The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1833-06-07 00:00:00

He thought that the step recently taken by his Majesty's goe
vernment in compliance with the almost unanimous wish of th-
people precluded us from staying where we now were, for to
leave the slaves under the guidance of zealots, who would be
daily dunning into their earsithat for a certain number of years
emancipation was not to take place in deference to the wishes
of their white proprietors, to add that new subject of 'agitation
to those which they had already, would, in his opinion, be to
expose ourselves to dangers more aggravated than any of those
in which we were involved at present. (Hear.) Did he deny
the competency of Parliament to deal with this question? if
he did, that would at once be a fatal objection to these resolu-
tions. &it he, who had voted for the resolutions of 1823, and
that too upon due deliberation, was not prepared to dispute the ,
constitutioual right of the Imperial Legislature to deal with
this question,—" Shall the negro population of the West Indies
remain longer in a state of slavery, or not ?" He readily ad-
mitted that there was a difference between the question of abo-
lishing the slave trade, and that of abolishing the existence of
slavery. The slave trade was carried on upon the open sea,—
the slaves were the inhabitants of the main land;, and yet the
course taken by Parliament on the slave trade did certainly
affect Ihe interests of the proprietors of the 'slaves quite as
much as the present resolutions. He therefore admitted the
right and the competency of the Imperial Legislature to dispose.
of this question; but still no man could feel more strongly
than he did the indispensible necessity for our success that we
should dispose of it with the assistance of the colonial legisla-
tures, and with the concurrence of. the great body of the West
India proprietors. Now the first resolution of the right hon.
Secretary opposite was, " that it is the opinion of this commit-
tee that immediate and effectual measures be taken for the en-
tire abolition of slavery throughout the colonies, under such
provisions for regulating the condition of the negroes as may
combine their welfare with the interests of the proprietors.'
Now, upon the practical course necessary to carry this resolu-
tion into effect, he should express his opinions fairly, as he was
the partisan of no party. Two plans were proposed to the com-
mittee as the consequences of this first resolution. One. was
proposed by the present right hon. Secretary for the Colonies;
the other by a noble lord, who, though he held a subordinate
office, had much greater experience, as to colonial affairs than the
right hon. Secretary. One of them advised immediate emancipa-
tion; the other proposed ultimate emancipation, with a system
of coerced labour for the next twelve years. He (Sir H. Peel)
doubted the policy of using the words " immediate and effectual
measures shall be taken for the entire abolition of slavery
throughout the colonies." Those words were calculated to
raise expectations which the plan of the right hon. Secretary
by no means warranted, and that was a great evil in establish-
ing a preliminary resolution. He admitted that this objection
was an objection of terms rather than of substance; but still he
contended that the first impression of 'any man upon reading
this resolution, and especially the first impression of an illi-
terate and ignorant man, would be this—" You never meant to
subject me to coerced labour for twelve -yeal.s." (Hear, hear.)
He thought that measures must be taken on this subject without
delay, and that slavery must be abolished throughout the King's
dominions; but if he were inclined to accede to the plan of the
right hon. Selnetary, which he was not, (hear), he should say that
the terms in which he had couched his resolution were impolitic.
He had looked through the evidence which had been. collected
upon this subject, and he waspeculiarly struck with the evidence
of Captain .Elliott, the protector of slaves at
_Demerara, who
wrote with singular terseness and ability. (Hear, hear.) The
leaning of his mind was decidedly against immediate emancipa-
tion. He would not ,detain the house by looking for that gen-
tleman's evidence ; but his opinion was that the slave was not
in a condition to_be trusted with the power of labouring for his
own subsistence. Instances had been mentioned in which free-
dom had been conferred upon the slave without any danger to
the society in which he lived. No safe deduction could be
drawn from what happened in the Caraccas as to what would
happen in the \Vest Indies. In Venezuela the physical dis-
tinctions were not so great as in our colonies, and, as was well
observed by the noble member for Livernool, the slaves did not
constitute more than an eighth of the whole population. Now
it might be safe to confer freedom on the slaves where they formed
only a small minority of the community, and yet there might be
no safety in conferring it upon them where they constituted the
great majority. He would now come to the plan of the right
hon. gentleman. He (Mr. Stanley) proposed that the slave
should be apprenticed 12 years to his master, but that the slave
should be entitled to demand his freedom at any intermediate
time on tendering a certain fixed value • but suppose that some
slaves should not wish to demand their freedom at any time, but
should prefer remaining as they were, what would follow ?
Why, that there would still be two classes—one of slaves and
one of apprentices, and for the one the whole slave code
would have still to be continued : would not that be a great and
inconvenient anomaly ? But it was proposed that they in the
present session should, by an act of the imperial legislature,
make a law which was to apply equally to all the colonies, dif-
fering, as they did, in 'so many things in their internal govern-
ment,- some of them being peopled by English, some by Dutch,
and others. by. French or Spaniards. Was this law to be equally
applicable to the Mauritius, to Demerara, and to Jamaica? and
were they to pass this general act, applying thus equally to all
