The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1840-04-14 00:00:00

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Etherpoof &tanbarb.

TUESDAY MORNING, APRIL 14, 1340.

The extinction of slavery is an object which ought .p„
engage the attention, and call into vigorous exercibe
the energies, of every true philanthropist. Great
Britain has had the peculiar honour of taking the lead
in this truly noble enterprise. She has set the ex,
ample, in the first instance, of putting a stop to this.
abominable traffic among her own subjects. 'This has
been followed up by the utter abolition of slavery in
our own colonies, But this does not comprise all that
this country has done in its endeavours to wipe off this
foul blot upon humanity.. We have spent millions of
money, and wasted the lives of thousands of our
countrymen, in endeavouring to prevent other nations
from carrying on the infamous trade in human flesh.
All, however, has proved unavailing. The slave trade
still exists in all its activity. The humane endeavours
of Great Britain have been, unfortunately, most signally
frustrated. Under these circumstances, we are not at
all surprised that such men as Mr. Buxton, and those
who have been in the habit of co-operating with him
in his praiseworthy efforts to extinguish the slave trade,
should have been induced to try other and new ex-
pedients for the same benevolent purpose. We have,
however, proved that the'scherne recently sanctioned
by Lard John Russell must necessarily fail in accom-
plishing the object avowed by its partisans ; and it now
becomes our duty, in fulfilment of our promise,.tc point
out those means which we think will prove effectut 1 in
securing so desirable an end. Those means. have be. si•
more than once glanced at in the columns. of thus
paper. • They may be briefly-and comprehensively
characterised by stating that they consist in The en-
couragement of the free labour colonies of Great Britain,
and the discouragement, as far as consistent with pria7
ciples of sound political economy, of those colonies cad
those countries from which slave-grown produce is Roe
exported.
We have -briefly enunciated our scheme for the ex-
tinction of slavery, and it now remains for us to de-
monstrate its practicability, and to point out its in-
evitable results.

The West India colonies of Great Britain have been
placed, by our legislative interference, in circum-
stances of peculiar difficulty and embarrassment ; and
it becomes an inquiry worth entering upon whether
the money which it is proposed to squander upon the
utopian enterprise of colonising. Africa might not he
more. 1)1'61401y laid out in aiding and fostering.onr
own colonies,. and in rescuing them from their present
depression. The'experiment which we have made in
the West Indies has not yet , been fully completed.
We have abolished slavery, it is true—we have con-
ferred upon the Negroes the boon of unconditiotial
tibertj riaolutect them to all Ow privileges
and immunities of free-born British subjects: but, in
doing this, we have completely disorganised all. Ole
social arrangements of the West Indies—we have cut
off the foul and disfiguring :wen of slavery,
,but we
have left the wound caused by the c.cldon undressed
and unhealed.

It is an undeniable fact that this t ountry has not
done its duty
to the West Indies. It is nue th
have purchased the freedom of the Negro 1)01 ulati '►i
in those colonies ; but it is not true that we have
secured their happiness in their altered condition•
They cannot be made happy by allowing White
civili-
sation to disappear from the islands. They cannot be
_made happy by being left to sink into all the de-
grading superstitions of their forefathers. They can-
not be made happy unless they are converted into a
class of diligent and contented labourers. It is true
also that the Whites in the West Indies have been paid
the purchase money of emancipation. But it is not
true that we have secured for them those advantages
which might be expected to accrue from our liberality
and their spontaneous concessions. Indeed, it iti
notorious that the planters, as a body, after generously
and voluntarily anticipating the beneVolent intentions
of this country towards the Negroes, have been driven
to the very verge of ruin. Their estates lie unculti-
vated, and their capital is rapidly vanishing out of
their hands.

