the highest respect, might possibly imagine that, in giving their assent to the motion, they were marking their disapprobation of the trade, which he regretted as deeply as they did. They had seen it asserted over and over again that the Government was advocating the cause of the contraband trade, in order to force an opium war on the public; but he thought that it was impossible to be conceived that a thought so absurd and so atrocious should have ever entered the minds of the British Ministry. Their course was clear. They might doubt whether it were wise for the Government of China to exclude from that country a drug which, if judiciously administered, was powerful in assuaging pain and in promoting health, because it was occasionally used to excess by intemperate men-they might doubt whether it was wise policy on the part of that Government to attempt to stop the efflux of precious metals from the country in the due course of trade. They learned from history-and almost every country afforded proof, which was strengthened by existing circumstances in England, to which he had already alluded-that no machinery, however powerful, had been sufficient to keep out of any country those luxuries which the people enjoyed or were able to purchase, or to prevent the efflux of precious metals, when it was demanded by the course of trade. What Great Britain could not effect with the finest marine, and the most trustworthy preventive service in the world, was not likely to be effected by the feeble efforts of the mandarins of China.

But, whatever their opinions on these points might be, the Government of China alone, it must be remembered, was competent to decide; that Government had a right to keep out opium, to keep in silver, and to enforce their prohibitory laws, by whatever means they might possess, consistently with the principles of public morality and of international law; and if, after having given fair notice of their intention to seize all contraband goods introduced into their dominions, they seized our opium, we had no right to complain; but when the Government, finding that by just and lawful means they could not carry out their prohibition, resorted to measures unjust and unlawful, confined our innocent countrymen, and insulted the Sovereign in the person of her

representative, then he thought the time had arrived when it was fit that we should interfere. Whether the proceedings of the Chinese were or were not founded on humanity, was not now to be decided.

Let them take the case of the most execrable crime that had ever been dignified by the name of a trade-the African slavetrade. The prosecution of that trade was made a misdemeanour, a felony, and finally piracy. We made treaties with foreign powers, and paid large sums of money to secure the object which we had in view; and yet it was perfectly notorious that, notwithstanding all the efforts which we had made, slaves had been introduced from Africa into our colony of the Mauritius. Undoubtedly, it was our duty to put down the traffic which had so long been carried on with rigour, and to bring all persons engaged in it to punishment; but suppose a ship under French colours was seen skulking under the coast of the island, and that the governor had his eye upon it, and was satisfied that it was a slaver, and that it was waiting for an opportunity by night to run its cargo; suppose the governor, not having a sufficient naval force to seize the vessel, should send and take thirty or forty French gentlemen resident in the island, some of them, perhaps, suspected of having been engaged in the trade, and some who had never fallen under any suspicion, and lock them up. Suppose, amongst others, he had laid violent hands on the consul of France, saying that they should have no food till they produced the proprietor of the vessel; would not the French Government be in a condition to claim reparation? and if so, would not the French Government have a right to exact reparation, if refused, by arms? Would it be enough for us to say, "Oh, but it is such a wicked trade, such a monstrous trade, that you have no right to quarrel with us for resorting to any means to put it down?" The answer would be, "Are you not trampling upon a great principle by doing so?" If such would be the answer of France, was it not fit and right that her Majesty should demand reparation from China? They had seen the success of the first great act of injustice perpetrated by that Government produce its natural effect on a

people ignorant of the relative places they and we held in the scale of nations. The Imperial Commissioner began by confiscating property; his next demand was for innocent blood. A Chinese was slain; the most careful inquiry had been made, but was insufficient to discover the slayer, or even the nation to which he belonged; but it was caused to be notified that, guilty or not, some subject of the Queen's must be given up. Great Britain gave an unequivocal refusal to be a party to so barbarous a proceeding. The people of Canton were seized; they were driven from Macao, suspected or not. Women with child, children at the breast, were treated with equal severity, were refused bread or the means of subsistence; the innocent Lascars were thrown into the sea; an English gentleman was barbarously mutilated, and England found itself at once assailed with a fury unknown to civilised countries. The place of this country among nations was not so mean or ill ascertained that we should trouble ourselves to resist every petty slight which we might receive. Conscious of her power, England could bear that her Sovereign should be called a barbarian, and her people described as savages, destitute of every useful art. When our ambassadors were obliged to undergo a degrading prostration in compliance with their regulations, conscious of our strength, we were more amused than irritated. But there was a limit to that forbearance. It would not have been worthy of us to take arms upon a small provocation, referring to rites and ceremonies merely; but everyone in the scale of civilised nations should know that Englishmen were ever living under the protecting eye of their own country.

