught by all the fisher-
men of Seotland. Sea birds are pcaronly
leas destructive to fish than fish are to each
other. The solan goose can swallow and
digest at least six herrings per day, It
has been calculated that the Island of St.
Kilda, assuming it to be inhabited by
200,000 of these birds teeding for seven
months of the year, in allowance of five
herrings each per day, the number of fish
for the Summer subsistence of a single
Bho of bird cannot be under 214,000,-
0. Compared with the enormous con-
sumption of fish by birds and each other,
the draughts made upon the population of
the sea by man, with all his ingenious
fishing devices, seem to dwindle into ab-
solute insignificance,”

Dreaprut Strate or AFFAIRS IN THE

Sournern Srates—A correspondent gives
a very gloomy account oft the condition of
**the South.” The inundation of the
Mississippi has reduced to swamp many of
the finest cotton plantations in the world;
there is everywhere 2 famine of capital
and a famine of labor. Southern gentle-
men, who a few years ago were enjoying
a life much resembling that ofour wealthy
esquires, have now nothing left but their
land, and even thatis threatened by the con-
fiscation bill which Mr, Stevens will bring
before Congress in the antumn. Accord-
ingly many Southernors who still love their
country, but have no desire, as they say,
to be annihilated, are emigrating to Brazil,
British Honduras, and Upper Canada.
Other Southern esquires remain upon their
land, and do the work of the slayes whom
they have lost. The sons labor “in the
fields, and even go into the swamps to
gather Spanisl moss (which, when cured,
serves as a substitute for horsehair). The
daughters milk the cows, and perform the
usual drudgeries of the house and farm,
It is said, upon eredible authority, that
many a young lady, an habituee of the Sul-
phur Springs of Virginia and of the Thea-
tre de Opera, New Orleans, now helps to
support her family by school teaching,
sewing, or washing. In many parts of
the South the destiution is still more com-
plete, and hundreds have starved to death.
We do not vouch for the accuracy of these
reports, but they have been derived entire-
ly from Northern sources, and haye been
confirmed to some extent by actual ob-
servation. A fund has been established
for the relief of the poor creatures in the
South, and large contributions have been
received from Boston, Philadelphia, and
other strongholds of republicanism,

Tenniric EartaQuakk at JAva.—The
Java papers of the 14th June. give full
particulars of the dreadful earthquake
which occurred ia the island on the morn-
ing of the 10th of June. It was very des-
tructive in the district of Cheribon, Peka-
longan, Banjoemas, Bagelen, Samarang,
Djokjdokarta, and Sourakarta, The
greater part of the indigo and sugar man-
ufactories, private houses, and military
establishments are destroyed at Djokjdo,
but in the other districts the damage was
not so extensive. The losses, however,
are incalculable. The sugar crop, which
had just been brought into the barns, is
totally lost. A large number of Europe-
ans and natives perished—the report says
as many as three hundred. It was feared
also that other parts of Java might be
visited by earthquakes; even at Batayia
shocks were felt on the day the mail start-
ed. The accounts of the rinderpest in
Java are most pa van'e § In some dis.
tricts the whole stock of buffaloes has died
out, and great destitution and misery pre-
vail; indeed. the general effect of the news
brought by this mail is very painful.

Suockine Dear OF Tir WIFE OF THE
Torkisn AMBASsapor.—A sensation of
grief, which it is almost impossible to
describe, has been occasioned by the sud-
den death of the wife Musurus Pasha. It
would appear that during the festivitios at
the India House Musurus Pasha was in-
formed that Madame Musurus was taken
somewhat ill, He immediately left, first
making known to the Sultan his object in
80 pl at 4 leaving. On reaching an
ante-room he found the poor lady suffering
the most excrutiatin agony, as if from
some spasmodic affection of the heart.
Medical aid was sent for in various quar-
ters, but we regret to state that she died.
The Queen, with nevor-failing sympathy,
which her own grief has rendered only the
moré ready to participate in the sorrow
of others, telegraphed to the Embassy,
and also sent an equerry to inquire after
the health of the Ambassador, and to ox-
nress her sympathy and condolence with
him in his sad bereavement.

