HD 
 
 .6 
 
 UC-NRLF 
 

u \ 
 
 A 
 
 PERMANENT 
 
 AND 
 
 EFFECTUAL REMEDY 
 
 SUGGESTED FOR THE 
 
 EVILS 
 
 UNDER WHICH THE 
 
 BRITISH WEST INDIES 
 
 NOW LABOUR, 
 
 IJT A 
 
 LETTER 
 
 FROM A 
 
 WEST INDIA MERCHANT 
 
 TO A 
 
 WEST INDIA PLANTER. 
 
 LONDON: 
 PRINTED FOR J. M. RICHARDSON, CORNH^LL 1 
 
 IJ. G. Barnard, Printer, Snow-hill'} 
 ->*<~ 
 
 1808. 
 
4 
 
PERMANENT 
 
 AND 
 
 EFFECTUAL REMEDY, 
 
 MY. DEAR SIR, 
 
 "V 7 " 
 X OU have often asked me in the course of 
 
 the repeated applications to government from 
 the West India body for relief under the cala- 
 mities which have so nearly overwhelmed them, 
 whether there were no means within our own 
 power capable of being applied, and which must 
 at last be resorted to, if it were found that 
 ministers neither would nor could afford the 
 modes of relief which, at various times, have 
 been pointed out to them, or if those means 
 
 should prove ineffectual upon experiment. 
 
 With great deference I submit to you the follow- 
 ing lines ; and the result of every consideration 
 I can give the subject is, that on the operation 
 of the remedy I now propose we must ultimately 
 depend for relief, I am not so sanguine as to 
 
 M170712 AS 
 
believe that every individual planter will adopt 
 it, but I am sure that every planter ought to 
 act for his immediate and permanent interest, 
 upon the principle I shall lay down, and upon 
 which I found all my arguments in support of 
 my present, proposition. Yet if adopted by the 
 great number, the general advantage will soon 
 be felt, and by none so much as those who 
 will pursue the system which can alone place 
 the income derived from property in the 
 British West Indies, upon a permanent security 
 at all resembling a revenue derived from a 
 landed estate in Europe ; for that, at last, is the 
 grand object of every West India planter. 
 
 It is now nearly a twelvemonth since the 
 rapid decay of the British West Indies has been 
 pressed upon the observation of the government 
 of this country, under two successive adminis- 
 trations. As yet no steps have been taken to 
 afford any substantial remedy for the evils com- 
 plained of, and such measures only have been 
 resorted to, as were capable of mere partial and 
 temporary relief. It is possible that the govern- 
 ment of this country is not capable of affording 
 the relief to the West India planters to an ex* 
 tent to be really effectual, without such an alter- 
 ation in our political relations with foreign 
 
powers, such a sacrifice of revenue, or such ati 
 alteration in the present mode of collecting it, 
 as ministers deem injurious to the general inte- 
 rests of the united kingdom : besides, if the re- 
 lief is only to be sought in an obstruction to be 
 given to the trade now carried on by America, 
 under the pretended character of a neutral, be- 
 tween the foreign colonies and their mother 
 countries, and that interference is to be neces- 
 sarily productive of a war with America, every 
 person in this kingdom, even the West India 
 planter would pause and consider, whether the re- 
 medy is not nearly as bad as the evil complained 
 of, and whether there is not some other mode 
 capable of being resorted to, which may 
 greatly mitigate if not entirely remove the com- 
 plaint. In all cases of difficulty it is best to 
 look to our own energies for relief, before we 
 apply for the assistance of others, and the West 
 India body of merchants and planters seem to 
 have continued to petition government and 
 assail ministers for relief, without examining 
 how easily, by a mutual and general co-opera- 
 tion, they might themselves remedy the evil. 
 The abolition of the slave trade, the present 
 state of the continent, and the continuance of 
 the war, while America is allowed, without in- 
 terruption, to transport the produce of the ene~ 
 
6 
 
 mies colonies to Europe, all combine to place 
 the British West Indies in so new and peculiar a 
 situation, that it is of importance to examine, 
 whether these circumstances must not necessarily 
 produce, in the course of a few years, such an 
 alteration in the system hitherto generally pur- 
 sued upon West India estates in the British 
 islands, as will at last effect the relief we desire. 
 I feel convinced that the remedy I allude to, 
 will silently advance in its operation, and ulti- 
 mately prove successful; but it is capable of 
 being also immediately applied, and its benefit di- 
 rectly experienced ; and if that system were gene- 
 rally recommended and now adopted, to which 
 the West India planters must, of necessity, 
 at last resort, they will save a long interval of 
 calamity to all, and of ruin to many. 
 
 I assume as a position, which I believe will 
 be admitted on all hands, that the real cause of 
 the present depressed state of the sugar market 
 is, that the quantity imported exceeds the con- 
 sumption of the united kingdoms ; and that for 
 the surplus quantity, which must necessarily be 
 exported, such a price can only be obtained as 
 is ruinous to the planter. The original inten- 
 tion of the British West India planter was to 
 grow sugar for the consumption of Great Britain 
 and Ireland; and the quantity produced so 
 
nearly met the consumption, that, antecedent to 
 1791, the exportation rarely exceeded 12,000 
 hogsheads per annum. From that period, the 
 destruction of St. Domingo occasioned a de- 
 mand of sugar, in our markets for the supply of 
 France and the continent, the prices of course 
 advanced with that new demand, and the Bri- 
 tish planters extended their cultivation to meet 
 it. Many of them were tempted, not only to 
 exert all the strength of their estates to the pro- 
 duction of sugar, but to expend large sums of 
 money in hired negro labour for the same purpose ; 
 they abandoned in many instances the system of 
 raising provisions, as they found that they were 
 able by the high price they obtained for sugar, 
 to purchase provisions at a cheaper rate than 
 the value of the land and negro labour, 
 which must otherwise have been employed to 
 raise * them. These, and other causes, have 
 tended to increase, in a very extraordinary 
 manner, the quantity of sugar produced in the 
 British colonies, as well as the expences at which 
 the estates were formerly conducted. The ad- 
 vantage of producing that increased quantity 
 of sugar, has entirely ceased, while the addi- 
 tional expences incurred have continued. The 
 market for which the increased quantity was 
 produced has escaped from our command, or is 
 
8 
 
 supplied from a source, the current from which 
 we cannot or do not impede, 
 
 In the present state of the continent our 
 colonial produce is every where interdicted, and 
 all beneficial export of it, as far as the West 
 India planter is concerned, at an end. 
 
