The Sun.
London, England, 1848-08-19 00:00:00

fir borninit

LONDON, SATURDAY, jUGUST 19, 1849.

Vancouver's Island has become an object of ambi-
tion to the Hudson's Bay Company, and the grasping
policy of that great mercantile establishment ap-
pears to be connived at by the present Government.
If we were to regard the division and discussion of
last night as conclusive, we should certainly be dis-
posed to recriminate upon those who have gone so
far towards criminating themselves. But we are
loth to imagine that one of our most valuable, be-
cause one of our most conveniently situated colonies,
is to be juggled away with such precipitation, merely
because a Cabinet is pliant, and a Company is avari-
cious. True, that according to the proposed
arrangement, the island in question is merely to be
granted for a period of eleven years to the directory
of that vast commercial association whose territories
already extend from Chesterfield Inlet to Demarca-
tion Point. True, moreover, that the Government
compromises the matter in some measure by stipulat-
ing to the effect that at the expiration of those eleven
years the island may be again absorbed among the
colonial possessions of England, the Legislature re-
munerating the Hudson's Bay Company for :any
surplus expenditure, and compensating them propor-
tionately for the sudden diminution of their domi-
nions. When we utter our protest against the trans-
action altogether, we by no means lose a recollection
of these subordinate stipulations Our protest against
the yielding disposition betrayed on this occasion by the
members of the Administration is pronounced with a
perfect appreciation of the hold they still propose to
retain upon the island through the moderate perspec-
tive of eleven summers. Looking upon the question
simply in regard to time and convenience, we would
ask how it is possible for the Government of the
United Kingdom to calculate with the feeblest shadow
of confidence upon the capacity of the Treasury in
1859 to disburse the requisite amount of specie for
the purpose of re-absorption? To say the very least,e
therefore, when the continued destruction of th
potato crop, the prolonged scarcity in Ireland, the
munificentiblalir re
e a
sgratuitiessby
e u the
of ourlavi
Exchequer,
uponand
the
g starv-
ing m
mmthe
inereas:
revenues are taken into
embarrassments
t o the
if
closestipulations of
f
temporary o f b
transference
t heGovernment
is
rash,
consideration—to say the very
ehreylast, therefore, the
it is not most illusory and preposterous. It is nothing
less than gambling with the most precious colonies of
the British empire, at the expense of our national in.
terests, and for the selfish emolument of a sharp-
witted, avaricious, and tyrannizing association of
merchants.

There is something so very extraordinary in the pre-
cipitation with which this arrangement is being hurried
onwards to its conclusion—there is something, indeed,
are, naturally
some
cause
n mspeel n leodt
so frivolous and unargutnentative in the reasons ad-
duced in favour of the whole proceeding, that amaze-
ment justifies suspicion, and suspicion tends only to
enhance
cu
to ask ourselves if' there is not some latent incitement,
some reasonulum fore e
0n p
apparent from the mere outline of the compact as
suggested by the Hudson's Bay Company, and as
oc ourlt amazement.
conceded by the present Government of these
realms. By no other conjecture whatever the
conduct can
conduct of the Admini tra it.
s on in this affair be
viewed as explicable. We are compelled either
to consider the Cabinet
as entirely devoid ofjudg-
ment, or to look through
the yellow lens of jealousy
upon the details of their projected concession. We
put it at once to the Hon. Member for Montrose, or
to the Hon. Member for Newcastle, or to any other
of the popular representatives, whether sufficient
ground is not afforded by the circumstances of this
marvellous and otherwise bewildering transaction, to
inquire into the unavowed inducements of the Ad-
ministration ? Is it possible that the deplorable
system of nepotism may not be swollen into some
such arrangement as the one talked of in re-
gard to Vancouver's Island ? Is it possible
that some sinister influences may not have affected
the sound sense of her MAJESTY'S Ministers P Is it
not just possible that the " GREAT BEAR" has snuffed
the riches of Quadra across the waters of the gulf of
Georgia, and has thereupon incontinently placed his

paw upon Vancouver's Island ? Plainly, and bluntly,
and deliberately we say this—that the Government
has given us ample reason for such suspicions; that it

