The Sun.
London, England, 1846-07-29 00:00:00

P. N, I,ON n 0 N,

what. circumstance had mainly improved the condition of India?
He would prey'? to Clem that the erinciple circumstance which
had improved the state of India wss the very alterati •n in the
sugar duties, the principle of which they were then called upon
to condemn—(Cries of ‘.• Name, Name.") Ile did not think he
ought to do so—( Hear, hear)—but he weuld tell the Bon.
Gene lemite in private if he chose. But if the lion. Gen-
tleman wrote hint a letter of confidence, which it was probable
he might do so some day or another—(Laughter)—he might
not like his name to be mentim ed, but he would read a letter
written by a firm known to be of tne highest respectability; he
need only mention that of Ailwin and Company, to procure it
attention. In the circular issued by that house it was
stated that the alteration in the laws respecting
sugar, had opened to British merchants boundless markets for
the distritution of their manufateures—among the lower
classes of the li indoos, many of horn, so far from wearing, had
never seen a piece of cotten cloth in their lives. The firm
further stated, that when they had formerly proposed these
alterations, and hinted at the telvantages which would accrue
from them, they were treated as visionaries, anti that the effect
upon Manchester would be enormous. They further show,
among the poorer classes In India, that in the years 1837 and
1838 the total number of pieces that were sold of cloth were
190,000, while in the years of 1843 and 1844, years consequent
to the alteration; the nernt er of pieces amounted to 2,500,000,
and that in the same }ears of 1837 and 38, among the richer
classes, the amount of scarfs and book muslins amounted to
I,oos 000 of pieces, while in the years of 1843 and 44 the
increase was only 3 0,000. However, no person could he sur-
prised at the result who was acquainted with India. And this
was the result of a system which they were now rudely--
( Hear, hear)—called upon to alter at the end of the session, as
if it were only a part of a commercial tariff.—( Hear, hear. )
Nor could they be surprised, for they should hear in mind that
the eMtivation of sugar was he only thing which was left un-
restricted. Everything else was the subject of a monopoly,
whether if.was rice, maize, or indigo. The poor thndoo was
the slave of a Zenondar. This was the only privilege which
the poor of the country enjoyed. who could produce it in b:unce
less quantities, and it was this class of cultivators which had
given to them so vast a number of tons of sugar. The English
capitalist produced about 20,000 tons of this amount, but the
surplus was the produce of a people who had no Otaheitan
cane—who had no racuunt pan—who had no steam-engine.
These were the tseople vsho sent them the sugar, and who
offered them such a beurolless market fur their cotton manufac-
tures and Manch. ster pods. It was their duty to support
their interest, for they offered to them a market greater
than that which they would find in any of their
colonies in the world.—(Hear, hear.) They had to
deal with one hundred or one hundred and forty
millions of people. And if every native in India would buy
A turban, it would amount to note than all your foreign trade
put together.—( Hear, hear. ) 1(1),0 '0,('00 of ten shillings
would return you 50 0)0,0 04 a year, and that. from India,
which they bad always so ill-treated, and whirl, fir the first
time, they had benefited by that very alteration which they
were now called upon virtually to termin.te. Welt, then.
when he saw what British capital enuld produce in the vulky
•,f •he Ganges—when he saw that the equalisation of duties
between East and West Ititha sugars had produced effect,: which
tad been never dreamed of—when he saw that consignments of
.ugar had come from places which the most cape fenced me,
ehaws had never dreamed that sugar was produced, and when
tie read in letters that in the valley of the Ganges there
was an increase of thirty per cent. over a superficies
of 70,000 acres, could he doubt that the production of Bengal
should proceed at a less ratio than that from Madras? the
more especially when they remembered that there were two
classes of producers, the English capitalist and the native
ryot, stimulated by the markets which they offered to them ;
or could he come to any ether conclusion than the his Noble
Friend had formed his calculation in the most moderate man-
lier ? Are; be considered that he had a right to say that the
first position of his Nth' • Friend has been met only by an as-
sumption, and a sceptical assumption. And be ihoueht that
tie could show that the same was the case with regard to the
second point, and the Chancellor had not only given up his
sceptical assumption, but had taken refuge in a credulous
hypothesis. The Noble Lord showed that under no
circumstances could there be an increase above
100,000 tons. The Chancellor, more oratorical than Chan-
cellors generally are, and forgetting that the total of the
first Lord of the Treasury's estimate of free labour
sugar was 15,000 tons, made it 20,000; hut what
matters it when he made the result the same?
