The Express.
London, England, 1866-08-01 00:00:00

guide into the conduct of all the subordinate officials who
might be suspected of not having acted with peufect bona
Ides. With regard to the resolutions, hewas of opinion that
on the first all must agree, but, though agreeingin the spirit
which dictated the other three, he showed the difficulties of
applying them • and, believing that any judgment of the
house upon them'
would increase the diMoulties of the new
governor in his work of conciliation, be recommended that
the questions of further prosecutions, compensation, and
amnesty should be left to him.
Mr. HuonEe supported Mr. gars proposal to prose-
cute Governor Eyre, mentioning a number of cases in
which colonial governors had been prosecuted ; and Colo-
nel Noma defended Dr. Bowerbank and the general oon-

duct of the military and naval officers.
Sir R. PALMER said he did not wish to detain the
house for more than a few minutes, but he was anxious to
state the view that he took of these resolutions. He did
not dissent from • word in the first or the second. He
thought the house would affirm the first; but with regard
to the second, he approved it because it was the course
which the government were already taking. If the govern-
ment were not taking that course, no doubt it would be
competent, and highly proper, and perhaps necessary for the
house to express its opinion in order to tell the government
its duty, but he believed that to be a course most unusual
if the government was already taking the exact course
which the house thought right, end which bad for its ob-
ject the bringing to justice any persons who had miscon-
dusted themselves. It would be unusual and unnecessary
for the house to pus such a resolution, which if it could
have any erect, would only have the effect of infurons a
political element into what ought to be a mere judicial
proceeding. The honourable member for East Surrey
said the house must either indorse these lament-
able occurrences or pass these resolutions. He
denied that the house was in such • dilemma.
He entirely dissented from any observations tending to
extenuate these excesses. No doubt that in exact degree
as those who administered martial law were removed from
the responsibility of the ordinary administration of justice
and law was it the duty of those in authority over them to
look closely after them, and severely repress all excesses
and abuses which might be committed. When they
looked to the mere number of those who had suffered
death in these unhappy transactions, even after the in-
surrection had been practically suppressed, and compared
them with the number who had suffered on all similar
occasions, it was impossible not to see that errors, not to
nay crimes of • most deplorable character had been com-
mitted. No resolution of the house was necessary, as
had been urged by the hon. member for Lambeth, ether
for bringing an action or for instituting • criminal prosecu-
tion against the .etrators of excesses.
Mr. B. GURNEY—Sir, I am exceedingly unwilling to
take any part in this debate, feeling that the position I
had the honour to hold precludes me from entering into
many of the topics under discussion, and also feeling that
in the position I at present fill I may possibly have to
pronounce judicially on some of those topics. Indeed I
should not have been induced to break the silence I had
imposed upon myself if it had not been for some obsetva-
tions which fell from my right hon. friend the Under
Secretary of State for the Colonies, and the challenge
thrown out by the late Under Secretary, who called urn me
to state whether in point of fact I had changed the opinion
expressed in the report to which I was a party, namely,
that Mr. Gordon was not, in ouudgment, guilty of the
offence with which he was charge, or of any complicity in
the conspiracy. Certainly I have not changed that
opinion. (Hear, bear.) lam satisfied that the evidence
was wholly insufficient to justify his conviction, and I am
also satisfied, after careful examination of the evidence
adduced before us in the course of our inquiry, that
although it appeared exceedingly probable that Mr. Gor-
don by his words and writings produced a material effect
upon Bogle and his followers, and did much to produce
that state of excitement in different parts of the island
which rendered the spread of the insurrection probable,
yet there was not in the evidence any sufficient proof either
of his complicity in the outbreak at Morant Bay, or of his
having been a party to a general conspiracy against the
government. Of course Ido not shrink from the opinion
that there bad been questionable speeches and writings on
the part of Gordon, which might have possibly subjected
him to an indictment for sedition, but that was a wholly
different thing from that for which be had been oonvicted,
and would not justify the sentence passed upon him, and
unfortunately carried into execution. I cannot conceive
how the hon. member for East Surrey can have looked
either at the report or the evidence without coming to the
conclusion that something far more serious than that
which he suggested was the origin of the outbreak. (Hear,
hear.) The hon. member told us that candour com-
pelled him to state there was • certain degree of
irritation amongst the black population in consequence
of their being driven from lands which they thought
they were entitled to possess. That was not the
origin of the outbreak. The originators of the
outbreak were not persons who had been driven from their
lands, hut were persons who were settled on their own
freeholds to a large extent. No doubt they availed them.
