The Sun.
London, England, 1838-03-07 00:00:00

HAND-LOOM WEAVERS.

Mr. C. BULLER gave notice that he should, on an early
day, move for a copy of the instructions to the Commissioners
of Inquiry into the state of the Hand-loom Weavers.
NEGRO APPRENTICESHIP.

Mr. DIVETT presented a petition (whence we could not
learn) for the abolition of Negro Apprenticeship.
READING ELECTION COMMITTEE.
The Clerk of the Committees appeared at the Bar with
the reduced list of the Reading Election Committee, which is
as follows :

Henry Combo Compton, Hon. Pierce Butler, Charles
Crespigny Vivian, Sir Edward Thomas Troubridge, John
Hyacinth Talbot, Hon. Charles Compton Cavendish, Spencer
Horsey de Horsey, Hon. James Hope Johnston, John Stud-
Lolm Lord Viscount Alford, and Juhn Dunlop.
VOTE OF CENSURE ON THE COLONIAL
SECRETARY.

Sir WILLIAM MO LES WORT H, having been celled on
by the Speaker, rose, and addressed the House. From the
low tone of voice and rapid enunciation of the Hon.
Baronet, together with the noise which prevailed
in the body of the House, he was very imperfectly
heard in the gallery. We understood him to say, that no
man required the indulgence of the Ilouse more than himself,
as the subject which he was about to submit to its considera-
tion was of so important as well as of so delicate a nature,
that he could not but feel his own inability to do
justice to it. On that account he was most anxious at that
time to correct a misrepresentation that had gone abroad,
relative to certain opinions with regard to the Colonies
that had been imputed to him.--( Hear, hear.) He knew not
wherefore these opinions had been imputed to him ; in his
humble judgment they were very unpopular, and it was almost
unnecessary for hie) to say that he alluded to the opinions
of those who thought that the best thing that could be done
with the Colonies was to get quit of them. —( Cries of
Hear, hear.) From these sentiments he begged leave totally
to dissent. He saw many great advantages resulting from
the possession of colonies, and he would instance the West
Indies and Australia in support of that opinion. These were
no new opinions of his, for so long as five years ago he had the
honour of assisting in the formation of a colony, by
becoming one of the Trustees for a considerable sum
of money to promote its formation. So lately as last year,
long before the revolt in Canada had taken place, he
had had the honour of becoming one of a Society with
his Honourable Friend the Member for Hereford, and
the Members for Sheffield, Lambeth, and Caithness, the
object of which was to promote emigration to that colony.
The Noble Lord, the Member fur Stroud, and the Ilonourable
Baronet opposite, knew how deep an interest he had taken as
Chairman of a Select Committee of this House, on the affairs of
New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land, on the subject of
transportation, which was the question under the consideration
of the Committee ; but yet sparing no efforts to discover by
what means the prosperity of these colonies might
be preserved, when the main cause of that prosperity
should be abolished. His opinion as to the disad-
vantages which arose from possessing Colonies ap-
peared to arise from the want of distinction to
which he wished to call the attention of some of his Hon.
Friends, more especially the Hon. Baronet the Member for
Dundee. That Right Hon. Baronet had said, in his most
valuable work on financial reform, " to possess colonies
affords no advantages which could not be obtained
by the intercourse with independent States." Fifty
years ago Bentham said very nearly the same thing.
Had they anything, he would ask, like the commerce with
Java which they would have had, if they had kept pos-
session of that important island ? If the Honourable
Baronet was correct in his statements, the world must
be filled with independent States, and markets must
spring up just as they were wanted. The assumption of the
Right Hon. Baronet, he contended, had no foundation in rea-
son. But supposing all that he had stated to be the fact—sups
posing that great advantage did arise from emigration, still some
;entlemen, who agreed with the Right Hon. Baronet, would
maintain that there was no advantage in having Colonies.
Would it be right, he would ask, to emancipate Canada ?
In his opinion, the question of the emancipation of the
Colonies was a question of time and experience.--( Hear.)
Was it not an abuse that such a man as Sir F. B. Head should
have been appointed as Governor of so important a Colony as
Upper Canada ? Was it not an abuse that such a man should
have had the opportunity of fomenting rebellion ? Was it not
an abuse that they should have been obliged to appoint in
Lower Canada a military Governor, and were about to dele-
gate autocratic powers to an individual, however much he was
deserving of confidence ? These were evils growing out of the
possession of colonies. It was also an abuse that from 40 to 50
communities should be handed over to the government of a man
so notoriously incompetent and incapable as the present
Colonial Secretary. These were evils ; but still the balance
was greatly in favour of having Colonial possessions.
He would yield to no man in a desire to preserve and extend
the Colonial dependencies of this country. He would have
wished that the United States had never been sep 'rated from
Great Britain, but when he reflected that the local Government
in that Colony had no sympathies with, and did not possess the
confidence of its inhabitants, he could not but feel that the
connection could not be continued with advantage or satisfaction
to either. It was precisely on this ground that he advo-
cated the cause of the people of Canada. He could not
but sympathise with a people struggling to preserve
their just rights and liberties. He felt that the local govern-
ment of that colony was neither entitled to their respect nor
confidence, and that the system of policy pursued towards it
by the mother-country was unjust and oppressive. There
was another disadvantage under which lie laboured, and
from which, with the permission of the House, lie would shortly
relieve himself. He knew that the motion which he was about
to bring under the consideration cf the House was distasteful
to some Hon. Members upon that side, for they were aware
how difficult it was for them to deny the charges which it
involved, and which every one in that House believed in his
conscience was true. He expected that, relying on
the charitable assistance of the Right Honourable Baronet
and his friends opposite, they would endeavour to make
this motion unpopular with the House, by ascribing to it a
democratic tendency and object. He meant to bring
before the House, not merely the system of policy which
had been pursued towards Canada in particular, but the
whole system of Colonial policy.—( Hear, hear.) The
Government which was the best for a colony, must in all
cases depend on the special circumstances of the case. What
was good for one colony, might be very bad indeed for an-
other. Some colonies might perhaps require a despotic autho-
rity—others an aristocratic power—and lie did not know more
than two or three of the colonies, in which he should not be
afraid to see the experiment of a pure democracy. This, he
trusted, would convince the House that this motion had no
reference to a general abstract opinion, whatever that
might be ; it had no more a democratic object or
tendency than if proposed by the Hon. Baronet opposite, the
Member for Tamworth, seconded by the Hon. Baronet, the
Member for the University of Oxford. It might be called
invidious to attack Lord Glenelg, and it might be objected
that he was not less competent or more incompetent than
many of his colleagues—that his office was filled
as competent--and that the Cabinet being re-
sponsible for neglect of duty in every depart-
ment of the State, the censure of the House ought to be
as well directed against the whole Cabinet as against one
Member. lie was not very certain—be was not quite con-
vinced that there might not be some force in the last objection
to his motion ; but would the House permit him briefly to
state his reason for calling for a vote of want of confidence
in Lord Glenelg ? The Colonial Office differed materially
front every other department of the State. All the other
branches of the Government administered only—they ad-
ministered tin- us who were represented in this Assembly. The
Colonial Office administered for the colonies, not one of which
possessed any representative in any Assembly to which the Co-
lonial Office was in any degree responsible. All the other
branches of the Government administered only ; they did not le-
gislate. But the Colonial Office, besides conducting administra-
tions, comprising civil, military, financial, executive, and eccle-
siastical functions rendered still more difficult by the vaaious laws,
institutions, manners, languages, and wants of distant and widely
separated communities—besides all these duties, which could
•

hardly be performed well by one office, as if they were not suf-
ficiently complicated and incongruous, it had also to legislate
more or less for all those colonies which possessed no re-
presentative assembly either by instructions to the governor:,
by Order in Council, or by instructions sent out to
ministers resident in the colonies. That would be bad
enough if all the colonies were close together
and close to England, but let the House recollect how widely
separated they were, and how distant from Downing_
street was even Canada—the colony now under discus-
sion. In many colonies a year must elapse before a letter
could be answered..—(The noise in the House increased
to such a degree, that the Hon. Baronet paused, and there
were loud cries of " Order, order," " Bar, bar." After some
little delay Sir William Molesworth resumed, but in such
a tone of voice, and frequently turning his back to the
Chair, and consequently to the Reporters' gallery, that we
found great difficulty in collecting the purport of his observa-
tions.) Such were the complicated duties of the office, that
it was doubtful whether the Colonial Secretary even read all
the letters addressed to him, and much depended on the assi-
duity to his duties.—( Hear, hear, hear.) His attention
must be directed, not to the state of affairs at the
time of his last advices, but to the period when his despatches
would arrive in that Colony. How could that be done unless
he possessed great foresight ? It was well known that the ad-
ministrative and legislative difficulties of the office were in-
creased ten thousandfold by the great distance of these Colonies.
