The Sun.
London, England, 1839-03-04 00:00:00

GUIANA COLONIAL AGENCY.

Extract from the Guiana Chronicle,dated Jan. 16,1839.
vp thateor,
lit r 1 beenile:.lt
eedeoan,r rtst see
a I
6ewsneenmeedcr: done.ewr_ael nhtrl:rtgimyiruni ‘s.
required
COURT OF ' POLICY.
TUESDAY, JAN. B.—A petition from the Rave Fran,
cis Forbes and other Presbyterian clergymen in Ber-
bice was brought up. A rum of money had been voted
by the Combined-Court for schools in the rural parishes ;
they (the petitioners): had received no part of this.—The
Governor : A similar application was made by the
Church of England ; I think this was the order on the
petition of the Church of • England, that, they should
state some of the schools that were in existence, Has
iotlaecvialsrner
The
eseilet 1 i
thou; e
they
established.—The
eme‘armYbiccv
rtiehaoti requiredasnhseeem.:daciappointed.committee.—Cap-
tain tnde err requireia. i ,
wti 1 hedi el
Go-
vernment
Dr.
btoeroe.-.
1 etSgeaenrtiargnattWi cautious how I made my report after what has—C shouldone--
curred.—(A laugh,)
After some further business,
The Government Secretary called the attention of
the Court to the item which was on the estimate, for
" salary to a Colonial Agent." He believed that the'
creation of such an office by a vote of. the Court was
quite irregular ; a correspondence with.the Home Go-
vernment, upon this subject had taken' place, and in
reference particularly to the gentlemen who now held
the post ; the Crown, or an Act ofethe Legislature could
. Roli
ierrdiAoemosNotelaolefeta:
create an office, but the creation elan officeeby a mere
resolution of the Court we nowilegular ; Savas what
was not permitted even -in the oilier Colonies possssed-
of more Legislative power than British Guiana. He
(the Government Secretary).woold request the Governor
to order the correspondence to be laid on the table
of the Court, in order that Members might see the
impossibility of permitting the office to exist, unless it
were established on . right principles, and. bore refe-
rence to the entire Court, and not one prtienlar
portion of it : the term " Colonial," comprehended, of
course, all the Colonial interests, and if so, he (the Go-
vernment Secretary) certainly denied that the represen-
tation of all the Colonial interests was vested in any one
Section, either of the Court of Policy, or of the Com-
bined Court ; and he should conclude with a motion
that the item should be struck out, but in order that the
Court might be aware of the grounds on which he spoke,e
he would request the production of the correspondence.
—Dr.M4Turk : What correspondence do you allude to ?*
—Tile Government Secretary : The correspondence be-
tween the Secretary of' State and the Governor.—Cap-
tain Warren : May I ask your Excellency one question?
Whether the estimate went home to her Majesty's
Government and was approved of ?—The Governor :
Certainly..—Captain Warren : the item appears, and
the Despatch approving of it has been already
acted on. The Government Secretary : That
may be a motive for the Court to reject my
motion, but it is competent for me to make a
motion.—The Chief Justice : Mr. Young does not
Propose to take it off last year's estimate, but next
year's.—Mr. Roie: It has already passed, and, -there-
fore, can't be expunged, and it is on our records that it
has - been the practice for twenty years ; the Agent was
appointed by resolution over and over.—The Governor :
It is right we should hear what Mr. Young says.—
Captain Warren : As far as I recollect some part of ,
that correspondence, Lord Glenelg said he would be '
-very happy to receive Mr. Holmes, but illr. Holmes
had no right to come officially, and claim an audience..
—The Chief Justice : In Grenada they are appointed
by ordinance, for every Agent there is a new ordi-
nance.—The Government Secretary : There is an
ordinance here, which has been read a first and second
time, but has not been disposed of.--Mr. Rose : The
item was on the estimate when that Ordinance was brought
forward. The Government Secretary, who had received
a small key from the Governor, and left the room, re-
turned with a voluminous file of documents, which he
proceeded to read. The first was a despatch from Lord 1
Glenelg to Governor Smith. He (his Lordship) en-
tertained very serious doubts as to the possibility' of
recognizing Mr. Holmes in his capacity of Colonial
Agent ; unless these doubts were cleared in a satis.
