The Sun.
London, England, 1844-03-08 00:00:00

I establish a system of liberal policy. They had heard it said
by a cer ain party, that they were determined not to allow any
further inroad to be made in the good old system of protection
and monopoly, which had so long existed. Those denunciations
applied to other subjects as well as the corn-laws. These
were many persons who knew that the corn-laws
were nut very defensible in argument--who were not
sorry to see other protections upheld still more unreason•
able than that with respect to corn. The sugar monopoly
was considered the bulwark of the corn-laws. He should
listen with the greatest possible anxiety to that which should
fall from her Majesty's Ministers on the present occasion. If
they were pleased to give a satisfactory assurance to the
House that they intended to do every thing in their power to
allay the apprehensions which existed so widely amongst the
manufacturing classes of the country, he could assure them
that nothing would be farther from his wish than to attempt
anything which might throw the smallest oppo ition in the
way of a consummation so anxiously desired. But if they did
not receive from the Government such a satisfactory and ex-
plicit assurance, and should express their determination still
to postpone this subject—a subject which could not longer be
postponed without the greatest injury to the country—then he
called on the House to come to the rescue, and by carrying
the resolution which he had proposed, convey to the Govern-
ment and to the country their confident belief that the time was
now come when the great commercial interests of the country
could no longer be trifled with—that those commercial inte-
rests should be placed on a satisfactory footing by renewing
commercial relations, if we could, with the Brazils ; but,
above all, by altering our custom duties on the great articles
of Brazilian produce, especially the great article of sugar, in
such a manner, as to prove to the Brazils our desire to ex-
tend the commercial relations which now existed between the
two countries, and which were so materially beneficial to
both.— (Cheers.)
Mr. EWART seconded the motion. He would ask the
Right Hon. Baronet what had been the success which had at-
tended the negotiations for putting down slavery in the Brazils!
He thought the House and the country had a right to demand
an answer to that question. 2 ),000,000/. had been paid to
abolish slavery in our West Indian colonies. And what had
been the result ? Were the West Indian colonies contented ?
No, they were not ? How could they remain contented while
such a state of uncertainty and excitement existed? The rich
did not feel the effects of the duty on sugar ; it was the poor
man that suffered by it. The poor man, owing to the enor-
mous duty upon sugar, was compelled to consume an adulter-
ated article. He lieved that the Right Hon. Baronet at the
head of the Government was restrained from acting on his
own principles by the powerful combination behind him. He
called upon the Right Hon. Baronet to come forward and
state what were the intentions of the Government with respect
to this question. He had great pleasure in seconding the
motion of his Right Hon. Friend.
Mr. GLADSTONE said he trusted that nothing would fall
from him in the course of the remarks he was about to make
in reply to his Hon. Friend who had preceded him, and the
Right Hon. Gentleman who had proposed the motion to the
House, which could justly give rise to the inference that the
Government were in any manner indifferent to the importance
of the trade which subsisted between this country and the em-
pire of the Brazils. Nor did he desire the inference to be
drawn from anything he had to say that the Government
were satisfied with the present state of our customs laws
with respect to the importation of sugar, if those laws were to
be viewed simply on commercial or general grounds. And he
trusted further that nothing which might fall from him would
have the effect of conveying to Hon. Gentlemen on the other
side of the House, or the public out of doors, the slightest in-
timation of the course which her Majesty's Ministers might
think proper to pursue during the existing session with respect
to other import duties. He was called upon to state this be-
cause the Right Hon. Gentleman who brought forward the
motion, and his Hon. Friend who had seconded it, had both
intimated that the main object of promoting this discussion
was to draw some intimation from her Majesty's Government,
as to their intention with respect to the duties on sugar and
coffee. He was sure that the good sense of Hon. Gentlemen
would convince them that no person in office could have
learned so much as the A. B. C. of his profession if he were
to allow himself, by a discussion promoted at the instance of
an individual Member in the month of March, to declare at a
period 30 early, the financial intentions of the Government,
and their intentions with respect to their commercial policy.
