The Sun.
London, England, 1839-04-16 00:00:00

the Church Establishment would fall, and equal rights
and privileges would be enjoyed by all,—(Hear, hear.)
Now, he begged to say that the wages of the population
were sufficient to support them in comfort, and even
in luxury, although they were not sufficient to gratify
the rapacity of a Baptist missionary.—(Cheers.) One
of the great evils which would result from adopting the
proposed measure would be, that it would completely
degrade the white population—that it would completely
destroy all the moral influence which ought to be re-
tained by the white population, and that it would bold
out to those who had formerly stood in the relation of
slaves the impression that the whites were so dis-
posed to oppress them that the Queen and the Parlia-
ment, and the people of England, would not trust them
any longer with the power of making laws to govern them.
It would be impossible to hold society together in such
a state of things. If matters were not precipitated in
this manner the negro population would gradually ac-
quire their predominance, and at the same time would
acquire those habits of eh ilization and that education
which would enable them to exercise their rights with
benefit to themselves and safety to the white population,
and the bonds of society would continue united, and
there would be then, as now, no distinction arising from
colour.—(Hear.) The Ministry, in making the expe-
riment at such a time as the present, seemed to be ma-
nifesting a total disregard of those motives which or-
dinarily actuated human nature, and though it was a
matter of surprise that any Government could be found
rash enough to bring forward such a measure, it was
still more surprising that any individual possessing an
interest in Jamaica could be found supporting them.
He would not detain the meeting longer than to state
that a petition had heen prepared for signature, and that
Mr. Sergeant Merewether and Mr. Reynolds had
been retained as Counsel for the proprietors, to be
heard at the bar of the House of Commons, and that
it would be his duty to appear as agent for
.the Assembly.
Sir A. GRANT said, if he had entertained any doubt
as to the propriety of the resolutions of the former
electing, what had since transpired would have entirely
removed them.—( Hear, hear.) All the misfortunes of
the West Indians arose from an apathy on their affairs,
which was entertained by the leaders of both parties in
the State, and from a disinclination on the part of their
friends to mix themselves up against that body which
were called the Philanthropist. They was so called,
but he did not gi% e one iota of credit to them for bene-
volence.—(Cheers.) He had some consolation even in
the introduction of such a Bill as the one introduced by
the Government. Its introduction forced upon the
consideration of the House of Commons certain points,
which must also now be forced upon the consideration
of the public, and the benefit of that would be to them.

—(Cheers.) It would then be shown that the antici-
pated and much boasted of benefit which the planters
were to rece:ve from the Emancipation Act, was all
delusion. They would see that the men were

severe sufferers from the harsh treatment of
a Government which was so desitute of sup-
port that they had been obliged to truckle to O'Con-
nell fur the support of Irish Members generally, and
who were obliged, in order to secure the support of the
sanctified leaders of the philanthropists for measures of
that nature.—(Cheers.) A Government which, while
at home, were saying that in common honesty they were
obliged to oppose the motion or Sir E. Wilmot, and
carry out the compact into which they had entered
with the planters, had sent out orders to the Governor
of Jamaica to tell the House of Assembly that they
must cut their own throats, because there was a sword
hanging over their heads, so far as the two years' ap-
prenticeship was concerned. Sir L. Smith had clearly
shown himself to be a partizan upon every occasion,
always against the proprietors, even with the Baptists
or any other enemy of peace and order. He could not,
he would not have dared to act so without orders from
home. He supported all the gross misrepresentations
of the Baptist incendiaries--of those enemies of the Es-
tablished Church, and then in a despatch, only a few
days later, he contradicts himself. How could they put
faith either in a Government such as he had described,
or in a partizan Governor like Sir Lion.:l Smith ?
(Cheers.) He was no eulogist of the Assembly—
they had been got into a scrape. He thought they
would soon get out of it, but lie hoped it would be a
lesso❑ to them, and that they would have no more of
that disgraceful intemperance of languaue which bad
been formerly shown. He lamented deeply that the ,
gentlemen of the Press had been excluded from the li
last meeting. It was a mere mistake, because, if their
cause wind& not stanctthe test of publicity, for God's
sake give it up. Publicity, however, they courted, for
so far from having anything to fear, it would and
must benefit them.—(Cheers,) It was, however, useless
to exclude the Press, for if their was a minority,
however small, something of the meeting would be sure
to get out, and then it was not to be expected that the I
report would be as fair, as candid, and as correct as
those gentlemen who attended for the Press were in the
habit of giving► their accounts of the proceedings of
meetings.—(Hear, hear.) He was induced to make
those remarks from a report of the last meeting, which
appeared in the Emancipator. Only conceive one of
them in correspondence wiih the Em►aneipalor.—(A
laugh.) The proceedings, though not wholly false,
were given in a very garbled manner. He was found
fault with for using a very short but expressive English
word when speaking of the misrepresentations of
the Baptists. He repeated the term, and would
have very little hesitation in applying the same term
to many of Sir Lionel Smith's. Then aguin, it
was said that the proprietors would not hear those
opposed to them, and more especially Mr. Bernal. He
appealed to all present as to the truth or falsehood of
that assertion. That statement deserved the same short
epithet which had given offence. It was absurd to at-
tempt to keep out those who would give a fair report,
and it showed the system of misrepresentation which was
carried on by a party whom he would venture to stigma-
tize as the most unconscientious, though claiming often
the exclusive privilege of conscience, that ever yet en-
dangered the country, and which was likely, in his opi-
nion, if not met by a firmer Government, to bring the
country to the state in which it was in the time of the
Roundheads.—( Hear, hear.)

