The Express. — London, England, 1848-02-05 00:00:00

if F more than at that time were produced in the whole world. (Rear.) America, too, had at that time little sugar cultivation now she had a great deal. Of course this great change could not take place without disturbing property. He would not my whether the sugar bade would ultimately leave the west for the east, as the indigo trade had left it, bat he was convinced it would have dime so if slavery had been persevered in. (Hear, hear.) But now let him look at the benefits which were anticipated by the West Indians, supposing their de sires were complied with. They Anticipated that if slave labour sugars were prohibited, they should be freed from competi tion, but it seemed to him, that instead of being exposed to no competition, they would be exposed to a gnat , deal more than they experienced at present. It was said, indeed, by the West Indians, that Java sugars were not likely to come into this country. He was prepared, however, to show that the Dutch government were very much inclined to send Java sugars to England. What happened last year ? The Dutch government absolutely sent out orders to their agents to clear out their lamest ships for England and Holland, with directions to c.O at Cowes to ascertain whether their destination should be Amsterdam or London. Three large ships, of the 10 or 12 which eicered out of Java, absolutely did come to London, end their cargoes were said by Baring, Brothers, and Company, on account of the Dutch govern meat. The fate of one of these cargoes was remarkable. It was purchased on speculation by an East Indian sugar importer in London, who paid 335. a cwt. for it in the month of May. He borrowed of his brother and others upon bills, in order to make the payment. The panic came, he was unable to meet the bills, the sugars were pressed upon the London market, and they were absolutely sold at 23s a cot , being al oss of no less than 101. a ton to the speculator. This would show the West Indians that the low prices of sugar did not altogether arise from the opera tion of the bill of 1816. (Hear, hear.) But an alteration of the law had taken place, admitting refined sugars at the same rate as raw sugars. Let him see how this would affect the question. According to the common commercial law of En land, we could notexclude refined sugar the growth and produce of the country in which it was refined. The whole of the beet-root sugar of the continent was consequently open to us, and so there was a bounty on the export of that sugar in the shape of a drawback equal to the duty first imposed upon it, there was considerable inducement to send it for consumption in this country. We had also treaties with torcien nations under which we are ' , ound to receive all sugars coming from those countries on the same terms as the sugars of the most favoured nations. The Dutch, therefore, might refine Cuha or otter slave-grown sugars in Holland, and send them to us on the most Gsuurable terms. This same thing might take place in the United States. With these circumstances staring the hcuse in the fate, what hope could they hold out of excluding ie. taw sugars which were the produce of slave-growing cotthiriss ? To hold out such an anticipation would only be a snare, causing some people, perhaps, to throw good money after bad , but of no real tstie:fit to the planter. It might then be asked, of what be nefit it would be to go into a committee? His answer to this was, that there were many questions relating is the West Indies which a committee of that house might bens ffinally. deal with. In the tint place, he believed the social condition of our Welt India colonies was excessively bad. It was bad as compared even with Cuba or Porto Rico. In the Spanish colonies there were old families, capitalists, and men of enterprise, interested in the soil. Our colonies, on the other band, were regarded only as the means of pro viding funds for persons resident in this country, (Hear, hear.) In Porto Rico, wool roads and bridges were con structed in numbers every year. In our colonies nothing of the kind was to be found. In Cuba there were said to be 800 miles of railroads ; in all our islands there were only 10 or 12 miles (Hear, hear.) Some eight or nine years ago, when a proposition was made in Liverpool to make a rail way in Jamaica, not a single shilling was subscribed to the project by any one interested in the colony. They must admit, therefore, that there were great and suffi• tient reasons why sugar should be produced cheaper in Cuba then in our own islands. Only last week be saw a ship going out to Cebs, fitted with iron tanks, in order to bring home molasses without that leakage to which essay exposed them. He believed not a single ship had ever sailed to any one of our own islands so fitted. 'This was evidence of superior energy and zeal on the part of Cuba merchants. (Hear, hear.) With regard to other points, he thought that the West Indian colonists hn I been unneces sarily trammelled as to the matters , relating to their labourers. They bad not been allowed to take the necessary steps for the repression of vagrancy in Trinidad. There were twenty millions of acres of waste crown lands. Why, the strictest regulations ought to have been adopted to prevent the va grancy and squatting which had taken place open those lands. (Hear, hear.) One of the means by which Porto Rico was reclaimed so rapidly at it was, was by stringent laws against vagrancy. Then, as to immigration. Ile thought the greatest facilities ought to be given to the planters to import tech labour as they might require. But it was one thing to open such facilities, and another thing to lend or give them money to carry out such a project. (Hear, hear.) In the one case there was an assurance that immigration would never take place except when it was wanted ; in the other the probabilities were that the money . would be squandered. But look at the extent to which immigration must be carried in order to produce any benefit to the West Indies. Why, in order to raise Trinidad even to the same standard of population as Jamaica, no less than 1,070,000 labourers must be imported. (Hear, hear.) To conclude. Notwithstanding all that had been said, he did hope and believe that the West Indies were in an im proving condition. His advice' from Guiana assured him that a better spirit was springing up between the employers and the employed, that they were beginning to feel that they had a mutual interest, and that the crops were con siderably increasing. What cease then was there for despair? If he found, as he did in Mauritius, that the charges of the colony were no less than 61. on each ton of sugar it pro duced, why of course he concluded that such charges must come down, if countries that produced cheaper were to be competed with. But this was not a question of protection ; and regarding the alterations necessary in the colonies, as alterations which a committee would well consider, he, with every hope of future colonial prosperity , . should co rdially give the motion his support. (Loud chee nag.) Mr. T. BARING commenced by saying that nothing, he thought, could be more distressing to the planters than to hear the contrast which the hon. gentleman had just drawn between the prosperity of Cuba, with its eight hundred I miles of railroads, sod the ruin of our colonies with out a public work progressing within their boundaries! ' What a lamentable state of things to reflect upon; what I a responsibility for the British government to encounter! I The hon. member had referred to 'the beet-root sugar, but I the growers of beet-root tune beef had to encounter none of I those obstacles which had been thrown in the way of the I other sugar growers. He repudiated the imputation of 1 reckless expenditure and wild speculation so generally ad- 1 vanced against car West India planters. The whole course of their speculations had been directed and regulated by that I legislation at home on which they hall so fallaciously relied. I As to the suggested repeal of the navigation laws, he considered that any such measure could only be beneficial to our colonies, by making it special to. those colonies, for if you extended the benefit of such repeal to I the foreign sugar-growing colonies, our own would be no I better off than they were now. What the ado- i vies wanted was the observance to them of good faith, the i restoration to them of that credit and that capital which the bill of 1846 had robbed them of, while it had added in a I rcarked manner to the capital and credit of the rival slave labour colonies. He feared that the right hon. gentleman I did not fully