The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1848-06-20 00:00:00

TIM LIVERPOOL STANDARD;

free trade? Must free trade go4he whole length, and re-
move restriction from blood stained ,machinery ? (Loud
applause.) Free trade in slaves the principle fairly car-
ries them to. (A voice—" No, no.") Well, I am quite
ready to- receive the tone of that " No, no," in abatement
of the force of that argument, elicited perhaps in the at-
tempt to drive us to the wall in. an extreme, when the
gentleman who spoke last asked who -would touch tobacco
or snuff derived from slave labour, or clothes made from
slave labour, or soil his fingers with gold dug by slaves.
Was not that the same sort of an attempt to drive
at the extreme, and be an extreme. (" No, no.")
And will not a comparison of these two arguments—
(lnterruption.) The felt unfairness of- an extreme in the
other case is precisely what I want to produce. lam not
pleading for extremes; I am showing the absurdity of
pleading for extremes. (Hear, and applause.) Well,
now,. sir, I have in the second place to say—this I am led
to also by what has dropped from some of our friends—
that it is not as a partisan of the West India proprietors
I address this meeting. (Hear,,hear, and applause.) I
have no connexion, directly or indirectly, except in the
way of acquaintanceship and friendship, with. West India
property. I have not a farthing connexion with it, never
had, and never expect to have and so far lam not open
to the retort which men so easily make who judge of others
by themselves. (Rapturous and continued applause.) It
so happens that the West India proprietors have, as I
think, been very badly used ; and so far I feel with them
and for them. (Applause.) It so happens that, as I
think, they have got reason and justice in their present
complaint and moderate demand ; and as such I am their
willing advocate. (Applause.) After quoting a circular
written by Lord Glenelg, the colonial secretary in 1835,
in which the Government pledged their faith that no risk
would be incurred by the owners of West India property,
the rev. doctor proceeded :—The West India proprietors
did not hesitate to go upon the faith of such an assurance
las this, and expended considerable sums upon their pro-
perty, improving it, availing themselves of opportunities
afforded in endeavouring to make the best of the appren-
ticeship system, both as a matter of property and prepa-
ration for the coming freedom ; and then, in the midst of
this, while they were struggling through this—while
maintaining their ground as well as they could—while
still doubtful, and all hearts were anxious about the suc-
cess or the non-success of the great experiment—when
all who had laboured for the emancipation of the slaves
were anxiously watching the result of this great nursery
' of freedom ;—in the midst of all this, the fatal act of 1846
passed the lgislature, stultifying their own arrangements
—their assurances on official authority—and throwing the
men who had estimated upon their good faith into the
dust, exclaiming in the proverb which I have before
quoted to you, Who would depend upon a British Act
of Parliament ?" %Loud and continued applause.) This
is a hardship ; and I ask if what is called a tax—a tax
said to be 4s. upon the labouring classes of this country—
is the tax, I would ask, of even so much as a penny in the
pound, if it should amount to so much, upon sugar—to
be refused, in such circumstances of oppression, of hard-
ship, of disappointment, of expended outlay upon pro-
perty on the guarantee of a great nation, reduced after-
wards by a single stroke to nakedness and barrenness,
because the guarantee is broken ? (Hear, and applause.)
England stood by and saw the guarantee given and bro-
ken ; and now those who invested their property upon the
faith of that guarantee, come to England and say—lt may
have been a misfortune, it may have been wrong, we
won't say it was altogether wrong, we have not been alto-
gether right, we don't claim perfection—we might have
improved our properties more perhaps, though we did
what we could : but you stood by and saw it ; and we
ask, will you throw us, naked and unprotected, to fight
against slave labour, where the men arc tortured to be
made to labour, when they are made to work eighteen
out of twenty-four hours, whilst our free labourers work
only four or five ? Will you throw us upon this ? (Hear,
hear.) Sir, I asked it at first as a matter of fairness and
of justice ; but now, further, I ask it as a matter of po-
licy even applying to the idol, cheap sugar. (Hear.)
