four o'clock. It commenced almost water; right underneath these two were without any warning or indication, the a French bark and a brig. Nearer to barometer standing steady, about 30 the shore lay the Spanish war steamer, degrees, up to that time, and within Nunez de Velasco, and a French mail one hour a great part of the town was steamer, these two alone, out of the in ruins. Stone-built houses were many vessels lying in the harbour, lived hurled together, and vessels in the through the hurricane. Dotted over the harbour were either sunk, smashed to harbour were masts showing a few feet pieces, or driven ashore dismasted. above water, marking the spots where Some of the crews were saved with the various schooners and other craft difficulty, but a large number were had gone down; and on the beach all drowned, and many persons ashore around lay other vessels, hurled by the were crushed under their falling houses force of wind and wave far upon the or knocked down and killed by up- land, some positively in the streets of rooted trees, tiles and slates which were the town. A further survey showed flying about with fearful velocity. On more equally terrible casualties. Round the following morning (Wednesday) the island to the left of the town, the inhabitants wandered from their looking from the sea, lay in one cluster, dismantled houses, there to realize the immense destruction, to look after the dying, and to recover and bury the dead. The shore was strewed with the washings of the ocean, timbers and spars of vessels, smashed boats, &c.; here and there a corpse. five large steamers, including the Derwent, belonging to the Royal Mail Company, so crushed together that to distinguish masts and funnels proper to each was impossible. The sad intelligence came that other steamers of the company were lost at As viewed from the sea the spectacle sea; the Wye and the Rhone with 150 of desolation was equally appalling. souls on board had perished. The The harbour was seen strewn with Tyne, sadly crippled, her foremast and wrecks, the lighthouse gone, and many its rigging lying on the deck, steamed houses roofless. A confused mass, near into the harbour, bringing the intellithe middle of the harbour, built up of gence. By four o'clock on the afternoon crushed hulls, broken spars, and, loose of the 30th October, 292 bodies had cordage, was formed by the ship, been washed and buried. The anxiety British Empire, lately out from England and suspense of the friends of the with 3,800 tons of coals for the use of seamen and passengers felt at Souththe Royal Mail Company; alongside her ampton before the arrival of the Douro was the steamer Columbian, belonging was most intense. The list of the saved to the West Indian and Pacific Steam has been read by hundreds of anxious Navigation Company, in from Liver- eyes to ascertain whether the name of a pool, but half an hour before the awful husband, a son, a brother, or a friend crash came, with a cargo valued at more was enrolled among those who had than £200,000, and now showing nothing escaped with their lives. The conbut funnel, masts and rigging above sternation and distress of the great majority was indescribable. A sub-between the foot of the ridge and the scription is open for the relief of the sea, but of no great extent. The wives and families of those who have industry of the people was being perished, under the auspices of he directed to cotton, of which 35,533 lbs. Mayor of Southampton. The loss of were exported in 1867. The exports the Royal Mail Company is estimated amounted in value to £8,638; they at £240,000 sterling. The Consul at St. Thomas offers to receive subscriptions, and would have made an appeal for the black population who have suffered, but some of them, he says, have behaved badly. TORTOLA. It is consisted chiefly of cattle and small stock, and cotton. The trade was conducted almost entirely with the Danish island of St. Thomas. Of those who made any religious profession, the majority were Wesleyans. Forty per cent. of the births were illegitimate. The Blue Book of the colony for 1865 gave an unfavourable account of the progress of education in Tortola. No This island, the scene of a great calamity, in the recent hurricane, belongs to Great Britain, having become children over twelve years of age were a British possession in 1666. admitted into the daily schools of the twelve miles in length, and four miles Church or Wesleyans, it being desired in breadth, and consists mostly of a that they should be then engaged in range of hills rising to 1,600 feet in husbandry, but the Colonial Secretary elevation. On the northern paat is a reported that, in fact, the growing harbour within which the principal generation was less disposed to labour town is placed. The government was than the preceding, and that every vested in a President and Executive year showed the labouring population Council, and a Legislature. The to be fast falling into a state of semiPresident was Sir Arthur Rumbold, barbarism. Bart., who arrived at the end of the year 1865, succeeding Mr. Longden. The population was estimated at 6,441, of whom scarcely a twelfth was white. The cultivation of sugar, once con- of the Freed-men's Bureau, has written siderable, had almost been abandoned; a letter in reply to an inquiry made of the island was not adapted for it. The him, whether the negro population has single ridge which formed the island of increased or decreased since 1860. He Tortola, was from 800 to 1,200 feet states that carefully prepared statistics high, with sides so steep that they warrant the conclusion that