A CHALLENGE For JUAnEz.--The Nasione
of Florence publishes a copy ofa challenge
which has just been addressed to Juarez
by M. Martin de Castillo, late Minister of
Foreign Affairs of the Mexican Empire and
at present residing in Spain. M. de Cas-
tillo concludes his letter in pledging his
faith as ** Caballero” to start on the instant
to mees Juarez, arms in hands, iftho lat-
ter will give him sufficient guarantees th at
he may not have to fear on arriving in
Mexico to fall under the pionards of assasa-

ins.

HORRIBLE STATE OF
MEXICO.

—

New York, July 13.—American journalists
are ingenious, but it would tax even their
skill to invent horrors more appalling than
those now existing in Mexico, Plain and
entipely trustworthy statements of facts pre-
sent such a picture of murder, outrage, rapine,
and all vile abominations as has rarely, if
ever, been offered to civilized man. The
massacres of San Jacinto and Puebla sink
into insignificance when gompared with the
crimes that have been perpetrated by the ex-
ulting half breeds and mongrels since the fall
of Queretaro. In the city that saw the ending
of Maximilian’s reign and Maximilian’s life,
nearly 2,000 persons have been executedsince
the 15th of May. Executed! ‘Thatis to say,
arrested without process, confined without a
hearing, condemned without a trial, sentenced
without a conviction, hurried out at dawn or
dusk to the nearest plaza, and done to death
with Mexican bullets. What was their of-
fence? Imperialism. These victims were
Frenchmen, Austrians, Belgians, who sus-
tained the empire. To Maximilian and a few
of his lieutenants the form of a trial was
granted; they were allowed to state so much
of the arguments for defence as could be com-
pressed into twenty-four hours’ pleading,
But the officers of lower grade, and a large
number of privates, were slaughtered as a
Western pork-dealer kills his hogs—so many
a day—until the lot were worked off, or until
the bloody-minded Juarez grew sick of mur-
der and suspended the assassinations. In the
city of Mexico, after its capture, affairs were
not much better. Porfirio Diaz, who is only
second in wickedness to Escobedo, because it
is inypossible that there should be two Esco-
bedos, took possession of the capital. At
once he began a system of hounding down
and killing *‘ foreigners.” ‘The natives es-
caped with punishments comparatively light,
but ‘‘ foreigners,” as this mongrel whelp de-
scribed them—were remorselessly extermin-
ated. Unglishmen, Germans, Irenchmen,
Americans have been alike persecuted, alike
murdered. Those who have escaped with
life have been robbed of their property, or
thrust into prison, or foreed to labor with the
chain gangs on the highways. Upon the party
of the clergy the vengeance of Diaz has also
fallen. The priests have been compelled to
abandon distinctive attire; to retain the old
custom is to invite severe punishment from
the hands of Liberalist officers. The convents
have been opened, andnearly 1,000 nuns have
been turned into the streets. The condition
of these poor women, unused to the ordinary
avocations of life, and exposed to the brutal
mercies of a brutal and victorious Mexican
soldier, must be pitiable in the extreme.
There is absolutely no money in the city of
Mexico, yet the Liberalists have levied a tax
of 1 per cent. upon all real estate and have
ordered all persons who have adyanced money
to the Imperialists to pay an equal amount
into the treasury ofthe “republic.” ‘The best
men in Mexico—the foreigners and a very
few natives—call now more loudly than ever
for foreign intervention. England, France,
and the United States, are asked to absorb the
country. Hundreds of prominent persons
have been arrested in the capital and thrown
into prison, either for the offence of former
adherence to the empire, or under a suspicion
of such past policy. Trade is utterly dead
in Mexico. There is no money in the coun-
try. There is no protection for life or prop-
erty. ‘There are no courts. ‘There is no
government save the government by the
sword; and the Mexican sword is a machete a
blundering, hacking, thing. Every petty ban-
dit is the law in his own neighbourhood. The
country isa hell upon earth The city of
Mexico surrendered on the 20th of June,

