The Sun.
London, England, 1842-05-24 00:00:00

THE AMENDtiU SPICE TARIFF-

TO THE RIGHT HON. SIB 11. PEEL`i.BAnT',O,
SIR,—My father became a spice planter in . the rars.
vince of Malabar, in Western India, forty-Oir
ago. In 1828 I succeeded him. lam thus the old.
British landholder in India, and almost the sole
spice planter. The other platters, in number 0.7„
thousands, arc all natives, They are thousands of
distant, helpless, and unable to wait npon you. in desPr uai,.
tations, headed by Memberm of ParliainePt,
to
Tulrge their •
explain how the new tariff afrecta them.-
situation will, lam sure, secure your attention.
on their behalf, state their case as brieflr As I clit'eltho3
stancing one article only, and leaving you to\\ol9--
application to all other products of their industrP. 4
Pepper is the staple production of Malabar. :t'-'1,701e
within the memory of man, Malabar supplied the
world with this spice, as it had done for, previous 701
(just as India once supplied the world with cotton
sugar). At the present time, fifty years alter the E"
India Company's dominion, Malabar- supplies only of
twelfth part,* the other eleven parts having been for ce
into existence (like cotton in 'the United States intile
same period) in Borneo, Celebes, and the other nod
merous eastern islands, but chiefly along the west and
south-west coasts of Sumatra, a cession made to Pollan

