The Sun. — London, England, 1824-06-12 00:00:00

=1;:y, the loss of reason. He - (Mr. B.) had of course no wish -I) press any thing whatever against him. Mr. Secretary PEEL said, he had in his public character received a letter from Mr. Gourley, the contents of which left • no doubt in his (Mr. P.'s) mind, that the writer was some un .happy person not of sound mind. Mr. HUME said, that Mr. Gourley had been confined in Canada, and was then, it was understood, subject to temporary derangement. He went to some parish in the county, and sought the parochial relief, in return for which he broke flints on the road, although he at that time held a farm under the Duke of Somerset of 14001. per annum. He (Mr. H.) believed that he had latterly been revisited by insanity. Mr. WYNN said that if the fact of the insanity of this per son was established, the House would have nothing to do but to guard agabastlhe repetition of such an outra,, , re. Mf. Secretary CANNING observed, that the better course would he to detain the man in custody until certain information bad been procured as to whether he was insane or not. Mr. BROUGHAM said there could be no doubt whatever of the man's. insanity. Atter a fel words from Mr. Secretary CANNING, The SPEAKER-said he then understood it to be the pleasure of the House that the person should remain in custody untilsthe Holm should further order. There Appeared to be a general assent through the House, and the conversation then. dropped. MISSIONARY SMITH. Sir MACKINTOSH-said he held in his baud a petition which he wished to present before his Hon. and Learned Friend moved the Order of the Day for going into the adjourned de bate.. ' It was from persons to whose opinions he was bound to give particular attention, they being inhabitants of Knares borough. It wax signed by the Clergymen and several very respectable inhabi t ants, praying for the gradual abolition of Negro Slavery ; and stating that nothing which had taken place recently a t Demerara had - induced them to alter their ipinion as to the necessity or the practicability of the abolition. The petition was read and ordered to lie on the table and be printed. - A Message from the Lords here announced their Lordships' asent to several Bills. ADJOURNED DEBATE. ~ Dr. LUSHINGTON mo ve d th e O r d er o f t h e D ay f or re -naming the Adjourned Debate on the Motion respecting the proceedings at Demerara, against Mr. Smith. The Order of the Day was accordingly read, and the SPEAKER having :put the question, DreLi/SHINGTON rose and supported the Motion in de fence of Mr. Smith. On no occasion in the course of his poli tical life, had he ever addressed a public assembly with a more earnest desire to perform his duty faithfully and impartially. It would be his wish to avoid as much..as possible, in the course of his address to the House all severity of remark ; but he feared it would, notwithstanding, be his lot to speak with some severity of the Court Martial which had tried Mr. Smith, and particularly of one of its members. In the defence he was about to make of Mr. Smith's character, he should not con sider it necessary to rely upon the Documents put forth by the Missionary Society, or upon any other evidence extraneous to that • which was furnished by his Majesty's Government as copies of the proceedings on the trial. TO these he should -strictly confine himself. Neither should he think it neces _ sary to go into the question, whether the Court Martial itself was legal or not. Ile should proceed upon higher ground, be -tense he should contend for Mr. Smith's perfect innocence. tie thought that on the whole, that Gentleman was not only unimpeached but unimpeachable. Yet though he should not contest the legality of the Court Martial, he must observe that, • -supposing it to have been legally constituted, its members were hound in duty to observe the ordinary rules of law, and - the known and admitted principles of justice; and he be lieved they had shewn a total disregard of both. He should proceed to a consideration of the facts by stating that for the present purpose, he would admit that the charge of treason, .according to the laws of Demerara, was made out; supposing the facts themselves to be well-founded. It appeared that in the month of May last year, the Governor had issued certain orders respecting the attendance of slaves on Sunday at places .of divine worship. In July, arrived Lord Bathurst's orders -containing . the substance of the regulations humanely laid down • by his Aiatesty's Government; among other things prohibiting -the flog ging of females , and the use of the whip in the fi e ld. O u the 17 th the revolt took place; on the 21st Mr. Smith was taken up, and on the 13th of October lie was tried. He (Dr. L.) should not notice the charges upon which Mr. Smith had been ' acquitted, even by the Court-martial in question. The prin ecipal charges upon which they had found him guilty were, the cmating of dissatisfaction among the Negroes, the knowing :and concealing the conspiracy for the Revolt, and the corres ponding with some of the Negroes after it. The mos; impor tant of the transactions referred to by the evidence appeared to have taken - place previous to the 17th of August, which was on a Sunday. In the preceding week Mr. Smith was not at Le Souvenir, the place of his residence, but was on the coast, in company with a brother Missionary. He returned on the .Friday, and on Sunday the 17th, after evening service, he was in conversation with several of his congregation. The charge sgainst him was, that on this occasion, he had received r::ation of the revolt, and had remained silent. If this were true, he was undoubtedly guilty and this brought into -- view the whole question before the House. lie must here re gret that his lion. and Learned Friend, the Member for Peter borough (Mr. Scarlett) was not in his place,- because lie should be obliged to advert to the remarks made on ,the former night 'by that Honourable and Learned Gentlemen, and lie should . -be sorry if it were supposed that he made those remarks merely .because • his Honourable and Learned Friend was absent. It .was not his (Dr: Lushington's) fault that he was so. The prin cipal witnesses in support of the prosecution were Negroes the - names of Bristol and Romeo ; and it was deserving of remark and consideration, that their testimony was admittedly 'that of accomplices, and it therefore became necessary to .ascertain, first of all, who and what these men were. ristol, .the chief witness, was a Negro slave, a person, whose evi dence, when legally admissible, was always received by the ; colonists with distrust. In Dcnierara, under certain circum stances, this kind of evidence was certainly admissible ; but, ia Jamaica and many other colonies, their evidenie was not 'admissible in any case, affecting even property, in the slightest fle2fee. lint, assuming the admissibility of the evidence, no -thing could be more clearly - laid down as a legal rule that the •evidence or an accomplice was always to be received with hesi