The Sun.
London, England, 1834-03-17 00:00:00

POOR LAWS.

Sir R. PEEL wished to know from the noble hird if it
was the intention of his Majesty's Government to bring in
a bill on the subjea of the po it laws, or if it would be
c insistent for the noble lord to give any intimation of what
the intention was which ministers thought of pursuing
with respect to the poor laws.
Lord ALTHORP said it was the intention of govern-
ment to bring forward a bill on that subject, but the right
hon. bart. must be aware that a measure of that sort
mu:•t embrace so much that it could not be done in haste.
Sir ROBERT PEEL asked if it was the intention of
govet nment to bring in such a measure during the present
session.

Lord ALTHORP said it was.
Upon Lord ALTHORP'S moving that the house resolve
tself into a committee of supply--
Mr. F. BUXTON wished to put a question or
two to the right honourable Secretary for the Co-
lonies. Ile wished to know whether the exp2rinaent
that had been made last year to emancipate the
negroes from slavery had been, so far as it had gone,
considered satisfactory to government. He had been told
that the House of Assembly at Antigua had passed an
act for the immediate emancipation without imposing
apprenticeships. He had seen a letter also !loin
Jamaica, in which it was stated that the
same thing was intended to be done there,
had it not been from an apprehension of interfering with
what was done in England, which was considered to be,
with respect to the apprenticeships, not quire free from
reproach on the ground of interest. He had likewise been
informed that nothing like an equal quantity of provision
to the colonies this year that had been sent
out during former years, notwithstanding he hail learnt from
another source the difference was very trifling indeed. He
hoped the right bun. secretary would be able to give in-
formation on these points.

Mr. STANLEY—Although be was not prepared for so
extensive a question, or such a number of questions as
had just been propounded. Yet he would take the op
portunity of giving an answer to all to the utmost in his
power, and felt exceedingly obliged to the hog. gentle-
men for having given to him a previous intimation or his
intention to ask the question. With respect to whether the
act of emancipation had given satisfaction so far as it went,
be begged to say that in no colony bad the act of Parlia.
ment come into operation, therefore, nothing but expec-
tations could be formed or stated, and he had every reason
to say, that as far as Government had ben informed, they
felt perfectly justified in entertaining the most
sanguine expectations of the success of the measure.
With regard to the colony of Antigua, it was true
that the legislature there had a bill in progr, si
to do away with the system of apprenticeship, and
proposing that emancipation should commence on the
Ist of August next, and they wished to know from
the government if that bill would be at variance with the
act of the British Parliament ; he (Mr. S.) bad forwarded
a letter stating that they had the power to do away
with apprenticeship, if they choose so to do, but that

they had no power to establish any other means of coer-
cion with respect to :the slaves—(Hear, hear, hear.)—
that they must either take the apprenticeship or do away
with coercion altogether.—(Hear.) What that legisla-
ture intended to do ultimately of course he could not tell.
In Jamaica he was not sure he could speak with so much
confidence; but there an act had been proposed to carry
into effect all the principles and details of the Act of Par-
liament, and to comply with all the claims. As to De-
merara, the informatiAn was more gratifying. He had
recently received two dispatches, dated the 26th and 28th
Feb. from the governor, which he would read to the house,
but which teferred to enclosures which he bad not with
bins ; they would, however, show the scope and tendency
of the enclosures.—(Hear, hear.) The governor stated
the reports of the three fiscals of the three districts re•
specting all the causes of punishment and complaint, in a
population of 60,000 slaves. From Demerara itself he
regretted he bad not got the report, but in the other dis-
tricts it apoeared that in the month of December—a pe-
riod of holiday in which some excitement might be
naturally expected—there were only 13 punishments
( t :ear, hear)—and those not of corporeal punishment, but
averagiug from one to three months' imprisonment.—
(Hear.) Against the master abe complaints had only been
13 also, and those of the most insignificant and trivial
nature. The returns also showed that the quantity of
colonial produce gathered and manufactured this year,
as compared with the preceding year, established a
considerable increase.—(Hear, hear.) That increase was
solely attributable to the increasing good will and good
feeling that subsisted between the masters and slaves.
He had only one more statement to make, and that was
not the least gratifying, viz., that the Court of Policy, at
Demerara, which was composed of colonial plantess,
wholly unconnected with the Government, and who had
not been saving on several occasions of expressing their
dissent from the gonernment, had unanimously passed
a resolution abolishing, from March, 1834, the power
01 masters in inflicting corporal punishment upon the
slaves.---(Loud cries of " Hear.") They had thus antici-
pated one of the principal enactments of the legislature of
last session.—(Hear, hear.) They had also constituted
courts of pe ty sessions, consisting, f six magistrates,
who were to try all cases between the master and the slave.
It was with the greatest satisfaction that he (Mr. Stanley)
had advised his Majesty to express Lis approbation of the
wise, just, anti liberal policy of the colonists of Demerara,
which afforded to the government and the country the
hest security that the great experiment of the last session
would work well.--(Loud cheers.) There had also
been a proclamation of toe Governor of Demerara, pointing
out to the slaves that for this anticipation they were en-
tirely indebted to their masters. The opportunity of
making this statement gave him (Mr. Stanley) this addi-
tional satisfaction, that, together with the approbation of
his Majesty, he should have to communicate to the people
of Demerara the applau-e and sanction of the House of
Commons of the wise and liberal course they had adopted.
--(Loud cheers.):
REPEAL OF THE MALT DUTY.

Mr. COBBETT, being called upon, said he rose to
offer to the house, with great submission to their better
judgment, his motion upon the malt duties. His
motion was simply, that from and after the 6th day
of October next, the duty upon malt do cease. Before
he proceeded to the divers reasons in respect of his mo-
tion, it was necessary that he should say something rela-
tive to the numerical proportion which those who
would be more immediately benefitted I by the
preeal of the Malt Duties bore to the test of
the community. It was represented in that house that
that the agricul ural part of the community was compa-
ratively very small—it was an in-ignificant part of the
communitycompared with the manufacturing part. The lion
member for Middlesex told them they were a nation of
manufacturers, and the right hon. member for Manches-
ter said that they were destined to be the manufacturing
shop of the world. The noble lord, the member for the
North Riding of Yorkshire had told them that the agri- '
cultural interest bear a small proportion to those who
were interested in the repeal of the corn laws.—(Hear.)
NJ error was more gross or delusion more fallacious
than that, or ever so wide! spread. He would show
that the repeal of this tax would be as beneficial to the
manufacturers as to the agricultui ists. It bad been said
that the number of persons in the agricultural districts
was greater than that in the manufacturing districts, and a
reference was made to Guildford, in which it was said there
were 22 agricultural parishes and only one manufacturing
parish. Naw the hon. member for Guildford was the
owner of an entire parish, but who would suspect that he
owned all the manufacturing part of the county ? On
the contrary, that lion. member could tell the house
that the manufacturers were living by making
plough shares, harness, &c., and were therefore dependent
upon the agriculturists for their subsistence. A return
had been laid before the house, giving the number of
agricultural labourers 1,075,000 under 21 years of age,
and those employed in mantuactures appeared to be nearly
tour times as m tny ; so that the benefit to the manufac-
turing portion of thekommunity accruing from the repeal:of
' the malt tax would be four times that the agricultural
population would derive. But that, however, was not
exactly the question. The bon. member for Marylebone
had said that the repeal of the house and window taxes
would be the only thing to benefit the people.
(LEST SPEAKING.)