The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1840-05-22 00:00:00

POLITICAL CHARACTERS. No. V.

(From the Oxford Herald.)
MR. JOSEPH 'HUME.
" The man's an ass, and hardly worth writing about."

Every body must admit that Sir Walter Scott never penned
a sentence more strikingly truthful than the one here ex-
tracted from his diary ; but though it is an undoubted fact
that Mr. Joseph Hume is " an ass, and not worth writing
about," he has contrived to mix himself up so much with
public matters, that we cannot, in the faithful discharge of
the task we have undertaken, dismiss him without some kind
of notice. Glad, indeed, should we have been if his name
could have been left out altogether from our Gallery of " Po-
litical Characters ;" but as this is impossible, it is well to
get rid of him at once.
There are no men who have lived long, and few who have
lived but little, in the world, who are not able to state, from
their own experience, that the great secret of success in life
is impudence. Impudence is a very different quality to what
many old-fashioned persons suppose : it is a good sterling
virtue, not a mean, dirty vice. Its value in all worldly mat-
ters is so great, that parents ought to encourage rather than
check the cultivation of it by their offspring. To those espe-
cially who are destined for public life impudence is of the ut-
most importance; it is of much greater value than posses-
sions of gold and silver, or even than hereditary rank. Mo-
desty is a very pretty thing, indeed, no doubt of that ; but
modesty was never intended for these glorious times of Re-
form and Whiggery and March of Intellect. Nothing, de-
pend upon it, is now-a-days of so much importance to a man
striving to attain any worldly object, hut especially any pub-
lic object, as impudence. Let him go to work in a hold,
dashing, impudent manner, and success will be certain ; hut
let him pitch modesty to the dogs, or he will prove himself
an arrant simpleton. These profound remarks suggested
themselves to us in contemplatiag the career of certain poli-
tical and other characters, and the striking truth, which it is
their object to teach, will be apparent if our readers will say
what it is that secures the present Ministers place and pelf—
what it is that enables O'Connell to wring some twenty
thousand pounds of " Rint" from his starving countrymen—
and what it is that has made Joe flume a more important
member of the asinine fraternity, to which Sir Walter Scott
says he belongs, than others of his long-eared brethren. By
pondering these matters for a few moments, it will be seen
that impudence is a virtue of exceeding worth, for it is impu-
dence alone which has accomplished all.
Confining ourselves for the present to the " Honourable
Member" for Kilkenny, we have to say that it was impu-
dence which first obtained him a seat in parliament, and it
is impudence alone which hast kept him there. What rank
or wealth or talent has done for other men, impudence has
done for him. Though rank or wealth may enable a man to
get into parliament, it is talent alone that will gain him dis-
tinction when he is there. To be a great man amongst great
men, a peer amongst peers, demands intellectual power of a
varied and lofty order; but without a shadow of pretence
to the possession of talent or ability of any kind, flume has
contrived to make. himself a great man amongst the con-
temptible clique of little mein to which he belongs. His
brazen impudence has been to him, indeed, a pearl of preci-
ous price. It enabled him to meddle with matters which
he was about as capable of understanding as a dustman
would be to teach Greek ; and it enabled him, also, to set at
nought the biting laughs, the withering scorn, the sarcastic
jeers, which his bungling and ludicrous attempts at states-
manship occasioned. llis impudence enabled him to goon
from year to year, from day to day, chattering and snarling
about the doings of men who looked neon him as a crawling
insect beneath contempt. That same impudence led him to
set up as the watchful guardian of the public purse, and in
spite of 'defeat after defeat, to persist in boring the house
with motions and propositions, which it would not agree to,
nor listen to. That impudence led him to suggest the most
extravagant and absurd schemes, which sunk him deeper and
deeper in the estimation of thinking men. Even that impu-
dence, monstrous and brazen as it was, could not have
brought him down to the present day, bad it not been en-
couraged by an enormous quantity of self-conceit, and
backed by obstinacy the most dogged that was ever known.
His conceit is such, that he fancies himself capable of
speaking on every subject that comes before parliament;
his impudence is so great that he will thrust his opi-
nion upon the house, though it is never required ; and
his obstinacy is so great and also so extravagant that he
will divide the house twenty times on one of his ridiculous
crotchets. For him no affair is too great, none too minute.
He directs his powerful mind alike to matters affecting,
the interests of nations and to matters affecting the inte-
rests of old apple women. He pays equal attention to a pro-
position for a war with China and to a proposition for an im-
proved method of manufacturing birch brooms. Ile will
support a measure for the reform of corporations, and ano-
ther for the-reform of dog carts. He will move for returns
of theexpense of an armament, and of the cost price of tallow
candles used by the parties in the public offices. He will
bring in a bill to protect the river Thames from-incendiaries,
and another to limit the'consumption of red tape in the dif-
ferent departments of government. lie will draw the atten-
tion of the house to proceedings of the Emperor of Russia,
and animadvert on certain improper conduct of Mr. Bill
Smith, a scullion in the royal kitchen. He will infamously
attack the good King of Hanover, and laud to the skies the
rebel Mackenzie. He will move for a committee to inquire
into the commercial relations of England and the Continental
nations, and another to inquire whether it would be cheaper
to use white or blue foolscap paper. He will put questions
respecting the dethronement of an Eastern monarch, and re-
garding the number of pots of butter consumed in Bucking-
ham Palace. He will speak on every subject that comes be-
fore the legislature, whether he knows anything about it or
not. Measures relating to finance—parliamentary elections
—municipal corporations—prisons—poor laws—corn laws-
-the Established Church—ecclesiastical courts—national
education—police—Church rates—tithe commutation—vote
by ballot—Canada—universal suffrage—socialism—turnpike
roads—vaccination—Newport riots—Prince Albert's annuity
—railways—dissenters—factories--metropolis improvements
—county constabulary—court of chancery—bank of England
—chartism, and five hundred others, in all, all, all, will he
chatter, and splutter, and bluster. Notwithstanding his
clapper is continually going, there is not a worse speaker to
be found ; anything like reasoning never comes from him. He
makes the most monstrous assertions, from which be draws
the most extravagant conclusions. He begins a sentence and
forgets to finish it. He repeats himself over and over again,
and wanders from one point to another continually. What
he does say he says in a manner as if he believed it (as no
doubt he does) and others received it as " absolute wisdom."
His presumption is so great that he will take upon himself to
advise Sir Robert Peel—to censure Lord Stanley—to attack
the Duke of Wellington—to abuse Lord Lyndhurst—to at-
tempt to be witty at the expense of Sir James Graham,
though the attempt .is only a miserable failure. Poor crea-
ture ! he fancies himself a great man, but he is merely a
vain, egregious, and shallow-pated blockhead.
Still he will not pass into the grave "unwept, unhonoured,
unsung," for behold ! his name appears in the immortal
pages of Sir Walter Scott. That great and illustrious man
has conferred upon him no mean celebrity. He has ho-
noured hint with his notice, and that notice is so flattering,
so true, that Mister Joseph Hume may point it out to his fa-
mily, his friends, his country, with honest pride, and when
his early career shall have ended he may have it engraved on
his monumental tablet, as a niost appropriate inscription—an
inscription which, in One brief line, will show posterity the
eminence to which he attained, and the esteem in which he
was held by the most distinguished of his contemporaries—
" The man's an ass, and not worth waiting about."

