House Of Lords, Thursday,...
The Times, 1824-03-05T00:00:00

PA! I?lIA-.l E YT.1 .f ' I.VTT',lGENCE. L,ord 1;1 N(4 proseiitcd a ivt'tioo froisi a place, thiie name of whici wVe )elieve wvas Knlesworth. prasving for the abolition of slhvcy in the WVest Indiia island'. Eairl (HIOSVENOR presrnted a petition on tie sanc subiect, whichl he stated was signed bs a grcat numbrr of respectable per- so9n1 in BItrv St. Edmllund's, who praved that Llteir lordisiips would b. picasel to consid^r of the eicans of prodluciu a gradual abolition of slavvrv. Itn the tmieati ti-e thev prayed for thc amelioration of the condei:ion *f the titifortunate negrocs in the colonies. Thley also 1,raved tilat ?tlY inasUares wlhich mi4ht be adotted shossld bc accolm- p.oied wvith a duo consideration of the interests of those persstts who pl.ssssed estates in thc eolonies: in a wvord, that whliie justice wax done to the slav;s.that those alto mlight thereby suffer loss should be indi-innitied. It scetile( to be an :understanding, that that part of thte qutiosti wvhicih cr,ncerneil the condutet of EIC pCrsott1 -io composed the lIutrics oif Assembly in the colonics should not be brotight forward t thlat their proceedings, whether right or wrontg-aetd as to thiat he did not th(tn mc:ta to give an opiiion- h:ad brttcr got be dis(cussdc,- lie shoul(d therefore at present tabstain 1routi riterinig Itt thrlt p3rt of the subject, but couild not do so with- otit somie ctxplausuttiOcn. If he adtmsitted the propriety of souitetimiles aceclitng to suh11 an 1.niderstanding, lie must at tEte same titne state that this princirle of rescrvation wa4 one which ought to be lookad ipoti with great iealtisy. Any enldeavour to stuiotlter or withhold the trIuh had scidotn autY other tnotive thati a false delicacv. As a general prineueil , every thinc like secrecy itt ptiblic affairs wac to he avoidied. ,Iet their l.uziships consider how fir this system ttulrt be carr:cd. A nable friendrl of lis lia(l giveni a notice rcspec'in:; the state oft Ireland, whichi involved the restoration of ihe witole ot thc c ivil rights of thc Catholic population. Howu were thieir lordsltifis to cotmc to a right decision if atty circunisuance rcspecting the state ot' tite eout-try was kept in the dark ? Ile trusted. therefore, that when the question cauiie on, the wlhole !:acts would beI brought before the howsts. There was ano- tIter question which miidtt soonr hecxpected to come beforethe house, to wlticli he could tint hellp alluding-namelv, the intenderl grant of 510,0001. for butlding ehurtcies. Hfe cotild not at the prcsetit tmo. ment pretend to say whether susch an application of the public money was proper or not. It might be right-it might be wrong ; but that was the firet question to bc settled, and it could not be deternined wvhile atnv secrecv was presrrved with respect t9 the state ofthe Es- tablislted t hurch. It was the dutv of Parliament, before this tmea- sure shouhl bhe sanctioned, to inquire into the reveitties of the cs. tablisltment. anil to see whether or nut it was able to butiltl chtirclies wvithtout hbrdeniing thte public. These illustrations were stfficient to prove the advantage of publicity, and thiat nothiing was so ti- juri;tts to tde ptt!ilic intcrests as the ruppress:on of facts, utu secrecv. Returning to tite sthbject of the petition, the noble earl obscrved, that he concitrred vith thosc ssho were of opinion, that unle"s slavers, were abolished in the colonies, there would never he an end of the slave-trade. But let England once say tlat there shall be no slavery in hier colonies, and from that inoment time hiorri- tile traffic would ttc put down ---of the atrocities to which that trade yave birth, and the misery litich its unhappy victims cndured, no- thing more would he h(ard : for slaverv, andl all its dreadfttl conse- quences both to the slave anid the miSter, would cesc throughotit trie world. Nothing, certainly, coul,l be more advantagcous to the planters themselves than suc; a change, for property in the