Marquez escaped, and was at last accounts

reported at Vera Cruz. Before the surrender

the population of more than 200,000 had been

reduced to less than 100,000 by the midnight

flitting of the inhabitants. The seige contin-

ued during 79 dayo,.the last of which were

rendered doubly horrible by the presence of

famine and pestilence,

APRPAIRS OV

Evceste’s Visir to Vicronta.—A Paris

letter states that the’ object of Eugenie’s re-
eent visit to Victoria, about which there has
been so much speculation, was solely for the
purpose of consultation in regard to the un-
fortunate condition of the widowed Carlotta,
The statement derives plausibility from the
relationship existing between Victoria and
Carlotta, and from the fact that Eugenie is
credited with having first suggested the name
of Maximilian in connection with Mexico. If
the accounts of the relations existing between
Carlotta and Ler brothers are correct, she is
much in need of friends, and is fortunate in
having so influential ones as the Queen of
England and the Queen of France. Carlot-
ta’s brothers scem to have manifested no
special interest in her or Maximilian since
the death of their father, the King of Belgium,
and there is a current report in European
circles that the will in which Carlotta left the
property of her husband—in case she outlived
him—to his relatives, has mysteriously dis-
appeared. The disappearance of this will,
unless Carlotta sufficiently recovers the use
of her mental faculties to make another, will
insure some fourteen millions of florins for
her brothers, who are already rich by the
bequests of their father; and so itis hinted
that the Royal family of Belgium are not at
all particular about Carlotta recovering.
The former position of Maximilian and
Carlotta, their connections and associations
with the various European Courts, the influ-
ences which induced them to abandon Austria
for Mexico, the high hopes they formed of
establishing an empire to rival in splendor
the reign of the Montezumas, the pleadings
of Carlotta at Paris and at Rome for aid for
her husband, the desperate resistance to fate
which was made by Maximilian, and conflict-
ing influences which thwarted their plans,
and the final tragie fate which overtook both
husdand and wife—all these things are part
of one of the strangest dramas that has ever
been acted in real life. There has been few
contests in which so many various and con-
flicting hopes, interests, friendships, ambitions
and intrigues have all entered as inthe re-
cent struggle for the establishment of a Euro-
pean empire in Mexico. Carlotta certainly
can expect sympathy from her royal relative
in England, and she can justly claim it from
the Empress who first suggested to Napoleon
and the Mexican delegation that Maximilian
and Carlotta were the proper persons to found
and maintain a Latin empire upon the Am-
erican continent.—Bosion Journal.

HEAVY TAXES—DEMORALIZING.

Nothing has done more to demoralize the
American people within the five years last
past than high tariffs and high taxes.

Previous to the Administration of Abraham
Lincola tea, coffee and salt were free from
taxation. Tea was bought at prices yarying
from 82 cents to 75 cents per pound. After
the Tariff of 1861 and ’62 tea went up in price
as high as 80 cents to $1.50. Such was the
case with coffee, salt, tobacco, spices, rum,in
fact with covery article used by families and
individuals,

The result is that scores of hundreds and
thousands of people have been tempted to
smuggle goods, i. e. to buy themin foreign
jurisdictions, and bring them to American
markets and families for trade and consump-
tion. No man can deny that the temptation
to smuggle, or to buy goods at a cost of 100
per cent. in favor of the buyer, is enough to
draw ® great number of men into it, although
the penalties are enormous if detected. Men
who are called law abiding of strict moral
principles, loyal” to government, and to
everything good, are frequently detected in
smuggling. We offer no palliation, we know
of none, save in the mistake of electing to the
control of government men who were eom-
mitted to principles so hdstile to the pro-
sperity of the nation and happiness of the
people.

So in, the i atter of reporting incomes for

SUMMER

HURSDAY, AUGUST

q

taxation. How many correct returns are
made? Only think of the vast number who
have been prosecuted of being detected in
making false returns of incomes? And thiak
again of the much larger number who are
suspected of having made false returns of
incomes, who haye not been prosecuted?

Men cowpetent to judge, and who are welt
acquainted with the statistics of the country,
estimate that not less than 60,000,000. gallons
of liquors are distilled annually, On sixty
millions gallons the tax imposed if assessed
andeollected, would be $120,000,000annually.
But the faet is less chan $30,000,000 are real-
ized from the Internal tax on liquors, or $90.-
000,000 cach year less than it.ought.to be!

Before the war, or in 1860, eighty millions
gallons of liquors were distilled in the United
States; so that sixty millions‘now is a low
estimate.

Now think of the yast amount of dishonora-
ble conduct, false swearing as to returns,
bribery and yielding to bribery on the part of
officers, and the great number of devices to
yet clear of taxation.

Then consider the alienation between
people and government constantly in process
of fermentation by legal présecutions. Every
person prosecuted has less respect for his
government afterwards than he had before,
By cach one thus alienated the government
becomes so much weaker, so much more ex-
posed to danger.