the colonies, without further inquiry as to whether this plan
should be adopted in preference teeny other ? See how different
was the system with respect to the mode of supporting the slave
in some of the colonies. In Barbadoes the slave was paid by a sort
of truck system—ln Jamaica he had a certain allowance of provi-
sions,but in each of the colonies there was some peculiar difference.
How, he would ask, could they during the present session ar-
range all the details necessary for the application of the princi-
ple of this resolution to all these colonies? But how was it
possible they could do so without the co-operation of the colo-
nies? They had no interest in creating angry feelings amongst
those colonies. Were they not to consider the relations in which
the slave would stand to the master hereafter? It was of the ut-
most consequence that as much as possible kindly feelings should
be encouraged between them. But, would it not tend to de-
stroy such feelings if the imperial legislature were by one act—
which was to apply to all the colonies, however different their in-
ternal regulations—to show a total disregard for those regula-
tions? Would it not be a wiser and a safer course to take the prin-
ciple of abolitien now, and regulate its application afterwards ?
They were now almost all agreed as to the principle, and there
was no great difference among them as to the amount of com-
pensation. Let them, then, take that on which they were
agreed, and then go on with die instruments of negptiation,
and they must, in a short time, fully secure the co-operation of
the coloniSt. tu fact, it -would be his interest to agree with
them. Would it not he better to borrow a part of the plan of
the noble lord,. and to give to -the colonists themselves the
power of doing this? The right honourable baronet here enu-
merated several.of the details of the measure as it was intended
to apply to the slaves, and contended that, to pass a measure of
this extensive' kind at once, would be a wanton risk of the safety
of 80),000iuman beings. Were they, he asked, to take no
preparatory measures for a change of this immense importance?
It had been said' by the lion. and learned member for Dublin,
that no pecnniary consideration should prevent their adoption
of the principle of emancipation. The same argument was used
in the National Assembly of France. • The right hon. baronet
here read adescription of the discussion which took place on
that occasion,. when, after a discussion, for the close of which
the assembly had manifested great impatience, the vote for the
emancipation of the negro was carried by acclamation. The
coloured deputies from St. Domingo were- introduced, and re-
ceived the fraternal kiss, first from the president, and afterwards
front the other members, and at the close Denton made a speech,
in which he predicted the universal spread of freedom, and the
downhill of England. (Hear, hear.) How had all the results
that had been anticipated from that vote of the assembly been
realized? He would not go to St. Domingo, and lie wished
that others had abstained from any allusion to it; but he would
take the island of Guadeloupe. The right hon. baronet here
gave an affecting description of ruin and devastation brought
upou the white owners of property in that island by the horri-
ble excesses of the liberated negroes, which not all the efforts
of General de Fourneau could prevent; nor were they wholly
abolished until slavery was again restored, which continued to
the present day. (Hear.) He implored the house to consider
the awful responsibility of what they were about to do, and not
to omit from their consideration that, in the attempt to ame-
liorate the condition of the slaves in our own colonies, they
might greatly aggravate the miseries of those of other countries.
(Cheers.)
Lord Aurlione said that in great part of what fell from the
right honourable baronet he fully concurred. He admitted
the great responsibility they incurred in what they were about
to do, but he thought that the danger of remaining as they
were would be greater than any other which they could incur.
He admitted the danger of emancipating the Slave without some
previous preparation, but their's was not a sudden plan. As
to the compensation, he thought that giving £15,000,000 to the
colonists, which was one-third of their own estimate of the va-.
lue of the slaves, and only taking from them one-fourth of their
labour, was a fair term of compensation. As to the argument
of the hon. and learned member for Dublin, that no probation-
ary time should be allowed, he would only observe that it was'
admitted that nothing had been done since 1823 to prepare the
slave for emancipation, and as we were now in the same condi-
tion as then, we were bound to adopt the course then agreed
upon, of having some probationary measure previous to final
emancipation.
Mr. STANLEY'S first resolution :—"That it is the opinion of
this committee that immediate and effectual measures be taken
for the entire abolition of slaVery throughout the colonies, un-
der such provisions for regulating the condition of the negroes
as may combine their welfare with the interests of the proprie-
tors," was then put and carried unanimously. (Cheers.)
In answer to a question from Lord Sandell,
Mr. STANLEY said that he intended to proceed with the other
resolutions. to-morrow (this day.)
The CHAIRMAN reported.progressi and-obtained leave to sit
again to-morrow (this day.)
PORTUGAL.—CONFIDENCE IN MINISTERS.

Colonel DAVIES gave notice that he would, on Thursday
next, submit a motion to the house, expressive of confidence in
his Majesty's ministers in reference to their policy touching the
Affairs or Portugal. (Hear, hear.).
Adjourned at a quarter to two o'clock.

TUESDAY OF LORDS, TUESDAY, JUNE 4.
At a quarter to five, the Earl of SHAFTESBURY having, as
Deputy Speaker of the House of Lords, taken his seat on the
woolsack, several Bills were brought up from the Commons and
read a first time. _

A message from the Commons likewise brought up the Staf-
ford Bribery Witnesses Indemnity Bill, with the amendments
of their lordships agreed to.
The Loan CHANCELLOR now took his seat on the woolsack.