The Sun.
London, England, 1832-04-07 00:00:00

Upon one great and essential point the colonial'
express a perfect concurrence with the Govern-
ment. They admit that the resolutions of 1823
Ought to be carried into effect. The meeting
Mates, in the resolution which we have quoted.
that to adopt such measures for the amelioration
of slavery as shall be found necessary to the real
welfare of the negro, and consistent with the
above-mentioned resolutions of Parliament, is
" a feeling in which it is convinced that all the
resident planters participate, while, at the same
time, they protest against the harsh and unge-
nerous policy which would proffer relief to the
acknowledged distress of the colonist only on
condition of abandoning his constitutional
rights." Now let us see what are the resolutions
of 1823, which both Government and the co-
lonists admit ought to be carried into effect.
Our readers will recollect that those reso-
lutions were moved by Mr. Canning, a friend
to the planters ; and as an amendment to a mo-
tion of Mr. Fowell Buxton, the representative of
what is called the abolitionist party. The mo-
tion of Mr. Buxton went to denounce slavery as
repugnant to the principles of the British Con-
stitution and of the Christian religion, and also
went to pledge the House to gradually abolish
it with as much expedition as might be found
consistent with a due regard to the well-being of
the parties concerned. Mr. Canning considered
this motion of too strong a character, and pro-
posed that before the House pledged itself to
abolish slavery, it should take steps to insure
such an improvement in the character and moral
condition of the slave as should qualify him for
a beneficial enjoyment of the state of freedom.
This seemed very reasonable, and the resolu-
tions were passed which form the basis of the
existing dispute between the Government and
the planters—the former denying that these reso-
lutions have been complied with, and the latter
asserting the contrary. 'We referred to those
resolutions some time ago, but it becomes ne-
cessary now to recall them verbatim to the
reader's attention. They are as follow :

" That it is expedient to adopt effectual and decisive
measures for ameliorating the condition of the slave popu-
lation in his Majesty's colonies.
" That through a determined and persevering, but at the
same time judicious and temperate enforcement of such
measures, this House looks forward to a progressive im-
provement in the character of the slave population, such
as may prepare them for a participation in those civil rights
And privileges which are enjoyed by other classes of his
Majesty's subjects.
" That this House is anxious for the accomplishment of
this purpose, at the earliest period that shall be compatible
with the well-being of the slaves themselve, with the
safety of the colonies, and with a fair and equitable con-
sideration of the interests of private property."

If the planters concur with the Government
in wishing to carry the above resolutions of Par-
liament into effect, why, it may be asked, are
those resolutions the groundwork of the dispute
between them ? It may be concisely explained.
The West India colonies, being in a state of
distress, have applied to Government for relief.
There are two sets of colonies—the Crown and
the chartered colonies. In the Crown colonies,
if no treaty of capitulation stands in the way, as
is stated to be the case in Demerara and Esse-
quibo, an order of the King in Council, making
alterations in the internal government of those
colonies, has the force of law ; but the char-
tered colenies having their own Legislative As-
semblies, an order of the King in Council must
be adopted by the local Legislatures to be
of effect, though it is otherwise with an Act
of the British Parliament. Into the Crown
colonies Government has introduced certain
measures of amelioration respecting negro
slavery by its own authority, while the char-
tered colonies have resisted the introduction of
such measures. The latter having applied to
Government for relief in their distress, Govern-
ment agrees to relieve them by loans of money,
on condition that they adopt the measures of
amelioration proposed, without which Govern-
ment affirms that the resolutions of 1823 are a
dead letter : but the planters say it is harsh and
ungenerous to take advantage of their distress by
imposing such terms upon them ; and they deny
that they have not acted up to the spirit of the
resolutions of 1823 ; and further deny that the
measuras proposed by Government are necessary
to give effect to those resolutions, which they al-
lege to he founded in a mistaken impression of the
real condition of the slave, and to be calculated
to bring the West India interests to destruction.
In the year 1826, three years after Mr. Canning's
resolutions had been passed, the present Lord
Chancellor of England made a motion, grounded
upon the allegation, that nothing had been, up
to that time, done by the colonists in pursuance
of the resolutions. In the month of April,
last year, Mr. Fowell Buxton submitted a motion
for the abolition of slavery, in which it was as-
serted that, " during the eight years which had
elapsed since the resolutions had passed, the Co-
lonial Assemblies had not taken adequate means
for carrying them into effect." To this motion an
amendment was moved by Lord Atthorp, the
Chancellor of the Exchequer, which contained
the following words :—" That, in those colonies
where there are no Legislative Assemblies, laws
have been promulgated for ameliorating and im-
proving the condition of the slave population ;
but those which have Legislative Assemblies,
though eight years have elapsed since this House
passed the resolutions referred to, and though
those colonies have been repeadly urged to enact
similar laws, no such laws have been enacted,
nor have any measures been adopted to give ef-
fect to the resolutions of this House, to the ur-
gent cpinions of the Government, or to the
wishes of the Bristish nation." Thus is the
Chancellor of the Exchequer directly at issue
with the West India planters relative to their
conduct touching the resolutions of 1823.
But let us see what are the orders of ame-
lioration of the condition of the slave pro-
posed by his Majesty's Government, and which
the West India proprietors describe as so
harsh and oppressive towards themselves,
and ruinous to their property. They are to
abolish the use of the driver's whip in the field,
so that in their daily labour human beings shall
not be treated as cattle—to limit the use of the
whip, as an instrument of punishment, to 15
lashes in the space of 24 hours, not to be in
flitted until six hours after the specific offence
shall have been committed—to require the nature
of the offence and the amount of punishment
inflicted to be recorded in a book, to which the
protector of slaves shall have access—to prohibit
the flogging of females altogether—to forbid the
separation of families by sale—to legalize mar-
riages—to allow the right of compulsory manu-
mission, or that the slave may be enabled to pur-
chase his own freedom, or that of his offspring,
at a fair valuation—to admit the evidence of
slaves in courts of justice—to secure them the
enjoyment of such property as they may honestly
acquire—to provide them with competent cloth -
ing and food—to limit their hours of labour, so
that they may not tall the 'ictims of the cupi-
dity of a master who would work them be-
yond their strength—to secure them the rest from
labour on the Sabbath which Christianity pre-

