The Express.
London, England, 1848-06-27 00:00:00

SLIGO ELECTION.

Mr. WRIGHTSON brought up the report of the com-
mittee appointed to consider the petition against the last
return fur the borough of Sligo, which set forth that the last
election was a void election, and that iliarles Townley, Esq.,
was by his agents gu ity of treating.
RAILWAYS IN INDIA.

Lord MAHON asked how far railways in India had been
affected by the commercial distress existing in that part of
the British c mpire ?
Sir J. C. HOBHOUSE said the circumstances of the In-
dian railways had bet n for the most part correctly stated in
the public prints. The Madras Comp Any had dissolved it-
self. The Great Bengal Ct mpany had not been able to raise
the amount required by the East India Company in order to
proceed. With regard to the Bombay line he hoped, how-
ever, that somewhat brighter prospects were in store.
BOROUGH OF ST. ALBAN'S.

Mr. COBliiiititi7npreeeniCii a petition of which be
made mention on Friday night, from an elector of the
borough of St. Alban's, praying that that hor-ugh might be
included in the schedule of the bill instituting a commission
of inquiry introduced at the instance of the hon. member for
Flint (Sir John Hamner). The hon. member observed that
he had given notice that he should move tomorrow that the
petition be printed.
The petition was ordered to lie on the table.
Mr. RAPHAEL rose to say a few words on the petition,
but

The SPEAKER intimated that the hon. gentleman was
out of order, the petition having been duly received.
Mr. RAPHAEL—Then, air, I will move that the petition
be printed. (Order.)
Mr. COBDEN reminded the hon. member that he had
already given notice to that effect for to-morrow evening.
Mr. RAPHAEL said that under those circumstances he
would postpone what he bad to say until that opportunity.
POOR LAWS (IRELAND).
Mr. A. STAFFORD asked if it were intended to bring in
any declaratory measure with reference to the clause of the
Irish Poor Relief Amendment Act, commonly known as the
Quarter-acre Clause I"

Sir G. GREY said it was not intended to propose any
alteration of the law, but the poor law commissioneri had
the subject under consideration, with a view to making an
order respecting it.

NAVIGATION OF THE ST. LAWRENCE.
Mr. SPOONER asked if a memorial had been received
from the Board of Trade in Canada on the subject of open-
ing the navigation of the St. Lawrence, and representing
that, if the policy of the present government in reArence to
that question were persevered in, the consequence might be
the annexation of Canada to the United States.
Mr. HAWES said some papers had been received, which
should be laid before the house to-morrow.
ENCUMBERED ESTATES (IRELAND) BILL.
Mr. BRIGHT asked when this bill would be proceeded
with ?
Lord J. RUSSELL said it would be gone on with before
may of the other Irish business before the house.

THE UNPRODUCED DESPATCH.
On the motion for reading the order of the day,
Mr. B. HAW ES nee and said that in aooordanoe with the
pledge he had given to the house on Friday night, he was
anxious to make a abort statement, by which the house
would be better enabled to judge of the correctness or incise-
remness of the accusations of the noble lord the member fbr
Lyhn. In the first place be wished tb may that ilia the heat
of debate on Friday night he had made use of any ex-
pressions that could be considered objectionable, it was
his desire now to withdraw them. He felt, how-
ever, that the statement of the noble lord and
the imputations which he had cut upon his noble
friend, and en the department iu which he had the honour
to serve, could not be permitted to pass without the most
direct and positive denial on his put. He would briefly re.
state the circumstacces. (The hon. member then, without
any material variation, repeated the statements made by him
on Monday and on Friday in last week, as to the receipt of
the despatch in question, its endorsement, at the Colonial-
office, and its having been directed both by himself and Earl
Grey to be sent down for the information of the committee.
Ile also re-stated what had occurred in the committee
on the subject.) lie then asked the house to put
that generous interpretation on this matter to which
he conceived his conduct throughout entitled him.
As to himself, he could assure the noble lord, though he
laboured under very s•vong feelings, and though he considered
his public and private character entirely at stake, he would
not allow himself to be betrayed into any hasty expressions;
he had so keen a sense of the evil cons( quences of these
altercations which had so recently taken place in the house—
he had en keen an apprehension of the results likely to ensue
thence elsewhere—(hear, hear)—that he would repress the
acute perception of the injury offered to him, and seek to
avoid offence to any one in what he felt called upon to say
in his vindication. (Hear, hear.) lie would read to the
house what he underst od to b the charge of the noble lord
against him, as conveyed in e the noble lord's own words.
The noble lord thus expressed himself:
I raid that if thew minutes and memorandums were not got up
stihrequently —to his examination of the Sib of April, he was troubled
with the shortest memory since the days of green beg notoriety,
when Theodore Ma) ocebi gave his answer of Nos so rimed°. That
was the chat ge I made, and the hon. gentleman may take his option
whether or not, after three various discussions and various minutes
to which he attlx“l his name, be, on the Mb of April, could net re-
member the receipt of any despatch of an important nature that he
could not on the ath of April recollect, notwithstanding three vene-
rate discussions on die sash vet of that despatch and its importance,
that any Important despatch or that any dinnatch connected with the
agriculture and social orate of Jilltlaieu Intl been reuelved. That in
the chance I make ng.iinst the hon. newton:in, and I rare nothing
whether he makes his defence against the one or the other of the
horns of the dilemma on which I pl hie him, and from which be cannot

