The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1839-12-10 00:00:00

• o , AFFAIRS OF THE WEST INDIES. (31\14, NEGLECT AND FOREIGN FROYI ' (p • • TIATION. rum Rlackwood's Magazine for December.) Arsons. tan of ss the various fired preasing interests, the considera lbhar'iswhieh is now brought hoine, to the British empire, to cone which is of such paramount and growing im sta7oli the extension of our Colonial Empire, and the tiknesti‘• 111 be Riot our connexion with it. The more minutely and a ete : t t hat our social condition at home is considered, the found that the inainteriatice, not only of our tir b i y a : Prosperity but of our national independence, is en tia 4 Pendent upon promoting the groystiaand maintaining othe r ", nexura with - our colonies; and • that oar trade with rao,untries; so far from being a source of strength, may the nce t __ . b . e converted into the greatest cause of weakness on a ke t e :t occasion in which this country is engaged in a man %Sort's- - I :ata r nat est• The facts on this subject which are to be , 'rest s littleuk our Parliamentary Reports are of the very highest colsoi`i n hs ee, and perfectly decisive of the vast superiority of foreign commerce. Nevertheless, that they are 'rests n ( ltvn, even by those whose whole fortune and in- Saki, ar e Wound up with the subject, appears in the most 4e dg manner from the astonishment which the facts con ate4gsvith this subject never fail to exajisi when stated to an its ,pent and respectable assembly ; and, unless these facts lesstsl,stantly brought home to the public mind, and come at a li Z ti `:•_ lo influence the treasures of government by the ac ilatetiated force of public thought, it may confidently be pre- C th aw. at a cata - stroplie, at s ome future and possibly not t4 tillar Tied, awaits the British empire, greater , p erha p s, ever.yet befallen any civilized nation. . 1 / 4 tyaPeace; have now been so long in the enjoyment of pr ofound er a ' l n in the possession of an export commerce to ever y h Of the globe, that the older part of the present gene_- ,t'4at i t ~.a . v e torgotten, expo ounger nevea have experienced, ust, i ts "as tolave the t trade of England to nearly all luta, however colonieS closed by foreign hostility. Fortu raob,'.ol' nowever, the experiment has been tried, and a durable clita es l ! m t remains of the consequences whin result to all law.oitii this county y from such a stoppage in the vent , for d s a cs ' l i ce. 'ln 'the' year 1811, the hostility of Napoleon voil e eu all the harbours in Europe against our commerce, fa t , e ",le Americans, by a new intercourse act, shut us out vas el'Y harbour in the United States. The consequence 1 81 6 , taat the exports of Great Britain, which, in the year tat,,, a mounted to forty-three millions, sank in the next year talre b ei l t Y'severi ; and the fall in the exports and imports % r.- -together for the one year, amounted to no less than th, a Y ,six millions. Mr, Brougham, in terms no less just Ur c e '° l l;ient, in the debate upon the Repeal of the Orders 134 ,, °ailed 18P,-thus described the state to which the ‹ n ll acturitia districts in England were reduced by this Lar c h y t Y ,- -" ' Take for example, one of our great staples, the kioar , 'and look to Warwickshire, where it used to tim e ` • - and its neighbourhood. a district of L ige, in taileS'round that centre, was - formerly but one vil 400,00'nay say one continued workshop, peoPled with about Sh at of the most industrious and skilful of mankind. In si ieo state do you now find that once busy hive of men ? rest t ' till, and desolate during half the week; fordsuring 'the st o f a . te ak ., miserably toiling at reduced wages, af e Y sufficient to maintain animal life in the lowest state vietufort, and at all times swarming withunhappy persons, anxious to work for their lives , but unable to find cat7.Ylafiet. He must have a stout heart within him, who su n ch a scene and not shudder. But even this is not art 'natters are getting worse and worse ; th e manufacturers th„‘"•iting for your decision, and if that be against them ka f,, will instantly yield to their fate, and turn adrift the whoin they still, though inadequately, support with , ° ; Y r nent."—" In the West Riding cl Yorkshire, the ap th cas to the parish officers have so alarmingly increased, fa: t t ii th eY have given repeated warnings to the master menu- Iltt er r " ,- and I believe to the higher authorities, of their fey it Inability to relieve the inereasing distress,- or to answer ,narked consequences. Among other c ircumstances which 4 %.1 this part of the case, there was one pe culiarl y affect lai'd`d° every oae who heard it. It had been proved that at ea t i a e ,rininster, where the great carpet manufacture is almost ta ar 7,lY destroyed, the wants of the poor became so pressing, to re ."ley were forced to part with their little stock of furni fottZnich used to snake their cottages in some degree coin antii i . e s , and • even the .clothes off their backs, to raise food, ,Lie pawnbrokers, having already loaded themselves Nast such , s a "a'n ueposits, refused to issue any more tickets. But " e meld the same feature recurred in a heightened and ltrin',l,nore striking forth. - The workmen in the cutlery trade, ter Te to s and merchantsany onger or their brokersal usu market refusing from to purchase the Inas- a by dealers vaiti a tion .for money' 41 9 r e, were co m pelled to pawn their articles at a very low and even for food and cloth es ; so that ta t! extraordinary state of things arose—the pawnbrokers viT•e into the London market.with the goods, and there met det, 4 the regular dealer, whom they were able greatly to un- La se d il, in such wise as s to supply to a considerable degree the th, ,Pn and other markets, to the extreme augmentation of cistresses already so severely pressing upon this branch • Erad e ,r* . NOw • • tO• th. , in order to appreciate the misery that would ensue tha"„ 18 country from a similar stoppage in its eapert trade at erer e sent time we have only to reflect upon the vast in take of exports, imports, and population, which have since whi s t 's, ,Place •, we have only tb recollect that our exports, to :" tri 1810 were forty-three millions, had, -in 1838, risen ah i lle hundred and five ; and that our imports, in 1809 were thirty-one millions, had risen in 1838 to fia.‘ l "cne millions"; and that _our population , which at the N ow el :;Period was seventeen Millions, is now twenty-five. ila ceri "' such wide-spread and heart-rending misery was pro facta,.-",wlen, what would be its effects now, when the mann tagettlg establishments of the country have nearly tripled, tiaa' al lr manufacturing population•has advanced in a propor ad:2lnheard of in 'any . other age or country? It may cow. c 0 ,., 1 ,Y be affirmed, that the MiSery, be gdeastation, and social a er luisions that would ensue, would greater than ever yet experienced in the world. fo rei we look at the jealousy with which we are regarded by 4titiP MverS, and the general aspect 'of the political world tt , Tit l s s tirie, we shall see to reason to believe that the ele tll4t °t strife are awanting in the political atmosphere, or sathe time is far distant when war, even on as great a scale areas"s waged With 'Napoleon, must be undertaken by the are i empire. With Russia, it is universally admitted, We tia a ' 1 a state closely bordering on hostility ; it is only a ques rceri of time when that gigantic contest is to arrive. The a ing . aspect of the Baltic, of .the thirty ships of the line g ready, and thirty thousand land troops ready at a mo vheellt's'. warning to embark in them—of the Dardanel l e s, a t t lie fifteen British ships of the line are constantly stationed wh er ae back door of the Russian empire—of Affghanistan, ti a s s e,twenty thousand British troops are permanently sta- Za in the very heart of .Asia,—all demonstrate' that both h - l•les are preparing - fors a;reat contest, and that it will tieete,arried on on a scale that will render the world itself the :of battle. And on whom are we to rely for maritime e u rr rt sue t f a contest ? Is it on the Austrians, who . 1 1 lot furnish a ship of the line ar two frigates to save t a ga nd.froin destruction ? or on the French, who, what be haail dread of Nicholas, and separate interests at Algiers, h ie _c a di awn off from the alliance at the very first out /silo's', of hostilities in the Archipelago ? or , the Americans, cunt government is so weak, and their hostility to this fo r so inveterate, that thousands of armed pirates have the ;-`, O Years back kept up an almost incessant warfare upon than 'frontier? • Everything indicates that a great ar r i, , IT ne contest is not far distant, and that, when it does 0 w r' will have to depend almost entirely upon our Fsources for our defence. str '" - et nn are these resources, then, particularly our maritime e al l / 4e l gth, in such a state as to warrant ns in an reasonable o l , e c ations•that we shall be able to maintain our maritime blu4 l° ,ritY in the contest, and avert the evils of actual th e ' t oe from the British harbours ? The preparations of lin e , e , n ,emY are well known : they have thirty ships of the I:lat ti - c e u eighteen frigates constantly in commission in the Ra ll y fifteen ships of the line and twelve frigates con whiel?ilp readiness in the Euxine. In considering the force Stich Aigland has at her command to resist aggression from da ys enemy, we shall not go back to the higher palmy ha e k Yr British exertion during the war; we shall not go hundred the year 1809, when the British navy consisted of two Ices and forty-two ships of the line, and a thousand and te" armed vessels of all sizes. We shall content oar vit th with reverting to a humbler and more parallel period, hes oia , e state of the British navy in 1838 compared with 1792. and . the revolutionary war commenced, and when the na val •to• w h i tarY establishments of tbe country were on the scale ' ll ,. Joseph Hume always refers n as the m e pita ultra o t h_. 9! economic perfection. Now, upon turning to i,eoie.• documents, viz. the returns of the navy in 1792, th e ,_!?y . Mr. James in his Naval Historyal' we shall tind that pez i i s e 7 st s o iv o - e d n a a s v f al oll e o sr s b : l_ishments of the country at the - two Line in Frigates in . Line, ordinary 1 792 Commis. Commis. and building. 1838, 26 52 124 21 9 70 • Frig a t es , ordi- Total Total Grand Tot al a 1792 nary and build. Line. Fr i g ates. of all Vessels. 153 115 411 1838: 84 But 90 99 363 "Pabl ePerhaps it will be said, that though the British n av y w its in ~t2t. meeting an enemy, is not thus one-half of what it ride 92 , yet this is because the resources of the country so maintainfallen off, that it was not able at the latter period to at th_the defensive establishment which was in existence exauleinteornier. • To ascertain whether this is the case, let us a4d u n - what was the state of the population, our exports the „ a _P L Orts, at these two periods, as affording a measure of e aut `cian ailtnre, manufactures, and general resources of the r Y• They stood respectively as follows:: population of 1792. 1838. f Great Britain p.x nand Ireland 12,680,000 27,250,000 rt s . 0fficia1£24,904,850 £105,170,549 '"ori s. value aaan a ,.. Official value £19;659,358 £61,268,320 hu .' .................... 