which Parliament and the country have made for the abolition of the slave-trade and slavery, with the earnest hope that their exertions and example might lead to a mitigation and final extinction of those evils in other countries, this House is not prepared (especially with the present prospects of the supply of sugar from the British possessions) to adopt the measure proposed by her majesty's Government for the reduction of the duty on foreign sugars."

Lord John Russell said, that in the event of the House not going into committee on the Sugar-duties, and viscount Sandon's resolution being put from the chair, he should move another resolution, the terms of which he stated on the following evening:

"That it is the opinion of this House that it is practicable to supply the present inadequacy of the revenue to meet the expenditure of the country, by a judicious alteration of protective and differential duties, without any material increase of the public burdens: that such course will, at the same time, promote the interests of trade and afford relief to the industrious classes, and is best calculated to provide for the maintenance of the public faith and the general welfare of the people."

A third notice was given by Mr. O'Connell, which was to the effect, that any diminution of the duty on foreign sugar should be strictly limited to that which was the produce of free labour, and not extend in any way to the produce of slavelabour.

Before the House went into committee on the 7th of May, lord John Russell announced the rate of duties which he intended to propose on Corn, according to his VOL. LXXXIII.

former notice, viz.: on wheat, a duty of 8s. per quarter; on rye, of 5s. ; on barley, of 4s. 6d.; and on oats, of 3s. 6d.

The debate on the Sugar question was preceded by the presentation of a number of important petitions on both sides. Against the government plan were those of the Shipowner's Society, the Chamber of Commerce at Glasgow, the merchants of Liverpool, the Colonial Society, the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society (the name of Thomas Clarkson being the first appended to this petition), various West India associations, and divers bodies of planters, merchants, and others. In favour of the Budget, the petitioners were the Brazil merchants of Liverpool, the American Chamber of Commerce at Liverpool, the merchants and manufacturers of Kendal, the sugar-refining trade of London, several corporations, and other parties.

The debate was commenced by Lord John Russell taking the formal motion for going into committee out of Mr. Baring's hands, and availing himself of the opportunity for preoccupying the ground and anticipating the arguments of viscount Sandon and his friends. The speech of lord John Russell, whatever might be the merits of the policy which it advocated, is certainly entitled to praise, as able, comprehensive, and elaborate, in no ordinary degree. This circumstance will justify us, after we have given a summary of its leading topics and arguments, in passing over with very brief notice, many of the speeches which were afterwards delivered on the same side; for as the debate on this question was protracted to the unprecedented duration of eight nights, it would [H]

be impossible, within the limits of this work, to present even an epitome of the speeches individually, without trenching upon the space demanded by other matters of great public moment. The speech of lord John Russell may, however, be taken as a very good exposition of the policy and principles of the Government and its supporters. He said, that if this had been merely a financial question, he should have left it to the superior knowledge and perspicuity of the Chancellor of the Exchequer; but he regarded it as constituting, by the variety and magnitude of its relations, a great national subject. The Government were well aware, even from the beginning of this year, that the finance of the country was matter of great difficulty, and would require great attention. Their resolution to consider the Corn-laws was formed before the 11th of March, when the notice was given that the colonial duties would be reviewed. On that occasion he had stated, that it was the intention of the Government to embrace the whole subject of Import-duties; and when he now added, that he had long ago communicated with the Governorgeneral of Canada upon the Timber question, he trusted there would be an end to that story, circulated in hostility to the Government and to its character, that the present Budget was a sudden contrivance and resource for the extrication of the Ministry. He spoke now in behalf of no colonial club, no powerful individual interest, but on behalf of a body often helpless on these occasions-the great body of her majesty's subjects. Many foreign emergencies had arisen in the Mediterranean, in China, in Canada; domestic in

