The Sun.
London, England, 1850-06-01 00:00:00

LONDON, SATURDAY EVE

the repeal of the navigation-laws had rendered the re-
vival.of (li,tinetiens ef_thet king mere difficult.—(Hear,
hear.) Besides, the piesent Government did not enforce
the observance of the treaties- with Breed-and Spairs.
Under these circumstances he saw no mode in which the
object of the Honourable Member for Eise:c could to
carried out but by making an alieratiou in the sugar
duties, and for a time re-enacting protective duties to
some extent; and at all events, fn. a given number of
years, of arresting the descending scale.—(hear, hear.)
He could not at present specify tie exact amount, but
he intended to propose that the differential duty shoul,l
not be lower than the differential duty which at pre-
sent existed between colonial and foreign sugar.—(Hear
hear.) He could not look fore aril without dread to the
equalisation of the duties in 1854. The Hon. Member
far Westbury protested against holding out to the
world the wild example or alteration of our policy.
But had not our policy with regard to the sugar
duties been frequently altered before ?—(Hear, hear )
The Government, in 1848,
protection of 3s. 63. per cwt. more than they
found it necessary to make
an alteration, under which the colonies now enjoyed a
would have
done under the Act of 1846, and under which an equali-
sation would not take place till 1854, when the duties
would be equalled at 10e. instead of 14s. And he be-
lieved that before 1854 the Government would find the
pressure of distress so great in the colonies that they
must give way to another alteration.—(Hear, hear.) He
admitted to a eertain extent that the exports from the co-
lonies had not fallen off in quantity; but, nevertheless,
the state of those colonies was most disastrous, and they
could not go on in their present condition. The subject
at issue was, whether it was possible for the West India
colonies to compete with the slave countries producing
sugar. The Honourable Member for Westbury had
adverted to the continued imports from the East
Indies. Now a great deal of sugar was grown in the
East Indies for the consumption of that country, which
was consumed there, and any surplus might find its
way to England. It was now being brought here
under the protection of 1848, and it was a most noto-
rious fact that the importation from the East
Indies was now carried on at a loss of several pounds
per ton. With regard to the Mauritius, the condition
of that colony was somewhat peculiar. It had
the advantages of obtaining a supply of coolies, and
also the benefit of the increased protection of the Act
of 1848. 'rho reports from the Mauritius and the
East Indies were, therefores accounted for.—(Hear,
bear.) He would now proceed to consider the state of
the West India colonies,. Re admitted that since the
year 1848 there had been a considerable fall in the
weges paid to the labourers in the West ladia colo-
nies, varying from 30 to 50 per cent. In Trinidad
the reduction was 40 per cent., and in Jamaica 30 per
cent. These circumstances were undoubtedly favour-
able to the British grower. Lie also admitted that the
importation of sugar from the West India colonies had
rBwiatnhstanding these large
and
1849, as compared
cwith s formerderab'Y years.
B i
importations the colonies were in a distressed and
increased ;it InBo 4
ruinous condition. When the Hon. Gentleman talked
of the increased consumption of British sager as com-
pared with foreign, he had to remind bins that there
was an immense import of British sugar in 1847 un-
disposed of in that year. That state of things was now
reversed. In the last three mouths the amount of foreign
sugar entered for home consumption in this country,
instead of being 90,000 cwt., as in the similar period
of last year, was 180,000 cwt.—exactly double, while
the import of British sugar for the last three months was
19,800 cwt. against 22,900 cwt. in the corresponding
three months of last year.—(Hear, hear.) The Hon.
Member for Westbury had omitted to allude to a most
important point—the prices of sugar.—(Hear hear.)
The Hon. Member had told them of the quantity, but
had said nothing of the price which the unfortunate
British colonist had received fir it. In 1846 the Gazette
average of muscovado, without duty, was 343. 51; in
1847, 28s. 3d.; in 1848, 235. 83; in 1849, 255. 4d.; and
the average of ten weeks in 1850 was 245, lid. per cwt.
—a lower price than that at the time they were debating
the Bill of 1848. But it would be easy to show that im-
ports might be large and yet profits small, or even no-
thing at all. Lord Harris, writing in the summer of 1848,
admitted that the crop bee increased, but stated that it
would not be difficult to show that since 1838, not only
had there been no profit, hut, on the contrary-, a loss if
British capital to the amount of at least a million.—
(Hear.) According to the statement of Lord Harris, of
193 estates, 17 might be considered as giving a profit—
es many just holding their ground—and that the rest had
been cultivated a: a 10-s. Governor Barkly also gave
evidence of the loss sustained by the planters of Guiana
from a depreciation of the value of produce. Thee
statements were conclusive proof that though the amount
of produce might be large, the diminution of price more
than counterbalanced it. The
.Hon. Member for West
bury halladverted to the quantity of rum imported, but
again he made no mention of a fall in its price.—.(Hear.)
Since 1848 there had bean a fall of little less than a third
in the price of rum, a most important item, as every one
knew, in the returns from a
sugar estate. The Hon.
Member had referred to the large importations of sugar
from the West Indies as a proof of their prosperity, and
seemed to deny that any material increase had taken
place in the importation of slave-grown sugar.
Mr. WILSON had spoken of the quantity of slave-
grown sugar taken for home consumption with fre, -
labour sugar. Ho had never alluded to the quantity im-
ported, because it was often imported for the purpose of
being re-expoyted to the continent.

—the area of Guiana is very much larger, and aacorcl.
• Ling to calatilation of Sir Ro!le!•, Schoini.urgk.
while the one contains a population uf 130,000, Guiana,
according to the same computation, should contain a po-
pulation of 50,000,000. At all events this much is cer-
tain, that British Guiana contains an area of 100,000
1 square miles; its sail is the most fertile iu the wort,',
and, being everywhere accessible, is particularly
alopted to the cultivation of the cane; yet, not wit'n-
st-anding all this, the population of Guiana is not le:lf
that of Barbadoes.—(Hear.) I need not me many words
in explaining what has been the result of the removal of
protection in the West Indian colonies. The labourers
are now become very few, and it is impossible to get
these to work. Even if additional labourers could be
procured, it is one hundred chances to ono that they
may not become labourers on the sugar estates. They
find no difficulty in buying land for themselves, and if
they do not choose to buy land they have nothing to do
but ascend the rivers for 50 or 100 miles, or make their
way into the back woods and forests, and settle wherever
they please.—(Hear.) But it was said that the draw-
back to the prosperity of the West Indies would cease
if a sufficient supply of immigrant labour could be pro-
cured. I beg leave to doubt the truth of that. I doubt
if you could ever obtain immigrant labour as cheap
as that of the negroes, and you can only do it by re-
ducing the condition of the immigrants to that of
the slaves.—(Hear, hear.) Sir, I for one, do not think
that desirable.—(Cheers.) I do not think the English
Government would do that ; but whether they would or
not, I believe it to be utterly impossible.•—(Hear, hear.)
The wages of immigrant labour can never fall below the
present price, but they may rise very much higher.
Even if the whole African coast were thrown open to
the West Indies, and that you obtained for them an
abundant supply of labourers, still you will not obtain
an abundant supply of cheap labour.—(Hear, hear.)
DA the House for one moment consider the expense of
introducing a supply of immigrant labour. The colonies
had the alternative of bringing them from India, a dis-
tance of 3,000 miles, from the other side of the globe.
You have by law provided, and I do not complain of it
—you have, by the existing law provided that the planter
is bound at the end of a certain period to provide the
labourer a passage back again to his own country. The
expense of that passage back and forward can hardly
be less than 71. or 8/., and in the interval he has to
pay him wages, and besides this, to provide him
with every single thing that may be considered
necessary. He has to pay him wages during the
time he employs him, and he is then, at the end of a cer-
tain period, obliged to send him back again. I am firmly
convinced, then, that aided or unaided by immigration
alone, these colonies will never be able to compete with
slave labour.—(Hear, hear.) lam aware that some per-
sons have placed much confidence upon the ultimate
effects of the blockade by the African squadron. Now,
in the first place, it is nut difficult to prove—in fact, there
has been already abundant proof—that the African
squadron has not effectually answered its purpose. I
cannot think that it is reasonable to expect that with
the present system of tariff any amount of armed force
that it is in the power of the world to employ will suc-
ceed in putting down a traffic in which one successtul
voyage will pay for five failures.—(Cheers.) The House
will bear in mind the continental blockade which was
enforced by Napoleon—he endeavoured to blockade the
Continent, and to prevent that free intercourse which

