The Sun.
London, England, 1839-04-10 00:00:00

EVENING EDITION

whole of the topics touched upon by the Hon. Gentle..
man, as well as those numerous and important ones
whioh he had omitted.—(Hear, hear.) He reserved
te himself the right of disoussing the question of whether
the whole of the difficulty was to be ascribed to the
conduct of the House of Assembly, and whether some
blame did not attach to the Government ?—(Cheers.)
He did not rise to defend the House of Assembly—in
his experience of Colonial affairs he had often thought
that the Assemblies were not properly constituted, and
he had strenuously opposed the granting of one to the
Island of Trinidad ; but when an island had had an
Assembly for a century, the matter was very different,
and it was a question of much inportance, when they
came to be suspended. He agreed with the Hos.
Gentleman, that whatever party was in fault, the time
had arrived when it was necessary to consider what
course should he pursued. Something must be done,
and therefore he was willing to consider the proposition
of the Gavernment. He could not, however, allow
that opportunity to pass without saying that in his
opinion the conduct of the Government towards the
House of Assembly, had not been that which a Legis-
latit e Assembly bad a right to expect. In the last
Session of Parliament, the Prisons Bill was introduced
and passed through the Houses of Parliament with as I
much speed as the forms of the House would allow—it
was sent over, but how was it. communicated to the
House of Assembly Were they called together, and
informed of its necessity in the Governor's speech ?
No, it was studiously avoided in the speech, and they
were only informed of it by its being posted npou
the door of the House along with a pro-
clamation from the Governor rendering it the law of the
island. Such conduct was not in his opinion calculated
to promote peace, and had it not been pursued pro-
bably the present crisis would not have arisen, and, in
his opinion, Government were much to blame in the
transaction. Be wished to reserve to himself the right
to enter into all these matters upon a future occasion.
He would hear the Counsel for the Island ; he would
also hear the defence to be made by the Government,
and then he would be in a situation to say whether the
proposed measure was a fit and proper one for the
emergency. It was a question of the utmost impor-
tance, and was well deserting of the deep consideration
of the Government.

