The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1840-12-01 00:00:00

piness."

The Guiana Times of the 7th ultimo contains a highly
interesting and important " Address to the British
Nation," on the present state and prospects of the
West India colonies, by the Rev. Stephen Isaacson,
M.A., formerly Rector of St. Paul's, Demerara. This
letter embodies a large mass of statistical and other in-
formation respecting the West Indies, and furnishes
some very powerful arguments in favour of an exten-
sive system of immigration, as the only means of ex-
tinguishing slavery and the slave trade. Emanating as
it does from a clergyman of the established church, the
statements put forth in this powerful address are en-
titled to the serious consideration of the people of this
country. We shall, therefore, proceed to lay before
our readers an analysis of the arguments brought for-
ward by the rev. gentleman. He commences Lii ad-
dress by showing the erroneous principles upon which
the British government acted in carrying out the aboli-
tion of the slave trade and the extinction of slavery in
our own coloniei, and the total failure of the plan as
regards foreign nations. The act of 1807, for the ex-

tinction of the slave trade, contained no provision for a
supply of free labourers, by whom the cultivation of
the soil in,our own colonies could be successfully con-
tinued. An impetus was thus given to the foreign
slave trade, which has, since that period, been rapidly
increasing, until, at length, it has attained a degree of
magnitude ten times as great as that of the whole slave
traffic of the world at the commencement of the presen t
century.

This was the first grand mistake. No provision was
made for the immigration of free labourers, without
which it was evident that the cultivation of colonial pro-
duce could not be maintained. The next mistake was

that of neglecting to prohibit the introduction of foreign
slave-grown produce, under any pretence whatever,
into the British market, so long as the traffic continued.
The declension in the number of labourers in the
British West Indies is thus accounted for by Mr.
Isaacson :

" The government appear to have entirely overlooked the

fact that, during the existence of the slave trade, the vast
majority of the imported negroes were males ; and that con-
sequently, in the course of time, the number of these labourers,
unless recruited from other sources, must decline, and ren-
der it impossible for the colonists to supply even the home
market, with tropical productions, which at the time was
specially pointed ont by the planters, but disregarded by the
government. Accordingly we find that, very shortly after

the abolition of the slave trade, the British colonies were
unable to grow cotton, which almost immediately ceased to be
a staple article in the West Indies, and the whole cultivation
of this important product was thus thrown into foreign slave
Countries, where it continues to this day. Subsequently
the raising of coffee has all but disappeared as a profitable
investment ; and but for the high prices obtained during the
last two years, I learn from unquestionable authority, that
the few estates devoted to the growth of this article, would
ere now have been abandoned."

The' cultivation of sugar threatens very speedily to
follow in this road to ruin. Notwithstanding the high
prices which it has recently fetched in the market, the
quantity grown is so small, and the expense of cultiva-
tion so large, that the planter barely covers his expenses.
While Great Britain has been making such noble
sacrifices on her own part, in order to extinguish sla-
very, it cannot be denied that its horrors have been
greatly increased by the very means employed for its
suppression. It is evident that government com-
menced at the wrong end. The most strenuous advo-
cates of negro emancipation are now compelled to
make this confession. If the government had origi-
nally adopted a system analogous to the apprenticeship,
and encouraged the immigration of free labourers into
our West India possessions, the result would have been
the simultaneous extinction of slavery in foreign coun-
tries, and the rapidly increasing prosperity of our own
colonies.

Mr. Isaacson enters into a variety of calculations to
prove that immigration, under judicious regulations,
would have prevented the enormous sacrifice of human
life to which slavery has given rise, during the last fifty
years. The following facts are chiefly derived by the
rev. gentleman from the recently published work of
Sir T. F. Buxton :

" 1 shall here introduce the unimpeachable testimony of
Sir T. F. Buxton, who affirms that " it would not be diffi-
cult to prove, that in the last fifty years there has been a
waste of millions of lives ;" and he brings his authentic
calculations, based upon official documents, to the following
narrow compass :
Of about 1000 victims to the slave-trade, one-
half perish in the seizure, march, and deten-
tion
Of 500 consequently embarked, one-fourth or
25 per cent. perish in the middle passage
Of the remaining 375 landed, one-fifth, or 20
per cent. perish in the seasoning

Total loss,

" So that 300 negroes only, or three-tenths of the whole
number of victims, remain alive at the end of a year after
their exportation ; and the number of lives sacrificed by the
system, bears to the number of slaves available to the plan-
ter, the proportion of seven to three.
" Then applying this calculation to the number annually
landed at Brazil, Cuba, &c. which 1 have rated at 150,000
Of these one-fifth die in the seasoning .... 30,000

Leaving available to the planter
The number of lives annually sacrificed

being in the proportion of seven to three 280,000

Annual victims of Christian slavery 400,000
—Buxton on the Slave-trade, p, 199.
" This amount may be verified in the following manner
Taking the aunual victims at..
One-half perish before embarkation 200,000