1,540,145 2,785,387 • tish s s , it appears that since 1792 the population of the Bri tripl'esdands has more than doubled, the imports more than the ei4l exports more than quadrupled, and the commer of was Y.increased about seventy per cent., while the ships sta, z 4' .a ln all branches, have sunk to nearly half of their Wh en 4 - in ' 1792 . This, too, has taken place during a time Plied ti l c e , colonial empire of Great Britain has been multi `ve a re b r v o e five-fold, and the chances of hostility with which hate beei nght in contact at different points over the globe, svhig..r4seiaaereased in a similar proportion. We invite the t a lsey caa nl I writers to examine and contradict these facts if 11 th e I :,and submit them to the deliberate consideration of of °ti er reasoners and of all the intemperate admirers It • ocratic wisdom throughout the realm. mlteta Possible for any one who is a friend to his country alar m plate s uc h a state o f t hi ngs w ith ou t the most serious exp erie an alarm whi c h i s on l y ren d ere d the greater from the aye ats aced difficulty of getting such future and contingent thi s 0 ' 11 ‘ t ? . crest the attention of government or the nation in cons idered a , • But, "dims- aae above all, if the matter is seriously tt • , a_na .r? it we reflect upon the imminent hazards of a British - ll ama the miserable state of preparation in which the ha the is to meet it, and the awful effects which will i curs a stoppage of trade, and the blockade of our har- IVorsa "stile squadrons, it must be evident that no more. atte • nt subject uta io ss of consideration ever was submitted to the JeOt with the a thinking nation. And we dwell upon the sub ''tl' a whole is more earnestness, because, when our situation is 1y , . I fairly looked in the face, and the policy which i 11_ a nd interest alike fa " ground prescribe, is adopted, there not only . ta re ~ for alarm, but the most satisfactory prospects of to be and welfare are opened on all sides to the be f•„ mir :A!s.in our colonies that this source of strength is alatitic it is in our descendants on 'the other side of the i ' l _ n liPacific, that we are to look - alike for the only e . te.trie ri t s n 7 et for our produce , ' and the only undecaying ;', l"jee t Were rt. strength. Some very striking facts on this the o ccasion brought forward upon the late !dinner given upon he ealari tt , at Glasgow the embarking of the first emigrants to New do r e, as x Y 4 ,la_agovs ; and we willingly give a place to them e, she in calculabinle importance of the British colonies, 'stem" o T ti t i o the extension, but to the independence and ex t};‘ Let us e 1 mother country. e i tn no loner strain," said Mr. Sheriff Alison, " after 0f... pr th aeticahl t , e t ors attempt to disarm the commercial jealousy ,ae f a c,„ d irect states ; but, boldly looking our situation in Vara i ;:an c are i ct our main efforts to the strengthening, donci be f4 a r,; ie nereasing of our Colonial Empire. There is to ';t l ,ere ars ", bone of our bone, and the flesh of our flesh. satia oh . q to be found the true descendants of the Anglo tast rd ce ;there ' es, the people, who, already imbued with our c euta • " r habits, our artificial n ee , t __ wants, must be chained for agricultural or pastoral employments, and can J a , * Parli amen t ary D e b a t es , xx iii. 548. 424, mess Naval History, H. 404 ; Barrow's Anson, App. 18381:qtees Parliamentary Tables and Finance Accounts for DEC. 6. J. -R. Allred and n and D. Li_ n tt le i . Mullin.Liv al 7 n d D. Hodgson '- Rochdale, 041°11 .... roa ch propriet" lamshire, grocer' , merchants' a Rooms, Lci, i ik n er, an d l. swift, Licee ° Leer. paper- mow Cheapside, Lon• ape-maker s. ins, Lancashire, ', London, drug' Re* , R. Cull, - a ik eharn Notw o : t bee' 3°'W •r —Dec. !r —Dec. SO, B . !sman — P ec. List—Jan. 3. J. D. Pee n 1. E. Ro w ,er. , zardmore '',. ifactur ers—ln: aton, Lane-eetiru. Lnchester , do Lry, on or beta ° .?s, Di r nchestcr, 11 conwute d cwt. iss 5d P r t he thereon 00 vERrooL. BOO' n Roolns. I I tto, .adcNG% a Rooms , tto, I tto. tto, 1. Al), 12 !to, t'eltester , 1 ! 1 Rooms, ' 12 to, I to, 2 ,to, It ,to, 12 )itto, I to, ....,„„/ .TION, t PaCkdi Due. on. &T les. & S at". Liverpool, Dec. 6• opossul"' Dec. 2 1. 7 . nger, nee" Pen guins Dec. 2 " . ExPr es '' " Nov. 20 LB. mutitie' Dec. __________ ........: ~..' 36 DION• i 3 eV"' 35 nO nli 'VI • ,er9-35 , Lye". rr. 1. 44 ••• • ' a.,t we e 05 - _- 7. iltS • •• y, E~'l• •oott • ar girls ;..tß Olit the • . ~t 1 4 110 1 ' 1 ' . on. ,aid, lkjr; Of till ( , t , r. r e te rir• :ter, of r‘ r t, ,nory S. o°, s J- 41 ' et. o f 0% , c eol ll- he A g s Nod' by NY, I " 0,4 [Cb t pr• GRATIS] only obtain from the mother country the immense amount of manufactured produce which their growing wealth and num bers must require. So strongly, gentlemen, am I impressed with these principles—so clearly do I see the future path traced out to England, not less by her duty than her inter ests, that there is no one circumstance in her present condi tion, not even those which are most justly considered as preg nant with danger and alarm, that they may not be converted into the source of blessings, if a decided and manly course is taken by the nation and its Government in regard to its co lonial interests. Indeed, so clearly does this appear that one is almost tempted to believe that the manifold political and social evils of our present condition, are the scourges in tended by Providence to bring us back, by necessity and a sense of our own interests, to those great national duties from which we have so long and so unaccountably swerged. Are we oppressed with a numerous and redundant population ? Are we justly apprehensive that a mass of human beings, al ready consisting of five-and4wenty millions, and multiplying at the rate of a thousand souls a-day, will ere long be unable to find subsistence within the narrow space of these islands ? Let us turn to the Colonies, and there we shall find. bound less regions, capable of maintaining ten times our present population in contentment and affluence, and which require only the surplus arms and mouths of the parent state, to be converted into gigantic empires, which, before a century has elapsed, may overshadow the greatness-even of European re nown. Are we justly fearful that the increasing manufac turing skill and growing commercial jealousy of the Conti tental states may gradually shut us out from the European market, and that our millions of manufacturers may find their sources of foreign subsistence fail at a time when all home employments are filled up ?, Let us turn to the Colonies, and there we shall see empires of gigantic strength rapidly rising to maturity, in which manufacturing establishments cannot for centuries take root, and in which the taste for British manufactures, and the habits of British comfort, are indelibly implantedon the British race. Are we overburdened with the weight of our ; poor-rates and the multitude of our paupers, and • trembling under the effect of the deep-rooted discontent produced in the attempt to withdraw public sup port from the maintenance of the adult and healthy labourer? Let us find the means of transporting these healthy workmen to our colonial settlements, and we shall confer as great a blessing upon them as we shall give a relief to the parent state. Are we disquieted by the rapid progress of corruption in our great towns; and alarmed at the enormous mass of fe male profligacy which, like a gangrene, infests these great marts of pleasure and opulence ? Let us look to the Colo nies, and there we shall find states in which the population is advancing with incredible rapidity, but in which the greatest existing evil is, the undue and frightful preponderance of the male sex ; and that all that is wanting to complete their means of increase is, that the proportion should be righted-by the transfer to distant shores of part of the female population which now encumbers the British isles. Are the means to transport these numerous and indigent classes to these distant regions awanting, and has individual emigration hitherto been liable to the reproach that it removes the better class of our citizens who could do for themselves, and leaves the poorest who encumber the land ? The British navy lies between, and means exist of transporting, at hardly any expense to the pa rent state, all that can ever be required of our working popue lotion from that part of the empire which they overburden, to that to which they will prove a blessing. Gentlemen, I agree with my eloquent and esteemed friend, Dr. M`Leod, that it is astonishing the attention of Government has not ere this been turned to this subject. And why, I would ask, may not part, at least, of the British navy be constantly employed in transporting emigrants of all classes to our Colonial, pos sessions ? Why should two hundred vessels of different sizes, that are now in commission in the British navy, be employed only in useless parades, when hundreds of thousands on the British-shores are pining for the means of transport across the seas, and millions of acres on the other side of the ocean, teeming with verdant fertility, await only their robust hands to be converted into a terrestrial paradise ? Why should the British navy not be employed, like the Roman legions in time of peace, in works of public utility ? and why should their ef forts not construct causeways across the deep, which would bind together the immense circuit of the British Colonial dominions, as strongly as the highways constrocted by the legions cemented the fabric of their mighty empire ? in this view the last inconvenience attending a redundant pauper poptilation—that of being with difficulty removed, would ue converted into an clement of national strength, because it would induce all classes cheerfully to acquiesce in the dupli cation of our naval force, from which they all derive such obvious advantages; the navy would augment in size and grow in usefulness under such a salutary system ; and the very quality which Adam Smith long ago remarked as the greatest obstable to the improvement of the human race, that of being the lumber which it is of all others the most difficult to transport, would become the means of augmenting the . maritime force of England, and strengthening the, unseen chain which holds together the far distant provinces of its mighty dominion." We cannot help thinking that the suggestion here ma- c,-of directing a part at least of the British navy to the removal of such part of our population as desire it, to our colonial pos sessions, is well worthy of the most serious consideration. It must be evident to every one Who considers the extraordinary reduction which has taken place in our naval force during the last thirty years. and which has brought it down from two hundred and forty ships of the line to eighty, that we have fallen now into an economical and commercial generation; and that the rulers of the state, -and the democratic constituo encies who direct the rulers, are entirely governed by that passion , for present econo:ny, and that disregard of future ob jects, which is the invariable characteristic of the masses of mankind. No surprise - need be excitellat a democratic com munity being influenced by such want of foresight, when all the eloquence of Demosthenes was unable to persuade the most enlightened of the states of antiquity to take any steps to ward off the danger arising from the invasion of Philip of Macedon ; and all the wisdom of Washington, was unable to communicate to the greatest republic of modern times, suffi cient strength or foresight to prevent its capital being taken, and its arsenals pillaged, by a British division not four thou sand strong. It is of the last importance, therefore, to dis cover some method by which the increase of the navy, evidently essential to our national independence, and to avert the horrors of the actual blockade of our harbours, may be rendered popular with the masses of the people. That these masses would make the most strenuous exer tions to support the independence of-the British- flag, if a war actually broke out, may be considered as certain ; but will they be equally ready to make those efforts during peace, and when the danger is as yet distant, which are requisite both to insure its success and shorten its duration ? Expe rience proves that they will not • for; though menaced by maritime dangers of every kind, they have, in the last five and-twenty years, let the royal navy sink down one-third of what it was during the war, and one-half what it was before its commencement. The only mode, therefore, that is ap parently- practicable of bringing up the royal navy to a level at all commensurate either with the strength of the state or the dangers with which it is threatened, is by giVing the masses some present and personal object of advantage, which is to be gained by the expense requisite for its increase. Now, no object would be so generally popular, or universally felt to be important, as that which furnished the means of gra tuitous emigration to a large proportion of our surplus work ing population. Every class in the country, every part of the empire, would at once feel the benefit of such 'an arrange ment :—the poor, by. the safe and .easy means of emigration that would be afforded them to countries where