The Sun.
London, England, 1848-06-20 00:00:00

LAND.

In reply to Mr. C. ANSTEY,
Mr. HAWES stated that the Colonial-office be-
ceived no further information on this subject. 011
Mr. ANSTEY gave notice that on the first SO.,
night he should bring the whole subject under the CO
sideration of the House.
to
Mr. HUME wished to know whether any pro to
had been made for the administration of justice in
colony ? the
Mr. HAWES said he was not able to envier
question.

WEST INDIA QUESTION. „te
Mr. HAWES then proceeded to address the 13°Z,,bie
the West India question. He understood that the l'";e1
Lord the Member for King's Lynn on Friday sec° 1,0
his Noble Friend the Secretary for the Colonies of he.o
ing withheld from the West India Committee is ce
the
dispatch, and he had taken the trouble to bring doWn fot
original dispatch to show the Noble Lord the Meffiberdis-
King's Lynn that he was mistaken. Now on this
patch there was a memorandum in his Noble Kriefrlithe
handwriting, representing it to be his opinion than be
dispatch ought to be laid before the Committee, el)Tflos
was not aware until Saturday that the direefitlyor
of his Noble Friend to forward the dispatch to the '..°be
'
mittee had been neglected. The omission, bows/I'W
had ascertained occurred in the hurry of business/
when the House considered the immense ansoell.o
re
s
business carried on at the Colonial-office, be we's 00;
that the House would admit that the omission witbes
so highly reprehensible as the Noble Lord the Me:oot
fur Kings' Lynn represented it to be. It was soli
stlf
the intention of his Noble Friend or I—ibi
to withold any information of any importance Iron
House or the Committee.
MR. HUME'S MOTION. 1, t the
Mr. FREWEN said, as it had been reported t"e-tbot
debate on the West India colonies would not elLe°,-ber
evening, he wished to know whether the Hon. Dl°:iood
(Mr. Hume) intended to press his motion which -
on
Mr. the
HpaUper for to-morrow. etieri
ME replied that it was certainly hishitie, dee,
to proceed with the motion of which he had giVen;oo.
and that nothing on his part would lead to apY
pon ement.

WEST INDIAN DISTRESS. that the
On the motion of Lord JOHN RUSSELL' ~ sop°
Speaker do now leave the Chair and the Housek-ieeb be
itself into a Committee upon the resolutions w"-,.-„ tee
proposed on Friday last, with respect to distress "-
West Indies, , nevi/
Mr. E. ELLICE rose and said, the deeply me's,-jadis
interest with which the affairs of the Wes"„ki be
colonies was viewed throughout the country w°_"ATeele
some apology for his opposing the motion of b"tsis
Friend, in order that they might endeavour to owe•
from her Majesty's Government some further exP__ lee
tion of the views they entertained with respect to
present state of those colonies.
Sir J. PAKINGTON interrupted the
for the purpose of asking him whether or not hferc:ket•
give him permission, before he proceeded any
ou.ce,
to move the amendment of which he had given n tl re.
Mr. ELLICE skid his particular object was to pia
lion. Biel
vent the 1-lon. Gentleman moving his arnendtnent; ,h.
his (Mr. Mice's) opinion the question now befordep
House had been too much narrowed, and he 00051Aers•
that there were graver and more serious cons'',
to.
tions which must yet be brought under the I of:
lic view before the question could be dispose di.
There could be no doubt of the ruinous °tile.
tion and distressed state of the West India ',jig.
nies at the present moment. An extent of the
tress and ruin existed in them unparalleled in ely
history of any country. Now, what was the repro.
proposed by the Noble Lord at the head of the GoYeat.
ment? The Noble Lord's remedy was an experite-es
He proposed to lend 500,0001. to the colonies. Ivol/,'
wouldsttd
able
b d l
evsneet: tufururiret
security.—(Hear,
—omso(aHrye e thataurs:l
hesesOsaC 500,0001. ryas
purpose,uwt a so
rnever
b ree
wl I les?:
them to regard was, the probable temper in
project of
Indies.of' th e
What
terinemelienngts would
would
ibten-orteceexicrweitdelcicillhii_v, •
!roe°
blishments in Jamaica, in British Guiana, and else
could, of course, no longer be maintained after this2,ol4
arrived. They would be thrown u The owners 7,0'
be engulphed in a common ruin. pUnder such nircne- se
stances, let him ask what did the Government Pr7ost
to do? It such were the effect of these resolutions, dl
did his Noble Friend propose to do? As things 51reeor
stood, what was the position of public affairs 419001
rara?' The Council there had appealed to the tie ols'
Government for a reduction of 25 per cent. in the
ries of the officials of the colony, on the '",„ssitr
able plea that with reduced means they could IWt
tain their former expenditure. Earl Grey reflreoei
listen to this appeal. What was the consequenosti their
the colony had refused any further supplies,erikloql
grievances were redressed.—(Hear, hear.) la's wow
Friend might rely upon it that a similar aspect t fedis
very speedily be presented by all our other %Vestio
colonies.—(Hear, hear.) For the last two years "of 00;
penses of Jamaica had come out of the pockets best./
merchants, but this could not continue.— Hear' it sri
The total expense of the government of Janielei.
peered, was 300,001. per annum, of which 36,00 v ~s,/
in the collection of the revenue alone—(hear' Net le
while 55,0001. was spent in civil salaries, 23, ileel
judicial, and 30,0001. in ecclesiastical. Did his woe'a
Friend imagine that this enormous expenditurne_.„ve
be much longer borne by the impoverished coley:s,7d et
(Hear, hear)—and if he did not suppose this, 110._pe,,,
intend to keep up the establishments of the Of, 1401
did he intend to keep the colony at all?—(Hef,o,oool.'
