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

THE SUN, LONDON, SATURDAY_ EVENING, J UNE 17, 1848.

thought it would be better for the farmer and the coun-
try generally, that such a measure should be passed.—
(Hear, hear.) He might however ask, to whom it was
that the country owed it that they did not possess at
this moment a law which his Noble Friend said would
be attended with such advantage. It was a doctrine—
that of a fixed duty—which he had always advocated;
but how was this argument invariably met by the Noble
Lords on the other side of the House? Why, they were
told that they must not levy a tax upon the food of the
people—they might establish a corn-law for protection '
—but a corn-law for revenue was most unjust.—(Hear,
hear.) Ile could see no course so greatly to be depre-
ciated as that, after all the agitation and discussion of
the subject and the settlement of the question in 1846,
Parliament should once more throw into doubt what was
to be the permanent law on this most exciting subject,
and pass such a temporary Bill as that spoken of by his
Noble Friend. He could not help expressing his hope
and earnest expectation that Parliament would not inter-
fere again with the final settlement of this question.
The Duke of RICHMOND said that such a measure
as that suggested by his Noble Friend would prevent the
necessity of an increased income-tax; as to " letting
down the farmers," he could only say they would never
submit to being let down, and if a bad harvest occurred
in this country, when there was abundance of food
abroad, an agitation would be commenced amongst the
farmers of a serious nature, and, perhaps, they would re-
sort to measures which he would not recommend; they
would be ready to join any set of men in refusing pay-
ment of taxes when they found the Government embar-
rassed from a deficient Exchequer. He should never
forget that the present Corn-law was passed by men
who all their lives before had advocated protection to
the agriculturists, and they had voted agalionwsterthedeirtbem
con-
victions. The House of Lords also had
selves by their conduct in
min
1846, ind
measure, in the estimation of thebeygdinid
reat referencebedy t
ofo thisthe
people of this country, and if t
their con ence
they were about they would nut ga
not fidwhat
again.
poor-laws in Ireland.
The subject then dvroAppeß-
ou postpone the mo-
ndpoohtoierce relative to this subject
The Marquis of LANSDO\VNEAICCY laid :on the table
tsomeioLn
oorpfdawlphieoircsNhrThe lo Ea thAi vaGed
LtgoEi
vtehsnae
until he had seen the papers which the Noble Marquis
had presented.
Lord BROUGHAM condemned the practice of re-
lieving vagrants by giving them a supper, a night's lodg-
ing,nstd twh thoughteeekc who
o.a
practice calculated to encourage vagrancy.Hmerotwfroanryidnsgt Many per.
oiraeHttleea
and breakfast theonn their
einxt
ea D caoknev
ne
fr sRa
?final
obne
dt
,w en
Lord t
sons hadre very
beenfikel
likely
relievedt
e be
io
BheeaMu
ma roqfiuti,s a
no df SLaol irsd-
tist meetings in the metropolis on Whit-Monday.
Redesdale, the subject dropped.
bury, Aftert
the
IRELAND.
The Marquis of LANSDOWNE wished to know the
form of a motion of which his Noble Friend (Earl Fitz-
william) had given notice with reference to Ireland, and
when he would bring it on?
Earl FITZIVILLIAM said he should move that the
House felt grateful to the Executive Government for the
manner in which it had been conducted in Ireland; that
it regretted that the legislative measures which had
hitherto been taken for the relief
and
improvement of
Ireland had not been as extensive or successful as could
be wished; and that it would be desirable that the Par-
liament or the Government should take other and more
extensive measures for relieving the distress and improv-
ing the condition of the country. He would bring on his
motion on Friday next.
EVICTED DESTITUTE POOR (IRELAND) BILL.
On the motion of the Marquis of CLANRICARDE
the amendments to this Bill were ordered to be printed,
and the report to be received on Thursday next.
Their Lordships then adjourned.

HOUSE OF COMMONS, June 16.

The SPEAKER took the Chair at Four o'clock.
Mr. BROTHERTON presented two petitions from
Salford in favour of household suffrage.
Mr. JACKSON, Mr. JOHN EVANS, and several other
Hon. Members presented petitions in favour of Parlia-
mentary reform.
Mr. HENRY BERKELEY presented a similar peti-
tion from the West London Reform Association, and
several to the same effect from Bristol.

Sir R. 11. INGLIS presented a petition from West-
minster in favour of the Health of Towns Bill.
Mr. GEORGE THOMPSON presented a petition
from Clerkenwell in favour of Parliamentary reform.
THIRD READINGS.

The following Bills were read a third time and passed:
Fleetwood, Preston, and West Riding Junction Railway
(Burnley and Colliery Branches).
Londonderry and Coleraine Railway (Deviation of Line
and Amendment of Act).
Londonderry and Enniskillen Railway (Relinquishment
of line between Omagh and Enniskillen, &c.) Bill.
CONSIDERATION OF REPORTS.

The following reports were considered and agreed to:
Dundee and Perth Railway (lease of the Dundee and
Arbroath Railway Bill).
Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway, and Glasgow, Airdrie,
and Monklands Junction Railway (Amendment of
Acts) Bill.
Dr. BOWRING presented three petitions from
Bolton in favour of Parliamentary reform.
Sir E. BUXTON presented petitions from various
parties in the West Indies against any extensive emi-
gration from Africa. The Hon. Baronet also presented
petitions in favour of Parliamentary reform.
Mr. COWPER presented a petition from Hertford in
favour of an extension of the suffrage.
Mr. HASTIE presented a petition from Paisley
against the sale of intoxicating liquors on Sundays;
also a petition from the same place in favour of Parlia-
mentary reform.

Mr. (30BDEN presented a large number of petitions
;0 the same effect.

Mr. BANKES presented a petition from the county of
Dorset praying the House to pass an Act to define the
right of the Church and the Crown in the nomination of
bishops.

'FRAUDS IN THE SALE OF BREAD.
The HoN. MEMBER then brought up a Bill for more
effectually suppressing frauds in the sale of bread and
other articles of food, which was read a first time, and
ordered to be read a second time on the 3d of July.
SLIGO ELECTION.

The Committee appointed to try the merits of the
petition against the return for this borough was sum-
moned to the table and sworn.

