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Hebrew Scriptures is the only weapon wherewith we can hope to assail the Jew. Entrenching himself in prejudices which education and habit have fortified, with the conviction that his has long been an injured and persecuted race, he betakes himself to a species of argument, the subtleties of which can be unravelled only by those who are acquainted with the language to which he refers, and the peculiar nature of the criticism which has been employed upon it. And who, when Egypt and Ethiopia shall stretch out their hands for the word of God, will be able to satisfy their cravings, and to impart to them the bread of life, but those who possess such facilities of communication, as a knowledge of their vernacular tongue can alone supply?

To the Christian who delights in the devotional study of the sacred volume, and, like the Psalmist, meditates therein day and night, it must be a source of unspeakable satisfaction to have access to the original languages in which it was composed. To sing the songs of Zion in their native beauty-to en

joy communion with the saints of old-and enkindle the flame of piety upon the same altar, are privileges of high value. Nor are they mere gratifications only, but they are often productive of great spiritual benefit, opening to us unnumbered associations calculated to affect the mind, and to assist us in worshipping God in spirit and in truth. The Hebrew Psalter has been found by many Christians, what there is reason to believe it was to our blessed Lord himself, a manual of devotion and praise. Bishop Horne has recorded, in the Preface to his Commentary, how rich and various were the joys which he experienced while ' engaged in the study of it. The pleasure of which he speaks may be that also of every Biblical student, if only his literary attainments be made subservient to the same hallowed purposes; for the permission to draw water with gladness out of these wells of salvation is unlimited. Would that all felt that thirst which nothing but the water from this living spring can satisfy!

A.

MISCELLANEOUS.

For the Christian Observer.

SLAVE-GROWN SUGAR.

WE have promised to lay before our readers a full view of our sentiments on the subject of Slavegrown Sugar. The following paper, recently issued by the Society for mitigating and gradually abolishing Slavery throughout the British Dominions, has so well expressed those sentiments, that we shall insert it as containing a satisfactory solution of that important question.

The attention of the Committee of this Society having been called to the increasing reluctance which

is felt, by many persons, to the consumption of Slave-grown Sugar, and numerous applications having been addressed to them for their opinion on the propriety of abstaining from its use, they have been induced to take the question into their deliberate consideration.

It will be recollected, that, in their Report delivered to the general body on the 25th June 1824, the Committee adverted briefly to this subject; intimating, that, should no effectual legislative measures be adopted for abolishing Colonial Slavery, it would still be in the power of the community at large to promote that object, by renouncing the use of Sugar grown by Slaves,

and using in its stead the produce but the growing interest which it of Free labour.

The Committee took the same opportunity of obviating the main objection to such an expedient such an expedient which had arisen, or was likely to arise, in the minds of conscientious individuals; namely, that to lower the price of Sugar would aggravate the sufferings and increase the privations of the Slaves.

They declared it, on the contrary, to be, and certainly it continues to be, their firm conviction, (a conviction founded in the very nature of a state of compulsory and uncompensated labour, and strengthened by all the lights of experience,) that whatever tends to raise the price of Slave-grown produce tends, in the same degree, to rivet the chains and to add to the labour and misery of the Slave; while a material diminution in its price must operate beneficially both in relaxing his bonds, abating his toil, and enlarging his comforts. This view of the subject was briefly illustrated, in the Committee's last Report, by a reference to the contrasted cases of the Bahamas and Demerara*.

Thus stood the question at the last General Meeting of the Society;

As the whole of this subject is highly important, the Committee propose forthwith to prepare a brief view of it for general circulation, and in the mean time they would direct the attention of their friends to the following publications, as illustrative of it: namely, their own last Report, pp. 34, 35 ;-East and West India Sugar, pp. 79-88;-Mr. Cropper's pamphlets, entitled, Relief for West-India Distress; A Letter on the injurious Effects of High and the beneficial Effects of Low Prices on the Condition of the Slaves; and the Support of Slavery Investigated; -A safe and permanent Remedy for the Distresses of the West-Indian Planters, by a West-Indian ;-Review of the Quarterly Review on Colonial Slavery, pp. 91-104; -Letter to W. W. Whitmore, Esq., M. P., by the Author of East and WestIndia Sugar, (in this pamphlet also, the misrepresentations are exposed by which it was sought to prove that the peasantry of Bengal are slaves); and Mr. Stephen's Delineation of West-Indian Slavery, pp.

456-474, where the subject is most ably

and conclusively treated.

has excited in the public mind since that time has obliged the Committee to take a nearer and more practical view of its bearings than seemed to be then necessary.

