The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1833-05-17 00:00:00

IOL •gTA.N.DARD:

ration (hear, hear); and that it would say to the planters,.
" You, must not only declare the children born hereafter of
slave parents to be free, you must also manumit the existing
generations." (Cheers.) But while he would in this manner
provide that the young negro should be born a freeman, and
that the old negro should not feel himself condemned to the
horrors of irretrievable slavery,—he would not at once, by one
hasty act of legislation, remove all. the shackle* by which the.
slave was at present bound. He would not fling him,fronka
state of unrelieved and unmitigated slavery into a state of
absolute and unrestricted. freedom, for, which his past habits
and his- past feelings had rendered him.totally unfit. But in
saying this, did he mean to say that the slaves were to remain
as they were for 1,345, or 10 years, and.that then they should be
free unconditionally and without reserve ? Perhaps he might
see more danger in that course than other gentlemen did; but
certainly, as at present advised, he was not inclined to adopt
it, for he thought that a period in which the slave was left, in
such an undefined, unlimited and uncertain condition, would
be a period of anxious irritation to all parties,—that it would
be a period of great excitement, and probably of much danger;
above all, that it would be a period of unmitigated authority.
on the part of the master, and of determined and irresponsible
disobedience on the part of the slave. (Hear, hear.) He
proposed what he considered to be a middle and. therefore a.
safer course, which, while it got rid at one swoop of all the
restrictions which had been woven by the colonial legislatures,
to fetter the rights which they professed to give, would leave the.
negro at liberty to benefit by the exertion of his own talents and
his own industry, would give him an incentive to regularity and
assiduity, and would afford him an opportunity of forming those
habits of frugal labour, of which at present he stoodinuchin need.
Perhaps it would be as well for him (Mr. Stanley) to ingot here
the-objection " How will you deal with the multitudinous re-
strictions with which the- colonial legislature- has. fettered the
slave ? " He would sweep away all those restrictions at. once by.
declaring the negro a freeman. From the moment he was de-
clared a freeman, the restrictions which applied to him as a
slave would cease to apply to him in his capacity of a freeman.
The negro, being no longer a slave, would be entitled to con-
tract marriage—his evidence would be indisputable—his right to
property would be admitted,—lie would be entitled to seek the
religions instructor he liked. best,—and, in a word, al-he (Mr.
Stanley) had said before, he would enjoy every privilege of a
freeman, upon the condition of consenting to labour for a given
time upon a particular soil; He called upon the house to con-
trast the condition of the agricultural labourer in this country
with the condition in which the negro labourer would be placed
under this new system. In England the labourer. worked
hard for a pittance which, God knew, was scanty enough ; he
was distracted with cares for the subsistence of his wife and.
family; he laboured diligently and hardly, in order to earn a
sum which was barely sufficient to provide him with food and
clothing. Now what was the condition in which the resolutions
which. fie held in his hand would. place the negro labourer?' 11-e
would be made to enter into a contract, by which his master
' would be bound to give him food, and clothing, and such allow-
ances as were now made to him by law, or to give him in lieu
thereof a pecuniary allowance. For this consideration he
would be called upon to work fur his master three-fourths of his
time, leaving it to be settled between them whether that should
be for three-fourths, of-the week or of' each day. The remain- .
ing fourth of his time the would be at liberty fo transfer his la-
bour, if he so thought fit,,elsewhere; but if he were inclined to
give it to ;his master, bis master would be obliged to find him
employment according to a fixed rate of wages. One of the
great difficulties which environed this question was, how they
were to fix this scale of wages for free labour? How could any
man in this country fix a rate of wages which would be applica-
ble—he would, not say to all the islands, but—to any two of
them ? Could the house say that it would fling this ques- .
