The Sun.
London, England, 1848-06-27 00:00:00

his Hon. Friend had given his answer before the COor
niittee.in the sense in which he nnderstood the question,
and even when subsequently taxed on this score in thB
House he had appealed to the Right Hon. Gentleman
the Member for Cambridge, when it turned out that be
had misunderstood him. But he (Lord J. Russell) W 55
sure the Right Hon. Gentleman would readily distnr
guish between misapprehension and deliberate tal'r
hood. Now, he asked the Noble Lord, did he mean t°
withdraw the charge of having concocted the minute'
and in the second place, did he persist in the other 10)
putation? If so, his Hon. Friend wished to have 6
Committee to inquire into the truth of these charges,
:
and, in his (Lord J. Russell's) opinion, he was enutlea
to one.

Mr. DISRAELI rose.
The SPEAKER reminded the Hon. Member that
there was no question before the House.
Mr. F. MACKENZIE moved that the House do neW
adjourn.
The motion having been seconded,
Mr. DISRAELI said that it was unreasonable in the
Noble Lord, atter having flamed his Noble Friend for
making so lung a speech to expect him to rise again'
If his Noble Ilene had not conveyed his meaning eie
ready to the Hothe he might well despair of being able
to do so in any suppleinentary speech. The Noble fitre
opposite had risen eeh great alacrity to remind t ,
House that the important point before it was the acenss,
Lion made by his Noble Friend the Member for liing„s
Lynn against the Hon. Member for Kinsale of bawls'
comminitted a political fraud, by concocting or lila;
venting some ex post facto minutes ; but Lotrcol
House would recollect when the Noble
rose the other night he never once
that point. He then rose in a state of some
ment in consequence, as he stated, of a charge of frail
having been brought against the Government of all.'
pressing important information contained in dispatches'
and it was a subsequent observation of the Hon. tiebi
ber for Kinsale which drew forth from his '° be
Friend the statement of the dilemma upon one or
other horn of which the Hon. Secretary must be Itfe
paled. He had his choice—either he had concocted o'.
minute, or else he was troubled with a very sh°rtsfse.
mory. Well, he (Mr. Disraeli) believed that the `-e)
Member's memory was short.—(Cheers and laughter.,o
This was, at all events, the least difficult conclusio
01.
seeing that the Hon. Member, when before the G°the
11111
deeXcici tteci
mutes, was perpetually asked to produce a dispatch',,-,oi-
existence of which he as perpetually forgot. his
pion was that his Noble Friend had never intended s
make the charge which had been so much elaboretbee
upon against the Hon. Under-Secretary.—(oh.) 2:ee
real charge against the Government was a systew-1.)
suppression of important information.—(Hear,tesble
' The Hon. Under-Secretary asked whether his Noble
Friend persisted iiithe odious charge of forging the
minutes. His (Mr. Disraeli's) answer was, ththeee
charge had never been made, or, if it had, had -Let
most amply withdrawn.—(Hear, hear, and Oh.)11 this
them look to the really important question.die-
discussion had arisen because certain most important ty
patches had been withheld from the Committee on stignia
planting, one of those dispatches, which had come fc;.iiig
the governor of a most important colony, recomineahere
a protecting duty of ISee—(Hear, hear.) Then o
was another important dispatch from the GeTera-„ts•
Trinidad, which, from the same extraordinary orc "0,
stance, never was produced. But that watt not
ssd
There was another still from Berbice.—(Chaers'sich
laughter.) Here were three material dispatches yv ,
might assist the Committee in forming a Governmenttot
(Loud laughter from the Treasury benches)—he riteiae
a report, ail of which had been most unaccountablY ,fls
with"' .!..;
held.—(Hear, hear.) Was not, then, the
of these important dispatches at a most critical junetni:i
a fair ground of attack from a constitutional oPPif°o.,
But even that was not all. He would now. bring ,o,
ward a case respecting the Chief Secretary of thaktien)
lonies respecting which (or he was very much naistab of
the public would call for information. On the 7tjaee,
February last that Noble Earl, speaking in anotherp.kor
wished to fill that august assembly with the notion !nit ;
there was no reason yet to despair of Jawatilecre•
that new social circumstances were developing ts..ese
selves; new resident proprietors of a new race and
springing up and investing vast capital in the 1011°'1001:
that such were the men from whom England was to
forithe regeneration of Jamaica. The Noble Earl furt
held this out as an inducement for the increased infesre
ment of British capital. The Noble Earl's wordsv`oc`ti,
d
reported to have been these :—" Among many toe
ments which had passed through his hands resP:cs,e,
the colonies, he had been very much struck with t"bst
morial from certain planters of Jamaica, stating heir
they had invested 142,0001. in the purchase of tld
estates. He believed that in a few years they w°
ere
see the soil cultivated entirely by planters who sat,
resident on their estates." Now, this docurn'or,
which the Noble Earl had described as a most ire!) $.
