The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1840-07-31 00:00:00

CHINA

On the report of supply, Mr. GeAnsTuNe called the atten-
tion of the house to the objects of the armaments against
China. He would not enter into the general policy of the
war : he wished to address himself more particularly to the
question of the compensation intended to be demanded from
China for the opium taken from British subjects. England
was about to call for two millions of money. It was highly
probable that the projected hostilities would more than ex-
haust that entire sum. Suppose that China should at once
grant the whole amount, would she not compensate herself
by a tax on•her exports of tea and silk, which tax must be
eventually paid by the British consumer? But, independently
of pecuniary considerations, was there in this case a ground
of justice sufficient to warrant ministers in risking the evils
of war ? The British merchants contended that they were
entitled to the value of the opium surrendered by them to
Captain Elliot; and it ;vas difficult for the British Govern-
ment to deny that claim, after resolving to continue Captain
Elliot in office. Nay, indeed, the real principal in the opium
trade was the Indian Government, sanctioned to a certain
degree by the Government at home. These, however, were
not reasons why the Government at home should seek to re-
cover this value forcibly against China. It was said that
Chinese officers had connived at the corrupt practices of the
inferior agents, still it had been but a limited connivance,
practised only by the lower officers. At all events, it had
ceased before the recent events, and the law of confiscation
had been announced and enforced. Again, it was argued
that the proper remedy would have been, not a seizure of
opium, but a stoppage to the general trade ; but that would
have been only to punish the innocent for the guilty. It was
urged also, that the steps taken by China were sudden and
without notice. This could hardly be maintained in the face
of the positive edicts previously issued by the Chinese au-
thorities, and of the distinct, and, with reference to its pecu-
liar habits, unusual remonstrances of the Chinese Govern-
ment. The crisis had been long foreseen by Mr. Inglis and
other residents, and actually predicted by them. Another
argument was, that the Chinese, in contravention of the law
of nations, had placed a body of strangers in durance, to en-
force the delivery of property in which the majority of them
had no interest. This principle of mutual responsibility was
excluded, indeed, from the conventional law of nations, to
which China was no party ; but it was in nowise repugnant
to the law of nature, by which alone she could fairly be held
to be hound. It was a principle recognized by our own law,
which makes the hundred liable in eel tain cases to compen-
sate the destruction of an individual inhabitant's property.
And it now appeared in evidence, that, with very few excep-
tions, the whole resident community were engaged in the
smuggling of opium. Surely it was our duty to have known
very accurately who were the persons arrested before their
arrest was made a cause of war. Next came the plea, that
the freedom of her Majesty's representative had been vio-
lpaatredationTihnapt,oiinfttortueh,onmoiugrht;
butbe as
urreeal syo
nofto
frodr demandingn re-g
asum of money. In fact, however, there had been nothing to
accredit Captain Elliot to the Chinese as the representative
of her. Majesty ; and if there had been, he,
at all events, by
his refnsal to- deliver up Mr:Dent, or theshlps, had identi-
tied himself with the opium trade. In short, the whole pro-
position of the advocates for war resolved itself into this—
that the British had a right to smuggle opium, and that the
Chinese had no business to prevent them. He was con-
vinced it would not be long before the indignation of the
British people would be kindled on this subject against the
Government, unless they should retrace their steps while yet
it was practicable.
Sir J. HOHHOUSE said, that at the end of Mr. Gladstone's
speech, as at the beginning, he was quite at a loss to conceive
what good effect of any kind, it could produce : and, indeed,
smallness of the audience to which the conservative
thee nches had been reduced under Mr. Gladstone's oration
was a tolerable proof of its inutility. It was a mere reehauffee
of the old and long debate on China. • The hon. gentleman
had treated far too lightly the outrages committed by the Chi-
e t
heev ec
or yn
nEi
vnagnl icseh m
ofatnh'es
blond
nceen. e
she'oraihlu.etyhAr G
oh Mr Gladstone
ebse le; anda sns tudoeni hadyleea tst
ht
eodevinni
denied
droy of Canton himself
had been a party to it. There was no objection, undoubtedly, to
the confiscation of contraband goods, but it must not be effect-
ed by seizure of persons. The residents were not only arrested,
butlatv morennaatceured withlt swtaarsvaation which had been averted only by
the surrender of the party 'A
appeal had been made to the
of one man for the
to the courage of Captain purpose of getting at the
goods of another.
This country was
.nistrangne law, if it allowed the seizure
indebted for the preservation ot• her people
hs
trth.oopufiahLrtm it
tre
g(Poibitojael Elliot, and min
M
displeasure at the course
the war, and extolled the character"
of theisCtehrisnehsaed.
Espseuxvrin.veizhed against the iniquity of
whnicoohpotcihucemay-
had been landed at the very
though certainly notwfiteltiovy
Still, however, Captain Elliot hal23 where Captain Elliot re-
sided,they had trade ; and government having sanctioned
uc
hish inco fosteringue oof
p the
ro
ceeding, were now, though
The
his guarantee,
io'dtlasianv
0E,„1. lei ot' s. knowledge.
bound in honour and honesty to fulfil it. a?dfvvainelt:,gebuotf
the opium trade was a great one in many points
especially because it yielded a return in specie,without which
mngpthioenr
England would have found some difficulty
in
purchases of tea from China, where there was no
cmone!'ul
of English goods.
Sir CHARLES GREY complained bitterly that China chooses
e
to exclude the general intercourse of strangers while she yet
admits a certain residence for purposes of trade. This, he
said, had placed her in a false position. He expatiated upon
the absurdity of her regulations, and relied on their unrea-
sonableness as forming a sort of argument for transgressing
her revenue laws.

