The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-05-28 00:00:00

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LETTER 1
TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL ISTANDARD
Now that the " heavy blow and great discouragement" le-
veiled at the prosperity of the West Indies has, for a time at
least, been averted, and their present position and prospects
for the future have been brought prominently before the
public eye, it seems a fitting time to offer a few suggestions,
with the view of leading to the adoption of such measures as
may be instrumental in inspiring fresh vigour into their de-
' efining energies, and thus carrying out, to a successful issue,
the noble experiment of transforming 800,000 slaves into free
British subjects.
To say that this experiment has already been crowned with
success, would indeed be hurrying to a premature conclusion;
for unless it can be proved to the world that these colonies
can, under the operation of the free labour system, produce a
sufficient quantity of their staple commodity, to supply (along
with that from the East) the consumption of this. Country on
moderate terms, we well know, from the experience of the.
past, that renewed, and probably snore successful attempts,
will be made to break down the bulwark of protection, which
at present prevents the influx into this country of the sugar
produced by the toil of the slave ; and if ever that " consum-
mation, so devoutly to be dreaded," should arise, "farewell
—a long farewell"—to the prosperity of the West Indies, and
to the high and palmy hopes, in which the philanthropist has
indulged, for the gradual amelioration and prospective libe-
ration of the unhappy African race throughout the world.
Something more was expected from the measure of aboli-
tion than the emancipation of a number of British slaves;
it was the affirmation of the principle, that the labour of the
freeman is in the end cheaper than that of the slave, which,
as a necessary consequence, would lead to the universal su-
perseding of the dearer by the cheaper mode of production ;
and though this hope has as yet been lamentably disappointed,
it is solely, we believe, because adequate precautions were
not taken to ensure its fair trial. British emancipation
should have been accompanied by every possible measure for
ensuring the production of cheap sugar without slavery.
When the supply of slave labour was taken away, a supply of
free labour should have been afforded. The masters, de-
prived of their slaves, should have been at least allowed, if
not encouraged, to procure labour for hire from every acces-
sible source.
It is much to be regretted that the highly respectable party
in this country, who have laboured so energetically—so dis-
interestedly—for the emancipation of the slaves in our own
colonies, and whose benevolent intentions extend their ample
scope wherever still, in the world's vast family,
" Man's inhumanity to man
Makes countless thousands mourn,"
should have not only relaxed their efforts in the good cause,
as if the victory were already won, but should have actually,
from mistaken views of philanthropy, been the principal
means of thwarting the colonists in their attempts to remedy
this evil. Regret for the past is, however, useless ; but we
trust that they have now begun to view the aspect of affairs
in a different light, and that, in the same spirit in which they
have lately so clearly affirmed the paramount claims of prin-
ciple over party, they will now second the West Indian body
in their endeavours to procure the means of tryingfairly the
experiment whether, after all, free labour is not cheaper than
that of slaves, when the number of the producing class is pro-
perly proportioned to the quantity of the article to be produ-
ced. The great object to be kept steadily in view is, the pro-
ducticii of sugar in the British West Indies at less cost than
anywhere else. We have there the finest soil and climate in
the world for the growth of the sugar cane ; the greatest
amouet of capital and skill for conducting the various opera-
tions of the manufacture; and we conscientiously believe that
the only element wanting, to carry out that object success-
fully, is a sufficiency of hands to provide for two circum-
stances which slavery secures—combination and constancy of
labour

