Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1845-02-07

lieve that the scheme of abolishing it in Texts
with the view to its abolition in the United States.
and over the continent, originated with the pro-
minent members Of the party in the United
States; and was first preached by them in the
$50 called) Worlds's Convention, held in Lon
don, in the year 1910, and through its agency
brought to the notice Of the British Government.
Now l hold, net only that France can have
no interest in the consummation of this grand
scheme, which England hopes to accomplish
through Texas, if she can defeat the Annexation,
but that her interests, and those of all the cen
tinental powers of Europe, are directly and deep
ly opposed to it.
1t is too late in the day to contend that hui
mainly or philanthropy is the great object of the
policy of England in attempting to abolish Afi-
can slavery on this continent. | do not question
but humanity may have had considerable infu-
ence in abolishing slavery in her West India
possessions-aided, indeed, by the fallacious cal
~culation that the labor of the negroes would be
at least as profitable, if not more so, in conse-
quence of the measure. She acted on the prin-
ciple that tropical products can be produced
cheaper by free African labor and East India la
Dor, than by slave labor. She knew full well
the value Of such products to her commerce,
navigation, navy, manufactures, revenue and
power. She was not ignorant that the support
and maintenance of her political preponderance
depended on her tropical possessions, and had no
intention of diminishing her productlveness, nor
any anticipation that such would be the effect,
when the scheme of abolishlng slavery in her &C.
loniaI possessions was adopted. On the contra
nv, she calculated to combine philanthropy with
profit and power, as is not usual with tanatlclsm.
Experience has convinced her of the fallacy of
her calculations. She has failed in all her Oh
lects. The labor of her negroes has proved far
less productive, without the consolation Of hav-
ing improved their condition.
The experiment has turned out to be a costly
one. She has expended nearly one hundred
millions of dollars in indemnifying the owners of
the emancipated slaves, 1t is estimated that the
increased price paid since by the people of Greet
Britain for sugar and other tropical productions,
in consequence of the measure, is equal to BALI
that sum-and that twice the amount has BEEN
expended in the suppression of the slave-trade-
making, together, two hundred and fifty millions
of dollars as the cost of the experiment. Instead
of supplying her own wants, and those OF nearly
all Europe with them, as formerly, she has now,
in some of the most important articles, scarcely
enough to supply her own. What is worse, nor
colonies are actually consuming sugar produced
by slave labor, brought direct to England, or re-
hned in bond, and exported and sold III her col
onies as cheap, or cheaper than can DO p%roduce0
there-while the slave-trade, instead OF dlmm-
ishinp. has been in fact carried on to a greater
extent than ever. So disastrous has been the
, result, that her fixed capital invested in tropical
possessions, estimated at the value of nearly five
hundred million dollars, is said to stand on the
brink of ruin.
But this is not the worst; while this costly
= scheme has had such ruinous effects on the tro-
pical productions of Great Britain, it has given
+ a powerful stimulus, followed by a corresponding
increase of products, to those countries which,
y have had the good sense to shun her example.
There has been vested, it has been estimated by
y them, in the production of tropical products
= since 1908, in fixed capital, nearly $4,Ops-
n 600, 900, wholly dependent On slave labor. In
: the same period, the value of their products has
been estimated to have risen from about S72,-
OOO, 900 annually, to nearly S22O,O0O,OO0
l. while the whole Of the fixed capital of Great
n Britain, vested in cultivating tropical products,
both in the East and West Indies, is estimated
at only about $3.50, 600, 900, and the value OF
the products annually at about $4,000, OOO,-
i To present a still more striking view of three
I'd articles of tropical products, (sugar, coffee, and
n cotton,0 the British possessions, including tho
East and West Indies, and Mauritus, produced
". in SAP, of Sugar only, ~3,993,77l pounds
~ while Cuba, Brazil, and the United States, ex
&c GLIDING other countries having tropical posses
,n' sions, produced 10000 0 lbs; of coffee, tn
ct British possessions produced only 1888, OOS
,be while Cuba and Brazil produced 2Ol ,59O,l ~
~ pounds; and of cotton, the British possessions
-. including shipments to China, only l37,443
446 pounds. while the United States alone pr'
viii duced 9O,479 1915 pounds. "'
=, The above facts and estimate have all bee
vol drawn from a British periodical of high standH
and authority and are believed to be entltlt
en- to credit.
om The vast increase of the capital and predu
rd ton on the part Of these nations who have CO
and tinued their former policy towards the neg
ss,- race, compared with that of Great Britain, I'M
= of Gates a corresponding relative increase OF 9
means of commerce, navigation, manufacture
,b,, wealth and power. 1t is no longer a queSuO
900 of doubt. that the great source OF wealth., PR
perity and power of more civilized nations OH
and temperate zone, Especially Europe, where :
tho arts have made the greatest advance depen'
nee in a great degree, on the EXCHANGE OF then p
Us; ducts with those of the tropical reglonsi 90
atas great has been the advance made IN the a,
a"' 18th chemical and mechanical, within theyi
generations, that all the civilized nati ms c.
W, with but a small portion of their labor and On
f the tai, supply ,n0" LannIa ,hO ,,noupt Of
!. -, commerce between them, and forced them ai
r." seek for markets in the tropical regions, and