The Sun.
London, England, 1848-02-07 00:00:00

OT)D FELLOWS.

Lord CAMPBELL presented a petition from the
society of Odd Fe,lows, 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 EGLINTOUN presented a petition
against any a'teration in the navigation laws.
JEW ISI I EMANCIPATION.
Earl FITZ WIL LIAM presented a petition from
the Mayor and Corporation of Doncaster in favour of
the Jewish Emancipation Bill.
TOBAGO.
Viscount 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 LANSDOWNE rose for
the propose of making use of tle privilege,
which he possessed -as a member of their Lordships'
House to authorise the Government to enter into
diplomatic relations »i h the Court of Rerme. He
should give notice that he ve,,uld 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 Ronne claimed &minion 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 a an the time that would elapse
betwern Monday and Friday.
The Marquis of LANSDOWNE would consider
the subject, which, howover, could not have come
unexpectedly upon the House, and he would
to-morrow state whether he could postpone the
second reading.
The Duke of RICH 110 N I) thought that, consider-
ing it would be impassible for the inhabitants of Scot-
land or Ireland to know the day fixed for the second
reading of the Bill before thitt 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 EGIANTON 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. •.1
The Bill was then read a first time, and ordered
to be read a second time on Ft
wEsT INDIA DISIRESS.
Lord STANLEY then rose for the purpose al
Trelawny, in Jamaica,'
I
presenting a petition from
praying their Lordships to adopt measures for the' I
relief of the distress at present
.existsi.nogeinntetrh.eedsuignator
producing colonies, and in doing
the whole question of West Indian grievances.
His Lordship said that if the House were determined
; h had been pursued
to persevere in the policy which
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 legislatioi,
and when they were struggling with the difficulties
which bad 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, anfor that they ,
demanded compensation from Parliament. He entirely
went with the petitioners on this point. The de-
plorable condition of the e coloniwas too well known
to the House to render it necessarys for him to enter
into any details on the subject. (The Noble Lord
then proceeded to read various 'returns, showing_a the I
outlay Of two West India estates, stating
estate last year the expenses had been that
10,0001.,
and one
and the rental 9,5121.; 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
a the past. He Would admit. that the

face of 20,000,0001., made by the nation on the
abolition of slavery, was a great and glorious,
great, 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 Farliament
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 compensati^n. 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, n o
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
has constantly fallen off. Under the last years of
slavery the average annual supply of sugar for the
British West Indian colonies was 3,700,0001b5.;
during the apprenticeship it fell to 3,400,0001b5., and
since the abolition of apprenticeship it had fallen to
the annual average of 2,450,0001b5. The cost of
producing this last quantity had been much greater
than under former circumstances. During slevery
the cost of the production of sugar was 4s. 3d. per
cwt. ; during the apprenticeship, Is. 6d. 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 compen-
sation from the Legislature. The Legislature
had deprived 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 increase price, it was
proposed to admit slave labour sugar 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 slavelabour
sugar. Such being the case, could the \Vest
Indians be blamed for acting on • the faith of
that decision, and investing their capital in pro-
moting the me-labour cultivation of sugar in the
West Indies, yet in spite of all this they had passed
a measure in 1846, which was, he would not hesitate
to say, it was a bounty upon the slave trade, and yet
they wasted lives and money in bloodshed in Africa
to put down the slave trade, while they were by the Act
of 1846 encouraging a bounty to Cuba and the Brazils.
Then, with regard to India, the quantity of sugar
imported from that country in 1824 was only
134,0001h5., but in 1846 it had increased to
1,'390,0001b5.; and what was the amount of our ex-
ports of manufactured goods to India ?
In 1834 it amounted in value to 1,574,0001,
and in 1846-7 it amouated to 4,240,0001. Surely
those who had uged the Goverdtneet in the course of
free trade should consider these things, and should
not rashly deprive the country of such a market.

(LEFT SPEAKING.)

HOUSE OF COMMONS.
The SPEAKER took the Chair shortly before Four
o'clock.

NEW MEMBERS.

Nearly twenty Members took the oaths and their
seats, among whom we noticed Sir Charles Burrell,
Mr. C. Bruce, the Marquis of Worcester, Viscount
Adare, Sir W. W. Wynn, the Lord Advocate, and
Mr. J. Denison.
PETITION FROM THE CITY IN FAVOUR
OF THE JEWISH DISABILITIES BILL.
Mr. Sheriff HILL appeared at the bar and presented
a petition from the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and
Common Council of London, is favour of the Jewish
Disabilities Bill.
STANDING ORDERS COMMITTEE.

On the motion of Sir IVILLIAM. iIEATIICOTE
the following Standing Orders Committee was nomi•
nated :—Sir William Heathcote, Mr. Ord, Sir Robert
Ferguson, Mr. Greene, Mr. Wilson Patten, Sir John
Yarde Buller, Mr. Aglionby, Captain Jones, Mr.
Home Drummond, Mr. Wrightson, and Mr. Elliot.
The HON. MEMBER then proposed the appointment
of the following Committee of Selection, which was
agreed to :—Sir Robert Ferguson, Mr. Wilson Pat-
ten, Mr. Sotheron, and Mr. Evelyn Denison.