The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1840-07-14 00:00:00

Carmichael Smyth, (the late governor) has said, 4‘ this
magnificent country will, for ages tc come, amply repay the
capitalist, and enable him to propioy anynumber of labourers."
These statements have been fully confirmed by other re-
sidents and travellers in Guiana, particularly by Dr. Hancock,
by the Rev. Mr, Isaacson, Mr. Schomburgk, and Mr.
&chic.

The claims of the colonists of Guiana and the West Indies,
however, rest upon still higher grounds : their markets are
monopolized (as in accordance with national policy they ought
to be) by the manufacturers and artificers of Great Britain ;
the manufactures of no other country being allowed admission.
Accordingly, the whole of the proceeds or value of colonial
produce is either centred in her, or taken off in manufactures ;
while foreign produce is for the most part drawn out in
money, enriching foreigners at the expense of John Bull,
who thus unintentionally contributes to the perpetuation of
the slave trade. Indeed, the West Indies, being altogether con-
suming colonies, are entitled to even a greater protection
than Eastern India, since the latter is itself a manufacturing
country. Nay, many of the manufacturers of the latter are
now interfering with those of the mother country ; and a
considerable proportion of its agricultural productions are
paid for in specie, whereas, already stated, West India pro-
duce is paid in wares and manufactures. These facts have
been very ably set forth in a memorial recently presented to
her Majesty's government, by certain gentlemen from
Demerara.

Previously to the year 1830, the West Indian colonies
furnished 100,000 hogheads of sugar more per annum than
at present ; not only fully meeting the demand for home con-
sumption, but leaving a surplus of 40,000 hogsheads for ex-
portation in a refined state : thereby supplying the means of
paying for a great portion of the foreign grain imported into
this country, which has now to be paid for in gold.
Immigration, then, being allowed to be the only means by
which the cultivation of the West India colonies can be kept
up, the question arises—in what quarter of the world are
we to look for free men, who will do the work which hitherto
has been done by slaves ? And in reviewing this question,
the condition in life of the individuals whose labour is
sought must be the first consideration. The Hill Coolies,
an oppressed and miserable race inhabiting India—perhaps
the most oppressed and wretched on the face of the earth*—
have been suggested; 419 of them have 'already been
introduced into Guiana—not twenty thousand, as a noble
and learned lord has been represented to ,say in the
upper house. The conduct of these labourers has not belied
the hopes that were entertained of them. Much, it is true,
was said, at first, of their treatment; but if some difficulties
did arise; owing probably to inexperience, they were soon
corrected by the local authorities, and the Coolies have now
become perfectly satisfied with their condition. They per-
form their work with cheerfulness and alacrity ; are well
behaved ; and many of them have affirmed, that when their
indentures shall have expired, they will go to Calcutta and
return with their families. Anunto Ram, the head sirdar,
remarks, " I have only my father and mother in India, and
I will go to Calcutta at any time my master wishes, and
return with plenty of these people : they would be glad to
come here" t
Governor Light, in a recent despatch to the Colonial
Office, writes—" I am convinced that, under proper regula-
tions as to sexes and location, the natives of India might be

safely introduced here, to the great amelioration of their own
condition and the undoubted benefit of the province, which
only requires labourers to make it a second India."
Objections, however, have been raised to the emigration
of these people to the West Indies ; and in the recent dis-
cussion in the House of Commons, on the third reading of
the Colonial Passengers' Bill, they were most of them re-
peated, in a manner which indicated that Honourable
Members had not duly inquired into the facts of the case.—
at least, as regards Guiana : facts which, in sooth, would
have been found to admit of no one tenable objection for a
moment. Not that that discussion was unfavourable to
emigration—far otherwise : it was only the details, upon
which so much difference of opinion arose. In time the pear
will be ripe.
The most material—nay, the only objections which have
been advanced,with any sort of effect, refer, first, to the
length of the voyage ; and, secondly, to the absence of any
guarantee that the freedom of the immigrants shall be
maintained inviolate. In answering these objections, the
writer must avow his ignorance of what has been done on
the subject by Jamaica, Barbadoes, or any of the insular
Colonies. He comes forward on the part of Guiana, whose
claims for an immigration ordinance are too well supported
to be endangered by any objection that cant or sophistry can
invent. At the same time, he must be allowed to protest
against such concession being made to any one Colony in
particular, and the rest being interdicted from participation
in it. All, or none, deserve justice.
As to the length of the voayge, then, from Hindostan to
Guiana—this is so futile and ridiculous an objection, that
the wonder is that it could have entered the brain of any one
in this age of enterprise and steam. Is it feared that the
sea-air will be too powerful a stimulus to the attenuated and
broken down constitutions of the half-starved Coolies?

