The Sun.
London, England, 1833-06-08 00:00:00

tight by the succeeding
_conduct of Government, who,
withdrew their own insane order. Even• as regarded
Jamaica,. for want, of sufficient time, they. were obliged
entirely to omit many important points of inquiry. They
said, however, that they expected from Jamaica many wit-
neeses of respectability and intelligence, from whom
they hoped in the following session to obtain impor-
tant information. Now, he would ask. was. it fair
or candid in the Noble Lord (Lord Althorn), under
such circumstances, to call upon the House to legislate
before this information was obtained? Was it acting fairly
towards the colonies or the country to refuse further in-
quiry?—(Hear, bear.) A Committee of the House of
Commons was appointed to go into a similar inquiry, but
they made only a partial report. This Committee also
confined the inquiry to Jamaica, and did not investigate
at all that part of the subject which related to property.
The public functionaries against whom charges were
brought in the evidence before this Committee had no
opportunity given them of answering these charges. Let
the House consider the importance of the great and vital
interests involved in this new experiment of Ministers ;
but, above all, they should hear in mind the frightful con-
sequences which must inevitably follow a failure of this
plan.—( Hear, I ear.) If such experiments were tolerated,
no species of property would be safe from the interfe-
rence of Parliament. For his own part, be would not
run on with Ministers in that heedless and reckless course,
which, as it was adopted without sufficient inquiry or
consideration, and was pursued ip ignorance and preci-
pitation, could not but lead to confusion and ruin. The
plan of the Government was proposed to that House in
violation of a pledge to the colonists that no such mea-
sures should be adopted until the termination of the re-
ports of the Committees of both Houses of Parliament.
It had been repeatedly and formally announced by the
Colonial Legislatures that Ministers would not proposeany
legislative measure to Parliament for the abolition of
slavery until the fullest inquiry yeas instituted, or at all
events until the imperfect reports presented to both Houses
of Parliament should be terminated.—(Hear, hear, hear.)
What then was it but a breach of faith to introduce this
new plan without even the revival of either of the Parlia-
mentary Committees? It was not alone the interests and
welfare of the negroes and of the colonists which were at
stake, but also the most important interests of the British
empire.—(Hear, hear.) Under these circumstances it was
most strange, it was most alarming, to see Ministers, in
the absence of all information, bringing forward hastily a
measure necessarily crude, undigested, and imperfect.
But the Government did not stop here. They put forward
the most erroneous statements ; and a Gallant Admiral
opposite, in his anxiety to sweep away the Colonial Legisla-
tures, had asserted that out of the forty-five Members
of the Jamaica Legislature there were not ten who had
any landed property, and that the most of them were
not solvent. This certainly was a sweeping declara-
tion, but he (Mr. Hume) was in a condition to
disprove the allegation, for he held in his hand an
authentic document which showed clearly that out
of the forty-five Members alluded to there were not five
who were not men of property.—(Hear, hear.) Here
then was discovered a material error in the statements
which came from the supporters of this new scheme; and
in the absence of information he was justified in assuming
that inquiry would discover other similar misstatements.—
(Hear, hear.) But Ministers seemed indifferent to the
detection of these errors. The colonists were asked not
to press their claims, and, for his own part, he must say
that the colonists were wrong in yielding to such solicita-
tions.—(Hear, hear.) He, for one, never thought that
much good arose from ceasing to press just claims.
However that was, the Government in the same month
proposed a plan of emancipation to the colonists which
embraced eight Bills, two of which were to be passed by
Parliament and the other six were to be passed by the
Colonial Legislatures. This measure in itself showed the
inconsistency of the Government, which bad, by their
orders in council, declared that it was the people of Eng-
land alone who could carry the measure of emancipation.
