The Sun.
London, England, 1846-08-11 00:00:00

of production of the commodity. It did not appear, there-
fore, that any advantage resulted from these differential duties.
It had led to attempts at gain which were not justified, and
the confident predictions that were uttered at the time had
not bsen fulfilled. In 1824, when Mr. Huskisson admitted
foreign iron, it was broadly stat,cl that every furnace in the
country would be blown out. But what was the result ? Why
he believed the produce at that time was about 300,000 tons
a year, while now it was fully 1,8110,000 tons. The same prin-
ciple held good with regard to the colonists in our British Vest
Indies. Only let them do away with these differential duties—
only let them do away with this uncertainty respecting the
duties which are to be charged—only let there be a sufficient
assurance of the immigration of labour, and both planters and
labourers would alike partake of the benefit, and would easily
accommodate themselves to the circumstances and in no way
be injured by the change. By a report which had been re-
ceived from Sir John Hawkins, which had been read in
the other House, it appeared on the representation
of the worthy Baronet that, at a meeting of the
East India and the East India and China Association, called
expressly to consider this very question, a resolution had been
unanimously come to, that if there were a sufficient supply of
labour, the colonists would have ne reason at all to apprehend
the change. It should be recollected that there was still an
advantage preserved to the colonists, and that no trifling or
insignificant advantage. The protection reserved to them
oven under the new duties—( Hear, hear)—in the
first year would be equal to 50 per cent.
in the second year 43 per cent., in the third year 32 per cent.,
in the fourth year 21 per cent., and in the fifth year 10 per
cent.

Lord STANLEY—But how does that affect foreign sugars?
The Earl of CLARENDON—The duty under the present
arrangement would he 21s. ; the colonists desired 2.35. 4d.
It was desirable that the price of sugar with the duty
should not be more than 455., if the consumption
were to be extended so as to ensure the benefit to
the labourer and the security of the revenue. The price of
foreign sugar en an average was 245. 4d, which, with the duty
of 235. 3d., was about 475. 7d., being about 2s. 7d.
more than the desired rate. The price cf British Colonial
sugar was, during the year, duty included, 505.; that is, 365.
for the net price, and, with the duty and clearance, making up
the rate he had: just stated. But this was in some
degree owing to the deficient crops of last year.
These two sugars had found their level, and British colonial
sugar was now selling at the level price in the market.
And as to the quantity which may be expected, he was
very far from attaching any undue consequence to the
statements which had been made, but he could only say that
the statement which he now made was collected from the best
sources, and framed with the greatest care, to prevent exag-
geration. From the present time to the sth of July, 1847,
there would be about 2,000,( 00 cwt. ; in the second
year, about 40,000,000 cwt. in the third year,
240,000,000 cwt.; in the fourth year, 260,000,000 cwt.;
and in the fifth year, 270,000,000 cwt. Then, with respect to
the revenue, the result would be found to be equally satisfac-
tory ; for when it is considered how necessary it is, for the
safety and honour of the country, to maintain our esta-
blishments in a proper manner, and befitting this country,
such a consideration must have great weight. The revenue of
the two successive years would be 4,000,0001,, that of the present
year was 3,800,0001., and in the fifth year it would be 5,000,0001.
He would now come to the question whether her Majesty's
Government were warranted or justified in proposing to their
Lordships this measure, as far as it would affect the slave
trade.—( Cries of " Hear, hear.") In the first place, (said
his Lordship, with much warmth) I must beg leave
to say that I yield not to my Noble and Learr.ed Friend, or
any man living, in abhorrence and detestation of that inhuman
practice—(Cries of " Hear, hear")—and that there is no
sacrifice, nor any risk, that I would not incur in order
to put a stop to it, if I thought that we could check this
system by perseverance in the course we have hitherto pur-
sued, and in making any alteration in our diffe-
rential duties, I would not yield to any man in
my exertions to put an end to the system. I should consider
no risk, nor no sacrifice too great for such an object, but,
at the same time, my Lords, I should require to know
the amount of success that has followed our previous policy.