True, it is said people must be ‘ loyal” to
their government, but itis not equally true
the government must respect the rights and
have some regard for the prosperity of the
people. We must have laws less severe, ime
posing burdens less onerous than we now
have, otherwise it cannot be in the hearts of
any people to respect the men who rule over
them.—A©achias Union.

Tur Surrrietp Trape Ourracres.—
Great Meerine or Wornina M
Mancriester.-—On Wednesday evening a
great indignation meeting of the trades
and working men of Manchester was held
in the Free Trade Hall, condemnatory of
the Sheffield trade outrages. Upwards
of 6,000 men were in the hall, and as many
outside.

The extensive paper mill situated near St.
John, N. B., was destroyed by fire on Tues-
day morning last. It was valued at $20,000,
and insured but for $5,000, ‘The origin of the
fire not known.

The offiee of the Sheriffof New York is
worth over $70,000 a year, and: that of City
Clerk and Register are worth $60,000 each a
year, and thut of City Chamberlain over $100,
000.

Latest by Telegraph !

London, Aug. , 14.

Furthur advices from China state that the
port of ‘lomoso, in Japan, has been designed
by the Japan Government for the use of for-
eigners, and thrown open to the commerce of
all nations in accordance with the agreement
made with the foreign representatives at Osa-
ca.

Paris, Aug. 14.
Accounts of the cholera received from var-
ious parts of Italy do not improve. ‘They
represent the epidemic as spreading and at-
tended with unusual fatality.
Perth, Aug, 14.
The amount of revenue returned by I[yn-
gury to the treasury of the Austrian Emre
will be the same as it was when she constifu-
ted a separate kidgdom,
London, Aug. 15, (eve.)
The weekly returns of the Bank of England
show that the amount of specie in its vaults
has increased £235,000 since the last rene
The action of the House of Lords last Tues-
day evening in receding from its amendment
to the Reform Bill placed both houses in com-
plete accord on that great measure.
The Bill has finally passed Parliament and
having received the assent of Her Majesty is
now the law of the land.
London, Aug. 15, (midnight.)
In the Mouse of Commons to-night the re-
gulation Park Bill intended to prevent public
meetings in Royal Parks, was withdrawn by
Government,

Paris, Aug. 15.

Despatches from Constantinople state that
the Turkish Government after giving due con-
siderations to the collective note of the Eu-
ropean Powers has come to the conclusion
that it cannot adinitof intervention of other
Governments in the affiirs of the Island of
Canaia, and refuses to assent to the enquiry
proposed,

Constantinople, Aug. 15.
‘The Sultan on his return here received an
naddress-from the Grand Vizier, whem he left
in charge of the Government during his
absence In his reply the Sultan, after re-
viewing his recent journey to Western Eu-
ope, says, as the result of his observations,
he is prompted to inaugurate an era of prog-
ress for the Ottoman Empire, and he promised
to submit a series of measures of eae for
the benefit ofhis subjects.
Paris, Aug. 16, 5 p.m.
At the elections which have recently
been held throughout the empire for mem-
bers of the Council, the opposition gener-
ally made heavy gains.
Florence, Aug. 16, eve.
The Italian Government is displeased
with the visit to Rome of the French Gen-
eral Dumont, and will soon ask for a
change of the Treaty of last September.
Consols 95§. 5.20's 73}. Breadstuffs
quiet. Wheat, American, 13s. 94. Corn
unchanged, Provisions unchanged,
New York, Aug. 17.
Avery severe storm has prevailed for
the last two days along the southern coast,
and railways, and crops in some sections
have suffered severely. Washington,
Baltimore, and Philadelphia have been
flooded, and great injury done to streets.
Two lives were lost by drowning at the
last named city.
Gold 1408.
Berlin, Aug, 15, eve.
A meeting is being planned to take
ad between the King ot Prussia and the
Emperor of Austria,
Bucharest, Aug. 15.
All the members of the Daoubhan Oab-
inet have tendered their. resignations to
Prince Charles of IIokenzal,

Loidon, Aug. 15, eve.
The Ifouse of Lords have\dectded the
appeal in the bankruptcy case of Overond,
pores & Co., which was brought before
them, in favor of the liquidators.
Frankfort, Aug. 16.
Last night a disastrous firo broke out in
the Domkirche or Roman Catholic Cathe-
dral. ‘Lhis structure was of great anti-
quity, dating from the year A.D. 1425,
and famous for its arehitectural beauty
and historic associations, All the elabor-
ate decorations of the interior were de-
stroyed, and the walls, roof and tower
were so badly injured that it will probably
be necessary to take the wholé building
down,
Chicago, Aug. 15.
The annual Fenian pie-nic occurred to-
day. All the military organizations and
6000 civilians were on the ground, The
pic-nic was soon turned into a Donnybrook
fair, and fighting and rioting continued
jall day long. Several people were stab-
bed.
Gold 1108,

|

22,1867.

