The Sun.
London, England, 1840-06-26 00:00:00

EVEN ING EDITION.

sent disposition of political power was always to be in ft"
vt ur of prohibitory interests, they would find u't''
mately the consumer to be the strongest ; if the}"
pursued their system, they would find their Constitu'
tien was nothing but a sheet of paper, without a partici, cif
of respect or protection from the people in the day e
trial. —( Hear, hear.)
Sir STEPHEN LUSHINGTON was the represen-
tative of 400,000 persons who were consumers of thus
article. His lion. Friend ( Nir. Hawes) seemed to as-
sume that he was the representative of the opinions 013'
consumers, but in this he (Dr. Lushington) did not agree
wilt him. He also represented, in fait ordeion, the wh°lf,
community of Great Britain, end he believed thas these as vs,'
as his own immediate constituents, even proposed to sacrifice-
their own personal convenience to carry out the great prin-
ciple for which they had voted twenty millions of .money;
What was the proposition of the lien. Member for Wigs":
He knew that he could not introduce foreign sugar, c"1
~.`
with respect to the Brazilian treaty, he did not thins,"
any man would counsel its violation. Ile should be gia,u:
to admit other sugar, if he could do it ut the au
mission of slave-grown sugar. Then the simple questio.7
was, were circumstances such that they ought to ads"
slave-grown sugar ?—( Hear, hear.) Ile had listened to
all the arguments of the lion. Member for 'Wigan, and re
did not mean to deny the troth of many of them.
believed the diminution of price occasioned an increased
consumption; but looking to the question in all its point!,
and to the present position of the country in relation to it,
the question was, whether they ought at once, wise:
emancipation had taken place—so far as they knew
of its effects—for a single twelve months, in de-
spair of its effects, in utter despair that free l'beuci
would be able to compete with slave labour, from a regard
r
to the interests of the people of this country, to abandon the
great experiment ?—( Hear, hear.) He was prepared to
say there was not a shadow of grouad for that expectation.
l
He had taken pains, and if the Committee would do,
t
hint the honour to listen, he would show the actual state o'
the case as compared with 1832 and the year antecedent 0
the passing of the Emancipation Act. lie would comPl
the quantity of sugar then unsorted into this country, an
that at the end of January 1840, and he would show the
deficiency and account for it by
irroving that it was owing
to accidental circumstances. Ho had reduced these quan-
tities to hundred-weights, because hogsheads varied
in their quantity, sometimes from 12 c,7t. to 22 ct:
at,
The total import for British Plantation, durt.,?"4 the 31,c,(1
ending the sth of January 1833, was 3,784,244 Civ:‘• ;
for the year 1840, 2,822,872; being a dintinutio:.l °
British plantation sugar of 961,372 ewes. He would a"
dertake to account for that diminution. From the Maui
ritius there had been an increase, from 1833 to 1840,.°
d 4,471 ; and from the West Indies there had been an en'
crease of 88,238 ; making an increase of sixfold. 1
he
total amount of sugar imported in 1833 was 4,366. '(")t0
s.
cats , and the total amount in 1840 was 3 954,383 c'
The total decrease in the very year of the einanciPP
tion, as compared with the ear before emancipatiott,
'Ling 431,617 cats., or one-teynth, during the first year
of freedom.—( Hear, hear, hear.) The Right Hon• a",
ocs
Learned Gentleman then referred to a variety of d
mews, official as well as others, to show that the diiniutli
tion might be attributed to drought and other accidental
calamities, and said—This is a question of the deenc!v
.
