The Express.
London, England, 1852-09-04 00:00:00

TO COR4IIBru4DIII4TB.

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NIGH WATEL: AT LONDON BRIDOI.
Ter—llsrung. 31. ISo. *Anne*, Sh Ma.
onossow—lllorsisi. la. 470. ♦Muroran. Sh.

LONDON, SATURDAY, SEPT. 4.

TIM West Indian interest no longer ce,nceal their
expectation that, in the next session of Parliament,
the Beane Administration will propose to prolong, if
not to perpetuate, a differential duty ..if about is. a
cwt. ou foreign sugar. They go further, and boast
that to such a proposition no serious opposition will
be offered by some of the leaders of the old anti-corn-
law agitation. Therein, however, they will be mis-
taken; for the determination of all Freetraders, so
far as in them lies, is to settle at once
and fur ever tho commercial policy of the
country on the basis of trade unrestricted
by import ii.uties except for revenue purposes. To
permit their of an exception to this great principle
in too important an article as sugar, would amount
to keeping open for continual discussion and for con-
stant irritation the whole question of free imports. It
would be unjust to the people of this country, and it
would be injurious to the colonies concerned ; for
until they can be convinced that absolute freedom of
trade in sugar is a fundamental and fixed polio,
with the mother country, they will never adapt the..
selves to the actualities of their position.
That the state and condition of the West Las
Islands require grave attention and the most sarloas
consideration—we will even add the liveliest lateral
of the Government and public at home—ia Trey co,
ta'. But that interest must be given on salad
economical principles, in accordance with what jos-
tke renders due to the community hem, and to the
real, not to the artificial, wants of these colonies. Now
Protection to any amount or to any extent in the home
market for their sugar is altogether an artificial
want. It might raise the price of labour a little in
the colonies; but it would aggravate their real evils,
—which in the main are of a social character,--by in-
ducing their proprietary to lean on the aid of others
instead of relying on themselves fur future safety.
So thinks Governor BARKLY, of Guiana, himself a
large landowner and cultiistor in that colony • for
in ore of the latest despatches he addressed to Lord
GREY, he sensibly remarked :
The diaasten of the past must be regarded by the West
Indians as irremediable; the d.ingers of the future are, I
feel sure, capable of being surmounted by a vigorous and
prnlent mune of action, provided it be heartily united is
by the most infoeat,al !neaten of the community. If,
instead of adopting these conclusions, such gentlemee con-
tinue to place their ode tiliance upon a restoration of pro-
teeond duties, sot only will much good be left undone, bat
I !car that they may actually succeed is !wincing So
pins %Omelet, these men prophet-see of utter runs.
No doubt they will; and that is the danger of the
West Indies. So long as they have any hope of per-
petuating differential duties on foreign sugar, so long
will they "potter" on in an ill system of culture,
neglect science in their manufacture, and allow the
social organisatiln of the colonies to run riot, as it
now does. Just read the following extract from a
report in Ifiell of Stipendiary Magistrate Caaam
on his district, in the colony imationed :
leepruremaras us Aprecultsua owl liarstifiscarres introduced
this llelneere.
Nothing to wader under dun bends; the amengglefeil
experiment ;:fareeshing allebel W is the last raper,IN
for which peranalaawas made at the sort af tit
: seottziotoe, was sew, =de/ Ws aassaisa ; radio*
were yardwisak plaugbs papvMsd, sad the Mae
given ie_elmege to the passix, who, fortified by his expert-
ewe in I.asisse bad aalataken to ands* the 'sped.'
meat with sellaND. Mat as an was ploughsd; math albs,
moth was allowed to slaps without an ethst beits $
the rain was fro beaey--tb• saute set sallalsoly babas
then was so wont of elegise; but the trout t u yelyabse
toe, who furnished the meeme, rides is
within the teepees. as elsswkss. say work si lsye
which ropurarkrisar aad atearalsa, his eat mask inn
of saoress, saws areal sa sad sarrisiesdal by Asa eta
bare s direct baaplat is he result.

