The Sun.
London, England, 1824-03-17 00:00:00

WEST INDIES.

The Order of the Day having been read,
Earl BATHURST said that he had the Honour of laying
before their Lordships the Papers referred to on the first day of
the Session. They related to the measures adopted by his
Majesty's Government, in consequence of the Resolution
passed last year by the House of Commons, which, with their
Lordships' permission, he should now read. The Noble Earl
then read that Resolution which recommended the adoption of
measures for the moral and religious improvement of Slaves in
the Colonies. It would now be his duty to state what the
measures proposed by his Majesty's Ministers had been. Their
Lordships would find their objects described in two circulars
addressed to the Governors of his Majesty's Colonies, and
dated, one the 28th of May, and the other the 9th'o£ July. The
first measure which they recommended was, that means should
be taken to secure the due observance of the Sabbath. The
second, that the whip should be abolished as an emblem of
authority. The Third, that the punishment of female flogging
should also be abolished. The fourth, that the domestic punish.
meat inflicted by owners and overseers upon males should be ,
regulated. The fifth, that measures should be adopted to give
encouragement and validity to the marriage contract. The
sixth, that the sale of Slaves should be subjected to regulations.
The seventh, that the property of Slaves should be protected and
their right of making bequeits secured. The eighth, that facili-
ties should be afforded to manumission ; and the ninth, and last,
that the evidence of Slaves should be admitted under regulations
and restrictions. If any of their Lordships conceived that
in making these proposals his Majesty's Ministers had gone'
too far, and, however right in theory, had recommended
what was impracticable in practice, he had only to say,
that eight out of these .nine propositions had met not only
with the entire concurrence, but with the warm approbation
OE a large and respectable body of West India Planters, act-
ing in this country as a Representative Committee for the
whole. And even as to the ninth, the admission of the evi-
deuce of Slaves, under certain regulations, he had nots met
with any Member of that Committee who did not say that
though not prepared to come forward with a proposition
on the subject, he admitted it to be one deserving the fullest
consideration. If any Noble Lord thought on the contrary,
that his Majesty's Government had not gone far enough, he
had only to look at the discussions which had taken place in
Parliament on the subject, and he would find that not one of
the objects thus debated had been omitted in these recommend-
ations. Having thus stated the objects of the two letters, he
should now explain the steps adopted by the Colonies to give
them effect. With respect to the Colonial Legislative Assem-
blies, the matter was still under consideration. The first letter
had arrived when they were sitting, and had been immediately
considered ; but that of the 9th of July having arrived too late,
could not be taken into consideration till the month of No-
vember. The sittings of those Legislative Assemblies were
not closed when the last advice,: had • been received, but he
should deceive their Lordships if he held out any hope that the
majority of the propositions, or even many of them, should
be accepted. Those which appeared most inclined to accede
to the recommendations submitted for their consideration,
were Grenada, St. Christopher, and Barbadoes. Those where
they met with the greatest opposition were, St. Vincent,
Tobago, Dominica, and Jamaica. With respect to St. Chris-
topher, he had heard, but he could not say officially, that that
assembly felt disported to adopt a great majority of the recom-
mendations. As to Barbadoes, the Assembly had met in June
or July, and proposed to adopt some of the propositions, but
had afterwards separated under the impression that if they
agreed to them, it would be pledging themselves to consent to
the total extinction of Slavery. Indeed the greatest difficulty
with which his Majesty's Ministers had had to contend in all
the Colonies, was the mixing up of those two questions toge-
ther—the improvement of the condition of the Slaves, and the
abolition of. Shivery. He trusted, however, that after a more
calm consideration of the subject, the Barbadian Assembly
would retiern to its first determination, to adopt most of the
Measures proposed. That of St. Vincent had declined doing any
thing, and had referred to a Bill which it had passed two years
ago, as containing all that had been recommended in the two
circulars. On comparing the Bill with those recommendations,
however, it would be found that they agreed but in few par-
ticulars, and that even in these particulars nothing was pro-
vided but what was very imperfect. He hoped they themselves
would grow aware of this ; but he could not refrain from giv-
ing them credit for what they had done. For they had done
it two years ago of their own accord, without waiting for any
recommendations from any quarter. It was because he thought
that their conduct shewed a favourable disposition that he was
inclined to hope that when they took a more temperate view
of the subject, their objections to the measures would be alto-
gether removed. Ile should now only have to tell their Lord.
ships what had passed in Jamaica, if it had not been a matter
of complete notoriety. He regretted that Jamaica, which had
been the first to evince a desire to improve the condition of the
slaves, should in this instance have given an example of a
ifery different nature ; but he also trusted, notwithstanding the'
sentiments expressed in the address of the Legislative Assem-
bly of that Island to his Majesty, that they would reconsider
the subject in a more teinperate mood, and altet the tone which
they had used. At the same time lie should not do justice to
that Body if he were not to take into consideration what might
be regarded as an extenuation of their conduct—the manner
in which their treatment of slaves had been represented by va-
rious publications in this country. It had 'been asserted that
they had made no progress whatever in their legislation for the
improvement of the Negroes, and that slaves were much better
treated in America. Now what was the municipal code of

America with respect to slaves ? There was no limitation
whatever in the number of lashes inflicted at the will of the
overseer, and the punishment of a master for killing a slave
was only tine and imprisonment. As late as 1817, in one of the
States of the Union, a mitre'. , l beeneestablished, accordee
ing to which slaves never'l etliday ; 'if a slave Oli ove were nda)
li . ,
dancing after sunset he wt* t'. flogged ; if persons of colour
a ball they were to ifesplinis ed, and any slave attending' ,
it to be flogged ; aig a 4.1:v e eaticted ofahaving looked dig-',
respectfully at a white person was also to brflegged. If this
code were compared with the Bill passed by the Legislature
of St. Vincent, or the Slave—Lawad Tottize,Jamaica, and
our other islands, it would be seen that they sad reason to
be angry at being told that they treated their slaves worse
than the Americans. But it might be said that the laws of
our Colonies were good, but were not executed ; this.: he,
-could_ not believe to be true. He knew that a great improVe-
Ment bad taken plate in--the-condition oTgavisTaii-to fades la'
sions, clothing, and thetreatment of women; and that much
greater care was shown in rearing up children, as well as in
the arrangement of hospitals. One of the natural consequen-
ces of that improvement was, that any instance of barbarity
was heard of with much greater disgust than in former times.
It was not probable that the laws ehould not be executed, as
they did but sanction whatpraetiee had already caused to be ob-
served, and only punished what society had already, condemned.
But it would be said, what chance was there that our laws
should be executed in the Colonies ? We had no right to le-
i gislate for them; and, if we did it, we must take upon, our-
selves to enforce the execution of, those laws. There were ex.
trente cases in which we might be justified to go that length e
but extreme right hung on the confines of that which was wrong,
and ought to be carefully exercised. We had • ne legislative au-
thority over those Wands, but we had another kind of autho-
rity. We might refuse drawbacks upon exports, or impose
what duties we pleased upon their produce. The Noble Earl
then stated that the game letters sent to the Colonies which had
Legislative Assemblies had been.forwarded to the Governors
of those that had not, that they might have an opportunity of
doing themselves credit by adopting the recommendations which
the circulars contained. Some of those islands-were expressing
their intentions to accede to those recommendations, when•
unfortunately the insurrection at Demerara had taken place.
Tranquillity, however, laid since' been restored, and the ()b-
-jection thus raised, was in a great measure removed. The
recommendations had not been - well received, at Trinidad,
but after several communications hopes were entertained of a
better understanding. In order to enforce the measures pro-
posed by his majesty's Government,- an Order in Council had
' been framed in this country. His Majesty had approved of it
on Wednesday last, and their Lordships would find it amongst
the Papers laid on their table. It embodied the spirit of the
recommendations which had been made and provided for
carrying them into effect. It appointed, or rather revived, the
office of Gun:than, or Protector of Slaves, to whom, and to the
Commandants under' whom the execution of the provisions of
the order was entrusted. By the first, for the due observance
of the Sabbath, all compulsory labour on that day was abolish-
ed ; the Stinday markets were to be prohibited after 10 o'clock;
and as soon as a sufficient provision should be Made for the
education of slaves, those markets were to be abolished alto-
gether. By the next, the use ,of the whip was to be given up as
' an emblem of authority, as well as a means of punishment.—
He was not, lie admitted, one of those who objected to the for-
mer as particularly obnoxious, as it was not very offensive to
the feelings of slaves; but, as a mode of punishment, it was
the inure objectionable, because it was not entrusted to the
owner of the slaves alone, but to one who was a slave him-
self, and who having no person all day to watch him, might
be guilty, it was to be apprehended, of using it in a bar-
barous manner. It was thought proper, therefore, that the
whip should never be used except by a special order. And
let it not he inferred from this prohibition that its barbarous
application had been habitual; as well might it be said that be-
cause we had laws against murder, all members of our commu-
nity were assassins._ The only object was to protect, slaves,.
not only against positive, but against possible ill-treatment.--,
The next measure was one which gave the most general satis-
faction. It was the abolition of the punishment of flogging
females. It had been said that it was scarcely ever inflicted.,
and that their being liable to it was sufficient to insure good con-
duct on their part. It had also been asserted that if they knew,
that they were not longer subjected to it they would' behave in
a different manner. But this object had been taken into consie
deration by the Coma of Policy of Demerara, and that Court
' had decreed its abolition. He therefore felt convinced that lie
had adopted the right view of the subject. • But because the
' flogging of female Slaves was to be prohibited, it was not to
be imagined that their offences should be treated too leniently.
Masters would be prevented from inflicting tiny
other
punish-
ment. upon them than that provided by the law:, but they
might be sent to prison or put into the stocks, or the o . ri..l
ment would be authorised to propose any other mode of pumsh-
ment which should not be prohibited by the Order. Tlie next
Provision related to the punishment of males, and directed '
that in all cases twenty-four hours should be allowed to elapse
between the offence and the infliction ; and that in no instance
the latter should exceed twenty-five lashes- at -one time. , No
second punishment to be inflicted as long as any macerbation
resultingfrom the first should remain; and no punishment what.
ever to be inflicted except in the presence of a white person be-
sides the individual ordering it. Should it exceed three lashes,
thepunisliment should he recorded in a book with the offence, . s 1
in 2.4 hours afterwards a copy attested on oath should be deli-
vered_ to the Commandant, and by him to the Guardian or Pro-
tector of Slaves. The object of the next provision was to en-
courage the contracting of marriages. It authorized a slave
desirious of marying to apply to the Commandant or the Pro-
tector for a license. If he were able to produce the consent
of his master to his marriage, the Commandant or Guardian
were to be authorised to issue a .license, and any Clergyman
of the Church of England, or of any other persuasion, would
have leave to marry them, but would be bound to send, within
a certain period a certificate of such Marriage to the Protec-
tor, to be recorded and kept in a beok by the latter, Should
the master refuse his consent, the slave would still apply to
the Commandant, who would summon the master to hear his
objection, and if they appeared unreasonable, the Command.
ant would be authorised to issue a licence, and the marriage
would be solemnized as in the former case. By the next pro-
vision, the object of' which was to prevent violent separations
by the sale of slaves, it was settled that a husband and his wife
could not be parted, but must be sold in the same lot, to-
gether with any children under seven years of age, which they
might have. The next regulation was to protect the property
of slaves, and to impart to them the power of making be-
quests. It, was true that the practice existed, but it was
thought necessary to give them the security of a law to enable
them to apply to Courts of Justice, and to prosecute in their
own name ; in order that they should be able to make an ad-
vantageous use of their property, Saving Banks would be esta-
blished in various parts where they might deposit their money
and receive an interest of five per cent. Should any slave,
when he laid his money at It saving bank, declare the manner in
which he wished that it 'should be disposed of, in case of his
death, that declaration was to be recorded and kept in a book,
and the money to be applied as he had said. But should he
die without a will, it would be paid to his wife and children.
The next provision afforded facilities for the manumission of
slaves, by making the registering of that manumission charge-
able on the parish, and not on the slave himself. The latter
would also have the right of purchasing his freedom, and if any
difficulty arose with his master as to price, it was to be ar-
ranged by appraisement. The Master and the slave were to
make each their own, and the Protector to stand umpire be-
tween them. The last point related to the admission of the
evidence of slaves. That evidence was to be admitted when.
ever a slave should be able to produce a certificate, signed by
a member of the Church of England, or by any Minister of
a different communion, declaring that, after examination, lie
conceived him to have been so instructed in religious matters
as tobe fully sensible of the obligations of an oath. This certificate
was to be also recorded in a book kept by the guardian or pro-
tector of' Slaves. 'The limitations under which their evidence
was to be received were these : it was to be admitted in all
civil causes, except in those where the direct interests of their
masters were concerned ; for that would be exposing them use-
lessly to too great a temptation. In all criminal cases it was
also to be received, except in those in which the life of a
white person was to be compromised. It may be said that in-
stead of giving fresh privileges to the slaves, those which they
enjoyed before in that island (Trinidad) were curtailed, as under
the Spanish laws their evidence was admissible in all cases, but
by curtailing them in the manner now proposed, a substance and
a degree of authority were imparted to them which they never
-before possessed. He (Earl B.) was afraid that lie had taken
up too large a portion of their Lordships' time in explaining
the several provisions of the new order; but he wished to
ask them, and all those who bad watched their proceedings
with more jealousy, whether. they, had not redeemed the•
pledge given as far as it lay in their power ? The Noble
Earl that drew the attention of the House to the state of
our ecclesiastical establishment in the West Indies. It was
most lamentably deficient, and lie acknowledged with shame,
that when it. had been made there had been no reference what-.
ever to the Slave population ! That Establishment was de-
ficient as to its strengh, and to the measures adopted for
the discipline of such a clergy ; but many efforts had been made
by individuals and societies to make up the deficiency. Be-
sides the Society under the direction of the Bishop of Lon-
don, there were the Moravian and Wesleyan Societies who
had sent many missionaries for the religious instruction of
the slaves. Great credit. was certainly due to those societies,
but for the honoUr of the Sovereign, it was not fit that an object
of that importance should be left to the zeal and exertions of
individuals. Their Lordships, he conceived, would therefore
agree with him that our Ecclesiastical Establishment in the
.West Indies reiuired tQ be increased, as:deo be placed under

