The Sun.
London, England, 1848-02-08 00:00:00

ODD F SILOWS.

Lord CAMPBELL prt ented a petition from the
society of Odd Fellows, pr aying that they might be
recognised as a legal society, so as to be entitled to
all the privileges accorded_ to other societies under the
Benefit Societies' Act.
NAVIGATION LAWS.

The Earl of EGLINTON presented a petition
against any alteration in tt.he navigation laws.
JEWISH EMANCIPATION.

Earl FITZWILLIANI presented a petition from
the Mayor and Corporati(ln of Doncaster in favour of
the Jewish Emancipation :Bill.
TOR AGO.

Viscount CANNING presented a petition from the
planters of Tobago, prayiu3 g their Lordships to adopt
measures to relieve the distress prevalent in that
island, consequent upon the general depreciation of
West India property, and specially in consequence of
the recent destruction of property in that island by
the late hurricane.

DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS WITH ROME.

The Marquis of L.ANSDOWNE rose for
the purpose of making use of the privilege,
which he possessed as a v iember of their Lordships'
house to authorise the Government to enter into
diplomatic relations with. the Court of Rome. He
should give notice that he would move that the Bill
should be read a second tiane on Friday.
Lord STANLEY considered it extremely desir-
able that diplomatic relations should exist between
the Sovereigns of this country and of Rome as
temporal princes; but, considering that the sovereign
of Rome claimed dominion as a spiritual prince, he
thought that several matters worthy of grave consi-
deration would arise, and, therefore, he thought that
longer time ought to be given to the country to
consider the subject than. the time that would elapse
betwern Monday and Friday.
The Marquis of L A.NSDOWNE would consider
the subject, which, however, could not have come
unexpectedly upon the House, and he would
to-morrow state whether he could postpone the
second reading.
The Duke of RICHMOND thought that, consider-
ing it would be impossible for the inhabitants of Scot-
land or Ireland to know the day fixed for the second
reading of the Bill before that day should have passed
by, he thought that a longer period should have been
fixed for the second reading of the Bill.
. _

Earl FlTZWlLLlAM—considered the measure as
one entirely of diplomacy, and he could not conceive
how the religious privileges of the people of England
(he would not say the prejudices of a few of them)
could be violated by the Court of England entering
into diplomatic relations with Italian States.
The Earl of EGLINTON trusted that in justice
to the people of Scotland, who could not be informed
of the introduction of this Bill into the House, that
the second reading would be delayed.
The Marquis of LANSDOWNE replied.
The Bill was then read a first time, and ordered
to be read a second time on Friday.
WEST INDIA DISTRESS.
Lord STANLEY then rose for the purpose of
presenting a petition from Trelawny, in Jamaica,
praying their Lordships to adopt measures for the
relief of the distress at present existing in the sugar
producing colonies, and in doing so entered into
the whole question of West Indian grievances.
His Lordship said that if the House were determined
to persevere in the policy which had been pursued
towards those colonies, it would be better at once to
pronounce their sentence, and to consign them to
utter ruin, rather than, by the inconsistent legislation
which they had of late been pursuing, to protract their
agony, which must end in ruin. The present state of the
West Indies was entirely the consequence of legislatiD.l,
and when they were struggling with the difficulties
which had been imposed upon them by the highest
motives, when they Lad nearly overcome these diffi-
culties, a sudden and to them an unexpected change
of policy had p!unged them into ruin, and for that they
demanded compensation from Parliament. He entirely,
went with the petitioners on this point. The de-
plorable condition of the colonies was too well known
to the House to render it necessary for him to enter
into any details on the subject. (The Noble Lord
then proceeded to read various [returns, showing the
outlay of two West India estates, stating that in one
estate last year the expenses had been 10,0001.,
and the rental 9,5121.; and on the other
the outlay had been 8,4071, and the
returns 8,1701. only.) The consequence was, that it
was impossible to get the advance of a single penny
upon mortgage on estates in Jamaica, Demerara, or
Trinidad. He must go back to the history
of the past. He would admit that the sacri-
fice of 20,000,000/., made by the nation on the
abolition of slavery, was a great, glorious,
and unheard-of sacrifice. But it was not equal
to the amount of property sacrificed, and it was by
no means an adequate compensation to the West
Indian proprietors for the property they had
sacrificed. It had been originally proposed to
accompany a grant of 15,000,0001. by a period
of twelve years of modified slavery, for such he
would now admit to the Noble Earl opposite
the apprenticeship was in reality. He was still of
opinion that it would have been politic to have made
the negro contribute something towards the purchase
of his freedom, and that the period of apprenticeship
should have been twelve years; but the House
of Commons determined otherwise, and Parliament
determined that 20,000,000/. should be granted, and
that the apprenticeship should be for seven years
instead of twelve. But Parliament afterwards deter-
mined that the apprenticeship should terminate at the
end of five instead of at the end of seven years,
thus depriving the planter of two years' labour, which
was part of his compensation. Then with regard to
the protecting duties which had since been removed.
At the time of the debates on the emancipation it had
been argued, that although the production of
sugar might be diminished in consequence
of the abolition of slavery, yet as the
Indian colonists possessed the monopoly of
the British market of sugar, the increase
in price would never compensate them for the dimi-
nution of quantity. Before the emancipation,
the British colonies possessed, in effect, no
monopoly, because they not only supplied
all England, but the greater part of the
Continent of Europe. Before emancipation, without
any monopoly price, they were enabled to supply all
the United Kingdom, and to export their surplus
produce to the Continent. During the years of
apprenticeship the surplus became a deficiency, and
after the abolition of the apprenticeship, the supply
had constantly fallen off. Under the last years of
slavery the average annual supply of sugar for the
British West Indian colonies was 3,700,000 cwts.;
during the apprenticeship it fell to 3,004,000 cwts., and
since the abolition of apprenticeship it had fallen to
the annual average of 2,450,000 cwts. The cost of
producing this last quantity had been much greater
than under former circumstances. During slavery
the cost of the production of sugar was 4s. 3€l. per
cwt. ; during the apprenticeship, 6s. 7d. per cwt. ;
up to 1843, 16s. 11d. per cwt. ; and since that period,
21s. 9d. per cwt., and of this amount 13s. 4d. found
its way into the pocket of the negro labourer.
Since 1833 legislation had placed obstructions
and difficulties in the way of the sugar planter,
and for those obstructions and those difficulties
he was entitled, in justice, to some compen-
sation from the Legislature. The Legislature
had deprived him of the right of employing slaves,
and they therefore demand to be entitled to some
protection against those who employed slave labour.
In 1840, when sugar was at an immense price, it was
lec elected,
proposed to admit slave-labour :sugar at a+ low duty ;
this was proposed by a Minister of the rown. It
twwh
was
ss opposed,mdi
as jsee rlvite
dissolved,
whichen
dM ai Minister
i setw e
re rwwas
defeated,colonial free labour sugar against slave -labour
sugar. Such being the case, could the West
dtParliament
e
eParliamentpleged
ryas
e protect
Indians be blamed for acting on the faith of
that decision, and investing their capital in pro-
moting the free-labour cultivation of sugar in the
West Indies; yet in site of all this they had passed
a measure in 1846, which was, he would not hesitate
to say, a bounty upon the slave trade, and yet
they wasted lives and money in bloodshed in Africa
to put down the slave trade, while they were by the Act
of 1846 encouraging by a bountyguba and the Brazils.
Then, with regard to India, the quantity of sugar