their condi tion would at once become prosperous ; the landholders, in the diminution of the number of paupers and the burden of poor-rates, which would be occasioneds the manufacturers, in the vast increase in the colonial market for their produce which would be opened up ; the colonies, in the boundless supply of robust and efficient • labourers with which they would be furnished. The increase in the population, now so much the object of concern to the mother country, would cease to be regarded with any disquietude ; it would be con sidered only as the harbinger of the increased growth of our colonial possessions, and an increased vent for our produce for our colonial wants. The British navy would really be come the chain which holds together the far distant parts of its immense dominion ; the means of uniting them in peace —the force to protect them in war ; and the prosperity and extension of the far and distant parts of the empire, acting and readting• upon each other, would tend only to augment their mutual and highly beneficial dependence on each other, and to increase the strength of the naval force which was to protect alike all parts of the empire. The British commercial policy, ever since the reciprocity system began, may be characterised in two words—" Colonial Neglect and European Propitiation." As this system has now been in operation for sixteen years, ample time has been afforded to demonstrate, by experience, its effects, whether for good or for evil. The following statement of the effect of this system, which commenced in 1823, was made by Mr. Alison at the Glasgow dinner above referred to : " Standing as 1 do in the midst of this great commercial city, second to none, after the metropolis, in the British em pire, I nee&not say that we are people mainly dependent on commerce and maritime strength ; and we have only to look around us, and contemplate the narrow extent of these islands, compared with the vast population already crowded within their shores, to feel convinced that any serious and permanent obstruction to our foreign commerce, or decline in our maritime power, would not only be attended with the greatest danger to our independence, but fraught with a de gree of wide-spread misery, perhaps unparallelled even in the long annals of human suffering. But, gentlemen, when we minutely examine our maritime and commercial situation, we shall fled many causes for serious alarm, and many rea sons for concluding that our policy in these respects has hi therto been mainly directed to fruitless or unattainable ob jects ; and that, in their prosecution, we have overlooked or neglected the certain elements of strength lying in our own bosom, in the growth of our colonial empire. If we look to our exports and tonnage returns, we shall see that our mari time resources for the last forty years have been far from keeping pace with our commercial growth, and that our ex ports to the-countries whom we have made the greatest sacri fices to propitiate, have been constantly and rapidly declining, while those to our colonies, for whose interests we have done so little, have been as constantly and rapidly increasing ; and that it is the growth of the latter which has concealed and counterbalanced the decay of the former. Let us look at our total exports, imports, and tonnage in the present time, as compared with what they were during the peace of Amiens. They stood as follows : Exports. Imports. Tonnage. 1802, £38,309,980 £29,826,210 £2,167,000 1838, - 105,170,549 61,268,320 2,89,601 " Thus, gentlemen, you see, that while from 1802 to 1838, that is in six.omd-thirty years, our exports have advanced from 38 to 105, that is aborit 239- per cent., and our imports from 29 to 61, that is about 210 per cent., our whole tonnage has only increased froM 21 to 28, that is about 33 per cent. This broad and decisive fact is calculated to excite the most serious alarm in every rational bosomOas to the maintenance in future of the maritime superiority of Great Britain. For who has carried the remainder of our merchandise abroad, and wafted the remainder .of our imports to our shores ? SOinebody must have done it. The conclusion is unavoid a able that it was done hi great part by/ore-igen states, that is, by vessels and seamen that may any day be ranged against us by our enemies. And, gentlemen, the number of those fo reign seamen and vessels now employed in the British trade, and the rapid encroachments they are making on British ma ritime strength, is decisively proved by the Parliamentary . Tables collected with so much care and accuracy by Mr. Porter, at the Board of Trade : from them it appears that the relative proportions of Foreign and British shipping employed in conducting our trade at these two periods were follows British. Vessels. 11,285 16,119 Foreign. Vessels. Tons. 1832 3472 447,611 . 1838 8679 1,211,066 " Thus, while the British tonnage in the last thirty-six years has advanced from sixteen to twenty-seven, the foreign employed in conducting our trade have advanced from 44 to 121, that is, nearly tripled. This, gentlemen; is the general 1802.. 1838 Tons. 1,668,060 2 785 387 , , ( Z.- E , TUESDAY, DECEMBER 10, 1 539. result • and unquestionably it is sufficiently alarming to ever y I wise. The whole population of : the country is made up of one who considers how essential our maritime superiority is I customers who require , and who can afford to . pay, for our to our foreign commerce ; and what would be the condition ! goods. This, too, is peculiar to that nation, and it is a pe of the British population if the empire of the seas were culiarity as happy for them as it is profitable for U 3. I know wrested from it, and the Thames, the Clyde, and the Mer- the real or affected contempt with which some persons in sey, were blockaded by hostile fleets ? But the particulars of - this country treat our kinsmen of the West. 1 fear some our trade with separate countries arc far more instructive, angry and jealous 'feelings have survived our former more ' because they demonstrate, in the clearest manner, where it intimate connexion with them—feelings engendered by the is that the decay of our trade and shipping is going on, and event of its termination, but which it would be wiser, as well where the counterpoising sources of strength and revival are as more manly, to forget. . Nay, there are certain romantic to be found. It appears from Mr. Porter's Parliamentary spirits who 'even despise the unadorned structure of their Tables, that since.lB23, when the reciprocity system corn- massive democratic society. But to me I freely acknowledge, menced, our tonnage with the countries with whom the reel- the sight of one part of •it brings feelings of envy as an En procity treaties were concluded has been decreasing in the glisharan : I mean the happy distinction that, over the whole. most alarming manner, While no increase whatever has taken extent of that boundless continent, from Canada to the Gulf place during the same period in the amount of goods which of Mexico, and from the Mississippi to the Atlantic Ocean, they take off our hands. The British and Foreign shipping there is not one panpey to be found. Such are the customers employed in the trade with Prussia, Sweden, Denmark, Nor- *limn America presents to us. The rapithincrease of their way, since 1820, have stood as follows : culture and population, too, doubling in twenty-five or thirty British declined with Prussia from 539 ships to 270 years, must necessarily augment this demand for our goods Denmark, 57 .... 10 iiu the same proportion. Circumstanced as the two countries - Norway, 168 .... 15 are, I use no figure of speech, but speak the simple fact when Sweden, • 123 .... 66 I say, that not an axe falls in the woods of America which And the foreign ships with Great Britain have increased dur- does not put in motion some shuttle, or hammer, or wheel iu ing the same period in these states as follows.:— .. England."* Prussia with Great Britain increased from 258 to 903 Such is the astonishing effect of the causes thus eloquently Danish ,1 ~ •44 to. 624 described by Lord Brougham, as occasioning the surprising Norwegian ~ n 553 to 785 demand for V.nglish manufactures in the British Colonies, or Swedish 7 9 If 71 to 250 the independent states which have arisen from that origin, Such, gentlemen, is the working of the reciprocity system over other countries. The following Table, which, a priori, with these countries; and even in regard to America our'. would have been incredible, shows the exports to different trade stands thus:— states, as compared with their respective population, and the British. American. value of British manufactures which they consume per head : Ships. - Tons. Ships. Tons. Export in Proportion 1836.. 226 89,383 524 226,483 ' Population. 1836. per head. " Thus you see, gentlemen, that while our commerce with Russia 60,000,000 " £1,742,433 £0 0 5 Northern Europe is -almost entirely passing into the hands of I Sweden - 3,000,050 113,308 00 9 foreigners, nearly three-fourths of that with America is at this j Denmark 2,000,000 91,302 00 11 moment in the hands of the inhabitants of that country !It Prussia is easy to see, that if we had no commercial intercourse but France • 32,000,000 1,591,381 00 11 with such foreign and independent states, we should, by the Portugal . very extension of our export of manufactures, be nursing up Spain a foreign, and possibly hostile, commercial navy, which' U. States of America .14,000,000 1 2 , 425 , 005 017 0 would ere long wrest from us the empire of the seas. it is Br. N. Amr. Colonies. 1,500,000 2,739,291 111 6 needless to go farther into details; for the following is the l Br. W. India Islands 900,000 3,786,453 312 0 general result of the change which the tonnage of our foreign Br. Austral. Colonies lOO,OOO 1,180,000 11 15 0 commerce with all parts of the world has undergone during It may truly be said•that this table speaks as to the real the last thirty-six years : .-- -- • -•- - • --interests and manufacturing establishments of Great Britain ; " The tra:ie of Great Britain with all Europe haS decli ned , and that, if our rulers were not struck with judicial blind they would at onoe perceive where it is that the steady ness, :y *Aloe perceive writne and rising market for British manufactures, and where all our efforts to promote a successful traffic may be regarded as fruitless and unavaiiing. For fifteen years past our whole commercial policy has been directed to the object of gaining a more ready vent for our manufactures into the continental states of Europe. We have concluded no less than twelve reciprocity treaties with the principal powers; and, in order to propitiate their good-will, we have sacrificed by our trea ties all our commercial advantages at least in our intercourse with these states. And what has been the result ? Why, that our commerce with them is a perfect trifle when com pared with that which we maintain with our own colonies, whom we have maltreated and neglected for their sakes; and that, while the old states take off a few pence per head of their population, our own colonies take off as many pounds. In this instance we have tealy verified the old adage, that we have been penny wise and poand foolish, even in regard to our existing interests at the moment. But when, in addition to this, it is - recollected that these colonies are part of our selves—(;start provinces of our own cfnpire, whose blood is our blood, whose strength is our strength; that they are in creasing in numbers with a rapidity unparalleled in the annals of the world ; and that, however fast they may augment, they are by their situation and circumstances chained for centuries to agricultural and pastoral employments, and consequently our export trade with them must increase in the same pro portion as their numbers ; while, on the other hand, the states of continental Europe are - increasing far less rapidly in numbers—are actuated for the most part by commercial or political jealousy, and may any moment become our enemies, it may safely be affirmed that the neglect of the colonial pro vinces to propitiate foreign powers, is of all human absurdities the most absurd. It is needless to inquire to what cause this marvellous difference between Colonial and European trade is owing. It is immaterial whether it is to be ascribed to the circum stance. of the Continental states being in the same state of civilisation with ourselves, or being inhabited by people who have no taste for our manufactures, or no money to buy them ; or governed by jealous and hostile foreign governments -or actuated by similar and rival commercial establishments. It is sufficient to state the fact, that, from one or other, or all of these causes, their trade with us is trifling, and either sta tionary or declining, • while that with our colonies is enor mous, steady, and constantly increasing. In truth, how ever, it is not difficult to, perceive to what cause the total failure of all attempts at commercial increase with the old states of Europe is to be ascribed: Mr. Alison observed at the Glasgow dinner, " It is easy to see to what cause this remarkable decline in our trade with old - nations and this marvellous increase in our commercial intercourse with our own colonies, is to be ascribed. It is evidently owing to the fact, that these old states are in the same state of civilisation with ourselves, and therefore they are actuated by a natural desire to deal in the same articles, and to manufacture the same produce as ourselves: Are we cotton-spinners ?