It is well known that the inconvenience of a sea voyage is
only felt within the first few days after embarkation; and
when passengers are embarked in good and comfortable
vessels, and this inconvenience overcome, it is of little con-
sequence whether the voyage be six or twelve weeks. It is
said that the regulated emigration of poor people to Australia
is far less injurious to health than the neglected emigration of
the same class to Canada, only a quarter of the distance.
Again, as to the second objection—it is admitted that the
Cooties will have left their homes, not on compulsion, but
by persuasion, and by the offer of a better and more endurable
condition than that to which they had been accustomed ; but
it is stated, in one influential quarter in particular, that " a
guarantee is necessary, against their pining in a foreign land,
destitute of all means of returning, without a friend, or per-
haps a countryman, to advocate their rights, and, finally,
compelled to labour on terms which it would be absorb not
to call slavery."l: Such langua"e, to say the least, argues
great ignorance of the acts and proceedings of the Local
Legislatuie of Guiana. The colonists distinctly repudiate
all intentions of undue advantage ; and the means they pro-
pose to employ are sufficiently indicative of their sincerity.
They seek for labourers in that part of the world where the
inhabitants are most abject and wretched, and where, one
should think, an exchange of situation, however slightly
beneticial,•could not but be gladly accepted. Having, then,
induced a certain number of them to depart, accompanied, as
many as prefer it, with their wives and families, (for, on this
head all restrictions are studiously avoided,) they permit
these poor creatures, on their arrival in the colony, unfettered
by any indentures or acts of apprenticeship, to choose their
own employers and employment at the current rate of wages ;
which, it ought to be known, are as high in Guiana as in any
part of the world. In addition to this, houses, provision-
grounds, medicine, medical attendance, and religious instruc-
tion, are allowed them ; and the colonial government have
agreed to provide for four magistrates, (understanding the
Hindostanee language,) to act as protectors over them, at a
salary of £7OO per annum each. Lastly, in the event of their
being dissatisfied with the change, their passage back to India
is guaranteed them ; funds having been placed in the hands
of the governor of the colony for this purpose. In short, the
colonists are well aware that the existence and ultimate pros-
perity of British Guiana, as of every other West India colony,
depend on the labourers being rendered contented and happy,
that they may become permanent settlers ; and in all they
have done it is evident they have kept this in view. To ob-
viate difficulties, however, it might, if thought necessary, be
proper to enact some regulations, to be administered by a
proper and responsible authority in the colony.
The writer need scarcely remark here, on the contrast which
such a system of free-labour must present to that at present
employed, in too many instances, at home.
Another proposition yet remains to be noticed ; namely,
that those Africans who have been captured in slave-trading
vessels should be transferred to the colonies in want of immi-
grants, where, it is said, they would make a large and valuable
addition to free labour. This, indeed, would appear to be a
proposition inconsistent with everything that has been exhi-
bited of the negro character since the emancipation ; yet, so
necessary has labour become for keeping up the cultivation,
that the planters would gladly avail themselves even of this
resource, however precarious or inefficient it may ultimately
prove.
In this discussion, it is justly said, there are four inter-
ests to be kept in view :—" that of the labourers, that of the
colonists, that of the English manufacturer, and that of the
revenue." Now, it is the very reconcilement and adjust-
ment of these interests that recommend the plan of immi-
gration in question ; for, in the first place, as already shewn,
the labourers—free labourers be it recollected—will be fed,
clothed, nurtured, and in every respect attended to, with a
care which even the peasantry of Great Britain might envy;
while, should they desire to return to India, a free passage
will be allowed them : the colonists, in the next place, with
a vast accession of labour, will be enabled to extend cultiva-
tion, and thin recover their fortunes and add to their capital ;
the population, augmented by immigration, will have, as a
necessary sequence, a greater and still increasing call for the
productions of the English manufacturer, and a market for
the same, even more extensive than that which has hereto-
fore existed in the colonies, great as it was, will be established ;
and lastly, the revenues of the mother-country will be en-
hanced by the improved supply of the various articles of tro-
pical produce, a supply sufficient not only for her own wants,
but also for exportation to foreign states, it being an axiom,
that the demand for every article of consumption is in pro-
portion to its cheapness.
Of all possible acts of the legislature, that, the writer hum-
bly conceives, would be the most consonant to their dignity
and wisdom, which would bring a fertile colony of great ex-
tent, but at present waste and almost unknown, under culti-
vation, and thereby render it subservient to the comforts and
the wants of the mother-country, and afford an asylum to the
destitute portion of an overgrown population. At the same
time, this is the only plan which can furnish a means of deal-
ing a death-blow at the slave-trade.
Should immigration, however, in the way proposed, he dis-
allowed—and let it not he forgotten that every moment's de-
lay but adds to the danger in which the colonies are now
placed—the consequences will inevitably be such as may well
make the philanthropist and the patriot sigh. The West
Indian planter and merchant will be utterly unable to com-
pete with the dealers in human flesh in the foreign colonies ;
their capital will be destroyed ; the colony must be abandoned ;
the trade in sugar, coffee, cotton, and every other article of
tropical cultivation, will fall into the hands of slave-owners,
who will, no doubt, be excited by additional gains to pursue
an execrable traffic with more energy than ever ; and thus
the vast sacrifices Made by Great Britain, instead of relieving,
will tend only to multiply the horrors and the miseries of
slavery. T. H.
London, .Tune 29th, 1840.