--( Hear.) At the same time that we restricted the comforts of
our people and the receipts of our Exchequer, did we put an end
to this traffic in human beings? At the time we imposed our
prohibitory duties, and those privations upon our people, and
that we exposed ourselves to injury, I ask you, my Lords,
what was the result of our efforts? Could they (continued
his Lordship) after calmly and dispassionately reviewing
the past—could they say that they had succeeded in abolishing
slavery, notwithstanding all their great risks and their great
sacrifices, and their collisions with foreign nations ?
( Hear, hear.) It was notorious that during the last thirty
years they had not—notwithstanding their unabated
energy and courage in their struggles to put down
the system—they had net, in fact, succeeded in doing
anything. He was sure their Lordships must still bear in
mind that eloquent and powerful speech which had been ad-
dressed to their Lordships a few weeks ago by his Noble and
Learned Lord opposite (Lord Brougham) on the sub-
ject of slavery. That Noble and Learned Lord alluded,
in the course of his speech, to the great efforts
of Napoleon to put down a particular system.
but as Napoleon had failed in that object, so had we failed in
our attempts to abolish the system of slavery. They had made
treaties with every maritime power in the world, with the view
of abolishing that system. The naval powers of this country
had been brought to bear against the system; they had dimi-
nished their revenue, and they had imposed privations on the
people, and they had quarrelled with some of their best cus-
tomers and allies.—(Hear, hear.) They had coerced the
weak, and succumbed to the powerful nations of the
world, in respect of the slavery question, and yet they
had not succeeded in their objects.—(Cries of " Hear, hear.")
Fhe Noble Lord, who at times was scarcely audible in the
gallery, then went on to say, that by returns it appeared that
seventy-five vessels engaged in the slave-trade were
seised last year. Do not let their Lordships refuse to adopt
measures now proposed, however much they might have been
committed against them, when the necessity for them was
not so great—do not let them refuse to deal as they should with
that worst of contrabands—slavery. He did not believe,
irrespective of the idle dreamers in political economy, that any
injurious result would accrue from the adoption of this mea-
sure. He did think that the means were within their grasp
of adopting a better principle with respect to free and
' slave labour, because, in the first place, it did away with the
disparity between the labour of the slave and free man; and if
protection, as their Lordships had affirmed, was injurious to
agriculture, the same arguments would apply to iligar.
—(hear, hear.) He did not, in saying this, state
an opinion unsupported by practical men, or a
problem which could not be easily solved, for he was affirming
that principle which practical men in India, and in this country,
were anxious to see carried out, because, it was well known
that free labour competed upon equal terms with slave labour
in all the markets of the world. The Noble Lord then referred
to a speech of a Mr. Burnett, a respectable landowner of
Trinidad, at a great agricultural meeting in that colony, which
was attended by an immense number of planters, at which he
said the removal of the restriction on sugar and labour was ab-
so'utely necessary in order that they might trade unrestricted
with all the world— ( Hear)—irrespective of the colour of
the labourers by whom the sugar was produced.—( Hear.)
He would go still further, and quote the evidence of General
Plinter, and his Noble Friend opposite would see by his
statements that his fear that free labour could never be
able to compete with slave labour was groundless. (The
Noble Earl then proceeded to read an extract from
General Plinter 's works, from which it appeared
chat a free labourer could work for a longer period
in the field than a slave labourer.) The proprietor who em-
ployed free labour had not to sink his capital in the pur-
chase of slaves, nor had he to contend with the losses
consequent upon their death or illness. It also appeared
that coffee, indigo, and other tropical productions could be
produced in the colonies by free labour at a much less
cost than by the employment of slave-labour. It was also
evident that free labour was mote profitable than slave labour,
from the fact that estates in the West Indies, worked
only by slaves, did not pay a shilling upon their capital ;
whereas, estates worked by free labour, or partially by
free labour, yielded a fair return for the capital invested.
He thought it would be far more profitable to work these estates
by free than slave labour. But the profits were not to be
derived by a system of protection, by a proprietary living at
home in their ease, and leaving their estates to be managed by
agents, whose interests were by no means identical with the
proprietors, but by an improved system of agriculture, by the
application of skill, capital, and machinery, which was pre-
pared to be sent from this country as soon as this question was
finally settled, and the capitalists knew what they had to do.
Then, and then only, would their colonies be able to defy the
slave trade, by underselling the slaveowner, and bring about
that state of things which nothing but the wealth and
the intelligence of this country was able to produce.