—so are they. Are we iron-masters ?—so are they. Are we silk ma nufacturers ?—so are they. Are we cutlery and hardware merchants ?—so are they. Are we clothiers and woollen drapers ?—so are' they. There is no branch of industry in which we excel, in which they are not alimaking the greatest and 'most strenuous, and sometimes successful, efforts to rival and outstrip us. It is in vain that we meet them with the signs of amity, .and hold out the olive branch in token of our desire to establish reciprocity treaties on the footing of real mutual advantage. We cannot, by so doing, either shut the eyes of their manufacturers to the danger of British com petition, or close the vision of their governments to the daz zling spectacle of British greatness. Tuey see that we have risen to the summit of prosperity under the system of pro tection to domestic industry, and they naturally imagine that it is only by following our example that they can hope to ri val our success. It is in vain that we now offer to meet them on the footing of perfect reciprocity. They say—" It is very well for you to throw down the barriers when your superio rity in every branch of industry is incontestible. When ours is the same, we will follow your -example ; in the mean time, ybu must allow us to imitate the steps which enabled you to reach`the elevated position which you now enjoy.' Gentle men, it is difficult to see the answer which can be made to such arguments." . Powerful as . are these considerations, derived from the commercial and manufacturing interests of Great Britain, in favour of her colonial settlements, the facts pointing the same way, deducible from the shipping interests, are, if pos sible, still more conclusive. The essential difference between the shipping, which carries on a trade between the colonies and the mother country, is,'that it is, as in the former' case, all our own—in the latter, one-half belongs to our enemies. This difference is so enormous, the effects it produces on our maritime strength are so extraordinary, that, numerous as have been the details which we already given, we cannot resist the temptation of contrasting our shipping and tonnage with some of the principal foreign powers with whom we have concluded reciprocity treaties with 'that which we carry on with our own colonies. BRITISH AND FOREIGN TONNAGE NV ITU RECIPROCITY COUNTRIES. BRITISH. FOREIGN. Ships. , Tons. Ships. Tons. • • 66 10,865 250 42,439 • 15 1,573 785 125,875 16 2,152 694 51,907 270 42,567 903 174,439 2,036 139,329 1,740 108,352 220 86,383 524 226,483 BRITISH. East India Company's Territories, Ships. Tons. Singapore and Ceylon New South Wales 59 19,195 British Northern Colonies British West Indies 9OO 237,922 Nor is ' the present magnitude of the British trade with these colonies more remarkable than its rapid increase. Some very remarkable facts on this subject:wer"e stated by Mr. Alison at the public dinner in Glasgow :—You have already seen how completely our shipping which trades with Northern Europe is withering away under the action of the reciprocity treaties ; and you have seen that it is now. little more than a fourth of what it was fifteen years ago ; while that of the Baltic powers trading with us has.quadru pled during the same period. But, gentlemen, turn to the colonies, and you will learn a very different result; and be hold with delight a growth of our shipping as extraordinary, as its decline in our intercourse with Europe is serious and alarming. Gentlemen, it appears from Mr. Porter's Parlia mentary Tables, that the growth of our shipping employed between Canada, Australia, and the mother country, has been as follows from 1802 to 1836, from 65 to 48 per cent. With British Colonies in America increased Vith United American States With India These facts may be considered as decisive against•the re ciprocity system, so far as the maritime interests of the em- - • pire are concerned. They prove, beyond the possibility of doubt, after the most ample opportunity of trying the system by experience has been given, that under the reciprocity. system the British flag is generally becoming extinct in the trade with Continental Europe ; and that, if it is continued for ten or fifteen years longer, our whole traffic with Europe will be carried on in the vessels of foreign states. Indeed, it is evident,- from the extraordinarily rapid growth of foreign shipping in carrying on the British commerce, that if the present system continues many - years longer, the foreign sai lors and tonnage employed in carrying on our commercial intercourse, at least with the states of Ourope, will be greater than our own ; that is to say, we shall have nursed up a race of foreign seamen in our own harbours, and in conducting our own trade, superior in number to those of the British islands—in other words, sharpened, and put into the enemy's hands, the dagger which may at any moment pierce us to the heart. Real reciprocity with these countries would evidently have consisted in stipulating, that in consideration of our admit ting some article in which they had advantages over us, on the same terms as they admitted ours, that they should do the same with some article of our Manufacture in which we had the advantage, and they had the worst of it by nature. But we never thought of doing this, but contented ourselves with surrendering to them the whole advantages which the navigation laws gave to our shipping, without ever stipulating even the szrallest corresponding adVantage in favour of our cotton, hardware, or woollen goods, in which we had by nature the start of them. The consequence has been that our own shipping employed in carrying on the trade with these nations has been almost destroyed, while no benefit whatever has been gained in our exports to these nations by the sacrifice. This .decisively appears from comparing our exports to the powers with whom we concluded reciprocity treaties for the last ten years, during which time, in conse quence of the action of these treaties, our shipping with them has been dwindling away to nothing. The following table exhibits the value of our exports to the Baltic powers, in 1827 and 1828, and 1835 - and 1836: — Countries. 1827. 1828. 18:15. 1535. £1,408,970 £1,318,936 £1,752,775 £1,712,433 Sweden 46,731 42,699 • • 105,156 113,308 Norway... 39,129 - 53,582 79,278 79,469 Denmark Prussia 174,338 179,145 188,273 160,722 It is needless to go farther into details; for the following statement by the learned and indefatigible Mr. Porter; of the Board of Trade, on that subject is decisive :—" That part of our commerce," says Mr. Porter, " which, being carried on with the rich and civilised inhabitants of Euro pean nations, should present the greatest field for extension, will be seen to have fallen off under this aspect in a remark able degree. The average annual exports to the whole of Europe were less in value by nearly 20 per cent. in the five years from 1832 to 1836, than they were in the five years that followed the close of the war; and it affords strong evi dence of the unsatisfactory footing upon which our trading regulations with Europe are established, that the exports to the United States of America, which, with their population of only twelve millions, are removed to a distance from us of 3.000 miles across the Atlantic, have amounted to more than. one-half of the value of our shipments to the whole of Eu rope, with a poptilation fifteen times as great as that of the United States of America, and with an abundance of pro ductions suited to our wants, which. they are.naturally desi rous of exchanging for the products of our mines and looms."* . • • • • Thus it distinctly appears, that while we have completely sacrificed, by the reciprocity treaties, our shipping employed in the trade with Northern Europe, we have derived no countervailing advantage whatever. in our.exports to these countries, because they actually, as a whole, take off, on an average of five years, less of that produce than they did five and-twenty years ago. It is evident • that, while they have taken advantage of our simplicity to engross to themselves all the carrying trade between their harbours and Great Bri .ain, they have taken care to give us no corresponding ad vantage whatever in our commercial intercourse with them. In fact, they have done more—the •only return they have made for our concession in maritime affairs, has been to load our manufactures with additional duties. Prussia has re warded us for our ample concessions to her by the Prusso- Germanic league. Every year brings a fresh ukase from the Emperor of Russia, imposing additional duties on our goods ; and even our little puppet; the revolutionary Queen of Por tug,al, has shown her gratitude for the aid which put her on the throne, by nearly doubling the duties on every species of British manufacture ! Mr. Alison, after dwelling on these facts, proceeded as follows to exhibit the ve?y different picture which the colo nial trade has presented " Gentlemen,—l will not fatigue you with farther details. You see here the astonishing facts that France, with its thirty two millions of inhabitants, takes off only £1,500,000 worth; that Prussia, with a population of fourteen millions, takes off only £160,000 worth; and, most marvellous'. of all, that Russia, now with a population of sixty millions, takes only £1,700,000 of our produce. From these facts we may esti mate, with perfect certainty, the chance which Great B ritain has of being *able to maintain a lucrative commercial inter course with the old European nations in the same stage of civilisation with herself, and influenced by the political hos tility and commercial rivalry incident to their political situ ation. Gentlemen, I' have said, however gloomy the pros pects of our commercial interests with such states may be, there is not only hope 'but confidence to be derived from another quarter ; and if we turn to the Colonies we shall at once see whence it is that England is now deriving its heart's blood, and from what commercial intercourse our wealth and greatness in future times is to be derived. Gentlemen, you will be - astonished, your hearts will- exult, at the magni tude of the returns which lam now to lay before you. In the year 1836 it appears that our— 5wede....... Norway ..... Denmark ..... Prussia...... France ...... United States .. Real Value, Exports to the United States of America were no less than British North American Colonies 2,732,291 British West Indies 3,786,453 Australian Colonies East Indies 4,285,829 . . " The articulate returns of the trade of each country for the years 1837 and 1838, have not yet been laid before the public ; but here is surely enough to excite our wonder and astonishment. You see that Canada, with its population that does not yet reach fifteen hundred thousand souls, takes off no less than £2,800,000 of our produce, or nearly twice as much as Russia, with its population of sixty millions. You see that the British West India Islands, with a popula tion of about forty thousand white and eight hundred thou sand black inhabitants, consumed in 1836 no less than £3,700,000, or considerably more than twice as much as France, with its population