The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1833-08-30 00:00:00

TO THE EDITOR OF THE L7VERPOOL ST4NDARD.

SlR,—Few periods in the history of the civilized world can be
more marked by the future historian than the year 1833. When
the heat. of party spirit, and the violence of political feeling, have
been allayed by the soothing hand of time, the philosopher, the
historian, the legislator, will look back to 1833 with wonder,
and, I humbly trust, with admiration, as that in which nearly a
million of our black fellow-creatures ha'e been changed by the
British Parliament, (as if by the wand of the enchanter,) from
a state of slavery to freedom. Nor can the effects end here.
America, France, Portugal, and Spain must follow in our foot-
steps. The' fiat has gone forth; the impetus has been given,
and no power on earth can stop its overwhelming force.
It is with fear and admiration that I contemplate the awful
moral responsibility which the governMent of this country has
had the courage to assume, in bringing about this end. It
would be quite irrelevant here to enter into the question of—
"Whether or not adequate compensation has been given to
the parties whose property has been interfered with." It is my
intention, in the few observations I have to make, to take higher
ground, and to consider the matter of pounds, shillings, and
pence as secondary to the greater cause of conferring a tangible
benefit on hundreds of thousands of our fellow-creatures. _

The cause of the late bill, and the expectations entertained
by nine out of every ten persons in this country respecting it,
undoubtedly were and are—that it will benefit the negroes—
that it will civilize them—that it will make them happier
and better than they were in all the social relations of life
—better and more useful members of society—more moral
—more religious. But will it do" so? The inquiry is an
important one ,- and, if followed, it would lead me to a
length to which it is not my intention to go at present. I,
for one, fear not; I say fear not, because I shall yield to no man
in the desire that the plan should work well. It is now the law
of the land; and, as the venerable .Eldon said on a late memo-
rable occasion, it now becomes our duty to uphold and to obey.it.
It is with these feelings, and as one much interested with, and
sincerely attached to, Jamaica—one to whom was entrusted as
a magistrate the occasional dispensation of the laws of the
country, that I venture Lto submit a subsidiary plan with the
view of assisting, however distantly, the law just passed; or,
rather, preparing the MINDS of the negro population (during
their time of probation) for the exercise of all the rights and
privileges of free born British subjects, in a manner which will
be beneficial to themselves, at the expiration of their respective
apprenticeships.
For the accomplishment of this purpose, I propose the esta,
blishment of a " West Indian Emigration Society" in this
country, with collateral branches in such of the colonies as are
possessed of mountainous districts in which European labour
could be successfully applied, without prejudice to the health
of the labourers.

I anticipate no difficulty in getting emigrants even from the
most industrious and the most thickly populated parts of the
united kingdom; but I shall at once state my apprehensions of
obtaining such emigrants, who, while working for their own
benefit, will, at the same time, produce, by their example, a
slow, quiet, but, in course of time, a great moral effect on the
minds of the negroes.
An act of Parliament cannot emancipate the mind; it cannot
create thoughts, desires, longings, aspirations, the obtaining of
which, or the endeavours to obtain which, must be preceded by
fixed habits of industry. It is an old and true maxim, that
"man will not work for the mere pleasure of working." He
works in order to get money, which money is to be laid out in
the purchase of something for which a previous desire must
have been formed. It is to create this desire, to cause these
artificial wants, that I propose emigration, and in no part of the
world is it more necessary to create them than in the West
Indies. There nature is so bountiful that the labour of two
months of the twelve will provide for the
.physical wants of the
year. Now, let us imagine a state of society but just emerged
from barbarism, who are as thoughtless of the future, and as
improvident, as the young children of the readers of this paper
may be. Let us ask ourselves, how they'would likely use the
ten idle months of the year? bearing in mind, at the same
time, that the generally received opinion of the negro popu-
lation respecting freedom has always been coupled with the
idea of having it its their power to be idle.
It may not. be useless to refer to our own highly-civilized
country in order to furnish us with material to solve this
question. Let me ask practical men, master tradesmen, or
any man of observation here, this question :—How do the
mechanics of England, who can earn as much money in three
or four days as will support themselves and families for a week,
how do they employ their spare time? I speak generally. Do
they employ it in a manner beneficial to themselves, families,
or society ? Let any man of observation walk the streets of the
great manufacturing towns of this country on Saturday even-
ings, and Mondays, and sometimes Tuesdays, and when he
sees the drunken, -bloated, worn-out men who are gliding, like
beings of another world, through this, will he not pause before
he says that freedom from labour, is happiness? Will he not
say that, if such be flirt effects of idleness in this highly.
civilized country, where the wants of fuel, clothing, houses,
medical attendance when young, provision for old age, Ste. &c.
form so many stern task-masters as incentives to industry, what
will be the fate of the indolent African, residing in a country
which predisposes to indolence, and where the great bounties of
Nature are spread with so lavish a hand, anti in a country so
thinly populated, that, to repeat what I have already said, the
labour of a negro man for two months will suffice for the supply
of twelve ? _ _

The mode of correcting these habits, which I propose, is
chiefly BY PRACTICAL EXAMPLE. But I feel that I have
already occupied too great a space of your valuable columns;
however, if the subject should be deemed one of general inte-
rest, I shall conclude it in a second letter, showing,
ht, The benefit to the negroes arising from emigration.—
2d. The benefit to the emigrants.-3d. The benefit to the
planters.—ith. The benefit to the mother country.-sth. An
out!ine of the plan.--I am, &c. • •
AN OLD JAMAICA MAN.

