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been maturely considered by the government; and that was the appointment of some experienced and able medical inspector, whose duty it would be to overlook all the reports made to the privy council, and to advise them thereon. It would be desirable, also, that he should inspect all the quarantine stations.

Sir Isaac Coffin, after complimenting the right hon. gentleman on the clear and explicit manner in which he had stated the grounds of this bill to the house, said, his principal object in rising now was to do away with an idea that had prevailed in some quarters as to the plague having never manifested itself to the northward of Cape Finisterre. Every man at all acquainted with the history of the plague must know that it had made its appearance in England no less than four times, and was supposed to have swept away altogether 116,000 persons in such visitations. His own apprehensions about the possibility of its re-appearance in these parts of the world had been more than once seriously excited. The gallant admiral then read an extract from the letter of a physician, who had been eight years with our army in Egypt, in which the writer stated that a friend of his, who was a strong non-contagionist, had thought proper during his sojourn at Malta to go and shut himself up in the little island of Goza, when the plague had declared itself there. In a few days his temerity cost him his life. He (Sir I Coffin) was only surprised that the same fate did not overtake Dr. M'Lean, who ventured to betake himself to, and reside in, the pest-house at Constantinople,

among the plague patients confined there. In a very little time all the assistants he had caused to be hired at two dollars per diem perished of the infection, and every one of the patients too, leaving the doctor the only survivor of the whole company.

Mr. Canning felt greatly relieved by the speech with which his right hon. friend had just obliged the house. He was very anxious that the house should understand that the doctrine of non-contagion had really not received any countenance from the most experienced and practical men. The mischief which had been produced by the unreserved and confident declarations that had been made by the disciples of this doctrine, was positively much greater than perhaps those gentlemen were aware of. Already at Marseilles, at Genoa, a much longer quarantine was imposed on British shipping, than on the shipping of any other European nation. At Naples, in addition to the usual form of quarantine prevailing there, they had imposed a term of 21 days upon British vessels that had quitted Great Britain even since the gentlemen who were such determined non-contagionists had promulgated in all places their opinions. Under these circumstances, he certainly did wish that hon. gentlemen would be pleased to keep such opinions a little more to themselves; or if they would continue their experiments, he heartily trusted that they would be tried and exhibited, as such experiments anciently were, in corpore vili, rather than in a manner to prejudice the general welfare of the community. He was happy to say, however, that the

public appeared to have no disposition to concur in the theories to which he had alluded.

Mr. Hume quite agreed that the mischief to which the right hon. gentleman had just adverted had been considerable, and he thought it was but right that ministers should do every thing in their power to contradict the opinion that had gone abroad, that our present quarantine laws were about to be repealed. But he had to complain that this declaration was not made, as it should have been, when the present bill was first introduced by the government. He could not help observing on the lecture which had been read by the right hon. gentleman, however, to the hon. member for Westminster, and others who thought with that hon. gent. on the subject of contagion; in respect to whom the right hon. secretary for foreign affairs had expressed so strong a wish that they would keep their opinions to themselves. Now he (Mr. Hume) was himself by no means satisfied that the principle of contagion did exist to the degree in which it had been long supposed to exist; and at any rate he believed that the discussion of the question could not be productive of any harm. With regard to the appointment of that medical officer--the interpreter or superintendant mentioned by the right hon. gent. (Mr. Grant)-he thought it ought not to be left to the discretion, or put in the power of any one man to replace, in this respect, that system of examination and inquiry which had gone on so well for so long a time.