.n densely-peopled districts such as India, we know tha,
,e cost of production is less than even in the Brazils, while
i our West Indian colonies it is at present infinitely greater ;
he sole cause of the difference being, that while in British
India there are several thousand inhabitants to the square
mile, in British Guiana there is but a solitary one. In the one
country a poor native will toil a whole day, and thankfully
take a penny as his reward • while in the other a daily wage of
four guilders, equal to 6s. 13d. sterling, with rations, is offered
publicly in the newspapers, to as many able-bodied labour.
ers as will accept it.* Here, then, is a field for the unbounded
exercise of the stateman's legislation, the philanthropist's
benevolence. On the one hand we have a superabundant
population, sometimes perishing for want of food by thou-
sands during the frequent famines with which their land is
desolated ; while on the oiher we have millions of acres of
the richest soil on which the sun looks down, in danger of
being abandoned to the rank but useless vegetation with
which nature in tropical countries so soon blots out all
traces of the industry of man, or still covered with primeval
forests, for the lack of that labour which the other is so well
calculated to afford it. What nobler purpose can employ the
energies of every lover of his species, than the endeavour
thus to supply the deficiencies of the one from the superflui-
ties of the other ! Such an act, like its kindred one of mercy,
" is twice blessed ; it blesseth him that gives and him that
takes :" for, just in proportion as we draw off the supera-
bundant population of India, thus relieving the moral ple-
thora with which she is oppressed, we ameliorate the condi-
tion of those who are left ; we do infinite service to those who
seek in other lands the field for their labour so overstocked
in their own; and, on the other hand, we incite to greater
exertion the present labourer, who, for want of such a stimu-
lus, is fast sinking from the state of an industrious operative,
to that of an indolent squatter, and stimulate the land to
greater productiveness—thus benefiting both the owner and
the tiller of the soil, increasing the wealth and the power of
our country in one of the most vital branches of its prospe-
rity, extending one of the best markets in the world for the
products of our manufactories, and exhibiting to the civilized
world the noble spectacle of a great nation, alleviating the
distresses of one portion of her subjects, by the same wise
and comprehensive means with which she stimulates and
develops the latent resources of the other.
No one denies the expediency of relieving our own over-
burdened population at home, by affording to those who are
willing the means of carrying their labour and skill to other
distant regions, where they will prove the means of living in
comfort arid happiness, instead of lying inert, as they too
often do here, for the want of an opportunity for their exer-
cise. And much as has already been done in this country
for the encouragement of emigration, no one but regrets that
those efforts should he so much crippled, for the want of the
funds necessary to extend its benefits to all classes of our
poorer population, who are willing to devote the industry of
their hands to the improvement of the country to which they
are migrating.
Precisely in the same position that Australia stands to this
country, do the fruitful islands and regions of the Western
Indies stand to the teeming millions of Hindostan—with
,erhaps this difference, that the urgency of the case is sti'
eater in the latter than the former. For although '

mite of the West Indies renders them unfitted for

..00uring classes of the white population of Europe, they
are quite as well suited, in every respect, to the dusky
native of Hindostan or of Africa, as the vast plains of
Australia, or the boundless prairies and dark pine forests of
America are to the hardy sons of Britain ; who, in both, are
so rapidly making the " wilderness to rejoice, and the desert
to blossom as the rose." And in the case which we are thus
faintly advocating, there is no lack of the means of effecting
this transference of the labour of man, from regions where
it is in excess to those where it is so much wanted. The
colonists have already, under the sanction, and with the
co-operation of their local government, collected funds and
organised plans, whereby this desirable change may be effect.
ed, under such restrictions and in such a manner, as shall
leave no ground of complaint even to the most scrupulous.
Why, then, we ask, should those exertions be frustrated.

4ose energies paralysed by the operation of a law, hastily
?assed at a moment of excitement produced by the outcry
of a few individuals, to stop what they called a revival of
the slave trade ? This -law, in its strictest sense, was only
intended to be in operation for such a length of time as would
enable the experiment, already begun, to be properly tried.
A sufficient time has now elapsed for that purpose—the
experiment, limited and partially injured in its operation by
certain causes, particularly by the disproportion between the
sexes of the emigrants, consequent on the sudden derange-
ment of the plans of its founders; has now been fairly tried :
the reports of parties authorised to make their inquiries and
observations are before government, and we challenge any
one to assert that it has not been attended with as complete
success as any of the numerous migrations of portions of the
human race from one hemisphere to another that have taken
place in modern times. The Coolies, already settled in
Guiana, are both able and willing to work ;t their bodily
strength, from the use of good and nourishing ood, in place
of the poor pittance of rice which formerly was their only sus-
tenance, has been much increased ; their prejudices of caste
and attachment to their heathen worship are fast giving way
before the light of truth, and the exertions of Christian mi-
nisters, combined with Christian instruction ; they give every
indication of being happy and contended, except in the
wishes they so often express, that their relatives and coun•
trymen in general -were there to share in their prosperity.
That these are no idle rumours nor unfounded assertioT