But it must also be recollected that great duties were imposed
upon the Colonial Minister, with respect to the administration
of criminal jurisprudence, over a vast tract of country, in the
administration of secondary punishments.—( Hear, hear.)
The individual who was appointed to such an office ought
to be all competent to the conducting of public affairs, and
a most effective individual. The Colonial Minister incurred
vast obligations, and as such ought peculiarly to be subjected
to the controul of that House. Was such the ease ? Cer-

tainly not. The Minister holding so important a situation,
when he found himself incompetent to the discharge of his
duties, was bound to resign. He did not speak of Lord Glenelg
in particular, but of every Colonial Minister. In every other
part of the State the Minister was accountable to that
(louse; not so, however, with respect to the Colonial Secre-

tary. The Colonial Minister, as far as that House was con-
cerned, was almost irresponsible to it. Again, in the
Cabinet, the Minister of any other Department was in some
degree accountable to his colleagues, but this was not the case
with the Colonial Secretary. It was true that sometimes
other Members of the Government came down and made
speeches upon Colonial affairs ; but every person must know
that that speech was in effect prepared in the Colonial office.
The office was one of great and paramount importance : then
why were the Government so weak as to retain in it one so
notoriously incompetent as Lord Gicnelg ? It had been ob-
jected by many Hon. Members, that his motion, if carried,
would be indirectly a censure upon her Majesty's Government,
and Hon. Gentlemen might affirm that he was endeavouring
to overturn the Government—that lie was endeavouring to
undermine the Cabinet of Lord Melbourne—and it might
be insinuated that his object was to let the Tories
in. Ile at once admitted that the House could not
agree to the motion without passing a censure upon
the Administration, which he contended ought to be
responsible not for the acts, or rather non-acts of Lord Glenelg,
but for keeping him in office. He at once admitted that he
would not be sorry if the result of his motion were to give the
' Nation a better administration, as well as a better Colonial
Secretary. Suppose the motion was carried, and the Ministry
were to resign, was it a necessary consequence that the gen-
tlemen opposite must come in ; and even if they did, he
thought it would be better than having a Ministry professing
liberal principles, but acting upon Tory ones, in order to
keep in power. But even were the Ministers to quit
their present convulsive grasp of power, what a libel it was
to say that her Majesty could not find a firm and stable
Ministry in the Liberal party ?—( Cries of " Hear, hear.")
He thought it better at once to explain his feelings on this
subject ; but he hoped the House would do him the justice to
believe, that in bringing forward this motion lie was no
more actuated by a feeling of hostility towards the Government
than lie was actuated by a feeling of personal hostility to-
wards Lord Glenelg. His object was to relieve the Colonial
possessions of this country from the injustice and oppression
under which they groaned, and to call the attention of the
House to the state of the Colonies in various parts of the
world, and to establish some sort of responsibility in the
Colonial Office.--( Hear, hear.) These were his objects,
and could not fail to be attained if the motion succeeded.
Ile would ask whether the Colonies were not in a condition
requiring a more than usually wise and vigilant Minister at
the head of that department ? Was not the present a crisis
which required that there should be placed at the head
of that department, a statesman upon whose vigilance, fore-
sight, honour, and firmness, the country might place reliance?
He would ask whether the present Secretary for the Colonies
possessed those qualifications? Had he not proved by
his acts that he was unable to grapple with the difficulties
by which lie was surrounded? These were the questions which
he called upon the House to anseer and decide. It mat-
tered not what colony he began with to prove the as-
sertion which lie had made—for the whole system of
our colonial policy presented the same aspect. Dur-
ing the last Session a Committee had been appointed
to inquire into the state of our Colonial dependencies. The
evidence taken before that Committee disclosed a state of
things which could hardly have been believed by those even
who had moved the inquiry. It described a state of moral
corruption and social infamy, such as could scarcely
have been credited. The evidence was in the hands
of Honourable Members, and there was no one who
read it but must believe that the evils which were there
described were augmenting instead of diminishing, and
had at length reached such a pitch as to require some
prompt and decisive remedy. He would ask the Right lion.
Baronet opposite if such was not the fact? The first step to-
wards remedying the evil was inquiry, and one would have
supposed that the Colonial Minister would have taken some
„tie, steps in furtherance of it. Such, however, was not
the case. The Noble Lord the Member for Stroud, to
be sure, assented to the inquiry, but nothing further
„.a, done by Government in the matter.—(Hear, hear.)
If he wanted any justification of that course lie would refer to
the colony of New South Wales—he would refer to the moral
and social condition of that colony, which exceeded all belief.
No fact had been more clearly established before the Trans-
portation Committee than that nothing would tend more to
the advantage of that colony than the emigration of free la-
bourers. According to the opinion of every person acquainted
with the subject, there was a necessity for promoting emigra-
tion greater than ever had previously existed. These facts
hail been brought under the consideration of the House, and
were well known. It was also admitted that 400,0001. had been
obtained by the sale of waste lands in New South Wales, and
that a sum of 200,000/. per annum would be obtained from the
same source. Now, what had the Noble Lord the Colonial
Secretary done with that large sum ? He had given a great
portion of it to a private Society, which had sent out ship
loads after ship loads of the most abandoned prostitutes. He
had also given a portion of it to a Mr. John Marshall, of
whom, perhaps, the House had never heard—( Hear,
hear)—who was an agent or a ship-broker, and who
had undertaken the important duty of conducting the emigra-
tion for the Colonial-office. The remainder of that money,
amounting to 200,0001., was still locked up in the public
elicit, at Sydney, lying idle, and of no use whatever,
although the demand for labourers was greater now
than at any former period, and although the Colony
having paid ready money for the purchase of those lands had
been thereby deprived of a large portion of its capital. What
notice had been taken of that most important Colonial sub-
ject by the Noble Lord. He would appeal to the Hon. Mem-
ber for Sheffield who had presided over a Committe of that
(louse in the session of 1836, by whom the subject had
been carefully examined, if any notice bad been taken
of it. The conduct of the Noble Lord in that and
other cases was such as justified the inhabitants in
that Colony in supposing that there was really no such
person as the Noble Lord—that he was an imaginary
being, without functions to perform, or capacity to perform them.
