The Sun.
London, England, 1841-05-06 00:00:00

WEST INDIA PROPRIETORS.

A meeting of West India Planters, Merchants, and
others interested in the West India colones, was held yes-
terday at the Thatched House Tavern, St. James's-street,
pursuant to advertizement, to take into consideration the
Government proposition for reducing the duty on foreign
sugars. The Right Hon. the Earl of Harewood tea the
Chair at two o'cicck. The meeting was very thinly at-
tended. Amongst those present we noticed several gen-
tlemen connected with the Wen
The Nonee CHAIRMAN rose and said that however often
they had met on other matters connected with the West
Indic., that on which they were called together that day
was of the most paramount importance. Since the Noble
Lori at present at the head of colonial affairs had been ap-
pcinted to that department of the Government—although
he (Lord Harewood) could not speak of his own
knowledge, yet he had been informed that he
was surpassed by none in talent and unremitting
exertion.—(Hear.) He therefore hoped that after the
aggravations—for so he was compelled to term them—
that had been practised on the West India Colonies,
particularly on Jamaica, there would have been a more
favourable era, and not have found their best interest=
threatened with ruin. With respect to the project of
the Government, it appeared to him fairly impossible that
it could be intended to go on.. They talked of free trade—
free trade to whom? to everybody but to ourselves.
They kept their own duties whilst they trick
off the duties paid by other countries. They
had already paid, he (Lord H.) could not say how
much, but large as the sum was which had been paid to the
West Indian Proprietors for their sacrifices by the Negro
Emancipation, this country had been put to equal expense
by payments to other countries, and in supporting a navy
to stop the slave trail,. Could those now supporting the;
measure at any future period say one word about stop-
ping the slave trade, if they went and dealt with
those colonies worked by slavery, and where the importation
of slaws was carried on to a frightful extent? What was
the moment seized upon for doing this? The West Li-
diin colonists were now beginning to recover f-orn the
shock consequent upon the emancipation, and to fled the
way to the payment of money to the labourer', while
the population now generally were returning to a
sense of their duty, and the whole system was
working well, when the proposed measure is put forte,
which would throw the lands out of cultivation, stop the
progress of civiliz ition amongst the negroes, and coupling
the different means of raising money for the expenses of
the civil departments, including moral and religious edu-
cation, all these were to be shaken to their foundations
because the interests of the consumer were to be con-
sidered. He ( Lord Harewood) granted that the interests
of the consumer should he considered, but not, to the
ruin of the producer. This will not do either in the ques-
tion of corn or sugar. Was the product r to he overwhelmed
by importation from the slave colonies, or was he to have a
fair profit on the capital he employed ? The proposed
measure was supposed to come from some who re-
commended what is called free trade. lie con-
cluded that it did so, because he could appeal to
his Ilenourable Friend Mr. Burge, with es horn he
had an interview with the Chancellor of the Exchequer
at the Treasury, whither he (Lord Harewood) went with-
out any intention of speaking, but his spirit being roused
he said to the Right Honourable Gentleman, that from
what he heerd he (the Chancellor of the Exchequer)
meant to bring in foreign slave-grown sugar to
the market ; and the answer was, that nothing which
had transpired could !cad to that opinion—that the East
Indies had disadvantageous duties as well as the
British Colonies. Sugar would be introduced in foreign
ships, and for what object?—that manufactures might
be introduced to Brussels end such places in return. He
was not speaking now in Yorkshire, but if he were he
would speak as he did now—that the great crime of this
country was in overstocking the market, which tempted
men to the greatest dishonesty. The Anti-Slavery So-
ciety had not, as yet, announced their intention of joining
them, but if they acted up to their principles he had
a good opinion of the success of the objects they had in
view. The Noble Lord resumed his seat amidst cheers.
The SECRETARY read a letter from the General Shop-
owners' Society, addressed to the Noble Chairman, which
stated that in consequence of the intention of her Majesty's
Government to alter the duty on corn, sugar, and timber,
which would be highly detrimental to the interests of those
trading with the British colonies, and amongst the rest to
the trade with North America ; they felt bound to exert
their utmost energies in furtherance of the objects for
which the meeting was called.
