Star. — London, England, 1824-06-02 00:00:00

RV' % , 1 . Mr. hum, from the quitarian Christians of Bolton-le-Moor; and by lylVa?uoewat,from‘o-nhabitants of Southampton. orsthamoraalks been read, Mr. BROUGHAM addressed the Speaker in near'y the following words: " Sir, I confess that in bringing forward the Motion of which I ha ve g iven notice, feel some degree of annoyance, I might perhaps say disheartedness, when I contrast the intense interest which this question has excited out of doors; interest , not surpassed by any feeling excited by an y p ti- Tate occurrence within my memory ; I say that I, cannot but feel in some degree disheartened, when I. compare that anxiety with the indifference manifested in a quarter from which I least of all expected such in difference—an indifference amounting, I will say, to a considerable degree of aversion to agitate this ques tion. I confess that I do feel annoyed, if not dis heartened, when I see such indifference manifested by men who are generally alive to all questions of indivi dual hardship or oppression, by men who are generally alive li to any undue exercise of power, and by men who view with an eye of jealousy any invasion of our Constitution—any, the slightest infraction of the law. To my astonishment, Sir, I have heard such men treat this question with no little levity ; but, on the contrary, for no better reason than that they did not wish to go into the details, endeavour to avoid what to me appears to be an important portion of the performance of their duty. One says, what signifies to us what passes at the other side of the Atlantic ? as if, Sir, the distance of the place was a reason why those transactions should escape the notice of this House—as if this House should pass over what occurred in a place whete we have no Re presentative—a reason which, in my mind, was the strongest in the woi Id for our interference—(Hear). — Then, says another, all these petitions, these meetings, and this anxiety out of doors, are about the case of an individual, a Mr. Smith, a poor Missionary ; and by the way of making the thing the more unpalateable, the word Methodist was added. This is the first time which I have heard, avid I trust that I never shall again hear in this place, that the weakness of one party—that be cause the unprotected was opposed by the powerful— that because the weak man Stood single and alone against i.ower—l say that I have, for the first time, beard such facts stated as reasons why we should shut our ears to his complaint (Hear).—But, Sir, this ques tion is not, as some persons assume, taken up solely by Methodists ; and even if they alone had taken it up, 1 would say it would be much to their credit not to sul fer such an injury to be ieffcted unjustly upon one of their representatives. But, Sir, I shall not argue that question now; and to avoid delay and ciicumlocutioe, shall come at once to the point. Mr. Smith, ai lam in formed, was not a Methodist: he was a Missionary, not employed by the Methodists, but a Missionary em ployed by the Church Missionary Society—a Satiety composed, Sir, of Churchmen and Dissenters indiscri nrinately. Mr. Smith, as lam informed, was an Inde pendent—a member of a numerous, conscientious, en lightened, and much to be venerated class of religionists, on accoutt of their universal and unqualified toleration, a member of a body to whom this country in all ages owed a debt of the deepest gratitude—of a body of men who, notwithstanding some excesses to which they may originally have been driven, and which, if carried fur ther, may have given just ground for blame instead of laughter, yet ; taking them altogether, were a class whom I shall be the first to proclaim as men the put icy of whose minds rivalled the purity of the early Chris tians—as men whose zeal as martyrs, and skill as war riots, by combatting and conquering, laid the founda tion of our civil and religious liberties—(Hear, hcar).— I say; they are a body of men who are justly venerated, not the less because by their unqualified toleration they ir4ve reached a pinnacle of glory, which in that respect not even the most liberal and enlightened of religionists has attained, although I am happy to say that great and near approaches have been made, and ale being made daily by other sects. All I ask for those men is, that those Fersons who seem inclined to feel an aversion to enter into this question, will not allow their indolence (for to no other feeling can I attribute that aversion) to prevent them from looking more or less into a ques tion which has excited such an interest out of doors. I' think, if this question were only taken up by one indivi dual, and rested solely on its own merits, it ought to command the respect and attention of this House. As I wish, without farther preface, to come at once to my object, I shall abridge my observations, and state to the douse that the charges which I have to prefer, have arisen out of the proceedings which have