To The West Indian Propri...
The Times, 1824-01-10T00:00:00

It is impossible for any one who casts even a cutsory glance U'orn the periodical press of late, not to be struck with the space which the WVest Indian controversyoccupies, and the temporary turn which it seems to have taken. For some time, the controversy, to be sure; has been all one side. You have had it all your own way. Your advocates spring up on every side: Tories and Radicals-fire and water, the opposites of nature, concur with a cordiality and consent which has scarcely its parallel. You have enlisted Blackwood and his flippant flourishings; Cobbett's wild vehemence and coarse in- vecive; and the Quarterly's cold and conrtlyaffectation. With all these " Tritons among the minnows" at your beck, seconded by the croaking of the smaller ffy of scribblers, yes will think it hard, indeed, if you cannot paralyze the imbecile efi'orts of your opponents. No doubt you feel perfectly secure,. and exult in your triumph. But you have grown too confident. You are S hallooing before you are fairly out of the wood." You haves it must be allowed, al- most complete possession of the field; but your fire is pretty well spent ; your ammunition is fast failing; you have, besides, taken a p f eosition," from which, iu spite of all yourvigour and acti- vity, you wil finallU be expellea with discomnfiture. Yoar elaborate tnumph has been gained by a series and system,of misrepresentadons, and those misrepresentations extending to the causes of the ruinous state of your affairs-to the motives, and views, and measures of your opponents-to the immediate and. ulimate consequences of these measures-as well as to the slaves thenislves, their condition, treatment, talents, and capabilities. The distressed and bankfipt position of your concerns is a matter too notorious to be re-stated; and you are endeavouring to draw pity upon yoUrselves, and odium upon your opponents, by representing this ruin as proceeding from the interference of ineddling philan- thropists; when the real fact is, that over.production and bad ins- nagement on your parts are the true causes and sources of your dis- tress. You have yourselves a thousand tiines wailed over the con. quest of foreign colonies, and represented yourselves as the victims of war. By and by, the reflection that you had thus unexpectedly acquired the exclusive monopoly of the trade, reconciled you to these ruinous conquests; and when at length peace returned and some of those conquered celonies reverted, and other countries en- countered you in the market of the world, and broke in tipon your monopoly, then again you were the victims of peace. You have, however, gone on, and still go on, neither contracting the breadth of your pLuitings, nor attempting to turn your capitals into more profitabe clhannels; but are idlv content with seizing upon tome tbreign cause, to screen and excuse your own improv:dence. All these representatio,ns and this imprudence you hope will be for_ gotten; and, at all events, you are doing your best to cover them! with the abuse with which you rancorously asperse your :ipponehts. But neither is the fact of your unwise perseverance LA tlie krowth, of a commodity for -hich you have uo adequate dernandI the onlv' cause of your embarrssments: your system. of I'tiva:ion and managemenDt has been equallk effacielhFin-briogingabaut4gourium The slave is himself the most expensive instrument that ca.be'emc ployed in a concern like yours.' By a'judkious.use of rachineryi you might cultivate your estates with. one half, the ctlylL3xids' which your exploded systern of husbandry demands. These are the real causes of your present depressioaq; and-tbe skiljl and cleverness of your advocates maybe defied to sonnect it-with' the late'. discussionb that have taken pla^ce in Englind,or with'th legitimate consequences of those discussions:, but to ascribe to theLb the cause of your diasters, answsen a double purpose,-ft fliigs the odium of commercial failure upon -mischievous opponents; and throws out the hope among these who ate destined to suffer by your fall, that if these opponents were crushed, you might yet recover your-ground, and themselves be indemnified. To augment the odium which these misrepresentations are calcu- lated to excite, you misrepresent their Inotives also. Because it hi known that one or two of the members of the Anti-Slavery Society happen to be engaged in the East India trade, you represent them as aimin atyour destruction, and toriseupDon your ruin; andyouwould havetheworldbelievethatthe whole society aieblindlyled,orare will- ing toolsofdesigningandcrafty individuals.The supposition is too ab- surd to be dwelt upon. The majority of tbemembersarelmowii, have long been known, as able, intelligent, and as to matters of trading competition, disinterested persons; and tie individuals on- whom the suspidion of interested motives can by possibility Attach, aretoo few, it may be said too insignificant (respectable as they -are), mate. rially to debase the sterling purity of their common m'easures. But not content with perverting their motives, you' have grossly and wantonly misrepresented their avowed views and published de. clarations. You represent them as weak, and wicked, and dlusive; as men who childishly expect to accomplish the most "arduous