act was passed, about a year and a half ago, providing the appointment of twenty curates to instruct the slaves, at a salary of £300. currency each. But it had been found impossible to procure respectable clergymen of the Church of England at the salary offered. What the legislature had done in consequence, he knew not, but he was sorry that they had passed some acts of an intolerant kind against the influx of missionaries. He thought that persons brought up in a humble sphere of life were the fittest instructors for the negroes, and he strongly recommended the employment of missionaries from the Moravian Brethren, on whom, as a sect, he pronounced high encomiums. These missionaries he would engage as school masters. And, to encourage the negroes to receive instruction and baptism, he would suggest that registers of their spiritual improvement should be kept, and that such of them as were thus proved to be competent, should be admitted to give evidence in courts of justice. This distinction would gratify that natural ambition which the negroe, as well as every other human being, has to acquire importance. The Right Reverend Prelate, who had shewn so laudable an anxiety for the improvement of the negroes, would, he trasted, give his support to a measure of this sort. When he saw that temporal inducements were requisite to procure clergymen to preach the gospel, he could not think it improper that such inducements should be held out to the negroes to become Christians.-Lord BATHURST, after some observations on the colonial legislative provisions for the registry of slaves, and on the further measures contemplated at home, added, that in what the noble Lord had said respecting the appointment of curates, he had done justice to the intentions of the legislature of Jamaica, The salary of £300. currency, which amounted to little more than £150, had been found insufficient; and besides, the duties which the curates had to perform were not described. The objection as to salary had, however, been removed, and he hoped that proper appointments would speedily take place. The noble Lord thought that there was a difficulty in procuring a proper supply of clergymen of the Established Church, and certainly considerable difficulty had been experienced in that respect, though the Right Reverend Prelate who had been applied to had made every effort to overcome it. Great difficulty arose from this circumstance, that no person can be ordained by a bishop, except for some specific preferment or duty within the diocese of that prelate. The Bishop of London usually made the appointments, but, in fact, e had no legal authority over the West India Islands. In the beginning of last century, it had occurred to Bishop Sherlock, that there was something irregular in the exercise of that authority; and, upon investigation, that was found to be the case. Still, however, it bad been found necessary to continue the practice of ordination for the colonies; but in doing so, the Bishop of London overstepped, in some measure, the bounds of his authority. There was, of course, no little difficulty in the Bishop taking all the responsibility on himself. When a person was ordained for general colonial service, it was well known that the examination was not of precisely the same nature as that which would take place were he to exercise his clerical duties within the diocese. It would therefore be advisable to obtain some security, that persons ordained for the colonies did actually go to them, and when there, did not immediately return to act as clergymen in this country. The noble Lord had adverted to means of enabling a certain portion of the black population to give evidence in courts of justice; and it appeared to him that for that purpose it was necessary for the negroes to possess a competent knowledge of the Christian religion. He agreed with the noble Lord in this view of the subject; for the mere certifi cate of baptism would not be a proof of improvement in religious knowledge, if the negroes could obtain it without due preparation. They would willingly be baptized three or four times over, as they believed it to be a charm against enchantment.The BISHOP of LONDON said, the noble Lord who had in so able a manner brought forward this question, had done him nothing but justice in attributing to him a sincere wish for the religious and moral improvement of the negroes. He could not, however, agree with the noble Lord in the manner in which he had proposed to communicate that religious instruction. The noble Lord had been too ready in concluding that recourse ought to be had to sectaries, and that temporal inducements were necessary to induce clergymen of the Church of England to perform their duty. The Church of England had as yet had very little opportunity of making efforts in the colonies. The clergymen appointed for Jamaica had, in some publications, been blamed for not doing more than they had yet accomplished; but what was expected of them was really beyond their physical powers. There were in Jamaica 19 parishes of great extent; each of these parishes was from 30 to 40 miles long, and about 20 or 30 broad. It was not possible, therefore, for any man to maintain that sort of communication with the population of such parishes, as might subsist between a clergyman and the population of a parish in England. When he was informed of the act granting £300 cur- shal of the kingdom. The statements in rency as salary for curates, he made inquiry the petition bad undergone such ample among merchants acquainted with Jamaica, and frequent discussion, that the minds of as to the propriety of that sum, and they members must be sufficiently informed as assured him that it was not sufficient to to them. The prayer was for a relief to maintain any person in the character of a which that House would think the peti gentleman. In consequence of his repre- tioners highly and peculiarly entitled. He sentations on the subject, the salary had felt happy to be assured, that the general been increased to £500 currency, which feeling on this question was fair, good and he understood amounted to something be- candid. When he contemplated the metween £250 and £260 sterling. This it mory of the great and good men in whose was expected would be found sufficient, hands such a petition had