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

HOUSE OF LORDS, .211410 g 6.

quote the page which contained both the representation ce
those persons and the statemept of_ his Noble_ Miens' at tie
head of the Colonial Department. The Noble Lord's state
mint was, that in toesequeoce of that representation, it
would be impossible for any man to make such apprentices for
a less period than five years in the colony of Guiana. Fe,
the purpose of removing _all obstacles, and of fecilita-
ting and encouraging the importation of such apprentices.
the Noble Lerd thought the time should be ex-
tended to five years instead of three. Therefore
that was the object of the Government. They endea-
voured, with their eyes open, to encourage that tram,
which they were bound to discourage. For the sake
of rendering the traffic as easy as possible through
their sanction of the traffic, and by their combination with
those engaged in it—they increased the time. On the dis•
tract statement in words, such was the object they had in view.
Nothing was so easy as to talk of importing free men—of im-
porting labourers—and of increasing lands, but he would call
their attention to what was rons:dered by all who had considered
th.e subject in the East and in the West. to be the most cruel
and inevitable abuses of that traffic, and which in fact it had al-
ready proved to produce. Ile asked their Lordships to cast
their eyes back upon the system and progress of the slave-trade,
of which all of them had heard, and many had seen so much. It
was impossible that anything more degrading and disgusting
could be found in the history cf the human species. But it
was his candid opinion that it was only in ignorance
or forgetfulness that an order in Council such as
that which he now referred to could have been issued.
He ( Lord B.) would venture to say that slavery was by far
the greatest speck, the blackest chapter, in the annals of ow
species ; and when the great satirist, speaking of tie perfidy of
courts, and the cruelty of camps, termed them at once the
most bloodthirsty and the most contemptible, had he
substituted for statesmen's perfidy, and soldiers' cruelties,
the atrocities of the Slave-trade, he had never been
charged with exaggeration. It was remarkable, that, from
whatever cause, the traffic in the persons of their fellow.
men had been in all ages, more or less, the crime of
human nature. First, in a savage state—it was ob-
servable that when our great navigator discovered islands
hitherto unvisited by civilized men, he found there were
various shades of slavery—whether under the form of
apprenticeship, or in the more undisguised form of
bondage. Slavery had also polluted the most civi-
lized and refined nations of the earth. And it was
a strange fact, that in this very country, which prided it-
self so highly on its enlightened civilization, and, by a singular
reverse, in Bristol, there had been a great emporium of the
Roman slave trade—both slaves by name as well as
nature, or apprentices... And both forms of boadige were also
to be found in this 'eetintry under the feudal system. There
was the villein in gross —the slave absolute—that could
be sold, like cattle, by the head ; and the villein re-
garrlant —adscriptus glebes—the slave, under a mitigated
bondage—a kind of contract, or apprenticeship, for a term of
years. A great change took place iu the system of slavery
soon after this period. A mode of conveyance by cara-
van was adopted from Africa, through the deserts towards
the coasts, the signa s-rvoram of that unhappy continent,
which had so long performed this service for the rest
of the world, and by which other nations had been sup-
plied for domestic purposes for many centuries. But this was
a kind of slavery which, compared with that which now bore
the name, was scarcely deserving of the appellation.
'
enjoyingaendt master,mb l paacrkaent
and sometimes
comfort—
livinga a c in
the
obtaining
ae
in ini domesticng
it)irioemsfolaatvivooenu had
blf
übhtistehnpatron
m
st
history of mankind—that blackness greatly deepened
by the slavery that followed—the Spanish discovery ;
and, as if to plunge Spain from the pinnacle of glory to
which Columbus bad raised it, it fell into the lowest
abyss of crime, and cruelties were enacted all over the
world which were calculated to make Spain the subject of
deep, inextinguishable, and universal execration. The Indians
were seized upon, treated like cattle, worked to death, and
almost extirpated ; and it was not until their taskmasters
found they were likely to be deprived altogether of a
supply, that they seriously bethought themselves to take
to another course, and out of which course arose the
African slavery, casual and accidental for a time ; but then it
was for the purpose of supplying the want of labourers in the
New World that Africa was to be made desolate, and her chil-
dren to be carried across the South Seas. Applications were
made to merchants—memorials were presented to the Down-
ing-street of Madrid, to the Spanish Secretary—representing
that it was necessary hands should be supplied to work
the mines and cultivate the fields ; that there was a
great diminution of those hands in India, which
had theretofore furnished them ; that five per cent.—that
seven per cent. were lost, and that soon no hands would be
found there at all—that the Spanish Monarchy would be
ruined, and that universal desolation would be the result,
if a supply of labourers was not found. Ho (the Noble
and Learned Lord) might read some of the letters
in the papers which had been laid on the table by the Noble
Secretary for the Colonies—he might cull out the applica-
tions that were shown to have been made in those papers, and
he might say that what was stated in the end of the 15th
and beginning of the 16th centuries to the Colonial Secretary
of Madrid was to encourage or facilitate the slave trade ; to
furnish such a supply of labourers, such an introduction of hands,
such a supply of emigrants, as should be beneficial to the coun-
try; and he used the different phrases that danced throughout
the pages of those papers. A man, Bartolomei de las Cans,
one of the greatest philanthropists, a man who occupied the
position which his Noble Friend ( Lord Glenelg) now occu-
pied, except indeed that lie was at the head of the whole, that he
was Prime Minister of Spain rather than the Colonial Secretary,
though filling that office admitted the grievances that existed,
admitted the crying evil of the crimes, and that there was
nothing which ought not to be done to put a stop to such
proceedings ; but he said, that though he was for protecting the
Canadians, he did not understand that left-handed justice
which should induce him to shut his eyes to, and withhold his
hand from, the case of Africa ; and that therefore the specula-
tors in African human flesh should receive no help from
him. The Cardinal died. He was succeeded by a
young Emperor, ignorant of colonial affairs, and of con-
siderable fortune, and for the sake of an augmentation to
his income of 4,000/. or e,OOO/. a year, he laid the foundation
of African Slavery. This went on for two centuries to
desolate the Continent of Africa. For two centuries,
and nearly three, this scourge of the Africans continued
without intermission ; and after incalculable misery had
been inflicted, after a world of injustice had been per-
petrated, after every species of crime which human
nature could be guilty of' in all its varieties, there
arose in our own country, one, who, from a strict love
of justice—a love of justice strictly so called—who came for.
ward to raise Lis voice against the horrors of African slavery—.
every one would honour the revered name of Thomas Clark-
son. All the other survivors, with every one of whom he
bad had personal communication, since this Order in
Council in an ill-fated moment was issued, had declared
they were alarmed, disappointed, and mortified, beyond what
their language had the power of expressing. 'The course
which Thomas Clarkson, with Granville Sharpe, and others
toelt, was not by any kind of comparison half so powerful as that
adopted by that most venerable man, whose name
was associated with Thomas Clarkson's, and would
go down to the latest posterity, and be revered
as long as virtue, piety, wisdom, and eloquence were
admired by men—lie meant the name of the late Mr.
Wilberforce. He would now remind their Lordship of what
was most germain to the prevent matter—he meant the kind
of defence then made for tho now universally condemned

The LORD CHANCELLOR took his seat on the Woolsack at
five minutes past Five o'Clock.
The Duke of RICHMOND presented a petition from the
Guardians of a Union of the Poor in Norfolk, praying that
the assessments of cottages might be placed on the landlords,
and not the occupiers. When a measure of this sort should
be brought before the House, it undoubtedly should have his
support.
Lord RADNOR presented a petition from Highworth, in
Wiltshire, praying for the abolition of Negro slavery.
The Marquis of SLIGO presented a petition from (as we
understood) Calder, to the same effect.
The Earl of ROSEBERY presented a petition from the
Royal burgh of Stirling, against any further grant to the
Church of Scotland.
The Marquis of SALISBURY, after putting a question to
Lord Melbourne, which was not heard in the Gallery, moved
for certain returns respecting a reduction of the Cavalry.
The Duke of DEVONSHIRE presented a petition from
Derby, praying for the reduction of postage.
The Bishop of EXETER moved for certain Canadian re-
turns respecting clergymen in holy orders.
SLAVERY.