PARLIAMENTARY REFORM.
Lord DUDLEY STUART presented a petition pray-
ing fur Parliamentary reform.
Mr. HUME presented a petition, signed by persons
resident in the metropolis, stating that the present con-
dition of the country made it absolutely necessary that
there should be some retrenchment, and praying that the
suffrage might be extended, that the voter might be fur-
ther protected, and that the duration of Parliaments
might be shortened.
THE RECEPTION OF PRINTED PETITIONS.
The [ION. MEMBER also stated that he had received
several petitions from different parts of the country.
praying for Parliamentary reform, but they were printed;
and agreeably to the rules of the House, he believed
that printed petitions could not be received; and if that
were so, it was important that it should be generally
known, as it would save parties a good deal of trouble.
He therefore begged to ask whether it was consistent
with the rules of the House that he or any other
Member could present printed petitions.
The SPEAKER said the Hon. Member was quite
right in his supposition, because it was a rule of the
House that printed petitions should not be received.
Mr. HUME apprehended that lithographed petitions
could be received ?

The SPEAKER—A petition must be written.
BOROUGH OF DERBY.

Mr. STAFFORD proposed the following motion:—
" That Mr. Speaker do issue his warrant to the Clerk
of the Crown, to make out a nsw writ for the electing
of two burgesses to serve in the present Parliament for
the borough of Derby, in the room of the Right Hon.
Edward Strutt and the Hon. Edward Frederick Le-
veson Gower, whose election had been determined to be
void."

Mr. HUME rose amidst cries for a division. He said
he thought after the decision which the House came to
last night with respect to the issuing of the writ for
Leicester—oily six having voted in favour of the
issuing of the writ—that the Honourable Gentleman
would not have pressed his motion to-night. It
seemed to him to be trifling with the time of the
House to bring forward a similar motion to-day after
the expression of opinion on the part of the House yes-
terday. As the whole matter in relation to this and
other places, the writs of which had been suspended,
would come before the House on Monday, he begged to
suggest to the Hon. Gentleman the propriety of post-
poning. his motion until that day.
He hoped he would
not put the House to the trouble of dividing.
Mr. STAFFORD said so large a number voted against
issuing of the writ for Leicester because the report
Committee and the evidence adduced before it had
not hfo et thebe
en
laid on the table. Ho should press the motion
to a division.
The House then divided, when there appeared_
For the issuing of the writ
Against it
Majority against issuing the writ 753
still further
The issuing of the writ is consequently
suspended.

lIIGIIWAY BILL.
Sir G. GREY, in answer to a question from Sir J.
Trollope, stated that he would consent to the Highway
Bill being referred to a Select Committee, although he
had originally opposed it ; but he did not think that
that Committee could be appointed on Monday next.

