The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1840-04-21 00:00:00

further issues of Texas promissory notes ceased on th
19th of February. This fact, coupled with the foreign
demand for them about to be created by the operation
of the law making import duties cash, was likely to
improve their value in the United States, as well as' in
Texas. The latest information from Rio Grande states
that the centralists had collected all their available

Force—about 6,000 men west of the Cordilleras, to put
[town the federalists, who had fled before them in

small parties.

We have received a file of the St. John's (N. B.)
Chronicle of March 13. Its contents are comparatively

Lnimportant.

We beg to direct the attention of our readers to a
report which appears in another column, giving the
particulars of a flagrant case of robbery in Katherine
Docks, London, We trust that Alderman Evans will,
at length, be compelled to acknowledge that Dock
Warehouses afford no positive security against depreda-
tions of this kind.

We have received our files of the Sydney Gazette
and of the Sydney Commercial Journal to the 2d of
November, inclusive. We regret that, owing to the
late hour at which we received these papers, we are
obliged
.to defer any extended extracts until our next
publication. These papers are filled with comments
upon the sudden exit from the colony of an auctioneer,
of the name of John Thomas Wilson, who is said to
have carried with him " a goodly amount in cash and
property," and to have left his creditors minus in no
less a sum than £50,000. or £60,000. It is added
that he escaped on board the Nereus, which was bound
for the South Sea Islands ; and it was proposed to
despatch the revenue cutter, Prince George, to pursue
him. This defalcation had naturally created a great
sensation in the colony, and all parties were anxious
to bring so flagrant an offender to justice.

The news from South Australia extends to the 21st
of September. A great number of land sales and al-
lotments had recently been effected in these rising and

prosperous colonies. The South Australian Record
states that an overland expedition had just arrived
from Port Phillip, with 11,000 sheep and 560 head of
cattle. It was proposed to form a new agricultural
settlement on the banks of the Murray, between the
route from Melbourne and Portland Bay to Adelaide.
The land in this survey is said to he the richest in
South Australia, and it will probably, ere long, be the
maize granary of the province. The crops in South
Australia were exceedingly promising, owing to the
abundant fall of rain.

The prices of provisions, both at Sydney and in
Van Dieman's Land, were rapidly falling, owing to
the abundant supplies ; and the colonies were, gene-
rally speaking, in a very prosperous condition.

The " Anti-Slavery Meeting" of Thursday evening
last might have been designated, with the greatest. pro-
priety, an " Anti-Planters' Meeting." The main objt ct
of the meeting, like that of most other meetings •of the
" humanity-mongers," seemed to be, to vilify and ca-
lumniate the West India interest, and to defend the
insubordinate conduct of the Negroes.
We confess that we do not feel any degree of regret
that Mr. Scoble made his appearance in the Music
Hall as the champion of the Anti-Slavery Society.
There is no individual living who has so grossly com-
mitted himself, by his flagrant mis-statements on sub-
jects connected with the West Indies, as Mr. Scoble
has done. This will abundantly appear from the se-
quel of the present article, as well as from the documents
to which we shall have occasion to refor, and which
we have thought it necessary to republish for the edifi-
cation of Mr. Scoble and his friends.

The ostensible object of the meeting of Thursday last
was, " to take into consideration the duty of the friends
of the Negro, with reference to the present state of sla-
very and the slave trade throughout the world." The
report of the proceedings, which appeared in our paper
of Friday, will show that the real object was an attack
upon the West India planters. If this was not the
case, why was the subject of the British colOnies in the
West Indies introduced into the discussion ? In those
colonies the slave trade has no existence, and slavery
itself has been utterly abolished by the voluntary and
spontaneous decision of the planters.