 Can any person attempt to predict when the 
 period will arrive, when an export is likely to 
 produce such an effect in raising the prices in 
 our market, as to compensate the planter for 
 producing and transporting his sugar? The 
 probability is, that it will never return ; and 
 therefore the sooner the whole of the West India 
 planters, by reducing their expences, by con- 
 fining the production of sugar upon all their 
 estates to what the negroes upon them, without 
 the addition of any hired labour, are capable, 
 and after they have produced every thing for 
 their own support which their labour can fur^ 
 nish, or which the estates can supply, so much 
 sooner will that remedy, immediate as well as 
 permanent in its effects, be obtained, to which 
 alone the West India planters must look to re- 
 move the calamity they now deplore. I mean 
 broadly to assume, that the growth of sugar in 
 the British West Indies must be confined to the 
 home consumption of Great Britain and Ireland ; 
 and, in the present state of affairs, while the 
 
British planter is not allowed to contend upon 
 equal terms with the foreign colonist in the Euro- 
 pean market, it is the only remedy which can be 
 applied to the evil he has so long laboured under. 
 The evidence produced before the Committee of 
 the House of Commons upon the commercial 
 state of the West India colonies, furnishes the 
 grounds of the argument upon which I found the 
 system I am about so earnestly to recommend to 
 you, and to the consideration of every West In* 
 dia merchant and planter, as affording an imme- 
 diate and effectual remedy, and with a further 
 desire that the merchant would recommend its 
 adoption to every planter with whom he corres- 
 ponds, and upon every estate of which he has 
 the direction, not only for the immediate advan- 
 tage of every individual planter, and each estate, 
 but also as affording the only prospect of per- 
 manent and substantial relief. That the facts 
 upon which I ground my opinions may be known 
 to every one, and capable of being examined, I 
 will not travel out of the report of the Com- 
 mittee I have alluded to, and to the evidence 
 produced before them. 
 
 The 7<d page of the Report of the Committee 
 of the House of Commons, presents the state of 
 
 N. B. See the account marked A in the Appendix,, 
 
 B 
 
10 
 
 the import ancl export sugar from the year 1791 
 to 1806, inclusive, a period of sixteen years; 
 aiid presents the following result, the hundred 
 weights there mentioned being reduced into 
 hogsheads of 13 cwt. each for the facility of in- 
 vestigation and comparison. By this return it 
 appears that from 1791 to 1795, both years in- 
 clusive, the quantity retained for home con- 
 sumption in Great Britain and Ireland was, on 
 the average, 123,274 hhds annually ; that from 
 1796 to 1800, inclusive, it was 148,964 hhds 
 annually; and that from 1801 to 1806, inclu- 
 sive, it was 185,380 hhds annually. 
 
 In the period from 1796 to 1800 we had such 
 a demand for the continent, that the market 
 was never, but for a short period in 1799, 
 glutted with a quantity for which no pur- 
 chasers offered ; and the planter sold his su- 
 gar at a price adequate to his expences of ma- 
 nufacture and transport, and giving him also 
 a proper return for his capital employed. The 
 average of that price, as mentioned in the 84th 
 page of the Report, was 65s. 7d. sterling per 
 
 Not having been able to procure the exact return ofsu^ 
 gar imported direct into Ireland from the West Indies and 
 other parts, I have been obliged to leave that further quan- 
 tity of sugar used for home consumption out of my calcula- 
 tion ; but Sir William Young, in the West India C'ommon 
 Place Book, page 6l, states it at 11,232 hhds annually. 
 
11 
 
 cwt, exclusive of duty. The whole of our an- 
 nual average import was then 309,775 hogs* 
 heads. The duty 1fras then levied upon the 
 article, and at last paid by the consumer, and 
 was not, as it now is, imposed on the article 
 and paid by the planter without any part of it 
 being repaid in the sale price of the sugar; for 
 at that time the duty was 20s., and the sale 
 price, duty included 85s. 6d; whereas now, the 
 duty is C 27s., and the gross sale price, duty in- 
 cluded, only 62s. 
 
 Since that period the British planter has been 
 increasing his cultivation for the foreign market, 
 while exportation has altogether ceased at prices 
 adequate to his expences and remuneration. 
 
 The next series of years, from 1801 to 1806, 
 exhibits, from 1802 to the present time, such a 
 gradual diminution in the amount of the sugar 
 exported, that notwithstanding the reduced 
 prices, the quantity exported in 1806 was not 
 half what it was in 1 802 ; evidently shewing 
 that we are losing, and must at last lose that 
 market altogether ; besides, the export of 1 806 
 only took place at such prices at which it would 
 be utter destruction to the planter to con- 
 tinue the cultivation of sugar. 
 
 N. B. See the account marked & in the Appendix, 
 B 2 
 
12 
 
 The export of sugar, exclusive 
 of the export to Ireland, in 
 1802, was 145,375 
 
 The export of sugar in 1806, 
 
 was 67,587 
 
 Shewing, exclusive of the export 
 
 to Ireland, a diminution of 75,788 hhds, 
 exported, although the price of sugar, exclu- 
 sive of duty, was nearly the same at the two 
 periods. 
 
 The period from 1801 to 1806, presents an 
 average import of 278,228 hogsheads, while the 
 average quantity during the same period required 
 for the consumption of Great Britain arid Ire- 
 land, was only 185,380 hogsheads, affording a 
 surplus of 92, 848 hogsheads, for exportation : and 
 the year 1806, with respect to import and export, 
 was still more against the planter than the 
 average of the above mentioned period, for while 
 293,475 hogsheads were imported in 1806, 
 67,587 only were exported to foreign countries, 
 leaving a surplus of 225,888 hogsheads, while 
 only 185,380 hhds would be used for home con- 
 sumption, according to the average; and conse- 
 quently leaving 40,508 hogsheads without any 
 demand whatever, neither used at home, or 
 
13 
 
 did purchasers offer to export it, even at the 
 reduced prices of last year. It is difficult to 
 conceive a greater folly than continuing the 
 cultivation of an article for a market we have 
 been obliged to abandon, and thus by the en- 
 creased quantity produced, preventing the 
 planter from deriving any benefit whatever from 
 the cultivation of it, even for the home con- 
 sumption. 
 
 To restore the British planter to his former 
 prosperity, the quantity must be reduced. To 
 shew, that such a practice, generally adopted, 
 would produce the effect of removing all his 
 difficulties, I present two statements ; the one, 
 where an estate producing 300 hogsheads of 
 sugar, sells them at the average price of sugar 
 exclusive of duty, at the time I am writing, 
 and such as it has nearly been for the last six 
 months ; and another where he sells 200 hogs- 
 heads from the same estate, at the average price 
 of sugar, exclusive of duty, from 1796 to 1800, 
 as calculated from the 84th page of the report of 
 the committee. That price the people of this 
 country were then content to pay ; at that price, 
 the internal consumption rapidly increased ; and 
 that price is only a fair return to the planter 
 for the risk incurred; and the labour and capi- 
 tal employed. Suppose an estate, producing 
 
14 
 
 300 hogsheads of 1 3 cwt. nett, each, and that 
 they are sold at the average price of sugar as 
 published in the London Gazette at this time, 
 viz. 35s. exclusive of duty, or the gross price 
 of 62s. including the duty of 27s. per cwt. and 
 the charges of freight, insurance, dock rate, 
 warehouse rate, mercantile commission, and 
 brokerage, amounting as stated in the 4th page 
 of the report to 16s. per cwt. thus forming a re- 
 duction of 43s. per cwt. to be made from the 
 sale price, and leaving the planter only a nett 
 price of IQs. per cwt. ; 3,900 cwt at 19$. amount 
 to 3,7051. The cost of stores from England, 
 provisions from Ireland, lumber from Ame- 
 rica, island taxes, salaries to white people, com- 
 mission to the attornies, hired labour, and a 
 great variety of other expences, amount upon 
 an average, as stated in evidence before the com- 
 mittee, to 20s. per cwt. upon the sugar pro- 
 duced, exclusive of the proceeds of the rum ; 
 and consequently without any return for interest 
 of capital, the planter has sustained an actual 
 loss of 195/. or 13s. per hogshead. The 
 West India merchant's commission, at 2j per 
 cent, on the gross sale price, has amounted to 
 302/. 5s. 
 