since 1860 could only be cultivated in terraces, the aggregate negro population of the supported by low stone walls; and the United States has increased. The decost of carrying canes to the mill would crease, heretofore alleged, he says, was alone make the cultivation of sugar based in part on his report of last year, unprofitable at the present ordinary which was estimated from meagre, and prices. There are some fertile spots in some cases, inaccurate statistics. NEGRO POPULATION IN THE The apparently diminished rate of in- teachers, of whom 699 are negroes and crease of that population in the entire 130,735 negro scholars. The negroes South is accounted for by negro popu- however own 391 school buildings, and lation from 1850 to 1860. General pay the tuition fees of 10,026 of these Howard estimates that at the close of scholars. The Bureau during eleven the rebellion they numbered 4,500,000. months ending with August expended As a reason for an increase during the $3,597,397. The Bureau goes out of war, he says that with the exception of existence by legal limitation in July, about 250,000 who were in the Northern 1868. army, the negroes were "but little TORTOLA. The following despatch was received Nov. 22nd, at the Colonial Office from Sir A. Rumbold, President of the Island of Tortola : Virgin Islands, Tortola, Oct. 31, 1867. My Lord Duke-It is my most painful duty cane burst over these Islands yesterday. The storm lasted from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., but the greatest force was from 12 to 2. In that brief space of time two-thirds of the miserable tenements of the town were blown down, the gaol destroyed, the church, the hospital, pier, school house, Wesleyan chapel, and poor house are also destroyed, and my own dwelling unroofed, and rendered uninhabitable. The exposed to the hazards and vicissitudes DESPATCH FROM THE PRESIDENT OF of war, and to a great extent preserved their organization as labourers throughout the struggle. One of the best arguments against the theory of gradual extinction, based upon the alleged thriftlessness of freedmen is found in to acquaint your Grace that a terrific hurrithe fact, that, despite the terrible drought of 1866 and the consequent failure of crops, and discouragement of farm labourers, and despite damaging rains, and overflow in the Mississippi valley, during the present year, the cotton crop of 1867 is estimated by high authority at 2,500,000 bales, being nearly two-thirds of the largest crop ever produced, and the grain crop is double any ever raised in the Southern States, while there has been a fair yield of rice, sugar, and tobacco." The annual report of the Freed-men's Bureau, which will be presented to Congress this month, will show that during the last fiscal year the Bureau furnished an average daily of 11,658 rations to destitute persons in the South; that it possesses 215,024 acres of abandoned land, and 959 different lots and buildings in towns; that it gave relief to 233,372 persons, the highest number being in July, 82,000, and considerably more than half being destitute whites; that it has in operation 2,207 schools, with 2,442 loss of life cannot as yet be correctly ascertained. I have, however, already been officially informed of above twelve deaths in the town-two at Peter's Island, two at West End; while I hear that a quantity of people are killed in other parts of the country, and scarcely a hut or habitation is left standing. All was bright and verdant; the withering blast has passed over it, and not a fruit or other tree remains. The works of the few remaining estates are all totally destroyed. It is impossible for any pen to convey an accurate account of the appalling misery. There is not fifty pounds in the public chest, and the chief tax-the house tax of the year— is just falling duc, and of course caunot be collected. If ever any calamity appealed to public sympathy, I am confident this will awaken it, and I trust your Grace will be able to point out some hope of relief, as we cannot levy any taxes from this impoverished community. I shall send down to St. Thomas as soon as I can get a boat to go; but all the sloops and canoes belonging to the place are either destroyed or very much damaged, and I do not know how soon I may be able to do so; and I trust, from charity and other sources, we may be able to obtain some flour and corn meal; meanwhile starvation, or very like it, appears to be impending, for nearly all the small store of flour in the town was damaged by the tremendous sea which swept in and carried away houses and individuals. I forgot to add that the doctor's house is destroyed, the clergyman's very much damaged, and I and my family are compelled to take refuge in the public offices, where the paupers and police are also sheltered. (Signed) I have &c., His Grace the Duke of Buckingham and Chandos, &c. ignoring these elections. It seems to be settled that, in a vast number of places, scarcely any whites went to the polls. It is clear that a white man's movement,' which shall if possible rescind the negroe's new right to the ballot-box and the jury box, and radically modify the reconstruction policy of Congress, is among the new hopes and aims which have been excited at the South, by President Johnson's policy and by the deter mined tone of some late elections at the North. Some of the late slaveholders have even gone so far, on the strength of what has happened, as to prepare lists of the slaves held by them at the breaking out of the rebellion, with the idea of making a claim hereafter "at a proper time" for their then current cash value. Verily there are none so blind as those who will not see. The yellow fever has been declared no longer epidemic at New Orleans. P. S. The deaths in Road Town amount to The council of New Orleans have undertaken 22-1-20th of the population. THE SOUTH. to repeal the School ordinances, but the Mayor has vetoed their action, and his veto is sustained. The Congregational and Boston Recorder says: "Four of the seceded States, Louisiana, A GLORIOUS FUTURE FOR AFRICA.