The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1852-12-07 00:00:00

FREE LABOUR IN THE WEST INDIES.

Now that the principle of unrestricted competition,
as laid down by the Act of 1846, is by tacit consent
to be maintained, at least for a time, it would be as
well to bear in mind that the author of that Act, the
late Sir ROBERT PEEL, was opposed to that inter-
ference with the Sugar duties which formed the
leading measure of his successor, Lord JOHN Rus-
s ELL. The latter, guided by no principle but the
selfish theory of his Manchester allies, to buy in the
cheapest market, and caring for no interest, how-
ever important, nor the breach of any engagement,
however sacred, responded to the demand for cheap
Sugar, and in doing so ruined the West Indies, and
directly encouraged the worst horrors of Slavery.
Our attention has been more immediately called to
this subject by a publication which has just been
issued by the Colonial Sub-Committee of the
National Association for the Protection of Industry
and Capital throughout the British Empire. It is
entitled, " The Case of the Free Labour British
Colonies submitted to the British Legislature and
British Nation for an impartial Re-hearing" ; and,
if ever the cause of truth and justice is to obtain its
due position in the councils of Great Britain, this
case of the suffering West Indies will receive far
more consideration than was bestowed on it by the
untractable Earl GREY and his incapable colleagues.
Nor is it a question in which West India interests
alone have a share, for British commerce equally
demands it, and humanity also, shocked by the
sufferings of the hapless negroes in countries produ-
cing slave-grown Sugar. When the British Legis-
lature took credit for its humanity, in sacrificing
twenty millions sterling, in order that Slavery might
be abolished in our own colonies, not half the debt
was paid, and the suffering owners of estates were
told to look to two sources of compensation—the
apprenticeship of their former slaves, and the advan-
tage of a British market, which was secured to
them by the system of differential duties. They
yielded to the appeal from the mother country, and
abolished the apprenticeship ; and then, when it
was a bare struggle to exist, their ruin was com-
pleted by the Whig-Radical surrender to the demand
for cheap Sugar. With no resource for labour but
the will of the manumitted negro, who, following
the dictates of his uncivilised nature, did as little
as possible, the planter found the produce of his
highly paid six hours a-day brought into competi-
tion with the eighteen hours a-day forced labour of
Cuba and the Brazils. The consequence was inevi-

table, and England may now survey the fruits of
her modern policy in ruined colonies, and Slavery
more rampant than ever under slave-drivers over
whom she has no control.
The Manchester Free-Traders have boasted that

England has saved a million a-year in the price of
Sugar ; but they are short-sighted politicians. Five

times that amount would not repaj' the ann

to British capital in the West Indie

sequent loss to trade in what was at

one time

)rolific

source of commerce

thropist may indulge in the ple

he penny a pound 1

en wrung

f the v

abolished, nor can they anticipate much from the
assistance of Government, with reference to a better
supply of free labour; but justice and humanity
alike demand that the produce of slavery should not
by fiscal regulations be placed on equal terms with
theirs. They seek no exclusive advantages, but a
mere modicum of justice, and one which it is to
the interest of the mother country to grant ; and
though Manchester men may talk largely about the
abolition of all protection, impartial persons will
not forget that the abolition of differential duties,
with respect to free labour and slave-grown Sugar,
is, in reality, a premium on the latter. We may
be powerless to controul the domestic legislation
of either Cuba or Brazil, but, by affording a due
amount of protection to our own colonies, we may
virtually discourage a persistence in the slave
system, and restore in some measure that source
of British commerce which has so long lain under
the incubus of Whig misrule. Let us hope that,
now we have a Conservative Ministry at the helm
of affairs, some advance will be made in a right
direction, and England may once more attribute
her national greatness to " Ships, Colonies, and
Commerce."

THE ROMAN CHURCH MILITANT IN
ENGLAND.

CHASTISEMENT OF WOMEN BY PRIESTS.

