The Sun.
London, England, 1848-02-04 00:00:00

SUN, LONDON,

THE

the Chinaman, and the Hiedoo, would be immensely
benefited by their transport to these islands. He held in
his hand aspeech of Sir C. Metcalfe, delivered in 1840,
only two years after emancipation had been com-
pleted, in which he described the condition of the ne-
groes of Jamaica with respect to comfort and indepen-
dence as very striking, when compared with other
countries. He said, " probably no peasantry in any other
,
quarter of the globe bad such comforts and advantages"
as those negroes had, though he did not speak the
same high terms of the prosperity of the planters. The
deterioration of property," he said, " proceeded from
want of continuous labour," which was a natural effect
of the " peasantry possessing means tha,t, rendered them
in a great degree independent of labour. He then re-
ferred to the Act which had been passed to encourage
immigration under proper precautions for the health
and accommodation of those interested,
and stated, that
he " would readily co-operate with them in this very
necessary measure;" and, though he entertained no cer-
tain anticipation that it would be productive of
much good, yet, "it was satisfactory to reflect,
that whatever number of immigrants were likely
to come from any part of the world, there was
room for all, and to spare;" that there was the greatest
fertility of soil, and everywhere abundance; that " any
multitude could be provided for without a diminution
of the comforts of the present population." But, later
still they had a report as to the condition of the labourers
in these islands, which accompanied a dispatch a ith sub-
scriptions made in the British colonies for the relief of
the Irish. At a public meeting for this purpose the
Colonial Receiver-General (as shown in this report),
speaking of Guiana, referred to the great comfort of
the labourers, even when there was a year of comparative
dearth. The Rev. Mr. Forbes on the same occasion
stated that in a country like that food was plenty, and
that " even the dearth of the previous year did not pro-
duce much want among the labourers ; no case of desti-
tution did ever or could ever occur there." But the
most remarkable of all the statements in these papers
was that which was to be found in a letter of Mr.
Holmes, addressed to Governor Light, when trans-
mitting to him a subscription of 1,2001. for the relief
of Irish distress. Ile said—" Almost all persons have
subscribed, though it had been a difficult task to ex-
plain to the labouring men of this fortunate colony
the meaning of starvation and intense cold."—(Hear.)
He could conceive nothing more expressive than this,
that the great difficulty in the island was to
make the labourers understand what was meant by
" starvation" and " cold." He thought, therefore,
there need be no delicacy about encouraging, in every
possible way, the immigrrtion of labourers into the
West Indies. It was entirely a question of cost ; and
it was the restriction which successive colonial Govern-
ments bad always put upon the free immigration of
labourers that had created the burden and expense which
were too much for the colonies to bear; hampered with
all sorts of restrictions—able only to contract for a
single year, and that only in a British colony—obliged
to send back the labourer at the end of five years; the
expense of the carriage backwards and forwards eating
up all the advantage of his importation. Now, he
wanted to know why they should be so delicate about
an African, or a Coolie, or a Chinaman, who was only
going from one hot climate to another—who was
going from a climate not more genial than that to
which he was sent—and why should they say that such
emigrant was not to be hired for more than five years, when
in this country her Majesty's troops were expected to
serve at all events ten years in the colonies for four years
at home, while, practically, the army had served in time
of peace 14 years in the colonies for four at home, many
regiments having been 23 years in India ?—(llear.) If
that was nut to be held a hardship—if the flower
of the British army was to be sent from a genial
climate to climates that were destructive to their health
for ten years—why were we to restrict the period of
emigration for these Coolies, and Africans, and China-
men ?—(Hear.) His opinion was, that there should be
no obligation on the planters or importers to carry back
the immigrant. He should be left to his own resources.
