The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1833-06-18 00:00:00

THE I.IVERPOOL STANDAIII).

. .
new peers indeed ! The thing is preposterous. The
KING refused to swamp the house on an occasion of far
greater emergency than the present, when the Reform
Bill was the hobby and the healing measure of the day,
and his MAJESTY is not likely to do it now, when the fe-
verd,,l hour is passed, when calm reason has resumed her
throne, and an incapable Ministry are struggling with
the reaction of their own unexampled blunders. No,
no ; we have no fears on this score ; the spell is broken,
the conspiracy is detected, and the Whigs being found
• out, are thoroughly despised.
So confident are we of this, that if Lord GREY should
make an appeal to the country to morrow, his present
supporters in the House of Commons would be defeated
in almost every county, city, and borough of the United
Kingdom.. We dare him to the listsl—we dare. him to
meet the electors at the hustings—we dare him to ex-
pose to the ordeal of afi enraged constituency those men
who, with pledges in their mouths, and perfidy in their
hearts, have brought the very name 'of representative
into contempt. What a sweeping there would be of
the EBRINGTONS, DAVIESES, BURDETTs, LEsIIINGTONs,
BROUGIIAMs, MACAULAYS, LITTLETONS, BERKELEYS,
ABERCROMBIES, EWARTS, and others, if we could only be
gratified with a new election ! We much question if
Lord ALTIIORP himself would be returned. The country
is indignant beyond all bounds at the ignorance and self-
ishness of the Ministers, and the meanness and servility

of their supporters. The financial economy too of the
CHANCELLOR of-the EXCHEQUER must excite derision, if
not disgust. The noble lord, it would. appear, can pro-
cure tens of millions to squander away unnecessarily,
and for speculative if not ruinous purposes—millions to
Russia—millions to Gree",ce—millions to the West Indies
—millions to the Bank and the East India Company;
and yet he cannot spare a couple of millions to re-
lieve the unequal- pressure of. the house and window
duties. He throws away thousands upon gaping lawyers
and useless commissions, but he holds by the tea and
sugar tax, or rather contemplates the increase of these
taxes. But he reckons, we calculate, without his host.
The Times may rave and splutter, but every body must
perceive that it is but the dying bray of the animal. Yet
a little while, and the lash of the master and the roar of
the creature will be at an end.

The refining of foreign sugars is again on the tapis,
and again we must address ourselves to 'it in the shape
of protest. We have no desire to oppose ourselves to
the interests of the sugar refiners, or of the merchants
trading with Brazil and Cuba. This port, in particular,
is largely interested in the trade to the. western world;
and with none of the countries composing it more than
with the Brazils. Wa.desire the extension of the trade
of Liverpool; but if, in striking the balance of good and
evil for the country at large, we find that the admission
of foreign sugars for the purpose "of refining should mi-
litate against the interests of the British colonist, we are
bound to support that interest, even to the apparent in-
jury of another branch of commerce. We feel that, at
this moment, it is especially our duty to stand forward in
support of the West Indies, when they are threatened
with evils which none of the protections that we have yet
seen, compensatory or otherwise, are likely to avert. If
any argument in favour of this, our view of the West
India question, were requisite, as applicable to the re-
fining branch, we should find it among those adduced by
the friends of the sugar refiners themselves, though ad-
vanced for very opposite purposes. A portion of the
London press, in two instances especially;taking part
with the refiners, but proceeding by, different courses,
and both going widely astray from a just view of the
question, seem only to concur in one point ; that the
changed position of the West Indies, even upon the mere
discussion of the proposed measures affecting their inte-
rest, calls for the infliction of further injury upon firm;
since the menaced derangement of the concerns of sugar
planters, too likely to arise from the. emancipation ques-
tion, will render the supplies defective to this country ;
consequently, it is essential and just (that is the infe-
rence) that a greater amount of injury should be. done to
our colonial possessions, to compensate for the lesser de-
gree already inflicted. This is an odd kind of logic, but
we can make nothing else of it.

