The Sun.
London, England, 1840-01-29 00:00:00

T 1! :-:TTN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY, J NUARY 29 1-40,

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.

HOUSE OF LORDS, JAN. 29,

The Lora) C►IANCELLOR took his seat upon the Wool-
sack at the usual hour.

The Marquis of LANSDOWNE laid upon the table
die minutes of the Priv, Council relating to education.
Lord REDESD ALE presented a petition from York-
shire, against any alteration in the York-
.
The Marquis of NORMAN BY laid upon the table pa-
pers relating to the expenditure of all monies for the
Duolin Metropolitan Police.
Lord COLCHESTER gave notice of his intention
to move for certain returns relating to the state of the Navy,
vn the 4.11 of Februar3 next, being a continuation of those
of last year.
The House then adjourned until Friday next.

HOUSE OF COMM ON,i J.JAN 3S.

The SPEAKER took the Chair at Four ►'Clock.

M Muniz, the new Member tor Birtningnam in the
room of Mr. I'. Attwood, and Mr. Hutchins, the new
Member for Falmouth and Penryn, in the room of the
present Baron Rolfe, took the oaths and their seats.
Papers acre presented from the imperial Gas Com-
pany, and from the Commissioners of Northern Lights.
Mr. G. BERKELEY presented a petition from the
Dean Forest Railway Company, praying for leave to bring
in a Bill.

Mr. BA INES presented a petition from the Northern
Silk Company, praying for leave to bring in a Bill.
Mr. ALSTON presented three petitions from parishes
in Hereford, praying for leave to bring in Inclosure
Mr. Alderman THOMSON presented a petition from
Sunderland, praying for leave to bring in a- 13111 to regu-
late the Trade and Shipping on the River Wear.
Mr. A CLA ND presented a petition from Titchenfield,
in the county of Essex, praying for the withdrawal of the
grant to Maynooth College.
Mr. BAINES presented a petition from Great Dun-
more, in the county of Essex, praying for the abolition of
Church-rates, and the release of John Thorogood ; also
petition from a gentleman named Richard Allen, praying
Government not to go to war to support the opium trade.
Sir GEO. ST RIC KLAND presented a petition from
a parish in the West Riding of Yorkshire, praying for
the repeal of the Corn-laws.
Lord POWERSCOURT presented a petition from
Bath, praying for Church extension.
Mr. O'CONNELL presented petitions from places in
the counties of Down, Tyrone, Galway, and London-
derry, complaining of the restrictive nature of franchise
in Irelnd, and praying for protection for Irish interests,
in consequence of the tranquillity of that country, during
the disturbed state of England.

JAMAICA.

In r.n3wer to Mr. PEASE,
J. RUSSELL sxid he 11113 not Rwarc that the
Stipcildlary Mag'straes h been irevcw.cd from icnding
in their usual periodical reports.

