The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1842-05-06 00:00:00

terms :

" The duty Lupon cotton] is four-pence per cwt. upon the
produce of British Colonies, and two shillings and eleven-
pence upon all others. lam inclined to think that it would
be injurious to take off the whole duty. The four-pence per
cwt. could not have been imposed for the purpose of bene-
fitting the revenue, but merely to enable government to as-
certain the quantity imported from our colonies; and I am
of opinion, that without such a knowledge of the quantity
imported, the trade would be subject to greater fluctuations,
arising from speculations on the quantities imported and
stock in hand. it would, therefore, be worth while to con-
sider whether a duty sufficient to pay expenses would not be
more for the interest of the trade than an entire repeal."

With respect to no other branch of our manufactures
do we possess such accurate statistical i.lata as the cot-
ton manufacture; and we repeat, that unless we could
by other means preserve this accuracy, however much
we dislike the continuance of unproductive duties upon
any article, we should prefer a nominal duty upon cot-
ton to an entire repeal, with the uncertainty as to im-
ports and stock on hand and the consequent gambling
in the article by which it must be accompanied.

Sir George Stephen—a gentleman well known to
that unfortunate class of our fellow-subjects who con-
stitute the West India body, if not to the world at large
—has just published, in the columns of the London
Times, his views as to the measures to be adopted in
the present disastrous state of West Indian affairs.
Well would it have been for the people of Great Bri-
tain ; well would it have been for our colonial interests ;
well would it have been for the cause of freedom and
for the permanent happiness of the African race—the
especial objects of the philanthropy of gentlemen of
his class—if the crude theories of Sir George Stephen
and his fellows had on all past occasions been treated
as our metropolitan contemporary has treated the pro-
position before us, by subjecting it to charge as an or-
dinary advertisement ! Traders in pseudo philanthro-
pic projects, to be carried out at other people's expense,
had they been thus taxed, might possibly have been
more careful than they have hitherto been with respect
to the ultimate tendency of the pet projects which they
have submitted to the world.

The object of Sir George Stephen, in the communi-
cation at present under our notice, is to suggest a
scheme for the immigration of labourers into our West
Indian possessions, " for the consideration of the West
Indians, on the one hand, and of the anti-slavery body
on the other—a scheme which seems to promise fa-
vourably for the views of both parties."' 'We will not
pause to ask what right the self-styled " anti-slavery
body" have to obtrude themselves into the dictation,
or direction even, of the means by which immigration
is to be promoted into any free Britislecolony. Our
intention is, at present, merely to lay before our read-
ers the nature of the scheme in question, and the ad-
missions by which, on the part of this anti-slavery
leader, it is accompanied ; and we do not conceal the
fact that the important nature of the latter is our prin-
cipal incentive to enter upon the task which we have.
undertaken.

And first then, with respect to the scheme itself, Sir
George Stephen thus explains the motives to subserve
which it is intended :

"'lt is well understood that at the present moment the po-
sition of the West Indian colonies is most critical from the
high price of negro labour; it is equally notorious that the
anti-slavery party is intent upon the discovery of some prin-
ciple for the civilization of Africa of a less hazardous cha-
racter that that of which we are now lamenting the failure
and its fatal consequences."

To promote the objects of both, he continues :

" I propose the encouragement of emigration from Africa
to our colonies, subject to the following invariable condition :
—that at the expiration of a limited term!the emigrants shall
be conveyed back to their native country ; this must be ob-
ligatory both on them and on their employers, precisely in
the same way as the Lascars were formerly sent back to In-
dia after navigating our homeward-bound Indiamen.

I ioa nthoecopteondt thata.
that I will t.
" Whether the term of their colonial residence be limited.
at ot
pthrerseeenytedairsse,uosrs e; xat el
infdeerdwtiol
icfihv s a
n point
one hand their absence from Africa must not be prolonged.
till they have forgotten their native language andcounexions
and on the other hand, that it must be 'sufficiently extended
to enable them to acquire a knowledge of the arts, and a taste
for the comforts, which they will find in civilized society.
" I propose thus to maintain a constant flow of African.
labour into our colonies, and an under-current of West In-
dian civilization into Africa ; for it is obvious that every re-
turning emigrant will carry back with him a report of wealth,
of luxury,.and of freedom, that will stimulate his neighbours
either to the same emigratory adventure, or to pi•actise the
same arts in their native country. When they learn that it is
by the cultivation of their indigenous productions that such.
enjoyments are acquired—when the uncivilized black man,
naked, starved, and enslaved, is told by his own countrymen
that across the water every
black i • dressed, housed, and fed.
better than a native chief, he will not be slow in inquiring.
the cause, or in aspiring to the same improvement of his
condition."