Embarked 200,000
One-fourth in the middle passage 50,000

Landed
One-fifth in the seasoning

150,000
30,000

Available

120,000

" To this maybe added 100,000 annual victims of the Ma-
hommedan slave trade, which gives a sacrifice of half a mil-
lion human beings per annum, at the shrine of the demon of
wealth !! ! or, in Sir T. F. Buxton's language, the slave trade
annually dooms to the horrors of slavery—
Christian
Mahommedan 50,000

170,000

And murders—
Christian ....
Mohammedan

280,000
50,000

500,000"

Mr. Isaacson proceeds to declaim against the Niger
expedition as a foolish experiment. He then goes on
to develope his own plans for the extinction of the
slave trade, the civilization of the negro, and the esta-
blishment of Christianity in Africa. He alleges that if
the many millions of slaves, either captured by British
cruisers, or imported under indentures, who are now
pining in hopeless slavery in foreign states, had been
introduced into our own colonies, the result would
have been the extinction of slavery and the slave trade,
without the cost of a single farthing to the people of
Great Britain. He then shows by an elaborate state-
ment that the coast of British Guiana, to which colony
his observations are confined, is capable of producing
231,600 bales of cotton, or 69,480,000 lbs. I the culti-
vation of which would require a population of 77,200
—not the amount of the annual sacrifice of human life
in the Brazilian slave trade alone ! This estimate is
only made with reference to that part of British Guiana
which has actually been in cotton cultivation, and sub-
sequently abandoned for want of labourers. More vic-
tims are annually sacrificed in the Brazilian slave trade
than would be sufficient to bring the whole of these
cotton plantations once more into a state of permanent
prosperity. This fact surely speaks volumes in favour
of free immigration.

Again, according to the data furnished by Mr. Isaac-
son, the immediate banks of the Canja, the Corentyn,
the Abary, the Mahaicony, the Mahaica, the Demerara,
the Essequebo, the Maroco, the Pomeroon, and of
other unexplored rivers, extending to the Oronoco, are
capable of producing 432.000,000 of pounds of coffee
—very nearly 20 times the consumption of Great Bri-
tain, or 127,300,000 lbs. more than the consumption
of the whole world !

Again, he demonstrates that the banks of the na6-
gable rivers; if brought into cultivation by the accession

of an adequate number of labourers, are capable also of
producing in addition to the preceding amount of cof-
fee, a supply of sugar equal to 3,000,000 of hogsheads,
with rum and molasses in proportion. Thus, each
hogshead averaging 1200 lbs., we have, at a low calcu-
lation, 3,600,000,000 lbs. of sugar—about three times
more than the consumption of the whole world—" and
that," as Mr. Isaacson remarks, "in one of the colonies
which Mr. Ewart, in his place in Parliament, with equal
ignorance and effrontery, pronounced to be exhausted."
To cultivate the amount of produce specified above,
Mr. Isaacson estimates that 954,400 labourers would
be required, which, deducting the present population
of 100,000, would render necessary an addition of
854,000 immigrants. When are these to be obtained ?
Let the starving millions of India, who are periodically
decimated by the plague and famine, answer the ques-
tion. Let the four hundred thousand who now fall
victims annually to the infamous slave traffic, answer
the question. Let opportunities be offered for the free
immigration of those miserable beings into our noble
colonies, and we shall soon seethe British West Indies

recover their lost prosperity, and rise into a mighty
empire which shall rival the United States, both as re-
spects extent of population and commercial enterprise.

We have received a file of the Jamaica Royal Ga-
zette and Standard to the 17th of October, inclusive.
The House of Assembly was to meet, for the purpose
of proceeding to business, on the 27th of the same
month. Sir Charles Metcalfe still retained his popu-
larity, and the prospects of the colony were somewhat
improved in consequence of his firm and judicious ad-
ministration. He had recently sent a communication
to the Jamaica Society relative to the extension of the
resources of the island, and enclosing a list of the pre-
miums offered by the Society of Arts and Sciences in
London. Many of these premiums related to the di-
minution of human labour in the cultivation of • sugar
—to the preserving of plantains add bananas,,and.,tn,
the culture of tea, silk, cinnamon, nutmeg, pepper, &c.
Tne introduction of the cactus, or Nopal tree, from
which cochineal is obtained, formed the subject of ge-
neral conversation in the island. We are glad to find
the colonists thus directing their attention towards
every available plan for developing the resources of
the soil and climate ; but we join the editor of the
Gazette in deprecating the abandonment of any sugar
or coffee plantations for the sake of speculating in any
novel productions, however promising the result may
appear.

A new scheme for supplying the deficiency of manual
labour in the West Indies has, it is said, been suggested
by the British Consul at Tereriffe to the Colonial Office.
This is, the introduction of camels as beasts of burden
on the estates. The camel, from its great strength and
endurance of fatigue, would. no doubt, be found of
the highest utility,

A. very rich vein of copper had been recently disco-
vered in Lower Lucky Valley, in the Port-Royal moun-
A Mr. Burgher, of Kingston, in conjunction
with a gentleman from Cornwall, (England,) had taken
the mine on a lease of 30 years.

