Essequebo and Demerary Royal Gazette 1811 December 03

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 3d, 1811.

For Sale, [heading]
Bills of Exchange on Lancaster, payable in London, at sixty days' sight, in the following sums:
No. 1605 . . . £ 250
1606 . . . . 150
1607 . . . . 100
_____
£ 500 Sterling.
Dec. 3. A. T. Browne.

The subscriber's state of health rendering it necessary that he should leave the Colony, he will dispose of his Billiard-Table (which is in good order), and all the furniture necessary for continuing the establishment of a Tavern. Should the same not be disposed of before the 30th inst. the whole will be sold on that day by public Vendue.
Jubilee-Tavern, Dec. 3. W. A. Ellis.
Who requests all persons indebted to him for their assistance, that he may be enabled to discharge the demands against him.

Notice. [heading]
The Subscribers request all persons in this Colony having demands against the Estate of Mr. Finlay Smith, deceased, or against the lower one-third of lots No. 11 and 12, on the west sea coast of Berbice, to render the same, in one month from this date, to Mr. H. M. Robertson, at Mahaica; and all persons indebted to the Estate of the late Mr. F. Smith, are requested to come forward with immediate payment.
J. Robinson, [Right pointing brace indicating 'Deliberating Executors']
Demerary, G. Robertson,
Dec. 3. H. M. Robertson,

SECRETARY's OFFICE, [heading]
DEMERARY. [heading]
 

J. Frankland, and family, with five slaves, (names to be seen at this Office), in 14 days, or 3 weeks from, . . . Nov. 8.
W. Campbell, in 14 days, or 3 weeks from . . . 15.
M. Kendrick, in 14 days, from . . . 16.
L. Coignaud, in 14 days, or one month 21.
R. Watson, sen. in do. or three weeks, . . . 25.
M. Sturdivent, (late Mate of the Ship Antigua Packet), in 14 days . . . 25.
J. S. Johnson, in do. or 6 weeks, . . . 28.
Robert Phipps,
Sworn Clerk.

By the Ship Proselyte, Capt. Barton, the Brig Sir John Moore, Capt. Greenidge, and the Schooner Burchall, Capt. Lawson; all from Barbados - we have received Papers of that Island to the 26th ult.

Nearly two hundred Ladies and Gentlemen of these Colonies were entertained with a Ball and Supper, at Marshall's Hotel, on Saturday last, by the Sons of St. Andrew.

Demerary.
[following set as righthand column only]
At a Meeting of the Proprietors, Attornies, and other Representatives, of Sugar Estates in the Colonies of Demerary and Essequebo, held, in pursuance of public advertisement, at Marshall's Hotel, on Saturday, the 30th of November, 1811;

The Honourable Joseph Beete, in the Chair; [centered]

Present, [centered]

The Hon. Tully Higgins,
Alexander Macrae,
James Johnstone,
D. H. Van Nooten,

[first column]
Henry Frost
Charles Waterton
Charles Edmonstone
Thomas Naghten
Adam Smith
Michael Sutton
Peter Rose
Donald Mackay
William Postlethwaite
C. M. Overweg
John Haywood
John Hubbard
Stephen Cramer
J. D. Goddard
N. M. Manget
Benjamin Kingston
[second column]
Henry Tulloh
Archibald Iver
Robert Patterson
John Oliverson
James Robertson
Henry Southern
Alexander Simpson
John Mackintosh
William M'Bean
John Johnston
P. Tinne, and
David King, Esquires; and
H. M. Bunbury [right pointing brace, inclosing this and the following names, and indicating 'By Proxy.']
George Mackenzie
John Appleton
W. N. Firebrace

