The Express. — London, England, 1848-06-24 00:00:00

IMPERIAL PARLIAbIEN I. MOUSE OF LOHOS.—FRIDAY, JUNE 23. '1 he LORD Cii,ANCXLIAR took his seat at 6 o'clock. PRIVATE BUSINLAS. SIMOND READlNCK—Waterbowe's Charities Estate; Peri of Denial:bile of Bridgewater's) Estate ; Edinburgh and Glasgow Bath's,' No. I) (Amendment Acts Ao and B ra nches, h o.); Bina. THIR READINGS.—Nurth Western Railway (diversions at Skip. ten. Dastertee, and eedbenth) ; Aberdare RIIIIVIAT Act Amman's-:t ; Volk, Newcastle, and Berwick hallway. late York and Newcastle Railway (main line improvement) ; Brighton Gaslight and Coke ComPici7; Norfolk Railway (amendment of acts and extension of time fur commenting Hesilltam and Dim hallway); Mtn. PUBLIC RUSIN EIS. SECOND READINGS.—Joint Stock Companies ; Administration of JusUce (Noe. I and 2) ; Protection °f imnos. from vexatious milers; REPORT OF AIIENEGIENT3.—Evicted Destitute Poor (Ireland) Bill. ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE (No. 1), ADMIN ISTRATION OF JUSTICE (No. 2) BILLS; ANI) PROTECTION OF JUSTICES FROM VEXATIO US ACTIONS BILL. Lord CAMPBELL moved the eteondireading of these bps• The Duke of RICHMOND would not op p ose the bills, but there were certain of their demi . ' to winch he should object in a future stage. The hills were then read a second time. CHARGE OF FELONY AGAINST A PEER. The LORD CHANCELLOR —I wish to call your lord ships' attention to certain proceeding.. Your lordships are aware that by an act of Owen Anne, and by another act pined in the reign of Ueo. IV., in cases of felony committed by e. peer of Scotland, a commission is directed to be issued into Scotland, and tic cumrui.sieners named therein are directed by the act to cause a grand jury to he summoned, before who n the bills are to be presented. These proceed ings required by the act hue been followed in a case to which I am about to direct your lordships' attention, and we are informed that the commission has diecharged its duties, and that writs of certiorari have been issued to bring the proceedings before th's house. Yesterday these writs were returueu to the Howe at Lords ; and, from the papers, it appears that bills have been found against Viscount Arbuthnot for forgery. I* is now for your lordships to con sider what is the prdper course to be adopted. The act pro vides that after such proceedings the ruttier proc-edings which are usual in the case of a peer chnrged with felony in Eugland shall be followed. I lodieve that the course has uniiormly been to app int a committee to inquire into pre cedents, and to advise the house what proceeiiings it would be proper to adopt. I find, also, that the counts universally adopted has been to order Black Rod to take the party ac clued into custody. In some cases, where the party has ~ready been in custody, it hu not been thought tit to take that sup; but in thepresent case, in which the party isnot in custody, I would suggest,to prevent the possibility eta failure of justice, that there should be no delay in directing Week Red to take the r arty accused into custody. ',therefore, move, my lords, for the appointment of a committee to inquire into the matter. and also that Black Rod shall be directed to take JOlNViscouut rbuthnet into custody.—Agreed to, JT STOCK COMPANIES BILL. On the motion of Earl GaAnutee this bill was read a second time. EVICTED DESTITUTE POOR (IRELAND) BILL. Lord REDESDALE brought up the report on this bill. The noble lord said, in order to prevent the irregulerity which took place last night, he should on Monday move standing orders to the effect that when a bill was committed OT recommitted in the absence of the noble lord the chair. man of coornittees, that the house should regime. The noble lord concluded by moving that the amendment, as made lut night, be adopted. The Marquis of CLAN lIICARDE rid, that on the third reading he should move that the amendments adopted last night be rejected. Lord MONTEAGLE tli'ended tho amendments, as calcu lated to afford greater reFef. The Earl of MALMES BURY said that the third reading of the bill shoal d not take place en Monday if the noble marquis (Clanricude) wished to have a full attendance of pers h . e T Marquis of CLANRICARDE thought, as the amend ments whim had been introduced would be likely to lead to aetious consequences, that an opportunity should be given for a reconsideration of the amendments adopted last night, but its the measure had lour been before their lordships, he did nut consider that it would he necessary to postpone the third reading of the bill beyond Monday. The report was then received, and the bill ordered to be read a th.r.l time on Mo- doe. THE POLES AT POSEN. Lord KINNAIRD, pursuant to notice, rose to put the foil swing question, Whether a copy of the can. vention, si,„ned by the Prussian Royal Commissary, General Willisen, at Jarrataweie, with the Poles on the 11th of April, and proclamations by the same general subsequent to that period, !Old been C immunicat.l to the government by her Majesty's ministry at Berlin ; and if so, whether the go- vernment would object to lay each papers on the table r" His object was to have the best means of contrauicring ote meets imputing acts of great cruelty to those untortuoate People , the Pole*, who hod b:en serinsedy injured in the estimation of the it friends by the circulation of such reports, Stet through the medium of the Ecglish, and afire wards by the (iceman, press. The Msiquis of LANSDOWNE sympathised with the motion of the noble lord, yet he deprecated interference in matters of foreign policy with which this country had no thing to do. lie thought he was tthrefore justified, in con sequence of the extreme inconvenience which might result from its being suppo:cd that the parliament of this country had taken cognisance of such proceedings, in refusing to secede to the motion of the noble lord. The Earl of HARROWBY was very glad that the motion had been made, because it gave hint en opportunity or stating his cordial concurrence to the sentiments of the n',ble lord who had brought the subject before their lordships. Lord BEAUMONT said the man was profoundly igno rant of what was passing hi Europe who did not perceive the possibility o• the events now taking place in Poland Lead ing to a gener d European War. This country had already done much harm by refraining to express its opinion on such events. Had it done so bore the lawless invite on of Den rank, that daneeroue sr oeession would not now have had to be terminated by protracted negotiations. The Eirl of ELLENBOROUGH, 03 the point of order, earnests d that log speeches ought not to he merle on a mere quisq is, hick was only permitted for the sake of avoiding the necessity of a motion. Nothing was more inconvenient than to touch incidentally and irregularly on the convulsions now agitating Europe from one end to the other, and on the effect they were likely to have on our relations with those states. Tho reason was that the op'osion of the house was apt to be misrepresented ; for, if a motion were submitted, noble lords who w. re acquainted with the subject would then come fully prepared to discuss it. Lord BEAUMONT prc.csed.d to speak in explanation, whereupon Earl FITZ WILLIAM rose to order, and the discussion terminated. STATE OF IRELAND. Earl FITZWILLIA‘I then rose to bring forward the resolutions of which he had given notice, on the state of Ireland. It was now !even months since parliament assembled; and what had been done? the condition of Ireland such as to anti fy the house ? ? At the meting of parliament, government invited them, the whole of Ireland celled on them, to legi-late for the sup pression of the crimes there prevailing. Without the least doubt or delay, parliament assented to the measures pro posed, and were prepared even to strengthen the hands of government with still more powerful measures. But the government exercised a wise discretion, and the result had peeved that they had mats na immoderate demand on parl;atu , nt. The law thus passed, had been administered with the greatest discretion and the tout untirinz zeal and energy : and to the executive of Ireland, next to the govern ment, was the country indebted for the success of that mea sure. It would i;1 _:come either house of parliament to separate without expressing this coin , on so generally enter tained. The government had performed a great and diffi• cult ta..k with signal success; and the Irish executive had had the rare felicity of enlisting in its aid the almost unanimous feeling of the people. Formerly that feelinglad been against the law ; but on the late occasion three had been no difficulty in inducing witnessee to come forward, and other paries to take the necessary steps for security the execution of the law. Brat, he would ask, what further hod been done ? Did the house suppose the condi. tion of Ireland was such as to require no further legislation ? They had pissed laws for the prevention of crime; but what had they done to benefi. the condition of the people, and strengthen their attachment to the cause of peace and order ? In framing such measures it wee necessary to have a due regard to all class( s and conditions of the Irish people. On a aubjec: dike thi., he could not refrain referring t i the