The Sun.
London, England, 1849-02-21 00:00:00

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What wa; it that made pr;Sk'nt order of things
be continued and maultained ? Why, nothing more
or less than the patroioge possessed by the Colonial-
office.—(Hear, hear.) .He had moved last ysar for a
list of all the offices in the Colonial Department. but
it had rot been furnished.—(Hear, hear.) But those
who were crying out for financial reform in this coun-
try had no conception of the wholesale abuses which
existed in our colonial department —(11r ar, hear.) HO
would tell their to take away the patronage from the
Colonial-offica, and give it to those who had to pay the
salaries.—(Hear.) It was incumbent on them that such
an inquiry as the present should be gone into, not against
this roan or that man, but against the prevailing- system.
hear.) It it were to be gone into, he conceived
that Earl Grey and. his Hon. Friend below him (Mt
Hawes), would ik; welt to retire from the Colonial-office.
—(Hear, hear, and laughter.) He hoped it they Offere'
their resignations her 'NI ajesty's Ministers would accept
them.—(Hear, bear, and laughter.) there had been ia•
stances before , f dispatch,s having been kept back.—
(Hear, hear.) He -did not think the proposed inquiry
could be properly or satisfactorily carried out while the,
present authorities of the Colonial-office held their places.
—(Hear, hear.) He concluded by seconding the motion
of his lion. Friend opposite.

The SPEAKER having put the question,
Mr. RICARDO propos' d, by way of amendment, to
add these words to the motion:—" Whereby they may
be rendered more capable of meeting the difficulties of
the transition from a system of protection to that of com-
petition in the British market with the produce of to•
reign states to which Parliament has determined that
they shall be exposed, in accordance with the general
commercial policy which it has deliberately adopted."
He said it would be presumption on his part to take
upon himself to reply toohe heavy charges made against
the Government, and that he must express his surprise
that with so grave an accusation as the Honourable Gen-
tleman (Mr. Baillie) had made he should have concluded
with so small a motion.—(Bear.) If the Colonial-
office bad been guilty of half the high crimes and mia-
demeanours charged against them by the Honourable
Gentleman, and insinuated against them by the Honour-
able Member for Montrose, then it would have been
more fair in them, more worthy of the position they had
taken up as the representatives of the colonies, to pro-
pose a direct vote of censure on the Right Honourable
Secretary for the Colonies and his colleagues' than to
demand a mere inquiry into their conduct.—(Applause.)
But the Hon. Gentleman seemed to consider his motion
as a direct vote of censure. It might be so; and, as he
(Mr. Ricardo) believed, it had a meaning dfferent from
the terms in which it had been expressed. He bad, for
that reason amongst others, given notice of his amend-
ment. It was his belief that the case of Ceylon had been
selected as a peg to hang another inquiry upon; but he
could not understand why the case of the alauritius and
British Guiana had been mixed up with that of Ceylon,
or what connexion existed between these three colonies.
If there was a charge against the Government relative
to Ceylon, why not bring it on by itself? Why intro-
duce British Guiana and the Mauritius, and then at the
last moment withdraw one of the charges advanced
against the Colonial-office?—(Hear, hear.) Ile was
also at a loss to understand what it was that Hon. Gen-
' tlemen were complaining of. They had commenced by
attacking the system pursued with reference to the co-
lonies, and then they had advanced charges against the
Governor and the Colonial-office. He was not going to
refer to the case of Ceylon.—(Laughter.) His belief
was that, under the guise of a motion for inquiry into
the administration of affairs at Ceylon and British
Guiana, an attempt was now being made of a reactionary
movement in favour of Protection.—(Oh, oh.) This
was his case, and he would prove it. The whole at-
tempt with reference to British Guiana has been made
in order to embarrass the Government by inducing com-
plaints to be advanced in and out of the House. Why,
the fact was avowed. The great mover in this affair
was the man who had acted as leader to the party who
refused the supplies. That man's name was Peter
Rose, and he had declared to the Governor
that it was hopeless to expect the supplies
while the colonists were unprotected against slave
sugar.—(Hear, hear.) The Court of Policy bad pro-
posed in 1848 that the civil list should be reduced 25 per
cent., and the ground on which they made that proposal
was, that, when the civil list was voted, they bad pro-
tection against slave-grown sugar, and that then, as
they had not that protection, they would make the 25 per
cent, reduction. They afterwards proposed that the
estimates should be postponed altogether, until the re-
sult of the Committee, which was sitting in that House
on the sugar and coffee question, had been ascertained.
Now, this looked very like having a motive, that motive
being to obtain protection; and, indeed, extracts from
the papers of the colony showed that the supplies were
refused, merely because they had been unable to obtain
protection.—(Hear, hear.) The Honourable Member
here refer', d to a meeting at which Rose presided,
and at which the terms were read for granting the sup-
plies, and he then proceeded to observe that there was
no dispute about the long list of salaries to which the
lion. Member for Inverness (Mr. Baillie) had called the
attention of the House. The dispute was about the civil
list. The salaries were under the control of the com-
bined court, and if they chose to reduce them 50 per
cent. they might have done so without objection.—(Hear,
hear.) There was no doubt that the movement in Bri-
tish Guiana was made for protection, and that it was
not aimed against Lord Grey, but against a free trade
Parliament.—(Applause.) But the days for obtaining a
restoration
of
peoplef
of the
this
eo principlesontr
y hadof
pronounced
t at hay
passed,
and the
would no longer consent to have their industry taxed for
the benefit of the colonies. He believed that Lord Grey,
much to his honour, had dared to encounter much mis-
representation rather than flinch from those principle/
of commercial policy which he had supported in that
House, when in opposition, and which he maintained is
the other House, now that he was in office. The
Hon. Member for Inverness was no friend to the colo-
nies if he endeavoured to persuade them that there West
a possibility of returning to the old state of things.
