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

Olytning

LONDON, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 1848.

Lord GEORGE BENTINCK'S motion last evening has
produced one good effect at least—it has elicited a

distinct declaration from the Chancellor of the Ex

chequer that her MAJESTY'S Ministers will not de-
part from the Act of 1846, establishing free trade in
sugar. The West Indian proprietors must now be
convinced that they can never hope for a restoration
of the protective duty (a restoration of which, as we

demonstrated yesterday, can never benefit them,
although it may benefit the black population of the
colonies, who possess a monopoly of the labour mar-

ket), and that therefore they must, instead of being

any longer led away by the fallacy of protection,

,urn their attention to other and more efficien

measures of relief.

.The other measures de

manded by the West Indian proprietors are

a repeal of the navigation-laws--the admis.

sion of molasses into breweries and distilleries

,Il this country—the admission of rum upon an

equality with British spirits—and free admission to
the coast of Africa, for the purpose of getting free
labour wherever it can be found. Of these demands
the Chancellor of the Exchequer is prepared to grant
the admission of molasses for distillation, but not for
brewing ; the admission of cane-juice for distilling
and brewing, if a duty can be fixed by which the
revenue will not lose; and, with regard to increasing
the supply of labour, he is willing to grant a loan
for the purpose of facilitating the immigration of free
labourers into the West India colonies, and
to remove the captured negroes to the West
Indies almost wholly at the expense of the
mother country. He will further grant
an ad-litional five years for the repayment of that is
called the " Hurricane" loan, and will grant a special
loan to the Island of Tobago, to enable the pro-
prietors of that island to repair the damage occasioned
by the lat.. hurricane.
• We could have wished, however, that the Chancellor
of the Exchequer had consented to place rum on an
equality with Britiskspirits, albeit Lord G. BENTINCY,
true to his anti-free-trade prejudices, urged the pro-

position so gingerly, that it was evident he did no,
heartily desire its adoption. Nevertheless, we should
be desirous of seeing rum treated in every respect
as British distilled spirits. The colonies are inte-
gral parts of the empire, and the West
India distiller is entitled to have the British
market as free to him as it is to the British
distiller. It is not one whit less absurd to
protect the distiller of Middlesex against the dis •
tiller of Jamaica, than it would be to protect the
cider maker of Devonshire against the cider maker of
Herefordshire. We hope the Chancellor of the
Exchequer will reconsider his decision on this point,
and we also trust he will admit molasses into
breweries as well as into distilleries. We have no
doubt but that such measures would be sufficient
to restore the We.,t India colonies to prosperity.
And of all these measures by far the most important
is that which secures to the West Indian proprietors
an adequate supply ( f labour, which throws the West
Indian labour market open to all the world. The West
Indian proprietors have never, from the first coloniza-
tion of the islands down to the present hour, enjoyed
the advantages of a free-labour market. They have
ever been the victims of Government meddling. In
their early days they were obliged by law to cultivate
their estates by slave labour, and instead of being
permitted to regulate the supply by the demand,
the labour market was absolutely glutted by
the British Government, who, to promote the in-
terests of the British slave-traders, forced the um
fortunate planters to purchase, and consequently to
maintain, more than double the number of labourers
they required. The mother country, at length
awakened to the iniquity of the slave-trade, decreed
its abolition, and then came the reaction in the Wes,
Indies. The labour market was now as much under
supplied as it had been before over supplied ; and then
came emancipation, which found the slaves each in
possession of a provision-ground sufficient by its
produce to maintain himself and his family, in many
instances without any labour, in all with the smallest
possible amount of labour, and that of the slightest
possible character, and which at once converted a
labouring population of slaves into a non. labouring
Population of small proprietors, who, enjoying the
monopoly
of the labour market, only work when
Indi
tahnedyfr s
what please, how they please, for whom they please,
neverwages they
enjoyed
pl etahsee .a dlv Va
ne
traegpeesaot
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rt
an have
market perfectly free. Give them that, and there can
be no doubt of the restoration of their -former pro-
sperity. We do not share at all
in the apprehensions
of the Chancellor of the Exchequer on this head. We
could have wished the W, st Indian proprietors a
more consistent advocate than Lord GEORGE 11 BEN-
TINCK.
With regard to the 1
placing of rum upon an
equality with British spirits, albeit he did not ac-
tually oppose it, he advocated it so feebly as to induce
those who were opposed to it to wax strong in their
opposition. He, moreover, was altogether opposed to
his clients on the question of the repeal of the navi-
gation-laws, and concluded by a proposition which
we are firmly convinced was never suggested
by any West Indian proprietor, and will never
meet with the sanction of any member of
that body. Lord GEORGE BENTINCK, the leader of
the Protectionists, the man who denounces Lord
PALMERSTON'S policy as essentially a war policy,
Coolly
proposes that, for the purpose of putting down
the
slave-trade, we should
seize Cuba and blockade