The Express.
London, England, 1848-02-02 00:00:00

G, FEBIIITARy 2, 1848.

t!sy

.fle truth is, that were el`raid of this con-
...station, lett it ebonld deprive them of their plea
for continued piotective duties. The
of state
affairs in Jemaiss,, described in the com-
mittee's reports the coasequepes of pro-
tection, and will endure as long as protection
endures. " Hardly in say case will the people work
on estates for more than five days in the week ;
Jrt ,several districts they refuse to work more
than four days in the week ; the average
dans of labour is from five to six hours a
day." Again :—" The labour given for the wages is
not only inadequate in quantity, but generally ill
performed. On the anniversary of freedom, and at
Christmas, the entire agricultural population spend
from one to two weeks in idleness, and in some dis-
tricts this is also the case at Baster." Of course the
negroes, when they find that by such desultory la-
bour they can earn enough to provide plenty of food,
fine clothes, bottled porter, and Madeira, arc not such
fools as to work longer or oftener. But bow comes it
that they are able to do this? Because the protective
duty enables the planters, though with a pinch, to
keep paying them at this rate, and because so long as
they are protected from foreign competition, the plant-
ers will not set themselves seriously against the exorbi-
tant charges of their labourers. When the West
Indians ask for a protective duty to support free
labour against the competition of slavery, they mean
free labour such as described by the Jamaica House
of Assembly. The 10s. per cwt., the most moderate
differential duty asked for, means a tax upon the in-
dustrious classes of this country, to enable the West
Indian planters to indulge their labourers in a " six-
hours labour bill." The sugar imported last jar
from the West Indies amounted to about 2,800,000
carts. The tax upon this would be 1,400,0001., paid
in a great measure by the middle classes in narrow
circumstances and the labourers, in order that JACOB
OMNICM may retain his house in Belgravia and his
negroes enjoy their bottled stout and Madeira, for
working twenty or twenty-four hours in the week.
The fact that ths quantity of sugar annually pro-
duced in the British West Indies is steadily increas-
ing ; the fact that free-labourers from Africa can be
got to work well and a sufficient number of hems
for equal or even less wages than the creole nevus;
above all, the fact that, even during the last trying
year, our West India sugars have kept their ground
in the market against all competitors, shows that our
West Indies can save themselves under the existing
law if they work with a will. The experience of the
put shows that the requisite effort will not be made
so long as a shadow of hope remains to them that
protection will be allowed to continue after 1851, if
so long. In the name of the over-tasked mechanic
of this country, in the name of the hard-working
capitalists of this country, we protest against any
additions to their taxation, to gratify the Sybarite
propensities of lazy West Indian capitalists of the
I enders regime, or the maudlin fantastic sympathies
of those who see no virtue except under a black skin,
and who would sacrifice, without remorse, every
English labourer, in order that their pet blacks may
be kept sleek and fat.
We have argued, and will continue to argue, this
question as an imperial, not as a sectional question.
We wish the resident West Indians to have the same
justice as the residents in the old country, and no
more. The emancipation of our negroes has cost us
much, and however well conducted, must have cost
us much. But it has been borne by both parties. In
the West Indies a large number of estates have been
temporarily thrown out of cultivation, and the cost d
production has for fifteen or sixteen years beta
doubled. In this country we have paid twenty mil-
lions down on the nail, and for half a century we have
paid annually to the West Indians the whole excess
of what their sugars actually brought in the market
over what they would have brought but for the ex-
clusion of cheaper foreign sugars by duties which were
long prohibitive, and have been till lately all
but exclusive. If anything we have paid more than
the West Indians, and considering the amount of''
capital realised in the slave trade, and in the West
Indies, and invested here, we think this quite lair.
But the balance having been struck, we must start on
a new score, and the West Indians must help them-
selves.
This the residents are obviously willing to do. But
the West India interest on this side of the water seems
differently minded. While the residents are urgent
for the abolition of the navigation laws, the absentees
and mortgagees are anxious for their preservation.
The truth is, that the so-called West India interest in
this country consists with a few honourable exceptions
of two sections—the proprietors who account them-
selves of the landlord class, and share and cultivate its
prejudices; and the merchants, who either hold the
planter's property by mortgages, or keep him at their
mercy by advances of stores continually renewed, and
who, mixed up with the shipping and other local in-
terests, would keep the real West Indians serfs and
thralls. It is this pseudo West India interest that is
so clamorous for permanent and increased protection,
and if many of the resident West Indians still cling
to the delusion, it is owing to the misrepresentation
of their pretended friends on this side of the water.

