The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1840-06-12 00:00:00

BRITISH OtTIANA,

EXTRACT FROM A LETTER DATED DEXIERARAO MAX' CH
STH, 1840.
" I am sorry to say our prospects in this once flourishiog
colony still continue very gloomy ; insomuch that many peo.
pie are trying to realize what little property they have in
order to quit it for good and all. This, however, is only
what was to be expected ; as, for the last fifteen years, we
have been so harassed and oppressed by the legislative enact-
inents of the mother country, that the spirits of the colonists
have quite broken down, hundreds of respectable families and
individuals have been consigned to ruin and beggary, and the
hopes of almost all completely and for ever blasted.
It has been said that British Guiana remains a real terra
incognita; and with shame we must confess that we know
little indeed of the internal resources of this splendid colony,
which, unless some decisive measures he instantly adopted,
is, we have great reason to fear, doomed in no long time, to
become a second Africa, and its present inhabitants will be
ultimately exterminated altogether, or I have to fall back like
the North American Indians, to give place to their new
masters, the blacks, who amount to 80,000 ; and who, it is
not improbable, will be joined by those of Surinam ; in which
case, what would one, two, or three thousand militia, and it
may be six or seven hundred regular troops avail us ?
" We know that in this warm relaxing climate, indolence,
like drunkenness, and all such pernicious habits, grows upon
those who unfortunately give way to it ; and although so
many slaves have been freed within this colony in the course
of the last ten or twelve years, there have been, compara-
tively, only very few instances of free negroes, male or fe-
male, working in the field for hire. They consider it a dis-
grace to be so employed. Every river and creek now swarms
with idle and worthless free people, many of them very bad
characters. In this district alone (Christianburg) there are
upwards of two hundred, not one in ten of whom has any
settled place of abode, or visible means of subsistence, inde-
pendent of hunting and fishing ; so that with this example
before our eyes, and with such an immense tract of unoccu-
pied country around us, to which the negroes may retire and
indulge in sloth and idleness, what can we expect but that
before many years shall elapse they will sink into savage life,
instead of rising to the condition of a respectable, happy, and
industrious peasantry.
" That there may be a remedy, however, for such a state
of things, I do not mean to deny ; and that remedy, if any-
where, is to be found in immigration. But even as to this
the planters' hopes are gone ; nor, as you may well suppose,
have the terms on which her majesty's government have
offered them a bill to promote it, tended in the slightest
degree, to give them encouragement.
" At present, as I have already observed, we are acquainted
with only a very small portion of the interior of Guiana.
Inexhaustible in its natural treasures, it has been hitherto
most strangely.neglected ; although a few thousand pounds,
judiciously expended in exploring it, would, there is every
reason to believe, be productive of incalculable benefit, not
only to science, but to the British nation. But, if such con-
siderations be insufficient, there is yet another and a higher
one. Are not the souls of the native Indians equally pre-
cious in the sight of God with those of the African race.?
And why, I would further ask, has so much money been la-
vished, and so many valuable lives sacrificed in a fruitless
attempt to Christianise the blacks on the coast of Africa,
and in endeavouring to establish a trade with the savages of
the interior of that pestilential country, whilst the poor be-
nighted, -but mild and inoffensive Indians, inhabiting one of
the fairest portions of the globe, have been neglected and
left to perish, uncheered by one ray of hope or glimpse of
future happiness? For, until last year, not one missionary
has been sent amongst them, nor a single attempt made to '
instruct them in the right knowledge of God, or to extricate
them from their lamentable state of ignorance. I have been
protector of the Indians for Demerara river more than 21
years, and have frequently brought the subject forward ; but,
I regret to say, it was of no manner of use; and I now
almost despair of ever being able to benefit them, or to draw
attention to the resources of a country which could alone
furnish more than a sufficient quantity of the finest and most
durable timber in the world, for the use of all the ship-build-
ing establishments in Great Britain and Ireland."

AVERAGE PRICE OF WHEAT FOR FORTY YEARS

Notwithstanding the increase of population, when we take
an average price of wheat for forty years, a list of which now
lies before me, I.aid to be a copy from the London Morning
Chronicle, and which I take for granted is official, we shall
find that the last ten years have been much the lowest :-
1795, 739.04... 1805, 875.1 d... 1815, 635.8 d... 1825, 665.64.
1796, 76 6 .. 1806, 76 9 .. 1816, 76 2 .. 1826, 56 II
1797, 52 6 .. 1507, 73 1 .. 1817, 94 0 .. 1827, 55 0
1798, 50 6 .. 1308, 78 11 .. 1818, 83 8 .. 1828, 60 5
1799, 97 6 .. 1809, 94 5 . 1819, 72 3 .. 1829, 66 3
1800,110 6 .. 1810,103 3 .. 1820. 65 10 .. 1830, 64 3
1801,115 11 .. 1811, 92 5 .. 1821, 54 5 .. 1831, 66 4
1802, 67 6 .. 1812,122 8 .. 1822, 43 6 .. 1832, 58 8
1803, 56 6 .. 1813,!06 6 .. 1823, 61 9 .. 1833, 52 11
1804, 60 5 .. 1814, 72 1 .. 1824, 62 0 .. 1834. 46 2

