The Sun.
London, England, 1848-06-17 00:00:00

Grey, as soon as the Noble Lord had moved fur it it was
put into the copyist's hands, and so far as he (Mr.
Yawes) knew no unnecessary delay had taken place
is laying it before the Committee. A question of dates
could not be easily settled off hand, but this he would
say, in his place in Parliament, that there had been no
withholding of information, and that never had a Com-
mittee been furnished with such a flood of information.
Re could assure the House, upon his honour, that it
never was the intention to withhold dispatches for one
moment ; and therefore he thought he was entitled to
meet with some degree of indignation the accusation of
the Noble Lord.—(Hear, hear.) Ho should take care to
furnish himself with the dates against a future day, and
in the meantime content himself by stating in his place
in Parliament that there never had been the slightest
intention of withholding information from the Com-
mittee.
Mr. DISRAELI was of opinion that the Hon. Under-
Secretary had exhibited an unnecessary degree of in-
dignation. Did he mean to say that the dispatch
of Sir C. Grey had been presented in good time to the
Committee ?
Mr. HAWES had not understood that the dispatch
in question was called for in the first instances. Subse-
quently the Noble Lord moved for a great many dis-
patches, and they were immediately placed iu the
printers' hands.
Mr. DISRAELI did not think that the Hon. Under-
Secretary had bettered his position by his interlocutory
observation.—(Hear, hear.) The Hon. Gentleman had,
as a witness before the Committee, been asked for in.
formation which he, as a member of the Government,
Must have possessed. He evaded the question, and chose
to think that it referred to a mere routine report.—(Hear,
hear.) He was asked whether he was in possession of
any information of importance, and he declined to men-
tion the dispatch which bad been alluded to by the Noble
Lord the Member for King's Lynn.
Mr. HAWES—I stated that some dispatches had been
received.
Mr. DISRAELI—Yes; but the Hon. Under Secre-
tary thought the dispatch of Sir C. Grey of so little
consequence as not to require especial mention.—(Hear,
hear.) The great question was whether the dispatch
in question would or would not have influenced the
decision of the Committee.—(Hear, hear) If he re-
collected right, the Right lion. Member for Cambridge
University had asked for the dispatch.
Mr. HAWES—The Right Hon. Gentleman was pre-
sent and would answer for himself. He had understood
the Right Hon. Gentleman to ask for what was techni-
eally called the blue book, and had, therefore, answered,
and truly, that it was not in his possession.
Mr. GOULBURN said that the Hon. Under Secre-
tary must have misunderstood the question he had put
to
him.—(Hear, and laughter.) He had asked whether
Government had received any information from the
Governor of Jamaica which would throw light on the
distressed state of that colony.—(Loud cries of " Hear,
hear.") He owned he had been surprised when subse-
quently he saw the dispatch of Sir C. Grey.—(Hear.)
Mr. DISRAELI was quite satisfied with the answer
Which the Right Hon. Member for the University of
...Cambridge had made to the appeal of the Honourable
Under Secretary.—(Hear, hear.) But nobody had sup-
Posed that a statesman of that Right Honourable Gentle-
man's talent and experience would be so green as to ask
for a blue book.—(A laugh.) The question was, as he
had before stated, whether an important document had
not been withheld, and whether, if produced, it would
not have had an important influence on the decision of
the Committee.—(Hear, hear) All that had been said
Within the previous few minutes went to confirm the
statement which had been made by his Noble Friend,
but he (Mr. Disraeli) would leave the question for the
Present between the Honourable Under Secretary and
the Right Honourable Member for the University of
Cambridge. It was not his intention to prolong the dis-
cussion on the general question, but remembering that
the packet was to sail on the following day, he thought
that all expression of opinion should not be deferred
until Monday. He protested against the course of the
Government. They might have adopted the suggestion
of the Committee, or they might have adhered to the
Policy of 1846; but they had done neither. They had
Paltered in a double sense, and while unfaithful to poli-
tical economy, had been equally false to protection.—
(Protectionist cheers.) As the packet was about to sail
it was but right that the colonists should know that all
in that House were not equally unfaithful to their in-
terests—that some looked upon the proposition of the
Government 'as devoid of every statesmanlike quality,
and as unlikely to lead to any result.—(Eiear, hear.)
What was the question as between the English people
and the colonies? The English people, as represented
by Parliament and Government, had entered into a con-
tract with the sugar growing colonies in 1834. They
abolished slave-labour, and in return promised them an
abundant supply of free labour and a market. To that
contract there were four conditions, and three of them
had been violated by the British Government.—
(Hear, hear.) The Noble Lord had said that
the great object of the Bill of 1846 was to secure
cheap sugar to the people of England. If that were
the principle, why not relieve the people in other mat •
ters—in taxation, for instance? Why not sponge off the
national debt, and thus relieve the people from a great
portion of their taxation? By following up a high tone
of morality, a greater fiscal result might be accomplished
than the colonial catastrophe which was now being ac-
complished. No one had told the House why the con-
tract with our colonies had nut been fulfilled. The
Honourable Member for Manchester had spoken of re-
lief to his suffering constituents through the medium of
cheap sugar. No doubt they were suffering, but so were
the colonists, and in both cases from the legislation of
the Honourable Member and his school.—(Hear, hear.)