He wholly objected to the proposed grant of. ne° weeeP.
even supposing the colonists would take the O.
which he did not believe they would, he regalrt 'list
principle involved as altogether unsound. l'itostef,
moment, numbers of the less favourablY 'wed/
estates in our West India colonies were ors
abandoned, and the cultivation of a great Inang tessi
was on the point of being given up.—(Hear') „log .
just possible that by the application without th°
some judicious remedy, by the better adjustinelnolotelf
demand and supply of labour, the estates not absd the.
given up might yet be retained in cultivation, e,O test
coloured population be saved from involvement 's teei
ruin which had fallen upon the white, but do wiles!,
might, the present proprietors were almost to a °Frier
retrievably ruined.—(Hear, hear.) His N0b1e.,,,. the
in the course of his speech on Friday had, adoetli7
theory prevalent at the Colonial-office, where t: 014
pression seemed to be that the West India Piselerf tblif
a reckless improvident race, who knew nothing ° coca;
business, which the Colonial-office itself was el,?ell_ed
potent to conduct—(Hear, hear)—his Noble Frl.tiogb,
echoed the cry that the West India planters bad hr_lece•
ruin upon upon their own heads by their extra!leeeft
The investigations of the recent Committee, 12,°_iovisr
had at once shown that the nostrums of the.t.,,;st fo'
office were wholly inapplicable, and that the vv_eoeste;
dians, so far from being chargeable with reckless t?;
fulness, had applied the utmost care, and e tR; et.
management to the attempted preservation
property.—(Hear, hear.) Every new inVer7..„esti_
in cultivation, every new machine had beesnbo
wed te
nt
adopted, but to no effect, and the evidence "I,ir
omuarn
own
w onf
otohleosoeieuzfhoardtuntraatensfmererne,d dtrhiveeirn
skill, and their machines, to Cuba and other of 01,
colonies, which held out to them some prospen.,t_ret
existence.—(Hear, hear.) Already we were to_r_.'istio
in our West India colonies had been reduced to doff
o
the proportion of the white to the coloured p per
et n e rdeeltrlieglar-
despair, '3' ken
cent., and this small number was bec.ou3l°,go,glisi,,
smaller, by the withdrawal, in utter „„
families. Unless some very decided steps w whis;
no ..„0
the way of relief, there would, ere long,
rev
bear)-'41-m
population at all left in the colonies—(Het! _ rape;
the whole of the little trade that would 1.2e1; reeel"
there, falling into its natural chum', wow"

it4eFfi
the black
an exchange of respective products between
iterth ack population of the West Indies and the
hit Noble
States of Anierica.—(Hear, hear.) What dial
ihaterle friend mean to do about the heavy salaries
es,s, ere now paid to official personages in these colo-
pa.l Did he think that they would long continue to
heartheir governors 7,0001 a year a piece?—(Hear,
than; Depend upon it the whole system must be
etoeeed, or the whole thing given up.—(Hear, hear.)
goy." arno rd deservedly as many, ho might say all, of these
e's were re a
spected, vluable as were the ser-
et Sir Charles
d , to Mention particular,
instancesse—of Lord Harris
Grey his Noble Friend might rely
that it their present salaries were to be con-
(fto they must be paid at the table of that House.—
ternar,
eerier hear.) And not only as to salaries must the sys-
knob go a thorough change. There must be a ces
hero °I that eternal interference on the part of the
Government in every petty detail of local admi-
eqieration which had so long oppressed and annoyed the
kerleins•—(Hear, hear.) The colonists must be per-
-144" to manage their own local affairs, by their own
01 t•hrepresentatives fairly elected, under the direction
teeo el" Own governors, elected by themselves, and re-
eretfd by such salaries as might be agreed upon be-
them.—(Hear.) He agreed with his Noble Friend
by ;he days of protection—as protection—were gone
;loch et he thought at the some time that—peculiarly in
ei,n„a period of general crisis as this—somewhat of a
coneilitt tory policy was required towards towards our
th,ett India colonies. Ile entreated his Noble Friend to
to aelne explanation of his further views with regard
these
colonie,, for, as to himself; he would say that,
pri"e disposed wherever possible to support his Noble
leideeji, he would not sameion these resolutions until he
Isek,neard a much more satisfactory account of his
141 Friend's further policy on the subject.—(l-lear.)
tern d RUSSELL.—I beg to assure the Hon.
deta:Tiet opposite (Sir J. Pakington) that I shall not
rt;:tl the House many minutes from the consideration
tt,t e resolution he means to propose. It appears to me
besathse more regular course to have been taken would
IDeen that the House should have gone into
eaten, and and there to have heard such explanations and
to'coerlie° of the resolutions to be proposed by the Govern-
.a„s we should have been prepared to offer. The
Baronet opposite, however, has not thought fit to
I,s;alt that course to be taken ; but has given notice of a
utter
as an amendment on the motion that the
tritter leave the chair. That being the course taken
the le(' lion. Baronet, it seems to me that the only course
lto Government can pursue is, to hear the motion of the
thee. Gentleman, and then to enter upon a defence of
hcourse of policy we propose to adopt. What the
neutert on. Gentleman (Mr. Ellice) asks us to do is,
yieinto a discussion and general explanation of our
tiooWs now, before the Hon. Baronet shall make his mo-
Mont But that is a course which I am not prepared to
tie
I am the less inclined to adopt that course, be-
steeleY Right Hon. Friend, while he declared at the
Ahd'encement of his speech that he blamed no one,
Ifee-e43 he threw out objections to every course that has
ttolProposed—and I should say, to every course that
Ite-eu? Proposed—does not seem, with all his sagacity,
tolefirytedge, and experience upon the subject, to have
to ble3 UP his mind as to the course which he feels ought
that Pursued. My Right Hon. Friend seems to think
Kt' we should not propose the course of giving any more
convection and that we ought net to have pursued the
litrae of advancing money to assist the immigration of
sUrers into the West Indies. Now, it does appear
to me, not only from all we know ourselves, but from
thnrte evidence and suggestions laid before us by others,
botz either one of these courses or the other, or
ti 4 are desirable,—that either we ought to
skeethern a longer term of protective duties, to
Scose's the planters of the West Indies to make
theearations for competition, or that we ought to give
tOLgreater facilities for the introduction of labourers,
tto;e11 reducing the rate of wages; that one or both of
Iro-e courses was necessary to remedy the distress which
Bret to think exists in these colonies. But my Right
ors SooFriend says it would be better to give them
ilee'e"°ol. in the shape of diminished duties on their pro-
Soo But, supposing we were to guarantee this
the, and look upon it as wholly lost to this country,
ao"itinterest of that sum at 4 per cent. would be 20,0001.,
Ico'hitlie reduction of duties that would give that amount
—u not be much more than what is proposed by the
ete
s‘'earonet; for no one supposes that the reduction
re-
ap fleoresent duty from 14s. to 10s. would produce a_
i"°11 of the revenue of much less than 20,0001. I
vdao
ti mean to follow my Right Hon. Friend into his -
A's b' •
fete ,0 Objections, because it would be, in fact, to enter
let, the whole debate which the Hon. Baronet proposes
Of these' but let me say, that with regard to the motion
thou Baronet, he seems to me to have mad
hoe ge in n
it, which, if his motion be supported b y the.