man whose views are adverse to mine in many re-
spects, but who is nevertheless a gentleman of great
intelligence and of great experience, and one moreover
who has devoted more than ordinary attention to this
subject. I allude to Mr. Innes, who was examined be-
for(u e thear, Selecthear.)
earo C m i
wast t e ea
so
kn e sd gti ahn re
the andfel
rl cee opwffoi
ren
tegop
question,nt
ht i
er g —s
which are numbered 13,384 .5u
evi-
dence:—" Do you believe that the change of the sugar
duties which took place in 1846 has materially affected
the condition of the West Indies?" His reply w.a as
follows:—" I entertain the opinion that much more has
been attributed to that Act, as regards the past, than can
fairly be ascribed to it; I hold that the Act having passed
in 1846, it is impossible that there can have been any
great accession
that Act, b
of sugarat,produced
think prospectively
hitherto
will
n ll
conse-
quence
e operate most injuriously.' " You do not believe that
it would be fair to attribute the state of distress which
notoriously exists in the West Indies to the ope-
ration of the Act of 1846, but you trace it back
to causes which existed before that ?—I believe
if the Act of 1846 had never been passed, the
price of sugar would have been nearly as low last
year as it was ; but I consider that the Act of 1846,
having entirely destroyed confidence in West India pro-
perty, has deprived the planter of support, and dimi-
nished his power to supply sugar."—(Hear, hear.) My
own opinion is, that the distress which has prevailed of
late in the West Indies, taken by itself, resembles many
cases of distress which existed during the continuance
of monopoly; and I am disposed to think that what we
have now to consider is rather the general effect of the
legislation that has hitherto prevailed, than the distress
which just at the present moment exists in those colo-
nies. There are two periods and two great acts by which
the present state of the West Indies has been materially
affected. The first of these Acts was that by which the
negro population was made free.—(Hear, hear.) I con-
sider, and have always considered, that that was a
great act of humanity and justice.—(Hear, hear.) I
think it was due to a numerous class of persons living
under the British Crown, but living, unfortunately for
themselves, in the miserable condition of slavery; and I
am most decidedly of opinion that if that Act had not been
passed, we should have bad a series of insurrections and
disturbances which would have been fatal to the prosperity
of the West Indies.—(Hear, hear.) I desire, therefore,
to have it expressly understood, that in anything I may
say to-day, I wish rather to take pride to myself than
shame for having been a party to that great act of
emancipation. I think that the gift of 20,000,0001.,
cheerfullyiam
nt of
this conceded
country,at that t
demonstrated
e
their abhorrence of slavery, andmi oen bht rya at tt eh
it de a peoplel
howso s
showed
teeaddt Par-ta was
tt
hh
ae t
,t
people
tahnedu
gh Parliamenttheir
a r e
rhs d
en s
wu cahs
at
ions et
In
themas et
naft rijaoncysi,toi
to
smyaskt eema,
stahceryi
fiwc
en rien doirsdpeors e
tdo,
from falling on those who heretofore were permitted to
parsevfeanrtams misery and distress
possess slaves. But it was not to be expected that a
great act'of that kind, by which freedom was given in
a very short period to eighty thousand human beings
who had previously existed in a state of slavery, should
be operate
effectedin swuich th
eau t mvaenrnyereetnhsaidt
etrhaebletrainneseiteiovnemceoeueled.
Such a result was to have been expected; and I
think that we may be well satisfied that the
inconvenience did not proceed to such an extent
as entirely to disorganise and overthrow the state of so-
ciety which existed in the West Indies previous to the
passing ni
egr
tohf
steh ew
hEom ahnacdi p abtei
been
nn Ai)
rcet
p. r
eI t trhs in k
of
silt speaks a
res be
fore then, and well too for the negro population them-
selves, that so little of disturbance accompanied a change
of such magnitude. But in carrying that Act into effect
some measures were adopted, which, although they were
supported by public feeling at the time, and met with
the concurrence of Parliament, did certainly throw ad-
ditional difficulties in the way of the West Indian pro-
prietors. I speak more particularly of the prohibitions
which were then imposed on the importation of la-
bourers from the coast of Africa.—(Hear, hear.) It
was thought to be impossible to obtain labour from the
coast of Africa without reviving slavery, and giving en-
couragement to the slave-trade. So strong was the
feeling upon that subject, that when I was in
the Colonial-office I found that there was very great
difficulties in the way of an attempt—a slight
attempt which I then made to facilitate the
importation of labourers from Sierra Leone ;
and when, at a later period, a plan on a larger scale was
proposed for the introduction of labourers from the East
Indies into the Mauritius, the project was objected to,
and, in fact, rejected by a vote of this House.—(Hear,
hear.) Other measures were subsequently adopted, with
the view to obtain a supply of labour of a different kind
for the West Indies and the Mauritius; but those mea-
sures required a long time to carry them out, and have
not been attended with any very satisfactory results.
The introduction of Europeans into the West Indies is
said to have failed as a source of supplying labour. The
introduction of coolies has not been attended with any
remarkable success; and the various measures which
have been adopted fur bringing over labourers from the
coast of Africa were of a complicated character, and re.
quired a great deal of correspondence and regulation to
prevent abuses. I believe, however, that several such
measures were attempted in the year 1843, and
again in the year 1845; but I have not learned
that, as yet, they have produced any beneficial
effect on the supply of labour for the West Indies.
Other measures were taken at the same time, to
which great objection was made, but which were not on
principle so fairly liable to those objections. I allude to
the facilities which were given for entering into contracts
with labourers. The other great changes which have
materially affected the condition of the West Indies
took place in the years 1845 and 1846.' Those changes
consisted of the admission of free-labour sugar in the
former year, and the admission, in the year 1846, of all
foreign sugars, at duty reduced at first from 635. to
215., and with a subsequent reduction which, in the year
1851, was to end in the equalization of the duty. As
the former measure—that of the emancipation of the
slave population of the West Indies—rested on un-
doubted principles of religion, humanity, and justice, so
I think that the measure of 1846 rested no less on views
of sound policy and justice to the labouring population
of this country. I cannot but think that while only a
very scanty supply of sugar was to be obtained from our
own possessions, and while our proprietors in the
West Indies were very much perplexed for a
supply of labour, and were oftentimes unable
to get anything but a very small return in-
deed in work for a very considerable outlay,
(for we have evidence to show that many of their
labourers refused to work for more than five hours dur-
ing five days in the week)--I say, Sir, I cannot but
think that it would have been unjust to the people of
this couutry to refuse them the power of procuring else-
where so common, and indeed so indispensable an article
of consumption as sugar, at a cheaper rate than it was
possible for them to obtain it from our own possessions,
suffering as these colonies were under such previous dis-
advantages. With regard to the great measures which
I have mentioned, I cannot but think that the great ob-
ject and main purpose for which they were introduced
have been succcessfully achieved. The main
purpose of the Act of 1834 was to give free-
dom to 800,000 human beings, to place them in the po-
sition of free labourers living in a state of independence,
prosperity, and peace. That that grand object has been
;Accomplished, all will admit. It is my decided opinion
that a class of labourers more happy, more
comfortable, and more' in the possession of those
advantages which should be incidental to persons in
their position of life, than the negro population of the
West Indies, does not exist. That great object has been
accomplished by the Act of 1834. The Act of 1846, too,
has accomplished the object fur which it was introduced
—that of affording a cheaper supply of sugar, and, at the
same time, of lessening the burden of taxation upon the
people of this country. The Act has been completely
successful in effecting two purposes which those who in-
troduced it had in view. It has given to the consumer
in this country a larger supply at a smaller charge, and
at the same time has been productive of an increase in
the revenue. From an authentic document which I hold
in my hand I find that the consumption of sugar in 1845
was 244,000 tons; in 1846, 261,300 tons; in 1847,
290,700 tons. I t may be in the recollection of the House
that in making art estimation of supply and consumption
in the year 1846 I calculated that the consumption
would probably reach 280,000 tons, or thereabouts. And
now let us see how the revenue account stands. In
1845 the revenue received on account of sugar was
3,745,0001.; in 1846 it was 4,050,000/.; in 1847 it
was 4,596,0001.; showing an increase in the
revenue of 1847 over the revenue of 1845
of no less a sum than 851,0001;—(Hear, hear.) That
enormous increase, of no less than 811,0001. on the reve-
nue derivable from a single article of cousumption, is
attributable mot simply to the operation of the Act of
1846, but also to the diminution of the duties in 1845.
It is, in fact, the consequence, gradual but inevitable in
its growth, of the reduction of the rates and taxes pay-
able by the people.—(Hear, hear.) So far as concerns
The great object of enabling the consumer to have sugar
at a cheaper rate, while, instead of injuring, we improved
the revenylmuraoyeoad,rfunkoctoehntthing could be more successful than our
legislation. But I have stated what I thought to be the
grievances and evils accompanying the Act of 1834.
The Act of 1846 was also accompanied by evils which
affected the proprietors in the West Indies very injuri-
ously, land certainly produced, to a very great extent,
that discouragement to which Mr. Innes alludes in
the passage which I have read from his evidence.
fe been
Isaid
protective tha t the
duties, prospectand hoof
equalisation the spee d
of
taolmthi alltntaihtsoaiunsnpt been said that the prospect of the speedy
abolition of all protective duties, and the equalisation
of all dut
lated to prevent,ti
0 seaet and
eesdess
aiehdteacelgssdt
sugar estates,
sevf
leftsaabtcnea ttetaonepgus prevented, evented, any fur-
therlait,nhthb
soai
sofn
granted
raaiw said,
etcultivationetdha
that
tet
wt toldifhto with
regardsme tomonths a l a trog come,large
ofre qthueiresumgaarnywyheicahrsitsobrreosutgohret
o
foreigner, by his being encouraged to export an article of
a better description to this country, while he sends an
inferior article to continental markets. I am informed
that the difference in point of value of the sugar pre-
pared with clay and other ingredients, and the
ordinary
Muscovado sugar, is no less than 6s. per cwt. This it
is said, arises from the inequality of the duty, for so long
as there is so marked a difference in the scale of duties, it
is clearly to the advantage of the foreigner that ho should
send the better article to the English market, and the
inferior to the markets of the continent. We see there-
fore, that while these two great measures are in their main
principles not only defensible, but as I think, de-
serving of support and commendation, they have
nevertheless been attended in their operation by
certain disadvantages, which have contributed for
the present to place the proprietors in some
parts. of the West Indies in the embarrassed position
which they now occupy. In speaking on this subject
I have frequently taken occasion to enforce the great
principles which ought to be maintained in our treat-
ment of it. It is, as I conceive, of the greatest importance
that the experbiaeat of 1834—the experinient of a

