The Sun.
London, England, 1830-01-02 00:00:00

neither the country, the colonies, or the slave,
would be benefitted by the ininumission of the
slaves in our colonies.
" The report of Mr. Mackenzie, the late Consul.

General of St. Domingo," says Mr. Macdonneit,
was presented to Parliament in the last Session.
It contains atiaccount of the commerce, agriculture,
and state of society in that island, where a black
population, which had once been inured to labour,
existed on the most extensive scale. It is well
known that the abolitionists always boasted of St.
Domingo as realizing their warmest wishes, and as
afferding every proof of an enfranchised people
rigidly extending industry, acquiring accurate no-
tions of civil government, and advancing generally
in the march of civilization.
" Its population, it was affirmed by my Lords
Landsdowne and Calthorpe, and by several members
of the Commons, had prodigiously increased from
486,000 to 935,000, while in the British colonies,
under the withering hardships of slavery, there was
a great decrease.
" Mr. Mackenzie has stated that the population
of St. Domingo amounted to upwards of 500,000
before the revolution, and that, according to the
most authentic returns, it has since not only not in-
creased at all, but decreased to 423,000.
" Look, cries Mr. Stephen, to the valuable trade
you are renouncing for your infatuated Colonies
Millions of your manufactures would be exchanged
for the vast produce which a society of free men
must raise when animated to exertion by liberty,
and tasting uncontrolled the sweets of their own
earnings.
" The official Report states, that continuous or
steady labour is at an end ; that the quantity of
sugar manufactured has decreased from 141,089,831
to 2,0201b5.; that the coffee exported is= picked from
trees planted antecedent to the revolution ; and that
there is a decline of agriculture in all its branches,
in articles even of the first necessity, such as Indian
corn, which is now largely supplied by the United
States.
" Others, who had some misgiving of the hyper-
bolical descriptions of their brother declaimers on
the subject of trade, touched another string, and
harangued about a flee peasantry choosing their em-
ployment, and by degrees elevating their condition.
" The Report states that the little labour which
is performed is obtained by coercion—that a mili-
tary code prevails, under which mesa are sum-
moned to work by beat of drum, and punished for
non-performance of their allotted tasks after a mili-
tary fashion.
"But the choicest strai►►s of eloquence were re-
served to depict the moral improvements which had
taken place. The debasing influence of slavery was
no more. A kindliness of feeling prevailed. Men,
no longer humiliated by ill-treatment, became gene-
rous and humane, mild in their manners, elevated in

sentiment.
"Mr. Mackenzie has shown that the conduct of
the men to the women is brutal; that the discipline
of a thick stick is resorted to; that the soldiery
live in a state of unrestrained licentiousness; and
that, in one word, society in the interior is relapsing
into the worst condition of savage life."
The reasoning in the above paragraph pro-
ceeds upon the assumption that the slave popu.
lation will never improve, and that its present
state iv a criterion by which to judge of it in all
time to come ; but no assumption can assuredly
be more groundless, The first race, or gene-
ration,-of slaves may prove licentious, disorderly,
and idle, from their inability to appreciate
duly the inestimable boon conferred upon them ;
but it by no means follows that future genera-
tions will be chargeable with the same vices. It

is, on the contrary, to be presumed, that the
slave population will act precisely as men gene-
rally do under such circumstances ; and that after
having enjoyed its day of licence, it will return
to those steady habits which are only to be found
in perfection where freedom has been a birth•
right, and not a boon. We copy the following
passage from the pamphlet with much more sa-
tisfaction :
" There are about 800,000 slaves in our West
India posses,ions, whose value, together with the
amount of fixed capital sunk in the land and build-
ings, may be estimated at one hundred and fifty
millions, yielding an aggregate profit of barely four
per cent. Let ten thousand of the best slaves be
freed, and that profit will be reduced, probably, to
two per cent. ; let ten thousand more be freed, and

he Profit will be entirely gone; let any further

number be freed, and cultivation must entirely stop,
or the cultivator will get involved in debt. The small
proprietor will be ruined first, and would claim in-
demnification for his land and buildings. Proprie-
tors of large estates, or of that size best calculated
to produce the largest comparative returns, would
hold out longer; but still, after the numbers stated
had been freed, the profit would be absorbed, arid
the owners would have to be indemnified both for
the land and buildings, and for the unproductive
slaves remaining on their hands.
" It is in this comprehensive light that the
measure should be viewed by the nation, that all
may fairly become aware of the enormous sum which
they will have to pay, sooner or later, in compensa-
tion to the planters. It is presumed that the repre-
sentatives of the people, in the present condition of
our finances, will closely examine the actual national
cost of manumission by compulsion, before they irre-
vocably sanction its enactment."—Morn. Advertiser.
Notice of trial for libel has, we under-
stand, been handed to the Standard—two, if
not three, notices to the same effect to the Age;
and three additional notices to the _Morning
Journal ! What the Government can mean—if