It was unanimously resolved,

1. That it appears, by the Returns of the respective Receivers of the Taxes on the produce of these Colonies, that there was produced, from the 1st of January to the 31st of December, 1810, upwards of 22,520,000 Dutch pounds of sugar, equal to 11,040 tons weight; 1,080,000 gallons of rum; and 194,0000 gallons of molasses: That, exclusive of these commodities, these Colonies also produced 21,140,000 Dutch pounds, equal to 10,562 tons, of coffee; and more than 7,000,000 pounds of cotton.
2. That the total value of this annual produce, at a fair and moderate estimate, would have been, in ordinary times, at least one million eight hundred and sixty thousand pounds sterling; of which the sugar, rum, and molasses, might have been fairly appreciated at four hundred and fifty thousand pounds sterling.
3. That such has been the deteriorated state of our produce generally, that the loss to Proprietors of Estates, of these Colonies, for the last year, cannot be estimated at so low a rate, as twelve hundred thousand pounds sterling.
4. That this has been, in a great measure, occasioned by the destructive system of warfare, against individual property, adopted by the implacable Enemy of Great Britain, which has fallen still more heavily on the cotton and coffee, than even on the sugar planter.
5. That to this evil we must bow with submission, no adequate remedy presenting itself to our minds; it might, however, have been alleviated to the coffee and sugar-planters, by the permission to export their produce in American bottoms, to the United States; which would have afforded them at least a partial market, when there had ceased to be any demand in Great Britain. This indulgence, which was granted during the former war, (a time of great comparative prosperity to us, and of brisk exportation from Great Britain) has been with-held at a moment of severe distress, when the barter of produce for necessary supplies for our estates, has been most requisite for our support; and we lament to see, is more likely to be restricted than extended, by the late proclamation for the non-admission of American fish, after the 1st of July, which would amount to a nearly total annihilation of the American trade with the colonies. We trust however, that the British Government, casting an eye of pity on our losses, and on our privation, will (unless political circumstances intervene) reconsider and rescind that proclamation, before it produces to us the evils we forebode.
6. That, returning to the principal object of this meeting, we are at a loss to express those most lively sentiments of regret, that we so deeply feel, that a bill, which would have given the sugar planters at least some partial relief, by sharing with the French farmer, in the objects of the distillery of Great Britain, should have been rejected; particularly at a moment when the exportation trade and manufactories of Great Britain are so much reduced; for while the latter extracts the last remains of the vital circulation of Great Britain, by exhausting her of her specie to the last guinea, whatever remains to the former, after the payment of heavy duties, freight, and charges, to the British revenue and the British merchant, is laid out in the manufactures of Great Britain, from the most complex and expensive machinery, to the lowest priced negro hat, jacket, or blanket.
We are at a loss, therefore, to discover the policy of encouraging a destructive evil in Great Britain, which, it appears, the most severe laws (tho' they may punish) are wholly inadequate to prevent, at the expence of reducing her own colonies to a state of distress, that, if much longer continued, must suspend the operation of the sugar-engine, and leave the negro in the state of nature.
7. That it appears, by many account of sales received in these colonies, that one half the gross sum, produced by the sugars, has been paid to the revenue in duty direct; an equal share of the other half has been absorbed in freight, insurance, charges, and commissions, to the ship-owner, under-writer, and merchant, of Great Britain; while the remaining fourth, nominally received by the proprietor, has been wholly inadequate to the expences of making the sugar, and of paying for the necessary supplies from Great Britain; so that not only is the proprietor deprived of any return whatever from his capital for his own support, but he has been but too often unable to pay even the interest on the debts, due from his estate, in Great Britain or Holland, and is in hourly danger of having his whole capital, (large as it may have been) together with the fruits of the persevering industry of his life, wrested out of his hands, taken by a sequestration from under his direction, and loaded with enormous commissions and expences, to his total ruin, and to the great injury of the most numerous class of his fair creditors.
8. That melancholy as is this picture, its colours are so far from being overcharged, that in many instance low sugars (such as are principally used in the distilleries) have, since their prohibition for that use, sold at rates that left no portion whatever of his produce to the unfortunate proprietor, but the whole gross amount has been divided between the duties and the charges.
9. That while seeking the kind and paternal intervention of the British Government, to shield us from impending ruin, we have seen, with equal sorrow and surprise, the situation of the sugar planter so grossly misunderstood, as to be represented in a state of competition with the agriculturist of Great Britain, or of seeking a boon from the fruits of his industry; but till the English farmer depends upon exportation for the consumption of his grain, till the produce of his land becomes deteriorated in price beyond all former example, and the market for it nearly annihilated by the war, his situation, instead of bearing any resemblance to ours, presents, in every point of view, the direct reverse; nor can we, in such misrepresentation, trace any thing beyond partial and private interest, where the ideas of the landholder supersede those of the legislator, and the narrow principle of advancing local rent is indulged at the expence of the broad and liberal one of supporting impartially the great and general interest of the whole British empire; but, when it is considered, that in this instance, it goes so far as to assist in supporting our most determined and inveterate foe, in his aim at the destruction of the finances, the liberty, and the commerce of Great Britain, we are at a loss by what name to call such a perversion of principle.
10. That these colonies made a rapid progress in cultivation, principally through the means of British capital, and their prosperity was still encreasing till checked by the abolition of the slave trade, and after that by the general destruction of commerce, which the miserable subjugation of the major part of Europe has occasioned; since which time, while very large and heavily encreasing debts are become due to the British merchant, balance comparatively small in their origin, but enhanced by a long series of compound interest, and frequently by heavy law charges, still remain unliquidated to the former proprietors or merchants in Holland, so that the unfortunate proprietor being, in most instance, deprived of the means of paying them off, or even of lessening their amount, during the present deteriorated price of his productions, is in eminent danger of his property being seized and sold by the representative of their original creditor, at a very small proportion of its value, to the total privation of any chance of the British creditor being repaid for his debt.
Thus, in seeking that relief which we conceive is so easy for Great Britain to give, by opening the distillery to our sugars, we are even more strongly actuated by our most anxious desire, to do justice to our confiding British creditors, than by that of relieving our own distresses, deeply as we feel them.
Resolved, That a petition be prepared to both Houses of Parliament, soliciting the permission of the use of sugar, on equal terms with grain in the distilleries of Great Britain, and of such interchange of our produce, with the United States of America, as may leave open a market by barter, for our necessary supplies, during the annihilation of the price of coffee, and the deterioration of that of sugar in Great Britain.
A copy of a petition for that purpose being produced, was then read, and being unanimously approved of, was signed by the greater part of the gentlemen present.
Joseph Beete,
Chairman.