For many years the Colony of New South \Vales had been
governed under an Act that expired in 1836. That Act
was merely temporary, setting up a temporary system and
form of government, a system and form of government adapted
perhaps to the times when the Act was made. The Government
formed by that Act was despotic, and gave no voice to the Colo-
nists in the management of their affairs. Since that period the
circumstances of the Colonists had changed ; the majority of
the inhabitants of the Colony were now settlers. Being desirous
of possessing some of the rights of Englishmen, they looked
forward with anxiety to the period when the Act would be-
come a dead letter, namely, in 1836, when they expected
that Parliament would give them soma share in the re-
presentation, and some voice in the management of
their own affairs.—( Hear.) Was Lord Glenelg, in 18:i6,
prepared to propose a new Constitution for them ? No ; he
merely asked for the renewal of the Act for a year. When
that year had elapsed, was Lord Glenelg then prepared ?
No ; he came down again to Parliament, and asked
it to renew the Act for yet one year more. —( Hear,
hear, hear.) But it might be said the colony was not
ripe at that period for any other form of Government
—no such tiling, Lord Glenelg himself had admitted that
the time had arrived when the colony should have a new Con-
stitution, for on both occasions when lie came to Parliament
he said it was his intention to introduce a new Act. He
( Sir William Molesworth) had no doubt that such had
been his intention at the time, but unfortunately on both
occasions he had merely asked to renew the Act. Were
they to act in a similar milliner in the present year?—
(hisser, hear.) If they were, was it to be wondered
at that the colonists should express themselves dissatisfied?
There bad been several great questions to be disposed
of at the time whet& Lord Glenelg had come into office,
on a remedy for the evils of transpertation, and the establish.
ment of a new Constitution in the Colonies.—( Hear.) A
ga
all those questions had been rendered vivre d;.cf - -
Lordship's neglect. There wag l a icuit by his
necessity at the pre-
sent moment. rte,,"s vigorous and comprehensive action
on the part of the Colonial Secretary.—( ) For this
Lord Glenelg was utter incomretcut. Ho (il Ws Me)

alluded esyecially to the state on several of the islands in the
South Seas, where the inhabitants bad been corrupted by th
influence of depraved British settlers—many of them convicts
esca • ped from the colonies. New Zealand was a striking
example of this. From the evidence taken before
Committee of that House it appeared that there were
2,000 British subjects locate.l in Vie island-200 of them
escaped convicts, subject to no law, acting aceorditig to theh
own pleasure, committing atrocities among the natives a:
which humanity shuddered, exciting them to war, and
spreading intoxication by means of ardent spirits. Was
this a state of things ta be neglected year after year,
until the remaining population arc entirely exterminated ?
lie would ask, what had been done by the Noble Lord who
ought to have been best acquainted with the danger—what had
been done by him to avoid it ? The anse er must be—Nothing at
all. He would next call their attention to the stateof Mauritime
which was brought before Parliament last year by the Learned
Civilian the Member for the Tower Hamlets who stated that
there was in that colony a perpetual violation of the Statute
Law, and that without any attempt at punishment.—( Hear.)
The slave trade has been carried on in opposition to law.
These are a few of the facts adduced by the learned civilian,
when he demanded last year an inquiry into the state of the
Mauritius. What has Lord Glenelg done, proposed, thought
of, with a view to the critical state of the Mauritius? If in-
formation on the subject were required by this House, the re-
turn, I fear, would be "Nil!" It matters not where the
emergency may exist, or how great it may be, in every case
where decision, activity, energy, is especially required, there
we shall find, not that the Noble Lord has done more than in
other cases, but only that his inactivity and supineness arc the
more to be deprecated and regretted. The next colony to
whose critical, might I not say deplorable, state I would wish,
Sir, to call your attention is our settlement in Southern
Africa, at the Cape of Good Hope, a territory larger than the
whole of the mother country. It was once inhabited by
numerous Aborigines, rich in flocks and herds—by the Hot-
tentots and the far superior race of the CafFres. Thu natives
have nearly disappeared, partly massacred, partly driven from;their native country ; even now the system of °destruction is
going on ; and in proportion as our frontiers are ex-
tended the native tribes are swept away. The colo-
' nists, on the most futile pretexts, have frequently carried off
the cattle of the natives. The natives, deprived of the means
of subsistence, must either perish or rob. If they rob the
whites they are exterminated by the commandoes ; if they
rob, these again, thus left to starve, must rob those beyond
them or perish. Thus, the first robbery by our Colonists has
given rise to a succession of robberies and native wars, which
have desolated the most central parts of the continent of Af-
rica. Here, Sir, we have an important colony completely dis-
organised. The extermination of the natives is rapidly pro-
ceeding. Part of the Colonists are in open rebellion, or have
wandered into the deserts to escape from British authority.
Discontent prevails on all sides. Whatever the differences
amongst her Majesty's subjects there, each party complains
of the Government : no party is attached to the British
crown. Do I blame Lord Glenelg for this most unhappy
state of things ? By no means. The present deplorable
condition of Southern Africa has been occasioned by our
system, or rather total want of a system, of Govern-
ment. For this Lord Glenelg is not particularly to blame;
but see what the want of a system has produced ; ob-
serve in how very miserable and critical a state the
Colony is at last ; and then, Sir, let us decide whe-
ther it be not high time to adopt some system of Go-
vernment there, to apply a remedy of some sort for such cry-
ing evils. Sir, would an assiduous and energetic Colonial
Minister have allowed such evils to grow to such a pitch with-
out proposing some kind of remedy for them ? Can we ex-
pect any effieieet remedy from the infirm hands of Lord Gle-
nelg? If not, and if the House really care at all about this
important Colony, then they will Tree to my motion ; and
more especially if they should be of opinion that there are
many colonies besides those already mentioned whose peculi-
arly critical state at this moment calls for more than average
energy, diligence and wisdom in the head of the Colonial
Government. I should have added, that the Governor of this
Colony has just been recalled. That makes two. We shall
soon conic to more. I proceed, then, to another Colony,
whose condition is niece than usually embarrassing and trot,
blesome—the anti-slave-trade Colony of Sierra Leone. Far
be it front me, Sir, to cast a shadow of blame on Lord
Glenelg for the total failure of this Colony as a means, which
it was intende l to be, of checking the slave-trade. Nor
is it any reproach to Lord Glenelg that we have lavished
millions after millions upon establishing a settlement
which appears to have had no other result than a profuse
expenditure of public money and human life. The misgo-
vernment of this Colony is proverbial. The peculation, the
lavish expenditure, the public plunder, for w hick it has been
notorious, have given it so bad a name, that it may be aptly
designated as an enormous job. Now, if lam not mis-
informed, the Governor of that Colony has just been
recalled—has been driven away from the Colony by
the jobbers and peculators who fatten there on the
of the public. Now, in order that my statement on this
subject may be easily corrected if it be crroneoas, I will
address it in the form of a question to thase ,who arc best
acquainted with the facts. I would ask tha Right Honourable
Gentleman the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he did not,
when occupying Lord Glenelg'a present office, appoint the
present Governor of Sierra Leone—selecting him on account
of his upright, straightforward, and energetic character—as
a person well qualified to bring about some reform in that
great job in the shape of a Colony ? Did not the Gentleman
in question proceed to Sierra Leone as a Reformer ? A Re-
former ;in Sierra Leone The fate of such a monster need
not be told. The reforming Governor of Sierra Leone,
though he was eminently successful in attaching and conci-
liating the natives in the neighbourhood, soon gave offence
to the small band of official jobbers, who all themselves the
Colony, and was removed accordingly. If the Honourable
Baronet the Member for Devonport object to my statement,
let him move for copies of the correspondence between the
Colonial-office and the late Governor, If that were done,
the House would see that Sierra Leone is another case of
colonial trouble and difficnlty, for which Lord Glenelg is re-
sponsible, but for which It Is not to be expected that Lord
Glenelg will provide a remedy. This, Sir, is the third re-
cent case of a Governor's removal on account of differences
wills Lord Glencig's department. Let me now mention a
fourth, that of the new colony of South Australia, whose
Governor, appointed by Lord Glenelg not more than eighteen
months ago, has just been recalled. I have no doubt that
this recal may be justified, just like that of Sir F. B. Head
but, if so, how does Lord Glenelg justify the appointment?