factory manner, he must be under the disagreeable
necessity of declining to do so ; the creation of such an
office had not been within the scope of Sir Lionel Smith I
and the Combined Court, or the Court of Policy. The
question should have been raised by a Bill in the,
ordinary manner.- In the islands such offices were 1
created by Acts of Assembly, but there appeared 1
to be no possibility of engrafting such an ordinance
on the Constitution of British Guiana; to any 1
representations made by the inhabitants, or any
portion of them, whether through the Governors- •or
through any person selected by them for the purpose,
respectful attention would bo paid ; but there wcre i
serious objections to giving sanction to such an officer
as an agent for the Colony collectively, and lotting him I
enjoy the -authority consequent thereon—it would in-
volve
a very injurious fallacy ; before, therefore, any
one could be entrusted with the name and powers of 1
Colonial Agent," the meaning of those terms must
be fixed with a degree of precision not hitherto
attained. The next document was a ennui-Juni. I
cation from the Under Secretary of State to 1
Mr. Holmes himself. His Lordship having been
notified of the appointment of Mr. Holmes to the 1
post of Colonial Agent for British Guiana, directed that 1
gentleman's attention to be called to certain difficulties 1
in which the queition was involved. What did the 1
term " Agent for the Colony" mean? Who were the I
constituents of the gentleman ? Not the entire popula-
tion,
because the largest portion were excluded from all
political rights, while there was but a small part of the 1
remainder who enjoyed an elective franchise ; therefore 1
the constituents of the Agent. were the elected
or clerical—(A laugh)—members of the Court of I
Policy ; but in strict propriety these gentlemen could I
have no legal or constitutional existence as a body dis-
tinct from the Court, of which they formed a part ;
therefore Lord Glenelg could not acknowledge their
title to act, or to be represented, separately from the 1
Members holding office ; in another capacity (we did
not hear this part of the communication with complete t
distinctness) there were gentlemen already acting, with
whom no fault was found ; but it the agent was to be
the representative of the whole Court of Policy,
how could the Governor, and other official members
of that Court, become the avowed and confidential
correspondents of another than the Secretary of
State? This objection did not apply -to Legislative
Councils and Assemblies, of which the Governor was
not a -member, those bodies corresponded with the
Agent—the Governor, who was quite independent of
them, with the Secretary of State. If it were that the
combined Court was the body which the Agent repre-
sented, the preceding objections were not entirely ob-
viated, while a much graver difficulty arose- The com-
bined Court met only at distant intervals, for the single
purpose of providing for the estimate ; with
the general political interests of the Colony it was not
interested, and on these it could not main-
tain any correspondence without encroaching . upon
the privileges of the Court of Policy. In the other
Colonies the office was created by ordinance,
the neglect of which was an irregularity, not in
form, but in substance: every subject who petitioned
the Sovereign, had a right to the patient consideration
of the Officers of the Crown, but that was a very dif-
ferent thing from the recognition of a Colonial Agent.
As the Agent of any number of individuals who might-
depute Mr, Holmes to act for them, Lord Glenelg
would be happy to receive that gentleman and to act
with him, but for the reasons which were now
frankly laid before him, his Lordship felt a
difficulty in recognising him in the capacity
vested in him by the elective or clerical section ; recog-
nised in any public aGnelevoeffirncmiaelncthasreaecrteertaoryf tandadtenda,tufiriej,
Mr. Holmes could not be, except at the expense of some
results of a very
faore.uefrottir,oi
ostaithnialealteesi
tt;1:1 aa
thirdtr
allotlhfee,ar
principle involving
many years ; Mr. Beete was another,
havingc'seriouson
Arentsti tubbk cie:n constitutional
at' struck ue ca Theide out until the duties of the office are
A,te eGliouredotne
defined.—The Chief Justice : I second the motion.
all these acted
may not be the same
century.—
say the Court has not the power, after the r principle has
I see no reason why this should be
the Tax Ordinance
anda—bey
acted
‘er.
I:1
rs
. so
il
if
Roseu.
ob
resolution
i cogni
1:
021
nl.
tthisblYg
perhaps ll\Ce'
if it be necessary to make an
ordinance, make one.—The Governmeut Secretary :
tbDaekre'ennMao'dTffmueiatnktee- :d
estimate ;
objection ; as to the estimate, the observations of
the Secretary of State refer to
the Estimate ; a
and not to he could never have
expected to find an
.offia.cel_croated in an estimate.-
1 Captain 'Warren : It is difficulty__s created for the occa-
sion Provided an ordinance pass,. there
the appointment of iVi_.7. s was as valid as
;
before ; but, however, the Court will see that Lord
Glenel g sets aside the difficulty, because he sacs, that
although he cannot recognize Trim in
an officiel capacity,
lie is always ready to receive him
; as to his Constitu-
ents, his Constituents are the. c c
not, w ornhined Court, and they
interest ; ie
represent every nat- portion of the
community represents the
.other ?, if they are not re-
presented there, how are they represented? he was
appointed by a unanimous vote ;
he was appointed, and
the salary fixed, and tide estimate has been approved
of ; we know vory well that the Secretary looks very
closely into the ottorite oeosionAlly ; he disallowed
the raising a tax upon Imports
, ; I speak of facts.—
The Government Secretary : I submit.that that is not
the fact, for the Import duty was a part of an ordi-
nanee, lied it wale in i'ofeceP°6 t±t• the ordinance ;
1
the Estimate ofthis is
tho.l;%penditt!re-of the ColotV; it is