He thought he was justified in soliciting the House to nega-
tive this motion. He objected to it because it laid down the
principle that they ought to adopt such measures as would
give extension to our commercial relations with Brazil, abso-
lutely and unconditionally, and irrespective of any effect upon
other questions, yet more important. This question too, was
not merely a commercial one, but it also affected the happi-
ness of a great portion of our fellow-beings. He thought it
had already been shown that her Majesty's Government were
not indifferent to the interests of the trade by this country
with the Brazils.' In the year 1842, an alteration was made in
the customs laws, and a change was then proposed in the law
with respect to the importation of coffee from Brazil, which
had a tendency to favour a direct introduction of coffee from
the Brazils into tkis country. It was true that the change
was not a great change, and it was true that at
the time they announced that a further change
might be necessary at some future time. The
change, however, so far as it went, did tend to facilitate the
introduction of Brazilian coffee into this country. It was found
to be a change sufficient to form the foundation of a taunt on
the Government of inconsistencies with respect to articles of
slave-grown produce ; and he thought, therefore, that he might
at least use it as an argument to show that the Government
were not indifferent to the Brazilian trade. There were other
articles—of a secondary description, it was true—but there
were other articles, such as hides, rosewood, cocoa, and other
produce, which, though secondary, were not unimportant arti-
cles, and they were allowed to be imported at a very low per
tentage in 1842. Then, with regard to cotton-wool, it was
perfectly notorious that the duty at present was a moderate
duty, if considered with reference to the country from which it
was exported. Our manufacturers, doubtless, had their com-
plaints against it. No doubt they would claim to be relieved
from the duty, in order to maintain their competition with their
rivals abroad.—( Hear, hear.) He did not mean to say any-
thing against their claims so far as Brazil was concerned, but
the cotton from Brazil was placed on the same footing as the
cotton of America, and was treated avowedly as a simple ques-
tion dl revenue, and a simple matter of revenue it would con-
tinue to be. As he had stated before, in the year 1842 a readi-
ness was expressed to introduce at a future period a considerable
change in favour of the introduction of Brazilian coffee.
It was material to observe, that with regard to four-fifths of the
whole exportable produce of Brazil her Majesty's Government
had already conferred many great advantages on the exporters
there, and they were willing to give still greater advantages.
The great difficulties of the question were connected with the
trade in sugar, which formed only one-fifth of the whole ex-
ports of Brazil. The Right Hon. Gentleman confessed that
his statistics regarding the Brazilian products were not very
minute or satisfactory, and they could not well be otherwise, as
Brazilian statistics were exceedingly defective ; but he (Mr
Gladstone) had collected_ a few statistical details, he' would
mention to the House, from the Report of the French Consuls,
which seemed to be very carefully drawn up—it appeared from
these documents, that upon an average of five years, from 1837
to 1841, both years inclusive, the total exports of Brazil
amounted to 5,500,0001. sterling ; of that sum 2,000,0001.
were from cotton, 1,540,0001. from coffee, and 1,100,0001. in
sugar, the remaining 1,500,0001. was derived from other articles,
so that the article about which so much disputation and dif-
ference had arisen formed only one-fifth of the exports of
Brazil.—( Hear, hear.) He did not mean to say that if the
duty was lessened on Brazilian sugar it would not form a
larger item in the exports—(' Hear, hear," from the Opposi-
tion)—but neither would it be attended with the wonderful
advantages to consumers in this country which Hon. Gentlemen
opposite seemed to anticipate. The arguments used by the
present Government in their negotiations with Brazil were
those used by the former Government. Lord Mounteagle, a
very high authority, in 1839 used very strong expressions with
respect to a Brazilian treaty. When the seconder of the pre-
sent motion (Mr. Ewart) introduced his motion for the reduc-
tion of the duty on Brazilian sugar, Lord Mounteagle said that
one reason why the Government should not accede to the mo-
tion was a preference for the produce of their own colonies ;
and another, that it would encourage slavery and the slave.