THE NEW POSTAGE STAMP.

To the Editor of the klacele.yield courier and Herald.

Mr. EDITOR,---Many of you'r readers have been more
puzzled to find out the meaning of the design of our new
postage stamp, and her Majesty's ministers have been cen-
sured for issuing such a miserable specimen of modern art;
but, though I will not venture to pronounce upon the execu-
tion of the work, I think much may be said in commendation
of the design. It styikes me, sir, that government has in-
tended, by the pen Of Mr. Mulready, to favour us with an
emblem of the state of our internal and external affairs, and
that
urot we may understand from it, that everything is in its
wrong Place. To commence with the upper part of the
sketch, which from the representation of a Laplander in a
reingleer sledge,
is evidently
we have the said sledge half sunk
intendedu_
nk
need
in
the fo
sea,r th the
whilstnorth
severalpoint;
ships are seen on dry land.
latter part o, the picture most aptly ou t - the' '
navy. On the right hand. or east iside,
iwaey
I scarcely say, that the
haves
a state
groupof
our
of Americans and West Indians,
side, an assemblage of Chinesand,
on the left, or east
elephants, and camels. The lion, Arabs, and Indians, with
at the feet of Britannia
looks fast asleep, whilst the lady herself has lost her olive
branch, and trident, as though neither at peace nor prepared
for war. The figures proeeeeing from
Britannia, and which have been variously se
j? thei construed,
uplifted arms of
can-
not but consider as intended for embl.,-,foon , 1 f
riches
` make themselves wings and fly away,'; ataiie which
designed to
represent our fleeting national prosperity, still further indi-
cated by the empty hands of the meiancholy lacy. l But,
sir, if we have this striking picture of confusion and n •
we have also held out to us a gleam of hope, for the Ameri-
cans cans seem busy packing up, and collecting their wives and
children for a journey home, shaking hands with and wishing
farewell to the half-dressed and naked gentlemen, whom, no
doubt, they think, especially the one who has decently sat
down and turned to us a back-front, better calculated for,a
warmer climate, than for the far west. In the west, the
men, elephants, and camels seem all getting ready for a start,
the poor Chinese only appeared puzzled how to get back,
now we have destroyed their junks. Even the Laplander is
in a hurry to get out of the water, and reach dry land ; so
that the artist has favoured us with a prospect of things
coming to their right places, and of better times, if we will
only have a little patience. I think then, sir, that this new
pictorial stamp ought to be hailed by the country as an omen
of good hope, and as a proof that the ministry have seen the
blunders they have committed, and intend, like the Ameri-
cans and Chinese on the envelopes, to remove from their
false position, and to cross over from the treasury bench to
their own proper places. Let us then rejoice and be glad,
and look forward to the time when our navy will once more
be afloat, when the British lion will awake from his slumber,
when Britannia will once more smile, and all will be well.
I am, Mr. Editor, your obedient servant,
FABIUS PICTOR•

THE PENN' POST PNvf4.orr.s.—There are two ways of
acquiring immortality;
by doing
Th
i something worthy of it, or
something utterly a
Temple of Ephesus is an instga.neeafe
tmheaniattnha•rod: firedla h
class
of
tas-
pirants in ancienttimes, and the artist who designed thestrikingraaldeta penny
post envelope a striking
the design has provoked all manner of teoab, absurdity
at
f
it, and amongst them we find oner fromf " A twopenny post
letter-carrier," who has done moreth
with the invention of the royal acaadaepmeriica\nant, for he has sent
merely find fault
in a design of his own, infinitely to that which is to
spread the fame of Mr. Rowland Hill over the remotest
quarters of the globe. Next to the new caricature just pub-
lished by Fores, it is the best thing we have seeand if the
Post-office authorities do not wish to be laughed at to the
end of time they will find out the inventor, and adopt a design
less hieroglyphical than the present, and more to the purpose.
—Herald. '

