59 



the agriculture of the Asiatic dependencies of the British 

 Empire, the subject of deep interest. It is, at the same 

 time, unquestionable, that the British West India planter 

 is entitled to the effective support and protection of the 

 British Government. 



He (the West India planter) has embarked great capital 

 in situations peculiarly exposed to difficulty and hazard ; his 

 plantation or farm is a source of consumption, to great ex- 

 tent, of British produce and manufactures ; the property 

 created by his capital, industry and skill, is of great annual 

 amount ; his employment of British shipping is extensive ; 

 the business which he transacts with the British nierchant 

 very considerable ; — he administers extensively to the 

 coniforts and satisfactions of life by the description of 

 produce which he carries to market, and his income is, to 

 great extent, expended within the British Isles. The plan- 

 tations in the West have been the anxious object of con- 

 quest and legislation ; the property which is embarked in 

 these plantations may be considered to have been so era- 

 barked under the peculiar favor and encouragement of 

 the Slate, and not only properti/, but the condition of the 

 numerous laborers employed therein^ depend upon the well- 

 being of the planter. 



But however forcible and even imperative the various 

 considerations \\\\\c\\ entitle the British Western Tropical 

 planter to effective support and protection, it may be 

 difficult, if not imprailicahle, materially to extend the 

 Foreign market for his productions, at the rate of cost at 

 whi<h they are now produced. I'^en the British markets 

 require high additional duties upon sugar, and otlier Tro- 

 pical productions of Foreign and of Hrilish Asiatic growth, 

 to«asstne the pieference to the British Western planter. 



