The Sun.
London, England, 1858-06-16 00:00:00

that honour, inasmuch as, if he did not possess
the necessary qualification himself, he must, be-
fore he could take his seat, obtain one from some-
body who did possess it, and who might be re-
garded as being to some extent responsible for his
being a person of respectability." This was the
most extraordinary argument of any. The down-
right, wilful, and deliberate perjury was lost sight
of, the solemn declaration of a grass and palpable
falsehood, with all its demoralising consequences,
was disregarded, somebody that had the magical
3001. per annum was responsible for his respect-
' ability ! Why that person was virtually guilty
of subornation of perjury, by encouraging a per-
son to swear to what he knew to be false !
and that very frequently merely to enable a soli-
citor to make some fifty pounds for the costs of
the deeds ! Lord WICKLOW is a nobleman of un-
blemished reputation and high honour, and he is
certainly not the person from whom we should
have expected such a plea.

At the very time that the qualification was
properly abolished in the Upper House, it was
noticed in another form in the House of Com-
mons. Mr. JOHN TOWNSEND, the member for
Greenwich, had unfortunately been adjudicated
a bankrupt, mainly, as his friends allege,
through the political persecution to which
he was exposed in consequence of his election.
His constituents were, however, satisfied with
his conduct, and had made very creditable ex?r
tions to retain his services, and which exertions,
there is reason to believe, will eventually be suc-
cessful. Whatever might be his pecuniary means
he had faithfully represented their wants and
wishes, and invariably voted in accordance, not
only with the pledges he had given, but with the
political views he had expressed ; and yet he will
be prevented from sitting or voting until the bank-
ruptcy is superseded. Greenwich will thus be
virtually disfranchised, and that although the
privilege belongs to the constituency, and not to
the representative. We know nothing of Mr.
TOWNSEND personally, but it certainly seems
that, on the abolition of the property qualifica-
tion, Mr. TOWNSEND ought to be enabled to re-
sume the discharge of his Legislative duties.

Slavery and the Slave Trade for ever 1 might
well be the heading of many a letter and leader
in the " Leading Journal." Certain enough,
however, is it, that on this subject it neither leads
nor follows the public opinion of the country.
Almost every immigration scheme, unless, per-
haps, an audacious French one, almost every dif-
ficulty connected witl. our African or Cuban anti-
slave squadron, every letter vilifying the emanci-
pated peasantry, a.l seem welcome as pegs
whereon to hang a pro-slavery lecture. Conti-
nental despots, slaveholders, and slavery, seem
to enjoy the special patronage of the Times.
Of course, a certain appearance of homage to
the deelly•rooted sentiments of Englishmen is
kept up, yet we regret to feel too sure that slave-
traders and slaveholders, and immigration-mon-
gers, must easily see through the thin disguise,
and rejoice in a plausible, and what would be, but
for the jury to whoa, the special pleading is ad-
dressed, a powerful advocacy.