The Noble Lord the Member for Lynn had not only shown the
House and the people of England the legitimate sources from
which this country could be supplied with sugar, and the in-
consistencies of the estimates which had been made with respect
ro the amount of the supplies and of the revenue, but he
offered to the House a resolution which had been concurred in
by his friends, that if the resolutions of the Governmerit were
adopted, a great and powerful stimulus would be given to the
slave trade. Often as the subject had been discussed in the
House of Commons, many as the years were that elapsed since
it was first brought before them, under no circumstances and at
ter time was this question met and brought forward in a man-
tier so remarkably discreet. When they remembered the
Ministers who were engaged in this great question—when
they recollected the public men who were called into existence
by it, and who would never have been public men if they had
not joined in'that public cry—it was remarkable the tone in
which it was now discussed'. It might be asked then, were
the Ministers of the Crown, and those who gave their sanction
to the measures brought forward by Government, the sup.
porters of slavery. Oh, no ;no one was the supporter of
slavery; but they were called upon to suppose that the
evils of,the system .could not be remedied, and that though
morally wrong thy were fiscally inevitable. The Noble Lord
he First Minister of the Crown, had taken up a safe position
on that subject. The Noble Lord could not forget the party
whom he represented—he was the leader of the Whigs,
who had caused the abolition of slavery. He had a noble spirit
and could not forget the noble heritage to which he had sue-
eeeded. The Noble .Lord accordingly told them that he de•
precated the accursed traffic. The Noble Lord would say
you cannot deny that the slave trade exists ; that notwith-
standing all the efforts which have been made for its suppres-
sion, it still continues with undiminished vigcur ; that it has
baffled all the exertions we have made to put it down, and this
put before yi,u, that notwithstanding all the efforts wh.ch
are been made, notwithstanding all the squadrons that have
been equipped, notwithstanding all the subscription lists that
have beon swollen, and all the emotions and ardent aspirations
that have been excited in the public mind• this is result, that
what you have done is neither effective nor complete."
If what England had done failed in effect. and completeness,
he could not take exception to the leader of a Whig Ministry
terming down and telling them that such a result had followed
their exertions. But let them see if that position was just.
t he Noble Lord said that commerce had baffled all their phi-
lanthropy, and all their exertions must fall before its require-
mnents. That was all the Noble Lord said to show them that
English efforts had failed to put down this system. The Noble
Lord said that the em• rgencies of commerce baffled their en-
teavours. He (Mr. Disraeli) remembered that a gentleman,
who was no longer a Minister, told them one time that Eng, and
had become a great commercial nation. That was a dis-
covery very like what he would call a mare's nest.
But he would ask the Noble Lord, was there a difference now
in the character of British commerce? If there was a change
with regard to commerce, it was lees adventurous, and partook
more of a transaction now. If there was a charge, it was more
adventurous 40 years ago than it was at present. A cargo had
then to roam about to different ports to find a customer, but it
was now a regular consignment in the ordinary course of trade,
from one merchant to another. If the argument, however, he
good for anything, it showed little for the foresight of the
Noble Lord, and all those who were engaged in that great ques-
tion, not to have known this result; and they had no right to
joiti in that public cry, and not be acquainted with the infallible
and inevitable political consequences of the measure.—( Hear,
hear.) He did not mean to impugn the motives or the inte-
grity of those who had passed that ereesure, but what he said
was, that it did not tell for their foresight not to have seen the
consequea cies of it, and if they did foresee them it was a stigma
upon their ingeniousness not to have tried to avertthem. But the
Noble Lord said that their exertions were wanting not only in
effect, but completeness. He said that the whole people of
England were consuming produce of another kind, also slave
labour, while such an outcry was made about the admission of
slave -grown sugar. Ho (Mr. Disraeli) asked the Noble Lord,
wren Wilberforce addressed the large public assemblies in the
northern districts of England—when his burning words
touched the heart of this great nation—when the horrors of
this accursed traffic were first revealed—he asked the Noble
Lord were not the fabrics then made in the manufacturing
districts . fed with cotton the produce of slave labour?