Be would go further, and say that the present mo-
mer,t was one peculiarly favourable, and the condition
of the two great slave-dealing countries would most mate-
rially assist in the experiment. The revolution
of slaves three years ago in Cuba had left a powerful impress
skin and the greatest feeling, of alarm in the minds of the white
population of Cuba, and he was convinced that, although their mo •
tives were different, their abhorrence of the slave-trade was at this
moment hardly inferior to their own. In proof of this he
would refer to communications from Buha and the Brazils, de-
claring that they would rather suffer a diminution of their agri-
cultural interest than be exposed in their lives and properties.
The consumption of sugar had, during the last few years, sin
gularly increased in Europe. It had taken place principally in
Russia. Along the shores of the Mediterranean; it bad taken
place in the states of the Zolverein, and still more in the
United States of America. In the states of the Z Averein, in
1540, there was introduced 30,000 tons of sugar, and in 1844,
64,000. With respect to the United States, he had no ac-
counts upon which he could rely; but from official documents
it appeared that in 1840 there were imported 48,00:3,090 lbs. of
sugar and 15,000,000 lbs of molasses, while in 1844 there were
114,000,000 lbs. of ground sugar and 194,000,000 lbs. ofmolassee.
Now, from what had taken place in the country to which he
had alluded, there was a convincing proof that an increased
demand for sugar had been met by a greater consumption of
labour. It was, therefore, high time for them to make their
increased demand, which he felt assured would tend to amelio-
rate the condition of the slave. They should then be better
entitled to meet the charges that had been made against them
by foreign nations.—(Hear, hear.) Sugar was the single ex.
ception to the maxim observed of the dealing with slave-dealing
countries, which had been adopted universally in all other arti-
cles. It should be recollected that all the slave-growing coun-
tries were slave-dealing countries It should also be recollected
that this was a measure of protection; a measure not so much to
exclude the produce of slave-dealing countries, but to reduce
the slave trade itself. He could not understand how any ex-
ception could be made to slave dealing for one object and net
for another. If it were not so, why not object to the slave
trade of the United States, where slavery existed in all the
most brutal and demoralising features which it had ever exhi-
bited, and infinitely more than had ever been seen in the Bra-
zils. Yet that had been done with slave-holding America.
Why, in 1835, the importation of cotton wool was 2,840,000
lbs. ; and, in 1845, it was 600,000,0001b5. Then with re.
spect to tobacco. In 1835 the importation was 25.000,000
lbs. ; and, in 1845, it was 32,000,0001b5. We claimed
to be a more moral and religious nation than any other, and
yet we were thus indirectly encouraging the slave trade in
all its most odious forms. Why, if they were to reject this
Bill, they would be writing the most bitter and grievous satire
against many of their late acts, and would be doing much to
retard the very thin. which they so loudly professed to desire.
Why should they adopt' this principle with respect to sugar
and with respect to no other article
which
t attempt pi; pro
00d stopuced theby
slave labour? It was a perfect fatuity to
slave trade by simply throwing a cheek upon sugar alone.
They had done no such thing. They had laid a low duty in
order to increase the quantity which they received, and they
made a sacrifice of 800,000/. in order to admitprodutchtils,ambeothpoalt.
luted cotton free. What has been the practice of this country
tobaccowith re
of
regard
he to
United tobacco?
st a
teH3ada
tt they endeavouredwerd ut
y than to admit
that
tof
c eyt be.
lon ? No ; but they had forbidden its
home and in their colonies, in order that they might
be enabled to lay a duty of twelve hundred per
cent. upon tobacco coming from the slave- growing states.
Inian maize, from which they expecte I so much, and to which
they had made no objection, was equally cultivated by slave
labour as sugar—(Hear, hear)--and there were a great many
other productions which were equally laborious to be cultivated
as sugar ; arrow root is quite as laborious—indigo is more labo-
rious-.( Hear, hear)—rice is infinitely more destructive of
human life. Before he concluded he came to the production
of copper produce ; and first of all he would mention the cruel-
ties exercised in the production of copper. The slaves were
chained together in the mines, and were scrupulously exill

mined, for fear of their having concealed anything. Within
the last few years they had received from 50 to 60,000 tons.