Upon the Order of tho Day respecting the slave question
being read—
Lord BROUGHAM rose and said—Of all the subjects that
had engrossed the attention of Parliament, that upon which he
was about to address the House this night had at all times been
possessed of infinite importance ; and if after struggling in the
public mind, and struggling in the Chambers of the Legisla-
ture, for years and years, there was at last a change—
one of the most brilliant victories which the cause of
truth and justice had ever obtained—he would venture
to say that now, while we had ventured to hope we had
reached the last stage, and that the controversy was almost
extingwished by success—that now, when not the Slave-
trade only had been condemned by the unanimous judg-
ment of mankind pronounced on mature consideration,
but when the state of slavery itself had bad the same
sentence pronounced upon it ; and when the only doubt that
remained in men's minds, or upon the matter, was the precise
moment when that sentence, so pronounced, should be
carried into full execution—he would venture to say
that the Slave Trade Abolition, instead of losing, had gained
in interest; but he also added, that that disappointment
must be bitter which would arise from finding that even the
Slave-trade had not yet been extinguished. When he looked
at the Order in Council to which he had promised to direct
their Lordships' attention, and compared its frame and its ne-
cessary consequences with all that past history had taught
us of the slave trade, he had a right to express the feeling of
the bitterest disappointment that he was now towards the
middle of the 19th century, and full fifty years after
the slave trade abolition was for the first time discussed in
Parliament, compelled to grapple with such a motion as this.
No man could accuse him upon the present occasion of bring-
in:, forward a measure, or being about to propound a
vote which implicated the Government, or was anything
like a censure of the Government, without having given
them ample warning. It was upwards of six weeks since he
dragged to light this reluctant Order of Council. He said
dragged to light a reluctant Order of Council, because, how-
ever important it might be admitted to he, it never had ob-
tained the accustomed publicity of such documents
by any publication in the Gazette. He found the practice had
not been uniformly to publish those documents. The practice
oas more honoured, nevertheless, in his mind, " in the breach
than in the performance." He had found that that which, of
necessity, was private in its nature, viz., a resolve of the
Queen or King in Council, and which made the law for the
Crown Colonies as absolutely, and with as full authority as with
a Statute passed by King, Lords, and Commons made the law
of this realm, ought not to be recorded in the books of the
Council alone, where none had access but the clerks
of the Council alone, ought to be promulgated to the people,
in whose favour it was made, or against whose interests it
was enacted, or whose concerns it governed. lie had made
that Order the subject of complaint in that place, and
standing there, lie detailed the heads of the reasons for which
in his mind that Order was worthy of all condemnation. He
had said—rescind what never ought to have passed, and he
would not make another remark. Withdraw what improvi-
dently issued, and he would comment not upon the issuing of
it. He had waited six weeks and upwards, and that suggestion
was proved to have been thrown away, and the Order in
Council, of the merits of which be was about to speak, was
persisted in, and was now to be debated. No man could say
the Government came to this matter unwarned by him.
No man could accuse him with having stood by while
the mischief was brewing, and having only cried, " I warned
you when the event was over." He had with his own eyes
seen that charge in print against him. If he had not seen it
lie could not have believed that his conduct on the Cana.
, dian question bad been so described ; yet lie had been vilely,
impudently, and falsely aspersed for such conduct on that
question.—(Hear, hear, hear.) He had found it recorded
to the Government press, that he was one of the " juggling
fiends who cried out, ' I warned you,' when the event was
over."

" That juggling fiend, who never spoke before,
But cries, 1 warned you,' when the deed is o'er."
He had heard of quotations being apt and appropriate—
rrid be had heard disputes as to their comparative merits;
but generally he thought the palm for the most felicitous
quotation was due to that application of an elegant Latin sen-
tence to Dr. Franklin for his philosophical experiments, and
the liberation of America :
Eripuit ceelo fallen sceptrumque tyrannis."
But none could deny the claim of the Government scribe to
the palm for the falsest and most unappropriate quotation that
ever had been made.—( Hear.) So far from being a jug-
*ling fiend, who did not cry, " I warned you until
'the event was o'er," ten months before the • rebellion
he had denounced the colonial policy of the Government, and
had foretold that it would produce rebellion, and, to make
the falsehood and the inappropriateness of the quotation
the more marvellous, he never twitted them when the event
was over by saying he had warned them. A week ago he
had denounced the Order in Council, and now he was
driven to grapple with it, because it was pertinaciously
maintained. He should re-state what he had before
possible. It appeared that the regula•
said as shortly as
tion made in March, 1837, respecting the importation of
labourers who could be apprenticed by indenture in British
Guiana iim;.ted the term to three years. But no man could
find it worth his whjle to import cargoes—for such was the
word—cargoes of human beings for an apprenticeship of three
years.---(jjem-, hear, hear.) 'Therefore an application
was made on ropre rotations which conyinced the Go-
vernment that, unless au CI-ensio4 of tae time was
given to those engaged in the traffic!,
Po4id not import
any such cargoes. If any one doubted what be said, sae could

system of slavery.—( Hear, hear.) The slave-trader
took high ground—he was not to be put down be
said by senseless calumny. He was not to be cowed by
taunts of pretended philanthropists—that was another of
the expressions then used.—( Cries of " Hear, hear.") lie
was not to be driven from his honest occupation, in which he
had been encouraged by the Legislature, by any affected
threats of exaggerated humanity. That was another expres-
sion used. But he would show the African was better off
in our colonies than he was in his own country, and that
the importation of labourers, for that was the phrase, was
as useful from whence the supply was drawn as it
was necessary to that whether the supply was directed. Ge-
neral Tarlton said, " The Africans themselves had no objec-
tion to the Slave Trade ; that people were led away by a
mistaken humanity and misrepresentation ; that there were only
five deaths in five hundred, whereas in their own regiments
10} per cent. was the mortality on the same voyage." The
gallalt General cited an authority to show how much happier
the slave was there than in his own colony. He cited
the authority of a Governor, two Admirals, a Captain,
and a Commodore—all naval officers. He would also
read an extract from al speech of Sir William Young,
who said—" Far be it from him to defend a traffic in man,
but he did not regard the African trade in that light—he
utterly denied that general system of kidnapping which was
alleged to prevail on the coast of Africa, and which was
supposed to be the great source of the supply of slaves; he
maintained that they were brought down either by their own
voluntary consent, or else as prisoners of war ; and that, but
fur the tender mercies of the Liverpool trader, they would be
left, in the one case, to be massacred by their savage captors:,
~r, in the other, to perish of famine from the sterility of their
native soil " Sir William Young then goes on to point out
the several colonies which it would be utterly impossible to
cultivate, if the Slave trade should be wholly abolished, and
this, he said, was particularly the case with Guiana—
Guiana, my Lords, that self-same colony which now crie4
out for liberty to import slaves from all the territory of
Africa, as well as from all the numberless provinces that
come within the charter of the East India Company. It
was this same Guiana to which Sir W. Young referred in 1791,
as furnishing the grand reason for allowing the continuance,
as a matter of necessity, of the African Slave Trade.
Colonel Phipps, upon the same occasion, contended that the
African race were all slaves ; and fur the purpose of showing
that the African slave-trade give no stimulus to the practices
by which slaves were made, and by which men were controlled
and coerced to allow of a et. own exportation from their own
native soil, Colonel Phipps entered into a statement, by which
ho endeavoured to prove that every negro embarked on hoard
a slave-ship was taken there by his own free will. In some
instances, perhaps, the embarkation might have been volun-
tary ; but this did not diminish the enormity of the crime com-
mitted ; f,;- nine out of ten of the poor creatures who were
deluded into this step, placed themselves in the hands of the
w bite traders under the firm conviction that they were to be
(serried to a free country. They had no idea where they were
rains,es• Many of them had never seen the sea. To give
them an idea, therefore, of a West Indian island, or the na-
ture of a voyage at sea, would be about as easy as to give
them a notion of the transactions in another planet. Me-
morable, my Lords, was the answer Which Mr. Pitt gave
to the trash I have just been quoting. Memorable were the
words which Mr. Pitt then used; and would to God that
his successor could now bear them Would to Qnd that the,
same Tar*, 000 1,h9 cpt.o flow respAd its l!is

THE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 7, 1838.

sar I So for ever should we see put down the last pretence,
the last shadow of possibility of defending, by mere quibbles
and the grossest sophistry, such measures as ace now adopted.