AN APPEAL TO THE BRITISH NATION,

ON BEHALF OF THE
JAMAICA AND OTHER BRITISH WEST INDIA PLANTERS.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD.
SIR,—As an enterprising and loyal section of British colo-
nial subjects, who have for so many years suffered in silence
the violence and outrage of party zeal, which has almost ali-
enated them from the regard and esteem of her Imperial Ma-
jesty and her faithful subjects at home, the West India plan-
ters feel it to be not only due to their individual interest, but
also for the national weal, that the people of England should
be appealed to, on the INJUSTICE of the same high duties
being still imposed upon Sugar, Rum, and Coffee, produced
by limited FREE LABOUR in the British West Indies, toge-
ther with government taxes and intercolonial restrictions,
enforced as before emancipation, whilst EMIGRATION of suit-
able labourers is intercepted by government, though slaves
are being smuggled into FOREIGN COLONIES, to outrival and
ruin the British Colonist; and to add to these enormities
against him, it is proposed to equalize the duty of FOREIGN
SLAVE LABOUR SUGAR with BRITISH FREE LABOUR
SUGAR.
The Spaniards and Portuguese can command unlimited
slave labour, to compete against the very limited free labour
of the British planter ; who, so long as he was supplied with
labourers to cultivate his estates to the extent necessary to
enable him to stand up against foreign competition, bore all
the burthens of revenue and sundry regulations imposed upon
him by the mother country without a murmur; but since
emancipation has deprived him of the means of doing so, it
must be apparent to the world that he can no longer sustain
those heavy imposts, nor make head against foreign slave la-
bour competition, with the intercolonial and other still exist-
ing impolitic restrictions.
Admitting that the state of the revenue may require mode-
rate duties to be laid on Sugar, Rum, and Coffee, I, never-
theless conceive the present HIGH DUTIES may be consider-
ably reduced without injury to the revenue, and with even
greater advantage to all parties : " the present restraining
system is forbidding the British planters to exercise a bene-
ficial interchange of products, when, by their necessities and
their climate, they are standing in perpetual need of such
mutual traffic. All duties on, and regulations affecting the
importation of, lumber, flour, &c., &c., into the colonies,.
ought to be dbolished, or most assuredly they will be smug-
gled into the colonies by the Americans, to the injury of
British shipping, and no effort on the part of England, costly
as it would be, could entirely and permanently prevent it."
The additional duty imposed upon West India sugars dur-
ing the war, and thence called the " WAR DUTY,' was to
have been abrogated on the restoration of peace ; but con-
trarily thereto, has been continued up to the present time;
with. which breach of faith, together with the superadded
evils arising from the unceasing agitation for Negro emanci-
pation the West India planter has had to straggle for many
years, previously to, and during which agitation, he had suf-
fered, and is further doomed to endure, the injuries and dis-
advantages which did, and must continue to result to him
from other nations illicitly carrying on the slave trade sub-
sequently to its having been abolished in all the dependencies
of Great Britain. These, it must be obvious, have long been,
and still continue to be, grievances of considerable magni-
tude; but, in addition to which, the planter suffered great
hardship by the unprincipled and wanton agitation to de-
feat the apprenticeship enactment, which had the effect of
frustrating the prospective arrangements on his estates, and
of robbing him, on the Ist of August, 1838, of that labour to
which he was legally entitled by the emancipation act until
the Ist of August, 1810. Besides, his foreign competitors
(since the Ist of August, 1838, when the negroes in all the
British colonies were emancipated) have had the advantage
over him of slave labourers which by fraud and smuggling
they continue to enjoy as before, and in open defiance of the
abolition act, without any limitation, or the probability of any
interference by their respective governments to suppress it,
some of whom tolerate and openly countenance the inhuman
traffic of kinnapping and selling native Africans, fearless of
the British cruisers or executive, and so perpetrate the most
iniquitous violation of the act, to which they subscribed, to
abolish the slave trade. Yet in the face of all these flagitious
iniquities continuing to be practised by the foreign slave
master, it is proposed to equalize the duty on his sugar, and
to allow it to ne imported into England on equal terms with
British free labour sugar, and thus in effect to reward and
rerpetuate his crimes and to give the death blow to the (al-
ready greatly injured) British colonist. "It cannot be for
the interest of any British subject to promote the commerce
of the Spanish and Portuguese slave settlements to the ruin
of our own free colonies, which are now suffering severely,
from the unfair advantages obtained by the Brazils and by
Cuba."

How then can such a proposition, as relieving them from
all prohibitory duty, for a moment be entertained by the
nation, until at all events these our foreign rivals, shall not
only have fully complied with their solemn engagements with
us, to cease to traffic in slaves ; but shall also have refunded
to the nation all the expense engendered by their gross vio-
lation of that compact, and by their having countenanced the
smuggling of slaves into their colonies ; and further, until
they shall also have emancipated their slaves as we have done ?
Without these most reasonable, and indeed mutual terms be
complied with, the English nation ought not to listen to any
such proposition for the manifest and exclusive benefit of its
foreign rivals, and thus to perpetrate the grossest injustice
on its own colonists, so long as the former possess the ad-
vantages of slave labour, over the latter, co-extensive with
their requisite cultivation, and other privileges which they
have enjoyed and surreptitiously maintained for years, whilst
the British West India planter, has guardedly and strictly
fulfilled the abolition act.
Besides, for them to be placed on the same footing as our
own colonies, it would be but equal justice, that they should
in return allow free, or at least reciprocal importation of
British products and manufactures into their countries and
colonies. "It is well known that the Brazils and Cuba, by
their unlimited supply of slaves, have engrossed the sugar
market of Europe.'
" The agitators of such a measure would be carrying their
scheme, throw back in the progress of civilization those very
persons—the negroes—to advance whom in the social scale,
such mighty endeavours have been made by England. Thus
Great Britain would fail in the experiment she has hazarded,
and rivet more closely the chains of tens of thousands now in
slavery in the Brazils and in the United States, whose sole
chance of release appears to be in the successful issue of the
trial now being made in the British West India colonies."
The proposition to equalize the duty on free and slave grown
sugar—for it is nothing less—is not one that exclusively con-
cerns the planter ; all having the least stake in these colonies,
will equally feel the effects of the measure ; the abandonment
of estates—the ruin of the owners—the merchants, the me-
chanics, and the labourers, dependant for the " necessaries of
life and its comforts on the k o'Ticultu ral prosperity thereof.
If the West Indian planter be driven to on abandonment -of
his estates; because of not being allowed to employ suitable
'emigrant labourers thereon, and from the other causes enu-
merated, he will be entitled to claim the velne, paid for his
property from the imperial government,who have only hitherto
given him a consideration 'for the freedom of his people, and
not for the annihilation consequent upon that and the subse.
quent intei diction of emigrants, to fill up the void occasioned
thereby.—lf the anti-slavery party he determined, " fas et
nefas," nationally considered, to extinguish utterly the pre-
sent race or generation of West India planters, justice requires
that they should purchase their properties, and then, and not
before, will they Lave a good right to sit at home at ease, and
at their own fire side to concoct plans to newly colonize and
manage the West Indies after their own fasaion.—Pure mo-
rality is a principle that cannot take root in an uncongenial
soil, it will he the work of time and pure philanthropy, de-
void of partial benevolence and co-existing rancour, to pre-
pare the national mind for its nurture—any party spirit evoked
in such a cause will only outrage any favourable and growing
disposition thereto, and tend to close those avenues of the
mind, that alone can be approached with any chance of suc-
cess in the attempt to exalt the national morals. The friends
of the negro must reflect that abstract morality, bears the
same relation to the present state of national morals, as
CHARTISM to the existing national laws, and the government
founded thereon ; so that if the former be violently enforced,
as the latter has been attempted to be, it must be attended
with the like disasters and untoward results.

