The Sun.
London, England, 1840-06-13 00:00:00

man of this country to the West India proprietors for ordi-
nary trade, admitted to home use duty free, on the pre-
tence that the industrious classes may supply themselves
with a cheap sweet—in reality that the indolent West In-
dians may supply their pockets silt of ours.
The latest advices from the West Indies bring such la-
mentable accounts of short crops and scarcity of Sugar,
that itis quite clear the nation will be without Sugar in
November next, unless some arrangement for the admis-
sion of some other than West India Sugar be devised.
The letter published in The Sun with the signature "An-
other Liverpool Merchant," is ingenious enough in its way
for a particular interest. Does the merchant really imagine
the public to be so silly as to believe that the process
of refining abstracts the taint of slavery from the sugar,
or does he require to bo told, that whether the slave
labour sugar is consumed in a refined or in a raw state,
is of little importance ; or that the British consumption of
it by either mode will tend. to invigorate the slave owners,
and to encourage them to extend their sugar plantations.
In consequence of the diminution in the quantity of pro-
duce exported from our West India Colonies since the
emancipation of the negroes, an opinion has been en-
gendered and generally entertained, that sugar can be pro-
duced cheaper by slave than by free labour ; this opinion,
however, is erroneous. It should be remembered that
no inference can be fairly drawn to the advantage of the
productive powers of slavery from statements exhibit-
ing, that in the seven years prior to the year of freedom
the exportation from our own colonies consisted of so much
inure than it did in the seven after that date, for other
much stronger causes than that have combined to retard
cultivation, and to prevent a just comparison between the
effects of coerced and voluntary labour. In the first place,
it is notorious that industry cheerfully applied to the old
plantations :in Jamaica is just so much labour in vain.
The soil of them has been exhausted by continuous crops,
and must be renovated before the produce can possibly de-
fray the casts of cultivation ; in the second place, the
gross mismanagement of the labourers by their em-
ployers has operated to throw tracts of land out
of cultivation, which, if properly worked, would have amply
remunerated the proprietor. This cause alone, without
looking further, will account for the deficiency of produce
which has occurred. However lamentable, the fact never-
theless is, that our own West India possessions do not
furnish any materials on which to ground a judgment of
the superiority and cheapness of free over slave labour.
Fortunately, however, for the sake of truth, there are other
places which will do so ;- for instance, we are enabled to
compare the results of free labour operations cheerfully
carried on in the Philippine Islands, in Siam, and in
Java, against those of slave labour vigorously pur-
sued in Cuba, in the Brazils, Porto Rico, and the
French Colonies. Muscovado Sugars of similar quality
imported from either of the places named, fetch in the open
market shout 225; per cwt., from which price must be de-
ducted the costs of freight, landing, warehousing, and
management of sale, in order to show
show much per cwt.
net proceeds the respective planters obtain. These charges
on Brazil Sugar amount to 45., on Cuba Sugar to 55., on
Porto Rico to Gs., on French Sugar to 65., on Manilla
Sugar to 7s. 6d , on Java to 75., and on Siam to 7s. 6d.
per cwt. The Sugars from the Brazils and the Havannah
are cloyed ; but assuming for simplicity sake that the
costs of such manipulation are equivalent to the increased
prices obtained for those descriptions of Sugar, and
keeping out of computation the advantages Cnba
derives from her exclusive privilege of supplying
the St. Petersburgh market, we find the Brazil planter ob-
tains 18s., the Cuba 175., the Porto Rico and the French
16s. per cwt. for Sugar of a given quality. The supply
from these slave-labour colonies varies with the season,
their powers of cultivation remain stagnant, the prices of
their produce (though from the considerations we have re.
jetted they may be much more than hero stated), offer no
inducement for bringing fresh land into cui:ivation. Ma-
nilla and Siam Sugars yield 14s. 6d. per cwt. nsst to their
planters, and Java 15s. per cwt., which prices, althou,;li 10
and 15 per cent. less than those of the slave-labOr
Sugars, so abundantly remunerate the proprietors of
estates, that the cultivation cf the cane has been,
and is being, widely extended ; in confirmation
of which, without entering into the statistics of
either place, the quantity of Sugar exported from them
has, in the course of seven years, been doubled, each
succeeding year affords in its turn proof of the activity of
the cultivators—while the gradual improvement in the
quality of the Sugar displays their strict attention to the
process of crystallization. According to the statements
of the Anglo-West Indians, the costs of freight, landing,
&c., and management of sale on their Sugar, are 9a. per
cwt., which leave them, taking the price of the day, 345.
per cwt. net. We have, therefore, before us, the astound-
ing anomaly of colonies, receiving through the effect of
prohibitory fiscal regulations 120 per cent. more for
their Sugar than their competitors receive, rapidly
going to decay ; of colonies cultivated by slaves re-
ceiving 10 and 15 per cent. more for Sugar than the Eastern
free labour colonies receive, and their cultivation, if not re-
trograding, stationary; and of colonies, exonerated from the
evil of a protesting interference by their respective govern-
ments, cultivated wholly by freeslabour—the proprietors so
well contented and satisfied with a price 3s. per cwt. less for
their Sugar than their slave labour rivals, and 31s. per
cwt. less than the Anglo West Indians obtain, that they
have been and are exercising the utmost alacrity in forming
fresh grounds, wherever practicable, for new Sugar Planta-
tions.