exported from that country in 1834 was only
134,000 cwts., but in 1846 it had increased to
1,'390,000 cwts.; and what was the amount of our ex-
ports of manufactured goods to India
In 1834 it amounted in value to 1,574,0001,
and in 1846.7 it amounted to 4,240,000/. Surely
those who had uged the Government in the course of
free trade should consider these things, and should
not rashly deprive the country of such a market as this.
In 1834-5 735,0001. was the value of the cotton imported,
and in 1846 7 the value of the cotton imported had in-
creased to 3,087,0001,; and of the whole imports of
India, amounting to 2,600,0001., the increase in cotton
alone was 2,300,000/.—(llear, hear.) He contended,
than, that the supply of sugar from India was of great
importance to this country.—(llear, hear.) The con-
sumption of sugar in this country during the last year
had exceeded the usual quantity by 40,000 tons, and it
had been attributed to free trade; but the fact was that,
encouraged by the promises of protection, our own
countrymen and colonists had applied their skill and
capital, and had produced a greater quantity of sugar
than ever they had done before; and the result of the
Act of 1846 would be to consign to utter ruin and bank-
ruptcy every one of our West India colonies. The prices
in this country had fallen from 355., 365., 375., and 38s.
per cwt. down to 21s. (he believed it was now 235.), ail
of which was to be attributed to the same cause, involv-
ing a loss to the colonists in the last year of 2,500,0001.
The prices of sugar, he thought., were fixed now, and
there was no hope, therefore, of this loss being redeemed.
Although there had been a decrease in the price of
West India sugar to so great an extent, there bad been
absolutely a rise of from Is. to 2s. per cwt. on Cuba
sugar, in consequence of its more easy admission into
this country. And when it was said that Cuba and
Brazil would take our manufactures in return what wa s
the tact ? Ile would take a period of sixteen months
before the passing of the Act of 1846, and also of sixteen
months since, and he found that whereas our exports to
Brazil, Cuba, and Port. Rico in the former period had
been 2,309,000/., in the latter they had not been more
than 2,477,0001. ; an increase of just 168,000/. Com-
paring this with our imports to Asia for the same
period, the result was that to India, the West Indies,
and British Mauritius, there had been a decrease in our
exports the last sixteen months, as compared with the
first period, of 1,339,0001., and this was to be set off
against an increase to the slave-labour colonies of
168,0001.—(llear, hear.) He was anxious to show their
Lordships that oar own colonies had suffered and were
still suffering by the acts of the Legislature, and that
the crowning injustice under which they must irretriev-
ably sink was the Act of 1846, and he thought he had
succeeded in doing so.—(llear, hear.) The petitions
prayed for a full supply of African labour—the equali-
station of the duties on rum—the admission of molasses
into breweries and distilleries—theremoval,either wholly I
or partially, of the duty on colonial sugar imported into
this country; some of them applied for a loan—the peti-
tion from Demerara made application for a loan for
thorough drainage—and, he was happy to say, there
was only one petition, namely that from Jamaica, which
prayed for au alteration of the Navigation Laws. If,
however, every interest was to succumb, he could see no
reason why they should stop short in the .work of de-
struction.—(Hear, hear.) The West Indians had a right
no doubt to say, you have declared there shall be free
trade in sugar, and we have a right to demand that all
obstruction shall be removed from the mode in which
we send our produce to the market. But they lost sight,
of the fact that Groat Britain had almost the entire car-
rying trade of Cuba and Brasil, because those colonies
had no mercantile navies of their own ; and he did not,
therefore, see how the West Indies were to be benefited
by an alteration of the Navigation Laws, for if they
took away these laws, and cheapened the trade from the
West Indies, in precisely the same ratio would it be re-
duced from Cuba and Brazil.—(Hear, hear.) Into the
question of introducing their molasses into distilleries,
he would not now enter. He understood Government had
intimated their intention to make these concessions ; but
in the very last session the Chancellor of the Exchequer
had said that molasses could not be introduced into the
distilleries without serious loss'; and, in the like manner,
he had strenuously resisted the reduction of the duty on
rum. Thus it was that no interest could be able to rely
a single twelvemonth on whatgovernment intended to do.
The question of emigration was of immense importance.
He : doubted whether it was possible to obtain such
a supply of labour from the African coast as would pro-
duce any material reduction of the rate of wages. He
was not opposed to such supply if it could take place
without interfering with previous arrangements. When
he was in the Colonial-office, he had striven to promote
the introduction of Hill Coolies into the West Indies ;
but he was never very sanguine in his hopes of the suc
cess of that measure. As to any permanent effect upon
the price of production, it was out of the question. While
desirous to afford every facility for the introduction of
labourers from Africa, he was convinced that if the
planters were allowed to go to the coast of Africa fur
this purpose, without any surveillance on the part of
the Government, it would create a just jealousy on the
part of other nations as to the practical revival of the
slave trade and the encouragement of those intestine
wars in Africa for the sake of supplying the demand
for labourers. The petititioners declared their con-
viction that it was impossible to procure a sufficiency
of labourers in this way without negotiating with
and conciliating the chiefs; and were British merchants
to be permitted to approach for this purpose a coast
which was so jealously guarded from other countries
such a step would certainly involve the Colonial-office in
great difficulty. lie asked for no additional differential