rapid transition from slavery to freedom, should be suc-
cessful, and it is also of great importance that we should
give every fair opportunity for the competition of free
labour as against slave labour. The Government is
bound to propose any measures which they think they
can fairly recommend as calculated to alleviate the evils
by which those classes are distressed who now appeal to
us for relief. I will state at once what it is we have in
contemplation to do. I will do so without going into
into arguments on the subject, for I am rather anxious
that the discussion should be deferred until Monday
next. It is right, however, that the House should be put
in possession of what our views are with respect to this
important matter. With regard to the first question, to
which I alluded as depending on those adjuncts to the
Act of 1834 by which labour was made difficult to be
procured, I may take leave to say that much has been
done of late years to diminish the difficulties which were
thus created. The present state of the case is, that
labourers may be introduced into the West Indies from
any British possession in Africa, attended with this
proviso—that there is to be an officer on board whose
business it shall be to take care that no transaction
shall be permitted which resembles the traffic
in slaves, and that, in fact, to ensure that
persons who emigrate to the West Indies shall
do so of their own free will and assent. But there has
been another measure adopted with respect to liberated
Africans by my Noble Friend now at the head of the
Colonial Department. Formerly those Africans were
sent to Sierra Leone, or to some other possession in the
neighbourhood, and the West Indies derived no advan-
tage from their labour. They were maintained at a
great expense in a state of idleness and barbarism in
the neighbourhood of Sierra Leone. My Noble Friend
at the head of the Colonial Department has provided
that those liberated Africans shall, under certain re-
strictions and coaditions,:which it is unnecessary for me
here to explain, be sent to the West Indies, for the pur-
pose of being there employed as labourers. By this
means we hope that some good will be effected. With
respect, however, to this question of emigration, I may
state, as 1 have observed on former occasions, that the
suspicion which prevailed in this country that the slave
trade might perhaps be revived under the pretext of
that emigrants might be compelled
emigration
ttit7ei and
r will to work on the West Indian estates,
has continued for a longer time than was anticipated,
and has retarded the energies of the planters, by de-
terring persons from emigrating to the West Indies, and
thus limiting the supply of labour. Entertain-
ing these views, therefore, we now propose to do
more than we should have done if the question had been
from the beginning settled in favour of the West Indian
proprietors, and more than we should have done if a free
importation of labour had been going on from the year
1835 to the present day. We propose to make advances
on,the security of the colonial revenues, or to guarantee
loans which may be made to the colonies for the purpose
of defraying the expense of the importation of emigrants
into the West Indies, and we propose that the sum to be
allocated for that purpose shall not exceed 500,000/., in
addition to the sum of 170,0001. to which the House has
already given its sanction.—(Hear, hear.) With regard
to the contracts of servants, and the questions of
vagrancy and squatting, they are matters which engage
the most serious attention of my Noble Friend at the
head of the Colonial Department. He is willing to
agree to any reasonable proposition that may be
made with respect to these questions, but there is a
great difficulty in framing Bills upon the subject, awl
it does not appear that in many instances the colonial
legislators themselves have suggested measures which
are calculated to be practically beneficial to them. Any
such measures, any measures which do not contem-
plate a system of compulsory labour, are sure of com-
manding the ready attention of my Noble Friend, and
the serious consideration of the Government at large.
I now come to that other question, namely, the question
of the Act of 1846. I have said that complaints have
been made of the too rapid operation of that Act, and
that it has likewise been alleged that there is one kind
of sugar which in the present classification of duties
enjoys advantages which it ought not to enjoy in the
admission of sugars into the Britiih market. Now, in
considering this matter I must say at the outset that I
do not consider it would be at all fair towards the British
consumer that we should impose anything like a differen-
tial duty of 10s., to last for six years or longer, for the
purpose of reviving industry and prosperity in the West
Indies. When I take into consideration the heavy
amount of taxes that we have to impose on the people of
this country—when I take into consideration that the
labourer in this country, the man who gives his whole
industry to toil for ten or twelve hours a day, looks to
those articles of consumption—tea and coffee, and sugar,
as necessary comforts —I do think that to impose
on him a duty which may be exaggerated when
it is said to amount to 2,900,0001. a year; but which,
at all events, cannot be less than 2,000,0001. a
year—(A laugh)—l am ready to take it at a mil-
lion, or a million and a half a year; but I still do
say that to impose upon him such a heavy tax for a
long period would be a hardship to the English con-
sumer, which I, at least, should not wish to be a party
to.—(hear, hear.) I look, therefore, in another direc-
tion.—(Hear, hear.) The experience which we have
had of late years with regard to many articles to which
I need not more particularly refer, but with respect to
which the duties have been lessened, or with regard to
which, without a lessening of the duties, there has been
a greater production, and therefore a lowering of the
price, is such as to encourage us in the course which we
propose to adopt, That experience has gone to show
that the consumption of the articles has vastly increased,
and that while the consumer has greatly gained, the
revenue has not been injured. Therefore it is that I
am encouraged to look again in the same direction rather
than in the direction of an increase of the duties now ex-
isting. Instead of aggravating the burdens which already
press so heavily on the British people, I think it is wiser
and more politic that we should seek to modify the Act of
1846, by reducing restrictive duties, and so promote a
larger consumption.—(Loud cheers.) While on this
point, I will take the liberty of referring to a paper
which was submitted to the consideration of the Select
Committee on Sugar and Coffee Planting. It is written
by Mr. Green (as we caught the name), and is addressed
in the form of a letter to the Noble Lord who was chair-
man of that Committee. The letter gives an account of
the increase of the consumption after the loweringof the
duty, and it then goes on to say—" In 1825 an increase
of 7s. per cwt. in price caused a decrease in consump-
tion of 16,000 tons :