 If the same estate were to produce only 200 
 hogsheads of sugar of 1 3 cwt. each, and they 
 
15 
 
 should be sold at what was the average price 
 from 1796 to 1800, viz. 65s. id. per cwt. 
 exclusive of duty, the gross price would be 
 now 95s. 7d. per cwt. and would be subjected to a 
 reduction of 30s. for duty, to which it would, 
 in that event, be advanced; and 16s for the 
 inerchantile charges above stated, or 46s. leaving 
 49s. 7d. to the planter, or 6,445/. 16s. Sd. the pro- 
 ceeds of 2,600. cwt. From that amount he will have 
 to deduct 20s. per cwt. for the various charges 
 recited above, or 2,600/. leaving 3,S45/. l6s.~ 8d. 
 nett to the planter; or 19/. 4s. 7d. after all ex- 
 pences and reduction; the merchant's com mission 
 upon 2,600 cwt. at the gross price of 95s. Id. 
 would beSlO/. 12s. lid. In many items of charge 
 with the same number of negroes, the amount 
 of them will be the same, whether 300 or 200 
 hogsheads were produced ; but the saving of 
 lumber, cattle, casks, hired labour, and the 
 circumstance of there being no expenditure for 
 the purchase of any other provisions but salt 
 provisions, would still reduce the expences of 
 cultivating and manufacturing to or below 20s. 
 per cwt. upon the reduced quantity of sugar 
 actually brought to market. A result similar 
 to this, may be produced by reducing the quan- 
 tity now made in the British West Indies, and 
 imported into Great Britain, for our home 
 
16 
 
 consumption ; and thus rendering the mar- 
 ket independent of foreign demand, enable 
 the West India merchat to command a 
 price adequate to the remuneration of the 
 planter. How that quantity may be deduced, 
 not only without injury to the planter, but to 
 his immediate and permanent advantage, I will 
 proceed to describe; and with the more earnest- 
 nes, as I believe the immediate reduction of 
 our import of sugar, to the demand of this 
 country and Ireland, can alone, in the present 
 state of the continent and the neutral carrying 
 trade, produce the remedy we have been seek- 
 ing in vain from ministers; and \vhich, I 
 fear, they cannot afford but at such risk and 
 sacrifices on the part of this country not 
 to be encountered in the present state of af- 
 fairs. I conceive that the abolition of the 
 slave trade must of necessity diminish the 
 growth of sugar, and that -the prices at 
 which the last thre'e crops have been sold, 
 Avill necassarily cause many new settled estates, 
 which produce low brdwn sugars, to be aband- 
 oned. If to these causes the planters will gens- 
 rally adopt such a system of conducting their 
 estates, that every article of provisions requi- 
 site for the consumption of the \yhite people, 
 the negroes and the stock, shall be produced upon 
 them, and not purchased, the whole quantity 
 
17 
 
 of sugar now produced and sent to GreatBritain, 
 and there sold at a manifest loss to the planter, 
 will be diminished nearly one third, or to about 
 the quantity required for our home consump- 
 tion only ; and, whenever that is the case, and 
 there is no longer a glutted market, that remedy 
 we have so long been seeking will be immedi- 
 ately found. No merchant would now attempt 
 to persuade a planter to turn all his land and the 
 labour of his negroes to the cultivation of su- 
 gar, and depend upon a supply of provisions 
 for himself, his negroes, and his stock, by pur- 
 chasing of other planters, or by importation 
 from Europe or America ; and if it would be in 
 these times the height of folly to do that, is it 
 not incumbent, on the same principle, that the 
 West India merchant should now address his 
 correspondent, the planter, in the West Indies, 
 in the folio wing terms? "As the sugar you have 
 " sent me, will not now produce you on an ave- 
 " rage more than 35s. per cwt. exclusive of duty ; 
 " and from that price, the freight, insurance, 
 <c dock rate, and all other mercantile charges, 
 "amounting altogether to ]6s. per cwt. 
 " are to be deducted; and as it also further ap- 
 " pears from the report of the committee that 
 " the average expence of growing and manu- 
 " facturing the sugar in stores from Europe and 
 
is 
 
 " America, in taxes and expences in the colony, 
 " amount to the further sum of 20s. per cwt. 
 " you will find, that instead of any profit, the 
 " production and sale of this sugar has been 
 " attended with a loss : I therefore most earn- 
 " estly recommend you, before you apply your 
 " land, the labour of your negroes, and your 
 <: own industry, to the growth and manufac- 
 " ture of an article at present so unproductive, 
 " that you will endeavour to supply from the 
 " labour of your negroes, from the product of 
 " your own land and the effects of your own 
 " industry and judgment, all and every article 
 { ' of consumption you may require, both of 
 " corn, or ground provisions, either for the use 
 " of man or beast. The value of whatever you 
 " can produce of these indispensable articles, 
 " which, if not produced, must be purchased, 
 " is in the present times so much absolutely 
 " gained : for if the land and labour requisite to 
 " produce these had been employed in the pro- 
 " duction of sugar, the amount of the.saleof it 
 *' w r ould not have repaid the expences of its pro* 
 " duction. By pursuing this system of cultiva- 
 " tion you will at least have this benefit: that 
 " if the gross proceeds of your estate are not 
 " increased, the expences of your estate will 
 " be diminished- ; that diminution of cxpence 
 
19 
 
 ** will be your actual profit, and of which" no 
 " variation of the European market for colo- 
 " nial produce can deprive you. There is ano- 
 " ther reason, which also impels me to advise 
 * you most earnestly to obtain, at all events, 
 " an ample supply of provisions the production 
 " of your estate, and the labour of your ne- 
 " groes, in the first instance,, and in preference 
 " to the crop of sugar you have hitherto pro- 
 " duced. You are now without hope of ever 
 " keeping up the numbers of the negroes upon 
 " your estate but by natural increase : the abo- 
 " lition of the slave trade precludes the possi- 
 " bility of recruiting any deficiency which may 
 " be produced either by natural means, or by 
 " any injury they may sustain by being either 
 " overworked or not abundantly supplied with 
 " provisions. No produce therefore sold at 
 " any price, however exorbitant, can be a re- 
 " compence to a planter if obtained at the ex- 
 " pence of any diminution of the number, or in 
 " the effective strength of his negroes. If there 
 " be any thing with the importance of which I 
 " ^desire to impress you more than another, it 
 *' is to avoid pushing your estate and the labour 
 " of your negroes to produce a crop exceeding 
 " their ability to make with ease, and which 
 " shall in any way tend to reduce the effective 
 
 c 2 
 
20 
 
 " strength of the estate. Never attempt the 
 " attainment of so temporary a benefit at the 
 " expence of an evil so permanent and ultir 
 " mately so ruinous. In recommending this 
 " measure to you, I am advising what must be 
 " the opinion of every West India merchant if 
 " candidly given. If the planter is in debt to 
 " the merqhant, of what avail is it either to 
 " planter or merchant to consign sugar the pro- 
 " ceeds of which are not applied in liquidation of 
 " the debt, but which will be absorbed in the 
 <c amount of invoices of provisions^ or appro- 
 " priated to the discharge of bills of exchange, 
 " for the purchase of articles from America, or 
 " in the colony, which the estate might have 
 " itself produced ? Such a system persevered 
 4 ' in, must end in ruin/' 
 