has justified conjectures which would have been other
wise unjustifiable ; and that the reasonableness of all
tilt se doubts and jealousies is demonstrated, not
less by the blundering logic of Mr. Hawes, and the
distorted statistics of Mr. CHARLES BULLER, than it
is by the overwhelming arguments of Mr. GLAD-
STONE, and the cogent facts* adduced towards the
close of the discussion by Mr. WYLD.
In proof of the fallacy of the calculations made
by the supporters of the Government, one or two
very simple denials will be amply sufficient. It is
declared, for example, that Vancouver's Island is
virtually useless to the mother country as a point of
emigration—seeing that the voyage from England to
Nootka Sound necessitates an interval of six months'
duration, and considering, moreover, that the cost of
the passage of every individual emigrant would be
not one sixpence less than .50/. or 601. Now the in-
sincerity of this statement is as visible as
daylight at noon, when it is announced,
upon incontrovertible authority, that there are dozens
upon dozens of men in this very city of ; London
ready to undertake the exportation of emigrants,
at an outlay not exceeding fifteen pounds sterling
for each individual colonist. In addition to this, the
advocates of the policy propounded by Government
have asserted that the cost of emigration to Van -
couver's Island must necessarily be enormous—not
only in consequence of the length and duration of the
voyage, but also because the emigrant ships would
be compelled to return home with all the bar-
renness of a ballast of rubbish ; whereas,
the fruitfulness of this noble possession in copper ore
and other commodities, would of itself furnish every
inducement to the mercantile enterprise of Great
Britain. In timber alone the island of Quadra or
Vancouver is rarely productive—the illustrious Coo'
describing it as " one vast forest." And subse-
quent investigations have only tended to corro-
borate the views of the great navigator—Mr. MAC-
GREGOR telling us, in one brief but emphatic sen-
tence, that " its harbours, its woods, its cultivable
soils, its wild animals, and its fisheries, may
afford sufficient advantages for cultivation and
settlement." (See " The Progress of America," vol.
i., p. .54'2.) This catalogue of advantages being
totally apart, be it observed, from the mineral and
other productions of the splendid island contiguous
to the Oregon territories ! And it is this
very contiguity to the mainland of North
America at the precise spot in regard to which the
demands of Lord ASHBURTON clashed with the de-
mands of the plenipotentiary from Washington—.
Vancouver's Island being situated between latitudes
48. degrees 15 minutes north, and 51 degrees
30 minutes north ; and longitudes 122 degrees
30 minutes and 128 degrees 15 minutes west ; a trifle
northwards of the point where the waters of the river
Columbia are poured into the billows of the Pacific.
Supposing the island to be so comparatively unpro-
ductive and useless in regard to the mother country,
in consequence of the difficulties of communication, it
surely would not have constituted a matter of so much
importance in the estimation of the negotiators of the
Oregon division. Besides, if the difficulty of access
be the principal objection to the continued' re-
tention of the island, it is most cer-
tainly a matter of by no means subordinate con-
sideration that the difficulties of engineering on the
isthmus of Panama are pronounced to he the very
reverse of insurmountable: canals must ultimately
connect by a belt of water the two great
oceans of the Pacific and Atlantic, and the
vicinity of our West Indian possessions to the
Caribbean Sea, and nearer land to the Gulf of
Darien, must, apart even from the necessities of
science, associate Great Britain in a particular
manner in that inevitable though still prospec-
tive undertaking. Quadra would by that means
be brought within an easy distance of the
ports of the United Kingdom, and the frivolous ob-
jections of the Cabinet be fully and determinately
overruled.

But the most important of all the innumerable
reasons which may be, and have been, and will again
and again be adduced against the resignation of Van-
couver's Island to the Hudson's Bay Company, is the
fruitfulness of this remarkable colony in that
most necessary and invaluable of all the
commodities in modern commerce—coal. As
an entrepot in the Pacific for the purpose
of providing fuel for our steam-vessels, no matter
whether those steam-vessels are voyaging north-
wards to Behring's Straits and on wards to the
Polar Seas, or southwards to the Sandwich
Islands and onwards to the Marquesas
—the continued possession of Vancouver's
Island would be absolutely invaluable. In
this respect we regard the colony as of
more account than because it has been already de-
clared by one eminently qualified to anticipate—that
the time will come when the oriental trade will
find its way across the American continent,
and that " whenever it does arrive, the Straits of
Juan de Fuca will become the funnel through which
it will he poured into the new world." And this is
the possession which the British Government are go-
ing to cede to the Hudson's Bay Company—for
a period of eleven years—although it has long since
become notorious that the conduct pursued by that
Company towards the population of their enormous
dominions is in almost every instance of the most
grasping and despotic character. Unless the Go-
vernment recall their extravagant decision betimes,
the destinies of Quadra will be cast under the evil
influences of Ursa Major, the Cabinet itself will have
been bamboozled into a deplorable blunder, and one
of our most noble and valuable possessions on the
eastern shores of the Pacific will be in a fair way of
being irrevocably lost to the United Kingdom.