Tons.
In 1826 a fall of 7s. 11d. increased consumption 25,900
In 1827 a rise of ss. 2d. diminished ...
In 1828 a fall of 4s. Id. increased .
In 1830 a further fall of ss. 2cl.
In 1836 a rise of 7s. sd. diminished
In 1837 a fall of 6s. 3d. increased
In 1839 a rise of ss. 6d. diminished 9,500
In 1840 a further rise of 10s. 4d ll,BOO
In 1841 a fall of Bs. Bd. increased
The trade returns for the years 1845, 1846, and 1847,
establish the fact beyond all dispute that an enormous
increase in consumption is the inevitable result of a re-
duction of price. In 1845 there was a fall of Ils. 9d.,
and the consumption increased 38,000 tons. In 1846
there was a rise, and the consumption decreased 17,300
tons; but in 1847 there was again a fall, and the con-
sumption increased 29,400 tons, making, in three years,
an increase of 85 000 tons per annum on the consump-
tion of 1841.—(Hear, hear.) That increase of 850,000
tons within a period comparatively so brief, is, I think,
a singular and most remarkable proof of the powers of
consumption in this country—(Hear, hear)—and proves
so satisfactorily that our natural consumption has
been limited and checked heretofore by restrictive
duties, that we are encouraged to make further experi-
ments in carrying out to a still greater extent the prin-
etple of the reduction of duties. What I propose, there-
fore, is, that the duty on colonial sugar shall be reduced
after the sth of July, in this year, to 135.; and that it
shall be progressively reduced at the rate of Is. a year
until it reaches 10s.—(Hear, hear.) I propose that the
duty on ordinary foreign Muscovado sugar shall remain
according to the Act of 1846, but I propose that a new dis-
tinctivo duty with regard to sugar to be called " brown
clayed sugar," or sugar equal thereto, which during the
year, commencing the sth of July, 1848, and ending on
the sth of July, 1849, shall remain at 20s. (the perma-
nent duty on all foreign sugar), and then be reduced by
Is. 6d. a:year until it reaches 10s. on the sth of July, in
the year 1854.—(Hear, hear.) Tho House therefore will
see that colonial sugar will at once fall to 135., from
that to 125., and from that to us.; and that after three
years there will be a permanent duty of 10s.—(1--Iear,
hear.) Foreign sugar in the same way will fall Is. 6d,
a year for six years, until 1854, when the duty will be
10s. 6d. There it will remain, and there will be the
equalization of duties.—(Hear, hear.) I will read the
scale we propose to establish. In the year ending the
sth July, 1849, the respective duties will stand thus:—
s. d.
20 0
CF
oo rme
mi g
on
nbrown
18
Colonial Murcovado
use
ocylaaavoe d(
fsourgeai
gr n )
13 0
In the year ending sth of July, 1850:—.
Foreign brown clayed sugar
Common Muscovado (foreign)
Colonial Muscovado l2 0
In the year ending sth of July, 1851:
17 0
15 6
11 0
In th
Colonial
000
ymlr
eoe
anmi gri
oan
ending
nb Muscovado34dr
nuwgs ue
05 clayedha d
oo f(jf
July,
ulr
yeg agr:B) 52
15 6
14 0
10 0
In theCCE 000ylr
ar
oee
nmai gri
oanenl
nbmdr
Muscovadonuwgs
50 etv lhaadyooef d(jfsuoulr
July,
:agrlnB)s3
Foreign brown clayed sugar
Common Muscovado
Colonial Muscovado lO 0
In the year ending sth July, 1854:--
Foreign brown clayed sugar
Common Muscovado (foreign)

Colonial Muscovado lO 0
After July, 1854, it is proposed that each of these
classes shall pay a uniform duty of 10s.—(Hear, hear.)
There will not then be a temptation either to the foreign
or the colonial ;rower to bring to the English market
superior classes of sugar to the exclusion of all sugars of
an inferior quality. I am most decidedly of opinion that
the wisest and most politic, course we can pursue is even-
tually to abolish all distinctive duties. It is very much
better to establish all ale duties at the uniform standard
of 103., than to maintain permanent differences of that
kind. Of course silch changes as I have proposed will
require corresponding changes in the duties on refined
and double-refined sugars, and on white clayed and mo-
lasses as laid down in the schedule. I have said that
complaints have been made on the subject of rum. It has
been frequently represented that the differential duty on
that article is an injustice to the producer in the West
Indies. It will be in the recollection of the House that
last year my Right Hon. Friend the Chancellor of the
Exchequer proposed that a duty of 6d. should be imposed
on rum. Finding that the re was considerable difficulty
in inducitg the House to accede to that proposition, he
consented to substitute s duty of 91 for 61, but in so

