The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1842-07-01 00:00:00

TO CORRESPONDENTS,

THE BAUD OF COLOUR AGAIN.—We have received another
letter from this poetical personage, who is really much
sillier than we took him to be. We cannot,, in mercy to
our reader's sides, and the reputation of Robert Rose,
insert the letter itself. The substance, however,—(as our
correspondent has got into his head the absurd notion that
the public is very anxious as to his whereabouts)—we are
willing to give. Know all men, therefore,—and ladies too,
—that Robert Rose, Esq., the bard of colour, " has during
the last three weeks been in Buxton, Fleetwood, South-
port, Blackpool, &c., enjoying himself in the luxury of
bathing I or, to speak poetically,
" The Rose has been washed, just
Washed in a shower"—
of salt and other waters at these various watering places.—
We publish this explanation the more readily, as some of
our lion hunters, we understand, have imagined that a
certain unknown coloured gentlemen, who has lately
amused the passengers in one of the Egremont ferry boats,
by his exquisite performaw:e of nigger melodies, is the
veritable Leo Africanus—Robert Rose, Esq., the bard of
colour.

"A Protestant anon Orangeman" was received too late.
We cannot insert the notification of a marriage unless it is
authenticated.

The grievance complained of by "An Old Subscriber"
would soon be remedied by an application to the Watch
Committee, if the policeman refuses again to interfere.
THE " GUADALOUPE," IRON STEAM-FRIGATE.—This fine
vessel made a most successful trial-trip on Tuesday. We
had prepared a description of the vessel and her equip-
ments, and also an account of the trip, but in order to do
justice to the subject, by treating it more at length, we are
induced to postpone both articles until our next publica-
tion.

El)c Riberpoot (*tanban.

FRIDAY

MORNING, JULY 1, 1842

We return to a consideration of the news furnished
us by the last arrival from the West Indies, as relates
to the condition of. the emancipated negro population
and to the state of society at present existing in these
colonies ; and here we must address ourselves to the
anti-slavery party throughout Great Britain, as well as
to the committee upon West Indian affairs now sitting.
The former body have on more than one occasion
shown a disposition to obstruct those remedial mea-
sures, which every friend of our colonial greatness ad-
mits to be imperatively required, for the restoration of
our tropical possessions to a state of health and pro-
sperity. To this great party the promotion of the
happiness of the African race has ever been a che-
rished, if not an exclusive object ; and by the work-
ing of the emancipation bill, thus far, we feel bound
to admit that that object has been obtained. Let us
beg their attention, on this point, to the following evi-
dence of a witness—the , Guiana 'I Imes of the 13th of
May---whose testimony will at least receive the credit
of being impartial:—

" If we are not entitled to judge the hearts and consciences
of men, and to say that this community, as a whole, has im-
proved in point of virtuous principle, this, at least, is not to
be disputed, that the strides which it has made in that ex-
ternal decorum, which is like the homage that vice pays to
virtue, must outstrip the highest conceptions of all but per-
sonal observers. The degradation and inhumanity of a ge-
neral system of licentiousness, the prevalence of the insti-
tution of marriage has everywhere rectified. The river no
longer resounds, on the peaceful Sabbath-day, with the forced
mirth of the children of bondage, plying their unintermitted
tasks ; but every thoroughfare is crowded with well-dressed
peasants, independently following the bent of pious inclina-
tions, and thronging to the places of divine worship. Even
among the late owners of slave property, to be immoral has
become unfashionable, and to be profane is no longer ac-
counted genteel."
Again_

" Crimes are not disproportionately numerous or heinous.
Want, the tempter to so many deviations ftom propriety of
conduct, is unknown to the great mass, while the indolence
induced by the climate, indisposes them to the violent and
long-sustained bursts of passion. familiar to regions in which
all the faculties of the mind are in a state of constant acti-
vity and energy. Lying, thieving, cunning and other vices
and defects, have ceased to characterise, peculiarly, the
labourer in these parts, as he, ceasing to be the abject instru-
ment of another's will, has acquired self-respect, and learned
fit notions of the value of a good reputation. In respect of
these and similar results of the passing of the Emancipation
Act, we encounter few planters even, hardy enough to pre-
tend to doubt the happiness of the change which has been
so suddenly accomplished."
Surely this is a state of things, both as regards the
improved condition of the emancipated African and
the advanced morality of the society in which he lives,
which will be contemplated with delight by every abo-
litionist—by every lover of the human race. But the
grave question will present itself,—is this a permanent
improvement? Can this happy condition of the Afri-
can co-exist with diminished production, diminished
exports, and diminished imports ? Can it co-exist
with the annihilation of invested capital and the gra-
dual banishment of European intelligence from our
West Indian possessions , Hear again the evidence
of the same authority from which we have before
quoted :

