The Sun.
London, England, 1853-05-31 00:00:00

this matter. It was provided by the treaty, that there
should be two courts of mixed commission—one in the
colonial possessions of Spain, the other on the coast of
Africa, and the captain of a:British cruiser was obliged,
by his instructions, to take his prize into Havannah, or
Sierra Leone, according as his position at sea might
render either place likely to be reached with the greatest
speed. It should be recollected that in the case of the
three vessels taken by Capt. Hamilton, two out of the
three were condemned at this very court at the Havan-
nah. He would next allude to the conduct of the Cap-
tains-General, and he was sure their lordships would not
expect any very warm defence of these officers from him,
but he did not think their lordships would be indisposed
to bear anything that the Captains-General had said or
done in justification of their conduct. He had, there-
fore, anticipating the inquiries that his noble friend
would make, brought down two despatches, which his
lordship would, he was sure, allow him to read in de-
ference to the importance of the subject. The first was
a letter which Lord Howden had sent to the late Secre-
tary for Foreign Affairs. (In this dispatch Lord How-
den states that the Spanish minister assures him that
every effort shall be made, even to the disregard of the
exigencies of the State, for the extinction of the slave
trade.) Now, if this had not been followed by some
corroborative action, he should not have thought it
worth while to waste their lordships' time in reading it ;
but he had just received a second letter from Lord
Howden, in which he thought some credit was given to
the Captain-General. (Lord Howden here informed
the Secretary for Foreign Affairs that, in consequence
of recent peremptory instructions sent to the Captain-
General of Cuba, directing him to spare no exertion,
extreme measures had been adopted, even those
for which the law offered but a' spare foundation.)
Their lordships would consider that this was only a pro-
mise of someting yet to be done ; but he had on that
evening received a letter from Lord Howden—whose
zeal and industry in this matter had never been sur-
passed—stating that the Captain-General acting on the
new instructions had instituted a search in the interior
of the island, which had resulted in the re-capture of ono
hundred negroes. He (Lord Clarendon) did not attach
much importance to these demonstrations ; but as they
showed that the Captain-General was disposed to act
with more attention to the wishes of this country and
his own honour, he thought it only right to give him the
benefit of this information. The only other subject he
should mention was the case of the emancipados, and he
thought his noble friend had scarcely done justice to the
Spanish Government with respect to the measure that
bad been passed to meet this case. Whether the mea-
sure was great or small—whether it was all they had a
right to expect—it would be remembered that it was the
measure for which they had constantly asked, and that,
therefore, they should be glad it was granted. He
would now read the dispatch of Lord Howden. (In this
dispatch Lord Howden expressed his satisfaction at the
probable settlement of the emancipist question. The
Spanish Government had assured him that all persons so
situated would be released with the least possible delay.)
This showed that to a certain extent the Spanish Go-
vernment had gone even beyond what was required of
them. The last point in his noble friend's speech to
which he should refer was his hope that the Spanish
Government would become more alive to a sense of
their own honour, and more disposed to listen to the
representations of her Majesty's Government. On this
subject he had received a dispatch from his noble
friend which was of some importance. (This dispatch
stated that the Spanish Government was at last about
to attend to the expostulations of England and the
dictates of their country's honour. Additional powers
would be given to the Captain-General for searches, and
every assistance in the recapture of slaves.) He believed
that this was the first decree of such a tendency that
had emanated from the council, and this was all the
information he had to offer to his noble friend. It
was small in amount, but he thought it was not oe unsa-
tisfactory or hopeless as that which he had been obliged
to lay on their lordships' table during their previous
week, and he could only repeat the assurance he had
given to a noble and learned friend a few nights since,
that Government considered that to their own exertions
and their own cruisers, they must mainly look for any-
thing in the way of effectual change. He had again
been in communication with his right hon. friend at the
head of the Admiralty, by whom instructions had been
sent out to the fleet, and their lordships might expect
that nothing that the gallantry and zeal of such men as
his noble friend had alluded to, could supply, would be
wanting to put an end to this abominable traffic.
The petition was then ordered to lie on the table,

AGGRAVATED ASSAULTS BILL.
This bill passed through committee.
COMMON LODGING-HOUSES BILL.
This bill was reported, with amendments.
COMMISSION ON THE BOROUGH OF MALDON.