,
Mr. NORMAN DONALDSON said when he entered tue
room he was in hopes that the subject would have been
discussed with temper and moderation, and he certainly
thought it might have been conducted without intro-
ducing the name of Mr. O'Connell—(Hear, hear,
hear)—who had nothing whatever to do with the ques-
tion. When such violent and decided feelings
were expressed by men whose party views and connec-
tions were known, he could not but think the interests
of Jamaica were in some degree injured. He thought
that much might be done by conciliation, and that it
would be for the benefit of the proprietors if a little more
desire were shown on their part to co-operate with the
views of the Government, instead of standing out as
avowedly hostile to them.
Sir A. GRANT explained.
Mr. PHILPOTTS said that when the Prison Bill was
passed so hastily, it was said to be in consequence of the
Report of Captain Pringle. The Captain said in his
Report that the rules and regulations of 1834 were
good, and he only recommended proper officers to be
appointed, and power to be invested in the Governor
to appoint the gaolers. Now the Provostmaster-General
bad that power, and the Governor 'Eight 'laic directed
him to appoint proper persons. There was one passage
in the speech of the Governor which had not been ad-
verted to at all, and which showed that he possessed
either inspiration, or private information from the Go-
vernment at home—he would leave it to the meeting to
say which. Sir Lionel Smith, in his speech, said he
was afraid that general agitation, and Parliamentary in-
terference had not yet terminated. Now, bow could
the Governor know that, unless he had been told that
the Government intended to force the Assembly into
this measure.—(Hear, hear.) He concluded by mov-
ing a series of resolutions, stating that the meeting had
learned with regret the introduction of a Bill into the
House of Commons, and trusted that Ministers would
not feel compelled to press the measure, and that
there was no disposition on the part of the House
of Assembly, or the inhabitants of Jamaica, to exer-
cise any act of oppression towards the emancipated
negroes, and that the Legislature considered all the
inhabitants as equal in point of freedom.
Mr. ACKERSLFIt seconded the resolution.
The Rev. THEODORE WILLIAMS recommended
conciliatory measures, and hoped the Government would
adopt resolutions similar to those which were passed in
the case of Canada, before resorting to so severe a mea-
sure as the one now proposed.—( Hear.)
Dr. BINNS wished to correct some misstatements
made by Mr. Labouchere in his speech on Tuesday eve-
ning, and he should do so on the authority of Mr.
Montgomery Martin's work. Mr. Labouchere stated
that the whites in Jamaica amounted to only 5,000.
( Hear, hear.) Why, in Kingston there were more than
twice that number, and the difference between the
statement of Mr. Labouchere and the truth was only
30,000.—( Hear, hear.) Mr. Labouchere stated the
coloured inhabitants to be only 28,000, whereas the
real number was not less than 100,000.—(Hear, hear.)
No dependance could be placed on a man who made
such misstatements, and he should therefore move as an
amendment, " That this meeting cannot separate with-
out expressing the opinion, that from the extreme' ig-
norance or wilful misrepresentation on the part of the
Under Secretary for the Colonies, evinced in his statement
before the House of Commons on Tuesday last, he-is
totally unfitted for the responsible office which he holds
and that this censure be construed to extend to her
Majesty's Ministers generally.—(Laughter.) He had
I no doubt that some honest man would second the
amendment.