appreciate the state of things in our colonies. The right hon. gentleman seemed to think that theeuch whole difficulty might be obviated by sending out agents as I Mr. Price. What had been the effect of M rs Price's agency in 1547 Why, that on the partieur estate he managed he expended 18,0004 in the production of sugar worth 7,0001., or at the utmost 8.0001. The want of capital in the colonies arcing from the almost entire destruction of credit was such, that it was extremely doubtful whether this year's crop could be realised, and still more doubtful whether the plantations next year could be cultivated at all. The nropoutien that our planters had been compensated by the grant made to them in 1833 was whollv fallacious. The freetraders would find themselves mista`een if they based the test of their principles on what they call free trade iu sign, but which was by no means free trade, wanting those elements of reciprocal advantage which themselves had held forth as the primary feature of the principle. Even the result of cheapness, which they urged es a recommendation of the measure ot '46, they could by no means rely upon the permanency of. Refuse to retrieve the ruin of our own planters, throw the market into the hands of the foreign arowers, and how long were we to depend upon the supply of cheap sugar ? Mr. BERN'AL thought that the pictures drawn of the state of Cuba were suicidal, in so far as they tended to make retrainee slavery ; for all the great improve ments in that island, its railroads, its bridges, its cul tivation, were the produce of slave labour. He gave the noble lord the member for Lynn full credit for sincerity in his views; but he must take leave to say that, the proposed committee would do no good. If the West Indies were suffering, was this the sort of relief they wished ? He had never hem a protectionist; and when he found the British agriculturist was set free, he could not consent to bind the West Indian labourers. He had been very much disappointed by the speech of the Chancellor of the Exche quer, who had neither acted consistently with his principles, nor with justice to the West Indian proprietors. Sundry taunts had been uttered towards the West Indians, such as the 20,000p001., and the closing of the account with them. He himself was sick of having answered such armaments. Why should the producer of sugar at Jamaica and Barbadoes be ti bl i ged to pay a duty any more than the Yorkshireman, who brought his potatoes to the port of London. If he were told that the West Indies were an expense, he would reply that BO were the British and Scottish islands, and there fore on the principle of free trade, he contended that a man sending his sugar from Jamaica bad as much right to send it free as the farmer from Lothian. If the question was made one of revenue, he was willing so to consider it , but what he asked was justice on the prim cipies adopted by the government, namely—those of free trsile. The depreciation of West India property was such, that properties entirely unineumbered would neither let nor sell. He believed that the result of the present discussion would be, that the packets which took out the news of the appointment of the committee would she carry letter ordering the abandonment of estates in the West Indies. As to the relief expected from the Colonial-office, he must say that he had never gone there, because he knew by experience that nothing was ever got by the West Indiana except a polite bow, and some general advice that there ought to ben resident proprietary. Mr. HAYWARD entered into some details with respect to the statistics of cotton and other exports from this country, quoted by the noble lord the member for Lynn in the course of his speech, in order to show the inaccuracy of those state ments. He expressed his great anxiety to see the experiment of emancipation succeed. Mr. BAGSHAW said that when he first went out to In dia, in 1817, the whole of that vast population was clothed by the inanufa:turee of their own country ; but ten years N F THE EXPRESS, SATURDAY eompetitior But what we want is for the government to Inform us what they mean by competition. I always understood that competition. meant that between the rivals there should be equal circumstances. But are the circumstances equal between an English colony under our present system of legislation, and a Spanish colony under the legialatioa of that country? The difference between the two the historian might describe thus that in the Spanish colony there was abundance of labour, for which they paid nothing, and in the English colony there was a want of labour, for which they paid a great deal. Where, then, is the competition, and where the equal circumstances which should be the basis of a just competition ? (Hear.) But it is always so. The moment you attempt to regulate your con duet by abstract principles, and depart from those abstract principles, you are involved in inextricable confusion. A sage with whom we are all familiar tells us that practice is the best proof of theory, and that ) experience is always confounding the theories of men. I know of no better proof cf the truth of this than the consequences of the competition we have created between the English and the Spanish colonies. In theme* proportion in which the labour of the Spaniards, for which nothing is paid, is brought into competith n with the labour of the Englishman, fur which he pays a great deal, you are, in fact, enacting a differential duty in favour of the Spa niard. (Hear, hear.) You are establishing protection— not for the Englishman, but for the Spaniard. (Hear, hear.) The free-trade party and the free-trade goveru ment, after all their wonderful promisee and astounding achievements, terminate their career by establishing pro tective duties in favour of the Brazils, Cuba, and Porto Rico. (Hear, hear.) This is the consequence of governing by a phrase, instead of by a fact. Competitioa as between Lan cashire and Wiltshire I can understand ; but as between Cuba and Jamaica, under the circumstances which exist ' it is a mere word, invented only for Downing-street and St. Stephens—(cheers)—as an excuse for men giving thought less votes, which some day they would remember with a bitterneesof reminiscence which the hustingsonlywould recall. Sophoeles had said that opinion was stronger than truth, but it was only for a short, time and gentlemen who came to: that house confident in the power of progress should recollect that upon that subject the history of England would not offer an emblazoned page. Indeed, he doubted if the history of any country could show so much injustice to the national interests at so great a cost as the abolition of slavery by the English people ; and he attributed it to their having entered, upon such an enterprise without a stitil• dent knowledge of the subject. (Hear.) But the appeal on behalf of the colonists of this country was met by another *lass of objections from another clamor great men, who came leeward, cheered by the school of Manchester, relying upsn the energy of their constituents, and fortified with details. The right hon. gentleman the member for Manchester had *flan called their attention to the practical evils of the system, and particularly to the danger of our commerce, with what he called the great Brazilian empire. He (Mr. Disraeli) reminded him in 1816 (going no further back) that the population of Brazil was not more consider able than ha the population of London, and that the rest consisted of 3,500,000 slaves—a society which certainly could not stand in comparison with English colonies for civilisation, or for commerce either. And now he wanted to know from the right hon. gentleman, who was the apostle of the principle of buying in the cheapest market, and who ably represented the capital of commercial fallacies — (laughter)—what had been the result of sacrificing our commerce with our English colonies for our commerce with Brazil ? His own opinion on the subject did not rest upon mystical statistics, but was thi., that there was not ► third rate colony belonging to England that would not in the long run have been a better customer, for, although loos might have been takeu, it would bare been better paid for. That England enjoyed cheap sugar was no doubt a great fact, end although it might not suffice to console a suffering people, it bore the character of a prac• Veal result. But would any member of that house contend that, if our colonies were to be sub jected to this great injury, we would have any security for the enjoyment of cheap sugar? These colonies produced 250,000 tons, and surely no one could deny that the total