The SECRETARY was then about reading petitions to
both Houses of Parliament, embodying the views of the
meeting. when,
Mr. RIDGWAY said the more proper course for the meet-
ing to pursue would be to move a resolution, to which any
person dissenting might move an amendment, as there
might be many present who entertained different views
from those contained in the petition.
Mr. BURGE said that in order to afford an op-
portunity to any gentleman to speak, he (Mr. Burge)
should move a resolution, and in doing so he should state
his reason for calling on that meeting to adopt a petition
praying both Houses of Parliament not to adopt a
i nu a-
sure which would entail ruin on all those colonies n the
east and west, where cultivation was effected by free
labour. His proposition was, that this meeting should
endeavour, by all means, to resist the attempt of her :/la-
jesty's Government to reduce the duty on sugar. There
were connected with the consideration of the objects of
the present meeting, consequences so momentous that he
might be allowed, in a few words, to submit some of them
to the meeting, as furnishing the grounds on which they
were called on to appeal against the measures of her
Majesty's Government. The very fact of the extinction
of slavery brought difficulties of a peculiar charactei—
difficulties which he believed would, in a short titer, be
surmounted, but which pressed with peculiar force on the
colonies during the time following that extinction, and re-
quired, on the part of the Government, a system of con-
eilistion for the relief and removal of their difficulties.
Now, on the part of the colonist, the sacrifices they had
made to continue the cultivation of the lands the
colonies, had been of such a nature, and of such an ex-
tent, that they particularly needed the protection of
the Government, and being protected against any mea-
sure that would tend to increase the difficulties
attending thorn. A great difficulty pressing upon them
was the great supply of free labour requirei for cultiva-
tion. But they submitted to the difficulty on the faith
that there was, on the part of the Government, a deter-
mination to give effect to the great measure of Slave
Emancipation, and to protect the colonies from any at-
tempts which would have the effect of subjecting them t
additional difficulties in the cultivation of their estates. But
not only were there individual difficulties, but the coloniste
subjected themselves to increased burdens, which tho na-
tare of the emancipation imperatively called for. They
bad increased their churches,—they had made large grants
for the religious instruction of all branches of the people,
without sectarian distinction.—( Cheers.) The addition
which Jamaice made to the annual expenditure :-cir tiro ie
purpose!, for the administration of justice, for emigration,
and various others connected with the extinction of slavery,
amounted to 200,0001. On the part of the colonists, they

had done their pa-t in giving effect to emancipation, on
which alone its success c'ependcd. Now, let them se,
what the Government had done. He agreed with the
Noble Lord that up to this time, and but far this Incisors.
there was no man who could reuse paying to the Noble
Lord the Secretary for the Colonies a tribute of the high-
est admiration. He (Mr. Burge) bed been, since 1812.
intimately acquainted with the govarnment cf the cell.
nies, and never during that time saw a Secretary for the
Colonies more worthy of respect or admiration than that
Noble Lord. He (Mr. Barge) was act of the Noble
Lord's political principle;, but he was attached to it e
colonies, and the-efore the man who did most good for
them, let him be Whig or Tory, rret with his warm ep•
probation. Of the conduct of the Noble Lord the Se.
cretary of Stem for the Color its, as such, he had invor;-
ably heard the I mguage tee'. But that couleee end's
made the present more appalling and dreadful in contrast
with the ether. Loft,: John Russell 'was non bringing
forward a measure for the increase of the slate-trade am,
the destruction of these caloriies, werhe of the imitation,
of all others, as, notwithztanding all difficulties, showing
that free labour could be made available to the national
prosperity, and that there could he no pretext for the con-
tinuation of slave labour. No man living could doubt bu-
that the effect of a reduction of the duty on foreign sugar
would be to hold forth a premium and protection to sla-
very and the slave trade, as bringing destruction upor
those colonies where freedom was first established. It
was well known that with a population so small as that
in the principal colonies it was riot possible that the prow
Auction of free labour could compete with slave labour
He begged those who felt an interest on that subject to
remember that when Clarkson and Wilberforce first be-
gan their labours the number of slaves in St. Domingo did
not exceed 70,000; at present the amount necessary to
supply Cuba and the Brazils, whence the product was to
come, by the measure now introduced by her Majesty's
Government, was 150,000. That fact ought to tell in
language which no man could resist. The measure was
calculated not only to ruin the colonist, but to destroy the
fairest hopes of the British nation. Were millions to be
spent on foreige nations? Were vast sums to be exi-ten-
ded in the Niger expedition for the extinction of slavery,
and the civilization of Africa, and at the very moment when
this was bsing. done a measure was proposed to
the nation, and to the British Parliaspent, which
afforded a premium on that barbarous trade ?