The second of the state trials in Ireland has termi-
nated in the conviction of Mr. JOHN MARTIN, the
registered proprietor and publisher of the Irish Felon.
This result fully justifies the opinion which we put
forward on Monday last when commenting upon the
case of Mr. KEVIN IZOD O'DONERTT, " that the dis-
agreement of the jury in that case should not be re-
garded as evidence of a determination not to convict
when sufficient grounds were laid before the jury."
A great distinction existed in the amount of evi-
dence that was brought forward in these cases.
In the first trial, the only proofs adduced
against the prisoner to connect him with the objec-
tionable articles, and to show that he was guilty of
one or both of the intents charged in the indictment,
was, that he was (not the sole) but merely one of
the proprietors, his partner being also in custody,
and about to stand his trial for the very same publi-
cations—and, secondly, that papers containing the
matters charged were purchased at the office of the
Tribune journal. The law officers were also in pos-
session of the original manuscripts, which they had
neglected to produce, although it was stated
by the Learned Counsel for the defence that
notices had been served on the Crown Solicitors,
on behalf of the prisoner, requiring their production.
This meagre and unsatisfactory evidence was surely
not sufficient to warrant a conviction for felony, and
to subject a party who might, for aught that was
Proved before the jury, have been wholly ignorant of
the contents of these articles until after they had
been in circulation, to perpetual banishment from his
native land. If the jury entertained any reasonable
doubt, it was their duty to give the benefit of that doubt
to the prisoner, no matter what might be the conse-
quences. Great public inconvenience might no doubt
have been occasioned by his acquittal. There could be
no question as to his moral guilt, or that he had wil-
fully determined on standing the hazard of the die,
in placing himself in a position similar to that for-
merly occupied by JOHN MITCHEL, and exciting
the people to discontent and insurrection against the
constituted authorities. That such was his deliberate
intention was, we believe, perfectly notorious to every
person, both in and out of court, but that intention
did not appear from anything brought forward before
the Court or the jury, and that jury were bound by
the terms of their oaths, " a true verdict to give ac-
cording to the evidence," and to dismiss from
their minds everything they had heard or might have
conceived respecting the case before they had entered
into the box, and the prisoner was arraigned before
them.

The case of Mr. MARTIN was very different in-
deed. Two of the articles were signed by his name,

* We would, in a very particular manner, call attention
to the admirable speech delivered last evening in the House
of Comm ns by the Honourable Member for Bodmin. In
that speech Mr. Wyld epitomises the importance of the
question in an inimitable expression when he calls the island
of Vancouver " the sentinel of the Pacific."

and the authorship thereof was admitted by hi able
Counsel, when entering upon the- defence. Further
proof also was given to the effect that the prisoner,
when first brought before the magistrate, had de-
clared that " he knew the several articles, and he
was morally responsible for what they contained."
There was, therefore, no question for the jury
in the latter case, but as to the ten-
dency and effects of these articles, and whe-
ther they clearly and unequivocally established
the intents charged, so as to leave no reasonable
doubt thereof. That question the jury answered in
the affirmative, and the unfortunate man is now a
convicted felon about to undergo the weighty punish-
ment which the law has affixed to his crime.
The Learned Chief Baron, in his able and luminous
charge, clearly laid down the law on the subject,
with the full concurrence of the venerable and ex-
perienced judge who presided along with him. His
Lordship said, " the jury were to consider first,
whether these articles were published by the prisoner ;
2dly, what was the meaning of those publications, and
idly, were they published with the prisoner's hnoul•
ledge, and did they express his intentions .? His Lord-
ship further stated, " that as to the question of pro-
prietorship and publication there could be no doubt;
but another and most material question then arose,
viz , whether the prisoner entertained the intent,
whatever it was, that was expressed and entertained
in these documents ;" and, subsequently, " that it
would be for the jury to say whether he did not
know of these publications, according as they pro-
ceeded from the press, prior to the period of publica-
tion, and whether the intentions contained in them
were adopted by him;'' and afterwards in explaining
the point to the jury, who were recalled into court
after they had retired, " that if at the time of the
publication of Lawn's letter of the 24th June, the
prisoner was not aware of its contents, but after-
wards became aware of it, that was not such an adop-
tion of the letter as to prove that the prisoner enter-
tained similar intentions on the 24th June; the
Court did not mean to convey that a subsequent
adoption would constitute the offence contemplated
by the Acts of Parliament." This is the just and
constitutional law. This is, indeed, what we should
have expected from such men as Chief Baron PICOT
and Baron PENNEFATHEA, who hold the scales of
justice with equal and impartial hands, guarding
alike the rights of the Crown and the liberties of the
subject against encroachment or invasion.

