The Sun.
London, England, 1840-06-01 00:00:00

CHEAP SUGAR.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
Stn,—ln common with many others, I have for some
time witnessed with much gratification your strenuous
efforts to enlighten the public on the subject of the mono-
poly enjoyed by our Sugar-producing colonies, and the re-
sults thereby produced of fostering one interest, that of a
few, to the great cost and manifest disadvantage of the
many. Too much cannot be said or written to awaken
the people to a true sense of the bearings of this great
question, not only on their comforts, but on the actual ex-
istence of an immense portion of their trade and commerce.
With your permission, I will now proceed to lay before
the public a few arguments in favour of the admission to
home consumption of Sugar, the produce of other than our
own possessions, and be it understood that in so doing I
do not wish to throw our Colonies overboard by au assimi-
lation of duty, but I wish them to have a protection of
25 per cent. less duty than I would propose to be levied
on Foreign Sugar ; that is to say, that the present rate of
245. on British Plantation should continue, and Foreign be
subject to a duty of 325. per cwt.
Amongst other great advantages that would accrue from
this alteration I may enumerate the following :-
Ist. The consumer would get the article at least 40
per cent. cheaper, and as a natural consequence would
consume a greater quantity.
2d. Our shipping interest, and all branches connected
with it, whose ramifications are too multifarious to trace,
would be immensely benefited.

3d. The great increase in the export of our own manu-
factures in exchange, thereby increasing the prosperity of
a very important branch of trade.

4th. The increase to the revenue consequent on aug-
mented consumption.
And in order to prove, not only the probability, but al-
most certainty of such desirable results, I will now analyze
the subject, and offer some proofs to your notice.
The first I will adduce is that furnished by the enclosed
samples. No. lis a sample of Sugar sold here last week,
the produce of the French West India possession of
Cayenne, at
No. 2 is a sample of Sugar, the produce
of the British West India possession of
Demerara also sold here this week at
71s. 6d., from which deduct duty, with
a per cent. additional, 255. 3d., leaves

Difference more paid by British Colonist... 245. 3d.
for a worse article, or more than 100 per cent.
This is a case in point, which cannot be refuted by all
the sophistry the opponents of cheap sugar are accus-
tomed to bring forward in support of their own opinions.
Again, mark the inconsistency of the system. The De-
merara sugar reaches our consumer, after paying the mer-
chant 71s. 6C. per cwt., and the wholesale and retail
grocers' profits ; and the Cayenne sugar goes into the re-
fine; y, and is afterwards exported to our own sugar-pro-
clueing colonies at a lower cost than the planter can afford
to use his own produce at, and our emancipated slave gets
his Tefircd sugar from us for less than half the price we
compel our own hard-working population to pay I may
as well also remark that we arc supplying our colonies and
other countries with treacle at 14s. per cwt., while the
British public arc paying 365. per cwt. for similar quality.
And why, I ask, is such a gross and unjust system coun.
tenanced ? Are the people of England not yet sufficiently
alive to titer own interests, or are they still content to
have the c mpcy honour of being styled a generous nation,
and in return keep up an odious monopoly at an outra-
geous cos._ Forbid it justice ; forbid it common sense ;
that a people: so pre-eminently sensitive on every subject
connected cvrtir their maritime and manufactuzing interests,
should be so, lethargic on this one, is truly one of the ano-
malies of the age we live in.

The Uaitud Kingdom will this present year, according
to all reasonable calculations, founded on the best data,
consume at ieast 225,000 tons of sugar and moldsseF,;; and
wll4t will be the supply ? The West India merchants
tell us that...their possessions will not yield as much as last
Lear by 25.000 ; and, assuming this to be the case,
the import from thence
Of suga,!, will be . 109,300 tons
Of molasses, reduced to sugar, will be 11,000

120,300 tons
From Mauritius, vane as last year
which was greater than usutql 34,200 ...
From !Jeep], an increase of 7,000 tons 34,000 ...

Giving a total supply 0f......... 188,500 toils

Or 36,500 tons less than our consumption.
It is, therefore, a natural inference, that though we may
feel ourselves obliged to protect our own colonies to the
extent of their own supply, yet that obligation may cease
when, by their own admission, they cannot keep pace with
our demands. And what will be the con:equenco of
this immense and unprecedented diminution of our stock of
an article that has ceased to be a luxury ? Why, the
enhancement of prices already too high, to a rate higher
than is paid by any other civilised nation.
Several well-intentioned individuals, alive to the proba-
ble result that is to be apprehended are making efforts to
induce the Government to admit for consumption foreign
sugar of free labour only, thereby excluding the produce
of the Brazils. But in so doing, I presume, they either
forget, or are not aware that England is bound by treaty
to admit Brazil sugar to consumption, whenever she does
that of other foreign posse:7sions. Few arc sensible of the
great importance to this country of the trade with Brazil,
and as the existing treaty with that nation expires in 1842,
some measures must be taken towards admitting her pro-
duce on more favourable terms than heretofore. Should
this not be done, our manufacturers and artisan; will be
shut out from a most extensive market,—and this is surely
not the policy of the British Government.
But, exclaims the West India planter, why compel me
to emancipate my slaves, and then encourage slavery in
other countries by taking their produce ? In answer to this
I will adduce a parallel case—that of the reduction of the
duty on foreign cotton wool, which took place some years
ago. The West India monopolist was then ready with the
same arguments as now, both as to his own consequent
ruin and the encouragement of what we most repudiated
—slavery in its worst shape in the Southern States of
America. The measure however was passed, and I need
nut ask what the consequence has been; every man is
ready with the answer, that it has fostered a trade, without
which England would never have arrived at her present
commercial and manufacturing pre-eminence.
In tzking into consideration the increase of consumption
that will be attendant on the reduction in price, I will first
remark that the present consumption averages 201bs. per
annum fur each individual in the United Kingdom; and if
we estimate the probable increase at 30 per cent., the con-
sumption will then be augmented to three hundred thousand
tons per annum.
Let us now consider what classes will be benefited, and
to what extent. The increase to the revenue will amount
to upwards of 3,000,0001. sterling per annum ; the ship-
ping interest will find employment for 70,000 tons more
than at present, or 280 vessels, of 250 tons each ; and at
least 3,000 sailors will be required for the service,
thus forming an additional nursery for our navy. The
LI foreigners whose sugar we shall take, will want in return
manufactures to the amount of a million and a half sterling
per annum. The business of the merchant will be greatly
increased, and many cl.sses, tradesmen, artisans, and
labourers, dove-tailed, as it were, with his prosperity, prc-
portionably benefited.
These, Sir, are results which must be contemplated
with feelings of the highest satisfaction by the statesman
and the merchant, the philanthropist and the manufacturer,
and will be hailed as the first great advance towards the
admirable system of free trade and reciprocity which the
lamented Huskisson so ably propounded.
In conclusion, the article of sugar is not like many
others, the produce of one country or a peculiar soil, but
almost every spot on the face of the earth is capable of its
cultivation ; and even at present those countries which
furnish the supplies do so to the extent of 700,000 tons
per annum, after reserving sufficient for their own con-
sumption, and nearly every one of them capable of in-
crease to an almost unlimited extent.
The great importance of the subject must be my apology
for having troubled you to so great a length.
I em, Sir, respectfully, your obedient servant,
A LIVERPOOL MERCHANT.
Liverpool, May 25.
The Q--