led to the trial and conviction of Mr. Smith ; and I undertake to spew to tho,e who honour me with a hearing, that from the beginning to the end of these proceedings, there has been the greatest illegality, the grossest violation of justice—down to the mere violation of the most comnion forms of justice—a violation of justice such as the history of modern times could not furnish a pa rallel to—(llear, hear). I have uied this experiment, I have conversed upon this subject with persons out of doors, with members of the profession of which I have the honour of being a member, as well as with persons whose experience with judicial proceedings was not such as could enable them to form an opinion respect ing nice violations of the forms of judicial proceedings ; but I have never met with any man who made the least objection to this statement, that 41 the more those pro ceedings are looked into, the greater attention is be stowed upon the details, the more complete and unqua lified will be his assertion, that this proceeding was a breach of law, a violation of justice, and a gloss outrage of the ordinary forms of justice."—(Cr ier ref I lear, hear) It is necessary for me, in the first place, to call the at tention of the House to that part of General Murray's Proclamation which gave general alarm to the inhabi tants of the Colony. In consequence of certain resolu tions which were unanimously adopted by this Haase, and an Address to the Throne, which was in consequence presented, certain instructions were sea out to the Go vernors of those West India Colonies which were more ini• Paediatric under the power of the Clown. Whether these instructions were the best which could by possibility be devised to carry into effect the object of those resolu tions—whether Ministers ought to have gone a step farther, or have stopped a step shorter—whether it were fitting to begin the proposed reformation in West India society, in places where there were but few masters with a few slaves, among men who knew their masters, and saw the symbol of their severity in the lash of the drivers—or whether it were better to begin by attacking that symbol—are questions which I shall not stop for a moment to inquire into. Suffice it to say, that certain instructions were sent out to Demerara, where they ar rived somewhere about the 7th of June, or rather a few days before; I say a few days before, because I presume they *ere - acted upon shortly after their arrival. The ar rival of those instructions excited great alarm and . 1-. much feverish anaiety in the minds of the planters; 411 cl that this .anti 'and the arrival of those in struttions should bd constiidnicated - to the field Ne groff is pet matte of surprise when. we consider ,tIW number of Negroes who are employed as do. mestics in the houses of the White inhabitants.— Thearrival of those instructions and the alarm of the planters was communicated to the field Negroes. In the meantime the instructions became the subject of private discussion in the Court of Policy, where a great difference of opinion was manifested. Another and a third meeting took place ; and although in those meet ings there was no discussion of a hostile or violent nature, yet there was considerable difference of opi nion. The difference of opinion upon those discussions having got out among the people, increased the fever into which society had been already thrown, and the only means which could be devised for allaying that universal irritation, and which would have suggested themselves to any one not of weak intellect, did not' suggest themselves to the person then at the head of affairs in that Colony. No man is more willing than I am to make allowance for his situation, which I readily admit was delicate in the extreme ; but I confess that feel astonishment that the propriety of promulgating at once what the nature of the instructions was did not suggest itself to that gallant individual—(Hear, hear). I think it was his duty to have done so, even before they had made up their minds with respect to the instructions ; but, Sir, after the Court of Policy had come to certain resolutions, still a fatal delay took place. Is it not extraordinary that week after week passed between the arrival of the instructions of this Government and the lamentable occurrence which led to the conviction of Mr. Smith, and that no public com munication respecting those instructions had been made by the Government of Demerara, either to Whites or Blacks? I again ask, what could be the reason for suffering an interval of seven weeki to pass without 'making such a communication? The instructions ar• rived on the 7th of July, and the revolt did not take place until the 18th of August. Out of the whole of the evidence in this case, I wish particularly to call the attentiost of the House to two facts not.unconnected, but the one absolutely growing out of the other. I mean the alarm on the part of th?. Whites and the anxiety for their own safety, and