duties in favour of our colonial produce; but he was.
firmly of opinion that whatever palliative was applied it
was impossible for the West India colonies to compete
on equal terms with slave produce.—(Bear, hear.) The
stock of sugar now on hand was larger than ever was
known. In consequence of the increased consumption
of slave-made sugar, thirty six thousand tons of our
own colonial produce had been rejected. The cense
quern distress of many merchants was most extensive.
The house of Reid, Irving, and Co., had sustained by
the fall of prices a loss of 100,0004 in one year—or
estimating the profit at ten per cent., tin actual
loss of one milli at stcrling.—(llear, hear.) Mean-
while the price of sugar in Cuba and Brazil had been
raised. Its importation from the East Indies had
been stopped, and though the reduction in the price of
sugar might be boasted of, this would be dearly bought
by depriving us of the supply of sugar front our own
colonies, and by allowing all our love of liberty and ve-
neration of religion to evaporate for the paltry conside-
ration of a penny a pound in the price of sugar.—([fear,
hear.) After all, this miserable boon would not be ob-
tained, but the Alive trade would be encouraged,and our
own colosies ruined.—(Hear.) Nothing could relieve
their distress but a postponement at least of the period at
which the differential duty was to be further reduced.
lie, for one, had not bowed down before the idol of free
trade, at whose shrive, it appeared, one great interest
after another was to be sacriticed.—(llear.) This idol
was a very sorry idol after all, and would perhaps be
found to be composed of even baser materials than had
hitherto been imagined.—(Bear.)
Earl GREY said he was bound to admit the existence
of most severe and painful distress in the colonies ; and
the Noble Lord opposite could not deplore this more
sincerely than he (Lord Grey) did. But he entirely
dissented from the opinion that this distress was solely
attributable to the tree-trade measures of Government ;
and of this he hoped to be able to convince their Lord-
ships before he sat down. Though the distress was in
part attributable, no doubt, to circumstances peculiar to
the West Indies, yet in a large part also those colonies
were but suffering in common with all the trading inte-
rests of this country. The fall of price in many other
articles had not been less serious than in sugar; in some
kinds of tea, in indigo, rice, sago, and other articles, it
had been scarcely less considerable. For some months
after the passing of the late free-trade measures, the
sugar market had not been affected ; and it was only
when the general depression occurred, that the serious
fall in the price of sugar ensued. At the same time he ad-
mitted there was a cause of depression operating in the
West Indies, which did not apply to other interests; but
when the Noble Lord attributed this entirely to the
free-trade measures he flatly contradicted his own clients,
who dated their distress, not from 1846, but from a
much earlier period. One large proprietor said their
estates had been profitable up to 1838, since which period
they ceased to be so. This distress might even. be
traced to a much earlier period; so long ago as 1833 the
Noble Lord himself had described their condition as one
marked by short and delusive periods of prosperity, and
long ones of distress ; this description being supported
by a report of the House of Assembly in Jamaica. Still
he must admit that since the emancipation, distress,
which before was frequent, had become almost con-
tinual; and it would be difficult to point to anything
like prosperity in these colonies at a later period. lie
wished; to be candid, and would therefore state his
belief that the great cause of this distress was the mis-
take in our legislation of 1833—the defective Bill
which was passed for the great and holy purpose of
This was no new opinion of his.
extinguishing slavery.
He had predicted the consequences that had followed.
Even the distress had not been so great as he anticipated,
nor the difficulty of continuing the cultivation of sugar
so insuperable. He only alluded to this as being abso-
lately essential to his argument. The measure of
1833 was defective in this :—lnstead of obviating the
causes which were likely to leave the negroes without any
adequate stimulus to labour, the measure merely post-
poned the difficulty by leaving them in a modified kind
of slavery for a certain time, as the Noble Lord himself
now admitted the apprenticeship to have been. Instead
of this, some adequate stimulus ought to have been pro-
vided for inducing the negroes to labour; while all that
the measure of 1833 had done was to postpone the crisis.
At the time he (Lord Grey) had declared his conviction
that Parliament was incompetent to legislate as it had
done, and suggested that they should merely lay down
the great principle that each man was free, leaving
the local legislatures to adopt the measure
to the requrements of the several colonies. He
had suggested that the establishment of freedom
should be postponed for a year, in opposition
to the wish of the Noble Lord opposite, who proposed
it should take place in two months. This was too short
a period to allow the local legislatures to make the
necessary regulations, which the Noble Lord had there-
fore imposed upon the Imperial Parliament. The great
and paramount object of that measure ought to have
been to subject the negroes to some necessity to labour.
Ile did not believe that there was in the negro race any
peculiar indisposition to labour, but held that they
white
were
accessible to the same motives in that respectvaegry was
men. It was perfectly obvious that whheenresrlea
had the
entirely abolished, the negroes havin
hut,
and wages
gratuitous use of a provision ground
h and
equivalent to a shilling a week,het ) would be able to
they received from their
earn in a single day more than
w a Tesh
else,e; necessaryand w hat
wcm lwould
for the labour of a wee
conse-
quence -was a largo increase
anywhere
in such a state
has© happened here, or
an'
w labourer would
of things? Unquestionably the
himself with a shorter period of] labour, and would not