ds
importance. If you introduce foreign sugar into ti:
country, the inevitable effect of so doing will be 10 dc,
stroy and utterly annihilate all hopes of a s'iceesos/oto
termination of the slave-trade. Nu. se your .use
colonies—try whether or not those colonies will not prod ‘t
an adequate supply. If you let in foreign sugar, breahr37
your treaties with foreign powers —( Cheers.) Wit" or
your cruizers —( Hear, hear.) Sacrifice no more of yo
money..—(Hear, hear.) That hour that foreign foga_r„
admitted into competition with the sugar that is grown g,
tree labour in our own colonies—that very hour seals ',if,
fate of Africa—(Cheers)—that very hour Lamps slaver,' a
Cuba, in the Brazils, in Martinique, in Guadeloupe,
every other colony in which slavery prevails.—(Chceg.o)
f
It will not only prop slavery, but it will add to the eviviii
that trade, which I admit is being carried on. It nct
add to guilt, and crime, and misconduct, to an extent ati
magnitude I cannot contemplate without horror, fear' Linthe
disgust.—(Hear, hear.) Where is my Hon- Fri3n," „.as
Member fur Lambeth?—( Hear and laughter, Mr. halo
being absent.) Does he believe the people of Eng.:o
will consent to it ? Is that his judgment
opinion of the people of England—( Hear, hen c ?
after five-and-thirty long years of labour in this "'l's;
We have heard complaints of the high price of sogiaoi,
and you have a few petitions. Compare those petitions
with the thousands and thousands of petitions wu"r
were laid on your table from year to year, in fav°
utter
the adoption of that principle which would be uttoLia.
destroyed and exterminated if you listened to the co
blooded doctrines of some of those who are pure eon,
mists.—( Hear, hear.) lam a great political econornis',
but never will I advocate economy to the sacrifice 0'
I
other principles dear to the heart of man.—( Cheer ),'
obi°
remember well the words of the father of my y
Friend opposite, ( Lord Sandon,) when i t was al.teg to
that it would be a great sacrifice to Great Briton'
give up the slave-trade, and that it was a nursery
for our seamen (a greater falsehood was never uttered);
that it produced millions of pounds to this country, and,art
augmenting the resources of all her colonies. The to
of Harrowby said, and the expression will do honour h
his name long after he is gone, " I dare Cot weigiil° i
against blond."--( Hear, hear, hear.) The Right -liens
and Learned Gentleman then proceeded to say hciZ,r
aware of the difficulties that attended this question. JP`t-,
they had tried all the means that. God had givea then 1,-
work out the great principle of obtaining a useful article
at a low price, it would be time enough to let loose t"-
flood-gates of misery upon Africa.—(Cheers.) No °lnt
living could deny that that would inevitably be-the Ws
of this measure. lie had heard it stated all that eras
wanted was a perfectly free competition,•and that they
ought to deal with sugar precisely as they had dea
with cotton. Deeply as he (Sir S. Lushington,
regretted that the lower classes of this coun,,trl
should be compelled to pay the present high price "70,
sugar—sorry as he was for his constituents—the .bug
refiners of this country, whom ho was then acting ju °p-
position to, and there were many among them wile weer
ci
his best friends, yet he was, in his conscience, COnifile
that the true interests of this nation were to persevere
that line of humane conduct it had adopted until the .
should come when the course of events should point out
that a deviation front it was absolutely necessary...l
(Cheers.) He was certain also, that if a fair appeal
made to the people of this country, the great majority
them would be found to deprecate nothing on earth
much as the adoption of a measure certainly tending to t „
perpetuation of slavery, and sure to aggravate the mser'
of the slave trade.--( Hear, hear.)
Mr. A. CHAPMAN would do all in his power to OP-
port the mercantile and shipping interest of the noontry•
but he felt bound to oppose the amendment of the Ho";
Member for Wigan, when he was convinced its effect
would beto destroy the treaties that had been entered into'
Mr. OCONNELL said he never g did
ave a vote with
a firmer conviction of its propriety than ho
on the present occasion, against the amenchuFns
of his Hon. Friend the Member for Wigan, as his opini°
of that amendment was that it did not go far enough. is.
(Hear, hear.) He was glad that the subject had been d
cussed thus early, because the people would now he a
ble
to decide between having dear sugar or slavery.—(Hear.)
