The Sun.
London, England, 1838-01-31 00:00:00

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SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS•

A subscription in opposition to the Spottiswoode
fund has been opened very successfully in Newcastle,
Cambridge, and some other places ; and, from all ac-
counts, we may soon expect to have to announce large
contributions in all our great provincial towns. The
good sense and love of justice in Englishmen are too
strong to allow them to look on with indifference at
cue of the most barefaced invasions of the constitu-
tional franchise ever attempted in this country. At the
last general election the notable scheme was propound-
ed of starting Orange candidates in Ireland in places
where there was not the slightest chance of their suc-
ceeding, with a view to a pretext for petitioning ; and
the object of the Spottiswoode gang fund was literally
to disfranchise the Irish constituencies, by exposing
the candidates of their choice to an expense which
they could not support. It cannot he too much
impressed on Englishmen that the expense of defend-
ing a contested seat is very different in the case of an
English and an Irish representative. In the case of
the latter the opening the register entails on him the
expense of bringing a host of witnesses to London,
where they are often detained a long time at a heavy
charge. Th'e Spottiswoode subscription is one of the
krossest invasions of the independence of the sister
ingdom that can possibly be conceived, and it is
only by Englishmen combining to defeat the in-
justice of. Englishmen that a heavy national reproach
can be warded off. The people of this country
have no more right to employ their money to
disfranchise the Irish constituencies than they
have to hire assassins to waylay the Irish repre-
sentatives on their entering this kingdom. The
Duke of Newcastle's maxim, may not a man do what
he will with his own, would sanction every injustice.
No ; a man may not do what he will with his own,
if what he wills be unjust. The Christian maxim,
" Do unto others as ye will that others should do un-
to you," is the rule for Christians ; and the Duke of
Newcastle's maxim ought never to be mentioned but
with the reprobation it deserves. Let, then, English-
men show, by their contributions, to defeat this un-
christian Spottiswoode conspiracy, that they feel as
they ought towards their Irish brethren, through whom
a blow is aimed at Liberal principles and Constitu-
tional Government. To be neutral on such an occa-
sion is criminal. We, however, are without appre-
hension as to the result. The spirit of the country is
fairly roused, and justice will be done to Ireland.—
Morning Chronicle.
When we laid before our readers on Saturday last
the long series of startling arguments and proofs which
go to 'demonstrate the utter frustration of that most
exalted measure of the British Parliament, viz., the
- Abolition of the Negro Slave Trade, we were unaware
that we should so shortly have our argnments corro-
borated and our proofs enforced by the magnifi-
cent and impressive eloquence of the greatest of
our senatorial philanthropists. We allude to the
splendid speech of Lord Brougham upon the same
subject on Monday night. It in reality searches and
exhausts every corner of the subject. We said on Sa-
turday that " we were surprised at the injurious and
discreditable silence which had been maintained upon
the subject, while so much vehemence had been ex.-
bausted in speeches, in meetings, and in petitions, on
the subject of the apprenticeship system." We have
now no longer any reason for that complaint, and we
have no doubt that the stirring eloquence of Lord
Brougham's speech will prompt the calling and hold-
ing of public meetings on the subject in the remotest
corners of the country. We said on Saturday that
the " giant evil of the slave trade, which was once
beaten down by the humanity and justice of the Bri-
tish nation, and by the noble, self-renouncing decree of
the British Parliament, is now more rife, more vigi-
lant, and more truculent than ever." Slave ships, in
fact, swarm in the ports of France, of Spain, of Portu-
gal, and of the Brazils. The old horrors of the middle
passage are aggravated. The waters of the Atlantic
are bloated from latitude to latitude with those floating
Lazar-houses and blood-stained receptacles of human
misery in its most awful and excruciating fort.ns. The
eastern and western shores of Africa are polluted by
the open or covert visits of the felons engaged in the
disgusting trade ; and by the pertinacious abomina-
tions of piratical kidnappers and barefaced homicides.