-The Alabama, Georgia and Virginia, have now African Repository gives some most interwheeled into line, and by large majorities esting statements under the above heading. voted to hold a convention to reorganize their On the western coast alone, within the last State governments in accordance with the act fifty years, some two hundred Christian of Congress. Twenty five negroes were churches have been organized, and upwards elected to the convention in Virginia. Of of fifty thousand hopeful converts have been course this result has been achieved only by gathered into those churches. Two hundred the help of the negro vote which went almost schools, several seminaries, and a College at in solid phalanxes against the policy of the Monrovia, are in operation, and not less than old rebel leaders. Only about 600 negroes in twenty thousand native youths are receiving the entire State of Virginia could be per- a Christian training in those institutions at suaded, or coerced, into voting the conserva- the present day. Thirty different dialects tive ticket. Senator Wilson, who comprehends have been studied out and reduced to writing, the whole matter at least as well as any other into most of which large portions of sacred man in the nation, predicts that thirty out of Scripture, as well as other religious books, thirty-seven States will cast their votes next have been translated, printed, and circulated fall for Gen. Grant as the Republican candi- among the people; and it is believed that date for President; and he says that the some knowledge of the Christian salvation reports now coming from the South, that has been brought within the reach of five there is danger of a negro insurrection are millions of immortal beings who had never utterly false and merely manufactured to before heard of the blessed name of the influence the Northern elections. The Con- Saviour. Bright Christian lights now begin servatives,' with that eminent unwisdom to blaze up at intervals along a line of sea which seems to cling to them like a fatality, coast of three thousand miles, where unbroken have largely laid up grief for themselves by night formerly reigned. THE NEGROES IN ALABAMA. A correspondent gives an interesting account of the recent election in Alabama, which looks quite hopeful as to the docility and intelligence of the coloured men there. We make a brief extract : To the Editor of the "Freed-Man." Dear Sir, I have just finished my operations in Jersey and Guernsey. The following is a correct account of the moneys collected for Canada. The amounts do not include the sale of books, &c. We have just held our election in regard to a Convention, and delegates to it, according I feel it my duty to add, that I was everyto the order of Gen. Pope, as the initiatory where most cheerfully received, and my measure for re-construction, and the result sincere thanks are due to the kind and has been triumphant in favour of the Radical generous people of the Channel Islands. PerRepublicans. In this County, some 3,000 mit me to say that sympathy for our cause is Freed-men appeared at the polls-proud of not decreasing, but on the contrary, the the privilege for the first time of exercising people seem delighted to hear of the success the right of franchise-all deeply in earnest the Freed-men are making in the education for the success of that party which achieved of their children, as well as raising themselves for them their liberty, and secured to them in the scale, of being as men, which is to me, equal rights with the white man. Their for- not only a source of pleasure, but encouragemer masters used every means in their power, ment. Yours truly, by promises, and threats, and deceptive arts, to induce them to vote the Conservative ticket -but all to little avail. They seemed to understand what they were about. When coloured men were proposed as delegates, they refused to vote for them-saying they wanted men for such offices who were wiser than they, and knew better how to form a State Constitution. They are sensible of their ignorance, but are learning fast. BE MASTER, AND NOT BE MASTERED.-It is not by regretting what is irreparable that true work is to be done, but by making the best of what we are. It is not by complaining that we have not the right tools, but by using well the tools we have. Where we are, and what we are, is God's providential arrangement; and the wise and manly way is to look our disadvantages in the face, and see what can be made of them. Life, like war, is a series of mistakes, and he is not the best Christian, nor the best general, who makes the fewest false steps. Poor mediocrity may do that; but he is the best who wins the most splendid victories by the retrieval of mistakes. Forget mistakes; organize victory out of mistakes.-Christian Treasury. DR. TOMKINS is visiting the schools in the West. He mentions in his letter an article in the FREED-MAN which has not yet reached us. W. H. JONES. MONEYS COLLECTED by the Rev. W. H. Jones, in Jersey and Guernsey, to be devoted to educational purposes for the Freed-men in Canada. Prince of Wales's Assembly Rooms, £ s. d. 4 10 0 ... 4 0 0 |