the necessities of these countries rendered necessary.
We know by the experience of history that there
never Wa3 a greater failure than that continental
blockade.—(Cheers.) I do not think that that trade was
more remunerative than the African slave trade, and I
do not think that the blockade of the coast of Africa
was more strictly maintained than that continental
blockade.—(Hear, hear.) Sir, 1 have only one point
more to advert to, and 1 must call upon the House to
consider well what they are doing in tne vote they are
about to give. As regards our colonial empire I know
something of its vast importance, and I know also some-
thing of its feeling; and I tell you now, that from Ca-
nada to Jamaica, from the St. Lawrence to Essequibo,
there is in the minds of all thinking men but one predo-
minant all pervading feeling—a feeling, call it un-Eng-
lish if you will, but you cannot call it unnatural—a
feeling of growing disia-lief in the attachment and of
distrust in the policy of the mother country.—(Loud
cheers.) Ido not say that feeling is well founded, but
these men believe that their claims have been neglected
and their interests sacrificed to no real or imaginable
considerations of policy—(Hear, hear)—and have not
the West Indies good cause to complain?—(Hear, hear.)
Look back at their early history; it was England
made them a penal colony—it was Eogland that forced
slavery upon them, and they adopted that system at her
repeated instigation. By force England took it away
from them, without giving them any compensation for
injury thus inflicted.—(Oh, and cries of "Hear. hear.")
I am merely pointing out the inconsistency of England
in this matter, and the additional injustice of now re-
proaching the West Indies with having resorted to slave
labour. On the last crowning stroke of all—the passing
of the Emancipation Act of 1834, the colonies were,
indeed, compensated with a sum, which, however high
for England to give, was absolutely nothing for the
West Indies to receive.—(Hear.) Let the House con-
sider for one minute how the case stands. It was dis-

tinctly stated by the Government which passed the
Emancipation Act, that the planters in the West Indies
were to be compensated; but it was impossible to suppose
that the Government meant that the compensation
should he only half. There were persons in this
country who said that the West Indies had no right
to hold slaves, and were not entitled to compensation.
But compensation was awarded—Commissioners were
sent out to value the slave property, and they returned
the value at 43,000,0001. sterling. As compensation for the
slaves, a sum of 17,000,0001. was paid down, being some-
thing like forty per cent., while all the capital invested
in buildings, machinery, improvements in land, fixtures
which were in their nature absolutely irremoveable, lost
half its value when the Act was passed, and for all that
no compensation was given.—(Loud cheers.) I do not
dispute the right of the House to ruin our colonios by
their course of commercial legislation.—(Hear, hear.)
But let there be no half-measures—let their be no under-
hand work, let them at once, openly, avowedly, and in
the face of the world, proclaim what they mean to do.
Call the slave trade a humane and profitable traffic—de-
signate slavery, as it has been termed in some of the
states of South America, as " a glorious institution
handed down to us from our forefathers"—apologise to
Cuba and to Brazil for all the injury the African squa
dron has inflicted upon their traffic—allow them to carry
on unmolested their laudable pursuit, and without in-
terruption let them continue their trade with the coast
of Africa, with which you will assure them you will
never interfere again; but do not mock with your sym-
pathy those whom your policy tends to ruin, and du not
stand forward to the world at one and the same time as
the supporters of liberal institutions at home, and the
abettors and supporters of slavery and the slave trade
abroad.—(Loud cheering.)
Mr. HUTT complimented the Hon. Gentleman who had
just sat down upon the able and effective speech which
he had delivered. At the same time he must give his
vote against the motion of the Hon. Baronet. As re-
garded the question of the sugar duties he must observe
that their consideration had been forced upon the pre-
sent Government under circumstances of pressing and
extraordinary difficulty. It was impossible upon any
just commercial principles to refuse to apply to sugar the
same commercial policy that was applied to all other
articles. The introduction of slave-labour sugar had
been opposed on the ground of humanity, but he be-
lieved that argument untenable. It was impossible to
keep out slave-grown sugar after the passing of the
Act of 1845. The only question for the Honse to deli-
berate upon was under what circumstances and on what
terms they would undertook the great and important
change iu their policy. Some distinctions of a very fine
nature had been se,; up relative to the difference be-
tween dealing in slave grown sugar and slave-grown
cotton and tobacco, all the productions of Cuba. Now,
there could not be two standards of right and wrong.
If it was not permissible to deal in any of the produc-
tions of slave-labour, let it be so stated, and let all the
productions of all the slave-owningcountries in the worli,
including not only sugar, but cotton aeld tobacco, the
copper of Cuba, and the gold of Brazil.—(Hear, hear.)
But if such a policy as that was impeachable, what be-
came of the principle ? It had been said that the sugar
law stimulated the slave trade. But did not the copper
law stimulate the slave trade? and did not the cotton
trade stimulate the worse than slave trade carried on by
Carolina, and Louisiana?—(Hear, hear.) Although Hon.
Gentlemen opposite said this was not a question of pro-
tection, he was afraid it would be so regarded by large
numbers of those who intended to support the motion of
the Hon. Member for South Essex, although the Hon.
Member felt very little sympathy with their views. He
admitted that the treatment which the West Indies had
received was a treatment of which they had a right to
complain—(Cheers)--and if they were not entitled to
compensation for the injury which they had received,
they were deserving of every consideration.—(Hear,
hear.) But there was one concession which could not
be made. We could not agree to the abandonment of a
great national policy—a policy which he believed to be
beneficial in itself, and of the highest possible value to
every portion of this empire—a policy which had been
established by years of conflict and labour, and by some
of the most serious personal sacrifices ever made by public
men in this country.—(Hear, hear.)
Sir J. PAKINGTON said he approached the subject
with undiminished sympathy for the sufferings inflicted
on our colonies, and with undiminished indignation at
the extent of the discredit which was thrown upon the
national character by the policy of the Legislature of
late years and by that pursued by the present Govern-
ment.—(Cheers.) He wished to give his most decided
and cordial support to the motion of the lion. Member
for South Essex; but he f It it right to indicate the
course which he should feel it his duty to take in the
event of the motion being carried, as he hoped and
trusted it would be. If it should be rejected it would t e
another result of the unhappy state of parties to which
legislation had so long tended; because he was certain
that if lion. Members were t r vote solely on their own
opiuions, without reference to the state of party, the
legislation of late years would be generally condemned
by a decided majority.—(Cheers.) Ile would now slate
the course which he intended to take in the event of the
motion being carried. Should that be the case, he would
take the earliest opportunity of moving for a Committee
of the whole House to reconsider the sugar duties of
1848.—(Bear, hear.) The motion now under con-
sideration came before the House in an incomplete
shape. It was merely an abstract resolution declaring
it to be unjust and impolitic to expose the sugar of our
own colonies to unrestricted competition with the sugar
of shave-trading countries, and did not proceed to
say in what manner injustice was to be prevented, He
therefore had thought it necessary to give notice of an
amendment.—(Bear, hear.) The present Government,
fellowing a precedent not uncommon, had rather ham-
pered themselves by some hasty declaration, and had
pledged themselves so strongly to the favoured nation
clause, that it was impossible for them to maintain the
distinction which had been drawn between foreign free
sugar and foreign slave-grown sugar. In addition to that