Will you put the estates in the West Indies out of occu-
pation ? Sixty-nine estates have been abandoned in
the last year in one island alone," which must presently
be a wilderness of jungle. Will you throw the British
West India estates out of cultivation ? and will you, as
they are thrown out of cultivation, the inevitable result
of perseverance in the present bill, will you throw your
own supply of sugar upon slave-grown sugar—will you
throw yourselves into the hands of Brazil or Spain—will
you make yourselves more dependent upon Cuba, Porto
Rico, and Pernambuco—and will you expect from the
tender mercies of slave-dealers, that when they have got
the monopoly, they will give you cheap sugar ? (Loud
applause.) Where are now the indignation with which
abolition was called for—the energy with which emanci-
pation was followed up—the freedom with which compen-
sation was voted ? Where is all the eagerness, the zeal,
the earnestness of our friends, the Society of Friends ?
where are they ?—are they with us or against us ? Let
them tell Lord John Russell now whether they are or are
not against us—let them say in the face of England if
they are for slavery or not. Are they for continuing
these slavers, these steamers, this passing of human be-
ings between the tropics ? or are they for such a change
in the law as will prevent this ? Let them speak out !
(Loud applause.) j:Mr. John Taylor—" We are for a
change in the law."] I hope the gentleman speaks the
known sentiments of the body ; and that it may go from
this great meeting, which I can tell you is likely to pro-
duce its genuine influence upon the measures of the go-
vernment—(hear, hear)—measures which, up to Thurs-
day night, were not determined upon, which are to be
brought forward on Friday, and which cannot safely be
proceeded with, by aay ministry, without paying some
regard to such a demonstration as this. (Applause.) I
hope it will go from this meeting, that a gentleman took
upon himself—(laughter)—to answer for a highly respec-
table body of Friends, that they are with us. (Loud
applause.) I feel that I have already occupied much of
your time, sir ; but a word to the government as well as
to the people upon this point. My lords and gentlemen,
you cannot afford to lose the colonies. (Hear.) Your
East India possessions, even with the overland passage,
will be of little value to you, if you lose another America.
(Hear, hear.) My lords and gentlemen, look to it. There
is a point at which human patience ceases. (Hear, hear.)
I do not preach that it ought to cease ; but I tell you, my
lords, there is a point at which it does cease ; and I tell
you there is a point of irritation at which individuals and
owners of West India islands may cease to look for the
protection of Great Britain; and throw themselves upon a
nearer and a readier arm for help. (Loud applause.)
My lords and gentlemen, look you don't provoke that
recoil in the West India islands. (Hear.) Look how you
strengthen the arms of America, perhaps destined in the
next great shock of the world to cross the Atlantic as a
conqueror, and retaliate all those woes ever inflicted upon
her ! (Applause.) Take care, then, how you tamper
with a great interest like the West India colonies, provi-
dentially given to you—carefully and wisely to be main-
tained—judiciously to be managed—kindly to be hus-
banded in their difficulties. (Loud applause.) You have
done much for it ; it has cost you much (hear, hear) ;
you have derived the benefit from all that you have ex-
pended upon it. (A voice—" No, no.") Oh, sir, lam
persuaded there is not a member of her Majesty's Go-
vernment would say " No, no," to that branch of my
statement. You have derived a benefit every way—you
have derived safety from the west, and transit to the east.
(Loud applause.) You have a revenue derived from it,
and it is supporting it. (" No, no.") You have a colo-
nial revenue, and you must not call that expended upon
establishments there a tax upon Great Britain. Much of
it is levied upon the spot ; and this colonial revenue will
be destroyed if the property from which it is derived be
destroyed. (Hear, hear.) You will ruin also those im-
ports into your colonies of your own manufactures ; and
hear me, lords and gentlemen, there is a chance of get-
ting a little support from some who in other respects
might be disposed to oppose us. (Hear, and applause.)
They are anxious that there should be a free import of
our manufactures ; but we are shutting off that demand
from the West Indies, and for throwing their estates into
jungle—their negroes to nakedness, and to living under
the branches of trees. (" No, no.") You will do so, if
the estates are destroyed, as if a proprietor be ruined, all
who depend upon him must be ruined. Will you force
them to try more and more, as they are already, to do
without their employers, working but a few hours in the
day or week ; for if they get as much as, by help of the
remarkable production of the soil, they are able to sub-
sist upon for the remainder of the seven days, they will
not have further aims. My lords and gentlemen, take
heed what you are about ; don't throw away the West
India colonies ; and remember, it is in the outskirts of a
great country that symptoms of decrepitude first show
themselves. (Loud and continued applause.)
Mr. CHRISTOPHER BUSHELL seconded the resolution;
and the amendment to it was moved by Mr. W. BROWN,
M.P., and seconded by Mr. CLAYPOLE.
The last resolution was moved by Mr. H. LirrLEDALE,
and seconded by Mr. JONES ; and after the usual vote of
thanks to the Mayor, the meeting separated at near five
o'clock.