tent document, but from which he had quoted so niers
grely, ran as follows :—" Your memorialists are own,_er.
of 19 and renters of 13 sugar estates, which, togets.,ert,
produce 2,796 hogsheads of sugar and 1,354 P',A.er
cheons of rum, the production of which altogetP
win cost 60,0001. Now, 15/. per hogshead for sugar,
and 14/. per puncheon for rum will produce alto
gether 60,580/. against the capital sunk, taken at 6 r,
cent.—the usual interest in the colony-32,0001 for it
plements on the nineteen proprietary estates, and 95,01'
for rental on the other thirteen." Now the Noble Ear'
in endeavouring to persuade the assembly of the respect'
tation of Jamaica through the exertions of a new race
of planters, should not have omitted this paragraphs'',
" It will be evident, from the facts stated, that we cello();
cultivate for another year. Indeed, we have not mon;
of taking up the present crop."—(Loud cries of "11°,1
hear.") These were the men of whom the Noble Ea
had boasted as having invested 142,000/. in the purehratje;
res
of land in Jamaica subsequent to emancipation. '-,lot
memorialists went on to point out that if they, it,
proprietors and planters, were in such a plight, 1/13,
must be the condition of absentees and mortgagecas:e
were represented; by agents. Now, this was the doe
ment to which the Noble Lord had referred as Pr°v bot
that the restoration of Jamaica was going on, and t
the island offered inducement for the further inlerso
meht of British capital. How could he find ri°;sg
to describe the conduct of that Minister who, recce his
documents from the colonies, mutilated them to sers.the
purpose, and used them to corroborate views which 0,
were intended to confute?—(Hear, hear.) Lookireis
this circumstance, together with the suppression °, tesd
three dispatches, he considered that his Noble Ir.ete'
was fully justified in asserting that there was a e)ress
matic attempt on the part of the Government to Sapp
and pervert colonial information.—(Hear, hear.) Anesel
case was that of Governor Higginson's dispatch' rest
line of which the Noble Earl had designated as or
important, but of that he only quoted as much
as
sernq
ported his own opinion.—(Hear.) One part of —°:,eesee
Higginson's dispatch ran thus—" It must be cua ewe
that free-grown sugar can never render such 8,1.000
as that produced by foreign slaves." Why 115"
pots of
lines been left out?—(llear, hear.) Were two of
omissions he had complained of strong sYmPt°,sie4
a wish to repress all information which bore 14,09
the Noble Earl's opinions?—(Cries of " Hear, hei,sfa
The Honourable Member having alluded ta„
Harris's despatch, which has already been so fo"Yiais•
cussed, proceeded to say that, to all these charges, IptiatYs
tors had commenced their defence by pleading goer,
their allegation being that their offence was a bi„ijoivg
not a crime.—(Hear, hear.) lie thought that as'ilion.