We give in another column the Report of the
; Select Committee on Lord Buoucilam's Bankrupt
; Law Consolidation Bill, and shall on Monday give a
portion of the evidence taken before it, and continue
the publication of this evidence from time to time until
we have completed it. This Bill is one of very great
importance. It is intituled "An Act to consolidate and
, amend the Bankrupt Law of England ;" and, unless
we are much mistaken, will be well received iu the
mercantile world and by the public in general. It
may not contain all that is desired by the former—or
rather by those who put themselves forward as repre-
senting the former—but it unquestionably appears to
be supported by the evidence, and is a very much
better measure than, any that has heretofore been
submitted to Parliament on the same subject. The
Bill was introduced by Lord BROUGHAM on the 29th
of June ; it was immediately referred to a Select
Committee ; the Committee has since sat fifteen dap,
and certainly the opponents of the measure, or, to
speak more correctly (for it has no opponents), those
who desire to go further, and who also desire the
restoration of arrest on mesne process, must in com-
mon candour confess they have had fair play ; for,
contrary to the usual and ordinary course of proceed-
ing, the Committee on this Bill was open to all—es
open court, in fact—all who chose to attend were
allowed to do so ; they sat round the table, as if they
had been persons on the Committee, and several of
the members of the Metropolitan Committee and of
the City of London Trade Protection Society were
every day present accompanied by one or other of
their solicitors. Every opportunity has been afforded
them of calling witnesses in favour of their sur
gestions, and the witnesses opposed to them were
subjected to a cross-examination. Every question
they wished to ask was allowed to be put, and the
Committee even allowed Mr. Commissioner F•t"
(the only Commissioner, we believe, who goes along
with these Associations) to cross-examine as their
advocate, and as if he had been a Peer. These things
we state, having ourselves been present, though with-
out any kind of title to be there, except the permis-
sion given by the Chairman to all who took an in-
terest in the Committee. All this was quite right, and
due to the great importance of the subject, and the
interest felt in it. But it is a great fallacy to represent
the petitioners for the restoration of arrest on inesne
process (as has been attempted elsewhere to be
done) as being first-rate merchants, or as represent-
Mg the great body of London traders. These peti-
tioners are, no doubt, highly respectable persons—
most respectable traders—but, in truth, those of the
great London Bankers and Merchants who were sum-
moned said they had not turned their attention to •the
subject, thus showing plainly that they had no fellow'
feeling with the petitioners, who all regard, or say they
regard, the subject as one of life and death to them.
We cannot help thinking that Lord BaouQuam has
had scant justice meted out to hire on this occasion
by the Associations we have named. His Lordshiie
Bill gives them a very considerable portion of whet
they contend for—goes a great way in the sane
direction—all profess to be pleased with it ; but lint
content with this—not content to wait the result
of this Bill, or the Select Committee on it, theYl
on the 13th July, through Mr. Bonyeeze, had 0
measure of their own submitted to the House °I
Commons; and only the other night that Honourable
Gentleman, on moving the second reading of his Bill,
so far from stating that the subject was before the
other. House of Parliament, or that a Select Corn:
mittee of the House of Lords had been sitting An'
examining witnesses, and inquiring into it, toy
no sort of notice, made no allusion to, or any mention
whatever of any other Bill having ever been intro'
duced, thereby leaving it to be inferred that nothing
has been done ! This, we say, is not right ; on the
contrary, it is most unfair. .No doubt Mr.Bouv-01°
must have been ignorant of the facts, otherwise 138
would have stated them ; but they ought, neeerthe'
less, to be known.

With these observations we refer our readers to
the report and evidence, which is well worth a careful
perusal, and when the latter has all been laid befor°
them we may return to the subject. The eeidepes
of Mr. Commissioner HOLROYD fully explains til°
nature and objects of Lord BitouonAnt's Bill, and
entirely agree with that Learned Gentleman in thinl‘'
ing that if the Court of Bankruptcy had the
powers proposed to be given to it, there would
be no necessity for arrest either on mon°
or final process, and that a very marked improve'
anent would soon be perceptible. We are clear, tl
that all imprisonment ought to be by the Court, D°
left with the creditors; but we concur with the 106'
tioners in thinking that clauses ought to be intro'
duced into the Bill enforcing the registration of bill"
of sale and composition-deeds, and permitting the
sequestration of a deceased trader's estate, and *e
trust that Lord BROUGHAM, before again ham:due-WI
his Bill, will see the propriety of acceding to this.