tation and jealousy, and that no conclusion unfavourable to the - prisoner was to be drawn from it unless it was corroborated by other evidence, not open to suspicion. In addition to this, there -was a circumstance. attending Bristol's testimony which still more increased the doubt with which it ought to have been ae • ceived. Bristol himself knew , _ that it' the evidenc e he gave i should not be satisfactory. to the Court, they might make Wm their victim; and that, Immediately after giving his evidence, • he might have been put upon his own trial. And notwithstand 'Mg all this, it was remarkable that Bristol was called to speak not to the acts committed by Mr. S., but to conversations which •it was said had taken place in his hearing. The evidence to mere conversation was often of a general and uncertain nature ; but when referred to by negro slaves must be especially so. There -was one respectable planter, a Mr. Vancouven, who had ad - mitted that such was the state of intellect in these slaves, that -it.was . not customary to entrust them with verbal messages, as there was little chance of their being delivered correctly. • This was the opinion of a Gentleman who hat] lived in the 4.."..010ny upwards of fifty years, and was well acquainted with the staves of the district 'in question, and with their -general capacity. It appeared that Bristol and Quamina went to Mr. Smith's house after Church, and asked him " if -any freedom had been - fotind ?" That they said they should ob •tain it " by force," and " drive the managers to the courts ;" that Mr. Smith answered, they had " better wait, as the sol -diers would be too strong for them." Another slave of the name of Seton, was called . to corro b orate this witness ; but he -rather contradicted him. Seton said, he was present at the conversation ; but it happened that Bristol said only he and Quamina were present. Ile had already ob serve d th at negro evidence as '_to conversation, was the v er y wors t ; an d this would appear evident to the House when •he called their attention to the fact that Seton said he heard nothing s hout 4' force" or " waiting," or about " soldiers." The not reco ll ec ting any mention of the :soldiers_ was particularly re markable,. seeing that it must have been so important with re gard to the immediate object which the slaves were said to have in view. There were then only two person s on b e h a lf of the prosecution who said a word about a knowledge of Mr. Smith of the conspiracy; and these two persons were two negro slaves who contradicted each other. It was to be observed t oo t h at , one of these spoke of a trifling conversation he had had with .-Mr. Smith about his little girl; and•then added, .. that he i m mediately went home; whereas he had previous l y said , that after this trifling conversation, he had gone into Mr. Smith's _ room. If this was a misapprehension on the part of the wit ness it was a fresh proof that no reliance could be placed upon shis kind of ,evidence. it afterwards-appeared that another Person, and a - fourth 'were present; although in the first in -stance it was.confidently said there were • but two. Peter was - but als l an accomplice open to all the fore going o bserva tion s , -his eviden ce , being slightly in favour .of the accused, was the more deserving . attention in this respect, because there could. be no doubt that he had not exaggerated in favour of the herewas prisoner, Peter said that six persons were present; so that three times the number originally stated, .and by tile • two principal witnesses. 'Peter also negatived all that had been said about soldiers.' dep There was another person called Hugh, who confirm e d Peter, and thorefore, contradicted Bris -101. Under.all these re mstances, he might confidently al = . firm that no. Court ofJusti ce cneould say that Bristol was deserv if.ag of any credit. But even . the moment, to be considered a s we will Bristol's evid e nc e were , f or _. riie—what did it amount to? Acbir, that the slaves edict ;W Will drive the managers -from the estate to the Courts." This expression might rather nega tive than affirm the idea of a revolt. It appeared that they did not know the forms of the law, laid down by Lord Bath urst's order; and they might have contemplated driving the Managers to the Courts, in order to force them to ascertain the law for the benefit of the slaves. It might be so, or might not; but what would be the situation of ;every man, if it were laid down that a man might be brought to trial for his life, just because he did not aptly comprehend the meaning of a negro slave? It appeared' unnatural to suppose that the intention of any revolt would he comrnonicated to MreSmith, as the lives of these Negroes depended on their secrecy ; and it was evi dent, from many parts of the evidence, that they doubted Mr. Smith on account of his colour. His Hon. -and Learned Friend, the Member for Peterborough, had argued against Mr. Smith, because Mr. S. admitted that he was on the spot at the time in question. But he (Dr. L.), would shew the fallacy of such an argument by a very strong example. It might be in the recollection of many professional men, that about 20 years ago, the present Chief Justice of the Common Pleas was tried on the charge of: attempting to commit a rape 'on a woman who came to consult him at his chambers. Now what would have been said if the Learned Defendant, instead of relying on his innocence, though he admitted he was at his chambers, had denied that he was there ? Would that have been either wise or proper • or would his Hon. and L ea r ne d Friend argue against the Eearned Gentleman because he admitted that he was at his Chambers, and that the woman did come and consult him ? Or, suppose such a charge were to be made against his Hon. and Learned Friend-4a laugh); would he think of calling his clerk to provethat, at the time in question, he was not at his Chambers, but in Court? or would he think it fair to judge unfavourably of him, because he admitted that he was actually at his Chambers, though he denied the charge ? Such an argument was not fit for his Honourable and Learned' Friend. It ought never to have come befond the purlieus of the Old Bailey ; an d was , necked, scarcely worthy of a Deputy Assistant Judge Advocate. It was a proof that the cause ad vocated by his Honourable and Learned Friend must be weak, when even the subtle mind of his Hon. and Learned Friend could find no better argument. Another fact, much relied upon against Mr. Smith, was the note to Jacky, stating that he had heard some scheme was in agitation. But this did not speak of any time, place, or detail; and it was not to be supposed that because Mr. S. vaguely heard of a scheme he was to denounce his congregation. When Mr. Smith was ar rested, lie was in the presence of two white persons, one of whom swore that Mr. Smith said he had heard. of the revolt six weeks before. This was impossible; as would be seen on referring to the dates, skewing the commencement of the con. spiracy ; and the other person said