Edward Carbery

“ Knowing the great want of laborers in British Guiana, and the strong disposition, existing there, to encourage immigration, it immediately occurred to him, that by the transfer of a certain portion of the free colored people of the United States to Guiana, not only might a great benefit be done to that colony, but what all must regard as of still greater importance, a boon of vast value might be conferred upon the free colored people themselves. ”

“ The labor on a plantation is divided into tasks which a laborer of any activity can easily perform in four hours. The lowest rate of wages ever paid, is thirty-three and a third cents a task, and very frequently, much more is given. For cutting cane, attending in the boiling house, boating sugar, and several other kinds of labor, higher wages are always paid. The people employed in making sugar, in addition to their wages, are supplied with food at the expense of the estate. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Persons, who if they remain in the United States, will be confined all their lives to menial and obscure stations, by emigrating to British Guiana, which they may do in twenty days, and without spending a cent, will alter the whole course and prospect of their lives. With industry, application, and sobriety, they will have a moral certainty of rising to a comfortable competency if not to wealth, and of filling with pleasure to themselves and benefit to the community, a respectable station in society. ”

“ There is an Emigration Agent in British Guiana, who is a stipendiary magistrate, and whose duty it is to furnish emigrants, arriving in the colony, with every information, and to prevent any imposition from being practiced upon them. It will appear, from an examination of the above provisions, that all those colored persons from the United States who may emigrate to Guiana, will go out perfectly free and unshackled. On their arrival in the colony, they will be perfectly their own masters, at full liberty to choose any kind of employment which the colony offers ”

“ 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. ”

“ Every laborer on a plantation has a comfortable house, with a plot of ground annexed, capable of raising a much greater quantity of provisions and poultry than the laborer can consume. For this he pays nothing. He is also provided with medical attendance, medicine, and a support at the expense of the estate, gratis, whenever he is sick. Fuel is abundant, and close at hand. It is needed only for cooking, and the laborer has but to help himself. Clothing, which in that climate is very light, may be amply provided, at one-third the expense incurred for that article in the United States. ”

“ The laboring population of Georgetown and its vicinity have erected several handsome chapels at their own expense.
There are numerous Sunday, infant and day schools, for the gratuitous diffusion of knowledge and moral education among the people. On most of the principal estates a school-house is erected, and a teacher provided, where the children of the laborers are entitled to receive instruction free of expense. Great attention is paid throughout the colony to the education of the rising generation. ”

“ The revenue of British Guiana is chiefly derived from a tax on the produce raised in the colony, and duties levied on the imposts. Parish taxes are unknown, and the laborer is exempt from every species of taxation, unless his income amount to five hundred dollars. The militia laws were abrogated, and the colonial militia disbanded soon after the emancipation took place, so that the poor man is not compelled to contribute any portion of his time to the public service. ”

“ 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? ”

“ It is indeed difficult to realize the effect often produced upon a man's conduct and character, when he is removed from the withering effect of the distinction of caste, and raised to an equality of political and social privileges. ”

“ Your Excellency is too exalted in station to listen to praise and commendation, and we too humble to offer them; but we may be allowed to state, with thankfulness, that every act of your Excellency's administration, with reference to us, and to the body to which we belong, has been marked with kindness, benevolence, liberality and justice. And we humbly pray The Almighty Ruler of all Men, that your Excellency may be long spared to us, to afford us your protection. ”

“ The colored classes in British Guiana are wealthy, influential, and highly respectable. Many of them are magistrates, proprietors, merchants with large establishments, and managers of estates receiving liberal salaries. The collector of customs at one of the principal ports, is a person of color, and many others hold public stations. It is evident from these facts that color is no obstacle to advancement or distinction. ”

“ It may be well to observe here that land in the colony is abundant and cheap; and every laborer who is industrious, and will lay by his wages, has it in his power to become a proprietor within a short period.
That there is no danger of overstocking British Guiana with emigrants will appear by the following extract from an address of Mr. John Scoble, delivered at Albany Tuesday evening, Aug. 1st, 1839. He spoke of "British Guiana, a colony on the coast of South America, and one which some think will ere long rival in its wealth and population the State of New York. ”

