1829.] end their Caltimnialors. 533 



these things have happened, too, during a period when all the powers 

 of Europe were banded against her, — when she was assailed by formid- 

 able competition, as well as by bitter and unceasing enmity ; and have 

 been achieved in mockery of the Slilan and Berlin decrees, by which 

 that " fool of fortune," whose rapid successes seemed to act like the 

 spell of an enchanter, over all the other countries of the world, and the 

 sheer audacity and impudence of whose boasts not unfrequently helped 

 their fulfilment, threatened to chain up her commerce, and to drive her 

 merchant ships from the seas, " for lack of argument." Besides this, 

 the field which the colonies have furnished to the employment of that 

 redundant capital, which, unemployed, would become a worse evil 

 than poverty, the opportunities they have afforded of spreading English 

 feehngs and habits, with the English language and laws, to the utter- 

 most parts of the earth, have made immense additions to the national 

 wealth, honour, and importance. Another point, which will not be 

 lost sight of by men of sane and honest judgments, in considering the 

 political advantages of the colonies, arises from the circumstance of all 

 dealings Avith our own colonies, being in their nature capable of infinite 

 ramifications and sub-divisions, all of which increase the riches of the 

 mother counti'y, while the ultimate result is that the fortunes acquired 

 there, large or small, must come back to be spent here. These are no 

 speculations, these are not hardy assertions, made to support a parti- 

 cular theory, or an individual interest; they are^'«c/.y, the proof of which 

 lies within every man's knowledge or his reach, and which have been, 

 over and over again, proved beyond all doubt or question. 



Such, then, being the political importance of the Colonies to this 

 country, is it not advisable to pause before we are asked to relinquish 

 them ? Does it not become statesmen to ascertain, before they cast from 

 the country it is their lot to govern, such advantages as these, whether 

 they can be, and the means by which they can be, replaced ? If there 

 be statesmen who are wilfully blind, or who are weak enough to be 

 imposed upon by theorists and knaves, does it not become the people of 

 this country to consider well what may be the consequences of the mea- 

 sures which have been threatened, and which the voices of too many 

 thoughtless persons have helped to sanction ? Will the manufactures of 

 Birmingham, IManchester, and Norwich — the ship-owners of London, 

 Liverpool, and Bristol — the capitalists whose wealth has been invested 

 upon the repeatedly pledged faith of this country, and in the belief that 

 if a sacrifice of the national honour were contemplated, a sense of com- 

 mon interest would be sufficient to prevent it — will they engage in a 

 scheme as iniquitous as it is rash, and of which the certain consequence 

 must be their own impoverishment and ruin ? Will they believe that 

 the loss of the West India Colonies would be a gain to the British 

 people ? 



Then for the other ground upon which the anti-colonists justify their 

 opposition — namely, that the existence of slavery is so odious and repre- 

 hensil)le that at whatever cost and loss to the shipping and commercial 

 and monied interests of the country, it ought to be at once abolished. If 

 thoy could make out this position, we might admit that the consequence 

 they seek to establish ought to follow ; but that, like the other ground 

 of their clamorous enmity, will be found to fail, when it is fairly and 

 fully investigated. In the first place, it is a fact whicli must never 

 be lost sight of in the discussion of this (juestion, that negro slavery, 

 as it exists in the West Indies, whatever be the evils attendant upon it. 