Summerside Sournal.

“THURSDAY, AUGUST 22,1867,

No notice can be taken of anonymous com-
i We rpust know tle names and
addresses of our correspondents as @ guaranty
of tifir good faith. We cannot undertaketo
return communications that are not used.

- eso!

‘To most people Jamaica is a complete
terra hicognita, Versons of ordinary edu-
cation, indeed, kaow that it is an island
somewhere in the West Indies, belonging
to Great Britain, but of its history and
the social condition of its inhabitants
they know little ‘or nothing. Previous
to the late outbreak i: that country, and
the deplorable proceedings which follow-
ed it, the reading public were very. well
contented with such knowledge as it
possessed of that part of Her Majesty's
Dominions ; but since those events men
of intelligence everywhere have been ex-
ceedingly anxious to obtain reliable in-
formation from any source as to the
political and social condition of Jamaica.
Such men, when called upon to give an
opinion as to the causes which led to the
late insurrection in that island-—if insur-
rection it may be called—found them-
selves completely at a loss. Tor want
of sufficient knowledge of the country and
of its inhabitants, black and white, trey
could form no intelligent judgment of the
conduct of the authorities. How far the
severities that were resorted to could be
justified, or whether they were justifiable
at all, was more than one man in a thou-
sand, even among educated men, was
qualified to give an opinion. People of
course talked about the matter, and be-
came furious partizans on the one side or
the other, but their zeal was in most
cases in an inyerse ratio of their ignor-
ance of the subject. Many people—our-
selves among the number—considered
that by far the greater share of the blame
ought to be laid at the door of the blacks.
They were much the more numerous ;
they were represented to be incorrigibly
lazy and intolerably insolent. They were
in‘a state of semi-civilization, with just
enough of intelligence to know their own
power, but not enough to use that power
aright. It was a fearful thing to see the
white population, few and widely seat-
tered as they were, at the mercy of the
infuriated blacks, who after years ‘of
patient waiting at last found themselves
in a position successfully to revenge
themselves on men whom they consider-
ed their enemies and oppressors. The
black man, it was pronounced, was not
fit for freedom. His proper position
among civilized men was that of a slaye.
In that condition he was as happy and
contented as was consistent with his na-
ture. Freedom demoralized him and
made him a poor and unhappy wretch,
ready to commit any crime in order to
gratify his tyrannous appetites. Sunk in
sloth and sensualism, his reformation was
hopeless. He was completely deaf to
any eppeel w the uubler parts of his
nature ; indeed it was @ matter of very
serious question with some men whether
there were any nobler parts to appeal to ;
whether he was or not a mere animal,
only capable of being influenced through
his passions andappetites. Others,again,
declared that the negro was the equal if
not the superior of the white man. All
that he wanted to have was the oppor-
tunity to develope his latent powers to
make him the rival of his fuir-skinned
fellow citizen in every thing in which the
intellect of civilized man is engaged.

Which of the two parties was correct
in its estimation of the black man was a
question which reasonable men, for want
of sufficient data upon which to found an
opinion, could not decide. In Jamaica
the negro race was upon trial. By the
conduct of the black man in that country
would men judge of his capacity for free-
dom. By an act of unparalleled gener-
osity he had there been redeemed from
slavery. He was there—in theory at
least—a perfectly free man, the equal, in
the eye of the law, of his white fellow
islander. The great bulk of the popula-
tion were men of his race, and upon their
enterprise and intelligence —'their im-
provability,in short—depended the future
welfare of that fine island. Ifitprospered
the eredit-was due to the negro race; if
it failed to prosper, to that race belonged
the blame of failure.