He then came to the production of coffee. They would con-
sent to receive large quantities of that article, and yet they
would not receive one single ounce of sugar grown by the same
slave. We were the greatest dealers in the world in
the article of sugar, and sent out enormous quantities
of our merchandise in exchange for it. There were
generally in our warehouses from 890,000 to 1,000,000 cwts.
of this sugar, and after refining it we exported it to our other
colonies. After this—the cruelty,of the slave trade—the English
people called themselves the opponents of the slave trade. It
was, however, well known that slave grown sugar was actually
admissible into this country under certain circumstances, ant
he knew that it actually sass admitted. He thought that lie
had succeeded in showing: that our virtue and morality con-
sisted in refusing one particular article from one particular
place, and admitting the slave grown article from othe? places.
Was not pi otection at the bottom of all this, and were they not
afraid that, as they themselves were producers of the article,
they would have too strong a competition ? Every cwt. of free
labour sugar that they consumed was replaced by an equal
quantity of the slave grown article. Was it not wrong to pro-
ceed on this small fraction of a principle, and call it their mora-
lity and humanity, while they indirectly encouraged it under
these circumstances ? He asked their Lordships to give their
support to the Bill.
Lord STANLEY said that it was necessary that he should
say to his Noble Friend opposite, who had just sat down, that
some of the observations he had made required no corrobora-
tion or confirmation from him, but at the time he held
it to be his duty to commence the observations he had
to offer to their Lordships, by confirming to the fullest
extent the statement the Noble Lord made in con.menc-
ing his observations.—( Hear, hear.) However unusual had
teen the course adopted in introducing the discussion, it was
adopted with the consent, and in part for the convenience, of
some Noble Lords on his side of the House. He concurred
with his Noble Friend, that it was desirable to have the
question settled, for the benefit of trade, and for the benefit of
the pecuniary affairs of the country ; but, with the exception of
these two points, he did not agree with a single principle of his
speech, or a single doctrine which he had held out. They were
called on to come to a decision on a measure which had been
passedthrough the House of Commons in a short space of time;
and on little or no warning to adjudicate upon this important
question. The present Government had in the year 1841
been defeated on a question relative to protection, and the sub-
sequent Parliament had confirmed the opinion of the old one,
and still this same Parliament had turned round and opposed
their former opinions—on what ground ?—why, that they
might, as the Noble Lord had said, appear consistent, and not
contradict the principle which on a late decision they had come
to. Anything less called for than the present measure to com-
ply with the principles of free trade he never heard. They
had heard that prices were to be lowered, that import duties
were to be diminished. The duties on the inferior articles of
tea amounted to 200 per cent. ad valorem, and thus
the superior description of tea was released at the
expense of the inferior classes of tea, the articles which the
poorer classes consumed. The duty which would be charged
on sugar would be about 14s. on what cost 305., which amounted
to 50 per cent. He considered that if the doctrines of free
trade were introduced and carried practically into effect they
would involve the finances of the country in inexplicable confu-
slim. But then they, were told that sugar was a monopoly.
What, a monopoly, in which nineteen states competed with each
other? Why, there were only two countries in the world who
were excluded from the monopoly, and they, because they used
a maehiney which gave them a superiority over other countries,
and the use of which was considered by Christians as a disgrace
and a crime. He objectes! to the period in which the Bill was
brought forward. He objected to it on the principles of expe-
diency—on the principles of policy—on the principles of huma-
nity, and he would almost say on the principles of consistency.
There never was a measure more uncalled for than the present.
In 11'40, her Majesty's Government declared that the price of
slave-grown sugar should not be taken into consideratien.
