HC Deb 14 July 1862 vol 168 cc313-9

Order for Second Reading read.

MR. CHICHESTER FORTESCUE

said, the Bill proposed to settle, by way of compromise, a very old and bad debt, which was one of the very few remnants still existing of the difficulties and charges brought upon the Imperial Government by the transition, first from slavery to freedom, and then from protection to free trade. In the years 1831–2 a loan was made to Jamaica, commonly known in the West Indies as the Insurrection Loan. It was given to assist the colonists in bearing the enormous losses brought upon them by the insurrection of the slaves, immediately before their emancipation took place. During the first few years after emancipation a certain portion of the debt was paid; but when, in 1846, another blow to the prosperity of Jamaica was struck by the Act which equalized the sugar duties, the effect was to reduce the colony for many years afterwards to a state of practical insolvency; and from the year 1847 it was found impossible to enforce the payment of the debt. In 1854 the financial state of Jamaica had grown so hopeless that the Imperial Government was compelled to take the matter seriously in hand, and, in return for certain reforms and certain financial powers surrendered by the Colonial Assembly, the Home Government in 1855 guaranteed £500,000 of the debt. Soon afterwards the Legislative Assembly of the colony addressed a memorial to the Inperial Government, praying for an entire remission of the debt on account of the insurrection loan, and Sir Henry Barkly, a man of the highest possible authority, then governor, strongly supported the prayer, pointing out the exceptional nature of the loan, the great difficulty of enforcing payment in the circumstances of the colony, and the danger that would attend any such attempt. With regard to that representation, the Colonial Office, at the head of which Lord Taunton then was, felt there was one difficulty among others, and it was this,—the Assembly refused to vote any salary for their Governor, and that salary had been thrown on the Votes of Parliament. Therefore it was thought that it would be going too far to remit this debt, without providing that the Votes of Parliament should be releived from the Governor's salary; and the indulgent plan embodied in the present Bill was suggested—namely, that the arrears of debt should be remitted, and the future amount of interest on the outstanding amount of the principal of the debt should be converted into a perpetual annuity of £6,400, to be at the disposal of the Governor of Jamaica, under the orders of the Government at home, for the service of the colony, and to be applied in the first instance to the payment of the Governor's salary. That suggestion was sent out for consideration to the Governor of Jamaica, who exceeded his instructions, and at once applied to the Assembly for an Act embodying the suggestion so made, which Act was sent home, and remained for some time under the consideration of the Government. The plan was felt to be one of a serious character, but the circumstances of the case were sufficient to convince the Government that it was a plan that might properly be carried out. It was thought necessary, however, to insist that the Jamaica Act should not be confirmed, and that the settlement of this old debt should be made in the first instance by Imperial and not by Colonial legislation, so that Parliament should have full opportunity of judging on the case. He trusted that the House would not refuse to give its sanction to the Bill. The particular loan had always been considered one of an exceptional character, and not likely to be drawn into a precedent. All the other West Indian loans, with scarcely an exception, were in the course of payment. Since the loan was granted there had been two cases in which Parliament had aided the in those cases the payments due were punctually made.

Motion made and Question proposed, "That the Bill be now read a second time."

MR. W. WILLIAMS

said, the proposition was the most extraordinary one ever submitted to Parliament. They were asked to remit a loan, amounting with interest to the sum of £249,500, which had been lent out of the public taxes of this country to the colony of Jamaica, upon condition of the colony paying a small amount of interest, all of which was to be spent upon colonial purposes. Some seven or eight years ago the colonial Legislature refused to pay £6,000 a year to the Governor, on the ground that they could get a Governor perfectly efficient for the duties of the office for £2,000 or £2,500 a year. The Colonial Office did not, however, like to withdraw all at once the Vote on the Estimates for the £3,500 which went towards the salary, and they proposed to continue it for three years longer; but at the end of that time the vote was renewed in spite of all remonstrances. He saw no reason whatever for making a gift of that large debt to the colony, which was quite as able to pay it as the people of this country, and he should move that the Bill be read a second time that day three months.

Amendment proposed, to leave out the word "now," and at the end of the Question to add the words "upon this day three months."

THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER

said, that his hon. Friend the Under Secretary for the Colonies had stated with great clearness the general character of the Bill. His hon. Friend did not conceal that the House was being called on to do an act of great liberality, such, indeed, as quite astonished the hon. Member for Lambeth. It might be possible for the House to extort the payment of the money by very strong measures from the island of Jamaica; but he thought that the process requisite to be resorted to for such purpose must be such as the House of Commons would not authorize the Government to adopt. The House could not look on the case of Jamaica without seeing how the colony had been affected by Imperial legislation. It had been affected by three great Acts—the abolition of slavery in 1834; the abolition of apprenticeship, which was a heavier blow to Jamaica, and was brought about almost entirely by agitation in England; and the equalization of the whole duties on foreign and colonial sugar. The effect of these was to place Jamaica in a very peculiar condition, establishing a claim for indulgence on the part of the Home Government. Yet he frankly owned that on the part of the Treasury he should have felt it his duty to stand out for arrangements more favourable to this country, if the officer in possession of the Government of Jamaica, from misapprehension of the instructions sent out, or from what cause he knew not, had not, when desired to report on the subject of the plan, made a proposal to the colonial Legislature instead, and authorized that Legislature to pass an Act founded on the supposition that the loan was about to be remitted. What actually happened was, that the representatives of the Crown in Jamaica had authorized the representatives of the people in the colony to pass an Act which involved the remission of the loan, as was proposed by the Bill under discussion. Under those circumstances, he thought, while he to a considerable extent sympathized with the views of his hon. Friend behind him, the best course the House of Commons could adopt was to assent with grace and good humour to an act which had been already accomplished; and to accept, without wry faces, the sort of qualified advantage to be found in the total and final disappearance from the annual estimates of the charge for the salary of the Governor of Jamaica.