 The plan here recommended, must, I am sa- 
 tisfied, be at last the mode of plantership adopted 
 upon every West India estate; and, in so numer- 
 ous a body as the West India planters, if it were 
 now at once generally adopted, the remedy as 
 well to each individual as to the whole body 
 would be Immediate; but, if they only wait its 
 partial operation, as the principle may be gra- 
 dually recognized and its advantages expe- 
 rienced, there will be yet some years of sad suf- 
 fering for the West India proprietors. The 
 
object now proposed can only be defeated 
 by a jealousy of each other ; an apprehension 
 Hfeat the system recommended will not be ge^ 
 nerally adopted ; but its adoption or not by 
 the general body is no reason against the prac- 
 tice of it by each individual ; for if gene- 
 rally adopted, the individual will participate 
 in the general benefit produced by it, and if 
 it is not generally adopted, and West India 
 affairs should continue as they now are, the 
 individual who pursues it, will, at least, 
 have the full advantage of having curtailed 
 his expences, which he must pay, although 
 the value of his sugar crop may not be en- 
 creased ; but, what is of more moment, the 
 numbers and strength of his negroes being, 
 undiminished, his capital will have suffered no 
 reduction. Whatever the negroes may be 
 worth, I conceive, generally speaking, the land, 
 buildings, stock, and utensils, of stills, worms, 
 copper, &c. to be worth two-thirds as much 
 more ; but even that value is merely ideal, 
 unless there are negroes to work the land, 
 and occupy the buildings in active and pro- 
 ductive labour: if therefore, in the present 
 impossibility of replacing any negroes who 
 may be lost either from excessive labour, or 
 insufficient food, it is not the mere loss of aa 
 
individual valued at 90/. or 100/. sterling, which 
 has been sustained, but an additional loss of two 
 thirds of his value in the deterioration the value 
 of the land and buildings suffer from being unable 
 beneficially to work and employ them. I shall 
 be told perhaps, that to enable the planter to 
 obtain an adequate price for an article the pro- 
 duce of his labour and capital, that he must 
 have an export. It is true, that he must have 
 an export, if the quantity brought to Great 
 Britain exceeds its consumption; and the price 
 at whiqh that export of the surplus quantity can 
 be obtained will fix the price of the whole im- 
 portation. But what ultimate and permanent 
 good can any export be of to him, when that 
 export can only be obtained when he sells his 
 produce for less than it has cost him to pro- 
 duce it ? At this moment the foreign merchant 
 writes to his correspondent in Great Britain, 
 " Ship me sugar at 32s. on board, for with the 
 " expences of its conveyance I cannot afford 
 " to pay more, so as to be able iu any way 
 " to meet the price of the colonial produce 
 " brought by the American carrier to the con- 
 " tinent." Of what use, therefore, is it to the 
 British planter to grow sugar fora market which 
 can only now afford him 3%s. for an article for 
 which he ought to obtain 65s. 6(L if he is paid 
 
23 
 
 the cost of producing and transporting it to 
 the place of sale, and expects any adequate re- 
 turn for his labour and capital ? 
 
 Not being of opinion that the excess of 
 duty is the cause of the present evil, or that 
 the West India body can ever expect the enor- 
 mous bounties upon exportation which have 
 been suggested as one of the means of enabling 
 the British planter to meet the neutral carrier in 
 the markets of France, Germany, and Holland, 
 I have abstained from going into any discus- 
 sion on those points, and various others of ge- 
 neral West-India interest, because I intend to 
 confine this letter to the purpose of shewing 
 how the f West India body possess themselves 
 the means of their own speedy, effectual, 
 and permanent relief, if they have but re- 
 solution individually to practise them ; and 
 if the West India merchants of Great Britain 
 will earnestly recommend the measure, no doubt 
 can be entertained of its general adoption. 
 
 You will naturally ask, to what extent I ex- 
 pect the reduction in the quantity of sugar made 
 in the British West Indies will be effected by 
 the causes I have before mentioned, and the 
 system I have recommended every planter to 
 adopt in the cultivation of his estate? The 
 quantity now produced in the British West In- 
 dies. i$ the conquered colonies, and which upon 
 
24 
 
 the average of the last six years has been im- 
 ported in Great Britain, is 278,228 hogsheads, 
 of 13 cwt. nett each. 
 
 On examining the evidence produced be- 
 fore the Committee, and especially in that 
 part of the evidence adduced as to the product, 
 and expences of estates, it is impossible not to 
 be struck with the charge for hired labour, 
 which presents itself in all the instances to which 
 I now allude, viz. the account of the estates 
 from No. 1 to No. 8, stated in the Appendix, 
 page 24 to 31, inclusive. The hired labour 
 amounts to 325 8/., and has been expended, in 
 addition to the negroes belonging to those 
 estates, amounting in number to 21S6<- to pro- 
 duce an average crop of 1734 hogsheads th 
 particulars are as follow. 
 
 No. 1, 300 negroes ma3e244 hbds, hired labour 4801, sterl, 
 2, 268 201 561 
 
 4, 178 138 
 
 6, 150 131 16S 
 
 7, 
 
 8, 519 . 465 hired labour, 
 
 average of 
 4 years - 573 
 
 2186 1734 3258 
 
25 
 
 The hired labour has amounted to II. \7s> 6d, 
 for every hogshead produced. According to the 
 principle I have laid down, that no planter should, 
 at the present prices, and with an overstocked 
 market, incur any additional expences to pro- 
 duce an article, the sale of which does not afford 
 the expences of its growth, manufacture, and 
 conveyance, I must consider, that all the hired 
 labour expended in Jamaica, to produce a crop 
 of sugar exceeding the quantity capable of 
 being made upon each estate by its own negroes, 
 has been so much actual loss incurred by the 
 planter. If the crop of Jamaica consists on an 
 average of 140,000 hogsheads annually, and 
 the expenditure of hired labour upon the estates 
 alluded to, affords a fair criterion by which we 
 may compute the whole quantity of hired labour 
 employed in the sugar crops of that island, we 
 shall find that a sum not less than 263,0007. 
 sterling has been so expended. The hired ne- 
 groes are generally all able field negroes ; and 
 it may be computed chat the increased quantity, 
 added to what would otherwise have been the 
 average crops of the sugar estates in Jamaica, 
 cannot be less than one hogshead for every able 
 field negroe thus annually employed. If each 
 hired field negroe is valued at an average at 90/, 
 
26 
 
 sterling, and you compute his hire at 12^ 
 per cent, per annum, and 3^ per cent per ann. 
 for the amount of the risk of the insurance that 
 his value shall not be depreciated in the employ- 
 ment of the planter hiring him, being, together, 
 16 per cent., or 14/. 8*. sterling ; and the further 
 expence of maintenance, doathmg, medical at- 
 tendance, c. are computed at 151. sterling per 
 head more, the sum of <2>Ql. sterling has been ex- 
 pended by the planter to make a hogshead of 
 sugar, which he can only sell for il/. 9s. 5d. 9 or 
 an actual loss of at least 17 1. 105. sterling, for 
 every negroe he has annually hired; and with- 
 out any allowance for the rent of land, use of 
 buildings, cattle, &c., which have been also em- 
 ployed*. I know how impossible it ts to reduce 
 