It is undoubtedly a subject of cordial congratulation, that there should have spontaneously arisen so strong and prevalent a desire to abstain from Slave-grown Sugar; inasmuch as it affords an unanswerable proof of the extent and force of those moral principles, on the influence of which the Committee have always chiefly relied for the final triumph of their cause. On a question of this nature, however, they are inclined to follow rather than to lead the judgment and feelings of their friends throughout the kingdom. In as far as abstinence from Slave-grown Sugar may be regarded as a matter of conscience, they feel that they have no right to interfere, but must leave the question to be decided by each individual for himself according to the dictates of his own conscience. At the same time, on the supposition of the continued and effectual resistance of the colonies to the adoption of those reforms which have been proposed by his Majesty's Government, they can plate no measure for attaining their ultimate objects more certain in its operation than the general substitution of Sugar grown by Free labour for that which is grown by Slaves.

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Such a measure, however, would by no means necessarily exclude the Sugar of the West Indies. On the contrary, the Committee hope that the course pursued by at least some of the colonies might lead to a preference of their produce founded on this very principle. Those colonies which may adopt such reforms as lead to the extinction of Slavery, and which should thus honourably distinguish themselves from those which persist in rejecting improvement, and in seeking to perpetuate the present vicious and cruel system,

would indeed establish an undeniable claim on the favour and encouragement of the British public. For who could better deserve support and countenance than those who, in spite of the example of their neighbours, the prejudices of education, and the force of habit, resolutely determine to act upon the just principles and enlightened views which have been presented to their adoption by the humanity and wisdom of his Majesty's Government? The same encouragement, therefore, which may be given to the produce of free labour, would, without doubt, be justly due to every colony which, though still involved in some of the evils of Slavery, yet should cordially embrace, and honestly prosecute, effectual measures for their ter

mination.

In drawing such a line of distinction, whenever the supposed case shall arise, the Committee believe that the friends of Negro emancipation will be promoting, and not retarding, those more efficient measures of direct legislative enactment which are most unquestionably the best means of attaining in the colonies at large the great ends of the recorded resolutions of Parliament on this subject. But if, notwithstanding the protracted resistance of the Colonial Assemblies, of which the latest accounts from the colonies afford but too decisive evidence, the supreme Legislature should still decline to interpose thus directly, we may yet hope that it may be induced to controul the refractory by such fiscal regulations as shall ensure a decided preference in the home market, if not to all Sugar the produce of free labour grown within the British dominions, yet, at least, to that which is the produce of settlements where the recommendations of his Majesty's Government shall have been fully and effectually adopted and enforced.

Such an interference on the part of the Legislature would unquestionably be far more certain and

immediate, as well as more powerful in its operation, than any voluntary efforts or sacrifices of individuals; for, in order to produce adequate results by these means, a more extensive concurrence of the people of this country, in the plan of abstaining from Slave-grown Sugar, would be necessary than can reasonably be expected to be immediately or very speedily obtained. This consideration, however, needs. not cause any despair of ultimate success. On the contrary, it would furnish a stronger stimulus to persevering exertions on the part of those who may be induced on conscientious grounds to adopt this plan, in order that others may gradually be wrought upon, by their influence and example, to pursue the same course, until the practice shall become sufficiently extended to produce the desired effect. It cannot be doubted, as the Committee have already remarked, that its general adoption would tend powerfully to the extinction of Slavery in the British Colonies.

But, although the Committee entertain no doubt that an adequate effect might thus in the course of time be produced, notwithstanding the various difficulties by which such a plan would, in practice, necessarily be attended, they are happy in believing that there exist other means by which that effect may not only be more surely attained, but by which it may be greatly accelerated, as well as much more widely extended.

Unquestionably by far the most prompt and effectual of those means, as the Committee have more fully stated in their last Report, would be the repeal of all restrictive duties on the Sugars of British India; and to this most important object the Committee trust that the deliberations of Parliament, and the earnest prayers of the people of the United Kingdom, will be directed.

But even if this hope should fail, the Committee still believe it to be in the power of the friends of eman

cipation, by giving direct encouragement to the increased production of Sugar by Free labour, in no long time so to lower the cost of the article as to make it the clear interest not only of the whole population of the United Kingdom, but of all Europe, to give a preference to such Sugar, and thus to lead them, of themselves and spontaneously, to contribute their assistance in depriving the existing system of Slavery, in the Foreign as well as in the British Colonies, of its main support; and thus also to put a final period to that Slave Trade which, to the indelible disgrace of certain European powers, and in contempt of their solemn engagements, still prevails under their flags on the coast of Africa.

That the labour of Free men is more advantageous than the labour of Slaves, and that the produce of the former is to be obtained on cheaper terms than that of the latter, are points on which this Committee entertain no doubt, and which are now admitted as axioms by every writer of authority on the science of political economy.

If a proof were required of the truth of these propositions, it would be found in the pertinacity with which the West Indians and their friends maintain the protecting duty against East-India Sugar, and the eagerness with which they have sought to increase it. Notwithstanding the oppressive weight of that impost, notwithstanding the aggravation of all the charges of transport by the distance of the place of its growth, notwithstanding the great imperfection and expensiveness of the rude process by which it is at present manufactured, notwithstanding the absence of encouragement from the application of British capital and skill to its production; notwithstanding all these disadvantages, some descriptions of the Sugar of Hindostan come even now into direct competition with the Sugars of the West Indies in the market of Great

Britain. This single circumstance appears to be conclusive. It appears to prove clearly that the Free-grown Sugars of British India might be sold, if the present protecting duty were removed, considerably cheaper than the Slavegrown Sugar of the British WestIndies.