in 1834.
In the new tariff, first published, pepper from Driti4l
plantations was'rated at 3d. per lb., foreign at
In the amended tariff, all pepper, British or 1(.7.,6°,0
is rated at 61. I respectfully submit that this 03.'1.1_6
ought not to be made, and for the following; reasons tba
The undermentioned seven islands and palaces
_l,, mi.
Eastern straits, coasts, and Archipelago, are Ail fri`:`,„l,4
tish ports, open to the trade of all nations, wit'bottrocwr
tax, or impost of any kind being levied upon ,110,,.08,4,.
modities, or, I believe, their.shipping ;. namely,: 1' no
Malacca, Singapore, Moulmein, Mergui, fat the
Martaban. In Penang, there is no land-tax. In
~ nio-
others almost a nominal one.., There, are there
,-"Tveri
nopolies, as in India, of opium, s ;
alt, and tobacco.
financial charge of those settlernews, civil, milita
rine, medical, ecclesiastical, jtidiat4 and poli-`,.t'p
charges for stores, convicts, and public works, suie.of
pensions, and retirements, are borne by reol,l,ised
Continental India, and paid out of the rev 'Niue 'Ol to
from them. They also furnish the troops .rol°lr
protect those.settlements from attack.
In all continental India, there is not one fjeetb
similar to the above. In India generally, and x' ):Zior
India especially, every single article of produce to
port, and export duty coastways, varying from 04ot!
sixteen per cent.. In Malabar every article p 0 and
from port to port in the province,
.besides stamp'souto
fees. Pepper, for example, if taken, as from lits',llf+
Dover, four miles, pays fifteen per cent., whether 41iejt
British or foreign bottom. Liland, almost every °dos
in South India pays transit duty. No Foreign Vt4(ie
not having settlements in continental India. cart 'fit,
to any other than the three principal ports, Cul-, er
Madras, or Bombay. All the intermediate ports ar, (1,11
eluded, therefore, by express treaties, made by k%115'
for its own behoof, from direct foreign trade.
BesideS these duties, inland and sea, there is ley? 4.0.
land-tax throughout continental In,dia, the setticd
vinces of Bengal excepted ; which amounts, it is 09,
puted, to at least forty per cent. of the gross 1.1vc1,11:00
the soil ; that is to say, to ten per cent. more,'P'-, At!'
extreme rent levied, or leviable, in any other co'-101
The Court of Directors have declared their opinion.oj,
if the net rent of the land be taken in Malabar, no 11,,,1
tice will be done to the Proprietors. I may here 11'.0
the whole rental of the United Kingdom were taken
tax by. the State, would' it eater the mind ofanY -;!
man to levy an export duty upon all the produce, °r
deed any other tax at. all?
Further, the debt, home and foreign, charged ter;
people of India amounts to about 40,000,000/. its
The gross annual revenue levied upon them is I),F
15,000,0001. or 16,000,0001. The sum remitted. PY
to England; as.. tribute, without:an equivalent
3,600,0001. a year. Besides an army of 260
they pay for a Civil Government in India, the
pensive known ;—they, pay also for a doubl
meat in England. They pay for one college
bury, - for another at Addiscombe, and for a
recruiting staff throughout the three kingdon
pay and pension •.bishops, archdeacons, chap
ministers, not of their faith. They are to pay
expenses, past and to come, of the Afghan
are to pay, in the first instance, the expenses
nese war ; they are to pay for the late p!
for war against Burmah on the east,, and Persia
west ; they pay 12,0001. a year for the Queen's Bill,'
to Persia ; and, besides paying, they are reqiiireo,
on shedding their blood in tens of thousands it
ghanistan and China, and this because it is the
or the policy, or the madness, of England so t 0
Sir, this is not the condition of the people in the
settlements, nor in the foreign islands of the Arch:
nor in any other portion of the known world.
While the people of India thus pay and bleed it
region, to them the most important clause in the Efts'
Company's Charter remains a dead letter, and tl'
tinue to be rigidly and systematically excluded
share in their own Government, and kept out
office of real trust, dignity, and emolument in ti
country, save the titular office of Justice of the
the three presidencies, for which they are inch
Lords Brougham and Glenelg and Sir Charles
Does the world's history present another .exrr
this? Is the produce of this people, by the exc.which alone they can escape starving, still to be -
as foreie-n in the United Kingdom, and' classed
of the barbarous Malays and. pirates ef the Archi
with
who are enabled to undersell, them in that ar
other market by means of the money which,,the
tale
Governmentfrom them for the purpose:
Not only, however, is this the policy, but it is d
to be the interest of England to treat India as a
country ! Sir, were it in the power of your nei;
to snake you cultivate his estate at your expert,
could he also oblige you to pay, a heavy toll 1
produce when you took it to market, while he -
took and sold his cost and toll-free, the effect,
gine, would be either that he would ruin, by und,
you in every market at home or abroad, or that 1
gain all the difference between the cost of your
and his own. If your neighbour's estate were
his gain would be the gain of that country, top
and positive loss, and to the loss of your country.
If India be a British possession, or, to use
home illustration,'a British estate, in the sense of
it prodUces; and if it be not this, what, may I ask,
Such, precisely, is the operation of the treatment
people upon the real interests of England. Ws"
sides are waged, enormous debts and expenses ,
and fresh and distant conquests made, in therm
fectly worthless. All the debts and expenses
saddled upon India; -then, to make these cot
some ostensible value, they are generously proci
be free marts of (trade for the whole world. In
to maintain them, all the charges for protecting
son, and property, for distributing justice, and •
the public peace, are imposed upon the people of
who, to meet these charges, are made to groan
odious Monopolies and ruinous taxes, the latter 11
the very same commodities of their own growth
when imported into these marts from foreign
there admitted duty free. Every man must see
the extent of these debts and expenses, and of
charges and taxes, India is impoverished and
worthless to England, and foreign countries,
petitors in the general market, enriched at
gainers.

ieftl.rtvaheof
>OOO es'
st,
fl i 114;
0)(1
lainS'boY
the o' 1
ttle
War ; cto'
of the .00
rreparatlitit
• _

- To complete the full measure of injustice and
liey, almost too revolting to be conceived, the
India are treated as foreigners in the United .
and made to compete even there with those
whose expenses they-pay. It is not in one at,
they are thus treated—it is in all. In not one
as producers, suffered to be put on the same
producers in every other country ;;and, because
not so sutrered, and because they consequent.'
yearly in thousands, the British Parliament
and, without inquiry into the real cause, legal.
wholesome deportation, under the name of c(
for the Hill Coolies !