SIR HENRY WILLOUGHBY

said, he considered the whole proceeding a most extraordinary one. No doubt the Governor was in a great hurry to get rid of the debt, and it was quite clear, so far as this country was concerned, that no less a sum than a quarter of a million was absolutely lost. It was true there was some kind of set-off proposed in the shape of an annuity of £6,400, but that was not to be paid into the Treasury of the United Kingdom, but to be spent for colonial purposes. He thought the Governor had acted very indiscreetly in jumping to a conclusion, and obtaining an authority to dispose of British money. But what had the Treasury been doing all the time? Why had they allowed the matter to slumber for thirty months? There could be no doubt that the Governor had acted under the authority of the Colonial Office in disposing of the annuity before the assent of the House was obtained. However distasteful the present proceeding might be, under all the circumstances of the case he doubted the policy of voting against the Bill. The circumstances, he thought, which rendered it necessary must be accepted as melancholy facts, but there was one good lesson to be learnt from the whole transaction, and that was, that they should never lend money to a colony.

MR. CAVE

said, that it was not his business to defend any Department of the Government, or to reconcile the differences between any two of them. No one could read the papers which had been laid upon the table without seeing that there had been a conflict of authority. Such would occur in the best-regulated families, but it was not usual to make it so public. With regard to the Bill itself, he hoped the hon. Member for Lambeth would not persevere in his opposition. The case with which it dealt was one of a very exceptional character. The wording of the original Act showed that while loans were granted to other colonies to repair the damage caused by earthquakes and hurricanes, this was to meet the expense of a servile insurrection. Colonists were often ready to charge their misfortunes upon the Imperial Government. He had never, however, heard them blamed for hurricanes; but the agitation in this country was certainly deemed in Jamaica the cause of this outbreak of slaves. The interest of the loan in question had been paid by the colony up to 1847, while the principal had also to some extent been diminished. Between the period at which the loan was granted, however, and the year he had just mentioned, a very important event had taken place so far as the West Indies were concerned; he alluded to the equalization of the duties on slave and free grown sugar—an act which spread consternation and alarm throughout our colonies in that quarter, and which rightly or wrongly the colonists stigmatized as a breach of faith. It was to be recollected, moreover, that a new generation had sprung up in Jamaica since 1832, when this loan was contracted. The old proprietors had been ruined almost to a man, and a new race now stood in their place. Of course, that was not an answer to the obligation to pay this debt; but it showed that the people had forgotten what the loan was contracted for, and it also showed that they never themselves reaped the slightest benefit from it. As the object of the loan was to assist the Government in putting down a servile in- surrection, it could not be expected that the emancipated slaves would willingly be taxed for the purpose of paying the interest, and the House would not be surprised to hear that in 1847 the affair was brought to a dead-lock. He thought the Governor of Jamaica had been placed in a most difficult situation, and had done the best he could under very embarrassing circumstances. Unless he had obtained the Act at the time, he probably would never have passed it through the House of Assembly. The present Bill did nothing more than carry out a contract which had been entered into between the Government of this country and the people of Jamaica; and since he was persuaded, that if it were thrown out, the embarrassment which had already taken place would be immensely increased, he hoped the hon. Member for Lambeth would not persist in his Amendment.

MR. HADFIELD

said, he should support that Amendment. It was hard to give up this claim upon Jamaica. That colony was in a prosperous condition; and if it were animated by a spark of gratitude, it would pay the money justly due to the mother country. The relations between England and her colonies deserved, and should receive, immediate consideration. We received from none of them any support, but paid a great portion of the expenses of their government; and, in return, they put a heavy tax—in some cases amounting to 25 per cent—on the import of our manufactures. There was no gratitude whatever on the part of any one of them towards this country. On the contrary, many of them would rebel on the first opportunity. He believed that if they had not conquered India, they would have had more facilities for trading with that country than we had now.

MR. SCULLY

said, he must protest against the doctrine that had been laid down that a proposal made by the Government of this country to the Government in the colonies constituted a binding contract on the people of this country. It seemed to him however, it would be more generous to wipe out the debt at once: as they could not get it, they had better give it up with a good grace. These enormous presents from the mother country to the colonies only gave rise to further demands, and he thought it would be better that the colonies should govern themselves.

SIR MINTO FARQUHAR

said, that nothing could be more unjust than the sweeping condemnation which had been passed upon our colonies. Did not Canada on the Trent question promptly display her loyalty to the mother country? India, too, had recently sent several thousands of pounds towards the relief fund for the distress in Lancashire. That loan of £200,000 was made by the Government to Jamaica before the emancipation of the slaves in our colonies, and in consequence of an insurrection in Jamaica. It was made at the request of the Governor of that colony. It was not true that Jamaica was wonderfully prosperous. Before negro emancipation, it exported 90,000 tons of sugar to this country, whereas now it sent not a third of that amount. He was astonished that this Bill had not been introduced long ago.

MR. ALDERMAN SIDNEY

said, he also supported the Bill. The debt had been legally contracted and was justly due to this country, but it was irrecoverable; at least, it would be most distasteful to the House and the country to enforce it, and therefore he would forego it.

MR. SCULLY

said, he had not heard any attack made upon the loyalty of the colonies.

Question, "That the word 'now' stand part of the Question," put, and agreed to.

Main Question put, and agreed to.

Bill read 2°, and committed for To-morrow.