THE social evils arising from Roman Catholic
Priestcraft in Ireland have frequently demanded
our attention and reprobation. Lawless, audacious,
and disgusting ss have been the recent perform-

ances of the Priests in that country, we were yet
ha; lly prepared to bear that any member of their
body would venture on the commission of the most
shameless and unmanly of their practices in the
midst of the Protestant people of England. On
Thursday last, however, a case came before Mr.
A'BECKETT, at the Southwark Police-office, which

shows how truly it may be said of the Reverend
Immigrants from Ireland, " Ccelum non animum
mutant." As the case has yet to be submitted to a
superior tribunal, we shall not assume the state-
ments of the complainant to be true, except where
they were not 'contradicted by the professional
adviser of the accused. MARY MURPHY, a young
woman, the wife of a labourer living in Bermond-
sey, gave birth to a child some four weeks since.
Before her marriage she had been a Roman Ca-
tholic, but since that event she had become a
Protestant. Two or three days after her confine-
ment she received a shilling as relief from Mr.
DANIEL DONOVAN, Roman Catholic Priest of
"Webb-street Chapel, Berdmondsey, and she was
also relieved by the Nuns of the Convent at Ber-
mondsey. Shortly after this she had her child
baptized by the Rev. Mr. ARMSTRONG, a Protest-
ant Clergyman. Mr. DONOVAN thereupon called
upon her ; and being informed by her of this fact,
in answer to his questions, he struck her on the
side of her head with his umbrella, and exclaimed,
" Don't you think you have sent your soul to the
devil ?" She replied, " She did not." The priest
then retired. In three or four minutes he re-
turned, and, in the presence of the woman's land-
lady, struck Mrs. MURPHY three times with his
umbrella, saying to the landlady, " Why don't
you send those devils out of the house ?" It was
stated that the landlady, a Roman Catholic, after-
wards took the bed from under the woman, and
left her and her child to sleep on the floor. On
cross-examination by the legal adviser of the priestly
aggressor, Mrs. MURPHY was exposed to insulting
questions about her marriage, which she answered
satisfactorily.

The defence set up for the accused was that Mr.
DoNovAN, having " questioned the woman closely"
(as reverend gentlemen accustomed to the confes-
sional are so well qualified to do) about the father
of the child, and thinking that she was telling
falsehoods, " rebuked her, at the same time gently
touching her on the shoulder with his umbrella."
This is the old plea which the lawyers call molli-
teo manes, &c , without the necessary preliminary
of spewing a justification for the assault.
Now, although there will assuredly be but one
opinion throughout England upon such conduct
and such a defence, it is most important that
expression should be given to public indignation,
and that the people who are exposed to the arts of
the Irish Roman Catholic Clergy should be made
to understand what manner of men they are. The
condition of poor Ireland is the appalling result of
the revolting tyranny of the Reverend DoNovANS.
Sir FRANCIS HEAD, in his recent work, " A Fort-
night in Ireland," has ably investigated the source
of the " Degraded Condition of the Irish people."
The first question which that acute observer puts
to himself is, " Have the Imperial Parliament and
British Government been the cause of the moral
degradation of Ireland ?" After enumerating the
great things done by the legislature for the sister
country since the union, he comes to the inevitable
verdict of "not guilty." His second question is,
" Have Irish landlords been the cause of the moral
degradation of Ireland ?" and he is forced to the
conclusion that the charge is " not proven" against
them by the facts. He shows, too, that the Irish
people themselves are not the guilty parties; but on
examining the question " are the Priesthood of Ire-
land the cause of its moral degradation ?" he boldly
affirms that they are, and appends a body of evi-
dence in proof of his assertion, which shows to the
admiring reader of what the DONQVANS are
capable.

THE BUDGET

As many of our readers may not care to wade
through the elaborate statement with which the

CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER introduced his
budget, we subjoin the heads of the principal items.
The payments for light-houses is to be reduced
to the extent of £lOO,OOO a year. The question of
pilotage and ballastage is to be considered,
and admiralty rights of salvage, anchorage, &c.,
abolished.

The sugar duties are not to be altered, but sugar
may be rened in bond. _ _ _ _

The malt duty is to be reduced one-half, and ld.
per lb. on hops taken off.
The duty on tea is to be reduced 41d per lb., and
2d. per lb. everyyear until it is oue shilling.
The tax on incomes from trades and professions
is to be reduced to sid., and begin at £lOO a year.
On income from realised property it is to remain at
7d., and begin at £5O a year. On farmers the
income is to be calculated at one-third instead of
half the rent. It is also to be extended to rents and
salaries in Ireland.

The house duty is to be raised from 9d. to is. Gd.
on private houses, and 6d. to is. on shops, and to
begin at ilo instead of £2O a year.
The navy estimates are to be increased £600,000,
and the Public Works Loan Fund Commission
abolished.