doing he intimated most expressly that his opinion
on the question remained wholly unchanged. Evidence
was taken on this subject before the Select Committee
of sugar and coffee planting, and a gentleman who has
a merit which is rare in this matter—that of being en-
tirely impartial—(Hear)—at the same time that he is a
gentleman of great information and experience—l mean
Mr. John Wood, the chairman of the Board of Excise--
(Hear, hear)—was amongst those who were examined.
He said that it was not for him to calculate what the dif-
ferential duty ought to be, but he added that if, after
hearing all the statements that had been made on both
sides, and judging from his own experience in such mat-
ters, he were called upon to argue in favour of some par-
ticular scale of duty, he should say that 4d. was quite
sufficient differential duty for rum.—(Hear, hear.) After
such an opinion has been put forth by a gentleman of
such authority and information on questions of this cha-
racter, I do not think that we could propose that any
larger duty than 4d. should be imposed.—(ll-ear.) At
least, I feel, acting according to our own
notions of what is due to the interests of
the home consumer, and of what is due to hu-
manity and justice, that being placed in a difficult
situation towards the %Vest India proprietors, and the
proprietors of other parts of the empire, it would be very
unfair, where they had a case of equality, to say we could
not listen to them on account of the interests existing in
this country. There is one qnestion connected with
these reductions of the duty, which will, I believe, make
it necessary for us to call back the permission granted
some short time ago to use sugar in breweries. Accord-
ing to the scale proposed by my Right Hon. Friend with
regard to the introduction of sugar into breweries, there
was no advantage given to the use of sugar over malt in
breweries; but with a reduced duty of 10s., there would
be an obvious advantage given to its use. To place them
upon an equality with regard to the vexatious imposi-
tions upon the business of the brewer, in the supervision
of about forty thousand different establishments, I be-
lieve it will be necessary, unless we find that some other
proposal should obviate the difficulty, to withdraw
the permission for the use of sugar in breweries,
which is established by Act of Parliament. With regard
to distilleries, I do not think any change can be made.
The drawback, of course, will be diminished in exact
proportion to the change that is contemplated. I be-
lieve I have now given a general outline of the measures
we propose to adopt, and the changes we propose to
make. I trust the House will bear in mind, in any pro-
position they have to consider upon the subject, whether
the proposition of the Government or of any other party,
that the principles of the two Acts to which I have re-
ferred ought to be kept steadily in view.—(Hear, hear.)
No inducement to assist the West Indian proprietors, in
order to have a larger production from our colonies,
ought to induce us, in any way, to impair the principle
of the great Act for the abolition of slavery, which it is
the honour of this country and of this House to have
placed upon the statute-book.—(Hear, hear, from the
Opposition benches.) I say that, not, of course, with
reference to the sugar duties, but with reference to the
introduction of labourers into the West Indies, for I
assure the Right Hon. Gentleman that I have heard a
plan by which the purchase of negroes upon the coast
of Africa would be considered a meritorious act to be
sanctioned by the Parliament of this country. Against
any such proposition or measure I should most strenu-
ously object.—(Hear, hear.) But I think, next to the
importance of preserving the principle of the Abolition
Act, is the necessity of keeping steadily in view the
great purpose of the Act of 1846, namely, the allowing
the consumer in this country to have his sugar as cheap
as it can be obtained consistently with the necessary
maintenance of the revenue.—(Hear, hear.) In what I
have proposed I have not departed from that principle ;
and I shall very much lament if the House this year, at
a time when great distress prevails among the people of
this country, and when we think it necessary to main-
tain no less an amount of taxation than the country has
sustained in former years, for the sake of any interest,
should consent to increase the price of a great article of
consumption, and thereby injure the consumers in this
country.—(Hear, hear.) I have now stated what the
proposition of the Government is, and I think it will be
far more convenient if gentlemen will allow me to circu-
late, which I hope to do in the course of to-morrow, the
scale I propose as an altered scale, before any discussion,
and with that view I shall propose that the House will,
on Monday next, resolve itself into a Committee upon
the Act of 1846. I shall conclude by moving that the
Act 9th and 10th Victoria, c. 62, be now read.

The question having been put,
Sir H. 11. INGLIS said that he could not hare believed
it possible, if the experiments had not been made, that a
statement could be made on such a subject without one
passing reference to that which he believed to be the
deep-seated feeling of the people of this country.—(Hear,
hear.) The question was not whether the people of this
country had cheap sugar or not, but whether it should
be stained with the blood of thousands.—(Hear, hear.)
It was true the First Minister of the Crown expressed
his desire to preserve intact the Act of 1834; but did he
preserve equally intact the Act of 1507?—(Hear, hear.)
It was not enough that England should be herself free
from carrying on the slave trade in her own ships. Was
it not equally criminal and sinful on her part if wilfully,
and with eyes open, they did that which must encourage
the slave trade in other countries ?—(Hear, hear.) He
wished for cheap sugar and cheap anything; but
there were better things in heaven and earth
than mere cheapness. It was proved before the two
Committees which sat on this subject that every pound
of sugar which was introduced cheaply into this
country tended to bring back that guilt which
years ago they thought it their duty to blot out of their
consciences. They were virtually returning to that
guilty system. He forgot the hostility of te West
Indian body to the Act of abolition, and was of opinion
that they should not bear the expense of our humanity.
Looking to the present measure apart from moral causes,
he thought it ridiculous as a measure of relief to the
West Indian bodv.—(Hear, hear.)
Sir J. PAKINUTON should not enter into anything
like an extended comment on the debate they had just
heard. He believed it would be more convenient to dis-
cuss the subject generally hereafter. But he could not
but express the very great pain and disappointment he
telt at the course that had been adopted. It was with
great pain that he had observed the extraordinary
omission just referred to, and it was with great dis-
appointment that he had heard from the Noble Lord a
statement so little likely to be satisfactory to the suffer-
ing merchants of our West India colonies. He was'quite
prepared to consider the interests of the consumer at
home, but he was not prepared to do injustice to the
merchant abroad. He was not prepared to follow
the Noble Lord in his statement relative to the sup-
ply of sugar from the West Indies, but, he believed,
there was no year on record in which that supply was
not equal to the consumption of Great Britain. He be-
lieved this course of legislation was a virtual departure
from the principle of the great Act of 1834. When the
proper time arrived he should be prepared to move an
amendment, the objects of which would be to uphold the
report of the Committee, and to give relief to our suffer-
ing colonies.

Mr. BERNAL did not wish to go into a discussion
upon the subject, but as a Member independent of all
parties upon this question, he wished now to repeat that
nothing would ever prevent his recording, over and over
again, his opinion that his West India fellow-subjects
were fully entitled to import into this country the pro-
duce of their growth free of all duty whatsoever. lie
only farther wished to recommend that the packet should
be detained until the whole debate upon this subject had
been taken.

