The Sun.
London, England, 1838-07-18 00:00:00

REVIVAL OF THE SLAVE TRADE.

(From the Demerara Royal Gazette, May 8.)
We 'Jaye this evening published the conditions of the agree-
ment mutually entered into by the natives of India, who are
Bri',ish subjects there, and Messrs. Henley, Dowson, and
Revel, agents in Calcutta, for such planters in the West
Indies arid elsewhere as may wish to employ the said natives
as labourers upon their estates. The Whitby, which, as we
have mentioned in our last, sailed from Calcutta a fortnight
before the Hesperus, arrived yesterday in Berbica with a
cargo of labourers, which, at the time she sailed, amounted to
270. We have not heard whether any have died on the pas-
sage or not. Every one who is convinced of the importance
of a speedy increase to our labourers will see the propriety
and, advantage of administering to the convenience and comfort
of these Coolies. These two cargoes are the first that have
r.rrived here, and the success of the experiment will very much
depend upon the manner in which they are treated.
We should rejoice if our objections to the recent importation
were capable of being refuted by an appeal to fact, hut under
the circumstances of the case, we:feel hound (in the non-ex-
istence of an agent for emigrants) to denounce and protest
against the insufficiency of remuneration secured to these un-
fortunate people, and also against the barbarous and flagitious
system of bringing to a strange country hundreds of men
without an adequate proportion of women.
Our enemies charge us with having under the colour of
immigration effected a renewal of the slave trade, and cer-
tainly the case of the Hesperus goes far to suet tin such a
charge. 138 men are, by some means or other, induced to
expatriate taemselves and traverse toasty thousand miles, the
majority of them in total abrogation of all their domestic ties ;
for it cannot for a moment be supposed that the six women
and the clever, children belong to more than a twentieth part
of these deluded men.
We say deluded, because it is utterly impossible that on a
fair and impartial representation of their prospects in this
country these men could have been induced to quit their own,
unless accompanied by their wives and families, or at any rate
by a greater proportion of females.
The introduction of large bodies of males has a most im-
moral tendency. The colony is even now suffering from the
large excess of male over females among the labouring tan_
from the neighbouring islands; and the
migrants
pro-ent cx-
teasive increase followed up, as we suppose it e',ll be, by
further importations of a similar nature, bids f,,;".. to demoralize
and throw back our hitherto advancing star, of society.
It is utterly impossible that this flag.Paous system of depor-
tation should be suffered to continue As soon as the intelli-
gence of the late arrivals of the Hesperus and Whitby reaches
England the question will be ",,sked, what do the importers of
these people contemplate a-s the result of their speculations?
Appearances will incvi".ably guide to the following conclu-
sions : The importer', keep out of view entirely the comfort of
the labourers doss, a
ig Lint- sojourn ; they concern not them-
selves with the ''aisarrangements of social tics among the ne-
gro populatie,n which must ensue by the introduction of hun-
dreds of IP ales into a population where that sex is already pre-
pondera' at ; they look not to the rearing of a progeny front the
new e'ilonists, they make no provision for it ; no, they con-
lenrplate the grinding of sugar out of the bones and sinews of
ese labourers so long as they are fit for work, and as they
',tear out, to supply their places by fresh importations.
It is in this light that the circumstances attending the im-
portation of Coolies to British Guiana will be viewed at home.
One of the most powerful orators and most influential men
in England, Lord Brougham, has already taken this view of
the subject, and when he finds his anticipations corroborated
by the facts of the first introduction of East India labourers
to British Guiana, what have we to expect but a deprivation
for the future of that source of obtaining labour?
• With reference to the remuneration of these Coolies, we
beg to refer our readers to the circular of a Calcutta house,
which we subjoin, and we now call the serious attention of our
local authorities to the circumstances of the case, recom-
mending—in order to prevent the evil consequences to be
dreaded from locating a number of these men on one spot--
tbat they shall be declared at liberty to choose their own
service, oa satiafying their importers for the expense of
passage, ; or that the owners of the ship shall give bond
to inaport within twelve months an adequate proportion of
fetuales,
Something of this kind must be done forthwith, by our-
selves, or it will be done for us, the moment the particulars of
the case reach England.
The importation of labourers to be conducted to a success.
ful issue must be made mutually beneficial. Our friends in
Berbice seem to be aware of this truth, and in consequence of
their offering better wages than the employers of this county,
the same vessels which formerly brought their emigrants to
Demerara, now carry them to Berbice, with an advantage to
the labourers of from 20 to 50 per cent.
On looking over the returns of immigrants furnished by the
sheriff of that county, we observed coopers, carpenters, sugar-
boilers, and trenchers, engaged at a dollar a day ; able field
hands at from 16 to 20 dollars per month. Can it then be
expected, is it reasonable, that other labourers can be con-
tented, who in their ignorance have contracted to serve for a
lengthened term of years at somewhere about three or four
dollars per month ?
We were before fully convinced of the necessity of a pro-
tector of immigrants, but the importation of these hill Coolie,
impresses us still more strongly with a conviction of its in?.ds.
peusability.