fao;•ls,e, 'will place the West Indies, as well as Perim-
ctoo‘, in a most embarrassing situation. As. the motion.
tio °n Friday night it was a very intelligible propo.g.
anit was to give an increase of the protection,
done
by ft/Y 65., and to make it 10s.; and that was. to be
kiss "Ping foreign sugar at 20s. and reducing colonial
e;•,r to 10s. Ido not say whether that was or wasL notd
titot Proposition. I have no doubt that the Noble or
etiCtteniber for Lynn would have defended it with great
tohi.Y, and with all that extensive knowledge of the
given Which his attention to the Committee must have
Bible him; but at all events that proposition was intern-
that, But the Right Honourable Baronet now proposes
d tee Proposition of the Government should be con-
iaened by the House, and therefore leaves the present
toilet: come into operation in July next. It does not
e that, supposing the proposition of the Government
ets,"detnned, the next day, or within the next 12 hours,
114:Proposal for increased protection may not be
Jul also; and therefore the present Act, which in u y
the' change the duty of 20s. to 18s. 6(1., and thereby reduce
sss Protection from 6s. to 4s. 6d., will at once come into
or_l‘stion. In 1841 the present Lord Harrowby made a
itn'lnar proposition, the object of which was very clear,
hssit was carried into effect• but the Hon. Baronet will
too;
e'.Yegain his object by a 'mere resolution condemna-
hoi 0, the present proposition. I, for my part, do not
edl,ve that the House would adopt the roposition
41 Leh the Hon. Baronet made on Friday night; and I
thePPose that he himself despaired of carrying it. He
bught there was no hope whatever of raising the pro-
iee to 10s. and therefore proposed his present mo-
s
e t
'or the purpose of embarrassment and rendering
res, Plan of the Government ineffective. I will only
the to an allusion made by my Right Hon. Friend to
cots speech I made on Friday night. He says that I
hp, 81ented on the extravagance of the colonial pro-
from
ietors, and that I have taken my notions
lie the the prevailing idea of the Colonialeoffice.
'reeed sasYs I have founded the two or three
that idea.
said with respect to extravagance solely on
telte,"ea. I beg to inform my Right Hon . Friend I have
lOC mY notion from reading the evidence of a West
bin; Proprietor himself. That proprietor said that he
to self went out to the West Indies, and made a reduc
little of 1,000/, a year.—(Hear, hear.) That was no
Reatlt'aecretary, no clerk in the Colonial-office, but the
he was himself possessing the property; and when
detleaa asked how ho reduced the 1,0001., he said it was
aleoe bY perquisites, and when asked what was the
net
of those perquisites, he said, " I do not believe
are tut, Merchants in this country, intelligent as they
is ' unless they go out themselves, know much of what
tfering on in the West Indies. My own merchants
estnitne that they believed my estates were economically
Ivereeeted. When I went out, however, I found they
e°t so. The attorneys are the head agents of the
tleou'el the merchants simply see the plantation
04 eats. In the plantation accounts there is always
will very large item, namely, labourers' wages; and I
feu_ tell the Committee some of the charges which I
an 'id were included in that item. There is
alt estate groom, for instance; then there is
e aser e's cook and ;attorney's groom, attorney's
tteanet;,spigs, attorney's washer, attorney's maid, minding
n
minding manager's pigs, picking grass
fantrt
attorneys; besides which, there are manager's ser-
santa and overseer's servants. As far as I and the
merchant could see, all those came under the head of
labourers' wages."—(Hear, hear.) That is practical
testimony—it is no prejudice of the Colonial-office, but
Practical testimony, and it certainly made an impression
on my mind, and which I had on my mind when I spoke
en Friday night of the extravagance
proprietors. And now I a toe be v?gance of some of the
an
na
unfounded imputation andmaligningtold I am making
the characters of
those gentlemen who are not guilty in any way of ex-
travagance in managing their estates.—(Hear, hear.) I
believe it is not the extravagance of those gentlemen
themselves; I believe it is the consequence of that sys-
tem of management—(Hear. hear)—and I believe there
are many instances of a similar character. But Ido not
Wish to prevent the Hon. Gentleman from making his
Proposition. lie will have an opportunity of again stet-
leg his objections to our scheme, and we shall endeavour
its far as we can to explain tho views which we hold
.-
eltnli regard to the West Indies. I do not, how-
for, think my Right lion. Friend has considered
"I all the consequences that might follow from the
b4:vitestions he threw out of things that might possibly
the colonists
I have always been very favourable to giving
oe; colonists, as far as possible, the management of their
/1111, affairs ; but when we speak of givingtos,the West
tia;Zndtans the management of their own affair we touch
some very nice q
uestions of practice, representation
d rights of voters, as difficult as those may be which
a
theotall have to consider to-morrow on the motion o
etee°o• Member for Montrose, or still more difficult, or
the—s',„lePanied with more peril, when we have to consider
""` as applied to the West Indies. If you are to intro-
°ace a very low suffrage in Trinidad ; if you allow every
ef the imported negroes into Trinidad who may
acv been
,been there a year, and is a malelof full age, to have
think the representative chosen by those persons
Triel.l,°t tend to assist Lord Harris in his government of
prniluarl, and that it would introduce a very difficult
seectiem in the government of the West Indian colonies.
deeee'ar, hear.) My Right Hon. Friend has not consi-
one " all the difficulties that would arise if we should at
witlel introduce a system of representation in Trinidad
the tett due deliberation. lam for increasing the power
ePeople of the colonies have over their own affairs and
on rnment ; but I am for increasing it with considers-
for and deliberation from time to time, and not at once
for
kite
them an assembly chosen from the blacks
e government of these colonies.—(Hear, hear.)
which tLLICE said he had made use of no expression
Noble "Id at all justify the last observation of his
Sir e Friend.—(Hear, hear.)
otie„j-• PAKINGTON then rose to move, pursuant to
taken that That this House, considering the evidence
tnitte auring the present session before a Select Com-
kajeset' !,s of opinion that the remedies proposed by her
trowin3 8 government for the great distress of the sugar-
reittee Possessions of the crown, and which that.com-f
relies has said will require the immediate application o
Multi will neither effect that object nor check the sti-
enle "3 Vt°e, the slave trade which the diminution of the
eBtion ote
sugar in those colonies has inevitably oce
snent-e". " He denied that, in proposing this amend-
i;eue, was actuated by any party feeling whatever.
aesired was, to save our West Indian colonies
destruction with which they were threatened.