he had not heard any men. tion of the kind. His Hon. and Learned Friend condemned Mr. Smith for not having spoken to Mr. Stuart on the subject ; but his Hon. and Learned Friend appeared to have read just enough of the evidence to support an accusation, and had mis taken dates. The only evidence there was that Mr. Smith knew any thing of Quamina's being concerned in the'revolt, except ing what occurred on the 1; th August, was what Mr. Hamilton told him, viz. that he had saved his life from the infuriated ne groes. Indeed no Member of that House would get up and say that he believed that one word which had fallen from the mouth of Mr. Smith had a tendency to excite rebellion. Such a charge was to be found no where but in the vulgar censure, abuse, and slander of the newspapers of that colony. But all this had assumed the shape of legal accusation. There were other charges brought against that individual, such as were never before the subject of inquiry in a Court of Justice. Ile meant the whole conduct of Mr. Smith during his residence in the colony for a period of six years. lie hail never - heard of such a course being pursued by a civilized tribunal, much less by any tribunal governing its conduct by English law, as put ting a man upon trial for all the actions of his life for six yearn, without stating time, place, or circlimstance. Where was the man in the Assembly he was then addressing who would dare to trust his life to such an investigation 1 The charge brought against Mr. Smith by the Hon, Colonial Secretary was, that he exacted too strict an adherence to Christian precepts. Now there was no state of society where the observance of the Sab. bath was so necessary as where slavery placed the labour ofone man at the arbitrary disposal of another. It was a law of that settlement, that the master who set his slave to work on Sunday should be fined, but it was well known that that law was most frequently violated. The negrocs had complained of' this to all the persons in authority in the Colony, and to Mr. Smith among the rest. As to the doctrine which he preached, they would find an instance or two in the evidence. Manuel told them that, " The Parson said, if your master gives you any work on Sun. day, it is your duty to say it is the lord's day • if the water break forth, go and stop it, if a boat be stranded, go and draw it away: if you are drunk, your master will he right to make you work, that you may not walk about a bad example." There was only one man who had said any thing to the contrary, and I he said the Parson told them not to mind a few lashes. It was 1 plain that a Minister of religion, in place of Smith, would lose all his influence if he breathed one doctrine and allowed a diffe rent one in practice. As to the tendency of his precepts, the Attorney of the estate, who ot,g!:t to be taken as a competent judge, said that the negroes had become more obedient in consequence. A. a proof of the spirit in which the evidence against Mr. Smith was given, they could not have a better specimen than this witness; so great was his zeal in the canse, that he had actually built a new chapel on his own ground. This man said in his evidence in chief, that Mr. Smith had intruded himself into his room when he was on a sick bed and obtained from him a certain docu ment. In his cross-examination he admitted that he had met Mr. Smith on the road in the morning, and believed he.might have asked him to stay breakfast. What a- dastardly witness was here, one who had not the courage to withstand the public outcry against the Missionaries, and who shaved his testimony to suit the case in hand. Such was the nature of the evidence upon which Mr. Smith was found guilty and.sen tenced, and which the Governor of the Colony, to his eternal shame, and everlasting disgrace, had given his sanction. No- thing but the spirit of persecution, and minds prepoasessed against the prisoner could have induced the Court to give such 1 a verdict. He directly accused the Court Martial with having knowingly and wilfully given a false verdict. This was a strong charge, and to support it, he need not travel out of the evidence. In the first place, they had obliged time priioner to plead, without allowing him to consult Counsel, thus depriving him of the advantage of raising an objection against the juris diction of the Court. Ile next charged them with having admi nistered martial law to acts which occurred before martial law was proclaimed, then d e p r i v i ng hi m o f hi s just right to a spac i - , fication of time, place, and the offence actually charged. his next charge was for allowing the Judge Advocate to make such a speech as he did make, embracing every act of the pri soner's life from his arrival at the Colony to the moment of his trial. He charged them with gross partiality and injus tice in the course of their proceet.;ings—a disgrace to any Court of Justice or Law. lie also charged them with ille gally admitting hearsay evidence two and three deep ; and lastly, with having pronounced a sentence contrary to law, even if the verdict were a just one. But the proceed ings were under the guidance of Chief Justice Rae; and who was he? A Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, a man of libeial education, and a friend of the Hon. and Learned Aleni ber for Peterborough. He knew what was tke law, it appeared, and what did he do in the face of this illegal conduct of the the Court ? If his remonstrances were not listened to, he ought to have indignantly quitted the Court, which desired to lead him to disgrace. Would not. that have been the conduct of a man of liberal education anti legal habits ? But he was ashamed to think that thegown which lie had the honour to wear, had been also worn by an individual who could so act. Some allowance might be made for men acting upon the urgency of the moment, hut this did not occur till some time after the re volt, and tire Court took five days to deliberate, before they dare pass the sentence they had uttered to their eternal shame—the offspring of cowardice and pusillanimity showing itself in. cruelty and injustice. The causes of the revolt had been all traced to Mr. Smith, an interference evidently against reason and facts; for if ever there were a settlement in which revolt might be expected it was Demerara. There was an order given restricting the attendance on places of worship. But the princi pal cause of excitment was the Dispatch of Lord Bathurst, than which nothing was ever better calculated to ensure the result Which actually ensued.. It arrived on 7th July, when the spirit of discontent ran very high. The Governor kept it to himself, hut allowed a rumour to enter the cabins of the negroes that it contained something good for them. Till the 18th not one word of it got hefcre the Public, when so far from its being carried into effect, severity was increased. Thus they had the strongest incentives to revolt that can actuate the human breast, hope deferred, and the severity of punish ment increased: it was the will of God that oppression