coarse of legislation in last years. In the last eession, five impotent measures had been promised, a new poor law, one for making a loin of a million and a half to la nded trodrietors, one for improving waste lands, en 1 others for facilitating the sale of encumber d estates; of these, only the two first had hcen passed into law. The sum of a million and a half wan: no gni at amount for the purpose in view ; but how had it operated ? Already, of the million and a half, the commissioners had sanctioned the advance of upwards of 1,410,0901. ; hut thin did little unless the money was actually advanced, and paid away as wages, from which some good to the people might have resulted. The real ad vance, however, instead of a million and a half had only been, according to the last return, '220,0001., and this was to improve 19 millions of acres of land! The great object was to improve the agriculture of Ireland, and increase the pro duction ; and in doing this, they ought not to lose eight of the fact that it had been necessary to supply an extensive destruction of the staple food of six million. of people. But the legislature had passed the poor law. He for one did not complain of that law. In some electoral divisions, it was true, the poor rate was 35., 5.., or 75., in the pound : and in one division in the west of Ireland it amounted to actually more than the landlords received. He did not suffer from any such burden ; in two of the divisions on his estates the rate was only 21d., and in none was it higher than 21. If the poor rate was no higher throughout Ireland than in the county of Wicklow, no landlord would have reason to com plain. He had stated these facts to show that he could not be actuated by any personal feeling in the matter. But when the rate sin mated to 31., 55., and 76. in the pound, the matter wee one demanding serious consideration. He asked their lordships—and he knew what must be the answer—whether they desired the continuance of a state of things which must render property valueless, and at the same time destroy a most useful class of society in Intend, OR whom the burden of these rates fell ? Ile was confident that unless the house reconsidered that measure, in its iucideece upon property, and in the divisions which had hem male for the purpose of rating, the result he had indie .ted must ensue. especially in the ectirdy of Doiseg..l end others 111 the w.at of Ireland. He must alt there, but ever, to impose one more burden noon land, to be tal,n limo the Amadeu oh the pco;k. Fa the take of peace uul truu- quillity, the security of the protestant church, and the safety of the empire, he asked their lordships to establish the Ro man catholic religion in that °purvey. This was most essen tial; and he would tell his right rev. friends behind him that if they meld not have Roman catholic prelates sitting here, this must be done. (Cheers.) The Roman catholic priests ought to be paid as stipendiary clergymen ; no diffe rent* must be made between them and the protestant clergyman ; to was • common phrase, they must feed out of the mine platter. (Laughter.) He would now return to the vitiation, what had been done for Ireland this .orlon ? Last session the locumbered Estates Bill had been saarificed to English interests. (No no) He maintained tha t this was the case, but were thi messier, pored, and found to work very smoothly and ems cesefully, its °potation would be extremel slow and It would be • long time before aey be y nefit:eel ' change would be produced thereby. If it were meant to allow English interests to purchase large estates in Ireland, be anticipated no great benefit from the change. Every one knew what happened when an estate changed hands; even in this country, he knew an instance in the north of Eng land where a large estate had been sold, and the first con sideration of the new proprietor was, how much adJitional rent he could raise out of the property. He would much rather see the existing Irish proprietors go on as well as they could, than oft them replaced by others. If it were said, We have passed the poor law, what else can we do ? he would answer, let the poor-law be made to fulfil the object for which it was passed—to maintain the destitute, and gradually to diminish pauperism. Had it done so hitherto ? The only remedial mem sure yet received from the House of Commons after • sitting of seven months, was the Evicted Tenants Bill, which their lordships considered on the previous evening. Hs quite agreed with his noble friend opposite, who said last session that much might he done for ireland by the employment of the people, in the construction e railways. but in saying that, he did not confine himself to railways. He was (or giving employment to the people in all other national ob;ects and works which it could come within the pro since of • government to undertake. It was no fair reason to ray that they should be lett to private enterprise in Ireland, bccaute they wire so in England, seeing that Englanl was the only country where such was the case. He would also recommend a large scheme of emigration as a remedy for tho pre sent deplorable condition of Ireland. But, whether the government concurred Cr not in his suggestions, he must spin press upon them the necresity of doing something to ameliorate the condition of that country, unless they were prepared to see in it disorgsnieation of society. Is was because he saw no hope for ireland in the measures now le.fore parliament, or in anything that hail been promised. that he had ventured to bring this subject forward, and to ask the noble marquis whether eovernmeet had any measures for the permanent improvement of Ireland in contemplation ? The noble lord concluded by moving the followine resolutions: ' Thatit Is incumbent upon this house to cameos the approbation with which it has view, the wisdom, energy, and prudence with which the eiccutire governmero of fret tad has been tronductedrotrlng the recent period of Mitt ulty. Titat it Is equally the duty of this house to camera the deep sorrow with which it routinues to view the prokmged dieters... of many classes of the Irish people, oral the re gret which it feels that the mousures parried in the concluding sea sion of the late parliament for the improvement of Ireland have not hitherto been productive of the benefits wroth were anticipates! from their cowmen'. To camps the decided opinion of tufts house, that further legislative measures are required for remedy of the evils under which Ireland labours, for the development of its natural resources, and foe the improvenient of its agriculture and commerce. The Marquis of LANSDOWNE felt it his duty to oppose the motion, though in doing so he was fully alive to the difficulty of hie position, in having to object (on the ground of inconvecient precedent) to a testimony in favour of his noble friend the Lott Lieutenant of Irelantl, which the con duct of that noble blend, during very trying and diffieult times, entitled him to. (Hear) Itis noble friend (Earl Fitzwilliam) complained that the late measures passed for the improvement of Ireland had not been productive M the bene fits expected. The first of those measures to is h'eh he would allude was that by which, too certain e :cone order and peace had been elitablishel It would not be denied that the greatest hope for Inland depended on the individual industry and the enterprise of her pet pi- . • and enterprise and industry were always more successful w hen pr weeding front spon taneous feelings of the people. than when fostered and maintained by artificial means, and by the interference of the legislature. It would be obvious then that the best coulee for the government or for parliament to take was to place the peer and iedustrious people of Ireland in that position of security and Feel in which the fruits of their industry might be assured to them, and to secure the proprietor in the possession of his propene. In this respect he wash and to contend that the 113,!NAUTC of which he had spoken as administered by his noble friend the Lord-Lieute nant of Ireland had been most decidedly successful. lie could refer to official statements showing the improved coto ditioo of Ireland in the great diminution of crime since that measure bed come into op, ration ; and not mere'f„of Ireland [ generally bat of those districts in porticular in which crime had previously prevailed to the great, st extent, as in the enutties of Clore, Limerick, Galway, and Tipperary, but where now cemperatire security reigned. This im provement was evidenced not only in the decrease of prose cutions, hut in the altered habits of the people, and the h tier cultivation el the land. (Hear.) The number of outrages for the whole of Ireland had diminished from 2,1G2 in December last year to 1 IS2 in the last month of the present year—a diminution of about orie half; and in the higher class of eutraaes he was happy to a ty the falling off was in • sail greater proportion. (Hear, hear.) So far, then, ea giving security to industry and property, and the resole of such security, the mea-uri s of the govere ment hai set br n wholly unproductive of good. Again, when his ruble fri end said that nothing had been done to improve the condition of Ireland, he forgot the ed. vaistage