And have not the appointment and the recal together placed
the colony in that state which is sometimes called a state of
" hot water ?" If we add to these four the resignation of
Lord Gosford and the recal of Sir F. 13. Head, there will bo
no less than six recent cases of the removal of a colonial
chief magistrate for extraordinary causes, and under circum-
stances of extraordinary difficulty and trouble for the colony.
Here are six gentlemen, at least, who have cause to rue the
day when they became subordinates of Lord Glenelg—Sir
Richard Bourke, Sir Benjamin D'Urban, Mnjor Henry Camp-
bell, Captain flindmarsh, Lord Ger.ford, and Sir F. B.
Head. Here are six Colonies, at least, in a state of " hot
water." Surely, Sir, my proposition as to the critical state of
the Colonies and tho incompetency of Lord Glenelg cannot
but be true. But let us proceed to further proofs and illus-
trations. Our slave Colonies—no, our apprentice Colonies—
in the West Indies, great and small, insular and continental,
Crown and chartered, present a wide and very prodnetive
held of trouble, embarrassment, and danger. Sir, in alluding
to them I shall confine myself to subjects which come strictly
within the terms of my present motion, being of peculiar
urgency at the present time ; nor shall I dwell on all of those
subjects. The subject of the gross violation of the Emanci-
pation Act has been exhausted in the other House of Parlia-
ment, and Lord Glenelg, though rather late in the day, to
be sure, has promised to submit to Parliament a measure
for giving us. that which we thought we had purchased by
20,000,000/. of redemption money. I would ask what the
Colonial Minister has done, or proposed, or thought of, in
respect to two other matters belonging to West Indian al-
fairs, which, if he possessed the faculty of attention, would
urgently require its exercise. I allude to precautions against
the time, now very near at hand, when there will be an end
to all compulsory labour in the West Indies, and when the
negro inhabitants of our chartered colonies will claim the
right and the power to elect negro members to the local
Parliaments. So long ago as in January, 1836, Lord Gle-
nelg, or some other person writing in his name, seems to
have been struck with the great importance of the,
former of these subjects, and even to have devised suf-
ficient means of preventing the apprehended evil. A
great danger is plainly indicated, and the means of preven-
tion as clearly pointed out. The danger is, that the whole
of the population of the West Indies should, as soon as they
become entirely free, refuse to work for wages—should sot
up, each one by and for himself, on his own piece of land,
and that thus capitalists should be left without labourers, to
the certain ruin of the industey of those colonies. Sir, I for
one have no doubt that In all of those colonies, where land is
excessively cheap, the apprehensions of the Noble Lord will
be fully realized ; but along with the expression of his frays
the Colonial Minister suggested a measure of prevention.
" It will be necessary,"
crown lande as will he says, "to fix such a price upon
place them out of the reach of persons
without capital ;" and this plan of preserving labour for hire
by means of rendering the acquisition of waste land more
difficult was strongly recommended to Parliament by the
Committee to which I have referred. As the plan could
be of no use whatever, unless adopted some time before.
the total emancipation of the apprentices, it will be sue_
posed that the Noble Lord has followed up his tportant
dispatch by proposing some
sgeneral and efficient
Committee in question, le
mea-
sures founded on his
°w" v"." ". and on those of the
eh no means ; the subject ro-
ts di left J
e spa in anuary, 1836; as
mains just where 1-•
if, n(4.7,tenstanding its great importance, it had fairly
slipped from the memory of the Noble Lord. Is this a case of
culpable neglect? I appeal to the Honourable Gentleman
the Member for Newark, than whom no member of this
;louse is better acquainted with the subject. But to this case
of culpable neglect I have now to add one, in reference to
the same subject, of culpable activity; if the term activity

th/..ea__,
fl..- 3, i--i 0V re
may be applie to any proceeding of the o -Lord." -e,
planters arc impressed, as was the Nobl /..i.d. in Jac.. ~,,-
1833, with the necessity of tithing nom tVeatiftens -aga Z.-
the year 1840, as respects the supply klgtlik", tc‘ y,r,,Li;,"...12111,31- '...-2
They have devised a new kind of slaver 1 11\tf,-*-kV -,t
slave-trade; and this invention the Nob } ,11#1.-07,-.llh.
Inti,
-,.: ~
Order in Council dated March 1, 183 fik/ 's'
.. n,c,t-1016,t,t').
.11F
This Order in Council authcrises the plantea ifIN -
import into that colony, to serve as " intleft a bbnrefe,
I believe is the term employed—what class of people dies the
House imagine? Englishmen or other Europeans who might
assert their rights as " indentured labourers?" No—freed
negrces from the United States, who, being of the same
i,. race, and speaking the same language as the present coin.
nial population of British Guiana, might be " indentured
labourers" without becoming slaves ? No ; but a class of
.i, people the most ignorant, the most strange, the most help.
, less, in all respects the most fit to become slavas under
the name of "indentured labourers." They are called
" Hill Coolies." The country from which they are to be
imported, after being kidnapped, is the East Indies. In New
South Wales the same apprehension of a want of labourers
(which, as I have already said, the Noble Lord might have
prevented by expending the emigration fund, instead of keep.
ing it locked up in the public chest at Sydney) has led to
similar project for the importation of Hill Coolies. This 04._ tempt to establish a new kind of slavery was condemned by tbes
late Governor, Sir R. Bourke, in a dispatch now before the
House. Should we not condemn the Noble Lord farhaintee
nice!
'anctioned a similar attempt in British Guiana?
r
law of slavery—that piece of colonial legislatieen,
will surely
tell's 'knowledge of the
; Noble Lord as •
a,
be reealed, now that it has come.wt tbop
British üblic. ut will this
Statesman qualified to save tint industry, the whole productive
power of the West Indies from total overthrow in the year
1840? The political prospects of the Wen Indies are not less
gloomy than those which relate to productive and commercial
industry. In the chartered colonies, above all, which possess
local representation, is it to be believed that the two races, the
masters and the slaves of yesterday—to-day perfectly equal
as to political rights--will sit down peaceably together in the
same legislature? Will not the blacks, as'they may easily do,
seek to obtain a majority in the local Parliament ? And, will
the whites--the haughty masters of yesterday—quietly b-
mit to what they will consider to be so deep a degratfreionsu as
being ruled by their recently emancipated slaves ? Let the
question be answered by referring to the actual "state of poli-
tical opinion amongst the whites of Jamaica. If ever a colony
was rebellious at heart—if ever a colseny 'eras in a state of dan-
gerous excitement—this one is ! The whole of the West In-
dies, indeed, economically area politically, are in a most criti-
cal state. The state of toe West Indies, having reference to
1840, calls especially for forethoughe—for precautionary
measures. Are we to trust to the Noble Lord for suds
measures of forethought—of precaution ?Or are we, so
surely as eve place any reliance on the Noble Lord's ener-
getic sagacity, to wait quietly—nothing done, nothing pro.