—(Hear.) He should be free in the colony, and feel
himself to be so; and he should feel also that he must
rely on his own industry, and pay for his passage back
to his own country. More than this, he must not be
permitted to go home till he had repaid the expenses of
his importation. These were all matters that would
form a fit subject for inquiry before the Committee. He
would now come to the case of the East Indies, which cer-
tainly had not the same claim as the West Indies, on the
ground that their property had been taken from them,
and that they had received but a very small portion of
the value of that property, In his opinion, however,
they had the same claim of good faith from Parlia-
ment that the fundholdera or any other interest
had. When they emancipated the slaves they invited
all British interests to exert themselves to produce sugar
by free labour; they induced the capitalists of this coun-
try to send their money and invest it on the banks of
the Ganges; and, in his opinion, the faith of Parliament
was as much pledged to them to enable them to repay
themselves for the outlay of that capital as it was
pledged to repay the fundholder the debt that was due to
him. He would next advert to the Mauritius; and here
he would say that if ever there was a justification of any
Gentleman in moving for this Committee—if ever there
was a justification of any Gentleman asking Parliament
calmly to revise its previous judgment, it was to be found
in the last voice that was heard on the last day of the last
session from the Colonial-office. He was sure it was in
the recollection of his Noble Friend opposite that on the
last day of the last session of the last Parliament, when
he (Lord George Bentinek) gave notice of an inquiry on
this subj. et, in presenting a petition from the British
%Vest Indies, hi, friend Mr. Hawes, with an air of great
triumph, said, ..The Noble Lord had confined his at-
tention to the %Vest India islands, but let him turn to
the Mauritius, and he would find that there the greatest
prosperity was manifest. The Noble Lord might rest
satisfied that a sy stem of free trade and open competition
would be most beneficial for all parties concerned; that
it would lead to greater economy of production, be the
means of embarking more capital in the growth and
manufacture of sugar, and tend to the general pros-
perity of the whole population." Now he really thought
that when the Colonial office was, on the 23d of July
last, so entirely in the dark, so entirely ignorant of the
true state of her Majesty's colonial possessions, so totally
uninformed of the true state of this question, it was a
complete justification of the course he now took in pro-
posing a Committee of Inquiry; not that he might teach
his friends, the 130 who supported him and predicted all
that had happened since 1846, but that there might be
an opportunity for her Majesty's Ministers and the
free traders in general to make themselves more
perfectly acquainted with all the branches of this
subject.—(Hear, hear.) Ile thought there was a
hope that this Committee might be the means of per-
suading her 'Majesty's Ministers that they had thus
far taken altogether an erroneous course, when,
instead of finding the Mauritius in a " manifest"
state of prosperity, they found that out of six great
firms in the Mauritius unfortunately but one remained
standing; that the liabilities of the houses that had
failed amounted to no less than 2,900,0001.; when they
had the proof which was supplied by the necessity of
advancing 450,0004 upon sugar to enable the colony to
go on, and the fact that they had to send over to India
for rice to supply the people of Mauritius, and prevent
them from starving—all because their policy had
brought down the price of sugar, on an average, l ls. per
cat. Perhaps when they found all this, they might
begin to pause and consider whether their free-trade
statements were correct as regarded the British colo-
nies.—(Hear, hear.) And, when he asked for a Com-
mittee of Inquiry into this subject, he asked, as it
were, for a bridge over which her Majesty's Ministers
and the free traders might puss. He had too much re-
spect for the talents and abilities of the gentlemen oppo-
site, and of those free traders, to imitate the example of
the Hon. Member for the West Riding. He would not
hint to them that it should be a bridge such as acted as
a guide to a certain proposition in " Euclid."—(A
laugh.) They wanted no bridge for the blockheads
who had predicted all the evils that had occurred ;
they must have a bridge for the men of
brains—which the Hon. Member for the West
Riding of Yorkshire and his friends might be
permitted to pass over, but certainly not with colours
flying, 'or drums beating and guns firing, the
bands playing, "See, the conquering Hero comes,"
or the tune of " Cesar de Lion," with which the
Hon. Gentleman was, he belisved, greeted abroad—(A
laugh)--but they might be permitted to pass over with
arms reversed and with muffled drums, muttering per-
haps between their teeth, " If our cause is from God, it
will live; but if not, it must perish." Their cause was
not from God, and therefore it must perish. With
regard to the Mauritius, what was the nature of its
difficulties ? They arose not so much from a want of
labourers—for they had had an importation, at an
expense of 80,0001., of 93,000 labourers—but from the
regulations under which they were compelled to make
their contracts, whereby it was found impossible to get
a sufficiency of work from them. Grievous indeed was
the state of the Mauritius, for that colony had experi-
enced none of the prosperity and great happiness that
among the negroes had accompanied emancipation in
the West Indies. In the Mauritius they had diminished
greatly in number, the mortality among them having
been promoted by the debauchery and drunkenness into
which they had fallen. The condition of the Coolies
both morally and physically in the island was also one
that was very painful. He understood that the small
proportion of women who were imported had led to
much of the immorality that prevailed. It had become
too much the fashion to condemn the merchants
connected with the Mauritius aa rash and gambling
speculators ; but a more unfounded charge could
not be well made. He could not give the details as to
i
the business ofindividual merchants trading to the Mau-
ritius ; but he found that the total quantity of sugar
consigned to those merchants was 28,000 tons, which, at
101. a ton, gave a sum of 280,0001. It was charged
against the merchants that they had advanced money on
those estates ; but it was the produce on those estates
which was their security. When it was considered that
28,000 tons of sugar were the annual value of the estates
so hypothecated, and that this annual value had been
reduced 101. a ton by the operation of an Act of Parlia-
ment, it would be found that the said sum of 280,000/.