He asked what statesmen—statesmen with all the instinct of
aristocracy could do? He asked what did they mean to
do? He eared not to what party they belonged, would they
address the populous assemblies of the agitated people of the
country, who expressed in their own uncultivated manner the
tight convictions of an unlettered people? He asked whether
et a former time they did not smoke, and snuff, and chew, and
had done for a period of 200 years, tobacco the produce of
the slave-trade? They knew that in the end that destroyed
their case, but were they to believe that the people of England
were not conscious of this? Could they believe that these
great statesmen were not conscious of ? Of eourse they
were—and they now owned the circumstance. They said
that they must move themselves, and put. an end to that
abomination. Could they continually shut their eyes to that
abomination ? They could control the people of England, and
stop the conduct of such a system. The circumstances to
which the Noble Lord referred were the means by which he
built his arguments against any opposition. He denied the
supposition of the Noble Lord, and would tell him that if he
would not argue it abstracte..ly or concretely he should argue
it upon the circumstances, and he would find that because a
man was obliged to wink at certain evils he
was not obliged to commit greater ones. Whether the suppo-
sition was taken abstractedly or concretely, the Noble Lord could
not escape the inevitable result. The Noble Lord had spoken
of the opinion of the people of England. What good would it
he for the people of England to read Jeremy Taylor, and com-
pare him with Cicero, to ascertain what were the greatest
hardships of the land? If the Noble Lord could not find env
means to extricate himself from any opposition, what means
could he find to relieve himself from the consequences of this
measure. It seemed to him that the answer which was made
to his Noble Friend, on the third position of his argument,
was a fallacious and flashy sophism. It might carry with it
the majority, but it could not convince them.—( Hear,
hear.) They might give them words, which they might
report to their constituency, who might in their turn
recoil with nausea from such phrases. Such men
followed Wilberforce, and encouraged the slave-grown cotton
and tobacco. The Noble Lord would deny that their measures
gave a stimulus to the slave trade in any way which had been
adverted to. The Right Hon. Gentleman the Chancellor of
the Exchequei had informed the House officially and authori-
tatively that in Cuba at this moment, or very recently, such
was the state of slave society that there was a general dis-
content in the place, and that they were near to an insurrec-
rection. Their answer to that was, that if there was a dis-
position in Cuba to put an end to slavery why did they resort
to a measure which not even possibly could injure the slave
trade, and excuse it on the ground of a great commercial
consideration. Before all this commerce was brought on with
the Brazils, the subject was brought under the notice of the
House of Commons. When he said the House of Commons, he
did not mean the ordinary use of the phrase referring to
that House, because he spoke of another House of Commons, of
which he had had the honour to be a member, when the
question of the Brazils trade was first brought forward.
He remembered when Gentlemen who should be now
sitting on the Treasury bench, brought forward motions
on the subject of the Brazils treats, of commerce. It
was astonishing what silence prevailed in that House when
the Hon. Gentlemen spoke of the treaty of commerce
The trade was then 5 millions ; and Low it was 2 it
was spoken of as a commerce of considerable consequence
Regarding commercial and financial matters, such was the
position of the Brazilian empire. Well, then, take the West
Indies, which no one seemed to defend ; take the island which
had been so picturesquely described by the Hon. Member for
Weymouth (Mr. Bernal), but which the adoption of these resoa
lotions would paralyse, and he asked them to contrast it with
the Brazils. Why the trade of that island at the present mo-
ment greatly exceeded all the trade of the former country.--
(Hear, hear.) If you take an enlarged view of the colonial
capabilities and the colonial resources, who fi r a moment can
doubt but tharatethdtehy,,isitywheorutyhmiissland could easily double the whole of
hear)
—and
transactions with the Brazils. What was the
rmi eesn o f
of
ht
oHneoaurr,
trade of Be zits or of Cuba—what all the commerce of Porto-
-w
?t,thlec.ty
notw obuel d
acting not a
sb be
ensnaionetegt ifinebgfeac
iotlhaaos:ntyiinfm?g—tehna: syC o
allowedsens e Tucthheya
principle as the Noble Lord; the member for the City of
4444
ifacitos t 4 ikt4 hear.) linbaribeen told—
• .• ,