The Sun.
London, England, 1841-05-11 00:00:00

principle pf the measure.—(Cheers.) I do not ' mean to
say that the circumstances are precisely the . same.—
(Cheers.) I admit that we had not then p assed the
measure of emancipation.—(Vehement cheer ing from
the Tories.) There is this analogy, however, i n the two
cases, that the slave-trade was then rife in Cu let and in
Brazil.--(Cheers.) Did not the West India; is then
come forward to say, yoA are going to er :pose us
to the competition of those who have unri lstricted
supplies of slaves, and yea will not allow us to iw port for
ourselves.—(The Right Hon. Gentleman then r ead ex-
tracts from the speeches of Mr. Grant and lkti r. Goul-
burn on that occasion (1829), to show that th eir views
were the same as those which he had endeavor red to en-
force.) Ido not propose that we should at r 11 relax in
our exertions to put down the slave trade.—(( Iheers and
cries of " Oh, oh.") But the time at which th as impor-
tant question of our commercial relations wi .th Brazil
must be settled seems to me to have arrived. I heard
with great surprise, Gentlemen who are connected
with trade and manufactures, speak of our for ii gn trade
as unimportant, when compared with our home ca msump-
non of manufactures—(Hear, hear)—wherear in the
year 1839, the date of the last returns, the• amount
of our home trade was only 16,700,000/.„ whilst
pur foreign trade amounted to 24,640,000/.--- <Hear.)
T11:)se who ace concerned in our foreign trade vii 3w with
extreme alarw the expiration of our commerci i I treaty
with Brt,:zil. r.,t is true that although the Brazil 'a ins sup-
pose that t;:e tree, ty will expire in 1842, we are co evinced
that we are justified in insisting upon its being e nforced
up to 1845. But the people of Brazil feel much it :itation
with us on account of the restrictions we impce e upon
their trade with this country, and considering I he vast
importance of their trade to us, and the opening -, xhich it
affords for an extended trade with all the interne • of the
vast and rich continent of South America, I thin V it most
desirable that we should take this opportunity of
conciliating their good feelings, and prep icing to
renew the treaty upom amicable terms.--(Her tr, hear.)
There is another point of view in which I should wish
the House to consider this question. If we a pply this
principle to sugar, why should we not apply it to other
articles the produce of slave labour, and why sl iould we
not apply it to coffee ? By the treaty with Brazil i, we are
bound to take the produce on the same footing '; as we
take the produce of the most favoured nation. Sugar
is one of their most staple articles of prod' ice, but
coffee is also one of their staple articles. N( nv, how
do we treat with regard to coffee, we keep to th e words
of the treaty, but how do we keep it in fact ? 11 to make
the fact of coffee having touched at the Cape c e Good
Hope, a reason for lessening the duty on that iartiele.
Java coffee can touch at the Cape with little or ic r incon-
venience, while coffee from Rio Janeiro and the Brazils
would have to go half round the world to touch . at the
Cape of Good Hope. The consequence is, the it while
keeping to the strict letter of the treaty ; we, in fact,
admit coffee, the produce of Java, at a lower di zty than
coffee the produce of the Brazils and Rio Janie ro, thus
keeping to the letter but eluding the spirit of tha treaty.
—(Cheers.) This furnished Brazils undoubtedl3 r with a
just cause of complaint. Now if we proposed to redress
this evil—if we proposed to allow Brazils to hill (oft her
coffee directly into this country, instead of forciu kher to
introduce it in a circuitous manner, would it be fair to
refuse it on the ground that we should be thereby' giving
a stimulus to slave labour, by allowing that c( iffee to
be brought into the English market ? Are you pre pared
to say that for the purpose of putting down the slave-
trade, you will refuse to export your manufactures..:to any
country in which slave labour is employed, for tlrks you
must do if you are consistent ? Can you act in thi's man-
ner, restricting the commerce of this great coun try?—
(Cheers.) Ido not believe there can be found al iy man
mad enough or rash enough to support s arch a
proposition. There is another point of view
in which we are bound to consider this ques-
tion. I am of opinion that it is our
bounden duty to use every practicable means in our
power, and to exert every influence we possese 4 to at-
tempt the suppression of the slave trade.—(C !beers.)