would make up the liabilies of all those merchants
together.—(Hear, hear.) A gr/at portion of them,
though their property had been rendered almost value
less, would )et honourably meet the larger portion of
their engagements. It was not only that the value of
the property on which they had lent their money had
been at ten years' purchase diminished by 2,800,0001.,
but the property had been made altogether unsaleable.
A harder measure never had been dealt out to any men
than to those merchants, of whom five only had escaped
out of forty-eight, the number stated in a list which
lie had received, and who had been ruined,
not by oven speculation, not as his Honourable
Friend on the other side of the House would
have it, by any mistaken calculations in regard to trade ;
for all that they had to be mistaken about and all they
needed to calculate
.upon was the honour and good faith
of the British Parlument.—(Cheers.) They could not

reckon on the measures suggested by versatile minds.
When they heard it said that the honour of the British
name was concerned in the exclusion of slave•grown
sugar in 1841, when they saw a majority of that House
affirm that proposition, when they found on an appeal
being made to the country that a majority of 90 had
been returned to advocate that principle, what, it might
be asked, were gentlemen engaged in commerce to do,
or where were they to look for any security, if they were
not justified in trading on such security as that ?
(Cheers.) Such a course as had been followed tended
to the ruin of the country. Comments had bee❑ freely
made on the subject in the United States, and it had
been observed that commercial countries could not en-
dure such shocks. A trade of 100,000,0001. sterling
could not be shifted from the old channels into new
without producing those consequences which were now
experienced in the West Indies. Everywhere, whatever
an estate produced, they found the same statement was
made. The estate was put under inspectors, a
balance-sheet was presented, the liabilities were put
down on one side, and the assets on the other ; the stock
was put down at one•third of the original cost. It
was only in July last that Mr. Hawes pointed to the
Mauritius as enjoying the greatest prosperity ; so it was
only in September that the Economist, which was the
precepter of his Hon. Friend opposite, put forth a most
exulting anticipation, under some such title as " Cheap
sugar—the triumph of free trade." And how was it to
be a triumph ? Not only were they told that the re-
venue had very considerably increased ; not only were
they told that the consumers had gained somewhere
about 2,000,000/. sterling in value on their sugar ; but
the glorious result was announced that there would be
4,500,000/. additional realised, which would fall to be

divided among factors, merchants, shipowners, and
grocers. Before the end of October they found many of
those men who were numbered among their greatest
merchants involved in ruin ; the engagements which
they were unable to meet amounting, not to the 4,500,000/.
of profit, which was to be divided among them, but to
6,3oo,oool.—(Chsers.) But how had the measure bene-
fited the cotton districts ? How had it fared with Lan-
cashire? It was in Manchester that the cry had arisen—
"o, let us have cheap sugar for the poor man. Open to
us the trade of Brazil." He did net see the Honourable
Gentleman who had moved the Address ; hut, having
received a friendly challenge from the Honourable
Gentleman to show that the trade of Lancashire had
not greatly benefited, he had accepted the challenge.