The tax on sugar which is 248 per cwt. has forseveral years
ranged from 70 to 90 per cent. on the market price, less duty ;
and the tax upon rum, being 9a. per gallon, has ranged from
100 to 300 per cent. upon the market price in bond, and in
the year 1838, was 400 per cent. ; so that the duty on sugar
and rum, is many times greater in proportion to their respec-
tive value, than the tax on any other article of our own pro-
duction, and although in a moral point of view, it may be
considered that ruin should be taxed higher than more neces-
sary articles. we must not overlook the fact that, hitherto,
the prohibitory rate of duty has not been any check to the
intemperate use of ruin, and it is known that desire abates in
the proportion that facilities for gratifying it are afforded,
whence it must be obvious that even morally considered, it
would be advisable to reduce the DUTY ox Rum, when there
would no doubt be less adulterated, and more pure rum sold,
producing comparative benefit to all parties, and at the same
time would relieve the British planter from his unjustly pro-
portioned share of the burthen of the revenue on thiB artiele,
from which excessive duty the nation derives not the expected
moral benefit, and when its treasury, if not from an extended
and honest sale of genuine unadulterated rum, (the usual ef-
fect of such a change) must, from the improvement of moral

habits creating an increased demand of other taxable articles,
derive more than the amount of the proposed reduction, at
all events the planters, as a body, should not now under free
labour be taxed beyond any other class for matters of national
concern.

To ask for a DRAWBACK on the exportation of unrefined
sugar and rum the produce of British possessions, so as to
encourage the British free labour planter, to try to compete
with the foreign. SLAVE labour planter in Continental and
other markets, would not be to seek an exclusive or monopo-
lizing privilege, for it would be to the manifest advantage of

the English iiation, inasmuch as such traffic would operate
favourably for our merchants on foreign exchanges, employ
their shipping and keep their bullion at home, by causing our
colonial productions to stand in place of the corresponding
portion of gold now or hereafter to be paid for foreign com-
modities.

How, under present circumstances; is it probable that the
planter can pay the heavy parish, public, and road taxes of
the island, in respect of estates he is not allowed to have the
most suitable and only remunerative means of cultivating.
Upwards of £2OO. a year for taxes, is being paid for an estate
whereon no labour was performed for several months after
the Ist of August, 1838, and subsequently, yea, even by the
last despatches from the island, very little has since been done,
last year it gave only one.sixth, and this year it will not re-
turn more than one tenth of former years, although liberal
wages were offered and promptly paid in silver, and the pro-
perty is within three miles froth the sea-beach, considered
now the most favoured locality. Many estates, in the imme-
diate neighbourhood of this, are suffering in the same man-
ner and to the same or greater extent; for at present
neither the home government nor the abolition party
have succeeded, nor indeed used the necessary endeavours
liberty (
to induce the Negro to go to work, but are permit-
ting an unjust interference between them and their
formera owners, which prevents and protracts any amicable
hire
wheneverlabou
hreer s
resorts upon
he suchtaa lyeer
expedient,
dai
es
nht,eh mightowev
artl'igement. Neither will the executive leave the planter
unsuspectedlv and uninterruptedly) to import and
that, in the zeal tciis rlefagiarllayaddoa;pefonr,
for that purpose,pi,is.otienettertdhiecteNdegbryo ofrrodaeirsfainnecieoduneil ; so
inxt,o).
oppres-
sions (whose state
c.l
.liss compared with the white slaves of
as though it were teiesialibkleis'
England), he will, defen-
sive,hbheiemmabmatotlneodpoanlytohfelabour
to which it is known ie is reluctant, or, from his indolent
nature, not likely to embrace. Whilst the planter, being so
restrained from procurinr, e.
thus eventually be driven to
e a supply of labour, will
funds have been exhausted in t_abandona his estates, after his
the elements of colonial prosperity, endeavour to rally
impediments created by the inotivle,rrendered fruitless by the
country,
have encouraged and co-operated with, rather
who ought to
ier than thwarted
the planter, Lord John Russell has been forewarned by Mr.
BurnleYt the agent at Trinidad, that any interdict by
which
the British colonist may he prohibited froui hiring labour
wherever it can be procured most advantageously,
productive of the worst moral effect, and that if tli.e.'•
~,a,bill be
allowed to enter into contracts, which both parties, they be
notue
consideration, and acting in good faith, may believe to be
mutually advantageous—if her Majesty's coloured subjects
in Asia or Africa are to be debarred, under the plea that they
are too ignorant to understand their own interests, from do-
ing that which is lauful to be done by their white fellow_
subjects elsewhere—such a veto would he in contravention
of those high principles which could alone have justified any
interference in the established rights of private property in
the West Indies, and destroying institutions which had been
encouraged and sanctioned for years by the highest authori-
ties in the state.
When the generosity of the English nation gave freedom
to every slave in its dominions, it boldly declared to the world
that all men had an indefeasible right to the labour of their
own hands, with liberty to dispose of it when and where they

. .
deemed it most advantagebils, dntl that after emancipation all
(without distinction of colour) would be possessed of equal
natural rights, and would be best competent to judge of that
which was most likely to promote their own happiness.
If these principles, which were solemnly invoked for the
destruction of our colonial system, are now to be discarded
when appealed to in aid of the difficult task of reconstructing
a new one, what hope of success can remain in the breast of
a colonist ? what confidence can he place in the promises or
legislation of the mother country, or in the stabilit> of the
opinion of the nation ? Instead of the courage and cheerful
hope which the accomplishment of his present most difficult
task requires, be will be filled with distrust and despondency,
and renounce it in despair. The effect will be disastrous.
Upon the broad principle of justice and freedom we com-
menced the mighty movement 91 emancipation, which has
saddled the nation with a large accession of debt, and risked
the prosperity of some of our most valuable colonies, and it
is upon the same broad principles we must' continue with
vigour and perseverance to act, if we intend the great eape-
rinzent cf free labour in the tropics to be crowned with suc-
cess.

