rose to move for Copies of certain Papers connected with the State of the Slaves in the Mauritius, and for the Observations of the Commissioners appointed to inquire into the Condition of the Slaves in that Island.

said, he was desirous to know whether the hon. member intended to proceed with the motion of which he had long since given notice, respecting his conduct while entrusted with the government of the Mauritius. He called upon the hon. member in his place to say whether it was his intention to proceed with that motion; and he conceived he had a right to put the alternative to the hon. member, either to proceed with that motion, or to retract the charges which he had preferred against him.

said, that the delay bad been on his part inevitable. Early in the session of 1827, the right hon. gentleman opposite, in the name of Mr. Canning, had applied to him to withdraw his motion for a committee on the subject for a certain time, and to that application he acceded. He had subsequently proceeded to the investigation, and he had only been prevented from following it up by unavoidable circumstances. The hon. baronet said, that there were now two courses open to him—that he should either proceed with his motion, or retract the charges which he had made against him. Now, it was utterly impossible that he could retract the charges which he had made it was utterly Impossible that he could withdraw the charge—that slavery, to a considerable extent, had been carried on under the government of the hon. baronet. If his majesty's ministers were not prepared to assent to a commission on the subject, as he believed they were, he begged to assure the hon baronet, that next session his challenge would be accepted, and that he would be then afforded a full opportunity of refuting, if he could, the charges made against him while governor of the Mauritius. He had only to remark now, that general Hall was ready and able to prove, as an officer and a gentleman, that the Slave-trade had been carried on, under the government of the hon. baronet. There certainly could not be stronger prima facie evidence to prove the innocence of the hon. baronet, than his anxiety to court inquiry on the subject; and he was ready to admit, that an individual standing in the situation of the hon. baronet should be presumed to be innocent, until his guilt had been completely established. He could assure the hon. baronet, however, that whenever the subject came to be investigated, disclosures would be made of scenes of cruelty, violations of public law, and toleration of the Slavetrade, unexampled in the history of any country. The hon. member then read certificates of his physician, to show that, during the last and the present session, he could not attend to public business in parliament without danger to his life.

said, it was proved, from the evidence which had been taken on the subject, that the. Slave-trade had been carried on for ten years during the administration of the hon. baronet. It further appeared, that during his administration in the Mauritius every person who had been taken in the act of carrying on the Slave-trade was allowed to walk out of prison, and that the prisons were so badly secured, that those who were committed, and who anticipated a conviction, had it in their power to escape, and did actually escape from prison.

said, that this debate was taking a course of very unpleasant personal altercation. He could bear evidence that the health of the hon. member for Weymouth had been in such a state, as that it had been impossible for him to have proceeded in these investigations: indeed, that to over abundance of zeal in prosecuting them, his life had nearly fallen a sacrifice. At the same time it must be allowed, that it was a very unfair thing to have vague accusations hanging, year after year, over the head of the governor of a distant colony. Whilst in pamphlets printed and circulated periodically, amongst all sorts of people, by a society of zealous and enthusiastic persons hawking for subscriptions in all directions, and taking all sorts of informations from every discontented party they could catch hold of from any of the colonies, without due precaution on examination, very injurious impressions, as to the conduct of individuals were likely to prevail. It should be borne in mind, that the hon. baronet had been the first governor of a colony conquered from the French; that in his position, it would obviously be of the greatest importance to make his government as popular as circumstances would permit amongst the colonists; and that it would require evidently great prudence in the endeavor to change habits which had become inveterate. He had heard from parties—long previously to the present discussions—who had been at the Mauritius during the hon. baronet's government, that the hon. baronet had succeeded in rendering himself highly popular amongst the white inhabitants; and, at the same time, had shown himself throughout most earnest in his endeavored for the amelioration of the situation of the black population. Whether it had been in the hon. baronet's power, or in the power of any one, at that time, to have entirely prevented the importation of slaves, he had no means of knowing.

hoped the House, whenever it entered upon the case of the hon. baronet, would do so uninfluenced by prejudice or personal feeling. He trusted, whenever the charges against the hon. baronet were brought forward, that he would come clear out of the investigation. He was satisfied that the House would concur wirh him, in thinking, that the delay which had occurred was not attributable to the hon. member for Weymouth.

said, he had been a member of the committee before which the evidence had been produced in support of the charges against the hon. baronet; that he had regularly attended that committee; and that he had arrived at quite a different conclusion from that adopted by the hon. member for Waymouth, in reference to that evidence. He considered that evidence entitled to very, little credit, and that the charges preferred against the hon. baronet had not been at all proved.