While the staple exports of our West India colonies
are rapidly diminishing in amount, and as long as the
cultivation of these products cannot be carried on
excepting at a ruinous loss, need we wonder that those
colonies in which slave labour is still continued shoula
become more and more prosperous, in the same rats"
that our own arc declining ? Need we wonder that
the slave trade should be perpetuated in all its activity ?
Are we not directly encouraging this trade by our gross'
and culpable neglect of our own free colonies ? Shall
we pursue this impolitic, this cruel, this insane career
any longer ? Shall we not rather strike a fatal blow at
the foul monster of slavery in other countries V
rendering ourselves independent of any jsupplies but
those produced by free labour in our own colonies
Nothing short of this will reach the root of the evil'
Every other expedient will prove unavailing.
As we have already intimated, the adoption of Fowell
Buxton's new project will cost the country £35,000 of
primary outlay, and £10,546 annually to carry it into
effect. Instead of throwing away this large amount of
money on a scheme which is certain to. prove a miser-
able failure, let the Government employ it la pro-
moting immigration into our West India colonies. Thos
employed, it would contribute, in a variety of ways, t°
put an end to the iniquitous slave traffic; while, at the
same time, it would give a powerful stimulus to the
prosperity, not only of our.colonial possessions, but °I,
Great Britain itself. Why should we grasp at a shado"
like Mr. Buxton's plan, when we can secure, at the
same expense, a tangible and permanent advantage f
so important a character ?

All that is necessary to increase the productiveness
of the West Indies,, under the present system of free
labour, is, an increased supply of labourers. There's
no reason why we should not obtain all our supphe'
of sugar, coffee, cotton, &c., from these splendid NW
vies. The capabilities of the soil in these colonies are
scarcely equalled in any other part of the world. There are
millions of acres lying uncultivated for want of labouv
ers, especially in British Guiana. With all these gold` u
advantages within our reach, we are still contented
spend our money in such wild speculations as the >l-
- expedition. Shame upon the Government of 14.4uir
land for its blind perverseness ; and still greater shame
upon the people of England for permitting a line 0t
policy so destructive to the best interests of the colla.,
try.

The result of the division upon the motion.of
James GrahaM is now before us; and although, by '‘
miserable majority of nine, the administration of Lord
Melbourne has escaped the infliction of
of censure upon one of the most important qtespfi,tll
of the session, they have' most assuredly nq rest qr.
Son to congratulate them-Selves nj2an their lcto{.l)
Not one pOsition taken by h ono urahieloa-
ronet has been overthrown, not one charge successfully
rebutted; and the division by which the debate has at•
length been terminated has been taken not upon the.
merits of the question at issue—not upon the question

whether or not the war with China has been precipi-
tated by the negligent or the mistaken policy of go-
vernment—but as regards a great portion of the minis-
terial faction upon the hacknied and convenient ques-
tion of confidence generally in the policy of the admi-
nistration, and on the part of another upon the neces-
sity which unhappily now exists, and which has scarcely
been questioned, of carrying on that war, or those war-
like demonstrations which may possibly answer the
Purpose of war, with vigour and determination. The
degree of wisdom or the want of it which has charac-
terised the past policy of ministers with respect to
China has throughout the debate been studiously left
out of consideration by the advocates of government,
unlew the weak and flippant oration of Lord Palmer-
ston- can be said to have touched upon that part of the
question ; and the barren majority which still keeps
Lord Melbourne dangling in attendance upon the court
and Lord Palmerston dribbling forth his shallow inani-
ties upon the foolscap of the Foreign-office, has been
gained by a tricky address got -up in the city at the
mendacious representation of some ministerial nian-a-.
all-work. ,