But I would ask the House to consider if we are likely
to obtain that object by refusing to hold all come aircial
intercourse with slave-holding nations ; or if we : tee not
more likely to obtain it by cultivating commercie ii rela-
tions with those countries, by encouraging Englishmen,
with English habits and English feelings, to go
out and settle among them, diffusing among them
that intelligence and that good feeling whi( di in-
variably is the consequence of Englishmen settling among
any nations ? Are we noemore likely to obtain our ob-
ject by these means than by declaring we will h .old no
intercourse with them ? Her Majesty's Gover Inflect
has been actuated by them on a very recent oc easion,
and believing them to be just has acted on them a ecorcl-
ingly.—(Cheers.) With the republic of the Te sas we
have recently concluded a commercial treaty. We
thought it right to do so. We were satisfied that it was
our duty to the country to do so. But did we, i n pur-
suing that course, lose sight of the great cause which we
always have in view—the suppression of the slave to ade ?
No such thing., My Noble Friend the Secretar y of
State for Foreign Affairs expressed his willingness to
sign the commercial treaty which they wanted, hi at he
said to them—" At the same time that I sign the ,com-
mercial treaty you must enter into another treaty by
which you bind yourselves to exercise that which
has always been found to be the most effectual mea as for
the suppression of the slave trade—the right of se: arch."
—(Cheers.) The granting of the right of search ,of all
vessels suspected of carrying slaves was mad e the
sine qua non to the signing the commercial t reaty.
—(Loud cheers) This I consider is a much more effec-
tual method of suppressing the slave trade than if we
were to cripple our commerce by refusing all cot nmer-
cial intercourse with slave-holding States. If this mea-
sure were to be considered by itself, Sir, if it were
proposed as an unconnected isolated measure, I could
then understand how the proposal for an alteration in
the sugar duties might lead other nations to suppose
that we did not now stand upon that high ground with
respect to the slave trade which we had hitherto used to
occupy. That is one reason which justifies the Govern-
ment inhaving suffered this question of the sugar deities
to remain so lonli. If it had not been for the p& pose
of giving a breathing time to the West Indians, and of
letting other countries see that we were not to 'be in-
duced o relax in the great xperiment--the coming
out of the emancipation the Government of this country
would have been most culpable in not proposing
these alterations long before.--(Hear, hear.) But it
must be considered in a very different light, when this
proposition is only considered as part of a
_great
whole.—(Loud cheers.) Foreign countries must now
see that these alterations do not refer to sugar alone ;
but that, having on general grounds become convinced the necessity of a reform of our commercial tar iff, it
would be absurd indeed it we were to except sugar from
those alterations. That alone is a sufficient excuse for
those who last year thought that it was not right to en-
tertain the question as an isolated proposition, but now
as a part of a great whole will be perfectly justified in
voting in favour of the measure. If the House were
called upon to decide this question on its own merits
only, if there were no other questions connected with it,
I will not affect to deny that I should not feel the anxiety
on the subject which I now feel ; but it is be-
cause I cannot doubt that the decision will be
on a far greater and more important subject, that I feel
an anxiety on the subject beyond ,what language can ex-
press.—(Cheers.) I am not disposed to hold the lan-
guage of despondency about the future, because I appre-
ciate as highly as any man the great national advantages
which this country possesses. I know that in her situa-
tion, in her great mineral wealth, and in other re-
spects, she possesses great and important advantages over
other countries, and I believe that most of all does she
possess an incalculable advantage—one of more import-
ance than all the others, in the indomitable energy of
her people.—(Loud cheers.) An energy which may be
exhibited as patriotically and as honourably at the loom
or by the exercise of industry, as on the field of
battle, by sea or by land.—(Loud cheers) But I
feel it would not be wise or humane to tax that
energy too far.—(hear, hear, and cheers.) I am
satisfied that we are now come to one of those re-
volutions in commerce, to one of those crises in the manu-
facturing and commercial affairs of the country, which,
according to the course we may pursue, must be produc-
tive of great good or of incalculable evil.—(Cheers.) At
a former crisis of this nature Mr. Huskisson was, happily
for the country, in the councils of the Crown. He found
a state of things existing requiring the greatest and
most extensive alterations. He proposed them and car-
ried them, notwithstanding the opposition of particular
interests, for he was supported by all the great leading
statesmen of the country, who felt that the interests of
the country were at stake, and refused to Jend themselves
to any mere temporary party purposes. And those great
measures were carried notwithstanding the opposition
which measures of that kind always meet with from in-
terested parties. Great revolutions, commercial and
political, have taken place since that period, and I am
satisfied that another of those important crises has again
arrived. lam satisfied that we have no choice left, ex-
cept to adopt those large alterations which have been
proposed, or to suffer the greatest, the most incalculable,
and, perhaps, the most irremediable mischief?.—
(Cheers.) I should be going into too wide a field if I
were now to go into particular instances, but I am sure
that lion. Gentlemen will admit that some large
and extensive change is desirable, and is most
important to maintain the commerce of our country.