said, it was certainly hard that this charge should have been left hanging over the head of the hon. baronet during the space of three year; and he thought it unfair, on the part of the hon. member for Weymouth, to anticipate that the charges would be proved on the future investigation of this case. He felt it his duty to bear his testimony to the anxiety which had been uniformly expressed by the hon. baronet to have his case fully investigated. In the East, the general opinion was, that, in the situation in which the hon. baronet was placed, no person could have exerted himself more efficiently to put down the Slave-trade, which he found in a flourishing condition, at the time he assumed the government of the Mauritius.

said, he had been also a member of the committee, and that the impression which the evidence had made upon his mind was not favourable to the hon. baronet. General Hall had assured him, that he was ready at any time to substantiate the charge which he had preferred against the hon. baronet.

said, that the hon. baronet's anxiety for inquiry was a presumption in his favour; and he trusted that the hon. baronet would be able to clear his conduct when that inquiry came on. He could bear testimony to the statement of his hon. friend, the member for Weymouth, as to his inability to prosecute this inquiry, owing to bad health, during the last and the present session of parliament. He contended, that the charge preferred against the opponents of slavery in this country by the hon. member for Newton (Mr. Gurney), was quite unwarranted and unfounded. The undistinguishing aspersions which had been thrown out by that honourable member were unmerited, and could not be sustained by a reference to facts.

said, he owed it to the hon. member for Weymouth to state, that he had repeatedly intimated to him his anxiety to proceed with this inquiry, and had assured him that he possessed the means of establishing the charges which he had preferred. It was also but fair to mention, that the hon. baronet, on the other hand, had courted inquiry with the greatest anxiety, and had stated to him, with equal confidence, that he should be able to disprove all the charges preferred against him. It was highly desirable that this inquiry should take place as soon as possible, that the conduct of the hon. baronet, if innocent, should be cleared up. and that his guilt, if he really were guilty, should be fully established. It should be recollected, that the geographical position of the Mauritius had rendered it extremely favourable for the carrying on of the Slave-trade, and that the hon. baronet had, in consequence, encountered a proportionate degree of difficulty in putting it down.

contended, that the evidence which had been already produced went strongly to substantiate the charges against the hon. baronet.

The motion was agreed to.

said, that the Ecclesiastical Courts were nests of sinecures which ought to be abolished. He could not consent to the present bill, which was a partial measure. It would be better to postpone it until next session, when the whole system of these courts might be revised. According to the previsions of the measure now under; consideration, the judges of these courts were entrusted with the power, of regulating the amount of fees. This was extremely objectionable; and he viewed such a principle with the more jealousy, when he knew that five persons who practiced in one of those courts were nearly connected with the right hon. judge who presided there. He should therefore oppose the farther progress of the measure.

said, that the hon. member was altogether misinformed on the subject. As to there being five persons who were nearly connected with him, who practiced in the court, the fact was, that there was but one. He pledged his honour, moreover, that during the twenty years he had been judge, he had never on any one occasion interfered with appointments in the Register-office. As to sinecures, certainly his office was not one and with respect to salary, the judge had none; he was paid by fees. The fees paid in the court now were the same that were paid in the year 1734, and were extremely light upon individual suitors. The highest fee was 7s. 10d. and that was the fee for sealing an administration. It. was only in the aggregate that the fees were large. In the case of the late Mr. Farquhar, the judge was occupied for a fortnight, in reading the evidence the argument of counsel lasted four days; the judge was occupied four hours in delivering his judgment; and for this the judge received a, fee of 1l. having previously received the fee of 7s. 10d. on sealing the administration.

This measure was founded on the recommendation of the commissioners: it would not interfere with any general measure: and he trusted, therefore, the House would see that there was no reason for postponing it till the next session.

observed, that the Ecclesiastical Courts called for reform; the stalls of that Augean stable required cleansing.

said, that the course pursued by the hon. member for Aberdeen afforded no encouragement to the introduction of partial reforms; which partial reforms did not preclude more extensive ones. If an individual member, by the abuse of the power which he possessed, could defeat a measure of this kind, no person would be encouraged hereafter to introduce partial reforms. The worst of it was, that the hon. member brought no information to this question. He was quite ignorant on the subject. He did not know the meaning of the term "dominus litis," which he supposed was a person who could dispose of the whole matter independently of the judge. If the hon. member persisted in his course, the responsibility of preventing the passing of this measure of reform would rest on his shoulders.

persisted in dividing the House; when there appeared for the Bill 18; against it 4. An adjournment consequently took place.