The Sun.
London, England, 1844-06-20 00:00:00

Ashy-arc:l a measure for fixing the duty en foree.ge
sugar at 345. a cwt. of all kindly net refined, and 245.
on colonial sugar t fleet t"s, they give to the colonists
Ioe, is fee+ e‘!.;:tia on all they brought to market,
seeing that in the case of the Theminere
smith cabbage-growers they t olild not sell
one ounce of sugar n'etil they could get the same
price for it that was given for Java sugar, which paid
Kt. extra duty. Now, taking the ennual liiipert of
sugar from the colonies at 4,000,000 cwt. annu-
ally, that would $-1-ve them 2,000,0001. sterling at the
jewels;
As protection, as they called it—monopoly, as
he called it—and that was what the Govertirneree pro-
posed to give the West India planters, Those whte
with hie), advocated free trade principle§ in that
Muse had brought forward e motion for equalizing
the sugar duties—thet 'all sugars, without distiectioe
of the eotiotry in which they were erode d, should
na,r the same duty to the queen. That was a ques-
tion which had net recited any great party or pole.
tical intereet.. The free-traders had the best
of the argument, as he thought, though their oppo•
tents beat thern in the votes: ,Another amendment
proposed was Mr. Miles's proposition, which was to
charge 20s, a cwt. on eolenial sugar; 30s. a cwt. n'
certain descritioos of foreign sugar, hitt he intro.
duced a third line of distinction; Which was not in-
trodured in, the Goverment measure. According to
the Government measure, all foreign sugar, without
ilistinction of quality, was charged the same duty;
but according- to Mr. Miles's proposition, all white
clayed sugar, or sugar of a quality equivalent to white
clayed, was charged a ditty of 345. A cwt. Ile had been
told that a great number of people in that enlightened
metropolis believed that the free-traders were tereng
in resisting Mt, Miles's amendment, lii the first
place, its origin was suspiclotm, hut he would not
judge ,it by that. The West Indians complained
to Sir Robert reel that they did not re-
ceive protection enough, and yet there were
some people gullable enough to believe that they
would propose for themselves a less protection than
Sir Robert Peel would give them. The 4s. reduc-
tion of duty on colonial sugar was on all colonial
sugar; the 4s. reduction on foreign sugar was
only a reduction on a certain description of
foreign sugar-, Now, the free traders were de-
sirous of ascertaining what description of sugar was
affected by this exceptional duty of 345. Men not
conversant with the trade were unfit to judge of those
matters, and they had gone into the City to inquire
what clayed sugars really were ; and they thought
they could not do better, whilst they were consulting
refiners and importers, than consult one of their oldest
and truest friends, who had been the chairman of
Lord. John Russell's and Jr. Pattison's Committees
—he meant Mr. Travers.—(Loud cheers.) He be-
lieved Mr. Travers was one of, the largest wholesale
dealers in sugar in the country; and not being him-
self a colonial proprietor,• but simply interested in
the distribution of sugar, his interest was identical
with that of the consumer. He had received a
letter from Mr. Travers on this subject, which he
would read to the meeting. It was these in words:—
"My DEAR SIR,—I repeat to you, without hesitation,
that the practical effect of Mr. Allies's amendment upon
the proposed sugar duties will be to establish a differ-
ential duty of lee. per cwt. in favour of colonial sugars,
as against three-fourths, at least, of the foreign sugar
named for home consumption in November next. Java
sugar, which will
,yield much more than half of this
additional supply, Is wholly clayed, and its lower qualities
are, in substance' (or the amount of saccherine matter
contained in them), more than ' equivalent' to the
white clayed of many other countries,, which, in com-
parison, are often - weak - and worthless. The same
remerk will also apply to a portion of. the China and
Manilla sugars, though the latter are not clayed at all.