be tempted, even by the increased wages, to work so hard
as before.—(Hear, hear.) Then the competition between
the landowners in letting their patches of land would be
sure to enable the negroes to obtain it more cheaply,
another motive for slackening their exertions, And,
without some legislative measure for increasing the price
of land to the negroes, he had expressed his conviction
that the quantity of sugar produced must suffer a con-
siderable decrease. This objection had also been enter-
tained by another Noble Lord (Earl Ripon). Still, he
had felt that it was a less evil for the production of
sugar to be decreased than that the great measure then
under discussion should be periled. On this point
only had lie differed from his excellent friends who
supported that measure, and who thought that, to a
great extent, whatever was bad for the planters was good
for the negroes. He had entertained a very different
opinion, believing that the interest of the one was strictly
dependent on the other, and that opinion he still held.—
(Hear.) The system of apprenticeship which the Eman-
cipation Act established was in the course of a few years
abolished, not by direct legislation, but by a measure
which had necessarily the effect of putting an end to it.
So little had the colonies themselves desired the appren-
ticeship, that Antigua had dispensed with it altogether;
and even in Jamaica it was not looked upon with tavonr.
The termination of the apprenticesh:p in 1838 was perhaps
a more dangerous crisis for the colonies than the eman-
cipation itself. The negroes had been told for five years
that they were freemen, and had enjoyed none of the ad-
vantages they expected. The planters, on the other hand,
had not derived advantage from the change, and there
was a general want of confidence in the permanence of
tis system. Many planters were anxious to make all
they could of the compensation during the continuance
of the apprenticeship, and then give the concern up.
The consequence was that the estates were not properly
attended to, nor was the compensation applied in the
best way that it might have been.—(Hear, hear.) He
would have had it applied, to a large extent, in loans
for the extension of drainage and other improvements
of the estates. None of these things had been done ;
and the consequence was that, in 1638, the change to
complete freedom took place under the most un-
favourable circumstances that it was possible to imagine.
It also took place without any attempt by any descrip-
tion of legislation by the colonies to subject the negroes
to that moral restraint by which they would be com-
pelled, like the English labourers, to work for their
living. Such being the csse, it was to him matter
of astonishment not that the consequences had been so
disastrous, but that, on the whole, the system had
worked so well. These matters had exposed the
planters to all sorts of difficulties—one arose from
the system of taxation, so contrived as to make it the
interest of the negro to devote his labour to his own
provision ground, instead of working for hire. Another
circumstance was ono which to some might appear nara-
doxical—namely, the existence in this country of pro-
tective duties in favour of the produce of the colonies.
Those duties, he contended, had materially aggravated
the difficulties of the planters. The effect of those duties
had been to limit an adequate supply of labour, which
was one of the greatest evils to which the planter was
exposed. The higher the price obtained in this country,
the higher wages the planter was enabled to pay; and
1 the higher the wages, the less was the amount of labour
the negroes need perform in order to live as well as,
according to their notions, was necessary. This was
not mere inference, because positive facts showed that
the higher the wages the less was the amount of labour
performed, and, consequently, the less was the amount of
produce. A deputation had waited the other day upon his
Noble Friend at the head of the Government in Down-
ing-street, which deputation he (Earl Grey) had at-
tended. One of the gentlemen present made a statement
as to the cost at which produce had been obtained in St.
Kitt's, which had struck him as remarkable. That
statement he had since been furnished with, and it
showed that for four; years, commencing eight years
ago, a cost of 6,5601. had produced 15,965 cwt. of sugar;
while during the last four years, 8,663/. was the cost of
producing 14,800 cwt. of sugar; so that while labour
cost 2,0001. more in the last four years, the quantity
produced had fallen by upwards of 1,000 cwt. This
proved that as wages rose, the labourer became inde-
pendent of his master, and hence the amount of labour
done was reduced. Similar facts were stated by Gover-
nor Higginson of Antigua, and by the Governor of
British Guiana, dated Ist of January, 1848. Under
such circumstances, would anybody tell him that the
system of protection had been beneficial to the
planters? On the contrary, he held it to be the interest
of the planters that the Legislature should adhere to
the wise determination at which it arrived in 1846.
Would it be just that the hard-worked and over-
taxed people of this country should pay 3,000,0001.
1 per annum by the renewal of protection in order
to keep up the wagesjin Demerara to that point which
gave the negroes 2s. ld. for about four or five hours,'
labour? Without protection the planters would have a
greater amount of produce at a cheaper cost, while at:the
same time there was secured to them a market free from
those changes and vicissitudes in price which existed
under the protection system. For these reasons ho
could not concur with the Noble Lord opposite in think-
ing that the measures of 1846 were to be charged with
all the dificulties in the West India colonies. Still less
did he think that Parliament ought now to retrace its
s cps. Even the West India interest itself admitted that
it would be in vain to do so. It was beyond the power
of any Parliament to create the slightest confidence as to
the permanence of any system of protective duties; but
it was certainly right that whatever the legislatuere
could do should be attempted. Ile would now shortly