colonies woultI be benefitted bh it, to a degree not easily anticipased by those wlto l;ad niot paiti attentiotn to the subject. Fe could, hlowever, as- stire their lordsltips, that there were persons whin had tried titc ex- periment of free labour, anti that it had answered to their perfect sa- tisfaction.The instnictions whicl his Majesty's Mimisters hadl sent otit to the colonies, with a view to the gradual improvement of the condmition of the negroes. and final abolition, were moderate an( ju- dicious. Ele wished, however, to have it understood, that hiis si- letcc upon this question evotild dependl upon his opinion. according to thc infQnnaltion he sltoild receive, of the sincerity of Ministers in the ditposition thtev ltaA manifested by their instructions. Tie noble earl concludtl; by reading some passages of the petition, and movingt tkat it do lie nit the table. . - E trl BATHURST would not enter into the questions on wltici the noble earl had toitch,ed in presenting this petition, but he wish- ed to take tilis opportunitv of informing the house, that on to-mor- rowv se'nnight he would lay ott the table, by his Majesty's command, certain papers relating to the tstate of negro slavery in tile colonies. e aeould a1 himself of that occa--ota to give avt etiLapat lon of the nieasures which his Majesty's MIinisters had thoughtpropey to adopt 'or the moral and religion ilmrrovement of t.IIoes, III pursu- ance of thc resolution of the lousc of Co ii.' The motion for laying the etition on thetable wag heiisagrted to. SOUTH AMERICA. The Earl of LIVERPOOL rose to lay on the table, by his Mlla- esty's commands, certain communicatiOtnS which had passed between hia is ajesty's Govemment aud the Governments of Franice and Spain, relating to the provinces of SoutiL AImerica. The subject had been adverted to in his Majesty's speech at thle opening of the session, but the correspondence coiuld not then with propriety be madepublic. As, however, thecauseswhich prevented the papers fromn being made public now no longer existed,thlere could he no objection to their being laid belore their lordships. The usual mcans w. ould he taken to bhave the papers printed for the use of the house as speedily as possible. jt trnight be expectetl, therefore, that they would be in the hands of their lorliships in tlhe course of to- morrow. The Marquis of LANSDONNN wished to kniow whether it was the intention of the noble earl to found anv moinon on the sub- ject of these papers, or to recommend to the house any procceding resnecting them. The Earl of LiVERPOOL Iiii not intendl to make any mn- tion or propose to their lordships any proceeding connected with these papers. Thev were laid on the table solely for thle infornr.a- tion of the house, and to enable their lordships to lorm their own judgment on tite subject. The Marquis of lANSDOW"N reminded their lordshipn, that soos after the com mencement of the session, he had inti mated his in- tention of brhinzing forward a motion on the state of the late Spanish colonies. Iie was not aware that the papers niow buid on the table could contain anv thiing which ought to makehi:n alter his intention; but baring alway s been desirous of allowin;r his Majesty's ministers to explain their system of policr wvith respect to those states, and not wishing to embarrass in any xvay the question, he should wait until lie liad1 read the papers, before he adopted any final detertnination re- specting his notice. CLI,ERK 03-' PARLIAMIENT. The Barl of LIVE;RPOOLj bad some time ago given notice o0 his intention to move for a committee to take into Lonsid, ration the I or"ice of Clerk of Parliament It was then his wish to postpone thi- procceding until two noble lords, who had always paiel particular attention to the official business of Parliament, shoulid be both ir town. IHe understood, Itowever, that the attcndance of one of thte( noble lords ceuld nit be obttined until an advanced period of tin session; btt as the other noble lord, whose assistance he wished te