The Express.
London, England, 1849-07-25 00:00:00

prod's,' :crettain reelutions were agreed to in the
court of Poley sa kg that it was matter of
necessity that the principles of scoacesy should he
carried out in all the deer 'lntents of the
Lord Orey on the Bth of February, 1848, stated that if pro-
tection were admissible ou the grounds of the general
interest of the country, it would be the interest of the
planter himself that they should odhere to the determination
of parliament in 1848. It was natural that the colony
should feel indignant at that statement, when they knew
there was not a word of truth in it. He (Mr. Bernie)
moved a resolution in the committee to the effect that
additional difficulty bad beets engendered by that state-
ment of Berl Grey, and that a minister who was capable
of so acting was not fit to hold the reins of power ; but the,
committee came to no determination on it. The question
railed by the hon. member for Montrone was one of great
Impeeenese, embracing at it did that of self government, and
whither the colony should be allowed to manage her own
ingianial affairs or whether the Colonial-office should inter-
/sea and exercise its known great influence to compel
&quiescence in its views.
Mr. HAW ES said he was relieved from the necessity of
going late any great length of detail on this question, as the
hon. member fur Montrose, and the hon. gentleman opposite,
bad had the opportunity of bringing all their charges and
complaints before • committee of that house, to which no
opposition whatever was made, every facility was afforded,
and every possible information in the possession of the Colo-
nial-office was freely and spontaneously given. Having
made their charges and complaints, not with peculiar cour-
tesy or feeling, the bad found themselves in a minority ;
and bring so, had thought it necessary to obtain the opinion
of the house in opposition to the report of the committee.
(Hear, hear.) Did the case rest entirely on the statements
of these hoar. members he might be apprehensjve of the re-
sult; but statements so wide of accuracy, so little calculated to
cite the huuse correct information, it had not been his for-
tune very often to bear,- conside ring that these gentlemen
had rot for months in the committee, end bad beard all the
evidence, but had apparently come out with the same im-
pressi Ins, and without deriving one particle of information
from what they hid heard. (Hear, tear.) What was the
dispute—what were the grounds stated in the colony for
seeking to alter an act of parliament, for so might an act of
the Combined Court of Policy be regarded ? That act *stab-
labeid a civil list, not of 39,0001 • rear, but of • conrilerably
len sum. The civil list was nominally 39,0001., hut 4,5001.
was paid out of the imperial treasury, thus redueiog it to
about 35,0001. In addition, then was • rpduction of 1,0001.
for pension falling off, and about 9,0001. more for the pay-
ments to the clergy which were placed on the evil list, thus
reducing the sum paid for conducting the government—and
that alone was the civil list properly speaking—to 24,00 W. or
26,0001. The revenue of the colony was about 227,0001.: out of
that was set aside, by an act of the colonial legislature,
slime 23,0004 for the officers who conducted the govern.
meat. In December, 1847, Portals resolutions were passed
by the Court of Policy, which were the oriels of this dispute.
Then resolutions stated that the colony wee essentially
agricultural ; that it possessed no manufactures, and that its
prosperity was entirely dependent on its exports to the
markets of Europe ; and that in consequenci of the recent
measures of the imperial government, by which sugar, the
produce of slave labour, had been admitted to competition
with sugar, the produce of free labour, the value of the colo-
iiial property bad decreased. That was the main reason
then assigned for the first objection to the payment of the
civil list. They then went on to state that the no was
declining, that the colony was impoverished, and that they
wets unable any longer to pay that amount. The first
question then was, bed the civil list been embodied in an
act of the Court of Policy, of the legielature ? acd if so,
was it eneedve, sad was the colony in that state
of decline, and its revenue so failing, as to jus-
tify a reduction of the salaries ? (Hear, hear.)
Would it be believed that in the evidence given before the
committee, by their own wanes's, it was plainly and unde-
niably stated that the revenue of the colony, down to the
very last hour when the supplies were stopped, had not fallen
off at all but, on the contrary, had rather intend ? (Hear,
hear.) What pretext, then, was there for saying that the
acts of the hernial parliament justified the reduction of the
civil list? There bethg no decline, the act of the imperial
parliament was not of itself a justification for the reducion.
But the bon. gentleman aid that Lord Grey had refused all
reduction of the civil list when first proposed. They must
have spent th.ir time m:st unaccountably in the committee.
Either they had not beard, or had totally forgotten, Lord
Grey's despatch of the 15th February, in which he showed
that the revenue had increased from 829,000 dole. to
900,000 doh. And there was no reason whatever to suppose
that, down to the 30th S !Member last, there was any
decline. Lord Orey had dealt with the question
fairly ; he said that, on the statements laid be:ore
him, it did not appear that there were any circumstances
to justify the reduction. In • subsequent dispatch, when
the dispute had proceeded further, he distinctly gave his
assent to the reduction of salaries as vacancies occurred, and
stated that thouch it was his preeent impression that the
fends of the colony were ant in a condition to render such re-
duction neceosary, and having regard to the great expense of
living in Guiana, and that the salary of the governor was
nothing more hen sufficient to secure the services of a
person of so importint a station as the office demanded.
Yet the reasons which had been adduced in favour
of a different conclusion would have received the
most favourable consideration. The committee had
made their report, and they reported in the teeth of the
opinions of his hon. friend and the hon. gentleman.
