HC Deb 22 January 1812 vol 21 cc278-81

Sir Arthur Piggott presented a Petition from several inhabitants of the island of Barbadoes interested in the Sugar manufactory and trade, in behalf of themselves and ethers of his Majesty's subjects interested, setting forth,

"That the acknowledged importance of the West India trade to the commercial interests and navigation system of Great Britain, the immense amount of British capital embarked in the West Indies, and the vast revenue derived from the Sugar colonies, demand aid and protection from the mother country; and that the distresses of the West India planters have increased to an extent hitherto unexampled, and the effects which the disuse of Sugar in the distilleries has already produced are such as to excite in the minds of the Petitioners the most alarming apprehensions that nothing short of the speediest relief can enable them to preserve their capital from the most rapid deterioration; and that, admitting the abolition of the Slave Trade to be a measure founded on the general principles of humanity, and therefore not to be shaken by considerations of lesser importance, the Petitioners however conceive this fact to be certain, that the present population of their negroes can only be kept up by an unremitting care and liberal attention to their comforts; and, while they feel and acknowledge the truth of this proposition, they see, with extreme perplexity and concern, that the depreciated value of their produce, and the heavy and disproportioned imposts laid on it, mast not only stifle every present hope of redeeming their affairs, but will operate as a severe check to the slave population, as they must deprive the Petitioners of the means of affording their negroes many essential necessaries, and subject them to great privations; and that the Petitioners presume to remind the House, that the use of Sugar in the distilleries produced considerable relief to them by giving a vent to 770,000 cwt. of an inferior and middling quality, which now is only vendible at the most ruinous prices; and that the distillation of Sugar (estimated at a quantity equal to half the home-consumption), while it aided the commercial and narviga tion system, benefited, in a proportionate degree, the general interests of the empire; and the Petitioners conceive that the converse of this proposition must be true, in consequence of the exclusion of Sugar from the distilleries, and that thereby the continental policy of our enemies will be most effectually promoted; and that they are encouraged by these considerations to hope for the admission of the use of Sugar in distilleries, when barley and other grain bear that scarcity-price at which their importation into Great Britain is admitted, especially as it has been proved before parliament that more than 30,000,000l. sterling has been paid by Great Britain for foreign grain during the thirteen years preceding 1804; and that, in the year 1810, the value of grain imported amounted to more than 7,000,000l. sterling, the greater part of which is purchased from our enemies; and that, in the event of Sugar being consumed by British distillation, were the restriction taken off which now impedes the export of corn from Great Britain to the colonies, corn could be imported into the West Indies for the use of their inhabitants, and of the British soldiers and sailors stationed in them, to the great advantage (as the Petitioners conceive), of the British landholders and merchants; and that the Petitioners humbly recall to the recollection of the House, that a partial export of Sugar from the West Indies was formerly allowed in American bottoms, the prohibition of which has proved extremely injurious to the planters, who receive those stores, so essential to the existence of their plantations, from the United States, to pay for which, money is now drained from the colonies, and which, if retained, would operate to the manifest advantage of government, by raising the premium of exchange on bills; and that, in consequence of this, it was recommended, in the year 1808, by a committee of this House, that the planter should be allowed to barter Sugars with the Americans to the value of the stores which they received from them; and it has been proved, before a committee of the House, in the year 1807, that British America is ill suited to supply the wants of the planters, who are furnished with only one tenth of their stores from thence; and that the value of these stores from the United States has been computed at twenty-five thousand hogsheads of Sugar, the vent for which would afford a great general relief to the planters, and prevent a reduction of their crops, which, under existing circumstances, must ultimately ensue, to the ruin and to the consequent injury of the ship-owner and merchant; and that, on the other hand, the admission of this barter would contribute to redeem the Petitioners from a rapid approach to a state of insolvency, and enable them to pay those debts which would otherwise be lost to their British correspondent; and that, without presuming to claim any such measure as a matter of right, the Petitioners humbly set forth, that a much greater indulgence was granted at a former period in relief to the distresses of the planters, by the general permission of open export to every port in Europe of colonial produce in British bottoms, which concession continued from the 29th of September 1739 to the year 1771; and that the Petitioners with deference assert, that it has been an erroneous opinion that the increased duties on Sugar have fallen on the consumer, and not on the planter, since the prices of Sugars have never risen in a proportionate ratio to those duties: in elucidation and exemplification of this detail of facts, the Petitioners beg leave to refer the House to the following Abstract of an Account of sales of ten hogshead" of Sugar.

Dr. £. s. d.
To Duty Fees on 113 cwt. 1qr. 5 lb 153 15 3
Amount of mercantile Charges without Insurance 102 15 3
Nett Proceeds 27 6 3
£.283 16 9
Cwt. qrs. lbs.
By 119 2 20 Gross
14 2 6 Tare
105 0 14 at 54s. per cwt.
£.283. 16s. 9d

"The Petitioners beg leave to call the attention of the House to this circumstance, that, from the balance of 27l. 6s. 3d. is to be deducted the cost of the ten casks in the West. Indies, which at 30s. sterling each, is 15l,; so that the planter netted on his shipment 12l. 6s. 3d. sterling, and he having been his own insurer, the insurance is an item not charged in the above account of sales; and that it would afford a great relief to the Petitioners, could the duties on Sugar be received in kind, as is the case with respect to the four and a half per cent. duty of the island of Barbadoes; for, under that mode of collection, the Petitioners would be relieved from the heavy charge made of interest on the advances for duty, as well as from a considerable proportion of their other expences, they would thus pay a duty proportionate to the actual value of the Sugar, and not have to force sales of their produce at a loss to pay those duties in cash, a mode of paying them which greatly increases their present hardships; and that, in this their humble Petition to the House, they rest on the important truths, that the interest of the mother country is identified with that of the colonies, and that the loss of the planter is a loss of that British industry and capital which now produces a revenue of 3,000,000l. sterling on Sugar, and a consumption of British produce and manufactures to the amount of 6,000,000l. sterling in the West Indies, which must be greatly reduced, if not annihilated, unless the present distresses of the proprietors of Sugar plantations be promptly relieved; and the Petitioners therefore presume to express their earnest but respectful hope, that the House will be pleased to take into their consideration the distressing case of the Petitioners, and others his Majesty's subjects interested, and that they will be pleased to afford such relief as their great wisdom, liberality, and justice may suggest."

Ordered, to lie upon the table.