Sir J. PAKINGTON felt that this was a point, never-
theless, which required their attention. In 1831 the
West Indian colonies exported 205,000 tons of sugar;
in 1848 the quantity had diminished to 139,000 tons;
in 1849 it was 142,000 tons, and he believed the
amount this year would not exceed 112,000 tons.—
(Hear, hear.) Meantime in five years, from 1831,
Cuba exported 84,000 tons; and in the four years
from 1846 to 1849, the amount had increased to
176,000 tons.—(Hear, bear.) Brazil exported from 1842
to 1845 on the average 69,000 tons; from 1846 to 1849
the figures were reversed, the average export being near
96,000 tons.—(Hear, hear.) Now, with regard to the
condition of our colonies nothing could be more deplora-
ble. He might refer in proof of this to the able pam-
phlet which the Hon. Member for Lynn had published
on this subject within these few days. Writing of what
he had witnessed in British Guiana, the Hon. Member
said he was prepared for desolation, but not for the
scenes of ruin which he witnessed—that the whole Toad
which he traversed was lined with ruined houses and

mills.—(Hear, hear.) Governor Barkly held similar
language. What more deplorable than such a state of
things? Again, he would refer to the pamphlet of; the
Hon. Member for Lynn. The Hon. Member gave ari ac-
count of ten estates in Beti.h Guiana which bad been

sold at different periods, from 1835 to 1844, at an aggre-
gate of 155,0001., but which, when sold again, during the
last three years, had only realised 17,0001.—(Hear.)
Again, referring to the pamphlet, he found the Bon.
Member stating that passing through the parish of Sr.
Ann's, Jamaica, he was informed of an estate of 800

acres without incumbrance, that was in the market. fer
601., and that meeting his informant some three weeks

. ~......_ -- -
later, was told that he had actually become the purchaser
at the stipulated price.—(Hear.) But there was another
point to be considered—the dreadful effect of such a state
of things on the Creole population of the:West Indies. He
feared that if they persisted in their present policy
every hope of improving the social and religious condi-
tion of the negro population was at an end, and that
they would lapse into barbarism.--(Hear.) The Right
Hon. Gentleman the Secretary at War had lately pre-
sided over a meeting of the
Wesleyan Missionary So-
ciety, at which reference was made to the deplorable
state of the West Indian population. Lord Grey, in.his
dispatch to Governor Barkly, also alluded to the state of
the negro population, and admitted that instead of ad-
vancing in civilization they had retrograded.—(He4r.)
The opinion of Dr. Lushington, given before the Com-
mittee, was that the Act of 1846 had greatly stimulated
the slave trade. He would also quote the opinion of
the Right Hon. Gentleman the Member for Oxford in
favour of his proposition, where that Right Hon. Gen-
tleman had said that he wished to maintain the charac-
ter for sincerity which this country possessed amongst
foreign nations, and therefore he should not have passed
to a speech of the Noble Lord at the
Government, wherein it had been admitted
colonies had been placed at a disadvan-
tage Sugar. Bill of 1846. He could even refer, in support
measures of the Government of which the
the head. He was sorry to say that he
freely
raefegoahebedli l ay,bloyttpLhrttoaohhrteed Ghweoa position,
s
erbsyon,hcmognasiadgearing that they had passed
believed the Noble Lord had done more to stimulate
which ho had used,
they should carry out their policy with ttthhheaenAsalcaat;'oeoftlthBrea4rd6e.l;and were prepared to defend its policy.
the coast country
tli
.aY
0 f Africa,
—(Hear.) If they sincerely wished to put down the
slave trade,
single-
ness of purpose and steeliness of design, with sincerity
any blessing of
keeping p ilongng naps
t tobeennechoeusr.a)geTiht.27(
twanhnieedt
Heaven
vmaoepnnordeteeoashrtaaaytn,
appearance
edconertto
etft they eae
lyapsvcogiol
siuuhcalyedddrcr,
fitheir
this
whilst with the other they were inviting and giving every
snwYplataithcoe of
tessia'aniv:egcnYdw.—thoi(lat slavery, W i
andona
Hear.) They
couldh
anencouragementhand
they
hneo
yt
der
xel7.vig
ei to-the
itrit.e
—and be hoped some day
acting in a manner which should not
Loud
policy
cheersmwiutsh must
thebe fromreothery
erths
reversed
did
_p
—(Cheers)—and
co everythingtheeeet
iros)
to see this country
invovle suspicion of its honour—in a manner which would
not involve suspicion of its sincerity—in a manner which
would exhibit this nation to the world as,one not guided
merely by motives of gain—(Cheers)—which would
show to the world that we could not be led solely by
pecuniary considerations, but that we werelleterinined,
at any cost; to put an end to slavery and the slave trade.
—(The Hon. Gentleman resumed his seat amidst loud
cheers from the Protectionist benches.)
said the ob-
jects h.
ofe
Gentleman
Cte
hinlet Al e
Hon.NmCa En GentlemanL( Ls Oi
r R e
E.
of ti3b
whoi
le
xEt :
hi C;
dHwjEtihQsot
whose
res
sup-
ported, were as different as well could be conceived. The
lion. Gentleman ( Sir E. Buxton) had stated he brought
forward his motion as a great question of principle, and no
one who knew the Hon. Gentleman could doubt he had
brought it forward as no party motion, or was influenced by
anything but his attachment to the principle of destroying in
every way slavery and the slave trade. His motion, how.
ever, came far short of the principles he avowed. On what
principle would he draw a distinction between the produce of
Brazil and Carolina? The Hon. Baronet emphatically said
that the man who bought slave-grown sugar was as guilty
as the man who bought a slave.—(llear, hear.) That
might be so, but how could the Hon. Baronet draw a dis-
tinction between slave-grown sugar, slave-grown cotton, and
slave-grown coffee?—(Hear, hear.) lie was afraid the Hon.
Baronet did not altogether abstain from the use of slave-
grown coffee. According to the principle he had laid down,
Was not he guilty of the blood of the slave ?—( Hear, hear.)
The llon. Gentleman opposite (Sir J. Pakington) supported
the motion on far different grounds, and, aware of the impos-
sibility of making a distinction, would pat all foreign sugar,
flee and slave•grown, on precisely the same footing with
respect to duty. Did the lion. Gentleman opposite propose
to extend the principles of his policy to the Mauritius sugar?
Did he mean to protect free-labour sugar grown in any of

NG,

JUNE 1, 1850.