scribes. Surely, if such regulations are incom-
patible with a state of slavery, slavery cannot be
•onsidcred too odious and execrable among man-
kind. Whether the Government have taken
the fairest and most judicious means of enforcing
measures which are, in themselves, only the dic-
tates of common humanity, is another question,
upon which the length of this article forbids us
at present to enter. in the last of the series of
resolutions, passed at the meeting of the City of
London Tavern, it is stated " that, as an act of
justice to the colonists, and with the view of
preventing the fatal effects of that continual ex-
citement which has already brought the colonies
to the brink of destruction, and of removing
from the public mind erroneous impressions
in regard to the state of slavery in the British
colonies, this meeting is of opinion that a full
and impartial inquiry on oath should be imme-
diately instituted, for the purpose of ascertaining
the laws and usages of the colonies, the actual
condition and treatment of the alaves, their ha-
bits and dispositions, and the degree of their
progressive improvement and civilization." To
such an inquiry we should have no objection,
and we think it would be satisfactory to the
British public to know the truth through the
medium of a regular inquiry, that justice may be
done, on the clearest knowledge of the facts, be-
tween the slaves and their masters.—Morning
Herald.

The question now immediately before us is
the second reading of the Bill. On former oc-
casions the second reading was looked upon to
be the most critical stage of the whole proceed-
ing, and that which in both Houses almost in•
variably determined the fate of the measure be-
fore Parliament. The Catholic Bill of 1813
was an exception to this rule, when Mr. Speaker
Abbot moved, after the Bill was in Committee,
that the clause authorizing Catholics to sit in
Parliament should be expunged, and on the suc-
cess of his motion the Bill was abandoned. This
happy precedent will no doubt be laid hold of,
should the Reform Bib pass the second reading
and enter upon that stage in the Lords at which
in the Commons the Catholic Relief Bill of
1813 was annihilated. But will the present
measure arrive at its committal during the ses-
sion of 1832 ? It has been the fashion for the
last few days to speak with much confidence
upon the subject. There is nothing, on the
face of it, preposterous in the assumption,
that Ministers may have a majority on the
second reading, formed of those very persons
who are most anxious to throw out the Bill.
The possibility of such an occurrence may perhaps
be, not unintentionally, strengthened, owing to
the tales which are thrown into hi,urly circula-
tion by Anti-Reform partisans. They have got
up again the old fabrication, that a great
personage will not listen, without extreme re-
pugnance, to any proposal for augmenting the
number of Peers. To this stale scandal no