should be bore with to a certain extent only, as without such a principle in human nature, there would be no limits to slavery. Now at the period that this revolt broke out, they had it said, it htevidence that Hamilton, the manager of the Sanvener that if obliged to lay aside the cart whip in the punishment of females, he would give them solitary confine ment without food, whilst he comforted himself that .Mr. Can ning's Project could not be carried into effect. In fact, this man did remove the cart-whip from the hands of his over seers, but he gave them the cat-o'-nine-tails instead, and in. one instance applied it himself. In the estate called Suc cess, to which Quamina belonged, it appeared that twenty.; five negroes had died from overwork. Surely then, here was enough to account for a revolt without applying it to the acts' of Mr. Smith. But the spirit which prevailed in the colony' was sufficient to account for the wh o l e procee di ng . A s an instance of ' this, he would read them a paragraph from a paer which he had received from the colony th a t clay. Th e individual spoken of was Mr. Austin, the chaplin, whose zealous services the House were well aware of. The article - Tilis wok in shee's clothing; thi s respecting him ran thus—" worthless animal we have now 'got in a tangible shape, the Rev. Mr. Austin is the mane of whom we cannot find language to denote our abhorrence—an indi v id ua l w h om i t i s impossible for the inhabitants of Demerara to permit to remain among them, pocketing their money at the expence of their lives.— When we find a minister of the Church of England in rebellion against us, is it not time to arouse from our lethargy ? They do take our lives who take the mean's whereby we live."—(A. laugh.)—The object of, the article was to propose a'prose cution against this respectable individual. There were also such phrases as this The pulpit shall not shelter him frain shame and disgrace — wherever he goes, the finger of hate will point him out,' and the article concluded by appealing to the inhabitants to unite. in - expelling this pest from •the Colony,' daisscotiniter respected the laws, as Christians eue attendance at church whilst Mr. a ca n i d lin a l m on en tl , ie t i o n Austin continued to reach, and to place him before the world as a disgrace to his profession. This piper was dated on the 26th day nf April, seven months after the transaction then under discussion. Every ons of the papers which dis graced that Colony was dealing in the same sentiments: If such a course were allowed to continue; the entiLe destruction of liberty and the disgrace of Courts of Justice must ensue, cording to law and unless that House in justice, eeeo and forced them to govern ac ' Great responsibility rested on his Majesty's Government, and on no one so much as the Right Foreign Affairs. From the situa tion talents and his character, with that ight which Hon . he Secretary held, h f i o s r House, it was notorioux to the country that he could settle the question. He had hitherto come forward for the amelioration of the slaves, but if he should negative this motion to night, what a triumph would be given to Demarara ? How would the persecutors shout, and how from the silent grave would come forth th e voice of the Missionary in complaints at his injustice ? They owed it to justice, and to the memory of him, who was gone to give an account.of his deeds at the bar of Heaven, to give no d e cision which was not in every respect consistent with conscience. Woe to that man, whose vote should go to affix the stain of guilt on the memory of the martyr, unless he had well sifted the case. He hoped the House would not be reduced to that disgraceful predicament, hut that their voice would be in unison with the general sentiment out of doors—that they would render justice where it was due, and prevent a repetition of proceedings diagraceful to the character of British Justice and of the British Legisleture._(llear !) TYNDA La 'observed that the - question for the House to consider was, whether they should vote upon the subject in the words of the /notion as it stood before them. If he understood that motion rightly, it was a vote of censure, and he proposed under circumstances which went to condemn honourable men who were before them without the benefit of an advocate.— The House would not forget that there were two parties in this matter, and that if regard were to be had to the cha racter of 3l r. Smith, the parties on the other side were men bred up in the school of honour, and whose characters were as dear to theni as to any other persons.a--(llearl)—He must ex press his surprise at the turn which the 'debate had taken. On the preceding evening the question had turned upon the lega lity of the tribunal, and he was convinced his Honourable and Learned Friend who spoke last, would not have omitted to dwell upon - that topic, had he not convinced himself that there was law for the proceedings of that tribunal, and that there was theme legal measure for the punishment which they h a d meted out. Be would endeavour to place this fact upon in- • disputable grounds. The law of Demerara, it might be known to the House, was the law of Holland, which there could be no doubt was derived - them the old Homan law. These who were conversant with the ancient Itontan law, would know that the punishment of death was awarded to those who concealed the knowledge of any intended crime against the State. There was an old author by the name of Lubner of great authority, who stated this as an unduhitable part of the Roman law. He was not there to say whether it was a reasonable law or not, or whether our own law upon that point was not better. It was enough for him if he showed that by the law of Hol land the punishment for concealment of crime against the State was death, and death alone. Under the administration of 1806, he believed a Dutch author, Van Luin, was trans lated for the guidance of the Dutch Colonies, so that the law upon this subject was public enough. He humbly con ceived, that before that House came to a conclusion that a gross violation of law, or severity of punishment had been com mitted, they must agree upon one of three grounds : either they must decide that the punishment was too great, the tri bunal an illegal one in its constitution, or that gross par tiality had been shewn in its proceedings. lie had disposed of one of these grounds, and he hoped it would not again be asserted, that the punishment would be too great, according to the Law. Upon the second ground, he hoped to be able to skew that the constitution of the Court was the best that could be under the circumstances. It was said that the offence charged was not committed whilst the Colony was under Mar tial Law, and it was with great justice and Propriety asked whether they would tolerate old offences being raked up in order to. bring them under the cognizance of a martial tribunal. Ile uai by no means advocating such a course. Martial Law was proclaimed on the 13th, in consequence of an overt act of