the questions of the, Negroes wish respect to their freedom. What are the questions which the Negroes are stated to have asked? Ilac a paper with our freedom come out from Eng land ?" Ilas not the King of England given us our freedom?" " Have we not friends in Parliament who speak fr,r us to get our freedom ?" Such, Sir, are the questions which the Negroes put, and you see that the word freedom was the word with them all, and that all "relieved their freedom was granted. Now with respect to granting freedom to the slaves, I shall now state those opinions which I have often stated in this House, and which I have maintained out of it long before I had the honour of a seat in it, and which opinions I now ad here to in the main, perhaps conecting the manner ofl expressing that opinion. As it is necessary, in justice to oar White fellow-subjects, and as it is justice to the Negroes themselves, who have been hitherto the victims of our cruelty, our injustice, and I maintain our im policy, to maintain for the present the state of society in the West Indies, I contend that it must be main- tained by a steady and prompt execution of all laws re lating to those Colonies, and. that nothing can be so dangerous as wavering or leaving a doubt where none ought to exist ; where there is no occasion for the ex istence of such a doubt. Doubt for a moment may be fatal; and mercy to the Black man, as well as justice to the White, requires that you should never suffer for an instant one party to dread, or the other to hope, that the Parliament of England had decreed the sudden and unjustifiable freedom of the slaves, before they were fit to receive and appreciate such a blessingHHear, hear.) it is first for the sake of the Slack man, and next, and subsidiary to that, in justice to the White man, I feel myself bound to state that I think unhappily the Blacks are at this moment not in a fit state to receive the blessings of unqualified freedom. A desire natu rally and inevitably excited by the improper con cealment of the contents of instructions known to have been received from London, gave rise to those pro ceedings in which, in my opinion, all classes of his Majesty's subjects are deeply interested. It happened, Sir, that in the Colony of Demerara, a Mr. Smith officiated as a Minister of the Gospel upwards of six years; for a period I believe •f six years and a half; during which time he obtained universal respect for his amiable, religious, and moral qualities, together with the love and veneration not only of the flock to whom be administered the solace of religion, but even of those of his neighbourhood, one of whom in particular was attracted towards him by his amiable and quiet deport ment, and by his strictly moral propriety—( llea - ). And if the papers now on the table furnish but part of the truth, still what they did furnish is sufficient to en able me to prove to this House, that Mr. Smith, when not occupied in the usual discharge of his religious duties, must have borne the highest character. This person, a Minister of the Gospel, was dragged from his house about three days after the revolt had commenced, at a time when the first violence was not only expended, but when the revolt was substantially put down. He was dragged from his house without having been granted time to procure those conveniences which in other climates would promote his comfort, but in that climate were absolutely necessary for the preservation of his health, and in his case more absolutely necessary, because his health was at that time attacked in the prin cipal seats by a disease, which, happen what might, would in all probability have terminated his existence. After having been dragged with this indecent baste to prison, Mr. Smith was shut up many weeks, in an un healthy climate,in a room where he was exposed to the sun, and he was afterwards removed to another room where his health and his life were placed in greater jeopardy than before, to a place which in any country would not be considered fit for the abode of pri soners; to a place where, in consequence of the heavy rains, the water lay underneath boards which were a quarter of an inch asunder, and therefore the dampness was the more injurious. Mr. Smith was seized under the hollow pretence that, by the declaration of martial law, he was required to serve as a soldier. If from ignorance of the fact that this was required, he had refused to serve, surely there was some excuse for his so doing. Mr. Smith was, how ever, hurried to prison, and his papers were seized. With these was his private journal, part of which was intended to be sent to his employers, but the greater portion of it was intended to meet no human eye but his own. He was kept in confinement after the dis turbance had subsided. General Murray had written home, that on the 26th things were quiet, and after the Slst there was no movement at all. The Colony was thus, barring the possibility of a MAO* as*traUiluil as it