props,vossessi
or did he o'. he confine himself to the West Indies; 1 -(Loud cheers.) It was true- and happy it was for philan-
°'c',,,,
Otection to all British colonial sugar as throw that such was the fact-that the emancipation of :lie
opposed to all fG
su•••ar ? The Hon. Lictiaber for Dorset- fiegroes in the West Indies was not immediate. He ad.
81ilre-w"1" ,
exsall foreign sugar;. and there,. at -least,- mitted,-also, that- tkose philanthropists who bad recommended
it must be adalt,
slat he was consistent with himself; but the abolition of slavery were not responsible for the ruin of
the opposite e',,'"'
dno standing whatever-it had no prin- these colonies.-( Hear, hear.) But what did Parliament
ciple to rest ii'
appeared to him that manyof the lion. do. The Government of Lord Melbourne sent out instruc-
Members N'Vitotit
I.•tett the motion desired protection to all tons for the postponement of all the preparatoTy legislation
colonial stirrer.
hoped that'the •., lie was not prepared for that, and he which was necessary for the new state upon which the). were
I: was not prepared for it either. In the about t., enter. They obliged the colonies to postpone every
course of the pre.
enough made discussion An observation had been justly. act or precaution and legislation which might tit them for the
details and statis
' .he question before them was one of new state of things. In 1837 a Committee of the House of
a
nd though he might to some extent Commons recognised the Emancipation Act as containing a
trouble the lions
he would not unti. some of that species of evidence, yet solemn contract of apprenticeship until 1840, and they stated
he desired to callu the first place, in the 'r report that nothing could be so disastrous as to shake
respass upon them. I .
• attention to the fact that for the fif- the public confidence with regard to the sanctity of that con-
IVestteen years endina•
-844 the importation of sugar from the tract. In 1838, by a hasty and injudicious vote of the House,
Indies had
itin.'er 200,000 tons; in 1848 and 1849 they compelled the West India colonies to give up the re-
it rose to 206 000 ,
' ar .it now amounted to 300,000 tons rnainder of that apprenticeship which the House had gua-
per annum. That '
-overnent might be reckoned amongst ranteed to them.-(dear, hear.) They were thus not only
the earliest clian,Ye
.'" But the first effect ,sequent upon the abolition of slavery. deprived of the pecuniary benefit of the two.years' appren-
would be not what
i
me ,resent motion, if it were carried, ticeship, but the Government having desired them to post-
o°. Mover might expect-its first pone all preparation, they were compelled to plunge into the
effect would not bediscourage slavery at all. But the new state into which they had been forced by public opinion
true way to look at question before the House was to in this country. . With regard to the question of labour, he
consider the effect oe preaent state of free labour and of could not join in any censures relative to the present
open competition, arts he thought might be best seen by proceedings of the Government. The supply of labour
the average rate of
empoon of sugar per head per annum for the West Indies was a far more difficult subject than
in this country. In , 1840 the .
veer average consumption the Hon. Member for Montrose aupposed. The Go-
was 151 b.; in 1841 it. was 171 b.; in 1845, 201 b. ; in vernment, he believed, were desirous to give such facilities as
1846, 211 b. ; in 1847,,
9. : in 1848 and 9,241 b. He pre- they safely could to increase the supply of labour. But he
sumed that no one wee
-tor a moment doubt that that was spoke now of the state of public sentiment in this country;
a great benefit to th'ple of this country, that it was a and he said there was a period when, by seizing the oppor-
great advantage to tL
to be enabled to raise their con- tunity, the House might have produced the most important
sumption of sugar from consequences by the introduction into the colonies of free
--o. to upwards of 201 b. But the
question beyond this waplabour from abroad. Had they chosen to give facilities at
of or t .111D0 tance Let Hon
Members look to the e the time for the moderate introduction of labour into the of ihiseachl anger upon. the West.
Indies themselves. A r islands, much of the evil would have been avoided, buethe 9sition, however, like that then r
before them was one to A had refused to do this. With such jealousy was every pro-.
he would not consent ;for his
impression was, that
.o. cee ding of the West Indians-every:effort pf laudable enter-
-more unfortunate for the West
Indies could not be devr
prevailed in the colonieil
He admitted the distress Which prise on the part of some of the 'planters to increase the
one could be more ready to means of labour watched at home-so hostile a' consineetion
afford relief than he sho having wasplaced on every act of the colonists, that the'Goiern-
teenbout the colonies sub-
._ matted to the Act of 184' admitted that . Act as a ment did not venture to give the slightest facilities for the
final settlement-havinaaviag
taln and promote their(
eide unusual exertions to main- introduction of labour; but, on the contrary, precaution af-
interests under its operation or ter precaution, regulation after regulation, was interpoeed to
with its aid, whatever
respects, there could be ,ht ,ht be their condition in other create an artificial scarcity of supply.-(Hear.) For that. ar- ,
ioubt of this fact, that sugar, tificial scarcity of labour the public opinion of the time, and
the produce of the We.st .c • threpresentatives of thatpublic opinion, were responsible.
the Mauritius, had greap3s, of the East Indies, and of e
creased within the last two (Hear, hear.) After the breach of contract of apprentice-
years. That fact was be the House, and was beyond all ship, after the artificial scarcity of labour, came the Act of
possibility of dispute. If:. 1846; and, as to that, he disputed and denied, not the
Members' would refer to the
returns of 1848 and 1549,
ee would find that in Antigua, figures, but the inferences of the Right Hon. Gentleman op-
Barbadoes, Jamaica, St. lent,s, and Trinidad, there had posits.
The Right Hon. Gentleman cited the three years
been a steady and nifest
nue- ease of production and expor- since 1846 as indicating the effects of that Act upon the pro--
tation. Thus 2,794,000 cw
pease
advanced to 2,840,000 cwts. ducing power of the West Indies. Did the Right Hon. Gen-
and the export from Guiat
kr the first quarter of tete year tleman really believe his own argument? Had the Right
1849 was 7,920 hogsheads ;. Hon. Gentleman so little studied the nature of cultivation in
de, in the corresponding pe-
riod of 1850, it was 9,336 ho,a ,
as sbowing an increase of the West Indies, or anywhere else, as seriously to believe
1,416; and an increase not I)
eS.ps always precisely similar that the exports from the West Indies in 1847 were the Mea-
in amount, but pretty nearly might be found to have oc- sure of the effects of an Act passed in 1846 ?-(Hear, hear.)
curred in all our possessions wsu sugar was produced ; yet Was their no other fact in our legislation-a fact happily of
the reverse of all that had beet,
ed&ed ;it had been p-re. a different character-which, concurring with favourable
dieted that Ceylon would be 41
er.,
s tthat the Mauritius seasons, might be connected with the increase of crops in the
would be a desert-and yet tho.
l.°hecies so confidently West Indies? Had there not been an Act of 1845 as well as
D made and so implicitly relied U
' ia1(1 been falsified within an Act of 1846 -an Act reducing the duty on our colonial
the short space of two years. Th.
on. Member for Lnn sugar from about 21s. to 145., and to which, and not to the
in his statement, certainly did not ; and Act of 1846, the inferences of the Right Hon. Gentleman .
et the West Ind'
he, comparing periods of three yea
statements,
and Act of 1846, the inferences of the Right Hon. Gentleman
result of which showed an statements, th e were referable? But for the check of the Act of 1846, in
result of which showed an increa?,,
oduction ad of 1848 the Act of 1845 would have been in full operation,
exportation from 127,000 tons t .
. OCO tons, the in- whereas the Act of 1846, so far from developing itself in
crease being in the three years suo,cnt to the Act of 1847, had not until after 1848 come into full operation.
1846, as compared with the three yen-. What, in the Committee of 1848, said the resolutions` pro-
eced'n that
measure. But, further to show the r. .
on which the motion of the 'lmmure: -,' It. g round posed by
I e
roustlen grested, the President of the Board of Control-eihose
absence from so deplorable a cause was a source of grief
he should call the attention of Homoas deep as unaffected to the whole House?-(Hear, hear.)
le Members to.•
the average importation of sugar nt the West Distinctly this, that the distress of the West Indians was
Indies during the five years ending 181%d the five markedly traceable to the restrictions imposed by public
years ending 1849. The details were as folin_Antigua, opinion, in its anxiety to carry out the Act of Emancipa-
tive years ending 1844, 177,727 cwt. ; five J
.s ending tion, upon the supply of labour to our West Indian colonies.
.
1849, 180,737 cwt. ; Barbadoes, ending 1844, 2ee3 cwt. . -(Hear, hear.) No mere formal regard to consistency
ending 1849, 402,987 cwt. ; Trinidad,
ending 184'482000 would induce him to repeal his vote of 1848, could he agree
cwt. ; ending 1849, 385,000 cwt. ; St. Mitt's, ena, 1844, with the Right Hon. Gentleman in the belief that the NestB9,ooo cwt. ; ending 1849, 107,030 cwt. ; St. Lucia, ,1,4 Indies were rallying from the stroke they had received; and
