The Sun.
London, England, 1846-08-14 00:00:00

Lemaitre, this man Upton was expelled from the society.
Upton declared that he would be revenged, and soon
found an opportunity for his resentment. This was in
August, 1794, and in that very month he made a com-
munication to the Privy Council accusing himself,
with Lemaitre and another, of a conspiracy to
shoot the King with a poisoned arrow from
a frame which he had himself seen that morning.
On this charge he was apprehended and com-
mitted to Newgate, where he was confined for nine
months, without any connexion or communication what-
ever with his friends. At the end of this period he was
released on his own recognizances. Upton went over to
France, from which place he returned on an exchange
of prisoners of war, and on his arrival again renewed
his charges. Upon these Mr Lemaitre surren
tiered himself, and was brought to trial. On
the morning of the trial the wife of Upton
appeared in widow's weeds, and took oath that her
husband was dead. It was in vain that a testimony was
tendered that Upton had been seen alive at his own
house that morning. The trial was interrupted, and Mr.
Lemaitre was remanded to prison where he remained
for five months. He was released at the end of that
term, and abstained from any connexion with the
Corresponding Society. But then came the time of the
Irish reb.11i0n,1797, and he was applied to to give his adhe-
sion to thatmovement through the Corresponding Society.
In an evil moment he consented to attend the meeting of the
Society, to give his advice against any such connexion.
He went there, having had nothing whatever to do with
public affairs since his last imprisonment. The Bow-
street officers, rushed in, and all the party were appre-
hended. He was committed to Newgate, and, at the
end of a twelvemonth, his health failing, he was removed
to Reading gaol, where he passed two years more. He was
then released, and again after a faw months apprehended
and confined in Tothill-fields Prison. His attorney had ap-
plied for a writ of habeas corpus, but in vain, Lord
Kenyon refusing it, as he said, on his own responsibility.
After another twelvemonth Mr. Lemaitre was released,
and thus had suffered, between 1818 and
1826, an imprisonment of not less than
six years without trial. He had applied repeatedly
to the several Whig Governments for redress, but
had been constantly refused, till at last Mr. Canning
promised to do something for him, and through the in-
tercession of Lord Grey, Mr. Lemaitre was appointed a
protector of slaves in Demarara. Ile set sail in 1829,
but his usual ill-luck attended him, for, shortly after
leaving the coast, the vessel was wrecked, and all his
effects were lost. He had hardly time to recover
himself before the Government passed the Act for the
abolition of slavery, and thus his salary of 8001. a year
was entirely lost. This was a fair subject
for consideration and compensation, and with a hope
that now, as the injury bad been suffered for more than
fifty years, it would be properly entertained by the
Government, he would move that the petition be printed
with the votes.

IRISH ARMS BILL. RUSSELL
stated reply to Mr. T. Dancombe, Lord J. RUSSELL
stated that it was the intention of Government to pro-

ceed with the Bill in Committee, pro forma on Monday,
and to tak' the discussion on the following evening.
Mr LABOUCHERE stated that the amendments of
the Government would be printed, and placed in
the hands of Members before the discussion came on.
CORPORAL PUNISHMENT IN THE ARMY.
Mr. T. DUNCOMBE wished to know whether the

Noble Lord at the head of the Treasury had any objec-
tion to lay the new regulations for corporal punishment
in the army on the table?
Lord JOHN RUSSELL said that there were no nevi
regulations, but that flogging would hereafter be in-
flicted according to the provisions of the Bill which had

already been introduced.
CONTAGIOUS DISEASES PREVENTION BILL.
This Bill went through Committee, and was ordered
to be reported to-morrow.
LUNATIC ASYLUMS AND PAUPER LUNATICS

BILL.
This Bill also went through Committee, and the re-

port was ordered to be brought up.
DRAINAGE OF LANDS BILL.
This Bill was read a third time and passed.

SMALL DEBTS (SALARIES AND COMPEN-
SATIONS) BILL.
This Bill went through Committee, and the report
was ordered to be brought up on Monday.
WRECK AND SALVAGE BILL.
The further consideration of the third reading of this

Bill was resumed, and after the introduction of several
amendments, was read a third time and passed, after

considerable opposition on the part of Slr. HENLEY,
who protested against the insertion of amendments on
the third reading which materially altered the nature of
the measure.

RELIGIOUS OPINIONS BILL.
On the motion of Lord J. RUSSELL, this Bill was
read a third time.

COUNTY I-V-oiiKS PRESENTMENT (IRELAND)

BILL.

The House then went ir2to Committee on this Bill.
The clauses were all agreed to, and Mr. GREENE
having reported progress, the House resumed, and the
Bill was ordered to be read a third time to-morrow.

The Committee on the Naval and Military Depart-
ments Bill was postponed until to-morrow at twelve.
THE PUBLIC WORKS COMMISSIONERS (IRE-
LAND) BILL.