could be, and as much so as it had been before the new instructions were sent out... Mr. Smith was kept in prison four calendar months. On the 9th of. November he wits coufined in a room called the Gain?, wbere he was :objected to many privations, and it was finally re solved to bring him to a Court-martial. He called on the House to pause, and survey as it *ere the outside of this proceeding. He believed it would puzzle the most learned member of the Court to Say under what law this was done. As a lawyer, he could not under stand how Mr. Smith could properly be tried before a Court-martial. He would not say that in bad times there had been no example of the kind in England, but he would say, that nothing of the sort had been attempted since we bad been in possession of any thing that deserved the name of a Constitution.—, Formerly, indeed, the Crown would order, by Procla mation, that civil offences should be prosecuted before a military tribunal. The nearest precedent for what had been done in Demerara, was to be found in the au gust and liberal decree issued in the teign of Philip and Mary, which ordered to be tried before a Court-martial those guilty of the rebellious offence of holding hereti cal (Pt otestant) books in their possession, and not giving them up to the Public Authorities, without first reading them. Similar proclamations, perhaps, but not so ex travagant, were issued in the reign of Elizabeth, in that of James the First, and al,o in the time of Charles I. till at length the evil was thought unbearable ; and thence arose the celebrated " Petition of Rights," one of the best, if not the very best, of the legacies left by Lord Coke, to entitle him to the gratitude of his coun trymen. The Petition of Rights declared that all such proceedings should thenceforth be put down, and that no subject should be bowl,' in life or limb but according to the law of the land, " lest," the Petition went on to say, " any of the subjects of your Majesty should be put to death contiary to the law of the land." Since that time martial law had not been tied in England, and was de-1 claied by the Courts to be contrary to the law of the, land. The evil complained of had been much miti gated in the time of Charles, and that which the Peti tion aimed at was to pi event militat y persons, and those c:muecte,l w ith them, Isom being brought to a Court-martial for cffcm es not cognizable before a military tribunal. At that time a standing army, in time of Feace, was not known ; but when the Mutiny Bills came to be brought in annually, certain offences were made punishable by martial law; and martial w, as administe, ed under the Mutiny Acts, was all that now remained of it in England. If the proceedings in Demerara w ere to be justified on the ground that they were sanctioned by a Dutch law, he would answer to this, that the Crown had no right, constitutionally speaki,lg, from conquering colonies, to import into our Constitution laws which were un known to it. Were this permitted, the Crown, from conquering one colony, might introduce the bow-' string; from a second, the 'practice of paving court yards with the skulls of those who offended against despotism ; and from a third, the practice of scalping, and the tomahawk. Were the pi inciple admitted, these things might all he denizened in out Constitution with out consent of Parliament. But it was unuecessary for him to dwell on this subject, as the proceedings which had taken place professed to be founded on the law of England. The patties charged could not plead that they took place under a Dutch law, as it was uncle! the Mutiny Act, which was often cited on the tiial that they affected to act. Now, how did this bear in the case of the poor Missionary ? He was tried by a Court Martial, and Governor Murray wrote home that tlris was better for him, as had a different course been taken, lie might have been brought Leibre a mote prejudiced tribunal. Ile, however, had no he,itation in saying, that had he been the accused, or Counsel for him, he would have preferred being brought before a Civil Tribunal to appealing before that anomalous Court to which the I.lissionat y had been sent. In the fist in stance there would have been delay, which was in all cases an advantage for the accused, but which, in a case like that of Mr. Smith, was an inestimable benefit. The Roman law, as administered theie, offered many advantages of which a defendant might avail himself ; and the proceedings necessary to establish the admissi bility of slaves to give evidence, if that course were taken, presented chances in favour of the accused. By the rules of the civil law, two witnesses were necessary to each fact: let any man look at the evidence given on the Court-martial, and say if this would not have been of-importance to the accused. Last of all, there was the advantage in a trial by common law of a learned per son presiding as Chief Justice, acting on his individual and professional responsibility, in