of thirty-two millions. And what is most marvellous of all, 'and.coines directly home to the object of this night's festive assembly, the Aus tralian Colonies, with a population scarcely at this mo ment amounting to a hundred thousand, take off no less than £1,000,000 a-year of produce. Why, gentlemen, I venture to predict, that before the year 1840 the colonists of New Holland, reinforced as they will be by our friends around us proceeding to New Zealand, will consume. more. of British produce and manufactures, though they may not number a hundred and twenty thousand :soul4, than the sixty millions of the Muscovite empire. Such is the wonderful difference between the commercial intercourse we can maintain with our own descendants—our own flesh and blood—the Anglo-Saxon race whom we have sent forth to civilize the world—and the inhabitants of foreign states, subjected to the authority of hostile governments, or swayed by foreign commercial jealousy. ' Lord Brougham, in the debate on the repeal of the Orders in Council in 1812 has explained, with even more than his usual felicity, the causes of this remarkable difference be tween the commerce opened in our colonies and that which can be maintained with any other independent state in the old world. " The extent," says he, " and swift and regular progress of the AmeriCan market for British goods, is not surprising ; we can easily and clearly account for i t. In the nature of things it can be no otherwise, and the reason lies on the very surface of the fact. America is an immense agricultural country, where land is plentiful and cheap ; men and labour, though quickly increasing, yet still-scarce and dear, compared with the boundless regions which they occupy and cultivate. In such a country manufactures do not na turally thrive ; every exertion, if matters be left to themselves , goes into oter channels. This people is ccumected with England with origin, language, manners, and institutions ; their tastes go along with thCir convenience, and they come,. to us as a matter of course for the articles which they do not make themselves:- Only take one fact as an example : the negrees in - the 'southern states are clothed in English-made goods; and it 'takes 40s. a-year thus to supply one of, these unfortunate persons. This will be admitted to be the lowest sum for which any person in America can be clothed ; but take it as the average, and make a deduction for the expenses above prime cost, you have a sum uptin the whole population of eight millions, which approaches the value of our exports • to the United'States. But it is not merely in clothing. Go to any house in the Union, from their large and wealthy cities to the most Solitary cabin or log-house in the forests, you find in every corner the furniture, tools, and ornaments of Staffordshire, of Warwickshire, and of the northern coun ties of England. The wonder ceases when we thus reflect for a moment, and we plainlypereeive that it can be.no other- Australia * Porter's Progress of the Nation, p. 101. * Parliamentary_Debates, xxiii. t") 15. We have the details lying beside us, and were we not fearful of exhausting the patience of our readers by farther statis tical details, we could exhibit a picture from parliamentary and authentic documents of progressive ruin in those noble establishments, which would amply bear out, and even exceed this statement. • She next, practically speaking, shortened by two years the 'period of negro apprentiecship, and thereby completely dis organised all the plans which the planters had laid, for en abling them to wind up their affairs during the period of ap prenticeship. And when it became manifest that the negroes would not work, and that a fresh supply of labourers became indispensible to maintain the industry of the West India Is lands, we passed acts of parliament prohibiting the introduc tion of free Asiatic labourers, and promulgated regulations in the island, which by giving the planters no security in the retention of the labour of free European workmen, have in effect, cut off all means of supplying the place of the indolent negroes in the cultivation of the land. - What have we done during the same period in Canada? It would appear from our conduct to that noble colony, that we were desirous of disgusting it so completely with the rule of the mother country, as to throw it headlong into the arms of the United States. We first winked at and promoted repub licanism and sedition to such a degree, as to fan them into actual rebellion ; and, though aware for years that an insur rection was rapidly approaching, we left the colonies with only 35041 British soldiers to protect them from destruction. When the first ievolt was put down by this gallant handful of men, and the strenuous support of the loyal North American British population, we carried the system of conciliation, concession, and dallying with treason to such a length, as to cause the rebelliou to break out a second time under circum stances of still greater horror,'and when it required to be ex tinguished in oceans of blood. While the wintry heavens were illuminated by the light of burning villages, and the wintry forests were strewed with the carcasses of the slaugh tered peasants, we submitted quietly to the insulting inroads of hundreds of buccaneers and pirates from the American terriory, in a way that never yet was done by the government of any independent state. When the royal banner of the loyal inhabitants in Upper Canada had surmounted these various evils, and a second time restored peace to a distracted land, the sympathy of our rulers with their old allies—the republican party in America —was so strong, that they have never proposed a vote of thanks in either house of parliament or from the crown, to the brave soldiers and patriots who saved the empire from dismemberment l Lastly, to show our sympathy with the anti-national party in our transatlantic possessions, in our total disregard to their vital interests, we placed at the head of the colonial department Lord Normauby, whose policy in Ireland was graced by the wholesale liberation - of felons and anti-national convicts, and placed at the head of the Govern ment in Quebec, Poulett Thomson, the President of the Board of Trade, who is chiefly known by his long established con nexion with the Baltic timber trade, and his often avowed predilection for an equalisation of the duties on Baltic and Canadian timber. Serious as these evils are, we much fear that greater and more heavy blows at our colonial interests are yet in the ccsti templation of our infatuated government. Acting on the dictation of the urban constituencies, whose great object is to bay cheap, and still clinging to the blind system of foreign propitiation, there is little room for doubting that they will, ere long, perhaps in the next session ofparliament, bring for ward ministerial plans for equalising the duties on Baltic and Canadian timber, and Foreign and British sugar. Strong indications of these intentions have already appeared in the speeches of many of the supporters of government, and the appointment of Mr. Poulett Thomson to the viceroyalty of Canada may be considered as the official promulgation of their intention. Let no one imagine that these propositions are so obviously destructive in their effects, and bear so obviously the tendency to dismember the empire, that therefore they will not be attempted by a ministry whose only principle seems to be to prolong their official existence, without any re gard to the jeopardy in which the means of accomplishing. that object may place the existence or independence of the coun try. It is never to be forgotten, that to secure the support of O'Connell's tail, they have surrendered the government of Ireland and the direction of the nation to the Popish faction, whose bond of cement is the repeal of the union, that is, the dismemberment of the empire. True, by establishing a free trade in timber, we should annihilate the industry of our North American Colonies, and throw them at once into the arms of the United States, and cut off at once 600,000 tons of British shipping., and altogether extinguish both our maritime superiority and national independence. True, by equalising the duties on Foreign and British sugar, we should utterly destroy our West India colonies, and perpetuate that hideous tearing of 200,000 negroes from the shores of Africa, which we have professed ourselves so anxious to'prevent. But what does all that signify ?—the urban constituencies must he pro pitiated ; a few stray seats at the next election may turn the balance in favour of the destructive or conservative party ; and the cry of cheap sugar and cheap bread may catch these stray votes and cast the balance. It is childish to descant always upon the weakness and im becility of ministers, or suppose that a tortuous policy, so flagrantly dangerous and impolitic as that which we have just been considering, is to be ascribed to the mere recklessness or want of capacity of our present rulers. It is perversity in the public mind which is the real source of the evil—it is the, short s sighted views of the numerous constituencies that have so long rendered a remedy impossible. The colonies.are wholly unrepresented in the House of Commons ; the ten pounders have the disposal of the majority of the seats in that assembly ; to buy cheap is their immediate interest, and it matters little to the short seeing masses what effect that cheap buying may ultimately have upon their own or the national interests. Here is the true secret of colonial misgovernment ; we are governed by masses who think only of buying cheap, and the interest of the colonies is to sell dear. Eight years ago we foresaw, and distinctly predicted this effect, as neces sarily flowing from the Reform Bill. All the colonial calamities that have since occurred are but the accomplishment of our predictions in this particular.* The colonies were not actually represented under the old constitution, but they were Virtually so, because colonial wealth found an easy entrance into parliament through the close boroughs. The Whigs have destroyed that avenue for colonial representation in the Ilouse of Commons ; time will show whether they have not destroyed with it the colonial empire and national independence of Great Britain. * BlLckwood's Magazine, September, 1831, vol. xxx. p. 43G. WEST INDIAN AFFAIRS. EXTRACTS FROM "REFLECTIONS ON WEST INDIA AF FAIRS," BY LIEUT.-COL. THE HON. SIR El/WD. CUST. ADDRESS TO THE COLONIAL OFFICE. I could have wished to have addressed, with every cour tesy, to Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State, the ob servations that it had occurred to me I could lay before the public, with some advantage to West Indian affairs, after my return home from an excursion through the principal British and Foreign possessions of the Caribbean sea. But the in cessant changes of the Principals in the Colonial Department scarcely give me any option, on the present occasion, but that of addressing the entire Office. I will make no allusion to the inconveniences resulting to the Colonies themselves from the late fluctuating appointments, further than to remark, that at a moment when the Office takes upon itself to do so much without consulting those who are the most concerned, it would be consolatory to the Colonists if they could have more satisfaction in the greater stability of those to whom Colonial affairs are entrusted. True it is, that, amidst all the recent changes, the situation of the most active Under Secretary remains always unaltered, and I might therefore have selected him for my correspondent, without any appre hension of being obliged to modify my address ; but, whether justly or not, I have found that gentleman's influence to be so unpopular in the colonies, and considered to be so hostile to their interests, that to address my letter to him might have been misconstrued by all parties ; and 1 might either have been imagined to participate in his supposed views of colonial policy, or intend satirically some remarks in opposition to them. I have no such motive. My object is to state, as concisely and as clearly as I can, the opinions I have been induced to form during a recent voyage through the Wind ward Colonies ; and although I shall not profess an absence of prejudice by a hesitating inclination to blow hot