the conduct of Sir James Brooke, the Governor of Sarawak. These charges reflecting deeply on the honour and humanity of the eminent man who was the object of them, though generally discredited by well-informed persons, could not fail to make some impression on the public mind, and, although the mover of the resolution now referred to was apparently actuated by no friendly spirit to the party accused, yet the discussion to which the motion gave rise unquestionably redounded to his advantage. Mr. Hume moved that the House should pray the Queen, first, that she would issue a Royal Commission to inquire into the proceedings of Sir James Brooke, and especially into the attack by the East India Company's forces under his direction upon the wild tribes, called the Sakarran and Sarebas Dyaks, on the night of the 31st of July, 1849; and secondly, that she would take the opinion of the judges on the legality of the hold ing by Sir James Brooke of the following apparently incompatible offices:"namely, of soveign ruler of Sarawak, he being a British subject; of Her Majesty's Commissioner and Consul-General to the Sultan and Independent Chiefs of Borneo, he, Sir James Brooke, residing at Sarawak, where there is no independent chief; and also of the appointment of Governor of the British settlement of Labuan, distant 300 miles from Sarawak, at which British settlement Sir James Brooke has not been actually present more than a few months during the last three years."

Mr. Hume reprehended the attempt made on the last occasion when this subject was introduced, to give a public question the ap

pearance of a squabble between two individuals; and he explained that any seeming delay which might have occurred was due to the extreme difficulty he had experienced in obtaining the documents which ought to have been forthcoming. Stating how his attention had been first called to the subject of the slaughter of the Dyaks by an extract from a Singapore paper, he narrated the successive attempts which he had unsuccessfully made to procure information from Government. Finding it impossible to get information from the Government or the East India Company, he resorted to naval officers who had commanded on the Bornean stations: from the letters he had received in reply he read a great number of extracts, proving, in the opinion of the writers, that the Dyak tribes, unlike the Malays, were not pirates, and that their expeditions of boats were only the means of carrying on intertribal wars. Some of these officers he named; the others, he said, would be ready to give their evidence before a Commission. He then argued, that even if these Dyaks were pirates, they had been slaughtered with unnecessary promiscuousness, instead of being captured and condemned judicially. In reference to the various offices held by Sir James Brooke, Mr. Hume argued, that as an English subject he could not legally hold those relations to the Sultan of Borneo which he held as Rajah of Sarawak; for he had not the sanction of the Crown to do so.

The case in defence of Sir James Brooke was opened by Mr. Headlam, who said that, before last year's discussion, he had had no knowledge of the subject, nor acquaintance with Sir James. He con

sidered the proofs that the Dyaks were pirates to be overwhelming. Mr. M. Milnes and Mr. Henry Drummond vindicated with great warmth the personal motives and character of Sir James Brooke. Mr. Cochrane produced a letter from Admiral Sir Thomas Cochrane expressing in very strong terms his approval and admiration of that gentleman's acts.

Mr. Gladstone remarked on the evident personal animosity that existed in some quarters against Sir James. Expressing his own admiration of that distinguished man; expressing also his objections to the motion, both that it was too multifarious, and that it too obviously took the tone of a personal charge against Sir James Brooke, although he was not in command of the forces whose tactics were condemned; and giving his opinion, after an examination made with all the pains in his power, that the balance of testimony was in favour of the opinion that the tribes destroyed bore the character of pirates, though not formidable ones; he yet acknowledged the painful conclusion that the work of destruction was promiscuous, and to some extent illegal—a large portion of 500 human beings having been put to death without legal warrant. With this impression, he thought there should be inquiry.

Lord Palmerston replied to Mr. Gladstone, that he had assumed the Dyak pirates to have been destroyed after they ceased to resist, whereas it was the peculiar character of those pirates never to surrender. He concluded a brief but emphatic speech, by expressing his conviction that the House would, by an overwhelming majority, "proclaim to the world that Sir James Brooke

retired from the investigation with untarnished character and unblemished honour."

Mr. Cobden recapitulated the allegations of Mr. Hume. He denied the piratical character of the Dyaks, and maintained that Rajah Brooke was not putting down piracy, but, by the aid of the nation's ships, waging war with his own neighbours for the purpose of possessing himself of their territory.

Colonel Thompson said, he utterly disbelieved in the existence of Dyak pirates in Borneo.

On a division the numbers were as follows

For Mr. Hume's motion
Against it

19

€ 230

211

"On the coast of Africa, the trade may be said to have been almost extinguished north of the line, for the moment at all events, with the exception of the two points Lagos and Porto Novo. The propensity only survives among the chiefs: the people are learning to trade with us, and are anxious to extend the legitimate traffic in the products of the country. Besides oils, ivory, &c., hitherto exchanged, a good species of cotton has lately been reared with such success as to promise a large supply to this country. The Portuguese Government

has co-operated with us heartily; at Loando and the other chief Portuguese stations on the coast, the slave-trade is so paralyzed that most of the slave-traders have suspended their business, and many have altogether transferred their ships, their capital, and their energies, to trade of a legitimate character. On the eastern coast of Africa, the Imaum of Muscat has given us facilities never before conceded; the consequence has been, that in the rivers towards the southern extremities of his dominions, where a great slave-trade has hitherto been carried on for the supply of Brazilian and Portuguese traders, barracoons have been lately destroyed capable of holding several thousands of slaves.