any one taking the trouble to make the necessary inquiries
may ascertain for himself. We are in no way interested to
sway the opinions of the public in the way we advocate, save
in the anxious wish we feel to see the best interests of our
fellow-men consulted, and the greatness of this mighty na-
tion still increased and further developed by the right use of
the legitimate means she possesses within her own ample do-
minion. No country on the face of this earth possesses such
extensive means of ameliorating the condition of the count-
less varieties of the human race who own her sway as our
own beloved land ; and, holding as she does this proud posi-
tion among the nations, it behoves her, through the inst ru-
mentality of those who preside over her destinies, " toim-
prove the talents committed to her care." Let us not per-
mit our great national advantages " to rust in us unused,"
but in an enlightened spirit of human dealing, let us turn
our opportunities to good account, by spreading the-benefits
of civilization and the fruits of industry wherever our influ•
ence-is felt or our example maybe imitated. . •
What would be thought of the state of sanity_of the m

who, after purchasing at a great price a splendid estate, os-
tensibly for the purpose of trying a great experiment in the
amelioration of the condition of his tenantry, and of improv-
ing the system of cultivation, as an example for his neigh-
bours to follow, should, at that stage of the proceedings,
relax all his efforts, and calmly look on while field after field
were being abandoned to a state of nature, and the inevitable
consequence stared him in the face, that his dependents, for
whom he professed his intention of doing so much, were thus
deprived of the field for their labour, and must either remove
to other scenes, or become, like their forefathers, content to
live on the spontaneous products of the soil.
We should look upon our West Indian possessions as a
grand field, for which this nation has paid a purchase money '
of £20,000,000, on which to try the grandest experiment that
has ever yet engaged the attention of the world; an experiment
which, if crowned with success, as we most fervently hope
it may, will as surely produce the release of every slave from
his galling bondage, throughout the world, as we are accus-
tomed to infer that effect will follow cause. The whole
question will turn upon this point, " if slavery produces
cheaper sugar than free labour, slavery prevails ; if free
labour produces sugar cheaper than slavery, then slavery dies
out from want of a motive for preserving it."
Experience has already amply proved, that all the well-
meaning plans that have been as yet devised for the extirpa-
tion of the inhuman traffic in slaves have been totally inope-
rative, nay, positively prejudicial to the unfortunate cause
they were meant to serve ; for as long as it is manifestly the
interest, in a pecuniary view, of one man to tax, even to the
death, the thews and sinews of his fellow-man, so long will
there be individuals found unscrupulous enough to follow
such a road to the acquisition of wealth.
But once clearly demonstrate to the slave owner, by actual
experiment, on such a scale as must carry conviction with it,
that it is more conducive to his interests to liberate his slaves,
and pay them for their labour, and you insure his adoption
of your recommendation.
The wages that are at present given for labour in British
Guiana are so very high, that it has only been by the coun-
terbalancing effect of the high prices that have for some time
been realized, that the most skilful planter has been able to
work his estate at all to a profit, and it is very evident, that
unless he be speedily relieved by- the effects. of an extensive
immigration, from the payment of such exorbitant wages as
are now offered, that he cannot long struggle ir. the face of
the great decline of prices in this country, which is now all
but certain to prevail. The cost of producing a cwt. of

* This, though quoted as an instance of the scarcity anc
consequent high price of labour in B. Guiana, is not intend
ed to be stated as the average of wages in that colony, which
though still very high in proportion to the price of provisions
&c., which generally regulate them, are certainly considers
bly lower,