escape.
Now be would read to the house the questions that had
been put to him on the committee, and the answers he had
given. Mr. Goulburei asked,
Cat you explain awe reason why we have no accounts in the
11 aper. laid before parliament for Jamaica of the character of thew
ftum other colonice ! I imagine you allude to the blue book—to the
annual account from Jamaica.—There is no account of the state of the
island, and an the other caws I That is generally comprised in rho
annual report calk d the Blue Book. The fact is that we have not
' received it.—Dots not the governor write despatches to the Colonial-
office on the subject of the suite of the inland, beetles that one pan-
cider paper in the course of the year t Yen, certainly, but lum not
aware of any despatches from him of any importance, which have
been withheld from this committee.—Wc have remised Irvin Mher
colonice very considerable details as to the state of those colonic& and
as to the prospects of agriculture ; but from Jamaica 1 can tint
nothing of the kind' Until very recently, I think, there has been no
such general despatch received; that dogwatch is now printing fur
this committee. 1 ought to el I tbut the goes rnor has beim in the
island 11 very Wort time—By the Chairman: That is preparing is it !
There is a despatch, but still not of the nature to which the right hon.
gentlemen alludes ; however, whatever we have will he furnished.
Now, therefore, as he had stated, a dispatch had been received
from Governor Grey, which was in preparation for the use of
parliament, and which, as he had further stated, contained in it
nothing of an important character. That war hie impres-
*ion, certainly, and the home, he thought, would admit, at
least, that if he had erred, it war not on the site most favour-
able to his own opinions, for the despatch in question, which
occupied but a mingle page of the Blue Book, while it inti-
mated an opinion that some sort of protection was desirable,
intimated, also, the decided opinion of Governor Grey that
the government at home must not place too much reliance
upon the statements of the planters as to the cost of cultiva-
tion. (Hear, hear.) Here was an opinion which, had
he been influenced by the unworthy spirit attributed
to him by the noble lord, he should certai dy have
made the most of ; but, as he had before said, he
did not regard the opinion as one of importance. The
honourable gentle man then repeated his statement
of last Monday as to the date of the reception of the des-
patch, and the circumstance that after distinct directions had
been given on the 30th of March by his noble friend Earl
Grey, that the despatch should be at once laid before the
committee, it was found, on the I tah of April, that, by some
misapprehension on the part of Mr. Cox, a gentleman whose
high honour was well known to many members of that
house—( hear, hear)—the despatch had not been forwarded
to the e anmittee. He then called upon the house to any
whether he could give a fairer or more frank statement oil
the subject than he ha I given—( hear, hear)—a statement
which ho hoped, further, be bad made with temper.
('leer, hear.) To the noble lord opposite, as to a gentle.
man, and as to a person holding a high position
in that house and in the country, he would at peal,
whether be could, atter this statement, maintain the
charge which he had made ? (Hear, hear.) If the cohle
lord still adhered to that charge, he (Mr. Hawes) would
then ask the house to institute a complete inquiry into all
the facts of the matter. (Hear, hear.) He could not submit
to individual arbitration in such a case. (Ilear, hear.) He
would either, by full inquiry, ho convicted of the guilt
impuscd to him, or he would stand fair and honourable be-
fore the house and before the country. (Cheers.) He was
not aware that during the long time he had sat in that house
he had ever had doubt or discredit cut upon him—(hear,
hear)—and he thought he had now a right, having fully
and frankly explained this matter, to appeal to the noble lard
to withdraw his charge, or, should he nut de so, to the house
to institute an immediate and searching Inquiry into the
whole ease, promising on his own part to lend every
aid to that inquiry, and to subetautiate all he had said
by the testimony of persons of the most unimpearhel
honour. SCheers.)
Lord G. BENTINCK was sure that every one who had
listened to the hon. gentleman must be perfectly satisfied
that his statement as regarded the despatch particularly in
question was perfectly accurate. (Hear, hear.) But the
hon. gentleman had not made out any case to show that the
Celoniabollice had not withheld information from the com-
mittee. lie (Lord G. Bentinck) hail made two distinct,
charges—the one, that the Colonial-odic° had systematically
kept back the inf vitiation of February it ought to have
placed in possession of the committee; arid the second
against the hon. gentleman with reference to the despatch in
question. He must repeat his surprise that the hon. mem-
ber had so wholly mistaken the character of this deepavh,
when he regarded it as of no importance, more
specially atter the right honourable member for Cam-,
bridge University had so emphatically directed his
attention to the point, in the committee. It was of the ute
most importance that the contents of the despatch should be
known, for, after the right hon. President of the Board of