controul, and that no controul could possibly be effective, ex-
cept that of a resident.. It - had been generally believed, that
the Bishop of London exercised some authority over the West
India Islands. But-that was not the case; he had no such au-
thority.
It was intended, therefore, that there should be two
*Bishops, one to reside in Jamefca, and the other in the Leeward
Islands. It was also-proposca, that there should be one Arch,
eleacon with the Bishop in Jamaica, and two with that in the
Reward Islands, and that both Bishofashould be accompanird
in the outset with a sufficient number of Clergymen to :die
sorer the demands pressing'oh the Government. With respect
to Churches, it was not intended to take awe from the Gover-
nors MEE Co orlirerthe right- OrFesentation, an trio patronage
which they had hitherto enjoyed : but those presentations
should be first submitted to the Bishops, and afterwards to the
-King. Tile genera) state ,fef thi slave php6iittion was. .04.7-of
ignorance. They 'Were like cliildien, and must be taught as
Sall: s -It had beereaaid, some year% ago, by a Noble "Baron
opposite, (Lord Holland), that the slaves ahould be taught the
same religion as 'their owners and managers professed.—
:The observation was just: for the owners and managers
would attend more readily to. the instruction of slaves when
taught by persons of their own persuasion than by others. --Be-
aides, a community of worship was equally beneficial' to the
master as the slave, by uniting them both.before their-Maker,
and making the high and the primed feel the claims of the lowly
'to be treated as a fellow creature. He wished it at the same time
to be understood that there was no intention to interfere with
the exertions of the private- Clergy; or -to disturb whatever
fountain from which elle great truths of Revelation were flowing.
There"was another point to which he wished to advert, because
It would be found in the Papers before the House. He had
already said that one of the greatest difficultiee encountered by
`his Majesty's Ministers' had been an impression in - the minds
of the Planters that the measures recommended were to be
.followed by the immediate abolition of slavery. -An impres-
sion had also been produced on the slaves that his 111a-
jwere esty
actually had sent
free orde h
rs
stillthoegh for teir ei
kept in hancipationa
state o; and f
tthraldo m hat th ey
by their masters. 'lt had, therefore, been thought eXpedient
that a Proclamation should be issued coming directly from his
Majesty, and 6:flute:l to remove that impression. Such
. a Proclamation had been issued. It was very short, coming
'to the understandings of those for whom it was intended, and
would be found with the other Papers which he had just laid
before their Lordships. It was impossible to conclude without
adverting to the 'Petitions presehted to that House. The gene-
rality of them prayed that Slavery would be gradually abolish-
ed, and that a compensation should be given to those who
should lose by the change. If slavery were abolished, the Plant-
ers would undoubtedly be entitled to a compensation. They
had-a right to the services of their slaves and of their issue, and
if they were deprived of them, Parliament was bound in ho-
nour-and justice to provide a compensation for them. The
Noble Earl (Bathurst) then proceeded to read-a passage from
the Act of Parliament to which he had just referred, and argu-
ed from thence that to all intents and purposes the issue of
slaves were considered by the Legislature as much the pro-
perty of the planter as the slaves themselves. On this ground
also, then, he would further insist that the owners of slaves
were entitled to compensation for whatever losees they
Might sustain by the mitigation of slavery in our possessions.
There was another branch of the subject to which he would
next call the attention of their Lordships. It had been said
that the emancipation of slaves was only a transition from one
species oflabour to another. The best guide, however, to take
on this point with the view of regulating our policy in the West
Indies, was to ascertain what had occurred elsewhere ; and first,
he would allude to what had taken place in the island of Cey-
lon. There the slaves were in character, language, and habits,
the same as the rest of the inhabitants, and formed besides but
an inconsiderable part of the population. One of the means
adopted for the amelioration of the condition of those slaves 'was
(as we understood his Lordship), that whoever whistled to pur-
chase their labours from the slave owners should be- enabled
to do so, but no progress whateeer had been done in that mea-
sure. His Lordship then adverted to some other step which'
had beer. taken with a similar view itelB2l, but we could not
collect the drift of his observations except that the proceeding
was an interference frith the rights of die slave owners. H
came to the state of slavery in COlombia. The free pop u
lation of that country had been estimated at 3,600,000, and
the slaves at 900,000, but he (Lord Bathurst) believed tne
latter was much above the real amount of those in bondage
But Waving that point, he' was willing to concur in the
praise which had been bestowed upon the exertions made in
Colombia for the improvement of the slaves. One of the
regulations, however, went so far as to provide that tile
children of slaves., when they arrived at the age of eighteen,
should be instructed in trades and professions ; the purport of
which he certainly fbund it difficult to ascertain, and must
take leave to doubt whether such a provision would be appli-
cable in the British colonies. But when the facilities with which
slaves were manumitted it Colombia was mentioned, one most
important Consideration should be borne in mind. So early as
1810, the Royalists enlisted slaves in-their armies, on the condi-
tion ,that after a limited period. of . service they were to become
free. The other side had also resorted to .the same expedient,
and -this step, he was bold to say, did more towards emanci-
pating the slaves and ineeeporating them with the rest of the
inhabitants, than the most
oseingenious theorists or the greatest
political genius could have o
would novi‘trouble their Lordships with a few words respect-
ing the state oir. th -
'places where slavery had not been
but
bestowed
go
thenr a
whome
revolutionl ual Iy ai tb wo laii sns Is
se etl., frwe eserleo nfisttoehata.tion eedn
jboye foi
tr.e tih,er
evpieorussonsto
Dorala;4.o,
that island amounted annually the exportation of sugar from
to 160,000,000- of lbs. Did it at
present equal half—ail-Ye one-fourth-of that quantity ? On the
contrary, the free blacks of St. Domingo were not able to grow
enough for their own consumption. President Boyer had ac-
tually
prohibited the clandestine importation. of sugar, in
order to stimulate its languid cultivation at home, and to
prevent the successful competition of the produce of slaves
against that of free labourers. In the Island of Guada-
loupe
the ernancipati°n of the Negroes, dering the French
Revolution, had Dot been attended with better results. After
ten years spent in anarchy Buonaparte re-established slavery
in the island, and restored the confiscated estates to their
owners. But even this left the evil unredressed ; and a Air. '
Steele, who had ably
written on the subject, asserted that it
was useless to restore their estates to the Planters, unless the
slaves were also restored to their masters. The Noble Lord
next referredto Reports which had been published on the State
of Prisons in the United States of New : America, from which it ap-
geared that in N X
°rlt* and in one or two other places,
asylums were established for the. reception of emancipated
slaves, who had absolutely become - e a burden to the community.
These facts were not to be wondered at, when emancipation
had been precipitated, and the slave not gradually prepared
by education and moral discipline to hold the rank of a free-
man. In England the father held, out his own industry as
an example to his son, and all those social habits which
conduced to the prosperity and happiness of the nation were
transmitted from one generation to another. The untutored
negro, on the other hand, declared that he worked only be-
cause, if he refused, he was Certain of *being flogged, and
he told those who were free that they had no occasion to la-
bour. This led bins to the last topic on which he should de-
thin the House.; namely, the efl'ects of the constant discussion
which the condition of cur slaves had undergone. The ten-
dency of this practice was to break down all distinctions be-
tween masters and slaves. In the master an indifference was
thus generated to the future welfare of the slave, and in the
slave a spirit of insubordination and turbulence towards his
master. How could the latter be expected to grant indulg-
ences when the credit and the benefit of doing so was wrested
from him by the third parties, and how could the former be ex-
pected to labour with the view of obtaining hiS freedom, when
he was daily told that lie should shortly receive it without any
trouble whatever from another source. His Lordship then con-
cluded by- expressing his gratitude for the' attention with which
lie had been heard. and sat down amidst much cheering from
all parts of the House.

Lord HOLLAND said, he did not rise for the purpose of
discussing any of the topics adyerted to in the very satisfactory
speech of the Noble Secretary of State who had just addressed
their Lordships. He merely rose for two specific purposes,
the first to ask information on a point of Much importance :
the second was a subject personal to himself, and would
occupy but very little time. IVith respect to the first, he
wished to know whether the provisions contained in the Order
in Council which had been sent, and which provisions he
highly approved, extended. to all the ceded Islands, or were
confined to the Island of .Trinidad only ? Except as to time
he saw no objection whatever to the provisions then].
selves. The second point was, that the Noble Earl (Bathurst)
had alluded to an observation which he (Lord Holland)
made on a former occasion, and which the Noble Lord was
pleased to say he had Made with much vivacity. He now
begged to state, that he did not consider himself nailed down
by any thing which passed from him on the occasion alluded
to, and that he should always judge from circUmstances, and
exercise his right of framing his opinions accordingly. He
should, therefore, take another opportunity of canvassing.
the ecclesiastical arrangement which the Noble Earl proposed,
as well as any other .measure which might come before their
Lordships on this subject. At present, however, he should
only say, as a Member of that House, that the Noble Secretary
of State was entitled to the highest praise for the moderate, and
conciliating speech which he had just delivered. . '
Earl BATHURST, in explanation, observed that with re-
spect to St. Lucie means were taken to accommodate the orders
'which had been sent out to the peculiar circumstances of that
colony. To Berhice and Demerara, instructions had also been
forwarded, with (he view of obtaining the most correct infor-
frition on particular points, and as soon as advises were received

from those Islands, an Order in Council would be framed con-
formably for their regulations.
The House then adjourned.