surrections had broken out, and large additions of force became necessary for the safety of the empire. These additions had been supported by majorities of the House; and the means thus bestowed had been successfully employed by the Government. The cost of these efforts had now to be provided for; and the Government had to meet a deficiency of 2,400,000l. It was open to the House to have objected to the expenditure at the time; but now to oppose the going into Committee of Ways and Means, without suggesting any other plan as preferable to that of the Government, was a course unworthy of a great party. The Ministry had considered the expediency of meeting the emergency by a loan, but they had rejected that expedient as unwise, where the deficiency was permanent: they had considered also the resource of increasing the direct taxes; but they had preferred, on the other hand, the plan of altering the Import-duties, as now proposed, for the purpose of relieving instead of oppressing the people. Then being prepared to deal with Sugar and Timber as questions of revenue, they would not have been justified in excluding the other great question-that of Corn - especially with their opinions on the merits of that question, and their belief that, sooner or later, it must be made the means of an extensive change in the commercial situation of this country. The duties he meant to propose upon Corn, added to the charge of freight from foreign countries, would constitute a sufficient protection, keeping the price of Wheat, in all probability, at from 50s. to 60s. a quarter. With respect to Sugar, he took the true

principle to be protection, not prohibition. He was not now considering whether all foreign sugar ought to be prohibited-that was a separate question-but only whether the present proposal did or did not give a sufficient protection, where protection and not prohibition was the object. He then entered into some details, for the purpose of showing that West Indian interests would be effectually protected under the proposals of the Budget, and that freedom in the commercial intercourse of nations had a tendency to improve and to cheapen the productions of each. Thus, by the admission of foreign sugars, the industry of the West Indies would be stimulated to better means of production, and the English labourer would obtain his sugar on more reasonable terms. The great measure of slave-emancipation, purchased by this country at the cost of twenty millions sterling, had been eminently successful and the condition of the negroes was not only promising but prosperous. This fact he proved by various statistical details. There was no reason to suppose that the progress of the West Indian negroes would now be checked by the importation of foreign sugars; and having given them justice and freedom, the government would not be justified in further forcing West Indian culti vation for their sakes, to the injury of the English labourer, especially when the manufacturing interests at home were enduring the severest distress. He asked the House, therefore, not to let their good-will to the West Indian negroes on erate to the disadvantage of the sufferers at Bolton and Manchester, who, it was but too probable, would be reduced in great

numbers to parish relief before the end of the session. The working people had now for some time been improving in their habits, preferring tea and coffee to ardent spirits: it was most desirable to encourage that tendency, and not to drive them back again to deleterious liquors. It was said, that sugar would soon be cheapened by an increased production in the East Indies. But this, if the present scale of duties were maintained, would only be a transfer of monopoly from the West to the East. He now came to viscount Sandon's proposed resolution, which did not altogether prohibit slavegrown sugar, but mixed trade and humanity together, mainly on the ground that there was a good prospect of supply from the colonies. That was intelligible enough as a great party-move; but it by no means excluded the movers themselves from letting in slave-grown sugar in some future state of things. The resolution looked as if it were full of humanity, but it left a corner for future free-trade. But if the House were resolved against taking slave-grown sugar, what would it say as to the admission of other articles of slave-labour? Would they wholly prohibit the slave-grown coffee, of which so large a quantity was now consumed by British subjects? Dia the man who would be horrified at drinking a cup of slave-grown coffee, redeem the potation and relieve his conscience by putting in a lump of free-labour sugar? But there was a still stronger case; the West India planters themselves were now consuming slave-grown sugar. (Viscount Sandon intimated that he would gladly stop such a consumption.) Lord John Russell