ROME, Jaw. 21•
The expected arrival of the King of Naples, which
was the current report in Rome, and which turns out
to be prematurely credited, originated with Baron
Charles Rothschild, who is here, and whose motive
for circulating such rumour I don't pretend to fathom.
It is now ascertained that Ferdinand is seriously in-
disposed, sad has been bled twice by his physician
since the news from Palermo.
The Pallade of this morning announces as certain
that Count Pietro Ferretti has been definitively placed
at the head of the finance department, in place of
Monsignor Morichini, who gets a mitre in the neigh-
bourhood of Rome. Also, that Savelli, the blunder- ,
ing governor, who caused the false alarm on New
Year's-day, is to go abroad as legate or nuncio, some-
where or other, and Duke Oitetani to succeed him.
This is the foarth governor of Rome we have had
during the last six months, some fatality seemingly
attending such_functionaries.
In the church of Santa Croce, at Florence, a solemn
dirge was ming on the 19th for the souls of the slain
in the streets of Milan.
The Jews of Rome have just presented an address
to the Pontiff, couched in the most enthusiastic terms,
and delicately hinting that they hope for participation
in the full rights of citizenship. They thank him for
what he has already done in their behalf, pledge
themselves to form a battalion of the civic guard, and
finish by calling him " the delight, the joy, and the
wonder of manMnd.'
Cardinal Bofondi (not long created) is to be the
new President of the Cabinet, and Secretary for
Foreign Affairs. Cardinal Ferretti insists on retiring.
The architect Camporesi, who was employed by the
late government in various works, and was dismissed
lest year for jobbery and peculation, has called for a
trial. Two days ago the Pope visited the " Hotel
Dien" of Rome, the hospital of Santo Spirito, without
notice to the officials : he overhauled everything,
medicines, utensils, blankets, food, &c. Having
tasted the soup, he found it such poor trash that he
broke out in energetic terms against the managers,
and threatened to dismiss the whole staff if on his
next visit (which would be unexpected like the pre-
sent) he found his poor people treated like dogs. The
revenues of this establishment are enormous.
The young lads and boys of Rome to the number
of several hundreds are to be seen after school hours
undergoing the drill exercise under the instructions
of an old Piedmontese veteran, Colonel Pannier.
Their battalion is called La Speranza, and there are
hopes of a brilliant future when such are the pursuits
of boyhood. The grown-up civic guard will have
successors who may /rupees their sires.
His Juventus arts partatibas
Lifecit agree sanguine PUnieol

DENMARK. --- COPENHAGEN, JAN. 25. King
Frederic VII. has signalised his succession to the throne
by an ad of permanent genercsity and political wisdom,
which has met with the meet universal approbation through-
out the kingdom of Denmark, as well as the German
duchies, and fully justifies the most sanguine expectations.
A supreme rescript, addressed to the Danish Chancery, re-
specting processes against politics and the press, is to the
following effect:
With reference to oar patent of the 20th lest., Maned on the event
of our accession to the throne, we feel graciously induced to set amide
all processes now pending againstall misdemeanors et the peels and
of a,
inpogtaicfalonnaaitt;tr:itl% our
olitnagdmcs.nrolazgautle neeearry measures,
duchies.
Our Chia.
=as speedily as possible give publicity to our royal rescript.
We
commend you to God.—Given at our Court of Chrletiansbnrg,
21. (Signed) Faxon= Rex.
Jan.
In the forenoon of the 24th the magistrates of Copen-
hagen were admitted to an audience of his Me-
ia. on the occasion of his accession to tke throne,
as i the Chief President, Lange, addressed his Ma-
in a long speech, in which he took a retro-
s?i,t of the measures of the late king upon the deplorable
variances between the Inhabitants of the different provinces,