e-
;,,- ' illn , 4Wre---•,0-F I & rots Ns.
E LLA IN - dus.
At a quarter' Wor r the ' Rod summoned the
hlouse. to the...llbUse-of.7Peers. II , tlfisereturn the SPEAKER
stated the Royal Assent to have been given by Commission to
the Austrian Loan Convention Bill, and other Bills.
frir J-A-M•WS-41L444.441-- presented a petition from certain
Inhabitants Householders of London, in favour of the Oil Gas
Bill.—Referred to a Committee.
The Hon. Baronet then brought in a Bill to enable the
Thames and Medway Company to receive a further sum of
money to discharge their debt.—Read a first. and ordered to be
read a second time.
Mr. ELLIS, of Dublin, obtained leave to bring in a Bill
to amend the Law for regulating the measuring of Coals in
Dublin. . . .
Leave was also given to bring in a Bill to amend the Law
relating to the 'Paving and Improvements of Dublin and its
environs.
' A petition was presented from the Growers of Wool at
Dumbarton, against the proposed change in the-Wool Laws.
Mr. BA RRETT presented a petition from certain Journey-
men Comb:linkers, against the Combination.Laws.—Ordered to
lie on the table.
Mr. W. DUNDAS presented a petition from persons con-
nected with the Silk- Trade -in Edinburgh, on the subject of
Drawbacks, claimed on account of stock-on hand—Ordered to
lie on the table.
Mr. Alderman BRIDGES presented a petition from certain
Licensed Victuallers of Lime-street Ward, praying the repeal
of the License Duty.—Ordered to lie on the table.
Colonel DAVIES presented a petition from the Tanners,
Curriers, Skinners, and Harness-makers of the City of Wor-
cester. against the Bill for altering the Law relating to Hides
and Skins.—Ordered to lie on the table.
Mr. HUME presented a petition from certain Boot and
Shoemakers of the City of London against the Combination
Laws:—Referred to the Committee 'on the Laws relating to
Artisans.
KENNINGTON GAS LIGHT BILL.
Mr. DENISON moved the second reading of the Kenning.
ton Gas Light Bill.
Sir F. OMMANNEY moved as an Amendment, that the
Bill should be read a second time on that day six months.
Mr. DENNISON complained of the course taken in moving
the Amendment just submitted to the House, without giving
notice of such an intention, and without offering one argument
in support of the proposition.
Mr. Alderman BRIDGES opposed the Bill, as he believed
the ground prcposed to be lighted was included in another
Bill which had passed, and this therefore could not be carried
without injury to the parties interested in the former.
Mr. ABERCROMBY thought the course taken very extra-
ordinary in refusing to let this Bill go to-a Committee, because
it was believed that might be injurious to the interests of ano-
ther Company. -
After a few words from Mr: :John Martin, Mr. Alderman
C. Smith, Sir J. Graham, and Mr. llansfield, the Amendment
was withdrawn, and the Bill referred to a Committee, which
was forthwith appointed.
PETITIONS AGAINST SLAVERY.
Sir WM. LEMON presented a petition for the Minister,
Churchwerdens, and Inhabitants of a parish in Cornwall, in
favour of the Abolition of Slavery.
Mr: MANSFIELD presented a petition from the town of
Leicester. against Slevery.—Ordered to be printed.
Mr. DAVENPORT presented a petition from the inhabi-
tants of Congleton against the continuance of Slavery.—Or-
dered to lie on the table.
Mr. MUNDAY presented a petition from the Inhabitants
of Ashfoed, in favour of an amelioration of Slavery.—Ordered
to be printed.
The lion. Gentleman also presented a petition from the In-
habitants of Cambridge on the same subjeet—Ordered to be
printed.
Petitions were also presented on the same subject from Mar-
ket Harborough, Fakenham, the Town of St. Mawes, Chob-
ham in Surrey ; from the Town and neighbourhood of Shrews_
Miry, Ripon, n- Yorkshire, Walthamstow, Ellani in Fifeshire,
.Rielemensworth in Hertfordshire, the Town and Port of Sand-
wich, Riegate, Leek in Staffordshire, Henley, Sheldon, Bath,
e,YEeosi N
vil,, Kidderminster, Kettering in Northampton-
shire, Krapstone,E Rand whichpmreasneyntoetdherppetliateeiosn,sfronelm
i
were
ordered
to lie on the table.
Chelmsford, '
Fr3olorm.
w
Wickham, Stebbing, Felstead, Wake, Ileadingbam, Mather-
field, Coggleshall, Braintree, Saffron Walden, and fourteen
other places, all numerously and respectably signed. The
Petitioners expressed themselves much gratified by the steps
taken by this House with respect to the Slave Trade last year,
and hoped the same course would be continued in this. They
wished to see slavery totally aboliShed, but were of opinion,
and in this lie cordially agreed with them, that this great debt
to humanity, ought to be paid at the risk and expence of the
country at large. The petitions (twenty-five in number), were
ordered to be printed:
Mr. KE NiN .EDY presented eight petitions from Darns Ure,
and other places, in Yorkshire, on the same subject —Ordered
to lie on the table.
Similar petitions were presented from Newport Pagnell, in
Buckinghamshire ; from Cheltenham, Dursley, Wayland in
Suffolk, Sedgetield, Unfold, and several other places in the
county of Durham ; from Croydon in Surrey, from various
places in the county of Devon, from Carlile and Sudbury.---
They 'were severally ordered to lie on the table.
Mr. W. COURTENAY had a petition to present, more
numerously signed than any be had previously presented, from
the inhabitants of Exeter. They expressed much satisfaction
at the steps taken by the House last year, and hoped they
would now be followed up, and that the resolutions then passed
would nut be allowed to remain as mere waste paper. They
hoped measures would be taken which Would eventually bring
about the consummation they desired—the total abolition of
..slavery.—Ordered to lie on the table.
Other petitions in favour of the abolition or amelioration of
slavery were presented from Market Lavington, Rochester,
Chatham, Grampound, the Isle of Sheppy, and other places,
the names of which could not be distinctly heard from the noise
which prevailed. They were severally read, and ordered to
lie on the table.
CONSOLIDATION OF STATUTES.
Dr. LUSHINGTON said it would not be necessary for him
to occupy the House more than a very few minutes. The sub-
ject to which he would call their attention was one of great
importance, and if he should now go into the details of the plan
whith he would suggest if the Committee were granted, it
would be necessary for him to speak at considerable length.
lie, however, knew the House was impatient to hear the state.
ment of the Right Hon. Gentleman ; and as he understood no
opposition was to be offered to his motion, lie would not tres-
pass on diem now further than briefly to state his object. He
was about to move for the appointment of a Committee, to
consider of consolidating the Criminal Code. Since Magna
Charta was granted, a vast number of laws had been enacted.
It had never been attempted to consolidate these, and great
confusion was in consequence experienced. lie would not now
go into the abuses which demanded their attention, nor into the
means by which lie proposed to redress them. But it was right
the house should know the extent to which he proposed to go,
and the principles ' on Which he would act. He proposed, in
the first instance, to lay before the Committee the Criminal
Code, such as it was, and then suggest the expediency of put-
ting all the laws on each offence into separate statutes. He
would, for instance, put all the laws relating to forgery into one
statute, and all those against larceny into another. At present
he should not propose to alter the punishment or the offence.—
By bringing the laws thus under the consideration of a Com-
mittee, he expected their defects would be seen, and very de-
fective he thought they would be found, so much so that when
this was brought before the House he thought every one would
see the necessity which existed for effecting a change. He
however meant to attempt no alternation, but when lie brought
the subject expressly before the House. Under the form of
consolidation lie should not seek to effect any alteration. He
moved that a Committee be appointed to consider of the expe-
diency of consolidating and amending the Criminal Laws.
Mr. JOHN SMITH seconded the motion. He thought
there ought to be no opposition to this measure, which would
give great, satisfaction to many in the House, and to thousands
outofit
The motion was agreed to, and the Committee forthwith ap-
pointed.
LEATHER TRADE.
• Mr. CALCRAFT, in consequence of an alarm which had
been excited in the Leather Trade, wished to ask the Chancel-
lor of the Exchequer a question. He wished to know if it were
the intention of Government to admit wrought leather from
France, on paying a duty of 30 per cent., without taking off
the restrictions or duty now imposed upon the Leather Trade
' in this country ?
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said it had
been part of his plan to remove the Duty heretofore paid on
Some of the articles imported. The Hon. Gentleman must
ellow that many were now admitted on paying a duty of 75 per
cent. He intended to extend the permission to import. If,
however, wrought goods should be admitted with a duty of 30
per cent., the duty and restrictions on the Leather Trade of
this country would be mitigated.
GAME LAWS.
On the motion of Mr S. WORTLEY, the House resolved
itself into a Committee on the Game LaWs7 Amendment Bill.
The clauses were agreed to pro forma, the House resumed, the

Report was received, and ordered to be taken into further con-
sideration on Monday, and the Bill to be printed.
SILK TRADE. •
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER thought he
might, perhaps, be allowed to move that the House should re-
solve itself into a Committee on the Acts relating to the Silk
Trade to rectify an error in the Resolutions which had passed'
The Right Hon. Gentleman having moved accordingly, the
House resolved itself into a Committee.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER then recited
the Resolution which had been come to respecting the Draw-
backs on Stock on hand. An allowance of 10 percent. had been
made on account of the waste of raw silk incurred to bring it to
a certain state. It however seemed hard, that those who had
bought the waste silk of the throwster, should not be allowed
a drawback on their stock on hand, )►et to allow this in addition
to the previous allowance would be to pay double, and to give
one or the other that to which he-had no right. He therefore
moved to limit the drawback to be allowed on organzine silk
so as to meet this objection.
Mr. ELLICE inquiredif it were intended to allow drawbacks
on every species of Silk.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said, Govern-
ment had gone to the utmost possible length in this, and he
could not advise that they should go one step further.
The Resolution moved by the Right Hon. Gentleman was
agreed to, the House resumed, and the Report was ordered to
be received to-morrow.

The Committee on the Silk Trade Bill was postponed till
Thursday.
The Annual Duties Bill was read a third time and passed.
On the motion of the CHANCELLOR of the ExcßEQuEte,
it was ordered that the House should, on Thursday, resolve
itself into a Committee on the Irish Union Duties Acts, for the
repeal of which he intended to move.—(Hear !)
Lord ALTHORP postponed the Committee on the County
Courts Bill till Thurday. .
COMPENSATION TO LAW-OFFICERS._
The ATTORNEY-GENERAL moved that the House
should, on Thursday, go into a Committee to consider of the
compensation proper to be granted to certain Officers of the
Court of King's Bench, Court of Common Pleas, and Great
Court of Sessions in Wales, who would lose their situations on
the passing of the Bill which had been introduced by a NOW
Lord.

Mr. ABEBCROMBY thought it would be better to let tb6
Bill pass before a motion like this were carried.
The ATTORNEY-GENERAL said the course which be'
proposed was that which had been usual to be taken on similar
occasions.

Mr. HUME wished the subject to be referred to a Select
Committee.

ATTORNEY-GENERAL said the course which he
now recommended was the same which had.been taken in 1803.
Mr. A BERCROMBY objected to the motion, as it pledged
the House to the principle of giving compenSation, whatever
the merits of the case- might be, and when they got into the.
Committee, they would be told that the amount of compensa-
tion was all that remained for them to debate.
After a few words from the Attorney-and Solicitor-General
in support of the motion, __ _

A 1;. HIJSKISSON contended the House, by the resolution
now moved, would not be pledged to compensation, but
merely to consider whether or not compensation should be
granted.
The SPEAKER said the House could not be pledged to
compensation till the subject had been before a Committee•
The present question was not whether the House should assent
to such a proposition, but whether they would entertain it it!
a Committee on a future day. Before they could stand pledged
on this subject two conditions must be complied with, the con-
sent of the Crown must be obtained, and the sanction of
Committee.

Sir J. NEWPORT proposed to remote all doubt that the
Resolution should be amended so that it should stand thus, "tO
consider how far it might be expedient to grant any and whit:
compensation."
Mr. HUME again contended that the first step ought to be
that which he had recommended—the sending of the question►
to a Committee up stairs.
Lord ALTHORP said, that before it was referred to
Committee up, stairs to say who were entitled to compensa-
tion, it was for the House to decide whether any body Iva"
entitled to it or not. lie was of opinion that no compensation
at all should be granted.
The ATTORNEY-GENERAL said, he wished to confer
compensation upon those Officers in whose emoluments there
would necessarily be a diminution in consequence of the opera'
tion, of the Noble Lord's Bill.

After a few remarks from the SOLICITOR-GENERAL, the
motion as amended was agreed to.
NEGRO SLAVERY.
Mr. Secretary CANNING appeared at the. Bar with certain,
Papers, which he stated to be Documents that, by command 01
his Majesty, he presented to the House as explanatory of the--
measures adopted by his Majesty's Government, for arneliont"
ing the condition of the Slave Population in the West Indies.,
The Papers having been ordered to lie upon the table, and
to be printed,

illr:Secretary CANNING rose and said, that in the dis-
charge of his duty to the. House that day, it was his intention. to
comprise within a short view, the measures adopted and the
course pursued by his Majesty's Govcrnment, in consonance
with the resolutions which that House put forward at its last
meeting, united with another subject of a kindred nature,
namely, the practice which, in an early age, supplied the po-
pulation to whom these resolutions referred. He should post'
pone to the latter part that branch of his statement, it being
one on which he anticipated the entire concurrence of the
House. He should therefore address himself more immediately
to that part of the subject to which he first alluded, and with A
view to such a course, he moved that the Clerk should read
the resolutions adopted by the House last year.
The Clerk read the Resolutions as follow :

" Ist. That it is expedient to adopt efficient and decisive
measures for ameliorating the condition of the slave popula-
tion of his Majesty's Colonies.
" 2d. That in their determination to persevere in the timely,
judicious, and temperate enforcement of such measures, this
House will look forward to the gradual and progressive improve-
ment in the condition of that population, such as will prepare
them for a participation in the civil rights and privileges en-
joyed by the other classes of his Majesty's subjects.
6 3d. That this House is anxious to accomplish such change
at the earliest period consistent with the well-being of the slave
themselves, the safety of the colonies, and a fair and equable
regard to the rights of property involved."
Mr. CANNING resumed—lt was his desire that the
House should here present to its mind the text and mea
ing of these resolutions ; because it was those resolutions,
and not any general principles or wide spread theory, which
they had taken for their rule of conduct, and by theta
they were desirous that their conduct should ,be judged.
Undoubtedly there never was a subject, even if a person
looked upon it with the eye of a speculator, much more
with the practical views of a man who had to deal with
its difficulties that must be approached with so much awe'
To speak of its magnitude as compared with any other sub-
ject, would give a faint idea of its extent and difficulty.
Difficulties, which the more he probed it, with a view to lesser,
the evil, the thicker he found them rising at every moment,
But formidable as was the present state of the case, it was less
so than last year. Then they had to encounter extravagance
of the most opposite kind. They had to grapple with theories
which would not suffer an obstacle to stand in the way of their
accomplishment, and prejudices which opposed their pre;
gress at every step. What had been done last year ha"
considerably narrowed the ground. He was sure he should
be stating truly what was the real object of their Resolutions,
if he said that, the collective sense of Parliament spoke
in a tone of admonition as to the dreadful nature of the o'o
with which they had to contend, if he said it told them
that they were to have regard to all those interests which time,
the sanction of the Legislature, inheritance of property, and
all the other ramifications of society had established. They
were not to enter into the contest by sweeping all away before
them, in order to make a clear stage for theory to have its trial.-
He was not misrepresenting the House of Commons when be
said that there was no general feeling in favour of immediate
emancipation. They looked rather to the extinction of slavery
by an amelioration of the condition of the slaves, and not hi
a proclamation of freedom thrown down among them, for the
purpose of a scramble. They were not only to consider her
much possible good might be done, but how it might be den:
with the least possible evil.—(Hear, hear !)—He thought he Wt.
not misrepresenting the general sense of the House when ii"
said that there was any thing but a desire to act in a men"
ner that could be deemed hostile by those whose lot had been,
cast in regions subject to the British Crown, and entitled r;
the privileges and rights of the British Constitution, but vr,"
had the misibrtune to be connected with those evils for wh1,,11
one must wish to see a remedy whenever it could be sa'e;
applied. It was the duty of Parliament, while with a steady
hand they guided the propress of amelioration in the Shave'
not to drive the ploughshare through the property and 111'0
of those who had been connected with them by circumstances'
over which they had no controul. These were the princiyl7e
which had actuated the conduct of the Government, and by the'
principles they wished their conduct to be judged. If there were
those who thought more might be done, it would be for them ,o
make their propositions to Parliament. But he thought the
House would be satisfied that these were the true and safe prin-
ciples which wisdom dictated, and that they had been acted ncel
in the mode and in the degree which time and opportunity ho*
hitherto allowed. In all the embarrassments by which the
subject was surrounded, it was not the least,, that in addressing ,
himself to it, there was not an expression or a word which he
Could use that might not be seized by the one party or the

