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    num , in 1833 , to 12 , 000 , OOOZ , per annum in 1851 . The future looked even more gloomy . The war in China , threatened a loss to the revenue ; the annexation of Pegue an increased expenditure . Mr . Bright then characterised Sir Charles Wood ' s plan as a mixture of two ingredients : one wholesome , the other poisonous ; but there were two drops of the poisonous to one of the wholesome . He happily satirised the proposed " self-immolation" of the Directors , and spoke with earnest eloquence to the close .

    " This was not a question for one man more than another . It was a great question in which they all had an equal and permanent interest —( Cheers )—and it . was a question in which their children had , it might be , a very much deeper interest than they . If anything went wrong in India , if their treatment of the people should find them some morning in insurrection , let them consider what it would be to reconquer that country , or to be driven out of it . He did not wish to be a party to bringing about such a state of things as that , a state of things which should write such a narrative in the history of our relations with that empire . His object was not to break down the covenanted service : his objection was to the double govern-¦ aw*— ^ ^^ ~—^ " ^ ^^ ^» « ™— ~^ ~^ j — ¦ — — ^^_ f *? — ^^ ^^^^

    ^^ ment , which was a mockery and a delusion practised on the people . He thought it a mockery and a most unstatesmanlike course that the right honourable gentleman had pursued ; and in it , he presumed , he had been backed by the noble lord the member for the city of London . He only wished some of the younger blood of the Cabinet might have had their way —( Cheers)—for nothing should ever induce him to believe , after the evidence that had been before the public , that this was a measure which had the united approbation of the Cabinet . It was impossible that thirteen sensible gentlemen who sat in the Cabinet should approve a measure of this nature . He was very anxious , if they were to legislate on this matter , that they should legisanxious there should time when

    late aright . He was come a it might be said that , whatever our crime in conquering that country , we governed it as wisely as possible , and left no record and no name upon it that did not do us honour . Fte recollected the noble lord the member for Tiverton , in one of the best speeches ever heard in that house , telling of the security that Englishmen enjoyed all over the world , finishing his peroration with the words ' Civis Momanus sum . ' Let them , then , be Romans , but not merely in personal liberties and securities . Home was a great conqueror , but when she conquered she governed . ( Cheers . ) She left on those she subjugated not merely the marks of her power , but also the traces * of her civilization . Why was it not so in India ? There never was a more docile peopleand we never had a better opportunity in our

    , power . If we could but abandon the policy of aggression and annexation , and confine ourselves to the territories we now possessed , we should be better off , and might be well contented . Wo had now ton times the tovritovioa o £ France , five times the population of the United Kingdom ; surely that was enoug h for tho most gluttonous lover of glory and supremacy . Treat the people kindly , educate them gradually , and we should find that the distinctions of caste would break down , that they would look upon us as friends rather than as conquerors . Moreover , if we wished , as we all did , that Christianity should pervade that country , we might be assured that it would come infinitely sooner for our setting a high and a generous and a Christian example to thom , than it would come from any course of policy we could pursue .

    Loud cheering' hurst forth as Mr . Bright resumed his sent . It was continued for sometime . The debute was then adjourned .

    SLAVEliY IN CUBA . The House of Lords ^ ave bad another instructive conversation on the slave W *| fcjn Cuba . The Earl of Carlisle introduced the su ^ P ^ 'tir ^ c the details of the case with clearness . He first " r ^^ d y referred to his being a follower of Lord Brougham , on this question ; not for tho first time , having also " shared in his triumph for the county of York" ( a triumph connected with the British Abolition of Slavery ) , and then presented a petition from tho ladies of Kingston ( Jamaica ) ,

    deploring tho slave trade in Cuba , hoping thut England will enforce the treaties for its suppression made with Spain , and , additionally , lamenting tho general distress of Jamaica , mid attributing it in part to our recent commercial policy , which had encouraged slave-grown productions . Lord Carlisle admitted his own complicity in that policy , and to tho present day ho felt " great doubt whether , in so doing , ho acted right or wrong . " Hut there was now no possibility of that policy being reversed . The petition then stated the lato transactions in Culm , in violation of the treaties

    between Spain and England . These statements were well founded . So far bnck as 1817 , Spain solemnly stipulated with England to suppress tho sluve-trado on tho part of Spanish subjects ; and in consideration of thut treaty Spain received from thin country the hiiui of 400 , 000 ^ . Hut its provisions Imvo been " systematically , wilfully , and all but cont inuously violated . " " Ho feared that in tho long sorios <> i' cnptuinn-gmwrul and governors of Cuba , wry few indeed could bo named who had not received » bribe , or hush-monoy , to uho tho plainest terms , forovory dingle blavo landed upon tho island of Cuba General Concha , and another govoriior-goneral , miirht hi ) quoted aa honourable exceptions . Tho . r lordahiiDB miirht judgo of tho real stato of Unrigs wlion honour Attached to persons merely because tluiy had refused to ontor into partnership with thoso whom ho must look upon

