The Sun.
London, England, 1837-12-12 00:00:00

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT

HOUSE OF LORDS.—Dre. 11.
The LORD CHANCELLOR took his seat on the Woolsack at
Five o'Clock.
The Earl of ALBEMARLE presented a petition from the
Mayor, Aldermen, and Corporation of Wisbeach, praying for
an alteration in the Quarter Sessions Bill, and also for certain

alterations in the Municipal Corporation Bill.
The Earl of RIPON gave notice that on Thursday next
he should present certain petitions relative to the incorporation
of the Sees of Mann and Carlisle. The Noble Earl also gave
notice, that on that occasion he should take the opportunity of
calling the attention of the House to something, which was
not distinctly heard in the gallery.
MESSAGE FROM THE QUEEN.
The LORD CHANCELLOR read a Message to the
House from her Majesty, for which see Commons Report.
Lord MELBOURNE moved that her Majesty's Message
be taken into consideration to-morrow.

The Marquis of SALISBURY held a conversation across
the table with Lord Duncannon (as we understood) upon the
appropriation of a part of the highway rates, but in so low a
tone as not to be intelligibly heard in the gallery ; after
which the Noble Marquis gave notice of his intention, after
the rece, of calling the attention of the House to the ne-
cessity of appointing a Committee to inquire into the manage.
ment of the present funds raised by the Turnpike-roads in re-

ference to their apportionment.
Lord BROUGHAM Presented a petition from the Mayor
and Aldermen of Banbury, in the county of tailtUrd, in favour
of an extension of the Bill for the relief of Quakers and Mora-
vian: to certain offices. The Noble and Learned Lord's own
opinion was, that it would be absolutely necessary very con-
siderably to extend the provisions of that Bill ; but he should
have abundant opportunity of stating his views upon it here-
after.

ABOLITION OF SLAVERY APPRENTICESHIPS.
The same NOBLE and LEARNED LORD presented a petition

from the Baptist Missionaries now residing in the western par
of Jamaica.. It was a very rare occurrence for those reverend
persons to approach their Lordships on a subject which
at first sight might appear to be political. But as it re-
garded the well-being and safety of those whom they were
among, as well in reference to the operation of their
religious works as to the planters themselves, he certainly
thought they were perfectly justified in presenting this
petition, the prayer of which was that immediate steps
should be taken to put the apprentices of the Colonies on
the footing of free citizens, as had been the case in the colonies
of the Bermudas, Antigua, and some of the leser cold.
nies. It was perfectly true that there was great cause for
the complaint now made both in this country and in the colonies
against individuals, and still greater cause of complaint
against the Lee"isiation of those Colonies, for their delay in
performing their part of the implied if not of the ex-
pressed contract upon which the public money of this coun-
try had been paid, though he could not go quite the length
to which some people went on this question. That
the operation of the Act had been in a • great degree
ineffectual—that it had not done all that was intended,
and that the progress of it ought to be accelerated, he
was most willing to assent to ; but still he could
not shut his eyes to what had been done, the effect that
had been produced, and the progress which the opera-
tion of the Act was making.—( Hear, hear.) He was
perfectly persuaded that the condition of the slaves had be-
came considerably improved, because he had the fact from
the best authority, that they now purchased out of their own
earnings a larger quantity of articles, and the comforts of life,
and at all events of better quality, than they had enjoyed while
they were,strictly speaking,in a state of slavery. Notwithstanding
that, however, infinitely less had been done, than ought to have
been done, and it behoved the Government and Parliament to
take care that what remained to be done should be done at all
events before the whole of the money which had been voted was
paid array. This brought him to the Returns which he had
celled the attention of his Noble Friend to on the last night on
which ths House sat. He was surprised at the difficulty
which had been raised in the way of making those Re-
turns. It was the same excuse which had been made in
July last, not by his Noble Friend, but in the other House of
Parliament. Between seventeen and eighteen millions of the
money had already been awarded, and it had been deemed
consistent with decency in the House of Commons, to state
tint there should not be a Return made of the appropriation
of that vast sum of money. He was astonished that there
should have been the slightest doubt that the people had a
right to know to whom so much of their money had been
peed. Such an indecency never could be offered. Such an
insult never could be offered to the Commissioners or to those
whom they represented, than for any person to say to them,
such a sum of money has been paid, but you sha'n't know to whom
it has been paid ; you shall only know for youiscomfort, if that
will be any satisfaction to you, that seventeen millions has been
paid, but to whom it has been paid you shall know nothing. It
had been said that to know this would interfere with the opera-
tion of the proceedings. Why that was just what he ( Lord
B.) wanted. He wanted to interfere with the operation of the
proceedings. He wished to have the opportunity of knowing
in what way and to whom this vast sum of money had been ap-
plied before the whole of it was disposed of. His Noble Friend
had said the Commissioners would require six weeks longer be-
fore they could give this information to the House. He hoped
he had satisfied his Noble Friend that there was no pretext for
such delay. But to take away even the shadow of that
excuse, he was willing to have the order which had been made
discharged, and to make another motion. He was willing
(as we understood the Noble and Learned Lord) to have
the Return now made merely of the sums awarded, with the
names of the parties in whose favour the awards were made,
and with the dates of payment. He trusted that this Re-
turn would be immediately made, because if they waited till the
recess was over the whole eighteen millions rnightbe paid
away, and there would be no chance of ascertaining whether
those in whose favour the awards were made, had performed
their part of the contract or not.
Lord GLEN E LG, in his reply, spoke in so low a tone,
that he was scarcely audible in the gallery. He disclaimed
any intention to refuse:' information ; on the contrary, he
said he was most anxious to . furnish that information as
speedily as possible. But it was impossible to produce
the returns which his Noble Friend had moved for until after
Christmas. If his Noble Friend would call at the office, the
Commissioners would be perfectly ready to supply him with
every information in as short a period as possible.—( Hear,
hear, hear,) To enable them to supply the information
that was required more quickly, the number of Clerks
in their establishment had considerably been increased.
Lord BROUGHAM said he had not complained of a re-
fusal to give information, but of that information being delayed,
and he had not yet been satisfied that that information might
not be furnished before the meeting of Parliament after the
recess.—( Hear, hear.) He wished his Noble Friend would
show a disposition to urge a more speedy fulfilment of
the promise of the production of these returns. —( Hear, hear.)
In order to save time, if his Noble Friend had no objection,
he would take this course. Instead of discharging the order
it should be understood between his Noble Friend and himself
that the sums awarded should be returned without the names
of the parties to whom they had been awarded. His motion
was not to cast blame upon the Commissioners, though he had
no doubt that blame attached some where. In his opinion,
the Commissioners had acted with too much diligence. The
Noble Lord then presented a similar petition from a Con-
gregation of Wesleyan Methodists in Finsbury.
NEGRO EDUCATION.