The object of emancipation was not to injure the planter,
but to protect the Negro ; not to encourage the slave trade
amongst other nations, but to relieve Great Britain from the
stigma of slave labour; not to increase the revenues of the
Brazils, Cuba, or the slave states of America, by the sacrifice
of our own colonies. but to elevate our national character.
Without emigration on a most extensive scale, Jamaica
never will flourish. It is therefore the duty of the English
nation to urge emigration, and it must he brought to the no-
tice of parliament : all must be done during the present ses-
sion. It is in their power to increase our population from
the East Indies, America, and Africa. Look to the East
Indies ; 56,000 persons died there in 1838 from famine ! yet
the English government will not allow them to locate in our
colonies, where they would, by moderate labour, enjoy every
comfort, and become a well-fed and happy people.
Government must also be reminded of the fact, that the
Jamaica planter is burthened with threepence an acre land
tax, and a halfpenny an acre for quit rent of land, on thou-
sands of acres, which he never has- had the -means of culti-
vating, and for the greater portion of which he never will
have; these fiscal imposts are equal to 5 per cent. per annum
on ss. 10d., which is more than an acre of land is sold for in
the United States, being only ss. 71d. per acre ; and though
land in Jamaica is much more valuable than in the States,
this statement sufficiently evinces the disparaging position of
the Jamaica planter, and suggests the question, how he is to
pay these taxes, if he be compelled to desert his estates and
the island ? when there would be none but the negroes to ap-
ply to for payment of taxes, for which benefit, and owing to
whose fostered indolence, their former masters will have been
goaded into an abandonment of properties once the busy
haunts of industry. Hence it must be evident, that the ex-
chequer ought to abate the charge upon such land as yields
no return. Ought the parish tax and other subsidies for the
poor and lazy, to be exacted from owners of estates, whilst
the negroes are, by a certain party, advised to stand out for
unreasonable wages, and remain in idleness, when abundance
of employment offers at such rates as can be afforded. No
parochial relief, under such circumstances, should be given,.
it would be to confirm them in their obstinacy and laziness,
and beget overwhelming vagrancy and pauperism.
On an impartial and unbiassed consideration of the above
facts, which hear with peculiar and greater hardship on the
colonists of Jamaica than on any other of the British colo-
nies, owing to the physical and local difficulties with which
the planters of Jamaica have to contend, and from which the
other colonies. are more free. Such as the irksome and ex-
pensive cultivation of its hilly cane fields, its great extent of
un*ettled or unappropriated land, affording refuge for squat-
ters (i. e. negroes who give themselves up to sloth, and are
inclined to return to the wild and uncivilized condition in
which their ancestors were found, and thus not only cease to
render either any service to themselves, or to any civilized
community, but also to cause the annihilation of the im-
mense capital invested in lands, houses, buildings, works and
machinery, together with the valuable and undeveloped local
resources of Jamaica, and the comparatively great disad-
vantage, under which it has always been placed, of having
a less number of labourers in proportion to its cultivable
land, than most other of the British West India colonies.
Whence it must be obvious that the British planter, is
cogently entitled to an immediate and ample reduction of
duty, a repeal of unjust restrictions, an abatement of land
taxes, and a drawback on exportation, as some of the reme-
dies by which in connection with an efficient plan of autho-
rised emigration, he is hopeful, if not long deferred, to be
enabled to maintain his ground, and without which, it is to
be feared there is little chance for most of them, (especially
those of Jamaica,) to continue to cultivate their estates at
such high rate of wages as the late apprentices are demand-
ing. -

Though- the British planter were patiently to endure these
wrongs, and to submit thereto, whilst all his funds became
exhausted in the effort to bear up against these multiplied
hardships, is Mr. Mothercountry less culpable in withhold-
ing from him timely and commensurate redress !
The planter cannot think.so meanly of his fellow-subjects
in England (frail mortals as himself,) as to suppose they
conceive there is any thing in the climate, or productions of
the West Indies, that the English nation should wish their
ruin, or that the West India planter should be an exile or
outcast. Public writers and speakers, in the mother coun-
try, have it in their power to defend their fellow-subjects
abroad, and it is very clear, that for the sake of consistency
alone, if on no other account, the true patriot, after having
visited with punishment any malpractice (legalised or other-
wise,) must discontinue his inflictions. Indeed, the tolera-
tion and encouragement of the FREE COLONIES of England,
is so obviously identical with the amelioration of negro suf-
fering in foreign slave colonies, that no truly humane man
would object to affording it to the fullest extent.
This is no whig or tory question, and it shall not be our
fault if it ever be made one. Let the nation now manifest
the same zeal in the effort to do justice to the planter, as it
did to emancipate the negro ;—both classes must he equally
regarded, if our colonies be to prosper they are reciprocally
dependant on each other.
The British free labour planter calls upon the 'negros'
friends for a renewal of their exertions, and upon all who
take an interest in our colonial-and niaratime commerce, to
join in a cause so just and honourable, and one deserving the
best exertions and energies of the. English nation.
The British planter vested great capital in the colonies, on
the good faith of the nation, which is as much bound to pro-
tect the agriculturist in its colonies, from the want of la-
bourers to keep up the cultivation, and from the competition
of foreign and slave-grown produce, as it is to protect the
property of the English agriculturist from competition with
Russia and other countries. England ought to attend as
judiciously to the colonising of her colonies, as to her own
domestic policy.- Great Britain has the power within her-
Self of redressing these grieyances, she has millions of indi-
.yiduals„, whose, circumstances would be infinitely bettered by
emigrating to Jamaica and the other West India Islands.
We hope sire will look well to this. We beseech the British
public, brit-is to them, and not to Mr. Mothercountry, that
-we are to look. -We say than•to the English nation, let the
cries of barbarity, lot the human gore spilt in savage wars on
Africa's deserts rouse you, let. the horrors-of Indian infanti-
cide, the, pestilence, starvation, and miseries of the teeming
millions of.lndia, animate you to call upon the government,
to do what every principle of national interest and glory
should prompt it to do : which is, to open up a free system of
emigration to those of its colonies as are suffering for want
of labourers, from those countries, viz., America, India,
Africa, and other places whose inhabitants would thereby so
much better their circumstances and advance British in-
terest.—On behalf of the Jamaica Planters,
BY A FELLOW COLONIST.

May, 1840.