and, therefore, he hoped the House would excuse him if
I he seized the present opportunity to state something as
to the nature of those outrages which he had unfortu-
' nately witnessed. On former occasions there had been
known in this country tumultuous meetings, outrages, and
breaches of the peace on the part of the labouring
population ; but these had generally happened when
seam of the staple manufactures .of the country were
in a state of depression, and some considerable portion of
the labouring population were in consequence turned
out of employ, and forced to undergo the sufferings
necessarily entailed upon them by want and wretchedness.
There have been at other times a scarcity of provisions, and
a want of employment, but no such state of things ex-
isted at this present time; there was also a peculiarity in
the character of those outrages, which rendered them
peculiarly alarming. Instead of a want of employ-
ment, the demand for labour, actually exceeded the
supply, and wages got up to an unusual height —( Hear,
hear.) To what cause then were those outrages to be at-
tributed. He had no hesitation in saying that those out-
ragas were occasioned for political purposes.—( Hear.) He
hesitated not to say that he attributed them to that
continuous temporising system pursued by her Majesty's
Government, with reference to the institutions of the
country, and also to that continuous meddling with every
subject connected with their social system--( Hear, hear)
—wherein they bad shown that they had no respect for
the establishments of the country, nor respect for that
authority which ought to exist throughout the kingdom.
In admitting. these facts, be should agree in opinion with
the Hoe. Baronet who last addressed the House, wherein
he had justly said that there was every encouragement
given to the people to assemble in large bodies, and to
form themselves into unions—( Hear, hear, hear)
which were calculated to produce a great tendency to dis-
content and disobedience to the law. They had heard
of those meetings which were of frequent ocourrcnce of
late ; an array of force had been very lately set into action
which by its appearance would have rendered it diffi-
cult for the authoi'ities to put it down ; this state of things
justified him in saying, that while they possessed a Go-
vernment., yet it bad no authority to govern.—(Cheers.)
The Government did not possess that moral influence over
the country, which it should possess.—( Hear, hear.) He
would allude, in confirmation of what he had stated, to the
circumstances which had attended the attack on the town of
Newport. From personal examination, be could state that
the tumultuous mob had entertained the most dangerous
views—subversive of the constitution of that House, re-
turning their own (Urea representatives, end with a view
to the distribution of property. And who was the leader of
that mob? Wby J din Frost, who had received the honour
of a M aeistracy ft om a Noble Lord (J. Russell.) No doubt
the Noble Lord would say that the moment he found out
that this man was of such a character he dismissed him
from the office of M agistrate. But that was no sufficient
excuse. For at the time he received the appointment
he was notoriously embarked in all kinds of political ex.
m.
tement, attending tumultuous meetings, end exciting the
passions of the people against the laws and the institutions
of the country.—(Cheers from the Opposition.) He should
say that the circumstance of the appointment of that
indi-
vidual to the dignity and station of a Magistrate bad given
him an influence over the minds of the people which he
otherwise would net have had. He-should observe that
it was a most fortunate circumstance—that it was
one of the most tempestuous nights which were
ever witnessed that was appointed for the meeting of the
insurgents. He believed that were it otherwise, instead of
5,000 or 6.000 people, four times that number would have
assembled. The Noble Lord might also say that he had adopt-
ed the recommendation of certain inhabitants of Newport
on the occasion. He begged, however, to observe, that
that was no sufficient apology for the Noble Lord. The
Noble Lord was warned, and warned in time. By whom
was that warning given ? Not by an individual of differ-
ent politics from the Noble Lord—not by an individual
who might have been actuated by prejudices on the occa-
sion—but by a most honourable and respectable individual,
who entertained the same political views with himself.
But, lest there should have been any mistake on the sub-
ject, that individual had stated facts and circumstances, the
truth of which the Noble Lord had an opportunity of
li ascertaining, by referring to documents in his own pos-
session.—( Hear, bear.) He would forbear to mention
particularly what those facts and circumstances were,
from a consideration of the unhappy condition in which
the party was now placed. The Noble Lord had
been followed in his office at the time of those
outrages by the Marquis of Normanby ; and be would now
draw the attention of the House to extracts from
a.letter which that Noble Lord had addressed to the Ma-
gistrates of Newport, who had been engaged in the exa-
mination of the leading parties concerned in that rebellion
and in those treasonable proceedings. lie believed it was
an unusual circumstance for her Majesty to convey her
thanks to Magistrates for having done their duty, but these
being considered extraordinary circumstances, and great
fatigue having been undergone by the Magistrates,i
Lord
Normanby, under the date of the 9th of November, wrote
to the following effect to the Magistrates at Newport . •
The Queen is pleased to command me to express
her ap-
proval of your conduct and that of the Magistrates acting
with you on the occasion of the outrage recently committed
at Newport." Now would the House believe that three
days previous to the letter the Magistrates had
actually committed several individuals on the
charge of high treason and rebellion, and several
other individuals were under examination upon similar
charges ? Why, he would ask, did rot the Noble Lord
the Secretary of State for the Home Department desig-
nate things by their right names s—( Cheers from the
Ministerial side or the house.) Why did they call trea.
son and rebellion outrage ?—(Laughter.) It was true
that high treason and rebellion were outrages, but every