“ 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 [Pg 22] are unprofitable to the colony. ”

“ Agricultural laborers are always sure of abundant employment and high wages. The labor of agriculture is of various kinds, and may be performed by any man accustomed to work, with little or no previous instruction. It consists principally in cutting up weeds with the hoe, cutting down sugar-cane, and throwing it into boats on the canals, to be transported to the sugar-house ”

“ To prevent contracts being made with emigrants, disadvantageous to them or unfair in any respect, previous to their arrival in the colony, it is provided in the same Orders in Council, chapter third, that no contract of service made out of the colony shall be of any force or effect in it; that no contract of labor shall remain in force for more than four weeks, unless it be reduced to writing; and that no written contract of service shall be binding, unless signed by the name or mark of the persons contracting in the presence of a stipendiary magistrate ”

“ Carbery procured a meeting of several of the free colored people of Baltimore, at which he proposed to them to select two of their own number, in whom they had confidence, whom he would send to British Guiana, free of expense, in order to give them an opportunity to examine the country, to judge for themselves, and to report to their brethren, what the prospects for immigrants really are. ”

“ V. DEMAND FOR LABOR, KINDS OF LABOR, WAGES.
British Guiana possesses a superabundance of the most fertile land. The planters are wealthy, and well provided with the most complete machinery for the manufacture of sugar. The only deficiency is a lack of labor. The harvest is abundant, but the laborers are few. For example,—on a coffee plantation, called Dankbaarheid, in the county of Berbice, belonging to Mr. Carbery, it was estimated by the owner and other competent persons in September last, that the crop of coffee on the trees exceeded one hundred thousand pounds weight. ”

“ All sorts of mechanics are sure of steady employment at wages from one to two dollars per day, according to their skill. Seamstresses and domestics are much needed and will find full employment. Any emigrant who can command a small capital, can open a shop, or set up various kinds of business to good advantage. Georgetown, the capital, situated at the mouth of the river Demarara, is a place of about twelve [Pg 12] thousand inhabitants, and furnishes abundant employment in all those branches of business usually carried on in a commercial town. ”

“ Carbery is also authorized by the society to guarantee to all emigrants, who may accept his offers, maintenance at the colonial expense, and comfortable and commodious lodgings, until they shall succeed in obtaining such employment as they may prefer. ”

“ Carbery is now in Boston, but intends to proceed immediately to New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, for the purpose of establishing Committees of Emigration in each of those cities, whence persons desirous of emigrating may obtain all necessary information. The address of those Committees will be published in the principal newspapers, and due notice will be given of the intended sailing of vessels with emigrants. Persons with families desiring to emigrate will meet with particular encouragement, but no person of good character will be refused a free passage. ”

“ Relieved from these impediments, transferred to a country where they will be secured in the enjoyment of equal social and political rights, they will become new creatures, and many of them will display talents and capacity of which they are not now suspected. ”

“ To these laborers there was paid during the month of October, in weekly payments, $1229 16, or an average of $11 60, to each laborer, exclusive of house rent, provision grounds, fuel, medical attendance, and many gratuities beside. It is to be considered that this average amount of wages was earned by men, women, boys and girls, including many old people and invalids, who did but very little, and whose pay was therefore small. It therefore must be obvious that the more active and industrious of the laborers, earned from fifteen to twenty dollars, a month. ”

“ The only portion of this fertile country which has yet been settled and cultivated, is a narrow strip extending along the coast, and a little distance up the mouths of the principal rivers, together with some islands at the entrance of the Essequebo. ”

“ The same fields are cultivated in constant succession, and no manure is ever used. The canals not only serve to drain and irrigate the land, but also to convey the canes, when cut, to the sugar-house. Sugar and coffee are principally cultivated. ”