" Then, again, as to, the terms 'brown clayed' and
' white clayed,' it is impossible to draw a line of distinc-
tion in which any two parties, whose interests are
opposei to each other; agree. There is, between these
two extremes, every shade ' and variety of 'brown
white' and ' white brown,' and, thus, the disputes of
the importer and the Government
officer Will prove
endless, terminating, hOwever, there is no doubt, in all
cases, in favour of- the revenue, and the imposition of
the higher duty, unless, indeed, there is any fraud or
collusion between parties in favour of the -lower duty,
which would, of course, operate to the injury of the
fair trader.
"Both in the substance and colour of sugar there
exists, in fact, as to the value, no point of fixed or gene-
ral ar&nient. The real. substance of sugar can only be
determined by frequent experiment apd real practical
experience on the part of the refiners; and the value of
colour is a thing generally settled between buyer and
seller-e-ceprice of the mornent—the colour itself varying
with every light to which it is-subjected.
"If the Government intend a differential duty of
only los. per cwt. between colonial and foreign sugar,
Mr. Miles's amendment will not answer the object. In
, the absence of fraud, the colonial interest may be
benefited by it to the extent of 4s. per cwt., but it will
, be just so much out of the pocket of the consumer.
" I am, my dear Sir, faithfully yours,
" JOHN TRAVERS.
i " Sivithin's-lane, June 17, 1844." •
jHe had received letters to the same effect from
Messrs. Thornton and West, Messrs. Goodhart, John
and Henry Taylor, Mr. Peter Martineau, and Mr.
'John Davis. He had no hesitation in saying that
that motion was a trap to catch unwary free-traders.
'—(Hear,' hear.) He did not charge Mr. Miles with
originating it, or with being an accomplice in the
trick, but he believed that it had been got up in
Mincing-lane by those who understood well what
they were about, and who thought the free-traders in
'the House of Commons would be caught by their
superficial contrivance. The effect of the duty on
colonial sugar being reduced from 245. to 205., while
;the great bulk of foreign sugar was only admitted at
!a. duty of 345., would give 14s. as a protecting duty
:to the colonial interest, instead of 10s., as was pro-
'posed by. the Government plan. There were some
unwary people, who said, if they got sugar cheaper,
1 what mattered it if the colonial interest got a little
advantage too. The free-traders denied that sugar
,would be rendered any cheaper by the reduction of
'the duty on colonial sugar. The 4s. would be trans-
iferred from the revenue, into the pockets of
the monopolists; and 45., on two - million hun-
;dred weight of colonial sugar, amounted to
800,0001., which would be annually taken from the
'revenue, and which the people would have to make
up in some other shape. The public and the revenue
were in the same boat—the monopolists were in the
other boat. If that sum were thus abstracted from the
revenue for the benefit of the colonial interest, they
,would have to pay it in some other form. It was
through the absorption of' the revenue that ought to
go to Queen Victoria, by the monopolists
of this
country, that they had to pay the income-tax already.
—(Loud cheers.) What was this mean amount they
proposed to transfer to the pockets of the monopolists ?
They said it was a small sum. A duty of 41s. on
4,000,000 cwt.—which was what the monopolists
wanted—amounted to 800,0001. per annum, and that
in -capital would purchase what was equal to
20,000,0001.; and the proposition of the Hon. Member
for Bristol would take from the pockets of the people
of this country another 20,000,0001., and put it into
the pockets of the monopolists.—(Cheers.) Ile had
stated these things because he perceived there were
good friends of his whose chins were not long enough,
and who were liable to be gulled by this trick.—
(Laughter.) He told them that the reduction of
the duty on colonial sugar would not reduce the
price to the consumer one farthing, and as they
were told that a future period, probably nexe year,
there would be a great change in the sugar duties—
for Sir R. Peel put a hypothetical case with regard
to the reduction of the colonial duty to 165., and the
reduction of the duty on foreign sugar in a corres-
ponding proportion —it should be their business to
understand what differential duties were, and if they
could once make the people understand that, no Mi-
nister would dare to come down and make such a pro,
position.—(Hear, hear.) Now, he told them that if
the Government were to take off the whole of the
duty on colonial sugar to-morrow, they , would not
have sugar one farthing cheaper than they had it
now.—(llear, hear.) The only way to reduce the
price of sugar was to increase the supply of it in the
1 market, if the power of consumption remained the
same.— (Hear,. hear.) If the whole of the 245. duty
were taken off, it would only be putting the whole
of the amount derived from the duty by the revenue
into the pockets of the monopolists.—(Hear, hear.)