He had merely altered the form of his motion because
entertaining a decided objection to the governrnen
measure himself, he had upon consideration, deemed i
expedient to seek from the House a distinct expressiot
of its opinion on the subject.-(Hear, hear.) This wa
no question between protection and free trade ; it was t.
question standing on considers tions peculiar to itself, awl
he looked for support alike to the free trader and to th.
Protectionist.-(Hear, hear.) There was no one who
more decidedly approved of the measure of 1834 than h.
did. What he sought to counteract, as far as possible,
was the legislation which had subsequently taken plat.
with reference to our West India interests, as well under
the present Government as under its predecessors.-
(Hear, hear.) He did not complain of emancipation.
but he complained that all the pledges to the West In
dians which had accompanied emancipation had beet.
violated.-(Hear, hear.) The whole series of legislation
for the West Indies, up to the coup de grace inflicted it,
1846, had been utterly monstrous. The Noble Lord op-
posite, however, had repeatedly declared his firm reso
lution to abide by the Act of 1846. He had made tha,
declaration emphatically when the Noble Member fee
Lynn moved for his Committee, and he repeated it, at
emphatically, so recently as the 29th of May, distinctly
stating that whereas the West India Committee recom
mended that the differential duty should be continuer
for a certain period beyond that fixed by the Act o
1846, the Government did not intend to propose an)
change in the Act of 1846, with the view either of in
creasing the amount of differential duties, or of con-
tinuing them for a longer period than that fixed by thr
Act in question. This was so recently as the 29th Ma)
last; yet on Friday last the Noble Lord came down e
the House and proposed a plan which, whatever migh
be thought by various parties of its merits, every on,
must admit to be a material deviation from the Act o
1846.-(Hear, hear.) While deeming it right to ask tilt
Noble Lord why this deviation had been made, he coulo
not but congratulate the friends of our West Indian colo
vies on the obvious fact that Government had found it
absolutely necessary to make the change.-(Hear, hear.)
Ile himself could attribute the change to no other consi-
deration than that the evidence before the Committee
was of such a nature, so conclusive as to the fearful dis
tress which was weighing down the colonists, that
Government found it wholly impossible to adhere to
the Act of 1846. Then came the question whether
the change proposed by the Government would meet
the case of the colonists-whether it would ever
mitigate the distresses which afflicted them. Ht
would not then detain the House by enquirinp
why it was that Government had thought fit to pro.
tract the period of closing the duties to 1854 instead of
to 1851. Nor would he stop to inquire what reason had
induced them to think it better that the duties should
close at 102. per cwt., rather than, as in the Act of 1846,
at 14s. per cwt. Every one must feel that this change.
irrespective of its bearing on the present distress, un-
doubtedly involved very important financial considera-
tions, and therein reflected upon the Right Hon. the
Chancellor of the Exchequer quite as much blame as he
had sought to cast upon the Noble Member for Lynn for
proposing an immediate reduction of the duties on our
colonial sugars. The Right Hon. Gentleman, however,
possibly thought that he might not be in office in 1854,
and that he should only be bequeathing to a successor
the large defect in the sugar duties which must inevita-
bly result from his plan.-(Hear, and a laugh.) He was
driven to the conclusion that the proposal of the Govern-
ment was wholly unequal to enable the West Indies to
struggle with their increasing distresses, or to compete
with the slave colonies; and he was enabled to prove the
latter half of his assertion by comparing the present con-
dition of the British West Indies with the Brazils and
other slave-labour settlements. He would refer to the
evidence of Mr. Tollemache, than whom no gentleman
had spoken more fairly before the West Indian Com-
mittee: and what was the statement of that witness? He
says that he entertained hopes at some future day, by
persevering in the course the colonists were pursuing,
that the cost of producing sugar would be reduced to
15s 6d a cwt. But Mr. Tollemache stated further, that
even at that reduced cost of production the freight and
charges would prevent him from laying down a cargo of
sugar in London at less than 225. 04d. per cwt. Look-
ing at that statement, and taking into consideration the
prices that had ruled of late in the sugar market, the
minimum of which was 225. per cwt., how was it possible
for a planter who, under the most favourable circum-
stances, could not bring his sugar to market under 225.
a cwt. to compete with a Brazilian planter, who can
offer his produce in the London warehouse at 19s. a
cwt.? In fact, says Mr, Tollemache, it is impossible
for the free-labour planter, under his present circum-
stances, to compete with slave-labour sugar growers.
There were also other witnesses who spoke lo the ques-
tion of cost of production before the Commiltee, the re-
sult of whose testimony he would shortly recapitulate.
In Jamaica the average cost of producing sugar, ascer-
tained from an examination of 138 estates, was 225. 7d.
a cwt. ;, another witness, Mr. Green, stated it to be
225. 9d. ; Mr. Higginson rated it at 295. 2d. ; and a
fourth witness, Mr. Miles, considered the cost of produc-
tion in that island to average 235. a cwt. The mean
cost of the production of sugar, taking the various state-
ments into consideration, was 1/. ss. Old. ; and Sir C.
Grey, in the important dispatch which was alluded to
the other night-(A. laugh)-stated it to be his opinion
that the permanent cost of producing a cwt. of sugar in
Jamaica was 305., and unless the planter could
reckon upon that the cultivation of sugar would
cease in that colony. Such was the deliberate opinion
of Sir C. Grey, himself a free-trader.-(Cries of
" Hear, hear.") Lord Harris, writing from Trinidad
states the cost of producing a cwt. of sugar at 20s. 8d
Another witness; at 325. 6d.; and a third, at 28=., the
average cost being for Trinidad 275. 10d. In British
Guiana the average cost was 255. Bd. And the general
average of all the British West India colonies, including
Jamaica, St. Vincent's, Trinidad, Barbadoes, St. Kitt's,
and Guiana, gave the amount of 225. Bd. as the mean
cost of producing a cwt. of sugar. Now, what on the
other hand did they find, from evidence brought before
the West India Committee, was the cost of producing a
cwt. of sugar in the slave colonies? In Cuba the cost
of production was 6s. 81-d.; in, Porto Rico, hs. 2d.; and
in Bahia, Bs. 9d. a cwt., giving a mean for these three
slave colonies of 6s. 10:1-d. per cwt. This sum, as com-
pared with 225. Bd., the cost of production in the Bri
tish West Indies, left the amount of 15s. 90. as the
differences between the cost of sugar in the
two countries respectively. The calculations into
which he had entered were so essential towards
establishing the case of the British planters, that he
must call the particular attention of the Government to
them. His argument was, that so long as there existed
a difference of 15s. 9id. between the cost of producing
sugar by free labour and by slave labour, so long would
it be impossible for the British West Indies to compete,
under a differential duty of 7s. only, with Cuba, the
Brazils, or other slave sugar-growing colonies. He had
therefore a right to assert that it was impossible, by
means of the Government proposition, to afford an
adequate protection to the British West Indian colonies.