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°that', either to be. employed for their ownejurposes, or to be
eceisiderect in the light of a personal offence. • In the outset he
must declare that if there,was any impartiality in his nature, he
had studied to bring it into the consideration of this question.—
undoubtedly, if he had any partiality at alle it was in favour
of abolition. He had the honour of being an humble sup-
-Irter of that cause upon its early agitation, and down to its
numPh.
hg
But then there was a definite object, and he never
7ttended. the prosect to the present subject. If he had brout
orward the original question lie should not have conceived his
eConduct upon the present one at all pledgedor involved by that
ta: The great question of abolition was always treated ex-
ivelyeof the situation of the West India Colonies. They
might all feel that warmth of heart which dictated their
speeches upon the former occasions, but he trusted that every
Plan would pause before he suffered those feelings to carry him
tato the Wider subject. God forbid that he should advocate
whether ermanent incurable slavery. But if any man asked him
he was for perpetual slavery or instant emancipation,
he knew not whether he should not prefer remaining as they
Were ;_..so dreadful did the inevitable consequences appear to
him
But the tat he shuddered at the responsibility they would bring.
y were net reduced to this choice. They had an in-
termediate debateable ground, upon which he proposed to
take his stand. He would look to emancipation, not when
the individual slave should be set free, but when the station of
a slave should expire. All their experience shewed them that
man must he released from a state of slavery by slow and
ant esradation—by relaxing power, and by consenting legise
Ptature. The mind must he prepared by degrees for a state of
leedom, and brought to that state of discipline in which the
11'ht of reason would render unnecessary the coercion of autho-
rity, The papers which he had presented to the House con-
t'sted partly of Reports from the West India Colonies, and
l'''tlY of the scheme which the Government had devised for
csrcrying into execution in one of the Colonies their mode of
eeeerations. The first decision he should come to by and bye,
t.t that on which he should first speak would shew what the
'eevernment had been able to do in furtherance of their object.
rrhe House would be aware that the West India Colonies were
r divided into two classes, the one being governed by the Crown,
1 Without any Legislative Assemblies, the other having Legislative
1 Assemblies which ruled in miniature, after the example of the
Mother country, and were not a little jealous of the privileges so
possessed. In certain resolutions which were passed by the NestQum, body in this country last year, it was earnestly recom-
Mended that the Government would institute one colony where
there should be an undoubted trial of such experiments as were
SuPPosed fitted to ameliorate the condition of the negro slaves.
They also expressed, their hope that if such a plan were once
found to succeed, it would be generally adopted in other colo-
hies. The islands selected for this purpose were, Trinidad,
't. Lucie, and the colony of Demerara. Trinidad had been a
long time in his Majesty's possession, and it was gratifying to
himself to recollect that 20 years ago, when the
.peace then
concluded, confirmed to this country the possession of that
' !eland, he (Mr. Secretary Canning) was the means of prevent.
tag it from being brought into the same state as our other
Colonies, and left it to be the spot where the amelioration
of the negro's lot was to be commenced. The motion which
lie made at that time was certainly not directed to that ob-
ject. But he put it forward in reference to the question on
the abolition of the Slave Trade, and with the little influence
P°.l:esaed by so humble an indivual as himself, it was not sur-
liatrineidievectthoaft the motion was unsuccessful. It had, however,
calling the attention of the' House to the subject,
A, ernanY members, among whom was the Hon. Gentleman the
togi nt for the West India interests, whose loss they had now
•wa.a;,,atellt., brought forward motions connected with it. It
"1 consequence of this that the island of Trinidad was in
a state which became favourable to the experiment which
sl.as intended to be made. He would now state shortly, the
different arrangements proposed to be introduced, and he
Would request the House, as he proceeded, to compare what
he new said, with what he stated in the debate of last year, as to
the most desirable objects to be obtained for ameliorating the
condition of the slaves. First it had been enjoined by an Order
la Council, that the practice so unseemly and so shocking to
the feelings, namely, the use of the whip, as an instrument of
i female chastisement
should be entirely abolished. But it was
U
to say that such a resolution was also recognised by the
West India Body at their meeting last year, and that they had
"tered heartily, into the views of Government on this subject.
The nest Order in Council abolished the use of the whip, as a
sthnulus to labour. This would prevent that wanton and de-
gradating exercise of power, and redeem them from that indis-
criminate treatment which had heretofore been inflicted on them
al bra cattle. The whip was not to be used summarily, nor dis-
P4ayed as a symbol of authority or coercion. Its use as a punish-
-o,44eat after mitigation of offences committed was quite a different
F 4.4 ; but even with that distinction whipping in the case of
Foleilseshedwas to
'be totally abolished. For the male it was
as a stimulus to labour but unnder certain restric-
tons it was retained as a punishment. These regulations raised
the class from the state of the brute to that of the human being.
. The next subject in importance, or rather the first in import..
benefit but the next in order, was that alone from which all human
could arise the institution of religious worship. It was
intended to extend' the Ecclesiastical establishments in the Co-
t' lonies,,,for, without any fault attaching to that body, it had
hitherto been considered that the Whites alone were the objects
of the care of the Church. Extending the religious establish-
, //lents of the Colonies, they would give the Church of England
,Precedence and the first consideration, but united with others,
i Melee had served well in the cause. With Divine Worship
Weald be combined religious instruction, and that was the
Principle which would render the slave capable of receiving
that amelioration of his condition which they were all solici-
taxis to afford. Here again he must do justice to ithe West
Indian body to whom he had before alluded, who had manifest-
ed every dispo
who had actually sition to extend those advanges through the
Colonies, and communicated them to more
than one. He next came to that institution which religion es-
pecially sanctioned. It was intended to order that every en..
epuragement should be given to marriage among the slaves.
was to be provided, that in all future sales care should be
taken not to separate families. Thehusband should not be se-
Parated from his wife. The reputed husband should not be se-
Aerated from the reputed wife, anti the parent should not be se-
its parated from the child. The property of the negro was to have
security. That which had hitherto been respected as the
,property Qf the negro by custom only, should now be his by
J.:gm. Next, after the possession of property, came the assur-
innsetltef its
safety,savings and to effect this object it was intended to
publiucten Banks, so that besides the law, the eye of
bused °°ri would secure the property of the slave from
fused into molested,th When, by such measures, new ideas were in-
fer improvedebnegr° • d doubt his nature would
's min , no be so
difficulty in yrntivi.ense of moral duty, that there would be no
ad
certain restrict in his evidence i Justice,
'llla Court of un-
der•
He ca-
todid not mean to say, that the
pacity or condition of eve negro w .
be entrusted with this .3' would render him at once fit
fones,ehe mind of a child,li:ll: , I right. According to our own
expanded, was not con-
sidered equal to the discharge o€ rki:sacred duty, and some
Precautionary questions were put, to ascertain if the nature of
the 'obligation were fully understood. So it would be wrong to
eeceive the testimony of an uneducated negro in a Court of
of
without some inquiry as to his ideas of the character
1 the duty he was about to perform. It was therefore in-
tended,_ that those under whose instruction and care the ne-
F_°el were placed should be called upon to certify, not for
7.e?! Particular purpose, or any particular case, but to certify
inl ne_rallY, that the individual had made such advancement
moral and religious knowledge, as qualified him thus to con-
c"onu..ii.lF to the administration of justice. They would be thus
statuting, as it were, an elevated class, which would be a c0n-
%,1.?.s stimulus to the exertions of the rest, by operating on that
at:J.llg of all human actions, ambition. It was but Just here
eu' to observe, that under more or less restriction the evi.
;:ti__v of some negroes was already received in criminal cases
„,. 4! eral of the islands. They had also abolished the Sunday
:',Lare ket and the Sunday toil in some of those Colonies at
;" , recommendation of that respectable body to which he
Id before alluded. They also recommended such facilities
.:, be afforded for the manumission of slaves, as to do away
itili_the unwillingness which many felt to encounter the diffi-
'llea teea at
'present the subject of complaint. In some Colo-
',
exe_s had been taken away, and other obstacles removed.—
Pushed _ 9rder of Council the question of manumission was sued further, for it dietinctly prescribed—and in that it went
itutYondo
acquired
wishes of the West Indies—it prescribed that if
tieesr. tproperty under certain guards and regula-
, '451 he Should be entitled to purchase freedom for himself,
freedom for his w.ife, or freedom for his child. With respect
their freedom
to this last provis on, which gave men the power to purchase
, hei knew there was great difference of opinion ;
but the practice was not altogether unknown, it recurred in
St. Kitt's, and b nsage it was also known in Trinidad. He
should be disposed
rejected
could be ' to say that no amelioration of the slaves
ceivable how mucahs 7
of success could impracticable, of which a solitary instance
be found in the Colonies. It
.was incon-
ferent amelioratio s gcn3
ral society. might be done by bringing the dif-
Thi n-
or
This, however,n classes to bear upon one gene-
found it practicable was all that the Government
tia applied to the to do at present. They abolished the whip
asa stimulus female altogether. They abolished the whip
as 4
~..___
.8. to labour, and put great restraint upon its use
eieeXual tynent, as applied,to the males. They gave to the
ship 7 vos religious
amon
,instruction and encouraged religious wor-
fa • • • gst tnem • and kept
truhes to th * They recommended marriage,
betto ge er. Property was secured to them by law, and a course of
admitted accumulation. The elidence of slaves was to
courao under certain regulations. And lastly, to en-
an e manumission they gave the power of self-purchaee to
to )I;reldiVidual for himself and k' d - ow
T 1 stern was first
' -e adopted • T • in red. The sy
result in rinidad, and such he hoped would be the
, that it would soon be extended to the other Colonies.

