The Sun.
London, England, 1848-07-01 00:00:00

SUGAR DUTIES.

The House then went into Committee on the Sugar
Duties.

On the first resolution being put from the Chair,
Mr. BRIGHT rose to move the amendment of which
he had given notice. The question was whether there
should be a large or a small increase made in the amount
of the protection now given to %Vest India sugars. The
debate that had just closed had entirely destroyed the
propositions brought forward by the Noble Lord, but
there was one thing in particular which could not have
failed to strike any person who had heard the discus-,
sion—namely, that one great party to the question
had been totally overlooked, and that was the great
class of sugar consumers in the three kingdoms for
whose benefit the Act of 1846 had been passed. Now,
he stood there on behalf of that great class by whom
sugar was chiefly consumed ; and he asked the Com-
mittee to refuse to alter the Act of 1846. The ques-
tion had heen debated on two principal grounds—namely,
slavery and protection to the %Vest Indians. Great
sympathy had been expressed for the slaves in the Bra-
zils and the Africans yet in their native country ; and
the Hon. Baronet opposite (Sir J. Pakington) had talked
about the holy struggle which ended in the Emancipa-
tion Bill of 1832. But numbers of those Hon. Members
(including the Hon. Baronet the Member for Oxford)
had abstained during the debates on the Slavery Act
from making any efforts in support of that law, and
many, indeed, had voted against it. It had be..n urged
that there was a great falling off in West Indian pro-
duce, but to come to a correct conclusion on that point
they should take an average of a number of years, be-
cause in ordinary course of trade it happened that one
year's importation was, from accidental causes, greater
than that of another. In 1845 the importation of slaves
into Cuba, as stated in the returns prepared by the West
Indian body, amounted to 32,000, and in 1846 it had
risen to 64,000. Now he wished to call the attention
of the House to the dishonesty with which these re-
turns had been prepared. It was intended to prove
that the impulse given to the slave trade by the Bill of
1846 was felt directly. But it should be recollected
that the Government which passed that Bill did
not come into power until that year, and that the Bill
itself was introduced on the 20th of July. No positive
information respecting it could reach Cuba until the end
of August, after which the slave-ships must be sent to
Africa. Now, he would ask the House whether, under
such circumstances, the Bill of 1846 could have any
effect on the importation of slaves during that year ?
—(Hear, hear.) What became of the argument, when
it was known that in 1847 the importation had gone
down to 63,0002—(Hear, hear.) He contended that
the whole case broke down as regarded the impulse
given to the importation of slaves into Cuba and Brazil
by the Bill of 1846. The Right Hon. Member for
Oxford University had said that what the planters
wanted was money; and that the compensation they
had received amounted to only 45 per cent. of their
value. Well, granting that to be true, how much did
that compensation come to, as compared to the previous
trade of the colonies, to which compensation was awarded ?
He would take Jamaica, Trinidad, and Guiana.
The largest exports of Jamaica were in 1833, when it
amounted in value to 3.148,0001. That amount, allow-
ing ten per cent., would leave a capital of 314,0001. Now
the share of the compensation money which was re-
ceived by Jamaica was 6,150,0001., and that sum if
invested at five per cent., would yield an income of
375,000/., being within 7,3001. of ten per cent. on the
whole export.—(Hear, hear.) In Trinidad and Guiana
a similar calculation would give an income of thirteen
per cent. on the entire exports of both colonies. That
was certainly a higher profit,than the majority of traders
looked for in this country, but he believed that if the
whole of the West Indies were taken, the interest of the
compensation money would give an income of fifteen
per cent. on the whole previous annual amount of their
exports. But that was not all. Besides getting
such an enormous compensation, the planters retained
their estates, their buildings, their implements, and
all their floating capital. Surely, then, they had re-
ceived ample equivalent for the difference of price
between slave and free labour.—(Hear, hear.) With
respect to the apprenticeship system, it had been said
that it had lasted only four years instead of six. He
was not going to upbraid the planters with the cause of
that sudden change, but of this he was sure that the
feeling which had caused the abolition of the apprentice-
ship was caused by well authenticated complaints that
the planters did not mean to abide by the state of free-
dom. Something had been said of an impliedicontract
between the planters and the Parliament of England at
the time of emancipation. He had never heard of such
a contract, but if such had ever existed, it was highly
dishonourable to the contracting parties. No such con-
tract could bind the people of England to submit to a ,
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