At that time sugar was about 48s. 8d per cwt., exclusive of the
duty. Well, the price has fallen to 325. 6d., and the supply
has increased from 160,0110 tons to 245,000; so that was his
answer to the necessity of this measure—that was his answer to
the sugar famine. His Noble Friend had gone further than he
had ever heard or believed a man could go; in the calculation
respecting such a crop as sugar, he ventured to calculate for five
years—what few would have attempted to have done for
three. But he would take an opportunity befere he sat down
of refuting the Noble Lord's calculations, and showing him
the absurdity of attempting to enter into such a detail. They
had now 46,000 tons of sugar exported from the Mauritius,
from which Mr. Huskisson raid that if they ever received
10,000, he would eat it bodily • he therefore asked his Ncble
Friend upon what principles he made his calculations of the
consumption and supply of sugar. But he would come back
to the former point, and he would ask what was it that had
reduced the price of sugar ? It was not because they had the
stimulus of competition, but it was because they had the sti-
mulus of protection —( Hear, hear.) The West Indies, under
the promise of protection, had increased from year to year—in
1841, from 44,000 tons ; in 1842, 55,000 tons ; in 1843,
69,090 tons ; and in the present year 80,000 tons. The same
was the case with respect to the Mauritius. In 1841 they
exported 20,000 tons; in 1826, 46,000 tons; and in the next
year it was estimated at 60,000 tons. But that would not be
the whole of the effects of the proposed plan. It would add
of
uee
bas value
saue.g.... tahr(e of
Hear,tnoe to
net profits
h e e
hear.)a vmery t
of
fu
en They
every
yof
yf
slws
au ovgeual
eitherred importedalboaylg.tehdoer
in
fromnilastnhl .
proposed,
cultivation
lt) Braziliev aa andon.r
t no
his master for his services.—( Hear, hear.) And that was not
all, nor nearly all ; it would not only cause an increase in the
demand of 25,000 tons—it would not only increase the value on
all sugar imported to Si. per ton, but it would increase the
demand o' this country, by reducing the price of the sugar. and
they must take into calculation the amount of sugar which
would consequently fall off in their own colonies in the West
Indies.— ( Hear, hear.) And did their Lordship, or did any
man, believe, that after this measure should come into opera-
tion the West Indian estates belonging to the people of this
country could be permanently cultivated to the same extent
and the same amount as they were cultivated and carried on at
the present moment ? The effect of this measure would be the
exportation of 10,000 or 20,000 additional slaves from the coast
of Africa. And for what purpose would those 10,0(10 or 20,009
additional slaves be exported from the coast of Africa? For
the very purpose of increasing the slave trade in the Brazils
and Cuba. Let their Lordships look to the gr, at expense
and loss of life to which this country had been
put with a view of preventing the traffic in the
people of Africa. He admitted, with his Noble
Friend, that our present cruisers on the coast of Africa, great
and vigorous as had been their exertions in the attempt to
extinguish that system, had been subjected to great 'loss of life,
but he believed at the same time, that all their exertions and
all the money expended by this country in the suppression of
slaves was but benevolence, and philanthropy misdirected.—
( Hear, hear.) Let her Majesty's Ministers speak out upon
this question,—(Cheers.) This country had already expended
20,000,000/. in purchasing the freedom of some slaves, and
yet the horrible system of slavery continued, despite their
expenditure and the gallant conduct of their cruisers. We
had uound foreign countries by treaties to join with us in the
suppression of the slave trade, and yet her Majesty's Govern-
ment were actually at that moment proposing a measure which
would further the avaricous designs of the slave trader, and
defeat and stifle all our previous efforts in the cause of emancis
pating the slave.—( Hear.) Such conduct would justly lay us
open to the charge, not simply of extreme folly, but actual
hypocrisy.—( Hear, hear.) If this measure were carried, the
Government must then withdraw their cruisers from the coast
of Africa. Who would believe, then, that this country that had
expended such enormous sums, and sacrificed so much human
blood for the extinction of the slave trade, would now propose
a measure actually approving of and sanctioning that very
system ? This country would, undoubtedly, become the laugh-
ing stock, and the ridicule of every people and every nation
on the face of the earth.—( Hear, hear.) They would subject
themselves to the contempt of every human being, as the
grossest and most absurd hypocrites, who would act so incon-
sistently and unjustly for the purpose of saving id.
in the price of every pound of sugar, and a slight
and temporary augmentation of the revenue.—( Hear, hear.)
