The Sun.
London, England, 1840-07-27 00:00:00

tnE_ SUN, LONDON MOND_A_Y_, JULY 27, 1840.

under more favourable circumstances to bring undEr;
their attention. The subject matter of the resolution
was of that kind which required a large number of
details in figures, to bring the whole of the facts
under their consideration. Had he; however, an op-
florttinity o bringiug the whtile Cif the subject under
their review, he thought he would find little difficulty in
substantiating every position laid down in the re-
scilution, from official papers laid before Parliament as
well tiS i'rerfi leis oi;rn Obseriation ditrind ad ettensive
quiry in the British Colonies.—(Hear, hear.) the
meeting must therefore do him the favour of taking it
for granted that every proposition which the resolution
embodied could be sustained, and he trusted other op-
portunities would be afforded him of showing to the
British public that whatever might have been said in
reference to the decrease in the quantity of sugar raised
in the West Indies; that that decrease was by no
means so great as it was asserted to be,—(Hear, hear.)
He would mention one fact by way of poising this ;
that fact was grounded on a Parliamentary paper which
he had in his possession, by which they would perceive
how little confidence was to be placed in the general
statements made in reference to the decrease of the
produce of the Colonies. Let them take the year
1833, the last year of slavery, and they would
rind, on consulting the returns laid before Parlia-
ment, that the amount of sugar imported into this
country frlm the British West India Islands, the
Mauritius, and the East Indies, amounted to 4,277,911
cwts. ; and in 1839, the last year, they found that the
amount of sugar imported into this country from these
various sources was 3,914,326 cwts., leaving a decrease
of 363,586 cwts., or about one-twelfth of the whole.—
( Hear.) He adverted to the fact that a great number
of married women, and the mothers of infant children,
and the children themselves, had been withdrawn from
the severe duties of • the cultivation of sugar—that
children of twelve years of age were now found in
their schools who used to be engaged in carrying
canes ; he alluded not to the fact that a large number
of young men and women had gone to other employ-
ments in the towns, and who would in after years form
the tradespeople of their colonies—he adverted not to
the general withdrawal_of domestics who were formerly
employed during the season of the crops—to contests
about wages—to the question of rental for huts—to the
occupation of provision-grounds—to the frauds prac-
tised on the labourers, and the mode and the time of
the payment of their wages—to the combination of the
planters to coerce labour, and to the general haughty
and overbearing spirit held by the managers in their inter-
course with the labourers ; whilst in British Guiana
it has now been ascertained on the authority of I
of the Governors of that colony, that the crop of last
year had been affected to at least one-third of its
amount by the severe drought which prevailed in that
colony. In connection with the preceding facts the
diminution in the produce of sugar in the West Indies,
might be still further traced to the conduct of the plant-
ers themselves. In reference to another important
matter, it appeared that the,amount of manufactured
pods introduced in the five years that sueceeded slavery
was 3,000,0001. more than the amount introduced I
during the five last years of slavery.—(Loud cheers.)
If, he repeated, the planters only pursued the course
which justice demanded, there would be found suffi-
cient labour in the Colonies to cultivate their estates
without the importation of labourers or Hill Coolies.—
( Hear, hear.) He would refer to another fact of im-
portance, namely, the increased value of property in
the Colonies. In every ease. in which estates had been
brought into the market, they fetched higher prices
than could have been obtained during the period of
slavery, with their slaves upon them. Here, then, was
a fact in which they were enabled at once to test the
property of the Colonies.—(Cheers.) In corroboration of
this fact he might further state, that during the last
year the sale of the estates in British Guiana fetched
higher prices in many instances than they fetched dur-
ing the days of slavery.—(Cheers.) This fact he
gave on the authority of the Governor of the colony,
who communicated it in a dispatch to the Colonial
Office, with the names of the estates and the prices
which they fetched, thus satisfactorily disposing of the
statements made by the planters of the general ruin
which had been entailed upon them by the emancipation
of the negroes. But the planters sought by the enact-
ment of the laws to bring the people once more within their
power. The slave spirit had yet to be exploded, and
the friends of the negro must look closely after the
administration of the laws, and keep the Government
to their dut; ; and though Lord John Russell might
refuse them interviews, as he had repeatedly done,
there were other modes of making their applications
heard than through the Secretary of the Colonies.
In concluding these brief remarks, they would permit
him for a moment to advert to • the real causes
which had created the present high price of sugar
in the British markets. He would advert to the
fact that in the colonies at the present time a much
larger quantity of sugar was consumed by the emanci-
pated negroes than formerly. They were not now con-
tent to receive a small quantity from their masters at
Easter time and at Christmas. They must have a re-
gular supply for themselves and their 'families. This in
some measure had affected the home market, while in
this country there had been an increased demand for
sugar, arising from various causes. But the chief cause
of the high price had been the monopoly of the Bri-
tish market by the West India body. That monopoly
had not merely shut out the produce of the stave-
holding States, but bad prevented the British
people from enjoying the sugar raised by free
labour in other parts of the world than their own de-
pendencies. On principle, he confessed himself op-
posed to all monopolies, whether they were sugar or
other monopolies ; but he could not disguise from him-
self the fact that to equalise the duties of sugar at the
present moment would be to give a bonus to slave la-
bour, which he was most unwilling to do—(Cheers)
not, however, for the sake of the \Vest Indians, but
on the grand principle of humanity, liberty, and reli-
gion. He was of opinion that the day was not far
distant when the produce of free labour would destroy
slave labour in all the markets of the world, and most
anxious was he that the attention of the British people
and the Government should be turned to India as an
ample field for supplying with sugar the demands of this
country.—(Loud cheers.)
At the conclusion of Mr. Scoble's speech, S. Lloyd,
Esq., was called to the Chair, upon which—
C. SHAW, Esq. moved a vote of thanks to Sir Eardley
Wilmot for his conduct in the Chair.

• The resolution was put and carried with acclamation,
After which the HON. BARONET returned thanks,
and assured them that either through the medium of pe-
titions to the House of Commons, or any other legitimate
mode within his power, he should he always ready from
principle to forward the great and glorious cause they
had undertaken..
The Meeting separated at half-past ten o'clock.