Mr. Huskisson felt assured that if the hon. gent. would only think of the responsibility which attached

to the board of trade, when left to decide upon the case of every vessel arriving with either a foul or a suspected bill of health, he would see that it was desirable that they should have the assistance of some such officer, possessing the advantage of having visited countries where the plague raged, during its visitations; and where observation and judgment, therefore, in that matter might guide the board in all questions of quarantine. At present there was no person attached to the board of trade who had ever witnessed the ravages of plague at all. For his own part, he could only say that he thought this sort of appointment a most important object, inasmuch as there were no cases that he felt to be more difficult, or experienced greater hesitation in deciding upon, than cases of quarantine. He had always endeavoured, in respect of them, to act upon the safe side; and that was, to follow the belief which the law of this country recognized--that the plague was capable of being propagated by contagion. As to the objection taken by the hon. gentleman (Mr. Hume), that ministers should have made the declarations which the right hon. gentleman (Mr. Grant) had made. to-night upon an earlier occasion, the fact was, the right hon. gent. had in the very first instance stated the principle of the present measure. He (Mr. Huskisson) had seen the most idle reports in print about the intentions of government in respect of bills of health; and he was obliged to concur with his right hon. friend, that the most serious mischief was occasioned by such means; and that they who professed the doc

trine of non-contagion, although they were at perfect liberty to publish their theories in the usual course of publication, had yet no right to propound them in places and under circumstances where they might be erroneously supposed to have a certain degree of sanction from the legislature. He had seen it stated in the newspapers lately, that a dangerous case had declared itself in the lazaretto at Sheerness; whereas, in fact, every one of the persons in or about that establishment had been strictly examined, and was found to be in perfect health. This report also had, as he had reason to believe, done us a great deal of mischief abroad.

Mr. Denman, alluding to the opinions and evidence of Dr. Baillie, examined in 1819, stated that it appeared to be the doctor's belief, as that was to be collected from papers in the possession of his brother-in-law, that it would be unsafe to repeal the existing laws of quarantine.

After a few technical amendments, the bill was read a third time, and passed, under this title "A bill to repeal the several laws relating to the performance of quarantine, and to make other provisions in lieu thereof."

The house having resolved itself into a committee of supply,

Mr. Herries moved a grant of 30,000l., to make good the damages and dilapidations caused by a storm to the cob and harbour of Lyme-Regis.-Agreed to.

200,000l. for compensating cer tain inhabitants of the United States of America for the loss they had suffered in consequence of the capture of slaves by the British army.-Agreed to.

The house resumed, and the report was ordered to be received on Monday next.

Mr. W. Horton moved the second reading of the Mauritius trade bill.

;

Mr. Bernal observed, that some misconception had gone forth with respect to the nature of this measure. This surprised him, as the nature of the case was so extremely simple. It was proposed to place the Mauritius sugar on the same footing with sugar the growth of the West-India colonies of this country. It was contended that this measure would not injure the West-India planter-first, because the distance of the West Indies from this country was so much less than that of the Mauritius and next, because the quantity of sugar grown in the latter colony was so inconsiderable. From both these circumstances, it was inferred that the introduction of Mauritius sugar, which must arrive tardily, and in small quantities, could not affect the West-India planter. But he wished to hear some better arguments in favour of a departure from the present system. He would remind the house, that it appeared from the papers laid on the table, that though at this moment the inhabitants of the Mauritius did not carry on an illicit trade in slaves, yet that they had done so up to the year 1821. Up to that period, it was notorious that slaves were illegally imported into the isle of France. Now, this being an admitted fact, he could see no reason for granting the benefit at present proposed to those who, long after the legislature had prohibited the traffic, thought proper to indulge in it. Such a measure was very hard

towards

towards the colonists of the WestIndia islands, who had done their utmost to discourage the slavetrade, and who had appeared most anxious to cultivate their estates by the labour of Creole slaves. On the contrary, the inhabitants and planters of the Mauritius had for ten or twelve years indulged in a trade which they well knew was contrary to law. It was almost unnecessary to state to gentlemen understanding the history of the Mauritius, that there were a number of rocky islands, lying east of the isle of France, called the Sechelles, which were most favourable to the carrying on of this forbidden traffic. The consequence was, that an armed vessel was always cruizing in the straits of the Sechelles, in order to prevent the importation of slaves into the colony. This circumstance proved their anxiety to prosecute this trade; and it formed a reason for not granting them the boon which would be conferred by passing this bill. Another reason for not treating those persons as they treated the colonists of the West India islands was, that the former being considered as individuals coming under the protection of the East India company's charter, had enjoyed all the benefits of a free port for four or five years. But they were not content with that; and they turned round to government and said, "We wish ourselves to be placed on a footing with the West India islands." But the situation of the Mauritius was entirely different from that of the West India islands. There the slave-trade had long been suspended; but the islands of Bourbon and of France had, up to a comparatively late period, car