He was perfectly aware that upon: the last point, relative to-
the purchase of freedom, he went beyond what some Gentle=
men wished ; .but there were others ready to go along way.
farther. He'knew that a Hon. Gentleman had gone so much
farther as to ,wish. to declare emancipation of the whole race.
He heard with painful alarm the declaration of such opinions.
He understood the Hon. Gentleman to propose, that after a
certain period every negro would be born free. But accord-
ing to all his experience and observation it -would, be contrary
to the spirit of legislation to enact the liberty of a rising gene-
ration, leaving the existing race only to partake in. the ac van:.
tages of amelioration. Such a course would be pregnant with
the most fearful evils. The Hon. Centleman was surely not
prepared to expect the slave to. look quietly on his children
who were free, when there was no other moral difference be-
tween them. And to let in the full light of freedom upon the
eyes .of the slave, when they scarcely had unsealed his bon-
dage; could not but produce effects the most disastrous and
terrible. Liberty so placed before his eyes, he would regard
as the intellect of an infant viewed the object of its desire,
without the possibility of calculating the distance which sepa-
rated him from it. Was there not something to be appre-
hended in telling the slave that they would extend to his child
that for which he must labour and toil in vain ? Surely it was
a wiser, a better, a more natural course, to make the child
find the source of his, freedom in the parent. By the course
they proposed, amelioration would come to all equally, and
form the ground of eventual emancipation. It would be a.
better and safer blessing when conferred under the operation of
these circumstances, than if created by a sudden enactment.
They. must deal with a negro as with an infant, not a brute ;
as with infants of a larger growth.. Before he was matur-
ed and chastened in his moral duties, he must not be turned
loose in all the vigour and wildness of passion. To adopt
such a course would be like that child of genius, who, accord-
ing to a modern romance, contrived to make a living man, and
to endow him with form and action; but not having infused
into his mind the intellectual power of distinguishing right and
wrong, he found that he had created a giant to turn upon him-
self, and to become his destroyer.—(Cheers.)—lt was therefore
his desire to go gradually, because he would go safely to his
work. There were some who went beyond him in enthu-
siasm, and said that this plan would take time. Time !
To be sure it would. To be sure it ought. Time ! What was
it that they were struggling with A thing grown up in a few
years ? No ; it was the growth of centuries—nay, of tens of
centuries, if not co-eval with the deluge. And was this a
subject requiring so little time that they.in the fullness, of their
nascent legislation—for be it recollected that this had been
a country centuries before they thought of meddling with it.
Should they think of managing with a blow this vast system
which had endured through all ages ?—(Cheers.)—Their duty
was to watch with an anxious and a jealous eye over the silent
' progress of a sure and gradual change, until they arrived at
the consunimation of their hopes. This brought him to another
part of the subject. He had mentioned. one colony as the
scene of this experiment, but it would be tried with modifi-
cations at Saint Lucie. They had not the same materials to
work upon, as in Trinidad they had the Spanish Law, and
in Saint Lucie, the French. It would be next extended to
Demerara, where it would have been begun, but for some
recent events, with which the House was acquainted. But
he should be asked how these measures would be received by
the Colonies ; and he might as well answer the question
before-hand. It might be suggested that after the resolution
of Parliament, the Colonial Legislators might object. If upon
subject it were possible to feel any thing like irritation, either
on the part. of the Government, or of the HouSe, or even of
the humble person who then addressed them, there might
he -no lack. of justification in what had occurred, and there
might even be ground for vigorous coercion. But lie should
undertake no such thing.—(hear, hear, hear!)—ln what had
passed he saw much to condemn, much to lament, something to
excuse, and nothing to punish. He saw very well that nothing
was easier than to fall into a very foolish contest, to commence
a very ridiculous struggle ; and if there was any purity of
strength between the contending powers, nothing was snore
probable than that a quarrel would have ensued. It was very
easy to see that this Legislative Assembly might soon be wound
up to a high pitch of exasperated majesty.—(A
But he did not think- it prudent to take any , steps whatever
in reference to their offended dignity. There were three
courses which could be adopted towards them, if necessity
required. The first was force. With force they could crush
them to atoms. The next course was , that of making
legislative enactments and fiscal 'regulations, which would
stop their commerce. The. other was the silent course of
admonition and forbearance. lie hoped the first would never
be rendered necessar. Certainly he would never allow any
state of things arising out of this question,. to make it so
with regard to the question of the transcendental powers of
Parliament over every part of the British Empire; lie trusted
that would be kept back as much as possible in the penetralia
of the Constitution, and only brought forward to stay the
plague ; not brought into disrepute by its familiar employment
on every little occasion of petty contempt or misrepresentation.
He believed that nothing more would be necessary than to read
the Gazette containing the Order in Council to put these Gen-
tlemen of the Legislative Assembly into a towering fury.--(A
tgl aeerutlgyi 'nip;
ro e
luegtsl
siotrt
yNhveaoysf
awo fecrnoeno,tueasnsted..
lollt:4lwicaanrs
compared
detic, eoimpossibleinrsiwd ee
weakness
odnrchs:oh‘tveomtuito
e-
to the honlurwoelietlies
omnipotence of those with whom
Qofu secttohseesegoo,en t e
Gentlemen
o eprreesntotccoomnpnoinngeroev..tuCttiuw.s.'
speeches
he would not admit them anxioustrif to contend,
olfflain"yas‘ hington, to prepare themselves for deeds of patriotism,
he advised them to lay all aside, and think no more of being
patriots. He positively would give them nothing to combat.
' It should be a question for the Colonies alone ; an insurrection
for the liberty of the whip, and a contest for the privilege of
using it. He would give DO cause for their rage, and if they
saw they were to have no fuel for their patriotic fire it would
soon go out. When they found that the next year passed away
and no Commissioner was sent out to controul them, they would.
sink into the calm of reason, and he was not without hopes
that they would come to adopt the system which was now to be
applied to the other colonies. With Trinidad on the one hand
and Demerara and St. Lucie on the other, they would not, he
though, shut their eyes to the advantages which were to be
expected in those colonies from the introduction of such ame-
liorations. As far as religious instruction went, England was
ready to extend it to Jamaica as to any other places, inde-
pendent of its connection with the proposed system. It was
at present in contemplation that one Episcopal See should be
established at Jamaica, and another at the Leeward Islands,
and this would not be accompanied with any demand upon
their finances. lie might here say, that upon a calculation of
the expence of those establishments for the first two years, it
could be defrayed out of the interest of a sum reserved by
his Right honourable Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer
to be appropriated to the erecting of churches in this coun-
try. There was already a grant for the same purpose not
yet expended, and the winding up of the accounts would
extend over two years, so that the interest of the last sum
could be applied to the purpose lie had mentioned during that
period. The whole of the sum would not then be employed at
once, and during its gradual application to the object in view,
there would be something afforded towards supporting the co.
lonial establishments. There was another fund also which he
had reason to hope might be rendered available to the same
purpose. 'Without being able to announce any decided act,
he believed there was a disposition in another quarter to con-
sent to an arrangement by which the Crown would tie up
its hands froin granting any further pension upon the Four
and Half per Cent. Duties, until this object was provided for
out of such funds. And now being more desirous of putting
the House in possession of the course of conduct intended to
be pursued by his Majesty's Governinent, he should defereany
observations upon the general state of the slave population.—
He only conjured Gentlemen on the one side by the natural
interests and ties which connected them with the subject not to
provoke censure by violence; and those who had made the
other view of the question dearer to them by feeling than any in-
terest could make it, not to open a contest by indulging in those
exaggerated pictures, which only served to irritate on all sides,
without a chance of producing benefit to any. It would only
be putting in jeopardy what had already been achieved, and
stopping a progress which had been substantially, and, as he
thought, well begun. When they argued upon the question and
all its bearings, they must remember that in their minds rankled
none of the deep fellings which seemed to be immoveable in the
breasts of the different colours when living together in the
same community. They should recollect that their debate
would be read elsewhere, and think of the dissensions which it
might awaken .and keep up. Above all, he hoped that a restraint
would be put upon that enthusiastic eloquence which could lead
to no practical good upon this individual question, however
potent its effect upon some other occasions. Every man came
into the House fettered with too many ties and interests to
allow any exaggerated scope of statement or enthusiasm to pro-
duce the results which sometimes followed its employment.
Such a course could not affect a single vote, or influence a soli-
tary opinion. But beyond all, it could never persuade the House
to extend sudden and uncontroulled liberty to an immense
population which had been in no degree prepared to receive
it. That liberty could not he conveyed to them by the sound
of some great name, or the mention of an eminent virtue. It
must be in their own conduct that they would find the enjoy-
ment of liberty ; and it would be extended to them, as they
acquired the means of knowing its value, and of using it for
their own advantage. The House must recollect that it was
through the masters of these slaves, their emancipation must
eventually be-extended, and that they,must be the instruments
of all amelioration and improvement. Let Gentlemen therefore
look to the consequence of setting the two classes in hatred to
each other. If any Hon. Member could suggest propositions
better calculated to attain the end so much desired; he was

pedectly,willing to listen to.them. ,-But-the only chance of
arriving at it with safety, as far as. he was at present sd-
vised, consisted in temperate discussion, calm investigation
and a gradual amelioration of the moral condition of the slave.
In,connection with the state of a large portion of our fellow-
creatures, it was not irrevelant to consider that trade which
brought them into their unfortunate condition. As regarded this
country, he was perfectly convinced, that trade was really
abolished. There were some who thought otherwise ; but all
the attention and inquiry which he 'could _give to the subject
convinced him that in the British West Indies, the prohibition
was effectual. But true it was, the trade prevailed to an enor-
mous extent among some other nations. True it was that
attempts had been made to induce other Powers to abolish
it, which had hitherto proved unsuccessful. "Among the mea-
sures proposed to be resorted to was that of making every per-
son dealing in slaves obnoxious, not only to be captured by
vessels of his own nation, but by those of others; in other
words, to make the traffic piracy in the consideration of the
law. Some mistakes with regard to these negociations• had
gone abroad. It was thought that at the Congress of Vienna,
an unsuccessful attempt had been made to erect the slave-
trade into a piratical offence. But he need not say that the
assembled PoWers could make no such law. We should be
the last country to allow the right of any five Sovereigns, or
any other persons to make a law which should be binding on
States that were not present, or did not give their consent.—
The course to be adopted, was that of getting all countries to
declare the law for themselves. They had proposed to America
and France a mutual right of search under certain fixed regu-
lations. But the extreme jealousy of maritime rights, and the
difficulties to which they gave rise, always stood in the way of
a successful issue. He was happy to say, however, that within
a few hours a treaty had arrived, signed by hisßight Hon.
Friend, an Hon. Relation of his, and the Minister of the United
States, by which a mutual agreement was come to for effect-
ing this so long a desired object. In furtherance of this treaty
he should have to move for leave to bring in a Bill to change
the character of the Slave Trade,' and to render it piracy here
as it was already in America; which, when passed, would
enable the natives of both countries to act against slave traders
as pirates—not each against the pirates of each, but each
against the other. •So that an American might capture a Bri-
tish slave ship (which if there was one be hoped in God they
would do), and we might make prize of an American slaVer.—
Of course the proper Jealousy of maritime rights had occa-
' sioned certain dignities and forms to be preserved in the exer-
cise of this mutual right of search, and it was exclusively
limited to this particular case. Although the right of cap-
ture was allowed on each side, yet justice was to be admi-
nistered by the country to which the pirate belonged. If an
American captured a British slave ship, she niust be sent into
a British port_ for adjudication. The benefits of this treaty
he trusted would not stop here. If the two first Maritime
powers in the world submitted to a regulated search for the
accomplishment of this object, he thought they might go with
no small power and grace to ask a similar compliance at the
hands of a third party. The Right Hon. Gentleman concluded
amidst the cheers of the House, by moving for leave to bring
iii a Bill for the mere effectu.ll Suppression of the African
Slave Trade.

Mr. F. BUXTON said, he had heard the statement of the
Right Hon. Gentleman with mortification and with keen disap-
pointment. lie contended that the resolutions which the House
carried in the last Session pledged them to a stronger course,
and referred to the condition of the whole. negro population__
not to a small portion limited to the Colony of Trinidad.—
If by amelioration in the'condition of all the slaves of all the
colonies were meant only one colony, he for one must protest
against that application of the promise formerly held out.—
And in the same tone must he speak of the apparent intention
to leave that amelioration to be wrought in some undefined
period, at the end of which, probably, no one now living would
be alive, which he could only infer from the declaration of the
Right lion. Gentleman (31r. Secretary Canning); that the ex-
tinction of slavery could only lie obtained through the opera-
tion of slow and silent causes, the assistance of gradual mea-
sures, and the all-powerful, and, above all; prompt intcrven-
tionin answer to that cheer, thaitiii:the,y
of the light of reason ! —(Cheers from different parts of the
House.)—He should say
intended to leave the pledge wh,cohu
I hade to be mrieWcieenbl?..rd by thei-
jesty's Government and that
only—(Hear,. hear!)—it would require
ten centuries was accomplished • and under such cir-
cumstances, drreetahistoowsne who with him had 9 taken in hand this
great eboatuynbld feel themselves no longer parties to that
pledge.
ee
da
gn
es dictated
~
vhwabes made to 700,000 slaves, and if one iota of it
were abandoned, they should not consider themselves parties
to one tittle of it. In adverting to the Order in Council re-
lating to this subject, notwithstanding the differences that
might exist between him and those from whom that Order
proceeded, he was willing to admit that there was nothing to
induce him to withhold his acknowledgments for it, and '
to confess that as far as it had gone it was unobjectionable.,
at the same time he must accompany this admission by a de-
claration that it had not gone far enough. The first point in
the Right Hon. Gentleman's speech to which he should refer
was what he had said with respect to the abolition of the cart
propriety of this
the
he entirely concurred withthat Right Hon.' Gentleman, for
of
_society
what could be the statein which it was permis-
sible for females to be stripped naked, and in the presence of
whip in the punishment of females. In the
males openly and unmercifully chastised with a cart whip.—
unpleasant necessity of
.going into)—He was 40711,16 be under the
such details to an unwil_
part of his duty. No man he
vered. This was not the first time
he would add, dexterous speech, , . .ow
kl(iilinilgeuw7HlNnvouausrssem'oofbrdtelitsualniPefiPfsr:tlt;iaal it to
onl
e've a tf)
wmch had just been deli_
the brilliant, and
on him for pursuing such a course 1:
• ht ring •
his ears ten time* as loud, before ; but theyciTilg,..
alen
sable indemnity from reproach, byhe
re roaches had been cast
cause he had undertaken. It never should nide. be said of him
that knowing the difficulties he had to
woulisapPrdensaesrtion or a
undertook to advocate a certain e
-anse, he sat still under the ef-
fects of a brilliant speech whilst a pledge relating to a whole
archipelago dwindled down to
•to contend with, when he-
ft °Jingle island. But he again
ground, whilst the cart whip was' applied by
which a
in thepresen
d sclareda,thweirtilsiedretfhereetnackeintgo
femaleathat ovision of West India law
negro, stretching her naked
ce of son or husband, and then
pinninguon ti the earth,er to
t h e
four negroes, he again declared, that at the abolition of this
outrage he rejoiced with the Right Honourable Secretary
with all his heart. The Right Honourable Gentleman told
them that the first step towards Moral improvement must be
the establishment of a distinction between the sexes. He (Mr.
Buxton) agreed with him in this, and asked upon this prin-
ciple, how such improvement could ever be expected to take
place where the females of the community were publicly and
shamelessly flogged ? Could they expect that a young negro girl
should be chaste, modest, reserved, and decent, when this
was the prevailing state of the law ? But if the Right Hon.
Gentleman wished to effect his change through the medium of
moral improvement, why did he not apply the same means to
Lucie, that that which' to 22,0f10 in Trini-
dad, been promised,
by granting
to 700,000 Negroes in the whole of the
bda
,twh
and
dCo
not1870:10eeosf
e?irar
eNdsVth.y
colonies.—(Expressions of dissent.)—He whished to know then
whether Government intended that the use of the whip upon
females should be put down in all the Colonies. He knew
it was in all the Crown Colonies, but these were not one
tenth part, and the question then was whether they were to al-
low this scandalous barbarity to remain, affecting not only
females, but strongly operating upon public decency. When
the Right Hon. Gentleman told them that he had hopes that the
views which he entertained would be cherished and embraced by
the West Indians at large, he wished he had communicated to
them on what grounds he entertained that expectation. He did
not think he could have drawn such hopes from the mouths of the
Colonists themselves. As for Jamaica, it was impossible that
island could have spoken in a tone of more exasperated ma-
jesty than they had done. And how had the more enlightened
community of Barbadoes treated the measures of his Majesty's
Government ? Honourable Gentlemen had no doubt read the
speech of Mr. Hampden ; of that speech he was ready to
express himself in terms of commendation, inasmuch as
it was the only speech uttered in the West Indies upon this
occasion breathing temperate principles, and couched in the
language of courtesy. Mr. Hampden agreed in nearly all the
propositions laid down by him (Mr. Buxton) in the speech in
which' he introduced the Resolutions he had brought forward
last year. But when he came to the whipping of females, he
said that his (Mr. Buxton's) sound principles and sense of duty
were completely carried away by his " fanatical feelings." He
then went on to pass jokes on the subject of flogging females.
To some of these jokes he could not refrain from vieating the
House. He said that certainly the practice of flogging females
might somewhat shock their gallantry, but the fact was, that
their females were rather of the Amazonian order, and diat he
really thought their husbands would grumble if their wives
were put out of the.reach of the whip. When he heard the
clamours which were but lately raised against him for the
course he took upon this momentous question, he could not
help reverting to those damning facts which he had before
stated, and which, without going further back than seven
years, he should again detail to the House.--(Murmurs of
dissent.)—He should like; then, to ace any one get up
and deny that women were publicly flogged in a state. of
nakedness. The first case to which he should relate was that
of Mr. Huggins. It occurred in 1817, and was not the same as
that Huggins who, in 1810, was guilty of one of the greatest
enormities that ever stained the character of human nature.—
Oil this occasion two male slaves were flo:Ned, and received
one hundred lashes from the cart-whip. Two females were
observed to cry, upon which he exclaimed, " bring out the
ladies." This being done, they were stripped, laid down
upon the earth in the presence of the men, and received
lashes each. Now these poor wretches cried