There is certainly little in this proposition, so far, to•
except against, unless it be that the "obligatory" part
of the arrangement smacks somewhat more of slavery
than we should have expected from this quondam anti-
slavery oracle; that in practice it would be somewhat

difficult an welt as oppressive to carry out, and es•
pecially so towards the labourer himself. The diffi-
culty or the oppression in question, however, Sir George
cannot perceive. "If I offer a benefit to a man," he
argues, " I am entitled to make my own terms, so far
as those terms involve no breach of law or morality ;
and unquestionably it is a benefit to a barbarian to put
him in the way of civilization." Why so might the
slave trader say ; and herein lies the inconvenience
of pursuing two different ends, (compatible enough,
ultimately, and certain to follow each other,) at one
and the same time, and by one and the same means.
Provide for the oppressed African a free resort to the
market for labour and the means of civilization in the
West Indies, and the civilization of Africa, and the
suppression of slavery, will follow in due time. But
do not attempt to make the instrumentality in working
out the latter compulsory upon the enjoyment of the
former, or the realization of both must fail, and ought
to fail, notwithstanding the wire-drawn arguments of
the writer in defence of the virtual slavery which he
offers, when he puts forth the following—for an
anti-slavery advocate—startling doctrines :
" If I limit his " (the barbarian's) " enjoyment of these
advantages even to five years of his existence, I do much for
him ; but if I restrict him no further than to say, that at the
end of five years he shall return as a messenger of glad
tidings to his countrymen, with liberty, after twelve months'
absence on this patriotic mission, to re-emigrate to the colo-
nies, and establish himself there for life, surely there is nei•
ther cruelty nor even hardship in the stipulation. Of the
legality of such compulsion there can be no doubt ; for every
country asserts and exercises the power of removing aliens
from its soil at pleasure."

But, with respect to the more difficult part of the
project—the procuring of the emigrants required—let
us see what is Sir George's plan ! In the first place he
says—" Let every cargo of slaves emancipated by a
Mixed Commission Court be offered the choice of mi-
gration, or of discharge at Sierra Leone."

Upon this point we have again and again expressed
our opinion, and are convinced that, even without the
choice of being landed at Sierra Leone, such rescued
slaves, upon Sir George's own showing—" If I offer
benefit to a man I am entitled to make my own terms"
—might, without the charge of injustice, be landed, at
once, in one of our West Indian colonies. The second
method proposed is to give the rights of a British sub-
ject (with, however, the obligation of returning to
Africa) to every negro who shall set his foot within
sight of the British flag. We must confess that we do
not see much in this which is calculated to advance the
object in view, and are scarcely satisfied as to its pro-
priety, especially when we remark how coolly Sir
George Stephen talks of going to war to "assert the
protection of our flag" in behalf of every runaway or
captured African who may choose to claim right to it.
The obligation of "a British subject" to return to
Africa is pure fudge.
The following from a pseudo humanity-monger is
especially excellent :--

" I cannot but be aware of the thousand and one objections
that are likely to be made by well-meaning but weak people,
on the ground of undue influence over uneducated minds; I
acknowledge that in this respect such objections seem to have
reason on their side; the emigrants cannot know the full
force and extent of their contract, for they know nothing of
West Indian labour ; but I am not so squeamishly sentimental
upon the subject of liberty as to enter into the force of this
objection. In every contract that is made between man and
man, one will, if possible, take advantage of another ; and
the negro would be in no worse condition than the sailor just
paid off from his ship."

Nobody certainly ever thought that such people were
" squeamishly " sensitive " upon the subject of liber-
ty,' however "sentimental " they may have been !
We must conclude this article, already, perhaps, too
long, by recommending to some of the bigotted organs
of the anti-slavery party (our own Mercury and Times
included) the following admissions from one whose
opinions they, at least, ought to respect :

" I am convinced that the measure of emancipation not
only extinguished, or ought to have extinguished, all previous
hostility between these two influential bodies, but created a
community of interest between them ; and if my anti-slavery
friends now desire to put an end to French, Brazilian, and
American slavery, they cannot pursue a wiser course than to
render the sugar of free labour cheaper than the sugar of
slavery. This cannot be done so long as the emancipated
slaves of our colonies enjoy a monopoly of the labour market."
Our anti-slavery organs seem of opinion that the en-
couragement of "the sugar of slavery" would be the
wiser course ! Again, to those who oppose, as a vir-
tual reintroduction of slavery, every attempt to pro-
mote immigration into our tropical colonies, we would
offer, as we have before, in substance, offered, the ad-
mirable reasoning made use of in the letter before