It Is a fact that-the whole- uo-trrec of tbo Anti Slavery'
agitation, as carried on by such men as Mr. Scoble,
has been more prominently characterised by a deer
rooted and inveterate hatred of the West India proprie-
tors, than by any cordial sympathy with the Negroes.
The planters have been the objects of the most relent-
less persecution; while the welfare of the Negroes
seems to have been a matter of purely secondary con-
sideration. Unless it can be demonstrated that the
ruin of the former would be the means of benefiting
the latter, the agents of the Anti-Slavery Society will
find it utterly impossible to justify the policy which
they haYe thought fit to pursue. This, however, can-
not he done. The interests of the Negro population of
the West Indies are intimately bound up with those of
the planters : and so long as the destruction of the
latter is sought after by Mr. Scoble and his friends, s°
long must we accuse these men of being the real ene-
mies of the Negro. Their pretended zeal on his behalf
will not avail them against this accusation, until they
are found willing to co-operate with the planters 1°
promoting among the Negroes habits of contented
perseverance in a course of industry and subordination'
When we see them thus uniting with the natural pro"
tectors of the Negroes, and seeking to elevate there
moral character, we shall give them some degree °I
credit for their professions of humanity.
In the introductory part of the proceedings, at the
late meeting, we find little that is worth remarking
upon, excepting an assertion in the report which was
read that the introduction of the Hill Coolies into the

British colonies was "an attempt to revive the slave
trade." This is a perfectly gratuitous assumption, u 0•
supported by a tittle of evidence. Indeed, it is flatly
contradicted by the despatches of the Governor of Brit-
ish Guiana, who has proved that the Hill Coolies were'
in every respect, treated as free labourers, from the (101
of their arrival in that colony. As to their treament 10
the Mauritius, Lord John Russell's own cleclaratiow
afford a sufficient answer to the language of the report
i
He has distinctly avowed his intention to renew af'`
legalise the immigration of the Hill Coolies into the
Mauritius, and we have no doubt that this intention
will be acted upon, notwithstanding the senseless cl3‘

mour of the anti-slavery agitators.
Mr. Scoble was the chosen champion of the anti-sir
very folks on Thursday. With him and his statements
we have, therefore, principally to deal. This gentleman
stated, that " the last time he had the honour of addree'
sing an audience in this town, it was his painful dati
to call its attention to OW wretched and' defilorable ecir
dition of the Negro apprentices." How far the descrilr
tion which he then gave of the condition of the Negrd°
apprentices was consistent with truth may be infer°,
from the able letter of Sir Andrew Halliday, which
have inserted in another column. That high-minde
gentleman, who was as much distinguished by his 1111ci
inanity as by his strict and unswerving integrity, 311.,
who was fully competent to give an authoritative °PI
nion on the subject, has given us a proof that the c°l3c;
dition of the apprentices was anything but " wreteße
and deplorable."
the
Mr. Scoble says that during his recent visits t°
West Indies, "he had found that commerce flourisliatie
—that trade was never in a more healthy conditiontho
at the present time." From this sweeping assertive,
we might infer that there had been, for the last t`i e
years, no deficiency in the amount of exports fro) .t,,11
West Indies. Is this the fact ? Let the periotb;:is
statements of crops and .the returns of imports iat°ll.,
country furnish the reply. What says Lord John
lit?
sell on this subject in his despatch toiGovernor-J'igras
Mr. Scoble thought fit to quote this despatch as faith.it suited his purpose: but he forgot to inform his 3con.
ence that Lord John Russell has most emphatically the
tradicted some of the assertions of Mr. Scoble. °ll
de'
subject of the crops, his lordship remarks—" fie
ed
cline of produce is unquestionable. The return aPPen de,
to your despatch of 15th October, 1839, sh°ws!ber,
crease on the quarter, from 6th July to loth oew of
as compared with 1831, 1832, and 1833, in sl4s'
s
7,259 hogsheads ; rum, of 2,014 puncheons; mela ijl
7,309 hogsheads. But in coffee, the decrease is st
ibs.
more remarkable, being a decline from 1,618,10,10 w
to 346,350, or more than three fourths of the salica,
production of the former years." Is this atinito.
tion of a prosperous trade ? Again, Lord Jo. 1.,
sell, quoting the statement of the West India inr