In the particular article cited, the native
would not be more than- compensated for the:
vantages by the difference of duty upon their
which was proposed in the first:new tariff. Th.
tariff recognises the justice and necessity of
differential duty upOn the coffee of Java,
Padang, Rhio, and other foreign eastern Stet
shall be imported direct, or through the B'
ports. I soncit no more than that the same p:
carried out on the pepper of those States, and for
reason, the injustice otherwise done to e
colonial growers; who, in the instance of
principally Europeans ; in the instance of
natives--Ahe only real difference in the two cl
You will permit me to bring one other ci,
to your prominent, and, trust, timely notice'
this—that, while the amended tariff greatly .
duty charged upon the many spices which
luxuries of . the aielt and great of this
it maintains the duty of '3OO per cent upon
the only condiment, known to the poor
within reach of his means fur the wholesome
of his feud.—l have the honour to be Sir, P'!'
obedient humble'servant, • Bit(
20, Jermyn-street, April 16, 1842.

4* Present produce 2,500 tons nao
f " Net rental of England and Wales on/y:62,40,T
Poor-law Report.

MA R I 1 IR D. fsel.'o,4l
On the 21st inst., at Ruabon,- Thomas Slanton, ~ t;tl
Penynant, Denbighshire, to Edna, daughter of the 13
Pl°
Wood, Esq., of Burslem. MP-. er
On the 21st inst., at Trinity Church, Newington+ 0
George Hope, of Northampton-square, to Sophia Diary FA'
pard, of Cambridge-terrace, Hyde-park.
Ahalli, per
On the 21st inst., at Christchurch, Thomas WY" la, '
to Arnie Elizabeth, daughter of Captain Penrudo>,,
Tier Guards, of Winekton, Hants.
ef,
DIED. if, Cl°'
On the 151 h inst., at Worthing, Jeremiah Gl*'l" f''''
Esq., 111. D., aged 49.
e d fl" 1
On the ltith inst., at Alton, Hants, Henry Roc's° 'o'
Esq., aged 75. 0
On the 18th inst., at Soho, Staffordshire, Matthe- ''''
el of
son Boulton, Esq., aged 72. sg ,
On the 20th inst.: aattLßudriggahtteo-nh,ill. Mr. John Cooke' f.01.'
On the 22d inst. Thomas Gotobcd' ate'
n
Great Russell-street, Bloomsbury, aged 63. Pe
On the 22d ittst., at Vassal-road, North 13"gts71.
nant-Colonel John Ward, of the Bengal Establisho:e- "o i
Bengal .
- ,-,
----
-----."'—..-
-. : „P'lo
London: Printed and Publishld by IVIVIIDO 1° ord'
to Str
No. 112, Strand, at The Sun Office, No,. 1.,-A.'4o, • -
the County of Aliddlesezt, Tuesday, May 24) '` .' . ,

)usanas
is the iatti;ill,
and so to tetf
in the ete,
te Arehire
rld. lii
a in
a the East
, and the:9,o
luded
e
)t out fe f
,Wll
it in theitS
)f the regc v
iliaritsclaeletsAleialtoacieridsrtrilatilistbedeloin:ii3seidhe,diipbfleßp
eait
joi.etroclicerir
te;tll
Dlsuer?.neigh::lfpi
r expense,, '
toll upon Self
ile he 10„4,
ye:11:11i tinders
liresie;llvdj'l
your Po f
'ereiCel
in 1411 ell
to }'out's
luntry•
to use an
sense of
y I ask,islot
atment O.c #
Wars oti
!nses incur ef
ternselves F 6,4
lenses Oct, at
e con(lllesed
proclote
, In on),
cting e' yid
, and
,pie of Pi,"
o groan
titer laid ei
3.rowth 0m
04
- ,
ign parl:;4
st sue 1004
d of ail de i#
and reo ,c
I
'd and
et, apd
oct
ise iiii;i'°r
:)Icgiol'icaleitilori;
one are.fig
ne foot' /14
ause
ten t steP:beif
e o,' i,,e5
cieo
g .
If core
,1011;
five I Ai-
:* their ,004JA
teir Pr
pie f eca ;or
of JAY oro
a, Si'°•le
itates,
ot
priecipv,
for
the 6
coffee,, e
f pePPe
cases.
ircttm'`itL
iotice• 6t,
recioce te ;
e”h
coo
Ferro?
poil
10„,
r 0;t1P(f
le se", ro'''
3'l/011' 1