The Sun.
London, England, 1835-06-13 00:00:00

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.

HOUSE OF LORDS, .1-;;NE 12.

The House was engaged up to a quarter past five o'clock
with hearing evidence in support of Lambert'3 Divorce Bill.
Lord DENMAN, the Marquis of LANSDOWNE, and the Earl
of SHAFTESBURY sat as Lords Commissioners, when the
Commons haying appeared at the Bar, the Royal
assent was given to the Deptford Pier Bill—the abolition
of unnecessary Oaths Bill, the Westminster Paying, Light-
ing, &c. Bill, the Ramsgate Water Works Bill, the Warring-
ton and Newtown Railway Bill, the Croydon Railway Bill,
the Grand Junction Canal Improvement Bill, the Llanelly Gas
Bill, the Devonport Market Bill, Conyer's Divorce Bill, se.
veral Road hills, and five Naturalization Bills.
Petitions in favour of protection to the Church of Scotland,
were presented by the Duke of GORDON and the Earl of
MELVILLE.

GENERAL EDUCATION,
Lord BROUGHAM said, that it would be in the
recollection of their - Lordships that he brought resolu-
lutions forward relative to general Education ;those resolutions
had been printed, and were no doubt in the hands of their Lord-
ships, and it therefore only remained for him, with the sanction
of the House, to appoint a day for taking them into consideration.
If it met with their Lordships' approbation, he would appoint
Thursday next.
Several Noble Peers here intimated that that day was the
anniversary of the battle of Waterloo.

Lord Bit OUGHA M begged pardon. He could assure
the House that he had no wish to put the schoolmaster in
competition with that illustrious event, or the illustrious
person who had achieved it.—(Cries of " Hear, hear.")
Perhaps,—but he almost doubted that it would not
be convenient to their Lordships the day after—( Laughter)
—perhaps Monday would be more convenient.
The Earl of R ADNOR said he intended that his motion
relative to the Universities was fixed for tlatit day.
Lord BROUGHAM did not wi.;:u to interfere with the
Noble Earl, and would therefore Co,
Tuesday next for bring-
ing the subject forward.
LORD BROT:fGHANp
Lord BROUGH S PENSION.
then referred to a statement which
had not appeared
he had been. dc On the votes of Parliament, but with which
quaintcd through another though perhaps not
SO regr-'tar a channel of communication. He had an oppor-
t":‘,iti of understanding that a statement was made the night
' before in another place ; and though that statement was made
coupled with complimentary expressions to himself and others,
still, as it was totally untrue, he considered it right to give it
an immediate and most positive contradiction. It was stated
that he enjoyed many thousands of the public money ; that
he had, not 5,000/. a-year, but 15,000/; that he had it for
absolutely doing nothing, after having enjoyed the larger
salary for four years. Now he should enjoy his present pen-
sion if he had been but five minutes Chancellor, and lie en-
joyed it as a compensation for the loss of a much larger sum,
his title to which be had voluntarily abandoned. If those ex-
cellent persons who were so very economical, and who seemed
to overlook his judicial labours in that House, would send up .
a Bill to their Lordships for removing him from their Lord-
ships' House, he would be (but be it borne in mind he did
not say this out of any disrespect to their Lordships) the very
first person to second it, and to further by every means in his
power its progress through that House.—( A laugh.) The •
very persons who clamoured and complained of his pension
when he offered, without any additional remuneration, to take
upon himself the duties of another very laborious office—those
very persons, by their clamours, drove_him to retract his ori-
ginal offer. He had two witnesses who could testify what he
then said. " Mark," he said to those two witnesses, " what
will soon follow ; those persons raising this clamour will be the
first to complain of my having a pension." And the event
justified his prediction. Those were the very same persons
that now complained of his having a pension. When it was
said that he did nothing for his pension, it ought to be borne
in mind that for upwards of ten weeks, including the Whitsun-
tide recess, lie had sat in that House, in a judicial capacity,
for six or seven hours a day, during frequently five or six days
in the week. He knew that it was his duty to do all lie could
in assisting (he was aware how very feeble his assistance was)
in the judicial business of that House. In the forty-eight
causes decided during the time he mentioned, there were a
greater number of written judgments delivered than ever bad
been before in that time, and on the same number of causes.