The Earl of ABERDEEN wished to know from the Noble
Lord opposite what had been done upon this important subject
by her Majesty's Ministers. The Noble Lord had now held
the office of Colonial Secretary for upwards of two years,
and he thought it was time that the House should
knew what had been done upon the important subject of
Negro. education. When he had the honour of hold-
ing the situation which the Noble Lord so ably filled,
he had been pressed severely upon this subject. In
his opinion the Negro population ought .o be educated in
such a manner as to render them fit for a state of freedom.
Lord G LEN ELG said that although the papers upon this
subject had not been laid upon the table of their Lordships
House, they had been upon the table of the other House of Par-
liament, and sums of money had been voted by the House of Com-
mons for the purposes of general education in the Colonies.
Those sums had been applied upon a principle which he had
no doubt would meet with the approbation and sanction of the
House. Those sums had been distributed through the medium
of different Societies, whose object was to further education
in the colonies ; and he could assure the House that
there had been no laxity on the part of her Majesty's Govern-
ment to effect so desirable an object as the education of the
negroes. It was intended to send out Mr. Latroche,
the great traveller for the purpose of making inquiries upon
this most important subject—( Hear, from Lord Brougham)
—and he had no doubt that that person would make a re-
port upon the subject that would be highly satisfactory to the
House and to the country.
Lord BROUGHAM said, that if he bad been
aware that it was the intention of the Noble Earl
to put a question upon this important subject to the Noble
Lord at the head of the Colonial Department, he would have
prepared himself to give an answer to that question, which he
had no doubt would have been most satisfactory. He
happened, however, to have the means of giving an answer
to that question as far as it related to one of the Colonies.
He had before him two documents addressed by the Governor
and the Legislative Assembly of Jamaica. In the first he,
found this passage :—" I sent you down no less than four mes-
sages on the subject of an extended system of education,
and as no measure on that subject has proceeded from the
House of Assembly, can I do otherwise than conclude that
you are indifferent to it ?" In another Message from the
same Noble Lord to the same body there were these words:—
" I informed you that this sum of 20,000/. sterling had been
voted by the English Parliament for the support of educa-
tion in the Colonies, with a promise of further assistance. You
have taken no steps to make that assistance available."
Again, ie another part of that message his Lordship (we be-
lieve Lord Mulgrave) said to the House of Assembly, " I
have transmitted to you despatches from the Secretary of
State for the Colonies, recommending the repeal of the
thirty-third Canon with a view to facilitate the exten-
sion of religious education; but you have refused to re-
peal it." Their Lordships must see, then, that there was
no want of funds for the purpose of education, at least in Ja-
maica. Funds had been voted on this side of the water
and the intentions of the British Legislature were frustrated,
and its liberality rendered unavailing by those to whom we
had given so many millions. The neglect of education then
was not owing to their being no funds, but to the refusal of the
Legislature of Jamaica to repeal the intolerant Canon, and
their continued disregard to the appeals made to them by the

Governor.
Lord GL ENE LG said that if his Noble Friend
supposed that education had been totally neglected be-
cause the House of Assembly was opposed to its exten-