disappearance of that quantity'from the markets of the world would have the effect of greatly Ma, acing the price. Sup pose we were prepared to encounter that, then was he prompted to ask, if cheap sugar was of such great necessity to this country, would we not be obliged to have it produced by slaves: in English colonic' ? But admitting that we could net retrace our steps in that respect, which lie de nied, we must then purchase it in those countries that produced it at the cheapest cost ; and what, he would ask, would be the consequence of the sudden investment of our capital in such a purchase ? We knew what were the effects of the investment of a few millions in corn, owing to a bad harvest. But what must they be when our colonies ceased to produce—when the consumption of this country increased—and when the demand for capital throughout the world was for investment in slave grown sugar ? Nobody would ever be compelled to consume slave-grown sugar, but a disturbance would be created in our monetary system, pro ducing a convulsion which our descendants would rue, and which they would doubtless trace to the short-sighted and unprincipled legislation which had so long distinguished this subject. It was a remarkable fact that all the calculi. Eons of the advocates of that legislation had resulted in the Ihilure of the merchants and the bankruptcy of the colonies. If they converted the senate into a counting-house, it would not be long before the nation degenerated into a factory. Was it important to keep the colonies ? Ile could not sup pose that if they ceased to be flourishing customers, this country would be content to maintain them as mere barrack garrisons. It'had been' said by:one honourable member at this country might part with her colonies for a onside ration. (Hear, hear.) True there had been countries as proud and powerful as England that had for pecuniary con siderations parted with their colonies. Spain had is that manner sold the Floridas, and even the great Napoleon, influenced by the same omnipotent duty wbich now ruled the occupants of the government beuchee, had sold for a consideration the beautiful province—the United States; and therefore he (Mr. Disraeli) thought that, if the com merce of the colonies and the blessings of peace could be se cured by the same school of economy, this country might do something in the same way with the same effects. (" Hear," and a laugh.) He saw no reason why this might not be the case though he had been told that a desperate deputation had lately waited upon the prime minister of this country, and had asked the noble lord whether any objection existed to the colonies changing their allegiance. Te this query no answer had been given, but perhaps a cabinet council might be called to consider it—(" Hear," and a laugh) ; and the wretched colony of Trinidad might again belong to the powers which gave to it its sacred name—the miserable Mauritius, a flourishing community when belonging to France, might be returned to its former possessor : for it would be worse than the realisation of the fable of the dog and the manger for this country to retain either to their absolute ruin. (Hear, hear.) Besides, even Jaoaica seemed an incumbrance —if so, the United States would gladly accept the possession of her, if offered. (Hear, hear.) lie knew not whether the hon. member for the Wat:Riding of Yorkshire (Mr. Cobden) was in the house. (A 'mice : lie is below the bar.") He (Mr. Disraeli) was glad to hear that the hon. member was pre sent, for he wished to remind the hon. member that although the profound peace which he bad announced might come within the time of those who heard him, still there was something in the, catastrophes of nations ecerior amnia —catastrophes from other causes leading to their decay. Happily in those causes the limited experience of the Ro man empire hod not included the rapacity of rival industry and the quackery of economic science. (Hear, hear.) Mr. LABOUCHERE said that it was not his inter tion to enter into a discussion upon the abstract or general principles of free trade. He assumed that he was ad dressing a House of Commons prepared to adopt free trade as a principle, that ought to regulate the future commerce of this mighty empire. (Hear, hear.) He believed that such was the case, not become the house was prepared to consider the interests of the lowest of their constituents, or to betray th ose whom they were bound in duty to protect, but because they believed that in truth all interests were identical, and that the principles of free trade were the best, not ally for England, but for all other por tions of this gloriou empire. (lieu, hear.) If the house was disposed to retrace its steps, it could not take any more fitting occasion foe now re•enacting the principle of protec tion to the West Indies, because he admitted with pain, that if deep and extreme distress could constitute a claim for such a course of legislation, that claim was at present possessed by that portion of the colonial empire. True it was that the cry of distress had proceeded on many former occasions from the West Indian colonies. It had been raised under the operation of slavery—it had been raised since slave emancipation, and, in fact, it had ever since been urged upon the house and the country. He would not enter into the question whether or not the distress was now more severe than it had been on any former occasion. All that it was necessary for him to admit was, that the distress existing was in reality severe, end that it was the duty of the government without delay to apply re medies of relief which should be beneficial to the colonic' themselves, and at the same time consistent with the general interests of the community. (Hoar, hear.) It happened that the motion now in the hands of the Speaker did not in volve the question really to be discussed. The motion was in facet for the appointment of a committee to inquire into the present position of the West Indio Islands, and the other colonial possessions. With regard to that question, he did not know what course the noble lord, the member for Lynn meant to pursue ; but if the noble lord thought fit to press his motion, the government would lend their aid in the in vestigation, with a view to the general benefit of the whole community_ employed within the dominions of the crown. But although such was the present motion, the real question at issue was, whether or not the principle of protection should be continued in the West In dies as a remedy for their distress. To that question he thought the government was bound to give an explicit answer, and not to hold language calculated to create any uncertainty ; and it was because the government believed that protection would not really he beneficial, even if it could be granted in such a way as to be secure, that the govern ment felt bound to declare its opinion. In the first place trade never could flourish under a system liable to constant changes, and alterations, and uncertainty. The legislature having come to a final settlement of the sugar question, it was now asked to prolong protection for some indefinite period—to reverse its decision over and over again expressed, and to involve the colonies in confusion and doubt. Hon. gentlemen had taken various grounds. Some asked for protection for the producer of British colonial sugar against all foreign grown sugar. The West India body themselves had asked for protection against all slave-labour sugar, stating that they could keep their position against foreign free-labour sugar. Now it was curious to observe that in the memorial of the West India producers, in which they stated that they could not cultivate the land except under a protection of 10s. per cwt., they did not ask for differentied duty as a permanent system, but only for auth a period as would enable them to be come fully supplied with free labour. This request, it me r ore , assu med that they could successfully com- 'G, FEBRUARY 5, 1848. pep with Calm and the Btu& if fair play was given to them, aid they could detain an adequate supply of free taboo.. lie wee glad to me this admission coming from such a e els it was valuable es a contradiction to those who the West India colonists despair. On the question of protection be (Mr. Labosiehers) retained the opinions he had always held, and he maintained that if colonial sugar was protected at all it was idle to draw a distinction be tween foreign free-labour sugar and foreign slave-labour sugar, for otherwise sieve labour would practically and in effect be encouraged. The boo. member opposite (Mr. Disraeli) had adverted to the case of the Mauritius ; and before he (Mr. Labouchere) offered any reply he could not but observe that his observation that the mer chants who had been involved in rain from their connexion with the Mauritius had been spoken of with scorn and contionely was without foundation. Such calamities had often befallen the wisest and most pendent merchants; but the cue of the Mauritius ex emplified strongly the evils of a system supported by protec tion. lie believed the Mauritius had been emi nently the victim of protection. It could not be said that there was in the Mauritius a want of labour, for labour was there in abundance; but, attracted by the prospect of high prices only to be expected under a system of protection, the merchants and others there had greatly exceeded the planting in that country. In addition, the rate of wages had been exceedingly high; poor land had been taken into cultiva tion, and a most artificial state of things had prevailed ; and he believed all the difficulties in the Mauritius were trace able to that system of protection which had now been held out as the panacea for all the ills to which the British colo nies had been exposed. lie rejoiced that an hon. member connected with the cultivation of sugar in the East Indies had to-night addressed the house, because he had shown that the cry of distress was not confined to the West Indies alone, but also was heard in the East Indies. This showed that general and universal causes had brought injury and embarrassment into every part of the com mercial system of this country daring the past year. He hoped the West Indians would not lieten to the advice of those friends who took so much pains to assure them that, under no circumstances, could free labour ever compete in those colonies successfully with slave labour. If that were true, of course the colonists would be justift .d in abandon• ing their estates in despair. But, in his opinion, it was any thing but tree. Looking only at the broad facts, it was no tosious that, in the face of the competition of the slave grown produce of Cuba and other places, a great export of free-labour sugar had gone on from Java and other islands where free labourers were employed. Some doubt had been thrown en the fact of the labour of these colonies being entirely free; but the late parliament had legislated on that supposition, and the late government had formed their calculations expressly on the ground of the labour in Java being free. And it was very remarkable that in those countries where sugar was cults rated by slaves so little were they satisfied that the planters were taking measures to introduce free labour. In Cuba, a society bad been recently formed, under the presidency of the captain-general of the island, the object of which was the general improvement of the cultivation. This society had offered considerable premiums to such planters as should introduce free labourers, and they had also made contracts for their importation from wher ever they could be obtained. Great difficulties had been found is the way of introducing Europeans; the committee had accordingly taken measures fur introducing Asiatics with every prospect of success. The hon. member for Buckinghamshire had said the result of all this was, that the abolition of slavery was the greatest blunder ever committed by this country. He (Mr. L.) admired the intrepidity of this assertion, but was con vinced that it would not find a response in the breast of any other member of the house. However deep might be the regret in which he most sincerely joined—fur the distress in which the planters, the possessors of estates, and the merchants were involved—he hoped only for the present—it must be matter of rejoicing that, as far as regarded the great body of the population, the intentions of the house had been carried out, and their position at this time presented the most advantageous contrast to that which existed during their state of slavery. They were showing themselves worthy of the boon which had been conferred on them ; they were acquiring habits of order and industry ; and that part of the measure, at least, had not turned out a failure; for we should soon see a black population inhabit ing those islands in a state of freedom, able to exercise the rights and perform the duties of freemen, and to fulfil the obligations of faithful subjects and good citizens. (Hear, bear.) On one point there was a most material discrepancy of opinion between the West Indians speaking for them selves and speaking through their advocates in that house — he alluded to the question of the navigation laws. (Hear, hear.) Ministers had been taunted with pretending to un derstand the affairs of the West Indians better than the West Indians themselves; but he was only anxious that honourable gentlemen opposite would allow them to speak for themselves on this question. The house of assembly of the largest West India island, Jamaica, in their address to the Queen on this subject, besought that their exertions might be wholly unfettered, and that they might be permitted to enjoy free commercial intercourse with all nations. They pointed out the advantages possessed by Jamaica for becoming a great commercial dep.it for the interchange of the products of various countries if the navi gation laws were removed. (Hear, hear, hear.) Having determined that no preference should be given to our colo nic,. over those of foreign nations, parliament was bound by every principle of the merest justice to take care that our colonists had the unlimited power of freighting the vessels of any other country which they might think fit to employ. (Hear, hear.) A somewhat extraordinary proposal bad been made by the noble lord opposite (Lord G. Bentinck) in re ference to Cuba, for the purpose of putting down the slave trade—to the effect that as a large sum of money was due in this country to Spanish bondholders, we should seize the island of Cuba in payment of that debt, and that we should then have great facility in putting down the slave trade there. (Laughter.) He did not know whether the noble lord had made that proposal seriously ; if so—considering the distinguished position the noble lord held in that house, speaking not only for himself, but for a large political party — he (Mr. Labouchere) could not help feeling it his duty to say that such an act on the part of this country would be the most unjustifiable act that could possibly be adopted. He would now only repeat, that, with the most perfect sympathy for the distresses of the West Indians, and the greatest desire to relieve them, the government should not do their duty if they held out any hope of renewed protection. (Hear, hear.) Mr. GOULBURN said he had sacrificed his feelings as a colonial proprietor, when the late free-trade measures were passed, to the general benefit of the empire ; and the fact of the interests of the colonists having been so subordinated to those of the public at large, gave them now the stronger claim on the sympathies of the house. Looking at the atate to which many of the colonists were now reduced, it might fairly be said that the consideration of their case was one to which the house was bound to attend. He denied that this question was to be regulated by the general principle of protection or free-trade. What was the course which parliament pursaed ? It had declared that slavery should be abolished and a system of free labour adopted—thus placing the coloonts in a position in which they were obliged to compete with countries where slavery existed. It was for government to devise means for extricating the colonies from this position. Nothing, how ever, was attempted. No remedy WAS devised. The colo nists 'eked to have their molasses used in distilleries in this country, but right lion_ gentlemen opposite, who we» such advocates of free trade and opponents to protection, said "Oh, no, we cannot allow you protection ; bat we must protect the revenue." The culaaista asked for the abolition of the rum duties, Mat the Chancellor atlas Exehequer said," we cannot protect you, but we must protest the distillers at home." Again, the colonists asked for immigrants from Africa, but the government replied, " We cannot protect you, but we must protect the unhappy African"—while, at the same time, they allowed that produce which was wrung from slave labour to bo consumed ill this country, thereby stimu• biting the slave trade. (Hear, hear.) It was said that no thiag had been done to introduce improvements into the West Indies. He did not think hon. gentlemen could have road the last report made by the government officers with respect to Jamaica, which proved that gnat improvement had been introduced