which had already resulted from the exertions of those persons who had been employed in going round the country lecturiog on the science of agriculture. The teach ing of those persons had been most successful, and in many instances, even in the aeon space of time that had elapsed since the commencement of their labours, a marked improve ment in the cultivatio s of the land had taken place. Such were the improvements to which he looked forward for per foment benefit to ,he country—the more so, ate 'hey rested on individual eeertion end were not forced by parliamentary interference. Hi. noble friend had s .oken of the small sum issued under the land improvement act. Why, the amount of advances which hod been sanctioned under that oat (de ducting the application which had been withdrawn) was no less than 1,388,0001. There was very inclination to make the advances us fast as possible, end from what hail been already done under that net On best to sults in the employment of the people and the improvement of the land had followed. He looked forward to great benefit resultin to Ireland from the bill for facilitating the sale of encumbered estates, which he had ever) hope would pass the other house before the close of the ties-inn, as a means of introducing British capital in the improvement of estates which were now, fur want of capital, ureultivnted. With regard to the poor-law—though he had never looked upon it as a panacea for all the evils of Ireland, r.or hail it ever been put forward as emit by those who proposed it—he must say, after the experience they hod had of it. winking, not withstanding the abuse, end inequality which had attended its operation, that he knew of no other means by which the great object could have been accomplished, of saving to a great extent (though unhappily not entirely) a large portion of the population from positive destruction. (It, ar, hear.) Ile admitted the great benefit that had re sulted from the efforts of the British association and the relief committee', hut these had only followed in the wake of the poor-law ; and but for the system which that law had established, the exertions of those institutions would have been to a great extent unsuccessful. The fishing stations which bad been established and were in course of formation also promisee to he of great service in giving profitable and permanent employment to the people. Looking then at all tint had been done, he contended that there was every disposition, not only on the part of the government but of both houses of parliament, to con sider the wants of Ireland, and to do all that was possible fur the relief of that country. With regard to forth r advances from the consolidated fund for relief works, to advances for emigration, or in aid of railways, it was the tendency of every people, and of the Irish perhaps more especially, to neglect to do that for themselves which they thought govern ment would do for them. lie was, therefore, disposed, as a steneral rule, rather to leave such matters to indiv dual exertion than to mike them depend on government inter ference. As ti the Irish church, he admitted fully the im poitance of that subject, and his opinion upon it remained unchanged ; but he was not prepared, on the part of the government, to say that any measure was in contemplation. The noble marquis concluded by moving the previous question. The Earl of GLENGALL wes surprised that during nearly four h tars' diacussion on the state of Ireland, not one syllable had been said with regard to the main point—which was the system of agitation now going on in that country. It woe absurd to suppose that the country could improve or' prosper while a system of agitation was allowed to exist which was far beyenel any agitation which had taken place during O'Connell's time. The LOUD CHANCELLOR then read the resolution', and put the previous question, which was agreed to without a division. Their lordships adjourned at a quarter past 10 o'clock. HOUSE ')F COMMONS.-FRIDAY, JUNE 23. The fireaxita took the chair at 4 o'clock. PRIVATE BUSINESS. REPORT CONSIDERED.—HamIyn's Estate Bill. THIRD READlNOS.—Aberavon Market; Caledonian Railway (branch avow Clyde and Glasgow station); Edinburgh and Bathgate Railway (eatimaiun and deviation); Truro Turnpike Koala; White- haven and Furors. Junction Railway (extension or deviation line from Silecroft to loxfield. Sec.) ; PUBLIC BUSINESS. PETITIONS.—In favour of an extensive principle of par liamentary reform, by Ur IL DAVIE, from lladdington ; Mr. THORNELY, from Minton; Mr. LUSIIINGTON, from Kensal green and phices in London; Mr. HENRY, from place. in Loom. shire; Capt. PECIIELL, from Brighton; Sir W. MOLE WORTH, from purls of London and Manchester ; toed RENDLESHAM, from a place in Suffolk; Col. THOMPSON, 50 petitions from Manchester and its neighbourhood Mr. 0. BEIHLELEY, front Westbury on Senyn,Chippine Sudbury, East Dean, towiship•of East Dean, Mosley and Cm, all in the county of Glouerster, and four from Bristol ; Dr. BOWRING (1031, 50 from Manchester, 46 from Bolton, I from Glasgow, 3 from Clayton-bridge, 1 from Stockport, I from Ludo; and 1 from Mutual Inntruction Society of Smithfield; Sir E. N. BUXTON, from Southminmer and other places is Ream ; Mr. HUME, from Middlesborough, Yorkshire., 592 signatures; New Shildon, Dur ham, 273; Montrose, 420; London (44),'741; East Derebara, 109; Glu pw, 16; Caraballon, 31; Matlock, Derby, In ; Linton, 132 ; Don nin S al op,Stockton, ; Belth, APW 7 I I . 2 1 IlOrriusy Dnrlay, ; Deptford (2), 13 ; Bermondsey, 10 ; Camberwell, 17 ; Skatrlgg, near Glasgow, 108 ; Islington, signed by householders only, 100; . chairman of meeting at Wallingford, 1; chairman of meeting atLiverpool, I ; chairman of me e t in g at Uxbridge, 1 • Bra. port, 4 ; Herne Bay, 57 ; Putney, Lincoln, 65 ; Madeley 'Wood, &dap, 73 ; Long Sutton Lincoln , ; Bulks, Warwick, SO ; Dun stable (2), 21 ; Todingion, Bedfordshire, 11 ; Houghton Regis, Bedfordshire, IS ; Fggington, 1l ilfordrliirr ' IA; Wickliffe, Bed fordahire (1), 27 ; Bristol, I. Sir 0. STRICKLAND, from Proton; Sir B. HALL (3), from Marylebene Mr. HAYWOOD, from a place in Lancashire ; Lord D. STUART, from Miry. 1, bone; Mr. WOOD, from Sid 11114; Mr. P. MILES, from Cris ~1 ; 3lr. BERNAL, Loin Uetheder ; Mr. COBDEN, !ruin a s'..me L liodall.:01. ei.ll 2,21: a!,irnataits, lad Wee goo THE EXPRESS, SATURDAY EVENING, JUNE 24, 1848. from Bayswater: all to the same effeet Mr. LI:IBRINGTON, from OVONN frets trLocators; Cs t. PE F RELL; , 13CRICSEE R Y, hum ley, In Weer of the Tee*_, p llrtsto mm t : abo ln fa cm vour plawbg efvote by or i turat urnia . sad tk. from sa C u...l kea:Aster n "w e i bu th mas eke e . don. CALEDONIAN RAILWAY (BRANCH ACROSS Oth G e L t A hi S .l GOZ dio lll g Tf , e f T t l h O u N hd ) n i 4 tot MrCt WARD v i n di ca ted the conduct of the board of Admi ratty, which had been imp u g ned with regard to the sanction they gave to this bill, and said that they had done everything which the interests of the navigation of the Clyde and of a large commeroia ) town like Glasgow required. OF THE POLICE Mr. FOSTER wished to know from the right hon. gentle- C ElTAlhetb4SwTas Rt t ern Tri rend third . I , Lc . man the Secretary of State fur the Home Department, whe ther the men recently tried and convicted in connexion with the disturbances in Bishop Bonner's-fields were committed tor trial by the magistrates on their own discretiun arid autho rity, or by order and through the interference of the govira ment ? Sir G. GREY said that he was glad the hon. gentleman had given him an opportunity of s ating that there was nothing whatever is the conduct of the police magistrate in reference to the chartist disturbances at iii•hop Bonner's. fields which called for the interference of the S,cretary of I State or the government. He thought that the magi trate. exercised a sound discretion, whore the cases were of an ag gravated character, in remanding such cues till further evi dence was produce d,: with a view of sending the parties to trial at the Central Criminal Court. LANDS IMPROVENIENT (IRELAND) ACT—AL LEGED MISAPPROPRIATION OF MONEY ADVANCED. On the motion that the house at its rising should adjourn to Monday, Sir B HALL slid he wished to put some questions to the government re save to a charge made against a noble lord a member of the other house of parliament and ano ther gentleman, respecting a misapplication of money ad vanced ender the Lands Improvement (Ireland) Act often ses sion. The first CM he %mild call attention towns that of Mr. John A. O'Neill, of BuDowen Castle, who, as appeared by a Noce from Mr. Walker to Ms. Trevelyan, app'iled for 6,0001., to be expended in the improvement of his property, the tenants on which were represented to be in a very wretched condition. This application was sanrioned, and an itutalmi nt of WOE. was given on the 6th Nov., 1647. On the lath Dtc , six weeks atter he received the money, lic wrote, saying that it would be impossible to commence the works till the following spring, and asked not to be com pelled to commence the works till that season had arrived. To this the board consented, but still there was no improve ment made in the property, and at last they called for the 6001. which had been advanced. Upon thin