The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1843-06-23 00:00:00

%.13414111 tlOrft Mow!, The 664, uptiaron who ITO*
for near{; two how s, and who wed much intHrupted byerieg
of " que4tiorr" and " time, time," concluded by moving a
series of resolutions to the effect that it was the duty of the
convention to support all plans which would carry out the
principle of free labour in opposition to that of slave labour,
provided such plans are consistent with the moral, religious,
and pacific principles avowed by the convention. That the
slave trade carried on upon the Atlantic was caused by the
demand in the western world for slaves to cultivate sugar,
coffee, and other tropical productions, and to destroy that
demand for slaves it was necessary to produce, at a cheaper
rate, by free labour, which could be carried out by the pur-
chase of unoccupied lands in the West Indies. That to effect
this it was necessary that all restrictions on the free emigra-
tion of the negro race should be abolished and emigration
carried out by her Majesty's government. That at all times
the emigrant shall have a right to demand a free passage
from the colonies to the place whence they came ; and that
a petition to this effect be presented to parliament."
Can anything, we ask, be more reasonable—more
strikingly conclusive—than the desirableness of the
course suggested in Mr. Laird's resolutions ? Nothing !
Emigration of African free labourers to our West
Indian colonies is obviously the legitimate carrying
out of the measure of emancipation itself. We have
in those colonies a vast
,field for the development of
the principle of free labour. We can there, aided by a
copious supply of such labour, undersell the whole
world in the markets for tropical products. We can
there strike a blow at the very heart of the monster
slavery; and, surely it would have been conceived that
a policy so plain and practical could not have been ob-
jected to by any sincere friend of the African race !
But no ; it is too direct—too practical for the ultra
philanthropic section of the anti-slavery body. These
gentlemen have minds too deeply embittered against
the white colonists of the British West Indies to sanc-
tion a measure of amelioration which might possibly be
of benefit to those colonists. Zeal for the happiness
of the African race throughout the world is a feeling
less active in their breasts than hostility towards the
former owners of the now emancipated negroes of
Jamaica, Trinidad. and British Guiana; and hence
they would rush to any Quixotic scheme—they would
go to WAR, even, rather than adopt a policy which,
they affect to believe, might lead to practices assimi-
lating to those existing before the abolition of the slave
trade !

Thus, at the meeting of the convention in question
a Col. Nicholls, although not entirely hostile to the
plan of Mr. Macgregor " believed it the easiest thing
in the world to put down slavery, if the government
of this country thought proper, and suggested that the
most effectual mode was to establish an armed force
and military posts along the coasts of Africa" ! ! and,
in explanation, remarked, very unnecessarily, we sub-
mit,
that what he wanted was to prevent Africans
from being dragged away to slavery from their own
land, and to improve them on their own soil"—of
course, by means of " an armed force and military
posts along the coast of Africa"!
The Rev. Mr. Scohell, however, displayed, even
more forcibly, the animus of the opposition offered to
the plan of government migration.
" Fault," he remarked, " had been found with the trans-
mitting of African labourers to our West India colonies.
They were all agreed on the point, that the plan was open to
the most serious objections, and could not be supported by
tile people of this country. The West India planters had
prevailed upon yovernment to carry this measure for their
own interests (!), without regarding the interests of our co-
lonies, that of the people of this country, or of the Africans
themselves. If money was given to the chiefs of Africa,
they could find free emigrants enough; but not without that
could any Africans be found free."
The obnoxious West India planters again ! Ano-
ther speaker—
" The Rev. John Clarke, of Fernando Po, proceeded to
give a shocking picture of the present mode of exporting
labourers from the coast of Africa to that place, under the
plea that they were free emigrants. He expressed his con-
viction that the only way to benefit Africa and destroy the
slave trade there was to enlighten her children."
And

Mr. Lewis Tuppin, of New York, supported the latter
view of the question, and declared it to be his conviction that
as education spread in Africa, in exactly the same ratio
would slavery decrease, until at last it would be entirely
abolished—(hear, hear)."
Of course these reverends would be delighted to
volunteer as " the schoolmasters" who are to enlighten,
by some patent process hitherto unexplained, " the
children of Africa " !