Well, Jamaica after emancipation did
not prosper. It ceased to be productive;
and at last we find the negroes rising up
against the whites, and threatening them
with extermination. Then followed scenes
of outrage and cold-blooded murder,under
logal form, which humane men shudder
to contemplate, The excuse of the whites
was self-preservation, ‘The excuse was
valid if the danger was real and unayoid-
able; butif the danger was in great part
imaginary—if a consciousness of having
oppressed the negro, and of having de-
served it at his hands, unnerved them in
the hour of danger and rendered them
deaf to the voice of reason and of juctice,
What then?

The white population complained
loudly of the laziness and want of fore-
thought of the negroes, and threw upon
their shoulders, and upon emancipation,
the whole blame of the evils with which
the country was afflicted. Were they
just-in this? By the Review before us
we find that distress in Jamaica previous
to Emancipation was quite common.
We find the planters petitioning Parlia-
ment for aid; we find them mortgaging
their lands and rehdering them barren by
over-cropping. Jamaica’s share of the
£20,000,000 paid for the liberation of the
slaves was somewhat above £6,000,000,
One would think that this immense sum
of money would render the owners of
slaves independent, But the greater part
of it found its way to the pockets of
moneyed men of Britain, who had claims
of one kind or another on the sugar plan-
tations. Then the managers of estates
acted most unfairly towards the negroes,
They allowed them but yery small wages,
and tried every scheme, by high rent
charges and other questionable means, to
get the labour of the negro for nothing
or next to nothing. In many cases the
| negroes after exraing their pittance were

allowed for a hard’ day's work, under a
tropical sun, no more than nine pence or
a shilling sterling. ‘The planters were
allowed to keep their slaves as appren-
tices for four years after the Act of Eman-
cipation was passed. When any poor
fellow who by some means or other had
saved a little money wished to purchase
his freedom, at once his master valued
his day's labor at three and four shillings:
But that freedom once obtained, the
value. of-his services fell wonderfully in
his master's estimation. The consequence
of all this was that Cuffee took to work-
ing for himself. On some of the~aban-
doned estates land could be procured for
a few dollars per acre; and he raked and
scraped enough together to purchase a
little holding, raised pumpkins enough
for his own consumption, and a little
arrow root and fruit to sell, and felt so
independeut of the sugar planter, that
he would not work for him on the same
terms as formerly. That he was willing
to do a fair day’s work for a fair day's
wages was proved by the readiness with
which he undertook harder tasks than
those on the sugar plantation, when there
was a prospect of a sure and a fair re-
muneration. Negroes worked hard and
continually at mining and road making.
When asked how it was he was so much
more willing to do hard work on the
roads than much casier work on the plan-
tation, replied with a grin alluding to
the planter, ‘‘ Buckra don’t pay.”

It seems to us that where sufficient in-
ducements are held out to the negro that
he will work as hard as inhabitants of
tropical countries can work.

A Mr. Bigelow gives the following
graphie account, in the Westminister
Review for July, of the appearance and
condition of the negro peasantry of Ja-
maica :—

“Upon their little tracts (averaging, he
thinks, abont three acres) they raise not only
what is required for their own consumption
(Mr, Carlyle's pumpkin), but a surplus which
they tuke to market, usnally in small panniers
on donkeys or upon their heads, Nearly
every colored proprietor has a donkey, which
costs from seven to ten pounds, upon which
he packs his produce, and under the custody
sometimes ot a woman, often of a child, he
sends it to town, to be converted into money,
with which he purchases such articles of ne-
cessity or luxury as his land does not produce,
and he can afford. One of the most interest-
ing spectacles to be witnessed about Xingston,
is presented on the high road through which
the market people with their donkeys, in the
cool of the morning, pour into the city from
the back country. They form an almost un-
interrupted procession four or five miles in
length; and what strikes the eye of an Am-
erican at once is their perfect freedom from
care. Neither anxiety, nor poverty, nor
desire of gain, has written a line upon their
faces, and they could not show less concern
at the result of their trip if they were going
to a festival. One may readily perceive how
strong and universal must be the desire ofthe
poor lnborers to exchange their servile
drudgery on the lands of others for this life
of comparative case and independence

“Of course it requires no little self-denial
and energy for a negro upon the wages now
paid in Jamaica to lay up enovgh with which
to purchase one of these properties. But if
ho does got ono, he never pirts with it, except
for a larger or better one. ‘The planters call
them lazy for indulging this feeling of inde-
pendence; but I could never see anything in
the aversion of the negroes here to labour, '
which was not sanctioned by the example of
their masters, and by instincts and propensi-
ties common to. humanity,”