There are two positions which. have been taken up
and adhered to by the supporters of Ministers through-
out the debate which demand our attention. The first
is the argument that the impugners of ministerial po-
licy with respect to Chinese affairs ought to have laid
before the house the precise nature of the policy which
they themselves would have pursued ; and the other
the impossibility, even supposing it were adVisable, of
putting an end to the illicit traffic in opium out of
which confessedly the misunderstanding with the Chi-
nese authorities has originated. Now, it is extremely
unfortunate for ministers that to both these arguments
the printed correspondence of their own superintend-
ents furnishes ample reply. In endeavouring to wriggle
out of
.the charge of furnishing deficient instructions
and power to the superintendents, we find it urged by
that very consequential gentleman, the member for
Edinburgh, that those superintendents themselves were
the best judges of the policy to be pursued, in matters
of detail at least. The conservative party complained
that the representations transmitted from time to time
by the local superintendents were left unnoticed, and
that they were not furnished with powers to act even
in 'natters of the propriety of which they were fully
convinced. If Captain Elliot was duly qualified to
perform the duties of his situation, the policy which he
advised was, on their own sheaving, entitled to the con-
sideration' of government, and the powers whiCh he
required to carry out that policy ought to have been
Promptly yielded Government. If, on the other hand,
he was not duly qualified, he ought to have been at
once superseded. But neither of these courses were
Pursued. Captain Elliot was neither permitted to ad-
vise nor to act, and the only interpretation which the
Chinese authorities could put upon his conduct and
Positi,qk at Canton was, that the infraction upon their
laws,' which were daily occurring before his eyes, and
Which he did not check, because he had not the power
to do so, were committed with the connivance if not
With the express sanction of the government which he
was delegated to represent.
Here then is the reply, furnished by their own do-
cuments, to the objection that Sir James Graham and
his patty ought to- have explained.; whilst deprecating
that of ministers, what their own policy would have
been. The right honourable baronet's charge implies
of itself the'course which he and his party would have
Pursued, and the arguments by which it is supported
and'ivhich hinge upon the inattention paid to the re-
Presentations of Captain Elliot and neglect of his con-
stant entreaties for powers to carry into effect his own
suggestions are conclusive as to the policy which in
their opinion ought to have been pursued.
The second objection, with respect to the impossibi-
lity of repressing the opium trade, we will very shortly
dispose of, by quoting a letter contained in..the copy of
correspondence laid upon the table of the house of
eon-it-lions, in which the British superintendent, Sir
qeorge Robinson, distinctly declares that "whenever
her Majesty's government direct vs to. prevent British
Vessels engaging in the traffic, we can enforce any order
to that effect !" it might not be possible to prevent
the opium traffic from being carried on to some extent
and by some other means, but it.was undoubtedly pos-
sible to prevent it being carried on in such a manner as
directly to raise the presumption that the government of
-Bn-glandfiiiiarired and encouraged its groivth,'

we 'are told by the foreign secretary that the
queStion at issue was in substance whether or not the
PreSent governmeht possessed the confidence of the
country. Let us weigh government by thli. standard,
arid examine the extent of confidence which they do
Possess; From an analySis of the division Nve'find that
a majority of the member's' for the whole of England
and Wales, amounting to 1-IS, voted against ministers;
that a majority of the members for England, Scotland,
and Wales, amounting to 17, voted against ministers ;
and that the `paltry majority of nine in their favour is
only secured by the venal votes of the dependants of
(i)'Connell, which are thus allowed on every question
'Wetting the honour and the deStinies of this mighty
inipire oversihelm and to smother the opinions of
the People' of Great Britain. The government of Lord
Nfelbonnie`has not,-on a question' affecting such im-
uense interests, the confidence .of England, Scotland,
and Wales ; but exists only upon the suffrages of
Popish Ireland. A war the extent of which no man
can foresee--a war to be carried on against a country
inhabited by a population of upwards of 300,000,000
of people, and situated at a distance of 15,000 miles
from our shores—is pressed on in defiance of the
°Pinions of the majority of the people of Great Britain,
by the representatives of the priest-led slaves who
e.°/11Pose the constituencies of Popish Ireland. How
I°ng, we ask, will England submit to be trampled
beneath the feet of this base and truculent faction ?
How long will England allow her energies to be
crashed and her Very name defiled by this foul in-
cubus which gloats and fattens upon the wreck of
her honour, her religion, and her prosperity ?

The drawing-room of her Majesty on Wednesday
%vas honoured by the presence of her Grace the
"Itchess of Inverness; and the public will no longer
1)e at a IoSS to account for the peculiar favours show-
ered upon the quondam widow of the attorney knight,
the Lady Cecilia Letitia Buggin Underwood. Her
ladyship, wearied of the shades of Kensington, and
tired of the ennui of enacting the part of Chloe for
the sole gratification of her septuagenarian Strephon,
has become ambitious of a larger sphere of admira-
tion; and the name of Buggin Underwood, although
a good name " to go to church with," was not, even
when accompanied with the delightful praummeia of
Cecilia Letitia, sufficiently euphonious for the atmo-
sphere of a royal drawing-room. Besides, her lady-
ship's moral status might possibly require a little extra
gilding; and legal deficiencies, which would be obvious
-enough in the relict of a City attorney and the grand-
'laughter of a Dublin landing-waiter, might be over-
iluolced in the wearer of a ducal coronet, and the future
another of a race of male duchesses !