treason, and the offence of which the Court Martial took cognizance occurred,, it was admitted, if at all, on the 17th. Now it was really not worthy of the case of Hon. Gentlemen opposite to contend that this. Proclamation had not the retro spective scope of twenty-four hours. That which was done in the morning was the suite of . the previous night's conspire tion, and to all intents and purposes, in all fairness of construc tion, be deemed an essential inseparable part of the same trans action. He would next examine whether the Court-Martial ought in reality to be deemed a favourable or unfavourable tri bursal to . the prisoner, and lie wa s p repare d to conten d t h at i t was the one under the peculiar circumstances of the case which the prisoner could not but prefer to every other. The ordinary tribunal would have constituted a certain number of the plant ers, men exasperated against the prisoner, judges both of the law and th e fact, and could there b e a d ou b t t h at the preferable tribunal in such a case was that which was composed of officers comperativelyhstrangers to die prisoner and to the Colony, and in no respect • imbued with tnose prejudices and passions which might well be supposed to blind the. Colonists in such a situation ? And here he must take leave to observe, that his Learned Friend (Dr. L.) had not treated with Isis usual can dour Mr. President Rae, whom they both knew through their professional advocat-ions as a Gentleman of liberal education, amiable manners, and high honour, and who certainly would never lend himself to the unworthy steps impated to him. If he voted, he had no doubt lie was outnumbered by those who . composed the Court conjointly w ith hi m . Leading ques tions had been equally tolerated on both sides, and if any thing, carried to the greater extent on the part of the prisoner. There was therefore no ground for the motion on the score of partiality. As to the verdict of the Court, they could best judge of that by referring to the evidence.. His Honourable and Learned Friend had disputed the fact of any proof ex isting that Mr. Smith was privy to the nature of the con versation of Bristol and Quamirea on the evening of the 17th August. in page 41, of the Evidence, they would find from the mouth of the prisoner himself that lie heard them in con versation, and distinguished the words, " Managers" and "New Law." Then it was beyond dispute that on the 18th of Au gust the revolt broke out. It was also a fact not disputed that Mr. and Mrs. Smith were the only whites who did not quit their house upon the occasion. and fly to the town for safety, whilst in the evening they were found walking near the place where the scenes of the morning had occurred. It was waived that Smith had ample time and opportunity to communicate to the .Governor what he knew or suspected,— The important question of the case was, whether • from the communication known to have been made to. Smith, a guilty knowledge of the revolt of the 18th was to 'be inferred.-- This was the whole Point of the case. Mr. Smith states that upon hearing the words before alluded to, he was induced to " rebuke them fur talking about such things." But if nothing but the words "managers," and "new law" were uttered, why rebuke them ?—( Hear, hear !)—Was not the natural in ference that more passed within the knowledge of Mr. S. upon that occasion than he thought proper to admit ? The prisoner's own witnesses might throW some light upon this part of the. case. The prisoner said he had no idea the slaves intended to revolt till the r ece i pt o f J oc k ey ' s note reca ll e d w h a t h e h a d heard the evening i n question to his mind. In pages 63 and 65, his own wit ness, Peter, be i ng as k e d, " Did Q uam i na say any thing to the prisoner ?" answered, " Yes, he said, we shall drive all the managers front their estates into the town, and see what is the best thing we can obtain for the slaves."— Now, what language was this to hold to a person in Mr. Smith's situation, and was; it to be conceived that Quamina would have ventured to talk in that manner had no other communications taken place previously ?—(Hear, hear. hear !)—The priso ners ' s answer was stat e d to be, " Pray don't do that." Again, he asked whether an in a Colony wh ere t h ere were 70,000 bl ac k s to 3 , 00 0 whites, Y Man who knew the nature of slaves, being Must not have known that this was a subject on which he was bound to have cautioned the Governor ? The case of the let ter received on the evening of the 18th was not unimportant. : From the lett er w hi ch he was about to rea d, i t seemed to him most reasonable to something of the Suppose that - Mr. Smith must have shewn scheme which was in agitation. The lette r o f Jacky Reed ran th ee „ ten I hope you are well, and have writ ten concerning our agreement last Sunday," (Sunday was the day. on whieh the conversation had taken place), and this letter •was sent, not from the 'slaves generally, but from Jack, and tto s . Smith the rest of the b ret h ren ' of Bethel C h ape l the slaves who were afterwards proved to be the r i ng l ea d ers in this revolt. le w letter as bwentr brought u g on Allbiy a quarter aft er s i x o'clock.s ready, and we t rust we s h a ll to ;I y lar." begin to-morrow n i g h t at St. Thomas ' s at seven o ' clock. " This letter There were yet thr ee quarters of an . h our t o e l apse before the rising was intended to take place. Mr. Smith was proved to have had a pony in the stable, and consequ en tl y t h ere was plenty of time togo or serail to the Ciioyerntitent House, as it was his duty to e d° in a cue of such emergency. The answer re turned to this note by Mr. Smith was that to which he par ticularly wished to call the attention of the House. In this Mr. Smith said, "I am ignorant of the affair you allude to." He had, however, admitted, that on the preceding' night he had __heard something in-agitation among the slaves, and had heard them name in a l ow vo i ce " t h e Managers" and" the new law." Must not any man of ordinary capacity on receiving the note have connected it with the circumstance to which he had last re ferred, and doing this, had Mr. Smith acted the part of a good citizen of Demerara, in rithaining quiescent, and giving the Go vernment no intimation of what was intended ? His advice to the slaves on this occasion proved that he had in his own mind some idiatitat measures - like those which had been attempted, were to be resorted to sooner or later. After this had taken place, Quamina made his appearance on the Wednesday even ing, at Mr. Smith's house, sent for by Mr. or Mrs. Smith. They at any rate proved a more private connexion between him and Mr. Smith, which was not to be expected. In the observe dens he had hitherto made he had, treated the question as if it had been simply whether Mr. Smith was guilty or not. But what was the question ? They were now not called upon simply to acquit Mr. Smith, but they were expected to cen sure his judges. Now he would ask if it had ever occurred with reference to any