Mr. O'Neill, with a good deal of modest assurance, wrote to the board, asking for a second instalment of &Oa to enable him to com mence the works. This, of courme ' was objected to by the board, who threatened Mr. O'Neill with a prosecution for a misappropriation of the money, but still ho found that no reps had been taken by the government for that purpose. The question he had to ask was whether any legal procetd inch had been commenced as regarded Mr. O'Neill, and whether his works had been proe.eded with? As regarded other parties, the charge agatnst them was that they had not complied with the Duke of Wellington's clause, which en forced the payment of wages to labourers in the cures lit coin of the realm. Lord De Freyne had received no less a sum than 3,0001 from the Board of Works, but instead of acting up to the spirit of the Set, he had paid hie labourers 10 per cent. of the mom y in meld, and the remaining tel per cent. he hail paid in tickets upon his agent, who carried the amount to Lord de Freyne's rent accuuut against his tenants. Inc insequence of this circumstance, the Board of Works had refused to grant Lord De Frepas any more money. A correspondence ensued, and Mr. F. F rench, the brother of Lord Do Freyne, thereupon wrote to London, declaring that if there was any Treasury i nter f e r e nce between the employer and the emp lo y sd, Lord De Freyne's improvements would be altegctber abandoned, the labourers discharged, and the re mainder of the grant would remain unemployed. 'Toe state of the wretched people who ware receiving this sort of re ward for their labour was described in one of the report., and it appeared that they were wholly without seed, which they had no money to purchase, and that many of the pooreet were in almost a starring condition. This mode of treating people profeuedly employed with money out of the public treasury was really too bad. The noble lord not only im proved his land with the public money, but absolutely paid his rent accounts. Ile wished to auk why no inquiry had been instituted into this important matter, and whethi r any further instalments would be paid to Lord Dv Fr. yne ? The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER raid that with regard to Mr. O'Neill's case, whi h had been very tor. reedy stated, as soon as the government found the motiey had been misapplied, legal proceedings were iestituted to re cover the money. Upon that, Mr. O'Neill mad • arrange ments fore spending a sum equal to the first instalment, sod theretore the legal process was suspended. He was not ab'e to say, however, how far Air. O'Neill'a works had progressed. As regarded the cue of Lord De Freyne, his hon. friend behind him was better able to explain the facts than he was; but he might say that the moment the facts became known, Lord De Freyne was informed that the mode he had adopted of paying the money was illegal, and that be believed the further instalments would be paid as they became due. Mr. F. FRENCH, as a near connexion of the noble lord whose name hod been mentioned, begged to say one weird. What had been illegally done on his estate with regard to the payment of his labourer. in kind, was entirely without Lord De Freyne's knowle , aeis or cognisance, and the moment he heard of the fact he sent over direttions to Ireland that the provisions of the act were !oriel) , to be complied with. THE RUM DUTIES. Sir L. O'BRIEN said perhaps this was the time for him to renew the question he had put lot night, and which he was sorry hail let to a party conflict, as his object in putting it was merely a matter of business. Ile begged to ask what was the intention of the government respe ting the rum duties ? The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said that during the day he hod an opportunity of laying the matter before his colleagues, and he was glad to he ab to give a reply to kis hen. friend's question. The principle of the act of Lila wea that the West Indians should be put upon a fair principle of equality with other spirit dealers. Since that time rej resentetions had been mach which led him to think that (qua' justice perhaps hail ac ircety been done to them, and having considered tl c application from the Irish members, he had now to state that he saw no suffi cient grounds in it for making any such change as that which they suggested. PUBLIC BUSINESS. Mr. G. A. HAMILTON asked what would he the course of business nn Monday ? Lord .1. RUSSELL said they would go en with the Sugar Duties before proceeding with other business. Mr. E. B. ROCHE asked when the Irish Registration Bill would he prneeeded with ? Sir W. SONIERVILLE said in the present state of public business he could not fix a day, hut (as we understood) he hoped to take up the sabject at an early opportunity. Mr. STAFFORD asked whether any bill was to be brought in on the subject of the quarter-acre claws ? Sir W. SOMERVILLE said he was not prepared to reply to that question. CLAIMS ON SPAIN. Mr. URQUHART called attention to a discrepancy in sonic of the Spanish papers now upon the table. In the cores sponderice before tl. em relating to Spanish affairs a re ference was made to certain unsatisfied claims on Slain on account ot ammunitions, rOc., hut in an account subs , quently leid upon the table the unsatisfied claims were stated to have been satisfied. He should also be glad to know why the latter paper had not been mimed ? Viscount PALMERSTON said he would reply to then questions on Monday. WRIT FOR DERBY. Sir J. PAK INGTON then moved : "That Mr. Speaker do issue his warrant to the clerk of the crown to make nut a new writ for electing two burgesses to serve in this present parliament for the borough of Derby, in the room of the Right lion. Edward Strutt and the lion. Edward Frederick Leveaon Gower, whose (+ellen has been determined to be void." The hon. member addressed a sew observations to the house amid some confusion, urging that this was an ex ceedingly herd case, and that there was no prt cett nt fur the further suspension of the writ. Mr. lIUME expressed his regret flint from time to time the house bet violated its pledge to suspend writs until i , quiry had been instituted. Sir J. TYRELL, as en old roember,wished to address a ward or two to the hon. member for Montrose. Bef.re the passing of the It , form Bill he remembered that the hon. member ,or Montrose every night drew a long bill upon futurity in the shape of prognostication* as to what purity they should have throughout the country if the Hebron Bill paned into a law. The hon. member occupied much of the public attention, and much more of the time cf that house, with that sort of ststement. Ile had continued ever since to give moral lectures to the house upon all sorts of questions, and upon none so much as upon questions of pub lic expenditure. But the hon. member for Montrose had got a place for his son, almost a sinecure place, of 500/ ' a year upon one of those useless commissions which the hon. member made such a fuss about on all other occasions. And there were other hon. gentlemen of tho hon. member's clique who had in like manner got places for relatives, ss the return he had moved for would show. Mr. ELLICE begged to protest moat emphatically against these personalities. (Hear, hear.) Mr. P. BENNET, as a member of the Derby committee, begged to remind the house that the committee had brought bribery home in the clearest manner to the ten case., which, out of the 166 cases of bribery allured, had alone been gone into, the parties at that stage of the inquiry declining to pro ceed further. There was, however, such strong suspicion attaching to the remaining 166 cues, that the committee had made that report, recommending further inquiry, of which the house was aware. Mr. LABOUCHERE said tha hon. ban. the member for EMI, had charged the government with creating a u elen commission, and with having being guilty of what was called a job, in appointing the son of the hon, member for Montrose its scenery. Now, with reference to the com mission, as his right hon. friend had just observed, there was especial need for close and scientific inquiry into the whole system and management of the Mint, and this inquiry could only be conducted by scientific and highly intelligent persons, applying their whole attention to the subject in a way which could scarcely be expected from an ordinary com mittee up stairs. Ati to the hon. member for Montrose, he bed differed from that hon. gentleman on mane points, he hod acted against him in that house quite as frequently as wits him, out this he would say of the hon. gentlealan, that no man ever sat in that Inoue who had br.,ught ti the public stevice a purer or more entire di-int , r. stcdness— (cheers from both Lida of the houses)—and this he would say farther, that had the hoe. member's object, on the contrary, and of obt ining outer labouren. Some protection was un been • sordid and personal one, and bad he devoted to that deniably due to the West Indies, in order to enable them to sinister purpose one tithe of the Indefatigable industry, compete with the foreign slave colonies. If that was not the fearless energy, the powerful ability, that he had done they must abandon the West Indian blinds. In fact, devoted to the service of the