Loid§ANnoNthought it difficult to deny that China and
all other countries had a right to exclude
th9intercourse of
strangers, and still more difficult to maintain that such an
exclusion could justify a war. The Chinese had tried to settle
amicably the matter in dispute, and when that attempt failed,
they had resorted to a measure which, however questionable,

,
was certairmy not worse than our own perseverance in a trade
with thei: people which their law prohibited. They were
wrong perhaps In some of their steps, but they were right in
the main point, which was their resistance to the introduction
of an injurious commodity into their la*d.

Lord PALMERSTON declared his inability to perceive the
general drift of Mr. Gladstone's speech, or to ascertain his
opinion on the claim of compensation., Mr. Gladstone had
suggested that the war was vindicated by ministers on the
plea that the measures of China had been taken without no-
tice. That was not the justification of the British govern-
ment. With or without notice, they would have condemned
a violence, whereof the precedents were to be found, not in
the law of nature, referred to by Mr. Gladstone, but in the
practice of banditti, who seize the traveller, and detain him
till he send to his family for a ransom. The hon. gentleman
had said that Captain Elliot was not a representative in a
diplomatic sense, but a mere consular agent. But a consul
was fully entitled to the respect of the state in which he
might be placed, and the diplomatic distinction was devoid
of substance. He believed that ministers were fortified by
public opinion.
A division ensued, which led to nothing, and the resolution
was at length agreed to without a division.

REGENCY BILL.
Lord PALMERSTON moved the first reading of this bill,
and fixed the second reading for Wednesday.

RATING STOCK IN TRADE BILL.
This bill was read a third time and passed.
The other orders of the day were then disposed of, and the
house adjourned at a quarter past two o'clock.

HOUSE OF LORDS.—Tr EsDAY.
Several bills having been brought up from the commons,
the house adjourned during pleasure.
At five o'clock the Lord Chancellor again took his seat on
the'woolsack.

The West India relief bill, the Caledonian canal bill, the
friendly societies bill, and the poor-law commissioners conti-
nuance bill, were read a third time and passed.
Some petitions were presented. _

Viscount DUNCANNON gave notice, that if the municipal
districts (Ireland) bill was brought up to that house in the
course of the evening, he would move that it be read a first
time and printed, and would fix the third reading for Thurs-
day.

