THE events of the past month have been peculiarly important and interesting. We regret that our limits will not admit more numerous extracts from the rich harvest of talent and eloquence produced at the numerous religious anniversaries, our account of the meeting of the Hibernian Society contains as exact a report as we have been able e to obtain of the antagonist statements of Mr. Cunningham, and of the numerous speakers by whom he was surrounded, with reference to the new plan of education adopted by Government in Ireland. It is an important fact, that no man of decidedly religious character who is PRACTICALLY acquainted with that country has ventured to defend the Government system. We are perfectly willing to concede, that the Administration in adopting this plan, intended to convey a boon to Ireland; and that many of the supporters of the measure imagine it may promote religious knowledge; but in this respect they are deceived. The plan is of Popish origin; and will, as far as at all effectual, promote and advance the interests of Popery, and thus increase and perpetuate the miseries of Ireland. It is a weapon from the same arsenal, which of old provided Maynooth; which is now sending forth the Irish Church spoliation Bill, and which is pregnant with mischievous devices against the throne and the altar. The su supporters of Maynooth, the advocates for the Irish system of Education, and the spoliators of the Irish Church may speak great swelling words of and boast of their tolerance, their liberality, their wisdom; but will ere long be manifest to all men; be that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh them to scorn, for Popery must fall; and all the earth be filled with the glory of the Lord. 19776 folly of On Tuesday, May 14, Mr. Stanley brought forward, after a very admirable and eloquent speech, the Government plan for the termination Slavery. As far as we understand this plan, it appears to be the intention of Government, that on the passing of the proposed Bill, Slavery shall that the offspring of Slaves shall be immediately and entirely freese that the existing Slaves shall become apprentices to their present owners for TWELVE YEARS; that during those twelve years, the Slave is to work three-fourths of his time for his present master, and in return for such labour, is to receive from the master food and clothing, that the remaining fourth part of the Negro's time is to be left at his own disposal; but that if the Negro require it, the master is to find him work at a regulated price for this fourth part of his time, which is to be proportioned to the value of the slave as estimated at the time of his apprenticeship; that the children are to be supported by their parents, but if the parents are unable to provide for them, they are to be apprenticed for a limited period to the present owners; that the power of punishing the Negro is to be entirely removed from the managers, and placed in the hands of the magistrate and that as a compensation to the owners, a loan of FIFTEEN MILLIONS is to be advanced; but whether this loan is ever to be repaid, or whether it is to be wrung out of the bones and sinews of the oppressed Slaves, is not clearly understood. Of the plan itself, we think favourably; it involves, as plan of emancipation must, considerable practical difficulties; but it breaks every yoke-it gives considerable immediate relief-twelve years is the final limit of Slavery—and the union of activity and industry on the part of the Negro, with Christian benevolence and liberality on the part of those who detest slavery, may procure the entire and unrestricted freedom of every Slave in the West Indies, in a much shorter period; especially as the value of every Negro is to be registered, and he, or any one on his behalf, may procure his partial or entire emancipation, on on the payment of the prescribed sum. The discussion of the proposed plan was postponed to the 30th of May, in order to allow time for mature deliberation; and the plan itself will probably meet with considerable modification. The principle, however, of the final and entire termination of slavery will, we trust, be immediately recognized. Whatever views may be taken of the plan itself, it is impossible not to admire the very able manner in which it was brought forward by Mr. Stanley. He clearly demonstrated, that the existing West India distress was not to existed in 1804, and even at much earlier periods; that the expectation of relief to the Slave from the Colonial legislatures, was utterly hopeless; those legislatures having treated with practical contempt every measure for the amelioration of the Slave; that it was impossible for the existing system to continue; that the emancipation of the Slaves in Venezuela, in South America, had been accompanied with most beneficial results, and that such would be the case in our own Colonies, if emancipation were accompanied with that moral and religious instruction, which it is our duty to communicate. Mr. Stanley closed his address as follows: owind evelation of this question; such distress having From the present moment your responsibility begins. Into their minds you must implant wholesome principles as the basis of wholesome habits. You are placing them in the rank of freemen; it is your duty to qualify them for holding that rank honourably, virtuously, and beneficially. You are bound not to throw them upon the world impressed with the idea that the lot of man is labour from his cradle to his grave, and that he must die with no other hope and no other consolation, than that he has come to the end of a weary and laborious pilgrimage. You must imbue them with such principles as will insure the performance of their duty here--as will teach them the necessity of moral restraint to secure their happiness hereafter-as will instil into them the purest motives of action-as will fit them for freedom in this world, and as will enable them to leave it, not as the brutes, who perish without hope of immortality. I have now gone through the details of the proposition which His Majesty's Government have deemed it their duty to submit to your consideration. I know the difficulties, the almost insurmountable difficulties, which it will have to encounter in carrying