Lords Sitting of 11 August 1854

MINUTES.
PUBLIC BILLS.—3a Consolidated Fund
(Appropriation); Customs.
ROYAL ASSENT.—Metropolitan Sewers. Literary find Scientific Institutions; Real Estate Charges; Medical Graduates (University of London); Militia (No. 2); Militia (Scotland); Militia (Ireland); Militia Ballots Suspension; Militia Pay; Prisoners Removal; Episcopal and Capitular Estates Management, 1854; Mayo County Advances; Incumbered Estates (West Indies); Legislative Council (Canada); Bankruptcy; Merchant Shipping Acts Repeal.

THE SLAVE TRADE IN CUBA.
THE EARL OF CLARENDONsaid, he wished to take that opportunity of communicating to their Lordships the contents of a despatch from Her Majesty's Consul General at the Havannah, which had arrived so recently that they had not been included among the papers already presented to their Lordships. As it had often been his painful duty—as it had been that of other Members of the House—to call attention to the negligent manner in which the treaties between Spain and this country, with reference to the slave trade, had been carried out, he had now great satisfaction in stating that since the appointment of the last Captain General of Cuba a marked improvement in the mode of executing the treaties had been apparent; regulations of the most useful kind had not only been adopted, but carried into effect; a system for the registration of slaves had been established throughout the island; and all officials who were found to be connected with the traffic in slaves were immediately removed. The Consul General stated that, under the orders that had been issued, he understood that nearly all the most recently imported Africans bad been released from slavery, and that the officer who was employed by the Spanish Government in this service had displayed great energy and activity in the performance of his duty by tracing and following up the negroes brought over, and releasing them. The despatch stated—
"I have no hesitation in acquainting your Lordship that these energetic measures cannot fail to have a most salutary effect, and that the Government are determined to enforce the observance of the treaties."
Since that, another despatch had been received, which stated that three district Governors of the island of Cuba had been removed from their districts, and were then under trial in consequence of not having carried out their orders with due effect.

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He was sorry to say that in consequence of the state of affairs in Spain the Governor General of Cuba (the Marquess of Pezuela) had been recalled; but General Espartero had given the best evidence of his intention to act in the same spirit by appointing General Concha to the important office of Governor General of Cuba. He could assure their Lordships that no efforts on the part of Her Majesty's Government would be wanting to secure a continuance of the good measures which had been adopted, and he had every reason to hope, from his knowledge of General Espartero, that he would take the same course. Before he sat down he would mention another matter which he thought well deserved public notice. For some months past there had been a report which, he was sorry to say, was very generally believed in the United States, notwithstanding all the forms of contradiction that had been given to it, that it had been for some time past the fixed intention of Her Majesty's Government to Africanise the island of Cuba and establish a black republic there, which it was considered would be most dangerous to the tranquillity of the Southern States; and that rumour had been made the pretext for all those bucaneering expeditions against Cuba which he believed the President and Government of the United States were most earnest in their endeavours to put a stop to. He had been asked whether such a treaty was not in existence, or whether negotiations had not been entered into for the formation of such a treaty; but his answer was, that the first rumour he ever heard on the subject came from the other side of the Atlantic; that they had never made any other application to the Government of Spain than for the faithful observance of the treaties to put down the slave trade which the United States, just as much as themselves, were bound to assist in. The report in question had obtained so much ground in America that he thought it his duty, on the last opportunity which he would have of bringing the subject before the House this Session, to give this formal contradiction to the report.

NEW ZEALAND GOVERNMENT ACT— PETITION.
LORD MONTEAGLE presented a petition from members of the Provincial Council of Auckland for the amendment of the New Zealand Government Act.
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This petition was deserving of the greatest possible attention on the part of their Lordships, because it had been signed by all the members of the Provincial Assembly of the settlement of Auckland, from which it emanated. The grievance of which the petitioners complained was one which had been imposed upon them by an Act of the Imperial Legislature, and that body alone could, therefore, relieve them from it. In the Act giving a constitution to New Zealand, which was passed two years ago, a clause—opposed at the time by the noble Duke now Secretary for War (the Duke of Newcastle) in that House, and by the present Chancellor of the Exchequer in the other—was inserted, creating a charge of 268,000 l. in favour of the New Zealand Company upon the Crown lands of New Zealand, which, subject to this liability, were transferred to the colonists. Now, this charge in favour of the Company was felt as a great grievance by the whole of the colonists, but especially by the inhabitants of the province of New Munster, who had never, either directly or indirectly, derived the slightest advantage from the sums expended in the island by the Company. The petitioners, therefore, prayed the House to take measures to relieve them from a charge which they felt to he unjust; and, in conclusion, they declared their determination to resist by every legitimate means the payment of 1s. from the revenue of the province which they represented to the New Zealand Company. And they stated that they felt the greatest confidence that the House would encourage their determination not to evade a reasonable obligation, but to oppose a charge which they believed to be oppressive and unjust.
THE DUKE OF NEWCASTLEsaid, that his noble Friend had referred to what had passed two years ago, and to the part which he took in the debates on the New Zealand Constitution Act two years ago. He could only say that he fully adhered to every opinion which he then expressed, and that he had stated so when he held the Seals of the Colonial Office. In reply to a question which Earl Grey put to him towards the close of last Session, he had stated that ho considered the arrangement made by the late Government with the New Zealand Company was not of an equitable character, as regarded the inhabitants of New Zealand, and especially those of the province of Auckland; but that he, nevertheless, thought that no alteration could be

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made in that arrangement, which was sanctioned by Act of Parliament, until the Colony should have taken the initiative in appealing to the House and the Government for any relief to which it deemed itself entitled. In consequence, however, of the distance of this Colony from England, no remonstrance in an authoritative form against this Act was received thence Until a few days before he left the Colonial Office. Had he remained there he should certainly have taken the subject into consideration, in order to see whether any relief could be afforded to the Colony without inflicting injustice on the Company, which had received a benefit from the legislation of Parliament; for, however little they might be entitled to that advantage at the time they received it, the Act Of Parliament which had passed had placed them in a different position, and given them a vested right to it. He knew, from personal communication with his right hon. Friend now at the bead of the Colonial Office, that he had turned his attention to the subject; and without saying how an arrangement could be made, or without even committing the Government to any positive engagement that an arrangement could or would be made, he could assure his noble Friend that the Government were deeply impressed with the importance of this question, as it affected the prosperity of the colony of New Zealand, and that their attention would be earnestly directed to it.
Petition ordered to lie on the table.
House adjourned till To-morrow.