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

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duty imposed was not for protection to any i -tI Is? ,'ss,
this country, but only for the purposes of reve 4-al WSS:ll,ese-A- saa
Mr. BEIiNAL wished to know how the Ri t ' "sig -----,-‘
Gentleman could justify that arrangement, by es
Scotland rum at 9s. 4d. was let in to meet a s • aVel ACP'
3s. 4d. Was not that protection ? Perhaps the Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer did not know that there was a
spirit manufactured in Scotland, called the U Silent
Spirit."—(Laughter.) It was alcohol having the appear-
ance and colour of rum, and was vended there duty free
to the prejudice of rum. He asked why rum should not
enter into Scotland on the same footing as it did with
English spirits in England ; why there was not a uniform
rate for Scotland also ?
Mr. HUME was pleased that this matter had been so
amicably settled, but he though the Government might
have male the concession asked by the West India inte-
rest, without injuring the great measure now before the
Committee.—(Hear, hear.) He must join with other
Hon. Gentlemen who had already addressed the Com-
mittee, in hepng that Government would act liberally with
the Colonies. No one could deny the assertion that they
had not been treated fairly ; and he, for one, thought,
while they were adopting free trade at'home, they ought
to apply it to the colonies without any reservations
whatever. Place the colonies in a situation of freedom
in that respect, and he was satisfied that, so far from
suffering from the change about to be made, they would
be able to compete with any foreign producers. Now,
this freedom could not be given unless a change took
place in the system pursued at the Colonial-office.
Hitherto that department had acted upon nothing but 3
receding policy, issuing orders one day, and counter-
manding them another, and acting all the year round
upon a vice rersa system, if he might be allowed to use
the term.—(Hear, hear, and laughter.) An evil genius
appeared to have invaded all the ranks of the Colonial-
office, but lie hoped the Noble Lord would give them an
assurance that, in this respect a change should be made,
and the colonies permitted to have the management of
their own fiscal affairs themselves.—(llear, hear.)
Lord JOHN RUSSELL had heard with great plea-
sure the statement of his Right Hon. Friend opposite.
But with regard to the observations of his Hon. Friend •
(Mr. Bernal) he thought it was better both for the con-
sumer and the producer that the present distinction
between rum scotch spirits should continue for a short
while longer. These changes could not be suddenly
made with advantage to either party. It required time
to effect them, and if that time were allowed to Govern-
ment they would do their utmost to carry out the details
of this change in a manner that should meet the viewo and
wishes of most parties.—(Hear, hear.) They did not
propose any variation of duties for the sake of protection,
but with a view of ultimately leading to a final and
satisfactory adjustment of the sugar duty question.
With regard to the reduction proposed to be made in
the excise duty of 6d., he relied fully upon the justice
and integrity of his Right Hon. Friend the Chancellor
of the Exchequer, who he had no doubt would settle the
question impartially, and in a manner calculated to pro-
tect the interest of all parties. It must be remembered,
however, that the West Indies had been exposed to great
changes in their social as well as commercial condition.
They were now thrown open to the changes of free
trade, if indeed there were any ; and he felt it to be the
duty of Government to attend to all these little questions
and details which it was supposed would do so
much benefit for the colonies.—(Cheers.) He was very
sorry to hear two Honourable Gentlemen opposite speak
with so much despondency of the prospect of the West
Indies. lie owned, although, he had cerefully con-
sidered all that was said on former occasions upon this
part of the subject, he did not believe the prospects of
the West Indies were so distressing and deplorable as
some Hon. Gentlemen would paint them.—(Hear, hear.)
He did really believe that, with the advantages of some
trifling charge, and privileges, they would be well able to
compete in the sugar market with sugar the produce of
slave labour.—(Hear, hear.) The difficulties in their
way were only those of the price and supply of labour,
and he could assure the House that Government in-
tended taking these steps which should reduce the diffi-
culties year by year till they had entirely vanished.—
(Hear, hear.) It would be their study and desire to
establish a free intercourse between the African and
West Indian colonies. Men could be brought from Africa
to the West Indies, and there thoroughly taught the
arts of civilisation before they would return to their
native soil. This system, managed with skill, care, and
attention, he need not point out to the House, would
lead to the civilisation of the barbarous population of
our African colonies.—(Hear, hear.) He had stated
these opinions on former evenings, and in repeating
them then his only object was to add that he hoped
shortly to see them carried into practical effect. But
still lie must agree with a Noble Lord, a late Governor
of Jamaica, that it was impossible that any
system of emigration could improve the cultivation
of the West Indies, unless there were some slight sacri-
fice made on the part of the West Indians themselves ;
but upon this point he did not want to raise any contro-
versy. Still, however, it must he borne in mind that the
efforts of that Noble Lord were in a great measure ren-
dered useless by the disputes which arose between the
West Indians and the emigrants, relative to certain
rights and privileges claimed by the one, and refused by
the other ; and while he. did not pretend to say who was
in the right or who was in the wrong, the advisers of the
emigrants, or the counsel of the West Indians, he could
not conceal from himself the fact that these disputes had
had the effect of retarding the progress of the colonies
themselves.—(Hear, hear.) Happily, however, these
disputes and disagreements had generally sub-
sided, and at all events he was glad that
this obstacle would not lie in the future course
of the Government. Upon these grounds, therefore,
he did not look with any kind of despondency
to the result of this measure. It was an experiment
which had already been tried with great success. They
had heard this in the course of debate from the Right
Hon. Baronet, the Member for Tamworth, himself, and
he felt confident the anticipations of those who were the
most desponding would never be realised.—(Hear,
hear.) Ile could not quite agree with his Hon. Friend,
the Member for Montrose, that there was hardly a
colony which was not a burden to this country; not that
he intended to say that every colony was perfectly satis-
fied with the recent policy of the Colonial-office ; but
upon this point, all he could say was, that his Noble
Friend, now at the head of the Colonial Department,
would pay every attention to the subject.—(Hear, hear.)
