rested on their own shoulders. If that were so, why should they so strenuously insist on this feature in their immigration schemes? Why should they prefer to have the money extracted from them through the painful and costly means of the taxgatherer, instead of paying it at once by a check on their bankers? He had stated the main points into which he hoped the Committee would inquire, and he trusted the House would feel that they were questions worthy of investigation. He need not say that he proposed this Committee in no spirit of hostility to the West India planters, but in the hope that it would assuage the embittered feelings on both sides. He believed, indeed, that if the Committee were granted, if it throughly and impartially examined into the points to which he had adverted, the result would be to place immigration on a sound and wholesome basis, and thus greatly to enhance the growing prosperity of the West India islands.

Motion made, and Question proposed"That a Select Committee be appointed, to inquire into the Condition of the West Indies, and the best means of promoting Immigration into them."

relieved him of one-third or one-half the taxes, and therefore the whole cost at last burden of paying his own workmen. The State gave him a large sum of money in order that his business might bring him in a larger profit. No wonder that the planters were hot for a scheme based on such a delightful principle. No wonder they were loud against all other schemes under which each man would have to give his quid for his quo, and pay for what he got out of his own instead of out of other people's pockets. The case was exactly like that of a parish under the old Poor Law, where the farmer paid some 5s. or 6s. a week to his labourer out of his own money, eking it out by a rate on the whole parish. No two things could be more alike than that old exploded parish system, and the one adopted with regard to the West Indian immigration. Or again, it was just like the old bounty system. In that case, as in the other, the State gave large pecuniary aid to those engaged in certain trades, lest without such aid their trade should fall to the ground. He had not the assurance to dilate to the House on the folly and injus tice of those old and exploded systems; but whatever might be said against them might be said with equal truth of the system by which the whole community was taxed in order to aid the planter in carrying on his business. No doubt, they would be told that the sugar trade was of great value to the West Indies, and without those subsidies it would soon fall off; but was it ever found that a trade declined on the withdrawal of aid from the State? But, even were that so, would that be the least reason for giving to the sugar trade an artificial prosperity? Nor could it be said that, though unsound in principle, it was a matter of no practical importance. Those most versed in the state of Jamaica said, with one voice, that the reason why she rose so slowly, while her sister islands were rising fast was, that her finances were in a state of disorder, that she was suffering from extreme taxation, and he was told that with a view to this immigration scheme, additional burdens were being placed upon the flour and other articles of food consumed by the negroes themselves. In The Times report from the West Indies, of October 2, 1858, it was mentioned that "the Government had in no way relaxed the stringency of its financial enactments, and the country was suffering greatly under the pressure of heavy taxation. Neither could it be said that, after all, in the long run, the planters paid the

SIR EDWARD BULWER LYTTON: Sir, let me, in the first instance, express my sense of the temperance as well as the ability with which the hon. Gentleman has introduced his Motion. The bearer of his father's name enters into the discussion of all questions that affect humanity with an hereditary title-deed to respect. It is clear that he will preserve that heirloom without a flaw. If I question his views I can equally honour his sincerity. The hon. Gentleman has divided the subjects of his inquiry into two heads-the present condition of the West Indian Islands, and the question of immigration. I will take the latter first, for it goes to the core of the question, and I am glad this subject is to be openly discussed. I take it first on its broadest ground. Sir, I should be dealing unfairly towards those friends of the AntiSlavery Society whose petitions have been before me if I did not assume that on principle they are opposed to the whole system of labour immigration which I found established in the West India colonies. On my part, I so sympathize with zeal on behalf of the negro, even where I think those who entertain it misguided and misinformed on details, that I entreat beforehand forgiveness if inadvertently a single word should

sugar

dated September 26, 1858, that the population returned by the census of 1851 was 68,600; by immigration and the influx of strangers it is now raised to about 80,000. About 11,000 Coolies have been introduced into that island. Now wages in Trinidad are not so high as in British Guiana, but I find that 343 of these labourers on their return to India paid into the hands of the authorities for transmission the sum of £5,389, and took with them more than £900. Such has been the gain to the immigrant; what has been the gain to the colony? The imports of Trinidad in 1855 were £554,534, in 1857 £800,830; the exports in 1855 were £387,999; in 1857 there were £1,013,414 and the Governor in summing up the cause of this sudden and marvellous increase of the surest signs of prosperity, says