Another thing the planters had a right to complain of
was the manner in which the Act of 1846 had been
carried into operation. The Government bad stated
that it was a great experiment, but if so, why not at the
same time take measures to give the experiment, fair
play? Why not have afforded the planters the means of
procuring abundance of labour? That was the indispens-
able condition attached to the successful cultivation of
sugar in the British colonies. The negro and the planter
had changed positions during the last ten years in those
colonies. The negro was the easy man; the planter the
oppressed and ruined man. Why had not the Govern-
ment taken precautions against vagrancy and squatting
in the West Indian Islands ? Nothing had been done
by way of assisting the British planters to compete with
the Brizilian and Cuban slave-holders. He admitted
that recently Earl Grey had proposed some regulations,
whereby tree labourers were to be sent to the West In-
dies, consisting of the captured Africans-a system which
was liable to great abases. But this was not the ques-
tion which was before the House. He would not at that
moment enter into any detail of the losses experienced
by the sugar planters in the British colonies. All the
witnesses examined before the Committee concurred in
the opinion that it was impossible for them to carry on
the cultivation of sugar at present prices. One witness
stated a fact which was quite startling, as to the depre-
ciation of property in the West Indies, The estate
of Mulgrave sold for 25,0004 in the year 1843. The
sum of 10,0001. was spent upon it after it was sold,
and in April of the present year the same estate
was put up again to sale, and the prices it realised was
2,8001. Looking, therefore, at the facts which had been
stated before the West ludia Committee, he had a right
to assert that these lossos were principally due to the
Act of 1846. Since that Act had passed, eighteen of the
principal merchants connected with the West Indies had
become bankrupts, and if the present state of things
continued, other houses must fall victims to the same
melancholy fate. Would the House permit him to call
their attention to the state of affairs in the Mauritius ?
Sir George Larpent, in his evidence before the Com-
mittee, stated that, acting in the full belief that the
legislature sanctioned the course they adopted, the mer-
chants connected with the Mauritius suddenly found them-
selves deprived of protection ; and thus, at the moment
when they were recovering from former losses,
they found themselves subjected to a fresh blow, which
they could not survive. The same witness stated
that the cost of producing sugar in the Mauritius was
20s. 10d. a cwt.; how could the planters there com-
pete with the slave colonies of Brazil and Cuba ?
The consequences of theso changes had been
to bring ruin upon seven great mercantile houses,
whose principals were men of the highest integrity
and honour. Amongst those gentlemen were their late
colleagues, Sir John Rae Reid, SirGeorgeLarhpueldnfe,
holding
Mr. Barclay, all Members of that House, and
high position in it. He efelt in se
could neoig
not refrain
suchfrom express-
ing the pain which he
the
into melancholythe statesug sugar
dt thing
egss causebyth de
ibnyvot hl vee dc
hi annrguei by
sn
introduced
Legislature. Let him refer to the state ofdeen grauthbings in
dthe
East Indies. The production of sugar had
ally going on inEngland amounted
when the quantity sent from thence d
that country
to
orom 1835 to 1845,
in
Bengal, 205., and at Madras
to 1,520,114 cwts. The cost of, propucrinegwstu;gaarudwabse,
compete at such prices with Brazilian
when the cost of transport was added,
acouudldc.tuhbeasue
sugars
the Governors of the West Indian colonies,
in the English market ? All the authorities,
agreed
ddinign
opinion that it was impossible at the present cost of
labour there for free labour sugar to compete with the
sugar sent from Brazil and Cuba. The lion. Member
here quoted the opinions expressed in the dispatches of
Lord Harris, Governor Reid, Sir C. Grey, Governor
Higginson, and Governor Light, all of whom coincided
s most itiable. In looking at
in representing the state of the planters in the British
the‘V est Indian
question
what
it h
was a
ls o a
proportionadvisable
into consi-
derationßritish West Indian colonies was in the years preceding
and subsequent to the alteration of the sugar duties in
the Commercial 1546. Borne, the editor ofto
Glance, says
that the value of the exports of manufactured goods

during the 19 months previous to the alteration of the
sugar duties in 1846, was 5,988,554/. Whereas 19
months after the sugar duties were altered the value o:
exports was 4,856,2861., showing a decrease in the ex-
ports to the same colonies within the period of 19 months
after the Act of 1846 was passed amounting to no less
than 1,123,2681. The same statistical return rsports
that the export of cotton manufactures to the slave cold
nies during the nineteen months previous to 1546 were
valued at 2,490,7771., whilst during nineteen months sub-
sequent to 1846 they had risen to 2,946,151/., showing
an increase in that branch of export of 455,351/. But
comparing the value of the exports to the slave colonies
with those to the British colonies, there was a bslance
against the manufacturer of no less than 676,841/, re-
sulting from the diminished consumption of British
manufactures in the West Indies in consequence of the
present state of affairs. The question then came to be
considered whether the consumer was benefited by the
change; and he had no hesitation in asserting that
when the cultivation of sugar in the British colonies
was extinguished the Brazilian and other slave colonies
would obtain the monopoly. and the price would be-
come very materially increased. He must now turn,
and he did so with great pain and humiliation, to the
great feature of the subject, which related to the
slavery question.—(Hear, hear.) lie had stated on
Friday night that it was with feelings of astonishment
timost amounting to indignation, that he had heard the
Prime Minister make his statement without one word

(if allusion to the subject of slavery. But, on reconsi-
deration, his surprise ceased, for believing the Noble
Lord opposite to be a sincere advocate for negro free-
dom, he must have felt great difficulty in touching upon
the subject, more especially when he was aware that the
prophecies uttered in 1846 respecting the increase of
slavery, which was certain to follow on the Sugar
Duties Bill of that yoar, had all been fulfilled. The
first witness he should call to prove his statement that
.lavery had increased was the Noble Lord the Foreign
Secretary, who stated before the Committee, that the
number of slaves imported into the slave colonies, in
the year 1846, was 55,000, and as many in 1847, making
a total of 110,000 slaves in those two years; whilst in
the years 1844 and 1845, the average number of slaves
imported into Cuba and Brazils was only 32,000
a year. There were other returns, which gave the
number of 75,000 slaves as having been imported
into the slave colonies since the year 1846. From this
evidence he thought he was justified in assuming
that the effect of the Act of 1846 had been to double the
importation of slaves in Cuba and Brazil.—(Hear, hear.)