cause it was their brother that was flogged.: and it turned
out that the father of •the males was the man obliged,
although he believed, by accident, to inflict the. punishment
On the males. The next case to which he should, allude was
the celebrated one of the Negress, America, at Berbice.—
Her crime was in fact nothing more than a misunderstanding
on the part of the manager's wife. The latter had had occasion
to correct the child of this woman for some act of neglect; the
mother went to the place to lecture the child upon the neglect.
—The manager's wife conceiving she came to make a noise,
drove her away, and complained to her husband that she had
Come there to talk and make a great noise. For this she was.'
ordered to be stripped naked before the males. She begged
to be heard, but the manager refused till she had been flogged.
The.woman was pregnant at the time, and miscarried in conse-
quence of the treatment she experienced. She was 14 days in
the stocks, and it was seventeen days after her chastisement
that the Clergyman who related the case saw her. He said—
" America came limping to.us, her body was one wound, and
we looked with amazement at the long furrows with which her
body was covered by the cart-whip, which, however, by this
time were scaled over." The relation was too horrible to pro-
ceed with. It was sufficient to say that she had received. 150
lashes •administered by one driver on one side, and another on
the otlier. There was another case, in which a female was
stripped naked, her feet bound by tight cords, a stick passed
along the exterior of her body to keep her in a painful posi-
tion ; and thus chained above the earth, she was exposed to
the burning sun, and tortured from morning to night. She was
flogged according to the evidence, first on the back, and then.
on the face and breast. The narrator went on to state that, '
convicted of this load of enormity, a Honduras Jury could
not be roused to impose 'a
larger penalty on the barba-
rous master than thirty-five pounds English money. The
next fact was that Patie. On the bare suspicion of hay-
ing made away with some trifling property, she was tied
up and flogged, and then put into an old store infested with
vermin. The House might form an idea of her situation,
when they knew that, with her hands free, the attacks of
the musquito and other insects .of those climates would be
almost intolerable. She, however. escaped, and lodged a
complaint the next day, for which she was again stripped and
flogged in the presence of men in a state of nature, and sill,-
mitted for a longer period to the same inhuman treatment. This
happenedin Honduras in 1821. In answer to a juror who
asked if any. person could have lived long in such a place, a
witness said he saw no reason against it, and that he had seen
three snakes come out of it a few days before. When then he
saw these things occurring at so late a period, and above all
negrowlie i hefe sawaa, l
etsh,ebjloakceks ?heel ir pi, nd.etanazboOnui
ifillantri towards
grumbling of husbands at their wives escaphiegfotrhis
the. cart
good jokes as he might concede them to be, he held then
to furnish good reasons for not confiding such' powers; in the
hands of West Indian attornies 3,000 miles off; still less for con-
fiding them to the attorney's agent, and less still to his driver,
Who had been so justly characterized by theltight lion. Secre-
tary. He hated such a system because of the personal cruelties
,a and the
which it favoured,but he hated it much more hecause it tended to
debase the possessor of such powers, and to render the master
of slaves vile in the eyes of the world, and in his own eyes.
This practice then must be put down, for with it no moral im-
provement could be attained. If what Mr. Hampden stated
about the husband were true, then he must hate slavery for its
physical evils, but ten thousand. times more for the moral de-
basement which it fostered ; for he held that all the qualities of
manhood must be eradicated from that mind which could en-
tertain such a sentiment towards a wife or a mother. The
charge against him, and those who felt with him on this sub-
ject, was, that there.was, the greatest wildness and enthusiasm
in their notions.—( Hear, hear, hear !)—He required then that
those who made that charge should point out, article by
article, the particular notions deserving these epithets. Had
they, he asl-ed, outrun the feelings of the country in demand-
ing that the practice. of using the .cart whip to females should
be pot down ? They had been told from respectable authority
last Session by an lion. Member of that House, that the driv-
ing system had been discontinued, and that the whip was no
longer used as a stimulus to labour—that it was carried by the
driver as a symbol of oilice, a badge of authority, a sort of
ornament—that it was the remnant of a barbarous custom ;
but the whip was now no more to the negro-driver than the
mace was to the Sergeant at Arms, and that it would be as
absurd to suppose that it was used to flog the negroes to work,
as to suppoee that the mace was used to knock clown every
Member as he came in at the door. When he (Mr. Buxton)
heard this, he certainly thought he had been much abused
in the information given to him on this subject, and was re-
volving in his mind whist atonement he should make for hav-
ing given currency to contrary statements, when he happened
to take up a file of Jamaica Papers. Here he stumbled upon
sundry advertisements for Negroes run away, and whose de-
scriptions were by this means made public for various reasons.
Oae of these ran thus He is marked. on the flesh with
the initials C. C. P., and has flogging marks on the shoulders."
In another was the expression, as part of the description,
" with marks of severe flogging." Another described
female Negro by the name of Sarah, marked J. D. with a
scar ou her back ; and indeed the papers were filled
with a multitude of cases of this kind. There were no less than
five hundred in, one year. What then became of the Honour-
able Member's " symbol of office—badge of authority," &c.
These advertisements distinctly proved the condition of negroes
With furrowed and excoriated backs, which meant that the whip
was used as a stitnulus to labour._( Cries of No, no.)—The next
fact would, perhaps, be denied in the same, way. He alluded
• to the practice of branding human flesh with a hot iron with
the initials •of the name and estate of the negro.. There was
one advertisement in these papers describing a slave, Betty,
! with S. 0. A. marked on her, besides several letters which
were not plain on her breasts. A second was a Creole,
marked J. 13. and other marks on his cheeks. Another,
Peter, marked A. C. I. E. R. 0. N. V. T. S. Yet they were
told these things were abolished. The next point conceded
was, with respect to religious. worship, the regulations.
forllr
ews t
nc
ehs
.e uTnidi
ee rfis tnoeosdu
pwoeiri em taomiextendm isio
ntoa tsloi e
wwelri
eo
ae
boofl
st he
e.
ed. In both of these he was fully agreed with the Right lion.
Secretary, and he thought.there could be little reason in cons-
iegrh next t Honourable
adverted Gentleman
to the e himself.
oe
plaining of him, when it appeared that he saentr e
no further than
thethe i
e Honourableevidence"
Meitib
of negroes in Courts of Law. This was in fact, he conceived,
a refusal to protect them by the laws. The population of the
rtr
whites was 50,000, that of the blacks 700,000; so that in every
legal investigation the population was one that could give evi-
dence to fourteen that could not. Thus murders might be
committed in the face of open day, provided none but negroes
were near. In the case of Thurtell, for instance, who was
convicted on a- chain of evidence against him, one link
was wanting, and that was supplied by his aecomplice.—
Were not great facilities granted by the law, murder would
frequently go unpunished. 1 t was said that the negro had little
regard to truth, and was insensible to the nature and obligations
of an oath ; but he was deemed a good evidence against a felloW
negro. Surely if true, this objection was as good in one case as
in another ; but the negro was not thought fit to be ranked even
with the Proberts and Hunts of this country. There was no part
of this atrocious system more horrible than that which permitted
the ties of social life to be cut asunder ; for it was law in those
countries that the master might seize and sell the negro separately
from his mate or children—the tax-gatherer and creditor might
do the same. The consequence of this part of the system was
visible in the late Commotions at Demerara. One of the insur-
gents, wham the last accounts left hanging on his gibbet, was
driven to become a conspirator from the cruel separation from
all whom he held dear. It was really wonderful to him that such
a system should have continued so long. lie knew any motion
of his on the subject would be met by overwhelming majorities
in that House ; but the public, so long as they possessed the
same principles" and feelings which' had hitherto distinguished
them, would not be satisfied that the measures adopted towards
the Colonies should be frittered doWn to Trinidad only. He-
wes no advocate at the present period for the emancipation of
the slaves. He considered that -to be the worst thing that could
be done both for master and slave. He wished to see steps.
adopted which would secure the extinction of slavery at some
not very remote period. He was no enemy to the planters—
he had already said that compensation should be given to the
masters, and emancipation to the children. As for what he had
said that night, it proceeded neither front personal interest, for
he had none,-nor froth resentment. He should be glad to see
such a plan adopted as should injure no man's pocket, and
hurt no man's feelings
Mr. C. R. ELI AS said, that nothing had transpired since this
question was last before the House to induce him to change his
opinion upon the measures then proposed. In judging of those
measures he had not relied upon -his own judgment alone, but
had been fortified by the opinions of risen of practical know-
ledge and experience, who were considered as qualified to
recommend the measures necessary to be adopted towards the
Colonies.' The lion. Member who had last sat down had done
him the hon Our to refer to what he had said with regard to the
use of the whip in the West Indies, and he was ready to meet
his observations. He admitted having said, that the whip was
used as a symbol of dike, but he had not said that it was
an ornament. He- had said that it was not now used as a
stimulus to labour, but he had never said that it was not
used as an instrument of legal punishment, which was all
the Honourable Member could draw from the Jamaica ad-
vertisements he had read, of negroes with the mark of the
whip on them,-.--( Hear, hear !)—lt was impossible to say that
these marks were not the effect of punishment administered by
the regular authority of Magistrates, after all the formalities of
trial had been gone through. With respect to the marks of the
letters, all that he could observe was, that they were one of the
been used to distinguish the old slaves from .
barbarous circumstances of the sieve trade, these marks having
those newly im.

