The Express.
London, England, 1849-06-16 00:00:00

THE WEST INDIES.

Sr J. PAKINOTON, pursuant to notice, rose to preen'
a petition fr tin the House of Assemb'y of J unities.
that they and their eonstitutnts were in a state of rain,
in consequence cf the legislation of this c romp, and was
prtceeding to comment further upon the state of Jamaica,
when called t.) outer. The boo. gentleman said that the
p tition wu an important one ; and if not allowed as a mat-
ter of feeling to make a few remarks on it, he should move
the suspention of the rule which prevented his doirg so,
Mr. ROEBUCK rote to order, and retn:ndod the hon.
gentleman that he could not do that wi.hout notice.
Sir J. PAKINOTON thought that, with our West Inlian
colouies in a state of ruin, he might be permittul to thaw
attention to this pet Lion.
The SPEAKER informed him that it was not competent
for him to do more than state the substance of the petition.
Sir J. PAKINOTON then proceeded to say that the peti-
tioners complained at the depreci it:on of property iu Ja-
maica, whicu they traced to the act of 1823; of the insuffi-
ciency of the compensation granted to the West India
planters, end of its distribution ; and they prayed the consi-
deration of the house to the a ate of the island. He also
presented a petition from the committee representing the
West India interest in thin countre, stating that landed pro-
rrty which formerly
imperial pulisenenr, render‘ d incapa-
ble of profitable cultivation, and they prayed tha attention
of the house to that fact.
Mr. P. MILES presented a petition from the Assembly of
Jam .lea to the urns effect.
EXPLANATION.—MR. ROEBUCK AND MR, B.
COCHRANE.

Mr. ROEBUCK tinrew himself upon the indolence of
the hose while he rffrred same explanation of the charge
which had hem made en the pr. virus eveni g by en h. U.
ma natter (Mr. B. Cochrane) against a relstiv o• his is
Canada. The misfortune had bapptned to him of haying
had his rotative brought under the notice of the
'
house by that hon. member, a•rd it was, therorert,
through a o fault of his own that he had how t
trea:asss on the bows for a few moments. The cir-
cumstance al!uded to by that hon. gentleman was not
known to him far years after it occurred. He wss total!)
oppote I is politi-s to his vela ire; his mutat and d..,r st
friends were tamongat the loyal sutaj eta of Cued; awl that
would arc rant for his not having heard of the eireuertmce
at an earlier period. The hon. gentleman said rut his tala.
tire took 5001. f arrestina M. Grouted, and that he sp .he
wall of him afterwards. The facts were else. His relative
was high in command of the reiti is, end c atanaat IA the
district in which he lived. M. Oirouard was a p man of
the la4rhesr. character, and he believed a member .f the
legislature. In the heltht of the excitement of the r, b Mien
he wu charged mast unjustly nitia high treason; a writ wit
issued azainst him; he wu in grat alarm In COTlMler.nee
of the excitement; a band of p .crele, levant he (Mr Rae-
baek) called ruffians, so friohtrned the gentle irhahitan•a
of Lower Canada, that that gentleman, whose in nd was
chdiered to literature. ale a became alarmed, cad went for
protection to the house of his (Mr. Avatar:dee) re-
lative late at night, Casting that he had coma to
deliver himself up to hi n, knowing that he would

protect Dim against harm and injury. He was taken
into the house and treated as a member of the family,
and at his own request was afterwards taken by his
(Mr. Roebuck's) relative to Montreal. When there they
discoverei that a reward of 6001. bad been offered by the
government for his apprehension, and his relative who was
at the time in the direst service of the crown, and who bad
been trusted not only by every governor before but since, said
openly at the time that he intended to take that money. He
did take it, and applied it, as he said he would, to charitable
purposes, and in doing so forfeited neither the respect of the
constituted authorities of that country nor the people
amongst whom he lived. M. Oirousrd's name basing been
mentioned in the assembly as a person who had been ap-
pointed to some Mike under the crown, his relative,who was
a member of the assembly, rose and erica hishly in his
favour, upon which he was asked by Sir A. IdeNab if he had
not received 6001. as a reward fur coprehending M.
Oirouerd, and he replied that he had. That was the whole
ease. He took M. Oirouard to Montreal at his own request.
There was no accusation against him, and in speaking
in terms of appr bstion of bins and in accepting
the reward and disposing of it as he did, he (Mr. Roebuck)
coareived that he had diecharged his duty to 'he country
and to humanity. He hoped that the Haute of Commons
would accept this explanation, and however unhappily it
might bar, been ealled for, be at least hod learned one tbirg
from the imputation that had been cost upon his nlative on
thr previous evealnyr, namely, that the watk, and more espe-
cially the intellectually week, were always cruel.

Mr. 13. COCHRA.NE said that when ha stated that Mr.
Bddwin and :Sr. Lafontaine had been accused of high trea-
II" the hon. and Earn d gentleman, by an ironical cheer,
and not very civilly, espri seed t is dissent from that ob -
tion • and in confirmation of it ho stated, what he wis pee.
parrot to repeat, that men publicly accused of high treason,
and (or whose apprehension rewards a 3 high as 5001. were
4.•irtrod, hod been put into places of great conk 'ence in the
government of Canada. He then mentioned the pr. c:se
rams stated by the hon. and learned re u tit man , that his rela-
tive had test M. Girouard, and, alter steep leg a reward
of 500/. for so doing, spoke in a complimentary manner of him
in the House of Assembly, where he was appointed to the
office of commissioner of crown lands. lie wanted to know,
therefore, under what pretence the hon. gentleman should
come down to that house and address it as he hid lone. He
should only mist, himself wiih the reflection that the hon.
and learned gentleman could hurt no man's ftelings by his
word.