But, if any confirmation were wanted, it might
tie had in the returns of the exports of machi-
nery to those countries during the last few years. In
1844 the value of the exports to Cuba was 6,572/., and
•o Brazil, 17,5051. From that time a gradual increase
had been going oil, until in 1847 it amounted to—Cuba,
17,6641.; Brazil, 35,1531.—(11ear, hear.) He must now
refer to what he considered the most important evidence
that had been given before the Committee. Captain
Matson, of the royal navy, on being examined, a man of
great experience in these matters, had stated, that in his
opinion the admission of slave-grown sugar had increased
the importation of slaves into Cuba and Brazil very
much. Captain Matson stated that he was at Havannah
when the remission was announced, and that the news
created a feeling of universal joy ; the price of slaves
and of land increased at once, and a general jubilee
seemed to prevail throughout the island. In describing
the mode in which the slaves were transported from the
coast of Africa, Captain Matson stated that they were
packed close, doubled up, and generally in irons. The
general calculation was, that if a captain expected
to land 300 slaves, he must ship 500, the difference
being generally cleared off by "weeding" during the
passage. The explanation of this was, that the most
practised eye could not always distinguish the healthy
from the diseased previous to shipment, but the first
forty-eight hours at sea decided the matter by carrying
off the latter.—(Hear, hear.) As a general rule those
who stood out the drst forty-eight hours were landed
alive.—(Hear, hear.) One great cause of this dreadful
mortality was the diminutive size of the vessels employed
in the trade, a remarkable instance of which was men-
tioned by Captain Matson—that of a shipment of 427
drives in a vessel of only forty-nine tons burden.—
(Hear, hear.) He (Sir J. Pakington) might perhaps be
told that these horrors were no novelties. He was sorry
to say that there was a feature of novelty in these details,
and that was, that the whole of the circumstances de-
tailed by Captain Matson, were now going on under the
sanction of the Government of this country.—(Protec-
tionist cheers.) He did not impute the crime of intention
to the Government; but he implored the Noble Lord at
the head of that Government to pause and consider whe-
ther any other conclusion could be drawn from the state-
ments he (Sir J. Packington) had made, than that the le-
gislation of 1£346 had given new life to the abominable
slave trade,with all its attendant horrors. Why, previous to
that year the slave trade to Cuba had almost ceased.—
(Hear, hear.) The greater length of the voyage and
difficulty of transport rendered a more expensive class of
vessels necessary, and it was in consequence declining;
sut the legislation of 1846 gave it a fillip, and it was at
the present moment going on with as great vigour as
ever. The treatment of the slaves after their arrival at
Cuba was also a point which must not be overlooked in
considering the question. Captain Matson stated that
they were usually kept at work for 18 hours out of the
24, being goaded during the latter hours with the lash,
and hunted by dogs to keep them together in the fields.
—(Hear, hear.) He would next proceed to call the at-
tention of the House to the reports which had been sent
home by British Consuls in slave colonies. Mr. Morgan
wrote from Rio Grande that the vessels were coining in
there every day with slaves, under the sanction of the
authorities, who received a bonus of from 10 to 15
dollars on each one landed. From Bahia, Mr.
Porter wrote that the importation hal nearly
doubled during the last year ; and the Go-
vernor of Sierra Leone stated that, notwithstanding
the vigilance of our cruisers, the traffic between
:hat place and the Havana was enormously on the in-
.;rease.—(Hear, hear.) He thought he had now said
and quoted enough to prove that the prophecies of 1846
had been fulfilled, and that the results of the measure
of that year, however little such results might have been
desired by government, had been to give a great impulse
co slavery and the slave-trade. He regretted to have to
observe that the Noble Lord at the head of the govern-
ment had not thought fit even to allude to those subjects
in his opening speech, but in consequence of the indig-
nation expressed by several Honourable Members who
followed him had subsequently found it necessary to say
something which was not at all satisfactory, being
merely the expression of his hope and belief that the
measures of government would tend to place the planter
in such a position as would enable him to enter into a
fair competition with slave labour, and to prevent the
continuance of the detestable traffic in slaves. He (Sir
J. Pakington) trusted that the result of their delibe-
rations would be consistent with the principles which
this country had adopted with reference to the slave
trade, and such as, while they preserved our colonies,
would redound to the honour of the sovereign and people
of this country.—(Cheers.)
Sir E. N. BUXTON, in rising to second the amend-
ment of the Hon. Baronet, must at the same time take
leave to deny that the abolition of the apprenticeship
system gave the colonists any additional claim on the
mother country. In his opinion the policy which was
most consistent with justice and humanity, was that
contained in the Act of 1844, which wholly excluded
sugar the produce of slave labour. Against that policy
it had been urged that we were only driving the slave-
grown sugar to the continental markets. He acknow-
edged that there was seine force in that argument, but
he believed that if wo had persisted in the exclusion,
recent events on the continent would have given us great,
opportunities of making it influential there as well as in
this country. Under present circumstances he believed
that the only course would be to adopt the amendment
of his Hon. Friend. His Hon. Friend had so com-
pletely exhausted the subject, that it would be un-
necessary for him to trouble the House at any length;
but there was one dispatch of Lord Harris to which
he could not help alluding. Lord Harris said it
was painful to see men waiting the ruin which was
sure to overtake them, and labouring without hope, be-
cause their labour was sure to go unrequited. The re-
medy proposed for this state of things by Government
was immigration; but had immigration now been heard
of fur the first time? Why, since the project had first
been conceived, upwards of 80,000 free labourers had
been imported into our colonies; and the result proved
how inadequate was the remedy. Lord Harris was op-
posed to immigration as hitherto carried on, but recom-
mended its continuance at the expense of the individual
parties requiring the slaves instead of making it a charge
on tho colonial revenue. Having read some further quo-
tations to the same effect, the Hon. Baronet proceeded
to say that it seemed to him, looking simply at the con-
dition of the West Indies, that the policy of this country
had been too changeable, and that the principles of
free trade should have been applied to them with
greater caution. The great question was, whether,
after all the efforts and all the sacrifices of the last forty
years to abolish slavery and the slave trade, we were
for the future to depend for our supply of
sugar on colonies were both were carried on in the
most brutal manner the world had ever witnessed.