selves of the general desire on the part of the black popu-
lation, not to retain possession of the lands they had ques-
tionably taken, but to become possessors of lands which
had never been settled upon by them in any way, and bad
never been occupied by them. But there was a general
idea on the part of the blacks that what they called the
"back lands" had been originally the property of Ihe
Queen, and that the Queen by some grant which was con-
cealed from them by the white people, had made over
such back lands to the black portion of the island. The
originators of the outbreak took advantage of the
excitement which existed on that subject in order to
produce that state of discontent which undoubtedly pre-
vailed to a large extent in the island. But when my hon.
friend speaks of that as being all which candour compels
him to admit, and ignores the fact that there was an
planned rising or insurrection, has he forgotten that which
was proved by witness after witness, that for weeks before
the outbreak there rod been actual drillings among the
people, that they had been formed into different companies,
that captains and colonels had been appointed over them,
and that they bad been told the time would come
when the effect of their drillings would be seen, and that
they were to ohtaln the advantages which were sought to
be obtained by those who were the origina.ors of
the outbreak. We found this was the watchword—
the war cry—throughout the few days the insur-
rection lasted—" Colour for colour, Buckras no more"—
Snare being • negro term for the whites. In former
times the course has been to set fire to the plantations,
and burn down dwellings and thrash houses. On the
present occasion they were untouched—the cry being, " No
touch thrash houses ; we want them for us." The plan
was distinctly announced that in the following week, after
they bad possessed themselves of the whole of the country
they were to take up the crops, because the white popula-
tion would be no longer seen in the island. It is not quite
right to have all these facts ignored, and when dwelling
on the severities practised, which I deplore, and whic%
we condemned in our report in tolerably strong language,
it is not right to ignore the real 'trite of the island,
or the dangers to be encountered by, and the perils
which beset the persons in authority. (Hear.) I Joni
most cordially in almost everything said by the late Under
Secretary of State for the Colonies. The anxiety which
the commissioners felt was that something should be done
in order to prevent the recurrence of events similar to those
which all deplore, and I trust that we shall not allow
these events to pass away without something being done.
If martial law is to be continued in the island, we ought to
point out the way in which that martial law is to be en-
forced. Steps should be taken to let governors know the
power which they possessd the manner in which it
should be lased. (Hear, bear.)
Mr. BUXTON, in reply, said the first resolution had
been accepted by the house, and he was glad of it ; but the
house should clearly understand that in accepting it, they
were passing a most decisive and emphatic condemnation
upon excessive severity which had been employed after
the disriurbanoes bad been put down. (Hear, hear.)
The " previous question was then formally withdrawn.
The SPEAKEit having put the first resolution,
Mr. AYRTON interposed, and asked whether it was
to be understood as accepted in the sense just indicated
by its mover ? Either these persons had been guilty of a
most serious offence or they were innocent. If guilty, it
was right that they should be brought to justice, and the
house ought not to seek to evade that duty by " deploring"
something. But he could not believe that the house would
adopt so extraordinary • course as to send • number of
persons to be tried with the weight of an emphatic vote
of condemnation by the House of Commons hanging over
them. (Hear, hear.) He regretted to hear it contended
that there was any difficulty about bringing to justice
persoes who had put the Queen's subjects to death by
hundreds. As regarded the form of proceedings which
should be be taken, the hon. and learned gentleman
referred to the case of • young officer in India 30 years
ago, who under similar circumstances had hanged a num-
ber of prisoners. He was properly tried by courtmartial,
for "inter arms silent loges.' He was dismissed the ser-
vice, and the Duke of Wellington strenuously opposed the
effort, that were made to restore him, because in his
opinion the officer had carried on warlike operations with
cruelty. As to Mr. Eyre, there was no civil tribunal that
could take cognisance of what he had dune after the pro-
clamation of martial law. He found that in that procla-
mation the authorities had conferred upon them all belli-
gerent rights while putting down the insurrection. But
it was no legitimate belligerent right to put prisoners to
death—(cheers)—and during the great American civil war,
everything of that kind had been earnestly deprecated in
this country. The civilian who had countenanced these
things ought to be made responsible in the only manner in
which he could be made responsible, and that was to the
House of Commons. (Hear, hear.) If they passed this
resolution it could only be the first step towards • more
solemn proceeding, and it would be unworthy of the House
of Congruous to shirk the matter at the end of the session.
Theymuat leave it tothejton.member forWestminsterwhen
parliament met again to carry on that which he had pro-
posed in • manner befitting the occasion, and he trusted
that public justice would then be adequately vindicated.
(Hear, hear.)
The CILANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER—If Governor
Eyre is to be brought to justios by parliament, it can only
be by process of impmehmentHhear, hear)—and it is for
the hon. gentleman and others to consider whether they
have ground for such a grave act. But what I want to call
the attention of the house to is, that this resolution
if pared can never be the foundation of an impeachment,
because it is based apse an sorruptics that ever, thinx
that was done was legal. One expression, for instance, r
that we " deplore the excessive rudiments which fol-
lowed the stippression of the dierubanor," which replier