The pure flag of commerce is stained and stigmatised
by their unpunished crimes. The march of civic zation
towards the centre of Africa is arrested, and the ad-
vancing torch of Christian enlightenment among the
benighted nations of Africa has• been repressed or ex-
tinguished by this revived abomination. The proofs of
this humiliating and deplorable result supplied by Lord
Brougham's speech are astounding. They are calcu-
lated to chill the heart's blood of philanthrope—to
torture every sympathy. of humanity—and to make
" Its knotty and combined locks to part,
And each paricular hair to .stand on cod,
Like quills upon the fretful porcupine."
His Lordship, after stating that the cause of the ag-
gravated evil was the " head-money clause," and
showing that the head-money and blood-money were
identical in principle and in efiect, proceeded with the
following thrilling statement :
" I approach the statement which I am about to sub-
mit to your Lords l iris, with a feeling of horror which I
cannot describe, and whch, even though I have been con-
sideriag the subject for three or four d I cannot conquer,
hut a ith the hope of being able to bring home to your Lord-
ships' minds all the honor's that are practised in the middle
pars ige, and 'silk!) I l ail be able to tri:ce to this as-stem ot
head moaev. Let me first remind your Lord,hips of the an a-
lo y which this system cf head money hears to what is
called blood money. Precisely the same is the effect of the
Leal-money—the vessel goes in, and is allowed to lay to ;
the forcible separation of friends and relatives takes place,
and the war of plunder goes on—nothing is dotte to prevent
that ; the peLatty does not attach—to use the same phrase,
the ship do..s not weigh enough—she has not got her weight
—her cargo—she has not got the slaves aboard for whom, in
proportion to the number 51., each is to be paid. And now,
my Lords, conic we to consider the iniquity which is perpe-
trated and which is almost unavoidable, considering with
whom our cruisers have to do. The vessel, on being descried,
and seeing that the cruiser is making chase, calculates
first whether she is so near to port as to be able to regain
her berth for the moment, and choose a better
opportunity of coming out—or whether she should
not rather make an attempt to accomplish the
middle passage, and escape, by her structure and
swifter sailing, the pursuit of the cruiser, by throwing over
a part of the cargo. He throws men, women, and children
overboard. Does he knock off their fetters ? No. Fet-
ters of what sort, my Lords It is a fact, and it speaks
volumes as to this traffic—it is an appalling fact in this case
that the fetters are not padlocked or screwed, but rivetted
by the blacksmith in his forge before the vessel sails,
because they are never intended to be loosened until they
arrive in the port of America. The human beings, in
order to lighten the vessel, are flung overboard, with weights
appended, so as to ensure their instant destruction. They
are loaded—purposely loaded—so as to entangle them and
prevent their swimming, and to ensure the destruction of the
evidence, as well as to secure the escape of the malefactor.
My Lords, even this is not all. It has bean found that being
uncertain whether they could throw them overboard in time
enough with security, they have packed them in water-
casks—packed them two and three in water-casks—loaded
those casks, and flung them overboard. One vessel, in an
escape sent twelve of those casks overboard, filled with
human beings.—(Hear.) My Lords, there were two vessels
thus overtaken, captured by her Majesty's cruisers, and
out of those two vessels, it had been proved by incontestible
evidence, that to enable the crew to make their escape—
but the attempt was made in vain—five hundred slaves were
thrown overboard, every one of whom met a watery grave.
The very sharks follow those vessels when they leave the
port, and that the track of the slaver is to be traced in the
ocean, by the blood of her murdered victims—by the blood
of those whom the crew, in order to effect their escape from
justice, have revoltingly murdered.
" M.rtua quill etiam jungebat corpora vivis."
If one of those two fettered slaves die on board the ves-
sel, he is allowed to remain bound to the one who is left
miserable, because he has not shared the fate of his fel-
low slave. A woman is allowed to give birth to the fruit
of her womb on the deck of the vessel, which is covered
with the decaying corpses of her fellow slaves. My Lords, if
I am asked to what I ascribe the existence of this inhuman
system—if I am asked how these enormities are to be pre-
vented ?—I have no hesitation in stating that it is to be as-
cribed entirely to the system of head-money, which I have
detailed."
