EFFECTS OF SLAVE EMANCIPATION. (Hansard, 23 July 1847)

§ LORD G. BENTINCK

said: Sir, there are appearances in the political horizon which betoken that it is not likely I shall be able to obtain a Select Committee in the present Session. That being the case, it will be my intention at the earliest possible period of the next Session, should I have the honour of a seat in this House, to ask for a Select Committee to inquire into the state of the colonies of the West Indies, as regards their present power to compete with those countries which have still the advantage of the enforced labour of the slaves. If ever there was a doubt in the mind of any man that it would not be possible with the free labour of the negroes for our West Indian colonists to compete with those who have the advantage of slave labour, that doubt must he set at rest by a return which has been just laid upon the Table of the House. From that return it appears that in 1831, at the time it was proposed to emancipate the slaves, the produce of the West Indian colonies and British. Guiana was 4,103,800 cwts. of sugar; and that in 1846 it was only 2,152,155 cwts. There was, however, still a greater falling off in the production of rum. Rum, of which the produce in 1831 was 7,844,159 gallons, had fallen to 2,826,455 gallons in 1846. In coffees, also, an equal falling off had occurred, as in 1831 the produce was 20,030,802 lb., and in 1846 only 6,257,764. So that of sugar the production had been reduced one-half; of rum, it had been reduced nearly to one-fourth; and of coffee, nearly to one-fourth. This is proof irrefragable, that since the emancipation of the slaves in the West Indies, the planters have not been able to produce the same quantity that they could before; and when we consider what this difference is, it will be seen that if I estimated the reduced produce at 2,000,000l. a year, I should be far below the mark; and when I say that 20,000,000l.was no sufficient compensation, no man, I think, can charge me with at all exaggerating the claims of the planters. Last year you passed an Act—an Act of bad faith as they allege—an Act which, after spending 20,000,000l. to do away with the mitigated slavery of the West Indies, was an Act to give encouragement and a stimulus to the employment of slaves in foreign colonies. It was alleged by these West Indians then that it would not be possible for them to compete with slave labour. That proposition was disputed in 693 this House; but we have already a sufficient proof that the West Indies will be overwhelmed by that competition. By the returns to which I have alluded, it appears that while the importation of foreign sugar has increased from 237,197 cwts. in 1845, to 849,590 cwts. in 1847, that the quantity entered for home consumption has increased from 30,495 cwts. in 1845, to 570,680 cwts. in 1847. I am speaking of the first five months of the years 1845, 1846, and 1847. While the imports have increased in 1847 as compared with 1845 from 1,926,320 cwts. to 3,020,851 cwts.; and, as compared with 1846, from 2,131,168 cwts.; showing an increase in the imports of this country in the first five months of the present year of 1,094,531 cwts. as compared with 1845, and of 889,683 cwts. as compared with last year. The home consumption of foreign sugar has increased from 30,495 cwts. to 570,680 cwts., a difference of 554,625 cwts., while the consumption of sugar from the British possessions has fallen off to the extent of 138,978 cwts. as compared with last year, and of 68,062 cwts. as compared with 1845. Thus, while of British colonial sugar the importation in 1847 has increased 482,138 cwts. as compared with 1845, the falling off of the home consumption of that sugar has been 68,062 cwts. in face of an increase in the consumption of slave-grown sugar of 554,603 cwts. The conclusion to be drawn from these comparisons is, that the planters of the West Indies are not in a condition to enter into competition with slave-grown sugar. And when we look at the enormous increase which has taken place in the consumption of slave-grown sugar in the face of 7s. per cwt. differential duty, what must it be next year when that duty is to be reduced to 6s., or in the following years, in each of which 1s. 6d. is to be taken off until it is admitted, not as last year at a duty 50 per cent higher than the produce of our colonies; but on terms of full equality? It seems perfectly clear that the effect of repealing these laws must be the ruin of the West India colonists. In a Select Committee—as I intend to move for a Select Committee to inquire into these subjects—I propose not only to inquire whether it would not be wiser to maintain the present differential duty; but I propose to enter into another consideration. I propose to inquire whether, instead of spending 1,000,000 sterling a year, as it is estimated by the hon. 694 Member for Montrose, to put down the slave trade by force of arms, it would not be better to expend some portion of that sum to put down slavery by assisting the West Indian colonists to obtain free labour. As it is, this million a year, expended in trying to suppress slavery by force, has failed; and as, on the contrary, it has afforded a stimulus to the exertions of those who carry on this inhuman traffic to obtain slaves, it appears to me that the more reasonable mode to repress slavery is by increasing the cheapness of labour, and by encouraging and assisting the importation of free labourers into the West Indies, and thus beating down the slave-owner in his own market. I say we have stimulated the slave trade by our measures, and greatly enhanced the sufferings of the slaves in the Brazilian and Spanish States. I have been informed on indisputable authority, that the value of slaves has been greatly increased in Cuba during the last year, and that a hundred pounds a head is the price now obtained for every male slave, and three pounds each hush money to the Governor of Havannah. The slaves, too (imported in the proportions of 100 males to eight females), are forced now to labour eighteen out of the twenty-four hours under the fear of the whip; and the suicides that occur are beyond the reach of the imagination to conceive, while the average duration of life of the slaves in Cuba is only five years, and in the Brazils six years. The statements are made to me on authority that I can trust; and I hope the attention of the country may be drawn to the subject at the coming election. I hope, also, that the ensuing Parliament will consider whether at a less cost than half of the million now expended, it will not be possible to defeat this inhuman traffic by depriving it of its profit, and by encouraging on lower terms the introduction of free labour into the West Indian colonies. If this be done, I trust also that the West Indian colonists will be able to carry on, by their free labourers, the cultivation of their sugar and coffee as cheaply as those who employ slaves. Having made these few observations, I will conclude by stating that it is my intention, at an early period next Session, to ask for a Select Committee to inquire into the subject. The noble Lord concluded by moving— That a Select Committee be appointed to take into consideration the Petition from the Island of Jamaica, presented 21st July.

