The Sun.
London, England, 1846-07-29 00:00:00

THE ADJOURNED DEBATE.

On the motion that the order of the day for resuming the
adjourned debate be read,
Mr. PHILIP MILES said that he could assure the House
that when he moved the adjournment of the debate last night,
it was not with a view of protracting the discussion of the
question at this late period of the session. It was because he
thought that under the circumstances a fair division could not
be taken upon it, that he wished to adjourn it, and he knew
that it was for the interest of all the parties that the adjourn-
ment should take place. He assured the Noble Lord that it
was not his intention to offer any useless opposition to this Bill,
because he did not think it right unnecessarily to protract the
business of the House. He could not admit that this measure was
to confer a great benefit upon the country, as the Noble Lord
had stated, and it was because he considered that this measure
would do precisely the reverse ; because he considered that the
measure would give great encouragement and stimulus to the
slave trade, notwithstanding all that had been said against it,
that he was prepared to give his support to the resolutions
moved by his Noble Friend the Member for King's Lynn. He
confessed that he was astonished last night to hear the Noble
Lord the Member for Liverpool—that Noble Lord who moved
the celebrated resolution in 1841—now consenting to the pro•
posals of her Majesty's Government. He must say that he
was not prepared to hear him give the reasons for the vote
which he was induced to give, after he had said that
he protested str ,ugly against the admission of foreign sugar.
He certainly was not prepared to hear that Noble Lord come
forward in support of the proposition of the Noble Lord the
Member for London.—( Hear, hear.) Neither was he pre-
pared to hear the Right Hon. Gentleman the Chancellor of the
Exchequer, certainly in a speech of great Oility, tell the
House that he was rejoiced to be able from the source of the
slave-grown sugar, to receive a large increase to the revenue of
the country. The discussion last night turned upon the state
of the West India colonies, and it was because he was
particularly interested in them, and because he wished to
express his opinions as to their condition, that he
was unwilling that the House should go to a division
on the question last night, before he laid before them what he
knew concerning their condition, and what effect this measure
woul I have upon them. From all that he could learn from
practical people on this subject, from all that he knew himself
on the question, he must say that he thought the effect of this
measure would be to throw a vast number of estates out of
cultivation.—( Hear, hear. ) All those estates which were of a
barren soil, and which had not all the advantages of shipping,
would he thrown out of cultivation• lie would take
for an instance the Island of Jamaica. In that island there were,
he believed, about 400 estates now in cultivation ; and he wa•
assured by a gentleman conversant with the subject, that of
those 150 or 200 would be thrown out of cultivation by this
measure. Many of the estates in that island Lad been lately
thrown out of cultivation, Lod it was a lamentable fact, but :t
wed nevertheless true, that in consequence of the want of pre.
tection which ought to have been shown to the proprietors of
estates in that island, the people were in a most wretched con-
dition. The Noble Lord, the Member for London, in the
opening speech which he made on this question, said that the
system of protection was a vicious one, but his (Mr. Miles)
answer to that question was that the condition of .the West
Indies was in a wretched state at this. moment, and
the reason that they were so was, because of tlfe
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