into agriculture, and that machinery had been applied to the cultivation of the sugar to a great extant It was, thenfore, too much to be told now that they night to improve the system of agri culture. The West Indian colonists were taught to rely on the promises of parliament, and on tho faith of the promises of parliament they invested their capital. It was true that they received compensation for the ebolitton of slavery, but, at the same time, it was resolved that seven years should in tervene before its total abolition. Well, what took place ? Shortly afterwards, parliament decreed that the abolition should be immediate. He was aware that parliamentreninded that resolution of the house, but nevertheless, it had an injuri ous effecton the colonies. They were making every preparation during the interval to meet the competition of slave labour when the apprenticeship system was abolished. It was not, therefore, their fault that the West Indian colonies were not in a flourishing condition, but the fault of parliament, which held out to them delusive promises. He was not going to say that a system of free labour might not prove successful, but every impediment was thrown in the way of their pro curing labourers from Sierra Leone, and other places. The right hon. gentleman alluded to an introduction of free Labourers which had taken place into Cuba. He would inform the house how the facts stood with re spect tr es shat. Wheu, in 1815, the law was passed which icted the admission of slave-grown sugar into the markets of this country, there was a discus sion in Cuba as to whether it would not be advisable to place themselves in such a situation by means of the liberation of some slaves, as they could not obtain admission for their sugars into this country. But then commenced the act of 1816, and immediately their zeal for the introduction of free labourers into Cuba cooled. Not only was the effort to cul tivate sugu by means of free labourers in Cuba abandoned, but all those horrors, the recital of which used to harrow the feelings of that house in former years had been renewed. (Hear, hear.) Were they prepared for the sake of a saving of Id. per lb. on sugar to abandon all their high professions and all their efforts et restoring the degraded class of slaves to their proper sta tion in the scale ofhuman beings (Hear, hear.) He had heard with deep regret the determination of her Ma jesty's ministers not to adopt any means of affording relief to the West Indian colonies. It would be inflicting a deep blow on the negro if they were to proclaim to Europe that the experiment which they bad tried in the cause of humanity had failed, that they who had freed the slave had their colonies ruined thereby, and that those who adhered:to slavery and the slave-trade, continued in a state of pros perity. It had been said th at they ought to reside on their imitates. Bus, in Guadeloupe, where the proprietors were resident, there was severe suffering, and in Jame Ica, the re sident proprietors suffered more than those w ho were not resident, became those w/.0 were here bads greater command over isbotre, (Hear, hear.) I They bad been told also that West Indians had always been complaining. The fact was true, but the inference was wrong, for the complaints of West India proprietors had, at different times, arisen from different causes, and not at all tinim from the write cause as at present. With regard to the remedies proposed, it was impossible for him to give any opinion. What the , government intended to do with the navigation laws was st;11 unknown. Until the measure was before them no judicious man could arrive at any decision as to its adaptation to West Indian interests. The right bon. gentleman concluded by ea lling on the government, in jus tice to all classes in the colot,iee, lupplv ae adequa and satisfactory remedy, and to prevent the West Indies te from being monuments of desolation and examples of the broken faith of a British parliament. Sir E. N. BUXTON declared his opinion that slave erns.. cipation, had it not been for the fatal measure of 1816, would have proved a triumphant example of humane policy, lie believed that even now we had great reason to congratulate ourselves upon that measure, for in many respects all must admit that our colonies were far better off than those in which slavery was retained. Lord G. BEN f INCK, in reply, expressed his &termina tion to proceed with the committee, in the confidence that evidence would be elicited, which must alter the opiutons of the government on the subject. He ridiculed the specula. Lions of mere theorists as to the introduction of free labour into our West Indian colonies; and, as an illustra tion of their ignorance of th e matter, referred to Lord Grey's propueition that Croornen might easily go over to the sugar harvest, and return borne after it, as Irishmen come over to England for the corn harvest, and then return, evidently imagining that the Atlantic was no broader than the Irish Channel, whereas the distance hetween the Croo can't and the nearest point of our West India islands, was not leis than 4,200 miles. (Hear, hear, and • laugh.) He dwelt at some length upon the propriety of taking possession of Cuba, as a means at once of settling the chiral' of British bondholders upon Spain, and of practically destroying the slave trade. —•------ The motion was then agreed to, and the house adjourned at two o'clock, rpregg. NAILS Tb. mail. for Vigo, Oporto, Linton, Madeira, Cadiz, and Gibraltar will be made up on the morning of the 7th Febeuary. The overland closed mail., via Marseilles, to UN Meditmreneaa Egypt, Aden, Ceylon, India, Meng Kong, Ac., will be made up on the evening of the 7th Febraary. The mails for Brittah North America, Ilerrneda, and tie Railed Mates. will be made up on the evening of the 11th February. The Weet India Mails, excluding Reemoda, Noma, lllwranna, Honduram, New Orleans, Vera env, Tampico, and Porto Rico, and Including thins for Madeira, damsel, Carthagena, tionta Martha, Chagrin, Panama, Wmt Coast of douth America, and Pt. Nicaragua, will he male up on the awning of the 17th Yet nary. Its overland wadi for Gibraltar, Maim, Ureece, the loman islands Crypt, Aden, Ceylon, India, ilontraiong, and China, Ma Southampton will be made up on the morning of the bath February. The mail. for New Smith Wale., Van iticinen's land, an] New Zealand will be made up on the evening of the 29th February. 'fir mails for the Wow Coast of Africa and Madeira will he made up on the evening of the 29th February. afterwards the influx of British cottons was such u com pleteo supersede all the native manufactures. There was no But India auger then admitted, but in the year 1836 th e bill for equalising duels' on East and West India sugar passed, and ten years after the East Indiana sent to this country no less than 72,000 tons of sugar. Ile would venture to say that there was in the world, In such a time, such a development of the resources of a country. He, as an East Indian merchant, was a free trader, and he contended that the trade of India and of the tropics should get the same relaxations which had relieved the tom trade in the mother country. (Hoar, hear.) He only asked what it was just to give— namely, such a distinctive duty as would put our free colon ists on a per with their slave-growing neighbours, and afford a protection equivalent to that which distance gave to the British farmer. Mr. DISRAELI said he would endeavour to put this question in its true light, and to divest it as far as possible of all mere secondary considerations. The real political problem which they were called upon to solve was this ; Whether the new commercial system which had so lately been tried upon one great branch of our imperial industry had not been completely and lamentably found wanting ? (Hear, hear.) They were called upon to adjudicate respect ing a great branch of our imperial industry, which was prosperous when we first began to apply to it the principles of our new system, which was now so no longer, and which, when it tailed out for insistence, received no answer, but the dry development of a cold abstraction. (Hear, hear.) There was an interest which perhaps in all its relations represented no less than two hundred millions of capital. Even the government, as well as their amateur advocates, admitted that that capital was in danger. They did not question the peril, but how did they account for it? They did not attri bute it to their free-trade measures, which, if they had been as successful as was anticipated, would have left him a very weak cause indeed to defend. Then he might have heard that if our islands