THE NEW TAXES.—A hearty laugh has been raised in
the city at the expense of the Chancellor of the Exchequer,
who, finding such a difficulty in levying 5 per cent. on the
duties on spirits, was obliged to give up such a plan in despair.
and resort to a fixed duty of 4d. per gallon. The difficulty
here lies in comprehending what there is in the pearlier na-
ture of a duty on spirits that it should make a case by itself
and not come within the general rule. The Chancellor of
the Exchequer's reason for adopting this course, that he has
done it to avoid increasing the differential duties between
different parts is considered so far from satisfactory, that he
is thought, while trying to avoid one sort of inequality, to
have produced another, and to levy an equal duty on articles
of unequal value, as for instance on ruins and brandies.
Again, the difference made between wine and spirits has
caused great surprise. The capitalist who operates in sherries
is to pay his 5 per cent.; but if he prefer brandies, he will
pay less than IZ. The accounting for such discrepancies by
a professed abhorrence to rigid justice is regarded as ludicrous
in the extranc.—Times, Tuesday.
IMPORT OF WOOL.—A return to an order of the House of
Commons gives as the total amount of sheep and lambs' wool
imported in 1839 into the United Kingdom 57,395,944 lbs.,
of which 57,379,923 lbs. are foreign, and the remaining
16,021 lbs. the produce of the Isle oMan. The total quan-
tity of foreign wool retained for home consumption was
52,959,221 lbs., and the quantity re-exported 605,049 lbs.
Of the foreign countries, by far the greatest quantity of wool
was imported from Germany, being 23,837,805 lbs. The se-
cond and third as to quantity were Russia and New South
Wales, from the former of which 7,966,954 lbs., and from the
latter 6,621,291 lbs. were imported. The quantity of British
sheep and lambs' wool exported during the same year was
4,603,799 lbs., and the quantity of yarn (including that of
wool mixed with other materials) was 3,320,441 lbs. Ot the
wool, the largest quantity, being 3,625,896, was sent to Bel-
gium. Of the yarn, the largest quantity, being 1,770,536,
was sent to Germany. The total value of British woollen
manufactures exported in 1839 was £6,271,645. The value
of the manufactures sent to the United States was consi-
derably the highest, being £2,142,352. The value of those
sent to Germany, the East Indies, and China, and the North
American colonies, was also high, being respectively £816,604,
£530,687, and £511,190.
COLONISATION OF NEW ZEALAND.—The crowded state of
our columns on Saturday 'precluded our inserting more than
a very brief notice of the meeting held in the Assembly
Rooms, on the above subject. To-day we have given in our
first page a report of the principal speeches, which, we doubt
not, will be read with interest, particularly that of Lieut.
Macdonnell, the late British resident at New Zealand, who
has resided in that country sines 1830. Lieut. Macdonnell,
in an interview with Lord Glenelg, when urging the impor-
tance of taking immediate possession of New Zealand, ob-
served, that, " as we lost Java from ignorance, we might
lose New Zealand by procrastination ; " and impressed with
these views, he is the more earnest in his appeals to the Bri-
tish public. The knowledge he possesses of the subject, em-
boldens him to advert strongly to the natives' hatred of the
French, (the Marians) arid the fearful consequences that must
ensue, should it be intimated to the chiefs that the French
intended to form a penal settlement in their country —a point
of very great moment, not only to the present settlers, but to
intending emigrants, and, indeed, to to the trade and com-
merce of this country. Dr. M`Leod has gone into the gene-
ral question of emigration with his usual perspicuity and
feeling. Mr. Johnston, in opening the proceedings, was not
less clear in the practical view which he gave of the present
position of the colony. Altogether, the conduct of the go-
vernment, it would appear, has been of a most unstatesman-
like character, such indeed, as we might naturally expect
from such a feeble and vacillating administration.—Glasgow
courier.

IMPORTANT CORPORATIONS ! !—From a return presented
to the House of Commons pursuant to the Municipal Act
for the year 1844... we observe that the revenue of the borough
of Cardigan was Os. Gd. and the expenditure ofze3 Os. Gd., to
manage which estate 4 aldermen and 12 councillors are elected.
In Blandford the income was £65 Os. Bd. and the expendi-
ture £194 175., with 1 aldermen and 12 councillors. In
Caine the income was £96 13s. 9d. and the expenditure
£l2B 2s. 9d., with 4 aldermen and 12 councillors. In Cli-
theroe the income was £126 19s. Old. and the expenditure
£lO5 10s. Bd., with 4 aldermen and 12 councillors. In Da.
ventry the income was £ll3 ss. and the expenditure
£152.125. 3d., with 4 aldermen and 12 councillors. In Dur-
ham the income, with the aid of rates, was £462 12s. 2d. and
the expenditure £lO9 18s. 9d., having 6 aldermen and 18
councillors. In Evesham, with the same aid, the income was
£424 12s. and the expenditure £374 Os. ld., with 6 aldermen
and 18 councillors. In Flint the income was £46 Bs. sd. and
the expenditure £BO Is. 9d., svith 4 aldermen and 12 coun-
cillors. In Llandovery, income £7 45., expenditure £8 Gs.,
and 4 aldermen and 12 councillors. In Oswestry, income
£4ll 6s. id., of which the sum of £368 15s. Gd. is derived
from borough rates, expenditure £3OO 12s 4d., with 6 alder-
men and 18 councillors. And many others we might name
where the receipts are equally insignificant, and the balance
due to the treasurer forms an appalling contrast—even in the
larger boroughs this contrast is more apparent than could be
wished. When we reflect that in all these places alike the
annual ceremony of a popular election is performed, and af-
terwards a solemn council convened to appoint a dignified
person to fill the civic chair. we cannot help smiling even at.
the risk of incurring his worship's frown.

I)ipping lintelligentr.

TUESDAY, MAY 19.—Wind N.E.

ARRlVED—Farewell. Kreech, and Elise, --, from Pillau.
SAlLED—Alliance, Haley, for Mobile—William, Bird, for Mar-
seilles—Victoria, Lennox, for New York—Condor, Churchill, for
Baltimore—Thalia, Rogers, for Genoa and Leghorn—Sarah and
Arsilia, Macoduck, and Louisville, Allen, for New York—Nra Sra
de Los Delores, Monterola, for Bergen—Tampico, Winder, for Cron-
stadt—Dorothea, De Boer, for Amsterdam, &c.—Beccles, Man-
thorpe, for Monte Video—Auguste, Vander Eirkhoxen, for Ostend
—Auguste, De Jaeghere, for Ostend, &c.—Baldassare, Randich, for
Trieste—Factor, Hart, for Tromsoe—Cossack, De La Rue, for An-
tigua—Harriet, Beniest, for Antwerp—St. Helena, Long, for the
Cape of Good Hope—Julerne, Jenson, for Collunborg—Jane, Wil-
liamson, for Charente—Atrialia, Albrecht, and Providence, Maas,
for Danzic—lndian, Fearon, for Halifax—Eugenie, Codlet, for
Havre and Rosen—Chase, Powell, for Malta and Smyrna—Rohina,
Gutherie, for Hayti—and Abbots Reading, Renner, for Valparaiso.

