The Sun.
London, England, 1845-07-25 00:00:00

STOCK-IN-TRADE BILL.

Sir J. GRAHAM moved the second reading of the Stock.
in-Trade 13111.

Sir R. INGLIS presented two petitions against this Bill.
He hoped the House would not suppose that he was giving any
unnecessary trouble in making a few observations upon this
Bill, which was one that had been renewed every year for the
last five or six years, and had the effect of altering the existing
law in reference to the mode of taxing property for the relief
of the poor. The ot.ject of the Bill was to suspend the opera-
tion of the law. He thought it beater that, instead of bring-
ing in a Bill every year on this subject, they should at. once in-
troduce a Bill which would effectually decide the question. The
general question of rateability should be entered into. He
thought that the title of the Bill was very inadequate to ex-
press the objects of the Bill, as it merely affected the interests
of tithe owne.s.

Sir J. G ~AH AM was sorry to occupy the House on a
matter of so much difficulty. He had paid the utmost atten-
ton to the case which his !tight Hon. Friend had brought for-
ward. His Right Hon. Friend had still more confwed this ques-
tnm, by mixicg with it another equally abstruse and complicated.
He z ecoliected some instances in which this question was raised
before a judicial authority, and a decision was called for upon
the question as to whether stock in trade should be taxed; and
that. decision was against taxing that descridtion of property,
and it was after that that an Act of Parliament was deemed ne-
cessiiry to be passed, protecting stock in trade from being as-
sessed from one year to another. His Hon. Friend had stated
hat the Bill was objectionable, as one that was to he renewed
from year to year. 'I hat objection might apply as a g€neral
observa ion, but in this p articular it did not ; fur in Let it
would not bejust to tax such property. As to the question of
his Elm, Friend, namely, whether this animal renewal of this
Bid was to be coninued, he (Sir James Graham) had already
said that his own opinion was that the whole system of taxa-
tion would require revision, but with regard to the manner in
which the clergy were affected by it, he was not now prepared
to say to what extent a srcial remedy was to be al plied in re-
fetence to the clergy, or that they should be exempted-
Lord J. Al Al\ NE ttS said he was glad to hear the Hon. Ba-
ronet say that the system of rating generally required revision,
and that it was likely to be done.
The Bill was then read a second time.

SLAVE TRADE (BRAZIL) BILL.
Upon the motion that the Speaker do leave the chair, and
that the House do go into Committee on the Slave 'Trade (Bra-
zil) Bill,

Mr. M. GIBSON said, that from the correspondence that
had been laid upon the table of that House, as having passed
between this Government and the Government of Brazil on
this subject, lie was led to apprehend that there still remained
a great deal for the house to be informed on, before the Legis-
lature agreed to an Act which would, in fact, have the effect of
creating hostilities between this country and Brazil. This
Bill proposed to give letters of marque to privateers, to
detain and search all vessels they may fall in with,
which. the captains of them might suspect to he trading in
slaves; and the result of that world he to create a great deal
of inconvenience and annoyance. There at present existed
between this country and Brazil, in regard to the slave-
trade, a sort of conventional treaty which would now very soon
expire ; but before this present Bill should be passed into a
law, he did think it would be but wise and prudent for the
House to ascertain first whether the Brazilian Government
would comply with that treaty. When a Bill similar to this
was introduced into the Lords, on a former occasion, the Noble
Viscount the Member for Tiverton protested against the Bill in
words to which he would now call the attention of the House.
The Hen. Member then read an extract from the protest.
He understood, when they entered into this treaty, that it
should be reciprocal, that British subjects should be tried by
British tribunals, and Brazilian subjects by Brazilian tribunals!
The treaty to which he referred was the Slave Trade Consoli-
dation Act. But the slave trade was one in which, he ad-
mitted, the Executive of Brazil could not Act as it could wish,
no more than the Right Hon. Baronet at the head of her
Majesty's Government could act independently on the subject
of the corn-laws. The interests of the lords of the soil, and
the passions of the people, all interfered with the course of
the Brazilian Government in putting down the slave trade.
They should, therefore, make considerable allowance for the
short comings of that Government. He knew of no dispo-
sition on the part of the Brazilian Government not to put an
end to the slave trade, for in August, 1841, the Brazilian
M nister made a distinct proposal to put sn end to the slave
trade. The negotiation entered into was suddenly broken off
by the orders of this Government, and a different course was
entered into, involving a line of commercial policy fatal to the
best interests of the trade between this country and Br zil.
If the Government was prepared to take a hasty and hostile
course, he was not prepared to share the responsibility. Let
them send out their cruisers and seize the ships of Brazil, and
let them conic down next session, and if they could make out a
proper case they would get an indemnity ; but do not let them
call upon Hon. Members, such as himself, to give their adherence
to their measures in a blindfolded manner. The Bill itself
before the House was not consistent wi h the dispatches of
Lord Aberdeen, which declared that coercion should be
carried out against the Brazilian traders to the fullest possible
extent. There was one amendment introduced into this BO
which was very important—it was, that the tonnage and ships
of Brazil which fell into the hands of the cruisers of this coun-
try should be appropriated to the benefit of those who seized
them. Why, it would be recollected, that in the vote on the
Consolidated Fund, there had been 35,0001. voted to reward
the men and officers of these very cruisers. Such a Bill, he
was sure, would excite the worst feelings in the minds of the
people of Brazil against this country. Then with respect to
the slaves seized by these cruisers, they were quite as badly
treated after they were taken from the slave ships, as they
were during the Middle Passage. The Hon. Gentleman here
read an extract from a letter to Lord Aberdeen, from the West
Indies, showing the evils to which the negroes were subjected
after being seized in the slave shill. He should like to know
what would England have thought, when it was a slave trading
country, to have been treated in the same manner as they had
recently treated Erazil. He was sure, from the bench oF bishops
downwards, it would have excited a general feeling of indigna-
tidn. He considered the policy of the Hon. Member fur Hull ( Mr.
Hutt), at present, however well intended, was a very impolitic