But how had it fared with Lancashire? It was said,—
" Open wide the portals for the admission of foreign
productions, and the mills don't exist, the bricks are not
made, which will be required in consequence of the enor-
mous trade to be thereby created." In rain it was said
by those with whom he thought, derided men! " Don't
sport with your interests in the West Indies, the Mauri-
tius, and the East Indies, where you have a trade pre-
ferable by far to any you may imagine in prospect; keep
the substance, don't grasp the shadow.', Those who
raised a warning voice were ridiculed. He had received,
through favour of Mr. Richard Burn, of the Glaxce, an
account of matters in regard to cotton which took date
from the 12th of September, the Bill having passed on a
late day in August. Ile said, "It was true the trade
with Brasil had improved. In sixteen months, from the
12th of May to the 12th of September, 1846, the exports
of cotton to Brazil were 1,981,6201. Ia the sixteen
months since the Bill passed the exports bad increased
2,264,386/., showing an increase of 282,7661." But those
who were acquainted with the Brazil trade knew that the
trade was carried on upon eighteen months' credit; so
that the exports were still unpaid for. He had received
a letter from a great British merchant in Liverpool, who
informed him that there had been great speculation, and
that the trade was carried on by British money espe-
cially. His correspondent said—
" From about the middle of 1846 to the same period
of 1847 our exports to Brazil were heavy, and consider-
ably in excess of the demand. To Bahia, particularly,
they were stimulated, owing to the prospects of a large
crop and consequent increased means of the natives, to
pay for them; all this resulted in accumulation of stocks;
so much so, that in July and August of the past year
the public stores were full to overflowing, and British
ships had to remain, in many instances for several weeks,
without being able to discharge their cargoes for want
of storage and room ashore in the Custom-house, where
all goods must go. I need scarcely tell your Lordship
that the dealers in Brazil are sagacious enough, when the
markets are so overstocked, to purchase sparingly, and
the anxiety of importer; to effect sales must have the
result of depressing prices. Your Lordship is correctly
informed that large quantities have been got rid of by
forced sales on very long credit, in proof of which I may
state that the principal exporters are scarcely in receipt
of any returns for their exports of 1847, whilst not less
than probably a fourth, or a third, of the exports of 1846
are still unpaid for."
His correspondent observed—
" If may be as well to mention that there is an export
duty in Brasil of 12 per cent. on sugar and cotton."
What, then, had all their liberality to Brazil done ?
Had she reduced her duties ? No. Since 1845, when
she had laid them on, their amount had risen from 7,000
contos to 16,000 contos. Had she selected England as
a power to be favoured under her system ? She had
selected the United States, France, Sweden, and other
powers, but she had conceded no privileges to England,
which had been fool enough to part with her own ad-
vantages without asking a return. his correspondent
said—

" Several thousands of both sexes are annually im-
ported from Africa into Brasil. I have heard the Lumber
estimated at 30,000 and upwards. In October last several
cargoes of slaves were landed in Bahia, or on the coast
in the neighbourhood, arid in a letter from Bahia, written
about three mouths ago, I saw it stated that the asscrt-
ment was not considered very suitable, there being too
many old women amongst them, which were a drug in
that market."

Comparing the 16 months antecedent and the 16 months
subsequent to the Act for the admission of slave-grown
sugar, there had been to Brazil an increased export of
cetton goods amounting to 282.766/. From the period
from the 12th of May, 1845, to the 12th of September,
1846, the value of the exports was 1,981,6201.; for the
period from the 12th of September, 1846, to the 12th of
January, 1848, their value was 2,264.3861. But the
exports to Cuba had fallen from 322,488/ in the first
riod, to 210,732/. in the second, showing a decrease of
111,7561.; and the exports to Porto Rico had fallen from
4,8201. in the first period, to 1,892/. in the second, show-
ing a decrease of 2,928/. After all, this grand Brazilian
trade furnished an increased export to the value of only
168,0821., the goods exported in 1846 not having yet
been paid for. So that it was not a very profi able trade.
Ilow did the matter stand as regarded the British colo-
nies? In the second period of 16 months, ended the 12th
of January last, the export: to Bombay had fallen from
1,643,515/. (the exports for the first period of 16 months)
to 1,179,7631.; toCalcutta, from 2,816,585/. to 2,174,008(.