The petition, which it was one of the main objects of the
meeting to adopt was to impress as strongly as possible
the fact that the proposed measure would have the effect
of putting out of cultivation the great commodity of the
West Indies, and of putting the colonists completely out of
the market, and leaving them no motives for cultivation
of their estates. The moment that these measures became
law that moment would the colonies become a wilderness,
and what then would become of the negro po?ulation that
had been emancipated ? They could not advance into civi-
lization, as upon the cultivation of the estates depended
that. He could act but believe that those great and good
men, Lushington, Buxton, and others, would be found
holding up their hands in opposition to that measure of
the British Government, which was to perpetuate the fo
reign slay '-trade. In conclusion he would add, that the
utmost sore had been bestowed in drawing up the patitier,
by the West Indian Committee and the Hon. Member
(Sir A. Grant) on the left of the Noble Chairman, and
he, therefore, moved its adoption.
Sir ALEXANDER GRANT said before seconding the
motion of his Honourable Friend he thought it nc-
c 'scary to say a few words. His Hon. Friend had ad-
dressed them with much eloquence, but the meeting
should boar in mind the object for which it was convened,
They were a meeting of West • Indian proprietors, and
their objects were to consider the effect which the pre-
posed resolution of the Chancellor of the Exchequer
would bane on their property. He entirely concurred in
what had fallen from his Hon. Friend upon the effect
the proposed measure would have in rendering nugatory
the large sums of money which had been granted for the
extinction of the slave. trade. Still, strongly its he f: It
on the matter, it did not appertain to the objects of the
meeting ; what they were to lock to was the Chancellor
of the Exchequer's proposal, and it would require no de-
clarations the meeting were constituted according to the
terms in which it was called, as West India proprietors.
No one who came here actuated by other motives had a
right to attend.—( Hear, hear.) Theacprestien the Chan -
cellor of the Exchequer proposed was ie direct contrad•e-
tion to the arguments used in last session, when Mr.
Ewart brought forward his motion for the equalisation of
duties. The question the Chancellor of the Exchequer
proposed was that the duty on British colonial anger was
to amount to what he termed „245. plus 5 per cent." lle
stated thaf he proposed to reduce the duty on other sugar
of course ; on slave labour from 565. to 365. plus S
per cent. There were practical gentlemen present, and
he (Sir A. Grant) would wish to know whether the na-
ture of the emenci.,,ation in the colonies by which they paid
high wages for vet.) few hours of labour, did. not produce these
results, nanicly, whether the cost of manufacturing one
hundred weight of sugar is not larger than Pis. on the
part of those using free labour, than on those who use,
and who use unsparingly, the labour of slaves? if that
were so, they had no protection whatsoever, but rather
the contrary, for the protection was all on the sile of the
slave grower.—( Hear, hear.) When the Chancellor of
the Exchequer was asked by Mr. Goulburn to explain his
intentions Oil the subject now under the consideration of
the meeting, he replied that he was totally unprepared to
statt the means by which this end was to be effected, but
it was intended that there should be an alteration proposed
its the duties, by which the returns to the revenue would
be increased from 700,0001. to 1,000,000/. Mr. Gaul-
bura again inqu'red how that was to he done? when the
Chanceller of the Exchequer replied, he was not then
prepared to state the machinery by which it was to be
effscted. The fact was, that on Thursday the Right
lion. Gentleman, knew as little of the proposal he made on
Fehlay, as any one in that assembly.—( Laughter. 1 The
Hon. Baronet concluded by seconding the motion.
The petition was then read, but it was merely an echo
of the preceding speech.
Mr. IRVING said he considered it bad policy to attend
to Vats interests of the consumer independent of those of
the producer. because, if the latter suffered from any par-
ticular cause, the former would soon experience the e%P,
by a rise in prices. There were many ,commodities
which would allow of a little- increase in price, and
amongst theae was sugar, and for this he rtferred
to a certain Report, published some time back.