Take off 4s. or is. from it, and they would have an-
other income-tax.—(Hear, hear.) If they could
only have .the public well informed on the sub-
:
ject, they would soon get rid of the gross
fraud of differential duties. The proposition
of the Hon. Member for -Bristol was neither more
nor lesi than to take so much from the pockets of the
people and give it to the landed owners of Jamaica.
:—(Hear, hear.) When the colonists came forward,
ind_proposed protection as a remedy for their griev-
ances, they should see whether it was a system which
worked well for the colonists even themselves. Se-
veral gentlemen in the House of Commons almost
cried over their distresses and the distress of those
connected with them, because their property was of
no value. But it should be recollected that those
distresses happened when they were protected by a.
duty of 643., which
. -amounted to a prohibition of
foreign sugate—(Hear, bear.) If such a duty did
not enable them to bring on their business, did it not
argue that they, were on a wrong task altogether—
(Hear, hear)e—and that a system which was beyond
all doubt injurious to the consumers,' was not even
beneficial to those for whose benefit it was intended ?
They should, therefore, get on a new tack. His Hon.
Friend the Member for Manchester (the M. Gib-
son) put the queition on its right footing, when he
said that when they were called on to vote supplies
for the Crown they should not vote supplies to the
monopolists, but that having voted the supplies to her
Majesty, the .West India interest ought to come
forward with their claims, which would be
voted separately, if they were entitled to any.
—(Cries of " Hear, hear.") But before they
voted them, they should first inquire whether they
managed their properties in the best way.—(Hear,
hear.) They should do as people did when a debtor

would all agree in giving him Judas as a Or °, 01
—(Lunghter.) Among the recent inventoa too
discoveries, riot the least remarkable was thtetli
which Sir R. Peel had lately ascertained to • 0
principle of administration, and whiCß
founded upon, justice and sound
he meant the relaxation of the corn
prohibitions and restrictions, and the introdatoll
articles produced in other countries to comPTe
the
those produced in our own. He did not InaAo
discovery before he came into office. There 0:0. it
hifeeleel
announcement of it in the Tamworth man
never was proclaimed on the hustings in t-e„;es e-
a 1841, hut it came out now in the diffien'' enact
entanglements of his position. It recoTniode
him to some of' his followers, but Oed 110
him ixlious to others. It certainly frif!oipotA,
no confidence from any ; and if, as WO rep('
the Whigs were too pragmatical to advoctiP the
of the corn-laws, and that Sir R. Peel prolin'e°'°!
League would certainly receive• such a pro Pro
from his hands, but not as from a champion,' ichols
been its consistent advocate, but from one 'n ietl
they had no confidence, and from whom theme hieb
power of public opinion had wrung a men:lljelo4,
should never have been refused.—(Hear') „OW'
often in that place advanced earnest reconnlie:' ever!'
to those assembled there to exert themselves 'no the
way that their circumstances allowed to Prel7,lol)i;
Liberal registration, and that whoever had i„,"001(10`
power to obtain this great political right •,'“recosid,
once put himself in possession of if. Ile hau• so`
mended them that they should, by conversannose
by the distribution of tracts, spread abroad the of the
ledge of their principles and their convictionloo
truth ; and he trusted that he might be 1;
in taking on himself to offer a few sugge'trocite'
those who might be regarded as the vn r 10,:
of their cause in the House of Commons. -1-°,oo'
self, he owned that it would gratify his feelingse
more if he saw those members of the Lesley(
were M.P.'s, acting more in concert than t
peared to have done on a recent occasion.'' ore
hear.) If there we're but few, they had thl'ejf
ibe
need for steady and efficient co-operation. „olio:
question did not involve principles, then theta
thing to sacrifice ; and if it were a (I°ltl-iitlie
principle, then he had no doubt but ooa
consultation would bring them all to tot the
conviction as to any great application
principles of free trade. At a time when tb • in
l,cri,
vernment was endangered—at a time ``hen
fact, the Government was preserved by °„;sr,'
majority of twenty—it was time for the o'o4
dozens to look about them, and consider wberiej
weight could be best thrown—how they Could bed
unite for the common good, and how they oi°llo,so'
advance the great cause which they alma
He did not say but those Members acted did P,
most honourable and honest motives, but be,: ill,'
wish to see those twelve gentlemen w",g,"
filled that chair, and spoken from that platfo'-v.ietl'
vided as to the course they pursued ;_but thefto!