in the Gulf of Mexico were all lost in the waves which surround them, the new system would amply repay us for the loss. But, unfortunately, we were not in a position to justify such an assertion. It could not be pre tended that any of the free-trade measures had brought about such results as would compensate fur the state of society they had created—a state of suffering he believed un precedented in ancient or modern history. The present system had been baptised with a name which in his opinion it never deserved. It had been called a resonstructiou of the commercial system of this country on the principle of emancipated trade. They had been told to expect great results. He denied the soundness of the principle on which it was founded; he denied that they had reconstructed their commercial system on the principles of free trade. The principle upon which they had acted was, that of buying in the cheapest market. (Hear, hear.) That was not the true principle of commerce. Commerce, they were told by the politiceseconomic writers, was barter. How often, during the early years of his attendance in that house, when the fatal principle like a snail was beginning to emerge from in shell, had be been told with scoffing, that commerce was only barter? How could they raconeile that doctrine with the fatal principle which they were new pursuing—the prin ciple of purchasing in the cheapest market? Why that prin ciple was only fit for retail trade. (Oh, oh.) But unfortu nately although retail in principle, it was not retail in its effect. Its effects were wholesale, it was not retail—in rains. (Oh.) Nobody would deny the fact that our felonies were in a most perilous portion. (Hear, hear.) They were not so in 1846, after al the interference, all the Welting up which their affairs had undergone. After their in terests had been made the very harridan of party, the energies and capital of Englishmen enabled them to brave the storm, until the fatal legislation of 184 G. He had taken I some part in the debates of that year, and he recollected well I how great was hie surprise and disappointment to find an hon. friend of his, the Chairman of the India Company, supporting the measures of government. Ile remembered well his hon. friend saying that the British capitalists who , had invested in India were not in the least afraid of the 'government measures; and that statement had a vast' effect on the house. He (Mr. Disraeli) had followed his hon. friend, and told him that cotton and arra& were monopolies, and that sugar was the only privileged cultiva tion of the Indian ryots. He had had letters sent to hint by men of high consideration and authority on Indian elf &a— mong the rest by Dwarkanath Tagore, which showed that the only hopeful speculation for India was to promote the cultivation of sugar. He bad read to the house the cor respondence of eminent persons who bad since fallen, Into, Irmo, precipiles! to show that the cultivation of I sagar had sprung up in every district. Ile had shown also that coincident with the increase of sugar cultivation in ' India, our exports to that country had increased, and that that increase mainly consisted of goods required by the lowest class of the population. lie bad shown that the con sumers of our goods were no longer exclusively the wealthy and powerful, but that the humble cultivator took in exchange for his sugar, turbans and robes of our manufacture, thus increasing our exports to the extent of two millions. He now asked whether the present state of that country had been well considered? (Hear, hear.) Ile need not dwell on the condition of the capitalists, for whom the bon. mem ber for Beverley hail stood bail. Every one knew what had been the termination of their career—that they had disap peared from the commercial world, but surely the condition of the ryots was worthy of some consideration. (Hear, hear.) They had shown the effects of our policy, by ceasing to be the purchasers of our goods. Again, what had been the effect of our policy on the Mauritius, where the amount of compensation 2,600,000?., and the labour of 60,000 labourers had been sunk. But that was not the worst or the bitterest consequence. A more bitter consequence was, that men who had for years filled a high position in that house, men of great practical ability and high honour, were now held up to public scorn and contumely, as men devoid of principle, as rash specula tors, whose over-trading had met no more than its just re ward—in their ruin ; and that which was the consequence of bad legislation was charged to their own rapacity. (Hear, hear.) Now, with regard to the condition of the Strut Indies, no one doubted the condition to which our po licy had reduced those islands. The hon. member for West bury, who had scarcely touched the great question under consideration; had stated in dulcet tones his conviction that as regarded the West Indies the gain had been all our own—and added that we must, if necessary, sweeten our tea with beet-root sugar. (Hear, hear.) Well, the peril to the colonies being admitted, what were the remedies proposed ? The Chancellor of the Exchequer had announced some measures which ministers proposed for remedying in some degree the condition he deplored, and had announced them at the end of a speech, the whole object of which was to • prose that no remedial measures would have any effect. The right hon. gentleman had stated that he could not flatter himself that his measures would satisfy the West India body. He (Mr. Disraeli) concurred with hire, and would not, therefere, dwell on his suggestions, except as the representative of an English constituency, living in an age of economy, and trembling for the budget which had been announced as shortly to make its appearance. to de- dare his unqualified opposition to the vote of 200,000?., I which the right hon. gentleman had stated he meant to pro- I pose. If he thought that vote would cure the evils of the I colony, he would not offer any objection i but he had no idea of encouraging that loose habit in public men et extricating themselves from difficulties brought on by their own want of caution by votes of the public money. (Hear, hear.) The law which was passed in 1846 was prop :. • as a law of regeneration, the effect of which was to be to throw capital into the colonies, to accumulate labour in those districts in which it was deficient, and to terminate all those questions of colonial distress of which so much had been heard during that period of painful transition through which the colonies were passing. But had the retelt been such as to inspire confidence in the:ministry who brought forward and carried that law, or to show that they had studied the subject, and were so well informed upon it, that they were entitled to be the guides and leaders of the legis lature in respect to it? His noble friend (Lord O. Ben• thick) had referred to a speech made at the close of last ses sion by the Under-Secretary for the Colonies, which was valuable as showing the knowledge, the opinions, and the prospects of the government on the subject at the close of the year 1840. That that hon. gentleman was not now a member of tie house no one regretted more sincerely than he did ; for he knew no man who combined lucid intelligence with practical business habits to a greater extent than Mr. Hawes. (Hear, hear.) He looked on Mr. liawes'e opinion therefore as valuable, not merely as expressing the views of the government, but as expressing views formed on the mature consideration of a practical and intelligent mind. His noble friend, the member for Lynn, had presented a petition which called forth front Mr. Hawes the following remarks The noble lord had confined his attention to the West India islands; but let him turn to the Mauritius and he would find that there the greatest prosperity was manifest. amp that the production of sugarluid unmenactv increased and tiao noble turd might rent .tisticil that a system free trade and open competition would be most beneficial for all parties concerned . , that it would lead to greater economy of pro. , duction, be the mean s of embarking more capital in the growth and manufacture of sugar, and tind to the general presperity of the whole popukition. He quoted this to show what the knowledge of the govern ment on the subject really was. What was the answer to this ? The failure of every firm of importance connected with India or the Mauritius—cabinet counsels hell four times a week, and the Bank Charter virtually repealed, while the Chancellor of the Exchequer was vomiting forth a protest against his own acts. (Hear, hear.) He now came to the secret and inuendo remedies