The Earl of GLENGAL gave notice, that on Friday next he
would move for a copy of the sentence passed on Lawrence
Davis at the Clonmel Assizes, for wilful and corrupt perjury
at the election of a poor-law guardian.
Lord BROUGHAM presented a petition from 1160 persons
of colour in the island of Barbadoes. Of the petitioners,
1100 were persons who had been emancipated from slavery,
and on this account the petition was most interesting to him,
as it no doubt would be to their lordships, when they heard
that this was the first petition which had emanated from any
body of the emancipated people of colour, in the exercise of
that right which they had, in common with every other class
their fellow-subjects, to lay their complaints and wishes be-
fore the parliament. (Hear, hear.) The petitioners com-
plained that the qualification of the members of the Houle
of Assembly was too high and also that the electoral quali-
fication was so high as to limit the elective franchise to 1200
persons, out of a population of 130,000 ; and of this 1200
not more than 200 were people of colour. The conse-
quence, as might be supposed, was, that the interest of
the emancipated people of colour who were unrepresented
was not attended to by that house ; but, on the contrary,
the measures which were recommended by the govern-
ment for their protection, and the amelioration of their
condition, were rejected. They complained most particu-
larly of the restrictions which were placed on their emigra-
tion to the other islands. (Hear.) The restriction of which
they complained, and in which, to a certain degree, he went
along with them—though to a certain degree also he did
not—was an act by which every person was prohibited, under
very severe penalties, from acting as an immigration agent
without a license. Undeniably there was a great risk of
abuse by persons acting as emigration agents, which it was
necessary there should be some check to prevent; since
negroes might be inveigled on board a ship, and, instead of
being carried to Guiana, where they would be free, taken to
the Brazils, where they would be slaves. But the negroes
maintained that the real object of the act was to prevent
emigration—to keep them in the island, and thus keep labour
cheap. It was possible that this might be one great object of
the legislature there, while it was clear, on the other hand,
that this was a different case, from the crimping system in the
case of the Hill Coolies in the East Indies; nevertheless it
ought to be under some control, that the emigration of la-
bourers might not on the one hand be made the means of
carrying them into slavery in Brazil, and on the other hand,
of improperly detaining them in the island. He hoped great
attention would be paid to the subject by the government at
home before they allowed the act, which if it were disallowed,
he hoped some other means, not liable to the same objec-
tions, might be found to prevent these abuses.
The Earl of DEVON, on the bringing up the report of the
select committee on the grammar schoos bill, suggested that
the bill should be recommitted.

The Bishop of EXETER wished to know whether it was in-
tended to lay the ordinance of the governor-general of Ca-
nada, relating to the seminary of St. Sulpice on the table of
that house, and whether it was cousistent for her majesty to
give her consent to the ordinance?

Viscount MELBOURNE said it would not be laid on the
table during the present session ; at the same time he was of
opinion that it was quite consistent for her majesty to give
her assent to it.

The Bishop of EXETER would remind the noble viscount
that the governor in council could not make any ordinance
affecting or altering the religious establishments of Canada,
and he would remind the noble viscount that the ordinance
did affect the religious establishments in that country, by
erecting the monks of the seminary of St. Sulpice into a body
corporate.
In reply to questions from the Earl of HADDINGTON,

. •
Viscount MELBOURNE replied that the government were
not determined on discontinuing the £5O a-year to Bishop
M`Gill, but that they were determined on discontinuing the
salaries of her Majesty's chaplains in Scotland, who might
be appointed hereafter. _ _

The Earl of HADDINGTON was sorry to hear of the inten-
tion of discontinuing those salaries. He looked upon it as
an unwise and shabby proceeding.
On the motion of the Marquis of LANSDOWNE, the com-
mittee on the promissory notes bill was deferred till Friday.

WEAVER CRURCRES RILL

The; ishop of LONDON rose to move the third reading of
the Weaver churches bill. In doing so it was not his inten-
tion to trouble their lordships at that time with any detailed
observations, because he.would take the opportunity of re-
plying to any remarks which might be made against the mo-
tion. He would, however, state in a few words the objects
of the bill, and the purposes it professed to accomplish,
as their lordships might not he aware of the entire circum-
stance, of the case. The bill was owing to the flourishing
condition of the funds of the Weaver trustees. The state
of the navigation was so flourishing, that the income of
the trustees exceeded a sum of X 34,000, independent of
all the demands on them. The trustees held that they were
diScharging. the most important part of their duty as trustees
of the navigation, in providing church accommodation for
those persons who worked on the canal. As matters at pre-
sent existed there, the men who were very properly prevented
from working on Sundays, assembled on the banks of the
canal on that day, in consequence of there being no church
accommodation for them. It therefore appeared to the trus-
tees of the navigation to be their duty to provide that accom-
modation which they proposed doing by taking £6OOO. from
these tolls, and with that amount erect three churches on the
banks of the canal. Notwithstanding all that had been said
against the measure be should not hesitate to say that the
great mass of the middle classes in the county of Chester
were decidedly in favour of the present bill. He trusted,
therefore, that their lordships would unanimously agree to its
being read a third time.