We have just seen how the lying exaggerations
of some Yankee skippers, and it may be the ex-
cessive zeal of some of our indignant young Lieu-
tenants, has served for a little political dust in
America, and how "British Outrages" may pos-
sibly be nursed "to keep them warm " till the
glorious sth of July. Then, inded, we shall read
of " Stump oratory" on maintaining the honour
of their flag ; and verily we wish the
orators would maintain it ; that they would free
it from the foul dishonour of floating over cargoes
of slaves, a disgrace to it infinitely beyond any
that our cruisers are likely to inflict upon it. They
know that their flag enjoys at present the distin-
guished honour of being hoisted by every trader
in human flesh—and they glory in tie honour.
They well know the difference between a visit to
verify the title of a ship to hoist American colours,
and an attack upon the American flag itself. If
we wrong an innocent trader in hunting after the
guilty one, let us make reparation to the wronged
man. It ought to be done in every case of mis-
taken arrest—oven of an individual ; but, in the
name of common sense, what individual would ask
that the colour or quality of his coat should pro-
tect him from being taken into custody on reason-
able ground of suspicion ? He would well know
that if that were law, every man who know it,
would have but to spend a pound or two more on
his coat to enable him to rob him of his watch
with impunity. Yet a little silly bluster of the
Yankees, we must do the Government the credit
of confessing, not shared by it, has served an
English journal as a reason for denouncing our
keeping up any longer an anti-slave-trade police
of the seas. Dr. LIVINGSTONE, who, of all per-
sons ought to know, assures us in his book, that
when we kept an efficient squadron on the
African coast we did stop the trade.
We are pleased to see that the infamous ca-
lumnies of " ETPERTUS" which appeared in the
Times, and which seemed to be very welcome,
have not been left unrefuted. The Anti-Slavery
Society sent over to numerous respectable and
well-informed persons in the West India Islands
a series of questions bearing on the actual want
of labour, the effects of immigration, and the re-
sults of lilserty on the habits of the negroes.
The pamphlet containing the answers lies before
us, and we have examined every one of the
numerous fetters in it. The whole of them appear
to be written with an anxious desire to state the
truth as exactly as the writer could do it, and what
is the result? Are the negroes lazy, improvident,
disposed to go naked rather than toil for wages?
"beasts," as we are told, rather than men ; with
none of :he wants of civilisatior, and therefore
unwilling to work for what they do not wish for ?
It is dear that the facts are altogether the re-
verse of all this. True, men will not and cannot
work, under a sun that is death to Europeans, as
they could and would under our temperate clime.
True, also, that there are numerous individuals as
laay as individuals here, where work is compara-
tively pleasure. True, also, that plantation work,
the work which is not only most toilsome, but
which most of all reminds them of the whip and
the treadmill, is not the work preferred. But,
true it is also, that the readiness to work is the
ruin, and willing idleness the exception.
The grand obstruction to negro industry is
the conduct of the planter. He offers a man from
eightpeuce to eighteen pence—generally, perhaps,
a shilling—to labour ten hours under a Jamaica
sun ! Worse even than that, he is but too prone
to dispute payment after the work has been done,
thus rendering day labour unpopular by the uncer-
tainty of the remuneration. Whenever, there-
fore, ground car be cheaply rented or bought,
and that is the case over a considerable part of
Jamaica and some other islands, the negro does
what we must surely commend him for--he works
for himself. lie tills his own ground and sell-4
the produce In this way he keeps the market of
the island well supplied with provisions, and not
only that, he raises a very large quantity of
produce for exportation. Sugar itself, coffee,
pimento, arrowroot, &a., he cultivates so succes-
fully, that it is duo to him that the exports of

Jamaica rival now those of the latter years of
slavery. The roads, we are told, are literally
crowded, at certain times of the year, with their
produce coming to the towns for sale, and the
country in many places exhibits their industrious
small-farm cultivation, ride which way you will.
It is acknowledged, in some districts, that
there is a deficiency of labour, but it is denied
that the indolence of the negro is the cause
of it ; and truly denied. Partly, in those
districts, they have not yet recovered from
the decimating ravages of the cholera
or the small-pox ; and partly, and that
is the too common case, the planters want not la-
bour, but slave labour again. They cannot bring
themselves to treat the negroes as freemen, they
get perhaps some coolies or Chinese, which ulti-
mately cost them as much as if they paid good
wages to the coloured people ; the coloured peo-
ple have however left the estate in disgust, on
the arrival of the intruders, and when the appren-
tices have fulfilled their term, if they have not died
first, the negroes have found better employ in
working for themselves. All this appears to be
of frequent occurrence.

When the men are fairly paid and kindly
treated the evidence is conclusive that they are
as willing to work as the inhabitants of any tro-
pical clime, nay, decidedly more so than most.
As to the wants of civilisation they "rival the
Europeans in dress," and are fond of acquiring
horses and cattle. Perhaps the most remarkable
fact of all is their large contributions to religious
and charitable objects. They support a large
number of the missionaries who labour amongst
them, build chapels and :schoolrooms, and contri-
bute considerable amounts for education
of their children. The wonder, we think,
is, that they are what they are. It is hardly
five-and-twenty years since they had no induce
ment to labour but the cat-o'-nine-tails ; since
labour was rendered as hateful as it could be to
them by its being unrequited and cruel, since
they were indeed treated as " beasts" by those
who were themselves worse than beasts ; since a
thought beyond the gratification of the hour was
an absurdity ; and since licentiousness and de-
bauchery were taught them by the example of
their masters, and by denial of the rights of mar-
riage. It is truly wonderful that such men are
now peaceful and intensely loyal subjects ; that
the militia even is disbanded as superfluous ; that
as a body they are industrious and thrifty, and
the exports of the islands are increasing every
year. It is a wicked, unrighteous policy that
sends among them a set of heathen Chinese and
Coolies to demoralise them again by the vices of
paganism, on the one hand, and to bid against
them in the labour market on the other—to bid
against them after having been imported by
taxation, to which they must contribute. Were
a labour immigration, into Manchester, or into the
West Riding, or into London, carried on by aid
of the public taxes, we imagine it would not be
long before we should have a little work for our
soldiery. The maligned negroes endure it, with-
out even a militia to protect those who wrong
them !