As a conclusion, we find that, after some explana-
tory remarks from Mr. Laird, " the resolutions were
put and negatived by a very large majority, and the
convention dam adjourned."
How long, we ask, will the British nation consent
to be misled by these transparent fooleries of the
Anti-Slavery Society ?

Our contemporary of Tuesday appears at length to
have discovered—or has some kind friend drilled the
fact into him ?—that the publication by a Liverpool
paper of all the twaddle which is indited by amateurs
upon the subject of our warehouse system is not quite
consistent with the course of any party who honestly
seeks, or ought to seek, the advancement of the pros-
perity of the town. In his last publication he re-
marks—

"We see that the Manchester papers, especially the
Guardian, take care to bring all disgraceful facts, which are
now coming to light al:nost daily, respecting defects of the
Liverpool warehousing system (if system it can be called)
before their readers, and that they do not fail to draw from
them arguments in favour of the introduction of the bonded
warehousing system in that town."

Of course, the Manchester papers do this ; and in
so doing they are perfectly justified. If journalists in
Liverpool, for the sake of gratifying a paltry personal
spite, or of creeping up the sleeve of a dominant party
in the management of dock affairs, will persist in the
course which our contemporary has bten pursuing—
will persist in deliberately offering weapons to the op-
ponents of the prosperity of Liverpool, to be used in
an effort to strike at the very existence of our port,
they cannot complain if those opponents as readily
seize hold of those weapons, as they ignorantly and wan-
tonly tender them. And, moreover, they cannot corn.
plain if the world at large estimate the amount of their
ignorance by the extent of their perseverance in a
course so suicidal.

We have little expectation that our contemporary
will be deterred from the perpetration of further silli-
nesses by any consideration of the injury thereby in-
flicted upon the interests of their fellow-townsmen.
There are some people who, like the incendiary
of Ephesus, would rather live in story, as the
,author of calamity, than not be known.

By a reference to our report of the proceedings of
the Dock Committee, yesterday, it will be perceived
that some explanation was gone into, upon the subject
of the probable cost of the warehouses now erecting
upon the quays of the new dock. In our last publica-
tion, we stated that the estimated cost of erection of
these warehouses was £36 per square yard ; and, for
making this statement, we had the authority of our
own report, and another (the Mercury's), of which the
following is the substance :

" The sub-committee of works presented their amended
report on the subject of the warehouses, in which they recom-
mended that all the floors should be constructed on the prin-
ciple of the brick arch, according to a model prepared by the
surveyor. Some discussion ensued on the propriety of im-
mediately adopting the report, Mr. Evans contending that
an estimate of the entire expense should first be laid before
the committee. The chairman said the surveyor estimated
the cost, according to the; plan now submitted, at -.C36 5s per
square yard. On the motion of Mr. Ripley, the motion was
adopted."

This report appeared in our publication of the 19th
ult., was repeated in a letter in our publication of the
2d instant, and remained uncontradicted or unex-
plained until, stirred up perhaps by the use made of it
in our last publication, we had yesterday what pur-
ports to he a final clearing up of a matter so striking.
We give here the explanation verbatim from our re-
port :

Mr. BOLD said he wished, as there was considerable mis-
apprehension on the subject, to ask the surveyor what was
his estimate of the cost of the Dock Warehouses?

The SURVEYOR replied, that he had the memoranda to
answer Ida question in his pocket last week, hut the subject
passed over. The estimate was £ll Ils. per square yard.
Mr. BOLD.—Does that include the vaulting ?
The SURVEYOR.—Yes.
Mr. BOLD.—And the piling ?
The SuaveYoit.—Yes.

The CHAIRMAN said he did not press the question last
week, because he thought Mr. Hartley seemed hardly certain.
It was, however, an important question, for by the news-
paper accounts the estimate had been mis-stated from week