The Sun.
London, England, 1848-06-26 00:00:00

SPANISH AFFAIRS.

Mr. BANKES gave notice of his intention to-morrow
to move that the circumstances attending the expulsion
of a Minister accredited by the Court of Great Britain
to the Court of Spain, and the interruption of the amic-
able relations between that country and England, conse-
quent upon them, are circumstances immediately calling
for the attention of Parliament.—(Hear, hear.)
INDIA RAILWAYS.
Lord MAHON wished to know from the Right lieu.
Baronet the President of the Board of Control how far
the railways in India had been affected by the financial
distress in India as well as at home.
Sir J. C. HOBHOUSE had no other answer to make
to the Noble Lord than had appeared in the public
prints, in which all the circumstances connected with
Indian railways had been stated. The Madras Com-
pany had dissolved itself. The Bengal Company had
not been able to find the amount required by the East
India Company, but brighter prospects he was in hopes
were in store for the Bombay Railway.
ST. ALBAN'S.
_ _

Mr. COBDEN presented a petition from an elector of
St. Alban's praying that that borough might be included
in the schedule to the Bill of the lion. Member for Flint
Burghs.
Mr. RAPHAEL wished to say a few words upon the
subject of the petition.
The SPEAKER said the petition had been ordered to
lie upon the table, and it was out of order to do so.
Mr. RAPHAEL said in that case he would move that
the petition be printed.—(Cries of " Order, order.")
Mr. COBDEN reminded the Hon. Gentleman that he
had already given notice that to-morrow he should move
that the petition be printed.
Mr. RAPHAEL said he would take that opportunity
of saying what he had to say upon the subject.
ILISH POOR-LAWS.
Mr. STAFFORD wished to ask the Home Secretary,
whether it be the intention of the Government to intro-
duce a declaratory Bill in reference to that clause in the
Irish Poor Relief Amendment Act, commonly known as
the quarter acre clause ?
Sir G. GREY said it was not the intention of the
Government to promote any alteration of the law, but
the subject was now under the consideration of the Poor-
law Commissioners, with the view of making an order
in reference to it.

THE ST. LAWRENCE.

