compensation.  It appears, however, to be beyond doubt, that they have not carried the new system into execution as they ought to have done; and some two or three years ago, your lordships were under the necessity of consenting to a bill, rendered necessary in consequence of the legislature of Jamaica having refused, under not very creditable circumstances, to enact a law which it had positively promised to pass.  Under these circumstances, considering that we are now approaching to within a couple of years of the period when a new state of society is to be established in all the British possessions where slavery has ever existed, I must say, I think parliament ought not to hesitate about adopting some measure of the description now proposed, for the purpose of carrying into full and complete execution the object which the imperial legislature had in view when the emancipation act was passed.  It appears to me, that if the legislatures of the colonies had acted as sensible men ought to have done, in the circumstances in which they were placed four years ago, they would have had before them, and the British parliament would have had before it, a very different prospect from that which, I fear, exists at the present moment.

March 13, 1838.

Lord Melbourne’s Government Inimical to the Church.

It appears that the policy of her majesty’s government is—­I will use the mildest term that can be employed—­not to encourage the established church.  I am afraid that it will appear from what passed in another place, in the last session of parliament, and even in this, that the church of England—­the established church of England—­is not to be encouraged by her majesty’s government.  I am sure that those who recollect what has occurred in parliament, during the last few years, will admit that no great encouragement has been shown by ministers to the church of Ireland, that branch of the established church of England which is stationed in the latter country.  I say therefore, my lords, that this is the policy of the government of this country; and, I must own, also, it is most sincerely to be lamented by every friend of the constitution, and of the peace, order, and happiness of the community.

March 30, 1838.

* * * * *

A Free Press in Malta deprecated.

Now, in regard to this matter of a free press in Malta, I crave your lordships’ attention to the facts of the case for a moment, and I beg the house to bear them in mind.  What is Malta?  It is a fortress and a seaport—­it is a great naval and military arsenal for our shipping and forces in the Mediterranean.  We hold it by conquest.  We hold it as an important post, as a great military and naval arsenal, and as nothing more.  My lords, if these are the facts, we might as well think of planting a free press on the fore deck of the admiral’s flag-ship in the Mediterranean, or on the caverns of the batteries of