1814, 55,000 cwt. ; ending 1849, 70,000 cwt. ; G4c; ' hat the present was an injudicious proposition, calculated
ending 1844, 522,000 cwt. ; ending 1849, 572,000 c,n ' ' .
retard returning prosperity.-(Hear, hear.) He would
Jamaica, ending, 1844, 602,000 cwt. ; ending 1811_ freely concede thus much to the Right Hon. Gentleman; that.
665,000 cwt. ; Mauritius, ending 1814, 591,000 cwt. ; ending erotection would be no permanent cure for the evils of the
1849, 9)7,000 cwt. ; aggregate of all colonies, including the 'est Indies.-(Hear.) He fully bore in mind the admis-
Emt Indies, five years ending 1844, 3,925,000 cwt. ; ending st of the Right lion. Member for Tamworth, an admission
1810, 5.072,000 cwt. The next point to which he should °!-rse carrying the greatest weight, that the case of the
solicit the attention of the House was the comparative ope- West -lies was fairly to be treated as an exception from
ration of slavery and freedom-the productiveness of free the oreery category of free-trade principles; this was
labour as compared with slave labour, and he should take an adinm,m so often made that lie need not now dwell
the six years ending in 1834 for the purpose of comparing upon it, aeeould it be shown that the permanent restore-
them with the six years ending in 1849, the quantities Hon of pro..ion, or its permanent maintenance, or its
being, in cwts. : - Antigua, 1834, 175,000 ; 1849, permanent inc..e would operate as a cure for the evils
183,000 ; increase, 12,000. Barbadoes, 1814, 343,0(t) ; 1849, of the West Indic:nee should be prepared to give his
390.000 ; increase 47,000. Trinidad, 1834, 310,000 ; 1849, vote in accordance wonshennorinciple-(Hear, hear)-
316,0)0 ; increase, 56,000. The question was what might but he would ask the House to cider well what would be
be done by means of free labour, and that question was one the operation of protection as a Pnnanent instrument of re-
which he conceived those statements fully answered. lief in the state of our West Indiatcolonies? Suppose you
It was scarcely necessary for him to go over the were to increase considerably the-ate of protective duty.
ground that his Hon. Friend the Member for Westbury had When the intelligence of that Inoue reached the West
already traversed, but as the House was now more full than Indies it would reach not the plater only, but also the
when his Hon. Friend addressed them, he would say it had labourer, and so act on the rate of aces quite as much as on
been clearly shown by him that the consumption of colonial production.-(Hear, hear.) What Ces the competition with
sugar had increased, while the consumption of foreign sugar the West Indian? Not that of the foeign slaveholder only,
had fallen off. He should now trouble the House with only a but that of the Mauritius planter and eat of the East In-
tew more details, for the purpose of (contrasting the effects of dian planter, both of whom had plent
; of labour at their
slavery with freedom, as shown in the consumption of sugar. command, and for both of whom protecten would operate
Thus it was in 1846-47:-Colonial, 227,000 tons; slave- with undivided effect as against the Wat Indian, with
grown, 61,000 tons; 1847-48, colonial, 242,000 tons; slave- whom its effec; would be divided and broken nn.-(hear,
grown, 39,000 tons; 1848.49. colonial, 251,000 tons, slave- hear.) What he was prepared to vote for was that the
grown, 48,000 tons; 1849-50, colonial, 282,000 tons; slave- scale of descending duties should be arrested.- (Hear,
grown, 36,000 tons. The years ending July 5, and the two hear.) The British. capitalist who was to be invited to
months of this /year, were estimated at the same rate as the invest his money hi production in the West Indies ought
10 months. The average importation from the West Indies to have some fixity of scale held out to him, and not be
1844-5-6, was 127,000 tons; 1847-8.9, 148,000. Those facts subjected to an incessant change of differential duties, so '
appeared to him to be well worthy of the attention of the that he could never know, from year to year, in what
House, and his belief was it would always be found that Position he stood.-(Hear, hear.) He did not say the
slave-labour was inferior to free labour. He agreed with the House should pledge itself indefinitely on this point, liut he
Honourable Member for Montrose, that protection would certainly considered that for such a term as the House
not save the West Indies, but increased cheap- should think reasonable the scale of differential duties should
ness of production would, and the duty of the be fixed for the West Indies.-(Hear, hear.) He would not
Legislature was to afford the colonies every facility for aug- refer merely to the decrease in the exports of the great staple
menting the means of cheapness. Now, reference had been of the West Indies. That decrease was not the less enor-
made to the Dutch colony of Surinam, and there, it was not mous, that it suited the purpose of some reasoners to pass
unworthy of observation, the proprietors of sugar estates over the differences between one colony and another.-
were beginning to think that free labour was more profitable (Hear, hear.) The Right Hon. Gentleman, for example,
and advantageous in all respects than that of slavery. Surf- triumphantly cited Barbadoes in proof of the good results
nain was on the verge of our possessions, and appeared to be of free trade-Barbadoes, where there was plenty of labour,
likely very soon to follow our example. They and others and not an inch of spare ground. Yes; it was quite true
were about to dis Cover that the way to cheapen sugar was to that the production of Barbadoes had been positively
abolish slavery. The Honourable Member for Lynn had stimulated since emancipation. In the four years preceding
quoted a passage from the dispatch of the Lieutenant-Go- emancipa ion the production of Antigua and Barbadoes
vernor of Barbadoes, and now he should take the liberty of was 26,900 tons of sugar on the average, while in the
reading a few additional words from that dispatch, because, three last years the average had increased to 32,300
though the writer had been represented by the Hon. Mem- tons. But look at Jamaica; in the years 1831 to 1834, the
ber as holding that free labour was less productive than slave average production of Jamaica was 67,000 tons, of British
labour, yet the following portion of the dispatch would show Guiana 43,000, or together 110,000 tons ; whereas, in
thgt an exception was made in the case of Barbadoes :- 1847-9, notwithstanding the liberality of the Legislature in
" How long that time should be your Lordship will un- reducing the duty on colonial sugar to 145., the exporta-
derstand that I cannot say. If there be no protection, tion from these two colonies did not exceed 65,500 tons, a
the cultivation of sugar will be given up further reduction of 45,500 tons, or more than 40 per cent. on the
in Grenada, and it will dwindle in all the Windward whole production.--e(Hear, hear.) This was not a ques-
Islands, excepting Barbadoes." With that passage in the tion merely affecting the planters; no, it was a question
hands of the Hon. Member, ho*could he say that the expe- affecting the whole negro population of our West Indian
riment of free labour had failed in Barbadoes? -He also held colonies-( Hear, hear)-and he affirmed with sorrow that
in his hand another paper, with a quotation from which he those indications which the Hon. Member for Lynn had
should trouble the House; it appeared in the Times, in the given in a recent publication of the decaying condition of
month of December last. It was in the following words :- all that we should wish to see flourishing in our West Indian
" Labour was abundant and cheap, and the Trinidadian says, population were but too true, and but too truly the effect of
that field-work was never so cheaply performed in the island the legislation of that House.-(Hear, hear.) Not only by
as at the present day, not even when slavery was at its the reduction of prices, but by giving an artificial command
zenith." Such facts could not be got over, and they clearly of the market to the negro race, they had done all in their
proved that wherever slavery existed production could not Power to deaden and discourage labour itself, and to stay
be cheap. At the same time, the Government were not the progress of the negro's permanent civilization and pro-
prepared to adopt the plan of buying slaves in Africa for the sperity.-(Hear, hear.) During the years of emancipation
purpose of setting them free in the West Indies, but they the cry was-" True, the exports from the colonies, on
were prepared to grant any facilities short of that which which the planters depend, have undergone some decrease,
was only another mode of slavery. The only means similar but do not, in your regard for the planter, forget the great
to that which had succeeded was, when the expense was mass of the West Indian population, or the increase of those
incurred of importing liberated Africans. During. the last imports into the colonies which tend to the greater comfort
three years there had been a gradual increase in the num- of the negro." How stood the case now? That the
ber of liberated- Africans imported into the West Indies. amount of these imports, the stated tests of the negroes'
In 1847 the number was 1,097 ; in 1848, 3,148 ; in 1819, comforts, had fallen below the point even of the days of
4,762. It was also right the House should remember that slavery.-(Hear, hear.) In the last four years of slavery
