The Press. — London, England, 1855-09-15 00:00:00

6tPt. 18, 1855. gnmsponttnct. SLAVE LABOUR. TO THE EDITOR OP " THE PRESS." Sir,—The rapid extension of slavery since the passing of Lord J. Russell's bill in 1846, which sti mulated so highly the vile system, has now become a matter for the serious consideration of all who are interested in the behalf of freedom, the best interests of the United Kingdom, and civilisation. I quote the following from Mr. Weld's " Vacation Tour in the United States and Canada," over which, I fear, the slave-owner will smile as he thinks of' his cheap and profitable slave labour, and be highly amused at the writer's credulity in believing the contrary to be the case. Mr. Weld says:— The result of my inquiries in Virginia• leads me to believe that the whites would gladly exchange slavery, which by dishonouring labour introduces idleness, for free work ; but their capital is confined to slaves, and they are obliged to go on in the way of their fathers. . . . The proprietor of the factory, who kindly acted as my guide, assured me the slaves did the work far better than it could be done by machinery Setting aside the terrible ignorance of mechanical principles involved in this reply, it will be evident to the reader that the true reason why the far more economical use of machinery is not employed to do this very simple work—pressing tobacco—is because no capital exists or can be obtained to erect suitable machinery. It is, however, tolerably evident th at, if slave labour is unprofitable to the tobacco manufacturer " because of the terrible ignorance of having no capital to buy machinery," it is not looked upon in the same light by other slave owners in the United States, as only a few pages preceding Mr. Weld gives a description of a slave-auction he witnessed at Richmond, and copies advertisements from American newspapers to the ef fect that, " Slaves are wanted by one party to the extent of 5,000," and that they always paid the highest cost price for them. The result of the sale shows that six negroes, four males and two females, of ages from nineteen to fifty, realised the aggregate sum of 4,883 dollars, or an average of 102/. 12a. The highest in price was a girl of nineteen, sold for 1,005 dole. 2011., and the lowest an old map of fifty for 630 d015. , --- , 126/. If my memnry does not deceive me, the average price per head paid to the British slave-owner, at the period of the emancipation, was some 401. The price of an ablebodied slave in Cuba and the United States in 1845, the year preceding Lord J. Russell's act for the encouragement of slavery by admitting its produce to compete with that of our freemen, was from 701. to 801., and the result of the sale which Mr. Weld at tended at Richmond demonstrates the fact that the value of the slave has been more than doubled in ten years, a fact which can hardly be favorable to his argument and assertion that slave is less profitable than free labour. The average annual value of the agricultriral pro dude taised by the muscle and sinew of the able slave, male and female, to the owner is, at a very low esti mate, 501. A slave hired as a waiter at an hotel, at only one dollar per day, would give the owner an in come of 731. The annual value of all the agricultu ral produce of the United Kingdom has been esti mated by Porter, prior to the advent of free trade, to amount to the sum of 300,000,0001., and in the pro duction of that produce not less than 10,000,000 of our able people were employed, and which gives the value of their produce per head at only 301., against the slaves 501. As to the African negro ever becoming more indus trious, or of better moral or religious character, when free to act for themselves, the lamentable condition of our West India colonies is a direct proof to the contrary ; and in his laudable anxiety for the freedom of the slave, and to raise him in the scale of civilisa tion, Mr. Weld has, I fear, laid himself open to the ridicule of the slave-owners, who know the value of slave labour but too well, as is proved by the Fugi tive Slave Bill, the Nebraska Bill, and sundry other slavery-fostering measures recently adopted by the United States Legislature. If, however,there be really !L desire for the gradual abolition and suppression of slavery, there is a very plain and easy mode by which so desirable an object can be obtained, with certainty, and without the interruption of commerce, viz., by placing a suitably high tariff upon its produce when brought to civilised countries, and by lowering the duties on the free man's produce to the lowest point consistent with fiscal requirements.