The Sun.
London, England, 1832-04-18 00:00:00

REFORM BILL.

The Duke of WELLINGTON said, that a Noble
Friend of his had given notice of his intention to move for
papers connected with the Reform Bill. He had no
douht that the discussion on that important motion
would take up a very consider.ible portion of time ;
he therefore hoped his Noble Friend would be induced to
postpone his motion to some future period, or allow it to
be discussed in the Committee.

Lord WYNFOIID said that, in consequence of the
suggestions of the Noble Duke, he should postpone his
motion till the second day after the Easter recess.
_

The Insolvent Debtors (Ireland) Bill went through a
Committee, and was ordered to he read a third time.
The Duke of NEWCASTLE presented two petitions
from parishes in Nottingham, against the new system of
education in Ireland.
COLONIAL TRADE.

The Earl of HAREWOOD then rose, pursuant to no-
tice, to present the petition which had been agreed to at
a most numerous meeting of the West India Proprietors,
held at the City of London Tavern a few days since. The
Noble Earl, in presenting the petition, stated that lie had
attended that meeting, and he felt convinced that one more
numerous had never taken place, or one that felt their
interests more deeply aff.cted by what might be
the result of the present petition. He disclaimed, in bring-
ing the subject before the House, any idea of doing so in
a political view : he had no such view ; and although
in the course of what be had to offer to their
Lordships, he might feel it incumbent to make remarks on
the Government of the country, lie did not do so
with any hostile feelings towards them, but only did what
was necessary to elicit the subject. The present
petition complained, in the first place, of distresses : dis-
tresses were admitted by all who knew any thing of West
India affairs, and indeed by the Government itself, inas-
much as they hail tried something to alleviate them. But
when he (Earl H.) considered in what way those distresses
pressed, he must say, without attempting to offer to point
out any remedy, that they pressed to so great a degree, as
to annihilate a great part of the pi operty of the West India
proprietors. In point of fact, the state of things was such,
that the produce of the country was literally and absolutely
confiscated. It was impossible, in his opinion, for pro-
perty to exist in that country under the present system.
—(Hear.) He would not enter at any length into the
effects of that system, as he understood there was
to be a Committee appointed, and that subject would be
more fit to be considered there than by their Lordships in
that House. He would not hesitate to say, if the system was
allowed to be carried on, the British West India colonies
must sink. He would not go at present into the question of
free trade: that was also a subject more for the consideration
of a Committee; but when he considered that the
distress arose not from accidental causes—not from hur-
ricanes alone, or insurrections, but from a long con-
tinued course of things, he could not but think
the system ought to he examined into, with a view of see-
ing whether it was not worth while preserving the British
colonies, in preference to keeping upihat system which had
already brought ruin on hundreds in the British colonies,
which had impaired the shipping interests of the country,
and which would ultimately end in the destruction of both.
He was perfectly convinced that any person standing up in
that House, or elsewhere, to advocate matters relative
to the West Indies, was looked upon in rather an
odious and prejudicial light ; but notwithstanding that, he
felt it to be his duty to do so, being convinced that the
more the West India interests were properly under-
stood, the more would that prejudice which existed
against them in the end be removed.—(Hear, hear.)
Whatever may be the loss of the proprietors on the sale of
their produce, and it was now often considerable, they were
hound to keep their slaves: so that the natural consequence
of the continuance of such a state of things must be, for pro-
prietors so situated, to abandon the cultivation of their land
altogether. The state of anarchy into which such estate•
will be thrown would soon be extended to those
in their neighbourhood, till at length the widening
circle would embrace the whole colony in ruins. As a
possessor of property in the 'West Indies, he now addressed
the House on behalf of that part of our possessions. H.
protested against the clamour and insidious statements
made against West India Proprietors—a clamour the mote
unjust, as no one ventured to suggest how they could
get out of their present difficulties.—(Hear, hear.)
He could only say, that if any suggestions were made
that would tend to their relief, they would be most
happy to adopt them. But no one wishing well to those
colonies, or to the slaves themselves, ought to sanction ir-
ritating motions in Parliament. He now begged to say
a few words on the Orders in Council sent out to the West
Indies. Whenever any considerable agitation was got
up in this country, either at a general election or at any
other time, there seemed a disposition not merely in this
but in all Governments to send out Orders in Council,
the effect of which was to produce much mischief.
Before issuing them, the Government ought to consider the
effect they were likely to produce.—(Hear.) As far as
they bad yet seen, their only effect had been to make the
slaves look from home for protection ; than which nothing
could be more dangerous in such a state of society.
Those Orders in Council had been framed as
if all the moral, religious, and physical wants of the
negroes had been utterly neglected, and no steps had
been taken to mitigate the horrors of the state 01
society they assumed to exist.—(Hear.) They entered
into details of the quantity of food that was to
be given to the negroes, as if they had been hitherto
starved, and regulated hours of labour without the slightest
regard to climate or any other circumstance that ought tie
guide them. In Demerara it was unhealthy to labour early
in the day ;in Barbados it was delightful the slaves al.
ways preferred it, and th us obtained a greater part of the day
to themselves. The Orders in Council made no distinction
between these cases. He thought it was not honest or
fair, for one part of his Majesty's subjects to be per-
petually writing down another part, as the West Indians
were written down by a party in this country. It
they had any thing to state let them state it fairly, and he
had no doubt that impartial and candid men would
know how to do both parties ample justice. The
Committee which it was understood was to be appointed
would, he had no doubt, make full inquiry into the sub-
ject. What they had done to improve the situation of the
West Indies would he seen, and any recommendation
made by that Committee would, he was sure, be
agreed to by all, unless evidently injurious to the
colonies, and he would not suppose that any such sugges-
tion could be made. He thought the mode in which his
Majesty's Government wished to force the legislative colo-
nies into making the Orders in Council law, was particularly
harsh. The planters said they were distressed, and wanted
relief, and Government told them that some was in contem-
plation, but they should not have it unless they adopted the
Orders in Council, the effect of which must be, to those
colonies who did not obey the mandate, equally ruinous.
The Noble Earl said that lie only felt it necessary to allude
to one more topic. The petitioners, previous to the
manufacture, as he would call it, of the Orders in
Council, were desirous of having a Committee appointed
to investigate their complaints, and they were also desi-
rous now of having those Orders in Council examined into.
Those Orders in Council were in course of execution, or at.
least they bad been promulgated ; but in the legislative
colonies their operation had been suspended, because the
iegislaturess declared them to be unfit to be styled laws.
The Noble Earl submitted that the petitioners ought now
to be placed in the same condition as when they first re-
quested a Committee, and that, during the examination of
this subject, Government would suspend the execution of
the Orders in Council. He would now conclude by mov-
ing that the petition be read at length.
The petition having been read,
Lord SUFFIELD said it was with. extreme surprise
As well as regret, that he heard the petitioners request that