The Sun.
London, England, 1859-01-26 00:00:00

THE QUARTERLIES.

The Edinburgh Review.

No. CCXXI.

Altogether a very able, but, it must be confessed,
at once also a particularly heavy, number of our
Whig quarterly contemporary. The principal poli-
tical paper in the number is in itself so ambiguous
as to be for the most part simply tantalising. It
is entitled " History and Prospects of Parliamen-
tary Reform"—yet in its character it is chiefly
retrospective. It appears upon the eve of all the
Parliamentary disclosures, and was penned before
Mr. BRIGHT'S revelation f his scheme, with all its
explanatory schedules. Lord John maintains an
inscrutable silence. Lord Palmerston keeps his
own council perfectly. The Cabinet of Lord Derby
and Mr. Disraeli remains, of course, until the ap-
pointed time, wholly unrevealing. The reviewer
in the _Edinburgh, therefore,, writes accordingly.
His speculations are especially vague and misty.
He avoids as much as possible the chance of com-
mitting himself. He argues in generalities. He
bides his time in the darkness and the silence of

the recess, between the prorogation and the re-
assembling of Parliament. The happiest comment
upon the whole situation is that in which the
writer remarks:—
" Lord Derby's followers already rank among their politi-
cal trophies the proud distinction of having, emancipated the
Catholics, repealed the corn laws, and admitted the Jews
to Parliament by the hands of Tory Ministers. They will,
perhaps, add to their triumphs that of having expanded and
enlarged the popular representation of the country. But
though the hands are the hands of .Esau, the voice is the voice
of Jacob "
Cordially do we coincide with the conclusion of the
Edinburgh reviewer as to the imperative. necessity
of doing the work of reform either thoroughly or
not at all. Even "a further delay," we agree with
the reviewer, " would be preferable to a tame ac-•
quiescence in an imperfect and unsatisfactory mea-
sure." The paper on Reform is the closing contri-
bution—the first article being a luminous and dis-
passionate criticism on Arthur Helps' history of the
" Spanish Conquest in America." The second is a
shrewd and sensible treatise upon "Life Assurance"
—upon which apparently dull and unsuggestive
theme the reviewer who has penned it has written
both wisely and interestingly. The critic is evi-
dently himself one who has sympathised to the full
in the lament of the facetious poetaster whose
rhymes he has quoted casually :

" By fire and life insurers next
I'm intercepted, pestered, vexed
Almost beyond endurance ;
And tho' the schemes appear unsound,
Their advocates are seldom found
Deficient in assurance."
After a chapter upon the /ong•vexed " Church-rate
Question"—comes a rather scrambling and incohe-
rent essay upon " The Roman Catacombs"—a mag-
nificent subject treated here but very indifferently.
Due homage is paid to the learned archaeologist and
antiquary, the Padre Marchi, whom the reviewer,
by necessity, regards as entitled to the honour of
having revivedthe study of those interesting monu-
ments. But by one flippant sneer the critic affects
to ignore the whole of the laborious investigation'
made in the track of Marchi by Mr. Spencer
Northcote and the profound and gifted scholar to
whose genius Europe is indebted for the exquisite
tale of Fabiola. As to the perversely disingenuous
argument in favour of the doomed " Hudson's Bay
Company," we have already commented upon that
paper in our leading columns at considerable
length. The historian of our administration
during the last half century, to whose pen the
readers of the Whig Quarterly have been already
indebted for a record (Edin. Rev., Oct. 1858, art. 1)
of the course of the Grenville, Portland, and Per-
cival Administrations, here pursues his narrative
most ably from the date of the murder of Percival
in 1812, to the close, in 1822, of Lord Liverpool's
protracted administration. The reviewer promises
on a future occasion to carry on his retrospect from
1822 to the resignation of the Duke of Wellington,
and the advent to power of Lord Grey's Reform
Administration. When completed, the series will
be well deserving of re-issue by the Messrs.
Longman, in the form of a separate publication.
The Edinburgh closes—prior to the final paper on.
Reform—with a charming bibliographic gossip on
the Library of the British Museum, and a masterly
article on " Life and Organisation."

SLAVERY IN THE WEST INDIES.