The Marquis of WESTMINSTER moved as an amendment
that the bill be read a third time that day six months. It
was in direct violation of a trust, and if passed, would furnish
a dangerous precedent for interfering with all trust funds.
The feeling of the neighbourhood and of the whole county
was decidedly against it, and the labourers whom it was pro-
posed to benefit were by no means anxious for the advantages
to be conferred upon them.
Lord LURGAN said that were it not for the evidence ad-
duced before the committee, of which he had been a member,
he could never have believed that such deplorable spiritual
destitution existed in this country as was the case in the dis-
trict in question. The Weaver fund was strictly a parlia-
mentary trust fund, and when the immediate objects of the
trust had been attained, it was clearly in the power of parlia-
ment to appropriate the surplus to so worthy an object.
Lord STANLEY (of Alderley) opposed the bill.
After a few words from the Bishop of LoNnoN, the reading
was carried without a division.

Lord PORTMAN proposed two amendments, which were
afterwards negatived.

- -
The house adjourned

HOUSE OF COMMONS.—TUESDAY.
The speaker took the chair at four o'clock, and there being
only twenty-six members present, the house adjourned.

HOUSE OF LORDS.--WEDNESDAY
The House of Lords did not assemble to-day.

HOUSE OF COMMONS.-WEDNESDAY

A new writ was ordered for Cavan in the room of Mr. Max-
well, who has accepted the stewardship of the Chiltern Hun-
dreds.

Mr. Fox MAULE gave notice, that he should on Thursday
move for a bill to enable the government to advance money
for carrying on the administration of justice in Birmingham,
until the question of the charter he adjudicated upon.
Mr. G. PALMER inquired whether any provision had been
made for adjudicating upon any claims, in consequence of the
orders in council fox reprisals upnn property and vessels be-
longing to the subjects of the Emperor of China, before these
vessels or property can be carried into a British port ?
Lord J. RUSSELL answered, that at present Chinese ves-
sels, if captured, would be taken to Singapore. Ile had in-
quired of Lord Palmertson and the first lord of the Admiralty,
to ascertain whether other desirable arrangements could be
carried into effect.

Mr. LABOUCHERE, in answer to inquiries from Sir Robt.
Peel, said that the question regarding the re-arrangement of
the duties on coffee would be abandoned for the present ses-
sion, owing to the difficulties attending the attempt.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER, in a subsequent
part of the evening, withdrew the customs bill, adding that
he did not intend to bring in any other bill in its stead.
Lord PALMERSTON, in answer to inquiry from Mr. KEM-
BLE, stated that her Majesty's government were fully sen-
sible of the value of the services of Captain Douglas, who,
by his gallantry, and on his own responsibility, had contri-
buted most materially to the safety of a large body of British
subjects, and that he was now in communication as to the
means of acknowledging those services.
theOsnetohnedmtimotionEof Lord J. RUSSELL, and after a brief from him as to its object, the regency bill was read
rd J.
of
RUSSELL death b iLI
Lord IL.
Mr. c
FITZROY e.
k Y moved the third reading of the
movedpu-
nishment
as an amendment, that it be read
the third time that day thr;eemonths,f which, fter discussion,d
wasLo cradrrij.edßub
The bill is consequently lost r majoritythe.
yss7EBLLromsolved the third •
porerstetet
session.
27.
,e reading drtiens
e.as an amendmentr
to reservesry,Mr.
~H t (Canada)
tar le
thisad a )11
moved,ob
ui Isl
feels confidenmtatjhesat,,stodpromote the
tfiotnhedecellearrgay_ goluo
Upper Canada, and to satisfy the earnest desire' :In
avnoiottnr.as
bilne
prosperity of that portion of her
the people
of that province, 'it is expedient to give the
,msolsot
consideration to the wishes of her Majesty
there ; that to terminate the jealonsy and dissension l
which
have hitherto existed on the subject of the clergy reserves, to
remove a barrier to the settlement of the country, and to pro-
vide a fund available for the promotion of education, it is ex-
tremely desirable that the said lands, so reserved, be sold,
and the proceeds arising from the sale of the same placed at
the disposal of the provincial legislature, to be applied exclu-
sively for that purpose."
This amendment was negatived by 51 to 10—majority
against it 41. The bill was then read the third time and
passed.
in answer to Lord J. Russell'
Mr. HODGES,
s inquiry, said
that he should withdraw the constabulary bill for the present
session.
The New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land bill, on
the motion of Lord J. RussELL, was read the third time and
passed, as were the slave trade treaties bill and several other
bills.

The parochial assessment bill, and the further considera-
tion of the report of. committee thereon,
afterwards called
forth some desultory discussion on its several clauses, and
on some proposed amendments.
The Bank of Ireland bill went through committee.
The report of the resolution for continuing certain Coal

duties in London called forth some conversation, but it was
agreed to.
The population bill and other bills were forwarded a stage,
and the house adjourned.