indeed the Government it at all concerned in
the matter—by these prosecutions, we do not
know. That the Duke of Wellington could
have commanded them we do not believe—for
he has no need of defending his character—that
Lord Aberdeen should have been a party to
them is incredible, for he is well known to be
not only a man of literature and science, but of
a liberal and forgiving turn of mind—and that
Mr. Peel should have any thing to do with

[ern is even still more inciediblesi for accord-

ing to the present interpretation of the law, no
Member of the Cabinet has been so much libelled
as he has been, and yet to this moment the At-
torney-General has not had it in his power to
point the finger of scorn at him as desirous of
putting down the free expression of opinion
through the medium of the Press. That the
Government has been grossly misled in the late
prosecutions for libel, we believe there is no one
who can doubt; and that it will do itselfstill more es-
sential dis-service by those which are said to have
been determined upon, follows as a matter of
course. Gross, as perhaps, some of the libels
may be, which are about to be prosecuted—but
of which we know nothing—we question much
whether an independent Jury will be found to
convict the responsible parties ; for it is an in-
variable effect of carrying matters too far---of fol-
lowing up prosecution by prosecution—to
give to the SUM7IIIIIII jUS the appearance of the
summa injuria, and to convert that into sym-
pathy for the defendant which, with more prudent
management, would have been viewed by the
public as only the result of just indignation.--
These observations will, in all probability, pro-
duce no effect where we would wish them to be
duly considered ; but we cannot, nevertheless,
help expressing our regret that a Government,
which appears to entertain honest intentions,
should falsify its character so much, by attacking
the only power which can ever defend it against
slander, or give it reputation and stability with
the country.—iforntng Advertiser.

INSOLVENT DEBTORS' COURT, JAN. 1

James Evans, late a miller ansl farmer, at May-
field, in Staffordshire, was opposed by Mr. HEATH,
on behalf of Mr. Daniel Miller.

The insolvent stated, in his examination by Mr.
HEATH, that his own cousin, Francis Shaw, jun.,
was his detaining creditor, who had arrested him
for a debt of 231., which had been owing three
years, and he swore that that arrest was a hostile
one, and that he had never seen his cousin since he
was arrested. Mr. Shaw, sen. (insolvent's uncle,
and the detaining creditor's father), had sold some
property to the insolvent's father for 1,8501., of
which the insolvent had to pay him 2474: he had
paid him 1121. by instalments. On the Bth of Oc-
tober last he signed a paper in favour of his uncle,
Mr. Shaw, sen., the purport of which he did not
understand, but by virtue of it Mr. Shaw took pos-
session of all his farming stock, &c., which he sold
by auction for 1931. Four days after he signed this
paper, Mr. Shaw, jun. arrested the insolvent for
the old debt of 231., and he gave bail, and directly
afterwards came to London, and rendered to the
King's Bench prison.
Mr. HEATH here offered to the insolvent to forego
any opposition to his discharge, If his uncle would
give up the property.
The insolvent did not think his uncle would give
up the property; he, the uncle, had taken every
thing he possessed, and left his wife and family
without even a bed to lie upon. His wife and fa-
mily had been obliged since then to apply to the pa-
rish for relief.

Mr. HEATH submitted, on behalf of the opposing
creditor, either that the insolvent's petition ought
to be dismissed, or that he should be remanded for
a fraudulent making away with his property.
The insolvent was remanded.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.

MANSION-HOUSE.

Yesterday the greater part of the day was occu-
pied in the disposal of applications from paupers
fer relief, and in granting orders of removal of the
poor from various parishes to which they had impro-
perly become a burden.
As the business proceeded, Mr. Hobler said he
trusted that something would be done during the
next Session of Parliament to amend, or at least to
consolidate, the law of settlement. The expence
of litigating questions relating to the settlement of
paupers was an enormous addition to the parochial
burdens. Some instances had recently been pre-
sented at that office. An old woman, the purchase
of whose life was not worth 10!., would occasion
an expenditure of double that sum to two parishes
in the legal conflict to get rid of the incumbrance.
The law on this subject was like the stuff upon
most other matters—a heterogeneous heap—a mass
from which nothing definitive could be extracted.
To put the shapeless bulk into something like order
would do much good, even if but little alterations
were made in the existing provisions.
The LORD MAYOR said, that every day's expe-
rience proved that some amendment was much
required.