advert to sortie of the other topics touched upon
by the Noble Lord opposite, and contained in the peti-
tion which the Nobler Lord had presented. In the first
place with regard to emigration from Africa, the opinions
expressed by the Noble Lord were precisely those which
he (Earl Grey) entertained with respect to that sub-
ject, and he thought the measures that the Government
had adopted were as much as they could be in that
direction. Following the views of the Noble Lord, he
(Earl Grey) :had endeavoured to extend to the West
ledh a all the Africans taken on board slave ships.
These min not only soon:imprsve I in cu it zstion when
in the nolonies, but also contributed to the advancement
of the colonies, while on the other hand, if they were
left at Sierra Leone, their case would be very different.
It was impossible to contemplate the feature which
Sierra Leone presented, without the most melancholy
feelings—all attempts to improve the negroes there had
most lamentably failed. Its local disadvantages were
so great—the want of sufficient good land was so mani-
fest, and above all its dreadful climate operated against
its advancement and improvement. To him (Earl Grey)
it was absolutely painful when he was call upon to fill
up the vacancies which so often occurred in the civil
establishment necessary to be kept up there, and he
could not bear to send out officers and missionaries to a
place where he knew theirdeaths would be almost certain.
—(Hear.) On all grounds it w as of vast importance that
all captured slaves should be sent to the West Indies. The
colonies hitherto had been able and willing to pay the
expenses of their transit, but, looking to the distress
which now prevailed among them, he thought it but fair
that this expense should in future be borne by the British
instead of the colonial treasuries.—(Hear, hear.) These
captured negroes would only bo sent from British settle-
ments on the African coast, or from the Kroo coast,
where the slave trade did not exist, and in order to pre-
clude the possibility of abuse, it had been provided that
they could only be conveyed to the West Indies under
the superintending control of a British naval officer.
From such a system of immigration he (Earl Grey) en-
tertained great hopes. It was proposed to give a return
passage to a certain number after serving a certain time
in the colonies, and from this it was anticipated that
those who returned would report to their countrymen in
Africa the high wages they had obtained, and thus an
encouragement would be given to others to go out. As
an instance of the success of this system, be would men-
tion that on the first voyage of the Growler, she took
intobae thek3n hands of th
negro men from o
romcrl Demerara-29
repaida9ofwhtohni on
whom paid
their arrival in Africa, no less a sum than 5711.
by their accumulatedin-
Thisshowed
not only the high
iln3ci.o sit °r)d:i'n wthat hc
o !Ohne. y had
rate of wages, but that the Kroo men, whose affection
for their native land was most extraordinary, had a
great desire speedily to acquire a sum of money to take
back with them on their return to Africa. The return
of such men must have a considerable effect in stimulat-
ing emigration, and in introducing civilization and
knowledge among their countrymen. But to save the
expense of maintaining steamers to convey them the
Government had found it was possible to make arrange-
ments by which merchant vessels bound to the 'West
Indies would at a moderate cost take Africa on their
way, and convey immigrants to the colonies. In case of
a failure to obtain such passengers, her Majesty's
Government had made arrangements to compensate the
owners by a moderate payment. Under this arrange-
ment two ships had gone out to Jamaica, four to British
Guiana, and two to Trinidad. There was another point
which, however, only referred to two of the colonies. Her
Majesty's Government proposed to ask the sanction of
Parliament for a grant of 200,0001. to British Guiana.
and Trinidad. The reasons for that proposition were
these. In 1834 the Noble Lord opposite (Lord Stanley)
gave his sanction to the adoption by these colonies of a
plan for raising money by loans, for the purpose of
Indian immigration. He (Earl Grey) confessed that
looking atithe cost of that immigration, and the very
temporary advantages which it afforded, he thought. it
e
was of far too costly a character ; and, that being
ttillse
case, he did not think it wise or prudent to charge the
expense of it on the present resources of the country.
u
He therefore lamented that the Noble Lord
MO
in-
duced (reluctantly, he believed) to sanction
lo thatans had been
of proceeding. In the last two yearsbut some weeks
had cheoeon
raised on terms not disadvantageous,
now its progress, but
the expenses of the immigration
made. Under these
ago an attempt had been made
.toner°auisse further loans for
were of opinion that
circumstances, the Government
no offers on any terms had been
however strong
system liable to abuse—a
the objections to advance money by way
at(/ Parliament that the re-
payments shouldi's
be granted. It was also
loofalnoanto tothistheex
proposed
loans advanced
,meass of certain some years ago
pay
and other disasters,
to recommend.
to some of the colonies which had suffered from hurri-
canes, loans had been to Berbadoes,
should be pest •
SPe ace: eVincent,''sdearthquakes,
f Lucie, and Dominica, and amounted to
045,1501. ; and it was proposed to postpone the repay-
ment for a further period of five years from the, time
specified in the Act of IS4O of the amount now remaining
unpaid—viz., 657,000/. The same was proposed to be
done with respect to the loan of 135.0001. to Antigua,
Montserrat, and Nevis, of which 102,0001. remain un-
paid. The next measure which would be proposed
would be one for the admission of molasses for the use of
distillers in this country. On this subject the Noble
Lord opposite (Lord Stanley) had been very severe, and
said, " How was it possible any trade could flourish
when the Legislature did one thing one year to undo it
the next ?" He had said, " Last year you refused to
admit molasses for the use of distillers, and you regu-
lated the duty on rum ; and this year you intend to