That was a complete answer to the allegations against Ball
Grey, that he was indifferent to the welfare of the colony.
The contrary was the fact. There was no reasonable and
rational economy which would not find in Lord Grey a
warm supporter, and all his acts confirmed that. The boa.
gentleman opposite brought a charge of inconsistencyrigainet
Lord Grey, because he consented to reductions in Trinidad
and refused them in Guiana. But the circumstances were
quite different, for there was so civil list in Trinidad. There
was merely an annual vote for the public officers, which was
subject to the flue.ustions in the condition of the
colony. In Trinidad also the expenditure exceeded the in.
come, Ito that when Lord Harris, the governor, wrote to
Lord Grey, proposing a reduction of the salaries of the officers
in that colony, his noble friend told him that he might do
what he thought right. The cases of Trinidad were, there-
fore, entirely different from that of Guiana, and there was
no analogy between them. (Hear.) His hon. friend had
charged the Colonial office with a breach of faith. That opinion
was exploded and completely blown to atoms in the evidence
given before the committee. (Hear.) The honourable
gentleman's own witnesses gave it up. If a civil
list of twenty-five thousand pounds was more than sufficient
let it be clearly and distinctly tends out. When the colony
said that they wished to have the civil list reduced with a
view to economy, what would the house think when they
were told that six-sevenths of the whole expenditure was
under the control of the colony itself. The revenue of the
colony amounted in round numbers to 227,0001, and the
colonists would have done better :in looking after the ex•
penditure which was under their own control, than in
getting up • mischievous, reckless, and injurious
quarrel for the purpose of embarrassing the government
in revenge of the act of 1846. They considered what
could be effected in the way of economy in respect to the
money under their own control. He stated that on the
authority of Sir H. Light and Lieutenant-Govemor Walker.
So far from the trade of the colony having declined, the pro-
duction of sugar had actually increased ewes 1846. If he
took from the year 1845 to 1848 inclusive, it appeared that
an average of 28,500 tons had been produced annually in the
three first years, and that 32,000 tons was the average
for the years, 1817 and 1848. This did not
look like that impoverishment of the colony which
had been spoken of. Governor Barkly Saline
that the Court of Polity was a mere oligarchical body, which
possessed very little influence in the colony, and that they
were elected by very small constituencies, with a very MO
franchise, had with singular propriety introduced a measure
which beams necessary in consequence of the stoppage of
the puppet for extending the constituency. The consti-
tuency at present did not amount to more than 700 or 800.
Under the new measure it would be increased to 3,000 or
4,000. Wes there anything wrong in carrying a civil list by
means of an extended constituency and a boiy snore pro-
perly elected than the existing court ? (Hear, hear.) If it
was so carried would it not be a proof that the colony wee
not on the aide of the Court of Policy ? (Hear.) 0
Darkly, so far from being unwilling that his own salary
should be redwood, declared in his very first speech that he
should be inn if his own salary stood in the way of then
redactions. The struggle, therefore, was the mere struggle
of a party to uphold their influence in the colony.
The hon. member had alluded to the part which he took
in committee in reference to • statement made by Lord Grey
is the House of Lords. Here, again, the main Let was kept
out of sight, lamely, that Lord Grey spoke from information
obtained from a local newspaper, which bore date two or
three days after the despatch of the governor. The state-
ment was that in a particular district the labourers had
returned to their work, and were in fact working at a 'educ-
tion of 25 per cent. ; and Lord Grey, in erasing that if
wages were reduced, it was tantamount to ea imam fa the
number of labourers, rehired to the me stated is the SOW-
papers as an example. The boa. member said the governor
had made the immigration ordinance a bribe for the civil
list. In that case an accidental phrase had been aught
hold of the governor having only stated in his evidence that
the colonists bad declared that they would grant anything in
their pewee obtain immigrants. It had been said that it
was a of faith not to allow the colonists to procure
labour from any pert of the world. His hon. friend (Mr.
Hume) was is favour of what was termed free trade in la-
bour ; but there was evidence in the papers that what the
colonists meant was, that they should be at liberty to go to
the slave coast of Africa. If by free trade in labour was
meant liberty to buy men from the slave coast, he confessed
that he was opposed to it, and y
he believed • majorit
of that house were also opposed to it (Hear, hear )
It had been said that this report was Sir Robert Peel's re-
port. On that point he must do his bee. friend the member
for Buckingham the justice to say that that part of the re-
port which had reference to the improvement of the multi
tut ion of Guiana belonged to him. (Hear, hear.) LA con-
clusion, be hoped the result of what had been dens would
be the introduction of an improved state of things in the
colony.
Mr. STUART then moved the adjournment of the de-
bate. (Cries of " Oh, oh.")
Mr. HUMB replied. He roes principally to refute a
calumny of the grossest kind. The hon. gentleman said
that by free trade in labour was meant the use of slays la-
beler. He utterly denied that such was the case. (Hear,
hear) That was the only thing in the hoe. gentlemen's
speech which he thought worthy of notice. The alleged fads
were admitted. The hon. gentleman had chosen to term an
act of policy an act which the law officers of the crown had
declared to be of no value whatever, those fenctionaries hay-
ing declared that the colonial, were right in the course
which they bad pursued. He wished to see the colonists
in the enjoyment of responsible government, and no longer
in leading strings. If a rebellion took place, there would be
immediate concessions.