Our manufactures are leaving our shores. They are in
a state of transition—they meet with foreign rivals with
whom they are every year less and less able to compete.
The necessity for these , important alterations is so
strongly felt by the Government that if the House agrees
to this motion it will be my duty to call the atten-
tion of the House to many of these important measures.
I beg the House to observe that it is not possible to pro-
pose any measure of this kind without encountering
some protecting interest.—(Hear, hear.) I have always
held the opinion that it is our duty to make such
changes, with due consideration to existing interests,
but, at the same time, it is quite impossible to make
them thoroughly without encountering opposition. Per-
sons point to other great monopolists, other great pro-
tecting interests, and they ask, " Why are we to be
made the scapegoats ?" I have often heard the Right
Hon. Gentleman the Member for Tamworth, in discuss-
ing the Corn-laws, use that kind of argument. I say,
therefore,
that it is impossible to make any great
change without meeting with opposition, and that we
must, in all such cases, look to what is required by the
interests of the country.--(Hear, hear.) I never re-
member a period when there existed in the mercantile
and manufacturing community of this country so general
an impression on this subject—an impression which is
not merely brought forward for party purposes, or
by party
men.—(Hear, hear.) Hon. Gentlemen opposite
flatter themselves with the delusion that the measures
brought forward by the Government were influenced by
political necessity, or by the state of parties. Why, the
Government have not had the means of collecting the
i Whigs and the Radicals n the large mercantile towns.
The whole nature of the agitation, if it may be so called,
is of a totally different character ; it has not been con-
ducted in the manner in which party interests are ob-
tained and promoted ; it has been far more deep and
heartfelt. Qn former occasions, I have always observed

that the Right Hon. Gentleman, the Member for Tam-
worth, always referred to the amount of our exports.
He, too, always said, "It cannot be true that your ma-
nufactures are so much distressed ; it cannot be true
that your commerce is in such an embarrassed condition,
while your exports continue to increase." I say, with
great regret, that that argument will fail the Right Ho.
