The Sun.
London, England, 1844-05-10 00:00:00

flørnbui 3int

LONDON, FRIDAY, MAY 10, 1844.

ha the House of Lords a brief discussion took
place .In the motion that the Dissenters' Chapels Bills
be read a third time. It was moved by Lord
WuiaNCL(FFE and opposed by the Bishop of EXETER.
The furl of WrlclimsEA, Lord KENYON, and Lord
MourvrctisHEL, also opposed the Bill ; one on the
ground that he was a Christian, and another that it
was an act of spoliation. Their Lordships, however,
did not pay much respect to these pleas, for only nine
v ,ted against it. The numbers were for the third
reading 44, against it 9.

- The-Duke of RICHMOND postponed his motion re-
Wive to the duty on wool till this day; and the
House adjourned at Half-past Seven.
In the Commons, the Leeds and Bradford Railway
Bill was read a third time and passed.
Lord JOHN RUSSELL gave notice that, on the
Home going into Committee on the Sugar Duties
Bill, he would move that the duty of 345. per cwt. be
levied on all foreign sugars.
Mr. Hums moved an address to her MAJESTY for
sbolishing the office of Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland.
He was always opposed to a repeal of the union,
and ice made the motion with a view to produce a
change which would render repeal unnecessary.
Under the present system, Ireland and Great
Britain Nvere treated as distinct kingdoms.
ltetnove tWi anomaly—place the three coun-
tries on the
same footing, and the cry for repeal
would soon cease. Ireland was treated as a colony,
and until she vvas treated as an integral portion of
• the empire, entitled to the same privileges, and go.
-verned by the same laws, she would have a right to
complain.
Captain BERNAL secondt:d the motion.
,T rd EcroT opposed it. The system, he said, had
been in existence for 400 or 500 years, and those who
proposed a change should show some good reason for
it, and 0. tier some better substitute. The abolition of
the office of Lord-Lieutenant, he believed, would
ca,usezreat dissatisfaction in Ireland, and that, inde-
pendent of t. ther circumstances, would make him op-
pose the ache `me.
Lord' log.‘ Rusegu, also opposed the motion,
while, at the emtle time he believed the abolition of
the Office woail4:,:bis productive of much good ; he
to leave the affair to the Executive
otimiatety‘---,
NUT brke*ches from Mr. SHAW, Sir ROBERT
ro:T„ suOlot.titiift, Mr. Husa'm withdrew the motion.
oved for a copy of an opinion given ,
/1\ Pax igrst
Oaa, the present Chief Justice ofthe
,%...<4'47nlh.Boutikifs, Ireland, on the 28th Of February,

1820, in the case of PEMBROKE V. KINGSMILL, in
which Mr. PENNRFATHER advised his client to avoid
finding a certain charter of JAmss 1., with reference
to the corporation of Kilkenny, and thereby to defeat
the ends of justice.
Lord ELIOT :understood that the circumstances
were these :—The corporation of Kilkenny claimed
certain tolls in right of a charter granted by
JAMES I. Subsequently JAMES IL granted a second
charter, which the corporation rejected, and Mr.
PENNEFATHER merely advised his clients not to pro-
duce this rejected charter, as it would only throw
doubt on the question. He saw nothing in this to
impugn the integrity of this upright Judge, and re-
gretted that the motion had been brought forward.
Mr. SHAW, Dr. BOWRING, Mr. DARBY, and other
Members, made some brief remarks, when the
motion was negatived without a division.
The House adjourned at Half-past Nine.

