The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1848-05-02 00:00:00

SPORTING INTELLIGENCE.

THE TWO THOUSAND GUINEAS STAKES—run for at
the Newmarket first spring meeting, on Tuesday, was won
by Mr. B. Green's Flatcatcher, beating Glendower, Blazer
Fern, and Sunnyside.

THE STATE OF JAMAICA.

[Often as we have called attention to our West Indian
possessions, we have never done so at a more critical pe-
riod than the present. Unless something is done instanter n
their complete ruin is inevitably sealed. Let Person
who who hesitates to believe this read the following article
from the Jamaica Despatch of the 23rd ultimo, in con-
nexion with the important resolutions of the Jamaica
Chamber of Commerce :—]
" The sentiments expressed in the following resolutions
passed by the Chamber of Commerce, and to which we
cannot assign a too prominent position in our columns,
will, we are convinced, meet with the hearty concurrence
of every one possessing a genuine interest in the prosperity
of Jamaica.
The period which we have long anticipated as the ne-
cessary result of the infamous measure of 1846, has nO7
arrived. Ruin surrounds us on all sides—property is
Valueless—commerce has deserted us, and rapid aban-
donment of all that remains of cultivation must immedi-
ately ensue. To maintain in the midst of this fearful
condition of things a public expenditure of £400,000 Per
annum, is palpably impossible. It becomes, therefore, a
duty in common fairness, not only to the public, but to
the recipients of the public bounty, at once to declare the
inability of the colony to maintain its existing institutions.
And this notification cannot be made too soon.
" In a crisis such as that which the affairs of the colony
have now attained, it is most essential that the sense of •
the legislature should be taken with as little delay as pos-
sible upon this subject. The taxes warranted by the laws
passed during the late Session cannot be raised. The
very crop which a heavy outlay has placed on the ground
will not in numerous instances be taken off, because the
unrighteous declaration of Ministers has destroyed what
little confidence remained, and capital will thus be unat-
tainable at any sacrifice.
" We trust, therefore, that the appeal of the Chamber
of Commerce will be responded to throughout the island,
and that the promised memorial to the Executive, for an
early convening of the Legislature, will be backed by
similar applications from every parish in the Island.

RESOLUTIONS OF THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE.
At a meeting of the Chamber, held on Wednesday, the
twenty-second of March, 1848, it was proposed by James
Porteous, esq., and unanimously
"Resolved I.—That the announcement by her Majesty's
ministers of their fixed determination to adhere to the
sugar duty act of 1846, without modification, has set the
seal to the ruin of this colony.
"Resolved 2.—That it is the opinion of this chamber,
that with a moderate differential duty of 10s. per cwt. for
a limited period of ten years, against slave produce, aided
during that interval by liberal immigration from Africa,
the vigorous suppression of the slave trade being enforced,
the energy and enterprise of our planters, assisted- by
capital, which confidence would again place at their com-
mand, would place Jamaica in a position to enter into •
unfettered competition with all other sugar producing
countries,—for this chamber feels convinced that on
properly equal terms the British Jamaica planters fear no
competition.

"Resolved 3.—That unaccompanied by a fair distinc-
tive duty, as against slave produce, the palliatives prof'
fered by her Majesty's Government are purely delusive,
and only calculated to lead on those planters who nisi
happen to have any capital left, to exhaust it by continu-
ing a ruinous and hopeless cultivation.
" Resolved 4.—That feeling assured that the abandon-
ment of sugar estates throughout this colony must now
become general, and, as a consequence, the pecuniarY
affairs of its inhabitants be thrown into a condition of
fearful embarrassment, accompanied by wide-spread insol-
vency, this chamber deems it advisable at once to laY S.
memorial before the Governor, and recommends to the'
different parishes a similar course for adoption, requesting
his Excellency to call together the Legislature with the.
least possible delay, that the appalling financial condition.
of the island may be considered.
"Resolved s.—That it is the opinion of this chamber
that in our present situation and prospects, all further
progress in the erection of new public Institutions shout
be at once arrested.
"Resolved 6.—That the people of this island are nod
in a situation to continue to pay existing taxes, and this
chamber, therefore, strongly urge upon the Vestries t°__
curtail their estimates of contemplated expenditure for
the ensuing year to the lowest possible limits,
abandoning entirely the Parochial Institutions. st
" Resolved 7.—That it is an admitted maxim among,.
all civilized nations, that whenever the state invades iior
vidual rights for the public good, full indemnity is inval.l7
ably awarded ; if, therefore, the British nation, for W
ae
IT
sake of cheap sugar, destroys her colonies by waging
unrighteous crusade against her own subjects, who havf
invested their capital upon the faith and guarnntee:
their Country's laws, they, as British subjects, Will ..,
their claim for full and ample compensation for this de-
struction struction of their property,—a claim which the justiceel
the British nation cannot refuse to recognize. short oi
"Resolved B.—That the foregoi Resolutions be
lished once in each of the city paper; and that the geld,
be forwarded for insertion in the Times, Morning ijeraw
and Morning Post."
By order

WILLIAM GIROD, SEC.