The Sun.
London, England, 1832-10-20 00:00:00

COMMUNICATION OF LORD GODERICH
TO THE GOVERNOR OF. TRINIDAD•

Downing-street, June 11, 1832.
reference to my despatch of the 13th of May,
enclosing a copy of a circular letter addreased to the Go.
vernors of the West India Colonies baring legislative as-
►emblies, I have now the honour to transmit to you the
copy of another circular addressed to those Governor•, in
consequence of the House of Commons having (as well as
the House of Lords) appointed a committee upon West
India affairs. The enclosed despatch will explain to you
the views of his Majesty's Government upon the subject of
the appointment of this committee.
I have the honour to be, Sir, your most obedient servant,
GODERICH.

(Circullr.)

Downing-street, May 13.
Sir,—By the circular despatch addressed to the Go-
vernors of the colonies having independent legislatures,
which I have the honour to enclose, you will learn that in
consequence of the appointment of a committee of the
House of Lords to inquire into the present condition of the
West India colonies, and into the state of the laws affect-
ing the slaves, his Majesty's Government have felt it their
duty to defer acting upon the intention announced in my
former circular of the 10th of December, 1831 ; and that
no further steps will at present be taken for the purpose of
inducing the colonial legislatures to adopt the provisions
of the Order in Council of the 2d of November.

When his Majesty's Government first perceived that
they might probably be compelled to postpone their gene-
ral design, they lost no time in considering the model by
which they might in the mean time give special relief to
the Crown colonies, without afkcting the interests of the
o hers; nor does there appear to be any serious difficulty
in finding a fit mode of affording, provisionally, such an
amount of relief as may be commensurate with the oc,
casion.

His Majesty's Government have accordingly reh rived to
apply to Parliament for power to grant to the Tre,suries
of the Crown colonies, when it shalt appear to their satis-
faction that the Order in Council is in full operation,
such sums of money respectively as shall be equal in each
case to one moiety of the amount of the e. nntial public
revenue of each ; and it will be left to the Governor and
Council is, the cases of Trinidad and "St. Loch, and to the
Governor and Court of Polity in the case of British
Guiana, to select for the approval of his Majesty's Covet n-
talent the particular taxes the levy of which may be most
properly remitted for this year, with a view of affording
the intended relief.
You will, of course, understand that the relief thus
proposed to be afforded to the Crown colonies is merely
previsional, and that it is intended hereafter to be ex-
changed for advantages of a more permanent chrracter ;
but his Majesty's Government could not suffer even the
year to elapse without taking measures for providing sub-
stantial relief for the current period.
I trust, that before you receive this despatch, the excite-
ment occasioned by the first promulgation of the Order in
Council may have subsided, and that both slaves and
masters, having learnt their mutual rights and duties, will
act accordingly. Of course, should it be necessaq, you
will not fail to make use of all the powers with which you
are invested for the enforcement of the law ; and while,
on the one hand, you secure to the slaves the fu'l enjoy-
ment of those advantages which his Majesty has graciously
been pleased to confer upon them, you will, on the other,
repress every attempt on their part to abuse the privileges
which have been granted to them, and cause the authority
of the master to be respected and his lawful commands to
be obeyed.

It has already been publicly announced that his Majesty's
Government will be most ready to consider whatever sug-
gestions can be made for the removal of any inconvenieare
which may be found to result from particular provisions of
the Order in Council ; but although this disposition con-
tinues unaltered, and a.; though I shall he most happy to re-
ceive any infi.rmat;en which may assist me in forming a
judgment as to the improvements of which the law, a, it
now staris, is susceptible, the appointment which has
take., place of Comirittecs of the two Houses of Parlia-
trnent will necessarily prevent any of the contemplated
modifications from being carried into effect until it shall
appear what may he the result of that inquiry.
Frequent changes of the law with respect to slavery are
most justly objected to, as calculated to unsettle the minds
of the negroes, and to cause unreasonable expectations and
discontent; and. indeed, were the reasons for abstaining
from present alteration less cogent than they obviously are
on this score, it could scarcely be expected that a law
framed with so much previous investigation, and with
such elaborate care and circumspection, should be altered
on any other ground than that of practical evils found by
experience to result from it after it should have been for a
auffi6ent time in full and fair operation.
I have the less difficulty in postponing any modifica-
tions of the Order in Council, because, if I am not mis-
taken in supposing that the clauses most objected to are
those which regulate the duration of manufacturing labour,
and the supply of food and clothing, I think it may be
found practicable to meet a part, at least, of their objec-
tions by removing some misconceptions which appear to
prev:cil as to its real state and effect.

