THe 
MONTHLY 
MAGAZINE. Ay 
No. 202. ] 
ALGUST st, 
1810; < -{1/of Var. .30. 
As long as thofe who write are ambitious of making Converts, and of giving their Opinions a Maximum of 
Influence and Celebrity, the moft extenfively circulated Mifcellany will repay with thé ereatel Effe& the 
Curiofity of thofe who read either for Amufement or Infruction.—— JOHNSON. 
A 
ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS, 
For ihe Monthly Magazine. 
OBSERVATIONS on the PRESENT STATE of 
the COTTON COLONIES. 
HE critical nature of the present 
period renders it indispensable that> 
the various parts of the empire should~ 
have their interests so consolidated and 
identified, that universal satisfaction ‘and 
concord may be’the consequence. To. 
effect this, no scheme is more likely than’ 
that which, by ascertaining the: various 
rights of the different parts of the com- 
munity, enables the supreme authorities 
to apportion to all the proper share of 
those burthens whieh the exigencies of 
the times require. 
Generosity, the distinguishing charac 
teristic of the British people, spurns at 
the narrow policy of sacrificing the best 
interests of one part of the empire to 
that of any other. ~Partial calamity, 
therefore, must have been unknown, or 
the general spirit of the nation would 
have long since called loudly-for justice ; 
and her cries would have been rendered 
still more piercing by the paramount sug- 
gestions of interest. 
Amidst the general. pressure of the 
war, the West India proprietors have 
suffered in a degree which the public 
would scarcely have credited, had not 
the facts been authenticated by unques- 
tionable documents. | Formerly they re- 
ecived the fair reward of industry, and 
of personal sacrifices: at present, they 
-are not merely deprived of such requital, 
but are absclutely losing what they may 
have already realized, or becoming so 
deeply involved as to be obfiged to sur- 
render their properties to creditors, who, 
in turn, must yield to similar evils, Such 
a state of a great empire cannot lung 
exist without partial ruin and general 
loss. To obviate both of these events 
must be the wish of every lover of his 
country; but before they can be obvi- 
ated they must be known. The author 
of these observations undertakes that: 
task, from a solicitude to benefit his fel- 
low citizens, by placing facts within their 
grasp, which, from being widely scatter: 
Montuty Mac. No. 202. 
‘the existing pressures 
-ginated, have long been at rest; 
ed and separated from each other, might 
have otherwise been withheld from the 
public eye. 
The misfortunes of the sugar-planter 
are generally known from some able 
tracts that have been given to the world, 
by gentlemen fully competent to treat of 
such. subjects. ‘The cotton-planter has, 
however, had no advocate, though by no 
means exempted from the general calae 
mities. To point out particularly his 
sufferings and their causes, is the chief 
object of these pages. In order to have 
precise notions on the subject, it is ne 
cessary to ascertain as clearly as circum- 
stances permit, the real relations of the 
mother country and her colonies. ‘The 
principles are, of: necessity, general. 
A slight sketch will be afterwards 
given of the former and the present state 
of the cotton colonies; of the causes of 
ind of. those 
means of alleviation which seem most 
feasible and practicable. 
Politicians have so lone agreed as to 
the general principle of the relations of 
the parent state and her colonies, that it 
may seem almost superfluous to enter- 
upon it in this place. The motives, in 
which the most vehement dissention ori- 
but if 
ever again called into acti ion, ‘there is 
little doubt of their resuming their in- 
fluence on the discussions of those whoa 
look no farther than to the object of im4 
mediate interesc. It will, therefore, be 
well to take.a few of the most important 
and obvious points into consideration, 
before a decided opinion is formed. 
One party contends that colonies are 
mere dependencies ; the other, that they 
are integral parts of the empire. The 
_latter opinion seems so. congeniak to 
every feeling of the human heart, that it 
ig difficult to discover how liberal mea 
could have been hrought to oppose it 
with the-zeal and pertinacity that have 
been displayed. 
The arguments intits favour may ba 
considered of three classes: natural, 
analogical, and political, 
Colonies 