nourable Gentleman on the present occasion. Our
exports, during the last year, have very con-
siderably diminished, and if you do not re-
lieve the pressure which weighs upon the
springs of the country there will be a yet greater dimi-
nution. Comparing the whole of our exports, in 1840
and 1841, there has been a falling off of about a million
and a half. Earthenware has fallen from 721,000/. to
574,000/. ; hardware and cutlery from 1,800,000/. to
1,300,0001. There is one manufacture to which I cannot
help adverting for a moment, which I find considerably
increased—it is the manufacture of refined sugar.—
(Hear, hear.) Now I can understand, Gentlemen,
drawing a distinction between cotton and coffee, and
other articles of that kind, and sugar ; but how you are
to draw a distinction between sugar consumed in this
country, and sugar which you prepare for the consump-
tion of other countries, I confess is to me quite unintel-
ligible.—(Hear, hear.) Now, the refining of sugar ap-
pears to have been one of the most flourishing branches
of our trade. It increased from 299,000/. in 1840, to
444,000/. in 1841. This loads me to a point which I
think extremely deserving the attention of the House
in considering this question. It has been said already,
and I believe with perfect truth, that by putting sugars
upon an equal footing, you make England an entrepot
for all the countries in the world. That was the opimon
expressed by Mr. Huskisson in 1829, an opinion to
which he attached the greatest importance. If you
keep your prices steady and fixed instead of oscillat-
ing, you will make Eno-land the great market for all the
sugars in the world. There is one point to which, before
I sit down, I am anxious for a moment to allude. I
have stated my belief that there never was a period in
which the merchants, and manufacturers of this country,
felt greater apprehensions, or expressed those apprehen-
sions more distinctly to the House. But there was one
remarkable petition addressed by the merchants of London
upon this subject to the House. I heard with some asto-
nishment the Right Hon. Gentleman the Member for
Tamworth, the other night, in presenting a counter peti-
tion against the plan of her Majesty's Government
and especially against the proposed alteration in
the sugar and timber duties, state that many of
the most considerable merchants who had signed the
petition which I presented in favour of free trade had
also signed the petition which he presented. Now, Sir,
I really feel it my duty to call the attention of the House
to what that petition was. [The Hon. Member then
read the petition first presented, which was a petition
generally in favour of free trade, and concluded by pray-
ing that the House would be pleased to make such
alterations in the differential duties as would be fair
to the consumer and promote the general welfare of the
country.] With what consistency can those who have
thus stated their opinion, oppose the measures of the
Government ?—(Hear, hear.) We petition in favour
of free trade generally, we petition for a reduction of the
import duties, but we except sugar.—(Hear.) I must
say that it does appear to me so extravagant a proposi-
tion that the House cannot for a moment entertain it.
There is only one way of accounting for it, that mer-
chants wish for free trade except in colonial produce—
that agriculturists are willing to have free trade except in
the article of corn.—(Hear, hear.) That is a very com-
mon sentiment in all classes of the community.—(Heir.)
This is a subject with which you must deal as a whole—
it is not one which you can attempt to deal with in a
piecemeal manner. Sir, upon these grounds I hope the
House will be guided by the recommendations of the
most important petitions to which I have alluded.
One word more, and I have done. Sir, I believe that
the country is in that situation that delay will be dan-
gerous.---(Cheers.) It is impossible to examine more
closely into the subject—it embraces such a variety of
subjects that I will not now attempt to enter into them,
but I think I am entitled to assert that the prevalent
sense of the whole manufacturing population of the
country is that this must be done, and speedily if the
country is to prosper. There is still one- light in which
we must look at this question, viz., as a question of
finance.—(Cheers.) The necessity of meeting the expen-
diture of the country is now pressing, and to meet it with
a prudent alteration of the commercial system is, in my
opinion, absolutely necessary. The Right Hon. Baronet
the Member for Tamworth said, a short time ago, that
nothing could be more unworthy of a Government, or more
fatal to the country, than in time of peace to add to the
permanent debt of the country. In that I perfectly agree ;
but if you will not take that course, then will you have
recourse to direct taxation. Sir, I cannot but think that
that would be a most serious course to take. Consider-
ing as I have done that money is wanted, and believing it
can be raised, not by adding to the burdens of the people
but by relieving them from taxation, I trust that the Hous,
will agree to the proposition now made. I have that
confidence in the integrity and spirit of the people of
England that I am sure they would never refuse to subt
mit to any taxation if it was shown to be necessary to
maintain the institutions or the character of the conntry;
but of this I am certain that if it can be shown that the
money can be raised by other means they will not sub-
mit cheerfully to it, and the means we propose will not
only not press upou them but relieve them from taxa-
tion. Sir, this question is not now confined to political
economists—there is now a spirit of inquiry abroad that
will not be satisfied. Come to what decision the
House may upon this subject, depend upon it
the people will not let the matter rest.
For myself, I shall only say that I feel that it is
the duty of the Government, placed as they are with the
necessity of providing additional finances, and finding
those views entertained by the great commercial classes
of the country, they at once adopted them. Completely
satisfied that these opinions are founded in ustice and
reason, I think the Government would have been want-
ing in their duty to the Houle and the country, had
they not brought them forward.—(Cheers.) I see the
Hon. Baronet (Sir J. Graham) smiling. He is one of
the staunchest friends of protection generally, and of
protection to the agricultural interest in particular, but
I will venture to predict that if he should shortly become
a Minister, he will have to make his choice either to
concede measures founded upon the principle of these
measures, or see a degree of dissatisfaction prevail
throughout the country that will be dangerous. Ido
feel so deeply the importance of the question, that I
could not help, connected as I am with the commerce of
the country, setting forth in the strongest language I
could my hope that the House will come to a right deci-
sion upon this subject.