The proceedings at the Old Bailey yesterday fur-
nish a remarkable instance of the blessings con-
ferred on the country by the " wisdom of our
ancestors." By these wise men it was decreed that
juries must agree to an unanimous verdict, or be
starved to death. In the case of CROUCH, who mur-
dured his wife, the fact was proved by incontestible
evidence, but surgeons or mad doctors were called on
the other side, who proved that he had, at a certain
time, received a concussion of the brain, and that a
man who had sustained such an injury, on taking
ardent spirit " would run amuck." This statement
puzzled some of the jury. They believed
he had taken ardent spirits, and was not
capable of distinguishing right from wrong,
and they therefore resolved to acquit him, on the
ground of insanity. Some of them, however, took
a more sane view of the question, and would not
admit the plea, that a man who had committed such a
deliberate murder under the influence of liquor,
should be acquitted. The parties joined issue ;
neither would yield. They were locked up for the
night. They'were debarred from wine, and ale, and
bread—all refreshment, in fact, was forbidden—and
were placed in durance more vile than the prisoner
himself, with the exception that they were allowed
pen, paper, ink, and candles. We presume, after
trying to agree, they fell asleep on the question,
and next morning they all awoke of the same
opinion, and at half-past eleven o'clock they
respectfully sent a message to the Bench,
soliciting a glass of water, as some of them
had not tasted food, or taken refreshment of
any kind for thirty hours, and they were all nearly
exhausted. The Court was inexorable—they must
agree in their verdict, or starve. They returned to
their cell, and, after mature deliberation, we presume,
they thought it was better that one man should die
than twelve, and they unanimously returned a verdict
of guilty. No instance could exhibit the folly and
immorality of the present system in a stronger light.
These jurors were all sworn to deliver a true verdict,
according to the evidence and their conscience, and
from mere inability to sustain the struggle longer,
the weaker party was compelled to give way, and de-
liver a verdict, on their solemn oath, contrary to
their conviction. These men are perjured to all in-
tents and purposes, and they are perjured,
not from any fault of their own, but from
the defect of the criminal law. This is not
the only evil, however, springing out of
the "wisdom of our ancestors." Had the struggle
been carried on for a few hours longer, a doctor
would have been called in, and on his oath he would
have assured the Judge that the lives of the least
robust were placed in the greatest danger, and that
they could not survive another night. The Judge of
course would have discharged them, and Caouca at
the same time, so that a man who the doctors swore
" would run amuck" when he tasted liquor, must
have been let loose on society to commit some fresh
murder. It is needless to make any additional com-
ments on such grave facts, further than to say that
immediate steps are imperatively required both for
the ends of justice and making oaths sacred. No other
country exhibits such an absurd anomaly in its
criminal code.

The Anti-Corn-law League still continues to hold
:s weekly meetings at Covent-garden Theatre, and
the crowds who flock to hear its speeches still continue
as numerous as ever. What stronger proof than this
could be adduced of the justice, the common sense,
and the policy of the principles which it advocates ?
had the League appealed merely to the passions and
prejudices of the people, instead of grounding its
claims to consideration, on their calm, unbiassed
judgment, it would long ere this have lost its
prestige, and sunk, like other ephemeral clap-
traps, into insignificance : but it has preferred
rather to appeal to the intelligence and interests
of the community, and its appeal has been
triumphantly answered. The very opposition
that it has encountered has tended only to increase
Its influence, and stimulate its energies; and perhaps
the very best thing that could have happened for the
.ause, is the establishment of the Protection Society,
whose egregious sophisms, by coming into direct
:ontrast with the strong, clenching arguments of the
free-traders, have enabled even the most thoughtless
and superficial to see the immense superiority of the
latter, in point of reasoning. At last night's
meeting of the League, Mr. WARBURTON de-
livered one of those plain, emphatic, hard-hitting
,peeches for which he is so remarkable, and, alluding
to the progress of free trade, said :—" There was
anofher instance which there was cause to con-
gratulate them on, not only in having their prin-
ciples acknowledged, but also in having, in the reduc-
tion of the price of sugar to the consumer, a prospect of
reaping the benefit. He said that, because he thought
considering all the opposition that the landlords and
the West India proprietors gave to the principles of
free trade, they ought not to bear too hard upon a
Minister who had even but partially carried the princi-
ples of free trade into effect." We cannot agree with
Mr. WARBURTON that it is inexpedient to " bear too
hard" upon Sir ROBERT PnEn,,merely because he
has from time to time given a cold, reluctant, hesitat-
ing support to the doctrines espoused by the League.
On the contrary, we think that a constant pressure
should be kept up against him ? he should be squeezed
without mercy, for it is thus only—as he has himself
hinted in no very ambiguous terms—that anything is
to be got out of him ; and in exact proportion to the
vigour of the squeeze will be the extent of the conces-
sion. If forbearance is exercised towards him, he will
immediately, with his usual tact, allege that forbearance
as a proof that the public interest in favour of free trade
is on the decline, and adhere with more tenacity than
ever to the RICHMONDS, the BUCHINGHAMS, and the
rest of that amiable, intelligent, and most disinterested
squad ; but if he be urged and remonstrated with in a
bold, downright spirit of perseverance on every suit-
able occasion, the chances are that in time he may be
brought to make those, concessions which it is in-
finitely to his discredit as a sagacious statesman that
he has so long withheld. To appeal merely
to Sir ROBERT PEEL'S sense of justice is
perfectly hopeless ; the thing has been tried a
dozen times already, and has failed as often ; he is
accessible only through his apprehensions and his no-
tions of expediency, and these can only be roused by
the League's boldly resolving, and persevering in its
resolution, to give him no respite, but beset him in-
cessantly with its vigorous importunities, which it is
bound to do, representing, as it does, such vast masses
of the intelligent and industrious portions of the com-
munity. We are glad to learn, on the authority of Mr.
VILLIERS, who briefly but significantly alluded to
the subject last night, that it is the intention of the
League to make every effort in its power to procure
thThis
return of a free trader for South Lancashire.
his is a struggle well worth making—as much, per-
haps even more so, than the late triumphant struggle
for the representation of London ; and should its issue
be fortunate--and we see no reason why it should
not be, if the advocates of free trade exert
themselves with becoming vigour—an immense im-
pulse will have been given to the League; the sphere
of its influence will have been widened,tenfoilldl
have;and
the crazy, unwieldy fabric of Monopoly will
received a shock, the decisive effects of which not all
the Protection Societies in the world will enable it to
overcome.