could be more enormously ridiculous than their pntfor a
—(Cheers and laughter.) It was very convenientireall
Government to deprecate discussion, and to eases ,sore
inquiry as in bad taste. Nothing could possibly aid not
indelicate than asking a man questions which 11, these
a
find it convenient to answer.—(A laugh.) 'believed
were questions which must be answered. lie I:_fisete
that that discussion would make an impression retarl
—that ss elsewhere " to which the Hon. Under Se 1d be
had so confidently appealed. " Elsewhere" it!),e Ord
said that there were some facts of a very susnt.'",sotn
racter which must be explained. " Elsewhere I,!_d sot
be remembered that three important dispatches
cr eler
been produced before the Sugar Committee; and csetarl
where 'it would not be forgotten that the noble °efes
of State had held up Jamaica as a desirable place pee
vestments of capital.—(Cheers and laughter..?
and bef
were all facts which would tell " elsewhere;
n,sit
had that confidence in the good sense and On"
" elsewhere" to believe that they would na, "e
with a Member of Parliament who attempted "Lt
do his duty and to elicit truth, and who was Pi 4
when necessary, to impeach a Minister, however
position, bright his honours, or long his pedigreeifeteher
Mr. V. SMITH complained that the lion. ,05 the
for Bucks had evaded the main question, which ~,:ooeteis
charge against the Colonial-office of having ho Noble
certain minutes.—(No.) The observations of th
Lord in plain English meant a charge of f°rLes sold
(Hear, hear.) The Hon. Member for Bucks
that his Noble Friend had withdrawn the chargeA be;
he had done so, he (Mr.IV. Smith, considebroe"tigh
had done so in a very unhandsome manner. He tootle
that the Noble Lord should either withdraw his bor.)
or put himself in a condition to prove it.—(H6a,r;s (Did
The second charge was that his Hon. Fries " resor
Hawes) memory was shorter than anything 01/:
since the celebrated case of Theodore Mn.Wcallm We°
who was that Majocchi ? The greatest liar' the., but
had ever produced. " Ferdinand Mendes Piet°
a type of him."—(Laughter.) Were such thing6d not
asserted of an Hon. Member of that House atiolear.,'
either fully proved or frankly withdrawn ?""seotil"
hear.) He thought that these personal questionstogioe
be settled before they entered into the general clflecl°'
which had been stated by the Hon. Member for f fact'
relative to a general and systematic suppression of
by the Colonial-office.—(Hear.) - Friend
Sir J. PAKINGTON said that his Noble after
the Member for Lynn had distinctly stated that ,10
what had fallen from the Hon. Under Secretlo,'o„,eat
could not make any imputation against the 1131.0 the
and the Hon. Member had taken off his hat tech/
manner in which Hon, Members were were used
when satisfied. for
Mr. HAWES—That was to the Hon. Member
Buckinghamshire, not the Noble Lord. b r
Sir J. PAKINGTON had seen the Hon.
Hon. Ige;seton,
so to the Noble; Lord.—(Hear.) He (Sir J. raw
could assure the on. Member that he completel.e..lls,
pated both himself and the Noble Earl at the lips dZitt et
colonial department from any such charge as
.10 tb°,
altering minutes. All he meant to aver was, that.,egleo,
matter of these dispatches there had been grave, L• fact;
somewhere.—(hear.) Having recapitulated tny_,,,leo
respecting the dispatches, the Hon. Baronet con:lose
by observing that in such proceedings there musts
been intentional suppressions or very grave blunder also
Sir G. GREY complained that the lion. Baronet foie
had attempted to divert the attention of the 110ne, suer
the question really before it. What was the real 7,010-
tion? His hon. friend the Under Secretary for the
st'basi
vies feeling that a charge had been brought aCala, 0030
on Friday night deeply affecting his honour, had w to
forward with an explicit statement of facts, ancl.ler to
ask the Noble Lord the
,Member fur Lynn 61