"But it is to the stream of immigration, though expensive, and by no means sufficient, which has flowed into the island during the years under review, that it is mainly indebted for the progress it has achieved.”

escape me that may seem to disparage the humanity that I hold in reverence. But I must say, frankly and firmly, that from that system of immigration I am convinced that no Minister, responsible for the welfare of the West India colonies, can depart. Let the House listen to facts and figures, and then say if I am wrong in the convictions I express. The hon. Gentleman says that the prosperity which characterizes many of the colonies does not arise from immigration alone. No; but where immigration has been continued prosperity has followed. Sir, the experiment of Coolie immigration was first tried in the Mauritius in 1835 or 1836; it was then commenced by the planters as private importers of labour. Abuses arose; the immigration was consequently suspended in 1838. In 1843 the Government took it into their hands, and by the Government it has since been conducted. Now hear the result. Since the experiment there have been introduced into the colony 170,000 persons; out of these, in 1856, as many as 134,291 were still residents. The effect on the produce of the colony has been this :- -The Now, turn to the other side, and compare crop in 1844 was 70,000,000 lbs.; in 1855, this increase of produce in colonies caused ten years afterwards, it amounted to by immigration with the decline of produce 238,480,000 lbs. That has been the effect in Jamaica, where immigration has been on the produce. What has been the effect suspended. In Jamaica the produce of on the immigrant population? Three- sugar for three years after the apprenfourths of those immigrants who returned ticeship was 1,812,204 cwts., and during to India at the end of three or five years the last three years it has fallen off to brought back with them from 1,200 to 50 1,244,373 cwts. Now, then, I respectfully rupees each, and Sir G. Anderson, who ask you who advocate the cause of huhad formerly been a distinguished Judge in manity, who feel with me that humanity India, in 1850 reported his opinion in these belongs exclusively to no colour and to no words "The immigrant, as a labouring country, who, if you advocate the cause population, is perhaps nowhere in the of the negro, must advocate equally the world in such favourable circumstances." cause of the Indian, I ask you whether, But I may be told that the Mauritius is a when we find that more than 200,000 perspecial and singular example: is it so? sons left countries in which labour was Take next the case of British Guiana; into worth from 2d. to 3d. a day, where impressthat colony about 23,000 Coolies have been ment and forced labour exist, where, as introduced; they do not, as in the Mauri- was said by the Lieutenant Governor of tius, form the whole of the agricultural Bengal," the strong universally preyed population, but a considerable part of it. upon the weak"-left, I say, those counThe produce of the sugar crop, which in tries for British colonies, in which easy la1841 was little more than 34,000 hogsheads bour secures comparative affluence, where was in 1855, 55,366 hogsheads. While the labourer lives under British law and this was the increase to the wealth of the has at all times access to a British magiscolony, what was the benefit to the immi-trate-I ask you to say whether humanity grants? Judge by this instance,-In a should bid me arrest that immigration, fling single ship which left British Guiana last these human beings back to oppression and year 277 Coolies paid into the hands of the to famine, and why? because their authorities as the amount of these savings labour benefits our fellow British subfor transmission to India more than jects and saves a British colony from ruin. £6,000. I turn next to Trinidad. I You object to the system of indentures to find in the despatch from the Governor, a master. Just hear the answer as it is

"It has, however, been objected that the Coolie, being paid for a certain time under indenture, is in reality in a state of bondage. The answer is that, before the indenture system was established, the Coolies abandoned their work and wandered about the country, and, in many instances in the West Indies, perished miserably from disease and want." Their condition was thus described in August, 1859, by Mr. Carberry, a stipendiary magistrate in British Guiana, whose sympathies are much more with the Coolies than with the planters.