Jessie Logan, Major, sailed from St. Helena 31st March for this
port
Brothers, Daniel, and Coronation, Bradley, hence at St. John, NB,
Charlotte, Keith, hence and Halifax, at ditto
Susan, Collings, from Patras at Cephalonia, and sailed 23rd ult.
for this port
Matilda, Hodgson, hence at Leghorn
Adeona, Joumonge, sailed from ditto for this port, on the Stli
instant
Arrow, Harris, sailed from Seville for this port 21st April
Zeldennust, Kong, hence, at Zwolle
Anna Hermann Hendrike, Gust, and Fanny, Mathew, hence, at
Helvoet
Catharine, Peterson, hence, at Hamburgh
Mary linrie, Boyd, sailed from Mauritius for Calcutta 17th Feb.
• Henrietta, Claussen, and Germania, Kross, hence, at Pillars
Vesper, Bellamy, hence, at Nantes
Thames, Williamson, sailed from Marseilles for this port gth May
Henriette, Devoust, hence, at Flushing
Eugene, Perre, sailed from Marseilles for this port 12th May
Leonora, B S, from New Orleans, off Holyhead, at a a.m.
Frances, B S, from Barbados, off Point Lynas, at 11 a-m.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 20.—Wind N.N.W.
ARR IVE n .—Eliza Heywood, Heywood, from Antigua—Frances,
Dixon, from Barbadoes; sailed 15th April—Leonora, Harrison, and
United States, Barr, from New Orleans—Cumberland, Hatch, and
Canada, Wilson, from Mobile—Pampero, Roberts, from Monte
Video—Harmony, Potlich, from Grieswald—and Thomas Hunter,
, from Africa.

Freeman, Sullivan, from Manzanilla de Cuba, at this port, in 39
days. On the 6th instant, in lat. 40 0, long. 49 30, spoke the Alex-
ander, from Jamaica for this port. On the 1 tth, off Cape Clear,
spoke the Forth, from Jamaica for this port, out 79 days. And, off
Tuskar, a brig, supposed the Velocity, from Jamaica for this port.
Ann & Jane, Cocks, hence at Berbice
Elizabeth Wood, hence at Barbadoes 7th lilt.
Magnet Packet, from Falmouth, at ditto, 11th ult.
Tarn o'Shanter, sailed from ditto for this port lath ult.
Palmyra, Croal, hence and Milford, at Demerara 7th ult.
Diana, Robson ; Rapid, Bolton, and Spencer, Birkett, hence at
Demerara
Mary, Hamilton, sailed from Demerara for Mobile 95th March
Eliza Killick, Waugh, and Governor, Adamson, hence at St.
Thomas
Elizabeth, Price, sailed from St. Thomas for Santa Martha 6th
•
ultimo

Alice Brooks, Scott, sailed from Port Adelaide for Port Phillip sth
Nov.
Mir, Warglien, and Isabella, Rymer. hence at Pernambuco
Emily, Wardle, from London, at ditto 31st March, in 33 days
from the Downs
Agnes, Cobb, and Superb, Hunter, sailed from ditto for Trieste
26th March

Lawrence, Williams ; Camoens, Wilson ; Celt, Dogerty ; Joseph
P. Dobree, Hayes; Chandos, Heylop, and M'lntyre, , at
Laguna, all for Liverpool
Superb, Meihnish, from Messina, at Palermo 18th ult. and sailed
23rd for this port
Emilia, Milora, hence and Naples, at ditto
Elizabeth, Stone, hence at Trieste
Clipper, Holland, hence at Syra llth nit. and sailed 17th for Con.
stantinople
Firefly, Easter, hence at Constantinople
Challenger, Hernaman, sailed from Smyrna for this port 20th ult.
Swiftsure, Tyack, sailed from ditto for this port 28th ult.
Scipio, Watson, from Cape Hayti, at Fahnouth
Ann Wise. Nicholson, hence for Tortola, at Fowey
Julerne, for Callenburgh; Thalia, for Genoa, and Tampico, for
Cronstadt, have put back
Aurora, -, hence for Cape Breton, was spoken 2nd instant,
in lat. 30 0, long. 46

Alicia, Nicholas, hence for Quebec, was spoken 30th ult. in lat.
49 0, long. 26

Britannia, hence for Rio Janeiro, was spoken sth ult. in lat. 0 11
long. 19 15 _ _

Esk, hence for Pernambuco, was spoken Bth ult. in lat. 2 19,
long. 22 86

Esther, for this port, was spoken 26th March, in lat. 26 0 S, long.
26 0 W. of Paris

Part of the letter bag per Inca, hence for New South Wales, re-
ported in a former publication as abandoned, has been saved, and
now lies at Messrs. Cotesworth and Wynne's office. -
HULL, May 18.—The Dorothea, from Memel for this port, is re-
ported to have put into Grimsby this morning, leaky
VA LENC I May 7—A boat marked " Black-eyed-Susan, Liver-
pool," has been picked up at sea, and brought to this port.

THURSDAY, MAY 21,—Wind North.
AEI:IV/M.—Mary Worrall, Gardner, from Lima; sailed 18th Jan.
The Thomas Worthington was to sail in 14 days for Liverpool.
The Susannah Collings had sailed for Valparaiso.
SAILED.—North America, Lowbec, for New York—and Emma,
Irving, for Venice and Ancona.

United States, Britton, hence at New York 26th April
Blair, Newby, hence at Barbadoes
Hudson, Hamilton, hence at Lima, and sailed for Valparaiso
Siddons, (Packet ship) from New York, landed all her passengers
and letters at Dunmore, in Ireland
Tyrone, -, from New Orleans, off Tuskar
Cora, Melville, from the Cape of Good Hope, at the Cove
Terra Nova, Bennett, from St. John, Newfoundland, ditto
Eveline, Nosworthy, and Slavina, Sablicich, hence at Bahia
Llama, Clayton, hence at St. Thomas
Atlas, Smisk, honce at the Dardanelles
Hebe, Warren, hence and Syra, ditto
Basconzado, Ecchevaria, sailed from Bilboa for Liverpool Bth
May

GRIMSBY, May 18.—The Dorothea, Hoppet, from Danzic for
Liverpool, has put into this port very leaky, and with greater part
of deck load thrown overboard

TELEGRAPH OFFICE, MAY 21, 1840.