He

ried on a considerable traffic in slaves, under different flags; and, even now, the contiguity of the Sechelles rendered it easy to introduce slaves into the isle of Bourbon, and from thence into the other islands. There was a very great oversight in this billbecause, though it purported to exclude from its operation the sugars of India, of China, and of Bourbon, yet it would be very easy to evade the intention of the legislature. (Mr. W. Horton intimated that this objection had been effectually removed.) was glad to hear this statement; for without a very strict provision against the introduction of the sugars he had mentioned, the effects would be most injurious to the West India planter. He must however say, that he could not conceive why sugars should be suffered to come from the Mauritius on the same footing as sugars imported from Barbadoes, Granada, &c. when East India sugars generally were prohibited. These were points which called for the serious attention of the house; and he called on the right hon. gentleman (Mr. Horton) to explain on what ground it was that he introduced this measure.

Mr. W. Horton said, that at the time of the capture of this island, it was stipulated that it should be placed on the same footing with the other colonies of Great Britain; and the present measure would have no other effect but that of fulfilling that stipulation, The circumstance of the Mauritius being within the limits of the East India company's charter, and therefore rendering the sugar manufactured there liable to the same rate of duty that was pay

able

able on East India sugar, was merely an accident, of which he conceived advantage ought not to be taken, especially when it was considered that those limits extended to the Straits of Magellan. As to the alleged inconsistency of the inhabitants having at one time claimed freedom of trade, and subsequently changed their ground and requested relief with respect to their sugars, cogent reasons might be found in the papers for their conduct. In consequence of the order in council of 1816, connected with several local circumstances, the inhabitants found it necessary to abandon the free port, and, as they had a right to do, to adopt the alternative which was embodied in the measure now before the house. The hon. gentleman had mixed up the remission of duties with matters that were not connected with the question.

He stated that slaves had been introduced into the Mauritius, and that it would be unjust to those who had opposed the slave trade if any favour were shown to men who supported it. This assertion must be decided by facts; and if the hon. gentleman would look at the papers, he would find that, for years, the trade had not existed; and that even prior to 1821, it was not carried on to any great extent. On this subject information would perhaps be hereafter given, to a much greater extent than the house was now in possession of. An armed ship certainly was stationed in Sechelles-straits, not, however, for the prevention of the slave trade in the Mauritius, but for the prevention of the general slave trade which might otherwise be carried on.

The right hon. gentleman then read a number of accounts, to show the insignificant quantity of sugar grown in the Mauritius with what was grown in different West India islands, and concluded by observing, that it would be an act of great injustice not to remove those duties, which had been imposed under an accidental, and, in fact, an ideal connexion of the Mauritius with the East Indies.

Mr. R. Ellis said, that this question had been settled at the period of the peace; and if some special cause were not assigned for the proposed alteration, he conceived that the decision which had then been come to ought to be abided by. Formerly, it was represented to government that freedom of trade alone could benefit this colony. They were told that agriculture could not flourish there. But now, a different course was pursued, and those regulations which were intended for the benefit of the West Indies, where agriculture alone was pursued, were to be extended to the Mauritius. The hon. gentleman then referred to the papers before the house, and also to the correspondence contained in the reports of the African society, for the purpose of showing that the slave trade was carried on to a great extent in the Mauritius, and concluded by stating that he would vote against the bill.

Mr. Huskisson said, that in the last session it had been proposed to reduce the duty on Mauritius sugar; but the answer of the West India interest had then been, that the Mauritius enjoyed commercial advantages in which the West India islands did not participate. That plea was now taken

away;

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