posed, nothing thought of, till 1840 is upon us ? Sir,
may I not say that the Noble Lord has neglected to
take, and seems incapable of taking, any precautions to
render harmless the greet revolution—economical. social,
and political—se hich must happen in the West !tidies two
years hence? Considering the near approach of 1840, is it
fair, is it just, is it commonly humane, towards our fellow
subjects in the West Indies, who, be it always remembered,
have no representation in this House, to let the Noble Lord
continue, fast asleep, at the head of colonial affairs ? Ac-
cording to the treatment cf my motion by the House will be
the answer to this question. rlf the House decide unin-
fluenced by considerations altogether foreign to the subject,
oho can doubt of the result ?—( Hear, hear.) The House
will, I trust, have observed that neither in referring to the
dangerous condition of any colony, nor in questioning the
capacity of the Noble Lord to deal with the existing eir-
cunistances of our colonial empire, have I mentioned the
subject of the colonial policy of this or any other admi-
nistration. That subject I conceive to be foreign to the ques-
tion before the House. With this impression I should not,
except for the purpose of correcting a misrepresentation as
to myself, have even alluded, as 1 did just now, to the
subject of colonial policy in the abstract. Neither ge-
neral principles, nor particular measures founded upon this
or that principle, have anything to do with my proposition
as to the actual state of colonial affairs ,and the incapacity of
the present Colonial Minister. The questions which I have
'ubmitted to the House are questions of mere fact. I inquire
not into the causes of the present critical state of colonial af-
fairs ; I have no concern on the present occasion with the opi-
nions of the Noble Lord or of his colleagues, oi ai any other
person, on the subject of colonial policy, still lees should I be
willing to obtrude on the House any opinions of my own with
respect to subjects between which and the question at issue
there is no kind of relation whatever. In proceeding, there-
fore, to say a few words on the conelition of oer North Ame-
rican provinces, I put aside altogether the difference between
the Assembly of Lower Canada and the Colonial Office. I
stop not to ask which has right or justice on its side, the office
or the Assembly, With a view to the motion before the
House, I have not a word to say about the Resolutions of last
year, or the Act of this year. Against both of those mea-
sures I spoke and voted at the time, and should be
ready to do so again on a fitting occasion. But if both
of these measures had had my strenuous support, instead of
my most deter trained opposition, such a course would not in
the least have precluded me from submitting my present
motion to the House. I have the honour of address;.ng the
House on a totally different question. And, first, sir, as to
the Noble Lord's manner of carrying into effect the policy
of the Government towards Lower Canada, Need I recur,
Sir, to those wearisome dispatches which leave impressed upon
the country at large u conviction of the Noble Lord's_ pre-
eminent I:Maness for the conduct of difficult affairs ?Need
I, feriewing a Noble Earl in the other House of Parliament
(Aberdeen), count over again the long list of promises
forgotten—of assurances never fulfilled—of instructions which
never arrived until it was too late—of excuses for leaving
Lord Gosford without instructions—of postponement with-
out reason—of apologies and pretext for delay when
promptitude was most requisite—of' self-coutradictims,
hesitations, meaningless changes of purpose, any
?othlenr proofs of an inveterate habit of doing
0,
fact, said the Noble Earl, " the system which te,e Noble Lord
went upon was that of doing nothing." Te'eoing nothing re-
duced to a system ! This system of 'the Noble Lord has
much to answer for. Who will thlr.,y that it was the main
cause of the revolt and bloode'ned in which it ended ? If the
recent accounts from Lowee Canada make it appear, as I think
they do, that the policy o' the Government towards that country
has fewer or less oeetermined enemies there than was lateiy
supposed, yet Oecise favourable accounts cast still heavier
blame on the Noble Lord's extraordinary sytem—tending, at
least, to e'eow that the most ordinary degree of decision and
promptitude would have prevented the revolt altogether. The
easy suppression of the revolt, however, by no means esta-
blishes that the colony is in so little a critical state as to be
fit for the N,,ble Lord's peculiar system. So, again, of Up-
per Canada : does not that colony require, particularly just
now, from the head of our colonial government, a system very
different from that of the Noble Lord ? Is it probable, is it
possible, is it in the nature of things, that the Noble Lord
should so far change his second nature as to conquer the
habit of doing nothing? But it may be said that the Go-
vernment of our North American provinces has been taken
out of the hands of the Noble Lord, and confided to a
Noble Earl who possesses in an eminent degree the per-
sonal qualities of which the Noble Lord is most con-
spicuously deficient.—( Hear.) I have heard this said, Sir,
but I cannot understand it; I readily acknowledge the states-
manlike qualities of the Noble Earl, whose personal character
seems to qualify him, above most men, for the performance of
difficult and arduous public functions. Let me acknowledge
the very striking contrast between the system of the Noble
Earl and the habits of the Noble Lord. But what then?
From whom is the Noble Earl to receive, from whom has he
already received instruction ? to whom is he to make reports ?
who is to bring before Parliament the legislative measures the .
Noble Earl may propose ? Answer to all, the Noble Lord
wedded to his system of doing nothing? Does it not, there-
f,,re, appear not only foolish, but almost ridiculous, to make
such a person as the Noble Earl subordinate to the
Noble Lord'? They had far better change places, for the
system of the Noble Lord is one in which subordinates cannot
well indulge, least of ell under such a chief as the Noble
Earl ; and it is in the chief, the head of our colonial depart-
ment, that the qualities of diligence, forethought, judgment,
activity, and firmness arc most required. Sir, 1 have de-
tained the House too long, and will trouble them but with a
few words more. Ilon. Members, far better acquainted than
I can pretend to be with the history of Parliament, will
confirm me in saying that this motion is fully justified by pre-
cedent ; but I wilt not rely at all on this justification. I rely
wholly on the truth of my proposition, and the expediency A
affirming it. This appears to me to be a case for which eve
ought to make a precedent, if there be none to direct us in
providing a remedy for the evil, Whatever may be thought
of the motion, the case, I will venture to say, is without pre-
cedent.--( Hear.) Were our colonies, ever sieice we esta-
blished a central government for them, in se critical a state
before ? When did so many and such grave questions press
upon the attention of a Colonial Minister?' Is there a single
Member of the House who will say upon bis conscience that
the present Colonial Minister possesses any one, or is lot de-
ficient in all of the qualities mentioned in the proposed address
to the Crown ? Sir, my proposition is true, and upon that
I alone rely. For if such a proposition be true, who will
deny the obligation upon us to provide an adequate remedy
for the evil ? Sir, instead of searching after precedents,
I point to the millions of our fellow-subjects who are un-
represented in this House—to the great branches of do-
mestic industry which depend upon the well-being of our
colonial empire—to New South Wales sinking into a state of
irreclaimable depravity, with its free emigration fund locked
up in the Government chest, and its oft-promised Coe.
stitution withheld year after year—to the Alauritius with
its 20,000 freemen, held in bondage by the insolvent
and would-be rebel planters—to Sou:h Afalca, almost denuded
of its native inhabitants, distracted by factions who agree in
nothing but their curses for the Colonial Office and its horde
of rebels, gone forth into the wilderness to conquer an inheri-
tance of oppression ovi''• the helpless natives—to the " White-
man's-grave," that
job of jobs, which is rejoicing in the vocal
of a reforminP, Governor—to the West Indies, bordering or,
the ruin oc.