Wind at llolyhead. N.N.E. blowing fresh in the morning; North,
moderatebreeze at noon ; North, light breeze in the evening.
Oft' Holyhead, inward bound, at y 30 a.m. No. 420, Siddons,
A.S. from New York-1427, Josephine, A.S. from Mobile-261, TaM
O'Shanter, B.Bk. at 11 30 a.m. from Philadelphia—and 770, St.
George, B.S. at 1 p:10.
. _

OttrPOint Lynas, inward bound, at 12 at noon, No. 4295, Siddons,
A.S. from New York, (has a pilot.)

VESSELS ENTERED FOR LOADING.
(SINCE OUR LAST PUBLICATION.)

EAST INDIES, CAPE OF GOOD HOPE, .`Ye.'
Gaiston, --. 169 Manilla, Brodie & Hamilton
Mnes, -. 'Cumming,' - 299 Singapore, Imrie & Tomlinson
Mysore, H J Ward, - • 330 SingapOre, Chapman & Willis
Bella Marina, Wickham, 50 Singapore and China, IV, & J Tyrer

AFRICA.
Dido, —, 2j7s Africa, J & T Johnshh
Falcon, J Turner, . • 112 Africa, Agett & Hemingway
NEW SOUTH WALES.
Superb, J Newlands, 353 Port Adelaide at-14 Sydney, •
Claypole & Son or H Fox
WEST INDIES AND MADEIRA.
Grace, P Pearson, 341 Antigua, C W & F Shand
Margaret Highfield, R. Johnson, 178 Barbadoes, J Bibby & -ons
Pavorite. J Cameron, 2g6 Berbice, J Poole & Co
Queen of Scots, J Follett, 166 Trinidad, W Rose & Co
SOUTH AMERICA.
Robert Syers, R Loney, 311 Laguira and Puerto Cabello,
W Rose & Co

UNITED STATES.
321 Boston, Baring Brs & Co
829 New York, Wilde 3, Pickersgill & Co
ssg New York, G Brown & Co
595 New York, T& J Sands &Co
606 New York, Fitzhugh & Grimshaw
376 Hampton Roads, Lodge, Prichard & Co
BRITISH A2IIEI?ICA.
:'with, J Dunning, '313 Newfoundland, T & W Earle & Co
William, J Richardson, 153 Newfoundland. Graham & Taylor
Abeona, R Jenett. 70 Newfoundland, Valiance & Henry
Rising Sun, R Christian, 133 Newfoundland and Mexico, J J Day
Clarence, A Betts, 237 St. John, N.B. Gibbs, Bright & Co
Greenhow, J Ogilvy, 291 Quebec, Molyneux, Witherby & Co
George Sutton, J Archer, 81 Labrador, The master

Congaree, J Doane,
Independence, E Nye,
Frankfort, J G Russell,
Sheffield, F P Allen,
Britannia, E Cook,
Ganges, J Jones,

EUROPE.
Alligator, R. W Cook, 197 Constantinople, M& A Wilkin
Maria, IL Revett, 131 Dordt, Cram & Smith
Triumph, J White, 177 Dordt, Cram & Smith
Carl, 3 C Wustenburg, • 120 Elsinore, Bahr, Behrend &Co
Providentia, C F P Witt, 150 Elsinore, C C Weber & Co
Georg, C Moller, 150 Elsinore and Narva, Bahr, Behrend & Co
Hope, N Harmer, 261 Havre and Honfleur, J Aikin & Sou
Christians Gabe, S Thaysen, 100 Iceland, Bahr, Behrend &Co
Sultana, J 13 Rogers, 181 Malta and Smyrna, _

. .
G Yates. Lowthean & Co
Ann. C Jardine, 101 Narva, J Crawford & Co
Bristol, W Escott, 212 Lisbon and Monte Video, J Poole & Co
Charles, J Rickmeers, 116 Ostend, Bahr, Behrend &Co
Maria Aleta, L K Schutt. 89 Rotterdam, Bahr, Behrend & Co
Anna Agatha, J Berghins, 85 Rotterdam, Bahr, Behrend & Co
Galway Lass, J Strevens, 224 Hammerfest & Archangel, A F Moore
Helene, G Anderson, 160 St. Petersburg, C G Weber & Co
Judith, J Hamon, go Venice, J Bibby & Co
Norval, G Wright, 101 Rotterdam, Bahr, Behrend & Co
Zeelust, D J Mik, 120 Rotterdam and Dordt, Bahr, Behrend &Co
Arab, J Findlay, 287 St. Petersburg, Bahr, Behrend & Co
Caroline, J Walters. 129 Messina and Palermo, J Rothwel

-.olaritrts.

LIVERPOOL COTTON MARKET, MAY 21.

There has been a good demand for Cotton today, and the sales
are 4000 bags, including 400 for export ; prices remain steady, but a
heavy market.

LIVERPOOL PROVISION MARKET, MAY 21.

The weather is cold anct unvegetative ; shippeis of Butter in
Ireland are consequently obtaining most extravagant rates. We
have heard of as much as 115 s on board for Carlow. 118 s to 120 s
are about the prices landed, and much inquiry is made after the
article.

LONDON GAZETTE.-TUESDAY, MAY 19.

PARTNERSHIPS DISSOLVED.

C. Campbell and J. Campbell, Liverpool, cotton-brokers—T.
Overton and J. Overton, jun. Liverpool, wine-merchants—J. Ed-
wards and W. Drummond, Liverpool, tea-dealers—J. Taylor. J.
Taylor, and A. Clegg, Prestwich, Lancashire, nurserymen ; as tar
as regards A. Clegg—J. Redhead and R. N. Cartwright. Cartmel,
Lancashire, surgeons—K. Grundy and I. Kirby, Lancashire, wool-
len-brokers—T. Waddington and J. Hanson, Manchester,-stock-
manufacturers—J. Jones and G. Cowen, Manchester, cabinet-
makers—S. D. Moss and J. Cowen, Wigan, tailors—D. Hesse and
R. Shepherd, Manchester, stock manufacturers.