proceeded to contend, that this apparently philanthropic resolution was a mere party motion, to embarrass the Government by uniting various interests against them. Yet who, after all, had been the persons most active in the great cause of humanity? It was the Whig Government of 1806 which put an end to the Slave-trade. It was the Whig government of Earl Grey that abolished the flogging of females, and granted 20,000,000l. of money for the abolition of slavery. And now a party, who never did anything for any of these objects, came forward with an affectation of humanity, for which their past conduct did not entitle them to take credit. It had been proposed to reduce the duty on Colonial Sugar. To such a reduction, certainly, the Government ought to look, when the revenue should be able to afford it, but that period had not yet arrived. If the Government measure were adopted, England might, as a great customer of Brazil, have an influence in the mitigation of her slavery; but not so, if Brazil should find a stubborn resolve in the British Legislature to exclude her produce. She would then continue her slave-labour, and sell her produce to other countries. Not only as to Brazil, but as to other nations, the present crisis was an important one. The example which they were now about to give would be of the most extensive influence. "If they saw that this great commercial country, this free country, had come to an opinion, that restriction and prohibition were the best maxims of commercial policy, they would quote that example for themselves. Their merchants would quote it too, and restriction and prohibition would

become the rule of intercourse of European nations. (Loud cheers and counter cheers.) Was that for the advantage of this country, or was it for the advantage of the world? He said, that for the former it certainly was not: for as a great commercial and manufacturing nation, we ought to look to the extension and diffusion of British Manufactures. He said also, that for the advantage of the world it certainly was not: because his belief was, that the more there was a free and unrestricted intercourse-the more the nations of the world were mingled together by those ties of peaceful commerce, the more this country would be carrying, with her bales of goods and cases of hardware, the knowledge of civilization and Christianity of a nation that stood in the front for all those qualities (loud cheers); and the House must observe, that though this nation stood in so proud and eminent a position, yet a pernicious example set by her in that respect, which might be of some disadvantage to others, must finally be of the utmost disadvantage to herself. She did not stand like Rome, the conqueror of the world

"But, Rome, 'tis thine alone with awful

her in all the arts of peace, and in all her productions. Let her give, then, to those nations but a right example, and she would still be, not only even, but the foremost. But let her take a contrary course, and establish restriction and prohibition-let her say to other nations, that her merchants of the West Indies and East Indies, the timber-merchants of North America, and the landowners of her own soil, had a present monopoly, that that was her standard, and under that standard she meant to march on, and by it to abide; she would then set an evil example, that before long would become confirmed, and when she wished to retrace her steps, she would find the lesson she had taught too deeply implanted ever to be eradicated. Having those views of the state of the country, and of the other countries of the globe in communion with it, he and his colleagues had, as it was their bounden duty to do, given their advice to the sovereign; the result of that advice he had now produced before the House, and with them it rested to come to a decision on the subject. If they adopted the plan which the Government had proposed, he looked forward with confidence to an era of prosperity. If, however, they did not adopt it, on that House would be the responsibility of rejecting the measure, while her majesty's Ministers would have discharged the duty that was incumbent on them, that of not having concealed their opinion, and having done their best for the service of the country." The noble lord then moved, that the Speaker leave the chair, and resumed his seat amidst long-continued cheers.

Viscount Sandon then rose, to propose the resolution of which he

He

had given notice. He disclaimed the desire imputed to him, of excluding all trade in all slave-produced articles; his objection was, to such a direct encouragement and powerful stimulus to the slave-trade as this measure would afford. showed, from various returns, that the supply of sugar was now becoming so plentiful, as to deprive the Government of the excuse, that their measure was necessary for the relief of the labouring classes at home. That measure was held out as a boon to the foreign slaveowners, and to the extent of that boon it was a bounty upon the slave-trade. If this were a mere mercantile question, he would not have interfered. As a mere protection, the existing duty might probably be too high, but the question was a moral one, involving the success of the great experiment of negro-emancipation, for which the nation had lately paid so large a price. The Government, moreover, had miscalculated their details; their measure would not be found adequate to supply the required revenue. This he proved by a reference to various documentary statements, and referred to similar sources to show the great increase in our exports which had recently taken place to those colonies in which free-labour had been established. The value of the trade of Brazil and Cuba, as compared with that of the West and East Indies, was inconsiderable. Commercially, therefore, the manufacturers would be losers by sacrificing the colonial markets to those of the slave-owning states. He defended the colonists against the imputation, that they were wanting in humanity, and concluded by moving the resolution which has been before stated.