Mr. SPOONER said he had received a letter from an
eminent house in Montreal, stating that the Board of
Trade of Canada had memoralized the Home Govern-
ment on the subject of opening the St. Lawrence,
and representing that if the policy of the present Go-
vernment in reference to that question were persevered
in, it might lead to the annexation of Canada to the
United States. Seeing the Under-Secretary of
the Colonies in his place he wished to ask
whether such a memorial had been received.
Mr. HAWES stated that the papers alluded to by
the Hon. Member would be laid on the table to-morrow.
ENCUMBERED ESTATES (IRELAND) BILL.
Mr. BRIGHT said the Noble Lord at the head of the
Government had stated last December that the Bill for
promoting the sale of encumbered estates in Ireland
was ready to be proceeded with, but up to the present
time no communication had been made to the
House with respect to it. It was a question of great
importance, and should, if possible, be disposed of this
session, and he wished, therefore, to know when the Bill
would be brought forward ?
Lord J. RUSSELL replied that the Bill would be
proceeded with before the other Irish business.
JAMAICA.—MR. HAWES' EXPLANATION.
On the order of the day being read for proceeding with
the adjourned debate,
Mr. HAWES said he was anxious to make a statement
in accordance with the pledge he made to the House on
Friday night last, so as to enable the House to judge of
the correctness or incorrectness of certain accusations
made by the Noble Lord the Member for King's Lynn.
In the first place, he wished to put himself right with
the House, and to state that if in the course of Friday
evening he did use any expressions which were con-
sidered objectionable, he wished now to withdraw them.
He could not allow the statements of the Noble
Lord and the imputations which he had cast
both upon the department which he had the honour to
serve, and upon his Noble Friend Lord Grey, to pass
without the most direct and positive denial
on his part. The Honourable Member then
went into an explanation relative to the dis-
patches of Governor Light ,and Lord Harris, whisk
the Noble Lord had alleged were suppressed, in order
to show that the Government had nu intention what.
ever to withhold the documents from the Committee.
The dispatch was preparing for the House. On the
16th of June, Mr. Goulburn asked him in the House,
(he was spewing from the Times of the following morn-
ing,) if he had yet received from Jamaica any account
of the state and prospects of the island; to which
he (Air. Hawes) replied that he was sorry to say
the Government had not yet received these papers.
which were usually published in a blue book, and
thatthe accounts he had received were only of a
general character At a later period he put a similar
question to which he gave a similar replS. This
was the explanation he had to give with respect
to the first part of the charge, and he asked the
hon. gentleman and the House to put that generous
interpretation upon it to which he believed his. con-
duct in the matter entitled him. He now came to the
mattter which was entirely personal to himself, and
though labouring under strong feelings in relation to
the charges which had been made against him, yet, as
his public character was entirely unsullied, he would
not allow himself to be betrayed into the use of heated
and intemperate language, he had so keen a sense
of the impropriety of the altercations which had recently
taken place in that House, and if their effect
elsewhere, that he should not use any expressions cal-
culated to give the slightest offence. Having read the
charge made against him by the Noble Lord in the very
words he used, the Hon. Gentleman proceeded to say
that he declared at the time he did not recollect that
any important dispatches had been received from the
Governor of Jamaica, and in the Committee (a portion
of the evidence ho gave before, which he read), he stated
in reply to the Hon. Gentleman (Mr. Goulburn), that
dispatches of an important character had been received
from other colonies, but that he could not find any-
thing which could bear that interpretation from
Jamaica, adding, that whatever had arrived should
be laid before the Committee. He asked, [therefore,
whether his conduct in the matter justified the accusa-
tion of the Noble Lord ? The dispatch alleged to have
been withheld occupied a single page of the blue book,
in which the Governnor suggested a protective duty
of 2d. upon foreign sugar as against colonial sugar—
giving, in fact, an opinion in favour of protection. Now he
confessed be did not attach that importance to the do-
cument which the Noble Lord did; but at the same time
the Goverment stated that the representatives of the
colonial planters, with respect to the cost of the pro-
duction of sugar must be treated with great caution by
the Noble Earl at the head of the Colonial Department.
Taking, therefore, the view he took of that document,
there could be no motive for withholding it. He would
now come to the other horns of dilemma, the other dis-
patch which the Noble had alluded to. That dispatch came
first to the Colonial-office on the 27th of March. It
went first to Arr. Cox, who was in that office, after-
wards to Mr. Elliott, then to himself, and then to Earl
Grey, all of whom had made different statements
upon them; and Earl Grey directed that they should
be laid before the Committee ; but Mr. Cox had ne-
glected to do so. If the error had taken place on his
(Mr. Hawes) part, he would be most ready to have
borne all the blame.—(Hear, hear.) Now, having
made this statement, he called upon the Noble
Lord to state whether he meant to adhere
to the charge he had made against him, because if
the Noble Lord did adhere to that charge,
he should ask the House to institute the most
searching inquiry into the subject, as he was
determined either to be convicted of the charge imputed
to him or stand fair before the House and the country
upon the serious charge that had been thrown upon him
by the Noble Lord.—(Hear, hear.)
Lord G. BENTINCK was sure that every Member
who had listened to the statements of the Hon. Gentle-
man would be satisfied of the perfect correctness of
these statements.—(Hear, hear.) But he thought that
the Hon. Gentleman had not made out any case to show
that the Colonial-office did not withhold the in-
formation from the Committee.—(Hear, hear.) He
(Lord George Bentinck) had made two distinct charges,
the one was that the Colonial office had systematically
kept back the information which Parliament in February
oughto have been in possession of, and which the Com-
mittee, of which he was Chairman, ought to have been
made acquainted with. He had made another charge
against the Honourable Gentleman, which was, that
in his evidence before the Committee on the sth
of April he had displayed a very short memory
until matters were recalled to his recollection.
He confessed he was still lost in surprise that the Hon.
Gentleman should have given the answer ho gave
(Rmigrh.tono
before the Committee after the statement he had
made to-day ; because, though it was true that
,11 the course of that evidence he said that he
v?! not aware of any important dispatch that
very dispateutr, n)
had been withheld from the Commmittee, yet the
uoinh. Gentleman, a Member of the Committee
his (Lord G.went distinctly to the character of this
vvhi?h the Hon. Gentleman, in answer to
and whilst first he reminded
was not the Bentiuck's)character last question, distinctly stated
then preparing,
before the Committee he reminded the
let there be no mistake
ut )f the dispatch which was
House of the evidence
take leave to ask the
attention of the Rouse whilst he showed
own'xiY ed to them
that there had been the greatest
ri
Aprild
about
the dispatch from Jamaica both before the sth
and after sth of April. Repeated inquires e w
e
relative to this information from Jamaica, but 'One everyma
occasion the representative of the Government were he
the right hon. gentleman the President of the Board of
Trade in the absence of the hon. Under Secretary for the
Colonies, as the Honourable Under Secretary himself
distinctly denied that there was any information of this
nature. Now, then, let them weigh well the spirit of
the questions, and the spirit of the answers given by
the Hon. Gentleman opposite. The Hon. Gentleman
has asked for a :particular blue-book, and he replied,
" You allude to the blue-book containing an annual
accout of the state of Jamaica ; and the fact is, we

have not received it. The Eight Honourable Gen-
tleman, who put the question, was not satisfied
with this answer, and ho said—" Does not the
Governor wrote dispatches on the subject of the state of