people, be could orders wen going out every day front merchants and West long since have secured that object, as many men, India proprietors here to these cultivating their estates. The of infinitely less claim, had secured it. (Hear, hear.) hon. member for Westbury had read • statement respecting The hon. member, however, had acted upon other and far the wages of free labourers in the West Indies. In Guiana different principles, and he had his great reward in the they had been reduced only 5 per cent. ; in Trinidad, he ad regent and esteem of all parties, alike within and without mitted, the reduction was one-balf ; and in other islands that house. (Cheers.) (save Jamaica) the reduction was 25 per cent. But what Mr. HUDSON concurred in the expression of respect was the amount of wages in Lee island of Trials paid to the hon. member for Montrose, but thought it would dad ? Why, for a day of four or five hours in better if members of the legielature were to avoid any only, the free labourers got Is. 3d. (Hear, hear.) share in government patronage. What made the matter worse was that at this moment the Mr C. ANSTEY said that the reason why the house had West Indian worked with a certainty of further reduction rescinded its resolution respecting Horsham was the conduct in the price of his commodity. It had been said that the pursued by the government with respect to Cheltenham. present distress was nut so much ettributable to the bill of Mr HUN fZ weal suggest to the hon. baronet opposite 1846 as to the commercial distress promilieig generally over' that had the Reform Bill been pureed in the shape originally the world. He differed from that opinion, seeing that the proposed by Earl Grey, there might very probably bays been distress had acorn in the fare of an inereasel consumption no cry since for further parliamentary reform . (Hear, hear.) to the amount of 30,000 tons annually, and also because it lie should support the issue of the writ, since govern was immediately co existent with the iutreduction of slave meat seemed disposed to take no steps for prosecuting the grown auger into this country. But, in tact, the question inquiry recommended by the committee. was entirely one of the supply of labour. limit our planters Lord J. RUSSELL said that the government had assisted got • plentiful supply, and at a reasonable rate, it was %tee the hon. member for the Flint boroughs with the legal co- less to thi,.k of his contending with the foreigner. operation of the Solicitor-General and of the Judge Advo- Mr. HAWES said he quite agreed with what bad fallen cote, and he himself had done all he could in the way of from the right hon. member for Oxford Univerety on the giving the hon. member opportunities for proceeding with previous evening as to the condition of the labouring pope has bill. There had been so much opposition to it, huwever, tuition of the West Indies being an important clement in on the other side of the house, at every stage, that much considering this question. If the bill of 1846 bad tended te delay had been occasioned, and there seemed the probability deteriorate that condition he (Mr. Hawes) should have of much further delay before an in q uir y into the alleged opposed it; but his firm belief was that stripping West Delia bribery in the borough of Derby could take place. In tact, smote of all protection was the best way of insuring the wel if the house did not issue the writ until alter inquiry, there fare and happiness of the great mast of the population. He could not trace the evils complained of by the hen. member was every probability, considering the state of p ublic business and the period of the station, that the writ for Bristol to the bill of 1846, and therefore he felt hound to would not issue at all until next session. Under these adhere to the policy it established, which was temporary circumstances, he thought it would be unfair to withhold the protection to the colonies during a pe, eel of transition to writ ally longer, bearing in mind, uhe did, that the issue of complete free trade, Why was it necessary now to modify the writ now would in no way preclude that inquiry into that bill? Two clause of reasons might be given. In the the seemed bribery which the committee had reeemmended• first place, the commercial distress prevailing through- Mr. THORNELY called upon the house to sustain the out the empire had deprived the West Indians of a decisions of it. committees. portion of the time which might be used in preparation Sir It. PEEL adhered to the opinion he bad formerly ex- for tree Made. Ag tin, the Introduction of • superior gelidity of foreign sugar which had not been anticipated had pressed, that the government ought to have lest no time iu taking some step or other for prosecuting deprived them of some of the indulgence which they bad those inquiries which the select committees had specially reported to be been promised. But there was another consideration, and essential to the purposes of justice. (Hear, hear.) Had t - ie that was, that it was the concurrent opinion of all partite, that government itself brought forward a measure for this object, the West Indies were in a state of great distress, and that, one night's discussion, or less, would have effected the per- therefore, relief of some kind was absolutely necessary. pose, and have saved the house many hewn, many evenings (Hear, hear.) In his opinion the pith of the government he might say, that had since been lost in desultory debates offeied a prospect of the most substantial relief, and i, was on the subject (Hear, hear.) It really appeared to him for the West Indians themselves to consider whether their very manifest that, under the peculiar circumstances of the condition would be bettered by the conflict of parties and case, with the demand for inquiry from so many quarters. opinions which its introduction had accessioned. Nov, the the demand for further changes in that franchise, the demand an. member for Bristol had asserted that the West Indians for an extension of the act of 1832, it really appeared had never been in such a state of distress as at the present to hint that no time should have been lost in moment. If that were true all termer complaints must bane proateuting an inquiry into the cases where corruption been mere cries of " wolf," while toe pre sent was the only was cheeped. (Hear, beer) Here , in this borou g h of foundation in truth. lie would not do them the injustice Derby, in the only 10 casesof alleged bribery proceeded with, to think so; he believed that then was some emaciation in out of 166 indictments, all had been clearly brought h ime to former complaints, and he was prepared to show that in it former times and on former occasions their complaints fir the parte s and the committee tope-Ltd that they had stron g grounds fur the belief that had the inquiry gone on the same surpassed what was stated at the present time. In a report result would have taken place in the other cases. That *in- of the Reuse of Assembly of Jamaica prepared in the year quit) did not go on, simply because the parties seeing Oils 1804, it cow stated that although the abolition of the slave result thought it advisable to withdraw. The question was, traele might he an effectual it was not the sole means by whether the house, too, should withdraw from the inquiry— which the We at India islands mutt be ruined. '1 ho same (hear,' hear)—or whether, until full inqui r y had been o b ject mi g ht he effected more gradually by encouraging the made, course of justice did not require that the era cultivation of sugar in the East Indies. 'lnc report went on s•ould he suspended. It was his decided opinion that it to state that every British merchaet holding secu should, and he should, therefore, oppo e the issue of the reties on real estates wee filing bills in chancery writ. (Hear, hese.) to foreclose, although when he had obtained hi. Sir It. I NULLS contended that it would be unjust to the decree he hesitated to enforce it, because in such case 1,600 eleaorsof Derby,whom conduct had not beeniumogned, he must undertake the plantation himself, which fatal to disfranchise them until next session, or, pectoris, till next experience told him would be rain. Nobody, con parliament, because ten other electors had been pro-eta tamed the report, would lend money on estates; in fact, guilty of corruption, and 166 others not proved, but sus- so great was the distress that the reporters feared peetCd of it. that a faithful detail would appear like a frightful cerise- Mr. AtiLIONBY said he should abstain from voting one to e. He defied any one to show such a state of d'u'ress way or the other. from Lord Harris's deepatehes. Now all this had occurred Mr. S. HERBERT asked why had not the hon. and before the first sugar bill, when Jamaica had a monopoly, learned member himself vindicated the character of the and he defied any one to shim a similar state of things under house by undertaking the task he reproached them for free trade. (Hear, hear.) He could shew that from 1760 leaving undone ? (•• Hear, hear," and a laugh.) Unlike the down to 1813 there had been a regular succession of coca hon. member he should vote, and Lis nee would be against plaints of immediately impending ruin. if the quantity of the issuing of the writ. sugar imported from the West Indies from the year 1831 to Mr 11111011'f said that the blame of all the inconsistency 1841 and thence to 1847 were taken, a remarkable internee of the house is these matters rested upon the government, might be drawn. And if they took the first ten years, it whose vacillations had been such a. to have utterly confused woul I embrace a (period of slavery, then of every one, and more especially that parry of lion. eft ntlemen apprenticesaip, and then of entirely free labour. who habitually, without any very nice inquiry, voted as 'the avelege annual importation during that period was government voted. 