ABSTRACT
AS has been said already, it was in relation to the sugar colonies of the West Indies and Mauritius that the principles of free trade were most difficult to apply. Peel even in his last six months of office proposed to retain the discrimination against slave-grown sugar which he had made in 1844. The amount of other foreign sugar introduced under the Acts of 1844-5 had quite failed to come up to his expectations: in 1846 he proposed to reduce the colonial preference, but not to interfere with the principle of excluding the sugar grown by slaves. The Whigs, however, had always opposed this discrimination, and within three weeks of coming into office Lord John Russell announced that he intended to do away with it and gradually to equalize the sugar duties. Foreign muscovado sugar, slave and free, was forthwith to be admitted at a rate of 21s. per cwt. as compared with the duty of 14s. per cwt. on colonial sugar; 1 and this rate was to be lowered by successive stages to 20s. 18s. 6d., 17s., 15s., 6d., until on and after 5 July 1851 it reached the colonial rate of 14/. The duties on refined sugar, on ‘white clayed’ sugar, and on molasses were to be similarly equalized by proportionate reductions. By way of compensation the colonies would be enabled by the amending Possessions Act to equalize their own duties on British and foreign goods; the difference between the excise duty on spirits and the import duty on rum would be reduced from 1s. 6d. to 1s.; and the planters would be permitted to procure labour from any British possession with no further restrictions than what were absolutely necessary to prevent a slave trade. 2