elieir industry, inventing a now slave trade with 'the
sall°..!,on of the Noble Lord, in order to counteract the "Noble
Lord'sout as total
necessary t o
neglect
preserve
thes ,:ry
emeansthe is which ioc
of capital
chaep ihimselftul
i, t It: pointed:.:eferti
le
lands, grossly evading the Emancipation Act, after pocketing
ntlalopnape day, acersire the same politi-
caloitos
out
enormous a
single . price;pro o
precaution
ii,10:loi l fastl,wi i
800,000 negto slaves rovaiee%lyiintgo ttlileattirrs,teraungheen
jevvveitnht:
as
es t eprtosos
possessions
esi
oNn mothersoritily racetAsnt
lztet
re; i
el
aiandtat
ilittle
most
rigiolliptsor
provinces,
ete Ise,
rwsohivtort of
open revolt—and, lastly,
where open revolt has just been suppressesl—wliere civil
atasnttio'efirthme
bloodshed has excited the passions of hatred and revenge--
where a Constitution is suspended, and martial law is still in
Im.deVeet of peace, of contented
force—and where there is no

allegiance, but in the prompt settlement of a great variety of
que-tions of surpassing cocrplexity and ettlic::ltv.—( )
to all these colonies in a state o.f disorganization and
danger ; and then to the interests at home which depend, more
or less, on the productiveness of colonial industry—to Bir-
mingham and Sheffu Id, to Leeds Liverpool, and Gl4Egow—
Rna to great co'ouial shipping port of London. This done in-
stead of searehing after precedents, I would remind the House
of the Noble Lord's system, as described by his immediate
predecessor in office—the fatal system of doing nothing .t
If truth and the puhiie interest arc to prevail, the House will
Surely accede to my motion, whether or not it be according to
prtecdcut. One word more, and I shall no longer trespass
upon the patif.nce of the House, It has been suggested to me
that my motion would have been more likely to be carried,
if it had applied, rot to a particular Member of the Go-
vernment, but to the whole Adminiitr ition. For the fol-
lowing reasons I have not listened to that suggestion.
The subject relates strictly to the Colonial Department,
and I wish to conliiie nays+ to the subject —( Hear, lit ar)—
it may be true that the wll,lO cabiOet sh.ittld be held respon-
sibl for the errors and defects of the Colonial office. ',that

may be. a gond Constitutional principle, but I am not aware
of it. Not being aware of it, I have pursued the plain and
simple course of attributing to the Colonial Minister alone
his own error 3 and deficiencies. The other course—that of

proposing a vote of want of confidence in the Minis'ry, on
account of the state of a single department—would have
been far more agreeable to me in one respect—inasmuch as it
would have relieved me from the suspicion—which, however,
I trust, that none who know me still entertain—of behig ac-
tuated by personal hostility to Lord Glenelg. On thet ac-
count alone I should have much preferred miring for a vote
as respects the Cl inet ; but I feel that my first duty is to
place the subject before the House in the light best calculated
to obtein their attention. and, therefose, have I confined to
the Co'onial Minister the proposal of a vote of censure for
matters which are exclusively of a Colonial nature. I have,
very likely, erred through inexperience of the usages of Par-
liament and the Constitution; but I have acted according to
the brat of my judgment, and throw myself upon the indul-
gence of the House. The Hon. Baronet concluded by
moving that en humble address should be presented to her
Majesty, respectfully stating that it is the opinion of this
House that in the present critical state of many of her Ma-
jesty's foreign possessions in various parts of the world, it is
essential to the well-being of her Majesty's colonial empire
and of the many and important domestic interests which de-
pend on the prosperity of the colonies, that the Colonial Mi-
nister should be a person in whose diligence, forethought,
judgment, activity, and firmness, this House and the public
may be able to place reliance; and declaring, with all de-
ference to the constitutional prerogatives of the Crown, that
her Majesty's present Secretary of State for the Colonies does
not enjoy the confidence of this House or of the country.
Mr. LEADER seconded the motion.
Lord PALMERSTON rose to defend the Government,
because, though the Hon. Baronet had chosen to select one
Member of the Administration as the peg upon which he was
pleased to hang that which was really and substantially an at-
tack on the Government at large, as it was an attack on the
Government that he should consider the motion.—( Hear,
hear, hear.) He must speak in this House plain English ;
let them give to things their right names. The Government
could not do otherwise than consider the motion to be an
attack on them, and he would ask the House to consider it.
In this country the Government was not an administration
of separate and distinct departments, but, as was well known,
the measures of every department were submitted to the con-
sideration of the Cabinet, and the Cabinet was responsible for
all the outlines of the policy of each department, though the
executive of the measures might rest with the departments
themselves. He said, therefore, that it was as an act of the
Cabinet that he wished to meet and dispose of this question.
He did not at all complain of this attack or of the course
which the Honourable Baronet pursued as being inconsistent
wit's the principles of the Constitution or with Parliamen-
tary practice. It was, undoubtedly, quite competent to any
person who might feel no confidence in the existing Govern-
ment to call the House to affirm and support his opinions—
( Hear, hear)—but in one respect, at least, the Hon. Baronet
bad certainly produced a novelty in Parliamentary practice.
It was perfectly natural that, when parties were nearly ba-
lanced, the leader of a great political party in this country be-
ing some man who by his former conduct had obtained the
confidence of a large portion of the community, and being sur-
rounded by friends who would be induced by his talents and
experience to assist him in forming that Administration which
was to be the substitute for the one they intended to displace
—it was perfectly natural that, under such circumstances, mo-
tions should be made by the leader of the party objecting to
the mode in which they carried on the public service, and
having for their object the dismissal of the Government it
was desired to supplant. If, therefore, this motion had
been submitted by the Right Honourable Baronet opposite,
he should have been prepared to give his reasons why he
thought it ought not to be adopted, but he could snake
no objection to the quarter from whence it came.—( Hear,
hear.) He would leave the House to determine whether
the motion they were now considering was one of that
description.—( Hear, hear.) He would not suggest the points
of difference, but lie begged to say that motions of this kind
did not is his judgment come with peculiar fitness from the
quarter from which the present motion emanated.—( Hear,
hear.) The Honourable Baronet, indeed, was not quite so
successful in execution as he appeared to have been hostile in
design.—( Laughter and cheers.) He had not shown that his
power to strike was equal to his desire to wound.—( Hear,
hear.) Notwithstanding the pompous announcement by which
the Honourable Baronet's motion was ushered in—notwith-
standing the " call of the House" to hear his great attack on
his Noble Friend, he must say that one of the most formidable
of the difficulties he experienced in risisg to reply to it was
that he was almost at a loss to find a charge which the Hon.
Baronet had attempted to substantiate against his Noble
Friend. The Honourable Baronet had gone through a long
catalogue of colonies, on the administration of which he bad
made his remarks ; but the charges he had brought forward
were founded on circumstances which originated in a perio I
long antecedent to that in which his Noble Friend undertook
the Colonial department ; and the Honourable Baronet
almost in so many words, said he did not attach blame
to his Noble Friend for those acts. The Honourable Ba-
ronet professed that he did mean this as an attack on
the Governmant. He must say, however, that he judged the
motion by the effect it would necessarily produce, rather than
by the disclaimer by which it was accompanied. The Hon.