Yesterday a deputation of the Anti-Slavery So-
ciety waited upon Sir E. L. Bulwer Lytton, at the
Colonial-office, to present a memorial against immi-
gration to the West Indies, and against the
Immigration Bill recently passed by the Jamaica
Legislature. The deputation consisted of the fol-
lowing gentlemen:—The Hon. A. Kinnaird, M.P.,
Geneial Thompson, M.P., Messrs. C. Gilpin, M.P.,
Samuel Gurney, M.P., the Rev. Dr. Carlisle, the
Rev. H. Richard, the Rev. D. J. East (Jamaica),
the Rev. J. Kennedy, Messrs. Joseph Sturge, J.
Cooper, W. A. Alexander, J. Moreland, Josiah
Forster, E. Miles, H. Sterry, Dr. N. Shaw, Messrs.
G. L. Neighbour, J. R. Birchett, S. Bourne, C. B.
Warner, T. H. Gladstone, and L. A. Chamerovzow.
Mr. CHARLES GILPIN, on introducing the depu-
tation, observed that the Committee of the Anti-
Slavery Association did not object to immigration
per se ; on the contrary, they were in favour of
the right of every man to leave his country for
another where his labour was required, and where
he could better his condition ; but they strongly
objected, and always had done, to the system called
" immigration," which consisted, according to the
modern interpretation of the term, in obtaining
men under contract to labour in foreign countries t
where slavery existed, and under terms incom-
patible with free labour. Under the present system
labourers were not free to choose their own masters
nor to put an end to the period of their services,
without heavy penalties.
Mr. CHAMEROYZOW observed that, in addition to
the evils referred to, the colony into which the
immigrants were introduced was made responsible
for one-third of the cost of importation, while the
incidental expenses would be more than double that
amount. The effect of such a system was to saddle
the community with the larger proportion of the
expenses. Those expenses fell upon the labouring
population, into competition with whom the foreign
immigrants were brought. The absence of all
effectual provision for the proper care and treat-
ment of the immigrants formed another objection.
In fact, not only on principle, but in detail, the
Jamaica Bill was considered destructive of the best
interests of the colonists, injurious to the native
labouring population, and also to the imported
labourers.

Sir E. B. LYTTON sa;_d he had only received the
memorial of the deputation five minutes before they
had entered the room. In all large offices of this
kind papers of importance passed through seve,:al
departments, and required time for inspection.
First, they were cent to the Emigration Board,
thence to another office, and then to the Secretary
of State, who might refer it to some other depart-
ment. At any rate, he had only seen tl/e memorial
referred to five minutes before he had met the depu-
tation.

-Mr.CHAMEROVZOW then proceeded to show from
the bill that the immigrants were regarded as mere
chattels, when

The lion. A. KINNAIRD Observed that it was not
the desire of the deputation to go into details, but
to deal with general principles.
Mr. JOSEPH STURGE then remarked that the
immigration scheme was not needed, that it was
attended with immense sacrifice of human life, and.
that it was neither more nor less than a revival of
the slave trade.

General THOMPSON hoped something would be
done to prevent this system of immigration, and
said he could propose himself as a witness. He
had been governor of Sierre Leone, and had papers
in his box to prove that the parties engaged as im-
migrants were in reality slaves. He trusted Sir
Edward would adopt such measures as would pre-
vent the evils of the existing system.
Mr. JOSEPH STURGE said there was no want of
labour in Jamaica and the statistics of the last
Cooly immigration showed a loss of 50 per cent. in
lives.
Sir E. B. LYTTON--'I think there is some exag-
gerwaon in that. I think it was 33 per cent.
After a few words from Mr. J. FORSTER and the
Rev.
J. D. EAST,
Sir E. B. LYTTON said he had listened with the
greatest attention to what had fallen from the de-
putation, and, although he was not disposed to
argue with them on any points of difference that
might exist between him and them, still they might
rest assured that the memorial which the had pre-
sented, and the observations which they had made,
would receive his serious consideration. The cause
were engaged—The suppression of
in which they
slavery—was a noble one, and, however he might
be disposed to differ from them as to the mode of
achieving that desirable object, any suggestions
from them on the subject would receive his best
attention.

After some observations from Mr. Jos. STURGE
and Mr. FORSTER, the deputation thanked the
right hon. baronet for the kind reception he had
given them, and withdrew. _

The deputation having retired to another room,
General Thompson expressed his dissatisfaction
with the conduct of the Government in reference
to the immigration scheme, and promised the depu-
tation that in the course of a few days he wound
" sound his three-halfpenny trumpet on the ques-
tion."

We regret to announce the death, after a short
illness, of Mr. Frederick Town Fowler, which melancholy
event took place at an early hour yesterday morning. Mr.
Fowler was for many years connected with the metropolitan
newspaper press,