at present there were not unsatisfactory accounts from the exports from this country to the West Indies were in value
many of the colonies. He was far from saying that distress 2,575,000/. ; ha the four years of apprenticeship, from 1833
did not prevail in the West Indian colonies, but in Trinidad to 1838, they rose to 3,450,0001. ; from 1843 to 1846, after
he found, from a dispatch of Lord Harris, dated February 20, the abandonment of apprenticeship, they fell to 2,657,000/. ;
1850, that the revenue, the exports, and the imports, bad all in 1847, the year Honourable Gentlemen were so fond
increased during the last year. In Guiana the import duties, of quoting, they had still further fallen- to 2,279,0001;
which amounted to 23,191 dollars for January, 184 G, were, while in 1848, the last year for which we had returns,
in January, 1847, 2.2,506; 1848, 27,685; and 1849, 46,195 those exports, which in the years of slavery were
dollars. His Hon. Friend (Sir E. Buxton) had brought for- 2,500,00 a, in the years of apprenticeship nearly
ward his motion with a view of discouraging the slave trade, 4,000,000/., had fallen to 1,500,000/.-(Hear' hear.) That
and in his hands it had no reference to protection. But these most important, most significant, and most disastrous fact
were not the grounds upon which the motion had been sup- indicated that there was a necessity for their considering
ported by Hon. Gentlemen opposite, who had advocated pro- what further measures were required for the relief of the
tective -duties against the admission of all foreign sugar West India colonies -(Hear, hear.) To what measures,
whatever. But lie hoped that the House would take into then, did he point for permanent relief to the West Indies?
its consideration not only the interest of the planter but the In 1848 they had indulged the hope that great things would
interest of the consumer at home. Looking to what was going be done towards cheapening production in these colonies, and
on in the West Indies, in the exertions which were being numerous were the modes loft down by which that object
made, and successfally made, to cheapen the production in might be attained. In many places it was to be effected by
the colonies and to adopt a better cultivation of the lands, he drainage of lands; in many, by a system of irrigation;
trusted that they would not, by acceding to this motion, in others, by the improvement of roads and by aiding in the
check the active spirit of enterprise that was going on, or formation of railways; and in British Guiana speculation
induce the hope that by a return to protection they would be turned much upon the means by which it was hoped t)okeit._
sugar.keep
giving any encouragement to free-labour over slave-labour out the sea from large portions of that colony. A !.;
mtu
tee of that House laid down in its report the principle,
that
ear. GLADSTONE said, that the Honourable Gentleman Government were to take on themselves the responsibility
the Member for Essex, in a motion for which his name, in- of looking to the circumstances of particular colonies,
be made available
dependently of his character, was a perfect guarantee, had and making grants of money that might
invited the House to resume the consideration of a question by the planters themselves. Instead of all this, however,
h teyer. The projected
the difficulties of which increased upon them at every step what had been done? Nothing w
a Government had not
they took. In 1848, when this question was last opened, improvements had not made;beenhich
s anticipated, but had
they had before them the question, not whether they would assumed that responsibilitye w
C 10nial Le islature, themselves in the.
maintain the settlement of 1846-because that' its authors thrown it upon the gtc
and but very imperfect
themselves proposed to abandon; but whether they should midst of financial embarrassmen -,
introduce a fixed system of protection, giving uniformity of organs for numerous
the West Indians were told that protection
purposes of the colonies they legislated-.
condition, and time for the resources of the colonies to de- for; so that while
velope themselves under the new system ;or whether they was no remedy for the evils under which they laboured, and
should -adopt the scale proposed by the Government, which that other
those
m other measures had never been attempted, and
than protection would be tried for their
'
provided a progressive descent in the different duties, a benefit,
precisely the same condition that they occupied
they were in p
descent at first very • slight, and which was not yet ex-
.
3 ears ago.- (Hear, hear.) They had not taken the
perienced, but •which would in another year be a rapid
tawoork- in hand which two years ago had been promised. In
one-(Bear, hear),-and from which they might expect 'the colonies they were reducing the expenses of their own
not only a continuance of the present pressure, but a very
greatly increased pressure.-(Hear, hear.) In 1348 he (Mr. Governments, and in that they had received no encourage-
ment.-(Hear, hear.) In the case of British Guiana, on the
Gladstone) with many other Gentlemen on that (the Oppo- c
sition) side of the House, who felt themselves bound upon contrary, the report of the Committee showed plainly that
other points to support the application of the principle of the influence of the Government had hot been used in the
direction
in which it should have been direct d e .-(Hear freedom to the regulation of our commercial system, voted
hear.) As to the condition of the planters, he begged' against the proposal of the Government and in favour ofa
the House to recollect that the possibility
of their
proposition to extend a larger measure of protection to the
the pre-West Indies. That vote he felt bound to repeat on ti.
ruin was Not disproved
by circumstances which might
motion of seem to give colour to such an idea, because where
sent occasion.-(Cheers.) The words of the
there had been • t the means a vas expenditure, and where by legislative
the Hon. Gentleman might have afforded him f
1- of them, measures the floating capital of the planters had been re-
becauseof escape had he felt inclined to avail himself
the whole d ed to nothing, it followed -
uc
the motion placed is the same category _
which, if they stood come in, encouraged and attracted by the advantage of
of the British possessions, to some of
aid-
e to re- obtaining a large amount of fixedcapitalat a nominal rice-
alone, be (Mr. Gladstone) should not be prepared
But (Hear, hear) -and, ' -
commend au extension or augmentation of protection.. . putting in their own fresh capital for the
the case really before the House was that of the West Indies cultivation of the soil, that would be a temporary stimulus
--(Cheers)-and lie would admit that in proposing under given to the property. ( hear, hear.) This was not an ar-
the present peculiar circumstances
theywould ex- mony of Governor Light, of those colonies, but was one borne out by the testi,
and bitrary representation,
protection to them,
..
who in a dispatch stated that one
tend it also to other portions of the empire which had no of the finest estates in British Guiana-and this was a
such peculiar claims.-(Hear, hear.). The case of the West sample of the rest-had been sold during the time of
Indies was before them nowlB4B, only
as in
nearer, the suffering aggravated. The grounds of justice as to the figures] ; during the apprenticeship, for 30,000/.
were the same, and the grounds of policy were clearer and or 40,000/. ; and in 1848; for 2,0001. (Hear, hear.) G
broader than ever. The House :must recollect the crisis vernor Light proceeded in language not more quaint
through which the West Indies had passel. They were than full of meaning and instruction, to say that the
not now complaining merely and suffering merely, but purchaser having acquired all the buildings, works,
what
ground down absolutely to the ground and reduced to total machinery, &c., on the estate for 2,000/., had
ruin by the Legislature of this country.-(Cheers.) They he termed " a noble chance of escaping ruin."
had begun with emancipation, a great and vital change in (Cheers, and Laughter.) This was - what . matters had
the constitution of West Indian society, and if it had been conic to him in the wreck and dilapidation a nobleof a once powerful
conducted with no more tenderness and wisdom than some of class-there was left for some fortunate purchasers
our more recent changes it would have precipitatel
the West chance of escaping ruin.-(Hear,
hear.)i The planters, he
ence of that House,
colonists at once into ruin. But happily a wiser repeated, had strong claims on the nol ul_
ginstrument of their
spirit, and one more in accordance with justice', presided over whin had been in fact the cause and
appeal
to the House
He would ask them to give the
that act ; and Lord Stanley, as the organ of Lord Grey's Go- diffi
culties ; but he did notmake b
vernment, with great energy and wisdom contrived so to mainly on their account.
temper and adjust the details, that while he satisfied the planters such a forth of fixed
Protation as would serve them
to be introduced were care
majority_of the Mouse, lie by a singular felicity gained the -till the remedial measuresiwould give confidence to the
meant
eminence of the planters themselves. Within the last few tied into effect, and which
days; and even within the last few hours, they had seen that British capitalist come and avail himself of this " noble
to c . ~
-(Hear, hear.) But he asked
the perfect talehts andstatesmanship of that Noble Lord had chance of escaping ruin.
descended upon his son, who had that night addressed them. this • chiefly
on behalf of the negro population, who were