In sober seriousness, we are grieved beyond mea-
-BtAre to contemplate the degradation which this ill,
advised exercise of the royal prerogative is calculated
to bring upon the Court of England's Queen, and the
character of England's nobility. Had this ambitious
lady been in reality the legal wife of the uncle of the
Sovereign, then we should have granted the justice of
according to her the rank to which she would have
been entitled. In that case the Lady Cecilia Letitia
iluggin Underwood would, without any interference
of the prerogative, have been entitled to the name and
honours of a royal duchess. But, as she is not
-Duchess of Sussex, her title of Inverness can only
serve to brand with illegitimacy her connexion with
the duke, and to drag into greater notoriety a scandal
for the honour of the crown, had better have
been allowed to remain in obscurity.
We are told. indeed, that morally her ladyship is
The wife of the Duke of Sussex; that she was married
4)Y banns in England, and has always been honourably
received by that portion of the world of fashion in
101icli his grace has been accustomed to move. So
.„"K; hoWeVer, as the laws of England do not allow to
her the mime of wife, we contend that the Sovereign,
who has sworn to dispense those laws equally and
martially to all her subjects, should have been ad-
-IP4:to pause before she gave her direct countenance
tu an infraction of those laws. As Duchess of Inver-
-11,..e58, this lady, although not legally the wife of the
duke of Sussex, takes precedence of the whole of our
lelnale nobility; and whatever opinions may be enter-
t44locl upon the subject by her Majesty's advisers, we

must venture to doubt whether so unusual a stretch
of the royal prerogative is not too distasteful to the
feelings of the moral people of England, to be ventured
upon, even to reward the political subserviency of an
uncle of the Sovereign.

It is urged, holier, in further extenuation, by the
government prints, that the Royal Marriage Act, by
the operation of which the pseudo marriage of the
dukd with Lady Cecilia is rendered invalid, is objec-
tionable in principle, and unpopular. But, we ask,
ought the Duke of Sussex, of all men in the world,
to complain of the operation of that act, after availing
himself of its provisions to repudiate the amiable and
highborn victim of a former connexion? Are the off-
spring of the Lady Augusta Murray to be branded
with illegitimacy, whilst the male descendants of this
Buggin Underwood are created duchesses, and their
illustrious mother pitchforked over the heads of the
female nobility of England ? If the Royal Marriage
Act is unpopular and unwise, repeal it; but, until this
is done, let the "social duchess" be content to luxu-
riate in the bowers of Kensington, and not, by her
indecent intrusions at court, outrage public morality,
and drag more prominently before the memory of the
people of England, the delinquencies of that impure
old man, the vices of whose youth are only surpassed
by the cupidity and grossness of his declining years.

A disgusting placard has been posted on the walls
of this town, announcing that the Socialist Hall of
Science, in Lord Nelson Street, will be opened On
Friday next, when Robert Owen is going to exhibit
his " plans for ensuring to the upper and middle
la,..ses, far greater domestic comforts for £6O per
annum than can be now obtained for £6OO per annum,"
and when a woman of the name of Chappelsmith is
going to 'deliver a lecture on the
." Education, Rights,
and Condition of Woman." These proceedings are to
be concluded by a public tea party in the evening, to
be succeeded by public lectures on "Marriage," Kc;
on Easter Sunday, and a " Social Ball" on Monday.
We can conceive of no greater insult to the feelings of
a Christian community than the selection of these high
festivals of the Church, for these abominable and
obscene orgies. Surely it must be in the power of the
magistrates to prevent such an outrage on public
decency. If they have the power and lack the courage
to exercise it, they will justly entitle themselves to the
contempt of every one who has the least regard for
religion or morality.