The Express.
London, England, 1866-10-12 00:00:00

THE JAMAICA COMMITTEE.

The Jamaica Committee have lamed the follow-
ing atidreea to their friends throughout the
country :

65, Fleet-street, London, October, 1866.
Sir,—For the reasons set forth in the accompanying
'Statement "—to which particular attention is requested
-the Jamaica Committee resolved to undertake the duty
which the government bad declined, of submitting to
judicial investigation the conduct of Governor Eyre and
his subordinates in puttiag to death Mr. Gordon and
other /3ritiah subjects for tessera, sedition, and other
alleged offences without a lawful triaL
The subscriptions and guarantees already received have
justified the committee in taking the first steps ; and they
hope, by the time the courts resume their sittings, to be in
possession of the opinion of eminent counsel as to the form
of indictment and method of procedure.
The process, owing to the distance of Jamaica and other
eireamstances, will be very expensive ; and it is evident
that the committee will have to encounter a powerful reds.
tame backed by all the resources of wealth. They deem
it necessary, therefore, to appeal to the public to raise the
fund to 10,0001. Your personal aid is earnestly requested,
both in the form of subscription or guarantee, and in that
of endesvoturimg to secure the co-operation of your friends.
In making this appeal, the committee desire once more
to state that their sole object is so vindicate the law.
That the law has not yet been vindicated, that the prin-
ciples of public) liberty and justice impugned by the acts of
Governor Eyre and his subordinates have not yet been
effectively asserted, that no adequate security has been ob-
tained against a repetition of each acts by men in power for
the future, the Southampton banquet, the sentiments ex-
pruned at that banquet, the doctrines propounded by the
chairman and other members of the Eyre Defence and Aid
Committee, and the bearing of Mr. Eyre himself, are
sufficient proofs. The conduct of the ex-governor, so
far from being repented of or repudiated, is held up as a
model for imitation ; and the committee submit that, as
the matter at present stands, the public cannot feel assured
that British subjects, who may have given offence to a
party in power, will not again be put to death without
lawful trial; or that those who have been concerned in such
proceedings will not again be applauded, caressed, and
marked out for future reward and honour by pens, mem-
bers of parliament, chaplains of her Majesty, magistrates,
and other persons in high station.
The only adequate, as well as the only constitutional
safeguard, is the decision of a court of justice, which, aa
the committee submit, those supporters of the ex-governor
who believe that Mr. Gordon, Mr. Clarke, and Mr. Law-
rence came lawfully and fairly to their ends ought to be
the last to decline.

The committee also desire once more, in reply to per. I
'latent minipresentetion, to repeat that the acts for
which they are about to prosecute were not done in the
suppression of the so-called rebellion. Mr. Gordon, Mr,
Clarke, and Mr. Lawrence all suffered after the period at
which, as Mr. Eyre himself expressly dated, the insur-
rection had been completely crushed. 'hey suffered,
there is reason to suspect, for offence given to the party in
power, quite independently of the disturbances, with
which no one of the three was proved to have been con-
nected in any way whatever.
While the interests of public liberty form the molt
obvious ground for an effectual protest spinet the lawless
violence of persons in authority, it must not be forgotten
that justice is also due to the memory and to the families
of those who have been put to a felon's death, and buried
as felons beneath the gallows, for crimes of which there is
reason to believe they were not lawfully or justly con-
victed.

The committee commend to your support an undertak-
ing which they believe to be essential to the interests of
public liberty and justice. They have come forward u
private individuals to put the law in motion only on the
positive and almost contumacious refusal of the govern-
ment to do its duty, by inquiring into the oases in which
there was reason to believe the lives of subjects of her
Majesty had been illegally taken. But having come
forward, they will not fail the public, if the public will not
fail them. _ .

JOHN STUART MILL, M.P., Chairman.
P. A. TAYLOR, M.P., Treasurer.
F. W. CHEISON, Hon. Secretari;
Thomas Barnes, Y.P., John Bright, M. , Joseph
Cowen, It.P., J. E. Cairuca, Henry Fawcett,
DI.P., Thomas Hughes, M.P., Wilfrid Lawson,
Bart., J. DI Ludlow, Duncan DULA:en, M.P..
S. Morley, F. W. Newman. R. N. Philips,
M.P., T. B. Potter, Y.P. Humphrey Sand.
with, C. 8., Goldwiu Smith, Herbert Spencer,
James White, M.P.

P.S.—Subscriptions should be forwarded to the trea-
surer, Mr. P. A. Taylor, M.P., Aubrey-house, Notting-
hill ; or to Mr. F. W. Charon, the boo. secretary, 6L,
Fleet-street, London.