The House then went into Committee on this Bill.
The clauses having been agreed to
The CHAIRMAN reported progress, and the House re-
sumed, and the Bill was ordered to be read a third time
to-morrow.
The Report of the Public Works and Fisheries Bill
was then read and received, and the Bill was ordered to
be engrossed.
PUBLIC WORKS, FISHERIES, &c., BILL.
The House then went into Committee on this Bill.

The several clauses of the Bill were agreed to, and
the report was ordered to be received to-morrow.
PUBLIC WORKS (IRELAND, No 3) BILL.
The House next resolved itself into Committee on
this Bill. The clauses were read and agreed to, and the
report ordered to be brought up to-morrow.
BRITISH POSSESSIONS BILL.

----
On the order of the day for going into Committee on
this Bill being read,
Mr. GOULBURN said he wished to offer a few ob-
servations. The policy hitherto pursued by the Govern-
ment in relation to the colonies was to regulate their
commercial proceedings by Act of Parliament; but in
the present Bill a departure from that course was pro-
posed, and the colonies were to be left to regulate their
own commercial affairs—thus taking away an authority
which the British Legislature had invariably exercised,
and placing it in the hands of the colonial legislatures.
He should like to hear some good reasons for this new
policy before the Bill was allowed to pass. It was his
impression that great inconvenience would arise from
leaving these matters to the colonies. Each colony
would act according to its own views of what was ex-
pedient, and thus there would be a want of that har-
mony and uniformity of principle which was so de-
sirable in colonial affairs. He considered it would have
been much wiser for the Government to have introduced
a general Bill into the House, fixing on a general prin-
ciple the rate of duties which should be imposed on the
commerce of all the colonies. Should they depart from
the principle on which they had hitherto acted in the
present instance, the next step would he for the
colonies to take the regulation of the navigation laws
also into their own hands.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER be-
lieved it would have been better for the British Legisla-
ture to regulate on a general principle the duties im-
posed on the commerce of the colonies ; but, as no
time bad been afforded for consulting with the colonies
on the subject before the end of the session, the
Government thought it would be better, rather than
that the colonies should be without the means
of raising supplies, that the present Bill should
be introduced. By another session the whole
subject might be fully considered, and such steps taken
in regard to a general measure as might be thought
most expedient.
Mr. WARBURTON thought the principle of the
present measure dangerous, and likely to prove in the
colonies subversive of free trade. Though the Right
Hon. Gentleman who last spoke said the question might
be fully considered in another session, in looking into
the Bill he found it was to be a permanent measure.
Mr. HENLEY briefly expressed himself against the
principle of the measure.
Mr. NEWDEGATE also thought the principle of the
Bill a bad one, and thought that, whatever was done with

it, it should not be made a permanent measure.
Mr. HUME thought they should be careful how they
parted with any of the powers of the House, and he would
advise the Government to postpone the consideration of the
question. If the colonies were to be placed in a more in-
dependent position, they should take care that they were
placed in such a position as to regulate their own finan-
cial affairs without interference from any British Acts of
Parliament. His opinion was, that the colonies should
have the management of their own financial affairs.
Lord JOHN RUSSELL said, he differed very much
from his Hon. Friend, the Member for Kendal, who had
said that we ought not to allow our colonies any con-
siderable power in regulating their trade according to
their wishes, and he also differed from his Right Hon.
Friend, the Member for the University of Oxford,
who thought that the Legislature ought to pass
an imperial Act with regard to these matters. He
(Lord John Russell) thought that they would have
great difficulty in legislating in that way during the
present session. This country had adopted for them-
selves generally the principles of free trade, and had
determined not to preserve any differential duties for the
sake of protection merely—that they would not impose
duties upon one country more than on another, or upon
foreign productions more than colonial productions,
or upon foreign productions more than upon our
home productions. But, in applying those prin-
ciples, they must make some exceptions with
regard to the colonies.. His Honourable Friend the
Member for Kendal, had, in the course of the present
session very warmly and ably supported a differential duty
of 15s. upon the articles of timber. He had also supported
the 15 per cent. ad valorem duty upon silk, and he (Lord
John Russell) thought that the Government had now a
right to look to that lion. Member, consistently with his
votes upon those occasions, for his support on this.
In his (Lord John Russell's) opinion, the fairest
mode of dealing with this question was to allow
the colonies to deal with their matters of com-
merce as they deemed best. The Legislature would
still reserve to the Crown the controlling power by which
an extensive variety and multiplicity of duties might be
avoided, and likewise the power of calling upon the
secretary of a colony to require the governor thereof to
explain to any other colony what were the general prin-
ciples which guided his conduct.
The House then resolved itself into Committee on the
Bill; Mr. GREENE in the chair.
On the Ist clause having been read,
Mr. BORTHWICK and Mr. HENLEY deprecated the
discussion of so important a matter at so late a period of
the session. The powers given to the colonial legisla-
Wel were uuheor4 of.