§ MR. B. HAWES

bad no doubt that this 695 topic would attract some attention during the ensuing general election, and he hoped that this would be the case. He hoped that the country would clearly understand that the policy of this Parliament having been to reduce the prices of all the great necessaries of life, the object and aim of the noble Lord was to prevent the public from having the fullest supply of sugar at the lowest possible prices which unrestricted competition in our markets was likely to produce. The object of the noble Lord, as it had now been palpably confessed, was to revive the old principle of protection in favour of sugar; to enhance the price of that necessary article, and so diminish the comforts and happiness of the poorer portion of our own population. If the noble Lord meant that the planters should have assistance from the public Exchequer to secure labour for the colonies, he would only say that a principle more objectionable or more unjust could hardly be propounded. The noble Lord had confined his attention to the West India Islands; but let him turn to the Mauritius, and he would find that there the greatest prosperity was manifest, and that the production of sugar had immensely increased. He would ask, if it was for a moment to be supposed, that these petitioners could be favoured by the admission of their produce free of duty. [Lord G. BENTINCK had not made any proposition of that kind, but simply that an inquiry should be entered into.] He was drawing the attention of the House to the petition, and he found that one of its prayers was, that the petitioners should be permitted to have their sugar imported duty free. But, at all events, the noble Lord was in favour of at least 50 per cent being imposed as a protection to the West India planters. Now, if they were to refer to the entire history of the West India colonies, they would find that more complaints were made in that House on the part of the planters during the most palmy days of protection, than had been heard of late years; and the noble Lord might rest satisfied that a system of free trade and open competition would be most beneficial for all parties concerned; that it would lead to greater economy of production, be the means of embarking more capital in the growth and manufacture of sugar, and tend to the general prosperity of the whole population. When the noble Lord made his Motion next Session, it would then be time enough to enter fully upon this question; but in the mean time, he must say, 696 that nothing could be more injurious than to interfere with the arrangements which had been already resolved upon. He did not deny that the subject was one of difficulty; but he hoped that the House would never again submit to the establishment of the old system of protection.