Baronet expressed his hope that he should not be met by a
reference to his former speeches, or by a supposition that be
meant to promote by this motion the support of demecratical
institutions. He (Lord Palmerston) must take leave to con-
trast the speech he had delivered to-night and the tendency of
his motion with another speech which he had made not a long
time ago, when the state of affairs was not altogether dif-
ferent from what it was at present. The Honourable Baro-
net said it was not his intention to dismiss the present Govern-
ment, but he also said it certainly would not break his heart
if their dismissal were the consequence of his motion ; for he
thought that under any other Government they would have a
better state of things than now existed. Therefore, said he,
if his motion had such a result, in his opinion the country
would he benefited thereby. About four months ago the
Hon. Baronet met his termer constituents in Cornwall, and
he ( Lord Palmerston) begged to call the attention of the
House to the manner in which he delivered his sentiments on
that occasion, as to the state and prospects of the country
and the condition of parties. In the latter daye of October
he expressed great apprehension that the majority of the Go-
vernment was about gradually to disappear.—( Hear, hear.)
He said that the Election Committees would make such a
change in the relative force of parties, that he apprehended
the Tories would soon have a majority in this House. "It is
with unfeigned sorrow," said the lion. Baronet, " I declare
that it is my sincere belief—and I cannot, under the influence
of my wishes, alter this my belief, nor do I see any advantage
that would he derived from blinding ourselves to the dark
prospects before us—that the majority of the Government is
fast disappearing. Ido not mean to attack or accuse her
Majesty's Government—no advantage would result bom doing
so at the present moment. I wish them to retain power, even
if all we gain thereby is the proper distribution of patronage
in Ireland. "—(Hear, hear.) These were the sentiments
which the Hon. Baronet then expressed, aid at that same din-
ner one of the toasts given Was, " Her Majesty's Ministers so
long as they study the interests of the Reformers of Great
Britain,"—( Loud cries of " Hear, hear," from Sir William
Molesworth)—for which toast Mr. Leader returned thanks.—
( Much laughter and ehecring.) If the lion. Baronet asserted
that his olject was not the dismissal of the Government, he
woul I ask him whether in his heart he believed that his mo-
tion, if carried, could have any other result ? Did they suppose
that the Government could or would continue to administer
.the affairs of the country if one of its members were declared
to be unfit to hold that high trust? Why, if they could be so
base and dishonourable, this House would not permit them to
take such a course. No House of Commons would allow a
Government to stand if it could consent to one of their number
becoming a scape-goat to carry off the censure of this House.
—( Cheers.) He would say that the Hon. Baronet had acted
untidily by Lord Glenelg in making a motion against him
which ought to have been made against the Government as a
body. There was nothing in either the public or personal
character of Lord Glenelg that could afThrd the slightest ex-
ewe for so ungenerous and unhandsome an attack —( Hear. )
lie was a man whose talents were admitted by all, the ten-
dency of whose principles was well known, and whose public
services were ernitled to much gratitude.—( Hear.) He had
been the supporter of liberal principles whatever department
of the Government it had been his lot to fill. When in Ire-
laud he was, as he had ever shown -himself in this House, the
steady advocate of the claims of the then oppressed Roman
Catholics—( Loud cheers)—and that was in a time when
the advocacy of the Roman Catholic claims was not the
road to political advaetages.—( Hear, hear, and cheers.)
When at the Board of Trade, first as Vice- President,
and subsequently as President, be was a steady sup-
porter of those liberal principles of political economy which
%ere advocated by his eminent predecessor, Mr. Huskisson,
who thereby brought down on himself the unmerited obloquy
and malienant attacks of bigoted prejudice.—( Renewed
cheers. ) Lord Glenelg, during the period he was President
of the Board of Trade, was the framer and carrier through
Parliament of that great measure which remodelled the Go-
vernmeet of our mighty empire in the East, and opened
to the industry of the people of this country the commerce of
that vast district, peopled by 100,000,000 of human beingi.
And if that measure should, as he trusted it would, lead in
future times to the establishment of an extensive commerce,
when history should record the fact, and the light of truth
Should he spread wide over those distant regions, it would
be a matter of marvel that in the life-time of the Noble
Lord who was the framer and r,asser of !hitt measure there
was found in this House and in the ultra-liberal section
of this House, a man Who could propose to Parlia-
ment the adoption of a motion declaring the Noble

Lord incompetent to conduct the administration of the
Colonial empire of this kingdom.—( Cheers.) He thought
therefore, that the Ilonourable Baronet, in his anxiety to find
a topic on which to found an attack against the Government,
had not been fortunate in his selection of the colonial policy
of the Government ; he theught that whether he acted on
h s own
.judgment, or who titer he had horn advised by per -
sens who night have other view's—( Hear '—he bed anti d
very unfortnuately and erroneously. The very " head and
front" of his charge now against Lord Glenelg was what ?
Why, the demoralized state of the penal colon) of New South
Wales. So, forsrotb, Lord Glenelg was unfit to conduct the
admiiiistration of the colonies, because the settlers of New
South \Vales had not yet attained to the ;..erfection of angels.
If the Honourable Beronet would get lid of the evile existing
is that colony, he should propose an improvement in the law,
for it was the law of this country, and not the administration
of the colony under the law, that added to the demoralization
of a bids he ccmpl.tined. Ile represented that persons hail
b en allowed to remain by Lord Glenelg who had been ac-
tually removed. Ile represented measures to have been taken
the Noble Lord which he had prevented ; he represented
se Noble Lord as idle and inactive, when he '.vas buoy and
Ily occupied—(Gies of " Hear," and laughter from the
. eposition benches)—lie represented him as indifferent to
, c interests of the aboriginal inhabitants, though at the
. ery moment that he made the charge he had in his hand the
. eport of a Committee which declared that " the policy of
be Government had been everything that was humane,
nd deserving of approbation on their part."—( Hear.)
e referred to New Zealand, and said that no steps had been
.aleen by the Government for affording to the settlers of New
y
- caland that protection to which they were entitled. The
ton. Baronet then went to the Mauritius, and reminded the
Itlonse that in TBlO the Mauritius was in a disturbed state._
(A laugh.) He ;aid that when slavery existed, the slave trade
*as carried on in the Mauritius. \Vhy, the facts he adduced
as a grcand of imputation on the colonial policy of Lord
Glenelg carried in themselves the most complete refutation,
because that of which be complained took place before Lord
!Glenelg was entrusted with the administration of the colonial
'affairs. He would say further that where formerly there was
;dissatisfaction there now prevailed content. The Hon.
Baronet complained also of the state of affairs at the Cape.
If there was a colony which he ( Lord Palmerston) would
mention as particularly enabling him to refute the Hoa.
Baronet's charge, he would name that very colony. The
Hon. Baronet could not but be aware that the disturb-
ances at the Cape resulted from the encroachments of the
settlers, which led them into constant collision with the na-
tives, and those encroachments had been put an end to by
the enactments of the Government. When, too, the Hun.