Mr. GLADSTONE said he did not stand up to dis-
cuss the principle of trade.—(Cheers.) The question
before the House was, Were we to go into Committee to
consider an alteration in the sugar duties ? and an
amendment had been proposed that the sugar duties
were not a fit subject for alteration. That amendment
was not founded upon the grounds of trade, but upon
higher considerations. In the principles laid down by
the Right Hon. Gentleman he found little that was
liable to objection.—(Cheers.) He agreed in nearly all
that fell from him.—(Cheers.) The Honourable
Gentlemen opposite might find it answer their
purpose to ascribe to the Gentlemen behind
him that they were the upholders of mono-
poly and restriction, but it was not founded upon
truth.—(Cheers.) The proposition before the House
called upon them to abandon a great principle--(Cries of
" Oh, oh")—and all for what—for ls. 6d. per cwt., ever
according to the calculations of the ?Noble Lord. Was
there no period at which sugar was enjoyed as a luxury
by British people at a cheaper rate than that which
Ministers proposed to give ? If they looked back to the
period of slavery, they would find that sugar was had
cheap enough. The average price of sugar during the
seven years, from 1828 to 1834, was only 275. 11d. per
cwt., but the advantages derivable from slavery were not
considered sufficient to atone for the evils that
existed under it. The nation rose as a man to
abolish slavery. Was it not known by every
man of common sense that the first effect of the
emancipation of the slaves must necessarily be to reduce
the production, and thereby enhance the price of sugar ?
Yet the people persevered in their noble effort. The
abolition of slavery was a great experiment, and did the
Noble Lord suppose that the people of this country
would consent to the abandonment of that experiment—
that they would consent to forego the high character
they had earned in the eyes of th world, and adopt the
proposition of the Noble Lord ? It was said that
coffee and cotton should also be excluded as being the
produce of slave labour. Those articles were generally
prepared for use by female hands, and could be produced
without slave labour but the cultivation of sugar
mainly depended on slave labour. It was that which tempted
men to go to Africa to steal their fellow-men.—(Cheers.)
He contended that there was in the measure of the
Government an abandonment of a great principle, which
had been hitherto observed at so mighty a cost to this
country. But he should have complained more warmly
still of that plan as it was first proposed. The Right
Hon. Gentleman the Chancellor of the Exchequer had
the character of being a plain man, and a man of busi-
ness ; and yet on the Friday he proposed a plan for an
alteration of the duty in which they had nothing
of the scale which he afterwards introduced.---(Hear,
hear.) The effect of the Right Hon. Gentleman's plan,
as he had first introduced it, would not only have the
effect of admitting slave-grown sugar, but that the en-
couragement given to the introduction of foreign sugar
would have been of a nature to exclude every other. And
here was a difference of 50 per cent. in the value of foreign
sugar—and it unfortunately happened that the superior
sugar was that grown in the slave countries. Cuba and
the Brazils were the great sources of • that last article,
and Siam, Cochin China, -and Manilla were the
only countries where sugar could be said to
be the produce of free labour.—(Hear, hear.) But
the sugar of Cuba was 50 per cent. more
valuable than that of Manilla. Now, if the Right
Hon. Gentleman had intended to introduce the two
articles upon equal terms into the British market, it re-
quired no lengthened demonstration to conclude that he
ought to lay upon that more valuable article, a duty of
fifty per cent. higher then that laid upon the other, that
was to say, if he laid a duty of 365. per cwt. on Manilla
sugar, he ought to lay a duty of 545. on the seutiefir
r,
of Cuba. The Right Honourable Gentlemen, however,
proposed on the contrary to lay a duty of
365. per
e cwt.
sugar
on Manilla sugar, and the same duty upon the
theo e
of Cuba.hea p e
rThat article.
would
The
leadhe
Right t o theHo n
. a totalenGentleman,
exclusion of
how-
ever, had altered his plan in a manner which he (Mr.
etllo dlemseanunoteugnanhteien.