During the last year we had imported 48,000 tons of
ao
sugar from Cuba ; and, looking at the orders which had
recently gone out to our own colonies to stop cultiva-
tion,
reachnitwas i
nnootto3oomo
tonsuch extonot,
expect
thatd theso on importationuntil
would that
island and Brazil would monopolise our whole u p I
That would be a serious calamity, and one for which, in
his opinion, no excuse could be found in the necessities
of this country.—(Hear, hear.) The produce of our co-
lonies had always been equal to the demand, and during
last year was 40,000 tons more than it had been
during
any previous year.
Lord J. RUSSELL—That was under the Act of
1846.—(Hear, hear.)
Sir E. N. BUXTON—Yes, but the free-trade mea-
sures could hardly have acted so soon. He had taken
his present course with some regret. He admitted the
necessity of supplying the labouring classes in this coun-
try with all their necessaries at the lowest possible
price, but lie believed that if the people had the ques-
tion fairly put to them—if they were told that their
cheap sugar was purchased with the life-blood of their
fellow-creatures, they would reject the boon with dis-
dain. Having quoted Mr. Calhoun and; the late Dr.
Channing's opinions on the subject of slavery and the
slave-trade the Hon. Baronet said, in conclusion, that
the House of Commons had, in 1846, passed an Act
under the impression that it would not aggravate the
horrors of the slave-trade. They had been disappointed
in their expectations ; it was acknowledged on all hands
that under the operation of that Act the trade was on
the increase, and therefore heltrusted that, on the pre-
sent occasion, they would not hesitate to retrace their
steps, and, as far as in them lay, prevent the evil conse-
quences of their error.—(Cheers.)
The amendment having been put,
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER com-
plained that neither the mover nor seconder of the
amendment had explained what means of relief they

proposed for the West India planter, or what amount of
protection they would substitute for that which the re-
,olutions of the Government would establish. The

[lon. Baronet (Sir J. Pakington) having given notice of
the terms of his amendmebt, had twice changed his
mind, and had now put it in a shape in which he
thought it might succeed in catching a few stray votes.
—(Hear, hear.) His Hon. Friend (Sir E. N. Buxton)
said fairly enough that he would totally exclude slave-
grown sugar.—(Hear, hear.) His Hon. Friend con-
tended that when emancipation passed in 1834, the
House and the country entered into a compact with the
West India colonists that they should have twenty mil-
lions paid to them as compensation, together with the
perpetual monopoly of the British market. He admitted
that if the Imperial Legislature chose to deprive the
West India proprietors of their slaves, it was bound to
give them full compensation ; but he remembered that
Lord Stanley argued at the time that the compensation
which was given was full and ample. Parliament had
since decided against giving to the West Indies a per-
petual monopoly of the British market, and against the
permanent maintenance of a high protective duty.—
(Hear, hear.) It there had bean a contract entered
into in 1834 to grant such a monopoly of the market
it was broken, as his Honourable Friend behind him
had stated, by the Act of 1844, which, according to
the present Lord Harrowby, who moved the cele-
brated resolution of 1841, did, by opening our market to
the sugars of Java and other foreign sugar-growing
countries, encourage the import of slave-labour sugar in
the market of Hamburgh; and only last year no less
than 3,000 tons of sugar were admitted from slave-
growing countries into England which we were cum-
pelleddidtonoatdmmeitanbytroousraythattreaties
given a further encouragement to slave-labour sugar---
(Hear, hear.) But if they were to stand on the con-
tract, he must contend that the first infraction of the
principle of discouraging
slave-grownthe
t thesouf
sugar
laBr Act4was
f tl
08b4b04.
et
He
found in the Act of 1844, and those who supported that
Act were not now in a position to turn round on the
proposition of Ministers, because it might in its results
encourage the import of slave-labour sugar. The
grounds on which the Act of 1844 was brought forward,
as stated by the then Chancellor of the Exchequer (Mr.
Goulburn), himself a West India proprietor, were the
insufficient supply of colonial sugar, and the consequent
high price; now, however, it was contended
by the
Hon. Baronet (Sir J. Pakington) that it had always
produced a supply sufficient for the demands of this
country. If any one would compare the present con-
sumption with that a few years back, he would see that a
more monstrous proposition had never been put forward.
In 1840 the consumption was 179,000 tons; in 1842 it
was 193,000 tons; and last year it was 289,000 tons; an
increase of more than 110,000 tons in seven years, and
96,000 in the last five years.—(Hear, hear.) Comparing
this increase with that of the population, it was evident
that the supply was not adequate to the consumption iu
1840 and 1842. When the Bill of 1846 was proposed,
there was scarcely any person in the House except those
who voted with the Noble Lord (G. Bentinck) who did
not distinctly avow that the principle of permanent pro-
tection as against slave-labour sugar must be given up.
The Right Honourable Baronet the Member for Tam-
worth made that avowal distinctly; and the Honourable
Member for Leominster (Mr. Barkly) declared that he
was for free trade in sugar, as he had been for free trade
in corn, it being understood that protection should be
continued for a time in order to enable the colonists to
make arrangements to compete with other sugar.growing
countries. He was entitled to assume, therefore, from
what had occurred in reference to the measure of 1846,
that the present majority of the House abandoned the
principle apermanent protection. He thought the Hon.
Baronet had somewhat overstated the case as to the in-
creased export of slaves as attributable to the Act of 1846.
He believed it would be found that the number of slaves
exported from the coast of Africa in 1847 scarcely ex-
ceeded the number in 1846, and that the increased ex-
port during the last two or three years was owing rather
to the Act of 1844 than that of 1846.—(Hear, hear.)
But the only way to put down the slave trade was to
beat slave labour in open competition by the superior
cheapness of free labour production. They had tried all
other means and failed; and it was no argument against
the course they were now taking—the only course left,
as he believed, for effecting the object—that the number
of slaves exported had increased under the operation of
the Act of 1846—even if it were so. With regard to
the amount of ,protection, he found that the Committee
on the coffee and sugar plantations recommended a dif-
ferential duty of 103. for six years; but if the Hon.