suggested, in order to prevent the utter destruction of the colonial interest. The Chancellor of the Exchequer last night had favoured the house with those remedies. Ten minutes he had devoted to molasses and emigration, and that happy idea of curing those deep-seated evils by a loan less than the government would propose to expend on one wing of the House of Commons ; and then he devoted a full hour and half to an explanation of the remedies —and here they were. The first was competition. (Hear, hear.) We have (said the hon. gentleman) heard of that before. I well remember the noble lord the first minister of the crown (whose absence on the present occasion I much regret), when we made the last effort in 1846 to support those interests—l • remember the noble lord, with that grand expression which I so well becomes him, andwhich he never assumes with greater ' felicity than when he is about to announce something which cannot in any way practically influence the country or the assembly he addresses—saying that he had every hope end confidence that the means by which the colonies would be enabled, not to extricate themselves from their difficulties, for they were not then involved in them, but to inset the dangers with which they were threatened—and which we stated must come—wee competition. But what is meant by competition—what being it is—of what sex—whether it be a god or a demi god—whether a naiad or a dryad—we know no. thing. Competition says one, enterprise says another. These are the remedies, and this is the staple of all their speeches. (Hear, hear.) The shipping interest is in decline, competi tion will restore it ; the colonies are in despair, enterprise will restore them to prosperity ; agriculture is suffering, enterprise is all that is required. (Hear, hear.) The whole speech of the right hon. gentleman last night, following that of the prime minister is 1846--couched in the seme phrase, and modelled in the same fety—wv, the same TO CORRESPONDENTS. THIS number of STAMPS issued to the DAILY NEWS by the authorities of the Stamp-office, during the year 1847, was: _ _ From JAL 1, to Duc. 31, 3,447,009 This, we believe, it within eight per cent, of the number issued to the Morning Herald, Morning Chronicle, and Morning Post, ALL PVT TOOETHEA. In addition to the above, issued to the DAILY NEWS, Mornina Paper, there were issued for the Evening Edition, THE EXPRESS, From JAN. 1, 10 DEc. 31 778,714 Which wu more, we believe, than were issued eialer to the Globe or Standard, Evening Papers. • e • AdeoreMemento I otenuled ter "She Express," London evettlehg P•P".."" l og eho . oe.l. Ilechrene.nock by Two o'clock on tile doe of publteatsoa. BIWA WATER AT lA/MIMI tiIML. fats Pei-11 Pram. If lals. pan . Afteracoe..sl mis. pat [a-Moomow—Mewing. 14 ale. past . Afterstoes. LONDON, SATURDAY, FEB. 5. THE intentions of the government with respect to the increase of military expenditure are to be made known in ten or fifteen days (on the 14th or the 18th). The same speech which gives information on this point will also acquaint the public that it is saddled with a five per cent. income tax, which will not only meet the deficit of the past year, but pro vide a handsome surplus for the coming one. The idea of, at such a moment, sinking in anticipa tion such surplus, so raised, upon soldiers or arsenals, I in defences or militia, is certainly the most ill-timed, gratuitous, and insane expenditure that ever govern ment fell into. For some ten years the tide of events, the intrigues of courts, and the mistakes of politicians have been driving France against England, and exciting Eug land against France. At this moment, in the year 1848, events have taken a quite contrary direction. They are driving France against Austria and absolutism, and in a cause which can give rise to no jealousy between France and England, both of which are, or ought to be,interested in Italian freedom. For the ten years that the French were clamouring at ns, we never dreamed of fortifying or calling out militia. And now that the French let us alone, and universally hail us as brothers and honest fellows, for our frank support of Italian liberty, this is the moment we meditate arming against them. Never was anachronism so preposterous. A writer in the Times informs us how we were within twenty-four hours of war with France, for the insult offered to Mr. PRITCHARD. We beg to believe, in contradiction, that we were ill no danger whatever. The French Minister, aware that every concession which he made would weaken him before the Chamber and the public, was determined to make the very minimum of concession which would satisfy England ; and as soon as he found that, he made it. The idea of M. GUILOT seriously intending to provoke Lord ABERDEEN to war is quite as prepos terous as the calling out the militia in 1848, when the whole world must laugh at the prodigious folly of the act. What possible cause of quarrel we can have with France, we cannot in any way conceive. The Tahiti business is over, and the French are well sick of Oceania. Any menace to Morocco is removed by the capture of ABD-EL-MASER. The right of search irritation is removed. In the Plata, France and England have no collision. Greece is too insignificant to be really worth a protocol. There remains but one field of serious difference, and that is Spain. Now, we admit that Louis PHILIPPE has behaved badly sad treacherously in the peninsula, and moreover, I admit that the MONTPENSIER marriage was a I thing to be prevented. But once achieved, nothing is left but to make the best of it. Should the duchess survive her sister, the present QU EEN, how can we pretend to exclude her from the throne? And if so, how can we exclude her offspring, if she have any, and the QUEEN have not ? We do there fore think that, in Spain, as elsewhere, England, like other countries, should accept the faits aecohylis. The Spaniards are no longer children. They are very well able to look to their own interests, and assert their own independence. And if they are not equal to the task by this time, we shall never be able to render them so. Let us not, therefore, permit Spanish affairs to remain as an eternal subject of division between us and France, but let us state clearly that our frank disap• probation of the past does not extend to hostility for the future. Were such known to be English senti ments, we will be bound to say that not one single particle of hostile feeling towards England would exist throughout the whole breadth of }ranee. And we might economise our millions and our war spirit for times and for foes whim might seriously require them. Notwithstanding the very fair prospects of lasting peace, if England will but grasp them instead of frightening them away by idle armaments, we are still in favour of a military organisation of the country ; because we believe that such organisation would not only preclude a re newal of such panics as the present, but would furnish the means of a great reduction of military establishments. When, during the war, the French really menaced this country with inva sion, the threat was met with 300,000 volunteers. A similar threat, seriously believed, would now raise a , million. Herein lies our strength. We cannot be lieve that it requires any lengthened training or service to make a soldier. Even the militia law of training to be put in practice, supposes that a month suffices. But what war can ever arise without a month's warning? Whilst the rudiments of military discipline, the handling of a gun, the motion and evolution in columns, might be taught every youth in the country as a part of his regular education, and would thus; render the final or supplementary train ing an easy task. The common soldier trade is, thank God, no mystery, and does not deserve to be raised to the rank of profession or handicraft. The militia system goes on the principle of its being a trade, to be learned and practieed.by the refuse of the popula tion; and these are to be paid during half a century of peace, in order to present to the enemy, in case of war, precisely that portion of the people least in- tweeted in the defence of the country, and cons; quently with least spirit to undertake it. Moreover, the whole syb . em of the militia laws and their squirearchy, belongs tu." the last age, and is, in fact, a gross insult to this. It :10 longer harmonises with any other institution, and, inriL'ed, Can no longer be looked upon as national. Nor would i: be much more incongruous with the spirit of the timer, to call forth the old feudal ban and arriire ban, than to s s od down is to lord-lieutenants of counties to enrol their poorer truants, and to make their poor relations officers, and then to dub a force so raised by the title of a national militia. THE protectionist patty is a Sinhad, and Lord GEORGE is its Old Man of the Sea. Ile sits on their shoulders like a fate. They may disclaim him, but he will not be disclaimed. lie will hold his place through the session, as he would keep the saddle in a burst across country. The party may wince, rear , kick, bolt, or shy. He will only ram his recalci.