disturb it." If the facts were as the Noble Lord
had stated them, he (Earl Grey) admitted that the
Government would de serve the censure the Noble
Lord had pissed upon them ; but if the Noble
„Lord had consulted Hansard, he would have
round that the facts were utterly different. Last year
the Chancellor of the Exchequer stated that there were
some difficulties in the excise with respect to the ad-
mission of molasses for distillers, but that the Excise
-were than engaged in inquiries on the subject, and he
,expressed his hope and belief that the result of those
inquiries would be, that molasses might be admitted,
and if .so he pledged himself this session to effect it.
Thooe inquiries had now been prosecuted and completed,
and it had been found that means not open to abuse or
mud might be adopted fur the introduction of molasses
lor distilleries, and accordingly that would be done.
'The inquiries respecting its admission for the are of
brewers were not completed, and therefore that matter
would of necessity stand over. With regard to the rum
duties the matter was much the same, but that whole
question would properly be discussed in the Committee
appointed by the other House of Parliament, before
which both the foreign and British distillers might be
heard, and the duties made to bear alike upon both.
Such were the measures which the Government contem-
plated for the relict of the West India colonies. The
IcToble Lord said they were insufficient, and that without
protection their colonies would fall into ruin. He (Earl
Grey) should be warning in candour if he pretended that
the measures which ally Government or any Parliament
could adopt would hive any areat or material effect in
allaying the distress, or of raising the colonies from
their present position. What had protection done when
the Noble Lord was responsible at the Colonial-office?
notwithstanding protection complaints of distress for
fve years reached this country. And in 1844 the Go-
vernment with which the Noble Lord was connected
completely and successfully broke in upon the protection
given to colonial againit slave-grown sugar. lie (Earl
Grey) was surprised that the Noble Lord could keep his
countenance when he told the House that the measures
of 1844 did not practically expose the colonies to com-
petition with slave-grown sugars. The Right Hon.
Baronet the author of that measure said, in January,
1846, before the present Act was thought of, that the
amount of free labour brought into competition with
British colonial sugar had nut at all equalled their ex-
pectations. He conceived that statement of Sir R.
Feel put an end to all confusion on the subject, and
made it perfectly idle to attempt to make any dis-
tinction between sugar the produce of free and of slave
labour. He admitted that it did not lie in the power of
ahy Government or Parliament, in any measures they
eachi adopt, to make any branch of industry prosperous.
That must depend on other circumstances, and on indi-
*dual enterprise, energy, and skill—(Hear, hear)—and
that being so, the fact proved a justification for her
Majesty's Government, as well as for the Noble Lord.
He thought they were bad friends of the West Indies
who told them thatrthey had nothing to do but despair,
and that slave labour was essentially and necessarily
cheaper than free labour. Ile denied it upon the highest
authority, for there was no distinguished writer or phi-
losopher, ancient or modern, who did not assert that
slave labour in the end was the more costly of the two.
Such was the opinion of Hume, Dr. Franklin, and
a host of other writers ; and he must say. that
nothing had happened to shake his conviction
in that truth. lie firmly believed that an all-wise
Providence had decreed that that which was morally
wrong could not iu the end be profitable. But he
went further, and appealed to experience, which
would be found to prove that free labour, when not
encumbered with protection, but with things left to
their natural course, had invariably gained the victory.
In America, the slave states were unab.o to compete
with the free labour states in any one article which
the climate of those free states enab:ed them to grow.
The same might be said of the free labour of the East
Indies, as applied to the article of indigo; and as applied to
sugar, he believed that if it had been encouraged
sooner, it would, iu the lung run, have rendered emancipa-
tion in the West Indies unnecessary, by the voluntary
abandonment of slave labour. He was in a position
to show that, even at the pmeat moment, free labour
in the West Indies was cheaper than slave labour im-
mediately pre-dons to emancipation. The Noble Earl,
in support of this view, quoted Dr. Jay, of Ja-
maica, who stated V4it piece-work, before eman-
cipation, averaged from 41. lOs. to 51. Bs. the
acre, and now only from 21. 14r. to 31. 2s. Her
Majesty's Government had been told that they ought
not to quote what was not oll.dal authority; but this
evidence of Dr. Jay was corroborated by a dispatch of
Major Graham, of the 7th April last, so far as stating
that free labour was not dearer than slave labour. Look-
ing to these circumstances, he (L ,rd Grey) did not
despair of the West India colonies. He (lid not look for
their prosperity in any measures that l'ailbonent could
a lopt, but in a change in the state of society. Such a
change was already going on in Jamaica. He had re-
cently received a memorial from the ,western part of that
islaed, in which the memorialists said that they had in-
vested capital in the land to the extent of 142,000/., and
that with one exception they had purchased or leased
their property since the Emancipation Act. That
showed what a change was going on there in the state of
society ; and he believed that in the course of a few
years more they would see the soil of Jamaica culti-
vated by resident landlords, by holders or lessees of the
land. So far from the prospects of Jamaica being
bad at the present moieeue he was aware of no part
of the British dominions which offered so favourable
an opportunity for the investment of capital. lie be-
lieved that a man of science, or five or six such men in-
tending to act in concert, going to Jamaica, not despising
local experience, but evading themselves of all the ale
they could get from ia apply ifig those grt at principles of
science on which all cultivation must mainly depend,
having recourse to irrigaiion and those other means
which, in foreign colonies, had been adopted with so
much success—apply hie deer capital in this manner, ho
firmly believed they w 0.71,1 have a firer prospect of re-
alising a fortune than in any other mode open to them
in the British dominion.. lint it nas not to be expected
'Omit a manufacture of so peculiar a nature could be
profitably carried on by agents ehe had not that free-
d:on of action, or that constant incentive to action, self-
interest which belonged only to proprietors, The Noble
Earl having pointed to a lieu had been accomplished in
the growth of beet-rout sugar in France, concluded by
appealing to their Lordships whether he had not fairly
proved that the distress of the West Indian colonies was
not attributable to legislation in her Al ijesty's Govern-
ment.—(Bear.)