    as the worst malefactors of our species , and because they had not derived unlawful gains for fostering a habit which , in his conscience , he believed had been the cause of more wrong and suffering than any other curse that ever afflicted the globe , and which , even in itself , was sufficient to prove the necessity of a future state of retribution to redress tho wrongs perpetrated with so much impunity in this world . When he mentioned the long series of captains-general , who had-so grossly-violated the engagements of Spain with this country , it was still more painful to him to state that he feared the suspicion did not stop with them , but ascended still higher . True ifc was , that no sooner did

    one captain-general of Cuba seem to show a disposition to respect the faith of the treaty , and to manifest some degree of humanity and honour , than very shortly , for some reason or other , he was sure to be removed in order to give place to a less scrupulous and more accommodating functionary in his stead . Under the present captain-general ( General Canedo ) the slave-trade was being carried on with unexampled vigour and audacity upon the coast of the unhappy island of Cuba , which he could state from his own experience God had fitted to be a paradise , but which ever since the first white man put his foot upon it had been turned into a hell . "

    There had been lately a promise that the " cmancipados" entitled to freedom in 182 S and 1835 , would be released when their te rm of service expired ; but considering that in Cuba the field labouring population died off every ten years " , it was not likely that many of those included in the promised release would he able to claim it . But there was a continuous importation of fresh negroes . In the months of November and February last five thousand slaves were known to have been landed ; and , without doubt , many more were landed in unsuspected parts of the island . In * the late case of 1100 slaves landed , 300 had been released , but were they effectually rescued ? Those who knew well doubted it , for neither the captain nor crew had been arrested , and the negotiation was a secret compromise between the slave dealers and the government . By the

    law of Cuba no slave could be followed into the interior , when once in the possession , of the proprietor , against whom no proceedings could be instituted . One remedy for this would be the remission of slaves , not to slave ports , nor for trial before commissions at Havana , but to a free port , where a trial before a mixed commission should take place . Having additionally instanced the 600 slaves who had been landed in the open day at Matanzas , Lord Carlisle said that , amid all those disgraceful and revolting proceedings , it was refreshing and satisfactory to find how efficiently our galltmt naval service vrns vliscUarging its duty in those seas ; and in proof , told a good story of a slave chace . The Vestal , an English cruiser , was refitting in the harbour of the Havana ; and the Venus , a finely-built slaver , took advantage of this , and slipped out to sea .

    " At daybreak sh « was missed , bufc m less than three minutes after Captain Hamilton heard of the circumstance , the Vestal was on her way out of the harbour under a crowd of canvass . Tliero were eleven foreign ships of war at that time in the Havana , and the Americans , like good kinsmen , gave the Vestal a loud cheer as she departed . When the Vestal gol out to sea there were several distant specks to bo seen , but which of them was the Venus ? She was detected by tho- superior whiteness of her new sail . Sho was pursued , and gained upon . In tho course of the night another tornado came on , during which the Venus was altogether lost sight of . That was tho crisis . Which wny would she go ? Upon consultation it was conjectured

    that she would make for tho JJahama shoals , that being ii dangerous navigation for larger vessels . At sunrise it turned out that the conjecture was correct , and tho Venus again appeared . Hut it was nn extremely dangerous pasdnge , and the Vestal had brought no pilot . Tho breakers were rolling , and rt was found impossible to pursue ( ho Venus further . Captain Hamilton then determined ho would try the effect of a long gun with an enormous charge of powder . It pitched into the Venus , down went her colours , and she gave in . There were two other slave schooners amongst tho breakers , but tho Vestal was uniiblo to follow them for want of water . Captain Hamilton instantly took his measures . He went on board the

    Venus , held bis revolver within tlireo inches of the captain ' s head , made liira steer idler the other schooners , rind successively captured them both . On board each vossol waa found a largo store of swords , muskets , tho usual provision of fliavo-deeks and slave-irons , together with Hovoml letters implicating many persona , find other vessels us well as their own , and , amongst others , a large black brif , which wan captured a few days afterwards . When tho ' Vestal returned into the harbour at Havana with her three prizes , nn American said , ' It made my Iieart run over < o see tho old country corno out ho proud . ' jj () W ; jjo wished their lordships to consider thin , if these things wore dono in the very harbour of the Havana , in tho heart of I ho capital , before tho windows of the capfnin-• roneral , what might not bo taking- place along tho wild iind unfrequented eoaut of an island nearly an largo as