tion loose to the world—that it would leave the negro to work
or no, as he pleased; and to satisfy himself, as a man easi-
ly could in a tropical' climate,. with a bare supply of the neces-
saries of life ? In some of the islands it might be difficult to
obtain even that ? but in those where the quantity of land
unoccupied was as great as the fertility which distinguished it,
the wants of men living in a tropical climate would be so few,
that it would be impossible, under a system of free and unre-
stricted wages, that the state of society, as it now existed,
should not come to an entire cessation. -,(Hear, hear.) But
it had been. asked, whether the gwagea so given would be a
sufficient inducement to the negro in the present state, to give
himself up to continuous labour for so many years ? Now
he had already told the house that he did not give the slight-
est credit to what he so often heard said about the negro cha-
racter; but he did give credit to what he had heard about the
slave character. He knew, too, the effect of a tropical climate
—he was aware how far it went to damp exertion and to para-
lyse aaivity,—but he likewise knew the effect of slavery, and
that it was calculated to promote this idea, that as the greatest
of human curses was labour, so the height of human bliss was
relaxation from labour. To remove the slave suddenly from
labour, and to place him in a situation in which he would be
called upon to provide for nothing more than the necessaries of
life,, would be to'extiug.uish labour,—would he to extinguish ci-
vilization,—iu a word, would be to fling before the negro popu-
lation the desire to recur again to savage life. Then he had
been asked how this scale of wages was to be fixed ? This was
undoubtedly a point of souse difficulty, as there was no criterion
by which to settle it. Refer the question to the planters, and
they would say that. the rate. of wages should be according to
the outlay in procuring for them the necessary articles of food
and. clothing. But that he denied to be a true criterion ; and
yet you had no free labour to compare slave labour with, or to'
regulate the prices by. (Ironical cheers.) The noble lord
cheered; but he should be obliged to the noble lord to point.
out to him where free labour existed in our West India colonies,.
and, when he had pointed'it out, to prove its existence. He. '
(Mr. Stanley) was convinced that at present there was not that
demand for free labour iu any of our slave colonies which -
could form any certain regulation for the amount of wages
which ought to be paid to a free negro. He could devise no
better mode than that of compelling the planter to fix a price,
on the labourer at the time of his apprenticeship, and by en-
acting that the wages to be paid by the master should bear such
a proportion to the price fixed by him that for the-whole of his
spare time, if given to the master, the negro should receive
142 th of his price annually. In this way the master and the
slave would both act iu reference-to each other, If the master
fixed a high price for his negro, he would have to pay him
high wages in proportion to that price. If he fixed a low
price, then, upon the payment of that price by any other per-
son, on his behalf, the negro would be positively and ab-
solutely free. The proposal, then, which he had to make to
the house was, that the apprenticed labourer should give up to
his owner 3-4ths of the profits of his labour, in consideration
of the food and clothing which lie received from him ; that he
should be at liberty, it he so thought fit, to give 1-4th of his
labour elsewhere • but that if he gave it his master, whose
interest it would' be receive it, he should receive it for an
amount of wages proportional to the price set upon it by his
master. The government had therefore divid,ed the price
for Isis freedom into so many instalments that at the end
of 12 years all the price put on the slave by the master would be
paid to the master out of the proceeds of the slave's industry.
Under these circumstances, he put it to the house whether it
was not strictly iu order to allude bete to the loss which this
alteration would occasion to many of the West India pro-
prietatv ? 'Was it fitting that upon them, and upon them alone,
shouldle thrown the loss accruing from the destruction of a
species of property into the legality of which he would not, at
that moment, enter, but of which he would say that it had
been repeatedly sanctioned by the imperial legislature? It was
exceedingly difficult, iu the present condition of West India
property to get any safe criterion by which to judge of its
H value. e knew an instance of an estate which now produced
£1,400 a-year, and on which there was a mortgage of a sum
between £4,000 and £6,000. Some years ago there was a mort-
gage of £30,00 upon it, which had been diminished by pay-
ments out of the . rents of the estate to the sum lie had just
mentioned. The house would scarcely credit him when he told
them that that very estate had been recently sold for a sum
which would be covered by the proceeds of' the first year
_from it. He admitted that the insecurity of West India pro-
perty had had a great and palpable effect.upon the exchange-
able value of it in the money market, and that when West In-
dia property washrought there now, it was a depreciation truly
frightful. Now, let the house look for a moment at the profit
derived at present from West India ' property • and on this
point he was speaking from the returns of West Indian pro-
pony to the Board of Trade. On examining those returns, the
house would find the net profits arising from the sale of sugars.
The planters had told the house the cost of raising a hogshead
of sugar, the number of hogsheads which they imported annu-
ally, and the price of each hogshead, as ascertained by the
Gazette.. Now, from these data it would appear that the net
profits arising from the cultivation of sugars was £1,200,000
a-year. The-house had not equal data for calculating the net.
profits upon. ruin and cqffee; but taking them to amount to
£250,000 or £300,000 a-year, the total net profits 'of West
India property. would amount to £1,500,000 a-year. Now, his
Majesty's ministers proposed to advance to the West India
body a loan to the amount of ten years' purchase of this
annual profit, or in other words a loan or 415,04000. It
would remain as a question with Parliament in what manner
and upon what condition that loan should be repaid to the
country. It would also remain with Parliament to consider '
whether it would require the repayment of that loan, or
would convert it into a gift, according to- a plan which it

might hereafter become his duty to submit briefly to the house.