"With the indentures," he says, "the immigrant becomes an useful and industrious member of society. His labour is alike profitable to himbecomes a wandering mendicant, a nuisance, and disgrace to the colony, and finishes his career in the public hospital; in the interest, therefore, of the Coolie himself the indenture system is necessary."

self and his master. Without it he too often

supplied to me by the Immigration Com- | years immigration has taken place. Ninetymissioners,four ships have been sent from Calcutta to the West Indies, and the average mortality in all these years had been but 6 1-5th per cent; while on board thirty-one vessels sent from Madras to the West Indies that average has been under 2 per cent, and it will be satisfactory to the House to learn that in the last year there has been a marked decrease in mortality, both in Calcutta and Madras ships, for whereas in 1857-58 the mortality in the first was 13 per cent, in 1858-59 it has been only 6 1-6th per cent; while in the Madras ship in 1858-59 the mortality has been a seventh part of 1 per cent. Stress has been laid on the Coolie immigrants in Jamaica. In most of the petitions that have been before me it is stated to be 50 per cent. What are the facts? I find by the last return, August, 1858, that the total But it is said by the Anti-Slavery Society, number of Coolie immigrants since the imthere has been great mortality on board migration began was 4,451, and that the the immigrant vessels from Calcutta. Un- number of those who had died, disappeared, doubtedly, there was in the years 1856-57. or were unaccounted for during those thirBut it is fair, while allowing this fact, first teen years was 1,597. I am told, in fact, to remind the House that the rate of mor- that a number of these immigrants chose tality was taken from selected vessels, and to re-emigrate to Panama to work at the that it may be in much accounted for from railroad, and lost their lives by that clicauses that do not apply to Coolie immi-mate; but that was their own fault. But gration alone. Take the very worst cases suppose they all died in Jamaica; calcuthat occurred. In Calcutta ships the ave- late that mortality, as taken for the thirrage mortality was in the year 1856-57 a teen years, it gives, not a per centage of little more than 17 per cent; but in 1847, 50 per cent, but a per centage of only on board the vessels that carried the Irish 2 1-6th per cent. 1-6th per cent. But, taking it, as I immigrants to America by a far shorter think you ought, by calculating the average voyage, the mortality was much the same mortality of those who had returned to -about 17 per cent. Imagine what ad- India during the thirteen years, you only vantages would have been lost to Ireland, get about 4 per cent. And this is a speci England, and America if, on account of men of the exaggeration by which honest that melancholy average, the Irish exodus and well-meaning men have been deceived. had been stopped. I hold here recent As to the colonies generally, we find by reports of the mortality of Coolies from returns that the average mortality among inquiries instituted in India. The causes the Coolies in the Mauritius is a little more most carefully analyzed; remedies than 3 per cent. In British Guiana it is which will receive the most diligent at under 4 per cent; in Trinidad it is retention are suggested. The most searching turned as so low that I think there must of all the inquirers, Mr. Morant, who is be some mistake into which I will inquire; the inspector of gaols and prisons, thus meanwhile, I think I may safely assume it not to exceed 3 per cent. I turn, then, to the second class of argumentnamely, that which condemns the present system of immigration as unfair to the Creole. It is said that there is really no scarcity of hands to meet the habitual requirements of the labour-market in the West Indian Colonies; that immigration is an attempt on the part of the planters to beat down the wages of the negroes. But surely it is a sufficient answer

are

sums up :

"I am distinctly and decidedly of opinion that the great sickness and mortality of 1856-57 need not recur; that, whether exceptional or not, it can be prevented by proper care and attention, and that there is no need to prohibit the continuance of immigration on grounds either of humanity or policy."