 * In many parts of the West Indies the hired labour of 
 able field negroes, per day, is computed and paid for at tht 
 late of half a dollar, or 2s. 3d. sterling, in which case the 
 proprietor of the negroe pays all the expences of cloathing, 
 feeding, medical attendance, &c. In the calculation men- 
 tioned in the text, lOd. sterling per day, is only taken to re- 
 munerate those expences. In many instances the money ex- 
 pended in hired labour is in task-work, the jobber contract- 
 ing at a certain price per acre, to hole the land for canes, and 
 make it completely ready for planting; but that is only an- 
 other mode of computing the same thing, which is the nunv 
 (>er of days work of negroe labour expended upon the estate, 
 
27 
 
 the calculation above attempted to a certainty, 
 but it is one mode of approaching it, and if 
 admitted as not very erroneous, it indicates the 
 employment of about 15,000 negroes of all de- 
 scriptions as hired labourers upon the sugar 
 estates in Jamaica, the produce of whose labour 
 cannot be computed at less than 15,000 hogs- 
 heads of sugar per annum. Exclusive of the 
 estates above alluded to, I have had an oppor- 
 tunity of seeing the returns of others : upou 
 some the expence of hired labour much exceed- 
 ed the average now assumed as the basis of cal- 
 culation ; on others it was almost exactly this 
 amount, on others somewhat less ; and I know 
 that, on many estates, it is scarcely, or not at 
 all, incurred : but, whoever is acquainted with 
 the system, regularity and ability with which 
 
 \vhether performed by one negro in 300 days, or 300 ne- 
 groes in one day. The mode of hiring negroes at a per 
 centage upon their valuation, and also giving security, that 
 their value and number shall not be diminished, is also not 
 unfrequent: in this case all the expences of cloathing, feed- 
 ing lodging, medical attendance, &c. are paid by the person 
 hiring them. I have before me several instances of a dollar a 
 day being paid for the hire of negroes employed onboard boats 
 or merchant vessels, the persons hiring them a^o feering 
 tli em ; and in theh arbours in the West Ind'es, a dollar a 
 d?i.v is the usual rate of hire. 
 
28 
 
 the affairs of that gentleman are conducted, to 
 whom the public at large, and the West India 
 body in particular, are so much indebted for his 
 evidence before the Committee, and the ac- 
 counts he furnished of the expences and re- 
 turns of the eight estates before adverted to, 
 will be satisfied that the picture there exhibited 
 must be more favourable tjian can be present* 
 ed of the sugar estates in general in Jamaica, 
 As far as general opinion may be allowed in aid 
 of a particular calculation, I may adduce the 
 opinion of many West India merchants who 
 have long resided in, and whose attention is 
 peculiarly directed to Jamaica, in support of the 
 computation, that, at least, one tenth is added 
 to the ordinary crops of the estates by the ad* 
 dition of labour hired in aid of that of the ne- 
 groes attached to the estates. 
 
 Perhaps it will.be urged, that by the addition 
 of these hired negroes in aid of the negroes ak 
 ways attached to, and employed upon the estate, 
 a great relief was afforded to them in the more 
 laborious parts of the cultivation, and that tliQ 
 advantage to the estates was greater than the 
 production of one hogshead for the labour of 
 every hired negroe. In reply to that I have 
 only to observe, that I cannot conceive it pos-r 
 sible for any labour to be beneficial so hired by 
 the planter, when the article produced bv the 
 
29 
 
 labour does not pay the mere expence of it$ 
 cultivation, and when perhaps it would be ad- 
 vantageous to the planter, to discontinue the 
 cultivation of sugar altogether, and wait for 
 more favourable markets, if it were not for the 
 injury the estate would ultimately suffer by 
 being entirely thro\vn out of the regular course 
 of husbandry. 
 
 The cost at which the crop is produced, in no 
 way affects the profits of the attorney on the 
 island ; he is equally well paid, whether the hired 
 labour of the estate is 500/. or 1000/. sterling; agd 
 his profits may actually be increased by an ex- 
 penditure which brings utter ruin upon the absent 
 proprietor. Upon all estates where the attorney, 
 the manager, or the overseer, are the owners of 
 the negroes hired to assist in working the estate, 
 a dissatisfaction always pervades the negroes 
 belonging to the estate : they compare the task 
 they have to perform with that imposed on the 
 negroes so hired; they compare the allowances 
 of land and provisions allotted to the different 
 negroes, and they universally find, or think 
 they find, that the hired negroes are employed 
 in lighter labour, and treated with more in- 
 dulgence. 
 
 If the system of employing hired negroes 
 prevails in the other colonies in the same pro- 
 
30 
 
 a proportionate increased quantity of sugar is 
 the result of their labour, an expenditure of 
 hired labour has been incurred to the amount of 
 upwards of 258, OOO/. to produce an addition of 
 13,000 hogsheads of sugar, making with the 
 sugar now produced by hired labpur in Jamaica, 
 the extraordinary quantity of 28,000 hogsheads 
 produced in the sugar colonies in the West In- 
 dies, at an expence for which the planter is not 
 remunerated, and contributing to occasion the 
 overstocked market, the cause of his present 
 calamity. 
 
 I confess I am unable to state any exact 
 quantity, by which I can suppose that the pro- 
 duction of sugar will be diminished in the Bri- 
 tish colonies in consequence of the abolition of 
 the slave trade, and in consequence of the 
 attention which will be paid by every planter 
 to prevent his negroes being over-worked ; but 
 I cannot imagine the reduction from those two 
 causes will be less when they begin effectually 
 to operate, than 10 per cent, upon the amount 
 -of the present annual average produce, and that 
 would occasion a further reduction of 27 3 800 
 hogsheads. 
 
 The devoting the labour of the negroes upon 
 all estates to the raising of all kinds of provisions 
 necessary for themselves or the stock, either 
 
Si 
 
 hitherto been the case, and applying to that 
 purpose a part of the land now employed for 
 the growth of canes, can scarcely be computed 
 as affecting the present quantity of sugar pro- 
 duced by less than a reduction of 5 per cent, 
 or 13,900 hogsheads annually. 
 
 The sum of these reductions will be, 
 
 15,000 from abandoning the ruinous sys- 
 tem of hired labour in Jamaica, 
 
 13,000 from the abandonment of the same 
 system in the other colonies, 
 
 27,800 a reduction from the abolition of 
 the slave trade, &c. 
 
 13,900 from devoting the labour of the ne- 
 groes, and part of the cane land 
 to provisions, &c. 
 
 69,700 
 Our average import for the last 
 
 six years has been .... 278,228 hhds. 
 Our home consumption of Great 
 
 Britain and Ireland . . , 185,380 
 
 Surplus for exportation 92,848 
 Produce diminished by the 
 
 causes abovementioned . . 69>700 
 
 Leaving a surplus of only 23,148 
 3 
 
52 
 
 to be taken off either by an increased, or new 
 consumption in this country, or for exportation 
 to the continent. What number of sugar 
 estates settled within the last eight years, and 
 what reduction in the quantity of sugar pro- 
 duced, will take place from many of those 
 estates being abandoned, I do not attempt to 
 compute; but every person acquainted with 
 Jamaica, and especially with Trinidad, estimates 
 the number at a large amount ; and with respect 
 to the latter colony, considers that there the 
 growth of sugar may, of necessity, be discon- 
 tinued altogether. 
 
 To the plan proposed of thus reducing the 
 quantity of sugar produced in the British West 
 Indies,, it may be objected, that the restitution 
 of the conquered colonies at a peace, will, of 
 itself, so reduce the present import into Great 
 Britain, as to lender the introduction of this 
 system unnecessary. An examination into the 
 probable state of the sugar trade at a peace, 
 will, I think, shew that even then no export 
 favourable for the planter can be expected, and 
 that he should still look to the home consump- 
 tion of the united kingdom only, as the demand 
 which is to take off his produce. 
 