..d .

now losing the advance they once made under happier aus-
pices. Lot the House consider all the bygone circumstances
connected with the emancipation of this race, let it consider
the eulogies by Dr. Charming and other eminent men in
foreign countries in reference to what had been done on be-
half of the negro. Those eulogies were founded on the fact
that they had in their West India colonies a happy and pros-
perous population, who had been saved from the lash and all
the horrors of slavery; and was the House willing to lose
the bright title of having achieved these things' in their be-
halt ?—(Hear.) Was it not painful to think that there was
a gradual slipping from the hands of the negro population of
the comforts of civilisation, and a less disposition to ask them,
and to cultivate the rational and spiritual:part Of their being,
rds(
epel s
torl
ane
tasi t f re-
sponsibility.
.1. Foran
West
On
ill-usedin
by following: after the benefits(:`tif -religions education 2
wientlghlerHheorromuspreoporfsie°c!lio
icmionnotsnei
partnd ilndies,
theirsh,
cbelheasi.e.ishas:l hoped,rl should
rs
forming
be sorry to share in that re-
s
would support the moth n of the Hein.Bitronet.—(Hear, beer.)
He would always regret that 'the had chosen to, break
through the distinction so well maintained by the Right Hon.
Gentleman the Member for Tarnworth, relative to slave-
grown sugar. For that distinction he was always prepared
to contend, and he lamented that a great political crisis in
the country should have wrung. from -'any these reluctant
votes that had produced a change so-disastrous in its con-
sequences and so injurious to the high character of Great
Britain as that effected in the Act 'of-- 1846.—(Hear.) He
admitted the difficulties under which they-alp* "stood; but
never certainly was greater -industry 'sho‘wri' by any party
.than was shown by theNohle Lord end his friends in,bffect-
ing the change of that distinction to which Parliameht had
formerly given its. stanctionli' I`l4 ;hoped the ,House would
,not rejeot the appeal that had'been made to them—whether
they considered it in thetlight Of tan- appeal from a suffering
class, or an. appeal urged in behalf uf a
,poptilation once
happy and -prosperous, and advancing in 'a career orsocial
improvement, but now, under the legislation- of that House,
losing the ground they had gained,' and sinking gradually
back towards the inferior, if not degradedt'nendition from
which they were rescued by philanthropy 'and benevolPnce.
Viscount PALMERSTON—It has seldom fallen to my lot
to witness a,debate conducted on the tone side with more
curious iheenitiatencies,and with a- greater series of contra-
dictions.—(Hear, hear.) ny Hon. Fripok who :ttroduced
,this motion proposed it on the ground Of- hltifitanit and as a
mode of'gettipg rid of the slave tradril, -but k-airce y 'bad his
arguments fallen on, our ears when the debate took another
turn, and from that time his' inotiOn"has been,• chiefly sup-
ported on the ground of protection, a principle .which I be-
lieve my Hon. Friend had not himself intended to advocate.
-1--(Hear,.hear.) Almost /the only example of consistency
which we'.have witnessed in the course:of this debate, is that
-consistency of-talent and ability which have been displayed
by the Hon. Member who has for the first time spoken on
this question, and who has proved himself to be the consis-
tent representative of that father wborci We bare SQ often
heard with admiration within these walls. "The
,Right Hon.
Gentleman who has just sat down bas, I think, crowned the
example of inconsistency in this debate.—(Hear,'hear.)
Whether the limited scope-of my capacity or the ambiguous
arguments of the Right Hon. Gentleman be the cause, I am
now quite at a loss -to know what he Means to do and on
what side he intends to vote. (Laughter and Hear,hear.)
He declared himself, as I, understood hint, ready to support
the motion of my Hon. Friend, that motion being a perma-
.nent declaration that it is impolitic and unjust-to expose the
free-grown sugar of our colonies and possessions, abroad to
unrestricted competition with the sugar of foreign slave-
trading countries. But the Right Hon. Gentleman has not,
as I understand him, as yet so entirely thrown off the princi-
ples of free trade, of which he was once an able advocate,
and in support of which he has often rushed into the Van at
periods of great difficulty, and given his moat honouraLle
support.—(Hear.) The Right Hon. Gentleman did not, as I
understand him; abandon that doctrine, or accept the doctrine
of protection. All he asks for is a limited period of protec-
tion to give time for those remedial measures for-the colo-
nies for which he is anxious. But if that" is his only
object, if be does not wish for the permanent re-establish-
ment of the principles of protection, then I ask on what
principle of consistency can he vote for a resolutionrwjaich is
permanent in its object, and which does not give a limited
but a permanent period for the continuance of protection to
our colonies? - (Hear, hear.) I certainly shall not vote for
the motion of my Hon. Friend.—(Laughter.) lam not
either for limited or permanent protection. lam convinced
that protection has done no good to the West Indies, and
will do no good.— (Hear, hear.) Now, it was under a sys-
tem of protection that the West Indies have been in former
times in a state of continued distress and ruin; and it is not
by recurring to that system that we can restore them to that
prosperity which I trust they are still destined to attain. It
is by those remedial measures which the Right Hon. Gen-
tleman alluded to -by a better system of cultivation—
(lronical cries of " Hear, hear")—and by that stimulus
which competition affords that we may hope to see them ex-
tricated from the difficulties under which they complain.—
(Hear.) Now, how my lion. Friend thinks that-this exclu-
sion of slave-grown sugar would put au end to the slave
trade I really cannot for a moment be. I cannot see
how such a measure would operate in the way he wishes to
put an end to that traffic. Has my Honourable Friend en-
tered into the• proportion of free-grown sugar introduced into
this country for home consumption as compared with slave-
grown sugar? He would have seen, had he done so, that
for the year 1849, -the proportions were five and a half mil-
dons of cwts. of free-labour sugar to half a million of cwts. of
slave-grown sugar:—(llear, hear.) It is, in fact, not the
competition of slave-grown sugar which is ruining the West
Indian planters, but it is the annually increasing compitition
of free-labour sugar from other parts of the world—(Hear)--
and if my Honourable Friend is prepared to give to the West
Indies that protection which he thinks is essential to restore
them to prosperity, it must be done not by confining the
restriction to the slave-grown sugar of Brazil and Cuba, but
by extending to them the full protection which they enjoyed
it former times against free-labour sugar, a proposition which
lain sure my Honourable Friend would -not advocate, and
a proposition which I am sure this House would never en-
trtain.—(Hear, hear.) It has been- often 'urged that we
lad only to exclude the slave-grown sugar from the market
if this country, and to draw an equal quantity of free-labour
, sugar from the market of the world, in order to afford the
Fotection desired; but this would be only creating a vacuum
chich would be at once filled up by the slave-labour sugar
of Cuba and the Brazils.—(Hear, hear.) The slave-owners
a those countries would laugh at 'your precautions, and
eould know that there were still markets enough open to
; tam to induce them to go on cultivating sugar and increao-
iig the number of their slaves as before.—(Hear, hear.) But
liana, man could doubt that the attempt must be perfectly
faile, I think those who heard the speech of my Hon. Friend
. Lie Member for Westbury, and attended to the manner in
which he demonstrated that the recent changes in our navi-
iation-laws have added an insurmountable.; )obstacle to the
arrying 'out of any such arrangement, must have every
madow of a doubt removed. his not measures of this kind
'or excluding sugar of one kind, and laying heavier duties on.
.he produce of this. country or that, by which we can extir-
pate the slave trade—the object which I know my Hon.
Friend has most at heart. No doubt many Hon. Gentlemen
have protested against the African squadron, and against
air maintaining a maritime police as being insufficient to
elect the suppression of the slave-trade. But I have never
naintained that that alone was sufficient to put the slave-
oade down, though I have always contended that without
this maritime police other measures would be fruitless.—
(Hear, hear.) The House may rest assured that other mea-