ported. The Slave Trade having been abolished, this.praea
tice of course no longer existed. With regard to the present
state of the West India Colonies, he could not but observe that
a great, change was visible in their condition from what it was
formerly. When he lived in Jamaica, he. resided in the midst
of a population of one thousand blacks, and in a house which
had neither door nor window shut night or day.—(Hear!)All
that time there existed contentment and attachment to their
masters on the part of the Negroes, and confidence on the part
of the masters towards their slaves. els to the causes which had
produced the change now so obvious, it would answer no good
purpose to,inquirei Moral improvement was said to be desired
by all ; but while the negroes were in expectation of receiving
by every packet what they called a paper of freedom—while
they conceived that the British Parliament was anxious to
grant them this, and their masters adverse to the grant, and the
masters fearful that their slaves were watching the moment
to seize that freedom by force with all the horrible circums
stances of such a step, was itlikely that such a state of things
could be conducive to the moral improvement of society?—
.Nothing could be better calculated to still the minds of the
Negroes than the I • Jelarnation which was going out by the
next packer; and theintention of contributing to their moral
improvement by instruction was equally well calculated to
insure the same desired end. The parochial clergymen were
not always selected with that care•which should mark such an
appointment, but in general their task was beyond their phye.
aical powerS. The Sending out of 'Missionaries of the Church
of England would be of the greatessadvantage. lie trusted also •
that the speech of the Right lion. Secretary would not fail of hav-
ing a tranquillizing tendency. When it should be seen in the •
Coloniesthat the extinction of slaver* was to be looped for, not
from, any Legislative Enactmeut, but from the eTatitial adVance-
ment to good conduct in the Negroes, they Would evince a desire
to deserve that distinction. When too the'colonist perceived that
from the acts of this country they had nothing to fear either-
for their property or their lives, there would be -an- end of that •
distrust and jealousy which had lately shewn itself upon this
subject. With respect to the power of the slave to purchase
his manumission, he thought that privilege should be restricted
Withih certain limits. As to the .compulsory clause for purs
chasing freedom there were Objections .to that which affected,,
both the comfort of the slaves, and the success of ihe -measure,.
which he thought would have Occurred to die Right:Ron. 0611-
tleman, had he reflected more 'upon it. Having referred to the
temper of the colonists, it would be disingenuous in iiim hot to •
state that he did regret the temper in which the Colonial Legis-
lature had viewed the measures of Government. Having said
this, he could say no more. The colonists thought., however
erroneously, that these measures were, calculated to interfere
with their Constitutional privileges, invade their property, afid
disturb the public tranquillity. Such. is construction, he ad-
mitted, was not warranted by the words of the Order, and it
was practically contradicted by the commentary presented by
the conduct of that House, but more satisfactorily contra-
dicted by the speech of -the Right Hon. Secretary. But
it was to he borne in mind, that living in the midst of
such dangers, it was not easy for the Colonists to view mit-
t..rs so coolly as Honourable Gentlemen in that House could
do. Nor could it be expected they would be otherwise than
indignant when they read that the mover of the resolutions of
last Session talked of their " extravagant predictions, always
falsified by the fact ;" and of their getting up plots issuing in
the bloodshed of the blacks. It was not to be expected that
they would, on the spur of the moment, make a distinction
betwixt the party making such propositions and expressions,
and his Majesty's Government, especially when they could not
but know that if these Resolutions had been carried into effect,
such a spoliation of property would have ensued as no country
not in a state of revolution ever experienced., The Parliament
with all its powers 'could accomplish much,. but except they
were cautious and circumspect, they might occasion scenes of
bloodshed only equalled by the calamities of St.-Domingo; if,
therefore, they were actuated by real philanthropy, they winad
co-operate with his Right Hon. Friend, and pursue the course
which lie had ably marked out.—( Hear, hear !).
Mr. WILBERFORCE said, that he had listened with Uri:.
feigned satisfaction to what had. been eonnnunicated, to learn
that so many of their fellow beings whose condition was de-
plorable, were likely to have that condition ameliorated. The
Resolutions of last Session had very properly been read; he, •
however, was astonished to hear from an Hon. Member that
the Resolutions had been misunderstood. lie deemed them
clear and explicit. AS to the irritation of which so much had
been said, it ought not to cause surprise; at the same time he
thought that the conduct of some of the Assemblies had been
contumacious. We had exhibited to them a pattern, in the.
instance of Trinidad, of what ought to be done, trusting that
their own sense of their own duties would enforce the neces-
sity of following such example. However, what was to be
expected from the Colonial Assemblies? It would be worse
than trifling to say that the fate of so tn2ny immortal beings
was to be left to those Assemblies? It was for that House, for
the Parliament, to do what they deemed to be their duty ; they
were not to suffer the question to remain for the adjustment of
the Assemblies. They could no hope that the conduct of per-
sons in the islands would lie different now from' what it was
in-1797 ; afcer what they. had experienced, they could not ex-
pect that the, local authoritir s, unless compelled to it, would pro-
mote these ameliorations which the Parliament thought ought
to be enforced. It was the misfortune of that country that the
affluent, and the weliSeducated persons, who were interested
in the welfare of its inhabitants, lived in another country.
There was hence little of the power of superior example.
When the Honourable Member (Mr. Ellis),resided on his estates,
reforms were effectually promoted ; but when he was absent,
what was his influence ? When the question of the abolition of
the slave trade was agitated ; a letter was, as that. Honour-
able Member well knew, written to the leading authorities
in the Islands, stating that if they did not promote reforms the
slave trade would certainly be abolished What was the re-
.eeption extended to such advice, where their interests were so
deeply affected ? 'They treated it with contempt; they
wholly disregarded it; . and yet when the dreaded abolition
was effected by the Parliament, those persons co-operated
with the wishes of the Mother Country. And why were
they to expect different cenduct now ? From . his soul he
believed, and so believing it was his duty to declare it to
the House, that they were on the brink of a precipice, and
• that if they did not observe Much care, he lea.red the results
would be most calamitous. Time state of the population was
dreadful. Interested persons had spread the foulest calum-
nies. Even he had been accused of circulating pamphlets
and statements through the Islands. He wasashamcd to have
to say that such representations were wholly false; such ca-
lumnies might be natural to the soil of slavery, but they were
altogether founded in falsehood. Had they even avowed in
the Islands what they expected would take plate ? No, but in
every parish in Jamaica the most violent language had been
adopted, and the insurrection of the negroes talked of as the con-
sequence as well as the object of- those. Reforms which he, and
those who thought with him, desired to see accomplished.- It
was held forth that the Barbadoes insurrections of 1316 would
be repeated. The violence and the activity had been with the
opposite parties ; and whets such language was adopted at public
meetings the parties who heard it naturally spok-e of it when they
returned to their homes, and could it then surprise tleh there was
restlessness amongst the negroes ? Besides that fact, there was
one universal feeling amongst the negroes, that the Parliament
intended to do something for their essential benefit, but that
their masters resisted the adoption of such beneficial measures. .
The truth was, as had been well observed by one who was com-
petent to judge of the subject, that the negroes were on the tip-
toe of expectation to learn the declarations of Parliament.
But what would be their sensations when they found that the
Ministers paused, and that the Parliament also paused ? Just
as they had got the cup to their lips, and were about to par-
take, he they imagined, of the sweet draught of liberty, they
would behold it dash from their hands. Such would he their
feelings, and he feared the consequence would be, that they
would endeavour to take the cause into their own hands.—
(Hear !)—His prayers were, that such might not be the result
but as he apprehended such consequences, by the hesitating
conduct of Parliament and the Ministers, as an honest man he
was bound to express his apprehensions.—( Hear !)—And what
were they to expect? What must be the situation of men who
had been led to form such expectations ? They would appear as
if the lightness of day had been withdrawn from them, as if they
were again hurled into all the gloom of darkness and hesita-
tion. Then it became that House, if it resolved to do any thing
to do it quickly, but temperately. lie felt that if they did not
so act, the consequences would not fail to be most calamitous.
If hopes had once been aroused in the heart, and experienced
disappointment, dangerous irritation was excited. They had
an instance of that fact in the French Revolution. There the.
hopes and fears of an irritated population had been trifled with,
till eventually that explosion took place which they all too well
remembered. The like was the case with St. Domingo The
calamities which took place there were occasioned by the ve-
cillating conduct of the French Convention, which enacted
measures one day, and reversed them the next. The conse-
quence was, that the negro population took their cause into
their own hands, and the House knew the result. Ile was not
satisfied with the course proposed to be pursued by his Right
Hon. Friend. He was sure it would not be construed by the mas-
ters and the slaves as it was desired that it should be. As to in-
surrections being the consequences of the course which he (Mr.
W.) and his friends pursued, it was a remarkable fact there
never had been fewer insurrections than what characterized
modern times. They used to be constantly taking place on
r different estates, as well as on the islands generally; but since
the efforts made during recent years few insurrections had taken
place. Ir.t therefore could not be justly charged on such discon-
tents being occasioned by him, or those who thought with him.
If the Government desired that their experiment should be so
tried as to recommend it to the adoption of the other islands, it
ought to be tried under favourable circumstances. But in time
present instance it had been tried under unfavourable circurn-

'talatces. Trinidad *as not favourable for the experiment.—
;-1 hey were told that strung language was held in the Colonies,
[at: was it stronstes than had been used while the question of
the Abolition of the Oilave Trade was in agitation. The lan-
totao:e was so strong then that some expected if the abolition
were tarried, that the Islands would he for transferring their •
alhe.tionce to other powers, which induced Mr. Fox to say
that he would prefer that they should transfer their allegiance
than that it should be zetained at such cost. The threats then, as
now, had been idle, violent, and unseemly. If that House,
firmly and temperately proceeded. if the Parliament appeared
resolved t sere would not be resistance on the part of the Colo-
nial Assemblies ; but the Parliament must resolutely pro-
ceed. The Assemblies, naturally enough, might not desire
interference ,betweeh the masters and the elaves ; in truth, they
neither approved of the means nor of the ends. If it could be
ascertained whether they approved or disapproved of -.either,
then there would be some hope ; and as that was the case, he
urged the necessity of that House firmly declaring what they
desired to see effected. If they did not act firmly, as well as
timely, they would, he feared, have reason to deplore that
decisive measures were not promptly adc • ed. That House
acted for the benefit of the master as well as of the slave ; and
they ought to adopt measures that would put an end to the
feverish state it which the Colonies now were—measures that
would surround the masters with a happy peasantry. The
Negroes now felt a *use of their degradation; they deemed
themselves shot out from hope, and deprived of the opportunity
-of using their talents for their own advantage. They knew
that no liberal career was open to theme they considered
themselves a degraded and an excluded class. The manner in
which the whip was applied had been questioned ; he had never
heard the fact questioned before. Heretofore its use by the
black drivers, as an instrument with which the men were
driven to their work, had been admitted. The markaput on the
negroes were as unquestionable. The Colonial Newspapers,
in their. advertisements respecting runaway or other negroes
proiird-Ishe tact ; .as they described them and the letters marked
on their. shoulders, &c. In conclusion, be had only to require
the House to remember that they were acting for the happiness
-of a largo community. What had been proposed would not,
he believed, answer -the end expected and desired; he firmly
• believed that it would effect any thing but conciliation-a-( Hear !)
Mr.- K. DOUGLAS said it was a great misfortune that the
case of the West India planters and proprietors was not fairly
and rightly understood.- Many most unnecessary statements
had been made by Honourable Members opposite; they had
even gone back to some of those stories that were adduced in
1791. ! All who knew any thing of the state of the West In-
dies; and they' ought to be acquainted with before they legis-
lated. an the subject, must know-that the Colonial Assemblies
had not been against entertaining measures that were calcu-
lated to ameliorate the condition of the slaves. During the last
year there was hardly a Colonial Assembly that had not had a
• Slave Bill before it. Their exertions had not been rightly re.
presented. The present condition of the slave population sltewed
that there had been prooressive improvement. All knew what
was the character of a slave population, and knowing that, they
could imagine how great. were the difficulties of promoting
their 'fitness to enjoy civil rights. He wished such facts to be
duly considered.
.Mr. BARING observed that there was not much prospect
of gaining attention after what they had heard, but he deem-
ed it to be his duty to make some remarks. Ile agreed in the
-imminent state of the present question—(Hear, hear !)—lt was
• impossible that it could remain in its present state ; that the
House and the country could suffer it to be blown about as
they now beheld it. There were the Ministers on one side, and
what, for shortness, he would call the " Saints" on the other
side ; and if the Ilousedid not interfere to put an end to such a
state of things, he apprehended that the business must end in
bloodshed. They had heard curious statements. First, thee •
! were told that their debate produced no elect on the colonies ;
and then they were informed, that in consequence of these
agitations they were on-the bring of a precipice.—( Hear !)—I f
they were on the " brink of a precipice," what had reduced
ahem to such a situation but the debates of that I louse ?—( Hear,
hear !)—The truth was, they had produced effect; and there
was now that state of feeling between the master and the
slaves, under which it was impossible to live. This ought not
to surprize. They had no occasion to go to Jamaica to be as-
sured of it ; it was in human nature. Nor was it likely to be
amended by the mysterious declaration; or experiment ; nor
by the extraordinary instructions in the form of the speech of
a Member of that House sent to the West Indies. Then 6 or
111,000 men were sent out to shoot down those poor creatures,
who complained that there were individuals who stood between
them arid what they deemed to be the wishes of their King. Ile
adinitted that the amelioration desired might have carried beyond
the bounds originally contemplated by some ; but -if they
had gone beyond such point, was it not their duty to go along
with them. There had been extraordinary stories circulated
in all the market towns of England by the emissaries of the So-
ciety of the Emancipators, or of Anti-Slavery, or whatever they
called- themselves. What would be said if recent proceedings
at_ Hertford were to be circulated as specimens of what was
con-at:lnt:tr. taking place in England ? Yet with just about as
Ch truth were stories circulated respecting the West Indies.
'2.iley could not any more than the proceedings at Hertford,
saeen as illustrative of the real state of society in the countries
ie. which they took place. The fact was that they-spread false
',ewe. But he imagined that there were those who had so long
d welt on thisquestion with particular thelingothat they had at last
--b -ought themselves to believe that nothing like truth ever could
come from a white man or planter in the CoTrinies.—(l-lear, and
laugh.)—lle could not otherwise account for the stories so in- I
stroausiy circulated by the Anti-Slavery Society's Emissaries
all the market towns of England. The country has been de- I
Paged with false statements on this subject. If the condition of •
Society is the West Indies were so abominable as some desired
to represent, it was not fit to remain. The Government ought
to aneak out on such point ; and if the people were imposed
upon, that ought to be avowed. The stories were what had
been Old over and over again. It was so with the case of Hug-
"ins; lie had hardly ever heard a speech from particular quar-
ters on this subject, in which the name of Huggins was not in-
troduced. But let it not hence be supposed, that he deemed a
state of slavery in the West Indies desirable. Ile -should be
ashamed of himself, if he held any such opinion—lie desired to
see that population free, if it were fit for a state of freedom.—
Much had been said about the use of the whip as if the negro
were constantly driven to his work by means of it ; but was
the whip used by the slave-drivers of the West Indies only?
And did the Haute believe that there could be any discipline,
except it was known that such discipline could be introduced
if the necessity of the case required it? If the whip could be I
entirely got rid ot', he should be glad; but if they could not
keep their own people in order, with the superior morals and
education of Europe, without severity, how was 'it to be ex-
pected that it could be dons with a slave population? He
wanted to warn the couotry of the danger of the question in its
present state, and he wished to see an.end put to the vagueness
amid uncertainty of the measures pursued by Ministers. But as
those near him (Mr. Buxton and Mr. Wilberforce) complained
of the measures adopted by Ministers, why did they not say
what measures they wanted ? The plan of emancipating chil-
dren born afar a certain time was impracticable. As far as the
Government was concerned, he wished to see strong and deci-
sive measures adopted—measures that would be ailirmatory of
all the views of Ministers, and that would spew that they had
no further intention of teasing the West India Proprietors and
population. Due regard should be had to property ; for as to
compensatiob, it would frighten the House to calculate how
much would be required for compensation. However, if t'e
emissaries were only to propose to double the malt tax, the
wirdosi duties, &c., for the purpose of compensation, he ap-
prehended there would. be a small shew of petitions.—(Hear,
tiOd a laugh.)
Mr. Secretary PEEL said, that the speech which the House
had just heard commenced with condemning Ministers, anti in
the course of it vindicated the steps they had adopted, as the
only measures that, under all the circumstances of the case,
could be adopted.—(Hear I)—The Hon. Member had wished
that some definitive understanding should be come to on this
subject; why had he not said .what was the understanding he
wished ?--( Hear, hear, hear I)—The Government had done
all that could be done, and from the Government only had
definitive measures proceeded. The Honourable Gentle-
man's -admission proved that his Majesty's Government had
taken the best course that could he pursued. The Honour-
able Member for Bramber was of opinion that the House
should undertake to legislate for the-Colonies. Confidence had
been placed in the good intentions of the Colonial Legislators,-
and if that were so, could it be explained why they should not
proceed to measures which must lead to conciliation between
the slaves and their masters. At the sometime it was impossi-
ble they could make laws leaving the operation to the enforce-
ment of the colonial residents. The Right Hon. Secretary was
sure that such laws for the protection of the slave population
would rot be ptoperly enforced, and the effhct would be
any thing but that which Parliament required. The course
angoested by his Right Honourable Friend with so much
eloquence and benevolence, was the true course to be pur-
sued. It shewed the animus. It would shew they were in-
terested in the welfare and comfort of the slaves. He was
satisfied when the• irritation of the moment had subsided, ifie
Colonial Legislative Assemblies would adopt the measures
recommended by the Government of the parent country, for
the improvement and gradual manumission of the slaves. The
Member for Taunton had proved by his own speech that the
government had adopted the only means of' promoting the
real interests of the planters, and . the comfort of the slave po-
pulation.
-Dr. I,USHINGTON complained that the Right Honourable
Gentle pan had not told the House candidly, that if the Colonial
Legislators refused, for three or tour years, to adopt the mea
Butes recommended, he would not remain passive to their con-
tumaay. • The RighteHon. Gentleman had stated on a former