obtain, was pres.nt, he (lid not think it proper to delay carryitz hi! .intention into efRect any longer. Ile thierefore now gave notice, tha i te would on Monday next move their lordships to appoin-t a commit. tee tp consider the state of the office of Clerk of Parliameiut. IRISH LINEN. The Marquis of LA.NSDOWVN wished to advert to a subjeci t,hich had been touched ol durih,g the last sitting of tlt h lolse- nainely, the means of amelioratitig the state of the su4ith of Irelatid, In a conversation which took place on the proposal oft his iMajesty'r (Government for withdrawing the boutitv on Irish Iinen, lie under- stood it te have been statel by the nob!e earl opposite, that the rclsor why the hounty was to be inunediately taken from the coarse irisi linen was, that no acxortatiotn of that article had taken place front iIreland. Now, whlten the ioble earl made this statement, lie coulid not be.aware of thereal state of the case. The fact, liecould ivith confidence state. svas, that duiring the two last years there ha(d been an increasing expprtation of coanrse linens froni thic north of Irelandi: an(d le was persuaded that the encouragement of this manufacture mighlt grat. Iv assist in removing that state of poverty seith which the country sVas afflicted. It mlight be rendered a valutable stimulus to the in'. :distry of the distressed papulation, Ile believed that all who be. , stowed anv attentiot on the improvemetit of that part of the unitedl kingdom, looked firward ti1 the establishment of linen mallu,hcttires !it the south oif Treland as a great means of amelioration. lie was tIn advocate Iir bautities, thouigi he must ack:nowledge that Ile con. sidered them far less mischlievous to trade than prohibitionis and re- strictions; bitt though lie adtlitted the evil which also teas attach. ic to bounties, he miiust otiserve that thlere w:ts a great difterence be- Itvwecn enacting theta, and suddenly repealinh them, after they hail for a certain timle existed- He therefore lhoped that the noble earl wou(ld consider the tfi'ect ofrashliv discouraging, or even cf appearing to dis- couraze-for the mere appearance of discotiracemerit tiibht be at- tended with evil-a rising nuistifatture wiich ha3d just begun to be profitable, and probably to find a demand in tise markets of South America. It should also be tecollected, that this manufacture teas pectiliariv c:lculated to give to the poor populatioti of the south of Irelar;.d that species of emploYment in which they could with tdie greatest facilitv be engaged. whi!e it was at Llt sanine firie that kidl of eniterprise in which the landovners could writh the greatest saletv cmii- bark their propertY. lie should concM-nde with movina for an ac- count of the quantitv of coarse litreii cxported from Ireland dueing the vears 1822 an(I 1823. The return, be was assured, would justifi the statement he had made. '1'ie Farl ot I,IVFRPOOI, said. wihen hc stated that no co-rie linens were exported fromn Irlard,liehad been induced to miake that observationt frori know:ingitlattilebounttvon it hadzievce been drawn. At least, suchl was the information lie had received, atid he believ- ed it to be correct. lic weould, however, state for the satisfaction of the noble marqouis amil the liouse. that, as the bountv otl filoe linen was not to he strildenily withdrawn, so) it was ititendedl to adlopt the same principle witl respect tothe boutt on coarse linen, and to rulnee t gradualluy. Thus tie evil apprehended t'roin rite aholitioll of thc bountIv on thesc two mnanitfactures lvouloi be guarded against as 'r ars possi!;!e. With regardo the encouiragement which the noble misarquis laoked forward to for this instifacture, lie tristed it wvoukl be rea- lized. Ile was confident that if the co:mitry continued to enjov the blessinus of' peace, that the diffiusion of capital would have thc moat beneficial cffict on ali brancles of industry in Ircla.tntl The iiiotioti was agrecd ts.-Adjourned. iIkE; )OF i,ORDs. TiHu1tXsi. MAiCn 4. LO(l,")Nf.lf, SLAVERY.