Sir GEORGE GREY earnestly hoped that this
important subject, the suspension of the Legislature of
Jamaica, which the Government had reluctantly pro-
posed, would be discussed in that spirit which the
Right HO3. Gentleman who had just sat down had re-
commended by his precept, rather than enforced by his
example. He had made a charge against the Govern-
ment,
that they had by a series of insults provoked
the Colonial Legislature to an opposition which he ad-
mitted had rendered necessary the introduction of some
such Bill as the one proposed. When that " full and
ample discussion" came which the Right Hon. Gentle-
man had mentioned ; when the Right Hon. Gentlemar
dealt no longer in vague declamations, he would be pre-
pared to meet him paragraph by paragraph, and would
abide by the honest verdict of that House;
whether the Government might not rather be
charged with too generous a forbearance in dealing with
the Legislature of Jamaica. He begged to state it was
not true that the Government had ever since 183.5, in I
their possession, the whole of the facts on which the
Prison Bill of last Session was founded. With
respect to corporal punisments of females in I
iworkhouses and prisons, he had stated when
that enex-
amined before the Committee of 183
as ou Lord Sligo's first message the practice had been -
declared to be illegal, as the verdicts of jurors and the
charges of judges bad thrown a doubt upJn the legali:v
or illegality of it, that he believed the case was by no
means hopeless. He (Sir George Grey) at that time I
conscientiously believed the Legislature of Jamaica to
be sincere in their expressions of their belief of the ilk-
gality of the practice, and did not then despair of some
legislative enactment from the Assembly of Jamaica.
The Report of that Committee was accompanied by evi-
dence in detail enough to harrow the feelings of any
man who heard it or read it---(Hear, hear, hear)—and
if be had to answer any charge he felt it was the
charge of misplaced confidence in the Legis-
lative Assembly of Jamaica, wishing to see
the grievance remedied by that Legislature, rather than
having to propose any measure to the Imperial Parlia-
ment. He regretted they did put confidence in the pro-
fessions of that Assembly, which lied not realized the
expectations which the Government at that, time were
led to form of their intentions in honestly carryir out
the provisions of the Emancipation Act. That Com-
mittee was revived in the Spring of 18:37, in pursuance
of the original recommendation of its Members, before
any information was received of those proceedings on
the part of the Legislature, to which the Right Hon.
Gentleman had adverted, in which they deried know-
ledge of the existence of any abuse, and the evidence
received on dirt occasion was not submitted to thC.
House, because it was conceived to be partial evidence,
the House hosing closed earlier than was expected.
But facts were stated, detailing outrages in work-
, houses and prisons, which very far exceeded any
information that the Government had in their
possession. He felt it his duty to state those facts
to Lord Glenelg of which his Lordship had no cogni-
zance, and he might say even no suspicion ; but when
made aware of them he thought it necessary that they
' should be proved or rebutted, and a competent
person was sent to the West Indies to inspect the pri-
sons, in order that a proper remedy might be applied.
.Captain Pringle in his Report stated one fact that might
in some measure account for the ill-treatment of the
inmates of those prisons, which was, that the boat-
swains of the prisons were convicts for life • and Cap.
taro Pringle stated that as the first step to any improve.j‘l).
ment, he conceived the appointment of prisontti,
and their removal should be vested in the Goe s°
some competent person. The Government, however,
or
had not proposed to take the appointinoni of ,
officers out of the hands of the local authoritiespnbsount
had proposed that the Governor should dismiss
the the officer on being satisfied of his misconduct, and
that the same authority should have the power of ap-
pointing another, but that in default of appointment
within fourteen days, the Governor should have the
power of making an appointment to that vacant office. .
But then the Right Hon. Gentleman had stated that
having passed this Bill, the mode in which it was pro-
mulgated in Jamaica was another insult, which if it did
not justify, at all events was sonic excuse for the con,
duct of the House of Assembly. Had the Right Hon.
Gentleman read the despatch of Lord GlenelP,:, dated
the 13th of August? In that despatch Lord Glenelg
stated the provisions of this Act had been framed partly
en the Report of Captain Pringle, and partly in relation
to the system adopted with respect to prisons in the
country ; that much would probably still remain for the
local legislature to do ; that her Majesty's Government
felt it was necessary that a remedy should be applied by
a uniform system of superintendence and inspection
throughout the West Indies, but that the intervention
of Parliament had been the only effectual mode of ac-
complishing this object. He would observe in passing
that this was not a Jamaica Act, bola. Westlndia Act,
respected and a variety of Colonies.
Mr. GOULBURN—Was that despatch of Lord
Glenelg's laid before the House of Assembly 's
Sir G. GREY—Did not the Right Hon. Gentleman
know that three successive times had Sir Lionel Smith-
invited the Legislature to let him lay
that despatch
and others before them, and that on three
successive
occasions had they refused him the opportunity
(Hear, hear.) The Right Ilon. Baronet then read
several extracts to prove this assertion. The complaina
mode was that the Bill and the despatches were not
laid before the House of Assembly. It was not usual
for the Governor in the opening speech to lay despatches
before Colonial legislatures ; this was not done until
after the reply to the address. But no opportunity wins
afforded to the Governor of laying before the ABllOlll..
bly either the Act, or the despatch, or the Report of •
Captain Pringle. If the Government had waited last
year until the legislature had read tIA report and deter-
mined whether they would adon', any part of its recom-
mendations or not, they ws.sitild have been raspousible for
the perpetuity of bwman suffering, of which they were
not ready to take the responsibility. He deeply re-
gretted that after having endeavoured by all mealss of
persuasion and forbearance to induce the legislature of
Jamaica to adopt a cordial spirit of co-operation with
the country in carrying- out the principles of the Ema
in
cipation Act, they should now be compelled to bring n
a Bill to suspend the functions of that legislature, be-
the resolution unanimously passed by this House, by
cause they denied our right to interfere in the spirit of
which resolution we were pledged to watch over the
rights of the emancipated negroes.—(Hear.)
Mr. GLADSTONE said it appeared. to him that
the remarks of the Hon. Member were wide of the suU-
ject before the House, and his object in rising. was to
guard himself against the assumption that in allowing
the introduction of the Bill without taking a division, is
consideration,. except that
was intended to waive every
which had reference to the details. Now in the exist-
ing state of Jamaica, it was clear that some measures •
were necessary for the maintenance of publT order
and faith, and the Government propose to attain those
Parliament.
The by the measure now proposed to
The House was bound to ascertain what were the de-
tails of the measure. A case certainly had arisen in
which new steps required to be taken--whether in
the shape of an Act of the Imperial 1 arlnsment or of
the Executive Government, was a question which he
should reserve for futurseesscwonnTlFfrahtieo;.—we(rHe eacrisi
hear.) Ilis Learned friend had principally referred to
the Prison Act of last.
agreed that some regulation was necessary' for the pri-
so'ns ; but had time been allowed for the Legislature to
act on the Report? He was not prepared to say that
the Act passel during the last Session was not justified
by the necessity of the case ; but supposing it was, still
the Hon. Member (the Under Secretary of State for
the Colonies) dal not seem to think it necessary to prom
that the question was either the repeal of the Prim Act, or the passing of the piesent Bill. It might be s. ;
but there was no demand in the papers before the
House for the repeal of the Prison Act. He admitted ,
that if the Assembly of Jamaica had demanded that.,
Parliament should repeal the Prison Act, the aspect of