tion of their British supporters,
the efforts of Sir Robert Peel to retain office in opposition to a
majority of parliament, would have created such a storm of hostility to
him throughout Great Britain, as would have made it difficult for him to
hold any office for many a year.

DISCUSSION IN THE LORDS RESPECTING THE SLAVERY ABOLITION ACT.

On the 27th of February the Earl of Mulgrave, whose efficient
administration of the government of Jamaica had made him an authority
on the West India slavery question, inquired of the secretary for the
colonies, whether it was the intention of the present government
to carry out the measure of emancipation recently passed through
parliament. Lord Mulgrave strongly represented to the house the
apprehensions entertained by the public that, in two respects, the
government would differ from its predecessor:--the appointment of
impartial magistrates--men not holders of slave property; and the
protection of the missionaries, to whom the planters entertained
an unjust prejudice, but who, in the experience of Lord Mulgrave in
Jamaica, were a most useful body of men, who had in no way transgressed
the bounds of their sacred calling in their conduct to slave or master.
To these inquiries and remarks the Earl of Aberdeen replied very much
in the tone and spirit in which he was accustomed to answer questions
when, many years later, during the Russian war, he was prime-minister.
He affected surprise that any one should suppose him an opponent
to freedom; promised everything that popular opinion demanded; but
betrayed, nevertheless, by his sneers and misrepresentations where the
missionaries were concerned, and his deep sympathy with the planters,
that his heart was set against justice and liberty to the poor
apprentices. The Duke of Wellington brusquely said, that he had been
opposed to the philanthropic view of the negro question altogether, but
the bill passed by parliament he would not consent to see made a dead
letter. The duke evidently said what he meant. The well-known honesty of
his character assured the Earl of Mulgrave who accepted the reply. It
was a good sign as to the policy which the cabinet intended to pursue
on this question, that the Marquis of Sligo was requested to retain his
office as Governor of Jamaica. The noble marquis was not an experienced
politician or administrator; but in his management of the difficult and
complicated concerns of Jamaica at that time, he prove