The Earl of ABERDEEN said he had to move their
lordships to agree to an address of the House of Com-
mons to inquire into corrupt practices in the borough of
Maldon. He understood that a noble and learned lord
opposite had given notice of his intention to oppose this
motion ; but he was unable to conjecture on what his
opposition was to be based. In the case of Clithcroe
their lordships declined to agree to such an-address on
the ground that the committee did not report that exten-
sive treating or corruption prevailed ; whereas in the
present case the committee reported that corrupt prac-
tices had extensively prevailed. Three or four cases of
bribery also were given, and it was not to be supposed
that those were all the cases that existed. The general
character of the evidence appeared to him to bear out
the description given of the elections in this borough ;
and Maldon had one of the worst reputations of all the
boroughs in England for corruption on former occasions.
In fact, he repeated, he was quite at a loss to understand
on what ground the motion was to be opposed.
Lord ST. LEONARD'S said he thought the mode in
which the noble earl had dealt with this question was
very unsatisfactory. He was opposed to the motion on
the ground that there was not sufficient evidence to sup
port the finding of the House of Commons ; but by the
course which he had pursued the noble earl had left him
nothing to answer.
Lord BROUGHAM said he should vote for the
motion, on the ground that a committee of the House
of Commons, after inquiry, had come to a unanimous
resolution. (No, no.) He said, " Aye, aye." It was
true that on the question of bribery in the case of parti-
cular individuals there was a division of 3to 2. Their
lordships knew how such tribunals were constituted.
They were generally composed of two gentlemen on one
side and two on the other ; to these were added the
chairman ; and it depended on the cast of his opinions
what the result would be. (Laughter.) In this case
the members divided rationally, two on one side and two
on the other, and the chairman decided in the affirma-
tive. (Laughter.) But though there was a difference
of opinion with regard to individual cases, there was
none with regard to the following point :—" Resolved
unanimously, that there is reason to believe that corrupt
practices have extensively prevailed at elections of mem-
bers to serve in Parliament for the borough of Maldon."
He thought the unanimous decision of the committee on
this last point was most important. In reading the evi-
dence he saw reason to believe that there had been a
good deal of bribery. But their lordships could only see
the questions and answers ' • they had no opportunity of
observing the gestures and demeanour of the witnesses,
which were, perhaps, as important as the evidence itself.
He could not help making a remark in reference to the
attempts which were being made to put down bribery
and corruption. It was impossible that a long time could
elapse before their lordships' attention would be called
to this most painful subject—(hear, hear)—when they
would have an opportunity of saying whether they
thought the best mode of checking bribery and corrup-
tion was to punish, in a' particular way, one individual
for what had been done without his knowledge by other
individuals. He (Lord Brougham) wished to get at
those other individuals, and he hoped and trusted that
that session would not pass over without such an amend-
ment of the criminal law as would make it dangerous for
those other individuals not the persons who were
punished now, because they knew nothing about the
offence—but dangerous for those who had committed
the offence to repeat it. (Hear, hear.)
Lord ST. LEONARDS said his noble and learned
friend seemed not to have read the whole of the evidence.
He had been in the habit of reading evidence of this
kind judicially ; and having read the evidence given in
this case twice over, he could tell his noble and learned
friend that there was nothing on the face of it to sup-
port the conclusion at which the committee had arrived.
His noble and learned friend had spoken of the finding
of the committee as if that were conclusive ; but the
act of Parliament was framed• expressly with the view
of enabling their lordships to foesevgnrralemilsotidiydimotrdi their own opinion,
and if they did not act upon the evidence in this in-
stance, they would neglect their duty. This was, in
effect, a judicial inquiry; the borough was put before
them on its trial. It was with surprise that he had
heard the noble earl (the Earl of Aberdeen) say that the
corrupt practices in this borough were perfectly well
known. Were they at liberty to act upon hearsay I
(Hear.) It appeared to him that to say that all the
world knew this borough to be corrupt was to say what
was not justifiable. The resolution of the committee of
the House of Commons stated that there was reason to
believe that corrupt practices extensively prevailed in
the borough of Maldon, but they did not say at this
particular election, and he apprehended that they must
say that corrupt practices prevailed at the particular
election which they inquired into.
Lord CAMPBELL read the words of the act of Par-
liament.
Lord ST. LEONARDS thought he might state the
effect of an act of Parliament without referring to the
particular words. (A laugh.) The noble lord here
took up the act of Parliament, which, however, he did
not read, but made a few observations in a very low
tone, complaining of the manner in which his remarks
had been received. The noble and learned lord then
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tices had prevailed in Maldon at • successive elections, and
he did not care if that conclusion bad been arrived at' on
clear testimony or not. (Hear.)
The Earl of DERBY differed from
the noble and
learned lord As to the construction of the important duty
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