The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-05-18 00:00:00

country

he would, notwithstanding,. oppose the propositions of the
government, believing, as he did, that they were calculated
to promote the slave-trade.
Mr. H. F. BERKELEY feared that it is yet too soon to
expose free labour in the West Indies to the competition of
slave labour, though he had no doubt but that at no very
distant time those colonies would be equal to any competi-
tion from any quarter.

Mr. J. PARKER, on the part of the non-elective portion
of the population of this country, was determined to obtain
for them, if possible, cheap bread, cheap sugar, and every
other necessary of life, on the cheapest possible terms con
sistently with the exigencies of the revenue. He believed
that the real humanity of the case as regarded sugar was
entirely on the side of the government, and this opinion, he
believed, was rapidly gaining ground amongst the people.

• •
Mr. DISRAELI contended that the commerce of Brazi
had been greatly over-rated, and was of opinion that more
attention should have been shown to Mexico and the other
colonies which formerly belonged to Spain, and in which
slavery had been abolished. So far from thinking the com-
merce of the country on the decline, it was his firm belief
that it had not yet reached its meridian splendour.
Sir H. VERNEY supported the government propositions,
as calculated to open new markets to the commerce of the
country.

Mr.'KEMBLE supported the motion of Lord Sandon, and
contended that the reduction of the duties on sugar, as pro-
posed, would be nothing less than an undoing of all that had
been done by the Emancipation Act. Looking at the pro-
positions of the government, which were, brought forward at
the most ill-judged time, he could not help saying that after
being eleven years in office they rendered when about to re-
tire but a sorry account of their financial administration.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said that many of
the arguments advanced by gentlemen opposed to the pro-
posed reduction on sugar were entirely inconsistent with
each other. It was contended by some that no revenue
would be derived from foreign sugar, for none would be im-
ported, while others insisted that the country would be so
inundated with slave-grown sugar from Cuba that the West
Indies would be ruined. Now if foreign sugar should be im-
ported to any extent, he must derive from it an increased
revenue, while, on the other hand, if none was imported, it
was clear That no injury could accrue to the West India
planter. The right hon. gentleman then contended that, in
giving a protecting duty of 50 per cent. to the West Indian
sugar grower he gave him all that he was entitled to, and
quite sufficient to preserve his interests from any injury, be-
cause by the proposed duty he fixed a price in effect below
which foreign sugar could not be imported, and the West
India grower would be therefore insured a fair and reasonable
price. On the other hand, by admitting foreign sugar when
the price reached the maximum, they insured a supply of
sugar to an extent which could be only limited by the power
of the people to consume. With respect to the time he had
taken to make these alterations the right hon. gentleman
contended that he had selected the time with a cautious di-
rection, in order that the period chosen might be that in
which the least possible injury could be done to the West
Indies. This was absilutely proved by many hon. gentlemen
opposed to the government, who had contended that the sup-
ply of colonial sugar would be this year so great that the
alteration, if made, would be a dead letter. The right hon.
gentleman concluded by expresssing his belief that, whatever
might be the decision of the house on that occasion, the
measures he proposed must be eventually carried.
When the right hon. gentleman concluded, the debate was
adjourned until Monday.

THE EXECUTION AT CROSSHILL

(From the Glasgow Mail of Saturday.)

Since the revolting crime which brought Burke to the
scaffold, we are not aware of any similar circumstance that
has excited so much interest in Scotland as the sanguinary
transaction at Bishopbridge, the result of which it is to-day
our painful duty to record. The premeditated murder of a
man, from the combination of those over whom he had
charge, is, thank God, rare or without a precedent in this
country ; and notwithstanding that crime may reasonably be
expected to exist where such a mass of population is gathered
together, still the report of the slaughter at Bishopbridge
was received with the horror and indignation of every man
who had a heart and conscience about him. The circum-
stances of the tragedy are now well known. The victim
was a person of the name of Green, and his murderers were
Doolan, Redding, and Hickie. The latter man has been
respited, but the extreme sentence of the law has been carried
into effect on the two former.