The Sun.
London, England, 1846-08-01 00:00:00

WAY.

Mr. HUDSON said he was anxious to take that op-
portunity of making a few observations, in reference
to the statements made on the previous day by two
Honourable Members, with respect to the Eastern
Counties Railway, He wished to make this state-
ment, for the purpose of allaying any public
excitement that might have been occasioned by the re-
marks of those two Hon. Members. He had made in-
quiries from the secretaries of the company, and he
thought that the result of those inquiries would
satisfy the House that, as far as the ma-
nagement of that undertaking was concerned,
the public had less cause to fear accidents when travel-
ling on that railway than on any other. Since the
opening of this line, which was in 1840, 11,000,000
people had travelled upon it, and, with the exception.ot
the late accident, there had been only one death
during the whole time. There had been only twenty-
one passengers injured since the opening, three of whom
had their legs broken, and one a dislocated shoulder.
The remainder of the accidents were of the most trifling
description. He felt confident that this state-
ment would be most satisfactory to the House
and the public. He would not as yet say anything in
reference to the recent accident on the line, but the state-
ment which he had made he thought was but just to the
proprietors and the public. There was as much if not
greater security on the Eastern Counties than on any
other line in the kingdom.
Mr. HORSMAN wished to know what was the in-
tention of the Government in reference to the Com-
mission that had been appointed at the com-
mencement of the session in reference to rail-
roads. He wished to know from his Right Honourable
Friend the Secretary of State for the Home
Department, whether the Government intended to do
anything in order to allay the public excitement and
confusion which prevailed on this subject ?

Sir GEORGE. GREY said he was not prepared to
make any statement in reference to this question.
He hoped to be able to bring forward some measure,
during the present session, for the purpose of removing
some of the inconveniences complained of in the report
of the Committee lately presented to the House, which
he hoped would come into operation before the next
session.

On the motion for going into Committee of Ways and
Means. - _ _ .

Mr. SPOONER said the .t he wished to state briefly
to the House his reasons for giving his vote in support
of the proposition of Government. He thought it the
duty of a christian nation to lay aside every consideration
of profit and commercial benefit or advantage, if they
were to be purchased by anything tending to increase
the slave trade. He did not think that th proposition
of her Majesty's Government would give the least
stimulus to the slave trade ; if he thought it would
he said he would not give his support to the proposition.
After the very able speech of the Noble Lord the
Member for Liverpool (Lord Sa.adon), he would not
have risen to enter on the subject if the
Noble Lord the Member for Stamford had not
risen after and made an attempt to invalidate his argu-
ments. That Noble Lord had characterised the speech
of the Member for Liverpool as one that could not be
comprehended.—(Hear, hear.) He (Mr. Spooner
was of opinion that that speech was the most
concise and the most complete answer to all the argu-
ments on the opposite side. He said the demand for sugar
had grown till it was more than the supply. If, however,
they excluded slave-grown sugar from the market that
only opened another market for it elsewhere im-
mediately ; a greater consumption of free-labour
sugar at home was the consequence, and that
created a vacuum on the Continent, which was again
supplied with slave-grown sugar. He begged they
would observe what the effect of this had been on
trade and the manufactures of this country. The trade
between this country and the Brazils was an important
trade ; but since the treaty had ceased the Bra-
zilian Government had raised their duties. Trio
merchants there had sent over their agents tc
the Continent, and there they were buying
German goods in the German markets with English
capital, and carrying into their markets slave-labour sugar.
It was a fact which could not be disputed, that their
efforts to do away with slavery had failed,
and it was therefore completely uselesss to
persevere in a system which pressed so heavily
upon the comforts of the people. Their plan had also
given the greatest offence to the Brazilians, who felt
that their interests were wholly neglected. He
was an advocate for protection, which he
believed was the foundation of the prosperity of the
country ; but if it wire to be maintained, it should be
so as a whole, as otherwise it would be the
source of endless injustice to different parties.
The question had already been so fully debated in the
House, that he did not hope to give any new argument
for its consideration, but he felt that it would not be
consistent with his duty to give a silent vote upon so

important a question.
Sir R. H. INGLIS said that amongst the many de-
feats which, in the course of his experience in that
Muse, he had had to sustain, there was none which he
felt more deeply than that which he sustained by the
decision of the House on Tuesday last ; and if by any
opposition of his he could hope to remove that decision,
he trusted that he should not be found wanting iu what