Gladstone) thought Househtehenight
noeung. ought
—(Hear, hear.) T
thhee
eifieras i
nt
t n
fset r
dc
ies
etuos
shi aevee,
asunbdmnitottedthtehat proposal
otherw which
hich he
had adopted on the very morning of the day on which
the discussion was to take place. But the Right Hon.
Gentleman had not unfortunately altered his plan enough.
Let the House mark the effect of the 12s. duty as pro-
posed by the Right Hon. Gentleman. Under that duty
sugars differing considerably in quality v. ould be intro-
duced, and unfortunately nearly the whole of them would
be the produce of the Brazils, while the free labour sugar

EVENING EDITION.

of Manilla and the East had scarcely anything to hope
for in the plan as it at present stood. The Hon. and
Learned Member for Dublin, who was not then in hip
place, had recorded in favour of the negroes a mo4t
gratifying testimony of his concern for their welfare.
The Iron. and Learned Gentleman had given notice that
he into nded to propose in Committee that the introduc-
sution
ar wil of' foreign sugar should be limited to free grown
gy. He (Mr. Gladstone) believed that some of
the Hon. and Learned Gentleman's friends would have
the kindness to remind him that there was one slight ob-
jection to the proposal he had made, which was,
that it was contrary to the express and literal terms
of the Treaty of Brazil, which rendered it totally
impossible, without a direct violation of the national
faith, to draw any distinction between the sugar of any
other country and that of the Brazils. If it were not so
he (Mr. Gladstone) should, for one, be glad to show an
example of a willingness to recognise the principle which
had been justly and fairly laid down, that competition
had a beneficial effect in the production of commodities,
and that monopoly is the parent, not only of grievance to the consumer, but likewise of sloth and
inefficiency in the labourer.--(Hear.) He should still,
however, be ready to make every possible discrimina-
tion between slave sugar and free sugar. He thought
that would be important in a moral point of view, and it
would explain to the world that they did not lay a prohi-
bition on sugar because it was foreign but because it was
slave grown. The Noble Lord the Secretary for the
Colonies had held out a hope of entering into
negotiations with the Government of the Brazils for
the suppression of the slave trade. But the Noble Lord
had taken the very worst course for attaining
that end ; for the Noble Lord proposed to give
away all the benefits he could offer, without
previously insisting on any corresponding concession.
The Right Hon. Gentleman who last sat down said that
a similar measure to the present had been proposed, in
1829, by Mr. Grant. But the question then was one of
slave sugar against slave sugar. The present was a
question between free labour and the slave trade.—
(Cheers.) The reduction proposed in 1829 would have
been a dead letter. The British producers were, at that
time, able to sell sugar at ss. per cwt. below the foreign
producers, and what in the world would it have mat-
tered to them, if the protecting duty, which they did not
need, had been lowered by a few shillings ?—(Cheers.)
The slave trade was annually slaying its tens of thousands,
and he asked the House to pause before it gave to the
miseries of that trade still greater intensity.—(Cheers.)
After all that this country had done—all the money that
had been paid, he rejoiced to say--(Laughter)--for the
suppression of the slave-trade—he called on the House
not to agree to the proposition of the Ministry, which
would make this country an object of laughter and scorn.
It was of no avail to use physical force to put down the
slave trade whilst we were stimulating that lust of gain
which we knew to be the source of the evil..—(Hear,
hear.) It was well said by Mr. Turnbull, in his excellent
work upon Cuba, that 200 per cent. was stronger than
physical force.--(Hear, hear.) The Noble Lord opposite
(Lord John Russell) had adopted the arguments alleged
by General Taunton, in 1806, in favour of the slave
trade.—(" No, no," from Lord J. Russell.) If not, then,
the General was guilty of plagiarism by anticipation, for
he used the very argument in favour of the slave
trade, which the Noble Lord now used in favour of
the proposed encouragement of it.—(" No, no," and cheers)
General Taunton said, that if we gave UT) the slave trade
advantages to America, who could carry it on more
cheaply.—(Hear, hear.) The Noble Lord's argument
ourselves, we should not iut an end to it, but give all the
was, that if we did not take the slave produce of Brazil,
it would go to other countries.--(Laughter, and " No.")