Alas, alas !" exclaimed Mr. Pitt, " von trade in human beings
like merchandise; making them the subjects of your commerce;
,nd you refuse to allow them the benefit of that great law of
,i 1 human commerce which says that the supply trill ever suit
itself to the demand." But the defenders of slavery were
not to be put down by this; and, accordingly, upon another
,ceasion, within the same year, the selfsame arguments were
advanced—the same comparisens were drawn : the happiness
of the slave in America and the misery of the negro in
Africa were contrasted in the same manner as before for
the purpose of showing, in behalf of the parties engaged
in the traffic, that the result of that traffic was not
only gainful to themselves, but productive of the greatest
blessings to the negro.—( Hear, hear, hear.) Upon this
second occasion to which I refer, Alderman Watson, the
representative of the city of London, was heard to say,
in his plane in the House of Commons, thr.t " the
negroes were token, as every one knew, from a worse to a
',Ater state." New, I beg your Lordships. to give me credit
for not having alluded to one argument, one incident, one ex-
pression to which I am not going to show you a parallel topic%
a parallel argument, a parallel expression in the papers now
before you, relating to this Order in Council of which I com-
plain. Mr. Alderman Watson said—" That if humanity were
concerned in the question, he should be as ready to support
the motion," namely, a motion brought forward by Mr. Wii-
berforce, "as any man. The fact was, however, that the na-
tives of Africa were taken from a worse state of slavery in
their own country to one more mild. He recommended it to
the Committee to soften the rigours of slavery by wholesome
regulations, but not to adopt so rash a conduct as to rote the
immediate abolition of the trade." I never yet heard any slave
trader, front the year 1778 downwards, who, in resisting the
abolition of the trade, did not set up as a defence to it that it
was carried on under regulations the very best the wit of men
could devise. Yet everybody knows that the regulations so
loudly vaunted were in fact, however well in construction, ut-
terly useless, or rather utterly disregarded in practice. Every
body knows that as long as the trade was kept alive it was a
mere mockery to say that any regulations which Parliament
could devise would affix limits to its iniquities, or mitigate
the cruelties which it entailed upon its victims. Then I am
told, and that is one of the arguments used with respect to
those who I fear, will become the victims of the Order in
Council—" Be not disturbed—discard all apprehensions of
cruelty—you may trust to the interest of men—rest assured
they will not overcrowd their ships with passengers—they will
not. feed them too little, nor constrain them too much—they
will./not disregard their health nor their comfort—above all
their health, because it is the interest of these persons to carry
to the Mauritius or to Guiana, not only as many negroes as
they can, but to get them there in as healthy a
state as they can." Such were the arguments ad-
vanced in the debate to which I have referred, in 1791, and
such, also, are the arguments which I have advanced at the
present day. All the horrors, the cruelties, the. atrocities,
the murders of the middle passage—all the enormities and
wickedness, that man can commit upon his fellow-crea-
tures—all these, we are told, are idle stories, mere fabri-
cations, gross calumnies, unworthy of notice—talus, wonder-
fully exaggerated tales, with which the advocates and de-
fenders of the Slave-trade ought not for a moment to be
taunted. We shall soon see that the horrors of the middle
passage are not confined to the Slave-trade properly as
called ; we shall see that, short as the time is, the apprentice-
ship traffic will produce evils strongly resembling, I will not
say exactly equalling, for that I believe to be quite impossible,
but strongly resembling the horrors of the Slave-trade itself.
The Noble and Learned Lord went on to quote passages from
Sir William Young's book upon the West Indies, in which the
condition of the negro race in the British West India islands
was described as being the happiest and most enviable of any
class of beings upon the earth. These w ere the pictures which
were given in Parliament, and attempted to be palmed upon
the country, to show the great advantage to Africa and to the
ncgro, as well as to the planter and the colony, of a contiau-
aiTcer°' of the Slave-trade. Here were the statements which were
made to show the total mistake, the strange and extraordinary
error of those who held the monstrous opinion, that it was
cruel and unjust to carry over yearly from the coast of Africa
to the British colony a number of human beings, amounting in
number to not less than 75,000. It was held by some persons
that it was impossible such a traffic could be allowed to go on,
whether the human beings who formed the staple commodity of
it were called free labourers, industrious apprentices, or honestly
and frankly, that which they were—slaves. That opinion gra-
dually gained ground and at length became invincible ; but for
a long time the supporters of it were deemed mere visionaries,
and, upon all occasions when the subject was mooted, were
met with such arguments, such statements, or such assertions
as those to which he had referred. But, notwithstanding all
the efforts of the slave traders and their supporters, their doom
was pronounced. To the immortal honour of the Administra-
tion of 1806, Lord Grey, in concert with Mr. Wilberforce,
and with many others in Parliament, as well as out of it,
brought forward the measure which would hand his name down
to posterity with as great glory as that which had ever attached
to the name of any Statesman ; a measnre which he ( Lord
Brougham) reckoned, and which he believed his Noble Friend

( Lora Grey) also reckoned, the happiest act of the whole of
his public life. Having described the circumstances under
which this measure was introduced, and the triumphant manner
in which it was carried through both Houses of Parliament,
the Noble and Learned Lord proceeded to narrate the pro-
phecies which were made, of either destruction to West India
trade, andalso to ex-
property by the supporters of the slave
for
plain the projects which were opened by certain parties
obtaining free labourers from China to supply the deficiency
occasioned by the reduction:of the number of the African ne-
groes. This latter project was brought forward by Mr. Bar-
hsin and supported by Mr. Anthony Brown ; but indignantly
and successfully resisted by Mr. Stephen, Mr. Huskisson, and
Mr. Canning. The Noble and Learned Lord then referred
to the traffic in slaves which for some years past had been
going on between some of the ports of Asia and the Mauri-
tius. He (Lord Brougham) had introduced a Bill, and
carried it through Parliament,
t which rendered this traffic
in slaves not merely contraband, but an actual felony.
Yet, in spite of that Act, it was
proved
before Mr. Fowel
Buxton's Committee, and admitted by Sir George Murray,
at that time the Colonial Secretary, that in the course of a
very few years not less than 25,000 slaves were introduced
into the Mauritius. So great in that island was the desire
for fresh hands, that the parties interested did not hesitate to
commit 25,000 capital felonies in the course of a very few
years. He regardedat the Mauritius, therefore, with great
jealousy and great
suspicion ; and the more so, because, from
its position
( the castwayd of the Cape, there was the
greatest possible difficulty in the way of putting an effective
check
upon the importation of slaves either from Asia or
,
from the eastern shores of Africa. The Noble and Learned
Lord entered into a lengthened statement of the manner in
which the slave-trade was carried on in that quarter of the
globe, with
the view of showing how difficult, at such a dis-
tance, and upon shores so little known, it would be for the
British Government to obtain any effectual security against
the continuance of the trade. When the King of Prussia, in
the face of civilized Europe, upon the very banks of the
Rhino, the Oder, and the Moselle, was enabled to carry on a
system of crimping, to take even priests from the altar, and
send them, firelockin hand,k to join the
' ranks of his own troops
i
—when this was done n the heart of Europe, how ceuld it be
arts of the slave.trader upon the ba iks
of the
expected that the wily
andvion the eastern and unexplored coasts of
Africa could be successfully encountered and his trade de-
feated
The Noble and Learped, Lord then adverted to the
Order in Council of the 12th ofJuly, 1837 the effect of
which, he contended, would be to encourage, not to supprt ss,
the continuance of the slave-trade in those very regions where,
from the circumstances be had described, it was so difficult
to introduce any arrangement by which it could be miti-
gatedits severity or diminished in its amount.—(Hear,
in
hear.)
What did the O. d i der n Council do in the way
It specified no amount of
of arrangement? tonnage, no pro-
portion of slaves, no height between docks, no quantity of
water to be found, no amount of provision to be provided—
all was left to the discretion of the parties interested, who
were to
pay due attention to the observance of some few specified par-
ticulars. Let this be contrasted with an emigrant ship about to leave
the shores of England. The ship was ready to sail from the Thames,
the Mersey, or the Severn—she was to eouvey a number of skilful, in.
dustrious, well-infermed workmen from the shores of England, either
country, or perhaps to seine distant colony. tier
tctrieswonoieninerlidburiug
,o
her flog hoisted, her anchor speak, her sails unfurled,
the breeze favourable, every individual passenger on board more
anxious to go than the Captain to take him. Shall the go ? All
her salts are full, save that one whit's, dangling loosely from
the yard, intimates that she is ready to go if she may be per-
mitted. Shall she go ? No : the Act of Parliament interferes
to prevent her. The Act of Parliament says she must stay to
be examined. The Act of Parliament says, " Come ashore, you
Captain, and show that you are fit to command this vessel.