under. takings, without encounterint difficulty or danger; as reckless of the fate of the rwhites, so that their favourite obJects, the-aocks, are rescued from the gentle thaldrom of their masters; as professing a gradual and legal, but projecting an immediate and forcible emanci- pauon; althoug ,all die while, you well know that the friends to the gcatual emancipation of the Negroes have most explicitly stated their objects and expectations, which are nelther wild nor unwise; nor, if your passions and prejudices stood not in the way, impractica- ble and tbat, in fact, they have done nothing to contradict theit proz fesions. You misrepresent, again, the immediate consequences of the dis- cussion of your affairs, stirred, and pursued by these satne wicked philanthropists. The discussions take place on r,uch or such a day, and reatly-madeconspiracies to murder their mastersbrealkfortb, and insurrectins suddenly explode am(ng the Negroes, on .aother; leaving just interval enough for the intelligence of these discussiors to be wafted across the watcrs. These events are forcibly coupIed' by you, and exhibited as cause and effect. What evidence have you ? The real fact is, that the natural circumstances of the cold- nial population are sufficient at all times to produce an exnplsion. But your own conduct, if these discussions were calculated to. work mischief, is ten times more chargable with this evil tendency.,: If re- ports of these discussion3 reach the ears of the Negroes,' must they not have done sotlhrough. the.ruedium of-_yoir-own colonial Ga- ae tts-Geazzcls v;holly under your control-rathe than from any publcations which take place in this coantry? Dcclaations of the most intemperate kind have filled the pages of the co- lonial periodical press; the deliberations of' your public bodies have been conducted in a similar spirit; and it. eannot be doubted that, in the intercourse of private life., the same feelings of irMFe h4feen-iiduTgl.l Ad are-morthle" cir- c;imatances infinitely more- likel to produce exciternent among the slaves than the distani ecbo, should it ever' reach them, of-wbhat may have passed in England? The olo e it istrue, istiiaste of agitation at this momet,t, and in subsequence, too, of tne effcrtM that have been made in Enusland on behalf of the slaves; But what does this mean ? That the'Reggoes areini a-staie-of agitation ? No; the whites: and their intemperance I has, indeed, a real and direct tendency to produce those evils which yoat would vainly ascribe to fe hu.arne and cautious meaLres ofyouropponeits. You reesent vourselves, again, as an oppressedand injured people. You maeS yout arp peal to a commercial nation. Your capital is emnbarkedin the cultivation and manufacture of a commodityof high utility and concernment to the mother country, the relinquishment of -wich would be ruinousto her naval gieathess; and therefore it is-not only her interest but her duty to'protect your Tights and pro- perties against a body of men who, 'with a Qnixotic humanity, and one which touches not their own purses, would care not if you and' your concerns and your colonies were sunk in the abysses of the sea. Now yot well know that these abtised and clumniated persons hive not shown themselves hostile to yourunhallowedclainis, norcareless of your alleged rights, though no humniti lawv could . sanction them. fou knowv tat they are even atverseto immediate- emancipation- you 'ujow that'theyare even willing you should be indemnified- you know that it IS in ther powrer, and in the power of any man f business, so show that you would -be even richer men by the chan ge. "EIre know our own businss beat," you will say; "if we be- lieved the free substitution of free labourers would bring inoney into our pockets, we. should not be slow in pursuing the means to ac- com lish the change."' Thiat every man knows his own business best, is an assertion very easili m'ade. The sentiment is become a maximi withlcertain eco. numtsts, and is echoed by every ignorant trader. It is, however, fitted only for an Utopian state of things. 'It implies too rauch to be true-a full and free operation of the intellect, unimnpeded,' and un. dazzled by passions and prejudice; and that is not, it may be bhe. lieved, your case.' Your representations of the condition and treatmrent of the slaves are cqually f?Ulacious. In spite of your better feellngs, you regard -And treat yourlabourcrs as cattle, while the-world persists in believ. ingthatthey are'nien, with-all thepossible quilities, virtues1 an4 ta- lents of men. Yom hnd theisx in a brutificd state, and your:treat. mentis calculated to keepthe& sot: &ou-refuse to-bclicve-thein ca. pab,e of inrproveiment, or to aid in cllciting their capaSities.- You contend that youl'heednd clothe tnd lodge thvc4 well, adin'tfact' that they ate-m sound health' and' good cotdition ; 'but so are your 'hbrses,andfrumtlie samecausetoo. You assertthat.you'are willing tob-:ave'theti initructed, and do provide them with religiousinstrue. tioai It is sutcient to reply th4ttheinstructiu6naffotded isincom- petentto poduce any usetid result-it is nexttuGmo-egry.-' bSo uc for jyour rnt:repreaentations generally. I shall by andy by comn to particulare. Tujt my. letter grows long. 'You will hear fGnm me frmn PL.BJ4Ivs. I .jag; 9, IL2& - TO THE WEST lNV)IAY PROPRIETORS.,