There was one consideration which had been touched
upon by the Noble Lord the Member for King's Lynn,
and which he (Mr. Disraeli) trusted would never
be omitted from the discussion of this question.
The West India colonies must not be permitted
to perish altogether.—(Hear, hear.) They had ex-
isted for some centuries, had achieved a consi-
derable degree of civilisation, and had brought,
the land into a high state of cultivation. Therefore
notwithstanding our political economy and perfidy, it was
not possible to suppose that they would or could come to
Utter desolation.—(Hear, hear.) But how were they to
prosper ? They must be supported by some metro-
Politan authority. Dependencies they were, and must
ever remain so ; and depend upon it, that if forsaken by
us, a million of men would not perish without a struggle,
but would seek encouragement and support from trans-
atlantic powers.—(Hear.) But were they even securing
Cheap sugar by the present poposal ? He remembered
having said in 1846 that the history of men was the
history of reaction, and that the Noble Lord replied in a
Speech full of habeas corpus and the rights of man ; but
n°,v, two years after, the Noble Lord himself came down
with a retro-active policy.—(Hear.) The fact was, that
all_ this time we had been establishing differential duties
is favour of Cuba and the Brazils—in fact, establishing a
monopoly for the slave-growing countries. (Hear.)
,
he Right Hon. Member for Catubridge University had
touched the moral blot of this case. If there had been no
Parliament, or more unfortunate still, no reporters, they
might have got cut of the scrape ; but forty years of
Public meetings, forty years of platform oratory, and
forty years of ministers of state raised to office through
the advocacy of the abolition of slavery, were traditions
Which would not easily be forgotten by the people.
Among other things, the distinguished part taken in that
agitation by the Society of Friends would not be for-
gotten ; and therefore when lie saw in the Hon. Member
for Manchester the eloquent advocate of slave-grown
Sugar, when ho heard hint tell the people that all they
Were to look to was the cheapness of the article, he
thought he was justified in saying that the present was
an era of remarkable reaction.—(Hear, hear.) The Go-
vernment which had brought in the Bill of 1846 were
now obliged to come forward with a remedial policy.—
(Hear, hear.) What would the people of England think
When they found that the free-trade policy had so soon
broken down ?—(Hear.) He had not the slightest doubt
but that when they had free-trade prices of corn, and
that agricultural distress which the Hon. Member for
Manchester had described with so much unction, and on
the anticipation of which he had gloated with so much
feeling—when they had cheap provisions consentaneous
with commercial depression and colonial ruin, and a
total want of business throughout the country, they
would regret the policy into which they had been talked,
and the false system of which they had for some time
been supporters.—(Hear, hear.) He should give his
opinion on the Government proposal at the proper time;
but so far as his voice went, he wished to let the colonists
know that be had entered a protest as indignant as that
of the Under-Secretary's against a measure brought for-
ward under circumstances he believed unprecedented in
this country, With reference to colonial legislation, mi-
serably feeble in conception, and leading, as he believed,
to utter disappointment and unparalleled
failure.—(The
1-1,00. Gentleman was loudly cheered by gentlemen on the
Protectionist benches as he resumed his seat.)
Lord J. RUSSELL—In asking the House to adopt
,the proposition which I have laid before it, I ventured
to request the House to follow a ;course which has
been usual in this year, and to wait for another day—
and that only after a two days' interval—before dis-
cussing the merits of the proposition. But Honour-
able Gentlemen have not taken that course, and, like
IncOr Hon. Friend the Member for the University of
xford, and the Hon. Gentleman who has just sat
‘jdown, each has made his comments in regard to the
Principle and general purport and effects of this mea-
sure, I must first take notice of the speech of the
/t
, • Member who has just sat down, because I think
y
1' has shown pretty clearly what is to be the nature
uthethe debate and discussion which is to come ibefore
House on Monday next.—(Hear.) The Hon. Gen-
tlemanl says that the reaction which he prophesied in
'5 is coming, and he explained what he meant by
that_o reaction, because he went on to say that these
commercial principles, which had received their com-
e Poi
intion in 1846, were now, in 1848, to have the
sineneernent of their overthrow. He foresaw and
;cut toted that the corn-laws would be again remedied,
there would be new duties imposed upon the admis-
eiu_,n of foreign corn, and that all those commercial prin-
ei_tes which have received the sanction of this House
during the last seven ears are to be overthrown by the
theelsilon of' this Mousey n this and future years. I think
of the [lon.
may see from that what are the expectations
the „, on. Gentleman, and in what view he will support
fear
of the Committee, of which the Noble
(lieuartoie Member for King's Lynn was the chairman.—
haeenar.) I certainly had not understood, until the
Gentlemantletnan spoke, or at least until the Right Hon.
objectwas.
tho Member for Stamford spoke, what that
was t 7a • I had supposed that they meant that there
then ° be a duty of 10s, per cwt. for six years, and that
seen that
dirainisLe , duty was to expire, or gradually to be
that were
a until equal duties were to be established. If
Curt "
should
proposition, it would be one to which I
burden not much object on account of the
would impose, for it would not be very different
to principle to the measure of 1846—it would be looking
f• an equalization of the duty. But the Right Hon.
'n1410384 has explained that his object is W restore