There had been a trumpery increase of exports to Ma-
dras—from 102,490/. to 107,494/. The exports to
Mauritius, as might well be supposed, had fallen from
89,7821. to 41,189/. and to the British West Indies from
827,4831. to 638,175/. The result of the whole was,
that upon the Brazilian trade, t'he home and colonial
trade, there had been a decrease of 1,339,2441, while
there had been an increase to the extent only of
168,082/, which was still unpaid. He had a statement
as to the raw material of cotton in 1845 and 1846. It
was dear in the end of 1846 and in 1847; the price
being advanced from 25 to 40 per cent. on the value of
the exports. The balance which remained for wages of
labour and profits, comparing these two periods, had de-
clined by 1,871,0031.; and for this they were told the
poor labourers were to be compensated in the cheap
sugar they got. From a return moved for by the Lion.
Member for Salford (Mr. Brotkerton) it appeared that
there were engaged in the factories of this country
360,000 persons, of whom above 100,000 were below 18
years of age. About 90,600 were dependent on those
hands; and, estimating the whole number dependent on
manufactures at 500,000, if each was supposed to have
received 231ba. of sugar, which was reckoned the average
consumption, the whole would amount in the 16 months
of which he had spoken to 6,904, say 7,000 tons
of sugar. If by the policy of Ministers they
had saved 101. a ton thereon, Ministers, it would
be found, had given them on the one hand
70,0001., but on the other bad robbed them of trade to
the value of 1,871,0001. sterling. He was sorry that the
Hon. Gentleman the mover of the Address was not pre-
sent, to show that the exchange of new lamps for old had
benefited the people of Lancashire and the West of
Scotland. By the last mail from Calcutta he had re-
ceived a remarkable account of the trade there. The
sugar laws with regard to the East were altered in 1835.
In the year 1834.35 the entire trade of Calcutta was
estimated at 1,500,000/; of that but 738,0001. consisted
of cotton manufactures. Now, what v. as the state of
the exports? The entire exports. from Calcutta to
Great Britain in the same year were 1,526,475/, and of
this about 134,2261. consisted of the produce of the
sugar-cane. Well, after that the Legislature let in the
sugar of the East Indies into this country; and what
was the result of that? In 1846-47—before the recent
free-trade law Mlle into practical operation—the sugar
trade had increased from 134,2261. a year in 1834 35 to
1,690,0321, while the general trade had increased from
1,526,415/. to 4.459,422/, being an increase on the
general trade of 181 per cent., and upon sugar alone in
the same period of 1,159 per cent. Well, was this re-
quited by increased imports from the Spanish
West Indies and Brazils, which he had shown
amounted only to the miserable balance of
168,000/. ? Far from it; whereas, our ex-
port to Bengal had increased from 1,574,1821. to
4,241,0721. By this, Lancashire and the west of Scot-
land had gained. The increase upon cotton goods alone
had amounted from 735,687/. to 3,087,135/, being an
increase of 2,321,447/, almost double the entire trade of
Great Britain to Calcutta before we opened the sugar
market to the East Indies. Well, the sugar trade had
now been cut off from Bengal. It was well known, and
admitted on all hands, that whilst Bengal could supply
us with any quantity of sugar so long as the price was
kept up, yet when the export price fell so low as 11
rupees (about 235.) the export ceased.—(Hear, hear.)
Well, we had destroyed the prospects of the trade with
Bengal, and what had been the effect ? The effect Lad
been that, for the six months just concluded, the export
of our cotton goods had fallen from 1,500,000/. to
424,549/. Now, there was a picture of free trade for
the House.—(hear, hear.) This was the triumph of
free trade, which had been described as the greatest
fiscal triumph ever on record.—(llear, hear.) But
would these diminished exports be confined to cotton
goods ? He had got a statement (though it was
hardly sufficiently full) of the exports of machinery
from this country to the Mauritius, for the years 1845,
1846, and 1847, from which it appeared that in 1845
they amounted to 41,138/4 in 1846, to 17,1511.; while,
in 1847, they had fallen to 10,039/.; so that we are losing
the experts of machinery to our own colonies in a greater
degree than we were gaining those to foreign countries,
with the certain knowledge that foreign countries could
obtain machinery from the United States as easily as
from us. It was sometimes said, "Oh, those West
Indian and Mauritius absentees should go and reside on