F LAT FERING RECEPTION oF .T. NECHOLL, EsQ

M.P., Obi Till,. LIVERPOOL EXCHANGE,

On Wednesday evening Mr. Nicholl arrived in Liver-
pool; and yesterday afternoon, about four o'clock, he made
his appearance on the Exchange, accompanied by the
Mayor, Sir John Tobin, Mr. Moss, and several other
gentlemen. He was immediately recognised by the mer-
chants and gentlemen present, who notwithstanding the
wetness of the day had assembled more numerously than
usual, as the nominee of the House of Commons who
had so ably conducted the defence of the Liverpool free-
men on the late parliamentary inquiry; and, whilst
those to whom Mr. Nicholl was personally known pres-
sed forward to testify their grateful sense of his ser-
viceS, other's, to • whom the honourable gentleman was
known only by name and character as the defender of the
freemen's rights, crowded round him and accompanied
him into the Exchange News-room. Immediately upon
the entrance of Mr. Nicholl, an universal burst, of ap-
plause pealed through the room -; and the enthusiastic
cheering, which lasted for several minutes, coming as it
did from the most intelligent and respectable merchants
and other inhabitants of this town, must have gone like-
a dagger to th hearts of those wretched libellers who
were at great pains to represent to different members of
parliament, pending the inquiry, that the respectability
of the town was in favour of the disfranchisement of the
freemen. After loud and repeated cheering, and after
lieing repeatedly called upon, Mr. Nicholl addressed the
gentlemen present, as nearly as we could catch the sense
of his observations, from the confusion that prevail: d, as
follows :

" I beg, gentlemen, that you will accept my most grateful
thanks for these unequivocal testimonials of your kindly and
generous . feelings towards me. Appearing among you as an
entire stranger, naturally anxious to see the rapidly increas-
ing prosperity of your town, to view the gigantic strides by
which it has outstripped all the other commercial towns of the
empire; desirous, also, to show my respect and gratitude to-
wards those of . your esteemed fellow-townsmen from whom,
during the late investigation in London I received attention
and civility, I am but little prepared for such a public mani-
festation of your approbation. (Load and continued cheering.)
I venture, in some degree, to attribute my reception on the
present occasion to an opinion entertained among you, that in
the inquiry before the committee of the House of Commons
I discharged the duty committed to me, not only honestly,
fearlessly, and zealously towards those whose interests were most
unexpectedly confided to my care, but without unnecessarily
indulging in acrimonious expressions or bitterness of feeling to-
wards-those whose- measures I resisted, &dm a:firrrr conviction
that they were uncalled for and. harsh.—(Cheers.) But,. gen-
tlemen, t interpret my flattering reception here, not so much as a
mark of personal regard towards me individlially, as to the decided`
conviction of this assembly, comprising the great mass of the
respectability, the wealth, and the intelligence of Liverpool,
that the proceedings against the freemen ought not to be carried
any further.—(Here three rounds of applause were given.)—
That • under whatever feeling they were originally com-
menced, or have been hitherto prosecuted, any attempt to
take ulterior steps will assume the character of persecution
and oppression—and I trust this will go forth to the country at
Large, as a declaration that such is the opinion of the meat and
enlightened body. of the merchants of Liverpool. (Cheers.)
Standing here simply as a private individual, without any
personal or political motive or object, still, what I. have ad-
vanced on a subject in which I have felt the most deep and
anxious interest, will not, I hope, be considered.as presumptu-
ous. I will not further detain you by any expression of the
pleasure I have experienced iu observing the rapidly increasing
prosperity of this flourishing town, nor in noticing the great
improvements which your liberality has effected in the public
works since my visit to this place in 1819—not in comments on
the bright prospects of extended cominerce which appear to be
opening to your enterprise and exertions. I will only add; that
I fervently dope this prosperity may go on day by day increas-
ing, that you may all, individually and collectively, enjoy every
happiness and bleSsing which an all-wise and all-beneficent
Providence can bestow ; that you may hand down to your
children and your children's children, that best birthright, the
liberality, the honour, and the unblemished reputation which
have ever distinguished the Liverpool merchants." (Cheers.)
At the close of his speech the hon. and learned gentle-
man was conducted to the Town Hall, where be and a
party of gentlemen were entertained by the Mayor.
During his stay in this place Mr. Nicholl remains as a
guest at the private residence of the Mayor.