171,800 tons. Fur the following seven years, commencing lord MAHON supported the issuing of the writ. with 1841, when the production of Jamaica was reduced to Mr. V. SMITH denied that the present law of contra its lowest point since 1831, the average annual imponation meted elections was satiate tory to the people, who merely was 127,323 tons; the entire difference tor the whole of the regarded the honest decisions protmuneed by the emmittees West Indies being only 44,477 tons. That was the amount this session in the light of • eerie, of tortun its recidents, not of the whole annual decrease. But when it was le collected as the result of a sound system. It was essential to render that the duties between the Wen India and E tat India sugar election tribunals cheaper of access, speedier in their pro- were equalised, and that there was an enormous increase of ceedinge, and to inspire greater cuntidence in their decisions. sugar in Mauritius, was it to be wondered that some dimi- Mr. COBDEN ( who was met like nearly all the previous notion should have taken place. If be took the four or fire speakers with loud cries of " divide, elivide ") said it was years preceding the present, ho found no decrease, but an really very difficult to get in • word. If you rose enormous increase. In 1844 tho production was '2,453,000 to speak at a quarter to seven you were put cwt. • in 1815, 2,8.57,000 cwt. ; in 1816, 2,152,000 cwt. ; down by members who wanted to dine ; if you rose to and in 1817, 3,022,000 cwt. This did not show any inde &- speak at 10 you wer • put down by memb n who had dined. lion of an abandonment of the mativetion of sugar. Looking ( Laughter.) Ile considered that while the noble premie r to Jamaica alone, the average production of the three years, eught, in accordance with the prineMie he had so emphati- 1840, 1811, and 1842, was 608,750 cwt., whilst the average of rally enuncieted, to have prevented, by his active efforts, the three subsequent years was 644,145 cwt., and the average the issuing of the writ to Horsham—since certain it was that, for the two years 1846 and 1847 was 662,000 cwt. ;so that aid Mby the right hon.me meet tor Tamworth, he could do as he there was an increase of importatiou for the whole pleamd in that house—yet that the noble lord wee not wholly pee hid from the diminution of the duties. He was there. to blame in the matter, for, manifestly, progress had been tore disposed to look to a different cause for the distress delayed by the knot of gentlemen who sat on the lower of the West Indies than the diminution of protection. ranges of benches opposite. Whatever the house might do Could it be shown that protection had done the least good i in the matter, the case would be regarded out of doors on a He challenged any one to show him any unbroken prosperity very distinct and comprehensive basis. All these things, in the \Vest India colonies for any period of long continu viewed by the people as the outward and visible sign of anee. (Hear, hear) And if he concurred in the protection inward corruption, were weighed accordingly. lie held in his now proposed, it was rather out of deference to the feelings hand a petition signed ey a most respectable person, who of others than from any hope in his own mind that the West preyed that the borough of St. Alban's might be placed in India planters would derive any benefit from it. (lieu.) schedule A of the hon, member for Flints bill. Mr. But it they were to have protection as between this country Sturt, the pttitioner, distinctly stated, that of the 400 ma the colonies, how were they to adjust the protection and odd persons who voted, there were riot 50 who had between colony and colony, because the cost of production not t ken a bribe. lle (Mr. Cobden) believed that the wasnot the same in all thecolonies ? Barbedoes and Antigua, majurty of the borough members returned to that house lead for instance, could produce cheaper than the others. The pro been returned tither by bribery and corruption or by patron• tection to one colony, then, would he a bounty to the other, age. Nu one could doubt that the house was illdiffirt nt :o cur. -and chat was the view of the question taken by Me. Mar ruptiou. The seats vacated by the recent decisions of the elec- riott, as appeared from his evidence before the committee. time committees ought to have been transferred to large eon (Hear, hear.) Thee, were they to tax the labourers of this atituencies, such as Kensington, Staleybridge, sad Hensley. country for, as he would show, the moat improvident and Mr. REP lON, as one of the members for St. Alban's, de- extravagant management of estates that ever was known ? min in the most solemn manner the imputation of the hon. I° Hear, hear," from Mr. Bernal.) He would prove that member far the West Riding. to the bon. member for Rochester on the most unquestion ' Mr. NEWDECIATE said he should divide in favour of the able authority. The truth must be told. (Cheers.) And issue of the writ. the people of this country neust know it. This teed' 10s. was Mr. HORSMAN protested against the inconsistency clis• not to help the labouring population of the West Indies, played by the house, which would threw discredit up in its but to keep up the estates in the West Indies, no matter how proceedings in cases of corruption at elections. lie should they were managed, and whatever was the cost of product vote against the issue of the writ. tion. (Hear, hear.) Another ground put forward as a jus- Lord GALWAY said that the hon. member for the West tifieation for protection, was that of high wages. This was Riding had unjustly attacked small boroughs, of one if the first time he ever heard such an argument put forward. which he was a representative. The hon. member himself It was well known that the higher the wages the cheaper only owed his election for the West Riding to the creation of the production, and for this reason, that high weges were faggot votes. a consequence of skilled labour, and large production of Col. SIBTUORP said that he had so little confident.* skilled labour. The great fault of the West India planters in the hon. member opposite, as to be determined, if he told was, that they relied too much en brute labour, and neg. him to go in one direction, to go in the opposite one. (A bested the aid of science, skill, and agricultural improvement. laugh.) (Hear, hear.) In Porto Rico according to Consul Craw- The house divided—For issue of the writ "97 lord, the wages were Is. 6d. ael ' ay, and in Santa Cruz 18.8 d , Against it The writ is consequently still suepend«h in the British West Indies; and yet those islands were SUGAR DUIIES—ADJOURNED DEBATE. in a flourishing condition. lie believed that if wages Sir J. FAKING lON rose to offer an explanation, in were higher in the West India colonies, that the planters consequence of a misrepresentation by the bon. member for would produce cheaper than they now did. It was said Westbury of a statement made by hi con a former evening that the sugar bill of 1846 ruined the Mauritius. Now he relative to the cost of the production of sugar in the slave cola would prove from the e mouths of Mauritius merchants lees of Cubs, Brazil., and Porto Rico. The hon. memb e r themselves, that this was not so, because, in 1846 itself, had accused him of making a very grave error, and as the before the bill of that yeas could have any effsct, they mad' question of compsrative coat of production was at the very representations to the government that, with the largest sup root of the West India claims, he begged leave to make a few ply of labour at the cheapest rate that was ever known, they observations in defence of his termer statement, which he was were ruined. (The hon. gent. here road a statement made prepared to assert was correct in all its parts, whil't that by the merchants of Mauritius to the governor, in which made by the hon. member for Westbury was err ineous to they said that Mauritius was ruined, that only the most the extent of the difference between them; and he must ex- favourably situated estates would yield a profit over the pre as his belief that the hon. member had not given careful expenditure, and that even these leanly yielded • moderate attention to the evidence pe inted in the \Vest Indian coin interest on the capital inn sted, notwithstanding the mittee report, notwithstanding he had be entirely relied extent of the crop and the high prices which existed.) on it. This was in May, 1846. (Loud cries of "hear, bear.") The SPEAKER called the hon. baronet to order. la September, 1847, the governor said that the Sir J. I'AKINGTON.