And this is the style and system of agriculture
which the I)EaBT cabinet proposes to protect at the
expense of the English people. Why, it will be
=ig sloth and negligence, and incapacity, and

Ina country where labour is scarce, rational,
earnest, enterprising men resort to substitutes for
manual labour. Not so in the British West Indies.
There, as the command of labour diminishes, they
claim to be compensated out of other people's indus-
try fur its loss. "The use," says Stipendiary Msgis-
trite AC6IOI, " the use of the plough, reported in
December, 1848, and Jane, 1849, appears to have
been diatoontinoet• And because they won't put
their hands to the plough, they are to be allowed to
put them into oar pocket..
Part of the sesreity.of labour in the West Indies
is, without a doubt, owing to protection. For whilst
they had a monopoly for their produce, after full
emancipation, in this country, the profits of that
monopoly went to the labouring dames, who, in
consequence of their numbers, had command of
wages. The result is that in many of these colonies
particularly—the present property of the
emancipated peasantry exceeds in value that of their
former masters; and being well off thereaids in
towns and refuse employment insaw
Bald..
I. other parts this scarcity of labour is owing to
the superabundance of waste lands whereon the
peasantry can squat. But for this squatting
society In these possessions is mainly responsible.
For what has it done to render continued residence
within the pale of civilisation attractive ? It has
placed no reliance on the civilising and binding in-
luences of sound social organnation, . operating
slowly at first, but with a progresnve fares ;
it has maintained high import duties on flour
and luxuries, and so suspended the power
of imported commodities to act as stimu-
lants to industry ' • it has not provided for the reli-
gions instruction of the peasantry or for the educa-
tion of their children, high isdatecnents though such
agencies be to systematic occupation ; nor has it
even established any effective system of police to
restrain crime.
Over and over did Earl GREY draw the atten-
tion of the to these matters ;
repeatedly did be showlittresehat important abets
on labour they would have; and frankly did he tell
them that ahem all things what they first wanted
was social orgombodom They. replied by talking of
slavery, the gimbals, protection, and such other idle
babble, as if prorperity were to be imported like a
bale of eaten goads, and profit for colonial roger was
an obligation binding by the moral law on the con-
sciences .f the people of England.
What the West Indies so&r from is not imperial
legislation; for it, in emancipating the slaves, saved
them from certain insurrection and probable revolu-
tions; and, in throwing open our sugar market to
the world, it relieved them from the power of
the peasantry over wageseffect of which
was immediately to be seen and felt in increased
production and e • of sugar. It is not im-
perial legislation, bat local disorganisation they suf.
fer from. Society, under freedom, has been allowed
to run to seed. Ths masters have sought only for,
labour, without thinking of, caring about, or pro-
viding for the wants, moral and physical, of
free labourers. They have neglected those duties
which are higher than growing canes; but which,
when fulfilled, would have had a powerful influence
in the sugar fields. Dull, dense, selfish, and corrupt
as a body, they have acted on their coarse, material,
narrow, and short-sighted instincts, and never risen
to any comprehensive view of their own best and
permanent interests. As the language of CICERO to
CASCA was Greek Indeed," SO the despatches of
Lord Garr were unintelligible to the planters. But
now, having got a congenial ministry in power, we
at hems have, it seems, to pay the piper.
West Indian prosperity is far more dependent on
moral and social agencies than on anything else.
Governor BARELY cleverly describes the ten-
deney of the negro to squat up rivers and oaths
creeks of that colony far beyond cultivation as an
"internal hemorrhage;" adding, "no stimulant,
whether of immigration or otherwise, can restore a
healthy action until it is stopped." Protection prices
for,gar, it is clear, are powerlem to manage this bleed-
ing in the colony it is boll remedies and applications
only that can be succeestally resorted to; and the chief
of these must, it is self-evident, be to render cultiva- I
tioa and employment more attractive than waste
land sad idleness. This an only be dune in small
circles and in detail ; by agonising districts with oleo-