MR. KNATCHBULL-11110EMEN, M.P., AND THE
R.RFORM MEETING.—In reply to an invitation to 'attend
this banquet Mr. E. B. Knatchbull-Hugessen,
M.P., one of the Lords of the Treasury of the
late government, has forwarded the following
letter to Mr. J. D. Morten, the secretary :—" Sineeth,
October 8, 1866. Sir,—l think it right to de-
cline the invitation of the National Reform Union to
the contemplated reform banquet at Manchester. Those
who held office under Lord Palmerston and Lord Russell
are, in my opinion, bound to give a fair trial to the present
government. The leader of the tory party in the House of
Commons has declared that there is uo reason why that
party should not deal with the question of reform, and I
think it my duty to abstain from joining in any demonstra-
tion which might embarrass the government before their
intentions upon the subject have been declared."
REFORM MEETING AT STEPNEY. —An open-air
meeting in favour of parliamentary reform, and attended
by upwards of 8,000 persons, was held last night on
Stepney-green. The Poplar and Stratford branches of the
Reform League, bearing numerous flags, and accompanied
by bands of music, arrived on the Green about eight o'clock,
the time at which the proceedings were announced to com-
mence. In the absence of Mr. Edmd. Beales, who was to
have presided, the chair was occupied by Lieutenant-
Colonel Dickson. In consequence of the large numbers
present, the members of the Reform League in attendance
decided upon holding three meetings at the same time.
Mr. Finlen moved the first resolution as follows : "That
this meeting pro.esta most emphatically against the pre-
sent system of case legislation, and firmly believes that
the time has arrived when the whole of the adult male po-
pulation, not morally or intellectually incapacitated,
I should have a voice in choosing their representatives in
1 parliament. We therefore pledge ourselves to continue
1 the present agitation, and render all the aid in our power
totbe National Reform League, until they have achieved
the enemas of their patriotic undertaking. " Mr.
Shearman seconded the resolution, which was sup-
portedby Mr. Wright, a delegate from Birming-
ham,
and carried amid acclamation. Mr. Guedalla
I moved the next resolution :—" That this meeting
is proud to acknowledge the services rendered
to the cause of political freedom by Mr. John Bright, the
Right Ron. W. E. Gladstone, Mr. K Beale', and other
gentlemen, who have unflinchingly and persistently de-
fended the unenfranchieed portion of their fellow-country-
men from the unjust and cruel aspersions cast upon them
in the British House of Commons ; we furthermore ex-
press e'er firm conviction that with the mighty aid of the
insulted, and therefore justly aroused people, they will
speedily bring the question of parliamentary reform to a
glorious and successful issue."
THE LONDON TRADES AND THE REFORM MOVE-
R ENT . —Last evening a meeting of delegates of the London
trades societies, convened by the London Working Men's
Association, was held at the Whittington Club, Arundel-
' street, Strand, for the purpose of considering the desire-
! bility of holding a demonstration of the trades and friendly
societies of the metropolis in favour of an extension of
the franchise to the working claa ws. About 150 dele-
gates were present representing different trades. Mr.
George Potter having taken the chair and opened the pro-
ceediaga, several delegates addressed the meeting, stating
1 their respective trades were fully prepared to support the ,1
1 movement, which must be an open-air day demonstration, I
:with in a pecuniary and every other sense. The delegate i
from the plasterers moved, and the delegate from the
packing-case makers seconded the following resolution :
" That this meeting of delegates, on behalf of the trades
societies they respectively represent. hereby approve of the
proposal of the London Working Men's Association to hold
a demonstration of the London trade and friendly societies
in favour of residential manhood suffrage red the ballot,
and also agree to form themselves into a general com-
mittee to carry out such demonstration under the
superintendence of the executive committee of the
Working Men's Assaociation." The delegate from
the amalgamated smiths moved, and the delegate
from the cabinet makers seconded the following :
"That in the case of those societies whose constitution
prevents them as a society taking part in a political move-
ment. the members of such trade and friendly societies be
called together in aggregate meeting in their individual
capacity, to ascertain whether they are willing to join as
a body in the demonstration, and, if so, to appoint dale-
fetes to the general committee."
The delegate from the
tailors moved, and the delegate from the ropemakers
seconded, the following resolution :—" That in order to
raise a fund to defray the general expenses connected with
' the demonstration, tickets of admission to the place of
meeting be printed and supplied to the delegates, to be
distributed to their constituents ; the charge for such
tickets to be 2d. each." The whole of the resolutions were
carried unanimomly, and after the transaction of scene
routine business the meeting was adjourned for a fort-
eight, when the time and place for holding the demon-
; titration will be decided upon. A vote of thank' to the
chairman concluded the proceedings.