730 10

907 2 677 3
730 10

20) 1,638 0

.593 5
677 3

20) 1,270 8

Av. from 1795 to 1814, 81 17 Av. from 1815 to 1834, 63 6
Taking the ten years from 1805 to 1814, inclusive, the
average price annually was 90s. Bd. ; and from 1815 to 1824,
inclusive, after establishment of corn-laws, 675. Bd.,—lower
235. per quarter annually. And taking in the twenty years
from 1795 to 1814, inclusive, before the corn-laws, the an-
nual average was 81s. 10d. ; and from 1815 to 1834, after the
establishment of corn-laws, 635. 6d., or 18s. 4d. lower annu-
ally.
Now, taking the consumption of the United Kingdom, for
all kinds of corn, to be 45 millions of quarters annually,—say

15 millions of wheat at 18s., 13i millions sterling,
30 millions barley, oats, tke., at 195., 13 ditto ditto,

Say 33 millions less annually ; and for the 20 years, 630 mil-
lions sterling—less than the consumption would have cost
for the twenty preceding years.
Now mark this, ye mass of the people !—an amount more
than the whole national debt of Great Britain, at 5 per cent.
For if we allow the interest of it to be 28, or even 30 millions,
we have only to multiply by 20, which will give GOO millions.
Now, here is a result taken from known and correct data, even
as to amount, (the very reverse of declamatory statements.)
affording irrefragible evidence of the egregious fallacy of the
assertions, that corn-laws have been a tax on the community,
and have made corn dear. On the one side is a statement of
£600,000 gained, on the other side is a statement of £600,000
lost, to the community 1--a pretty prominent difference ; and
if we proceed on the subject, we shall find a continuation,
also, similarly prominent. The asserters of loss can never
have investigated the subject on its own merits : they must
have been quite satisfied with imagination. Arid even Mr.
Villiers, in his prepared speeches, only gives the opinion of
men whom he calls authorities against the corn-laws, and
that no man of any consequence has given an opinion in their
favour. Does he consider the Queen's prime minister as one
of those men of no consequence, who, as his reason, (the
only thing useful in opinion), in a few words gave the ques-
tion the most suitable and correct definition,—in substance,
I believe, " that the man who would place the country in a
state of dependence on foreign countries for the necessaries
of life, must be a madman ?"

It is true he has a number of colleagues, who, in that re-
spect, are either madmen, or feign to be so, to keep up their
popularity with their supporters. The minister and they,
however, know that there are enough of sane men in the
house to prevent them from doing injury.
Again, Mr. Villiers says, there are eight hundred thousand
men in the manufacturing districts, who point to the corn-
laws as the cause of their sufferings, and to the repeal as their
cure.

If they imagine that the corn-laws are the cause, and the
only cause of bad business, and that the repeal of them is
only necessary to give them a great business, they will find
their imagination has taken a very superficial and a very in-
correct view of the subject.
The nations of Europe, availing themselves of the advan-
tage of knowledge which the results of the crusades of Bona-
parte afforded them, are proceeding in peace and security in
fostering and protecting their own industry and their own
independence. We have no power—we have no right, if we
had—to prevent them. We have not prevented them from
obtaining our machinery and our skilful workmen, and they
will not give up one inch of their markets to us.
We have already furnished them with some six millions of
gold. Where is the great trade ?—still in the imagination.
And as to our competition being regulated by the price of
corn, it is mere babbling. Why, if our skilful workmen had
bread for nothing, it would not save above Is. 6d. per week.
And what bread does machinery eat?

SPORTING . INTELLIGENCE.

MANCHESTER, TUESDAY EVENING.

As the settling on the Epsom events did not " come off"
until this afternoon at Tattersalls, several of our heavy book-
makers have been detained in London. To-morrow evening
will most probably find all " at home," when, from present
appearances, we are induced to think the weight of money
and general settling will pass over very well.—To-day's mar-
ket, as regards the proceedings on the cup event of Friday
next, was decidedly dull—by no means in keeping with the
assemblage, which was very large. A desire to ascertain how
the market ran must certainly have brought many a country
face into the room—for " business" they never attempted.
Every hour brings changes. The following are the present
prices :

THE MANCHESTER CUP.
4 to 1 against Mr. Ramsey's The Doctor.
5 to 1 ~ Lord Eglinton's Bellona.
6 to 1 „ Col. Cradock's The Cripple.
7 to 1 ~ Mr. Heseltine's The Shadow.
71 to 1 „ Sir T. Stanley's Apothecary.
8 to 1 „ Mr. Collett's The Dean.—t
9 to 1 „ Mr. Haworth's Fair Louisa.—t
12 to 1 „ Mr. Bell's La Sage Femme.
13 to 1 , Mr. Jackson's Wings.
15 to 1 '„
Mr. Loy's Ararat.—t
100 to 1 „ Sir J. Boswell's Anna Maria.
50 to 25 Cripple against Wings; 5 to 1 against Louisa
and La Sage Femme (off).
All the horses, except Anna Maria, have reached, we be-
lieve, the scene of action. The meeting will be about an
average one.
TATTERSALL'S—MONDAY.
Although the regular settling for the Derby and Oaks does
not take place until to-morrow, Tuesday, there was a tolera-
bly full attendance, and several small country accounts were
adjusted. The betting was too flat to require any introduc-
tory remarks.