Another cause of distress and failure in
Jamaica is the miserable system of agri-
culture pursued by the planters. Thc
labor of the plantations has hitherto bec:
nearly all done by hand. The negrc
furnished with a heavy clumsy hoe digs
ahole for the cane. ‘The weedsare kept
down with the same implement; and a
sort of cutlass is used to cut down the
canes when they areripe. When manure
is used it is carried by women in little
square boxes, and thrown into the holes
made by the men. ‘Ihe plough is hardly
ever used, and the cultivator is looked
upon as a curiosity, In every operation
of sugar making the least possible aid is
received from labor-saving machinery.
Nearly five times as much human labor
is used upon the estates than is required.
Then again as few of the planters own
capital, they haye to pay ruinous inter-
est on advances made them by the mer-
chants, besides a heavy commission.—
These together amount to somewhere
about fifteen per cent, How under such
a shiftless wasteful system any money is
made at all is beyond our comprehension.

Then again by a manipulation of the
franchise political power has been hitherto
nearly wholly in the possession of the
whites. Laws have been made in favor
of the rich and against the poor. An
examination of the tariff and annual
taxes shows the reader that the poor
negr) has to pay an undue share of the
taxes :—

“Jamaica Inrortr Derizs.

1840. 1862. to 1865.
Per Cwt. Per. Cwt.
Fish (salted) per -
200lbs. - = » sete 33. Gd,
Herrings (pickled)
200lbs, - - - O1--- 231
Mackerel (do) per
200lbs. - = + Qde+t- 4s.
Tour (wheat) per
196lbe, = + +68. “+= 88.
Rice perewt. (food
of the coolies) - 83. Gd, - - - 8s,

Cotton goods and.
other clothing
pew £100 value 20s.

Wood and lumber
used for planta-
tions and gener-
aly per 1000 feet 25s.

Plantation — sup-
plies other than
wood & lamber
per £100 value 20s.

Ayxvat Taxes.

Horses and mules

(employed on
plantations)
each, - 10d.

Tlorses (elsewhere)
each - 10d,

Cattle (working
on plantations
cach

Asses, each (used
generally by ne+
groga). = = «2hd.

Curringes’ (used
for goode other
than for plan-
repens each Free 18s,

Boats and canoes,
eauht + Freo 20s,

“The principal articles of imported food
} consumed hy the black population are: salt
| fish, salt pork, and wheaten flour, The im-;

---£12 10s,

12s,

Free.

6d.

lls,

eee G4;

6d.

3s. 6d.
#

kept mnaatha waiting for it. ‘They qwere| po

rt duties on cotton goods and other kinds
of clothing operate very hardly on a popula-
tion altogether dependent on foreign supplies
for clothing. It will be seen by this table that
the legislature haye greatly fayored the estate
and plantation owners with respect to the
lumber and other articles required in carrying
on their cultivation, With respect to the
taxes levicd.annually, it will be seen that the
horses, mules, and working ond breeding
cattle employed on and forming the stock of

lantations are taxed to a very trifling degree,
“a that horses, asses, &c., employed other-
wise, and by the black people very extensive-
ly for industrial purposes, are exhorbitantly
taxed. ‘The same may be said of carts and
other wheel carriages used by the staller
cultivators and the laboring classes, and also
of boats and.canoes similarly used, Tt’ ma
fairly be supposed that, the object of such
taxation was to depress all kinds of industry
ex¢ept on the large plantations .”

PRIZE SHOOTING AT CH'TOWN!
Prince County Ahead! !

We have much pleasure in announcing
that our Prince County ‘* Boys” have
come off victorious—the two first, prizes
having been won, as under ;—

Ist Rifle Association’s Medal 1867 and £10,
Capt. ‘I’. D. Tanron, 30 points.

21 do., do., 1866 and £8, Sergt. James

Woopsipr, 27 points.
Both being members of the ‘ Queen's:
Own” Company in St. Eleanor’s —
Woodside having won the second prize
in shooting off ties with one of the
Harpers, who haye long been honorably
known as. skilled marksmen, This suc~
cess reflects very high credit on the
Medal Men, as they, with very little pre-
vious practice, were pitted against the
very best shots in the Istand, who in
addition had been incessantly, and at alf
sorts of untimely hours, practicing all
summer. Of the other prizes and scores
we have not sufficient information as yet
to write, but will give fuller particulars
on seeing the official report.