What he thus says is borne out by facts and figures; for I have here a return showing the average of mortality on board Calcutta vessels during the whole eleven

to that assertion that the proprietors pay | Creole to pay something towards what enan extra sum to obtain elsewhere the labour riches and exalts the country in which we which you say they can find more con- have made him a freeman? Well, Sir, veniently at home. Is that human nature? then I venture to think there are really no Do men do so even in the West Indies? grounds for this Committee. So far as the Does Barbadoes do so? No! Barbadoes West Indies are concerned, there are no sends for no immigrants, because Barba- petitions from them demanding this inquiry, does has a sufficient population, and that nor are there any special measures for population is eminently industrious. But their benefit proposed. So far as informadoes the absence of immigration keep up tion is concerned, it is given to you every wages? No! Wages in Barbadoes are year in blue-books as numerous and as lower than those in any of the colonies to bulky as the most passionate student of which emigration has been admitted. Com-blue-books could desire. And we are now pare the average wages of Barbadoes even with those at Jamaica, where you say the planter wishes to drive so hard a bargain with the Creole. Wages at Barbadoes since emancipation have ranged at 1s. 1d. per day to 10d. At Jamaica they have ranged from 1s. 6d. to 1s. And in colonies where immigration is admitted freely, a man, be he Creole or Indian, can obtain by task-work at least 2s. a day. But is the immigrant a competitor for labour at less wages than are current with the native. No; it is provided that the immigrant shall receive as a minimum the current rate of wages paid to an unindentured labourer, and these wages cannot be low if, as we have seen, they enable the coolie to return home in a few years with what to him is affluence for the rest of his life. But it is said, At all events, for this importation of labour the planters should pay exclusively; the population should not be taxed for the labour that, competes with their own." Sir, I grant at once that the planter should pay the greater portion of this expense; that is a condition which both my predecessors and myself have kept steadfastly in view. And, according to the Jamaica Act, the planters pay two-thirds; but that is not all. The money applicable for the payment of the first immigration is the sum of £50,000 remaining on the Imperial guaranteed loan of £100,000. The repayment of that loan is to be effected by an export duty, and an export duty falls on the producer, that is, the planter. But granted that a portion of the expense does fall on the general community, if the immigration conduces to its prosperity, it may fairly be expected to contribute towards it. Increased prosperity is always followed by increased civilization; more money is required for schools, for religious worship, for public works; every individual in the country rises higher in the scale in proportion as it becomes more prosperous; iз it unjust to call on the

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printing for Parliament papers upon nearly all the subjects to which the hon. Gentleman has referred. But it must not be supposed that we shrink from inquiry. And I make the hon. Gentleman two proposals: 1st. Let him wait till the papers about to be printed for the use of hon. Members are on our table; if he then wants more information, let him specify the points in which those papers are defective; if the Government cannot give it, then let him move for his Committee upon those points; and we will see if those points do really need a Parliamentary inquiry, in which case we will concede it. Or, 2dly, if he insist on a Committee immediately, I will grant it, provided he thus defines its inquiry-namely, "To inquire into the present mode of conducting immigration into the West Indian Colonies, and the best means of promoting that object." I think that is fair; but if he take my advice he will wait for information before he decides on moving for any Committee at all. Let me say, in conclusion, a few words to the friends of the Anti-Slavery Society. I have fought by their side in my youth, and now, when I think they have been mis-informed, I still believe that our object is the same— namely, to give complete and triumphant success to the sublime experiment of negro emancipation. It becomes them above all men to do their best to render prosperous the Colonies in which slavery has been abolished. Every hundred weight of sugar produced by the immigrant at Jamaica is a hundred weight of sugar withdrawn from the market of Cuban slaves. Will slave states follow our example, unless capital flourish under it? Can capital flourish unless it has the right to hire labour wherever labour is willing to be hired? I warn them, that if by any indiscretion of over zeal on our part one West Indian Colony becomes vitally injured, it is we who shall rivet the bonds of negro slavery wherever it yet desecrates a corner of the earth.