occasion, that if he found those Colonial Assemblies contuma-
cious and obstinate, he should submit a proposition to the
House. Those Legislative Assemblies had been contumacious,
and why did not the Right Honourable Gentleman call upon
the House to enforce obedience. His Hon. Friend, the Member
for Taunton, admitted that the slave system was disgraceful,
but the putting it down was described to he extraordinary, that
the object could not be accomplished, and it must therefore re-
main without remedy for ever. That doctrine did more injury
to the subject than any. other argument. The system must
stand condemned in the estimation of every disinterested per-
son. The great difficulty was to find the means by which the
laws were to be carried into effect. That difficulty must be
found in the West Indies were there would be an indisposition
on the_ part of the whites to enforce the laws against those who
do injury to the blacks. It would, in his opinion, be difficult to
find an impartial Jury to try the questions arising between the
parties. Two great dangers beset the question—procrastina-
tion on the one hand, and precipitation on the other. It would,
however, be an indelible stain on the honour of that House to
stand still, and abandon the resolutions of last year. It was
better the West Indians should go hand-in-hand with his Majes-
ty's Ministers to remove the system of slavery, and to establish
free labour. The West India interest would be promoted by
that course. Inflammatory speeches in their assemblies would
only tend to excite insurrection, and bring destruction on the
planters. With respect to the Church Establishment, he thought
the Missionaries who had done so much for the black popula-
tion ought to he supported. They had sacrificed their lives,
time and labour in the great cause of religion ; and without
considering which sect they might belong to, they ought to be
rewarded for having nobly done their duty as Christians. He
expressed a hope that the Right Hon. Gentleman, in his reply,
would hold out to all the negroes the promise that they should
shortly partake of the benefit to be extended to Trinidad.
Mr. W. TAYLOR-assured the House that he could enter
into details to prove that in eight years lie had expended not
for the purpose of promoting the
less than 140,00 W. sterling
good of the negroes uponliis property. He had removed their
houses from the sea coast, and their comfort was his prime
ob-
ject. He came down to the House careful of the course he
should take, and considering the proposition of the Right lion.
Secretary fair and candid, lie gave it his hearty support.
Mr. MANNING adverted to a printed examination of seve-
ral officers, who stated that the condition of the Negroes in the
Island of llarbadoes was better than that of the poor classes
in England.
Mr. EVANS regretted that the regulations of the Right
Hon. Secretary had not a wider extension.
Mr. I3LAIR thought the Government should state openly
not only what they intended to do, but where they would stop.
Sir GEORGE ROSE eonsidered it a moral, more than a
political question,. and supported the proposition. •
Mr. W. SMITH did not think the proposed measures suffi-
cient for the desired end, and complained of administration of
the laws 'respecting Slavery. The question, he said, could
never be laid asleep, and the day of emancipation must ere
long arrive.

Sir K. WILSON wished to know whether the proposed re-
gulations were to be extended to the Cape of Good Hope, and
to the Isle of Mauritius. He begged leave next to refer to the
12th section of the proposed Bill, which enacted that more than
twenty-five lashes should nut be inflicted on a slave for an
offence, at any one time. He wished to know what construc-
tion the Right Hon. Gentleman meant to put upon that clause?
for as it at present stood it empowered a master to repeat the
punishment for the same offence, provided he inflicted it at dif-
ferent times.
Mr. T. WILSON thought it right to say, that when he was
in the Island of Grenada, where he remained for three months;
he witnessed no cruel treatment that could convey to him an
idea of slavery at all answering to the descriptions of it which
had been given to that House. The measure ought by all
means to be allowed time to find its level.

_ ..... _ _
Mr. Secretary CA NNING.rose to reply; and said the stibject
ought to be approached with caution as involving the intetests of
an entire generation. It more particularly 'behoved the advisers
of His Majesty not to determine hastily on an affairof such mag-
nitude, nor to overlook the signs of the times 'when- they were
not called on to establish local regulations or impose taxation
on any one class of His Majesty's subjects; but to cast as it were
anew a whole race in society. Under such circumstances 'he''
felt he ought not to .sufFer himself to be taunted out of that safe
and middle position he had adopted, to embrace a line of con-
duct with respect to his Majesty's dotninions in that part of the
globe, which, were be to adopt, that Hon. Gentleman might,
with great propriety, have denominated rashness.—(Cheers.)
Mr. BARING explained that his observations did not ap-
ply to the case of Trinidad. H e had said he consideredai
proper that the great population of whites and
Nabcksisl',. tine-
island, such as in the island of Jamaica,
certainty as to what really was to be done finally bye.tlete. Govern-
ment of this country-
The motion was then agreed to, and leave given to bring in
the Bill.
On the motion of Mr. PLUNKETT, the House went into a
Committee on the Acts relating to Irish Sepulture, in which
certain -11e.solutions were agreed to, and the House having re-
sumed, the Report was ordered to be received to-morrow.
.Mr. Secretary PEEL moved for leave to bring in a Bill • to
provide for the custody of Convicts lately in the Penitentiary.
The motion was agreed to. The Bill was then brought in,
read a first, and ordered to be read a second time to-morrow.
The House Adjourned at Two o'Clock this morning.

MERCANTILE SIIIVRING.

Admiralty Office; Mardi 16.

Sin—ln reference to my letter of the 24th of last month,
respecting the convoy to Gibraltar, I am commanded by my
Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty to acquaint you, that
no ship having appeared for convoy, his Majesty's sloop Pan-
dora has been ordered to sail from Falmouth ; but if their
Lordships are informed at any future time, that any number
of ships are collected, a ship of war will be sent to convoy them'

I am, &c.

(Signed) JOHN BARROW.
To the Chairman of the Committee for

Alanaging the Affairs at Lloyd's.

DEAL, MARCH 16.—Wind 'W.—Arrived and remains the
Mary, Rees, from St. John's, N.B. Came' down from the
River and remain the Old Maid, Tully, fur Sierra Leone; and
Esnock, Connell, for Dominica. Two of his Majesty's steam
packets have anchored in the Downs, from the Northward.
The Eagle, of Scarborough, Batty, from Rio Janeiro to Ham-
bttrgh, has passed at the back of the Goodwin Sands.
PORTSMOUTH, MARCH 16.—Wind S.W.—Sailed his Ma-.
jesty's ship Gloucester, for Chatham. Arrived from the Downs
the Spanish Patriot, Bogg, for Cadiz; Richardson, Dickenson,
for Leghorn ; Priscilla, Ellis, for Brest ; Sarah, Row, for New
Providence; and Sir Henry Stanhope, Ensor, for St. illi.-haers.
FALMOUTH, MARCH 15.—Wind S.W. —Arrived the Cham-
pion of Wales, Morson, from London ; Belina, Wildgoose,
from ditto for Demerara; Sisters, Bishop, from ditto for I•,aples,
with loss of bulwarks. Sailed several coasters, bound round
land.
LIVERPOOL, MARCH 15.—Arrived the William Wise,
Winder, from Demerara; Thomas Fowler, David Shaw, and
Adeline, Martin, from Savannah ; Ann, Read, from Charles-
ton ; and Thorn, —, from Demerara.

The Agnes. Reed, bound to Liverpool, has been condemned
at Demerara, having sprung a leak.
A letter from Captain Welbank, of the I'otton, dated 11th
October, mentions his safe arrival at Calcutta, without any
notice of having been on shore.

The New-York Shipping and Commercial List
of the 31st January, says—The scarcity of seamen is almost
unprecedented, and 15 to 16 dollars, per month, for European
voyages is given ; and for coasting 18 dollars has been paid.
Accordimg to a late Decree of the Government
of the Netherlands all persons intending to become teachers of
the Hebrew faith, must, before they are admitted, subject
themselves to an examination before the proper Authorities
appointed for that purpose at the Hague.
At Basle, lately, one of the most consider-
able citizens committed suicide; without any known cause, to
the great grief of his relatives and friends: Unfortunately (adds
the sang account), there have been several acts of self-destruc-
tion committed in that town within the last few months.

V•,••• • ,••••••••”,..• •••
NEWPOUT (ISLE OF WIGHT), MARCH. 2,—The
Newport Harmonic Society held their annual
Feast on Friday, the 12th inst., at the Three
Tuns Inn, New port, Isle of Wight, when a most
sumptuous dinner was provided by Mr, Ostsoam,
of the delicacies of the season.• After the cloth
was removed Non Nobii Dondne was sung in a
superior sty le, by Messrs. WEBB, D YEK, and Maw,
as were several of the most favourite Glees and
Catches, in the course of the evening. The
Members did not separate till a late hour, quite
delighted with the harm9nious treat.

PRICE

TOIS DAY AT

STOCKS

Niro O'CLOCK.

Hank Stock .................. shut
3 per Cent. Red. • . •. shut
3 per Cent. C0n5..... . ...... .93i
3iper Cent. ..................
4 per Cent. -1(.(Nlw
5 per Cents. 1797 ............
Bank Long Ann .............shut
Imp. 3 per Cent 5........... . .

India Stock
I ndia .Bonds 7Bs.
South Sea Stock
Old Annuities
Ex. Bills 48 49
Ditto Small
Bank for Act.
India for Con. Acct.
Cons. for Act. on

AT ONE O'CLOCK.
STOCKS IN LONDON, MARcii 17,
PRICE or. FOREIGN
.f. Five per Cents. 1003.
t oFrip, 13 pm.
1 Six per Cents. 00.
iFive Per Cents. (Metallic) 00.
Ditto New 9311.
Five per Cent. Bonds, eai.
Scrip, 11i pre..
Five Per Cent. Bonds, 1820, 00.
1
Ditto
Ditto 1021, 19a.
1823, 17.
( Five per Cent. Bonds, 981.
1 Ditto New, 961.
1 Bonds, 91:
Scrip, 31.
Five per Cent. Bonds, 994.
Scrip, 00.
81:3.
Six per Cent. Bonds, One
Scrip, 6j prem. •
( 00.
1 New, 21.
( Hullett's, 1 prem.
. Anglo, 5. prerc.
11 prem.
Bank Shares £2,1 Os. Od.
Seven per Cent. 95.
Six per Cent. 94-102.
Five per Cent. 100 '--102.
.Three per Cent. 77.
—......-- -

French

Russian

Neapolitan
A u►trian

Spanbili

Prusiiztn

Portuguese

Daniell
Peruvian
Chili

Colombian
Mexican

Poynis

exican Mines

Greek

American

HIGH WATER A'
Horning, ininutl

T LONDON BRIDGE TO-MORROW.
:es after 4. Evening, 21 minutes after 4.