    England '<" Lord Carlisle then cmno to the question -What was to bo dono ? " As for causes of war , the Spanish Government had given them twenty timeo over , and many of tho causes which had led this country into long and ruinous contests woro , in comparison , absolutely paltry and insignificant . [ Jut ho did not wish to convoy an opinion that this country wuh bound to go to war with Hpain , even for tho suppression of the slave trade . Ho know tho apathy which provuilod among a largo portion of tho inhabitant of this

    country on all such external topics , and many of those who felt most zealously and ardently on the subject would not be foremost to our having recourse to such a violent mode of proceeding . But if Spain did not amend her ways , —if she alone , ofalmosfc all the nations of the earth , persisted in this nefarious traffic , sho ought to bo taught that , if her possessions in Cuba should ever be endangered , she must at least be prepared to find this country neutral in the conflict . He did not wish to blame the Spaniards more

    than any other nation . On the contrary , ho was not sure whether the citizens of the United States , considering the lio-hts which they possessed , and their own birthright of freedom , had not , in their abominable fugitive slave law , committed a greater trespass against the human conscience . The difference between the two cases , however , so far as we were concerned , was this- —that with Spain we had treaties , the enforcement of which we had a right to demand , whilst with tho United States we had no such treaties . "

    Urging the continued exertions of onr navy m repressing the trafiic , Lord Carlisle concluded his speech , amid loud cheers , by presenting- the Jamaica petition . Lord Claiiendox admitted the perfect accuracy of the melancholy and appalling facts related : the treaties alluded to had been constantly and feloniously violated . As to the practice of taking- captured slavers into Havana , the cruisers were obliged to take them either

    to Havana or Sierra Leone . It was but fair to the present Captain-General , to state that not alone had lie promised activity , but , lately , he had acted with energy , having gone upon certain estates , —a most unusual proceeding , —and released 100 slaves . The Spanish Government , also , had lately given additional powers to the Captain-General , and had promised a settlement of the affair of the emancipado 3 . But we must look mainly to our own exertions , for the effectual check to

    this abominable traffic . The Bishop of Oxford , referring to the introduction of slave-grown sugar , said the question of Free-trade should have been kept out ; of the quotion of the slave trade , as much as out of an inquiry into the right of sharing in the result of robbery . After some remarks from Lord Bbououa ^ i and Lord Wharncxiffe , the conversation dropped .

    ALTERATION OF OATHS . Lord Lyndhtjkst explained the motives and object of his new bill on this subject . The object is simply to strike out of the oaths required as qualifications for a seat in Parliament , or for holding certain offices , such parts of the oaths as are idle , inoperative , or absurd . There are three oaths . The oath of allegiance , simple , clear , and comprehensive , he would not alter that oath . The oath of supremacy originated in the reign of Elizabeth , and was altered to its present shape in the reign of William III . It was directed solely against Roman Catholics , for it protested against tho doctrine

    that the Pope could release subjects from allegiancea doctrine never held by any Protestant ; and its second clause , stating that the Pope- had now power in the realm , was likewise directed exclusively against Roman Catholics . But we had taken the extraordinary course of abrogating this oath as regards Roman Catholics , for whom alone it was intended , and retaining it for Protestants , to whom it was never intended to be applied . It should therefore be abolished entirely ; and for another reason . When the oath was first fr : mie < l , the Roman Catholic religion was not tolerated ; masses , other services , and all

    communication with the Pope , were rigidly forbidden ; then it might be said that the I ' ope had no authority in this country ; but now , when the Roman Catholic religion was tolerated , when we knew that the Pope ' s authority was blended with that religion , when we knew that tho Pope—through the disposal or deprivation of religious rites—enforced a spiritual authority of the most stringent kind , the declaration in the oath was untrue , and could only bo used with a mental reservation that . such authority could not he enforced in a court of justice ; . The oath was therefore inapplicable , idle , inoperative . If lu : might make such an allusion , he would

    « i > y— - " Nee Deus infcrsil , nisi Dignus viudici nodus Incident . " Tho third oath the oath of abjuration -was solely applied to the claims of the 1 ' rctonder . It abjured nil allegiance or obedience to him . It Iind been frequently altered , —on the accession of Qikvii Anne , on the union with Scotland , on the accession of George I ., and on the death of t he old Pretender . It wm reasonable , then , Mint when Mi <) descendants of tho Pretender censed to exist , the oath should again be varied to adapt itself to tho state of the facts . At ; present it was an idle mockery , nn obvious absurdity .

    " If any person were to go into n grave assembly and Hay , ' I rlo sincerely , and in my conscience before God and tho world , declare that nono of tho descendants of tho lato I ' rolondor ( there being no such persons in oxistonoo , and thoro boing- no probability of such persons ovor coming into existence ) has any right or tit lo to the Crown of Groat Itritaiu , and that I abjuro all allogiiuic . o to Ummu—and X h * ato thio in tho truo mid ordinary bohho of tho word with-

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    June 4 , 1853 . ] THELEADER . 531

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), June 4, 1853, page 531, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1989/page/3/