MR. LABOUCHERE: Sir, I rejoice to | exercising it only on the greatest and not say, especially at that time of night, that I on light and unnecessary occasions. That do not feel the least disposition to trespass being the case, I ask what reason can be more than a few minutes on the attention given as to the necessity of any inquiry into of the House; but having recently filled the general condition of the West Indies? the situation which is now occupied by the From my knowledge of the Colonies, I right hon. Gentleman (Sir E. B. Lytton), have no hesitation in saying that it would I feel it incumbent on me to address a few be adverse to the feeling of the British words on the present occasion. I think West Indies. Jamaica has a great popular the House must have observed of recent constitution-a great popular Legislature; years, a great alteration in the mode in and I think they will consider any inquiry which colonial subjects have been treated into the affairs of that island on the part within its walls. I, at least, can remember of this House unnecessary. I see no good when no class of subjects was debated in such an inquiry, and, seeing much evil, with more acrimony indeed, it was often I cannot but join with the right hon. the favourite battlefield when domest c Gentleman in hoping that my hon. Friend policy did not present any point particu- will not press that part of his Motion on larly tempting for those conflicts. But a the present occasion. The general picture much better feeling has of late years arisen of the West Indies at this moment is exupon these questions. I am bound to ac- tremely gratifying. There can be no doubt knowledge that during the two years I had they have struggled through that period the honour to be Secretary for the Colonies of distress which long weighed on them. I received from Gentlemen who were op- Some are in a state of great prosperity. posed to me in general policy nothing but They are all in a state of improvement counsel and assistance. I do not recollect both as to their agricultural and their moral that a single hostile Motion was made by and social position. I hope the two races, any hon. Gentleman, and both from my black and white, are becoming amalgasense of duty to the Colonies, as well as mated, and acting in greater harmony tothe recollection of that circumstance, I gether. I know that black and white trust I shall always endeavour to view co- lawyers sit side by side as barristers in lonial subjects entirely free from party bias. their courts of justice. I know that official On the present occasion I am glad to say situations are held by men of colour, and that I am able to express an almost com- when I had the honour of holding the seals plete coincidence of opinion with the right of the Colonial Office, I always rejoiced to hon. Gentleman. I agree in hoping that find a man of colour, of character, and my hon. Friend who has brought forward ability, to whom I could give an appointthis Motion with such ability, and in a ment. If those causes are left to operate manner so becoming his name and position, I think the House may rely on an improved will not, on the present occasion invite the condition of the Colonies, both socially House to undertake an inquiry into the and morally, being produced. The general general state of the West Indies, which I state of things with regard to the sugar am sure is unnecessary, and may be mis- trade is very curious and interesting. I chievous. I think this House should be believe it is the fashion to say that the sparing of inquiries into the state of our West Indies, as sugar-producing colonies, Colonies. I have never said, and I will are almost entirely ruined. But, with the never say, that this House should not keep exception of Jamaica, there is as much a vigilant eye upon the British Colonies as sugar produced and exported from the rest well as upon every other great interest of the islands as there was in 1831, becommitted to it, but I do say that very fore the Emancipation Act. I say, with sparing interference is wise. This House the exception of Jamaica, and I cannot may depend upon it that there is growing attribute the falling off in agricultural up in the Colonies a jealousy not only of prosperity of that island to the causes unnecessary interference on the part of the assigned by the right hon. Gentleman. Executive, but on the part of the Legisla- I believe the great, if not the sole ture itself. They think justly that they cause, has been the unfortunate mismaare able to manage their own concerns nagement of her own self-government better than we can manage them for them. by which her finances have been ruined This House may depend upon it that they and her affairs confused. A wretched conwill best preserve the supreme authority stitution has induced jobbing and conin the last resort respected and revered, by fusion, and resulted in most disastrous