He was much touched, and he thought that probably many others were so also, by one passage contained in the despatch of Captain Elliot, in which he communicated his arrival at the factory at Canton. The moment at which he landed he was surrounded by his countrymen in an agony of despair at their situation; but the first step which he took was to order the flag of Great Britain to be taken from the boat and to be planted in the balcony. This was an act which revived the drooping hopes of those who looked to him for protection. It was natural that

they should look with confidence on the victorious flag which was hoisted over them, which reminded them that they belonged to a country unaccustomed to defeat, to submission, or to shame: which reminded them that they belonged to a country which had made the farthest ends of the earth ring with the fame of her exploits in redressing the wrongs of her children; that made the Dey of Algiers humble himself to the insulted consul; that revenged the horrors of the Black Hole on the fields of Plessey; that had not degenerated since her great Protector vowed that he would make the name of Englishman as respected as ever had been the name of Roman citizen. They felt that although far from their native country, and then in danger in a part of the world remote from that to which they must look for protection, yet that they belonged to a state which would not suffer a hair of one of its members to be harmed with impunity.

All were agreed upon this point of the question. He had listened with painful attention to the speech of the right hon. baronet, but he had not detected in it one word which implied that he was not disposed to insist on a just reparation for the offence which had been committed against us. With respect to the present motion, whatever its result might be, he could not believe that the House would agree to a vote of censure so gross, so palpable, or so unjust as that which was conveyed in its terms; and he trusted that even if there was to be a change of men consequential upon the conclusion of the debate, there would at all events be no change of measures. He had endeavoured to express his views and his opinions upon this subject, and he begged in conclusion to declare his earnest desire that this most rightful quarrel might be prosecuted to a triumphal close that the brave men to whom was intrusted the task of demanding that reparation which the circumstances of the case required might fulfil their duties with moderation, but with success-that the name, not only of English valour, but of English mercy, might be established; and that the overseeing care of that gracious Providence which had so often brought good out of evil, might make the crime which had forced us to take those measures which had been adopted the means of promoting an everlasting peace, alike beneficial to England and to China.

INDIAN EMIGRATION TO THE MAURITIUS.

JUNE 4, 1840.

On Lord John Russell's Motion for the House resolving itself into Committee on the Colonial Passengers' Bill.

HE entertained so high a respect for his right hon. and learned friend (Sir S. Lushington), and knew so well the services he had rendered to the cause of freedom, that he felt much pain in differing from him. But after the speech they had just heard, he was unwilling to give his vote without stating the grounds of it. He believed that, with respect to the general principle, there was little difference between his right hon. friend and himself. None knew better than his right hon. friend how important it was to remove labourers from districts where the population was thick and wages were low, to districts where the land was widely spread, and labour in demand. He would admit there might be exceptions-he thought that, wheresoever slavery existed, there ought to be restrictions placed upon immigration; he was also of opinion that, while slavery existed in the West Indies, it was in the highest degree pernicious to the labouring population to permit the emigration from parts where the demand for labour was small to those where it was great. And he considered that the system of slavery, separating, as it did altogether, the interest of the capitalist from that of the labourer, depriving the latter of the fair advantage which in a free condition he had a right to expect from the fertile soil, and a great demand for his labour, rendered it necessary to impose a restriction upon the passage of the labourer from one country to another. But now, if there was any one part of the empire from which it was desirable to encourage emigration, it was India; and if there was any part to which the tide should flow, it was the Mauritius. The wages in the latter place would be fifty times what the labourer received