Now, whatever these prices are respectively short of 96s. 6d. is absolute loss to the planter, for the full amount of charges must always be paid: he has therefore not only been deprived, throughout the above period, of the moderate return of 8 per cent. on his capital, but during the seven years between 1799 and 1805 he obtained less than 4 per cent.; and during the last and present year he has received no return whatever! A planter's capital is partly his own, and partly borrowed at interest. While that which is his own is thus totally unproductive, the interest of that which he has borrowed continues to accumulate, and brings him every year deeper into debt. During the two last years, the of ingrowers ferior sugar have not only laboured in vain, but they have actually lost the fourth part of their capital!

The principle of all taxation is, that the duty should fall upon the consumer. The rigid observance of this principle is indispensably necessary in a branch of trade in which the grower is obliged to send his produce to a particular market. Accordingly, the language of every successive chancellor of the exchequer has been, that the duty was to be borne by

the consumer. Yet how different has been the result! In 1798, the duty was only 19s. 4d. and the the duty is raised to And in the present

price so high as 86s. In 1803, 24s. yet the price falls to 67s. year, while the duty is at the still higher rate of 27s. the price is still lower, namely, 60s. So that, by a singular and melancholy coincidence, the price, instead of rising to meet the duty, has progressively declined as the duty has advanced.

It is customary with West-India merchants to compute sugars by the proceeds of the hogshead in Britain. At the rate of 96s. 6d. per cwt. which we have shown to be indispensable to indemnify the planter, the proceeds of a hogshead, weighing 13 cwt. nett, would be, after deduction of 43s. per cwt. for British charges, £34. 15s. 6d. Let us examine how far the actual state of the market has accorded with this rate. For the six years ending with 1799* the average nett value of the hogshead of sugar was During this period, stores were cheaper, and the planter might therefore be considered as making from 6 to 8 per cent. on his capital. But in the next period of six years the average nett value of the hogshead was reduced to

£32.

£20. 7s. 2d.

And in 1807 it is further reduced to the miserable sum of

£11. 1s.

Yet of this £11. 1s. pitiful as it is, not one farthing

Sir W. Young, page 50.

goes to the planter; for it is absorbed, and more than absorbed, in the payment of stores and island taxes!

After such a statement, can we doubt the truth of Sir William Young's declaration*, that

"The business cannot long continue on such terms of partnership between government and any description of its subjects: the planter may for a time struggle to maintain his share, but must ultimately fail; and, losing its active partner, the state will have the dead and unprofitable stock on hand, of islands poorly cultivated, and of works and manu◄ factures in decay."

It will naturally be asked, by those who learn for the first time this scene of distress, "How have these evils continued to accumulate; why has not their excess, long ere this, effected their cure?" Assuredly the pressure has been sufficient to cause a complete revolution, but the hand of monopoly has prevented its operation, No other market but the mother country is open to the colonist. If the amount of his produce exceed the amount of her consumption, the sale of his produce becomes doubtful, because it depends on the demand from a foreign market. And if, in addition to this excess above the home consumption, the foreign market become

* West-India Common-Place Book, page 42.

shut to our exports, what can ensue but a vast accu, mulation of produce and complete depression of price?

But, whatever be the extent of this depression, the planter has no alternative he can change neither the nature of his produce, nor its destination, In this country, when any branch of trade has been ruined by the progress of our enemies on the contipent, or by improvident taxation at home, the persons who have vested their property in it, and de voted their time to the acquisition of this particulaṛ knowledge, find it extremely difficult to give a new direction to their capital and industry. But in the West Indies such changes are not only difficult, but impracticable. There the culture of the soil is the only important object for capital or industry, and four-fifths of the soil is appropriated to the growth of sugar. But in the growth and manufacture of sugar every thing is distinct from other occupations. The buildings and machinery-the training of the negroes-the habits of the proprietor-are all peculiar to this specific employment, "Besides," says the Report of the Committee of the Assembly of Ja maica, in 1804*, “ lands long employed for raising çanes are unfit for the profitable cultivation of other articles. Coffee must be established in virgin soil and cotton will not thrive on some lands the best adapted for the growth of canes. In many places,

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Page 7.

even grass cannot be raised on old fields worn out with the production of sugar. The cultivation of this staple once elected, must be persevered in, nor can it be reduced below a certain scale without inevitable loss.It follows, that if you deprive the sugar-planter of the means of keeping up the pro. duce of his estate, you doom him to destruction for when he must give up planting canes, no alternative remains but to permit his works to go to de cay, and his lands to be over-run with weeds and bushes. His negroes must be sold to a more fortu nate neighbour, if, as is more usual in such cases, the sheriff be not ready to take them in execution for a debt which their utmost value is unable to satisfy."

That the West-India colonies have so long been allowed to groan under these calamities can with difficulty be ascribed to any other reason than that government has been ignorant of their real situa tion. To what other cause is it possible to refer that most unexpected addition of 3s. to the duty, which was proposed in 1806? This duty was afterwards, on the earnest representation of the West-India body, made conditional, and to operate only when sugar should sell for 77s. Now we have already shown (see page 16), that 77s. is very far below the rate which constitutes a saving price to the planter. Every succeeding administration has told the WestIndia body," We increase the tax on sugar, because you command the market, and because this increase

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