This measure was abandoned, and in ten days afterwards
another one, of diametrically opposite principles, was pro-
posed to the colonists. How such a change of opinions could
have been effected in so short a time, or how within such a
short period so extensive and sweeping a measure could be
devised, was more than he could conjecture. It was, be
would venture to say, such a measure as could net be bene-
ficially applied to the colonies. It embraced such vast in-
terests, and contained such a variety of detail, as required
more time, more care, and more investigation than had
been applied to it. Yet Ministers appeared determined to
persevere in their attempt to adopt it. For his own part,
he should of the two prefer the first plan which had been
devised by the Government, but he could not consent to
the hasty adoption of either. He submitted to the House,
and he submitted to the country, whether they would
tolerate the headlong proceeding which was taken without
consideration, and submitted to a House which was not in
a proper condition to adopt, or even discuss, such impor-
tant resolutions. He had never yet known or heard of the
like attempt to foroe a me,oute slnuagli rarnament. He
would never consent to impose an annual charge of one
million on the people of England without first seeing that
the emancipation of the slaves would be effected by it ;
and, even on that ground alone, he would oppose those
resolutions, because he was convinced that they would
not attain the objects which the supporters of those reso•
lotions professed.—(Hear, hear, hear.) Were they, then,
to try this dreadful experiment without the consent of the
Colonial Legislatures? They at least ought to be consulted
and heard.—(Hear, hear.) He had said that this measure
would entail a permanent expense of one million a year on
this country. In the first place, there would be the
600,000/. a year, and the expense of a police would be
150,0001. ; then there would be the charge for education,
which, with other expenses, would amount to 1,000,000/.
a year. The Hon. Member for Weymouth had, in the
course of a former speech, quoted Mr. Burnley as an au-
thority upon the subject of slavery, and yet it was rather
strange that the Hon. Member should refuse to hear Mr.
Burnley before a Comniittee.—(Hear.) The Hon. Mem-
ber for Weymouth had every year changed his opinions
on this subject—(Hear)—hut Mr. Burnley was, though
perhaps erroneous in some of his opinions, at least con-
sistent throughout. He was likewise a gentleman who
had paid great attention to this subject, and was at all
events entitled to be heard. Why should his opinions be
quoted and his examination refused ? (Hear.) Mr.
Burnley was ready to submit himself to the examination
of the House or of a Committee. With such opportuni-
ties of acquiring information, it was most unjustifiable on
the part of Ministers to proceed in their hasty career in
total ignorance of the subject upon which they attempted
to legislate. Their ignorance was proved by the fact of
having changed their opinions in the short space of ten
days.—(Hear, hear.) Holding the opinions to which his
mind had been brought by mature reflection, and con-
sidering, as he conscientiously did, that the measures
of Government would be productive of great evils
both to the colonies and to the British empire,
lie felt himself called upon to state explicitly what
those opinions were.—(Hear.) That man was not a
true friend to the negro, or to England, who, in discuss-
ing this subject, appealed to the passions of his hearers.—
(Cheers.) It was a subject surrounded with difficulties,
cod required the cairn application of reason and truth;
and, knowing as he did the necessity of avoiding all irri-
tation, be could not help deprecating the too frequent al-
lusions which bad been made to to the " lash."—(Hear,
heir.) The " lasts" was admitted by the Noble Lord
opposite to foam a part of the new system. He would
ask those who tolerated the lash in the British army and
navy to look at home, and if they made proper inquiries
they would find that the " lash" was mere frequently
used in the British army than in the colonies. He held
in his hand a return showing the numbers of the British
army in each year from 1825 to jB3l, both years inr
elusive. The establ:ehrnent of the army in 1827 con-
sisted of 111,107 men. The number tried by count:-
martial in that year was 5,840; of these 2,541 were
sentenced to various punishments other than corporeal;
2,632 were sentenced to corporeai punishments, and of
these 2,291 were subjected to corporeal punishment. This
showed that one in torty-eight received corporeal punish-
ment, and that taking 300 lashes as the average punish-
ment—(" No, no," from the Ministerial side)—there had
in that year been 687,000 lashes inflicted 012 British
soldiers. W,ll, then, supposing the average to be 200—(A
laugh)—it would appear that there bad been 458,200
lashes inflicted during that year. In 1831 the esta-
blishment of the army consisted of 103,374 men. There
were tried that year 7,370 men ; 5.497 were sentenced to
various punishments other than corporeal; 1 611 were sen-
tenced to corporeal punishment, and 1 477 received corp,.
real punishment ; allowing that one man in seventy had
been subjec d te_ to corpore l punishment, and, according to
his firmer averages, the amount of lashes inflicted woul
be 443,100, In referring to those returns he was glad to
perceive that there was a decrease of corporeal punishment
in the army.—( Hear, hear.) But he must at the same
time observe that the severity of such punishment was far
greater in this country than in the colonies. Some pu•
nishment was absolutely necessary to keep negroes in order,
and in his opinion order was mercy. Those who talked
so much about the use of the lash in the colonies ought
first to recollect how much more severe was its application
when inflicted upon freemen, in the midst of civil tribu-
nals, before they complained of rte use in preserving order
amongst the negroes. Let no person misunderstand him
as advocating such a syatetn. • He was, an I had been all
through life, opposed to that species of punishment? but