The enormity of the evil has been now fully pressed
upon the public attention. The retnedy is the next
object to which that attention should be devoted. It
is imperative, both on account of the violated national
honour, and on account of the groans of suffering hu-
manity, that it should be instantly and effectively ap-
plied. On Saturday we suggested the chief cause of

the frustration of the great measure of negro slavery
abolition, which was carried in the British Parliamen
after the exertions of a quarter of a century by the
humane and indefatigable labours of Wilberforce and
Clarkson, of Pitt and Fox—we stated that it was the
want of a preventive, rather than a post facto power of
condemning slavers. We gave, at the same time,
a substantial narrative of the present statusquo of
our treaties with the slave-trade-renouncing nations—
Denmark, Sweden, Holland, Prussia, and Austria—
and the relative defects and advantages of our treaties
for the abolition of the slave trade, with France, Por-
tugal, and Spain. It is not, therefore, requisite, after
so brief an interval, to recapitulate all those causes
or re-produce that substantial analysis. We shall
briefly say that the treaty with Spain upon the subject
(although we believe its provisions have been evaded
in a great measure up to the present time) is highly
honourable to the philanthropic zeal, as well as to the
diplomatic talent and exertions of the Foreign-office.
It would be well if its stringent provisions could be
applied to our treaties with Portugal and the Brazils.
It ought to be made, in our opinion, the model of all
future treaties with foreign nations for the abolition of
slavery. Its chief merit consists in its explicit ex-
action of the " equipment clause," which frustrates the
head-money or blood-money clause, since it empowers
both contracting parties, not only to capture, condemn,
and punish on the spot, pirates caughtfagrante delieto,
but (whenever the equipment, construction, anti accom-
modation of slave-ships undeniably demonstrate their
purpose), to search, capture, and make prize of them
in their passages to the slave coasts, and in the
ports where they lurk, and in the very teeth of the
homicidal nests and human shambles of their com-
mercial employers. Till this be done no effectual ob-
literation of this great stain upon the 19th century can
be expected. We trust that the British nation will
not rest for one moment till this effectual means of
vindicating its national honour and avenging and pro-
tecting the outraged rights of humanity be placed se-
curely in its hands. Lord Brougham has demon-
strated what the effects of the head-money clause are.
Its effects are calculated to " harrow up the soul," and
to stimulate torpor itself to indignant execration. The
abolition oflhat clause—the substitution of reward for
bulk, and the acquisition in all treaties of the equip-
ment clause, are the great remedies which all friends of
humanity ought to move heaven and earth in obtain-
ing. Agitation -on this question by every individual is
at once a public and a private duty.—Morning Ad-
vertiser.

In considering the conduct of the present Ministers
of the Crown there is one source of error, from the
effect of which, obvious as it is, and often as its in-
fluence has been already seen to operate unjustly to
their advantage, it is nevertheless difficult for the
most cautious, or jealous, or even hostile, judge
wholly to exempt himself. That source, of a too
favourable and flattering estimate of Ministerial cha-
racter and pretensions, consists in the impossibility
generally experienced by honourable men of realising
and keeping up in their o;vu minds the idea of mean-
ness, and baseness, so grovelling an object as that
which Ministers have repeatedly exhibited, associated
with the lofty birth to which some of their number
can lay claim, and the elevated rank to which the whole
of them, perfas ant nejas, have attained. It requires,
indeed, no common effort of a sound and virtuous mind
to conceive, even after the melancholy fact has been
forced, in repeated instances, upon its reluctant atten-
tion, a junction so monstrous and disgusting as the perma-
nent and habitual union of noble blood and exalted sta-
tion with the most sordid dispositions, and the meanest
vices, that are ever seen to operate even among the
lowest and vilest specimens of the multitudinous and
undistinguished rabble of mankind. Hence it is that
Conservatives are led to speak of each new act of des-
picable meanness performed by the Melbourne Goveni-
ment as if' it had something about it calculated to ex-
cite more especial wonder—as if it surpassed all former
baseness—as if it were more and worse than they had
the right to expect. It is certainly true that honour-
able statesmen, when they have found the Legislature
disposed upon public measures and interests of the
highest importance, to prefer the wisdom and the po-
licy of rival statesmen to such as they had offered,
after full deliberation to its adoption, have invariably
thought it their duty to retire from office, leaving the
duties and responsibilities of Government to those in
whom the Legislature had manifested its superior con-
fidence. It is unquestimiably true, also, that all per-
sitHat and mystification apart, the essential changes
, effected be the House of Commons in the Bill of Lord
John Russell for the future government of the Canadas,
arose from nothing else but the fact that the House
of Commons preferred the wisdom and policy of Sir
Robert Peel to those of Lord John Russell and his
Colleagues. Yet we roust think, upon reflection, that
the general expression of surprise and diseust, however
natural such manifestations of teeling might be in the
first instance, which the retention of office by Ministers,
in circumstances so deeply humiliating, has called
forth; from every quarter of the land, conveys more
than one implication, which, as applied to the present
Government must be designated as the grossest flattery.