Lures for this object are in progress, and that we are, by trea-
ties with native chiefs in Africa, and by other exertions on
the other side of the Atlantic, pursuing measures which, I
trust, if properly continued, in the course of the next year
will enable us to entertain better hopes that the slave-trade
will be, if not extinguished, at least very considerably dimi-
nished. Now what is the state of the slave-trade at the pre-
sent moment? There are now in Africa 1,500 miles north of
the line entirely free from the slave-trade-of the entire 2,C00
Iniles north of the line there are now only about 420 in
which the slave-trade at all exists; and I trust the measures
sow in operation may lead to the extirpation of the slave-
trade from that remaining portionolhiioimdnnioaotdrieths
for barter abound ;of the line. I this
very day received a dispatch from one of the Commis-
saries at Sierra Leone, stating that during the quarter which
had just expired, he can assert that not a single ship had
left that place with slaves. There are 12,000 miles south of
the line where the slave trade exists; and one-half of that
territory belongs to the Portuguese dominioui, where better
methods are at command on the coast for the suppression of
the traffic with Brazil. And I hold it to he by no means
that chimerical expectation which gentlemen who sat in
Committee have chosen to term it, that the combination o f
all the measures now being adopted may tend at no distant
period to accomplish that end. And I must say that no
object-1 speak not now of those higher considerations
mostthat
ncthing can be accompliehed that would tend more to further
which the Right Honourable Gentleman has adverted to,
'and which, 1 think, nevertheless ought to influence a nation
like the British in matters of this kind-but independently
nofarriehw vieesehigher
f
the commercial interests and prosperity of this country than
the entire extirpation of the slave-trade. No part of the
etoenmsipdoerraaltioninsierte asktsi, ngl
m evenus t the
say
globe offers more scope for the commercial enterprise of this
Iltaisesbe to been
exchange lintited tothar
country than the interior and the coast of Africa. We have
:a demand for the things which she produces, and she stands
in want of the g, ods that we can supply. In many other
parts of the world, where there is a larger pepulition to con-
sume what we can export, there is a want of commodities to
oco
uef frret rap
irin:ddrteleesttruse.ren.
by return. I
iat Ourlivnat
Atriatfrdeiefe
aw the
commodities
tohme
there is hardly anything Of value which cannot be found
we
there to offer in exchange for the goods that
Cotton might be grown on the western coastcan supply. in infinite
quantity and of the best quality. And,
recollecting how
precarious is the source of supply which we now derive front
the United States of America -recollecting how the growing
manufactures of America herself are now annually absorbing
more and More of the cotton •
which she produces-and
recollecting what a vast amount of our own. population de-
pendi upon ,the manufactures from that taw materialor
daily bread, it becomes a matter of the most extreme int"
.portatice that we should seek out other sources a supply.
—(Hear, hear.) Palm oil, an 'article also of great value
and much used, is found in abundance in that country,
there are also coffee, ivory, gold, in fact, hardly' anything of
value and utility might not be produced or found In Africa,
and might not be received in return for our own exports. I
say, therefore, it is an object of great national importance,
that by an .end being put to the !lave trade, we should be
enabled to enter into commercial inteioaurse with the vast
population of that region.-(Divide.). I, will. not follow the
Right Hon. Gentleman into all those details-connect ed with
fit to
our West Indian- pOssessions into which he thought_
my Hon.
enter. I confine- myself solely Ito the motion,or
F' 1 "Icontendeb ' ' Friend." . at it is no,
t 5 method that can be of an
againit which the motion
s
avail in putting down the trait,
levelled. I contend that without accomplishing its purpose it
I would tend to inflict a great injury. on the comfort of. the
country, and would holdout to the West. Indians a delusive hope
relax their energies, and prevent
which might induce them to
measures
them frona• adopting. those other ill's by which althae
they can recover their station and. prosperity ; and therefore,
both of expediency and principle, labject on every ground,
Honourable Friend. lt '
to the 'notion of my
.. is insufficient
for the putposei n
of
touremainniyatfeorthwehich he brings it forward',
and it woUld'tendrelations -aprinciple of protection in
our commercial
injury to the country, an. inimical. to the prosperity of every
unity to whose affairs it may •
comfy be applied.-- (Year, hear,
and cries of "Divide.")
iii E. N. BUXTON briefly replied. He .
would not detain
the House at that late hoer with
any lengthenedsimarke-
Ile felt very grateful to the Government generally for the
measures it had adopted to suppress the slave trade, and es-.
pecially to the Noble Lord who spoke last, for the manner
in which he had at all times directed his efforts to securing
that object. But he must urge his motion on the adoption
Of the house, simply on the ground that while on the one
hand we sent out a fleet to the coast of Africa to put down
that nefarious traffic, we encouraged it on the other hand by
the admission of slave-grown produce.
The, House then divided. The numbers, were-
• I.or'the motion ... - - ... 234
.. Against it ... ... •••• ••• .... , 275
. .
„;, i , Majority against ... „
....
.....,_4l : ,
Aile notion was therefore lost.
',On the-motion of the LORI) ADVOCATE, the ()riga!
the Committee of the Public Health (Scotland) Bill viva -dis- -
chEitill ' , : < , _ .-1n.n:,:,-,.
`Tut' etAiii of Session (Scotland) Bill was reed a oiittior
.4 pass9ii:i, • , :,., „ . nt4c..,..1 •
. .. '. '.:111 la,: .1 00=44
, r_v_ . • r ~ A.f xd U-Al4ll.
.11404r4

~ +• .