trade. The Right Hon. Gentleman said that no reasonable
man could ground his opposition to the present motion
on anti-slavery principles. Now he (Mr. Gladstone)
declared that he never saw a chain of reasoning
more clear or consequential than that the encouragement of
slavery had the natural consequence of encouragement to
slave-grown sugar.—( Hear, hear.) It was well-known that
in order to cultivate sugar in Brazil large importations of slaves
were annually made from unhappy Africa, and of course the
increased demand for the sugar would create the necessity for
the slaves. The Right Hon. Gentleman said by taking any of
the products of Brazil we were in a measure encouraging
slavery. Why, no doubt, by so doing we were importing the
produce of slavery, but we were not at the same time promoting
the slave trade. The Right Hon. Gentleman asked why did
we not consistently act upon our theory, and refuse to receive
the cotton of America grown by slave hands? The answer was
there was no question of difference between us and America
regarding slavery. The traffic there was between State and
State, and between man and man, and did not at all resemble
African slave trade. He did not stand there upon theory, but
to argue against a practical evil of great extent—an evil most
injurious to humanity, and which this country had made
such sacrifices to remedy. It was said that we had
not abolished slavery in Brasil. We had not done so it
was true, but we had done very much to diminish it. In 1838,
the number of slaves carried into Rio alone was 30,000;
in 1841 and 1842, it was only between 8,000 and 9,000.
( Hear, hear.) The late Governor of Cuba ought to be re-
membered with gratitude by every philanthropist for the sin-
cere desire lie constantly evinced to repress the slave trade ; it
was to be feared that his successor, the present Governor, con-
sulted more the feelings of the slave dealers, and less the inter-
ests of humanity. Through the means of the former Go-
vernor, the slave trade between Africa and Cuba was almost
annihilated, and in a few years had his humane policy been pur-
sued, there was good reason for hoping that it would have been
extinguished altogether. As a proof of that, slavery was on
the decrease in Brazil ; a good deal of the land formerly en-
gaged in the cultivation of sugar, was now engaged in the cul-
tivation of cotton, in which the labour of the slave was not
necessary, for women and children were almost as useful as
men in raising it; whereas the more laborious cultivation of the
cane required the importation of adult slaves who would be
worked for a few years, and then drop into an early grave.
This was the opinion of the Committee appointed in 1842 to
examine into the state of affairs on the western coast of Africa.
Unfortunately, the tone of public feeling in Brazil was not
favourable to the suppression of this abominable traffic, and
when the subordinate officers might evince any humane desire
in this respect, they were dismissed, or forbidden to discoun-
tenance that which their superiors openly supported. The
stipulations which existed between this country and Brazil
from the suppression of the slave-trade were amply sufficient ;
but the guarantees for the fulfilment of those stipulations were,
he regretted to say, utterly worthless, nor could they have any
effectual guarantee until there was a total change of public
feeling in that country. If it were possible to place British
cruisers along the whole coast of Africa, which would be con-
stantly on the watch, to prevent the present nefarious traffic,
that, he admitted, would be a very competent guarantee against
its prosecution; but even if we did this, it would be attended
with immense expense, and be exceedingly disadvantageous to
our commerce. Cotton could be produced by free labour quite as
cheaply as by slave-labour, for the reason previously stated,
namely, that a whole family, young and old, could be effectively
engaged in its cultivation, and it did not require extraordinary
toil. This was proved by the fact that St. Domingo with its
free-labour could produce as cheap cotton as Brazil with its
slave-labour. The Right Hon. Gentleman seemed to think the
present Government had not acted consistently with the prin-
ciples they professed in the course they took regarding the in-
troduction of copper-ore. He said that the Government had
so reduced the duties on the importation of copper-ore that
whereas formerly scarcely any copper-ore was introduced, lat-
terly there were very large quantities. They would find that
from countries where the copper-ore was produced by slave-
labour, there had been a great increase in the quantity,
and that the alteration in the law of 1842 would not affect it.
The object was to prevent the smelting of copper-ore out of
this country, and nothing could be more distinct than
this, as Great Britain was decidedly an exporting
country in this article. The next point contended
for was that sugar grown in countries which cultivated it by
slave labour, should be allowed to be imported at the same rate
of duty as from other countries; but this he thought would be
most unjust, and, in saying so, he did not speak so much in
behalf of the Mauritius as for those other places where there
had been a decrease of labour, in consequence of the late be-
nevolent law in favour of the slaves by Great Britain. He
thoght that the proposed treaty would net be attended with