" Could the present state of affairsrehmain stationary,
greatest
they who insist on securing the
, might argue, thappiness of the
greatest number of persons
that the distress
of the intelligent was of no consideration, weighed
against the happiness of the mass. But a processw isn
which will, by and by, involve the peasantry in the same work,
are falling.meYcoau-
tastrophe, before which their superiors
will say that the riches of the soil will always guarantee
them against starvation. Granted. As, however, you be-
lieve that man is born to some higher end than animal en-
joyment ; that, as he cannot be always eating, drinking,
and
sleeping, there are some rational occupations which ought to
fill up the intervals that appetite leaves vacant ; and that he
has faculties to improve, separate from the limbs of his body,
a spiritual existence which is to last long after these have
crumbled to dust, we warn you, gentlemen of the Anti-Sla-
very party, of the perils to which your mistaken kindness
subjects your favourite protegees. As the component parts
of a middle class, betv ,en the labouring drudges of the
plantations and the proprietors, the new freemen will see
before them a prospect of advantages without limit. But it
will be a fatal day for them and their families when the cul-
tivation of their staples is totally abandoned. Indeed, we
know not how, in the absence of immigrants to undertake
the toil which the freeholders have not, and never will have,
any inducement to undertake, the educated generation now
rising is to find employment. It is truly melancholy to see
the number of young persons, of all races, going to wreck
for want of occupation. Every profession, every public de-
partment, is glutted with incumbents. The misfortune is,
that this is a country in which the depravation of the moral
faculty, and the !deterioration of the understanding, are as
precipitate as the putrescence of animal matter after the
withdrawal of the principle of life."

And, depend upon it, this is the just, the true posi-
tion, in which we must regard the prospects of the
emancipated negro in our West Indian possessions !
Granted that he is happy, at present prosperous, re-
moved from every care, satisfied with the culture of
his own provision grounds and an occasional day's la-
bour in the plantation to provide him with clothing or
luxuries, or that he can provide these from the surplus
produce of those provision grounds without bestowing
his hand upon the paid culture of the staples of ex-
port ;—yet the time must soon come when the provi-
sion markets will be glutted, and he will be in want
even in the midst of abundance. We shall have res-
cued him from the slavery of man to hand him over
to the bondage of his own constitutional indolence. We
shall have purchased—that is the strict and undeniable
conclusion—we shall have purchased some hundreds
of thousands of human beings, far advanced on the
path towards civilization and the light of christian
truth, for no other purpose than to hurl them back into
their primitive barbarism and ignorance ! We chal-
lenge any man, no matter of what creed or opinion, to
controvert our position, that this must be the result of
the adoption of a stand-still policy, and the consequent
surrender to commercial rain of these noble posses-

sions !

But even admitting that by the intervention of some
overruling Providence, the existing population of the
Wrest Indies, ceasing to be producers except for the
supply of their own animal wants, may be preserved in
their present condition of comparative prosperity and
happiness ; may not the question be asked of the abo-
liticnkt—to what important use have you applied the
means placed at your disposal, by the measure of
emancipation, for the gradual amelioration of the con-
dition of the entire African race ? Although the
chains have been struck from the limbs of 800,000
slaves in the British possessions, is there one wretched
African the less toiling in bondage throughout the
world ? Have we realized, or are we in the way to
realize by this measure, the magnificent dream which
you held out to us of the cessation of slavery through-
out the world? _No ! We repeat it—No ! On the
contrary, you have stimulated—you are stimulating,
day by day, the accursed traffic in human blood ; you
have rivetted the chains upon millions of human be-
ings now toiling beneath the burden of tropical la-
bour ; and you are, day by day, forging fresh chains
for millions yet unborn !

Except through the prosperity of our West Indian
possessions,—except from an extensive production of
the staples of export in those possessions,—the mea-
sure of emancipation can have no effect, save one of
serious prejudice, upon the continuance of slavery in
other nations. What country will pursue a course vo-
luntarily, which is fast desolating the colonies of Great
Britain ? What country will voluntarily give up its
slave labour when the example of Great Britain has
shown them that the substitution of free labour leads
to progressive decay and ultimate ruin ? hone; and
this nation, when it declares that it will not consent to
the adoption of remedial measures to stay the decline
of its own colonies—when it declares, in deference to
the cry of a spurious humanity, that it will not afford
to the suffering planters of the West Indies an exten-
sive supply of free labour—abandons, virtually, the
noblest experiment ever made since the creation of the
world by any great people; and says, virtually, to that
system from which the dealer in human flesh derives
his accursed gains—esto perpetua !