The Noble Lord, he was sure, agreed with him in the
public course that ought to be pursued towards the colo-
nies ; and he felt convinced every thing would be done
that could protect or promote the interest of the colo-
nies —(llear, hear,) Where emigrants were settling in
large numbers, be thought they ought to control the ex-
penditure of their own moneys without being sub-
jected to the dictation of any department of the parent
state ; and, with these principles for their guidance, he
had not the least doubt whatever Government would be
able to work out a beneficial reformation in the
colonies.—(Cheers.)
Mr. PHILIP HOWARD fully appreciated the liberal
and patriotic spirit which had dictated the remarks of
the Hon. Member for Sunderland, kind the Hon. Mem-
ber for Rochester ; and after what had fallen from the
Noble Lord, who had just resumed his seat, he thought
they might safely look forward to a speedy and perms-,
nent improvement being effected in the colonies.—
(Hear, hear.) There was no better way of attaining
that improvement, in his opinion, than extending the
contract under which emigrants were brought from
Africa to labour in the West Indies. The time now,
he thought, was too short to admit of the negroes ob-
taining a sufficient knowledge of the art of civilisation,
to render his example of any value when he returned to
his native home.—(Hear, hear.) Though these la-
bourers might at first be considered a burden, they
would in a short thee repay the trouble and expense
bestowed upon them, He thought that this step would
be a very great boon to the colonists, and it was one
which the Ceovernment might very fairly concede. .It
would make the labourers in the West Indies more in-
dustrious.
resumed,
resolutions
chairman
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endthe T thehhie o ruesme
reporta in de
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ordered to be brought up on Monday
next.
COURTS MARTIAL IN THE NAVY.
On the order of the day for the House resolving itself
into a Committee of Supply,
Mr. WILLIAMS rose for the purpose of calling the
attention of the House to the manner in which courts
martial were constituted and conducted in the British
navy, and in doing so he said he was very unwilling to
detain the Speaker in the chair, but he considered him-
self called upon to entreat the House to condemn the
present management of courts martial in the navy.
Gentlemen connected with the navy stated that the ex-
isting laws inflicted the punishment of death for the most
trivial offences; and with the view of making those courts
more in accordance with the feelings of the time,
and with the present state of criminal law in this
begged to call the attention of the House
to
present existed with regard to the
the country,
law he
as it at
holding of courts-martial in the British navy. That
law, he contended, required a most extensive alteration.
The law with regard to holding, and the powers of,
courts-martial was to be found in the 22d Act of Geo. 11.,
passed 97 years ago. The law, since that time, had
undergone a material alteration with regard to holding
courts-martial in the army, and he thought it was high
time that so important a branch of the public service as
that of the navy should also receive a proper considera-
tion. The present law with regard to the holding of
courts-martial required five officers at least to be present
at a court, and of those it was requisite that three should
be post captains. Now it happened that if a ship were
out at a foreign station, and charges were brought
against the officer, three post captains could not be
found, and the consequence was that in many instances
justice was delayed to the accused. Indeed, many
months often elapsed before the accused was put upon
his trial. One case of recent occurrence had been
brought under his notice of a lieutenant who had
been put under arrest ; he was consequently disqualified
from the performance of his duty; he was kept in a state
of the utmost anxiety for a period of twenty-two months.
That gentleman was stationed at the coast of Africa.
The Right Hon. Gentleman the Secretary of the Admi-
ralty, it appeared, denied the truth of the statement, but
he (Mr. Williams) would be able to prove it by the
testimony of a gentleman of the highest respectability.
He could bring forward many cases of a similar descrip-
tion, but he was not willing to trespass on the time of
the House. Now, if the same law prevailed in the navy
as that in the army, with respect to the holding of
courts-martial, there need be no unnecessary delays.
In the army lieutenants were permitted to form mem-
bers of the courts, and he submitted that the first
lieutenants in the navy were quite as capable of deter-
miningn on the cases occurring in the navy as lieutenants
that
in the army were of judging upon cases_occ(
department of the public eeryice.noolinwn►jenatirn:
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