trial in a regularly organized Court, after the Judge and Jury had done their beat to discover the truth, that their decision had thus been made the subject of a vote of censure. Such was not the usual course of proceeding, and such a step ought only to be taken in a case where extreme in justice appeared to have been committed. In the late proceed ings in Demerara, looking at all the ci rcums t ances un d er w hi c h Alf r. Smith had been put on his trial, he could not see any thing that would justify the House in passing that censure for life on those Honourable Persons who had formed the Court Martial, which would be passed on them if the present motion were carried. Mr. J. WILLIAMS supported the motion. He remarked that those laws which were now brought forward to justify the proceedings had not been mentioned before, and his Honour able Friend, the Member for Peterborough, in his short but ingenious defence, had wholly abandoned the legality of the sentence. But what said the Judge Advocate in his eighteen pages of accumulated and exaggerated reply? Where were the laws now brought forward alluded to ? Where were these stores of learning touched upon which had been displayed in the course of this debate ? The Judge Advocate had referred to Mr. JUstice Blackstone and to the Mutiny Act—(Hear !) but not to those laws of the Colony which they had just heard. Ile quoted the opinions of Lords Hale and Coke against Martial Law in time of peace, denied the importance of that general and universal panegyric which was bestowed 014 every person in authority, who had exerted that authority to the utmost, and maintained that the vague and indefinite intimations which Mr. Smith had received of the intentions of the Negroes, could not by any analogy be brought to prove him guilty of misprision of. treason. It was not enough that sonic kind of communica tion had been made to Mr. Smith, the kind of communication ought to be proved, to enable the Gentlemen opposite to maintain the only ground on which their defence of the pro ceedings now rested. Ile did not know that a stronger condem nation could be pronounced than in fact had been pronounced on the proceedings, by the manner in which the parties bringing forward the charges had retreated into the narrow comer which they now occupied. What had become of twelve out of the eighteen pages of the .Judge Advocate's 'speech ? What had be come of the complaints made of the Missionary's Journal ? What had become of the statement that he had read? Monstrous to think of! The Old Testament to the slaves. What had be come of the other attempts made to heap prejudice on the un happy man; and of three charges out of the four on which he had been sentenced, not to slight suffering, but to the last punishment of the law ? No immoral conduct had been prov ed against Mr. Smith, but one Hon. Member had said that his offence came " so very near criminality that it bore the aspect of criminality itself."—(A laugh.)—Baffled in all the rest, the defenders of the proceedings had been forced to retreat to that last corner which they now occupied. It was not proved that a rebellion had been projected against the Authorities of the State. The offenders were charged with planning a revolt against their managers and masters. If by the operation of some law, or-by the absence of all laws—for never would he condescend to regard as law a set of Institutions which administered justice in different ways to the black and the white population of the Colony—if by those Institu tions the Negroes had been driven to treasonable atroci ties, it ought to be proved that they h a d revo l te d against the Constituted Authorities of the Colony, before it was con tended that the charge against Mr. Smith could be well founded. There was not a tittle of evidence to prove that he had been properly tried—there was nothing to :thew that he was justly amenable to that Court, civil or military, before which he had appeared—for the revolt of the slaves against their ma nagers and masters was not high treason ; yet it was on this as sumption that the argument of his Hon. Friend elepended. He proceeded to examine the evidence given on the trial, anti from that contended that nothing that could be assimilated w i t h hi g h treason had been prov e d. ile agreed that it was not necessary that treason should be successful to make it possible for mis prision of treason to be committed. But still he would contend that it was necessary a defined plan fox committing high treason should be proved to have been communicated to the party ac cused, before he could be convicted of the misprision, and this he maintained had not been brought home to Mr. S. In proof of what he had stated, he referred to the evidence of Bristol and Manuel. The latter deposed, that about ten days before the revolt, there was niuch talking among the slaves of freedom having come from England, and Quamina had wished the slaves "to make a push for it." This, which was all that was prov ed to have been said, furnished no proof of the existence of any regular plot. The evidence given by Bristol stated that it had been said, " a good law had conic out ;" and upon this Quamina was represented to have mentioned, " that Jack and Joseph were talking very much about it, and were for taking it by force." Thi s was a ll t h at was said. Two inuendos were thrown out in Mr. Smith's presence, and those were thought sufficient to prove him -privy to a treasonable plot said to have been formed. Mr. Smith had not only not re mained quiescent, but he had declared all violence to be opposed to religion, and advised them to desist, and con demned any attempt to disturb the repose of the Colony. If it had been intimated that something was to be done, he defied the most malignant to prove that any defined or specific plan had been communicated to Mr. Smith. If he had been silent respecting - what he had heard, it was in all probability from reluctance to hand over the slaves to the scourges and tortures of executioners, or to the more merciful stroke of death.— Were he (Mr. Williams) in a like situation, he should be reluc tant to give unhappy men, not to the law, but to that which was a satire on law, and should pause long, and perhaps for ever, before he made up his mind to hand them over to torture and legalized oppression. Nothing was said of the general character of Mr. Smith. They had no account of the ben e fit derived from the pi e ty found in the Missionary's ransacked closet. They treated the case as if it had been that of an as piring adventurer or military chieftain, who, rather than be without dominion, would ,be content to establish one on the ruins of Demerara. They did not look at the single-mindedness of the individual. They did look at the journal which had been so malignantly exposed ; but they paid attention to the extrava gant story told by one of the witnesses that Jack was to be King, a female slave Queen, and Mr. Smith Emperor ! The Court- Martial had committed the absurdity in disposing of the first charge by convicting him of the fact set forth against him, while they acquitted him of the intent.