The Express.
London, England, 1848-08-21 00:00:00

WEST INDIA MAIL

The 11.,yal West India mail packet Great Western,
Cupt. C. M. Chapman, ILN., from the West Indies,
arrived at Southampton yesterday, and lauded her
mails under the charg.: of Licut. John M. Cooke,
ILN., Admiralty agent. Her dates of sailing are—
Vera Cruz, July 16; Tampico, 14; llavannab, 27;
Honduras, 12 ; Jamaica, 22; St. Jago de Cuba, 20 ;
Demerara, 19 ; 'Trinidad, 22; Barbadoes, 27 ; Antigua,
29; Martinique, 28; Granada, 2_3; Porto Rico, 26;
5.. Thomas, 31 ; Bermuda, Aug. 5. The freight on
board consists of 679,207 deli 48c., 333 oz. 7 p. gold
dust, and 2,061/. 11s. British coin. The Mexican
nets by this mail is earlier in date than that by the
American mail. _ _ _

JA.MAICA.—At tl is colony there had been no dis-
turbances amongst the labourers since the last mail.
The planters were complaining of want of rain. They
had not had any since the May rains.
Amidst the generally depressing state of the colony
the sugar question,-of course, still occupied the most
prominent place in the public m;nd. llowever, the
Jamaica Dispa'ch, in speaking of the "great London
meetiogof the 2lth May," recognises "with gratitude
the improved feeling which has manifested itself of
late in England on the colonial question."
An indignant article is elicited from the same
journal by the fact that a body of police ordered to
proceed to the west end of the island,in consequence of
the supposed disaffection of a small portion of the
black population, had been obliged to pay their own
passage (fur which six shillings were to be stopped
out of the month's ray of each man) or take the
alternative of marching to the point of destination.
The Despatch thinks that bad as things arc at the
treasury. this expense might have been defrayed
therefrom. _ _ _ _ _ .

