PUBLIC SENTIMENT ABOUT COLOR. 



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belong, and public opinion does not recognise any social 

 distinctions based exclusively upon color. Of course, cul* 

 tivated or fashionable people will not receive colored per* 

 sons of inferior culture and worldly resources, but the rule 

 of discrimination is scarcely more rigorous against those 

 than against whites. They are received at the " King's 

 House'' — it is thus the Governor's residence is styled — • 

 and they are invited to his table with fastidious courtesy, 

 The wife of the present Mayor of Kingston is a " brown" 

 woman — that is the name given to all the intermediate 

 shades between a decided white and decided black com- 

 plexion — so also is the wife of the Receiver General him- 

 self, an English gentleman, and one of the most exalted 

 public functionaries upon the island. 



A circumstance occurred shortly after I arrived, which 

 may be interesting to some in this connection. It was 

 proposed by some of the officers stationed near Kingston, 

 and gentlemen resident in and about the city, to give a 

 public ball. They proceeded to engage the theatre for the 

 occasion. Some Jews who, as a class, incline to indemnify 

 themselves for their exclusion from the society of the whites 

 by striking an alliance with the people of color, circulated 

 among the latter a report that the committee on invitations 

 to the ball had resolved, that " no colored person, Jew or 

 Dog," should be invited. Of course the story produced 

 considerable excitement among those most concerned. 