- trent steed at more breakneck questions, lift it through a deeper slough of statistics, and use double. thong and persuaders more ruthlessly, for its rash at tempts to take the bit in its teeth and run away with, or unseat, its experienced jockey. He has already taken the bread of \Vest Indian grievance out of the moutlui of Mr. HERRIEs and Mr. HOPE. A desperate cause requires desperate men ; and there is not a pro tectionist in the house who can lead his forlorn hope up to the bristling batteries of free trade, to mount an impracticable breach, like the captain they are fain to repudiate, but must rely on in spite of themselves. But the Dratccansir of the country party sur passed himself on the opening night of the paella. mentary season. We were familiar with his extra ordinary feats of statistical prestidigitation. We have all seen him on many previous occasions poll out his unaccountable yards of figures ' and fling about th e house his clusters of complicated calculations, as Haut HoiILF.R produces the mysterious bouquets from the apparently empty yet inexhaustible hat. We were familiar with the surprising transformations hat facts and reasonings underwent in his hands; the hey-presto with which he annihilates millions, and the coolness with which he catches the bullets tired at him by the CHANCELLOR or THE EXCHEQUER out ofiliS own gun. We were almost tired of seeing him as a Ri3lo SAMEE, keeping any number of fallacies in a dazzling whirl, swallowing the most formidable facts, and balancing the heaviest results on the most ricketty statistics. But Thursday night was his first appearance in the character of a protectionist NAPO LEON, with his schemes of territorial encroachment, his haughty dictation of terms to Lisbon and Madrid, and his cool proposal to annex Cuba and the Brazils. If there is any probability of Lord GEORGE being installed dictator, the sooner we look to the national defences the better. Ile would think nothing of in volving us in a European war for sheer love of peace, or of enslaving the white world to bring about a ge neral black emancipation. What will the BCITONS and STURGES say to their new associate? But Lord GEORGE will get his plaything. The committee ho asks for will be given him. The CHANCELLOR OF THE Exenyouen declares what go vernment intends to do, and what it intend' to re fuse. It will stick by the bill of 1616, into which inquiry is going to be made. It will grant those facili ties for the immigration of free aegroes, which alone can render just the relations of capital and labour in the West India islands. Sir CHAS. WOOD warns Lord GEORGE not to expect even the ridicultts tens that the mountain of the blue-book generally gives birth to. The CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER says, very fairly, " You ask us for an inquiry, which we fore warn yon will have no practical effect. If you think the inquiry worth making, wader three conditions, make it." It is to be hoped that, after this frank avowal, no more time will be wasted in talking about the matter, and no disappointment expressed when the inquiry turns out to be barren of results. ' There es business enough before the house which must be done. There is the procession of the north country sailors to come elf, against which the LORD MAYOR ruthlessly closes the City gates. This refusal will perhaps procure us the imposing pageant of 20,000 blue-jackets, conveyed up the Thames, from the Pool to Westminster, in tr.eir owu boats, bearing the navigation law (laid in state), to the gloomy strains of the Dead March in Saul, and welcomed by Lord GEORGE and Mr. G. F. YorNo at the Palace stairs. Lord GEoRGE must clear out his brains for the reception of the salt-water statistics, which scores of panic-stricken owners and hundreds of indignant shipbuilders are getting ready to shoot into that omnivorous receptacle, his lordship's memory. Now the British planter has got his inquiry, the British shipowner must fight for his navigation laws. Lord GEORGE'S aid will he necessary to import into the house the evidence of last year's committee, which Mr. RICARDO has analysed ready to his hand. It will be well for the country that these free-trade fights should be disposed of as soon as possible. When a principle has been conceded all time spent in struggles against its application is lest time. The navigation laws are logically defunct. 'llie heart of protection ceased to beat when the corn laws ex pired, and its extremities have no business to resist quiet and decent interment. But behind the array of dead protectionist arguments, into which prejudice and panic are invoked to put a gal vanic show of life, there wait for the settlement of parliament questions of real vitality, interests which have a right to be listened to, and which will insist steadily on that right. There is a determined corps of law reforms, with captains chosen, and weapons ready, to enforce an entrance into the statute book. There are sanitary measures, backed by sound reason, humanity, and science, and heralded by that ghastly array of disease, suffering, and crime, pleaders whose voices must be heard. The abris of a shattered system of protection must be swept from the floor of the house, to make room for these new and clamorous applicants, for whom all parties, whig, conservative, and protect , onist, have ears, or should have. If the state of the revenue forbid for the present that general re-adjustment of taxation which policy and justice alike demand, its pressure may at least be mitigated by that stringent and comprehensive legislation for the health of the masses which, insipid as it may seem in comparison with subjects which stimulate the political palate by the piquant sauces of bigotry, prejudice, and per sonality, is yet probably the weightiest matter that, in the present disposition of the public mind, can employ the attention of parliament. It offers an in stalment of indirect education, where all control of direct education is denied to the governing body. PORTUGAL. We have intelligence from Lisbon, rid Spain, to the 22nd of January. The Chambers had been de bating on the validity of certain elections. On the question as to the validity of the Algarves election, two deputies, Carlos Prieto and Isidro (luedes, said that violence had been used at the election, and people had been murdered. Disgraceful tricks, tco, had been played. Their arguments, however, were as a drop of water in the ocean, and the Algarves election was declared valid. What else could be expected from such a house? The search for arms has becn, as was anticipated, the pretext for many acts of violence which have been committed, of course with impunity. At a meeting of the shareholders of the Bank ot Lisbon, for the purpose of electing officers, the capi talist Count de Porto-Cobo had been elected chairman in the room of Senor Roma, whose opposition to the Cabrals is thus pat an end to. It was announced that the shareholders were to receive a dividend of 6 per cent. for the thirteen months ending on the 3rd December last. Silva Cabral is one of the five com missioners deputed to answer the proposals of the new direction of the bank This is no doubt the reason of the dismissal of Senor Roma, who having opened the books of the bank dela Confianza a few months back, revealed the tricks of the Cabrais. The new Minister of Justice, Senor Queiroz, had arrived at Lisbon from Oporto, and Senor Gorjao had given up to him the department of Justice, which before appertained to the Ministry of the Interior (del reino). Senor Gorjao has published in the Diario a circular against the abuses connected with the mono nopolies of Wham, eat, and powder. DENNIARK.—COPENIIAGEN, JAN. 27.--NOMINA TION OP TUE HEREDITARY HEIR TO THE CROWN OP Datvstana.—On the 24th the King nominated as hie cessor to the throne of Denmark Prince Frederick Ferdinand of Denmark, brother of his late Majesty, commander4n general of Zeeland, Moen, Fainter , and Lasland, who was born on Nov. 22, 1792, add therefore 16 yearn older than his present Majesty, and has no children. The autopsy of thebody of his late Majetty showed that the vein from - whieh he wu bled w' in a lute of infliowittion from the bend to