On the 16th of February Lord Morpeth again moved for leave to bring in a bill for the regulation of municipal corporations in Ireland. It has been seen that the main point of dispute on this subject between the two houses was the amount of the franchise; the house of lords contending that it should be acquired by the occupation for twelve months of a tenement of the value of ten pounds, to be made up of the sum at which it was rated to the relief of the poor; and the house of commons, that the occupation of a tenement rated at the net annual value of eight pounds for six months should confer the qualification in question. It was proposed to retain this last franchise in the present measure; and the only material difference between the present and the former bill consisted in a provision which was now made for the eventual adoption of the English franchise. Lord Morpeth proposed that in whatever town, otherwise competent to receive such institutions, the poor-law act should have been in operation for three years, all persons resident for that period, and rated to any amount, should be entitled to vote for the election of municipal officers. The whole of schedule A, containing the towns in which corporations were to be established, remained the same; but with regard to schedule B, which enumerated those towns to which municipal institutions might be granted on petition of the inhabitants, it was proposed that, without the signatures of an absolute majority, the crown might establish corporations in those places as well as in any other town of three thousand inhabitants, in which there might be a number of persons occupying premises at not less than £4 per annum, sufficient to make up a constituency. On the second reading of the bill it met with a stern opposition of the conservative party; but it was eventually carried through by the small majority of twenty-six. The bill was committed pro-formâ on the 19th of April; but many delays took place in order that thirty-four clauses, which should have made part of the original measure, should be included. On the 4th of July, however, the house went into committee upon clause twenty, which referred to the value of the franchise. An attempt was made by Mr. Shaw to introduce a £10 qualification, which had been the ultimatum of the Conservatives in the last session: but after a short debate the original question was carried by one hundred and fifty-four against fifty-four. Some other minor amendments were subsequently proposed, but they were negatived; and the bill was finally carried in the commons by a majority of ninety-seven against seventy-six.
On the 22nd of July, the Irish Municipal Corporations bill was read a second time in the house of lords. On the 25th of July, before the house went into committee, Lord Lyndhurst gave notice of the amendments which he intended to move in the course of the evening, and of his intention to vote against the third reading, if the bill should come unaltered out of the committee. The only amendment of the noble lord which gave rise to any discussion after their lordships went into committee was for raising the qualification from £8 to £10. This was objected to by Lord Melbourne, who said, that he could not but think that their lordships were acting no very worthy part, in raising difficulties in the way of what they all considered desirable—the settlement of the question. The Duke of Wellington administered a severe rebuke to his lordship for uttering such a sentiment; and on a division the amendment was carried by a majority of ninety-three against forty-three. A number of minor amendments were also made in conformity with Lord Lyndhurst’s suggestions; and on the 5th of August the bill was read a third time, and passed.
Lord John Russell moved the order of the day, for the consideration of the lords’ amendments, on the 12th of August; on which occasion he stated that it was not advisable, in his opinion, to take objection to the bill on the question of privilege, on account of certain clauses transferring certain fiscal powers from the grand-juries to the new town-councils, which had been struck out in the other house, and to send it back to the lords. The only course to pursue would be to bring in a new bill either now or at the beginning of the next session. He moved, therefore, that the amendments be taken into consideration that day three months, in the hope that he might be able finally to adjust the question. This motion was agreed to.
On the 6th of August Lord Brougham brought forward several resolutions on the administration of justice in Ireland under the Marquis of Normanby. His lordship’s remarks were chiefly confined to Lord Normanby’s public measures; and the debate in general was conducted in a tone friendly to the noble marquis, even by the opposite party. At the same time the resolutions were carried by a majority of eighty-six against fifty-two.
PROCEEDINGS IN PARLIAMENT RESPECTING JAMAICA.
It has been seen that in the earlier part of the preceding year the agitation on the subject of West India slavery had become general throughout the kingdom, and that it gave rise to discussion in parliament. An important bill was passed, entitled “An act to amend the act for the abolition of slavery.” Many salutary provisions were made in this instrument for the further protection of the apprentices; and in order to serve the execution of such regulations of the former enactment as had been disregarded by the planters. This act was promulgated in Jamaica by the governor on the 1st of June; and on the 5th of the same month he convened the legislature of that colony. In his speech Sir Lionel Smith informed the assembly that he had called the house together to take into consideration the state of the island, and to recommend the early and equal abolition of apprenticeship for all parties. The assembly entered a warm remonstrance against the abolition amendment act; but nevertheless on the 16th of June the governor gave the royal assent to an act for the entire abolition of prædial apprenticeship from the 1st of August, 1838.