Everybody must have foreseen that sugar would becorne
dearer upon the slaves being emancipated, but they had
now the prospect of that dearness being changed to shear.
ness by free labour. Ho believed that all that was fleas
sary was that the people should understand the question as
it really existed. Lessons of political economy were on',
to be preached to them, because when the emancipation °`
the negroes took place political economy was set at clet:
tlince. The people of England had already made their
choice, and he would venture to say that no man would ,
bold enough to call a meeting on this subject.—( Hear. t
The experiment of emancipation ought to be worked 0s
well; there ought to be an anxiety on the part of the Go-
vernment to assist the planters with as much free labour as.
possible—the Government ought daily and nightly to el
seder how they could best effect that ; but then, on
other hand, the planters ought to assist the Goverronc"
Hear.) The planters in Guiana had shown a readiness
to do that, but he was sorry to say that was not the ease in
Jamaica. In Guiana they were getting free labour fr,e
North America, and he wished to see such the case Jail
rnaica. He must therefore protest against the prcs!rn
motion, and all he desired was that the present quell"'
should he understood by the people.
Mr. VILLIERS supported the amendment of the 11";
Member for Wigan, with a firm conviction that he was
correct, as was the Hon. Member for Dublin, in the couj";
he had thought right to adopt. The simple principle t"ef'd
had that night to decide upon, was whether they
t"—
sacrifice the whole community for a part of it. Was e
Ives.;
to be no sympathy for the people of this country ?
they to endure the miseries they had done for Sear;:, an
was no consideration to be taken of them ?—( Hear. hear' )
Was no one to be thought of but the negro.—( 4eB;
hear.) Tho3e who advocated the abolition of slave,..,
were not to overlook the interests of the people of this
country. He contended that when a proposition was made
to reduce the duty on a necessary article of consumPt'e7;
it was worthy of the conies -.scion of the House, and unless,'"
could be shown that a g- eater evil would be the result,
they were bound to adieet it. The lion. Member for
Dublin had said that the proposition of the Hon. Member
for Wigan had not gone far enough. .Now in his (31r;
Villiers') opinion the Hon. Member for Dublin had °-
gone far enough himself, for to carry out his own princi-
ple he ought to have brought forward a motion to do awaYf
with the duty on tobacco and other articles, the produce ":
slave labour.—( Hear, hear.) The proposition 01 hi©
lion. Friend the Member for:Wigan, being to reduce the
duty on an article of home consumption, ought to Meet
with the support of every Liberal Member in that House'
and such being his opinion it should have his support.
Mr. NV. H. GLADSTONE said that several courses
might be taken by lion. Members, all of which would
be intelligible and consistent. The course adopted by the
Hon. and Learned Member for Dublin, the Right Ile"'
the Member for the Tower Hamlets, and the Hon. Member •
for Kilkenny, were of that character, but that pursued by
the Members for Lambeth, Wigan, and 'Wolverhampton'
were utterly irreconcileable. They professed to be the
ardent friends of freedom and the enemies of slavery in
every form, and as such he would ask them if they were
prepared to stake the issue of this question upon the fact
whether it would or not, if carried, extend the slave-
trade ? He denied the statement of the Hon. Member for
Lambeth that the present was a West Indian planter's
question—( Hear, hear)---it was as much an East Indian
question as a West Indian one.—(Hear,) Upon the ar-
guments so powerfully urged by the Learned Member for
the Tower Hamlets be (Mr. Gladstone) should vote
against the amendment.
Mr. HAWES begged
slave to say that he wished not to en-
courageproduce, nor did he believe that this would
be the result of the amendment.
Mr. GLADSTONE spoke not of motives, but of
effects.

Mr. ENVART replied, and said he did not wish to
divide ; but

Mr. HUME said he did not see why there should not
bo a division.
Strangers were then ordered to withdraw, and tho Coal•
mit*, divided, whena there &FFrearod—i