Parliament might consider that sum equal to one-fourth of the
proceeds of. the slave's labour,, and. with. that sum and the, other.
' three-fourths of his labour, he would, at. the end. of twelve years,
have received a just compensation for the price of his slave,
and for all the expense to which the slave might have put. him
for food
.and clothing. It was only. right, however, to state,
that during- that time the planter would have to pay interest up-
on his loan,_ and to that amount he might,perhaps be considered.
a loser. Now, he thought that it would not be denied that, this
remuneration must be borne either by the produce of: negro
labour or by the revenue of England. It could not be home
by the planters, for that would neither be fairnorjust ; it must,
therefore, be borne by one of the two alternatives to which be
had alluded. Upon one or otherof them, hey.und_aliqueationaha
choice of Parliament must rest.. There might be gentlemen
who thought that you ought not to take any thing from the pro--
fits of the negro so lung as he continued a' slave. In that opi-
nion he couldnot concur. He thoughtahat taking, a portion of
their wages from them now, for the purpose of laurchastog their
freedom hereafter, would induce them to. lay by. some. part of.
their earnings afterwards when they became free, would teach.
them habits of prudence and forethought, and would materially
tend to their moral improvement. lie thought such a plait,
much better than saying to them, " You shall work three-
fourths of the day for your master,, and your master's advan,
Cage;. but, for the remaining fourth, which belongs to you, you.
unit' work or not, as you please, for, in either case food and
clothing will be provided for you," He. believed that he had,
now stated, in as much detail as was then necessary, the'princi-
pal• features of his- plan with, perhaps, one- single-eaceptiana
That exception was, that it might be.neee.ssary to add te• the
provisions of the bill that of which the want had rendered all
former enactments null and void ; he meant that it might be,
necessary to give to.the executive some discretionary power-.
It might be necessary to distribute through the charterectcolo-
Ines what already existed in the crown colonies, namely, stiperia,
diary magistrates appointed by the crown, uninfluenced by the
locat assemblies, free from local passions and. prejudices, who.
would discharge equal justice to the rich, and the poor, the
black and the white—who would watch; over and protect the
negrnin hie incipient state of. freedom, and who would aid and
direct his inexperience in forming a contract which might have
so material an effect upon his future life.. There was vise other
object to which he thought that the protecting care_ of this
country ought most specially to be, extended, lie would call•
upon the house to aid the local legislatures, or even to proceed
without the aid of the local legislatures, in establishing in the
colonies schools for the religious and. moral.education of their
inhabitants. ' (Hear,. hear.) They were now going to eman-
cipate the old negro upon certain conditions, after the lapse of a.
certain fixed period of time ; but they were also going to eman-
cipate the young negro immediately, and without, any. condi,
tions. (Hear.) " Fnna the present moment, then," continued Mr.
Stanley, " your responsibility begins. Into their minds you must
implant wholesome principles as the basis of wholesome habits.
You are placing them in the rank of freemen, it is your duty to
qualifir them- for holding that rank honourably. virtuously, and,
beneficially. You are bound not to threw them upon the world
impressed with the idea, that the lot of Man is labour from, his
cradle to bits grave, and that be must die with no other hope and
with no other consolation than; that he has come to the and of a
weary and labourious.pilgrimag,e. (Cheers.) You must embus •
them with sucleptinciples as will insure the performance of their,
duty here,—as will teach them. the necessity of moral restraint
to secure their happiness hereafter, as will instil into them the.
purest motives of action,—fitthem for freedom in thieworld; and
as will enable them to leave it, not as the brutes, who perish..
without hope of immortality. (Hear, bear.) I have now gone
through the details of the propositionwhich his Majesty's go-
vernment have deemed it their duty. to submit.to your couside-,
ration. I know the difficulties, the almost insurmountable dn.-
ficulties, which it will have to encounter in carrying it.into
practice. I know the disadvantages under which I bring it
forward at this particular crisis; but I still bring it forward, in
the confident hope, that in these resolutions the germ is sown
which will soon ripen into perfect fruit, which, when. reaturetk.
by the fostering care and protection of persons wiser and better
qualified than myself, will secure to the country, to the colonieta,
and to all ranks and classes and colours of hie Majeaty's subjecta
that from this day forth there will be a virtual extinction, in;the
dominions of Britain, of all the horrorstif slavery; and that; in
no distant period, by no uncertain operation, but by the action
of this machinery, every trace which mars the face of freedoni
will be erased and blotted for ever from our laws- and institie-
tions. (Great cheering.) The right hon. gentleman then moved
the series of resolutions which appeared in our paper.