SLAVERY.
Lord BROUGHAM seeing his Noble Friend the Secre-
tary for the Colonies in his place, would repeat the question
he had put on the previous day, but to which he had received
no answer, in consequence of his Noble Friend being then ab-
sent. The question referred to 30,000 slaves that had been
piratically introduced into the Island of Mauritius. He first
wished to know whether any measures had been taken to ob-
tain the release of those negroes, and, in the second place,
whether, if it were possible, measures would be taken to pre-
vent the planters who were engaged in introducing those slaves
from receiving any part of the 20,000,0001. granted by the
people of this country, and intended as a compensation to
slave proprietors ?
Lord G L ENE L G was fully aware of the practical diffi-
culties in the way of accomplishing the object which his Noble
and Learned Friend seemed to have in view. Although he said
this he wouldbe most happy to give his support to any measure
by which the evil could be remedied, but he, at the same time,
feared that the period for such a measure had long since passed.
Their Lordships must all feel that the difficultl.es which
surrounded the identification of any individual. negro who
had been illegally imported into the Mauritir,.s were all but
insurmountable.—( Hear.) It was, he adm.:ited, quite true that
there had been illegal importations of ;Laves into that colony.
The fact had been satisfactorily ascertained by the Commis-
sioners who had been sent out there to inquire into the sub-
ject. And although they stated that this illegal traffic had
been carried on to a considerable extent, they did not specify
whether the number of negroes imported amounted to 30,000,
or any other number ; they mentioned no specific number.
Now, besides the difficulty of selecting and identifying any
individual negro who had been illegally imported, there were
a great variety of other difficultits in the way ; inasmuch as
the importation of slaves into the Mauritius had altogether
ceased during the last fifteen years. It had been his duty,
since he entered the office which he had the honour to hold, to
examine into the facts connected with this question, and. from
the best information he was able to procure on the subject, he
had arrived at the conclusion that, since 1820, no importation
of slaves had taken place into the Mauritius. It was in
1817, 1818, and 1819, that the first attempts to put an end to
the traffic in the colony were made by Colonel flail and Colo-
nel Dowling. Those officers did their duty admirably, and
the result was, that an end was put to all further importation
of slaves. He was told that a negro who had been illegally
imported was entitled to his freedom, because, never hav-
ing been a slave, he had never forfeited his liberty ; but
then came the difiieulty of proving such a case. Until the
Isle of Frar.ce became an acquisition of this country, the
slave trade was carried on there to a considerable extent ;
but lie admitted that his Noble Friend (Lord Ripon), when
at the head of the Colonial Department, applied himself to
this subject. His Noble Friend commissioned a gentleman
to go out to the Isle of France to ascertain whether or not
illegal importations were still carried on there ; and this gen-
tleman, but not without great trouble and expense, succeeded
in bringing several cases of this description to trial. The
number of negroes thus proved to have been illegally im-
ported amounted to from 400 to 500, but he (Lord Glenelg)
doubted very much whether, if a similar attempt were now
made, it would not be completely baffled. Indeed, he did
not believe that it would be possible to arrive at any cer-
tain conclusion under such circumstances, and this, no doubt,
was the reason why the Government had not been able to fol-
low up the course which his Noble Friend had adopted. Now,
he (Lord Glenelg) lamented that such was the case, us he
was desirous as any one could be to arrest the evil. To
show that he was not indifferent to the- subect, he was ready
to admit that even if one single instance could be established
it should be visited with the penalties of the law; but while
he said this, it was, he must say, a source of consolation to
think that the change which had taken place in the law had
so far improved the negro's situation as he had now only to
work seven hours and a half a day, and was amply provided
with both food and raiment. While he said this he wished
it to be fully understood that if any cure for the evil could
be discovered he should gladly avail himself of it ; but at the
same he thought that the representation came too late to
enable the application of a remedy, as the rules and orders
respecting the compensation to be given to the slave-owners
must have reached the colony in January or February last, and
were now actually in force. For these reasons he should be
reluctant to take any step at present upon the subject ; but,
with respect to the question of compensation, he certainly
should regret extremely that any person who had taken part
in the illegal importation of slaves should also share in the
compensation to be given to the bone fide slave-owner. lie
feared, however, they were precluded from raising the objec-
tion by the Slavery Abolition Act ; but if that were not the
case all he could now do was to repeat his readiness to con-
sider any suggestion on the subject which might be thrown
out.—( Hear.)
Lord BROUGHAM said that it was far from his intention
to impute blame to any Government. What he meant to say
was, that he was reluctant to see a sum of 600,000/. paid, to
persons, many of whom had been guilty of piracy, and he did
think that if proper measures were taken, if an enquiry were
instituted on the spot, that the compensation which ought to
be awarded would be considerably narrowed amount.
The Earl of RIPON, having stated th‘i view which he en-
tertained on the subject, said that tie result of an inquiry
instituted on the part of the Government was likely to be
more efficacious than his Nollle Friend seemed to anticipate,
as, before the instruction alluded to was sent out, 12,000 ne-
grocs were liberated, and how many more had since been set
free he was of course unable to say. With respect to com-
pensation he must say that if a slave-owner were proved to
hold a negro ix slavery, or even the descendant of one who
had been illegally imported, that slave-owner was entitled to
no compensation whatever, nor ought he to receive any.
VOLUNTEER CORPS FOR THE QUEEN, OF
SPAIN.
Viscount STRANGFORD wished to take that owortu-
nity to put a question to the Noble Lord at the head of his
Majesty's Government, respecting the order in council which
had recently appeared in the Gzette, authoriv'ing troops to
be raised in this country for the Queen of Sc,ain. What he
wished to know from the Noble Lord waF,.whether, having
issued such an Order in Colwell, his Mr,:jesty's Government
contemplated making any provision for the widows and orphans
of the British subjects who might. enter the service of the
Queen of Spain, and perish in the conflict carrying on in that
country, or whether the burthen of providing for such persons
was to be undertaken by the Spanish Government ? In the
event of the Noble Lord saying that no provision of the sort
was to be made by either Government, then he ( Lora Strang-
ford) wished to know whether the widows and orphans of the
individuals killed, as well as those who might be wounded