His Noble Friend opposite had said, in the course of his speech,
that he was ready to make any sacrifice for the purpose of
putting an end to the slave trade—( Lord Clarendon, " Hear,
hear")—and the one sacrifice that he was called upon to make
was one half-penny per pound in the price of sugar.—
( Hear, hear and laughter.) But that it appeared was too
great a sacrifice for the morality and philanthropy of the
Noble Lord.—( Hear, hear.) What did the very Com-
missioners of the Government themselves say on the subject of
the traffic in slaves exported from Africa? Her Majesty's
Commissioner wrote from Havannah, in the course of last year,
that there had been a considerable reduction in the exportation
of slaves from Africa in consequence of the low price of sugar,
which was occasioned by its exclusion from the British
markets—( Hear, hear)—that it was not their cruisers on the
coast of Africa that had produced this effect—( Hear, hear)—
but the laws pessei by the Legislature of this country, prohibit-
ing the introduction of slave-grown sugar into this country at
the same rate as the produce of free labour.—( Hear, hear. )
There was another point on which he should like to have an
answer from her Majesty's Government before he sat down,
and that was, whether they intended to remove the restrictions
and differential duties upon foreign goods? His Noble Friend
had said that they were not afraid that the West Indian
colonists would not be able to compete with slave-holders if
free immigration was permitted. He should like to know
what sort of immigration they meant, because, at this moment,
there existed rio obstacle to prevent any man from any quarter
of the world entering the West Indies as a free labourer. He
wished to know what they meant to do with the coast of
Africa, because it was from that quarter that the slave-
holders contemplated supplying themselves with slaves. He
wished to know what restrictions on immigration the Govern-
ment proposed to remove. He presumed that they cid not in-
tend to permit the exportat ion of slaves from the coast of Africa.
They would prohibit the slave trade, but they would encourage
all the horrors of slavery iu the interior of Africa. What did
Government mean by conferring this boon of unrestricted
immigraeion upon the West India colonists? His Noble Friend
had alluded to the circumstance of sugar being introduced
from the slave countries into this, and exported by the mer-
chants of this country into other countries. He ( Lord Stan-
ley) contended that by such a mode they did not encourage the
growth of a single pound of slave-grown sugar ; they were
merely the carriers of the sugar, and had nothing whatever to
do with the consumption of the article. The West India co-
lonies of Spain had been next alluded to by his Noble Friend,
as deriving some benefit from our treaties with Spain. Those
treaties did not apply to the merchandise of the ' colonies ;
they applied only to the subjects of the co.onies, ;and in
that sense the court of Spain always interpreted. them.
As to the treaty with Brazil, there was no provision whatever
in that treaty for the admission of sugar. He objected to the
time at which this measure was introduced, because he believed
that it could not go forth to the country as a permanent or
well-considered measure. He felt satisfied that although the
desire to obtain sugar at one halfpenny per pound might be
prevalent during the present free-trade mania, still the country
would not accept of such a boon by the passing of any measure
which would render useless and nugatory, or worse than useless
and nugatory, all the efforts which had been made for the last
twelve years—all the sacrifices of blood and the treasures which
had been expended to put down this accursed traffic. He
thought it would be difficult to persuade the people of this coun-
try that slavery would not be increased by adding 25 per cent. to
the value of stave-grown produce in Cuba and in the Brazils.
He would conclude by moving that the Bill be read a first time
that day three months. Bus in the present state of their Lord-
ships' House, and at that period of the session, exhausted as
their Lordships were by the sittings, which had now lasted for
more than seven months, and after the unexpected
few
which was come to by the other House upon thoewas,ju
giveten t toth their
concerned,
nights since, he should not, so far, at least, as h
and to
one
objections to the Bill.
entertained the strongest and the gravest
1 should think it right to
sotihmaullaetne-
divide the
question,ho should feel it his duty to vote
If, however,lrace
House upon
the
l* art he would say " No" to the first
Lordshipsau npyonNobt the
recorde
Tt
or
thator b te
he o
wasf dividing.
n
against the Bill. For sis p
reading of this Bill.
hisan d iree hostility
imperativesthi
itt:yis t°leitdhltbei cephreihn.:
Lord
ow, to
trade in human beings. There was no doubt that such
would be the necessary result of this measure. To talk of
ENglA,Nfeltto it
declareto
be
slavery and slave trade with other feelings than those of abhor-
rence,' those with
would be utterly impossible. The Noble Lord who
opened the debate had expressed his feelings in that manner ;
but he (Lord Denman) thought it strange that parties profess-
ing such principles should introduce a Bill calculated to pro-
mote slavery. The GoTeramertt 110 w yfished to reduce sugar
tethhipeelle)e°tehoisf England,Bi
bwehlioemvinhgeawdoublede been
encouragel eon°
fg t h
connected, ea nwdi