fend cold upon every question, I shall endeavour to steer as clear of it as a man not ashamed to write himself a Churchman, and a West Indian planter, can be believed to do by those of op posite denominations. DESPOTIC AUTHORITY OF THE COLONIAL OFFICE. I consider that the Colonial Office in its collective juris diction (for I will not attempt to dissect the individual influ ence that directs and controls it) is at the present moment, and has been for some years, the most unequivocal Autocracy in existence. The Russian Emperor rules absolutely, with out a show of constitutional authority : he can appoint and depose his Governors, increase or diminish their salaries, and enforce laws by his unquestioned power. All this is of course done by our superior government, but it does not hesitate to override, at its pleasure, every constitutional influence ; for whilst it leaves the semblance of a willto the two estates of the several mighty rocks of the Caribbean Sea, it is only when their freedom of legislation is discreetly moulded upon the previously - ascertained will of the Colonial Office, that their laws are permitted to come into operation. Thus the ma gistracy, the militia, the police, and the prison questions, are all arranged in Downing-street, without reference to colonial interests. The Governors are the mere creatures of its au thority, of no imaginable influence but what they derive from its nomination; they are unequal to represent at home the just grievances of the colonists, because they know that if these should in any degree clash with the preconceived opin ions of the department, their situations are in immediate jeopardy ; and they are in no position to make head against its influence, by an appeal to the good sense and justice of the Britisll people, without hazard to their individual inte rests, and ruin to their professional prospects. Canada. Canada. Coasting Trade. With Britain. Tens. Tons. Tons. 1820 • 1,291 248,343 343,377 1836 19,195 609,111 620,772 Thus the astonishing facts are anparent,•that, in conducting the intercourse between Canada, the West Indies, and the mother country, there has grown up a'commercial navy of nearly 1,200,000 tons, of which nearly 600,060 belong to Great Britain, and the remainder to her transaVantic off spring ; while the tonnage with the Australian. Colonies has increased in sixteen, years, prior to 1836, from 1200 to 20,000, or nearly twenty-fold. When we recollect that the total commercial navy of Great Britain is only . 2,800,000 tons, and that our vast foreign trade with America only em ploys 80,000 tons of our shipping, the whole remainder being in the hands of the Americans themselves ; and that our in tercourse with Canada and Australia, the population of which is not sixteen hundred thousand, already gives em ployment to 600,000 tons, or neatly seven times that em ployed in our whole immense commerce with the United States of America, the vital importance of colonial trade to Maritime independence becomes at once apparent ; and the general result of the comparative progress of the vessels be longing to Great Britain, at home and in the colonies, front 1814 to 1836, is as follows : Great Ilritain. Colonies. Tons. Tons. 2,414,170 202,795 2,349,649 442,897 Thus yOu see, gentlemen, that while the shippin,g.of Great Britain' and Ireland has - declined in the last five-and-twenty years, notwithstanding the prodigious increase of our ex ports and imports, that employed in conducting the trade with the colonies has more than doubled. More decisive evidence cannot be imagined of the vital importance of the colonial trade, not only to our commercial wealth, but to our national, existence. And if any one, after the facts that have now been stated, remains blind to our true national interests, anti the quarter from which we must look for our Wealth, our security, and independence. in future times, - I say ne ither wilt he be‘converted though one rose from the dead." When it is dettionstrated by statistical facts like these, concerning which there can be no diSpute that interests so vast both in our colonial possessions and the parent state, are dependent upon the connexion between Great Britain and her Colonies ; when it is recollected that the bread and very existence of millions at home depend upon' the increasing trade and market with these Colonies ; and that our mari time strength and national independence are entirely de pendent upon the •immediate adoption of such a system as shall extend and increase our colonial empire, it is with feel- MO of regret too profonnd to be mingled with bitterness — with sentiments of indignation too deep to exhale in angty Words—that we look back upon the colonial policy of Great Britain for the last ten years. It may safely be affirmed, that the insane policy of 'Great Britain to her colonial pos sessions 'during that time hai 'been unparalleled in modern time S.. She has first fotced upon the - West India Islands the monstrous - project of negro emaneipation, a step which has already reduced to one-half the produce of those splendid colo nies, and given a blow to the prosperity both of the Negro and , European population froM which neither can ever recover. THE 'EMANCIPATION OF THE NEGROES. But whatever may be the faults of this system, and what ever may be the sins which the Colonists may be disposed to lay at the door of the Colonial Office, it is not justly charge able with the evils resulting from the emancipation of the negro population. The " pressure from without" carried this measure; which, founded on no sound principle of co lonial policy, and carried through, not by the dictates of a sober judgment, but by the fervour and heat of sectarian zeal, has been followed out (as it will not be surprising to reason able minds to learn) with much danger and risk to the pros perity and happiness of the very people whom it was intended to serve and benefit. The Emancipation Question was car ried through with too much intemperate feeling to admit of that patient and discriminating consideration which was ne cessary to raise a naked uneducated barbarian to the condi tiOn of a well-clothed, comfort-understanding christian la bourer. Time was not allowed to the planter to prepare for the mighty change; had he been ever so well disposed to do so ; at the same time I am free to confess that a West Indian temper, goaded and provoked by incessant interference and attack, was not in the best frame to prepare the proper means of amelioration and improvement. Much was done by the planter, for which he obtained neither credit nor advantage; for ivhilst the least measure of change was of necessity a pre sent and immediate charge upon his income, it was out of all • question to calculate how far he might hope to receive any satisfaction himself from his exertions. The benefit, there fore, was clearly upon the side of those who did nothing, and if very little was done, compared with what ought, and might have been done to prepare for such a portentous change of condition, it was a natural consequence of the intemperance with which " this free," as the negroes call it, was'hurried on to its hasty and ill-considered conclusion. With the clear and discriminating - judgment of a great statesman, Mr. Can ning had early laid down the principle , that the only safesys thm of emancipation was to direct it through the instrumen tality of the planters. The plan pursued was to carry the measure in spite of them. lam one of those who, looking back upon the past, may very reasonably regret that we did not immediately set forward, from the date of the resolutions of the House of Commons on the subject of Slavery in 1823, to prepare for the inevitable change, which from that mo ment awaited the slave population of our colonies ; but un less the measures of amelioration had been prepared and [POSTAGE FREE. acted upon in unison with a large potion of the proprietary body, we should have done little good ; nobody could foresee what preparatory steps would be advisable ; and a treatment of the people by any individual landowner in advance of the adjoinin; properties, has always met with an unsatisfactory • as well as a most ungrateful return, in consequence of the standard of feeling all around being below that of those so partially benefitted on any one property. No greater exam ple of this truth can be quoted than what the History of the Estates of Codrington College can produce. Bishop Porteus, writing in 1784, just half a century p revious to the act for abolishing slavery, thus describes the endeavours of the trus tees to benefit the negroes on that estate : " This society has repeatedly and earnestly enjoined their managers and agents in Barbadoes to treat their slaves with lenity and tenderness. They have for many years maintained a Catechist in Orders on the plantation, whose sole business it is to train up the negroes in the principles of religion, and to perform divine service for their benefit on the Lord's day. And that the slaves may have leisure to attend this and other religious duties, the society has humanely given them the afternoon of Saturday for cultivating their own land, and attending to their own family affairs." Religious edt;cation and the Sa turday bolyday was therefore given up to the slave on this property fifty years ago, yet I could not learn that the Cod rington Estate is better off at the present day than its neigh bours in the island of Barbadocs, nor that the negroes have evinced a better result fro:n this good preparation for the change, than those, among whom no such ameliorations had been introduced ; nor did I find that they worked with more steadiness and fidelity than their neighbours. I write this with some despondency for the future success of the great experiment through the West Indies; but I believe it to be principally owing to what I have already stated,—namely, that no material benefit is at any time derived from being in advance of the general feeling that is entertained on any subject. CONDITION OF TIM NEGROES. Upon a calm review of all the impressions left on my mind, after a four months' journey through the Windward Colonies, I am forced to the conviction that a whole genera tion must pass away before the negro, in a state of freedom, will attain, in his social condition, to anything approaching the civilisation of the European peasant, or will work with anything like the constancy and steadiness that is essential to the profitable culture of the land. Nor will this be sur prising to a reflecting mind ; for if it " takes three genera tions to make a gentleman," how much more must it require to make a barbarian civilised ? The endeavour to do this by steam-power and stove-heat only produces an unnatural growth, in which the vices of the European and African united, are more sensibly perceived than the better qualities of either. The simplicity of uncivilised life is sharpened into cunning by " a little learning• ;" the contentedness of an humble condition is roused into a restlessness, which only cannot be dignified by the name of ambition, because there is not sufficient knowledge of the world to know what to aim at : whilst the sudden elevation in their condition altogether prevents them from being satisfied with continuing as they are. The very unfortunate distinction between handicraftsmen and field-labourers introduced into the Emancipation Bill under the whimsical terms of prfedial and nonprsedial labourers (the sense of which the uegroes them selves could never be made to understand,) has unfortunately operated to create a marked repugnance to field-labour, and to consider it as a degradation from which every enterprising spirit amongst them endeavours to free himself by repairing to the Towns ; and those that remain on estates remove their children thither to the care of relatives and friends, in order that they may have an opportunity of becoming household servants, the great field of ambition to a negro mind : ac cordingly it is comparatively rare to find the young perform ing laborious duties in the field. This is obviously a serious consideration for the future well-doing of the system, since it must alone diminish the amount of labourers in a very considerable degree at the present time, and this will of course be more seriously perceptible in future years. DISPOSITION OF TILE NEGROES TO LABOUR. I am convinced that, taking a