The Express.
London, England, 1851-11-11 00:00:00

J.I.IICA.

The Dispah in of Oct. 11 has the following:
There are at present three vacanckv in, the council,
caused by the death of 1)r. Robertson and Mr. Bernard,
and by the appointment of Mr. Bravo to the office of
Auditor-General. One of these vacancies, it liar long been
said, is about to be tilled by Mr. Jordan, one of the mem-
bers for this city. A second lies, it in said, and we believo
with truth, been oll.rcd to Mr. Porteous one of the mem-
been for St. David, who, we Imre reason to believe, has
accepted the appointment. We have limed a third name
mentioned as likely to occupy the other seat, but
the bailie motives which induced us to with-
hold the publication of the rumour with respect
to Mr. Porteous 's elevation, prompt us to silence
in respect of the probable occupant of the third
vacant seat at the council board. Tine elevation of Mr.
Jonluu to the board of council will create a vacancy in the
representation of thin city, which there in every reason, to
believe will be by James Davidson, Erg., than whom
a better can tilde could scarcely be chosen. For St.
David's, where another vacancy will be occasioned by the
elevation of Mr. Pottcour to the council, there is every
prospect of another active contest. Mr. Nunes, it is an-
nueuccd, will ante more try his luck, and bar already, if
rumour is to be believed, commenced his canvass.. In op-
position to him, the coaxer eativ., party are about to propose
Jeremiah Leaycralt, Esq., a gentleman canceled with the
'wish by properly, and largely interes•cd in the colony.
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On a subject already alluded to in our columns
the same journal of Oct. U says :
The carriage of his Excellency the governor, lately &s-
-trained fur the amount of income-tax assessed against him
by the vestry of St. Catherine, hes, it ',elute been actually
brought to the hammer, and old by auction to the highest
and bist bidder for u paltry sum, falling short by lit. of
the amount of the tax ; and, we may presume, by many
time; the sum of its actual value. Nis Eseelleney, it would
appear, has preferred to allow the law to take its coarse.
ill•te34 of resorting to the usnal course of a replevin, in
order to try the legality id thin assessment which he dis-
putes. What step his Excellency will take, now that
matters have proceeded to thin extremity, we are not aware,
but it is probable the affair will bccume a subject of repre-
sentation o the colonial °Nice, and it is not unlikely that it
may yet be the subject of reference to the legislature.
It will be time enough to consider this circumstance when
the occasion arises, meanwhile we have to deal with the
matter itself.
Whilst we deeply regret this occurrence, as one likely, we
fear, to recoil at some future day on the colony itself, it iS
imp,issible nut to see in it irrefragable evidence of the almost
universal unpopularity of the iodic ideal whom not even ex-
alted rank and station could shield from inn indignity which
would only be resorted to in the ease of a private person with
pain and regret. We sec in it undoubted proof that, aftera
residence among U. of nearly five years, Sir Chas. Grey has
so contrived to ielmiuister his government as to he now lite-
raliy without a political friend. We arc satisfied we dial
be uucontradieted from any quarter, when we state there
never yet has been a governor of Jamaica—bad as many of
our governors have been—toward: whom so extreme a course
would have been taken as that to which we this day direct
public attention. Many governor; have been unpopular
with one class or :mother, lint none ever AO completely suc-
ceeded in driving from him the confidence and the sympathy
of an entire community. There cm be no doubt in the
world that this antagonistic relation between the governor
and the governed has induced the catastrophe now under
consideration. The distress and sale of his excellency's
personal equipage, under circumstances which are already
' known, may be looked upon as nothing short of a deliberate
vote of want of confidence on the put of the whole public.
The act itself, hunk us it iv, and unparalleled, speaks the
\Mice of the people, and say; that Sir Charles Grey, the
nominee of the worst minister that ever held the mi. °ilia
portfolio, cannot be any longer our governor. Nor is it
likely that, after such a significant proof of the feeling of
the public, Sir Charles Grey cm long be retained in his
present station. No individual can efficiently administer a
govermueut who has ceased to possess the confidence and
respect of those over ahem he is placed. We may regret
—we do regret :he particular mode in which a want of con-
fidence and respect has been expresseal, hut the fret still
remains, and it seems scarcely possible that, utter what has
taken place, the government of this island can lie retained
in the hands that now hold it. Let us only hope that the
Sit. Catherine's "levy " may not operate seriously to our
disadvantage in the selection of a successor.
Heavy rains in the island had led to many ac-
cidents, one of which in St. Thomas-in-the-East,
proved fatal to a gentleman of oho name of Little-
john. The paper above quoted says : " Her Majesty's
brig Helena, It;, Commander Ireourey, at present are
this station, is ordered home to be paid oft, her time
of service having expired."
The weather is described as having been " favour-
able and congenial to the interests of cultivators."
A case of poisoning by arsenic had led to the advo-
cacy in the Jamaica papers of the enactment—" In
this island of the statutory provisions now in force in
England for restricting the sale of arsenic and other
poisonous drugs. It is very much to be feared that
deaths by poisoning arc far more numerous in this
island than is generally conceived."
BRITISH GUIANA,

A meeting of the planting interest had been held at
Grorgetown,which was numerously attended, at which
two resolutions were passed by overwhelming majo-
rities, the first of which expressed the satisfaction of
the gentlemen present at the plan of reform in their
institutions brought forward by the Governor in tho
Court of Policy on the basis of the resolutions agreed
to by the absentee proprietors at the London Tavern
on the 4th of April last ; and the second of which
earnestly pressed on the court and tho government
the imperative necessity of adopting early measures
for the continuance of immigration.
late Court of Policy met on the 30th of September,
to discuss the proposed reform in tho constitution of
the colony, and the second reading of the measure,
after some opposition, was duly carried—one petition
only against the change being presented to the court
from residents in the colony. The court on the fol-
following day was engaged with the Immigration