—The hon. member was aware cendition of Mauritius was an enigma to him that the figures which lie bad given as the net cost produc- and a melancholy one. Two years ago the mete tion of sugar in the three slave colonies named was the re- chants told him that if they got a supply of suit atter the value of the runs and molaser, and the interest cheap labour, and could raise 100,000,00011 n., they would not of meney with some other inevitable charges, had been do- dread the competition of slave labour. They had the cheapest ducted. The hon. member had omitted to take those items supply of labour that was ever known, and their produce into his estimate, There was also a deduct on made by hint wan more than they expected, and set they said they were (Sir J. Pakilegton) of Is. sd. for the suaerior value of ruined by the bill of 1846. (Hear. hear.) ilr. Hunter, one elated sugars above Muscovedoes, the auger' from Cuba and of the moat eminent dealers of the Mauritius. said that Brazils being all clued. The same authorities lead fur coolie labour was higher than slave labour—that the total nished both himself and the hon. member fur Westbury, cost of a cooly, including rations, was 191., whilst the cost of with the data which they had respective.y offered to the a slave was only 41. The Mauritius merchants in London house, the only difference being in the deductions hid statements before the committee, which showed that the which ' he had made. The hon. baronet then referred to the produce of a cooly was two tons and 3 sths that reduced West India Committee blue-boolc, and cited the cost of sugar the cost of sugar to 7s. Bd. per cwt. Now the price of at Porto Rico, as stated by the consul there, in exemplifies- a slave in Cuba was 1001., and the interest of money there non of his mode of estimating the relative cost of production. was 12 per cent. Making a fair allowance for the cost of 'the consul stated the gross cost to be 16s. sd. per cwt.; wear ana tare, and loss, and for the difference in the rations, from this he had deducted 4s. 6d. for interest of money, &c., that would make the cost of a slave 181. lye. •, and be pee ls. for molasses, which left 10s. Ild., and from this he de- ducted, according to the evidence laid before the committee, ducted Is. sd. as the difference between the value of clayed three tons of sugar, which reduced the cost in and muscovadoes. The mean coot of all the slave colonies Cuba to 6s. Ofd. per cwt. That made • difference mews was, therefore, according to his mode of estimating of Is. Bd. in the cost of labour alone. But was there the net value, 6s. 10(d., as he had before stated. It was he, anything in that difference to justify • protection of 10s. for therefore, who had m ade the correct statement, and that which the people of this country were to pay. (Hear, hear.) offered by the bon. member was quite erroneous. , They had no right to call on the British public to pay for Mr. WILSON said that he was informed, and he believed I protection till every improvement had been introduced into correctly, that in the preparation of clued sugars neither I the West Indies, and till they reduced the cost of production rum nor molasses were produced. At the same time he I to the lowest amount. (Hear, hear.) He would show the must admit that if the hon. baronet had accompanied his West India planters that they were a wasteful set of menu figures with the explanation which he had now given he facturers—that they did not produce so largely or manufac should not have said what he did. ture so economically as they ought. (Hear, hear.) And Sir J. PAKINOTON said that he did make the ex- ' they ought to do both before they came to ask for protection planation at the time, but his remarks were not reported. from the people of this country. (Hear, hear.) In respect Mr. WILSON was quite satisfied on that meth. With to Guiana, Dr. Shears says that, by improved methods of respect to the difference in value between Hayed and Musco- cultivation, the produce of Guiana might be increased 2-5 per vado sagars that was taken into account in the differential i cent. Lord Harris says that a large increase might take place estimate of cost. He repeated, had he seen the statement of in Trinidad under • better system. Mr. Ray says : " The the hon. baronet in print, he should not have reviewed hie hoe is still in general use, and it is with reluctance that the figures. plough is used." The agents adopted an expensive Mr. P. MILES said that the hon. member ought to have mode of supplying their stock of cattle. Many of exercised more caution before he ventured to tax the hon. the local journals bore testimony of the same kind ; baronet with error. He was disposed to go further than the for let it not be supposed that public opinion in the colonies right hon. gentleman who stated last night (Mr. W. Glad- was all on the side of protection. It bad been said stelae), that the West Indians ought to have some relief that the Colonial-office disallowed laws which the colonial given to them, because they had hail none since the emanci- legislatures passed. He challenged gentlemen opposite to pation was granted. He (elr. P. Miles) thought that when state one single good law which had been elm :lowed by the the slave labour was taken away and the produce thereby I Secretary of State. Since 1843 the celonill assemblies had reduced one halt, some means ought to have full liberty to pass any tan w laws they °easedinlia-atiou, . But h at utteape had tee n n been offereed the planters of co :trolling the frctcluegroa with :egret[ and ithwa th were made, between 1835 and 1840, to bring beck the ttegre who had escaped from the lash to the condition of a ter!, Ay means of the ingenuity of the law. The hon. gentlera m here quoted several um passed by the legislature of Bt. Vincent's, Bubadota, a d other islands, whi c h subjected dia tummies to imprisonment and the treadmill for slight offences. As to squatting, the evidence showed that very little of it existed is the West I .dia Islands. With reference to tin*. tion he wished to know what the West India gentlemen me. cifically meant by their cry for more labour. they mean that this supply of labour was to be at the e l . Prose of the government at home ? He advised the Wan India planters to concentrate their cultivation where twee. nary, rather than to diffuse it vaguely over lame tracts. El a did not, however, be.ieve there was to much additiord labour wanted se was represented, but rather a better, ra m skilful, and cheaper method of cultivation. Mauritius wax an example in point that abundance of labour was not the one thins needful, fur Mauritius since 1813 had received 74,000 labourer, yet Mauritius was in a vete of deep distress. The real cause of that distress was user- , peculation, the in. dulgence on the part of the planters in hiebly exsgeerated expectations. There bad been one retnarkabie omission in the whole discussion on the subject —not a cord had bee r , heard from gentlemen opposite as to the interests of the consumers; yet surely the wants of the pe iple hire were not to be altogether neglected for the sake of a particular class in sue colonies. In the slave-trade the only w ay n which it could i ffectually be put an end to would be the red. dering free labour cheaper than slave labour, and he he. lieved this to be in the hands of the Wi at India 'denten themselves, if they would but heartily adopt aid cry out the eternal principles of free trade, alike applicable to th en as to all other chum s of the commercial world. T Lord G. BENTINCK said that his hon. friend the member for Droitwich had so fully given the history of the committ ee over which he bad bad the honour to prelate that be need not occupy the house at any length on that portion of th e subject. The Right Hon. the Chancellor of the Bethune: had in his speech taken everything fir granted, Lush a s the future production of our colonial sugar and our colonial rum, and also as to the revenue to be thence derived ; but facts alone must be regarded, and the facts in ne gree bore out the right boo. tirade baruoet'a none. Nothing c .uld be so re ex ict !hen the in quiries which had been mule by the etimmittee . in the view to those a stimates upon which they had founded their recommendationeto parliament ; and what bad been t h e result of these calculations? Why, this: that upon te e whole period of six teen, ending in 18.31, there would be reveuue of 1,338,5001. arising from the phi:: Proposed by th e committee, more than wculd be realised by the plan pre. posed by the government. the prop:eel of the committee was to reduce the duty en colonial sugar, and though mane a portion of this benefit would go to our colonial pleat. err, a considerable. part of the revenue would then be levied out of the diminished profits of the slave owner, a result which every man impressed with a hatred of slavery must hail wit'i gratification. There could be no clearer proof of the accuracy of tne calculat i on upon which the committee proceeded than the tut that when it was gaown out of doors that the committee proposed to have a duty of 10s. on coloniel sugar, and to recent the duty of 20s. ou foreign sugar, there was at once a fall of Is Gd. per cwt on