Trade had, in his place, denied that there was any inform.
ation from Jamaica, and alter the bon. member, before the
committee, had stated that the despatch of Sir C. Grey con-
tained nothing of importance, the West India agents who were
in the committee room at once forwarded representations
home which led to the conviction there that Sir C. Grey had
betrayed his trust in not forwarding account. of the distress
of the colony, and the result was an article in the Jamaica
Dispatch, which, amon. other remarks, said,—" Whatever
may be our opinion as to the present government and the
incapacity of its representative here, we cannot bring our-
selves to the supposition that any set of men, entrusted with
the government of the empire, would dare to disregard the
well authenticated distress of any portion of her Majesty's
subjects." In like manner with tsc hon. gentleman, the
right hon. l'resi tent of the Board of Trade had denied
that any despatches hail been received from Jamaica. On
the Bth February there took place in the house this ques-
tion and answer :
Mr. Goethe att wished to know why Jamaica had been omitted in
the it:dement of the affairs of the several West India cronies laid be-
fore the house, and strait there would he any objection to lay the
last intelligence frau Jain dot on the table
Mr. LAIIII,IIERE WAHI that, as the right hon. gentleman had had
the kindnem to give him notice of his intention to ask the quettion, be
had applied to the Colonial-aloe en the subject, and woe enabled to
state that the reason that no blue book had been laid on the table
respecting Jamaica woe, that it had not been received. Owing to the
ample infotmation which hal been forwarded by Wed /Agin, Earl
Carey had stated he could a& nothing to the rources of intelligence
already opened by the noble lord. With respect to the latter 100 tof
the right hon. gentleman's question, he had to say that no despatch
had been received giving any general account of the s•ate of Jamaica;
but that es coon as such a document should be received, it was the
intention of the Secretary of State for the Colonies to communicate it
without delay to the house.
Now, the fact was that on the Bth of February information
had seen received by the government from Jamaica, as ap-
peared from &speech of Earl Grey in another place, in which
speech occurred this passage :
A very great change wan going on in the West Indict, at the present
moment. Among many documents which hail pawed through hie
hands connect.' with the state of these colonies, ho was very much
struck with one which lie had received the other day from a number
, of planters in the wmtern part of Jamaica, and who stated that they
had invented capital to the extent of not tees than 1,12,000/. in planta-
tions in the colony; and they added, what was a moat remarkable
fact, that, with one exception, they had all purchased or leaned their
plantations since emancipation. That showed what a change of sys-
tem was in progress in that inland, and he believed that in the course
of a few years more they would see the soil 01 Jamaica cultivated by
planters carrying on business for themaelves, and forming resident
owners or lessee's of the land. So far from believing that the pram
mete of Jamaica were bail, he was not aware orally part of the British
dominions in which there was so favourable a erospect for the invest-
ment of capital at this moment an Jamaica.
It was this remarkable statement, doubtless, which had
struck the attention of the right hon. member for the Uni-
versity of Cambridge, and induced him on the Bth February
to put the question which had elicited the answer just cited.
The house would be edified by the illustration of colonial
diplomacy, which would be afforded by the perusal he now
begged to make to them of the whole document, which the
noble earl had thus so meanly perverted to hie own use, and
which was
A MIILHOZIAL TO THE Rioter Illogneammat THE Esau. GIE.T, HER
MA/12SIT'M 1"11/1CIYAI. SIECRICTAaIf Or STATE ran THE CA/1/.1., &C.
—My Lord,—We pray your earnest attention to the following facts.
We, the underWgned, are the owners of 10, and the lessees of 19
sugar estates in the west end of the Island of Jamaica, on which
prow/tiee we employ daily an average of 2,091 labourers, who re.
present families numbrting 14,490 people, lately redeemed from
slavery. Our sugar estates, 32 in number, are expected to make
this year 2,796 hogsheads of sugar and 1,351 puncher:los of ram,
which will coat us, by accurate computation, 60,3131. lls. Id.
We have no hope of realising more than 131. per hogshead and
let. per puncheon (the maximum price of the market at pre-
sent), at which rate our produce will bring 60,8961., Malin a
balance over our expenditure of 5801. 64. 7d., to go ogsioot I pie
cent., the common rate of interest which money bears in the colony,
and which, on 60,3151. 13s. 5d.,' would be 3,6101. Ins. hid. Our capital
invested on these 32 sugar estates, in lire stock md implements of
buaeamiy amounts is lire stock t0n2,094/;in implements:W.l4,6334
upon which weeeand-tear capital we receive no interest whalers.
The 19 sugar wastes that we own met us 95,7844, and we pay a
rental for the 11 other estates of 9110/. per annum, which sunk
capital is likewise wholly prontlese. We are not so absurd as to ex-
pect that the British nation should abandon the principles of free