—Yours, sir, most obediently, Sept. 10th. ANTI-SLAVERY. BOARD OF TRADE TYRANNY OVER CUSTOM HOUSE OFFICERS. TO THE EDITOR OF " THE PRESS." Sir, —Some time ago I addressed to you on the above subject a letter, which you kindly inserted in your influential journal. My remarks had reference to the gross injustice committed by the Board of • Virginia bred and exported 100,000 slaves between 1810 and 1850, which, at the low value of 500 dole., or 1001. cub, ghee a revenue of 10,000,0001. in human flesh alone. THE PRESS. Trade, when, after having induced by a grant of re muneration collectors of customs to accept without objection the duties of shipping-masters, it all at once withdrew that remuneration, and told the officers they must do the work for nothing ! Ido not attach much weight to my humble endeavours, but I am happy to report that by some means or other the object I advocated has been accomplished. In the case of the shipping-masters, the Board of Trade has acknowledged its injustice, retraced its steps, and restored the remuneration so wrongfully taken away. But, as if injustice was a sort of second nature to the Board of Trade, it has, whilst with one hand it doled out redress to the collectors, with the other dealt them even a still more serious blow. It has thrown upon them, without the warrant of any express law, the business of collecting light dues, and taken sway all remuneration for the labour and the great responsibility of such business ! This im position is, I repeat, a more enormous injustice than that which they have acknowledged and redressed, for the duties of a light-dues collector are more onerous; the responsibility is much heavier; the remuneration taken away is of larger amount, and the right to it has existed long enough to afford the parties interested a legitimate prescriptive claim to it. But the Board of Trade arrogates to itself an arbitrary authority not to be called in question! It seizes upon the collectors of customs, and makes them labour like serfs for its own emolument. They work, and it takes all the pay ! Hitherto public boards, when committing injustice (and the in stances are not rare), have thought it judicious to maintain, if possible, an appearance of consistency and fair dealing, but the Board of Trade is too powerful to stoop to hypocrisy. It has the power of acting as unjustly as it pleases, and it exercises that power " like a giant." Can any course be more in consistent than that which it has adopted? It has allowed all collectors of light dues, holding the office at the time when the Board first pounced upon the light duee, to retain the commission they enjoyed; but it has refused to allow one farthing to their suc cessors' who have for years past been looking forward to such remuneration as the mainstay of their latter years of official servitude. Thus there are now two classes of light collectors, doing the same work, and bearing the same respon sibility, but of which, one is fairly remune rated, and the other working by compulsion for nothing ! If it be possible to check an officer's zeal, fill him with disgust and dissatisfaction, and make him do his work badly, such treatment will effect it. But the inconsistency of the Board of Trade has extended further. In one instance, not an unim portant one, compensation has been granted. The salary of the late collector at Liverpool was 1,2001. per annum, and his emoluments from commission on his collection of light dues averaged perhaps 1,0001. per annum extra. The salary of the recently ap pointed collector has been raised to 1,8001. per annum, in order to afford a compensation for the loss of the extra emoluments. But why should the collector of Liverpool be the only party to whom justice is to be done? It is right, I admit, that justice should be done in his case, but it is grossly wrong to deny equal justice to all otherrecontly appointed collectors. The sufferers, however, are at the mercy of the Board of Trade, and therefore they receive no mercy. In a short time the " ne plus ultra" of injustice will be described by the words, " as unjust as the Board of Trade !" I am, Sir, your obedient servant, A SUFFERER. 17th Sept., 1855. Tna following are the ages of the bishops, arranged in order of seniority :—England—Durham, 85; Ban gor, 83; Exeter, 81 ; Canterbury, 75; Peterborough, 75 ; Chichester, 73 ; Worcester, 72 ; Gloucester and Bristol, 72 ; Carlisle, 71; Rochester, 71 ; Ely, 71 ; London, 09 ; York, 07 ; Lichfield, 67 ; Winchester, 65; St. Asaph, 65; Hereford, 84; Norwich, 62 ; Ripon, 61; Chester, 61 ; St. David's, 58 ; Llandaff, 57 ; Bath and Wells, 50 ; Oxford, 50; Manchester, 48; Sodor and Man, 48; Salisbury, 47; and Lin coin, 44. Ireland—Armagh, 82 ; Cork, 74 : Cashel, 72 ; Killaloe, 71; Meath, 69 ; Limerick, 69 ; Dublin, 68 ; Tuam, 63 ; Derry, 62; Ossory, 81; Kilmore, 54 ; and Down, 47. IT has been stated that Marshal Radetzky was the oldest general in Europe. A French veteran,, General Depreaux, has written to the Siecle, denying that such is the case. In fact, compared with General Depreaux, the Austrian Marshal is a mere boy. M. Depreaux was born in 1761 ; entered the army as a private in 1776; in 1793 was General of Brigade (equivalent to major-general in England) ; and in 1 'An Deus of the first republic TM appointed General de Division (lieutenant -general). Now, Marshal Radetzky is only eighty-nine years of age, and has only been seventy-one years in the service, fifty of which as a general; while it thus appears that General Depreaux is ninety-four years of age, has been seventy-nine years in the army, and is a general of sixty-two years' standing. Tits: Coiposrrons' LIBRARY.