colonial, and a rise of Is. W. on foreign sugars in our markets, so that the relief to the West Indies would be screwed out of the pockets of the dam holder. The hon. Under-Secretary fur the Colonies talked of the committee having omitted to care fi•r the consumer; whereas the committee had shown thereseln s the true friends of the poor men here—the real supporters of cheap prices in sugar, by proposing those measures which would maintain the competition of colonial with foreign slave grown sugar. (Hear.) The hoe. Under Secretary (hilted that the act of 1846 had bad anything to do with the ruin of the Mauritius, and had a memnnal cr something of the kind to show that, in 1846, Mauritius was in deep distre a. Why, only in July of list year the hon. ecolleman himself made a grand point by citing Mauritius as the seat of high pprraaperity. (Hear, h. or) And what said the despatch of Governor Sir Win. Gomm of the 6th March, 1847 ? Why, that the balance of colonial revenue in the /daunt* ever expenditure was, in 1841, 16,8181, aad in 1816 had risen to 50,9891. •, and f,r the then current year Sir Willie* had est mated the arena value of the colonial exports over in poets at 479,4151. But this was on a calculation of 271, mem being reeltsed by the in, reliant, making an aggregate profit of 600,0001. ; whereas, in con tquence of the depriciotion in the value of sugar occisiened by the introduction of freelabeur sugar, ander the act of 1846, instead of a profit of 600,0001., there was a loss of 600,0001., and half as much more. (Bin, hear.) If the committee were cheer :able with any °mimics at all from its recommeedations, that otnissioe had rektica to the East Lidice and Ceylon, and was wholly attribatable to the influence of the government, which, by the medium of the hon. member for Westbury, had entirely defeated his (Lord G. Ber.tinck's) constant exertions, and those of his friends in the committee, to give due weight to the claims ei these Eastern possessions. (Rear, hear.) In Cube, while the interest of the English planters in the West ladies was being utterly dernelished—inCuba the pro fuction of sugar bad increased from 80,000 tons, in 1831, to 210,000 tons last use. The member for Westbury hod endeavoured to show that the West Indies were not in that distressed state which had been act forth on that(the opposition) side of the house. He went into a long history of the complaints made at sari ous times by the British colonists. What class was there in this cou step which had not from time to time complained of grievance and distress ? The member for Westbury, so oue argument in support of his position, argued that is computing the losses of the \Vest 'coiling they ought to cal culate as if they had realited all tho sager watch rumbled unsold. This wee, indeed, a new system of arithmetic Gentlemen sitting in their libraries calculited as if all the property of the West Indies could at any time be realised at any price. Only a few years ago the property of the WM Indies was ealsuiated at one hundred and thirty millions sterling. What was its value now ? (He it, hear) The price realised by West India and Mauritius sugars barely equalled the cost of production. But he was not going te argue the question on free-trade grounds, for the case toss an exceptional one, and did not admit of being so treated. The facts were quite different from those which had characterised the free-trade debates. When the legislature took sway the slaves from the West India planters, it did so with a dieting i and well understood engagement that they were to be pro. tected in their own market against slave strewn sugar of other colonies. And let hon. memhers and °elate lords talk .. as they would of the apathy of the West India planters, that apathy had never hindered them from prnfitable cultivation under the old system of slave 1 shour, said subsequent to emancipation of protector. If, therefore, the planters in the British colonies were deprived, first, of their machines by which their cultivation was carried on, and afterwards of the protection to which they were entitled in consequence of emancipation, had they not a right ti complain of the bed faith of the government and the legislature by which those acts of arbitrary injustice were sarctioned and perpetrated? Tke legislature had treated the unhappy planters worse than Pharaoh did the children of Israel. obey called upon the* to make bricks without straw, and then merited them by saying, "Ye are idle, ye are idle." Far better hail it been for them to have had Egyptiau twkmasters than to live under such a got emment as that of the noble lord. (Laughter and cheers.) But the government was going to grant half a million of money in order to encoura:e and carry out a plea of emigration of labourers to the West, Indies under the i r immediate superintendence and control. And this was to be the great boon that the West India planters were to receive. He could show the house, by the testimonies of Lord Harris and Governor Light, in what condition the negroes arrived in the West Indies when imparted into those islands for the purpose of becaming labourer., and then the house would be ,in a condition to judge of the value of such free labour. Bat there was another csusideration to be taken into account in dealing with the question of immigration of Afrie in labi.urets by eovernment agency, and that was, the expense attending the operation. He held in his hand a statement of the result id oue of these experiments, which be would shortly derail to the house. The govern ment agents chartered a ship called the Bangalore to proceed to Sierra Leone, in order to receive a certain stipulated number of liberated Africans, and to convey them to Trill dad. The price paid for each African was 7; 1 . ; and it was a condition of the charter pasty that a certain number was guaranteed at this price, and that whether they were eta basked or not the government paid the lull price for the stipulated number. A suroeon and a superintendent were likewise provided at the expense of the government. The Bangalore expected to have conveyed 225 or 226 liberated Africans from Sierra Loono to Trinidad; but after visiting all the settlements on the coast, and waiting the time named in the charter, the ship sailed, and he had the certifies. e of her arrival at Trinidad with one liberated African on board. (Cheers, and laughter.) And this was the result of one of the first great stops to be taken by the government in order to benefit the We t Indians, aid 1 r which the legislature wrs call• d upon to advance half million of money. The cost of transporting this one Der, with his suite of surgical attendant and inspector, was up wards of 7001., and for the erne money a geveruor-geneml and his suite might be conveyed to the East Indies. (Gm* I mgliter, and cheers.) And with such a specimen of the activity of and intelligence of Bari Grey and the hen mese her opposite, the West Indians were to be tell they were apathetic and devoid of understandin r. (" Hem,' and cheers.) The complaint which he made wr• that the truth was suppressed in the colonial department, acid that the information that was received the re was not fairly laid betore the house. (" Oh," and " hear.") The hon. member opposite (Mr. B. Hawes) had made an explanation the other night, which he had not the good throne to hear, of the accident which had occurred relative to the deoptch of Governor Grey, dated the 27th of March. He had told the house that it was the intention of Earl Grey and of his self to send that despatch to the commi tee at the time it arrived. He admitted that the date of its receipt at the Colonial-office was the 27th of March, and unless hens misrepresented tne hon. Colonial Under Secretary stated, that on the same day the despatch reached laie hands, with a minute on it to this effect " This is a copy of the dew tee fur which the committee oh Welt India distress have sake&N y e had a copy of the document which wY required in the votes of the Howe of Amenably. It was to be yet to the committee today. Would it not be better to send instead oral ot this despatch, which is important, with the report and evidence which we have got now for the first time? There are two 000 4 . And so it is desirable to send it tmeay." That reached y oubands at from the Secretary of State with the words, I agree with y t this despatch ought to be given at Use same time with the report 1.,. evidence to which it refers." He (Mr. Halves, addid, "I agree, and en the 30th of March his noble friend matte a =Hat {CO thi , egte• 'chi. may be laid before the committee an suggested." (" Hear, hear," from Mr. B. Hawes.) So that it appeared a discussion on that very despatch had taken place between the hon. member and the noble earl, tint on ?starch 27 and then on March 30. (Hear, hear, again.) The hon. Under Secretary cheered. Did he mean to deny the fact !mth The house would presently judge of the on, value of th e al cheers of the hon. member. (Cheers te. sin .) The Lon. Under Secretary, having countersigued t he minute of th e 28th of March, made by Earl Grey on the deepatch, must have heel possession of it at that time, and have been teem :hat of Be nouveau. Bat lit Yin (leaed G. Bentibe%.) act* quertion despatch Lord