Come ashore, you Surgeon, and show by your testimonials from
Surgeons...hall that you are qualified to take charge of the lives
of human beings. Come ashore, you crew, and prove that
you are qualified to work such a ship." At least, however, it
might be supposed that the emigrants may
remain on board. But still
the Act of Parliament says No. Still the Act of Parliament says—
" Come ashore, you emigrants, and the King's officers shall marshal
you, and shall inquire into every one of your cases." So jealous, so
suspicious was the law of England with respect to the danger to which
the subjects of the Crown might be exposed, of being carried aff by
fraud or force. And why was the law of England so jealous, so sus.
picious ? Because it was made by mon who had well weighed all the
liabilities to abuse to which individuals under such circumstances were
subject—because it was made by men who knew that wherever any
course of proceedings
was open to abuse it would be abused—because it
was made by men who know that if they could not prevent voluntary
emigration, they might at least prevent hundreds and thousands of per.
sons from being transferred by wholesale to a distant country, there to
fill up the places of those who had fallen victims to oppression, and
excessive toil. Let the emigrants be adults, let them be well informed
and experienced, the law said that they must be examined by the pro-
per officers, lest, peradventure, a single Englishman might be kid-
napped and carried into slavery. And then came his Noble Friend
with his order in Council, an order to be executed in places where there
was no Custom-house, where there were no Custom-house regulations.
Knowing what the law in England was ; knowing that no vessel could
leave an English port with a single passenger on board, althou 1h with
his own consent, unknown to the proper authorities, under a penalty
of 5001.; knowing all this, his Noble Friend issued an order its Coun-
cil enabling thousands of human beings to be shipped off from the
Ganges, as well as from the nameless rivers that abounded on the
east exist of Africa, on the borders of which there was not only no
Custom-house, but where, with the exception of the crimps el Asia, and
our own slave.traders, and the slave-traders of Portugal and Spain, Ito
footstep of European could be traced. He was willing, however, to put
the question in the fairest and the most honourable view with reference
to the individuals who were thus conveyed fro.n their native shores.
He was willing to suppose that teiey suffered no in;ury or inconve-
nience eitht r on shore or in the .nil lie passage i he was winj:;,g to
suppose that their voyage was voluntary on the:A' part, acid was per.
funned witholt dangil Or distress. But he would now :Urn for a
moment to the state of the labourers tn the colony to chili
thesethest individuals Wore Going, and consider how they were treated.
condition of those kabourers had by law been converteet
Oils gf oisoltits alave:l7 'y4 one of" alivrenticeship i and

by law, on the Ist of August, 1540—but as he
hoped, on the lot of August, 1538—even that state of appratt nthe
(Lord Brougham)te
, eshi,
was to cease, and they were to become entirely free. .
o
—just at the moment when they were about to e
mo-
ment when these persons were to become free andarinndausstiTiru,iuoseuths ssv,:rgketsnealst
they couldbiforotrhdeersuipnpocrot
uoifietilh epmrepaanrdedthfeoirr
moment
fa
thej tei sotinait,ett!.o
taitev,eroyf
m e
!i wholesale,,,i,o were able
eo ft
ootwheerrk aabnodutroe rlisv fromt,t, p
no other
almost nothing.
f he
And ‘'‘Ut)ri thatl
was done by way of justice and kindness to the emancipated Africans,,he
'—
and to encourage them well to use :heir newly-acquired flee lom 1 They
were to enter into competition for labour with Asiatics who would be
happy to engage themselves for five years for a handful of rice alsittla.
pinch of pepper a day! Could anything be conceived so unjust? w
pose a similar case were to occur in Sussex or in Kent, or in any of those
English counties in which a competition of labour was most dreaded
by the labourer, let their Loadships fancy what would be thecoue
con-
sequences.—(Hoar.) He would suppose that in Sussex (under
mild government of his noble friend near him) it was reported that three
or four thousand Coolies were coining from India. Suppose it were
stated by the authorities at the Coloni.al-ollice that the wages of labour.
ers were too high in the county of Sussex, that the farmers could not
afford to get a sufficient number of hands to till their estates, and there-
fOre that it woo intendca to introduce into the county a few thou-ands
of Asiatic labourers, in aid of the native labourers, to cultivate the far.
tile fields of Sussex and relieve the over worked labourers there, and
that it was determined to use all manlier of means, natural and un-
natural, to introduce this mass of new labour ; not leaving, as was the
usual principle, the supply to wait on the demand, but giving every
possible facility, by an order in council, for the introduction of an un.
limited number of persons willing to work at twopence a day, and
overjoyed to receive fourpence—suppose all this; he would not say that
i:isurreetion, he would not say that busnings would be the consequenee,
but lie would say that the Colonial office would be iminedietcly beset by
the Lord-Lieutenant, by the deputy-lieutenants, by the magistrates, by
the clergy of the county; and that if the projected Order in Council
had not been secretly issued, without having been gazetted, it never
would make its appearance. Net a fraction of the people of this country
could be treated as the Order in Council under discussion treated so ex-
tensive a population. It was certainly true that the unhappy Africans
were treated as Providence had net permitted any other nation under
the sun to be treated. Everything united to oppress them. ANr hav-
ing endured all the evils of slavery, without mitigation, as soon as they
were deemed worthy of liberation, as soon as it was decided that they
should become fl'ee labourers, they were to be exposed to a competition
of the most oppressive and unnatural character ! But that was only a
small, aud perhaps the smallest, part of the evil. Let their Lordships
turn to the contemelation of the evils to which the natives of the east
coast of Africa and of the coasts of Asia would be exposed by the exc.
cution of this Order in Council. As far as the experiment had yet been
tried, its consequences to them had been most fatal, The Nohle and
Learned Lord proceeded to quote the opinions which the merchants
and planters of the Mauritius had expressed with reference to this
new traffic. They spoke of it as the most inoffensive and agree-
able. But how did the labourers like this irruption of Indians? " Oh!
very much : they wore quite happy 1" He (Lord Brougham) imagined
that they had not been so happy since those halcyon days to which he had
already alluded, when 25,000 felonies had been at once committed
there. It was not long since that a Creole of the name of Letord had
had the courage, the unflinching effrontery, to propose to Governer
Nicolay a plan of obtaining, by a bargain with some of the native
chiefs, no fewer than 20,000 Africans, for the purpose of assisting in
the cultivation of the plantations. This plan M. Letord called "projec
d'entancipation Africaine."—(A laugh.) This plan reminded him of
an eccentric individual, whom he once knew at the bar, anti who was
always prepared, if any one would give hint pen and ink, to show how
the national debt might be paid off in half an hour.—(A laugh.) It
might be said that this project was too broad; that it was a downright
renewal of the slave trade. He (Lord Brougham) would, however,
defy, the most astute of their Lordships to show a single part of M.
Letord's plan, which would not be practicable under his Noble Friend's
Order in Council. That order was unaccompanied by restricticu of
any kind ; their was no prescribed tonnage, no description of equip-
ment, no limit of cargo. What was there to prevent the plan which
M. Letord had projected far the Mauritius frosts being carried
into effect in Guiana? To that plan Qovernor Nicolay sent g
polite answer, stating that he had read its details with great
attention, but tieing a most unqualified refusal to adopt it, as
he considered it neither more nor less than a renewal of the
slave trade, however specious the pretexts under which it was
brought forward. But he should be told that there was a part of the
Order in Council which would prevent the evil he apprehended from it.