Some explanations having passed between Lerd
,/anley and the Noble Eerl,
The Bishop or OXFORD said ho held in his hand a
petition from the Cr uacil and Assembly of Barbadoes, the
prayer of which was very much the same as that read
by the Noble Lord opposite (Stanley), complaining of
the same disasters and pointing to the same cure. The
question was not a fiscal one. If it were he would have
left the consideration of it entirely to the lay Lords. It
involved much higher principles, and amongst them the
principle of protection; which, in this instance, he main-
tained ought not to be abolished. Surely that man
would be accounted insane who should propose to allow
the free introduction into our open markets of infected
bales of goods, spread:fig terror and disease; or who
should propose to cxchanAe firearms ior some oth, r COM-
modity, because in dootg so they would be selling in the
dearest, and buying in the cheap,st market. In his opi-
/lion the case which now occupied their attention was of
the same character. Ile conceived that affording p.u-
tection to the West Lelia planter was only carrying
Out our own principle of having nothing to do with
the'slave trade, and that refusing that protection was a
gross breach of justice both to the planter and negro.
The petition pointed oet that the inhabitants of the
West India islands entered upon a vast experiment,
and risked their worldly goods upon the faith and pro-
mised cooperation of the 'nether country ; but by the
breach of that faith our West India sugar had not only
been brought into a state of general dcpression, but into
a ruinous competition wi It sugar which could be pro-
duced more cheaply. The Noble E ill had not answered
—because he could nut•—'the argument ef the Noble Lord
in asking this question—" It the general depression ct
merchandise fni;sed a .-,inkiog of the price of sugar, why
did the price of Cuba suwr rise at the same moment
The Noble Earl to!d them that just as protecting duties
sank, the price of labour sank, and that therefore the
West India proprietors, looking to the effect of protect-
ing duties, gave preposteron Ay high wages ; that, those
duties being rt tteved, they would no lolger be able to
pay such wages; lila*, they would have to make their la-
bourers work more, and give item sugar cheaper, but that
after all they would have enough to enable them to live
comfortably. That mode o' reasoning amounted just to
this—that the West Indian proprietor should never
know anything of prosperity, ~int must always be kept
upon the verge of rule, in older to makt, the black man
work as he ought. The Noble Earl told
'them thatn all
f
that was required to ensure prosperity ,as
capital, prudence, enterprise, and skilllie ha'dmieteard
that so often, that he was compelled to doubt its effect;
for surely no men were better judges of how
mass
might be invested than many of those who had
of capital lying idle for want of a sate itivesttnentnasllees
thought that that was a practical answer to the theory
upon which the Neble Earl's speech was based. The
question was not merely one of protection to property
which had been proposed by the Minister and assented
to by Parliament. A greater security still had been
pledge by the morals and religion of
given, namely, a
Bugland that she would thencefarth have nothing- more
away of
trade, for the wiping;
to do with the slave
Pox had zealously which
p ar e p
bondar e d
Stain such men as Pitt and
England pledged by
the way. Thus was
stronger than any prcbuena agreement, and by an
a.
ob'igation more bind nig than the promise of any
Minister, never more to have anything to do with
the accursed slave trade. And yet was she
now, in plain English, sharing the profits of the Cuba
planter.—(Cheers from Lord Stanley and others.) It
was said that she was justified in (icing so, because, it
she dt not, other countries would. That teas an argu-
ment which the people of England would not for a
moment endure to have urged upon Parliernent, and his
answer to it was, " It' evil is to be dine, let us not be
the (leers of it." It had been said with prophetic truth,
that tho con,, (pence of the present treasure would be—
f' the growth of sugar in our own West
India r
o island,, told Llicn an outlet for the slave-grown
Cuba and Bruzll, not only to our own markets,
but tiro whole of Europe, giving the monopoly of the
markets of the world to slave- gi own sugar. It was the
prnuliar attribute of slay ,t,rown sugar to be able to
effect that object ; for howt easy was it by a sudden
inrreaee of labour to bringdown the price for a while,
until our ow
were destroyed, and then
nprPieleanatgatalluntwhr
to raise the
danger of competition by free lubourra? was
no further
.bad told them that it was an old anti-slavery The Noble Earl
nient, that free labour was Cheaper tiian argu-
labour,
and, therefore, that it was inconsistent foryea
anti-
slavery nun to say that our Wost India colonies could
co
pet compete with Cuba or Brazil. But the Noble Ell
tinintrOienallY Inisstattil the argument, because it had