Mr. STANLEY then said, that he was too .well aware of the
importance of these resolutions to call upon the house to come
to a hasty decision upon them. It had 'been with the greatest
reluctance that he, as a member of the government, had been
obliged to announce to the West India interest that he coultt
not accede to their proposition todefer the statement which he
had just made beyond to-night, but after the publicity which
had been given to this plan in all the public journals, he, felt
that it was almost impossible not to let the government have an
opportunity of stating the grounds upon which it had gone, and
the principles on which it had proceeded. Having made his--
statement, he had no wish to call upon the house for an imme-
diate vote : on the contrary, if any gentleman should propose
that further time be given for their decision he should have no
objection to the proposal.
In answer to a question from Sir IL Peel, which was inau-
dible in the gallery,
Mr. STANLEY said, that though the power of corporal punish-
anent was taken from the masters, it was not taken away from
the magistrates and judicial authorities. Upon particular vie-
lation of contract the apprenticed labourer would be liable to
-corporal punishment; but in other respects he would not differ
. from the agricultural labourer in this country.
Lord Howie): said that, situated as he was, the house would,
feel how painful it must be to him to be compelled, by an irrn
perative sense of duty, to state an opinion adverse to the plan
which had just been unfolded by his right hon. friend.. The
present was a question of which the importance had not been
underrated at either side of the house. It was a question open
which were at issue, not only the honour of the country, but the
happiness of millions. The proposed mode of treating it was-
pregnant with such fatal results that he must briefly state his
reasons for opposing it. It had been said that the first resolu-
tion gave the slave the essentials of freedom: but this ors at-
tempting to dupe the house with words. The only distinction
between the slave and the freeman was the condition on which
he gave his labour, and that being the case, how did his right
hon. friend seek to get rid of slavery ? For three-fourths of his
time the negro is to be the apprenticed servant of his master,
not by his own free choice, but by a contract forced upon him.
And what, was that contract ?. That he was to give three-fourths
of his thnefor the food and clothing which lie now received.
In the evidence before the house of Lords, it wasstated that the
value of the supply furnished to each negro was 455.. a-year.
So that the negio, for three-fourths of his time, was to give his
labour for one-fifteenth of its value. Was not this a distinct
mark of slavery? His labour would- not be voluntary, it would
be extorted by the fear of punishment. Ilis right ben. friend.
asked in what respect the apprenticed negro would differ front
the labourer in this country ? The difference was the greatest
in the world,—it was neither more nor less than that one con-
tracted voluntarily, the-other-compulsorily. Was the plan in-
tended for the benefit of the slaves or their masters ? There
would be. no doubt, a dispute upon this point. It for the mas-
ter, he (Lord Howick) most solemnly protested against any
part of the system in respect to the pecuniary interests of the
master. Whatever were the claims of the master on this
country he had at least none on the slave. The slaves, on the
contrary, had themselves claims. for compensation.--(Bear.)
On the view of the interest of the negro, he (Lord Howick) was
prepared to reject the scheme. But there, was another view to
be taken of the subject, and one to which some lion. gentlemen
were likely to give their chief consideration—the interest of the
planters. He asked what would be the effect of the regulations
on the interest of the masters ? Nominally, the planter would
' have a right to three-fourths of the labour of the slave. But
how much would that nominal
.advantage really produce to the
master ?. It was not to be expected that the slave would volun-
tarily give up his time to hii master: 'His right hon. friend had
' truly stated, that men would' not labour diligently and strenu-
ously, except under the impulse of some strong stimulus. In
this country, in every country where free labour existed, men
were induced to work to avoid the pressure of want, and they
knew that the reward they should obtain would be in the direct
proportion of their diligence and industry. In the case of slaves,
they laboured because they knew if they did not they would be
subject fo punishment, and therefore they submitted from a
sense of terror to do what was disagreeable to them. Which of
these motives could be brought to bear on the apprenticea ne-
gro ? Had the apprenticed negro any motive to voluntary ex-
ertion?" His wages were not increased by increasing his exer-
tions. In no respect would he be a greater gainer by:work than
by' idleness. Ile would do as little as he could, not only from
a desire to avoid fatigue, and to reserve his strength for those
hours which were at his own disposal, hut front a determination
to make a contract and bargain unprofitable, which was in tie
highest degree unjust, and to the advantage of his master. If
the plan of his.right hon. friend failed to enliSt the feelings of
the negro, how stood the case on other grounds ? He had ad-
mittedthat there must be some stimulus.. The planters, 'and
every witness who had spoken upon the subject, concurred in
stating that a slave would do twice as much , Work foe himself,

(Continua. to page 40,1