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Canada is moving ominously . The appointment of Mr . Roebuck as agent in England , and the split in the Liberal party upon the secularization of the Protestant clergy reserves ,. look very much like signs of growing hostility to the Imperial Government . Our news columns contain an account of the dreadful havoc which the cholera has made in Grand Canary . The picture is graphically sketched by Vice-Consul Hou ^ hton : the state of the suburb of San Jose , and of the town generally , is one of those horrors which happily we are seldom called upon to
chronicle . From the extremity of this case , almost created by ignorance and neglect , our own Ministers ought to learn the wicked folly of thwarting their own Board of Health : in sanitary morals Grand Canary ought to be the Helot to Westminster . The disclosure of the gross irregularities at the Northwoods Lunatic Asylum , is a memorandum of the slow progress made in perfecting the reform of the Lunacy law . It is thirty-five years since the House of Commons took up the inquisition into Lunatic Asylums ; Commissioners have since been appointed to watch them ; and yet we find at this
day an Asylum in which a lady has been detained for thirteen years , without a proper warrant ; in which another lady has been detained on the single certificate of her own husband ; in which 105 persons are detained without the proper legal forms ; and in which the proprietor has rendered himself liable to 280 prosecutions for misdemeanour But he is not prosecuted ; on the contrary , the same magistrates that receive the report of these irregularities , renew his licence ; in conjunction , however , with two other gentlemen , who are to be responsible for the management . But surely the conclusion is the reverse of satisfactory .
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The Saturday sittings began last week at twelve o'clock . Two bills of some importance were finally disposed of . The Woods and Forests , &c , Bill passed , ¦ with an interchange of compliments between Lord Duncan , who highly approved of the bill , and Lord John Russell , who Baid Lord Duncan ' s opinion was 41 valuable , " as he had been at the head of a committee of inquiry into the subject . The Civil Bills , &c , ( Ireland ) Bill excited considerable opposition from the Liberal Irish Members to the 73 rd —the notice to quit— clause . Lord John Russell was in vain asked to dispense with it ; while Tory Irish Members asserted that Irish landlords would not " take advantage" of it . Mr . Reynolds denounced the Irish landlords as the " most cruel , heartless , and persecuting body of men that ever existed in any part of the globe . "
In reply to a question Irom Mr . Sharman Crawford , Lord John Russell distinctly stated that the * extreme views" of a certain party [ the tenant-right pirty ] , mul the " perseverance" with which they att'lnptcd 10 enforce them , ' had prevented the application of remedial measures" to the diseased state ot the law of landlord and tenant . Sir Ciiaklks Buhkki . i , < 1 ( fended the Irish landlords . Alter the bill was read a third time , the Opposition rose again upon the question that the bill do now puss . Mr . Hkynoi . us , in reply to Sir Charles Burrell , repeated his attack with yreut noverity . The incriminated , unfortunates were warmly vindicated by Lord Naak . Ultimately the bill puHstd by 61 to 6 ; und the House iid ] M . riicd until Monday .
Vaiious mutttrs , which will be found treated of below , having been disposed of , on Monday li ^ ht , the House , of Commons went into Committee of Supply . The discussion in the Committee arose upon four important items ; und tlie declarations of Mr . ilfiwew , on the pan of the ( jovernmeiif , who Winced under the Fmaiu i « l Reform oppoHition , are , in a limited ft'iist . , Hutisfn < tory hignH . The first of these votes was one of £ 20 , 000 for New Zealand ; the second £ f > 0 <) 0 for the Falkland Islands ; the third of £ 15 ,, 000 lot Hong- Kong ; uml the fourth of £ 60 , 000 to defray expenses incurred in enforcing the suppression of the slave trade .