—(Hear, hear, hear !)—The Court had sufficient firmness of nerve, and deficiency of in tellect, thus to convict, though, in such a case, by every law, human or divine, the accused was entitled to an entire acquit tal. He proceeded to shew the failure of the other charges, and contended that the Court had only leaped to the conclu sion which bad been adopted without proofs to justify it, but they had gone against the evidence. From the beginning to the middle, and from the middl e t o th e en d o f t h e d isturbance, Mr. Smith had always exerted himself to dissuade the Negroes from violence; yet notwithstanding this, that melancholy ver dict had been given which was now the subject of enquiry, and it still remained unreversed, untouched, and was even de fended in that House. He had no hesitation in saying his aversion to these proceedings sprung not so much from the in juries sustained by Mr. Smith, as from the belief that they ori ginated in a wish to prevent instruction, and especially religious instruction, from being communicated to the slaves. It was thought that the mild principles of the Christian religion and slavery could not exist together, and religion was struck at through the sides of Mr. Smith. , This was clear from the treatment which Hamilton received. He was no Mis sionary —he taught not Christianity, but he advocated additional punishment, and he therefore was spared, while Mr. Smith, with his Journal before him, was tortured to deatli.—(llear !) —He called upon them to act with manly sincerity. If religion could not be permitted in Demerara, let them pull down the Chapel, recall the Missionaries, and burn the Bible—(Heer, hear !)—But while they abstained from doing this—while they professed to encourage religious instruction as fit and proper, they ought not to vield to the angry feelings of those who ob jected to the introduction of religion, from an idea that religion must bring freedom to the slaves. Those feelings he hoped would not be gratified which shewed themselves in opposition to the most meritorious piety, as in the case of Mr. Austin. For the sake of religion, he trusted that they would not suffer their magnanimity to overcome, and themselves worked upon to do an act of injustice. The ATTORIEY-GENERAI.4 felt that he should not do his duty if he were not tomifer some observations on this, which he admitted to be a most important question. He did not think it necessary to say that had he assisted at the trial of Mr. Smith, he could have concurred in the decision which had been come to in his case.—(Hear, hear !)—When he knew that the Court which tried that person was composed of persons as little con nected with the Colony as he was, because he might possibly have differed from them, he was not therefore to accuse them of cruelty and injustice. Ile agreed with his Learned Friend and the authorities of Lord Hale and Lord Coke, which he had quoted on the subject of martial law. He admitted that to have recourse to martial law in a state of peace was unjusti fiable. But he called on the House to look at the situation of Demerara with a population of 4,000 whites and eighty thou sand slaves, with only a military force of 400 men in the Co lony, a reinforcement having recently been solicited from the Commander.in-Chief of the forces without success, and an In dian force being of necessity called in for the defence of the Government. it was not merely a question of property. The Whites had their wives and children to defend, and were they to leave themselves exposed to such attacks as had been medi tated, when by adopting vigorous measures they might hope to avert the danger ? It was not Co he supposed that they had forgotten the horrors perpetrated in the Isle of St. Domingo and admitting that Martial Law ought to cease when tranquil lity was restored, they could not draw the line so as to name the precise moment when this should take place, in opposition to the judgment of the authorities intrusted with the admini stration of the Colony. It was known that there had been a man of the name of Richard, at the head of a party in the woods who at that tune had not been taken. The inhabitants of the Co lony were generally in a state of alarm, and felt that they could have no security, but by having recourse to arms. He explained the constitution of the Court-martial, which he shewed to be more favourable to the accused, than the ordinary tribunal. before which he could have been brought, would have been.— He denied that the Judge had that interest in the sale of slaves which had been supposed. He was paid by a fixed salary, and had no participation in such profits. His conduct, and that of the President Rae, he defended at some length. The latter he had known long before he obtained his present appointmente end knew him to be a man of great learning, great judg ment, and cool, d;:liberate, reflecting, and dispassionate, almost beyond ever y other person he had b known. The Ho nourable and Learn e d Gentleman called the attention (et* the House to the Court-martial. That tribunal was constituted to give the defendant an advantage over the common and ordi nary tribunal. The latter was composed of nine persons eight planters and the President. A majority of four planters and the President would have decided the fate of Missionary Smith. The evidence of slaves would have been taken, but in what way ? Betbre a Court' Martial slaves mere examined openly ; before the other tribunal slaves would have been ex amined by two planters upon interrogatories. According to the law of Demerara hearsay evidence of every description was allowed; and before the colonial tribunal it would not have been spared. Improper evidence might have been re ceived before the court martial; but it ought to be recollected that the law of the colony allowed irregularity in that respect. As to misprision of treason, the concealment of insurrection was• death by the law of Demerara, accompanied by circumstances of horror he should not describe. Supposing General Murray had fallen into an error, and they had no right to try by mar tial law, it was still an advantage to the defendant to be tried in that way rather than by the ordinary tribunal. The Right Hon. and Learned Gentleman made a close scrutiny of the - dence, and contended that it was impossible any man could say Mr. Smith did. not know the object the slaves had in view. On the day the insurrection was made known to him, he said he was so agitated he did not know what to do. It was proved he had a horse, yet he did not attempt to make any communica tion. He walked out with his wife, not towards the Manager's , house, but the other way. He knew at six o'clock the insurrec tion was to break out, and at six he walks out, leaving things to take their own course. And yet it was said a vote of censure was to be passed on those who found him guilty. Quamina was a slave on the plantation Success, and Hitty Haverd took re fuge in the house of Smith. She was sent to Anges