been formerly and thus one great difficulty as to the placed, he acknowledged, with unaffected appointments was removed. He did not dismay, that he felt himself unfit for the yet, however, know what conditions would task. It was natural also that he should be proposed along with the salary. What feel diffident in coming forward as the the noble Secretary of State had said on advocate of a question which for so long a the subject of the appointments was cor- time had the support of that man whose rect. It had been found, after an inquiry loss the House had so recently to deplore, made by the law-officers of the crown, that (the late Mr. Elliot, Member for Peterthe Bishop of London had no jurisdiction borough,) a man whose whole life had been over the colonies. They had, however, spent in the strict and able discharge of from the necessity of the case, continued those high duties which his situation as to act, and had corresponded on the subject a statesman and a senator had required, of appointments with the governors of the and who died, leaving the bright example West-India islands. The learned prelate of so many public and private virtues, proceeded to detail at great length mea- among which his zeal and perseverance sures which have been adopted for the in behalf of his long-suffering fellow-counreligious instruction of the negroes, and trymen (the Roman Catholics) stood emiobserved, that that instruction was best nently conspicuous. When this question confided in the hands of the clergy of had engaged the attention and employed the Established Church. Lord HOL- the talents of such a man as Wyndham, LAND explained that in using the words and of so many other distinguished senatemporal inducements, he meant what tors, from Elliot up to Burke and Saville, was admitted, that the salary was thought up to that period when the first repeal of insufficient for persons educated for the that bloody and unnatural code, the penal Church of England: he had, therefore, laws, took place, it was natural that be recommended the Moravian Brethren as should be diffident at the consciousness of means of removing that difficulty. his own inability to follow in their path, The noble Secretary of State was and to take upon himself the advocacy of correct in saying that he thought a com- a cause in which they had acquired such petent knowledge in the Christian religion deserved celebrity. It was, however, a necessary to the admission of negroes to relief to him, that this subject would, he give evidence in courts of justice. He presumed, be brought forward at an early wished it to be distinctly understood, that period, by a right honourable member, he had given no opinion on that question. (Mr. H. Grattan,) who had ever stood foreHe had merely. said, that many persons most in advocating the rights of his Roman were of opinion, that a considerable degree Catholic countrymen-a man, whose preof religious instruction must precede any sence alone (Mr. Grattan was then in his improvement in the condition of the slaves, seat) forbade him from saying what he felt and it was with the view of conciliating with respect to his powerful talents and that opinion he had suggested the plan incessant exertions, as the first and the last which he had briefly described. in the great and glorious cause of religious liberty. (Here the noble Lord entered into a detail of the great severity with which the penal laws pressed upon the Roman Catholics, and commented at some length upon the patience and the uniformly steady conduct with which they bore their privations.) He would not enter into the question, how far the House ought to make the grant which the Catholics sought for, the subject of negociation; but his own opinion was, that it would do no good. It would tend to create differences and divisions amongst the Catholics themselves, and would certainly lessen the value of a English Catholics. not House of Commons. March 4. Lord NUGENT rose to present a petition from the English Catholics, praying for relief from certain grievous civil disabilities to which they were well known to be subject. The petition was signed by upwards of 10,300 persons, many of whom represented families of the highest rank and antiquity in the kingdom. At the head of this list, which contained eleven peers and thirteen baronets, was his Grace the Duke of Norfolk, hereditary Earl Mar the gift which the legislature might be disposed to bestow. The petitioners complained, and, he conceived, with justice complained, that they were subjected to two grievances-the one, political disqualification, and the other, religious obloquy; the latter arising out of the former. They complained that these were not the consequence of any political tenets hostile to the government of the country, but for religious opinions, for which, he conceived, they ought to be responsible to God alone. Was it, he would ask, consistent with the mild and tolerant nature of the British constitution, that so large a portion of our Countrymen should be thus held in continued obloquy, because they differed from a great body of their fellow-subjects in some religious points? They were English. men by birth, by education, and by feeling; and yet, because they professed an attachment to certain religious principles, which to them appeared to be right, they were insalted, debased, and rendered aliens in their native land. Would any gentleman, in a company of gentlemen, think another less worthy of the ordinary marks of re spect paid in civilized society, because he adhered with steady attachment to certain religious rules; or would he attempt to impugn the motives for such belief? Undoubtedly not; aud yet for nothing more than that attachment were the Roman Catholics of this country deprived of their rights as British subjects. The noble Lord adverted to the signing of Magna Charta, which had been extorted by that love of liberty and attachment to their country which distinguished the Roman Catholics of those days; love and attachment which, he would assert without fear of contradiction, had not less characterized their Roman Catholic descendants to the present period. He said that the attachment of the Roman Catholics to their religion during a long period of persecution and suffering, was a proof of their honour and good faith. In those, he