We republish to-day, from our Third Edition of
Friday, the abstract of the news brought by the Presi-
dent. The most important article of intelligence is,
the confirmation of the previously-entertained belief
that General Harrison will be the new President, and

that by a very large majority.
The Britannia, royal mail packet, had arrived out at

Boston in 131 days

The details of the bombardment and capture of St.
Jean d'Acre will be found in another column. It ap-
pears that the bombardment, which took place on the
3d ultimo, lasted only three hours. The success which
attended this great engagement speaks volumes in
favour of the perfection to which the gunnery practice
has been brought in the British navy. The batteries
of the enemy mounted nearly 200 guns, and were
manned by a garrison of 60,000 well disciplined sol-
diers. The whole of an Egyptian regiment was de-
stroyed by the explosion of a powder magazine. The
town, which suffered dreadfully, was evacuated during
the night, and the allies took possession on the 4th;
The loss of the allies was 16 killed and 42 wounded :
that of the Egyptians was from 2000 to 2300 killed
and wounded, and 3000 taken prisoners. The destiny
of. Syria is, at once, settled by this brilliant achieve-
ment. It now remains to be seen whether the Paella
will persist any longer in his obstinate resistance to the
allied forces.

We some months ago published an abstract of the
report, drawn up by the Parliamentary Commissioners,
on the comparative advantages of the lines of railway
projected for communicating with Ireland, through the
Principality, when we took occasion to express our de-
cided conviction that the route through Chester to
Holyhead was decidedly preferable to any other, and
must soon command the sanction of government.
Few lines could possibly be constructed with greater
economy. Two-thirds of the distance on Mr. George
Stephenson's line varies little from a dead level, whilst
the gradients on the remaining portions are compara-
tively trifling. We have now the satisfaction to an-
nounce the probable fulfilment of our anticipations re-
specting the eligibility of this line.
We understand that a communication has been
made to the Grand Junction Railway Company, in-
timating the intention of the government to have the
Irish mails conveyed by way of Holyhead ; and that
immediate measures are to be adopted for carrying out
the projected railway from Chester to Holyhead, on
the practicability of which, Mr. Stephenson, the en-
gineer, some time ago, made a most able and satisfac-
tory report. In this manner the Grand Junction Com-
pany will continue, as heretofore, to carry the mails,
bringing them to Chester, instead of Liverpool.
We are informed that Lord Duncannon, a member
of the government, has lately been in Ireland, and also
at Holyhead, for the purpose of forwarding and en-
quiring into this most important project, which, at this
particular period, involves probably to some extent the
preservation of the Union. As may be supposed, much
anxiety prevails in Ireland for its success. The har-
bour at Holyhead has been pronounced as in all re-
spects well qualified for the safe accommodation of
her Majesty's mail boats. As we have stated, the line
of railroad to be made from Chester to Holyhead will
be by no means an expensive one ; the route being
coastwise, passing over the Menai and Conway bridges-
The mail and passengers from Liverpool will be pro-
vided for by a train, on the Birkenhead and Chester
line, which will meet the London train at Chester, and
so be conveyed to Holyhead, there to embark for Ire-
land, a sail of only three or four hours.

The depression tinder which the commercial inte-
rests of Great Britain have laboured for the last two or
three years is difficult to account for upon ordinary
principles, and presents features of a singular nature.
Temporary disarrangements of our monetary and mer-
cantile affairs we have often before experienced ; but
we have ever hitherto found these periodical visitations
exercise a healthy and invigorating influence upon le-
gitimate and honest commerce. The kiteflying adven-
turer was thus swept back to his original obscurity;
whilst the sober, bona fide trader, with less of glare
and glitter perhaps, but more of solid usefulness, was
allowed to emerge from the shade into which he had
been cast by his meteoric rival.

We have waited for a similar result to follow the
embarrassments under which we are now suffering'
but hitherto we have waited in vain. At times, it is,
true, we do hear a flourish of trumpets from certain °I
our,whig-radical contemporaries, and are flattered that
the winter of our discontent" is about to be "made
glorious summer" by some surprisingly advantageous
treaty, effected through the exertions and rare sagacity
of the Bulwers and Bowrings who flit from court to
court at the national expense. But even these illumi-
nati, practised though they have been in the art of de-
lusion, produce no impression upon the lethargy which
hangs over the commerce of Great Britain.
The capital of our manufacturing and trading inte-
rests is wasting away day by day, whilst the agricultu-
rist cannot be said to stand in a much more favourable
position. Yet we hear of no remedy being attempted.
We can find few amongst the suffering classes who in-
dulge even in the hope of amendment. On the con-
trary, we find amongst the manufacturing and mercan-
tile classes strong manifestations of a desire to with-
draw their capital from the operations of trade, and
improve it, by investments in railways and other similar
securities. The millions which have been furnished