By the arrival of the Great Western, at Bristol, we
have papers one day later from New York, containing,
however, little which is worthy of comment in addition
to the copious summary of news furnished in our se-
cond edition of Tuesday, and which will be found in
our impression of this day. With respect, however,
to the anticipated amicable termination of our differ-
ences with the United States, through the mission of
Lord Ashburton, the New York Morning Herald of the
16th, in a supplement printed for the packet, has some
remarks, professing to be founded on authentic infor-
mation, which we cannot resist placing before our

readers

" The north eastern boundary," remarks our transatlantic
"is really the only serious point between us

contemporary,
and Great Britain

" The Caroline affair is susceptible of very easy and prompt
adjustment. It is a matter of explanation and indemnity,
and might have been finished by Mr. Fox in half an hour any
time within the last eighteen months. M'Nab had no auth-
ority for his conduct. His invasion of our territory was an
act of gratuitous insolence, and the British government is
ready to say so—not in such terms of course—and pay for
the property destroyed.

` As to the seizure of our vessels on the coast of Africa,

the indemnity awarded in the case of the Tigris, concedes the
principle, and we want nothing more. As to the case of the
Creole, the ground assumed by Lord Palmerston is obviously
unsound, and it is believed that Lord Aberdeen will recede
from it. In any event no difficulty is apprehended :from

his source

" With respect to the question of right of search, it is
impossible for England to quarrel with us because we will
not make a treaty with her—besides, Lord Aberdeen has
yielded all we ever asked."

If these may be taken as the expectations generally
entertained by the American people, we apprehend that

brother Jonathan is doomed to experience a truing
disappointment. If the important questions referred to
are to be settled in this off-hand style by Lord Ash-
burton, as the representative of Sir Robert Peel's
government, then the people of England will have just
cause to say, that their country and their sovereign

have been dishonoured before the face of the world, to
appease the blustering swagger, and gratify the vanity
of the people of this model Republic. Lord Ashburton,
we trust, will never submit to stigmatize the destruc-
tion of a piratical vessel, in the act of levying war upon
British subjects as " an act of gratuitous insolence" or
any other than an act of strict legality and justice ; and
certain we are that the British parliament and people
will never sanction suck an adjustment of our diffe-
rences with the United States, however "easy and
prompt" that step may appear to the inflated imagi-

nation of transatlantic journalism.
The same remarks apply to the absurd anticipations
of our contemperary, with respect to the settlement of
the Creole case and the right of search. Great Bri-
tain will not, we are confident, even to secure the fa-
vour of the American nation, which can only be done
by flattering its vanity, yield one step from her present
dignified position upon these questions. The comes:
sion said to be made by Lord Aberdeen is pure fudge !

At length the tariff bill has passed a third reading,
and we shall be relieved for a time from the eternal
carping and cavilling of Whig-radicalism upon each
and every of its 800 items, from " asses" foreign and
colonial, the first of the list, to "lees" of wine, the
—items, by the way, peculiarly characteristic of
he pristine and ulterior condition of that fallen
iarty. The young donkey, alternately gambolling and
restive, vicious and stupid, how excelllent a type of
Whiggery in its day of elevation ! The settlings of
the beer or the wine cask—the " lees"—the dregs—
by the deposit of which the body of the generous
liquor itself is purified—how apt a type of that deceased
and wrecked faction, by whose prostration society is
purified and invigorated ! For a time we shall be re-
lieved of its gentle plainings upon all the fertile themes
which this tariff has suggested, and the world will be
permitted to go on in its usual round, without being
astounded every alternate hour by some explosion of
Whig incapacity—some specimen of the extraordinary
ignorance, upon political subjects, of this inflated and
pompous party.
The tariff has passed ; but not without a record be-
ing left to the world of the opinion, with respect to it,
of that profound statesman, Lord John Russell, as the
representative of the collective wisdom of the Ex-whig
administration. His lordship is happy, and yet he is
sorry; he is pleased with what has been done, and yet
displeased because something has not been done. On
cheese and butter no reduction has been made. On
coffee all the reduction required to swamp that odious
body—the
West India body—has not been made. On
sugar, the decrease of the differential duties necessary
to insure the conversion of the colonies of Great Bri-
tain into deserted swamps, and to afford a stimulus to
the lash of the foreign slave-owner, has not been made.
foreign
The duty upon corn is at this moment just two
shillings per quarter above the duty fixed upon, by Lord
John Russell, and therefore the " corn monopoly" has
not been dealt with to his
lordship's satisfaction. In
fact his lordship is out of humour; and perhaps the
cause of that unfortunate circumstance may be attri-
buted to the fact that his lordship
is just now out of
luck and out of office.

The world, however, will, we doubt not, survive the
loss of Whig talent in the administration of its affairs,
even although the leading oracle of that party is absurd
enough to talk of measures, as within the sphere of its
capacity, "for reviving industry and improving trade."
The tariff of Sir Robert Peel is not such a measure, in
the estimation at least of Lord John. The tariff and
the new corn bill will not, of themselves, give health
and prosperity to our diseased commercial system.
Will his lordship have the kindness to inform the
world what will effect this desirable consummation
except time and patience ?