Mr. Johnstone then moved,
That the thanks of this Meeting be voted to the Chairman, for the attention he has paid, and the trouble he has taken in forwarding a business, in which the planters in these colonies are so deeply interested.
That the Resolutions and Proceedings of this Meeting be advertised in the Colonial and British newspapers.
That there be added to the said advertisements a Copy of a Resolution read at this Meeting, which, though containing, in the fullest degree, the sense of the gentlemen present, was omitted, as irrelevant to the immediate purpose of the present petition: That a subscription be opened for raising a fund for the expence of advertisements, and other necessary charges, in prosecuting this petition.
That the Petition remain at Marshall's Hotel for the purpose of additional signatures, and that David King, Esquire, be requested to forward the same as soon as possible.
That, as it may not be easy to convene a meeting of the same subscribers, for the purpose of signing a duplicate of the same, when prepared, the gentlemen signing the original, empower and request Mr. King to sign any other copies in their names.
Which being unanimously agreed to, the Meeting adjourned.

Copy of the Resolution referred to in Mr. Johnstone's Motion in the above advertisement.

That we are well aware of the strong and violent torrent of prejudice that has been long excited against us in Europe, and particularly on the subject of the Slave Trade. Advocates for the general prosperity of Great Britain, and of her Colonies, far superior in ability to us, have been borne down and swept away before it; and we are not so vain of our strength, as to attempt to stem the tide, but must be content to go with the stream till its violence be past, and its natural reflux begins to occur. This indeed can scarcely be expected at present: too many inducements yet exist, so that cheap humanity, that economical philanthropy, which, while it is exercised wholly at the expence of others, brings in such ample and liberal returns of self-applause and of mutual gratulation to its authors; yet, awaiting in patience till the gratuitous banquet of fame be over, we may safely venture to predict, that no small degree of surprise will be excited, when the applauding guests shall be called on for their full share of the reckoning.
When, after a peace, and the great encouragement that foreign nations will certainly give to their colonies by the introduction of Negro labourers, (for in spite of all abstract reasoning in the exact proportion to the facility of their acquisition, have the colonies of all nations flourished or declined) the immense sums that are now paid to the British Revenue, to the British Manufacturer, and to the British Merchant, finding their way into the treasuries and aiding the commerce of Foreign Nations, at the expence of that of Great Britain, shall call for a vast increase to the present heavy burthen of domestic taxes to supply their place.
When Great Britain, foremost of all the nations in the race of humanity, but falling miserably behind in the career of production, descends from the high and lofty commercial station to which she has attained, by her general, and in no small degree by her colonial, commerce; doubts may arise whether that telescopic penetration that can spy evils and abuses at a distance, while they grow up unnoticed under the feet of the sagacious speculator; be a quality quite so much adapted as it has been deemed, to the general prosperity of the British Nation.
The small still voice of policy, whispering that it might be necessary to her interest and to her glory, to retrace some of her steps, that to paralyze industry, to depricate [sic] cultivation, and to invoke sterility, could be safe only when there was no competitor, nor perhaps even then sagacious, might, when the clamour was over, perhaps make itself heard at last.
That such a time will come we most sincerely believe, and in this opinion we are most truly disinterested for the general welfare of Great Britain and not our individual interest is most likely to be concerned in the completion of the prophecy, for tho' it may very reasonably occur before the termination of our existence, we can scarcely be sanguine enough to expect it to precede that of our total ruin.

Stabroek: Printed and Published
Every Tuesday and Saturday Afternoon
By Edward James Henery.
 

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