it into practice. I know the disadvantages under which I bring it forward at this particular crisis; but I still bring it forward, in the confident hope, that in these resolutions the germ is sown which will soon ripen into perfect fruit, which, when matured by the fostering care and protection of persons wiser and better qualified than myself, will secure to the country, to the Colonies, and to all ranks and classes, and colours of his Majesty's subjects, that from forth there will be a virtual extinction, in the dominions of rita all the horrors of slavery and that, in no distant period, by no uncertain operation, but by the action of this machinery, every trace which mars the face of freedom will be erased and blotted for ever from our laws and institutions. There are those who first started this mighty question, and broached its godlike principles, who have not lived to see the triumph which is reserved for it in these our days. They laboured in their generation strenuously and vigorously for that fulfilment which we are now about to accomplish, they were satisfied with the foundation which it was their fortune to lay, and they trusted that it would be strong enough to support the glorious superstructure which is now about to be reared upon it. Like the Prophets of old, they hailed the day-star from on high, and exulted in that prospect, which they saw through a glass darkly, and not as we do, face to face. It is not, however, without feelings of the deepest and most heartfelt satisfaction that I recal to your recollection the fact that one man, the most religiously-inspired, the most conscientiously-influenced of all who laboured in the dawn and the rising of this great and glorious cause, Wilberforce-still remains to witness the final consummation of that important triumph to which his early energies were devoted, and to exclaim," Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace. "I have now only to offer to the House my humble apology for having detained them so long on this subject. I will conclude, after thanking them once more for the patient attention with which they have listened to me, by expressing my sincere and earnest hope that the counsels of the House, under God's gracious providence, will be so guided and directed, that England may now, a second time, set to the world the bright and glorious example of a commercial nation, holding commercial advantages light in the balance, when compared with the dictates of Dates of humanity, and justice, and religion-that we may see the extinction of slavery gradually and safely, but completely and entirely accomplished-and that by moderation of language and reconciliation of conflicting opinions, we may be induced to forget the extreme wishes we may have found on either side, and thus show to the world the proud example of a deliberative assembly vindicating its character for moderation and decision in the line which it adopts; a line which, in my conscience, I believe to be honourable to the nation to which this assembly belongs, and which I consider is the surest pledge of the successful issue of the experiment on which we are now about to enter.' The Bill introduced by Sir A. Agnew for the better observation of the Lord's Day was, we regret to say, rejected, after a short discussion, on Thursday, May 16, by a majority of 6. The numbers for the second reading being 73, against it 79. It seemed generally conceded, that some legislative enactment on this subject was necessary; but the provisions of the proposed Bill were regarded as too severe. We trust, however, that some measure may ere long be introduced, which may materially diminish the crying evils of Sunday Trading and Travelling, even should it not proceed quite so far as the Bill now rejected. Such a measure is loudly called for, as a relief to multitudes, who are very reluctantly induced to pursue avocations which their consciences testify ought not to be pursued on the Lord's Day. The Administration have recently been placed in a very embarrassing situation. The Chancellor of the Exchequer in bringing forward the Budget on Friday, April 19, stated that the surplus revenue for the year 1834, might be calculated to amount to £1,572,000. and he therefore prcposed to take off the duty on tiles £37,000. and to reduce the duties on advertisements £75,000. on marine insurances £100,000. on shop windows, &c. £244,000. on cotton £300,000. and on soap £503,000. amounting together to £1,056,000. On Friday, April 26, however, Sir W. Ingilby proposed, that the duty on malt should be reduced one-half, that is, to ten shillings per quarter, and this proposition was carried in opposition to the ministry by a majority of 10; the numbers being for the reduction 162,.. against it 152. As however, this proposition would have defeated the whole of the ministerial plan of finance, Lord Althorp embraced the opportunity of Sir John Key's bringing forwards a proposition for the repeal of the house and window taxes, to move, That the deficiency in the revenue, which would be occasioned by a reduction of the tax on malt to ten shillings the quarter, and by the repeal of the tax on houses and windows, could only be supplied by the substitution of a general tax on property and income, and an extensive change in our whole financial system, which would at present be inexpedient." This amendment was carried by a majority of 198: there being for it 355, and against it 197. The Administration are therefore enabled to stand, and the malt, house and window taxes to remain as proposed. 6 Sir John Cam Hobhouse having pledged himself to his constituents to vote for the repeal of the house and window tax; and being also called upon to support the Administration, of which he was a member, found himself compelled to resign his office of Secretary of State for Ireland, and his seat as member for Westminster. The electors of Westminster have refused to re-elect him, and have chosen Colonel Evans; Sir John has, in consequence, lost his seat and his office, and bad very nearly been entangled in the folly, guilt, and danger of a duel. It is time that some measure was adopted for the termination of these cold-blooded and disgraceful combats! Notices and Acknowledgments. Postponed for want of room. |