The London Courier, of whose interest for the refiners
no one can doubt who reads its articles, lays it down,

that the proposed change in West India affairs is adding
to the distress already suffered by the refiners. If by
that the Courier means that the supplies of sugar from
our. colonies will henceforward be very uncertain, we

have nothing to say in opposition to such a sentiment.
Then comes that delightful journal which sometimes con-
descends to indulge this " beast of a nation" With its
lucubrations, and tells us that the Courier knows nothing
about it. " It" (the Courier,) " appears to ascribe their
sufferings to the proposition for negro emancipation, and
to the consequent impossibility of procuring a sufficient
quantity of sugar from our own colonies for foreign sup-
Ply, after the plan of Government for the abolition of
slavery, shall be adopted. Now, the fact is, that such an
argument betrays a total misapprehension of the ques-
tion, and a total misunderstanding of the respective in-

terests of the parties." The same pleasant journal then
goes on to state, that the West India planters opposed
the admission of refining foreign sugars, as there was no
security against the introduction of a part of the sugars
so refined into the country for home consumption ; and
complains that the temporary laws of 1830 andlB3l were
not renewed. The Courier rejoins upon this :
"We did not say, nor did we suppose, that the sufferings of
the sugar-refiners were to be ascribed to the proposition for
negro emancipation. What we said was, that their sufferings
would be increased by the consequences to be anticipated from
the emancipation of the negroes ; namely, a decrease in the
production of colonial sugar, the only sugar which they are al-
lowed to work on." "This question, however, is settled, so far
as the present administration is concerned. Lord ALTHORP, last
night, (Tnesday last) in the House of'Commons, in reply to
some questions put by Mr. CLAY, said that It was impossible
the present restricted system could be persisted in. It might be
asked, why, then, had he not brought forward a measure to re-
move this impolitic restriction on the refining of foreign sugar?
The answer was, that it would be inexpedient, as a question of
time, till the West India question was settled.' "
If we mistake not, Lord AirtiortP..and'his colleagues,
when objections have been made to their emancipation
schemes, on the score of the defective applicatiOn of la-
bour to this essential branch of colonial cultivation,
which would follow the liberation of the negro from con-
tinued moderate. toil, have always had for answer, that
proviSion would be made for ensuring a sufficient amount
of labour to the master for the purposes of cultivation.
But in the midst.Of a ,discusSiOn 'on one of the resolutions
he admits, in terms that are not susceptible of misappre-
hension, that such a defalcation in supply must be looked
for as can proceed from nothing but idleness or insub-
ordination, to use no stronger term; and, as this defici-
ency-in the supply must leave the planter in a state of
depression from the want of returns, it comes to what we

set out with, that, as injury must arise to the planter
from the measures now in progress through Parliament,
it is perfectly fair, at such a time, to inflict further in•

jury upon him, by a change in the refining laws; which
change was deemed inexpedient before the attack now
making upon his proporty and prosperity had com-
menced! Now, admitting the premises, We should incline
to draw very different conclusions'; and should say that,
on every principle of justice, it is expedient to pro-
tect. the remnant of the Colonial Interest. But it
will be argue& that the refiners only want to work
up foreign sugars for exportation, and not to interfere
with the home market at all. We think it is incumbent
upon those who take this position, first to show how that
operation is to be carried on with due protection to the
British planter, as regards what is termed the .home mar-
ket monopoly; and, secondly, which arises precisely out of
'the same case, how the- revenue is to be protected. It

surely will not be pretended for an instant that either of
these requisites was in practice during the operation of
the 9th GEORGE IV. or 2d WILLIAM IV. If any such
pretence were set up, we apprehend it would be in the
power of the West India body to expose its fallacy in
twenty-four hours. •
We never have asserted, nor do we now, that, with
due protection to the West Indian and the Treasury
against fraud, it might not be expedient to allow foreign
sugars to be refined in this country, care being taken to