Baronet's facts and arguments went for anything, they
went to show that there was a cost of 15s. 9id. between
the cost of slave-labour sugar and free-labour sugar, and
that nothing short of a permanent protective duty to
that amount would have the required effect of enabling
the West India colonists to compete with slave-labour
countries. If that was the view of the Hon. Baronet, ho
could understand why he was no longer prepared to
abide by the recommendations of the Committee of which
he was a member. But the Committee went further, and
agreed with his (the Chancellor of the Exchequer's)
view, that the ultimate prosperity of the British West
India possessions must depend on their means of success-
fully competing with the foreign producer rather than on
any permanent protection—(Hear, hear)—and unless
they were so enabled to compete, there was but little
hope of their being restored to permanent prosperity.
If it was still the opinion of Parliament that sooner or
later the British West Indies must compete with the
slave-growing colonies, the question was how that com-
petition could be brought anout in the best and safest
way. From the evidence taken before the Committee it
was shown that great reductions in the expense of
managing might bo effected without any loss in the
amount of production. In one case the cost
of management had been reduced from 2,3001 in
1843, to 1,600/. in 1846; and in another from 2,300/. in
1843, to 1,300/. in 1846. The evidence of Mr. Barkly,
Mr. Lines, Mr. Greene, and others, also went to show
that if protection were only continued for a short time,
and arrangements were made for a small additional sup-
ply of labourers—a few thousands in a continuous
stream—the rate of wages might be considerably reduced
without any real injury to the labourers who, in conse-
quence of the very high rate of wages which they now
received, enjoyed luxuries to which persons in a much
higher station in life in this country .were strangers.
The Hon. Baronet had not stated what he recommended
in lieu of the Government plan in regard to the emigra-
tion of labourers to the West Indies, but he had alluded
to contracts, and had urged that permission should be
given to enter into contracts for labour for three years.
He believed that the Right Hon. Gentleman (Mr. Glad-
stone) had permitted such contracts to be entered into.
Mr. GLADSTONE—But excluding natives of Africa
and the West Indies.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER would
not enter into the details, but believed that it depended
on the colonial legislators themselves whether such con-
tracts for labour should be entered into, and his Noble
Friend (Lord Grey), since he had been in office, had not
refused his sanction to any Act of the Colonial Legisla-
ture for that purpose. But it was not quite certain that
the contract system would act. Mr. Tollemache, in his
evidence, stated that it had been tried in Antigua, but
he was not inclined to think that it answered. The
object of the contract was to compel the labourer to
work for less than the ordinary rate of wages.—(No,
no.) To that there was no objection, provided the la-
bourer refusing to carry out such a contract was not
treated as a felon. With regard to squatting, he heard
no means suggested by which it could be effectually
prevented. There were plenty of laws;on the subject,
but the difficulty was to enforce them ; and he must say
that the worst kind of squatting was. produced by the
proprietors themselves, who drove the negroes to a dis-
tance from theic estates. The great difficulty was ad-
mitted on all hands to be the want of labourers, but the
proposal they made of advancing money, or guarantee-
ing the interest of a loan, if the colonists raised it them-
selves, would enable them to meet that difficulty. But
neither the introduction of labourers, nor the other
e
reduce
et i mt
ecs roumougr n ang differential"tei
measures proposed, would avail, unless they extended to
the West India planters further time than was contem-
plated by the Act of 1846. In so extending the time,
however, he did not consider that there
depar-
ture from the principle of that Act.--(tlear.) It was
stated as a matter of complaint, that, owing to the pre-
sentwas any
classification of sugars, the colonists did not get
that amount of protection which it was intended they
should have, because the whole of the colonial sugars
was exposed to a competition with the best foreign Sugar.
That was stated very clearly in the evidence of Mr.
Greene. To remove this ground of complaint they pro-
posed to introduce a new classification of foreign Mus-
covado sugar, and to divide that which was now intro-
duced under one denomination into two classes, to be
called brown clayed and Muscovado. The Hon. Gentle-
man said that this plan would be defeated, because the
u theyscov andxoe.d
the Everything
dfienpeensduegdaronwotuhledpcooi
with the officers of the
and, after consultation that day
Board of Trade and Customs, they were of opinion—
but they would not pledge themseiveehs
ws now absolutely
3t6os. it—
that
the description of sugar which
be the standard of
long price in the market
mnt°atinwalisicMhstandard,
shouldall below that should be
If
dthe present law re-
mained unchanged the West_ In inbppters would
ovonly
ebnrotewrnedclaatyetclhesumgaurs,coavnaddothraatte.
have a protection of 6s. havet pi which the lEl_ ern-
7fos; the
mtheenfitrpstroypeoasre,d6st.
not all, for they proposed to
third year. But that was
reduce the differential duty on ruin, with respect to
the would
for
the
second a protectionyen r
and of 7s.
iwnhicthhehewa
hear.) And this was not altogether valueless to the
increase had
s surprised
recommendations
of not
the
o mentionom rah
iatdte e been,— ulm
eaadret
West Indian interest, for a great
taken place in the quantity of rum entered
for home consumption. In 1846 the number of
gallons entered amounted to 2,684,000 ; in 1847,
to 3,330,000. And the quantity entered was still
on the increase ; for the number of gallons introduced
during the four first months of 1847 was 849,000,
whilst for the four first months of 1848 no less than
1,010,000 gallons came in.—(Hear, hear.) These were
the advantages which they proposed to give the West
Indians. They proposed to give them a higher protec-
tion than they at present enjoyed, and to extend tha'
existed.protection
Theythree
proposed years be beyond dr
etdh
suggestion
country.—(Hear.)
duty
noweut
andirt
lye)
oothnfetyrhuemwi
were
rtt
eeo r aepsdrtevspaonatrc
prepared
tcooon
necsyountmos facilitateiedreirn
athn this
s
suppression
ersmust
believed
us t oft
ultimatelya t vagrancy.
the interests
look Butto
oi theynfetrhe
the
spe wererdodp
ur(notocadunmindful
with
iot.
and of the consumers were identical, and thate oth sugarr
ertlsert production
low prices for safety and prosperity.—
ear.)
They proposed to reduce the duty on colonialasUga
and to increase the differential duty between foreignrls., and
colonial sugar. He did not tbink that the price would
be thereby enhanced to the consumer for the present
or the next year, because in the first place there
was a great quantity of sugar in hand as com-
pared with last year ; and, secondly, there was a
prospect of alarge production in the present-year and,