general view of the state of things in the Colonies I have visited, the disposition to do any labour at all is but the result of old associations, which no law could instantly stop. It is rather the habits of the people to work, than their necessities, which urge them to it; and iy is much more oting to the urgency of their em ployers, than the ordinary inducements to labour, that yet continues for a time the cultivation of the soil. The fear which every proprietor entertains of losing his people, has induced him to concede everything, rather than be driven to lose a labourer whom he has no opportunity of replacing. Thus houses, provision grounds, and medical attendance — three items in the economy of a European labourer, for which he is forced to industry—are freely given to the negro, besides wages of very considerable amount : with the last he has alone to provide the raiment requisite for his family, which i.; scarcely more than Sunday clothing; for in many eases the labour in the field (especially in Guyana) is better performed without any covering beyond *hat common decency requires. sic has certainly to provide himself with salt fish and meat, and any luxuries of food that he , may re quire ; but so lightly does this inducement press, that con tinuous labour is not found to prevail in any colony. DIMINUTION OF LABOUR IN THE WEST INDIES. I am given to understand since 1 left the West Indies, that there was an evidently increasing indisposition among the women to go into the fields for any work ; and ac cordingly the extent of cultivation must be again diminished . to the extent of the women as well as children, who are to. be no longer considered as field labourers. It was one of the evil, results of the indiscreet haste with which complete emancipation was pressed upon the Colonies, that questions of most material importance for the labourer as well as his employer were altogether left unsettled ; such as the amount of the remuneration of labour, the tenancy of their dwellings, the penalties attached to vagrancy and idleness ; in truth, all the duties as well as rights of the newly-acquired con dition of freedom were left vague, unsettled, and uncertain. • The first and most important consideration, which in all old settled countries obtains the level to which time and the wants and habits of the people naturally reduce it, had to be settled arbitrarily and in a moment by the attorneys and managers of estates, (the representatives of the proprietary body,) and entirely without any just data on which the fair equivalent could be calculated. It is quite a marvel to me how any common agreement could be arrived at under such circumstances. There is no doubt, however, that the scale ' adopted was too high ; and every day's experience has con firmed this opinion. It was a very natural object with every one to retain the old families upon the estates, and ac cordingly a fear to be outbid by the neighbours induced all to concede with a liberal hand ; so that houses, provision grounds, and medical attendance, were freely added to the amount of money-wages, which were taken at the highest calCulation of what had been paid during the apprenticeship, and two shillings, and in some instances even two shillings and sixpence a day, are now given. What, Imay be allowed to inquire in passing, would a British agricultural labourer think of wages taken on this calculation ?—Fifteen shillings a week, in addition to the gratuitous tenancy of their cottages and gardens, and the doctor's and the schoolmaster's bills paid, would not be considered bad earnings in this " poor state of England." I do not stop in this place to consider what his employers n!ight be disposed to say of such a state of things. Some of them, perhaps, thought strongly on the subject of slavery ; perhaps some may be induced to think of the heavy tax imposed upon them by the twenty millions; yet, putting on one side all bygone considerations, they might, perhaps, now cast a passing thought as to what• any man would reasonably think of having to pay at this rate for the value of labour which has been originally established on which they- were to be retained ; so that, in a short time, questions arose on the subject and in some instances summary ejectment, in ethers a demand for rent, brought forward points of law which it was not within the province of a magis trate to determine, nor within the compass of an uninformed mind to understand the bearings. The Colonial Office has been pleased to take upoa itself to provide for the colonies the penalties to be attached to vagrancy and idleness, in con siderable ignorance of the society for which it legislates, and with apparently the single object to make them as light as possible ; but this law remains, I believe, nearly a dead letter. CONDUCT OF THE PLANTERS WITH RESPECT TO THE SYSTEM OF FREE LABOUR. . . I think it but justice to the planters generally, to state, (and I must be allowed to mention those of Guyana more particularly,) that if the experiment of free-labour in the British colonies should unfortunately fail elsewhere, (as I grieve to anticipate that it will in a very great measure do,) the fault is not justly chargeable upon them : the greatest exertions have been made, are still making. and the greatest sacrifices of money expended, upon the endeavour to work out satisfactorily the problem that the British people have imposed upon them. The thoughts of men have been ex hausted to devise means, great and small, which might ac complish this object. Whilst, on the one hand, everything that the ingenuity of mail has devised in the way of mechanical skill to lessen the weight of manual labour, has been introduced at the cost of a considerable outlay of capital; on the other, encouragement has been held out to advance and reward in dustry and good conduct, the wants and wishes of the negroes have been studied and advanced ; their comforts increased ; new dwellings have been erected for them, and land attached ; in many cases, it must be confessed, with a too unsparing hand. Churches and schools have been provided and maintained, and in every colony they are to be seen in daily progress, by the united exertions of the colonists, and the generous contributions of the benevolent of the Mother Country. Religion and education constituted to my mind, before I visited the colonies, the most reasonable foundation on which to build a hope of the success of the system of free labour ; and if I have returned home with more doubts upon the subject than I entertained at starting, it is only because I have learned that these, like all other human means of in crease, require seed-time and harvest, and can no more be forced into maturity than that which is more palpable to the senses. It is, nevertheless, the groundwork on which our best hopes of ultimate success must depend ; and the only melancholy reflection is, that liberty should have been de creed by . a legislature before it had done one individaul act to encourage and foster those principles which the parent ought to have been careful to have established with a mother's anxiety, before it exposed its progeny to all the dangers and 'seductions of an unfettered condition of society. RELIGIOUS EDUCATION OF THE NEGRO POPULATION. In suddenly raising the negro population to be free agents before they have been rendered sensible of all the responsi bilities of such a condition, the British people have bound themselves by every notion of humanity and justice to assist. to render the change a beneficial one to this unfortunate race. Let it not be imagined that this obligation has been cancelled by the payment of twenty millions for the compen sation fund. This was a noble sacrifice, which will ever redound to the honour of the British name ; but this sum was paid •to the landowners, who are risking double that amount in the success of the mighty experiment—for such it yet must be—and a fearful experiment too. The planters cannot be supposed to have the means of providing any thing approaching to an adequate extent- of that religion and education, upon which all our hopes of raising the liberated sons of Africa to a state of social civilisation must mainly depend. Upon the benevolent and affluent of our country men we, whose all is risked in the result, essentially depend for the requisite aid. No channel for the e xerci s e o f t h is liberality is at once so extensively useful, 'and so safe and certain for advancing this result, as the venerable Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. I wish, with all my heart, that my feeble powers were able to reach the hearts of those who are blessed by Providence with the ability to contribute to this good cause ; for I am quite con fident that the negro can be rendered worthy of a state of freedom, and that he is as capable of civilisation, and even of refinement, as his brother of the more temperate regions of the earth. I hold it to be altogether a Colonial prejudice, although I have heard it most confidently asserted by many excellent and (in other respects) sensible people, that the negro is by nature a debased creation, that nothing can im prove. Apart from the sin of supposing that God could create a responsible creature incapable of rendering •a just respimsibility, must own that I have been surpr i se d a t many proofs of the highest intelligence, and of man y na tive good qualities, in this undervalued people. I can not resist again qu9ting the language of Bishop Porteus on this point. He says it had been alleged in his day that the mind of the African was incapable to receive or comprehend religious truths. " This is a position which can never 1.); admitted. The christian religion was undoubtedly intended by its Divine Author for an universal one—it was tot m ant to be confined to any certain climate, to any part cula • degr,te of understanding, conformation of features, or : had 3 of com plexion. We are expressly commanded to preach the Gospel to every creature, and therefore every human creature must necessarily be capable of-receiving it. It may be true, perhaps, that the generality 'of the negro slaves are dull of apprehension, and slow of understanding ; but it may be doubted whether they arc more so than sonic of the lowest classes of our own people." The ardour with which they have sought religions instructicn is so unlike the colder -dis positions of our latitudes, that we might perhaps be allowed to question whether such persons will settle down into :a reasonably devout temperament : but we cannot doubt their readiness to receive the impressions, or their capacity of doing so. The only difficulty in the way of education in the colonies is that stumbling-block of all modern policy—secta rianism. This is a grievous impediment at home, but it is of far greater moment in the instruction of a semi-heathen population. The jealousy of rival- reheionists can find no compromise but that of leaving religion: altogether out' of education ; but it must be part and parcel of all colonial in- struction, if the eivilisatio'n of the Creole race is to be ex- pected from it. Much to the credit of the Mico Trustees, they have resisted this modern infection, and have made Bible-knowledge a part of their system, although they hive excluded from it all catechism and dogmas of faith. I should certainly myself prefer that all on whom the language, laws, and habits of England were conferred, should be brought up as English churchmen ; but I apprehend that if all sects are to share equal favour, this plan of education will be satisfac tory ; and I am glad to find that the 'Mice) schools at Trinidad and Grenada were well attended by Roman Catholic Creoles, under the .sanction of Bishop M`Donnel and his clergy. They do well to permit their flocks to attend these schools ; for so great is the desire among the negroes to be taught, that I think neither Protestant nor Romanists throughout our colonies could at this moment be withheld from attending schools of some kind or other. I cannot resist adding an instance of the readiness with which the people adopt im provement, although the example is a very trifling one. - The old custom in Guyana was an exceedingly lax one in regard to the clothing of the women ; and although, since it has come under the British sceptre, a manifest improvement in this respect has baen introduced to the disgusting exposure that still