" We know that the emigration of the negro will be from
slavery in Africa to freedom in Jamaica; from starvation
in Africa to plenty in Jamaica ; from ignorance in Africa
to intelligence in Jamaica; and, above all,from the darkness
of Paganism to the light of the Gospel. When the question
of emancipation from our colonial slavery, was agitated, the
argument upon which I always insisted in favour of our anti-
slavery right to interfere between the slave and his owner,
was that the slave, ex necessitate status, was incapable in law
to speak or act for himself; on the same principle, I contend
that, while we are bound to give the uninformed African
every possible opportunity and means of informing his own
judgment upon the choice held out to him, still we are justi-
fied, and even bound, to exercise a tutorial care of him, in
guiding his judgment to an election really conducive to his
best interest.

Upon the whole there is much that is impracticable,
and much, too, that is even oppressive, in this project
of Sir George Stephen. It is, however, highly worthy
of notice, as being, at least, a step in the right direc-
tion, made by the hitherto most bigotted opponents of
justice to the West India proprietor. The necessity of
immigration is here acknowledged ; the advantage to
the African of a measure to facilitate the transfer of
his labour to the market of our colonies is also ac-
knowledged; and although a disposition still exists on
the part of the anti-slavery people to meddle in the ar-
rangement of the machinery of such a measure, there
can now remain, we submit, little difficulty on the part
of the colonial office, mere theoretical objections being
withdrawn, to legislate practically upon the subject.

The smallest animal, the most diminutive insect
even—a gnat or a bug—is not without its uses in
creation; a blister and a drench have each their bene-
ficial effects upon the human frame ; and those bipeds
of similar class, who alternately titillate and blister,
nauseate and excite the council, are, as the report in
our cofumns this day will bear witness, effecting, indi-
rectly, a far greater good than by their utmost direct
efforts they would be able to accomplish. To the fac-
tious obstruction offered to every Conservative mea-
sure, by the frenzied minority in our local legislature,
we owe, if not the firm and decided maintenance of
principle by the Conservative majority, at least the
opportunity thus, from time to time, presented of vindi-
cating the conduct of that body from the aspersions
with which malevolent slanderers would otherwise be
enabled to fill the public ear. In returning our thanks,
therefore, to the Conservatives of the council for the
noble stand which they are making upon the educa-
tion question and other important subjects, we cannot
pass over the opportunity of recording our mite of ap-
probation to the Earle's and Bolton's of the council—
nay, we will even include that very small being Mr. R.
V. Yates—for their exertions in procuring, for us and
the public, the gratifying information that all is sound
and staunch and true in the condition of our friends,
if even we cannot thank them for having contributed
to the production of that condition.
The very soreness and frenzy exhibited by the ob-
structives, whenever such questions as that of educa-
tion in the Corporation Schools come before them—the
contortions of an Earle, the puritanical pleadings of a
Yates, the vulgar insolence of a Bolton—are satisfac-
tory assurance to the public that the course pursued
with respect to them is the proper and constitutional
course. When we hear a howl of radical spleen we
know that Conservatism has trod upon some Radical
grubber of abandoned bones-;--that some hungry maw
has been driven from its feast of corruption—that
some jobber has been choked off a contemplated inroad
upon the public pocket. When the Hedge sparrows
and Bats of Radicalism chirp in agitated concert
with the owls and larger birds of the order, we
know that a Conservative broom is sweeping the
crumbs, as well as the feast, out of their reach. When
a voice, between a snuffle and a whine, reaches us from
the shady recesses of the Dingle, we know that some
keyhole conspiracy has been baffled. When the small
battery
of the cynic philosopher of Abercromby-
square is levelled in defence of the prescriptive right
of Popery to ban and anathematize, we know that the
ruling body in the council is manfully standing by

the religious principles of the majority of the commu-
nity. We see and hear all these signs in the debate of
Wednesday, and we therefore once more congratulate
our Conservative friends that their local representatives
are doing their duty.
The public have a right, too, to thank the minority
of the council for amusement as well as instruction.
It is amusing to see an insolent slanderer made to eat
his words, and taught that the manners and the lan-
guage of a taproom are not such as can be tolerated in
a legislative assembly ; and for this gratifying sight
we ought to record our especial thanks to Mr. Thomas
Bolton. It is amusing and instructive as well, to
contrast the manners of Conservative gentlemen, re-
turned by the sound majority of the constituency, with
those of the rump of Radicalism, stolen or pitchforked
amongst that body, and waiting to be pitchforked out
at the next annual cleansing ; and for this we have to
thank the great, or rather the small bulk of the Radical
minority, for whose various vulgarities upon this occa-
sion we must refer our readers to the full report in our