That paper was first published under the authority of a
Committee of the House of Commons, for the sake of
tting the public know what were the opinons cf the
House on that subject. Now what was the opinion of Mr.
M'Gregor, to which so much weight was attached? It
was that the plan would produce to the revenue 6,000,0001.
a-year.—( Hear, hear.) But what was the Chancellor of
the Exchequer's opinion? What did he think he would
gain by s?crificing the West Indian interest ?—( Hear,
rue tr) —by sacrificing our whole colonial system,
which had for ages bees regarded as oar greatest
sonrce of strength and wealth ?,,-( Hear, hear.) Why, he
expected only 700.0001 ?—and, for that sum, he would
sacrifice the greatest colonial system that ever existed in
the, svcrld—(Cheers)—a system which produced a revenue
to this country of 7,Boo,oool.—(Cheers.) All that was
to be sacrificed for 7,000,0001. of revenue, and a chance
of 3,850,0001 from the trade with B-azils.—( Hear,
hear.) Mr. Labouchere stated the other night, in the
House of Commons, that he had presented a petition feint
the most respectable merchants in the city of London. But
he (Mr. Irving) could assure the meeting that many Of
those who signed that petition did so through misappre-
hension, and were prepared now to sign the petition to
which he believed that meeting was about to agree.--
(Cheers.) He (Mr. I.) knew a gentleman who *as
highly eulogised when the City petition was presented,
and whose signature gave .it great weight. That
gentleman, he could tell the meeting, bad since changed
his mind, and was now determined to sign their petition.
And, as it was advisable in their present position to make
known any circumstance that tended to afford consolatiou,
he would tell them that he had reason also to know that
the gentlemen called the Anti-Slavery Society would sup-
port the greater part of the petition now read.—(Cheers.)
He concluded by moving that the petition be adopted,
and that the members of the West India body in London
be requested to sign it immediately, so that it might be
ready to be presented on Friday night.
A GENTLEMAN requested permission to address a few
words to the meeting before the question was put. He
did not come there, be said, to interrupt this meeting, or
to oppose their petition. He was a person interested
In the West Indies, and in all the colonies, and most
of all in this great nation itself, whose welfare was
involved in this question. It was true that 20,000,0001.
had been paid for the extinction of slavery in the West
Indies ; but it was also true that it was not yet extinguished
there.—(Much dicapprobation and laughter. Cries of
Not true.")

Sir A. GRANT said that the meeting ought to be in-
formed of the gentleman's name, and whether he was con-
nected with the West Indian interest.

Lord HAREM:Km said the gentleman had handed a
card, from which be learned that his name was Ridgway,
and that he lived in Leicester-square. He (the Chairman)
did not know whether ho was interested in the West
Indies. But he did not think it would be for the credit of
the meeting that any gentleman who-thought that the mea-
sures of the Government now under their consideration af-
fected the interest of the colonies of the nation at large,
'should not be allowed to express his sentiments.
Sir A. GRANT—The gentleman says he has an interest
in the West Indies. I beg to ask him in what relation ?
Mr. RIDOWAY—I will not answer that question. —(011'
oh, and laughter.) He pr.:smiled to say that with rewet
to the slave.trade in Brazil, it was perfectly notorious that
it was carried on to a great extent by British cap
-if: .
the
(Oh, db, and cries of " What has that to do g
question.") He thought that the British people_me stehiavde
s,
a
right to say in what way they would be taxe:th
for the 20,000,000/. was what they had paid for ithe eman-
cipation of the slaves in the West Indies. As he saw
there was au indisposition to bear him, he would not tres-
pass further.—(Cries of " Go on, go only/
111 r. idgway whether,
Severrl gentlemen appealed to
in fairness, he was nut bound to acknoalbedge „titre was
every disposition to give him an atte,nt_'ve sr•ng as long
as be chose to speak—(Cries of 'Go one )—but he re-
mained silent.
Mr. C. BARKLEY thought that the gentleman had no
right to ~ay he wai not heard with attenton and courtesy,
He (iqr. Barkley) could at sure Mat that he was .in error
in supper.ing that slavery existed in the West Indies in any
foram.— ( Cht ers. ) He leas a Radical, and expected soon to
go to the hustings on Radical principles, and he had zea-
lously supported the emancipation of the ne, "Toes in
every stage of the atrugßle,—(cheers.
) But he could