 In the first place it must be observed r that if 
 
33 
 
 the system here recommended should not at all 
 be adopted in the British West Indies, and those 
 causes should not operate so as to produce the 
 diminished quantity I expected, there will be a 
 much greater quantity of sugar produced in 
 those colonies, and of necessity imported into 
 Great Britain and Ireland, than will be requi- 
 site for the supply of the united kingdom. 
 That surplus quantity must be exported, and it 
 will limit and fix the price of the whole im- 
 portation. There is every reason to apprehend 
 that when Cuba, Porto Rico, Cayenne, Guada- 
 loupe, Surinam, and Demarara, pour their un- 
 limited supply into the European market, with- 
 out even the shadow of restriction, and with the 
 advantages as far as relates to Cuba, and the 
 settlements on the continent of South America, 
 of a new and unimpoverished soil, that the co- 
 lonists of the old established British West Indies 
 will not be able to contend with them, either in 
 cheapness, or quantity of produce ; and if we 
 judge from the policy pursued during the last 
 short intervail of peace, every obstacle will be 
 thrown in the way to prevent the introduction of 
 all the articles of British colonial produce into any 
 part of the continent, either directly or indi- 
 rectly under the influence of the French govern- 
 
54 
 
 ment Indeed, one of the fundamental laws 
 of the recent confederation* upon the continent, 
 which includes, or will in every probability in- 
 clude the whole of Germany and Italy, pro- 
 vides, that the produce of the trade and manu- 
 facture of each member of the confederation shall 
 circulate freely through the territories of the 
 Union, while the produce of all British trade and 
 manufacture will prrobabty remain absolutely 
 prohibited. To the produce of the colonies 
 of France, Spain, and Holland, and of any 
 neutral country, these advantages will be ex- 
 tended ; while prohibitions, or duties acting as 
 completely piohibitory, will exclude those of 
 Great Britain altogether. The slave trade is at 
 length abolished, as far as the British colonies 
 are concerned, and for ever; but it is impossi- 
 ble to believe that it will not be carried on with 
 increased eagerness by France and Holland, as 
 soon as peace is restored. The trade being 
 abandoned by this country and America, and 
 having no competitors on the coast, they will 
 obtain at very reduced rates slaves, which have 
 cost the British planters such high prices; those 
 negroes will be poured in unlimited numbers 
 intoCubaand the colonies on the southern con- 
 tinent; and the same evil of an over-stocked 
 
35 
 
 market may be felt on the continent of Europe 
 of which we now complain here. I conceive it 
 therefore as hopeless to continue the cultiva- 
 tion of sugar to the extent it is now carried on 
 in the British West Indies, with reference to, and 
 the expectation of, an export at favourable prices 
 whenever peace is concluded, as it is to do 
 so now : and I think I have satisfactorily shewn 
 that now, and during the present war, and as long 
 as the present state of affairs continues on the 
 continent, no export at prices to remunerate the 
 planter can be expected. The restitution of the 
 conquered colonies at a peace may, I presume, 
 occasion a reduction in the quantity imported 
 into Great Britain and Ireland of about 50 hogs- 
 heads per annum, and would thus bring the 
 whole average import in time of peace to about 
 228,000 hogsheads, supposing that no effect, 
 which is scarcely possible, should be produced 
 by those causes by which I believe the quantity 
 will be so much diminished. Even that quantity 
 would demand an export of upwards of 40,000 
 hogsheads, which there seems no prospect of 
 being able to obtain any market for, even during 
 peace, upon the continent, at such prices as 
 ought to induce the planter to proceed in the 
 cultivation. Let the West India planter put 
 
 E 2 
 
36 
 
 the idea of growing for a foreign market out of 
 his calculation, and content himself by growing 
 with the least expence, sugar for the consump- 
 tion of these kingdoms only. 
 
 In the prosecution of this system, it may be 
 objected, that the general commerce and naviga- 
 tion of the kingdom, will suffer from the dimi- 
 nished export of sugar from the British West In- 
 dies. If the owners of shipping employed in the 
 West India trade, imagine that they will be able to 
 continue in that department of business as many 
 vessels, as have been lately employed in it, they 
 will find themselves most deplorably deceived. If 
 voluntarily the system I propose is not generally 
 and at once adopted by the generality of the 
 West India planters, it will be forced upon them 
 at last, and in each case a tonnage diminished in 
 the same proportion must be the consequence : 
 that will not be the fault of the West Indies, 
 but it is the misfortune of the country at large ; 
 that the progress and ill-success of the war which 
 has excluded us from the continent, renders it 
 now no longer desirable for the planter to produce 
 and bring to Great Britain an article, which he 
 cannot for that reason dispose of without a great 
 and serious loss. The West Indies are notable to 
 pay such a tax to the owners of British shipping, 
 
37 
 
 and if they were, it would be unjust that they 
 should. As far as the revenue collected from su- 
 gar is concerned,instead of sustaining any injury, 
 it will be increased, for the duty is now only col- 
 lected upon what is actually consumed in the 
 united kingdom : if the gross price is advanced to 
 80$. per cwt. an increase of duty takes place of 
 3$. per cwt. whereas now a considerable amount 
 is necessarily expended in the bounty and draw- 
 back at this time allowed upon exportation, 
 beyond the duty imposed and paid upon impor- 
 tation. 
 
 I will not, in the consideration of this ques- 
 tion, which I have endeavoured to confine as 
 much as possible, go into the investigation of 
 those modes of relief which have been suggested 
 to ministers, and which involve our political 
 relations with foreign powers ; they may be 
 adopted, and they may prove effectual ; but 
 if I was desired to point out the mode in which 
 I conceive the exertion of government could 
 best and most effectually be exerted for the re- 
 lief of the West India interest, and at the same 
 time for the general benefit of the trade, manu- 
 factures and navigation of Great Britain, it would 
 be -by prohibiting foreign brandy altogether, 
 either in the navy or for internal consumption j 
 affording, by a reduction of the duty, a de- 
 
38 
 
 tided encouragement to the use of British 
 plantation rum, and assimulating as much as 
 possible the trade and intercourse between the 
 colonies and the mother-country, to the mode 
 in which they are maintained between the 
 different provinces of the united kingdom. The 
 advantages resulting from such encouragement 
 would be, first the employ of that proportion of 
 the West India shipping which must otherwise, 
 from the reduced quantity of sugar produced, be 
 thrown out of employ : next, the value of every 
 puncheon of rum imported will be exported in 
 manufactured goods, in addition to what are 
 now shipped to the West Indies, or obtaining 
 here a market, it will be exchanged for the pro- 
 duce of British commerce, of the British fishery, 
 and British agriculture, exported in British 
 vessels, instead of being now bartered at a great 
 depreciation for the produce of America, trans- 
 ported in American bottoms. Recent publica- 
 tions have so accurately detailed the calculation 
 of the cost of the conveyance of the two arti- 
 cles, that I need not repeat them, nor are they 
 material to my argument ; it is the principle for 
 Avhich I contend, and which I recommend as 
 the true policy to be pursued by this kingdom, 
 and especially in its present situation. 
 