But this is not the only proof which may be adduced of the superiority of Free over Slave labour.

Prior to the opening of the trade to Hindostan, very little Cotton was brought from that country to Europe. Although the protecting duty in favour of West-India Cotton was small, yet East-India freights were so enormous (about 327. a ton) that it was impossible to import Cotton thence with advantage. Since the opening of the trade with India however, and the consequent reduction of freights, East-India Cotton has been imported in such quantities, and at so low a rate, as to reduce the price of that article all over the world to about half its former amount.

A still more striking exemplification of the principle for which the Committee are contending, is supplied by the Indigo Trade. Forty or fifty years ago, little or no Indigo was exported from British India. The whole of that article then used in Europe was the product of Slave labour. A few individuals in Bengal employed their capital and their intelligence in inciting the natives to enlarge their cultivation of it, and in preparing it for the European market; and, though abundantly discouraged in the first instance, yet the duties being nearly equalized, their efforts were at length crowned with complete success. Such indeed has been the effect of British skill and capital united, when employed in calling Free labour into action, that, notwithstanding the enormous freights which for a time the importers of it had to pay, the Indigo of India has been gradually displacing from the market the Indigo grown by

In a country, however, circumstanced as India is, the same means of promoting the culture of Sugar

Slaves; until at length, with the help of the free trade, and the lighter freights consequent upon it, there is not now one ounce of Indigo the produce of Slave labour, imported into Europe; while the value of the Indigo grown in British India amounts to nearly four millions sterling annually. The only existing competitors, in this branch of trade, are the Free labourers of Guatimala and the Caraccas; and their competition, which had for a time been nearly extinguished, is now only reviving with the newborn liberties of those regions.

Encouraged by such pregnant examples, the Committee have been induced to look with much care and solicitude into the circumstances of the Sugar Trade of British India. A mass of valuable information having been obtained on the subject from the records of the East-India Company, the practical result of that information has been abstracted and embodied in a pamphlet recently published for the Society, by Hatchard, and entitled, "EastIndia Sugar; or an Inquiry respecting the Means of improving the Quality and reducing the Cost of Sugar raised by Free Labour in the East Indies."

In this pamphlet the defects in the present mode of manufacturing Sugar in India are pointed out, and the means are also specified by which those defects may be remedied, the quality of the Sugar greatly improved, and the cost of its production very materially diminished. And it seems now no longer a matter of doubt, provided only the simple and obvious improvements there suggested should be adopted, that it would be possible to import the Sugar of India into this country, especially if the oppressive protecting duty of 10s.a cwt. were removed, so as materially to undersell the Sugar grown by Šlaves*.

It would be impossible, in this brief address, even to enumerate all the advantages which, in addition to the annual saving to the country of at least 1,500,000.,

must result from the removal of the bounties and restrictions on the Trade of Sugar. The experience of the past year has abundantly proved the beneficial effect of such a measure in other branches of trade. Not to mention the benefit which India would derive from the development of her which must be given to her industry, and resources, and Ireland from the impulse our merchants and manufacturers from the immense field which would be opened to their enterprize, the Committee, on this occasion, will confine themselves to the benefits which must flow to the WestIndians themselves, from the adoption of this just and liberal policy. They confidently expect indeed, that, so soon as the relief, his system will rapidly improve. West-Indian planter is led to himself for "One obvious benefit which would immediately accrue to him would be, that he soil from Sugar cultivation, and to retain would be induced to withdraw his poor in it only those of superior fertility. Inferior soils would be employed in the growth of other articles for which they Sugar. The remunerating price of Sugar were adapted, and only the best in that of would thus be lowered. A forced cultivation must always be a hazardous and expensive process; and it can only be supported by a monopoly price both high and permanent.

"Again; the use of the plough has such obvious advantages, that to a cursory observer, it is wonderful that it has not been more generally adopted in WestIndian cultivation. If an English farmer were obliged to keep, during the whole year, all the hands that he required in harvest, he too might employ them with the spade and the hoe in turning up the soil, and might find less advantage from the plough. If the plough were brought into general use, and cattle were therefore more generally employed; the fertility of the soil, by means of a change of crops, of manuring, and good management, would be gradually improved, instead of being, as now, continually deteriorated.

"Various other suggesstions present themselves. If, for example, the cultivation of provisions were made universally a first and paramount object; if the women were relieved from the constant and oppres

sive drudgery of field labour, and allowed to give an adequate share of attention to their domestic concerns, as might easily be done were the plough in general use; and if various other economical improvements which are obviously practicable were adopted; there can be no doubt that the state of things in the West-Indies would rapidly and greatly improve. The population would increase, and their con

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