House, and then Quamina is introduced. He had a conversation with Smith, and was dismissed with a bottle of porter. That shewed he was well received, and that Smith knew what was going on- Six witnesses stated that Quamina was engaged in the revolt: but then it was said, how did Smith know it ? The secresy with which he was introduced to the house proved that he was making communications on the subject to Smith. Looking as the whole of the evidence through the medium of notes, he did on his conscience believe, that those who had pronounced judg ment on the offender acted fairly and conscientiously between the country, on one side, and the prisoner, on the other. Mr. WILBERFORCE:, after the able arguments he had heard in support of the motion, was unwilling to weaken the strong impression made on'the minds of all unprejudiced per sons. He felt that the case which had been brought forward so ably, furnished a strong instance of the violation of jus tice. It would perhaps be difficult to point out a case of more' striking partiality. A Learned Gentleman had selected parts of the proceedings against the poor unfortunate Mission ary to prove impartiality ; but they ought to take under con sideration the whole of the proceedings against the poor man, whose own resources only, bore him during the sad moments of e me calumny. Colonialau c : c . iahi. er ought lerbtosersweenh t osdeebv saidea see. soa r n e t:, i m aori et eftmlahhbaeeertfr Missionaries odne Duringar what e b syo c ni everyr some years a s s t a ro sr circumstan ce;; th e o eS ef had :; i o r v m ern od m e e o n tt. trial,ou g ought u t t o on g e et fa r c ia t of the Preachers, and try Mr. Smith by a Court 'Martial.—. set aside that ar gument. If M i . Smith had been tried by the Or dinary tribunal, he would have had the benefit of an appcaL— ( Hear, hear !)—lf such as appeal had been made, it would have been curious to hear a statement that passages had been taken from Mr. Smith's private journal: that his private thoughts never intended for human eye, were to be brought forth in support of the prosecution. The Court of Appeal would have found the Jude-Advocate had urged as a matter of charge against Mr. Smith that he had not preached a new religion to suit the interests and circumstances of the Plantens -The Honourable Gentleman added, that he should like to have heard that part of the journal read which said the Mana gers flogged the slaves to spite the Missionaries. His Hon. and Learned .Friend who Had argued that there was proof of impartiality, well knew that Naval and Military Commanders,- by living in the Colonies, imbibed prejudices in favour of the Planters, which often went to the widest extreme. Fourteen years ago, when various abuses existed, and Parliament was disposed to put an end to the Slave Trade in toto, a gallant Admiral went so far as to state, that the treatment of slaves in the West Indies was the best that could be, and expressed at the same time a wish that he himself had been a slave. This prejudice arose from sympathising with the masters inCead of the slaves, and therefore a sp ec i es o f M ora l j aun di ce tincture d' the view of naval and military persons. It was a consolation to. find that the sentence on Mr. Smith had not been defended by a single person., Not one had said he believed Mr. Smith guilty of treason. Mr. Smith was a reasonable man, and having for some time maintained the character of a Christian Missionary, Was it probable he could suddenly rush into a contest from which the most wicked of men might shrink. Mr. Smith must have known it was impossible for a number of slaves to get pose session of the Colony, and also that the struggle could produce no advantage to him. It was then absurd to impute to him such an intention. If Mr. Smith could have been capable of the crime, it would have shewn folly in the extreme. Was it possible to avoid seeing, from end to end of the proceeding, every species of prejudice had been excited. The speech of the President was equal to the speech of a Grand In quisitor, who mentioned as matter of crimination, every particle of Mr. Smith's journal. It exhibited a degree of curious malignity never before witnessed. They ought to consider the circumstances under which Parliament were placed. It should be remembered that they had recommended religious instruction among the slaves. They recorded their determination considerably to improve the condition of, the slaVes. Such was the declared intention of the House of Com mons. Religious instruction was one of the stem recommended, and could any one say the transaction before the House had not retarded the wish to promote religious improvement ? A dis positiqn had been shewn to make a distinction between Mr- Smith and other Missionaries, but who could say all those indi viduals were not influenced by Christian principles. All the . . Missionaries were suspected. A paper, charging the whole with crime had been circulated, to the disgrace of the Colonial Government. In all persecutions purporting to be against re ligious persons, the attack was against Religion itself. 1 1'11 2 desire was to exclude . the slaves from the benefit of the Gospel. The House should recollect the proceedings at Barbadoes, where a Chapel had been destroyed and a Mis sionary exf Slled. If lie were to go into the Liculars • and read the P r o c l ama tions of Colo n i a l Governm, p ste,• they would be found to contain the most daring instil,. What would be the feeling of persons at Barbadoes if it appeared the British Parliament suffered this poor wretched Missionary to be treated harshly, and the people of Demerara might do what they thought proper? They would. say the House of Commons did not support Christianity, and that they had no desire the slaves should receive religious instruction. Mr. Austin, a truly good roan hi the Colony, had told the House that none of the slaves mentioned Mr. Smith as having been the means of exciting insurrection. The Governor had treated him as if he had been the greatest criminal. What was he but a poor Missionary who had acted from feeling for the slaves to whom he was conveying religious inststruetion. Could any one believe it possible Ire would have been treated so ? Never be fore had there been a case of - similar annoyance except that of the Dauphin of France. He was disturbed every moment and prevented from taking sleep, to see he did not escape. The Hon. Member concluded by calling on the House to reflect, that if they did not condemn the proceedings of the Court-mare tial, justice would not be done to the memory of the unfortu nate individual. It was but justice to let the world know, they thoUght the poor man acted like a Christian. Mr. Secretary CANNING said, that whatever might be the difference or shades of difference amongst Hon. Members, with regard to the question before them, there was one fact in which he was convinced all who heard him would concur, that a more TriOUr ir.to 1 )kith ewer been repro hie re vernn wort' disci( did h I env deplc comp other in his deser moth