 I may be allowed here particularly to point 
 
39 
 
 out one mods in which the West Indies are en- 
 abled to benefit the mother country, and obviate 
 oo of the evils created by the exclusion of 
 British commerce from the ports of the con- 
 tinent, under the influence of the French go- 
 vernment ; but to render it eminently beneficial, 
 there must be an exchange of two com- 
 modities; or rather, there must be a market 
 afforded in this country for rum, to enable the 
 West Indies to pay for a new article of export, 
 from this country, at least to the West Indies. 
 The article to which I particularly allude, is 
 pilchards from Cornwall; until excluded from 
 Spain and Italy, upwards of 45,000 hogsheads 
 of pilchards caught upon the coasts and within 
 the harbours of Cornwall, were annually cured 
 and exported to those countries, but they were 
 not prepared in a way to secure them in a 
 voyage to the West Indies ; and when occa- 
 sionally sent there, they had, from that cause, 
 too frequently failed to be trusted to as an article 
 of provision. Within this twelvemonth upwards 
 of 10,000 hogsheads of pilchards, cured and 
 packed for the Italian market, and certified by 
 the proper officers as fit for exportation, have 
 been thrown upon the land as manure, because 
 the market for which they were intended was 
 shut against them. It will be in the recollection 
 
40 
 
 of some of the members of the Board of Trade, 
 how desirous that Board was, that an experi- 
 ment should be made how far the pilchards of 
 Cornwall would succeed in the West Indies ; a 
 West India gentleman present promised to make 
 the experiment ; a ship and cargo of pilchards, 
 properly prepared and cured for the West In- 
 dies, was provided, and the experiment has 
 completely answered; the pilchards were re- 
 ceived in good order, they were greatly ap- 
 proved as an article of food by the negroes, and 
 certificates returned from the West Indies from a 
 great variety of persons unite in declaring, that 
 they were received not only in a condition to 
 be good and wholesome food, but in a state 
 likely to continue to be so for three or even six 
 months to corne. These pilchards were offered 
 at a much cheaper rate than herrings, and little 
 doubt can be entertained but that practice and 
 the natural result of competition in the fish 
 curers will, in a short time, render the pilchards 
 even better adapted for the West India market 
 than they now are. In the evidence of Mr. 
 Huo-han before the Committee of the House of 
 
 o 
 
 Commons, page 61, he states the quantity of 
 herrings required by the West India colonies at 
 from 180,000 to 200,000 barrels annually. There 
 seems little dpubt but that the certainty of a 
 
41 
 
 market, of which we cannot be deprived, would 
 greatly encourage and tend rapidly to encrease 
 not only the fishery for pilchards in Devonshire 
 and Cornwall, but all the other fisheries upon the 
 coasts of the united kingdom. According to the 
 price at which pilchards have been purchased for 
 the West India market, the export of 180,000 
 barrels of pilchards would pay 200,000/. to the 
 fisheries of Cornwall and Devon, pay 90,000/- 
 in freight outwards to British shipping engaged 
 in the trade to the West Indies, and in the 
 convoy duty of 4 per cent, pay 8000/. per ann. 
 into the Exchequer. But to enable the planter 
 to purchase, he must be able to pay for them 
 by the proceeds of the sale of his rum, and at 
 15/. per puncheon, it will require the sale of 
 20,000 puncheons of rum to enable him to do 
 so. To convey that quantity of rum to Great 
 Britain will require 10,000 ton of British ship- 
 ping, the freight of which from the West In- 
 dies, at the time I am now writing, would be 
 upwards of 100,000/. sterling. It is the oppor- 
 tunity that is afforded to the West India planter 
 of bartering his rum to the American, that is 
 the real inducement for him to trade with him ; 
 in that mode of barter he acquires many arti- 
 cles with which he might he supplied by Great 
 Britain, but he gets rid of an article which, if 
 
 F 
 
42 
 
 sent to Great Britain, will scarcely pay the cost 
 of its conveyance, when left in competition 
 with foreign brandy imported under licences iu 
 neutral bottoms. 
 
 I have ventured, contrary to my original in- 
 tention, into some detail upon this subject, a 
 new one, and I think not a little important to 
 the mother country as well as the West Indies. 
 It puts in a strong light the advantages M'hich 
 may be acquired by every interest connected with 
 the trade, commerce, manufacture, agriculture, 
 fishery, navigation and revenue of the united 
 kingdom, from encouraging reciprocally in the 
 mother country and the colonies the consump- 
 tion of the productions of each. The colonial 
 trade is the only trade this country can abso- 
 lutely command, and the scene of it the navy 
 is alone able to protect; while the navy, on 
 -\yhich the nation so confidently relies, is more 
 indebted for its creation and maintenance to the 
 West Indies, than any other foreign commerce 
 carried on by this kingdom : no decree of pro- 
 hibiting all intercourse; no nonimportation 
 act, can deprive Great Britain of the advantages 
 of its West India trade ; and what I have laid 
 before you respecting this article will tend to 
 shew, how far proper encouragement may pro- 
 mote the advantage of both the mother coun- 
 
43 
 
 try &nd the colonies, by applying generally, in 
 respect to other articles, the principle and prac- 
 tice I have here proposed. 
 
 There is no reason arising either out of in- 
 tended alterations at home, proposed restrictions 
 on the neutral carrying-trade, or any foreign or 
 extraneous matter whatever, that should pre- 
 vent the prudent West India planter from adopt- 
 ing the plan I have in this letter recommended 
 to you ; for it is the only plan that renders him 
 independent of foreign assistance: he will feel 
 in his reduced expences an ample compensation, 
 and, with his capital undimiilished, he will 
 be ready* whenever the increased demand of 
 Great Britain calls for it, to extend his culti- 
 vation. 
 
 The view I have taken of West India affairs, 
 recently, has been attended thus faf with satis- 
 faction, that I feel confident that we have a 
 means of relief in our own power; that of neces- 
 sity that relief will soon be felt; and that as the 
 production of sugar will necessarily, from the 
 various causes I have mentioned, be diminished 
 in the British West Indies, while the consump- 
 tion of the article in this kingdom is so rapid- 
 ly increasing, there is no probability of the same 
 distress recurring, since the produce being only 
 equal to the consumption^ we shall be indepen- 
 
 * 2 
 
44 
 
 dent of the foreign market. It is upon that 
 increased home consumption that -the West In- 
 dia planter may safely rely, and which will re- 
 ward his labour. The rapidly increasing popula- 
 tion, the increased luxury of the people, the 
 taste for sugar so generally gratified by its re- 
 cent low price, will not only prevent the con- 
 sumption being diminished, but will tend rapid- 
 ly to promote it. It is now consumed for food 
 in various ways more generally than it used to 
 be ; it is applied to purposes for which former- 
 ly it was not employed ; and it may be safely 
 asserted, that no human being, having been 
 once accustomed to the use of it, voluntarily 
 relinquishes it. In the Appendix, A, the average 
 quantity consumed in the united kingdom was, 
 in the first period, 123,274 hogsheads ; in the 
 next, at very high prices, 148,964 hogsheads ; 
 and, in the last, 185,380 hogsheads annually ; 
 and I am assured by a very well-informed person, 
 conversant in every part of the sugar trade, 
 that he has every reason to believe that the 
 consumption of Great Britain for the year 
 1806 exceeded 200,000 hogsheads. With this 
 prospect, the West Indians have noreason to de- 
 spair ; with their own exertions, and the judi- 
 cious aid and regulations of government, they 
 will weather this storm, and resume again that 
 
45 
 
 important and honourable character, by which 
 they have been so long distinguished in the annali 
 of the British Commerce and Navigation. 
 