maintained, would the Protestants find their best security. Without them, there could be nothing to depend apon; with them, they had every guarantee which it was possible to expect. With these impressions strong upon his mind, he begged to present to the House the petition of the Roman Catholics of England. Their situation, he begged to remark, was worse than the Roman Catholics of Ireland; they were debarred of many privileges which the Irish Catholics enjoyed. At the same time he begged to be understood, as not wishing to separate their interests. He conceived the benefit of emancipation equally due to all; and however highly he valued each as a body, he would not advocate the rights of either, to the exclusion of the other. His object was, that conciliatory measures should be adopted towards them all, as he was sure that would be a step tending to consolidate the strength of the empire. The petitioners did not enumerate their grievances; they complained generally of their exclusion from political rights, and they relied for their restoration upon the justice, wisdom, and liberality of Parliament. Lord MORPETH wished to take an early opportunity of expressing his opinion of the character of the petitioners, who were, by an unjust law, deprived of the means of exerting their abilities in the manner which, as British subjects, they had a right to expect. They did not speak of their loyalty, for that the house knew well; but they humbly prayed that the house might take the subject of their grievances into serious consideration. He trusted the House would do so, for no portion of his Majesty's subjects possessed stronger claims on the attention of the legislature. Dr. PHILLIMORE conceived the subject of so much importance, that he could not suffer the present opportunity to pass without offering a few observations. The House had heard the nature of the petition; they would hear that many of the names affixed to it were the descendants of men whose bravery and patriotism were mixed up with the brightest annals of English history. They would find the names of men to whose ancestors the country owed so much on many and important occasions, but who were now, by an illiberal and cruel code, deprived of the means of following the glorious example which their forefathers had left them; but who, nevertheless, were still distinguished for their private virtues, and every way worthy of their country and their birth. Well had the noble Lord who presented the petition said that the subject was important. It was indeed highly so, and he trusted that every member of the House would give it his most serious consideration, before its merits came to be discussed; and that they would consent to have wiped from their statute-book a code so repugnant to the mild spirit and principles of the constitution, so disgraceful to the character of their country as a free nation. The time for considering this question he considered was peculiarly favourable. We were at the beginning of a new parliament, at a period of profound peace, and when every thing conspired to render an inquiry ef fective. He thought that this consideration was due to the character and conduct of the Roman Catholics, who, though remarkable for their loyalty and attachment to the constitution, were nevertheless subjected to penalties to which no other portion of his Majesty's subjects were exposed. Mr. W. SMITH did not intend to have addressed the House upon this subject, but was induced to offer one observation in consequence of what had fallen from the hon. and learned gentleman who last addressed the House. It had been said that no other portion of his Majesty's subjects were subject to the same political disabilities as the Roman Catholics; but it should be recollected, that the Protestant Dissenters, of whom he had ever been one, were exposed to the same test oaths, to the same disabilities, and, with the exception of eligibility to a seat in parliament, of which he was an instance, were incapable of holding any situation, civil or military. He was a friend to the prayer of the petitioners new before the House. He was as anxious as any man that they should be admitted to an equal participation of the benefits of the constitution with their Protestant brethren; but at the same time he hoped the House would consider, that when they discussed the merits of the Catholic question, they should not omit the claims of the Protestant Dissenters, which were equally founded in justice. The Petition was then read, and ordered to lie on the table, and to be printed. House of Lords. March 15. Lord AUCKLAND moved the order of the day for the commitment of the Chimney-Sweepers' Bill, designed to supersede after a time the use of climbing-boys. He relied upon the facts that had come out in evidence. The tubabitants of the parish of Christ-Church, he said, had met to petition against the bill. In the course of the proceedings, it was suggested that it would be proper in the first place to try how far it was practicable to sweep chimneys by machinery. A machine was produced, and experiments made; and the result was so satisfactory, that the very persons who assembled for the purpose of petitioning against the Bill, actually signed a petition for it. Another fact had occurred in making experiments on the chimneys connected with the House of Commons. In consequence of the directions of the Speaker, a person had proceeded to sweep with a machine, and he could only sweep 19 chimneys out of 61. The housekeeper, however, was determined to continue the experiment, and under his superintendence no less than 60 out of the 61 were swept. The chimney that remained unswept, required some alteration to make it accessible to the machine. The Earl of LAUDERDALE Contended that no machine that would answer the purpose had been invented; the Bill would therefore increase the danger of fire in the metropolis. With regard to this Bill, as in many other cases, mankind were carried away by ideas of humanity. He concluded with telling stories relating to his taking calomel, and to an Irishman who, sending, according to country custom, a goose up his chimney to sweep it, was reproved by a humane neighbour, who said that he might have sent up two ducks, The Earl of HARROWBY was not able to entertain their lordships with any