he attempted to cajole them into the belief that there
was a party here ready to return to the commercial policy'
which the people of England had declared to be oppres-
sive to the community and mischievous to those whom it
was intended to serve.—(Loud cheers.) Let them no;
be deceived into the belief that the people of England
were not firm to the policy they had adopted—that they
would favour any interest, be it that of the landowner
or the shipowner, to the detriment of another interest--'
that they would longer submit to subsidise the colonies---
or that they would resuscitate that monopoly to which
they had already given a death-blow.—(Cheers.)
The amendment having been seconded,
Mr. HAWES rose and said, that but for the motion
of which the lion. Gentleman the member for Stoke had
given notice, it would have been his (Mr. Hawes's) duty'
as it would be his inclination, immediately to have fol-
lowed the speech of the Hon. Member for Inverness.
Toe latter Hon. Member had made heavy and grave
charges against his Noble Friend at the .head of the
colonial department—against the Colonial-office in times
gone by—and, he (Mr. Hawes) might almost say, against
Parliament and the country itself.—(Hear, hear.) The
lion. Gentleman had attempted to support these charges
by re.erence to the papers on the table, in a manner most
disingenuous and unfair.—(Applause.) And be had
~aid that he wished a Committee to inquire into the con-
duct of the Colonial-office in reference to Ceylon and
British Guiana; but why had he struck out the Mauri-
tius? He (Hr. Hawes) entreated of the Hon. Mover to
adhere to his motion as it originally stood. He feared
no inquiry.—( Applause.) He invited iiiquiry—nay,more,
he was anxious to grant it—(renewed applause)—and
he was perfectly willing that the Mauritius, or any other
colony should be inserted. Let it not be understood for
a moment that either his Noble Friend at the head of
the Colonial Department or himself feared in the
slightest degree any inquiry that might be instituted.
lie feared it as little as the Right Hon. Gentleman had
reason to fear it, who conducted the colonial affairs un-
der the last administration. He was ready to meet it•
and then the Hun. Mover of the resolution would have
an opportunity of making good his charges.—(fiean)
That House aas not the place to make these charges,'
particularly in the way in which they had been advancetk
Having determined to move for a Committee of inquiry'
he might have suspended his bitterness and personality
—(Hear, hear.) Having proposed to inquire whether
there was any ground for the charges be, at least, might
have postponed his judgment until his own accusations
were proved, as they would be proved, to be utterly 110"
founded.—(Cheers from the Ministerialists, and laughter
from the Protectionists.) He (Mr. Hawes) was prepared to
be met with some jeering, but he was entitled at least to
a respectful ht aring; at least, this he might say, that the
jeering would not interrupt him in the course he
tended to pursue.—(Applause.) He did not mean by
d
declaring his willingness to enter on the inquiry,
his determination to have that inquiry followed up, n
shrink in any respect from dealing as well as he IT,
able with the charges and accusations brought forward'
--(Hear, hear.) Now, the Colonial-office had been se:
cused of tyranny and opprestion, and wasteful expends'
ture; and it was contended that the colonies should
have control over their own affairs, and over the 00;
penditure of their own taxation. But no distinction had
been drawn, and no discrimination used in treating 0,`,,
the subject. One would have thought from the opening
speeches that there was not a colony in existence which
e
0
had a representative government.—(Hear, hear.) TP
lion. Mover had attacked in generalities; he had ten'
fined his illustrations to two or three cases; and he JO"
not stated fully and fairly what was the onlonial policf
of the country.
Mr. BAILLIE—I stated that I would confine my efr
servations to two of the colonies.
Mr. HAWES said that he only was now dealing with
the general charges advanced, and that he would after;
wards come to the particular cases.—(Hear.) First 0'
all, attention had been drawn to the colony of CeYle'
and it was necessary to follow that part of the case Step
7
by step. When Lord Torrington had been appolete-;
and when he arrived in that colony, he found its trease%
almost bankrupt, its trade declining, and, of course, t"
that European population chiefly engaged in trade, at -di.
time by no means in a prosperous and thriving COn
et
tion. Now, the Hon. Mover had not made the sliglite„.
reference to any of the measures which Lord To;
rington had introduced or carried with reference to tei•
ation. He had not said a word about the reductions n
Lordship had made; not a word about how be Ilse
revived trade and expanded the springs
and not a word shout the amount be 50
converted from direct to indirect taxation.—(Cheery)
allusion had been made to any part of the case
would have done Lord Torrington justice, but nibetbeen
ingenuously and unfairly had those points only
_oar
touched which would be likely to produce an unfav
to
able impression on the House.—(Cheers.) WhY'..ssei
first thingahis Lordship did on witnessing the depreor
condition of affairs in the colony was instantly c,
°role—
municate with all the leading departments, and to
expense of all kinds. Next, he investigated the tar of
and reealed taxes pressing on the land to the aro.
_.au'itt.
30,0001. a-year.—(Cheers.) Then he instituted an of industa
qqiry iut9 the age of the expenditure, sad in luv