doubt some dupes have been made, and nothing
is more likely than such persons, with a view to
avert a certain share of public odium from them-
selves, should make a merit of voting for the
second reading, on the assurance that Ministers
will obtain no added numbers in the Committee,
and thus that, under cover of accepting " the
principle" of the Bill, its whole force and virtue
may afterwards be effectually strangled. That
his Majesty feels in reality a reluctance to take
any or every step authorized by the letter of the
constitution, for carrying through Parliament that
immortal measure which will do more to per-
petuate and aggrandize the monarchy than any
that has been adopted since the first British Mo-
narch wore a crown, is a gross and infamous ca-
lumny. King William feels that, however valid
his right to the throne of these realms, his
most legitimate title to that without which no
earthly throne can be secure or stable,—to wit, the
devoted affections of his subjects—in his declared
attachment to the cause of Reform, wherewith
24,000,000 of men conceive their rights, and
liberties, and national welfare, to be altogether

identified. That they are the worst enemies to
King and people who put forth stories thus full
of mischief; it is superfluous to affirm ; but they
may help to serve the purpose of a double patri-
: utisin—lst, of that which delights in rendering
the sovereign, as much as possible, an object
of disesteem to his subjects, and a puppet de-
pendent on the caprice of factions ; 2d, of that
which would practise contrivances akin to fraud
upon a sanguine and over scrupulous Minister,
by manufacturing for him a hollow majority,
throwing him completely off his guard, and
leading him astray from his most obvious and
pressing duty. If it were true that the King
had declined to make Peers, Lord Grey must
at once have resigned, upon the plainest princi-
ples of consistency, integrity, and honour. The
mere report of such au evil is sufficiently morti-
fying, conscious, as doubtless his Lordship must
be, of the purity of those motives, which have
deterred him from making even the slightest
effort to disabuse his countrymen.— Times.
The Revenue Accounts, which were yesterday
morning laid before the public, are most satis-
factory ; and they will not appear less so, it more
attentively considered and wore closely analysed.
The public were undoubtedly prepared for a con-
siderable deficiency in the quarter's revenue ;
and the Tories, eager to vindicate their claim to
the assumed title of Conservatives, have, both

in their declarations and through their news-
papers, endeavoured to affect public credit by
proclaiming that the defalcation would amount
to nearly a million. In one paper it was stated
gravely that the quarter's revenue was falling off
at the rate of 10,000/. in every week. Though
the character of these gentlemen may suffer as
prophets, we trust they may still rejoice as pa-
triots ; and they may, perhaps, experience here-
after the same agreeable disappointment when
their predictions respecting Reform are as
fully disproved by actual experience. We
shall first examine the Excise, and shall, in
order fairly to state the truth, exclude from the
accounts of the corresponding quarters all re-
ceipts which derange the just comparison. We
are bound, in the first place, to. add to the re-
ceiots of 1831 a sum of 300,0001., retained in
order to meet the drawback on printed cottons ;
but, on the other hand, the following sums must
be deducted, being the excess of receipt, in 1831,
on repealed duties, beyond what had been paid
in 1832:
Printed Cottons £BO,OOO
Candles 123,000
making a positive increase on the Excise revenue
during the quarter, after deducting the 300,000/.
retained for drawbacks, of 175,000/. This
increase of revenue, produced by increased
consumption, has extended through every
article but one. Auctions, glass, hops,
licenses, malt, paper, soap, bottles, tea,
sweets, and vinegar, have all been more produc-
tive as sources of revenue. In the article of spirits
important decrease.
yhas amounted to up-
wards alone
Under
tahsi s t hheeraed bteheenkasist
of 255,000/. But, however a Chancellor
of the Exchequer may lament the loss to the
Teasury, the sound part of the public will not

grieve that beer is superseding gin, and Indy
prefer the morals illustrated by Hogarth to the
expectations of a financier. This decrease is,
however, partly assignable to arrangements
which there is good reason to believe has been
made among the distillers, and by which they
limit the supply thrown upon the market to the
precise quantity which yields the largest profits
to the trade. Pursuing the same course with
respect to the Excise payments within the year
that has been already adopted in regard to the
quarter, it will be necessary to set off, as against
the decrease of 1,469,0001., the following
amount of repealed duties :---.
Beer X1,665,000
Cider 37,000
Hides 93,0 0
Printed goods 500,000
Candles l,OOO
-2,5413,000
Deducting the sum retained in 1031 for draw_

backs 300,0

2,203,000
And deducting the deficiency of 1832 1 469,000
The real increase on the Excise for the year end-
ing sth April, 1832, is
With respect to the Customs, it will be ne.
cessary to make deductions upon similar prin.
ciples.
- - - -

The loss on the Coal Duty for the quarter has
been £BO,OOO
The loss on difference of Corn Duties 18,21'2
Excess in the payments of Sugar Drawbacks in the
April quarter, 1332 70,000