jokes, either relative to himself, or extracted from Joe Miller, but believed very little was necessary to support a measure founded in humanity, and which they had reason to conclude was perfectly practicable. The noble Earl had shifted his ground, and no longer rested on his general principles with regard to free labour. The best argument for the Bill was, that it would afford time and opportunity for making the arrangements necessary to the abolition of climbing boys-On a division, there were for the Bill, contents, 20; noncontents, 37: majority, 17. Thus the Bill is lost. LITERARY. A society has been established at Carmarthen, under the title of The Cambrian Society, for the preservation of the remains of ancient British literature, poctical, bistorical, antiquarian, sacred and moral, and for the encouragement of the national music. The first object of the Society is, to collect a complete catalogue of all Welsh manuscripts, in the principality and else where. Copies will be taken, as opportu nity serves, of all manuscripts that may be discovered, such copies to be lodged in the British Museum. A complete collection of Welsh printed books is also contemplated, to be deposited in the library belonging to the school in Gray's Inn Lane. The Society has requested Mr. Edward Williams to reside, for a certain portion of the year, at Carmarthen, to superintend the printing of the Society's publications, and to give instructions to young students in Welsh poetry and literature. prospectus of collections for a new History of Wales, collected and translated from ancient historical documents in the Welsh language, is printed and published at the expense of the society. Mr. Williams's It is well known that in spite of his own positive denial, the late Sir Philip Francis has been asserted to be the author of the Letters of Junius. If indeed he were, his threat is fulfilled and the secret has perished with him. Sir Philip's will, dated April 28, 1818, contains no allusion whatever to Junius. A tract is now in the course of publication at Edin * The House of Commons has had some experience of this course of parliamentary tactics, by which a humane proposal is laughed out of doors; but it may be questioned whether success in this case will be accounted an honourable triumph by the public and posterity. Violent political agitations have prevailed during the last month in France, occasioned by the opposition of the Chamber of Peers to the liberal measures of the government. It is something new to see the ministers of the crown engaged in conflict with a party whose avowed object it is to increase the power of the monarch. The Ultras, or violent monarchists, in the House of Peers, were a majority of 93 to 54. To turn the scale, the government has adopted the revolu tionary measure of creating 60 new peers, by which it has obtained a majority. Of these new peers, there are 15 out of 23 persons, excluded by the ordinance of 1815 as suspected Napoleonists. All of them are advocates of liberal opinions; many of them military men; and one, if not more, a Protestant, The Upper Chamber consisted before of 208 members, not including "Sons of France, the Princes of the blood, and the Chancellor, President of the Chamber." This bold step has enraged the French Tories, and they have fomented disturbances in the provinces. At Nismes the yell of intolerance has been again heard in the streets; but by the resolution of the Protestants and the vigour of the government, the assassins of 1815 had not, when the last dispatches arrived, proceeded beyond threatenings. Letters from Paris of the date of 24th instant, represent that the agitations respecting the law of elections, which the Ultras wished to alter, are at an end. The proposition of the Peers to that effect was rejected in the Chamber of Deputies by a majority of 56 votes, out of a total of 244. The chamber consists of 250 members, and there are four or five seats vacant, so that not above one or two members were absent: a striking proof of the deep interest taken by the assembly in public questions, and of the resolution of the majority to discharge their duty as guardians of the Charter. A popular English Journal (The Times) has naturally contrasted the fidelity of the French Chamber with the carelessness displayed in our own parliament, where, upon an average of attendance, the gravest subjects are disposed of by one third of the members. The speech of the keeper of the seals in the Chamber of Deputies tore the veil that concealed from public. view the horrible assassinations that took place in the South of France during the years 1815 and 1816, and produced in the chamber an effect difficult to be described." Yet, the Dissenting ministers of London have been again and again charged with aggravating these enormities! This is another proof that time is in alliance with truth. The preponderance of the liberal party in the Chamber of Peers is now decided: in a division on a question, calculated to try the strength of the parties, the ministers had a majority of 119 to 47. Both Catholics and Protestants in France were, till lately, characterized by religious indifference. Nothing in England struck a Protestant minister of Paris with more surprise, on a visit which he made two or three years ago to this country, than the, number of theological publications, and especially magazines, issuing from onr press. In France, he observed, there was no controversy, nor was there a single religious monthly publication. Since the period of his visit, there has been a visible movement in the public mind of France, in favour of inquiry and reform; as a proof of which, it may be stated, that the Protestants have set up a monthly publication, entitled Archives du Christianisme, and the liberal Catholics another, under the title of Chronique Religieuse. The Protestant Magazine was established, we sus pect, at the instance of some zealous Calvinists in England, as a means of promoting in France an " evangelical" revival. It must, however, be differently conducted before it produces this or any other effect: the numbers of it that we have seen are very meagre. The Catholics are more fortunate in their work, owing principally to their Editor, the Abbé Gregoire, who is well known for his talents and philanthropy. [Mon. Repos. |