Mr. BARKLY could not say he had heard the Noble
Lord's announcement with disappointment, because he
had never been sanguine that the present Government
was likely to do much for the benefit of the West India
colonies. He believed that this measure would con-
summate their ruin. When the authors of the Bill of
1846 came down within two years with a measure of
amendment there could be very little doubt that that
Bill was a decided failure. They ought now to apply
themselves not to prop up that system, but to some
remedy for the evil it had done. Could the Noble Lord
show a single benefit that would accrue to any one from
the alteration he contemplated ? Did he think it would
benefit the consumer, by ensuring him a cheap and re-
gular supply? He wished Members before they came
down to that House would read the evidence taken be-
fore the Committee.—(" Hear," from Lord J. Russell.)
He was sure, if they did, they would very much alter
their views upon the subject.
Mr. BRIGHT rose to protest against the doctrine
that all the distress of this empire was centered in the
West India colonies.—(Loud ironical cheers from the
opposition.) He was glad Gentlemen opposite acknow-
ledged at last the fact that all their sympathies were not
to be directed to one class. He protested against the
West India colonists coming to this country to be re-
lieved from their distress at the expense of the mother
country. If they took Ireland, or the counties of York
and Lancaster, he believed they would find far greater
claims to relief than any that could be presented from
the West Indies. In the manufacturing districts great
distress had occurred within the last two years.—(Hear.)
He believed he might say that within that period one
half the capital of those districts had been lost.—(Re-
newed ironical cheers.) He understood those cheers ;
but let him ask, suppose the manufacturers were to come
to that house, and, pleading their losses, were to demand
that a legislative enactment should be passed to raise
the price of all manufactured articles in this country
and the West Indies, did they suppose that the
West Indians and all other classes of people
would not complain ?—(Hear, hear.) But perhaps
they would say that the distress in the West Indies was
caused by legislative interference. lie did not believe
it. When did their distress commence? Some people
said two years ago—some people said as far back as
the Emancipation Act. At the period of the Emanci-
pation Act they had voted to them a sum of twenty mil-
lions. The interest on that was about 800,0001. a year.
Why, he believed all the exports to the West Indies
prior to the passing of that Act only amounted in value
to about five millions per annum, and if their profit on
that trading was taken at fifteen per cent., they would
find that they ought now to be receiving from the eman-
cipation money alone nearly 70,000/. a year more than
they received by their previous trading. His belief was,
that protection had ruined the West Indies, by limiting
the attention of the colonists almost entirely to sugar
cultivation. If that protection were taken away,
there were a hundred articles which might become
a subject of traffic between this country and her
colonies. The 500,0001. the Noble Lord talked about
would not be, in his opinion, worth fivepence to the
West Indies. The emigration from Africa would most
likely produce elements of discord into the West Indies,
which at present were not foreseen. He thought the
experi-
ence the expenditure would secure. The proposal made
his opinion, a very mate-
rialby the Government was not,
money was so much thrown away, except in the
one, but he thought it would have been far wiser had
the Government taken their stand on the Acts of 1846.
—(hear, hear.) Gentlemen opposite were not, in his
was no necessity for the Government to give
with the countr and there
opinion, making much way

regard to a measure which the country he verily be-
lieved almost unanimously approved. A day was
coming, and that very speedily, when free-trade princi-
ples were likely to be consummated. The sun and
showers of heaven were doing their work, and when
farmers next Christmas find their wheat selling at free-
trade prices, they would not be very likely to thank
those representatives who laboured to raise the price of
their sugar under pretence of justice to the colonists.
Mr. IL BAILLIE thought the Hon. Member for
Manchester was the only Member of the House who
would have had the audacity to assume that he, in his
own person, represented the entire population of the
country. The Hon. Member represented only a class
interest—the interest of the Manchester manufacturers;
and he would only ask him how he could reconcile it to
his conscience as a free-trader, that we should take cot-
ton for home manufactures free of duty, whilst we taxed
our own colonists 14s. per cwt. for their sugar?—(Hear,
hear.) But he would not waste words on the Member
for Manchester. He wished to express very briefly his
extreme disappointment at the measure of the Noble
Lord. It was a measure which would give no effectual
relief of any sort. It was of very little consequence to
the colonists, whether they adopted this amended scale,
or carried out the Bill of 1846 exactly as it stood.
Their ruin, under any system, was sure and inevitable;
and it very little mattered whether it was consum-
mated by the lingering process, or by the more speedy
one. The measure was supported by a part of the
House, because, if opposed, they would drive the present
Government from office. Fur his part, he would rather
see a Chartist Government in office than consent to do a
gross injustice. He regretted that the Government
should have been deterred, by any reference to majorities
or minorities in that House, from doing what it thought
just and right. It should have stood or fallen by the
measure of 1846.