. 168,9.12
'which leaves the real deficiency not 252,2191.,
but 84,007/. When it is considered how very
materially quarantine regulations have interfered
with our foreign trade, this falling off is not
wonderful ; indeed, the wonder is, that it is not
more considerable. It may, however, be antici-
pated that this cause of interruption to our com-
mercial relations will not continue. The
quarantine regulations at Calais have been al-
ready removed, and the mitigation of disease in
London, within the last few days, affords the
best-grounded hopes that the trade of the metro-
polis may soon be permitted to resume its wonted
activity. In these observations, no stress has
been laid upon the effects produced upon trade
and revenue by the clouds and darkness which
are still considered to hang over the Reform
Bill. But we believe there is no mer-
chant, manufacturer, or banker, in the
United Kingdom, who will not state, that
until that measure is settled to the satis-
faction of the British public, all the energies of
productive industry are suspended, all commecial
enterprise checked, and a limitation is im-
posed upon credit and accommodation. Facts of
the most conclusive nature might be stated in
support of this opinion ; but as, on the present
occasion, we have dealt rather with figures of
arithmetic than with figures of speech, the pub-
lic may safely be left to draw their own inferences.
So far with respect to the income of the country.
But the financial accounts become still more
satisfactory, when we combine with our review
of the income an examination of the expenditure.
The estimates before the House promise a
saving of somewhat like a million and a half ;
and there can be no doubt, therefore, that the

experiment, boldly but honestly tried, of re-
pealing taxation, will neither be attended with
risk to the public creditor, nor with inconvenience
to the public. Under an economical Govern-
ment, and supported by a reformed House of

Commons, there can be no reasonable doubt but
that the British empire contains within itself
resources amply sufficient to maintain her rank
in the European commonwealth, to perform all
her public engagements, and to insure to her
people prosperity as well as constitutional free-
dom.—Times.

Nothing has occurred of late so much deserv-
ing of the serious attention of reflecting men, of
all parties and interests in the State, as the great
meeting in the City on Thursday last. From
the proceedings of that day the Whig Revolu•
tionary Government and the Tory Conservative
Opposition may each in their several capacities
derive an impressive lesson. The former, if they
rightly read the hand-writing which now blazes
on the wall, will learn that they must either stay
their headlong course, or look for the speedy
close of their ill-starred Adtninistration ; the
latter will receive a new stimulus to activity
and perseverance in their endeavours to
rescue the country from the wretched misgo-
vernment which, in the hands of the shal-

lowest bunglers and the most presumptuous
experimentalists that ever held sway in Eng-
land, has brought every department of our
public affairs to the very verge of ruin. The
meeting at the City of London Tavern was
of such a character, in respect of the number and
the description of the parties which composed it,
and also with reference to the peculiar circum-
stances which brought together, under an urgent
sense of their common danger, this most re-
spectable assemblage of " Merchants, Planters,
Tradesmen, Manufacturers, and others," that it
must, without dispute, be admitted as fairly
representing the great colonial and mercantile

interests of the metropolis, and as expressing
the sentiments, opinions, and apprehensions
of all classes connected with those interests
throughout the United Kingdom. The severe,
deliberate, explicit, and unqualified condem-
nation of the measures of the Government
pronounced in the speeches and resolutions
of this meeting is such as no former administra-
tion in the history of this country has ever been
subjected to, from the enlightened and influential
leaders of the greatest commercial community in
the world, such as the Humans, the Hibberts,
the Irvings, the Wards, the Reids, and the host
of eminent mercantile men who were assembied
on Thursday List. These are the true repre-
sentatives of the city of London ; not the
Woods, the Waithmans, the Don-Keys, the
Venables, candidates for city honours, and
blusterers in city politics, which the great
►merchants and bankers have as little leisure as
inclination to pursue. These men are seldom led,
and never without great reluctance and upon very
important occasions, to take a prominent part in
the political occurrences of the day. Theirgeneral
disposition is to give a quiet, unostentatious
support to the King's Government " for the
time being," to which they have hitherto been
accustomed to look as the natural source of pro-
tection for their property, and security for the
undisturbed prosecution of their industry, so
important to themselves and so valuable to the
State. Nothing but the extreme pressure of fla-
grant mal-administration upon the great interests
with which they are connected could drive such
men to exhibit open discontent against the King's
advisers, and to pronounce a public condemna-
tion of their political conduct ; and nothing short
of the unwise, impolitic, unjust, violent, and
tyrannical conduct of the present Government
towards our colonies, as exhibited in the acts
and correspondence of Lord Goderich and his
colleagues, could have produced the combina-
tion of wealth, talent, and practical knowledge
which we witnessed on the occasion to which
we are alluding, and where not a single hand was
held up, not a single voice was raised, to defend
or to palliate the measures of the Ministers. We
look most anxiously for the further proceedings