No. I.
COPY OF A LETTER FROM MR. EDWARD CARBERY, TO MR. GREENE, CHAIRMAN OF
THE BALTIMORE COMMITTEE OF EMIGRATION.
_Tremont House, Boston, Dec. 11, 1839._
Dear Sir, Being fully aware that you take a great interest in any
subject connected with the welfare of the class to which you belong,
I venture to trouble you with this communication the object of which
is to bring to your notice the proceedings at a public meeting of the
Inhabitants of British Guiana, which took place in Georgetown, on
the tenth of October last, and a full report of which is contained
in the Guiana Chronicle of the following day. I regret it is not in
my power to forward you the paper containing the report, as I only
borrowed it from a gentleman in this city who received it a few days
ago. The Extracts in question, go far to corroborate the statements
I made to you and your friends relative to the advantages which the
free-colored people of this country would derive from emigration to
British Guiana, and they will at least prove that these statements were
not exaggerated. The respectability of the parties in question, no less
than the publicity of the whole proceedings entitle their statements to
the fullest confidence.
The High Sheriff having taken the Chair, said,--"I cannot better open
the proceedings on this occasion at which you have done me the honor
to call me to the chair, than by referring to the requisition on which
I judged it proper and necessary to convene this public meeting,
and thus directing your attention to the object for which we are
assembled,--to wit: In the words of the requisition 'for the purpose of
giving expression to the general feeling in favor of immediate measures
being taken for the promotion of Immigration to this Colony, and for
taking into consideration by what means this important object can most
speedily be carried into effect.'"
The Hon. Peter Rose, a member of the Colonial Legislature, and
Proprietor of a Sugar Plantation called _Lima_, moved the first
resolution, which was as follows.
"That a consideration of the present state of the colony, with its
limited number of agricultural laborers, leads this meeting to the
irresistible conclusion that unless immediate immigration on a large
scale takes place, the exportable produce of the Colony already
diminished to an alarming extent, will yet further decrease."
Mr. Rose then proceeded to address the meeting, and in the course of
his speech, when alluding to the causes of the decreased production of
British Guiana and the rate of wages, he observed--
"Eight or nine dollars per month, is the common rate, but it is the
custom to estimate the day's labor by the old tariff, 7 1-2 hours,
and it is well known that an industrious man can in that time perform
considerably more than double the quantity of labor laid down by that
tariff. I have myself paid to a man cutting canes, 1 1-2 dollars for
work that did not occupy him more than eight hours. When we take it
into consideration that the laborer is provided with a house and
medical attendance, it is clear that he can support himself for a week
by one day's labor, and with this in our knowledge, can we wonder that
his labor and industry are unsteady?" Mr. Rose, in another part of his
speech, speaking of the decrease that had taken place in the number
of laborers on most estates since the Emancipation, observed, "of
those who have left estates, some have purchased land, paying for it
sometimes as much as £200 sterling."
The Hon. D. C. Cameron, also a member of the Colonial Legislature and
proprietor of several estates, moved the second resolution which was
of similar import to the first, and the following is an extract from
the able and temperate address he delivered. "But I have pleasure in
bearing my humble testimony that the cause of decrease in our crops has
not proceeded from that which was most dreaded, the insubordination of
the freemen of 1838, but from causes which operate in every country
where the soil is rich and the laborers few. Many of our peasantry
have already amassed funds which have enabled them to purchase land of
their own, and are industriously improving it for their own benefit.
They are no longer hired servants; they are owners of houses and lands
which yield them sufficient to supply their wants, and as yet their
ambition extends no further. But the misfortune is, that although
they maintain themselves and families by their industry in this way,
they are unprofitable to the colony. They produce no taxable articles
either for this or the home market. I for one do not complain of this
system;--but on the contrary, believe it will be beneficial to society
in the end, and wait its progress. Hence the necessity for immigration
to fill up the blank occasioned by the independence and comfort of our
former servants. In this colony, sir, every laboring man of ordinary
capacity may, in a few years, become proprietor of land sufficient to
supply all his wants, by laboring upon it for thirty hours in the week.
I am persuaded that it is only necessary to make the capabilities of
our magnificent colony known, to insure us a large influx of emigrants."
Many other speeches were also made declaratory of the anxiety of the
proprietory body to encourage Immigration. But as this communication
has already exceeded the ordinary limits of a letter, I will not
trespass longer on your patience, nor will I detain you by making any
observations on the foregoing extracts. I offer them to you and your
friends as evidence in support of the declaration I publicly made at
Baltimore, that the free colored people of America will derive great
and substantial advantages by emigrating to British Guiana. I am, dear
sir, your most obedient servant,