The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-05-14 00:00:00

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to defeat. It was impossible to lay down the principal that
we ought not to consume in these countries the produce of
slave labour ; for if so we must exclude the slave-grown cotton
of the United States. Still further, in order to be consistent,

we should prohibit the consumption of slave-grown sugar in
Newfoundland, Canada, the Cape, and in the West Indies;

for where was the principle of. allowing it to be consumed
there, while prohibiting it in Yorkshire. Yet he was well

if a proposition was made to exclude slave-
brown cotton from British consumption, not only Sir Robert
Peel and Mr. Gladstone, but even Dr. Lushington himself,

would scout the proposition as an emanation of madness
He quite appproved of the principle of endeavouring to put
down the slave trade by means of British cruizers, but he
was by no means prepared to go the length of prohibiting all
intercourse with those states in which slavery existed. It
was very doubtful whether the exclusion of cotton would
benefit the slaves in Amerfea, but a certain effect of such a
proceeding would be to plunge thousands of Englishmen in
ruin and destruction, and—a probable one—the transfer of
our manufactures to other countries. The right hon. gentle-
man denied that the budget had been brought forward with-
out great confidence on the part of the government that they
would be able to carry its chief propositions. At all events
the good seed was sown, and before long the proposed reforms
would become the law of the land. It might be true that the
present ministry might not occupy their present place, but
they would remain true to the principles of their party, and
it would not be the first instance in which that great party
had willingly yielded the harvest to parties who had taken no
share in sowing the seed.
• Mr. WARD said that the proposition of the noble lord
(Sandon) was very skilful, as was very clear from the ease
with which the right hon. member for the Tower Hamlets
(Dr. Lusbington) had fallen into the trap laid for him. The
hon. member contrasted the condition of our manufacturing
population with that of .the West Indian negroes, and said
that the prosperity of the latter would be far more gratifying
if it was the result of labour finding its own level in the Eu-
ropean markets ; but, unfortunately, it was the result of
an indirect tax which pressed heavily on the poor of. Eng-
land. He was of opinion that the corn-laws might be
altogether repealed if corresponding changes were made in
our fiscal regulations. This question, they might rest
assured, whether understood in that house or the contrary,
was perfectly well understood by people out of doors, and
would not be readily abandoned.
Sir R. INGLIS said the question before the house was not
whether the budget of the Chancellor of the Exchequer was
to be agreed to, or the contrary, but whether the house was
prepared to place the slave owner in a better position than in
which he now stood. He hoped that neither that house nor
the people of this country would ever consent, for the sake
of getting their sugar a penny a pound cheaper than it now
cost them, to offer such a direct premium for persevering in
the traffic in slaves.
Sir G. CLERK said he was astonished that any person of
the name of the right hon. gentleman should have said that
it was quixotic and absurd to put a stop to slavery by dis-
couraging the produce of slave labour. No one would deny
those principles of free trade which might be considered as
axioms in the abstract. No one would contend against the
principle that we should not force our poor lands to produce
what we might get cheaper from more genial climates. In
the abstract there was no denying the principle, but then
there were disturbing causes, such as the national debt and
others, which so raised the value of money, that it was
hopeless to enter into competition with foreign countries
without adequate protection. He believed it would be ad-
mitted that, in respect to articles of food, it was desirable
to render this country as far as possible, independent of
foreign supply, but this could not be accomplished if the
protection afforded by the corn laws were withdrawn. The
right. hon. gentleman contended that this country in bring-
ing sugar from Brazil to be refined here, and re-exported,
did not add to the evils of the slave trade, because Brazil
was already in possession of the European markets, and
what was thus brought did not supply the place of sugar the
produce of free labour, which would be the case if it was
admitted for consumption in the home market. The right
hon. gentleman concluded by declaring his intention to op-
pose the proposition of government as calculated to disturb
our commercial relations, without at all benefitting the con-
sumer, while it would be injurious to the West Indies, and
would afford great encouragement to the slave trade.
Mr. C. Woon regretted that so little solicitude for the
suffering people of this country had been displayed by those
who supported the resolution of the noble lord, the member
for Liverpool (Lord Sandon). The hon. member for Not-
tingham (Mr. Walter) had certainly called upon the house
to take into consideration the condition of the labouring
classes ; but he had, notwithstanding, concluded by announ-
cing his intention to vote against a measure calculated to af-
ford them some relief. The hon. gentleman read some let-
ters, giving a most gloomy description of the state of our
manufacturing population, and then said he was ready to ad-
mit that some of the protective interests might suffer from
the government proposition, and that landlords might find
in many instances that it had caused a diminution of their
rentals ; but, for his own part, he was ready to forego a por-
tion of the protection he had hitherto enjoyed, in order to
carry out a great financial and commercial measure, calcu-
lated to benefit all classes of society. The hon. gentleman
then contended, that if the measure proposed by government
was sto be rejected by gentlemen on the other side of the
house, they ought to give some hint of the measures which,
in their opinion, ought to be adopted. The hon. member
entered into a description of the various modes by which the
financial difficulties of the country could be met, and having
deprecated anything in the shape of direct taxation, as being
oppressive to the industry of the country, and repudiated the
principle of meeting a falling revenue by raising loans, con-
cluded by declaring his opinion that every view of the ques-
tion showed that the only true policy was to meet the de-
mands upon the country by promoting its trade and com-
merce, by an alteration of those regulations which gave mo-
nopolies to the few, to the injury of the many.
Mr. GouLasunN contended that, under the circumstances
attending the concession of emancipation to the negroes, it
was impossible the house could agree• to the proposition of
the Chancellor of the Exchequer. It was evident, from the
returns which had been read, that the supply of sugar calcu-
lated upon for the present year was many thousand tons
greater than had been imported for a series of years, so that
the right hon. gentlemen might safely rely upon an increased
revenue from sugar, without passing his proposed measure,
—that, in fact, the revenue would be this year largely in-
creased by simply leaving things alone. The arguments in
support of the measure as one of commerce were as futile as
were those which had been advanced in support of it in a fi-
nancial point of view. He admitted that dissatisfaction pre-
d in the Brazils against this country, but not on the

ground of its protective duties, but because of its strenuous
exertions to put down the slave trade ; but he could see no
difference in principle between their doing so and offering an
open encouragement to slavery by admitting slave-grown
qmrar. With respect to the admission of slave-grown cotton

case of sugar the

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