But there was a name in the present Cabinet more inti-
mately connected with the abolition of the slave trade.
He had understood that there was a man, the powerful
but unseen ally of Mr. Wilberforce, a man who looked
not to the present for his reward, whose name was
Zachary Macaulay, and whose son was a Member of the
present Cabinet, and he could not conceive a
contrast more painful, if it were indeed true, as they had
argued that the effect of this measure, if carried, must
be to stimulate the production of sugar in Cuba and
Brazil, and that the effect must be to give an additional
stimulus to the slave trade. He could not account for
such proceedings but on the ground of a laxity of
principle—(Hear, hear)--for he thought many of
those who voted for this measure would do so with doubt-
ing minds and quailing hearts.—(Cheers.) The Noble
Lord knew this measure had created dissension among
his friends, that the commercial classes distrusted his
legislation, and we (said the Hon. Member) for our parts
are well assured that the British House of Commons on
this occasion, in the eyes of the country and of Europe,
will vindicate its ancient fame.—(Loud cheers.)
Mr. GISBORNE then moved the adjournment of the
debate, which was agreed to.
The other Orders of the Day were then disposed of,
and the House adjourned at a Quarter to One o'Clock.

OYAL YACHT SQUADRON,
A general meeting of the noblemen and gentlemen,
members of the Royal Yacht Squadron, was held, on Sa-
turday, at the Thatched House, St. James's-street. The
Right Hon. the Earl of Yarborough, Commodore (Kestrel
yawl, Cowes), in the chair.
There were present the Earl of Belfast, Vice-Commo-
dore, the Earl of Ilchester (Petrel cutter, Southton), the
Farl of Wilton (Xarifa schooner, Cowes), Viscount
Powerscourt (Antelope cutter, Portsmouth), Sir Hyde
Parker, Bart. (Louisa schooner, Cowes), Sir Archibald
J. Murray, Bart., Sir Bellingham R. Graham, Bart.,
Sir Simon Clarke (Kate schooner, Southampton),
Spencer De Horsey, Esq., M.P., Thoffias P. Williams,
Esq., M.P. (Hussar schooner and Gazelle cutter, Beau-
maris), Joseph Reynolds, Esq., Thomas Halifax, Esq.
(Sparrow Hawk cutter, Cowes), J. L. Symonds,
Esq. (Emerald cutter, Cowes), James Lyon, Esq.,
John Moore, Esq. (Reindeer cutter, Cowes), William
Beach, Esq. (Aurora cutter, Cowes), Almon Hill, Esq,
(AHel schooner, Cowes), William Lyon, Esq. (Merlin
schooner and Circassian schooner, Portsmouth), John
Bayley, Esq. (Nymph cutter, Dover), George Bentinck,
Esq. (Dream cutter, Portsmouth), Edward Heneage,
Esq., M.P., Thomas P. Halsey, Esq., John Bendmore,
Esq. (Harriet schooner, Cowes), John Petre, Esq.
(Midge -cutter, Cowes), F. P. Delme Radcliffe, Esq.
(Fanny cutter, Cowes), an& Captain A. L. Corry, 11.1 st.
(Phcebe cutter, Cowes).
The Right Hon. Chairman having addressed the
meeting explanatory of the nature of the business to be
transacted.

Mr. JOIIN BATES, R N., the secretary, read to the
meeting a financial statement, from which it appeared
that the funds of the squadron were in a very flourishing
condition

His Royal Highness the Prince of Syracuse (brother
of his Majesty the King of Naples) was elected an ho-
norary member of the squadron, without ballot.
The following gentlemen were then elected by ballot,
members of the Royal Yacht Squadron.
Robert William Gaussen, Esq. (Gossamer cutter, 35
tons:)—Proposer, the Right Hon. the Rarl of Yarbo-
rough ; seconder, F. P. Delme Radcliffe, Esq.