The last explanation respecting the Cagliari
was given last night. The business was not only
quietly done, but well done. The nation has
every cause to rejoice at the manner in which its
honour was vindicated by Lord MALMESBITEY. Mr.
S. FITZGERALD last night stated that her MAJESTY'S
Government had presented a note calling for a
categorical answer from the King of NAPLES, re-
quiring indemnity and the restoration of the ship
and crew. It was also intimated that a similar
demand would be preferred by the Sardinian
Government. We did not then desert our ally,
and the Neapolitan authorities made a merit of
necessity, and at once yielded both demands.
The result was, that Count Cavoun, on learning
that the ship had been restored, and the crew set
at liberty, directed the Sardinian representative
to keep back the note that had previously been
forwarded to him, and the Minister for Pied-
mont at the Court of St. James's has expressed
the satisfaction of his Government with the ar-
rangement made.

This untoward affair has now been amicably
and satisfactorily arranged, through the tempe-
rate, but firm and decided, course adopted by
Lord MALMESBURY. There is no longer any
danger of hostilities that might disturb the
tranquillity of Europe, and, perhaps, even-
tually lead to a general war. There is
a strong contrast betwee❑ the conduct of
the present and the late Government in this mat-
ter, and that not only so far as our countrymen,
but as Sardinia's, were implicated and concerned.
They had sustained a common wrong, and a com-
mon remedy was ob'tained for all.

The Australian overland has arrived at last,
and the Government have acted wisely in delay-
ing the departure of the Overland Mail until to-
morrow, thereby affording merchants an opportu-
nity toreturn answers more considerately than they
would have been enabled to do upon the spur
and excitement of the moment of arrival.

There is great complaint with respect to the
postal communication by the recent arrangement
with the European and Australian Royal
Mail Company, who have broke down
almost on every occasion, and have there-
by inflicted great commercial losses on the
mercantile interests, besides wounding the
private feelings of the community by reckless in-
difference to their engagements. From the first
we denounced the contract as a specious job, and
the result has unfortunately fulfilled our predic-
tion even beyond our apprehensions. We now
think that the parties concerned, bath public and
private, ought to be brought to book before a
competent tribunal.

If we remember rightly, the ex-Secretary of the
Treasury was the great god of the Philistines on
that unhappy occasion, and wonderfully well
have his chosen people contrived to mar the
adventure in spite of the heavy penalties for
non-performance, which were never expected
to be enforced. Why, the vessel which
brought the present mail has incurred
penalties amounting to nearly six thousand
pounds for non-performance of the contract !
Will these be paid I—and suppose they will,
what recompense will merchants receive for their
losses solely occasioned by the Contracting Mail
Company's mismanagement in non-performing
their duty ? The public have to pay, and that
rather extravagantly, iu this case ; they should
therefore be well served, but the very reverse is
the woeful experience. Let us hope our autho-
rities may be luckier in their contracts hereafter.
Why should there not be a mail by Panama as well
as by Suez ? We should then have two strings to
oourb liow,anil,
couseq uently, be even more then
duly independent.
part V eerfy
commercialcopious
extractsand all other
her news from Mel-
found in another
bourne to the 15th April inclusive.

The Duchess ut Kent visitect-the Princess Alice and
the younger royal children yesterday, at Buckingham
Palace. Her Royal Highness honoured the performance
of the Italia❑ Opera with her presence in the evening.
In attendance were Lady Fanny Howard, Lady Anna
Maria Damon, and Colonel Stephen&