precedence of the trivial; the fixed and permanent enjoy superior consideration to the transient and auxiliary. An advocate for particular or detached interests will never merit attention beyond the fleeting contention of the hour, unless his argument is grounded on considerations for the general benefit. If, therefore, the refiners are determined to be at issue with parties in whose prosperity they have participated, whose adversity they ought equally to commiserate, it is obligatory on them to show that the refining trade, in which a few hundred thousand pounds are employed, is of more importance than the colonies in which one hundred millions are invested. Did not the colonists conceive it their bounden duty to yield implicit obedience to that commercial code which elicits, or, at all events, is designed to elicit national production in its most approved form, it would be easy to show that the refiners enjoy more privileges at the colonists' expense than those to which they are fairly entitled. The refiners have at present the entire of the refining trade for the home market. Have they any natural right to this exclusive branch of business? None whatever. It should be conducted in the colonies; it is part of the process of making sugar fit for use, which legitimately should belong to the West Indians. It would, indeed, be desirable if some declaration were made by the legislature, to set cavil at rest, and to indicate to all parties concerned their rela

tive importance in the consideration of the means of extending colonial commerce. First should come the British public; secondly, the colonists; and lastly, those branches of business which are auxiliary, and which have been classed under the head of" carrying trade."

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CHAPTER VIII.

APPLICATION OF THE PRECEDING VIEWS TO AN EQUITABLE AND COMPREHENSIVE SYSTEM OF COLONIAL POLICY.

THE following points, it is conceived, have been established in this inquiry.

That colonies are eminently beneficial, and con. tribute to the prosperity and maritime strength of this kingdom.

That of late years the British West India colonies have declined, while those of neighbouring nations have flourished.

That the British colonies have declined from causes unforeseen, unprecedented and unnatural, while foreign colonies have flourished by improper means, and not by legitimate industry; and that in consequence of loss thus operating absolutely and relatively, the general commerce of the empire has been greatly injured.

Therefore, what is required at the existing moment is a comprehensive measure of a twofold character-First, such as will restore confidence and give effectual assistance to the colonies.Secondly, such as will tend to check the foreign slave-trade.

The first object may be accomplished by a

REDUCTION of the duty payable on British planta

tion sugar.

Every person in the least acquainted with the colonies, must be aware that want of confidence in the Legislature is a leading cause of the depression under which they labour at present. Transfers of property are at an end. Planters who have legacies to pay or pecuniary settlements of any kind to arrange, cannot raise money on their plantations, in the same manner as individuals can do who are possessed of property in other parts of the empire. This is a great grievance, and it proceeds from the incertainty in which all colonial property is placed, occasioned, we are constrained to acknowledge, by the vague, indefinite and vacillating conduct of the legislature. Sometimes East India sugar is threatened to be admitted at the British plantation duty. Sometimes the produce of that portion of the empire is thrust aside in the question, and we behold zealous advocacy for the admission of foreign sugar. In this state of things, no further investments of property will take place in the British colonies. But an immediate change would succeed were the duty reduced, and were equitable protection given to British plantation sugar over that of the East Indies and of foreign countries. That act, in the present tempers of the times, would be regarded as decisive, and an unequivocal declaration of the permanent policy intended to be pursued towards the West India colonies. It

would restore drooping confidence; it would ani mate production; it would relieve unmerited distress. Pending the discussion of the silk duties, business was nearly suspended. But no sooner was a judicious scale of duties enacted, varying from 30 to 50 per cent., than large invest ments were made, and activity soon displayed itself, diffusing its beneficial influence upon the national prosperity. How much more widely would be the beneficial operation of an equitable and defi nitive decision on the colonial question!

The next advantage which would accrue from al reduction of duty, though of inferior intrinsic conse quence, is of a more direct and palpable nature than that just described. The consumption of sugar would be increased. Little is required to prove that all producers are benefited by an extensive consumption of their commodities, and facts have been adduced to show that the present high duty obstructs the use of sugar by the people at large. Were its consumption brought to bear the same proportion to the population at present as it did thirty years ago, distress in the colonies would soon disappear, and we should cease in our colonial relations to be dependent upon the caprices and illiberality of foreigners.

It may, perhaps, be imagined that too great sanguineness is betrayed in expecting increase of consumption proportionate to reduction of price, it being first requisite to remove the distress