Baronet told them of the emigration of those people who
had gone cestwaid, lie begged to reply that the reason they
took their departure was because they were prevented from
continuing; that system of persecution against the aborigines
who, the Hon. Baronet said, ought to he protected, Why,
he began by describing the conduct of the Dutch, as if their
having pursued a system of encroachment upon the natives
was enough to prove Lord Glenelg's unfitness to remain the
Colonial Secretary. Then he stated that affairs at Sierra
Leone did not go on to his liking. He, however, himself
admitted that no blame was on that account imputable to
Lord Glenelg. If so, why did he allude to it at all ? Why
did he mention it in his motion ?—( Hear.) The Hon. Ba-
ronet next complained of the recal of certain Governors. Did
he suppose that they ware to remain in the colonies all their
lives? Did he not know that they were only expected to
stay a certain period ? In some of the cases in which there
had been a recal, the Governors had performed their period
of service; in others they were recalled before the expiration
of the full time; but did the lion. Baronet suppose that in so
extensive a system as that of our colonial establishment diffe-
rences would not occur without, perhaps, involving any per-
sonal blame to either party, in which the Government, look-
ing to the interest of the colony, would find it necessary to
dispense with the services of the Governor.—( Hear, hear,
and cheers.) The Hon. Baronet had said that no arrange-
ment had been made by the Government to provide for
the state of Jamaica at the time when the period of apprentice-
ship would expire. He was entirely mistaken as to that fact.
--(Hear.) He had here spoken on a subject on which he
had no adequate information: he ought to know that the Go.
vernment had been collecting the information necessary to the
final proceedings ; and so far from the subject having.
escaped their attention, it had, in fact, very much occu-
pied their thoughts. The Honourable Baronet then proceeded
to Canada ; and he must say, though he could not compli.
ment him either on the effectiveness of his speech, or the ge-
neral judgment he showed in the selection of his topics, yet
there was something in the light manner in which lie touched
on that subject which did exhibit more judgment than he
had evinced in any other portion of his speech, and which
made it evident that the explanations the Government had
given had not been entirely thrown away on the Honoura-
ble Baronet. If he were to name any one point on which he
would rest the vindication of the Colonial policy of the Go-
vernment, he would mention the case of Canada.—(Laughter
from the Opposition benches and cheers from the Ministerial.)
What had happened ? What was the state of the Canadas ?
Why, did any man suppose—was any man so ignorant—were
even the Honourable Gentlemen opposite, who had attended
to what had passed on this subject in the debates in this
House, were they so ignorant as not to know that the dissatis-
faction in Canada did not date its origin from the period when
Lord Glenelg took office?—(Cheers.) How must his Noble
Friend the Member for North Lancashire (Lord Stanley) have
blushed at that laugh.—(Hear, hear.) How must he have
felt the deep, the gross ignorance of his friends on this subject
—( Renewed cheering)—when they supposed that the com-
plaints of the Canadians originated at the time of the appoint-
meet to office of Lord Glenelg. He might unhesitatingly de.
clare that the dissatisfaction had been in one province entirely
removed, and in the other it had been greatly diminished. The
events of the last few months in Canada proved, ii the most
incontestable manner, the wisdom of the administration of her
Majesty's Government there.—(Laughter, and cries of " Oh,
oh," from the Opposition side of the House.) Why, there
had been a revolt, and how was that revolt put down? Some
of the French in Lower Canada took up arms, and were they
supported in their insurrection by the great mass of the
French in that country ? On the contrary, did they not
remain firm and loyal to their Sovereign, and was not that a
proof that they felt that their connection with this country
was more desirable than separation ? But what had hap-
pened in Upper Canada was a stronger proof that there had
been a proper administration of the affairs of that colony.
Only a short time ago the province in question was in a state
of extreme discontent—it was bordering on revolution ; the
supplies were refused ; the machine of government was almost
interrupted ; and if only a spark had fallen on the inflammable
materials which abounded in the colony, the result must have
been most deplorable.—( Hear.) What had happened? A few
desperate men had attempted, in the first place, to take the
capital of the province; they were repelled by the inhabitants
without the aid of a single soldier of the line.—( Hoar.) A
band of foreign invaders was repelled on the eastern confines
of the province by the Canadians themselves. A similar at-
tempt had been made in the west, and was attended with simi-
lar results. lie would eay, then, that a province that had acted
so nobly as the ere). ince of Upper Canada, there having existed
there extreme discontent, did give proof that the administra-
tion of the colony must have beets deserving the appro-
bation of Parliament.—( Hear. bear, hear.) The colo-
nies, taken as a whole, were prosperous and tranquil, with
the simple exception of that which had lately occurred in
the rovince of Canada, and there no ground existed for
the attack of the Honourable Baronet. Flow had affairs
stood in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia ? They were in
a state of discontent little short of that which had existed in
Canada. What was their state now ? They were perfectly
satisfied and perfectly loyal.—( Hear, hear, hear.) III:,
therefore, contended that the very statements of the
Honourable Baronet—the very instances he had quoted
—so far from justifying the motion he had made, ought
Ito be taken as evidence against it. If the Hon. Baronet's
1 motion were brought forward for the direct purpose of accom-
plishing the removal of her Majesty's Government, it was fit-
ting that the House sheltie' understand the question on which
they were going to vote, and that they should see what were
the consequences to which that vote was to lead. Did the
Hon. Baronet propose, as it was almost to be inferred he did
from something that dropped from him in the course of Isis
speech, wherein he said it did not follow that because the pre-
sent Government was removed the Hon. Gentlemen opposite
were to come into office. Did the llou_urable Baronet meat
—he presumed he did not—that it was possible lie might be
required to steer the vessel of the state.—( hear, hear, and
a laugh.) Why, that might be thrown out as a sort of jeer
no doubt, but then the Honourable Bironet had followers.
He ( Lord Palmerston) did not know their number—(a laugh)
—and he had yet a point or two to settle with them, for some
of his doctrines of colonial policy were not quite such as were
entertained by some of the Honourable Gentlemen who wool]
vote with him to-night. He was, however, sure the Hon.
Baronet did not wish the House to suppose that if his motion
were carried he was ready to take upon lii.nself the conduct
of the affairs of the country. The Hon. Gentlemen opposite,
then, would be, they must, be, the parties who were to sue-
ceed the existing Government, and that being so, he would
ask the House whether, in the present state of the country,
whether, with reference to the affairs of Canada er Ireland,
they would have a chance of conducting the public business
with advantage to the country or with credit to themselves.
As regarded Canada, he was sure it would be admitted that
things might be done by the present Government which would
not he accepted equally well by some of the lion Gentlemen
opposite. It was true that the revolt was put down, but much
remained for them to do to establish tranquillity and content
in the Provinces ; and he did not think that persons
dispcsed to take the views which the Honourable Gentlemen
before him were in time habit of taking, would be as able as
he and his honourable colleagues were to bring the affairs of
these colonies to a satisfactory arrangement. But did the)
iTmgine that they could govern Ireland I—(Checre) Must
that House believe that these Hon. Gentlemen could carry on
the affairs of this ccuotry with Ireland in a state of discontent,
and which was now in peace and tranquillity ?—( Cheers, and
cries of " Oh, oh !" from Odposition Members.) Were they
to pacify Ireland by a systern of administration which marked
its. course and carried on its government by " the Kentish
tires-?"—(The conclusion of the sentence was lost in loud
cheers) Perhaps the lion. Baronet looked to a mixed Ad-
ministration—( Hear)—to that which was called on the Conti-
nent a Government of fusion.—( Laughter. ) Perhaps the
Hon. Baronet might think that, when he had triumphed, he
and the Right lion. Baronet the Member for 'l auto
might meet upon the field of victory and then divide the spoil
..._( Cheers and Laughter)—nr possibly his noble friend the
Member for North Lancashire in;egise ,:e associaied with them
to wake up the triumvirate.—(Cheers and iaseg,htt.r.) But
what curious sacrifices must not the members of this triumvi
rate be called upon to meke, for on no principle could they act
together f The lion. Baronet would be obliged to sur-
The bight
render Ireland to Orange domination.—( Cheers.)