Mr . Coni > Ksr , in opposing the New Zealand vote , Kru <] he c ul'l not niHlenstand why the people : of England should be called on to pay nil these charges for people living at the antipodes , who , in many retpects , were in u better condition than people hero : — " Tlieie was , first , for the flftlarr of the governor , £ 2500 ; then , for the nalary of ¦ lieutenant-governor , £ 800- Not coutent with puyinjr the governor , thin £ 1000 ; and nil thin was or 4 ?' 0 () 0 « n » i « ranta . Thin £ 600 ; chaplains und it as well * h their church , their governors . There e , to be uupimited . Then , ( employment of natives , » ll mxm ° f £ 10 . 036 wan c country . Why Hhould they | ? Could not the emigrant "
pay for these , if witoted ? And what was meant by employing natives ? It seemed t * him that to charge the people of this coBbtry with these items was on principle most indefensible And unjust . " He protested Against the payment of the money . / $ fr . William ! tooved that the vot * be reduced by £ e 00 ; but Mr . Hume outstripped his pupil , and proposed to reduce the vote by £ 10 , 935 . Mr . Plumptre said that it was questionable whether " there was any more beautiful display of Christianity in this country than in New Zealand . Mr . CoBDENput the case in a different light : —
" He objected to taking the vote under a pretext drawn from missionary labour . He objected also to cover the bloody misdeeds which had often occurred in remote districts , under the plea that a church or a chapel had been built . The Spanish and Portugese did the same ; they planted churches and crosses where they had slaughtered Peruvians and other natives , and the ministrations at their altars were carried on amidst the screams of the victims they were massacring . He objected to the question of the operation of tbe Christian faith through the Government in distant colonies being brought into
the discussion . It was no part of the duty of Government or Parliament to extend Christianity either by force of arms , or by paying bishops . " He designated the vote as an " export of so much of the taxes of this country , " which , looked upon as a commercial investment , would not yield 5 per cent . Lord John . Russell , in defending the vote , entered into an historical account of our relations with New Zealand , and said we had possessed ourselves of it , and now paid money for its Government , in order that it might be " brought into a state of civilization and Christianity" : —
" It appeared to him that , on the whole , they might go on paying for a short time the sums included in the vote ; and he thought that if they did so , they would ere long have the satisfaction of knowing that they had established , a flourishing state . { Hear , hear . )" When the House divided Mr Hume ' s amendment was rejected by 50 to 23 . Mr . Hawes defended the vote for the Falkland Islands on two grounds : first , that it was a naval station ; and secondly , that the amount of the vote was very much less than in former years . The Colonial-office , he said in a deprecating tone , are anxious to reduce expenditure as much as possible . The vote was agreed to .
The Hong-Kong vote provoked a more vigorous opposition , Mr . Francis Scott considering this vote as the most extravagant of all our colonial estimates . He described the settlement as a very bad place , filled with Chinese pirates , and not an elevated order of Europeans and Americans . The officers were extravagantly paid . The surveying department received £ 1231 " for surveying about 20 acres of tillage . " And , exclaimed Mr . Scott , " the island is so unhealthy that people will not live there ; if they attempt it , they die . " { Laughter . ) He proposed a reduction of £ 5000 on this vote . Mr . Hawes again rested hie defence of the vote upon the fact that the
expenditure was greatly reduced ! As nothing satisfactory could be got from Mr . Hawes , Mr . Hume pointedly appealed to Lord Palmkuston , who at once came to the assistance of his colleague . 'He told the House what they must have known well enough , how it was we got possession of -the island an a naval and military station for the protection of our Chinese trade . But he diplomatically admitted that , as a commerciul d 6 pot , Hong-Kong had answered to a great extent , though not perhaps at the rate which an earlier expectation had formed of it . But its importance to Knglanri wan " very great , " both in
maintaining our commercial and political relations with the Chinese . After some further discussion , especially with respect to the salary oi the Governor , u tlivinion took place , which r < suited in the defeat of Mr . Scott ' s motion for reduction , by 05 to 39 . Upon the vote for the expenses of putting down the slave trade , Lord Palmen-ton made a triumphant speech . All opposition -vanished . Even Mr . Hume was delighted" at the ; success of our effort * , though he did crumble n little at the squadron having been used at all . The strong opposition which last year threatened the existence of the Government , had entirely disappeared .