.
course. Should that Hon. Gentleman introducea motion next
session for a committee of inquiry, he (Air. Gibson) would
willingly support him. Before sittiug down, however, he
begged the Government to furnish the Howe with Mr. Ellice's
dispatches, that they might show the true nature of the pro-
ceedings in which that Gentleman had been engaged. Brazil
said she would not put this duty on British manufactures if we
ceased to tax her sugar. He must refuse his assent to the
Bill, and would not share in the grave responsibility of sanction-
ing it. It was their own policy which forced them to carry
out the law of 1826 in this hostile spirit. 'I he passions of the
Brazilian people would be roused against this country by this
line of policy, and supposing they might make the condition
of a few slaves a little better, would that counterbalance the
dangers which British subjects resident in the Brazils must
contiLually incur? How long were the great trading interests
of this country to be trifled with, to satisfy small sections of the
anti-slavery party? The great majority of the anti-slavery party
were averse to any hostile policy on the part of the Govern-
ment. It was the monopolists of this country who by their
influence on the Executive brought about this state of things,
and interrupted the amity and good feeling which would be
s,roduccive of such beneficial results to Great Britain and
Brazil.

Sir R. PEEL said he would state to the House, as shortly as
he could, what the objects of the Bill were, which had been
sent down from the house of Lords, and which he now sub-
mitted for their consideration. The international engage-
ments between Brazil and this country would be seen in a re-
solution on the subject of the slave trade, recited in the Con-
vention of 1826. By the first article of that Convention it
was provided that no subject of Brazil should engage in the
African slave trade on any pretence or pretext whatsoever, and
that if any such subjects were found carrying it on they should
be treated as pirates.. There was, therefore, an international
agreement. Subsequently, in the same year, there was a supple-
mental treaty by which the right of search was mutually esta-
blished. A mixed Commission was agreed upon to determine
the offences. Brazil had the power of terminating the supple-
mental treaty 16 years from that date, but the original treaty
remained in lull force and effect. Accordingly, in
1641, Email gave notice that she wi;hed to ter-
minate it, and it was terminated accordingly.
The Hon. Gentleman had observed that foreign countries did
not seem very confident in the good faith of this country re-
specting her wish to put down the slave trade. No doubt im-
putations hail been thrown out, but when the sacrifices which
England had made in the cause of the slave were remembered,
he thought she might set at defiance all such unworthy sus-
picions.—( Hear, hear.) The bishops in the other House of
Parliament might, or might not, hive iiimeated the con.