outrage was not high treason or rebellion. Here he might
take leave to mention a very extraordinary coin-
cidence with respect to the Attorney-General, whom he
was happy to see was doing him the honour of paying at-
tention to his observations. He found that Honourable
and Learned Gentlen.an, within a few days of this rebel-
lion, congratulating himself before his constituents at
Edinburgh on having put down Chartism without shed-
ding blood. What a lamentable state of ignorance did
this display of the state of feeling existing in the country.
That speech must o f necessity, coming from such high
authority have lulled into a state of false security those
who had been acting in the suppression of Chartism, while
on the other hand it was a decided encouragement to the
Chartists to pursue their secret and illegal proceeding,.
It had been asked what remedy was there to be found for
these grievances. His belief was that the only remedy
that could be found was in having the Government in
the hands of men of firmness, prudence, and wisdom,
qualities which be bad never found, and never expected
to find, in those who had now the management of the
country...._( Hear, hear, hear.) He would now direct
a few observations to the letter of Lord Normanby,
and as it seemed to be the opinion of Hon. Members on
the other side, that the term outrage as applied to that
affair was a proper one, he would remind the House, that
on that occasion twenty-six individuals lost their lives, in
addition to a large number of others who were seriously
wounded. He would also say, that that unfortunate dis-
content did not, exist only in the provinces, but it existed
also in the metropolis, for within the last week they bad
found the military under arms during the night—the police
force increased, and a general alarm prevailing among
those who were charged with the care of the soerchandise
which was deposited in the metropolis.—( Hear, hear.)
With regard to the financial state of the country,
he thought it was anything but satisfactory. They
had recently seen published under the bands of the
Lords of her Mai .:sty's Treasury, a certificate to the Com-
miasioners for the Reduction of the National Debt, de-
cla-ing that for the year ending the s:h January last,
there was a deficiency of nearly one million sterling, or,
in other words, that there had been an expenditure of
nearly one million exceeding the income.—( Hear.) They
must take into consideration that since that period the new
arrangements of the Post-office had come into operation,
and those who took the most sanguine and most favour-
able view of that affair had come to the conclusion that it
will be at least a loss of one million to the revenue. But
that was not all—their trade with China was at that time
put a stop to, and from that country alone they imported an
article which yielded three millions and a half to the revenue.
And here he would allude to what had been mentioned
wi•h regard to the claims on the British Government.
Claims had been made on the representative of her
Majesty at Canton, to whom goods had been delivered to
to the extent of more than three millions. Against that
certificates of claims and bills of exchange had been drawn
on her Majesty's Treasury. He ( Mr. Alderman Thome-
'son) knew not what the legal position of the claims might
be, but, as a commercial man, he should say that when an
acknowledged agent purchased and received goods of a
principal, and gives a certificate or bill of exchange, he
should certainly say that the principal was answerable for
that certificate. The question he would not enter into,
as from its importance it would be sure to occupy public
attention. As regarded the other side of the question
of finances, he had been told that there would, in all pro-
bability, be a deficiency of eight railliona. He asked
whether there were any circumstances that might lead
them to expect a diminution of expenditure ?—(Hear.)
As regarded the sate of their foreign relations, were they
such as would enable the House to reduce either the Army
or Navy? He thought they were not. For a period of
three years in succession there had been, year after year,
an expenditure exceeding the income. Ile asked whe-
ther there was such a precedent in the whole history of this
country? The only instance that he could find was in the
time of Sir Robert Walpole. Si; R. Walpole had re
sisted the resolution, that the supplies for the year should
be raised within the year. Now, what was the conse-
quence? That which was likely to be the result now—
that the country was involved in war when it was least pre-
pared.--( Hear, hear.) During the last twelvemonths
Exchequer Bills had been at a discount. Was this a state
of things hollow able to the country ?—( Hear, bear.)
The Honourable Baronet, the mover of the resolution,
had alluded to the Comptrollership of the Exchequer.
He ( Mr. Alderman Thompson) would allude to an-
other appointment yet more objectionable, the Governorship
of Greenwich Hospital.—( Loud cries of " Hear, hear.")
That was an office which had usually been filled by an
Admiral, who had performed good service for his country—
who " for a fifty years had braved tha battle and the
breeze."—( Cheers.) Was Admiral Fleming the fit suc-
cessor of the gallant Hardy ? No.—( Cheers.) The ap-
pointment had now, for the first time, been made for political
ends.—(Cheers.) He said nothing against the personal,
character—he spoke only of the standing in the Navy, of
the gallant Officer. Then as to the state of our relations
in Soeth America. He believed that that discussion con-
tributed in a great degree towards the raising of the block-
ade. But in what state was our trade
with the River
if
Plate ? The House ought to be aware, it was not, that
for the last two years our commerce had been completely
shut out from Buenos Ayres. The French Government
had blockaded the ports—they. had landed troops
and taken part with some of the factions which raged in
that country fur the purpose, no doubt, of establishing their
own authority there. It WAS known that already a
Com-
missioner had gone out, appointed to arrange the ternis
upon which those States were to come under their protec-
tion. He would contend that the French had not acted
with impartiality there,
even were they right. Two Ante-
rican .
ships forced themselves
in y unloaded and re-
loaded, but were seized coming out, but on being de-