The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-04-27 00:00:00

COMMODORE NAPIER IN MANCHESTER

ALTERATION' OF THE SUGAR DUTIES

(From the Anti-Slavery Reporter.)

The attention of the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery
Committee has been seriously directed to the measure which
is now understood to be under the consideration of the gov-
ernment, by which the British market would be opened to
foreign, and therefore to slave-grown sugars. A memorial to
Lord Melbourne on this subject, which is most deeply inter-
esting to humanity, has been adopted by that body, and was
presented to his lordship on Friday, by a deputation consist-
ing of the following gentlemen :—Messrs. Samuel Gurney,
Josiah Forster, George Bennet, John Beaumont, Edward
Gurney, John O'Connell, M.P., E. N. Buxton, and Henry
Sterry. The noble premier received the deputation courte-
ously, and assured them that the memorial should receive
the serious attention of the government. •
The following is the memorial :

To the Right-Honourable Lord Viscount Melbourne, &c.
My Lord,—The rumoured intention of her majesty's gov-
ernment to lower the duties on the staple productions of the
British colonies, and to make such other arrangements as
shall admit the produce of slave as well as free labour into
the British market, having come under the consideration of
the British and Foreign Anti- Slavery Society, they venture
respectfully to lay the result of their deliberations on the sub-
ject before your lordship.
That the question of the reduction of duties is deemed one
of vital importance, may be inferred from the amount of pub-
lic attention which has for some time past been given to it,
both in and out of parliament. On the one hand it is asserted
that the welfare of the country at large, but especially of the
labouring classes, and of the mercantile and manufacturing
interests, peremptorily requires the reduction ; whilst on
the other hand it is contended, that any such reduction
would be destructive of an immense amount of capital in-
vested in the colonies, that their cultivation, as a conse-
quence, must be abandoned, and the important market they
now afford to the manufacturer and the merchant be altoge-
ther closed. _ _

To the government, therefore, the subject must have been
one of difficulty, if not of embarrassment ; pressed as it has
been on their attention by parties of opposite views and con-
flicting claims. The committee conceive, however, that,
whilst the expectationi of those who advocate the reduction
of duties as to the anticipated results of the measure are un-
duly raised, the fears of those who oppose it are as unduly
exaggerated. No doubt, the immediate effect of the con-
templated reduction would be to lower the price of colonial
produce in the British market, as it would bring the cheaper
produce of Cuba and Brazil into competition with it ; but
that it would materially increase the exports of manufac-
tured goods to either of those countries may be fairly ques-
tioned, since that, the committee apprehend, must depend
upon the increase of population, and the general distribu-
tion of wealth amongst the community—a thing which can
never take place where the great mass of the labouring popu-
lation are slaves.

That the ultimate result would be to advance the price of
the productions of those countries in the continental market,
and also in this, must be obvious, inasmuch as every ton
subtracted from the present supply of the foreign market to
meet the demand of the consumers in this, must necessarily
affect it; and, to whatever extent the reduction in the duties
may diminish cultivation in the British colonies, it must,
sooner or later, affect the exports to them. Cuba and Brazil
will undoubtedly be benefited. The British colonies may,
and most probably will, be injured by the measure.
But, my lord, there are some who cannot look on the
question as one of mere fiscal arrangement. They regard it
as involving great principles and solemn responsibilies. In
the relation which it bears to slavery and the slave-trade—in
the strength it will give the one, and the impulse it will
yield the other—the committee find an argument which ap-
peals with irresistible force to their convictions and feelings
against it. _