prevails in the colonies under the Dutch rule ; yet the general habit was to expose the bosom without any covering, especially when employed in the field, or in the household duties of their homes ' • from whence, in the ex citement of their nature, they would rush without the slightest ceremony, naked to the waist as they were, if they saw any one pass, to whom they had some grievance or favour to mention. I merely named, on one occasion, that Lady Cust would be greatly shocked if they came out to speak to her in such guise, and I never had occasion to mention the circumstance a second time. Whenever they afterwards came to speak to either of us, they were careful to throw a neckhandkerchief over their persons before they approached. Such an anecdote is trifling, but, as evincing a ready quick ness to receive improvement, it is inserted in this place in opposition to the opinion of the inaptitude of the negro people to be improved and civilised. • , TREATMENT OF THE WEST INDIA PLANTERS. Yet it is not the black population of the British colonies which should alone engross the sympathes of the mother country. The whites require sonic share of it, now that the ve,vata questio is terminated. For years they have been ex posed to an agitation under which their property has been deteriorated, their characters calumniated, and their influence derided and disregarded ; they have a claim to repose at least, if not to protection. No subjects of the British crown have been so unworthily treated as the landowners in the British colonies. Such has been the description of govern ment exercised towards the white population of the British colonies, that their grievances have been derided, and their complaints disregarded ; the Colonial Office assuming to itself, in effect, the dictatorship of this portion of the empire. Laws made in the secret chambers of Downing-street have been provided for a society 4,000 miles distant ; in some cases they have superseded the legislation of the colonial assemblies, or, in one form or another, have been forced down the throats of the unhappy people who are ornamented with the appellation of colonial legislators. The sin of the present system is distrust of the Colonists and over-govern went from home. Every packet brings out a new law, and the desire of the Governors to evince their activity and usefulness introduces a fever of rule, which would not be submitted to in the mother country for twenty-four hours. Yet, with all that has been done in infringement of a just amount of colonial liberty, it is impossible not to admit that a considerable reform is still imperatively culled for in the legislative constitution of our colonies. • CLIMATE OF THE WEST INDIES. I think it desiralie to insert in this place a few words with regard to health and climate. It would be too bold to assert, from the short experience I had of them, that the West Indies are not so unhealthy as public estimation holds them to be ; yet I am bound to say, that during the five or six months we passed in the tropics, neither Lady Cust, nor our little girl and myself, nor our two European servants, suffered a single day's sickness that was attributable to the climate. Undoubtedly we all took the best precautions in our power, without carrying about with us at every moment the apprehension of evil, which of itself is very injurious to many. I believe that some people who go to the West Indies frighten themselves into dangerous illness with too much care and nursing, whilst others, on the other hand, are victims of carelessness and indifference to any mode of life that would conduce to health. We took a middle course, abstaining very much from medicine, and not unnecessarily exposing ourselves to the heat, but living that kind of regular life that would be considered best in any country, and at the same time keeping, as free as colonial hospitalities would permit us, from the great excitements of society. Ido not believe that the negroes, although originally from a different and distant climate, are otherwise than a healthy race, and even other European nations do not suffer from ill health to the same degree as the British ; indeed. our people in the naval and military circles are greater suf ferers than those employed in civil duties. It is very singular, considering how much our nation travels about the world, ut yet it is undoubtedly true, that no other people are so wedded to home habits as we are. We keep to our English hours of business and meals—we ride, drive, sport, and dine, wherever we go, as if we were always under an English sky. The old Neapolitan proverb which tills the streets of Italy at noonday with dogs and Englishmen, ob tains an equal truth in the V est Indies, (excepting that, perhaps, the dogs may he there somewhat the wiser of the two,) and it is not surprising if the consequence is, that our constitutions deoop under it : the Spaniards and French are undoubtedly better accustomed to a sunny land at home, and their habits are better formed for it ; but 1 do not think that even this is sufficient to account for the difference of health which prevails in their islands and our Colonies ; nor could it at all account for the comparison that results to the pre judice of our naval and military service in this respect.. hel Spaniards are certainly more attentive to the question of military clothing than I think our officers are, although it must be admitted, that Sir Sanford Whittingham, the Commander-in-Chief, with his experience of many hot climates, was exceedingly considerate in this respect. The troops in the Spanish colonies•are entirely clad in linen, and only put on their cloth uniforms on very special occasions. I was told that their officers and men were as free from sick ness as the other inhabitants of their colonies. Our officers are very great sufferers •, which cannot be attributed, at the present day, to habits of intemperance, and least of all to the causes assigned for the pi eyalence of sickness among the lower ranks—salt meat and new rum. I cannot help think ing, therefore, in searching for a new cause for this, that it may be in a degree attributable to a military mess, which is not the custom of other nations. It is, lam disposed to ad mit, an advantage that we. possess over them in our military life for general service •, but I question whether it !may not operate injuriously under a trophied sun. It is not merely the temptation to drink sangaree and smoke cigars ; it is the internal and perpetual excitement of living en evidence, as it were, all day long, without any opportunity of occasionally retreating to a quiet feral:) , circle, that, I think must be so injurious. This is the marked feature of our colonial life, where unbounded hospitality exists, but without female in fluence to regulate it ; accordingly. young naval arid military -men have nothing but the charms of " single lifa" to enliven and occupy their colonial existence. I would also take the liberty, in this place, of calling on our members of parlia ment, in either house, to be more careful "how they scatter firebrands in sport" in talking of West Indian climat( s. Lord BroughaM, for instance, talks of " that charnel-house. De merara." I take the liberty of referring his lordship on this subject to an extract from Mr. Montgomery Martin s His tory of the British Colonies,* The effect of such unneces sary as well as unjust aspersions is, what Lord Brougham would regret as much as any man, to keep population from the colonies, which must be a very great injury to the sue. cessful results of the free-labour exaerimeat. . IMMIGRATION INTO THE WEST INDIES. From every consideration I am enabled to give, I am forced to the conviction, that even if it were desirable, for the sake of the newly emancipated labourers in the West Indies, to place the prosperity of those Cobnies at their feet,- , -if it could ever become a matter of utter indifference to the peb ple of Great Britain,--whether the British capital expended upon their culture be utterly swamped or not,—it would still be a question that they cannot but sympathise in, that the revenue of the country should be maintained without the ne cessity of resorting to the produce of those nations who have. continued the trade in spite of us ; and that the only way of meeting the evils which threaten all these inevitable conse quences of the present state of colonial labour, is to take up temperately, but seriously, the consideration of the means of supplying the deficiency to be apprehended, by a sound and well-organised system of COLONIAL IMMIGRATION. This question, which I found to be engrossing the minds of everybody throughout our Colonies, is one of admitted difficulty under its most ordinary bearings; but it is aggra vated by the excitement which has existed in the minds of men on account of all the cruelties of the days of slavery, and by the statements in regard to the imported Coolies and Maltese, which have occupied Parliament, and now crowd the newspapers, as extracted from papers pUblished by its authority. THE HILL COOLIES. My own estimate of the DiliCoolies, from what I saw of them, was, that they would prove a total failure. Physically, they were immensely inferior to the African, whose muscular form, as it appears in health, is a perfect anatomical picture. The Hill Coolie has more of the dwindled form of the native Indian of the South American continent. He appears to be of a patient rather than a discontented character, as if deter mined with a natural honesty to fulfil his character, but to look forward with delight to the completion of it. Imported without their women, and not assorting cordially with the nezroes, they were never calculated to take root in the soil. I did not see either the Maltese or Portuguese importations; but I believe that, as far as the influence of climate upon the constitution, none of them materially- suffered ; and that,. as far as ability for labour was concerned, they were one and all inferior to the Creole negro, when he is best disposed to exert himself in agricultural industry. Resort-has, 'I believe, been had to the Spanish Main, where the services of a Creole race, called Pieones, have been obtained, Init in no great numbers. These are of Spanish origin, more or less inter mixed with African blood, and of course well inured to all the vicissitudes of a tropical climate; they are, moreover, free to come and go, and do in fact pass to the island of Trinidad, where they often assist in getting in the crops ; • but they are spoken of as an indolent race, inconstant long to any kind of labour, with no great desire to leave their native land, where they lead a vagrant hunting life, and only pass to . our Colonies to obtain the means of purchasing some luxury or enjoyment, which is a momentary object of desire : this gained, they return to their home and their harranOck ; which last is the seat of that dreamy existence in which Spanish South Americans of every quality pass their days, until the evening tempts them to the guitar and the dance, at which. time they appear the happiest- people in the world ; and I should think would be : o, if there was no balance-sheet to be settled in the other. TREATIES IN REFERENCE TO THE SLAVE TRADE. In my opinion, our government would be fairly entitled to determine, upon their own authority, in whatever way ex isting treaties required, that our cruisers should carry the * "Demerary has been cited as one of the strongest in stances of a deleterious atmosphere, but when we come to examine facts it turns but otherwise." After stating these facts he proceeds, " Thus, that which is termed our most unhealthy West India Colony has, even as it regards its working population, a greater duration of life than the rich and poor of some of the principal parts of Europe :" then comparing Demerary with Rutlandshire, London, Preston. Leeds, and Bolton, he says, "The result is in favour of the duration of life in the colony of Demerary, as compared with a healthy county in England, and a still greater and increa• sing difference in its favour in comparison with the towns above cited." The military is of course excluded from these statistics, who unquestionably afford no proof of the especial salubrity of the West Indies. 1 joro c r et, ni t ed br stea ° ,i •vi sr ' e An"' ref' to ,/,10 0 111 e an d Job n ban d oute, ne ar aK ed Fok ur ,, " 00'