in fact, divided into three or four different Pa
ea
(Hear, hear.) He did not wish to see those nietbesi
holding Peel in office. He did not wish to see, for!
a party to any decision which tended to pro µh!
week, or a single day, a Government in offieje 0410
ruled over Ireland with so much oppession, finuaor,
made the Post-office of England a great Sr?' .11/10:,
(Loud cheers, and cries of "Hear, hear?) florin
advocated a mock Liberalism, and supported In% 01"'
when it could—a Government of subterfti pd
false pretences—a Government which wag, jibetv4
against the constitutional, open, fair, an', wow;
meetings of the people of Ireland, and vidli,e'diveli
wage warfare against meetings here if 1'
Government, in fine, which had opposed, 1111", of ra
oppose as long as it could, the first rigi-"'„,.oda‘,
Englishman--an open market for the r; ss"
of his labour and cheap food.—(Hear, be,3l,t tb
prolonged- cheering.) He was glad to find `-jvaa;
feelings of the meeting were his, if he rightio c 1
derstood them.—(Renewed cheering, and bled
" Hear, hear.") The veterans who had asse!,:
the Waterloo banquet should recollect what it „
that first led to the downfal of the desiodoill
was finally overthrown at that tul)-,,,biv
conflict. It was the Berlin decree ,sioos,
imposed, or at least attempted to iriocet
fetters upon commerce—that was the first an"_.reetc
effectual blow that Napoleon, in his ambitious feel,
ever received. Buonaparte threatened, and, 'nog
declared, that all the ports of Britain were inPoter
of blockade—that was, in fact, what the r 1
titionists now, in substance, declared—theloetc'
nounced to every foreign ship that el th°
was restricted, and that, however nwe',,opoll
people of this island stood in need of food, 10,', ,Is°
reigned there triumphant, and would exclude "e is'
far worse and more dangerous, because IneriVi
sidious, enemy than Napoleon.—(Hear, hear.) iresi
might devastate countries, and overthrow eillot
and annihilate cities; but monopoly, though Wee
rapid or perceptible in its progress, was quite as `ace+
tual in its operations. Under its baneful intll`ll#
gradual, sure, and silent decay went forwar";,,,
waving corn-field was converted into the barren.,vtbe
ture—the wealthy merchant was impoverishedtopti
manufactory rendered inoperative, and the nableo.)
resources reduced to helpless weakness.—(Hear,
Such was monopoly which, whilst it kept the
rye
at home needy and humzry, permitted the hatTrcieo!
in foreign countries to rot from want of a su bee
number of mouths to consume them.—(lle'a'' tre
If war killed, if it stained the field and the life
with human blood, monopoly destroyed inin:ll,,Re•
st'
also, its hundreds and thousands from year
and by a lingering agency, worse to endure 4'00• 1
short stroke of the sword or the cannon-ball ; On%
war demoralised a people, so did monopoly, ei otvt
into life, as it did, theft, incendiarism, and ala ose,
evils which could befal society. He relied
overruling process for the destruction of both w were
monopoly—for the same moral law which theig
there to advocate condemned both, and w€l,"'
mately doom both to annihilation.—(Cheersq that l„
The CHAIRMAN then informed the meeting,' jog
consequence of the motion of Mr. Villiers 'et wee",
be brought before the House of Commons nest the'"
it was not the intention of the League to „ for','
usual meeting in that place, but on that AT •
night he hoped to see them all again.
The meeting then adjourned.