No subject ofmore grave or extensive importance can
address itself, at any time, to the profound attention of
the Legislature, in a country circumstanced as Great
Britain is with regard to colonial connexions, than
Emigration. But there are certain anomalies in the
present-condition of this country, and in her political '

relations, which fearfully enhance that importance.
The enormous multiplication of machinery power has
at least an immediate tendency to diminish
the demand for human labour; whilst the excess of
manufacturing production (unrelieved by any active
principle of distribution to the masses) has the double
effect of glutting the market, and thereby reducing
prices to an unnatural extent, and of depreciating
wages in proportion to the competition for employ-
ment occasioned by such diminished demand for
labour. The continual recurrence of these causes, in
this order, has at length, a sort of cumulative opera-
tion, which the occasional impetus given to labour
and production can neither overtake nor sensibly
countervail. The seasons of depreciation and depres-
sion which our industrial community have had, of
late years, to encounter, are, out of all proportion,
either more numerous or more permanent than those
of revival and energetic action. These last represent
a power say of one, and increasing only by units,
which has to compete with a power of five, or seven
or ten, even, increasing from time to time by quanti.
ties equally large. For, besides the general elements
of depreciation and depression just noticed, we must
allow for the coincident increase of our population,
and the growth of competing foreign machinery and
manufactures; the one reacting on the already over-
crowded supply of labour, the other on the already
diminished demand for it. Nor is this all; we have
yet to take into the account the consequences of
those fatal errors of our legislation which virtually
overwhelm with taxation the poor, and lightly visit
the rich, by the customs, the imposts, or the
monopoly supply of articles and commodities the
most indispensable to human subsistence. Had Great
Britain possessed no colonies, or had she longer
withheld even that cold encouragement and those in-
adequate facilities which she now extends to free
emigrants, a crisis must have arrived, ere now, in
which we should have had the misery of subsiding
into the social condition of some among the more
Southern States of Europe. We should have had a
fourth power in the State ;—a lazzaroni population,
too fiercely excited by distress to respect the rights of
property, whilst they were unable to satisfy the
cravings of nature; too abjectly poor, in the wealthiest
country of the world, not to levy a war of brigandage
and spoliation upon the capital so largely possessed by
others. Bat, instead of these incalculable horrors, the
tide of emigration has annually removed from our
shores and landed on those of Africa or Asia, of
America or New Holland, many thousands of our
surplus agricultural hands, farmers, and- labourers ;
and a number, little inferior, of our unemployed me-
chanics, masters and operatives; also, of able-bodied
paupers and servants. But emigration of a new
character and on a larger scale—emigrants not from
England, nor from any part of Continental Europe—
not destined for Africa, nor for Asia, nor for New
Holland ;—emigrant labour of a totally novel descrip-
tion from any to which it had been applied under the
auspices of former Governments of this country ;
these have become among the most vital necessities of
the empire, in relation to the integrity of its colonial
dominions.

