The Sun.
London, England, 1841-05-12 00:00:00

ADJOURNED DEBATE.

Mr. MACAULAY said that, unwilling as he was to
stand in the way of his Hon. Friend (Mr. Gisborne),
who had a right to address the House, yet he ought to
feel no difficulty in presenting himself at the first oppor-
tunity to the attention of the House. It appeared that he
(Mr. Macaulay) was not in his place yesterday evening.
Had he been there, however, perhaps he might have
had some difficulty in addressing the House in the state
in which it then was. He should notwithstanding have
trusted that, during the very few moments in which he
would have felt it necessary to offer himself to the House,
he would have experienced that courtesy which, even in
the midst of the most excited political discussions,
he believed that House never refused to any
Member, be his personal feelings what they
might. He was glad, however, that he had not been in
his place. It was not till that morning that he be-
came acquainted with some part of the de-
bate which took place yesterday evening. The
consequence was that he now came down to the
House • without any feeling of irritation. He (Mr.
Macaulay) did not believe that his Honourable Friend
—for he would still call him his Hon. Friend—the Mem-
ber for Newark had intended anything personally offen-
sive in his speech of the preceding evening, to one
from whom he never received any personal provocation,
He was satisfied that he might also add, that some
part of the expressions which he saw were
imputed to his Hon. Friend, was of a nature so gratifying
to his (Mr Macaulay's) feelings as to more than com-
pensate, what could be given to him by censures which
he was conscious he had not deserved.—(Hear.) Avoid-
ing, therefore, all irritable expressions avoiding
all recrimination or retort, he would request the
attention of the House during a very few moments.
He had not intended to take any part
in that debate, and he would have been satisfied that
the general principle of the measures brought
forward by the Government, should have been left to
rest upon that most luminous and eloquent exposition made
of them on Friday night by his Noble Friend near him
ord J. Russell), to which he felt it would be diffi-
cult :o add anything.—(Hear, hear). The question of
details be should have left with equal pleasure to his
Right Honourable Friend the Chancellor of the
Exchequer, and the President of the Board of Trade, and
other gentlemen whose intimate knowlege of
of the manufacturing interests of the country would
enable them to treat those subjects with an ability
and an authority to which he (Mr. Macaulay)
could not pretend. He only offered himself to the House
for the purp.ose of alluding to the question on which it
was now impossible for him to remain silent ; but
he would refer as soberly and as temperately as he could
to those reasons which led him conscientiously
to believe that a person who had, according to his situation
and the measure,of his abilitimrnade exertions and sacrifices
for the • purpose of removing from our laws the stain
of slaver7—that a person who was sensible that
a pecuhar responsibility. lay upon him, derived
from exertions and sacrifices not his own, upon that
great questioi.l, might honestly and properly sup-
port the measure which her Majesty's Government
proposed, to the House. His Hon. Friend the Member
tQr Newark, as he (Mr. Macaulay) understood,
ha;ii imputed to him, and to those who
took the same view of the matter with
him, sow dereliction of prbciple. Nay, he spoke, if he
understood Lim rightly, of A laxity of principle—of
a certain infatuation,_ and of a judicial blindness which
appeared to guide their course. Now he (Mr. M.) was
utterly at a loss to know what the rirpiple was which
they were accused of violating. h.. had listened
to speeches, he had read the newspapers, and
looked to the resolution of the Honourable
Member for Liverpool ; but still he 'could not imagine
what were those great principles of humanity .zvhich they
were accused of deserting. He did riot cog:
plain of the resolution before the House. ~,x;
did not deny that it was a very
thatn-
tained no great moral principle, but that it was, on.of
of advancing party interests, but he should safiyti:ncOn-
trary skilfully contrived as a party motion, the
of the
which was to displace the present advisers
could prevent • those who opposed
which It
they occupied
Crown.. He saw nothing in that rsolfurtioooin
stand-
could
in the same • position
t e-
Was it intended
morality of the
"Hear, hear. Vie-
rebesfoolraet.ion.ll_4e trideanooft understandh
of morality
to be said that there wasfrom ;:
alaircy hasing
slave-grown
which should prevent them
not
alredy purchasing slave-
pgrritc,ticootnston?
inWtheree
United States,
a slave-grown tobacco
and slave- grown coffee ? And with regard to the
very rown sugar allowed to be intro-
was there nota very large
of the British E '
Empire--
into into various posses, ?
wh
• quantiat3rrti
article oslfaxsoug_gar,
,ions
into Canada and the Cape at, then, was
that greet moral principle, that great general law