the fate of the Bar of the Colony; and under the observation of that Bar to which he went, and to which lie may return, whose fa vourable judgment, if he retained the common feelings of an advocate and a man, he could not but anxiously desire. But the same individual took quite a different character when he became a member of the Court martial, to qualify him for which, he some days before had taken upon himself the rank and state of Lieute nant-Colonel of the Militia. This was done for the ex press purpose of enabling him to sit on the Court-mar tial. Coming there partly a lawyer, partly a soldier, he saw those forms brokon which, surrounded by a Bar, and administering justice in his black robe, he would not have failed to protect. fle passed from this to another mockery. The Judge Advocate, who on these occasions was said to be a prosecutor, was still generally regarded as coun sel for the prisoner. It had been laid down by a reve rend Judge, in the middle of last centui y, to be the duty of the Judge Advocate, when the case was doubtful, to incline towards the prisoner. He was sorry to say he saw nothing of the kind in the conduct of this Judge, or of those Judges he might say. They displayed all their parts to oppose the accused with vehemence ; and the attempts made to confound the prisoner were such as could never have been made in a differently constituted Court. The specific charge had been concealed from the prisoner. It had been drawn up in a short, brief, vague manner, and the opening speech veiled the sub ject still more. Half a page sufficed for the opening speech, but eighteen pages scarcely contained his reply. After the prisoner's mouth was closed, when he could not be heard again, then was all his subtlety and twisting let loose against the unhappy man; and this was carried to the monstrous extent of introducing new facts—the names, the dates, the places of which had not been hinted at or alluded to in the course of the preceding twenty-seven days of the trial—(Hear, hear). He there fore again said, that if he had been the party accused, or his Counsel, he would have preferred a thousandfold being tried before a civil tribunal. As to the other Members of the Court-martial, he should remark on one who, though the highest in rank next to the Governor, appeared to him unfit to assist on that occasion. The individual was Colonel of a Regiment in the Colony. It —.war .~~ was known that Officers commanding West India Reg. mints had generally a connection with the Cohnly in which they held such rank. Of the President,Lieutenant- Colonel Goodman, he wished to say a single word,. That gallant Officer, than whoM, as he understo o d, nobody could bear a higher character, besides his cows.. mission, held the office of Vendtte-master to the Colony, an office which pointed him out as the last man wh o ought to sit upon such a trial. It was the obse r v at i o% of General Murray,that it was necessary for Mr. S m i t h not only to have a fair and impartial trial, but the full semblance of one. How then came he to appoint aq Officer to be President of the Court who held such situation as he had mentioned ? It happened that only a few days previous to this, there was a great sale of slaves, a circumstance naturally calculated to excite 6 . _.... (Treat sorrow in the hearts of those unfortunate peopl e , fifty-six of whom were to be torn from the place of their birth and residence, and many from their dearest ties and connections. He had in his hand the adver. tisements of these sales, and every one of them ua, signed " 4 S. A. Goodman." These poor creatures were described as being orderly and industrious, and well worthy the attention of masters. Another advertise. ment was for the sale of a mother and her three chil dren ; and another for that of a young female, who wa s pregnant; altogether they amounted to seventy-six, an..l the whole of the advertisements were signed with Lieu• tenant-Colonel Goodman's name. Let it not be sup. posed that he meant to say the holding of this (A c e would be an inducement to lieutenant-Colonel Good. man to act cow r.try to his judgment, but it gave Lim a manifest interest in the system, and everybody mu st suppose him rrejudiced in its favour. But the Chief Justice he could not leave. He must again advert to that monstrous and unheard-of injustice. He, to whom lay the right of appeal ; was appointed to this tribunsit —not as President, where his acts would stand tOrward and attract the eye cf scrutiny, but hidden amongst the common and iriesponsible members of the Comt. One word more upon the jurisdiction of the Court itself. It could not be denied that any sudden :d urgent emergency, such as foreign invasion or reb,:i!ion against the St:tte, justified the proclaiming of in.n law, and the suspension of Civil Courts. But necessity Alone justified it. And the very fact of that justification proved that martial law could no longer. exist when such necessity should cease. But