Of that part he must say that it was the most inefficient, absurd, and
ridiculous attempt to carry any purpose which he had ever known. In
the first place, let their Lordships consider what that purpose was. His
Nolole Friend had said that if under the name of apprentices, labourers
should be recruited on any part of the African coast, it would be de-
clared that that was an encouragement to the slave trade, and we should
be charged plausibly, if not justly, with insincerity in our wishes to put
down that traffic. And why not justly? His Noble Friend anti the
other members of Her Majesty's Government might depend upon it that
when they Caine to negociate with foreign countries for the abolition of
the slave trade, they would find this Order in Council hanging like a
millstone round their necks. It would require far less talent than was
possessed by the French or Portuguese negociator to show that we could
not be very sincere on the subject when we were thus opening a side-door
to the admission of the evil with our eyes wide open to what must be the
inevitable result. And what was the provision to which he had al-
luded, and which was to prevent the charge of insincerity That
if the indenture was not witnessed before two magistrates on the coast
of Africa or in the adjacent islands, it should be void I This was an
example, not of mere negligence, but of complete igeoratice of the sub-
ject. There was not an individual belonging to the Society of Friends,
or any other individual whose observation •during the last five and
twenty or thirty years had rendered him familiar with the subject, who
was not most anxious that the futility of this provision should be fully
exposed. Why, the ships had only to go to the Mauritius, where there
were plenty of magistrates, every one of whom would be glad to be an
intermediate slave-trader. The individuals in question would be
brought from Mozambique to the Mauritius, and would thence be takon
to Guiana ; by which means all difficulty and danger would be avoided.
And, besides, were there not the I3razils, and Rio Janeiro, and Monte
Vides, and the Havannah ; at every one of which a doyen magistrates
might be obtained at a moment's notice ? Yet 411 the provision which
this notable Order made against abuse was that the indentures must be
witnessed before two magistrates: Let their Lordships now lock a
little at what had taken place in the Mauritius, and at the man.
ner in which the promises made to the natives of Asia, who
had been induced to go thither, had been observed. Its the
examination on that subject, which had taken place by the
order of the Government of Calcutta, a witness, in answer to a ques-
tion, whether any discontent had been exhibited by the Indian la.
bourers, said that there had ; and for this reason, that in their own
country they were happy wills their wives and families, that in consi-
deration of a small increase of wages they had been induced to hose
their own country ; lost that they found that instead of any addition to
their comfort, the reverse was the case, and they were therefore uneasy
and dissontented. Mr. Scott, in his evidence, observed, " The main
result of the inquiry leads to the conclusion, that the condition of the
labourer practice:ly depends on the individual character °fin; employer,
and that the term' of the agreement are of trifling importance com-
pared with the spirit in whieh they are carried into effect." Ile then
went on to say, " With very rare exceptions were there any pleased
with the bargain they had made. They all stated they had left Calcutta
under the impression they were pima to the Company's rabousti (a
word signifying " village"), which was the nava* the agents of the
planters in India gave to the Mauritius." There were some who would
say this sem " plausibly, if not juse4a" managed on the part of those
agessts 1 but to his (Lord Bresogheross) mind it was wickedly, deceit.
Sadly, artfully, crimpiegly• kidnappingly done, and that their con.
duct should in wee' way and in every sense be reprehended
and condemned, To be sure, they were told they were going to an
island, but how could a person who never saw the sea know what an
island meant Was there any possibility of explaining to these un-
fortunate natives what was the nature of a sea voyage, when, until
they embarked, the sight of the ocean was a thing unknown to them ?
Had the Noble Lord seen to all these matters ? The Noble Lord at the
head of the colonial departmens was to be supposed as having applied
his mind to these points by the fact of his having issued the Order its
Council ; but at any rate, before he came to Parliament to maintain
aud defend it, he must have maturely considered them. He then asked
hint what hopes lie entertained, what expectations he cherished, what
motions lie formed of the pessicllity of explaining to the Indian native,
who never had seems the sea, what was the meaning of au island—what
the nature of a sea voyage—what its sufferings, its privations, and, more
important still, what it was awaited him when he came to the end
of his voyage ? How could ho explain to him the nature of sugar
planting, of hoeing under a tropical sun, and other labours under
which the strongest and most seasoned have pined away ? What
was the evidence before the House of the sufferings of these natives dur-
ing their voyage frosts India to Guiana? One vessel, the William IVil.
son, left Calcutta with t. 14 slaves. What was the mertality before she
accomplished her voyage ? Out of the 224 embarked, no less than
31 died vietinis of the pestilential atmosphere they were made
to breathe in the vessel's hold. The Adelaide, another vessel,
lett with 72 slaves ; 21 of those died on the passage. Great as had
been the horrors detailed in the debates in Parliament during the years
from 1788 to 1791, horrors which at the time were not believed, they
had been surpassed by the statements, the uncontradicted, and there.
rote it was to be presumed uncontradictable statements of the mortality
its these Guiana slaves of late years. When they found that those
statements were to the effect that a slave-vessel was supposed to make
a profitable trip whets she brought into port one-half or one-third of
her wretched chrgo, could there be a doubt of the absolute necessity of
at once restoring the former discouragement to this horrid traffic, or, at
all events, of taking away that encouragement which he contended the
order of the 12`.11 of January gave to those embarked in it? Why,
the very prilieiple of many of those Acts of Parliament rose up
its judgment against the continuation of the enormity. Was it
recollected that while they were allowing, without the possi-
bility of any check or controul, human beings to be cheated by
their liberties through the exercise of every fraud and trick
which counting ingenuity could devise or employ, its order that the
sordid averice ofd few griping planters might be gratified, they had on
their statute book a law, the humane principle of which was best to be
collected from its preamble, in which it was recited that " Whereas its
various parts"—not of the Mozambique coast, not of Hindostan,
not
of the Indian empire, but of " this United Kingdom, persons have been
seduced to leave their native country under false representations, and
have suffered great hardships frosts the want of provisions and proper
accommodation, and from no security being offered that they will be car-
ried to the ports to which they contracted to be brought, be it therefore
enacted," &c. &c. Was there any security of this nature in the case of
these slaves ? None whatever ; they were lett to the hopeless mercy of
the planters' agents in India, and the result was to be seen in the melan-
choly return, of mortality to which he had referred. Therefore it
is, my Lords (observed the Noble and Learned Lord), that I think it
my indispenseible duty to drag before you this ill-starred Order
in Ceuneil ; therefore it is that I have, at much pain to
myself, gone through the anxious and almost agonising de-
tail which was to Ito found in the past history of the African
slave-trade ; and therefore it is that I have, also at some pain to
your Lordships, and with much fatigue to myself—a fatigue far more
occasioned by the importance of the occasion than any want of incli-
nation to grapple with it, laid bars the enormity of this Order in Coun-
cil, and Its glaring inconsistency with the measure of slavery abolition
passed a few years back. My Lords, I have now for more than a quar-
ter of it century the advocate of this great measure of abolition. I
have stood forth at all times, since I arrived at man's estate, as its chain-
pion—as its zealous, active, and eager, but, God knows, its feeble and
humble champion. I have been assisted its this object by the greatest
luminaries the country ever produced, whether in the senate or at the
bar—elevated to the ermine, or still practising in the fostuu ; with them
I have followed its the same course, the same object, and all well
hoped—those who are now no more, and those who still survive to
venerate their names, and follow, as far as possible, their foot-
steps—that we had succeeded in puttiug down, anti that for ever,
the monster traffic in human flesh. With such feelings, my Lords,
I could not rest on my couch when I saw this Order in Council. I did
not require to be visited by those friends of whom I have spoken—l did
not need to be roused to action by the agitation of public meetings; nor
did the multiplied applications of disinterested patriotism and pure and
eious philanthropy constitute the sole ioducements I had to come for_
ward. No, my Lords, I could not slumber without seeing before me the
visions of those great end good men who had Raised away, who appeared
unable to taste their own retio% amt
forbade me the aid of rust until I
should lend my f;,;b:e
,'"..stance to chase away the monster elegestrede
tide that to which their more powerful efforts lied co,odemned it, as
they had hoped, for ever. If, my Lords, it tic tut given to us to imi-
tate their trensoendent virtoes, and ter tread in the footsteps of their
glory, at least let us WO the deepest and meet substantial of their joys,
and pause in the sunshine of tilt* approving inward conscience—a sun-
shine on which no actien of theirs ever east a shade, by uniting together
for the achievement of the great object of their devoted lives—the
dithtskoti of that must sacred blessing, liberty, throughout the globe.

My Lords, I have now but to move a resolution. that " The Order in
Council of the 12th of July last was improperly issued, a .d ought to be
revoked.''—(The Noble and Learned Lord resulted his seat amid !cud
cheers.)
