The Sun.
London, England, 1848-02-08 00:00:00

ODD FELLOWS.

Lord CAMPBELL presented a petition frcnt the
society of Odd Fellows, praying that they might be
recognised as a legal society, so as to be entitled to
all the privileges accorded to other societies under the
Benefit Societies' Act.
NAVIGATION LAWS:

The Earl of EGLINTON presented a petition
against any alteration in the navigation laws.
JEWISH EMANCIPATION.

Earl FITZ \\TILLIA.M presented a petition from
the Mayor and Corporation of Doncaster in favour of
the Jewish Emancipation Bill.
TOBAGO.

Viecount CANNING- presented a petition from the
planters of Tobago, praying their Lordships to adopt
measures to relieve the distress prevalent in that
island, consequent upon the general depreciation of
West India property, and specially in consequence of
the recent destruction of property in that island by
the late hurricane.

DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS WITH ROME.
The Marquis of LANSD 0 WNE rose for
the purpose of making use of the privilege,
which he possessed as a member of their Lordships'
House to authorise the Government to enter into
diplomatic relations with the Court of Rome. He
should give notice that he would move that the Bill
should be read a second time on Friday.
Lord STANLEY considered it extremely desir-
able that diplomatic relations should exist between
the Sovereigns of this country and of Rome as
temporal princes ; but, considering that the sovereign
of Rorie claimed dominion as a spiritual prince, he
thought that several matters worthy of grave consi-
deration would arise, and, therefore, he thought that
longer time ought to be given to the country to
consider the subject thin the time that would elapse
between Monday and Friday.
The Marquis of LANSDOWNE would consider
the subject, which, however, could not Imo come
unexpectedly upon the House, and he would
to-morrow state whether he could postpone the
second reading.
The Duke of RICHMOND thought that, consider-
ing it would be impossible for the inhabitants of Scot-
land or Ireland to know the day fixed for the second
reading of the Bill before that day should have passed
by, he thought that a longer period should have been
fixed for the second reading of the Bill.
Earl FITZWILLIAM considered the measure as
one entirely of diplomacy, and he could not conceive
how the religious privileges of the people of England
(he would not say the prejudices of a few of them)
could be violated -by the Court of England entering
into diplomatic relations with Italian States.
The Earl of EGLINTON trusted that in justice
to the people of Scotland, who could not be informed
of the introduction of this Bill into the House, that
the second reading would be delayed.
The Marquis of LANSDOWNE replied.
The Bill was then read a first time, and ordered
to be read a second time on Friday.
WEST INDIA DISTRESS.

Lord STANLEY then rose for the purpose of
presenting a petition from Trelawny, in Jamaica,
praying their Lordships to adopt measures for the
relief of the distress at present existing in the sugar
producing colonies, and in doing so entered into
the whole question of West Indian grievances.
His Lordship said that if the House were determined
to persevere in the policy which had been pursued
towards those colonies, it would be better at once to
pronounce their sentence, and to consign them to
utter ruin, rather than, by the inconsistent legislation
which they had of late been pursuing, to protract their
agony, which must end in ruin. The present state of the
West Indies was entirely the consequence of legislation,
and when they were struggling with the difficulties
which had been imposed upon them by the highest
motives, when they had nearly overcome these diffi-
culties, a sudden and to them an unexpected change
of policy had plunged them into ruin, and for that they
demanded compensation from Parliament. He entirely
went with the petitioners on this point. The de-
plorable condition of tho colonies was too well known
to the House to render it necessary for him to enter
into any details on the subject. (The Noble Lord
then proceeded to read various [returns, showing the
outlay of two West India estates, stating that in one
estate last year the expenses had been 10,0001.,
and the rental 9,512/. ; and on the other
the outlay had been 8,4071, and the
returns 8,1701. only.) The consequence was, that it
was impossible to get the advance of a single penny
upon mortgage on estates in Jamaica, Demerara, or
Trinidad. He must go back to
,the history
of the past. He would admit that the sacri-
fice of 20,000,000/., made by the nation on the
abolition of slavery, was a great, glorious,
and unheard-of sacrifice. But it was not equal
to the amount of property sacrificed, and it was by
no means an adequate compensation to the West
Indian proprietors for the property they had
sacrificed. It had been originally proposed to
accompany a grant of 15,000,0001. by a period
of twelve years of modified slavery, for such he
would now admit to the Noble Earl opposite
the apprenticeship was in reality. He was still of
opinion that it would have been politic to have made
the negro contribute something towards the purchase
of his freedom, and that the period of apprenticeship
should have been twelve years; but the House
of Commons determined otherwise, and Parliament
determined that 20,000,0001. should be granted, and
that the apprenticeship should be for seven years
instead of twelve. But Parliament afterwards deter-
mined that the apprenticeship should terminate at the
end of five instead of at the end of seven years,
thus depriving the planter of two years' labour, which
was part of his compensation. Then with regard to
the protecting duties which had since been removed.
At the time of the debates on the emancipation it had
been argued, that although the production of
sugar might be diminished in consequence
of, the abolition of slavery, yet as the
Indian colonists possessed the monopoly of
the British market of sugar, the increase
in price would never compensate them for the dimi-
nution of quantity. Before the emancipation,
the British colonies possessed, in effect, no
monopoly, because they not only supplied
all England, but the greater part of the
Continent of Europe. Before emancipation, without
any monopoly price, they were enabled to supply all
the United Kingdom, and to export their surplus
produce to the Continent. During the years of
apprenticeship the surplus became a deficiency, and
after the abolition of the apprenticeship, the supply
had constantly fallen oft Under the last years of
slavery the average annual supply of sugar for the
British West Indian colonies was 3,700,000 cwts.;
during the apprenticeship it fell to 3,004,000 cysts., and
since the abolition of apprenticeship it had fallen to
the annual average of 2,450,000 cwts. The cost of
producing this last quantity had been much greater
than under former circumstances. During slavery
the cost of the production of sugar was 4s. 3d. per
cwt. ; during the apprenticeship, 6s. 7d. per cwt. ;
up to 1843, 16s. 11d. per cwt. ; and since that period,
21s. 9d. per cwt., and of this amount 13s. 4d. found
its way into the pocket of the negro labourer.
Since 1833 legislation had placed obstructions
and difficulties in the way of the sugar planter,and for those obstructions and those difficulties
he was entitled, in justice, to some co. mpen-
sation from the Legislature. The Legislature
had deprired him of the right of employing slaves,
and they therefore demand to be entitled to some
protection against those who employed slave labour.
In 1840, when sugar was at an iinmense price, it was
proposed to admit slave-labour any
at a low duty ;
this was proposed by a Minister of the Crown. It
was opposed, the Minister was defeated, Parliament
was dissolved, and a new Parliament was elected,
the majority of which were pledged to protect
colonial free labour sugar against slave 'labour
Na
sllhteh theyul
sugar. Such being the case, could the West
Indians be blamed for acting on the faith of
dnot hesitate
that decision, and investing their capital in pro-
moting the free-labour cultivation of sugar in the
Nest ludeis;
in
had passed
a as
to say, a bounty upon the slave trade, and yet
they wasted lives and money in bloodshed in Africa
IyBe4t6, in
which spite
ofv a,
to put down the slave trade, while they were by the Act
of 1846 encouraging by a bounty,Cuba and the Brazils.
measure
Then, with regard to India, the quantity of sugar