Lord Paemkiiston said that the measures for the suppression of the slave trade had been , during the pant year , curried out with " greater stringency , " und had been attended with ( he " happiest effects " and more " rapid success" than could have been expected . In fact , the trade might bo said to be ( Union t . extinguished on the coast of Africa north of the" lino , with the exception of the two points of Logon and Porto Novo . The people of the country
were deitiroue to direct their attention to more legitimate traffic . They were now applying thenmelve » to trade in palm oil , ground nuts , ivory , and other products ; uluo great progress had . been made in the growth of cotton . The efforts of the Jiiitinh had been actively and cordially bucked by the Portuguese authorities ; and it might be said that ut Luanda nml other stations the slave trade was so paralyzed that the Bluve deulers had suspended buuinesH or I etaken themselves to lens disgraceful moans of living . The Imaun of Muscat had afforded facilities which in
former years * fed Iktd withheld , and the result was that a great sWre trade carried on in his dominions had been very £ nttch repressed . On the coast of Africa , then » Tiary much had been done to accomplish the object "for which we had so long and so energetically laboured . With respect to Brazil , owing to the settlement of our differences with Buenos Ayres , the British cruizers had been enabled to conduct their operation s there more actively and more effectively : —
" Earnest communications , moreover , took place with the Government of Brazil ,, and the consequence was that the Brazilian Government , in September last , passed a n additional law for the purpose of suppressing the slave trade , which it declared to be piracy , and for the perpetration of which it enacted more stringent punishment and , altogether , Government had exerted that vigour ' and put forth that power in the suppression of the trade which , in his opinion , it ought long since to have exerted . { Hear . ) The consequence was , that in the ht months
course of the last eig , they had almost extinguished the slave-trade with Brazil , bo that the numbe r of slaves brought into Brazil in 1850 , was not half the number imported in former years ; and , taking the first quarter of the present year up to April , he believed that only a very few hundreds of slaves had been landed in Brazil , instead of the several thousands which had been landed there in former years . { Hear , hear . ) In . a word , the Government of Brazil had of late cooperated most efficiently with us towards accomplishing this great object . { Hear , hear . )"
A strong anti-slavery party had sprung up in Brazil ; slave labour was denounced as the bane of agriculture ; it was being discovered that f ree labour was cheaper ; and since the Government gunpowder factory worked by slaves had blown up , it was thought that free labour would be more secure . The severe losses sustained by individual slave dealers , had induced above 140 to withdraw their capital from the trade . " Thus then , in Africa and Brazil , the origin and destination of the slave trade , had that trade become almost extinguished . " After congratulations from all quarters , the vote was agreed to .
The clock shortly after struck twelve , and Mr . UnatrHART , who had been the victim of a motion for adjournment at that hour a short time since , determined to take his revenge , and moved that the chairman report progress . Colonel Sibthokp and Mr . Hume supported him , on the ground that it was improper to vote money after twelve . The House divided , and the motion was lost by 10 7 to 26 . Mr . Hume then made a similar motion ; and , under protest , Lord John Russell gave way . The House then resumed , and shortly after adjourned , at a quarter-past one o ' clock .
Protection again raised its head in the House of Commons on Tuesday , only to be again signally defeated . ' Lord Naas moved that " this House will on a fature day resolve itself into a Committee to take into consideration the state of the milling interest in Ireland . " He declared that , unless steps were taken to avert it , the ruin of Irish agriculture was inevitable : — " Last year Ireland imported no less than 2 , 200 , 000 quarters of wheat and 1 , 075 , 000 cwt . of flour . He
eatimated the entire loss , compared with the state of the corn trade a few years ago , when Ireland exported considerably , would be equal in the whole to £ 2 , 600 , 000 , or one sixth of the entire valuation of the country . He found that the value of 349 mill 8 in Ireland represented a aum of £ 1 , 487 , 310 , running 1876 pairs of stones . Out of 321 mills he found that only 39 were working full time , 81 half time , and 40 one-third time . They employed in working the machinery above 5775 men when on full tim «? , but at present only 2787 men , or not quite half . "
The returns showed that upon the employment of the corn mills 22 , 612 families depended for their support . And he asserted that the practical effect of the present system was , that while the rich saved about Is . per c * t ., the poor pay an advance of about le . lOd . per cwt . He contended that the distress among the milling interest was general ; and he pointed out that the importation of French flour had increased 54 per cent , in the last two years . The French were not allowed to export French corn , but they had the privilege of grinding foreign corn in bond and exporting it ; and there was nothing to prevent them from grinding the greater port of the wheat we imported from the Mediterranean , ttnJ sending us the fine flour : —
" The real reason why the French beat u » wa « , that they had labour cheaper , anduntaxed ; that they eiijdyrd protective laws ; and that the French Government ^ inntead of throwing every obstacle in the way of their manufacturer , had from time to time token his oa *> e into consideration , and hud done everything they possibly could to incrense and foster the production of French flour . " Agricnlturnl distress had been admitted in the
speech from the Throne , he had shown that nn interest second to none in importance , was even l * i a etill more depressed condition . He did not wish to foeter any clans ; but he thought that when wheat [ was grown abroad and came into our market , it whould bo subjected to the uimie burdens aa wheat grown on our soil . Jn the same way with the millers , they onl y desired to protect the home millers against an unfair competition with foreigners .
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PA 11 LIAMENT OF THE WEEK
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670 © ft * & * £ & *?? [ Saturday , . _ . . . . .. . - i ^ - ¦ ¦ -... ... . i y ~ y ' -Tn ¦ !
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), July 19, 1851, page 670, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1892/page/2/
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