On the question being put from the Woolsack,

the Noble and- Learned Lord had animadverted with ouch severity on
Lord GLENELG rote. In the course of his very eloquent speech,
the Order in Council which was issued from the Colonial Department
on the 1 eth of July last, and had spared a few terms of invective ;INDIA
those who had issued it The Noble and Learned Lord had commcneed
by complaining that the 0 der in question had been secretly 'Heed ;hit
he (Lord Glene'g) begged to state that such was not the fart, The
Order in Council of July, 1837, was issued precisely its the same Inalinei
as all others during a series of past years. It was not the habit—Why It
was not so he could not say—to publish Orders in Connell in 04
Gazelle ; and as none others on the subject, or ahy other, as he lerileVed,
had found their way into that publication, the One in atirtialtlti was not
there inserted. So much on that head, With rcSpeet to tire gernertet
question, he had to observe, that if he could at all acquiesce in the,
statements of the Noble and Learned Lord, he should not preetOP:e so
offer any opposition to the motion with which he had croeslutt,',. As,
hewever, the Noble and Learned Lord had, LI. 4 very th,,te„
runs line Rhea, roused the roouga thei'r Laldshipa witle
relsect to Order, in COilliCa.
Nit it heroine itictitinte„t
possible, the history of the trans.
upon him to slip, as as
action Which trininated in its issue, as well ail the exact poeition in
which the parties connected with it were placed. He should commence
by mentioning thet the old law of the colony of Guiana admitted the
importation of labourers without restriction. Its the course of 1836 a
law was passed by the Governor and Council of Policy of the colony,
with the view of regulatingthe relations between the employers of
labour and those I h .aeourers who should come to the colony under articles
or indenture. That law, on being passed by the Colonial Legislation,
was transmitted to this country fine approval. On examining it he
found that though it was its some respects a restriction and improve-
ment on the previously existing law of the province, it still was °Wee-
tionable on several grounds. In the first place it proposed a period of;
seven years employment. This period he thought wee too long, ano, he
accordingly had objected to it. He next objected to it because it '.rd not
exclude all the natives of the continent of Africa; and then ti,eeet,„ it
did not make any pecu'iar exception With respect to these I.7:oourers who
might come from the West India Colonies where slavery ',ad existed. In
consequence of theseobjactions, an Order in Council Was issued in March
1837, giving assent to the Act of the Colonial Legislature, but with most
important alterations, 'which he should now proceed to detail. The
first was the reduction of the proposed period of seven years service to
that of three, years. In fixing this latter period. his object had been to
maintain' the principle, which he thought a Just one, that the employer
of the labourers should be entitled, through their labour, to receive fair
compensation for his expense in bringing them over and ineentaiilieg
them ; but, in order that the slave should have no cause of complaint,
and that nothing but the bare measure of justice should. be meted to
the employer, the order in council provided that if, before the third year
expired, any of the individual labourers could prove that his employer
had been compensated, he might claim his immediate freedom. So far
with regard to the labourers generally. With respect to the labourers
from the West India colonies, in which slavery had been. abolished, he
had made a further exception. In their case he reduced the period of
employment from three to one year, also providing, that if, before
the expiration of that period, ire could prove that the ex.
pease to which his employer had been put inn bringing him
to the country had been reimbursed him he might claim his freedom.
Another important alteration in The Act of the Colonial Leglitature had
reference to the protection of the labourers. The Act placed them un.
der the protection of the Sheriff and Justices of the province. By the
Order in Council this duty was transferred to the Magistrates appointed
under the Slavery Abolition Act, Another alteration made by the Or.
der in Council was the exclusion from Guiana of all labourers from the
continent of Africa, or islands peopled in part or fully by the negro po-
puletion ; and in this state, and with these modifications, the Act of
the Co:onsial Legislature was sent back to the colony. Shortly after an
application was made with respect to the Indian labourers, and it was
stated that these Indian labourers could not be introduce.' into the
pros iece of Guiana unless the period of their employment was ex.
tended to five years ; and in answer to a demand from the Colonial.
otilee, as to why such extended period was necessary, a calculation was
transmi tee, proving clearly that a shorter period of labour could slot
reimburse the employer the expense. he would have to incur in the
transmission of the labourer. He had accordingly deemed it expe-
dient to extend tie period to fire years, but with this accompani.
merit, that if within that period the labourer could prove that his em-
ployer had been repaid the expenses incurred, he might not merely
claim his immediate freedom, but a passage home at the expense of tine
employer. It, however, he had to serve the five years, he should then,
under any circuinstanees, be sent house free of expense by hie employer.
In addition to all this, it was to be recollected that the Order in Coun-
cil, from which such disastrous consequences were apprehended, was
to expire in August 1840, If there were injustice inn the matter, it
might last until that period, but then it must cease, unless a new law
authorizing a continuance of the system were enacted. P. was alleged
by the Noble an Learned Lord, as an argument against the Orit^er ins
Council, that it was issued before it was known whether the lie:tian Go-
verninent would pass any law on the subject. That "as certainly
true; but it was well known that the matter was uniaOr the considera-
tion of the Indian Government, and there seas livery reason to pre-
sume that that Government would do it; duty respecting it, and
pass the very law which subsequedly they slid enact. The Noble
and Learned Lord had then I: cued that there was no protections held out by the Order IR Commit for the good treatment of the
labourers. He contend:.
-d that as far as Guiana was concerned thepro.
tection was complete,. The indenture was to be made inn the presence
of the maaistraee, mid they were placed under the peculiar protection
of the Executive Government of the colony; and at any period wilco
it was the power of the labourer to reimburse his eniployer, the en.
ga;ement might he dissolved and a passage home claimed. It was alleged
by the Noble and Learned Lord that the Act passed by the Bengal Go.
vernment was not adequate- He denied it, and contended that the In.
dials Government had most effectually secured the objects the Act had
inn view. In the first place it provided that no person could be era.
barked at any port without the special permission of the Governor, Ur
person appointed by him. This persons was to see that medical at.
tendance was provided, rod that security should be taken tor the
return cf the parties as soon as the period for which they were
engaged had expired, at tine expense of those engtee.ing them.--
(Hear, hear, hear.) These were strong enactments and if they were
f mud at all defective, the Government would be ree.dy to remedy them.
But it was clear that the Government had 'the power of carrying
them into operation, and that they had done so, as far as they
had hitherto proceeded. So, h
teen, a Verfect security was given for
carrying proper measures into operatirea, both by the acts of those who
had the management cf Guiana. and by the law passed by the Indian
Gtv. seafront. But his Noble l'rientl alluded to the case of the Mauri.
taus, and stated that those evils which were apprehended had occurred
in that place. His Noble and Learned Fr iend had said, " Let us not
consult the 'planters, who a: e interested persons; we don't know what
the et-;re of the Mauritius is ;we don't know how the labourers live;
let us, therefore, Like the evidence of a witness who is competent to
speak to the question—let us bear what Mr. Scott says." Unquestion.
ably, Mr. Scott stated that he found many labourers inn a state of diecom.
fort, and he stated in particular one cause of their being so, namely,
their igno.-ance of the language, though it should be recollected that
they acted under the gtedance of one of their number, who took the
°lnce of chief. Now, the statement drawn up by Mr. Scott was made
before any regulations were entered bib either by the Indian Govern-
ment or that of 3leuritius.

Lord BROUGHA el begged to explain. What he had stated was,
teat the Order in Council enabled the Government to do that between
Madras, Bombay, Pondicherry, and Guiana which Mr. Scott's letter
showed had taken place in the Mauritius.
Lord GLENELG resumed : Mr. Scott showed that the. labourers
lett India without knowing the particulars of their engagement, the
place where they were to go, or 'the purposes for which they were en.
gaged, or the time fur which they were to remain, and that in conse.
quence feuds and dissentious arose between them. Mr. Scott urged that
the best mode of correcting these evils was to limit the period of their
servitude, and to give security that they should be enabled to rotion
at the expens^ of their employers, It was on the consideration of the
remarks of Mr. Scott that the Bengal Act was passed for the remedy of
the evils which be had enumerated. A correspondence had taken place
between the governments of Madras and Bombay and that of Mauri-
tius, which led bins to believe that the seine strong regulations would be
a topted in the former places as those already acted upoh In
the last place which he had mentioned. Although his Noble and
Learned Friend seem eal to consider those securities of little avail, he
confessed 'ee differed from that opinion. But should difficulties arise
within the two years and a half which remained it would he easy to
meet them as they occurred. His Noble Friend had urged, though he
did not much insist on the point, that the negro would be encroached
upon in his peculiar field. The apprehension was that after 1840 the
negroes, being accustomed to a tropical climate, and being able to pro-
cure sustenance with ease, would abandon their labour, spread over the
country, and refuse to assist in raising its productions. Now, thought
other considerations ought naturally to occupy our attention, that uu.
tioubtedly was a contingency which ought not to be overlooked—
by the Government. He knew there were some persons—he ut.
ter), disclaimed the allusion as applying to any Noble Lord in that
House, or his Noble and Learned Friend (Lord Brougham) in particu.
lar—but he was aware there were some pet sons out of doors who really
seemed to forget that the great commercial and powerful interests
of the colonies were mainly concerned in the result of the
experiment of 1840, namely, whether at that period we should
be enabled to retain the labour now expended on the staple products o.
our West India possessions P Greet and important as that considera-
tion was, did he mean to contend Gest :to greater difficulty attended
the settlement of this question P Far from it. But he ineinteined that
it was worth while to take the most solemn precautions against the
abuse of the freedom about to be conferred on the negro race, and that
this topic ought to form one amongst the subjects of paramount impor.
lance to this country, when the proposed change was to be effected.