here it continued for five months, and it was two months before the Court-mar tial for the trial of Mr. Smith was assembled. Uiroa the lapse of that period of time he was tried as a st.klier. The most favourable way of putting the case for the opposite argument was, that every man became a sol dier under martial law. And if Mr. Smith had been brought before what was technically called a Drum head Court-martial, which sits for an litair, and in the moment of rebellion, be should have nothing to complain of in that respect. But instead of that, all necessity fr:r maintaining a state of martial law had ceased, and tranquillity had been everywhere restored. Yet, in defiance of this, after two months had elapsed, the Court-martial was assembled, and sat twenty-eight days. He would now beg the House to look for a moment at the course of the proceedings on the trial. And if he had strewn that the Court had no jurisdiction over the case of Mr. Smith, it he had proved that his Judges were interested persons and dis qualified for that ()lice, he could equally she a: that their pre ceedings were nei:her sanctioned by the maxims of justice, nor justified by the principles of law ; even if there had been no defect in the original construction Cr power of the tribunal. lle begged to observe that the Minutes laid before the House, were by no means fuli, although he did not say they contained any thing fithe: They told nothing which was untrue, but they omitted much that ought to be told. First, as to what legal Gentlemen well understood by " leading questions. The objection to this species of examination was, that it put answers into the witness's mouth, and was not so mttch his evidence as the statement of the person ex amining. This was peculiarly the case when the evi dence was afterwards written in substance, and not with the question and answer. The Honourable and Learned Gentleman then read extracts from his Re port, where leading questions were put, and the wit ness affirmed them. In the papers before the House, the substance Was given as being the evidence of the witness. It was well known that hearsay evi dence was not permitted to be received in Courts of Justice, not even upon Corirti-martial. But, in this case, witnesses were asked, " Did you hear so and so tell so and so that he had beard this or that ?" " Did you ever bear anybody insinuate ?" and ques tions of this monstrous and unheard-of description. This was ten times worse than what was usually termed hear say evidence, and as being such rejected by the Courts; so much worse that to compare them would be an ab solute injustice to the latter. Yet this was what the Court thought proper to admit in some parts of this trial, and up to a certain point which he should pre sently shew to the House. The Honourable and Learned Gentleman then read various passages of the evidence where leading questions had been put, and evidence as to imputation and hearsay had been admitted. The same thing was to be found in the cross-examination of the prisoner's witnesses. Mr. Austin, the Curate of the Colony, was asked if he had never heard insinuations that Mr. Smith stimulated the negroes to revolt? This question Mr. Austin declined answering, upon the grouhd that he was a Member of a Board of Inquiry then sti:- ting to ascertain the causes which led to the revolt. It was, however, decided by the Court that anything which had passed before the Board of Inquiry, of ehe where, must be stated by the witness. Accordingly he answered that he had heard such insinuations. Thus the evidence taken before other bodies was brought by insinuation to bear upon the trial of this unfortunate man, in addition to all the other injustice and oppression with which he had to contend, if he (Mr. Brougham) had been Counsel for Mr. Smith (but he had noCounset at that stage of the proceedings, and therefore, by plead log, acknowledged the jurisdiction of the Cour t) he should have challenged their jurisdiction,but much more should he have objected to all persons sitting on the Court, who had already sat upon the trials of the Negroes. Could they, he would ask, come to the trial of his guilt or innocence with unprejudiced minds—they who had extorted from those unhappy persons evidence against Mr. Smith ? One of these, a slave named Paris, had been induced to make a statement so wild, he would not say so improbable, but such a wild and impossible tissue 'of stories, that it would be idle to think of shewing their contradictions and falsehood. It was altogether so wild and incredible, that even these soldiers sitting in judgment upon Mr. Smith would not bring it for ward ; whilst his prosecutors summarily dispatched those slaves who had gone so tar in their confessions. This was the same with Sandy and other slaves, who, having told too much for the purpose of their judges,. were led to in . - • -- - 4 ,tat• tabs a lOW f WshiP - five ti weer Vac c availal that 111 this p was m satne• 1112 A 0 ins