* Mr. Elliott. in the House of Commons, on the 23rd
inst., declared, from personal observation, that in the best
seasons they had barely the means of subsistence, and that
during periods of famine they perished in thousands by the
road-side, infecting the air. By official accounts, it appears
that five hundred thousand of these miserable beings died
of hunger in 1838.
t Parliamentary paper, Hill Coolies—British Guiana—p. 18.
:,. Vide the Times, June 22.,

BANKING

(From the Scottish Guardian.)
TO THE PEOPLE OF GREAT BRITAIN

Edinburgh, 4th July, 1840.

A. very little consideration will, I think, show the Propriety
and necessity of every one of the regulations I have proposed ;
and also, that they are all that are proper or necessary.
First,—lf the circulation of banks is not limited, how can
it be regulated in amount, or rendered safe by guarantees 1
And these are the first considerations. Next, What is the
real operation that takes place in issuing notes of credit ? It
is, either a temporary pledging of property, if the note' are
based on property ; or it is creating a circulation wholly
fictitious. The consequence of either of these is, to tend at
least, to deteriorating the circulation, by increasing its
amount ; and if carried to excess, to make actual capital of
no value to the possessor for use in trade, and of little com-
parative value even for his ordinary occasions. It is hasten-
ing forward the industry of the country, it may be'true ; but
it may be also greatly and improperly accelerating the depre-
ciation of the results of industry; that is, of all acquired
property.
By limiting the circulation of paper, to a fair and liberal
amount, we avoid cramping the energies of the country on
the one hand, and too rapidly depreciating acquired property
on the other. We give the possessor of real capital, at least
a fair chance with the favourites of banks :—we keep real
se e
tok
theemployment
trade and encouragement
instead tthereby
c oraising
l i nogpi tr
itvoa
ls
iwni capital
other
toetceoheuoonimitrreace e
equally useless.
selves look
that render the
Second,—lt may seem hard to require banks to find
security for their issues. But do not they themselves
for security ? It may seem impolitic to lock up so much of
• their capital? But do they trade to any considerable extent
with real capital? If they did, they would make very little