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Show AP.PENDJX, Tl1 erc I· S, 1lO WCVCr, a S]>ecific point which, at the present time, pccuh.a rI y d cman d s sue h an union of effort. I me. an the... . preven- t1· 0n o f t 11 e propose d equ11Jization of the sugar dut.! Cs. 1 he duty now levied in England, on sugars not produced m our own colo~ m. es, amoun t s t o a pr ohibition '· and thus the whole market of our country is open exclusively to the sugar growers of those colonies. Once equalize that prohibitory duty with the lower duty . charged on the sugar produced in these ~sl~nds, and immediately there will be a vast influx into Great Bntam and Ireland, of the sugars o f C ub a , Brazil , Louisiana, &c. The inevitable con- sequence w1'] ] be that the sugars of Jamaica will lose their market, or will fall to a price which cannot remunerate the planter. The next ]ink in the chain of disaster will be a large one. The planter will withdraw from the production of s~gar, and will undergo great difficulty in his attempts to apply h!S grounds and apparatus to any other purpose. In the meantime the laborer will Jose his employment and his wages; the merchant and shopkeeper will find their resources of profit suddenly cut ofF; and, lastly, the abolitionist will discover, to his •dismay, that a fresh impetus of vast force is given to slavery and the slave-trade, by the opening of a new market of incalculable value, to the producers of slave-grown sugar. Let not the reader for a moment imagine that this view of the effect of the proposed equalization, is grounded on the notion that slave labor is superior, in point of cheapness, to free labor. Abundant are the evidences which have been afforded me, both here and in the other islands of the West Indies, that the contrary is the fact. But there is a vast difference in different regions, as to the capacity of producing sugar at a cheap rate ; and long before freedom was enacted,. the protecting duties were in force, to prevent a ruinous competition between the sugars of Jamaica, &c., and the cheaper article pro· duced in Cuba and elsewhere. There is said to be a great saving to the colonists of Cuba and Porto llico, in the expense lt£CONCJLIA'l'ION. 241 of producing sugar, not only from the peculia t f h . . . . . . r na ure o t c soil, whteh requires for Its cultivation a compar t' 1 II a lVC Y smn amount of labor, but from the inexpensive character of tl · b ']d· . . len UI mgs and works; also lroro the circumstance that the prop · t . ne ors arc gene-rally reSident on the spot; and there is reason to believe that these persons arc satisfied with a lower rate of profit than falls to the lot of the British proprietor. When the energies of freedom arc fully developed, they. will, I trust, enable Jamaica to cope even wath those natural mcquahtes, which, at present, give an advantage to other sugar-growing regions. In the mean time it is evidently incumbent on the planters and the abolitionists, to lay aside their former jealousies, and to unite in petitioning parliament against the proposed equalization. Their joint appeal, supported as it obviously is by the common principles of justice, as well as those of mercy, could scarcely fail to be effectual. With regard to the laborers, they ought to be informed how greatly the success of such an appeal must depend upon their exertions. The consequence of a diminished supply of sugar from our colonies, is the undue rise of the price of the article at home. Then follows, on the part of the vast manufacturing and agricultural population, a most natural clamor for cheap sugar; and from that clamor may as naturally arise a yielding on the part of our rulers, and, finally, the equalization of the duties, with all its fearful results. Here than is a stimulus to continuous labor in the production of sugar, which may most legitimately be brought home to the understanding and feeling of every peasant in the West Indies. I am confident that thousands of them in Jamaica, would prove themselves to be very much alive to such a stimulus. · They arc nut only watchful over their own interests, but know how to feel for the woes of their brethren in other parts of the world. In thus stating the grounds on which I feel the necessity of a hearty union of all parties in Jamaica, in promoting the temporal welfare of the island, I am far from intending to insinuate that R |