It has been urged that the restrictions on manufacturing
labour will be attended with the absolute ruin of the
plantations ; and it appears to be taken for granted that
the law has forbidden slave-labour beyond the prescribed
hours, even with the consent of the slave himself. There
is nothing, however, in the order to justify this construc-
tion, but much which seems to me directly opposed to it ;
for the words of the 90th clause are, "that no slave shall
he compelled or bound to perform any labour beyond the
prescribed hours," and the penalty is denounced in the
96th clause against owners who shall " compel or require"
any slave to perform any such extra labour. Alf, there-
fore, that is prohibited is compulsory labour beyond the
prescribed hours.

But it is further assumed, that the slaves will not volun-
tarily engage in extra labour for hire. This as.ertion has
been often made, and whenever the experiment has ',wen
fairly tried, so far as my information extends, has been as
often refuted. Thus the works of the engineer depart-
ment were executed at Berbice, and the Lieu?.-Governor's
residence there was built by the voluntary labour of hired
sl lees. And the Crown negroes in British Guiana, who
have recently been made free, have, since their liberation,
employed themselves in working for ways tinder the com-
manding officer of engineers. From the Bahamas, also,
several cases are reported by the Governor of the exertion
of the utmost industry by persons of the same class when
stimulated by the hope of wages; and in the last collec-
tion of papers on the subject of slavery, which was pre-
sented to Parliament on the 15th of Marta last, there
will be found at page 76 a report from Mr. Surtees, the
protector of slaves in St. Lucia, which proves from the
Custom-house returns, that, from the sth of January,
1831, to the sth of January, 1832, upwards of 1,092
tons of logwood were exported from the port of Castries,
on account of slaves ; being the produce of their volun-
tary labour during the days and hours secured to them by
law.

A more plausible objection might perhaps be founded
upon the danger, that in making such a contract with the
owner, the slave would be a free agent in name only ;
that, however, is a risk against which security might be
found in the vigilance of the Protectors, and in the clear
apprehension of their own rights which the slaves may be
expected to acquire. The advantages of such a system
would, on the other hand, he of the highest moment. It
must pave the way for a more general substitution of
hired scrv.ce for forced labour; and a slave who, during
part of the year, has bee❑ accustomed to work too or
three hours daily for wages, would be rapidly preparing
for the transition into the condition of a free labourer.
These views are not founded on mere theory. I learn
from most respectable authority, that since the promulga-
tion of the order in Trinidad, the practice has already com-
menced in the island of hiring slaves to work io crop time
at extra hours for an increased allowance of food ; and
the extension of the same practice to British Guiana and
St. Lucia may not improbably remove the obstacle which
the order is said to have raised to the completion of the
mannfacturing process, with great and permanent advan-
tage to all parties concerned.
Great objections have been raised to the regulations of
the order respecting provisions. At a meeting of planters
and others held at St. Lucia on the 4th of January last, it
was unanimously resolved, that the order compels " the
owner to furnish his labourers daily with double the quan-
tity of provisions supplied to the King's troops, and to
give them clothing such as their masters are, in many in-
stances, themselves destitute of." On the other hand, the
letter transmitted by the Government of Trinidad, written
by the Chairman of the Committee of that Island, on the
31st of December last, contains the following passage
" No planter who values the health or comfort of Isis ne•
groes would substitute the less plentiful, less nutritive,
less wholesome, and far more economical food provided by
lair for the expensive allowance which they may now re•
ceive." Thus, the very same regulation which is con-
demned as profuse and extravagant in Saint Lucia,
is not less loudly condemned al penurious in Tri-
nidad. Nor can it be asserted that this con•
tradiction arises from any local daninctions, which
wool I render the same food dear and nutritious
in the one island, and cheap and ill adapted for
nutriment in the other ; for in both the Governor has the
power of waking such substitutions for the prescribed al-