It is said that the expenses of litigating the ques-
tions arising in cases of settlement, amount to two-
sevenths of the enormous sum paid in this country as
poor's rates. Great expense is also incurred by
that most superfluous provision, which requires that
two Magistrates shall sign each order of removal of
paupers. Those signatures are made, as a matter
of course; but one, two, and three days are com-
monly consumed in the attendance of parish officers
before two Magistrates can be found to make it con-
venient to meet each other, for the purpose of
making the order complete. In the country, where
the Magistrates often reside at considerable distances
from each other, the evil is much greater.

A pauper named Scott was charged with having
committed an assault on a servant of Mr. Lewis, a
printer, who is a parish officer.
The pauper had gone to the house of the com-
plainant, and, as a pauper, demanded to ". borrow"
some silver for his necessities. The servant told
him that his request could not be complied with,
upon hearing which he took eut a knife, threatened
the servant, and became so riotous that it was con-
sidered necessary to secure him, to prevent, perhaps,
fatal mischief. The pauper was at the time evi-
dently excited by gin.
One of the officers said that the prisoner, who
was now but in the prime of life, had formerly been
in the service of a respectable tradesman, who was
known to his Lordship. He was a man of talents,
but he preferred conviviality to toil, and for a long
time made his friends and relatives contribute to his
occasions in that respect. Of late it was by an in-
genious system of annoying theta that he succeeded.
Prisons had no terrrors for him.

It was stated that he was in the habit of calling
for drink in public-houses, and of merely returning
thanks for it ; and he had the knack of prevailing on
l►ndlords to hand him the beverage while he shoved
his other hand into his pocket as if for the amount.
An officer said that the prisoner had contrived to
get a beef-steak in the Compter.
The prisoner—Yes, and a very tough one it was,
too. I wouldn't recommend the Compter at all for
a beef-steak.—( Laughter.)
The LORD MAYOR was at a loss what to do with
such a fellow. For such a case there was no special
mode of treatment such as appeared adapted to it.
The workhouse, however, seemed to be the best of
the alternatives which presented themselves, and his
Lordship, therefore, gave up the custody of the
prisoner to the parish-officers, who said they would
put him under the best treatment they could provide.
The prisoner laughed, and appeared not at all to
dispute the eligibility of the arrangement.

Bo W-5T It X rr.
Yesterday Samuel Bruce, second mate of the
George Canning, merchantman, was brought in cus-
tody before Mr. INIINsuuLL, by Taunton, sen.,
charged with having seriously assaulted John
O'Neil, a tide-waiter belonging to the Custom-house.
The defendant denied the charge altogether.
Mr. MlNsittm, observed, that the defendant must
be remanded until the complainant wad able to at-
tend :II person.
A case was heard in private by Sir R. BIRNIE,
in which the eldest son of a Scottish Baronet, who
is well known i❑ the city, charged a pretty-looking
young womau with a baby in her arms, with ob-
structing him in the street, and causing a crowd of
persons to collect around him. As far as we were
sole to ascertain the facts, they appear to be as follows.
About a year and a half ago, the gentleman was
first smitten with the pretty face and tidy figure of
the female, who after a brief siege surrendered at
discretion, but not without hearing the usual quan-
tum of vows of love and promises of everlasting
fidelity breathed in her too willing ear by her ena- '
moured swain. They met, and met again, until at
last certain disagreeable consequences becoming but
too visible, the gentleman for the first time began
to reflect upon the affair with becoming seriousness ;
and the fear of a parish beadle arid an order of affili-
ation becoming too strong fOr his now decaying love,
he determined to cut the connexion at once rather
than run the risk of such unpleasant consequences.
Accordingly, he avoided the object of his former at-
tachment, and gave out a report that he was gone to
the continent. After a vain endeavour to find out the
residence of her faithless lover, the woman gave him
up in despair, and in the usual time was delivered
of a female child. This happened about five months
ago, nor could she hear the slightest tidings of the
father of her infant, although she sought for him in
every place where she thought she might find him.
Yesterday morning, however, she caught a glimpse
of the gentleman in Russell-court, Bow-street, and
running up to him, exclaimed " Ah! have I found
you at last, you faithless man ?" The gentleman
replied that he had no recollection whatever of her,
and that she must be mistaken in his person. " Oh,
no," exclaimed the girl, " I know you but too well :
it is useless to attempt to disguise ocr connexion.—
Here is your child, and you must support it," at the
same time holding the infant out at arm's length,
within a few inches of the gentleman's face. He,