On the arrival in England of the news of this voluntary abandonment on the part of the planters of the remaining term of apprenticeship. Lord Melbourne presented to the house of lords an important bill, founded on the report of Captain Pringle, empowering her majesty in council to make rules for the government of the West India prisons, to appoint inspectors, and regulate other matters of necessary discipline. This bill was sent out and promulgated by the governor in a proclamation affixed to the doors of their house about six weeks before the meeting of the assembly. That meeting took place on the 30th of October, and their very first procedure was to pass four resolutions condemnatory of Lord Melbourne’s bill; complaining of the violation of their rights by the parliament of Great Britain; asserting that as a body they (the assembly) had ceased to exist for any useful purpose to the people whom they represented; and that therefore they would abstain from the exercise of any legislative function, excepting such as might be necessary to preserve inviolate the faith of the island with the public creditor, until her majesty’s pleasure should be known, whether her subjects of Jamaica, now in a state of freedom, should henceforth be treated as subjects, with the power of making laws for their own government, or as a conquered colony. Sir Lionel now prorogued the assembly for a few days; but when they again met they asserted their determination to adhere to their resolutions, and the result of their contumacy was the final prorogation of their house.
In consequence of these transactions, on the 9th of April Mr. Labouchere introduced a bill to suspend the existing constitution for five years. In the meantime it was proposed to make provision for the government of that colony by investing it pro tempore in the hands of a governor, and a council augmented by the accession of three persons, who would be sent from England as commissioners, especially qualified by experience to assist in the consideration of some of the more important topics to which their early attention would be directed, as the improvement of the negroes, the poor-laws, and prison discipline. This interval, it was said, would give time for the enactment of such laws as were called for by the transition state of the colony, and the government afterwards proposed to restore the ancient constitution, subject to the requisite modifications. The introduction of this measure was not opposed by the Conservatives. The bill arrived at the second reading on the 23rd of April, when Sir Robert Peel stated that he would again allow it to be read pro formâ. Counsel would then be heard at the bar against the measure: he was even content to have the bill committed, and take the discussion on the question that the speaker do now leave the chair. At the same time, before they proceeded to suspend the constitution of Jamaica for five years, and to vest so great an authority of taxation in an unpopular government, he could wish to give to the assembly the power of reconsidering their course, and returning to their duties. If the house of assembly should still adhere to their refractory courses, he was disposed to confide to ministers the power of carrying on the government for a time, until parliament should decide otherwise; or if it could be further shown that public business would be prejudiced by such delay, he would, make no more opposition to the bill. Counsel were then heard; the cause of the colony being pleaded by Sergeant Mereweather and Mr. Burge, the accredited agent of the colonies. The debate on the question was opened on the 3rd of May, when Sir Robert Peel expressed his disappointment that it had not been found practicable to come to some arrangement with regard to the government of Jamaica without any party conflict, or even any serious division on the course to be pursued. He thought that the temporary abrogation of a popular form of government was by no means desirable. Mr. Labouchere maintained that the result of the great experiment of emancipation would depend on the fate of this bill. The only chance of securing the investment of English capital, and ensuring success to the experiments to be tried of cultivating the estates by free labour, lay in the timely introduction of proper regulations. It would be vexatious if, after all, the negroes should take to squatting, and pass their lives in indolence; but half of the good work would have been achieved until the black was raised to the condition of a free and laborious citizen. As matters stood, the negroes refused to enter into contracts; the only method for obtaining from the black population the continuous labour which was notoriously indispensable for the cultivation of sugar, was to induce them to enter into an agreement to work uninterruptedly for a stipulated sum of money. So arbitrary and partial, however, was the power assigned by the present law of contract, that the negro was reluctant to engage on such conditions. This called for alteration; and so likewise did the law relating to the militia, as well as the vagrancy law and the constitution of the courts of justice. It would also be advisable to introduce some measure of relief for the poor; but nothing could be effected in the present discontinuance of all legislation. Mr. Labouchere added, that the present measure, though avowedly an arbitrary one, would, after all, only place Jamaica on the same footing with the other crown colonies, who were administered by a governor and council. He concluded by proposing two years and a half instead of five as the shortest interval within which the measures in contemplation could be prepared. Mr. Godson opposed the measure; and Mr. Charles Buller delivered a clever speech in its support. Mr. Hume expressed his reluctance to separate himself from the government on this question; but he could not vote in favour of such injustice. Sir George Grey vindicated the measure, noticing a variety of instances in which the assembly had eluded the recommendations of government in favour of the negroes, and referring, in proof of his assertion, to several conservative authorities.
The house then adjourned; and the debate was opened on the following Monday by Mr. Maclean. The bill on this night was supported by Sir Eardley Wilmot, and Messrs. Warburton and O’Connell; and opposed by Messrs. Grote, Gaily Knight, Goulburn, Gladstone, and Lord Stanley. The debate was closed by Lord John Russell, who enumerated a short summary of the arguments for the bill, and declaimed against those of his usual supporters who were about to desert him. On a division the measure was carried by a majority of five only, the numbers being, in favour of the bill, two hundred and ninety-four; against it, two hundred and eighty-nine.