As a general question, then, can it be for a moment
supposed that labour by slaves is more profitable than by
free hands.

With respect to the British West India Colonies, they
present a glaring and an existing proof of the fact, that I
indiscriminate and inordinate protection, through the aid
of prohibitory laws, ruins the parties for whose benefit it
was intended ; it lulls them into a state of seeming secu-
rity, the parent of inattention and extravagance ; for ages
past the most costly advantages have been ineffectually
showered down upon the planters, whose exertions, in lieu
of being stimulated have absolutely been paralyzed by
these improvident and lavish acts of indulgence—by the
aid of their mischievous monopoly, they know
that they can obtain in the British markets twice
the value for a pound of Sugar which in the absence
of monopoly would be paid for it. This knowledge
has brought its natural consequences. The planters argue,
If we export to Great Britain one-half instead of a whole,
the price of Sugar will presently advance, until, in the
sequel, we shall receive as much money for one hogshead
as we otherwise should do for two. Why, therefore, con-
tinue they, should we be paying wages for the cultivation
of our entire estates, when one-half of them will suffice to
bring the same amount of net proceeds ? Deluded by
false reasoning, they have, oblivious of the future, looked
only to the existing moment : and now that the nation has
taken up the question, with a determination to investigate
closely the cause of the enormous prices paid for sugar,
coffee, rum, &c., and with a resolution to relieve herself
from these exactions, the West Indians are utterly inca-
pable of meeting the inquiry, except by allegations that
the costs of free labour are so great that less prices than
those now paid would not remunerate them.
If we give implicit credence to these allegations, we
need look no further for proof that it will not pay to cultivate
the sugar-cane in the West Indies. We cannot, however,
arrive at any such absurd conclusion.

T URKEY.

Constantinople, May 20.

Lord Ponsonby has sent his private secretary to Lon- I
don, in order to prevail upon Lord Palmerston to perse-
vere in the system cpursued up to the present time, and to
drive Mehemet Ali from Syria. The British Ambassador
had declared that if the policy of England was to be
changed her position at Constantinople could no more
stand. Lord Ponsonby is always of opinion that it would
be sufficient to send some vessels upon the coast of Syria,
to cause the people to revolt, which would cause Me-
hemet Ali to submit to the conditions that would be im-
posed upon him.
A report is in circulation, and to which some probability
is attached, that Chosrew Pacha will be compelled to give
in his resignation, and his successor is already spoken of
in the person of Rasuf Pacha.
The council of public utility has adopted the following
regulations. His Highness having felt the necessity of
allowing the subjects under bis dominion to enjoy the bene-
fits of a wise and progressive civilization, has ordered that
a council of consultation be established at Constantinople,
under the auspices of the Minister of Commerce and Agri-
culture, in order to prepare laws and regulations capable
of ameliorating the finances and agriculture of the empire ;
such is the object of the organisation of public utility.
Chap. 1. The council is composed of the Minister of
Commerce, as President; of a Vice-President, chosen by
him amongst the members of the council ; and of the mem-
bers nominated by the Porte. The President will also
name two Secretaries, who will be charged with drawing
up the minutes and keeping registers, one in French and
the other in the Turkish language.
Chap. 2. The council will meet three times a week at
noon, on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Saturdays.
Chap, 3. All the members of the council have a right
to present projects to modify the system of the Administra-
tion, educational plans, or reforms applicable to industry,
agriculture, and commerce. They will be bound to pre-
sent their projects iu writing, and to lay them on the
table in order that every member may take cognizance
of them. The President will fix the day for the debate.
Chap. 4. All those who wish to speak on the project
must incribe their names at the President's, vnd each will
take his turn in rotation. After the Members who are
inscribed have spoken, the President will grant the like
favour to all those that ask it. When the Council con-
siders itself sufficiently enlightened, the President will
close the discussion, proceed to the scrutiny, and the adop-
tion or rejection of the project will take place, according
to the majority of votes. In case opinions are divided, the
President will have the casting vote.'
Chap. 5. If the project is adopted, it will be signed by
every Member of the Council, and the President will pre.
sent it to the Porte, and use all his influence to have it
taken into consideration. The Members of the Council
will be bound to observe the utmost secrecy upon every
thing that passes in the Council ; they must consider it
their duty to carry on the debate with an independent and
proper spirit, and those who failed in these injunctions
would be liable to the penalties prescribed by the regu-
lations and the Hatte Scberriff which organised the
Council of Justice. The Members of the Council of
public utility must never lose sight that they owe to his
Highness's Government candour and loyalty, wise and sa-
lutary counsels, without favours, prejudices, pre-occupa-
tions of personal interests, and respect to anybody. Their
object must be the welfare of the country. It is thus that
they will respond to the generous siews of his Highness,
and to the enlightened and patriotic spirit of the .Govern-
ment. This project will be debated in full Council, and,
if adopted,
will be published by the official journal.—Post.

We have been informed that the youth now
committed for the atrocious attempt on her Majesty's life, had
been in the practice for some weeks past of firing a pistol from
the window of the room in which he resided in NVest-place, as
if aiming at some mark in the brick wall at the foot of the back
bard, or garden. Some of the neighbours state that shots were
often heard in that quarter ; and the landlady with whom be
lived admits that he often fired from the window, but she can-
not say whether the pistol was loaded. The house where he
lodged looks into West-square, and has rather a respectable ap-
pearance,