Mr. COBDEN would say but a single word. His
Honourable Friend the Member for Manchester and
others were discountenanced by the other side of the
House, as being connected with the cotton trade, a cir-
cumstance which seemed to be considered as, somehow
or other, depriving their opinions of any weight
on this subject. Now he (Mr. Cobden) was not
connected with the cotton trade, but with the
woollen trade—a trade indigenous in the country,
and therefore, he supposed, not repudiated by the
Protectionists over the way. As a representative for
Yorkshire, he had no hesitation in saying that the course
of Honourable Gentlemen opposite on this question was
opposed to the opinion of the Yorkshire people. He
would remind them that it was the people of Yorkshire
who had supported Mr. Wilberforce, the great anti-
slavery champion, in all the opposition through which
he asserted the principles which had brought about the
depreciation in the vice of our sugars. The other day
a deputation from Bradford waited upon the Government
to obtain at least some hope of remedial measures for
the existing distress ; but they went away as they came;
the Chancellor of the Exchequer telling them he could do
nothing for them. One of the deputation mentioned
that his factories gave employment to a thousand per-
sons, and that it was solely to give those persons bread
that he had kept his factories open at all, for that he
would gladly have closed them twelvemonths ago until
better times arrived. It would not be particularly satis-
factory to this gentleman and his fellow-manufacturers
to find that while all relief was withheld from them relief
was to be given to the West India planters.
Mr. HUME had heard the statement of the Noble
Lord with the deepest regret. Government would have
done far better to have let the matter alogether alone. It
was really deplorable to hear the Noble Lord, after such
repeated flourishes about his determination to adhere to
the Act of 1346, thus unblushingly propose the violation
of the whole principle and spirit of that measure.—
(Hear, hear.) It appeared to him that his Hon. Friend
the Member for the West Riding of Yorkshire, as well
as his other free-trade colleagues, were taking a one-
sided view of this question.—(Hear, hear.) His Hon.
Friend suggested a parallel between the case of the
manufacturers of Yorkshire and the sugar-growers of the
West Indies, whereas in point of fact there was no such
analogy at all.--(Hear, hear.) In the first place the
West Indies were precisely damaged by the want of
that cheap and efficient labour which the manufacturers
of Yorkshire were absolutely overwhelmed with.—
(Hear, hear.) He had hoped to see the Government
endeavouring to remedy the evils which its former
legislation had inflicted upon the West Indies by
very different means from those proposed, which
amounted to a mere frittering away of the public money
without any sort of advantage to the West Indies.
(Hear, hear.) What the West Indies wanted was a
restoration of confidence, and the means of producing
their sugars as cheaply as the slave-holding states. He
had told Government how it would be when they were
proposing the hasty and most inconsiderate measure
which had so largely contributed to the distresses of the
\Vest India interest, and he had moved to postpone the
donation of twenty millions until a committee had in-
quired how far it would be safe and judicious to pro-
ceed with the proposed plan; but he had been induced
not to press his amendment to a division, a circumstance
which he now regretted. Government talked of our
heavy taxation, and heavy, more than enough, God
knew it was ; but why did they not remove that taxa-
tion, the discontinuance of which was within their power?
Why call upon the country every year to pay a million
of money for the perfectly absurd and wholly inefficient
squadron of the coast of Africa?—(Hear, hear.) The
fact was, that this question must be taken up on Mon-
day, on a far wider and more comprehensive basis than
that suggested by the Noble Lord.—(Eiear, hear.) The
real question for earnest consideration would be whether
we were to keep the West India colonies or to lose
them.—(Hear, hear.)
Mr. H. DRUMMOND quite agreed with the Hon.
Member for Montrose that the question was, whether
the House thought it worth while to retain the West
Indies by simply doing them justice.
Mr. P. MILES said, that whereas the West India
planter was being ruined with a duty of 65., the Govern-
ment proposed to restore his prosperity by reducing the
protection to ss. 6d.—(Hear, hear.) The Hon. Member
complained of the conduct of the Colonial. office, in with'.
holding the presentation of the papers on this subject,
so essential to its due consideration, until the day pre-
ceding that on which the discussion commenced.—
(Hear, hear.) Some time ago the Right Hon. the
Under Secretary of the Colonies had assured him that
no delay should take place in the presentation of these
papers, but although the most important of them had
been received so long back as April, the House were not
placed in possession of them until, in point of fact, that
very morning, so that they were expected to make
themselves masters of the contents of a huge folio,
two or three inches thick, in some half-dozen
hours.--(Hear, hear.) The Hon Member having read
two extracts from dispatches of Lord Harris and Sir
Charles Grey, describing the extreme distress of the
West Indies, and expressive of the opinion that the con-
nexion with this country would be materially endan-
gered unless some practical sympathy with the colonists
were promptly displayed by the home Government, sug-
gested that the West India mail should be delayed until
the discussion on this subject was completed, so that the
colonists might have information as to their prospects at
the earliest possible moment.—(hear.)
Mr. HENLEY expressed his conviction that, if the
country were polled, there would be an enormous ma-
jority who would prefer the cause of humanity, of justice,
and of sound policy, to the saving a farthing a pound
upon their sugar.
Mr. HUDSON denied that the Hon. Member for
the West Riding of Yorkshire represented the opinions
even of his own constituents upon this subject.
Mr. E. DENISON said that the proposition of the
Noble Lord would not be accepted by the West In-
dians as in any degree meeting their requirements.
Mr. HERMES thought the Noble Lord had placed
himself in a singularly unenviable position by his state-
ment. There was not a single Member, as yet, who bad
given it his sanction, and this was no remarkable cir-
cumstance, considering what the measure was, or rather,
was not. After all the labours of the Committee up
stairs, after its production of eight thick volumes, con-
taininc, more information than had ever before been fur-
nished to the House upon any one subject, after the able
report it had presented, the Noble Lord had, as if
nothing had happened, proposed a measure which met
not one of the requirements which gave occasion to the
Committee.—(Hear, hear.) In fact, it was not a mea-
sure at all—it was a mere evasion of the subject.—
(Cries of " Hear, hear.") Again, after our forty years'
struggle against slavery—after oar enormous outlay of
money and of life, and of influence with the maritime
nations of the world, in vindication of the principle we
had proclaimed in hostility to the detestable slave trade
—after we had been told, and told most truly, that
all we had done had merely been to make the
slave trade at once more horrible and more prosperous,
the Noble Lord, in his speech upon this question, so
intimatelyl connected with slavery and the slave trade,
had not uttered a single word about either slavery or the
slave trade.---(Hear, hear.) As to the proposed measure,
no one in the colonies would accept it as a relief; it
would not even be taken as an instalment of relief.—
(Hear, hear.) It did not require for him to wait until
Monday next to be able to pronounce that the proposi-
tion of the Government would disappoint not only the
West India planters, but also every person who was
looking to the Noble Lord's project for seine relief. If
the Noble Lord relied on any support from that quarter,.
therefore, he must content himself with the prospect of
having the smallest possible minority when his
boundproposalto
was put to the vote. Such, at least, ho was
say, was the impression the present conversation left upon
his mind. He would only add one word, and that was
with respect to the financial condition of the country,
and also as to the effects which the Noble Lord's pro-
posal, if carried out, would produce on
he did not believe the contemplated the revenue. As
reduction in the
duty would have any effect upon the consumption in so
far as to increase the revenue from that cause, he con-
fessed he was unable to foresee how the Right Hon.
Baronet would be able to wind up the incomplete budget
which he had presented to Parliament. There was a
deficiency in the receipts amounting to three and a half
millions. Where were the resources of the Right Hon.
Baronet for bridging over,. or ratheri hear,
i for shuffling
through, his financialffi
_ diculties .—( ear, and
laughter.) But, in addition to the acknowledged defici-
ency, there must also be taken into account the addi-
tional loss which would result to the revenue from the
reduction of the sugar duties, and there could be no
doubt that the loss so sustained would swell to no Moon.
shim-able degree the existing deficit.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said that
he had attentively listened to the speech of the Right
Hon. Gentleman opposite, and had certainly expected
him to end by making a counter-proposition to the
House in lieu of that of his Noble Friend. Proposals
had been made on the part of some of the West Indians
to provide free labourers from the re captured Africans
lodged in the barracoons, by transporting them to the
British colonies. But this the Government would not
consent to, as it would give direct encouragement to the
traffic in slaves carried on in the interior of Africa. In
fact, he knew of no plan by which free labourers could