"On the coast of Africa, then, by the vigilance of our cruisers, by the effect of our treaties with native chiefs (treaties, I am happy to say, observed almost universally with the greatest fidelity), by the progress made by Liberia, within the extensive territories of which country the slave-trade was suspended, and by the hearty co-operation of the Portuguese, French, and American officers, for whose zealous, active, and intelligent aid, our Commodore expresses the deepest gratitude, very much indeed has been done towards effecting the great object for which this country has so long and so energetically laboured."

The chief point to which slaves hitherto were sent was Brazil. But early last year our cruisers concentrated on that coast, and Lord Palmerston addressed "earnest communications" to the Brazilian Government: the consequence of which was, that the Brazilian Government, in September last, passed a law making the slave-trade piracy;

and otherwise exerted that vigour, and put forth that power in the suppression of the trade, which they ought long since to have exerted. In the last eight months they had almost extinguished the trade with Brazil; so that in 1850 the number was not one-half of what it was, and in the first quarter of this year it would be hundreds in place of thousands. In a word, the Government of Brazil had cooperated most efficiently with us towards effecting this great object. We had laboured under a great misconception in supposing that the Brazilian nation, as a nation, were clinging to this trade. The only persons active in promoting it had been certain Portuguese factors. There had been in the course of the last few years a powerful, active, and intelligent anti-slavery party growing up in Brazil, acknowledged by the Government, supported by newspapers, and having representatives in the Parliament of Brazil. The result of all this was, that the Brazilian Government had lately employed several cruisers to co-operate with the British in seizing slave-traders on the coasts, in destroying barracoons, and in releasing slaves; and many slavedealers had been banished. As many as 140 slave-dealers had transferred their capital to legitimate trade; one, a member of the Fonseca family, had lost, in consequence of the late active operations, no fewer than 81 vessels, each of the estimated value of 2500l., or nearly 200,000l. in all. Floating capital in Brazil, to the extent of 1,200,000l., previously engaged in the slave-trade, had been lately withdrawn from that pursuit and invested in a bank in Lisbon. This statement was received with much cheering.

Sir John Pakington observed that an impression prevailed that while the trade with Brazil had decreased, that with Cuba had increased. Lord Palmerston replied, that the trade had been reduced in Cuba to a very low amount. Mortality among the slaves had appeared to cause a display of greater activity, but the Spanish Government had given their assurance that they would do their utmost to prevent it.

Great satisfaction was expressed by many Members at the favourable account given by the Foreign Secretary of the success of the operations against the slave-trade. Some days later, however, Mr. Hutt, who in the preceding year had moved the resolution in the House of Commons condemnatory of the African squadron, took the opportunity to make some qualifying statements with regard to the trade, Lord Palmerston's explanation having been given in his absence. Mr. Hutt contended that the progress made was not owing to the squadron, but to the new policy of Brazil, and also to the joint influences of a terrible epidemic in Brazil, which had deterred speculators; and of a previous glut in the trade. The present undoubted depression could not, Mr. Hutt thought, be regarded as permanent. Lord Palmerston partly admitted and partly contested these positions; mainly relying on the fact that the price of slaves in Brazil had doubled, which showed the pressure of a demand there.

A considerable sensation was excited about this period by the publication, in the form of a pamphlet, of two letters addressed to Lord Aberdeen by the right hon. W. E. Gladstone, on the subject of the State Prosecutions of the Neapo

litan Government. The known character and opinions of the writer of these letters added weight and authority to his narration of facts, which he attested from personal observation, and to the charges of flagrant injustice and oppression which he deliberately made against the Government of King Ferdinand. Just before the end of the session the subject was noticed in the House of Commons, Sir De Lacy Evans putting a question to the Foreign Secretary with reference to Mr. Gladstone's statements. The gallant Officer said :

66

From a publication entitled to the highest consideration it appears that there are at present above 20,000 persons confined in the prisons of Naples for alleged political offences; that these prisoners have, with extremely few exceptions, been thus immured in violation of the existing laws of the country, and without the slightest legal trial or public inquiry into their respective cases: that they include a late Prime Minister, and a majority of the late Neapolitan Parliament, as well as a large proportion of the most respectable and intelligent classes of society; that these prisoners are chained two and two together; that their chains are never removed, day or night, for any purpose whatever: and that they are suffering refinements of barbarity and cruelty unknown in any other civilized country." Sir De Lacy Evans consequently desired to know if the British Minister at the Court of Naples had been instructed to employ his good offices in the cause of humanity for the diminution of these lamentable severities, and with what result?

Lord Palmerston, in answer to this question, paid a very emphatic

tribute to the course taken by Mr. Gladstone at Naples in investigating wrong and suffering. Concurring in opinion with him, that the influence of public opinion in Europe might have some effect in setting such matters right, he (Lord Palmerston) had thought it his duty to send copies of Mr. Gladstone's publication to the British Ministers at the various Courts

of Europe, directing them to give copies to each Government; in the hope that by affording them an opportunity of reading it, they might be led to use their influence for promoting that which was the object of Sir De Lacy Evans's inquiry, and a remedy for the evils to which he referred. Much cheering followed this announcement.