At a meeting of the Board of Commissioners of
Accounts held on July 14 there was presented a re-
port from the committee on the late receiver-general's
account, showing a deficiency of 10,0001. It was
resolved that the receiver-general do at once call
on the sureties of the late Mr. Edwards for the
amount deficient by him, and which they arc liable
to. A statement, showing that on the sth July, 1848,
there was in the receiver general's chvet 4,220/. was
presented.
At a meeting of the Chamber of Commerce, held on
the 19th of July, it was resolved,
That this chamber in a communication addressed to its agent, Peter
Burthwick, Esq., on the 2 ird March last, stated its well-founded con-
viction that important despatches connected with the state of Jamaica
had been forwarded ti the Colonial-office by the Governor of Jamaica;
and this chamber urged upon Ile agent the necessity of calling upon
ministers for the production of such despatches. That WA chamber
learns with surpri-e and indignation that, although so lately as the
departure of the English mails of the and June, ministers had persisted
in declaring, in answer to questions on this head, that no important
despatches whatever had been received from the Governor of Ja-
m dca, yet that a most Important one, dated the 214 Febrilerv, and
received on the 2;th March, IRIS, was only laid on the table of par-
liament, amidst a mass of other eorreepondence, io bee as the 9th
Jane last. That in the opinion of this chamber the detention of this
vary Important document wan mast unsatisfactorily accounted for by
Mr. Hewett, the Under Secretary of Mate for-the Colonies, on the
night of the 19th June. That this chamber, speaking in the
name and on the behalf of her Majesty's faithful colony
of Jamaica, can have no confidence in the members of
a government, that either through carelessness or intention
maid withhold Important despatches calculated to have moist
man riot influence in the public discussion of a question on which
the fortunes, if not the liven, of her Majesty's West Indian subjects
depend. That whilst this chamber is left to despuir of ill justice from
a government that could thus act, It feels hound to do justice to the
Governor of Jamaica, who has been placed in a false position by the
adminietratien, and has most unjustly incurred the public odium con-
sequent on what appeared a criminal silence upon the diaastrou
state of the colony, to which it was impossible he could ewe his eyes.
That this chamber is of opinion the thanks of Jamaica are due to his
Exce'dency Sir Charles Edward Grey, for his despatch to the Colonial-
office, under date the 214 February tart, and this chamber moat cor-
dially agrees with his excellency in the wisdom of the recommenda-
tions which he was then pleated to submit to the government, :cad
only regrets that justice should have been so blind on this occasion as
to have overlooked altogether a 00011:011/11C4i00 so valuable In every
respect to the West India colonies.
On the subject of the suppression of the document
referred to in the above resolutions the Jamaica Des-
patch says :
Nothing can be more complete than the grounds on which
Lord Grey and Mr. Hawes have been arraigned by L.rd
George Bentinck for the suppression of Sir Ch .rles Grey's
despatch of the 21st February. Nothing ever was as lame or
pitiful as Mr. Hawes's laboured attempt at explanation—
except perhaps his affected indignation when the charge was
first made.
In reference to Lord John Russell's views on the
sugar duties, the same journal says:
The ministerial proposition for the relief of the acknow-
ledged distresses of the sugar colonies is abundantly charac-
teristic of the party from which it springs. It is one of those
little measures which are to be expected from little men.
* • • • • The scheme is an Mind to the
colonies, and an outrage on the honesty and humanity of
the nation. It will not save sue single sugar estate' nor
will it give the confidence necessary to the investment of one
shilling in the colonies. It would have been infinitely better
bad ministers clung honestly, if we may use the expression
in the face of circumstances, to their original scheme of colo-
nial destruction. The present measure only adds insult to
injury ; because, whilst it admits the rights and claims of
Ike colonies, it unhesitatingly, in the face of that admission,
masigns them to ruin.
Again :
What may have been long ere this the fate of the minis-
terial proposition can only be the subject of conjecture.
Lengthened oppression, and too long deferred hopes, have
human to make us almost indifferent to its fate. Its sucrose
will extinguish at once the existence of the colonies ; in de-
feat will still leave hundreds connected with this infamously
used colony in an abyss of irredeemable ruin. Nothing can
save them. The work has been too well done. We could
name one (colonist) whose thousands of acres, acquired at a
cost of 40,0001., will not now yield him a dinner for bis
family, or supply" a horn book for his children. Who is to
relieve this suffering? or must the victim starve, whilst
the charlatan who inflicted the ruin wallows in that
effluence which is the price of his guilt? As regards
Jamaica, its day of hope is gone. Let minist n carry
their measure, and they must accompany it by another.
They who vote for the extinction of colonial property must
be prepared at the same time to provide for colonial institu-
tions. The promising state of the national finances under
the benign influence of free trade renders the present moment
peculiarly fitting for such an addition to the misoellaseons
estimates. This, however, we tell ministers, that they will
have no supply front Jamaica. They may levy, if they will,
their taxes by orders in council. Their unconstitutional ty-
ranny is quite equal to the effort, but taxes will not be paid.
The tax-gatherer may seize, but distresses cannot be soli
without a bidder.
We learn from Trinidad that, at a final meeting of
the creditors of Messrs. Loeb! Spier*, and Co., held on
the 18th July, it was determined, by
.a large majority,
that the offer of the firm to pay 75. in the pound by
instalments, should be accepted.
Several emigrants had arrived at Trinidad from
Martinique, not thinking their lives secure during the
present unsettled condition of the French West India
colonies.
From Cuba we learn that the island was perfectly
tranquil when the Great Western left, on the 27th ult.
Her Majesty's brig Daring, Commander Peel, was
to sail from Jamaica in a few days for Bluefield*,
taking Mr. Christie, her Majesty's consul-general for
that port, who has been appointed in the room of the
late Peter Walker, Esq.
The following letter from our correspondent fives
g
the news from St. Thomas :
Sr. THOMAS, 71:11' 31.—The insurrection among the
negrolin StAoCroiornox hastobebeen
eennptiorotoelyd,putthdooweinn, anonoidoqautioeot
restor
elothavenr, anond
oath:*
molarete oownr ersinbourare, puwllaginges. agaiacns. t
pearcoli.