Those countries had grown and flourished under a system which met
with our dete,tation. But why should it be concluded that the curse
of slavery was so affixed to the nature of the negroes as that the pos.
sessions which they cultivated should no longer form the glory and
strength of this great nation ? He did slot believe that this was the
necessary consequence of bestowing freedom on the negroes ; but those
persons to whom he had alluded, its their laudable anxiety to do justice to
the human race, and to exercise humanity towards their fellowereaturese
seemed totally to forget the interests of their British fellew-subjects,
and almost to anticipate with exultation the prospect of visiting
with vengeance the descendants of those who failed in their duty to.
wards the negroes, and who, if they were involved in that crime, did so
in common with the Legislature.—(Hear, hear.) He denied that any
person conld fairly charge bins with wilfully neglecting the duty which
he owed to the negro race ; and he felt bound to take every means In
his power to secure that result—not to the expulsion of the negroes,
not to the injury aim), other class of labourers—but with ajust view, at
least, to the interests of the colony, and with a determination to prove
that the strength and commercial resources of the country and of the
West Indies were not extinguished because slavery was taken hway from
that country. He wished to see slavery suppressed all over the world ;
but did they think that they would promote the cause of universal free.
dons if other nations were to perceive that, with the abolition of slavery,
they deerayed the resources which they derived from their once.
flourishing possessions ? Did they imagine they would try the
seine experiment ? Or was it impossible that a better result
might not be effected ? He trusted that, without any degree
of injustice or oppression, It might be possible to introduce
labourers who would stimulate the negroes to action, and whose con.
debt would maintain the resources and power of our West Indian colo.
isles. He preferred to labour for the attainment of this object than to
adopt a course of policy by which the colonies would be gradually ins.
poverished, the greatness of this kingdom impaired, and the ruin of
Britigh subjects effected, without doing any good to the negro popula.
lion. If once the negroes were found to distribute themselves in idle-,
ness throughout the country, they would quickly subside Into a state *f
barbarism, in which the wealth of our British fellow-subjects wooed be
of no benefit to the negro, with whose lot we should cease to, sympa.
these, because we should be compelled to do so at the sacretlce of our
national advantag., and interests. For these reasons he should oppose
the resolutions of his Nolele and Learned Friend.—(Fear.)
The Duke of WELT.INGTON hail looked wit'e the greatest attention
to the papers on the table, and listened with the utmost admiration to
the speech of etas Noble and Learned Lord. He felt, indeed, that
much of trio speech of the Noble anal Learned Lord adverted to a part
this suejcct, and to some of those papers, which had no immediate
• relation to the subject under discussion—he meant as to the removal os
a ou Celefrom b • the Ea.t Indies into the Mauritius or Guiana. The first
Order in Council—and, he must say, that which fell particularly under
. the discussion of the Noble and Learned Lord—elle not refer itn.
m-diately to this subject, but only incidentally, so far as it re-
lilted to labourers when introduced into the colonies of Guiana
. and the Mauritius, which proceeding was laid under the reips.
r lation—and, as he thought, the beneficial regulation—el that feee:
d,r in Council. It was the other Order in Council—the, toe
which petwittW the iinvortation of labourers from the East. P.idies

into Cnan, for five years, inatcasl of three, wh.rh was the term fixed
upon its the first—that he considered the proper subject for their Lord_
ship's condemnation. ',that was the point to which the Noble and
I: rained Lord originally drew attention, and on u hich his notic_ was
founded. '1 he introduction of latiourers into those colonies from other
parts of her Majesty's dominions must have attracted the attention of
her Majesty's Government years back. Ile observed in these papers a
statement of teleie trarsactions so far back as Ie 34 ; that was four
years ago. With reference to the removal of a certain number of
lal curers into the Mauritius he c fait give her Mee sty's (ie_
vemment credit for vigilence or attention on this subject ; for, in
pc, lit of fact, no notice was taken of it for a considerable period
after the occurrence. It was a moat reinerkaLle fact, that it was
brought under the consideration of one of her Majesty's Ministers,
not in that House, but in the other, by Mr. Gladstone, in a
letter to the night Hnn. Gentleman at the head of the Board of
Control ; and that the Ripht lion. Gentleman seemed to answer as if
nes interference on the part of the Government was necessary, as if
it was a mere wetter of course. He ventured to state that if the
Right Hon. Getitlem.n tied only taken the trouble V conversing with
any one person cermscted with the East Indies, or any person who was
an inhabitent of that ccentry, that person would have to:d lion thet
it was absolutely impossible that such arrangements could be made be-
tween tic lower class of inhabitants in that country and Europeans
without the strict superieteeeence of Government, in every
part of the trensaction, from the beginning to the conclu-
sion.—(Hear, hear, hear.) Notwithstanding the respectability
of the merchants connected with these trans .ctions in this
country, and that of those who acted under their aetho-
city in Calcutta, yet the direction of Leese negociations often fell
into the hands of a lower class of persons, crimps and others, both &no-
peen as well as native, whose conduct was so bad as to justify any de-
scription which might be given of it. There was enough in the descrip-
tion of tares-transactions to show an absolute necessity for active vigi-
lance on the part of the Government with respect to their whole course.
Under these circumstances, he certainly lamented that this mode of
hiring labourers should have gone on so long without attracting the at-
tention of the Government presiding over the affairs of the East Indies;
that up to May, 1837, no law was passed on the subject, and that even
then the law which was enacted should have been one which he could
not help characterising, in the language of the Noble and Learned Lord
. eneen. fee a. ',tinny inadequate to tee purpose s for which it
wa eeeneeil. ) He c rtainly ten most strongly the truth of all
which hail been stated to their Lordships by the Noble Secretary
tor the Colorer, in respect to the importance of the West lndia
colonies to this country, as well as the importance of the crisis which
was approaching, net only in relation to the planters and proprie-
tors, lint also with reference to the cultivators of that part of her
Majesty's dominions. He trusted that the future lot of the negroes
weuld be happier than the life which they haul led up to this moment ;
but thet, in his opinion, depended entirely on their becoming hereafter
a lalxiurious people —(Hean) He fully appreciated the importance of
the crisis which was approaching during the next seven years. From
the document before them, he concluded that the influence of those
labourers who were brought from Bengal had a great effect in the Island
of Mauritius. That effect was produced not only on their fellow.
labourers, the apprenticed negroes, but on the minds of the planters
themselves, who felt more confidence in the prospect of deriving some
ads antage from the labour of the apprenticed negro, when the period
arrived for setting him entirely at liberty. He confesseed this state of
things in the Mauritius was satisfactory to his mind, and he wished it
were possible to extend the same advantages to the other Colonies of the
western world. lie saw an absolute necessity for taking more precau-
tions than had been hitherto observed, in order to protect the interest,
the health, and lives of those who should embark in the speculation.