—This institution was opened on Monday, at No. 3, Raquet•court, Fleet street, and from the catalogue it appears that its shelves are graced by nearly two thousand volumes of sterling merit. The strenuous efforts that have been made by the London compositors for the establish. ment of their library and reading room are at length crowned with complete success. It will, we may hope, prove a stimulus to other bodies of workmen to" go and do likewise." Many of the most valuable wooks contained in the library have been presented by compositors themselves—a fact which says much for the literary taste and judgment of that numerous and important body. One of the most gratifying features of this institution is the alacrity and liberality with which literary men and publishers have come forward to aid the onward progress of the work, thus lending the high sanction of their names and social position to a movement which, if followed by other professions, may be destined to effect a great but peaceful change in the social condition and edu cational acquirements of the industrial classes o: the community. The opening of such an institution as the Compositors' Library and Reading•room is a sig nificant fact. A great social problem is in course of solution, and the compositors of London may well feel proud of the distinguished literary and other aid which has been so generously and spontaneously afforded to them in their praiseworthy efforts at self improvement. Amongst the donors to this institu tion appear the names of the Earl of Harrowby, the Earl of Shaftesbury, the Right Hon. Mr. Gladstone, Major- General T. Perronet Thompson, Messrs. Chambers, the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, and a number of gentlemen whoa* names and influence are never wanting in the cause of educational progress. The catalogue now issued is necessarily incomplete, but an improved edition will doubtless speedily be published, as works continue to come in daily. On the opening-day, indeed, a princely donation of 165 volumes, of sterling merit, and handsomely bound, was received from Prince Albert, affording another proof of the deep interest which the Prince Consort takes in ever7thing affect ing the welfare, intellectually or materially, of the working classes THE following statements in regard Ito the rapid increase of the population and wealth of Canada, and especially of the Upper or Western Province, appear in a paper by Mr. I. Sheridan Hogan, recently pub lished in Montreal, and to which the first prize by the Paris Exhibition Committee of Canada has been awarded :—" In 1829 the population of the Western Province was 196,000 only, and in 1854 it had in creased to 1,237,600. In 1829 the total assessable property of that province, being the real aud per sonal estate of its people, was estimated at 2,500,0004 and in 1854 it was estimated at 50,000,000/, exclu sive of the value of the public lands, the timber upon them, and minerals. The soil of Western Canada is described as rich beyond measure—the deposit of vegetable matter for ages, improved by the ashes of the forest fires, rendering it abundantly productive for several years without extraneous help. The quality of the wheat grown in the province is very superior, and the progress of its export trade in this grain is remarkable. In 1838 the total export of Canada was 296,620 bushels only ; in 1852 it had reached 5,490,718, thus increasing eighteen times in that short period. In 1834 the total im ports and exports of Canada amounted to 2,082,5671.; in 1852 they amounted to 8,898,5241.; and in 1853 to 13,045,684/. In six years the imports and ex ports of Canada have quadrupled. In 1849 the revenue of Canada was 445,578/., and its expenditure 836,7541.: in 1853 the revenue was 1,714,3501., and the expenditure 834,068/. During the last ten years the rate of increase in the population of Western Canada has been 104 per cent.; in Great Britain, for the same period, it has been 13.20 per cent., and in the United States, 35.27 per cent. The total value of the produce of the forests of Canada in 1853 was about 4,500,000/. The mineral wealth of the colony has so far been very partially developed only; copper is occasionally found on Lakes Huron and Superior, in masses of 2,0001b5., in a pure and malleable state. The rivers, lakes, canals, and net work of railways already constructed, and in course of construction, affords means of internal communi cation second to none possessed by any other country in the world. The salubrity of the climate of Western Canada is proverbial the proportion of deaths being 1 in 102, and for all Canada, 1 in 98 ; the proportion for England being 1 in 46, and for the United States, 1 in 74." rontg Varket nb titg ]ntriligtact. ?army Evens'. THE news that Sebastopol had fallen transpired in the City on Monday night, but occasioned a very trifling improvement in the prices of Stocks next day, and even the slight advance which took place at the opening was not maintained. Money has been waig