 I have the honour to be, 
 
 Dear Sir, with great regard, 
 Your very obedient servant, &c. 
 
 P. S. In the present situation of West India affairs, it seems 
 more especially the duty of every prudent planter lo nurse his 
 resources, and preserve his active capital unimpaired in num- 
 ber and vigour, that he may be prepared to employ it, and 
 enjoy the full benefit of his exertions, whenever the state of the 
 commerce, or the wants of this kingdom afford him a prospect 
 of ample remuneration. At this moment, and, indeed, at all 
 times, his unremitted attention should be bestowed on his ne- 
 groes, to take care of them in sickness, to provide for them in 
 health, to encourage marriage and morality among them, and 
 looking upon them as partners and joint proprietors with him 
 in his estate, render them, with due regard to a proper sub- 
 ordination, as happy and comfortable as the nature of their 
 -situation admits of. To shew how those intentions can best be 
 carried into effect, let me with confidence and earnestness 
 recommend that invaluable publication to every west India 
 proprietor, entitled, " Practical Rules for the Management 
 and Medical Treatment of Negroe Slaves in the Sugar Colonies, 
 by a Professional Planter/' I feel assured that no planter who 
 has seen that book will here disagree with me in opinion; and 
 those who acquire it, after this recommendation, will probably 
 do as I have done, and provide every estate with which they 
 are connected with a copy of it, and urge the strictest atten- 
 tion to its precepts on their managers and overseers. 
 
46 
 
 APPENDIX A. 
 
 An Account of the Quantity of SUGAR, imported from all 
 Parts into Great Britain from the Year 1791 to the Year 
 1806, inclusive, distinguishing each Year ; also the Quan- 
 tity of the same exported to all Parts, in the same Period ; 
 distinguishing the Export to Ireland, from the Export to 
 other parts; the refined reduced into raw on the Princi- 
 ple of 34 to 20. 
 
 N. B. This Account is stated in Hogsheads of 13 Cwt. neU 
 each, for the Facility of Comparison and Investigation. 
 
 
 
 Exported. 
 
 Retained for 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Consumption 
 
 Years. 
 
 Imported. 
 
 To 
 
 To other 
 
 
 in Gt. Britain 
 
 
 
 Ireland. 
 
 Parts. 
 
 Total. 
 
 and Ireland. 
 
 
 Hhds. 
 
 Hhds. 
 
 Hhds. 
 
 Hhds. 
 
 Hhds. 
 
 1791 
 
 139,476 
 
 10,895 
 
 20,642 
 
 31,537 
 
 118,834 
 
 1/92 
 
 153,018 
 
 9,020 
 
 39,260 
 
 48,280 
 
 113,758 
 
 1793 
 
 168,825 
 
 11,867 
 
 27,950 
 
 39,817 
 
 140,875 
 
 1794 
 
 193,783 
 
 12,598 
 
 66,618 
 
 79,214 
 
 127,165 
 
 1795 
 
 165,482 
 
 12,943 
 
 49,744 
 
 62,687 
 
 115,738 
 
 1796 
 
 172,325 
 
 11, 111 
 
 41,676 
 
 52,787 
 
 130,649 
 
 1797 
 
 164,607 
 
 16,026 
 
 50,602 
 
 66,628 
 
 114,005 
 
 1793 
 
 207,682 
 
 13,563 
 
 80,537 
 
 94,101 
 
 127,145 
 
 1799 
 
 260,844 
 
 16,245 
 
 31,335 
 
 47,580 
 
 229,509 
 
 1800 
 
 243,421 
 
 27,598 
 
 99,906 
 
 127,504 
 
 143,515 
 
 1801 
 
 305,889 
 
 9,432 
 
 83,089 
 
 92,521 
 
 222,80$ 
 
 1802 
 
 330,545 
 
 14,069 
 
 143,375 
 
 157,^44 
 
 187,^70 
 
 1803 
 
 245,069 
 
 11,665 
 
 118,588 
 
 130,253 
 
 226,484 
 
 1804 
 
 249,870 
 
 12,518 
 
 72,400 
 
 84,918 
 
 177,470 
 
 1805 
 
 244,521 
 
 12,771 
 
 72,051 
 
 84,822 
 
 172,470 
 
 1806 
 
 293,475 
 
 10,369 
 
 67,587 
 
 77,956 
 
 225,888 
 
47 
 
 Average Annual Import for five Years from 
 
 1st Jan. 1791 to 31st Dec. 1795 - - 164,116 
 
 Average Annual Export, (exclusive of Ex- 
 port to Ireland) during the same period 40,842 
 
 Average Annual Quantity retained for Con- , 
 
 sumption in Great Britain and Ireland - 123,274 Hhds , 
 
 Average Annual Import for five Years from 
 
 1st Jan. 1796 to 31st Dec. 1800 - 209,775 
 
 Average Annual Export (exclusive of Ex- 
 port to IrelandX during the same Period 60,811 
 
 Average Annual Quantity retained for Con- 
 sumption in Great Britain and Ireland 148,964 Hhds. 
 
 Average Annual Import for six Years from 
 
 1st. Jan. 1801 to 31st Dec. 1S06 - 278,228 
 
 Average Annual Export (exclusive of Ex- 
 port to Ireland) during the same period 92,848 
 
 Average Annual Quantity retained for Con- 
 sumption in Great Britain and Ireland - 185,380 Hhds. 
 
 N, B. This account is exclusive of the sugar consumed 
 in Ireland imported direct from the West Indies. 
 
48 
 
 APPENDIX B. 
 
 Extract from an Account of the General Average Prices of 
 Brown or Muscovado Sugar, exclusive of all Duties, for 13 
 Years, endingthe 5th Day of January 1806; shewing the 
 Average Price of Sugar from 179(5 to 1800, both Years 
 inclusive. 
 
 When published. For what Time, Average Prices. 
 
 . rf. 
 
 1796, Feb. 23, Six weeks preceding Feb. 23, 1796 63 8| 
 Oct. 29, Oct. 23, 62 7 
 
 1797, Feb. 25, Feb. 23, 1797 64 7 
 
 Aug. 26, Aug. 23, 64 10 
 
 Oct. 28, Oct. 28, 62 11| 
 
 1798, Feb, 24, Feb. 23, 1798 67 3| 
 
 June 23, .June 23, 68 ll| 
 
 Aug. 25, Aug. 23, 65 11 * 
 
 Oct. 27, - Oct. 23, 67 6| 
 
 1799, Feb - 23, Feb. 23, 1799 69 3j 
 
 1800, Jan, 11, -- Jan. 5, 1800 57 6J 
 
 April 5, April 5, 66 2 
 
 Nov. 10, Nov. 10, 71 3| 
 
 .N". B. The Account, of which this is an Extract, was laid 
 before the Committee of the House of Commons appointed to 
 consider the Commercial State of the West India Colonies, 
 and is to be found in the Appendix, in the 84-th Page of their 
 Report. The Average Price of the whole Period is 65s. 7^- 
 per Cent, exclusive of Duty. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 . G, Barnard, Pnnter, Snove-hilL 
 
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY 
 BERKEI+EY 
 
 Return to desk from which borrowed. 
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 JAN 20 1956 L8 
 
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