The members of the ‘* Queen’s Own”
were on the wharf in full uniform, yester-
day morning, when the boat arrived, and
received their brothers-in-arms, the suc-
cessful competitors, with three hearty and
loud cheers, after which the whole com-
pany were entertained Sy Benjamin
Darby, Esq.,—that old gentleman, no
doubt, feeling quite delighted with the
success of the St. Eleanor’s Volunteers.
We hope that Captain Tanton and Ser-
geant Woodside may long live to wear
their laurels with pleasure to themselves
and an honor to their Compan

ty Unrm further notice public Wor-
ship will commence in the Summerside
Presbyterian Church on Sabbath at three
o'clock, p. m., instead of half past three
as heretofore,

tw Tue Light House keeper, Mr.
Keough, seems to be determined to have
everything around the Light House as
well as the House itself, look nice and
clean. It has becn newly painted and the
posts on the wharf whitewashed, which
ndds much to the appearance of the place. .
We think the Government should allow
the old gentleman little more salary
than what he at present receives, seeing
that he is the only Light House keeper
who is not provided witha dwelling house
in connection therewith, ~

yp eM Meter are en amt, UUSISTISAY will
preach in the St. Eleanor's Court Room,
on Sunday next, the 26th inst., at half
past 3 o'clock, p, m.

ta A shock of earthquake was ex-
perienced at Moncton and Sackville, N.
. on Sunday the 11th inst.

Later accounts state that the yellow
fever prevails ut Havana. Several deaths
have occurred there trom that disease.

By special invitation, we attended a Jecture: :
delivered by Josiah McLeod, Bsq., in the Hall
at Clifton, New London, on Friday evening
last. Mr. William Ross oceupied the chair.
The room was completely crowded, persons
from all the surrounding country havin,
assembled to hear one of their own, who ha:
been in the American war, relate his adventue
res while in the army there. The subject wag
‘seven months imprisonment in the South.’
It parteok more of a narrative than a lecture,
and was delivered ina yory pleasing and
easy manner. ‘The account he gave of his
and his comrades condition while in prison
was awful, one would scarcely believe that
one human being could treat another in such
© manner as they were treated by the South-
ern soldiers. .We were very much pleased
with the narrative, and considered ourselves’
well paid for our journey.

b@™" Tre Steamer Ieather Bell came up
here yesterday morning at three o'clock, for
the purpose of carrying passengers to the
Jaledonian Club. No notice of her coming
was given, and consequently no person ex-
pected her, and having to leave here ut five
o'clock, she was gone before it became known
that she was at the wharf. It was a great
disappointment to a large number of persons
who wished to go. One week’s notice would
have done. Wo hope the Steamboat Com-
pany will learn wisdom from this trip for
nothing, and patronize the columng of the
Journal the next time they purpose sending
a Steamer here for the same purpose.

We have not heard the particulars from the
Caledonian Club which came off yesterday.
Our correspondent is on the ground.

Eratcem .—In the Card of Mr. J. J. Fraser,
published in our paper of the 8th instant, in
the fourth paragraph for positively recollect
read privately recollect.

The Prize shooting of the Prince Bdward
Volunteer Militia Company took place at the
range near Government ba bp on Monday
the 29th July, with the following result.
Distandes 200 and 500 yarils, b shots at each

range i—

Purizn. Raa. Ports.
Ist £2 0 0° J. Nicholson, 25
ad 110 0 W. Iatehinson. 20
8d redo Ey Catford, bt)
4th 0150 F. Perkin. 19
bth 010 0 R. ILuestis, 19
Gth O-F=.0 A. Morris, 17
Nontu Carn, P. E. Istaxpy”

August 2nd, 1867,
Tn compliment to the gentleman who keeps
the Light on North Cape, Prince, Rdward
Island, L must say thatin my opinion it is
most excellently and well attended, as I have
laid to anchor N, by KE. 16 miles trom the
Light House for five successive nighis, and £
have not seen the least defect in Light;
aud in my opinion I could see it six miles
further.
Jawes McPnatt,
Schr. (‘Two Brothers,)
Lunenburgh, N, 8,