William T'eareth, Esq. (Ariadne cutter, 85 tons.)—
Proposer, Sir J. W. Copley, Bart. ; seconder, Captain
W. A. Herringham, R.N.
Thomas Legh, Esq. (Breeze cutter, 54 tons.)—Pro-
poser, the Earl of Belmore ; seconder, the Right Hon.
the Earl of Yarborough.
The following gentlemen were elected by ballot ho-
norary members :
Captain Francis P. Blackwood, R.N.—Proposer, John
Moore, Esq. • seconder, Spencer De Horsey, Esq., M.P.
Captain Lewis T. Jones, R.N.—Proposer, Captain N.
A. Herringham, R.N. ; seconder, Captain A. L. Corry,
R.N.

Commander William Knighton Stephens, RN.—Pro-
poser, Captain A. L. Corry, E.N. ; seconder, A. W. Cor-
bet, Esq.

Captain James Wilkinson, R.N.—Proposer, the Right
Hon. the Earl of Yarborough ; seconder, Captain A. L.
Corry, R.N.

COMmander William Alexander Willis, R.N.—Pro-
poser, the Right Hon. the Earl of Yarborough ; seconder,
the Hon. W. H. Hare.
The regatta will take place at Cowes in August. The
annual club cup, hitherto given by the Royal Yacht
Squadron, will not be sailed for this year. The 17th is
the day appointed for the contest between yachts of the
first class (under 40 tons) for the cup given by her Ma-
jesty the Queen. On Wednesday, the 18th, the annual
ball, given by members of the Royal Yacht Squadron,
will take place, and on Thursday, the 19th, the squadron
will celebrate their anniversary festival at Cowes.
An engraving, in mezzotint°, by Mr. George Raphael
Ward, after a picture by Mr. H. P. Briggs, R.A., of the
Right Hon. the Earl of Yarborough, was exhibited to
the meeting, and met with universal approval, both as a
likeness of the Noble Earl as well as a work of art.
The customary compliments having been voted to the
Right Hon. Chairman,
The Earl of Yarborough, in a suitable speech, returned
thanks, and the meeting separated.

DEVIZES, MAY 7,1841 e
(FRoM A CORRESPONDENT.)
and will
In this neighbourhood "notices to quit," on purpose
to raise the rent, have been served very freely by nearly
all the great landlords, on those tenants who have no
lease, although in many cases the rent was raised only
per cent, last year, and in not a few cases rent had been
twice before within the last four years. raised
Most of the farmers are very cool about the Corn_isw,
and are beginning to open their eyes,
very ready to rick the poor man's belly, not be
landlord immediately picks it out of their peek
Many of the tenants hereabout, beforebecause the
ets again.
-law was worth notice, the mg
allow
passed, were allowed ten to twenty the Poor-law
when the owners found the
! s,,ving to the off, but
lowed the
farmer by the
no longer, and have since given them the per centage
Poor
beside. one or two lifts

TROLLOPE'S " SUMMER IN WESTERN
FRANCE."—Agreeable as were the author's former vo-
lumes, "A Summer in Brittany," they are greatly ex-
celled in the present work. While passing over such
attractive ground as the scene of the English conquests
in France, the field of the heroic adventures of Joan of
Arc, the theatre of the desperate struggles of the Hu-
guenots at La Rochelle, and of the Royalists of La Ven-
dee—the land of cognac and claret—and the soil where
flourished a whole host of historical characters, our
author seems to have been stimulated to exercise all his
talents as a tourist, and, as the reader will acknowledge ;
with a very happy result. At one time we find him gos-
sipping about the antiquities of the old provincial towns ;
at another making clear an obscure page of history
here he lingers with Richard Cceur de Lion at Chalus—
there he stays with Margaret of Anjou at Dampiere.
After a while we find him describing mines, manufac-
tories, prisons, Druidical remains, cathedrals, and battle
fields, with the spirit ofone born in their neighbourhood ;
and these are delightfully relieved by a fund of amuse-
ment in the anecdotes, adventures, legends, and remarks
that accompany dim. Indeed, information is so blended
with entertainment throughout these pages, that as a
book of travels the " Summer in Western France"
proves one of the most agreeable works ever written.