Honourable Statesmen—Statesmen holding office for
pwriotism rather than for pelf—Statesmen having re-
gard to the public interest, in preference to their own ;
Statesmen anxious to sustain the character of the
Executive Government, and to uphold the honour
and dignity of that Crown of which they profess
to be the loyal and faithful servants—would, beyond
all doubt, have retired in the same c•reurnstances.
But is this any reason why Lord Melbourne,
Lord John Russell, and the rest of their crew
should have been expected to retire ? Are they
Honourable Statesmen who have kept office for
years, although unable to fulfil any one of the
pledges by means of which they obtained office ?
Do they hold office for patriotism, and not for pelf,
who, in order to retain office, consent to serve, for
alternate Sessions of Parliament as slaves at the
feet of Mr. O'Connell, and as tools in the Conserva-
tive hands of Sir Robert Peel ? Are they to be Sus-
pected of preferring the public interest to their own
who permitted the rebellion in Canada to grow, with-
out restraint, into vigorous maturity, rather than
endanger the success of their own electioneering
intrigues in Great Britain ? Are they such States-
men as hold the character of Government and the
honour and dignity of the Crown to be things of the
highest price, when they converted the officer of the
Queen's household into a busy electioneering agent,
to secure a seat in the House of Commons for one
of the most zealous instigators and abettors of colo-
nial treason ? Retire, forsooth I What expectation,
when properly considered, could be more preposterous r
Why, their tenure of office is more secure than that of
the Judges, founded, as it is, not upon the bene, but
upon the male gesserit, and coeval with their willing-
ness to throw principle overboard the moment it be-
comes inconvenient, and to steal the measures of their
political opponents the moment an idea strikes them
that they are measures likely to obtain the sanction of
a majority. Go out, truly ! Why, had Lord J.
Russell had the hardihood to brave the division, from
which he shrank, on Sir R. Peel's amendments, and
been defeated, as he assuredly would have been, still
would Ministers have been as far as ever from thinking of
going out. Nay, we are persuaded that the rejection of
their Canada Bill bythe House of Commons, preamble,
clauses, and all, would not have made them budge,
unless the rejection had been accompanied by what
might have seemed its valid justification, that the Mi-
nisters who claimed by this Bill extraordinary and un-
constitutional powers were not fit to be entrusted with
them, seeing that they had made a bad, weak, indolent,
and dishonest use, in respect to Canada, of such powers
as the law had already placed in their hands. If there be
any Conservatives who dream of Ministers going out,
unless upon the compulsion of a process analogous to
that which is of force to strip the ermined Judges of
their robes, such Conservatives are miserably deceived
--they have not computed at a tythe of their value
the sordid greediness of office, and the unprincipled
prodigality of all that can render office respectable,
which constitute the basis and the cement of Lord
Melbourne's Government. But even for this evil a
remedy may, and must, be found. Two travellers on
one of the late severe nights, at the fireside of a country
inn, agreed to play at chess for the warmer seat. The
man accidentally in possession of the preferable place
was beaten once, twice, thrice ; but still he never of-
fered to move. Towards the conclusion of the fourth