Owing to the magnificent generosity with which
we have extinguished the condition of Negro Slavery
throughout the whole of our possessions in the West
Indies, and on the American Main, the emancipated
black races have long manifested so engrossing a
preference for the unrestricted enjoyment of their
new condition of social existence, over any amount of
regular wages for field labour, as to occasion the most
serious apprehensions for the future productiveness
of those fertile regions of which this compulsory
tillage had heretofore developed all the prodigious
fertility. Free labour was becoming, as to the eman-
cipated slave, a mere speculative theory. In practice
it was so uncertain, so partial, so interrupted, and so
expensive, that the planters and owners (whose in-
vestments of capital in the land, in works, machinery,
&c., &c., and in the shipping customarily engaged in
the West India trade, ans enormous) are compelled
to turn their views to other quarters, from whence
they might hope to draw the necessary supplies of
human labour, to keep their estates in proper
cultivation, and to raise such crops as might

adequately compensate them for the risk —of
their capital, and the annual amount of their
outlay. Free labour exclusively (Heaven be
thanked!) it was, and is still, necessary that they
should employ. But the burning climate of those
tropical regions has ever interposed an insuperable,
because a physical, obstacle to the efforts of European
agricultural industry within them. The intensity of the
heat, the exhausting nature of avocations in parts neces-
sarily pursued beneath its fiercest action, the hostility
of the rainy season to European health, and the dele-
terious influences of vegetable decomposition, are pa-
ralysing to the mental powers even, but fatal, in a
greater or less degree, according to the modification
of external circumstances, and of the physiology of
individual constitutions, to the bodily health of natives
of our temperate countries. Only people of the copper
coloured, or the yellow races, can replace, or labour
with, the negroes in the out-door occupations
of West Indian husbandry ; as it was once imagined
that only the negroes could be substituted for the
red Caribs, or indigenous population of the Carrib-
bean Archipelago, whom the brutal avarice and
cruelty of their white invaders and masters have
long since utterly extirpated. Meanwhile, soil ex-
hausted or not, our West Indian position is one which
political exigencies would compel us to retain even if
commercial discretion should prompt us to abandon it.

These islands, by their geographical position, supply
a chain of posts of observation ranging along a vast
extent of the eastern coasts of the two Americas.

They are advanced works " from whence the Old
World regards the New." It is now, at length, per-

mitted to us to arrive at the second bright page in
the death and blood-stained annals of our settlements
in the West Indies. We have given freedom to
900,000 blacks, who were, some years pre-
viously, of no higher legal or political importance
than the lowest serfs, the meanest adscripti glebce ;
namely, human chattels—whose lives were measured
as they were consumed, by the amount of physical
labour performed. They were machines animated—

but still brute, and fed and sustained only because exist

ence was the indispensable ingredient of their value,
and because that value was proportionately enhanced
with the vigour and healthfulness of that existence.

Those who are now to replace them are-1. Volun-
tary labourers. 2. Well paid, protected, and enter-
tained. 3. Term servants only, capable not merely
of leaving their employment at a given period, pre-
viously specified and agreed upon with the employer,
and guaranteed by the local Government; but even,
on reasonable cause shown, before the expiration of
their contract. 4. They are in all respects, both as
to their private positions and comforts, and as to their
social condition, not degraded below, but elevated
above those which they occupied in their far distant

homes, from which they have been, on their own ap-
plication, or with their own free consent and desire,
imported into these British islands and possessions.
It is long since we have perused any of the Parlia-
mentary Papers with more pleasure than we have de-
_ _

rived from an examination of the " Blue Book,"
entitled " Correspondence relative to Emigration of
Labourers to the West Indies and the Mauritius,
from the west coast of Africa, the East Indies, and
China, presented to both Houses by command of her
MAJESTY in the course of the present session." The
first class of correspondence, documents, returns, &c.,
relates to the emigration of labourers to Jamaica,
British Guiana, and Trinidad. The second—to that

of (East) Indian labourers to the Mauritius. The

,hird—to that of Chinese labourers to the Went In-

dies. The fourth—that of (East) Indian labourers
to the West Indies. We hope shortly to find room

for some detailed abstract of their contents.

Madrid journals of the Ist instant have been re-
ceived, and fully confirm the accounts already
published of the alarming fall in Spanish Funds by
the change in the Ministry. A Ministerial paper, the
Castellano, admits the fact in these words, " The opera-
tions on the Bourse commenced to-day under the in-
fluence of the news that the whole Administration
was about to be changed. The Funds fell to 29, then
rallied to 29f for cash, and 30 at sixty days. After.
wards on the news spreading of the Cabinet's resig-
uation having been accepted, the Funds experienced
a disastrous fall." In fact, they were offered as low
as 281. They rallied a little, and on the Ist instant,
the Three per Cents. closed at 291 for casli, 30 at
sixty days, arid the Fives 21 at sixty days.

The Paris papers in general simply announce the
formation of the ls TAIWAn cabinet. We are not