Lords Sitting of 23 January 1838

MINUTES.
Bill. Read a third time:—Duchess of Kent's Annuity.—Read a first time:—Bishopric of Sodor and Man continuation.
Petitions presented. By Lord BROUGHAM, from Broughton, for the termination of the Slave Apprenticeship system.

NEGRO EMANCIPATION.
Lord Broughampresented a petition agreed to at a most numerous and respectable meeting of the inhabitants of Birmingham, presided over by the High Bailiff, and signed by the Chairman. The petition stated, that great evils had arisen from the non-performance on the part of the Colonial Legislatures of the conditions imposed upon them by the Act granting to them compensation in respect of the apprenticeship and emancipation of the negro slaves, and it complained of great neglect on the part of those who had already received the sum of eighteen and a half millions; and who were in the course of receiving the residue of the twenty millions; and the petition prayed that immediate measures would be taken to compel those persons to perform their part of the contract, and to carry into complete effect the understanding upon which the arrangement had been come to by this country. When the petitioners told the House that this large sum of money had been granted to protect the West-India interest against a risk from which they had incurred no detriment, he believed that they spoke what was perfectly consistent with the facts of the case. The value of West-India property had increased, the supply from the mother country to the colonies had increased, and there had been a considerable increase in the number of years' purchase at which land was saleable. He wished to take that opportunity, in stating his concurrence in the prayer of the petition, of correcting a misunderstanding that prevailed respecting a statement which he made previous to the recess. It had been put forth as if he had stated that great exaggeration or misrepresentation had been committed in the statements of those persons who visited the West Indies from purely philanthropic motives, and who had given to the people of this country, at public meetings and otherwise, the result of their observations in the course

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of their humane and praiseworthy labours. He had never stated any thing of the kind, and he never meant to say any such thing; for, in his opinion, they had been guilty of no misrepresentation or exaggeration whatever in respect of the laches, and misconduct of the Colonial Legislatures; but what he did say was this, that it was an exaggeration to say, that the Act, instead of bettering, had rendered worse the condition of the negro slaves; and he gave as an instance, indeed the only one he had particularised, that there was at this moment a very considerable increase in the supplies sent to the West Indies, both as to amount and to quality, and it was undeniable that the comfort of the negroes themselves had increased, though not in that proportion which might have been justly expected. This, to be sure, might be in part attributable to the expenditure of the eighteen and a half millions' compensation; but it was also in great part attributable to the greater industry of the negroes, and to the advantages derived from rendering their labour in some degree productive to themselves.
Petition laid on the table.