FRENCH PLAYS.—ST. JAMES'S THEATRE.
Lessee, Mr. John Mitchell, 33, Old Bond-street.
TO-MORROW EVENING,
Will be performed NOEMIE. Le Comte d'Avrigny, M. St. Marie;
Eleosor d'Avrigny, M. Josset ; Jules de Mornas, Chatelaiu;
Neende, Mdlle. Baptiste.
After which, LA VICOMTES-4: LOLOTTE. Le Comte de Mo-
rangis, M.
St. Mar e ; Le Vicomte d'Herouville, M. Pechter; Le
Chevalier Tancrede, M. 3lontaland ; Lolotte Berth, Mdlle. Nathalle
MITCHELL'S Royal
tickets, and season prospectuses, may be had at Mr.
MircllELL's Royal Library, 33, Old Bond-street.
P°"B Open at Seven, tip commence at half-past Seven.
-
ba.; Pit, 3s. Gd.; Amphitheatre, 3s. ; Gallety, 2a

PRINCESS'S THEATRE.
Mr. J. M. Maddox, sole Lessee and Manager, Duchess-street,
Madame ANNA la
Tce.
HILLON-
THIS EVENIiG
Will he presented a new and original Operetta, entitled The
YOUNG GUARD. Don Guzman, Mr. Bodda; Don Alvarez, Mr.
Parker ; Donna Dimple, Miss Sara Flower ; Estella, Mrdame Anna
Tbition.
After which, a new comic Drama, called NIT SISTER'S SECRET.
Tu be followed by a new Comic Piece, entitled THE SULTANA.
soiyman, Jlr. Ryder; Osutyn, Mr. Compton; Ynseph, Mr. Henry ;
Roxalana, Madame Anna Thillon; Elmira, Miss \Mars ; Itmena,
Miss Hodson.
FATIIEIC TI eh r, Christmas
equiallarnelwa and t 1 e Four Pantomime, Seasons.entitled OLD
To concludem igw;it
Dress Circle, 55.: Boxes, 45.; Pit. 23. ; Gallery, Is.

ASTLEY'S ROYAL AMPHITHEATRE,
Proprietor and Manager, Mfg William Batty.
Mr. Batty's performin Elephants.
THIS EVENING,
The Grand Spectacle of THE CAMP OF SILESIA.
Entirely new Scenes in the Arena, by the talented Artistes of
the Establishment, in the various modes of equestration.
To conclude with a Grand Equestrian Comic Pantomime entitled
LIARLEQUIN DOCTOR SYNTAX AND HIS DAPPER GREY
MARE, in which those popular artistes Herr Denlin, Mdlle. Thee-
:tore, Mr. Anderson, and Mr. Bradbury, as Harlequin, Columbine,
down, and Pantaloon, which will exceed in splendour and (Sect
all former productions at the Amphitheatre,

Box-office °poi; from 11 till 5
Aug and Stage Mailager, Mr. W West.

THE WEATHEK—SUN OFFICE, FED. 8.
THERMOMETER, Lowest, 40 ; Highest, 52 ; Noon, 48.
BAROMETER, 29.92.—W1ND S.W.; hazy.