The Noble and Learned Lord (Lord Brougham) hod contended that it
would be a hardship to the negro to introduce Into these Colonies
labourers who would work fur twopence a.day. But it was probable that
the expense coui.! not be estimated at lees then two shillings a.day,
taking into consideration the expense of transport from Bengal to
Guiana and back again within the five years—a rate of pay which
would not offer a very dangeroes competition to the resident negroes
on the islands. But even if it did otTer a serious competition to them,
be must say that, considering the means of providing subsistence which
would be open to the negroes on the expiration of their apprenticeship,
it would be desirable to introduce new hands at a rate even under 25.,
nay, even at the smallest rate which the Noble and Learned Lord had
stated. With respect, however, to the ease of the native Indians, he
must confess that he should never be satisfied to see the new system
continued unless the very strongest security were provided to insure the
performance of the bargains of those who engaged them, and for the
comfortable removal of the inhabitants of Bengal so engaged to the
colonies in the West Indies, and from thence back again to their
homes. He had prepared the heads of what he considered would be
reasonable alterations in the Bengal Order in Council, which, with
the permission of their Lordships, he would read to the House, to it
was not his wish to put an end to the present system if the law could be
sufficiently improved, The Noble Duke then read from a written
paper in his hand a statement, of which the following are the heads
That whenever an application was made to the Governor-General
for the embarkation of blank (which he proposed to fill up with ten)
natives, an officer should be named who should superintend the bar-
gains matte by them with their employers, the preparations made for
the voyage sod for their embarkation, and who should take care that
no man should make a bargain which he did not thoroughly under.
stand, or who had nue undergone medical inspection ; and who should,
moreover, see that not more of either sex were so engaged than in the
the proportion fixed by trtie regulation. That the bargain should
specify that the parties shouee embark—the probable length of
the voyage, the nature of the food which was to be provided
fur thetn, the length of time for which their services should en.
dure, the nature of their employment, the number of days in
each week and of hours in each day during wNch they would
have to labour : and other particulars relative to t: Se quantity
of remuneration in the shape of food, specifying quality as well as
quantity, money, clothing, &c ; and, filially, at the end
of the period agreed upon the parties engaged should be sent back to
the place from whence they were embarked, with the same care as to
their food and accommodation during the voyage. The same °facer
would have to see that the vessel was seaworthy and duly equipped for
the voyage, and that the decks were such as to afford comfort and
healthy accommodation to the numner it was intended to carry ; that
there was the requisite quantity of water and provisions on board of
the specified quality. The officer was, blither, to superintend the ere_
barkation of the natives engaged, and after that to embark with them,
ir, order to attend to the regularity or their treatment and conduct dur-
ing the voyage; atter which he was to see to the strict execution of
the bargains made with them, to be their interpreter to the Ma-
gistrate or Coveraor in the island in which they were engaged, and,
on the other hand, to see teat they did justice to their employers."
The Noble Duke concluded by declaring that, if precautions of this kind
were taken, he should have no hoseietion in acquiescing in the cone-
euance of the present system.
Viscount MELBOURNE commenced by observing that the Noble
and Learned Lord who had opened this debate hel done so in one of the
most splendid orations which he had ever heard the Noble end Learned
Lord deliver throughout the whole course of his increasing 2nd im.
proving eloquence. The Noble and Learned Lord had drawn laic sly
upon all his stores of imagery, and upon his mighty and acknowledged
powers—he had admitted almost every possible topic to bear upon the
subject—lie had applied the maxims of the poet and of religion, and he
had finally described the state otitis own mind on the subject of this
Order in Council, which the Noble awl Learned Lord declared would
not permit him to rest in bed at night, fancying that he heard the voices
of those great men with whom he had acted in this cause chiding him for
h:s delay in opposing his utmost efforts against this Order in Council,
which they alleged would undo all that they had been endeavour-
ing to accomplish in the cause of humanity. No doubt the Noble and
Learned Lord had truly described his feelings on this subject; doubt-
less he had been excited in the manner he had depicted ; but he
(Viscount Melbourne) would beg leave seriously to warn their Lordships
ttat a person who was labouring under such strong and excited feelings
avae not a safe guide for their Lordships to follow in a matter of so ex.
tremele delicate and important a nature. With respect to the subject
of the Slave.trade, if ever the subject required calm consideration, he
thought that at the presect moment that calmness and dispassionatene s
of deliberation was peculiarly wanted. He (Viscount Melbourne) had
always supported every measure which tended to discountenance the
Slave-trade, but at the same time he felt that in the present stage
of the operation of the Act of Emancipation the greatest caution
and deliberation were required. He could not disguise from him,
self the fact that in this measure they were toying a great experiment.
The Noble and Learned Lord, drawing largely upon his powers of
intellect, bud given their Lordships a very full and clear account
of the origin and history of the African Slave-trade. The Govern-
ment and the country wished to do away with that trade altogether,
but let their Lordships take care lest in any steps they might adopt they
frustrated the very objects which they had in view. It was in vain to
put forth powerful appeals teeming with eloquence, founded upon the
finest doctrines of religion and morality, when the slave trade still lived,
aril was perpetually rising up and flourishing in spite of all the practical
force and energies of the country which were exerted to eradicate it.
It was to these practical means, in his opinion, that their Lordships
should look for the final destruction of the system, and not merely to the
enlisting of the feelings of mankind against the cruelties of the slave
trade, fur if they stopped here they would never be safe in what they had
already done. He owned that the speech of the Noble and Learned Lord
comprised matters worthy of very serious consideration, but what was
the state of the case ? On the one hand they had to contend against the
I rinciple of slavery, constantly recurring and always likely to re-
cur, ever struggling into life and activity, and on the other
band, they had to guard against the evils ard dangers which
might attend upon the practice of bringing people from one country
to iebour and settle in another; that they should not be deceived by
their employere, nor betrayed into contracts which they did not intend
to undertake. The Noble and Learned Lord had spoken of the people
of this country as compared with the natives of the West and East In-
dies, yet eure'y the Noble and Learned Lord must recollect how even
the people of this enlightened couhtry had occasionally been deceived ;
how in owe ease, for instance, they had been invited to emigrate to a
land where they would require to be provided with nothing else than
Wilk-pails to milk the cows, who were running about time fields with
their udders distended and lowing for somebody to come and milk them.
—(I-L ar, hear, hear, anal a tartish.) On the one hand, therefore,
they would have to protect the natives of India in the
constitutional right which they enjoyed long before the issuing
of this Order in Council to hire their labour where they please, ;
aud, on the other hand, they would have to take came that these peo-
ple were not betrayed into a state of servitude very little different
from alavery. He thought that to attempt to prevent persons from en-
joy ieg their constitutional right of engaging to go from one country to
another fir the purpose of seising their labour would he 2 course much
more justly open to animadversion than to attempt to proveee limper
regulations by which such regulations should be mailitained. bolt--
posing the Order in Council of the lath July were rescinded, all that
would arise out of it would be this, that persons from India and other
parts might still contract to go to Guiana, though only for three years,
whilst by the Order in Council they might engage themselves for Ave
years. But for whatever period they might engage themselves the
principle would still be the same. People had a right to make any
c ,ntract unless prevented by the laws of the country wider which they
lived. And though it should turn out that labour brought from India
might be too expensive for the employer, still the whole question was
kit open, whether or not it was proper that people should be
brought from one country to another for the purpose of labour;
and if their Lordahips were disposed to take all contracts of this
kind under their especial keeping and protection, it would open a very
large field, which he for one did not think it would be advisable for
them to enter upon. With regard to the question immediately before
the Howe, he (Viscount Melbourne) begged leave to assure the Noble
Duke opposite that the best attention of her Majesty's Government
shout,. be ;said to the alterations which he had thrown out; aud that
he and his colleagues had no other desire or intention than to make
the c regulations as good and as perfect as possible. Ile understood the
Noble Duke to say, that he did not wish to put an end to the plan
which had been adopted, or to prevent these persons being brought to
eu:tivate these islands ; and he could assure the Noble Duke in return
that :tie most careful attention of her Majesty's Government would lie
paid, in Order to render the condition of these people as safe and as little
inconvenieiSt as possible.
Lord ELLZNBOROUGH was not at all satisfied with what had
been said by the eeeble Vicount opposite. He had great respect for the
Governor-Gen. of India, but he regretted the course which he had taken
on the present occaaion, iu .'delegating to the Law Commission a matter
which was one purely for practical men, and not for acientl fie lawyers,
to determine, ills conviction Wlt, that the system adopted I:7 the
Noble Baron opposite would tend to re-establish the slave trade, and
from the connection which it was now his (Lord Ellenhorongh's) good
fortune to have with India, he felt peculiarly called upon to declare
that he could never consent to visit this country, which had always been
dutiful, obedient, and grateful towards us, with the miseries from which
we had relieved others.—(Cheers.)
Lord BROUGHAat said that the masterly speech which had just
been delivered by the Noble Lord opposite was eminently adapted to the
great occasion on which their Lordships' attention was engaged; and